Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The fibrinolytic system components are increased in systemic sclerosis and modulated by Alprostadil (alpha1 ciclodestryn).

OBJECTIVES To evaluate urokinase plasminogen activator (u-PA), urokinase plasminogen activator soluble receptor (su-PAR), plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) and tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) plasma levels in SSc patients (pts) versus healthy controls and their modulation by intravenous alphacyclodestrine (Alprostadil). METHODS Plasma levels of u-PA, su-PAR, PAI-1 and t-PA were measured in 40 SSc (34 lSSc and 6 dSSc) pts and in 30 healthy controls. In SSc, blood was drawn before and after 3 consecutive daily of Alprostadil infusion (60 mg in 250 cc NaCl 0.9%). RESULTS In SSc su-PAR basal levels were higher than controls (7.48 +/- 2.5 vs 4.69 +/- 0.4 ng/ml; p = 0.001) and were significantly reduced by Alprostadil (5.93 +/- 1.7; p = 0.002), but remain higher than controls (p = 0.03). u-PA basal levels were higher than controls (3.78 +/- 1.5 vs 1.29 +/- 0.3 ng/ml; p < 0.001) and were reduced by Alprostadil (2.39 +/- 1.7; p < 0.001) to control levels. SSc PAI-1 basal levels were lower than controls (31.60 +/- 7.7 vs 48.30 +/- 6.8 ng/ml; p < 0.001) and increased by Alprostadil (34.66 +/- 5.4; p = 0.04), but lower than controls (p < 0.001). SSc t-PA basal levels were higher in respect to controls (1645.81 +/- 792.7 vs 571.95 +/- 75.5 pg/ml; p < 0.0001) and reduced by Alprostadil (1318.06 +/- 603.5; p = 0.04), but still higher than controls (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION Fibrinolysis were increased in SSc. Infusions of Alprostadil modulate u-PA, su-PAR, PAI-1 and t-PA, restoring near normal levels. In SSc, fibrinolysis system may become a potential target for new therapies.
White Coat Hypertension is a Pioneer Sign of Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is an accelerated systemic atherosclerotic process terminating with obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, peripheric artery disease, chronic renal disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cirrhosis, coronary heart disease, stroke, and eventually early aging and death. It shows itself with some reversible components including smoking, overweight, hyperbetalipoproteinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, dyslipidemia, impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, and white coat hypertension (WCH). The terminal consequences are probably due to the smoking and excess weight induced chronic inflammatory process on the endothelial system for a long period of time. WCH is a pioneer sign of the accelerated systemic atherosclerotic process that can be detected easily, and treated by preventing weight gain.
Different Neurophysiological Mechanisms Underlying Word and Rule Extraction from Speech

The initial process of identifying words from spoken language and the detection of more subtle regularities underlying their structure are mandatory processes for language acquisition. Little is known about the cognitive mechanisms that allow us to extract these two types of information and their specific time-course of acquisition following initial contact with a new language. We report time-related electrophysiological changes that occurred while participants learned an artificial language. These changes strongly correlated with the discovery of the structural rules embedded in the words. These changes were clearly different from those related to word learning and occurred during the first minutes of exposition. There is a functional distinction in the nature of the electrophysiological signals during acquisition: an increase in negativity (N400) in the central electrodes is related to word-learning and development of a frontal positivity (P2) is related to rule-learning. In addition, the results of an online implicit and a post-learning test indicate that, once the rules of the language have been acquired, new words following the rule are processed as words of the language. By contrast, new words violating the rule induce syntax-related electrophysiological responses when inserted online in the stream (an early frontal negativity followed by a late posterior positivity) and clear lexical effects when presented in isolation (N400 modulation). The present study provides direct evidence suggesting that the mechanisms to extract words and structural dependencies from continuous speech are functionally segregated. When these mechanisms are engaged, the electrophysiological marker associated with rule-learning appears very quickly, during the earliest phases of exposition to a new language.
Doppler spectrum from moving scatterers in a random environment

A random non-line-of-sight environment with stationary transmitter and receiver is considered. In such an environment movement of a scatterer will lead to perturbations of the otherwise static channel with a resulting Doppler spectrum. This is quite a general situation in outdoor environments with moving traffic or indoor situations with moving people. Here we study the latter situation in detail with experimental results from a large office environment. A general theory of Doppler spectra is developed. The impact of a scatterer depends on the angular distribution of scattered energy, and uniform as well as sharply peaked distributions are considered in the theory. The Doppler spectra are in all cases sharply peaked at zero frequency due to forward scattering, but the actually measured distribution depends on the degree and type of activity in the environment, as well as the spectrum estimation accuracy.
Integrated gene set analysis for microRNA studies

Motivation: Functional interpretation of miRNA expression data is currently done in a three step procedure: select differentially expressed miRNAs, find their target genes, and carry out gene set overrepresentation analysis. Nevertheless, major limitations of this approach have already been described at the gene level, while some newer arise in the miRNA scenario. Here, we propose an enhanced methodology that builds on the well-established gene set analysis paradigm. Evidence for differential expression at the miRNA level is transferred to a gene differential inhibition score which is easily interpretable in terms of gene sets or pathways. Such transferred indexes account for the additive effect of several miRNAs targeting the same gene, and also incorporate cancellation effects between cases and controls. Together, these two desirable characteristics allow for more accurate modeling of regulatory processes. Results: We analyze high-throughput sequencing data from 20 different cancer types and provide exhaustive reports of gene and Gene Ontology-term deregulation by miRNA action. Availability and Implementation: The proposed methodology was implemented in the Bioconductor library mdgsa. http://bioconductor.org/packages/mdgsa. For the purpose of reproducibility all of the scripts are available at https://github.com/dmontaner-papers/gsa4mirna Contact: david.montaner@gmail.com Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
The benefits and limitations of reference function on PDA use in medical education: A case study

This study was undertaken to identify the benefits and limitations of the use of reference function on PDA in medical education at the Graduate School of Medicine (GSM), the University of Wollongong (UOW). Method: The mixed method was applied using semi-structured interview and web-based survey. The in-depth interviews were designed and conducted with medical faculty, clinicians and medical education technology specialists. The web-based survey was conducted with the international participants from medical education working group. Results: Four major benefits and three limitations of reference function of PDA used in medical education were noted. Conclusion: Even though there are some limitations of reference function on PDA use in medical education, introducing the use of such function not only provides beneficial for students in studying medicine while offsite but also in classroom environment.
Involvement of Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin 7 Channels in Sophorae Radix-induced Apoptosis in Cancer Cells

Sophorae Radix (SR) plays a role in a number of physiologic and pharmacologic functions in many organs. Objective: The aim of this study was to clarify the potential role for transient receptor potential melastatin 7 (TRPM7) channels in SR-inhibited growth and survival of AGS and MCF-7 cells, the most common human gastric and breast adenocarcinoma cell lines. Methods: The AGS and the MCF-7 cells were treated with varying concentrations of SR. Analyses of the caspase-3 and - 9 activity, the mitochondrial depolarization and the poly (ADPribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage were conducted to determine if AGS and MCF-7 cell death occured by apoptosis. TRPM7 channel blockers (Gd3+ or 2-APB) and small interfering RNA (siRNA) were used in this study to confirm the role of TRPM7 channels. Furthermore, TRPM7 channels were overexpressed in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells to identify the role of TRPM7 channels in AGS and MCF-7 cell growth and survival. Results: The addition of SR to a culture medium inhibited AGS and MCF-7 cell growth and survival. Experimental results showed that the caspase-3 and -9 activity, the mitochondrial depolarization, and the degree of PARP cleavage was increased. TRPM7 channel blockade, either by Gd3+ or 2-APB or by suppressing TRPM7 expression with small interfering RNA, blocked the SR-induced inhibition of cell growth and survival. Furthermore, TRPM7 channel overexpression in HEK 293 cells exacerbated SR-induced cell death. Conclusions: These findings indicate that SR inhibits the growth and survival of gastric and breast cancer cells due to a blockade of the TRPM7 channel activity. Therefore, TRPM7 channels may play an important role in the survival of patients with gastric and breast cancer.
Preparation of Graphene/CdS-Nanobelt Nanocomposites

Graphene/CdS-nanobelt nanocomposites were prepared using a simple mixing process of graphene with CdS nanobelts in distilled water at room temperature. Prior to the preparation of such nanomaterials, graphene was obtained using modified Hummers method and characterized by various measurement techniques. The measurement results demonstrate that graphite oxide in high-concentration hydrazine hydrate solution can be easily reduced into graphene under hydrothermal condition. The measurement results of nanocomposites show that the addition and mixing of CdS nanobelts has not affected on the structure of graphene.
On simplicity of reduced C*-algebras of groups

A countable group is C*-simple if its reduced C*-algebra is a simple algebra. Since Powers recognised in 1975 that non-abelian free groups are C*-simple, large classes of C*-simple groups which appear naturally in geometry have been identified, including non-elementary Gromov hyperbolic groups and lattices in semisimple groups. In this exposition, C*-simplicity for countable groups is viewed as an extreme case of non-amenability. The basic examples are described, and several open problems are formulated.
The Thermal Structure of Gas in Prestellar Cores: A Case Study of Barnard 68

We present a direct comparison of a chemical/physical model to multitransitional observations of C18O and 13CO toward the Barnard 68 prestellar core. These observations provide a sensitive test for models of low UV field photodissociation regions and offer the best constraint on the gas temperature of a prestellar core. We find that the gas temperature of this object is surprisingly low (~7-8 K), and significantly below the dust temperature, in the outer layers (AV < 5 mag) that are traced by C18O and 13CO emission. As shown previously, the inner layers (AV > 5 mag) exhibit significant freezeout of CO onto grain surfaces. Because the dust and gas are not fully coupled, depletion of key coolants in the densest layers raises the core (gas) temperature, but only by ~1 K. The gas temperature in layers not traced by C18O and 13CO emission can be probed by NH3 emission, with a previously estimated temperature of ~10-11 K. To reach these temperatures in the inner core requires an order of magnitude reduction in the gas to dust coupling rate. This potentially argues for a lack of small grains in the densest gas, presumably due to grain coagulation.
A Comparative Analysis of 2D and 3D Tasks for Virtual Reality Therapies Based on Robotic-Assisted Neurorehabilitation for Post-stroke Patients

Post-stroke neurorehabilitation based on virtual therapies are performed completing repetitive exercises shown in visual electronic devices, whose content represents imaginary or daily life tasks. Currently, there are two ways of visualization of these task. 3D virtual environments are used to get a three dimensional space that represents the real world with a high level of detail, whose realism is determinated by the resolucion and fidelity of the objects of the task. Furthermore, 2D virtual environments are used to represent the tasks with a low degree of realism using techniques of bidimensional graphics. However, the type of visualization can influence the quality of perception of the task, affecting the patient's sensorimotor performance. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate if there were differences in patterns of kinematic movements when post-stroke patients performed a reach task viewing a virtual therapeutic game with two different type of visualization of virtual environment: 2D and 3D. Nine post-stroke patients have participated in the study receiving a virtual therapy assisted by PUPArm rehabilitation robot. Horizontal movements of the upper limb were performed to complete the aim of the tasks, which consist in reaching peripheral or perspective targets depending on the virtual environment shown. Various parameter types such as the maximum speed, reaction time, path length, or initial movement are analyzed from the data acquired objectively by the robotic device to evaluate the influence of the task visualization. At the end of the study, a usability survey was provided to each patient to analysis his/her satisfaction level. For all patients, the movement trajectories were enhanced when they completed the therapy. This fact suggests that patient's motor recovery was increased. Despite of the similarity in majority of the kinematic parameters, differences in reaction time and path length were higher using the 3D task. Regarding the success rates were very similar. In conclusion, the using of 2D environments in virtual therapy may be a more appropriate and comfortable way to perform tasks for upper limb rehabilitation of post-stroke patients, in terms of accuracy in order to effectuate optimal kinematic trajectories.
Virtual Local Stores: Enabling Software-Managed Memory Hierarchies in Mainstream Computing Environments

Software-managed local stores have proven to be more efficient than hardware-managed caches for some important applications, yet their use has been mostly confined to embedded systems that run a small set of applications in a limited runtime environment. Local stores are problematic in general-purpose systems because they add to process state on context switches, and because they require fast data memory close to the processor that might be better spent on cache for some applications. We introduce virtualized local stores as a mechanism to provide the benefits of a software-managed memory hierarchy in a general-purpose system. A virtual local store (VLS) is mapped into the virtual address space of a process and backed by physical main memory, but is stored in a partition of the hardware-managed cache when active. This reduces context switch cost, and allows VLSs to migrate with their process thread. The partition allocated to the VLS can be rapidly reconfigured without flushing the cache, allowing programmers to selectively use VLS in a library routine with low overhead.
PADGE: analysis of heterogeneous patterns of differential gene expression.

UNLABELLED We have devised a novel analysis approach, percentile analysis for differential gene expression (PADGE), for identifying genes differentially expressed between two groups of heterogeneous samples. PADGE was designed to compare expression profiles of sample subgroups at a series of percentile cutoffs and to examine the trend of relative expression between sample groups as expression level increases. Simulation studies showed that PADGE has more statistical power than t-statistics, cancer outlier profile analysis (COPA) (Tomlins SA, Rhodes DR, Perner S, Dhanasekaran SM, Mehra R, Sun XW, Varambally S, Cao X, Tchinda J, Kuefer R, Lee C, Montie JE, Shah RB, Pienta KJ, Rubin MA, Chinnaiyan AM. Science 310: 644-648, 2005), and kurtosis (Teschendorff AE, Naderi A, Barbosa-Morais NL, Caldas C. Bioinformatics 22: 2269-2275, 2006). Application of PADGE to microarray data sets in tumor tissues demonstrated its utility in prioritizing cancer genes encoding potential therapeutic targets or diagnostic markers. A web application was developed for researchers to analyze a large gene expression data set from heterogeneous biological samples and identify differentially expressed genes between subsets of sample classes using PADGE and other available approaches. AVAILABILITY http://www.cgl. ucsf.edu/Research/genentech/padge/.
Predictably Philandering Females Prompt Poor Paternal Provisioning

One predicted cost of female infidelity in socially monogamous species is that cuckolded males should provide less parental care. This relationship is robust across species, but evidence is ambiguous within species. We do not know whether individual males reduce their care when paired with cheating females compared with when paired with faithful females (within-male adjustment) or, alternatively, if the males that pair with cheating females are the same males that provide less parental care in general (between-male effect). Our exceptionally extensive long-term data set of repeated observations of a wild passerine allows us to disentangle paternal care adjustment within males—within pairs and between males—while accounting for environmental variables. We found a within-male adjustment of paternal provisioning, but not incubation effort, relative to the cuckoldry in their nest. This effect was mainly driven by females differing consistently in their fidelity. There was no evidence that this within-male adjustment also took place across broods with the same female, and we found no between-male effect. Interestingly, males that gained more extrapair paternity provided less care. Data from a cross-foster experiment suggested that males did not use kin recognition to assess paternity. Our results provide insight into the role of individual variation in parental care and mating systems.
Difficult mask ventilation in general surgical population: observation of risk factors and predictors

Background: There are few predictors of difficult mask ventilation and a simple, objective, predictive system to identify patients at risk of difficult mask ventilation does not currently exist. We present a retrospective - subgroup analysis aimed at identifying predictive factors for difficult mask ventilation (DMV) in patients undergoing pre-operative airway assessment before elective surgery at a major teaching hospital. Methods: Data for this retrospective analysis were derived from a database of airway assessments, management plans, and outcomes that were collected prospectively from August 2008 to May 2010 at a Level 1 academic trauma center. Patients were stratified into two groups based on the difficulty of mask ventilation and the cohorts were analyzed using univariate analysis and stepwise selection method. Results: A total of 1399 pre-operative assessments were completed with documentation stating that mask ventilation was attempted. Of those 1399, 124 (8.9%) patients were found to be difficult to mask ventilate. A comparison of patients with and without difficult mask ventilation identified seven risk factors for DMV: age, body mass index (BMI), neck circumference, history of difficult intubation, presence of facial hair, perceived short neck and obstructive sleep apnea. Although seven risk factors were identified, no individual subject had more than four risk factors. Conclusion: The results of this study confirm that in a real world clinical setting, the incidence of DMV is not negligible and suggest the use of a simple bedside predictive score to improve the accuracy of DMV prediction, thereby improving patient safety. Further prospective studies to validate this score would be useful.
Moisture-induced transients and creep of paper and Nylon 6,6; a comparison

The manner in which the properties of paper materials change when these materials are subjected to cyclic humidity conditions or moisture-induced transient effects, and the factors which lead to a greater creep under such conditions, mechano-sorptive creep, are not well understood. In order to obtain more information relating to these phenomena, two hygroscopic materials, Nylon 6,6 fibres and a paper sample were investigated. It was confirmed that the Nylon 6,6 does not exhibit mechanosorptive creep whereas paper does. Dynamic tensile loading at different frequencies during a change in humidity from zero to 95 % relative humidity was studied. Both the Nylon 6,6 and the paper showed moisture-induced transient effects where the peaks obtained for the mechanical damping were highly dependent on the frequency. It is suggested that most of this effect is due to the fact that the properties change faster than the frequency of loading. It is argued that the moisture-induced transient effects may not explain the mechano-sorptive creep phenomenon.
Association between carotid atherosclerosis and markers of inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis patients and healthy subjects.

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between markers of systemic inflammation and carotid atherosclerosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and healthy controls. METHODS Carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and carotid plaque were measured using high-resolution B-mode ultrasound in 204 patients with RA, ages 40-85, and 102 age- and sex-matched healthy persons. No subject in either group had ever smoked cigarettes. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were used to measure systemic inflammation. The relationship of the carotid artery IMT and carotid plaque to inflammation markers was examined, adjusting for age, sex, RA versus control status, and the cardiovascular (CV) risk factors hypercholesterolemia, systolic blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, and body mass index (BMI). RESULTS A significant linear trend for increased carotid artery IMT was associated with increasing ESR and CRP categories (r = 0.16, P = 0.004 for ESR, and r = 0.13, P = 0.02 for CRP). These trends did not differ among RA cases and controls, and were independent of age, sex, and CV risk factors. The difference in carotid artery IMT between the lowest and highest categories of ESR was 0.221 mm (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.767-1.020, P = 0.02). The difference between extreme CRP categories was 0.275 mm (95% CI 0.039-0.509, P = 0.02). Both remained significant after CV risk factor adjustment. Carotid plaque displayed a similar relationship to markers of inflammation. CONCLUSION Increased carotid artery IMT and the presence of carotid plaque are associated with markers of systemic inflammation in patients with RA and in healthy subjects. This observation is consistent with hypotheses that assign a role to systemic inflammation in atherosclerosis, and may have implications regarding RA and other chronic inflammatory diseases.