Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Platelet-Derived Growth Factor-AB Promotes the Generation of Adult Bone Marrow–Derived Cardiac Myocytes

Abstract— The directed generation of cardiac myocytes from endogenous stem cells offers the potential for novel therapies for cardiovascular disease. To facilitate the development of such approaches, we sought to identify and exploit the pathways directing the generation of cardiac myocytes from adult rodent bone marrow cells (BMCs). In vitro cultures supporting the spontaneous generation of functional cardiac myocytes from murine BMCs demonstrated induced expression of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-A and -B isoforms with &agr;- and &bgr;-myosin heavy chains as well as connexin43. Supplementation of PDGF-AB speeded the kinetics of myocyte development in culture by 2-fold. In a rat heart, myocardial infarction pretreatment model PDGF-AB also promoted the derivation of cardiac myocytes from BMCs, resulting in a significantly greater number of islands of cardiac myocyte bundles within the myocardial infarction scar compared with other treatment groups. However, gap junctions were detected only between the cardiac myocytes receiving BMCs alone, but not BMCs injected with PDGF-AB. Echocardiography and exercise testing revealed that the functional improvement of hearts treated with the combination of BMCs and PDGF-AB was no greater than with injections of BMCs or PDGF-AB alone. These studies demonstrated that PDGF-AB enhances the generation of BMC-derived cardiac myocytes in rodent hearts, but suggest that alterations in cellular patterning may limit the functional benefit from the combined injection of PDGF-AB and BMCs. Strategies based on the synergistic interactions of PDGF-AB and endogenous stem cells will need to maintain cellular patterning in order to promote the restoration of cardiac function after acute coronary occlusion. The full text of this article is available online at http://circres.ahajournals. org.
Deadline-Aware Multipath Communication: An Optimization Problem

Multipath communication not only allows improved throughput but can also be used to leverage different path characteristics to best fulfill each application's objective. In particular, certain delay-sensitive applications, such as real-time voice and video communications, can usually withstand packet loss and aim to maximize throughput while keeping latency at a reasonable level. In such a context, one hard problem is to determine along which path the data should be transmitted or retransmitted. In this paper, we formulate this problem as a linear optimization, show bounds on the performance that can be obtained in a multipath paradigm, and show that path diversity is a strong asset for improving network performance. We also discuss how these theoretical limits can be approached in practice and present simulation results.
Fuzzy Approach for Online Coordination of Plug-In Electric Vehicle Charging in Smart Grid

This paper proposes an online fuzzy coordination algorithm (OL-FCA) for charging plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in smart grid networks that will reduce the total cost of energy generation and the associated grid losses while maintaining network operation criteria such as maximum demand and node voltage profiles within their permissible limits. A recently implemented PEV coordination algorithm based on maximum sensitivity selection (MSS) optimization is improved using fuzzy reasoning. The proposed OL-FCA considers random plug-in of vehicles, time-varying market energy prices, and PEV owner preferred charging time zones based on priority selection. Impacts of uncoordinated, MSS, and fuzzy coordinated charging on total cost, gird losses, and voltage profiles are investigated by simulating different PEV penetration levels on a 449-node network with three wind distributed generation (WDG) systems. The main advantage of OL-FCA compared with the MSS PEV coordination is the reduction in the total cost it introduces within the 24h.
Supervising large, complex financial companies: What do supervisors do?

The Federal Reserve is responsible for the prudential supervision of bank holding companies (BHCs) on a consolidated basis. Prudential supervision involves monitoring and oversight to assess whether these firms are engaged in unsafe or unsound practices, as well as ensuring that firms are taking corrective actions to address such practices. Prudential supervision is interlinked with, but distinct from, regulation, which involves the development and promulgation of the rules under which BHCs and other regulated financial intermediaries operate. This paper describes the Federal Reserve? s supervisory approach for large, complex financial companies and how prudential supervisory activities are structured, staffed, and implemented on a day? to? day basis at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as part of the broader supervisory program of the Federal Reserve System. The goal of the paper is to generate insight for those not involved in supervision into what supervisors do and how they do it. Understanding how prudential supervision works is a critical precursor to determining how to measure its impact and effectiveness.
Selling to a Competing Buyer with Limited Supplier Capacity

We study the optimal distribution strategy of a supplier with limited capacity. The supplier may adopt the supplier only role, be the solo seller in the market, or use the dual channel strategy and compete with its downstream buyer. In comparison to the case of unlimited capacity, we show that the supplier and the buyer, and consumers may all benefit from the supplier’s limited capacity at the same time, leading to a “win-win-win” outcome. We also find that, under limited capacity, the downstream buyer may strategically withhold some supply from being sold to the market even if there is no underlying supply-side or demand-side uncertainty. Our result points to a new form of strategic purchasing behavior by the buyer in the face of upstream and downstream competition. Interestingly, we show that while buyer withholding is always beneficial for the supplier, it may even reduce the buyer’s profit under certain cases. Further, when buyer withholding occurs, it eliminates the double marginalization effect and total supply chain profit is the first-best outcome. Finally, in contrast to intuition, we find that the supplier’s benefit from investing in direct selling capability is higher when its capacity size is moderate and not large.
The validity of self-reported alcohol consumption and alcohol problems: a literature review.

Summary The literature on the validity of self-reported alcohol consumption and alcohol problems was reviewed. Studies done in this area were analyzed by type of sample, by specific behaviour which was validated and by criterion chosen as the standard to which the behaviour would be compared. Despite the usual conclusion of validity studies that self-reports are basically valid, variation exists depending upon what is being validated and how its accuracy is measured. Recent reports of consumption are validated more easily than drinking patterns measured in drinking practices surveys (as evidenced by coverage rates of surveys to sales statistics ranging from 40-60%). In addition, collateral reports by significant others do not necessarily yield better information on consumption. In the area of alcohol problems, only a few, highly‘visible’problems can realistically be validated. Thus, the reporting of drinking driving arrests can be better validated than tremors or other physical manifestations. It is concluded that more emphasis should be placed on developing new ways to validate alcohol consumption and alcohol problems so that researchers can continue to refine their data collection techniques in order to maintain confidence in their findings.
Von der Strategie zum Business Intelligence Competency Center (BICC): Konzeption – Betrieb – Praxis

CONSULTING Deutschland GmbH unter anderem für die Weiterentwicklung des Portfolios, für Innovation und die Lösungsentwicklung verantwortlich. Neben seiner Managementtätigkeit berät er Klienten zur strategischen Umsetzung innovativer IT-Lösungen, so auch bei BI-Systemen und BI-Organisationen. Tom Gansor arbeitet seit mehr als 15 Jahren im IT-Consulting, zuvor u. a. bei ORACLE, und war intensiv in ITund BI-Projekten in unterschiedlichsten Branchen als Lösungsarchitekt und Projektleiter erfolgreich. Neben seiner Managementtätigkeit liegt sein fachlicher Schwerpunkt aktuell im Bereich der BI-Organisation und -Strategie. Dazu engagiert er sich in der BI-Community im Rahmen von Fachkonferenzen, Fachpublikationen und als Vorsitzender des regelmäßig durchgeführten TDWI-Roundtable Hamburg. Sein Engagement würdigte der TDWI mit Ernennung zum TDWI Europe Fellow.
Battling Anti-Forensics: Beating the U3 Stick

ABSTRACT With the growing knowledge of digital forensics there is also a growing knowledge in the field of anti-forensics. More software and products see the light each day, which can make digital forensic investigations more difficult to do. One new product in the world of anti-forensics is a USB stick, which can be used to take your favorite programs and files with you on the road. You can use them on any computer and leave no traces of what you have been doing on the computer. Besides being useful for a lot of people, the features of this stick can also be abused. Offences like hacking, fraud, spamming, and the like could be harder to investigate if no traces of the offense are to be found on the computer because one of these USB sticks has been used. This article is about the U3 USB stick; it offers you the opportunity to travel with your files and programs, but does it indeed leave no traces?
Protein O-Glycosylation in Yeast

The PMT2 gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was identified as FUN25, a transcribed open reading frame on the left arm of chromosome I (Ouellette, B. F. F., Clark, M. W. C., Keng, T., Storms, R. G., Zhong, W., Zeng, B., Fortin, N., Delaney, S., Barton, A., Kaback, D. B., and Bussey, H.(1993) Genome 36, 32-42). The product encoded by the PMT2 gene shows significant similarity with the dolichyl phosphate-D-mannose:protein O-D-mannosyltransferase, Pmt1p (EC 2.4.1.109), which is required for initiating the assembly of O-linked oligosaccharides in S. cerevisiae (Strahl-Bolsinger, S., Immervoll, T., Deutzmann, R., and Tanner, W.(1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 90, 8164-8168). The PMT2 gene encodes a new protein O-D-mannosyltransferase. Yeast cells carrying a PMT2 disruption show a diminished in vitro and in vivo O-mannosylation activity and resemble mutants with a nonfunctional PMT1 gene. Strains bearing a pmt1 pmt2 double disruption show a severe growth defect but retain residual O-mannosylation activity indicating the presence of at least one more protein-O-mannosyltransferase.
The cost of adverse drug reactions

In addition to their impact on human health, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) also have significant impact on healthcare costs. These costs are essentially hospital costs, in particular arising from an increase in length of stay caused by an ADR. Although it has been estimated that the occurrence of an ADR during hospitalisation or leading to hospitalisation is responsible for a cost of ∼ € 2800, several studies have also pointed out that the structure of ADR cost is heterogeneous, a factor which must be taken into account when developing preventive strategies. ADR cost evaluation remains difficult from a methodological point of view given that most studies have only evaluated the direct cost. Because of the substantial annual estimated cost of ADRs in industrialised countries, it is necessary to implement preventive programmes, with different strategies consisting of: educational programmes; identifying risk groups; implementing good drug practice; and clinical and laboratory monitoring for ADRs. Promoting pharmacoeconomic studies and co-operation between clinicians, medical pharmacologists and pharmacists remains the key factor for preventing ADRs and decreasing their costs.
Interactions Among Ecosystem Services Across Land Uses in a Floodplain

Managing human-dominated landscapes such as agroecosystems is one of the main challenges facing society today. Decisions about land-use management in agroecosystems involve spatial and temporal trade-offs. The key scales at which these trades- offs occur are poorly understood for most systems, and quantitative assessments of the services provided by agroecosystems under different combinations of land uses are rare. To fill these knowledge gaps, we measured 12 ecosystem services (ES), including climate regulation, gas regulation, soil stability, nutrient regulation, habitat quality, raw material production, food production, fishing, sports, recreation, education, and social relationships, in seven common land-use types at three spatial scales, i.e., patch, municipality, and landscape, in a riparian floodplain in Spain. We identified the provision of each ES in each land-use type either by direct measurement or from public databases. We analyzed the interactions, i.e., trade-offs and synergies, among ES across land uses and spatial scales and estimated ES provision in several land-use change scenarios. Our results illustrated that each land-use type provides unique bundles of ES and that the spatial scale at which measurements were taken affected the mixture of services. For instance, a land-use type with low provision of services per hectare but with an extensive area can supply more services to the overall landscape than a land-use type supplying higher values of services per hectare but with a smaller extent. Hence, riparian forest supplied the most service of any land- use type at the patch scale, but dry cereal croplands provided the most services across the municipality and landscape because of their large area. We found that most ES should be managed primarily at the patch scale, but food production, fishing, and social relationships were more relevant to manage at the municipality scale. There was great variability in ES interactions across scales with different causes of trade-offs at each scale. We identified more significant synergies among ES than trade-offs. Trade-offs were originated because some services were mutually incompatible within a given land use, whereas the provision of others depended on land-management decisions within a land-use type. Thus, we propose a classification of ES interactions that incorporates societal values as drivers of management decisions along with biophysical factors as likely causes of ES trade-offs and conclude with practical suggestions to reduce trade-offs and to enhance the supply of multiple ES to society.
Use of beta-blockers during immunotherapy for Hymenoptera venom allergy.

BACKGROUND Beta-blockers may aggravate anaphylactic reactions and interfere with treatment. There is therefore concern about their use in patients who have a history of anaphylaxis or are on allergen immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is the best available treatment for prevention of life-threatening anaphylaxis to Hymenoptera stings, which is often observed in elderly patients who have cardiovascular disease and therefore are on beta-blocker treatment. OBJECTIVE To analyze the risk of beta-blocker treatment during venom immunotherapy. METHODS We screened all 1682 patients with Hymenoptera venom allergy seen during a period of 34 months for immunotherapy, cardiovascular disease, and treatment with beta-blockers. RESULTS Of the 1389 patients in whom immunotherapy was recommended, 11.2% had cardiovascular disease, and 44 of these were on beta-blockers before immunotherapy. In 31 of those, the drug was replaced before starting treatment. In 3 with coronary heart disease and 1 with severe ventricular arrhythmia, the drug was continued throughout immunotherapy. In 9, it was reintroduced after reaching the maintenance dose. In an additional 12 patients, beta-blockers were newly started during immunotherapy. Of 25 patients on beta-blockers during immunotherapy, 3 (12%) developed allergic side effects, compared with 23 (16.7%) of 117 with cardiovascular disease but without beta-blockers. Systemic allergic symptoms after re-exposure by sting challenge or field sting were observed in 1 of 7 (14.3%) with and 4 of 29 (13.8%) without beta-blockade. No severe reactions to treatment or sting reexposure were observed in patients with beta-blockade. CONCLUSION Combination of beta-blockers with venom immunotherapy may be indicated in heavily exposed patients with severe cardiovascular disease.
Dual targeting of CCR2 and CCR5: therapeutic potential for immunologic and cardiovascular diseases

A cardinal feature of inflammation is the tissue recruitment of leukocytes, a process that is mediated predominantly by chemokines via their receptors on migrating cells. CCR2 and CCR5, two CC chemokine receptors, are important players in the trafficking of monocytes/macrophages and in the functions of other cell types relevant to disease pathogenesis. This review provides a brief overview of the biological actions of CCR2 and CCR5 and a comprehensive summary of published data that demonstrate the involvement of both receptors in the pathogenesis of immunologic diseases (RA, CD, and transplant rejection) and cardiovascular diseases (atherosclerosis and AIH). In light of the potential for functional redundancy of chemokine receptors in mediating leukocyte trafficking and the consequent concern over insufficient efficacy offered by pharmacologically inhibiting one receptor, this review presents evidence supporting dual targeting of CCR2 and CCR5 as a more efficacious strategy than targeting either receptor alone. It also examines potential safety issues associated with such dual targeting.
Comment: Age effects on clinical trial results in Alzheimer dementia

Therapeutic trials in Alzheimer disease (AD) are notoriously difficult and have produced no new approved treatments in the past decade.1 Trial success often depends on decline in a placebo arm, and population characteristics that diminish placebo decline reduce the chance of detecting positive therapeutic effects of a drug. This study of data from multiple trials of AD dementia demonstrates that age can have such an effect: older participants showed less decline than younger participants by differences that were both meaningful and greater than expected.2
COMPARISON OF PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY USING HALF-DOSE OF VERTEPORFIN OR HALF-FLUENCE OF LASER LIGHT FOR THE TREATMENT OF CHRONIC CENTRAL SEROUS CHORIORETINOPATHY

Purpose: To compare the efficacy and the detrimental effects of half-drug dose and half-laser light fluence of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for the treatment of chronic central serous chorioretinopathy. Design: We conducted a prospective randomized, observer-masked comparison study. Methods: Forty eyes (40 patients) with chronic central serous chorioretinopathy were enrolled in this study and were equally divided into 2 groups. The first (half-dose) group received only half the standard dose of verteporfin infusion (3 mg/m2) and were irradiated by the standard 83 seconds of laser light (50 J/cm2) for the PDT treatment; the second (half-fluence) group received the standard dose of verteporfin infusion (6 mg/m2) and were irradiated by only 42 seconds of laser light (25 J/cm2). Patients were examined at baseline and 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after PDT treatments with best-corrected visual acuity and optical coherence tomography. Fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) were performed at baseline and at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after PDT treatment. Primary outcome measures were the changes in the best-corrected visual acuity and in central retinal thickness and subretinal fluid in optical coherence tomography. Secondary outcomes were the changes in the choroidal perfusion in the ICGA, which was measured as the fluorescein ratio of the PDT-treated area to a nontreated reference area in ICGA. Results: Best-corrected visual acuity was significantly improved at post-PDT 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months (all P < 0.01) in both the half-dose and the half-fluence group. Central retinal thickness was significantly improved at all post-PDT time points in both groups (P < 0.05). All patients in the half-dose group and 19 patients (95%) in the half-fluence group had complete absorption of subretinal fluid at post-PDT 3 months and 6 months. The choroidal perfusion (as reflected by the decrease of the ratio of fluorescence) in ICGA was significantly decreased at all post-PDT follow-up time points in both groups (P < 0.01). However, there were no significant differences in all the measurements between the two groups, including best-corrected visual acuity, central retinal thickness, and hypofluorescence in ICGA at baseline and at each post-PDT follow-up time point. Conclusion: Both half-dose and half-fluence modifications of PDT were similarly effective in improving the visual acuity and subretinal fluid for chronic CSC. Both types of modification of PDT were also similar in causing postlaser choroidal hypoperfusion.
Fully automated morphological analysis of patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

BACKGROUND/AIM Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a disease characterized by episodic hypoxia. We aimed to use the Freesurfer program for global evaluation of morphological changes in OSAS patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Three-dimensional T1-weighted images were obtained, and intracranial morphology was assessed in 18 patients with OSAS and 20 controls. Results of the volume and the cortical thickness analyses of both groups were compared statistically. RESULTS The total cortical, left-right hemispheres gray matter (GM), corpus callosum, and total GM volumes were lower in OSAS patients when compared with the control group (P < 0.001). The average cortical thickness was lower in OSAS patients bilaterally in pars orbitalis, paracentral, rostral middle frontal, middle frontal, orbital, and superior frontal gyri when compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the volume and average cortical thickness of multiple anatomic regions, apart from the brain parts mentioned above, were decreased unilaterally (e.g., hippocampus, cingulum, putamen, thalamus) in OSAS patients (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Multiple morphologic changes occur in the cerebral structures of OSAS patients due to intermittent ischemia episodes. Detection of those areas with Freesurfer is easier. New studies with large series would be needed for these subjects.
Dose-response effects of spectrum research cigarettes.

INTRODUCTION Experimental cigarettes are needed to conduct studies examining the effects of varying doses of nicotine content on smoking behavior. The National Institute on Drug Abuse contracted with Research Triangle Institute to make such cigarettes available to researchers. The goal of this study was to determine whether cigarettes that vary in nicotine content produce an expected dose-response effect. METHOD Two studies were conducted. The first study recruited subjects from 3 sites and consisted of a single, within-subject laboratory session. Subjects first smoked 4 puffs on their usual-brand cigarette and then in double-blind, random-order, smoked 4 puffs on each experimental cigarette that contained either low nicotine (LN, 0.4 mg/g), intermediate nicotine (IN, 5.7-5.8 mg/g), or high nicotine (HN, 11.4-12.8 mg/g). Each puffing bout was separated by a 30-min interval. Subjects completed questionnaires and were assessed for vital signs after each cigarette. The second study involved 1 site and used a between-subject design in which subjects were assigned to 1 of the 3 experimental cigarettes for 1 week. Subjective responses and biomarkers of exposure were assessed. RESULTS In the first study, significant dose-response effects were observed, particularly between the LN and HN cigarettes. The second study showed decreases in cigarette smoking and exposure biomarkers predominantly in the LN group, with no changes in the HN cigarette group. CONCLUSIONS These results are similar to those observed in prior literature, confirming that these experimental cigarettes can be used safely and with the expected pharmacological effects.