Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Specific immunotherapy has long‐term preventive effect of seasonal and perennial asthma: 10‐year follow‐up on the PAT study

Background: 3‐year subcutaneous specific immunotherapy (SIT) in children with seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis reduced the risk of developing asthma during treatment and 2 years after discontinuation of SIT (5‐year follow‐up) indicating long‐term preventive effect of SIT.
The Expression of Adiponectin Receptors and the Effects of Adiponectin and Leptin on Airway Smooth Muscle Cells

Purpose Obesity is a major risk factor for asthma and it influences airway smooth muscle function and responsiveness. Adiponectin is inversely associated with obesity and its action is mediated through at least 2 cell membrane receptors (AdipoR1 and AdipoR2). Leptin is positively associated with obesity. We investigated whether human airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells express adiponectin receptors and whether adiponectin and leptin regulate human ASM cell proliferation and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) release. Materials and Methods Human ASM cells were growth-arrested in serum-deprived medium for 48 hours and then stimulated with PDGF, adiponectin and leptin. After 48 hours of stimulation, proliferation was determined using a cell proliferation ELISA kit. Human AdipoR1 and -R2 mRNA expressions were determined by RT-PCR using human-specific AdipoR1 and -R2 primers. Concentrations of VEGF, monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1 and macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α in cell culture supernatant were determined by ELISA. Results Both AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 mRNA were expressed in the cultured human ASM cells. However, adiponectin did not suppress PDGF-enhanced ASM cell proliferation, nor did leptin promote ASM cell proliferation. Leptin promoted VEGF release by human ASM cells, while adiponectin did not influence VEGF release. Neither leptin nor adiponectin influenced MCP-1 secretion from human ASM cells. Adiponectin and MIP-1α were not secreted by human ASM cells. Conclusion Human ASM cells expressed adiponectin receptors. However, adiponectin did not regulate human ASM cell proliferation or VEGF release, while leptin stimulated VEGF release by human ASM cells.
Pathophysiology of Facial Nerve Paralysis Induced by Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Infection

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) has been proven to be a cause of Bell's palsy; however, the underlying pathophysiology of the facial nerve paralysis is not fully understood. We established a mouse model with facial nerve paralysis induced by HSV-1 infection simulating Bell's palsy and investigated the pathophysiology of the facial nerve paralysis. The time course of the R1 latency in the blink reflex tests paralleled the recovery of the facial nerve paralysis well, whereas electroneurographic recovery tended to be delayed, compared to that of the paralysis; these responses are usually seen in Bell's palsy. On histopathologic analysis, intact, demyelinated, and degenerated nerves were intermingled in the facial nerve in the model. The similarity of the time course of facial nerve paralysis and the electrophysiological results in Bell's palsy and the model strongly suggest that the pathophysiological basis of Bell's palsy is a mixed lesion of various nerve injuries.
Oral Disposition Index Predicts the Development of Future Diabetes Above and Beyond Fasting and 2-h Glucose Levels

In their recent study, Utzschneider et al. (1) demonstrated that indexes of insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity derived from plasma glucose and insulin concentration during the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) display an inverse relationship similar to that observed with the frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test. Further, the product of the change in insulin divided by change in glucose (ΔI/ΔG) × insulin sensitivity (the insulin secretion/insulin resistance [IS/IR] index or so-called disposition index), which provides an estimate of β-cell function relative to the prevailing level of insulin resistance, was shown to predict the future risk for type 2 diabetes independent of the glucose tolerance status in Japanese-American individuals. These observations are consistent with previous publications from our lab (2–5) and extend our …
Pin1 regulates the timing of mammalian primordial germ cell proliferation

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) give rise to male and female germ cells to transmit the genome from generation to generation. Defects in PGC development often result in infertility. In the mouse embryo, PGCs undergo proliferation and expansion during and after their migration to the gonads from 8.5 to 13.5 days post coitum (dpc). We show that a peptidyl-prolyl isomerase, Pin1, is involved in the regulation of mammalian PGC proliferation. We discovered that both the male and female Pin1-/- mice had profound fertility defects. Investigation of the reproductive organs revealed significantly fewer germ cells in the adult Pin1-/- testes and ovaries than in wild type or heterozygotes, which resulted from Pin1-/- males and females being born with severely reduced number of gonocytes and oocytes. Further studies in 8.5 to 13.5 dpc Pin1-/- embryos showed that PGCs were allocated properly at the base of the allantois, but their cell expansion was progressively impaired, resulting in a markedly reduced number of PGCs at 13.5 dpc. Analyses using markers of cell cycle parameters and apoptosis revealed that Pin1-/- PGCs did not undergo cell cycle arrest or apoptosis. Instead, Pin1-/- PGCs had a lower BrdU labeling index compared with wild-type PGCs. We conclude that PGCs have a prolonged cell cycle in the absence of Pin1, which translates into fewer cell divisions and strikingly fewer Pin1-/- PGCs by the end of the proliferative phase. These results indicate that Pin1 regulates the timing of PGC proliferation during mouse embryonic development.
Preliminary Traction as a Single Determinant of Avascular Necrosis in Developmental Dislocation of the Hip

The role of preliminary traction before closed reduction in the treatment of developmental dysplasia of the hip has been questioned by many authors lately. However, the studies advocating or opposing the use of this treatment modality include several other parameters besides traction. Thus, it is unclear whether the affection is the result of preliminary traction or concurrent variables such as the “human position. ” This study aimed to put forward the effect of preliminary traction as a single determinant of avascular necrosis. We had two groups of patients who had developmental dislocation of the hip. The first group consisted of 52 patients treated with preliminary traction before closed reduction and the other group comprised 40 patients treated with closed reduction without preliminary traction. Both groups were similar in age, gender, side, level of dislocation, and method and duration of immobilization. Three patients from the first group developed avascular necrosis, which was not statistically significant. Preliminary traction did not affect the rate of avascular necrosis.
Fractional Photothermolysis for the Treatment of Postinflammatory Erythema Resulting from Acne Vulgaris

Unlike selective photothermolysis, which produces bulk thermal injury to specific targets in the skin, fractional photothermolysis (Fraxel, Reliant Technologies, Inc., Mountain View, CA) creates hundreds of microthermal treatment zones (MTZs) while sparing the surrounding tissue. We report marked improvement of postinflammatory erythema after the resolution of inflammatory acne vulgaris in two patients after one treatment session with fractional photothermolysis.
Alfuzosin and symptoms of chronic prostatitis-chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

BACKGROUND In men with chronic prostatitis-chronic pelvic pain syndrome, treatment with alpha-adrenergic receptor blockers early in the course of the disorder has been reported to be effective in some, but not all, relatively small randomized trials. METHODS We conducted a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of alfuzosin, an alpha-adrenergic receptor blocker, in reducing symptoms in men with chronic prostatitis-chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Participation in the study required diagnosis of the condition within the preceding 2 years and no previous treatment with an alpha-adrenergic receptor blocker. Men were randomly assigned to treatment for 12 weeks with either 10 mg of alfuzosin per day or placebo. The primary outcome was a reduction of at least 4 points (from baseline to 12 weeks) in the score on the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI) (range, 0 to 43; higher scores indicate more severe symptoms). A 4-point decrease is the minimal clinically significant difference in the score. RESULTS A total of 272 eligible participants underwent randomization, and in both study groups, 49.3% of participants had a decrease of at least 4 points in their total NIH-CPSI score (rate difference associated with alfuzosin, 0.1%; 95% confidence interval, -11.2 to 11.0; P=0.99). In addition, a global response assessment showed similar response rates at 12 weeks: 33.6% in the placebo group and 34.8% in the alfuzosin group (P=0.90). The rates of adverse events in the two groups were also similar. CONCLUSIONS Our findings do not support the use of alfuzosin to reduce the symptoms of chronic prostatitis-chronic pelvic pain syndrome in men who have not received prior treatment with an alpha-blocker. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00103402.)
Half‐Graben Rupture Geometry of the 30 October 2016 MW 6.6 Mt. Vettore‐Mt. Bove Earthquake, Central Italy

Existing models for the rupture geometry and slip distribution associated with the 30 October MW 6.6 Mt. Vettore‐Mt. Bove earthquake in central Italy show significant dissimilarities. Indeed, due to the quite complicated observed deformation pattern, the activation of a complex multifault structure during a single seismic event was invoked. In this study, we explore different rupture scenarios and we develop a robust model of the rupture process of the 30 October earthquake, designed from new field observations, aftershock distribution, and static coseismic offsets including new near‐field survey‐mode global position system measurements, regional Global Positioning System observations, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar interferograms, and static displacements derived from strong‐motion stations. Our preferred best fit model involves the simultaneous rupture of the master Mt. Vettore‐Mt. Bove normal fault and of at least two secondary antithetic faults (as they significantly contributed to the total deformation field), which overall describe a “simple conceptual” half‐graben normal fault system and whose arrangement fits the geological, seismological, and coseismic evidence of surface faulting. Notably, our model fits the geometry of seismogenic structures defined prior to the 2016–2017 seismic sequence by field Quaternary geological observations. In addition, no significant coseismic slip on faults alternative to the master and antithetic faults is necessary to explain the observed surface displacements during the 30 October Mt. Vettore‐Mt. Bove earthquake.
Lossless Quality Steganographic Color Image Compression

This paper develops a steganography-based paradigm for lossless-quality compression of high-resolution color images acquired by megapixel cameras. Our scheme combines space-domain and frequency-domain image processing operations where in the space domain, color-brightness separation is exploited, and in the frequency domain, spectral properties of the Fourier magnitude and phase of the color image is exploited. Working in both domains concurrently allows for an approach to ultrahigh-resolution image compression that addresses both issues of quality and storage size. Experimental results as well as empirical observations show that our technique exceeds the highest quality JPEG image compression standard in terms of compression rates while being very competitive with JPEG in the overall fidelity of the decompressed image, with the added advantage of being able to recover the original fine details in the color image without any degradations common in lossy image compression techniques.
Qualitative Assessment of the Condition of Tatarstan Medieval Fortified Settlements Under the Data of Remote Sensing

The article considers the modern condition of the archaeological monuments of the Republic of Tatarstan as an essential manmade part of the cultural landscape. According to UNESCO directive, the “cultural landscape” is considered not only as a result of cooperation between man and nature, but also as a natural and cultural territorial complex with a structural and functional integrity developing in specific physical and geographical, cultural and historical conditions. Medieval fortified settlements with a system of defensive fortifications which are easily identified on the basis of remote sensing data were selected as research subjects. The identification and evaluation of monument destruction risks are a priority in the investigation of cultural heritage sites. Due to the fact that most of the monuments are located on the banks of minor rivers, the primary task of investigation was the assessment of the risk of their destruction as a result of natural (dangerous exogenous) processes. The second objective was to evaluate the role of the human factor in the destruction of archaeological sites. One of the main utilized techniques is the search and analysis of archival and modern remote sensing data. This approach allows to correct settlement shapes, confirm their sizes and location in the landscape, thus resolving the issue of updating the information on cultural heritage sites. For the first time in the Tatarstan Republic, investigation results will allow to determine the past and current changes in the condition of the monuments and conduct a quantitative assessment of the risks of their destruction prior to the determination of priority regions for the performance of salvage and rescue excavations.
Observational Possibility of the "Snow Line" on the Surface of Circumstellar Disks with the Scattered Light

We discuss how we obtain the spatial distribution of ice on the surface of the circumstellar disk around young stars. Ice in the disks plays a very important role in various issues, for instance, on the disk structure, on planet formation, on an isotopic anomaly in meteorites, and o nt he origin of the oceans on Earth. Therefore, spatially resolved observations of the condensation/sublimation front of ice, the so-called snow line is strongly required. Here, we propose a new method for obtaining a spatially resolved snow line on circumstellar disks by observing a3 � m H2 Oi ce feature in the scattered light. Based on radiative transfer considerations, we show that the feature is clearly imprinted in the spectrum of the scattered light from both optically thick and thin circumstellar disks. We also show that the scattered light and the H2 Oi ce feature from protoplanetary disks ar ed etectable and spatially resolvable with current instruments through an H2 O narrowband filter around 3 � m . F inally, we present a diagnostics of disk � = . � � + �
Mode of birth and medical interventions among women at low risk of complications: A cross-national comparison of birth settings in England and the Netherlands

Objectives To compare mode of birth and medical interventions between broadly equivalent birth settings in England and the Netherlands. Methods Data were combined from the Birthplace study in England (from April 2008 to April 2010) and the National Perinatal Register in the Netherlands (2009). Low risk women in England planning birth at home (16,470) or in freestanding midwifery units (11,133) were compared with Dutch women with planned home births (40,468). Low risk English women with births planned in alongside midwifery units (16,418) or obstetric units (19,096) were compared with Dutch women with planned midwife-led hospital births (37,887). Results CS rates varied across planned births settings from 6.5% to 15.5% among nulliparous and 0.6% to 5.1% among multiparous women. CS rates were higher among low risk nulliparous and multiparous English women planning obstetric unit births compared to Dutch women planning midwife-led hospital births (adjusted (adj) OR 1.89 (95% CI 1.64 to 2.18) and 3.66 (2.90 to 4.63) respectively). Instrumental vaginal birth rates varied from 10.7% to 22.5% for nulliparous and from 0.9% to 5.7% for multiparous women. Rates were lower in the English comparison groups apart from planned births in obstetric units. Transfer, augmentation and episiotomy rates were much lower in England compared to the Netherlands for all midwife-led groups. In most comparisons, epidural rates were higher among English groups. Conclusions When considering maternal outcomes, findings confirm advantages of giving birth in midwife-led settings for low risk women. Further research is needed into strategies to decrease rates of medical intervention in obstetric units in England and to reduce rates of avoidable transfer, episiotomy and augmentation of labour in the Netherlands.
An Inverse-Optimization-Based Auction Mechanism to Support a Multiattribute RFQ Process

We consider a manufacturer who uses a reverse, or procurement, auction to determine which supplier will be awarded a contract. Each bid consists of a price and a set of non-price attributes (e.g., quality, lead time). The manufacturer is assumed to know the parametric form of the suppliers’ cost functions (in terms of the non-price attributes), but has no prior information on the parameter values. We construct a multi-round open-ascending auction mechanism, where the manufacturer announces a slightly different scoring rule (i.e., a function that ranks the bids in terms of the price and non-price attributes) in each round. Via inverse optimization, the manufacturer uses the bids from the first several rounds to learn the suppliers’ cost functions, and then in the final round chooses a scoring rule that attempts to maximize his own utility. Under the assumption that suppliers submit their myopic best-response bids in the last round, and do not distort their bids in the earlier rounds (i.e., they choose their minimum-cost bid to achieve any given score), our mechanism indeed maximizes the manufacturer’s utility within the open-ascending format. We also discuss several enhancements that improve the robustness of our mechanism with respect to the model’s informational and behavioral assumptions.
Aesthetic Incongruity Resolution

Four studies demonstrate how consumers resolve the aesthetic incongruity that arises between a newly acquired product and the existing consumption environment. The novel insight on which this research is based is that the aesthetic incongruity involving products high in design salience is more likely than aesthetic incongruity involving products low in design salience to be resolved by accommodating the product within the consumption environment, often through additional purchases. Furthermore, the relative presence of frustration versus regret is shown to mediate the relationship between design salience and the decision to buy more.
Emotional expression in music: contribution, linearity, and additivity of primary musical cues

The aim of this study is to manipulate musical cues systematically to determine the aspects of music that contribute to emotional expression, and whether these cues operate in additive or interactive fashion, and whether the cue levels can be characterized as linear or non-linear. An optimized factorial design was used with six primary musical cues (mode, tempo, dynamics, articulation, timbre, and register) across four different music examples. Listeners rated 200 musical examples according to four perceived emotional characters (happy, sad, peaceful, and scary). The results exhibited robust effects for all cues and the ranked importance of these was established by multiple regression. The most important cue was mode followed by tempo, register, dynamics, articulation, and timbre, although the ranking varied across the emotions. The second main result suggested that most cue levels contributed to the emotions in a linear fashion, explaining 77–89% of variance in ratings. Quadratic encoding of cues did lead to minor but significant increases of the models (0–8%). Finally, the interactions between the cues were non-existent suggesting that the cues operate mostly in an additive fashion, corroborating recent findings on emotional expression in music (Juslin and Lindström, 2010).
Do all adult orthopaedic injuries seen in emergency departments need to attend fracture clinic? A Queensland multicentred review

Musculoskeletal injuries account for a significant proportion of ED presentations annually, with a large percentage being referred to the fracture clinic (FC). A literature review found that many referrals could be safely managed outside the traditional model of care. The present study aims to review all adult presentations to FCs at two Queensland metropolitan hospitals, finding low‐risk injuries that can safely and appropriately be managed by their general practitioner (GP) or allied health professionals (AHPs), potentially affording significant savings to the health system.
Electrophysiological properties of myocytes isolated from the mouse atrioventricular node: L-type ICa, IKr, If, and Na-Ca exchange

The atrioventricular node (AVN) is a key component of the cardiac pacemaker‐conduction system. This study investigated the electrophysiology of cells isolated from the AVN region of adult mouse hearts, and compared murine ionic current magnitude with that of cells from the more extensively studied rabbit AVN. Whole‐cell patch‐clamp recordings of ionic currents, and perforated‐patch recordings of action potentials (APs), were made at 35–37°C. Hyperpolarizing voltage commands from −40 mV elicited a Ba2+‐sensitive inward rectifier current that was small at diastolic potentials. Some cells (Type 1; 33.4 ± 2.2 pF; n = 19) lacked the pacemaker current, If, whilst others (Type 2; 34.2 ± 1.5 pF; n = 21) exhibited a clear If, which was larger than in rabbit AVN cells. On depolarization from −40 mV L‐type Ca2+ current, ICa,L, was elicited with a half maximal activation voltage (V0.5) of −7.6 ± 1.2 mV (n = 24). ICa,L density was smaller than in rabbit AVN cells. Rapid delayed rectifier (IKr) tail currents sensitive to E‐4031 (5 μmol/L) were observed on repolarization to −40 mV, with an activation V0.5 of −10.7 ± 4.7 mV (n = 8). The IKr magnitude was similar in mouse and rabbit AVN. Under Na‐Ca exchange selective conditions, mouse AVN cells exhibited 5 mmol/L Ni‐sensitive exchange current that was inwardly directed negative to the holding potential (−40 mV). Spontaneous APs (5.2 ± 0.5 sec−1; n = 6) exhibited an upstroke velocity of 37.7 ± 16.2 V/s and ceased following inhibition of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release by 1 μmol/L ryanodine, implicating intracellular Ca2+ cycling in murine AVN cell electrogenesis.