Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lipids, Statins and Heart Failure: An Update.

BACKGROUND Heart failure (HF) is characterized by cardiac functional and structural alterations, progressively leading to clinical symptoms and signs. Certain neurohormonal systems (i.e. the sympathetic nervous system, the reninangiotensin-aldosterone system and the natriuretic peptide system) as well as interactions between endothelial, monocytes/macrophages and myocardial cells are involved in the process. METHODS The present narrative review discusses the relationships between lipids, statins and HF. RESULTS Lipid metabolism is involved in cardiac function. Inflammation, oxidative stress, endothelial and platelet dysfunction, activation of neurohormonal systems, adverse cardiac remodeling, haemodynamic disorders and arrhythmogenesis predispose to HF development and progression. Statins have been shown to reduce HF incidence possibly via their pleiotropic actions on the above mentioned mechanisms. Other cardiovascular (CV) risk factors affecting HF prevalence and outcomes include metabolic syndrome, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, chronic kidney disease, hyperuricaemia, epicardial fat and increased arterial stiffness that are improved following statin therapy. CONCLUSION Lipid disorders are involved in HF development and progression. Statins may beneficially affect these disorders as well as other CV risk factors linked to HF. However, the impact of statins in patients with established HF has yet to be determined. Further studies are needed to unveil potential benefits of statin therapy (or some statins) in specific groups of HF patients.
Dissociation of Mismatch Recognition and ATPase Activity by hMSH2-hMSH3*

MSH2-MSH3 directs the repair of insertion/deletion loops of up to 13 nucleotides in vivoand in vitro. To examine the biochemical basis of this repair specificity, we characterized the mispair binding and ATPase activity of hMSH2-hMSH3. The ATPase was found to be regulated by a mismatch-stimulated ADP → ATP exchange, which induces a conformational transition by the protein complex. We demonstrated strong binding of hMSH2-hMSH3 to an insertion/deletion loop containing 24 nucleotides that is incapable of provoking ADP → ATP exchange, suggesting that mismatch recognition appears to be necessary but not sufficient to induce the intrinsic ATPase. These studies support the idea that hMSH2-hMSH3 functions as an adenosine nucleotide-regulated molecular switch that must be activated by mismatched nucleotides for classical mismatch repair to occur.
A Random Forest Regression Method With Selected-Text Feature For Depression Assessment

Audio/visual and mood disorder cues have been recently explored to assist psychologists and psychiatrists in Depression Diagnosis. In this paper, we propose a random forest method with a Selected-Text feature which is according to the analysis on the transcript in different depressive levels. The files are consisted of sleep quality, PTSD/Depression Diagnostic, successive treatment, personal preference and feeling. Experiments are carried out on the Distress Analysis Interview Corpus-Wizard of Oz (DAIC-WOZ) database[6]. Comparing with results obtained with audio based, video based or multi-feature based cascade decision-level fusion features, Selected-Text feature based method has obtained very promising results on the development and test sets. The root mean square error (RMSE) reaches 4.7, and mean absolute error (MAE) reaches 3.9, which are better than the baseline result, i.e. 7.05/5.66.
Alterations of adrenal steroidomic profiles in preterm infants at birth

Objective Preterm infants have relative adrenal and kidney immaturity. Recently, we linked their urine sodium loss to a hypoaldosteronism at variance with an appropriate stimulation of the renin-angiotensin system. To investigate this defective aldosterone secretion, we analyse the biosynthesis pathways of adrenal steroids in neonates according to gestational age (GA). Design Multicentre study (Premaldo) including 152 neonates classified into three groups: group 1 (very preterm (VPT)): <33 gestational weeks (GW); group 2 (preterm (PT)): 33–36 GW and group 3 (term (T)): ≥GW. Method Steroidomic profiles of mineralocorticoids, glucocorticoids and adrenal androgens were established from umbilical cord at birth (n=152) and peripheral blood at day 3 (n=70) using a recently developed liquid chromatography mass spectrometry method (LC-MS/MS). The enzymatic activity of each biosynthesis step was estimated by the product-to-substrate ratio. Results At birth, VPT infants exhibit a global defect in adrenal steroid synthesis pathways leading to lower levels of aldosterone, cortisol and androstenedione than in term infants. This defect was strongly related to GA. On day 3, steroid precursors (progesterone, 11-deoxycorticosterone (DOC), 17-hydroxyprogesterone(17-OH-P) and 11-deoxycortisol (S)) were higher in VPT and negatively correlated with GA. Despite of precursors’ accumulation, aldosterone and cortisol were similar in the three groups. At birth and day 3, a low cortisol/11-deoxycortisol ratio was found in preterm infants, suggesting an 11-beta-hydroxylase activity (CYP11B1) deficiency. Conclusions At birth, VPT infants exhibit a global deficit in mineralocorticoids, glucocorticoids and adrenal androgens that attenuates on day 3 of life. Steroid profiling using LC-MS/MS provides evidence for a partial defect in 11-hydroxylase along with prematurity.
Translating and Segmenting Multimodal Medical Volumes with Cycle- and Shape-Consistency Generative Adversarial Network

Synthesized medical images have several important applications, e.g., as an intermedium in cross-modality image registration and as supplementary training samples to boost the generalization capability of a classifier. Especially, synthesized computed tomography (CT) data can provide X-ray attenuation map for radiation therapy planning. In this work, we propose a generic cross-modality synthesis approach with the following targets: 1) synthesizing realistic looking 3D images using unpaired training data, 2) ensuring consistent anatomical structures, which could be changed by geometric distortion in cross-modality synthesis and 3) improving volume segmentation by using synthetic data for modalities with limited training samples. We show that these goals can be achieved with an end-to-end 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) composed of mutually-beneficial generators and segmentors for image synthesis and segmentation tasks. The generators are trained with an adversarial loss, a cycle-consistency loss, and also a shape-consistency loss, which is supervised by segmentors, to reduce the geometric distortion. From the segmentation view, the segmentors are boosted by synthetic data from generators in an online manner. Generators and segmentors prompt each other alternatively in an end-to-end training fashion. With extensive experiments on a dataset including a total of 4,496 CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cardiovascular volumes, we show both tasks are beneficial to each other and coupling these two tasks results in better performance than solving them exclusively.
Split Scores: A Tool to Quantify Phylogenetic Signal in Genome‐Scale Data

Abstract Detecting variation in the evolutionary process along chromosomes is increasingly important as whole‐genome data become more widely available. For example, factors such as incomplete lineage sorting, horizontal gene transfer, and chromosomal inversion are expected to result in changes in the underlying gene trees along a chromosome, while changes in selective pressure and mutational rates for different genomic regions may lead to shifts in the underlying mutational process. We propose the split score as a general method for quantifying support for a particular phylogenetic relationship within a genomic data set. Because the split score is based on algebraic properties of a matrix of site pattern frequencies, it can be rapidly computed, even for data sets that are large in the number of taxa and/or in the length of the alignment, providing an advantage over other methods (e.g., maximum likelihood) that are often used to assess such support. Using simulation, we explore the properties of the split score, including its dependence on sequence length, branch length, size of a split and its ability to detect true splits in the underlying tree. Using a sliding window analysis, we show that split scores can be used to detect changes in the underlying evolutionary process for genome‐scale data from primates, mosquitoes, and viruses in a computationally efficient manner. Computation of the split score has been implemented in the software package SplitSup.
Mechanical and Impact Properties of Composite Laminates Reinforced with Kevlar Multiaxial Warp Knit Fabrics

The mechanical and impact properties of multiaxial warp knit fabric reinforced composite laminates have been studied. Kevlar® fibre was used to fabricate the multiaxial warp knit structure for unidirectional reinforcing as well as stitching yarns. Tensile, flexural, short beam shear, and impact properties have been compared with those of woven laminated composites. The results showed that increased interlaminar shear strength is the main characteristic feature of the multiaxial warp knit composite compared with plain woven laminates. The interlaminar shear strength of multiaxial warp knit composites showed up to 52% increase compared with that of woven laminates composites. Also the delamination was retarded due to the increase in interlaminar shear strength of the multiaxial warp knit composites. It is shown that the through-the-thickness reinforcing loops resist any delamination. The tensile strength of the multiaxial warp knit composites increased by about 5–12% compared with the theoretical values computed from classical lamination theory. It is generally accepted that impact induced delamination area increases with the increase in the total absorbed impact energy in collisions with foreign objects. But the multiaxial warp knit composites showed that the total absorbed impact energy decreased with the increase in through-the-thickness reinforcement fibres. The multiaxial warp knit composites showed reduced vertical deformations compared with woven laminates, as the reinforcing loop density increased.
Convergence from divergence Ovidiu

We show how to convert divergent series, which typically occur in many applications in physics, into rapidly convergent inverse factorial series. This can be interpreted physically as a novel resummation of perturbative series. Being convergent, these new series allow rigorous extrapolation from an asymptotic region with a large parameter, to the opposite region where the parameter is small. We illustrate the method with various physical examples, and discuss how these convergent series relate to standard methods such as Borel summation, and also how they incorporate the physical Stokes phenomenon. We comment on the relation of these results to Dyson’s physical argument for the divergence of perturbation theory. This approach also leads naturally to a wide class of relations between bosonic and fermionic partition functions, and Klein–Gordon and Dirac determinants.
VEGFR (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor) Inhibition Induces Cardiovascular Damage via Redox-Sensitive Processes

Although VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) inhibitors (VEGFIs), are effective anticancer therapies, they cause hypertension through unknown mechanisms. We questioned whether changes in vascular redox state may be important, because VEGF signaling involves nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species. Molecular mechanisms, including NOS, NADPH oxidase (Nox)–derived reactive oxygen species, antioxidant systems, and vasoconstrictor signaling pathways, were probed in human endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle exposed to vatalanib, a VEGFI. Vascular functional effects of VEGFI were assessed ex vivo in mouse arteries. Cardiovascular and renal in vivo effects were studied in vatalanib- or gefitinib (EGFI [epidermal growth factor inhibitor])-treated mice. In endothelial cells, vatalanib decreased eNOS (Ser1177) phosphorylation and reduced NO and H2O2 production, responses associated with increased Nox-derived O2− and ONOO− formation. Inhibition of Nox1/4 (GKT137831) or Nox1 (NoxA1ds), prevented vatalanib-induced effects. Nrf-2 (nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2) nuclear translocation and expression of Nrf-2–regulated antioxidant enzymes were variably downregulated by vatalanib. In human vascular smooth muscles, VEGFI increased Nox activity and stimulated Ca2+ influx and MLC20 phosphorylation. Acetylcholine-induced vasodilatation was impaired and U46619-induced vasoconstriction was enhanced by vatalanib, effects normalized by N-acetyl-cysteine and worsened by L-NAME. In vatalanib-, but not gefitinib-treated mice vasorelaxation was reduced and media:lumen ratio of mesenteric arteries was increased with associated increased cardiovascular and renal oxidative stress, decreased Nrf-2 activity and downregulation of antioxidant genes. We demonstrate that inhibition of VEGF signaling induces vascular dysfunction through redox-sensitive processes. Our findings identify Noxs and antioxidant enzymes as novel targets underling VEGFI-induced vascular dysfunction. These molecular processes may contribute to vascular toxicity and hypertension in VEGFI-treated patients.
Hierarchical Bayesian approaches for detecting inconsistency in network meta‐analysis

Network meta‐analysis (NMA), also known as multiple treatment comparisons, is commonly used to incorporate direct and indirect evidence comparing treatments. With recent advances in methods and software, Bayesian approaches to NMA have become quite popular and allow models of previously unanticipated complexity. However, when direct and indirect evidence differ in an NMA, the model is said to suffer from inconsistency. Current inconsistency detection in NMA is usually based on contrast‐based (CB) models; however, this approach has certain limitations. In this work, we propose an arm‐based random effects model, where we detect discrepancy of direct and indirect evidence for comparing two treatments using the fixed effects in the model while flagging extreme trials using the random effects. We define discrepancy factors to characterize evidence of inconsistency for particular treatment comparisons, which is novel in NMA research. Our approaches permit users to address issues previously tackled via CB models. We compare sources of inconsistency identified by our approach and existing loop‐based CB methods using real and simulated datasets and demonstrate that our methods can offer powerful inconsistency detection. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cervical Precancer and Cancer Risk by Human Papillomavirus Status and Cytologic Interpretation: Implications for Risk-Based Management

Background: Cervical cancer risks, estimated by using cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3) or more severe diagnoses (≥CIN3) endpoints, have not been quantified for different combinations of results from currently approved screening methods. Understanding these risks will guide optimal patient management. Methods: Women aged ≥25 years (n = 7,823) underwent high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) and liquid-based cytology (LBC) testing. Women with hrHPV-positive results and/or abnormal LBC, plus a random subset of hrHPV and LBC negatives, underwent colposcopy; those without ≥CIN2 at baseline were screened annually by LBC and referred to colposcopy for an abnormal LBC (n = 7,392). One- and 3-year ≥CIN3 risks with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated for paired hrHPV and LBC (hrHPV/LBC) results. Results: One-year ≥CIN3 risks ranged from 81.27% (95% CI, 66.02%–90.65%) for HPV16 positive/high-grade to 0.33% (95% CI, 0.18%–0.62%) for hrHPV negative/negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy (NILM). One-year ≥CIN3 risk for HPV16/NILM (13.95%; 95% CI, 10.98%–17.58%) was greater than low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL; 7.90%; 95% CI, 5.99%–10.37%; P = 0.002) and similar to hrHPV-positive/LSIL (11.45%; 95% CI, 8.61%–15.07%; P = 0.3). Three-year ≥CIN3 risks for HPV16 positive/LSIL and HPV16/atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance was 24.79% (95% CI, 16.44%–35.58%) and 24.36% (95% CI, 15.86%–35.50%), respectively, and 0.72% (95% CI, 0.45%–1.14%) for hrHPV negative/NILM. Conclusions: hrHPV and LBC results stratify cervical cancer risk by more than two orders of magnitude. HPV16-positive women, regardless of the LBC result, warrant immediate colposcopy. Women with concurrent HPV16 and high-grade LBC might consider treatment without a confirmatory biopsy with informed decision-making with their provider. Impact: These results provide relevant benchmarks for risk-based cervical cancer screening and management. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 25(12); 1595–9. ©2016 AACR.
Surgical Management of Epiretinal Membrane

Epiretinal membranes (ERMs) are contractile membranes that occur on the inner surface of the retina and can lead to significant visual impairment when located at the central retina. Recent advances in vitreoretinal surgery have greatly improved the safety and efficacy of microsurgical intervention at the retinal surface level. Today, vitrectomy and membrane peels are considered the treatment of choice for most patients with ERMs that create significant visual symptoms. Nevertheless, possible complications such as accelerated cataract formation, recurrence of ERM and retinal detachment may withhold the choice of surgical intervention. Additionally, in some cases, simple observation may be advised. In view of surgery, controversies regarding techniques such as those related to an internal limiting membrane peel and the use of dye still exist. In this chapter, we cover current surgical techniques for ERM removal, their expected results, possible complications, as well as a guide for possible case selection.
The mu (μ) and delta (δ) opioid receptors modulate boar sperm motility

Endogenous and exogenous opioids modulate reproductive functions in target cells via opioid receptors (μ, δ, and κ). Sperm motility is a metric of gamete functionality, and serves as a suitable parameter for in vitro drug‐induced toxicity assays. This study identifies the presence and location of opioid receptors in pig spermatozoa as well as their functional response after in vitro challenge with known agonists (morphine [μ]; [D‐Pen 2,5]‐enkephanile [δ]; and U 50488 [κ]) and antagonists (naloxone [μ]; naltrindole [δ]; and nor‐binaltrorphimine [κ]). Only the μ‐ and δ‐opioid receptors were present in the boar sperm plasma membrane, overlying the acrosome, neck, and principal piece. Challenge experiments with agonists and antagonists identified both μ‐ and δ‐opioid receptors as regulators of sperm kinematics, wherein μ maintains or increases sperm movement whereas δ decreases sperm motility over time. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 83: 724–734, 2016 © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Impaired Ca2+ Signaling Attenuates P2X Receptor–Mediated Vasoconstriction of Afferent Arterioles in Angiotensin II Hypertension

This study tested the hypothesis that afferent arteriolar responses to purinoceptor activation are attenuated, and Ca2+ signaling mechanisms are responsible for the blunted preglomerular vascular reactivity in angiotensin II (Ang II) hypertension. Experiments determined the effects of ATP, the P2X1 agonist &bgr;,&ggr;–methylene ATP or the P2Y agonist UTP on arteriolar diameter using the juxtamedullary nephron technique and on renal myocyte intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) using single cell fluorescence microscopy. Six or 13 days of Ang II infusion significantly attenuated the vasoconstrictor responses to ATP and &bgr;,&ggr;–methylene ATP (P<0.05). During exposure to ATP (1, 10, and 100 &mgr;mol/L), afferent diameter declined by 17±2%, 29±3%, and 30±2% in normal control rats and 8±3%, 7±3%, and 22±3% in kidneys of Ang II–infused rats (13 days). Renal myocyte intracellular calcium responses to ATP or &bgr;,&ggr;–methylene ATP were also decreased in Ang II hypertensive rats. In myocytes of control rats, peak increases in [Ca2+]i averaged 107±21, 170±38, and 478±79 nmol/L at ATP concentrations of 1, 10, and 100 &mgr;mol/L, respectively. Ang II infusion for 13 days decreased the peak responses to ATP (1, 10, and 100 &mgr;mol/L) to 65±13, 102±20, and 367±73 nmol/L, respectively. The peak increases in [Ca2+]i in response to &bgr;,&ggr;–methylene ATP were also reduced in Ang II hypertensive rats. However, angiotensin hypertension did not change the UTP-mediated vasoconstrictor responses or the myocyte calcium responses to UTP. These results indicate that the impaired autoregulatory response observed in Ang II–dependent hypertension can be attributed to impairment of P2X1 receptor–mediated signal transduction.
Fermionic quantum critical point of spinless fermions on a honeycomb lattice

Spinless fermions on a honeycomb lattice provide a minimal realization of lattice Dirac fermions. Repulsive interactions between nearest neighbors drive a quantum phase transition from a Dirac semimetal to a charge-density-wave state through a fermionic quantum critical point, where the coupling of the Ising order parameter to the Dirac fermions at low energy drastically affects the quantum critical behavior. Encouraged by a recent discovery (Huffman and Chandrasekharan 2014 Phys. Rev. B 89 111101) of the absence of the fermion sign problem in this model, we study the fermionic quantum critical point using the continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo method with a worm-sampling technique. We estimate the transition point V / t = 1.356 ( 1 ) ? > with the critical exponents &ngr; = 0.80 ( 3 ) ? > and &eegr; = 0.302 ( 7 ) ? > . Compatible results for the transition point are also obtained with infinite projected entangled-pair states.
Building Efficiency and Sustainability in the Tropics ( SinBerBEST ) Title Load-side Demand Management in Buildings using Controlled Electric Springs Permalink

With increasing use of renewable energy and the advancements in smart grids, demand side management has been a keen topic of interest. Buildings, both commercial and residential, have great potential in implementing load-side demand management in renewable energy source powered microgrids. Electric Spring, a smart grid technology, is able to provide instantaneous voltage support and load power shedding. Thus, providing an astute solution to the voltage instability problem associated with such microgrids. In this paper, an implementation of electric spring is presented, in conjunction with building loads like central air conditioning system, to demonstrate its properties of voltage support, load power shedding, and reactive power compensation. Keywords—electric springs; demand management; building energy efficiency; renewable energy sources; smart grids; microgrids; inverters.
Comparing the Electronic and Standard Versions of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in an Outpatient Memory Disorders Clinic: A Validation Study

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) has become widely used as a brief test of cognitive function in patients with neurological disease. More convenient application of the MoCA might increase its use and enhance its utility. An electronic version of the MoCA has recently been developed. To establish validity of the electronic version (eMoCA), discrepancy scores, concordance correlation coefficients (CCC), and root mean squared differences (RMSD) were calculated between each administration method in a sample of 43 new adult patients presenting with primary memory complaints. The CCC was 0.84 and the RMSD was 2.27, with 76% of the sample having a difference score within 2 points. Overall, this study establishes adequate convergent validity between the MoCA and eMoCA among an adult population presenting with memory concerns.