Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enterovirus markers and serum CXCL10 in children with type 1 diabetes

Most patients with type 1 diabetes are considered to have a T‐cell mediated autoimmune disease. The chemokine CXCL10 promotes the migration of activated T‐cells. Virus infections might contribute to the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes and enterovirus protein and/or genome have been detected in β‐cells from a majority of tested newly diagnosed children with type 1 diabetes. The chemokine CXCL10 is induced in human islet cells by enterovirus infections in vivo and in vitro, but is not expressed in islets from normal organ donors. Since CXCL10 is a chemokine known to be induced by virus infections and/or cellular damage, our aim was to study if levels of CXCL10 are elevated in serum from children with type 1 diabetes and whether it correlates to the presence of enterovirus markers. CXCL10, neutralizing antibody titer rises against certain enterovirus, and antibodies against GAD65 were measured in serum, and enterovirus PCR was performed on whole blood from 83 type 1 diabetes patients at onset, 48 siblings and 69 controls. CXCL10 was also measured in serum from 46 patients with proven enterovirus infection and in serum from 46 patients with other proven virus infections. The CXCL10 serum levels were not elevated in children at onset of type 1 diabetes and there was a considerable overlap between the groups with 99 (8–498) pg/ml in serum from children with type 1 diabetes, 120 (17–538) pg/ml in serum from controls, and 117 (7–448) pg/ml in siblings of the children with type 1 diabetes. The CXCL10 serum levels in patients with proven enterovirus infection were slightly increased compared to the levels in the other groups, 172 (0–585) pg/ml but there was no statistically significant difference. In contrast, CXCL10 serum levels in patients with other proven virus infections were clearly elevated 418 (34–611) pg/ml. Despite that elevated CXCL10 levels have been demonstrated in some groups of patients with type 1 diabetes, in this study the mean CXCL10 serum levels were not elevated in patients with type 1 diabetes neither in patients with proven enterovirus infection. In contrast, in patients with other virus infections the CXCL10 levels were elevated, presumably reflecting the severity or the site of infection. This suggests that local production of CXCL10 in the affected organ cannot be measured reproducible in serum and that its potential use in clinical practice is limited. J. Med. Virol. 82:1594–1599, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Does the use of oxycodone affect diagnostic accuracy in children with acute abdominal pain?

H ISTORICALLY, OPIOID ANALGESIA HAS BEEN thought to mask symptoms, alter physical exam findings, delay diagnosis, and increase morbidity and mortality for patients with acute abdominal pain of unclear etiology. However, studies in children and adults have demonstrated that administering intravenous opioids to patients with acute abdominal pain does not delay diagnosis or adversely affect diagnostic accuracy. In this issue of ARCHIVES, Kokki et al present a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial examining the consequences of buccal delivery of oxycodone on pain relief and diagnostic accuracy in children evaluated in the emergency department (ED) with moderate to severe acute abdominal pain. Using the Users’ Guide to the Medical Literature, we reviewed this study with regard to the validity of results, size and precision of the treatment effect, and generalizability and applicability of outcomes.
In brief

Many more Americans die because of a lack of health insurance than previously thought, concludes a new state by state study by Families USA, a non-profit organisation that advocates health care for all Americans. More than 26 260 Americans aged 25 to 64 died in 2006 because they lacked health insurance—more than twice as many as were murdered, Families USA said. In the seven years from 2000 to 2006 an estimated 162 700 Americans died because of lack of health insurance. Families USA said, “The number of uninsured Americans reached 47 million in 2006, and it continues to …
A dynamic downlink load control scheme with virtual coverage adjustments for two-tier LTE systems

Abrupt increase in traffic load can cause traffic overloading situation, thereby degrading the performance of two-tier LTE systems, in which femtocells are overlaid with macrocells. In this paper, we propose a dynamic downlink load control scheme with virtual coverage adjustments for the two-tier LTE system, in which the coverage of hotspot macrocell is virtually controlled by adjusting handover parameters of serving cell and target cell. Simulation results show that our proposed control scheme can effectively prevent traffic overloading, and thus improve the performance of the two-tier LTE system. In particular, with the proposed scheme, the two-tier LTE system can also achieve system stability with the role of femtocells as a load shelter.
Simultaneous Liver Kidney Transplant (SLK) Allocation Policy Change Proposal: Is It Really a Smart Move?

We read with interest the article by Formica and colleagues published in AJT (1). The article analyzes the current status of simultaneous liver–kidney transplant (SLK) transplantation in the United States and proposes a change to the SLK allocation policy. Results of the analysis are striking: 37% of SLK recipients were not on renal replacement therapy (RRT) at time of transplantation, 40% of SLK transplant recipients had serum creatinine <2.5 mg/dL, and almost 50% of kidneys used for SLK transplantation had a KDPI score <35% with expected long-term survival that should have benefited young patients waiting for kidney-alone transplant. The authors also confirm the findings of previous studies that showed no survival advantage of SLK transplantation in recipients with a creatinine <2.5 mg/dL and not on RRT at time of transplantation, while SLK benefits mainly patients on RRT at time of transplantation (2,3). Based on these data, one would have imagined that a change in the current SLK policy would have limited SLK transplantation to patients on RRT at time of transplant. Rather, the authors propose that liver transplant (LT) candidates with eGFR <60 mL/min for >90 days prior to listing and those with eGFR <35 mL/min at time of listing should be considered for SLK transplantation.
Voltage noise measurements across the pancreatic beta‐cell membrane: calcium channel characteristics.

1. Membrane potential fluctuations were measured in cells from mouse Islets of Langerhans identified as beta‐cells by the characteristic pattern of electrical activity induced by 11 mM‐D‐glucose. 2. The membrane potential was controlled by adjusting the external potassium concentration, [K+]o, keeping the sum [Na+]o plus [K+]o constant. In the absence of glucose, when [K+]o is raised, the resulting depolarization is accompanied by a significant increase in voltage noise. 3 The amplitude and time course of the voltage noise were measured under various experimental conditions. The variance of the fluctuating voltage decreased monotonically along the depolarization induced by sudden increase in [K+]o, suggesting a monotonic reduction in the number of elementary events. 4. The frequency characteristics of the excess noise could be analysed as the sum of 1/f and 1/f2 components. While the 1/f component remained unaffected by the external application of 20mM‐tetraethylammonium (TEA) and either 2 mM‐Mn2+ or 2 mM‐Co2+, the 1/f2 component was suppressed by both Mn2+ and Co2+. 5. The corner frequency, fc, of the 1/f2 component depended on membrane potential, which was adjusted by adjusting the [K+]o jump. These results support the idea that fc in these experiments is a measure of the channel relaxation. 6. Measurements of the input resistance in the frequency range from 0 to 25 Hz were used to obtain a rough estimate of the size of the channel conductance as 5 x 10(‐12) omega (‐1).
Precision of Landmark Positioning on Digitized Models from Patients with Cleft Lip and Palate

Objective To quantify the precision of landmark positioning on digitized casts of patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate. Patients Forty plaster models of newborns up to 8 months of age were selected from the archive of the Department of Orthodontics of the University of Heidelberg. Material and Method The plaster-cast models were digitized with a Micromeasure 70 three-dimensional laser scanner (Micromeasure, Bischoffen, Germany). The laser scanner used in this study operates with a precision of 0.15 mm on the x- and y-axes and 0.06 mm on the z-axis. In the intraobserver study, a single observer placed anatomical landmarks in four rounds, with at least 4 weeks between each round. In the interobserver study, four different observers each placed the same landmarks once. For the two different studies, an ideal location for each landmark was calculated by averaging the landmark positions of the four rounds or observers. The distance between each of the four landmark positions and the ideal landmark was measured. Results A 95% confidence interval for the landmark positioning error was calculated. For the intraobserver investigation, this error was 0.34 to 1.30 mm, and for the interobserver investigation it was 0.7 to 2.00 mm. Conclusion Because both investigations displayed comparable error intervals, it was concluded that different observers could perform landmark positioning for the same studies.
1 Heart rate variability and diastolic dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Laura Poanta, lecturer, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hatieganu”, 2 Department of Internal Medicine, Cluj Napoca, Romania Mihai Porojan, assistant professor, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hatieganu”, 2 Department of Internal Medicine, Cluj Napoca, Romania Dan Lucian Dumitrascu, professor, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hatieganu”, 2 Department of Internal Medicine, Cluj Napoca, Romania
Survey on access control issues in cloud computing

Cloud computing is the use of computing resources like hardware and software that are delivered as a service over a network. It confides remote services with a user's data and software, it enables a user to do large amount of storage, large amount of computations. Due to which data security in cloud becomes a big issues. Data access control provides the security of data in the cloud. The large amount of data outsourced in cloud servers, the data access control becomes a challenging issue in cloud storage systems. We have many access control security solution like Attribute based, Role based, Hierarchical identity management, Identity based authentication, Trust based model etc. Cloud computing is one recent technologies. So it becomes very necessary to secure the data as well as privacy of users. Access Control methods provide an effective way to ensure that authorized user's access the data and the system. In this paper we discussed various features of attribute based Encryption, Role based, Hierarchical identity management, Identity based authentication, Trust based model suitable for cloud computing environment.
Integración de modelos de agrupamiento y reglas de asociación obtenidos de múltiples fuentes de datos

Resumen. Una alternativa posible para descubrir conocimiento sobre bases de datos distribuidas, usando tecnicas de Mineria de Datos, es rehusar los modelos de mineria de datos locales obtenidos en cada base de datos e integrarlos para obtener patrones globales. Este proceso debe realizarse sin acceder a los datos directamente. Este trabajo se centra en la propuesta de dos metodos para la integracion de modelos de Mineria de Datos: Modelos de Reglas de Asociacion y Agrupamiento, especificamente para reglas de asociacion obtenidas usando soporte y confianza como medidas de calidad y agrupamientos basados en centroides. Estos modelos fueron obtenidos al analizar multiples conjuntos de datos homogeneos. El estudio experimental muestra que se obtuvieron modelos globales de calidad en un tiempo razonable cuando se aumentan la cantidad de patrones locales a integrar. Palabras clave. Integracion, modelos de mineria de datos, reglas de asociacion, agrupamiento, Patrones.
Relative Distance Estimation for Indoor Multi-Robot Control Using Monocular Digital Camera

Distance measurement methodologies based on the digital camera usually require extensive calibration routines, some are even derived from complicated image processing algorithms resulting in low picture frame rates. Particularly, in a dynamic camera system, due to the unpredictability of intrinsic and extrinsic parameters, the reliable measuring results are highly dependent on the accuracy of extra sensors. In this paper, a simple algorithm for relative distance estimation is proposed for multi-robot control with a monocular digital camera. Reasonable accuracy is achieved by judging the 2D perspective projection image ratio (PPIR) of robots’ labels on a TFT-LCD (Thin Film Transistor–Liquid Crystal Display) monitor without any additional sensory cost and complicated calibration effort. Further, the algorithm does not contain any trigonometric functions so that it can be easily implemented on an embedded system using the field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology.
Role of Extracellular Bacterial Polysaccharides in the Caries Process

It is now clear that specific bacteria are essential for the initiation of smooth surface carious lesions and periodontal disease in experimental animals. These observations have focused attention on gelatinous dental plaques as a prerequisite for the initiation of both pathologic processes. Animals infected with organisms capable of eliciting these diseases develop massive accumulations of gelatinous plaque, whereas animals harboring ineffective bacteria do not. Thus, the pathogenicity of these organisms is intimately associated with their ability to induce plaque formation. The initiation of carious lesions in pits and fissures of teeth shows a lower degree of bacterial specificity. As these sites provide protected regions for food impaction and bacterial proliferation, pit and fissure carious lesions are less dependent on gelatinous plaque. Currently, there are two types of bacteria recognized as being able to induce gelatinous plaques. Specific streptococci that elicit plaque formation and caries when inoculated into the mouths of experimental animals have been isolated from rodents and man. In addition, certain diphtheroidal organisms, Odontomyces viscosus, are associated with gingival plaque, root caries, and periodontal disease in rodents. Recently, it has become clear that the production of certain extracellular polymers, particularly insoluble adhesive polysaccharides of the dextran and levan type, plays a vital role in the formation of the streptococcal plaques. Investigators in Sweden, Switzerland, England, and the United States have observed that some streptococci synthesize gelatinous polysaccharides of the dextran and levan type from sucrose, but not from other sugars commonly found in the mouth. The formation of these polymers affects the adhesive characteristics of the streptococci, because these organisms form gelatinous plaque-like deposits specifically in sucrose
Epigenetics in ecology and evolution: what we know and what we need to know

KOEN J. F . VERHOEVEN,* BRIDGETT M. VONHOLDT† and VICTORIA L. SORK‡§ *Terrestrial Ecology Department, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB Wageningen, the Netherlands, †Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA, ‡Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA, §Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
The Relationship between default and economic cycle for retail portfolios across countries : identifying the drivers of economic downturn

In this article, we collect consumer delinquency data from several economic shocks in order to study the creation of stress test models. We leverage the Dual-time Dynamics modeling technique to better isolate macroeconomic impacts whenever vintage-level performance data is available. The stress test models follow a framework described here of focusing on consumer-centric macroeconomic variables so that the models are as robust as possible when predicting the impacts of future shocks. We consider the Mexican Peso Crisis / Tequila Effect by examining Argentina; Asian Economic Crisis by considering Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore; the Hong Kong SARS recession; and the relative lack of recessions in recent data from Canada and Australia.
Model development for post-implementation process of advanced manufacturing technology

Most manufacturing firms have been forced to embark on advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) projects. Though firms have reported the benefits attained through AMT implementation, only modest benefits are reported and many have failed. Lack of fit between technology and organisation has been identified as caused of these failures. A theoretical-based model for the implementation of AMT has been developed to allow managers to foresee the results of the implementation based on definite criteria. The implementation process consists of four stages. The important criteria at each stage were identified and their relative weights established through literature. Using the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method, a three-level hierarchy was constructed to determine the probability of success stage at implementation stages and identify problems and weaknesses. The proposed model was tested on four companies and the results showed that the model was able to predict the performance of the companies at each stage.
Self- heating effects in CMOS-SOI-NEMS transistors for uncooled passive IR sensors

Novel uncooled thermal sensor based on a suspended transistor (TMOS) made in standard CMOS-SOI process and released by post-etching, has been developed at Technion. The transient Self-heating thermal effect analysis of TMOS sensors operated either in saturation or subthreshold is presented. This work establishes an analytical analysis of a novel approach drastically reducing the self-heating thermal effect in TMOS sensors. This is achieved by a bridge-like circuit and utilizing a sensor and a reference device with similar thermal capacitance and different thermal conductivity. The self-heating effect is significantly reduced while operating in subthreshold. Thus emphasizing the advantages of the subthreshold operation point: battery operation as well as reduced self-heating.
Are multiple repeated cesarean sections really as safe?

Abstract Aim: Surgical complications were compared between patients with three or less prior cesarean deliveries and four or more prior cesarean deliveries. Materials and methods: Records of 120 patients who had undergone cesarean sections (CSs) in our Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, between August and November 2015, were retrospectively studied. Cases were reviewed on the basis of age, type of operation, type of anesthesia, number of CSs, time of hospitalization, and intra-operative and post-operative complications. Results: Cesarean sections had been performed on 62 (51.7%) patients whose cesarean number was three or less, while 58 (48.3%) patients had multiple CSs four or more. Patients with four or more prior cesareans had an increased rate of intra-abdominal adhesions, compared with the other group. There was no significant difference in the gestational weeks, neonatal admission rate, incidence of cesarean hysterectomy, uterine scar rupture, placenta previa with placental invasion anomalies, bladder and bowel injuries, incidence of peripartum hemorrhage and blood transfusion rate between the two groups. Conclusion: There is no greater risk of maternal complications in patients with four or more prior cesareans, excepting intra-abdominal adhesions.
MHC class‐I‐restricted auto‐tumor‐specific CD4+CD8 −T‐cell clones established from autologous mixed lymphocyte‐tumor‐cell culture (MLTC)

Autologous mixed lymphocyte‐tumor cell cultures (MLTC) were initiated with cytokine (IFNγ and TNFα)‐treated ex‐vivo tumor cells of lung, ovarian, breast and stomach carcinomas. The cytokine‐treated tumors expressed class‐l but not class‐M molecules. Although the proportion of CD8+ lymphocytes increased in the bulk culture of MLTCs, in 5/7 experiments the majority of the established T‐cell clones were CD4+. Among the CD8+ clones a high proportion (77%) was cytotoxic, while the proliferative response was more frequent among the CD4+clones (70%). In 4/26 cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte (CTL) clones (3/17 CD4+ and I /9 CD8+), derived from a patient with class l+class II− stomach carcinoma, lysis was restricted to the autologous tumor cells. These auto‐tumor‐specific clones did not lyse the autologous ConA blasts, the 5 allogeneic ex‐vivo tumors, the NK‐sensitive K562 or the relatively sensitive Daudi cells. The cytotoxicity of these clones was inhibited by pre‐incubation of the tumor cells with W6/32 (α‐class I) MAb, or by preincubation of the lymphocytes with OKT3 (α‐CD3) MAb. The α‐CD4 (OKT4) MAb had only a marginal effect on the CD4+clones, while the lytic function of the CD8+ clone was inhibited by the α‐CD8 (OKT8) MAb. The 3 CD4+CTL clones also responded with proliferation to the autologous tumor cells. This proliferative response was inhibited by the presence of W6/32 MAb. Our results indicate that the auto‐tumor lysis exerted by CD4+ CTL clones was restricted by the class‐l antigens, and that the CD4 molecules of the clones were not essential for the lytic interaction. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss. Inc.
Control of a complex traffic junction using fuzzy inference

Fuzzy controllers have been widely used in many consumer products and industrial applications with success over the past two decades. For traffic control, however, fuzzy controllers have not been widely applied. This paper proposes a fuzzy traffic lights controller to be used at a complex traffic junction in the middle of Kuala Lumpur city, Malaysia. The proposed fuzzy traffic lights controller is capable of communicating with neighbor junctions and manages phase sequences and phase lengths adaptively. A real case study of a complex traffic junction is simulated having 4 intersections. Average flow density, average delay time and link overflow of all the 4 intersections are used as performance indices when comparing the fuzzy controller with two other existing traffic lights controllers in Malaysia, namely the preset-cycle time and vehicle-actuated controllers. A simulator has been developed to show the effectiveness of the fuzzy traffic controller which can also be used for teaching purposes.