Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pressure Support Ventilation Versus Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Ventilation with the ProSeal™ Laryngeal Mask Airway: A Randomized Crossover Study of Anesthetized Pediatric Patients

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and pressure support ventilation (PSV) improve gas exchange in adults, but there are little published data regarding children. We compared the efficacy of PSV with CPAP in anesthetized children managed with the ProSeal™ laryngeal mask airway. Patients were randomized into two equal-sized crossover groups and data were collected before surgery. In Group 1, patients underwent CPAP, PSV, and CPAP in sequence. In Group 2, patients underwent PSV, CPAP, and PSV in sequence. PSV comprised positive end-expiratory pressure set at 3 cm H2O and inspiratory pressure support set at 10 cm H2O above positive end-expiratory pressure. CPAP was set at 3 cm H2O. Each ventilatory mode was maintained for 5 min. The following data were recorded at each ventilatory mode: ETco2, Spo2, expired tidal volume, peak airway pressure, work of breathing patient (WOB), &dgr; esophageal pressure, pressure time product, respiratory drive, inspiratory time fraction, respiratory rate, noninvasive mean arterial blood pressure, and heart rate. In Group 1, measurements for CPAP were similar before and after PSV. In Group 2, measurements for PSV were similar before and after CPAP. When compared with CPAP, PSV had lower ETco2 (46 ± 6 versus 52 ± 7 mm Hg; P < 0.001), slower respiratory rate (24 ± 6 versus 30 ± 6 min−1; P < 0.001), lower WOB (0.54 ± 0.54 versus 0.95 ± 0.72 JL−1; P < 0.05), lower pressure time product (94 ± 88 versus 150 ± 90 cm H2O s−1min−1; P < 0.001), lower &dgr; esophageal pressure (10.6 ± 7.4 versus 14.1 ± 8.9 cm H2O; P < 0.05), lower inspiratory time fraction (29% ± 3% versus 34% ± 5%; P < 0.001), and higher expired tidal volume (179 ± 50 versus 129 ± 44 mL; P < 0.001). There were no differences in Spo2, respiratory drive, mean arterial blood pressure, and heart rate. We conclude that PSV improves gas exchange and reduces WOB during ProSeal™ laryngeal mask airway anesthesia compared with CPAP in ASA physical status I children aged 1–7 yr.
Ki-67 immunostaining in pancreatic cancer and chronic active pancreatitis: does in vivo FDG uptake correlate with proliferative activity?

UNLABELLED PET with 18F-FDG has been shown to be useful in the detection and staging of pancreatic cancer. However, whether FDG uptake is dependent on proliferative activity is still unclear. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate a probable correlation between FDG uptake and proliferative activity in benign and malignant pancreatic tumors. METHODS Our series consisted of 23 patients with pancreatic cancer and 9 patients with chronic active pancreatitis (CAP). FDG PET was performed within 2 wk before surgery, and standardized uptake values (SUVs) were calculated for benign and malignant pancreatic tumors. Patients were selected when focally increased FDG uptake in previously known pancreatic tumors was present. Proliferation fraction was measured in tissue specimens using the anti-Ki-67 antibody MIB-1. A computer-assisted imaging system was used for quantification of nuclear Ki-67 immunostaining. Immunohistochemical findings were correlated to SUVS: RESULTS Pancreatic cancer showed both intense nuclear staining of Ki-67 (39% +/- 16%) and high FDG uptake (SUV = 3.6 +/- 1.6). However, no significant correlation was found between in vivo FDG uptake and Ki-67 immunoreactivity (P = 0.65). By contrast, Ki-67 nuclear staining was significantly lower (3.8% +/- 2.7%, P < 0.05) in CAP, whereas FDG uptake was in the same range as for pancreatic cancer (SUV = 3.5 +/- 1.8). CONCLUSION FDG uptake did not correlate with proliferative activity in pancreatic cancer. Proliferative activity was tenfold higher in malignant pancreatic tumors than in benign tumors associated with CAP, whereas FDG uptake in vivo did not differ significantly. Thus, a PET tracer indicating cellular proliferation should better differentiate between cancer and inflammatory lesions than do metabolic markers such as FDG.
Effect of nitric oxide on contractions of uterine and cervical tissues from pregnant rats

Our objective was to evaluate the role of the nitric oxide (NO)–cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) pathway in rat uterine and cervical contractility at mid- and late gestation. Rings of uterus and cervix from Sprague Dawley rats on day 14 of pregnancy (mid-) and day 21 of pregnancy (late) were equilibrated at 2 g passive tension in organ chambers filled with Krebs-Henseleit solution and bubbled with 5% CO2in air (37°C, pH approximately 7.4). Rings were treated with an inhibitor of outward potassium current, tetraethylammonium, to activate phasic contractions, and the concentration–response relationships to diethylamine/NO and 8-bromo-cGMP (8-br-cGMP) were assessed. Baseline spontaneous activity was significantly higher at term gestation in both uterine and cervical rings compared with mid-gestation. Spontaneous contractile activity was not apparent in cervical rings from rats in mid-gestation, but was persistent after treatment with tetraethylammonium. Oxyhemoglobin did not affect NO-induced inhibition of activation by tetraethylammonium contractile activity in either cervical or uterine tissues in mid- or late gestation. The 8-br-cGMP concentration-dependently inhibited tetraethylammonium-activated contractions that were more pronounced in uterine tissues compared with cervical tissues in both mid- and late gestation. We concluded that activation of the NO- cGMP pathway inhibits both uterine and cervical smooth muscle contractility. Both tissues demonstrated refractoriness to NO at term.
Epidemiology of hematological malignancies.

Hematological malignancies comprise a collection of heterogeneous conditions, all originating from cells of the bone marrow and the lymphatic system. There are three major groups: leukemia, lymphoma, and plasma cell neoplasms. In general, in Western countries the overall incidence of hematological malignancies appears to be rising but it is very difficult to describe in a consistent and uniform way their epidemiological behavior, especially in Europe. The number of European Union (EU) Member States has increased and this expansion enlarged the Union to incorporate a diversity of peoples with a much larger degree of heterogeneity in lifestyle habits and disease risk, as well as in cancer incidence and mortality (either overall or site-specific). Moreover, there is not a unique European reporting system or registry for hematological cancers, so the estimation of the exact number of patients is difficult. In addition, the comparison of the incidences reported by various European registries may be biased because their populations can be predominantly either urban or rural, or because there are differences in the methodology and accuracy of registration. The number of new patients in Europe diagnosed with hematological malignancies in 2005 can be estimated in 230 000 patients. These new cases of leukemia, Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and myeloma account for 8% of all the new cancer patients diagnosed in Europe and the estimated deaths from these tumors account for 7% of the cancer-related deaths in 2005. Incidence rates for the main hematological cancers in Europe and the United States are summarized in Tables 1 and 2.
Single-phase high gain DC/DC converter with multiplier cell for lighting applications using fuzzy controller

This paper introduces a high voltage gain non-isolated dc-dc converter integrating coupled inductor and switched-capacitor techniques for lighting application. The proposed converter produces extremely large voltage conversion ratio. The energy stored in the leakage inductance of coupled inductor is efficiently recycled to the output and the voltage stress on the power devices are reduced. This high gain dc/dc converter can be utilized for high power applications. This paper proposes a closed loop control for a high voltage gain dc-dc converter with a fuzzy controller. The proposed converter is simulated using Matlab®/Simulink®.
Physical Fitness of Adults with an Intellectual Disability: A 13-Year Follow-up Study

Abstract The purpose of this study was to describe the change in physical fitness of middle-aged adults with an intellectual disability over a period of 13 years. Participants were 32 adults who worked in a supported work environment in Montreal and had been participants in a physical fitness study in 1983. Using the Canadian Standardized Test of Fitness, the participants were evaluated for cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. A home visit prior to the testing session refamiliarized the participants with the test procedures. Two forms of analysis were used to describe the change in fitness over 13 years. First, a 2 × 2 (Group × Time) analysis of variance for each dependent variable assessed change over time. Second, effect sizes were calculated to measure the magnitude of change in fitness over the 13-year period in comparison to those without an intellectual disability. As expected, te physical fitness levels of the participants were low when compared to those without a disability and declined over the 13 years. In addition, the magnitude of change over the 13 years, as compared to those without a disability, was greater for male and female participants for body mass index and percentage of body fat and for female participants for cardiovascular endurance and sit-ups. It appears that adults with an intellectual disability may be particularly at risk for declining health associated with aging and low physical fitness.
Translating Technology in Professional Practices to Optimize Infection Prevention and Control: A Case Study Based on the TRIP-ANT Framework

The aim of this study was to explain how the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technology was translated into professional practices to prevent and control vancomycin-resistant enterococci outbreaks via an actor-network, based on the integrated framework TRIP-ANT. A single case study was conducted in three purposefully selected sites implementing the PCR-VRE assay. The complete dataset comprised semi-structured interviews with 28 participants and a review of hospital and external documents. A content analysis was conducted. The authors' findings indicate the emergence of four main themes, including illustration of who was involved in the adoption process, attribution of roles and responsibilities, interaction/communication/ collaboration mechanisms, and changes in professional practices. Their findings also address five challenges that arose from each theme. The translation of PCR technology into professional practices relies on the enrolment of an organisational, clinical, managerial and financial support network, and on the evolution of practices, communications, and roles and responsibilities.
Fast CU Partitioning Algorithm for HEVC Using an Online-Learning-Based Bayesian Decision Rule

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is the state-of-the-art video coding standard. It adopts a hierarchical quad-tree-based coding unit (CU) partitioning structure that is flexible in various texture and motion characteristics of a video signal. However, the exhaustive partitioning process for finding optimal CU partitions requires a dramatic increase in computational complexity of the HEVC encoder compared with previous video coding standards. In this paper, a fast CU partitioning algorithm is proposed for HEVC encoder, which early on terminates the CU partitioning process based on the Bayesian decision rule using joint online and offline learning. An online learning method is first presented based on the minimum error Bayesian decision rule using a training picture selection method with scene change detection. Next, a joint online and offline learning method is presented, which additionally trains the loss of decision making of the proposed method based on the minimum risk Bayesian decision rule. The proposed method is implemented on an HEVC test software 15.0. Experimental results show that the proposed method reduces the computational complexity of HEVC encoder to 53.6% on an average with a 0.71% acceptable Bjøntegaard delta bitrate loss in random access configuration. For other configurations, 48.4%, 48.5%, and 54.2% encoding time saving are obtained on an average for low delay, low delay-P, and all intra-configurations, respectively.
Steroid--receptor interaction in a canine anal adenoma.

An anal adenoma from a dog has been examined for cytosol binding proteins for androgens and oestrogens. Sucrose-density gradient analysis revealed low capacity binding moieties for testosterone with sedimentation coefficients of 2S and 8S, for 5α-dihydrotestosterone (8S) and for oestradiol-17β (4S and 8S). In each case it was shown that the steroids could be translocated to the nuclei and were found there to be protein-bound. The dissociation constants for 5α-dihydrotestosterone and oestradiol-17β were 5×1 × 10-10M and 2×6 × 10-10M respectively and the corresponding receptor site concentrations were 9 and 38 fmol/mg cytosol protein. The possible significance of these findings with regard to the induction and maintenance of such tumours is discussed.
Comment on "Repulsive Casimir forces".

A recent theoretical calculation shows that the Casimir force between two parallel plates can be repulsive for plates with nontrivial magnetic properties (O. Kenneth et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 033001 (2002)). According to the authors, the effect may be observed with known materials, such as ferrites and garnets, and it might be possible to engineer micro- or nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS or NEMS) that could take advantage of a short range repulsive force. Here we show that on the contrary the Casimir force between two parallel plates in vacuum at micron and submicron distance is always attractive.
Attachment insecurity and perceived importance of relational features

Chronic attachment insecurity can affect the outlook people have on relationships. This research examines how attachment insecurity relates to perceived importance of various features in a romantic relationship (e.g., intimacy, independence). Consistent with predictions, the results from Studies 1–3 (N 1 = 53, N 2 = 226, N 3 = 196) revealed that greater attachment anxiety was associated with ranking intimacy higher in importance and independence lower, whereas attachment avoidance was associated with ranking independence higher, intimacy, and trust lower. Study 4 (N 4 = 175) further showed that insecure participants recognized that some of their priorities are unique to themselves and not shared by others. Additionally, they did not perceive their current relationships as having more of the relational features they prioritized. Insecure individuals thus have unique relational priorities, which may direct their romantic judgments and decisions.
Information Technology Governance Adoption: Understanding its Expectations Through the Lens of Organizational Citizenship

IT Governance ITG can support the organizational decision-making on its IT initiatives, increasing the alignment IT/business. The goal is to understand how ITG influences the behavior of individuals within organizations. Organizational Citizenship Behavior OCB concept was selected to analyze individuals' voluntary commitment within an organization that is not part of their contractual tasks. The premise is that ITG influences organizational citizenship behavior such as job satisfaction and rewards perception. The research was conducted through a focus group made up of the members of an IT State Governance Committee in Brazil and semi structured interviews with IT managers from the state departments. Questions based on OCB were discussed in order to understand the behavioral changes expectations along the ITG mechanisms adoption. The preliminary results showed that citizenship behavior could improve because of the ITG process. Based on the results, a preliminary conceptual model was proposed.
Risk Factors for Respiratory Symptoms and Asthma in the Residential Environment of 5th Grade Schoolchildren in Taipei, Taiwan

This study examined the association of residential environmental factors with respiratory symptoms and asthma in 2,290 fifth graders in Taipei, Taiwan. A self-report survey questionnaire elicited experiences of respiratory symptoms, disease history, and characteristics of residential environmental factors from schoolchildren. The proportion of schoolchildren having physician-diagnosed asthma was 9.8% and suspected asthma was 16.1%. The proportions of having respiratory symptoms in the past 12 months ranged from 9.8% for wheezing without a cold to 40.5% for exercise-induced cough. Higher proportions of boys had non-exercise-induced respiratory symptoms, physician-diagnosed asthma, and suspected asthma than girls (p < 0.05). Exposure to odoriferous chemical vapor was significantly associated with all seven respiratory symptoms considered in the study (p < 0.05). After adjusting for confounding factors including residential districts, gender, diagnosed allergy, and parental history of respiratory symptoms, odoriferous chemical vapors, gas leaks, dehumidifier use, presence of cockroaches at home, and leaky water/water puddle at home were significantly associated with the proportions of physician-diagnosed asthma or suspected asthma of the schoolchildren. The adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of physician-diagnosed asthma was 2.35 (95% confidential interval = 1.45–3.82) for odoriferous chemical vapor. The aOR of suspected asthma measure was 2.14 (95% CI = 1.40–3.26) for odoriferous chemical vapor. Odoriferous chemical vapor was the major risk factor of respiratory illness in the residential environment of schoolchildren in Taipei. Other household risk factors included gas leaks, dampness, and cockroaches at home.
Development of a fluoridated, daily-use toothpaste containing NovaMin technology for the treatment of dentin hypersensitivity.

Introduction Calcium sodium phosphosilicate (trade name NovaMin) is an inorganic amorphous compound that contains only calcium, sodium, phosphate, and silica. The calcium sodium phosphosilicate (CSPS) technology was invented by Professor Larry Hench at the University of Florida in the late 1960s, and found use in the development of new bone regenerative materials. The original composition proposed by Professor Hench was the “45S5” composition, i.e., 45% SiO 2 , 24.5% Na 2 O, 24.5% CaO, and 6% P 2 O 5 (in wt%). Anecdotally, this composition was selected to ensure that the Ca:P molar ratio was the same as hydroxyapatite in bone mineral. The material was subsequently adapted for dentin remineralization during the mid-1990s by Drs. Leonard Litkowski and Gary Hack (both at the University of Maryland at that time), and Dr. David Greenspan. In 2003, NovaMin Technology Inc. was formed to commercialize this novel compound. During the last 10 years, a range of professional and consumer products containing NovaMin were marketed. The first product developed by NovaMin Technology was a daily-use fluoride-free toothpaste containing 5% NovaMin (Oravive). This product was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a 510K medical device, indicated for the rapid and continual reduction of tooth sensitivity. NovaMin was subsequently formulated into over 15 products, including prophylaxis and regular toothpastes, and sold in more than 20 countries, including the USA, Canada, India, and China. In 2010, NovaMin Technology Inc. was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSK). Recent GSK Oral Care research efforts have focused on the development of the first daily-use toothpaste for the treatment of dentin hypersensitivity containing 5% (in wt%) NovaMin and a source of fluoride. This paper reviews the mode of action of NovaMin for the treatment of dentin hypersensitivity, and discusses the development of a fluoridated daily-use toothpaste (Sensodyne Repair and Protect, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Weybridge, Surrey, UK) containing this technology. An overview of the other articles in this Special Issue, presenting technical and clinical efficacy results supporting this novel toothpaste formulation, is also presented.
Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling Enhanced Task Scheduling Technologies toward Green Cloud Computing

The skyrocketing amount of electricity consumed by many data centers around the globe has become a serious issue for the cloud computing and entire IT industry. It also leads to huge carbon emissions contributing to the global greenhouse effect. The US Environmental Protection Agency has declared that data centers represent a substantial portion of the energy consumption in the US and the whole world[3]. Some of this energy consumption is caused by idle servers or servers running athigher-than-necessaryfrequencies.DuetotheDynamicVoltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) technology enabled in many CPUs, strategically reducing CPU frequency without affecting the Quality of Service (QoS) is desired. Our goal in this paper is to calculate and tune to the best CPU frequency for each running task combined with two commonly-used scheduling approaches, namely round robin and first fit algorithms.
Priority-Based Level of Detail Approach for Animation Interpolation of Articulated Objects

This paper presents an LOD technique applicable to articulated characters in real-time graphical simulation or video game software. This new method does not eliminate the polygon counts of the graphical model due to the change of distance to the viewer. Rather, the rendering expense is cut by the reduction of the animation interpolations between key frames based on a priority number that is calculated and assigned by taking several factors into account, including rotation, translation, scaling, number of children and depth in the hierarchical structure. An analysis to those sub-components of the hierarchical animation is conducted and an equation is established to qualify the contribution to visual effects of such animation sequence. The benchmark tests demonstrate that, under certain conditions, our approach can significantly reduce the number of interpolated with no noticeable visual artifacts.
The improved synergetic retrieval of aerosol properties algorithm

In recent years the satellite monitoring capabilities in particular to derive maps of aerosol optical depth (AOD) have increased tremendously. There are many aerosol retrieval algorithms for different satellites and sensors such as Dark-Target method (DT), Deep Blue, etc. In this paper, we used an improved approach called the Synergetic Retrieval of Aerosol Properties (SRAP) method to retrieve aerosol properties over land surfaces by using the MODIS data. The improvement of the SRAP method include the following respects: 1) Considering the importance of gas absorption correction, we use ancillary data acquired from National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) analyses to correct the effect of gas absorption. 2) A new cloud mask based on a spatial variability test as well as the absolute value at the 0.47 μm and the 1.38 μm bands were implemented in the SRAP algorithm.