Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thrombopoietin following transfusion of platelets in preterm neonates

Thrombocytopenia is common in the neonatal intensive care unit. Transfusion of platelets is often required. The purpose of our study was to determine changes in thrombopoietin (Tpo) following transfusion of platelets in preterm neonates. Preterm neonates undergoing platelet transfusion were randomized to receive a transfusion volume of either 10 or 15 ml/kg. Blood was obtained for Tpo measurement pre-transfusion, one and 24 hours post-transfusion. Platelet Factor 4 (PF4) was also measured to quantify platelet activation. Statistical analysis was performed using repeated measures ANOVA, and Mann-Whitney U test as appropriate. Ten infants were enrolled in each group. Gestational age, birth weight, etiology of thrombocytopenia, and timing of transfusion did not differ between the 10 and 15 ml/kg groups. There were no differences between the groups in platelet count prior to and/or following transfusion. Both transfusion volumes were equally well tolerated. Tpo and PF4 did not differ between groups at any of the study time points. When both groups were analysed together, Tpo dropped 43% (95% confidence 37–49%, p = 0.01) 1-hour post compared to pre-transfusion. In conclusion the observed decrease in Tpo following platelet transfusion suggests that Tpo kinetics in neonates is similar to adults following transfusion. PF4 was not affected by transfusion. There was not an increase in platelet count following transfusion volume of 15 ml/kg compared to 10 ml/kg.
Packaged X-band capacitive-coupled dual behavior resonator filter [Technical Committee]

This article describes the realization of a packaged filter presented in 2008 at the IMS student contest held in Atlanta. Our aim was to design and fabricate a packaged planar X-band bandpass filter with optimum performance while using the Stratedge package (FP118118-1). The filter topology in use is the capacitive-coupled dual behavior resonator (CCDBR). It is implemented in microstrip technology on a classical alumina substrate.
An automated approach to multidisciplinary system design optimization of small solid propellant launch vehicles

Current methodology for multidisciplinary conceptual design optimization of expendable launch vehicles necessitates evaluation of a large number of different combinations. With existing codes, performance evaluation of all design combinations becomes very time consuming and restricts design space. Up to now, a commonly used solution to this problem has been the creation of approximation models such as, quadratic response surface equations and surrogating these models in automated design optimization cycle. However, the design space of multi-stages launch vehicles is highly nonlinear and cannot be adequately modeled by response surface approximation. In this paper, a fully automated approach for multidisciplinary system design optimization of small solid propellant launch vehicles is presented to improve design performance and reduce design cycle. Required codes were developed in homogenous environment
Self-administered Vitamin D Status Predictor: Older adults are able to use a self-questionnaire for evaluating their vitamin D status

Background The 16-item Vitamin D Status Predictor (VDSP) questionnaire helps to identify, without resorting to a blood test, older adults with low vitamin D concentrations. Our objective was to determine whether a self-administered VDSP was concordant with the VDSP administered by a physician, and to examine the concordance of every single item of the VDSP. Methods A total of 349 older in- and outpatients (mean, 83.2±7.2years; 59% female) were consecutively recruited in the geriatric ward of the University Hospital of Angers, France. All participants completed a self-administered VDSP questionnaire (self-VDSP) in paper format composed of 17 items exploring age, gender, general condition, nutrition, vision, mood, cognition, gait and falls, and osteoporosis. All participants underwent subsequently a full clinical examination by a physician exploring the same areas (rater-VDSP). Results The agreement between the self-VDSP and the rater-VDSP was almost perfect for the probability of having low vitamin D concentrations, regardless of the definition used (i.e., ≤25, ≤50 or ≤75 nmol/L). The agreements between physicians’ and patients’ responses were significant for every single VDSP item. The agreement was fair to perfect for all items, except for cognitive disorders, undernutrition and polymorbidity (poor agreement). Conclusions Older adults are able to evaluate their own probabilities of severe vitamin D deficiency, deficiency and insufficiency. A self-questionnaire may promote the use of the VDSP tool in this population, and help clinicians in decisions to supplement their patients in a reasoned way.
60GHz unilateralized CMOS differential amplifier

A novel unilateralization technique for a high frequency differential power amplifier is proposed to improve the gain and stability. To demonstrate the effectiveness, a differential 60-GHz power amplifier is designed based on the 90nm CMOS technique. A transformer coupled differential architecture is used in this design. By using cross coupled capacitors to realize the four-port feedback network, the inherent parasitic effects are cancelled, and the differential power amplifier is neutralized. The two-stage amplifier has a gain of 10 dB, with a center frequency of 58.5 GHz and a bandwidth of 6.3 GHz. In the maximum gain state, the output 1dB compression point is +5.1 dBm, Psat is +8.5 dBm and the peak PAE is 7.7 %, drawing 53 mA from a 1-V supply.
Tree nuts and the lipid profile: a review of clinical studies

Tree nuts have a fatty acid profile that favourably affects blood lipids and lipoproteins. They are low in saturated fat and high in unsaturated fatty acids and are rich sources of other nutrients. An extensive database consistently shows total and LDL cholesterol-lowering effects of diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol and high in unsaturated fat provided by a variety of tree nuts. Collectively, a summary of studies conducted to date shows that tree nuts reduce LDL cholesterol by 3–19 % compared with Western and lower-fat diets. Nuts also contain many nutrients and bioactive compounds that appear to contribute to the favourable effects on lipids and lipoproteins – these include plant sterols, dietary fibre and antioxidants. Because of their unique nutrient profile, nuts can be part of a diet that features multiple heart-healthy foods resulting in a cholesterol lowering response that surpasses that of cholesterol-lowering diets typically used to reduce CVD risk.
Primary auditory neurons of monkey.

Histological as well as electrophysiological studies on the auditory nerve of monkey revealed that1. The cochlear nerve bundle is almost free from nerve cells whereas the vestibular nerve has many nerve cells in it.2. The latency of response on each cochlear nerve fiber in response to sound stimulation was determined by measuring the time interval between the arrival of sound at the ear and the beginning of nerve fiber discharge recorded at the intracranial cochlear nerve bundle. It was very short, between 1.0 and 2.0 msec. when the CF of the neuron was higher than 100°cps. while it was rather long, longer than 2 msec. when the CF of the neuron was lower than 1000cps.3. There was no discrepancy between the conclusion obtained from the electrophysiological studies on the cochlear nerve fibers and that obtained by the histological studies on the cochlear nerve.
Violacein cytotoxicity on human blood lymphocytes and effect on phosphatases

Given the importance of protein phosphorylation in the context of cellular functions, abnormal protein phosphatase activity has been implicated in several diseases, including cancer. These critical roles of protein phosphatases qualify them as potential targets for the development of medicinal compounds that possess distinct modes of action such as violacein. In this work, studies with this natural indolic pigment at a concentration of 10.0 μmol L− 1 demonstrated a 20% activation of total protein phosphatase extracted from human lymphocytes. Although no alteration was observed on protein tyrosine phosphatase (CD45), 30% of inhibition was achieved in cytoplasmatic protein phosphatase activity after incubation with 10.0 μmol L− 1 violacein. Additionally, 5.0 μmol L− 1 of violacein inhibited by 50% the serum tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase activity. Violacein presented toxic effect on lymphocytes with IC50 values of 3 and 10 μmol L− 1 for protein content and protein phosphatase activity, respectively. These findings suggest an important role for protein phosphatases in the mechanisms controlling proliferation and cell death.
King Solomon's miners--starvation and bioaccumulation? An environmental archaeological investigation in Southern Jordan.

Copper mining and smelting were important activities in various predesert wadis during the Iron Age, Nabatean, Roman, and Byzantine periods in southern Jordan and major spoil tips together with slag heaps remain as a legacy of such enterprises. Barley has grown in the area for a prolonged period and currently wild barley plants are affected by toxic cations, which reduce their yields. It is considered that such plants provide an adequate model to assess how similar plants would have performed, in terms of productivity, in the past. The population of miners/slaves, guards, etc., would have been subject to bioaccumulation of heavy metals, which conceivably would have led to detrimental effects on their health. Inhalation and ingestion of particulate pollutants cannot be discounted. It is argued that the population may have been further weakened as a consequence of food shortage, due to reduced plant productivity, as cereals are important foods for both humans and the animals upon which they are dependent. A sizeable mining community could only have been maintained by large-scale importation of food or a massive intensification of agricultural activity.
Exploiting spatial reuse gain through joint mode selection and resource allocation for underlay device-to-device communications

Device-to-device (D2D) communication has recently emerged as a promising technique for improving the performance of next-generation cellular systems. In particular, traffic offloading through exploiting spatial reuse gain of underlay D2D communication has gained attention in the literature. While related work has considered the scenario where at most one underlay D2D pair can share the radio resource of cellular users, we consider in this paper a more general scenario involving multiple D2D pairs for resource sharing. To investigate the resultant performance gain, we first formulate a joint optimization problem for mode selection and resource allocation, where the optimal mode to operate, radio resources to use, and power to transmit are to be optimally decided for a group of users with intra-cell traffic. The formulated problem belongs to MINLP, and hence we propose an algorithm with reduced complexity for solving the problem. Evaluation results show that, through joint mode selection and resource allocation among multiple D2D pairs, the potential of D2D communications can be further exploited for achieving significant performance gain.
NMDA Receptor Stimulation Selectively Initiates GABAA Receptor δ Subunit mRNA Expression in Cultured Rat Cerebellar Granule Neurons

Abstract: Findings in vivo and in culture suggest that neuronal activity selectively regulates GABAA receptor δ subunit mRNA expression in cerebellar granule neurons. For example, the onset of δ subunit mRNA expression during postnatal maturation coincides with innervation. Furthermore, depolarizing conditions (25 mM KCl) in culture initiate and maintain increases in the δ subunit transcript level. We have now examined whether similar changes in δ subunit mRNA expression occur in cultured neurons after activation of glutamate receptors of the NMDA subtype, an event that mimics granule neuron depolarization by mossy fiber innervation in vivo. Our studies demonstrate that addition of 50 µM NMDA to cultured rat granule neurons maintained in defined, serum‐free medium specifically initiates δ subunit transcript expression. Whereas the level of the δ subunit mRNA is increased fourfold by this treatment, levels of other GABAA receptor subunit transcripts are not significantly changed. The level of the δ subunit transcript is further increased when NMDA receptor activation is enhanced by maintaining neurons in a Mg2+‐free medium to alleviate Mg2+ blockade of the receptor channel. The NMDA‐induced elevation in δ subunit transcript expression involves activation of a Ca2+/calmodulin‐dependent protein kinase pathway. These findings suggest that activation of an excitatory pathway may regulate the expression of an inhibitory receptor phenotype in cerebellar granule neurons in vivo.
Modulation of Both Interleukin 2 Receptor Expression and Interleukin 2 Production during Experimental Murine Trypanosoma cruzi Infection

A massive activation of T cells takes place during the early stages of a Trypanosoma cruzi infection in mice. We present data indicating that substantial amounts of Interleukin 2 (IL‐2) are secreted and IL‐2 receptors are expressed during the period of increased proliferation (4–7 days post infection). Both concanavalin A‐induced proliferation and IL‐2 production are markedly decreased later in the acute infection (around 3 weeks post infection). This proliferation cannot be restored by externally added IL‐2 Simultaneously, there is a drastic reduction in the number of both high‐and low‐affinity IL‐2 receptors. The reduction is not attributable to the elimination of a particular T‐cell population. In vivo administration of recombinant IL‐2 failed to improve resistance to T. cruzi parasites as measured by parasitaemia and mortality.
Multipaths and Rate Stability

Multipath solutions have been shown to help improve throughput, reliability and/or load balancing. This paper seeks to understand if and when they benefit rate stability. Rate stability is important to many real-time, interactive applications, e.g., streaming video, but whether multipath solutions can help is unclear. Of relevance is the time-scale at which bandwidth changes are detected and acted upon to rebalance transmissions across paths. Consider two boundary cases: instantaneous detection and rate re-allocation, and a static rate assignment based on long-term path statistics. When transmissions can be instantaneously rebalanced across paths based on real-time link rate information, a multipath solution trivially improves rate stability (it all but eliminates rate variations). In contrast, when rate allocations are static, we find that multipath cannot improve upon the best single-path solution when buffers are large. When buffers are small (and coding is used to overcome losses), a multipath solution can, however, be beneficial even under a static rate allocation. The paper provides insight into when and how multipath solutions can help improve rate stability.
Can some growth hormone (GH)-deficient children benefit from combined therapy with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs and GH? Results of a retrospective study.

Recombinant GH (rGH) treatment does not invariably correct height deficits in GH-deficient children once puberty has begun. The addition of GnRH analogs (GnRHa) to delay puberty has been advocated, but published results are few and sometimes conflicting. We retrospectively compared GH-deficient children treated with rGH and GnRHa for at least 1 yr after entering puberty and having attained their final height (n = 23) with a matched control group treated only with rGH. Overall, combined therapy did not significantly increase final height relative to rGH alone. However, the shortest girls at the onset of puberty (<25th percentile) benefited more than the tallest (>75th percentile) in both final height relative to predicted height and pubertal catch-up growth. In the control group, patients having experienced intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) attained a lower mean final height than patients without IUGR (difference significant in boys, but not in girls). In the combined therapy group, IUGR did not affect the final height of either sex. Our results suggest that two populations might benefit most from combined GnRHa and rGH therapy: girls particularly short at the onset of puberty and patients who had experienced IUGR. Further prospective studies are required to confirm these preliminary hypothesis.
Structures en combinatoire des mots et en analyse musicale. (Structures in Combinatorics on Words and in Computational Music Analysis)

Ce memoire presente certains de mes travaux de recherches de ces dernieres annees, en particulier des problemes de structure sur les mots et sur la musique. En combinatoire des mots, l'etude de la structure peut etre simplement de regarder la maniere dont les lettres sont positionnees dans un mot, ou comment les facteurs (suites de lettres juxtaposees) sont repetes. Le probleme auquel nous allons nous interesser ici est celui de la quasiperiodicite, c'est-a-dire la structure des mots constitues d'un motif repete avec ou sans chevauchement. En musique, la structure peut designer l'agencement de differentes parties musicales (similaires ou distinctes) pour former un schema global, apportant un certain equilibre a une oeuvre. Nous allons nous interesser ici aux differents elements entrant en jeu dans l'analyse de la structure "horizontale" d'une piece musicale : repetition de motifs, harmonie, rythme, texture. et au moyen de les combiner pour aboutir a une analyse musicale par ordinateur proche d'une analyse musicale humaine. Nous verrons aussi que l'on peut etudier localement la structure "verticale" d'une piece lorsque celle-ci est polyphonique, en analysant l'agencement des differentes voix entre elles.
Analysis and simulation of the P&O MPPT algorithm using a linearized PV array model

This paper shows that the performance of the perturb and observe (P&O) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm is improved when the electronic converter is correctly controlled. A linearized photovoltaic (PV) array model is used to obtain the transfer function of the electronic converter and to design a voltage compensator for the converter input voltage. A buck converter is used in this work.
Superconducting magnet system for the ATLAS detector at CERN

The ATLAS Collaboration has started the construction of the superconducting magnet system of the ATLAS Experiment which will be installed in the ring of the new Large Hadron Collider at CERN, operational in year 2005. The ATLAS detectors require, for the particle separation, a specific distribution of magnetic field that will be generated by a system of superconducting coils. The system with overall dimensions of 20 meter diameter and 26 meter length consists of three toroidal magnets and a 2.5 m diameter central solenoid. The system is unique in size and complexity. In this paper, the various magnets are introduced as well as the common infrastructure and services required. The status of the project is also reviewed.
Increased renal vascular sensitivity to angiotensin II in hypertension is due to decreased response to prostaglandins

Objectives An enhanced sensitivity to angiotensin II in the renal circulation has been demonstrated in the pre-hypertensive phase both in the spontaneously hypertensive rat and in man. To further characterize this abnormality and the role of prostanoids, renal haemodynamics in normotensive young men with a positive (PFH) or a negative (NFH) family history of hypertension were studied. Methods Renal vascular reactivity was assessed during infusion of angiotensin II with and without inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis. Normotensive men with PFH (n = 13) and with NFH (n = 10) with a mean age of 38 years were given on two different occasions: (i) angiotensin II infusion i.v. (0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 ng/kg per min) and (ii) angiotensin II infusion after inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis with indomethacin (150 mg daily three consecutive days). Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and renal plasma flow were measured with renal clearances of chromium edetic acid and para-aminohippuric acid. Results Before angiotensin II challenge, the groups did not differ with respect to blood pressure, body mass index, plasma renin activity, GFR, renal blood flow (RBF) or urinary sodium excretion. There was no significant difference in systolic or diastolic blood pressure response to angiotensin II between the two groups. In PFH, the lowest angiotensin II dose caused a significant decrease in RBF and increase in renal vascular resistance (RVR) from baseline (P < 0.01 for both). In NFH, only the highest angiotensin II dose produced a significant decrease in RBF and increase in RVR (P < 0.01 for both). During inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis, all three angiotensin II doses caused a significant decrease in RBF (P < 0.02) and increase in RVR (P < 0.02) also in NFH. The renal haemodynamic difference between PFH and NFH was thus eliminated. Conclusions These findings indicate that young human subjects with a positive family history of hypertension have a defective vasodilator prostaglandin system, which is responsible for increased renal vascular sensitivity to angiotensin II. Enhanced renal vasoconstriction may be an early event leading to the generation of primary hypertension.
Discriminative analysis of pixel difference towards picture quality prediction

This paper is devoted to discriminate pixel difference in the context of visual signal for picture quality prediction, according to human perceptual characteristics. The new quality predictor as the result of the analysis remedies one oversight in all the previous metrics, and proves to be more accurate and consistent in visual quality prediction then the best metrics in the VQEG tests.
Residential air-conditioning and climate change: voices of the vulnerable.

ISSUE ADDRESSED Decreasing the risk of heat-stress is an imperative in health promotion, and is widely accepted as necessary for successful adaptation to climate change. Less well understood are the vulnerabilities that air-conditioning use exacerbates, and conversely, the need for the promotion of alternative strategies for coping with heat wave conditions. This paper considers these issues with a focus on the role of air-conditioning in the everyday life of elderly public housing tenants living alone, a sector of the population that has been identified as being at high risk of suffering heat stress. METHODS A vulnerability analysis of domestic air-conditioning use, drawing on literature and policy on air-conditioning practices and ethnographic research with households. RESULTS Residential air-conditioning exacerbated existing inequities. Case studies of two specifically selected low-income elderly single person households revealed that such households were unlikely to be able to afford this 'solution' to increasing exposure to heat waves in the absence of energy subsidies. Residential air-conditioning use during heat waves caused unintended side-effects, such as system-wide blackouts, which, in turn, led to escalating electricity costs as power companies responded by upgrading infrastructure to cope with periods of excess demand. Air-conditioning also contributed to emissions that cause climate change. CONCLUSIONS Residential air-conditioning is a potentially maladaptive technology for reducing the risk of heat stress.