Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
One-year safety and tolerability profile of pridopidine in patients with Huntington disease

Objective: To assess the 1-year safety profile of the dopaminergic stabilizer pridopidine in patients with Huntington disease. Methods: Patients received pridopidine 45 mg/day for 4 weeks then pridopidine 90 mg/day for 22 weeks in this 6-month open-label extension (OLE) of the 6-month MermaiHD randomized controlled trial (RCT). Any adverse events (AEs) were recorded. Patients were categorized by their RCT treatment group (placebo, pridopidine 45 mg/day, pridopidine 90 mg/day). Results: Of the 386 patients who completed the RCT, 353 entered the OLE and 305 (86.4%) completed. In 1 year, similar percentages of patients from each group reported ≥1 AE (placebo, 79.6% [n = 90/113]; 45 mg/day, 80.8% [n = 101/125]; 90 mg/day, 82.6% [n = 95/115]) and ≥1 serious AE (8.0% [n = 9/113], 12.8% [n = 16/125], and 8.7% [n = 10/115], respectively). The AE profile across both studies was similar; falls and worsening of chorea were most commonly reported. During the OLE, more patients previously receiving pridopidine reported ≥1 AE (67.9% [n = 163/240]) than those who had received placebo (56.6% [n = 64/113]). Early in the RCT, small increases in heart rate were reported in patients receiving pridopidine. During 1 year, no clinically meaningful changes in laboratory parameters or EKG-related safety concerns were identified. Conclusion: Pridopidine (≤90 mg/day) has an acceptable safety profile and is well-tolerated for 1 year. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class IV evidence that pridopidine (≤90 mg/day) is generally safe and well-tolerated in patients with Huntington disease for up to 1 year.
Contrast-enhanced diffuse optical tomography of brain perfusion in humans using ICG

Regular monitoring of brain perfusion at the bedside in neurointensive care is desirable. Currently used imaging modalities are not suited for constant monitoring and often require a transport of the patient. Noninvasive near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in combination with an injection of a safe dye (indocyanine green, ICG) could serve as a quasi-continuous brain perfusion monitor. In this work, we evaluate prerequisites for the development of a brain perfusion monitor using continuous wave (cw) NIRS technique. We present results from a high-resolution diffuse optical tomography (HR-DOT) experiment in humans demonstrating the separation of signals from skin from the brain. This technique can help to monitor neurointensive care patients on a regular basis, detecting changes in cortical perfusion in time.
Rotor Angle Stability With High Penetrations of Wind Generation

This paper explores the relationship between wind generation, particularly the control of reactive power from variable speed wind turbine generators, and the rotor angle stability of the conventional synchronous generators in the system. Rotor angle stability is a dynamic phenomenon generally associated with changes in active power flows that create angular separation between synchronous units in the system. With larger penetrations of wind generation being introduced into power systems, there will be large flows of active power from asynchronous generation in the system. These asynchronous active power flows can aid in maintaining the rotor angle stability of the system. However, the manner in which wind generation injects reactive power into the system can be critical in maintaining angular stability of the synchronous units. Utilizing wind generation to control voltage and reactive power in the system can ease the reactive power burden on synchronous generators, and minimize angular separation in the system following a contingency event and can provide a significant level of support which will become increasingly important in future power systems.
Filoviruses: A Compendium of 40 Years of Epidemiological, Clinical, and Laboratory Studies

History of filoviral disease outbreaks. - Clinical presentation of filoviral disease. - Filoviral disease pathology. - Geographic distribution of filoviruses: serological surveys. - Ecology of filoviruses: search for reservoirs. - Cultivation of filoviruses. - Molecular characteristics of filoviruses. - Laboratory diagnosis of filoviral disease. - Outbreak containment. - Inactivation of filoviruses and disinfection protocols. - Vaccine development. - Treatment of filoviral disease. - Appendix: Members of the Filoviridae Study Group, ICTV.
Lowest-order rate control of mechanisms near singularities

Resolved motion rate control, which uses a linear approximation to the kinematic function to find joint velocities, can fail at kinematic singularities. Pohl and Lipkin (1991) proposed rate control using a quadratic approximation to the full kinematic function, but this algorithm has disadvantages. Here we propose a hybrid algorithm that works at singularities, is computationally efficient, and finds all physically meaningful solution trajectories. Furthermore, it is shown that this algorithm finds smoother solutions than, the damped least squares algorithm for paths passing through singular points.
Emission of Climate-Relevant Trace Gases and Succession of Microbial Communities during Open-Windrow Composting

Determination of different indicators of microbial biomass, community structure, and bioactivity by the fumigation extraction method, as well as determination of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and their subfractions and the measurement of trace gases, respectively, provides valuable information about microbial succession in composting processes. The emission rates of carbon dioxide (CO(inf2)), methane (CH(inf4)), and nitrous oxide (N(inf2)O) increased successively during compost maturation: initially in the presence of easily degradable nutrients, during high temperature, and after the temperature had cooled down, respectively. The emission rate patterns of these trace gases corresponded to the concentrations of PLFAs and their particular subfractions. (i) Similar to the CO(inf2) emission rates, microbial biomass estimations by fumigation extraction and by determination of the amount of total PLFAs showed a discontinuous decrease during the composting process, with a slight increase at the end of the observation period. (ii) An increase in ether lipids, indicating the enhanced presence of archaean methanogens, and an elevated CH(inf4) emission were observed at the same time. (iii) The period of enhanced N(inf2)O emission corresponded to the increase in beta and omega hydroxy fatty acids derived from the outer membrane. Additionally, the continuous increase in branched-chain fatty acids suggested an increase in gram-positive bacteria and actinomycetes, and the decrease in polyunsaturated fatty acids indicated a decrease in eukaryotic cells during the composting.
Community and ecosystem responses to elevational gradients: processes, mechanisms and insights for global change

Community structure and ecosystem processes often vary along elevational gradients. Their responses to elevation are commonly driven by changes in temperature, and many community- and ecosystem-level variables therefore frequently respond similarly to elevation across contrasting gradients. There are also many exceptions, sometimes because other factors such as precipitation can also vary with elevation. Given this complexity, our capacity to predict when and why the same variable responds differently among disparate elevational gradients is often limited. Furthermore, there is utility in using elevational gradients for understanding community and ecosystem responses to global climate change at much larger spatial and temporal scales than is possible through conventional ecological experiments. However, future studies that integrate elevational gradient approaches with experimental manipulations will provide powerful information that can improve predictions of climate change impacts within and across ecosystems.
Technology platforms for remote monitoring of vital signs in the new era of telemedicine

Driven by healthcare cost and home healthcare need, the development of remote monitoring technologies is poised to improve and revolutionize healthcare delivery and accessibility. This paper reviews the recent progress in the field of remote monitoring technologies that may have the potential to become the basic platforms for telemedicine. In particular, key techniques and devices for monitoring cardiorespiratory activity, blood pressure and blood glucose concentration are summarized and discussed. In addition, the US FDA approved remote vital signs monitoring devices currently available on the market are presented.
A Novel Composite Right/Left-Handed Transmission Line Composed of Cylindrical Left-Handed Unit Cells

This paper proposes a novel composite right/left-handed (CRLH) transmission line (TL) composed of capacitively coupled cylindrical left-handed (LH) unit cells, exhibiting a leaky wave phenomenon in a wide frequency range from LH to right-handed (RH) branches. A prototype model including 10 LH unit cells is demonstrated and leakage from 3.2GHz to 9.0GHz was observed both theoretically and experimentally. Due to the benefit of the cylindrical-shaped LH unit cell, the TL configuration can be chosen flexibly from a straight line to a curved or a bent configuration
An executable theory of multi-agent systems refinement

Complex applications such as incident management, social simulations, manufacturing applications, electronic auctions, e-institutions, and business to business applications are pervasive and important nowadays. Agent-oriented methodology is an advance in abstraction which can be used by software developers to naturally model and develop systems for such applications. In general, with respect to design methodologies, what it may be important to stress is that control structures should be added at later stages of design, in a natural top-down manner going from speciﬁcations to implementations, by reﬁnement. Too much detail (be it for the sake of efﬁciency) in speciﬁcations often turns out to be harmful. To paraphrase D.E. Knuth, “Premature optimization is the root of all evil” (quoted in ‘The Unix Programming Environment’ by Kernighan and Pine, p. 91). The aim of this thesis is to adapt formal techniques to the agent-oriented methodology into an executable theory of reﬁnement. The justiﬁcation for doing so is to provide correct agent-based software by design. The underlying logical framework of the theory we propose is based on rewriting logic, thus the theory is executable in the same sense as rewriting logic is. The storyline is as follows. We ﬁrst motivate and explain constituting elements of agent languages chosen to represent both abstract and concrete levels of design. We then propose a deﬁnition of reﬁnement between agents written in such languages. This notion of reﬁnement ensures that concrete agents are correct with respect to the abstract ones. The advantage of the deﬁnition is that it easily leads to formulating a proof technique for reﬁnement via the classical notion of simulation. This makes it possible to effectively verify reﬁnement by model-checking. Additionally, we propose a weakest precondition calculus as a deductive method based on assertions which allow to prove correctness of inﬁnite state agents. We generalise the reﬁnement relation from single agents to multi-agent systems in order to ensure that concrete multi-agent systems reﬁne their abstractions. We see multi-agent systems as collections of coordinated agents, and we consider coordination artefacts as being based either on actions or on normative rules. We integrate these two orthogonal coordination mechanisms within the same reﬁnement theory extended to a timed framework. Finally, we discuss implementation aspects.
The Compulsory Detention of Males of Different Ethnic Groups, with Special Reference to Offender Patients

Compulsory detention rates of white, West Indian and Asian males under Part IV and Part V (offenders) of the 1959 Mental Health Act were compared: British-born West Indians and Asians were differentiated from migrants. Rates for Asians were similar to those for whites, but West Indians were significantly over-represented amongst compulsory detentions, especially as offender patients. A high total number of admissions and diagnostic differences accounted for the excess of West Indians admitted under Part IV, but not Part V.
Highlights of Frontiers In Autoimmunity: Fundamental Aspects and Clinical Perspectives

The aim of this meeting, on the shores of Balaton lake, was to discuss the ins, outs, ups and downs of autoimmune diseases. Participants were encouraged to discuss existing paradigms and to base their work on continuously reworked hypotheses derived from discoveries, rather than have it driven by theories based on a hypothesis. This event provided proof of the utility of modern approaches in defining the origin of this group of diseases as well as acting as an international forum for collaboration and dispute. Whilst highlighting the unique aspects of autoimmunity, this meeting suggested many avenues for future research and the design of novel strategies for immuno-intervention.
Suicidal children grow up: suicidal behavior and psychiatric disorders among relatives.

OBJECTIVE This paper reports comprehensive data on psychiatric symptoms and disorders and medical problems of first- and second-degree biological relatives of prepubertal children who have contemplated or attempted suicide. METHOD Standard family study and family history interview techniques were used to obtain information about psychopathology and medical illness in 488 first- and 1,062 second-degree relatives of 25 child psychiatric inpatients who reported suicide attempts, 28 child psychiatric inpatients who contemplated suicide, 16 nonsuicidal child inpatients, and 54 normal children. RESULTS Suicidal behavior in children was associated with suicidal behavior in their families, although no first-degree relatives committed suicide. More first-degree relatives of child suicide attempters, compared to first-degree relatives of normal children, had antisocial personality disorder, assaultive behavior, and substance abuse. Mood disorders in first-degree relatives were not associated with child suicidal behavior. No significant associations were identified for psychopathology of second-degree relatives and child suicidal behavior. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest the importance of evaluating familial psychopathology during assessments of suicidal children. Self-directed and externally directed violence, antisocial personality disorder, and substance abuse of relatives of suicidal children should be studied to elucidate the etiology of youth suicidal behavior.
Improving the efficiency of estimation in the additive hazards model for stratified case–cohort design with multiple diseases

The case–cohort study design has often been used in studies of a rare disease or for a common disease with some biospecimens needing to be preserved for future studies. A case–cohort study design consists of a random sample, called the subcohort, and all or a portion of the subjects with the disease of interest. One advantage of the case–cohort design is that the same subcohort can be used for studying multiple diseases. Stratified random sampling is often used for the subcohort. Additive hazards models are often preferred in studies where the risk difference, instead of relative risk, is of main interest. Existing methods do not use the available covariate information fully. We propose a more efficient estimator by making full use of available covariate information for the additive hazards model with data from a stratified case–cohort design with rare (the traditional situation) and non‐rare (the generalized situation) diseases. We propose an estimating equation approach with a new weight function. The proposed estimators are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normally distributed. Simulation studies show that the proposed method using all available information leads to efficiency gain and stratification of the subcohort improves efficiency when the strata are highly correlated with the covariates. Our proposed method is applied to data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
New clues to the molecular pathogenesis of Burkitt lymphoma revealed through next-generation sequencing

Purpose of reviewBurkitt lymphoma is an important clinical and model disease arising from B cells. Burkitt lymphoma is characterized by translocation of the c-MYC gene to an immunoglobulin enhancer region, resulting in enhanced cell proliferation and rapid tumor progression. The development of deep sequencing has widened the scope of genetic analysis to reveal the role of additional collaborating mutations in Burkitt lymphoma. In this review, we examine the role of additional genetic events that cooperate with MYC in Burkitt lymphoma pathogenesis. Recent findingsNext-generation sequencing of Burkitt lymphoma has identified recurrent silencing mutations in ID3, a novel tumor suppressor gene. In addition, mutations in a number of genes including GNA13, TP53, and SMARCA4 occur in Burkitt lymphoma. Copy number status has implicated recurrent aberrations including gains of 1q and 18q and deletion of 19p13. Additionally, microRNA and gene expression profiling has revealed unique transcriptome signatures in Burkitt lymphoma subgroups. SummaryAnalysis of genetic alterations in Burkitt lymphoma has yielded a better understanding of the pathogenesis of this disease. These observations could lead to more effective strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of Burkitt lymphoma.
www.econstor.eu 40 European Regional Science Association Congress EXTERNAL EFFECTS AND COST OF PRODUCTION

This paper addresses the role of external effects in the process of production. We define two types of external effects: those derived from inputs external to the firm but which affect its production, and those derived from externalities that cross the barriers of a given economy. Using a production function that explicitly considers the presence of both types of external effects, we derive a cost function by application of the duality theory. This cost function includes the external effects and at the same time it takes into consideration the different relationships between inputs. Two types of externalities across economies are then addressed: those arising from interactions across regions and those due to linkages across industries. We propose the application of spatial econometric techniques to test for the presence of such spillovers. For regional externalities, we focus on the physical interaction between regions, while sectoral interdependencies are obtained through the use of input-output relationships. Some specific characteristics of the resulting empirical model (cross-section and time-series dimension of the data and nonlinearity in some of the parameters) are discussed from a spatial viewpoint. We apply this framework to the case of manufacturing industries in the Spanish regional economies
Advances in the treatment of leishmaniasis

Purpose of review Treatment of leishmaniasis is far from satisfactory: all antileishmanial drugs are toxic and most have to be used parenterally for prolonged periods, especially for visceral leishmaniasis. In recent years, there has been a steady erosion in the efficacy of pentavalent antimony to cure visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India. In addition, several new antileishmanial formulations have become available. Recent findings Through the publication of three studies from Africa, generic sodium stibogluconate, which is a fraction of the price of the branded drug Pentostam, has proven to be equivalent to Pentostam both in terms of safety and efficacy. The first oral drug, miltefosine, has been approved for treating visceral leishmaniasis in India, and preliminary reports of its efficacy against cutaneous leishmaniasis have been published. Interesting studies on successful low/single dose treatment of Indian visceral leishmaniasis with liposomal amphotericin B have been published. Several trials using different approaches towards treating cutaneous leishmaniasis are also reviewed. The results of clinical trials of two oral compounds are reported - fluconazole in treating cutaneous leishmaniasis was found to be safe and effective, whereas sitamaquine (WR6026) for visceral leishmaniasis was found to be toxic with poor efficacy. Summary Generic stibogluconate enables the cost effective treatment of all forms of leishmaniasis as it remains the most important antileishmanial drug in most parts of the world. In India, successful single dose AmBisome for visceral leishmaniasis makes therapy simple and enables mass treatment, provided the drug cost is brought down. For cutaneous leishmaniasis, two new oral drugs, fluconazole and miltefosine, provide wider options to the clinician.
KUDA : The Split Race Checker

Numerous runtime analysis tools are designed to observe the concurrency bugs in parallel programs (i.e. heisenbugs), there exists commercial or open source types available. Whereas usability of these tools is hurt by their performance, slowdowns may reach several thousand times the application only run. Overhead of these tools can be divided to two tightly coupled jobs: tracing and analyzing. Traditionally, on-the-fly runtime verification algorithms have been designed to run on the same processing unit as the code being monitored and both costs contribute to the slowdown of the program being monitored. We propose a novel approach for runtime analysis framework, on commodity computers with the help of a GPU. Our approach allows us to carry out analysis work on separate, dedicated processing unit without any additional or custom hardware, in parallel. Simply put, we allow the parallel runtime analysis to run concurrently in another runtime. As a demonstration of concept, we investigate on detecting concurrency bugs, in particular, data race detection; whereas one can potentially use this framework to carry out other types of analysis like specification violations, containment and even recovery from errors. We only use an additional CPU thread, a fixed size 16 MB communication buffer and a CUDA-enabled GPU. Our experiments on the performance of the split race checker framework shows that it is on average 5 times faster than traditional race checking.