Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biochemical studies with preserved transplanted canine liver.

ABSTRACT The problem of hepatic transplantation is complicated by present inability to preserve donor livers until needed. If liver transplantation is in fact to play a role in treatment of hepatic disease, methods for prolonged liver preservation must be found. In the laboratory, fresh canine liver when homotransplanted will function at near normal levels for a year or more.1 During transplantation, however, time without circulation must usually be less than an hour. If the time is extended beyond this, the canine liver usually suffers irreversible damage. Studies with the pig liver show it is somewhat more hardy in that it will perform biochemical functions at normal or near normal levels for several hours after removal,2 but it is still not known whether after this period such livers when transplanted will maintain an animal. Several methods for preservation of heart, lung, intestine, kidney,3,4 and ovary5 have been intensively
Pegylated Interferon for Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C in Hemodialysis Patients in Croatia

Background and Aims: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a frequent complication among long-term dialysis patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and side effects of pegylated interferon-α2a (PEG-IFN-α2a) treatment in hemodialysis patients. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed charts of 16 HCV-RNA-positive hemodialysis patients. Results: There were 11 male and 5 female patients treated with dialysis for 6–28 years. Twelve patients had HCV genotype 1b, 2 patients had 3a, and 1 patient had genotype 2a. Although only 10 out of 16 patients completed 48 weeks of treatment, early virological response and end-of-treatment virological response were achieved in 9 and 13 patients, respectively. Sustained virological response was recorded in 9 patients. The most common side effect was anemia. A flu-like syndrome was documented in 6, myalgia in 4, and arthralgia in 5 patients. Rectorrhagia, endocarditis and severe cough were recorded in 1 patient each. Nine patients received a renal transplant, and all 6 responders remained HCV-RNA-negative. Conclusions: PEG-IFN-α2a has limited efficacy in dialysis patients. A significant proportion of patients discontinued treatment because of side effects. Additional studies with long-term follow-up are needed to determine the optimal treatment of HCV infection in the dialysis population.
EFFECT OF MIXTURES OF SUBSTRATES ON THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF INDUCIBLE ENZYMES IN AEROBACTER AEROGENES

Previous investigations in this laboratory have dealt with the striking effect of glucose on the induced biosynthesis of three enzyme systems in Aerobacter aerogenes (Magasanik, 1955; Neidhardt and Magasanik, 1956a). During the course of these studies it was found that glucose is not the only substance whose inclusion in a growth medium restricts induced enzyme biosynthesis, although it is unique in exerting a near-complete inhibition. The magnitude of these non-glucose effects occasionally reaches a 75 per cent inhibition of enzyme biosynthesis. Such inhibitions have been frequently noted by other workers (Monod, 1947; Gale, 1943) but no investigations have been made of their mechanism. The work reported in this paper was undertaken to study these inhibitions and to diseover the relationship, if any between them and the "glucose effect. "
Distinctive Intestinal Lactobacillus Communities in 6-Month-Old Infants From Rural Malawi and Southwestern Finland

Objective: Our aim was to compare the composition and diversity of Lactobacillus microbiota in infants living in Malawi and Southwestern Finland. Methods: The composition and diversity of the Lactobacillus group was analyzed in the feces of healthy 6-month-old infants living in rural Malawi (n = 44) and Southwestern Finland (n = 31), using the quantitative polymerase chain reaction method and PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis fingerprinting. Results: Malawian infants had higher counts of lactobacilli than their Finnish counterparts (7.45 log cells/g vs 6.86 log cells/g, P < 0.001, respectively) and the Lactobacillus community was richer and more diverse in the Malawian infants. Leuconostoc citreum and Weissella confusa were the predominant species in both study groups, but Malawian infants were more often colonized by these species (100% vs 74.2%, P < 0.001; 95.5% vs 41.9%, P < 0.001, respectively). Moreover, Lactobacillus ruminis, Lactobacillus gasseri, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus mucosae were detected more often in the Malawian infants (59.1% vs 0.0%, P < 0.001; 38.6% vs 9.7%, P = 0.004; 29.5% vs 0.0%, P < 0.001; 22.7% vs 3.2%, P = 0.017, respectively). Lactobacillus casei group species, however, were only detected in the Finnish infants. Conclusions: Malawian infants have a more abundant Lactobacillus microbiota with a distinct composition compared with Finnish infants. The environment, including diet and hygiene, may be among the factors influencing these differences.
Integrating a Smartphone-Based Self-Management System into Usual Care of Advanced CKD.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Patient self-management has been shown to improve health outcomes. We developed a smartphone-based system to boost self-care by patients with CKD and integrated its use into usual CKD care. We determined its acceptability and examined changes in several clinical parameters. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS We recruited patients with stage 4 or 5 CKD attending outpatient renal clinics who responded to a general information newsletter about this 6-month proof-of-principle study. The smartphone application targeted four behavioral elements: monitoring BP, medication management, symptom assessment, and tracking laboratory results. Prebuilt customizable algorithms provided real-time personalized patient feedback and alerts to providers when predefined treatment thresholds were crossed or critical changes occurred. Those who died or started RRT within the first 2 months were replaced. Only participants followed for 6 months after recruitment were included in assessing changes in clinical measures. RESULTS In total, 47 patients (26 men; mean age =59 years old; 33% were ≥65 years old) were enrolled; 60% had never used a smartphone. User adherence was high (>80% performed ≥80% of recommended assessments) and sustained. The mean reductions in home BP readings between baseline and exit were statistically significant (systolic BP, -3.4 mmHg; 95% confidence interval, -5.0 to -1.8 and diastolic BP, -2.1 mmHg; 95% confidence interval, -2.9 to -1.2); 27% with normal clinic BP readings had newly identified masked hypertension. One hundred twenty-seven medication discrepancies were identified; 59% were medication errors that required an intervention to prevent harm. In exit interviews, patients indicated feeling more confident and in control of their condition; clinicians perceived patients to be better informed and more engaged. CONCLUSIONS Integrating a smartphone-based self-management system into usual care of patients with advanced CKD proved feasible and acceptable, and it appeared to be clinically useful. The results provide a strong rationale for a randomized, controlled trial.
Lyman-alpha constraints on warm and on warm-plus-cold dark matter models

We revisit Lyman-alpha bounds on the dark matter mass in Lambda Warm Dark Matter (Lambda-WDM) models, and derive new bounds in the case of mixed Cold plus Warm models (Lambda-CWDM), using a set up which is a good approximation for several theoretically well-motivated dark matter models. We combine WMAP5 results with two different Lyman-alpha data sets, including observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We pay a special attention to systematics, test various possible sources of error, and compare the results of different statistical approaches. Expressed in terms of the mass of a non-resonantly produced sterile neutrino, our bounds read m_NRP > 8 keV (frequentist 99.7% confidence limit) or m_NRP > 12.1 keV (Bayesian 95% credible interval) in the pure Lambda-WDM limit. For the mixed model, we obtain limits on the mass as a function of the warm dark matter fraction F_WDM. Within the mass range studied here (5 keV < m_NRP < infinity), we find that any mass value is allowed when F_WDM < 0.6 (frequentist 99.7% confidence limit); similarly, the Bayesian joint probability on (F_WDM, 1/m_NRP) allows any value of the mass at the 95% confidence level, provided that F_WDM < 0.35.
Study on the Limitations of WS-BPEL Compositions Under Load Conditions

Web services compositions are still considered as a major player in the implementation of distributed architectures. Such applications must provide services to hundreds of users simultaneously. In this context, load testing of these applications seems an important task in order to detect problems under elevated loads. For this purpose, we proposed a distributed test architecture aiming to study the behavior of WS-BPEL compositions considering load conditions. The developed test approach is performed based on two steps. The first one is to run a load test during which the composition under test is monitored and performance data are recorded. The second step is to analyze the resulting test logs in order to identify problems under load. For that, we proposed a classification of these problems according to both their natures and causes. Finally, we concretized our solution by implementing a testing tool (WSCLim) and we evaluated it in the context of a Travel Agency case study.
International adoption from Ethiopia: An overview of the health status at arrival in Belgium

Background: Ethiopia is a densely populated country with a fast growing economy. Still socioeconomic and health issues render many children parentless. One thousand and twenty eight Ethiopian children have been adopted in Belgium from September 2005 to September 2015. Little has been published about their health status at arrival. Methods: Three hundred and fifteen children adopted from Ethiopia were clinically evaluated at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp from 1 January 2008 until 31 December 2014. Epidemiological and medical data were collected and analysed retrospectively. Results: Data about 164 boys and 151 girls with a mean age of three years were analysed. Twenty per cent was adequately vaccinated, for 66.7% of children these data were absent. About 8.6% of the children were wasted/thin, 28.9% stunted. Skin abnormalities were seen in 40.3%, especially Tinea capitis. No children tested positive for HIV, syphilis or hepatitis C. Four children had an acute or chronic hepatitis B (HBV) infection, eight children had a cured HBV infection. Two children tested positive for malaria. Active pulmonary tuberculosis was found in six children. Sixty-two per cent had one or more intestinal parasite. Giardia lamblia (41.9%) and Blastocystis hominis (27.0%) were most frequently isolated. There is a statistically relevant association between the number of intestinal parasites and age at presentation. In this group eosinophilia had a sensitivity of 30.2%, a specificity of 79.1% for intestinal parasites and a positive likelihood ratio of 1.44 with a negative likelihood ratio of 0.88. Conclusion: Apart from the high prevalence of stunting and intestinal parasites important medical problems were infrequent. A systematic clinical examination and screening for infectious diseases remain important to ensure a healthy start of a new life in Belgium.
Effect of Exposure to Bisphenol A and 17ß-estradiol on the Sex Differentiation in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Drastichova J., Z.Svobodova, M.Groenland, R. Dob‰ikova, V. Ilabek, D. Weissova, M. Szotkowska: Effect of Exposure to Bisphenol A and 17s-estradiol on the Sex Differentiation in Zebrafish (Danio rerio). Acta Vet. Brno 74, 2005: 287-291. The effects of bisphenol A and 17s-estradiol on sex differentiation were investigated in the zebrafish, Danio rerio. The 20-day-old fry with undifferentiated gonads were fed with food containing bisphenol A at the dose of 500, 1000, 2000 mg⋅kg -1 and 17s-estradiol at the dose of 20 mg⋅kg-1 diet for 45 days. Sex ratio and gonadal development after the chemical treatment were determined by histological examination of gonads. In the control group, the sex ratio of fry was 1:1 (female:male), i.e. 50% of females and 50% of males appeared. The sex of fry fed with 17s-estradiol at the dose of 20 mg⋅kg -1 diet was all females. Feminization of the fry was induced by exogenic 17s-estradiol. The sex of fry fed with bisphenol A at the dose of 500, 1000, 2000 mg⋅kg -1 diet was 1.4:1 (p = 0.31), 3.8:1 (p = 0.01) and 11.5:1 (p < 0.01). Bisphenol A induced
dbPSP: a curated database for protein phosphorylation sites in prokaryotes

As one of the most important post-translational modifications, phosphorylation is highly involved in almost all of biological processes through temporally and spatially modifying substrate proteins. Recently, phosphorylation in prokaryotes attracted much attention for its critical roles in various cellular processes such as signal transduction. Thus, an integrative data resource of the prokaryotic phosphorylation will be useful for further analysis. In this study, we presented a curated database of phosphorylation sites in prokaryotes (dbPSP, Database URL: http://dbpsp.biocuckoo.org) for 96 prokaryotic organisms, which belong to 11 phyla in two domains including bacteria and archaea. From the scientific literature, we manually collected experimentally identified phosphorylation sites on seven types of residues, including serine, threonine, tyrosine, aspartic acid, histidine, cysteine and arginine. In total, the dbPSP database contains 7391 phosphorylation sites in 3750 prokaryotic proteins. With the dataset, the sequence preferences of the phosphorylation sites and functional annotations of the phosphoproteins were analyzed, while the results shows that there were obvious differences among the phosphorylation in bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. All the phosphorylation sites were annotated with original references and other descriptions in the database, which could be easily accessed through user-friendly website interface including various search and browse options. Taken together, the dbPSP database provides a comprehensive data resource for further studies of protein phosphorylation in prokaryotes. Database URL: http://dbpsp.biocuckoo. org
Long-range transport of Saharan dust to northern Europe : The 11-16 October 2001 outbreak observed with EARLINET

The spread of mineral particles over southwestern, western, and central Europe resulting from a strong Saharan dust outbreak in October 2001 was observed at 10 stations of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET). For the first time, an optically dense desert dust plume over Europe was characterized coherently with high vertical resolution on a continental scale. The main layer was located above the boundary layer (above 1-km height above sea level (asl)) up to 3–5-km height, and traces of dust particles reached heights of 7–8 km. The particle optical depth typically ranged from 0.1 to 0.5 above 1-km height asl at the wavelength of 532 nm, and maximum values close to 0.8 were found over northern Germany. The lidar observations are in qualitative agreement with values of optical depth derived from Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) data. Ten-day backward trajectories clearly indicated the Sahara as the source region of the particles and revealed that the dust layer observed, e.g., over Belsk, Poland, crossed the EARLINET site Aberystwyth, UK, and southern Scandinavia 24–48 hours before. Lidar-derived particle depolarization ratios, backscatter- and extinction-related Angstrom exponents, and extinction-to-backscatter ratios mainly ranged from 15 to 25%, −0.5 to 0.5, and 40–80 sr, respectively, within the lofted dust plumes. A few atmospheric model calculations are presented showing the dust concentration over Europe. The simulations were found to be consistent with the network observations.
Pancreatic Cystic Neoplasms

Background: Cystic neoplasms of the pancreas are rare and constitute approximately 0.5% of all pancreatic neoplasms. Aims: The study was to describe clinicopathological features of pancreatic cystic tumors. Patients and Methods: In our retrospective study, we reviewed 10 cases of pancreatic cystic neoplasms that were diagnosed at the pathology department of Mongi Slim hospital over a 14-year period (2000-2013). We adopted the latest World Health Organization (WHO) classification (2010) in grouping all tumors. Results: There were one male and nine female patients (sex ratio M/F = 1:9) aged between 21 and 68 years (mean = 37.5 years). The most common clinical presentation was epigastric and abdominal pain (n = 6) followed by vomiting (n = 3). Abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan disclosed a cystic lesion of the pancreas ranging in size between 2 and 10 cm (mean = 6.75 cm). All patients underwent surgical treatment. Histopathological examination of the surgical specimen established the diagnosis of solid pseudopapillary neoplasm (n = 2), serous cystic neoplasm (n = 2), mucinous cystadenoma (n = 4), mucinous cystadenocarcinoma (n = 1), and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm with invasive carcinoma (n = 1). Conclusion: Better understanding of pancreatic cystic neoplasms is essential for clinicians to make accurate diagnosis and to provide the best management for patients.
Anthocyanins in purple and blue wheat grains and in resulting bread: quantity, composition, and thermal stability

Abstract The anthocyanin composition of blue (Triticum aestivum L., cv. Skorpion) and purple wheat (Triticum aethiopicum JAKUBZ cv. Abyssinskaja arrasajta cv. Abyssinskaja arrasajta), cultivated in the Czech Republic, and of the prepared whole blue and purple wheat bread was determined. In blue and purple wheat, 19 and 26 anthocyanins, respectively, were tentatively identified by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. The total content of anthocyanins determined in blue and purple wheat was 9.26 and 13.23 mgkg−1, respectively. The breads were baked at 240 and 180 °C. Some significant differences in anthocyanins content were observed between breads prepared at different baking temperatures. The content of cyanidin-3-glucoside, delphinidin-3-glucoside and pelargonidin-3-glucoside was determinated in starting material, whole meal flours and baked breads. These kinds of wheat are suitable for baking bread, since intake of anthocyanins may play an important role in the prevention of human diseases.
Hofmann meta-analysis smoking cessation : a systematic review and Efficacy of motivational interviewing for

Objective A systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the efficacy of interventions incorporating motivational interviewing for smoking cessation and identify correlates of treatment effects Data sources Medline/PubMed, PsycInfo and other sources including grey literature Study selection Title/abstract search terms were motivational interview* OR motivational enhancement AND smok*, cigarette*, tobacco, OR nicotine. Randomised trials reporting number of smokers abstinent at follow up were eligible. Data extraction Data were independently coded by the first and third authors. We coded for a variety of study, participant, and intervention related variables. Data synthesis A random effects logistic regression with both a random intercept and a random slope for the
The VVDS type-1 AGN sample: the faint end of the luminosity function

In a previous paper (Gavignaud et al. 2006), we presented the type-1 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) sample obtained from the first epoch data of the VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey (VVDS). The sample consists of 130 faint, broad-line AGN with redshift up to z=5 and 17.5< I <24.0, selected on the basis of their spectra. In this paper we present the measurement of the Optical Luminosity Function up to z=3.6 derived from this sample, we compare our results with previous results from brighter samples both at low and at high redshift. Our data, more than one magnitude fainter than previous optical surveys, allow us to constrain the faint part of the luminosity function up to high redshift. By combining our faint VVDS sample with the large sample of bright AGN extracted from the SDSS DR3 (Richards et al., 2006b) and testing a number of different evolutionary models, we find that the model which better represents the combined luminosity functions, over a wide range of redshift and luminosity, is a luminosity dependent density evolution (LDDE) model, similar to those derived from the major X-surveys. Such a parameterization allows the redshift of the AGN space density peak to change as a function of luminosity and explains the excess of faint AGN that we find at 1.0< z <1.5. On the basis of this model we find, for the first time from the analysis of optically selected samples, that the peak of the AGN space density shifts significantly towards lower redshift going to lower luminosity objects. This result, already found in a number of X-ray selected samples of AGN, is consistent with a scenario of "AGN cosmic downsizing", in which the density of more luminous AGN, possibly associated to more massive black holes, peaks earlier in the history of the Universe, than that of low luminosity ones.
Health utility decreases with increasing clinical stage in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Abstract Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease typically causing death within three years. Understanding the impact of disease on patients using health utility at different stages of ALS would allow meaningful cost-benefit analysis of new potential therapies. A common health-related quality of life measurement, developed and validated for the UK, is the EQ-5D. Using clinical trial data from the LiCALS study, we calculated health utility using the EQ-5D for each King's ALS clinical stage from 214 patients. We analysed whether health utility, and other health-related measures, significantly changed between each of the clinical stages. Results showed that mean health utility decreased by 0.487 (the scale runs from 1 to – 0.594) between clinical stages 2A and 4. Emotional states, measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), showed worsening depression and anxiety scores as ALS progressed. Age of onset, disease onset, gender and treatment group were not predictors of EQ-5D, depression or anxiety. In conclusion, increasing severity of King’s ALS Clinical Stage is associated with a progressive decrease in EQ-5D health utility. This is useful for cost-benefit analysis of new therapies and validates this ALS clinical staging system.
Matrix completion and low-rank SVD via fast alternating least squares

The matrix-completion problem has attracted a lot of attention, largely as a result of the celebrated Netflix competition. Two popular approaches for solving the problem are nuclear-norm-regularized matrix approximation (Candès and Tao, 2009; Mazumder et al., 2010), and maximum-margin matrix factorization (Srebro et al., 2005). These two procedures are in some cases solving equivalent problems, but with quite different algorithms. In this article we bring the two approaches together, leading to an efficient algorithm for large matrix factorization and completion that outperforms both of these. We develop a software package softlmpute in R for implementing our approaches, and a distributed version for very large matrices using the Spark cluster programming environment.