Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Congenital Heart Defects in Europe Prevalence and Perinatal Mortality, 2000 to 2005

Background —This study determines the prevalence of Congenital Heart Defects (CHD), diagnosed prenatally or in infancy, and fetal and perinatal mortality associated with CHD in Europe. Methods and Results —Data were extracted from the European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies central database for 29 population-based congenital anomaly registries in 16 European countries covering 3.3 million births during the period 2000 to 2005. CHD cases (n (cid:1) 26 598) comprised live births, fetal deaths from 20 weeks gestation, and terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomaly (TOPFA). The average total prevalence of CHD was 8.0 per 1000 births, and live birth prevalence was 7.2 per 1000 births, varying between countries. The total prevalence of nonchromosomal CHD was 7.0 per 1000 births, of which 3.6% were perinatal deaths, 20% prenatally diagnosed, and 5.6% TOPFA. Severe nonchromosomal CHD (ie, excluding ventricular septal defects, atrial septal defects, and pulmonary valve stenosis) occurred in 2.0 per 1000 births, of which 8.1% were perinatal deaths, 40% were prenatally diagnosed, and 14% were TOPFA (TOPFA range between countries 0% to 32%). Live-born CHD associated with Down syndrome occurred in 0.5 per 1000 births, with (cid:2) 4-fold variation between countries. Conclusion —Annually in the European Union, we estimate 36 000 children are live born with CHD and 3000 who are diagnosed with CHD die as a TOFPA, late fetal death, or early neonatal death. Investing in primary prevention and pathogenetic research is essential to reduce this burden, as well as continuing to improve cardiac services from in utero to adulthood. ( Circulation . 2011;123:841-849.) progress in primary prevention, to monitor the impact of termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly (TOPFA) on prevalence, to plan for high-quality services, and to allow individual regions to compare their rates with the European average and range. We analyzed data from 29 population-based congenital anomaly registries in 16 European countries covering 3.3 million births from 2000 to 2005. The total prevalence of CHD was 8.0 per 1000 births, and live birth prevalence was 7.2 per 1000 births, varying between countries. The total prevalence of nonchromosomal CHD was 7.0 per 1000 births, of which 3.6% were perinatal deaths and 5.6% TOPFA. Severe nonchromosomal CHD (ie, excluding ventricular septal defects, atrial septal defects, and pulmonary valve stenosis) occurred in 2.0 per 1000 births, of which 8.1% were perinatal deaths, 40% were prenatally diagnosed, and 14% were TOPFA. The TOPFA proportion for severe CHD varied from 0 to 32% between countries. The live-birth prevalence of Down syndrome with CHD (average 0.5 per 1000) varied (cid:2) 4-fold between countries because of differences in maternal age profile of births and differences in TOPFA rates for Down syndrome. There are an estimated 36 000 children live born with CHD in the European Union each year and 3000 TOPFA, stillbirth, or early neonatal deaths with CHD. Investing in primary prevention and in cardiac services from in utero to adulthood is essential.
Circulating platelet–neutrophil complexes represent a subpopulation of activated neutrophils primed for adhesion, phagocytosis and intracellular killing

Platelets play a prominent role in linking the processes of inflammation, haemostasis and thrombosis. Recent studies have shown that platelets form heterotypic aggregates with leucocytes via platelet CD62P and leucocyte β2 integrins. These interactions have been observed in vitro in blood taken from healthy volunteers and in clinical conditions in which thrombosis and inflammation are prominent.
Complete Genome Sequence of Pediococcus pentosaceus Strain SL4

ABSTRACT Pediococcus pentosaceus SL4 was isolated from a Korean fermented vegetable product, kimchi. We report here the whole-genome sequence (WGS) of P. pentosaceus SL4. The genome consists of a 1.79-Mb circular chromosome (G+C content of 37.3%) and seven distinct plasmids ranging in size from 4 kb to 50 kb.
Small Bowel Fistulas and the Open Abdomen

Over the last 15 years, the contemporary strategies to treat the open abdomen have reduced the lethal complications. Systematic intensive care and modern wound management in conjunction with a plastic barrier to protect the viscera and topical negative pressure on the soft tissues have reduced the development of small bowel fistulas. The literature selected for this review shows that the surgical handling of the exposed bowel, the choice of the material for temporary coverage and early progressive closure of the defect are crucial for the prevention of fistulas. At present, surgeons worldwide have adopted these principles leading to an increase of primary or delayed closure rates. When a small fistula occurs, biological dressings like human acellular dermal matrix and fibrin glue may help to seal the orifice and to treat the patient conservatively. In case of a large fistula, vacuum-assisted wound management is recommended as well. Through a separate hole in the vacuum sponge matching to the fistula, the enteric contents are sucked off while the wound bed heals and is prepared for split thickness skin graft. Surgical resection of established fistula unresponsive to conservative measures should only be performed on patients well-nourished and free of infection with a delay of at least six months. for patients with an open abdomen, surgical expertise and a well-structured management plan offer the best chances to overcome this potentially devastating condition — with or without fistula.
Monolithic integrated silicon-based slot-blocker for packet-switched networks

We demonstrate a 16-channel, silicon-on-insulator, monolithic integrated slot-blocker. This silicon photonic circuit includes two arrayed waveguide gratings, 16 variable optical attenuators and two vertical fiber couplers. We successfully operate it with 56 Gb/s and 80 Gb/s QPSK optical packets.
Étude des modèles neuronaux profonds pour la compréhension automatique du langage naturel dans les habitats intelligents

Le but du projet VocADom est de creer un systeme de comprehension automatique des ordres vocaux qui pourrait etre fonctionnel dans un habitat intelligent pour les personnes âgees. L’approche par apprentissage automatique nous semble plus flexible que l’approche par regles, ce dernier ne prenant pas en compte les enonces qui ne se conforment pas a la grammaire ; et les etudes ont montre que les personnes âgees sont enclines a s’ecarter de la grammaire imposee. Pourtant il y a un manque de donnees d’apprentissage dans ce domaine. Pour contourner ce probleme, une grammaire generant le corpus artificiel pour le domaine de l’habitat intelligent a ete cree. Un des problemes traites par ce memoire est l’amelioration de la grammaire existante. Apres amelioration, le corpus artificiel resultant compte 42195 phrases annotees. Il a ete ensuite evalue en entrainant avec lui trois modeles etats de l’art - Tri-CRF, att-RNN, RASA - ainsi que Tf-seq2seq, modele sequence-vers-sequence. Ces modeles ont ensuite ete testes sur un petit corpus d’ordres naturels enregistres dans le cadre du projet VocADom. Cela nous a permis de voir les limites du corpus artificiel. Ces modeles ont ensuite ete compares aux modeles entraines et testes sur le corpus de donnees reelles PORTMEDIA qui releve du domaine du tourisme. Cette comparaison nous a permis de savoir que la performance des modeles entraines sur le corpus artificiel est due aux limitations du corpus artificiel plutot qu’aux limitations des modeles eux-memes. Tous les modeles entraines et testes sur PORTMEDIA avaient rendu de bons resultats mais les modeles entraines sur le corpus artificiel et testes sur le corpus naturel VocADom ont ete bien moins performants. Ceci montre la difficulte a prendre en charge la diversite lexicale et syntaxique d’un corpus reel. Tous les modeles ont des performances comparables, mais Tf-seq2seq, contrairement a Tri-CRF, att-RNN et RASA, ne requiert pas de donnees alignees et est plus facile a entrainer.
Controlling DNA replication origins in response to DNA damage – inhibit globally, activate locally

Summary DNA replication in eukaryotic cells initiates from multiple replication origins that are distributed throughout the genome. Coordinating the usage of these origins is crucial to ensure complete and timely replication of the entire genome precisely once in each cell cycle. Replication origins fire according to a cell-type-specific temporal programme, which is established in the G1 phase of each cell cycle. In response to conditions causing the slowing or stalling of DNA replication forks, the programme of origin firing is altered in two contrasting ways, depending on chromosomal context. First, inactive or ‘dormant’ replication origins in the vicinity of the stalled replication fork become activated and, second, the S phase checkpoint induces a global shutdown of further origin firing throughout the genome. Here, we review our current understanding on the role of dormant origins and the S phase checkpoint in the rescue of stalled forks and the completion of DNA replication in the presence of replicative stress.
Antigen-Specific B-Cell Responses to Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Infection

ABSTRACT Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) causes an acute, viremic infection of 4 to 6 weeks, followed by a persistent infection lasting for several months. We characterized antibody and B-cell responses to viral proteins in acute and persistent infection to better understand the immunological basis of the prolonged infection. The humoral immune response to PRRSV was robust overall and varied among individual viral proteins, with the important exception of a delayed and relatively weak response to envelope glycoprotein 5 (GP5). Memory B cells were in secondary lymphoid organs, not in bone marrow or Peyer's patches, in contrast to the case for many mammalian species. Potent anti-PRRSV memory responses were elicited to recall antigen in vitro, even though a second infection did not increase the B-cell response in vivo, suggesting that productive reinfection does not occur in vivo. Antibody titers to several viral proteins decline over time, even though abundant antigen is known to be present in lymphoid tissues, possibly indicating ineffective antigen presentation. The appearance of antibodies to GP5 is delayed relative to the resolution of viremia, suggesting that anti-GP5 antibodies are not crucial for resolving viremia. Lastly, viral infection had no immunosuppressive effect on the humoral response to a second, unrelated antigen. Taking these data together, the active effector and memory B-cell responses to PRRSV are robust, and over time the humoral immune response to PRRSV is effective. However, the delayed response against GP5 early in infection may contribute to the prolonged acute infection and the establishment of persistence.
Reporting mortality findings in trials of rofecoxib for Alzheimer disease or cognitive impairment: a case study based on documents from rofecoxib litigation.

Sponsors have a marketing interest to represent their products in the best light. This approach conflicts with scientific standards that require the symmetric and comparable reporting of safety and efficacy data. Selective reporting of the results of clinical trials can misrepresent the risk-benefit profile of drugs. We summarize how the sponsor represented mortality findings associated with rofecoxib in clinical trials of patients with Alzheimer disease or cognitive impairment. We reviewed documents that became available during litigation related to rofecoxib involving Merck & Co, including internal company analyses and information provided by the sponsor to the FDA. We also evaluated information in 2 published articles that reported results of these trials. In one article (reporting results of protocol 091) published in 2004, 11 "non-drug related deaths" were reported (9 deaths among 346 rofecoxib patients and 2 deaths among 346 placebo patients). In another article (reporting results of protocol 078) published in 2005, 39 deaths were reported among patients taking study treatment or within 14 days of the last dose (24 among 725 rofecoxib patients and 15 among 732 placebo patients) and an additional 22 deaths in the off-drug period (17 in rofecoxib patients and 5 in placebo patients). However, these articles did not include analyses or statistical tests of the mortality data, and the 2 articles concluded that regarding safety, rofecoxib is "well tolerated. " In contrast, in April 2001, the company's internal intention-to-treat analyses of pooled data from these 2 trials identified a significant increase in total mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 4.43; 95% CI, 1.26-15.53 for protocol 091, and HR, 2.55; 95% CI, 1.17-5.56 for protocol 078), with overall mortality of 34 deaths among 1069 rofecoxib patients and 12 deaths among 1078 placebo patients (HR, 2.99; 95% CI, 1.55-5.77). These mortality analyses were neither provided to the FDA nor made public in a timely fashion. The data submitted by the sponsor to the FDA in a Safety Update Report in July 2001 used on-treatment analysis methods and reported 29 deaths (2.7%) among 1067 rofecoxib patients and 17 deaths (1.6%) among 1075 placebo patients. This on-treatment approach to reporting minimized the appearance of any mortality risk. In December 2001, when the FDA raised safety questions about the submitted safety data, the sponsor did not bring these issues to an institutional review board for review and revealed that there was no data and safety monitoring board for the protocol 078 study. The findings from this case study suggest that additional protections for human research participants, including new approaches for the conduct, oversight, and reporting of industry-sponsored trials, are necessary.
Aplicación del índice de riesgo nutricional geriátrico en la unidad de cuidados intensivos de la clínica La Merced, Quito Ecuador.

La aplicación del Índice de Riesgo Nutricional Geriátrico (IRNG) tuvo como finalidad la predicción de la probabilidad a desarrollar consecuencias adversas a la desnutrición como aumento del riesgo de infección, estancia hospitalaria y mortalidad en los pacientes críticos de tercera edad; y observar su comportamiento en las patologías de daño hepático crónico y daño renal severo. La presente investigación tiene un carácter observacional y analítico longitudinal. Se incluyeron a 61 pacientes mayores de 60 años de la Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos (UCI) de la Clínica “La Merced” (Quito, Ecuador), durante los meses de mayo a agosto del 2013. A través de la estadística inferencial se realizó un análisis multifactorial de correspondencias múltiples y desagregaciones para determinar la asociación entre el IRNG, la sobrevida, el desarrollo de un proceso infeccioso y el tiempo de estancia hospitalaria. El IRNG pudo pronosticar la mortalidad, sin embargo, la presencia de infección y estancia hospitalaria dependieron de factores como el diagnóstico de ingreso, y la alta exposición a agentes infecciosos. No se observó una asociación concluyente entre las patologías anteriormente mencionadas y el IRNG, no obstante, se requiere de la realización de estudios con una muestra mayor para confirmar la aplicación del IRNG en todos los pacientes geriátricos.
BIODIESEL PRODUCTION FROM OILS AND FATS WITH HIGH FREE FATTY ACIDS

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel for diesel engines consisting of the alkyl monoesters of fatty acids from vegetable oils or animal fats. Most of the biodiesel that is currently made uses soybean oil, methanol, and an alkaline catalyst. The high value of soybean oil as a food product makes production of a cost–effective fuel very challenging. However, there are large amounts of low–cost oils and fats such as restaurant waste and animal fats that could be converted to biodiesel. The problem with processing these low cost oils and fats is that they often contain large amounts of free fatty acids (FFA) that cannot be converted to biodiesel using an alkaline catalyst. In this study, a technique is described to reduce the free fatty acids content of these feedstocks using an acid–catalyzed pretreatment to esterify the free fatty acids before transesterifying the triglycerides with an alkaline catalyst to complete the reaction. Initial process development was performed with synthetic mixtures containing 20% and 40% free fatty acids, prepared using palmitic acid. Process parameters such as the molar ratio of alcohol, type of alcohol, acid catalyst amount, reaction time, and free fatty acids level were investigated to determine the best strategy for converting the free fatty acids to usable esters. The work showed that the acid level of the high free fatty acids feedstocks could be reduced to less than 1% with a 2–step pretreatment reaction. The reaction mixture was allowed to settle between steps so that the water–containing alcohol phase could be removed. The 2–step pretreatment reaction was demonstrated with actual feedstocks, including yellow grease with 12% free fatty acids and brown grease with 33% free fatty acids. After reducing the acid levels of these feedstocks to less than 1%, the transesterification reaction was completed with an alkaline catalyst to produce fuel–grade biodiesel.
p53‐induced RING‐H2 protein, a novel marker for poor survival in hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatic resection

Currently, the role of p53‐induced RING‐H2 protein (PIRH2) in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unknown. The objective of this retrospective study was to investigate the expression of PIRH2 and its relation to prognosis in patients with HCC after hepatic resection.
Increased hyaluronic acid in the inner renal medulla of obese dogs.

Dogs placed on a high-fat diet develop obesity and hypertension associated with marked sodium retention that is due to increased tubular reabsorption. Previous studies showed that renal interstitial hydrostatic pressure is elevated in obese dogs compared with lean dogs, and histological studies revealed increases in medullary interstitial cells and expansion of the medullary but not the cortical extracellular matrix. This matrix stained intensively with Alcian Blue at pH 2.6, colloidal iron, and periodic acid-Schiff, suggesting increased glycosaminoglycans. The goal of this study was to quantitate medullary glycosaminoglycan content in obese (n = 8) compared with lean (n = 8) dogs. Measurement of total glycosaminoglycan content, estimated from uronic acid content, and of hyaluronate, the most abundant glycosaminoglycan in canine renal medulla, with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay indicated that there were no significant differences in total glycosaminoglycan or hyaluronate contents in the outer medulla of obese dogs compared with those in lean dogs. In contrast, in the inner medulla of obese dogs there was a 140% increase in hyaluronate compared with the content in lean dogs (4.3 +/- 0.5 versus 1.8 +/- 0.2 mg hyaluronate per gram wet tissue, respectively; P < .05); however, total glycosaminoglycan content was not significantly different (6.9 +/- 0.7 versus 6.2 +/- 0.5 mg uronic acid per gram wet tissue) in obese and lean dogs. These results suggest a change in the relative proportion of the glycosaminoglycan species in the inner medulla of obese dogs, with a selective increase in hyaluronate. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A Photonic-Integrated Transceiver for Data Readout Systems

This study presents a photonic integrated transceiver for application in a data readout unit of a sensor network. The device was realized in a generic InP-based technology. The circuit uses an asymmetric coupler and a PIN photodiode for input signal detection and a Mach-Zehnder amplitude modulator for encoding of output sensor data. Small-signal modulation bandwidth of 11.1 GHz was measured, eye-diagrams with a dynamic extinction ratio of 11 dB were recorded, and transmission of a 10-Gb/s signal over 25 km of SMF fiber with bit error rate below 10-10 was achieved.
Fluid shifts following 7% hypertonic saline (2400 mosmol/L) infusion.

Small volumes of hyperosmolar saline solutions may rapidly improve MAP and CO in hemorrhagic shock. In the present study, the effects of infusion of 7% NaCl on interstitial fluid volume and intracellular fluid volume were determined. In anesthetized, normovolemic rats either 7% NaCl (1.1 mL/100 g, intravenously), acetated Ringer's solution (10 mL/100 g), or no fluid (controls) were infused and extracellular volume (ECV) and plasma volume were determined in samples from skin, skeletal muscle, small intestine, liver, and lung. Intracellular volume was determined as local tissue water content minus ECV. Extracellular fluid volumes were 21.1 +/- . 6 mL/ 100 g(mean +/- SEM; n = 6) (control animals), 26.1 +/- . 4 mL/100 g (following 7% NaCl) (p < .05), and 32.8 +/- . 5 mL/100 g (following Ringer's) (p < .05). Following 7% NaCl ECV increased by four to five times the infused volume. With 7% NaCl ECV in skin, muscle and intestine increased significantly, whereas cell volume was reduced by 10% in muscle and liver. Skeletal muscle, constituting > 40% of body mass with a large cell volume, was the main source for fluid mobilized by administration of 7% NaCl.
Proactive resource allocation planning with three-levels of context information

Big data analysis makes predicting the application, network and user levels of context information possible. Yet it is unclear how to exploit these information to utilize the wireless resources more efficiently. In this paper, we attempt to illustrate the potential of using these information to improve the spectrum usage efficiency. To this end, we assume that a central unit in the multicell network can predict the mobile users' request, base stations' congestion status, and user mobility pattern within a prediction window. To fully use the excess resource within the window and leave more resources for the unpredictable traffic arrived after the window, we formulate a proactive resource allocation planning problem to minimize the maximal transmission completion time. A heuristic low complexity algorithm is introduced to find the transmission plan from the problem, which determines where, when and what to transmit to the users. We use two representative scenarios to demonstrate the performance gain of the proactive resource allocation using context information over the reactive scheme that the transmission starts after the users' requests truly arrive.
Learning to Play Othello With Deep Neural Networks

Achieving a superhuman playing level by AlphaGo corroborated the capabilities of convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures for capturing complex spatial patterns. This result was, to a great extent, due to several analogies between Go board states and 2-D images that CNNs have been designed for, in particular, translational invariance and a relatively large board. In this paper, we verify whether CNN-based move predictors prove effective for Othello, a game with significantly different characteristics, including a much smaller board size and complete lack of translational invariance. We compare several CNN architectures and board encodings, augment them with state-of-the-art extensions, train on an extensive database of experts’ moves, and examine them with respect to move prediction accuracy and playing strength. The empirical evaluation confirms high capabilities of neural move predictors and suggests a strong correlation between prediction accuracy and playing strength. The best CNNs not only surpass all other 1-ply Othello players proposed to date but defeat (2 ply) Edax, the best open-source Othello player.