Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prognostic factors and long‐term clinical outcomes for surgical patients with intestinal Behcet's disease

Background: To date there have been few studies regarding the efficacy of surgical treatment and related prognostic factors following intestinal resection in patients with intestinal Behcet's disease (BD). Here we investigated the long‐term clinical outcomes and related prognostic factors after surgical treatment for intestinal BD. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 72 patients with intestinal BD who underwent surgery between March 1986 and May 2010. Prognostic factors were identified by univariate analysis using the Kaplan‐Meier method, the log‐rank test, and multivariate analysis using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results: Recurrence after surgical treatment was observed in 42 (58.3%) patients and reoperations were performed in 22 (30.6%) patients. The cumulative recurrence rates after surgical treatment were 29.2% at 2 years and 47.2% at 5 years; the cumulative reoperation rates were 12.5% at 2 years and 22.2% at 5 years. Multivariate analysis identified volcano‐shaped ulcers, higher C‐reactive protein (CRP) levels (≥4.4 mg/dL), and the presence of intestinal perforations detected by pathology as independent predictive factors for recurrence. Moreover, volcano‐shaped ulcers, higher CRP levels (≥4.4 mg/dL), and a history of postoperative steroid therapy were independent predictive factors for reoperation. Conclusions: According to the current study, volcano‐shaped ulcers, higher CRP levels, a history of postoperative steroid therapy, and the presence of intestinal perforations detected by pathology were factors of a poor prognosis. Careful follow‐up is required in surgical patients with these risk factors, who are at high risk for recurrence and reoperation. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2010;)
Perceptions of students with an autism spectrum condition of the value of a CBT intervention to enhance student experience

This study describes the development and preliminary trialling of a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) intervention to enhance the student experience of six students with an autistic spectrum condition in a British university who were experiencing escalating anxiety. The study was located in a student enabling service setting and involved support workers and career services staff as co-therapists. A personalised student record index based on therapy goals was designed for each participant. This was used to monitor the quality of student experience during the intervention, expose crisis situations that arose and prioritise therapy session content. Interpretative phenomenological analysis findings imply that the first and second year participants perceived the intervention to be particularly effective in raising hope and agency and enhancing self-beliefs and rules for student life. Final year participants, whose anxiety was fuelled by the uncertainty of life beyond university, deemed the intervention helpful in containing their anxiety. Participants’ accounts imply that gains in student experience outweighed experiences of emotional pain in therapy sessions. Metaphor reinforced through drawings seemingly accelerated understanding and application of cognitive models of anxiety and CBT processes. The study culminates with a CBT protocol based on study findings for future research.
Recent coating materials for textile-based solar cells

Electronic textiles may be used to monitor a person’s vital function, to offer information or navigation, and to support people in daily life. One crucial problem, however, is the energy supply needed for such electronic functions. One of the possibilities discussed for this purpose is the integration of solar cells into garments. While silicon-based solar cells are mostly rigid or can in the meantime also be prepared in the shape of relatively flexible foils, the approach to integrate solar cell functionality into a textile fabric goes one step further. In this case, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), polymer or organic solar cells are advantageous. During the last years, promising advances are reported in the literature, discussing new materials for the different layers of such flexible solar cells. This review gives an overview of the recent materials used for creating flexible solar cells on textile fabrics or fibers.
70 HYPERPARATHYROIDISM AND THE CALCIUM PARADOX OF ALDOSTERONISM

Purpose In congestive heart failure (CHF), aldosteronism may induce a syndrome that features oxi/nitrosative stress, a proinflammatory phenotype, soft tissue and bone wasting. We hypothesized aldosterone/1% NaCl treatment (ALDOST) in rats enhances urinary and fecal Ca2+ and Mg2+ excretion and leads to systemic effects, including secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT). Methods At 1, 2, 4 and 6 weeks of ALDOST we monitored Ca2+ and Mg2+ excretion; ionized [Ca2+]o and [Mg2+]o, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and α1-antiproteinase activity (α1-AP) in plasma; bone mineral density (BMD) and bone strength (BS); total intracellular Ca2+ and Mg2+ in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and ventricular tissue; lymphocyte H2O2 production; and NADPH oxidase activation in ventricular tissue. A separate group received spironolactone (Spi), an aldosterone receptor antagonist. Age-/gender-matched unoperated and untreated rats served as controls. Results ALDOST induced a marked (p < .05) and persistent rise (3-5 fold) in both 24 hour urinary and fecal Ca2+ and Mg2+ excretion at weeks 1-6, together with progressive reductions (p < .05) in plasma [Ca2+]o and [Mg2+]o, and elevation (p < .05) in PTH. A fall (P < .05) in BMD and BS was seen at weeks 4 and 6. An early, sustained increase (p < .05) in PBMC Ca2+ and Mg2+ and increase (p < .05) in ventricular tissue Ca2+ was seen at weeks 4 and 6 Plasma α1-AP activity was reduced (p < .05) while lymphocyte H2O2 production was increased (p < .05) at all time points and gp91phox-positive inflammatory cells invaded the perivascular space of intramural coronary arteries of both ventricles at weeks 4 and 6. Spi co-treatment attenuated (p < .05) urinary and fecal Ca2+ and Mg2+ excretion, prevented the fall in [Ca2+]o and [Mg2+]o, rescued BMD and BS, and prevented Ca2+ loading of PBMC and cardiomyocytes. Conclusions Aldosteronism promotes urinary and fecal Ca2+ and Mg2+ excretion leading to a fall in plasma ionized [Ca2+]o and [Mg2+]o with SHPT and bone resorption. PTH-mediated Ca2+ loading of PBMC and cardiac tissue induces oxi/nitrosative stress and results in a proinflammatory phenotype. SHPT accounts for this Ca2+ paradox and contributes to the pathophysiology of CHF with aldosteronism. This work was supported, in part, by NIH Training Grant GR HL07641 (to V.S.C.).
Rocuronium pretreatment reduces suxamethonium-induced myalgia: comparison with vecuronium.

We have studied, in 150 patients undergoing elective oral surgery, the effectiveness and sequelae of pretreatment with rocuronium for reducing myalgia after suxamethonium. Patients were allocated randomly to one of three groups: anaesthesia was induced with propofol and fentanyl, and group V received vecuronium 1 mg, group R rocuronium 6 mg and group P placebo pretreatment. Suxamethonium 1.5 mg kg-1 was given 60 s after the pretreatment agent. All patients received ketorolac 10 mg i.v. and morphine 10 mg i.m. for analgesia. The incidence of postoperative myalgia on day 1 after rocuronium (20%) was significantly less than after vecuronium (42%) (P < 0.05) or placebo (70%) (P < 0.01). By day 4 the incidence of myalgia was 28.6% in the rocuronium group, 46.3% in the vecuronium group and 95% in the placebo group. Intubating conditions were not affected adversely by any pretreatment regimen.
TotalPLS: Local Dimension Reduction for Multicategory Microarray Data

Dimension reduction is an important topic in data mining, which is widely used in the areas of genetics, medicine, and bioinformatics. We propose a new local dimension reduction algorithm TotalPLS that operates in a unified partial least squares (PLS) framework and implement an information fusion of PLS-based feature selection and feature extraction. This paper focuses on extracting the potential structure hidden in high-dimensional multicategory microarray data, and interpreting and understanding the results provided by the potential structure information. First, we propose using PLS-based recursive feature elimination (PLSRFE) in multicategory problems. Then, we perform feature importance analysis based on PLSRFE for high-dimensional microarray data to determine the information feature (biomarkers) subset, which relates to the studied tumor subtypes problem. Finally, PLS-based supervised feature extraction is conducted on the selected specific genes subset to extract comprehensive features that best reflect the nature of classification to have a discriminating ability. The proposed algorithm is compared with several state-of-the-art methods using multiple high-dimensional multicategory microarray datasets. Our comparison is performed in terms of recognition accuracy, relevance, and redundancy. Experimental results show that the algorithm proposed by us can improve the recognition rate and computational efficiency. Furthermore, mining potential structure information improves the interpretability and understandability of recognition results. The proposed algorithm can be effectively applied to microarray data analysis for the discovery of gene coexpression and coregulation.
Prevalence of respiratory symptoms among workers in industries of south Tehran, Iran.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of respiratory symptoms from occupational lung hazards among workers in industries of south Tehran, IRAN. METHODOLOGY This was a cross-sectional study in which by multistage random sampling items on demographic characteristics, cigarette smoking, occupational history and respiratory symptoms were collected of workers. RESULTS The mean age of the workers was 38.5 (SD = 10.2) yr: age ranged from 19 to 70 yr. Of 880 workers under study, 252 (28.7%) were smoking. Also, it has been observed that workers exposed in the workplace with occupational chemical exposures such as dust, gas and fume pollutants. The prevalence of respiratory symptoms was cough (20.7%), phlegm (41.6%), dyspnea (41.7%), feel tightness (27.4%) and nose irritation (23.5%). CONCLUSIONS Occupational exposures among workers in industries of south Tehran may cause respiratory symptoms and respiratory disorders, engineering controls and industrial hygiene is recommended.
Protective efficacy of major outer membrane protein-specific immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG monoclonal antibodies in a murine model of Chlamydia trachomatis genital tract infection

The protective efficacy of immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific for the major outer membrane protein of Chlamydia trachomatis MoPn was evaluated in a murine genital tract infection model. MAbs were delivered into serum and vaginal secretions of naive mice by using the backpack hybridoma tumor system, and protective efficacy was assessed over the first 8 days following challenge by quantitative determination of chlamydial recovery from cervicovaginal swabs, histopathological evaluation of genital tract tissue, and immunohistochemical detection of chlamydial inclusions. IgA and IgG significantly reduced the incidence of infection following vaginal challenge with 5 50% infectious doses, but such protection was overwhelmed by 10- and 100-fold higher challenge doses. Both MAbs also consistently reduced vaginal shedding from infected animals with all three challenge doses compared with the negative control MAb, although the magnitude of this effect was marginal. Blinded pathological evaluation of genital tract tissues at 8 days postinfection showed a significant reduction in the severity of the inflammatory infiltrate in oviduct tissue of infected IgA- and IgG-treated animals. Immunohistochemical detection of chlamydial inclusions revealed a marked reduction in the chlamydial burden of the oviduct epithelium; this finding is consistent with the reduced pathological changes observed in this tissue. These studies indicate that the presence of IgA or IgG MAbs specific to major outer membrane proteins has a marginal effect in preventing chlamydial colonization and shedding from the genital tract but has a more pronounced effect on ascending chlamydial infection and accompanying upper genital tract pathology.
Partition of unesterified fatty acids in normal and nephrotic syndrome serum and its effect on serum electrophoretic pattern.

The electrophoretic pattern of the serum in the nephrotic syndrome is marked by decreased concentrations of albumin and elevated concentrations of alpha2- and beta-globulins. A large portion of the excess lipid in nephrotic serum migrates at pH 8.6 in the alpha2 region, whereas normally the major part of the lipid is found in the beta position. This abnormal finding has never been adequately explained. Thus, Swahn remarks that "the electrophoretic separation of alpha2- from beta-globulin in nephrotic sera is often poor and it is difficult to decide whether there is a pathological lipoprotein fraction migrating quicker than normal beta lipoprotein" (1). Unesterified fatty acids (UFA) have been recently demonstrated to be of considerable importance in lipid transport and metabolism (2). In normal serum these acids are generally considered to be predominantly carried by albumin. However, Gordon (3) and others (4-6) have shown that UFA can increase the electrophoretic mobility of serum lipoproteins when liberated in vivo by heparin-released lipoprotein lipase or when added directly to the serum in vitro. It was inferred by the above investigators that at these high levels, a significant fraction of the UFA became associated with the lipoproteins, thereby increasing their negative electrostatic surface charge. The present paper reports on direct measurements of the partition of UFA resulting from the competitive binding of UFA by the albumin and lipoprotein components of the serum. The distribution of UFA in normal sera was compared
Properties of calcium and potassium currents of clonal adrenocortical cells

The ionic currents of clonal Y-1 adrenocortical cells were studied using the whole-cell variant of the patch-clamp technique. These cells had two major current components: a large outward current carried by K ions, and a small inward Ca current. The Ca current depended on the activity of two populations of Ca channels, slow (SD) and fast (FD) deactivating, that could be separated by their different closing time constants (at -80 mV, SD, 3.8 ms, and FD, 0.13 ms). These two kinds of channels also differed in (a) activation threshold (SD, approximately - 50 mV; FD, approximately -20 mV), (b) half-maximal activation (SD, between -15 and -10 mV; FD between +10 and +15 mV), and (c) inactivation time course (SD, fast; FD, slow). The total amplitude of the Ca current and the proportion of SD and FD channels varied from cell to cell. The amplitude of the K current was strongly dependent on the internal [Ca2+] and was almost abolished when internal [Ca2+] was less than 0.001 microM. The K current appeared to be independent, or only slightly dependent, of Ca influx. With an internal [Ca2+] of 0.1 microM, the activation threshold was -20 mV, and at +40 mV the half- time of activation was 9 ms. With 73 mM external K the closing time constant at -70 mV was approximately 3 ms. The outward current was also modulated by internal pH and Mg. At a constant pCa gamma a decrease of pH reduced the current amplitude, whereas the activation kinetics were not much altered. Removal of internal Mg produced a drastic decrease in the amplitude of the Ca-activated K current. It was also found that with internal [Ca2+] over 0.1 microM the K current underwent a time- dependent transformation characterized by a large increase in amplitude and in activation kinetics.
Modelling Engineering Student Academic Performance Using Academic Analytics

Internationally, the recruitment, management and retention of students has become a high priority for universities. The use of information technology systems and student data by institutions to understand and improve student academic performance is often referred to as ‘academic analytics’. This paper presents an academic analytics investigation into the modelling of academic performance of engineering students enrolled in a second-year class. The modelling method used was binary logistic regression, and the target predicted variable was ‘success status’—defined as those students from the total originally enrolled group that achieved a final unit grade of pass or better. This paper shows that student data stored in institutional systems can be used to predict student academic performance with reasonable accuracy, and it provides one methodology for achieving this. Importantly, significant predictor variables are identified that offer the ability to develop targeted interventions to improve student success and retention outcomes.
Pervasive, persuasive health: Some challenges

As we consider the next set of challenges for pervasive health, what are the issues that our current expertise may not sufficiently address? What might we have overlooked that should be on our research agenda as we go forward? In this brief paper, I argue that we would benefit from knowing more about how to design persuasive systems for single use situations (e.g., the decision to get a screening or vaccination) and that people can “graduate” from while maintaining healthy routines and habits they have developed.
miR-17 and -20a Target the Neuron-Derived Orphan Receptor-1 (NOR-1) in Vascular Endothelial Cells

Neuron-derived orphan receptor-1 (NOR-1) plays a major role in vascular biology by controlling fibroproliferative and inflammatory responses. Because microRNAs (miRNAs) have recently emerged as key players in the regulation of gene expression in the vasculature, here we have investigated the regulation of NOR-1 by miRNAs in endothelial cells. Computational algorithms suggest that NOR-1 could be targeted by members of the miR-17 family. Accordingly, ectopic over-expression of miR-17 or miR-20a in endothelial cells using synthetic premiRNAs attenuated the up-regulation of NOR-1 expression induced by VEGF (as evidenced by real time PCR, Western blot and immunocitochemistry). Conversely, the antagonism of these miRNAs by specific antagomirs prevented the down-regulation of NOR-1 promoted by miR-17 or miR-20a in VEGF-stimulated cells. Disruption of the miRNA-NOR-1 mRNA interaction using a custom designed target protector evidenced the selectivity of these responses. Further, luciferase reporter assays and seed-sequence mutagenesis confirmed that miR-17 and -20a bind to NOR-1 3’-UTR. Finally, miR-17 and -20a ameliorated the up-regulation of VCAM-1 mediated by NOR-1 in VEGF-stimulated cells. Therefore, miR-17 and -20a target NOR-1 thereby regulating NOR-1-dependent gene expression.
Phylogenomic analysis supports the ancestral presence of LPS-outer membranes in the Firmicutes

One of the major unanswered questions in evolutionary biology is when and how the transition between diderm (two membranes) and monoderm (one membrane) cell envelopes occurred in Bacteria. The Negativicutes and the Halanaerobiales belong to the classically monoderm Firmicutes, but possess outer membranes with lipopolysaccharide (LPS-OM). Here, we show that they form two phylogenetically distinct lineages, each close to different monoderm relatives. In contrast, their core LPS biosynthesis enzymes were inherited vertically, as in the majority of bacterial phyla. Finally, annotation of key OM systems in the Halanaerobiales and the Negativicutes shows a puzzling combination of monoderm and diderm features. Together, these results support the hypothesis that the LPS-OMs of Negativicutes and Halanaerobiales are remnants of an ancient diderm cell envelope that was present in the ancestor of the Firmicutes, and that the monoderm phenotype in this phylum is a derived character that arose multiple times independently through OM loss. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.14589. 001
Spotlight on Anti‐CGRP Monoclonal Antibodies in Migraine: The Clinical Evidence to Date

Migraine, a common neurovascular brain disorder, represents a severe and widespread health problem; along with medication‐induced (medication‐overuse) headache, it is the third‐leading cause of disability worldwide. Currently, its therapeutic management remains unsatisfactory for several reasons; up to 40% of migraineurs are eligible for prophylactic treatment, but there are issues of efficacy, safety, and adherence. In recent years the evidence on the role of calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP) in migraine pathophysiology has been consolidated, so new and promising treatments for migraine pain and its possible prevention have been developed. The following review reports the results of the clinical trials conducted so far with each of the new monoclonal antibodies targeting CGRP or its receptor, with particular reference to safety, tolerance, and efficacy in migraine prevention. Moreover, the pharmacological characterization and further developments of each monoclonal antibody are reported, based on current knowledge.
Cortical Balance of Excitation and Inhibition Is Regulated by the Rate of Synaptic Activity

Cortical activity is determined by the balance between excitation and inhibition. To examine how shifts in brain activity affect this balance, we recorded spontaneous excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs into layer 4 neurons from rat somatosensory cortex while altering the depth of anesthesia. The rate of excitatory and inhibitory events was reduced by ∼50% when anesthesia was deepened. However, whereas both the amplitude and width of inhibitory synaptic events profoundly increased under deep anesthesia, those of excitatory events were unaffected. These effects were found using three different types of anesthetics, suggesting that they are caused by the network state and not by local specific action of the anesthetics. To test our hypothesis that the size of inhibitory events increased because of the decreased rate of synaptic activity under deep anesthesia, we blocked cortical excitation and replayed the slow and fast patterns of inhibitory inputs using intracortical electrical stimulation. Evoked inhibition was larger under low-frequency stimulation, and, importantly, this change occurred regardless of the depth of anesthesia. Hence, shifts in the balance between excitation and inhibition across distinct states of cortical activity can be explained by the rate of inhibitory inputs combined with their short-term plasticity properties, regardless of the actual global brain activity.
Tight Convex Relaxations for Vector-Valued Labeling

Multilabel problems are of fundamental importance in computer vision and image analysis. Yet, finding global minima of the associated energies is typically a hard computational challenge. Recently, progress has been made by reverting to spatially continuous formulations of respective problems and solving the arising convex relaxation globally. In practice this leads to solutions which are either optimal or within an a posteriori bound of the optimum. Unfortunately, in previous methods, both run time and memory requirements scale linearly in the total number of labels, making these methods very inefficient and often not applicable to problems with higher dimensional label spaces. In this paper, we propose a reduction technique for the case that the label space is a continuous product space and the regularizer is separable, i.e., a sum of regularizers for each dimension of the label space. In typical real-world labeling problems, the resulting convex relaxation requires orders of magnitude less memory and c.