Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of dialysis modality on renal transplant complications and outcomes.

AIMS The present study investigated the influence of the pretransplant dialysis modality, hemodialysis (HD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD), on renal transplant complications and outcomes. METHODS 402 cadaveric renal transplant patients maintained on HD (N = 303) or PD (N = 99) for more than 3 months prior to transplantation were studied retrospectively, and a total of 345 patients were followed up for 30.2 +/- 15.2 months. The impact of HD or PD on acute rejection, delayed graft function (DGF), infection, chronic rejection, and the survival rate of graft and patients were analyzed. RESULTS There was no significant difference between the HD and PD groups with regard to the causes of end-stage renal disease, age, gender, blood pressure, hemoglobin, HLA match, hot and cold ischemia time, and hepatitis C virus infection. The incidence rates of DGF, acute rejection, chronic rejection and cytomegalovirus and other infections were also not significantly different between the HD and PD groups. However, compared to HD, patients with PD had longer dialysis duration (p < 0.05), but less hepatitis B infection (p < 0.05) and post-transplant infection (p < 0.05). In contrast, in those PD patients with hepatitis B infection, graft loss was significantly increased (19.23% vs. 8.86% , p = 0.021). The incidence of acute rejection episodes was higher in HD patients who had pretransplant dialysis for more than 12 months (p < 0.05). The overall patient and graft survival rates within 5 years between the HD and PD groups were not significantly different (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The influence of PD and HD on complications after renal transplant at 1 year and 5 years and graft survival rates was similar, and therefore, either HD or PD can be chosen as the pretransplant dialysis modality. However, patients in the PD group had a reduced incidence of hepatitis virus infection, suggesting that PD may have certain advantages over HD as a preoperative substitution therapy for renal transplantation.
Direct Action of T 3 on Phosphorylation Potential in the Sheep Heart in vivo

Thyroid acting through ligand binding to nuclear receptors modifies myocardial respiratory kinetics and oxidative phosphorylation in heart. Direct non-genomic action of thyroid hormone on high energy phosphate concentrations and respiratory kinetics has never been proven in vivo, but might be responsible for observed changes in oxygen utilization efficiency immediately after T3 administration. We tested the hypothesis that that triiodothyronine (T3) directly and rapidly modifies myocardial high energy phosphate concentrations and phosphorylation potential in vivo. Anesthetized sheep (age 28-40 days) thyroidectomized shortly after birth (THY), and euthyroid age-matched controls (CON) were open chested and received T3 infusion (0.8μg/kg), followed by epinephrine infusion to increase myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2). P magnetic resonance spectra were monitored via a surface coil over the left ventricle. Results: T3 increased PCr/ATP and decreased ADP in THY without causing a change in MVO2. T3 produced no changes in high energy phosphates in CON. T3 did not modify the Phosphocreatine/ATP or ADP response to epinephrine and elevation in MVO2 in either group. Cardiac mitochondria isolated from THY and CON showed no change in respiratory rate or ADP/ATP exchange efficiency after T3 incubation. Conclusions: T3 infusion in a hypothyroid state decreases [ADP], thereby altering the equilibrium between phosphorylation potential and myocardial respiratory rate. These T3 induced effects are not due to changes in ADP/ATP exchange efficiency through action at the adenine nucleotide translocator, but may be due to T3 mediation of substrate utilization, confirmed in other models.
Triterpenoid saponins from the rhizomes of Anemone flaccida and their inhibitory activities on LPS-induced NO production in macrophage RAW264.7 cells

A new ursane-type triterpenoid saponin, flaccidoside IV (1), and three new oleanane-type triterpenoid saponins, flaccidosides V–VII (2–4), along with 17 known saponins (5–21), were isolated from the rhizomes of Anemone flaccida. The structures of the new triterpenoid saponins were determined based on spectroscopic analyses and chemical methods. All the isolated saponins were tested for their inhibitory activities on lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production in RAW264.7 macrophages, and several bisdesmosidic oleanane-type triterpenoid saponins (2, 7, and 10) showed significant inhibitory activities, which indicated they had potential anti-inflammatory activities under their noncytotoxic concentrations in vitro.
Analysis of immune cell populations and cytokine profiles in murine splenocytes exposed to whole-body low-dose irradiation

Purpose: In contrast to high-dose therapeutic irradiation, definitive research detailing the physiological effects of low-dose irradiation is limited. Notably, the immunological response elicited after low-dose irradiation remains controversial. Materials and methods: Female C57BL/6 mice were whole- body-irradiated with a single or three daily fractions up to a total dose of 0.1, 1, or 10 cGy. Blood and spleen were harvested 2, 7 and 14 days after irradiation. Results: The splenic CD4+ T cell subpopulations were temporarily increased at 2 days after single or fractionated irradiation, whereas the percentage of dendritic cells (DC) and macrophages was decreased. Whereas CD8+ T cell populations were decreased in single-dose irradiated mice at day 7, early and sustained reduction of CD8+ T cell numbers was observed in fractionated- dose-irradiated mice from day 2 until day 14. In addition, single-dose irradiation resulted in a Th1 cytokine expression profile, whereas fractionated-dose irradiation drove a Th2 shift. Additionally, increased expression of immune-related factors was observed at early time-points with single-dose irradiation, in contrast to the dose-independent induction following fractionated-dose irradiation. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that low-dose irradiation modulates the immune response in mice, where the sensitivity and kinetics of the induced response vary according to the dosing method.
Immigrant mortality in England and Wales 1970-78: causes of death by country of birth

An analysis of mortality among immigrants in England and Wales is presented using data from the 1971 census and mortality statistics for 1970-1978. The census data show that 8.6 percent of the population was born in other countries including Scotland and Ireland. Separate chapters are included on the methodology used mortality from all causes and mortality from the major individual causes of death. Differences in mortality among immigrant groups are considered. (ANNOTATION)
Stability of influence maximization

The present article serves as an erratum to our paper of the same title, which was presented and published in the KDD 2014 conference. In that article, we claimed falsely that the objective function defined in Section 1.4 is non-monotone submodular. We are deeply indebted to Debmalya Mandal, Jean Pouget-Abadie and Yaron Singer for bringing to our attention a counter-example to that claim. Subsequent to becoming aware of the counter-example, we have shown that the objective function is in fact NP-hard to approximate to within a factor of O(n1-ε) for any ε > 0. In an attempt to fix the record, the present article combines the problem motivation, models, and experimental results sections from the original incorrect article with the new hardness result. We would like readers to only cite and use this version (which will remain an unpublished note) instead of the incorrect conference version.
Genetic characterization of the silkworm Bombyx mori by simple sequence repeat (SSR)-anchored PCR

Thirteen diverse strains of the silkworm Bombyx mori were analysed using the simple sequence repeat anchored polymerase chain reaction (SSR-anchored PCR) or Inter-SSR-PCR (ISSR-PCR). A set of four 5′-anchored and two 3′-anchored repeat primers amplified a total of 239 bands out of which 184 (77%) were polymorphic. The 5′-anchored primers revealed more distinct polymorphic markers than the 3′-anchored primers and the ISSR-PCR method showed greater variability than RAPDs. The strain-specific pattern was shown to be inherited and segregated in a Mendelian fashion. A dendrogram constructed using the UPGMA method revealed two distinct groups, one comprising nondiapausing and one comprising diapausing strains. These results suggest that the ISSR-PCR method is potentially useful for genetic fingerprinting of silkworm genotypes and as a mapping tool in the silkworm.
Using Quantitative CT Perfusion for Evaluation of Delayed Cerebral Ischemia Following Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: DCI is a serious complication following aneurysmal SAH leading to permanent neurologic deficits, infarction, and death. Our aim was to prospectively evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CTP and to determine a quantitative threshold for DCI in aneurysmal SAH. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with SAH were prospectively enrolled in a protocol approved by the institutional review board. CTP was performed during the typical time period for DCI, between days 6 and 8 following SAH. Quantitative CBF, CBV, and MTT values were obtained by using standard region-of-interest placement sampling of gray matter. The reference standard for DCI is controversial and consisted of clinical and imaging criteria in this study. In a subanalysis of vasospasm, DSA was used as the reference standard. ROC curves determined the diagnostic accuracy by using AUC. Optimal threshold values were calculated by using the patient population utility method. RESULTS: Ninety-seven patients were included; 41% (40/97) had DCI. Overall diagnostic accuracy was 93% for CBF, 88% for MTT, and 72% for CBV. Optimal threshold values were 35 mL/100 g/min (90% sensitivity, 68% specificity) for CBF and 5.5 seconds (73% sensitivity, 79% specificity) for MTT. In the subanalysis (n = 57), 63% (36/57) had vasospasm. Overall diagnostic accuracy was 94% for CBF, 85% for MTT, and 72% for CBV. Optimal threshold values were 36.5 mL/100 g/min (95% sensitivity, 70% specificity) for CBF and 5.4 seconds (78% sensitivity, 70% specificity) for MTT. CONCLUSIONS: CBF and MTT have the highest overall diagnostic accuracy. Threshold values of 35 mL/100 g/min for CBF and 5.5-second MTT are suggested for DCI on the basis of the patient population utility method. Absolute threshold values may not be generalizable due to differences in scanner equipment and postprocessing methods.
Peroneal intraneural ganglion

Objective: To determine the frequency of generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) in infants (1 month to 2 years). Methods: From a total of 2,112 patients monitored in our video-EEG lab from May 2000 through January 2005, 109 distinct seizures in 77 infants were reviewed. Eight events in eight patients were excluded because of video files insufficiently reliable to determine the clinical characteristics with precision. The clinical manifestations and electrographic features of the remaining 101 seizures in 69 infants were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The authors did not observe a single GTCS. Four patients had icti that resembled GTCS, but careful analysis of these episodes revealed that three of them had a focal onset and that the fourth had a slightly different sequence of events. Conclusions: Generalized tonic-clonic seizures are rarely, if ever, seen in infants younger than age 2 in a tertiary-care pediatric epilepsy unit. Instead, they more commonly occur in older children, particularly in the well-characterized epilepsy syndromes of childhood and adolescence.
Fast Inversion in ${\schmi{GF(2^m)}}$ with Normal Basis Using Hybrid-Double Multipliers

Fast inversion in finite fields is crucial for high-performance cryptography and codes. We present techniques to exploit the recently proposed hybrid-double multipliers for fast inversions in binary fields GF(2m) with normal bases. A hybrid-double multiplier computes a double multiplication, the product of three elements in GF(2m), with a latency comparable to the latency of single multiplication of two elements. Traditional approaches, such as Itoh-Tsujii, cannot utilize hybrid-double multipliers. We devise a new inversion algorithm based on ternary representations that exploits their potential. The algorithm reduces the latency of inversion significantly for the fields recommended by NIST if hybrid-double multipliers are employed. For example, the algorithm computes an inversion in GF(2163) with only five double multiplications whereas the Itoh-Tsujii algorithm requires nine single or double multiplications. We propose a new inverter architecture using this new algorithm and a hybrid-double multiplier. We show that it is faster than the existing techniques by providing ASIC synthesis results using 65-nm CMOS technology. For example, our inverter for GF(2163) achieves about 34 percent shorter computation time than an inverter using the Itoh-Tsujii algorithm and a single multiplier.
Biophysical basis of the sound analog membrane potential that underlies coincidence detection in the barn owl

Interaural time difference (ITD), or the difference in timing of a sound wave arriving at the two ears, is a fundamental cue for sound localization. A wide variety of animals have specialized neural circuits dedicated to the computation of ITDs. In the avian auditory brainstem, ITDs are encoded as the spike rates in the coincidence detector neurons of the nucleus laminaris (NL). NL neurons compare the binaural phase-locked inputs from the axons of ipsi- and contralateral nucleus magnocellularis (NM) neurons. Intracellular recordings from the barn owl's NL in vivo showed that tonal stimuli induce oscillations in the membrane potential. Since this oscillatory potential resembled the stimulus sound waveform, it was named the sound analog potential (Funabiki et al., 2011). Previous modeling studies suggested that a convergence of phase-locked spikes from NM leads to an oscillatory membrane potential in NL, but how presynaptic, synaptic, and postsynaptic factors affect the formation of the sound analog potential remains to be investigated. In the accompanying paper, we derive analytical relations between these parameters and the signal and noise components of the oscillation. In this paper, we focus on the effects of the number of presynaptic NM fibers, the mean firing rate of these fibers, their average degree of phase-locking, and the synaptic time scale. Theoretical analyses and numerical simulations show that, provided the total synaptic input is kept constant, changes in the number and spike rate of NM fibers alter the ITD-independent noise whereas the degree of phase-locking is linearly converted to the ITD-dependent signal component of the sound analog potential. The synaptic time constant affects the signal more prominently than the noise, making faster synaptic input more suitable for effective ITD computation.
Fishery and Biological Characteristics of Jonah Crab ( Cancer borealis ) in Rhode Island Sound

Jonah crab (Cancer borealis) is a demersal crustacean distributed throughout continental shelf waters from Newfoundland to Florida. The species supports a rapidly growing commercial fishery in southern New England, where landings of Jonah crab have increased more than six-fold since the early 1990s. However, management of the fishery has lagged its expansion; the first Fishery Management Plan for the species was published in 2015 and a stock assessment has not yet been created due to a lack of available data concerning the species’ life history and fishery. Fishing effort in the crab fishery is necessarily tied to fishing effort for American lobster (Homarus americanus), and the structure of this mixed crustacean fishery further complicates efforts to manage each of its component species. In the first manuscript of this thesis, a fishery-dependent sea sampling protocol was developed and implemented in Rhode Island Sound to (1) describe biological characteristics of the Jonah crab in Rhode Island Sound and (2) begin to characterize catch per unit effort in the Jonah crab fishery. With these methods, seasonal patterns in carapace width frequency and sex ratios were described for the commercial trap fishery, along with biological characteristics including shell disease condition, reproductive condition and allometric growth relationships. This study provides a unique description of commercial catch before discards and provides a more comprehensive description of the population than is available with dockside sampling methods. Conducting this type of data collection across the range of the species would substantially expand available data that is considered essential for constructing a stock assessment. The second manuscript describes growth characteristics of Jonah crab in Rhode Island Sound from data gathered during a laboratory study and via sea sampling in the commercial fishery. Description of the growth rates of exploited marine species is essential to understanding the impacts of fishing pressure on these resources and to predicting population abundances. Because crustaceans grow only during discrete molting events, description of growth per molt along with molting probabilities is necessary for estimating absolute growth rates of crustaceans. The results of this project provide characterization of growth per molt for male and female Jonah crabs along with description of molting seasonality for mature males. This thesis provides essential knowledge concerning growth, seasonal catch patterns and basic biological description of the Jonah crab to fishery managers charged with regulating the resource. To date, knowledge of the species has been limited enough to preclude the creation of a thorough stock assessment; these results provide marked progress in meeting the data needs for such an assessment.
Tight Versus Standard Blood Pressure Control in Patients With Hypertension With and Without Cardiovascular Disease

An excessive blood pressure (BP) reduction might be dangerous in high-risk patients with cardiovascular disease. In the Studio Italiano Sugli Effetti CARDIOvascolari del Controllo della Pressione Arteriosa SIStolica (Cardio-Sis), 1111 nondiabetic patients with systolic BP ≥150 mm Hg were randomly assigned to a systolic BP target <140 mm Hg (standard control) or <130 mm Hg (tight control). We stratified patients by absence (n=895) or presence (n=216) of established cardiovascular disease at entry. Antihypertensive treatment was open-label and tailored to each patient’s needs. After 2-year follow-up, the primary end point of the study, electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy, occurred less frequently in the tight than in the standard control group in the patients without (10.8% versus 15.2%) and with (14.1% versus 23.5%) established cardiovascular disease (P for interaction=0.82). The main secondary end point, a composite of cardiovascular events and all-cause death, occurred less frequently in the tight than in the standard control group both in patients without (1.47 versus 3.68 patient-years; P=0.016) and with (7.87 versus 11.22 patient-years; P=0.049) previous cardiovascular disease. In a multivariable Cox model, allocation to tight BP control reduced the risk of cardiovascular events to a similar extent in patients with or without overt cardiovascular disease at randomization (P for interaction=0.43). In conclusion, an intensive treatment aimed to lower systolic BP<130 mm Hg reduced left ventricular hypertrophy and improved clinical outcomes to a similar extent in patients with hypertension and without established cardiovascular disease.
Heavy rainfall events over southeast peninsular India during northeast monsoon: Role of El Niño and easterly wave activity

The catastrophic floods over southeast peninsular India during 2015 northeast monsoon season (NEM, October–December) avowed 400 lives, affected more than 4 million people and reported a loss of property worth 3 billion US dollars. In the present study, an attempt has been made to understand the mechanism of occurrence of heavy rainfall events over southeast peninsular India during NEM, with a special emphasize on 2015 heavy rainfall events. In presence of strong El Niño, basin‐wide warming and low‐level easterly winds were observed over tropical Indian Ocean during NEM‐2015. It is noted that dominant easterly wave (EW) activity aided the intensification of already developing synoptic systems over Bay of Bengal (BoB) and led to occurrence of heavy rainfall events. This finding encouraged us to explore the association of El Niño, EW activity and heavy rainfall occurrences over southeast peninsular India during NEM for the period 1951–2015. It is noticed that ~43% of the heavy rainfall events during NEM are associated with El Niño, ~31% with La Niña and ~26% with neutral years, respectively. A 3–7‐day band‐pass filter is applied to the daily global reanalysis fields to elucidate the role of EW activity on heavy rainfall occurrences over the region during El Niño–Southern Oscillations (ENSO). Results indicate that EW activity over Indian Ocean plays a seminal role in occurrence of the heavy rainfall events during positive phase of the ENSO (El Niño), while it is found to be weak during negative (La Niña) and neutral phase. It is also revealed that significant above‐normal sea surface temperature (SST) over BoB, strong west–east SST gradient between southwest BoB and tropical western Pacific Ocean and anomalous strong low‐level easterly flow over tropical Indian Ocean during El Niño years offer favourable conditions for the initiation and westwards propagation of EWs.
A preferred region for recombinational patch repair in the 5' untranslated region of primer binding site-impaired murine leukemia virus vectors

Transduction of primer binding site-impaired Akv murine leukemia virus-based retroviral vectors from the murine packaging cell lines psi-2 and omega E was studied. The efficiency of transduction of the neo marker of all mutated constructs was found to decrease by 5 to 6 orders of magnitude compared with that of the wild-type vector. Thirty-two of 60 transduced proviruses analyzed harbored a primer binding site sequence matching a glutamine tRNA primer. Sequence analysis of the regions flanking the glutamine tRNA primer binding site revealed a distinct pattern of nucleotide differences from the Akv-based vector, suggesting the involvement of a specific endogenous virus-like sequence in patch repair rescue of the primer binding site mutants. The putative recombination partner RNA was found in virions from psi-2 cells as detected by analysis of glutamine tRNA-initiated cDNA and by sequence analysis of regions at or around the glutamine tRNA primer binding site. We propose that the forced recombination of primer binding site mutants involves initial priming on endogenous viral sequences and requires template switching during minus-strand synthesis in the region between the neo gene and the mutated primer binding site to allow correct second-strand transfer in reverse transcription. The system thereby selects for a reverse transcriptase-mediated recombination event in the 5' untranslated region. A panel of sequence differences between the recombination partners in this region has allowed mapping of the site of recombination for each transduction event. Interestingly, the majority of the recombination events were clustered within a narrow, 33-nucleotide region though to be involved in genomic RNA dimerization.