Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Magnetic Resonance Cholangiography for Recipients after Living Donor Liver Transplantation

This is a retrospective study. The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy and utility of posttransplant magnetic resonance cholangiography (MRC) in detecting biliary complications and planning the treatment. From July 2006 to April 2010, 51 (19%) of these 268 adult living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) recipients were referred to MRC due to biliary dilatation and abnormalities detected by ultrasound or abnormal liver function. The biliary complications were treated with endoscopic or percutaneous transhepatic approach. Among those 51 recipients, MRC revealed no definite biliary pathology in 34 patients. In 10 of the 34 MRCnegative cases, additional MR angiography showed vascular stenosis. 15 MRC-positive cases were correctly assessed the site of the obstruction, bile leakage or lithiasis. Under MRC guidance, biliary interventions were completed in 12 of the MRC-positive cases. MRC achieved sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 94.4%, positive predictive value of 88.2%, and negative predictive value of 100%. MRC is a reliable diagnostic modality in detecting post-transplant biliary complications with 96.1% accuracy. It is an essential diagnostic tool for assessing the necessity for interventional procedure. MR angiography can provide additional information on vascular problems that caused biliary complications. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is thus indispensable before therapeutic biliary or vascular procedure in post-transplant recipients. Correspondence Author to: Yu-Fan Cheng Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine,
Backhaul-Aware User Association in FiWi Enhanced LTE-A Heterogeneous Networks

In this paper, we shed some light on the latency and reliability issues of mobile backhaul networks, which have been largely ignored in the past, and examine their impact on LTE-A heterogeneous networks (HetNets). Specifically, we propose a backhaul-aware user association algorithm for fiber-wireless (FiWi) enhanced LTE-A HetNets. The performance limiting factors of state-of-the-art fiber backhaul infrastructures are highlighted and a variety of solutions are described. To mitigate the vulnerability of the backhaul against fiber cuts, we introduce different advanced protection techniques. Accounting for the given conditions of the backhaul in terms of delay and reliability, we present a distributed load-balancing algorithm for user association in FiWi-LTE HetNets. The proposed algorithm is analyzed and evaluated numerically by comparing its performance with state-of-the-art alternative approaches in terms of average delay, blocking probability, average achievable throughput, and service interruption percentage. The obtained results demonstrate that our algorithm outperform its counterparts in terms of delay and service interruption percentage, while its average achievable throughput is the same as that of a backhaul-unaware alternative solution. In addition, the blocking probability of the proposed backhaul-aware load-balancing method is shown to be higher than that of backhaul-unaware ones.
Modeling Adverse Birth Outcomes via Confirmatory Factor Quantile Regression

Summary We describe a Bayesian quantile regression model that uses a confirmatory factor structure for part of the design matrix. This model is appropriate when the covariates are indicators of scientifically determined latent factors, and it is these latent factors that analysts seek to include as predictors in the quantile regression. We apply the model to a study of birth weights in which the effects of latent variables representing psychosocial health and actual tobacco usage on the lower quantiles of the response distribution are of interest. The models can be fit using an R package called factorQR.
Tn21-specific structures in gram-negative bacteria from clinical isolates

A total of 807 gram-negative clinical isolates were treated with five different probes: intragenic segments for the transposase gene tnpA; the resolvase gene tnpR; the modulator of the resolvase, tnpM; the integraselike factor gene tnpI; and a 20-mer oligonucleotide for the recombinational site of action for the integrase. A total of 8% of the isolates hybridized with all five Tn21-related probes, and another 11% represented transposons in which one or more of the tested genes were missing. This 11% included groups whose descriptions have been published as well as groups that have not yet been described. The not-yet-described groups include various deletion products and some precursor structures, as is predicted for the evolution of Tn21-like transposons. The integration system appears to be coupled with Tn21-like structures and yet independent from these structures, implying an independent evolution of this system from Tn21-like transposons. The structures were found with similar incidence levels in all species tested except Pseudomonas aeruginosa, for which a novel separate family of class II transposons has been described before.
Homotopia de semigrupos

Let G be a noncompact semi-simple Lie group. Making use of Iwasawa decomposition of G, G = KAN, we can reduce the topology of G to the compact part of this decomposition, K. But if consider S C G aLie semigroup váth nonempty interior, we do not have a similar decomposition. So in order to study the homotopy groups 11'n(S), n > 1, of S, that is, to generalize this well known fact, we apply an important concept o f the control theory for semigroups, the invariant control set for S. We prove that the homotopy type of S is a compact subgroup of K. From this result we get interesting consequences about the topology of semigroups and their orbits. The main subject of the present thesis can be described as follows. (1) Describe homotopy type of the above semigroup. Unlike to Lie groups, it is not available good decompositions, providing a natural compact space which is a deformation retract of S. lnstead we get the topology of S from its action in compact homogeneous spaces of G, making use of invariant control sets. In order to study this, some preliminary results were derived, concerning, for instance, reversibility of semigroups, contractibility of invariant control sets and other orbits, the parabolic type of a semigroup, free group of G on S,and so on. (2)Study this theory in some important semigroups, as semigroup of positive matrices, semigroup of totally positive matrices, Ol'shanski! semigroups and semigroups of rank one groups. ln the main part of this work, we consider G a semi-simple Lie group and S a semigroup of G with nonempty interior and admiting a exp-generated semigroup.
Advanced viscoelastic material model for predicting warpage of a QFN panel

Warpage is a critical issue for a QFN panel molding process. Much work is done in the past to predict the warpage of a package during cooling down from molding temperature. However, until now, warpage could not always be predicted well, even if the viscoelastic behavior of the molding compound is taken into account. It was for example observed that the cooling velocity affected the warpage after cooling down. Because of this reason, the mechanical behavior of the molding compound was investigated in more detail. In this research, the mechanical properties of the molding compound are determined. It turned out that the properties are highly dependent on time and temperature. A complete viscoelastic model of the model compound is achieved by combining DMA and dilatometric test results. The model is implemented in the finite element software ABAQUS. In this study, our advanced model is compared with elastic calculations which are normally done. A validation experiment is performed in which simulation results are compared with experimental warpage data of a double layered beam, consisting out of a layer of molding compound and a layer of silicon. This beam is cooled down from a temperature above Tg to room temperature with different cooling rates. In the meantime warpage is measured and compared to simulation results. Finally, the advanced material model is used for calculations on a QFN-panel.
Treatment of Postmenopausal Osteoporosis with Transdermal Estrogen

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the tolerance and effectiveness of transdermal estrogen for women with established postmenopausal osteoporosis and vertebral fractures. DESIGN Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial lasting 1 year. SETTING Referral-based outpatient clinic. PATIENTS Seventy-five postmenopausal women, 47 to 75 years of age, with one or more vertebral fractures due to osteoporosis. INTERVENTIONS Thirty-nine women received dermal patches delivering 0.1 mg of 17 beta-estradiol for days 1 to 21 and oral medroxyprogesterone acetate for days 11 to 21 of a 28-day cycle. Another 39 women received placebo. MEASUREMENTS Bone turnover assessed by biochemical markers and iliac bone histomorphometry; bone loss assessed by serial measurement of bone density; and vertebral fracture rate. RESULTS Compared with the placebo group, the median annual percentage change in bone mineral density in the estrogen group reflected increased or steady-state bone mineral density at the lumbar spine (5.3 compared with 0.2; P = 0.007), femoral trochanter (7.6 compared with 2.1; P = 0.03), and midradius (1.0 compared with -2.6, P less than 0.001) but showed no significant difference at the femoral neck (2.6 compared with 1.4; P = 0.17). Estrogen treatment uniformly decreased bone turnover as assessed by several methods including serum osteocalcin concentration (median change, -0.35 compared with 0.02 nmol/L; P less than 0.001). Histomorphometric evaluation of iliac biopsy samples confirmed the effect of estrogen on bone formation rate per bone volume (median change, -12.9 compared with -6.2% per year; P = 0.004). Also, 8 new fractures occurred in 7 women in the estrogen group, whereas 20 occurred in 12 women in the placebo group, yielding a lower vertebral fracture rate in the estrogen group (relative risk, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.16 to 0.95). CONCLUSIONS Transdermal estradiol treatment is effective in postmenopausal women with established osteoporosis.
The Anatomy of Bangla OCR System for Printed Texts using Back Propagation Neural Network

This paper is based on Bangla (National Language of Bangladesh) Optical Character Recognition process for printed texts and its steps using Back Propagation Neural Network. Bangla character recognition is very important field of research because Bangla is most popular language in the Indian subcontinent. Pre-processing steps that follows are Image Acquisition, binarization, background removal, noise elimination, skew angle detection and correction, noise removal, line, word and character segmentations. In the post processing steps various features are extracted by applying DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) from segmented characters. The segmented characters are then fed into a three layer feed forward Back Propagation Neural Network for training. Finally this network is used to recognize printed Bangla scripts.
Chronic activity of ectopic type 1 fibroblast growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase in prostate epithelium results in hyperplasia accompanied by intraepithelial neoplasia

Ectopic expression of fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) tyrosine kinase in epithelial cells is associated with progression of prostate cancer. Ectopic expression by transfection of FGFR1 in premalignant epithelial cells from nonmalignant Dunning tumors accelerated time‐dependent progression of epithelial cells to malignancy. This study was designed to test the effect of chronic androgen‐dependent ectopic activity of FGFR1 in the normal adult mouse epithelium by gene targeting.
Determination of organic acids in olive fruit by HPLC.

Organic acids (oxalic, citric, malic, and succinic) contents of Domat, Memecik and Uslu varieties of olives grown in Turkey were investigated using HPLC method. Organic acids were extracted from olives with water-methanol mixture solution 75:25 (v/v) and were analysed through KC-118 ion-exchange column using UV absorbance detector at 214 nm. The mobile phase was phosphoric acid (0.1%, w/v). The recovery values of the organic acids added into olive fruit samples were 92.8%, 98.75%, 110%, and 86% for oxalic, citric, malic, and succinic acids, respectively.
Platelet glycoprotein Ibalpha HPA-2 Met/VNTR B haplotype as a genetic predictor of myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death.

BACKGROUND Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is one of the leading manifestations of coronary heart disease in early middle age. Platelet glycoprotein (GP) Ib-IX-V receptor complexes play a key role in the initial adhesion of platelets to collagen during the formation of a coronary thrombus. The HPA-2 (Thr145 Met) and VNTR polymorphisms of the gene for GP Ibalpha have been studied previously in hospitalized patients with acute coronary syndromes. The significance of these polymorphisms in victims of sudden cardiac death is not known. METHODS AND RESULTS The association of these 2 polymorphisms with coronary atherosclerosis, coronary artery stenosis, coronary thrombosis, myocardial infarction (MI), and SCD was studied in the Helsinki Sudden Death Study, which comprised 2 large autopsy series, collected 10 years apart during 1981 to 1982 and 1991 to 1992, of 700 middle-aged white Finnish men who suffered sudden or violent out-of-hospital death. The 2 polymorphisms showed an almost complete linkage disequilibrium. Men with acute MI (n=80) and coronary thrombosis (n=65) were more likely to be carriers of the HPA-2 Met allele (OR 2.0 and 2.6, respectively, P<0.005 for both) than were control subjects who died of noncardiac causes (n=367). In men <55 years old, the Met allele was overrepresented (OR 2.2) among victims of SCD (n=98) compared with control subjects (n=249). In men <55 years old, 17 of 29 men with acute MI (58.6%) and 16 of 23 men with coronary thrombosis (69.6%) were carriers of the HPA-2 Met allele compared with the 49 of 249 (19.7%) who had died of noncardiac causes (ORs 5.6 and 9.2, respectively). Similar associations were observed in the separate analyses of both autopsy series. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that the HPA-2 Met/VNTR B haplotype of the platelet von Willebrand factor and thrombin receptor protein GP Ib-V-IX may be considered to be a major risk factor of coronary thrombosis, fatal MI, and SCD in early middle age.
Computer game marketing bias

However, a large portion of the population has been excluded from the action in this gaming boom. Most available video and computer games are created and marketed for boys. Some major competitors are beginning to create ``gender neutral'' games to target a larger market. A very few companies, such as Girl Games, American Laser Games and Mattel, are beginning to gamble on the consumer potential of the female gender. However, the creation of better games is not enough. The home environment is going to have to change, as are current consumer marketing strategies.
Mechanical Stress and the Induction of Lung Fibrosis via the Midkine Signaling Pathway.

RATIONALE Lung-protective ventilatory strategies have been widely used in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), but the ARDS mortality rate remains unacceptably high and there is no proven pharmacologic therapy. OBJECTIVES Mechanical ventilation can induce oxidative stress and lung fibrosis, which may contribute to high dependency on ventilator support and increased ARDS mortality. We hypothesized that the novel cytokine, midkine (MK), which can be up-regulated in oxidative stress, plays a key role in the pathogenesis of ARDS-associated lung fibrosis. METHODS Blood samples were collected from 17 patients with ARDS and 10 healthy donors. Human lung epithelial cells were challenged with hydrogen chloride followed by mechanical stretch for 72 hours. Wild-type and MK gene-deficient (MK(-/-)) mice received two-hit injury of acid aspiration and mechanical ventilation, and were monitored for 14 days. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Plasma concentrations of MK were higher in patients with ARDS than in healthy volunteers. Exposure to mechanical stretch of lung epithelial cells led to an epithelial-mesenchymal transition profile associated with increased expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme, which was attenuated by silencing MK, its receptor Notch2, or NADP reduced oxidase 1. An increase in collagen deposition and hydroxyproline level and a decrease in lung tissue compliance seen in wild-type mice were largely attenuated in MK(-/-) mice. CONCLUSIONS Mechanical stretch can induce an epithelial-mesenchymal transition phenotype mediated by the MK-Notch2-angiotensin-converting enzyme signaling pathway, contributing to lung remodeling. The MK pathway is a potential therapeutic target in the context of ARDS-associated lung fibrosis.
Throughput Optimization and Transmitter Power Saving (TOTPS) Algorithm and Extended TOTPS (ETOTPS) Algorithm for IEEE 802.11 Links

The IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) standard supports multiple transmission modes. However, the higher mandatory data rate mode does not necessarily yield higher throughput. This research started from the relationship between the link throughput and the channel's carrier-to-noise (C/N) ratio. Two algorithms are proposed, a throughput optimization and transmitter power saving (TOTPS) algorithm and an extended throughput optimization and transmitter power saving (ETOTPS) algorithm, based on the knowledge of the C/N ratio at the receiver. In particular, we take the approach of adjusting link parameters like transmitter power and transmission mode to achieve the maximum throughput at different C/N values. Since the TOTPS algorithm tends to reduce the transmitter power without degrading the link throughput, transmitter power can be saved. This not only prolongs battery life, which is critical in ad hoc wireless networks, but also reduces the potential interference to neighboring wireless network systems. The ETOTPS algorithm, on the other hand, aims for higher throughput by trading in more transmitter power. This is particularly desired for high-speed data transfer in an emergency situation. Both algorithms are developed to be applied to IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11g links.
The False Hopes of Traditional Epistemology

After Hume, attempts to forge an empiricist epistemology have taken three forms, which I shall call the First, Middle, and Third Way. The First still attempts an a priori demonstration that our cognitive methods satisfy some (weak) criterion of adequacy. The Middle Way is pursued under the banners of naturalism and scientific realism, and aims at the same conclusion on non-apriori grounds. After arguing that both fail, I shall describe the general characteristics of the Third Way, an alternative epistemology suitable for empiricism.
Avaliação de jogos sérios casuais usando o método GameFlow

Este trabalho apresenta uma analise da utilizacao do metodo GameFlow para avaliacao de jogos serios casuais. Esse metodo consiste em 35 heuristicas distribuidas nas seguintes areas: concentracao, desafio, imersao, interacao social, habilidades do jogador, controle, objetivos claros e feedback. Para avaliacao do metodo foram selecionados tres jogos casuais do site cerebromelhor.com que exercitam, em algum nivel, as habilidades de memoria, atencao, linguagem, raciocinio logico e visao espacial. Os jogos sao: "Nao era bem este", "Costurando" e "Este sim, este nao". Esses jogos foram testados por especialistas que avaliaram cada proposicao estabelecida pelo metodo com notas no intervalo de 0 (nao se aplica) a 4 (bom). Durante o processo constatou-se que o metodo e aplicavel a jogos casuais, mas algumas alteracoes foram propostas com o objetivo de contemplar as especificidades desses jogos.
Reconfigurable Antennas in mmWave MIMO Systems

Author(s): Almasi, Mojtaba Ahmadi; Mehrpouyan, Hani; Vakilian, Vida; Behdad, Nader; Jafarkhani, Hamid | Abstract: The key obstacle to achieving the full potential of the millimeter wave (mmWave) band has been the poor propagation characteristics of wireless signals in this band. One approach to overcome this issue is to use antennas that can support higher gains while providing beam adaptability and diversity, i.e., reconfigurable antennas. In this article, we present a new architecture for mmWave multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications that uses a new class of reconfigurable antennas. More specifically, the proposed lens-based antennas can support multiple radiation patterns while using a single radio frequency chain. Moreover, by using a beam selection network, each antenna beam can be steered in the desired direction. Further, using the proposed reconfigurable antenna in a MIMO architecture, we propose a new signal processing algorithm that uses the additional degrees of freedom provided by the antennas to overcome propagation issues at mmWave frequencies. Our simulation results show that the proposed reconfigurable antenna MIMO architecture significantly enhances the performance of mmWave communication systems.
Multimodal detection of iron oxide nanoparticles in rat lymph nodes using magnetomotive ultrasound imaging and magnetic resonance imaging

Detection and removal of sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) is important in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The SLN is the first regional lymph node draining the primary tumor, and if the cancer has spread, it is most likely to find metastases in the SLN. In this study, we have for the first time been able to image the very same contrast agent, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIO-NPs), in rat SLNs by using both our frequency- and phase-gated magnetomotive ultrasound (MMUS) algorithm and conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); MMUS post mortem, MRI in vivo. For both higher NP-concentration and smaller NPs, we found that the MMUS data showed a larger magnetomotive displacement (1.56 ± 0.43 and 1.94 ± 0.54 times larger, respectively) and that the MR-images were affected to a higher degree. The MMUS displacement also increased with lower excitation frequency (1.95 ± 0.64 times larger for 5 Hz compared with 15 Hz) and higher excitation voltage (2.95 ± 1.44 times larger for 30 V compared with 10 V). The results show that MMUS has potential to be used as bedside guidance during SLN surgery, imaging the same particles that were used in prior staging with other imaging techniques.