Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transthyretin Predicts Cardiovascular Outcome in Hemodialysis Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE BMI and albumin are commonly accepted parameters to recognize wasting in dialysis patients and are powerful predictors of morbidity and mortality. However, both parameters reveal limitations and may not cover the entire range of patients with wasting. The visceral protein transthyretin (TTR) may be helpful in overcoming the diagnostic and prognostic gap. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the association of TTR with morbidity and mortality in hemodialysis patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The TTR concentration was determined in plasma samples of 1,177 hemodialysis patients with type 2 diabetes. Cox regression analyses were used to determine hazard ratios (HRs) for the risk of cardiovascular end points (CVEs) and mortality according to quartiles of TTR concentration for the total study cohort and the subgroups BMI ≥23 kg/m2, albumin concentration ≥3.8 g/dL, and a combination of both. RESULTS A low TTR concentration was associated with an increased risk for CVE for the total study cohort (HR 1.65 [95% CI 1.27–2.14]), patients with BMI ≥23 kg/m2 (1.70 [1.22–2.37]), albumin ≥3.8 g/dL (1.68 [1.17–2.42]), and the combination of both (1.69 [1.13–2.53]). Additionally, a low TTR concentration predicted mortality for the total study cohort (1.79 [1.43–2.24]) and patients with BMI ≥23 kg/m2 (1.46 [1.09–1.95]). CONCLUSIONS The current study demonstrated that TTR is a useful predictor for cardiovascular outcome and mortality in diabetic hemodialysis patients. TTR was particularly useful in patients who were not identified to be at risk by BMI or albumin status.
B-Cell Responses in Patients Who Have Recovered from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Target a Dominant Site in the S2 Domain of the Surface Spike Glycoprotein

ABSTRACT Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a recently emerged infectious disease caused by a novel strain of coronavirus. Examination of the immune responses of patients who have recovered from SARS should provide important information for design of a safe and effective vaccine. We determined the continuous viral epitopes targeted by antibodies in plasma samples from convalescent SARS patients through biopanning with a vast M13 phage display dodecapeptide library. These epitopes converged to very short peptide fragments, one on each of the structural proteins spike and nucleocapsid and the nonstructural proteins 3a, 9b, and nsp 3. Immunoassays found that most of the patients who had recovered from SARS developed complementary antibodies to the epitope-rich region on the spike S2 protein, indicating that this is an immunodominant site on the viral envelope comprising the spike, matrix, and small envelope glycoproteins. These S2-targeting antibodies were shown to effectively neutralize the coronavirus, indicating that they provided protective immunity to help the patients recover from the viral infection. These results suggest that the SARS coronavirus might have an antigenic profile distinct from those of other human or animal coronaviruses. Due to the tested safety and protective effects of the convalescent-phase serological antibodies, identification of their complementary antigens may enable the design of an epitope-based vaccine to prevent potential antibody-mediated immunuopathology.
Patterns of Uveitis at a Tertiary Referral Center in Southern Iran

Purpose To ascertain the patterns of uveitis at Motahari uveitis clinic, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, a tertiary referral center in Shiraz, Southern Iran. Methods All new cases of uveitis referred from June 2005 to July 2011 to our center were consecutively enrolled in the study. After taking a complete history of systemic and ocular diseases, all patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination including determination of Snellen visual acuity, slit lamp biomicroscopy, applanation tonometry and dilated fundus examination. Patients were classified according to International Uveitis Study Group definitions. Results A total of 475 subjects were evaluated; mean age at the onset of uveitis was 30.5 ±15.14 years. Uveitis was unilateral in 292 (61.4%) and bilateral in 183 (38.6%) patients. Anterior uveitis was the most common type of inflammation (190 patients, 40%), followed by posterior uveitis (133 patients, 28%), panuveitis (99 patients, 20.8%) and intermediate uveitis (53 patients, 11.1%). A specific cause was found in 295 patients (61.9%). HLA-B27 negative was the most common cause of anterior uveitis (84 patients, 44.2%), Behcet's disease was the most common etiology of panuveitis (34 cases, 34.3%) and toxoplasmosis was the most common cause of posterior uveitis (56 patients, 42.1%). The great majority of intermediate uveitis cases were idiopathic (49 patients, 92.4%). Conclusion The most common type of uveitis in Southern Iran is anterior. The most common underlying disorders are HLA-B27 negative, toxoplasmosis and Behcet's disease.
Neural Activity in Cortical Area V4 Underlies Fine Disparity Discrimination

Primates are capable of discriminating depth with remarkable precision using binocular disparity. Neurons in area V4 are selective for relative disparity, which is the crucial visual cue for discrimination of fine disparity. Here, we investigated the contribution of V4 neurons to fine disparity discrimination. Monkeys discriminated whether the center disk of a dynamic random-dot stereogram was in front of or behind its surrounding annulus. We first behaviorally tested the reference frame of the disparity representation used for performing this task. After learning the task with a set of surround disparities, the monkey generalized its responses to untrained surround disparities, indicating that the perceptual decisions were generated from a disparity representation in a relative frame of reference. We then recorded single-unit responses from V4 while the monkeys performed the task. On average, neuronal thresholds were higher than the behavioral thresholds. The most sensitive neurons reached thresholds as low as the psychophysical thresholds. For subthreshold disparities, the monkeys made frequent errors. The variable decisions were predictable from the fluctuation in the neuronal responses. The predictions were based on a decision model in which each V4 neuron transmits the evidence for the disparity it prefers. We finally altered the disparity representation artificially by means of microstimulation to V4. The decisions were systematically biased when microstimulation boosted the V4 responses. The bias was toward the direction predicted from the decision model. We suggest that disparity signals carried by V4 neurons underlie precise discrimination of fine stereoscopic depth.
Quorum Quenching Agents: Resources for Antivirulence Therapy

The continuing emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens is a concern to human health and highlights the urgent need for the development of alternative therapeutic strategies. Quorum sensing (QS) regulates virulence in many bacterial pathogens, and thus, is a promising target for antivirulence therapy which may inhibit virulence instead of cell growth and division. This means that there is little selective pressure for the evolution of resistance. Many natural quorum quenching (QQ) agents have been identified. Moreover, it has been shown that many microorganisms are capable of producing small molecular QS inhibitors and/or macromolecular QQ enzymes, which could be regarded as a strategy for bacteria to gain benefits in competitive environments. More than 30 species of marine QQ bacteria have been identified thus far, but only a few of them have been intensively studied. Recent studies indicate that an enormous number of QQ microorganisms are undiscovered in the highly diverse marine environments, and these marine microorganism-derived QQ agents may be valuable resources for antivirulence therapy.
An Efficient Algorithm for Mining Association Rules in Large Databases

Mining for a.ssociation rules between items in a large database of sales transactions has been described as an important database mining problem. In this paper we present an efficient algorithm for mining association rules that is fundamentally different from known algorithms. Compared to previous algorithms, our algorithm not only reduces the I/O overhead significantly but also has lower CPU overhead for most cases. We have performed extensive experiments and compared the performance of our algorithm with one of the best existing algorithms. It was found that for large databases, the CPU overhead was reduced by as much as a factor of four and I/O was reduced by almost an order of magnitude. Hence this algorithm is especially suitable for very large size databases.
Shape Matching Using the Geodesic Eccentricity Transform - A Study

This paper makes use of the continuous eccentricity transform to perform shape matching. The eccentricity transform has already been proven useful in a discrete graph-theoretic setting. We show how these ideas extend naturally to the continuous setting thus bringing a higher geometrical fidelity. The continuous eccentricity transform is used to compute multiscale descriptors for shapes. These descriptors are defined as histograms of the eccentricity transform of a scale-space representation of the shape. These multiscale descriptors are naturally invariant to euclidean motion and bending. They show promising results for shape discrimination.
ARBITRARY NUMBER OF LIMIT CYCLES FOR PLANAR DISCONTINUOUS PIECEWISE LINEAR DIFFERENTIAL SYSTEMS WITH TWO ZONES

For any given positive integer n we show the existence of a class of discontinuous piecewise linear differential systems with two zones in the plane having exactly n hyperbolic limit cycles. Moreover, all the points on the separation boundary between the two zones are of sewing type, except the origin which is the only equilibrium point.
Increased Bone Marrow (BM) Plasma Level of Soluble CD30 and Correlations with BM Plasma Level of Interferon (IFN)-γ, CD4/CD8 T-Cell Ratio and Disease Severity in Aplastic Anemia

Idiopathic aplastic anemia (AA) is an immune-mediated bone marrow failure syndrome. Immune abnormalities such as decreased lymphocyte counts, inverted CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio and increased IFN-γ-producing T cells have been found in AA. CD30, a surface protein belonging to the tumor necrosis factor receptor family and releasing from cell surface as a soluble form (sCD30) after activation, marks a subset of activated T cells secreting IFN-γ when exposed to allogeneic antigens. Our study found elevated BM plasma levels of sCD30 in patients with SAA, which were closely correlated with disease severity, including absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) and absolute netrophil count (ANC). We also noted that sCD30 levels were positively correlated with plasma IFN-γ levels and CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio in patients with SAA. In order to explain these phenomena, we stimulated T cells with alloantigen in vitro and found that CD30+ T cells were the major source of IFN-γ, and induced CD30+ T cells from patients with SAA produced significantly more IFN-γ than that from healthy individuals. In addition, increased proportion of CD8+ T cells in AA showed enhanced allogeneic response by the fact that they expressed more CD30 during allogeneic stimulation. sCD30 levels decreased in patients responded to immunosuppressive therapy. In conclusion, elevated BM plasma levels of sCD30 reflected the enhanced CD30+ T cell-mediated immune response in SAA. CD30 as a molecular marker that transiently expresses on IFN-γ-producing T cells, may participate in mediating bone marrow failure in AA, which also can facilitate our understanding of AA pathogenesis to identify new therapeutic targets.
Risky behaviours among young people living with HIV attending care and treatment clinics in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: implications for prevention with a positive approach

Prevention with a positive approach has been advocated as one of the main strategies to reduce new instances of HIV infection. Risky sexual behaviours among people living with HIV/AIDS are the cornerstone for this approach. Understanding the extent to which infected individuals practice risky behaviours is fundamental in designing appropriate population‐specific interventions. With the HIV infection transmission rates remaining high among young people in sub‐Saharan Africa, continued prevention among them remains a priority. This study therefore seeks to describe the magnitude and determinants of risky sexual behaviours among young people living with HIV.
Aqueous Solubility and Degradation Kinetics of the Phytochemical Anticancer Thymoquinone; Probing the Effects of Solvents, pH and Light

Thymoquinone (TQ) is a potent anticancer phytochemical with confirmed in vitro efficacy. Its clinical use has not yet established, and very few reports have documented its formulation. There also are no reports about the aqueous solubility and stability of this valuable drug, despite their direct correlation with the in vivo efficacy. In the current research, we have established and validated a stability-indicating HPLC method for the detection of TQ and its degradation products under different conditions. We then investigated the solubility and stability profiles of TQ in aqueous solutions. The stability study was aimed to determine the effect of pH, solvent type and light on the degradation process of TQ, along with the investigation of the kinetics of this degradation. The solubility of TQ varied in different aqueous solvents, and might be compromised due to stability issues. However, these findings confirm that the aqueous solubility is not the major obstacle for the drug formulations mainly due to the considerable water solubility (>500 μg/mL) that may be enough to exert pharmacologic effects if administered via parenteral route. Stability study results showed a very low stability profile of TQ in all the aqueous solutions with rapid degradation that varied with solvent type. The study of the degradation kinetics showed a significant effect of pH on the degradation process. The process followed first order kinetics at more acidic and alkaline pH values, and second order kinetics at pH 5–7.4, regardless of the solvent type. The results also expressed that light has a greater impact on the stability of TQ as a shorter period of exposure led to severe degradation, independent of the solution pH and solvent type. Our results also addressed some discrepancies in previously published researches regarding the formulation and quantification of TQ with suggested solutions. Overall, the current study concludes that TQ is unstable in aqueous solutions, particularly at an alkaline pH, in addition to presenting severe light sensitivity. This data indicates the inappropriateness of aqueous solutions as pharmaceutical vehicles for TQ preparations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study describing TQ aqueous solubility and stability that may lead to the development of a stable and effective TQ formulation.
Human action recognition based on Kinect and PSO-SVM by representing 3D skeletons as points in lie group

In this paper, we propose an effective method to recognize human actions. Combined with the relationship between 3D skeleton model of joint position and particle group optimization algorithm is used to optimize the support vector machine (PSO-SVM) and depth through the Kinect sensor to obtain human 3D skeleton model, each skeletal model with 20 joints and 19 joints, the relative geometry between various body parts provides a more meaningful description than their absolute locations, we explicitly model the relative 3D geometry between different body parts in our skeletal representation. Mathematically, rigid body rotations and translations in 3D space are members of the special Euclidean group SE(3), which is a matrix Lie group. Hence, we represent the relative geometry between a pair of body parts as a point in SE(3), We then perform classification using a combination of dynamic time warping, and particle swarm optimization on support vector machine (PSO-SVM), Experimental results on three action datasets: MSR-Action 3D, UT-Kinect, Florence 3D-Action, show that the proposed representation performs better than many existing skeletal representations. The proposed approach also outperforms various state-of-the-art skeleton-based human action recognition approaches.
Comprehensive Description of Clinical Characteristics of a Large Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Cohort from the Spanish Rheumatology Society Lupus Registry (RELESSER) With Emphasis on Complete Versus Incomplete Lupus Differences

AbstractSystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by multiple organ involvement and pronounced racial and ethnic heterogeneity. The aims of the present work were (1) to describe the cumulative clinical characteristics of those patients included in the Spanish Rheumatology Society SLE Registry (RELESSER), focusing on the differences between patients who fulfilled the 1997 ACR-SLE criteria versus those with less than 4 criteria (hereafter designated as incomplete SLE (iSLE)) and (2) to compare SLE patient characteristics with those documented in other multicentric SLE registries.RELESSER is a multicenter hospital-based registry, with a collection of data from a large, representative sample of adult patients with SLE (1997 ACR criteria) seen at Spanish rheumatology departments. The registry includes demographic data, comprehensive descriptions of clinical manifestations, as well as information about disease activity and severity, cumulative damage, comorbidities, treatments and mortality, using variables with highly standardized definitions.A total of 4.024 SLE patients (91% with ≥4 ACR criteria) were included. Ninety percent were women with a mean age at diagnosis of 35.4 years and a median duration of disease of 11.0 years. As expected, most SLE manifestations were more frequent in SLE patients than in iSLE ones and every one of the ACR criteria was also associated with SLE condition; this was particularly true of malar rash, oral ulcers and renal disorder. The analysis—adjusted by gender, age at diagnosis, and disease duration—revealed that higher disease activity, damage and SLE severity index are associated with SLE [OR: 1.14; 95% CI: 1.08–1.20 (P < 0.001); 1.29; 95% CI: 1.15–1.44 (P < 0.001); and 2.10; 95% CI: 1.83–2.42 (P < 0.001), respectively]. These results support the hypothesis that iSLE behaves as a relative stable and mild disease. SLE patients from the RELESSER register do not appear to differ substantially from other Caucasian populations and although activity [median SELENA-SLEDA: 2 (IQ: 0–4)], damage [median SLICC/ACR/DI: 1 (IQ: 0–2)], and severity [median KATZ index: 2 (IQ: 1–3)] scores were low, 1 of every 4 deaths was due to SLE activity.RELESSER represents the largest European SLE registry established to date, providing comprehensive, reliable and updated information on SLE in the southern European population.
Informative Internet Services and the New Digital Divide: Who Benefits from Using the Internet?

This study aims to make an innovative contribution to the existing literature on the new digital divide by investigating which personality and sociodemographic factors influence the use of informative Internet services, and how these Internet services affect an individual’s bridging social capital. These two questions are answered by analyzing longitudinal data using Structural Equation Modeling. We found that individuals who are more eager to learn or more open to new experiences (measured by personality factors ‘need for cognition’ and ‘openness to experience’) use a larger amount of informative Internet services than those who do not feel that urge. Furthermore, males and elderly people are more likely to use a larger amount of informative Internet services, as well as those who are higher educated and have higher incomes. No relationship was found between Internet use and bridging social capital, though. This implies that the assumed relationship between Internet use and bridging social capital might not exist when personality and socio-demographics are taken into account as well. Although patterns of a digital divide are clearly visible in people’s surfing patterns, the implications of the new digital divide might not be as severe as has often been proclaimed.
Proprioceptive influences on auditory and visual spatial localization

We evaluated the influence of proprioceptive information about arm position on the perceptual localization of auditory and visual targets attached to the hand. Our approach was to distort the perceived position of the restrained arm by means of mechanical vibration of the biceps brachii muscle; such vibration elicits compelling apparent extension of the stationary forearm (Goodwin, G. M., D. I. McCloskey, and P. B. C. Matthews (1972) Science 175: 1382–1384, Brain 95: 705– 748), and subjects report changes in the apparent directions of the auditory and visual targets attached to their hand. These changes are in the same direction and plane as apparent arm motion and their onsets are coincident with or lag slightly behind the experienced displacement of the arm. While visual motion is being experienced, a subject's eyes remain steadily fixating the target light. The pattern of findings demonstrates that proprioceptive information about limb position can influence the central representation of gaze and auditory localization can be similarly influenced. The biasing of auditory localization indicates that identical patterns of arrival time and intensity cues at the two ears can give rise to the perception of sounds in widely disparate spatial positions in relation to the head and body, depending on the proprioceptive representation of the direction of the sound source.
OSCILLATION BEHAVIOR OF SECOND ORDER NONLINEAR NEUTRAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS WITH DEVIATING ARGUMENTS

Oscillation criteria are established for second order nonlinear neutral differential equations with deviating arguments of the form \[r(t)\psi(x(t))|z'(t)|^{\alpha -1} z'(t)+ \int_a^b q(t,\xi)f(x(g(t,\phi)))d\sigma (\xi) =0,\quad t\gt t_0,\] where \(\alpha \gt 0\) and \(z(t)= x(t)+p(t)x(t-\tau)\). Our results improve and extend some known results in the literature. Some illustrating examples are also provided to show the importance of our results.
Preventive and therapeutic effects of thymosin β4 N-terminal fragment Ac-SDKP in the bleomycin model of pulmonary fibrosis

In this study, the bleomycin model of pulmonary fibrosis was utilized to investigate putative anti-fibrotic activity of Ac-SDKP in vivo. Male CD-1 mice received intra-tracheal bleomycin (BLEO, 1 mg/kg) instillation in the absence or presence of Ac-SDKP (a dose of 0.6 mg/kg delivered intra-peritoneally on the day of BLEO treatment, d0, followed by bi-weekly additional doses). To evaluate therapeutic effects in a subset of mice, Ac-SDKP was administered one week after BLEO instillation (d7). Animals were sacrificed at one, two, or three weeks later. Measurement of fluid and collagen content in the lung, Broncho Alveolar Lavage Fluid (BALF) analysis, lung histology, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and molecular analysis were performed. Compared to BLEO-treated mice, animals that received also Ac-SDKP (at both d0 and d7) had significantly decreased mortality, weight loss, inflammation (edema, and leukocyte lung infiltration), lung damage (histological evidence of lung injury), and fibrosis (collagen histological staining and soluble collagen content in the lung) at up to 21 days. Moreover, IHC and quantitative RT-PCR results demonstrated a significant decrease in BLEO-induced IL-17 and TGF-β expression in lung tissue. Importantly, α-SMA expression, the hallmark of myofibroblast differentiation, was also decreased. This is the first report showing not only a preventive protective role of Ac-SDKP but also its significant therapeutic effects in the bleomycin model of pulmonary fibrosis, thus supporting further preclinical and clinical studies.