Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy in periodontics: A new paradigm

The quest for exploring new frontiers in the field of medical science for efficient and improved treatment modalities has always been on a rise. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has been enormously used in medical practice, principally, for the management of urolithiasis, cholelithiasis and also in various orthopedic and musculoskeletal disorders. The efficacy of ESWT in the stimulation of osteoblasts, fibroblasts, induction of neovascularization and increased expression of bone morphogenic proteins has been well documented in the literature. However, dentistry is no exception to this trend. The present article enlightens the various applications of ESWT in the field of dentistry and explores its prospective applications in the field of periodontics, and the possibility of incorporating the beneficial properties of shock waves in improving the treatment outcome.
Success at 100 is easier said than done – comments on Araújo et al: successful aging at 100 years

Few would argue that achieving the age of 100 years is extraordinary, but what about the quality of life at this extreme age? Is it worth it to live to 100 and beyond? The study by Araújo, Ribero, Teixeira, and Paúl (2015) in three ways provided an answer to this question substantiating and complementing recent findings about successful aging in extreme old age (Poon and Perls, 2007; Martin et al., 2015). First, the study joined other investigators in asking whether the criteria for successful aging posed by Rowe and Kahn (1997) are applicable for older adults at the end stage of a very long life. Second, the study shed light on whether objective or subjective criteria are more appropriate to gauge levels of successful aging for the oldest old (e.g. Pruchno et al., 2010; Cho et al., 2012). Finally, the study provided additional data on psychological, social, and economic resources that enhance the needed ingredients of successful aging at the century mark.
Repetitive Short-Term Stimuli Imposed in Poor Mixing Zones Induce Long-Term Adaptation of E. coli Cultures in Large-Scale Bioreactors: Experimental Evidence and Mathematical Model

Rapidly changing concentrations of substrates frequently occur during large-scale microbial cultivations. These changing conditions, caused by large mixing times, result in a heterogeneous population distribution. Here, we present a powerful and efficient modeling approach to predict the influence of varying substrate levels on the transcriptional and translational response of the cell. This approach consists of two parts, a single-cell model to describe transcription and translation for an exemplary operon (trp operon) and a second part to characterize cell distribution during the experimental setup. Combination of both models enables prediction of transcriptional patterns for the whole population. In summary, the resulting model is not only able to anticipate the experimentally observed short-term and long-term transcriptional response, it further allows envision of altered protein levels. Our model shows that locally induced stress responses propagate throughout the bioreactor, resulting in temporal, and spatial population heterogeneity. Stress induced transcriptional response leads to a new population steady-state shortly after imposing fluctuating substrate conditions. In contrast, the protein levels take more than 10 h to achieve steady-state conditions.
Manganese neurotoxicity and GABA/glutamate interactions

Brain extracellular concentrations of amino acids (e.g. aspartate, glutamate, taurine) and divalent metals (e.g. zinc, copper, manganese) are primarily regulated by astrocytes. Adequate glutamate homeostasis is essential for the normal functioning of the central nervous system (CNS). Glutamate is of central importance for nitrogen metabolism and, along with aspartate, is the primary mediator of the excitatory pathways in the brain. Similarly, the maintenance of proper manganese levels is important for normal brain functioning. Several in vivo and in vitro studies have linked increased manganese concentrations with alterations in the content and metabolism of neurotransmitters, namely dopamine, y-aminobutyric acid, and glutamate. It has been reported by our laboratory and others, that cultured rat primary astrocytes exposed to manganese displayed decreased glutamate uptake, thereby increasing the excitotoxic potential of glutamate. Furthermore, decreased uptake of glutamate has been associated with decreased gene expression of glutamate: aspartate transporter (GLAST) in manganese-exposed astroctyes. Additional studies have suggested that attenuation of astrocytic glutamate uptake by manganese may be a consequence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Collectively, these data suggest that excitotoxicity may occur due to manganese-induced altered glutamate metabolism, representing a proximate mechanism for manganese-induced neurotoxicity.
Trimester- and Assay-Specific Thyroid Reference Intervals for Pregnant Women in China

Objective. The guidelines of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) recommend an upper limit reference interval (RI) of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) of 2.5 mIU/L in the first trimester of pregnancy and 3.0 mIU/L in subsequent trimesters, but some reported ranges in China are significantly higher. Our study aimed to establish trimester- and assay-specific RIs for thyroid hormones in normal pregnant Chinese women. Methods. In this cross-sectional study, 2540 women with normal pregnancies (first trimester, n = 398; second trimester, n = 797; third trimester, n = 1345) and 237 healthy nonpregnant control subjects were recruited. Serum TSH, free thyroxin (FT4), thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb), and thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) levels were determined by automated chemiluminescence with an Immulite 2000 system (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany). After outliers were excluded, the 2.5–97.5th percentiles were used to define the RIs. Results. The RIs of thyroid function in the first, second, and third trimesters of pregnancy and in nonpregnant controls were 0.07–3.96, 0.27–4.53, 0.48–5.40, and 0.69–5.78 mIU/L for TSH and 9.16–18.12, 8.67–16.21, 7.80–13.90, and 8.24–16.61 pmol/L for FT4, respectively. Conclusion. The trimester- and assay-specific RIs of thyroid function during pregnancy differed between trimesters, which suggests that it is advisable to detect and avoid misclassification of thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy for women in Henan, China.
Lipase Activity in the Larval Midgut of Rhynchophorus palmarum: Biochemical Characterization and the Effects of Reducing Agents

Lipases have key roles in insect lipid acquisition, storage, and mobilization and are also fundamental to many physiological processes in insects. Lipids are an important component of insect diets, where they are hydrolyzed in the midgut lumen, absorbed, and used for the synthesis of complex lipids. The South American palm weevil Rhynchophorus palmarum is one of the most important pests on commercial palm plantations. However, there are few studies about lipid digestion for this insect. In this work, we have described the biochemical characterization of the lipase activity in the posterior midgut of the R. palmarum palm weevil. Lipase activity was highest between the temperatures of 37 °C and 45 °C and at pH 6.5. Lipase activity was also sensitive to variations in salt and calcium concentrations. Lipases have been described structurally as enzymes with the Ser-His-Asp Catalytic Triad, containing an active serine. The serine protease inhibitor PMSF (phenylmethane sulfonyl fluoride) inhibited the lipases from R. palmarum, demonstrating the importance of a serine residue for this activity. The ability of the lipases to hydrolyze p-Nitrophenyl esters with different chain lengths has revealed the activities of a broad range of substrates. The lipase activities of R. palmarum increased in the presence of reduced glutathione (GSH) and dithiothreitol (DTT), while in the presence of oxidized glutathione (GSSG), activities were drastically reduced. To our knowledge, this study has provided the first information about lipase activity in the R. palmarum palm weevil.
Reliability characterization of Phase Change Memory

Phase Change Memory (PCM) has emerged as an attractive candidate for next-generation non-volatile memory devices. For these applications, reliability is determined by the ability to retain the state of data in the device and support a specified number of re-writes without failure. In PCM technologies, retention is limited by the meta-stable amorphous state of the cell. For cycling endurance (re-writes), failure occurs due to either void formation in the active material or contamination of the heating element of the cell. With optimized process integration and cell programming, large array devices based on a 90nm PCM technology are able to support data retention to 10 years at 85 °C and greater than 106 write cycles.
Prognostic role of p‐mTOR expression in cancer tissues and metastatic lymph nodes in pT2b gastric cancer

Despite the great interest in mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) as a potential anticancer therapy target, the prognostic role of mTOR in gastric cancer has not been elucidated. In this study, we investigated mTOR expression in gastric cancer tissues and in metastatic lymph nodes and examined its association with clinical outcome. A total of 290 patients with pT2b gastric cancer were enrolled in this study. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to metastatic lymph node status: Group 1 contained 96 patients without lymph node metastasis, Group 2 contained 102 patients with a few (1–2) metastatic lymph nodes and Group 3 contained 92 patients with extensive (>16) lymph node metastasis. Phosphorylated mTOR expression was determined immunohistochemically using tissue microarrays. p‐mTOR expression was observed in 36.5% of the gastric cancer tissues in Group 1, 39.2% in Group 2 and 60.9% in Group 3. A significant correlation was found between p‐mTOR expression in gastric cancer tissues and in metastatic lymph nodes. The Borrmann type in Group 1, perineural invasion and p‐mTOR expression in metastatic lymph nodes in Group 2 and p‐mTOR expression in metastatic lymph nodes in Group 3 were found to be independent prognostic factors of disease‐free survival. The 5‐year disease free survival rate of Group 2 patients was 84.4% in negative p‐mTOR and 66.1% in positive p‐mTOR expression in metastatic lymph nodes (p = 0.015). The 5‐year disease free survival rate of Group 3 patients was 37.3% in negative p‐mTOR and 14.9% in positive p‐mTOR expression in metastatic lymph nodes (p = 0.037). There was a linear correlation between the rate of tumor recurrence and mTOR expression scores in metastatic lymph nodes. In pT2b gastric cancer, p‐mTOR expression in gastric cancer is associated with the extent of lymph node metastasis, and p‐mTOR expression in metastatic lymph nodes is correlated with poor disease‐free survival. mTOR may harbor significant potential for a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for gastric cancer treatment.
Markovian model of the error probability density and application to the error propagation probability computation of the weighted, decision feedback equalizer

A Markovian model of the error probability density for decision feedback equalizer is proposed and its application to the error propagation probability computation is derived. The model is a generalization of the Lutkemeyer and Noll (see ICC, Porto Carras, Greece, June 1998). It is obtained by the analysis of the Gaussian mixture distribution of the errors which follows a Markov process. The analysis of this process shows that the error propagation probability of the weighted DFE is less than the one of the classical DFE.
The physiologic basis of dobutamine as compared with dipyridamole stress interventions in the assessment of critical coronary stenosis.

Noninvasive cardiac imaging with echocardiography or thallium-201 scintigraphy utilizing pharmacologic agents as alternatives to exercise is gaining popularity. We investigated the physiologic rationale underlying the optimal choice of pharmacologic stress for functional versus perfusion imaging. With the use of an open-chest dog model, a critical stenosis of the left circumflex coronary artery was produced with total ablation of hyperemic response to a 15 sec period of complete occlusion. Regional left ventricular wall thickening was assessed by quantitative two-dimensional echocardiography. Regional myocardial blood flow was determined by microspheres in both the flow-restricted left circumflex area and the control area supplied by the left anterior descending artery. Eight dogs received 15 micrograms/kg/min dobutamine intravenously for 10 min, and nine dogs received 0.14 mg/kg/min dipyridamole intravenously for 4 min. Dobutamine induced wall thickening abnormalities in all dogs while dipyridamole induced dysfunction in only 55% of the animals studied (p less than .01). Subendocardial blood flow to the left circumflex area was unchanged after both dobutamine and dipyridamole when compared with baseline blood flow. However, subendocardial blood flow increased markedly after dipyridamole in the control area. Regional subendocardial blood flow ratio (left anterior descending/left circumflex) was 3.74 +/- 0.09 (mean +/- SEM) after dipyridamole versus 1.27 +/- 0.09 after dobutamine (p less than .001). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Drug-eluting stents with biodegradable polymers: are enough data in for a final assessment?

This editorial refers to ‘Biodegradable polymer drug-eluting stents vs. bare-metal stents vs. durable polymer drug-eluting stents: a systematic review and Bayesian approach network meta-analysis’, by S.H. Kang et al. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/eht570. Polymers of drug-eluting coronary stents (DES) provide a stable matrix for drugs to be diffused into the damaged vessel wall and modulate drug release. They lose their function after all drug is released; however, by disintegration, all durable polymers carry the risk for local inflammation, neoatherosclerosis, and thrombosis. Although polymers are not the only reason for this pathophysiological cascade leading to late stent thrombosis (ST) with related cardiac death and myocardial infarction, it was obvious that new biocompatible or totally bioabsorbable polymers should be developed. The goals of such DES with biodegradable polymers (BP-DES) were therefore to reduce the risk of late or very late ST with no increased rate of target vessel revascularization compared with first-generation DES, thereby limiting the duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) needed. In other words, BP-DES should be as effective as durable polymer DES (DP-DES) and, beyond 1 year after implantation, as safe as bare-metal stents (BMS). Accordingly, BP-DES have been tested in several studies, showing non-inferiority compared with first-generation DES regarding efficacy and safety up to 9–12 months.1,2 The first meta-analyses also including initial comparisons with second-generation DES confirmed these findings but pointed—perhaps surprisingly—to a higher rate of ST for BP-DES within the first year after implantation.3 Results on very late ST, i.e. beyond 1 year, remained limited, but follow-up studies of patients enrolled in the pivotal trials were presented with conflicting results. One major problem of all these trials directly comparing BP-DES with other DP-DES is the low rate of ST events, particularly beyond 1 year, providing uncertain results with wide confidence intervals. Thus, a new meta-analysis should …
Overuse injuries in the elite rock climber.

UNLABELLED Closed rupture of the flexor tendon sheath has been known to occur in the elite rock climbing population. However, only one study has investigated the prevalence of this entity. PURPOSE To examine an elite climbing group in this country for the prevalence of pulley rupture and report on other commonly occurring injuries in the hand and elbow. METHODS 42 elite rock climbers competing at the U.S. national championships were evaluated by an injury survey and concentrated examination of the hand and elbow. Manual testing for clinical bowstringing was done for each finger, by the same examiner. RESULTS 11 subjects (26%) had evidence of flexor pulley rupture or attenuation, as manifested by clinical bowstringing. Injury to the PIP collateral ligament had occurred in 17 subjects (40%). Other commonly occurring injury syndromes are described. CONCLUSION Our results and others suggest that closed traumatic pulley rupture occurs with significant frequency in this population. In addition, all subjects with this injury continued to climb at a high standard and reported no functional disability.
The Galactose Residues of Xyloglucan Are Essential to Maintain Mechanical Strength of the Primary Cell Walls in Arabidopsis during Growth1

In land plants, xyloglucans (XyGs) tether cellulose microfibrils into a strong but extensible cell wall. The MUR2 and MUR3 genes of Arabidopsis encode XyG-specific fucosyl and galactosyl transferases, respectively. Mutations of these genes give precisely altered XyG structures missing one or both of these subtending sugar residues. Tensile strength measurements of etiolated hypocotyls revealed that galactosylation rather than fucosylation of the side chains is essential for maintenance of wall strength. Symptomatic of this loss of tensile strength is an abnormal swelling of the cells at the base of fully grown hypocotyls as well as bulging and marked increase in the diameter of the epidermal and underlying cortical cells. The presence of subtending galactosyl residues markedly enhance the activities of XyG endotransglucosylases and the accessibility of XyG to their action, indicating a role for this enzyme activity in XyG cleavage and religation in the wall during growth for maintenance of tensile strength. Although a shortening of XyGs that normally accompanies cell elongation appears to be slightly reduced, galactosylation of the XyGs is not strictly required for cell elongation, for lengthening the polymers that occurs in the wall upon secretion, or for binding of the XyGs to cellulose.
A 3us wake-up time nonvolatile processor based on ferroelectric flip-flops

Nonvolatile processors offer a number of desirable properties including instant on/off, zero standby power and resilience to power failures. This paper presents a fabricated nonvolatile processor based on ferroelectric flip-flops. These flipflops are used in a distributed fashion and are able to maintain system states without any power supply indefinitely. An efficient controller is employed to achieve parallel reads and writes to the flip-flops. A reconfigurable voltage detection system is designed for automatic system backup during power failures. Measurement results show that this nonvolatile processor can operate continuously even under power failures occurring at 20 KHz. It can backup system states within 7μs and restore them within 3 μs. Such capabilities will provide a new level of support to chip-level fine-grained power management and energy harvesting applications.
The early magnetic resonance imaging features of the knee in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

AIMS Early diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) facilitates earlier more aggressive therapy, and improved outcome. Recognition of the features of early, untreated JIA on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) will improve disease detection and expedite treatment. This study aims to highlight the relevant MRI features. METHODS MRI examinations of the knee joint were performed on 11 children with clinically confirmed, early, untreated JIA. The MRI images were obtained at a mean of 2 months after symptom onset and independently evaluated by two consultant paediatric radiologists. RESULTS Abnormalities were found on all MRI examinations. Synovial hypertrophy, joint effusions, popliteal lymph nodes and soft tissue swelling were present in all patients. Gadolinium DTPA enhancement improved the detection of synovial hyperplasia. Metaphyseal splaying and condylar overgrowth were seen in five cases (41%), oedema of the lateral collateral ligament in two cases (18%) and superficial cartilage thinning in one case. Bony erosions and deep cartilage destruction were not demonstrated. CONCLUSION MRI of the knee joint identifies early joint changes which are distinct from those in later disease. The presence of these features should alert the radiologist to the possible diagnosis of JIA and post gadolinium DTPA sequences should be performed. Gadolinium DPTA enhancement increases the sensitivity for the detection of inflammatory changes in JIA.
Effect of Wetting on Adiabatic Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow in a Microchannel

An optical measurement system and video camera were used to investigate gas-liquid two-phase flow characteristics in wetting and poorly wetting circular microchannels of 100 μm diameter. By examining the optical sensor signals from which void fraction and the lengths and velocities of gas slugs and liquid slugs were measured, the effects of wetting on the adiabatic two-phase flow characteristics of nitrogen gas and water were investigated. The data were obtained using a T-junction with the same internal diameter as the microchannel, but the T-junction itself was well wetting in both experiments. Besides the flat nose and tail of gas plugs/slugs at low gas and liquid flow rates, poorly wetting microchannel showed higher void fraction and friction pressure drop compared to the well-wetting microchannel. The poorly wetting microchannel also showed the presence of short and fast moving liquid slugs which were absent in well-wetting microchannel.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Cerebral distribution of white matter lesions in migraine with aura patients

Objective: The objective of the study was to compare the cerebral distribution of white matter lesions (WMLs) between migraine patients with different aura symptoms. Methods: Migraine with aura (MA) patients were consecutively enrolled as part of the Shunt-Associated Migraine (SAM) study. According to clinical symptoms, aura was classified as motor, aphasic, sensory, visual or vertebrobasilar. Standard and FLAIR (fluid attenuated inversion recovery) T2-weighted MRI sequences were inspected for WMLs by three independent raters blinded to clinical data. WMLs were assessed in the periventricular areas (PV-WMLs) with the Fazekas scale and in the deep white matter (D-WMLs) with the Schelten's scale. Interobserver agreement was good to excellent (k = 0.64 to 0.96, p < .0001). Results: One hundred and eighty-five patients (77% women) were included. Aura symptoms were classified as visual in 172 (99%) patients, sensory in 76 (42%), aphasic in 54 (30%), motor in 39 (21%) and vertebrobasilar in 17 (9%) patients. One hundred and four patients (57%) exhibited more than one type of aura. D-WMLs were mainly detected in the frontal lobes (86%). There was no association between type of aura and the presence of WMLs in any cerebral location. Conclusion: Aura symptoms do not influence the cerebral distribution of WMLs associated with migraine disease.