Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interbank Rate Uncertainty and Bank Lending

This paper investigates the effects of interbank rate uncertainty on lending rates to euro area firms. We introduce a novel measure of interbank rate uncertainty, computed as the cross-sectional dispersion in interbank market rates on overnight unsecured loans. Using proprietary bank-level data, we find that interbank rate uncertainty significantly raises lending rates on loans to firms, with a peak effect of around 100 basis points during the 2007-2009 global financial crisis and the 2010-2012 European sovereign crisis. This effect is attenuated for banks with lower credit risk, sounder capital positions and greater access to central bank funding. JEL Classification: E44, D80, G21
Management challenges of complicated lactational breast abscess in a tertiary health facility in a resource-constrained environment

Background: Lactational breast abscess, if not promptly and appropriately treated, can become complicated with associated destruction of breast skin and tissue that may necessitate breast resurfacing or reconstruction. The study is aimed at highlighting management challenges of patients who presented with complicated lactational breast abscess to a tertiary health facility in a resource-constrained environment. Patients and Method: A retrospective review of patients who presented with complicated lactational breast abscess to a tertiary health facility in northwest Nigeria from April 2015 to March 2017 was carried out. Patients were identified using the hospital admission records and appropriate data were retrieved from their case notes and analyzed. Results: A total of 17 patients were included in the study and 10 (58.8%) were in the age range 21 to 30 years. Nine (52.9%) patients presented in the puerperal period and 10 (58.8%) patients were multiparous. Left breast was predominantly affected accounting for 10 (58.8%) cases whereas there was bilateral breast involvement in four (23.5%) patients. Sixteen (94.1%) patients presented after the symptoms have started for more than a week. Four (23.5%) of the patients had necrotizing infection. Six (35.3%) patients had surgical intervention for breast resurfacing or breast reconstruction whereas 11 (64.7%) patients declined surgery due to financial constraint. Conclusion: Complicated breast abscess is not uncommon among lactating women in our environment due to late presentation resulting from illiteracy, poverty, and cultural practice of seeking alternative medical practice and its management is challenging to the surgeon partly due to financial constraint for patients’ treatment.
Role of TNF-α in vascular hyporeactivity following endotoxic shock and its mechanism.

BACKGROUND Vascular hyporeactivity plays an important role in organ dysfunction induced by endotoxic shock. Given that cytokine such as TNF-α plays an important role in endotoxic shock, the aim of the present study is to investigate the role of TNF-α in vascular hyporeactivity following endotoxic shock and the mechanisms. METHODS Lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 1mg/Kg) injection was used for replicating the endotoxic shock model in the rabbit. The changes in the level of TNF-α in plasma in the rabbits model and the contractile response of superior mesenteric arteries (SMA) to norepinephrine (NE) and Ca were observed. The mechanisms in TNF-α-induced vascular hyporeactivity were further explored. RESULTS The levels of TNF-α in plasma were gradually increased after 1h of LPS administration and reached the peak at 6 h. The contractile responses of SMA to NE were decreased at 1h of LPS and lowest at 6h. TNF-α (200ng/ml) incubation decreased contractile response of SMA to NE significantly. The further studies found that calcium desensitization participated in the occurrence of TNF-α-induced vascular hyporeactivity, the changes were consistent with the changes of vascular reactivity, calcium sensitivities were decreased significantly at 1h, 2h, 4h, and 6h after LPS injection. TNF-α (200ng/ml) incubation could significantly reduce the contractile response of SMA to Ca. The activity of Rho-kinase and the changes of MLC20 phosphorylation level were significantly decreased at 6h following LPS administration, and TNF-α (200ng/ml) incubation led to decrease of Rho-kinase and MLC20 phosphorylation. Arginine vasopressin (AVP) significantly antagonized TNF-α (200ng/ml)-induced the decrease of the vascular reactivity and calcium sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS TNF-α is involved in vascular hyporeactivity after endotoxic shock. Calcium desensitization plays an important role in TNF-α-induced vascular hyporeactivity after endotoxic shock. Rho-kinase/MLC20 phosphorylation pathway takes part in the regulation of calcium desensitization and vascular hyporeactivity induced by TNF-α. AVP is beneficial to endotoxic shock in TNF-α-induced vascular hyporeactivity.therapeutic/care managementLevel I.
Root tolerance and biochemical response of Chinese lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) genotypes to cadmium stress

This study was conducted to determine the root tolerance and biochemical responses of four Chinese Lactuca sativa L. genotypes (Lüsu, Lümeng, Yidali and Anyan) to cadmium (Cd2+) stress. Twenty-eight days old seedlings were exposed to Hoagland’s nutrient solution supplied with or without 100 µM CdCl2 and monitored for seven days in a climate controlled room. The 100 µM CdCl2 significantly (P < 0.001) decreased all the root morphological indexes of the four genotypes. However, Yidali, which possessed the smallest root system, exhibited greater root tolerance to Cd2+ by having the highest tolerance indexes for root volume (46%), surface area (61%), projected area (74%) and numbers of root forks (63%) and root tips (58%). Moreover, Cd2+ stress also caused increases in H2O2 contents in the roots but the increase was least in Yidali which showed greater root tolerance to Cd2+stress. The effect of Cd2+ stress on the contents of hormones in the roots depended on the genotypes. Under Cd2+ stress, abscisic acid correlated positively with indole-3-acetic acid (r = 0.669*), gibberellic acid (r = 0.630*) and cytokinin (r = 0.785**). The antioxidant enzyme activities and proline responses of the four genotypes to Cd2+ stress were similar. The SOD activity was decreased whiles the CAT and POD activities, as well as the contents of proline increased in all the genotypes under the stress condition. These results suggest that lettuce genotypes with smaller root systems could be more tolerant to Cd2+ stress compared to those with larger root systems.
Usefulness of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in chronic kidney disease: The moroccan experience

Among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), hypertension (HTN) is very common and widely recognized to accelerate the progression of CKD and increase the risk for cardiovascular events. Accumulated data indicate that ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is better in detecting HTN than office blood pressure (BP) measurement. The goal of this study is to describe the ABPM characteristics in a group of CKD and hypertensive patients. A transversal study was conducted over a period of six months, to evaluate the ABPM patterns among a group of hypertensive patients with CKD (Group 1) and compared the data with a control group (Group 2). ABPM was performed with measurement rate every 15 min during daytime and 30 min at night. Nondipping BP patterns were defined as the absence of fall in nocturnal systolic and diastolic BP >10% of daytime values. Masked HTN was defined as controlled office BP (<140/90 mm Hg) with an elevated overall average BP by 24-h ABPM (>125/75 mm Hg), and white-coat HTN was defined as association of elevated BP readings (>140/90 mm Hg) in a clinical setting and normal 24-h average BP levels (<130/80 mm Hg). Fifty patients were included in each group. HTN was much longer in duration among hypertensive patients with CKD and frequently associated with obesity, dyslipidemia, and diabetes (64% vs. 39.60%). Positive proteinuria was present in 82% of CKD patients with HTN. CKD patients with HTN received more antihypertensive drugs than Group 2 patients. HTN was much more uncontrolled among CKD patients (60% vs. 24%), more serious with higher daytime and nighttime SBP, and loss of physiologic dipping during nighttime BP measurement (80%). Out-of-office BP monitoring by ABPM may improve the assessment and the successful management of HTN in patients with CKD. Standardized definitions for the diagnosis of masked and white-coat HTN would facilitate research.
Increased soluble TREM2 in cerebrospinal fluid is associated with reduced cognitive and clinical decline in Alzheimer’s disease

Higher CSF sTREM2 concentrations are associated with slower rates of cognitive decline in subjects with Alzheimer’s disease. Boosting TREM2 in AD Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder, and clinical trials using anti-amyloid treatments have failed. New therapeutic targets are therefore required. Recent genetic studies have revealed a major role for microglia in disease progression. Loss-of-function mutations in TREM2 dramatically increase the risk for late onset AD, therefore boosting that TREM2 function may be a useful therapeutic strategy. Ewers et al. examined whether increased TREM2 is protective in patients with AD. They found that higher concentrations of soluble TREM2 in cerebrospinal fluid were associated with reduced memory decline and hippocampal shrinkage in patients with AD. Thus, therapeutic strategies that boost TREM2 signaling may be beneficial in AD. Loss of function of TREM2, a key receptor selectively expressed by microglia in the brain, contributes to the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We therefore examined whether soluble TREM2 (sTREM2) concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were associated with reduced rates of cognitive decline and clinical progression in subjects with AD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We measured sTREM2 in CSF samples from 385 elderly subjects, including cognitively normal controls, individuals with MCI, and subjects with AD dementia (follow-up period: mean, 4 years; range 1.5 to 11.5 years). In subjects with AD defined by evidence of CSF Aβ1–42 (amyloid β-peptide 1 to 42; A+) and CSF p-tau181 (tau phosphorylated on amino acid residue 181; T+), higher sTREM2 concentrations in CSF at baseline were associated with attenuated decline in memory and cognition. When analyzed in clinical subgroups, an association between higher CSF sTREM2 concentrations and subsequent reduced memory decline was consistently observed in individuals with MCI or AD dementia, who were positive for CSF Aβ1–42 and CSF p-tau181 (A+T+). Regarding clinical progression, a higher ratio of CSF sTREM2 to CSF p-tau181 concentrations predicted slower conversion from cognitively normal to symptomatic stages or from MCI to AD dementia in the subjects who were positive for CSF Aβ1–42 and CSF p-tau181. These results suggest that sTREM2 is associated with attenuated cognitive and clinical decline, a finding with important implications for future clinical trials targeting the innate immune response in AD.
Impact assessment and investigation of factors associated with herpesviruses viremia in the first year of renal transplantation

The increased risk for opportunistic infections after a renal transplant requires monitoring of viral infections to avoid future complications. Our goal was to investigate the impact and factors associated with Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV), human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and human herpesvirus type 6 (HHV‐6) viremia in renal transplant recipients. Whole blood samples were collected monthly from 82 patients during the first semester and then quarterly up to 1 year after transplantation. EBV, HCMV, and HHV‐6 were detected and quantified by TaqMan real‐time polymerase chain reaction. The results showed that EBV and HCMV viremia were detected in 32 patients (39% each), while HHV‐6 viremia in only 3 patients (3.7%). EBV was significantly associated with age (P = .050), thymoglobuline induction (P = .019), mTOR inhibitor‐based therapy (P = .003), and female gender (P = .044). HCMV was significantly associated with basiliximab induction (P = .015), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF)‐based therapy (P = .003) and allograft acute rejection (P = .033). Moreover, HCMV‐disease was correlated with MMF‐based therapy (P = .021) and female gender (P = .003). In conclusion, EBV and HCMV viremia were associated with different immunosuppressive induction and maintenance strategies. Additionally, higher HCMV viremia (> 10 4 copies/mL) was related to acute allograft rejection.
The Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Deamidase Enhances Propagation but Is Dispensable for Retrograde Axonal Transport into the Nervous System

Herpes simplex virus 1 invades the nervous system by entering nerve endings and sustaining long-distance retrograde axonal transport to reach neuronal nuclei in ganglia of the peripheral nervous system. The incoming viral particle carries a deamidase activity on its surface that antagonizes antiviral responses. We examined the contribution of the deamidase to the hallmark neuroinvasive property of this virus. ABSTRACT Upon replication in mucosal epithelia and transmission to nerve endings, capsids of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) travel retrogradely within axons to peripheral ganglia, where life-long latent infections are established. A capsid-bound tegument protein, pUL37, is an essential effector of retrograde axonal transport and also houses a deamidase activity that antagonizes innate immune signaling. In this report, we examined whether the deamidase of HSV-1 pUL37 contributes to the neuroinvasive retrograde axonal transport mechanism. We conclude that neuroinvasion is enhanced by the deamidase, but the critical contribution of pUL37 to retrograde axonal transport functions independently of this activity. IMPORTANCE Herpes simplex virus 1 invades the nervous system by entering nerve endings and sustaining long-distance retrograde axonal transport to reach neuronal nuclei in ganglia of the peripheral nervous system. The incoming viral particle carries a deamidase activity on its surface that antagonizes antiviral responses. We examined the contribution of the deamidase to the hallmark neuroinvasive property of this virus.
MOLECULAR REGULATION OF HUMAN SKELETAL MUSCLE PROTEIN SYNTHESIS IN RESPONSE TO EXERCISE AND NUTRIENTS: A COMPASS FOR OVERCOMING AGE-RELATED ANABOLIC RESISTANCE.

Skeletal muscle mass, a strong predictor of longevity and health in humans, is determined by the balance of two cellular processes, muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and muscle protein breakdown (MPB). Of these two, MPS seems to be particularly sensitive to changes in mechanical load and/or nutritional status, and therefore much research has focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms which underpin this cellular process. Furthermore, older individuals display an attenuated MPS response to anabolic stimuli, termed anabolic resistance, which has a negative impact on muscle mass, function and quality of life. Therefore, understanding which, if any, molecular mechanisms contribute to anabolic resistance of MPS is of vital importance so therapeutic interventions can be formulated for such populations. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the mechanisms which underpin MPS, which are broadly split into mTORC1-dependent, mTORC1-independent and ribosomal biogenesis related, and describes the evidence as to how they are regulated by anabolic stimuli (exercise and/or nutrition) in healthy human skeletal muscle. Moreover, this review also summarizes evidence regarding which of these mechanisms may be implicated in age-related skeletal muscle anabolic resistance and provides recommendations for future avenues of research which can expand our knowledge of this area.
Class-switched Primary Cutaneous Marginal Zone Lymphomas Are Frequently IgG4-positive and Have Features Distinct From IgM-positive Cases

Primary cutaneous marginal zone lymphoma (PCMZL) can be subdivided into 2 groups based on immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy chain usage: IgM-positive cases that constitute a less common and more T-helper type 1–driven process, and more common heavy chain class-switched cases that are predominantly T-helper type 2–driven. Although some report a significant IgG4-positive subset, others have found a much smaller proportion. To further evaluate the proportion of IgG4-positive PCMZL, to address whether IgG4-positive cases have any distinctive characteristics, and to assess whether additional features separating IgM-positive and class-switched cases could be identified, the clinicopathologic features of 26 PCMZL obtained from 19 patients were investigated. Twenty of 26 (77%) PCMZL were heavy chain class-switched (19 IgG-positive, 1 IgA-positive), including 9 that were IgG4-positive (35%). IgG4-positive and other class-switched PCMZL were morphologically similar. IgM-positive cases occurred in older individuals (median: 69 vs. 46.5 y; P=0.0001), more often involved the subcutis (P=0.002), demonstrated plasma cells diffusely scattered versus at the periphery of the lymphoid infiltrate (P=0.005), uniformly showed follicular colonization (P=0.0001), contained more numerous B cells (P=0.0004), and were more likely to have a T-cell CD4:CD8 ratio of <3:1 (P=0.03). None of the IgM-positive PCMZL harbored a MYD88 L265P mutation. No significant differences in clinical outcome were documented. These results highlight the high frequency of IgG4-positive PCMZL, which are otherwise similar to other class-switched cases, provide additional evidence supporting the distinction between class-switched and IgM-positive cases, and emphasize the indolent nature of at least the class-switched PCMZL, which may warrant their categorization as a clonal chronic lymphoproliferative disorder.
Prevention, assessment, diagnosis and management of diabetic foot based on clinical practice guidelines

Abstract Aim: Diabetic foot complications are the main reason for hospitalization and amputation in people with diabetes and have a prevalence of up to 25%. Clinical practice guidelines are recommendations based on evidence with the aim of improving health care. The main aim of this study was to carry out a systematic review of the levels of the evaluation and treatment strategies that appear in the clinical practice guidelines focus on diabetic foot or diabetes with diabetic foot section. Another objective of this study was to perform an analysis of the levels of evidence in support of the recommendations made by the selected clinical practice guidelines. Methods: A systematic review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) and a quality assessment by the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) were performed. The databases checked were “NICE”, “Cinahl”, “Health Guide”, “RNAO”, “Sign”, “PubMed”, “Scopus” and “NCG”. The search terms included were “diabetic foot”, “guideline(s)”, “practice guideline(s)” and “diabetes. ” Results: Twelve articles were selected after checked inclusion criteria and quality assessment. A summary and classification of the recommendations was completed. Conclusions: The heterogeneity of levels of evidence and grades of recommendation of the CPGs included regarding the management, approach and treatment of DF makes it difficult to interpret and assume them in clinical practice in order to select the most correct procedures. Despite this and according to the detailed study of the guidelines included in this work, it can be concluded that the highly recommendable interventions for DF management are debridement (very high level of evidence and strongly recommended), foot evaluation (moderate level of evidence and fairly recommended) and therapeutic footwear (moderate level of evidence and fairly recommended).
Prognostic role of body composition parameters in gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancer patients from the EXPAND trial

Body fat and/or muscle composition influences prognosis in several cancer types. For advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancer, we investigated which body composition parameters carry prognostic information beyond well‐established clinical parameters using robust model selection strategy such that parameters identified can be expected to generalize and to be reproducible beyond our particular data set. Then we modelled how differences in these parameters translate into survival outcomes.
Modulation of the Visual to Auditory Human Inhibitory Brain Network: An EEG Dipole Source Localization Study

Auditory alarms are used to direct people’s attention to critical events in complicated environments. The capacity for identifying the auditory alarms in order to take the right action in our daily life is critical. In this work, we investigate how auditory alarms affect the neural networks of human inhibition. We used a famous stop-signal or go/no-go task to measure the effect of visual stimuli and auditory alarms on the human brain. In this experiment, go-trials used visual stimulation, via a square or circle symbol, and stop trials used auditory stimulation, via an auditory alarm. Electroencephalography (EEG) signals from twelve subjects were acquired and analyzed using an advanced EEG dipole source localization method via independent component analysis (ICA) and EEG-coherence analysis. Behaviorally, the visual stimulus elicited a significantly higher accuracy rate (96.35%) than the auditory stimulus (57.07%) during inhibitory control. EEG theta and beta band power increases in the right middle frontal gyrus (rMFG) were associated with human inhibitory control. In addition, delta, theta, alpha, and beta band increases in the right cingulate gyrus (rCG) and delta band increases in both right superior temporal gyrus (rSTG) and left superior temporal gyrus (lSTG) were associated with the network changes induced by auditory alarms. We further observed that theta-alpha and beta bands between lSTG-rMFG and lSTG-rSTG pathways had higher connectivity magnitudes in the brain network when performing the visual tasks changed to receiving the auditory alarms. These findings could be useful for further understanding the human brain in realistic environments.
Generic Side-channel attacks on CCA-secure lattice-based PKE and KEM schemes

In this article, we demonstrate practical side-channel assisted chosen-ciphertext attacks (CCA) over multiple CCA-secure lattice-based public-key encryption schemes (PKE) and key-encapsulation mechanisms (KEM). Most lattice-based PKE/KEMs suffer from the problem of decryption failures and some of these schemes use forward error correction codes to reduce the failure probability. These error correcting codes, when used within public-key cryptographic schemes, involve computations with secret components and hence might leak sensitive side-channel information. In this work, we identify a side-channel vulnerability in constant-time error correcting codes, which help the attacker distinguish between faulty and valid codewords through the EM/power side-channel information. We exploit the vulnerability to demonstrate a practical chosen-ciphertext attacks on the CCA-secure Round5 algorithm which uses timing attack resistant error correcting code. We further identify a generic side-channel vulnerability within the CCA transformation steps used in multiple CCA-secure lattice-based PKE/KEM schemes. Exploiting the vulnerability, we demonstrate a practical chosenciphertext attack which can be performed on multiple CCA-secure latticebased PKE/KEM schemes. We perform experimental validation of our attacks using Electromagnetic measurements observed over optimized implementations of multiple NIST candidates taken from the pqm4 library, a benchmarking framework for post quantum cryptographic implementations for the ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller. We thus establish that (1) lattice-based schemes that use error correcting codes, no matter constant-time or not, are vulnerable to power/EM side-channel attacks and (2) the notion that CCA-secure schemes are as insecure as their CPA-secure versions unless suitably masked against side-channel attacks.