Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection of Hemosiderin Deposition by T2*-Weighted MRI After Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Background and Purpose— Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is very difficult to diagnose several months after its onset. We thus investigated subarachnoid hemosiderin deposition well after SAH by T2*-weighted MRI, a sensitive method for hemosiderin detection. Methods— To investigate how hemosiderin deposition as confirmed by T2*-weighted MRI contributes to the determination of prior SAH and how the extent of hemosiderin deposition is associated with a number of clinical factors, we retrospectively analyzed 58 patients >3 months after SAH associated with ruptured aneurysms. We also investigated 209 healthy volunteers as controls. Results— T2*-weighted MRI demonstrated subarachnoid hemosiderin deposition in 72.4% of the SAH patients, whereas no deposition was seen in the healthy volunteer group. The hemosiderin was preferentially deposited in the subarachnoid space near a ruptured aneurysm. Odds ratios (ORs) were estimated from logistic regression analyses correlating hemosiderin deposition with other factors. Age (≥54 years) (OR, 5.1; 95% CI, 1.03 to 25.0; P =0.046), Fisher grade 3 on initial CT (OR, 8.0; 95% CI, 1.26 to 50.4; P =0.027), and Karnofsky Scale score ≤80% 6 months after onset of SAH (OR, 12.8; 95% CI, 1.97 to 83.3; P =0.0077) were all found to be independently associated with hemosiderin deposition levels. Conclusions— T2*-weighted MRI is an effective means of diagnosing prior SAH and may also reveal the location of a ruptured aneurysm. The extent of hemosiderin deposition was significantly associated with several factors, including age, CT findings, and poor prognosis.
Effects of Chorion Type on Genetic and Environmental Influences on Height, Weight, and Body Mass Index in South Korean Young Twins

Abstract The present study examined the effects of chorionicity of twins on variations of height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) during childhood in the classical twin design. Mothers of 81 pairs of monochorionic monozygotic (MCMZ), 47 pairs of dichorionic monozygotic (DCMZ), and 457 pairs of dizygotic (DZ) twins drawn from the South Korean Twin Registry reported their children's height and weight. Twins' age ranged from 1.9 to 8.7 yrs, with a mean of 4.0 yrs and SD of 1.7 yrs. We computed maximum likelihood twin correlations and performed model-fitting analyses. In correlational and model-fitting analyses, we treated age and sex as covariates to control their main effects. Maximum likelihood MCMZ, DCMZ, and DZ twin correlations were, respectively, . 96, . 92, and . 74, for height, . 88, . 91, and . 57 for weight, and . 93, . 92, and . 61 for BMI. The pattern of these twin correlations suggested very modest chorion effects on body measures. Model-fitting analyses confirmed the observations from twin correlations. Whereas genetic and shared environmental influences were significant for all three body measures, chorion effects attained statistical significance only for height (4%), and those for weight and BMI were zero. These findings indicate that genetic and environmental estimates for height, weight, and BMI during childhood are biased little by the chorion type of MZ twins, supporting the validity of the equal prenatal environment assumption in the classical twin design.
Rapid and Direct Effects of pH on Connexins Revealed by the Connexin46 Hemichannel Preparation

pH is a potent modulator of gap junction (GJ) mediated cell–cell communication. Mechanisms proposed for closure of GJ channels by acidification include direct actions of H+ on GJ proteins and indirect actions mediated by soluble intermediates. Here we report on the effects of acidification on connexin (Cx)46 cell–cell channels expressed in Neuro-2a cells and Cx46 hemichannels expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Effects of acidification on hemichannels were examined macroscopically and in excised patches that permitted rapid (<1 ms) and uniform pH changes at the exposed hemichannel face. Both types of Cx46 channel were found to be sensitive to cytoplasmic pH, and two effects were evident. A rapid and reversible closure was reproducibly elicited with short exposures to low pH, and a poorly reversible or irreversible loss occurred with longer exposures. We attribute the former to pH gating and the latter to pH inactivation. Half-maximal reduction of open probability for pH gating in hemichannels occurs at pH 6.4. Hemichannels remained sensitive to cytoplasmic pH when excised and when cytoplasmic [Ca2+] was maintained near resting (∼10−7 M) levels. Thus, Cx46 hemichannel pH gating does not depend on cytoplasmic intermediates or a rise in [Ca2+]. Rapid application of low pH to the cytoplasmic face of open hemichannels resulted in a minimum latency to closure near zero, indicating that Cx46 hemichannels directly sense pH. Application to closed hemichannels extended their closed time, suggesting that the pH sensor is accessible from the cytoplasmic side of a closed hemichannel. Rapid closure with significantly reduced sensitivity was observed with low pH application to the extracellular face, but could be explained by H+ permeation through the pore to reach an internal site. Closure by pH is voltage dependent and has the same polarity with low pH applied to either side. These data suggest that the pH sensor is located directly on Cx46 near the pore entrance on the cytoplasmic side.
Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in the Treatment of Systemic Sclerosis: The Difficulty in Interpreting Proof-of-Concept Studies

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have emerged as a targeted therapy of interest for the treatment of systemic sclerosis (SSc). Recently, several groups have performed pilot or “proof-of-concept” studies to determine the feasibility of this approach for the treatment of the cutaneous and pulmonary manifestations of this multisystem disease. The conclusions drawn by these different studies have been conflicting, and some controversy has arisen as to whether tyrosine kinase inhibition is a treatment approach worthy of continued study. This paper summarizes this research to date with emphasis on the challenges in interpreting proof-of-concept studies in this patient group.
Towards the business–information technology alignment in cloud computing environment: anapproach based on collaboration points and agents

With the development of extended enterprise and information technologies (IT), a new business pattern with its infrastructure, cloud computing, is emerging. More and more small and medium enterprises do not implement significant parts of their information systems (IS) in-house. Instead, they prefer to use the software services and even infrastructure services provided by professional information service companies. Their business strategy, IT strategy, business processes and information technologies shall be re-aligned. Furthermore, no cloud computing service vendor can satisfy the complete functional information system requirements of an enterprise. Sometimes, enterprises have to simultaneously use software services distributed in different clouds in conjunction with their intra-IS. These bring great challenges for business–IT alignment of an enterprise in the cloud computing environment (CCE). This study reviews business–IT alignment problems and models in CCE. The concept of collaboration point (CP) is proposed, and a CP-based business processes collaboration modelling technique is developed to improve the feasibility of IS in CCE. A framework to integrate applications and services deployed in public clouds and intra-IS is designed and a run-time platform with the collaboration agent technique is developed to realise the concept of CP. The case study illustrates the implementation of techniques developed in this article.
Do Trade and Technology Reduce Asymmetries?: Evidence from Manufacturing Industries in the EU

Are asymmetric shocks to output less important for industries which are more open to trade and more technology-intensive? Our results, obtained from a correlation analysis between growth rates of value added in thirteen manufacturing industries in eleven European countries between 1979 and 1990, clearly support the hypothesis. This finding suggests that policies which promote trade and technological innovation may help to decrease the importance of the asymmetric components of the business cycle within European countries.
Antigenicity and Immunogenicity of a Trimeric Envelope Protein from an Indian Clade C HIV-1 Isolate*

Background: The RV144 trial has established the importance of studying diverse HIV-1 envelopes for immunogen design. Results: HIV-1 93IN101 gp145 exposes conserved regions of envelope protein and induces broadly neutralizing antibodies. Conclusion: Characterization of trimeric gp145 from an Indian isolate demonstrates its potential use as a multiclade candidate HIV-1 vaccine to combat AIDS. Significance: Findings encourage studies on various Indian clade C envelope proteins. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolates from India mainly belong to clade C and are quite distinct from clade C isolates from Africa in terms of their phylogenetic makeup, serotype, and sensitivity to known human broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies. Because many of these properties are associated with the envelope proteins of HIV-1, it is of interest to study the envelope proteins of Indian clade C isolates as part of the ongoing efforts to develop a vaccine against HIV-1. To this end, we purified trimeric uncleaved gp145 of a CCR5 tropic Indian clade C HIV-1 (93IN101) from the conditioned medium of 293 cells. The purified protein was shown to be properly folded with stable structure by circular dichroism. Conformational integrity was further demonstrated by its high affinity binding to soluble CD4, CD4 binding site antibodies such as b12 and VRC01, quaternary epitope-specific antibody PG9, and CD4-induced epitope-specific antibody 17b. Sera from rabbits immunized with gp145 elicited high titer antibodies to various domains of gp120 and neutralized a broad spectrum of clade B and clade C HIV-1 isolates. Similar to other clade B and clade C envelope immunogens, most of the Tier 1 neutralizing activity could be absorbed with the V3-specific peptide. Subsequent boosting of these rabbits with a clade B HIV-1 Bal gp145 resulted in an expanded breadth of neutralization of HIV-1 isolates. The present study strongly supports the inclusion of envelopes from Indian isolates in a future mixture of HIV-1 vaccines.
Deformation associated with the denudation of mantle‐derived rocks at the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge 13°–15°N: The role of magmatic injections and hydrothermal alteration

Outcrops of deeply derived ultramafic rocks and gabbros are widespread along slow spreading ridges where they are exposed in the footwall of detachment faults. We report on the microstructural and petrological characteristics of a large number of samples from ultramafic exposures in the walls of the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge (MAR) axial valley at three distinct locations at lat. 13°N and 14°45′N. One of these locations corresponds to the footwall beneath a corrugated paleo‐fault surface. Bearing in mind that dredging and ROV sampling may not preserve the most fragile lithologies (fault gouges), this study allows us to document a sequence of deformation, and the magmatic and hydrothermal history recorded in the footwall within a few hundred meters of the axial detachment fault. At the three sampled locations, we find that tremolitic amphiboles have localized deformation in the ultramafic rocks prior to the onset of serpentinization. We interpret these tremolites as hydrothermal alteration products after evolved gabbroic rocks intruded into the peridotites. We also document two types of brittle deformation in the ultramafic rocks, which we infer could produce the sustained low magnitude seismicity recorded at ridge axis detachment faults. The first type of brittle deformation affects fresh peridotite and is associated with the injection of the evolved gabbroic melts, and the second type affects serpentinized peridotites and is associated with the injection of Si‐rich hydrothermal fluids that promote talc crystallization, leading to strain localization in thin talc shear zones. We also observed chlorite + serpentine shear zones but did not identify samples with serpentine‐only shear zones. Although the proportion of magmatic injections in the ultramafic rocks is variable, these characteristics are found at each investigated location and are therefore proposed as fundamental components of the deformation in the footwall of the detachment faults associated with denudation of mantle‐derived rocks at the MAR.
Generalization over contrast and mirror reversal, but not figure-ground reversal, in an "edge-based

Baylis & Driver [1] have recently presented data on the response of neurons in macaque inferotemporal cortex (IT) to various stimulus transformations. They report that neurons can generalize over contrast and mirror reversal, but not over figure-ground reversal. This finding is taken to demonstrate that “the selectivity of IT neurons is not determined simply by the distinctive contours in a display, contrary to simple edge-based models of shape recognition”, citing our recently presented model of object recognition in cortex [3]. In this memo, I show that the main effects of the experiment can be obtained by performing the appropriate simulations in our simple feedforward model. This suggests for IT cell tuning that the possible contributions of explicit edge assignment processes postulated in [1] might be smaller than expected. Copyright c Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001 This report describes research done within the Center for Biological & Computational Learning in the Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences and in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This research was sponsored by grants from: Office of Naval Research (DARPA) under contract No. N00014-00-10907, National Science Foundation (ITR) under contract No. IIS-0085836, National Science Foundation (KDI) under contract No. DMS-9872936, and National Science Foundation under contract No. IIS-9800032. Additional support was provided by: AT&T, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Center for e-Business (MIT), Eastman Kodak Company, DaimlerChrysler AG, Compaq, Honda R&D Co., Ltd., ITRI, Komatsu Ltd., Merrill-Lynch, Mitsubishi Corporation, NEC Fund, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone, Oxygen, Siemens Corporate Research, Inc., Sumitomo Metal Industries, Toyota Motor Corporation, WatchVision Co., Ltd., and The Whitaker Foundation. M.R. is supported by a McDonnell-Pew Award in Cognitive Neuroscience.
Increased incidence of nonfatal cardiovascular events in stroke patients with sleep apnoea: effect of CPAP treatment

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a risk factor for stroke, but little is known about the effect of OSA and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on the incidence of long-term, nonfatal cardiovascular events (CVE) in stroke patients. A prospective observational study was made in 223 patients consecutively admitted for stroke. A sleep study was performed on 166 of them. 31 had an apnoea/hypopnoea index (AHI) <10 events·h−1; 39 had an AHI between 10 and 19 events·h−1 and 96 had an AHI ≥20 events·h−1. CPAP treatment was offered when AHI was ≥20 events·h−1. Patients were followed up for 7 yrs and incident CVE data were recorded. The mean±sd age of the subjects was 73.3±11 yrs; mean AHI was 26±16.7 events·h−1. Patients with moderate-to-severe OSA who could not tolerate CPAP (AHI ≥20 events·h−1; n=68) showed an increased adjusted incidence of nonfatal CVE, especially new ischaemic strokes (hazard ratio 2.87, 95% CI 1.11–7.71; p=0.03), compared with patients with moderate-to-severe OSA who tolerated CPAP (n=28), patients with mild disease (AHI 10–19 events·h−1; n=36) and patients without OSA (AHI <10 events·h−1; n=31). Our results suggest that the presence of moderate-to-severe OSA is associated with an increased long-term incidence of nonfatal CVE in stroke patients and that CPAP reduces the excess of incidence seen in these patients.
Depression of glutamatergic transmission by nociceptin in the neonatal rat hemisected spinal cord preparation in vitro

The present study explored the action of nociceptin, the putative endogenous ligand for the orphan opioid receptor (ORL1), on the rat hemisected spinal cord preparation. Electrical stimulation of a dorsal root evokes a glutamatergic population ventral root potential (DR‐VRP) in the corresponding ventral root. Low intensity stimulation evokes two A fibre‐mediated components; a compound action potential of motonuerones superimposed on a population e.p.s.p. (excitatory postsynaptic potential); at higher stimulus intensities sufficient to activate C fibres a more prolonged population e.p.s.p. is evoked. All three components were depressed by nociceptin in a concentration‐dependent manner with IC50 values (s.e.mean) of 119±2 nM (n = 4), 241±3 nM (n = 4) and 32±2 nM (n = 4), respectively. The depressant actions of nociceptin (30 nM and 300 nM) were not reversed by the opioid antagonist naloxone (1 μm). Nociceptin (100 nM and 300 nM) had no effect on the afferent volleys in the dorsal root. Nociceptin therefore appears to be acting as an inhibitory peptide at the spinal level through a naloxone‐insensitive opioid receptor.
FPGA implementation of reconfigurable ADPLL network for distributed clock generation

This paper presents an FPGA platform for the design and study of network of coupled All-Digital Phase Locked Loops (ADPLLs), destined for clock generation in large synchronous System on Chip (SoC). An implementation of a programmable and reconfigurable 4×4 ADPLL network is described. The paper emphasizes the difference between the FPGA and ASIC-based implementation of such a system, in particular, implementation of digitally controlled oscillators and phase-frequency detector. The FPGA-implemented network allows studying complex phenomena related to coupled ADPLL operation and exploiting stability issues and nonlinear behavior. A dynamic setup mechanism has been proposed for the network, allowing selecting the desirable synchronized state. Experimental results demonstrate the global synchronization of network and performance of the network for different configurations.
Detection of antibodies to deiminated recombinant rat filaggrin by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay: a highly effective test for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To assay antifilaggrin autoantibodies, we developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a "citrullinated" recombinant rat filaggrin. Our objectives were to assess its value for diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to compare the results with those obtained using 4 other reference methods for detection of antifilaggrin autoantibodies, including the commercially available ELISA that uses a modified "citrullinated" synthetic peptide derived from the sequence of human filaggrin (CCP-ELISA). METHODS We analyzed 711 sera from patients with well-characterized rheumatic diseases, including 240 patients with RA. Antifilaggrin autoantibodies were detected by an ELISA using a recombinant rat filaggrin deiminated in vitro as immunosorbent (ArFA-ELISA). The results considered were the differences between the optical densities obtained on deiminated and nondeiminated proteins. Antibodies to rat esophagus epithelium were detected by indirect immunofluorescence, while antibodies to human filaggrin were detected by immunoblotting and by a recently described ELISA using a deiminated recombinant human filaggrin. Finally, CCP-ELISA was performed according to the manufacturer's recommendations. RESULTS At the titer thresholds allowing diagnostic specificities of 0.95, 0.985, and 0.99 to be reached, the diagnostic sensitivities of the ArFA-ELISA were 0.76, 0.67, and 0.65, respectively. At these 3 thresholds, the sensitivities were significantly higher than those of the 4 other tests. Despite incomplete overlapping of the 5 tests, the high diagnostic performance of the ArFA-ELISA allows us to propose this test to replace all the other methods for antifilaggrin autoantibody detection. CONCLUSION ArFA-ELISA appears to be the most efficient test among those available for the detection of antifilaggrin autoantibodies, in terms of diagnostic accuracy for RA. Its diagnostic performance in early RA and its prognostic value are currently under evaluation.
Quantifying the dynamic response of permafrost and slope stability to a changing climate

The Arctic contains a wealth of landforms that are governed by the diurnal and seasonal response of permafrost to climatic and topographic forcings. Of key importance to the process rates of many periglacial landforms is the dynamic behaviour of the active layer, which regulates the transfer of heat and moisture between the atmosphere and permafrost. The strong dependence of periglacial process rates on active layer dynamics makes this geomorphic system particularly sensitive to future increases in Arctic temperatures and precipitation. These increases will continue to degrade permafrost, affecting the distribution and rates of periglacial processes. I develop a landform classification model on Svalbard that reveals solifluction and scree to be the most dominant hillslope processes acting on this landscape, with sediment fluxes greatest in solifluction. A combination of landslide mapping, solifluction modelling and slope stability analysis in Alaska reveals that landslides are coincident with convergent topography on soliflucting hillslopes that have concentrated ground ice at depth. Convergent topography allows for higher moisture availability that feeds the growth, concentration, and development of a large network of ice lenses at the permafrost/active layer boundary. The excess pore pressures generated upon thaw reduces the shear strength of soil at the base of the active layer, causing it to slide downslope along a planar slip surface on top of the unthawed permafrost. Due to a warming Arctic, permafrost is expected to continue thawing, creating an ever more dynamic and deeper active layer. Consequently, the relative regional extent of periglacial landforms in mountainous Arctic environments is expected to change, with Arctic hillslopes becoming more unstable during extreme summer thawing. This will pose a greater hazard to Arctic infrastructure and act as a major force for environmental and geomorphological change.
On the lack of evidence that non-human animals possess anything remotely resembling a ‘theory of mind’

After decades of effort by some of our brightest human and non-human minds, there is still little consensus on whether or not non-human animals understand anything about the unobservable mental states of other animals or even what it would mean for a non-verbal animal to understand the concept of a ‘mental state’. In the present paper, we confront four related and contentious questions head-on: (i) What exactly would it mean for a non-verbal organism to have an ‘understanding’ or a ‘representation’ of another animal's mental state? (ii) What should (and should not) count as compelling empirical evidence that a non-verbal cognitive agent has a system for understanding or forming representations about mental states in a functionally adaptive manner? (iii) Why have the kind of experimental protocols that are currently in vogue failed to produce compelling evidence that non-human animals possess anything even remotely resembling a theory of mind? (iv) What kind of experiments could, at least in principle, provide compelling evidence for such a system in a non-verbal organism?