Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Viscoelastic properties of edematous skin.

A continuously recording apparatus is devised to measure the deformation of skin surface on tibial margin against test weight. The deformation observed by this apparatus is best approximated by 4 element viscoelastic model in rheology. One of the moduli, ƒÅ1, is thought to represent capillary filtrability. In edematous patients there are seen profound alterations in these moduli, and an increased capillary filtrabitity and easy susceptibility to deformation are expressed quantitatively. After dissipation of edema these alterations usually return to normal range.
Sources of urinary proteins and their analysis by urinary proteomics for the detection of biomarkers of disease

Renal disorders account for a substantial fraction of the budget for health care in many countries. Proteinuria is a frequent manifestation in afflicted patients, but the origin of the proteins varies based on the nature of the disorder. The emerging field of urinary proteomics has the potential to replace kidney biopsy as the diagnostic procedure of choice for patients with some glomerular forms of renal disease. To fully realize this potential, it is vital to understand the basis for the urinary excretion of protein in physiological and pathological conditions. In this review, we discuss the structure of the nephron, the functional unit of the kidney, and the process by which proteins/peptides enter the urine. We discuss several aspects of proteinuria that impact the proteomic analysis of urine of patients with renal diseases.
New concepts and trends in vaginal prolapse surgery

Despite poor results in prolapse surgery, the operative procedures have basically remained unchanged for 100 years. It has been postulated that lifting restrictions and other measures of inactivation are crucial for the success. Even though most of what is done in prolapse repair is not evidence based, few have challenged the prevailing concepts. However, tradition‐based policies are now being scrutinized and in accordance with other operations, time of hospitalization is sharply reduced at many institutions. The reintroduction of local anesthesia and sedation offers potential advantages compared to regional‐ or general anesthesia. Although augmentation by foreign material is not altogether a new concept, the introduction of commercial kits make mesh procedures more standardized, but not necessarily technically more easy to perform. As molecular biology provides more and more evidence about the importance of the quality of the connective tissue, it is conceivable that foreign material in prolapse repair is here to stay. In this period of time it is more essential than ever to scientifically document the results of the new concepts. In the Nordic countries, where the first registries were set up for Tensionfree Vaginal Tape (TVT), a cooperative effort among 53 institutions is under way to evaluate mesh repairs in prolapse surgery.
A compressed-domain corner detection method for a DCT-based compressed image

Researchers have developed compressed-domain computer vision algorithms. Despite the recent progress, the demands for interesting point extraction in compressed-domain still exist. In this paper, we propose a compressed-domain corner detection for a DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform)-based compressed image. It partially decodes the image to obtain DCT data and then split the data into the high precision data. The edge map is then estimated by gradient patterns and coefficients to detect corners. Experimental results show that the proposed method has about 6 pixels of average distance and about 2% miss rate compared to a pixel-domain method with low computational complexity.
Medium access control protocols for energy and delay efficient applications of wireless sensor networks

The swift evolution of computation and communication technologies has transferred low-power, low-cost, small-size, and self-organizing devices from obscurity into the complete reality via several hardware forms, each targeting speci c applications and tasks. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are one of such emerging technologies being used in a wide spectrum of applications. However, in parallel to these advancements, WSNs pose design challenges due to the limited resources available to the sensor nodes. The most substantial challenge facing these networks is the requirement of signi cant reductions in energy consumption of the sensor nodes. A Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol for WSNs greatly in uences the energy consumption of sensor nodes by controlling the functionalities of radio, which is the most power consuming component of a sensor node. Several WSN MAC protocols that have been proposed over the last years are, therefore, mainly tailored towards the single prime objective of energy e ciency. Due to the continuing proliferation of WSNs in many diverse applications, it becomes increasingly important to their communication protocols, particularly MAC protocols, not to restrain themselves with the energy e ciency objective. Considering the speedy achievements in producing ultra low power microprocessors and transceivers and in energy harvesting technologies, we conceive that in order to e ciently utilize sensor networks on a large scale for a long term and in a wide range of applications, energy e ciency, even though being the most critical metric, is not a su cient challenge to address. This thesis mainly contributes towards the design of a novel WSN MAC protocol called AREA-MAC that considers, beside energy consumption, packet delay, packet delivery, redundancy, tra c adaptability, scalability, etc., for sensor nodes. The AREA-MAC protocol signi cantly reduces energy consumption of nodes through dealing with collision, idle listening, overhearing, over-emitting, and control overhead. At the same time, it substantially reduces packet delay by enabling the receiving node to respond early and adaptively to the sending node. The protocol e ciently reduces packet redundancy and enables nodes in adapting to the network and tra c conditions. The AREA-MAC protocol uses the channel polling scheme to access the channel, replaces long preambles with the short and smart ones, adds vital additional information to each of them, and employs several other novel approaches in order to achieve the required design goals. Moreover, unlike many other WSN MAC protocols, AREA-MAC does not need any sort of synchronization, time/frequency scheduling, and clustering among nodes, which greatly reduces overhead for nodes and helps a WSN to scale rather smoothly. Results that have been obtained from analytical, simulation, and real testbed experiments con rm the signi cant improvements of the AREA-MAC protocol over other state of the art protocols for several performance metrics. These results
Sleeve Lobectomy Compared with Pneumonectomy after Induction Therapy for Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Background: We compared morbidity, mortality, and oncological results of bronchial and/or vascular sleeve lobectomy (SL) with those of pneumonectomy (PN) after induction therapy for lung cancer. Methods: Between 1998 and 2011, 82 patients receiving induction therapy (chemo or chemo-radiotherapy) for non–small-cell-lung-cancer underwent sleeve lobectomy (n = 39) or pneumonectomy (n= 43). Only patients undergoing preoperative chemotherapy (39 in the SL group and 39 in the PN group) were included in the study. SL was bronchial in 21, vascular in 12, and broncho-vascular in six cases, respectively. Clinical stage before induction therapy was IIb in seven patients (1 in PN group; 6 in SL group), IIIa in 66 (36 in PN group; 30 in SL group), and IIIb in five patients (2 in PN group; 3 in SL group), respectively. N3 patients were not included in this series. Results: The rate of downstaged patients (pathological complete response and stage I–II) was 79.5% in the SL group and 53.8% in the PN group (p = 0.01). Postpneumonectomy mortality rate was 2.6 %. There was no postoperative mortality after SL. Complications occurred in 12 patients (30.8%) after PN and in 11 patients (28.2%) after SL (p = 0.6). Three-year and 5-year survival rates were 68 ± 3% and 64 ± 8% in the SL group; and 59.5 ± 5% and 34.5 ± 8% in the PN group (p = 0.02). The difference in terms of recurrence rate (locoregional and distant) between the two groups was not significant (p = 0.2). Conclusions: SL represents a valid therapeutic option even after induction chemotherapy, providing better long-term survival than PN, with no increase of postoperative complications or recurrence rate. Pathological downstaging is a favorable prognostic factor.
Boundary Detection Based on Chromatic Color Difference and Morphological Texture Suppression

A low computational cost technique is presented for boundary detection inspired by the human visual system perception. The current contributions are a chromatic color difference color model, a morphological texture suppression filtering, and a neighborhood related edge thinning. The proposed dRdGdB color model defines a RGB inter-component color difference, and showed a significant improvement in the performance of edge detection compared to RGB, CIELAB, YCbCr, HSV and YIQ. These improvements turn a prior edge detector into a boundary detector, allowing high confidence on separating external and internal objects' edges. The segmented images perform well on the Berkeley Segmentation Dataset and Benchmark, achieving state-of-the-art performance.
Estado, información ambiental y poder: ¿qué cambia internet en Argentina, Bolivia y Brasil?

Este texto es la traduccion de un capitulo de libro publicado en frances. Reune los principales avances del proyecto de Investigacion " Baguala: Usos de las Bases de datos Geoambientales de Utilizacion y AccesoLibre en America del sur y Francia " (http://baguala.hypotheses.org/). Para citar este documento: Gautreau, Pierre. 2016. " Etat, information environnementale et pouvoir. Ce que change l'internet en Argentine, en Bolivie et au Bresil ". In Chartier, Denis et Rodary, Estienne. Manifeste pour une geographie environnementale. Geographie, ecologie, politique, 341-367. Resumen: ? Que papel juega internet en la evolucion de la gobernanza del medio ambiente? A partir de tres casos de estudio suramericanos, este texto explora una faceta de la gobernanza informacional del medio ambiente que emerge a fines del siglo XX, propiciada por el paralelo desarrollo de la tecnologia (transicion numerica) y la extension de derechos democraticos (derecho a la informacion, participacion). La pregunta planteada es la del rol politico que se atribuye hoy a los sistemas de difusion de informacion ambiental por la web, interrogando las continuidades y rupturas entre estos sistemas basados en la apertura de los datos, y los sistemas convencionales, cerrados, en los cuales el Estado se apoyo historicamente para controlar los recursos naturales de su territorio. La hipotesis que examinamos aqui es que internet no solo representa un potencial de accion para el Estado en el campo ambiental, pero tambien una serie de amenazas. Internet constituye un nuevo espacio donde se reconfiguran en parte las relaciones sociales, asi como el lugar del Estado en la sociedad. En particular, es un espacio donde estan siendo desafiados prerrogativas y monopolios del Estado relativos a la produccion y al control de flujos de informacion ambiental. Internet debe ser considerado simultaneamente como una tecnologia que modifica las formas convencionales de construccion de saberes ambientales, y como un sistema de potencialidades y de amenazas que desplazan el papel que el Estado asumio historicamente en esta construccion de saberes. En el espacio de internet, y frente a una demanda social de difusion de datos, los poderes publicos deben hoy en dia imaginar dispositivos que no estan mas basados en la retencion de informacion pero en su abertura generalizada. Hoy dia estariamos asistiendo sobre internet a una mutacion de las politicas informacionales publicas, ya no centradas en la produccion de los datos, sino en la organizacion de los flujos de informacion. En este contexto, el exito de politicas publicas de informacion ya no esta ligado al ejercicio de una autoridad basada en la asimetria de saberes, sino en su capacidad para mantener su legitimidad frente a un conjunto de actores cada vez mas diversos.
Medial prefrontal cortex subserves diverse forms of self-reflection

The ability to think about oneself—to self-reflect—is one of the defining features of the human mind. Recent research has suggested that this ability may be subserved by a particular brain region: the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). However, although humans can contemplate a variety of different aspects of themselves, including their stable personality traits, current feelings, and physical attributes, no research has directly examined the extent to which these different forms of self-reflection are subserved by common mechanisms. To address this question, participants were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while making judgments about their own personality traits, current mental states, and physical attributes as well as those of another person. Whereas some brain regions responded preferentially during only one form of self-reflection, a robust region of MPFC was engaged preferentially during self-reflection across all three types of judgment. These results suggest that—although dissociable—diverse forms of self-referential thought draw on a shared cognitive process subserved by MPFC.
A PAF receptor antagonist, BN 52021, attenuates thromboxane release and improves survival in lethal canine endotoxemia.

Platelet-activating (PAF) is a putative mediator in endotoxemia and sepsis. Administration of a PAF receptor antagonist prior to endotoxin improves survival in rats and attenuates the hypotension of endotoxemia. Both PAF and endotoxin stimulate eicosanoid production. We hypothesized that a PAF receptor antagonist, BN 52021, would alter the hemodynamic events, improve the survival and attenuate the eicosanoid release associated with endotoxemia in a resuscitated, but lethal, canine model. Male dogs were randomzied to two groups (n = 10 each). Group I received only E. coli endotoxin, 1 mg/kg IV, at time 0, while group II received BN 52021, 5 mg/kg IV, 30 min before and again 240 min after endotoxin treatment. During the 4-h study period, hemodynamics were measured and blood samples were taken at 0, 2, 60, 120, and 240 min. Survival was determined at 24, 48, and 72 h. All group I animals died before 24 h; all group II lived longer than 72 h (P less than 0.05). In group I, plasma TXB2 values increased from a baseline value of 0.26 +/- . 04 ng/ml to 4.38 +/- 1.56 ng/ml at 120 min and then decreased to 2.64 +/- . 96 ng/ml by 240 min. For group II, respective plasma TXB2 values were 0.35 +/- 0.13 ng/ml at baseline, 0.58 +/- 0.14 ng/ml at 120 min, and 0.39 +/- . 09 ng/ml at 240 min. At the 120-min and 240-min time points, the groups differed at P less than 0.05. Heart rate tended to be less in group II, but MAP was unaffected. In group I, pH values were more acidotic than those observed in group II.
Miniaturized, wearable, ultrasound probe for on-demand ultrasound screening

There are several applications in the medical field that require periodic monitoring of blood vessels or organ functions. Ultrasound, being one of the preferred imaging modalities, is often used for such applications. However, present day ultrasound probes are bulky and inconvenient. We present a low profile, wearable ultrasound probe that can be taped onto the patient's body for periodic or constant monitoring of organ functions. The small form factor is key for such applications. Therefore, CMUT technology is ideal for development of such probes. The probe consists of a 64-element 1D linear array CMUT operating at 5 MHz. Front-end electronics were integrated with the CMUT to improve the SNR of the acquired image. The final assembly measures 6 cm × 3.5 cm × 0.35 cm. A PDMS lens lay on top of the assembly to allow focusing in the elevation plane. The probe is interfaced to a backend system (Verasonics data acquisition system, Verasonics, Inc., Redmond, WA). Verasonics provides the high voltage pulses and also digitizes the received RF echo data for image reconstruction. Field characterization of the probe was performed using a calibrated hydrophone and was compared to Field II simulations. Finally, imaging experiments were performed on a commercially available phantom as well as the human neck. Images were also acquired with a commercially available probe for the sake of comparison. The CMUT probe provided with comparable image quality to that of the commercial probe. Real time images were also acquired by the CMUT probe at 30 frames per second.
Hepatorenal syndrome in cirrhosis: diagnostic, pathophysiological, and therapeutic aspects

ABSTRACT Introduction: Renal failure is a common and serious complication in cirrhosis and represents a wide spectrum of etiologies. The hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) represents a distinct type of renal failure, only seen in cirrhotic patients with ascites. The diagnostic criteria, knowledge in the pathophysiology of renal failure and HRS, and treatment hereof, have evolved tremendously during the last decades, and it is the aim of this review to summarize these discoveries. Areas covered: The focus will primarily be on treatment and prevention of renal failure and HRS, but areas concerning definition, diagnosis, including biomarkers, and pathophysiology, will also be covered through a comprehensive, critical reading of the latest literature, encompassing the most recent, updated, international guidelines, reviews and high-impact original literature. Expert commentary: The advances made in the understanding of the pathophysiology of HRS and other complications of cirrhosis within the recent decades, have provided the basis for improved diagnostic criteria and the development of treatments that have substantially increased survival rates in cirrhotic patients suffering from these conditions. Focus should, in the nearest future, be on continuing this positive development, thus further improving prognosis for cirrhotic patients with HRS.
A Particle Filter Approach to Approximate Posterior Cramer-Rao Lower Bound: The Case of Hidden States

The posterior Cramer-Rao lower bound (PCRLB) derived in [1] provides a bound on the mean square error (MSE) obtained with any nonlinear state filter. Computing the PCRLB involves solving complex, multi-dimensional expectations, which do not lend themselves to an easy analytical solution. Furthermore, any attempt to approximate it using numerical or simulation-based approaches require a priori access to the true states, which may not be available, except in simulations or in carefully designed experiments. To allow recursive approximation of the PCRLB when the states are hidden or unmeasured, a new approach based on sequential Monte-Carlo (SMC) or particle filters (PFs) is proposed. The approach uses SMC methods to estimate the hidden states using a sequence of the available sensor measurements. The developed method is general and can be used to approximate the PCRLB in nonlinear systems with non-Gaussian state and sensor noise. The efficacy of the developed method is illustrated on two simulation examples, including a practical problem of ballistic target tracking at reentry phase.
Numerical Study of Savonius Wind Turbine with Fluid-Rotor Interactions

Previous numerical studies in the Savonius wind turbine mostly used constant angular velocity as input data, where the values were obtained from experiments. This process cannot be used in the design optimization of the turbine, in which the angular velocity of the modified turbine is not known a priority. In numerical simulation, the use of loading system to get constant angular velocity to control the tip speed ratio (TSR), tends to have fluctuating value on output data. Moreover, the values of angular velocity shall be the results from freestream flow and Savonius rotor interaction. This condition can be simulated by using fluid structure interaction (FSI) method. Three dimensional Savonius S wind turbine is simulated using unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS). Inlet velocity and wind turbine inertia are used as input data. The flow is assumed to be incompressible, viscous, and uniform at the inlet. The turbulence model used is the Eddy Viscosity k-ω SST, with y+ < 1. The domain consists of a sliding mesh, which rotates in the overset mesh region. Simulation results Power Coefficient (CP) and angular velocity and compared with experimental result. This study is resulted a standard method for the Savonius wind turbine numerical study
Correlates of Depressive Symptoms Among Homeless Young Adults

Adolescent homelessness has received increasing attention because of its fast growth throughout the United States and the poor mental outcomes experienced by homeless young people. This cross-sectional study (N = 156) identified correlates of depressive symptomatology among homeless young adults and investigated how depressive symptoms are influenced by the coping strategies these young adults use. The findings are based on analysis of baseline data collected for a hepatitis vaccination intervention pilot study conducted in partnership with a young adult’s drop-in center in Santa Monica, California. Standardized tools assessed drug use history, coping ability, and psychiatric symptomatology. Linear regression modeling was used to identify correlates of depressive symptom severity. Poor perceived physical health, recent crack cocaine use, and recent use of tranquilizers were significantly associated with increased severity of depressive symptoms. Self-destructive escape, nondisclosure/avoidance, passive problem solving, and thoughts of harming self were also associated with increased severity of depressive symptoms.
Sequential Healing at Calcium- versus Calcium Phosphate-Modified Titanium Implant Surfaces: An Experimental Study in Dogs.

PURPOSE The aim of this paper was to study the sequential healing of bone tissues at implants with different configuration and different modified surfaces. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twelve Beagle dogs were used. Extractions of all teeth from the second premolar to the first molar were performed in both sides of the mandible. After 3 months, full-thickness flaps were elevated and two implants of different systems and with different surfaces were randomly installed in the premolar region in one side of the mandible. One surface was acid etched and further modified with calcium ions (BTI unicCa®), the other was sandblasted and acid etched plus a nanometer calcium phosphate deposition (3i T3®). The flaps were sutured to allow a fully submerged healing. The surgery on the other side of the mandible and the sacrifices were planned in such a way to obtain biopsies representing the healing after 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks (n = 6 per period). RESULTS After 1 and 2 weeks of healing, the mean values of new bone apposition on the implant surfaces were 5.9 ± 3.3% and 29.8 ± 16.0% at BTI unicCa and 4.6 ± 3.3% and 12.4 ± 5.6% at 3i T3, respectively. After 4 and 8 weeks, the percentage increased, being 49.4 ± 8.1% and 63.6 ± 7.3% at BTI unicCa and 40.3 ± 10.0% and 47.3 ± 20.2 at 3i T3, respectively. Differences statistically significant between the two surfaces were found only at the 2- and 4-week observation periods. Concomitantly, the old bone was resorbed at both surfaces from about 15-17% after 1 week to about 4-6% after 8 weeks of healing. CONCLUSION Moderately rough surfaces modified with calcium ions or discrete calcium phosphate nanocrystalline deposition showed similar patterns of sequential healing. Higher new bone percentages were found at BTI unicCa compared with the 3i T3 implants, the difference being statistically significant at 2 and 4 weeks observation.