Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HEART FAILURE WITH PRESERVED EJECTION FRACTION: THERAPEUTIC ENIGMA

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) is increasing in prevalence with the aging of the population, and morbidity and mortality rates are comparable to that of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFREF). Recent literature focusing on the pathophysiology underlying this disease suggests that multiple mechanisms are involved in the generation of the phenotype, such as abnormal relaxation and ventricular-vascular coupling, chronotropic incompetence, volume overload and endothelial dysfunction. Currently, no clinically proven treatments are shown to decrease morbidity and mortality in this population; however, there may be a novel multidisciplinary and multistage treatment strategy that can be studied to address this complex disease which incorporates pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic therapeutics. The treatment of patients with heart failure and preserved left ventricular (LV) function is not well established and remains mostly empirical. The lack of large placebo-controlled trials in this field seems to be due to the fact that investigators mainly focus on systolic dysfunction, which was for a long while perceived as the only causative mechanism of heart failure, and also because of the ambiguity of the definition of diastolic heart failure (DHF). Cuvinte cheie: insuficienṭǎ cardiacǎ, insuficienṭǎ cardiacǎ diastolicǎ, insuficienṭǎ cardiacǎ cu fracṭie de ejecṭie p ǎstratǎ, insuficienṭǎ cardiacǎ cu fracṭie de ejecṭie redusǎ, tratamentul insuficienṭei cardiace Rezumat: Prevalenṭa insuficienṭei cardiace cu fracṭie de ejecție pǎstratǎ (ICFEp) este ȋn creṣtere odatǎ cu ȋmbǎtrânirea populaṭiei, iar ratele morbiditǎṭii ṣi mortalit ǎṭii sunt comparabile cu cele ale insuficienṭei cardiace cu frac ṭie de ejecție redus ǎ (ICFEr). Literatura recentă pune accent pe fiziopatologia care stǎ la baza acestei boli ṣi sugereaz ă faptul c ă multe mecanisme sunt implicate in generarea fenotipului, cum ar fi relaxarea anormală și cuplarea ventriculo-vascularǎ, incompeten ța cronotropicǎ, suprasarcină de volum, redistribuirea și / sau disfuncția endotelialǎ. In prezent, nu existǎ tratamente dovedite clinic a fi capabile de a scădea morbiditatea și mortalitatea la această populație; cu toate acestea, se poate sǎ existe o strategie nouǎ de tratament multidisciplinar și pe mai multe trepte, care poate fi studiatǎ pentru a aborda aceastǎ boalǎ complexǎ care ȋncorporeazǎ terapii farmacologice ṣi nefarmacologic e. Tratamentul pacienților cu insuficien ță cardiacă și cu funcția ventricular ă stângă (VS) p ăstratǎ nu este bine stabilit și r ămâne in mare parte empiric. Lipsa studiilor mari, controlate placebo in acest domeniu pare a se datora faptului că anchetatorii se concentrează in principal asupra disfuncției sistolice, care a fost pentru multă vreme percepută ca singurul mecanism cauzal al insuficienței cardiace, și, de asemenea, din cauza ambiguității definiției insuficienței cardiace diastolice.
A simple tactile sensing foot for humanoid robot and active ground slope recognition

This paper presents a tactile sensor foot system for humanoid robot and an active tactile sensing technique to recognize a ground slope with experimental results. A tactile sensor unit implemented on the robot foot consists of three thin sheets of force sensitive resistors arranged triangularly with the peripheral circuits. The proposed tactile sensing foot can detect the ground slope for natural foot pose motions and keep the direction of the foot normal to the ground floor surface. The realized function will assist the biped walking to balance on the different contacted ground slopes such as, flat level surface, up, down, left and right slopes. In these applications, information about the contacted ground floor or orientation is not required in advance.
AN OVERVIEW OF NEURAL NETWORKS RESULTS FOR SYSTEMS AND CONTROL

In this paper, we survey the applications of neural nets in the areas of systems and control. The paper provides a study of the limitations of neural nets, and stresses “hard” results as opposed to a listing of simulations and applications. Our general approach is to isolate the common properties used by neural networks in control, then to study the difficulties associated with achieving these properties. We avoid as much as possible a listing of neural networks simulations and try to stress their generic properties, independent of a particular architecture. Finally, we address the issues of capabilities versus actual performance and point out results from computational learning theory to show that neural networks can not be used as universal controllers. Although this is a paper on applications of neural networks to systems and control, we focus not on particular experiments but on generic capabilities.
Effect of calcium-activated chloride current blockade on the delayed after depolarizations. Simulation study

High intracellular calcium conditions cause a calcium-activated transient inward current (I/sub ti/) that can provoke oscillations in membrane potential called delayed after depolarizations (DAD). The current I/sub ti/ comprises of the sodium-calcium exchange current (I/sub NaCa/) and the calcium-activated chloride current (I/sub NaCa/). Lindblad, Murphey, Clark and Giles (1996) developed a mathematical model (LMCG model) of the rabbit atrial AP. In this study, a modified AP LMCG model that includes I/sub Cl-Ca/. is used to evaluate the contribution of I/sub Cl-Ca/ to develop DADs. Our results suggest that although I/sub Na-Ca/ is the main component of I/sub ti/ (65%), I/sub Cl-Ca/ may play a significant role in DAD generation. Even more, the I/sub Cl-Ca/ blockade could inhibit the DAD propagation and trigger activity associated to high [Ca/sup 2+/]/sub i/ condition, in atrial tissue.
Vision and Embedded System based Military Robot Path Planning

Robots are playing an important role in the military application. Most of the work in the military is dangerous for human being. In a war field or rescue operation a soldier needs to take his own way to reach the destination. Most of the ways are dangerous for a soldier. Hence robot replaces the soldier and path planning is depending on the image processing and microcontroller based embedded system. General Terms Embedded System,MATLAB, Military and Robot
Effects of microcystin and complex cyanobacterial samples on the growth and oxidative stress parameters in green alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata and comparison with the model oxidative stressor—herbicide paraquat

Oxidative stress is one of the biochemical mechanisms involved in toxicity of cyanobacterial toxins microcystins (MC), but its role in the effects of complex water blooms is elusive. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of pure MCs and different complex mixtures of cyanobacterial metabolites on the growth and biochemical markers of oxidative stress and detoxification in green alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata. Pure MCs at high concentrations (300 μg/L) had no effects on the growth of P. subcapitata (up to 10 day exposures) but stimulated activity of glutathione reductase (GR) after short 3 and 24 h exposures. Other biomarkers (levels of glutathione, GSH, and activities of glutathione‐S‐transferase, GST, and glutathione peroxidase, GPx) were not affected by pure MCs). Crude extract of the laboratory culture of cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa (containing 300 μg/L of MCs) had no effects on algal growth or any of the biomarkers. Weak growth stimulations after 4–7 days were observed after exposures to the growth‐spent medium of the M. aeruginosa culture, which also inhibited activities of GST after prolonged exposures. Other investigated parameters (reduced GSH and activity of GPx) were not affected by any of the cyanobacterial samples. The results were compared with effects of model oxidative stressor herbicide paraquat, which exhibited variable effects on both algal growth and biomarkers (decrease in reduced GSH, stimulations of GR). Taken together, although pure MCs induce oxidative stress in green alga, the effects of cyanobacterial mixtures, which are more relevant to the natural situation, are more complex and they differ from the pure toxin. High variability in the biochemical responses to the oxidative stress makes the interpretation of results complicated, which limits the use of these biomarkers as early warnings of toxicity under natural conditions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol, 2011.
Biomedical image enhancement based on modified Cuckoo Search and morphology

This work describes an method for biomedical image enhancement using modified Cuckoo Search Algorithm with some Morphological Operation. In recent years, various digital image processing techniques are developed. Computer Vision, machine interfaces, manufacturing industry, data compression for storage, vehicle tracking and many more are some of the domains of digital image processing application. In most of the cases, digital biomedical images contains various types of noise, artifacts etc. and are not useful for direct applications. Before using it in any process, the input image has to be gone through some preprocessing stages; such preprocessing is generally called as image enhancement. In this work, a new technique has been proposed to enhance biomedical images using modified cuckoo search algorithm and morphological operation. Presence of noise and other unwanted objects generates distortion in an image and it will affect the ultimate result of the process. In case of biomedical images, accuracy of the results is very important. It may also decrease the discernibility of many features inside the images. It can affect the classification accuracy. In this work, this issue has been targeted and improved by obtaining better contrast value after converting the color image into grayscale image. The basic property of the cuckoo search algorithm is that the amplitudes of its components are capable to objectively describe the contribution of the gray levels to the formation of image information for the best contrast value of a digital image. The proposed method modified the conventional cuckoo search method by employing the McCulloch's method for levy flight generation. After computing the best contrast value, morphological operation has been applied. In morphological operation based phase, the intensity parameters are tuned for quality enhancement. Experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of this work.
Genome-Based Identification of Cancer Genes by Proviral Tagging in Mouse Retrovirus-Induced T-Cell Lymphomas

ABSTRACT The identification of tumor-inducing genes is a driving force for elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer. Many retroviruses induce tumors by insertion of viral DNA adjacent to cellular oncogenes, resulting in altered expression and/or structure of the encoded proteins. The availability of the mouse genome sequence now allows analysis of retroviral common integration sites in murine tumors to be used as a genetic screen for identification of large numbers of candidate cancer genes. By positioning the sequences of inverse PCR-amplified, virus-host junction fragments within the mouse genome, 19 target genes were identified in T-cell lymphomas induced by the retrovirus SL3-3. The candidate cancer genes included transcription factors (Fos, Gfi1, Lef1, Myb, Myc, Runx3, and Sox3), all three D cyclins, Ras signaling pathway components (Rras2/TC21 and Rasgrp1), and Cmkbr7/CCR7. The most frequent target was Rras2. Insertions as far as 57 kb away from the transcribed portion were associated with substantially increased transcription of Rras2, and no coding sequence mutations, including those typically involved in Ras activation, were detected. These studies demonstrate the power of genome-based analysis of retroviral insertion sites for cancer gene discovery, identify several new genes worth examining for a role in human cancer, and implicate the pathways in which those genes act in lymphomagenesis. They also provide strong genetic evidence that overexpression of unmutated Rras2 contributes to tumorigenesis, thus suggesting that it may also do so if it is inappropriately expressed in human tumors.
PixelLaser: Learning Range via Texture

The problem of finding a robot's range-to-obstacles is a fundamental one with an elegant solution: the laser range finder (LRF). This work has developed algorithms for replacing a laser with a camera for indoor applications. Our approach uses machine learning algorithms to segment the groundplane from single images flexibly, quickly, and robustly. We then transform those segmentations into laserscan-like estimates of local conditions. Current work is investigating whether off-the-shelf algorithms for mapping, localization, and navigation with LRFs work without alteration using these “pixel”-scans.
Effective distant supervision for end-to-end knowledge base population systems

The growing amounts of textual data require automatic methods for structuring relevant information so that it can be further processed by computers and systematically accessed by humans. The scenario dealt with in this dissertation is known as Knowledge Base Population (KBP), where relational information about entities is retrieved from a large text collection and stored in a database, structured according to a pre-specified schema. Most of the research in this dissertation is placed in the context of the KBP benchmark of the Text Analysis Conference (TAC KBP), which provides a test-bed to examine all steps in a complex end-to-end relation extraction setting. In this dissertation a new state of the art for the TAC KBP benchmark was achieved by focussing on the following research problems: (1) The KBP task was broken down into a modular pipeline of sub-problems, and the most pressing issues were identified and quantified at all steps. (2) The quality of semi-automatically generated training data was increased by developing noise-reduction methods, decreasing the influence of false-positive training examples. (3) A focus was laid on fine-grained entity type modelling, entity expansion, entity matching and tagging, to maintain as much recall as possible on the relational argument level. (4) A new set of effective methods for generating training data, encoding features and training relational classifiers was developed and compared with previous state-of-the-art methods. Die wachsende Menge an Textdaten erfordert Methoden, relevante Informationen so zu strukturieren, dass sie von Computern weiterverarbeitet werden konnen, und dass Menschen systematisch auf sie zugreifen konnen. Das in dieser Dissertation behandelte Szenario ist unter dem Begriff Knowledge Base Population (KBP) bekannt. Hier werden relationale Informationen uber Entitaten aus grosen Textbestanden automatisch zusammengetragen und gemas einem vorgegebenen Schema strukturiert. Ein Grosteil der Forschung der vorliegenden Dissertation ist im Kontext des TAC KBP Vergleichstests angesiedelt. Dieser stellt ein Testumfeld dar, um alle Schritte eines anfragebasierten Relationsextraktions-Systems zu untersuchen. Die in der vorliegenden Dissertation entwickelten Verfahren setzen einen neuen Standard fur TAC KBP. Dies wurde durch eine Schwerpunktsetzung auf die folgenden Forschungsfragen erreicht: Erstens wurden die wichtigsten Unterprobleme von KBP identifiziert und die jeweiligen Effekte genau quantifiziert. Zweitens wurde die Qualitat von halbautomatischen Trainingsdaten durch Methoden erhoht, die den Einfluss von falsch positiven Trainingsbeispielen verringern. Drittens wurde ein Schwerpunkt auf feingliedrige Typmodellierung, die Expansion von Entitatennamen und das Auffinden von Entitaten gelegt, um eine grostmogliche Abdeckung von relationalen Argumenten zu erreichen. Viertens wurde eine Reihe von neuen leistungsstarken Methoden entwickelt und untersucht, um Trainingsdaten zu erzeugen, Klassifizierungsmerkmale zu kodieren und relationale Klassifikatoren zu trainieren.
Molecular and clinical epidemiology of CXCR4-using HIV-1 in a large population of antiretroviral-naive individuals.

OBJECTIVE We wished to characterize the epidemiological and clinical correlates of CXCR4-using human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) ("X4 variants") in a cross-sectional analysis of a large population of antiretroviral-naive individuals. METHODS HIV-1 coreceptor use was determined in the last pretherapy plasma sample for 1191 individuals initiating triple-combination therapy in British Columbia, Canada. Baseline variables investigated included sociodemographic characteristics, plasma viral load (pVL), CD4 cell count, AIDS diagnosis, HIV-1 V3 loop sequence, and human CCR5 Delta 32 genotype. RESULTS Individuals harboring X4 variants (n = 178 of 979 phenotyped samples; 18.2%) displayed a poorer baseline clinical profile than individuals harboring exclusively CCR5-using HIV-1 ("R5 variants") (median pVL, 175,000 vs. 120,000 copies of HIV-1 RNA/mL [P = .0006]; median CD4 cell count, 110 vs. 290 cells/mm(3) [P < . 0001]). Individuals heterozygous for the CCR5 Delta 32 deletion (n = 128 of 967; 13.2%) were at 2.5 times higher risk of harboring X4 variants, compared with those without the deletion (multivariate P = .0005). The presence of basic amino acids at codon 11 and/or codon 25 of HIV-1 V3 (n = 109 of 955; 11.4%) was associated with a 9.1 times higher risk of harboring X4 variants (multivariate P < .0001), regardless of CCR5 Delta 32 genotype. In multivariate analyses adjusting for baseline parameters, HIV-1 coreceptor use was not found to be a significant predictor of survival or treatment response. CONCLUSION Baseline CD4 cell count, pVL, HIV-1 V3 sequence, and CCR5 Delta 32 genotype were the strongest determinants of CXCR4-using HIV-1 in this population. After adjustment for baseline parameters, the presence of X4 variants before initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy was not independently associated with a poorer outcome of therapy.
Genome Sequence of Blattabacterium sp. Strain BGIGA, Endosymbiont of the Blaberus giganteus Cockroach

ABSTRACT Cockroaches harbor the obligate flavobacterial endosymbiont Blattabacterium sp. , which resides within the host's bacteriocytes and can recycle ammonia and urea nitrogenous wastes into amino acids for the host. We report the complete genome sequence of the Blattabacterium sp. associated with the giant roach Blaberus giganteus.
Created equal? The many facets of cell reprogramming.

Reprogramming, transdifferentiation, transdetermination, and dedifferentiation represent multiple aspects of the same phenomenon, ie, the conversion of one cell type into another. Collectively, these cell transformations include (1) the switch from one differentiated cell to another differentiated cell type; (2) the developmental plasticity of stem cells that, by crossing tissue boundaries, commit to lineages different from those of the organ of origin; and (3) the regression of mature cells to a proliferative condition or to a unipotent or multipotent progenitor state.1 This unexpected biological flexibility has challenged the view that changes in phenotype could not take place once a cell, through a hierarchical progressive restriction of developmental options, had attained its stable mature properties. Similarly, adult stem and progenitor cells may not be discrete “fixed” entities but functional units, and a bidirectional shift between more primitive and more differentiated phenotypes may occur.1 Article, see p 180 In the elegant study by Thal and collaborators in the present issue of Circulation Research ,2 small molecules induced molecular and functional reprogramming of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), a class of bone marrow cells currently used in Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials for the treatment of refractory angina and peripheral artery disease.3,4 The identification of EPCs in the bone marrow and circulating blood and the encouraging results of the ongoing clinical studies have demanded a reconsideration of traditional vascular biology.3–5 Migration and homing of EPCs to regions of damage has been shown to contribute to endothelial cell turnover and vessel growth, providing an alternative mechanism of vessel repair.5 EPCs generate de novo capillary structures after delivery to infarcted hearts and ischemic hindlimbs and form an endothelial lining in vascular grafts and on the surface of left ventricular assist devices.6 EPCs, however, are characterized …
A high-precision positioning servo controller based on phase/frequency detecting technique of two-phase-type PLL

This paper presents a new method proposed for high-precision positioning servomechanisms. The servo controller uses a two-phase-type phase-locked loop (PLL) to detect position tracking error and speed fluctuation with high resolution. Because the two-phase-type PLL has a wide frequency range and high noise suppression performance, we applied the new controller to high-power and high-velocity servo-spindles and achieved high control performance. The developed servo-spindles were used by a high-productivity numerically controlled gear grinding machine. Experiments of gear grinding were carried out, and the results confirmed the performance of the developed controller.
Association of adverse childhood environment and 5-HTTLPR Genotype with late-life depression.

OBJECTIVE Neurobiological and clinical studies suggest that childhood maltreatment may result in functional and structural nervous system changes that predispose the individual to depression. This vulnerability appears to be modulated by a polymorphism in the serotonin gene-linked promoter region (5-HTTLPR). Little is known, however, about the persistence of this vulnerability across the life span, although clinical studies of adult populations suggest that gene-environment interaction may diminish with aging. METHOD Depressive symptomatology and adverse and protective childhood events were examined in a population of 942 persons aged 65 years and older, taking into account sociodemographic characteristics and proximal competing causes of depression (widowhood, recent life events, vascular and neurologic disorder, and disability). Subjects were recruited between March 1999 and February 2001 and were diagnosed as depressed if they met 1 of 3 criteria: a diagnosis of major depression on the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, a score higher than 16 on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, or current treatment with an antidepressant. RESULTS Exposure to traumatic events in childhood doubled the risk of late-life depression and increased the risk of repeated episodes. Not all events were found to be pathogenic; significant risk was associated with excessive sharing of parental problems, poverty or financial difficulties, mental disorder in parents, excessive physical punishment, verbal abuse from parents, humiliation, and mistreatment by an adult outside the family. Interactions were observed between the 5-HTTLPR long (L) allele, poverty, and excessive sharing of parental problems. CONCLUSIONS Certain types of childhood trauma continue to constitute risk factors for depression in old age, outweighing more proximal causes. Gene environment vulnerability interaction is linked in older age to the L-carrying genotype, modulating the effects of general environmental conditions rather than aggressive acts on the individual, perhaps due to increased cardiac reactivity.