Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Single intrauterine death in monochorionic twin pregnancies

The death of one fetus of a monochorionic twin set may lead to significant risks for the survivor. Although one series found that perinatal mortality was not increased compared to matched twin pregnancies in which both twins were delivered alive 1 , other studies have estimated the risk of death of the co-twin, either in utero or in the immediate neonatal period, to be as high as 38% 2 . More-over, abnormalities of the central nervous system, kidney, adrenals, liver, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, limbs and skin have been reported in the survivors 3–5 .
Anthrax Lethal Toxin Has Direct and Potent Inhibitory Effects on B Cell Proliferation and Immunoglobulin Production1

Protective host immune responses to anthrax infection in humans and animal models are characterized by the development of neutralizing Abs against the receptor-binding anthrax protective Ag (PA), which, together with the lethal factor (LF) protease, composes anthrax lethal toxin (LT). We now report that B cells, in turn, are targets for LT. Anthrax PA directly binds primary B cells, resulting in the LF-dependent cleavage of the MAPK kinases (MAPKKs) and disrupted signaling to downstream MAPK targets. Although not directly lethal to B cells, anthrax LT treatment causes severe B cell dysfunction, greatly reducing proliferative responses to IL-4-, anti-IgM-, and/or anti-CD40 stimulation. Moreover, B cells treated with anthrax LT in vitro or isolated from mice treated with anthrax LT in vivo have a markedly diminished capacity to proliferate and produce IgM in response to TLR-2 and TLR-4 ligands. The suppressive effects of anthrax LT on B cell function occur at picomolar concentrations in vitro and at sublethal doses in vivo. These results indicate that anthrax LT directly inhibits the function of B cells in vitro and in vivo, revealing a potential mechanism through which the pathogen could bypass protective immune responses.
Preterm infants with low immunoglobulin G levels have increased risk of neonatal sepsis but do not benefit from prophylactic immunoglobulin G.

OBJECTIVE In a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter study, we evaluated the prevention of neonatal infections with intravenous immunoglobulin G (IVIgG) prophylaxis for preterm infants (gestational age <33 weeks) with umbilical cord blood IgG levels < or =4 g/L. STUDY DESIGN Intravenous IgG or placebo (albumin), 1 g/kg body weight, was given on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 21 to 81 infants with umbilical cord blood IgG levels < or =4 g/L: (1) IVIgG group, n = 40, mean (SD) gestational age 27.5 (2.2) weeks and birth weight 1.06 (0.39) kg; (2) placebo group, n = 41, mean (SD) gestational age 27.7 (2.5) weeks and birth weight 1.13 (0.38) kg. Infants with umbilical cord blood IgG levels >4 g/L (n = 238) served as a separate comparison group. Neonatal infections according to European Society of Pediatric Infectious Disease criteria were monitored until 28 days of life. RESULTS Infants with IgG levels < or =4 g/L at birth who received IVIgG had no significant reduction in infectious episodes or mortality rate when compared with those given placebo. However, infants with a serum concentration of IgG >4 g/L at birth had significantly fewer infectious episodes (culture-proven sepsis) than infants with low serum concentrations of IgG (< or =4 g/L) when compared at the same gestational ages (26 to 29 weeks, P <.003). CONCLUSIONS Prophylactic immunotherapy with IVIgG did not improve the immune competence in preterm infants with low serum IgG concentrations at birth. We speculate that a spontaneously high serum IgG concentration at birth reflects placenta function and is an indicator of a more mature immune system capable of protecting the preterm infant against severe neonatal infections.
Review: Roadmap to Reperfusion in Acute Ischemic Stroke: from Intra-Venous to Intra-Arterial

Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is a devastating disease constituting the fifth leading cause of death in the United States. Effectively treating AIS has always been a challenge in clinical practice as neural cells are vulnerable to ischemic insults and susceptible to anoxic damage. Since the FDA approval of intravenous (IV) thrombolysis with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), treatment of AIS has changed significantly. Accumulated evidence over the past two decades in clinical practice indicated that IV tPA has been proven to be an effective regimen for AIS with acceptable safety profile up to 4.5 hours after the onset of symptoms. Furthermore, efforts have been made on searching for alternative or adjunctive therapies to IV tPA. Clinically emerged intra-arterial intervention with promising outcomes has become a feasible option for patients who are ineligible for IV thrombolysis or have failed in recanalization of a large occluded vessel. Although it has been contentious in respect to whether endovascular therapy truly improves outcome in the treatment of AIS, evidence from the most recently published results of randomized controlled endovascular intervention trials is quite encouraging. This review outlines some practical milestones in the development of effective treatments for AIS.
Causes and relevance of unsatisfactory and satisfactory but limited smears of liquid-based compared with conventional cervical cytology.

CONTEXT Recent randomized controlled trials have shown a significant decrease in unsatisfactory rates for liquid-based cytology (LBC) compared with conventional Papanicolaou test (CP). The underlying causes and relevance of unsatisfactory results for LBC and CP have never been compared within the setting of a randomized controlled trial. OBJECTIVE To examine differences in causes and relevance of unsatisfactory and satisfactory but limited by (SBLB) results for LBC and CP. DESIGN Data from the Netherlands ThinPrep Versus Conventional Cytology (NETHCON) trial were used, involving 89 784 women. Causes and relevance of unsatisfactory and SBLB results were analyzed. RESULTS The primary cause for unsatisfactory results for CP and LBC was scant cellularity. Other causes for unsatisfactory CPs were virtually eliminated with LBC. The same was true for SBLB subcategories, with the exception of SBLB absence of transformation zone component and SBLB scant cellularity. The SBLB absence of transformation zone component showed a statistically significant 22% and SBLB scant cellularity a 12% nonsignificant increase with LBC. The detection rates of abnormalities found during 18 months of follow-up of unsatisfactory test results did not differ significantly between the 2 study arms, nor did they differ from the initial test positivity rates from the NETHCON trial. CONCLUSIONS Liquid-based cytology shows an almost complete elimination of most causes for unsatisfactory CP, with scant cellularity remaining as the sole cause for unsatisfactory LBC. On the other hand, with LBC a significant increase of smears without a transformation zone component was noted. Women with an unsatisfactory test result are not at increased risk for cervical abnormalities either with LBC or with CP. TRIAL REGISTRATION Nederlands Trial Register, NTR1032, www.trialregister. nl .
A decoupling technique on switch factor based analysis of RLC interconnects

In recent years, as the density of the components in the integrated circuit grows, the distance between the on-chip wires becomes smaller. The crosstalk is more important and will change the signal waveform or generate logic failures and then degrade the performance and the reality of the circuit. In this paper, we focus on the response of the transmission line and the value of the crosstalk noise. We propose a new method to obtain the equivalent circuit, and it is of a closed form which is suitable for the coupled circuit composed of multiple coupling capacitors and mutual inductors. In one general coupled circuit with two lines in which there are different resistances and capacitances between line and ground and different slopes of the source voltages, we refer to the parameters in other papers and use our approach to estimate the propagation delay. By comparing with the result obtained from simulating the circuit with HSPICE, we achieve an average error rate around 5%.
Optimization of extrusion process for production of nutritious pellets

A blend of 50% Potato Starch (PS), 35% Quality Protein Maize (QPM), and 15% Soybean Meal (SM) were used in the preparation of expanded pellets utilizing a laboratory extruder with a 1.5 × 20.0 × 100.0 mm die-nozzle. The independent variables analyzed were Barrel Temperature (BT) (75-140 °C) and Feed Moisture (FM) (16-30%). The effect of extrusion variables was investigated in terms of Expansion Index (EI), apparent density (ApD), Penetration Force (PF) and Specific Mechanical Energy (SME), viscosity profiles, DSC, crystallinity by X-ray diffraction, and Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM). The PF decreased from 30 to 4 kgf with the increase of both independent variables (BT and FM). SME was affected only by FM, and decreased with the increase in this variable. The optimal region showed that the maximum EI was found for BT in the range of 123-140 °C and 27-31% for FM, respectively. The extruded pellets obtained from the optimal processing region were probably not completely degraded, as shown in the structural characterization. Acceptable expanded pellets could be produced using a blend of PS, QPM, and SM by extrusion cooking.
Abundance, distribution and haul-out behaviour of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, UK

This study investigated the phenology, patterns of haul-out habitat use and distribution of the grey seal around Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. A full census of the coast was carried out by boat over 4 days, in order to make a full count of seals hauled out and close to the coast, and to document all haul-out sites. Regular land-based surveys were made of three haul-out sites in Cornwall, to investigate the effects of spatial, temporal and environmental factors on seal haul-out behaviour. Data from 2004 to 2007 were analysed to describe long-term temporal variation in seal abundance at two haul-out sites. A total of 592 sightings were made along the coast of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly over the four-day census period; 476 of these sightings (80.4%) were recorded at six main haul-out sites. The highest proportion of seals was observed at three haul-out areas on the Isles of Scilly. In Cornwall, seals were observed in higher numbers on the north coast, where the three largest mainland haul-out sites were documented, than on the south coast. At one key haul-out site in Cornwall, a distinct seasonal pattern was evident in data collected between 2004 and 2007, with higher numbers of seals present during the moulting and breeding seasons than over the summer months. There was considerable inter-annual variability in peak seal abundance, during the moulting season, at this site. There was no significant variation in haul-out behaviour with tidal state at this site, although haul-out counts were generally highest at mid-ebb tides. Data on seal abundance, distribution and haul-out behaviour may aid the designation of Special Areas of Conservation for the protection of grey seals in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Concentration levels of IL-10 and TNFα cytokines in patients with human papilloma virus (HPV) DNA+ and DNA− cervical lesions

The present study was performed to assess the immune response in women with human papilloma virus (HPV) DNA+ and DNA− cervical lesions. Eighty women with cervical lesions (age range = 25–70 years) and 20 healthy individuals (control group) were enrolled in the study. Lesions were cytologically classified into four groups: ASC-US (20), CINI (30), CINII-III (16), and cervical carcinoma (14) prior to HPV DNA detection. Estimation of interleukin (IL)-10 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels in cervical secretions and serum of the studied patients was performed utilizing ELISA. PCR screening kits were used to detect HPV DNA in cervical smears obtained from the studied cases with the different lesions. IL-10 levels in cervical secretions of HPV DNA+ were significantly greater than those from DNA− patients (i.e., 88.73 vs 24.00 pg/ml) and from controls (i.e., 88.73 vs 8.27 pg/ml) and the levels were higher in DNA− patients than in controls (i.e., 24.00 vs 8.27 pg/ml). In comparison, serum IL-10 levels in these patients did not significantly differ from control values (i.e., 13.69 vs 12.16 vs 9.99 pg/ml, respectively). TNFα levels in cervical secretions of the HPV DNA+ and DNA− cases did not significantly differ from values for the controls (i.e., 12.18 vs 9.90 vs 7.90 pg/ml, respectively). Serum TNFα of these patients also did not differ significantly from controls (i.e., 11.59 vs 11.90 vs 10.83 pg/ml, respectively). The detected levels of IL-10 in cervical secretions of patients with HPV DNA+ lesions was significantly higher than in their sera, while secretion TNFα levels were nominally greater than sera values. Lastly, higher levels of IL-10 were observed in secretions of 10–14 (71.4%) patients who had progressive cervical lesions (HSIL and cervical cancer stages) who were HPV DNA+ than observed in 20 of 66 (30.0%) of DNA− patients with similar progressive lesions. In general, the higher levels of IL-10 than of TNFα suggested a potential down-modulation of tumor-specific immune responses to HPV-infected lesions. This phenomenon appears to provide a tumor ‘progressive’ microenvironment in these particular patients.
Outcomes in hepatitis B surface antigen‐positive renal transplant recipients

With the outcomes in dialysis patients remaining poor, renal transplantation remains the treatment of choice for patients with end-stage kidney disease. The prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive patients on dialysis is declining; however, there remain a number of patients with HBsAg positivity who may benefit from renal transplantation. Hepatitis B infection is relatively common in the New Zealand Maori and Pacifica populations. Reports on renal and liver outcomes in patients receiving a renal transplant with pre-existing HBsAg positivity have demonstrated both favourable and unfavourable outcomes. A meta-analysis of some observational studies in 2005 showed increased mortality and increased graft loss in patients that were HBsAg positive prior to renal transplantation. Older studies reported poor outcomes while newer studies have reported comparable outcomes. This could be due to more focused and better follow-up in these patients. A review by Tsai et al. gives a comprehensive review of studies that have looked at hepatitis B infection and renal transplantation outcomes. With this background, we set out to review the renal and liver outcomes of all patients transplanted at Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand who were HBsAg positive pre-transplant.
The effects of P6 acupressure and nurse-provided counseling on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in patients with breast cancer.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effects of pericardium 6 (P6) acupressure and nurse-provided counseling on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in patients with breast cancer. DESIGN Randomized, controlled trial. SETTING A university cancer center in Seoul, South Korea. SAMPLE 120 women who were beginning their second cycle of adjuvant chemotherapy after definitive surgery for breast cancer and who had more than mild levels of nausea and vomiting with the first cycle of chemotherapy. METHODS Participants were assigned randomly into four groups: control (placebo on SI3), counseling only, P6 acupressure only, and P6 acupressure plus nurse-provided counseling. The experiences of upper-gastrointestinal distress were measured by the Rhodes Index of Nausea, Vomiting, and Retching for acute (day 1) and delayed (day 2 to day 5) CINV. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES Nausea, retching, vomiting, P6 acupressure, and counseling. FINDINGS No significant differences were found in the demographic and disease-related variables among the four groups. The levels of CINV were significantly different among the groups from day 2 to day 5. The CINV differences were attributed mainly to the difference between the control group and the group with P6 acupressure plus nurse-provided counseling. The effects of acupressure were proven from day 2 to day 5, and the effects of nurse-provided counseling were proven on day 4 and were close to significance level on day 5. CONCLUSIONS Synergic effects of P6 acupressure with nurse-provided counseling appeared to be effective in reducing CINV in patients with breast cancer. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING P6 acupressure combined with counseling by nurses is a safe and easy-to-apply tool in CINV management in practice.
Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Andrographis paniculata by Rapid Resolution Liquid Chromatography/Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

A rapid resolution liquid chromatography/time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (RRLC-TOF/MS) method was developed for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the major chemical constituents in Andrographis paniculata. Fifteen compounds, including flavonoids and diterpenoid lactones, were unambiguously or tentatively identified in 10 min by comparing their retention times and accurate masses with standards or literature data. The characteristic fragmentation patterns of flavonoids and diterpenoid lactones were summarized, and the structures of the unknown compounds were predicted. Andrographolide, dehydroandrographolide and neoandrographolide were further quantified as marker substances. It was found that the calibration curves for all analytes showed good linearity (R2 > 0.9995) within the test ranges. The overall limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQs) were 0.02 μg/mL to 0.06 μg/mL and 0.06 μg/mL to 0.2 μg/mL, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) for intra- and inter-day precisions were below 3.3% and 4.2%, respectively. The mean recovery rates ranged from 96.7% to 104.5% with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 2.72%. It is concluded that RRLC-TOF/MS is powerful and practical in qualitative and quantitative analysis of complex plant samples due to time savings, sensitivity, precision, accuracy and lowering solvent consumption.
Prolonged infectiousness of tuberculosis patients in a directly observed therapy short-course program with standardized therapy.

BACKGROUND Effective tuberculosis control is compromised by a lack of clarity about the timeframe of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis shedding after treatment initiation under programmatic conditions. This study quantifies time to conversion from smear and culture positivity to negativity in unselected tuberculosis patients receiving standardized therapy in a directly observed therapy short-course (DOTS) program. METHODS Longitudinal cohort study following up 93 adults initiating tuberculosis therapy in Lima, Peru. Baseline culture and drug susceptibility tests (DSTs) were performed using the MBBacT, proportion, and microscopic observation drug susceptibility (MODS) methods. Smear microscopy and MODS liquid culture were performed at baseline and weekly for 4 weeks then every other week for 26 weeks. RESULTS Median conversion time from culture positivity to culture negativity of 38.5 days was unaffected by baseline smear status. Patients with fully susceptible tuberculosis had a median time to culture conversion of 37 days; 10% remained culture positive at day 60. Delayed culture conversion was associated with multidrug resistance, regardless of DST method used; non-multidrug resistance as defined by the proportion method and MODS (but not MBBacT) was also associated with delay. Persistent day 60 smear positivity yielded positive and negative predictive values of 67% and 92%, respectively, for detecting multidrug resistance. CONCLUSIONS Smear and culture conversion in treated tuberculosis patients takes longer than is conventionally believed, even with fully susceptible disease, and must be accounted for in tuberculosis treatment and prevention programs. Persistent day 60 smear positivity is a poor predictor of multidrug resistance. The industrialized-world convention of universal baseline DST for tuberculosis patients should become the standard of care in multidrug resistance-affected resource-limited settings.
Familial thrombocytosis in infancy presenting with a leukaemoid reaction

Familial thrombocytosis (FT) is a hereditary disorder probably involving the regulation of mega‐karyopoiesis. This report is the first documented case of FT in infancy. The clinical course was complicated by a leukaemoid reaction which lasted for several months, in combination with failure to thrive and hepatosplenomegaly. At the age of 5 years the patient, with the exception of thrombocytosis, is healthy and without medication.
Collection selection: ...now, with more documents!

A way to reduce the computing pressure in a distributed IR system is to use document partitioning and to perform collection selection. With suitable training and/or modeling, the collection selection function can choose the most promising collections for each query, with high confidence. Unfortunately, if the collections need to be updated, we need to retrain the selection function, update its statistics or face the loss of some result quality. This paper introduces a simple, but very effective, technique to add new documents to collections in a system that uses collection selection. We show that we can update the individual collections, while guaranteeing the same selection performance, with no need to update or retrain the selection function.
Increase in soluble CD4 binding to and CD4-induced dissociation of gp120 from virions correlates with infectivity of human immunodeficiency virus type 1

Mutations in the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoproteins gp120 and gp41, previously shown to confer an enhanced replicative capacity and broadened host range to the ELI1 strain of HIV-1, were analyzed for their biochemical effects on envelope structure and function. The tendency of purified virions to release their extracellular gp120 component, either spontaneously or after interacting with soluble CD4 (CD4-induced shedding) was assessed. A single amino acid substitution in part of the CD4 binding site of gp120 (Gly-427 to Arg) enhanced both spontaneous and CD4-induced shedding of gp120 from virions, while a single change in the fusogenic region of gp41 (Met-7 to Val) affected only CD4-induced shedding. Although each codon change alone conferred increased growth ability, virus with both mutations exhibited the most rapid replication kinetics. In addition, when both of these mutations were present, virions had the highest tendency to shed gp120, both spontaneously and after exposure to soluble CD4. Analysis of CD4 binding to virion-associated gp120 showed that the changes in both gp120 and gp41 contributed to increased binding. These results demonstrated that the increased replicative capacity of the ELI variants in human CD4+ cell lines was associated with altered physical and functional properties of the virion envelope glycoproteins.