Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A lipopolysaccharide adsorber in adult cardiopulmonary bypass: a single centre randomised controlled pilot trial.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to describe the biochemical effects and safety of selective removal of endotoxin from whole blood using a lipopolysaccharide adsorber during complex cardiac surgery. METHODS We carried out a single centre prospective randomised controlled pilot trial in patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) at a large UK cardiothoracic institution. Seventeen patients were randomly allocated to one of two groups: with or without an adsorber included in the CPB circuit. Fourteen patients were included in a complete case analysis. Blood samples were taken at the time of consent, immediately following anaesthesia, at 60, 180 and 360 min after the institution of CPB, and the morning following surgery. Primary outcomes were plasma levels of endotoxin, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-alpha. Secondary outcomes were measures of patient safety including blood chemistry and coagulation parameters, length of stay, and adverse events. RESULTS No differences were seen in endotoxin or cytokine levels between adsorber and control groups at any of the measured time-points. No difference between groups was detected in measures of patient safety following the intervention. Haemoglobin and haematocrit were significantly lower in the intervention group pre-bypass, P=0.02 in both instances. CONCLUSION There was no effect of the adsorber on endotoxin levels or inflammatory response in this study, we have demonstrated the device to be safe in a complex cardiac surgery setting.
Vasoactive effects of potassium in kidneys of hypertensive rats fed a high-potassium diet.

DESIGN AND METHODS Levels of dietary and serum potassium are thought to correlate inversely with vascular resistance and blood pressure. This study examined renal vascular resistance in perfused rat kidneys partially preconstricted with 10 micromol/ phenylephrine, quantifying changes in the resistance when levels of potassium in the perfusate ([K+]o) were varied between 2 and 80 mmol/l. RESULTS In kidneys from 17-week-old Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY strain) fed a normal diet (American Institute of Nutrition AIN-76 diet), the resistance decreased when [K+]o was raised from 4 to 6-20 mmol/l, whereas resistance increased when [K+]o was either lowered to 2 mmol/l or raised above 25 mmol/l. The vasodilation that occurred at 13 mmol/l [K+]o was blocked by 100 micromol/l BaCl2 and 10 micromol/l ouabain in an additive manner, suggesting that both the inward rectifier K+ channel and the Na-K-ATPase underlie the dilation. Kidneys from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR strain) fed the AIN-76 diet displayed modestly enhanced vasodilations and vasoconstrictions as compared to WKY. A high-potassium diet (AIN-76 supplemented with 3.5% potassium citrate, provided for 8 weeks) led to exaggerated vasoconstrictive effects of [K+]o, and modestly enhanced vasodilations, in WKY rats. In contrast, the diet led to attenuated vasoconstrictions, and dramatically enhanced vasodilations, in the SHR strain. The diet did not affect the blood pressure increase or weight gain of either strain. CONCLUSIONS Changes in the responsiveness of blood vessels to extracellular potassium might underlie some beneficial effects of high-potassium diets in hypertensive individuals.
STAT3 but Not HIF-1α Is Important in Mediating Hypoxia-Induced Chemoresistance in MDA-MB-231, a Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cell Line

Hypoxia-induced chemoresistance (HICR) is a well-recognized phenomenon, and in many experimental models, hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) is believed to be a key player. We aimed to better understand the mechanism underlying HICR in a triple negative breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231, with a focus on the role of HIF-1α. In this context, the effect of hypoxia on the sensitivity of MDA-MB-231 cells to cisplatin and their stem-like features was evaluated and the role of HIF-1α in both phenomena was assessed. Our results showed that hypoxia significantly increased MDA-MB-231 resistance to cisplatin. Correlating with this, intracellular uptake of cisplatin was significantly reduced under hypoxia. Furthermore, the stem-like features of MDA-MB-231 cells increased as evidenced by the significant increases in the expression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) drug transporters, the proportion of CD44+/CD24− cells, clonogenic survival and cisplatin chemoresistance. Under hypoxia, both the protein level and DNA binding of HIF-1α was dramatically increased. Surprisingly, siRNA knockdown of HIF-1α did not result in an appreciable change to HICR. Instead, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) activation was found to be important. STAT3 activation may confer HICR by upregulating ABC transporters, particularly ABCC2 and ABCC6. This study has demonstrated that, in MDA-MB-231 cells, STAT3 rather than HIF-1α is important in mediating HICR to cisplatin.
Efficacy of short-term oral cobalamin therapy for the treatment of cobalamin deficiencies related to food-cobalamin malabsorption: a study of 30 patients.

BACKGROUND It has been suggested that oral cobalamin (vitamin (B12)) therapy may be an effective therapy for treating cobalamin deficiencies related to food-cobalamin malabsorption. However, the duration of this treatment was not determined. PATIENTS AND METHOD In an open-label, nonplacebo study, we studied 30 patients with established cobalamin deficiency related to food-cobalamin malabsorption, who received between 250 and 1000 microg of oral crystalline cyanocobalamin per day for at least 1 month. ENDPOINTS Blood counts, serum cobalamin and homocysteine levels were determined at baseline and during the first month of treatment. RESULTS During the first month of treatment, 87% of the patients normalized their serum cobalamin levels; 100% increased their serum cobalamin levels (mean increase, +167 pg/dl; P < 0.001 compared with baseline); 100% had evidence of medullary regeneration; 100% corrected their initial macrocytosis; and 54% corrected their anemia. All patients had increased hemoglobin levels (mean increase, +0.6 g/dl) and reticulocyte counts (mean increase, +35 x 10(6)/l) and decreased erythrocyte cell volume (mean decrease, 3 fl; all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that crystalline cyanocobalamin, 250-1000 microg/day, given orally for 1 month, may be an effective treatment for cobalamin deficiencies not related to pernicious anemia.
Immediate and short-term effect of balloon mitral valvuloplasty on global and regional biventricular function: a two-dimensional strain echocardiographic study.

AIM To assess the effect of balloon mitral valvuloplasty (BMV) on global and regional ventricular functions using 2D strain. METHODS AND RESULTS Thirty-two patients with mitral stenosis (MS) and 30 healthy subjects underwent full echocardiographic examinations, including left ventricle (LV) and right ventricle (RV) regional and global longitudinal strain (GLS) measurements. In MS patients, measurements were repeated within 24 h and 3 months after BMV. Patients with MS had lower LV and RV GLS compared with control group (-16.5 ± 2.7% vs. -21.0 ± 1.5) and (-18.3 ± 4.7 vs. -19.8 ± 1.3), respectively. Significant decrease was noted in the basal and septal segments compared with the apical LV segments and RV free wall. BMV resulted in significant improvement in LV and RV GLS within 24 h post-BMV compared with baseline values (P = 0.0001 and 0.0002, respectively), an improvement which was maintained after 3 months. There was significant positive correlation between both LV and RV GLS at baseline and mitral valve mean pressure gradient and RV systolic pressure and significant inverse correlation between LV GLS and MVA. CONCLUSION MS patients have subclinical LV and RV systolic dysfunction by GLS despite normal ejection fraction and fractional area change. BMV results in marked improvement in LV and RV GLS immediately post-BMV with trend towards normalization at follow-up after 3 months. A mixed aetiology theory involving a myocardial as well as a haemodynamic factor is believed to be the cause for this subclinical biventricular dysfunction and its improvement at short-term follow-up post-BMV.
Android based Solar Powered Automatic Irrigation System

Background/Objectives: India is an agriculture based country. Agriculture is the main source of food for any country and thus it is important to have a proper irrigation system. Due to global warming and many climate changes nowadays there is no fixed time of rain and the amount of rain so there is a great chance of the crops getting destroyed. Less rain leads to under irrigation and excessive rain leads to over irrigation and both these would result in yield reduction. In this paper we introduce a system which can control the irrigation according to the need. Methods/Statistical Analysis: In this paper we introduce a system which can control the irrigation according to the need. This system consists of temperature, moisture and PH sensors which will tell the user about the conditions of the field and according to it the user can control the system. This system is also automatic i.e. we can preset some certain values for the moisture and when the moisture goes below the threshold level the system will automatically switch on the pumps until the moisture level goes to the required. Findings: The system is powered by a renewable source of energy i.e. solar energy. This system is connected to the user by IOT (Internet Of Things) and user can check the status and control the system from the android mobile phone. There is also a LCD which displays the moisture, temperature and the pH of the soil. Application/Improvements: This system can be implemented in farms, parks, horticulture land and wherever there is a need for efficient irrigation system. This system supports aggressive water management for the agriculture land. The design is low power, low cost, small size, robust and highly versatile.
Multiple objective optimisation of data and control paths in a behavioural silicon compiler

The objective of this research was to implement an 'intelligent' silicon compiler that provides the ability to automatically explore the design space and optimise a design, given as a behavioural description, with respect to multiple objectives. The objective has been met by the implementation of the MOODS Silicon Compiler. The user submits goals or objectives to the system which automatically finds near optimal solutions. As objectives may be conflicting, trade-offs between synthesis tasks are essential and consequently their simultaneous execution must occur. Tasks are decomposed into behaviour preserving transformations which, due to their completeness, can be applied in any sequence to a multi-level representation of the design. An accurate evaluation of the design is ensured by feeding up technology dependent information to a cost function. The cost function guides the simulated annealing algorithm in applying transformations to iteratively optimise the design. The simulated annealing algorithm provides an abstractness from the transformations and designer's objectives. This abstractness avoids the construction of tailored heuristics which pre-program trade-offs into a system. Pre-programmed trade-offs are used in most systems by assuming a particular shape to the trade-off curve and are inappropriate as trade-offs are technology dependent. The lack of pre-programmed trade-offs in the MOODS system allows it to adapt to changes in technology or library cells. The choice of cells and their subsequent sharing are based on the user's criteria expressed in the cost function, rather than being pre-programmed into the system. The results show that implementations created by MOODS are better than or equal to those achieved by other systems. Comparisons with other systems highlighted the importance of specifying all of a design's data as the lack of data misrepresents the design leading to misleading comparisons. The MOODS synthesis system includes an efficient method for automated design space exploration where a varied set of near optimal implementations can be produced from a single behavioural specification. Design space exploration is an important aspect of designing by high-level synthesis and in the development of synthesis systems. It allows the designer to obtain a perspicuous characterization of a design's design space allowing him to investigate alternative designs.
Very low-loss high frequency lateral-mode resonators on polished ultrananocrystalline diamond

For the first time, high frequency (∼900MHz) lateral-mode thin-film piezoelectric-on-diamond resonators are reported with insertion loss values as low as 2.6dB when terminated by 50Ω impedance. In this work, the surface of the as-deposited ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) is polished to promote the direct growth of highly oriented c-plane AlN which is critical in enhancing the electromechanical coupling and therefore reducing the motional impedance of the resonator. The frequency of resonators fabricated on 3–4um UNCD with a 930GPa Young's modulus is measured to be about 2× higher than similar devices fabricated on 5um of silicon. These resonators exhibit a low temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF) of −9.6 ppm/°C and have a great potential for being utilized in channel-select high frequency filters [1].
Frequency-dependent effects of ethanol on dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens.

BACKGROUND Ethanol (EtOH) is known to have excitatory effects on dopamine (DA) release, with moderate-to-high doses (0.5 to 2.5 g/kg) of acute EtOH enhancing DA neuron firing rates in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and DA levels in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). EtOH has also been shown to reduce DA activity, with moderate doses (1 to 2 g/kg) attenuating electrically evoked release, and higher doses (5 g/kg) decreasing NAc DA levels, demonstrating a biphasic effect of EtOH on DA release. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate EtOH's inhibitory effects on NAc DA terminal release under low- and high-frequency stimulation conditions. METHODS Using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry in NAc slices from C57BL/6J mice, we examined EtOH's (40 to 160 mM) effects on DA release under several different stimulation parameters, varying frequency (5 to 125 Hz), number of pulses (1 to 10), and stimulation intensity (50 to 350 μA). Additionally, calcium concentrations were manipulated under high-frequency stimulation conditions (20 Hz, 10 pulses, 350 μA) to determine whether EtOH's effects were dependent upon calcium concentration, and by extension, the amount of DA release. RESULTS Acute EtOH (40 to 160 mM) inhibited DA release to a greater extent under high-frequency, multiple-pulse stimulation conditions, with increased sensitivity at 5 and 10 pulses and frequencies of 20 Hz or higher. High-frequency, multiple-pulse stimulations also resulted in greater DA release compared with single-pulse release, which was controlled by reducing stimulation intensity. Under reduced DA conditions, high-frequency stimulations still showed increased EtOH sensitivity. Reducing calcium levels also decreased DA release at high-frequency stimulations, but did not affect EtOH sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS EtOH appears to inhibit DA release at NAc terminals under high-frequency stimulation conditions that are similar to release events observed during phasic burst firing in DAergic neurons, suggesting that EtOH may provide inhibition of DA terminals selectively during phasic signaling, while leaving tonic DA terminal activity unaffected.
TESTING THE EFFECT OF INFORMATION SHARING ON COMPETITIVENESS AND DELIVERY PERFORMANCE AT MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IN INDONESIA

This study aimed to analyze the effect of information sharing toward competitiveness, information sharing toward delivery performance, and competitiveness toward delivery performance at manufacturing industry in Indonesia. This study conducted in two areas i.e.: Surabaya City, East Java Province and Makassar City, South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. Number of sample were 90 companies which consist of 40 companies from Makassar, and 50 companies from Surabaya. Respondents were production/ operation managers of manufacturing companies. This study used two kinds of data, namely primary data and secondary data. Primary data collected through questionnaire instrument, whereas secondary data collected by relevant documents such as organization profile, and production report in the organization. The data analyzed with using both descriptive statistics and partial least square (PLS). The results show that information sharing has a positive and significant effect on competitiveness. Information sharing also has a significant effect on delivery performance. Then, competitiveness has a significant effect on delivery performance. In addition, delivery performance more influenced by variable of competitiveness than information sharing.
Energy Efficiency Analysis of Two-Tier Heterogeneous Networks

With the exponential increase in data traffic driven by a new generation of wireless devices, data is expected to overwhelm cellular network capacity in the next few years. To address this issue, heterogeneous networks have recently being considered as a comprehensive approach to provide high cellular network capacity and coverage. However, the dense and random deployment of small cells and their uncoordinated operation raise important questions about the energy efficiency implications of multi-tier networks. In this paper, we analyze the energy efficiency of downlink two-tier heterogeneous networks, i.e. a network of macrocell base stations overlaid by randomly distributed picocell base stations, where each tier serves a disjoint set of users. Using tools from stochastic geometry, we first derive analytical expressions of success probabilities for each tier when a disjoint set of subchannels is employed. In addition, we evaluate the performance of two-tier networks in terms of energy efficiency and fairness of resource allocation. Numerical results confirm that there exists an optimal pico-macro density ratio that maximizes the overall energy efficiency of such a two-tier network. This work provides essential understanding for successful deployment of green heterogeneous networks.
Circuit Modeling of Waveguide Grating Nanostructures in Ultrathin Solar Cells

In this paper, a circuit modeling is used to investigate the effects of waveguide grating nanostructures on the performance of ultrathin solar cells. The proposed method is based on transmission line equivalent circuit (TLEC) and it is identified for both of the transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations. Under assumption of weak-coupling condition, this method can effectively describe the absorption inside ultrathin solar cells with the one-dimensional grating nanostructure etched into the anti-reflection coating layers. The proposed approach consists of two different circuits accounting for the background and scattering fields. The final result of the TLEC method comprises of the superposition of the background and scattering TLEC circuits.
Usability of m-Health Services: A Health Professional’s Perspective

In the modern world the use of information and communication technologies, computer networks and systems based on such technologies are the determinants of efficiency and operating performance in healthcare. This paper deals with the concepts of electronic and mobile health and opportunities of their implementation in the healthcare systems. This paper will analyze the factors that influence the acceptance of mobile healthcare services among employees in health institutions. The main goal of this paper was to analyze the possibilities of using mobile healthcare services in health institutions, as well as to analyze the predictors for successful implementation of mobile health services. The research results indicate a high level of knowledge regarding the usefulness and availability of services among healthcare workers in health institutions, which is the prerequisite for a successful implementation of mobile health in the healthcare system.
Single photon emission computed tomography and apolipoprotein E in Alzheimer's disease: impact of the epsilon4 allele on regional cerebral blood flow.

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) epsilon4 allele on semiquantitative regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in Alzheimer's disease. Single photon emission computed tomography technetium (SPECT) with (99m)Tc d,l-hexamethyl propylenamine oxine was used to determine rCBF in 41 consecutive patients (18 males/23 females) with probable Alzheimer's disease according to the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association criteria (mean age 71.0 years; range 54-85). The mean Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was 20.4 (range 10-30). After normalization of CBF to mean blood flow in the cerebellum, values for rCBF in several cortical regions of interest, side-to-side asymmetry indices, and anterior-posterior ratios were calculated. Determination of the APOE genotype from blood samples was performed using restriction enzyme polymerase chain reaction technique. Multivariate regression analyses and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test for unpaired data (Mann-Whitney) were used for statistical analysis. The patients comprised 27APOE epsilon4-positive and 14APOE epsilon4-negative individuals. Five patients were APOE epsilon4 homozygotes. APOE epsilon4-positive patients had significantly reduced rCBF in the right frontal and left occipital lobes. On nonparametric analysis, the most prominent differences between epsilon4-negative and epsilon4-positive patients were demonstrated in subregions representing the frontal association cortex (Mann-Whitney, P < .01). Age-stratified analysis suggested that these findings could be demonstrated predominantly in the elderly patients. The results of this study suggest that the APOE genotype in itself may have an impact on the pattern of rCBF deficits in Alzheimer's disease. The more pronounced reduction of rCBF in frontal association cortex observed in elderly APOE epsilon4-positive patients might predict clinical progression.
Dispersal of fungi spores by non-specialized flower-visiting birds

Birds are important biotic dispersers of a wide range of propagules. Fungi spores are mainly dispersed by wind. Nevertheless there are several animals known to disperse fungi spores, which might be particularly important if spores are delivered to particularly favourable sites i.e. directed dispersal. This may be especially important for fungi that require specific microsites such as flowers. We sampled birds for the presence of fungi spores and pollen grains during one year at two forest sites in central Portugal. We found that out of the 894 birds sampled, 131 individuals from 11 species carried spores from at least 6 morphological types, mainly during winter. The great majority of birds found to carry fungi spores was also found to carry pollen grains, suggesting that they were feeding on flowers which are the main origin of the spores. This co-dispersion of pollen and fungi spores suggest that the latter are not randomly dispersed on the environment, but are likely to have an increased probability of being deposited on flowers propitious to fungi development. Our results suggest that directed dispersal of fungi by flower-visiting birds might by a common and under-appreciated phenomenon with potentially important ecological, biogeographic and even economic outcomes.