Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regional differences in bronchoalveolar lavage and thoracic high-resolution computed tomography results in dyspneic patients with systemic sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is the leading cause of death in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Although early identification and treatment of alveolitis may prevent deterioration of lung function, the best approach for diagnosing active alveolitis remains controversial. This study was undertaken to investigate the utility of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the chest, in comparison with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), in the diagnosis of alveolitis in these patients. METHODS Eighteen patients with SSc and dyspnea were evaluated for ILD by pulmonary function testing and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), and 15 of these patients underwent chest HRCT. BAL was performed in either the middle lobe or the lingula, and also in a lower lung segment. Differential cell counts were determined by clinical cytopathology, with retrospective recounting in a blinded manner by a single technician. Active alveolitis was defined as the presence of > or =3.0% polymorphonuclear cells and/or > or =2% eosinophils in BAL fluid. BAL fluids were cultured for bacteria, mycobacteria, and fungi. HRCT scans were evaluated in a blinded manner for ground-glass opacification and fibrosis in the lavaged lobes. RESULTS Nine of the 18 patients had active alveolitis recorded in both lavaged segments, while in 4 patients it was recorded in only 1 segment (lower lobe in 3). Following repeat differential cell counting, 3 patients were reclassified as having active alveolitis and 1 as having no alveolitis. Culture of BAL fluid identified clinically unsuspected infection in 3 patients. For the right middle lung lobe or lingula there was excellent agreement between ground-glass opacification and the finding of alveolitis on BAL from segments in the same lung regions, but this was not observed for the lower lobes. The correlation between fibrosis on HRCT and the presence of alveolitis on BAL was significant for the lower lobes but not the middle lung fields. CONCLUSION BAL of the middle lobe or lingula may underestimate the presence of active alveolitis. Similarly, while ground-glass opacification on HRCT accurately predicted alveolitis in the middle lung fields, HRCT did not detect all sites of inflammation and did not identify infectious etiologies. These data suggest that, in addition to HRCT, BAL with lavage, differential cell counting, and culture from at least 2 segments of lung be performed for diagnosing SSc alveolitis.
How European is management in Europe? An analysis of past, present and future management practices in Europe

This paper investigates if the term 'European management' is justified or if national differences between management practices within Europe render this concept meaningless. We argue that up to the late 1980s, management practices in Europe were still rather diverse. From the 1990s onwards, under the context of globalisation, convergence tendencies became more prevalent. However, the focal point was not so much a specific European management model, but the American model instead. For the future we predict a more multi-polar world in which the virtual monopoly of the USA in setting the standards for 'best practices' in management will weaken.
Multidimensional resource allocation in practice

One of the main motivations for the shift to the Cloud (and the more recent shift of telco operators into NFV) is cost reduction due to high utilization of infrastructure resources. However, achieving high utilization in practical scenarios is complex since the term "resources" covers different orthogonal aspects, such as server CPU, storage (or disk) usage and network capacity, and the workload characterization varies over time and over different users. In this paper we study the placement of Virtual Machines (VMs) that implement services over the physical infrastructure, trying to understand what makes a placement scheme better than others in the overall utilization of the various resources. We show that the multidimensional case is inherently different from the single dimension case, and develop novel placement heuristics to address the specific challenges. We then show, by extensive evaluation over real data, that operators can significantly improve their resource utilization by selecting the most appropriate placement policy, according to their system specifications and the deployed services. In particular, two of our new heuristics that dynamically change the placement logic according to the amount of available (unused) resources are shown to perform very well in many practical scenarios.
Importance of Thinking Locally for Mental Health: Data from Cross-Sectional Surveys Representing South East London and England

Background Reliance on national figures may be underestimating the extent of mental ill health in urban communities. This study demonstrates the necessity for local information on common mental disorder (CMD) and substance use by comparing data from the South East London Community Health (SELCoH) study with those from a national study, the 2007 English Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Study (APMS). Methodology/Principal Findings Data were used from two cross-sectional surveys, 1698 men and women residing in south London and 7403 men and women in England. The main outcome, CMD, was indicated by a score of 12 or above on the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule. Secondary outcomes included hazardous alcohol use and illicit drug use. SELCoH sample prevalence estimates of CMD were nearly twice that of the APMS England sample estimates. There was a four-fold greater proportion of depressive episode in the SELCoH sample than the APMS sample. The prevalence of hazardous alcohol use was higher in the national sample. Illicit drug use in the past year was higher in the SELCoH sample, with cannabis and cocaine the illicit drugs reported most frequently in both samples. In comparisons of the SELCoH sample with the APMS England sample and the APMS sample from the Greater London area in combined datasets, these differences remained after adjusting for socio-demographic and socioeconomic indicators for all outcomes. Conclusions/Significance Local information for estimating the prevalence of CMD and substance use is essential for surveillance and service planning. There were similarities in the demographic and socioeconomic factors related to CMD and substance use across samples.
Structural and Functional Evidence for the Denervation of Human Myometrium During Pregnancy

The neuronal influence of the contractility of the term-pregnant human uterus was studied by pharmacologic and histochemical methods. By the use of adrenergic and cholinergic antagonists or tetrodotoxin it was demonstrated that the contractile response of superfused myometrial strips from the term-pregnant uterus to electrofield stimulation was not influenced by any neuronal factor. Using an indirect immunofluorescence technique with an antiserum to the glial and Schwann cell specific S-100 protein, a marked paucity of nerve fibers was demonstrated in myometrial strips from the term-pregnant uterus as compared with the nonpregnant uterus. It is concluded that the described decrease of nerve fibers within the myometrium of the pregnant uterus may be of importance for the myometrial activity during pregnancy and parturition.
The Acquisition of Hungarian High Front Unrounded Short vs. Long Vowels

This study examined spectral properties of the Hungarian vowel pair /i/ vs. /i:/ with contrasting phonemic vowel lengths in 2;0 and 4;0 years old boys acquiring Hungarian as their native language. Results were obtained by an automated pitch-synchronous bandfilter analysis method that estimates the spectral envelope representation of vowels. Subsequent data reduction was achieved via principal component analysis. Examining the spectral differentiation of vowels with contrasting phonemic vowel lengths is an important step towards formulating a theory of vowel acquisition. Findings show that 4;0 years old boys produce more peripheral vowels than 2;0-year olds, due partly to 1) an increased ability to produce vowels with higher (more closed) jaw position, 2) increased skills for formulating appropriate lip positioning, 3) a heightened ability to more precisely coordinate lip positioning with higher and more frontal tongue positions, and 4) an increased ability to maintain lip/jaw positions for longer duration, along with less variability in articulatory movements during the production of a vowel. Additionally, the vowel space of older children contains more compact vowel spaces corresponding to each vowel, indicating more consistent production patterns. Spectral features of /i/ vs. /i:/ differ in 4;0 years old as opposed to 2;0 years old boys.
MicroRNA-181a/b-1 Is Not Required for Innate γδ NKT Effector Cell Development

Thymic development of αβ T lymphocytes into invariant natural killer (NK) T cells depends on their selection via agonistic lipid antigen presented by CD1d. If successful, newly selected NKT cells gain effector functions already in the thymus. Some γδ T cell subsets also acquire effector functions in the thymus. However, it is not clear whether agonistic TCR stimulation is involved in thymic γδ T cell selection and development. Here we combine two genetic models to address this question. MiR-181a/b-1–/–mice, which show impaired agonistic T cell selection of invariant αβ NKT cells, were crossed to Tcrd-H2BeGFP reporter mice to monitor selection, intra-thymic expansion and differentiation of γδ T cells. We found that miR-181a/b-1-deficiency had no effect on numbers of thymic γδ T cell or on their differentiation towards an IL-17- or IFN-γ-producing effector phenotype. Also, the composition of peripheral lymph node γδ T cells was not affected by miR-181a/b-1-deficiency. Dendritic epidermal γδ T cells were normally present in knock-out animals. However, we observed elevated frequencies and numbers of γδ NKT cells in the liver, possibly because γδ NKT cells can expand and replace missing αβ NKT cells in peripheral niches. In summary, we investigated the role of miR-181a/b-1 for selection, intrathymic development and homeostasis of γδ T cells. We conclude that miR-181a/b-1-dependent modulation of T cell selection is not critically required for innate development of γδ NKT cells or of any other γδ T cell subtypes.
Spatial separation of Xist RNA and polycomb proteins revealed by superresolution microscopy

Significance Polycomb repressor proteins are recruited to the inactive X chromosome in mammals, and this has been attributed to a biochemical interaction between the non–protein-coding RNA X-inactive specific transcript (Xist), which initiates the X inactivation process, and core polycomb subunits. We have studied this using a combination of genome mapping analysis and 3D structured illumination microscopy (3D-SIM) that allows 3D imaging with eightfold volumetric resolution improvement compared with previous state-of-the-art confocal microscopy. Our findings reveal that Xist-mediated recruitment of polycomb repressors does not correlate well with gene silencing and, moreover, that using 3D-SIM, polycomb proteins and Xist RNA show significant spatial separation. These observations challenge prevailing models and prompt a reappraisal of the role of Xist RNA in polycomb recruitment. In female mammals, one of the two X chromosomes is transcriptionally silenced to equalize X-linked gene dosage relative to XY males, a process termed X chromosome inactivation. Mechanistically, this is thought to occur via directed recruitment of chromatin modifying factors by the master regulator, X-inactive specific transcript (Xist) RNA, which localizes in cis along the entire length of the chromosome. A well-studied example is the recruitment of polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), for which there is evidence of a direct interaction involving the PRC2 proteins Enhancer of zeste 2 (Ezh2) and Supressor of zeste 12 (Suz12) and the A-repeat region located at the 5′ end of Xist RNA. In this study, we have analyzed Xist-mediated recruitment of PRC2 using two approaches, microarray-based epigenomic mapping and superresolution 3D structured illumination microscopy. Making use of an ES cell line carrying an inducible Xist transgene located on mouse chromosome 17, we show that 24 h after synchronous induction of Xist expression, acquired PRC2 binding sites map predominantly to gene-rich regions, notably within gene bodies. Paradoxically, these new sites of PRC2 deposition do not correlate with Xist-mediated gene silencing. The 3D structured illumination microscopy was performed to assess the relative localization of PRC2 proteins and Xist RNA. Unexpectedly, we observed significant spatial separation and absence of colocalization both in the inducible Xist transgene ES cell line and in normal XX somatic cells. Our observations argue against direct interaction between Xist RNA and PRC2 proteins and, as such, prompt a reappraisal of the mechanism for PRC2 recruitment in X chromosome inactivation.
Coherent Structures Generated by Inhomogeneities in Oscillatory Media

We investigate the effect of spatially localized inhomogeneities on a spatially homogeneous oscillation in a reaction‐diffusion system. In dimension up to two, we find sources and contact defects, that is, the inhomogeneity may either send out phase waves or act as a weak sink. We show that small inhomogeneities cannot act as sources in more than two space dimensions. We also derive asymptotics for wavenumbers and group velocities in the far field. The results are established rigorously for radially symmetric inhomogeneities in reaction‐diffusion systems, and for arbitrary inhomogeneities in a modulation equation approximation.
Incentives, gamification, and game theory: an economic approach to badge design

Gamification is growing increasingly prevalent as a means to incentivize user engagement of social media sites that rely on user contributions. Badges, or equivalent rewards such as top-contributor lists that are used to recognize a user's contributions on a site, clearly appear to be valued by users who actively pursue and compete for them. However, different sites use different badge designs, varying how, and for what, badges are awarded--- some sites such as StackOverflow award badges for meeting fixed levels of contribution, while others like Amazon and Y! Answers reward users for being amongst some top set of contributors on the site, corresponding to a competitive standard of performance. Given that users value badges, and that contributing to a site requires effort, how badges are designed will affect the incentives--- and therefore the participation and effort--- elicited from strategic users on a site. We take a game-theoretic approach to badge design, analyzing the incentives created by widely-used badge designs in a model where winning a badge is valued and effort is costly, and potential contributors to the site endogenously decide whether or not to participate, and how much total effort to put into their contributions to the site. We analyze equilibrium existence, and equilibrium participation and effort in an absolute standards mechanism Mα where badges are awarded for meeting some absolute level of (observed) effort, and a relative standards mechanism Mρ corresponding to competitive standards as in a top-\rs contributor badge. We find that equilibria always exist in both mechanisms, even when the value from winning a badge depends endogenously on the number of other winners. However, Mα has zero-participation equilibria for standards that are too high, whereas all equilibria in Mρ elicit non-zero participation for all possible ρ, provided ρ is specified as a fixed number rather than as a fraction of actual contributors (note that the two are not equivalent in a setting with endogenous participation). Finally, we ask whether or not a site should explicitly announce the number of users winning a badge; the answer to this question is determined by the curvature of the value of winning the badge as a function of the number of other winners.
Conceptualization and Treatment of Chronic Abdominal Pain in Pediatric Gastroenterology Practice

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine how children with abdominal pain presently are viewed, assessed, and treated by pediatric gastroenterologists across North America, as well as how perspectives have changed since initial release of the Rome criteria for functional gastrointestinal disorders approximately 15 years ago. Patients and Methods: One hundred seventy-four full members of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition completed a pediatric gastroenterology practice survey designed by the authors in 2006. The responses were examined for practice patterns and specific knowledge/use of the Rome criteria. The responses were also compared with historical data from 151 North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition members who completed a similar survey in 1992. Results: There were few changes in the evaluation, treatment, or outcomes for children with abdominal pain for the past 15 years. Knowledge of the Rome criteria was common, but use in practice was not; several specific problems with the criteria were identified. A mismatch also appeared between belief in the importance of psychological factors in the creation/maintenance of pediatric abdominal pain and integration of these factors as part of standard evaluation and treatment. Finally, controversy emerged regarding both the term “functional” and the importance of histologic inflammation in the pathophysiology of pediatric abdominal pain. Conclusions: The evolution and dissemination of the Rome criteria for the past 15 years have not substantially changed evaluation or treatment practices for children with abdominal pain. Many areas of inconsistency and controversy remain. More focused research is needed to better understand this common pain condition and to establish an effective treatment program that can be disseminated across practitioners.
Psychological Factors in the Prognosis of Malignant Melanoma: A Prospective Study*

&NA; Sixty‐four patients with Stage I or II malignant melanoma who were apparently disease free rated the amount of adjustment needed to cope with their illness on a scale of 1 to 100. The resultant figure was called the melanoma adjustment score. Twenty‐nine patients who relapsed within 1 year of surgery reported a score of 53 ± 31 (mean ± SD); 35 nonrelapsers reported a score of 80 ± 20, p < 0.001. Based upon analysis of indivual melanoma adjustment scores in the first 31 patients, we predicted that subjects scoring ≥ 65 would stay in remission, whereas those scoring < 65 would relapse. Applying this prospectively to the next 33 patients we correctly identified 25 of 33 outcomes (76%), p < 0.03. This psychological variable was independent of known biological prognostic factors, which did not predict 1 year survival. The melanoma adjustment score was also independent of the number of positive lymph nodes, which did correlate with outcome in these patients. The results suggest a role for psychological factors in the one year prognosis of this malignancy.
Factors affecting marginal integrity of class II bulk-fill composite resin restorations

Background. Bulk-fill composite resins are a new type of resin-based composite resins, claimed to have the capacity to be placed in thick layers, up to 4 mm. This study was carried out to evaluate factors affecting gap formation in Cl II cavities restored using the bulk-fill technique. Methods. A total of 60 third molars were used in this study. Two Cl II cavities were prepared in each tooth, one on the mesial aspect 1 mm coronal to the CEJ and one on the distal aspect 1 mm apical to the CEJ. The teeth were divided into 4 groups: A: The cavities were restored using the bulk-fill technique with Filtek P90 composite resin and its adhesive system and light-cured with quartz tungsten halogen (QTH) light-curing unit. B: The cavities were restored similar to that in group A but light-cured with an LED light-curing unit. C: The cavities were restored using the bulk-fill technique with X-tra Fil composite resin and Clearfil SE Bond adhesive system and light-cured with a QTH curing unit. D: The cavities were restored similar to that in group C but light-cured with an LED light-curing unit. The gaps were examined under a stereomicroscope at ×60. Data were analyzed with General Linear Model test. In cases of statistical significance (P<0.05), post hoc Bonferroni test was used for further analyses. Results. The light-curing unit type had no effect on gap formation. However, the results were significant in relation to the composite resin type and margin location (P<0.001). The cumulative effects of light-curing unit*gingival margin and light-curing unit*composite resin type were not significant; however, the cumulative effect of composite rein type*gingival margin was significant (P=0.04) Conclusion. X-tra Fil composite exhibited smaller gaps compared with Filtek P90 composite with both light-curing units. Both composite resins exhibited smaller gaps at enamel margins.
Hemagglutinin 1-Specific Immunoglobulin G and Fab Molecules Mediate Postattachment Neutralization of Influenza A Virus by Inhibition of an Early Fusion Event

ABSTRACT In standard neutralization (STAN), virus and antibody are reacted together before inoculation of target cells, and inhibition of almost any of the processes concerned in the early interaction of virus and cell, including inhibition of virus attachment to cell receptors, can be the cause of neutralization by a particular monoclonal antibody (MAb). To simplify the interpretation of antibody action, we carried out a study of postattachment neutralization (PAN), where virus is allowed to attach to target cells before neutralizing antibody is introduced. We used influenza virus A/PR/8/34 (H1N1) and monoclonal immunoglobulin G (IgG) molecules and their Fabs specific to antigenic sites Sb (tip), Ca2 (loop), and Cb (hinge) of the hemagglutinin 1 (HA1) protein. All IgGs and Fabs gave PAN, although with reduced efficiency compared with STAN. Thus, bivalent binding of antibody was not essential for PAN. By definition, none of these MAbs gave PAN by inhibiting virus attachment, and they did not elute attached virus from the target cell or inhibit endocytosis of virus. However, virus-cell fusion, as demonstrated by R18 fluorescence dequenching or hemolysis of red blood cells, was inhibited in direct proportion to neutralization and in a dose-dependent manner and was thus likely to be responsible for the observed neutralization. However, to get PAN, it was necessary to inhibit the activation of the prefusion intermediate, the earliest known form on the fusion pathway that is created when virus is incubated at pH 5 and 4°C. PAN antibodies may act by binding HA trimers in contact with the cell and/or trimers in the immediate vicinity of the virus-cell contact point and so inhibit the recruitment of additional receptor-HA complexes.