Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantum Mechanics on a Noncommutative Geometry

Quantum mechanics in its presently known formulation requires an external classical time for its description. A classical spacetime manifold and a classical spacetime metric are produced by classical matter fields. In the absence of such classical matter fields, quantum mechanics should be formulated with- out reference to a classical time. If such a new formulation exists, it follows as a consequence that standard linear quantum mechanics is a limiting case of an un- derlying non-linear quantum theory. A possible approach to the new formulation is through the use of noncommuting spacetime coordinates in noncommutative differential geometry. Here, the non-linear theory is described by a non-linear Schrodinger equation which belongs to the Doebner-Goldin class of equations, discovered some years ago.
Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents in patients with cancer: update on safety issues

Chemotherapy-induced anemia in patients with cancer can effectively be treated with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. These drugs, which are currently indicated only in patients without curative treatment intent, increase hemoglobin (Hb) levels, reduce the risk for transfusions and improve the quality of life. Treatment should be initiated when the Hb level decreases to about 10 g/dl and the target Hb level should not exceed 12 g/dl. Hypertension and thromboembolic events are the main side effects. The association between erythropoietic proteins and clinical outcome including survival warrants further studies.
Effect of ambient temperature on cardiovascular parameters in rats and mice : a comparative approach Steven

Swoap, Steven J., J. Michael Overton, and Graham Garber. Effect of ambient temperature on cardiovascular parameters in rats and mice: a comparative approach. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 287: R391–R396, 2004. First published April 15, 2004; 10.1152/ajpregu.00731.2003. —Ambient air temperatures (Ta) of 6°C or 29°C have been shown to induce large changes in arterial blood pressure and heart rate in homeotherms. The present study was designed to investigate whether small incremental changes in Ta, such as those found in typical laboratory settings, would have an impact on blood pressure and other cardiovascular parameters in mice and rats. We predicted that small decreases in Ta would impact the cardiovascular parameters of mice more than rats due to the increased thermogenic demands resulting from a greater surface area-to-volume ratio in mice relative to rats. Cardiovascular parameters were measured with radiotelemetry in mice and rats that were housed in temperaturecontrolled environments. The animals were exposed to different Ta every 72 h, beginning at 30°C and incrementally decreasing by 4°C at each time interval to 18°C and then incrementally increasing back up to 30°C. As Ta decreased, mean blood pressure, heart rate, and pulse pressure increased significantly for both mice (1.6 mmHg/°C, 14.4 beats min 1 °C , and 0.8 mmHg/°C, respectively) and rats (1.2 mmHg/°C, 8.1 beats min 1 °C , and 0.8 mmHg/°C, respectively). Thus small changes in Ta significantly impact the cardiovascular parameters of both rats and mice, with mice demonstrating a greater sensitivity to these Ta changes.
Dual Role of SnoN in Mammalian Tumorigenesis

ABSTRACT SnoN is an important negative regulator of transforming growth factor β signaling through its ability to interact with and repress the activity of Smad proteins. It was originally identified as an oncoprotein based on its ability to induce anchorage-independent growth in chicken embryo fibroblasts. However, the roles of SnoN in mammalian epithelial carcinogenesis have not been well defined. Here we show for the first time that SnoN plays an important but complex role in human cancer. SnoN expression is highly elevated in many human cancer cell lines, and this high level of SnoN promotes mitogenic transformation of breast and lung cancer cell lines in vitro and tumor growth in vivo, consistent with its proposed prooncogenic role. However, this high level of SnoN expression also inhibits epithelial-to-mesenchymal transdifferentiation. Breast and lung cancer cells expressing the shRNA for SnoN exhibited an increase in cell motility, actin stress fiber formation, metalloprotease activity, and extracellular matrix production as well as a reduction in adherens junction proteins. Supporting this observation, in an in vivo breast cancer metastasis model, reducing SnoN expression was found to moderately enhance metastasis of human breast cancer cells to bone and lung. Thus, SnoN plays both protumorigenic and antitumorigenic roles at different stages of mammalian malignant progression. The growth-promoting activity of SnoN appears to require its ability to bind to and repress the Smad proteins, while the antitumorigenic activity can be mediated by both Smad-dependent and Smad-independent pathways and requires the activity of small GTPase RhoA. Our study has established the importance of SnoN in mammalian epithelial carcinogenesis and revealed a novel aspect of SnoN function in malignant progression.
The LEECH Exoplanet Imaging Survey. Further constraints on the planet architecture of the HR 8799 system (Corrigendum)

Author(s): Maire, A-L; Skemer, AJ; Hinz, PM; Desidera, S; Esposito, S; Gratton, R; Marzari, F; Skrutskie, MF; Biller, BA; Defrere, D; Bailey, VP; Leisenring, JM; Apai, D; Bonnefoy, M; Brandner, W; Buenzli, E; Claudi, RU; Close, LM; Crepp, JR; De Rosa, RJ; Eisner, JA; Fortney, JJ; Henning, T; Hofmann, K-H; Kopytova, TG; Males, JR; Mesa, D; Morzinski, KM; Oza, A; Patience, J; Pinna, E; Rajan, A; Schertl, D; Schlieder, JE; Su, KYL; Vaz, A; Ward-Duong, K; Weigelt, G; Woodward, CE
Outcome of Medication Overuse Headache after Abrupt in-Patient withdrawal

One hundred and one patients suffering from chronic daily headache (CDH) and medication overuse were treated, in an in-patient setting, with abrupt discontinuation of the medication overused, intravenous hydrating, and intravenous administration of benzodiazepines and ademetionine. The mean time to CDH resolution was 8.8 days. The in-patient withdrawal protocol used was effective, safe and well tolerated. There was a trend for a shorter time to CDH resolution in patients who overused triptans (P = 0.062). There was no correlation between time to CDH resolution and either the type of initial primary headache or duration of medication abuse, whereas time to CDH resolution was related to daily drug intake (P = 0.01). In multiple regression analysis, daily drug intake, age and type of medication overused were independent predictors of time to CDH resolution. At 3-months' follow-up, no patient had relapsed and was again overusing symptomatic medications.
Risk Characterization of Methyl tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) in Tap Water

Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) can enter surface water and groundwater through wet atmospheric deposition or as a result of fuel leaks and spills. About 30% of the U.S. population lives in areas where MTBE is in regular use. Ninety‐five percent of this population is unlikely to be exposed to MTBE in tap water at concentrations exceeding 2 ppb, and most will be exposed to concentrations that are much lower and may be zero. About 5% of this population may be exposed to higher levels of MTBE in tap water, resulting from fuel tank leaks and spills into surface or groundwater used for potable water supplies. This paper describes the concentration ranges found and anticipated in surface and groundwater, and estimates the distribution of doses experienced by humans using water containing MTBE to drink, prepare food, and shower/bathe. The toxic properties (including potency) of MTBE when ingested, inhaled, and in contact with the skin are summarized. Using a range of human toxic potency values derived from animal studies, margins of exposure (MOE) associated with alternative chronic exposure scenarios are estimated to range from 1700 to 140,000. Maximum concentrations of MTBE in tap water anticipated not to cause adverse health effects are determined to range from 700 to 14,000 ppb. The results of this analysis demonstrate that no health risks are likely to be associated with chronic and subchronic human exposures to MTBE in tap water. Although some individuals may be exposed to very high concentrations of MTBE in tap water immediately following a localized spill, these exposures are likely to be brief in duration due to large‐scale dilution and rapid volatilization of MTBE, the institution of emergency response and remediation measures to minimize human exposures, and the low taste and odor thresholds of MTBE which ensure that its presence in tap water is readily detected at concentrations well below the threshold for human injury.
Microsatellite Alterations in Plasma DNA of Primary Breast Cancer Patients 1

The aim of this study was to analyze plasma DNA from primary and metastatic breast cancer cases for tumor-specific alterations and to compare these findings with immunocytochemistry and estimation of cytokeratin 19 (CK19) mRNA for detection of micrometastases. DNA was extracted from plasma, lymphocytes, and microdissected tumor tissue sections obtained from 71 patients with breast cancer and 9 controls. DNA samples were analyzed for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and/or microsatellite instability (MI) by PCR with two polymorphic markers (DM-1 and D16S400). Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (QPCR) and immunocytochemistry were used for detection of CK19 mRNA and protein. Breast cancer plasma DNA displayed frequent LOH (31.3%) and MI (11.6%) supported by the same alteration in microdissected tumor DNA. Most notably, 10 of the 39 patients with primary breast cancer showed LOH (n 5 6) or MI (n 5 4). We compared plasma tumor DNA, plasma and bone marrow QPCR, and blood and bone marrow immunocytochemistry in 32 of the patients with primary cancer. Of these, only one patient had immunocytochemically detectable carcinoma cells in the blood, and three showed abnormally high levels of plasma CK19 mRNA. All four of these patients had plasma DNA alterations. We then compared bone marrow findings: of the 10 primary breast cancers that showed LOH or MI, 6 had elevated CK19 mRNA and 5 had immunocytochemically positive cells. Tumor DNA is readily detectable in plasma of primary and metastatic breast cancer patients, and plasma DNA alterations (LOH and MI) reflect those seen in the tumor. The application of microsatellite analyses to plasma DNA may be useful in assessing tumor burden in breast cancer patients, particularly when combined with QPCR, and is preferable for patients with breast cancer, for whom sequential bone marrow aspiration is undesirable.
Profile of an Emission Line from Relativistic Outflows around a Black Hole

Recent observations show strong evidence for the presence of Doppler-shifted emission lines in the spectrum of both black hole candidates and active galactic nuclei. These lines are likely to originate from relativistic outflows (or jets) in the vicinity of the central black hole. Consequently, the profile of such a line should be distorted by strong gravitational effects near the black hole, as well as special relativistic effects. In this paper, we present results from a detailed study on how each process affects the observed line profile. We found that the profile is sensitive to the intrinsic properties of the jets (Lorentz factor, velocity profile, and emissivity law), as well as to the spin of the black hole and the viewing angle (with respect to the axis of the jets). More specifically, in the case of approaching jets, an intrinsically narrow line (blueshifted) is seen as simply broadened at small viewing angles, but it shows a doubly peaked profile at large viewing angles for extreme Kerr black holes (due to the combination of gravitational focusing and Doppler effects); the profile is always singly peaked for Schwarzschild black holes. For receding jets, however, the line profile becomes quite complicated owing to complicated photon trajectories. To facilitate comparison with observations, we searched a large parameter space to derive representative line profiles. We show the results and discuss how to use emission lines as a potential tool for probing the inner region of a black hole jet system.
Predicting and Evaluating Memory Communication Performance

Application of hardware-parameterized models to distributed systems can result in omission of key bottlenecks such as the full cost of inter-node communication in a shared memory cluster. However, inclusion of message characteristics and complex memory hierarchies may result in impractical models. Nonetheless, the growing gap between memory and CPU performance combined with the trend toward large scale clustered shared memory platforms implies an increased need to consider the impact of local memory communication on parallel processing in distributed systems. We present a simple and useful model of point-to-point memory communication for use in performance prediction and evaluation. We illustrate the utility of the model in three ways: 1) to predict and analyze the latency of memory copy, pack and unpack in complex memory hierarchies, 2) to isolate latency delays due to middleware overhead in an MPI implementation and 3) to more accurately predict the computational cost of scatter operations in a distributed system. We use our model to isolate the contributions of hardware, middleware, and software to data transfers on Inteland MIPS-based platforms.
Unexpected Thermal Destruction of Dried, Glass Bead-Immobilized Microorganisms as a Function of Water Activity

ABSTRACT To help us understand the factors and mechanisms implicated in the death of microorganisms or their resistance to temperature in a low water activity environment, microorganisms were dried on the surface of glass beads before being subjected to high temperatures for a short period followed by rapid cooling. Two microorganisms were studied: the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the bacterium Lactobacillus plantarum. Experiments were carried out at 150, 200, and 250°C, with four durations of heat treatment and seven levels of initial water activity between 0.10 and 0.70. We observed an unexpected range of water activity, between 0.30 and 0.50, at which microorganisms were more resistant to the various treatments, with maximal viability at 0.35 for L. plantarum and 0.40 for S. cerevisiae.
Complex Composite Derivative and Its Application to Edge Detection

In this paper, a detailed study on a composite derivative is performed. The composite derivative, which is formed from the combination of fractional integration and derivative and performs a $90^\circ$ phase shift as the traditional first derivative does, is applied to edge detection and the results are analyzed, emphasizing the compromise ability between selectivity and noise suppression. Both objective and subjective comparisons with other edge detectors are carried out, including evaluations through the use of the benchmark Berkeley Segmentation Dataset (BSDS500). In contrast with the classical first-order derivative, the composite derivative is order-steerable; one can adjust the orders of fractional integration and derivative to tune magnitude characteristic and reach a compromise between sensitivity to noise and detection accuracy.
Electromagnetic Design and Loss Calculations of a 1.12-MW High-Speed Permanent-Magnet Motor for Compressor Applications

Electromagnetic design of a 1.12-MW, 18 000-r/min high-speed permanent-magnet motor (HSPMM) is carried out based on the analysis of pole number, stator slot number, rotor outer diameter, air-gap length, permanent magnet material, thickness, and pole arc. The no-load and full-load performance of the HSPMM is investigated in this paper by using 2-D finite element method (FEM). In addition, the power losses in the HSPMM including core loss, winding loss, rotor eddy current loss, and air friction loss are predicted. Based on the analysis, a prototype motor is manufactured and experimentally tested to verify the machine design.
Social Development in Children With Early Cochlear Implants: Normative Comparisons and Predictive Factors, Including Bilateral Implantation

Objectives: There are mixed results regarding psychosocial development in children with cochlear implants (CIs) compared with children with normal hearing (NH), and the effect of bilateral CIs has not yet been investigated. This study aimed to investigate whether social development differed between NH children and those with early CIs, and to identify new predictors of psychosocial development in children with early CIs. Design: The psychosocial development, cognitive and language abilities of 159 children were measured as part of a longitudinal outcomes study of children with CIs. Parental involvement was also assessed. Results: The children in this study did not differ significantly from their peers with NH in terms of their psychosocial development, except with regard to Prosocial Behavior, with parents reporting significantly poorer development in this area. Having bilateral CIs predicted significantly fewer difficulties with psychosocial development, with earlier age at implantation increasing the effect size of the second CI for Emotional Symptoms and Peer Problems. Receptive language ability, higher parent education, later birth order, high parent involvement, and female gender predicted significantly fewer parent reports of psychosocial problems. Higher child cognitive ability and greater screen time predicted significantly greater reported psychosocial difficulties. Marginal effects modeling quantified the effects of changes in the predictive factors examined. Conclusions: Psychosocial development in these children with early CIs was found to be similar to that for peers with NH, with the exception of delayed Prosocial Behavior development. Having bilateral CIs predicted significantly better emotional outcomes. A number of new predictive factors were found for psychosocial development. The results of the marginal effects modeling should be shared with parents and professionals to increase their understanding of the impact of changes in predictive factors, particularly in terms of their own contribution to psychosocial outcomes for children with CIs.
Pig bite in Brazil: a case series from a teaching hospital.

A retrospective survey done from 1987 till 1990 revealed that 23 patients bitten by pigs sought medical help at a teaching hospital in Uberlândia, in southeastern Brazil. Most cases (21) were from Uberlândia. The cases were evenly distributed by month and by year; most of them (14/16; 87.5%) occurred between 7.00 a.m. and 7.00 p.m. The male to female ratio was 6.7:1. Age ranged from 6 to 73 (mean 38.95 +/- SD 22.06, median 36). The bites were more common on the upper limbs, particularly on the forearms. In 11 (47.8%) cases the injury was described as deep. In most cases where information was available the injury was related to capture, transport or immobilisation of the pig for slaughter. The following medical procedures were performed: local cleansing in 19(82.6%) cases, rabies vaccine (12; 52.2%), antirabies serum (2; 8.7%), suturing (6; 26.1%) and tetanus vaccine (12; 52.2%). There was no case of infection at the bite site, neither of rabies or tetanus. By our data, the annual incidence of pig bite in Uberlândia can be estimated to be about 1.5/100,000.
FINITE-DIFFERENCES DISCRETIZATIONS OF THE MUMFORD-SHAH FUNCTIONAL

Une conjecture recente de De Giorgi, sur l'approximation de la fonctionnelle de Mumford et Shah par des fonctionnelles non locales basees sur des differences finies, a ete demontree il y a un peu plus de deux ans par Gobbino [21]. Nous introduisons dans ce travail une version discretisee de l'approximation de De Giorgi, que l'on peut voir comme une generalisation de l'energie de “membrane faible” introduite par Blake et Zisserman pour la segmentation d'images. Une adaptation elementaire des demonstrations de Gobbino permet de calculer la Γ-limite de cette approximation discrete, lorsque le pas de discretisation tend vers zero ; ce calcul generalise un resultat precedent de l'auteur sur l'energie de “membrane faible” [10]. On deduit ainsi une maniere de construire systematiquement des fonctionnelles de segmentation d'images “moins anisotropes” que l'energie originale de Blake et Zisserman, et l'amelioration obtenue est illustree par des experiences numeriques.
Chaos Theory and Non-linear Dynamics in Hypertensive Cardiopathy and Heart Failure

Heart failure is worldwide cause for increased morbidity and mortality. High sympathetic activity is a potential factor for ventricular arrhythmias. Depressed heart rate variability (HRV) in heart failure is associated with increased mortality. Nonlinear analysis may quantify abnormalities in RR intervals series based on fractal analysis (chaos theory). Approximate entropy (ApEn) was applied to quantify the regularity and complexity of time series, as well as unpredictability of fluctuations in time series. Dynamic analysis based on chaos theory points out the multifractal time series in heart failure patients who loss normal fractal characteristics and regularity in HRV. Hypertension is a risk factor for the development of heart failure (HF), both because hypertension increases cardiac work, which leads to the development of left ventricular hypertrophy, and because hypertension is a risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease. Knowing the role of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in the mechanism of hypertension, the challenge is to evaluate the arrhythmic risk of hypertensive patients. Disturbances in the activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) also significantly influence the outcome of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). A subject open to debate is to compare heart rate variability (HRV) parameters and the chaos theory methods for the assessment of the clinical status and the outcome in hypertensive cardiopathy. Also we consider that it is necessary to improve ventricular arrhythmia prophylaxis in patients with preserved left ventricular left ejection fraction heart failure.