Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Cycle‐Length Alteration upon the Configuration of the Canine Ventricular Action Potential

Action potentials recorded from canine ventricular fibers displayed characteristic alterations in configuration upon abrupt change in the cycle length. After a relative prolongation of the diastolic interval, abbreviation of phase 2 and slowing of phase 3 were consistently observed, while a relative shortening of diastole was terminated by an action potential displaying prolongation of phase 2 and a steeper phase 3. Neither circumstance was attended by a consistent alteration in action potential duration. The more conventional view, directly relating duration of phase 2 to the length of the preceding diastole, clearly does not obtain immediately following an abrupt alteration of cycle length. This cycle-length-dependent phenomenon may account, in part, for the post-extrasystolic T-wave alterations observed in the human electrocardiogram. It is also consistent with the clinical observation that such T-wave changes may occur without premature contractions, requiring only a relative prolongation of the R-R interval. Evidence is also presented which relates electrical alter-nans of the T wave to this interval-dependent phenomenon. This characteristic change in action potential configuration occurs under the same temporal circumstances that others have associated with potentiation of contractility. It is therefore suggested that these inotropic phenomena and changes in action potential configuration may relate to alterations in membrane permeability.
SEQUENCE VARIANTS IN THE RYR1 GENE AND GENETIC DISEASES: MALIGNANT HYPERTHERMIA AND CONGENITAL MYOPATHIES

This PhD thesis has been focused on the identification and functional characterization of sequence variants in the RYR1 gene, associated with Malignant hyperthermia (MH) and some congenital myopathies (CMs). MH is an autosomal dominant pharmacogenetic disorder caused by an altered intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis. This pathology shows a life treatening hypermetabolic crisis after administration of anaesthetics and/or depolarizing muscle relaxants. MH is syntomatologic silent and until now the only sensitive and specific test for the diagnosis of MH is the in vitro contracture test (IVCT), carried out on muscle byopsies. MH presents wide genetic heterogeneity: six genetic loci associated with the MH suscettible phenotype (MHS) have been identified. In more than 70% of MHS patients the locus segregating with the pathology is MHS-1, where the RYR1 gene maps. The RYR1 gene codifies for the ryanodine receptor type 1 (RYR1), a calcium release channel localised in the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum (SR/ER) membrane of skeletal muscle and B-lymphocytes. CMs are a heterogeneous group of inherited neuromuscular disorders characterized by hypotonia and muscle weakness, that usually present at birth or early childhood or rarely adulthood. Myophathies linked to RYR1 mutations are differentiated on the basis of the histopathological features in: core myopathies (central core disease, multiminicore disease, nemaline rod myopathy, and centronuclear myopathy), characterized histologically by central cores, multi-minicores, nemaline rods, central nuclei in muscle fibers, respectively; and others myopathies (congenital neuromuscular disease with uniform Type 1 fibers, and congenital fiber-type disproportion myopathy) characterized histologically by the almost exclusive presence of Type 1 muscle fiber and relative hypotrophy of type 1 muscle fibers, respectively. Great phenotypic and histopathological overlap and marked phenotypic variability are present in different myopathies. So far more than 200 sequence variants have been identified in the RYR1 gene, but only 28 variants have been investigated for their functional effect and included in the guidelines for molecular genetic detection of MH susceptibility (www.emhg.org). In this study, the mutation analysis of the RYR1 gene was performed by Denaturing High Performance Liquid Chromatography (dHPLC) and automatic sequencing in 24 MHS subjects, one CCD patient and one with minicores. 14 RYR1 gene sequence variants, an in-frame insertion variant and several known and novel polymorphisms have been identified. We characterized the effect of nine RYR1 variants on the channel function. The functional characterization was performed by two in vitro assays, proton and calcium release assays, on Epstein-Barr virus immortalized B-lymphocytes from patients carrying the sequence variants. The results showed alterations in the functional activity of the RYR1 mutated channel.
Scheduling of Batch Processors in Semiconductor Manufacturing – A Review

In this paper a review on scheduling of batch processors (SBP) in semiconductor manufacturing (SM) is presented. It classifies SBP in SM into 12 groups. The suggested classification scheme organizes the SBP in SM literature, summarizes the current research results for different problem types. The classification results are presented based on various distributions and various methodologies applied for SBP in SM are briefly highlighted. A comprehensive list of references is presented. It is hoped that, this review will provide a source for other researchers/readers interested in SBP in SM research and help simulate further interest.
Gene Expression Profiling of Apoptosis Regulators in Patients with Sepsis

Introduction: Sepsis is associated with a dysregulation of apoptosis in immune cells, which has been implicated in both immunosuppression and multiple organ failure. We describe the expression profiles of genes encoding key regulators of apoptosis in highly purified monocytes, granulocytes and CD4+ T lymphocytes. Methods: Sixteen patients with sepsis were recruited from the intensive care unit and were compared with 24 healthy controls. RNA was isolated from highly purified monocyte, granulocyte and CD4+ T-lymphocyte populations. Gene expression profiles were determined using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification for the simultaneous detection of 30 pro- and anti-apoptotic target genes. Results: Relative to healthy controls, patients with sepsis showed increased transcription of both pro- and anti-apoptotic genes in peripheral blood leukocytes. Specific monocyte, granulocyte and CD4+ T-lymphocyte mRNA profiles were identified. Anti-apoptotic profiles were found in monocytes and granulocytes, while CD4+ T lymphocytes displayed a foremost pro-apoptotic mRNA profile. Conclusions: These data indicate that in patients with sepsis, the alterations in apoptosis of circulating leukocytes occur in a cell-specific manner.
Determination of serum creatinine prior to iodinated contrast media: is it necessary in all patients?

The risk of contrast-associated nephrotoxicity (CAN) is increased in the presence of preexisting renal disease. Although routine determination of serum creatinine (Cr) prior to imaging studies is the traditional method of assessing renal function, it is a costly and time-consuming practice. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a patient survey could identify patients with a high likelihood of having normal Cr values and who, therefore, did not require serum testing. A survey was administered to 673 consecutive adult patients who were scheduled for contrast-enhanced computed tomography. Survey questions were designed to elicit a history of renal disorders as well as additional risk factors for CAN. Each patient had a Cr level determined within 48 hours prior to the injection of iodinated contrast media. Cr levels were assessed in the patients who gave negative responses to all survey questions. The degree to which positive responses to each survey question predicted elevated Cr levels was determined using the odds ratio (OR). Among the 673 respondents, 577 (85%) had normal Cr values (< or =1.3 mg/dL for women and < or =1.4 mg/dL for men). Completely negative responses to the questionnaire occurred in 191 (28%) of 673 of respondents, and 176 (92%) of these 191 had normal Cr values. A Cr cutoff value of 1.7 mg/dL is used in our department, i.e., patients with Cr values >1.7 mg/dL usually do not receive iodinated contrast media. Using this Cr cutoff value, 189 (99%) of 191 patients with negative responses had Cr values less than or equal to the cutoff value. The survey questions most strongly associated with elevated Cr values pertained to preexisting renal disease (OR 13.6), proteinuria (OR 8.7), prior kidney surgery (OR 8.1), hypertension (OR 5.4), gout (OR 4.6), and diabetes (OR 3.2). If the survey had been limited to these six questions, completely negative responses would have occurred in 450 (67%) of 673, 424 (94%) of these 450 would have normal Cr values, and 446 (99%) of 450 would have had Cr values at or below the 1.7 mg/dL cutoff for iodinated contrast. A completely negative response to a simple (six question) patient survey prior to iodinated contrast administration can identify a significant fraction of patients with normal Cr levels. Use of this survey could reduce by 67% the number of patients undergoing routine Cr determinations prior to imaging studies. This could reduce costs, decrease delays, and increase patient satisfaction associated with imaging studies.
Phage type conversion in Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis caused by the introduction of a resistance plasmid of incompatibility group X (IncX)

The plasmid pOG670, a 54 kb, conjugative plasmid that specifies resistance to ampicillin and kanamycin and belonging to the incompatibility group X (IncX), was transferred into 10 isolates of Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis belonging to 10 different phage types (PT1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 9b, 10, 11 and 13). Acquisition of the plasmid by these strains did not result in the loss of any resident plasmids but resulted in phage type conversion in 8 of the 10 strains (PT1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 9b, 10 and 11). The observed changes in phage type were found to result from the loss of sensitivity to 3 of the 10 typing phages used (phages 3, 5 and 7). Where the conversion resulted in a change to a defined phage type, both the new and original PTs belonged to the same, previously described, evolutionary lines. Enteritidis PTs 1, 4 and 8, commonly associated with poultry world-wide, were converted to PTs 21, 6 and 13a respectively. The results indicate a different route for phage type conversion Enteritidis from others reported in the literature and, although IncX plasmids are not normally present in PT8 or PT13a, may suggest a possible mechanism/link connecting these phage types.
Conversion of tumors into autologous vaccines by intratumoral injection of alpha-Gal glycolipids that induce anti-Gal/alpha-Gal epitope interaction

Galili, Uri, "Conversion of tumors into autologous vaccines by intratumoral injection of alpha-Gal glycolipids that induce anti-Gal/ alpha-Gal epitope interaction" (2011). Anti-Gal is the most abundant antibody in humans, constituting 1% of immunoglobulins. Anti-Gal binds specifically α-gal epitopes (Galα1-3Galβ1-4GlcNAc-R). Immunogenicity of autologous tumor associated antigens (TAA) is greatly increased by manipulating tumor cells to express α-gal epitopes and bind anti-Gal. Glycolipids with α-gal epitopes (α-gal glycolipids) injected into tumors insert into the tumor cell membrane. Anti-Gal binding to the multiple α-gal epitopes de novo presented on the tumor cells results in targeting of these cells to APC via the interaction between the Fc portion of the bound anti-Gal and Fcγ receptors on APC. The APC process and present immunogenic TAA peptides and thus, effectively activate tumor specific CD4+ helper T cells and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells which destroy tumor cells in micrometastases. The induced immune response is potent enough to overcome immunosuppression by Treg cells. A phase I clinical trial indicated that α-gal glycolipid treatment has no adverse effects. In addition to achieving destruction of micrometastases in cancer patients with advance disease, α-gal glycolipid treatment may be effective as neo-adjuvant immunotherapy. Injection of α-gal glycolipids into primary tumors few weeks prior to resection can induce a protective immune response capable of destroying micrometastases expressing autologous TAA, long after primary tumor resection.
Digital Elevation Model Perspective Plot Overlays

Abstract A method is presented for overlaying thematic data on a wireframe perspective plot of a digital elevation model (DEM). High-quality color separations were plotted on an electrostatic plotter using conventional pen controls to provide eight colors with different line densities and patterns for the overlay. The utility of the method was demonstrated by producing a plot of land use and land cover data registered to a DEM and by producing an annual average termperature overlay corrected by the elevation values and latitude of the same DEM grid cells used to create the perspective plot base.
Non-Linear Optimization Applied to Angle-of-Arrival Satellite-Based Geolocation with Correlated Measurements

Abstract : A common remote sensing application is producing geolocation estimates for an object of interest from multiple sensor platforms. Geolocation estimates are desired to help improve situational awareness when dealing with space objects that do not actively broadcast their location. A depiction of the error parameters are calculated in conjunction with the positional estimates. Problems occur when multiple measurements from a single sensor are used to estimate a location due to correlations in sensor error. A non-linear optimization approach is presented for determining geolocation estimates and their associated error parameters. The error parameters directly reflect the error present on the individual measurements used to produce the position estimates. Correlations in errors are dealt with by augmenting the non-linear optimization with a covariance intersection algorithm. Finally, the ability to account for correlated errors within the optimization algorithm is analyzed using Monte-Carlo simulations. The ability to describe an objects location with a given confidence helps aid in the analysis of the system at large.
Serum lipoprotein levels, statin use, and cognitive function in older women.

BACKGROUND Few strategies are available for the prevention of cognitive impairment in elderly persons. Serum lipoprotein levels may be important predictors of cognitive function, and drugs that lower cholesterol may be effective for the prevention of cognitive impairment. OBJECTIVE To determine whether serum lipoprotein levels, the 4-year change in serum lipoprotein levels, and the use of statin drugs are associated with cognition in older women without dementia. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS An observational study of 1037 postmenopausal women with coronary heart disease enrolled in the Heart and Estrogen/progestin Replacement Study (participants at 10 of 20 centers). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The Modified Mini-Mental State Examination was administered at the end of the study after 4 years of follow-up. Women whose score was less than 84 points (>1.5 SDs below the mean) were classified as having cognitive impairment. Lipoprotein levels (total, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein [LDL] cholesterol and triglycerides) were measured at baseline and at the end of the study; statin use was documented at each visit. RESULTS Compared with women in the lower quartiles, women in the highest LDL cholesterol quartile at cognitive testing had worse mean plus minus SD Modified Mini-Mental State Examination scores (93.7 plus minus 6.0 vs 91.9 plus minus 7.6; P =.002) and an increased likelihood of cognitive impairment (adjusted odds ratio, 1.76; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-2.97). A reduction in the LDL cholesterol level during the 4 years tended to be associated with a lower odds of impairment (adjusted odds ratio, 0.61; 95% confidence interval, 0.36-1.03) compared with women whose levels increased. Higher total and LDL cholesterol levels, corrected for lipoprotein(a) levels, were also associated with a worse Modified Mini-Mental State Examination score and a higher likelihood of impairment, whereas high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels were not associated with cognition. Compared with nonusers, statin users had higher mean plus minus SD Modified Mini-Mental State Examination scores (92.7 plus minus 7.1 vs 93.7 plus minus 6.1; P =.02) and a trend for a lower likelihood of cognitive impairment (odds ratio, 0.67; 95% confidence interval, 0.42-1.05), findings that seemed to be independent of lipid levels. CONCLUSIONS High LDL and total cholesterol levels are associated with cognitive impairment, and lowering these lipoprotein levels may be a strategy for preventing impairment. The association between statin use and better cognitive function in women without dementia requires further study.
Unitary attention in callosal agenesis

The interhemispheric organisation of two specific components of attention was investigated in three patients affected by partial or complete agenesis of the corpus callosum. A visuospatial component of attention was explored using a visual search paradigm in which target and distractors were displayed either unilaterally within a single visual hemifield, or bilaterally across both visual hemifields in light of prior work indicating that split-brain patients were twice as fast to scan bilateral displays compared to unilateral displays. A central component of attention was explored using a psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm in which two visual stimuli were presented laterally at various stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs), with each stimulus associated with a different speeded two-alternative choice task. The stimulus–response compatibility in the second task was systematically manipulated in this paradigm, in light of prior work indicating that split-brain patients exhibited a close-to-normal PRP effect (i.e., slowing of the second response as SOA is decreased), with, however, abnormally decreasing effects of the manipulation of the response mapping on the second task speed as SOA was decreased. The present results showed that, although generally slower than normals in carrying out the two tasks, the performance of each of the three acallosal patients was formally equivalent to the performance of a matched control group of normal individuals. In the visual search task, the search rate of the acallosal patients was the same for unilateral and bilateral displays. Furthermore, in the PRP task, there was more mutual interference between the lateralised tasks for the acallosal patients than that evidenced in the performance of the matched control group. It is concluded that the visuospatial component and the central component of attention in agenesis of the corpus callosum are interhemispherically integrated systems.
Design and Analysis of High Performance Matrix Filling for DNA Sequence Alignment Accelerator Using ASIC Design Flow

This paper presents the design and analysis high performance matrix filling for DNA sequence alignment accelerator using ASIC design flow. The objective of this paper is to design and analysis matrix module of DNA sequence alignment accelerator using clock cycle to get high performance. The scope of this paper is to optimize the DNA sequences alignment on the matrix filling module by implementing a parallel method of the Smith-Waterman algorithm. This method provides magnificent speed up over than traditional sequential implementation methods while it s e n s i t i v i t y detection is still remained. To optimize the performance of the algorithm by exploiting parallelism in the design several techniques have been developed. In the advanced engineering technology, the massive parallelism can be implemented by using the Field Programmable Logic Array (FPGA) and ASIC techniques. The design was developed in Verilog HDL coding, synthesis and implemented by using Synopsys EDA tools. Using the Synopsys EDA tools, the optimum combination o f parameters is manipulated i n or de r to produce the o p t i m i z e IC. The design produces an matrix filling IP that can work at 3.75 ns clock period before it start to show the negative slack . The technique proposed increased the performance of the module significantly by reducing the clock cycle needed by the matrix filling from 16 cycles initially to single clock cycle. It was successfully implemented on ASIC design flow.
Popova Using Copulas to Measure Association between Air Pollution and Respiratory Diseases

Air pollution is still considered as one of the major environmental and health issues. There is enough research evidence to show a strong relationship between exposure to air contaminants and respiratory illnesses among children and adults. In this paper we used the Copula approach to study a potential relationship between selected air pollutants (PM10 and NO2) and hospital admissions for respiratory diseases. Kendall’s tau and Spearman’s rho rank correlation coefficients are calculated and used in Copula method. This paper demonstrates that copulas can be used to provide additional information as a measure of an association when compared to the standard correlation coefficients. The results find a significant correlation between the selected air pollutants and hospital admissions for most of the selected respiratory illnesses. Keywords— Air pollution, Copula, Respiratory Health.
INCREASED SIZE EXCLUSION LIMIT2 Encodes a Putative DEVH Box RNA Helicase Involved in Plasmodesmata Function during Arabidopsis Embryogenesis[W]

Here, we characterize the Arabidopsis thaliana embryo-defective mutant increased size exclusion limit2 (ise2). In contrast with wild-type embryos, ise2 mutants continue to traffic 10-kD fluorescent dextran in the mid-torpedo stage of development. ise2 embryos contain branched as well as simple plasmodesmata (PD) compared with wild-type embryos, which only contain simple PD. Positional cloning reveals that the ISE2 gene encodes a putative DEVH box RNA helicase that shares sequence homology with RNA helicases involved in RNA degradation pathways in other organisms. ISE2 localizes to granule-like structures in the cytoplasm. These granules increase in number when plant cells are stressed. These features are characteristic of stress granules (SGs) in mammalian cells, suggesting that ISE2 granules represent plant-specific SGs. Genetic data demonstrate that the ISE2 helicase is involved in posttranscriptional gene silencing and the determination of cell fate. These data together suggest that ISE2 function affects PD structure and function through the regulation of RNA metabolism and consequent gene expression.
Sparse Bayesian consensus-based distributed field estimation

We present a fully decentralized algorithm that is inspired by sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) and can be used for non-parametric sparse estimation of unknown spatial functions - spatial fields - with wireless sensor networks (WSNs). It is assumed that a spatial field is represented as a linear combination of weighted fixed basis functions. By exploiting the similarity between the topology of a WSN and the proposed probabilistic graphical model for distributed SBL, a combination of variational inference and loopy belief propagation (LBP) is used to obtain the weights and the sparse subset of relevant basis functions. The algorithm requires only transmission between neighboring sensors and no multi-hop communication is needed. Furthermore, it does not rely on a fixed network structure and no information about the total number of sensors in the network is necessary. Due to consensus in the weight parameters between neighboring sensors, it is demonstrated that also the sparsity patterns of relevant basis functions generally agree. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated with synthetic data.