Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiac iron and cardiac disease in males and females with transfusion-dependent thalassemia major : a T 2 * MRI study

Background. It has been repeatedly reported that female patients with thalassemia major survive longer than males and that the difference is due to a lower rate of cardiac disease in females. Design and Methods. We compared the cardiac iron load as measured by magnetic resonance imaging T2* in 776 patients (370 males) examined at the National Research Council as part of an Italian cooperative study. We also established normal left ventricular ejection fraction values for our population. Results. Prevalence of cardiac disease was higher in males compared to females (105 males vs 69 females; p <0.0001). Cardiac T2* was significantly lower in patients with heart dysfunction (p <0.0001), but no difference was observed according to sex. Twenty males and 5 females had a history of cardiac arrhythmias. Their cardiac T2* was not significantly lower than that of patients without arrhythmias (24 ms vs 26 ms; p=0.381), nor was there a difference between sexes. Liver T2* was significantly lower in males and females with heart dysfunction compared to those without. Ferritin levels were higher in patients of both sexes with heart dysfunction without significant differences between males and females Conclusions. Males and females are at the same risk of accumulating iron in their hearts, but females tolerate iron toxicity better, possibly as an effect of reduced sensitivity to chronic oxidative stress. Introduction Survival of patients with thalassemia major has significantly improved in recent decades, due to regular transfusions and chelation therapy. This favorable trend continues, thanks to the introduction of new oral iron chelators and imaging methods, which allow better management of iron overload. However, complications are still frequent and cardiac disease remains the leading cause of death in these patients. It has been repeatedly reported that female patients have a better prognosis than males. All the studies have been concordant in documenting significantly better results for female than for male patients. 2, . In a Greek study, women had 23% longer life expectancy than men and in a large report from Cyprus including the entire population born after 1974, a multivariate analysis demonstrated that women had less than half the risk of death compared to men. The difference in survival is mainly due to a lower prevalence of cardiac disease in females. Male patients were more likely to develop heart failure and arrhythmias than were female patients. An Italian cooperative study showed a highly significant association between sex and heart failure. In fact 71% of the patients with heart failure were males. It has been suggested that females have a better compliance than males, and therefore accumulate less iron in crucial organs like the heart and the liver. Such a hypothesis, however, is not confirmed by ferritin levels, which, in our series, were not significantly lower in females. DOI: 10.3324/haematol.2010. 025510
Side‐chain interactions in the C‐peptide helix: Phe 8 ⃛ His 12+

Previous studies have demonstrated that His 12 plays a major role in the pH‐dependent stability of the helix formed by the isolated C‐peptide (residues 1–13 of ribonuclease A). Here, amino acid replacement experiments show that His 12+ stabilizes the C‐peptide helix chiefly by interacting with Phe 8. The Phe 8 ⃛ His 12+ ring interaction is specific for the protonated form of His 12 (His 12+) and the interaction is not screened significantly by NaCl, unlike the charged group ⃛ helix dipole interactions studied earlier in C‐peptide. Analogs of C‐peptide that are unable to form the Phe 8 ⃛ His 12+ interaction show large increases in helix content for Phe → Ala and His → Ala. Therefore, the helical tendencies of the individual residues Phe, His, and Ala are important in determining the result of a replacement experiment. Since the side chains of Phe 8 and His 12 probably interact within the N‐terminal helix of ribonuclease A, the existence of the Phe 8 ⃛ His 12+ interaction in the isolated C‐peptide helix adds to the evidence that the C‐peptide helix is an autonomous folding unit.
Adaptive Object Tracking for Improved Gaze Estimation Based on Fusion of Starburst Algorithm and Natural Features Tracking

Gaze tracking is an important task for near-eye devices. One of the sophisticated problems in gaze tracking is tracker robustness due to high eye topology variation, lighting variations, and partial occlusions of the eye. The proposed method overcomes this problem by employing advantages of adaptive feature based approach based on natural FERN features, strong model-based Viola Jones object detector, and fusion with Starburst algorithm.
Data driven functional regions

National scale changes in social, economic, and demographic variables are the result of a diverse range of interactions at the local, regional, national, and international level. Even within a single local area, there are a myriad of factors driving change and promoting stability and/or instability (Green & Owen 1990). The past several decades have seen increasing recognition that the standard administrative areas used by governments for policy making, resource allocation, and research do not provide meaningful information on actual conditions of a particular place or region (Ball 1980, Casado-Dı́az 2000). As such, there has been a move towards the identification and delineation of functional regions, commonly based on the conditions of local labour markets (Smart 1974, Casado-Dı́az 2000, Coombes 2002, Watts 2004). Ball (1980) suggests that the use of a spatial definition of local labour market conditions, such as functional regions, is of particular relevance for several reasons, including as a means of presenting information and statistics on employment and socio-economic structures, as well as assessing the effectiveness of regional policy decisions, and local government reorganisation. Journey to work behaviour is widely cited as one of the most appropriate indicators of local labour market dimensions (e.g., Ball 1980, Gerard 1958, Vance 1960, Hunter 1969), and as a result, is often used to develop functional regions. As such, a functional region is often defined as a geographical region in which a large majority of the local population seeks employment, and the majority of local employers recruit their labour (Ball 1980, Coombes & Openshaw 1982, Casado-Dı́az 2000). Functional regions are generally
Retrospective follow up of gross motor development in children using propranolol for treatment of infantile haemangioma at Sydney Children's Hospital

Questions have been raised as to whether propranolol, which crosses the blood‐brain barrier, when used early in life may have an adverse effect on gross motor development. A retrospective survey asking questions about gross motor development was sent to the families of children who had been prescribed oral propranolol for infantile haemangioma at Sydney Children's Hospital between 2008 and 2013. It was found that of the 84 patients surveyed, four were delayed in walking unassisted. There was a statistically significant influence if the child was taking other medications which included prednisolone, vincristine, omeprazole, ranitidine, salbutamol, Flixotide, Timoptol and antibiotics. This was not further analysed in this study because of the low numbers involved. There was no statistically significant influence of gestational age, birth weight or length of time on propranolol. This study adds to the retrospective data available; however large‐scale prospective studies are needed to identify unexpected long‐term side‐effects.
Estimates of Black Carbon and Size-Resolved Particle Number Emission Factors from Residential Wood Burning Based on Ambient Monitoring and Model Simulations

Abstract In this paper we derive typical emission factors for coarse particulate matter (PM10), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), black carbon (BC), and number particle size distributions based on a combination of measurements and air quality dispersion modeling. The advantage of this approach is that the emission factors represent integrated emissions from several vehicle types and different types of wood stoves. Normally it is very difficult to estimate the total emissions in cities on the basis of laboratory measurements on single vehicles or stoves because of the large variability in conditions. The measurements were made in Temuco, Chile, between April 18 and June 15, 2005 at two sites. The first one was located in a residential area relatively far from major roads. The second site was located in a busy street in downtown Temuco where wood consumption is low. The measurements support the assumption that the monitoring sites represent the impact of different emission sources, namely traffic and residential wood combustion (RWC). Fitting model results to the available measurements, emission factors were obtained for PM10 (RWC = 2160 ± 100 mg/kg; traffic = 610 ± 51 mg/vehkm), NOx (RWC = 800 ± 100 mg/kg; traffic = 4400 ± 100 mg/veh-km), BC (RWC = 74 ± 6 mg/kg; traffic = 60 ± 3 mg/veh-km) and particle number (N) with size distribution between 25 and 600 nm (N25–600) (RWC = 8.9 ± 1 × 1014 pt/kg; traffic = 6.7 ± 0.5 × 1014 pt/veh-km). The obtained emission factors are comparable to results reported in the literature. The size distribution of the N emission factors for traffic was shown to be different than for RWC. The main difference is that although traffic emissions show a bimodal size distribution with a main mode below 30 nm and a secondary one around 100 nm, RWC emissions show the main mode slightly below 100 nm and a smaller nucleation mode below 50 nm.
The Effect of Exhausting Exercise Induced Fatigue on the Double-Leg Balance of Elite Male Athletes

Problem statement: Fatigue is a complex phenomenon that can be described as a time-dependent exercise-induced reduction in the maximal force generating capacity of a muscle. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of exhausting exercise induced fatigue on the double-leg balance of elite male athletes. Approach: This study included 30 apparently healthy young adults (handball and basketball professional players), 15 subjects in the control group (15 men with mean age 23±2.1 years old, Body Mass 82±1.3 kg and Body Height 181±9.7 cm) and 15 subjects in the experiment group (15 men; age 23.1±2.2 years old, mean weight 81±0.9 kg and mean height 183±7.4 cm), matched evenly for age. In this study RAST test used for fatigue protocole. Biodex balance system and lactometer used for evaluation of balance and blood lactate level (respectively). For statistical analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient, paired t-test and sample t-test were used. Results: Results revealed that there aren’t any significant main effects for time, such that double legged balance performance was maintained throughout the trial. There aren’t any significant main effects for time in the mean lateral deflection of the biodex platform. However, there was a significant main effect (p = 0.091) in the mean anterior-posterior deflection. The mean deflection was significantly reduced, i.e., toward the anterior direction, at the end of each half relative to all other time points. Hence there wasn’t a significant relationship between lactate acid accumulation and variations of stability indices (r = -0/661, p<0.05). The balance index was significantly lower for standing with eyes open compared with eyes closed. The sensorimotor system normally uses inputs from three afferent systems: vestibular, somatosensory and visual. When one of those systems (somatosensory) is impaired, the two intact systems compensate for the impaired one to some extent. Therefore, balance index in the eyes-closed situation becomes higher compared with eyes open. Conclusion: Balance was maintained (in eyes opened situation) and this shows that balance have a little decreases in double leg stance in professional athletes.
Power Monitoring Device with Quantitative Harmonic Source Identification

In recent years, harmonic pollution is a growing concern with large volume of nonlinear devices applied in power systems. Those devices cause voltage and current distortion throughout the power system, which can result in reduction of efficiency of the generation, transmission and utilization of electric energy; as well as dysfunctions of power system components by interfering with relay protections and communications. Power system utilities strive to ensure that the voltage harmonic distortion planning levels are maintained by limiting the harmonic currents injected by the nonlinear loads. A power monitoring device able to quantitatively assess the harmonic contribution of a nonlinear load at one physical point called Point of Common Coupling (PCC) is envisaged as significantly promising equipment in power system engineering area. In addition, the analyzed results of such device can cast justifications in delimiting the responsibilities of the parties involved, and make it possible to build up an incentive scheme to control harmonic pollution in power systems. This paper presents a non-invasive and effective method to determine voltage harmonic emission level caused by a major nonlinear load. The method can be readily implemented on most existing power monitoring devices.
Characterization of dense multipath effects for non-coherent GMSK wireless channels in indoor environments

This paper analyzes the effects of multipath propagation for localization of non-cooperative mobile phones (GMSK modulation) in indoor environments with reinforced concrete walls and metal objects. For localization based on Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) calculation, cross-correlation of signals received by different sensors yields accurate propagation delays under dominant direct-path conditions. However, parameters like varying transmitter positions and frequency hopping influence the wireless channel causing systematic overestimation of calculated delays, especially under dense multipath conditions. By comparing the results of channel sounding and actual sensor data we try to characterize the non-coherent wireless channel and its multipath propagation effects with respect to TDOA correlation methods.
Use of Antipsychosis and Adjunctive Medications by an Inner Urban Community Psychiatric Service

Objective: The aim of this paper is to survey patterns of use of new generation and conventional antipsychosis and adjunctive drugs by an inner urban community psychiatric service. Method: All prescriptions for antipsychosis medications and all patients receiving these drugs in May 1998 were identified. Case record review yielded demographic and diagnostic data. Information was also obtained directly from prescribers. Results: Of 859 patients, 77% received antipsychosis medication; 53% of prescriptions for antipsychotics were for new generation drugs: risperidone (42%), olanzapine (37%) and clozapine (21%). Mean doses were 4.1 ± 2.5 mg (risperidone), 14.7 ± 8.2 mg (olanzapine) and 377.4 ± 178.9 mg (clozapine). Doses for men tended to be higher than those for women, but the differences were not significant. DSM-IV diagnosis was schizophrenia for 74% of patients on atypicals, but patients with other diagnoses were also being treated with these drugs. Risperidone was more commonly used in combination with benzodiazepines and anticholinergics than olanzapine and clozapine, while clozapine was less likely to be combined with antidepressants and mood stabilisers. Of the conventionals, 66% were in depot form, mostly because of non-compliance. Combinations of antipsychotics were prescribed to 13% of patients. Conclusion: New generation antipsychosis medications were prescribed more commonly than conventional drugs in this service for a wide range of diagnoses. Adjunctive medications were commonly utilised. These findings underline the clinical complexity of antipsychotic treatment in a changing environment.
Measurement of Pseudomonas aeruginosa phenazine pigments in sputum and assessment of their contribution to sputum sol toxicity for respiratory epithelium

The phenazine pigments pyocyanin and 1-hydroxyphenazine were resolved by high-pressure liquid chromatography from the sputum sol phase from 9 of 13 patients with cystic fibrosis or bronchiectasis colonized by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The concentrations measured were each sufficient to inhibit ciliary beating in vitro and contributed a significant proportion of sol phase toxicity for respiratory epithelium.
Endoglycosidase and Glycoamidase Release of N‐Linked Glycans

Nearly all proteins entering the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) become glycosylated en route to a cellular organelle, the plasma membrane, or the extracellular space. Many glycans can be attached to proteins, but the most common are the N‐linked glycans (oligosaccharides). These chains are added very soon after a protein enters the ER, but they undergo extensive remodeling (processing), especially in the Golgi. Processing changes the sensitivity of the N‐glycan to enzymes that cleave entire sugar chains or individual monosaccharides, which also changes the migration of the protein on SDS gels. These changes can be used to indicate when a protein has passed a particular subcellular location. This unit details some of the methods used to track a protein as it trafficks from the ER to the Golgi toward its final location. Curr. Protoc. Immunol. 89:8.15. 1‐8.15. 25. © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Increased Cholesterol Levels After Paroxetine Treatment in Patients With Panic Disorder

Abstract: Panic disorder (PD) is associated with an increased cardiovascular risk. We examined serum cholesterol and plasma catecholamine levels in PD before and after paroxetine treatment. The serum cholesterol and plasma catecholamine levels were not different between the PD patients and control subjects before the treatment. However, the levels of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly increased in the 28 PD patients after 3 months of paroxetine treatment, whereas the body mass index and plasma catecholamine levels were unchanged. Paroxetine should be used cautiously for PD patients who have overt or covert cardiovascular disorders.
WIREs Cognitive Science Analogy , higher order thinking , and education ANALOGY AS BOTH LEARNING TOOL AND LEARNING OUTCOME

Analogical reasoning, the ability to understand phenomena as systems of structured relationships that can be aligned, compared, and mapped together, plays a fundamental role in the technology rich, increasingly globalized educational climate of the 21st century. Flexible, conceptual thinking is prioritized in this view of education, and schools are emphasizing ‘higher order thinking’, rather than memorization of a cannon of key topics. The lack of a cognitively grounded definition for higher order thinking, however, has led to a field of research and practice with little coherence across domains or connection to the large body of cognitive science research on thinking. We review literature on analogy and disciplinary higher order thinking to propose that relational reasoning can be productively considered the cognitive underpinning of higher order thinking. We highlight the utility of this framework for developing insights into practice through a review of mathematics, science, and history educational contexts. In these disciplines, analogy is essential to developing expert-like disciplinary knowledge in which concepts are understood to be systems of relationships that can be connected and flexibly manipulated. At the same time, analogies in education require explicit support to ensure that learners notice the relevance of relational thinking, have adequate processing resources available to mentally hold and manipulate relations, and are able to recognize both the similarities and differences when drawing analogies between systems of relationships. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
De Bruijn Entropy and String Similarity

This paper defines and studies the notion of primitive root of a bi-periodic infinite picture, that is a rectangular pattern that tiles the bi-periodic picture and contains exactly one representative of each equivalence class of its pixels. This notion extends to dimension 2 the notion of primitive root of a bi-infinite periodic word. We prove that, for each bi-periodic infinite picture P, Ź there exists at least one primitive root of P; Ź there are at most two ordered pairs of positive integers (m, n) such that every primitive root of P has size mˆ n; Ź for each such pair (m, n), every rectangular pattern of size mˆ n extracted from P is a primitive root of P. We also discuss some additional properties of primitive roots.
The Vulnerable Atherosclerotic Plaque: Scope of the Literature

The scope of recent literature on the concept of "vulnerable plaque" was reviewed by examining 463 abstracts of primary and review articles identified through MEDLINE (2003 to April 2010). Proposed definition criteria of vulnerable plaque included active inflammation, a thin cap with a large lipid core, endothelial denudation, fissured cap, severe stenosis, or combinations of these findings. In 242 primary studies, histopathology, biomarkers, and imaging of carotid and coronary artery plaques were evaluated for features suggestive of vulnerability. Notably, 89% of these studies were cross-sectional in design and were exclusively conducted in patients with known cardiovascular disease. None of the imaging studies documented whether the identified lesions were responsible for cardiovascular events. Cross-sectional design precludes evaluation of the predictive utility of biomarkers. Because vulnerable plaque is not an established medical diagnosis, no studies have been done that explicitly evaluate the treatment of vulnerable plaques. Few studies examined potential systemic treatments (for example, statins) to modify vulnerability features. Large prospective studies in patients with and without previous cardiovascular events during long follow-up are required to validate this concept.
Deep vector-based convolutional neural network approach for automatic recognition of colonies of induced pluripotent stem cells

Pluripotent stem cells can potentially be used in clinical applications as a model for studying disease progress. This tracking of disease-causing events in cells requires constant assessment of the quality of stem cells. Existing approaches are inadequate for robust and automated differentiation of stem cell colonies. In this study, we developed a new model of vector–based convolutional neural network (V-CNN) with respect to extracted features of the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) colony for distinguishing colony characteristics. A transfer function from the feature vectors to the virtual image was generated at the front of the CNN in order for classification of feature vectors of healthy and unhealthy colonies. The robustness of the proposed V-CNN model in distinguishing colonies was compared with that of the competitive support vector machine (SVM) classifier based on morphological, textural, and combined features. Additionally, five-fold cross-validation was used to investigate the performance of the V-CNN model. The precision, recall, and F-measure values of the V-CNN model were comparatively higher than those of the SVM classifier, with a range of 87–93%, indicating fewer false positives and false negative rates. Furthermore, for determining the quality of colonies, the V-CNN model showed higher accuracy values based on morphological (95.5%), textural (91.0%), and combined (93.2%) features than those estimated with the SVM classifier (86.7, 83.3, and 83.4%, respectively). Similarly, the accuracy of the feature sets using five-fold cross-validation was above 90% for the V-CNN model, whereas that yielded by the SVM model was in the range of 75–77%. We thus concluded that the proposed V-CNN model outperforms the conventional SVM classifier, which strongly suggests that it as a reliable framework for robust colony classification of iPSCs. It can also serve as a cost-effective quality recognition tool during culture and other experimental procedures.