Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simultaneous Intracochlear Stimulation Based on Channel Interaction Compensation: Analysis and First Results

A simultaneous paradigm for electric stimulation of the acoustic nerve based on a monopolar electrode configuration and sign-correlated pulses is presented. Simultaneous pulse amplitudes are determined by taking into account parameters of spatial channel interaction. The computation of simultaneous amplitudes requires the solution of linear systems of equations in an iterative procedure. The computation amount can be reduced significantly, if the spatial impulse responses in individual electrodes can be approximated by two exponentially decaying branches with decay constants alpha toward apex and beta toward base. Generally, the associated inverse of the channel interaction matrix is tridiagonal. Preliminary vowel and consonant identification tests with four cochlear implant patients have been conducted for sequential and simultaneous processor settings. For equal overall pulse repetition rates, comparable speech perception scores were obtained, when the decay constants alpha and beta were set accordingly. Theoretically, the pulse rate of an N-channel system can be increased up to a factor of N as compared to the standard sequential paradigm, and pulses with technically reasonable phase durations can be utilized.
The iron-H2O2-iodide cytotoxic system

A potent antimicrobial system is described which consists of ferrous sulfate (Fe2+), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and iodide in 0.02 M sodium acetate buffer pH 5.5. H2O2 could be replaced by the H2O2-generating system glucose + glucose oxidase. This system, unlike the myeloperoxidase-H2O2-halide system, was ineffective when iodide was replaced by bromide, chloride, or thyroxine, and was inhibited by EDTA, the hydroxyl radical scavengers mannitol and ethanol, and phosphate and lactate buffers at the same concentration and pH as the acetate buffer used. The acetate buffer, however, could be replaced by water. It is proposed that Fe2+ and H2O2 (Fenton's reagent) generate OH X (or a closely related substance), which interacts with iodide to form one or more toxic species.
Pathways to violated expectations of epidural uptake

Objective: To examine maternal prenatal expectations for epidural uptake with their intrapartum actual epidural uptake followed by maternal postpartum reporting. Background: Childbearing women may or may not expect to have an epidural in childbirth, but the match between expected and actual epidural uptake has not been examined. The issue is important because childbirth expectations have been associated with actual experiences and later adjustment. Methods: Prospective, longitudinal study of 55 obstetric clinic patients from the US Pacific Northwest region. In the third trimester of pregnancy, participants reported on epidural expectation and fear of childbirth pain. Postpartum reports included birth characteristics, satisfaction, and description of epidural uptake. Results: Of the 21 participants who expected to have an epidural, 18 (86%) did; of those who did not expect one, 6/16 (38%) did not have one. Fourteen (78%) of the 18 who expected to ‘wait and see’ had an epidural. Birth satisfaction was significantly higher in confirmed vs. violated expectation subgroups. Qualitative data identified factors potentially involved in epidural uptake expectancy violations. Conclusions: This study on expected vs. actual epidural uptake has identified specific factors in the pathway to expectancy violation such as late-term pregnancy concerns, labour onset timing, and medical induction, which has important implications for research and counselling on birth options.
Libsafe: transparent system-wide protection against buffer overflow attacks

Libsafe is a practical solution that protects against the most common forms of buffer overflow attacks. Such attacks often result in granting the attacker full privileges on the target system. Libsafe is implemented as a shared library that intercepts calls to vulnerable standard library functions. Based on an inspection of the process stack and the function arguments, Libsafe ensures that no return addresses can be overwritten, thus preventing the most common form of buffer overflow attack.
Definiciones de sepsis neonatal: un largo camino por recorrer

La sepsis es sin duda uno de los grandes problemas en el ejercicio de la Neonatologia. Los estudios del Grupo de Hospitales Castrillo situan en Espana la incidencia de sepsis de transmision vertical en 2,5 por 1.000 recien nacidos vivos, y la de sepsis nosocomial en 2,1 % de los ingresos en unidades neonatales, con una mortalidad del 8,7 y el 11,8%, respectivamente1,2. Las cifras son similares a las de otros paises desarrollados como Estados Unidos, con una incidencia entre 1,5 y 3,5‰, y muy inferiores a las de los paises empobrecidos3. En realidad esto es solo la punta del iceberg, puesto que son muchos mas los neonatos que son sometidos a chequeos para descartar sepsis y son tratados con antibioticos. En un estudio estadounidense solo el 2,2% de los recien nacidos chequeados para sepsis cumplio finalmente criterios de infeccion posible, probable o probada4. Aunque el concepto de sepsis esta muy extendido y forma parte de la practica diaria de nuestros hospitales, lo cierto es que hasta el momento no existe un consenso internacional para definir con nitidez la sepsis neonatal. En este numero de ANALES DE PEDIATRIA, Reyna-Figueroa et al5 ponen de manifiesto la gran disparidad que existe en los criterios empleados para definir sepsis neonatal en estudios de investigacion. Pese a sus limitaciones (la busqueda bibliografica se realizo en una unica base de datos, Medline, y solo para articulos publicados en ingles) es probable que el trabajo refleje bien la situacion real de la investigacion en sepsis neonatal. Pese a que los resultados obtenidos puedan parecer desalentadores, con solo un 26,6% de los estudios empleando criterios mas o menos superponibles a los del consenso internacional de sepsis pediatrica de 2005, es importante situar tales hallazgos dentro de su contexto. DESARROLLO DE LOS CONSENSOS
Magnetically Controllable Gastrointestinal Steering of Video Capsules

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) allows for comfortable video explorations of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, with special indication for the small bowel. In the other segments of the GI tract also accessible to probe gastroscopy and colonscopy, WCE still exhibits poorer diagnostic efficacy. Its main drawback is the impossibility of controlling the capsule movement, which is randomly driven by peristalsis and gravity. To solve this problem, magnetic maneuvering has recently become a thrust research area. Here, we report the first demonstration of accurate robotic steering and noninvasive 3-D localization of a magnetically enabled sample of the most common video capsule (PillCam, Given Imaging Ltd, Israel) within each of the main regions of the GI tract (esophagus, stomach, small bowel, and colon) in vivo, in a domestic pig model. Moreover, we demonstrate how this is readily achievable with a robotic magnetic navigation system (Niobe, Stereotaxis, Inc, USA) already used for cardiovascular clinical procedures. The capsule was freely and safely moved with omnidirectional steering accuracy of 1°, and was tracked in real time through fluoroscopic imaging, which also allowed for 3-D localization with an error of 1 mm. The accuracy of steering and localization enabled by the Stereotaxis system and its clinical accessibility world wide may allow for immediate and broad usage in this new application. This anticipates magnetically steerable WCE as a near-term reality. The instrumentation should be used with the next generations of video capsules, intrinsically magnetic and capable of real-time optical-image visualization, which are expected to reach the market soon.
Silent Data Corruption - Myth or reality?

The higher complexity of the hardware and software employed by modern computing systems, as well as semiconductor technology scaling, are increasing the likelihood of silent data corruption (SDC). SDC occurs when incorrect data is provided to the user, e.g., written to the memory or I/O system, and no error is triggered. Such events may have catastrophic effects, in the case of life critical applications, and represent a significant cost penalty for businesses. The purpose of this panel is to provide real examples of silent corruption, and discuss solutions for avoiding it. The presentations address SDC generated at the semiconductor device level, as well as the virtualization software level. Techniques for reducing SDC, from the circuit to system level, will be covered. Results of an extensive SDC study, carried out at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) on high-performance computing (HPC) platforms are also given.
Carnivore coexistence: value the wilderness.

In their Report “Recovery of large carnivores in Europe's modern human-dominated landscapes” (19 December 2014, p. [1517][1]), G. Chapron et al. recount encouraging news that brown bear, wolf, European lynx, and wolverine populations are stable or increasing in Europe. Still more encouraging,
Being There Together?

A man walks into a bar and looks around. A bartender looks up and smiles quickly. The man notices, smiles back and heads over towards the bar. A very simple interaction between two people just took place, but the punch line of this example from a recent experiment in our CAVE-like system is that the bartender is a simulated agent. Never the less the man's response appears to be genuine: it seems that he acts to some extent, even if its only subconsciously, as if the bartender is real. Two friends meet in a collaborative virtual environment (CVE). Both are using CAVE-like immersive virtual environments which give them a 1-1 scale view of the world. They are both quite tall, but one comments that the other is looking quite short today. They laugh about this and then get down to the task in hand. The “shortness” is actually true in the virtual sense and is due to a tracker calibration problem in one of the CAVE-like systems. These two small examples highlight what a complex phenomena a CVE is. Today tens of thousands of people regularly use simple versions of such systems through online game technology. But their experience of interacting with other people is limited by the crude interfaces they must use. This talk investigates how good communication at a distance can be using the best available technology. We will look at the qualities of inter-personal communication that are possible in CVEs using a range of examples from recent experiments and trials. We will then analyze how distributed system technology supports and hinders various aspects of this
Die akute gastrointestinale Blutung aus der Sicht des interventionellen Radiologen - Möglichkeiten und Grenzen

In der interdisziplinaren Behandlung der akuten gastrointestinalen Blutung sind interventionell-radiologische Verfahren nicht mehr wegzudenken. Bei arteriellen Blutungsquellen ist deren katheterangiographische Visualisierung oft einschrankend. Bei arteriellen gastroduodenalen Blutungen spielt die Embolisation nur eine Nebenrolle und wird endoskopischen Therapieversagern oder inoperablen Patienten vorbehalten. Zur Stillung transpapillarer Blutungen ist die Embolisation die Methode der Wahl. Dank Mikrokathetern hat sich die transarterielle Embolisation im Dunndarm und Colon als sichere und wirksame Akuttherapie etabliert. Der transjugulare intrahepatische post-systemische Shunt (TIPS) alleine oder mit transvenoser Varizenembolisation ist eine robuste Technik zur Stillung und Sekundarpravention der portalen Varizenblutungen jeglicher Lokalisation. Die TIPS-Offenheitsrate und damit die Kontrolle der Rezidivblutungen konnte durch die Einfuhrung von ummantelten Stents in den letzten Jahren wesentlich verbessert.
Burnout, Depression und Substanzgebrauch bei Ärzten - Ein Überblick zur derzeitigen Datenlage in Deutschland

Numerous studies world-wide have shown an increased risk for physicians to develop a burnout in comparison to other occupational groups. First the burnout syndrome is defined in this article. It is followed by an overview of the actual research on burnout, quality of life, substance abuse and depression amongst German doctors. To summarise reliable epidemiological data in support of this is lacking in Germany. Other countries offer specific therapy options to physicians, which are partly supported by the medical associations. These options are almost non-existant in Germany. Epidemiologic research on this topic seems essential. A second step could be to analyse the ways of causes, prevention and an eventual demand on physician specific therapy options.
Physiology of Heat Regulation and the Science of Clothing

1はじめに 北極海に面してシベリアからアラスカ、カナダ、グ リーンランドに暮らしていた原住民、対極の南極に面 した南アメリカ最南端の地で暮らしていた原住民、そ して寒暖の差が大きいオーストラリアの寒冷地で暮ら していたオーストラリア原住民、彼らの 20 世紀初頭の 生活の様子を紹介する。 今では多くの人々は絶滅して しまったが、ヨーロッパ人と共存している人もいる。 第二次世界大戦のとき、どんなに寒いところでも、凍 てついた極地であろうが、また逆に、焼けるような太 陽の砂漠や、高温多湿のジャングルの中でも兵士は戦っ た。 兵士は、野営用の寝袋や衣服は荷を軽くするため に持ち歩けなかったが、重い荷を持って行軍したり走 り回ったりした。 また、いつまでも敵にかくれてじっ と身をひそめなければならないときもあった。 飛行機 に乗っているときには、上空で寒さに耐え、撃ち落と され冷水の中に落ちる時もあった。 第二次世界大戦の ときに極寒猛暑の地域においても戦うために、暑熱寒 冷環境下に於けるヒトの体温調節とその限界について、 アメリカとカナダは官民一体となって研究を行った。 そして、その成果を「PHYSIOLOGY OF HEAT REGULATION and The Science of Clothing」 (体 温調節の生理学と衣服学)にまとめた。 研究成果は、第 1部「いろいろな環境に於ける人体 生理反応について」と、第 2部「いろいろな環境で快 適に過ごすための被服学について」としてまとめられた。 第1部では、1)ヨーロッパ人以外の人々の気候適応、2) 温度測定、3)熱移動、4)体温調節、5)暑熱適応の生 理、6)寒冷適応の生理、7)体の各部の熱放散、8)暑 熱寒冷気候に対する生理反応の生理的限界、9)快適指 数、について述べられている。 第 2部では衣服について、 10)布の物理特性、11)実験室と野外での実験(1砂 漠、2熱帯、3低温低湿での防寒、4低温多湿での防寒、 5水中、6手の特別な問題)、12)衣服と気候、の項目 で記述されている。 第 1部 1)ヨーロッパ人以外の人々の気候適応のなか の寒冷適応について、以下に紹介する。
Seismic risk. New jitters over megaquakes in Himalayas.

Seismologists worried about the prospect of a massive earthquake in the shadow of the Himalayas, where it could devastate cities such as Kathmandu and Delhi, have long cast a wary glance at an eerily calm region called the central seismic gap. A massive earthquake in southwestern Tibet in 1505 C.E. , researchers proposed a decade ago, relieved enough strain to quiet that stretch of the restive Himalayas. But new findings now suggest that the 1505 temblor was smaller than thought and was just one of a cluster of potent quakes to rattle the region within a few centuries. If so, the recurrence of major quakes in the Himalayas, unlike in many other seismic hot spots, follows no discernible pattern of strain relief—meaning that authorities must gird for a megaearthquake anywhere at any time.
Inversin correlates with the malignant phenotype of non–small cell lung cancer and promotes the invasiveness of lung cancer cells

Inversin, encoded by NPHP2, is one of the 10 NPHP proteins known to be involved in nephronophthisis (an autosomal recessive cystic kidney). Although the previous reports showed that inversin played an important role in embryonic development and renal diseases, its function in cancer was not revealed clearly so far. As measured by immunohistochemical staining, inversin was highly expressed in the cytoplasm of lung cancer samples (63.4%, 161/254) compared with adjacent normal lung tissues (22.0%, 11/50, p < 0.01). Moreover, its expression was positively correlated with differentiation (p = 0.014), tumor node metastasis staging (p = 0.007), and lymph node metastasis (p = 0.020). The overall survival of non–small cell lung cancer patients with inversin positive expression (45.41 ± 1.800 months) was significantly reduced compared with those with inversin negative expression (51.046 ± 2.238 months, p = 0.042). Consistently, we found that the invasion capacity of A549 cells transfected with inversin was significantly stronger than that of control cells (p < 0.05), while inversin siRNA-treatment significantly reduced cell invasion in H1299 cells (p < 0.05). Additionally, we demonstrated that inversin could upregulate the expression of N-cadherin, Vimentin, matrix metalloproteinase-2, and matrix metalloproteinase-9. Collectively, these results indicated that inversin might promote the tumorigenicity of lung cancer cells and serve as a novel therapeutic target of non–small cell lung cancer.
Metric evaluation of embedded Java-based proxies on handheld devices in cluster-based ad-hoc routing

Ad-hoc wireless networks, which use ad-hoc routing methods may prove a good solution in certain applications, especially where networks have to be constructed where there is no possibly of creating a network backbone, and in emergency situations. They may also lead to more flexible networks, which require reduced configuration, and allow for optimised routes. There is thus a requirement to use mobile devices as intermediate routing devices, which forward data from one device to another. One of the best methods is to run a proxy server on the mobile device, as it allows for a simple implementation on the device. A key factor in this is determining the fitness of a mobile device, especially a limited one, such as a handheld PDA. This paper discusses the metrics that could be used to assess the potential of devices and their environment to route certain types of data, and presents results from iPAQ devices using a range of differing operating systems. It shows how performance of a proxy device varies depending on several factors including the Java environment used, and the operating system used. The paper shows that Linux versions for handheld devices out-perform the equivalent Windows systems for the key performance metrics for proxy devices, such as battery usage and network performance.
Erste Ergebnisse der Implantation einer neuen, potenziell akkommodierbaren Hinterkammerlinse - eine prospektive Sicherheitsstudie

Purpose: Conventional posterior chamber intraocular lenses (PCIOL) generally provide excellent visual acuity but do not restore accommodation. A new, potentially accommodative PCIOL has been designed after principles elaborated by K.D. Hanna using finite element models. However, before newly developed PCIOL may be implanted routinely in larger numbers of patients, careful and meticulous evaluation in clinical studies is necessary. Thus, it was the aim of this study to investigate intra- and early 3-month postoperative findings after implantation of the newly designed PCIOL. Patients and Methods: In a prospective pilot and safety study that was approved by the ethics committee of our university, six eyes of six patients (2 males, 4 females, age range 54 to 87 years) with senile or presenile cataract underwent phacoemulsification and implantation of the new PCIOL by one surgeon between June and November 2000. The PCIOL (1 CU, HumanOptics AG, Erlangen, Germany) is a one-piece hydrophilic acrylic foldable lens with an optic diameter of 5.5 mm. Modified haptics are intended to allow anterior movement of the lens optic as a function of contraction of the ciliary muscle. Intra- and early postoperative findings obtained after one and two days, one, two and six weeks and 3 months postoperatively were documented prospectively. Postoperative examinations included recording of distance and near visual acuity both obtained with best distance correction, determination of subjective near point and measurement of distance and near refraction by streak retinoscopy. Follow-up was at least three months in all patients. Results: Surgery was uncomplicated in all patients with successful in-the-bag implantation and good centration of the PCIOL. The postoperative course was uncomplicated without inflammation, hemorrhage, synechiae or decentration. Visual acuity improved in all patients according to the status of the macula with values between 20/200 (atrophic maculopathy) and 20/20. After three to six months we observed a difference between retinoscopic near and distance refraction of 0.625 to 1.875 D and subjective near points of 40 to 100 cm. Near visual acuity with distance correction ranged from 0.1 or J 16 (atrophic maculopathy) to 0.4 or J 7. Conclusions: These early and preliminary results of our small pilot study are encouraging. Our findings may indicate at least some degree of pseudophakic accommodation. However, further studies with additional methods of measurements, with longer follow-up, more patients and controlled studies with control groups are essential to further determine safety and potential accommodative power of this new PCIOL.
Feature-Preserving Smoothing of Diffusion Weighted Images Using Nonstationarity Adaptive Filtering

Although promising for studying the microstructure of in vivo tissues, the performance and the potentiality of diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging are hampered by the presence of high-level noise in diffusion weighted (DW) images. This paper proposes a novel smoothing approach, called the nonstationarity adaptive filtering, which estimates the intensity of a pixel by averaging intensities in its adaptive homogeneous neighborhood. The latter is determined according to five constraints and spatiodirectional nonstationarity measure maps. The proposed approach is compared with an anisotropic diffusion method used in DW image smoothing. Experimental results on both synthetic and real human DW images show that the proposed method achieves a better compromise between the smoothness of homogeneous regions and the preservation of desirable features such as boundaries, even for highly noisy data, thus leading to homogeneously consistent tensor fields and consequently more coherent fibers.
The Effect of Physical Function on Operative Treatment of Colorectal Cancer Patients

Abstract The purpose of this study was attempted to identify the effect of physical function on operative treatment of colorectal cancer patients. Colorectal cancer patients(110 persons) who visited a general hospital in Seoul were examined with questionnaires and interview from December 15, 2009 to January 30, 2010. The results of this study are as follows ; First, operative treatment side-effects were significantly higher in patients before ileostomy repair than in patients after ileostomy repair(t=5.284, p<0.001). Secondly, sexual satisfaction were higher in pre-operative radiotherapy patients than in post-operative radiotherapy patients(t=1.946, p<0.05). Thirdly, micturition problems were significantly higher in discomfort symptom of stoma patients than in nonstoma patients(t=1.537, p<0.05). In conclusion, in order to improve physical function on operative treatment of colorectal cancer patients, it is necessary to develop intervention program about the improvement of function status and discomfort symptoms.
An Online Semi-supervised Brain–Computer Interface

Practical brain-computer interface (BCI) systems should require only low training effort for the user, and the algorithms used to classify the intent of the user should be computationally efficient. However, due to inter- and intra-subject variations in EEG signal, intermittent training/calibration is often unavoidable. In this paper, we present an online semi-supervised P300 BCI speller system. After a short initial training (around or less than 1 min in our experiments), the system is switched to a mode where the user can input characters through selective attention. In this mode, a self-training least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) classifier is gradually enhanced in back end with the unlabeled EEG data collected online after every character input. In this way, the classifier is gradually enhanced. Even though the user may experience some errors in input at the beginning due to the small initial training dataset, the accuracy approaches that of fully supervised method in a few minutes. The algorithm based on LS-SVM and its sequential update has low computational complexity; thus, it is suitable for online applications. The effectiveness of the algorithm has been validated through data analysis on BCI Competition III dataset II (P300 speller BCI data). The performance of the online system was evaluated through experimental results on eight healthy subjects, where all of them achieved the spelling accuracy of 85 % or above within an average online semi-supervised learning time of around 3 min.