Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trend to Equilibrium for a Delay Vlasov-Fokker-Planck Equation and Explicit Decay Estimates

In this paper, a delay Vlasov-Fokker-Planck equation associated to a stochastic interacting particle system with delay is investigated analytically. Under certain restrictions on the parameters well-posedness and ergodicity of the mean-field equation are shown and an exponential rate of convergence towards the unique stationary solution is proven as long as the delay is finite. For infinte delay i.e., when all the history of the solution paths are taken into consideration polynomial decay of the solution is shown.
Study of the Microstructure Evolution and Properties Response of a Friction-Stir-Welded Copper-Chromium-Zirconium Alloy

In this article, the copper-chromium-zirconium (CuCrZr) alloys plates with 21 mm in thickness were butt joined together by means of FSW (friction stir welding). The properties of the FSW joints are studied. The microstructure variations during the process of FSW were investigated by optical microscopy (OM), electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the grains size in the nugget zone (NZ) are significantly refined, which can be attributed to the dynamic recrystallization (DRX). The microstructure distribution in the NZ is inhomogeneous and the size of equiaxed grains are decreased gradually along the thickness direction from the top to bottom area of the welds. Meanwhile, it is found that the micro-hardness and tensile strength of the welds are slightly increased along the thickness direction from the top to the bottom area of the welds. All the nano-strengthening precipitates in the BM are dissolved into the Cu matrix in the NZ. Therefore, the decreases in hardness, tensile strength, and electrical conductivity can be attributed to the comprehensive effect of dissolution of nano-strengthening precipitates into the supersaturation matrix and severe DRX in the welded NZ.
2 Acute Pancreatitis Induced by Drugs

Drug-induced acute pancreatitis (DIP) is generally considered to be a rare disease. Indeed, the incidence of cases caused by medication use is much lower than of those caused by biliary disorder or alcohol. On the other hand, the total incidence of acute pancreatitis in developed countries continues to rise as does the exposition of general population to medication. The disease was almost unknown before the 1960s. Probably the first two cases were reported in the late 1950s: by Zion et al. in 1955 and Johnston & Cornish in 1959. From that time, the number of reported cases has increased steadily until these days. A further increase in the incidence of drug-induced acute pancreatitis may be expected and seems to be actually present in recent scientific papers on the topic. For a proper understanding of the disease, we must regard it not simply as one of many other types of acute pancreatitis, but primarily as an adverse drug reaction (ADR). A recent definition describes an ADR as “an appreciably harmful or unpleasant reaction, resulting from an intervention related to the use of a medicinal product, which predicts hazard from future administration and warrants prevention or specific treatment, or alteration of the dosage regimen, or withdrawal of the product” (Edwards & Aronson, 2000).
Three‐dimensional reconstruction of Haversian systems in human cortical bone using synchrotron radiation‐based micro‐CT: morphology and quantification of branching and transverse connections across age

This study uses synchrotron radiation‐based micro‐computed tomography (CT) scans to reconstruct three‐dimensional networks of Haversian systems in human cortical bone in order to observe and analyse interconnectivity of Haversian systems and the development of total Haversian networks across different ages. A better knowledge of how Haversian systems interact with each other is essential to improve understanding of remodeling mechanisms and bone maintenance; however, previous methodological approaches (e.g. serial sections) did not reveal enough detail to follow the specific morphology of Haversian branching, for example. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to identify the morphological diversity of branching patterns and transverse connections, and to understand how they change with age. Two types of branching morphologies were identified: lateral branching, resulting in small osteon branches bifurcating off of larger Haversian canals; and dichotomous branching, the formation of two new osteonal branches from one. The reconstructions in this study also suggest that Haversian systems frequently target previously existing systems as a path for their course, resulting in a cross‐sectional morphology frequently referred to as ‘type II osteons’. Transverse connections were diverse in their course from linear to oblique to curvy. Quantitative assessment of age‐related trends indicates that while in younger human individuals transverse connections were most common, in older individuals more evidence of connections resulting from Haversian systems growing inside previously existing systems was found. Despite these changes in morphological characteristics, a relatively constant degree of overall interconnectivity is maintained throughout life. Altogether, the present study reveals important details about Haversian systems and their relation to each other that can be used towards a better understanding of cortical bone remodeling as well as a more accurate interpretation of morphological variants of osteons in cross‐sectional microscopy. Permitting visibility of reversal lines, synchrotron radiation‐based micro‐CT is a valuable tool for the reconstruction of Haversian systems, and future analyses have the potential to further improve understanding of various important aspects of bone growth, maintenance and health.
Absence of a Red Blood Cell Phenotype in Mice with Hematopoietic Deficiency of SEC23B

ABSTRACT Congenital dyserythropoietic anemia type II (CDAII) is an autosomal recessive disease of ineffective erythropoiesis characterized by increased bi/multinucleated erythroid precursors in the bone marrow. CDAII results from mutations in SEC23B. The SEC23 protein is a core component of coat protein complex II-coated vesicles, which transport secretory proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi apparatus. Though the genetic defect underlying CDAII has been identified, the pathophysiology of this disease remains unknown. We previously reported that SEC23B-deficient mice die perinatally, exhibiting massive pancreatic degeneration, with this early mortality limiting evaluation of the adult hematopoietic compartment. We now report that mice with SEC23B deficiency restricted to the hematopoietic compartment survive normally and do not exhibit anemia or other CDAII characteristics. We also demonstrate that SEC23B-deficient hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) do not exhibit a disadvantage at reconstituting hematopoiesis when compared directly to wild-type HSC in a competitive repopulation assay. Secondary bone marrow transplants demonstrated continued equivalence of SEC23B-deficient and WT HSC in their hematopoietic reconstitution potential. The surprising discordance in phenotypes between SEC23B-deficient mice and humans may reflect an evolutionary shift in SEC23 paralog function and/or expression, or a change in a specific COPII cargo critical for erythropoiesis.
Exploring association between sleep deprivation and chronic periodontitis: A pilot study

Background: Sleep deprivation has become a global phenomenon, and epidemiologic data indicate that short sleep duration adversely impacts human physical health. Underlying mechanisms involve modulation of immune-inflammatory mechanisms. These changes might contribute to potentiation of destructive periodontal disease. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess if there is an association of sleep deprivation with chronic periodontal diseases. Materials and Methods: Sixty subjects were categorized into 3 groups (n = 20 each) viz. clinically healthy, gingivitis and periodontitis. Periodontal status of subjects was assessed by gingival index and pocket probing depth. All the study subjects were administered Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire for the assessment of sleep deprivation. Results: Present investigation revealed that mean PSQI was highest in the periodontitis group as compared to other two groups and the difference among three groups was statistically significant. Conclusion: The present study with preliminary results suggestive of the association of sleep deprivation with severity of periodontal disease, definitely calls on for future studies with larger samples.
Surgical Successful Treatment Pregnant Patient Complicated Involvement of Cushing ' s Syndrome in a with Severe Cardiac

We encountered a case of a pregnant woman with adrenal causes of Cushing's syndrome who exhibited congestive heart failure as an initial symptom. Since the patient was also a diabetic, we treated her with high levels of diuretics and insulin. Echocardiography revealed a remarkable thickening of the left ventricle without asymmetric hypertrophy. The diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome caused by adrenal adenoma was confirmed by the endocrinological data and magnetic resonance imaging. The right adrenal adenoma was removed in the 28th week of pregnancy. After the operation, her congestive heart failure and hyperglycemia dramatically improved. Five weeks after the operation, she delivered a normal infant by caesarean section without complications. Only 4 months after delivery, the thickening of her left ventricle was normalized. We consider that the progression of her left ventricular hypertrophy induced by the changes in hemodynamic load during pregnancy may have been augmented by the excess of plasma cortisol. Operative therapy may be recommended for pregnant Cushing's syndrome patients with severe hypercortisolism complicating congestive heart failure.
Efficient ID-Based Multi-Receiver Threshold Decryption

Threshold decryption allows a message encrypted under a public key to be read only when a quorum of users cooperate to decrypt the ciphertext. However, such threshold decryption scheme does not apply well in the situation where all the users have their own public/private key pairs, but not share any private key associated with a public key, such as mobile ad hoc network featured by its dynamic character. An immediate way to achieve threshold decryption in this situation is to split the message into pieces, then encrypt these pieces under the public keys of different users. However, it is not efficient. In this paper, we propose an efficient identity based multi-receiver threshold decryption scheme that could be applied efficiently in the above situation. We also define the security notions and prove the security in random oracle model. At last, we add the broadcast feature to the scheme, such that a message could be broadcast to any number of groups.
Effect of Drugs Interacting With the Dopaminergic Receptors on Glucose Levels and Insulin Release in Healthy and Type 2 Diabetic Subjects

Dopamine agonists play an important role in the regulation of the central nervous-cardiovascular, renal, and hormonal systems through stimulation of dopaminergic (DA1 and DA2) and α- and β-adrenergic receptors. Several studies have shown that in fat and diabetic mice. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the interaction of the dopaminergic and endocrine systems by determining the effect of the dopaminergic antagonist, metoclopramide, and dopamine on insulin secretion and cardiovascular response by blockade and activation of dopamine receptors in healthy and type 2 diabetic subjects. Healthy subjects (n =15) and subjects with type 2 diabetes (n = 15) of both genders, aged 18 to 60 years, were recruited into this study. A comparative experimental design of 90 minutes was performed in which placebo (0.9% saline) was infused intravenously for the first 30 minutes followed by metoclopramide (7.5 μg/kg/min), a dopamine receptor antagonist for 30 minutes, and then metoclopramide (7.5 μg/kg/min) plus dopamine (0.5-3 μg/kg/min) for 30 minutes. The following clinical and biochemical parameters were measured at the beginning and then every 30 minutes of the experimental period (30′, 60′ and 90′): systolic-diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure, heart rate, serum glucose, insulin, triacylglycerides, and total cholesterol. Baseline glycosylated hemoglobin was measured and homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance was calculated from insulin and glucose levels. Twelve-lead electrocardiograms were also obtained at these points. Dopamine infusion induced an increase in serum insulin, systolic blood pressure, and heart rate in healthy subjects but not in subjects with type 2 diabetes. Infusion of metoclopramide induced a hypotensive effect in healthy subjects, which was blunted by inclusion of dopamine in the infusion mixture. In subjects with diabetes, metoclopramide had no effect on blood pressure, but addition of dopamine raised systolic blood pressure. Neither metoclopramide nor dopamine altered significantly the lipid profile in healthy or diabetic subjects. Dopaminergic drugs increase serum insulin probably by interacting with dopaminergic receptors, but stimulation of β-adrenergic receptors cannot be ruled out. Stimulation of cardiovascular dopamine receptors also caused modifications of hemodynamic parameters in healthy subjects, but apparently these receptors are attenuated in patients with type 2 diabetes probably as a result of endothelial dysfunction and alterations in the sympathetic nervous system sensitivity.
Automatic tissue segmentation of head and neck MR images for hyperthermia treatment planning

A hyperthermia treatment requires accurate, patient-specific treatment planning. This planning is based on 3D anatomical models which are generally derived from computed tomography. Because of its superior soft tissue contrast, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) information can be introduced to improve the quality of these 3D patient models and therefore the treatment planning itself. Thus, we present here an automatic atlas-based segmentation algorithm for MR images of the head and neck. Our method combines multiatlas local weighting fusion with intensity modelling. The accuracy of the method was evaluated using a leave-one-out cross validation experiment over a set of 11 patients for which manual delineation were available. The accuracy of the proposed method was high both in terms of the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and the 95th percentile Hausdorff surface distance (HSD) with median DSC higher than 0.8 for all tissues except sclera. For all tissues, except the spine tissues, the accuracy was approaching the interobserver agreement/variability both in terms of DSC and HSD. The positive effect of adding the intensity modelling to the multiatlas fusion decreased when a more accurate atlas fusion method was used. Using the proposed approach we improved the performance of the approach previously presented for H&N hyperthermia treatment planning, making the method suitable for clinical application.
Dendritic Cell–T-Cell Interactions Support Coreceptor-Independent Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Transmission in the Human Genital Tract

ABSTRACT Worldwide, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is transmitted predominantly by heterosexual contact. Here, we investigate for the first time, by examining mononuclear cells obtained from cervicovaginal tissue, the mechanisms whereby HIV type 1 (HIV-1) directly targets cells from the human genital tract. In contrast to earlier findings in mucosal models such as human skin, we demonstrate that the majority of T cells and macrophages but none or few dendritic cells (DC) express the HIV-1 coreceptor CCR5 in normal human cervicovaginal mucosa, whereas all three cell types express the coreceptor CXCR4. To understand the role of coreceptor expression on infectivity, mucosal mononuclear cells were infected with various HIV-1 isolates, using either CCR5 or CXCR4. Unstimulated T cells become rapidly, albeit nonproductively, infected with R5- and X4-tropic variants. However, DC and T cells form stable conjugates which permit productive infection by viruses of both coreceptor specificities. These results indicate that HIV-1 can exploit T-cell–DC synergism in the human genital tract to overcome potential coreceptor restrictions on DC and postentry blocks of viral replication in unactivated T cells. Thus, mononuclear cells infiltrating the genital mucosa are permissive for transmission of both R5- and X4-tropic HIV-1 variants, and selection of virus variants does not occur by differential expression of HIV-1 coreceptors on genital mononuclear cells.
Hormonal therapy in advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer.

BACKGROUND Endometrial cancer is a cancer of the lining of the womb and worldwide is the seventh most common cancer in women. Treatment with hormones is thought to be beneficial in patients with endometrial cancer. OBJECTIVES To assess the indications, effectiveness and safety of hormone therapy for advanced or recurrent epithelial endometrial cancer. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched the Cochrane Gynaecological Cancer Group Trials Register, MEDLINE, EMBASE up to May 2009 and and CENTRAL (Issue 2, 2009). We also searched registers of clinical trials, abstracts of scientific meetings, reference lists of included studies, and contacted experts in the field. SELECTION CRITERIA Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that studied hormonal therapy in adult women diagnosed with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two review authors independently abstracted data and assessed risk of bias. Comparisons were restricted to single-trial analyses so we did not synthesise data in meta-analyses. MAIN RESULTS We found six trials (542 participants) that met our inclusion criteria. These trials assessed the effectiveness of hormonal therapy in women with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer as a single agent, as part of combination therapy and as low versus high dose. All comparisons were restricted to single-trial analyses, where we found no evidence that hormonal therapy as a single agent or as a combination treatment prolonged overall or five-year disease-free survival of women with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. However, low-dose hormonal therapy may have had a benefit in terms of overall and progression-free survival (PFS) compared to high-dose hormonal therapy (HR 1.31, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.66 and HR 1.35, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.71 for overall and PFS, respectively). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS We found insufficient evidence that hormonal treatment in any form, dose or as part of combination therapy improves the survival of patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. However, a large number of patients would be needed to demonstrate an effect on survival and none of the included RCTs had a sufficient number of patients to demonstrate a significant difference. In the absence of a proven survival advantage and the heterogeneity of patient populations, the decision to use any type of hormonal therapy should be individualised and with the intent to palliate the disease. It is debatable whether outcomes such as quality of life, treatment response or palliative measures such as relieving symptoms should take preference over overall and PFS as the major objectives of future trials.
Rapamycin shows anticancer activity in primary chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells in vitro, as single agent and in drug combination

The mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor rapamycin and its analogues show promising anticancer activity in various experimental tumor models and are presently evaluated in clinical trials. We, here, evaluated the in vitro activity of rapamycin with regard to tumor-type specificity and possible mechanisms of drug resistance in 97 tumor cell samples from patients and in a resistance-based cell line panel, using the fluorometric microculture cytotoxicity assay. Rapamycin was dose-dependently cytotoxic in patient tumor cells and in cell lines. In primary cells, rapamycin was more active in hematological than in solid tumor samples, with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and acute lymphocytic leukemia being the most sensitive tumor types. Considerable inter-individual differences in sensitivity were apparent among CLL samples, but no difference was observed between IGHV mutated and unmutated CLL samples, whereas a tendency to lower rapamycin sensitivity was indicated for samples displaying poor-prognostic genomic markers. Combination experiments in CLL cells indicated that rapamycin acted synergistically with vincristine, cisplatin, chlorambucil and taxotere. These results and the clinically-experienced good tolerance to rapamycin analogues encourage clinical studies of rapamycin in CLL treatment as single agent but also in combination with, e.g., vincristine and chlorambucil.
Plutarch: an argument for network pluralism

It is widely accepted that the current Internet architecture is insufficient for the future: problems such as address space scarcity, mobility and non-universal connectivity are already with us, and stand to be exacerbated by the explosion of wireless, ad-hoc and sensor networks. Furthermore, it is far from clear that the ubiquitous use of standard transport and name resolution protocols will remain practicable or even desirable.In this paper we propose Plutarch, a new inter-networking architecture. It subsumes existing architectures such as that determined by the Internet Protocol suite, but makes explicit the heterogeneity that contemporary inter-networking schemes attempt to mask. To handle this heterogeneity, we introduce the notions of context and interstitial function, and describe a supporting architecture. We discuss the benefits, present some potential scenarios, and consider the research challenges posed.
Botulinum Neurotoxins: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis Using the Mouse Phrenic Nerve Hemidiaphragm Assay (MPN)

The historical method for the detection of botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is represented by the mouse bioassay (MBA) measuring the animal survival rate. Since the endpoint of the MBA is the death of the mice due to paralysis of the respiratory muscle, an ex vivo animal replacement method, called mouse phrenic nerve (MPN) assay, employs the isolated N. phrenicus-hemidiaphragm tissue. Here, BoNT causes a dose-dependent characteristic decrease of the contraction amplitude of the indirectly stimulated muscle. Within the EQuATox BoNT proficiency 13 test samples were analysed using the MPN assay by serial dilution to a bath concentration resulting in a paralysis time within the range of calibration curves generated with BoNT/A, B and E standards, respectively. For serotype identification the diluted samples were pre-incubated with polyclonal anti-BoNT/A, B or E antitoxin or a combination of each. All 13 samples were qualitatively correctly identified thereby delivering superior results compared to single in vitro methods like LFA, ELISA and LC-MS/MS. Having characterized the BoNT serotype, the final bath concentrations were calculated using the calibration curves and then multiplied by the respective dilution factor to obtain the sample concentration. Depending on the source of the BoNT standards used, the quantitation of ten BoNT/A containing samples delivered a mean z-score of 7 and of three BoNT/B or BoNT/E containing samples z-scores <2, respectively.