Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of anthropometrical measurements on portal vein and hepatosplenic span

SUMMARY Deaths from liver disease have doubled over the last fifteen years. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis are still the twelfth leading cause of death in the United States. Till date no comprehensive data has been documented in our part of the world which can help a clinician in diagnosing organomegaly. Improved hardware and knowing the exact dimensions of an organ with respect to its anthropometrical measurements can be of great importance in a radiological clinical routine. This article review was the result of recent clinical studies relating to portal vein, liver and spleen normograms in different populations which can show a comparison in accordance with their anthropometrical factors. Sources of Data/Study Selection: Data from survey reports, cross-sectional and prospective studies published between the years 2003-2012 on the topic were included. Data searches included both human and cadaveric studies. Data Extraction: The data was extracted from online resources of statistic reports, Pub med, THE MEDLINE, Google, Medical and Radiological journals. Conclusion: Sonographical analysis of the effect of anthropometrical measurements on the dimensions of portal vein, liver and spleen can be important markers for evaluation, diagnoses and assessment of portal hypertension, organomegaly and liver transplantation.
Impaired Structural Connectivity of Socio-Emotional Circuits in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study

Background Abnormal white matter development may disrupt integration within neural circuits, causing particular impairments in higher-order behaviours. In autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), white matter alterations may contribute to characteristic deficits in complex socio-emotional and communication domains. Here, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tract based spatial statistics (TBSS) to evaluate white matter microstructure in ASD. Methods/Principal Findings DTI scans were acquired for 19 children and adolescents with ASD (∼8–18 years; mean 12.4±3.1) and 16 age and IQ matched controls (∼8–18 years; mean 12.3±3.6) on a 3T MRI system. DTI values for fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, radial diffusivity and axial diffusivity, were measured. Age by group interactions for global and voxel-wise white matter indices were examined. Voxel-wise analyses comparing ASD with controls in: (i) the full cohort (ii), children only (≤12 yrs.), and (iii) adolescents only (>12 yrs.) were performed, followed by tract-specific comparisons. Significant age-by-group interactions on global DTI indices were found for all three diffusivity measures, but not for fractional anisotropy. Voxel-wise analyses revealed prominent diffusion measure differences in ASD children but not adolescents, when compared to healthy controls. Widespread increases in mean and radial diffusivity in ASD children were prominent in frontal white matter voxels. Follow-up tract-specific analyses highlighted disruption to pathways integrating frontal, temporal, and occipital structures involved in socio-emotional processing. Conclusions/Significance Our findings highlight disruption of neural circuitry in ASD, particularly in those white matter tracts that integrate the complex socio-emotional processing that is impaired in this disorder.
Women's Experiences Living with Depression

WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES LIVING WITH DEPRESSION By Susan M. Jarchow The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2014 Under the Supervision of Aaron Buseh, Ph.D. In the United States, depression affects many Americans at different levels. Depression among women is a major public health problem. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness), about 1 in 5 women develop depression at some point in their lives, and are nearly twice as likely as men to have depression. Much of the research about depression in women are quantitative studies aimed mostly at collecting epidemiological or survey data that focus on rates of mental illness, while not taking into account the qualitative subjective and contextual illness perspectives of women living with depression. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of women living with depression in the context of their daily lives including (a) their experiences of symptoms and sequelae; (b) their cumulative exposure to social adversity; and (c) their efforts at recovery in the context of their larger sociocultural and sociopolitical environments. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with women (N = 17) who selfidentified as having experienced depression at some time in their lives, to learn about their experiences living with and recovering from depression. Participants were recruited from a private psychological counseling practice and peer-led mental health recovery-
Evaluation of the noise reduction system in a commercial digital hearing aid: Evaluación del sistema de reducción de ruido en un auxiliar auditivo digital comercial

We evaluated the effectiveness of a noise reduction system implemented in a commercial digital multichannel compression hearing aid. Eight experienced hearing aid wearers with moderate sensorineural hearing loss were fitted bilaterally according to the manufacturer's fitting guidelines. After a 3-month period of regular use of two programs, one with and one without the noise reduction system, speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) were measured in four types of background noise, including steady noise, and noises with spectral and/or temporal dips. SRTs were very similar with and without the noise reduction system; in both cases, SRTs were markedly lower than for unaided listening. SRTs were lower for the noises with dips than for the steady noise, especially for the aided conditions, indicating that amplification can help to 'listen in the dips'. Ratings of sound quality and listening comfort in the aided conditions were uniformly high and very similar with and without the noise reduction system. Sumario: Evaluamos la efectividad del sistema de reducción de ruido en un auxiliar auditivo digital comercial con compresión multicanal. Se adaptaron auxi-liares auditivos bilateralmente a ocho usuarios experimentados con hipoacusias sensorineurales moderadas de acuerdo con las guias de adaptación del fabricante. Después de un periodo de 3 meses de uso regular de dos programas, uno con y uno sin el sistema de reducción de ruido, se midieron los umbrales de reconocimiento del lenguaje (SRT) con cuatro tipos de ruido de fondo, incluyendo ruido estacionario y ruidos con componentes espectrales y/o temporales. Los SRT fueron muy similares con y sin el sistema de reducción de ruido. En ambos casos, los SRT fueron marca-damente más bajos que en condiciones de escucha sin el auxiliar. Los SRT fueron más bajos con los ruidos que tenian componentes, en comparación con el ruido estacionario, especialmente en condiciones de uso del auxiliar, lo que indicó que la amplificación puede ayudar a escuchar en presencia de esos componentes. Los resultados en cuanto a calidad de sonido y de audición agradablc en condiciones de uso del auxiliar auditivo, fueron uniformemente elevados y muy similares con y sin el sistema de reducción de ruido.
Cytokine pattern during rejection and infection after liver transplantation--improvements in postoperative monitoring?

Despite improvements in immunosuppression, rejection occurs in 50% of liver transplant patients and may cause significant morbidity. The most frequent cause of death after liver transplantation is severe infection. Determination of the cytokine network may lead to earlier detection of patients at risk for severe rejection and infection. For this purpose, 81 patients with 85 liver transplants were monitored for cytokines and neopterin on a daily basis. During the first postoperative month, 28 patients (34.6%) developed acute rejection; 14 patients were successfully treated with methylprednisolone (steroid-sensitive rejection), while 14 patients required additional treatment with FK506 and OKT3 (steroid-resistant rejection). Ten patients developed severe infections, and 11 patients experienced asymptomatic cholangitis. Patients with an uneventful postoperative course (n=37) were the control group. One-year patient survival was 88.9%: 1 patient died because of chronic rejection and Pseudomonas urosepsis; a further 4 patients died of aspergillus pneumonia and bacterial sepsis. Soluble TNF-RII, sIL-2R-, and IL-10 levels were significantly elevated 3 days prior to or at the onset of acute steroid-resistant rejection (P < or = 0.01 versus steroid-sensitive rejection and on uneventful postoperative course). An increase in IL-8, neopterin, and sTNF-RII was indicative of severe infection 3 days prior to onset of infection. In this group of patients, a simultaneous increase in IL-10 indicated a lethal outcome of severe infection. During the second week of acute steroid-resistant rejection and lethal infection, a significant rise in IL-1beta, IFN-gamma, and IL-6 was observed (P < or = 0.01 versus control groups). The different patterns in neopterin- and cytokine-increase could differentiate between severe rejection and severe infection. Furthermore, the increase in these parameters indicated severe rejection--i.e., steroid resistance at the onset of acute rejection--which could prompt us to initiate rescue therapy immediately. The ability to detect patients at risk for severe or lethal infection may result in intensified infectious screening and more aggressive antiinfectious treatment. Therefore, routine monitoring of these parameters may lead to changes in therapeutic management of severe acute rejection and infection after liver transplantation.
Chloroplast Photooxidation-Induced Transcriptome Reprogramming in Arabidopsis immutans White Leaf Sectors1[W][OA]

Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) immutans (im) has green and white sectoring due to the action of a nuclear recessive gene, IMMUTANS. The green sectors contain normal-appearing chloroplasts, whereas the white sectors contain abnormal chloroplasts that lack colored carotenoids due to a defect in phytoene desaturase activity. Previous biochemical and molecular characterizations of the green leaf sectors revealed alterations suggestive of a source-sink relationship between the green and white sectors of im. In this study, we use an Affymetrix ATH1 oligoarray to further explore the nature of sink metabolism in im white tissues. We show that lack of colored carotenoids in the im white tissues elicits a differential response from a large number of genes involved in various cellular processes and stress responses. Gene expression patterns correlate with the repression of photosynthesis and photosynthesis-related processes in im white tissues, with an induction of Suc catabolism and transport, and with mitochondrial electron transport and fermentation. These results suggest that energy is derived via aerobic and anaerobic metabolism of imported sugar in im white tissues for growth and development. We also show that oxidative stress responses are largely induced in im white tissues; however, im green sectors develop additional energy-dissipating mechanisms that perhaps allow for the formation of green sectors. Furthermore, a comparison of the transcriptomes of im white and norflurazon-treated white leaf tissues reveals global as well as tissue-specific responses to photooxidation. We conclude that the differences in the mechanism of phytoene desaturase inhibition play an important role in differentiating these two white tissues.
Synergism and antagonism among multiple stressors

This study was designed to test for synergism (increased stress) or antagonism (decreased stress) among multiple environmental stressors using additive, multiplicative, and simple comparative effects models. Model predictions were compared to empirical results of laboratory experiments measuring interactions among thermal stress, toxin exposure, and low food on reproduction and survival of two species of cladoceran zooplankton. Stress was defined operationally as a reduction in reproduction or survival relative to optimal conditions over a 7‐d period. These experiments are particularly applicable to episodic stresses such as those associated with short‐term heat waves. Toxin or low food in combination with 30C temperatures were generally more harmful than high temperature alone. However, most multiple stress effects were antagonistic, in that effects in combination were not as severe as predicted based on the sum or the product of their individual effects. In rare cases, interaction among stressors even diminished effects of the worst single stressor. Optimal conditions for reproduction and survival occurred at 25C, high food and 0 mg liter‐1 toxin (a surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate). Suppressive effects of stressors examined individually ranked: high temperature (30C) > SDS (10 mg liter‐1 ɥ low food (∼100 mg C liter‐1) > low temperature (20C). Daphnia pulex isolated from a pond which experiences high summer temperatures throughout was more tolerant of 30C conditions than Daphnia pulicaria isolated from a lake with a cold‐water refuge. Differences were observed in individuals exposed as either adults or as 24‐h neonates.
Riemannian submersions and lattices in 2-step nilpotent lie groups

We consider simply connected, 2-step nilpotent Lie groups N , all of which are diffeomorphic to Euclidean spaces via the Lie group exponential map exp: N → N . We show that every such N with a suitable left invariant metric is the base space of a Riemannian submersion and homomorphism ρ : N∗ → N , where the fibers of ρ are flat, totally geodesic Euclidean spaces. The left invariant metric and Lie algebra of N∗ are obtained from N by constructing a Lie algebra G whose Killing form B is negative semidefinite. If B is negative definite, then we show that N∗ admits a (cocompact) lattice subgroup Γ∗. Moreover Γ = ρ(Γ∗) is a lattice in N if Γ∗ ∩ Ker(ρ) is a lattice in Ker(ρ). Conversely, if N admits a lattice Γ, then N∗ admits a lattice Γ∗ such that Γ = ρ(Γ∗). In this case the Riemannian submersion and homomorphism ρ : N∗ → N induces a Riemannian submersion ρ′ : Γ∗\N∗ → Γ\N whose fibers are flat, totally geodesic tori. The idea underlying the proof is that every 2step nilpotent Lie algebra is isomorphic to a standard metric 2-step nilpotent Lie algebra, which we define and discuss. We also use a criterion of Mal’cev to derive conditions that guarantee the existence of lattices in N . We apply these conditions to prove the existence of lattices in simply connected, 2-step nilpotent Lie groupsN that arise from Lie triple systems with compact center in so(n,R), the Lie algebra of skew symmetric linear transformations of R with the standard inner product. Lie triple systems with compact center include subspaces of so(n,R) that arise from finite dimensional real representations of Clifford algebras or compact Lie groups. The center of the Lip triple system is trivial for representations of Clifford algebras and compact semisimple Lie groups.
The Role of Social Support in Coping During the Anticipatory Stage of Organizational Change: A Test of an Integrative Model

Few researchers have explored how employees use social support to cope during organizational change. The current research proposed and tested a model that integrates moderation and mediation effects in order to understand how perceived available support influences employees' use of support mobilization to deal with change-related stress. Survey data were collected from 476 health professionals working in a large public hospital undergoing large-scale change and downsizing. Moderated path analyses revealed evidence to suggest that perceived available support plays a moderated mediation role during coping with change. Support mobilization mediated the indirect relationship between change-related stress and job satisfaction, at both low and high levels of perceived available colleague support. Perceived available non-work support moderated the relationship between support mobilization and job satisfaction, and perceived available supervisor support moderated the relationship between change-related stress and support mobilization. The direction of simple effects was not always as expected and alternative explanations for these unexpected findings are offered, along with practical implications for supervisors managing organizational change.
Organizational Structure and Information Technology: Elements of a Formal Theory

There are three parts of this paper. The first part (1) discusses the kinds of theories needed to understand the consequences of information technology for organizational structure and (2) reviews a number of previous models of organizational design. In the second part of the paper, a new model is presented that helps integrate and formalize some of the previous work. This model distinguishes several generic organizational structures and identifies tradeoffs between them in terms of coordination costs, productivity, and adaptability. The model is unusual in that it includes mathematical derivations of qualitative results that summarize several important principles from previous research on organizational design. In the last section of the paper, the model is used to help explain several major historical changes in the structure of American businesses and to help predict changes that may occur in the future with the widespread use of information technology. This paper has two goals. The first is to take a small step toward developing powerful theories about the use of information technology in organizations. We are particularly interested in the relationships between information technology and organizational structure. We would like, for example, to have some basis for predicting whether certain existing organizational structures are likely to become more desirable as information technology becomes more widespread or whether new organizational forms that are now impractical will become, for the first time, feasible and desirable. In order to help answer these questions in a principled way, the second goal of this paper is to take a step toward summarizing and formalizing the existing knowledge about organizational design. There is already a large body of literature on this topic, and this article does not begin to encompass it all. The formal model presented here, however, does appear to capture a number of important qualitative relationships between organizational structure and coordination cost, productivity, and adaptability. The final section of the paper illustrates how this model can be used to explain several major changes that have occurred in the structure of American businesses over the last century and to help predict changes that may occur in the future with the widespread use of information technology. A model similar to the one presented here was described by Malone and Smith (1984). This paper integrates the earlier model with a number of other models of organizational design and emphasizes applications of the model to questions about organizational structure and information …
Induction of phosphorylation and cell surface redistribution of acetylcholine receptors by phorbol ester and carbamylcholine in cultured chick muscle cells

We have investigated the mechanisms regulating the clustering of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) on the surface of cultured embryonic chick muscle cells. Treatment of these cells with the phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), a potent activator of protein kinase C, was found to cause a rapid dispersal of AChR clusters, as monitored by fluorescence microscopy of cells labeled with tetramethylrhodamine-conjugated alpha-bungarotoxin. The loss of AChR clusters was not accompanied by an appreciable change in the amount of AChR on the surface of these cells, as measured by the specific binding of [125I]Bgt. Analysis of the phosphorylation pattern of immunoprecipitable AChR subunits showed that the gamma- and delta- subunits are phosphorylated by endogenous protein kinase activity in the intact muscle cells, and that the delta-subunit displays increased phosphorylation in response to TPA. Structural analogues of TPA which do not stimulate protein kinase C have no effect on AChR surface topography or phosphorylation. Exposure of chick myotubes to the cholinergic agonist carbamylcholine was found to cause a dispersal of AChR clusters with a time course similar to that of TPA. Like TPA, carbamylcholine enhances the phosphorylation of the delta-subunit of AChR. The carbamylcholine-induced redistribution and phosphorylation of AChR is blocked by the nicotinic AChR antagonist d-tubocurarine. TPA and carbamylcholine have no effect on cell morphology during the time- course of these experiments. These findings indicate that cell surface topography of AChR may be regulated by phosphorylation of its subunits and suggest a mechanism for dispersal of AChR clusters by agonist activation.
An alternative carotenoid-to-bacteriochlorophyll energy transfer pathway in photosynthetic light harvesting

Blue and green sunlight become available for photosynthetic energy conversion through the light-harvesting (LH) function of carotenoids, which involves transfer of carotenoid singlet excited states to nearby (bacterio)chlorophylls (BChls). The excited-state manifold of carotenoids usually is described in terms of two singlet states, S1 and S2, of which only the latter can be populated from the ground state by the absorption of one photon. Both states are capable of energy transfer to (B)Chl. We recently showed that in the LH1 complex of the purple bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum, which is rather inefficient in carotenoid-to-BChl energy transfer, a third additional carotenoid excited singlet state is formed. This state, which we termed S*, was found to be a precursor on an ultrafast fission reaction pathway to carotenoid triplet state formation. Here we present evidence that S* is formed with significant yield in the LH2 complex of Rhodobacter sphaeroides, which has a highly efficient carotenoid LH function. We demonstrate that S* is actively involved in the energy transfer process to BChl and thus have uncovered an alternative pathway of carotenoid-to-BChl energy transfer. In competition with energy transfer to BChl, fission occurs from S*, leading to ultrafast formation of carotenoid triplets. Analysis in terms of a kinetic model indicates that energy transfer through S* accounts for 10–15% of the total energy transfer to BChl, and that inclusion of this pathway is necessary to obtain a highly efficient LH function of carotenoids.