Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Histone Fold Protein Dls1p Is Required for Isw2-Dependent Chromatin Remodeling In Vivo

ABSTRACT We report the identification of two new subunits of the Isw2 chromatin-remodeling complex in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Both proteins, Dpb4p and Yjl065cp (named Dls1p), contain histone fold motifs and are homologous to the two smallest subunits of ISWI-containing CHRAC complexes in higher eukaryotes. Dpb4p is also a subunit of the DNA polymerase epsilon (polε) complex, and Dls1p is homologous to another polε subunit, Dpb3p. Therefore, these small histone fold proteins may fulfill functions that are required for both polε and Isw2 complexes. We characterized the role of Dls1p in known roles of the Isw2 complex in vivo. Transcriptional analyses reveal that the Isw2 complex requires Dls1p to various degrees at a wide variety of loci in vivo. Consistent with this, Dls1p is required for Isw2-dependent chromatin remodeling in vivo, although the requirement for this protein varies among Isw2 targets. Dls1p is likely required for functions of the Isw2 complex at steps subsequent to its interaction with chromatin, since a dls1 mutation does not affect cross-linking of Isw2 with chromatin.
The use of sonographic cervical length assessment for the prediction of time from induction to delivery

Abstract Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the role of trans-vaginal cervical length measurement in the prediction of the interval to successful vaginal delivery after induction of labor with balloon catheter. Methods: In this prospective study of cervical length measurement before induction of labor, singleton pregnancies that underwent induction of labor between 37 and 42 weeks of gestation were included. The data collected included trans-vaginal sonographic cervical measurements followed by digital cervical assessment. Bishop score was used to quantify digital assessment (before induction of labor). Results: During the study period, 71 patients were included in the study. A statistically significant linear correlation was found between sonographic cervical length prior to induction of labor and the time of delivery (Pearson correlation 0.335; p values 0.005). Of the 57 vaginal deliveries, 27 patients had a cervical length of less than 28 mm. Patients with a cervical length of less than 28 mm had a significantly shorter time to delivery compared to patients with more than 28 mm length (20.4 versus 28.7, respectively; p value = 0.019). Cervical length of 28 mm remained significantly correlated even after performing several logistic regression models in order to control for confounders such as parity and age. In addition, a correlation was found between Bishop scores of above 7 to the time to delivery. Conclusions: Cervical length is correlated linearly to the time interval between induction of labor and delivery. A cervical length of less than 28 mm was found to be statistically significant in predicting a shorter time to delivery.
Validity of the 6-minute walking test in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Lower physical activity levels and decreased physical fitness levels have been reported in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) (1). Physical fitness includes 4 components: muscular endurance and strength, flexibility, body composition, and cardiorespiratory endurance or aerobic fitness (2). Cardiorespiratory endurance or aerobic fitness is most strongly associated with health benefits in the general population and is therefore the primary focus of most exercise programs (3,4). Children with JIA have a moderate to large impairment in aerobic fitness as represented by peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) compared with healthy children (5). VO2peak has been described as the golden standard for aerobic fitness and is frequently examined using symptom limited bicycle ergometry (SLBE) in combination with a metabolic cart to analyze respiratory gases (6). However, bicycle ergometry and metabolic measurements are not always feasible in pediatric patients. It may be difficult to motivate nonathletic children to an exhaustive effort, intensive exercise may pose a risk to children with cardiopulmonary or musculoskeletal disease, and metabolic measurements systems may not be available, particularly in a field setting (7). Therefore, there is need for simple and inexpensive measurement tools to measure aerobic fitness. The 6-Minute Walking Test (6MWT), a simple and inexpensive measurement tool, is a good candidate (8). The 6-MWT is a self-paced and submaximal endurance test. In adult patients the 6-MWT has been widely used, most often in patients with pulmonary or cardiac diseases (9,10). Literature provides support for the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the 6-MWT for a wide spectrum of adult individuals (9). In addition, the 6-MWT is described as easy to administer, better tolerated, and more reflective of activities of daily living than other walking tests and has therefore been described as the test of choice when using a functional walk test for clinical or research purposes (10). In pediatric patients, only 2 studies report the use of the 6-MWT (11,12). Gulmans et al found that for this group the 6-MWT is a valid and useful test to assess the exercise tolerance and endurance in children with cystic fibrosis (11). Nixon et al suggested that the 6-MWT might provide an alternative method for assessing functional exercise capacity in severely ill children (12). Despite these promising results, the validity of the 6-MWT in children with rheumatic disease has, to our knowledge, never before been examined. Validity refers to the question as to whether an instrument appears to measure what it purports to measure, i.e., endurance. In addition, validity indicates whether a variable can be correlated with the “gold standard” for cardiorespiratory endurance, i.e., VO2peak. The aim of the present study was to examine the validity of the 6-MWT in children with JIA.
Healing of Gastric Ulcers with Esomeprazole Versus Ranitidine in Patients Who Continued to Receive NSAID Therapy: A Randomized Trial

OBJECTIVE:To compare orally administered esomeprazole 40 mg once daily and 20 mg once daily with ranitidine 150 mg twice daily for the healing of gastric ulcers (GUs) during 8 wks in patients who continued to receive daily nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) therapy.METHODS:This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group trial included patients who were receiving nonselective or cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2)–selective NSAIDs and had at least one GU ≥5 mm but no gastric or duodenal ulcer >25 mm in diameter at the baseline esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). After 4 and 8 wks of treatment, ulcer-healing status was confirmed by EGD. The primary outcome was the percentage of patients in each treatment group who had no GUs (GU healing rate) at week 8.RESULTS:A total of 406 patients were randomized to treatment. At week 8, GU healing rates with esomeprazole 40 and 20 mg were 91.5% (118/129; 95% CI, 86.7–96.3%) and 88.4% (122/138; 95% CI, 83.1–93.7%), respectively, and were significantly higher than the 74.2% rate (98/132; 95% CI, 66.8–81.7%) with ranitidine (p < 0.01 for both comparisons). GU healing rates at 4 wks (78.3%[101/129] and 79.0%[109/138] in the esomeprazole 40- and 20-mg groups, respectively) were also significantly higher (p < 0.05) than in the ranitidine group (66.7%[88/132]). All treatments were well tolerated.CONCLUSIONS:Esomeprazole 40 and 20 mg once daily are effective and well-tolerated therapies compared with ranitidine 150 mg twice daily for healing GUs in patients who need to continue NSAID therapy.
Formation of quasicrystalline phase and its orientation relationship with the parent phase in a duplex stainless steel

Abstract An icosahedral phase is found to precipitate from the ferrite phase of a duplex ferritic-austenitic stainless steel after ageing for > 1000 h at 500°C and to exhibit the following orientation relationships with the ferrite matrix: i5//[110]α, i3//[111]α, i2//[112]α. A brief discussion concerning the experimental results is presented.
Design considerations for achieving ZVS in a half bridge inverter that drives a piezoelectric transformer with no series inductor

A general procedure for maintaining soft switching in inductor-less half-bridge piezoelectric transformer (PT) inverter was analyzed by applying the equivalent circuit of the PT device. Soft switching capability of the PT was delineated and detailed guidelines are given for the load and frequency boundaries, voltage transfer function and the output voltage that will keep the operation under ZVS conditions. The analysis takes into account the maximum power dissipation of the PT, which is used to bind the permissible power transfer through the device. The analytical results for the half-bridge inductor-less PT inverter were verified by simulation and experiments for a radial vibration mode PT.
Spectral-Temporal Receptive Fields of Nonlinear Auditory Neurons Obtained Using Natural Sounds

The stimulus–response function of many visual and auditory neurons has been described by a spatial-temporal receptive field (STRF), a linear model that for mathematical reasons has until recently been estimated with the reverse correlation method, using simple stimulus ensembles such as white noise. Such stimuli, however, often do not effectively activate high-level sensory neurons, which may be optimized to analyze natural sounds and images. We show that it is possible to overcome the simple-stimulus limitation and then use this approach to calculate the STRFs of avian auditory forebrain neurons from an ensemble of birdsongs. We find that in many cases the STRFs derived using natural sounds are strikingly different from the STRFs that we obtained using an ensemble of random tone pips. When we compare these two models by assessing their predictions of neural response to the actual data, we find that the STRFs obtained from natural sounds are superior. Our results show that the STRF model is an incomplete description of response properties of nonlinear auditory neurons, but that linear receptive fields are still useful models for understanding higher level sensory processing, as long as the STRFs are estimated from the responses to relevant complex stimuli.
Cross-discourse Development of Supervised Sentiment Analysis in the Clinical Domain

Current approaches to sentiment analysis assume that the sole discourse function of sentiment-bearing texts is expressivity. However, the persuasive discourse function also utilises expressive language. In this work, we present the results of training supervised classifiers on a new corpus of clinical texts that contain documents with an expressive discourse function, and we test the learned models on a subset of the same corpus containing persuasive texts. The results of this indicate that despite the difference in discourse function, the learned models perform favourably.
Molecular Hydrodynamics of the Moving Contact Line in Two-Phase Immiscible Flows

The no-slip boundary condition, i.e., zero fluid velocity relative to the solid at the fluid-solid interface, has been very successful in describing many macroscopic flows. A problem of principle arises when the no-slip boundary condition is used to model the hydrodynamics of immiscible-fluid displacement in the vicinity of the moving contact line, where the interface separating two immiscible fluids intersects the solid wall. Decades ago it was already known that the moving contact line is incompatible with the no-slip boundary condition, since the latter would imply infinite dissipation due to a non-integrable singularity in the stress near the contact line. In this paper we first present an introductory review of the problem. We then present a detailed review of our recent results on the contact-line motion in immiscible two-phase flow, from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to continuum hydrodynamics calculations. Through extensive MD studies and detailed analysis, we have uncovered the slip boundary condition governing the moving contact line, denoted the generalized Navier boundary condition. We have used this discovery to formulate a continuum hydrodynamic model whose predictions are in remarkable quantitative agreement with the MD simulation results down to the molecular scale. These results serve to affirm the validity ofthe generalized Navier boundary condition, as well as to open up the possibility of continuum hydrodynamic calculations of immiscible flows that are physically meaningful at the molecular level.
Differential cross sections and angular-correlation parameters for the excitation of hydrogen atoms to n=3 and n=2 states by electron impact between 16 and 100 eV.

Differential cross sections and angular-correlation parameters relating to elastic scattering and electron-impact excitation of hydrogen atoms to the {ital n}=3 and {ital n}=2 states are presented for energies of 16, 20, 35, 54, and 100 eV. Results are obtained from a close-coupling calculation using a 17-state target basis including seven exact states and ten pseudostates. Comparisons are made with experiment and with other calculations.
A comparison of parallel systemc simulation approaches at RTL

This paper presents a holistic comparison of different parallel SystemC simulation approaches at the register transfer level (RTL). The effect of RTL modeling styles and simulation strategies on performance will be evaluated to show potentials and limitations of state of the art parallel simulation techniques on shared memory machines. Experiments show that the simulation performance strongly depends on the used simulation strategy with speedups in the range from 2.3 to 13.4 on a 16 core machine.
Pseudoprogression of glioblastoma after chemo- and radiation therapy: diagnosis by using dynamic susceptibility-weighted contrast-enhanced perfusion MR imaging with ferumoxytol versus gadoteridol and correlation with survival.

PURPOSE To compare gadoteridol and ferumoxytol for measurement of relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) in patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) who showed progressive disease at conventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging after chemo- and radiation therapy (hereafter, chemoradiotherapy) and to correlate rCBV with survival. MATERIALS AND METHODS Informed consent was obtained from all participants before enrollment in one of four institutional review board-approved protocols. Contrast agent leakage maps and rCBV were derived from perfusion MR imaging with gadoteridol and ferumoxytol in 19 patients with apparently progressive GBM on conventional MR images after chemoradiotherapy. Patients were classified as having high rCBV (>1.75), indicating tumor, and low rCBV (≤ 1.75), indicating pseudoprogression, for each contrast agent separately, and with or without contrast agent leakage correction for imaging with gadoteridol. Statistical analysis was performed by using Kaplan-Meier survival plots with the log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS With ferumoxytol, rCBV was low in nine (47%) patients, with median overall survival (mOS) of 591 days, and high rCBV in 10 (53%) patients, with mOS of 163 days. A hazard ratio of 0.098 (P = .004) indicated significantly improved survival. With gadoteridol, rCBV was low in 14 (74%) patients, with mOS of 474 days, and high in five (26%), with mOS of 156 days and a nonsignificant hazard ratio of 0.339 (P = .093). Five patients with mismatched high rCBV with ferumoxytol and low rCBV with gadoteridol had an mOS of 171 days. When leakage correction was applied, rCBV with gadoteridol was significantly associated with survival (hazard ratio, 0.12; P = .003). CONCLUSION Ferumoxytol as a blood pool agent facilitates differentiation between tumor progression and pseudoprogression, appears to be a good prognostic biomarker, and unlike gadoteridol, does not require contrast agent leakage correction.
Symbiotic gut microbes modulate human metabolic phenotypes

Humans have evolved intimate symbiotic relationships with a consortium of gut microbes (microbiome) and individual variations in the microbiome influence host health, may be implicated in disease etiology, and affect drug metabolism, toxicity, and efficacy. However, the molecular basis of these microbe–host interactions and the roles of individual bacterial species are obscure. We now demonstrate a“transgenomic” approach to link gut microbiome and metabolic phenotype (metabotype) variation. We have used a combination of spectroscopic, microbiomic, and multivariate statistical tools to analyze fecal and urinary samples from seven Chinese individuals (sampled twice) and to model the microbial–host metabolic connectivities. At the species level, we found structural differences in the Chinese family gut microbiomes and those reported for American volunteers, which is consistent with population microbial cometabolic differences reported in epidemiological studies. We also introduce the concept of functional metagenomics, defined as “the characterization of key functional members of the microbiome that most influence host metabolism and hence health. ” For example, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii population variation is associated with modulation of eight urinary metabolites of diverse structure, indicating that this species is a highly functionally active member of the microbiome, influencing numerous host pathways. Other species were identified showing different and varied metabolic interactions. Our approach for understanding the dynamic basis of host–microbiome symbiosis provides a foundation for the development of functional metagenomics as a probe of systemic effects of drugs and diet that are of relevance to personal and public health care solutions.
Effects of the menopause transition and hormone use on cognitive performance in midlife women

Background: There is almost no longitudinal information about measured cognitive performance during the menopause transition (MT). Methods: We studied 2,362 participants from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation for 4 years. Major exposures were time spent in MT stages, hormone use prior to the final menstrual period, and postmenopausal current hormone use. Outcomes were longitudinal performance in three domains: processing speed (Symbol Digit Modalities Test [SDMT]), verbal memory (East Boston Memory Test [EBMT]), and working memory (Digit Span Backward). Results: Premenopausal, early perimenopausal, and postmenopausal women scored higher with repeated SDMT administration (p ≤ 0.0008), but scores of late perimenopausal women did not improve over time (p = 0.2). EBMT delayed recall scores climbed during premenopause and postmenopause (p ≤ 0.01), but did not increase during early or late perimenopause (p ≥ 0.14). Initial SDMT, EBMT-immediate, and EBMT-delayed tests were 4%–6% higher among prior hormone users (p ≤ 0.001). On the SDMT and EBMT, compared to the premenopausal referent, postmenopausal current hormone users demonstrated poorer cognitive performance (p ≤ 0.05) but performance of postmenopausal nonhormone users was indistinguishable from that of premenopausal women. Conclusions: Consistent with transitioning women's perceived memory difficulties, perimenopause was associated with a decrement in cognitive performance, characterized by women not being able to learn as well as they had during premenopause. Improvement rebounded to premenopausal levels in postmenopause, suggesting that menopause transition–related cognitive difficulties may be time-limited. Hormone initiation prior to the final menstrual period had a beneficial effect whereas initiation after the final menstrual period had a detrimental effect on cognitive performance.
Paclitaxel in doxorubicin-refractory or mitoxantrone-refractory breast cancer: a phase I/II trial of 96-hour infusion.

PURPOSE A phase I study of paclitaxel infused over 96-hours was performed to determine toxicity, maximum-tolerated dose (MTD), and pharmacokinetics in patients with incurable lymphomas and solid tumors. A phase II study was performed at the MTD of paclitaxel in patients with doxorubicin/mitoxantrone-refractory metastatic breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS In the phase I study, paclitaxel dose levels ranged from 120 to 160 mg/m2, administered on a 21-day cycle. Patients with metastatic breast cancer who had either no response or a partial response (PR) to doxorubicin or mitoxantrone and had measurable disease were eligible for the phase I and II studies. Expression of the multidrug resistance (mdr-1) gene was determined in tumor biopsies by mRNA quantitative polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS Twelve patients received a total of 73 cycles of paclitaxel on the phase I study. Dose-limiting mucositis and/or grade IV granulocytopenia was reached at 160 mg/m2, and 140 mg/m2 was selected as the phase II dose. Thirty-six consecutive patients with metastatic breast cancer were treated, of whom three were not assessable. The median age was 49 years, with disease in the liver and/or lung in 76%. Patients received a median of two prior regimens for metastatic disease, and 73% had no response to prior doxorubicin or mitoxantrone. Of 33 patients treated with paclitaxel, 16 patients (48%) achieved a PR and five (15%) achieved a minor response (MR). With a median potential follow-up duration of 60 weeks, the median progression-free and overall survival durations were 27 and 43 weeks, respectively. No correlation was found between extent of prior treatment or prior response to doxorubicin/mitoxantrone, and response to paclitaxel. Paclitaxel pharmacokinetics showed a correlation between both granulocyte and mucosal toxicity, and serum steady-state concentrations (Css) more than 0.07 mumol/L. Patients with liver metastases had significantly decreased paclitaxel clearance and higher paclitaxel Css. Levels of mdr-1 were uniformly low in all tumor biopsies studied. CONCLUSION The recommended phase II dose of paclitaxel is 140 mg/m2 in patients without liver metastases and 105 mg/m2 in patients with liver metastases. Ninety-six-hour infusions of paclitaxel were effective and well tolerated in patients with doxorubicin/mitoxantrone-refractory breast cancer. Prolonged infusion schedules may be more effective than shorter schedules and deserve further study.
Diarrhea-associated hospitalizations among children in Hawaii.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the burden of diarrhea-associated hospitalizations among children in Hawaii. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of hospital discharge records. PATIENTS Children from 1 month through 4 years of age with a diarrhea-associated diagnosis listed on the hospital discharge record in Hawaii. SETTING Acute care hospitals in the state of Hawaii, 1994 through 1997. RESULTS During 1994-1997, 2288 children (11.3% of all hospitalizations for children < 5 years of age) had a diarrhea-associated diagnosis listed at hospital discharge. The average annual incidence (per 10,000 children) of diarrhea-associated hospitalizations was 62.3; the incidence was higher for children < 1 year (101.6) than for those 1 through 4 years of age (52.7). Rates for Hawaii were lower than national rates during 1993 through 1995 (US annual rate of 89 per 10,000 children). The median length of hospital stay was 2 days for diarrhea-associated hospitalizations, and 3 days for hospitalizations specifically associated with rotavirus-related diarrhea. Diarrhea-associated hospitalizations were highest during the period December through June. CONCLUSIONS Diarrhea is an important cause of hospitalization among children in Hawaii, where approximately 1 in 32 children may be hospitalized by 5 years of age. The age-specific and temporal trends reported here are consistent with those previously described for rotavirus-associated hospitalizations, suggesting that this pathogen is a major contributor to the overall morbidity from diarrhea.