Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intracoronary Stenting for Acute and Threatened Closure Complicating Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty

BackgroundAcute closure remains a significant limitation of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and underlies the majority of ischemic complications. This study details the clinical and angiographic characteristics of a series of patients receiving an intracoronary stent device to manage acute and threatened closure and presents the early clinical results. Methods and ResultsFrom October 1989 through June 1991, 115 patients undergoing PTCA received intracoronary stents to treat acute or threatened closure in 119 vessels. Sixty-three percent had multivessel coronary disease, 33 (29%) had undergone prior coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), and 52 (45%) had had previous PTCA. Using the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) classification, 15% of lesions were class A, 55% were class B, and 30% were class C. Eight patients were referred with severe coronary dissection and unstable angina after PTCA at other institutions. Acute closure was defined as occlusion of the vessel with TIMI (Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction) 0 or 1 flow immediately before stent placement. Threatened closure required two or more of the following criteria: 1) a residual stenosis greater than 50%, 2) TIMI grade 2 flow, 3) angiographic dissection comprising extraluminal dye extravasation and/or a length of greater than 15 mm, 4) evidence of clinical ischemia (either typical angina or ECG changes). Twelve vessels (10%) met the criteria for acute closure, and 87 vessels (73%) satisfied the criteria for threatened closure. Twenty vessels (17%) failed to meet two criteria. Stenting produced optimal angiographic results in 111 vessels (93%), with mean diameter stenosis (±1 SD) reduced from 83±12% before to 18±29% after stenting. Overall, in-hospital mortality was 1.7% and CABG was required in 4.2%; Q wave myocardial infarction (MI) occurred in 7% and non-Q wave MI in 91%. Stent thrombosis occurred in nine patients (7.6%). For the 108 patients who presented to the catheterization laboratory without evolving MI, Q wave MI occurred in 4% and non-Q wave MI occurred in 7%. Angiographic follow-up has been performed in 81 eligible patients (76%), and 34 patients (41%) had a lesion of . 50%. ConclusionsThis stent may be a useful adjunct to balloon dilatation in acute or threatened closure. Randomized studies comparing this stent with alternative technologies are required.
Understanding Forest Health with Remote Sensing -Part I - A Review of Spectral Traits, Processes and Remote-Sensing Characteristics

Anthropogenic stress and disturbance of forest ecosystems (FES) has been increasing at all scales from local to global. In rapidly changing environments, in-situ terrestrial FES monitoring approaches have made tremendous progress but they are intensive and often integrate subjective indicators for forest health (FH). Remote sensing (RS) bridges the gaps of these limitations, by monitoring indicators of FH on different spatio-temporal scales, and in a cost-effective, rapid, repetitive and objective manner. In this paper, we provide an overview of the definitions of FH, discussing the drivers, processes, stress and adaptation mechanisms of forest plants, and how we can observe FH with RS. We introduce the concept of spectral traits (ST) and spectral trait variations (STV) in the context of FH monitoring and discuss the prospects, limitations and constraints. Stress, disturbances and resource limitations can cause changes in FES taxonomic, structural and functional diversity; we provide examples how the ST/STV approach can be used for monitoring these FES characteristics. We show that RS based assessments of FH indicators using the ST/STV approach is a competent, affordable, repetitive and objective technique for monitoring. Even though the possibilities for observing the taxonomic diversity of animal species is limited with RS, the taxonomy of forest tree species can be recorded with RS, even though its accuracy is subject to certain constraints. RS has proved successful for monitoring the impacts from stress on structural and functional diversity. In particular, it has proven to be very suitable for recording the short-term dynamics of stress on FH, which cannot be cost-effectively recorded using in-situ methods. This paper gives an overview of the ST/STV approach, whereas the second paper of this series concentrates on discussing in-situ terrestrial monitoring, in-situ RS approaches and RS sensors and techniques for measuring ST/STV for FH.
A test of evolutionary theories of aging

Senescence is a nearly universal feature of multicellular organisms, and understanding why it occurs is a long-standing problem in biology. The two leading theories posit that aging is due to (i) pleiotropic genes with beneficial early-life effects but deleterious late-life effects (“antagonistic pleiotropy”) or (ii) mutations with purely deleterious late-life effects (“mutation accumulation”). Previous attempts to distinguish these theories have been inconclusive because of a lack of unambiguous, contrasting predictions. We conducted experiments with Drosophila based on recent population-genetic models that yield contrasting predictions. Genetic variation and inbreeding effects increased dramatically with age, as predicted by the mutation theory. This increase occurs because genes with deleterious effects with a late age of onset are unopposed by natural selection. Our findings provide the strongest support yet for the mutation theory.
Protocol of Determining the Effect of VimangÃÂ® and SpirelÃÂ® Supplementationin Aids Patients with Delayed Diagnosis of HIV: An Open RandomizedControlled Trial

Background: Infection by Human immunodeficiency virus (VIH) constitutes a world health problem. The antiretroviral therapy accordingly recent WHO recommendation is proposed for all HIV seropositive individuals. Treatment optimization is encouraged due to certain risk of toxic adverse effects and resistance. The use of antioxidants has been indicated as a plausible option in these patients indeed pre or post exposition to antiretroviral treatment. Methods: In an open randomized control trial, 170 aids delayed diagnosis patients whose received prescription of High active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) will selected to be covered under Hospital-IPK monitoring consults (Cuban Referral HIV/aids Research Centre). Patients will be randomised to receive 10 mL of Vimang® aqueous extract twice a day or Spirel® tablets (400 mg) three times a day or only HAART, but all groups will consume HAART during 12 months. The baseline assessment of the patients who meet the inclusion criteria includes doing some lab tests to determine the absolute count of CD4+ T lymphocyte, viral load, chemical, haematological and seven plasma redox indexes. Both, opportunistic infection and adverse reaction occurrence will be reported during the monthly visits in the first six months of the follow-up and at the end of the 12th month. For evaluating the effect of both products concomitant to antiretroviral all variables will be measured in the final follow-up session and compared with the baseline value. Also quality of life interview, physical activity and dietary questionnaires will be assessed at pre and post study period in the three groups.
Cr-resistant rhizo- and endophytic bacteria associated with Prosopis juliflora and their potential as phytoremediation enhancing agents in metal-degraded soils

Prosopis juliflora is characterized by distinct and profuse growth even in nutritionally poor soil and environmentally stressed conditions and is believed to harbor some novel heavy metal-resistant bacteria in the rhizosphere and endosphere. This study was performed to isolate and characterize Cr-resistant bacteria from the rhizosphere and endosphere of P. juliflora growing on the tannery effluent contaminated soil. A total of 5 and 21 bacterial strains were isolated from the rhizosphere and endosphere, respectively, and were shown to tolerate Cr up to 3000 mg l−1. These isolates also exhibited tolerance to other toxic heavy metals such as, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn, and high concentration (174 g l−1) of NaCl. Moreover, most of the isolated bacterial strains showed one or more plant growth-promoting activities. The phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene showed that the predominant species included Bacillus, Staphylococcus and Aerococcus. As far as we know, this is the first report analyzing rhizo- and endophytic bacterial communities associated with P. juliflora growing on the tannery effluent contaminated soil. The inoculation of three isolates to ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.) improved plant growth and heavy metal removal from the tannery effluent contaminated soil suggesting that these bacteria could enhance the establishment of the plant in contaminated soil and also improve the efficiency of phytoremediation of heavy metal-degraded soils.
Bayesian Gaussian Process Latent Variable Models for pseudotime inference in single-cell RNA-seq data

Single-cell genomics has revolutionised modern biology while requiring the development of advanced computational and statistical methods. Advances have been made in uncovering gene expression heterogeneity, discovering new cell types and novel identification of genes and transcription factors involved in cellular processes. One such approach to the analysis is to construct pseudotime orderings of cells as they progress through a particular biological process, such as cell-cycle or differentiation. These methods assign a score - known as the pseudotime - to each cell as a surrogate measure of progression. However, all published methods to date are purely algorithmic and lack any way to give uncertainty to the pseudotime assigned to a cell. Here we present a method that combines Gaussian Process Latent Variable Models (GP-LVM) with a recently published electroGP prior to perform Bayesian inference on the pseudotimes. We go on to show that the posterior variability in these pseudotimes leads to nontrivial uncertainty in the pseudo-temporal ordering of the cells and that pseudotimes should not be thought of as point estimates.
Effects of Demographic Factors, Body Mass Index, Alcohol Drinking and Smoking Habits on Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Case Control Study

Background: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder. Aims: To identify demographic factors in patients with IBS. Subjects and Methods: One-hundred and fifty three IBS patients seen at Taleghani Hospital Gastroenterology Clinic and met the Rome III criteria and 163 peoples who did not meet IBS criteria were consecutively enrolled. Both groups were asked to complete a self-rating questionnaire containing information, which included questions about age, sex, monthly income, education level, marital status, height, weight, alcohol drinking and smoking habits. Student's t-test, Pearson's Chi-square and logistic regression were used to statistical analysis. Results: The mean (SD) age for IBS patients 36.3 (13.5) years and 33.1 (9.9) years in non-IBS group (P < 0.001). Frequency of IBS defined by Rome III criteria was higher in females and younger individuals. Univariate analysis showed that IBS in males was associated with a lower monthly income and educational level and in females younger age, single, lower monthly income and educational level, body mass index (BMI), and unemployment status. Multivariate logistic regression identified a low level of education in males (Odds ratio [OR] = 3.6, 95% Confidence interval [CI]: 1.4-9.6) and in females, lower education level (OR = 2.4, 95% CI: 1.1-5.2), lower BMI (OR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.89-0.99), unemployed (OR = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.11-0.85) and smoking (OR = 6.2, 95% CI: 1.03-37.2). Conclusion: We identified demographic factors in IBS patients. Being single and having a lower educational level, income, lower BMI and being unemployed were the most important factors associated with IBS, particularly in females.
Softmax to Softassign: neural network algorithms for combinatorial optimization

A new technique termed softassign, is applied to three combinatorial optimization problems|weighted graph matching, the traveling salesman problem and graph partitioning. Softassign, which has emerged from the recurrent neural network/statistical physics framework, enforces two-way (assignment) constraints without the use of penalty terms in the energy functions. The softassign can also be generalized from two-way winner-take-all constraints to multiple membership constraints which are required for graph partitioning. The softassign technique is compared to softmax (Potts glass) dynamics. Within the statistical physics framework, softmax and a penalty term has been a widely used method for enforcing the two-way constraints common to many combinatorial optimization problems. The benchmarks present evidence that softas-sign has clear advantages in accuracy, speed, parallelizability and al-gorithmic simplicity over softmax and a penalty term in optimization problems with two-way constraints.
Applying the DiffServ Model on Cut-Through Networks

Understanding the nature of traffic in high-speed communication systems is essential for achieving QoS in these networks. A first step towards this goal is understanding how basic QoS mechanisms work and affects the network predictability before we introduce more complex mechanisms such as admission control. In this paper we analyse the effect of a DiffServ inspired QoS concept applied to virtual cut-through networks. The main findings from our study are that (i) throughput differentiation can be achieved by weighting of virtual lanes (VL) and by classifying VLs as either low or high priority, (ii) the balance between VL weighting and VL load is not crucial when the network is operating below the saturation point, (iii) jitter, however, is large and good jitter characteristics seems unachievable with such a relative scheme.
Virulence Structure of Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici and Its Genetic Diversity by ISSR and SRAP Profiling Analyses

Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici, which causes wheat powdery mildew, is an obligate biotrophic pathogen that can easily genetically adapt to its host plant. Understanding the virulence structure of and genetic variations in this pathogen is essential for disease control and for breeding resistance to wheat powdery mildew. This study investigated 17 pathogenic populations in Sichuan, China and classified 109 isolates into two distinct groups based on pathogenicity analysis: high virulence (HV, 92 isolates) and low virulence (LV, 17 isolates). Populations from Yibin (Southern region), Xichang (Western region), and Meishan (Middle region) showed lower virulence frequencies than populations from other regions. Many of the previously known resistance genes did not confer resistance in this study. The resistance gene Pm21 displayed an immune response to pathogenic challenge with all populations in Sichuan, and Pm13, Pm5b, Pm2+6, and PmXBD maintained resistance. AMOVA revealed significantly higher levels of variation within populations and lower levels of variation among populations within regions. High levels of gene flow were detected among populations in the four regions. Closely related populations within each region were distinguished by cluster analyses using ISSR and SRAP alleles. Both ISSR and SRAP allele profiling analyses revealed high levels of genetic diversity among pathogenic populations in Sichuan. Although ISSR and SRAP profiling analysis showed similar resolutions, the SRAP alleles appeared to be more informative. We did not detect any significant association between these alleles and the virulence or pathogenicity of the pathogen. Our results suggest that ISSR and SRAP alleles are more efficient for the characterization of small or closely related populations versus distantly related populations.
Survey of gain-scheduling analysis and design

The gain-scheduling approach is perhaps one of the most popular non-linear control design approaches which has been widely and successfully applied in fields ranging from aerospace to process control. Despite the wide application of gainscheduling controllers and a diverse academic literature relating to gain-scheduling extending back nearly thirty years, there is a notable lack of a formal review of the literature. Moreover, whilst much of the classical gain-scheduling theory originates from the 1960s, there has recently been a considerable increase in interest in gain-scheduling in the literature with many new results obtained. An extended review of the gain-scheduling literature therefore seems both timely and appropriate. The scope of this paper includes the main theoretical results and design procedures relating to continuous gain-scheduling (in the sense of decomposition of non-linear design into linear sub-problems) control with the aim of providing both a critical overview and a useful entry point into the relevant literature.
Glutathione Degradation Is a Key Determinant of Glutathione Homeostasis*

Background: Intracellular concentration of glutathione, an essential sulfur compound, is tightly controlled. Results: In yeast, glutathione degradation is faster than previously published, and glutathione intracellular concentration does not affect its synthesis. Conclusion: Glutathione degradation is a key determinant of glutathione homeostasis. Significance: This work challenges notions on glutathione synthesis and degradation, which were considered as established. Glutathione (GSH) has several important functions in eukaryotic cells, and its intracellular concentration is tightly controlled. Combining mathematical models and 35S labeling, we analyzed Saccharomyces cerevisiae sulfur metabolism. This led us to the observation that GSH recycling is markedly faster than previously estimated. We set up additional in vivo assays and concluded that under standard conditions, GSH half-life is around 90 min. Sulfur starvation and growth with GSH as the sole sulfur source strongly increase GSH degradation, whereas cadmium (Cd2+) treatment inhibits GSH degradation. Whatever the condition tested, GSH is degraded by the cytosolic Dug complex (composed of the three subunits Dug1, Dug2, and Dug3) but not by the γ-glutamyl-transpeptidase, raising the question of the role of this enzyme. In vivo, both DUG2/3 mRNA levels and Dug activity are quickly induced by sulfur deprivation in a Met4-dependent manner. This suggests that Dug activity is mainly regulated at the transcriptional level. Finally, analysis of dug2Δ and dug3Δ mutant cells shows that GSH degradation activity strongly impacts on GSH intracellular concentration and that GSH intracellular concentration does not affect GSH synthesis rate. Altogether, our data led us to reconsider important aspects of GSH metabolism, challenging notions on GSH synthesis and GSH degradation that were considered as established.
Change in maternal environment induced by cross-fostering alters genetic and epigenetic effects on complex traits in mice

The interaction between maternally provided environment and offspring genotype is a major determinant of offspring development and fitness in many organisms. Recent research has demonstrated that not only genetic effects, but also epigenetic effects may be subject to modifications by the maternal environment. Genomic imprinting resulting in parent-of-origin-dependent gene expression is among the best studied of epigenetic effects. However, very little is known about the degree to which genomic imprinting effects can be modulated by the maternally provided environment, which has important implications for phenotypic plasticity. In this study, we investigated this unresolved question using a cross-fostering design in which mouse pups were nursed by either their own or an unrelated mother. We scanned the entire genome to search for quantitative trait loci whose effects depend on cross-fostering and detected 10 of such loci. Of the 10 loci, 4 showed imprinting by cross-foster interactions. In most cases, the interaction effect was due to the presence of an effect in either cross-fostered or non-cross-fostered animals. Our results demonstrate that genomic imprinting effects may often be modified by the maternal environment and that such interactions can impact key fitness-related traits suggesting a greater plasticity of genomic imprinting than previously assumed.
HDACi inhibits liposarcoma via targeting of the MDM2-p53 signaling axis and PTEN, irrespective of p53 mutational status

The MDM2-p53 pathway plays a prominent role in well-differentiated liposarcoma (LPS) pathogenesis. Here, we explore the importance of MDM2 amplification and p53 mutation in LPS independently, to determine whether HDACi are therapeutically useful in LPS. We demonstrated that simultaneous knockdown of MDM2 and p53 in p53-mutant LPS lines resulted in increased apoptosis, anti-proliferative effects, and cell cycle arrest, as compared to either intervention alone. HDACi treatment resulted in the dephosphorylation and depletion of MDM2 and p53 without affecting CDK4 and JUN expression, irrespective of p53 mutational status in MDM2-amplified LPS. In control mesothelioma cell lines, HDACi treatment resulted in down-regulation of p53 in the p53 mutant cell line JMN1B, but resulted in no changes of MDM2 and p53 in two mesothelioma lines with normal MDM2 and wild-type p53. HDACi treatment substantially decreased LPS and mesothelioma proliferation and survival, and was associated with upregulation of PTEN and p21, and inactivation of AKT. Our findings indicate that wild-type p53 depletion by HDACi is MDM2 amplification-dependent. These findings underscore the importance of targeting both MDM2 and p53 in LPS and other cancers harboring p53 mutations. Moreover, the pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative effect of HDACi warrants further evaluation as a therapeutic strategy in MDM2-amplified LPS.
A Cognitive Model of Dynamic Cooperation With Varied Interdependency Information

We analyze the dynamics of repeated interaction of two players in the Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) under various levels of interdependency information and propose an instance-based learning cognitive model (IBL-PD) to explain how cooperation emerges over time. Six hypotheses are tested regarding how a player accounts for an opponent's outcomes: the selfish hypothesis suggests ignoring information about the opponent and utilizing only the player's own outcomes; the extreme fairness hypothesis weighs the player's own and the opponent's outcomes equally; the moderate fairness hypothesis weighs the opponent's outcomes less than the player's own outcomes to various extents; the linear increasing hypothesis increasingly weighs the opponent's outcomes at a constant rate with repeated interactions; the hyperbolic discounting hypothesis increasingly and nonlinearly weighs the opponent's outcomes over time; and the dynamic expectations hypothesis dynamically adjusts the weight a player gives to the opponent's outcomes, according to the gap between the expected and the actual outcomes in each interaction. When players lack explicit feedback about their opponent's choices and outcomes, results are consistent with the selfish hypothesis; however, when this information is made explicit, the best predictions result from the dynamic expectations hypothesis.