Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reoperation for neoaortic root pathology after the arterial switch operation.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate incidence and results of surgical intervention for neoaortic root pathology following arterial switch operation (ASO) for transposition of the great arteries (TGA). METHODS Between April 1996 and August 2013, 12 patients underwent reoperation for neoaortic root dilatation (ARD) and/or neoaortic valve regurgitation (AR). Maximal aortic sinus and annulus diameter Z-scores were recorded. Original diagnoses were TGA/IVS (6), TGA/ventricular septal defect (VSD) (4) and Taussig-Bing anomaly (2) with ASO at a median age of 0.1 (range: 0-10.6) years. Age at ASO, VSD and complex TGA were reviewed as possible risk factors for reoperation. RESULTS Twelve patients with tricuspid neoaortic valves underwent 15 root operations; indications were root dilatation (4) and root dilatation with AR (8). Median age was 18.0 (3.0-29.0) years at first reoperation. Median aortic root Z-score at reoperation was 6.33 (range: 3.84-12.15). Procedures were: Bentall procedure (6), aortic valve replacement (2), neoaortic valve plasty (1), supracoronary tube (1) and switch-back operation (2). Mean follow-up was 7.0 ± 5.7 years and complete. No mortality occurred. One patient had two reoperations for late endocarditis. Technical difficulties were encountered related to specific anatomy post-ASO concerning coronary anatomy, poor exposure and thin-walled aorta at the site of pulmonary artery bifurcation after Lecompte manoeuvre. Valve sparing surgery seemed not feasible due to specific anatomy of the neoaortic root and valve. No risk factors for reoperation could be identified. CONCLUSIONS After ASO, surgery for neoaortic root pathology may become necessary when follow-up is long enough and regardless of primary diagnosis or other risk factors. Redo neoaortic surgery can be performed with low risk taking into account the specific technical difficulties.
Point mutations in the S protein connect the sialic acid binding activity with the enteropathogenicity of transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus

Enteropathogenic transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), a porcine coronavirus, is able to agglutinate erythrocytes because of sialic acid binding activity. Competitive inhibitors that may mask the sialic acid binding activity can be inactivated by sialidase treatment of virions. Here, we show that TGEV virions with efficient hemagglutinating activity were also obtained when cells were treated with sialidase prior to infection. This method was used to analyze TGEV mutants for hemagglutinating activity. Recently, mutants with strongly reduced enteropathogenicity that have point mutations or a deletion of four amino acids within residues 145 to 155 of the S protein have been described. Here, we show that in addition to their reduced pathogenicity, these mutants also have lost hemagglutinating activity. These results connect sialic acid binding activity with the enteropathogenicity of TGEV.
Adaptations to an aquatic life may be responsible for the reversed sexual size dimorphism in the water spider, Argyroneta aquatica

Argyroneta aquatica is the only spider that spends its whole life under water, and one of very few in which males are bigger than females. We hypothesized that the unusual ecology of the water spider is responsible for its exceptional sexual size dimorphism. If ecological parameters influence optimal body size for locomotion, the size of the more mobile sex (males) is expected to vary more between populations that vary in these ecological conditions than that of the other sex (females). Indeed, sexual size dimorphism differed significantly between four populations of A. aquatica studied at Vienna, and this variation depended more on variance in male size than in female size. We found that, apart from size, body shape and the relative length of the first pair of legs also differed significantly between the sexes. In land spiders, among which females are usually larger than males, small male size has been attributed to the better mobility of smaller individuals, as generally males are the more mobile sex in spiders. In aquatic animals, larger individuals have mobility advantages over smaller ones. We therefore hypothesized that, in A. aquatica, large rather than small size may facilitate locomotion, and hence that males are better divers than females. This was confirmed by the results of diving experiments. It is probable that male diving superiority is mainly due to their longer first pair of legs. Female size determines fecundity to a large extent. We wished to determine which size constraints could prevent females from growing bigger. Female size may be limited by the costs of building air bells, which they use as a retreat and for brood care. In laboratory experiments, we found that females build larger air bells than males and that air bell size correlates with body size in females but not in males. Females need to collect air from the surface to refill their bells more often than males. We conclude that the need for males to move efficiently under water and the costs to females of building a retreat and breeding shelter may be important determinants of body size and morphology. Hence the reversed sexual size dimorphism in A. aquatica may be greatly influenced by mechanisms of natural selection.
The political transnationalism of immigrant associations in Barcelona

Esta tesis quiere responder a dos preguntas fundamentales en el area de estudio de la migracion transnacional, esto es: ? Se implican los inmigrantes en el transnacionalismo politico? Y, ? cuales son los factores determinantes de su activismo politico transnacional? Por tal de responder a la primera pregunta, se compara el nivel de activismo politico transnacional de una muestra de asociaciones de inmigrantes de diferentes origenes etnico/nacionales en Barcelona. Por contestar a la segunda pregunta, el analisis se centra en posibles factores determinantes a dos niveles, meso y macro. La tesis demuestra que el activismo politico transnacional no esta generalizado entre todas las asociaciones de inmigrantes en Barcelona, que presenta un nivel relativamente bajo de regularidad, y que generalmente se desarrolla al nivel nacional. Tambien demuestra la necesitad de examinar el efecto del contexto de salida y, mas en concreto, el impacto que tiene la estructura de oportunidades politicas del pais de origen para el trasnacionalismo politico de las asociaciones de inmigrantes. Otros determinantes a nivel meso, como las redes sociales o las fuentes de financiacion, parecen explicar la variacion en el activismo politico transnacional de las asociaciones de inmigrantes.
Tanning Beds, Sunlamps, and Risk of Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma

Background: A number of studies have been conducted evaluating the risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma after exposure to sunlamps and/or sunbeds. The proportion of subjects in the individual studies who have reported exposure has, in general, been modest, and the resulting risk estimates for melanoma have been unstable with wide 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). The inconclusive results seen in individual studies have resulted in confusion as to the carcinogenicity of these devices. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of these studies. A review of the literature from Jan 1, 1984 to April 2004 using MEDLINE identified 12 case-control studies and 1 cohort study which quantitatively evaluated the use of sunlamps and/or sunbeds and subsequent melanoma. After applying exclusion/inclusion criteria, 9 case-control and 1 cohort study provided data for the analysis. Summary odds ratios (OR) and 95% CIs for sunlamp/sunbed use and subsequent melanoma were calculated using a random-effect model. Results: Ten studies provided data for assessment of melanoma risk among subjects who reported “ever” being exposed compared with those “never” exposed. A positive association was found between exposure and risk (summary OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.05-1.49). Significant heterogeneity between studies was present. Evaluation of the metrics “first exposure as a young adult” (5 studies) and “longest duration or highest frequency of exposure” (6 studies) also yielded significantly elevated risk estimates (summary OR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.32-2.18, and 1.61; 95% CI, 1.21-2.12, respectively, with no heterogeneity in either analysis). Conclusions: Results indicate a significantly increased risk of cutaneous melanoma subsequent to sunbed/sunlamp exposure.
Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Flagella Aid in Efficient Urinary Tract Colonization

ABSTRACT In the murine model of urinary tract infections (UTI), cystitis by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) occurs through an intimate relationship with the bladder superficial umbrella cell entailing cycles of adherence, invasion, intracellular bacterial community (IBC) formation, and dispersal (fluxing) from the intracellular environment. IBC dispersal is a key step that results in the spread of bacteria over the epithelial surface to initiate additional rounds of IBC formation. We investigated the role of flagella in mediating adherence and motility during UTI, hypothesizing that the dispersion of the IBC would be incomplete in the absence of motility, thus interrupting the IBC pathway and attenuating the infection. Using gfp reporter fusions, the expression of the flagellar class I flhDC and class III fliC genes was monitored to track key points of regulation throughout the pathogenic cascade. In vitro, growth under conditions promoting motility resulted in the robust expression of both fusions. In contrast, only the class I fusion produced significant expression throughout early stages of IBC development including the dispersion stage. Thus, unlike in vitro modeling of motility, the regulatory cascade appeared incomplete in vivo. Throughout IBC formation, nonmotile ΔfliC mutants achieved the same number of IBCs as the wild-type (wt) strain, demonstrating that flagella are neither essential nor required for first- or second-generation IBC formation. However, in competition experiments between wt and ΔfliC strains, the wt was shown to have a fitness advantage in persisting throughout the urinary tract for 2 weeks, demonstrating a subtle but measurable role for flagella in virulence.
Behavioural Variability in Macaques and Langurs of the Western Ghats, India

Studies that compare differences in the behavioural variability across species and genera are rare among south Asian primates. Such studies are important for understanding within-group feeding competition in primates as interindividual difference in frequency of behaviour is a good indicator of feeding competition. We compared the variability in individual activities of lion-tailed macaques, bonnet macaques, Nilgiri langurs, and black-footed grey langurs. Both macaque species showed variability in their activities, with bonnet macaques showing higher variability than lion-tailed macaques. This indicated higher within-group competition in bonnet macaques than in lion-tailed macaques. Folivorous Nilgiri langurs and black-footed grey langurs did not show variability in any behaviour, indicating weak or negligible within-group competition. Except in the bonnet macaque, the interindividual differences in activities in the other species were potentially due to the differences between lactating and non-lactating females. We observed that langurs were less variable than macaques, indicating higher within-group competition in macaques than in langurs. We also observed a higher frequency of aggressive interactions during feeding among macaques than langurs, substantiating higher within-group competition in macaques than in langurs. We further discuss the different possibilities of within-group contest and scramble competition in these species.
Lifespan and mortality of old oaks — combining empirical and modelling approaches to support their management in Southern Sweden

Abstract• Old oaks (Quercus robur L.) play an important role in the southern Scandinavian landscape by providing habitat for a wide range of species, a large proportion of them being currently on the National Redlists. • To provide support for the management of these trees, we review data on oak mortality and formulate a mortality-driven stochastic model analysing interactions between mortality rate, oak recruitment rate into 100–150 age class, and amount of oaks older than 200 years. • Empirical annual mortality rates varied between 0 and 13% with average 1.68%. Trees older 200 years had an average mortality rate of 1.1%. Oaks in the high density forests showed higher mortality (3.2%) as compared to the trees growing in the low density forests (1.2%). A 400-year long modelling exercises indicated that under current mortality rates (regular mortality being centred around 1% annually; and irregular mortality 7% with average return time of 13 years) the long-term maintenance of 20 trees older than 200 years per ha would require an input rate of 1 to 5 trees × year−1 × ha−1 into the 100–150 years old class. • The modelling highlighted the importance of initial oak abundance affecting amount of old trees at the end of shorter (100 years) simulation period. Résumé• Les vieux chênes (Quercus robur L.) jouent un rôle important dans le paysage du sud de la Suède en procurant un habitat pour un large éventail d’espèces, une grande proportion d’entre elles étant actuellement dans les Listes rouges nationales. • Pour appuyer la gestion de ces arbres, nous avons examiné les données relatives à la mortalité des chênes et formulons un modèle stochastique de mortalité analysant les interactions entre taux de mortalité, taux de recrutement des chênes dans les classes 100–150 ans et total des chênes plus vieux que 200 ans. • Les taux empiriques de mortalité ont varié entre 0 et 13 % avec une moyenne de 1,68 %. Les arbres de plus de 200 ans présentaient un taux de mortalité de 1,1 %. Dans les plus fortes densités forestières les chênes montraient une mortalité plus élevée (3,2 %) comparativement aux arbres poussant dans des forêts de densité plus faible (1,2 %). Des exercices de modélisation sur 400 ans ont indiqué qu’en dessous d’un taux courant de mortalité (mortalité courante annelle centrée autour de 1 % et mortalité irrégulière de 7 % avec un temps de retour de 13 ans) la maintenance à long terme de 20 vieux arbres par hectare demanderait un taux d’apport de 1 à 5 arbres par an et par hectare dans les classes d’âge de 100 à 150 ans. • Cette modélisation met l’accent sur l’importance de l’abondance initiale des chênes qui affecte la totalité des vieux arbres à la fin d’une période courte de simulation (100 ans).
Diabetic Management and Emotional Intelligence-An Emerging Direction in Current Research

Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic, life threatening metabolic condition of a cumulative, increasingly destructive nature, manifested in multisystem failures, inflicting suffering, stress, decreased quality of life and eventually disability and death [1]. Diabetes’ case prevalence ranges 2-21% in adult populations around the globe, and varies dramatically across cultures, socioeconomic class and gender. Among younger populations Type I diabetes prevalence ranges 0.2-2% depending on the above factors [2]. The existing evidence suggests that the conditions’ prevalence will increase by 50-100% in the next 20 years [1], making it a modern day epidemic, taking its toll on individuals, their families, support systems and of course a huge burden on health systems, employment organizations and other systems.
Evaluation of renal function in patients with psoriasis using immunobiologicals*

The aim of this study was to evaluate renal function in patients with psoriasis using immunobiologicals. A prospective study was conducted with 15 patients with confirmed diagnosis of psoriasis who were starting to use immunobiologicals. The mean age was 41±11 years, with 60% females. The mean time of disease was 11±6.6 years. Significant changes in creatinine and creatinine clearance were not observed in the course of the study. There was an increase in transaminases and a decrease in magnesium levels.
An adaptive parallel execution strategy for cloud‐based scientific workflows

Many of the existing large‐scale scientific experiments modeled as scientific workflows are compute‐intensive. Some scientific workflow management systems already explore parallel techniques, such as parameter sweep and data fragmentation, to improve performance. In those systems, computing resources are used to accomplish many computational tasks in high performance environments, such as multiprocessor machines or clusters. Meanwhile, cloud computing provides scalable and elastic resources that can be instantiated on demand during the course of a scientific experiment, without requiring its users to acquire expensive infrastructure or to configure many pieces of software. In fact, because of these advantages some scientists have already adopted the cloud model in their scientific experiments. However, this model also raises many challenges. When scientists are executing scientific workflows that require parallelism, it is hard to decide a priori the amount of resources to use and how long they will be needed because the allocation of these resources is elastic and based on demand. In addition, scientists have to manage new aspects such as initialization of virtual machines and impact of data staging. SciCumulus is a middleware that manages the parallel execution of scientific workflows in cloud environments. In this paper, we introduce an adaptive approach for executing parallel scientific workflows in the cloud. This approach adapts itself according to the availability of resources during workflow execution. It checks the available computational power and dynamically tunes the workflow activity size to achieve better performance. Experimental evaluation showed the benefits of parallelizing scientific workflows using the adaptive approach of SciCumulus, which presented an increase of performance up to 47.1%. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Differential Adoption of Pharmacotherapy Recommendations for Type 2 Diabetes by Generalists and Specialists

Newer, multimedication (novel) regimens provide better glycemic control for many type 2 diabetics when sulfonylurea monotherapy (traditional) becomes ineffective. Because better glycemic control is associated with decreased likelihood of complications and lower utilization and cost of care, the authors examined change in prescribing patterns for veterans with type 2 diabetes between FY 97 and 99. They classified medication regimens as traditional and novel based on the combination of diabetes medications patients received at the end of each year. Multivariate logistic regression analyses controlling for disease severity indicated that patients were more likely to receive novel regimens over time, but those seen only in primary care were less likely to receive novel regimens than those previously seen by a specialist. Geographic differences and differences in how recommendations were implemented by generalists and specialists suggest that diffusion of innovations theory may help explain variations in practice and guide interventions designed to translate research into practice.
It Takes One to Tango: The Effects of Dyads’ Epistemic Motivation Composition in Negotiation

This study examined the effects of epistemic motivation composition in negotiation. Results from Experiment 1 revealed that dyads in which at least one member had high epistemic motivation (measured by personal need for structure) reached higher joint outcomes than dyads in which both members had low epistemic motivation. In Experiment 2, epistemic motivation was manipulated and negotiators were provided with full information or incomplete information about their counterpart’s preferences. Two competing sets of hypotheses were developed and tested. Negotiation behavior was coded, and mediation analysis established that the presence of one negotiator with high epistemic motivation helped negotiators overcome information insufficiency and benefited the dyad as a whole because of increased information search rather than heuristic trial and error. Theoretical implications are discussed.
Sleep Apnea and the Risk of Dementia: A Population-Based 5-Year Follow-Up Study in Taiwan

Background Sleep apnea (SA) has been associated with cognitive impairment. However, no data regarding the risk of dementia in patients with SA has been reported in the general population. This retrospective matched-control cohort study was designed to estimate and compare the risk of dementia in SA and non-SA patients among persons aged 40 and above over a 5-year period follow-up. Methods We conducted a nationwide 5-year population-based study using data retrieved from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005 (LHID2005) in Taiwan. The study cohort comprised 1414 patients with SA aged 40 years who had at least 1 inpatient service claim or 1 ambulatory care claim. The comparison cohort comprised 7070 randomly selected patients who were matched with the study group according to sex, age, and index year. We performed Cox proportional-hazards regressions to compute the 5-year dementia-free survival rates after adjusting for potentially confounding factors. Results The SA patients in this study had a 1.70-times greater risk of developing dementia within 5 years of diagnosis compared to non-SA age- and sex-matched patients, after adjusting for other risk factors (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.26-2.31; P < . 01). For the gender-dependent effect, only females with SA were more likely to develop dementia (adjust HR: 2.38, 95% CI =1.51–3.74; P < .001). For the age-dependent effect of different genders, males with SA aged 50-59 years had a 6.08 times greater risk for developing dementia (95% CI = 1.96-18.90), and females with SA aged ≥ 70 years had a 3.20 times greater risk of developing dementia (95% CI =1.71–6.00). For the time-dependent effect, dementia may be most likely to occur in the first 2.5 years of follow-up (adjusted HR:2.04, 95% CI =1.35-3.07). Conclusions SA may be a gender-dependent, age-dependent, and time-dependent risk factor for dementia.
Social Network–Based Recruitment Successfully Reveals HIV-1 Transmission Networks Among High-Risk Individuals in El Salvador

Objective:HIV in Central America is concentrated among certain groups such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and female sex workers (FSWs). We compared social recruitment chains and HIV transmission clusters from 699 MSM and 787 FSWs to better understand factors contributing to ongoing HIV transmission in El Salvador. Methods:Phylogenies were reconstructed using pol sequences from 119 HIV-positive individuals recruited by respondent-driven sampling (RDS) and compared with RDS chains in 3 cities in El Salvador. Transmission clusters with a mean pairwise genetic distance ⩽0.015 and Bayesian posterior probabilities =1 were identified. Factors associated with cluster membership were evaluated among MSM. Results:Sequences from 34 (43%) MSM and 4 (10%) FSW grouped in 14 transmission clusters. Clusters were defined by risk group (12 MSM clusters) and geographic residence (only 1 spanned separate cities). In 4 MSM clusters (all n = 2), individuals were also members of the same RDS chain, but only 2 had members directly linked through recruitment. All large clusters (n ≥ 3) spanned >1 RDS chain. Among MSM, factors independently associated with cluster membership included recent infection by BED assay (P = 0.02), sex with stable male partners (P = 0.02), and sex with ≥3 male partners in the past year (P = 0.04). Conclusions:We found few HIV transmissions corresponding directly with the social recruitment. However, we identified clustering in nearly one-half of MSM suggesting that RDS recruitment was indirectly but successfully uncovering transmission networks, particularly among recent infections. Interrogating RDS chains with phylogenetic analyses may help refine methods for identifying transmission clusters.