Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of dobutamine echocardiography and 99mTc-sestamibi tomography for prediction of left ventricular ejection fraction outcome after acute myocardial infarction treated with successful primary coronary angioplasty.

UNLABELLED For patients with acute myocardial infarction who undergo primary percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), it is important to promptly identify those in whom a significant delayed improvement of global left ventricular function is to be expected as a result of successful treatment. METHODS In 51 patients with acute myocardial infarction who underwent primary PTCA with a good angiographic result, the late outcome of the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was established after a 6-mo follow-up. In the early phase after infarction (within approximately 1 wk of infarction), the contractile reserve of the infarct zone was evaluated using dobutamine echocardiography and compared with the assessment of infarct size, infarct severity, and mean tracer activity of the infarct zone obtained using resting 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT. Receiver-operating-curve (ROC) analysis was used to define the reliability of the various parameters for identifying the patients with a follow-up LVEF increase of > or = 5 LVEF units. RESULTS Of the 48 patients without restenosis at follow-up, 34 showed significant LVEF improvement. The evaluation of the contractile reserve of the infarct zone achieved an ROC curve area of 0.75 +/- 0.07 with 74% sensitivity, 71% specificity, and 73% overall accuracy. Of the 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT parameters, the extent of the infarct had no diagnostic value according to ROC analysis. The mean activity of the infarct zone had an ROC curve area of 0.64 +/- 0.09 with 82% sensitivity, 50% specificity, and 73% overall accuracy. The infarct severity had an ROC area of 0.76 +/- 0.08 (not significant vs. mean activity and vs. contractile reserve) with 77% sensitivity, 71% specificity, and 75% overall accuracy. CONCLUSION Evaluation of the contractile reserve of the infarct zone using dobutamine echocardiography and assessment of the tracer activity of the infarct zone or infarct severity using 99mTc-sestamibi SPECT in the early phase after infarction are able to identify the patients in whom successful primary PTCA will be followed by significant late LVEF improvement.
Chemokines and their receptors in the pathogenesis of allergic asthma: progress and perspective

Purpose of review The importance of chemokines and their receptors to development and maintenance of allergic asthma is reflected in the burgeoning amount of literature currently devoted to this topic. Based on a series of selected references published during the last year, this review now summarizes recent advances and discusses the likely implications of these findings. Recent findings Of particular interest are reports describing novel interactions between chemokines and both eosinophils and mast cells, including a role for CXCL5 (epithelial cell-derived neutrophil-activating peptide-78) and intracellular CCR3. New insights into TH2-cell dominance are presented in reports dealing with a range of chemokines, including CCL3 (MIP-1α), CCL4 (MIP-1β), CCL5 (RANTES), CXCL9 (Mig), and CXCL10 (IP-10). The increasing importance of structural cell participation is emphasized by reports focusing on the eotaxin family (CCL11, CCL24, and CCL26), as well as CCL17 (TARC), CCL22 (MDC), CXCL9 (Mig), and CX3CL1 (Fractalkine). A developing role for nonreceptor regulatory mechanisms is also emphasized by seminal work relating to metalloproteinases, as well as reports focusing on proteoglycans and β-Arrestin-2. Finally, significant progress in the field of asthma heritability is featured in reports relating to both known and novel genes, including those encoding CCR5 and DPP-10. Summary The critical influence of chemokine biology on the outcome of allergic asthma continues to be highlighted in recent reports describing novel mechanisms by which eosinophils are recruited into the lung and local TH2-cell dominance is maintained. Also of considerable interest is the increasing emphasis currently being realized for structural cell participation, nonreceptor regulatory mechanisms, and the influence of susceptibility genes.
Polypeptide composition of extracellular enveloped vaccinia virus

Extracellular enveloped vaccinia (EEV) virus grown in SIRC and in HeLa cells was purified by consecutive equilibrium centrifugations in sucrose and cesium chloride gradients. A higher degree of purity was obtained with virus material prepared in SIRC cells. The polypeptides of purified EEV and INV (intracellular naked vaccinia) virus were compared in polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis. Three proteins (200,000 molecular weight [200K], 95K, and 13K) detected in HeLa-derived INV were absent in EEV. In addition, two INV proteins (65K and 30K) occurred in reduced concentrations in EEV, white another INV protein (27K) was increased in EEV. INV from SIRC cells showed similar alterations of these proteins (with the exception of the 30K and 13K proteins). Detergent treatment, ether extraction, and Pronase treatment showed that these six proteins are located at the surface of INV and are not cecessary for infectivity. Eight proteins (210K, 110K, 89K, 42K, 37K, 21.5K, 21K, and 20K) were detected in EEV that were absent from inv. Brij-58 treatment was employed to remove the envelope from EEV, resulting in the formation of naked particles and an envelope fraction which were separated on cesium chloride gradients. The envelope fractions contained all eight proteins. Seven of the eight proteins were glycoproteins, with the 37K protein being the only unglycosylated protein. It is concluded that a processing of surface INV particle proteins occurs during evelopment. The resultant EEV particle is comprised of an INV particle with a modified surface composition enclosed in an envelope containing virus-specific proteins unique to EEV.
Immune Response to Giardia duodenalis

SUMMARY The intestinal protozoan Giardia duodenalis is a widespread opportunistic parasite of humans and animals. This parasite inhabits the upper part of the small intestine and has a direct life cycle. After ingestion of cysts, which are the infective stage, the trophozoites emerge from the cysts in the duodenum and attach to the small intestinal mucosa of the host. Since the migration of trophozoites from the lumen of the intestine into surrounding tissues is an unusual occurrence, the immune response to Giardia remains localized. The identification of antigens that play a role in acquired immunity has been difficult because of the occurrence of antigenic variation and because, Giardia being an ubiquituous organism, it is possible that the antigenic profiles of isolates from different geographic areas will vary. Innate-immunity mechanisms play a role in the control and/or severity of the infection. Both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses play a role in acquired immunity, but the mechanisms involved are unknown. A variety of serological assays have been used to detect circulating antibodies in serum. Because of the biological characteristics of the parasite and the lack of suitable antigens, the sensitivity of serological assays remains poor. On the other hand, detection of antigens in feces of infected patients has met with success. Commercial kits are available, and they are reported to be more sensitive than microscopic examination for the detection of giardiasis on a single specimen.
RISK FACTORS FOR ABDOMINAL OBESITY IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS FROM CRACOW, POLAND (1983–2000)

Summary The aim of this study was to determine abdominal obesity risk factors in two successive cohorts of children and adolescents aged 4–18 from Cracow, Poland, examined during the years of political transformation. The influence of biological, socio-demographic and lifestyle factors on abdominal obesity was analysed by calculating odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals using logistic regression analysis. It was found that for girls obesity in both parents (OR=4.31; 95% CI 1.73–20.70) and high birth weight (OR=1.78; 95% CI 1.12–2.82) were significant risk factors for abdominal obesity in the 1983 cohort. In the 2000 cohort obesity in both parents for boys and girls (boys: OR=5.85; 95% CI 1.36–25.10; girls: OR=4.82; 95% CI 1.17–19.77), low level of parental education in girls (OR=2.06; 95% CI 1.15–3.69), having only one son (OR=1.96; 95% CI 1.36–3.40), parents' smoking habits in girls (OR=2.94; 95% CI 1.46–5.91) and lack of undertaking physical activity in sport clubs in boys (OR=6.11; 95% CI 1.46–25.47) were significant abdominal obesity risk factors. Higher number of hours of leisure time physical activity (OR=0.89; 95% CI 0.81–0.97) significantly lowered the risk of abdominal obesity in boys in the 2000 cohort. The greater differentiation of abdominal obesity risk factors in the 2000 cohort in comparison to the 1983 cohort may have resulted from the social and economic changes taking place in Poland at the end of the 20th century.
Visual Perception of Musical Notation: Registering Pitch Symbols in Memory

Music bears formal relations to language which suggest that perceptual processes in the two modes may also be similar. These experiments examined the way in which experienced musicians differed from non-musicians in their recognition of briefly exposed pitch notation. Experiments I and II together demonstrated that musicians are superior to non-musicians in their immediate written recall of stimuli containing more than three notes, but only when the stimulus is available to them for 150 ms or more. These results are accounted for well by a model proposed by Coltheart (1972) for letter perception under conditions of brief exposure. In this model, two coding processes act simultaneously on the stimulus, one a fast visual coding, and the other a slower, but more permanent abstract (or name) coding. In this case non-musicians appear to be lacking a second, abstract, coding which musicians possess. Experiments III and IV attempted to investigate the nature of the abstract code for musicians by presenting various types of interference in the linguistic or musical mode. Neither concurrent letter naming nor concurrent memorization of pitches appeared to cause a decrement in the original visual task, suggesting that musicians may not have been using simple naming or pitching transformations in coding the visual input.
Characterization of Temperate Bacillus Bacteriophage φ105

Temperate Bacillus phage φ105 is serologically unrelated to previously described virulent Bacillus phages. Phage φ105 is incapable of generalized transduction. Prophage φ105 is inducible with mitomycin C. Phage φ105 contains double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) with a molecular weight of about 25 × 107 as determined by band sedimentation and electron microscopy. The per cent guanine plus cytosine of φ105 DNA is 43.5 as determined by buoyant density in CsCl and by thermal denaturation. Phage φ105 DNA may contain complementary single-stranded ends.
Multivesicular liposome formulations for the sustained delivery of interferon α-2b

AbstractAim:To develop and optimize a sustained release multivesicular liposome (MVL) formulation of interferon (IFN) α-2b.Methods:IFN α-2b MVL were prepared using a typical double-emulsion procedure. The sustained release effects of IFN α-2b MVL were investigated by monitoring the blood IFN α-2b concentration using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test after subcutaneous administration to healthy mice.Results:IFN α-2b was successfully encapsulated in MVL with high efficiency, and the integrity of encapsulated protein was maintained. After subcutaneous injection, the MVL slowly released IFN α-2b into systemic circulation in a sustained manner. The estimated serum half-life of IFN α-2b was approximately 30 h. In addition, varying the size of the MVL preparations could further modify the in vivo release profile.Conclusion:IFN α-2b MVL may be a useful sustained release formulation in the clinical treatment of viral diseases.
Introducing FOPID-PSS to increase small-signal stability of multi-machine power system

Fractional-order proportional-integral-differential (FOPID) controller is a generalization of PID controller employing fractional calculus. In this paper, FOPID power system stabilizer (FOPID-PSS) called PIλDμ-PSS is introduced to improve damping of electromechanical (EM) low frequency oscillations (LFOs) in a multi-machine power system. FOPID-PSS design is formulated as a nonlinear optimization problem in which adjustable parameters are optimized simultaneously via an improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) algorithm by minimizing integral of time multiplied squared error (ITSE) performance index. Dynamic stability of 3-machine 6-bus test system is evaluated by eigenvalue analysis and time domain simulations in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment considering FOPID-PSS. Results are compared with both classical integer-order PID-PSS (IOPID-PSS) and lead-lag conventional PSS (CPSS) from standpoints of dynamic response and system robustness with respect to different uncertainties. The investigations using various performance indices demonstrate that proposed FOPID-PSS achieves superior dynamic performance and more robustness against uncertainties in comparison with IOPID-PSS and CPSS.
The effect of long‐range electrostatic interactions in simulations of macromolecular crystals: A comparison of the Ewald and truncated list methods

Simulations of the HIV‐1 protease unit cell using a 9 A cutoff, 9/18 A ‘‘twin‐range’’ cutoff, and full Ewald sums have been carried out to 300 ps. The results indicate that long‐range electrostatic interactions are essential for proper representation of the HIV‐1 protease crystal structure. The 9 A simulation did not converge in 300 ps. Inclusion of a 9/18 A ‘‘twin‐range’’ cutoff showed significant improvement. Simulation using the Ewald summation convention gave the best overall agreement with x‐ray crystallographic data, and showed the least internal differences in the time average structures of the asymmetric units. The Ewald simulation represents an efficient implementation of the Particle Mesh Ewald method [Darden et al., J. Chem. Phys. 98, 10 089 (1993)], and illustrates the importance of including long‐range electrostatic forces in large macromolecular systems.
Patent Foramen Ovale and Cryptogenic Stroke: A Matter of Age?

A patent foramen ovale (PFO) enables a right-to-left shunt in about a quarter of the population. The marked association between cryptogenic stroke and PFO supports the hypothesis that paradoxical embolism could be a relevant cause of stroke. Although this association has been described in several studies for patients <55 years of age, only limited data are available on the role of PFO in older patients. Recent studies, however, have also shown a significant association between cryptogenic stroke and PFO in patients >55 years of age. The relationship is especially marked in the presence of atrial septum aneurysm (ASA). This finding is in accordance with previous reports indicating that PFO and concomitant ASA is a high-risk feature. Factors promoting paradoxical embolism, such as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and elevated right-heart pressure, are more frequently encountered in older than in younger patients. Independent of age, contrast-enhanced transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography are the methods of choice for the detection and imaging of PFO and atrial septal aneurysm. Transcranial Doppler can be used as a screening method in patients with cryptogenic stroke to detect a right-to-left shunt. Proof of DVT strongly supports the suspicion of paradoxical embolism and should lead to oral anticoagulation. If paradoxical embolism is suspected without proof of DVT, both drug therapy with aspirin or warfarin and percutaneous closure of the PFO are available as therapeutic options. Recent studies have shown that percutaneous closure can be performed safely and with a low rate of recurrence both in older and younger patients. Thus far, however, there is no clear-cut evidence of superiority for either therapeutic strategy.
EU-level agencies: new executive centre formation or vehicles for national control?

The jury is still out with respect to whether European Union (EU)-level agencies act primarily as tools of national governments or not, although parts of the literature as well as the legal framework of EU agencies seem to favour the former interpretation. We argue that EU agencies which might be able to act relatively independently of national governments and the Council, but not necessarily independently from the Commission, would contribute to executive centre formation at the European level and thus to further transformation of the current political-administrative order. By measuring along several dimensions, we demonstrate that the Commission constitutes by far the most important partner of EU agencies. EU agencies deal (somewhat surprisingly) to a considerable extent with (quasi-) regulatory and politicized issues. When engaging in such areas, national ministries and the Council tend to strengthen their position, however, not to the detriment of the Commission. In addition to the Commission, national agencies make up the closest interlocutors in the daily life of EU agencies, indicating how EU-level agencies become building blocks in a multilevel Union administration, partly bypassing national ministries. We build our analysis on an on-line survey among senior officials in EU agencies.
Bayesian Analysis for Generalized Linear Models with Nonignorably Missing Covariates

Summary We propose Bayesian methods for estimating parameters in generalized linear models (GLMs) with nonignorably missing covariate data. We show that when improper uniform priors are used for the regression coefficients, φ, of the multinomial selection model for the missing data mechanism, the resulting joint posterior will always be improper if (i) all missing covariates are discrete and an intercept is included in the selection model for the missing data mechanism, or (ii) at least one of the covariates is continuous and unbounded. This impropriety will result regardless of whether proper or improper priors are specified for the regression parameters, β, of the GLM or the parameters, α, of the covariate distribution. To overcome this problem, we propose a novel class of proper priors for the regression coefficients, φ, in the selection model for the missing data mechanism. These priors are robust and computationally attractive in the sense that inferences about β are not sensitive to the choice of the hyperparameters of the prior for φ and they facilitate a Gibbs sampling scheme that leads to accelerated convergence. In addition, we extend the model assessment criterion of Chen, Dey, and Ibrahim (2004a, Biometrika91, 45–63), called the weighted L measure, to GLMs and missing data problems as well as extend the deviance information criterion (DIC) of Spiegelhalter et al. (2002, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society B64, 583–639) for assessing whether the missing data mechanism is ignorable or nonignorable. A novel Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling algorithm is also developed for carrying out posterior computation. Several simulations are given to investigate the performance of the proposed Bayesian criteria as well as the sensitivity of the prior specification. Real datasets from a melanoma cancer clinical trial and a liver cancer study are presented to further illustrate the proposed methods.
Second National Family Health Survey. Emerging issues.

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) has now come to be regarded as a storehouse of demographic and health data in India. The papers in this issue draw on the data generated in NFHS-2 on a range of social health and demographic indicators. While the second round has come in for some criticism with regard to the quality of data and the cost of the survey it would be useful to undertake a repeat survey between the two censuses. (authors)
Analogue Globally Stable WTA Neural Circuit

A new inhibitory analogue WTA (winner-take-all) neural circuit which identifies maximal among N unknown input signals is proposed. As a building block the second order analogue globally stable neural network of Hopfield type is used. The connection matrix belongs to the class of diagonally stable block diagonal matrices and the activation functions are piecewise linear or sigmoid. The mathematical justification of the circuit functioning, comparative evaluation with analogs and computer simulation results are given
Emotion classification on youtube comments using word embedding

Youtube is one of the most popular video sharing platform in Indonesia. A person can react to a video by commenting on the video. A comment may contain an emotion that can be identified automatically. In this study, we conducted experiments on emotion classification on Indonesian Youtube comments. A corpus containing 8,115 Youtube comments is collected and manually labelled using 6 basic emotion label (happy, sad, angry, surprised, disgust, fear) and one neutral label. Word embedding is a popular technique in NLP, and have been used in many classification tasks. Word embedding is a representation of a word, not a document, and there are many methods to use word embedding in a text classification task. Here, we compared many methods for using word embedding in a classification task, namely average word vector, average word vector with TF-IDF, paragraph vector, and by using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) algorithm. We also study the effect of the parameters used to train the word embedding. We compare the performance of the classification with a baseline, which was previously state-of-the-art, SVM with Unigram TF-IDF. The experiments showed that the best performance is achieved by using word embedding with CNN method with accuracy of 76.2%, which is an improvement from the baseline.