Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Longitudinal changes in .VO2max: associations with carotid IMT and arterial stiffness.

PURPOSE High levels of cardiorespiratory fitness (.VO2max) are associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, little is known to what extent longitudinal changes in . VO2max affect arterial wall thickness and stiffness, i.e., two major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. We therefore investigated the relationship between changes in . VO2max from adolescence (13-16 yr) to adulthood (age 36) and from young adulthood (21-32 yr) to age 36, and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and stiffness of the carotid, femoral, and brachial arteries, at age 36. METHODS Analyses of changes in . VO2max from adolescence to age 36 consisted of 154 subjects (79 women), and from young adulthood to age 36 consisted of a subpopulation of 118 subjects (62 women). Throughout the years, . VO2max was measured directly with a maximal running test on a treadmill. When the subjects had the mean age of 36, carotid IMT and large artery stiffness (distensibility and compliance coefficients) were assessed noninvasively by ultrasound imaging methods. RESULTS Longitudinal changes in . VO2max were not significantly associated with carotid IMT. Changes in . VO2max were inversely and significantly associated with large artery stiffness. These associations were not uniform throughout the arterial tree, being stronger and independent of changes in other risk factors in the muscular (brachial and femoral) arteries but dependent on and possibly mediated by concomitant changes in HDL cholesterol and body weight in the elastic carotid artery. CONCLUSION Increases in . VO2max that occur from adolescence up to age 36 are associated with less arterial stiffness. Improving . VO2max by increasing physical activity levels may therefore contribute to a reduction in mortality from cardiovascular disease through decreasing arterial stiffness.
Effect of acute inner ear pressure changes on low-level distortion product otoacoustic emissions in the guinea pig

Objective—To determine a relation between acute inner ear pressure changes and cochlear function as measured by low-level 2f1–f2 distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs). Material and Methods—During and after a change in inner ear pressure induced by injection or aspiration of perilymph, the 2f1–f2 DPOAE at 4.5 kHz generated by low-level primaries was recorded in the guinea pig. Results—Large changes in overall inner ear pressure produced only small changes in the 2f1–f2 amplitude and phase. During injection of 0.5 μl of artificial perilymph into the scala tympani over a 10-s period, the mean inner ear pressure increased by ≈500 Pa, with an accompanying mean increase in the 2f1–f2 amplitude of 0.7 dB. During aspiration of 0.5 μl of perilymph over a 10-s period, the mean inner ear pressure decreased by ≈700 Pa, with an accompanying mean decrease in the 2f1–f2 amplitude of 0.9 dB. Changes in DPOAE amplitude followed inner ear pressure changes with a delay of 1–2 s. The magnitude and sign of the amplitude changes can (partly) be explained by a change in oval window stiffness. No explanation was found for the measured delay. Conclusion—Clinically, these experiments can be of value in gaining insight into the pathophysiological mechanisms of pathological pressure changes as seen in Ménière's disease and perilymphatic fistulae.
Quantitative echocardiographic analysis of the aortic arch predicts outcome of balloon angioplasty of native coarctation of the aorta.

BACKGROUND The use of balloon angioplasty for treatment of native aortic coarctation is controversial. Cineangiographic data suggest that aortic arch hypoplasia and isthmic narrowing are associated with angioplasty failure. This study of echocardiographic measurements of preangioplasty aortic arch morphology was performed to identify potential anatomic predictors of outcome noninvasively. METHODS AND RESULTS The preangioplasty echocardiograms of 105 patients 3 days to 17 years old with native coarctation of the aorta were analyzed off-line. Angioplasty was considered successful if the residual coarctation gradient was < 20 mm Hg and no intervention for recoarctation occurred. Univariate analysis identified young age at angioplasty, presence of a patent ductus arteriosus, and the diameters of the aortic isthmus, distal transverse arch, and aortic valve as predictors of early and late outcomes. Multivariate analysis showed that the preangioplasty aortic isthmus z value was the best independent predictor of outcome, eliminating the effect on outcome of age and associated cardiac defects. An isthmus z value < or = -2.16 predicted early failure with 91% sensitivity and 85% specificity. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that 90% of patients with an isthmus z value > -1.0 remained free of recoarctation at late follow-up, whereas 89% of patients with a preangioplasty isthmus z value < or = -2.0 developed recoarctation within 36 months. CONCLUSIONS Echocardiographic measurements of the aortic arch predict both early and late outcomes of balloon angioplasty for native aortic coarctation, and the preangioplasty aortic isthmus z value was the best independent predictor. Quantitative aortic arch analysis may improve selection of angioplasty candidates who are likely to benefit from the procedure.
Similarly derived and cultured hESC lines show variation in their developmental potential towards neuronal cells in long-term culture.

BACKGROUND Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) can differentiate into any human cell type, including CNS cells, and thus have high potential in regenerative medicine. Several protocols exist for neuronal differentiation of hESCs, which do not necessarily work for all hESC lines. MATERIALS & METHODS We tested the differentiation capacity of four similarly derived and cultured hESC lines (HS181, HS360, HS362 and HS401) in suspension culture in relatively simple neural differentiation medium for up to 20 weeks. RESULTS All the hESC lines differentiated into neuronal cells, but in a line-dependent manner. Using our method, the HS181- and HS360-derived neurospheres differentiated in vitro into pure neuronal cell populations within 6 weeks, whereas HS362 and HS401 reached their peak of differentiation in 12 weeks, but never produced pure neuronal cell populations using the present method. The withdrawal of FGF from suspension culture increased the in vitro differentiation potential. The hESC-derived neurospheres formed functional neuronal networks when replated on a microelectrode array and responded as expected to pharmacologic modulation. CONCLUSION Simple neurosphere culture is a suitable method for producing hESC-derived neuronal cells that can form functional neuronal networks from a number of hESC lines. The variation in the differentiation potential of hESC lines into neuronal cells must be carefully considered by those comparing various differentiation methods and designing transplantation therapies for neuronal disorders.
Cribado combinado del primer trimestre para la predicción de la preeclampsia en gestantes con factores de alto riesgo

el objetivo principal de esta tesis es desarrollar una prueba de cribado del primer trimestre para predecir la preeclampsia -especialmente sus formas severas y precoces- y conocer su exactitud diagnostica en un grupo de gestantes de alto riesgo a priori para el desarrollo de este sindrome.
The effect of dietary protein source and saponins on serum lipids and the excretion of bile acids and neutral sterols in rabbits

1. Four groups of six rabbits were given purified diets in which the dietary variables were protein source (isolated soya-bean protein or cow's-milk protein) with or without saponin supplementation (10 g/kg). 2. Rabbits given soya-based diets showed significantly lower serum concentrations of triglyceride and cholesterol (P < 0·01). The latter changes were confined to the cholesterol fractions of β-lipoproteins. 3. These changes in serum cholesterol were associated with a significantly increased excretion of acid and neutral sterols in animals given soya-bean protein. 4. There was no evidence to suggest that the effect of dietary protein source on serum lipids and the excretion of total and individual sterols was influenced by saponin supplementation. 5. These results do not support the hypothesis that the hypocholesterolaemia associated with plant proteins is due to the presence of saponins.
Competence Assessment of China's Consultation Enterprises Based on BP Neural Networks

According to competence theory and the characteristics of Chinese management consultation enterprises, this study structures an evaluation indicator system including 3 steps and 23 specific indicators, and based on BP neural networks, the paper puts forward a method which provides a theoretical guidance for management consultation enterprises to evaluate their status in the market and also to seek ways to improve their competence effectively.
Diffusion LMS strategies for distributed estimation based on sub-regions

In wireless sensor networks (WSNs), each sensor node can estimate the global parameter from the local data in a distributed manner. This paper proposed a diffusion estimation algorithm based on sub-regions, which are referred to as the SR-DLMS algorithm. The proposed algorithm divides the sensor network into several sub-regions, which used to estimate sub-dimensions of the parameter. Compared with the diffusion LMS algorithm, communication cost of the proposed algorithm is greatly reduced without affecting the estimation performance. Numerical simulations are given to verify the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed algorithm.
Correlation of fingerstick blood glucose measurements with GlucoWatch biographer glucose results in young subjects with type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to compare measurements of glucose obtained via iontophoretic extraction with the GlucoWatch automatic glucose biographer (Cygnus, Inc., Redwood City, CA) with capillary blood glucose values that were determined 1) in a controlled outpatient clinic setting and 2) in a home setting. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS There were 76 GlucoWatch biographers used on 28 different young adults (21 women and 7 men) with type 1 diabetes (age 30.9 +/- 6.9 years and duration of diabetes 18.4 +/- 8.1 years [mean +/- SD]) in a controlled outpatient clinic setting. Some subjects participated on multiple days. Subjects wore two GlucoWatch biographers, each on the forearm (ventral aspect). Comparisons were made to HemoCue blood glucose analyzer (Aktiebolgat Leo, Helsingborg, Sweden) capillary blood glucose measurements. In addition, GlucoWatch biographers (one each day for 3 consecutive days) were used by 12 subjects (8 women, 4 men) in a home setting. Comparisons were made to capillary blood glucose values determined using the One Touch Profile meter (Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ). RESULTS GlucoWatch biographer glucose values correlated well with capillary blood glucose values determined using the HemoCue analyzer in the clinic setting (r = 0.90, 1,554 paired data points) and using the One Touch Profile meter in the home setting (r = 0.85, 204 paired data points). When 36 subjects wore two biographers simultaneously, the correlation between the two biographers was r = 0.94. The error grid analysis demonstrated that > 96% of biographer glucose values determined in the clinic or home setting were in the clinically acceptable A and B regions. CONCLUSIONS This study confirms the accuracy and precision of glucose values as determined using the GlucoWatch biographer in clinic and home settings.
A fast and robust ellipse detector based on top-down least-square fitting

Ellipse detection is a very important problem in the field of pattern recognition and computer vision. The existing algorithms often use a bottom-up strategy to combine edge points or elliptical arcs into ellipses, hence limit their robustness. In this paper, we propose a fast and robust ellipse detection algorithm which can accurately detect ellipses in the images. The main idea of the proposed algorithm is to exploit a novel top-down fitting strategy to combine edge points into ellipses and use integral chain to speed up the fitting process. Experimental results have demonstrated that our ellipse detection algorithm achieves a better performance than the state-of-the-art methods on the common evaluation measures of F1 score and average execution time.
Microarray Analysis Identifies the Potential Role of Long Non-Coding RNA in Regulating Neuroinflammation during Japanese Encephalitis Virus Infection

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is the leading cause of epidemic encephalitis worldwide. JEV-induced neuroinflammation is characterized by profound neuronal cells damage accompanied by activation of glial cells. Albeit long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been emerged as important regulatory RNAs with profound effects on various biological processes, it is unknown how lncRNAs regulate JEV-induced inflammation. Here, using microarray approach, we identified 618 lncRNAs and 1,007 mRNAs differentially expressed in JEV-infected mice brain. The functional annotation analysis revealed that differentially regulated transcripts were predominantly involved in various signaling pathways related to host immune and inflammatory responses. The lncRNAs with their potential to regulate JEV-induced inflammatory response were identified by constructing the lncRNA-mRNA coexpression network. Furthermore, silencing of the two selected lncRNAs (E52329 and N54010) resulted in reducing the phosphorylation of JNK and MKK4, which are known to be involved during inflammatory response. Collectively, we first demonstrated the transcriptomic landscape of lncRNAs in mice brain infected with JEV and analyzed the coexpression network of differentially regulated lncRNAs and mRNAs during JEV infection. Our results provide a better understanding of the host response to JEV infection and suggest that the identified lncRNAs may be used as potential therapeutic targets for the management of Japanese encephalitis.
Events: Their Metaphysics and Semantics

Jonathan Bennett's lucid and incisive Events and Their Names I addresses a wide range of issues concerning the metaphysics of events and the semantics of the language in which we talk about them. In this brief discussion, I will focus on Bennett's distinction between the metaphysics of events and the semantics of event descriptions-in particular, his conception of the relation between the two within the property instantiation account of events. According to Bennett, the "true metaphysics" of events is that they are "tropes," or "property exemplifications" (as I have called them elsewhere2) by substances at a time. Alternatively, we can say, with Bennett, that an event is a property instantiation "at a zone," where "zones" are spatiotemporal regions. It isn't clear just what properties are such that their instantiations by zones are to count as events; in particular, whether certain relational properties (say, becoming a widow) can generate events is unclear. At any rate, the core idea about events that Bennett supports is that events are instantiations of properties by concrete spatiotemporal objects. That is their metaphysical constitution; and that is how events, as an ontological kind, are related to other kinds-properties, substances, and times, or properties and zones. F9r the theory implies the following supervenience thesis, what I take to be the central metaphysical consequence of this conception of events: once all the facts about what substances have what properties at what times are fixed, all the facts about events-their existence and properties-are thereby fixed. I Given that being a property exemplification is the true nature of events, what are their "criteria of identity"? Bennett doesn't think much of such
In-memory data management: an inflection point for enterprise applications

In the last50 years the world has been completely transformed through the use of IT. We have now reached a new inflection point. Here we present, for the first time, how in-memory computing is changing the way businesses are run. Today, enterprise data is split into separate databases for performance reasons. Analytical data resides in warehouses, synchronized periodically with transactional systems. This separation makes flexible, real-time reporting on current data impossible. Multi-core CPUs, large main memories, cloud computing and powerful mobile devices are serving as the foundation for the transition of enterprises away from this restrictive model. We describe techniques that allow analytical and transactional processing at the speed of thought and enable new ways of doing business. The book is intended for university students, IT-professionals and IT-managers, but also for senior management who wish to create new business processes by leveraging in-memory computing.
On the Mystical Rejection of Mystical Illuminations

A considerable part of mystical literature deals with, or reports on, experiences that are of a cognitive and not merely of an emotive nature. Information is alleged to have been received not only from higher spheres but also about these higher spheres. Detailed, and at times highly complex, theories are put forward regarding the nature and evolution of the cosmos, the essence of man and his place and function in the scheme of things. The writings of many mystics reveal mysteries that have been infused from above, or apprehended ‘from below’ by the development and use of special spiritual or mental organs. What all these higher insights have in common in spite of their great diversity, is their discursive, objective and detailed, elaborate character. Mysticism of this type is a kind of supernal science. It is distinct from ordinary science as regards its origin and its emotional charge, but it is similar to science in terms of its formal structure. The Jewish mysticism known as Kabbalah is, I think, an instructive example of this discursive tendency, for the literary output of the kabbalists very largely substitutes a theosophical dialectic for the traditional legal dialectic of the Talmudic rabbis. In the case of the kabbalists this tendency was indebted to the medieval identification of mysticism and prophecy: like prophecy, every illumination by the Holy Spirit was supposed to be a matter of ‘clear and distinct’ contents. But, of course, not every form of cognitive mysticism is related to doctrines of prophecy. Cognitive mysticism can be found everywhere, in the revelation of gnostic mysteries as well as in the quest of modern ‘spiritual’ sciences, such as theosophy and anthroposophy, for hidden and occult truths.
A "Real-like" polarimetric weather radar data generation using physical and statistical models

Realistic model of rain radar returns is of interest to improve the performances of rainfull estimation applications and to develop new approximations in case of lack of measured data-bases. In this paper, we propose a method to generate a "Real-like" polarimetric rain radar data based on a dual approach referring to both a physical and a statistical models of rain target. Combining informations from these two models accords us an opportunity to obtain more realistic results than a single model based approach. Theoretical foundation of the actual work was exposed all along the paper. An example of data generation, for a fixed physical configuration, was given so as to illustrate comparison between ideal and realistic rain radar data.
5.8 GHz Simple Compact Folded Dipole Rectenna without Chip Capacitor

The rectenna is an RF power receiver converting the received power into DC power that can then be consumed by other subsystem. Recently, the compact rectenna technology has gained great attention in many of the sensor applications [1, 2]. Designing of a rectenna system is difficult in matching the antenna impedance with that of the rectifying diode. Unlike the impedance matching for traditional antennas, the conjugate matching method is needed for designing the rectenna to get high power transmission between rectenna and diode. In most of the published literatures, a matching network was designed between the antenna and rectifying circuit which increased the system design complexity and also extended the total rectenna size or layers [3]. In this paper, a simple wideband folded dipole [4] is modified for rectenna system design. The diode is directly connected with the antenna saving the matching network. The required conjugate matching can be achieved by adjusting appropriate geometry parameters of the antenna. The proposed rectenna has a very compact size, uni-planar structure, and low cost. In addition, the lumped chip capacitor is also saved by the embedded edge gap capacitor effect to further save the system cost. A 5.8GHz rectenna is designed and measured to show this novel architecture.
An impaired attentional dwell time after parietal and frontal lesions related to impaired selective attention not unilateral neglect

The attentional blink, a measure of the temporal dynamics of visual processing, has been documented to be more pronounced following brain lesions that are associated with visual neglect. This suggests that, in addition to their spatial bias in attention, neglect patients may have a prolonged dwell time for attention. Here the attentional dwell time was examined in patients with damage focused on either posterior parietal or frontal cortices. In three experiments, we show that there is an abnormally pronounced attentional dwell time, which does not differ in patients with posterior parietal and with frontal lobe lesions, and this is associated with a measure of selective attention but not with measures of spatial bias in selection. These data occurred both when we attempted to match patients and controls for overall differences in performance and when a single set stimulus exposure was used across participants. In Experiments 1 and 2, requiring report of colour–form conjunctions, there was evidence that the patients were also impaired at temporal binding, showing errors in feature combination across stimuli and in reporting in the correct temporal order. In Experiment 3, requiring only the report of features but introducing task switching led to similar results. The data suggest that damage to a frontoparietal network can compromise temporal selection of visual stimuli; however, this is not necessarily related to a deficit in hemispatial visual attention but it is to impaired target selection. We discuss the implications for understanding visual selection.