Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ketogenic Diet in Patients with Dravet Syndrome

Summary: Purpose: The ketogenic diet (KD) has been used as a therapeutic alternative to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) for refractory epilepsy. Severe myoclonic epilepsy in infants or Dravet syndrome (DS) is one of the most malignant epileptic syndromes. In this retrospective study, we evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of the KD in patients with diagnostic criteria of DS.
Convergence of Monetary Transmission in Emu New Evidence

This paper examines how the pass-through of monetary policy measures in 6 EMU countries has evolved over time and whether there is convergence in monetary transmission. The countries included are: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, and the sample period is 1980-2000. We conclude that major differences in pass-through exist in our sample, both in terms of initial as well as long-run responses to policy-induced interest rate changes. There is no indication for convergence of monetary policy transmission.
Depression Treatment among Adults with Multiple Sclerosis and Depression in Ambulatory Care Settings in the United States

Background. There is little information regarding depression treatment patterns among adults with MS and depression in ambulatory settings at national level in the United States (US). Objectives. The objectives of this study were to identify patterns and predictors of depression treatment in ambulatory settings in US among adults with MS and depression. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted by pooling multiple years (2005–2011) of National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the outpatient department of the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data. The final study sample was comprised of ambulatory visits among adults with MS and depression. Dependent variable of this study was pharmacological treatment for depression with or without psychotherapy. Predictors of depression treatment were determined by conducting multivariable logistic regression. Results. Out of all ambulatory visits involving MS diagnosis, 20.59% also involved a depression diagnosis. Depression treatment was observed in 57.25% of the study population. Fluoxetine was the most prescribed individual antidepressant. Age and total number of chronic diseases were significant predictors of depression treatment. Conclusion. Approximately six out of ten ambulatory visits involving MS and depression recorded some form of depression treatment. Future longitudinal studies should examine health outcomes associated with depression treatment in this population.
Neuraminidase A-Exposed Galactose Promotes Streptococcus pneumoniae Biofilm Formation during Colonization

ABSTRACT Streptococcus pneumoniae is an opportunistic pathogen that colonizes the nasopharynx. Herein we show that carbon availability is distinct between the nasopharynx and bloodstream of adult humans: glucose is absent from the nasopharynx, whereas galactose is abundant. We demonstrate that pneumococcal neuraminidase A (NanA), which cleaves terminal sialic acid residues from host glycoproteins, exposed galactose on the surface of septal epithelial cells, thereby increasing its availability during colonization. We observed that S. pneumoniae mutants deficient in NanA and β-galactosidase A (BgaA) failed to form biofilms in vivo despite normal biofilm-forming abilities in vitro. Subsequently, we observed that glucose, sucrose, and fructose were inhibitory for biofilm formation, whereas galactose, lactose, and low concentrations of sialic acid were permissive. Together these findings suggested that the genes involved in biofilm formation were under some form of carbon catabolite repression (CCR), a regulatory network in which genes involved in the uptake and metabolism of less-preferred sugars are silenced during growth with preferred sugars. Supporting this notion, we observed that a mutant deficient in pyruvate oxidase, which converts pyruvate to acetyl-phosphate under non-CCR-inducing growth conditions, was unable to form biofilms. Subsequent comparative transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) analyses of planktonic and biofilm-grown pneumococci showed that metabolic pathways involving the conversion of pyruvate to acetyl-phosphate and subsequently leading to fatty acid biosynthesis were consistently upregulated during diverse biofilm growth conditions. We conclude that carbon availability in the nasopharynx impacts pneumococcal biofilm formation in vivo. Additionally, biofilm formation involves metabolic pathways not previously appreciated to play an important role.
A Political Theory of Populism

When voters fear that politicians may have a right-wing bias or that they may be in‡uenced or corrupted by the rich elite, signals of true left-wing conviction are valuable. As a consequence, even a moderate politician seeking reelection chooses ‘populist’policies— i.e., policies to the left of the median voter— as a way of signaling that he is not from the right. Truly right-wing politicians respond by choosing more moderate, or even left-of-center policies. This populist bias of policy is greater when the value of remaining in o¢ ce is higher for the politician; when there is greater polarization between the policy preferences of the median voter and right-wing politicians; when politicians are indeed more likely to have a hidden right-wing agenda; when there is an intermediate amount of noise in the information that voters receive; when politicians are more forward-looking; and when there is greater uncertainty about the type of the incumbent. We show that similar results apply when some politicians can be corrupted or in‡uenced through other non-electoral means by the rich elite. We also show that ‘soft term limits’ may exacerbate, rather than reduce, the populist bias of policies.
Lack of correlation between tubular dentine cement penetration, adhesiveness and leakage in roots filled with gutta percha and an endodontic cement based on epoxy amine resin

Objective To analyze possible correlations among tubular dentine cement penetration, adhesiveness and apical leakage in fillings performed with gutta percha and an endodontic cement based on epoxy amine resin. Material and Methods Sixty similar, extracted human mandibular central incisors were irrigated, instrumented and filled following the same protocol. First, apical leakage was quantified by fluid filtration tests. Then, these same specimens were sectioned for analysis of tubular dentine cement penetration and the middle thirds were submitted to push-out tests to analyze the adhesiveness of the fillings. Results In brief, the means and standard deviations with a confidence interval of 95% were as follows: tubular dentine cement penetration (8.875±4.540), adhesiveness (4.441±2.683) and apical leakage (0.318±0.215). The data were confronted using the Pearson's test (P>0.05), and it was possible to prove that there was no correlation between (1) tubular dentine cement penetration and apical leakage (r2: 0.08276), (2) tubular dentine cement penetration and adhesiveness (r2: -0.2412) and (3) adhesiveness and apical leakage (r2: 0.1340). Conclusion After analysis of these data, it could be observed that there exists no correlation among the variables analyzed in this study.
Correlation between consonantal VC transitions and degree of perceptual confusion of place contrast in hindi

A previous study of the VC transitions characteristic of the five places of articulation in Hindi stops (labial, dental, retroflex, palatal, and velar) showed considerable overlap between different places correlated with the quality of the preceding vowel. For example, [labial] and [dental] had similar transitions following /i/; [labial] and [velar], following /u/; and [dental] and [palatal] following /u/ and /a/. To find out whether these patterns of acoustic overlap correspond to perceptual neutralization and to evaluate the role of the VC transitions independent of the final stop release, a perception experiment was run: 21 native Hindi listeners identified the final stop in /pVC/ syllables where V was /i a u/ and C was /p t5 y tS k/ and where the final stop release was either left in or gated out. The overall probability of correct place judgments was . 86 with the final stop release but only . 63 when it was gated out. In general in the gated condition the confusions were well predicted by the similarity of the formant transitions.
Neural processing of visual information under interocular suppression: a critical review

When dissimilar stimuli are presented to the two eyes, only one stimulus dominates at a time while the other stimulus is invisible due to interocular suppression. When both stimuli are equally potent in competing for awareness, perception alternates spontaneously between the two stimuli, a phenomenon called binocular rivalry. However, when one stimulus is much stronger, e.g., due to higher contrast, the weaker stimulus can be suppressed for prolonged periods of time. A technique that has recently become very popular for the investigation of unconscious visual processing is continuous flash suppression (CFS): High-contrast dynamic patterns shown to one eye can render a low-contrast stimulus shown to the other eye invisible for up to minutes. Studies using CFS have produced new insights but also controversies regarding the types of visual information that can be processed unconsciously as well as the neural sites and the relevance of such unconscious processing. Here, we review the current state of knowledge in regard to neural processing of interocularly suppressed information. Focusing on recent neuroimaging findings, we discuss whether and to what degree such suppressed visual information is processed at early and more advanced levels of the visual processing hierarchy. We review controversial findings related to the influence of attention on early visual processing under interocular suppression, the putative differential roles of dorsal and ventral areas in unconscious object processing, and evidence suggesting privileged unconscious processing of emotional and other socially relevant information. On a more general note, we discuss methodological and conceptual issues, from practical issues of how unawareness of a stimulus is assessed to the overarching question of what constitutes an adequate operational definition of unawareness. Finally, we propose approaches for future research to resolve current controversies in this exciting research area.
Phase II Clinical Trial of Interleukin-12 in Patients with Relapsed and Refractory Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Hodgkin’s Disease

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical activity and toxicity of recombinant human Interleukin (IL)-12 in patients with relapsed and refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) or Hodgkin’s disease (HD). Experimental Design: Forty-two previously treated patients (32 patients with NHL and 10 patients with HD) were enrolled on the study. Patients were treated with either intravenous (n = 11) or subcutaneous (n = 31) administration of IL-12. The patients had received a median of three prior treatment regimens, and 16 patients had undergone prior autologous stem cell transplantation. Results: All patients were assessable for toxicity, and 39 of 42 (93%) patients were assessable for response. Six of 29 (21%) patients with NHL had a partial or complete response, whereas none of the 10 patients with HD responded. Furthermore, 15 patients had stable disease that lasted for up to 54 months. Progression-free survival in patients with indolent NHL, aggressive NHL, and HD was 6, 2, and 2.5 months, respectively. Treatment was well tolerated, and the most common toxicity was flu-like symptoms. Reversible grade 3 hepatic toxicity was observed in three patients requiring dose reduction. IL-12 therapy increased the median number of peripheral blood CD8 T lymphocytes from 423/μl to 576/μl (P = 0.0019). Furthermore, IL-12 therapy decreased serum vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor concentrations in 37% of the patients. Conclusions: The ability of recombinant human IL-12 therapy to increase the number of circulating CD8+ cells and induce clinical remissions in patients with relapsed NHL warrants further investigation of the drug.
Computation of a Single-phase Shell-Type Transformer Windings Forces Caused by Inrush and Short-circuit Currents

This research studies the forces on the windings of transformer due to inrush current. These forces are compared with the corresponding forces due to short-circuit of the windings. Two-dimensional finite element computation of a single-phase shell-type transformer is carried out based on the maximum permissible inrush current value where its amplitude is the same as the rated short-circuit current. To verify the computation results, they are compared with those recently obtained using Artificial Neural Network (ANN).
Sensitivity of PCA for traffic anomaly detection

Detecting anomalous traffic is a crucial part of managing IP networks. In recent years, network-wide anomaly detection based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has emerged as a powerful method for detecting a wide variety of anomalies. We show that tuning PCA to operate effectively in practice is difficult and requires more robust techniques than have been presented thus far. We analyze a week of network-wide traffic measurements from two IP backbones (Abilene and Geant) across three different traffic aggregations (ingress routers, OD flows, and input links), and conduct a detailed inspection of the feature time series for each suspected anomaly. Our study identifies and evaluates four main challenges of using PCA to detect traffic anomalies: (i) the false positive rate is very sensitive to small differences in the number of principal components in the normal subspace, (ii) the effectiveness of PCA is sensitive to the level of aggregation of the traffic measurements, (iii) a large anomaly may in advertently pollute the normal subspace, (iv) correctly identifying which flow triggered the anomaly detector is an inherently challenging problem.
Managers ’ Incorporation of the Value of Real Options into Their Long-Term Investment Decisions : An Experimental Investigation *

While academic and practitioner literature has advocated the use of real options in firms’ longterm investment appraisal processes, few studies have examined the extent to which real options are incorporated into decisions when they are available for decision-making. Using two experiments, we examine supervising managers’ reliance on real options values in their decisions about funding for subordinates’ long-term investment project proposals. We predict and find with Experiment 1 that when making funding decisions, supervising managers rely less on the value of real options than on the value of a project’s planned implementation path. We predict and find with Experiment 2 that, holding information constant, a simple accounting change influences supervisors’ reliance on real options values in their funding decisions: they rely more on the real options components of project value when the amount is aggregated with (rather than displayed separately from) the value of the projects’ planned implementation paths in a financial summary of subordinates’ proposals. We provide evidence of the process underlying how the financial summary affects funding decisions – specifically, it does so by influencing perceptions of the relative accuracy of the planned path and real options components of value. Results for both experiments hold after controlling for participants’ knowledge of discounted cash flow and real options valuation and perceptions of risk in subordinates’ projects.
A Meta-Analysis of the Metabolic Syndrome Prevalence in the Global HIV-Infected Population

Background Cardio-metabolic risk factors are of increasing concern in HIV-infected individuals, particularly with the advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and the subsequent rise in longevity. However, the prevalence of cardio-metabolic abnormalities in this population and the differential contribution, if any, of HIV specific factors to their distribution, are poorly understood. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the global prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in HIV-infected populations, its variation by the different diagnostic criteria, severity of HIV infection, ART used and other major predictive characteristics. Methods We performed a comprehensive search on major databases for original research articles published between 1998 and 2015. The pooled overall prevalence as well as by specific groups and subgroups were computed using random effects models. Results A total of 65 studies across five continents comprising 55094 HIV-infected participants aged 17–73 years (median age 41 years) were included in the final meta-analysis. The overall prevalence of MS according to the following criteria were: ATPIII-2001:16.7% (95%CI: 14.6–18.8), IDF-2005: 18% (95%CI: 14.0–22.4), ATPIII-2004-2005: 24.6% (95%CI: 20.6–28.8), Modified ATPIII-2005: 27.9% (95%CI: 6.7–56.5), JIS-2009: 29.6% (95%CI: 22.9–36.8), and EGIR: 31.3% (95%CI: 26.8–36.0). By some MS criteria, the prevalence was significantly higher in women than in men (IDF-2005: 23.2% vs. 13.4, p = 0.030), in ART compared to non-ART users (ATPIII-2001: 18.4% vs. 11.8%, p = 0.001), and varied significantly by participant age, duration of HIV diagnosis, severity of infection, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) use and date of study publication. Across criteria, there were significant differences in MS prevalence by sub-groups such as in men, the Americas, older publications, regional studies, younger adults, smokers, ART-naïve participants, NNRTIs users, participants with shorter duration of diagnosed infection and across the spectrum of HIV severity. Substantial heterogeneities across and within criteria were not fully explained by major study characteristics, while evidence of publication bias was marginal. Conclusions The similar range of MS prevalence in the HIV-infected and general populations highlights the common drivers of this condition. Thus, cardio-metabolic assessments need to be routinely included in the holistic management of the HIV-infected individual. Management strategies recommended for MS in the general population will likely provide similar benefits in the HIV-infected.
FGFR3 expression in primary and metastatic urothelial carcinoma of the bladder

While fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) is frequently mutated or overexpressed in nonmuscle‐invasive urothelial carcinoma (UC), the prevalence of FGFR3 protein expression and mutation remains unknown in muscle‐invasive disease. FGFR3 protein and mRNA expression, mutational status, and copy number variation were retrospectively analyzed in 231 patients with formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded primary UCs, 33 metastases, and 14 paired primary and metastatic tumors using the following methods: immunohistochemistry, NanoString nCounterTM, OncoMap or Affymetrix OncoScanTM array, and Gain and Loss of Analysis of DNA and Genomic Identification of Significant Targets in Cancer software. FGFR3 immunohistochemistry staining was present in 29% of primary UCs and 49% of metastases and did not impact overall survival (P = 0.89, primary tumors; P = 0.78, metastases). FGFR3 mutations were observed in 2% of primary tumors and 9% of metastases. Mutant tumors expressed higher levels of FGFR3 mRNA than wild‐type tumors (P < 0.001). FGFR3 copy number gain and loss were rare events in primary and metastatic tumors (0.8% each; 3.0% and 12.3%, respectively). FGFR3 immunohistochemistry staining is present in one third of primary muscle‐invasive UCs and half of metastases, while FGFR3 mutations and copy number changes are relatively uncommon.
Central nervous system and non‐central nervous system antigen vaccines exacerbate neuropathology caused by nerve injury

Previously, we showed that autoimmune (central nervous system myelin‐reactive) T cells exacerbate tissue damage and impair neurological recovery after spinal cord injury. Conversely, independent studies have shown T cell‐mediated neuroprotection after spinal cord injury or facial nerve axotomy (FNAx). The antigen specificity of the neuroprotective T cells has not been investigated after FNAx. Here, we compared the neuroprotective capacity of autoimmune and non‐autoimmune lymphocytes after FNAx. Prior to axotomy, C57BL/6 mice were immunized with myelin basic protein, myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) or ovalbumin (a non‐self antigen) emulsified in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). FNAx mice receiving injections of phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS) only (unimmunized) or PBS/CFA emulsions served as controls. At 4 weeks after axotomy, bilateral facial motor neuron counts were obtained throughout the facial motor nucleus using unbiased stereology (optical fractionator). The data show that neuroantigen immunizations and ‘generic’ lymphocyte activation (e.g. PBS/CFA or ovalbumin/CFA immunizations) exacerbated neuron loss above that caused by FNAx alone. We also found that nerve injury potentiated the effector potential of autoimmune lymphocytes. Indeed, prominent forelimb and hindlimb motor deficits were accompanied by disseminated neuroinflammation and demyelination in FNAx mice receiving subencephalitogenic immunization with MOG. FNAx or neuroantigen (MOG or myelin basic protein) immunization alone did not cause these pathological changes. Thus, irrespective of the antigens used to trigger an immune response, neuropathology was enhanced when the immune system was primed in parallel with nerve injury. These data have important implications for therapeutic vaccination in clinical neurotrauma and neurodegeneration.
Catheter-related infections

1. Dalrymple‐Hay MJ, ALzetani A, Costa R, Ohri SK. Endoscopic vein harvesting with the aid of carbon dioxide insufflation. Ann Thorac Surg 2001;71:739‐41. 2. BanksTA, Manetta F, GLick M, Graver LM. Carbon dioxide embolism during minimally invasive vein harvesting. Ann Thorac Surg 2002;73:296‐7. 3. Tami, M, Omrani M, Tash A, El Watidy A. Carbon dioxide embolism during endoscopic vein harvesting. Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg 2008;7:659‐60.
Physiological Relevance of Renin/Prorenin Binding and Uptake

There is compelling physiological evidence of binding and uptake of renin and prorenin in tissues. A number of molecules with the ability to bind renin and prorenin have been identified and have been characterized to varying degrees. It remains unclear, however, just how many renin/prorenin binding proteins and receptors exist and what their physiological functions may be. The possible functions of renin/prorenin binding and uptake are manifold, and include clearance of renin and prorenin from the circulation, local generation of angiotensins, activation of prorenin on the cell surface, trafficking of prorenin between cellular and extracellular compartments as part of a complex processing machinery, and signal transduction both via direct receptor mediated signaling, and via modulation of O-linkage of N-acetyl-glucosamine to cellular proteins. Some of these functions may involve single renin/prorenin binding sites or receptors, while others may require multiple binding sites and receptors. This review describes the physiological studies that have provided evidence of renin/prorenin uptake from the circulation, summarizes our knowledge of renin/prorenin binding proteins and receptors, and postulates new roles for renin/prorenin binding and uptake in tissues.