Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decreased aortic compliance aggravates subendocardial ischaemia in dogs with stenosed coronary artery.

OBJECTIVES The existence of decreased aortic compliance due to arteriosclerosis has been documented in patients with coronary artery disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of decreased aortic compliance on coronary artery disease. METHODS To simulate coronary artery disease, a fixed stenosis was made in the left circumflex coronary artery in dogs. Ten anaesthetised open chest dogs were used. Aortic compliance was decreased by banding the thoracic aorta with adjustable plastic rings. The level of coronary stenosis was adjusted to reduce the baseline flow by no more than 10% but enough to eliminate reactive hyperaemia induced by a 10 s occlusion. Measurements of haemodynamics, regional myocardial segment length, subendocardial ECG, and myocardial tissue PO2 were performed at five stages (initial control stage, rest and pacing stages without aortic banding, and rest and pacing stages with the aortic banding). RESULTS Haemodynamic variables were not changed at any stage, except for increased pulse pressure secondary to the aortic banding. During pacing with aortic banding, subendocardial PO2 (Endo) levels were decreased, and subepicardial PO2 (Epi) levels were increased, compared to those without the aortic banding [Endo: 43.2(SD 9.8) v 36.8(10.0) mm Hg, p < 0.05; Epi: 34.0(11.5) v 44.4(7.9) mm Hg, p < 0.05]. ST elevation on the subendocardial ECG was greater, and myocardial segment shortening was less with the aortic bandage during pacing. CONCLUSIONS When the work of the heart is increased, a decrease in aortic compliance tends to compromise ischaemic myocardium further in the presence of an induced stenosis of a major coronary artery.
Hydrogen generation by adding passivator for suppressing copper-sulfide deposition in transformers

Generation of hydrogen from oils with the addition of passivators such as 1, 2, 3-benzotriazole (BTA) and Irgamet® 39 for suppressing copper sulfide deposition was investigated by heating tests. Large amounts of hydrogen were generated from the oils with the addition of Irgamet® 39 compared to the oils with the addition of BTA. BTA is suitable in terms of less generation of hydrogen. For Irgamet® 39 added oils, the amounts of hydrogen increase with an increase in oxygen concentration. Irgamet® 39 was consumed by thermal decomposition and oxidation. Consumption by oxidation of Irgamet® 39 is considered to be affected to the hydrogen generation. Amounts of hydrogen increase with increase in heating temperature for a certain period of time. After conducting heating test, Irgamet® 39 was remained in oil. Total amount of hydrogen, which is defined by sum of the amount of hydrogen generated by consumed Irgamet® 39 and the amount of hydrogen generated by residual Irgamet® 39, are considered to be independent of heating temperature. Effects of additives such as dibenzyl disulfide, which is one of the prime compounds that cause the copper sulfide deposition, and 2, 6 ditertiary-butyl paracresol as antioxidant on hydrogen generation were significant. Consequently, in case of adding Irgamet® 39 for the purpose of suppressing copper sulfide deposition, installation of a conservator system and rubber bag which reduces the dissolution of oxygen into the oil is effective to minimize the amount of hydrogen.
Helical and axial cone beam filtered backprojection (CB-FBP) reconstruction algorithms using a general window function

A window function is derived for cone beam reconstruction using filtered backprojection (CB-FBP) algorithms under both helical and circular source trajectories. The window function can be conceived as a generalization of the well-known Tam-window function that is originally derived for cone beam reconstruction under helical source trajectory. Rather than defining the window boundaries in a detector, the general window function deals with data redundancy by selecting the rays with the smallest cone angle. The primary benefit of the proposed general window function is the capability of appropriately dealing with data redundancy and removing cone beam artifacts under not only helical but also circular source trajectories. Based on the so-called cone-parallel geometry, a computer simulation study has been conducted to evaluate the general window function under both helical and circular source trajectories.
A meta-analysis of the importance of the driving range in consumers’ preference studies for battery electric vehicles

We perform a meta-analysis of the studies that evaluate the importance attributed by the consumers to the driving range of the Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). The paper updates and extends the paper by Dimitropoulos et al. (2013), including primary studies up to the year 2018. It tests whether the conclusions drawn by Dimitropoulos et al. (2013) still hold true given the many changes that occurred in the last years concerning BEVS’ uptake in the market, growing consumers’ direct and indirect experience with electric cars, vehicles’ increased range, and growing diffusion of the charging infrastructure. We carried out two analyses: a) the estimation of the summary effect size of the driving range utility coefficient, and b) a meta-regression of the willingness to pay for a 1-km increase in the BEVs’ driving range. The main findings are that: a) the importance attributed to the BEV’s range by the consumers has not decreased; b) there is a very large dispersion of the estimates around the mean values, implying that there is a large heterogeneity due to differences in respondents’ needs, vehicle segments and modelling techniques. The meta-regression allowed us to further explore and test statistically these conclusions.
The microfoundations of improvisation

In the last couple of decades, improvisation has been one of the most mainstream topic in organizational research. A lot has been theorized about, but as per out knowledge, the causes of the events that lead to an improvisation decision have never been systematically studied. NOVA’s move is the object of this study, events and their resolution were collected as they were seen and described by the responsible actors. We suggest that one of the main causes is the lack of stewardship, which manifests as lack of planning (time, people, materials), subpar prioritization and/or implementation.
Analysis of Autoantibodies Related to Tumor Progression in Sera from Patients with High-grade Non-muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM Bladder cancer (BC) has a high recurrence rate and may progress to being a muscle-invasive lesion, that is potentially associated with a poor prognosis. We identified tumor-associated proteins that were recognized by autoantibodies in sera from patients with high-grade non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (HG-NMIBC) by proteomic analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS The serum levels of these autoantibodies against identified proteins were validated by dot blot analysis with sera from 95 patients with BC and 35 healthy controls. The expression of identified proteins was immunohistochemically analyzed in 115 BC tissues. RESULTS Autoantibody against protein phosphatase 1, catalytic subunit, alpha isoform (PPP1CA) protein was detected in pretreated sera from patients with HG-NMIBC who showed progression. The serum IgG level of anti-PPP1CA autoantibody was significantly correlated with pathological stage, grade, lymphovascular invasion, and prognosis. The immunoreactions for PPP1CA protein in BC was significantly correlated with pathological stage, grade, and lymphovascular invasion. CONCLUSION PPP1CA is a candidate sero-diagnostic and prognostic marker for patients with BC.
Smallpox vaccination by intradermal jet injection. I. Introduction, background and results of pilot studies.

Jet injection has met with great success in the rapid and effective mass administration of several immunizing agents. The recent development of a jet injector nozzle specifically designed for intradermal inoculation suggested the possible extension of jet injector methodology to mass smallpox vaccination. A total of 156 volunteer subjects, 16 unvaccinated and 140 vaccinated more than 5 years previously, received either undiluted smallpox vaccine by the multiple-pressure technique, or 0.1 ml of various dilutions of smallpox vaccine by jet injector using the new nozzle. Cutaneous and serological responses in revaccinees revealed that jet injection of diluted vaccine with a titre of 10(7) TCID(50)/ml was as effective as multiple-pressure inoculation of undiluted vaccine. Among the small number of primary vaccinees, jet injection of diluted vaccine with a titre of 10(6) TCID(50)/ml appeared as effective as multiple-pressure inoculation of undiluted vaccine. No complications of vaccination occurred.The findings confirm the utility of the intradermal nozzle for jet injection of smallpox vaccine. In view of the speed of administration and the economy of vaccine, it is suggested that there is a distinct role for jet injection in global smallpox eradication efforts. Further studies on larger numbers of unvaccinated subjects and on persons with significant residual vaccinial immunity are needed to define the optimal concentration of vaccine for mass vaccination by jet injection.
Scripts as source of information to contextual video advertising

The wide availability of online video content in the Internet has changed the way users interact with TV. In fact, TV users often watch the news, movies and TV series through the Web. Along with this change, new advertisement of products and services have emerged. The success of contextual advertising in the Web, mainly related to finding advertising keywords on page content, has motivated us to apply them to video. Textual evidence extracted from videos may provide good contextualization source for advertising. In this work, we evaluate the usefulness of movies scripts as a source of information for contextual advertising in video. We adopted a machine learning-based strategy to finding keywords and advertising. We studied not only features proven be useful in earlier studies, as well as novel features proposed and derived from the ad collection. We evaluate the impact of using scripts both in finding keywords and in finding relevant ads. The results indicate that the studies features were more useful for finding keywords than ads. Features derived from the ad collection performed consistently well in finding keywords. We also observed that the best keywords are found in the script section which describes the characters' actions and scenarios than in the one which describes the dialogues.
Metazoan tRNA introns generate stable circular RNAs in vivo

We report the discovery of a class of abundant circular noncoding RNAs that are produced during metazoan tRNA splicing. These transcripts, termed tRNA intronic circular (tric)RNAs, are conserved features of animal transcriptomes. Biogenesis of tricRNAs requires anciently conserved tRNA sequence motifs and processing enzymes, and their expression is regulated in an age-dependent and tissue-specific manner. Furthermore, we exploited this biogenesis pathway to develop an in vivo expression system for generating "designer" circular RNAs in human cells. Reporter constructs expressing RNA aptamers such as Spinach and Broccoli can be used to follow the transcription and subcellular localization of tricRNAs in living cells. Owing to the superior stability of circular vs. linear RNA isoforms, this expression system has a wide range of potential applications, from basic research to pharmaceutical science.
Fertility-sparing surgery for persistent gestational trophoblastic neoplasia in the myometrium: a case report.

BACKGROUND Persistently low-level "real" serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) after treatment for gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) in patients desirous of preserving fertility is a diagnostic and management challenge. Among the possible explanations is the presence of false positive ("phantom") hCG or of trophoblasts in a myometrial sanctuary. CASE An 18-year-old woman had persistent low-level hCG values in her serum after treatment for nonmetastatic GTN. Her only child had died, and she wanted to preserve her fertility potential. Phantom hCG was excluded. Positron emission tomography (PET) showed increased uptake in an area of the uterus in which magnetic resonance imaging had shown an ill-defined, ovoid lesion. Removal of the lesion with preservation of the uterus followed by 2 courses of multiagent chemotherapy (methotrexate, dactinomycin and cyclophosphamide) resuited in clinical remission. CONCLUSION PET can prove useful in detecting persistent disease in a myometrial sanctuary in patients with resistant, nonmetastatic GTN. Conservative surgical excision with uterine preservation is possible and can be of value in achieving remission.
Protein C anticoagulant pathway and its role in controlling microvascular thrombosis and inflammation

ObjectiveTo review the physiologic and biochemical mechanisms that suggest that protein C and activated protein C (APC) have unique properties that make them good candidates for the treatment of microvascular thrombosis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and sepsis. Data SourcesA summary of published medical literature from MEDLINE search files and published reviews on protein C physiology, biochemical properties, and activity in experimental and human sepsis. Data SummaryProtein C is critical to the regulation of microvascular coagulation, as seen most clearly in humans born with congenital deficiency of protein C, who develop neonatal purpura fulminans. Protein C supplementation reverses the lesion formation. In primate models of sepsis, APC blocks disseminated intravascular coagulation initiated by Escherichia coli infusion, and inhibition of APC function exacerbates both the coagulant and inflammatory responses of the animals to sublethal levels of E. coli. In vitro experiments have shown that APC can inhibit neutrophil binding to selectins: Endothelial cell protein C receptor, a protein C/APC binding receptor, can bind to proteinase 3 bound to Mac-1 on leukocytes, potentially blocking tight leukocyte adhesion; and APC can inhibit tumor necrosis factor-&agr; secretion by monocytes and other cell lines by interfering with nuclear factor-&kgr;B nuclear translocation. By blocking nuclear factor-&kgr;B nuclear translocation, cytokine- and endotoxin-mediated adhesion molecule up-regulation is decreased. These properties of APC are consistent with a large number of animal studies demonstrating that APC can diminish complications of crush injury and leukocyte damage to lung and other tissues in response to sepsis and decrease the inflammatory response. The animal studies are consistent with the phase 2 studies reported on APC use in the treatment of human sepsis. ConclusionsThe protein C pathway is uniquely poised to interfere with the microvascular coagulation and inflammation that follows challenge with endotoxin. By limiting leukocyte activation, cytokine elaboration, and microvascular coagulation, APC has been shown to prevent organ damage in experimental models of sepsis. These results are consistent with the initial phase 2 reports of APC therapy in human sepsis suggesting a clinical benefit and demonstrating anti-inflammatory activity with several reports of apparent protein C effectiveness in severe sepsis, especially meningococcemia.
Surfactant Treatment at Birth Reduces Lung Vascular Injury and Edema in Preterm Lambs

ABSTRACT: To study the effect of surfactant administration on fluid balance in the premature lung, we measured pulmonary vascular pressures, lung lymph and pleural liquid flow, and concentrations of protein in lymph, pleural liquid, and plasma before and after birth in 12 chronically catheterized preterm lambs (127–128 d gestation) treated with either placebo or surfactant just before surgical delivery. Eight lambs received intrapulmonary saline (placebo), and four lambs received surfactant; all lambs were mechanically ventilated with O2 for 8 h after birth. In control lambs, lung lymph and pleural liquid flow increased from 2.7 ± 0.4 mL/h during the 2–4 h before birth to 9.2 ± 2.1 mL/h by 6–8 h after birth; lymph and pleural space protein drainage increased from 58 ± 7 mg/h during the 2–4 h before birth to 134 ± 25 mg/h by 6–8 h after birth. In lambs treated with surfactant, there was no significant increase in lymph and pleural liquid flow after birth (before birth, 2.3 ± 0.3 mL/h; 6ndash;8 h after birth, 3.4 ± 0.9 mL/h); likewise, lymph and pleural space protein drainage did not change after birth (before birth, 54 ± 6 mg/h; 6–8 h after birth, 50 ± 8 mg/h). Postmortem extravascular lung water was significantly less in lambs treated with surfactant compared with control lambs (control, 6.5 ± 0.3 g/g dry lung; surfactant-treated, 5.0 ± 0.2 g/g dry lung). Thus, surfactant administration at birth diminishes transvascular movement of fluid across the pulmonary microcirculation, preserves lung vascular protein permeability, and reduces pulmonary edema in newborn lambs that are delivered prematurely.
Efficacy and safety of a fixed-dose combination of lercanidipine and enalapril in daily practice. A comparison of office, self-measured and ambulatory blood pressure

Background: A fixed-dose combination (FDC) of enalapril and lercanidipine has been shown to be effective and safe in reducing blood pressure in randomized clinical trials. This study aims to determine effectiveness and safety in daily practice. Methods: This was a prospective, open-label, uncontrolled multicenter study, with a 3-month follow-up at general practitioners and internists. Patients were treated with an FDC of 20 mg enalapril maleate and 10 mg lercanidipine hydrochloride, and blood pressure was determined in the office (OBPM) and by discretionary self- (SBPM) and ambulatory- (ABPM) measurements. Results: Out of 622 patients (mean age 61.3 ± 13.3 years, 54.2% male): blood pressure was reduced by -29.2/-14.2 mmHg (OBPM) from baseline (164.4/95.2 mmHg). Pulse pressure was reduced by -15.0 ± 16.4 mmHg. Prevalence of microalbuminuria was reduced from 14.6% at baseline to 6.5% (p < 0.001). SBPM data were available for 71% of patients and ABPM for 12%. In the latter patients, blood pressure variability index was significantly reduced compared with baseline over 24 h (14.2 ± 4.2 vs 16.3 ± 4.0; p < 0.001) and with nighttime ABPM (13.7 ± 4.9 vs 15.2 ± 4.4; p = 0.022). Treatment was associated with a low incidence of adverse events (3.4%). Conclusions: The FDC of 20 mg enalapril-maleate and 10 mg lercanidipine-hydrochloride seems to be effective and well tolerated in clinical practice. It improved vascular surrogate end points, including pulse pressure, blood pressure variability and microalbuminuria.
Dissemination strategies in realistic V2V highway networks: The Madrid trace case

Multi-hop message dissemination in vehicular networks has been largely studied in the past decade. It notably allows to push information to the drivers concerning hazards that they will encounter ahead on the road such as, for instance, traffic jams, ice patches, etc. In this paper, we investigate the performance of several dissemination schemes on a realistic micro-mobility trace: the Madrid Highway vehicular mobility trace. We show that a carry-and-forward version of farthest node dissemination strategy is a very promising scheme under realistic highway traffic conditions, because this scheme increases the number of receivers and distance covered by the packet at a very low cost in terms of traffic overhead and algorithmic complexity.
Studying the effect of earning management on information asymmetry in uncertainty conditions in Tehran Stock Exchange

When information transfer is done unequally and asymmetrically among the individuals, different results may be created for the same issue. Information asymmetry may have undesirable outcomes such as market efficiency reduction, exchange costs' increase, market weakness, low liquidation, and on the whole, a reduction of earnings resulted from exchanges in capital markets. Accordingly the present research is going to study about the effect of earning management on information asymmetry in uncertainty conditions in firms enlisted in Tehran Stock Exchange. Methodology. In this research 120 firms enlisted in Tehran Stock Exchange during the time period between 2009 and 2013 have been investigated. To test research hypotheses, we have used panel data linear regression model. Results. Research findings showed that in a complex and dynamic environment, there has not been a meaningful relationship between earning management and information asymmetry Conclusion: But overall (without dividing the complex and dynamic populations) there has been a positive and meaningful relationship between earning management and information asymmetry.
The representation of pure tones and noise in a model of cochlear nucleus neurons.

The limited dynamic range of the majority of auditory-nerve fibers represents a difficulty in accounting for normal hearing capabilities over the known psychoacoustic intensity range. The presence of noise is an additional complication because it will tend to saturate these fibers, thereby considerably reducing their dynamic range, i.e., the range of mean firing rates. In this study, simulations involving a model of auditory nerve and cochlear nucleus neurons were conducted using pure-tone stimuli in the presence of noise. The main focus is on the role of inhibition in regulating the activity of cells, improving their capability to represent signals in background noise. This concerns in particular those inhibitory neurons that receive input from a wide range of auditory-nerve fibers and respond with an onset chopper pattern. A detailed model of stellate cells is used. It allows several parameters such as the number, location, and strength of inputs to be manipulated. The fist part of this paper presents the model and its responses to pure-tone and noise stimuli presented separately. The model's capacity to generalize to tone/noise combinations is then tested. Responses to these stimuli are found to be qualitatively similar to neurophysiological findings. Model neurons exhibit appropriate shifts in their rate-level functions and their responses are inhibited or suppressed by tones outside their characteristic frequency. The model stellate cell is also found to display many of the temporal patterns reported in electrophysiological studies as a result of appropriate settings of certain parameters. Therefore, the model is sufficient to account for a larger number of findings and should serve as a basis for predicting responses to novel stimuli, or as a building block for modeling larger networks.