bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Aneurysm wall cellularity affects healing after coil embolization: assessment in a rat saccular aneurysm model
Authors: Nevzati Edin , Rey Jeannine , Coluccia Daniel , Grüter Basil Erwin , Wanderer Stefan , vonGunten Michael , Remonda Luca , Frosen Juhana , Widmer Hans Rudolf , Fandino Javier , Marbacher Serge 
Published: December 2019

Background and purposeDespite significant technical advances, recanalization rates after endovascular therapy of ruptured intracranial aneurysms (IAs) remain a clinical challenge. A histopathological hallmark of ruptured human IA walls is mural cell loss. Mural smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are known to promote intraluminal healing in thrombosed experimental aneurysms. In this rat model we assess the natural history and healing process after coil embolization in SMC-rich and decellularized aneurysms.MethodsSaccular aneurysms were created by end-to-side anastomosis of an arterial graft from the descending thoracic aorta of a syngeneic donor rat to the infrarenal abdominal aorta of recipient male Wistar rats. Untreated arterial grafts were immediately transplanted, whereas aneurysms with loss of mural cells were chemically decellularized before implantation. Aneurysms underwent coil implantation during aneurysm anastomosis. Animals were randomly assigned either to the non-decellularized or decellularized group and underwent macroscopic and histological analyses on days 3, 7, 21, or 90 post-coil implantation.ResultsA total of 55 rats underwent macroscopic and histologic analysis. After coil embolization, aneurysms with SMC-rich walls showed a linear course of thrombosis and neointima formation whereas decellularized aneurysms showed marked inflammatory wall degeneration with increased recanalization rates 21 days (p=0.002) and 90 days (p=0.037) later. The SMCs showed the ability to actively migrate into the intra-aneurysmal thrombus and participate in thrombus organization.ConclusionsCoil embolization of aneurysms with highly degenerated walls is prone to further wall degeneration, increased inflammation, and recanalization compared with aneurysms with vital SMC-rich walls.
Drain in laparoscopic cholecystectomy in acute calculous cholecystitis: a randomised controlled study
Authors: Valappil Mithun V , Gulati Sumit , Chhabra Manish , Mandal Ajay , De Bakshi Sanjay , Bhattacharyya Avik , Ghatak Supriyo 
Published: December 2019

AbstractBackgroundThere is paucity of evidence regarding the role of drain in laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in acute calculous cholecystitis (ACC), and surgeons have placed the drains based on their experiences, not on evidence-based guidelines. This study aims to assess the value of drain in LC for ACC in a randomised controlled prospective study.Patients and methodsAll patients with mild and moderate ACC undergoing LC were assessed. Preoperatively, patients with choledocholithiasis, Mirizzi syndrome and biliary stent were excluded. Intraoperatively or postoperatively, patients with complications, partial cholecystectomies and malignancies were excluded. Patients were randomised using computer-generated random numbers into two groups at the end of cholecystectomy before closure. Requirement of radiologically guided (ultrasonography () or CT) percutaneous aspiration/drainage of symptomatic intra-abdominal collection or reoperation; continuation of parenteral antibiotics beyond 24 hours or change in antibiotics empirically or based on peritoneal fluid culture sensitivity; requirement of postoperative USG or CT scan based on postoperative clinical course; wound infection rates; postoperative pain using numeric rating scale at 6 and 24 hours; and the duration of hospital stay in both groups were noted.ResultsForty-two out of 50 consecutive patients were randomised into two equal groups. Pain score at 6 and 24 hours was less in patients without drain. All other complication rates and duration of stay were similar in both groups.ConclusionsDrains should not be placed routinely after LC in ACC as it increases pain and does not help in detecting or decreasing complications.
A proton-implanted planar waveguide fabricated in terbium gallium garnet crystal
Authors: Wang Yue , Long Xue-Wen , Zhu Qi-Feng , Chen Jing-Yi , Xu Jun , Liu Chun-Xiao 
Published: December 2019

The investigation on the terbium gallium garnet (TGG) crystal waveguides in the visible and near-infrared bands is significant for potential applications in science and technology. In this work, we report on a TGG planar waveguide based on the proton irradiation with an energy of 400 keV and a dose of [Formula: see text] ions/cm2. The annealing treatments are adopted to improve optical performances of the waveguide on the conditions of 260[Formula: see text]C and 410[Formula: see text]C severally for 1 h. The dark-mode spectra and the refractive index distributions of the TGG waveguide are obtained before and after the thermal treatments. There is a strange phenomenon that nine modes are observed on the m-line curve after the annealing treatment at 410[Formula: see text]C. The theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that the fabricated waveguide annealed at the temperature of 410[Formula: see text]C can propagate more guided modes and have better capacity to confine light.
The enhanced measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution with heralded pair coherent state
Authors: He Yefeng , Ma Wenping 
Published: December 2019

With heralded pair coherent states (HPCS), orbital angular momentum (OAM) states and pulse position modulation (PPM) technology, a decoy-state measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) protocol is proposed. OAM states and PPM technology are used to realize the coding of the signal states in the HPCS light source. The use of HPCS light source, OAM coding and PPM coding cannot only reduce the error rate but also improve the key generation rate and communication distance. The new MDI-QKD protocol also employs three-intensity decoy states to avoid the attacks against the light source. By calculating the error rate and key generation rate, the performance of the MDI-QKD protocol is analyzed. Numerical simulation shows that the protocol has very low error rate and very high key generation rate. Moreover, the maximum communication distance can reach 455 km.
General Method to Design Reversible Universal n-Bit Up/Down Counters
Authors: Kalantari Zeinab , Eshghi Mohammad , Mohammadi Majid , Jassbi Somayeh 
Published: December 2019

With the growing trend towards reducing the size of electronic devices, reducing power consumption has become one of the major concerns of circuit designers, and designing reversible circuits is one of the approaches proposed for reducing power consumption. Although several studies have been done in the field of synthesizing combinational reversible circuits, little work has been done for designing reversible sequential circuits. Furthermore, many researches in this context use traditional designs which replace latches, flip-flops and associated combinational gates with their reversible counterparts. This traditional technique is not very promising, because it leads to high quantum cost (QC) and garbage outputs. Recently, researchers have proposed direct design of reversible sequential circuits using Reed Muller expressions to obtain next state output. Since most sequential circuits have multiple outputs, using common product terms between multiple outputs might decrease QC significantly. In this paper, a modular and low QC design for a synchronous reversible [Formula: see text]-bit up/down counter with parallel load capability is presented. In this design, the common terms among multiple outputs are used efficiently, which leads to a low QC for the counter. A general formula to evaluate the QC of our proposed reversible counter is presented. This result shows that in our proposed design by increasing the number of bits of counter ([Formula: see text], the QC increases linearly, while in previous works by increasing the number of bits of counter, the QC increases exponentially.
Short- and long-term movement of mudflows of the Mississippi River Delta Front and their known and potential impacts on oil and gas infrastructure
Authors: Chaytor Jason D. , Baldwin Wayne E. , Bentley Samuel J. , Damour Melanie , Jones Douglas , Maloney Jillian , Miner Michael D. , Obelcz Jeff , Xu Kehui 
Published: December 2019

Abstract

Mudflows on the Mississippi River Delta Front (MRDF) are recognized hazards to oil and gas infrastructure in the shallow (20–300 m water depth) Gulf of Mexico. Preconditioning of the seafloor for failure results from high sedimentation rates coupled with slope over-steepening, under-consolidation and abundant biogenic gas production. Catastrophic failure of production platforms and pipelines due to seafloor displacement during infrequent large hurricanes such as Camille in 1969 and Ivan in 2004, point to cyclical loading of the seafloor by waves as a primary movement trigger. Due to data limitations, the role of smaller storms and background oceanographic processes in driving seafloor movement has remained largely unconstrained but these are thought to contribute to significant seafloor change. With the aid of new high-resolution multibeam mapping and seismic reflection profiling across sections of the MRDF, several moving features within the deforming delta-front environment are investigated and potential hazards to infrastructure installed and adjacent to the region are discussed. Via repeat mapping surveys of selected areas and records of changing shipwreck locations, we highlight significant seafloor displacement across annual to decadal timescales. For example, individual blocks mapped within mudflow gullies adjacent to Southwest Pass show downslope transport of more than 80 m in a single year, while the SS
Virginia
, a 153 m-long oil tanker sunk in 1942, has been relocated and found to have moved downslope more than 400 m in 14 years, without a major hurricane (>Category 2) passing through the region.
Full abstraction for the quantum lambda-calculus
Authors: Clairambault Pierre , de Visme Marc 
Published: December 2019

Quantum programming languages permit a hardware independent, high-level description of quantum algorithms. In particular, the quantum λ-calculus is a higher-order language with quantum primitives, mixing quantum data and classical control. Giving satisfactory denotational semantics to the quantum λ-calculus is a challenging problem that has attracted significant interest. In the past few years, both static (the quantum relational model) and dynamic (quantum game semantics) denotational models were given, with matching computational adequacy results. However, no model was known to be fully abstract.
Our first contribution is a full abstraction result for the games model of the quantum λ-calculus. Full abstraction holds with respect to an observational quotient of strategies, obtained by summing valuations of all states matching a given observable. Our proof method for full abstraction extends a technique recently introduced to prove full abstraction for probabilistic coherence spaces with respect to probabilistic PCF.
Our second contribution is an interpretation-preserving functor from quantum games to the quantum relational model, extending a long line of work on connecting static and dynamic denotational models. From this, it follows that the quantum relational model is fully abstract as well.
Altogether, this gives a complete denotational landscape for the semantics of the quantum λ-calculus, with static and dynamic models related by a clean functorial correspondence, and both fully abstract.
Does blame shifting work?
Authors: Lazarek Lukas , King Alexis , Sundar Samanvitha , Findler Robert Bruce , Dimoulas Christos 
Published: December 2019

Contract systems, especially of the higher-order flavor, go hand in hand with blame. The pragmatic purpose of blame is to narrow down the code that a programmer needs to examine to locate the bug when the contract system discovers a contract violation. Or so the literature on higher-order contracts claims.
In reality, however, there is neither empirical nor theoretical evidence that connects blame with the location of bugs. The reputation of blame as a tool for weeding out bugs rests on anecdotes about how programmers use contracts to shift blame and their attention from one part of a program to another until they discover the source of the problem.
This paper aims to fill the apparent gap and shed light to the relation between blame and bugs. To that end, we introduce an empirical methodology for investigating whether, for a given contract system, it is possible to translate blame information to the location of bugs in a systematic manner. Our methodology is inspired by how programmers attempt to increase the precision of the contracts of a blamed component in order to shift blame to another component, which becomes the next candidate for containing the bug. In particular, we construct a framework that enables us to ask for a contract system whether (i) the process of blame shifting causes blame to eventually settle to the component that contains the bug; and (ii) every shift moves blame ``closer'' to the faulty component.
Our methodology offers a rigorous means for evaluating the pragmatics of contract systems, and we employ it to analyze Racket's contract system. Along the way, we uncover subtle points about the pragmatic meaning of contracts and blame in Racket: (i) the expressiveness of Racket's off-the-shelf contract language is not sufficient to narrow down the blamed portion of the code to the faulty component in all cases; and (ii) contracts that trigger state changes (even unexpectedly, perhaps in the runtime system's data structures or caches) interfere with program evaluation in subtle ways and thus blame shifting can lead programmers on a detour when searching for a bug. These points highlight how evaluations such as ours suggest fixes to language design.
In search of the shortest possible schedule
Authors: Meyer Bertrand 
Published: December 2019

The
Communications
Web site, http://cacm.acm.org, features more than a dozen bloggers in the BLOG@CACM community. In each issue of
Communications
, we'll publish selected posts or excerpts.

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http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm
Bertrand Meyer considers how to speed up software engineering.
Self-efficacy and Physical Activity in Overweight and Obese Adults Participating in a Worksite Weight Loss Intervention: Multistate Modeling of Wearable Device Data
Authors: Robertson Michael C. , Green Charles E. , Liao Yue , Durand Casey P. , Basen-Engquist Karen M. 
Published: December 2019

Abstract

Background:
Physical activity is associated with a reduced risk of numerous types of cancer and plays an important role in maintaining a healthy weight. Wearable physical activity trackers may supplement behavioral intervention and enable researchers to study how determinants like self-efficacy predict physical activity patterns over time.

Methods:
We used multistate models to evaluate how self-efficacy predicted physical activity states among overweight and obese individuals participating in a 26-week weight loss program (N = 96). We specified five states to capture physical activity patterns: (i) active (i.e., meeting recommendations for 2 weeks), (ii) insufficiently active, (iii) nonvalid wear, (iv) favorable transition (i.e., improvement in physical activity over 2 weeks), and (v) unfavorable transition. We calculated HRs of transition probabilities by self-efficacy, body mass index, age, and time.

Results:
The average prevalence of individuals in the active, insufficiently active, and nonvalid wear states was 13%, 44%, and 16%, respectively. Low self-efficacy negatively predicted entering an active state [HR, 0.51; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.29–0.88]. Obesity negatively predicted making a favorable transition out of an insufficiently active state (HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.40–0.91). Older participants were less likely to transition to the nonvalid wear state (HR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.30–0.93). Device nonwear increased in the second half of the intervention (HR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.07–2.81).

Conclusions:
Self-efficacy is an important predictor for clinically relevant physical activity change in overweight and obese individuals. Multistate modeling is useful for analyzing longitudinal physical activity data.

Impact:
Multistate modeling can be used for statistical inference of covariates and allow for explicit modeling of nonvalid wear.
See all articles in this CEBP Focus section, “Modernizing Population Science.”
Toxicology and Pharmacokinetic Studies in Mice and Nonhuman Primates of the Nontoxic, Efficient, Targeted Hexameric FasL: CTLA4-FasL
Authors: Makdasi Efi , Amsili Shira , Aronin Alexandra , Prigozhina Tatyana B. , Tzdaka Kobi , Gozlan Yosi Meir , Ben Gigi–Tamir Liat , Sagiv Jitka Yehudith , Shkedy Fanny , Shani Noam , Tykocinski Mark L. , Dranitzki Elhalel Michal 
Published: December 2019

AbstractCytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA4)-FasL, a homo-hexameric signal converter protein, is capable of inducing robust apoptosis in malignant cells of the B-cell lineage expressing its cognate B7 and Fas targets, while sparing nonmalignant ones. This fusion protein's striking proapoptotic efficacy stems from its complementary abilities to coordinately activate apoptotic signals and abrogate antiapoptotic ones. A limiting factor in translating FasL or Fas receptor agonists into the clinic has been lethal hepatotoxicity. Here, we establish CTLA4-FasL's in vivo efficacy in multiple murine and xenograft models, for both systemic and subcutaneous tumors. Significantly, good laboratory practice (GLP) toxicology studies in mice indicate that CTLA4-FasL given repeatedly at doses up to five times the effective dose was well-tolerated and resulted in no significant adverse events. An equivalent single dose of CTLA4-FasL administered to nonhuman primates was also well-tolerated, albeit with a moderate dose-dependent leukopenia that was completely reversible. Interestingly, monkey peripheral blood mononuclear cells were more sensitive to CTLA4-FasL–induced apoptosis when tested in vitro. In both species, there was short-term elevation in serum levels of IL6, IL2, and IFNγ, although this was not associated with clinical signs of proinflammatory cytokine release, and further, this cytokine elevation could be completely prevented by dexamethasone premedication. Liver toxicity was not observed in either species, as confirmed by serum liver enzyme levels and histopathologic assessment. In conclusion, CTLA4-FasL emerges from animal model studies as an effective and safe agent for targeted FasL-mediated treatment of B7-expressing aggressive B-cell lymphomas.
Increased Myocardial Stiffness in Patients With High-Risk Left Ventricular Hypertrophy
Authors: Hieda Michinari , Sarma Satyam , Hearon Christopher M. , Dias Katrin A. , Martinez Jose , Samels Mitchel , Everding Braden , Palmer Dean , Livingston Sheryl , Morris Margot , Howden Erin , Levine Benjamin D. 
Published: December 2019

Background:
Individuals with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and elevated cardiac biomarkers in middle age are at high risk for the development of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). However, it is unknown what the pathophysiological underpinnings of this high-risk state may be. We tested the hypothesis that patients with LVH and elevated cardiac biomarkers would demonstrate elevated left ventricular (LV) myocardial stiffness in comparison with healthy controls as a key marker for future HFpEF.

Methods:
Forty-six patients with LVH (LV septum >11 mm) and elevated cardiac biomarkers (N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide [>40 pg/mL] or troponin T [>0.6 pg/mL]) were recruited, along with 61 age- and sex-matched (by cohort) healthy controls. To define LV pressure-volume relationships, right heart catheterization and 3-dimensional echocardiography were performed while preload was manipulated using lower body negative pressure and rapid saline infusion.

Results:

There were significant differences in body size, blood pressure, and baseline pulmonary capillary wedge pressure between groups (eg, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure: LVH, 13.4±2.7 versus control, 11.7±1.7 mm Hg,
P
<0.0001). The LV was less distensible in LVH than in controls (smaller volume for the same filling pressure). When preload was expressed as transmural filling pressure (pulmonary capillary wedge pressure – right atrial pressure), LV myocardial stiffness was nearly 30% greater in LVH than in controls (LVH stiffness constant, 0.053±0.027 versus controls, 0.042±0.020,
P
=0.028).

Conclusions:
LV myocardial stiffness in patients with LVH and elevated biomarkers (stage-B HFpEF) is greater than in age- and sex-matched controls and thus appears to represent a transitional state from a normal healthy heart to HFpEF. Although the LV myocardial stiffness of patients with LVH is greater than that of healthy controls at this early stage, further studies are required to clarify whether interventions such as exercise training to improve LV compliance may prevent the full manifestation of the HFpEF syndrome in these high-risk individuals.

Clinical Trial Registration:

URL:
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov
. Unique identifiers: NCT03476785 and NCT02039154.
Cortical Microinfarcts Detected by 3-Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Authors: Ishikawa Hidehiro , Ii Yuichiro , Shindo Akihiro , Tabei Ken-ichi , Umino Maki , Ito Ai Ogawa , Matsuura Keita , Taniguchi Akira , Matsuyama Hirofumi , Niwa Atsushi , Ogura Toru , Yoshimaru Kimiko , Satoh Masayuki , Maeda Masayuki , Tomimoto Hidekazu 
Published: December 2019

Background and Purpose—
Cortical microinfarcts (CMIs) are small ischemic lesions found in cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) and embolic stroke. This study aimed to differentiate CMIs caused by CAA from those caused by microembolisms, using 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging.

Methods—
We retrospectively investigated 70 patients with at least 1 cortical infarct <10 mm on 3-dimensional double inversion recovery imaging. Of the 70 patients, 43 had an embolic stroke history (Emboli-G) while 27 had CAA-group. We compared the size, number, location, and distribution of CMIs between groups and designed a radiological score for differentiation based on the comparisons.

Results—

CAA-group showed significantly more lesions <5 mm, which were restricted to the cortex (
P
<0.01). Cortical lesion number was significantly higher in Emboli-G than in CAA-group (4 versus 2;
P
<0.01). Lesions in CAA-group and Emboli-G were disproportionately located in the occipital lobe (
P
<0.01) and frontal or parietal lobe (
P
=0.04), respectively. In radiological scoring, ≥3 points strongly predicted microembolism (sensitivity, 63%; specificity, 92%) or CAA (sensitivity, 63%; specificity, 91%). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.85 and 0.87 for microembolism and CAA, respectively.

Conclusions—
Characteristics of CMIs on 3T-magnetic resonance imaging may differentiate CMIs due to CAA from those due to microembolisms.