Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Repeat Penetrating Keratoplasty versus the Boston Keratoprosthesis in Graft Failure

Modern penetrating keratoplasty is a procedure that successfully restores vision in thousands of patients a year. Approximately 33,000 procedures are performed per annum in the United States, the majority of these successful because of what is commonly referred to as the immune privilege of the cornea. Although we have only recently begun to elucidate the specific unique and complex immune responses involved in keratoplasty rejection, clinical experience in the low-risk keratoplasty category—keratoconus being the prototypical example—is that first-time allografts generally have an excellent prognosis often with only minimal topical steroid use (greater than 95% clear grafts at 4 and 10 years). This compares favorably with solid organ allograft survival rates such as in renal transplantation, in which systemic immunosuppression with cyclosporin is necessary. Although it is possible for grafts to remain clear for decades (Fig. 1), graft failure for all diagnostic categories (assuming a single graft per eye) is not insignificant. The Australian corneal graft registry found overall corneal failure to be 25% at 3 years and 30% at 5 years; Ing et al found the rate to be 21% at 10 years, Patel et al 26% at 15 years, Price et al 9% at 5 years, and Bishop et al 35% at 5 years. Outcome appears to vary widely with geographic region, and although the primary etiology for graft failure appears to shift with time, graft failure is thought to continue by steady attrition beyond past 10 years. Although most episodes of rejection occur in the first or second year after penetrating keratoplasty, late endothelial failure without clinical evidence of a significant episode of rejection is the most significant cause of failure in grafts that last past 5 years, although the actual rate of cell loss decreases with time.
NMR relaxation in spin ice due to diffusing emergent monopoles

At low temperatures, spin dynamics in ideal spin ice is due mainly to dilute, thermally excited magnetic monopole excitations. I consider how these will affect the dynamics of a nuclear spin (the same theory applies to muon spin resonance if implanted muons do not diffuse). Up to the time scale for nearby monopoles to be rearranged, a stretched-exponential form of the relaxation functions is expected. I work out the expected exponent in that exponential and the formulas for the $T_1$ (longitudinal) and $T_2$ (dephasing) relaxations, as a function of the monopole density. Experimental NMR is incompatible with the predictions and I suggest is due to magnetic impurities.
A Robust Graph-based Framework for Building Precise Maps from Laser Range Scans

Mobile robots in industrial environments require accurate maps in order to perform navigation and service tasks. This paper presents a SLAM framework consisting of different optimization components aiming at building very accurate maps. We incorporate high-level feature extractors in the front-end supplying priors for data association. Due to perceptual aliasing 2D laser representations are likely to cause false loop closure detections which is robustly solved by state-of-the-art graph optimization techniques in the back-end. A final post-processing step generates highly accurate maps using an advanced sensor model incorporating specific characteristics of laser range finders. The presented framework is evaluated on datasets obtained from a typical industrial environment. The final map accuracy is estimated given ground truth measurements of the traversed environment.
Primary angioplasty in patients > or = 75 years old with ST-elevation myocardial infarction - one-year follow-up results.

BACKGROUND Efficacy and safety of primary percutaneous coronary angioplasty (PCI) in elderly patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) have not yet been definitely established because these patients were usually excluded from large randomised trials. AIM To evaluate in-hospital and one-year outcome after primary PCI in elderly patients, and to assess clinical characteristics of this group. METHODS The study population included 1061 consecutive STEMI patients, mean age 60.6+/-17 years, treated with primary PCI. Clinical characteristics and results of 127 patients aged > or = 75 years were compared to the younger group. RESULTS Elderly patients were more frequently female (48.4 vs. 23.6%, p <0.005) and diabetics (22.2 vs. 12.1%, p <0.02) and more frequently had renal and/or left ventricular failure (22.3 vs. 9.1%, and 9.1 vs. 4.5%, p <0.005, respectively). In older patients less frequently stents were implanted and TIMI flow 3 was restored (65.1 vs. 78.8%, p <0.05 and 74.6 vs. 84.7%, p <0.03). In-hospital mortality in older versus younger patients was 11.8 vs. 3.0%, p <0.005. The incidence of in-hospital complications (stroke, major bleeding and reinfarction) was similar in both groups. The one-year mortality and MACE rates were higher in older patients (21.3 vs. 6.0% and 24.9 vs. 11.0%, p <0.0005). In multivariate analysis Killip class II-IV (OR 6.73; 95% CI 1.75-25.97, p=0.006) and heart rate (OR 1.04; 95% CI 1.01-1.07, p=0.03) were independent predictors of one-year mortality in patients aged > or = 75 years. CONCLUSIONS Primary PCI in older STEMI patients is associated with a favourable in-hospital and one-year outcome, although inferior to that seen in younger patients. The in-hospital complication rate is similar in the elderly and in younger patients.
Semi-Supervised Least-Squares Support Vector Classifier based on Virtual Leave One Out Residuals

We present a new semi-supervised learning system based on leastsquares support vector machine classifier. We apply the virtual leave-one-out residuals as criterion for selection of the most influential data for label switching test. The analytic form of the solution enables to obtain a high gain of the computational cost. The quality of the method was tested on the artificial data set – two moons problem and on the real signal-averaged ECG data set. The correct classification score is better as compared to other methods.
PREVALENCE OF CLINICAL MASTITIS IN A DAIRY COWS AND THEIR ECONOMIC IMPACT

The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of clinical mastitis in a dairy farm and the economic implications of this condition during 8 months. Based on the clinical signs, 37% of lactating cows were diagnosed with mastitis and 29 % of these shows relapse. The economic loss due to the compromised lactation and the medical treatment was amounted to almost 25000 Euro / 8 months. The results of the statistical study performed in this work raised an alarm and highlighted the need of introducing control programs, early diagnosis and mastitis prevention.
Effect of salinity and radiation on proline accumulation in seeds of canola (Brassica napus L.).

Since laser beam may affect plant traits, it was used to enhance accumulation of proline in rapeseed and therefore to improve its tolerance to the salinity stress. This investigation was performed to study the effect of NaCl concen tration in irrigated water (0, 100, 200 and 300 mmol NaCl) on proline accumulation of Canola (Brassica napus L.) after laser irradiation (Red, Infra-red and Nd:YAG) at two exposure treatments. In each exposure, seeds were irradiated for three minutes once or twice by the laser set. Free proline content in leaves increased significantly by increasing of NaCl concentration. Also proline content significantly increased with irradiation by laser beam. The Red laser irradiation used once and the Nd:YAG laser used twice had the greatest effect on the proline content whereas the Infrared laser had a low effect. Double application of irradiation induced a significantly higher amount of proline in the leaves compared to only one application. This is the first report on using different lasers irradiation on proline content in a winter rapeseed.
The Effect of Pregnancy on Bone Density and Bone Turnover

During pregnancy, the mother adapts to meet the calcium demands of the fetus. The effect of this adaptation on the maternal skeleton is not fully understood. Our objectives were to evaluate changes in bone mineral density (BMD) and bone turnover during pregnancy. We studied 16 women longitudinally, with baseline measurements before pregnancy; then at 16, 26, and 36 weeks of pregnancy; and postpartum. We measured total‐body BMD and biochemical markers of bone resorption (urinary pyridinium crosslinks and telopeptides of type I collagen) and bone formation (serum bone alkaline phosphatase, propeptides of type I procollagen [PINP] and osteocalcin). We also measured parathyroid hormone (PTH), insulin‐like growth factor I (IGF‐I), and human placental lactogen. Postpartum, BMD increased in the arms (2.8%, P< 0.01) and legs (1.9%, P< 0.01) but decreased in the pelvis (−3.2%, P<0.05) and spine (−4.6%, P< 0.01) compared with prepregnancy values. All biochemical markers, with the exception of osteocalcin concentration, increased during pregnancy. The change in IGF‐I at 36 weeks was related to the change in biochemical markers (e.g., PINP, r = 0.72, P= 0.002). Pregnancy is a high‐bone‐turnover state. IGF‐I levels may be an important determinant of bone turnover during pregnancy. Elevated bone turnover may explain trabecular bone loss during pregnancy.
Triterpene acids isolated from Lagerstroemia speciosa leaves as α‐glucosidase inhibitors

The potential antidiabetic activity of ethyl acetate extract of the leaves of Lagerstroemia speciosa (LSL) was investigated by α‐amylase and α‐glucosidase inhibition assay. Six pentacyclic triterpenes (oleanolic acid, arjunolic acid, asiatic acid, maslinic acid, corosolic acid and 23‐hydroxyursolic acid) were isolated from LSL. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis and their α‐glycosidase and α‐amylase inhibitory activities were investigated. They exhibited no or weak inhibitory activity against α‐amylase and middle α‐glucosidase inhibitory activities. Corosolic acid, which shows best bioactivity against α‐glucosidase (IC50 = 3.53 µg/mL), contributes most to the α‐glucosidase inhibitory activity of EtOAc extract. The kinetics of inhibition of corosolic acid was also discussed. Results from this study might provide the scientific evidence for LSL for the treatment of diabetes in traditional medicine. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The influenza virus RNA synthesis machine

The influenza A viruses are the causative agents of respiratory disease that occurs as yearly epidemics and occasional pandemics. These viruses are endemic in wild avian species and can sometimes break the species barrier to infect and generate new virus lineages in humans. The influenza A virus genome consists of eight single-stranded, negative-polarity RNAs that form ribonucleoprotein complexes by association to the RNA polymerase and the nucleoprotein. In this review we focus on the structure of this RNA-synthesis machines and the included RNA polymerase, and on the mechanisms by which they express their genetic information as mRNAs and generate progeny ribonucleoproteins that will become incorporated into new infectious virions. New structural, biochemical and genetic data are rapidly accumulating in this very active area of research. We discuss these results and attempt to integrate the information into structural and functional models that may help the design of new experiments and further our knowledge on virus RNA replication and gene expression. This interplay between structural and functional data will eventually provide new targets for controlled attenuation or antiviral therapy
Two cotton fiber-associated glycosyltransferases, GhGT43A1 and GhGT43C1, function in hemicellulose glucuronoxylan biosynthesis during plant development.

Xylan is the major hemicellulosic constituent in dicot secondary cell walls. Cell wall composition of cotton fiber changes dynamically throughout development. Not only the amounts but also the molecular sizes of the hemicellulosic polysaccharides show substantial changes during cotton fiber development. However, none of the genes encoding glycosyltransferases (GTs) responsible for synthesizing xylan have been isolated and characterized in cotton fiber. In this study, we applied a bioinformatics approach and identified two putative GTs from cotton, designated GhGT43A1 and GhGT43C1, which belong to the CAZy GT43 family and are closely related to Arabidopsis IRX9 and IRX14, respectively. We show that GhGT43A1 is highly and preferentially expressed in 15 and 20 days post-anthesis (dpa) cotton fiber, whereas GhGT43C1 is ubiquitously expressed in most organs, with especially high expression in 15 dpa fiber and hypocotyl. Complementation analysis demonstrates that GhG43A1 and GhGT43C1 are orthologs of Arabidopsis IRX9 and IRX14, respectively. Furthermore, we show that overexpression of GhGT43A1 or GhGT43C1 in Arabidopsis results in increased xylan content. We also show that overexpression of GhGT43A1 or GhGT43C1 leads to more cellulose deposition. These findings suggest that GhGT43A1 and GhGT43C1 likely participate in xylan synthesis during fiber development.
Platelet/polymorphonuclear leukocyte interaction in dynamic conditions: evidence of adhesion cascade and cross talk between P-selectin and the beta 2 integrin CD11b/CD18.

Adhesion between platelets and polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) is a key event in thrombosis and inflammation. Double color fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis was used to determine the extent and kinetics of adhesion of thrombin-activated platelets to resting or activated PMN when mixed cell populations were incubated in dynamic conditions. Activated platelets bound very rapidly to PMN. Mixed cell conjugates reached a maximum at 1 minute and were reversible within 10 minutes. Platelet/PMN adhesion required both Ca2+ and Mg2+ and was markedly increased by the presence of Mn2+. The latter made mixed cell conjugates stable up to 10 minutes. Adhesion of platelets required metabolic activity of PMN and was abolished by tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Furthermore, adhesion of platelets to PMN resulted in binding of a monoclonal antibody (MoAb 24) known as beta 2 integrins "activation reporter. " When PMN were activated by exogenous stimuli, the adhesion of platelets was markedly increased: fMLP induced a rapid and transient effect, while PMA resulted in a slower, but stable, increase in mixed conjugates formation. The hypothesis that activated PMN beta 2 integrins are able to bind a counter-receptor on platelets was directly demonstrated by the increase of mixed cell conjugates following PMN treatment with KIM127 and KIM185, two anti-CD18 antibodies able to induce the active conformation of beta 2 integrins. Consistently, two other anti-CD18, as well as an anti-CD11b inhibitory antibody abolished platelet/PMN adhesion. PMN beta 2 integrin activation was not the only mechanism for activated platelet/PMN adhesion to occur: indeed, this phenomenon could also be inhibited by two anti-P-selectin antibodies. Resting platelets did not adhere to resting PMN, but markedly adhered to fMLP- or PMA-activated PMN. Resting platelet/fMLP-activated PMN adhesion was abolished by anti-CD18 antibodies, but not by anti-P-selectin antibodies. In conclusion, activated platelet/PMN interaction can be modeled as an adhesion cascade involving a P-selectin-dependent recognition step and a functional signal. The latter proceeds through tyrosine kinase activation and enables a beta 2 integrin-dependent adhesion to a not yet identified counter-receptor constitutively expressed on platelet surface.
Preserved Semantic Access in Global Amnesia and Hippocampal Damage

C.B. , a right-handed 33-year-old man, presented with anterograde amnesia after acute heart block. Cognitive abilities were normal except for serious impairment of long-term episodic memory. The access to semantic information was fully preserved. Magnetic resonance showed high signal intensity and marked volume loss in the hippocampus bilaterally; the left and right parahippocampal gyrus, lateral occipito–temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, and lateral temporal cortex were normal. This case underlines that global amnesia associated with hippocampal damage does not affect semantic memory. Although the hippocampus is important in retrieving context-linked information, its role is not so crucial in retrieving semantic contents. Cortical areas surrounding the hippocampus and lateral temporal areas might guide the recall of semantic information.
Pattern of Pediatric Zolpidem Ingestions Reported to Texas Poison Control Centers, 2000 to 2006

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe the pattern of zolpidem ingestions by young children reported to poison control centers. Methods: Cases were all zolpidem ingestions by children 0 to 5 year old reported to Texas poison control centers during 2000 to 2006. Multiple substance ingestions were excluded. The distribution of cases was described with respect to such demographic and clinical factors as patient gender, ingestion reason, ingestion site, management site, and medical outcome. Results: There were a total of 463 cases, all unintentional exposures. The patient was male in 52.2% of the cases, and the exposure occurred at the patient's own home in 92.8% of the cases. The patient was managed on-site in 54.4% cases, already at or en route to a health care facility in 29.6% cases, and referred to a health care facility in 16.0% cases. Of the 322 cases with a known final medical outcome, 59.0% had no effect, 35.1% had minor effects, and 5.9% had moderate effects. Conclusions: Pediatric ingestions of zolpidem alone reported to Texas poison control centers most frequently resulted in at most minor effects and were often managed at home.
Heart disease and stroke statistics--2013 update: a report from the American Heart Association.

Author(s): Go, Alan S; Mozaffarian, Dariush; Roger, Veronique L; Benjamin, Emelia J; Berry, Jarett D; Borden, William B; Bravata, Dawn M; Dai, Shifan; Ford, Earl S; Fox, Caroline S; Franco, Sheila; Fullerton, Heather J; Gillespie, Cathleen; Hailpern, Susan M; Heit, John A; Howard, Virginia J; Huffman, Mark D; Kissela, Brett M; Kittner, Steven J; Lackland, Daniel T; Lichtman, Judith H; Lisabeth, Lynda D; Magid, David; Marcus, Gregory M; Marelli, Ariane; Matchar, David B; McGuire, Darren K; Mohler, Emile R; Moy, Claudia S; Mussolino, Michael E; Nichol, Graham; Paynter, Nina P; Schreiner, Pamela J; Sorlie, Paul D; Stein, Joel; Turan, Tanya N; Virani, Salim S; Wong, Nathan D; Woo, Daniel; Turner, Melanie B; American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee
Windows NT User Profiling for Masquerader Detection

Previous research has mainly studied UNIX system command line users, while here we investigate Windows system users, utilizing real network data. This work primarily focuses on one-class neural network classifier and support vector machines masquerade detection. The one-class approach offers significant ease of management of the roster of users, in that the addition of new users or deletion of legacy ones requires much smaller effort compared to the multi-class case. Two-class study has also been carried out for the purpose of comparison. Both receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the ROC curve (AUC) have been evaluated to compare the performance of detecting different masqueraders from different legitimate users. For neural network (NN) two-class training, the best performance is hit rate 90% achieved with false alarm rate of 10%. For support vector machines (SVM), two-class training shows that about 63% hit rate can be reached with a low false alarm rate (about 3.7%). The results of one-class SVM training show the detection rate of about 66.7% with false alarm rate of about 22%. Even though the one-class training approach results in some sacrifice of performance for false alarms, the gains in ease of roster management and reduction in training needed may be more desirable in some practical environments
Determining optimal sample sizes for multi-stage randomized clinical trials using value of information methods

Background Traditional sample size calculations for randomized clinical trials depend on somewhat arbitrarily chosen factors, such as Type I and II errors. An effectiveness trial (otherwise known as a pragmatic trial or management trial) is essentially an effort to inform decision-making, i.e., should treatment be adopted over standard? Taking a societal perspective and using Bayesian decision theory, Willan and Pinto (Stat. Med. 2005; 24:1791-1806 and Stat. Med. 2006; 25:720) show how to determine the sample size that maximizes the expected net gain, i.e., the difference between the cost of doing the trial and the value of the information gained from the results. Methods These methods are extended to include multi-stage adaptive designs, with a solution given for a two-stage design. The methods are applied to two examples. Results As demonstrated by the two examples, substantial increases in the expected net gain (ENG) can be realized by using multi-stage adaptive designs based on expected value of information methods. In addition, the expected sample size and total cost may be reduced. Limitations Exact solutions have been provided for the two-stage design. Solutions for higher-order designs may prove to be prohibitively complex and approximate solutions may be required. Conclusions The use of multi-stage adaptive designs for randomized clinical trials based on expected value of sample information methods leads to substantial gains in the ENG and reductions in the expected sample size and total cost. Clinical Trials 2008; 5: 289-300. http://ctj.sagepub. com
Deinterlacing algorithm using gradient-guided interpolation and weighted average of directional estimation

This study presents a novel intra-field deinterlacing algorithm using gradient-guided interpolation (GGI) and weighted average of directional estimation (WADE). In this method, the authors classify each missing pixel into two categories according to different local region gradient features. After the classification of the local region, one of the two different interpolation methods is chosen for the corresponding region. The two interpolation methods are GGI method and the interpolation method using WADE. The average weighted method is used for smooth or texture regions because of its high interpolation performance by adopting the directional detail information among the neighbouring pixels. On the other hand, the GGI method is used for complex regions with strong or weak edges since it has high edge-preserving ability because of considering not only the similarity of pixel intensities, but also the pixel gradient features. The WADE and GGI methods are the main contributions of this study. Compared with the traditional deinterlacing methods, the proposed method improves both the objective and subjective qualities of the interpolated images. In addition, the proposed method possesses a very low computational burden compared with most intra-field deinterlacing methods.
Simulation-based verification for high-level synthesis

The verification problem is described, and a way to verify a high-level synthesis system automatically is presented. The system, called Satya, maps an algorithmic description to a logic circuit description and compares descriptions to detect semantic errors and identify the cause of those errors. Satya has been used to verify the Bridge synthesis system, which accepts a subset of C as input, but the simulation-based approach underlying Satya is suitable for verifying synthesis systems that use other high-level languages, such as VHDL. The verification results are discussed, and some of the problems that arise in debugging and regression testing are considered. <<ETX>>