Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cost-effectiveness of exercise training to improve claudication symptoms in patients with peripheral arterial disease

Exercise rehabilitation is a proven, yet poorly available, treatment for intermittent claudication, the primary symptom of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Exercise rehabilitation is effective, non-invasive, and associated with minimal cardiovascular risk in appropriate patients. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), especially of the iliac segment, is an alternative effective treatment for claudication. There are, however, minimal data currently available to compare the cost-effectiveness of these two interventions. We compared the cost-effectiveness of 3- and 6-month exercise programs with that of iliac PTA without stenting, using the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio [ICER 1/4 (Cost2 Cost1)=(Effectiveness2 Effectiveness1)]. The ICER represented the price of an additional meter walked derived from each treatment based on conservative models of success of each procedure and specific care assumptions. PTA and exercise efficacy data were derived from a literature review and exercise costs were modeled per the current CPT code 93668. Effectiveness was defined as absolute claudication distance (ACD) at 3 and 6 months. Three treatment alternatives were assessed: (1) no treatment, (2) PTA, and (3) exercise rehabilitation. At 3 months, PTA was more effective than exercise therapy and resulted in an additional 38 meters at an additional cost of $6719, for an ICER of $177=meter. At 6 months, however, exercise was more effective than PTA, resulting in an additional 137 meters walked, and costs less ($61 less per meter gained). In conclusion, exercise rehabilitation at 6 months is more effective and costs less than PTA, and is therefore cost-saving. The cost-effectiveness and availability of claudication treatments has national implications for future PAD care; however, data to inform these care choices can best be obtained in prospective clinical trials.
Crosstalk reduction using bidirectional signal assignment over square lattice structure 16-core fiber for gradual upgrade of SSMF-based lines

We demonstrate crosstalk reduction using bidirectional signal assignment on WDM transmission of 256 Gb/s PM-16QAM over square lattice structure 16-core fiber. Mixed SSMF and MCF transmission with 6 spans of MCF is possible with Q crosstalk penalty below 0.5 dB.
Efectos combinados de carga y espín en semiconductores

En esta tesis hemos estudiado las propiedades estructurales y magneticas de peliculas delgadas de manganita y diversas multicapas en donde se combinan capas ferromagneticas y no magneticas. Se crecio una serie de peliculas delgadas sobre distintos sustratos monocristalinos obte- niendose en toda la serie que, con las condiciones de crecimiento usadas, los films crecen texturados. Otra serie de muestras con distintos espesores de La_0. 75Sr_0. 25Mn_O3 (LSMO) sobre SrTi_O3 (STO) nos permitio analizar el comportamiento del parametro de red en la direccion de crecimiento en funcion del espesor. Se estudiaron en detalle las anisotropias magneticas en peliculas delgadas de manganitas. Esto se realizo mediante resonancia ferromagnetica y el estudio de su espectro en funcion del angulo y temperatura. Se estudio luego el acople magnetico entre las capas ferromagneticas en tricapas con espaciador de LaNi_O3 (LNO). Se crecieron series de superredes con espaciador de LNO, LSMO/LNO, a las cuales se les realizo un estudio estructural a partir de mediciones con rayos X de radiacion sincrotron. Se logro medir magnetoresistencia gigante en tricapas LSMO/LNO/LSMO. En una segun- da etapa se estudiaron las propiedades magneticas de las mismas encontrandose un efecto de exchange bias. Se estudio el efecto en distintas multicapas como son: bicapas, tricapas y superredes. Se logro un estudio del efecto en funcion de temperatura y del espesor del espaciador en las superredes. Se estudio la conductancia, mediante un microscopio de fuerza atomica en modo conduc- tancia (CAFM), de bicapas La_0. 67Sr_0. 33O3/CaMn_O3 (LS_0.33MO/CMO). Para ello se crecio y estudio el sistema LS_0. 33MO/CMO. Se logro una ingenieria del proceso para la microfabri- cacion de junturas tunel magneticas para lo cual se crecieron tricapas LS_0. 33MO/CMO/LS_0. 33MO.
ArgR is an essential local transcriptional regulator of the arcABC operon in Streptococcus suis and is crucial for biological fitness in an acidic environment.

Streptococcus suis is one of the most important pathogens in pigs and can also cause severe infections in humans. Despite its clinical relevance, very little is known about the factors that contribute to its virulence. Recently, we identified a new putative virulence factor in S. suis, the arginine deiminase system (ADS), an arginine catabolic enzyme system encoded by the arcABC operon, which enables S. suis to survive in an acidic environment. In this study, we focused on ArgR, an ADS-associated regulator belonging to the ArgR/AhrC arginine repressor family. Using an argR knockout strain we were able to show that ArgR is essential for arcABC operon expression and necessary for the biological fitness of S. suis. By cDNA expression microarray analyses and quantitative real-time RT-PCR we found that the arcABC operon is the only gene cluster regulated by ArgR, which is in contrast to the situation in many other bacteria. Reporter gene analysis with gfp under the control of the arcABC promoter demonstrated that ArgR is able to activate the arcABC promoter. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays with fragments of the arcABC promoter and recombinant ArgR, and chromatin immunoprecipitation with antibodies directed against ArgR, revealed that ArgR interacts with the arcABC promoter in vitro and in vivo by binding to a region from -147 to -72 bp upstream of the transcriptional start point. Overall, our results show that in S. suis, ArgR is an essential, system-specific transcriptional regulator of the ADS that interacts directly with the arcABC promoter in vivo.
Fibronectin Overexpression Modulates Formation of Macrophage Foam Cells by Activating SREBP2 Involved in Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress

Aims: To explore the explicit role of fibronectin (FN) isforms in atherosclerotic lesions and the underlying mechanisms. Methods and Results: Inducible stable expression was performed, and similar results were observed between EDA+FN (FN containing EDA domain) and EDA-FN (FN devoid of EDA domain). FN isforms could trigger endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, thereby leading to lipid accumulation in cultured Raw264.7 cells. FN isforms-induced gene expression and lipid accumulation were inhibited by a chemical chaperone 4-phenyl butyric acid (PBA) or by overexpression of the ER chaperone, GRP78/BiP, demonstrating a direct role of ER stress in activation of cholesterol/triglyceride biosynthesis. Moreover, activation of the sterol regulatory element binding protein-2 (SREBP2) was found to be downstream of ER stress, and this activation was affirmed to account for the intracellular accumulation of cholesterol using RNAi technique. Conclusion: our study suggests that enhanced FN in lesions facilitates foam cell formation due to dysregulation of the endogenous sterol response pathway by activation of ER stress, and confirms that EDA+FN has no more pro-atherogenic role than EDA-FN in triggering ER stress.
ClusterFetch: A Lightweight Prefetcher for Intensive Disk Reads

By overlapping disk accesses with computation-intensive operations, prefetching can reduce delays in launching an application and in loading significant amounts of data while the application is running. The key to effective prefetching is making the tradeoff between the mining accuracy of selecting relevant blocks, and the time to decide those blocks. To address this problem, we propose a new prefetcher called ClusterFetch. In its learning mode, ClusterFetch detects periods of intensive disk accesses by monitoring the speed at which read requests are queued; it re-organizes these reads and locates the file opened by the application just before each such period. During subsequent runs of the same application, ClusterFetch prefetches the data associated with the opening of a “trigger” file. Our experimental results show that ClusterFetch implemented in Linux can reduce the application launch time by up to 41.3 percent and the loading time by up to 38.2 percent, while taking up less than 200 KB of main memory.
A passive hydrogel-based inertial switch integrated with micromachined L-C resonator

This work presents the development of an inertial switch employing stimuli-sensitive hydrogel integrated with a passive inductor/capacitor (LC) resonator. The device consists of a glass substrate with capacitor plates and an inductor coil, and a PDMS microfluidic chip with micro-channels and micro-cavities containing hydrogel and water droplet. When the acceleration exceeds the designed threshold-level, the water passes through the channel to the hydrogel cavity. The hydrogel swells and changes the capacitance of the integrated LC resonator, which in turn changes the resonant frequency that can be remotely detected. All the PDMS structures were fabricated by using soft lithography. The L-C resonator was fabricated by lift-off process for patterning metal layers on a glass substrate. The size of the device is 15mm×10mm×1mm. The functionalities of proposed device were demonstrated. The measurement shows that the resonant frequencies shift from 72MHz to about 57MHz as the device is activated by acceleration.
Web Site Evolution

Web sites are becoming increasingly important for companies and organizations. Crucial information as well as economic transactions are managed by Web sites, so that their reliability, usability and overall quality are central issues, The advent of new technologies, such as Web services, makes the domain of Web applications a very dynamic one, where the evolution is rapid and unavoidable. Moreover, existing systems are also eligible for migration to the Web, thus requiring specific reengineering processes and methods.This special issue is focused on the recent achievements produced by software engineering research that has been conducted on Web sites. Reverse engineering, restructuring, testing and dynamic analysis are well-established disciplines that have been investigated in the new domain of the Web. Moreover, migration of legacy code to the Web poses technical problems related to domain analysis, adoption challenges and performance assessment. This issue provides an overview of the most promising results achieved in these fields
Analysis of government financial performance: allocation of capital costs

The study aims to analyze the financial performance of local government to the allocation of capital expenditure. Variable financial performance used consists of the ratio of regional financial independence (RFI), the ratio of the effectiveness of local revenue (ELR) and the degree of contribution of Regional Owned Enterprises (DCROE). The research was conducted in all regencies/cities in East Java Province Indonesia, with the observation period in 2013-2017. The data analysis was quantitative and using multiple linear regression analysis with SPSS version 21 software. The result of analysis obtained in this research indicates that the ratio of local financial independence affects the allocation of capital expenditure, the ratio of the effectiveness of the original revenue affects the allocation of capital expenditure (ACE) and the degree of contribution Regional Owned Enterprises has no effect on capital expenditure allocation.
Towards robust implementation of memristor crossbar logic circuits

Memristor crossbar is a promising technology for future VLSI circuits due to its scalability, non-volatility, high integration density, etc. However, sneak path currents in the crossbar pose major robustness challenges. One proposed solution is applying half-select voltages to floating nanowires (which are not involved in logic operations). This paper analyzes the sneak path issue after applying half-select voltages, and then uses this analysis to derive a set of realization parameter constraints for robustness. In addition, the constraints are used to estimate maximal crossbar size of logic circuits. As a case study, a one-bit full adder is implemented and verified with SPICE simulations; the results show that the proposed approach accurately predicts the impact of sneak path currents with a maximal error of 0.06V.
Participation of substance P distribution in the cytokine production of rheumatoid synovium

Abstract Based on findings which suggested the involvement of the neuropeptide substance P in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we investigated the mechanism of synovial pannus formation in RA, and examined the interaction between the cytokine production of synovial tissues and the concentration of substance P in the cartilage–pannus junction (CPJ). The CPJ and other peripheral synovial tissues were separately obtained from each part of the synovium from the knee joints of seven RA patients. The concentrations of substance P and the cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 in the CPJ and peripheral synovial tissues were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. In addition, synovial cells were isolated from the CPJ and peripheral synovial tissues and treated with substance P or neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist to analyze the changes in cytokine production. The substance P levels were 211.2 and 50.5 pg/mg protein in the CPJ and the peripheral synovium, respectively. The IL-1β and IL-6 levels in the CPJ were 24.6 and 12.8 pg/mg protein, respectively. In the peripheral synovium, these levels were 4.3 and 2.5 pg/mg protein, respectively. In the CPJ, the IL-1β and IL-6 levels in tissue containing a high concentration of substance P (>200 pg/mg protein) were 39.4 and 21.6 pg/mg protein, respectively, and those in tissue containing a low concentration of substance P (≤200 pg/mg protein) were 11.6 and 5.1 pg/mg protein, respectively. Synovial cells from the CPJ produced higher levels of IL-1β and IL-6 than those from peripheral tissues. In addition, treatment of the cells with an NK-1 antagonist significantly reduced the production of these cytokines by the synovial cells. The theory that substance P plays a role in the pathogenesis of RA via the upregulation of cytokine production should be considered in further studies on the immunomodulatory properties of substance P in arthritis.
Digital nanomagnetic logic

In this paper we discussed about the two potential paradigms. The first is magnetic cellular automata. We have demonstrated experimentally and at room temperature how a chain of 110 nm diameter dots made from a soft ferromagnetic material (Ni/sub 80/Fe/sub 20/). The second scheme was derived from the magnetic cellular automata using magnetic logic circuit.
Regulation of Ovarian Cancer Cell Adhesion and Invasion by Chloride Channels

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of chloride (Cl−) channels on the adhesive and invasive potentials of human ovarian cancer cell line A2780. By using the adhesion and Transwell invasion assays, we showed that 4,4′-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid (200 &mgr;mol/L), a nonselective Cl− channel blocker, significantly inhibits cancer cell adhesion and invasion. 5-Nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)-benzoate (200 &mgr;mol/L), niflumic acid (100 &mgr;mol/L), and tamoxifen (30 &mgr;mol/L) had similar inhibitory effects. Regulatory volume decrease is markedly suppressed by 4,4′-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid, 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)-benzoate, niflumic acid, and tamoxifen. Moreover, intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) measurements indicated that a Cl− channel-mediated increase in [Ca2+]i is also one of the mechanisms of cancer cell adhesion and invasion. Our results strongly suggest that Cl− channels may regulate ovarian cancer cell adhesion and invasion, probably through inducing a regulatory volume decrease and mediating a [Ca2+]i increase.
The autoregulatory role of EsaR, a quorum‐sensing regulator in Pantoea stewartii ssp. stewartii: evidence for a repressor function

Capsular polysaccharide synthesis and virulence in the plant pathogenic bacterium Pantoea stewartii ssp. stewartii requires the quorum‐sensing regulatory proteins, EsaR and EsaI, and the diffusible inducer N‐(3‐oxo‐hexanoyl)‐L‐homoserine lactone. Prior mu‐tational studies suggested that EsaR might function as a repressor of quorum sensing in the control of capsular polysaccharide synthesis. Further, a lux box‐like palindromic sequence coinciding with the putative –10 element of the esaR promoter suggested a possible negative autoregulatory role for EsaR. This report presents genetic evidence that EsaR represses the esaR gene under inducer‐limiting conditions, and that addition of inducer promotes rapid, dose‐dependent derepression. DNA mobility‐shift assays and analyses by surface plasmon resonance refractometry show that EsaR binds target DNAs in a ligand‐free state, and that inducer alters the binding characteristics of EsaR. Physical measurements indicate that the EsaR protein binds N‐(3‐oxo‐hexanoyl)‐L‐homoserine lactone, in a 1:1 protein:ligand ratio, and that inducer binding enhances the thermal stability of the EsaR protein. These combined genetic and biochemical data establish that EsaR regulates its own expression by signal‐independent repression and signal‐dependent derepression. Additionally, we provide evidence that EsaR does not govern the expression of the linked esaI gene, thus EsaR has no role in controlling coinducer synthesis.
Reduced risk of next exacerbation and mortality associated with antibiotic use in COPD

The long-term risk of a subsequent exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) after treatment with oral corticosteroids without (OS) or with antibiotics (OSA) was compared in a historical general practice-based cohort. Eligible patients were ≥50 yrs of age, had a registered diagnosis of COPD, were on maintenance respiratory drugs, and had experienced at least one exacerbation defined as a prescription OS or OSA. Times to second and third exacerbations were assessed using Kaplan–Meier survival analysis; the risk of a subsequent exacerbation was assessed in a Cox proportional hazards analysis; and all-cause mortality was assessed using Kaplan–Meier survival and Cox proportional hazards analyses. A total of 842 patients had one or more exacerbations. The median time from first to second exacerbation was comparable for the OS and OSA groups, but the time from second to third exacerbation differed: 189 versus 258 days, respectively. The protective effect of OSA was most pronounced during the first 3 months following treatment (hazards ratio 0.72, 95% confidence interval 0.62–0.83). Exposure to antibiotics unrelated to a course of oral corticosteroids almost halved the risk of a new exacerbation. Mortality during follow-up was considerably lower in the OSA group. Adding antibiotics to oral corticosteroids was associated with: reduced risk of subsequent exacerbation, particularly in patients with recurrent exacerbations; and reduced risk of all-cause mortality.
Accessing Mental Health Services as an Undocumented Individual: Policy Recommendations for the State of California

Undocumented individuals are subject to stressors that may exacerbate existing mental health problems or proliferate new mental health illnesses. Due to unjust historical and current institutional and systemic policies the undocumented population accesses mental health services at a rate far below the general population. As a result, this vulnerable community is left with untreated mental health conditions and is further entrenched in a cycle of inequity. In an effort to address this alarming reality we based a review of relevant literature to identify recommendations to increase access to mental health services among the United States undocumented population. Additionally, a simulation was conducted with mental health providers from seven counties in California (San Francisco, Fresno, Sonoma Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Joaquin) to assess their response to requests for service from undocumented individuals. Our recommendations include: (1.) Altering the provision of care in order to eliminate obstacles that undocumented individuals face in accessing treatment, (2.) Advancing research regarding the mental health needs of undocumented individuals in the U.S, (3.) Enforcing current regulations to ensure providers offer culturally and linguistics appropriate services, and the (4.) Implementation of county wide access lines. Running Head: POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CALIFORNIA
Utilisation de la methode des elements finis pour le calcul des champs electromagnetiques a l'aide d'un modele realiste de tete en meg et eeg

La reconstruction de l'activite electrique du cerveau en magnetoencephalographie (meg) et electroencephalographie (eeg) necessite de modeliser la propagation des courants dans les milieux conducteurs de la tete. Recemment des modeles surfaciques a geometrie realiste sont apparus. Ces derniers apportent une amelioration significative de la modelisation par rapport au modele spherique mais ne permettent pas de modeliser des inhomogeneites locales et l'anisotropie de certains milieux comme l'os. Ce travail presente la realisation d'un modele volumique de tete et la mise en oeuvre de la methode des elements finis pour permettre de modeliser les milieux anisotropes. L'influence de l'anisotropie de l'os, ainsi que l'influence des autres conductivites en presence d'un os anisotrope, ont ainsi pu etre etudiees dans un modele realiste, aussi bien en meg qu'en eeg. La methode a ete validee par comparaison avec les resultats analytiques sur un modele spherique. Diverses configurations de calculs ont ete testees. L'influence des parametres du maillage a egalement ete etudiee et la configuration optimale a ete determinee. Nous avons montre que l'anisotropie de l'os introduit une diffusion supplementaire dans l'eeg et que l'absence de modelisation de l'anisotropie empeche la reconstruction correcte des sources en eeg. Ceci des que l'activite est repartie en plusieurs taches separees, meme avec un algorithme de reconstruction sophistique, permettant de retrouver les discontinuites fortes dans l'activite. Nous avons montre que l'influence de l'anisotropie de l'os est beaucoup plus faible en meg qu'en eeg. En effet, l'activite electrique a ete correctement reconstruite dans tous les cas testes sans modelisation de l'anisotropie en meg. Une comparaison avec des donnees reelles obtenues sur un fantome est egalement presentee.
The murine inhibitory receptor mSiglec‐E is expressed broadly on cells of the innate immune system whereas mSiglec‐F is restricted to eosinophils

Murine (m) Siglec‐E and mSiglec‐F are recently discovered murine sialic acid‐binding Ig‐like lectins with tyrosine‐based inhibitory signaling motifs. They are postulated to be the orthologs ofhuman (h) siglec‐7, ‐8 or ‐9 and siglec‐5, respectively. We report here the first detailed characterization of mSiglec‐E, and compare its expression pattern with mSiglec‐F. Similar to hSiglec‐7, mSiglec‐E preferred α2–8‐linked disialic acid over α2–3‐ and α2–6‐linked sialic acids. Using a specific Ab, FACS analysis demonstrated that mSiglec‐E was expressed mainly on neutrophils inblood and their immature precursors in bone marrow. mSiglec‐E was present on peritoneal cavity macrophages and on subsets of mature NK cells and splenic dendritic cells. mSiglec‐E was also found ona novel population of peritoneal cavity B‐1a‐like cells and a subset of splenic B cells enriched in transitional T2 and marginal zone B cells. In striking contrast to mSiglec‐E, mSiglec‐F was expressed predominantly on eosinophils in blood and their precursors in the bone marrow. The distinct and largely non‐overlapping expression profiles of mSiglec‐E and mSiglec‐F suggest that they play non‐redundant roles in the innate immune system. mSiglec‐E is likely to modulate the functions of several types of effector cells, whereas mSiglec‐F is likely to be more restricted to eosinophil biology.