Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lewy body pathology in familial Alzheimer disease: evidence for disease- and mutation-specific pathologic phenotype.

BACKGROUND The origin and significance of Lewy bodies and neurites (Lewy body pathology [LBP]) in Alzheimer disease (AD) are poorly understood. OBJECTIVE To examine LBP in the brainstem, limbic cortex, and neocortex of a large number of familial AD cases with mutations in 2 presenilin (PSEN) genes. METHODS Twenty-five familial AD cases with 9 known PSEN 1 mutations and 14 familial AD cases with a single PSEN 2 mutation (N141I) were examined for LBP using alpha-synuclein immunohistochemistry and sampling of multiple brainstem and cortical regions. RESULTS The amygdala was the most vulnerable site for LBP. In fact, virtually all (24 [96%] of 25 cases) of the PSEN 1 mutation cases had LBP in the amygdala. The PSEN 1 mutation cases also had more frequent LBP in the amygdala and neocortex than those with the PSEN 2 mutation. However, within families with a single mutation of either PSEN 1 or PSEN 2, there was frequent variability of the LBP. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that there are genetic influences on the presence of LBP in familial AD as demonstrated by the differences between PSEN 1 and PSEN 2 mutation cases.
Safety and tolerability study of aptiganel hydrochloride in patients with an acute ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Aptiganel (CNS 1102) is a selective, noncompetitive antagonist that acts on the ion channel associated with the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor and is neuroprotective in experimental focal cerebral ischemia models at a plasma concentration of 10 ng/mL. In human volunteers, dose-limiting effects of aptiganel are blood pressure increases and central nervous system (CNS) excitation or depression. This study assessed the safety and tolerability of non-weight-adjusted doses of aptiganel in patients with acute ischemic stroke. METHODS This was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled multicenter study in patients presenting within 24 hours of acute ischemic stroke. Ascending single intravenous bolus doses of aptiganel (3, 4.5, 6, and 7.5 mg) were assessed in 21 patients with a 3:1 active drug:placebo randomization schedule. In 15 subsequent patients, selected bolus doses were followed by constant intravenous infusion for 6 to 12 hours (6 mg plus 1 mg/h, n=10; then 4.5 mg plus 0.75 mg/h, n=15) in a 4:1 randomization schedule. Prospectively collected pharmacokinetic data guided selection of infusion rates. Neurological and functional status were recorded at entry and after 1 week, although the study was not designed to test efficacy. RESULTS Forty-six patients were randomized from 4 centers (3 in the United States and 1 in the United Kingdom): 36 received aptiganel HCl, and 10 were given placebo. Hypertension and CNS events were commonly reported after a bolus dose of 7.5 mg and after a 6-mg bolus followed by an infusion of 1 mg/h. The lower regimen of 4.5-mg bolus followed by infusion of 0.75 mg/h achieved plasma aptiganel concentrations of >10 ng/mL and was well tolerated by patients but still raised systolic blood pressure by approximately 30 mm Hg over baseline. CONCLUSIONS A 4.5-mg intravenous bolus of aptiganel HCl followed by infusion of 0.75 mg/h for 12 hours is a tolerable dose that can produce plasma drug concentrations shown to be neuroprotective in animal models. However, increases in systolic blood pressure and an excess of CNS effects were both observed at this dose.
MTHFR 677 C 3 T genotype disrupts prefrontal function in schizophrenia through an interaction with COMT 158 Val 3 Met

aDepartment of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129; bDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131; cThe MIND Research Network, Albuquerque, NM 87131; dDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242; eDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455; and fDepartment of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131
Mechanism of T-cell help in the immune response to soluble protein antigens. I. Evidence for in situ generation and action of T-cell- replacing factor during the anamnestic response to dinitrophenyl keyhole limpet hemocyanin in vitro

The involvement of a nonantigen-specific T-helper factor in the anamnestic immune response to dinitrophenyl keyhole limpet hemocyanin is demonstrated employing cultures of unseparated spleen cell populations. In such cultures of primed and boosted spleen cells, a good IgG anti-DNP response could be obtained if the hapten was presented on a heterologous carrier, provided that the homologous carrier was added simultaneously. T-cell depletion and reconstitution experiments show that such a factor, presumably identical with T-cell- replacing factor is produced by primed helper cells upon rechallenge and helps primed B cells, stimulated by soluble heterologous carrier hapten conjugates, to become IgG-secreting cells.
AUTOCRYPT: enabling homomorphic computation on servers to protect sensitive web content

Web servers are vulnerable to a large class of attacks which can allow network attacker to steal sensitive web content. In this work, we investigate the feasibility of a web server architecture, wherein the vulnerable server VM runs on a trusted cloud. All sensitive web content is made available to the vulnerable server VM in encrypted form, thereby limiting the effectiveness of data-stealing attacks through server VM compromise. In this context, the main challenge is to allow the legitimate functionality of the untrusted server VM to work. As a step towards this goal, we develop a tool called AutoCrypt, which transforms a subset of existing C functionality in the web stack to operate on encrypted sensitive content. We show that such a transformation is feasible for several standard Unix utilities available in a typical LAMP stack, with no developer effort. Key to achieving this expressiveness over encrypted data, is our scheme to combine and convert between partially-homomorphic encryption (PHE) schemes using a small TCB in the trusted cloud hypervisor. We show that x86 code transformed with AutoCrypt achieves performance that is significantly better than its alternatives (downloading to a trusted client, or using fully-homomorphic encryption).
Effects of aerosolized surfactant in patients with stable chronic bronchitis: a prospective randomized controlled trial.

CONTEXT Chronic bronchitis, estimated to affect more than 13 million adults in the United States, is characterized in part by retention of airway secretions, but no approved or effective therapy for airway mucus retention in patients with chronic bronchitis has been established. Surfactant reduces sputum adhesiveness, which contributes to difficulty in clearing secretions, but surfactant has not been tested in patients with chronic bronchitis. OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of exogenous surfactant on sputum clearance and pulmonary function in patients with stable chronic bronchitis. DESIGN A prospective, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled comparison of the effects of 2 weeks of treatment with 3 doses of aerosolized surfactant (palmitoylphosphadidylcholine [DPPC]) or saline (placebo). SETTING Four US teaching hospitals. PARTICIPANTS A total of 87 adult patients with the diagnosis of stable chronic bronchitis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Pulmonary function, respiratory symptoms, and sputum properties before treatment (day 0), after 2 weeks of treatment (day 14), and 7 days after stopping treatment (day 21). RESULTS A total of 66 patients were randomized to surfactant treatment and 21 to saline treatment. Patient demographic characteristics between groups were similar at baseline. In patients who received a DPPC dose of 607.5 mg/d for 2 weeks, prebronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) increased from 1.22 L (SEM, 0.08 L) at day 0 to 1.33 L (SEM, 0.09 L) at day 21 (P=.05), an improvement of 11.4%; postbronchodilator FEV1 improved 10.4% by days 14 and 21 (P=.02); and the ratio of residual volume to total lung capacity, a measure of thoracic gas trapping, decreased 6.2% by day 21 (P=.009). In the surfactant groups, there was a dose-dependent increase in the ability of sputum to be transported by cilia in vitro. CONCLUSION Aerosolized surfactant improved pulmonary function and resulted in a dose-related improvement in sputum transport by cilia in patients with stable chronic bronchitis.
Phylogeny of Old and New World Vultures (Aves: Accipitridae and Cathartidae) Inferred from Nucleotide Sequences of the Mitochondrial Cytochrome b Gene

Abstract The molecular phylogeny of 11 Old World and 5 New World vultures was inferred from nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene. According to this analysis carrion-feeding has evolved independently at least three times during evolution: 1. ) In the New World vultures, which are clearly separated from vultures of the family Accipitridae; 2. ) in the Neophron-Gypaetus clade which is positioned at the base of the Accipitrid tree and 3. ) in the Gyps-Aegypius-complex which encloses the largest group of Old World vultures. Thus the genetic data clearly show that the carrion-feeding lifestyles and associated morphologies shared by New and Old World vultures are rather based on convergence than on close genetic relatedness. Employing the cyt b sequences of 12 other members of the Falconiformes and 10 members of the Ciconiiformes (sensu Sibley and Monroe, 1990) the phylogenetic relationship between the three clades of vultures and these other taxa was assessed. New World Vultures appear to share distant ancestry with storks but a close relationship is unlikely.
Improved Minimax Prediction Under Kullback-Leibler Loss

Let X | µ Np(µ,vxI) and Y | µ Np(µ,vyI) be independent p-dimensional multivariate normal vectors with common unknown mean µ, and let p(x|µ) and p(y|µ) denote the conditional densities of X and Y . Based on only observing X = x, we consider the problem of obtaining a predictive density p(y | x) for Y that is close to p(y | µ) as measured by expected KullbackLeibler loss. The natural straw man for this problem is the Bayesian predictive density pU(y|x) under the uniform prior U(µ) 1, which is best invariant and minimax. We show that any Bayes predictive density will be minimax if it is obtained by a prior yielding a marginal that is superharmonic or whose square root is superharmonic. This yields wide classes of minimax procedures that dominate pU(y | x) including Bayes predictive densities under superharmonic priors. Such procedures can be constructed to adaptively shrink pU(y | x) towards an arbitrary point or subspace, and can be further combined for minimax multiple shrinkage prediction. Fundamental similarities and dierences with the parallel theory of estimating a multivariate normal mean under quadratic loss are described throughout.
An Average Flow Model of the Reynolds Roughness Including a Mass-Flow Preserving Cavitation Model

An average Reynolds equation for predicting the effects of deterministic periodic roughness, taking Jakobsson, Floberg, and Olsson mass flow preserving cavitation model into account, is introduced based upon the double scale analysis approach. This average Reynolds equation can be used both for a microscopic interasperity cavitation and a macroscopic one. The validity of such a model is verified by numerical experiments both for one-dimensional and two-dimensional roughness patterns.
Perceptual compressive sensing based on contrast sensitivity function: Can we avoid non-visible redundancies acquisition?

Conventional compressive sensing (CS) attempts to acquire the most important part of a signal directly. In fact, CS avoids acquisition of existed statistical redundancies of a signal. Since the sensitivity of the human eye is different for each frequency, in addition to statistical redundancies, there exist perceptual redundancies in an image which human eye could not detect them. In this paper, we propose a novel CS approach in which the acquisition of non-visible information is also avoided. Hence, we could expect a better compression performance. We deploy the weighted CS idea to consider these perceptual redundancies in our model. Moreover, the block-based compressed sensing is favorable since it has some advantages: (a) It needs low memory to store the sensing matrix and sparsifying basis. (b) All blocks can be reconstructed in parallel. Therefore, we apply our proposed scheme in the block-based framework to make it practical to use. Simulation results verify the superiority of our proposed method compared to the other state-of-the-art methods.
Estimation of Wheat Chlorophyll Content Based on HJ Satellite CCD

Chlorophyll content is an important indicator for assessing crop health and predicting crop yield. It is possible that chlorophyll content (CC) was quickly and non-destructively estimated by remote sensing. The objective of the experiment was to develop precision agricultural practices for predicting CC of wheat. In this study, we compared some spectral parameters (SPs) and CC with the determination coefficient (R2), and combined these SPs by stepwise regression methods. The results indicated that the 1.45SIPI-1.05PSRI, the R2 value was 0.6589 and corresponding the root mean square error (RMSE) was 1.463, and it can be used to improve the prediction accuracy of CC.
Podocyte Effacement Closely Links to suPAR Levels at Time of Posttransplantation Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis Occurrence and Improves With Therapy

Background Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) recurs after kidney transplantation in more than 30% of cases and can lead to allograft loss. Serum soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is implicated in the pathogenesis of native and recurrent FSGS. Methods We conducted a retrospective study of 25 adults with posttransplantation FSGS. We investigated the relationship between suPAR levels and podocyte changes and the impact of therapy on podocyte structure. We assessed response to therapy by improvement in proteinuria, allograft function, and resolution of histologic changes. Results A median (interquartile range) of 15 (10–23) plasmapheresis sessions was administered; 13 of the subjects also received rituximab. Median pretreatment suPAR levels were higher among those with severe (≥75%) versus those with mild (⩽25%) podocyte foot process effacement (13,030 vs. 4806 pg/mL; P=0.02). Overall, mean±SD of proteinuria improved from 5.1±3.8 to 2.1±2.8 mg/dL (P=0.003), mean podocyte effacement decreased from 57%±33% to 22%±22% (P=0.0001), estimated glomerular filtration rates increased from median (interquartile range) of 32.9 (20.6–44.2) to 39.3 (28.8–63.4; P<0.0001), and suPAR levels decreased from a median of 6.781 to 4.129 pg/mL (P=0.02) with therapy. Conclusions Podocyte effacement is the first pathologic manifestation of FSGS after transplantation. The degree of podocyte effacement correlates with suPAR levels at time of diagnosis. Response to therapy results in significant reduction of suPAR levels and complete or significant improvement of podocyte effacement.
Beneficial Effects of Canagliflozin in Combination with Pioglitazone on Insulin Sensitivity in Rodent Models of Obese Type 2 Diabetes

Background Despite its insulin sensitizing effects, pioglitazone may induce weight gain leading to an increased risk of development of insulin resistance. A novel sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, canagliflozin, provides not only glycemic control but also body weight reduction through an insulin-independent mechanism. The aim of this study was to investigate the combined effects of these agents on body weight control and insulin sensitivity. Methods Effects of combination therapy with canagliflozin and pioglitazone were evaluated in established diabetic KK-Ay mice and prediabetic Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats. Results In the KK-Ay mice, the combination therapy further improved glycemic control compared with canagliflozin or pioglitazone monotherapy. Furthermore, the combination significantly attenuated body weight and fat gain induced by pioglitazone and improved hyperinsulinemia. In the ZDF rats, early intervention with pioglitazone monotherapy almost completely prevented the progressive development of hyperglycemia, and no further improvement was observed by add-on treatment with canagliflozin. However, the combination significantly reduced pioglitazone-induced weight gain and adiposity and improved the Matsuda index, suggesting improved whole-body insulin sensitivity. Conclusions Our study indicates that combination therapy with canagliflozin and pioglitazone improves insulin sensitivity partly by preventing glucotoxicity and, at least partly, by attenuating pioglitazone-induced body weight gain in two different obese diabetic animal models. This combination therapy may prove to be a valuable option for the treatment and prevention of obese type 2 diabetes.
Determination of The Relationship between Job Burnout and Conflict Management Styles in Employees of Health Administration and Assessment of Medical Documents Office of Golestan Province Branch of Social Security Organization of Islamic Republic of Iran

Conflict management is one of the most difficult and important tasks of managers. The ability to solve conflict can be defined as the technic of managing conflict effectively by choosing the most suitable strategy of conflict management in each condition.Job burnout may lead to a severe fall in job fulfillment and administrative faith. Besides, job burnout brings about lower levels of well-being. Employees might abandon their personal duties and thus, their family relations may experience some confusion.The present study was formulated in order to determine the relationship between conflict management styles and job burnout in Employees of Health Administration and Assessment of Medical Documents Office of Golestan Province Branch of Social Security Organization of Islamic Republic of Iran.The sample volume was decided using Kukran formula. The data were collected via Maslach Job Burnout Inventory (MBI) and Standard Questionnaire for Conflict Management Styles . Validity and reliability of the tools were verified through Experts’ ideas and Cronbach’s alpha, respectively. The hypotheses were tested by use of Pearson’s Correlation in SPSS Software (Version 22). The results indicated that there is a negative and significant correlation between non-confrontation style and severity of reduced personal accomplishment feeling (p 0.05). DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015. v6n3s2p741
Activity of Fosfomycin- and Daptomycin-Containing Bone Cement on Selected Bacterial Species Being Associated with Orthopedic Infections

The purpose of this study was to determine activity of fosfomycin/gentamicin and daptomycin/gentamicin-containing PMMA bone-cement against Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA, MSSA), Staphylococcus epidermidis, Enterococcus faecium (VRE), and E. coli (ESBL; only fosfomycin). Test specimens of the bone cement were formed and bacteria in two concentrations were added one time or repeatedly up to 96 h. All fosfomycin-containing cement killed ultimately all MSSA, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and E. coli within 24 h; growth of MRSA was suppressed up to 48 h. Activity of daptomycin-containing cement depended on the concentration; the highest concentrated bone cement used (1.5 g daptomycin/40 g of powder) was active against all one-time added bacteria. When bacteria were added repeatedly to fosfomycin-containing cement, growth was suppressed up to 96 h and that of MRSA and VRE only up to 24 h. The highest concentration of daptomycin suppressed the growth of repeated added bacteria up to 48 h (VRE) until 96 h (MSSA, MRSA). In conclusion, PMMA bone cement with 1.5 g of daptomycin and 0.5 g of gentamicin may be an alternative in treatment of periprosthetic infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria.
Sources of social support: adolescents with cancer.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To evaluate how a cancer diagnosis affects adolescents' perceived sources of social support, amount of support needed, and level of satisfaction with support compared to an age-matched, healthy, adolescent group. DESIGN Cross-sectional, comparative, nonrandom survey. SETTING Summer camp for adolescents with cancer and a rural high school in the southeastern United States. SAMPLE Adolescents with a diagnosis of cancer (n = 64) and age-matched, healthy adolescents (n = 115). METHODS Subjects completed the Social Support Questionnaire, Perceived Social Support From Family Scale, Perceived Social Support From Friends Scale, and demographic information forms. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES Sources of social support, amount of support perceived, and level of satisfaction with support. FINDINGS Adolescents with cancer perceived social support coming from both friends and family and reported high levels of support satisfaction from each source. Compared to healthy adolescents, those with cancer reported similar support sources and satisfaction levels; however, adolescents with cancer perceived parental relationships as more supportive. CONCLUSIONS Similarities between healthy adolescents and those with cancer regarding social support were more prevalent than differences. The social benefits of camp settings for chronically ill children should be explored further. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING Nurses and other healthcare professionals should allow adolescents in the healthcare setting every opportunity to maintain their social networks of friends and family by encouraging visitation, providing social opportunities in the hospital, and emphasizing the importance of attending school when medically able.
Can half-duplex be simply derived from full-duplex communications?

We consider a discrete memoryless channel between two users and a destination in half-duplex mode implemented by time division. Each transmission block of length n is divided into 3 time slots with variable durations. During the first two time slots, each user alternatively transmits and receives, while during the last time slot, they both transmit to the destination. Even though within each time slot, the channel is similar to a (possibly degraded) broadcast or multiple access channel with known capacity, the capacity of the half-duplex channel cannot be simply derived from these components because of the possibility for joint decoding at the destination over all 3 time slots. We analyze achievable rate regions obtained by superposition encoding, partial decode-forward relaying at each user and two different decoding techniques at the destination. In the first technique, the destination performs separate decoding in each time slot, while in the second one, it performs joint decoding over all 3 time slots. Numerical results for the Gaussian channel show that joint decoding achieves a strictly larger rate region than separate decoding, and both approach the performance of the full-duplex cooperative scheme by Willem et al. as the interuser channel quality increases.