Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Correlates and Prognosis of Early Recurrence After Catheter Ablation for Ventricular Tachycardia due to Structural Heart Disease

Background—Catheter ablation for ventricular tachycardia (VT) from structural heart disease has a significant risk of recurrence, but the optimal duration for in-hospital monitoring is not defined. This study assesses the timing, correlates, and prognostic significance of early VT recurrence after ablation. Methods and Results—Of 370 patients (313 men; aged 63.0±13.2 years) who underwent a first radiofrequency ablation for sustained monomorphic VT associated with structural heart disease from 2008 to 2012, sustained VT recurred in 81 patients (22%) within 7 days. In multivariable analysis, early recurrence was associated with New York Heart Association classification ≥III (odds ratio [OR] 1.90, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03–3.48; P=0.04), dilated cardiomyopathy (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.03–3.57; P=0.04), prevalence of VT storm before the procedure (OR 2.62, 95% CI 1.48–4.65; P=0.001), a greater number of induced VTs (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.07–1.45; P=0.006), and acute failure or no final induction test (OR 1.88, 95% CI 1.03–3.40; P=0.04). During a median of 2.5 (1.2, 4.0) years of follow-up, early VT recurrence was an independent correlates of mortality (hazard ratio 2.59, 95% CI 1.52–4.34; P=0.0005). Conclusions—Patients who have early recurrences of VT after ablation are a high risk group who may be identifiable from their clinical profile. Further study is warranted to define the optimal treatment strategies for this patient group.
Beta‐adrenergic receptor subtypes in the basal ganglia of patients with Huntington's chorea and Parkinson's disease

The density of [125I]iodo‐cyanopindolol binding to beta‐1 and beta‐2 adrenergic receptors was studied in post mortem basal ganglia samples of Huntington's chorea and Parkinson's disease patients using autoradiography. Whereas no significant changes were observed in sections from Parkinson's and Huntington's chorea grade 2 patients, a nearly complete loss of beta‐1 binding sites was observed in the basal ganglia of Huntington patients at later stages of the disease. The concentration of beta‐2 receptors was increased by a factor 2 in the posterior putamen of all choreic cases. These results are consistent with the view that beta‐1 receptors are predominantly located on a subpopulation of neurons which degenerate at late stages of Huntington's chorea, while beta‐2 receptors are present mainly on glial elements.
Integrin Activation

Summary Integrins are cell surface adhesion receptors that participate in a variety of important processes throughout the vasculature. Here we summarize some recent findings on the regulation of integrin mediated cellular adhesion. Particular emphasis is placed on the regulation of integrin affinity for ligand (activation), although this is just one mechanism by which regulation of integrin-dependent cell adhesion can occur. Also discussed are recent observations on the structural basis of integrin activation, the role of the cytoplasmic domain in integrin affinity regulation, and potential mechanisms by which activation signals are propagated from integrin cytoplasmic domains to the extracellular ligand binding domain.
Comparison of Two Optimization Techniques as Applied to Three-Phase Induction Motor Design

In order to develop the best method for the optimization of three-phase induction motor designs, two advanced optimization techniques, the method of boundary search along active constraints and the Han-Powell method, have been compared as applied to a 5 hp three-phase induction motor design. The relations between the optimal efficiency and the material cost, the power factor, the starting torque ratio, and the type of steel have been studied. The limited validity of motor model law is discussed based on extensive calculations. For the 5 hp motor under investigation the Han-Powell method results in a higher maximum efficiency than the method of boundary-search along active constraints. However, the latter method provides a clear visualization of the relations between the motor dimensions and the motor performance characteristics through plotting the results in planes, and it is very useful in the analysis of induction motor optimization from an engineering point of view. >
Engineering Escherichia coli for Increased Productivity of Serine-Rich Proteins Based on Proteome Profiling

ABSTRACT Variations in proteome profiles of Escherichia coli in response to the overproduction of human leptin, a serine-rich (11.6% of total amino acids) protein, were examined by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The levels of heat shock proteins increased, while those of protein elongation factors, 30S ribosomal protein, and some enzymes involved in amino acid biosynthesis decreased, after leptin overproduction. Most notably, the levels of enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of serine family amino acids significantly decreased. Based on this information, we designed a strategy to enhance the leptin productivity by manipulating the cysK gene, encoding cysteine synthase A. By coexpression of the cysK gene, we were able to increase the cell growth rate by approximately twofold. Also, the specific leptin productivity could be increased by fourfold. In addition, we found that cysK coexpression can improve the production of another serine-rich protein, interleukin-12 β chain, suggesting that this strategy may be useful for the production of other serine-rich proteins as well. The approach taken in this study should be useful in designing a strategy for improving recombinant protein production.
[Paradox of displacement in geometrical illusion and the problem of dimensions. A contribution to the study of space perception].

The late Professor Morinaga found in 1954 that spatial displacement of direction differed from that of distance even when the measurement was made in the same figure. This finding was named as “paradox of displacement” in geometrical illusion. The present study was designed to prove the existence of the paradox of displacement in more detailed experimentation. Two types of displacements of direction and distance were measured in each of variant forms of Zollner's, Hering's and Muller-Lyer's figures. In the figures of Zollner and Hering types the number of dots filling each of parallels was varied from two or three to several (and including solid lines). 1. Paradox of displacement was seen in both Zollner and Hering types when the number of dots filling the parallels was adequate. This appeared more markedly in a variant form of the Muller-Lyer figure.2. Displacement of both direction and distance increased gradually with the increase of number of dots filling the parallels. The rate of increase of displacement was, however, more prominent for direction than for distance.These results indicate that the displacement seen in geometrical illusion differs from the objective displacement and is related to the shift in respective dimension, distinguished from each other, of spatial perception. They also show an interaction between two dimensions, direction and distance, in some figural structure. Thus the problem of dimensions seems to be important for the construction of the so-called field-theory.
On the influence of the back-gate bias on InGaAs Trigate MOSFETs

We analyze the behavior of InGaAs Trigate MOSFETs under the influence of a back-gate bias, Vbg. The charge distribution, the body-factor, the threshold voltage and the electron mobility dependences on Vbg are discussed. The InGaAs devices are benchmarked against Si ones demonstrating a higher impact of the back-gate bias for the formers, causing larger body factors and stronger mobility variations.
TRANSPORT, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH IN AUSTRALIA

This paper is one of several position papers developed by The National Committee on Transport of Engineers-Australia on various aspects of sustainability. It begins by describing the urban context in Australia, and details the impacts, at different levels, of transport activities on the environment and public health. Environmental impacts are distinguished according to their geographic scale (global, regional, local), while public health impacts are distinguished according to their time scale (long-, medium-, or short-term). The paper reviews estimates of the scales of these impacts in Australia and suggests greater rigor be taken when using the concept of sustainability. It concludes with 10 recommendations that, if followed by engineers, would allow the transport system to perform its functions with fewer impacts on the environment and public health.
Cyanide‐Induced Apoptosis and Oxidative Stress in Differentiated PC12 Cells

Abstract: Terminally differentiated PC12 cells are a useful neuron‐like model for studying programmed cell death in response to nerve growth factor (NGF) deprivation. This in vitro model was used to investigate the mechanism by which cyanide‐induced histotoxic hypoxia produces neuronal degeneration. Treatment of undifferentiated PC12 cells with 0.1 mM KCN for 24 h did not produce cell death. In contrast, treatment of differentiated PC12 cell cultures with 0.1 mM KCN for 24 h increased cell death by 43% when compared with control cultures, as measured by trypan blue dye exclusion and lactate dehydrogenase release assays. The Ca2+/Mg2+‐dependent endonuclease inhibitor aurintricarboxylic acid and the transcriptional inhibitor actinomycin D partially attenuated hypoxic toxicity, suggesting roles for endonuclease activation and transcription in this model of neuronal death. Extracted DNA from cyanide‐treated neurons demonstrated cleavage into oligonucleosomal fragments on gel electrophoresis. Transmission electron microscopic analysis showed morphological changes consistent with apoptotic cell death, including membrane blebbing and convolution, as well as chromatin condensation and margination to the nuclear membrane. Addition of either ascorbate or catalase to the cultures partially attenuated the loss of cell viability induced by cyanide, and decreased the incidence of apoptotic cells after treatment, based on the in situ detection of DNA strand breaks. The ability of cyanide to elevate intracellular oxidant species was determined by microfluorescence in differentiated PC12 cells loaded with the oxidant‐sensitive dye 2′,7′‐dichlorofluorescin. Exposure of cells to 0.1 mM KCN produced a rapid generation of oxidants that was blocked ∼50% by ascorbate or catalase. These observations indicate that cyanide induces apoptosis in terminally differentiated, and not undifferentiated, PC12 cells, and that antioxidants significantly reduce the incidence of cyanide‐induced apoptosis.
Effects of climate change on Mediterranean marine ecosystems: the case of the Catalan Sea

The Catalan Sea, located between the eastern Iberian coast and the Balearic Islands, is a representative portion of the western Mediterranean basin and provides a valuable case study for climate change effects on Mediterranean ecosystems. Global warming is reflected regionally by a rise in sea level over the last century, an increase in surface temperature of around 1.1°C in the last 35 yr, a progressive salinisation of intermediate and deep waters and a strengthening of the stratification. A likely scenario of what we can expect in the Mediterranean Sea is a consider- able decrease in rainfall and wind, warmer surface waters and a prolonged stratification period. The effects on Mediterranean ecosystems are evident in: (1) a meridionalisation of the algal, inver- tebrate and vertebrate species, which favours the more thermophilic species over the temperate species; (2) mass mortality events of sessile invertebrates of the coralligenous communities owing to anomalous warm waters during the period when food is scarce; (3) increases in the smallest phytoplankton due to the prolongation of the water stratification period; (4) proliferation of gelati- nous carnivores, including jellyfish, due to the temperature rise and the lack of rainfall; (5) a faster acidification of seawater, compared with the global oceans, accompanied by a decrease in the capacity to absorb atmospheric CO2. In order to anticipate and mitigate these predicted changes, we recommend investing in research and observation, conserving areas that serve as indicators of climate change and reducing other anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, over- fishing or pollution, which may act synergistically to accelerate these changes.
Effects of interferon treatment on development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic virus infection: A meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials

Available literature on the effects of interferon (IFN) treatment on development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with chronic virus infection reports controversial results. The primary objective of this meta‐analysis was to evaluate the effect of IFN on HCC risk in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) or hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection; IFN's efficacy on local tumor progression and survival of advanced HCC patients was also assessed. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing IFN with no antiviral treatment were selected. Finally, we identified 11 RCTs including 1,772 patients, who met our inclusion criteria to perform this meta‐analysis. Our analysis results showed that IFN significantly decreased the overall HCC incidence in HCV‐infected patients [relative risk (RR) = 0.39; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.26–0.59; p = 0.000], subgroup analysis indicated that IFN decreased HCC incidence in HCV‐related cirrhotic patients evidently (RR = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.28–0.68; p = 0.000); but HCC incidence in nonresponders to initial antiviral therapy did not reduce by maintenance IFN therapy (RR = 0.96; 95% CI = 0.59–1.56; p = 0.864). Analysis results also demonstrated that IFN did not significantly affect the overall rate of HCC in HBV‐infected patients although there was a trend favoring IFN therapy (RR = 0.23; 95% CI = 0.05–1.04; p = 0.056). Besides, IFN did not improve one‐year overall survival of advanced HCC patients significantly (RR = 1.61; 95% CI = 0.96–2.69; p = 0.072); however, a quantitative analysis on local tumor progression could not be performed owing to lack of unified definitions among trials included in our study. By this meta‐analysis, we conclude that IFN therapy is effective in reducing overall HCC risk in chronic HCV‐infected patients; using it in this subpopulation seems promising, but its administration in other subpopulations still requires further exploration.
miR-374 a promotes the proliferation of osteosarcoma cell proliferation by targeting Axin 2

Background: MicroRNA-374a (miR-374a) has been implicated in several cancers. However, its role in osteosarcoma (OS) remains unclear. Thus the aim of this study was to investigate its expression and role in progression of OS. Methods: Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was performed to detect the expression of miR-374a in OS cell lines and tissues. To further understand its role, we restored expression of miR-374a in MG63 cell line by transfection with miR-374a mimics or inhibitors. Effects of miR-374a on cell proliferation on targets were also determined. Results: In the present study, our results showed that miR-374a was significantly up-regulated in both OS cell lines and OS tissues. Over expression of miR-374a markedly accelerated proliferation of OS cells, while its inhibition significantly suppressed cell proliferation. Moreover, Axin2 was identified to be a functional downstream target of miR-374a, and decreased expression of Axin2 could promote OS cell proliferation. Conclusion: Our study suggested that miR-374a functions as an oncogene in OS, and the miR-374a/Axin2 axis might represent a potential therapeutic target for OS intervention.
Incorporate Deep-Transfer-Learning into Automatic 3D Neuron Tracing

— Automated neuron tracing from microscopic images enables high-throughput quantitative analysis of neuronal morphology to elucidate functions of neural circuits. We have developed a transfer-learning approach that trains a deep convolutional neural network to trace neurons in 3D image stacks. Our neural network model consists of two major components. One is responsible for detecting foreground, the other takes the output of the first components and detect the central lines of neurites. They are trained sequentially, which is more efficient than training a whole deep neural network from scratch. The most spectacular aspect of our approach is that our training data is generated by synthesizing 2D simple lines in noisy backgrounds instead of consisting of manually labeled real neuron images which are labor intensive and time consuming to collect. Our method first processes each slices of 3D image, and then integrate them back to produce 3D tracing results. Preliminary test results show that the trained neuron tracer is capable of accurately tracing various types of neurons in noisy images.
A 79-GHz 2 × 2 MIMO PMCW Radar SoC in 28-nm CMOS

In this paper, the concept of phase modulated MIMO radars is explained and demonstrated with a 28-nm CMOS fully integrated 79-GHz radar SoC. It includes two transmitters, two receivers, and the mm-wave frequency generation. The receivers’ outputs are digitized by on-chip ADCs and processed by a custom designed digital core, which performs correlation and accumulation with a pseudorandom sequence used in transmission. The SoC consumes 1 W to achieve 7.5 cm range resolution. A module with antennas allows for 5° resolution over ±60° elevation and azimuth scan in 2 $\times $ 2 code domain MIMO operation. A 4 $\times $ 4 MIMO system is also demonstrated by means of two SoCs mounted on the same module.
Evidence of increased platelet activation after thrombolysis in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Objective—To assess platelet activation after thrombolysis in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Design—Platelet function was assessed by measurement of the in vivo synthesis of thromboxane by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of thromboxane's major urinary metabolite, 2,3-dinor-thromboxane-B2. Setting—Coronary care unit of Huddinge University Hospital. Subjects—30 patients with acute myocardial infarction given either streptokinase 1·5 million units intravenously over one hour + 500 mg aspirin (n = 10), 500 mg aspirin (n = 10), or neither thrombolysis nor aspirin (n = 10). Results—Patients treated by thrombolysis had a 20-fold increase in thromboxane formation during thrombolysis compared with control patients not treated by thrombolysis (p = 0·0001). Until two days after thrombolysis thromboxane production in patients treated with streptokinase did not decrease to a value comparable with patients treated with aspirin but not given thrombolysis. Conclusions—Thromboxane production increased considerably during thrombolysis, possibly reflecting greatly enhanced platelet activation. The slow decrease in thromboxane formation after treatment with aspirin suggests that the efficacy of thrombolysis might be improved by more efficient antiplatelet treatment.
A multi-channel current-mode CMOS optical receiver array for active optical HDMI cables

This paper introduces a four-channel optical receiver array implemented in a standard 1P4M 0. 18μm CMOS technology for the applications of active optical HDMI cables. Each channel consists of a current-mirror transimpedance amplifier, a five-stage differential limiting amplifier, and an output buffer, demonstrating 81-dBΩ transimpedance gain, 1.8-GHz bandwidth even with 0.5-pF photodiode capacitance, −18.3-dBm optical sensitivity for 10−12 BER & 0.6-A/W responsivity, and 51.7-mW power dissipation from a single 1.8-V supply. The whole chip occupies the area of 1.35 × 2.46mm2 including pads. The measured eye-diagrams of the array confirms wide and clear eye-openings up to 4.0-Gb/s operations.
Designing Adaptive Replication Schemes for Efficient Content Delivery in Edge Networks

Content availability has become increasingly important for the Internet delivery chain. In order to enhance availability, content distribution network (CDN) providers have invested in hybrid designs that combines resources from datacenter and edge networks. Although, to deliver videos with an outstanding availability and meet the increasing user expectations, hybrid CDNs must enforce strict QoS metrics, like bitrate and latency, through SLA contracts. Adaptive content replication has been seen as a promising way to achieve this goal. However, it remains unclear how to avoid waste of resources when strict SLA contracts must be enforced. In this dissertation, we focus on studying and evaluating adaptive replication schemes for a new generation of hybrid networks, whose resources come from consumers' devices, such as set- top boxes. To this end, we propose (i) Caju, a general-purpose content distribution system, which handles resource allocation in edge networks, and (ii) three novel adaptive replication schemes, AREN, Hermes, and WiseReplica. Extensive simulations with Caju show that our adaptive repli- cation schemes are very efficient and can easily be extended to other CDN architectures. Finally, we provide some guidelines about our ongoing development of Caju in a world-wide testbed deployment.
Dioxin Exposure and Insulin Resistance in Taiwanese Living Near a Highly Contaminated Area

Background: Several epidemiologic studies suggest a slightly increased risk of type 2 diabetes in relation to background levels of dioxins. Little is known about how serum dioxins might affect insulin resistance, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes. We examined the association between exposure to dioxins and insulin resistance. Methods: We investigated 1234 nondiabetic persons living near a deserted pentachlorophenol factory. Using high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry and blood biochemistry tests, we measured serum dioxins, fasting glucose, and insulin. Finally, we examined associations between serum dioxin levels and the homoeostasis model assessments of insulin resistance and pancreatic &bgr;-cell function. Results: Participants with insulin resistance (index at or above the 75th percentile) had higher dioxin levels (24.3 vs. 19.8 pg WHO98-TEQDF/g lipid) than those without insulin resistance. In both the crude and adjusted models, insulin resistance increased with serum polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofuran (PCDD/F) levels. We found a slight monotonic increase in insulin resistance across the serum PCDD/F categories (P for the trend <0.001). Groups with serum dioxin levels higher than 20.5 pg WHO98-TEQDF/g lipid had higher insulin resistance (adjusted odds ratios of 2.7, 3.5, and 5.0 for 50th to <75th, 75th to <90th, and ≥90th percentile, respectively) compared with the reference group (<9.6 pg WHO98-TEQDF/g lipid [< 10th percentile]). Conclusions: After adjusting for confounding factors, we found a positive association between serum dioxins and the prevalence of insulin resistance.