Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hearing Outcomes after Ossicular Reconstruction with Removal of the Malleus

Objectives (1) Evaluate hearing outcomes of patients after planned malleus removal during ossicular chain reconstruction. (2) Analyze hearing results for titanium (Ti) and hydroxyapatite (HA) total ossicular prostheses (TOPs) and partial ossicular prostheses (POPs). (3) Compare Ti and HA partial prostheses. Study Design Retrospective case series with chart review. Setting Tertiary health care organization. Subjects and Methods A chart review was conducted of 139 consecutive patients who presented with chronic otitis media with perforation (with or without cholesteatoma) and were treated with initial-stage tympanoplasty (with or without mastoidectomy) and managed with TOP (n = 22) or POP (n = 117) between July 2010 and July 2015. The malleus was completely removed in all cases. Hearing was assessed via bone and air conduction pretone averages (0.5, 1, 2 kHz) pre- and postoperatively. Air-bone gap (ABG) and change in ABG (ΔABG) were analyzed. Pre- and postoperative values were compared. Results The overall mean ABG decreased from 29.4 ± 12.3 dB to 18.2 ± 11.4 dB postoperatively (P < .001) with a mean ΔABG of 14.5 dB (95% CI, 12.793-16.203). Overall success was achieved by 69.1%. The POP group achieved higher success (70.9%) than the TOP group (59.1%; P = .0001). Mean ABG decreased significantly within surgical groups (TOP and POP) and prosthesis material groups (Ti and HA; all P < .001). Ti had statistically higher success than HA in both techniques: POP (P = .0478) and TOP (P = .0251). There was a 98% graft take rate. Conclusion Planned malleus removal during ossicular chain reconstruction, regardless of disease extent, allows for simpler reconstruction and comparable favorable results to preservation of the malleus and should be considered during surgical planning.
Resposta do ACTH plasmático ao estímulo com CRH ou CRH + desmopressina em pacientes com síndrome de Cushing ACTH- dependente submetidos a cateterismo bilateral simultâneo dos seios petrosos inferiores

OBJECTIVE: To compare the responses of plasmatic ACTH to CRH or combined CRH/desmopressin stimulation in patients with ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome submitted to simultaneous, bilateral inferior petrosal sinuses sampling. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The procedure was performed in 21 patients - 14 women and 7 men - diagnosed with ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome in the period between January 1998 and December 2003. Upon catheterization of both inferior petrosal sinuses, blood samples for ACTH test were simultaneously collected from the petrosal sinuses and peripheral vein, both in the basal state and three to five minutes after injection of human CRH (100 mg) (six patients), or combined CRH/desmopressin (100 mg + 10 mg) (15 patients). RESULTS: After three minutes, both groups presented increased ACTH levels: CRH (257.77 ± 240.36 in the right petrosal sinus, and 718.78 ± 1358.82 in the left petrosal sinus [mean ± standard error]); combined CRH/desmopressin (1263.35 ± 1842.91 in the right petrosal sinus [p = 0.06], and 583.93 ± 1020.03 in the left petrosal sinus [p = 0.83]). After five minutes, the ACTH levels decreased in the group with CRH (181.07 ± 217.39 in the right petrosal sinus, and 188.25 ± 270.15 in the left petrosal sinus), and presented a progressive increase in the group with combined CRH/desmopressin (1365.29 ± 1832.31 in the right petrosal sinus [p = 0.03], and 866.43 ± 1431.72 in the left petrosal sinus [p = 0.11]). Gradient was absent in the three patients with ectopic secretion. CONCLUSION: Combined CRH/desmopressin stimulation induced a higher production of ACTH in cases of corticotroph adenomas as compared with CRH stimulation, which can improve the diagnostic sensibility of this procedure.
Coherency Hub Design for Multisocket Sun Servers with CoolThreads Technology

To bring the benefits of CMT to larger workloads, these systems had to scale beyond a single socket. Because CMT requires massive memory bandwidth to achieve adequate throughput performance, the challenge was to develop a coherency link and fabric that would allow performance to scale along with thread count in a multinode (that is, multisocket) system. In this article CoHub's coherency scheme, ASIC design, and transtransaction flows, and discussion of the engineering challenges created by 800-MHz operation and a six-stage pipeline budget is presented. The basic principles embodied in the multinode coherency protocol and CoHub design will be important building blocks for future multinode CMT systems with higher node counts.
Cache Hierarchy and Memory Subsystem of the AMD Opteron Processor

The 12-core AMD Opteron processor, code-named "Magny Cours," combines advances in silicon, packaging, interconnect, cache coherence protocol, and server architecture to increase the compute density of high-volume commodity 2P/4P blade servers while operating within the same power envelope as earlier-generation AMD Opteron processors. A key enabling feature, the probe filter, reduces both the bandwidth overhead of traditional broadcast-based coherence and memory latency.
Disaster Response: Principles of Preparation and Coordination

The word "disaster" conjures up different images to different people. To the fire fighter, it may mean a high-rise office building in flames; to an air traffic controller, it is wrecked aircraft; to an international relief worker, it may be an earthquake or flood or famine or civil strife. So it is useful to start by stating what Disaster Response is not about. It is not a book about dealing with famine in Africa, flooding in Bangladesh, or even an earthquake in Armenia. As the author is careful to point out, this book addresses the specific problems of responding to multicasualty incidents in the United States or countries having similar infrastructure and a similarly organized system of emergency medical services. It is, furthermore, primarily a book for those with managerial, rather than medical, responsibility for the planning and implementation of a disaster response. Reviewing a host of incidents reported in
The Wordtree

Book; however in the past time becomes a sacral thing to have by everybody. Many books from thin to the very thick pages are presented. But now, for the technology has developed advanced, we will serve you the book not in the printed ways. wordtree is one of the products of those books. This book model can be downloaded from the site link that we provide in this website. We offer you not only the best books from this country, but many from outsides.
Optical high radix switch design

Networking consumes up to 33 percent of modern data center power. Network switches are the key source of inefficiency: a switch traversal costs an order of magnitude more than a link traversal. The authors propose a new high-radix switch architecture that uses emerging integrated optical interconnect technology to reduce switch power. They tailor every component of a switch to best exploit optical technology and improve switch scalability and energy efficiency.
The interaction of pendrin an d the epithelial sodium channel in blood pressure regulation

Purpose of reviewThis review summarizes the contribution of the Cl−/HCO3− exchanger pendrin in the renal regulation of blood pressure. Recent findingsIntercalated cells are found in the distal convoluted tubule, the connecting tubule and the collecting duct. These cells regulate acid–base balance by secreting or absorbing OH−/H+ equivalents and regulate vascular volume and blood pressure by absorbing chloride ions. In type B and non-A, non-B intercalated cells chloride absorption and HCO3− secretion are accomplished through the apical sodium-independent Cl−/HCO3− exchanger pendrin. With increased circulating aldosterone, pendrin abundance and transport are upregulated. In the absence of functional pendrin (Slc26a4 (−/−) mice), aldosterone-stimulated chloride absorption is reduced, which attenuates the blood pressure response to this steroid hormone. Pendrin also regulates aldosterone-induced changes in epithelial sodium channel abundance and function through a kidney-specific mechanism that does not involve changes in concentration of a circulating hormone. In vitro, angiotensin II increases sodium chloride absorption in the collecting duct by increasing the driving force for pendrin-mediated chloride absorption and the epithelial sodium channel-mediated sodium absorption through greater electrogenic hydrogen secretion. SummaryAldosterone and angiotensin II modulate the renal regulation of blood pressure, in part, by regulating pendrin-mediated chloride absorption and the epithelial sodium channel-mediated sodium absorption. Pendrin also modulates stimulation of the epithelial sodium channel by aldosterone.
Design and analysis of the nonlinear feedback linearizing control for an electromagnetic suspension system

This paper presents some results on the robust stabilization of a class of feedback linearizable nonlinear single-input/single-output (SISO) systems exhibiting parametric uncertainty. We characterize a class of nonlinear systems with bounded uncertain parameters which can be transformed into a linear interval matrix robustness problem. We also present some analysis and implementation of nonlinear feedback linearizing control for an electromagnetic suspension (EMS) system. We show that the EMS system is nonlinear feedback linearizable and satisfies the proposed condition, and hence that the proposed nonlinear feedback controller for an EMS system is robust against mass parameter perturbation and force disturbance. Some tests are performed for making an experimental comparison between feedback linearizing control and classical state feedback control using linearization by small perturbation analysis.
Comparison of Body Surface Potential and Laplacian Mapping with Epicardial Mapping for Detection of Cardiac Ischemia in Pigs

The standard electrocardiogram (ECG) and the body surface potential map (BSPM) are only moderately sensitive for the detection of ischemia and cannot accurately localize ischemic regions within the heart. We have previously demonstrated that the body surface Laplacian map (BSLM) does provide the capability to localize electrical activity within the heart. The objective of this study was to compare the abilities of BSLM and BSPM to detect and localize ischemic regions within the heart with reference to direct epicardial potential measurements. Ischemia was induced in six anesthetized Yorkshire swine by occluding the distal left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery, or a diagonal branch of the LAD and the obtuse marginal coronary artery. Atrial pacing was used to incrementally increase the degree of ischemia. BSPM, BSLM, and epicardial recordings were simultaneously obtained after occlusion of each coronary artery and subsequently during atrial pacing. We used a normalized measure of ischemia (shift in the ratio: ST segment height divided by QR amplitude) measured at each electrode and created corresponding maps of the spatial distribution of this measure for the BSPM, BSLM, and epicardial potential maps. The BSLM was more sensitive than the BSPM in identifying ischemia and was capable of localizing and resolving one or more ischemic areas while the BSPM was not. The BSLM also distinguished between different levels of ischemia associated with atrial pacing at different rates. Due to its better spatial resolution and sensitivity, the BSLM promises to provide an improved means for noninvasive localization of myocardial ischemia.
External support in preventing vein graft failure

Saphenous vein remains a widely used conduit in coronary surgery. However, the long-term success of surgical myocardial revascularization is largely limited by the development of neointimal hyperplasia and superimposed atherosclerosis in vein grafts. Although strategies for preventing vein graft failure have been constantly explored, few therapeutic interventions to date have shown sustained benefits in the clinical setting. The application of external support has emerged as a promising strategy for modulating the overall biomechanical responses in venous wall. Nonetheless, clinical translation of this intervention has been formerly challenged, primarily due to several technique limitations. The purpose of the current review is to summarize the possible mechanisms involved in the external support strategy for preventing vein graft failure. Furthermore, several previously tested biomaterials and delivery techniques are also highlighted.
Deciding Whom to Tell: Expectations and Outcomes of Rape Survivors' First Disclosures

In this study, 102 female rape survivors were interviewed regarding their first post-assault disclosure. Qualitative analysis revealed that nearly 75% of first disclosures were to informal support providers and over one third of the disclosures were not initiated by the survivors themselves. Over half of the survivors received positive reactions and less than one third felt the disclosure had a detrimental impact on their recovery. Loglinear analysis suggested that survivors who actively sought help from informal support providers were more likely to receive positive than negative reactions. In contrast, survivors who actively sought help from formal support providers were more likely to receive negative than positive reactions. When disclosure to formal support providers was initiated by the formal support providers themselves, however, survivors received exclusively positive reactions. Implications for future research are discussed.
Sternal traction: simple technique to prevent tamponade/compression of the heart

Routine closure of the sternum after cardiovascular surgery sometimes causes severe cardiac depression because of tamponade, leading to cardiogenic shock. We describe a full-thickness chest wall traction suture taken parasternally and tied to an intravenous fluid stand. Upward (outward) traction is applied to the anterior chest while the sternum is primarily closed, which allows physiologic improvement equivalent to delayed sternal closure. It is a safe and easily reproducible technique.
On the perceptually irrelevant phase information in sinusoidal representation of speech

For efficient quantization of speech representations, it is essential to incorporate perceptual characteristics of human hearing. However, the focus has been confined only to the magnitude information of speech, and little attention has been paid to phase information. This paper presents a novel approach, termed perceptually irrelevant phase elimination (PIPE), to find out irrelevant phase information in acoustic signals in terms of perceived quality. The proposed method, inspired by the observation that the relative phase relationship within a critical band is perceptually important, is derived not only for stationary Fourier signals but also for harmonic signals. For harmonic signals, the "critical phase frequency" is defined below which phase information is perceptually irrelevant. The PIPE algorithm is incorporated into the harmonic analysis/synthesis of speech, and subjective test results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Distributed audio-visual archives network (DiVAN)

The ESPRIT project DiVAN (EP 24956) aims at the building of a distributed audio-visual library system for TV broadcasters and video archives owners. The DiVAN system provides facilities to effectively, digitize, annotate, organize, store and access raw material in a coherent content-based manner, on top of high-speed wide area communication networks. Also, the project aims to demonstrate and assess the applicability and acceptability of the proposed system, through field trials on a DiVAN-based infrastructure interconnecting the archives of the users of the partnership, i.e. INA, RAI, and ERT. The consortium consists of industrial partners (i.e. INTRACOM, TECMATH), research institutes (i.e. ICS-FORTH, INRIA, Tech. Un. of Darmstadt) and users (i.e. Institut National de l'Audiovisuel-INA, Radiotelevisione Italiana-RAI and Greek National Broadcaster-ERT).
On the automated interpretation and indexing of American Football

Combines natural language understanding and image processing with incremental learning to develop a system that can automatically interpret and index American Football. We have developed a model for representing spatio-temporal characteristics of multiple objects in dynamic scenes in this domain. Our representation combines expert knowledge, domain knowledge, spatial knowledge and temporal knowledge. We also present an incremental learning algorithm to improve the knowledge base as well as to keep previously developed concepts consistent with new data. The advantages of the incremental learning algorithm are that is that it does not split concepts and it generates a compact conceptual hierarchy which does not store instances.
Novel tumor necrosis factor α-regulated genes in rheumatoid arthritis

Objective To determine novel genes regulated by tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) signaling in primary rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts (RASFs). Methods Oligonucleotide microarrays were used to measure gene expression levels in 6 independent replicate samples of RASFs. RASFs were transfected for 18 hours with AdIκB–dominant negative (AdIκB-DN) (n = 3) or with control AdTet expressing the reverse tetracycline trans-activator (n = 3). The cells were stimulated for 3 hours with TNFα, and total RNA was prepared. Several novel parametric and nonparametric methods were used to rank genes in terms of the magnitude and significance of intergroup differences. Microarray expression differences were confirmed by real-time quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) was used to specifically down-modulate microarray-identified genes to demonstrate their role in the promotion of apoptosis, proliferation, or matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression. Results Blocking of NF-κB by AdIκB-DN was associated with a down-modulation of antiapoptosis genes, including BIRC-3, and several novel genes, including GG2-1, a TNFα-inducible FLIP-like gene. Other families of genes that were significantly down-regulated by AdIκB-DN included cytokines/chemokines (interleukin-1β [IL-1β], IL-8, IL-15, and RANTES), adhesion molecule (vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, intercellular adhesion molecule 1), and unique genes that have not previously been reported to be regulated by TNFα in RA. Inhibition of the GG2-1 gene using the siRNA technique resulted in significantly enhanced apoptosis, decreased proliferation, and decreased production of MMP-1 in TNFα-stimulated RASFs. Conclusion These studies provide a comprehensive analysis of genes that are differentially regulated by TNFα signaling and NF-κB nuclear translocation in RASFs and demonstrate methods for confirming the expression and functional significance of such genes.
A new buffer management scheme for hierarchical shared memory switches

We study a multistage hierarchical asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch in which each switching element has its own local cell buffer memory that is shared among all its output ports. We propose a novel buffer management technique called delayed pushout that combines a pushout mechanism (for sharing memory efficiently among queues within the same switching element) and a backpressure mechanism (for sharing memory across switch stages). The backpressure component has a threshold to restrict the amount of sharing between stages. A synergy emerges when pushout, backpressure, and this threshold are all employed together. Using a computer simulation of the switch under symmetric but bursty traffic, we study delayed pushout as well as several simpler pushout and backpressure schemes under a wide range of loads. At every load level, we find that the delayed pushout scheme has a lower cell loss rate than its competitors. Finally, we show how delayed pushout can be extended to share buffer space between traffic classes with different space priorities.
A prospective study of the role of coxsackie B and other enterovirus infections in the pathogenesis of IDDM. Childhood Diabetes in Finland (DiMe) Study Group.

Coxsackievirus B infections have been associated with clinical manifestation of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) in several studies, but their initiating role in the slowly progressing beta-cell damage is not known. This is the first prospective study designed to assess the role of coxsackie B and other enterovirus infections in the induction and acceleration of this process. Three separate series were studied: 1) an intrauterine exposure series comprising 96 pregnant mothers whose children subsequently manifested IDDM and 96 control mothers whose children remained nondiabetic; 2) a cohort of 22 initially unaffected siblings of diabetic children who were followed until they developed clinical IDDM (mean observation time, 29 months) and 110 control siblings who remained nondiabetic; 3) a case-control series comprising 90 children with newly diagnosed IDDM and 90 control subjects. Enterovirus infections were identified on the basis of significant increases in serum IgG, IgM, or IgA class antibodies against a panel of enterovirus antigens (capture radioimmunoassay). Enterovirus antibodies were significantly elevated in pregnant mothers whose children subsequently manifested IDDM, particularly in cases in which IDDM appeared at a very young age, before the age of 3 years (P < 0.005). Serologically verified enterovirus infections were almost two times more frequent in siblings who developed clinical IDDM than in siblings who remained nondiabetic (mean, 1.0 vs. 0.6 infections/follow-up year; P < 0.001). This difference was seen both close to the diagnosis of IDDM and several years before diagnosis. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Emu: an e-mail preprocessor for text-to-speech

E-mail reading is one of the most important commercial applications of text-to-speech synthesis (TTS). Yet e-mail is one of the most difficult types of text to deal with, since it is both highly structured -frequently containing elements such as tables, signatures, "artwork" and quotations from previous messages; and at the same time often lacks any reliable unambiguous indicators for such structure. This paper describes Emu, an e-mail mark-up and rendering program that preprocesses e-mail for TTS. We discuss algorithms for detecting regions of interest in the input text; for "normalizing" the input; and for actually rendering the input through the Bell Labs TTS system.
Variations in the Extrahepatic Biliary Tract

The frequent recourse to surgery for disturbances in the function of the extrahepatic biliary tract makes imperative exact knowledge not only of the normal distribution of the bile ducts but of the variations occasionally encountered in this system. The literature contains frequent references to this fact, and many cases are reported of injuries to the biliary tract during operation on subjects in whom the arrangement of the bile ducts was atypical. Jacobson1reported a case in which he severed the common bile duct during an operation for gallstones, because the cystic duct paralleled the hepatic duct for some distance. Many instances of similar accidents have been reported. Werelius2and Ginsburg and Speese3reported cases in which transection of the common duct had been caused entirely by an anomalous arrangement of the ducts. Stetten4reported a case in which the hepatic duct was divided instead of the
Investigation and management of cardiovascular disease in rabbits

ANECDOTAL reports from veterinary surgeons suggest that cardiovascular disease is increasingly being diagnosed in rabbits. With the rise in popularity of this species as a pet, and often a house pet, owners are noticing subtle signs of disease and are presenting their animals for investigation at an earlier stage. This article describes how a systematic approach to the investigation can lead to improved management and, hence, a better outlook for these patients.