Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multipoint left ventricular pacing provides additional echocardiographic benefit to responders and non-responders to conventional cardiac resynchronization therapy

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) with multipoint left ventricular (LV) pacing [MultiPoint™ Pacing (MPP), St. Jude Medical, Sylmar, CA, USA] improves LV function and clinical response relative to conventional CRT in patients receiving a de novo device implant. We hypothesized that patients with a previously implanted conventional CRT device would receive additional benefit by switching to MPP. Patients receiving a CRT implant (Unify Quadra MP™ or Quadra Assura MP™ CRT-D and Quartet™ LV lead, St. Jude Medical) were programmed to conventional CRT (i.e. biventricular pacing with right ventricular and single LV sites) optimized by intraoperative haemodynamic measurements. After 12 months of conventional therapy, patients were reprogrammed to MPP and re-evaluated at 16 months post-implant. Response to CRT was prospectively defined as reduction in end-systolic volume (ESV) of ≥15% relative to baseline as determined by a blinded observer. Eight patients with an implanted CRT device [New York Heart Association III, ejection fraction (EF) 30 ± 5%, QRS 149 ± 18 ms] received 12 months of conventional CRT and were switched to MPP. After 12 months of conventional CRT, ESV reduction and EF increase relative to baseline were −18 ± 12 and +5 ± 4%, respectively, and six of eight (75%) patients were considered CRT responders. After 4 months of MPP, two of two (100%) patients classified as non-responders to conventional CRT became responders with additional reduction in ESV of −33 and −20% and improvement in EF of +15 and +4%. The remaining six patients classified as responders experienced additional reduction in ESV of −13 ± 21% and improvement in EF of +7 ± 7% after switching to MPP. Multipoint LV pacing may provide additional improvement to LV function in patients receiving conventional CRT.
Population genetic study of diabetes and diabetic retinopathy among Egyptians.

OBJECTIVES To clarify the population genetic background of diabetes mellitus among Egyptians and its effect on developing diabetic retinopathy (DR). BACKGROUND Genes play an important role in the development of diabetes mellitus. METHODS A statistical study was carried on 214 patients with diabetes mellitus after clinical genetic evaluation including medical and family history, family pedigree analysis, and determination of blood sugar, cholesterol and triglycerides levels. Ophthalmic examination was done to detect diabetic retinopathy. RESULTS Family history of diabetes was higher in type I while parental consanguinity was higher in type II. Type I diabetics had positive familial aggregation with sharp falling in frequency of affection from the first to the second to the third degree relatives. Type II diabetes is generally a disease of multifactorial inheritance and AD inheritance in part of pedigrees; however AR inheritance could not be excluded. Family history of DR was higher among diabetic patients with DR than in patients without retinopathy (p < 0.05). Female gender, type I diabetes, duration of diabetes, triglycerides and positive family history of diabetic retinopathy were predictive risk factors for DR. CONCLUSION Genetic factors play an important role in various forms of DM, however the inheritance is complex. Although most cases of DM are multifactorial disorders, monogenic forms have been also identified. Family history is an important risk factor for the development of DR. Molecular studies are recommended to detect which of the implicated genes are responsible for the development of DR among diabetic Egyptians (Tab. 4, Fig. 1, Ref. 18).
Novel Approaches to Diabetes Treatment

C P J / R P C • J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 7 • V O L 1 4 0 , N O 1 Research has produced drugs that act on intestinal hormones that have an impact on the control of blood glucose. These hormones, known as incretins, are produced in the gastrointestinal tract in response to food ingestion. The 2 dominant incretins are glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP). The incretins are essential for the majority of the postprandial insulin response and it has been found that those with type 2 diabetes mellitus often have reduced levels of postprandial GLP-1. GLP-1 is responsible for: • Increasing glucose-dependent insulin secretion • Reducing glucagon secretion • Slowing gastric emptying • Reducing caloric intake (promoting satiety) Dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) is the enzyme responsible for degradation and inactivation of the incretin hormones GIP and GLP-1. Two new classes of antidiabetic agents, incretin mimetics and DPP-IV inhibitors, have either been approved for clinical use or are undergoing human clinical testing in diabetic subjects.
Cluster Flow Identification During Multi-Rate Testing Using a Wireline Tractor Conveyed Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing System With Engineered Fiber on a HPHT Horizontal Unconventional Gas Producer in the Liard Basin

This paper investigates the flow performance of a horizontal unconventional gas producer where cluster flow has been detected and quantified. The method employed is the first use of a wireline deployed engineered fiber optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) system for the purpose of production monitoring. It further describes the technological advancement of the DAS system. While distributed fiber optics sensors have been used in unconventional wells for over ten years, the focus has been on stimulation monitoring, where relatively large thermal and acoustic signatures are easily measured. There has been limited success on the use of the same systems for production monitoring in horizontal wells since the thermal and acoustic flow signatures are very small. The recent technological advancements achieved in the area of Distributed Acoustic Sensing, using engineered fibers with dramatic improvements in the signal-to noise ratio, now make it possible to sense low levels of inflow noise with DAS systems. This study presents two distinct ways of analysing DAS data to extract production information and demonstrates the analysis using real field data. The well is an unconventional dry gas producer in the Liard Basin, Canada, which was completed in 18 stages, with 3 cluster per stage, a total of 54 clusters along a horizontal section of ~2000m. The top 11 stages were logged on tractor conveyed wireline with DAS and DTS data acquired over a 19-hour period. The acquisition covered an initial shut-in period, followed by a ramp up to a maximum test rate, and a final shut-in period. Data from the full acquisition period was analysed and is presented in the paper. The data acquired at various points during the acquisition period was used to detect and quantify inflow. It was found that one of the clusters was active throughout the shut-in period and inactive during the maximum test rate. We were also able to identify more clusters being activated as the production rate increased. The increase in the number of active clusters was not proportional to the increase in the surface gas rate, with heel side clusters becoming active before the toe side clusters as the production rate was increased. The results of this survey yielded remarkable insights that informed the operator on the completion efficiency and the relationship between the total production rate and cluster activity.
Understanding Small Town Sprawl Using GIS

1 SAE Commercial Existing building on site, appears to be operating business. No 2 B-2 Commercial Ongoing development. No 3 R-1 Residential Existing building on site, appears to be a house within a neighborhood. No 4 R-2 Vacant No apparent development. Yes 34.75 5 SAE Commercial Existing building on site, possibly an operating business. No 6 SAE Commercial Existing building on site, possibly an operating business. No 7 SAE Commercial Existing building on site, possibly an operating business. No
Optimizing Forest Management Stabilizes Carbon Under Projected Climate and Wildfires

Forests provide a broad set of ecosystem services, including climate regulation. Other ecosystem services can be ecosystem dependent and are in part regulated by local‐scale decision‐making. In the southwestern United States, ongoing climate change is exacerbating a legacy of fire‐exclusion that has altered forest structure and increased high‐severity wildfire risk. Management can mitigate this risk by reducing forest density and restoring frequent surface fires, but at the cost of reduced carbon stocks. We sought to quantify the role of management in building adaptive capacity to projected climate and wildfires and the carbon consequences in a forested watershed. We simulated carbon dynamics under projected climate and wildfires and two management scenarios: prioritized and optimized. The prioritized scenario involved thinning and prescribed burning in areas selected by stakeholders to mitigate high‐severity wildfire risk. The optimized scenario used the probability of high‐severity wildfires to locate thinning treatments and increased prescribed fire area burned relative to the prioritized scenario. Both scenarios reduced wildfire severity and significantly increased net photosynthesis relative to no‐management. However, the optimized scenario decreased management‐related losses by 2.4 Mg • C • ha−1 and wildfire emissions by 2.9 Mg • C • ha−1 relative to the prioritized scenario. By decreasing the area thinned and increasing the area burned relative to the prioritized scenario, the optimized scenario halved the time to realize a net carbon benefit relative to no‐management. Given the increasing climatic and disturbance pressures impacting southwestern forests, management will play a critical role in building adaptive capacity and ensuring the continued provision of ecosystem services.
Geography and the environment

Ajmar-Wollheim was commissioned to write this essay following her curation of a major exhibition on early modern material culture, ‘At Home in Renaissance Italy’ (V&A Museum, 2006–7). It appears in an ambitious, interdisciplinary six-volume series examining the cultural, social, economic, religious and political changes that have affected domestic life from antiquity to the present. Ajmar-Wollheim explores the ways in which the material environment contributed to the construction of childhood and family life in the early modern period in Europe and North America. It draws on a large body of sources, including 15th- and 16th-century conduct books, poems, family memoirs and inventories, family portraits and didactic prints, to discuss the emergence of a distinctive culture of domestic representation. The essay focuses on domestic spaces and objects, mostly within urban contexts; Ajmar-Wollheim argues that they contributed to momentous changes in domestic rituals and to the emergence of what scholar Catherine Richardson calls a ‘more mannered social existence’, relying on increasingly specialised objects and spaces. Focusing on paradigmatic domestic artefacts – such as the fireplace and the dining table – Ajmar-Wollheim charts the change from relatively socially undifferentiated objects to those of – and for – distinction. She also examines key items of ‘prescriptive’ material culture, designed to socialise the child physically and mentally from infancy to early adulthood and to articulate and enact gender distinctions – from high chairs to toy guns and miniature cauldrons. One of the difficulties of studying childhood is that historically it has only been interpreted by reference to adults. By concentrating on objects made by children – such as textiles manufactured by girls, from small-scale weaving to sewing and embroidery – Ajmar-Wollheim’s essay aims to bring children to the fore as historical actors. In this way, it contributes to a growing literature which seeks to bypass an exclusively adult-led understanding of childhood.
Ketamine improves survival in severe burn injury in rats via the expression of heat shock protein 70, far or close to the clinical perspective?

a b s t r a c t The purpose of this reflection or commentary is not to demerit the efforts of the researchers, but rather to highlight some aspects that should be taken into account in the future for implementing experimental designs that may potentially contribute to strengthen the links between basic biomedical and clinical research, referring to the research article entitled Ketamine improves survival in severe burn injury in rats via the Expression of Heat Shock Protein 70. This is a purely constructive reflection aimed at encouraging those who are one way or other involved in research, to develop a more comprehensive analysis and a proposal for an experimental design that enables the extrapolation of the results from animal models to a clinical application, with a limited number of subjects but preserving the validity of the trial, in addition to making the best possible use of the experimental subjects and of the relationship between basic and clinical research. In fact, the ethical guidelines issued by the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, in its chapter on animal experiments emphasize that the validity of a trial allows for using the minimum number of animals in an experiment. The article that makes reference to this matter was published by Zhang Meng-yuan et al., and concludes that Ketamine therapy improves the survival of patients with severe burn injuries via the expression of heat shock proteins in the heart and the brain.
Design of aeroelastically scaled wind tunnel models using sensitivity based parameter identification

Designing aeroelastically scaled wind tunnel models is a common task in flight vehicle development programs. Model design methods, however, often rely heavily on repeated analysis, experience and intuition. This work presents a procedure which uses numerical optimization techniques to automate the model design process. The proposed method offers many advantages over current ones. The model structure can be made as complex as necessary. Also, no unrealistic structural assumptions are required of the designer; any structure which can be discretized using a finite element approximation may be considered. The method uses readily available flexibility and modal response data from the full scale structure to size elements in the wind tunnel model structure automatically, eliminating repeated analysis. Several variations on the optimization-based approach are evaluated here using a lowaspect ratio fighter wing as a sample problem. Desired flutter characteristics are compared to those calculated for the final model design. To verify the numerical work, a sample model structure has been fabricated and tested using laser metrology techniques. Results of static and modal tests compare well with numerical predictions.
Impacts of competition and herbivory on native plants in a community‐engaged, adaptively managed restoration experiment

Restoring biodiversity to degraded sites in the wildland–urban interface is challenging due to many factors, including competition with non‐native species and increased herbivore pressure. In a unique collaboration between land managers, environmental educators, students, and academic ecologists, we tested the effectiveness of multiple restoration techniques in an adaptive management framework, modifying methods each year based on results in the previous years. We evaluated the impact of non‐native species and rabbit herbivores on soil moisture and native plant growth. We added native seedlings to our site either immediately adjacent to existing native shrubs (potential nurse plants) or in the open. One native species, Artemisia californica, was significantly negatively influenced by the presence of an existing shrub and grew more in the open in both a wet and a dry year. Another native species, Eriogonum fasciculatum, experienced high mortality by rabbit herbivores when it was not protected by fencing. Fencing also increased abundance of non‐native plants, so a combination of fencing and non‐native removal without a nurse plant was optimal for restoration. Soil moisture was greater in the open than under existing native shrubs, indicating that existing shrubs decreased soil water available to seedlings. Data collected by trained students was indistinguishable from that collected by professional ecologists. Our use of community‐engaged science demonstrates how scientific adaptive management experiments can include a diversity of participants and allow for immediate dissemination and implementation of results.
Imaging with pre-stack migration based on Sp scattering kernels

Sp receiver functions have been widely used to detect the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) and other mantle discontinuities. However, traditional common conversion point (CCP) stacking can be biased by the assumption of horizontal layers and this method typically underestimates scattering amplitudes from velocity boundaries with significant dips. A new pre-stack migration method based on recently developed Sp scattering kernels offers an alternative that more accurately captures the timing and amplitude of scattering. When calculating kernels, Sp-S times are estimated with the fast-marching method, and scattering amplitude versus direction, geometrical spreading and phase shifts are accounted for. To minimize imaging artefacts with larger station spacing, Sp receiver functions are interpolated to more closely spaced pseudo-stations using either compressive sampling or spatial averaging algorithms. To test the kernel-based stacking method, synthetic Sp phases were predicted using SPECFEM2D for velocity models with a flat Moho and a negative mantle velocity gradient with a ramp structure. The kernel-based stacking method resolves horizontal interfaces equally well as CCP stacking and outperforms CCP stacking when imaging boundaries with dips of more than 8°, although dip resolution is still limited. Use of more vertically incident phases such as SKSp improves retrieval of dipping discontinuity segments. A second approach is to down-weight the portions of the kernels that have the greatest positive interference among neighbouring stations, thus enhancing scattering from dipping structures where positive interference is lower. With this downweighting, the kernel-based stacking method applied to Sp data is able to continuously resolve LAB discontinuities with dips up to 15° and to partially resolve continuous LAB discontinuities with dips of ∼20°. The intrinsic properties of teleseismic Sp phase kernels limit their ability to resolve LAB structures with dips of ∼20–35°, but still larger dips of ∼40–50° are resolvable with dense and appropriately placed stations. Analysis of Sp scattering kernels also explains the effectiveness of CCP stacking for quasi-horizontal interfaces.
Immunological aspects of hepatitis B virus core antigen and its derivatives

xi Acknowledgements xiii Abbreviations. Xiv Standard amino acid abbreviations . xvii Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 1.1 General . 2 1.2 Clinical aspects of HBV infection . 2 1.2. 1 Acute and chronic hepatitis . 3 1.2. 2 Hepatocellular carcinoma . 3 1.3 Virion structure . 5 1.3. 1 Ultrastructure . 5 1.3. 2 Genome structure . 7 1.4 Genome organisation . 7 1.5 Viral polypeptides . 9 1.5. 1 Core (Nucleocapsid) proteins with HBcAg and HBeAg specificities 9 1.5. 2 Polymerase . 16 1.5. 3 Envelope proteins (surface antigen) . 18 1.5. 4 HBxAg . 22 1.6 HBV variants . 25 1.6. 1 Surface variants . 26 1.6. 2 Pre-core variants . 28 1.6. 3 Core variants . 31 1.7 Genome replication . 32 1.8 Viral transcription . 36 1.8. 1 The HBV transcripts . 36 1.8. 2 The regulation of viral transcription . 38 1.9 Immune response to HBV . 39
Scaling Geological Fracture Network from a Micro to a Macro Scale

Characterizing fracture systems at various scales, modeling fracture distributions, and clarifying scale relations that correlate total fracture systems are of paramount importance in geology, mining, civil engineering, and petroleum engineering. In this paper, the conditions of fracture network geometry are investigated in a field scale (about 100 m) and a core sample scale (several centimeters). To achieve this purpose, field surveys and coring of rock outcrops were performed in the Asmari Formation of Iran. Fractures were manually sampled from rock outcrops on the field scale while micro-fractures were surveyed using CT-scan images of core samples on a small scale. To compare the fracture network geometry, two perspectives of fractal dimensions and orientation of fractures were used. The results showed that the fractal dimension has the same value in both field and core scales and the orientation of the fractures is similar in both scales. Therefore, it can be claimed that in the Asmari Formation of Iran the structure of the fracture network is similar in two studied scales.
Diagnostik und Therapie von Herzerkrankungen bei Diabetes mellitus Autoren

Die "Leitlinien" der Wissenschaftlichen Medizinischen Fachgesellschaften sind systematisch entwickelte Hilfen fur Arzte zur Entscheidungsfindung in spezifischen Situationen. Sie beruhen auf aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen und in der Praxis bewahrten Verfahren und sorgen fur mehr Sicherheit in der Medizin, sollten aber auch okonomische Aspekte berucksichtigen. Die "Leitlinien" sind fur Arzte rechtlich nicht bindend und haben daher weder haftungsbegrundende noch haftungsbefreiende Wirkung.
Functional Consequences of Iron Deficiency

It has long been recognized that anemia leads to weakness and malaise. While there are many causes of anemia, by far the most common is iron deficiency. Prevalence rates range from 10 to 20 per cent for some populations in industrialized countries to 30 to 40 per cent or more in some developing countries. What has not been appreciated until recently is the extent to which iron deficiency, even when not severe enough to cause anemia, can be associated with a number of specific functional consequences. These include adverse effects on immunity and resistance to infection, on learning and behavior, physical capacity and work output, and possibly temperature regulation. Most of these effects are rapidly and completely reversed by administration of iron. The causes of iron deficiency are multiple and complex. It is not a simple matter of dietary iron intake because other substances in the diet influence iron absorption. Moreover, a variety of pathological conditions, such as menorrhagia, hookworm, malaria, and schistosomiasis, contribute to iron deficiency.The functional consequences of iron deficiency should be of concern to industrialized as well as developing countries, and preventive measures are mandatory. The United Nations University has established a network to collect evidence of the effects of iron deficiency and is cooperating with the International Anemia Consultative Group to stimulate research on practical means of preventing iron deficiency in all populations. These include fortification of staple foods, consumption of foods with more available iron, reduced consumption or altered timing of ingestion of foods that reduce iron absorption, and the prevention of blood loss.The paper will attempt to provide a summary and analysis of currently available information on the nature and consequences of iron deficiency in human populations and its prevention.