Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Angiotensin receptor blockers for the reduction of proteinuria in diabetic patients with overt nephropathy: results from the AMADEO study

Diabetic kidney disease is characterized by persistent albuminuria (>300 mg/dl or >200 μg/min) that is confirmed on at least 2 occasions 3 to 6 months apart, with a progressive decline in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), elevated arterial blood pressure, and an increased risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Diabetic kidney disease is the leading cause of end stage renal disease (ESRD) prompting investigators to evaluate mechanisms by which to slow disease progression. One such mechanism is to block the activity of angiotensin II at the receptor site and agents that follow this mechanism are referred to as angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB). There is sufficient clinical evidence to support that ARB have protective effects on kidney function in patients with diabetes and hypertension. However, in the past decade there have been few investigations comparing individual ARBs on renal outcomes. Telmisartan, a lipophilic ARB with a long half-life, has been hypothesized to have a greater anti-proteinuric effect when compared to the shorter acting losartan. Therefore, the A comparison of telMisartan versus losArtan in hypertensive type 2 DiabEtic patients with Overt nephropathy (AMADEO) trial sought to investigate renal and cardiovascular endpoints. In this review, we discuss the pathophysiology of diabetic kidney disease and implications of the AMADEO trial in the context of current understanding from recent outcome trials.
Composite Cell Sheets: A Further Step Toward Safe and Effective Myocardial Regeneration by Cardiac Progenitors Derived From Embryonic Stem Cells

Background— The safety and efficacy of myocardial regeneration using embryonic stem cells are limited by the risk of teratoma and the high rate of cell death. Methods and Results— To address these issues, we developed a composite construct made of a sheet of adipose tissue–derived stroma cells and embryonic stem cell–derived cardiac progenitors. Ten Rhesus monkeys underwent a transient coronary artery occlusion followed, 2 weeks later, by the open-chest delivery of the composite cell sheet over the infarcted area or a sham operation. The sheet was made of adipose tissue–derived stroma cells grown from a biopsy of autologous adipose tissue and cultured onto temperature-responsive dishes. Allogeneic Rhesus embryonic stem cells were committed to a cardiac lineage and immunomagnetically sorted to yield SSEA-1+ cardiac progenitors, which were then deposited onto the cell sheet. Cyclosporine was given for 2 months until the animals were euthanized. Preimplantation studies showed that the SSEA-1+ progenitors expressed cardiac markers and had lost pluripotency. After 2 months, there was no teratoma in any of the 5 cell-treated monkeys. Analysis of >1500 histological sections showed that the SSEA-1+ cardiac progenitors had differentiated into cardiomyocytes, as evidenced by immunofluorescence and real-time polymerase chain reaction. There were also a robust engraftment of autologous adipose tissue–derived stroma cells and increased angiogenesis compared with the sham animals. Conclusions— These data collected in a clinically relevant nonhuman primate model show that developmentally restricted SSEA-1+ cardiac progenitors appear to be safe and highlight the benefit of the epicardial delivery of a construct harboring cells with a cardiomyogenic differentiation potential and cells providing them the necessary trophic support.
Socioeconomic inequalities in risk of congenital anomaly

AIMS To investigate socioeconomic inequalities in the risk of congenital anomalies, focusing on risk of specific anomaly subgroups. METHODS A total of 858 cases of congenital anomaly and 1764 non-malformed control births were collected between 1986 and 1993 from four UK congenital malformation registers, for the purposes of a European multicentre case control study on congenital anomaly risk near hazardous waste landfill sites. As a measure of socioeconomic status, cases and controls were given a value for the area level Carstairs deprivation index, by linking the postcode of residence at birth to census enumeration districts (areas of approximately 150 households). RESULTS Risk of non-chromosomal anomalies increased with increasing socioeconomic deprivation. The risk in the most deprived quintile of the deprivation index was 40% higher than in the most affluent quintile. Some malformation subgroups also showed increasing risk with increasing deprivation: all cardiac defects, malformations of the cardiac septa, malformations of the digestive system, and multiple malformations. No evidence for socioeconomic variation was found for other non-chromosomal malformation groups, including neural tube defects and oral clefts. A decreasing risk with increasing deprivation found for all chromosomal malformations and Down's syndrome in unadjusted analyses, occurred mainly as a result of differences in the maternal age distribution between social classes. CONCLUSION Our data, although based on limited numbers of cases and geographical coverage, suggest that more deprived populations have a higher risk of congenital anomalies of non-chromosomal origin and some specific anomalies. Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings and to explore their aetiological implications.
Quality assessment for color images with tucker decomposition

As an extension of the singular value decomposition based approaches, a novel metric based on Tucker decomposition for color image quality assessment is proposed in this paper. It extracts both the spacial and chromatic information of a color image with Tucker decomposition. As compared to most of the other existing quality metrics for color images, the key advantage of the proposed metric is that it treats the color image as a whole entity instead of an assembly of three independent visual channels, and thus the interrelation among the different visual channels is well involved. Experimental results on the LIVE Database Release 2 demonstrate that the proposed metric can generally achieve similar or better performance than other metrics.
The ultraviolet (UV) irradiation Induced Heat Hyperalgesia rat biomarker model for Pain Research

UV Radiation Exposure Animals were anaesthetized with a 2% isoflorane 02 mixture. Anesthesia was maintained via a nose cone while the plantar surface of the right paw was irradiated with 100, 200, 300 or 400mJ/cm of UV irradiation. This exposure was generated by Saalmann CupCube system (Saalmann GmbH, Germany; =280-400 nm). The source of irradiation was adapted to encompass the plantar surface of the rats hind paw by using a shaped delivery collar (either 8mm diameter or 8x12mm oval), attached to the UV emitter (Pfizer Facilities Management and Engineering Team). The intensity of UV emitted was calibrated prior to exposure using an ABLE 1400A radiometer with SEL005/WBS320/TD filter (ABLE Instruments and Controls Ltd).
Shortest Processing Time Scheduling to Reduce Traffic Congestion in Dense Urban Areas

Traffic congestion is not only a cause of nuisance for general commuters but also a factor that has a measurable impact on the economy if not handled proactively. When congestion increases, the waiting time for commuters increases which results in wasted fuel and wasted time. Wasted fuel adds to the import bill of a country and lost time results in loss of productivity. Traffic can be regulated at various points in order to reduce congestion and eliminate bottleneck areas. In this paper, we propose the use of conventional scheduling to regulate traffic at intersections in order to reduce congestion. We propose minimum destination distance first (MDDF) and minimum average destination distance first (MADDF) algorithms and compare them with some of the relevant existing scheduling algorithms. The proposed algorithms can not only be easily implemented on low cost hardware but also show better performance and outperform the existing algorithms that are considered, based on simulation results. Simulation results show that the MDDF and MADDF algorithms reduce the traffic congestion at intersections by up to 80% in some cases compared to static traffic lights.
ASSESSMENT OF BETAINE AS A FEED ADDITIVE TO IMPROVE THE METABOLIC STATUS AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF ABERDEEN ANGUS COWS IN ARID SUBTROPICAL REGIONS

SUMMARY This work studied the effect of betaine (BET) supplementation on the metabolic, hormonal and reproductive efficiency of Aberdeen Angus cattle under heat stress (HS) conditions. Twelve cows were assigned randomly into two equal groups (6 cows each). Treatments included: control group (CG) and BET group supplemented with 30 g BET/h/d. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and biochemical parameters were measured monthly for 150 days from the start of treatment till pregnancy occurs. The results showed a significant increase in albumin, globulin, T3, and T4 in the BET group compared to the CG. Whereas the concentrations of ALT, AST, and cortisol decreased (P<0.05) significantly in BET group than CG. TAC was significantly greater (P<0.05) in BET group than CG. The elevated conception rate was recorded for BET-treated cows (100%) compared with (83.33%) extent of CG. The number of services required per conception was lower in BET-treated cows (1.17) compared with CG (1.67). The presented results concluded that BET could enhance metabolic, antioxidant status and reproductive efficiency of Aberdeen Angus cows during HS conditions of summer season.
Interferon beta promotes nerve growth factor secretion early in the course of multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND Interferon beta therapy has been shown to reduce the rate of clinical relapse and the frequency of magnetic resonance imaging-defined T2- weighted lesions in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). When given early, interferon beta also reduces the rate of development of brain atrophy and improves axonal integrity. Nerve growth factor (NGF) can retard the severity and course of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. OBJECTIVE To determine whether interferon beta effects on patients with MS could be related to modulation of neurotrophin production within the central nervous system. DESIGN We studied neurotrophin production by human glial and brain endothelial cells in response to coculture with MS patient-derived lymphocytes, and correlated levels of NGF secretion with clinical and magnetic resonance imaging-defined markers of disease. RESULTS We demonstrate that production of NGF by human brain microvascular endothelial cells is triggered by interaction with T lymphocytes derived from MS patients. No such response was observed using human adult microglia or human fetal astrocytes. Nerve growth factor production by endothelial cells was potentiated by pretreating lymphocytes with interferon beta in vitro, and by using lymphocytes derived from MS patients treated with interferon beta in vivo. By using this assay, we show that levels of NGF induced by lymphocytes from MS patients inversely correlate with magnetic resonance imaging measures of brain atrophy and axonal injury. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that interferon beta-mediated production of NGF at the level of the blood-brain barrier, whether acting as an immunomodulator or directly on neural cells, is another potential mechanism contributing to the magnetic resonance imaging-defined effect of interferon beta on brain atrophy when given early in the course of MS.
Extracting Microfacet‐based BRDF Parameters from Arbitrary Materials with Power Iterations

We introduce a novel fitting procedure that takes as input an arbitrary material, possibly anisotropic, and automatically converts it to a microfacet BRDF. Our algorithm is based on the property that the distribution of microfacets may be retrieved by solving an eigenvector problem that is built solely from backscattering samples. We show that the eigenvector associated to the largest eigenvalue is always the only solution to this problem, and compute it using the power iteration method. This approach is straightforward to implement, much faster to compute, and considerably more robust than solutions based on nonlinear optimizations. In addition, we provide simple conversion procedures of our fits into both Beckmann and GGX roughness parameters, and discuss the advantages of microfacet slope space to make our fits editable. We apply our method to measured materials from two large databases that include anisotropic materials, and demonstrate the benefits of spatially varying roughness on texture mapped geometric models.
Catalytic Hydrogenation of the Sweet Principles of Stevia rebaudiana, Rebaudioside B, Rebaudioside C, and Rebaudioside D and Sensory Evaluation of Their Reduced Derivatives

Catalytic hydrogenation of rebaudioside B, rebaudioside C, and rebaudioside D; the three ent-kaurane diterpene glycosides isolated from Stevia rebaudiana was carried out using Pd(OH)2. Reduction of steviol glycosides was performed using straightforward synthetic chemistry with the catalyst Pd(OH)2 and structures of the corresponding dihydro derivatives were characterized on the basis of 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectral data indicating that all are novel compounds being reported for the first time. Also, the taste properties of all reduced compounds were evaluated against their corresponding original steviol glycosides and sucrose.
Plasma and whole brain cholinesterase activities in three wild bird species in Mosul, IRAQ: In vitro inhibition by insecticides

Plasma and whole brain cholinesterase activities in three wild bird species in Mosul, IRAQ: In vitro inhibition by insecticides Plasma and brain cholinesterase activities were determined in three wild bird species to assess their exposure to organophosphate and carbamate insecticides which are used in agriculture and public health. In the present study, we used an electrometric method for measurement of cholinesterase activities in the plasma and whole brain of three indigenous wild birds commonly found in northern Iraq. The birds used were apparently healthy adults of both sexes (8 birds/species, comprising 3-5 from each sex) of quail (Coturnix coturnix), collard dove (Streptopelia decaocto) and rock dove (Columba livia gaddi), which were captured in Mosul, Iraq. The mean respective cholinesterase activities (Δ pH/30 minutes) in the plasma and whole brain of the birds were as follows: quail (0.96 and 0.29), collard dove (0.97and 0.82) and rock dove (1.44 and 1.42). We examined the potential susceptibility of the plasma or whole brain cholinesterases to inhibition by selected insecticides. The technique of in vitro cholinesterase inhibition for 10 minutes by the organophosphate insecticides dichlorvos, malathion and monocrotophos (0.5 and 1.0 μM) and the carbamate insecticide carbaryl (5 and10 μM) in the enzyme reaction mixtures showed significant inhibition of plasma and whole brain cholinesterase activities to various extents. The data further support and add to the reported cholinesterase activities determined electrometrically in wild birds in northern Iraq. The plasma and whole brain cholinesterases of the birds are highly susceptible to inhibition by organophosphate and carbamate insecticides as determined by the described electrometric method, and the results further suggest the usefulness of the method in biomonitoring wild bird cholinesterases.
Annotation algebras for RDFS Data

Provenance and annotation are intimately connected. On the one hand provenance can be regarded as a form of annotation, on the other hand, in order to understand how to convey annotations from source data to derived data, we need an account of how the data was derived – its provenance. Following a successful line of database research in which elements of a database are annotated with algebraic terms that describe the provenance of those elements, we develop an algebra of annotations for RDFS that differs from that developed for relational databases. We show how such an annotation algebra can be used for computing annotations on inferred triples that provide information on belief, trust and temporal aspects of data as well as providing a framework for default reasoning.
Genetic relationship of Chinese ethnic populations revealed by mtDNA sequence diversity.

The origin and demographic history of the ethnic populations of China have not been clearly resolved. In this study, we examined the hypervariable segment I sequences (HVSI) of the mitochondrial DNA control region in 372 individuals from nine Chinese populations and one northern Thai population. A relatively high percentage of individuals was found to share sequences with those from other populations of the same ethnogenesis. In general, the populations of southern or Pai-Yuei tribal origin showed high haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity compared with the populations of northern or Di-Qiang tribal origin. Mismatch distributions from these populations showed concordant features. All except the northern groups Nu, Lisu, Tibetan, and Mongolian showed typical signatures of ancient population expansions in the mismatch distributions and neutrality tests. Episodes of extreme size reduction in the past are one of the likely explanations for the absence of evidence of expansion in northern populations. Small sample sizes as well as samples from isolated subpopulations contributed to the bumpy mismatch distributions observed. Phylogenetic analysis and haplotype sharing among populations suggest that current mtDNA variation in these ethnic populations could reveal their ethnohistory to some extent, but in general, linguistic and geographic classifications of the populations did not agree well with classification by mtDNA variation.
Prognostic Value of Nonobstructive and Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease Detected by Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography to Identify Cardiovascular Events

Background—The contribution of plaque extent to predict cardiovascular events among patients with nonobstructive and obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) is not well defined. Our objective was to evaluate the prognostic value of plaque extent detected by coronary computed tomography angiography. Methods and Results—All consecutive patients without prior CAD referred for coronary computed tomography angiography to evaluate for CAD were included. Examination findings were classified as normal, nonobstructive (<50% stenosis), or obstructive (≥50%). Based on the number of segments with disease, extent of CAD was classified as nonextensive (⩽4 segments) or extensive (>4 segments). The cohort included 3242 patients followed for the primary outcome of cardiovascular death or myocardial infarction for a median of 3.6 (2.1–5.0) years. In a multivariable analysis, the presence of extensive nonobstructive CAD (hazard ratio, 3.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.5–6.4), nonextensive obstructive (hazard ratio, 3.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.3–6.9), and extensive obstructive CAD (hazard ratio, 3.9; 95% confidence interval, 2.2–7.2) were associated with an increased rate of events, whereas nonextensive, nonobstructive CAD was not. The addition of plaque extent to a model that included clinical probability as well as the presence and severity of CAD improved risk prediction. Conclusions—Among patients with nonobstructive CAD, those with extensive plaque experienced a higher rate of cardiovascular death or myocardial infarction, comparable with those who have nonextensive disease. Even among patients with obstructive CAD, greater extent of nonobstructive plaque was associated with higher event rate. Our findings suggest that regardless of whether obstructive or nonobstructive disease is present, the extent of plaque detected by coronary computed tomography angiography enhances risk assessment.
Geothermal Methods: Application of Time-Dependent Tomography to Detect Changes in Structure at Long Valley Caldera and the Coso Geothermal Area, California

Structural changes in active volcanic and producing geothermal systems are expected because of changes in the distribution of fluids, gases and cracks in the host rocks. Such changes have traditionally been studied using seismic tomography where two independent inversion results are differenced. A new tomography program tomo4d, inverts two epochs simultaneously, imposing constraints to minimize the structural differences calculated between different epochs. This method suppresses spurious changes not required by the data. Both methods were applied to data from Long Valley caldera and the Coso geothermal area, and the results compared. Long Valley caldera, California, has been seismically active since 1978. In particular, a region to the south of the resurgent dome (the “south moat”) and Mammoth Mountain have experienced multiple swarms involving hundreds of thousands of earthquakes. Inverting data from 1997 and 2009/10 using tomo4d detected changes with weaker anomaly strengths compared to those of simul2000A. Some changes imaged using simul2000A are thus not required by the data. Variable changes in Vp, Vs and Vp/Vs were detected and are interpreted as pore pressure decrease and/or drying of minerals, CO2 depletion and flooding during the tectonically active period. The Coso geothermal area, California, is highly seismogenic, with thousands of earthquakes occurring each year. Time-dependent seismic tomography was performed for the years 1996, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012 using both simul2000A and tomo4d. The epochs 1996-2006 and 2007-2012 were studied in detail. During the first epoch, Vp, Vs and Vp/Vs mostly increased in the geothermal field whereas during the second epoch changes were more varied and less extreme. It is concluded that different parts of this tripartite field have different reservoir characteristics, and that operational activities changed with time. These likely involved increasing water saturation in some areas as a result of increased water injection in recent years.
Regulation of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in sea urchin eggs by reversible association with cell structural elements

In unfertilized eggs of the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) associates with the particulate elements remaining either after homogenization or extraction of eggs with non-ionic detergent in low ionic-strength media. At physiological ionic strength, the extent of G6PDH binding to these particulate elements is proportional to the total protein concentration in the extracts. In fertilized eggs this association is prevented by one or more low molecular weight solutes. The dissociation is reversible, and there are no permanent modifications of either G6PDH or its particulate binding site that affect binding. After fertilization, the time course of dissociation of G6PDH from particulate elements is too fast to be caused by a change in intracellular pH, but it could be triggered, but not maintained, by an increase in the intracellular calcium concentration. Binding of G6PDH to the particulate fraction lowers its catalytic activity at all substrate concentrations. Therefore, release of the enzyme into the cytoplasm may be an important part of the suite of events causing metabolic activation of the egg at fertilization.