gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Aortic valve regurgitation that resolved after a ruptured coronary sinus aneurysm was patched. (2013)

Sinus of Valsalva aneurysms appear to be rare. They occur most frequently in the right sinus of Valsalva (52%) and the noncoronary sinus (33%). More of these aneurysms originate from the right coronary cusp than from the noncoronary cusp. Surgical intervention is usually recommended when symptoms become evident. We report the case of a 34-year-old woman who presented with a congenital, ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm that originated from the noncoronary cusp. Moderate aortic regurgitation was associated with this lesion. Simple, direct patch closure of the ruptured aneurysm resolved the patient's left-to-right shunt and was associated with decreased aortic regurgitation to a degree that valve replacement was not necessary. Only trace residual aortic regurgitation was evident after 3 months, and the patient remained free of symptoms after 6 months. Our observations support the idea that substantial runoff blood flow in the immediate supra-annular region can be responsible for aortic regurgitation in the absence of a notable structural defect in the aortic valve, and that restoring physiologic flow in this region and equalizing aortic-cusp closure pressure can largely or completely resolve aortic insufficiency. Accordingly, valve replacement may not be necessary in all cases of ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysms with associated aortic valve regurgitation.
BRIDGE RAILS AND TRANSITIONS FOR PEDESTRIAN PROTECTION (2003)

It is desirable to protect pedestrians on bridges from motor vehicles. However, transition problems arise at the ends of bridges where the bridge rail, bridge rail end treatment, and pedestrian walkway compete for the limited available space. The objective of this study was to identify the most common scenarios in which the protection of pedestrians on bridges is desirable, and then to develop bridge rail and bridge rail end treatment configurations to accommodate those situations. The objective was achieved by performing a field investigation, a survey of state transportation agencies, and a literature review. Recommendations for the placement and general design of standard barrier configurations have been provided in the form of thirteen generalized site drawings. The barrier configurations outlined within this report were based on NCHRP Report No. 350 approved hardware, roadside hardware meeting prior safety standards, hardware believed to provide moderate safety, hardware currently under development, and sound engineering judgement. Therefore, the barrier configurations recommended herein are not equivalent in terms of the level of pedestrian safety provided. As a result, sound engineering judgement is required when determining which barrier configuration to implement for providing pedestrian protection on and near the ends of bridges.
Locating Everyday Objects using NFC Textiles (2021)

This paper builds a Near-field Communication (NFC) based localization system that allows ordinary surfaces to locate surrounding objects with high accuracy in the near-field. While there is rich prior work on device-free localization using far-field wireless technologies, the near-field is less explored. Prior work in this space operates at extremely small ranges (a few centimeters), leading to designs that sense close proximity rather than location.
Non-extendable isomorphisms between affine varieties (2001)

In this paper, we report several large classes of affine varieties (over an arbitrary field $K$ of characteristic 0) with the following property: each variety in these classes has an isomorphic copy such that the corresponding isomorphism cannot be extended to an automorphism of the ambient affine space $K^n$. This implies, in particular, that each of these varieties has at least two inequivalent embeddings in $K^n$. The following application of our results seems interesting: we show that lines in $K^2$ are distinguished among irreducible algebraic retracts by the property of having a unique embedding in $K^2$.
A fast and usually linear algorithm for global flow analysis (1975)

A new algorithm for global flow analysis on reducible graphs is presented. The algorithm is shown to treat a very general class of function spaces. For a graph of e edges, the algorithm has a worst case time bound of 0(e log2e) function operations. In programming terms, the number of operations is shown to be proportional to e + the number of exit nodes from program loops. Consequently a restriction to one-entry one-exit control structures guarantees linearity. It is shown that by relaxing these time bounds, a yet wider class of function spaces can be handled.
Treatment Outcomes for Primary Hepatic Angiosarcoma: National Cancer Database Analysis 2004–2014 (2022)

Background: To determine the risk of mortality and factors associated with survival amongst patients diagnosed with primary hepatic angiosarcoma (PHA). Methods: All patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or PHA from 2004 to 2014 were identified from the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Further analysis was performed within the cohort of patients with PHA to assess the impact of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and facility type on overall survival (OS). A multivariable analysis using the Cox proportional methods and a survival analysis using the Kaplan−Meier method were used. Results: A total of 117,633 patients with HCC were identified, out of whom 346 patients had PHA. Patients with PHA had a mean age of 62.9 years (SD 13.7), the majority were men (64.7%), white (85.8%), and had a Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) of zero (66.2%). A third of the patients with PHA (35.7%) received chemotherapy, and 14.6% underwent a surgical resection. The median survival was 1.9 months (1.8−2.4 months) compared to patients with HCC (10.4 months, 10.2−10.5) (aHR-2.41, 95% CI: 2.10−2.77, p < 0.0001). Surgical resection was associated with a higher median survival (7.7 versus 1.8 months, aHR-0.23, 95% CI: 0.15−0.37, p < 0.0001). A receipt of chemotherapy was associated with a higher median survival than no chemotherapy (5.1 versus 1.2 months, aHR-0.44, 95% CI: 0.32−0.60, p < 0.0001), although the survival benefit did not persist long term. Conclusion: PHA is associated with poor outcomes. A surgical resection and chemotherapy are associated with improved survival outcomes; however, the long-term benefits of chemotherapy are limited.
Use of Modified Clostridium perfringens Enterotoxin Fragments for Claudin Targeting in Liver and Skin Cells (2019)

Claudins regulate paracellular permeability in different tissues. The claudin-binding domain of <i>Clostridium perfringens</i> enterotoxin (cCPE) is a known modulator of a claudin subset. However, it does not efficiently bind to claudin-1 (Cldn1). Cldn1 is a pharmacological target since it is (i) an essential co-receptor for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections and (ii) a key element of the epidermal barrier limiting drug delivery. In this study, we investigated the potential of a Cldn1-binding cCPE mutant (i) to inhibit HCV entry into hepatocytes and (ii) to open the epidermal barrier. Inhibition of HCV infection by blocking of Cldn1 with cCPE variants was analyzed in the Huh7.5 hepatoma cell line. A model of reconstructed human epidermis was used to investigate modulation of the epidermal barrier by cCPE variants. In contrast to cCPEwt, the Cldn1-binding cCPE-S305P/S307R/S313H inhibited infection of Huh7.5 cells with HCV in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, TJ modulation by cCPE variant-mediated targeting of Cldn1 and Cldn4 opened the epidermal barrier in reconstructed human epidermis. cCPE variants are potent claudin modulators. They can be applied for mechanistic <i>in vitro</i> studies and might also be used as biologics for therapeutic claudin targeting including HCV treatment (host-targeting antivirals) and improvement of drug delivery.
Brain atrophy and lesion load predict long term disability in multiple sclerosis (2013)

This large multicentre study points to the complementary predictive value of atrophy and lesion volumes for predicting long term disability in MS.
Nobiletin, a polymethoxylated flavone from citrus peels, induces differentiation of normal human epidermal keratinocytes (2014)

Nobiletin, a polymethoxylated flavone from citrus peels, is known to have a wide range of pharmacological activities. In this study, we examined the effects of nobiletin on differentiation of normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEKs). Treatment of NHEKs with nobiletin was found to cause marked increases in the expression level of keratin 10 (K10) and involucrin, differentiation makers of keratinocytes. &nbsp; Key words: Nobiletin, polymethoxylated flavone, citrus, keratinocyte, keratin.
Carrier-Wave Rabi-Flopping Signatures in High-Order Harmonic Generation for Alkali Atoms (2015)

We present a theoretical investigation of carrier-wave Rabi flopping in real atoms by employing numerical simulations of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in alkali species. Given the short HHG cutoff, related to the low saturation intensity, we concentrate on the features of the third harmonic of sodium (Na) and potassium (K) atoms. For pulse areas of 2π and Na atoms, a characteristic unique peak appears, which, after analyzing the ground state population, we correlate with the conventional Rabi flopping. On the other hand, for larger pulse areas, carrier-wave Rabi flopping occurs, and is associated with a more complex structure in the third harmonic. These characteristics observed in K atoms indicate the breakdown of the area theorem, as was already demonstrated under similar circumstances in narrow band gap semiconductors.
Dynamic optimization of semibatch vinyl acetate/acrylic acid suspension copolymerizations (2009)

Abstract This work performs the dynamic optimization of semibatch vinyl acetate (VAc)/acrylic acid (AA) suspension copolymerizations. The proposed dynamic optimization strategy is based on a direct search Complex algorithm and is used to control the copolymer composition along the batch. First, a sequential optimization procedure is used to determine the optimum AA concentration and feed rate profiles, required to provide the specified copolymer composition. In the second step, a sequential optimization procedure is coupled with a predictive controller to guarantee that the manipulation of feed flow rates can allow for attainment of the desired copolymer compositions. The optimization strategy is validated through simulation, by assuming that reactions are subject to perturbations of the reaction temperature, initiator, and VAc concentrations. It is shown that the proposed optimization strategy can be used successfully both for design of monomer feed rate profiles and removal of process disturbances during semibatch suspension copolymerizations, to keep the copolymer composition constant throughout the batch. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers
Characterisation of 10 kV 10 A SiC MOSFET (2015)

The objective of this paper is to characterize and evaluate the static and dynamic performances of 10 kV 10 A 4H-SIC MOSFETs at high temperatures. The results show good electrical performances of the SiC MOSFETs for high temperature operations. The double-pulse test results showed interesting behavior at elevated temperatures, where at turn-on the switching speeds become faster, thus turn-on losses become smaller, and opposite at turn-off.
[beta-Interferon therapy of chronic hepatitis HCV+, 1b genotype]. (1998)

Various papers reported that chronic viral hepatitis is the principal cause of chronic liver disease, as cirrhosis and hepatocarcinoma. Interferon is the only agent known to have a beneficial effect in chronic hepatitis. The response rate has been less than 10 percent in patients with genotype 1b, but in patients with genotype 2 or 3 it has been greater than 40 percent. Aim of our investigation was to study 10 patients suffering from chronic viral hepatitis HCV related, genotype 1b, non responder to interferon-alpha therapy. In these patients we administered beta-interferon at the dose of 6 million units, 3 times a week, for 3 months. A significant reduction of aminotransferase level was reported after 3 months of the start of the therapy. An higher level of beta-interferon plasma rate was found in 3 non responder patients. The interaction of beta-interferon with the immune system was demonstrated with an increase of CD8+ lymphocytes that correlated with decrease of HCVRNA. The treatment with beta-interferon have a beneficial effect in patients with chronic hepatitis HCV related, genotype 1b, no responder to interferon-alpha therapy.
Fast large-scale optimization by unifying stochastic gradient and quasi-Newton methods (2013)

We present an algorithm for minimizing a sum of functions that combines the computational efficiency of stochastic gradient descent (SGD) with the second order curvature information leveraged by quasi-Newton methods. We unify these disparate approaches by maintaining an independent Hessian approximation for each contributing function in the sum. We maintain computational tractability and limit memory requirements even for high dimensional optimization problems by storing and manipulating these quadratic approximations in a shared, time evolving, low dimensional subspace. Each update step requires only a single contributing function or minibatch evaluation (as in SGD), and each step is scaled using an approximate inverse Hessian and little to no adjustment of hyperparameters is required (as is typical for quasi-Newton methods). This algorithm contrasts with earlier stochastic second order techniques that treat the Hessian of each contributing function as a noisy approximation to the full Hessian, rather than as a target for direct estimation. We experimentally demonstrate improved convergence on seven diverse optimization problems. The algorithm is released as open source Python and MATLAB packages.
Pilus Backbone Contributes to Group BStreptococcusParacellular Translocation through Epithelial Cells (2008)

We have recently shown that group B Streptococcus (GBS) crosses the epithelial barrier by a paracellular route. Here, we show that, although deletion of the pilus backbone protein did not affect GBS adhesiveness, it reduced the pathogen's capacity to transcytose through differentiated human epithelial cells. In addition, contrary to our expectation, a strain with a mutant pilus ancillary protein and reduced adhesiveness translocated through the epithelial monolayer in a fashion identical to that of the isogenic wild-type strain. To monitor the localization of pili during GBS paracytosis, we performed 3-dimensional confocal experiments. By this approach, we observed that pili located in the intercellular space ahead of translocating bacteria. These results were also confirmed by a novel in vitro model of GBS infection in which bacteria bind to epithelial surfaces against the action of gravitation. These findings suggest a dual role for pilus components during the critical steps leading to GBS dissemination in the host.
New excitation codebook search methods to reduce perceptual degradation of CELP (2003)

In this paper, we propose three new excitation codebook search methods for a low-bit-rate CELP coder using an algebraic excitation codebook to reduce code selections that may result in pulse-like degradation. The proposed methods are: (1) adaptive distortion weighting based on the states of the input speech; (2) distortion weighting based on the amplitude distribution of the direction of time; and (3) distortion-ratio limitation to algebraic excitation codebook search. Subjective evaluation results show that the performance of 4 kbit/s CELP is improved by the proposed methods both in clean conditions and with background noise.
The Behaviour of F-statistics over Time (2022)

Abstract We study the behaviour of the F 2 -statistic and F st -statistic, respectively, over time in a Wright-Fisher model with mutation and migration. We give precise conditions for when the F 2 -statistic is non-monotonic, that is, increases over time until a certain point and then starts decreasing. We show that even for small population sizes, the two statistics are well approximated by population size scaled expressions.
Massively parallel data mining using reconfigurable hardware: approximate string matching (2004)

Summary form only given. Data mining is an application that is commonly executed on massively parallel systems, often using clusters with hundreds of processors. With a disk-based data store, however, the data must first be delivered to the processors before effective mining can take place. Here, we describe the prototype of an experimental system that moves processing closer to where the data resides, on the disk, and exploits massive parallelism via reconfigurable hardware to perform the computation. The performance of the prototype is also reported.
Abstract P529: Renal (2017)

Some common single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs6276 and rs6277, SNPs) of the human DRD2 gene are associated with decreased D2R expression and function and increased blood pressure or hypertension. Human renal proximal tubule cells (hRPTCs) from subjects carrying these SNPs (hRPTCs-SNPs) express elevated levels of proinflammatory and profibrotic proteins, indicating that the D2R has protective effects in these cells and that decreased D2R function may contribute to the susceptibility to renal disease associated with essential hypertension. Micro RNA 4301 (miR4301) is an intronic miRNA that resides in the second intron of the primary human DRD2 transcript. A mouse homolog of miR4301 has not been identified to date. We hypothesized that miR4301 expression and function are decreased in hRPTCs-SNPs and that loss of miR4301 mediates, in part, the deleterious effects of decreased D2R function. We studied four cell lines carrying no SNPs (hRPTCs-WT) and four hRPTCs-SNPs lines. miR4301 expression was lower in hRPTCs-SNPs than in hRPTCs-WT (0.52±0.07- vs 1.03±0.14-fold; P&lt;0.05). Silencing D2R via siRNA in hRPTCs-WT also decreased miR4301 expression (0.59±0.12- vs 1.01±0.11-fold; P&lt;0.05). We measured the expression of several genes with pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic effects identified by Target 7.1 as miR4301 targets. The mRNA expressions of SMAD1 (2.7-fold); CASP2 (4.13-fold), CASP7 (3.0-fold), TGFβR1 (4.9-fold), and CTGF (7.3-fold) were increased in hRPTCs-SNPs, in comparison with hRPTCs-WT. Moreover, the mRNA expression of the miR4301 target LEF1 in hRPTCs-WT transfected with miR4301 mimic was lower (0.70±0.02 vs 1.0±0.05-fold; P&lt;0.05) than in cells transfected with control miR, while transfection with miR4301 inhibitor increased the expression of LEF1 mRNA (1.30±0.03 vs 1.0±0.05-fold; P&lt;0.05), compared with the control miR indicating that miR4301 represses LEF1 expression. These results show that miR4301 mediates, in part, the protective effects of D2R expression and function on renal injury by repressing the expression of genes related to fibrosis and inflammation and suggest that the function of D2R-related proteins may be dependent, as well, on the regulation of specific miR4302.
Proceedings of the 4th ACM European conference on Computer systems (2009)

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 4th ACM European Conference on Computer Systems -- EuroSys'09. Previous years have established a reputation for high quality, a broad and enthusiastic attendance, and a wide ranging remit. We're delighted that this year is no exception, with an excellent programme that is being presented in a historic city. The topics cover a wide variety of areas, ranging from storage systems to trusted computing; from scheduling to fault tolerance; and from modeling to measurement. In addition, the programme includes a poster session to encourage detailed technical interactions as well as a work in progress session where researchers can present initial results and directions.

This year's call for papers attracted 224 expressions of interest, and 149 of these turned into submissions. They came from all over the world: Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America, and the Middle East. Two papers were rejected for failing to meet the formatting guidelines, so we had 147 papers to choose from: 21 short papers, 126 long ones. The programme committee (PC) used a two-round reviewing process that winnowed the full set down to 64 papers for the second round, and then selected 25 papers (2 short, 23 long) for the final programme. All papers received at least 3 reviews in the first round; all but two second-round papers received 6 or 7 reviews. A total of 704 reviews were written, containing 320k words of content. All this in less than 2 months!

The majority of the reviews were written by the PC members themselves; where we received help from external reviewers, the PC members were still responsible for providing the numeric scores. Our scoring system was designed to elicit more information than the usual 4-point up/down scale: each programme committee member was encouraged to use a scale from 0 to 100, and their scores were normalized so that their sum added up to 100N, where N was the number of papers they reviewed. A paper's overall score was the mean of the scores it received, and correlated well with the final outcome.
Analysis of the high-frequency extension for spherical eigenbeamforming microphone arrays. (2010)

The em32 Eigenmike® spherical microphone array is constructed with 32 omnidirectional pressure microphones mounted on the surface of a 8.4-cm rigid spherical baffle. Beamforming is accomplished by the spherical harmonic decomposition eigenbeamformer and modal-beamformer concept. Due to the array size, geometry, and average element spacing, this approach yields fully controllable beampattern control up to approximately 8 kHz. Above this frequency, spatial/modal aliasing begins to interfere with beampattern control. However, professional audio applications require an operating bandwidth to much higher frequencies. One solution is to use a single microphone capsule that is closest to the main axis of the beampattern direction at higher frequencies. It will be shown that there are some problems to this solution. As an alternative implementation it is shown that using a small subset of microphone capsules at high frequencies allows one to smoothly transition the beampattern from eigenbeamformer processing to higher frequencies.
Reducing the gender gap in students’ physics self-efficacy in a team- and project-based introductory physics class (2019)

Self-efficacy represents an individual's belief that he or she can perform a particular task in a given domain. It is a strong predictor for performance and persistence in STEM education. Research shows that there is a large and persistent gender gap in student self-efficacy in STEM academic disciplines. In some cases, active teaching strategies have been shown to positively affect physics self-efficacy but it is unclear how this impact differs between men and women. In this study, we investigate the impact of a physics class taught with active teaching strategies on students' self-reported physics self-efficacy and how this impact varies across gender lines. We measured the change in physics self-efficacy over four different dimensions; conceptual understanding, problem-solving, lab and hands-on activities, and collaborative work. We report three main findings. First, the initial physics self-efficacy gender gap disappeared by the end of the semester. Second, female students' self-efficacy improved significantly, whereas there was no significant change in the selfefficacy of the male students. Third, the gender gaps in the conceptual understanding and problem-solving dimensions in particular, were significantly reduced. This study represents an initial step towards understanding the influence of active teaching strategies can have on reducing the self-efficacy gender gap.