Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Psychosocial morbidity of Graves’ orbitopathy

Objective Ocular diseases markedly impair daily function. In Graves’ orbitopathy (GO), an associated psychosocial burden is present due to disfiguring proptosis and/or diplopia, signs with significant impact on functional status and well‐being. We have therefore surveyed and assessed the psychosocial morbidity of GO.
Effect of in ovo injection of vitamins on the chick weight and post-hatch growth performance in broiler chickens

An experiment was conducted to study the effect in ovo injection of vitamins (350) on the embryonic and post-hatch growth performance in broiler chickens. On 14th embryonic day, five groups were injected with 100 IU vitamin A, 0.5 IU vitamin E, 50 mg vitamin C, 100 μg vitamin B1 and 100 μg vitamin B6 dissolved in 0.5 ml of sterile water and another two groups were used as sham control (0.5 ml sterile water) and un-injected control. Hatchability on fertile egg set basis in the Vitamin B6 group was apparently higher (81.5%) than sham control (72%) and un-injected control (80%). Vitamin E and vitamin B1 injected groups had more number of deaths just before piping of chicks. Chick weight to egg weight ratio (%) was higher (P<0.01) in chicks injected with vitamin A (72.66%), vitamin C (72.26%) than uninjected control (70.94%). Body weight was more at 14 and 28 d of age (P<0.01) in vitamin-E and B1 injected groups than un-injected control, however, FCR did not differ among treatment groups. Antibody titer against ND vaccine was higher in It is concluded that vitamin A and C can influence the embryonic development, whereas, vitamin E and B1 may be required for early post-hatch growth and vitamin E or B6 can improve immunocompetence in broiler chickens.
A Difficult Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy That Requires Conversion to Open Procedure Can Be Predicted by Preoperative Ultrasonography

A prospective study was conducted from March 1999 to April 2000 that included 73 patients who underwent elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy for uncomplicated gallstone disease. The study was conducted at one surgical unit in the Department of Surgery and Department of Radio-diagnosis and one surgical unit in the Department of Surgery, Maulana Azad Medical College and the associated Lok Nayak Hospital, which is the largest referral hospital in northern India and is located in the capital of India. A preoperative ultrasound was performed just prior to surgery, and 4 ultrasonographic parameters were analyzed, namely gallbladder wall thickness, contracted gallbladder, impaction of gallstones at the neck of the gallbladder, and common bile duct stones. The surgical findings were objectively graded as difficult or easy laparoscopic cholecystectomy according to 5 operative parameters, namely total time taken for the surgery, time taken to dissect gallbladder bed, spillage of stones, tear of gallbladder during dissection, and conversion to the open procedure. Of the 73 cases, 17 (23.3%) were conversions to the open procedure. Of the 21 (28.76%) cases predicted to be difficult, 17 (23.3%) were technically difficult, of which 13 (17.8%) were converted to the open procedure. Of the 52 (71.23%) cases predicted to be easy on ultrasonography, only 7 (9.38%) were found to be difficult on surgery, of which only 4 (5.48%) had to be converted to the open procedure. Based on our results, we conclude that preoperative ultrasonography is of great value in selecting patients preoperatively for laparoscopic cholecystectomy and minimizing complications and conversion to the open procedure.
AN INVESTIGATION OF A MULTI-OBJECTIVE GENETIC ALGORITHM APPLIED TO ENCRYPTED TRAFFIC IDENTIFICATION

This work explores the use of a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) for both, feature selection and cluster count optimization, for an unsupervised machine learning technique, K-Means, applied to encrypted traffic identification (SSH). The performance of the proposed model is benchmarked against other unsupervised learning techniques existing in the literature: Basic K-Means, semi-supervised K-Means, DBSCAN, and EM. Results show that the proposed MOGA, not only outperforms the other models, but also provides a good trade off in terms of detection rate, false positive rate, and time to build and run the model. A hierarchical version of the proposed model is also implemented, to observe the gains, if any, obtained by increasing cluster purity by means of a second layer of clusters. Results show that with the hierarchical MOGA, significant gains are observed in terms of the classification performances of the system.
GENETIC EFFECTS OF GERMINATION TIMING AND ENVIRONMENT: AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION

Seeds of many species do not germinate immediately after dispersal, but instead may remain indefinitely in a dormant but viable state. Although it is well established that seeds often exhibit diversified patterns of dormancy and germination, the causes and consequences of this variation remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the extent to which seed genotypes of the desert mustard Lesquerella fendleri differentially germinate and establish under experimental conditions in a greenhouse. We used a two‐way factorial design to compare genotypes of Lesquerella plants derived from seeds that germinated and established at different times and under different soil water regimes. Overall allozyme allele frequencies of Lesquerella plants varied significantly with both germination time and initial soil water availability. Single‐locus heterozygosity analyses revealed that seeds sown into initially low water conditions produced plants that were significantly more heterozygous than plants derived from seeds experiencing constantly high water conditions, but heterozygosity did not differ significantly among plants originating from early‐ and late‐germinating seeds. This is the first study to experimentally demonstrate that germination timing and environment can significantly affect the genetic structure of emerging plant populations. The study suggests that germination and survival behavior may (1) play an important role in generating and maintaining the genetic structure of natural plant populations and (2) set the stage for subsequent evolution.
Therapeutic Discovery Cell-Penetrating TAT-FOXO 3 Fusion Proteins Induce Apoptotic Cell Death in Leukemic Cells

FOXO proteins are Akt-regulated transcription factors involved in the control of cell cycle, DNA repair, stress defense, apoptosis, and tumor suppression. We reported that plasmid-based overexpression of constitutively active FOXO3 in cells from chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) reduced their survival, suggesting that increasing FOXO3 activity in hematologic malignancies may represent a promising therapeutic strategy. The transactivating transcription factor (TAT) protein transduction domain (PTD) derived from the HIV TAT protein was shown to efficiently deliver macromolecular cargo in various cell types. In this study, wild-type FOXO3 and FOXO3 mutated on Akt sites [FOXO3 T32A/S253A/S315A or TM (triple mutant)] were fused to the TAT-PTD. Using biochemical techniques, flow cytometry, and microscopy analysis, we found a rapid and dose-dependent cell penetration into leukemic cells of unlabeled and fluorescein isothiocyanate–labeled TAT-FOXO3 fusion proteins followed by their accumulation within nuclear and cytoplasmic compartments. Treatment with TAT-FOXO3 TM—but not wild-type TATFOXO3—proteins induced Jurkat and K562 leukemic cell death and affected cell viability of other hematologic malignancies including primary cells from CLL. Cell transduction with TAT-FOXO3 TM induced apoptotic cell death as shown by morphologic changes, Annexin V/7-AAD (7-amino-actinomycin D) staining, activation of effector caspases, and PARP cleavage, caspase blockade through the use of the inhibitor Z-VAD, and expression of Bim and p27. By contrast, TAT-FOXO3 TM blocked cell proliferation of primary T cells, without affecting their viability. Together, our data show that cell penetrating TAT-FOXO3 TM fusion proteins constitute novel potential therapeutic agents in the treatment of lymphoproliferative disorders and hematologic malignancies. Mol Cancer Ther; 10(1); 37–46. 2011 AACR.
EM23, A Natural Sesquiterpene Lactone from Elephantopus mollis, Induces Apoptosis in Human Myeloid Leukemia Cells through Thioredoxin- and Reactive Oxygen Species-Mediated Signaling Pathways

Elephantopus mollis (EM) is a traditional herbal medicine with multiple pharmacological activities. However, the efficacy of EM in treating human leukemia is currently unknown. In the current study, we report that EM23, a natural sesquiterpene lactone isolated from EM, inhibits the proliferation of human chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) K562 cells and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) HL-60 cells by inducing apoptosis. Translocation of membrane-associated phospholipid phosphatidylserines, changes in cell morphology, activation of caspases, and cleavage of PARP were concomitant with this inhibition. The involvement of the mitochondrial pathway in EM23-mediated apoptosis was suggested by observed disruptions in mitochondrial membrane potential. Mechanistic studies indicated that EM23 caused a marked increase in the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Pretreatment with N-acetyl-L-cysteine, a ROS scavenger, almost fully reversed EM23-mediated apoptosis. In EM23-treated cells, the expression levels of thioredoxin (Trx) and thioredoxinreductase (TrxR), two components of the Trx system involved in maintaining cellular redox homeostasis, were significantly down-regulated. Concomitantly, Trx regulated the activation of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) and its downstream regulatory targets, the p38, JNK, and ERK MAPKs. EM23-mediated activation of ASK1/MAPKs was significantly inhibited in the presence of NAC. Furthermore, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)-mediated activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) was suppressed by EM23, as suggested by the observed blockage of p65 nuclear translocation, phosphorylation, and reversion of IκBα degradation following EM23 treatment. Taken together, these results provide important insights into the anticancer activities of the EM component EM23 against human CML K562 cells and AML HL-60 cells.
Imaging Mass Spectrometry by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization and Stress-Strain Measurements in Iontophoresis Transepithelial Corneal Collagen Cross-Linking

Purpose. To compare biomechanical effect, riboflavin penetration and distribution in transepithelial corneal collagen cross-linking with iontophoresis (I-CXL), with standard cross linking (S-CXL) and current transepithelial protocol (TE-CXL). Materials and Methods. The study was divided into two different sections, considering, respectively, rabbit and human cadaver corneas. In both sections corneas were divided according to imbibition protocols and irradiation power. Imaging mass spectrometry by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI-IMS) and stress-strain measurements were used. Forty-eight rabbit and twelve human cadaver corneas were evaluated. Results. MALDI-IMS showed a deep riboflavin penetration throughout the corneal layers with I-CXL, with a roughly lower concentration in the deepest layers when compared to S-CXL, whereas with TE-CXL penetration was considerably less. In rabbits, there was a significant increase (by 71.9% and P = 0.05) in corneal rigidity after I-CXL, when compared to controls. In humans, corneal rigidity increase was not significantly different among the subgroups. Conclusions. In rabbits, I-CXL induced a significant increase in corneal stiffness as well as better riboflavin penetration when compared to controls and TE-CXL but not to S-CXL. Stress-strain in human corneas did not show significant differences among techniques, possibly because of the small sample size of groups. In conclusion, I-CXL could be a valid alternative to S-CXL for riboflavin delivery in CXL, preserving the epithelium.
Influence of Alpha-1 Glycoprotein Acid Concentrations and Variants on Atazanavir Pharmacokinetics in HIV-Infected Patients Included in the ANRS 107 Trial

ABSTRACT Atazanavir is an HIV-1 protease inhibitor with high protein binding in human plasma. The objectives were first to determine the in vitro binding characteristics of atazanavir and second to evaluate whether plasma protein binding to albumin and alpha-1 glycoprotein acid (AAG) influences the pharmacokinetics of atazanavir in HIV-infected patients. For the in vitro study, atazanavir protein binding characteristics were determined in AAG- and albumin-containing purified solutions. Atazanavir was found to bind AAG on a high-affinity saturable site (association constant, 4.61 × 105 liters/mol) and albumin on a low-affinity nonsaturable site. For the in vivo study, blood samples from 51 patients included in trial ANRS 107—Puzzle 2 were drawn prior to drug intake at week 6. For 10 patients included in the pharmacokinetic substudy, five additional blood samples were collected during one dosing interval at week 6. Atazanavir concentrations were assayed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Albumin concentrations, AAG concentrations, and phenotypes were also measured in these patients. Concentrations of atazanavir were modeled using a population approach. A one-compartment model with first-order absorption and elimination best described atazanavir pharmacokinetics. Atazanavir pharmacokinetic parameters and their interindividual variabilities were as follows: absorption rate constant (ka), 0.73 h−1 (139.3%); apparent clearance (CL/F), 13.3 liters/h (26.7%); and apparent volume of distribution (V/F), 79.7 liters (27.0%). Atazanavir CL/F decreased significantly when alanine aminotransferase and/or AAG levels increased (P < 0.01). The ORM1*S phenotype also significantly increased atazanavir V/F (P < 0.05). These in vivo results indicate that atazanavir pharmacokinetics is moderately influenced by its protein binding, especially to AAG, without expected clinical consequences.
Comparison of i–gel™ and laryngeal mask airway in anesthetized paralyzed patients

Background: The i-gel™ is a new device introduced recently. It differs from other supraglottic airway devices. It has a non-inflatable, gel-made cuff. Previously used devices, have some disadvantages which are claimed to be absent in i-gel™. In this study we aimed to compare the performance of the laryngeal mask airway (LMA)-Classic™ and i-gel™ during anesthesia in paralyzed patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 64 anaesthetized patients with paralysis were enrolled in a single-blind, randomized control trial to be intubated with one of the devices. We compared the device insertion parameters, some ventilatory parameters, and adverse effects after device insertion. Results: Vital signs were not significantly different between groups. Regarding duration of insertion attempts, the difference between groups was significant (P < 0.05); while the number of insertion attempts was insignificant (P = 0.265). There was no significant difference between both groups regarding postoperative complications (cough, sore throat, and blood on the cuff) (P > 0.05). Airway leak was assessed in both groups and data showed no significant difference (P = 0.662). Additionally, end-tidal CO2 change regarding the baseline value was significantly different after 10 and 15 min of anesthesia (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Successful insertion time was shorter significantly for i-gel™. As i-gel™ has easy application, it is advantageous to be used during cardiopulmonary resuscitation by non-anesthetists in which time is very important. We concluded that i-gel™ can be an alternative to LMA-Classic™ for controlled ventilation during anesthesia as it is easier to be placed.
Dynamic potential-model-based feature for lane change prediction

We propose a prediction method for lane changes in other vehicles. According to previous research, over 90 % of car crashes are caused by human mistakes, and lane changes are the main factor. Therefore, if an intelligent system can predict a lane change and alarm a driver before another vehicle crosses the center line, this can contribute to reducing the accident rate. The main contribution of this work is to propose a new feature describing the relationship of a vehicle to adjacent vehicles. We represent the new feature using a dynamic characteristic potential field that changes the distribution depending on the relative number of adjacent vehicles. The new feature addresses numerous situations in which lane changes are made. Adding the new feature can be expected to improve prediction performance. We trained the prediction model and evaluated the performance using a real traffic dataset with over 900 lane changes, and we confirmed that the proposed method outperforms previous methods in terms of both accuracy and prediction time.
Herp coordinates compartmentalization and recruitment of HRD1 and misfolded proteins for ERAD

The unfolded protein response PERK branch induces recruitment of misfolded proteins and the ubiquitin ligase HRD1 to the ER-derived quality control compartment (ERQC), a staging ground for ER-associated degradation (ERAD). This is accomplished by up-regulation of homocysteine-induced ER protein (Herp), which recruits the ERAD complex at the ERQC.
A SIMPLE INDEX OF SMOKING

Background: Cigarette smoking is implicated in a large number of diseases and other adverse health conditions. Among the dimensions of smoking are number of cigarettes smoked per day, duration of smoking, passive smoking, smoking of filter cigarettes, age at start, and duration elapsed since quitting by ex-smokers. The practice so far is to study most of these separately. We develop a simple index that integrates these dimensions of smoking into a single metric, and suggest that this index be developed further. Method: The index is developed under a series of natural assumptions. Broadly, these are (i) the burden of smoking monotonically increases with the cigarette-years but it is more severe in the beginning, (ii) start of smoking early in life is more burdensome than a late start, and (iii) the burden gradually reverses as the duration elapsed since cessation by ex-smokers increases. Result: The index so arrived is: S = (3 – a/15)*1/2*sqrt[sumof(pi*ni*xi) – 0.5] y for S greater than equal to 0, and sumof(pi*ni*xi) greater than equal to 0.5; otherwise zero (use a =30 for a>30); where i = 1, 2, . , I, and I is the number of segments in life with different smoking pattern and a is the age at start of smoking, pi is the proportion of smoke inhaled in case of passive smoking (or adjustment for filter cigarettes or for other forms of smoking), xi is the number of cigarettes smoked for ni years, and y is the number of years elapsed since cessation by ex-smokers. Negative values of S are to be considered equal to zero. Examples are given that demonstrate the use of this index. Conclusion: Just as almost any other composite index, our index too could be good as a comprehensive measure of burden of smoking but not to study its individual dimensions. This measures the present burden in absolute sense and not the risk of smoking-related diseases. Like body-mass index, the smoking index may have good correlation with the risk of some diseases and poor for many others, depending upon the extent to which the risk of disease agrees to our postulations.
Grammar-based context-specific statistical language modelling

This paper shows how we can combine the art of grammar writing with the power of statistics by bootstrapping statistical language models (SLMs) for Dialogue Systems from grammars written using the Grammatical Framework (GF) (Ranta, 2004). Furthermore, to take into account that the probability of a user's dialogue moves is not static during a dialogue we show how the same methodology can be used to generate dialogue move specific SLMs where certain dialogue moves are more probable than others. These models can be used at different points of a dialogue depending on contextual constraints. By using grammar generated SLMs we can improve both recognition and understanding performance considerably over using the original grammar. With dialogue move specific SLMs we would be able to get a further improvement if we had an optimal way of predicting the correct language model.
Evaluation of Q-Learning approach for HTTP adaptive streaming

We propose a Q-Learning-based algorithm for an HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) Client that maximizes the perceived quality, taking into account the relation between the estimated bandwidth and the qualities and penalizing the freezes. The results will show that it produces an optimal control as other approaches do, but keeping the adaptiveness.
Performance Evaluation of High-Modulus Asphalt Mixture

According to LPC Bituminous Mixtures Design Guide, performance of several kinds of additives for high modulus asphalt mixture is evaluated by tests. It has done performance comparison among AC20, Sup20 and EME20 using AH70# asphalt. The results show that high modulus asphalt mixture EME2 has high temperature stability and anti-fatigue capability. The testing results in the article had proved that the existing China-made additives can also meet the requirement of High Modulus Asphalt Concrete (HMAC). The mix design of AC20 and Sup20 was done according to LPC Bituminous Mixtures Design Guide, test results are basically the same as EME20 and meet the design requirement. So it can consider using HMAC which satisfies China’s requirement in China.
Low levels of vitronectin and clusterin in acute meningococcal disease are closely associated with formation of the terminal-complement complex and the vitronectin-thrombin-antithrombin complex

Patients with terminal complement deficiencies and thus impaired lytic efficiency have a highly increased likelihood of contracting invasive meningococcal infections but generally experience a mild disease course. Deficiencies of lysis inhibitors might therefore be associated with severe disease. We have quantified the complement lysis inhibitors vitronectin and clusterin, as well as complexes containing the proteins, in plasma from patients with acute meningococcal disease. At hospital admission, the median vitronectin concentrations were 0.10 (range, 0.04 to 0.17) g/liter in 10 septic patients and 0.19 (0.09 to 0.47) g/liter in 14 nonseptic patients (P = 0.001). The corresponding clusterin concentrations were 0.09 (0.01 to 0.13) and 0.14 (0.06 to 0.29) g/liter (P = 0.005). The vitronectin-thrombin-antithrombin complex concentration was 1.8 (0.22 to 35.6) arbitrary units (AU)/ml in septic patients, but the complex was not detectable in most nonseptic patients (< 0.10 to 0.16 AU/ml) (P < 0.0001). The corresponding levels of the terminal complement complex (contains vitronectin and clusterin) were 4.4 (3.6 to 20.1) and 2.6 (1.6 to 4.7) AU/ml (P = 0.0005). We found no evidence of constitutively low levels of vitronectin or clusterin in patients contracting meningococcal disease. The low levels of the proteins may partly be explained by hemodilution, extravasation, and increased consumption due to incorporation into complexes which are quickly removed from circulation.