A single-phase algorithm for mining high utility itemsets using compressed tree structures

Mining high utility itemsets (HUIs) from transaction databases considers such factors as the unit profit and quantity of purchased items. Two-phase tree-based algorithms transform a database into compressed tree structures and generate candidate patterns through a recursive pattern-growth procedure. This procedure requires a lot of memory and time to construct conditional pattern trees. To address this issue, this study employs two compressed tree structures, namely, Utility Count Tree and String Utility Tree, to enumerate valid patterns and thus promote fast utility computation. Furthermore, the study presents an algorithm called single-phase utility computation (SPUC) that leverages these two tree structures to mine HUIs in a single phase by incorporating novel pruning strategies. Experiments conducted on both real and synthetic datasets demonstrate the superior performance of SPUC compared with IHUP, UP-Growth, and UP-Growth+ algorithms.     

A Digital Deformation Vacuum Gauge with an LC-Generator

The design of a sylphon bellows sensor and the basic circuits of an LC-generator and of a microprocessor unit are presented. An analytical pressure–frequency conversion function and a special method of adjusting the sensor ensure an error of less than 0.05%. The dynamic range is up to 10⁵. The instruments developed cover the ranges 10³, 10⁴, and 10⁵ Pa.     

Effect of hygiene measures, water sanitation and oral rehydration therapy on diarrhea in children less than five years old in the south of Ivory Coast

BACKGROUND: Gastric sucrose permeability is a noninvasive marker that reliably increases in association with gastrointestinal injury due to use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. Despite the effect of Helicobacter pylori infection on the gastric mucosa, in a previous study we were unable to demonstrate that H. pylori infection was associated with abnormal gastric sucrose permeability. Our goal in this study was to explore further whether H. pylori infection changed gastric permeability; therefore, we evaluated the effect of treatment of H. pylori infection on gastric permeability to sucrose and the relation of sucrose permeability to density of polymorphonuclear leukocytes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five hundred milliliters of a solution containing 100 gm of sucrose was ingested by the subject at bedtime. Overnight urine was collected and assayed for sucrose by high-performance liquid chromatography. Sucrose permeability was assessed both before and approximately 4 weeks after anti-H. pylori therapy. RESULTS: Seventeen asymptomatic H. pylori-infected volunteers participated; 8 were cured. Sucrose permeability was in the range commonly found in normal controls both before and after anti-H. pylori therapy (mean excretion, 76.3 mg; range, 13-171 mg). Gastric sucrose permeability correlated with the density of polymorphonulcear cell infiltration of the mucosa. Cure of the H. pylori infection was associated with a small but significant decrease in sucrose permeability (98.8 +/- 18 mg to 51.7 +/- 9.8 mg (p = .01). Sucrose permeability was greater in those with a high density of mucosal polymorphonuclear cells compared to those with lower scores (119.5 +/- 4 vs 71.4 +/- 13 for those with scores > or = 5 compared to scores < or = 4; p = .023). Failed therapy resulted in an increase in the mucosal density of polymorphonuclear infiltration and sucrose permeability (56.4 +/- 13 mg-99.7 +/- 19 mg pretreatment vs posttreatment, respectively; p = .031). CONCLUSION: H. pylori gastritis causes a small but measurable increase in gastric permeability to sucrose that may reflect epithelial transmigration of neutrophils.     

Molecular mechanisms in the control of limb regeneration: the role of homeobox genes

The Ca2+ sensitivity of cardiac myofibrillar force production can be decreased by acidosis or inorganic phosphate (P(i)) and increased by caffeine. To investigate whether the source of tissue influences the potency of these agents, we compared the actions of acidosis (change of pH from 7.0 to 6.2), P(i) and caffeine (both 20 mM) on force production of skinned cardiac muscles from adult ventricle, adult atrium and neonate ventricle of the rat. Maximum Ca(2+)-activated force was reduced by all three interventions and the responses of the different muscle types to a given intervention were similar. Acidosis reduced myofibrillar Ca2+ sensitivity by 1.09 and 1.04 pCa units in adult ventricle and atrium, respectively, and P(i) reduced it by 0.19 and 0.22 pCa units. However, each effect was only one-third as great in the neonate ventricle, which showed falls of 0.33 pCa units for acidosis and 0.06 for P(i). In contrast, caffeine raised the Ca2+ sensitivity by the same amount (approximately 0.4 pCa units) in all three muscle types. The differential effect between adult and neonate seen with both acidosis and P(i) suggests some similarity in the mechanisms by which these factors decrease Ca2+ sensitivity. In contrast, the equal effects of caffeine on neonate and adult suggests that caffeine acts by a completely different mechanism. The lower pH- and P(i)-sensitivity of the neonatal ventricle can help to explain why neonatal and adult myocardium exhibit differential force responses to ischaemia (or hypoxia alone).     

The function of the reproductive system in x-ray-irradiated male rats after the transplantation of a culture of testicular cells from newborn piglets

The effect exerted by transplantation of the 5 day culture of testicles from newly born piglets on the hypogonadal state of mature X-ray irradiated (3 Gy) rats was studied. It has been found that a month after transplantation (two months after irradiation) the hypogonadal state disappeared for a while, which is confirmed by normalization of the weight of seminal vesicles, content of testosterone and biologically active lutropine, restoration of the reproductive function of rats. No significant changes in steroidogenesis activity have been found, which proves a substituent character of transplantation. The effect disappears three months later but certain restoration of the content of nucleic acids in the testicles is observed.     

Peptide YY inhibition of rat gastric enterochromaffin-like cell function

The present study determined tumorigenicity, tumor classification and DNA damage induced in infant mice by benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) or Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) residues after a single exposure. Male and female B6C3F1 mice were exposed to B[a]P or MGP residue from a single environmental site (MGP-4) and males were also exposed to MGP residue composite from seven different sites (MGP-M7). At 26, 39 and 52 weeks after exposure tumorigenesis was assessed in lung, forestomach and liver. Formation and persistence of DNA adducts were quantified by 32P-postlabeling. Exposure of males to B[a]P induced liver tumors in a dose and time dependent manner. MGP induced more advanced tumors than B[a]P. Only a single liver tumor was found in MGP-4 treated females. No forestomach and few pulmonary adenomas were induced in males or females. MGP-4, MGP-M7 or B[a]P induced DNA adducts in males and females. Adducts in liver, lung and forestomach peaked on different days and decreased at different rates. At 24 h post-exposure, no significant differences in initial DNA adduct levels occurred in males and females exposed to MGP-4 or B[a]P. Lack of DNA damage (adducted DNA) did not account for non-responsiveness of lung and forestomach in B6C3F1 genders as well as in liver in females. MGP tumorigenicity could not be accounted for solely by B[a]P content nor did it reflect additivity of B[a]P and other carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in MGP. Synergy among MGP-PAHs, presence of unidentified carcinogens and/or promoters in MGP may account for MGP potency. The B6C3F1 infant male model is a convenient and rapid assay for assessing MGP liver tumorigenicity and potency.     

Fibrinolytic variables and cardiovascular prognosis in patients with stable angina pectoris treated with verapamil or metoprolol. Results from the Angina Prognosis study in Stockholm

BACKGROUND: Disturbed fibrinolytic function may influence the progression of coronary atherosclerosis and contribute to thrombotic cardiovascular (CV) events. METHODS AND RESULTS: In the Angina Prognosis Study in Stockholm (APSIS), patients with stable angina pectoris were studied prospectively during double-blind treatment with metoprolol or verapamil. Various measures of fibrinolytic function were studied in 631 (of 809) patients. During a median follow-up time of 3.2 years (2132 patient-years), 32 patients suffered a CV death, 21 had a nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), and 77 underwent revascularization. Plasma levels of tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) activity and antigen (ag), plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) activity at test, and TPA responses to exercise were determined at baseline and after 1 month's treatment and were related to subsequent fatal and nonfatal CV events. Univariate Cox regression analysis revealed that elevated levels of TPA-ag at rest (P < .05), high PAI-1 activity (P < .05), and low TPA-ag responses to exercise (P < .05) were associated with increased risk of subsequent CV death. After adjustment for baseline risk factors, TPA-ag independently predicted CV death or MI. In addition, PAI-1 activity independently predicted CV death or MI in male patients. Verapamil treatment was associated with a 10% decrease of TPA-ag levels and metoprolol treatment with a 2% increase (P < .001 for treatment difference). CONCLUSIONS: Plasma TPA-ag levels at rest, and among male patients PAI-1 activity as well, independently predict subsequent CV death or MI in patients with stable angina pectoris.     

A case-mix classification system for medical rehabilitation

Dissatisfaction with Medicare's current system of paying for rehabilitation care has led to proposals for a rehabilitation prospective payment system, but first a classification system for rehabilitation patients must be created. Data for 36,980 patients admitted to and discharged from 125 rehabilitation facilities between January 1, 1990, and April 19, 1991, were provided by the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation. Classification rules were formed using clinical judgment and a recursive partitioning algorithm. The Functional Independence Measure version of the Function Related Groups (FIM-FRGs) uses four predictor variables: diagnosis leading to disability, admission scores for motor and cognitive functional status subscales as measured by the Functional Independence Measure, and patient age. The system contains 53 FRGs and explains 31.3% of the variance in the natural logarithm length of stay for patients in a validation sample. The FIM-FRG classification system is conceptually simple and stable when tested on a validation sample. The classification system contains a manageable number of groups, and may represent a solution to the problem of classifying medical rehabilitation patients for payment, facility planning, and research on the outcomes, quality, and cost of rehabilitation.     

The interaction of peripheral blood leukocytes with alpha1-acid glycoprotein, its carbohydrate chains and neoglycoconjugates

The interaction of human peripheral blood leukocytes with alpha 1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), its glycoforms as well as neoglyco-conjugates representing carbohydrate chains of AGP or its fragments was studied by flow cytometry. It was shown that the main target cells for AGP as well as for conjugates of its carbohydrate chains with polyacrylamide (PAA) are monocytes and polymorphonuclear leukocytes but not lymphocytes. The interaction of AGP with monocytes and granulocytes are mediated by its carbohydrate chains: the binding of AGP with cells was inhibited by AGP, AGP oligosaccharides as well as conjugates of oligosaccharides and its fragments with PAA. The data obtained show the existence of monocyte (and granulocyte) receptors which interact with complex type sialooligosaccharides of AGP.