Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dual black holes in merger remnants – II. Spin evolution and gravitational recoil

Using high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations, we explore the spin evolution of massive dual black holes orbiting inside a circumnuclear disc, relic of a gas-rich galaxy merger. The black holes spiral inwards from initially eccentric co- or counter-rotating coplanar orbits relative to the disc’s rotation, and accrete gas that is carrying a net angular momentum. As the black hole mass grows, its spin changes in strength and direction due to its gravito-magnetic coupling with the small-scale accretion disc. We find that the black hole spins loose memory of their initial orientation, as accretion torques suffice to align the spins with the angular momentum of their orbit on a short time-scale (1–2 Myr). A residual off-set in the spin direction relative to the orbital angular momentum remains, at the level of 10 ◦ for the case of a cold disc, and 30 ◦ for a warmer disc. Alignment in a cooler disc is more effective due to the higher coherence of the accretion flow near each black hole that reflects the largescale coherence of the disc’s rotation. If the massive black holes coalesce preserving the spin directions set after formation of a Keplerian binary, the relic black hole resulting from their coalescence receives a relatively small gravitational recoil. The distribution of recoil velocities inferred from a simulated sample of massive black hole binaries has median 70 km s −1 ,
Randomized Controlled Trials in Interventional Spine : Perils and Pitfalls A Focused

It is the responsibility of clinician investigators to advance clinical knowledge and specifi cally its application to patient care. Randomized controlled trials remain near the top of the hierarchy of evidence based medicine. The acquisition of evidence based medicine by means of randomized controlled trials presents general diffi culties and additional pitfalls specifi c to interventional treatments. The nature of interventional procedures makes the performance of these studies more diffi cult to plan and execute. To generate clinically useful research results requires an understanding of the
Extraction of facial sketch image based on morphological processing

This paper proposes a new method to extract a facial sketch image from a facial image robustly. The extraction process consists of two processing steps and morphology plays an important role in the whole processing. Firstly, a generalized symmetry operator, rectangle-filter and a geometric template are used to detect the eyes and mouth. Based on the detected facial parts, the locations of other facial parts are detected using their geometrical locations and characteristic shapes. Secondly, the feature points are determined from the edges of each facial part. Line-drawings connecting them give the facial sketch image. Experiments using 300 facial images were performed and the rate of extracting the facial sketch image correctly was 91%. This result shows the effectiveness of the proposed system.
Imaging of Central Nervous System Tumors in Children: Advances and Limitations

Magnetic resonance technology is continually improving. Functional imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy, perfusion imaging, diffusion imaging, and diffusion tensor imaging are increasingly used in the diagnosis and treatment of brain tumors in children. However, estimate of tumor size remains the primary imaging endpoint in the evaluation of response to treatment, and validation across institutions and vendor platforms of magnetic resonance imaging functional parameters is necessary given the relatively uncommon occurrence of brain tumors in children. Pediatric neuroimaging can be challenging, and the optimal way to image children with tumors of the central nervous system is not uniformly applied across all centers. Application of proper scanning techniques and validation of functional imaging techniques should lead to improved care of children with central nervous system tumors.
Determinants of B‐type natriuretic peptide plasma levels in the chronic phase after heart transplantation *

Determinants of B‐type natriuretic peptide (BNP) plasma levels in the chronic phase after heart transplantation remain unclear. BNP was measured in 105 stable long‐term heart transplant recipients with normal left ventricular function by echocardiography and correlated with clinical, demographic and hemodynamic parameters. Multivariate analysis revealed a significant correlation of BNP with female recipient gender (P = 0.006), time post‐transplant (P =0.006), donor age (P = 0.007), angiographic signs of transplant vasculopathy (TVP) (P = 0.03), serum creatinine level (P = 0.04), and a strong trend for diastolic dysfunction (P = 0.09). Donor gender, recipient age, cyclosporin A blood levels, rejection history, and pulmonary artery pressure had no independent effect on BNP. BNP after heart transplantation appears to be influenced both by established general determinants (female gender, renal function) and transplant‐specific determinants such as time post‐transplant, donor age and potentially also TVP. In order to determine the value of BNP as a potential surrogate marker of TVP serial intraindividual measurements appear appropriate.
Group I introns: Moving in new directions

Group I introns are genetic elements interrupting functional genes. They are removed from precursors at the RNA level and most catalyze their own splicing. The catalytic part of these constitutes one of the major classes of catalytic RNAs, the group I ribozymes. However, group I introns have a lot more to offer than their own elimination by splicing. Intron RNA can circularize in at least three different ways and introns are mobile both at the DNA and RNA level. Some group I introns have a very complex organization incorporating functional genes and other sequence elements and have established deep relationships with their host genomes. Finally, group I introns can develop into new ribozymes with new biological functions
Ponatinib: Accelerated Disapproval.

“Accelerated Approval” (AA) has addressed important unmet needs in oncology. However, it is only justified if the drug fills a serious gap because such approval entails risk and leads to marketing based on incomplete information about toxicity, dose, and therapeutic potential. Furthermore, the policy of requiring companion diagnostics for AA of drugs that target specific mutations needs further discussion.
Infectious diseases associated with molluscan shellfish consumption

A history of shellfish-vectored illnesses (i.e., those associated with consumption of clams, oysters, mussels, and scallops) occurring in the past nine decades is presented. Typhoid fever was a significant public health problem among consumers of raw molluscan shellfish earlier in this century. The development of more effective sewage treatment procedures and the institution of a national program following these outbreaks led to a series of measures which eventually eliminated shellfish-associated typhoid fever. Present-day problems associated with this food source still involve some wastewaterborne bacterial illnesses. However, the principal public health concerns are with wastewater-derived viral pathogens and with bacterial agents of an environmental origin. The nature, occurrence, and magnitude of these public health problems are described.
State of charge control for energy storage by use of cascade control system for microgrid

The hybrid control system, which is a combination of cascade control and local control, is proposed as a method to compensate power fluctuations caused by load and renewable energy sources in a microgrid using distributed power generation systems(DGs). When energy storage system(ESS) such as EDLC is used in the microgrid to compensate power fluctuations, its state of charge(SoC) should be controlled. In this paper, a new method to control ESS's SoC which would enable power compensation with less energy capacity and with less effect to the compensation result is proposed. This method uses the feature of the cascade control that faster DG's reference is dependent on slower DG's output. The new method is implemented on EDLC in the model microgrid and its effectivity is verified by a simulation and a experiment. The result of the simulation and experiment is also reported in the paper.
Dietary intake analysis in institutionalized elderly: a focus on nutrient density.

BACKGROUND Inadequate food intake in old age can lead to marginal or suboptimal nutrient intakes causing the deterioration of physiological and health states. OBJECTIVE To describe, by intake assessment, nutritional status of institutionalized elderly and to compare the data to other studies findings. DESIGN Dietary intake was assessed in 50 (18 males, 32 females, average age 84 6 years) institutionalized elderly according to data collected by using structured food frequency questionnaires based on the institutional kitchen recipes, weekly menu and portion size. RESULTS Daily energy intake was 1.91 0.48 Mcal and energy density was 4.97 kcal/g dry matter. Energy derived from protein and fat was 15.1% and 35.4%, respectively. Dietary fiber consumption was very low, 3.92 g/Mcal. Calcium intake of all of the subjects, and magnesium, zinc and copper intakes of most of them, were low. Iron intake of almost all of the subjects was sufficient or above RDA. Intake of vitamins D, E, B6, thiamin (vitamin B1) and folic acid in all or most of the subjects was low. In almost all of the 39 studies and reviews, including ours, densities of at least two nutrients did not meet the calculated RDA density. Particularly low were the nutrient densities of vitamins C and E, thiamin, vitamin B6, folic acid and vitamin D, as well as of calcium, magnesium, zinc and copper. CONCLUSION Supplementation with half the RDA of micronutrients (except for vitamin A and iron) may result in micronutrient intakes that are higher than two-thirds of the RDA.
ANMCO Position Paper: diagnostic–therapeutic pathway in patients with hypercholesterolaemia and statin intolerance

Abstract Statins are a class of drugs used to lower total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol. Clinical trials performed over the last 25 years have shown that these agents are effective in improving cardiovascular outcomes in several different clinical settings. However, in some cases statin treatment may be associated with significant side effects and adverse reactions. The occurrence of these adverse events during statin therapy may cause discontinuation of treatment, and hence the impossibility of achieving recommended lipid goals. The clinical condition in which patients experience major unacceptable symptoms and/or develop laboratory abnormalities during statin therapy is defined as statin intolerance. This document outlines the diagnostic and therapeutic pathways for the clinical management of patients with hypercholesterolaemia and statin intolerance.
Types of dermatitis in American onchocerciasis.

IN A previous communication1the general background of American onchocerciasis was given. In this report an attempt will be made to describe in detail the different forms of dermatitis that were observed, for the most part, at the research center of onchocerciasis, Centro Medico, Huixtla, Chiapas, Mexico. This research hospital has been placed in the state of Chiapas in an area in which onchocerciasis is heavily endemic. The incidence of the disease here has been estimated at 20,000 by Gonzalez Herrejon.2 It is difficult to analyze critically the cutaneous reactions observed in patients infected by the filariae worm, Onchocerca volvulus, for the following reasons: Many areas of skin, structurally normal, grossly and even microscopically, and also free of subjective reactions, may show numerous microfilariae in that portion. The vector of the disease, the Simulium, produces an erythemaedema and petechial reaction, with the intensity of
DASR: A diagnostic tool for automatic speech recognition

In this report we present a Diagnostic tool for ASR systems (DASR). The aim was to develop a tool capable to perform statistical analysis of output of ASR decoding process. Many error patterns in the output might be observable directly by humans, but if number of tracking variables (possible causes of errors) is very high, the task for humans becomes too complex. Machines are able to process as much variables as necessary, and performs a statistical analysis on data as well. We discuss design and implementation of the tool. In addition, we present an example of usage of the tool. This is an explorative study of diagnostics of speech recognition for finding subsets of features that are most informative in terms of incorrect speech recognition, if variable speech is recognized. The impact on both MFCC and PLP features is investigated.
Ganglioside GT1b as a complementary receptor component for Clostridium botulinum neurotoxins.

Clostridium botulinum type B neurotoxin (BoNT/B) recognizes a complex of synaptotagmin II and ganglioside GT1b or GD1a as the high-affinity toxin binding site. Recombinant deletion mutants of synaptotagmin II allowed us to demonstrate that the N-terminal domain including the transmembrane region retains BoNT/B binding activity while the C-terminal domain is not involved in constituting the BoNT/B receptor. BoNT/B binding to reconstituted lipid vesicles containing synaptotagmin II and gangliosides showed that GT1b and GD1a confer the difference in the maximum binding capacity but not in the dissociation constant. The direct binding of GT1b to the deletion mutants revealed that the transmembrane region is required to bind GT1b, suggesting that synaptotagmin II binds to the ceramide portion of gangliosides within the plasma membrane. A monoclonal antibody against GT1b effectively inhibited not only BoNT/B binding to the reconstituted lipid vesicles and brain synaptosomes but also type A BoNT (BoNT/A) binding to brain synaptosomes. In addition, the monoclonal antibody antagonized the action of both BoNT/A and BoNT/B on synaptic transmission of rat superior cervical ganglion neurons. These results suggest that GT1b functions as a component of the receptor complex.
[The development of ergot alkaloids as drugs].

Hydrierung der Doppelbindung des Ergolen-Grundgerüstes resultiert in einer Verstärkung der α-blockierenden und einer Abnahme der α-agonistischen Wirkungskomponente an adrenergen Rezeptoren. Die Anwendung der Mutterkorn-Alkaloide als α-Blocker bei der Behandlung der Hypertonie und der benignen Prostatahyperplasie (BPH) ist als obsolet anzusehen, doch werden die Substanzen bei einer Reihe anderer Indikationen eingesetzt.
Assessing Handheld Mobile Laser Scanners for Forest Surveys

A handheld mobile laser scanning (HMLS) approach to forest inventory surveying allows virtual reconstructions of forest stands and extraction of key structural parameters from beneath the canopy, significantly reducing survey time when compared against static laser scan and fieldwork methods. A proof of concept test application demonstrated the ability of this technique to successfully extract diameter at breast height (DBH) and stem position compared against a concurrent terrestrial laser scan (TLS) survey. When stems with DBH > 10 cm are examined, an HMLS to TLS modelling success rate of 91% was achieved with the root mean square error (RMSE) of the DBH and stem position being 1.5 cm and 2.1 cm respectively. The HMLS approach gave a survey coverage time per surveyor of 50 m2/min compared with 0.85 m2/min for the TLS instrument and 0.43 m2/min for the field study. This powerful tool has potential applications in forest surveying by providing much larger data sets at reduced operational costs to current survey methods. HMLS provides an efficient, cost effective, versatile forest surveying technique, which can be conducted as easily as walking through a plot, allowing much more detailed, spatially extensive survey data to be collected.
Vascular endothelial growth factor gene therapy in ischaemic rat skin flaps.

Gene therapy with the complementary DNA (cDNA) of the angiogenic cytokine vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has emerged as a promising strategy in the treatment of myocardial and lower-limb ischaemia. The objective of this study was to determine whether these principles could be applied to a recognised model of skin-flap ischaemia. Plasmid vectors including the cDNA of green fluorescent protein (GFP) and one of three VEGF isoforms (A165, B167 or B186) were constructed, and their base sequences confirmed. GFP expression was used as a marker of successful in vitro transfection of human endothelial cells with each plasmid. The plasmids were then administered subcutaneously to rat abdominal skin flaps surgically rendered ischaemic, and the percentage of viable tissue was assessed at 1 week. Angiograms of the flaps and histological preparations of flap tissue were assessed for evidence of angiogenesis. The survival of flaps treated with VEGF A165 or B167 cDNA was significantly greater than that of controls (P < 0.05). The survival of flaps treated with VEGF B186 cDNA was greater than that of controls, but statistical significance was not reached. Angiograms and microvessel density counts failed to produce evidence of angiogenesis. With improved delivery strategies, VEGF may have a role in the management of surgical ischaemia.
Orexin receptor antagonism for treatment of insomnia

ABSTRACT Objective: To assess the utility of orexin receptor antagonism as a novel approach to treating insomnia. Methods: We evaluated suvorexant, an orexin receptor antagonist, for treating patients with primary insomnia in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2-period (4 weeks per period) crossover polysomnography study. Patients received suvorexant (10 mg [n = 62], 20 mg [n = 61], 40 mg [n = 59], or 80 mg [n = 61]) in one period and placebo (n = 249) in the other. Polysomnography was performed on night 1 and at the end of week 4 of each period. The coprimary efficacy end points were sleep efficiency on night 1 and end of week 4. Secondary end points were wake after sleep onset and latency to persistent sleep. Results: Suvorexant showed significant (p values <0.01) dose-related improvements vs placebo on the coprimary end points of sleep efficiency at night 1 and end of week 4. Dose-related effects were also observed for sleep induction (latency to persistent sleep) and maintenance (wake after sleep onset). Suvorexant was generally well tolerated. Conclusions: The data suggest that orexin receptor antagonism offers a novel approach to treating insomnia. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class I evidence that suvorexant improves sleep efficiency over 4 weeks in nonelderly adult patients with primary insomnia.
Inter-update Metz filtering as regularization for variable block-ART in PET reconstruction

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a technology that uses short-lived radio nuclides altered by disease and precede changes that can be visualized by cross-sectional imaging. Over the last decade, this technique has become an important clinical tool for detection of tumors, follow-up treatment and drug research, providing an understanding of dynamic physiological processes. Since PET needs improved reconstruction algorithms to facilitate clinical diagnosis, we will investigate an improved iterative algorithm. Amongst current algorithms applied for PET reconstruction, ART was first proposed as a method of reconstruction from CT projections. With appropriate tuning, the convergence of these algorithms could be very fast indeed. However, the quality of reconstruction using these methods has not been thoroughly investigated. We study a variant of these algorithms. We present the state of the art, review well-known ART and investigate an optimum dynamically-changing block structure for the not yet fully explored variable-Block ART, which uses jointly the Inter-Update Metz filter for regularization and exploits the full symmetries in PET scanners. This reveals significant acceleration of initial convergence to an acceptable reconstruction of inconsistent cases. To assess the quality and analyze any discrepancy of the reconstructed images, two figures of merit (FOMs) are used to evaluate two 3D Data phantoms acquired on a GE-Advance scanner for high statistics.
Characterization of structure and function of the mouse retina using pattern electroretinography, pupil light reflex, and optical coherence tomography.

OBJECTIVE To perform in vivo analysis of retinal functional and structural parameters in healthy mouse eyes. ANIMAL STUDIED Adult C57BL/6 male mice (n = 37). PROCEDURES Retinal function was evaluated using pattern electroretinography (pERG) and the chromatic pupil light reflex (cPLR). Structural properties of the retina and nerve fiber layer (NFL) were evaluated using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). RESULTS The average pERG amplitudes were found to be 11.2 ± 0.7 μV (P50-N95, mean ± SEM), with an implicit time for P50-N95 interval of 90.4 ± 5.4 ms. Total retinal thickness was 229.5 ± 1.7 μm (mean ± SEM) in the area centralis region. The thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer (mean ± SEM) using a circular peripapillary retinal scan centered on the optic nerve was 46.7 ± 0.9 μm (temporal), 46.1 ± 0.9 μm (superior), 45.8 ± 0.9 μm (nasal), and 48.4 ± 1 μm (inferior). The baseline pupil diameter was 2.1 ± 0.05 mm in darkness, and 1.1 ± 0.05 and 0.56 ± 0.03 mm after stimulation with red (630 nm, luminance 200 kcd/m(2)) or blue (480 nm, luminance 200 kcd/m(2)) light illumination, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Pattern electroretinography, cPLR and SD-OCT analysis are reproducible techniques, which can provide important information about retinal and optic nerve function and structure in mice.
Deletions of N-terminal sequences of polyoma virus T-antigens reduce but do not abolish transformation of rat fibroblasts

Polyoma virus transforms, upon infection or DNA transfection, nonpermissive Fisher rat fibroblasts. Cloned viral DNA was deleted of sequences around the Bg/I site at nucleotide 86 by Bal31 nuclease treatment and then recloned in Escherichia coli. The extent of deletion for each mutant was then determined by DNA sequencing. Deletions included the early transcription control signals; others stretched into the N-terminal coding sequences of the viral tumor antigens. The transformation efficiency of 16 mutants was tested by transfecting rat fibroblasts. Expression of the T antigens was analyzed by immunofluorescence detection after transfection of rat fibroblasts, mouse secondary embryo cells, and HeLa cells. We found that the absence of the early transcription control sequences (TATA and CAAT boxes) did not significantly alter the transformation capacity of the virus. On the other hand, deletion of the initiator methionine ATG codon or further into the coding sequences did abolish the transformation capacity in some mutants, whereas others maintained a reduced transforming activity, possibly by initiation of translation in a penultimate methionine.