Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urinary tract infection in men.

OBJECTIVE To explore the prevalence and microbiology of urinary tract infection (UTI) in symptomatic men in a primary care setting and to determine the appropriateness of patient management of these conditions by the general practitioners. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was carried out matching documentation of symptoms and management with urine culture and results of susceptibility tests. All patients presenting with symptoms typical for a UTI in 36 teaching general practices in the area of Göttingen, Germany, were eligible for enrolment in the study. 15% (n = 90) of all patients were adult men. General practitioners (GPs) were instructed to manage patients as usual. Patient characteristics, dipstick tests and treatment were matched with results of urine cultures and susceptibility testing. RESULTS Men presenting with symptoms indicative of UTI were predominantly elderly (median age 61 years) and 41% had additional risk factors. Antibiotics were prescribed for 36%, but these were not well-targeted. Urine culture revealed UTI in 60%, of which half had low colony counts (23% of all patients) or multiple bacterial growth (7%); 40% had sterile urine. Dipstick tests proved unhelpful: leukocytes and nitrite had sensitivities of 54% and 38%, specificities of 55% and 84%, positive predictive values of 65% and 78% and negative predictive values of 44% and 46%, respectively. Resistance levels were 53% for amoxicillin and cefaclor, 28% for cefixim, 22% for ciprofloxacin, 34% for both trimethoprim as individual substance and the combination with sulfamethoxazole (cotrimoxazole) and 25% for nitrofurantoin. CONCLUSION Men with symptoms indicative of a UTI should not be treated empirically. A urine culture and antibiogram should be obtained before a treatment decision is made. A low-count UTI was common and should not be considered normal.
Sex differences in white matter integrity in youths with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a pilot study

Widespread disparities in white matter (WM) microstructure and organization have been found in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, little is known about the role sex plays in these differences. The present diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) study performed whole-brain, tract-based, voxel-wise, and region of interest (ROI) analyses to investigate WM microstructure differences between ADHD and healthy control (HC) adolescents to examine the impact of sex on measures of fractional anisotropy (FA). Eighteen adolescents with ADHD and 24 HC were included in this study. All participants received a 64-direction DTI scan on a 3 Tesla Siemens scanner. FSL's TBSS was used to perform whole-brain, tract-based, voxel-wise analyses. Tracts demonstrating significant sex-by-diagnosis interactions were further evaluated using univariate analyses performed on mean FA data that were extracted from ROIs using the Johns Hopkins University WM tractography atlas. TBSS analyses between diagnostic groups revealed significantly increased FA in HC relative to ADHD in the bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), forceps major, left cingulum, and bilateral callosal regions. In addition, both TBSS and separate ROI analyses revealed significant sex-by-diagnosis interactions for the corticospinal tract (CST), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) and SLF. In the HC group, FA was increased in males relative to females for all analyses. In WM regions demonstrating a significant sex-by-diagnosis, FA was increased in females relative to males in the ADHD group. Our findings suggest that WM microstructure in several major WM tracts differs between males and females with ADHD. These differences in WM microstructure may account for some of the differences in ADHD subtypes and comorbidities seen between the sexes. Additional studies in ADHD, examining sex differences in phenotypic expression, treatment response and brain network trajectories are warranted.
Evidence from Functional Neuroimaging of a Compensatory Prefrontal Network in Alzheimer's Disease

Previous experiments have found that individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show increased activity in prefrontal regions compared with healthy age-matched controls during cognitive tasks. This has been interpreted as compensatory reallocation of cognitive resources, but direct evidence for a facilitating effect on performance has been lacking. To address this we measured neural activity during semantic and episodic memory tasks in mildly demented AD patients and healthy elderly controls. Controls recruited a left hemisphere network of regions, including prefrontal and temporal cortices in both the semantic and episodic tasks. Patients engaged a unique network involving bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior cortices. Critically, activity in this network of regions was correlated with better performance on both the semantic and episodic tasks in the patients. This provides the most direct evidence to date that AD patients can use additional neural resources in prefrontal cortex, presumably those mediating executive functions, to compensate for losses attributable to the degenerative process of the disease.
Do silent infarcts modify the effect of thrombolysis for stroke?

Silent brain infarcts (SBI) are a common finding both in stroke‐free patients and in patients after a cerebrovascular incident. They are considered a risk factor for subsequent symptomatic strokes. However, their influence on outcome in stroke patients treated with thrombolysis is not established. Our aim was to identify the prevalence of SBI in acute ischaemic stroke patients undergoing routine intravenous thrombolysis and evaluate the association between their presence on pretreatment computed tomography (CT) and outcome.
DIRECT SHAPE FROM ISOPHOTES

: This article describes a new method of Shape from Shading, Shape from Isophotes. Shape from Isophotes uses the image isophotes for recovering the object surface normals. It is a propagation method. It initially directly recovers a small number of surface normals and then uses them to estimate normals at neighboring points in either adjacent isophotes or within the same isophote. The propagation can start either from occluding contours or singular points. Shape from Isophotes explicitly addresses brightness quantization errors, which can affect the performance of traditional Shape from Shading techniques. Since our method is based on the relationship between isophote curves and changes in surface normals [9,10], it is mainly applicable to smooth diffuse surfaces. The accuracy of the proposed technique was measured using synthetic images of simple objects with Lambertian reflectance, as well as real objects of known geometry. The normal map was recovered with accuracy of well bellow 7º average error. The method requires some interpolation, as it is possible that we may not be able to recover the surface normals at each pixel
The ionic fluxes in frog muscle

Methods are described for determining the absolute sizes of the inward and outward fluxes of radioactive sodium and potassium in frog muscle fibres. Most of the work was concerned with a small muscle from the frog’s foot, the M. extensor longus dig. IV, but the fluxes in sartorius and abdominal muscles were also measured. In normal Ringer’s solution (containing 2·5 mM-K) the mean potassium flux in the toe muscle was estimated as 4·5 pmole/cm2s, the influx being slightly smaller than the efflux. In 5 mM-K the fluxes were nearly doubled. A simplified theoretical treatment of the error in the potassium flux likely to arise from the slowness of diffusion in the extracellular space of the muscle, showed that in this small cylindrical muscle it was only about 10 %. Similar calculations for sartorius muscles suggested that the true flux was about 12 pmole/cm2s in normal Ringer, but this result depended on a rather large correction for the diffusion effect. It proved difficult to make really satisfactory measurements of the sodium fluxes, because, as has been noted by other authors, the time course of the exchange of 24Na in a whole muscle did not conform exactly to that for a simple two-stage process. However, the sodium fluxes in the toe muscle were estimated to be of the order of 10 pmole/cm2s. There were several possible causes for the observed deviations from ideal behaviour, but there was insufficient evidence to decide between them. The self-diffusion coefficient of sodium ions in the extracellular space of the muscle was found to be 3·1 x 10-6cm2/s. Sartorius muscles gave fluxes and diffusion coefficients of the same order. It was shown that the sodium efflux in frog muscle was reduced in potassium-free Ringer, and increased in a potassium-rich medium. This suggests that there may be, as in cephalopod axons, some form of coupling between sodium efflux and potassium influx.
OPTIMAL TRANSPORT AND THE GEOMETRY OF L(R)

A classical theorem due to R. Phelps states that if C is a weakly compact set in a Banach space E , the strongly exposing functionals form a dense subset of the dual space E (cid:2) . In this paper, we look at the concrete situation where C ⊂ L 1 ( R d ) is the closed convex hull of the set of random variables Y ∈ L 1 ( R d ) having a given law ν . Using the theory of optimal transport, we show that every random variable X ∈ L ∞ ( R d ), the law of which is absolutely continuous with respect to the Lebesgue measure, strongly exposes the set C . Of course these random variables are dense in L ∞ ( R d ).
Comparative cardiovascular effects of thiazolidinediones: systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

Objective To determine the comparative effects of the thiazolidinediones (rosiglitazone and pioglitazone) on myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Data sources Searches of Medline and Embase in September 2010. Study selection Observational studies that directly compared the risk of cardiovascular outcomes for rosiglitazone and pioglitazone among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were included. Data extraction Random effects meta-analysis (inverse variance method) was used to calculate the odds ratios for cardiovascular outcomes with thiazolidinedione use. The I2 statistic was used to assess statistical heterogeneity. Results Cardiovascular outcomes from 16 observational studies (4 case-control studies and 12 retrospective cohort studies), including 810 000 thiazolidinedione users, were evaluated after a detailed review of 189 citations. Compared with pioglitazone, use of rosiglitazone was associated with a statistically significant increase in the odds of myocardial infarction (n=15 studies; odds ratio 1.16, 95% confidence interval 1.07 to 1.24; P<0.001; I2=46%), congestive heart failure (n=8; 1.22, 1.14 to 1.31; P<0.001; I2=37%), and death (n=8; 1.14, 1.09 to 1.20; P<0.001; I2=0%). Numbers needed to treat to harm (NNH), depending on the population at risk, suggest 170 excess myocardial infarctions, 649 excess cases of heart failure, and 431 excess deaths for every 100 000 patients who receive rosiglitazone rather than pioglitazone. Conclusion Among patients with type 2 diabetes, use of rosiglitazone is associated with significantly higher odds of congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, and death relative to pioglitazone in real world settings.
Signal transduction pathways in mouse microglia N‐11 cells activated by advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs)

Deposition of cross‐linked insoluble protein aggregates such as amyloid plaques is characteristic for Alzheimer's disease. Microglial activation by these extracullar deposits has been proposed to play a crucial role in functional degeneration as well as cell death of neurones. A sugar‐derived post‐translational modification of long‐lived proteins, advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), activate specific signal transduction pathways, resulting in the up‐regulation of various pro‐inflammatory signals such as cytokines [interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), tumour necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α)] and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Our goal was to study AGE‐activated signal transduction pathways involved in the induction of pro‐inflammatory effectors in the murine microglial cell line N‐11. Chicken egg albumin‐AGE (CEA‐AGE), used as model AGE, induces nitric oxide (NO), TNF‐α and IL‐6 production. The AGE receptor, RAGE, and the transcription factor, nuclear factor kappa B (NF‐κB), appear to be involved in all pathways, since a neutralizing RAGE antibody and a peptide inhibiting NF‐κB translocation down‐regulated NO, TNF‐α and IL‐6 production. NO and TNF‐α, but not IL‐6 production appear to be regulated independently, since NOS inhibitors did not decrease TNF‐α secretion and a neutralizing TNF‐α antibody did not reduce NO production, while employment of NOS inhibitors reduced significantly the secretion of IL‐6. Inhibition of the MAP‐kinase‐kinase (MEK) and phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K) pathway, but not that of mitogen‐activated protein kinase‐p38 (MAPK‐p38), reduced NO, TNF‐α and IL‐6 significantly, suggesting that simultaneous activation of the first two pathways is necessary for the AGE‐induced induction of these pro‐inflammatory stimuli.
What Do We Assess when We Assess a Big 5 Trait? A Content Analysis of the Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive Processes Represented in Big 5 Personality Inventories

What are personality traits? Are all “broad” traits equally broad in the constructs they encompass and in the pervasiveness of their effects? Or are some traits more or less affective, behavioral, or cognitive in nature? The present study examined these issues as they applied to the Big 5 traits of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Expert and novice raters judged the extent to which items from four popular Big 5 inventories contain behavioral, cognitive, or affective components. Traits and inventories were then compared in terms of their relative assessment of these components. Results indicate convergence among inventories but remarkable differences between traits. These findings have implications for the conceptualization and assessment of traits and suggest directions for future research.
Bilateral Symmetry of Distortions of Tactile Size Perception

The perceived distance between touches on the limbs is generally bigger for distances oriented across the width of the limb than for distances oriented along the length of the limb. The present study aimed to investigate the coherence of such distortions of tactile size perception across different skin surfaces. We investigated distortions of tactile size perception on the dorsal and palmar surfaces of both the left and right hands as well as the forehead. Participants judged which of two tactile distances felt larger. One distance was aligned with the proximodistal axis (along the body), the other with the mediolateral axis (across the body). Clear distortions were found on all five skin surfaces, with stimuli oriented across the width of the body being perceived as farther apart than those oriented along the length of the body. Consistent with previous results, distortions were smaller on the palmar than on the dorsal hand surface. Distortion on the forehead was intermediate between the dorsal and palmar surfaces. There were clear correlations between distortion on the left and right hands, for both the dorsal and palmar skin surfaces. In contrast, within each hand, there was no significant correlation between the two skin surfaces. Distortion on the forehead was not significantly correlated with that on any of the other skin surfaces. These results provide evidence for bilaterally symmetric representations underlying tactile size perception.
Single-channel kinetics of BK (Slo1) channels

Single-channel kinetics has proven a powerful tool to reveal information about the gating mechanisms that control the opening and closing of ion channels. This introductory review focuses on the gating of large conductance Ca2+- and voltage-activated K+ (BK or Slo1) channels at the single-channel level. It starts with single-channel current records and progresses to presentation and analysis of single-channel data and the development of gating mechanisms in terms of discrete state Markov (DSM) models. The DSM models are formulated in terms of the tetrameric modular structure of BK channels, consisting of a central transmembrane pore-gate domain (PGD) attached to four surrounding transmembrane voltage sensing domains (VSD) and a large intracellular cytosolic domain (CTD), also referred to as the gating ring. The modular structure and data analysis shows that the Ca2+ and voltage dependent gating considered separately can each be approximated by 10-state two-tiered models with five closed states on the upper tier and five open states on the lower tier. The modular structure and joint Ca2+ and voltage dependent gating are consistent with a 50 state two-tiered model with 25 closed states on the upper tier and 25 open states on the lower tier. Adding an additional tier of brief closed (flicker states) to the 10-state or 50-state models improved the description of the gating. For fixed experimental conditions a channel would gate in only a subset of the potential number of states. The detected number of states and the correlations between adjacent interval durations are consistent with the tiered models. The examined models can account for the single-channel kinetics and the bursting behavior of gating. Ca2+ and voltage activate BK channels by predominantly increasing the effective opening rate of the channel with a smaller decrease in the effective closing rate. Ca2+ and depolarization thus activate by mainly destabilizing the closed states.
Glyceryl‐ether monooxygenase [EC 1.14.16.5]. A microsomal enzyme of ether lipid metabolism

The history, biological, and medical aspects of glyceryl ethers, as well as their chemical syntheses, biosynthesis, and their chemical and physical properties are briefly reviewed as background information for appreciating the importance of the enzyme glyceryl‐ether monooxygenase, and for embarking on new studies of this enzyme. The occurrence, isolation and general properties of the microsomal, membrane‐bound, glyceryl‐ether monooxygenase from rat liver are described. Radiometric, nonradiometric, and coupled and direct spectrophotometric assays for this enzyme are detailed. The effects of detergents on the kinetics of this enzyme are described together with the stoichiometry and the effects of inhibitors. The structure‐activity relationships of pterin cofactors and of ether lipid substrates, including their stereospecificities, have been summarized from enzyme kinetic data which are also tabulated. The mechanism of enzymic hydroxylation of glyceryl ethers and a model for the active site of glyceryl‐ether monooxygenase are proposed from these apparent kinetic data. Notes on useful future studies of this monooxygenase have been made. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Med Res Rev, 18, No. 1, 43‐89, 1998.
Gibberellin Biosynthesis and Response during Arabidopsis Seed Germination Online version contains Web-only data. Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.011650.

The hormone-mediated control of plant growth and development involves both synthesis and response. Previous studies have shown that gibberellin (GA) plays an essential role in Arabidopsis seed germination. To learn how GA stimulates seed germination, we performed comprehensive analyses of GA biosynthesis and response using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and oligonucleotide-based DNA microarray analysis. In addition, spatial correlations between GA biosynthesis and response were assessed by in situ hybridization. We identified a number of transcripts, the abundance of which is modulated upon exposure to exogenous GA. A subset of these GA-regulated genes was expressed in accordance with an increase in endogenous active GA levels, which occurs just before radicle emergence. The GA-responsive genes identified include those responsible for synthesis, transport, and signaling of other hormones, suggesting the presence of uncharacterized crosstalk between GA and other hormones. In situ hybridization analysis demonstrated that the expression of GA-responsive genes is not restricted to the predicted site of GA biosynthesis, suggesting that GA itself, or GA signals, is transmitted across different cell types during Arabidopsis seed germination.
PARP-1 Inhibition Prevents Oxidative and Nitrosative Stress–Induced Endothelial Cell Death via Transactivation of the VEGF Receptor 2

Objective—PARP-1, a DNA base repair enzyme, is activated by DNA breaks induced by oxidative (ROS) and nitrosative (RNS) stress. By consuming NAD+, PARP-1 activation can lead to ATP depletion and cell death. Studies suggest that inhibiting PARP-1 activity can attenuate pathologies associated with vascular smooth muscle and endothelial dysfunction. PARP-1 inhibition can also activate the prosurvival serine/threonine kinase, Akt. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) regulates endothelial cell survival via Akt activation downstream of VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2) activation. Here we investigated the hypothesis that PARP-1 inhibition protects human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) from ROS- and RNS-induced cell death by limiting NAD+ depletion and by activating a prosurvival signaling pathway via VEGFR2 phosphorylation. Methods and Results—We activated PARP-1 in HUVECs by treatment with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and peroxynitrite (ONOO−). Both depleted HUVECs of NAD+ and ATP, processes that were limited by the PARP-1 inhibitor, PJ34. ONOO− and H2O2-induced cell death and apoptosis were attenuated in cells treated with PJ34 or PARP-1 siRNA. PARP-1 inhibition increased Akt, BAD, and VEGFR2 phosphorylation in HUVECs and in PJ34-treated rabbit aortas. The VEGFR2-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor SU1498 decreased PARP-1 inhibition-mediated phosphorylation of VEGFR2 and Akt, and also reversed survival effects of PJ34. Finally, PARP-1 inhibition protected cells from death induced by serum starvation, evidence for a role in cell survival independent of energy protection. Conclusions—PARP-1 inhibition prevents ROS- and RNS-induced HUVEC death by maintaining cellular energy in the form of NAD+ and ATP, and also by activating a survival pathway via VEGFR2, Akt, and BAD phosphorylation.
Esprit-based scattering power decomposition by using modified volume scattering model

The scattering power decomposition for POLSAR data is one of the powerful tools in the radar polarimetry. There are several model-based decomposition techniques. However, since the number of independent observables in POLSAR images is limited, these techniques require several assumptions to obtain unique solution. The authors have proposed an alternative technique with POL-InSAR dataset. By using the POL-InSAR dataset, we can increase the number of observables. However, selection of volume scattering component was still a problem. Recently, Dr. Arii et. al., proposed a generalized volume scattering model, and applied it to the POLSAR dataset with the adaptive non-negative eigenvalue decomposition technique. In this report, we appy the model to the ESPRIT-based POL-InSAR decomposition technique and verify the estimation performance experimentally.