Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy and safety of lacosamide as an adjunctive therapy for refractory focal epilepsy in paediatric patients: a retrospective single-centre study.

AIM Lacosamide is an antiepileptic drug approved for the treatment of focal epilepsy in adult patients. The aim of this observational study was to review our centre's experience with lacosamide and to characterize its effectiveness and tolerability as an adjunctive antiepileptic drug in a retrospective cohort of children with refractory focal epilepsy. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 22 patients who received lacosamide from November 2009 to April 2014 at the CHU Ste-Justine, University of Montreal. Treatment responders were defined as children with a ≥50% reduction in seizure frequency compared to baseline, and this was determined three months after the initiation of treatment and at the last follow-up visit. RESULTS We included 14 boys and eight girls with a mean age of 12.9 years (SD: 5.2; range: 5.2-20.7 years) at the initiation of treatment. The average length of follow-up was 11.9 months. Patients had previously received an average of 7.5 antiepileptic drugs. The mean number of concomitant antiepileptic drugs was 2.3. The mean initial and maintenance doses were 2.9 and 8.4 mg/kg/d, respectively. Thirteen (59%) and ten (45%) patients were responders after three months of treatment and at the last follow-up visit, respectively. One became seizure-free. Adverse effects were reported in 11 patients and none were severe. Responders and non-responders were identical with respect to all studied parameters except gender, with the proportion of responders being greater in girls than in boys (75% vs 29%; p=0.035). CONCLUSION Our study adds evidence that lacosamide appears to be a safe and effective adjunctive therapy for children with refractory focal epilepsy.
Brain dopaminergic modulation associated with executive function in Parkinson's disease

The progressive development of deficits in executive functions, including action planning, is a well‐known complication of Parkinson's disease. A dysfunction of the prefrontal lobe, which is known to be involved in the control of inhibitory processes, could explain the difficulties in initiating behavior or inhibiting ongoing actions in patients with PD. The strong dopaminergic innervation of the prefrontal cortex raises questions about the putative effects of dopa therapy on this cognitive impairment. In the present study, we used fMRI to examine the functional influence of dopa therapy on neural activity during a go/no‐go task in nine patients with and without levodopa treatment and in matched controls. Whereas the patient and control subjects exhibited the same performance during the go/no‐go task, different patterns of brain activation were observed depending on the dopaminergic status. The drug‐off state was characterized by more widely distributed brain activity, mainly in the bilateral caudate. Levodopa did not fully restore normal brain activation and induced changes in the pattern of cingulate cortex activity, which was more pronounced in the rostral part in the drug‐off state and in the caudal part after levodopa intake. These results support the idea of a critical role for dopamine in the control of executive functions in patients with PD. © 2009 Movement Disorder Society
Hyaluronic acid-conjugated liposome nanoparticles for targeted delivery to CD44 overexpressing glioblastoma cells

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is a highly prevalent and deadly brain malignancy characterized by poor prognosis and restricted disease management potential. Despite the success of nanocarrier systems to improve drug/gene therapy for cancer, active targeting specificity remains a major hurdle for GBM. Additionally, since the brain is a multi-cell type organ, there is a critical need to develop an approach to distinguish between GBM cells and healthy brain cells for safe and successful treatment. In this report, we have incorporated hyaluronic acid (HA) as an active targeting ligand for GBM. To do so, we employed HA conjugated liposomes (HALNPs) to study the uptake pathway in key cells in the brain including primary astrocytes, microglia, and human GBM cells. We observed that the HALNPs specifically target GBM cells over other brain cells due to higher expression of CD44 in tumor cells. Furthermore, CD44 driven HALNP uptake into GBM cells resulted in lysosomal evasion and increased efficacy of Doxorubicin, a model anti-neoplastic agent, while the astrocytes and microglia cells exhibited extensive HALNP-lysosome co-localization and decreased antineoplastic potency. In summary, novel CD44 targeted lipid based nanocarriers appear to be proficient in mediating site-specific delivery of drugs via CD44 receptors in GBM cells, with an improved therapeutic margin and safety.
Serum hepatocyte growth factor as a prognostic marker for stage II or III colorectal cancer patients

We previously reported that a combination of serum hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was useful for selecting early‐stage colorectal cancer patients with aggressive disease. The aim of the present study was to determine whether serum HGF could provide CEA‐independent prognostic information on patients undergoing surgery with curative intent. Serum samples were collected from 184 patients with colorectal cancer and 30 controls. Reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to detect HGF expression in colorectal cancer cell lines. Serum and tissue levels of HGF were measured by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. The serum HGF levels in colorectal cancer patients were compared with those in healthy controls, and we retrospectively assessed the association between serum HGF levels and clinicopathological findings and survival. Expression of HGF was significantly higher in colorectal cancer tissues compared with non‐tumor tissues. The serum HGF levels were closely correlated with the HGF levels in cancer tissue. The mean serum HGF level in patients was significantly higher than that in controls, and significantly higher in patients with large tumor, lymph‐node involvement and distant metastasis. According to the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, elevated serum HGF levels can predict patients with larger tumor, lymph‐node and distant metastasis. Elevated serum HGF level demonstrated a significant association with poor survival, and was only an independent risk factor for poor survival in Stage II or/and III. Elevated serum HGF level is significantly associated with colorectal cancer development, lymph or distant invasive phenotypes and survival, especially in Stage II or III patients. © 2009 UICC
Embedding Semantic Similarity in Tree Kernels for Domain Adaptation of Relation Extraction

Relation Extraction (RE) is the task of extracting semantic relationships between entities in text. Recent studies on relation extraction are mostly supervised. The clear drawback of supervised methods is the need of training data: labeled data is expensive to obtain, and there is often a mismatch between the training data and the data the system will be applied to. This is the problem of domain adaptation. In this paper, we propose to combine (i) term generalization approaches such as word clustering and latent semantic analysis (LSA) and (ii) structured kernels to improve the adaptability of relation extractors to new text genres/domains. The empirical evaluation on ACE 2005 domains shows that a suitable combination of syntax and lexical generalization is very promising for domain adaptation.
SOCIO DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES IN UNIPOLAR AND BIPOLAR ILLNESS

T h e proposal to divide manic depressive illness into separate bipolar (alternating mania and depression) and unipolar (recurrent depression or recurrent mania) psychoses was first brought-forward by Leonhard (1959), but it was Angst (1966) who first produced convincing evidence in support of the divison. Perris (1968) was able to show that bipolar illness started on average of fifteen years earlier than depression and recurred more frequently. Individual episodes of illness were shorter. Leonhard 's distinction has had to be amended in one respect. Patients with unipolar mania are rare , and their first degree relatives suffer not from mania alone but from bipolar illness, and there is general agreement that recurrent mania is best regarded as bipolar illness which has not yet manifested its first episode of depression. Remi et al (1970) analysed data from five published series of affective disorders for morbid risk of affective illness in parents, siblings and children of the probands, who were separated by age, sex and whether this is bipolar (demonstrating mania in their history or occuring in a first degree relatives) or unipolar (demonstrating one or more depression and without a history of mania in first degree relatives). Significant differences in parental morbid risk were found between younger and older onset probands. Significant sex differences in morbid risk were found in both unipolar and bipolar groups. Venkoba Rao (1974) in a study of 101 endogenous depressions could not find statistically significant differences in unipolar and bipolar illness but Singh and Agarwal (1980) and Agarwal (1977) reported significant differences in the two groups.
The effects of tranexamic acid and 6% hydroxyethyl starch (HES) solution (130/0.4) on postoperative bleeding in coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

BACKGROUND The addition of 6% hydroxyethyl starch (HES) into Ringer lactate priming solution may have adverse effects on hemostasis in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) with or without the use of tranexamic acid. METHODS In a prospective, randomized clinical trial, 132 patients were assigned to receive 20 ml/kg of Ringer priming solution with or without tranexamic acid (TA) (Group RS-TA, n=34 and Group RS-noTA, n=32) or 10 ml/kg of 6% HES plus 10 ml/kg of RS priming solution with or without intravenous tranexamic acid (Group HES-TA, n=35 and Group HES-noTA, n=31). Estimated blood loss, chest tube drainage, amount of blood products, hemoglobin, hematocrit, platelet and coagulation parameters were examined before and 24 hour after surgery. RESULTS For Group HES with tranexamic acid, when compared to other groups, estimated blood loss, postoperative 24 hour drainage loss and blood product transfusions were less (P=0.023; P=0.003; P=0.001; respectively) and hemoglobin, hematocrit values at 12 and 24 hours after surgery increased in comparison to other groups (P=0.041, P=0.034, P=0.004, P=0.001; respectively). Platelet concentrations were similar between groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS In CABG, the administration of tranexamic acid in HES 130/0.4 prime solution study group decreased estimated blood loss and chest tube drainage in comparison to patients receving Ringer prime solution with or without tranexamic acid postoperatively however, no effects on renal functions or postoperative complications were shown.
Provisioning for interdomain quality of service: the MESCAL approach

This article presents an architecture for supporting interdomain QoS across the multi-provider global Internet. While most research to date has focused on supporting QoS within a single administrative domain, mature solutions are not yet available for the provision of QoS across multiple domains administered by different organizations. The architecture described in this article encompasses the full set of functions required in the management (service and resource), control and data planes for the provision of end-to-end QoS-based IP connectivity services. We use the concept of QoS classes and show how these can be cascaded using service level specifications (SLSs) agreed between BGP peer domains to construct a defined end-to-end QoS. We illustrate the architecture by describing a typical operational scenario.
Effect of type 2 diabetes on risk for malignancies includes hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis C

The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to assess the cumulative development incidence and predictive factors for malignancies after the termination of interferon (IFN) therapy in Japanese patients for hepatitis C virus (HCV). A total of 4,302 HCV‐positive patients treated with IFN were enrolled. The mean observation period was 8.1 years. The primary outcome was the first onset of malignancies. Evaluation was performed using the Kaplan‐Meier method and Cox proportional hazard analysis. A total of 606 patients developed malignancies: 393 developed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 213 developed malignancies other than HCC. The cumulative development rate of HCC was 4.3% at 5 years, 10.5% at 10 years, and 19.7% at 15 years. HCC occurred significantly (P < 0.05) when the following characteristics were present: advanced histological staging, sustained virological response not achieved, male sex, advanced age of ≥50 years, total alcohol intake of ≥200 kg, and presence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). T2DM caused a 1.73‐fold enhancement in HCC development. In patients with T2DM, HCC decreased when patients had a mean hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level of <7.0% during follow‐up (hazard ratio, 0.56; 95% confidence interval, 0.33‐0.89; P = 0.015). The cumulative development rate of malignancy other than HCC was 2.4% at 5 years, 5.1% at 10 years, and 9.8% at 15 years. Malignancies other than HCC occurred significantly when patients were of advanced age of ≤50 years, smoking index (package per day × year) was ≥ 20, and T2DM was present. T2DM caused a 1.70‐fold enhancement in the development of malignancies other than HCC. Conclusion: T2DM causes an approximately 1.7‐fold enhancement in the development of HCC and malignancies other than HCC in HCV‐positive patients treated with IFN. In T2DM patients, maintaining a mean HbA1c level of <7.0% reduces the development of HCC. (HEPATOLOGY 2013)
The NPH4 Locus Encodes the Auxin Response Factor ARF7, a Conditional Regulator of Differential Growth in Aerial Arabidopsis Tissue

Organ bending through differential growth represents a major mechanism by which plants are able to adaptively alter their morphology in response to local changes in the environment. Two plant hormones, auxin and ethylene, have been implicated as regulators of differential growth responses; however, the mechanisms by which they elicit their effects remain largely unknown. Here, we describe isolation of the NPH4 gene of Arabidopsis, which is conditionally required for differential growth responses of aerial tissues, and we report that NPH4 encodes the auxin-regulated transcriptional activator ARF7. The phenotypes of nph4 mutants, which include multiple differential growth defects associated with reduced auxin responsiveness, including impaired auxin-induced gene expression, are consistent with the predicted loss of function of a transcriptional activator, and these phenotypes indicate that auxin-dependent changes in gene transcription are prerequisite for proper organ bending responses. Although NPH4/ARF7 appears to be a major regulator of differential growth, it is not the sole regulator because phenotypes of nph4 null mutants were suppressed by application of ethylene. This latter finding illustrates the intimate connection between auxin and ethylene in the control of growth in higher plants.
Calcium influx in internally dialyzed squid giant axons

A method has been developed to measure Ca influx in internally dialyzed squid axons. This was achieved by controlling the dialyzed segment of the axon exposed to the external radioactive medium. The capacity of EGTA to buffer all the Ca entering the fiber was explored by changing the free EGTA at constant [Ca++]i. At a free [EGTA]i greater than 200 microM, the measured resting Ca influx and the expected increment in Ca entry during electrical stimulation were independent of the axoplasmic free [EGTA]. To avoid Ca uptake by the mitochondrial system, cyanide, oligomycin, and FCCP were included in the perfusate. Axons dialyzed with a standard medium containing: [ATP] = 2 mM, [Ca++]i = 0.06 microM, [Ca++]o = 10 mM, [Na+]i = 70 mM, and [Na+]o = 465 mM, gave a mean Ca influx of 0.14 +/- 0.012 pmol.cm-2.s-1 (n = 12. Removal of ATP drops the Ca influx to 0.085 +/- 0.007 pmol.cm-2.s-1 (n = 12). Ca influx increased to 0.35 pmol.cm-2,s-1 when Nao was removed. The increment was completely abolished by removing Nai+ and (or) ATP from the dialysis medium. At nominal zero [Ca++]i, no Nai-dependent Ca influx was observed. In the presence of ATP and Nai [Ca++]i activates the Ca influx along a sigmoid curve without saturation up to 1 microM [Ca++]i. Removal of Nai+ always reduced the Ca influx to a value similar to that observed in the absence of [Ca++]i (0.087 +/- 0.008 pmol.cm-2.s-1; n = 11). Under the above standard conditions, 50-60% of the total Ca influx was found to be insensitive to Nai+, Cai++, and ATP, sensitive to membrane potential, and partially inhibited by external Co++.
Wood Utilization Is Dependent on Catalase Activities in the Filamentous Fungus Podospora anserina

Catalases are enzymes that play critical roles in protecting cells against the toxic effects of hydrogen peroxide. They are implicated in various physiological and pathological conditions but some of their functions remain unclear. In order to decipher the role(s) of catalases during the life cycle of Podospora anserina, we analyzed the role of the four monofunctional catalases and one bifunctional catalase-peroxidase genes present in its genome. The five genes were deleted and the phenotypes of each single and all multiple mutants were investigated. Intriguingly, although the genes are differently expressed during the life cycle, catalase activity is dispensable during both vegetative growth and sexual reproduction in laboratory conditions. Catalases are also not essential for cellulose or fatty acid assimilation. In contrast, they are strictly required for efficient utilization of more complex biomass like wood shavings by allowing growth in the presence of lignin. The secreted CATB and cytosolic CAT2 are the major catalases implicated in peroxide resistance, while CAT2 is the major player during complex biomass assimilation. Our results suggest that P. anserina produces external H2O2 to assimilate complex biomass and that catalases are necessary to protect the cells during this process. In addition, the phenotypes of strains lacking only one catalase gene suggest that a decrease of catalase activity improves the capacity of the fungus to degrade complex biomass.
Shared path protection based on spectrum reserved matrix model in bandwidth-variable optical networks

The bandwidth-variable (BV) optical network architecture shows great advantage in resource utilization compared with traditional WDM networks, while its survivability is a more complicated optimization problem. In this paper, we proposed a Spectrum Reservation Matrix (SRM) model to characterize the shared path protection (SPP) problem of BV networks. The SRM model converts the spare capacity allocation (SCA) problem into a succinct mathematical form, offering static programming an effective approach of data structure and calculation. Both failure-independent (FID) and failure-dependent (FD) strategies are taken into consideration, and separate models for each case are given. An effective heuristic SPP algorithm for BV optical networks, named Minimum Spectrum Reservation (MSR) algorithm, is designed on the basis of SRM model. Holding the explicit objective of minimizing spectrum reservation cost, MSR algorithm shows better performance in terms of spectrum redundancy and blocking probability, in comparison with SPP employing min-hop strategy, in simulations.
Basalt fibre-reinforced PA1012 composites: Morphology, mechanical properties, crystallization behaviours, structure and water contact angle

The influences of basalt fibre on morphology, mechanical properties, structure, contact angle, melting and crystallization behaviours of polyamide 1012 were studied using scanning electron microscopy, material testing machine, X-ray diffractometer, differential scanning calorimeters and static contact angle measuring instrument. It was found that interface properties between basalt fibre and polyamide 1012 were improved effectively by silane coupling agent. Also, the tensile and flexural strength of treated basalt fibre-reinforced composites were found to be higher than untreated ones at the same fibre content. The best tensile and flexural strength of polyamide 1012/treated basalt fibre composites with 30 wt% basalt fibre were determined to be 84.4 and 120 MPa. Although basalt fibre did not change polyamide 1012 crystal structure, it altered the melting temperature and degree of crystallinity of polyamide 1012. In addition, by virtue of the changes in crystallization temperature, the nucleation ability of polyamide 1012 in composites was confirmed to be enhanced. The strong interaction between epoxy groups of silane coupling agent and amide groups of polyamide 1012 elevates the hydrophobic properties of composites. The results from nonisothermal crystallization kinetics testified that crystallization ability of polyamide 1012 in composite containing 30 wt% basalt fibre was strengthened, compared with neat polyamide 1012.
Unusual bacterioplankton community structure in ultra‐oligotrophic Crater Lake

The bacterioplankton assemblage in Crater Lake, Oregon (U.S.A.), is different from communities found in other oxygenated lakes, as demonstrated by four small subunit ribosomal ribonucleic acid (SSU rRNA) gene clone libraries and oligonucleotide probe hybridization to RNA from lake water. Populations in the euphotic zone of this deep (589 m), oligotrophic caldera lake are dominated by two phylogenetic clusters of currently uncultivated bacteria: CL120–10, a newly identified cluster in the verrucomicrobiales, and ACK4 actinomycetes, known as a minor constituent of bacterioplankton in other lakes. Deep‐water populations at 300 and 500 m are dominated by a different pair of uncultivated taxa: CL500–11, a novel cluster in the green nonsulfur bacteria, and group I marine crenarchaeota. b‐Proteobacteria, dominant in most other freshwater environments, are relatively rare in Crater Lake (<=16% of nonchloroplast bacterial rRNA at all depths). Other taxa identified in Crater Lake libraries include a newly identified candidate bacterial division, ABY1, and a newly identified subcluster, CL0–1, within candidate division OP10. Probe analyses confirmed vertical stratification of several microbial groups, similar to patterns observed in open‐ocean systems. Additional similarities between Crater Lake and ocean microbial populations include aphotic zone dominance of group I marine crenarchaeota and green nonsulfur bacteria. Comparison of Crater Lake to other lakes studied by rRNA methods suggests that selective factors structuring Crater Lake bacterioplankton populations may include low concentrations of available trace metals and dissolved organic matter, chemistry of infiltrating hydrothermal waters, and irradiation by high levels of ultraviolet light.
FPGA implementation of a CDMA source coding and modulation subsystem for a multiband fluorometer with pattern recognition capabilities

We describe the design of a source coding and modulation circuit to be used in the front end of a multiband fluorometer device. The circuit uses a CDMA approach to minimize ambient and exogenous noise contamination and is implemented in a Xilinx Spartan 3 FPGA. The eight channel CDMA modulator and demodulator subsections use 1172 slices, or 61% of a XC3S200 FPGA, leaving ample room to embed a Microblaze IP core for spectral signature analysis and pattern recognition, and user interaction.