Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adherence to chronic cardiovascular therapies: persistence over the years and dose coverage.

AIM To evaluate adherence to chronic cardiovascular drug treatments, in terms of long-term persistence and dose coverage. METHODS General practice prescription data of antihypertensives, lipid-lowering agents, oral hypoglycaemic agents and nitrates were collected over a 5-year period (1998-2002) in a Northern Italian district (Ravenna, 350,000 inhabitants). We selected subjects (>40 years) receiving at least one prescription of the above drugs in December 1999. For each patient, we documented the regimen at the time of selection and evaluated adherence to treatment during the following 3 years in terms of persistence (at least one prescription per year) and daily coverage (recipients of an amount of medication consistent with daily treatment). RESULTS Fewer than 10% of the 32 068 selected subjects were naive to treatment. Antihypertensives were the most represented therapeutic category. Among patients already on treatment in December 1999, persistence was virtually complete, whereas >40% of naive patients withdrew within 1 year, except for nitrates. The rates of coverage were always much lower than the corresponding values of persistence. Coverage was significantly higher in older patients (chi(2) for trend 69.41; P < 0.001), males (odds ratio 1.30; 95% confidence interval 1.25, 1.36) and users receiving more than one therapeutic category. CONCLUSIONS Lack of adherence to chronic cardiovascular treatments represents an important matter of concern: although most people continued treatment over the years, less than 50% received an amount of drugs consistent with daily treatment, thus jeopardizing the proved beneficial effects of available medications.
METHOD FOR THE SELECTION OF BACTERIA THAT SYNTHESIZE URONIC ACID-CONTAINING POLYSACCHARIDES

Markovitz, Alvin (University of Chicago, Chicago). Method for the selection of bacteria that synthesize uronic acid-containing polysaccharides. J. Bacteriol. 82:436–441. 1961. —A method has been devised for selecting bacteria that synthesize uronic acid-containing polysaccharides from soil samples. The method depends on the addition of high concentrations of SO4= to a liquid enrichment medium.
Adaptive forward collision warning algorithm for automotive applications

This paper proposes an adaptive collision warning algorithm (CWA) that supports the driver by issuing early warnings for collision avoidance without noticeably increasing the risk of false alarms in real traffic. This algorithm can also detect when an emergency intervention is necessary. Compared to existing CWAs, the proposed solution in this paper triggers alarms by solving a linear convex program using traffic data, road's constraints and bicycle model dynamics, and by incorporating an adaptive (speed-dependent) warning threshold. A collision threat is detected by determining feasible steering trajectories without altering the vehicle's longitudinal velocity.
Purification of a calmodulin-binding protein from chicken gizzard that interacts with F-actin.

A calmodulin-binding protein called "caldesmon" was purified from chicken gizzard muscle as the major calmodulin-binding protein in this tissue. Its molecular weight estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was 150,000, and two of these polypeptides constituted the native molecule. Caldesmon is an actin-binding protein also, binding F-actin reversibly in the presence or absence of Ca2+. The interaction of caldesmon with F-actin was abolished by the binding of calmodulin with the caldesmon. Because the interaction between caldesmon and calmodulin was Ca2+-dependent but the interaction between caldesmon and F-actin was not, Ca2+ acts as a flip-flop switch between the formations of two complexes, caldesmon.calmodulin and caldesmon.F-actin: increasing the formation of the former complex at increased Ca2+ level and the formation of the latter complex at decreased Ca2+ level. The equilibrium of the formations of both complexes was achieved at a Ca2+ concentration near 1 microM.
OUROBOROS is a master regulator of the gametophyte to sporophyte life cycle transition in the brown alga Ectocarpus

The brown alga Ectocarpus siliculosus has a haploid–diploid life cycle that involves an alternation between two distinct generations, the sporophyte and the gametophyte. We describe a mutant, ouroboros (oro), in which the sporophyte generation is converted into a functional, gamete-producing gametophyte. The life history of the mutant thus consists of a continuous reiteration of the gametophyte generation. The oro mutant exhibited morphological features typical of the gametophyte generation and accumulated transcripts of gametophyte generation marker genes. Genetic analysis showed that oro behaved as a single, recessive, Mendelian locus that was unlinked to the IMMEDIATE UPRIGHT locus, which has been shown to be necessary for full expression of the sporophyte developmental program. The data presented here indicate that ORO is a master regulator of the gametophyte-to-sporophyte life cycle transition and, moreover, that oro represents a unique class of homeotic mutation that results in switching between two developmental programs that operate at the level of the whole organism.
Mapping the Mind: Domain Specificity In Cognition And Culture

Preface Domain specificity: an introduction Lawrence Hirschfeld and Susan Gelman Part I. General/Theoretical Approaches: 1. The modularity of thought Dan Sperber 2. Domain specificity and cultural variation are not inconsistent: lessons from number and music Rochel Gelman and Kimberly Brenneman Part II. Are Domains Theories? : 3. The theory theory Alison Gopkin and Henry Wellman 4. Thinking by children and scientists: false analogies and neglected similarities Paul Harris 5. Core domains versus scientific theories: evidence from systematics and Itzaj-Maya folkbiology Scott Atran 6. Essences and folk theories of biology Susan Gelman, John Coley and Gail Gottfried Part III. Origins of Domain Knowledge, Biology and Evolutionary Approaches: 7. The organization of lexical knowledge in the brain: evidence from category- and modality-specific deficits Alfonso Caramazza, Argye Hillis, Elwyn Keek and Michele Miozzo 8. Origins of domain-specificity: the evolution of functional organization Leda Cosmides and John Tobby 9. Tomm and Toby: core architecture and domain specificity Alan Leslie 10. 'Moral belief' form vs. content David Premack 11. Domain specific knowledge and conceptual change Susan Carey and Elizabeth Spelke 12. Is the acquisition of social categories based on domain-specific competence or on knowledge transfer? Lawrence Hirschfield 13. The birth and nurturance of concepts by domains: the origins of concepts of living things Frank Keil Part IV. Domains Across Cultures and Languages: 14. Cognitive constraints on cultural representation: natural ontologies and religious ideas Pascal Boyer 15. Universal and culture-specific properties of children's mental models of the earth Stella Vosniadou 16. Cognitive domains and the structure of the lexicon Anna Wierzbicka Part V. Implications for Education: 17. 'Teachers' models of children's minds and learning Sidney Strauss and Tamar Shilony 18. 'Situated rationalism' biological and social preparation for learning Lauren Resnick.
Anchoring and Adjustment in Relevance Estimation

People's tendency to overly rely on prior information has been well studied in psychology in the context of anchoring and adjustment. Anchoring biases pervade many aspects of human behavior. In this paper, we present a study of anchoring bias in information retrieval~(IR) settings. We provide strong evidence of anchoring during the estimation of document relevance via both human relevance judging and in natural user behavior collected via search log analysis. In particular, we show that sequential relevance judgment of documents collected for the same query could be subject to anchoring bias. That is, the human annotators are likely to assign different relevance labels to a document, depending on the quality of the last document they had judged for the same query. In addition to manually assigned labels, we further show that the implicit relevance labels inferred from click logs can also be affected by anchoring bias. Our experiments over the query logs of a commercial search engine suggested that searchers' interaction with a document can be highly affected by the documents visited immediately beforehand. Our findings have implications for the design of search systems and judgment methodologies that consider and adapt to anchoring effects.
Infection with varicella-zoster virus after marrow transplantation.

Infection with varicella-zoster virus (VZV) occurred in 231 (16.6%) of 1,394 patients undergoing marrow transplantation in Seattle, Washington, between 1969 and 1982. The probability of VZV infection was 30% by one year after transplant. Eighty percent of infections occurred within the first nine months after transplant, and of these cases 45% had cutaneous or visceral dissemination. Twenty-three deaths were associated with VZV infection, all within the initial nine months after transplant. Postherpetic neuralgia, scarring, and bacterial superinfection were also significantly more frequent among patients with VZV in the first nine months after transplant (32%) than among patients with later infection (19%; P less than .05). By multivariate analysis, allogeneic transplant, acute or chronic graft-vs.-host disease, patient age between 10 and 29 years, diagnosis other than chronic myelogenous leukemia, and posttransplant use of antithymocyte globulin were each risk factors for VZV infection. Among infected patients, the only significant risk factor for VZV dissemination or death was acute graft-vs.-host disease (P less than . 03 and P less than . 0002, respectively.
Statins and coronary artery bypass graft surgery: preoperative and postoperative efficacy and safety

Background: In patients with native coronary artery disease, strong evidence supports the use of statins to reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events and improve survival. However, for patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG), statins appear to be underutilized, and concerns have been raised regarding their perioperative safety. Objective: The goal of this systematic review is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of statin therapy before and after coronary surgical revascularization. Methods: A systematic review was performed to retrieve relevant articles from the Medline database published between 1987 and January 2009. Results: Administered before CABG, statins have been demonstrated to reduce perioperative mortality, stroke and atrial fibrillation. Preoperative statin therapy also reduces the systemic inflammatory response associated with cardiopulmonary bypass. Following CABG, statins inhibit saphenous vein graft disease and the progression of atherosclerosis in native coronary arteries. In addition, postoperative statins reduce the recurrence of cardiovascular events and improve all-cause mortality. High-intensity lipid reduction to achieve low-density lipoprotein levels to 70 mg/dl may benefit post-CABG patients, but this has yet to be evaluated prospectively. Adverse effects related to perioperative statin therapy seem to be extremely rare, and little data are available to support the practice of withholding statin therapy before or after surgery. Conclusion: Numerous studies have demonstrated that statins improve the outcomes of patients undergoing CABG. The benefits seem to outweigh the risks associated with their use, both in the preoperative and postoperative period. In the absence of contraindications, essentially all CABG patients are candidates for life-long statin therapy that ideally should be started before surgery. The optimal postoperative statin regimen remains unknown and should be the subject of future study.
Biodegradable surgical implants based on magnesium alloys – A review of current research

There is considerable interest in the potential of magnesium alloys to be used in place of existing materials for surgical implants. Of particular interest is the possibility of using magnesium implants to act as both scaffolding on which new bone can grow, and as fixtures to hold together bone long enough to allow natural healing to take place. Magnesium is particularly desirable in this type of application as it is bio-compatible, and it has a modulus of elasticity closer to bone than currently used materials. Another major advantage of using magnesium as a surgical implant is in its ability to biodegrade in situ. This in turn means that the implant need not remain in the body without needing extra surgery to remove it. This paper presents a review of current research into magnesium based surgical implants.
Duality Gap Estimation of Linear Equality Constrained Binary Quadratic Programming

We investigate in this paper the Lagrangian duality properties of linear equality constrained binary quadratic programming. We derive an underestimation of the duality gap between the primal problem and its Lagrangian dual or SDP relaxation, using the distance from the set of binary integer points to certain affine subspace, while the computation of this distance can be achieved by the cell enumeration of hyperplane arrangement. Alternative Lagrangian dual schemes via the exact penalty and the squared norm constraint reformulations are also discussed.
Dynamic Signal Tracking in a Simple V1 Spiking Model

This work is part of an effort to understand the neural basis for our visual system’s ability, or failure, to accurately track moving visual signals. We consider here a ring model of spiking neurons, intended as a simplified computational model of a single hypercolumn of the primary visual cortex of primates. Signals that consist of edges with time-varying orientations localized in space are considered. Our model is calibrated to produce spontaneous and driven firing rates roughly consistent with experiments, and our two main findings, for which we offer dynamical explanation on the level of neuronal interactions, are the following. First, we have documented consistent transient overshoots in signal perception following signal switches due to emergent interactions of the E- and I-populations. Second, for continuously moving signals, we have found that accuracy is considerably lower at reversals of orientation than when continuing in the same direction (as when the signal is a rotating bar). To measure performance, we use two metrics, called fidelity and reliability, to compare signals reconstructed by the system to the ones presented and assess trial-to-trial variability. We propose that the same population mechanisms responsible for orientation selectivity also impose constraints on dynamic signal tracking that manifest in perception failures consistent with psychophysical observations.
A Real-Time Index of Vagal Activity

A computer system today receives no data regarding the physiological state of the user, but there are many cases where these data could be useful. For example, as the user becomes bored or lethargic, the system could raise the workload or audiovisual feedback to stimulate arousal. As the user becomes tense or strained, the system could lighten the workload or simplify the feedback to lessen arousal. This type of physiological-based closed-loop feedback could be applied in a number of scenarios, such as training, stressful repetitive work (e.g., air traffic control), and military operations. In this article, the authors describe a computing system that produces a real-time cardiac-based measure of arousal. The measure is based on changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia, an established measure of vagal activity. They describe the measure, the measure's potential and limits, the computing system, and the new directions for physiological monitoring research made possible by such a system.
Laser-Induced Thermal Bubble-Mixing on a Microfluidic Platform for Lab-on-a-Chip Applications

This paper discusses the study of the multimode evolution of microfiber taper and its potential application of micromixer in the lab-on-a-chip. By using numerical simulation, multimode interference effects are demonstrated in the taper transition of a micro-nano fiber. Due to the leaked optical energy gasifies the solution surrounding the taper and produces air bubbles, the laminar flow effect is destroyed with the help of disturbance of air bubble and two solutions are mixed quickly. Therefore, it will be used in microfluidic platform for chemical analysis & testing, chemical synthesis and environmental monitoring.
How Design Quality Improves with Increasing Computational Abilities: General Formulas and Case Study of Aircraft Fuel Efficiency

It is known that the problems of optimal design are NP-hard - meaning that, in general, a feasible algorithm can only produce close-to-optimal designs. The more computations we perform, the better design we can produce. In this paper, we theoretically derive quantitative formulas describing how the design qualities improves with the increasing computational abilities. We then empirically confirm the resulting theoretical formula by applying it to the problem of aircraft fuel efficiency.
Clonotypic differences in signaling from CD94 (kp43) on NK cells lead to divergent cellular responses.

Ligation of MHC class I-recognizing receptors on NK cells dramatically modulates their secretory and cytotoxic function. This study focuses on characterizing key signaling events regulating these activities after ligation of the C-type lectin superfamily member, CD94. We isolated separate clonal populations of human NK cells in which ligation of CD94 (kp43) either triggered cell-mediated cytotoxicity (group A clones) or potently inhibited NK cell activation (group B clones). We then evaluated the proximal signaling events that regulate these alternative responses. CD94 stimulation of group A clones induced the rapid activation of intracellular protein tyrosine kinases (i.e., lck and ZAP-70), phospholipase C, and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase. In contrast, CD94 ligation on group B clones had none of the above noted effects and instead inhibited the FcR-induced tyrosine phosphorylations of ZAP-70 and phospholipase C-gamma 2, the formation of phospho-zeta/ZAP-70 complexes, and the release of inositol phosphates. These results define distinct proximal signaling events initiated after CD94 ligation and suggest that clonotypic differences in signaling generate fundamentally different NK cell-mediated responses.
A New Center-Tapped Half-Bridge Zeta Converter With Small Transformer DC-Offset Current and Low Voltage Stress

In this paper, an asymmetrical half-bridge (AHB) converter employing a new center-tapped zeta rectifier (CTZR) is proposed to achieve a high efficiency in wide-input-voltage and low-output-current applications. Due to the proposed CTZR with high dc conversion ratio and extended maximum duty cycle above 0.5, the transformer turns ratio of the proposed converter can be increased, which decreases the transformer dc-offset current compared with that of the AHB converter. Therefore, its transformer core size is decreased. Moreover, it has a wide zero-voltage-switching range with small transformer leakage inductor, which improves light and medium load efficiency. Furthermore, since it has low voltage stress on the secondary diode, its conduction loss can be reduced. In addition, due to the elimination of a diode, the snubber loss in the secondary side is reduced compared with the AHB converter. Therefore, the proposed converter can achieve a higher efficiency compared with the AHB converter without additional devices. To confirm the operation, features, and validity of the proposed converter, a 250-400 V input and 50 V/250 W output laboratory prototype is built and tested.
Lossy Joint Source-Channel Coding Using Raptor Codes

The straightforward application of Shannon's separation principle may entail a significant suboptimality in practical systems with limited coding delay and complexity. This is particularly evident when the lossy source code is based on entropy-coded quantization. In fact, it is well known that entropy coding is not robust to residual channel errors. In this paper, a joint source-channel coding scheme is advocated that combines the advantages and simplicity of entropy-coded quantization with the robustness of linear codes. The idea is to combine entropy coding and channel coding into a single linear encoding stage. If the channel is symmetric, the scheme can asymptotically achieve the optimal rate-distortion limit. However, its advantages are more clearly evident under finite coding delay and complexity. The sequence of quantization indices is decomposed into bitplanes, and each bitplane is independently mapped onto a sequence of channel coded symbols. The coding rate of each bitplane is chosen according to the bitplane conditional entropy rate. The use of systematic raptor encoders is proposed, in order to obtain a continuum of coding rates with a single basic encoding algorithm. Simulations show that the proposed scheme can outperform the separated baseline scheme for finite coding length and comparable complexity and, as expected, it is much more robust to channel errors in the case of channel capacity mismatch.
Absorption calorimetry and laser-induced damage threshold measurements of antireflective-coated ZnSe and metal mirrors at 10.6 μm

Absorption and pulsed laser induced damage of antireflective coatings on ZnSe and high reflecting metal mirrors were studied. As deposition materials for the AR-coatings germanium zinc sulfide zinc selenide cadmium selenide and different fluorides were selected. For protecting and enhancing of metal mirrors zinc sulfide and zinc selenide were used in conjunction with ThF4 as low index material. The films were deposited by thermal evaporation. Absorption measurements were performed with the aid of a laser calorimeter and a cw C2aser Single-shot and multiple-shot (prf 3 Hz) damage thresholds were measured by a computer controlled test facility using 100 ns pulses from a TEA C02-laser. The gaussian beam was focussed down to a diameter of 1. 4 mm on the sample surface. A scatter measurement system and an on-line video microscope were applied for damage detection. Damage morphology was investigated by Nomarski- and scanning electron microscopy. Key words: C02-laser laser induced damage single-shot multiple-shot laser calorimetry photothennal deflection spectroscopy ar-coating metal mirror video image processing. 1.
Approximate policy iteration using regularised Bellman residuals minimisation

In this paper we present an approximate policy iteration (API) method called API‐BRMϵ using a very effective implementation of incremental support vector regression (SVR) to approximate the value function able to generalise in continuous (or large) space reinforcement learning (RL) problems. RL is a methodology able to solve complex and uncertain decision problems usually modelled as Markov decision problems. API-BRMϵ is formalised as a non-parametric regularisation problem based on an outcome of the Bellman residual minimisation (BRM) which is able to minimise the variance of the problem. API-BRMϵ is incremental and can be applied to RL using the on-line agent interaction framework. Based on non-parametric SVR API-BRMϵ is able to find the global solution of the problem with convergence guarantees to the optimal solution. A value function should be defined to find the optimal policy specifying the total reward that an agent might expect in its current state taking one action. Therefore, the agent will use the value function to choose the action to take. Some experimental evidence and performance for well-known RL benchmarks are presented.