Association of factor XIII Val34Leu polymorphism and coronary artery disease: A meta-analysis

Background: Factor XIII plays an important role in the stabilization of the linkage between fibrins and in the pathophysiology of coronary artery disease (CAD). The association between factor XIII Val34Leu polymorphism and CAD risk remains controversial. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of 36 studies involving 26,940 cases and 34,694 controls. Subgroup analyses were performed with division of data into disease (myocardial infarction [MI], CAD without MI), age, and sex. Results: Factor XIII Val34Leu polymorphism was significantly associated with ove all CAD risk (odds ratio [OR] = 1.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.03–1.06, p = 0.004) and MI risk (OR = 1.15, 95% CI 1.07–1.25, p = 0.0003), but not with CAD without MI risk (OR = 1.00, 95% CI 0.87–1.15, p = 0.96). In the subgroup analysis by age and sex, there was no association between Val34Leu polymorphism and CAD. Conclusions: This meta-analysis found that factor XIII Val34Leu polymorphism was associated with CAD risk, especially MI, but not with CAD without MI. In addition, age and sex did not affect the relationship between factor XIII Val34Leu polymorphism and CAD risk.

Angiomyofibroblastoma-Like Tumor of the Scrotum

Various tumors can occur in the scrotum. Of them, angiomyofibroblastoma-like tumors are very rare mesenchymal tumors. Angiomyofibroblastoma-like tumors cannot be easily differentially diagnosed from other malignant tumors invading the male genital tract on the basis of clinical characteristics and imaging study. Therefore, surgical removal and a histopathologic diagnosis must also be performed

Surgical repair of descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm involving the distal arch: Open proximal anastomosis under deep hypothermia versus arch clamping technique

BackgroundSurgical repair of a descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (DTA/TAAA) involving the distal arch is challenging and requires either deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) or crossclamping of the distal arch. The aim of this study was to compare these 2 techniques in the treatment of DTA/TAAA involving the distal arch.MethodsFrom 1994 to 2012, 298 patients underwent open repair of DTA/TAAA through a left thoracotomy. One hundred seventy-four patients with distal arch involvement who were suitable for either DHCA (n = 81) or arch clamping (AC; n = 93), were analyzed. In-hospital outcomes were compared using propensity scores and inverse-probability-of-treatment weighting adjustment to reduce treatment selection bias.ResultsEarly mortality was 11.1% in the DHCA group and 8.6% in the AC group (P = .58). Major adverse outcomes included stroke in 16 patients (9.2%), low cardiac output syndrome in 15 (8.6%), paraplegia in 10 (5.7%), and multiorgan failure in 10 (5.7%). After adjustment, patients who underwent DHCA were at similar risk of death (odds ratio [OR], 1.14; P = .80) and permanent neurologic injury (OR, 0.95; P = .92) to those who underwent AC. Although prolonged ventilator support (>24 hours) was more frequent with DHCA than with AC (OR, 2.60; P = .003), DHCA showed a tendency to lower the risk of paraplegia (OR, 0.15; P = .057).ConclusionsCompared with AC, DHCA did not increase postoperative mortality and morbidity, except for prolonged ventilator support. However, DHCA may offer superior spinal cord protection to AC during repair of DTA/TAAA involving the distal arch

Two-gap and paramagnetic pair-breaking effects on upper critical field of SmFeAsO0.85_{0.85} and SmFeAsO0.8_{0.8}F0.2_{0.2} single crystals

We investigated the temperature dependence of the upper critical field [$H_{c2}(T)$] of fluorine-free SmFeAsO$_{0.85}$ and fluorine-doped SmFeAsO$_{0.8}$F$_{0.2}$ single crystals by measuring the resistive transition in low static magnetic fields and in pulsed fields up to 60 T. Both crystals show that $H_{c2}(T)$'s along the c axis [$H_{c2}^c(T)$] and in an $ab$-planar direction [$H_{c2}^{ab}(T)$] exhibit a linear and a sublinear increase, respectively, with decreasing temperature below the superconducting transition. $H_{c2}(T)$'s in both directions deviate from the conventional one-gap Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg theoretical prediction at low temperatures. A two-gap nature and the paramagnetic pair-breaking effect are shown to be responsible for the temperature-dependent behavior of $H_{c2}^c$ and $H_{c2}^{ab}$, respectively.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure

Workload-Aware Scheduling using Markov Decision Process for Infrastructure-Assisted Learning-Based Multi-UAV Surveillance Networks

In modern networking research, infrastructure-assisted unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs) are actively considered for real-time learning-based surveillance and aerial data-delivery under unexpected 3D free mobility and coordination. In this system model, it is essential to consider the power limitation in UAVs and autonomous object recognition (for abnormal behavior detection) deep learning performance in infrastructure/towers. To overcome the power limitation of UAVs, this paper proposes a novel aerial scheduling algorithm between multi-UAVs and multi-towers where the towers conduct wireless power transfer toward UAVs. In addition, to take care of the high-performance learning model training in towers, we also propose a data delivery scheme which makes UAVs deliver the training data to the towers fairly to prevent problems due to data imbalance (e.g., huge computation overhead caused by larger data delivery or overfitting from less data delivery). Therefore, this paper proposes a novel workload-aware scheduling algorithm between multi-towers and multi-UAVs for joint power-charging from towers to their associated UAVs and training data delivery from UAVs to their associated towers. To compute the workload-aware optimal scheduling decisions in each unit time, our solution approach for the given scheduling problem is designed based on Markov decision process (MDP) to deal with (i) time-varying low-complexity computation and (ii) pseudo-polynomial optimality. As shown in performance evaluation results, our proposed algorithm ensures (i) sufficient times for resource exchanges between towers and UAVs, (ii) the most even and uniform data collection during the processes compared to the other algorithms, and (iii) the performance of all towers convergence to optimal levels.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure

Experimental Verification of Modal Identification of a High-rise Building Using Independent Component Analysis

Abstract Independent component analysis is one of the linear transformation methods based the techniques for separating blind sources from the output signals of the system. Recently, the method has been analytically applied to the identification of mode shapes and modal responses from the output signal of structures. This study aims to experimentally validate the blind source separation using ICA method and propose a novel method for identification of the modal parameters from the decomposed modal responses. The result of the experimental testing on the three-story steel scale model shows that the mode shapes obtained by ICA method are in good agreement with those by the analytical and peak-picking method in the frequency domain. Based on the robust mathematical model, ICA can calculate the natural frequency and damping ratio effectively using the probability distribution function of the instantaneous natural frequency determined by Hilbert transform of the decomposed modal responses and the change in the output covariance. Finally, the validity of the proposed method paves the way for more effective output-only modal identification for assessment of existing steel-concrete buildings

The Fit between Client IT Capability and Vendor Competence and Its Impact on Outsourcing Success

This study investigates the impact of client firm’s IT capability, vendor firm’s competence and their fit on the outsourcing success. In theory building, by concretizing the concepts of IT capability and competence based on the resource-based view, the importance of fit between the client’s IT capability and the vendor’s competence is emphasized. We then hypothesize that both factors are stronger together than the individual impact of either the client’s IT capability or the vendor’s competence. For validation, 267 client-vendor-matched-pair data were collected. To avoid potential imbalance caused by the bilateral perspective, an exploratory approach, all-possible-subsets-regression method was adopted. The results reveal that the vendor’s competence is the most significant factor in outsourcing success, but interestingly, the fit between vendor competence and the client’s IT capability is the second most important. The client’s IT capability also has a positive impact on outsourcing success but with the smallest explanation power