Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-term low-dose erythromycin in patients with unexplained chronic cough: a double-blind placebo controlled trial

Aims Unexplained chronic cough is a common condition with no satisfactory treatments. Previous work has suggested that cough may be linked to neutrophilic airway inflammation. This study tested the hypothesis that long-term low-dose erythromycin reduces the induced sputum neutrophil count and 24 h cough frequency in patients with unexplained chronic cough. Methods 30 patients with an unexplained chronic cough lasting more than 8 weeks were randomly assigned to take 250 mg erythromycin once daily (n=15) or placebo (n=15) for 12 weeks in a double-blind parallel group study. Cough frequency, cough reflex sensitivity and cough severity were assessed at baseline, 6, 12 and 24 weeks. The primary outcome measure was change in 24 h cough frequency at 12 weeks. Results There was no difference in the change in cough frequency between the erythromycin and placebo groups at 12 weeks (mean difference in fold change 1.1; 95% CI 0.7 to 1.5; p=0.585) or at other times. There was a statistically significant between-treatment difference in the change in sputum neutrophils at 12 weeks (−10.2% vs +6.6% with erythromycin and placebo; mean difference 16.8%; 95% CI 1.6 to 32.1; p=0.03) but not at other times. There was no difference in the change in other measures of cough between treatments. Conclusions Treatment with low-dose erythromycin for 12 weeks reduces the induced sputum neutrophil count but not cough frequency or severity in patients with unexplained chronic cough.
The perceived roughness of resistive virtual textures: II. effects of varying viscosity with a force-feedback device

Klatzky and Lederman [2006] have shown that tangential resistive forces may be used to convey roughness in virtual textures using the WingMan force-feedback mouse. Modeling our experiment after this study, we directly examined the effect of viscous resistance on the perceived roughness magnitude of virtual gratings using a PHANTOM. For each virtual grating, the resistance level encountered at the ridges was varied by altering the viscosity coefficient. Perceived roughness systematically increased as the value of the viscosity coefficient was increased. The ridge-to-groove ratio contributed a small additional effect of microgeometry. These results suggest that simple models of viscous resistance may be used to simulate varying levels of surface roughness.
Possible Roles of Proinflammatory and Chemoattractive Cytokines Produced by Human Fetal Membrane Cells in the Pathology of Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Associated with Influenza Virus Infection

Pregnant women are at an increased risk of influenza-associated adverse outcomes, such as premature delivery, based on data from the latest pandemic with a novel influenza A (H1N1) virus in 2009-2010. It has been suggested that the transplacental transmission of influenza viruses is rarely detected in humans. A series of our study has demonstrated that influenza virus infection induced apoptosis in primary cultured human fetal membrane chorion cells, from which a factor with monocyte differentiation-inducing (MDI) activity was secreted. Proinflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interferon (IFN)-β, were identified as a member of the MDI factor. Influenza virus infection induced the mRNA expression of not only the proinflammatory cytokines but also chemoattractive cytokines, such as monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1β, IL-8, growth-regulated oncogene (GRO)-α, GRO-β, epithelial cell-derived neutrophil-activating protein (ENA)-78, and interferon inducible protein (IP)-10 in cultured chorion cells. These cytokines are postulated to associate with human parturition. This paper, therefore, reviews (1) lessons from pandemic H1N1 2009 in pregnancy, (2) production of proinflammatory and chemoattractive cytokines by human fetal membranes and their functions in gestational tissues, and (3) possible roles of cytokines produced by human fetal membranes in the pathology of adverse pregnancy outcomes associated with influenza virus infection.
Ocular Determinants of Refractive Error and Its Age- and Sex-Related Variations in the Chinese American Eye Study

Importance Uncorrected refractive error (RE) is a leading cause of visual impairment, and variations in ocular anatomy determine RE. The unique ocular determinants of RE in Chinese American individuals have not been studied previously. Objective To report ocular determinants of RE in a Chinese American population 50 years and older in Monterey Park, California. Design, Setting, and Participants The Chinese American Eye Study, a population-based, cross-sectional study, was conducted from February 1, 2010, through October 31, 2013, in Monterey Park, with this particular data analysis performed from January 1 through December 31, 2016. This study included data from 4582 participants who underwent an eye examination to obtain axial length (AL), central corneal thickness, vitreous chamber depth (VCD), anterior chamber depth (ACD), lens thickness (LT), corneal power (CP), noncycloplegic subjective refraction, and lens nuclear opalescence (NOP) grading. Data from the right phakic eye of each participant were used. Multiple regression models (standardized regression coefficients [SRCs] and semipartial correlation coefficients squared [SPCCs2]) identified key determinants of RE. Main Outcomes and Measures Ocular determinants of RE. Results Among the 4071 participants eligible for analysis (1496 men [36.7%] and 2575 women [63.3%]; mean [SD] age, 60.5 [8.1] years), mean (SD) RE was −0.52 (2.95) diopters (D), with no sex-related difference. A hyperopic shift occurred in women from −0.62 (2.95) D at 50 to 59 years to 0.60 (1.62) D at 80 years or older and in men from −0.69 (3.00) D at 50 to 59 years to 0.40 (2.29) D at 80 years or older (P < .001 for both). Compared with men, women had shorter AL (mean [SD], 23.62 [1.34] vs 24.14 [1.27] mm; P = .006), shorter ACD (mean [SD], 3.33 [0.34] vs 3.44 [0.34] mm; P < .001), and steeper CP (mean [SD], 43.50 [1.52] vs 42.88 [1.45] D; P = .02), after adjusting for age and height. No sex differences were found in VCD, LT, and NOP after height adjustment. Compared with younger individuals, older individuals had shallower ACD, thicker LT, and more NOP compared with younger individuals (P < .001 for both), even after adjustment for height. Axial length was the strongest determinant of RE (SRC = −0.92; SPCC2 = 0.55), followed by CP (SRC = −0.43; SPCC2 = 0.15). When individual components of AL were evaluated, VCD had the greatest contributing effect (SRC = −0.99; SPCC2 = 0.52), followed by CP (SRC = −0.47; SPCC2 = 0.15) and LT (SRC = −0.29; SPCC2 = 0.06). Conclusions and Relevance These data suggest that Chinese American individuals have longer AL and greater contribution of AL to RE than do Latino and other Chinese populations. Future studies should explore risk factors for increased AL in Chinese Americans and potential interventions that may ultimately prevent myopia-related disease.
Proteomics in paediatric cardiac surgery: Is a personalised approach feasible?

The incidence of congenital cardiac abnormalities remains high. Paediatric patients with congenital cardiac defects often require surgery at a young age. The surgeries are often long and complex, rendering this population particularly vulnerable to the deleterious effects of cardiopulmonary bypass and cardiac surgery. The search for cardioprotective strategies is ongoing in an attempt to reduce the morbidity in this population. In the post‐genomic era, it is apparent that simply determining the genomic sequences holds little diagnostic potential and means to determine progression of disease and response to treatment. The field of proteomics is expanding and application of proteomic techniques in the clinical setting holds great potential to advance our understanding of the proteomic changes involved in specific disease stages. This review will assess the application of proteomic techniques in the setting of paediatric cardiac surgery and highlight the need to obtain a clear understanding of the role of various proteins in children with cardiac conditions. The success and challenges of the available proteomic technology will be discussed as well as the future potential of proteomic methods for advancing our understanding of protein changes in children requiring cardiac surgery.
Nucleation and Kinematic Rupture of the 2017 Mw 8.2 Tehuantepec Earthquake

Integrated observations from the 2017 Mw 8.2 Tehuantepec, Mexico, earthquake probe one of the largest normal‐faulting events inside a subducting slab. In this study, we utilize a template matching approach to detect possible missing earthquakes within a 2‐month period before the mainshock. The seismicity rate shows an abrupt increase in the last day around the mainshock hypocenter. The large distance between most of the foreshocks and the mainshock is not consistent with static stress triggering but suggests alternative mechanisms such as delayed dynamic triggering or aseismic transients. Back‐projection using the USArray network reveals that the rupture propagated northwestward unilaterally at a speed of 3.6 km/s and terminated north of the Tehuantepec Ridge. Towards the end of the rupture, a wide step‐over occurred onto an adjacent fault parallel to the main fault plane. The mainshock is likely a reactivation of subducted outer‐rise faults, supported by the similarity of fault‐strike angles. The surprisingly large magnitude is consistent with exceedingly large dimensions of outer‐rise faulting in this segment of the central Mexican trench.
[Effects of benidipine hydrochloride (Coniel) on blood pressure, heart rate and plasma norepinephrine concentration in spontaneously hypertensive rats].

We investigated the effects of benidipine hydrochloride (benidipine, Coniel) on blood pressure, heart rate and plasma norepinephrine (NE) concentration in spontaneously hypertensive rats and compared them with those of other calcium channel blockers. Benidipine (2 mg/kg, p.o.) was compared with the equihypotensive doses of nifedipine (5 mg/kg), cilnidipine (6 mg/kg) and amlodipine (3 mg/kg). All the 4 calcium channel blockers exhibited significant antihypertensive effects. Nifedipine and cilinidipine significantly increased heart rate, as compared with that in the control group, whereas benidipine or amlodipine did not significantly affect it. The area under the curves for hypotensive effect and tachycardic effect for 10 hr after the drug administration were compared among the 4 compounds. As a result, the tachycardic effect of benidipine was significantly lower than those of nifedipine, cilnidipine and amlodipine, while the hypotensive effects were similar among the 4 compounds. Nifedipine and amlodipine, significantly increased plasma NE concentration, cilnidipine tended to increase it. In contrast, benidipine did not significantly affect plasma NE concentration. These results suggest that the effects of benidipine on plasma NE concentration and heart rate are less prominent than those of the other calcium channel blockers.
A Hierarchy of Attentional Priority Signals in Human Frontoparietal Cortex

Humans can voluntarily attend to a variety of visual attributes to serve behavioral goals. Voluntary attention is believed to be controlled by a network of dorsal frontoparietal areas. However, it is unknown how neural signals representing behavioral relevance (attentional priority) for different attributes are organized in this network. Computational studies have suggested that a hierarchical organization reflecting the similarity structure of the task demands provides an efficient and flexible neural representation. Here we examined the structure of attentional priority using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants were cued to attend to location, color, or motion direction within the same stimulus. We found a hierarchical structure emerging in frontoparietal areas, such that multivoxel patterns for attending to spatial locations were most distinct from those for attending to features, and the latter were further clustered into different dimensions (color vs motion). These results provide novel evidence for the organization of the attentional control signals at the level of distributed neural activity. The hierarchical organization provides a computationally efficient scheme to support flexible top-down control.
Partial Cranial Cruciate Ligament Tears Treated with Stem Cell and Platelet-Rich Plasma Combination Therapy in 36 Dogs: A Retrospective Study

Objective To evaluate outcomes in 36 dogs with a partial cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) tear treated with autologous bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) or adipose-derived progenitor cells (ADPC) with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) combination. Materials and methods Medical records of client-owned dogs diagnosed with an early partial (≤50%) tear of the craniomedial band of the CCL that was treated with BMAC–PRP or ADPC–PRP were reviewed from 2010 to 2015. Signalment, medical history, physical and orthopedic examination, objective temporospatial gait analyses, radiographs, day 0 and day 90 diagnostic arthroscopy findings, treatment, and outcome were among the data collected. A functional owner questionnaire, including the validated Helsinki chronic pain index (HCPI), was sent to owners whose dog was known to not have had a tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO). Statistical analysis was performed on data, where significance was established at p < 0.05. Results Stifle arthroscopy findings at 90 days posttreatment were available on 13 of the 36 dogs. In nine dogs, a fully intact CCL with marked neovascularization and a normal fiber pattern was found with all previous regions of disruption healed. One dog revealed significant improvement and received an additional injection. The remaining three dogs had a >50% CCL tear, and a TPLO was performed. Four additional dogs were known to have had a TPLO performed elsewhere. Baseline and day 90 posttreatment objective gait analyses were available on 11 of the 36 dogs. A significant difference was found between the treated limb total pressure index percent (TPI%) at day 0 and day 90 (p = 0.0124), and between the treated limb and contralateral limb TPI% at day 0 (p = 0.0003). No significant difference was found between the treated limb and contralateral limb TPI% at day 90 (p = 0.7466). Twelve questionnaires were returned, of which eight were performance/sporting dogs. Seven of the eight had returned to sport; the remaining dog had just begun a return to sport conditioning program 6 months posttreatment. All 12 respondents believed that their dog had an excellent or very good quality of life and rated their dog’s procedural outcome as excellent or good. Conclusion The use of BMAC–PRP and ADPC–PRP shows promise for the treatment of early partial CCL tears in dogs. Further studies are needed and should be randomized, blinded, and controlled.
Microfibrosis Produces Electrical Load Variations Due to Loss of Side‐to‐Side Cell Connections; A Major Mechanism of Structural Heart Disease Arrhythmias

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how adaptive changes in myocardial microstructure provide mechanisms for emergent new conduction disturbances that initiate reentrant arrhythmias. The mechanisms are based on discontinuous conduction phenomena produced by increases in cellular hading; these increases result from changes in the normal distribution of the gap junctions. Recent studies indicate that at a microscopic level propagation in normal mature cardiac muscle is stochastic. For example, the nonuniform and irregular distribution of the gap junctions in such normal muscle produces load variations that are associated with changes in Vmax inside individual cells during both longitudinal and transverse propagation. The stochastic nature of normal propagation at a microscopic level offers considerable protection against arrhythmias by reestablishing the general trend of wavefront movement after small variations in excitation events occur. If such microscopic diversity is decreased, large fluctuations in load develop that are distributed over more cells than usual. The decrease in diversity may be caused by loss of side‐to‐side coupling between fibers, which produces relatively isolated groups of cells with microfibrosis. With loss of side‐to‐side fiber coupling, the myocardial architecture may fail to reestablish a smoothed wavefront at the macroscopic level. Spatial nonuniformities of electrical loading then give rise to conduction block and reentry.
Vitreomacular Adhesion and Its Association With Age-Related Macular Degeneration in a Population-Based Setting: The Alienor Study.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe vitreomacular adhesion (VMA), diagnosed with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), its risk factors, and its association with AMD in a population-based study of French elderly subjects. Methods Six hundred twenty-two of 624 (99.7%) participants of the Alienor study (Bordeaux, France), ≥75 years of age, had gradable SD-OCT scans of the macula in at least one eye. VMA was defined as visible perifoveal vitreous separation with remaining vitreomacular attachment and unperturbed foveal morphologic features. Late AMD was classified from retinal color photographs, SD-OCT, and ophthalmologic history. Early AMD was classified from retinal photographs and defined by the presence of large drusen and/or reticular drusen and/or pigmentary abnormalities. Results The prevalence of VMA was 15.8%, decreased with age (18.1% in subjects 75 to 84 years of age versus 8.9% after 85 years of age), and was higher in men than women (20.6% vs. 12.8%). VMA also tended to be less frequent in eyes with a history of cataract surgery (odds ratio [OR] = 0.66, P = 0.05), after adjustment for age and sex. No associations of VMA with other risk factors (cardiovascular risk factors, dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids, lifetime ultraviolet radiation exposure, major AMD genetic polymorphisms) were found. After multivariate adjustment, VMA was not significantly associated with early or late AMD (OR = 1.14, P = 0.70 and OR = 0.78, P = 0.51 for early and late AMD, respectively). Conclusions VMA was visible on SD-OCT in 16% in this sample of elderly French subjects but was not associated with AMD. Prospective studies of the associations of VMA with AMD are needed.
A Retargetable Framework for Automated Discovery of Custom Instructions

The problem of efficiently mapping a software application onto an extensible processor has received considerable attention. However, except for specialized kinds of computation accelerators, end-to-end studies of the problems are hard to find in the literature. We propose a classification of previous work on the mapping problem; we then frame previous results into this classification, and propose a new framework for solving this problem. By dividing the problem into several parts-some of them solved exactly, some of them relying on greedy algorithms-we provide a generic scheme that can be adapted to different kinds of hardware accelerators. We implemented our approach on top of a GCC-based compiler toolchain for extensible processors. Benchmarks taken from MiBench show a speedups up to 6.74 x using the SimpleScalar/ARM cycle-exact simulator.
Prototyping virtual instructors from human-human corpora

Virtual instructors can be used in several applications, ranging from trainers in simulated worlds to non player characters for virtual games. In this paper we present a novel algorithm for rapidly prototyping virtual instructors from human-human corpora without manual annotation. Automatically prototyping full-fledged dialogue systems from corpora is far from being a reality nowadays. Our algorithm is restricted in that only the virtual instructor can perform speech acts while the user responses are limited to physical actions in the virtual world. We evaluate a virtual instructor, generated using this algorithm, with human users. We compare our results both with human instructors and rule-based virtual instructors hand-coded for the same task.
Length of urban residence and obesity among within-country rural-to-urban Andean migrants

Abstract Objective To evaluate the association between length of residence in an urban area and obesity among Peruvian rural-to-urban migrants. Design Cross-sectional database analysis of the migrant group from the PERU MIGRANT Study (2007). Exposure was length of urban residence, analysed as both a continuous (10-year units) and a categorical variable. Four skinfold site measurements (biceps, triceps, subscapular and suprailiac) were used to calculate body fat percentage and obesity (body fat percentage >25% males, >33% females). We used Poisson generalized linear models to estimate adjusted prevalence ratios and 95 % confidence intervals. Multicollinearity between age and length of urban residence was assessed using conditional numbers and correlation tests. Setting A peri-urban shantytown in the south of Lima, Peru. Subjects Rural-to-urban migrants (n 526) living in Lima. Results Multivariable analyses showed that for each 10-year unit increase in residence in an urban area, rural-to-urban migrants had, on average, a 12 % (95 % CI 6, 18 %) higher prevalence of obesity. This association was also present when length of urban residence was analysed in categories. Sensitivity analyses, conducted with non-migrant groups, showed no evidence of an association between 10-year age units and obesity in rural (P=0·159) or urban populations (P=0·078). High correlation and a large conditional number between age and length of urban residence were found, suggesting a strong collinearity between both variables. Conclusions Longer lengths of urban residence are related to increased obesity in rural-to-urban migrant populations; therefore, interventions to prevent obesity in urban areas may benefit from targeting migrant groups.
Mutations in Herpes Simplex Virus Glycoprotein D Distinguish Entry of Free Virus from Cell-Cell Spread

ABSTRACT Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein D (gD) is an essential component of the entry apparatus that is responsible for viral penetration and subsequent cell-cell spread. To test the hypothesis that gD may serve distinguishable functions in entry of free virus and cell-cell spread, mutants were selected for growth on US11cl19.3 cells, which are resistant to both processes due to the lack of a functional gD receptor, and then tested for their ability to enter as free virus and to spread from cell to cell. Unlike their wild-type parent, HSV-1(F), the variants that emerged from this selection, which were named SP mutants, are all capable of forming macroscopic plaques on the resistant cells. This ability is caused by a marked increase in cell-cell spread without a concomitant increase in efficiency of entry of free virus. gD substitutions that arose within these mutants are sufficient to mediate cell-cell spread in US11cl19.3 cells but are insufficient to overcome the restriction to entry of free virions. These results suggest that mutations in gD (i) are sufficient but not necessary to overcome the block to cell-cell spread exhibited by US11cl19.3 cells and (ii) are insufficient to mediate entry of free virus in the same cells.