Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE DETERMINATION OF REDDENING FROM INTRINSIC VR COLORS OF RR LYRAE STARS

New R-band observations of 21 local field RR Lyrae variable stars are used to explore the reliability of minimum light (V − R) colors as a tool for measuring interstellar reddening. For each star, R-band intensity mean magnitudes and light amplitudes are presented. Corresponding V-band light curves from the literature are supplemented with the new photometry, and (V − R) colors at minimum light are determined for a subset of these stars as well as for other stars in the literature. Two different definitions of minimum light color are examined, one which uses a Fourier decomposition to the V and R light curves to find (V − R) at minimum V-band light, (V − R)Fmin, and the other which uses the average color between the phase interval 0.5–0.8, (V − R)ϕ(0.5−0.8)min. From 31 stars with a wide range of metallicities and pulsation periods, the mean dereddened RR Lyrae color at minimum light is (V − R)Fmin,0 = 0.28 ± 0.02 mag and (V − R)ϕ(0.5−0.8)min,0 = 0.27 ± 0.02 mag. As was found by Guldenschuh et al. using (V − I) colors, any dependence of the star's minimum light color on metallicity or pulsation amplitude is too weak to be formally detected. We find that the intrinsic (V − R) of Galactic bulge RR Lyrae stars are similar to those found by their local counterparts and hence that bulge RR0 Lyrae stars do not have anomalous colors as compared to the local RR Lyrae stars.
Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis: a histopathological study of eight cases of a recently described entity

unusual thyroid carcinoma in an article entitled (in translation) ‘Hyalin-like collagenous spheres as products of epithelial cells in malignant strumata’. The peculiar feature of these carcinomas was the production of Congo red-negative hyalin by the neoplastic cells. Two of Zipkin’s tumours showed invasion of capsular blood vessels and there was fatal pulmonary metastasis in one case. In 1922, Masson reported cases of the same tumour and credited Zipkin with its description. The differential diagnosis of hyalinizing trabecular carcinoma includes (i) medullary carcinoma in which the hyaline material is amyloid, (ii) papillary carcinoma in which there are true papillae and no hyalin, and (iii) oxyphilic cell tumours which have granular eosinophilic cytoplasm and prominent nucleoli but no hyalin.
Improved Approximation Algorithms for Matroid and Knapsack Median Problems and Applications

We consider the matroid median problem [Krishnaswamy et al. 2011], wherein we are given a set of facilities with opening costs and a matroid on the facility-set, and clients with demands and connection costs, and we seek to open an independent set of facilities and assign clients to open facilities so as to minimize the sum of the facility-opening and client-connection costs. We give a simple 8-approximation algorithm for this problem based on LP-rounding, which improves upon the 16-approximation in Krishnaswamy et al. [2011]. We illustrate the power and versatility of our techniques by deriving (a) an 8-approximation for the two-matroid median problem, a generalization of matroid median that we introduce involving two matroids; and (b) a 24-approximation algorithm for matroid median with penalties, which is a vast improvement over the 360-approximation obtained in Krishnaswamy et al. [2011]. We show that a variety of seemingly disparate facility-location problems considered in the literature—data placement problem, mobile facility location, k-median forest, metric uniform minimum-latency Uncapacitated Facility Location (UFL)—in fact reduce to the matroid median or two-matroid median problems, and thus obtain improved approximation guarantees for all these problems. Our techniques also yield an improvement for the knapsack median problem.
Sparse Representation of Brain Aging: Extracting Covariance Patterns from Structural MRI

An enhanced understanding of how normal aging alters brain structure is urgently needed for the early diagnosis and treatment of age-related mental diseases. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a reliable technique used to detect age-related changes in the human brain. Currently, multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) enables the exploration of subtle and distributed changes of data obtained from structural MRI images. In this study, a new MVPA approach based on sparse representation has been employed to investigate the anatomical covariance patterns of normal aging. Two groups of participants (group 1∶290 participants; group 2∶56 participants) were evaluated in this study. These two groups were scanned with two 1.5 T MRI machines. In the first group, we obtained the discriminative patterns using a t-test filter and sparse representation step. We were able to distinguish the young from old cohort with a very high accuracy using only a few voxels of the discriminative patterns (group 1∶98.4%; group 2∶96.4%). The experimental results showed that the selected voxels may be categorized into two components according to the two steps in the proposed method. The first component focuses on the precentral and postcentral gyri, and the caudate nucleus, which play an important role in sensorimotor tasks. The strongest volume reduction with age was observed in these clusters. The second component is mainly distributed over the cerebellum, thalamus, and right inferior frontal gyrus. These regions are not only critical nodes of the sensorimotor circuitry but also the cognitive circuitry although their volume shows a relative resilience against aging. Considering the voxels selection procedure, we suggest that the aging of the sensorimotor and cognitive brain regions identified in this study has a covarying relationship with each other.
Comparison of synovial fluid culture and 16S rRNA PCR in dogs with suspected septic arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To prospectively compare the sensitivity and specificity of 16S rRNA PCR with culture for identifying the causative organism in synovial fluid obtained from dogs with suspected septic arthritis. METHODS Synovial fluid cytology, PCR analysis and aerobic, anaerobic and Mycoplasma culture of samples from the affected joints of 18 dogs presenting with suspected septic arthritis were performed. Synovial fluid samples from the corresponding contralateral joints of 7 dogs were also analysed as negative controls. RESULTS There was no significant difference between the sensitivity of bacterial detection via culture (63.2%) versus PCR (73.7%) of synovial fluid (P=0.728) or between culture and combined PCR and culture (89.5%) of synovial fluid (P=0.124). The specificity of PCR (42.9%) was significantly lower than culture specificity (100%) (P=0.07). CONCLUSION Although 16S PCR may hold potential as an ancillary diagnostic test for identifying the causative organism in dogs with septic arthritis, our study failed to demonstrate improved accuracy compared with traditional synovial fluid culture.
Management of rhino-orbital mucormycosis

Mucormycosis is an uncommon acute invasive fungal infection that affects immunocompromised patients. It progresses rapidly and has poor prognosis if diagnosed late. Early detection, control of the underlying condition with aggressive surgical debridement, administration of systemic and local antifungal therapies, hyperbaric oxygen as adjunctive treatment improves prognosis and survivability.
VR Reading UIs: Assessing Text Parameters for Reading in VR

Virtual Reality (VR) devices have increasingly sparked both commercial and academic interest. While applications range from immersive games to real-world simulations, little attention has been given to the display of text in virtual environments. Since reading remains to be a crucial activity to consume information in the real and digital world, we set out to investigate user interfaces for reading in VR. To explore comfortable reading settings, we conducted a user study with 18 participants focusing on parameters, such as text size, convergence, as well as view box dimensions and positioning. This paper presents the first step in our work towards guidelines for effectively displaying text in VR.
Simulation Model for Dynamics of Dengue with Innate and Humoral Immune Responses

Dengue virus is a mosquito borne Flavivirus and the most prevalent arbovirus in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. The incidence of dengue has increased drastically over the last few years at an alarming rate. The clinical manifestation of dengue ranges from asymptomatic infection to severe dengue. Even though the viral kinetics of dengue infection is lacking, innate immune response and humoral immune response are thought to play a major role in controlling the virus count. Here, we developed a computer simulation mathematical model including both innate and adaptive immune responses to study the within-host dynamics of dengue virus infection. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to identify key parameters that would contribute towards severe dengue. A detailed stability analysis was carried out to identify relevant range of parameters that contributes to different outcomes of the infection. This study provides a qualitative understanding of the biological factors that can explain the viral kinetics during a dengue infection.
Positioning of chemosensory proteins and FtsZ through the Rhodobacter sphaeroides cell cycle

Bacterial chemotaxis depends on signalling through large protein complexes. Each cell must inherit a complex on division, suggesting some co‐ordination with cell division. In Escherichia coli the membrane‐spanning chemosensory complexes are polar and new static complexes form at pre‐cytokinetic sites, ensuring positioning at the new pole after division and suggesting a role for the bacterial cytoskeleton. Rhodobacter sphaeroides has both membrane‐associated and cytoplasmic, chromosome‐associated chemosensory complexes. We followed the relative positions of the two chemosensory complexes, FtsZ and MreB in aerobic and in photoheterotrophic R. sphaeroides cells using fluorescence microscopy. FtsZ forms polar spots after cytokinesis, which redistribute to the midcell forming nodes from which FtsZ extends circumferentially to form the Z‐ring. Membrane‐associated chemosensory proteins form a number of dynamic unit‐clusters with mature clusters containing about 1000 CheW3 proteins. Individual clusters diffuse randomly within the membrane, accumulating at new poles after division but not colocalizing with either FtsZ or MreB. The cytoplasmic complex colocalizes with FtsZ at midcells in new‐born cells. Before cytokinesis one complex moves to a daughter cell, followed by the second moving to the other cell. These data indicate that two homologous complexes use different mechanisms to ensure partitioning, and neither complex utilizes FtsZ or MreB for positioning.
Pure Tone Audiometry

Pure tone audiometry is the standard behavioral assessment of an individual’s hearing. The results of pure tone audiometry are recorded on a chart or form called an audiogram. In most cases a pure tone audiogram is easy to obtain and provides information about peripheral hearing acuity across the frequencies used in speech. It allows for a quick view of how well, or how poorly, an individual can hear specific frequencies and for a comparison of one ear to the other. In the presence of a hearing loss, the pure tone audiogram often allows a clinician to make some inferences which, when viewed in conjunction with the patient’s case history, can help lead to a diagnosis or determine the likely etiology of the hearing loss. The following is a summary of how a pure tone audiogram is obtained and interpreted.
Direct effect of radiation on the peripheral nerve in a rat model

Abstract Radiation neuropathy is one of the severe complications of radiotherapy. Entrapment neuropathy, caused by surrounding soft tissue fibrosis induced by radiation, plays a key role in the onset of this neuropathy. Meanwhile, the pathophysiology of the direct effect of radiation on the peripheral nerve is not yet fully understood. The aim of this study is to investigate the direct effects of radiation on rat sciatic nerves that are isolated from surrounding soft tissue. In the radiation group (R group), only the exposed sciatic nerve was irradiated with 90 Gy X-radiation. In the sham group (S group), the surgical procedures were completed without radiation. The sciatic functional index (SFI) result demonstrated no statistical differences between the R group and S group. However, even though the surrounding soft tissue was not irradiated, the macroscopic and histological findings of the R group at 24 weeks after radiation showed scar formation around the radiated nerve. These findings on radiation neuropathy indicate that neurohumoral factors derived from the radiated nerve itself may cause fibrosis. The electromyographic and histological examination showed axonal degeneration in the R group. Furthermore, the axon diameter and axon packing density in the R group demonstrated the axonal degeneration, even though it was 0.5 cm more proximal to the radiated portion than the axon packing density in the S group. This appearance was assumed to be “dying-back” neuropathy. It is believed that this study is a first step toward identifying an accurate pathophysiology for intractable radiation-induced peripheral neuropathy.
Impact of Toll-Like Receptor 2 Deficiency on Immune Responses to Mycobacterial Antigens

ABSTRACT In the present study, we addressed the question of whether Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2)-mediated innate immunity can contribute to the development of acquired immune responses. We immunized TLR2−/− and wild-type (WT) mice three times subcutaneously with the mycobacterial antigen (Ag19kDa) (a TLR2 ligand) or Ag85A (not a TLR2 ligand). One week after the last immunization, sera and spleens were collected. To evaluate cellular responses, we measured gamma interferon (IFN-γ) after in vitro restimulation of spleen cells with antigen alone or antigen-pulsed bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMMAg) or pulmonary macrophages (PuMAg). Antibody responses were comparable in the two mouse strains, but we observed differences in the cellular responses. Recall responses to Ag85A were similar in the two strains, but responses to Ag19kDa given alone or presented by BMM or PuM were lower in TLR2−/− than in WT mice. The largest differences in cellular responses were observed when Ag19kDa was presented by PuM. To understand this, we analyzed phenotypic and functional differences between BMM and PuM upon stimulation with various ligands. Generally, PuM had a lower response to the TLR2 ligand Pam3Cys-Ser-(Lys)4 trihydrochloride and to anti-CD40 than BMM, as measured by cytokine secretion and upregulation of costimulatory molecules. This might provide a partial explanation for the lower capacity of PuM when pulsed with Ag19kDa, also a TLR2 ligand. Altogether, our results revealed weaknesses in the T cell and antigen-presenting cell (APC) compartments of the Ag19kDa-immunized TLR2−/− mice but indicated that specific immune responses could be generated in the absence of TLR2 regardless of the characteristics of the antigen used.
Handel continuum electrostatics and solvation Energy functions for protein design I : Efficient and accurate data

Electrostatics and solvation energies are important for defining protein stability, structural specificity, and molecular recognition. Because these energies are difficult to compute quickly and accurately, they are often ignored or modeled very crudely in computational protein design. To address this problem, we have developed a simple, fast, and accurate approximation for calculating Born radii in the context of protein design calculations. When these approximate Born radii are used with the generalized Born continuum dielectric model, energies calculated by the 10-fold slower finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann model are faithfully reproduced. A similar approach can be used for estimating solvent-accessible surface areas (SASAs). As an independent test, we show that these approximations can be used to accurately predict the experimentally determined pKas of >200 ionizable groups from 15 proteins.
Outpatient and short‐stay thyroid surgery

TO THE EDITOR: We read with interest the article by LoGerfo et a1.l As we, too, are following the policy of “early” discharge of thyroidectomy patients, 82 of 91 such patients were discharged within 40-45 hours of surgery in the last 2 years. We take this opportunity to present our own experience and critical analysis of the reported observations. It is difficult to understand why the authors persisted with the use of coarse-needle biopsy in preoperative workup, when fine-needle aspiration cytology is well established. Is it justified to perform total thyroidectomy on the basis of “suspicion,” as mentioned in this article, when frozen sectionkompletion thyroidectomy (in case frozen section is not available) has logical application scientifically? Such modifications as smaller incision, even for carcinoma (with possible adhesions) and Graves disease (with excessive vascularity and “parasitic vessels’’ in addition to normal vasculature) are attractive but potentially dangerous. Delivering out a lobe for dissection of vessels or performing pinhole surgery through a 1.5 inch incision is difficult. We fully agree with the modification of closing strap muscles in only the upper portion and the removal of prolene in a few hours. (We remove sutures at 40-45 hours in all patients and do not use any adhesive strips.) Not draining’,’ a thyroidectomy wound is again something only a few will agree with, and will rarely follow. In our opinion, the modification of not draining the thyroid bed and presuming that hemorrhage will not occur after 8 hours is risky. The number of cases reported is not statistically significant to warrant the 1% complication rate under consideration. It is difficult to accept that the drains in thyroid surgery are
The relation of visualization of internal mammary lymph nodes on lymphoscintigraphy to axillary lymph node metastases in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND A few studies about lymphoscintigraphy in breast cancer patients have reported a correlation between decreased sentinel lymph node (LN) uptake and increased risk of axillary involvement with the hypothesis of blocked lymphatic passage of radiotracers by metastatic burden. This study is designed to investigate whether the visible internal mammary LN of lymphoscintigraphy (IM-LPS) is related to axillary LN metastasis, rather than identifying sentinel LN in the internal mammary area. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 401 breast cancer patients who underwent sentinel lymphoscintigraphy using Tc-99m phytate and subsequent axillary LN dissection. The IM-LPS was divided into positive or negative groups, and axillary lymphoscintigraphy (A-LPS) was visually graded into four groups according to the method suggested by Lee et al. (1) To evaluate the relation of positive IM-LPS and A-LPS pattern with axillary LN metastasis, multivariate logistic regression analysis was done with covariates of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center model. RESULTS Positive IM-LPS was found in 32 patients. On the univariate logistic regression analysis, positive IM-LPS (p=0.01) and A-LPS pattern (p<0.05) successfully predicted the axillary LN status. On the multivariate logistic regression model, positive IM-LPS (OR 2.6362; 95% CI 1.0382-6.6938; p=0.04) and group II A-LPS (OR 1.9773; 95% CI 1.1336-3.4491; p=0.01) remained statistically significant variables for the predictor of axillary LN metastasis. CONCLUSION This study suggests that IM-LPS and A-LPS pattern might be useful to show the burden of axillary LN metastasis in breast cancer patients, as an indicator of altered lymphatic pathway.
Finite-State Approximation of Phrase Structure Grammars

Phrase-structure grammars are an effective representation for important syntactic and semantic aspects of natural languages, but are computationally too demanding for use as language models in real-time speech recognition. An algorithm is described that computes finite-state approximations for context-free grammars and equivalent augmented phrase-structure grammar formalisms. The approximation is exact for certain context-free grammars generating regular languages, including all left-linear and right-linear context-free grammars. The algorithm has been used to construct finite-state language models for limited-domain speech recognition tasks.
The relative potency and safety of endothelial progenitor cells and unselected mononuclear cells for recovery from myocardial infarction and ischemia

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are a subset of the total mononuclear cell population (tMNCs) that possess an enhanced potential for differentiation within the endothelial‐cell lineage. Typically, EPCs are selected from tMNCs via the expression of both hematopoietic stem‐cell markers and endothelial‐cell markers, such as CD34, or by culturing tMNCs in media selective for endothelial cells. Both EPCs and tMNCs participate in vascular growth and regeneration, and their potential use for treatment of myocardial injury or disease has been evaluated in early‐phase clinical studies. Direct comparisons between EPCs and tMNCs are rare, but the available evidence appears to favor EPCs, particularly CD34+ cells, and the potency of EPCs may be increased as much as 30‐fold through genetic modification. However, these observations must be interpreted with caution because clinical investigations of EPC therapy are ongoing. We anticipate that with continued development, EPC therapy will become a safe and effective treatment option for patients with acute myocardial infarction or chronic ischemic disease. J. Cell. Physiol. 219: 235–242, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Current clinical evidence on pioglitazone pharmacogenomics

Pioglitazone is the most widely used thiazolidinedione and acts as an insulin-sensitizer through activation of the Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-γ (PPARγ). Pioglitazone is approved for use in the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but its use in other therapeutic areas is increasing due to pleiotropic effects. In this hypothesis article, the current clinical evidence on pioglitazone pharmacogenomics is summarized and related to variability in pioglitazone response. How genetic variation in the human genome affects the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of pioglitazone was examined. For pharmacodynamic effects, hypoglycemic and anti-atherosclerotic effects, risks of fracture or edema, and the increase in body mass index in response to pioglitazone based on genotype were examined. The genes CYP2C8 and PPARG are the most extensively studied to date and selected polymorphisms contribute to respective variability in pioglitazone pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. We hypothesized that genetic variation in pioglitazone pathway genes contributes meaningfully to the clinically observed variability in drug response. To test the hypothesis that genetic variation in PPARG associates with variability in pioglitazone response, we conducted a meta-analysis to synthesize the currently available data on the PPARG p.Pro12Ala polymorphism. The results showed that PPARG 12Ala carriers had a more favorable change in fasting blood glucose from baseline as compared to patients with the wild-type Pro12Pro genotype (p = 0.018). Unfortunately, findings for many other genes lack replication in independent cohorts to confirm association; further studies are needed. Also, the biological functionality of these polymorphisms is unknown. Based on current evidence, we propose that pharmacogenomics may provide an important tool to individualize pioglitazone therapy and better optimize therapy in patients with T2DM or other conditions for which pioglitazone is being used.