Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-Surgical Management of Congenital Eversion of the Eyelids

Purpose To report the effectiveness of non-invasive management of congenital eversion of the eyelids, a rare condition associated with serious socio-psychological consequences. Case Report Three neonates with congenital eversion of the eyelids and secondary conjunctival chemosis and prolapse were managed with 5% hypertonic normal saline, lubricants, antibiotics, and padding. Complete eye opening was achieved by the 10th day of presentation and the condition resolved. Conclusion Non-invasive management of congenital eyelid eversion was found to be effective with no need for surgical management. All health care workers should be informed that this condition is amenable to conservative treatment if started early, so that prompt referral for expert management can be offered.
Motor Circuitry Re-organization After Pallidotomy in Parkinson Disease: A Neurophysiological Study of the Bereitschaftspotential, Contingent Negative Variation, and N30

The aim of the study was to evaluate the reorganization changes in the motor circuitry of the basal ganglia following unilateral posteroventral pallidotomy in Parkinson disease (PD) patients using neurophysiological paradigms. Eight advanced PD patients received a neurophysiological battery 2 months prior and 6 months after unilateral pallidotomy. Examinations were all performed in the practically defined “off” situation. Bereitschaftspotential (BP) and N30 were recorded for each hand alternately. Contingent negative variation (CNV) was obtained using a visual Go/no-Go paradigm. ANOVAs (electrode position; surgery) were applied for BP and CNV results. N30 data were analyzed using Wilcoxon matched-pair tests. A significant increase in amplitude of the late component (NS’) of the BP was evidenced with patient performing with the hand contralateral to pallidotomy. No significant amplitude differences were found in CNV after surgery in any lead, or in any of the time windows tested. A trend toward significance was observed corresponding to a postsurgical numerical increase in amplitude of the N30 peak in the hand contralateral to pallidotomy. These results suggest that neurophysiological changes after pallidotomy are mainly in the last stages of movement preparation and execution.
Social Attention, Affective Arousal and Empathy in Men with Klinefelter Syndrome (47,XXY): Evidence from Eyetracking and Skin Conductance

Individuals with an extra X chromosome (Klinefelter syndrome) are at risk for problems in social functioning and have an increased vulnerability for autism traits. In the search for underlying mechanisms driving this increased risk, this study focused on social attention, affective arousal and empathy. Seventeen adults with XXY and 20 non-clinical controls participated in this study. Eyetracking was used to investigate social attention, as expressed in visual scanning patterns in response to the viewing of empathy evoking video clips. Skin conductance levels, reflecting affective arousal, were recorded continuously during the clips as well. Empathic skills, i.e. participants' understanding of own and others' emotions in response to the clips was also assessed. Results showed reduced empathic understanding, decreased visual fixation to the eye region, but increased affective arousal in individuals with Klinefelter syndrome. We conclude that individuals with XXY tend to avoid the eye region. Considering the increased affective arousal, we speculate that this attentional deployment strategy may not be sufficient to successfully downregulate affective hyper-responsivity. As increased affective arousal was related to reduced empathic ability, we hypothesize that own affective responses to social cues play an important role in difficulties in understanding the feelings and intentions of others. This knowledge may help in the identification of risk factors for psychopathology and targets for treatment.
Human duodenal proteome modulations by glutamine and antioxidants

Purpose: Glutamine (Gln) has protective, anti‐inflammatory effects in animal models and humans. Antioxidant nutrients may exert synergistic effects on intestinal functions. Therefore, these combined nutrients may have a therapeutic potential during intestinal inflammation. This study was designed to investigate in humans the effects of a supplement composed of Gln and high‐dosed antioxidant micronutrients compared to isomolar Gln only, on duodenal proteome.
Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment Narcolepsy : a review

Correspondence: Gbolagade Akintomide 23 Templar Drive, Thamesmead, London, SE28 8PF, UK Tel +44 78 3308 6317 Fax +44 20 8312 9054 Email akintomide7@yahoo.com Abstract: Narcolepsy is a lifelong sleep disorder characterized by a classic tetrad of excessive daytime sleepiness with irresistible sleep attacks, cataplexy (sudden bilateral loss of muscle tone), hypnagogic hallucination, and sleep paralysis. There are two distinct groups of patients, ie, those having narcolepsy with cataplexy and those having narcolepsy without cataplexy. Narcolepsy affects 0.05% of the population. It has a negative effect on the quality of life of its sufferers and can restrict them from certain careers and activities. There have been advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis of narcolepsy. It is thought that narcolepsy with cataplexy is secondary to loss of hypothalamic hypocretin neurons in those genetically predisposed to the disorder by possession of human leukocyte antigen DQB1*0602. The diagnostic criteria for narcolepsy are based on symptoms, laboratory sleep tests, and serum levels of hypocretin. There is no cure for narcolepsy, and the present mainstay of treatment is pharmacological treatment along with lifestyle changes. Some novel treatments are also being developed and tried. This article critically appraises the evidence for diagnosis and treatment of narcolepsy.
The effectiveness of processed grapefruit-seed extract as an antibacterial agent: I. An in vitro agar assay.

OBJECTIVES Grapefruit-seed extract (GSE) Citricidal has, in recent reports, been reported to be successful in combating a variety of common infectious agents. In our study, drops of concentrated grapefruit-seed extract were tested for antibacterial properties against a number of gram-positive and gram-negative organisms. DESIGN Sixty-seven (67) distinct biotypes were tested for their susceptibilities to the GSE as well as to 5 other topical antibacterials (Silvadene, Sulfamylon, Bactroban, Nitrofurazone, and Silvadene, Nystatin). Wells were punched into Mueller-Hinton agar plates, which were then inoculated with the organism to be tested; each well was then inoculated with one of the antibacterial agents. After an overnight incubation period, the plates were checked for zones of bacterial susceptibility around the individual wells, with a measured susceptibility zone diameter of 10 mm or more considered a positive result. RESULTS The GSE was consistently antibacterial against all of the biotypes tested, with susceptibility zone diameters equal to or greater than 15 mm in each case. CONCLUSIONS Our preliminary data thus suggest an antibacterial characteristic to GSE that is comparable to that of proven topical antibacterials. Although the GSE appeared to have a somewhat greater inhibitory effect on gram-positive organisms than on gram-negative organisms, its comparative effectiveness against a wide range of bacterial biotypes is significant.
Evaluation of a Numerical Modeling Approach Based on the Finite-Element Method for Calculating the Rough Surface Scattering and Emission of a Soil Layer

We evaluate a new 3-D numerical modeling approach for calculating the rough-surface scattering and emission of a soil layer. The approach relies on the use of Ansoft's numerical computation software High-Frequency Structure Simulator, which solves Maxwell's equations directly using the finite-element method. The interest of this approach is that it can be easily extended to studies of heterogeneous media. However, before being applied in this way, it must first be validated for the rough-surface case. In this letter, we perform this validation by comparing the results of rough-surface scattering and emission with the results of the method of moments (MoM) for a range of different roughness and permittivity conditions and with both Gaussian and exponential rough-surface autocorrelation functions. For the scattering case, we obtain results that are in agreement with the MoM to within approximately 1-3 dB for angles up to and including 40° and 2-4 dB for angles from 50° to 70°. Agreement for emissivity is to within 3.2 and 3.6 K for low and high roughness conditions, respectively. We then illustrate the application of the new approach by calculating the emission of a two-layer system with rough surfaces, representing the soil-litter system in forests.
Preparation of Bis-GMA-Free Dental Restorative Composites with Dendritic Macromer (G-IEMA)

To reduce human exposure risk to bisphenol A derivatives, a new 2,2-bis[p-(2’-hydroxy-3’-methacryloxypropoxy) phenylene]propane (Bis-GMA) free dental composites material GEC-66% was prepared using a dendritic macromer (G-IEMA) as one component of resin matrix. Properties of GEC-66%, such as double bond conversion (DC), polymerization shrinkage, water sorption (WS) and solubility, flexural strength (FS) and modulus, and cytotoxicity on human dental pulp cells were evaluated. The commercial Bis-GMA contained restorative material 3M ESPS FiltekTM Z250 was used as a control. The results showed that GEC-66% had higher DC and WS, comparable shrinkage and solubility, and less cytotoxicity, when compared with Z250. Though FS of GEC-66% was lower than that of Z250, it still met the ISO requirement for polymer-based restorative materials. All of these proved that GEC-66% had potential to be used in clinic.
THE ASSAY OF HYPERTENSIN FROM THE ARTERIAL BLOOD OF NORMOTENSIVE AND HYPERTENSIVE HUMAN BEINGS

Hypertensin has been assayed in the blood of patients with normal blood pressure and in those with essential hypertension in both the benign and malignant phases. 250 ml. samples of arterial blood were obtained, chemically purified, and concentrated to a volume of 1 ml. These extracts were then assayed in anesthetized rats. The concentrations of hypertensin in the blood of patients with the malignant phase of essential hypertension were found to be greatly increased. The concentrations of hypertensin found in patients with benign hypertension had a moderate degree of overlapping with those found in the normotensive group, but the mean concentration of hypertensin in the former group was twice that of the controls. Although these results are statistically significant, the amounts of hypertensin recovered in the benign group are so small that no conclusions can be drawn as to its effectiveness in producing vasoconstriction in these patients.
Processing ‘Ataulfo’ Mango into Juice Preserves the Bioavailability and Antioxidant Capacity of Its Phenolic Compounds

The health-promoting effects of phenolic compounds depend on their bioaccessibility from the food matrix and their consequent bioavailability. We carried out a randomized crossover pilot clinical trial to evaluate the matrix effect (raw flesh and juice) of ‘Ataulfo’ mango on the bioavailability of its phenolic compounds. Twelve healthy male subjects consumed a dose of mango flesh or juice. Blood was collected for six hours after consumption, and urine for 24 h. Plasma and urine phenolics were analyzed by electrochemical detection coupled to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-ECD). Five compounds were identified and quantified in plasma. Six phenolic compounds, plus a microbial metabolite (pyrogallol) were quantified in urine, suggesting colonic metabolism. The maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) occurred 2–4 h after consumption; excretion rates were maximum at 8–24 h. Mango flesh contributed to greater protocatechuic acid absorption (49%), mango juice contributed to higher chlorogenic acid absorption (62%). Our data suggests that the bioavailability and antioxidant capacity of mango phenolics is preserved, and may be increased when the flesh is processed into juice.
Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites and alarm calling in free-living yellow-bellied marmots

When individuals of a variety of species encounter a potential predator, some, but not all, emit alarm calls. To explain the proximate basis of this variation, we compared faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in live-trapped yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) between occasions when they did and did not emit alarm calls. We found that marmots had significantly higher glucocorticoid levels when they called than when they did not call, suggesting that stress or arousal may play an important role in potentiating alarm calls. Marmots are sensitive to variation in the reliability of callers. The present finding provides one possible mechanism underlying caller variation: physiological arousal influences the propensity to emit alarm calls.
Differential Roles for Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein in Immune Synapse Formation and IL-2 Production1

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP)-deficient T cells exhibit defects in IL-2 production that are widely believed to stem from primary defects in actin remodeling and immune synapse formation. Surprisingly, however, we find that WASP-deficient T cells responding to Ag-specific APCs polymerize actin and organize talin and PKCθ normally, forming an immune synapse that is stable for at least 3 h. At low doses of peptide, WASP-deficient T cells show less efficient talin and PKCθ polarization. Thus, although WASP may facilitate immune synapse formation at low peptide concentrations, WASP is not required for this process. Defects in IL-2 production are observed even under conditions in which immune synapse formation proceeds normally, suggesting that the role of WASP in regulating IL-2 production is independent of its role in immune synapse formation.
Monocular depth estimation by two-frame triangulation using flat surface constraints

Fast and accurate depth estimation is essential for autonomous driving vehicles and autonomous robots. Monocular cameras have been expected to be widely applied due to their lower cost, but since they can't provide depth directly, fast and accurate monocular depth estimation methods are required. This paper proposes a novel method of monocular depth estimation based on flat surface using feature triangulation and two frames per estimation. Experiments under ideal conditions and with the KITTI Vision Benchmark Suite showed that the method achieved smaller errors comparing to existing methods that rely on inertial sensors and many frames.
Forward Secure Dynamic Searchable Symmetric Encryption with Efficient Updates

The recently proposed file-injection type attacks are highlighting the importance of forward security in dynamic searchable symmetric encryption (DSSE). Forward security enables to thwart those attacks by hiding the information about the newly added files matching a previous search query. However, there are still only a few DSSE schemes that provide forward security, and they have factors that hinder efficiency. In particular, all of these schemes do not support actual data deletion, which increments both storage space and computational complexity. In this paper, we design and implement a forward secure DSSE scheme with optimal search and update complexity, for both computation and communication point of view. As a starting point, we propose a new, simple, theoretical data structure, called dual dictionary that can take advantage of both the inverted and the forward indexes at the same time. This data structure allows to delete data explicitly and in real time, which greatly improves efficiency compared to previous works. In addition, our scheme provides forward security by encrypting the newly added data with fresh keys not related with the previous search tokens. We implemented our scheme for Enron email and Wikipedia datasets and measured its performance. The comparison with Sophos shows that our scheme is very efficient in practice, for both searches and updates in dynamic environments.
Adenosine deaminase alleles and autistic disorder: case-control and family-based association studies.

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) plays a relevant role in purine metabolism, immune responses, and peptidase activity, which may be altered in some autistic patients. Codominant ADA1 and ADA2 alleles code for ADA1 and ADA2 allozymes, the most frequent protein isoforms in the general population. Individuals carrying one copy of the ADA2 allele display 15 to 20% lower catalytic activity compared to ADA1 homozygotes. Recent preliminary data suggest that ADA2 alleles may be more frequent among autistic patients than healthy controls. The present study was undertaken to replicate these findings in a new case-control study, to test for linkage/association using a family-based design, and to characterize ADA2-carrying patients by serotonin blood levels, peptiduria, and head circumference. ADA2 alleles were significantly more frequent in 91 Caucasian autistic patients of Italian descent than in 152 unaffected controls (17.6% vs. 7.9%, P = 0.018), as well as among their fathers. Family-based tests involving these 91 singleton families, as well as 44 additional Caucasian-American trios, did not support significant linkage/association. However, the observed preferential maternal transmission of ADA2 alleles, if replicated, may point toward linkage disequilibrium between the ADA2 polymorphism and an imprinted gene variant located in its vicinity. Racial and ethnic differences in ADA allelic distributions, together with the low frequency of the ADA2 allele, may pose methodological problems to future linkage/association studies. Direct assessments of ADA catalytic activity in autistic individuals and unaffected siblings carrying ADA1/ADA1 vs ADA1/ADA2 genotypes may provide stronger evidence of ADA2 contributions to autistic disorder. Am. J. Med. Genet. (Neuropsychiatr. Genet.) 96:784-790, 2000.
Plant Elongator regulates auxin-related genes during RNA polymerase II transcription elongation

In eukaryotes, transcription of protein-encoding genes is strongly regulated by posttranslational modifications of histones that affect the accessibility of the DNA by RNA polymerase II (RNAPII). The Elongator complex was originally identified in yeast as a histone acetyltransferase (HAT) complex that activates RNAPII-mediated transcription. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the Elongator mutants elo1, elo2, and elo3 with decreased leaf and primary root growth due to reduced cell proliferation identified homologs of components of the yeast Elongator complex, Elp4, Elp1, and Elp3, respectively. Here we show that the Elongator complex was purified from plant cell cultures as a six-component complex. The role of plant Elongator in transcription elongation was supported by colocalization of the HAT enzyme, ELO3, with euchromatin and the phosphorylated form of RNAPII, and reduced histone H3 lysine 14 acetylation at the coding region of the SHORT HYPOCOTYL 2 auxin repressor and the LAX2 auxin influx carrier gene with reduced expression levels in the elo3 mutant. Additional auxin-related genes were down-regulated in the transcriptome of elo mutants but not targeted by the Elongator HAT activity showing specificity in target gene selection. Biological relevance was apparent by auxin-related phenotypes and marker gene analysis. Ethylene and jasmonic acid signaling and abiotic stress responses were up-regulated in the elo transcriptome and might contribute to the pleiotropic elo phenotype. Thus, although the structure of Elongator and its substrate are conserved, target gene selection has diverged, showing that auxin signaling and influx are under chromatin control.
Dip Coating of Calcium Hydroxyapatite on Ti‐6Al‐4V Substrates

Ti-6Al-4V alloy is the most commonly used metallic material in the manufacture of orthopedic implants. The main inorganic phase of human bone is calcium hydroxyapatite (Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 -(OH) 2 , HA). To achieve better biocompatibility with bone, metal implants made of Ti-6Al-4V are often coated with bioceramics. Dip-coating techniques scarcely are used to apply HA onto metallic implants. New dipping-solution recipes to be used for HA coatings are described in this work. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometry have been used for sample characterization.
Tumor microRNA expression profiling identifies circulating microRNAs for early breast cancer detection.

BACKGROUND The identification of novel biomarkers for early breast cancer detection would be a great advance. Because of their role in tumorigenesis and stability in body fluids, microRNAs (miRNAs) are emerging as a promising diagnostic tool. Our aim was to identify miRNAs deregulated in breast tumors and evaluate the potential of circulating miRNAs in breast cancer detection. METHODS We conducted miRNA expression profiling of 1919 human miRNAs in paraffin-embedded tissue from 122 breast tumors and 11 healthy breast tissue samples. Differential expression analysis was performed, and a microarray classifier was generated. The most relevant miRNAs were analyzed in plasma from 26 healthy individuals and 83 patients with breast cancer (36 before and 47 after treatment) and validated in 116 healthy individuals and 114 patients before treatment. RESULTS We identified a large number of miRNAs deregulated in breast cancer and generated a 25-miRNA microarray classifier that discriminated breast tumors with high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Ten miRNAs were selected for further investigation, of which 4 (miR-505-5p, miR-125b-5p, miR-21-5p, and miR-96-5p) were significantly overexpressed in pretreated patients with breast cancer compared with healthy individuals in 2 different series of plasma. MiR-505-5p and miR-96-5p were the most valuable biomarkers (area under the curve 0.72). Moreover, the expression levels of miR-3656, miR-505-5p, and miR-21-5p were decreased in a group of treated patients. CONCLUSIONS Circulating miRNAs reflect the presence of breast tumors. The identification of deregulated miRNAs in plasma of patients with breast cancer supports the use of circulating miRNAs as a method for early breast cancer detection.
A faster strongly polynomial minimum cost flow algorithm

We present a new strongly polynomial algorithm for the minimum cost flow problem, based on a refinement of the Edmonds-Karp scaling technique. Our algorithm solves the uncapacitated minimum cost flow problem as a sequence of &Ogr;(n log n) shortest path problems on networks with n nodes and m arcs and runs in &Ogr;(n log n(m + n log n)) steps. Using a standard transformation, this approach yields an &Ogr;(m log n (m + n log n)) algorithm for the capacitated minimum cost flow problem. This algorithm improves the best previous strongly polynomial algorithm due to Galil and Tardos, by a factor of m/n. Our algorithm is even more efficient if the number of arcs with finite upper bounds, say m', is much less than m. In this case, the number of shortest path problems solved is &Ogr;((m + n) log n).