Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Minimizing ventricular pacing by a novel atrioventricular (AV) delay hysteresis algorithm in patients with intact or compromised intrinsic AV conduction and different atrial and ventricular lead locations

Abstract Purpose. To investigate if an advanced AV search hysteresis (AVSH) algorithm, Ventricular Intrinsic Preference (VIP™), reduces the incidence of ventricular pacing (VP) in sinus node dysfunction (SND) with both intact and compromised AV conduction and with intermittent AV block regardless of the lead positions in the right atria and the ventricle. Methods. Patients were classified as having intact AV (AVi) conduction if the PR interval was ≤ 210 ms on ECG and 1:1 AV conduction during atrial pacing up to 120 bpm with PR interval ≤ 350 ms. Otherwise the AV conduction was classified as compromised (AVc). Both AVi and AVc patients were randomized to VIP ON or OFF. VIP performed an intrinsic AV conduction search every 30 s for three consecutive atrial cycles with the extension of the sensed and paced AV (SAV/PAV) delays from basic values of 150/200 ms to 300/350 ms. Extended AV intervals were allowed for three cycles when VP occurred before returning to basic AV delays. The primary end-point was %VP at 12 months. Results. Among 389 patients, 30.1% had intact and 69.9% had compromised AV conduction. The mean %VP at 12 months was 9.6% by VIP compared to 51.8% with standard AV settings in patients with AVi (P < 0.0001) and 28.0% versus 78.9% (P < 0.0001) with AVc. With VIP, excessive %VP among most used lead positions was not seen. Conversely, when VIP was off %VP was low only in patients who had leads in the RA septal–RV septal position (23.0%). Conclusions. VIP feature reduces VP both in patients with SND and with intermittent heart block regardless of the lead positions in the right atria and the ventricle.
Lithium and desipramine versus desipramine alone in the treatment of severe major depression: a preliminary study

Improvement following lithium augmentation is well-documented in depressed patients resistant to tricyclic antidepressants. However, response latency to lithium augmentation is extremely variable, suggesting other mechanisms may be involved. To evaluate whether long-term tricyclic treatment is necessary for lithium augmentation's effect, the rapidity and magnitude of response to lithium combined with desipramine from the start of treatment was compared to desipramine alone in severely depressed patients. Patients with DSM-III-R major depression were randomized to double-blind, placebo-controlled treatment with either lithium + desipramine or placebo + desipramine for 4 weeks. Response criteria were based on Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores and global improvement. Analysis of covariance of Hamilton scores demonstrated that lithium + desipramine was superior to placebo + desipramine at week 1 (P < 0.009), week 2 (P < 0.028), and week 3 (P < 0.07), although not at week 4. There were more responders to the combination than to monotherapy (P < 0.042). These preliminary data suggest that lithium + desipramine may have some efficacy in severely depressed patients. Further studies with larger samples are needed to confirm these findings.
A new radix-N resolution-fusion method for LASAR

This paper concerns resolution-fusion method for linear array 3-D imaging SAR (LASAR). Limited by the length of the linear array, the cross-track (CT) resolution of LASAR is often lower than that in the along-track (AT) direction. To overcome this disadvantage, we assume that there are two LASAR systems whose trajectories are orthogonal to each other. Thus, we obtain a row-low-resolution image and a column-low - resolution image of the same scene. Using the orthogonal complement decomposition technique, we fuse the two images into one quasi-high-resolution image.
Longitudinal metric properties of disability rating scales for Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVES This study analyzes the longitudinal metric attributes of three Parkinson's disease (PD) disability scales, taking Hoehn and Yahr (HY) staging as the reference measure of PD progression. METHODS A sample of 87 PD patients was assessed during regular medical visits, using the HY, the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale--Activities of Daily Living Section (UPDRS-ADL), the Schwab and England Scale (SES), and the Intermediate Scale for Assessment of PD (ISAPD), across a follow-up period of 2.6 +/- 1.0 years. RESULTS The following cross-sectional attributes were analyzed, at baseline and again on conclusion of the study: floor and ceiling effects, convergent validity, reliability, and standard error of measurement, all of which were found to be adequate. Longitudinal reproducibility values (intraclass correlation coefficient) were 0.81 (ISAPD) to 0.84 (UPDRS-ADL). Insofar as longitudinal validity was concerned, the change scores of the three disability scales correlated significantly with the HY change score, absolute value r = 0.33 to 0.45, P < 0.003. Slightly lower values were found when taking the annual rate of change, absolute value r = 0.20 to 0.36. The three scales were acceptable, even though there were small differences among them. The "minimal clinically important difference" proposed for these scales is: SES, -6; UPDRS-ADL, +2; ISAPD, +1.5 points. CONCLUSIONS The three scales proved adequate for longitudinal assessment of PD disability. UPDRS-ADL was more precise and ISAPD more consistent. Magnitude of change and correlation with change in HY were slightly higher with the ISAPD. Effect size and standardized response mean for the minimal change in HY were higher for the UPDRS-ADL.
Care of hospitalized older patients: opportunities for hospital-based physicians.

BACKGROUND Half of patients admitted to hospital for reasons unrelated to childbirth are age 65 years or older. Nonetheless, few hospital-based physicians have received training in geriatric medicine, and few geriatricians practice in the hospital. This paper describes the state of the science of hospital care for older patients, and identifies opportunities and barriers to improving their care. METHODS General medical journals from 1980 to the present were selectively reviewed to identify original articles on the treatment of specific diseases and syndromes on hospitalized persons age 65 years or older. Information was synthesized to describe the course of these patients during and after hospitalization, and to identify effective management strategies and gaps in knowledge. RESULTS Older persons in hospitals pose substantial clinical challenges: they have high rates of cognitive impairment, delirium, disability, and difficulty walking, and they often require increased attention, longer lengths of stay, and higher hospital costs than younger patients with the same diagnoses. Disease-specific interventions have not been studied extensively in those older than 75 years. Multicomponent interventions can reduce short-term rates of disability and delirium without increasing costs, but they have not been widely disseminated. Interventions to treat or prevent other common conditions in hospitalized older patients have not been proven effective. CONCLUSIONS Fundamental discoveries in the science of hospital medicine are needed to prevent or treat geriatric syndromes, to treat common diseases in the very old, and to put into practice what is known. Hospital-based physicians can address these gaps in knowledge and practice with geriatricians, building from their shared perspectives on the care of the aged in complex health systems.
Extracellular adenosine initiates rapid arteriolar vasodilation induced by a single skeletal muscle contraction in hamster cremaster muscle

Recent studies suggest that adenosine (ADO) can be produced extracellularly in response to skeletal muscle contraction. We tested the hypothesis that a single muscle contraction produces extracellular ADO rapidly enough and in physiologically relevant concentrations to be able to contribute to the rapid vasodilation that occurs at the onset of muscle contraction.
Human MxB Protein, an Interferon-α-inducible GTPase, Contains a Nuclear Targeting Signal and Is Localized in the Heterochromatin Region beneath the Nuclear Envelope*

Interferon-inducible Mx proteins belong to the family of large GTPases and are highly homologous with dynamins within their GTP-binding domain. Cytoplasmically localized human MxA protein mediates resistance to influenza and several other viruses, whereas human MxB protein has not been found to have any antiviral activity. Here we show that MxB protein is found both in the cytoplasm and in the nucleus, where it is localized in a granular pattern in the heterochromatin region beneath the nuclear envelope. Transfection experiments in COS cells of N-terminally deleted MxB constructs revealed a functional nuclear localization signal within the first 24 N-terminal amino acids. Nuclear 78-kDa and cytoplasmic 76-kDa forms of MxB protein were found in all of the cell lines studied and in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. MxB protein proved to be a functional GTPase with activity comparable to that of MxA protein. N-terminally truncated (Δ1-82) MxB protein lacking both the nuclear localization signal and a proline-rich domain had almost completely lost its GTPase activity. Analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells suggested that MxB protein expression is strictly regulated by interferon-α. This is the first documentation that human Mx protein resides in the nucleus. It also emphasizes that there are considerable differences in the localization and structure of functional domains within Mx proteins.
Developing a skin conductance device for early Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a multi-parametric disorder affecting people and specially children. It is important to detect autistic children as soon as possible to conduct adequate treatment. In this paper we develop a skin conductance device capable of measuring the galvanic skin conductance and help diagnosing autistic children from the first weeks after their born. As skin conductance is directly affected by the emotional arousal. With the development of cloud services it is important that advances in technology help physicians in diagnosing autistic people.
Perioperative effects of melatonin and midazolam premedication on sedation, orientation, anxiety scores and psychomotor performance

Background and objective: To compare the perioperative effects of melatonin and midazolam given in premedication, on sedation, orientation, anxiety scores and psychomotor performance. Methods: Exogenous administration of melatonin not only facilitates the onset of sleep but also improves its quality. A prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was performed in 66 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Patients were given melatonin 5 mg, midazolam 15 mg or placebo, 90 min before anaesthesia, sublingually. Sedation, orientation and anxiety were quantified before; 10, 30, 60 and 90 min after premedication; and 15, 30, 60 and 90 min after admission to the recovery room. Neurocognitive performance was evaluated at these times, using the Trail Making A and B and Word Fluency tests. The differences between the groups were analysed by ANOVA. Two-way comparisons were performed by Scheffé analysis. Sedation and amnesia were analysed by the χ2 test. Results: Patients who received premedication with either melatonin or midazolam had a significant increase in sedation and decrease in anxiety before operation compared with controls. After operation, there was no difference in sedation scores of all groups. Whereas, 30, 60 and 90 min after premedication the melatonin and midazolam groups exhibited a significantly poorer performance in Trail Making A and B tests compared with placebo, there were no significant differences among the groups in terms of neuropsychological performance after the operation. Amnesia was notable only in the midazolam group for one preoperative event. Conclusion: Melatonin premedication was associated with preoperative anxiolysis and sedation without postoperative impairment of psychomotor performance.
USENIX Association Proceedings of FAST ’ 03 : 2 nd USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies

Probe-based storage, also known as micro-electric mechanical systems (MEMS) storage, is a new technology that is emerging to bypass the fundamental limitations of disk drives. The design space of such devices is particularly interesting because we can architect these devices to different design points, each with different performance characteristics. This makes it more difficult to understand how to use probe-based storage in a system. Although researchers have modeled access times and simulated performance of workloads, such simulations are time-intensive and make it difficult to exhaustively search the parameter space for optimal configurations. To address this problem, we have created a parameterized analytical model that computes the average request latency of a probe-based storage device. Our error compared to a simulated device using real-world traces is small (less than 15% for service time). With this model we can identify configurations that will satisfy specific performance objectives, greatly narrowing the search space of configurations one must simulate.
Enhancing customer experience through business process improvement: An introduction to the Enhanced Customer Experience Framework (ECEF)

Over the last few years, there has been tremendous growth in the diversity of products and services offered to customers across all industries. With this increased choice of products and services, the bargaining power of buyers is rising. The products and services offered by the different companies do not vary much, regardless of which companies are selling them. Customers are in the position where they can choose from an array of products and services from more than one company. This shift of power from company to customer forces companies to focus on customer retention and loyalty through improved customer experience. This paper will introduce a framework for enhancing customer experience through improved business processes. The framework consists of seven stages, with sequential activities taking place in every stage. The Enhanced Customer Experience Framework (ECEF) can help managers to satisfy customer needs. By designing business processes to deliver products and services according to the needs of the customer, companies will be able to enjoy the strategic competitive advantage of customer loyalty.
Role of long-chain fatty acids in the postnatal induction of genes coding for liver mitochondrial beta-oxidative enzymes.

Introduction The regulation of specific gene expression in response to changes in nutrition has become a major aspect of modern nutrition, due to the development of molecular biological techniques that have allowed the cloning of a number of genes involved in the regulation of carbohydrate and fat metabolism. It has been shown that major (glucose, fatty acids, amino acids) or minor (iron, vitamins) dietary constituents participate, in concert with many hormones, in the regulation of gene expression in response to nutritional changes (reviewed in [ 11) . This report is focused on the fetal-neonatal transition during which dramatic nutritional changes occur spontaneously and during which enzymes catalysing rate-limiting steps of fatty acid oxidation increase in the liver. The perinatal period is attended by marked changes in the nutritional environment. In utero, the fetus is continuously supplied through the placenta with a diet rich in carbohydrates and amino acids and poor in fat (reviewed in [l]). Immediately after birth, the maternal supply of substrates ceases abruptly, and the newborn has to withstand a brief period of starvation before he is fed at intervals with milk which is a high fat (60% energy) and low carbohydrate (10% energy) diet. T o meet the energy needs of the newborn, the capacity for long-chain fatty acid (LCFA) oxidation increases rapidly in many tissues (liver, heart, skeletal muscles, lung, kidney cortex, small intestine, brown adipose tissue). In the liver, the increased oxidation of LCFA results in an enhanced rate of ketone body production. In the mammalian liver, fatty acid oxidation can occur both in mitochondria and peroxisomes. During the last decade, the role and importance
Experimental Studies On Porous Wick Flat Plate Heat Pipe

In recent years, the use of heat pipe for electronic equipments thermal management has been growing faster to meet the future requirements. The flat plate heat pipes (FPHP) are promising heat transporting devices capable of transmitting high heat fluxes rejected by modern electronic equipments. In the present study, the experimental analysis of the thermal performance of flat plate heat pipe is carried out for various heat input rates with different working fluids. Quantity of working fluid charged into the heat pipe is varied and its influence on performance is obtained. Different working fluids have been tested with heat pipe and their performance has been compared. At lower heat flux the fluids such as acetone, ethanol, and methanol are better than water, whereas at higher heat flux water is best candidature among these fluids considered.
Patients with Psychiatric Disorders Can Also Have CLABSIs: A Response to “CLABSI or Munchausen’s or Both”

the BMI of the patients was a mean of 27.3, whereas in 95 CVCs (28.4%), the BMI of the patients was at least 30 (for the subgroup of the obese patients the mean BMI was 33.8). Complications of CVC insertion (bleeding, hematoma, >2 punctures, or malpositioning of the guidewire) were reported in 18.3% of obese patients and in 18.4% of non-obese patients. This indicates no increased risk for complications during CVC insertion among obese patients (odds ratio [OR], 0.99]. Comparing the CRBSI rate in obese and in non-obese patients we found no differences in CRBSI frequency (22.1% vs 23.3%; OR, 0.93). Duration of CVC use appeared to be significantly shorter in obese compared with non-obese patients (13.5 vs 15.9 days). However, using the modified Infection Probability Score, which is more stringent in defining neutropenia than the original IPS, we found a higher modified Infection Probability Score at the time of CVC insertion in obese than in non-obese patients (7.6 vs 5.8). Interestingly, sex is not a risk factor for CRBSI in obese patients (men vs women, OR, 0.86 [95% CI, 0.32–2.35]; P= .97). CRBSI risk was increased neither for obese men (OR, 0.68) nor for obese women (OR, 1.58) (data are summarized in Table 1). In our experience, CVC insertion with support of ultrasonography is a safe procedure in obese hematologic patients. Surprisingly, obesity could not be defined as a risk factor for CRBSI in our dataset. Using the modified Infection Probability Score as a tool to describe the grade of illness of patients (with all critical parameters such as body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, absolute neutrophil count, and C-reactive protein as well as the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score being included), we found that obese patients had increased values and were therefore more challenged by the disease at the time of CVC insertion; however, the risk for CRBSI per se was not increased. One potential pitfall that could mask the CRBSI risk in obese patients is the duration of CVC use, which was significantly shorter (2–3 days shorter) in obese vs non-obese patients in the cohort investigated. CRBSI are known to be associated with the duration of CVC use. Another piece of data supporting our findings is the inverse association between obesity and risk of febrile neutropenia that has been reported recently. Potential mechanisms include altered pharmacokinetics and/or reduced relative efficacy of chemotherapy due to obesity.
Mucosal B cells: phenotypic characteristics, transcriptional regulation, and homing properties

Summary: Mucosal antibody defense depends on a complex cooperation between local B cells and secretory epithelia. Mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue gives rise to B cells with striking J‐chain expression that are seeded to secretory effector sites. Such preferential homing constitutes the biological basis for local production of polymeric immunoglobulin A (pIgA) and pentameric IgM with high affinity to the epithelial pIg receptor that readily can export these antibodies to the mucosal surface. This ultimate functional goal of mucosal B‐cell differentiation appears to explain why the J chain is also expressed by IgG‐ and IgD‐producing plasma cells (PCs) occurring at secretory tissue sites; these immunocytes may be considered as ‘spin‐offs’ from early effector clones that through class switch are on their way to pIgA production. Abundant evidence supports the notion that intestinal PCs are largely derived from B cells initially activated in gut‐associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). Nevertheless, insufficient knowledge exists concerning the relative importance of M cells, major histocompatibility complex class II‐expressing epithelial cells, and professional antigen‐presenting cells for the uptake, processing, and presentation of luminal antigens in GALT to accomplish the extensive and sustained priming and expansion of mucosal B cells. Likewise, it is unclear how the germinal center reaction in GALT so strikingly can promote class switch to IgA and expression of J chain. Although B‐cell migration from GALT to the intestinal lamina propria is guided by rather well‐defined adhesion molecules and chemokines/chemokine receptors, the cues directing preferential homing to different segments of the gut require better definition. This is even more so for the molecules involved in homing of mucosal B cells to secretory effector sites beyond the gut, and in this respect, the role of Waldever's ring (including the palatine tonsils and adenoids) as a regional inductive tissue needs further characterization. Data suggest a remarkable compartmentalization of the mucosal immune system that must be taken into account in the development of effective local vaccines to protect specifically the airways, eyes, oral cavity, small and large intestines, and urogenital tract.
[Expression and clinical significance of certain apoptosis and angiogenesis factors in hepatocellular carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the expression and clinical significance of some apoptosis and angiogenesis factors in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS The expression of p53, Survivin, matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-2, MMP-9 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in 90 specimens of HCC was detected by immunohistochemistry. Correlations of the factors to the recurrence of HCC after hepatectomy were analyzed. RESULTS The positive rate of p53, Survivin, MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF in HCC tissue was 33.3%, 51.1%, 60.0%, 37.8% and 76.7%, respectively. Of the 5 factors, positive correlation only occurred between the expression of MMP-2 and VEGF, MMP-9 and VEGF. The expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF was correlated to the recurrence of HCC. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year tumor-free survival rates were significantly higher in MMP-2 (-) group than in MMP-2 (+) group, and the same results were found with MMP-9 and VEGF. Multivariate analysis revealed that macroscopically disseminated nodules, tumor micrometastasis, serum alpha fetal protein (AFP) level, the expression of MMP-9 and VEGF were independent recurrence risk factors in HCC. CONCLUSIONS Neither p53 nor Survivin is correlated to the recurrence of HCC; MMPs and VEGF are correlated to the recurrence, and can be used to estimate the risk of postoperative recurrence of HCC.