Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hipotermia en recíen nacidos con asfixia perinatal

Se ha demostrado que la hipotermia controlada puede reducir la muerte o discapacidad grave, la mortalidad y los trastornos del neurodesarrollo en recién nacidos que han sufrido asfixia perinatal. Con el objetivo de implementar la realización de hipotermia se analizó su aplicación en 10 recién nacidos de término que cumplieron con criterios de inclusión en dos centros neonatales de Montevideo en un período de dos años. Se alcanzó la temperatura objetivo (33,5°C) en las primeras 6 horas de vida de los pacientes y se mantuvo en ese rango durante 72 horas en 7/10 pacientes. En 8/10 pacientes se utilizó un gorro con agua fría circulante y en 2/10 placas de gel congelado para el enfriamiento encefálico directo y de todo el cuerpo en forma indirecta. Tres pacientes se retiraron del protocolo luego de 48 horas de hipotermia por alteraciones de la coagulación, bradicardia mantenida y paro cardiorrespiratorio, respectivamente. El recalentamiento se logró en todos los casos en seis horas sin alteraciones. El 60% de los pacientes presentaron convulsiones durante su internación y el 100% recibieron fenobarbital. En el grupo analizado se produjeron dos muertes, uno de ellos próximo a la supresión de la terapia y otro en la evolución alejada. De manera complementaria se presentó la caracterización del impacto de la hipoxia severa y de la inducción de hipotermia sobre las variables más relevantes en un modelo de cerdo recién nacido. Se concluye que el desarrollo de hipotermia controlada es una estrategia terapéutica posible y segura, que brinda una oportunidad a los pacientes que han sufrido asfixia perinatal.
Policy Security Protecting for Negotiating Trust

The dynamic and cross-organizational aspects of Grid introduce challenging management and policy issues for controlling access to the resources. Automated trust negotiation is an approach which establishes trust between strangers through the bilateral, iterative disclosure of digital credentials. Sensitive credentials are protected by access control policies which may also be communicated to the other party. In this paper, we propose a policy security protecting solution as a mechanism to help prevent unauthorized information inferences during trust negotiation. Compared to the existing safety model, our policy security protecting solution focuses on the actual information gain during trust negotiation instead of the exchanged messages. Thus, it directly reflects the essence of safety in sensitive information protection. Based on the proposed solution, We show that policy security protecting solution achieve the same protection of sensitive information as existing solutions without imposing additional complications to the interaction between negotiation participants or restricting userspsila autonomy in defining their own policies.
Electronic nicotine delivery systems: adult use and awareness of the ‘e-cigarette’ in the USA

Background Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), also referred to as electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes, were introduced into the US market in 2007. Despite concerns regarding the long-term health impact of this product, there is little known about awareness and use of ENDS among adults in the USA. Methods A consumer-based mail-in survey (ConsumerStyles) was completed by 10 587 adults (≥18 years) in 2009 and 10 328 adults in 2010. Data from these surveys were used to monitor awareness, ever use and past month use of ENDS from 2009 to 2010 and to assess demographic characteristics and tobacco use of ENDS users. Results In this US sample, awareness of ENDS doubled from 16.4% in 2009 to 32.2% in 2010 and ever use more than quadrupled from 2009 (0.6%) to 2010 (2.7%). Ever use of ENDS was most common among women and those with lower education, although these were not the groups who had heard of ENDS most often. Current smokers and tobacco users were most likely to try ENDS. However, current smokers who had tried ENDS did not say they planned to quit smoking more often than smokers who had never tried them. Conclusions Given the large increase in awareness and ever use of ENDS during this 1-year period and the unknown impact of ENDS use on cigarette smoking behaviours and long-term health, continued monitoring of these products is needed.
Superior therapeutic profile of poly-L-glutamic acid-paclitaxel copolymer compared with taxol in xenogeneic compartmental models of human ovarian carcinoma.

Previous preclinical studies with ectopic tumor models have demonstrated remarkable improvements in the therapeutic profile of paclitaxel, formulated as a copolymer with poly-L-glutamic acid, compared with paclitaxel in the clinical formulation, Taxol. In this study, we evaluated these formulations in two human ovarian carcinoma xenograft models, NMP-1 and HEY, in nude mice. i.p. implantation in female nude mice of either cell line gave rise to progressive disease within the peritoneum, in the parenchyma of visceral organs, and eventually at extraperitoneal sites; the resultant, increasing morbidity then required host sacrifice. i.p. administration of multiple-dose Taxol at its maximum tolerated dose 1 week after tumor implantation afforded minimal or no increased survival compared with controls in either model. Consistent with the predictions of drug copolymer behavior, paclitaxel, as the poly-L-glutamic acid-paclitaxel copolymer, displayed much less toxicity than Taxol in these hosts. When evaluated for antitumor efficacy in both the Taxol-resistant NMP-1 and HEY models, significant improvement in survival, and even some cures, were observed after a single i.p. treatment with this copolymer. The observed antitumor response correlated with histopathological analysis of peritoneal and extraperitoneal tumor burden in comparing control HEY mice sacrificed near the onset of morbidity with mice receiving paclitaxel copolymer. We conclude that both the i.p. NMP-1 and HEY models have significant value in establishing the efficacy of candidate agents, which might address Taxol-resistant human ovarian carcinoma. Furthermore, the poly-L-glutamic acid-paclitaxel copolymer has a superior therapeutic profile in these Taxol-resistant compartmental models.
The pillars of strength for first-grade adjustment – Parental and children's character strengths and the transition to elementary school

The present study aimed to explore the relations between parental and children's character strengths and children's school adjustment during the critical period of school entry. Participants were 479 parents and 16 first-grade teachers of 479 first-grade schoolchildren from five public elementary schools in Israel. Children's and parents’ character strengths were measured by parental questionnaires, based on the Values in Action inventories of strengths. In addition, teachers completed questionnaires about their students’ cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral school adjustment. Findings showed that parents’ intellectual, interpersonal, and temperance strengths were positively related to their children's school adjustment. In addition, children's intellectual, interpersonal, group-interaction, temperance, and transcendence strengths were positively related to broad aspects of first-grade adjustment. The present study provides an initial exploration of the contribution of personal and parental strengths to young children's optimal adjustment to elementary school.
Efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of multiple administration of infliximab in Behçet's disease with refractory uveoretinitis.

OBJECTIVE Behçet's disease (BD) with uveoretinitis is a chronic refractory disease accompanied by ocular attacks. As the decrease in visual acuity due to ocular attack is seriously life-threatening, development of a new drug is anticipated. Since tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) is involved in the symptoms of BD, particularly the activity of ocular symptoms, suppression of TNF-a might be effective in treating BD with uveoretinitis. We conducted a clinical trial of infliximab, an anti-TNF-a chimeric monoclonal antibody, in patients with BD. METHODS In this open label trial, the efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of repeated administration of infliximab were evaluated in 13 patients with BD accompanied by refractory uveoretinitis. Infliximab was administered 4 times at Weeks 0, 2, 6, and 10 at doses of either 5 or 10 mg/kg by intravenous drip infusion. Frequency of ocular attacks was used as the primary index for evaluation of efficacy, with visual acuity and extraocular symptoms as secondary indices. RESULTS The mean numbers of ocular attacks, converted to frequency per 14 weeks, were 3.96 times for the 5 mg/kg group and 3.79 times for the 10 mg/kg group during the observation period. Following treatment with infliximab, they decreased to 0.98 times and 0.16 times, respectively. A serious adverse event, tuberculosis, was observed in one case in the 10 mg/kg group. Serum infliximab concentration increased with dosage. CONCLUSION Administration of infliximab in patients with BD with refractory uveoretinitis suppressed the frequency of ocular attacks, and multiple administration was well tolerated, suggesting that infliximab is effective for this condition.
First Report of a Human Isolate ofErwinia persicinus

ABSTRACT Erwinia persicinus was first described in 1990 after being isolated from a variety of fruits and vegetables, including bananas, cucumbers, and tomatoes. In 1994, it was shown to be the causative agent of necrosis of bean pods. We now report the first human isolate of E. persicinus. The strain was isolated from the urine of an 88-year-old woman who presented with a urinary tract infection. By the hydroxyapatite method, DNA from this strain was shown to be 94.5% related at 60°C and 86% related at 75°C to the type strain of E. persicinus. The biochemical profile ofE. persicinus is most similar to those of Erwinia rhapontici, Pantoea agglomerans, andEnterobacter species. It is negative in tests for lysine, arginine, ornithine, dulcitol, and urea. It is motile and positive in tests for d-sorbitol and sucrose. It is susceptible to the expanded-spectrum cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, and fluoroquinolones, but it is resistant to ampicillin, ticarcillin, and cefazolin.
Antibody prevalence and specificity to group C rotavirus in Swedish sera

Of 160 sera collected from different age groups throughout Sweden, 38% were found to be antibody positive for group C rotavirus. The highest antibody prevalence rate was found in individuals aged 11–30 years (45%). An immunoprecipitation assay revealed that the antibodies were directed against VP2, VP4, VP6, VP7, and NSP2, with VP6 being the most immunogenic protein. Neutralising antibodies against a cultivable porcine group C rotavirus (strain AmC‐1/Cowden) were detected in 16/19 individuals at titres from 160 to 5,120. The results indicate that group C rotavirus infections are relatively common in older Swedish children and adults but appear to be less common in children younger than 5 years of age. It is concluded that porcine and human group C rotaviruses share epitopes critical for stimulation of neutralising antibodies. J. Med. Virol. 60:210–215, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cuff pressure of endotracheal tubes after changes in body position in critically ill patients treated with mechanical ventilation.

BACKGROUND In order to avoid microaspiration and tracheal injury, the target for endotracheal tube cuff pressure is 20 to 30 cm H2O. OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of changes in body position on cuff pressure in adult patients. METHODS Twelve orally intubated and sedated patients received neuromuscular blockers and were positioned in a neutral starting position (backrest, head-of-bed elevation 30º, head in neutral position) with cuff pressure at 25 cm H2O. Then, 16 changes in position were performed: anteflexion head, hyperextension head, left and right lateral flexion of head, left and right rotation of the head, semirecumbent position (head-of-bed elevation 45°), recumbent position (head-of-bed elevation 10°), horizontal backrest, Trendelenburg position (10°), and left and right lateral positioning over 30°, 45°, and 90°. Once a patient was correctly positioned, cuff pressure was recorded during an end-expiratory ventilatory hold. The pressure observed was compared with the cuff pressure at the starting position. Values outside the target range (20-30 cm H2O) were considered clinically relevant. RESULTS A total of 192 measurements were performed (12 subjects × 16 positions). A significant deviation in cuff pressure occurred with all 16 changes (P < .05). No pressures were less than the lower limit (20 cm H2O). Pressures were greater than the upper limit (30 cm H2O) in 40.6% of the measurements. In each position, the upper target limit was exceeded at least once. Within-patient variability was substantial (P = .02). CONCLUSION Simple changes in patients' positioning can result in potentially harmful cuff pressures.
A 256 Mb SDRAM using a register-controlled digital DLL

This 256 Mb synchronous DRAM with 1 ns clock access is stable against temperature, voltage, and process variation by use of an innovative register-controlled delay locked loop (RDLL). Unlike most conventional high-density DRAMs, the bit-lines are placed above the storage capacitors in this DRAM to relax design rules of the core area. The noise issues are analyzed and resolved to help implement the technology in mass production of 0.28 to 0.24 /spl mu/m 200 MHz DRAMs.
Applying voice conversion to concatenative singing-voice synthesis

This work address the application of Voice Conversion to singing-voice. The GMM-based approach was applied to VOCALOID, a concatenative singing synthesizer, to perform singer timbre conversion. The conversion framework was applied to full-quality singing databases, achieving a satisfactory conversion effect on the synthesized utterances. We report in this paper the results of our experimentation focused to study the spectral conversion performance when applied to specific pitch-range data.
Design and Evaluation of a Self-Learning HTTP Adaptive Video Streaming Client

HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) is becoming the de facto standard for Over-The-Top (OTT)-based video streaming services such as YouTube and Netflix. By splitting a video into multiple segments of a couple of seconds and encoding each of these at multiple quality levels, HAS allows a video client to dynamically adapt the requested quality during the playout to react to network changes. However, state-of-the-art quality selection heuristics are deterministic and tailored to specific network configurations. Therefore, they are unable to cope with a vast range of highly dynamic network settings. In this letter, a novel Reinforcement Learning (RL)-based HAS client is presented and evaluated. The self-learning HAS client dynamically adapts its behaviour by interacting with the environment to optimize the Quality of Experience (QoE), the quality as perceived by the end-user. The proposed client has been thoroughly evaluated using a network-based simulator and is shown to outperform traditional HAS clients by up to 13% in a mobile network environment.
Cardiac muscle tissue engineering : toward an in vitro model for electrophysiological studies

Bursac, N. , M. Papadaki, R. J. Cohen, F. J. Schoen, S. R. Eisenberg, R. Carrier, G. Vunjak-Novakovic, and L. E. Freed. Cardiac muscle tissue engineering: toward an in vitro model for electrophysiological studies. Am. J. Physiol. 277 (Heart Circ. Physiol. 46): H433–H444, 1999. —The objective of this study was to establish a three-dimensional (3-D) in vitro model system of cardiac muscle for electrophysiological studies. Primary neonatal rat ventricular cells containing lower or higher fractions of cardiac myocytes were cultured on polymeric scaffolds in bioreactors to form regular or enriched cardiac muscle constructs, respectively. After 1 wk, all constructs contained a peripheral tissue-like region (50–70 μm thick) in which differentiated cardiac myocytes were organized in multiple layers in a 3-D configuration. Indexes of cell size (protein/DNA) and metabolic activity (tetrazolium conversion/DNA) were similar for constructs and neonatal rat ventricles. Electrophysiological studies conducted using a linear array of extracellular electrodes showed that the peripheral region of constructs exhibited relatively homogeneous electrical properties and sustained macroscopically continuous impulse propagation on a centimeter-size scale. Electrophysiological properties of enriched constructs were superior to those of regular constructs but inferior to those of native ventricles. These results demonstrate that 3-D cardiac muscle constructs can be engineered with cardiac-specific structural and electrophysiological properties and used for in vitro impulse propagation studies.
Defusing the debugging scandal - dedicated debugging technologies for advanced dispatching languages

To increase program modularity, new languages have been researched in recent years. They allow changing behavior according to various kinds of contexts at the call sites. In our research, we classified them as advanced-dispatching languages. Advanced-dispatching languages are usually implemented as an extension of main-stream languages. After compilation, their programs are transformed to the compiled form of the main-stream language. Due to this compilation mechanism, source-level abstractions cannot be fully restored during debugging. The information loss increases the effort of comprehending advanced-dispatching programs and fixing advanced-dispatching-specific defects. In this thesis, we performed four works to improve the comprehensibility of debugging advanced-dispatching programs on three debugging techniques --- interactive debugging, trace-based debugging, and slicing. Interactive debugging is the most common debugging technique. We proposed eleven atomic advanced-dispatching-specific debugging tasks based on four aspect-oriented-specific fault models. To support the tasks, we modified an existing compiler to keep aspect-oriented information after the compilation, extended java virtual machine, built a dedicated advanced dispatching debugging model, and implemented graphical user interfaces. In interactive debugging, breakpoints set for solving one problem are logically related. However, existing debuggers do not support to build logic between breakpoints. Therefore, programmers have to manually perform some unnecessarily repeated tasks. We analysed five common debugging scenarios and proposed a breakpoint language that uses pointcuts to select suspension times. Interactive debugging cannot support backward inspection, which is required in tracking from an observed behavior to the defect. Trace-based debugging solves this problem by recording events at runtime and then supporting inspection offline. Existing researches on trace-based debugging for advanced-dispatching languages are limited. We proposed a dedicated trace-based debugger with an user interface that allow programmers to navigate and query the recorded trace. Besides debugging techniques performed on runtime inforamtion, we also looked into slicing, which is a static technique that automatically select relevant program statements. It can complement problems of guessing locations for setting breakpoints in interactive debugging and searching relevant information in trace-based debugging. We developed dependency graphs that are dedicated to aspect-oriented programs, as well as a slicing algorithm that is performed on the developed dependency graphs.
Application of a Generalization of Russo's Formula to Learning from Multiple Random Oracles

We study the problem of learning k-juntas given access to examples drawn from a number of different product distributions. Thus we wish to learn a function f: {−1, 1}n → {−1, 1} that depends on k (unknown) coordinates. While the best-known algorithms for the general problem of learning a k-junta require running times of nk poly(n, 2k), we show that, given access to k different product distributions with biases separated by γ > 0, the functions may be learned in time poly(n, 2k, γ−k). More generally, given access to t ≤ k different product distributions, the functions may be learned in time nk/tpoly(n, 2k, γ−k). Our techniques involve novel results in Fourier analysis, relating Fourier expansions with respect to different biases, and a generalization of Russo's formula.
ANALYSIS OF HLA‐DQB AND HLA‐DPB ALLELES IN Graves'DISEASE BY OLIGONUCLEOTIDE PROBING OF ENZYMATICALLY AMPLIFIED DNA

We have tested the possible association of HLA‐DQB and HLA‐DPB alleles with Graves'thyrotoxicosis, with or without severe ophthalmopathy, by polymerase chain amplification of genomic DNA and allele‐specific oligonucleotide probing. There was no significantly abnormal distribution of DQB alleles compared to 50 control subjects except for a reduced prevalence of DQw 3.1 in the Graves'patients with severe ophthalmopathy (x2= 6.23, P < 0.02). HLA‐DPB 2.1/8 was found in only 1 of 40 of these patients compared with 15 of the controls (x2= 11.49, P <0‐001). Ten of 48 patients with Graves'disease but without clinically significant eye involvement were HLA‐DPB 2.1/8 positive, not significantly different from controls, but significantly different from the ophthalmopathy group (x2= 6.70, P < 0.01). The other DPB alleles in both groups of Graves'disease patients were the same as controls. These results suggest that HLA‐DPB 2.1/8 may confer a protective effect in Graves'disease with respect to ophthalmopathy.
Voice Traffic Service Guarantee in Wireless Mesh Networks Based on IEEE 802.11e

The IEEE 802.11e standard is mostly concerned with traffic differentiation in single-hop infrastructured wireless networks. Wireless mesh networks use several wireless hops in order to forward packets to their destination. A significant issue is that the standard does not map network characteristics into the access protocol parameters it provides. This paper investigates different configurations of the IEEE 802.11e access parameters in wireless mesh networks and proposes two configuration settings. Both proposals provide voice traffic service guarantee without significantly degrading the performance of other multimedia traffic classes, as demonstrated by simulation experiment results.
Pattern control for portable devices by exploiting phase-shifted characteristic modes

A pattern control for portable devices at 2.45 GHz is proposed by exploiting phase-shifted characteristic modes (CMs). Among all available orthogonal CMs, the pattern control of a rectangular conductive plane has been obtained by a weighted linear superposition of only two current modes (J4 and J8). A proper position of two capacitive coupling exciters (CCEs), hosted above the rectangular conductive plane, realize the selective excitation of the current modes, whereas the phase difference (Δθ) between the CCEs allows obtaining the pattern control. The obtained results prove that the phase-shifted CM technique is reliable and can be applicable to other kind of structures.
Pulmonary Edema and Hydrothorax in Swine Produced by Fumonisin B1, a Toxic Metabolite of Fusarium Moniliforme

Pulmonary edema and hydrothorax were observed in mature swine that died approximately 5 days after consuming corn screenings. These postmortem observations were reproduced in younger swine (16–24 kg) that died within 1 week when fed the corn screenings under experimental conditions. Additionally, pulmonary edema and hydrothorax occurred in a pig (7.1 kg) that died after receiving 4 daily intravenous injections of fumonisin B,. A fungus was isolated from the corn screenings that is identical to Fusarium moniliforme MRC-826 in colony morphology and under microscopic examination.