Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ANESTHETIC PRECONDITIONING CONFERS ACUTE CARDIOPROTECTION VIA UP-REGULATION OF MANGANESE SUPEROXIDE DISMUTASE AND PRESERVATION OF MITOCHONDRIAL RESPIRATORY ENZYME ACTIVITY

The cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie cardioprotection against I/R by anesthetic-induced preconditioning (APC) require further elucidation. Using isoflurane as a representative anesthetic, we evaluated the hypothesis that APC induces myocardial protection against I/R by attenuation of excessive reactive oxygen species and restoration of mitochondrial bioenergetics through postischemic up-regulation of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) expression and preservation of respiratory enzyme activity. Pentobarbital anesthetized open-chest Sprague-Dawley rats were subject to 30-min left coronary artery occlusion, followed by 120-min reperfusion. Before ischemia, rats were randomly assigned to receive 0.9% saline, two cycles of brief coronary artery occlusion and reperfusion, or a 30-min exposure to 1.0 minimum alveolar concentration isoflurane in the absence or presence of a specific mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel blocker, 5-hydroxydecanoate; a membrane-permeable superoxide scavenger, 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl piperidinoxyl; or a NOS inhibitor, NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester. Isoflurane exposure induced an initial increase in myocardial superoxide (O2−), but not NO level. It also significantly decreased infarct size and restored mitochondrial respiratory enzyme activity or ATP production in I/R rat hearts, along with suppression of the O2− surge at reperfusion and increase in MnSOD expression or enzyme activity. These protective effects were abrogated by 5-hydroxydecanoate or 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl piperidinoxyl, but not by NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester pretreatment. These results suggest that opening of mitochondrial KATP channel, followed by O2− signaling, induces postischemic augmentation of MnSOD and preservation of mitochondrial respiratory enzyme activities, leading to attenuated cardiac O2− surge and restored ATP production during reperfusion, and underlie APC-induced cardioprotection.
Auto-Join: Joining Tables by Leveraging Transformations

Traditional equi-join relies solely on string equality comparisons to perform joins. However, in scenarios such as ad-hoc data analysis in spreadsheets, users increasingly need to join tables whose join-columns are from the same semantic domain but use different textual representations, for which transformations are needed before equi-join can be performed. We developed Auto-Join, a system that can automatically search over a rich space of operators to compose a transformation program, whose execution makes input tables equi-join-able. We developed an optimal sampling strategy that allows Auto-Join to scale to large datasets efficiently, while ensuring joins succeed with high probability. Our evaluation using real test cases collected from both public web tables and proprietary enterprise tables shows that the proposed system performs the desired transformation joins efficiently and with high quality.
Reappraisal of ‘Metoposaurus hoffmani’ Dutuit, 1978, and description of new temnospondyl specimens from the Middle–Late Triassic of Madagascar (Morondava Basin)

ABSTRACT Temnospondyls from the Middle–Late Triassic of Madagascar are problematic and scarce: ‘Metoposaurus hoffmani’ was erected on the basis of poor material, and this taxon has never been revised. Other remains were also reported and assigned to Temnospondyli indet. , but they have never been described, nor figured. Here, we (re)describe in detail this historical material from the Folakara area of Madagascar (Isalo Group, Morondava Basin): the specimens include cranial and postcranial remains, most of them being referred to Metoposauridae indet. and a few to Stereospondyli indet. We also confirm that ‘M. hoffmani’ is a nomen dubium owing to the absence of any clear autapomorphy of the fragmentary type material. The material referred here to Metoposauridae indet. is incorporated in an updated paleobiogeographic analysis of the group: interestingly, it suggests a connection with Indian metoposaurids during the Late Triassic.
tPA for Acute Ischemic Stroke and Its Controversies: A Review

Background and Purpose: Although neurologists consider intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) to be standard of care in the treatment of patients with acute ischemic stroke, its use remains contentious within the broader medical community, and particularly among emergency physicians. Why might this be? We provide a historical context to this ongoing controversy by reviewing how neurologists have conceptualized the acute stroke and its treatment, with the aim of bridging this gap. Methods: Based on historical sources in the Mackie Family History of Neuroscience Collection at the University of Calgary, as well as online resources, we trace the evolution of the concept of the “acute stroke,” which has come to mean a stroke that is potentially treatable with tPA. We frame this conceptualization in relation to historical “building blocks” in anatomy, pathology, and physiology. We then use these building blocks to explain why neurologists understand tPA to be effective and why emergency physicians often do not. Results and Conclusions: Arguments against the use of tPA reiterate 20-year-old concerns about its efficacy and safety. We believe these persistent concerns can be framed as a lack of understanding of the “building blocks” upon which neurologists’ conception of tPA is built. Our view suggests that the way forward to bridge the gap between neurology and other disciplines is not to conduct more trials but to offer a shared conceptualization of the trials already completed and of the intellectual tradition from which they emerged.
Prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and tobacco use in veterans at Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

BACKGROUND Although its prevalence is still debated, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, and smoking cessation remains the only intervention that can significantly improve the prognosis of COPD. METHODS To determine the prevalence of COPD in a typical population seeking care at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center; the impact of smoking, age, and sex on the prevalence of COPD in this population; and how often spirometry is done in patients at risk for COPD, we extracted data from the Veterans Integrated Service Network 20 Consumer Health Information and Performance Sets database, on patients seen at the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center between January 1, 1999, and May 30, 2006. RESULTS Approximately 8.8% (2,556/28,983) of all patients and 14.1% (1,152/8,149) of smokers were reported to have COPD. The odds of COPD in smokers, after adjusting for age and sex, was 3.18 (95% confidence interval 2.88-3.50) times greater than in nonsmokers. Males were 1.48 times more likely to have COPD than females, and there was an increasing risk of COPD with age. Thirty-nine percent of all veterans and 54% of those with COPD were active smokers. 273 (60%) of the 455 symptomatic smokers without a prior diagnosis of COPD were not evaluated with spirometry. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of COPD in patients at the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center was consistent with that in other United States surveys, although the underutilization of screening spirometry in those at risk for COPD may have caused underestimation of the prevalence. Smoking, age, and male sex were identified as significant risk factors for COPD, and the prevalence of active smoking remains high in this population of veterans.
Whole Exome Sequencing Implicates an INO80D Mutation in a Syndrome of Aortic Hypoplasia, Premature Atherosclerosis, and Arterial Stiffness

Background—Massively parallel, high-throughput sequencing technology is helping to generate new insights into the genetic basis of human diseases. We used whole exome sequencing to identify the mutation underlying a syndrome affecting 2 siblings with aortic hypoplasia, calcific atherosclerosis, systolic hypertension, and premature cataract. Methods and Results—Exonic regions were captured and sequenced using a next-generation sequencing platform to generate 100 bases paired-end reads. A computational genomic data analysis pipeline was used to perform quality control, align reads to a reference genome, and identify genetic variants; findings were confirmed using a different exome analyses pipeline. The 2 siblings were homozygous for a rare missense mutation (Ser818Cys) in INO80D, a subunit of the human INO80 chromatin remodeling complex. Homozygosity mapping and Sanger sequencing confirmed that the mutation is located in one of the runs of homozygosity on chromosome 2. INO80D encodes a key subunit of the human IN080 complex, a multiprotein complex involved in DNA binding, chromatin modification, organization of chromosome structure, and ATP-dependent nucleosome sliding. By introducing a new disulphide-bond in the protein product and also disrupting the composition of low-complexity regions, the Ser818Cys mutation may affect INO80D function, protein–protein interactions, and chromatin remodeling. Conclusions—Our findings suggest a link between the Ser818Cys mutation in INO80D, a subunit of the human INO80 chromatin remodeling complex, and accelerated arterial aging.
Proceedings from the European clinical consensus conference for renal denervation: considerations on future clinical trial design.

Approximately 8–18% of all patients with high blood pressure (BP) are apparently resistant to drug treatment.1,2 In this situation, new strategies to help reduce BP are urgently needed but the complex pathophysiology of resistant hypertension makes this search difficult. Not surprisingly in this context, the latest non-drug treatment which triggered controversy is catheter-based renal denervation (RDN). 3,4 The method uses radiofrequency energy, or alternatively ultrasound or chemical denervation, to disrupt renal nerves within the renal artery wall, thereby reducing sympathetic efferent and sensory afferent signalling to and from the kidneys.5,6 Various experimental models of hypertension strongly support this concept7,8 and available evidence also suggests that sympathetic nervous system activation contributes to the development and progression of hypertension and subsequently to target organ damage.7–11 Historical observations have shown that surgical sympathectomy can reduce BP as well as morbidity and mortality in patients with uncontrolled hypertension.12,13 However, the clinical evidence in support of RDN as an effective interventional technique in patients with resistant hypertension is conflicting. A number of observational studies and three randomized, controlled trials (Symplicity HTN-2, Prague-15, and DENERHTN) support both safety and efficacy of this new therapy14–22 but some smaller studies and the large, single-blind, randomized, sham-controlled symplicity HTN-3 trial failed to show superiority of RDN when compared with medical therapy alone.23–25 Whatever the shortcomings of individual trials may be, the possibility remains that the observed BP responses were due to placebo response, the Hawthorne effect, regression to the mean, unknown co-interventions or other bias.26 The design, conduct, and interpretation …
Complexes of Adenovirus with Polycationic Polymers and Cationic Lipids Increase the Efficiency of Gene Transfer in Vitro and in Vivo*

Improving the efficiency of gene transfer remains an important goal in developing new treatments for cystic fibrosis and other diseases. Adenovirus vectors and nonviral vectors each have specific advantages, but they also have limitations. Adenovirus vectors efficiently escape from the endosome and enter the nucleus, but the virus shows limited binding to airway epithelia. Nonviral cationic vectors bind efficiently to the negatively charged cell surface, but they do not catalyze subsequent steps in gene transfer. To take advantage of the unique features of the two different vector systems, we noncovalently complexed cationic molecules with recombinant adenovirus encoding a transgene. Complexes of cationic polymers and cationic lipids with adenovirus increased adenovirus uptake and transgene expression in cells that were inefficiently infected by adenovirus alone. Infection by both complexes was independent of adenovirus fiber and its receptor and occurred via a different cellular pathway than adenovirus alone. Complexes of cationic molecules and adenovirus also enhanced gene transfer to differentiated human airway epithelia in vitro and to the nasal epithelium of cystic fibrosis mice in vivo These data show that complexes of adenovirus and cationic molecules increase the efficiency of gene transfer, which may enhance the development of gene therapy.
Coalescing binary systems of compact objects to (post)5/2-Newtonian order. V. Spin effects.

We examine the effects of spin-orbit and spin-spin coupling on the inspiral of a coalescing binary system of spinning compact objects and on the gravitational radiation emitted therefrom. Using a formalism developed by Blanchet, Damour, and Iyer, we calculate the contributions due to the spins of the bodies to the symmetric trace-free radiative multipole moments which are used to calculate the waveform, energy loss, and angular momentum loss from the inspiralling binary. Using equations of motion which include terms due to spin-orbit and spin-spin coupling, we evolve the orbit of a coalescing binary and use the orbit to calculate the emitted gravitational waveform. We find the spins of the bodies affect the waveform in several ways: 1) The spin terms contribute to the orbital decay of the binary, and thus to the accumulated phase of the gravitational waveform. 2) The spins cause the orbital plane to precess, which changes the orientation of the orbital plane with respect to an observer, thus causing the shape of the waveform to be modulated. 3) The spins contribute directly to the amplitude of the waveform. We discuss the size and importance of spin effects for the case of two coalescing neutron stars, and for the case of a neutron star orbiting a rapidly rotating $10M_\odot$ black hole.
Intertester Reliability for Selected Clinical Tests of the Sacroiliac Joint

&NA; The purpose of this study was to examine the intertester reliability of 13 tests for sacroiliac joint (SIJ) dysfunction. Eight therapists examined 17 patients in two clinical settings. In each case, two therapists independently examined the patients and obtained results on all 13 of the SIJ tests. Patients with lumbosacral pain and unilateral lower extremity symptoms of a duration less than one year were examined. All the therapists had specialized in orthopedic physical therapy and had been trained in SIJ examination. Reliability was poor; 11 of the 13 tests resulted in less than 70% agreement. The two tests that relied solely on subjective patient response and imparted no information on SIJ position or mobility were within a range of 70% to 90% agreement. Our findings suggest the necessity of reviewing examination methods for the SIJ and improving reliability of clinical testing of this joint.
Region-Kernel-Based Support Vector Machines for Hyperspectral Image Classification

This paper proposes a region kernel to measure the region-to-region distance similarity for hyperspectral image (HSI) classification. The region kernel is designed to be a linear combination of multiscale box kernels, which can handle the HSI regions with arbitrary shape and size. Integrating labeled pixels and labeled regions, we further propose a region-kernel-based support vector machine (RKSVM) classification framework. In RKSVM, three different composite kernels are constructed to describe the joint spatial-spectral similarity. Particularly, we design a desirable stack composite kernel that consists of the point-based kernel, the region-based kernel, and the cross point-to-region kernel. The effectiveness of the proposed RKSVM is validated on three benchmark hyperspectral data sets. Experimental results show the superiority of our region kernel method over the classical point kernel methods.
Using molecular diet analysis to inform invasive species management: A case study of introduced rats consuming endemic New Zealand frogs

Abstract The decline of amphibians has been of international concern for more than two decades, and the global spread of introduced fauna is a major factor in this decline. Conservation management decisions to implement control of introduced fauna are often based on diet studies. One of the most common metrics to report in diet studies is Frequency of Occurrence (FO), but this can be difficult to interpret, as it does not include a temporal perspective. Here, we examine the potential for FO data derived from molecular diet analysis to inform invasive species management, using invasive ship rats (Rattus rattus) and endemic frogs (Leiopelma spp.) in New Zealand as a case study. Only two endemic frog species persist on the mainland. One of these, Leiopelma archeyi, is Critically Endangered (IUCN 2017) and ranked as the world's most evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered amphibian (EDGE, 2018). Ship rat stomach contents were collected by kill‐trapping and subjected to three methods of diet analysis (one morphological and two DNA‐based). A new primer pair was developed targeting all anuran species that exhibits good coverage, high taxonomic resolution, and reasonable specificity. Incorporating a temporal parameter allowed us to calculate the minimum number of ingestion events per rat per night, providing a more intuitive metric than the more commonly reported FO. We are not aware of other DNA‐based diet studies that have incorporated a temporal parameter into FO data. The usefulness of such a metric will depend on the study system, in particular the feeding ecology of the predator. Ship rats are consuming both species of native frogs present on mainland New Zealand, and this study provides the first detections of remains of these species in mammalian stomach contents.
Urocortin ameliorates diabetic cardiomyopathy in rats via the Akt/GSK-3β signaling pathway

Urocortin has been shown to exert powerful protective effects on various cardiovascular disease models. However, the role and mechanism of urocortin in protecting against diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) has not yet been elucidated. In the present study, the effects of urocortin on cardiac dysfunction, fibrosis, inflammation and the interrelated signaling pathways were investigated in a diabetic rat model. Diabetes mellitus (DM) was induced in the rats by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. The diabetic rats were randomly divided into four groups: Diabetic control, urocortin, urocortin + astressin treatment and urocortin + triciribine treatment groups. All the experiments were conducted at 16 weeks following the induction of DM. The levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), creatine phosphokinase isoenzyme (CK-MB) and plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), as well as the myocardial collagen volume fraction (CVF) and left ventricular mass index (LVWI), were measured. In addition, levels of inflammatory factors, including transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and interrelated proteins, such as Akt and glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3β, were detected by biochemical analyses. In the diabetic group, the levels of BNP and CK-MB, as well as the mRNA and protein expression levels of TGF-β1 and CTGF, and the LVWI and CVF, were higher compared with the rats in the control group (P<0.05). This was accompanied by decreased Akt and GSK-3β phosphorylation (P<0.05). Notably, urocortin attenuated myocardial dysfunction, cardiac fibrosis and inflammation in the hearts of the diabetic rats. However, urocortin exhibited no effect on the level of HbA1c. In addition, the inhibited phosphorylation of Akt and GSK-3β was restored with urocortin administration. However, all the effects of urocortin were eliminated with treatment of the corticotropin releasing factor receptor 2 antagonist, astressin. Triciribine, an Akt inhibitor, partially eliminated the effects of urocortin on myocardial dysfunction, inflammation and cardiac fibrosis in the hearts of the diabetic rats. These results indicated that urocortin may exhibit great therapeutic potential in the treatment of DCM by attenuating fibrosis and inflammation. Furthermore, the Akt/GSK-3β signaling pathway may be partially involved in mediating these effects.
On Generalized Cullen and Woodall Numbers That are Also Fibonacci Numbers

The m-th Cullen number Cm is a number of the form m2 m + 1 and the m-th Woodall number Wm has the form m2 m − 1. In 2003, Luca and Stuanicua proved that the largest Fibonacci number in the Cullen sequence is F4 = 3 and that F1 = F2 = 1 are the largest Fibonacci numbers in the Woodall sequence. A generalization of these sequences is defined by Cm,s = ms m +1 and Wm,s = ms m −1, for s > 1. In this paper, we search for Fibonacci numbers belonging to these generalized Cullen and Woodall sequences.
Long‐term outcomes of positive fluorescence in situ hybridization tests in primary sclerosing cholangitis

Patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) are at increased risk for developing cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a cytological test designed to enhance early CCA diagnosis. The long‐term outcome of PSC patients with a positive FISH test (polysomy, trisomy/tetrasomy) are unclear. All PSC patients with at least one FISH test were identified and defined to have CCA if they had a positive tissue biopsy, positive cytology, or evidence of cancer in the explant after liver transplantation. A total of 235 PSC patients had at least one FISH test performed, and 56 patients had CCA on histopathology (n = 35) or cytology (n = 21). Overall, 120 of 235 (51%) of PSC patients tested for FISH were positive, but only one third of these positive patients had CCA. Sensitivity and specificity for FISH polysomy were 46% and 88%, and for trisomy/tetrasomy they were 25% and 67%, respectively. Survival analysis showed that patients with FISH polysomy had an outcome similar to patients with CCA; whereas FISH trisomy/tetrasomy patients had an outcome similar to patients with negative FISH tests. The FISH polysomy patients without cancer compared with those with CCA had lower serum bilirubin, lower carbohydrate antigen 19‐9 (CA 19‐9), lower Mayo risk score, and lower occurrence of dominant strictures. Conclusion: In PSC patients, the presence of a dominant stricture plus FISH polysomy has a specificity of 88% for CCA. Patients with FISH showing trisomy or tetrasomy have a similar outcome to patients with negative FISH. FISH testing should be used selectively in patients with other signs indicating CCA and not as a screening tool in all PSC patients undergoing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). (HEPATOLOGY 2009.)