Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chlamydia pneumoniae and lipoprotein(a): the right combination for atherosclerosis?

In their provocative report, Glader and collaborators demonstrated the presence of comparable amounts of circulating immunocomplexes with C. pneumoniae antibodies in 78 subjects who later suffered an acute myocardial infarction and in 156 matched controls. No significant difference in the C. pneumonia antibodies (IgG or IgA) titres (soluble or circulating immunocomplex-associated) was detected between the two categories of subjects. However, C. pneumoniae circulating immunocomplexes were found to contain more lipoprotein(a) in cases than in controls, with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease when circulating immunocomplexes had >13 mg . l 1 of the lipoprotein(a). Based on the synergistic interaction between high lipoprotein(a) and C. pneumonia antibodies in circulating immunocomplexes, the authors hypothesized that C. pneumonia antibodies could form immunocomplexes with some lipoprotein(a) epitopes cross-reactive with C. pneumoniae antigen. Although some serological determinations used throughout this study are far from being standardized and no direct proof that lipoprotein(a) is antigenically recognized by C. pneumonia antibodies is provided, nonetheless, the overall data lends some implicit support to the possibility that at least one component of atherosclerosis relies upon an autoimmune disorder, and that some circulating immunocomplexes of particular combination are involved in the initial endothelial damage. The autoimmune theory of the atherosclerotic process is not new, nor is the idea novel that circulating immunocomplexes may play a role in this and other cardiovascular diseases. The novelty of the study by Glader et al. rather resides in the suggestion that at least some of the C. pneumonia antibodies in circulating immunocomplexes would indeed interact with (recognize? ) lipoprotein(a), thus assigning to this risk factor for myocardial infarction the possible role of a C. pneumoniae antigen mimic. Antigenic mimicry is a widespread phenomenon whereby microbial epitopes are naturally endowed
Effects of blood lead level on biochemical and hematological parameters in children with neurological diseases of Western Maharashtra, India

Abstract Background: Lead is found in small but appreciable quantities in air, soil, drinking water, and food. Exposure to such amounts of lead does not lead to acute lead toxicity but produces subtle effects particularly in children. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of blood lead level on biochemical and hematological parameters in children with neurological diseases in Western Maharashtra, India, and to estimate the blood lead level by liver and kidney function tests and hematological parameters in children with neurological disorders admitted to the pediatric ward and compare them with healthy controls. Methods: In this study, 30 children with various neurological disorders admitted to the pediatric ward of Smt. Kashibai Navale Medical College and General Hospital, Pune, Maharashtra, India, were compared with 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Four milliliters of venous blood was collected for estimation of blood lead level, and biochemical and hematological parameters were determined using standard methods. Results: Blood lead level was significantly increased in the study group (p<0.01, 65.38%) compared to that in the control group. When different neurological conditions were grouped into three groups according to blood lead levels, there was a significant difference between the groups. All other biochemical and hematological parameters were not significantly altered in the study group as compared to the control group. Conclusions: Neurologically challenged children are more vulnerable to lead intoxication. It is imperative for the parents to take extra care of their children’s food habits and limit hand-to-mouth activities to prevent lead intoxication.
[Transfer of obstetric patients in a pregnant and postpartum condition to an intensive care unit: eighty-two cases in Burkina Faso].

OBJECTIVE To review all obstetric admissions to an intensive care unit (ICU) of an African hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS Retrospective analysis of the records of all obstetric patients admitted to the ICU of Souro Sanou Hospital in Burkina Faso, from January 1st, 1996, to June 30, 1998. RESULTS Eighty-two patients out of 6119 deliveries were transferred to the ICU, which meant a 1.34% transfer rate. These transfers concerned young patients (mean age of 24 years), coming originally from outlying maternities in 52.4% and having already given birth in 64.63% of the cases. The two main diagnoses at the ICU were: eclampsia and septic shock. The large majority of the patients (73 out of 82) had at least one bad prognosis factor at admission at the ICU. A maternal mortality rate of 60% was noted, the main risk factors for mortality being acute respiratory condition and severe anemia. CONCLUSION Mortality of obstetric patients admitted to ICUs is very high in our setting. Establishing an ICU within the obstetric unit or early detection of cases to be transferred (scoring system? ) should improve the prognosis.
Real-time multiple sound source localization using a circular microphone array based on single-source confidence measures

We propose a novel real-time adaptative localization approach for multiple sources using a circular array, in order to suppress the localization ambiguities faced with linear arrays, and assuming a weak sound source sparsity which is derived from blind source separation methods. Our proposed method performs very well both in simulations and in real conditions at 50% real-time.
Vitamin E for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: Ready for prime time?

BACKGROUND: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is a common liver disease that can progress to cirrhosis. Currently, there is no established treatment for this disease. METHODS: We randomly assigned 247 adults with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and without diabetes to receive pioglitazone at a dose of 30 mg daily (80 subjects), vitamin E at a dose of 800 IU daily (84 subjects), or placebo (83 subjects), for 96 weeks. The primary outcome was an improvement in histologic features of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, as assessed with the use of a composite of standardized scores for steatosis, lobular inflammation, hepatocellular ballooning, and fibrosis. Given the two planned primary comparisons, P values of less than 0.025 were considered to indicate statistical significance. RESULTS: Vitamin E therapy, as compared with placebo, was associated with a significantly higher rate of improvement in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (43% vs. 19%, P=0.001), but the difference in the rate of improvement with pioglitazone as compared with placebo was not significant (34% and 19%, respectively; P=0.04). Serum alanine and aspartate aminotransferase levels were reduced with vitamin E and with pioglitazone, as compared with placebo (P<0.001 for both comparisons), and both agents were associated with reductions in hepatic steatosis (P=0.005 for vitamin E and P<0.001 for pioglitazone) and lobular inflammation (P=0.02 for vitamin E and P=0.004 for pioglitazone) but not with improvement in fibrosis scores (P=0.24 for vitamin E and P=0.12 for pioglitazone). Subjects who received pioglitazone gained more weight than did those who received vitamin E or placebo; the rates of other side effects were similar among the three groups. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin E was superior to placebo for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in adults without diabetes. There was no benefit of pioglitazone over placebo for the primary outcome; however, significant benefits of pioglitazone were observed for some of the secondary outcomes.
Detection of aberrant p16 methylation in the serum of colorectal cancer patients.

PURPOSE This study was designed to detect aberrant p16 promoter methylation in the serum of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and to explore the possibility of using this assay in early detection or as a prognostic marker of CRC patients. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Methylation-specific PCR was used to detect p16 methylation in DNA extracted from 52 CRCs and matching serum samples and control serum samples from 34 patients with adenomatous polyps and 10 healthy individuals. The association of p16 hypermethylation in serum DNA of CRC patients with clinicopathological characteristics was then analyzed. RESULTS P16 hypermethylation was found in 20 of 52 (38%) CRCs. Among the 20 cases with aberrant methylation in the tumor tissues, similar changes were also detected in the serum of 14 (70%) cases. No methylated p16 sequences were detected in the peripheral serum of the other 32 CRC cases without these changes in the tumor, in 34 patients with adenomatous polyps, or in 10 healthy control subjects. Clinicopathological analysis revealed that p16 methylation in serum was significantly associated with later Dukes' stage (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS This assay offers a potential means for the serum-based detection and/or monitoring of CRC patients.
Preventing iron deficiency in preschool children by implementing an educational and screening programme in an inner city practice.

OBJECTIVE--To assess the feasibility and acceptability of screening young children for iron deficiency in a deprived inner city practice and to assess the effects of a programme of dietary education. DESIGN--Prospective study of children in general practice, comparison with historical controls. SETTING--A deprived inner city practice. PATIENTS--127 Children aged 13-24 months. Findings were compared with those in 110 children of the same age studied previously. INTERVENTIONS--All mothers received dietary education antenatally and in the first year after giving birth. Screening for iron deficiency (defined as mean cell volume less than 75 fl and haemoglobin concentration less than 105 g/l) and haemoglobinopathy (when appropriate) was offered for all children attending for immunisation against measles, mumps, and rubella over 12 months; capillary blood samples were taken after immunisation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Uptake of the screening programme expressed as the percentage of all children eligible for immunisation who were screened, and the effectiveness of the dietary education as shown by the prevalence of iron deficiency in the two groups. RESULTS--Altogether, 122 of the 127 (96%) children who attended for immunisation had their haemoglobin concentration and mean cell volume measured; 90% of all children aged 13-24 months in the practice were screened. Dietary education, clinical procedures, and counselling were incorporated successfully into the clinic's work. Ten children (8%) were iron deficient, all of whom responded to iron supplements, and eight had a haemoglobinopathy trait. In the previous study 110 children (70%) had been screened and 28 children (25%) had been iron deficient. The two groups were similar in terms of sex, social class, and ethnic group. CONCLUSIONS--Screening young children for iron deficiency, sickle cell disease, and thalassaemia when they attended for immunisation was acceptable and successful in a socially deprived inner city practice. Dietary education may have accounted for some of the reduction in the prevalence of iron deficiency that occurred over the two years.
The lymphoid system: a review of species differences

While an understanding of the structure and function of a generically described immune system is essential in contemporary biomedicine, it is clear that a one-size-fits-all approach applied across multiple species is fraught with contradictions and inconsistencies. Nevertheless, the breakthroughs achieved in immunology following the application of observations in murine systems to that of man have been pivotal in the advancement of biology and human medicine. However, as additional species have been used to further address biologic and safety assessment questions relative to the structure and function of the immune system, it has become clear that there are differences across species, gender, age and strain that must be considered. The meaningfulness of these differences must be determined on a case-by-case basis. This review article attempts to collect, consolidate and discuss some of these species differences thereby aiding in the accurate placement of new observations in a proper immunobiological and immunopathological perspective.
New Directions in 3D User Interfaces

Three-dimensional user interfaces (3D UIs) support user tasks in many non-traditional interactive systems such as virtual environments and augmented reality. Although 3D UI researchers have been successful in identifying basic user tasks and interaction metaphors, evaluating the usability of 3D interaction techniques, and improving the usability of many applications, 3D UI research now stands at a crossroads. Very few fundamentally new techniques and metaphors for 3D interaction have been discovered in recent years, yet the usability of 3D UIs in many real-world applications is still not at a desirable level. What directions should 3D UI researchers next explore to improve this situation? In this paper, we make some observations about the history of 3D UIs and the current state-of-the-art. Using this evidence, in addition to our own experience, we argue that 3D UI researchers should approach this problem using some new research approaches, which cluster around the concepts of specificity, flavors, implementation, and emerging technologies. We illustrate and discuss some of these new directions using case studies of research projects undertaken in our group. These explorations indicate the promise of these directions for further increasing our understanding of 3D interaction and 3D UI design, and for ensuring the usability of 3D UIs in future applications.
Characterization of EMG Patterns From Proximal Arm Muscles During Object- and Orientation-Specific Grasps

Reach-to-grasp tasks are composed of several actions that are more and more considered as simultaneously controlled by the central nervous system in a feedforward manner (at least for well-known activities). If this hypothesis is correct, during prehension tasks, the activity of proximal muscles (and not only of the distal ones used to control finger movements) is modulated according to the kind of object to be grasped and its position. This means that different objects could be identified by processing the electromyographic (EMG) signals recorded from proximal muscles. In this paper, specific experiments have been carried out to support this hypothesis in able-bodied subjects. The results achieved seem to confirm this possibility by showing that the activation of proximal muscles can be statistically different for different grip types. This finding supports the hypothesis that proximal and distal muscles are simultaneously controlled during reaching and grasping. Moreover, this kind of information could allow the development of an EMG-based control strategy based on the natural muscular activities selected by the central nervous system.
PKC-dependent preconditioning with norepinephrine protects sarcoplasmic reticulum function in rat trabeculae following metabolic inhibition.

The authors have previously shown that norepinephrine (NE) pretreatment attenuates Ca2+ overloading in cardiac rat trabeculae during metabolic inhibition, and improves contractile function during a subsequent recovery period. The present study investigated: (i) whether protection of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) function during metabolic inhibition (MI) is involved in the preconditioning-like effect of NE-pretreatment, and (ii) whether or not this process is PKC-dependent. A 15 min preincubation period was used with 1 micromol/l exogenous NE to precondition isolated, superfused rat trabeculae against contractile dysfunctioning following 40 min of MI in 2 mmol/l NaCN containing Tyrode (gassed with 95% O2/5% CO2; pH 7.4, 24 degrees C) without glucose at 1-Hz stimulation frequency. Contractile recovery was studied during a subsequent 60 min recovery period (RP) in glucose containing Tyrode at 0.2 Hz. Force and intracellular free calcium ([Ca2+]ii) were monitored throughout the experimental protocol. Pretreatment of trabeculae with NE (group NE) substantially diminished the Ca2+ rise from the onset of rigor development during MI, compared to preparations which were pretreated with NE, in the presence of specific PKC blocker chelerythrine (2 micromol/l; group NE+CHEL). After 40 min of MI, resting [Ca2+]i in group NE and NE+CHEL was increased to 0.50+/-0.03 and 2.08+/-0.20 micromol/l, respectively (P<0.05), whereas total intracellular ATP levels were similar in both groups (approximately 0.20 micromol/g dry wt). This corresponded with an increase in active force development (119%) and a decrease in twitch force relaxation time (77%) during subsequent RP in group NE, compared to pre-MI values of the same group. In contrast, a significant decrease in force recovery (54%) and an increase in twitch force relaxation time (123%) was observed in group NE+CHEL. Values for [Ca2+]i, contractile recovery, and twitch force relaxation time in untreated controls as well as CHEL preparations corresponded to those measured in the NE+CHEL group. Rapid cooling contractures (RCCs), which provide information on both SR-Ca2+ loading and Ca2+ re-uptake activity, revealed a 2-fold higher SR Ca2+ content during RP in group NE compared to controls and group NE+CHEL. In addition, kinetic analysis of the RCC rewarming spike (RWS) showed that this was accompanied by greater than a 28% increase in the maximum rate of RWS relaxation (-dF/dt/rws) in group NE compared to group NE+CHEL. The change of -dF/dt/rws in the NE group during RP following MI persisted after SR Ca2+-release channel blockade by ryanodine treatment (100 micromol/l), which suggests involvement of NE-induced, PKC-dependent protection of SR Ca2+-ATPase activity. The results of the present study point to an inverse relationship between the Ca2+ rise during MI and SR functioning, in which PKC appears to play a key role. It is concluded that the preconditioning-like effect of NE-pretreatment on contractile recovery is at least partly mediated by protection of SR function.
Elevated blood lead levels and blood lead screening among US children aged one to five years: 1988-1994.

OBJECTIVES To estimate the proportion of children 1 to 5 years of age who received blood lead testing during 1988-1994 and to assess whether predictors of testing coincided with predictors of elevated blood lead levels. DESIGN Cross-sectional analysis of data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants. US children 1 to 5 years of age. Outcome Measures. Prevalence of blood lead testing and elevated blood lead levels among children 1 to 5 years of age and odds ratios for factors predicting blood lead testing and elevated blood lead levels. RESULTS Overall, 6.3% had elevated blood lead levels and 10.2% had undergone previous blood lead tests. Being of minority race/ethnicity, living in an older home, residing in the Northeast or Midwest regions of the United States, being on Medicaid, having a head of household with <12 years of education, and having a history of anemia were significant factors in both models. Additional independent risk factors for an elevated blood lead level included being sampled in phase 1 of the survey, being 1 to 2 years of age, not having a regular doctor, and being sampled during the summer months. Additional independent correlates of a previous blood lead test included having moved less than twice in one's lifetime, having a female head of household, and having parents whose home language was English. Of an estimated 564 000 children 1 to 5 years of age who had elevated blood lead levels and no previous screening test in 1993, 62% were receiving Medicaid, 40% lived in homes built before 1946, and 34% were black, non-Hispanic. CONCLUSIONS Lead screening was more frequent among children with risk factors for lead exposure. However, among children with elevated blood lead levels, only one third had been tested previously. In 1993 an estimated 564 000 children 1 to 5 years of age had elevated blood lead levels but were never screened. Physicians should screen Medicaid-eligible children and should follow state or local health department recommendations about identifying and screening other at-risk children. In areas where no health department guidelines exist, physicians should screen all children or screen based on known risk factors.
Pediatric Vancomycin Use in 421 Hospitals in the United States, 2008

Background Recommendations to prevent the spread of vancomycin resistance have been in place since 1995 and include guidelines for inpatient pediatric use of vancomycin. The emergence of large databases allows us to describe variation in pediatric vancomycin across hospitals. We analyzed a database with hospitalizations for children under 18 at 421 hospitals in 2008. Methodology/Principal Findings The Premier hospital 2008 database, consisting of records for 877,201 pediatric hospitalizations in 421 hospitals, was analyzed. Stratified analyses and logistic mixed effects models were used to calculate the probability of vancomycin use while considering random effects of hospital variation, hospital fixed effects and patient effects, and the hierarchical structure of the data. Most hospitals (221) had fewer than 10 hospitalizations with vancomycin use in the study period, and 47 hospitals reported no vancomycin use in 17,271 pediatric hospitalizations. At the other end of the continuum, 21 hospitals (5.6% of hospitals) each had over 200 hospitalizations with vancomycin use, and together, accounted for more than 50% of the pediatric hospitalizations with vancomycin use. The mixed effects modeling showed hospital variation in the probability of vancomycin use that was statistically significant after controlling for teaching status, urban or rural location, size, region of the country, patient ethnic group, payor status, and APR-mortality and severity codes. Conclusions/Significance The number and percentage of pediatric hospitalizations with vancomycin use varied greatly across hospitals and was not explained by hospital or patient characteristics in our logistic models. Public health efforts to reduce vancomycin use should be intensified at hospitals with highest use.
Linear-kink-noise suppression in partially depleted SOI using the twin-gate MOSFET configuration

The impact of using a twin-gate (TG) configuration on the gate-induced excess Lorentzian noise in thin-gate partially depleted (PD) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) n-MOSFETs has been investigated and compared with the behavior in a single-gate (SG) device. A reduction by a factor 2 of the noise overshoot amplitude at a frequency of 10 Hz can be obtained in the TG case, which is related to a similar reduction of the plateau amplitude of the Lorentzian noise component. It is shown that this decrease is generated by a lowering of the body-effect factor /spl gamma//sub B/ due to the presence of the inner floating n/sup +/ contact. It is believed that there, recombination of the injected holes takes place, thereby pinning the channel potential.
Low‐field dedicated magnetic resonance imaging: a potential tool for assisting perinatal autopsy

Although the practice of perinatal autopsy has increased in recent years, examination of the fetus and especially of the fetal brain during the first trimester or the beginning of the second trimester remains difficult. Postmortem high‐resolution images of the brain of a normal and an abnormal fetus of the same gestational age (22 weeks) were obtained with a low‐field (0.1 T) dedicated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. We demonstrated that a small MRI machine supplemented data from classical necropsy and may help in the interpretation of in utero ultrasound and magnetic resonance images for the antenatal diagnosis of fetal malformations. Copyright © 1998 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology