Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cytosolic Phospholipase A 2 α Is Essential for Renal Dysfunction and End-Organ Damage Associated With Angiotensin II-Induced Hypertension

The kidney plays an important role in regulating blood pressure (BP). cPLA2α in the kidney is activated by various agents including angiotensin II (Ang II) and selectively releases arachidonic acid (AA) from tissue lipids, generating pro- and antihypertensive eicosanoids. Since activation of cPLA2α is the rate-limiting step in AA release, this study was conducted to determine its contribution to renal dysfunction and end-organ damage associated with Ang II-induced hypertension. cPLA 2 α +/+ and cPLA 2 α −/− mice were infused with Ang II (700 ng/ kg/min) or its vehicle for 13 days. Mice were placed in metabolic cages to monitor their food and water intake, and urine was collected and its volume was measured. Doppler imaging was performed to assess renal hemodynamics. On the 13th day of Ang II infusion, mice were sacrificed and their tissues and blood collected for further analysis. Ang II increased renal vascular resistance, water intake, and urine output and Na + excretion, decreased urine osmolality, and produced proteinuria in cPLA 2 α +/+ mice. Ang II also caused accumulation of F4/80 + macrophages and CD3 + T cells and renal fibrosis, and increased oxidative stress in the kidneys of cPLA 2 α +/+ mice. All these effects of Ang II were minimized in cPLA 2 α −/− mice. and end-organ damage, most likely via the action of pro-hypertensive eicosanoids and increased oxidative stress associated with Ang II-induced hypertension. Thus, cPLA 2 α could serve as a potential therapeutic target for treating renal dysfunction and end-organ damage in hypertension.
Capacity Region for Quantum Wiretap Coding

This paper follows very closely a famous paper by Csiszar and Korner about classical (non-quantum) wiretap coding. Our paper gives a self-contained and slightly novel review of some important results of the paper by Csiszar and Korner. Then we present a generalization of those results to the quantum realm, thus giving one of the first half-decent treatments of quantum wiretap coding. Like Csiszar and Korner, we too find a capacity region (i.e., the maximal achievable region of rates) characterized in terms of one-letter informations. We try to make our treatment of quantum wiretap coding as parallel a possible to our treatment of classical wiretap coding. This parallel treatment is facilitated by the use of CB nets (classical Bayesian networks) for the classical case and QB nets (quantum Bayesian networks) for the quantum one.
An unsupervised anomaly detection model to identify emphysema in low-dose computed tomography

Challenges such as class imbalance, time intensive visual scoring, and limited amounts of labeled data are often encountered while accessing lung cancer screening low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) data for automated emphysema detection. To tackle these issues, we propose a generative adversarial network (GAN) based on unsupervised anomaly detection (UAD) to identify emphysema in LDCT. And to initiate disease specific feature learning, we introduce data augmentation based on minimum intensity projection (minIP) for the adversarial framework. The generator of the UAD model resembles an image latent-image configuration consisting of fully convolutional encoder-decoder architecture with skip connections. The discriminator is an encoder, which acts as a feature extractor and a classifier. We tested the robustness of the minIP based UAD model by adding anomalies to the training set. Furthermore to illustrate the usefulness of minIP and to serve as a comparison methodology for emphysema detection in LDCT, the proposed model was compared to the 2.5D transfer learning model. Visualization techniques like post processed residual images and Grad-cam maps were used to explain the UAD model inference. Our proposed minIP based UAD model showed an area under the curve of 0.91 0.02 for emphysema detection in LDCT. The UAD model was robust to inclusion of anomalies up to 3%. The augmentation improved the sensitivity of the transfer learning model by 2% however the UAD model outperformed the transfer learning model. The UAD model with minIP is a potential computer-aided tool for early detection of emphysema in lung cancer screening data.
MÁSTER UNIVERSITARIO EN INTELIGENCIA ARTIFICIAL RESEARCH ON REINFORCEMENT LEARNING METHODS . A PRACTICAL CASE STUDY

Reinforcement learning has improved significantly over the past decades, making important contributions to a wide range of fields in Artificial Intelligence. While research on this field has grown considerably big, some of the most impacting projects have proven the efficiency of reinforcement learning methodologies and principles when combined with other methods like the emerging artificial neural networks. One example of this is the coding of an Artificial Intelligence agent that achieves superhuman results on different tasks like board game playing or computer vision. The main objective of this project is to acquire a deep knowledge and understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of reinforcement learning in contrast to other common fields of machine learning such as supervised learning and unsupervised learning. This project studies reinforcement learning from its core principles and presents some of the state-of-the-art methods and algorithms. An implementation of a reinforcement learning algorithm is conducted to solve a simple problem of finding the best actions in the board game Tic-Tac-Toe, using one of the most relevant algorithms, Q-Learning. Other interesting features about reinforcement learning are presented along with the main open lines of research that are currently being studied.
Assessment of the implementation of therapeutic education in patients with chronic disease in the context of perceived social support

Introduction: Therapeutic education should be an integral element of treatment, especially in chronic disorders, because good disease control and less frequent relapses or exacerbations contribute to improving the quality of life, including increasing the patient’s mental comfort and self-determination in the disease. An important element of the ability to involve the patient in the process of therapeutic education is social support. Aim of the study: To understand the relationship between the assessment of the effectiveness of therapeutic education in patients treated for chronic diseases and the level of experienced social support. Material and methods: The study included 98 patients. The study involved the diagnostic survey method. To collect the data, the author’s questionnaire and a standardised tool (ISSB) were used. The obtained data were analysed statistically. Results: Among the patients suffering from chronic diseases, therapeutic education was most often carried out once (42.6%), without a previously prepared educational program (61.4%) and mainly providing methods (46.5%). The surveyed most often participated in educational activities carried out by a single member of the therapeutic team (69.3%), and the duration of education was adjusted to individual needs. The evaluation of the program was carried out only in a minority of those surveyed (43.7%). Conclusions: Patients with chronic diseases had the opportunity to participate in one-time education. Therapeutic education in clinical practice is far from the recommendations of theoreticians and requires work on each stage of educational activities.
Drug-eluting HORIZONS and Drug-eluting Stent Usage in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the few clinical presentations whereby percutaneous coronary intervention reduces the risk of death compared with medical therapy alone. However, treatment with drug-eluting stents (DES) – so-called ‘off-label’ use for patients with ST-segment-elevation MI (STEMI) – raises safety concerns with respect to the morbidity and mortality attributed to late stent thrombosis (LST). Pathology data clearly indicate delayed healing as the primary substrate in all cases of DES-related LST, where differences in lesion morphology invariably show a greater prevalence of uncovered struts, accumulated fibrin and inflammation in ruptures relative to stable plaques. The prolonged risk of LST appears to persist up to at least four years after DES implantation. Results from the recently published Harmonising Outcomes with Revascularisation and Stents – Acute Myocardial Infarction (HORIZONS-AMI) trial of 3,006 prospective patients presenting with STEMI, randomised to paclitaxel-eluting (PES) or identical bare-metal stents (BMS), show similar 12-month death and stent thrombosis rates. Despite a significant reduction in ischaemia-driven target lesion revascularisation, a sub-study analysis showed a greater incidence of malapposition in patients receiving PES. Along these same lines, other registry studies point towards inconsistencies in advocating the use of DES for AMI. Considering that arterial healing in response to DES is delayed for periods longer than one year, long-term follow-up beyond this point is required to confirm the results of the HORIZONS trial. However, despite the final outcome, the results may remain disputable since the trial may not have been sufficiently powered to address the relative risks of LST or mortality. Clearly, there remains a need for larger randomised controlled studies before the broader use of this technology in AMI patients is settled.
Short- and Long-Term E ﬀ ects of Lime and Gypsum Applications on Acid Soils in a Water-Limited Environment: 2. Soil Chemical Properties

: Soil acidity or aluminum (Al) toxicity is a major limitation to crop production. In this paper, we examine the e ﬀ ects of surface-applied lime and gypsum on soil proﬁle chemical properties that a ﬀ ect Al toxicity in short-term (1 year), medium-term (2 years and 8 months) and long-term (10 years) experiments. Sulfate applied to the soil surface as gypsum was leached rapidly to a depth of 40 cm in the short-term despite relatively low amounts (279 mm) of rainfall. In the medium and long-term experiments, 28–54% of the sulfate applied as gypsum was retained in the 0–50 cm soil layer due to adsorption and precipitation reactions. The combined application of lime and gypsum increased soil calcium, to a depth of 30 cm in the short-term and to a depth of 50 cm in the medium and long-terms. Increases in soil sulfate and calcium were associated with greater electrical conductivity to a depth of 50 cm for all sampling times. Application of lime alone had no impact on soil Al, pH, and calcium in the soil layers below 10 cm in the short and medium terms. In the long-term, increasing the rate of lime application from 2 to 8 t L ha − 1 increased soil pH in the 10–20 cm soil layer while soil Al decreased to a depth of 30 cm. The combined use of lime and gypsum decreased soil Al in the 30–50 cm soil layer in the medium-term and the 20–30 cm soil layer in the long-term which was more than when only lime was applied. Hence, we recommend the use of lime plus gypsum for treating soils with subsoil Al toxicity. Additionally, soil Al measurements are a more sensitive measurement of the impact of surface application lime and lime plus gypsum than soil pH. impact of surface application of G and L on soil chemical properties overtime to explain these crop grain yield responses. In this paper, we present changes in soil proﬁle SO 4 -S, Ca, EC, Al, pH and ECEC over time. We hypothesize that measurement of soil Al, as opposed to pH, will provide a more sensitive measurement of the impact of surface-applied L on subsoil chemical properties. Additionally, the combined application of L and G will result in a greater reduction in soil Al than when L is applied alone.
Identi¢cation of acquired DNA in Neisserialactamica

Anomalous DNA (aDNA) in prokaryotic genomes, identiﬁed by its aberrant nucleotide composition, generally represents horizontally acquired DNA. Previous studies showed that frequent DNA transfer occurs between commensal Neisseriae and Neisseria meningitidis . Currently, it is unknown whether aDNA regions are also transferred between these species. The genome of Neisseria lactamica strain 892586 was assessed by a strategy that enables the selective isolation of aDNA, using endonucleases with recognition sites that are overrepresented in aDNA. Of eight regions with aDNA, ﬁve displayed similarity to virulence-associated meningococcal sequences. Of three aDNA fragments with limited or no similarity to neisserial sequences, one encodes a novel putative autotransporter/adhesin. The remaining two fragments are adjacent in the N. lactamica genome, and encode a novel putative ATPase/subtilisin-like protease operon. A similar operon is present in the genomes of different respiratory tract pathogens. The identiﬁcation of aDNA from N. lactamica with similarity to meningococcal aDNA shows that genetic exchange between the Neisseriae is not limited to the neisserial core genome. The discovery of aDNA in N. lactamica similar to a locus in other pathogens substantially expands the neisserial gene pool.
Investigating the Effect of Bit Depth Rescaling on Spectral Bands Cross-Correlation in Hyperspectral DataCube

— Hyperspectral data analysis nowadays is one of the most common activities in the scientific community regarding data fusion and processing; most available free data through NASA websites are very helpful for researchers and postgraduate studies; Data has different formats band interleaved by pixel (BIP), Band sequential (BSQ) and Band-Interleaved-by-Line (BIL); also, it differs in bit depth from 12 to 16; as well as processed or raw format, headers included or without header; many researchers have to reformat the data for further use with either standard software like Environment for Visualizing Images software (ENVI), or custom developed software. This paper investigates the effect of rescaling pixel bit depth of hyperspectral data, on the spectral correlation between successive bands of the datacube. On the other hand, all other reformatting processes like band reordering and headers removal will not affect the spirit of the hyperspectral cube itself.
A Review of MMSE Based SMP Algorithm for Channel Estimation in MIMO Systems

- Channel estimation scheme based on minimum mean square estimation (MMSE) and sparse message passing (SMP) has been proposed . This can yield better performance since it can capture the inherent sparseness of the millimeter wave (mm wave) channel. MMSE-SMP algorithm reduces the pathloss,fading, shadowing effects, co-channel interference, channeluncertainitiy. This effects can be reduced by increasing the number of transmit antennas and receive antennas. Also, MMSE-SMP does not require the prior knowledge of the channel distribution and provide better performance. Even with less number of transmit and receive antennas itself can provide better performance.
In-vivo microsystems A

: In-vivo sensors yield valuable medical information by measuring directly on the living tissue of a patient. These devices can be surface or implant devices. Electrical activity in the body, from organs or muscles can be measured using surface electrodes. For short term internal devices, catheters are used. These include cardiac catheter (in blood vessels) and bladder catheters. Due to the size and shape of the catheters, silicon devices provided an excellent solution for sensors. Since many cardiac catheters are disposable, the high volume has led to lower prices of the silicon sensors. Many catheters use a single sensor, but silicon o ﬀ ers the opportunity to have multi sensors in a single catheter, while maintaining small size. The cardiac catheter is usually inserted for a maximum of 72 h. Some devices may be used for a short-to-medium period to monitor parameters after an operation or injury (1–4 weeks). Increasingly, sensing, and actuating, devices are being applied to longer term implants for monitoring a range of parameters for chronic conditions. Devices for longer term implantation presented additional challenges due to the harshness of the environment and the stricter regulations for biocompatibility and safety. This paper will examine the three main areas of application for in-vivo devices: surface devices and short / medium-term and long-term implants. The issues of biocompatibility and safety will be discussed.
Splanchnic blood ﬂow and hepatic glucose production in exercising humans: role of renin-angiotensin system

Splanchnic blood ﬂow and hepatic glucose production in exercising humans: role of renin-angiotensin system. Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol 281: R1854–R1861, 2001. —The study examined the implication of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in regulation of splanchnic blood ﬂow and glucose production in exercising humans. Subjects cycled for 40 min at 50% maximal O 2 consumption (V˙ O 2 max ) followed by 30 min at 70% V˙ O 2 max either with [angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) blockade] or without (control) administration of the ACE inhibitor enalapril (10 mg iv). Splanchnic blood ﬂow was estimated by indocyanine green, and splanchnic substrate exchange was determined by the arteriohepatic venous difference. Exercise led to an ; 20-fold increase ( P , 0.001) in ANG II levels in the control group (5.4 6 1.0 to 102.0 6 25.1 pg/ml), whereas this response was blunted during ACE blockade (8.1 6 1.2 to 13.2 6 2.4 pg/ml) and in response to an orthostatic challenge performed postexercise. Apart from lactate and cortisol, which were higher in the ACE-blockade group vs. the control group, hormones, metabolites, V˙ O 2 , and RER followed the same pattern of changes in ACE-blockade and control groups during exercise. Splanchnic blood ﬂow (at rest: 1.67 6 0.12, ACE blockade; 1.59 6 0.18 l/min, control) decreased during moderate exercise (0.78 6 0.07, ACE blockade; 0.74 6 0.14 l/min, control), whereas splanchnic glucose production (at rest: 0.50 6 0.06, ACE blockade; 0.68 6 0.10 mmol/min, control) increased during moderate exercise (1.97 6 0.29, ACE blockade; 1.91 6 0.41 mmol/min, control). Refuting a major role of the RAS for these responses, no differences in the pattern of change of splanchnic blood ﬂow and splanchnic glucose production were observed during ACE blockade compared with controls. This study demonstrates that the normal increase in ANG II levels observed during prolonged exercise in humans does not play a major role in the regulation of splanchnic blood ﬂow and glucose production.
Everyday Professional Life Experiences of Teachers in the Midlife Transition Period

Th e article presents the meaning of professional work as experienced by teachers in the midlife transition period (the concept by P. Oleś). Qualitative research conducted with the use of an autobiographical method (a reference to the journal writing tradition of F. Znaniecki and his followers, including pedeutology experts) has been placed within the framework of everyday life sociology as presented by A. Schütz, P. Berger and T. Luckmann, and P. Sztompka. Th e purpose of the presented study is to focus on how the stage of one’s development infl uences the quality of work and determines the meaning and importance of professional experiences. In order to describe it, a reference has been made to the research conducted among 6 female teachers in the midlife transition period.
T HE FUNCTIONAL ROLE OF PRODUCER DIVERSITY IN ECOSYSTEMS 1

Over the past several decades, a rapidly expanding ﬁ eld of research known as biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has begun to quantify how the world ’ s biological diversity can, as an independent variable, control ecological processes that are both essential for, and fundamental to, the functioning of ecosystems. Research in this area has often been justiﬁ ed on grounds that (1) loss of biological diversity ranks among the most pronounced changes to the global environment and that (2) reductions in diversity, and corresponding changes in species composition, could alter important services that ecosystems provide to humanity (e.g., food production, pest/disease control, water puriﬁ cation). Here we review over two decades of experiments that have examined how species richness of primary producers inﬂ uences the suite of ecological processes that are controlled by plants and algae in terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. Using formal meta-analyses, we assess the balance of evidence for eight fundamental questions and corresponding hypotheses about the functional role of producer diversity in ecosystems. These include questions about how primary producer diversity inﬂ uences the efﬁ ciency of resource use and biomass production in ecosystems, how primary producer diversity inﬂ uences the transfer and recycling of biomass to other trophic groups in a food web, and the number of species and spatial /temporal scales at which diversity effects are most apparent. After summarizing the balance of evidence and stating our own conﬁ dence in the conclusions, we outline several new questions that must now be addressed if this ﬁ eld is going to evolve into a predictive science that can help conserve and manage ecological processes in ecosystems.
Ordinal Welfare Comparisons with Multiple Discrete Indicators

: We develop an ordinal method for making welfare comparisons between populations with multidimensional discrete well-being indicators observed at the micro level. The approach assumes that, for each well-being indicator, the levels can be ranked from worse to better; however, no assumptions are made about relative importance of any dimension nor about complementarity/substitutability relationships between dimensions. The method is based on the concept of multidimensional first order dominance. We introduce a rapid and reliable algorithm for empirically determining whether one population dominates another on the basis of available binary indicators by drawing upon linear programming theory. These approaches are applied to household survey data from Vietnam and Mozambique with a focus on child poverty comparisons over time and between regions.
Distinguishability criteria of conformable hybrid linear systems

Abstract We relate this article to the emerging idea of distinguishability of conformable linear hybrid time-invariant control systems. To obtain the necessary and sufficient conditions of α \alpha -distinguishability for fractional cases, we develop the Leibnitz rule for conformable derivatives. Furthermore, with the help of a study of Laplace techniques, a more simple criterion of α \alpha -distinguishability for the fractional linear system is developed.
Sarcomatoid Carcinoma of the Penis Inone (01) Senegalese Patient. Clinical Presentation, Nanopathology and Literature Review

We hereby present a case of sarcomatoid carcinoma of the penis in a 32-year-old adult. This is a rare type of epidermoid cell carcinoma and of potentially poor prognosis. The histological diagnosis is very difficult in the absence of immunohistochemistry. The treatment is surgical, and needs to be associated with specific contingency measures of the balano-preputiallimit, without loco-regional and general lymphatic ganglionic location. The biological check (hemoglobin, leucocytes and platelets) was normal. Abdominal ultrasound, chest X-ray and urography were also normal. A biopsy was performed at first, and diagnosis of invasive sarcoma of the penis was proposed. After consent of the patient and his family, a 2/3 penectomy was then performed under general anesthesia. The aftermath of surgery was simple. The macroscopic examination of the operated specimen showed an ulcero-budding formation measuring 4 cm on the long axis, based on a wide implantation, ulcerated on the surface. At longitudinal section the appearance is firm and whitish. Histology showed a malignant tumor proliferation with a double carcinomatous and fusiform contingent. The carcinomatous contingent consists of lobules and infiltrating clumps often centered by horn-like globes. These clumps consisted of contiguous and very atypical polygonal cells in a fibro-inflammatory stroma. The sarcomatoid contingent featured a proliferation of large fusiform cells with pleomorphic nuclei, laid out in intersecting