Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficiency of treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs according to current recommendations in patients with radiographic and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis

Objective. NSAIDs are first-line therapy in axial SpA (axSpA). The proportion of patients responding to NSAIDs and differences between AS and non-radiographic axSpA (nr-axSpA) in this regard have not been studied in detail to date. The aim of this study was to examine the proportion of patients with AS and nr-axSpA responding to NSAIDs according to current treatment recommendations. Methods. Consecutive anti-TNF-naïve patients with nr-axSpA and AS (n = 50 each) were included if their BASDAI score was ⩾4 without having received maximal NSAID doses. In case of a BASDAI score ⩾4 1 week later, another NSAID was prescribed. For the next 3 weeks, continuous intake of maximal doses was recommended but patients could reduce doses in case of intolerance or improvement. MRI of the SI joints was performed at baseline and week 4. Results. All outcomes except for CRP and MRI scores improved significantly after 4 weeks of NSAIDs, with no difference between axSpA subgroups. An Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society 40% (ASAS40) response and partial remission rates were 35 and 16% at week 4, respectively. At the same time point, a BASDAI score ⩾4 was still present in 44% of patients, 30% of which had reduced NSAID doses, partly due to intolerance (38%). Only 13% of all patients had continuously taken NSAIDs at the maximal dosage, but there was no difference in the efficacy outcome compared with those who had taken reduced doses. Conclusion. AS and nr-axSpA patients had similar response rates to NSAIDs while objective signs of inflammation did not change over 4 weeks. Only a minority of patients was willing to take maximal doses of NSAIDs, and ⩾40% patients remained candidates for TNF blockers. These results may influence future trial designs.
Intraoperative air testing of colorectal anastomoses: A prospective, randomized trial

A total of 145 consecutive patients receiving a colorectal anastomosis were randomized to ‘test’ or ‘no test’ once the anastomosis had been completed. Anastomotic testing was performed with the pelvis filled with saline and the rectum distended by sigmoidoscopic insufflation of air. Any leaks demonstrated were oversewn. A water‐soluble contrast enema was performed on the tenth postoperative day. Seventy‐four patients were randomized to ‘test’ and 71 to ‘no test’ but one patient was withdrawn from each group leaving a total of 143 for analysis. The two groups were well matched for age, sex, diagnosis and operative details. Eighteen (25 per cent) air leaks were detected and repaired in the ‘test’ group. After operation there were three (4 per cent) clinical leaks in the ‘test’ group and ten (14 per cent) in the ‘no test’ group (Fisher's exact test, P = 0.043). There were eight (11 per cent) radiological leaks in the ‘test’ group and 20 (29 per cent) in the ‘no test’ group (P = 0.006). Intraoperative air testing and repair of colorectal anastomoses significantly reduces the risk of postoperative clinical and radiological leaks.
Case Studies of Coupled Heat and Moisture Diffusion in Wool Beds

The predictions from a previously developed mathematical model for coupled heat and moisture diffusion in beds of hygroscopic fibers have been tested against experimental observations on wool bales and wool fabrics. The experiments on wool bales were concerned with the changes in regain and temperature consequent upon changes in the relative humidity and temperature of the surrounding air. The experiments on fabrics included measurements of temperature and regain during Hoffman pressing and measurements of heat flow through the fabric during changes in regain. Satisfactory agreement was found between the predictions from the model and the experimental observations.
Comparative effects of beraprost, a stable analogue of prostacyclin, with PGE(1), nitroglycerin and nifedipine on canine model of vasoconstrictive pulmonary hypertension.

Acute hemodynamic effects of beraprost sodium were tested in a canine vasoconstrictive pulmonary hypertension model induced by the continuous infusion of U-46619, a thromboxane A(2)mimetic. The effects of beraprost were compared with those of prostaglandin E(1), nitroglycerin and nifedipine. Beraprost and nitroglycerin decreased pulmonary arterial pressure. On the other hand, prostaglandin E(1)and nifedipine increased pulmonary arterial pressure. All drugs except nitroglycerin increased cardiac output and decreased pulmonary vascular resistance. Beraprost was selective to pulmonary circulation, while nitroglycerin, prostaglandin E(1), and nifedipine showed poor selectivity for the pulmonary vasculature. These results suggest that the vasodilative effect of beraprost is the most selective for the pulmonary circulation among these four vasodilators.
Late Phase Allergic Reaction to a CT Contrast Medium (Iotrolan)

A 46‐year‐old male developed wide‐spread erythema and edema after intravenous injection of a CT contrast medium (iotrolan). The skin eruption appeared at 6 h, reached a maximum at 9 to 12 h, and faded within 36 h after injection. A challenge with an intradermal injection of the agent provoked the same reaction where the eruption had originally appeared, but had no effect on previously unaffected regions. Histopathologic examination revealed a perivascular infiltration of small round cells, and a few neutrophils, and eosinophils in the dermis and focal spongiosis in the epidermis. This is the first report of a late phase allergic skin reaction induced by iotrolan.
Carvacrol attenuates serum levels of total protein, phospholipase A2 and histamine in asthmatic guinea pig

Objective: Pharmacological effects of carvacrol such as its anti-inflammatory activities have been shows. In this study the effects of carvacrol on serum levels of total protein (TP), phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and histamine in sensitized guinea pigs was evaluated. Materials and Methods: Sensitized guinea pigs were given drinking water alone (group S), drinking water containing three concentrations of carvacrol (40, 80 and 160 µg/ml) or dexamethasone. Serum levels of TP, PLA2 and histamine were examined I all sensitized groups as well as a non-sensitized control group (n=6 for each group). Results: In sensitized animals, serum levels of TP, PLA2 and histamine were significantly increased compared to control animals (p<0.05 to p<0.001). Significant reduction in TP, PLA2 and histamine levels were observed in treated groups with the two higher concentrations of carvacrol but dexamethasone treatment only decreased serum level of PLA2 (p<0.05 to p<0.001). Although the effect of the lowest concentration of the extract was less than that of dexamethasone (p<0.05 for TP and p<0.001 for PLA2), the effects of the two higher concentrations on PLA2 were similar to dexamethasone and on TP (p<0.01) and histamine (p<0.001) were higher than those of dexamethasone. Conclusion: These results showed that carvacrol reduced serum levels of TP, PLA2 and histamine in sensitized guinea pigs which may indicate an anti-inflammatory effect of this agent in inflammatory disorders such as asthma.
Rule-Based Impact Analysis for Heterogeneous Software Artifacts

Typical software engineering activities, such as program maintenance or reengineering, result in frequent changes of software which are often accompanied by unintended side effects. Consequently, research on impact analysis put forth approaches to assess the adverse effects of changes. However, understanding and implementing these changes is often aggravated by inconsistencies and dependencies between different types of software artifacts. Likewise, most impact analysis approaches are not able to detect the possible side effects of changes when different types of software artifacts are involved. We present an approach that combines impact analysis and multi-perspective modeling for analyzing the change propagation between heterogeneous software artifacts. Our approach assists developers with understanding the consequences of changes by identifying impacted artifacts and determining how they are affected. We utilize a model repository for combining UML models, Java source code, and JUnit tests by mapping them on a unifying meta-model. We introduce a novel impact propagation approach that analyzes dependencies between software artifacts according to the type of change which is applied upon them. Our approach is implemented by a set of impact propagation rules which are evaluated by a case study.
Influence of recycled aggregates on dynamic/static stability of self-consolidating concrete

The effect of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) on rheology and dynamic/static stability of highly flowable self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is not well quantified. Two series of SCC mixtures containing different RCA replacement levels and proportioned using the direct replacement and Equivalent Mortar Volume methods were considered in this study. Test results have shown that the increase in RCA replacement level leads to reduced rate of flow and passing ability, yet resulted in improved static stability given the greater relative water absorption that reduces the detrimental effects of free mixing water in fresh concrete. The use of four-bladed slotted vane rotating in infinite medium was found particularly useful to mitigate aggregate migration and enhance detection of internal friction resulting from RCA skeleton. Four “rheology boxes” enabling easier development and prediction of concrete stability for given application are proposed with respect to the European Guidelines for SCC.
Face Recognition by Discriminative Orthogonal Rank-one Tensor Decomposition

Discriminative subspace analysis has been a popular approach to face recognition. Most of the previous work such as Eigen-faces (Turk & Pentlend, 1991), LDA (Belhumeur et al., 1997), Laplacian faces (He et al., 2005a), as well as a variety of tensor based subspace analysis methods (He et al., 2005b; Chen et al., 2005; Xu et al., 2006; Hua et al., 2007), can all be unified in the graph embedding framework (Yan et al., 2007). In this Chapter, we investigate the effects of two types of regularizations on discriminative subspace based face recognition techniques: a new 2D tensor representation for face image, and an orthogonal constraint on the discriminative tensor projections. Given a face image, the new tensor representation firstly divides it into non-overlapping blocks. Then following the raster-scan order, the raster-scanned pixel vectors of each of the image blocks are put into the columns of a new 2D tensor. It is easy to figure out that the row vectors of the new 2D tensor are in essence different down-sampled images of the original face images. Pursuing discriminative 2D tensor projections with the new tensor representation is of special interest, because the left projection indeed functions as local filters in the original face image and the right projection reveals to us that which local block is more important for recognition. This new representation puts concrete physical meanings to the left and right projections of the discriminative tensor projections. While the 2D tensor representation using the original images does not present any meaningful physical explanations on column and row pixel vectors. We call this new tensor representation Global-Local representation (Chen et al., 2005; Hua et al., 2007). On the other hand, we reveal a very important property regarding the orthogonality between two tensor projections, and thus present a novel discriminative orthogonal tensor decomposition method for face recognition. To the best of our knowledge, this method, firstly introduced in (Hua et at., 2007), is the first discriminative orthogonal tensor decomposition method ever proposed in the literature. Both of the two regularization techniques put additional constraints on the capacity (a.k.a., the VC-dimension) of the discriminative projections and thereby improve the generalization ability of the learned projections. We perform empirical analysis and comparative study on widely adopted face recognition bench-mark such as Yale, ORL, YaleB and PIE databased to O pe n A cc es s D at ab as e w w w . in te ch w eb . o rg
Gene Signature of Human Oral Mucosa Fibroblasts: Comparison with Dermal Fibroblasts and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Oral mucosa is a useful material for regeneration therapy with the advantages of its accessibility and versatility regardless of age and gender. However, little is known about the molecular characteristics of oral mucosa. Here we report the first comparative profiles of the gene signatures of human oral mucosa fibroblasts (hOFs), human dermal fibroblasts (hDFs), and hOF-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (hOF-iPSCs), linking these with biological roles by functional annotation and pathway analyses. As a common feature of fibroblasts, both hOFs and hDFs expressed glycolipid metabolism-related genes at higher levels compared with hOF-iPSCs. Distinct characteristics of hOFs compared with hDFs included a high expression of glycoprotein genes, involved in signaling, extracellular matrix, membrane, and receptor proteins, besides a low expression of HOX genes, the hDFs-markers. The results of the pathway analyses indicated that tissue-reconstructive, proliferative, and signaling pathways are active, whereas senescence-related genes in p53 pathway are inactive in hOFs. Furthermore, more than half of hOF-specific genes were similarly expressed to those of hOF-iPSC genes and might be controlled by WNT signaling. Our findings demonstrated that hOFs have unique cellular characteristics in specificity and plasticity. These data may provide useful insight into application of oral fibroblasts for direct reprograming.
Molecular cloning and characterization of the allatotropin precursor and receptor in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria

Allatotropins (ATs) are pleiotropic neuropeptides initially isolated from the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta. In 2008, the first receptor for AT-like peptides (ATR) was characterized in Bombyx mori. Since then, ATRs have also been characterized in M. sexta, Tribolium castaneum, Aedes aegypti and Bombus terrestris. These receptors show sequence similarity to vertebrate orexin (ORX) receptors. When generating an EST-database of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) central nervous system, we found cDNA sequences encoding the Schgr-AT precursor and a fragment of its putative receptor. This receptor cDNA has now been completed and functionally expressed in mammalian cell lines. Activation of this receptor, designated as Schgr-ATR, by Schgr-AT caused an increase in intracellular calcium ions, as well as cyclic AMP (cAMP), with an EC50 value in the nanomolar range. In addition, the transcript distribution of both the Schgr-AT precursor and Schgr-ATR was investigated by means of quantitative real-time PCR. Moreover, we found more evidence for the myotropic and allatostimulatory actions of Schgr-AT in the desert locust. These data are discussed and situated in a broader context by comparison with literature data on AT and ATR in insects.
Validity and Reliability of the Arabic Adapted Version of the DN4 Questionnaire (Douleur Neuropathique 4 Questions) for Differential Diagnosis of Pain Syndromes with a Neuropathic or Somatic Component

Background: Verbal descriptors of pain can provide a basis for distinguishing neuropathic pain (NP) from pain of non‐neuropathic origin. Much research has been undertaken to develop screening tools for this purpose. The DN4 questionnaire (NP in four questions), is one of theses tools, which was developed and validated in French in 2005. The purpose of this work is to provide an Arabic, culturally appropriate, reliable, and valid version of the DN4 interview questionnaire for the diagnosis of NP.
Does the Fractionalization of Daily Physical Activity (Sporadic vs. Bouts) Impact Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Children and Youth?

Objective Children and youth accumulate their daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in bouts (i.e., ≥5 consecutive minutes) and in a sporadic manner (i.e., <5 consecutive minutes). The study objective was to determine, within children and youth, whether MVPA accumulated in bouts is more strongly associated with cardiometabolic risk factors than an equivalent volume of MVPA accumulated sporadically. Methods Participants consisted of 2754 children and youth aged 6–19 years from the 2003–2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a representative cross-sectional study. Bouts and sporadic MVPA were measured objectively over 7 days using Actigraph accelerometers. Thresholds of 5 and 10 consecutive minutes were used to differentiate between bouts and sporadic MVPA. A high cardiometabolic risk factor score (CRS) was created based on measures of waist circumference, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and systolic blood pressure. Associations were examined using logistic regression and controlled for covariates (sex, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, dietary fat and sodium, smoking, and accelerometry wear time). Results The odds of a high CRS decreased in a dose-response for both the sporadic and bout MVPA measures. Relative to quartile 1, the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for a high CRS in quartile 4 was 0.25 (0.10–0.60) for sporadic MVPA, 0.17 (0.09–0.34) for ≥5 minute bouts of MVPA, and 0.19 (0.11–0.34) for ≥10 minute bouts of MVPA. The sporadic and bout MVPA measures had a similar ability to distinguish between participants with high and normal CRS. Relative to 0 minutes of MVPA, an equivalent number of minutes of sporadic MVPA and bouts of MVPA had an almost identical odds ratio for a high CRS. The findings were consistent for 5 and 10 minute bout thresholds. Conclusions The relations between sporadic MVPA and bouts of MVPA with cardiometabolic risk factors were remarkably similar in children and youth.
Fertility Desires and Intentions of HIV-Positive Women of Reproductive Age in Ontario, Canada: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Improvements in life expectancy and quality of life for HIV-positive women coupled with reduced vertical transmission will likely lead numerous HIV-positive women to consider becoming pregnant. In order to clarify the demand, and aid with appropriate health services planning for this population, our study aims to assess the fertility desires and intentions of HIV-positive women of reproductive age living in Ontario, Canada. Methodology/Principal Findings A cross-sectional study with recruitment stratified to match the geographic distribution of HIV-positive women of reproductive age (18–52) living in Ontario was carried out. Women were recruited from 38 sites between October 2007 and April 2009 and invited to complete a 189-item self-administered survey entitled “The HIV Pregnancy Planning Questionnaire” designed to assess fertility desires, intentions and actions. Logistic regression models were fit to calculate unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios of significant predictors of fertility intentions. The median age of the 490 participating HIV-positive women was 38 (IQR, 32–43) and 61%, 52%, 47% and 74% were born outside of Canada, living in Toronto, of African ethnicity and currently on antiretroviral therapy, respectively. Of total respondents, 69% (95% CI, 64%–73%) desired to give birth and 57% (95% CI, 53%–62%) intended to give birth in the future. In the multivariable model, the significant predictors of fertility intentions were: younger age (age<40) (p<0.0001), African ethnicity (p<0.0001), living in Toronto (p = 0.002), and a lower number of lifetime births (p = 0.02). Conclusions/Significance The proportions of HIV-positive women of reproductive age living in Ontario desiring and intending pregnancy were higher than reported in earlier North American studies. Proportions were more similar to those reported from African populations. Healthcare providers and policy makers need to consider increasing services and support for pregnancy planning for HIV-positive women. This may be particularly significant in jurisdictions with high levels of African immigration.
Effect of APOE and CHRNA7 Genotypes on the Cognitive Response to Cholinesterase Inhibitor Treatment at Different Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease

The loss of cholinergic transmission is considered to be an important cause of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Treatment with acetyl cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) shows benefits; however, great heterogeneity has been observed in patient responses. We evaluated apolipoprotein E (APOE) and α7 nicotinic receptor (CHRNA7) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and associated these SNPs with pharmacological responses to ChEIs in a Brazilian population with AD. We studied 177 outpatients using ChEIs, and they were classified as responders and nonresponders according to variation in Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) status. The analysis of APOE genotypes showed that patients with the ∊4 allele had a worse response than those without the ∊4 allele. We observed an association between the CHRNA7 T allele and a better response to treatment with ChEIs in patients with mild AD (MMSE ≥ 20). The SNP rs6494223 of CHRNA7 as well as APOE∊4 could be useful for understanding the response to ChEI treatment in patients with AD.
Loss of Hepatocyte-Nuclear-Factor-4α Affects Colonic Ion Transport and Causes Chronic Inflammation Resembling Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Mice

Background Hnf4α, an epithelial specific transcriptional regulator, is decreased in inflammatory bowel disease and protects against chemically-induced colitis in mice. However, the precise role of this factor in maintaining normal inflammatory homeostasis of the intestine remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sole role of epithelial Hnf4α in the maintenance of gut inflammatory homeostasis in mice. Methodology/Principal Findings We show here that specific epithelial deletion of Hnf4α in mice causes spontaneous chronic intestinal inflammation leading to focal areas of crypt dropout, increased cytokines and chemokines secretion, immune cell infiltrates and crypt hyperplasia. A gene profiling analysis in diseased Hnf4α null colon confirms profound genetic changes in cell death and proliferative behaviour related to cancer. Among the genes involved in the immune protection through epithelial barrier function, we identify the ion transporter claudin-15 to be down-modulated early in the colon of Hnf4α mutants. This coincides with a significant decrease of mucosal ion transport but not of barrier permeability in young animals prior to the manifestation of the disease. We confirm that claudin-15 is a direct Hnf4α gene target in the intestinal epithelial context and is down-modulated in mouse experimental colitis and inflammatory bowel disease. Conclusion Our results highlight the critical role of Hnf4α to maintain intestinal inflammatory homeostasis during mouse adult life and uncover a novel function for Hnf4α in the regulation of claudin-15 expression. This establishes Hnf4α as a mediator of ion epithelial transport, an important process for the maintenance of gut inflammatory homeostasis.