Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The failure of nonoperative management in pediatric solid organ injury: a multi-institutional experience.

BACKGROUND Nonoperative management (NOM) is the accepted treatment of most pediatric solid organ injuries (SOI) and, is typically successful. We sought to elucidate predictors of, and the time course to, failure in the subset of children suffering SOI who required operative intervention. METHODS A retrospective analysis was performed from January 1997 through December 2002 of all pediatric patients (age 0-20 years) with a SOI (liver, spleen, kidney, pancreas) from the trauma registries of seven designated, level I pediatric trauma centers. Failure of NOM was defined as the need for intra-abdominal operative intervention. Data reviewed included demographics, injury mechanism, injury severity (ISS, AIS, SOI grade, and GCS), and outcome. For the failures of NOM, time to operation and relevant clinical variables were also abstracted. A summary AIS (sAIS) was calculated for each patient by summing the AIS values for each SOI, to account for multiple SOI in the same patient. Univariate and multivariate analyses were employed, and significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS A total of 1,880 children were identified. Of these, 62 sustained nonsurvivable head injuries that precluded assessment of NOM outcome and were thus excluded. The remaining 1,818 patients comprised the overall study population. There were 1,729 successful NOM patients (controls -- C) and 89 failures (F), for an overall NOM failure rate of 5%. For isolated organ injuries, the failure rates were: kidney 3%, liver 3%, spleen 4%, and pancreas 18%. There were 14 deaths in the failure group from nonsalvageable injuries (mean ISS = 54 +/- 15). The two groups did not differ with respect to mean age or gender. An MVC was the most common injury mechanism in both groups. Only bicycle crashes were associated with a significantly increased risk of failing NOM (RR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.02-3.04, p < 0.05). Injury severity and organ specific injuries were associated with NOM failure. When controlling for ISS and GCS, multivariate regression analysis confirmed that a sAIS > or = 4, isolated pancreatic injury, and >1 organ injured were significantly associated with NOM failure (p < 0.01). The median time to failure was 3 hours (range, 0.5-144 hours) with 38% having failed by 2 hours, 59% by 4 hours, and 76% by 12 hours. CONCLUSIONS Failure of NOM is un common (5%) and typically occurs within the first 12 hours after injury. Failure is associated with injury severity and multiplicity, as well as isolated pancreatic injuries.
Homogeneous Time-Resolved Fluorescence-Based Assay to Monitor Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Signaling in a High-Throughput Format

The extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) are key components of multiple important cell signaling pathways regulating diverse biological responses. This signaling is characterized by phosphorylation cascades leading to ERK1/2 activation and promoted by various cell surface receptors including G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). We report the development of a new cell-based Phospho-ERK1/2 assay (designated Phospho-ERK), which is a sandwich proximity-based assay using the homogeneous time-resolved fluorescence technology. We have validated the assay on endogenously expressed ERK1/2 activated by the epidermal growth factor as a prototypical RTK, as well as various GPCRs belonging to different classes and coupling to different heterotrimeric G proteins. The assay was successfully miniaturized in 384-well plates using various cell lines endogenously, transiently, or stably expressing the different receptors. The validation was performed for agonists, antagonists, and inhibitors in dose–response as well as kinetic analysis, and the signaling and pharmacological properties of the different receptors were reproduced. Furthermore, the determination of a Z′-factor value of 0.7 indicates the potential of the Phospho-ERK assay for high-throughput screening of compounds that may modulate ERK1/2 signaling. Finally, our study is of great interest in the current context of investigating ERK1/2 signaling with respect to the emerging concepts of biased ligands, G protein-dependent/independent ERK1/2 activation, and functional transactivation between GPCRs and RTKs, illustrating the importance of considering the ERK1/2 pathway in cell signaling
Cerebral hypoxia-ischemia stimulates cytokine gene expression in perinatal rats.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We tested the hypothesis that cerebral hypoxia-ischemia selectively stimulates interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) gene expression in brain regions susceptible to irreversible injury in perinatal rats. METHODS To elicit focal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, 7-day-old perinatal (P7) rats were subjected to right carotid artery ligation followed by 3 hours of 8% O2 exposure and were killed 0 to 48 hours after hypoxia. Regional tissue IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha mRNA content were measured by reverse transcription followed by polymerase chain reaction amplification (RT-PCR) in samples prepared from cortex and hippocampus of the lesioned and contralateral hemispheres. cDNAs were amplified with primers specific for IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha, and the housekeeping gene glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), which served as an internal control. The RT-PCR products were subjected to Southern blot analysis and hybridized with 32P-labeled gene-specific probes. Radioactivity was measured in excised bands, and results were normalized on the basis of levels of GAPDH expression. RESULTS In unlesioned P7 brain, IL-1 beta mRNA was barely detectable. In lesioned forebrain, there was a marked, transient stimulation of IL-1 beta mRNA expression, peaking at 4 hours after hypoxia. Hybridization signal was increased 16- to 30-fold over values from contralateral hemisphere samples in three independent assays (P < .05 comparing values in left and right cortex and in left and right hippocampus with the Kruskal-Wallis ranking test); by 24 hours after hypoxia, levels returned to normal. Similar transient increases in TNF-alpha mRNA expression were detected. In a closely related model of perinatal brain injury elicited by focal intracerebral N-methyl-D-aspartate injection, there was a corresponding acute stimulation of IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha mRNA expression at 4 hours after injection. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha may play important roles in the response of the developing brain to acute hypoxic-ischemic injury.
THE EFFECT OF LOCAL ANAESTHETIC WOUND INFILTRATION ON POST-OPERATIVE PAIN AFTER CAESAREAN SECTION

Pre-emptive analgesia, Local anaesthesia, Caesarean section. Thirty patients were assigned randomly to receive either 20ml of 0.5% bupivacaine or 20ml normal saline solution (group A placebo group) that was injected in the subcuticular tissue and fascia before closure of the skin. Pethidine consumption was measured during the postoperative period till 24 hours. Postoperative pain was assessed at 30 minutes, and 2, 4, 6, 12 and 24 hours after operation with a visual analog scale (VAS). Data were analyzed by the student t-test NADHIMA H. H. AL-HAKIM, ZAHRA'A M. S. ALIDREESI
Language model size reduction by pruning and clustering

Several techniques are known for reducing the size of language models, including count cutoffs [1], Weighted Difference pruning [2], Stolcke pruning [3], and clustering [4]. We compare all of these techniques and show some surprising results. For instance, at low pruning thresholds, Weighted Difference and Stolcke pruning underperform count cutoffs. We then show novel clustering techniques that can be combined with Stolcke pruning to produce the smallest models at a given perplexity. The resulting models can be a factor of three or more smaller than models pruned with Stolcke pruning, at the same perplexity. The technique creates clustered models that are often larger than the unclustered models, but which can be pruned to models that are smaller than unclustered models with the same perplexity.
Antimicrobial Effect of Halocidin-Derived Peptide in a Mouse Model of Listeria Infection

ABSTRACT Halocidin is an antimicrobial peptide found in the tunicate. A series of experiments were previously conducted in an attempt to develop a novel antibiotic derived from halocidin, as the peptide was determined to evidence profound antimicrobial activity against a variety of antibiotic-resistant microbes, with significantly less toxicity to human blood cells. In this study, we assessed the validity of one of the halocidin congeners, called Khal, as a new antibiotic for the treatment of systemic bacterial infections. Our in vitro antimicrobial tests showed that the MICs of Khal against several gram-positive bacteria were below 16 μg/ml in the presence of salt. We also determined that Khal retained sufficient target selectivity to discern microbial and human blood cells and was therefore capable of efficiently killing invading pathogens. Furthermore, Khal caused no aggregation problems upon incubation with human serum and also proved to be resistant to proteolysis by enzymes occurring in human serum. In the following experiments conducted with a mouse model of Listeria monocytogenes infection, we demonstrated that a single intravenous inoculation with Khal resulted in significant therapeutic effects on the survival of mice. In addition, our bacterial-enumeration analysis showed that after Listeria infection, livers and spleens from Khal-treated mice generated a great deal fewer recoverable CFU. Finally, the antibiotic effects of Khal were evaluated under confocal microscopy after we immunostained the liver sections with anti-Khal antibody. It was concluded that Khal bound specifically to the surfaces of bacteria colonized in the mouse liver and killed the bacteria rapidly.
“We All Look the Same to Me”

Extrapolating from the broaden-and-build theory, we hypothesized that positive emotion may reduce the own-race bias in facial recognition. In Experiments 1 and 2, Caucasian participants (N = 89) viewed Black and White faces for a recognition task. They viewed videos eliciting joy, fear, or neutrality before the learning (Experiment 1) or testing (Experiment 2) stages of the task. Results reliably supported the hypothesis. Relative to fear or a neutral state, joy experienced before either stage improved recognition of Black faces and significantly reduced the own-race bias. Discussion centers on possible mechanisms for this reduction of the own-race bias, including improvements in holistic processing and promotion of a common in-group identity due to positive emotions.
What Drives the Disposition Effect? An Analysis of a Long-Standing Preference-Based Explanation

One of the most striking portfolio puzzles is the %u201Cdisposition effect%u201D: the tendency of individuals to sell stocks in their portfolios that have risen in value since purchase, rather than fallen in value. Perhaps the most prominent explanation for this puzzle is based on prospect theory. Despite its prominence, this explanation has received little formal scrutiny. We take up this task, and analyze the trading behavior of investors with prospect theory preferences. We find that, at least for the simplest implementation of prospect theory, the link between these preferences and the disposition effect is not as obvious as previously thought: in some cases, prospect theory does indeed predict a disposition effect, but in others, it predicts the opposite. We provide intuition for these results, and identify the conditions under which the disposition effect holds or fails. We also discuss the implications of our results for other disposition-type effects that have been documented in settings such as the housing market, futures trading, and executive stock options.
Implementing data cubes efficiently

Decision support applications involve complex queries on very large databases. Since response times should be small, query optimization is critical. Users typically view the data as multidimensional data cubes. Each cell of the data cube is a view consisting of an aggregation of interest, like total sales. The values of many of these cells are dependent on the values of other cells in the data cube. A common and powerful query optimization technique is to materialize some or all of these cells rather than compute them from raw data each time. Commercial systems differ mainly in their approach to materializing the data cube. In this paper, we investigate the issue of which cells (views) to materialize when it is too expensive to materialize all views. A lattice framework is used to express dependencies among views. We present greedy algorithms that work off this lattice and determine a good set of views to materialize. The greedy algorithm performs within a small constant factor of optimal under a variety of models. We then consider the most common case of the hypercube lattice and examine the choice of materialized views for hypercubes in detail, giving some good tradeoffs between the space used and the average time to answer a query.
A Novel Family of Soluble Minimal Scaffolds Provides Structural Insight into the Catalytic Domains of Integral Membrane Metallopeptidases*

Background: Structural characterization of integral-membrane (IM) metallopeptidases (MPs) faces enormous technical hurdles. Results: We have discovered a novel family of minimal MPs, minigluzincins, and determined the crystal structures of the zymogens of two family members. Conclusion: Minigluzincins are valid models for catalytic domains of M48 and M56 family IMMPs. Significance: They provide a high resolution scaffold for the design of small molecule inhibitors of IMMPs. In the search for structural models of integral-membrane metallopeptidases (MPs), we discovered three related proteins from thermophilic prokaryotes, which we grouped into a novel family called “minigluzincins. ” We determined the crystal structures of the zymogens of two of these (Pyrococcus abyssi proabylysin and Methanocaldococcus jannaschii projannalysin), which are soluble and, with ∼100 residues, constitute the shortest structurally characterized MPs to date. Despite relevant sequence and structural similarity, the structures revealed two unique mechanisms of latency maintenance through the C-terminal segments previously unseen in MPs as follows: intramolecular, through an extended tail, in proabylysin, and crosswise intermolecular, through a helix swap, in projannalysin. In addition, structural and sequence comparisons revealed large similarity with MPs of the gluzincin tribe such as thermolysin, leukotriene A4 hydrolase relatives, and cowrins. Noteworthy, gluzincins mostly contain a glutamate as third characteristic zinc ligand, whereas minigluzincins have a histidine. Sequence and structural similarity further allowed us to ascertain that minigluzincins are very similar to the catalytic domains of integral membrane MPs of the MEROPS database families M48 and M56, such as FACE1, HtpX, Oma1, and BlaR1/MecR1, which are provided with trans-membrane helices flanking or inserted into a minigluzincin-like catalytic domain. In a time where structural biochemistry of integral-membrane proteins in general still faces formidable challenges, the minigluzincin soluble minimal scaffold may contribute to our understanding of the working mechanisms of these membrane MPs and to the design of novel inhibitors through structure-aided rational drug design approaches.
An aging effect and its origin in GdBCO thin films

An aging effect investigation was made for GdBa2Cu3O7 (GdBCO) thin films grown on SrTiO3 (001) substrates with pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method from nanograined targets. The films were cut into two pieces where one piece was coated with gold cap layer while the other was left without coating. Both pieces were kept in ambient air during the half year measurement period. Magnetization measurements as well as phase purity, lattice parameter, oxygen effect and depth structure determination with x-ray diffraction (XRD) were made in one month interval. For structure and oxygen content, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements (XPS) were done in the beginning and in the end of the period. A reduction of the critical temperature and the critical current density, Jc, was found in the gold coated GdBCO film in ambient air in course of time. A smaller decrease of Jc was detected in uncoated GdBCO. No development of impurity phase, increase of a-orientation or reduction of the pinning structure was detected in uncoated GdBCO. However, a small development of impurity phase was found in gold coated GdBCO. The diminution of Tc and Jc is concluded to originate from oxygen release. No such a phenomenon was found in YBa2Cu3O7. We conclude that gold is not a proper cap layer at least for some applications.
Evaluation of an ICF-based patient education programme for stroke patients: a randomized, single-blinded, controlled, multicentre trial of the effects on self-efficacy, life satisfaction and functioning.

OBJECTIVE There is a current need for interventions that provide information to stroke survivors in a patient-centred, interactive, personalized and flexible manner. To this purpose, a standardized but content-flexible patient education programme based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) was developed. This study evaluated the effect of this programme on perceived self-efficacy. DESIGN Single-blind, randomized, multi-centre controlled trial. METHODS Stroke patients undergoing neurological rehabilitation were enrolled. Perceived self-efficacy was measured with the Liverpool Self-Efficacy Scale. Secondary outcomes were life satisfaction and self-perception of the impact of the stroke on life, measured with the WHOQOL and the Stroke Impact Scale, respectively. Data obtained at baseline, post-intervention and 6-month follow-up were analysed using multi-level models of change. RESULTS Two hundred and thirteen patients received either the ICF-based patient education (n = 110) or an attention-placebo (n = 103) control intervention. Over time, patients' self-efficacy (p < .01) and participation (p < .01) improved, while emotional functioning (p < .01) deteriorated, although no significant between-group differences were observed. Explorative analyses showed that gender, loci of control, difficulty in accessing health services after discharge and life satisfaction were significant predictors of self-efficacy. CONCLUSION There was no significant benefit of the ICF-based patient education in comparison with an attention-placebo control group. Considering the importance of the programme for the further implementation of the ICF and the need of developing effective health education interventions for stroke, the methodology used was reviewed and an updated version proposed.
How portable are controlled language rules? A comparison of two empirical MT studies

This paper describes two studies on the effectiveness of Controlled Language (CL) rules for MT. Both studies investigated the language pair English-German and used corpora from the IT domain. However, they differ in terms of the MT engines employed (Systran vs. IBM WebSphere) and the evaluative methodologies used. Study A examines the effectiveness of CL rules by measuring temporal, technical and post-editing effort. Study B examines the effectiveness of rules by measuring comprehensibility. Both Study A and Study B concluded that some CL rules had a high impact for MT while other rules had a moderate, low or no impact. The results are compared in order to determine what, if any, common conclusions can be drawn. Our conclusions are that rules governing misspelling, incorrect punctuation, sentences longer than 25 words, and the use of personal pronouns with no antecedent in a sentence had a high impact on both post-editing effort and comprehensibility. Further, we found that the use of personal pronouns with antecedents in the same sentence and stand-alone demonstrative pronouns had a low impact, while the rule advocating the use of "in order to" in purposive clauses had no impact in either study. The paper also discusses contrasting results for both studies.
Electrical excitability of developing cardiac muscle in chick embryos.

The resting and action potentials and the strength-duration relation to square current pulse stimulation were investigated on the chick embryo's heart from 2-day stage (7-somite stage) to near the hatching. From the embryos older than 3-day the resting and action potentials were recorded, and the magnitude of both potentials increased with the age. Before commencement of the spontaneous contraction (9-somite stage) electric stimulation failed to elicit contraction. After the 10-somite stage all-or-none contraction was produced by electric stimulation, and the strength-duration cruves were constructed at all stages by passing cathodal current to the cardiac muscle from 50ƒÊ micropipette. The rheobasic current was several tens of ƒÊA at the earlier stages, decreasing rapidly for the first several days, and then fell gradually to less than 1 ƒÊA at the later stages. The chronaxie was also found to shorten gradually from about 5 to 1 msec during the development. Since chronaxie is proportional to the membrane time constant, this characteristic change in chronaxie (membrane time constant) and rheobase (inverse of excitability) was suggested to correlate to structural change of the cell membrane.
Novel Insights into the Proteus mirabilis Crystalline Biofilm Using Real-Time Imaging

The long-term use of indwelling catheters results in a high risk from urinary tract infections (UTI) and blockage. Blockages often occur from crystalline deposits, formed as the pH rises due to the action of urease-producing bacteria; the most commonly found species being Proteus mirabilis. These crystalline biofilms have been found to develop on all catheter materials with P. mirabilis attaching to all surfaces and forming encrustations. Previous studies have mainly relied on electron microscopy to describe this process but there remains a lack of understanding into the stages of biofilm formation. Using an advanced light microscopy technique, episcopic differential interference contrast (EDIC) microscopy combined with epifluorescence (EF), we describe a non-destructive, non-contact, real-time imaging method used to track all stages of biofilm development from initial single cell attachment to complex crystalline biofilm formation. Using a simple six-well plate system, attachment of P. mirabilis (in artificial urine) to sections of silicone and hydrogel latex catheters was tracked over time (up to 24 days). Using EDIC and EF we show how initial attachment occurred in less than 1 h following exposure to P. mirabilis. This was rapidly followed by an accumulation of an additional material (indicated to be carbohydrate based using lectin staining) and the presence of highly elongated, motile cells. After 24 h exposure, a layer developed above this conditioning film and within 4 days the entire surface (of both catheter materials) was covered with diffuse crystalline deposits with defined crystals embedded. Using three-dimensional image reconstruction software, cells of P. mirabilis were seen covering the crystal surfaces. EDIC microscopy could resolve these four components of the complex crystalline biofilm and the close relationship between P. mirabilis and the crystals. This real-time imaging technique permits study of this complex biofilm development with no risk of artefacts due to sample manipulation. A full understanding of the stages and components involved in crystalline encrustation formation will aid in the development of new protocols to manage and ultimately prevent catheter blockage.