Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aldose reductase is implicated in high glucose‐induced oxidative stress in mouse embryonic neural stem cells

Oxidative stress caused by hyperglycemia is one of the key factors responsible for maternal diabetes‐induced congenital malformations, including neural tube defects in embryos. However, mechanisms by which maternal diabetes induces oxidative stress during neurulation are not clear. The present study was aimed to investigate whether high glucose induces oxidative stress in neural stem cells (NSCs), which compose the neural tube during development. We also investigated the mechanism by which high glucose disturbs the growth and survival of NSCs in vitro. NSCs were exposed to physiological d‐glucose concentration (PG, 5 mmol/L), PG with l‐glucose (25 mmol/L), or high d‐glucose concentration (HG, 30 or 45 mmol/l). HG induced reactive oxygen species production and mRNA expression of aldose reductase (AR), which catalyzes the glucose reduction through polyol pathway, in NSCs. Expression of glucose transporter 1 (Glut1) mRNA and protein which regulates glucose uptake in NSCs was increased at early stage (24 h) and became down‐regulated at late stage (72 h) of exposure to HG. Inhibition of AR by fidarestat, an AR inhibitor, decreased the oxidative stress, restored the cell viability and proliferation, and reduced apoptotic cell death in NSCs exposed to HG. Moreover, inhibition of AR attenuated the down‐regulation of Glut1 expression in NSCs exposed to HG for 72 h. These results suggest that the activation of polyol pathway plays a role in the induction of oxidative stress which alters Glut1 expression and cell cycle in NSCs exposed to HG, thereby resulting in abnormal patterning of the neural tube in embryos of diabetic pregnancy.
Diagnostic strategies in HIV-infected patients with diarrhea.

Infectious disease specialists have proposed guidelines on diagnostic evaluation of HIV infected patients with diarrhea. They are based on using clues from a careful history, physical examination, and evaluation of known laboratory data. Early on, clinicians must differentiate between small and large bowel diarrhea to properly evaluate any patient with diarrhea. If available, they should use the patient's absolute CD4 count, duration of diarrhea, frequency and characteristics of stools, degree of weight loss, and exposure history (e.g., residence and water supply). When conducting the patient history, clinicians should ask about recent antibiotic or antiretroviral use, previous opportunistic infections, and other illnesses or hospitalizations. The physical exam should include height and weight, orthostatic blood pressure, and degree of wasting. Abnormalities of skin and mucous membrane may indicate nutrient deficiencies (e.g., vitamin B deficiency = stomatitis). The disease specialists provide us with an algorithm to the diagnostic evaluation of HIV infected patients with diarrhea using the CD4 cell count and the type of diarrhea (small or large bowel) as the defining factors. For example, clinicians should request stool cultures for Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Yersinia and examination with saline and iodine for the presence of ova and parasites for patients with CD4 counts greater than 200 cells x 1 million/l and small bowel diarrhea. If the patient also has a fever, blood cultures should be done to test for Salmonella. If all these tests are negative and the patient still has symptoms, modified acid-fast staining should be done to look for cryptosporidium oocysts. If this test is negative and symptoms continue, upper endoscopy with biopsy is warranted. This strategy should result in a less time-consuming and more directed diagnostic strategy that may improve quality of life.
Gene-environment interaction and susceptibility in head and neck cancer patients and in their first-degree relatives: a study of Northeast Indian population.

BACKGROUND The environmental and genetic factors are known to be associated with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Here, we investigated the GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms and tobacco uses in patients and in their first-degree relatives to evaluate susceptibility toward HNSCC. Further, we explored high-risk interaction between genetic and environmental risk factors. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Genotyping of GSTM1 and GSTT1 was performed in 170 patients, 300 first-degree relatives of patients and 300 controls using multiplex PCR. Multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) and logistic regression approach were applied for statistical analysis. RESULTS Analysis revealed that GSTM1 and GSTT1 null genotype frequencies were significantly higher in patients (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.18; P < 0.001 and OR = 1.61; P = 0.031, respectively). Also, the GSTM1 and GSTT1 null genotype frequencies were significantly higher in first-degree relatives of patients compared with controls (P = 0.004 and P = 0.041, respectively). In MDR analysis, the best model for HNSCC risk was four-factors model of tobacco, betel quid chewing, smoking and GSTM1 null genotypes (cross-validation consistency = 10/10 and P < 0.0001), whereas in interaction entropy graphs, tobacco chewing and GSTM1 null genotype further showed strongest synergistic interaction. CONCLUSION GSTM1 and GSTT1 null genotypes may act as markers to determine the genetic susceptibility in HNSCC patients and in their first-degree relatives. Furthermore, tobacco chewing and GSTM1 null genotype interaction identified as the strongest gene-environment model to predict HNSCC.
Clinicopathological features of diabetic and nondiabetic renal diseases in type 2 diabetic patients with nephrotic-range proteinuria

Abstract Heavy proteinuria with or without features of nephrotic syndrome is associated with many primary and systemic diseases. For diabetic patients, distinguishing nondiabetic renal disease (NDRD) from diabetic nephropathy (DN) is important in choosing treatment modalities and determining renal prognosis. However, clinical relevance of heavy proteinuria is inconsistent with clinical DN assessments. This study investigated the clinicopathological features and renal outcomes of DN and NDRD in type 2 diabetic patients with nephrotic-range proteinuria. We enrolled 220 cases of type 2 diabetic patients who underwent renal biopsy. They were grouped according to the presence of nephritic-range proteinuria and pathological features. Baseline characteristics, laboratory findings, types of pathological diagnosis, and renal outcomes were analyzed in patients with heavy proteinuria. Upon kidney biopsy, 129 patients (58.6%) showed nephritic-range proteinuria. Patients with heavy proteinuria (an average urine protein-to-creatinine ratio of 10,008 ± 7307 mg/gCr) showed lower serum albumin levels and higher total cholesterol levels, but did not show any difference in age, duration of diabetes, renal function, or the presence of retinopathy compared with those with mild-to-moderate proteinuria (an average urine protein-to-creatinine ratio of 1581 ± 979 mg/gCr). Renal biopsy revealed that the prevalence of NDRD was 37.2% in patients with heavy proteinuria, which was significantly lower than that in patients with mild-to-moderate proteinuria (63.7%). The most common pathological types of NDRD were membranous nephropathy (41.7%), IgA nephropathy (14.6%), and minimal change disease (10.4%). NDRD patients showed lower prevalence of diabetic retinopathy and better kidney function irrespective of proteinuria. Immunosuppressive treatment was administered more frequently in patients with heavy proteinuria (56.3%) compared with patients with mild-to-moderate proteinuria (20%) because of the pathological differences according to the amount of proteinuria. Renal outcomes were significantly worse in patients with DN than in patients with NDRD. DN patients with heavy proteinuria exhibited different prevalence of NDRD and worse prognosis. Renal biopsy in type 2 diabetic patients should be more extensively considered to accurately diagnose NDRD, guide further management, and predict renal outcomes, especially in patients with nephrotic-range proteinuria.
Chernoff bounds on the error probability for the detection of non-Gaussian signals

Chernoff bounds on the error probability for the detection of non-Gaussian stochastic signals in additive white Gaussian noise are computed. By the use of Fokker-Planck (F-P) equations and a certain conditional expectation, the quasi-transition function, an equation for time evolution of the Chernoff bound is obtained. This time evolution equation is solved exactly to give all previously known results. Although the general non-Gaussian case cannot be conveniently solved for short time duratio ns, in the important special case of stationary processes and long integration times, bounding the error probability reduces to solving for the largest eigenvalue \lambda_0 of a differential operator. In particular, P(error) \leq \exp (\lambda_0T) , where T is the observation period. By iteratively determining \lambda_0 via the Galerkin variational procedure, we compare the performance of different receiver forms for a specific problem involving the detection of non-Gaussian random signal processes.
Recommending insightful comments for source code using crowdsourced knowledge

Recently, automatic code comment generation is proposed to facilitate program comprehension. Existing code comment generation techniques focus on describing the functionality of the source code. However, there are other aspects such as insights about quality or issues of the code, which are overlooked by earlier approaches. In this paper, we describe a mining approach that recommends insightful comments about the quality, deficiencies or scopes for further improvement of the source code. First, we conduct an exploratory study that motivates crowdsourced knowledge from Stack Overflow discussions as a potential resource for source code comment recommendation. Second, based on the findings from the exploratory study, we propose a heuristic-based technique for mining insightful comments from Stack Overflow Q & A site for source code comment recommendation. Experiments with 292 Stack Overflow code segments and 5,039 discussion comments show that our approach has a promising recall of 85.42%. We also conducted a complementary user study which confirms the accuracy and usefulness of the recommended comments.
Ancient Complexity, Opisthokont Plasticity, and Discovery of the 11th Subfamily of Arf GAP Proteins

The organelle paralogy hypothesis is one model for the acquisition of nonendosymbiotic organelles, generated from molecular evolutionary analyses of proteins encoding specificity in the membrane traffic system. GTPase activating proteins (GAPs) for the ADP‐ribosylation factor (Arfs) GTPases are additional regulators of the kinetics and fidelity of membrane traffic. Here we describe molecular evolutionary analyses of the Arf GAP protein family. Of the 10 subfamilies previously defined in humans, we find that 5 were likely present in the last eukaryotic common ancestor. Of the 3 most recently derived subfamilies, 1 was likely present in the ancestor of opisthokonts (animals and fungi) and apusomonads (flagellates classified as the sister lineage to opisthokonts), while 2 arose in the holozoan lineage. We also propose to have identified a novel ancient subfamily (ArfGAPC2), present in diverse eukaryotes but which is lost frequently, including in the opisthokonts. Surprisingly few ancient domains accompanying the ArfGAP domain were identified, in marked contrast to the extensively decorated human Arf GAPs. Phylogenetic analyses of the subfamilies reveal patterns of single and multiple gene duplications specific to the Holozoa, to some degree mirroring evolution of Arf GAP targets, the Arfs. Conservation, and lack thereof, of various residues in the ArfGAP structure provide contextualization of previously identified functional amino acids and their application to Arf GAP biology in general. Overall, our results yield insights into current Arf GAP biology, reveal complexity in the ancient eukaryotic ancestor and integrate the Arf GAP family into a proposed mechanism for the evolution of nonendosymbiotic organelles.
Study on a control method of PAPF for resonance damping and harmonics compensation in power system

In power system, capacitors are widely used to compensate reactive power, which generally cause resonance problems in harmonic distorted network. In this paper, A method of using a parallel active power filter (PAPF) to damp the resonances is proposed. The proposed method is compound with traditional method, it shows that whether the capacitor current is included in the detecting current of PAPF or not. Also the PAPF with proposed method has strong ability in harmonic compensation. Finally, the experiment results are presented to verify the analysis.
Functional Role of the Third Cytoplasmic Loop in Muscarinic Receptor Dimerization*

By means of the expression of two chimeric receptors, α2/m3 and m3/α2, in which the carboxyl-terminal receptor portions, containing transmembrane (TM) domains VI and VII, were exchanged between the α2C adrenergic and the m3 muscarinic receptor, Maggio et al. (Maggio, R., Vogel, Z., and Wess, J. (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 90, 3103-31073) demonstrated that G protein-linked receptors are able to interact functionally with each other at the molecular level to form (hetero)dimers. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that interaction between receptors might depend on the presence of a long third intracellular (i3) loop and that shortening this loop could impair the capability of receptors to form dimers. To address this question, we initially created short chimeric α2 adrenergic/m3 muscarinic receptors in which 196 amino acids were deleted from the i3 loop (α2/m3-short and m3/α2-short). Although co-transfection of α2/m3 and m3/α2 resulted in the appearance of specific binding, the co-expression of the two short constructs (α2/m3-short and m3/α2-short), either together or in combination, respectively, with m3/α2 and α2/m3 did not result in any detectable binding activity. In another set of experiments, a mutant m3 receptor, m3/m2(16aa), containing 16 amino acids of the m2 receptor sequence at the amino terminus of the third cytoplasmic loop, which was capable of binding muscarinic ligands but was virtually unable to stimulate phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis, was also mutated in the i3 loop, resulting in the m3/m2(16aa)-short receptor. Although co-transfection of m3/m2(16aa) with a truncated form of the m3 receptor (m3-trunc, containing an in frame stop codon after amino acid codon 272 of the rat m3 sequence) resulted in a considerable carbachol-stimulated phosphatidylinositol breakdown, the co-transfection of m3/m2(16aa)-short with the truncated form of the m3 receptor did not result in any recovery of the functional activity. Thus, these data suggest that intermolecular interaction between muscarinic receptors, involving the exchange of amino-terminal (containing TM domains I-V) and carboxyl-terminal (containing TM domains VI and VII) receptor fragments depends on the presence of a long i3 loop. One may speculate that when alternative forms of receptors with a different length of the i3 loop exist, they could have a different propensity to dimerize.
ong Distance Running and Knee Osteoarthritis Prospective Study

ethods: Forty-five long-distance runners and 53 controls with a mean age of 58 (range 50–72) years in 1984 were studied through 2002 with serial knee radiographs. Radiographic scores were two-reader averages for Total Knee Score (TKS) by modified Kellgren & Lawrence methods. TKS progression and the number of knees with severe OA were compared between runners and controls. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to assess the relationship between runner versus control status and radiographic outcomes using age, gender, BMI, education, and initial radiographic and disability scores among covariates.
Primary Patency Time of Basilic Vein Transposition versus Prosthetic Brachioaxillary Access Grafts in Hemodialysis Patients

Purpose The aim of this study was to compare the primary patency time of basilic vein transposition and prosthetic brachioaxillary access grafts in hemodialysis patients. Methods In this randomized clinical trial, 60 hemodialysis patients who met the inclusion/exclusion criteria were recruited and randomly assigned to two intervention groups; Basilic vein transpositions (BVT) or Arteriovenous access grafts (AVG). Clinical follow-up for patency of the created accesses in at least one year, was performed at two weeks, one, two, three months and then every three months after surgery. Finally, patency rates and access-related complications were compared in the two groups studied. Results Thirty BVTs and thirty AVG were performed in each group studied. The groups were well matched for age, sex and comorbidity. After at least one year of follow-up, the access failure rate in the BVT and AVG groups was 23.3% and 30%, respectively. In addition, the mean primary patency time in the BVT and AVG groups was 244.13 ± 103.65 and 264.97 ± 149.28, respectively and there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups studied (P=.533). The common cause of access failure were thrombosis and infection but there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups (P>.05). Conclusion Our results show that AVG offer similar patency and complication rates to BVT. Thus, authors consider them as the preferred hemodialysis access when there are no suitable forearm veins to create arteriovenous fistulas.
Epidemiology of senile prostatic enlargement among elderly men in Arar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Background and aim Senile prostatic enlargement due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common problem among older men, and is responsible for considerable disability. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and determinants of the clinically diagnosed prostatic enlargement among elderly men in Arar, Northern Saudi Arabia. Methods This cross-sectional study was carried out on all consented elderly males attending the outpatient clinic of the urology department of Arar Central Hospital from February 2017 to July 30, 2017. Each participant underwent a general examination and digital per rectal to detect general chronic diseases, obesity and prostatic enlargement. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 16, using descriptive statistics and Chi-squared test. Results Among 81 elderly male participants in the study, 19.8% had clinically diagnosed senile prostatic enlargement (SPE) and 3.7% had prostatic tumors. There was significant relation between SPE and age as 6.2% of cases were 60–69 years, 43.8% were 70–79 years and 44.0% were 80 years or more (p<0.05). There was also significant relation between SPE and obesity as 62.5% of cases were obese and 37.5% were non obese (p<0.05). There was no significant relation with marital status, smoking or diabetes mellitus (p<0.05). Conclusion Senile prostatic enlargement is one of the significant important issues in public health in Arar city, Northern Saudi Arabia. The prevalence of this condition reaches 19.3%, thereby placing even greater burden on the quality of life of the elderly and on the health system in the region.
Immunohistochemical analysis of lichenoid reactions in patients treated with anti‐PD‐L1 and anti‐PD‐1 therapy

Recent advances in the immunotherapeutic treatment of cancer have led to the development of multiple new directed therapies including monoclonal antibodies that block the immune checkpoint T‐cell receptor programmed death 1 (PD‐1) and the PD‐1 ligand, programmed death ligand 1 (PD‐L1). Various immune‐related toxicities have been associated with these drugs including, most commonly, skin rashes.
Culture proven bacterial meningitis in children: agents, clinical profile and outcome.

BACKGROUND Meningitis is a serious infection. Little is known about the bacterial agents and their antibacterial sensitivity in Nepalese children. OBJECTIVES To study bacteriological agents, clinical profile and immediate outcome in patients admitted to children ward of Patan Hospital with meningitis. METHODS Prospective observational study conducted in paediatric ward of Patan Hospital. All the children admitted to the ward, with the diagnosis of culture proven bacterial meningitis on discharge were eligible. RESULTS Out of 7,751 children, 296 (3.8%) had meningitis. This was a group ranging from neonates to adolescents aged 18 years. Only 13 (4.4%) of cerebrospinal fluid samples taken from them yielded positive culture reports. The organisms were pneumococcus (6), Haemophilus influenza b (3), beta-hemolytic Streptococcus (1), a-hemolytic Streptococcus (1), N. meningitides (1) and Pseudomonas (1). Whereas Haemophilus influenza b was isolated from young infants, pneumococci were found in the young as well as the old. Fever, vomiting, high leukocyte count with left shift were all commonly present. All but one had cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis. Low sugar and high protein was found in most specimens. Neuroimaging was done in six children of which three were abnormal (all young infants and pneumococci cases). Ceftriaxone was given to all but one child. Everybody recovered but three had complications, profound hearing loss and cortical atrophy with subdural collection in pneumococcal and septic arthritis with persistence of fever in Haemophilus influenzae b meningitis. CONCLUSION The present study corroborates most of the epidemiological and clinical features of acute bacterial meningitis and sheds light on the causative agents of bacterial meningitis in Nepalese children.
Comparison among some tenderization processing on Maremmana meat

Abstract Tenderness is the most important characteristic to define acceptability of products by consumers. In this paper three different methods, Calcium infusion (Ca), Very Fast Chilling (VFC) and pelvic suspension hanging from aitch bone (PS) or the Achilles tendon (AT) are applied in pre-rigor phase on Maremmana meat. Ca injection has reported the lowest shear force on cooked meat compared to control group (5.09 vs. 16.33 kg instead VFC group has underlined intermediate values. Pelvic hanging has shown significant difference on shear force and sarcomere length on Longissimus thoracis muscle (4.13 vs. 8.11 kg and 1.63 and 2.04 µm respectively for WBS and sarcomere length in PS and AT); further in Biceps femoralis we have found a lowest collagen content (4.33 vs. 4.79 g/100 g for PS and AT). In conclusion these methods could influence tenderization processes even if some processes, that could lower the effect of these practices, are still unclear. )