Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Technique for Estimating the State of Health of Lithium Batteries Through a Dual-Sliding-Mode Observer

A new state-of-health (SOH) estimation method for lithium batteries that uses a dual-sliding-mode observer is presented. The capacity fade and resistance deterioration were estimated by the dual-sliding-mode observer. The dual-sliding-mode observer consists of a fast-paced time-varying observer and a slow-paced time-varying observer. The fast-paced time-varying observer estimates parameters, such as the state of charge and terminal voltage, and polarization effects. The slow-paced time-varying observer estimates the SOH in terms of the capacity fade and resistance deterioration. The convergence of the proposed observer was proved by the Lyapunov equation. The structure of the proposed system is simple and easy to implement and shows robust control properties against modeling errors and temperature variations. The test results show that the proposed observer system has superior tracking performance than previous ampere-counting method.
Complications related to harvest of the proximal end of the fibula: A systematic review

The fibula is a common source of bone graft used in skeletal reconstruction. Although in most cases only the diaphysis of the fibula is used, there are clinical scenarios in which the proximal end of the fibula and fibular head are harvested for use in articular reconstruction. The purpose of this systematic review is to determine the incidence of knee instability and peroneal nerve motor dysfunction associated with removal of the proximal end of the fibula and fibular head.
Atrial fibrillation in a commercial diver.

BACKGROUND The torpedo ray is a fish with powerful electric organs, which can serve either as predatory tool or defensive weapon. The name comes from the Latin 'torpere', to be stiffened or paralysed, referring to the effect on someone who handles or steps on a living electric ray. AIM To present an unusual case of atrial fibrillation due to electric shocks by the torpedo ray (electric ray). RESULTS A 42-year-old male commercial diver presented with atrial fibrillation after receiving repeated electric shocks from a torpedo ray while on routine diving operations. Such occurrences are extremely rare and we could find no documented case in the medical literature. CONCLUSIONS Electric current can damage the body by disrupting electric rhythms, inducing muscular spasms and burns. In this case, we report atrial fibrillation in a diver exposed to repeated electric shocks from a torpedo ray.
Crush Injuries with Impairment of Renal Function

Amongst air-raid casualties seen at this hospital have been four cases of crush injury of the limbs which, because of the general similarity of their clinical course, were thought to represent a specific and hitherto unreported syndrome, and one which has been and will be seen elsewhere during the war. Such a condition may have been observed in civil practice, but we have been unable to find any account of it in the literature. The cases are of interest on account of the problem propounded by both pathogenesis and treatment. The picture presented by these four cases, and substantiated by others, is briefly as follows: The patient has been buried for several hours with pressure on a limb. On admission he looks in good condition except for swelling of the limb, some local anaesthesia, and whealing. The haemoglobin, however, is raised, and a few hours later, despite vasoconstriction, made manifest by pallor, coldness, and sweating, the blood pressure falls. This is restored to pre-shock level by (often multiple) transfusions of serum, plasma, or, occasionally, blood. Anxiety may now arise concerning the circulation in the injured limb, which may show diminution of arterial pulsation distally, accompanied by all the changes of incipient gangrene. Signs of renal damage soon appear, and progress even though the crushed limb be amputated. The urinary output, initially small, owing perhaps to the severity of the shock, diminishes further. The urine contains albumin and many dark brown or black granular casts. These later decrease in number. The patient is alternately drowsy and anxiously aware of the severity of his illness. Slight generalized oedema, thirst, and incessant vomiting develop, and the blood pressure often remains slightly raised. The blood urea and potassium, raised at an early stage, become progressively higher, and death occurs comparatively suddenly, frequently within a week. Necropsy reveals necrosis of muscle and, in the renal tubules, degenerative changes and casts containing brown pigment.
Effects of chronic indomethacin therapy on the development and progression of spontaneous mammary tumors in C3H/HEJ mice

The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that endogenous prostaglandin E (PGE) promotes the development, growth and metastasis of spontaneous mammary tumors in C3H/HeJ female retired breeder mice. The effect of chronic oral indomethacin (indo) therapy starting at 6 months of age was tested on these parameters as well as on animal survival, in comparison with control mice placed on 0.2% ethanol in drinking water for up to 25 months of age. Indo treatment delayed the initial (up to 27 weeks) development of primary tumors by 11–12 weeks; however, the subsequent rate of tumor appearance was unaffected (totaling 82% in indo‐treated vs. 90% in controls by 25 months of age). Spontaneous regression of primary tumors (26% in controls) increased 2‐fold (53%) with indo therapy. While the apparent reduction in the growth rate of primary tumors and the overall prolongation of animal survival were not significant, the lifespan of mice bearing multiple tumors was significantly prolonged by therapy. There was also a 2‐fold reduction in the incidence of lung metastases in mice bearing detectable primary tumors, and this was more pronounced during the earlier phase of tumor development. Positive immunostaining for cyclooxygenase‐2 enzyme (indicative of the cellular source of PGE) was exhibited by tumor cells, stromal cells and macrophages within the primary tumors. Tumors in indo‐treated mice exhibited histological evidence of increased differentiation (acinar architecture), significant tumor cell death, mononuclear cell infiltration and reduction in vascularity, indicating that the beneficial effects of indo were due to multiple mechanisms, including improved immune response and reduced angiogenesis. Int. J. Cancer 73:371–380, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Impact of the University of California, Los Angeles/Charles R. Drew University Medical Education Program on Medical Students’ Intentions to Practice in Underserved Areas

Purpose To estimate the impact of a U.S. inner-city medical education program on medical school graduates’ intentions to practice in underserved communities. Method The authors conducted an analysis of secondary data on 1,088 medical students who graduated from either the joint University of California, Los Angeles/Charles R. Drew University Medical Education Program (UCLA/Drew) or the UCLA School of Medicine between 1996 and 2002. Intention to practice in underserved communities was measured using students’ responses to questionnaires administered at matriculation and graduation for program improvement by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to compare the odds of intending to practice in underserved communities among UCLA/Drew students with those of their counterparts in the UCLA School of Medicine. Results Compared with students in the UCLA School of Medicine, UCLA/Drew students had greater adjusted odds of reporting intention to work in underserved communities at graduation, greater odds of maintaining or increasing such intentions between matriculation and graduation, and lower odds of decreased intention to work in underserved communities between matriculation and graduation. Conclusions Training in the UCLA/Drew program was independently associated with intention to practice medicine in underserved communities, suggesting that a medical education program can have a positive effect on students’ goals to practice in underserved areas.
Cellulose Acetate Propionate Coated Titanium: Characterization and Biotechnological Application

Surfaces of pure titanium and Ti coated with cellulose acetate propionate (CAP) have been characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy X ray coupled with elemental microanalysis (SEM-EDS), ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and contact angle measurements. Coating Ti surfaces with CAP ultrathin films reduced original surface roughness. Surface energy and wettability of CAP covered Ti surfaces pure Ti surfaces were similar. The adsorption of lysozyme (LYZ), an antibacterial protein, onto Ti and CAP-coated Ti surfaces has been studied by means of ellipsometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The adsorption of LYZ was mainly driven by hydrophobic interaction between protein hydrophobic residues and CAP propyl groups. Pure Ti and CAP coated Ti surfaces presented no cytotoxicity effect and proved to be adequate substrates for cell adhesion. The biocompatibility of CAP coated Ti surfaces was attributed to the surface enrichment in glucopyranosyl residues and short alkyl side groups.
Severe acute nephrotoxicity in a kidney transplant patient despite low tacrolimus levels: a possible interaction between donor and recipient genetic polymorphisms

Tacrolimus has a narrow therapeutic index and shows large interindividual variations in pharmacokinetics, which may be partly explained by genetic variability in metabolic enzymes of the cytochrome P450 (mainly CYP3A4 and CYP3A5) and transport P‐glycoprotein (encoded by the ABCB1 gene). Genetic variability in the expression of biotransformation enzymes and drug transporters may also predispose individuals to tacrolimus‐induced nephrotoxicity.
The Major Secreted Cathepsin L1 Protease of the Liver Fluke, Fasciola hepatica

A protease secreted by the parasitic helminth Fasciola hepatica, a 37-kDa procathepsin L1 (FheproCL1), autocatalytically processes and activates to its mature enzyme (FheCL1) over a wide pH range of 7.3 to 4.0, although activation is more rapid at low pH. Maturation initiates with cleavages of a small proportion of molecules within the central region of the prosegment, possibly by intramolecular events. However, activation to fully mature enzymes is achieved by a precise intermolecular cleavage at a Leu-12-Ser-11↓His-10 sequence within the nonconserved C-terminal region of the prosegment. The importance of this cleavage site in enzyme activation was demonstrated using an active site variant FheproCL1Gly26 (Cys26 to Gly26) and a double variant FheproCL1Pro-12/Gly26 (Leu-12 to Pro-12), and although both of these variants cannot autocatalytically process, the former is susceptible to trans-processing at a Leu-12-Ser-11↓His-10 sequence by pre-activated FheCL1, but the latter is not. Another F. hepatica secreted protease FheCL2, which, unlike FheCL1, can readily accept proline in the S2 subsite of its active site, can trans-process the double variant FheproCL1Pro-12/Gly26 by cleavage at the Pro-12-Ser-11↓His-10 sequence. Furthermore, the autoactivation of a variant enzyme with a single replacement, FheproCL1Pro-12, was very slow but was increased 40-fold in the presence of FheCL2. These studies provide a molecular insight into the regulation of FheproCL1 autocatalysis.
Three-Dimensional Morphologic Nasal Surface Characteristics that Predict the Extremes of Esthetics in Patients with Repaired Cleft Lip and Palate

Objective The purposes of this study were (1) to develop imaging methods and objective numeric parameters to describe nose morphology, and (2) to correlate those parameters with nasal esthetics for patients with clefts. Methods A total of 28 patients with repaired complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (CUCLP) and 20 age- and gender-matched individuals without clefts were identified. A panel of orthodontists rated and ranked nasal esthetics from nose casts for the cleft group. Best and worst esthetic cleft groups were established from the cast assessments. Three-dimensional surface coordinates of the casts were digitally mapped with an electromagnetic tracking device. Digitized nasal images were oriented, voxelated, sliced, and mathematically curve-fitted. Maximum difference, percent area difference, and maximum and minimum derivative differences between cleft and noncleft and between right and left nose sides were calculated. Differences in parameters between groups were assessed with the use of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t tests, and correlations with esthetics were assessed with the Spearman rank correlation test. Results Differences were seen between cleft and noncleft and best and worst esthetic groups for all four parameters (p < .05). The best esthetic cleft group had (1) lower percent area difference (p < .0001), (2) lower maximum difference (p < .001), and (3) smaller differences in slope of the nose in the coronal plane (p < .0001) than the worst esthetic cleft group. Conclusions Maximum difference and maximum derivative difference and, to a lesser degree, percent area difference can be used to identify differences between cleft and noncleft nasal morphology and to assess levels of nasal esthetics for patients with CUCLP.
Mechanisms of quinolone resistance in a clinical isolate of Escherichia coli highly resistant to fluoroquinolones but susceptible to nalidixic acid

Two associated resistance mechanisms were found in a nalidixic acid-susceptible (4 micrograms/ml) but fluoroquinolone-resistant (8 to 16 micrograms/ml) strain of Escherichia coli Q2 selected under norfloxacin therapy. As compared with the susceptible E. coli Q1 isolated before treatment, changes in outer membrane proteins and lipopolysaccharides in Q2 were associated with a 1.5- to 3-fold decrease in the uptake of fluoroquinolones but not nalidixic acid. A 50% inhibition of DNA synthesis in toluene-permeabilized cells of the resistant strain E. coli Q2 required up to 500-fold increased quantities of fluoroquinolones, whereas such inhibition was obtained in both E. coli Q1 and Q2 with similar amounts of nalidixic acid. Selection from E. coli Q1 on norfloxacin of one-step resistant mutants resembling E. coli Q2 was unsuccessful. From these results we infer that a decrease in outer membrane permeability, associated with a peculiar alteration of the DNA gyrase, was responsible for the unusual quinolone resistance phenotype of E. coli Q2.
Mitochondrial function in turkey skeletal muscle—impact on meat quality

1. M. iliotibialis (MIT) and M. pectoralis (MP) of the BUT Big 6 and Kelly BBB turkey were characterised with respect to physical properties, mitochondrial function, metabolic state, morphology and meat quality. 2. Mitochondrial enzyme activity and respiration rates in MP declined with increasing age while glycolytic enzyme activity remained nearly constant. 3. There were no major differences between BUT Big 6 and Kelly BBB with respect to histological, histochemical or biochemical variables. In spite of the greater adult weight of BUT Big 6, body proportion was equal in both strains. 4. In agreement with the histochemical findings MIT showed higher oxidative capacities, while glycolytic enzyme activity was higher in MP. 5. Pyruvate was the best substrate for oxidative phosphorylation in MIT, but not in MP. Pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) activity was up to 15 times less in MP and blood lactate was correlated with intramuscular pH. 6. Turkey breast muscle was restricted in its ability to oxidise pyruvate, especially in those animals that tended to develop intramuscular acidosis post mortem. 7. It is concluded that the in vivo metabolic environment results in acidosis and impaired meat quality, at least in turkey M. pectoralis.
Microlidar observations of biomass burning aerosol over Djougou (Benin) during African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis Special Observation Period 0: Dust and Biomass‐Burning Experiment

Microlidar observations have been performed at the Djougou-Nangatchori site in northern Benin during the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) Special Observation Period 0 in the dry season, combined with the Dust and Biomass-Burning Experiment (DABEX) from mid-January to mid-February 2006. During the dry season, the Djougou area is a region where biomass burning aerosols are heavily produced from agriculture fires. The aerosol vertical distribution is also controlled by dynamics, and the penetration of the winter monsoon flux to the north and northern winds bringing mineral dust to the South leads to a frontal discontinuity location close to Djougou latitude. During the early dry season, the aerosol vertical distribution was observed to be structured in two layers, the lower being the boundary layer reaching altitudes up to 2 km and the upper one corresponding to the trade wind layer extending up to 5 km. Lidar data are used to retrieve the time evolution and vertical profile of extinction and discuss transport processes during the period analyzed. As the monsoon flux during the dry season is steadily progressing to the north but also moving back and forth according to shorter timescale forcings, biomass burning particles are transported from the boundary layer into the upper troposphere. This transport has a strong impact on the distribution of aerosol particles on the vertical, and extinction values larger than 0.3 km−1 have been retrieved at altitudes close to 3 km. A particular event of biomass burning air mass outbreak associated with a synoptic forcing is studied, where satellite observations are used to discuss observations of biomass burning particles over Djougou and at the regional scale.
Energy Management Using ZigBee

Energy management has been one of the hottest issues in recent years. This concern has been raised as significant changes have been noticed in our daily lives. There is a continuous trend that the weather is getting warmer in future years. During summer, the hot and humid weather make air-conditioner a necessity which consumes much energy. These phenomena are regarded as continuous rather than temporary problems and therefore action has to be undertaken. Energy management is of the utmost importance for future development trend of building automation system reducing the cost of energy. From both environmental and economic aspects, the scarce energy resources have to be used efficiently to alleviate the existing problems. In this paper, our latest research and development in ZigBee will be demonstrated by applying energy management concept to alleviate the environmental problems.
Effect of folic or folinic acid supplementation on the toxicity and efficacy of methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis: a forty-eight week, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

OBJECTIVE To study the effect of folates on discontinuation of methotrexate (MTX) as single-drug antirheumatic treatment due to toxicity, to determine which type of adverse events are reduced, to study the effects on the efficacy of MTX, and to compare folic with folinic acid supplementation in a 48-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. METHODS Patients with active RA (n = 434) were randomly assigned to receive MTX plus either placebo, folic acid (1 mg/day), or folinic acid (2.5 mg/week). The initial MTX dosage was 7.5 mg/week; dosage increases were allowed up to a maximum of 25 mg/week for insufficient responses. Folate dosages were doubled once the dosage of MTX reached 15 mg/week. The primary end point was MTX withdrawal because of adverse events. Secondary end points were the MTX dosage and parameters of efficacy and toxicity of MTX. RESULTS Toxicity-related discontinuation of MTX occurred in 38% of the placebo group, 17% of the folic acid group, and 12% of the folinic acid group. These between-group differences were explained by a decreased incidence of elevated liver enzyme levels in the folate supplementation groups. No between-group differences were found in the frequency of other adverse events or in the duration of adverse events. Parameters of disease activity improved equally in all groups. Mean dosages of MTX at the end of the study were lower in the placebo group (14.5 mg/week) than in the folic and folinic acid groups (18.0 and 16.4 mg/week, respectively). CONCLUSION Both folate supplementation regimens reduced the incidence of elevated liver enzyme levels during MTX therapy, and as a consequence, MTX was discontinued less frequently in these patients. Folates seem to have no effect on the incidence, severity, and duration of other adverse events, including gastrointestinal and mucosal side effects. Slightly higher dosages of MTX were prescribed to obtain similar improvement in disease activity in the folate supplementation groups.
Learning Characteristics of the CERAD Word List in an Elderly VA Sample

The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (Morris et al., 1989) neuropsychological battery, including its 10-word list-learning task, remains in clinical and research use. The present study examined learning characteristics of this word list in a clinical series of elderly military veterans referred for neuropsychological evaluation of suspected dementia. Findings are presented establishing specific normative data by age, education, race, and diagnosis on learning outcomes including total new learning, delayed recall, and recognition memory. In addition, variables such as primacy and recency, intrusion and repetition errors, learning slope, and across-trial consistency are reported. There were no unexpected between-group findings, and the current data may be valuable as a reference when patients with similar demographic and health backgrounds are evaluated.
A Personalized Next-Song Recommendation System Using Community Detection and Markov Model

The key to a recommendation system is the prediction of users' preferences. Personalized recommendation for many online music applications depends on the prediction of both long-term as well as the short-term preferences. In this paper, we propose a novel personalized next-song recommendation system that jointly consider the long-term and short-term preferences in its design. To depict the long-term preferences, we divide the user network into communities according to their similar online activities; and meanwhile we fuse such a network of communities with the Markov chain to make sequential recommendations that are better tailored for the short-term preferences as well. We perform an experimental study on a real-world system over ChangBa (an online music application in China with more than 300 million users). The results show that our approach outperforms existing algorithms in terms of the accuracy of predicting the long- and short-term preferences.