Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiac Electrophysiological and Hemodynamic Effects of jS‐Adrenoceptor Blockade and Thoracic Epidural Analgesia in the Dog

To investigate whether thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) has additional cardiac electrophysiological and hemodynamic effects when induced after β-adrenergic blockade, bupivacaine (0.7–1.2 mg/kg) was injected into the epidural space at T2–3 after intravenous injection of atenolol (1.0 mg/kg) in anesthetized dogs. Cardiac electrophysiology was studied by His bundle electrography, programmed electrical stimulation, and monophasic action potential recordings. Atenolol reduced heart rate, prolonged atrio-ventricular (AV) nodal impulse conduction time and refractoriness, prolonged ventricular refractoriness and action potential duration, and decreased left ventricular (LV) dP/dt max. Addition of TEA further reduced heart rate, prolonged AV nodal conduction time and refractoriness, decreased LV dP/dt max and arterial blood pressure, but had no effect on atrial and ventricular electrophysiology. Induction of TEA during β-blockade may thus have additive depressive effects on sinoatrial and AV nodal functions, as well as on left ventricular inotropy. The study indicates that the cardiac electrophysiological effects induced by TEA are mainly caused by decreased β-receptor stimulation, but increased vagal activity may also contribute.
Application of platelet‐rich gel to enhance healing of transmetatarsal amputations in diabetic dysvascular patients

Transmetatarsal amputation (TMA) represents an effective surgical procedure used to treat several clinical conditions such as forefoot infection, gangrene and chronic ulceration in diabetic patients. TMA permits walking without the need for prosthesis, but nevertheless is burdened with a high complications rate. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility to use platelet gel (PG) as an adjuvant therapy when performing TMA procedure in diabetic patients. In a 6‐year period, 26 diabetic patients had undergone TMA procedure followed by autologous PG applications (group A) and 32 patients had undergone TMA as sole procedure (group B). After TMA procedure, the treatment is based on outpatient management and consists of a weekly platelet‐rich plasma gel application on the surgical wound for 1 month in group A and on clinical evaluation only for group B. For group A, healing rate was of 96·15% and one patient (3·84%) presented wound dehiscence, and no postoperative wound infections occurred. For group B, healing rate was of 59·37%; severe infection of the stump prompted to the proximal amputations in 40·62% of patients during the follow‐up period. PG application may be an effective adjuvant treatment to improve wound healing in diabetic dysvascular patients.
An Efficient Walking Safety Service for Distracted Mobile Users

There is a growing number of incidents related to using cell phones while walking on the street. To address this issue, this paper proposes a new system based on tactile paving detection on the sidewalk to alert distracted mobile users to avoid traffic hazard. Our system (namely Inspector) is deployed as an application on an off-the-shelf normal mobile phone equipped with back camera. Inspector plays as a third eye to alert users when they step out of the safe zones where no tactile paving is detected. In order to obtain reliable yet effective decision results, we exploit a lightweight image processing method, simple classifiers along with a smart sampling strategy. The main idea is that the application capture more images of the surrounding environments when we doubt that the result from one image is not sufficient. The sampling interval is adjusted dynamically so that we can save the energy and thus extend the working time of the system. Real-scenario tests show that Inspector can detect whether a mobile user is walking along a blind sidewalk with an accuracy of 92.72%, 98.78%, and 99.44% when the detection algorithm sample 2 times, 3 times, and 4 times continuous detection respectively. The reaction time, which is measured by the difference between the alert time and the time when a user steps out of a safety zone, is 0.52 seconds early with a sampling interval of 2 seconds.
PFSC: A research on public file scan and certificate in grid

Security is one of the most important issues in grid computing. Therefore it is an inevitable function in most kinds of grid middleware to ensure the security of resource access. Efforts of this literature focus on file security in grid system. An architecture for file scan and monitoring is proposed on top of OGSA-based grid middleware as well as NFS, for the purpose of preventing the spread of virus via the file transfer and sharing over grid.
Alpha‐synuclein in Lewy Body Disease and Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Lewy body disease (LBD) are the most common causes of dementia in the elderly population. Previous studies have shown that cognitive alterations in these disorders are associated with synaptic loss. Injury and loss of synapses might be associated with altered function of synaptic proteins. Among them, recent studies have shown that abnormal aggregation and accumulation of synaptic proteins, such as α‐synuclein, might be associated with plaque formation in AD and Lewy body formation in LBD. Further reinforcing the hypothesis that α‐synuclein plays a major role in the pathogenesis of these disorders, recent work has shown that mutations that alter the conformation of this molecule are associated with familial forms of Parkinson's disease. The mechanisms by which altered function or aggregation of α‐synuclein might lead to neurodegeneration are not completely clear; however, new evidence points to a potential role for this molecule in synaptic damage and neurotoxicity via amyloid‐like fibril formation and mitochondrial dysfunction. In this manuscript we review the data linking α‐synuclein to the pathogenesis of AD and LBD.
Comparaison des cibles d’une matrice de score et d’une expression régulière. Application à la recherche de sites de fixation du facteur de transcription LXR

En bio-informatique, il est habituel de rechercher de nouvelles instances d'un modele construit a partir d'un ensemble de sequences de reference. Dans la majorite des cas, les plus simples, ces modeles sont representes soit par des expressions regulieres, soit par les matrices de score. Dans le cas des expressions regulieres, le resultat d'une analyse est binaire (acceptation ou rejet). Dans le cas des matrices de score, un score indique la qualite du resultat. Si, en pratique, ces deux representations semblent pouvoir etre utilisees indifferemment , on peut se demander si elles ont un impact sur le resultat. Y'a-t-il une meilleure representation ? Comment fixer le seuil d'acceptabilite d'une matrice de score ? Autoriser des mutations sur une expression reguliere est-il comparable a faire varier le seuil d'acceptation d'une matrice? Ce sont des questions evoquees dans ce papier, au travers du cas d'application du site de fixation de LXR. Cette etude compare les occurrences obtenues avec une matrice de score et avec une expression reguliere autorisant jusqu'a deux substitutions. Elle montre que, dans notre etude LXR, les sequences obtenues avec une matrice de score sont plus proches des references que les sequences obtenues par l'expression reguliere.
High electron mobility enhancement on (110) surface due to uniaxial strain and its impact on short channel device performance of SOl FinFETs

We have successfully fabricated uniaxially strained SOI FinFETs with high electron mobility and low parasitic resistance. The electron mobility on (110) sidewall surfaces was found to surpass the (100) universal mobility by the subband engineering through uniaxial tensile strain along <110>. Thanks to this high electron mobility enhancement and the relatively low parasitic resistance, high Ion enhancement of +38% and the Ion value of 900 ¿A/¿m in 50 nm gate length n-FinFETs with (110) surfaces were realized.
Hydrochlorothiazide therapy in nephrolithiasis Effect on the urinary activity product and formation product of brushite

The effect of hydrochlorothiazide on the formation of renal stones containing calcium was evaluated by the quantitative assessment of the propensity of urine for the nucleation of brushite (nidus of calcium stones). In 6 patients with renal stones, the urinary activity product ratio (APR) and the formation product ratio (FPR) of brushite were measured before, during, and following treatment with hydrochlorothiazide (50 mg twice a day orally) for from 5 days to 1 month. The urinary APR (the state of saturation with respect to brushite) decreased in the majority of cases primarily as the result of a fall in urinary calcium. The urinary FPR (lowest state of supersaturation at which nucleation is initiated) usually increased, probably as a result of a rise in urinary pyrophosphate. Both changes reduced the propensity for the formation of the nidus of brushite, and may therefore account for the improvement reported after thiazide therapy in nephrolithiasis.
Towards Security in Distributed Home System

Today, personal data analytics and privacy face a dichotomy: application authors and service providers require scalable analytics systems, while the users and regulators increasingly demand for applications which respect the individuals’ privacy. In this paper we propose to use VPN to solve new security challenges in a distributed home network system. On a prototype implementation, our initial evaluations indicate that we can feasibly provide a scalable trusted and distributed data aggregation and processing platform with acceptable overheads, while providing data privacy for users of the system.
A three‐step strategy of induction chemotherapy then chemoradiation followed by surgery in patients with potentially resectable carcinoma of the esophagus or gastroesophageal junction

Patients with locoregional carcinoma of the esophagus or gastroesophageal junction have a poor survival rate after surgery. Preoperative chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy has not improved the outcome for these patients. Our study was designed to assess the feasibility of preoperative induction combination chemotherapy in addition to chemoradiotherapy to improve the curative resection rate, local control, and survival.
PRoFIT: Modelo forense-IoT con integración de requisitos de privacidad

Este trabajo ha sido financiado por la Junta de Andalucia a traves del proyecto FISICCO (TIC-07223), y por el Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad a traves de los proyectos SMOG (TIN2016-79095-C2-1-R) e IoTest (TIN2015-72634-EXP).
Modified steepest descent and Newton algorithms for orthogonally constrained optimisation. Part II. The complex Grassmann manifold

The classical steepest descent and Newton algorithms can be used to minimise a cost function f(X). This paper shows how they can be modified to take into account the constraint that the columns of the complex-valued matrix X are mutually orthogonal and have unit norm. It is assumed that the cost function satisfies f(XQ) = f(X) for any unitary matrix Q. This allows the constrained optimisation problem to be converted into an unconstrained one on the Grassmann manifold. This significantly reduces the dimension of the optimisation problem and often results in faster convergence.
b -Adrenergic agonist modulation of monocyte adhesion to airway epithelial cells in vitro

b -Adrenergic agonist modulation of monocyte adhesion to airway epithelial cells in vitro. Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 278: L139–L147, 2000. — b Adrenergic agonists are commonly used in the treatment of obstructive airway diseases and are known to modulate cAMP-dependent processes of airway epithelial cells. How-ever, little is known regarding the ability of cAMP-dependent mechanisms to inﬂuence cell-cell interactions within the airway. Thus we investigated the role of the b -adrenergic agonist isoproterenol in modulating the ability of human bronchial epithelial cells to support the adhesion of THP-1 cells, a monocyte/macrophage cell line, in vitro. We demonstrated that pretreatment of human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) with 10 µM isoproterenol or 100 µM salbutamol augments the adhesion of ﬂuorescently labeled THP-1 cells to HBEC monolayers by , 40–60%. The increase in THP-1 cell adhesion occurred with 10 min of isoproterenol pretreatment of HBECs and gradually declined but persisted with up to 24 h of isoproterenol exposure. Exposure of THP-1 cells to isoproterenol or salbutamol before the adhesion assays did not result in an increase in adhesion to HBECs, suggesting that the isoproterenol modulation was primarily via changes in epithelial cells. A speciﬁc protein kinase A inhibitor, KT-5720, inhibited subsequent isoproterenol augmentation of THP-1 cell adhesion, further supporting the role of cAMP- dependent mechanisms in modulating THP-1 cell adhesion to Experimental values were compared using a one-way ANOVA for re- peated measures.
Transitioning from caregiver to visitor in a long-term care facility: the experience of caregivers of people with dementia

Objectives: Transitioning from the primary caregiver to the visitor in a long-term care facility may be challenging for the caregiver; they are required to surrender their caring duties to the medical and nursing staff. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of caregivers during their transition from day-to-day caregiver of a person with dementia to a visitor in a long-term care facility. Methods: This study utilised a qualitative descriptive design. Twenty caregivers of people with dementia were recruited from the one Aged Rehabilitation and Geriatric Evaluation and Management facility, located in Victoria, Australia. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the caregiver's experiences. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The interview data revealed that the participants were undergoing similar experiences. The findings revealed that it was difficult for the caregiver to transition to their new role of visitor; negative reactions of grief, loss of motivation and loneliness were also coupled with positive feelings of relief and the reassurance that their relative or friend would be well cared for and safe within the long-term care facility. Conclusion: The findings offer insight into the experiences felt by caregivers when their relative or friend with dementia is admitted to hospital. Implications of this study include the need to improve the transition process for the caregiver by allowing them to be involved in the decision-making process, keeping them informed of care decisions, and importantly, providing emotional support to help the caregiver positively adapt to this transition.
Study on "ng, a" type of discourse markers in standard Chinese

This paper attempts to give a detailed study on discourse markers of the “ (cid:3011) /ng/& (cid:2846) /a/” type in Chinese spontaneous dialogues. Discourse markers (DMs) are considered to have coherent function to the context. It is treated as a kind of linguistic modality to express interactive information or a kind of nonlinguistic modality such as head and body gestures. The discourse markers have aroused many discussions from different aspects of grammar, semantics, cognition and pragmatics. However, this paper will focus on those DMs like “/ng/” and “/a/” from multi-functional and hierarchical points of view and investigate their phonetic relatives or patterns.
A Report on Antibiotic Management of Neonatal Sepsis Caused by Enterobacter spp

This is a report on a case of neonatal sepsis and clinical management with multiple antibiotic therapy in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Brazil. A preterm baby boy was born by caesarean section at 34 weeks and two days of gestation from an oligodramnious pregnancy with intrauterine growth restriction. After respiratory failure detection, the baby was intubated and placed on mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure and was shifted to NICU. Ampicillin and gentamicin were instituted empirically. Enterobacter spp-induced severe sepsis was diagnosed. Included in the antibiotic therapy were oxacycline, amikacin, cefepime, tazocin, meropen and teicoplanin. After sixty days in NICU, clinical and laboratory parameters were normalized and the baby recovered. The empirical long-term antibiotic treatment and the use of broad spectrum antibiotics, as observed in the present case, should be carefully considered in newborns admitted to NICU. Keywords: Sepsis, Newborn, Respiratory failure, Multiple antibiotic therapy
Ages of S0 and Elliptical Galaxies in the Coma Cluster

The ages of stellar populations in 52 elliptical and S0 galaxies in the Coma Cluster are investigated, using a new spectroscopic sample. More than 40% of the S0's are found to have undergone star formation in their central regions during the last ~5 Gyr, while such activity is absent in the ellipticals. Galaxies in this sample have absolute magnitudes in the range -20.5 < MB < -17.5, and the fraction of S0 galaxies with recent star formation is higher at fainter luminosities. The observed luminosity range of S0 galaxies with signs of recent star formation activity is consistent with them being the descendants of typical star-forming spirals at intermediate redshift whose star formation has been halted as a consequence of the dense environment.
Does leukotriene C4 mediate hypoxic vasoconstriction in isolated ferret lungs?

To evaluate leukotriene (LT) C4 as a mediator of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, we examined the effects of FPL55712, a putative LT antagonist, and indomethacin, a cyclooxygenase inhibitor, on vasopressor responses to LTC4 and hypoxia (inspired O2 tension = 25 Torr) in isolated ferret lungs perfused with a constant flow (50 ml.kg-1.min-1). Pulmonary arterial injections of LTC4 caused dose-related increases in pulmonary arterial pressure during perfusion with physiological salt solution containing Ficoll (4 g/dl). FPL55712 caused concentration-related inhibition of the pressor response to LTC4 (0.6 micrograms). Although 10 micrograms/ml FPL55712 inhibited the LTC4 pressor response by 61%, it did not alter the response to hypoxia. At 100 microgram/ml, FPL55712 inhibited the responses to LTC4 and hypoxia by 73 and 71%, respectively, but also attenuated the vasoconstrictor responses to prostaglandin F2 alpha (78% at 8 micrograms), phenylephrine (68% at 100 micrograms), and KCl (51% at 40 mM). At 0.5 microgram/ml, indomethacin significantly attenuated the pressor response to arachidonic acid but did not alter responses to LTC4 or hypoxia. These results suggest that in isolated ferret lungs 1) the vasoconstrictor response to LTC4 did not depend on release of cyclooxygenase products and 2) LTC4 did not mediate hypoxic vasoconstriction.
Pregnancy outcome in proteinuria-onset and hypertension-onset preeclampsia

Objective: To evaluate pregnancy outcome in preeclampsia (PE), according to the timing of onset of proteinuria and hypertension. Methods: Preeclamptic women were retrospectively divided into proteinuria-onset and hypertension-onset PE according to the first symptom. Maternal and perinatal outcome were assessed in both the groups. Results: One hundred and ninety five single pregnancies complicated by PE were included. According to the first symptom, they were divided into two groups: proteinuria-onset PE (n = 49, 25.1%) and hypertension-onset PE (n = 146, 74.9%). Pregnancy and neonatal outcome was significantly worse in proteinuria-onset PE. Conclusion: Proteinuria-onset PE is associated with an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcome than hypertension-onset PE.
Improving the Efficiency in Halftone Image Generation Based on Structure Similarity Index Measurement

This paper presents two halftoning methods to improve efficiency in generating structurally similar halftone images using Structure Similarity Index Measurement (SSIM). Proposed Method I reduces the pixel evaluation area by applying pixel-swapping algorithm within intercorrelated blocks followed by phase block-shifting. The effect of various initial pixel arrangements is also investigated. Proposed Method II further improves efficiency by applying bit-climbing algorithm within intercorrelated blocks of the image. Simulation results show that proposed Method I improves efficiency as well as image quality by using an appropriate initial pixel arrangement. Proposed Method II reaches a better image quality with fewer evaluations than pixel-swapping algorithm used in Method I and the conventional structure aware halftone methods. key words: structure aware halftoning, SSIM, pixel-swapping, objective function, phase block-shifting, bit-climbing algorithm
Functional and physical interaction between p53 and BZLF1: implications for Epstein-Barr virus latency

The p53 tumor suppressor protein, which is commonly mutated in human cancers, has been shown to interact directly with virally encoded from papillomavirus, adenovirus, and simian virus 40. The disruption of p53 function may be required for efficient replication of certain viruses and may also play a role in the development of virally induced malignancies. Infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been associated with the development of B-cell lymphomas and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Here we show that the EBV immediate-early protein, BZLF1 (Z), which is responsible for initiating the switch from latent to lytic infection, can interact directly in vitro and in vivo with the tumor suppressor protein, p53. This interaction requires the coiled-coil dimerization domain of the Z protein and the carboxy-terminal portion of p53. Overexpression of wild-type p53 inhibits the ability of Z to disrupt viral latency. Likewise, Z inhibits p53-dependent transactivation in lymphoid cells. The direct interaction between Z and p53 may play a role in regulating the switch from latent to lytic viral infection.
Human cardiac sodium channels are affected by pentobarbital.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE To investigate the response to general anaesthetics of different sodium channel subtypes, we examined the effects of pentobarbital, a close thiopental analogue, on single sodium channels from human ventricular muscle and compared them with existing data from human brain channels. METHODS Sodium channels from preparations of human ventricular muscle were incorporated into planar lipid bilayers in the presence of batrachotoxin, a sodium channel activator. Single channel currents were recorded in symmetrical 100 mmol L-1 and 500 mmol L-1 NaCl before and after the addition of the anaesthetic pentobarbital (0.34-1.34 mmol L-1). RESULTS The blocking effect of pentobarbital on the fractional open time had an IC50 of 690 micromol L-1 in 500 mmol L-1 NaCl, whereas it had a significantly lower IC50 of 400 micromol L-1 in 100 mmol L-1 NaCl. Pentobarbital caused a significant shift of steady-state activation to hyperpolarized potentials (fmax = -42 mV, IC50 = 2 mmol L-1). This effect was independent of NaCl concentration. CONCLUSION Despite pharmacological and electrophysiological differences between human cardiac and human brain sodium channels their responses to pentobarbital are similar. The finding of channel block being dependent on the electrolyte concentration is novel for sodium channels.