Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of nutritional status in CAPD patients: serum albumin is not a useful measure.

INTRODUCTION In CAPD patients serum albumin is frequently used as an index of nutritional status, although it is recognized that hypoalbuminaemia may be caused by many factors. We have further examined the relationship between serum albumin and nutrition. METHODS Nutritional status was assessed by biochemistry, anthropometry, mid-arm muscle circumference, muscle strength (hand grip and back), and lean body mass (from anthropometry, creatinine kinetics and bioimpedance) in a group of 76 stable CAPD patients. Correlations between biochemical and nutritional parameters were sought and data were compared between patient groups defined by serum albumin (> or = 37 vs < 37 g/l on two occasions 2 months apart) and separately according to subjective global assessment score (normal nutrition, A vs mild to moderate, B, and severe, C, malnutrition). RESULTS In patients with a low SGA score, actual body weight, body mass index, mid-arm muscle circumference, lean body mass, subscapular skinfold thickness, hand grip strength (males and females) and iliac and triceps skinfold thicknesses and back strength (females only) were all significantly less than in patients with a normal SGA score. In contrast, none of these variables differed in either gender when patients were compared according to serum albumin. Serum albumin was correlated with serum creatinine (r = 0.45, P = 0.01), daily urine protein excretion (r = -0.42, P = 0.02) and uncorrected weekly creatinine clearance (r = -0.39) in females, but not with any index of body composition in either gender. CONCLUSION Whilst SGA identified a patient group with significantly abnormal body mass, muscle mass and muscle strength, serum albumin did not. Serum albumin is not a useful marker of malnutrition in stable patients on CAPD.
Epstein-Barr Virus Independent Dysregulation of UBP43 Expression Alters Interferon-Stimulated Gene Expression in Burkitt Lymphoma

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) persists as a life-long latent infection within memory B cells, but how EBV may circumvent the innate immune response within this virus reservoir is unclear. Recent studies suggest that the latency-associated non-coding RNAs of EBV may actually induce type I (antiviral) interferon production, raising the question of how EBV counters the negative consequences this is likely to have on viral persistence. We addressed this by examining the type I interferon response in Burkitt lymphoma (BL) cell lines, the only in vitro model of the restricted program of EBV latency-gene expression in persistently infected B cells in vivo. Importantly, we observed no effect of EBV on interferon alpha-induced signaling or evidence of type I interferon production, suggesting that EBV in this latent state is silent to the cell's innate antiviral surveillance. We did uncover, however, a defect in the negative feedback control of interferon signaling in a subpopulation of BL lines as was revealed by prolonged interferon-stimulated gene transcription consistent with sustained tyrosine phosphorylation on STAT1 and STAT2. This was due to inadequate induction of expression of the ubiquitin-specific protease UBP43, which removes the ubiquitin-like ISG15 polypeptide conjugated to proteins (ISGylation) in response to type I interferons. Results here are consistent with previous findings in genetically engineered Ubp43−/− murine cells that UBP43 down-regulates interferon signaling, independent of its ISG15 isopeptidase activity, by precluding the protein kinase JAK1 from the interferon receptor. This natural deficiency in UBP43 expression may therefore provide a useful model to further probe the biological roles of UBP43 and ISGylation.
Optimal path planning under temporal logic constraints

In this paper we present a method for automatically generating optimal robot trajectories satisfying high level mission specifications. The motion of the robot in the environment is modeled as a weighted transition system. The mission is specified by a general linear temporal logic formula. In addition, we require that an optimizing proposition must be repeatedly satisfied. The cost function that we seek to minimize is the maximum time between satisfying instances of the optimizing proposition. For every environment model, and for every formula, our method computes a robot trajectory which minimizes the cost function. The problem is motivated by robotic monitoring and data gathering. In this setting, the optimizing proposition is satisfied at locations where data can be uploaded, and the formula specifies a an infinite horizon data collection mission. Our method utilizes Büchi automata to produce an automaton (which can be thought of as a graph) whose runs satisfy the temporal logic formula. We then present a graph algorithm which computes a path corresponding to the optimal robot trajectory. We also present an implementation for a robot performing a data gathering mission.
Hypoxic adipose mesenchymal stem cells derived conditioned medium protects myocardial infarct in rat.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to explore the impact of normoxic and hypoxic cell-culture conditions on the expression and secretion of adipose mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs)-derived paracrine molecules, and to evaluate the cardioprotective role of hypoxic condition medium (hypoCM) in vivo. MATERIALS AND METHODS Semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analyses of normoxic and hypoxic ADMSCs and their conditioned medium fractions. Then, the effect of hypoCM on cardiomyocytes proliferation and migration was assessed. Moreover, a rat model of myocardial infarct (MI) was established to test the therapeutic effect of hypoCM in vivo. RESULTS ADMSCs expressed and secreted significantly higher amounts of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and stromal derived factor-1 (SDF-1 or CXCL12) under hypoxic conditions. Furthermore, compared with the vehicle control, hypoCM significantly enhanced the proliferation and migration of cardiomyocytes. Consistent with the in vitro data, hypoCM decreased the infarct size, apoptosis index and apoptosis related protein in the rat MI model. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that ADMSCs promote rat MI via hypoxia-enhanced paracrine.
Antifertility effects of indomethacin during early pregnancy in the rabbit.

Administration of indomethacin (Id, 8 mg/kg twice daily), a prostaglandin (PG) synthetase inhibitor, on Days 4-7 of gestationresultedin a nearly complete inhibitionof fetaldevelopment in rabbits. The small number of fetuses which survived to Day 14 were smaller than normal as were their associated decidual and placental tissues. In contrast to results with indomethacin in some other experimental animals, no evidence for teratologic effects was seen. Concomitant administration of estradiol-1713, progesterone, LH or LH/FSH with Id did not reverse the antifertility effects of the drug. PGE2 and PGF20 partially reversed the reduction in numbers of live fetuses caused by Id. PG’s did not, however, reverse the decline in fetal, placental or decidual tissue weights. Id alone had no apparent effects on luteal weights. A lower dose of Id (3 mg/kg twice daily) on Days 4-7 likewise reduced fetal, placental, and decidual weights. Injection of the higher dose level of Id during the postimplantation period (Days 9-12) had little effect on pregnancy. The results suggest that normal PG synthesis, most likely at the uterine or ovarian level, is required for the normal progress of events surrounding ovo-implantation in the rabbit.
MULTEXT-East Version 4: Multilingual Morphosyntactic Specifications, Lexicons and Corpora

The paper presents the fourth, ``Mondilex'' edition of the MULTEXT-East language resources, a multilingual dataset for language engineering research and development, focused on the morphosyntactic level of linguistic description. This standardised and linked set of resources covers a large number of mainly Central and Eastern European languages and includes the EAGLES-based morphosyntactic specifications; morphosyntactic lexica; and annotated parallel, comparable, and speech corpora. The fourth release of these resources introduces XML-encoded morphosyntactic specifications and adds six new languages, bringing the total to 16: to Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, English, Hungarian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovene, and the Resian dialect of Slovene it adds Macedonian, Persian, Polish, Russian, Slovak, and Ukrainian. This dataset, unique in terms of languages covered and the wealth of encoding, is extensively documented, and freely available for research purposes at http://nl.ijs. si/ME/V4/.
Microvascular decompression of the trigeminal nerve in the treatment of SUNCT and SUNA

Background Medical management of short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache with conjunctival injection and tearing (SUNCT) syndrome and short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with cranial autonomic symptoms (SUNA) is often unsatisfactory. Methods The authors report nine cases of SUNCT/SUNA that failed medical treatment and had an aberrant arterial loop either in contact with or compressing the appropriate trigeminal nerve demonstrated on MRI. All underwent microvascular decompression of the ipsilateral trigeminal nerve for intractable pain. Results Immediate and complete relief of SUNCT and SUNA symptoms occurred in 6/9 (67%) cases. This was sustained for a follow-up period of 9–32 months (mean 22.2). In 3/9 (33%) cases, there was no benefit. Ipsilateral hearing loss was observed in one case. Conclusion Medically intractable SUNCT and SUNA subjects with a demonstrable aberrant arterial loop impinging on the trigeminal nerve on neuroimaging may benefit from microvascular decompression.
Spatial distributions at equilibrium under heterogeneous transient subdiffusion

Experimental measurements of the mobility of macromolecules, especially proteins, in cells and their membranes consistently report transient subdiffusion with possibly position-dependent—non-homogeneous—properties. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics of protein mobility when transient subdiffusion is restricted to a subregion of space is still unclear. Here, we investigated the spatial distribution at equilibrium of proteins undergoing transient subdiffusion due to continuous-time random walks (CTRW) in a restricted subregion of a two-dimensional space. Our Monte-Carlo simulations suggest that this process leads to a non-homogeneous spatial distribution of the proteins at equilibrium, where proteins increasingly accumulate in the CTRW subregion as its anomalous properties are increasingly marked. In the case of transient CTRW, we show that this accumulation is dictated by the asymptotic Brownian regime and not by the initial anomalous transient dynamics. Moreover, our results also show that this dominance of the asymptotic Brownian regime cannot be simply generalized to other scenarios of transient subdiffusion. In particular, non-homogeneous transient subdiffusion due to hindrance by randomly-located immobile obstacles does not lead to such a strong local accumulation. These results suggest that, even though they exhibit the same time-dependence of the mean-squared displacement, the different scenarios proposed to account for subdiffusion in the cell lead to different protein distribution in space, even at equilibrium and without coupling with reaction.
A morbilliform variant of vancomycin-induced linear IgA bullous dermatosis.

BACKGROUND Linear IgA bullous dermatosis is an autoimmune blistering disease characterized clinically by the presence of small tense blisters and immunologically by the presence of IgA at the dermal-epidermal junction. Idiopathic, systemic disease-related, and drug-related versions of this disorder have been described, with the latter most commonly associated with vancomycin. OBSERVATIONS We describe 2 patients with vancomycin-associated linear IgA bullous dermatosis who presented with a morbilliform eruption that lacked blistering. Lesional and perilesional tissue from each patient was examined by light microscopy and direct immunofluorescence. Histopathologic examination findings revealed vacuolar interface dermatitis with a mixed inflammatory infiltrate and occasional eosinophils, consistent with a drug eruption. Direct immunofluorescence revealed IgA deposited in a linear pattern at the dermoepidermal junction. In both patients, the results of indirect immunofluorescence using both IgG and IgA were negative. CONCLUSIONS These cases highlight the existence of a new form of linear IgA bullous dermatosis presenting as a morbilliform drug eruption. Both patients were following extensive medication regimens, including use of multiple antibiotics. The diagnosis of linear IgA bullous dermatosis allowed us to target vancomycin as the likely allergen and begin treatment. In light of these findings, direct immunofluorescence may be a useful diagnostic adjunct in determining the cause of drug eruptions.
Contribution of Gray and White Matter Abnormalities to Cognitive Impairment in Multiple Sclerosis

Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) commonly exhibit cognitive impairments (CI). However, the neural mechanisms underlying CI remain unclear. The current study applied diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and voxel-based morphometric (VBM) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to evaluate differences in white matter (WM) integrity and gray matter (GM) volume between MS patients with CI and MS patients with cognitive preservation (CP). Neuropsychological assessment and MRI were obtained from 39 relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients and 29 healthy controls (HCs). Patients were classified as CI or CP according to cognitive ability, and demographic characteristics and MRI images were compared. Compared with HCs, MS patients exhibited widespread damage in WM integrity, and GM loss in several regions. Compared with CP patients, CI patients exhibited more extensive WM impairments, particularly in the corpus callosum, cerebellar peduncle, corona radiata, optic radiation, superior longitudinal fasciculus, anterior limb of the internal capsule, and cingulate, as well as decreased GM volume in the bilateral caudate, left insula and right temporal lobe. MS patients with CI exhibited more significant structural abnormalities than those with CP. Widespread impairments of WM integrity and selective GM atrophy both appear to be associated with impaired cognition in RRMS.
Help-Seeking in a National Sample of Victimized Latino Women

The current study aimed to examine formal and informal help-seeking responses to interpersonal victimization among a national sample of Latino women. In addition, an examination of help-seeking by victimization type was undertaken. Data came from the Sexual Assault Among Latinas (SALAS) study that obtained help-seeking rates among a victimized subsample of Latino women (n = 714; 35.7% of a national sample). Results show a majority (76.6%) of the victimized participants engaged in some form of help-seeking with informal resources (68.9%) more often used than formal (32.5%). Medical attention was the type of formal help-seeking sought most often among victimized women who were injured (34.7%), and parents were the most common source of informal help-seeking (26.6%). However, logistic regression analyses show that help-seeking responses were significantly affected by type of victimization. Latino women who experienced childhood victimization were significantly less likely to engage in formal and informal help-seeking. Latino women who experienced stalking were significantly less likely to engage in formal help-seeking. Victimization with a weapon was significantly related to increased odds of formal help-seeking. Thus, women respond to violence in a way that is shaped by the dynamics of the victimization experience. Practice implications include the need to increase knowledge and availability of formal help-seeking venues.
Tight 2-Dimensional Outer-approximations of Feasible Sets in Wireless Sensor Networks

Finding a tight ellipsoid that contains the intersection of a finite number of ellipsoids is of interest in positioning applications for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). To this end, we propose a novel geometrical method in 2-dimensional (2-D) space. Specifically, we first find a tight polygon which contains the desired region and then obtain the tightest ellipse containing the polygon by solving a convex optimization problem. For demonstrating the usefulness of this method, we employ it in a distributed algorithm for elliptical outer-approximation of feasible sets in cooperative WSNs. Through simulations, we show that the proposed method gives a tighter bounding ellipse than conventional methods, while having similar computational cost. Keywords—Computational geometry, localization, non-line-ofsight, optimization.
Learning for Dynamic Bidding in Cognitive Radio Resources

In this paper, we model the various wireless users in a cognitive radio network as a collection of selfish, autonomous agents that strategically interact in order to acquire the dynamically available spectrum opportunities. Our main focus is on developing solutions for wireless users to successfully compete with each other for the limited and time-varying spectrum opportunities, given the experienced dynamics in the wireless network. We categorize these dynamics into two types: one is the disturbance due to the environment (e.g. wireless channel conditions, source traffic characteristics, etc.) and the other is the impact caused by competing users. To analyze the interactions among users given the environment disturbance, we propose a general stochastic framework for modeling how the competition among users for spectrum opportunities evolves over time. At each stage of the dynamic resource allocation, a central spectrum moderator auctions the available resources and the users strategically bid for the required resources. The joint bid actions affect the resource allocation and hence, the rewards and future strategies of all users. Based on the observed resource allocation and corresponding rewards from previous allocations, we propose a best response learning algorithm that can be deployed by wireless users to improve their bidding policy at each stage. The simulation results show that by deploying the proposed best response learning algorithm, the wireless users can significantly improve their own performance in terms of both the packet loss rate and the incurred cost for the used resources.
Does the Diabetic Foot Have a Significant Impact on Selected Psychological or Social Characteristics of Patients with Diabetes Mellitus?

The aim of our case-control study was to compare selected psychological and social characteristics between diabetic patients with and without the DF (controls). Methods. 104 patients with and 48 without DF were included into our study. Both study groups were compared in terms of selected psychosocial characteristics. Results. Compared to controls, patients with DF had a significantly worse quality of life in the area of health and standard of living as shown by lower physical health domain (12.7 ± 2.8 versus 14.7 ± 2.5; P < 0.001) and environment domain (14.1 ± 2.2 versus 15 ± 1.8; P < 0.01) that negatively correlated with diabetes duration (r = −0.061; P = 0.003). Patients with DF subjectively felt more depressed in contrast to controls (24.5 versus 7.3%; P < 0.05); however, the depressive tuning was objectively proven in higher percentage in both study groups (83.2 versus 89.6; NS). We observed a significantly lower level of achieved education (P < 0.01), more patients with disability pensions (P < 0.01), and low self-support (P < 0.001) in patients with the DF compared to controls. In the subgroup of patients with a previous major amputation and DF (n = 6), there were significantly worse outcomes as in the environment domain (P < 0.01), employment status, and stress readaptation (P < 0.01) in contrast to the main study groups. Conclusions. Patients with DF had a predominantly worse standard of living. In contrast to our expectations, patients with DF appeared to have good stress tolerability and mental health (with the exception of patients with previous major amputation) and did not reveal severe forms of depression or any associated consequences.
Choosing the Right Path: Image Schema Theory as a Foundation for Concept Invention

Abstract Image schemas are recognised as a fundamental ingredient in human cognition and creative thought. They have been studied extensively in areas such as cognitive linguistics. With the goal of exploring their potential role in computational creative systems, we here study the viability of the idea to formalise image schemas as a set of interlinked theories. We discuss in particular a selection of image schemas related to the notion of ‘path’, and show how they can be mapped to a formalised family of microtheories reflecting the different aspects of path following. Finally, we illustrate the potential of this approach in the area of concept invention, namely by providing several examples illustrating in detail in what way formalised image schema families support the computational modelling of conceptual blending.
Transverse instability for non-normal parameters

We consider the behaviour of attractors near invariant subspaces on varying a parameter that changes the dynamics in the invariant subspace of a dynamical system. We refer to such a parameter as `non-normal'. In the presence of chaos that is fragile, we find blowout bifurcations that are blurred over a range of parameter values. We demonstrate that this can occur on a set of positive measure in the parameter space. Under an assumption that the dynamics is not of skew product form, these blowout bifurcations can create attractors displaying `in-out intermittency', a generalized form of on-off intermittency. We characterize in-out intermittency both in terms of its structure in phase space and statistically by means of a Markov model. We discuss some other dynamical and bifurcation effects associated with non-normal parameters, in particular non-normal bifurcation to riddled basins and transition between on-off and in-out intermittency.
Lack of Production of Electron-Shuttling Compounds or Solubilization of Fe(III) during Reduction of Insoluble Fe(III) Oxide by Geobacter metallireducens

ABSTRACT Studies with the dissimilatory Fe(III)-reducing microorganismGeobacter metallireducens demonstrated that the common technique of separating Fe(III)-reducing microorganisms and Fe(III) oxides with semipermeable membranes in order to determine whether the Fe(III) reducers release electron-shuttling compounds and/or Fe(III) chelators is invalid. This raised doubts about the mechanisms for Fe(III) oxide reduction by this organism. However, several experimental approaches indicated that G. metallireducens does not release electron-shuttling compounds and does not significantly solubilize Fe(III) during Fe(III) oxide reduction. These results suggest that G. metallireducens directly reduces insoluble Fe(III) oxide.
WOM codes reduce write amplification in NAND flash memory

This paper proposes a NAND flash system that uses Write-Once Memory (WOM) codes to encode the data stored. It is shown through both analysis and simulation that, with proper parameters, flash memories which use WOM codes to encode data can achieve a lower write amplification than in a non-WOM-coded system. For example, in a 16-level per cell flash memory, when a two-write MLC WOM code is used with a total overprovisioning of 0.8, the write amplification is 15% lower than a non-WOM-coded system. A closed-form expression for the write amplification in a WOM-coded system is given for a system with a greedy garbage collection policy and a uniform random workload. The proposed expression is a function of the total overprovisioning factor, number of WOM code writes, and number of values per cell. The expression is applicable for both SLC and MLC flash.