Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interleukin 6 and apolipoprotein E as predictors of acute brain dysfunction and survival in critical care patients.

BACKGROUND Delirium occurs in up to 80% of intensive care patients and is associated with poor outcomes. The biological cause of delirium remains elusive. OBJECTIVES To determine if delirium and recovery are associated with serum levels of interleukins and apolipoprotein E over time and with apolipoprotein E genotype. METHODS The sample consisted of 77 patients with no previous cognitive deficits who required mechanical ventilation for 24 to 96 hours. Daily serum samples were obtained for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay measurements of interleukins 6, 8, and 10 and apolipoprotein E. DNA extracted from blood was analyzed for apolipoprotein E genotyping. The Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit was administered daily on days 2 through 9. RESULTS Among the 77 patients, 23% had no delirium, 46% experienced delirium, and 31% experienced coma. Additionally, 77% had delirium or coma (acute brain dysfunction), and compared with other patients, had fewer ventilator-free days (P = .03), longer stay (P = .04), higher care needs at discharge (P = .001), higher mortality (P = .02), and higher levels of interleukin 6 (P = .03), and the APOE*3/*3 apolipoprotein E genotype (P = .05). Serum levels of apolipoprotein E correlated with levels of interleukins 8 and 10. Patients with the E4 allele of apolipoprotein E had shorter duration of delirium (P = .02) and lower mortality (P = .03) than did patients without this allele. CONCLUSIONS Apolipoprotein E plays a complex role in illness response and recovery in critically ill patients. The relationship between apolipoprotein E genotype and brain dysfunction and survival is unclear.
Should Visual Restoration Therapy be Used in Patients With Visual Field Loss?

Visual field loss, and homonymous hemianopia in particular, results in major morbidity by causing impaired mobility and reading (1). Treatment options are limited, and few if any such therapies are supported by high-quality evidence. Visual restoration therapy is thought to expand the impaired hemifield and result in functional recovery, but the reputed benefit is controversial. Two experts debate the use of vision restoration therapy in patients with visual field loss.
Age Estimation in Indians Using Demirjian’s 8‐teeth Method

Abstract: Demirjian’s grading of tooth calcification is widely used to assess age of individuals with developing dentitions. However, its application on numerous populations has resulted in wide variations in age estimates and consequent suggestions for the method’s adaptation to the local sample. Conventionally, Demirjian’s method utilized seven mandibular teeth on the left side. A recent modification incorporated the third molar with a view to apply the method on a wider age‐group. Moreover, the revised method developed regression formulas for assessing age. This paper tested the 8‐teeth method using 547 Indians (348 females, 199 males) aged 7–25 years. Demirjian’s formulas resulted in inferior age prediction in Indians (9.2% misclassification at 99% confidence interval vs. 0% misclassification in the original study); therefore, India‐specific regression formulas were developed, which gave better age estimates (mean absolute error, MAE = 0.87 years) than the original formulas (MAE = 1.29 years). This suggests that Demirjian’s 8‐teeth method also needs adaptation prior to use in diverse populations.
Increased B and T Cell Responses in M. bovis Bacille Calmette-Guérin Vaccinated Pigs Co-Immunized with Plasmid DNA Encoding a Prototype Tuberculosis Antigen

The only tuberculosis vaccine currently available, bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a poor inducer of CD8+ T cells, which are particularly important for the control of latent tuberculosis and protection against reactivation. As the induction of strong CD8+ T cell responses is a hallmark of DNA vaccines, a combination of BCG with plasmid DNA encoding a prototype TB antigen (Ag85A) was tested. As an alternative animal model, pigs were primed with BCG mixed with empty vector or codon-optimized pAg85A by the intradermal route and boosted with plasmid delivered by intramuscular electroporation. Control pigs received unformulated BCG. The BCG-pAg85A combination stimulated robust and sustained Ag85A specific antibody, lymphoproliferative, IL-6, IL-10 and IFN-γ responses. IgG1/IgG2 antibody isotype ratio reflected the Th1 helper type biased response. T lymphocyte responses against purified protein derivative of tuberculin (PPD) were induced in all (BCG) vaccinated animals, but responses were much stronger in BCG-pAg85A vaccinated pigs. Finally, Ag85A-specific IFN-γ producing CD8+ T cells were detected by intracellular cytokine staining and a synthetic peptide, spanning Ag85A131-150 and encompassing two regions with strong predicted SLA-1*0401/SLA-1*0801 binding affinity, was promiscuously recognized by 6/6 animals vaccinated with the BCG-pAg85A combination. Our study provides a proof of concept in a large mammalian species, for a new Th1 and CD8+ targeting tuberculosis vaccine, based on BCG-plasmid DNA co-administration.
Social Business Models: When Profits and Impacts Are Not at Odds

In the last decade the emergence of new social needs as an effect of the economic crisis has stimulated the flourishing of business endeavours characterised by explicit social goals. Social start-ups, social enterprises or Corporate Social Responsibility operations carried out by traditional companies are quintessential examples in this regard. This paper analyses these kinds of initiatives in order to discover the main characteristics of social business models and to provide insights to social entrepreneurs for developing or improving their strategies. The research is conducted through the integration of literature review and case study analysis and, thanks to the recognition of the importance of both profits and social impacts as the key success factors for a social business model, proposes a framework for identifying indicators suitable for measuring the social impacts generated. Keywords—Business model, case study, impacts, social business.
Who lies? A meta-analysis of the effect of sex, age, and education on honesty

What characteristics distinguish liars from truth-tellers? Recent research has explored"when"and"why"people lie. Yet little is known about"who"lies. Previous studies have led to mixed results about the effect of gender on deception, and they have largely neglected the role of other characteristics, such as age and level of education. To shed light on these questions, here I report a meta-analysis of 6,508 distinct observations, collected in 50 Deception Game treatments, by 6 research groups. I find that: (i) males are more likely than females to tell black lies; (ii) males are more likely than females to tell altruistic white lies; (iii) males are (marginally) more likely than females to tell Pareto white lies; (iv) age has no effect on the decision to tell black lies; (v) age has no effect on the decision to tell altruistic white lies; (vi) age has no effect on the decision to tell Pareto white lies; (vii) educated subjects are more likely than non-educated subjects to tell black lies; (viii) the level of education has no effect on the decision to tell altruistic white lies; (ix) educated subjects are more likely than non-educated subjects to tell Pareto white lies.
Analysis of Surgical Site Infection after Musculoskeletal Tumor Surgery: Risk Assessment Using a New Scoring System

Surgical site infection (SSI) has not been extensively studied in musculoskeletal tumors (MST) owing to the rarity of the disease. We analyzed incidence and risk factors of SSI in MST. SSI incidence was evaluated in consecutive 457 MST cases (benign, 310 cases and malignant, 147 cases) treated at our institution. A detailed analysis of the clinical background of the patients, pre- and postoperative hematological data, and other factors that might be associated with SSI incidence was performed for malignant MST cases. SSI occurred in 0.32% and 12.2% of benign and malignant MST cases, respectively. The duration of the surgery (P = 0.0002) and intraoperative blood loss (P = 0.0005) was significantly more in the SSI group than in the non-SSI group. We established the musculoskeletal oncological surgery invasiveness (MOSI) index by combining 4 risk factors (blood loss, operation duration, preoperative chemotherapy, and the use of artificial materials). The MOSI index (0–4 points) score significantly correlated with the risk of SSI, as demonstrated by an SSI incidence of 38.5% in the group with a high score (3-4 points). The MOSI index score and laboratory data at 1 week after surgery could facilitate risk evaluation and prompt diagnosis of SSI.
Title: 1 a Model of Cholinergic Modulation in Olfactory Bulb and Piriform Cortex 2

15 In this work we investigate in a computational model how cholinergic inputs to the 16 olfactory bulb (OB) and piriform cortex (PC) modulate odor representations. We use 17 experimental data derived from different physiological studies of ACh modulation of the 18 bulbar and cortical circuitry and the interaction between these two areas. The results 19 presented here indicate that cholinergic modulation in the OB significantly increases 20 contrast and synchronization in mitral cell output. Each one of these effects is derived 21 from distinct neuronal interactions, with different groups of interneurons playing 22 different roles. Both bulbar modulation effects contribute to more stable learned 23 representations in PC, with pyramidal networks trained using cholinergic modulated 24 inputs from the bulb exhibiting more robust learning than those trained with unmodulated 25 bulbar inputs. This increased robustness is evidenced as better recovery of memories 26 from corrupted patterns and lower concentration inputs as well as increased memory 27 capacity. 28
Electrical Stimulation of Semicircular Canal Afferents Affects the Perception of Head Orientation

Patients with vestibular dysfunction have visual, perceptual, and postural deficits. While there is considerable evidence that a semicircular canal prosthesis that senses angular head velocity and stimulates canal ampullary nerves can improve vision by augmenting the vestibulo-ocular reflex, no information is available regarding the potential utility of a canal prosthesis to improve perceptual deficits. In this study, we investigated the possibility that electrical stimulation of canal afferents could be used to modify percepts of head orientation. Two rhesus monkeys were trained to align a light bar parallel to gravity, and were tested in the presence and absence of electrical stimulation provided by an electrode implanted in the right posterior canal. While the monkeys aligned the light bar close to the true earth-vertical without stimulation, when the right posterior canal was stimulated their responses deviated toward their left ear, consistent with a misperception of head tilt toward the right. The deviation of the light bar from the earth-vertical exceeded the torsional deviation of the eyes, indicating that the perceptual changes were not simply visual in origin. Eye movements recorded during electrical stimulation in the dark were consistent with isolated activation of right posterior canal afferents, with no evidence of otolith stimulation. These results demonstrate that electrical stimulation of canal afferents affects the perception of head orientation, and therefore suggest that motion-modulated stimulation of canal afferents by a vestibular prosthesis could potentially improve vestibular percepts in patients lacking normal vestibular function.
Outcomes of first line chemotherapy in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Objective: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a heterogeneous disease in terms of survival with and without treatment. Many chemo and immunotherapeutic agents are available to treat this indolent disease. Aim of this study was to determine the outcomes of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia treated with different available chemotherapeutic regimens. Methods: All patients with diagnosis of CLL from 2008 to 2013 were included. Data were collected from hospital information system. Objective response rate (ORR) in terms of complete or partial response (CR, PR), stable or progressive disease (SD, PD), overall survival (OS), and progression free survival (PFS) were calculated. Results: Fifty seven patients were included; 42 (74%) male and 15 (26%) were female. Patients with Binet stage A 10 (18%); B 20 (35%) and C were 27(47%). Median age was 50.9 years. Forty six (80%) were treated and 11(20%) remained on watch and wait. Treatment indications were B symptoms 14 (30%), symptomatic nodal disease 18(39%), thrombocytopenia 4(9%), anemia 7(15%) and doubling of lymphocyte count 3 (7%). Chemotherapy regimens used were FC in 38 (83%), FCR 5(11%), chlorambucil 2(4%) and CVP in 1(2%) patient. Twenty two (56%) patients had CR, 13(33%) PR, 3(7.6 %) SD, and 1(2.5%) had PD. ORR was 89%. Median PFS was 23.1 months and median 3 years OS was 55%. Conclusion: Majority of patients was in a relatively younger age group and presented with advanced stage disease requiring treatment. Small number of patients received rituximab due to cost. PFS and OS are comparable with published literature.
Free and N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide copolymer-bound geldanamycin derivative induce different stress responses in A2780 human ovarian carcinoma cells.

The effects of geldanamycin (GA), 17-(3-aminopropylamino)-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (AP-GA), and N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide copolymer-AP-GA conjugate [P(AP-GA)] on A2780 human ovarian carcinoma cells at an equitoxic dose (2x IC(50)) were compared by the gene expression array analysis. All treatments resulted in similar gene expression profiles up to 12 h (e.g., down-regulation of CDK4 and up-regulation of APAF-1), although P(AP-GA)-treated cells showed delayed gene expression because of time-dependent internalization of the conjugate and intracellular drug release from P(AP-GA). However, AP-GA-treated cells showed elevated expression of HSP70 and HSP27 after 6 h compared with that observed by GA and P(AP-GA) treatments. Depletion of C-Raf, an HSP90 client protein, was observed in all treatments up to 12 h. Confocal microscopy using mesochlorin e(6) as a model drug revealed that drug release caused by the lysosomal cleavage of glycylphenylalanylleucylglycine oligopeptide spacer, used as GA derivative copolymer attachment/release point, was moderately fast. These results suggested that AP-GA treatment may activate stress-response pathways, whereas P(AP-GA) treatment may suppress them and trigger signaling pathways essential to cell growth arrest and death by inducing an HSP90-active factor. Although GA and P(AP-GA) treatments induced a time-dependent increase in HSP70 and HSP27 protein expression (detected by Western blotting analysis), AP-GA treatment resulted in more rapid and more intense expression of both proteins. Our results suggest that conjugation of AP-GA to N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide copolymer may be able to modulate the cell stress responses induced by AP-GA because of differences in its internalization mechanism, subcellular localization, and intracellular concentration gradients.
Computational topology of graphs on surfaces

Computational topology is an area that revisits topological problems from an algorithmic point of view, and develops topological tools for improved algorithms. We survey results in computational topology that are concerned with graphs drawn on surfaces. Typical questions include representing surfaces and graphs embedded on them computationally, deciding whether a graph embeds on a surface, solving computational problems related to homotopy, optimizing curves and graphs on surfaces, and solving standard graph algorithm problems more efficiently in the case of surface-embedded graphs.
Silicone Implants with Smooth Surfaces Induce Thinner but Denser Fibrotic Capsules Compared to Those with Textured Surfaces in a Rodent Model

Purpose Capsular contracture is the most frequent long-term complication after implant-based breast reconstruction or augmentation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of implant surface properties on fibrotic capsule formation in an animal model. Materials and Methods Twenty-four rats received 1 scaled down silicone implant each; 12 of the rats received implants with textured surfaces, and the other 12 received implants with smooth surfaces. After 60 and 120 days, rats in each group underwent 7-Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and high-resolution ultrasound (HR-US), and specimens of the capsules were acquired and used to measure capsule thickness through histology, collagen density through picro sirius red staining, and analyses of expression of pro-fibrotic and inflammatory genes (Collagen1-4, TGFb1, TGFb3, Smad3, IL4, IL10, IL13, CD68) through qRT-PCR. Furthermore, MRI data were processed to obtain capsule volume and implant surface area. Results On day 60, histology and HR-US showed that fibrotic capsules were significantly thicker in the textured implant group with respect to the smooth implant group (p<0.05). However, this difference did not persist on day 120 (p=0.56). Capsule thickness decreased significantly over the study period in both smooth and textured implant groups (p<0.05). Thickness measurements were substantiated by MRI analysis and volumes changed accordingly. Implant surface area did not vary between study dates, but it was different between implant types. On day 60, the density of collagen in the fibrotic capsules was significantly lower in the textured implant group with respect to the smooth group (p<0.05), but again this difference did not persist on day 120 (p=0.67). Collagen 1 and CD68 were respectively over- and under expressed in the textured implant group on day 60. Significant differences in the expression of other genes were not observed. Conclusion Silicone implants with textured surfaces led to temporarily thicker but less dense fibrotic capsules compared with smooth surfaces. 7-Tesla MRI and HR-US are capable for non-invasive in-vivo assessment of capsular fibrosis in an animal model and can provide unique insights into the fibrotic process by 3D reconstruction and surface area measurement.
A Maximum-Entropy-Inspired Parser

We present a new parser for parsing down to Penn tree-bank style parse trees that achieves 90.1% average precision/recall for sentences of length 40 and less, and 89.5% for sentences of length 100 and less when trained and tested on the previously established [5, 9, 10, 15, 17] "standard" sections of the Wall Street Journal treebank. This represents a 13% decrease in error rate over the best single-parser results on this corpus [9]. The major technical innovation is the use of a "maximum-entropy-inspired" model for conditioning and smoothing that let us successfully to test and combine many different conditioning events. We also present some partial results showing the effects of different conditioning information, including a surprising 2% improvement due to guessing the lexical head's pre-terminal before guessing the lexical head.
The Repression of Human Differentiation-related Gene NDRG2 Expression by Myc via Miz-1-dependent Interaction with the NDRG2 Core Promoter*

The N-myc downstream-regulated gene 1 (ndrg1) is highly expressed in N-myc knock-out mice through an unknown regulatory mechanism. As one member of the human NDRG gene family, NDRG2 encodes a protein highly homologous to Ndrg1. However, it is uncertain whether the expression of human NDRG2 is regulated by Myc because mouse ndrg2 and -3 are not affected by Myc. In this study, we provide the novel evidence that the expression of human NDRG2 is down-regulated by Myc via transcriptional repression. A high level of NDRG2 was observed as Myc expression was reduced in differentiated cells, whereas a low level of NDRG2 was shown following increased Myc expression upon serum stimulation. The ectopic expression of c-Myc dramatically reduces the cellular Ndrg2 protein and mRNA level. We further identified the core promoter region of NDRG2 that is required for Myc repression on NDRG2 transcription, and we verified the interaction of Myc with the core promoter region both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, the c-Myc-mediated repression of NDRG2 requires association with Miz-1, and possibly the recruitment of other epigenetic factors, such as histone deacetylases, to the promoter. The regulatory function of Myc on NDRG2 gene expression implicated the role of the Ndrg2 in regulating cell differentiation.
Evolution of Near-Miss Clones

It is often claimed that duplicated source code fragments increase the maintenance effort in software systems. To investigate the impact of so called clones it is useful to analyze how they evolve. A previous study analyzed several aspects of the evolution of identical clones in nine open source systems and has found that the peculiarity of clone evolution is significantly different for each system, which makes a general conclusion difficult. In this paper we investigate in which ways the evolution of near-miss clones differs from the evolution of identical clones. By analyzing seven open source systems we draw comparisons between identical and near-miss clones. Based on the findings we conclude that near-miss clones require more attention regarding clone management techniques compared to identical clones.
Covalent Immobilization of Bacillus licheniformis γ-Glutamyl Transpeptidase on Aldehyde-Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles

This work presents the synthesis and use of surface-modified iron oxide nanoparticles for the covalent immobilization of Bacillus licheniformis γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (BlGGT). Magnetic nanoparticles were prepared by an alkaline solution of divalent and trivalent iron ions, and they were subsequently treated with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APES) to obtain the aminosilane-coated nanoparticles. The functional group on the particle surface and the amino group of BlGGT was then cross-linked using glutaraldehyde as the coupling reagent. The loading capacity of the prepared nanoparticles for BlGGT was 34.2 mg/g support, corresponding to 52.4% recovery of the initial activity. Monographs of transmission electron microscopy revealed that the synthesized nanoparticles had a mean diameter of 15.1 ± 3.7 nm, and the covalent cross-linking of the enzyme did not significantly change their particle size. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the immobilization of BlGGT on the magnetic nanoparticles. The chemical and kinetic behaviors of immobilized BlGGT are mostly consistent with those of the free enzyme. The immobilized enzyme could be recycled ten times with 36.2% retention of the initial activity and had a comparable stability respective to free enzyme during the storage period of 30 days. Collectively, the straightforward synthesis of aldehyde-functionalized nanoparticles and the efficiency of enzyme immobilization offer wide perspectives for the practical use of surface-bound BlGGT.
Detection of JC virus DNA fragments but not proteins in normal brain tissue

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a fatal demyelinating disease of the white matter affecting immunocompromised patients that results from the cytolytic destruction of glial cells by the human neurotropic JC virus (JCV). According to one model, during the course of immunosuppression, JCV departs from its latent state in the kidney and after entering the brain, productively infects and destroys oligodendrocytes. The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that JCV may reside in a latent state in a specific region of the brains of immunocompetent (non‐PML) individuals without any neurological conditions.