Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mean platelet volume and its relationship with carotid atherosclerosis in subjects with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract Background. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Mean platelet volume (MPV), a determinant of platelet activation, is an emerging risk factor for atherothrombosis. Aims. The aim of this study was to investigate the levels of MPV in subjects with NAFLD having no confounding factors for atherosclerosis such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. In addition, the possible relationship between MPV and carotid artery intima media thickness (CIMT), a well known marker of subclinical atherosclerosis, was also studied. Methods. MPV and CIMT levels were measured in 60 biopsy-proven NAFLD subjects and 54 healthy controls. Age and sex were similar between two groups. Results. Body mass index and waist circumference levels were higher in the NAFLD group when compared to the controls. There were no differences between the two groups regarding LDL cholesterol levels, whereas HDL cholesterol levels were lower in the NAFLD group. MPV and CIMT levels were not different between the two groups. According to the correlation analyses, CIMT levels were positively correlated to age in patients with NAFLD. However, no significant correlation was found between MPV and CIMT levels. Conclusions. The results of this study do not show any difference in MPV levels between subjects with NAFLD and controls. These finding suggests that in the absence of other metabolic risk factors, MPV might not be involved in the mechanism(s) of increased cardiovascular risk in NAFLD.
Effect of Human Growth Hormone Treatment for 1 to 7 Years on Growth of 100 Children, with Growth Hormone Deficiency, Low Birthweight, Inherited Smallness, Turner's Syndrome, and Other Complaints

(1) Human growth hormone (HGH) has been given for one whole year or longer to 100 patients, aged 1·5 to 19 years, participating in the Medical Research Council Clinical Trial of HGH. Each patient was measured 3-monthly for a control year before treatment, and the majority for a control year after the first treatment year. All measurements were made by one anthropometrist. Radiographic measurements of widths of bone, muscle, and fat in calf and upper arm were made. Methods and standards for assessing the significance of a given height acceleration are presented. (2) The characteristics at diagnosis are given of 35 patients with isolated GH deficiency or hyposomatotrophism (HS), 18 with craniopharyngiomas and other CNS lesions, 3 with multiple trophic hormone deficiency, 18 with low birthweight short stature, 4 with hereditary smallness and/or delay in growth, 4 with psychosocial short stature, 1 with high resting HGH and low somatomedin, 6 with Turner's syndrome, and 11 with other diagnoses. (3) 29 of the 35 HS patients were boys and 13 had an abnormally small penis and ill-developed scrotum. Only 2 were sibs. Parents averaged 40th centile for height. 4 children developed growth-suppressing antibodies, and had to cease treatment. The mean standard deviation score (SDS) for height at diagnosis was -4·7, range -2·6 to -7·3. Bone age SDS averaged -3·2, range -0·8 to -5·7. Skinfold SDS averaged +0·91. Limb muscle width SDS averaged about -3·0. GH peak in insulin hypoglycaemia averaged 4·7 ± 0·7 μU/ml, range 1 to 13. (4) A category of partial growth hormone deficiency is defined as patients with GH peaks of 7-20 μU/ml inclusive and height velocity SDS in the year before treatment between -1 and -2. Total HS patients have GH peaks of 1 to 6 μU/ml inclusive and height velocity SDS of < -2. Partial HS patients are accelerated by HGH and should be treated; but their average acceleration is below that of total HS patients. (5) There was a highly significant relation (r = -0·64) between blood GH peak level and pretreatment height velocity in the HS patients. (6) The LBW patients were 10 boys and 7 girls; all the boys had normal genitalia. The average height SDS at diagnosis was -3·7; parents' height centile averaged 50th, bone age SDS -1·8, skinfold SDS -0·9. GH peaks were all above 30
Structural factors governing hemin dissociation from metmyoglobin.

Rates of hemin dissociation from approximately 100 different metmyoglobin mutants were measured to determine which amino acid residues are important for retaining the prosthetic group. Most of the amino acids examined are within 4 A of the porphyrin ring, but replacements of a number of noncontact residues were also made. Mutations of His93(F8) and Leu89(F4) can result in > 100-fold increases in the rate of hemin loss at pH 5 and 7. Some replacements of the contact residues His64(E7), Val68(E11), His97(FG3), Ile99(FG5), Thr39(C4), and Tyr103(G4) cause > 10-fold changes in the rate of hemin dissociation. Substitutions of the noncontact residues Leu29(B10), Phe46(CD4), and Gly65(E8) can also increase the rate of hemin loss > 10-fold. The key structural factors stabilizing bound hemin in myoglobin are (1) hydrophobic interactions between apolar residues in the heme pocket and the porphyrin ring, (2) the covalent bond between His93(F8) and the Fe3+ atom, and (3) hydrogen bonding between distal residues and coordinated water. Specific electrostatic interactions between the heme propionates and amino acids at the surface of the protein appear to be less important. Loss of these polar interactions can be compensated by increasing the apolar character of either the heme group by esterification of the propionates or replacement of charged surface residues with large apolar side chains [e.g., replacing His97(FG3) with Phe].
Parallel Computation of Similarity Measures Using an FPGA-Based Processor Array

An enormous amount of data needs to be processed in many data mining applications. In addition to algorithmic development, hardware support is imperative to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of these applications. We are investigating various hardware architectural design techniques and methodologies to support data mining at the chip level. In this work, we focus on the design of an FPGA-based processor array for the computation of similarity matrix, a commonly used data structure to represent the similarity among a set of feature vectors, with each matrix element representing the computed similarity measure between two vectors. An algorithm is developed to assign computation efficiently to the array of processing elements. Theoretical performance metrics are derived and compared to the experimental results. Performance gains using the processor array over software implementations are also presented and discussed.
Cloning and sequence analysis of Bufo arenarum oviductin cDNA and detection of its orthologous gene expression in the mouse female reproductive tract

Summary The glycoprotein envelope surrounding the Bufo arenarum egg exists in different functional forms. Conversion between types involves proteolysis of specific envelope glycoproteins. When the egg is released from the ovary, the envelope cannot be penetrated by sperm. Conversion to a penetrable state occurs during passage through the pars recta portion of the oviduct, where oviductin, a serine protease with trypsin-like substrate specificity, hydrolyzes two kinds of envelope glycoproteins: gp84 and gp55. The nucleotide sequence of a 3203 bp B. arenarum oviductin cDNA was obtained. Deduced amino acid sequence showed a complete open reading frame encoding 980 amino acids. B. arenarum oviductin is a multi-domain protein with a protease domain at the N-terminal region followed by two CUB domains and toward the C-terminal region another protease domain, which lacked an active histidine site, and one CUB domain. Expression of ovochymase 2, the mammalian orthologous of amphibian oviductin, was assayed in mouse female reproductive tract. Ovochymase 2 mRNA was unnoticeable in the mouse oviduct but expression was remarkable in the uterus. Phylogenetic relationship between oviductin and ovochymase 2 opens the possibility to understand the role of this enzyme in mammalian reproduction.
What prognostic factors are important in duodenal adenocarcinoma?

HYPOTHESIS Survival of patients with adenocarcinoma of the duodenum depends on the ability to perform a complete resection and the tumor stage DESIGN Retrospective case series. SETTING Tertiary care referral center. PATIENTS A cohort of 101 consecutive patients (mean age, 62 years), undergoing surgery for duodenal adenocarcinoma from January 1, 1976, through December 31, 1996. Patients with ampullary carcinoma were specifically excluded. Mean duration of follow-up was 4 years. INTERVENTIONS Surgery was curative in 68 patients (67%) and palliative in 33 patients (33%). Of the curative group, 50 patients (74%) underwent radical surgery, ie, 30 (60%), pancreaticoduodenectomy; 15 (30%), pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy; and 5 (10%), total pancreatectomy. A more limited resection procedure was used in 18 patients (26%) involving a segmental duodenal resection in 15 (83%) and a transduodenal excision in 3 (17%). patient survival, and correlation with patient and tumor variables using univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS Actuarial 5-year survival for the curative group was 54%. Only 1 patient in the unresected group survived beyond 3 years. Nodal metastasis (P = .002), advanced tumor stage (P<.001), positive resection margin (P = .02), and weight loss (P<.001) had a significant negative impact on survival in multivariate analysis. Tumor grade, size, and location within the duodenum had no impact on survival. Patient age and tumor depth of invasion influenced survival in univariate analysis, but lost their prognostic significance in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS Metastasis to lymph nodes, advanced tumor stage, and positive resection margins are associated with decreased survival in patients with duodenal adenocarcinoma. An aggressive surgical approach that achieves complete tumor resection with negative margins should be pursued. Pancreaticoduodenectomy is usually required for cancers of the first and second portion of the duodenum. Segmental resection may be appropriate for selected patients, especially for tumors of the distal duodenum.
Chronic inhibition of bradykinin B2-receptors enhances the slow vasopressor response to angiotensin II.

The contribution of endogenous kinins in the regulation of blood pressure of angiotensin-treated rats was evaluated using the new bradykinin B2-receptor antagonist Hoe 140 (D-Arg,[Hyp3,Thi5,D-Tic7, Oic8]-bradykinin). Chronic infusion of Hoe 140 at 75 nmol/d (a dose able to inhibit the vasodepressor effect of an intra-aortic bolus injection of 0.85 nmol/kg bradykinin) did not alter systolic blood pressure (tail-cuff plethysmography). Chronic infusion of angiotensin II (Ang II) induced a dose-related increase in systolic blood pressure and plasma Ang II levels. The vasopressor effect of 40 or 100 nmol/d Ang II was enhanced in rats given chronic infusion of Hoe 140 (by 12 and 14 mm Hg, respectively), whereas the increase in plasma Ang II levels remained unaltered. Furthermore, a low nonpressor dose of Ang II (20 nmol/d) was then able to increase blood pressure during chronic blockade of bradykinin receptors by Hoe 140 (from 126 +/- 3 to 137 +/- 3 mm Hg, P < .05). Combined infusion of 20 nmol Ang II and Hoe 140 did not alter the urinary excretion of sodium and water despite the fact that blood pressure was increased. Potentiation of the pressure effect of Ang II by Hoe 140 was confirmed by direct measurement of mean blood pressure (125 +/- 2 versus 108 +/- 2 mm Hg at 20 nmol, 123 +/- 2 versus 110 +/- 2 mm Hg at 40 nmol, and 139 +/- 2 versus 125 +/- 3 mm Hg at 100 nmol Ang II, P < .05). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Serial Expertise of Rhesus Macaques

Here we describe the development of serial expertise in 4 experimentally naive rhesus monkeys that learned, by trial and error, the correct order in which to respond to 3-, 4-, and 7-item lists of arbitrarily selected photographs. The probabilities of guessing the correct sequence on 3-, 4-, and 7-item lists were, respectively, 1/6, 1/24, and 1/5,040. Each monkey became progressively more efficient at determining the correct order in which to respond on new lists. During subsequent testing, the subjects were presented with all possible pairs of the 28 items used to construct the four 7-item lists (excluding pairs of items that occupied the same ordinal position in different lists). Subjects responded to pairs from different lists in the correct order 91% of the time on the first trials on which these pairs were presented. These features of subjects' performance, which cannot be attributed to procedural memory, satisfy two criteria of declarative memory: rapid acquisition of new knowledge and flexible application of existing knowledge to a new problem.
Dental and periodontal findings in hemodialysis patients.

OBJECTIVE Oral health problems of chronic renal failure patients can compromise systemic health. This study compared the periodontal and dental health status of patients on hemodialysis (HD) with healthy controls (C). STUDY DESIGN Seventy-six HD patients and 61 controls were examined for plaque deposits, gingivitis, periodontitis, calculus accumulation and oral health status. RESULTS There was no statistically significant difference in the measurement of probing pocket depths (PPD) in HD and C groups, but a highly significant difference was found for plaque index (P < 0.001), gingival index (GI) (P = 0.007) and calculus surface index (P < 0.001). There was a highly significant difference for GI (P = 0.001) and PPD scores (P < 0.001) between subgroups receiving HD for <3 years or more. A positive correlation between time on dialysis and parameter of missing teeth (r = 0.259; P = 0.024), GI scores (r = 0.474; P < 0.001) and measurement of PPD (r = 0.481; P < 0.001) was found in the HD group. Decayed, missing and filled teeth index scores were higher in the controls than the HD group, with no statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS The dental and periodontal health status of HD patients is comparable with healthy controls, but becomes worse with time on dialysis. Thus, oral health maintenance is of utmost importance in this patient group.
Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibitor, Tadalafil, Protects Against Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Through Protein-Kinase G–Dependent Generation of Hydrogen Sulfide

Background— Tadalafil is a novel long-acting inhibitor of phosphodiesterase-5. Because cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) signaling plays a key role in cardioprotection, we hypothesized that PKG activation with tadalafil would limit myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury and dysfunction. Additionally, we contemplated that cardioprotection with tadalafil is mediated by hydrogen sulfide (H2S) signaling in a PKG-dependent fashion. Methods and Results— After baseline transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), adult ICR mice were injected i.p. with vehicle (10% DMSO) or tadalafil (1 mg/kg) with or without KT5823 (KT, PKG blocker, 1 mg/kg) or dl-propargylglycine (PAG, Cystathionine-γ-lyase [CSE, H2S-producing enzyme] blocker; 50 mg/kg) 1 hour before coronary artery ligation for 30 minutes and reperfusion for 24 hours, whereas C57BL wild-type and CSE-knockout mice were treated with either vehicle or tadalafil. After reperfusion, TTE was performed and hearts were collected for infarct size (IS) measurement using TTC staining. Survival was increased with tadalafil (95%) compared with control (65%, P<0.05). Infarct size was reduced with tadalafil (13.2±1.7%) compared to vehicle (40.6±2.5%; P<0.05). KT and PAG abolished tadalafil-induced protection (IS: 39.2±1% and 51.2±2.4%, respectively) similar to genetic deletion of CSE (47.2±5.1%). Moreover, tadalafil preserved fractional shortening (FS: 31±1.5%) compared to control (FS: 22±4.8%, P<0.05). Baseline FS was 44±1.7%. KT and PAG abrogated the preservation of LV function with tadalafil by decline in FS to 17±1% and 23±3%, respectively. Compared to vehicle, myocardial H2S production was significantly increased with tadalafil and was abolished with KT. Conclusion— PKG activation with tadalafil limits myocardial infarction and preserves LV function through H2S signaling.
An iterative area/performance trade-off algorithm for LUT-based FPGA technology mapping

In this paper, we propose an iterative area/performance trade-off algorithm for LUT-based FPGA technology mapping. First, it finds an area-optimized performance-considered initial network by a modified area optimization technique. Then, an iterative algorithm consisting of several resynthesizing techniques is applied to trade the area for the performance in the network gracefully. Experimental results show that this approach can provide a complete set of mapping solutions from the area-optimized one to the performance-optimize one for the given design. Furthermore, these two extreme solutions, the area-optimized one and the performance-optimized one, produced by our algorithm outperform the results of most existing algorithms. Therefore, our algorithm is very useful for the timing driven FPGA synthesis.
Enhanced CCR5+/CCR3+ T helper cell ratio in patients with active cutaneous lupus erythematosus

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) is characterized by enhanced interferon α (IFNα) levels in serum and in tissue. Since IFNα promotes a Th1-biased immune response, we hypothesized that a Th1-associated chemokine receptor profile should be a typical finding in patients with active CLE. Therefore, peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from patients with different CLE subsets (n = 15), healthy controls (n = 13) and patients under immunotherapy with IFNα (n = 7). T helper cells were analysed by flow cytometry for the expression of the chemokines receptor CCR5, indicative for Th1 cells, and of CCR3, indicating Th2. In addition, intracellular levels of the type I IFN-inducible MxA protein were measured. Patients with widespread active CLE skin lesions had a significantly increased expression of CCR5, whereas expression of CCR3 was decreased when compared with healthy controls. MxA expression was significantly enhanced in all investigated CLE subtypes, with the highest levels in patientswith widespread skin lesions. The enhanced CCR5/CCR3 ratio closely correlated with the MxA levels in peripheral lymphocytes and with disease activity. Our analyses revealedthat active CLE is associated with a systemic type I IFN effect that appears toinduce a shift towards a Th1-associated chemokine receptor profile. The CCR5/CCR3 T-helper cell ratio might therefore represent an indirect marker for the disease activity in CLE.
Visuospatial planning in unmedicated major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder: distinct and common neural correlates

Background Cognitive impairments are an important feature of both remitted and depressed major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD). In particular, deficits in executive functioning may hamper everyday functioning. Identifying the neural substrates of impaired executive functioning would improve our understanding of the pathophysiology underlying these disorders, and may eventually aid in discriminating between MDD and BD, which is often difficult during depression and remission. To date, mostly medicated MDD and BD subjects have been investigated, which may have influenced results. Therefore, we investigated executive functioning in medication-free depressed and remitted MDD and BD subjects. Method We used the Tower of London (ToL) visuospatial planning task to assess behavioural performance and blood oxygen-level dependent responses in 35 healthy controls, 21 remitted MDD, 23 remitted BD, 19 depressed MDD and nine depressed BD subjects. Results Visuospatial planning per se was associated with increased frontostriatal activity in depressed BD compared to depressed MDD. In addition, post-hoc analyses indicated that visuospatial planning load was associated with increased parietal activity in depressed compared to remitted subjects, and BD compared to MDD subjects. Task performance did not significantly differ between groups. Conclusions More severely affected, medication-free mood disorder patients require greater parietal activity to perform in visuospatial planning, which may be compensatory to maintain relatively normal performance. State-dependent frontostriatal hyperactivity during planning may be a specific BD characteristic, providing clues for further characterization of differential pathophysiology in MDD v. BD. This could potentially provide a biomarker to aid in the differentiation of these disorders.
Commentary on sperm DNA fragmentation testing clinical guideline

The study of physiology of reproduction, particularly in mammalian species, experienced glorious times in the second half of the twentieth century. However, with the advent of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), the decade of 1990 appeared to forecast the demise of translational research in male reproductive biology. In fact, in its original and subsequent work, Palermo and colleagues showed that ICSI bypassed the process of natural selection of sperm (1). Then, the prevailing hope became that the only need would be merely to obtain one acceptable spermatozoon. The optimism, based on an exponential increase of successful results, has been moderated in the last decade by results indicating that certain sperm characteristics have an impact on the outcomes of assisted reproduction (2). Recent basic research findings have radically transformed our understanding of the biology of fertilization (3), underscoring the importance of cytological processes, e.g. the timing of sperm acrosomal exocytosis (4), in addition to sperm-associated epigenetic factors (5), proteomics (6) and DNA structure (7,8).
Memory Enhances the Mere Exposure Effect

The fact of having already encountered something encourages future preference, a phenomenon known as the mere exposure effect (MEE). There is a widely accepted view that recognition inhibits the MEE. Here this view is contested and the generality of the findings upon which it is based questioned. New evidence is presented from a systematic investigation of the moderating influence of recognition memory on the MEE, using brand logo stimuli and methods that make the results directly applicable to marketing practice. It is shown that recognition, whether correct or mistaken, enhances, rather than inhibits, the likelihood of preference. C
A Note on the Effects of Enforcing Bound Constraints on Algorithm Comparisons using the IEEE CEC'05 Benchmark Function Suite.

The benchmark functions proposed in the special session on real parameter optimization of the 2005 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC’05) are playing an important role in performance comparisons of continuous optimizers and, consequently, in the assessment of the state of the art in continuous optimization. Unfortunately, the original wording for describing the experimental protocol used for the aforementioned session is rather vague about how bound constraints should be handled. During experiments with bound handling mechanisms in IPOP-CMA-ES, the algorithm with the best performance in the aforementioned session, and MA-LSchCMA, a recent memetic algorithm, we noticed that the performance of these algorithms substantially varies depending on whether bound constraints are enforced or not. We found that if bound constraints are not enforced, the solutions generated may be associated with lower error values than if bounds are enforced. However, the solutions generated when bound constraints are not enforced are often infeasible. These results point toward a major problem in many published experimental evaluations. In particular, several claims about superior performance of an algorithm over IPOP-CMA-ES (or any other algorithm) may be flawed due to possible problems with the enforcement of bound constraints. Therefore, we advocate for reporting explicitly the bound handling mechanism used and the final solutions found in experimental studies involving the CEC’05 benchmark functions.