Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of uterine fibroid infarction after embolization with tris-acryl gelatin microspheres

Abstract Purpose: To evaluate the degree of fibroid infarction after uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) with tris-acryl gelatin microsphere (Embosphere) visualized by contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and evaluation of the clinical outcome measured with symptom and quality of life questionnaire (UFS-QOL) after 3 months follow-up. Materials and Methods: A prospective study included twenty-six pre-menopausal women. UFE with Embosphere of 500–900 μm was performed. Residual contrast enhancement in the total fibroid burden was analyzed and residual contrast enhancement ≤10% was defined as a satisfactory result after embolization. The dominant fibroids and total uterine volumes were assessed by MRI before and at follow-up. The UFS-QOL questionnaire answers were analysed and compared. Results: Twenty-five of 26 patients (96%) had a technically successful UFE. Twenty-four of the patients (92%) had MRI controls 3 months after UFE of which 23 patients had complete or almost complete fibroid burden infarction without residual contrast enhancement of the fibroids of more than 10%. One patient had insufficient fibroid burden infarction. Twenty-three of the patients had UFS-QOL analyses of which 96% had significant clinical improvement. Conclusion: UFE with Embosphere of 500–900 μm gave satisfactory MRI results with residual fibroid contrast enhancement ≤10% and good clinical effect in 96% of patients.
Microarray image gridding via an evolutionary algorithm

Gridding is the first, essential stage of processing cDNA microarray images. The existing tools for allocating the grid structure in a microarray image often require human intervention which causes variations to the gene expression results. In this paper, an original and fully-automatic approach to gridding microarray images is presented. The proposed approach is based on a genetic algorithm which determines parallel and equidistant line-segments constituting the grid structure. Thereafter, a refinement procedure follows which further improves the existing grid structure, by slightly modifying the line-segments. Experiments on 16-bit microarray images have shown that the proposed method is effective as well as noise-resistant. Additionally, it achieves an accuracy of more than 95% and it outperforms existing methods.
Implementation of wireless LAN baseband processor based on space-frequency OFDM transmit diversity scheme

In this paper, we propose an efficient symbol detection algorithm for space-frequency OFDM (SF-OFDM) transmit diversity scheme and present the implementation results of the SF-OFDM wireless LAN (WLAN) baseband processor with the proposed algorithm. When the number of sub-carriers in SF-OFDM scheme is small, the interference between adjacent sub-carriers is generated. The proposed algorithm eliminates this interference in a parallel manner and obtains a considerable performance improvement over the conventional detection algorithm. The bit error rate (BER) performance of the proposed detection algorithm is evaluated by the simulation. In the case of 2 transmit and 2 receive antennas, at BER=10/sup -4/ the proposed algorithm obtains about 3 dB gain over the conventional detection algorithm. The packet error rate (PER), link throughput, and coverage performance of the SF-OFDM WLAN with the proposed detection algorithm are also estimated. For the target throughput at 80% of the peak data rate, the SF-OFDM WLAN achieves the average SNR gain of about 5.95 dB and the average coverage gain of 3.98 meter. The SF-OFDM WLAN baseband processor with the proposed algorithm was designed in a hardware description language and synthesized to gate-level circuits using 0.18 /spl mu/m 1.8 V CMOS standard cell library. With the division-free architecture, the total logic gate count for the processor is 945 K. The real-time operation is verified and evaluated using a FPGA test system.
Response, survival, and toxicity after iodine‐131–metaiodobenzylguanidine therapy for neuroblastoma in preadolescents, adolescents, and adults

Adolescent and adult patients with neuroblastoma appear to have a more indolent disease course but a lower survival rate compared with their younger counterparts. The majority of neuroblastoma tumors specifically accumulate the radiolabeled norepinephrine analogue iodine‐131–metaiodobenzylguanidine (131I‐MIBG). Therefore, 131I‐MIBG has become increasingly used as targeted radiotherapy for patients with recurrent or refractory neuroblastoma. The objective of the current study was to characterize the toxicity and activity of this therapy in older patients.
Effects of early intervention of swallowing therapy on recovery from dysphagia following stroke

Background: Dysphagia is common after stroke. The onset time of swallowing rehabilitation following stroke has an important role in the recovery of dysphagia and preventing of its complications, but it was either highly variable or was not stated in previous trials. The aim of this study was investigation effects of onset time of swallowing therapy on recovery from dysphagia following stroke. Methods: Sixty dysphagia patients due to stroke range of age 60-74 (67.1 ± 3.8), participated in this randomized clinical trial study. The patients allocated in Early, Medium and Late groups, on the base of initiation of swallowing therapy after the stroke. After basic clinical and video fluoroscopic swallowing study assessments, traditional swallowing therapy was initiated 3 times per week for 3 months. The outcome measures were North-Western dysphagia patient check sheet, functional oral intake scale, video fluoroscopy, and frequency of pneumonia. Statistical analysis was done by repeated measure ANOVA, Bonferroni and χ2 tests. Results: Three groups of patients in terms of demographic and clinical characteristics were similar in the pre-treatment P > 0.050. Onset time of swallowing therapy after stroke was effective on swallowing recovery on the main outcome variables. So that in first group patients, recovery was rather than other groups P < 0.050. Furthermore, the frequency of pneumonia in the early group was less than other groups and in the early group no patients experienced pneumonia P = 0.002. Conclusion: Our data suggested that early interventions for dysphagia in stroke have an important role in recovery from dysphagia and prevention of complications like aspiration pneumonia.
Bone Marrow‐Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Ameliorate Autoimmune Enteropathy Independently of Regulatory T Cells

Cell‐based tolerogenic therapy is a relatively new approach for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been shown to be potent immunomodulatory agents in a number of experimental and clinical scenarios; however, their use in various autoimmune diseases is undefined. Herein, we report the efficacy of MSC transplantation in a multiorgan autoimmunity model. Mice with defective peripheral tolerance caused by a deficiency in regulatory T cells were used as a testbed for therapy. After screening multiple target tissues of autoimmune attack, we observed an MSC‐specific improvement in the histopathology of the distal ileum of treated mice. We then showed that MSCs can reduce mesenteric lymph node (MLN) cellularity in autoimmune mice during active disease and decrease activated T‐cell populations in the MLN. Trafficking studies using enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP)‐reporter MSCs revealed no appreciable engraftment in the intestine, but it did reveal the presence of eGFP+ cells organized in clusters within the MLN, as well as ancillary nodes. Semiquantitative analysis showed no difference in the number of clusters; however, eGFP+ cells in MLNs compared with ancillary nodes had distinct fibroblastoid morphology and formed a network with neighboring eGFP+ cells. Finally, we show evidence that transplantation of MSCs caused global immunosuppression, as measured by increased CD4+ CD8+ thymocyte production and serum interleukin‐10 and decreased serum interferon‐γ. These data implicate the intestine as a new site of MSC tolerance induction and should motivate additional studies evaluating the use of MSCs as a treatment for autoimmune enteropathies.
Magnetic resonance measurements of renal blood flow as a marker of disease severity in autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND Autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is an inherited disorder characterized by renal cyst growth, early development of hypertension, and late occurrence of renal insufficiency. Despite evidence for the importance of nephroangiosclerosis in the progression of renal insufficiency in ADPKD, evaluation of renal blood flow (RBF) as a surrogate marker of disease severity has received little attention. METHODS Flow phantoms and repeat RBF measurements assessed accuracy and reproducibility. One hundred twenty-seven ADPKD subjects with creatinine clearances >70 mL/min underwent measurements of RBF, total, and cyst renal volumes, and % cyst volumes by magnetic resonance (MR) and of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Renal vascular resistance (RVR) was calculated. MR blood flow sequences utilized a two-dimensional cine phase-contrast breath-hold pulse sequence perpendicular to the renal arteries. Flow rates were calculated utilizing FLOW software. Volumetric analysis was performed using stereology and region-based thresholding. RESULTS Excellent accuracy and intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility were demonstrated. Anatomic (total kidney volume, total cyst volume, and % cyst volume), hemodynamic (RBF and RVR), and functional (GFR) parameters were strongly correlated. Left polycystic kidneys were larger and had more severe disease. Regression analysis showed that age, diagnosis of hypertension, anatomic parameters and hemodynamic parameters were significant predictors of GFR. Multiple linear regression analysis identified age and hemodynamic parameters only as separate predictors of GFR. Anatomic, hemodynamic, and functional parameters discriminated between normotensive and hypertensive subjects despite antihypertensive treatments. CONCLUSION Renal hemodynamic parameters measured by MR correlate with anatomic and functional indices of disease severity, are the strongest predictors of renal function, and deserve further consideration as an outcome measure in clinical trials to guide therapy in ADPKD.
Extreme Value Statistics of the Total Energy in an Intermediate Complexity Model of the Mid-latitude Atmospheric Jet. Part I: Stationary case

A baroclinic model of intermediate complexity for the atmospheric jet at middle latitudes is used as a stochastic generator of atmosphere-like time series. In this case, time series of the total energy of the system are considered. Statistical inference of extreme values is applied to sequences of yearly maxima extracted from the time series in the rigorous setting provided by extreme value theory. The generalized extreme value (GEV) family of distributions is used here as a basic model, both for its qualities of simplicity and its generality. Several physically plausible values of the parameter T E , which represents the forced equator-to-pole temperature gradient and is responsible for setting the average baroclinicity in the atmospheric model, are used to generate stationary time series of the total energy. Estimates of the three GEV parameters-location, scale, and shape-are inferred by maximum likelihood methods. Standard statistical diagnostics, such as return level and quantile-quantile plots, are systematically applied to assess goodness-of-fit. The GEV parameters of location and scale are found to have a piecewise smooth, monotonically increasing dependence on T E . The shape parameter also increases with T E but is always negative, as is required a priori by the boundedness of the total energy. The sensitivity of the statistical inferences is studied with respect to the selection procedure of the maxima: the roles occupied by the length of the sequences of maxima and by the length of data blocks over which the maxima are computed are critically analyzed. Issues related to model sensitivity are also explored by varying the resolution of the system. The method used in this paper is put forward as a rigorous framework for the statistical analysis of extremes of observed data, to study the past and present climate and to characterize its variations.
Organ Size Regulation in Plants: Insights from Compensation

The regulation of organ size in higher organisms is a fundamental issue in developmental biology. In flowering plants, a phenomenon called “compensation” has been observed where a cell proliferation defect in developing leaf primordia triggers excessive cell expansion. As a result, final leaf size is not significantly reduced compared to that expected from the reduction in leaf cell numbers. Recent genetic studies have revealed several key features of the compensation phenomenon. Compensation is induced either cell autonomously or non-cell autonomously depending on the trigger that impairs cell proliferation; a certain type of compensation is induced only when cell proliferation is impaired beyond a threshold level. Excessive cell expansion is achieved by either an increased cell expansion rate or a prolonged period of cell expansion via genetic pathways that are also required for normal cell expansion. These results indicate that cell proliferation and cell expansion are coordinated through multiple pathways during leaf size determination. Further classification of compensation pathways and their characterization at the molecular level will provide a deeper understanding of organ size regulation.
Outcome of Total Hip Replacement: A Comparison of Different Measurement Methods

During the past 40 years, improvements have been made in the technique, implant, and surgical environment for total hip replacement, which today is one of the most cost-effective operations done. The aim of this study was to compare different outcome measurement methods and to develop recommendations for optimal followup of total hip replacement. The study involved the outcome of 2604 randomly selected patients in Sweden treated surgically with a modern technique. General questionnaires (the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey and the Nottingham Health Profile) were compared with disease-specific questionnaires (the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index and the Harris hip score). The study showed a good correlation between the studied questionnaires, and all questionnaires used could be suitable for followup study after hip replacement surgery. In clinical practice and for research, a general and disease-specific self-administered score should be used. Some patients (older and low cerebral capacity) have difficulties answering questions on these questionnaires. A new short self-administered general and disease-specific questionnaire was designed: the Total Hip Replacement score. The Total Hip Replacement score provides information about the result of the hip arthroplasty, and the results can be compared with results of other surgical interventions.
Computational Perspectives into Plasmepsins Structure—Function Relationship: Implications to Inhibitors Design

The development of efficient and selective antimalariais remains a challenge for the pharmaceutical industry. The aspartic proteases plasmepsins, whose inhibition leads to parasite death, are classified as targets for the design of potent drugs. Combinatorial synthesis is currently being used to generate inhibitor libraries for these enzymes, and together with computational methodologies have been demonstrated capable for the selection of lead compounds. The high structural flexibility of plasmepsins, revealed by their X-ray structures and molecular dynamics simulations, made even more complicated the prediction of putative binding modes, and therefore, the use of common computational tools, like docking and free-energy calculations. In this review, we revised the computational strategies utilized so far, for the structure-function relationship studies concerning the plasmepsin family, with special focus on the recent advances in the improvement of the linear interaction estimation (LIE) method, which is one of the most successful methodologies in the evaluation of plasmepsin-inhibitor binding affinity.
T-DNA Tagging in a Genomics Era

Referee: Dr. Tatsuo Kakimoto, Department of Biology, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, Machiikaneyama 1-1, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043 Japan From a relatively simple start, T-DNA tagging has emerged to become an important tool in plant physiology and molecular biology. Initially, it was primarily used as a means of gene isolation. A T-DNA insertion might result in an obvious, changed phenotype in the host plant and the sequence of the tag provided a landmark allowing its isolation along with the mutated gene. However, more recently, with plant genome sequences becoming available along with transgenic plant populations where collectively T-DNA insertions may saturate the genome, T-DNA insertion is being used increasingly to determine gene function. A variety of T-DNA gene tags are available. Many integrate within transcriptional units so that promoters, enhancers, exons, and introns can be tagged. In such cases if the tag contains marker genes endogenous patterns of expression of tagged sequences can be monitored. Tags containing transcriptional enhancers can be used to create gain of function mutations by the activation of gene expression. In the foreseeable future we can anticipate that with the model plant Arabidopsis libraries will become available where accessions will represent the knockout and/or activation of every gene coding region as defined by sequencing. Increasingly, T-DNA tagging is also being used to characterize genes in other plant species. Thus, it may be anticipated that this method of gene tagging will play an important role in investigating gene function in plant developmental processes that are not easily accessible with Arabidopsis.
Mechanisms of NOS1AP action on NMDA receptor-nNOS signaling

NMDA receptors (NMDAR) are glutamate-gated calcium channels that play pivotal roles in fundamental aspects of neuronal function. Dysregulated receptor function contributes to many disorders. Recruitment by NMDARs of calcium-dependent enzyme nNOS via PSD95 is seen as a key contributor to neuronal dysfunction. nNOS adaptor protein (NOS1AP), originally described as a competitor of PSD95:nNOS interaction, is regarded an inhibitor of NMDAR-driven nNOS function. In conditions of NMDAR hyperactivity such as excitotoxicity, one expects NOS1AP to be neuroprotective. Conditions of NMDAR hypoactivity, as thought to occur in schizophrenia, might be exacerbated by NOS1AP. Indeed GWAS have implicated NOS1AP and nNOS in schizophrenia. Several studies now indicate NOS1AP can mediate rather than inhibit NMDAR/nNOS-dependent responses, including excitotoxic signaling. Yet the concept of NOS1AP as an inhibitor of nNOS predominates in studies of human disease genetics. Here we review the experimental evidence to evaluate this apparent controversy, consider whether the known functions of NOS1AP might defend neurons against NMDAR dysregulation and highlight specific areas for future investigation to shed light on the functions of this adaptor protein.
Elevated Testosterone Levels During Rat Pregnancy Cause Hypersensitivity to Angiotensin II and Attenuation of Endothelium-Dependent Vasodilation in Uterine Arteries

Elevated testosterone levels increase maternal blood pressure and decrease uterine blood flow in pregnancy, resulting in abnormal perinatal outcomes. We tested whether elevated testosterone alters uterine artery adaptations during pregnancy, and whether these alterations depend on endothelium-derived factors such as nitric oxide, endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor, and prostacyclin, or endothelium-independent mechanisms such as angiotensin II (Ang-II). Pregnant Sprague–Dawley rats were injected with vehicle (n=20) or testosterone propionate (0.5 mg/kg per day from gestation day 15 to 19; n=20). Plasma testosterone levels increased 2-fold in testosterone-injected rats compared with controls. Elevated testosterone significantly decreased placental and pup weights compared with controls. In endothelium-intact uterine arteries, contractile responses to thromboxane, phenylephrine, and Ang-II were greater in testosterone-treated rats compared with controls. In endothelium-denuded arteries, contractile responses to Ang-II (pD2=9.1±0.04 versus 8.7±0.04 in controls; P<0.05), but not thromboxane and phenylephrine, were greater in testosterone-treated rats. Ang-II type 1b receptor expression was increased, whereas Ang-II type 2 receptor was decreased in testosterone-exposed arteries. In endothelium-denuded arteries, relaxations to sodium nitroprusside were unaffected. Endothelium-dependent relaxation to acetylcholine was significantly lower in arteries from testosterone-treated dams (Emax=51.80±6.9% versus 91.98±1.4% in controls; P<0.05). The assessment of endothelial factors showed that nitric oxide–, endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor–, and prostacyclin-mediated relaxations were blunted in testosterone-treated dams. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase, small conductance calcium–activated potassium channel-3, and prostacyclin receptor expressions were significantly decreased in arteries from testosterone-treated dams. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1&agr;, Ankrd37, and Egln were significantly increased in testosterone-exposed placentas. These results suggest that elevated maternal testosterone impairs uterine vascular function, which may lead to an increased vascular resistance and a decrease in uterine blood flow.
Influence of neutral protease activity on human islet isolation outcome.

UNLABELLED Observations in rat pancreata have revealed that enzymatic islet release is mediated by both collagenase and neutral protease (NP), a critical effector of islet integrity. Since no information is available about the effect of NP activity on islet release from the human pancreas, the present study evaluated the effect of various NP concentrations on the outcome of human islet isolation. METHODS Following intraductal collagenase distension, pancreata obtained from adult multiorgan donors were digested using 2000 PZ-U of purified Serva collagenase NB 1 supplemented with 2.6 (n = 10) or 4.5% (DMC-U/PZ-U) (n = 10) of NP. RESULTS Increasing NP from 2.6% to 4.5% reduced the amount of undigested tissue from 22 +/- 2 to 17 +/- 2 g (P < .05) while simultaneously increasing the volume of digested tissue (26 +/- 2 vs 40 +/- 3 mL, P < .01). Increased NP concentrations increased the islet yield prepurification (459,800 +/- 22,900 vs 587,600 +/- 69,000 IEQ, P < .05), but simultaneously affected islet purification, resulting in equal islet yields (345,700 +/- 31,200 vs 391,500 +/- 35,400 IEQ, NS) and less purity (70 +/- 6 vs 49% +/- 5%, P < .01). A NP concentration of 4.5% reduced the stimulation index (4.7 +/- 1.2 vs 2.0 +/- 0.5, P < .01) and viability (100 +/- 1 vs 95% +/- 3%, P < .05). CONCLUSIONS Although increased NP activity seems to improve islet release from adult human pancreata, it significantly affects islet viability and function. The reduction in purity reflected damage to acinar tissue by increased NP activity presumably affecting islet integrity.