Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treatment Strategy to Control Blood Pressure Optimally in Hypertensive Patients

Pharmacological treatment of hypertension significantly reduces the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Unfortunately, only a fraction of hypertensive patients benefit maximally from the protection afforded by the blood pressure lowering, mainly because the blood pressure control achieved during antihypertensive therapy remains often insufficient. One way to improve this situation is to individualize the treatment in determining for each patient the most simple drug regimen, which is at the same time efficacious and well tolerated. To this end, combining small doses of drugs acting by different mechanisms is often required. It is also essential that physicians develop skills to motivate their patients to comply lifelong with the treatment.
Virtual reality training environment a proposed architecture

Operator training systems are essential tools for industrial systems, particularly for those where human error impacts on the safety of materials and personnel may cause significant financial losses. This work is part of a research project concerned with the study of operator behaviour when facing safety-critical situations. This paper focuses on the simulator architecture of an operator training system that is based on formal models, interconnected to form its simulation engine. It also discusses how the simulator engine communicates with the virtual world representation. The models were built using the Coloured Petri Nets (CPN) formalism. The simulator requirements include: a multi-platform collaborative and multi-user environment that allow for remote access; built with freeware software tools. The simulator built according to the architecture described on this paper, has been validated by a team of operators from the industrial context of application, i.e. electric systems.
Microvesicles in Atherosclerosis and Angiogenesis: From Bench to Bedside and Reverse

Atherosclerosis (AT) is a progressive chronic disease involving lipid accumulation, fibrosis, and inflammation in medium and large-sized arteries, and it is the main cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). AT is caused by dyslipidemia and mediated by both innate and adaptive immune responses. Despite lipid-lowering drugs have shown to decrease the risk of cardiovascular events (CVEs), there is a significant burden of AT-related morbidity and mortality. Identification of subjects at increased risk for CVE as well as discovery of novel therapeutic targets for improved treatment strategies are still unmet clinical needs in CVD. Microvesicles (MVs), small extracellular plasma membrane particles shed by activated and apoptotic cells have been widely linked to the development of CVD. MVs from vascular and resident cells by facilitating exchange of biological information between neighboring cells serve as cellular effectors in the bloodstream and play a key role in all stages of disease progression. This article reviews the current knowledge on the role of MVs in AT and CVD. Attention is focused on novel aspects of MV-mediated regulatory mechanisms from endothelial dysfunction, vascular wall inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis to coagulation and thrombosis in the progression and development of atherothrombosis. MV contribution to vascular remodeling is also discussed, with a particular emphasis on the effect of MVs on the crosstalk between endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells, and their role regulating the active process of AT-driven angiogenesis and neovascularization. This review also highlights the latest findings and main challenges on the potential prognostic, diagnostic, and therapeutic value of cell-derived MVs in CVD. In summary, MVs have emerged as new regulators of biological functions in atherothrombosis and might be instrumental in cardiovascular precision medicine; however, significant efforts are still needed to translate into clinics the latest findings on MV regulation and function.
Effect of Heat and Milk Yield on Bovine Plasma Glucocorticoid Levels 1

Summary This study indicates that at 15° higher producing cattle (milk yield) have higher plasma glucocorticoid concentrations compared to lower producing cattle with glucocorticoid levels appearing to be positively correlated with lactational intensity. Short term thermal (30°) exposure for 18 hr resulted in glucocorticoid levels being markedly lower in high producing cattle compared to low producers. This shift at 30° (after 18 hr) is possibly due to different time sequence of glucocorticoid response to thermal exposure between high and low producing cows. These data support the concept that gluco-corticoids assist the animal in efficiently meeting the greater energy demand of lactation and further studies should be undertaken to denote free plasma levels and their utilization by dairy cattle at various levels of milk production. The authors gratefully acknowledge Richard Morgan and Lewis Croy for cooperation on animal management, L. Hahn and Dale Clark for engineering support on this experiment, Carolyn Hebert for statistical analysis, Katy Douglass for typing the manuscript, and Chris Lippincott for preparing tables and figures.
Integrating Information Technology into Marketing Practice – The IT Reality of Contemporary Marketing Practice

The continuing assimilation of Information Technology (IT) into marketing practice is an issue of our time. The aim of this paper is to highlight that, despite the current negativity in the market, it is crucial that marketing's continuing assimilation of IT, for a variety of purposes, is not impacted. It also suggests a holistic rather than individualist view of IT in marketing in order to capitalise on its benefits and to cope with the reality of IT assimilation. Following empirical research a framework is proposed, which integrates contemporary marketing practice and IT assimilation, both descriptively and prescriptively. This framework can be used academically and practically, as a guide to the marketing specific IT assimilation issues. This paper is also a rally call for marketing professionals and academics to become more IT proficient in order to capitalise on the board range of ITs which are becoming core requirements for the practice of marketing.
The Performance Impact of Product Innovation Strategies

Product innovation is central to the success of most companies. The rewards of a successful innovation programme are highly visible in terms of sales, profits and growth. But not so apparent are the strategies that underlie these product innovation efforts. This monograph is about the ingredients of a winning new product strategy — about strategic decisions on markets, technologies, products — that result in a successful innovation programme.
Effectiveness and safety of omalizumab in chronic spontaneous or inducible urticaria: evaluation of 154 patients

DEAR EDITOR, Out-of-trial data on long-term safety and predictors of effectiveness of omalizumab (anti-IgE) in chronic urticaria are lacking. We evaluated the outcome of treatment with omalizumab in a large cohort of patients with chronic spontaneous or chronic inducible urticaria (CSU and CINDU, respectively). Data were retrieved via retrospective review of patient records from a tertiary dermatological referral centre (Department of Dermatology, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark). Complete ascertainment of patient records was possible as the department keeps track of all administered biological therapy. A consultant dermatologist (S.F.T.) verified the urticaria diagnosis and assessed response to treatment. Two authors (M.N.G. and S.F.T.) extracted the data and, in cases of disagreement, consensus was obtained by discussion with all the authors. According to Danish law, scientific ethics approval is not needed for retrospective chart reviews. Approval for the study was obtained from the National Board of Health (to examine patient records) and from the Data Protection Agency (to save patient data on file). All patients diagnosed with CSU or CINDU who had received at least one injection of omalizumab from 30 June 2010 to 31 December 2014 were included in the study. Response to omalizumab treatment was graded according to the degree of relief of symptoms reported by the patient and according to the physician’s assessment. It was possible to score the clinical response to treatment with omalizumab for each patient as a ‘complete or almost complete response’, ‘partial response’ and ‘no/limited response’ after 3–6 months of treatment. This grading is in accordance with the modified physician global assessment used in other dermatological diseases, where a complete or almost complete response corresponds to ≥ 90% reduction of symptoms; partial response is reduction in symptoms of between 30% and 89%; and no response or a limited response is a reduction in symptoms of < 30%. In total, 154 patients were identified; 110 (71 4%) women and 44 (28 6%) men (Table 1). The majority of the patients were diagnosed with CSU (89 0%). Of these, 30 7% had concomitant angioedema, 34 3% had a positive histamine release (HR) test and 22 6% had significant comorbidities, the most common being asthma, diabetes, hypertension and hypothyroidism. The 17 patients with CINDU had delayed-pressure urticaria (n = 5), cold urticaria (n = 5), cholinergic urticaria (n = 4), symptomatic dermographism (n = 2) and solar urticaria (n = 1). The average age at disease onset was significantly
An explorative analysis of Shanghai residents' outbound travel preferences during global financial crisis

As one of China's fastest growing outbound travel markets, Shanghai has witnessed a steady growth in outbound travel demand in recent years. The worldwide financial crisis, starting in 2007, negatively affected the global economy. Does the global financial crisis affect Shanghai residents' outbound travel too? Using descriptive analysis and factor analysis, this study explored and identified the preferences and influencing factors of Shanghai residents' outbound travel.
Pleural effusion in breast cancer. Thoracoscopy for hormone receptor determination

Metastatic breast cancer frequently presents as a malignant pleural effusion. Knowledge of the estrogen and progesterone receptor status of the tumor predicts response to hormonal therapy, but breast cancer tissue in the pleural space is not readily accessible for hormone receptor determination. Thoracoscopy was used in six breast cancer patients with pleural effusions; all but one had concurrent sites of metastases. In five of six women recurrent breast cancer in the pleural cavity was diagnosed by thoracoscopy, and in four sufficient tissue was obtained for receptor assay. All patients achieved excellent control of their pleural effusions through a combination of local sclerotic measures and systemic therapy. Thoracoscopy is a safe procedure that can be performed under local anesthesia and is useful to visualize the pleural space, not only for diagnosis but also for obtaining breast cancer tissue for hormone receptor determination.
Retail Customer Segmentation Based on Relational Benefits

Marketing is based on the establishment and maintenance of continuous relations between buyer and salesman as a source of mutual benefits. Nevertheless, perceptions of the benefits of these relations can vary to a great extent based on the type of client. The purpose of this article is to characterize groups of retail customers based on their perceptions of the benefits and costs derived from their relations with retailers. As a result of cluster analysis, we obtained a typology of consumers that differ significantly in their perceptions of relational benefits and of other retailer characteristics (e.g., store's information and communication technologies, perceived value, service quality and loyalty).
The effect of peer influence and selection processes on adolescent alcohol use: a systematic review of longitudinal studies

Adolescent alcohol use remains an important public health concern. One of the most salient and consistent predictors for drinking behaviour among young people is peer influence. A systematic review of longitudinal studies that examined the effect of peer influence on adolescent alcohol use between January 1997 and February 2011 is presented. Twenty-two studies fulfilled inclusion criteria and were reviewed. All but one study confirmed affiliation with alcohol-using or deviant peers as prospective predictors for the development of adolescent alcohol use. Findings revealed that existing longitudinal studies that have used multivariate analytic techniques to segregate peer influence (whereby adolescents start drinking after exposure to alcohol-using friends) and peer selection (whereby adolescents that start drinking without alcohol-using friends subsequently seek out drinking peers) effects consistently report significant peer influence effects. However, studies are unable to elucidate the relative contribution and developmental sequence of peer influence and selection. Existing research is synthesised to model the developmental influence of peer processes on adolescent alcohol use. Future research directions are recommended to inform better designed investigations that can lead to more effective endeavours to address peer processes in prevention efforts.
Bank lending effect on German commercial property prices

This paper analyzes the effects of bank lending on German commercial property prices. The theory on the role of financial intermediaries in business cycle activity states that lending activity is characterized by asymmetric information between borrowers and lenders. As a consequence, interest rates may not move to clear lending markets (as in models with moral hazard and adverse selection elements) or firms' net worth may play a critical role as collateral in influencing lending activity (as in models with agency costs). While the theory is concrete, the debate on the empirical support for these models continues. In this paper, our goal is to continue in exploring this debate by estimating a recursive VAR model using German (both aggregate and regional level) commercial property data from 1975 to 2004. Unlike other previous empirical results in commercial real estate literature, our main results show a weak negative correlation between growth in property prices and growth in credit, especially at the regional level.
The Corporate Governance in Uzbekistan: A Special Focus on the Board's Supervisory Role Compared with German Practice

Today, the topic of corporate governance has become vital for the most researches and scientific controversies. The corporate governance is now playing a key role in economic and social development of a country, and it has began to significantly matter for both industrialized and most of the developing countries. In the meantime, little is known for the world community about the state and problems of corporate governance in Uzbekistan. In this regard, in this paper we mainly address the present situation in Uzbek corporate governance as well as, as a special focus, make comparison of the Uzbek and German board’s supervisory role practices. This paper may be interesting for those who are not aware of the corporate governance in Uzbekistan and who would like to more or less know about it.
Comparison between two control strategies for input-series-output-series inverters system

Input-series output-series (ISOS) inverters system is very suitable for application of high input voltage and high output voltage. The significant issue of the system is to ensure input voltage sharing (IVS) and output voltage sharing (OVS) for all the constituent modules. This paper presents comparison and analysis between two control strategies for this novel configuration. A practical implementation of the IVS control, i.e., the three-loop strategy based on the inductor current feedback can achieve IVS but can not always achieve OVS. While a detailed realization of compound control, that is, the three-loop strategy based on the capacitor current feedback can achieve IVS and simultaneously achieve OVS unconditionally. The comparative results indicate that the latter strategy is superior to the former one. Simulation and experimental results are put forward to verify the theoretical analysis.
SmartLabs in electronics packaging education

The effect of parasitic inductances and capacitances in the performance of electronic systems is one of the feasible subjects for undergraduate labs. The students, apart from being able to correlate the resistance, inductance, capacitance and both mutual inductance and mutual capacitance with the layout dimensions must also be able to estimate the RF skin effects on inductance and resistance. The laboratory analysis of different layouts and of the influence their geometry has on these parameters is a very good way to reinforce the theoretical knowledge. In this regard, SmartLabs are a very interesting option when compared with traditional instruments. SmartLabs are made up by the combination of a DAQ board with any kind of personal computer (PC, Tablet-PC or even Smartphone) and the suitable software to implement the instrument user interface. This user interface configures the DAQ board, manages the captured data and organizes it in a suitable way as to facilitate the student recognition of the basic facts and laws that underlie the experiment. SmartLabs have important advantages over traditional instruments in terms of flexibility (the capture data processing and representation is made by software and not by hardware or firmware: this allows to process the data captured and stored in one or several experiments almost in any way expected to be suitable to reinforce the learning objectives), price (due to the extensive and competitive offer in the Tablet-PC and Smartphone market, and also to the fact that they can be used for very different and additional functions in the lab outside the lab), portability and wireless communication. The extra motivation caused in the student by the ability to perform the laboratory work in his own device is another appreciated feature of the SmartLabs. This paper builds on the expertise of the Electrical Equipments and Systems Area of the Institute for Energy Engineering in Universitat Politècnica de Valencia in the development of successful SmartLabs on transformer core magnetic cycles and losses, airgap field configurations of rotating electrical machines or reactive power control among others. The paper shows the work in progress on the development of a SamartLab to support the students in the execution of the tests and in the data collection and results arrangement, calculation and display to obtain the parasitic inductances and capacitances of different PCB tracing configurations. The SmartLab is aimed at assisting the student to correlate basic design choices in the PCB design with the value of specific parameters that influence the performance and reliability of the system.
Implication of relational capital and structural capital on product innovation

Intellectual capital is the source of innovation. Structural Capital and Relational Capital, two of the intellectual capital components, play an important role in influencing the process of product innovation. This study is based on underlying idea to evaluate the role of Structural Capital and Relational Capital in supporting innovation process. Based on a review of related literature, a conceptual framework was developed as a guideline for communicating ideas, theories and explanations. Structural Capital consists of the documentation of research and development (R&D) which included aspects such as databases, patent and procedures related to product development, while, Relational Capital composes good relationships between company and customers, suppliers, government agencies and allied partners. It is expected that Structural Capital and Relational Capital contribute to the outburst of better innovation opportunities. This aids the end product become more quality and value added so that companies can improve their business and focus on how they can become competitive.
My virtual model: Virtual reality comes into fashion

On a summer evening in 2003, when half of North America was plunged into the most devastating power failure in history, Louise Guay, president and co-founder of the company My Virtual Model (MVM), was deep in thought, contemplating the future of her business. In the past four years, Ms. Guay and her associate, Jean-François St-Arnaud, current CEO of the company, had ridden the same roller coaster as so many other e-commerce businesses. Their company’s greatest moments of glory came in 2000, when Virtual Model was showcased on Oprah, one of the most popular TV shows in America. Within hours of the broadcast, thousands of women visited the site of retailer Land’s End, MVM’s largest client, to create their own model (see Exhibit 1).
Spatial variation in osteon population density at the human femoral midshaft: histomorphometric adaptations to habitual load environment

Intracortical remodeling, and the osteons it produces, is one aspect of the bone microstructure that is influenced by and, in turn, can influence its mechanical properties. Previous research examining the spatial distribution of intracortical remodeling density across the femoral midshaft has been limited to either considering only small regions of the cortex or, when looking at the entirety of the cortex, considering only a single individual. This study examined the spatial distribution of all remodeling events (intact osteons, fragmentary osteons, and resorptive bays) across the entirety of the femoral midshaft in a sample of 30 modern cadaveric donors. The sample consisted of 15 males and 15 females, aged 21–97 years at time of death. Using geographic information systems software, the femoral cortex was subdivided radially into thirds and circumferentially into octants, and the spatial location of all remodeling events was marked. Density maps and calculation of osteon population density in cortical regions of interest revealed that remodeling density is typically highest in the periosteal third of the bone, particularly in the lateral and anterolateral regions of the cortex. Due to modeling drift, this area of the midshaft femur has some of the youngest primary tissue, which consequently reveals that the lateral and anterolateral regions of the femoral midshaft have higher remodeling rates than elsewhere in the cortex. This is likely the result of tension/shear forces and/or greater strain magnitudes acting upon the anterolateral femur, which results in a greater amount of microdamage in need of repair than is seen in the medial and posterior regions of the femoral midshaft, which are more subject to compressive forces and/or lesser strain magnitudes.
GPU virtualization for high performance general purpose computing on the ESX hypervisor

Graphics Processing Units (GPU) have become important components in high performance computing (HPC) systems for their massively parallel computing capability and energy efficiency. Virtualization technologies are increasingly applied to HPC to reduce administration costs and improve system utilization. However, virtualizing the GPU to support general purpose computing presents many challenges because of the complexity of this device. On VMware's ESX hypervisor, DirectPath I/O can provide virtual machines (VM) high performance access to physical GPUs. However, this technology does not allow multiplexing for sharing GPUs among VMs and is not compatible with vMotion, VMware's technology for transparently migrating VMs among hosts inside clusters. In this paper, we address these issues by implementing a solution that uses "remote API execution" and takes advantage of DirectPath I/O to enable general purpose GPU on ESX. This solution, named vmCUDA, allows CUDA applications running concurrently in multiple VMs on ESX to share GPU(s). Our solution requires neither recompilation nor even editing of the source code of CUDA applications. Our performance evaluation has shown that vmCUDA introduced an overhead of 0.6% - 3.5% for applications with moderate data size and 14% - 20% for those with large data (e.g. 12.5 GB - 237.5GB in our experiments).