Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asking a Better Question: Development and Evaluation of the Need For Trauma Intervention (NFTI) Metric as a Novel Indicator of Major Trauma

Many existing metrics, such as Injury Severity Score (ISS), cannot fully describe many trauma patients because of comorbidities. This study developed and evaluated the Need For Trauma Intervention (NFTI) metric as a novel indicator of major trauma. The NFTI metric was developed from an analysis of 2,396 trauma patients at a Level I trauma center. Six commonly recorded registry variables were found to be indicative of major trauma and comprised the NFTI criteria: receiving packed red blood cells within 4 hr; discharge from the emergency department (ED) to the operating room within 90 min; discharge from the ED to interventional radiology; discharge from the ED to the intensive care unit (ICU) with an ICU length of stay (LOS) of 3 or more days; mechanical ventilation outside of procedural anesthesia within 3 days; or death within 60 hr. Patients meeting any NFTI criteria are classified as having major traumas and, therefore, needing trauma activations (NFTI+). Need For Trauma Intervention was tested in an overlapping sample of 9,737 patients. Being NFTI+ was associated with higher trauma activation levels, older age, higher ISS, worse ED vitals, longer hospital LOS, and mortality. Only 13 of 561 deaths were not NFTI+ and all were in patients with do not resuscitate (DNR) orders; using ISS greater than 15 missed 73 mortalities, 46 with DNR orders. Results suggest that NFTI provides a comprehensive view of both anatomy and physiology in a manner that self-adjusts for age, frailty, and comorbidities as long as care teams adjust their treatments. Need For Trauma Intervention appears to be a unique, simple, and effective tool to retrospectively identify major trauma, regardless of ISS.
Text-prompted speaker verification experiments with phoneme specific MLPs

The aims of the study described in this paper are (1) to assess the relative speaker discriminant properties of phonemes and (2) to investigate the importance of the temporal frame-to-frame information for speaker modelling in the framework of a text-prompted speaker verification system using hidden Markov models (HMMs) and multilayer perceptrons (MLPs). It is shown that, with similar experimental conditions, nasals, fricatives and vowels convey more speaker specific information than plosives and liquids. Regarding the influence of the frame-to-frame temporal information, significant improvements are reported from the inclusion of several acoustic frames at the input of the MLPs. The results tend also to show that each phoneme has its optimal MLP context size giving the best equal error rate (EER).
The Role of D-Dimer, Fibrinogen and C-Reactive Protein as Plasma Biomarkers in Acute Ischemic Stroke

Background: Previous studies on pathophysiology suggest a role of inflammation in atherothrombotic stroke and intracardiac thrombosis in cardioembolic stroke. We explored the magnitude of D-dimer, fibrinogen and C-reactive protein (CRP) as biomarkers in acute ischemic cerebral stroke and their relation to ischemic stroke subtypes and their impact on stroke outcome after 30 days. Methods: The study was performed on 100 patients, admitted to Neurology Department, Menoufiya University, within 24 hours of acute ischemic stroke. Patients were subjected to clinical data collection, general and neurological examination, laboratory assessment (routine and biomarkers), brain computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MRA, carotid and vertebrobasilar duplex and cardiac assessment. The patients were classified according to Trial of ORG 10172 in acute stroke treatment (TOAST) classification. Severity and disability were assessed by Scandinavian stroke scale and modified Rankin scale at admission and at 30 days. Results: We found that D-dimer, fibrinogen and CRP were significantly higher in patients than in controls (P < 0.001). D-dimer and fibrinogen were higher in cardioembolic stroke while CRP was higher in atherothrombotic subtype. The biomarkers were correlated significantly with the severity and disability of stroke at onset and 30 days. Conclusions: These three biomarkers in acute ischemic stroke can be considered as non-invasive tools which add important information regarding etiology and outcome. J Neurol Res. 2015;5(6):277-282 doi: http://dx.doi. org/10.14740/jnr362w
Modeling the Influence of Seasonal Differences in the HPA Axis on Synchronization of the Circadian Clock and Cell Cycle

Synchronization of biological functions to environmental signals enables organisms to anticipate and appropriately respond to daily external fluctuations and is critical to the maintenance of homeostasis. Misalignment of circadian rhythms with environmental cues is associated with adverse health outcomes. Cortisol, the downstream effector of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity, facilitates synchronization of peripheral biological processes to the environment. Cortisol levels exhibit substantial seasonal rhythmicity, with peak levels occurring during the short-photoperiod winter months and reduced levels occurring in the long-photoperiod summer season. Seasonal changes in cortisol secretion could therefore alter its entraining capabilities, resulting in a season-dependent modification in the alignment of biological activities with the environment. We develop a mathematical model to investigate the influence of photoperiod-induced seasonal differences in the circadian rhythmicity of the HPA axis on the synchronization of the peripheral circadian clock and cell cycle in a heterogeneous cell population. Model simulations predict that the high-amplitude cortisol rhythms in winter result in the greatest entrainment of peripheral oscillators. Furthermore, simulations predict a circadian gating of the cell cycle with respect to the expression of peripheral clock genes. Seasonal differences in cortisol rhythmicity are also predicted to influence mitotic synchrony, with a high-amplitude winter rhythm resulting in the greatest synchrony and a shift in timing of the cell cycle phases, relative to summer. Our results highlight the primary interactions among the HPA axis, the peripheral circadian clock, and the cell cycle and thereby provide an improved understanding of the implications of circadian misalignment on the synchronization of peripheral regulatory processes.
Additive effects of Na+ and Cl– ions on barley growth under salinity stress

Soil salinity affects large areas of the world's cultivated land, causing significant reductions in crop yield. Despite the fact that most plants accumulate both sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl–) ions in high concentrations in their shoot tissues when grown in saline soils, most research on salt tolerance in annual plants has focused on the toxic effects of Na+ accumulation. It has previously been suggested that Cl– toxicity may also be an important cause of growth reduction in barley plants. Here, the extent to which specific ion toxicities of Na+ and Cl– reduce the growth of barley grown in saline soils is shown under varying salinity treatments using four barley genotypes differing in their salt tolerance in solution and soil-based systems. High Na+, Cl–, and NaCl separately reduced the growth of barley, however, the reductions in growth and photosynthesis were greatest under NaCl stress and were mainly additive of the effects of Na+ and Cl– stress. The results demonstrated that Na+ and Cl– exclusion among barley genotypes are independent mechanisms and different genotypes expressed different combinations of the two mechanisms. High concentrations of Na+ reduced K+ and Ca2+ uptake and reduced photosynthesis mainly by reducing stomatal conductance. By comparison, high Cl– concentration reduced photosynthetic capacity due to non-stomatal effects: there was chlorophyll degradation, and a reduction in the actual quantum yield of PSII electron transport which was associated with both photochemical quenching and the efficiency of excitation energy capture. The results also showed that there are fundamental differences in salinity responses between soil and solution culture, and that the importance of the different mechanisms of salt damage varies according to the system under which the plants were grown.
Characterization of H5N1 Influenza Virus Quasispecies with Adaptive Hemagglutinin Mutations from Single-Virus Infections of Human Airway Cells

ABSTRACT Transmission of avian influenza (AI) viruses to mammals involves phylogenetic bottlenecks that select small numbers of variants for transmission to new host species. However, little is known about the AI virus quasispecies diversity that produces variants for virus adaptation to humans. Here, we analyzed the hemagglutinin (HA) genetic diversity produced during AI H5N1 single-virus infection of primary human airway cells and characterized the phenotypes of these variants. During single-virus infection, HA variants emerged with increased fitness to infect human cells. These variants generally had decreased HA thermostability, an indicator of decreased transmissibility, that appeared to compensate for their increase in α2,6-linked sialic acid (α2,6 Sia) binding specificity and/or in the membrane fusion pH threshold, each of which is an advantageous mutational change for viral infection of human airway epithelia. An HA variant with increased HA thermostability also emerged but could not outcompete variants with less HA thermostability. These results provided data on HA quasispecies diversity in human airway cells. IMPORTANCE The diversity of the influenza virus quasispecies that emerges from a single infection is the starting point for viral adaptation to new hosts. A few studies have investigated AI virus quasispecies diversity during human adaptation using clinical samples. However, those studies could be appreciably affected by individual variability and multifactorial respiratory factors, which complicate identification of quasispecies diversity produced by selective pressure for increased adaptation to infect human airway cells. Here, we found that detectable HA genetic diversity was produced by H5N1 single-virus infection of human airway cells. Most of the HA variants had increased fitness to infect human airway cells but incurred a fitness cost of less HA stability. To our knowledge, this is the first report to characterize the adaptive changes of AI virus quasispecies produced by infection of human airway cells. These results provide a better perspective on AI virus adaptation to infect humans.
Facile Synthesis of Large‐Pore Bicontinuous Cubic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Intracellular Gene Delivery

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have promising biomedical applications; however the synthesis of MSNs with a bicontinuous cubic Ia3d mesostructure and large pore size has been a long-standing challenge. Herein we report a systematic study on the synthesis of KIT-6 type MSNs (KIT-6-MSNs) using fluorocarbon-hydrocarbon mixed surfactants as templates and ethanol as a co-solvent. KIT-6-MSNs have a pore size of 9 nm and a particle size in the range of 200–400 nm. The role of ethanol in the synthesis of KIT-6-MSNs is crucial because ethanol increases the miscibility of fluorocarbon and hydrocarbon surfactants, thereby increasing the packing parameter and favoring the formation of an Ia3d structure. Excessive fluorocarbon surfactants help the formation of nanosized morphology. After hydrophobic modification, the large-pore KIT-6-MSNs show a high loading capacity towards genetic molecules and successfully deliver the survivin siRNA into a human colorectal carcinoma HCT116 cell line, knocking down the gene expression associated with cancer cell survival and proliferation.
Label Free Fragment Screening Using Surface Plasmon Resonance as a Tool for Fragment Finding – Analyzing Parkin, a Difficult CNS Target

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) is rarely used as a primary High-throughput Screening (HTS) tool in fragment-based approaches. With SPR instruments becoming increasingly high-throughput it is now possible to use SPR as a primary tool for fragment finding. SPR becomes, therefore, a valuable tool in the screening of difficult targets such as the ubiquitin E3 ligase Parkin. As a prerequisite for the screen, a large number of SPR tests were performed to characterize and validate the active form of Parkin. A set of compounds was designed and used to define optimal SPR assay conditions for this fragment screen. Using these conditions, more than 5000 pre-selected fragments from our in-house library were screened for binding to Parkin. Additionally, all fragments were simultaneously screened for binding to two off target proteins to exclude promiscuous binding compounds. A low hit rate was observed that is in line with hit rates usually obtained by other HTS screening assays. All hits were further tested in dose responses on the target protein by SPR for confirmation before channeling the hits into Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and other hit-confirmation assays.
De-embedding transmission line measurements for accurate modeling of IC designs

A new technique to de-embed the contributions of parasitic structures from transmission line measurements is presented and applied to microstrip lines fabricated in 90- and 130-nm RF-CMOS technologies. De-embedded measurements are used to extract characteristic impedance, attenuation constant, group delay, and effective permittivity. The effective thickness of the ground plane is demonstrated to be as important as the thickness of the top metal layer in minimizing interconnect loss. Furthermore, it is confirmed that metal area densities as low as 65% are adequate for the ground plane of microstrip lines.
Regulation of Ethanol-Related Behavior and Ethanol Metabolism by the Corazonin Neurons and Corazonin Receptor in Drosophila melanogaster

Impaired ethanol metabolism can lead to various alcohol-related health problems. Key enzymes in ethanol metabolism are alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH); however, neuroendocrine pathways that regulate the activities of these enzymes are largely unexplored. Here we identified a neuroendocrine system involving Corazonin (Crz) neuropeptide and its receptor (CrzR) as important physiological regulators of ethanol metabolism in Drosophila. Crz-cell deficient (Crz-CD) flies displayed significantly delayed recovery from ethanol-induced sedation that we refer to as hangover-like phenotype. Newly generated mutant lacking Crz Receptor (CrzR01) and CrzR-knockdown flies showed even more severe hangover-like phenotype, which is causally associated with fast accumulation of acetaldehyde in the CrzR01 mutant following ethanol exposure. Higher levels of acetaldehyde are likely due to 30% reduced ALDH activity in the mutants. Moreover, increased ADH activity was found in the CrzR01 mutant, but not in the Crz-CD flies. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed transcriptional upregulation of Adh gene in the CrzR01. Transgenic inhibition of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) also results in significantly increased ADH activity and Adh mRNA levels, indicating PKA-dependent transcriptional regulation of Adh by CrzR. Furthermore, inhibition of PKA or cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) in CrzR cells leads to comparable hangover-like phenotype to the CrzR01 mutant. These findings suggest that CrzR-associated signaling pathway is critical for ethanol detoxification via Crz-dependent regulation of ALDH activity and Crz-independent transcriptional regulation of ADH. Our study provides new insights into the neuroendocrine-associated ethanol-related behavior and metabolism.
Length-dependent pathogenic effects of nickel nanowires in the lungs and the peritoneal cavity

Abstract The use of fibre-shaped nanomaterials in commercial applications has met with concern that they could cause health effects similar to those seen with pathogenic fibres such as certain forms of asbestos. Of the attributes which form the fibre pathogenicity paradigm, fibre length is thought to be a critical factor in determining fibre toxicity. We have previously shown that carbon nanotubes display such length-dependent pathogenicity but it remains unclear if other forms of fibrous nanomaterials conform to the fibre pathogenicity paradigm. As such, our aim is to determine the generality of this hypothesis by asking whether a radically different form of fibrous nanomaterial, nickel nanowires, show length-dependent pathogenicity. Our results indicate that nickel nanowires synthesised to be predominantly long (>20 μm) show the ability to elicit strong inflammation in the mouse peritoneal model in a dose-dependent manner; inflammation or fibrosis was not seen with the short (<5 μm) nanowires. This length-dependent response was also seen after lung aspiration and within a macrophage in vitro model adding further weight to the contention that fibre length is an important driver of hazard potential. This may have important implications when considering the hazard posed by fibrous nanomaterials and their regulation in workplaces.
The role of Gliadel wafers in the treatment of newly diagnosed GBM: a meta-analysis

Background Standard treatment for high-grade glioma (HGG) includes surgery followed by radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. Insertion of carmustine wafers into the resection cavity as a treatment for malignant glioma is currently a controversial topic among neurosurgeons. Our meta-analysis focused on whether carmustine wafer treatment could significantly benefit the survival of patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Method We searched the PubMed and Web of Science databases without any restrictions on language using the keywords “Gliadel wafers”, “carmustine wafers”, “BCNU wafers”, or “interstitial chemotherapy” in newly diagnosed GBM for the period from January 1990 to March 2015. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies/clinical trials that compared treatments designed with and without carmustine wafers and which reported overall survival or hazard ratio (HR) or survival curves were included in this study. Moreover, the statistical analysis was conducted by the STATA 12.0 software. Results Six studies including two RCTs and four cohort studies, enrolling a total of 513 patients (223 with and 290 without carmustine wafers), matched the selection criteria. Carmustine wafers showed a strong advantage when pooling all the included studies (HR =0.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) =0.49–0.81; P=0.019). However, the two RCTs did not show a statistical increase in survival in the group with carmustine wafer compared to the group without it (HR =0.51, 95% CI =0.18–1.41; P=0.426), while the cohort studies demonstrated a significant survival increase (HR =0.59, 95% CI =0.44–0.79; P<0.0001). Conclusion Carmustine-impregnated wafers play a significant role in improving survival when used for patients with newly diagnosed GBM. More studies should be designed for newly diagnosed GBM in the future.
THE INFLUENCE OF MOTION TASKS ON THE ACCURACY OF KINEMATIC MOTION PATTERNS OF AN IMU-BASED MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

The amount of inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based motion analysis systems on the market rises. Due to lower costs and easier usage, these systems offer an alternative to optoelectronic systems. Previous studies showed differences between IMU-based and optoelectronic systems during gait. This study evaluates the measurement accuracy of 3D lower limb joint angles of the IMU-based measurement system MyoMotion during different motion tasks. Therefore, 12 healthy subjects are investigated during level walking, sloped walking and climbing stairs. Differences in the results are observed in the biomechanical model. Moreover, the movement velocity causes differences between both measurement systems. Especially during more complex and faster movements, these differences increase.
Cross‐sectional and longitudinal association of serum alanine aminotransaminase and γ‐glutamyltransferase with metabolic syndrome in middle‐aged and elderly Chinese people

Background: Although associations of the liver enzymes alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) and γ‐glutamyltransferase (GGT) with metabolic syndrome (MetS) are well recognized, whether they are independent of insulin resistance and which enzyme is more effective are yet to be clarified.
Modulation of P-glycoproteins by Auxin Transport Inhibitors Is Mediated by Interaction with Immunophilins*

The immunophilin-like FKBP42 TWISTED DWARF1 (TWD1) has been shown to control plant development via the positive modulation of ABCB/P-glycoprotein (PGP)-mediated transport of the plant hormone auxin. TWD1 functionally interacts with two closely related proteins, ABCB1/PGP1 and ABCB19/PGP19/MDR1, both of which exhibit the ability to bind to and be inhibited by the synthetic auxin transport inhibitor N-1-naphylphtalamic acid (NPA). They are also inhibited by flavonoid compounds, which are suspected modulators of auxin transport. The mechanisms by which flavonoids and NPA interfere with auxin efflux components are unclear. We report here the specific disruption of PGP1-TWD1 interaction by NPA and flavonoids using bioluminescence resonance energy transfer with flavonoids functioning as a classical established inhibitor of mammalian and plant PGPs. Accordingly, TWD1 was shown to mediate modulation of PGP1 efflux activity by these auxin transport inhibitors. NPA bound to both PGP1 and TWD1 but was excluded from the PGP1-TWD1 complex expressed in yeast, suggesting a transient mode of action in planta. As a consequence, auxin fluxes and gravitropism in twd1 roots are less affected by NPA treatment, whereas TWD1 gain-of-function promotes root bending. Our data support a novel model for the mode of drug-mediated P-glycoprotein regulation mediated via protein-protein interaction with immunophilin-like TWD1.
The Medication Risk of Stevens–Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis in Asians: The Major Drug Causality and Comparison With the US FDA Label

Specific ethnic genetic backgrounds are associated with the risk of Stevens–Johnson syndrome / toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN) especially in Asians. However, there have been no large cohort, multiple‐country epidemiological studies of medication risk related to SJS/TEN in Asian populations. Thus, we analyzed the registration databases from multiple Asian countries who were treated during 1998–2017. A total 1,028 SJS/TEN cases were identified with the algorithm of drug causality for epidermal necrolysis. Furthermore, those medications labeled by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as carrying a risk of SJS/TEN were also compared with the common causes of SJS/TEN in Asian countries. Oxcarbazepine, sulfasalazine, COX‐II inhibitors, and strontium ranelate were identified as new potential causes. In addition to sulfa drugs and beta‐lactam antibiotics, quinolones were also a common cause. Only one acetaminophen‐induced SJS was identified, while several medications (e.g., oseltamivir, terbinafine, isotretinoin, and sorafenib) labeled as carrying a risk of SJS/TEN by the FDA were not found to have caused any of the cases in the Asian countries investigated in this study.
Fast and accurate skin segmentation in color images

We propose a new type of skin segmentation in color images especially developed for applications that require low resources. In our recent [7] work we made use of the Mahalanobis distance that proved its value in human skin segmentation. The calculation of the mentioned distance is very computational demanding. This is often a drawback to an implementation on critical applications, where speed is important. Robot applications are among this group. We now present a skin segmentation only based in each pixel color information to determine its class. We need to make an initial camera calibration and to determine the ST space that we consider skin color. This method is proved effective for most cases of human interaction. The present work can be a initial step in any application requiring human interaction or simply for skin detection.