Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intuitive Handführung von Robotern als Handlingsysteme

Zusammenfassung Bei der Handführung roboterbasierter Handling- bzw. Kraftverstärkungssysteme wird die Bewegungsintention des Nutzers über Kraft-/Momentsensoren erfasst. Die exakte Bewegungssteuerung der bis zu sechs Freiheitsgrade verlangt vom Nutzer viel Erfahrung. Im Beitrag wird ein Konzept beschrieben, das durch die Anwendung virtueller Kraftfelder die Bedienung erleichtert. Über die Stabilitätsuntersuchung des Gesamtsystems bestehend aus impedanzgeregeltem Roboter, Nutzer und virtuellen Kraftfeldern sowie anschließende simulative und experimentelle Untersuchungen werden Aussagen zur Parametrierung der Kraftfelder gewonnen.
PREVALENCE OF DEMENTIA IN A RURAL SETTING: A REPORT FROM INDIA

A study to estimate the prevalence of dementia in a rural population was conducted in a community located on the outskirts of Madras city in South India. Seven hundred and fifty elderly 60 years of age and older, selected using the cluster sampling technique, were interviewed using the Geriatric Mental State schedule (GMS). The prevalence of dementia was 3.5%, the percentage increasing with age. These rural prevalence estimates were higher than in urban settings (WHO multicentre study on cognitive impairment and dementia in developed and developing countries, unpublished) and male/female differences were negligible. The difficulties associated with the use of the GMS in a non‐literate rural population are discussed. The implications of these findings for India's growing elderly population are highlighted. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Digital Signal Processing for Short-Reach Optical Communications: A Review of Current Technologies and Future Trends

Driven primarily by cloud service and data-center applications, short-reach optical communication has become a key market segment and growing research area in recent years. Short-reach systems are characterized by direct detection-based receiver configurations and other low-cost and small form factor components that induce transmission impairments unforeseen in their coherent counterparts. Innovative signaling and digital signal processing (DSP) play a pivotal role in enabling these components to realize their ultimate potentials and meet data rate requirements in cost-effective manners. This paper presents an overview of recent DSP developments for short-reach communications systems and discusses future trends.
Low Phase Noise G$ _{m}$-Boosted Differential Gate-to-Source Feedback Colpitts CMOS VCO

This paper presents a g m-boosted differential gate-to-source feedback Colpitts (GS-Colpitts) CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) that consumes a lower oscillation start-up current. The proposed architecture allows a wider range of saturation mode operation for the switching transistors, which helps suppress AM-to-FM conversion by these transistors. In addition, the phase noise contribution of the flicker noise in the switching transistor is reduced through the capacitor feedback network of the Colpitts oscillator. As a result, the proposed topology can achieve better phase noise performance and a higher figure of merit (FOM) compared to a conventional NMOS-only cross-coupled VCO. The proposed VCO is implemented in a 0.18-mum CMOS for 1.78 to 1.93 GHz operation. At 1.86 GHz, the measurements show phase noise of -105 and -128 dBc/Hz (corresponding to FOM = 191.2) at offsets of 100 kHz and 1 MHz, respectively, while dissipating 1.8 mA from a 0.9-V supply.
Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia

Congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia (CAT), a rare syndrome with failure of megakaryopoiesis, cannot be cured by immunoglobulins, steroids or cyclosporin, but only by allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). We report on eight patients with CAT, all of whom were dependent at the time of BMT on platelet transfusion. Sources of haematopoietic progenitor cells were bone marrow (n = 5), peripheral stem cells (n = 2) and cord blood (n = 1). Seven patients engrafted. Both patients with matched unrelated donor transplants died, six patients are well with stable platelet counts 3–27 months after transplantation. BMT represents a curative option for CAT. The benefit of using alternative marrow donors should be carefully evaluated.
Products from human mast cell line cells enhance the production of interferon‐γ by CD8+ and CD4+ T cells

In patients with allergic asthma, T‐cell cytokines are implicated in the regulation of the local inflammation in the airways. The ability of sensitized mast cells to release mediators and cytokines early upon allergen stimulation makes them important candidates for local immunoregulation. We have studied the effects of human mast cells on T cells with the use of the human mast cell line HMC‐1. We showed that activated human mast cells or their soluble products induced and enhanced the interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) production by T cells up to about 60‐fold. The production of interleukin (IL)‐4 was hardly affected and that of IL‐5 was slightly enhanced. The enhancement of IFN‐γ production was induced both in polyclonal CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and in CD4+ and CD8+ T‐cell clones. Further characterization of the factors involved demonstrated a molecular mass above 30 000. Our results implicate that by this mechanism mast cells may account for a negative feedback system locally down‐regulating allergen‐induced T helper 2 responses via IFN‐γ production by the T cells.
Radioimmunotherapy of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with 90Y-DOTA humanized anti-CD22 IgG (90Y-Epratuzumab): do tumor targeting and dosimetry predict therapeutic response?

UNLABELLED A DOTA (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N',N",N"'-tetraacetic acid)-conjugated, (111)In- and (90)Y-labeled humanized antibody to CD22, epratuzumab, was studied in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) to assess biodistribution and tumor targeting, pharmacokinetics, dosimetry, and anti-antibody response. Of particular interest was to evaluate whether pretherapy targeting and tumor dosimetry could predict therapeutic responses. METHODS Patients received a pretherapy imaging study with (111)In-DOTA-epratuzumab IgG (0.75 mg/kg), followed about 1 wk later with (90)Y-DOTA-epratuzumab starting at a dose level of 0.185 GBq/m(2) (5 mCi/m(2)) in patients who had prior high-dose chemotherapy (group 2), and at 0.370 GBq/m(2) in patients who did not have a prior transplant (group 1), with escalation in 0.185-GBq/m(2) increments. RESULTS The effective blood half-life for (111)In-DOTA epratuzumab was 36.1 +/- 7.9 h (n = 25) compared with 35.2 +/- 7.0 h for (90)Y-DOTA-epratuzumab (n = 22). The whole-body half-life for (90)Y-DOTA-epratuzumab estimated from (111)In-DOTA-epratuzumab scintigraphy was 58.3 +/- 4.7 h (n = 20), with urine collection confirming the loss of between 2.2% and 15.9% of the injected activity over 3 d (n = 3). One-hundred sixteen of 165 CT-confirmed lesions were visualized with (111)In-DOTA-epratuzumab. Radiation-absorbed doses to liver, lungs, and kidneys averaged 0.55 +/- 0.13 (n = 17), 0.28 +/- 0.06 (n = 17), and 0.38 +/- 0.07 mGy/MBq (n = 10), respectively, with 0.14 +/- 0.02 and 0.23 +/- 0.04 mGy/MBq delivered to the whole-body and red marrow, respectively. Tumor doses (n = 14 lesions in 10 patients) ranged from 1.0 to as much as 83 mGy/MBq for a 0.5-g lesion (median, 7.15 mGy/MBq). Group 2 patients were more likely to experience significant hematologic toxicities, but doses of up to 0.370 GBq/m(2) of (90)Y-DOTA-epratuzumab were tolerated with standard support measures, whereas patients in group 1 tolerated doses of up to 0.740 GBq/m(2) with the potential for further escalation. Anti-tumor effects were seen in both indolent and aggressive NHL. The data also suggest that anti-tumor responses of potentially equal magnitude can occur irrespective of tumor targeting and tumor size. Hence, tumor response did not correlate with the radiation dose delivered or with the tumor being visualized by external imaging. An anti-antibody response to epratuzumab was detected by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in only 2 of 16 patients. CONCLUSION These results suggest that (90)Y-DOTA-epratuzmab is a promising agent for the treatment of NHL and warrants further study. There was evidence suggesting that in this system, factors other than tumor radiation dose and targeting may be involved in the success of radioimmunotherapy.
Iterative decoding of low-complexity space-time codes

In this work, we study the iterative decoding of a low-complexity space-time architecture proposed by [G. Caire and G. Colavolpe, September 2001; G. Caire and G. Colavolpe, April 2001] employing per-survivor-processing at the receiver with the soft-output Viterbi-algorithm (SOVA, [J. Hagenauer and P. Hoether]). At the transmitter, the space-time architecture is serially concatenated with an outer code. With the availability of extrinsic information at the receiver delivered by the SOVA, it is now possible to use a novel receiver scheme performing iterative (turbo) decoding in order to improve the performance of the architecture. According to the ZF or to the MMSE criterion, linear feedforward and -backward filters of the decision-feedback space-time decoder are derived. Furthermore, the decision metric of the SOVA employing per-survivor-processing is developed and the performance of the scheme is analyzed and compared with the scheme in [G. Caire and G. Colavolpe, April 2001].
A bandwidth analysis using broadband dual-polarization and stable-beam width slot antenna fed by U-shape micro strip line

The design of dual polarized slot antenna with simple geometry is presented in order to obtain the stable radiation pattern and gain. There are two U shape MSL which is used at two feeding ports to excite a cross shape slot for realizing it as dual polarized antenna. The design of an antenna fully carried out in FR4 material. The simulation results are given by the use of four short metallic pillars which provide good reflection coefficient. Overall design which is carried out by the HFSS. Use of this HFSS momentum in various parameter of an instance S11 parameter, return loss, directivity, radiation parameter, efficiency and gain which are obtained.
Inhibition of fetal adrenal adrenocorticotropin receptor messenger ribonucleic acid expression by betamethasone administration to the baboon fetus in late gestation.

Throughout the majority of intrauterine development, the primate fetal adrenal gland is comprised primarily of fetal zone cells and only late in gestation do definitive zone cells, which express the enzyme delta5-3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/isomerase (3beta-HSD) emerge to produce cortisol. The present study was designed to determine whether the induction of definitive zone ACTH receptor messenger RNA (mRNA) levels and components of the steroidogenic pathway known to be expressed specifically in the definitive zone, e.g. the 3beta-HSD enzyme, are dependent upon fetal pituitary ACTH. Fetal pituitaries and adrenal glands were obtained on day 165 (term = day 184) from untreated controls (n = 7) and from baboons in which betamethasone was administered im to the fetus (0.6 mg/100 microl; n = 4) or to the fetus (0.6 mg) and mother (6 mg/ml; n = 4) every other day between days 150 and 164 of gestation. Although fetal pituitary weight was not altered by betamethasone, POMC mRNA levels determined by in situ hybridization were lower (P < 0.05) in betamethasone-treated (0.34 +/- 0.07 arbitrary densitometric units) than in untreated controls (0.63 +/- 0.04). Associated with this decline in pituitary POMC, levels of the major 3.4-kb mRNA transcript for the ACTH receptor expressed as a ratio of beta-actin were approximately 80% lower (P < 0.05) in fetal adrenals of betamethasone-treated baboons (0.12 +/- 0.02) than in untreated controls (0.84 +/- 0.05). In situ hybridization indicated that ACTH receptor mRNA expression in the definitive zone exceeded that in the fetal zone and was reduced by betamethasone. Associated with the decrease in ACTH receptor expression, fetal adrenal weight was suppressed (P < 0.05) by 50% and reflected a marked reduction (P < 0.05) in the size of the cells of the definitive and fetal zones. Betamethasone treatment also induced a decrease (P < 0.05) in the width (microm) of the definitive zone (183 +/- 14 vs. 128 +/- 7; determined by immunohistochemical expression of 3beta-HSD), as well as the levels of the mRNA and protein for 3beta-HSD. Levels of the mRNA for the LDL-receptor and the enzymes 17alpha-hydroxylase-C(17,20) lyase and P450 cholesterol side chain cleavage were also suppressed in adrenals of betamethasone-treated baboons. These findings indicate that treatment of the baboon fetus with betamethasone in late gestation suppressed fetal pituitary POMC mRNA expression and ACTH receptor mRNA levels in the fetal adrenal gland, as well as the hypertrophy and ACTH receptor mRNA and 3beta-HSD mRNA/protein levels in the cells comprising the newly emerging definitive zone. We conclude that ACTH is necessary for the up-regulation of the mRNAs for the ACTH receptor and steroidogenic enzymes in the definitive zone of the primate fetal adrenal gland in late gestation.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): current agents and future perspective.

The objectives of medical treatment of patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are relief of symptoms and healing of esophagitis, which can be achieved, at least in part, by drugs which suppress acid secretion. In patients with GERD symptoms and/or mild esophagitis, the best and most cost-effective therapeutic strategy is to start with a proton pump inhibitor with subsequent trial of step down of the intensity of therapy (e.g. H2-receptor antagonists). In patients with moderate or severe esophagitis, proton pump inhibitors are the mainstay of treatment and the most effective in preventing symptoms and esophagitis. In patients with mild disease, the recurrence of symptoms is less frequent and many patients may not need continuous maintenance therapy or may require treatment with either low dose proton pump inhibitors, H2-receptor antagonists or cisapride only. H. pylori eradication might be needed in GERD patients on long-term treatment with proton pump inhibitors, but the benefit of this strategy has not yet been adequately demonstrated. Antireflux surgery is a maintenance option for the young patient on long-term medical therapy. Improved medical therapy for GERD might depend on future agents with different therapeutic targets, including GABA inhibitors and nitric oxide modulating drugs in the control of the lower sphincter esophagus and in motility disorders, free radical scavengers in the prevention of mucosal damage and COX-2 specific inhibitors in the prevention of the progression of Barret's esophagus to adenocarcinoma. Finally, the modulation of some growth factors might have a potential role in delayed esophageal ulcer healing, refractory esophagitis and in Barrett's esophagus.
Excitation and conduction in the smooth muscle of the isolated taenia coli of the guinea‐pig

The theories concerning conduction of excitation in smooth muscle may be divided in two groups-those based on the assumption that the cells behave as separate units (multi-unit theories), and those which assume that the cells behave as a syncytium, at least from the electrical point of view (unitary theories). In the multi-unit theories the spread of excitation has been suggested to take place within an interstitial network (Keith, 1915; Tiegs, 1925; Fischer, 1944; Ambache, 1947) or to be due to diffusion of a transmitter substance (Rosenblueth, 1936). On the other hand, Bozler (1938a, b, 1941, 1948) has been the chief advocate of the unitary theory and he, as well as Biulbring (1955, 1956), Greven (1955), Prosser, Smith & Melton, (1955), Prosser & Sperelakis (1956), have emphasized that conduction by an intercellular nerve network was unlikely. Further questions remained, however; first whether the responses to electrical stimulation were 'all-or-none', or whether they were graded, and secondly, what was the mechanism of conduction. There is no doubt that different types of smooth muscles behave differently, and the present work has been carried out entirely on a spontaneously active type in which the problem of excitability and conduction has been investigated in relation to the nature and the initiation of spontaneous activity. A short account of some of the results has been communicated to the Physiological Society (Biilbring, Burnstock & Holman, 1958).
Varieties of "if-then-else"

Four classes of algebras are considered. The algebras in each class contain functions whose behavior models a version of the “if-then-else” instruction. In one version, for example, the algebras contain a function $\kappa $ of four arguments such that $\kappa (x,y,u,v) = u$ if $x = y$ and $\kappa (x,y,u,v) = v$ if $x \ne y$. None of the considered classes is an equational class, but equational axioms are found for each class such that an equation is valid in the class if it is derivable in standard equational logic from the axioms.
A Case of Amicrobial Pustulosis of the Folds Associated with Neutrophilic Gastrointestinal Involvement in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Background: Amicrobial pustulosis of the folds is a recently described entity characterized by relapsing pustular lesions involving predominantly the cutaneous folds and the scalp. The disease typically occurs in the context of an autoimmune or systemic disease and should be included within the spectrum of neutrophilic dermatoses. Observation: We describe a patient with a history of systemic lupus erythematosus, who developed amicrobial pustulosis of the folds. Strikingly, the patient also exhibited recurrent oral and gastrointestinal manifestations that paralleled the course of the cutaneous signs. Conclusions: Our observation indicates that, in analogy to the other neutrophilic dermatoses, amicrobial pustulosis of the folds can also be complicated by the development of extracutaneous neutrophilic involvement, knowledge of which is critical for its diagnosis and proper management.
Circulating Levels of Uric Acid and Risk for Metabolic Syndrome.

Hyperuricemia leads to insulin resistance, whereas insulin resistance decreases renal excretion of uric acid, both mechanisms link elevated serum uric acid with metabolic syndrome. The aim of this study is to evaluate the probability for the development of metabolic syndrome in low-income young adults with hyperuricaemia. METHODS We evaluated 103 patients less than 40 years of age, from a low-income population, and without history of cardiovascular disease, in all of them the presence of metabolic syndrome was assessed in accordance with the International Diabetes Federation criteria. In all patients, fasting serum uric acid levels were measured; hyperuricaemia was defined as serum uric acid values 6.5 mg/dl in men and 5.1 mg/dl in women. Statistical analysis was performed with odds ratio. RESULTS 83 of our patients (80.5%) suffered metabolic syndrome, the odds ratio for the presence of metabolic syndrome in patients with hyperuricaemia was 5.1 (p=0.002, I.C 1.8- 14.5). When patients were evaluated by gender a significantly association between hyperuricaemia and metabolic syndrome was found in women (odds ratio 3.6, p=0.048, C.I. 1.0-12.9), and men (odds ratio 10.2, p= 0.015, IC 1.5-13.2). When uric acid was correlated with the components of metabolic syndrome, we only found a positive correlation with waist circumference (r=0.483). CONCLUSION Our results showed a significant association between hyperuricemia and metabolic syndrome in low-income young adults in Mexico. DR is associated with estimated risk of CVD in type 2 diabetic patients.
Women's health after pregnancy and child outcomes at age 3 years: a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES This study examined the persistence and comorbidity of women's physical and mental health conditions after pregnancy and the association of these conditions with child outcomes. METHODS A national cohort of women who recently gave birth were surveyed in 1988 and again in 1991. We examined longitudinal data on maternal poor physical health, depressive symptoms, and smoking, and maternal report of child outcomes (at age approximately 3 years). RESULTS Women's poor physical health and smoking had strong, graded associations with children's physical health and behavior problems, whereas women's depressive symptoms were associated with children's delayed language and behavior problems. CONCLUSIONS Substantial persistence and comorbidity of women's health conditions exist after pregnancy with adverse effects on early child outcomes. Child health professionals should support services and policies that promote women's health outside the context of pregnancy.
CMUQA in QALab-3: Essay Question Answering for University Entrance Exams

This paper describes the CMUQA entry into NTCIR QA Lab-3. CMUQA is an essay-question answering system that uses Wikipedia as its knowledge base. The essay-question portion of QA Lab-3 is composed of real exam questions from the University of Tokyo’s entrance exams which are focused on world history. The proposed system formulates answers to these questions using the following sequence of processes: question analysis, document retrieval, sentence extraction, sentence scoring, text ordering and text summarization. Despite the difficulty of this challenge and the small size of training data, CMUQA achieved the highest expert score amongst the competing end-to-end systems in the task.
Cost Savings of Human Milk as a Strategy to Reduce the Incidence of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Very Low Birth Weight Infants

Background: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a costly morbidity in very low birth weight (VLBW; <1,500 g birth weight) infants that increases hospital length of stay and requires expensive treatments. Objectives: To evaluate the cost of NEC as a function of dose and exposure period of human milk (HM) feedings received by VLBW infants during the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalization and determine the drivers of differences in NICU hospitalization costs for infants with and without NEC. Methods: This study included 291 VLBW infants enrolled in an NIH-funded prospective observational cohort study between February 2008 and July 2012. We examined the incidence of NEC, NICU hospitalization cost, and cost of individual resources used during the NICU hospitalization. Results: Twenty-nine (10.0%) infants developed NEC. The average total NICU hospitalization cost (in 2012 USD) was USD 180,163 for infants with NEC and USD 134,494 for infants without NEC (p = 0.024). NEC was associated with a marginal increase in costs of USD 43,818, after controlling for demographic characteristics, risk of NEC, and average daily dose of HM during days 1-14 (p < 0.001). Each additional ml/kg/day of HM during days 1-14 decreased non-NEC-related NICU costs by USD 534 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Avoidance of formula and use of exclusive HM feedings during the first 14 days of life is an effective strategy to reduce the risk of NEC and resulting NICU costs in VLBW infants. Hospitals investing in initiatives to feed exclusive HM during the first 14 days of life could substantially reduce NEC-related NICU hospitalization costs.