Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative efficacy of treatments for pediculosis capitis infestations: update 2000.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the pediculicidal and ovicidal activity of 5 head lice products. DESIGN In vitro pediculicidal and ovicidal product comparison. SETTING Tropical field station in Panama. PARTICIPANTS Head lice and eggs were harvested from healthy children infested with Pediculus capitis. INTERVENTION Within 2 hours of capture, lice were placed in continuous, direct contact with the pediculicide products and observed at regular intervals. Fresh, viable eggs were immersed in the pediculicides for 10 minutes, rinsed, air-dried, and incubated for 2 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Percentage of lice dead at regular observation intervals between 5 minutes and 3 hours of continuous exposure to the pediculicide and percentage of eggs not hatched after 2 weeks. RESULTS All lice treated with Ovide lotion (0.5% malathion) were dead within 10 minutes and none of the eggs hatched. There was no significant change in the effectiveness of 0.5% malathion lotion or A-200 shampoo compared with the results of an earlier study (1986). There were significant declines in the pediculicidal activity of RID and the ovicidal activity of lindane. Nix (1% permethrin), which was not on the market at the time of the original study, killed lice in less than 30 minutes, and ovicidal activity ranged from 73% to 90% (diluted and undiluted, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Ovide lotion (0.5% malathion) was the fastest-killing pediculicide and the most effective ovicide. One percent lindane shampoo was the slowest-acting pediculicide and least effective ovicide. Nix was highly effective in both undiluted and diluted forms.
A morphologically realistic shell model of atrial propagation and ablation

A three dimensional morphologically realistic model of atrial propagation is developed, based on the male Visible Human dataset and the Fitzhugh-Nagumo equations for cardiac excitation. The atrial shell geometry incorporates eleven different anatomical structures, including the pulmonary veins, and the septum, Bachmann’s bundle and coronary sinus as interatrial conduction pathways. Although the model utilizes a simplified cellular model of cardiac excitation it is able to reproduce a variety of electrophysiological phenomena including: autorhythmicity of the sinoatrial node and its ability to excite surrounding atrial tissue, spiral re-entrant wavefronts, ectopic beats originating in the PV and their termination by circumferential ablation of the PV. The model is an important tool to quantitatively study atrial excitation under normal conditions and during atrial fibrillation.
The Prognostic Role of Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Autoantibody in Non-Gravid Hypertension and Pre-eclampsia

AbstractAngiotensin II type 1 receptor autoantibody (AT1-AA) is found in patients with non-gravid hypertension or pre-eclampsia, but the relationship is uncertain.The aim of the present study was to assess the association between AT1-AA and high blood pressure using meta-analysis, and to evaluate the prognosis value of AT1-AA for hypertensive diseases.Literature search from PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases were conducted using keywords “hypertension” or “pre-eclampsia,” “angiotensin II receptor type 1 autoantibody,” and its aliases from April 1999 to December 2015.Studies evaluating the association between AT1-AA and non-gravid hypertension or pre-eclampsia were included in this analysis. The quality of the eligible studies was assessed based on the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale with some modifications.Two researchers then independently reviewed all included studies and extracted all relevant data. Association between AT1-AA and hypertension was tested with pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Finally, we evaluated whether AT1-AA predicted the prognosis of hypertension by using a summary receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve and sensitivity analysis.Ten studies were finally included in this meta-analysis. AT1-AA showed more significant association with pre-eclampsia than that with non-gravid hypertension (pooled OR 32.84, 95% CI 17.19–62.74; and pooled OR 4.18, 95% CI 2.20–7.98, respectively). Heterogeneity among studies was also detected probably due to different hypertensive subtypes and AT1-AA measuring methods. Area under summary ROC curve (AUC) of pre-eclampsia was 0.92 (sensitivity 0.76; specificity 0.86). Area under the ROC curve of overall hypertensive diseases or non-gravid hypertension was lower than that of pre-eclampsia (0.86 and 0.72, respectively) with lower sensitivities (0.46 and 0.26, respectively). The major limitation of this analysis was the publication bias due to lack of unpublished data and the language limitation during literature search. Prospective study with large simple size and specific measuring data collection are needed to enhance our findings in the future.Our analysis confirms that elevated AT1-AA in serum is significantly associated with hypertensive disorder, especially pre-eclampsia. AT1-AA may be a valuable indicator for poorer prognosis of patients with pre-eclampsia, and could be used in patients with hypertensive disease for risk evaluation and making individual treatment decision.
The incidence of secondary leukemias.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE The term secondary leukemia is usually employed to indicate both forms of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) evolving from previous myelodysplasia and forms of acute leukemia developing after exposure to environmental or therapeutic toxins or radiation (therapy related). Secondary leukemias account for 10-30% of all AML. The majority of secondary leukemias resulting from the use of cytotoxic drugs can be divided into two well defined groups depending on whether the patient has received 1) alkylating agents or 2) drugs binding to the enzyme DNA-topoisomerase II. Alkylating agents related leukemias are very similar to post MDS leukemias being characterized frequently by a preleukemic phase, tri-lineage dysplasia, frequent cytogenetic abnormalities involving chromosomes 5 and 7 and a poor prognosis. Secondary leukemias related to therapy with topoisomerase II inhibitors are not preceded by a preleukemic phase and show frequently balanced translocations involving chromosome 11q23. Among therapy-related leukemias, AML is generally a second neoplasm, thus a predisposition to malignancy, independently from previous chemotherapy, cannot be excluded. This review article examines the incidence of all secondary AMLs and the risk of therapy-related leukemia in relation to the different primary malignancies and treatments. INFORMATION SOURCES The authors have been working in this field, both experimentally and at clinical level, contributing original papers for many years. In addition, the material examined in this review includes articles published in journals covered by MedLine, reviews in journals with high impact factor and recent reports presented at the Secondary Leukemia. An Update Symposium held in Rome in November 1998. STATE OF THE ART AND PERSPECTIVES The incidence of secondary leukemias is increasing because of aging of the population (MDS is more frequent in elderly people) and widespread and successful use of chemoradiotherapy in cancer patients. In the GIMEMA archive of adult acute leukemia (2,964 AML pts from June 1992 to June 1996) an antecedent hematologic disorder (AHD) and/or MDS was found in 8% of all patients (10% of 2,118 patients aged more than 45 years and in 4% of 848 patients aged less than 45). In this series of patients, 6% of all myeloid leukemias were therapy-related leukemia. Therapy-related leukemias are a major problem in patients treated for Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, myeloma, polycythemia, breast cancer, ovarian carcinoma, or testicular carcinoma. In the GIMEMA archive more than 50% of patients with secondary AML have breast cancer, NHL, and HD. Alkylating agents, nitrosureas and procarbazine appear to have the highest leukemogenic potential. Furthermore aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy followed or not by hematopoietic stem cell infusion will produce a more and more prolonged survival but also a greater incidence of secondary AML. Assessment of the risk of secondary leukemia should become part of any therapeutic plan for cancer patients. Avoidance of drugs with more leukemogenic potential will produce a marked reduction of secondary AML.
Interacting Socially with the Internet of Things (IoT): Effects of Source Attribution and Specialization in Human-IoT Interaction

This study investigates the theoretical mechanisms by which the variations in source attribution multiple sources vs. single source and specialization multifunctionality vs. single functionality of Internet of Things IoT devices influence the quality of human-IoT interaction. Results from a between-subjects experiment N = 100 indicate that IoT devices that elicit the sense of multiple agencies and are specialized in a single function induce greater social presence and perceived expertise, which, in turn, lead individuals to show a more positive attitude toward the devices and to ascribe greater quality to the information transmitted by them. The results also reveal that the effect of multiple source attribution is more pronounced for individuals for whom the content of the information has low personal relevance.
Trigger loop dynamics mediate the balance between the transcriptional fidelity and speed of RNA polymerase II

During transcription, RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) must select the correct nucleotide, catalyze its addition to the growing RNA transcript, and move stepwise along the DNA until a gene is fully transcribed. In all kingdoms of life, transcription must be finely tuned to ensure an appropriate balance between fidelity and speed. Here, we used an optical-trapping assay with high spatiotemporal resolution to probe directly the motion of individual RNAPII molecules as they pass through each of the enzymatic steps of transcript elongation. We report direct evidence that the RNAPII trigger loop, an evolutionarily conserved protein subdomain, serves as a master regulator of transcription, affecting each of the three main phases of elongation, namely: substrate selection, translocation, and catalysis. Global fits to the force-velocity relationships of RNAPII and its trigger loop mutants support a Brownian ratchet model for elongation, where the incoming NTP is able to bind in either the pre- or posttranslocated state, and movement between these two states is governed by the trigger loop. Comparison of the kinetics of pausing by WT and mutant RNAPII under conditions that promote base misincorporation indicate that the trigger loop governs fidelity in substrate selection and mismatch recognition, and thereby controls aspects of both transcriptional accuracy and rate.
Declarative Aspect Composition

Aspect-oriented languages provide means to attach certain program units (e.g. advice, filters) to a given set of join points. It is possible that not just a single , but several units need to execute at the same join point. Aspects that specify the insertion of these units are said to "share" the same join point. Such shared join points may give rise to several issues, such as determining the exact execution order and the dependencies among the aspects. In this position paper, we outline a declarative approach that addresses this problem. We evaluate it with respect to several software engineering properties, in particular comprehensibility, predictability and evolvability.
Studies of Externally Funded Research and Development Projects in Higher Education: Knowledge Sources and Transfers

This study is addressing the question: how can sources of knowledge be understood and realized in externally funded research and development (RD 2) knowledge transformation, such as knowledge from legacy service-systems or cultures; 3) inquired knowledge from domain or field, such as traditional acquisition related knowledge; 4) focused knowledge or led knowledge, such as regional RD 5) knowledge co-creation and knowledge building, such as improving knowledge collectively upon experience, quality or action data; and 6) artifact and service related embedded-implicit knowledge, such as knowledge inside a service-system which can only be observed. The research findings of this study are in line with the literature and previous studies that argue that knowledge itself is an increasingly important source to competitive advantage, and a key to the success of modern organizations and creative higher education, strengthening the collective expertise, industry-service clusters, employees and competitiveness in global economy.
Differential Effects of Neurotrophic Factors on Motoneuron Retrograde Labeling in a Murine Model of Motoneuron Disease

It has been shown that abnormalities in axonal transport occur in several mouse models with motoneuron degeneration and also in the human disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In this report, we have examined the potential of neurotrophic factors to act on axonal transport properties in a mouse mutant, progressive motor neuronopathy (pmn). This mouse mutant has been characterized as a “dying-back” motoneuronopathy, with a loss of motoneuron cell bodies and motor fibers. Retrograde transport to the spinal cord motoneurons was determined using fluorescent tracers either injected into the gastrocnemius muscle or applied directly onto the cut sciatic nerve. Because the rate of retrograde labeling was significantly reduced in the pmn, we examined the potential of neurotrophic factors to compensate for the impairment. Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) but not glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) or nerve growth factor (NGF) were capable of significantly improving the rate of labeling. The differential effects of these factors agree with previous studies showing that molecules that promote cell survival do not necessarily compensate for axonal deficiency. Because impairment of axonal properties appears as an early event in motoneuron pathology, our results may have important clinical implications in the treatment of motoneuron diseases.
Surface‐histogram: A new shape descriptor for protein‐protein docking

Determining the structure of protein–protein complexes remains a difficult and lengthy process, either by NMR or by X‐ray crystallography. Several computational methods based on docking have been developed to support and even serve as possible alternatives to these experimental methods. In this article, we introduce a new protein–protein docking algorithm, shDock, based on shape complementarity. We characterize the local geometry on each protein surface with a new shape descriptor, the surface‐histogram. We measure the complementarity between two surface‐histograms, one on each protein, using a modified Manhattan distance. When a match is found between two local protein surfaces, a model is generated for the protein complex, which is then scored by checking for collision between the two proteins. We have tested our algorithm on Version 3 of the ZDOCK protein–protein docking benchmark. We found that for 110 out of the 124 test cases of bound docking in the benchmark, our algorithm was able to generate a model in the top 3600 candidates for the protein complex within an root‐mean‐square deviation of 2.5 Å from its native structure. For unbound docking predictions, we found a model within 2.5 Å in the top 3600 models in 54 out of 124 test cases. A comparison with other shape‐based docking algorithms demonstrates that our approach gives significantly improved performance for both bound and unbound docking test cases. Proteins 2012; © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Effects of Milling and Other Repairs on the Smoothness of Overlays on Asphalt Pavements from 2000 to 2009

Author(s): Hung, Shawn S. ; Rezaei, Arash; Harvey, John T. | Abstract: The application of asphalt overlays comprises a significant percentage of the maintenance activities undertaken to improve the condition of existing asphalt pavements, and greater attention is now being paid to improving surface smoothness by constructing smoother overlays. The expected benefits of smoother overlays include longer service life due to decreased dynamic loading, improved fuel economy, and greater road-user comfort. In this study, data from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Pavement Condition Survey (PCS) for projects built between 2000 and 2009 were used to investigate the effects of repairs, pavement pre-overlay smoothness (in terms of International Roughness Index, IRI), overlay mix type (dense-graded, gap-graded, open-graded), and binder type (rubberized versus conventional or polymer-modified) on initial post-construction overlay smoothness. The results are based on overlays constructed prior to implementation of the Caltrans smoothness specification for overlay construction. Linear mixed effects models were used in the analysis to take into account the variation across random effect variables. In this study, overlay smoothness was measured in terms of IRI. The analysis results indicated that the pavement pre-overlay IRI was the most important variable affecting overlay smoothness: pavements with lower pre-overlay IRI were smoother than those with higher pre-overlay IRI. When the pre-overlay condition was poor, increasing overlay thickness was also found to have a significant effect on post-overlay smoothness. In terms of pre-overlay repairs, analysis of Caltrans PCS data showed that overlays were smoother when digouts (milling and patching in the wheelpaths) were performed compared with milling of the entire surface prior to the overlay. The effects of overlay mix type and binder type were dependent on the pre-existing pavement condition and/or other factors.
Global analyses revealed age-related alterations in innate immune responses after stimulation of pathogen recognition receptors

Aging leads to dysregulation of multiple components of the immune system that results in increased susceptibility to infections and poor response to vaccines in the aging population. The dysfunctions of adaptive B and T cells are well documented, but the effect of aging on innate immunity remains incompletely understood. Using a heterogeneous population of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), we first undertook transcriptional profiling and found that PBMCs isolated from old individuals (≥ 65 years) exhibited a delayed and altered response to stimulation with TLR4, TLR7/8, and RIG‐I agonists compared to cells obtained from adults (≤ 40 years). This delayed response to innate immune agonists resulted in the reduced production of pro‐inflammatory and antiviral cytokines and chemokines including TNFα, IL‐6, IL‐1β, IFNα, IFNγ, CCL2, and CCL7. While the major monocyte and dendritic cell subsets did not change numerically with aging, activation of specific cell types was altered. PBMCs from old subjects also had a lower frequency of CD40+ monocytes, impaired up‐regulation of PD‐L1 on monocytes and T cells, and increased expression of PD‐L2 and B7‐H4 on B cells. The defective immune response to innate agonists adversely affected adaptive immunity as TLR‐stimulated PBMCs (minus CD3 T cells) from old subjects elicited significantly lower levels of adult T‐cell proliferation than those from adult subjects in an allogeneic mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR). Collectively, these age‐associated changes in cytokine, chemokine and interferon production, as well as co‐stimulatory protein expression could contribute to the blunted memory B‐ and T‐cell immune responses to vaccines and infections.
Conserved GTPase LepA (Elongation Factor 4) functions in biogenesis of the 30S subunit of the 70S ribosome

Significance The translational GTPase LepA is a highly conserved bacterial protein whose role in the cell has been elusive. Here, we show that the function of LepA lies in biogenesis of the 30S subunit of the ribosome, rather than in translation elongation, as previously supposed. Loss of LepA results in the accumulation of immature 30S particles lacking certain proteins of the 3′ (head) domain and containing precursor 17S rRNA. The GTPase activity of LepA, like that of other translational GTPases, is stimulated by interactions with both subunits of the ribosome. This implies that LepA acts at a late stage of assembly, in the context of the 70S ribosome. The physiological role of LepA, a paralog of EF-G found in all bacteria, has been a mystery for decades. Here, we show that LepA functions in ribosome biogenesis. In cells lacking LepA, immature 30S particles accumulate. Four proteins are specifically underrepresented in these particles—S3, S10, S14, and S21—all of which bind late in the assembly process and contribute to the folding of the 3′ domain of 16S rRNA. Processing of 16S rRNA is also delayed in the mutant strain, as indicated by increased levels of precursor 17S rRNA in assembly intermediates. Mutation ΔlepA confers a synthetic growth phenotype in absence of RsgA, another GTPase, well known to act in 30S subunit assembly. Analysis of the ΔrsgA strain reveals accumulation of intermediates that resemble those seen in the absence of LepA. These data suggest that RsgA and LepA play partially redundant roles to ensure efficient 30S assembly.
Delayed Paraplegia After Spinal Cord Ischemic Injury Requires Caspase-3 Activation in Mice

Background and Purpose— Delayed paraplegia remains a devastating complication after ischemic spinal cord injury associated with aortic surgery and trauma. Although apoptosis has been implicated in the pathogenesis of delayed neurodegeneration, mechanisms responsible for the delayed paraplegia remain incompletely understood. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of apoptosis in delayed motor neuron degeneration after spinal cord ischemia. Methods— Mice were subjected to spinal cord ischemia induced by occlusion of the aortic arch and left subclavian artery for 5 or 9 minutes. Motor function in the hind limb was evaluated up to 72 hours after spinal cord ischemia. Histological studies were performed to detect caspase-3 activation, glial activation, and motor neuron survival in the serial spinal cord sections. To investigate the impact of caspase-3 activation on spinal cord ischemia, outcome of the spinal cord ischemia was examined in mice deficient for caspase-3. Results— In wild-type mice, 9 minutes of spinal cord ischemia caused immediate paraplegia, whereas 5 minutes of ischemia caused delayed paraplegia. Delayed paraplegia after 5 minutes of spinal cord ischemia was associated with histological evidence of caspase-3 activation, reactive astrogliosis, microglial activation, and motor neuron loss starting at approximately 24 to 48 hours after spinal cord ischemia. Caspase-3 deficiency prevented delayed paraplegia and motor neuron loss after 5 minutes of spinal cord ischemia, but not immediate paraplegia after 9 minutes of ischemia. Conclusions— The present results suggest that caspase-3 activation is required for delayed paraplegia and motor neuron degeneration after spinal cord ischemia.
Multi-channel BiLSTM-CRF Model for Emerging Named Entity Recognition in Social Media

In this paper, we present our multi-channel neural architecture for recognizing emerging named entity in social media messages, which we applied in the Novel and Emerging Named Entity Recognition shared task at the EMNLP 2017 Workshop on Noisy User-generated Text (W-NUT). We propose a novel approach, which incorporates comprehensive word representations with multi-channel information and Conditional Random Fields (CRF) into a traditional Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) neural network without using any additional hand-craft features such as gazetteers. In comparison with other systems participating in the shared task, our system won the 2nd place.