Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predicting regional lymph node metastasis in carcinoma of the penis: a comparison between fine-needle aspiration cytology, sentinel lymph node biopsy and medial inguinal lymph node biopsy.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the accuracy of clinical examination and fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in detecting groin metastases in patients with carcinoma of the penis, and to assess the positive and negative predictive value (PPV, NPV) of a preliminary sentinel lymph-node biopsy (SNB) and biopsy of the most medial of the horizontal group of inguinal lymph nodes (MIN) in selecting patients for an ilio-inguinal block dissection. PATIENTS AND METHODS The study comprised 28 patients (56 groins) with Stage I (one), Stage II (11) and Stage III (16) carcinoma of the penis. All patients underwent a detailed clinical examination followed by FNAC of the palpable inguinal nodes, and were subsequently submitted for block dissection. The MIN, the SN and the rest of the inguinal and iliac nodes were histologically examined separately for metastases. RESULTS The clinical evaluation had a sensitivity of 74%, a specificity of 61%, a PPV of 57% and a NPV of 77%. The corresponding values for FNAC were all 100%, and the specificity and PPV for both MIN and SN were 100%. The sensitivity and NPV of MIN were higher than for SN, although not significantly so. CONCLUSION Clinical examination alone is inaccurate in selecting patients with carcinoma of the penis for block dissection. FNAC is accurate and specific when nodes are palpable; in those with impalpable nodes a preliminary MIN biopsy followed by SNB if the MIN biopsy is negative will accurately select all patients with metastases in the groin nodes. This can be performed by examining frozen sections of the lymph nodes; if positive, block dissection can be carried out at the same time.
Clinical Outcome of HIV-Infected Antiretroviral-Naive Patients With Discordant Immunologic and Virologic Responses to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy

Background:The prognostic significance of a response to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) that is immunologically and virologically discordant is not well understood. Methods:Four hundred four antiretroviral-naive patients initiating HAART at an urban HIV outpatient clinic in 1995 to 2004 were analyzed. The association of treatment responses at 3 to 9 months after HAART initiation with time to development of an opportunistic infection (OI) or death was determined using Cox proportional hazards modeling. Logistic regression modeling was used to examine the association between discordant responses and patient characteristics. Results:Of 404 patients, 70.5% experienced favorable concordant responses (CD4 cell count [CD4]+/viral load [VL]+: increase in CD4 count of ≥50 cells/μL and achievement of undetectable plasma HIV RNA level), 15.8% an immunologic response only (CD4+/VL−), 8.7% a virologic response only (CD4−/VL+), and 5.0% a concordant unfavorable response (CD4−/VL−). Both types of discordant responses (CD4+/VL− and CD4−/VL+), nonresponse (CD4−/VL−), and baseline CD4 cell count were significantly associated with earlier development of an OI or death (relative hazard [RH] = 2.81, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.31 to 3.97; RH = 4.83, 95% CI: 2.10 to 11.12; and RH = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.88 to 0.99, respectively). CD4+/VL− and CD4−/VL− were associated with nonwhite race in multivariate logistic regression models (adjusted OR = 2.83, 95% CI: 1.46 to 5.47 and adjusted OR = 6.50, 95% CI: 1.65 to 25.69, respectively). Conclusion:Discordant immunologic and virologic responses at 3 to 9 months after HAART initiation play important roles in predicting long-term clinical outcomes in treatment-naive patients.
Epidemiology and pathophysiology of cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury

Purpose of review Acute kidney injury (AKI) remains a serious complication of cardiac surgery. An understanding of the epidemiology and pathophysiology of AKI in cardiac surgery patients is crucial to early recognition and proper management. Recent findings The article will review the current criteria used for defining AKI and the most recently published incidence rates of AKI in the cardiac surgery population. Variables associated with AKI will be reviewed. The cause of cardiac surgery-associated AKI is multifactorial involving genetic factors as well as insults because of nephrotoxins, ischemia and reperfusion, cardiac dysfunction, venous congestion, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Summary Investigators should aim to use consistent criteria for defining AKI in future studies. Efforts should be taken to use actual measurements rather than estimated values of baseline serum creatinine whenever possible. Further study of the more recently proposed pathophysiologic factors contributing to cardiac surgery-associated AKI, such as circulating damage-associated molecular patterns, venous congestion, and genetic predisposition, are warranted.
A pipelined memory-efficient architecture for face detection and tracking on a multicore environment

In this extended abstract, we propose a pipelined parallel architecture for face detection that is appropriate for implementation on a multicore environment. The architecture comprises of modules for video frame acquisition, skin pixel detection, binarization, morphological operations and connected component analysis operating in sequence on an image frame. Successive lines of a frame are processed in a pipeline on multicores. Embedded system realization on a multicore XMOS microcontroller runs the drivers for interfacing image sensor and LCD on different cores along with the various stages of the image processing pipeline. The realization achieves a frame rate of 8 frames/second for an image size of 480×272. Further, the solution is area-efficient and is based on a single XMOS sliceKIT with support for camera, LCD and other units.
Examining Household Food Waste Decisions: A Vignette Approach

Although food waste is increasingly recognized as an environmental and food security problem, there remains uncertainty over its primary contributors. Analyses of food waste often fail to treat the problem as an economic phenomenon, where consumers’ utility maximizing decisions result in discarded food. This paper presents a conceptual model of household food waste, showing that decisions to discard food depend on food prices and wage and non-wage income. The results of two empirical studies are presented, where we study consumers’ decisions to discard food in different scenarios that vary safety, price, and opportunity costs. We find that food waste is a function of consumers’ demographic characteristics, and that decisions to discard food vary with economic incentives.
Cause-specific perinatal death rates, birth weight and deprivation in the West Midlands, 1991-93.

OBJECTIVES To study the relationship between cause-specific perinatal death rates, material deprivation and birthweight among births in 3 consecutive years in the West Midlands Health Region. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING West Midlands Health Region (WMHR). STUDY POPULATION All births (live and stillbirths) to mothers with addresses in the WMHR in 1991, 1992 and 1993. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Cause-specific perinatal death rates--crude and stratified by birthweight. METHODS Perinatal deaths in the WMHR in 1991-93, collected as part of the national Confidential Enquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy, were classified into causes of death by the extended Wigglesworth classification. Crude rates for cause-specific perinatal deaths and rates stratified by birthweight < 2500 g and > or = 2500 g were calculated for each enumeration district (ED) quintile derived by ranking enumeration districts for the whole of the region by Townsend Deprivation Index. Cause-specific rates of death were investigated for a linear trend across ED quintiles. The relative risk of death (most vs least deprived) from specific causes was calculated. Using rates for the least deprived quintile as the reference, deaths from each cause 'attributable' to social inequality were calculated. RESULTS Positive linear trends in perinatal deaths were noted with increasing deprivation for each specific cause of death except those classified as 'other causes' (Wigglesworth Class E). Relative risk (most vs least deprived) of perinatal death with a congenital anomaly was 1.98 (confidence interval, CI: 1.36,2.89). For deaths related to antepartum events, intrapartum events and immaturity the risks were 1.81 (CI: 1.39,2.38), 1.48 (CI: 1.10,1.98) and 1.92 (CI 1.45,2.56), respectively. Forty-three (35.7%) perinatal deaths per year were due to congenital anomalies, 63 (29.7%) antepartum events, 36 (21.9%) intrapartum events and 61 (32.7%) immaturity and these were statistically 'attributable' to social inequality. Cause-specific perinatal death rates for babies < 2500 g showed no correlation with deprivation; however, for babies > or = 2500 g the association with deprivation persisted. CONCLUSIONS All cause-specific rates except those due to 'other causes' showed a positive linear trend with increasing deprivation. These trends were found for infants born > or = 2500 g but were not seen for low birthweight infants (< 2500 g). Almost 30% of deaths were statistically 'attributable' to social inequality. The results of this study suggest that material deprivation plays an important role in the causal pathway leading to perinatal death and needs to be addressed in preventive programmes aimed at the reduction of perinatal deaths.
Risk factors for neural tube defects: a study at university-affiliated hospitals in Tehran.

BACKGROUND Neural tube defects have a complex and imperfectly understood etiology involving both genetic and environmental factors. In this case-control study, we tried to determine the association of known risk factors for neural tube defects in patients referred to university-affiliated hospitals with neurosurgical services in the city of Tehran. METHODS Risk factors were assessed in-person through interviews with infants' mothers. We found 192 neural tube defect cases. One hundred and ninety-three apparently normal babies were randomly selected from the same hospitals to serve as control cases. RESULTS Maternal age of less than 18 years (P = 0.02), female sex of the child (P = 0.01), birth in spring and summer seasons (P = 0.001), history of not using folic acid (P = 0.001), less than 5 prenatal visits (P = 0.001), and poverty (P = 0.02) were the most important risk factors for neural tube defects. Logistic regression analysis of these risk factors confirmed these correlations. A negative history of consuming folic acid had the most significant statistical correlation with these malformations. CONCLUSION Poor quality diets were an important environmental risk factor in this study.
[The survey of prevalence of blindness in Nan'an District of Chongqing].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence of blindness and low vision, their changes and the main causes of blindness in persons aged 50 years and above in Nan'an District in Chongqing. METHODS This survey was conducted from April to July, 2005. By cluster random sampling, 29 clusters were selected and 5079 persons received the eye examination. The response rate was 89.4%. A quality assurance evaluation had performed in two examination teams before the survey. RESULTS In this population, the prevalence of blindness was 1.8% based on the pinhole visual acuity. The prevalence of blindness was higher in older persons, especially in persons aged eighty or above. Cataract was the leading cause of blindness, but the proportion of cataract-caused blindness decreased from 40.0% to 31.6%. Retinal diseases was the second important cause of blindness, followed by refraction error, cornea disease and glaucoma. CONCLUSIONS Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in Nan'an District of Chongqing, followed by retinal diseases. The decrease of cataract-caused blindness indicates that the prevention of blindness, mainly through the performance of cataract surgery, has gained successful. It is important on the prevention of the age-related eye diseases, retinal diseases and glaucoma.
Kinetics of p53 Binding to Promoter Sites In Vivo

ABSTRACT Downstream target genes of p53 are thought to mediate its tumor-suppressive activity, but it is unknown whether differential transactivation of these genes is regulated at the level of p53 binding to their promoters. To address this issue, p53 binding in vivo to consensus sites in the p21Waf1, MDM2, and PIG3 promoters was investigated in cells exposed to adriamycin (ADR) or ionizing radiation as well as in an inducible p53 cell line. p53-DNA complexes were cross-linked in vivo by treating the cells with formaldehyde and processed by chromatin immunoprecipitation-PCR. This methodology allowed for the analysis of relevant p53-DNA complexes by preventing redistribution of cellular components upon collection of cell extracts. Increased p53 binding to the p21Waf1, MDM2, and PIG3 promoters occurred within 2 h after p53 activation; however, significant increases in PIG3 transcription did not occur until 15 h after p53 binding. Gel shift analyses indicated that p53 had lower affinity for the consensus binding site in the PIG3 promoters compared to its consensus sites in the p21 and MDM2 genes, which suggests that additional factors may be required to stabilize the interaction of p53 with the PIG3 promoter. Further, acetylated p53 (Lys382) was found in chemically cross-linked complexes at all promoter sites examined after treatment of cells with ADR. In summary, the kinetics of p53 binding in vivo to target gene regulatory regions does not uniformly correlate with target gene mRNA expression for the p53 target genes examined. Our results suggest that target genes with low-affinity p53 binding sites may require additional events and will have delayed kinetics of induction compared to those with high-affinity binding sites.
Innervation Features of the Extraocular Muscles

Several transcranial surgical approaches such as frontoorbital, lateral, medial, central, inferolateral, and transmaxillary orbitotomy have been used for exposure of lesions within the orbit. During surgical approaches, detailed anatomic knowledge regarding neural, muscular, and neighboring structures for preservation of the neurovascular structures is important in avoiding traumatic retraction of the nerves of the extraocular muscles. For this study, a total of 22 formalin-fixed cadavers were dissected. Vascular structures were perfused with colored latex to facilitate their definition. In this study, the orbit was investigated in two divisions, superior and inferior. In the superior division, innervation features of the levator palpebrae superioris, the superior rectus, and superior oblique muscles were examined. In the inferior division, innervation features of the medial rectus, the lateral rectus, the inferior rectus, inferior oblique muscles, and ciliary ganglion were investigated. The diameter of the oculomotor nerve (CN3) within the superior orbital fissure was measured as 2.10 mm on the right and 2.09 mm on the left. The diameter of the superior division of the CN3 was on average 1.54 ± 0.30 mm on the right and 1.65 ± 0.30 on the left. The mean diameter of the inferior division was measured as 1.85 ± 0.22 mm on the right and 1.94 ± 0.20 on the left. In the lower wall of the orbit, different branching types of inferior division of CN3 were observed. The diameter of the trochlear nerve in the superior orbital fissure was on average 1.15 ± 0.19 mm on the right and 1.21 ± 0.21 mm on the left. The diameter of the abducens nerve in the superior orbital fissure was on average 1.54 ± 0.24 mm on the right and 1.54 ± 0.22 on the left. The number of small branches entering the muscle was on average three branches. Areas nervosa of the nerves were located in the middle one third of the muscles. In this study, detailed knowledge regarding the innervation features of extraocular muscles was attained. An understanding of the innervation features of extraocular muscles is important for the preservation of neural structures during intraorbital procedures.
Influences of a light–dark profile and the pineal gland on the hypnotic activity of melatonin in mice and rats

We have investigated the influences of the light–dark cycle and the pineal gland on the hypnotic activity of melatonin in rats and mice. The results showed that melatonin significantly shortened time to sleep onset and wakefulness time, increased slow wave sleep, paradoxical sleep, and total sleep time in rats during the light phase of a 12‐h light: 12‐h dark cycle, by electroencephalogram recording. However, during the dark phase it had almost no significant sleep‐promoting effect except shortened time to sleep onset. Melatonin exhibited more potent sleep‐promoting effect in rats exposed to constant light compared with rats exposed to 12:12‐h light:dark at 2000 h. Melatonin markedly prolonged sleeping time in the mice exposed to constant illumination. It was found that pinealectomy was an important factor that influenced the hypnotic activity of melatonin. When melatonin was administered to pinealectomized mice, the hypnotic activity of melatonin was more intense compared with sham‐operated mice. These results demonstrated that the hypnotic activity of melatonin displayed a light‐dependence manner. These results suggested that light exposure and the functional state of the pineal gland could substantially impact the hypnotic activity of melatonin at pharmacological dosage.
Binding of small molecules to an adaptive protein–protein interface

Understanding binding properties at protein–protein interfaces has been limited to structural and mutational analyses of natural binding partners or small peptides identified by phage display. Here, we present a high-resolution analysis of a nonpeptidyl small molecule, previously discovered by medicinal chemistry [Tilley, J. W. , et al. (1997) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 119, 7589–7590], which binds to the cytokine IL-2. The small molecule binds to the same site that binds the IL-2 α receptor and buries into a groove not seen in the free structure of IL-2. Comparison of the bound and several free structures shows this site to be composed of two subsites: one is rigid, and the other is highly adaptive. Thermodynamic data suggest the energy barriers between these conformations are low. The subsites were dissected by using a site-directed screening method called tethering, in which small fragments were captured by disulfide interchange with cysteines introduced into IL-2 around these subsites. X-ray structures with the tethered fragments show that the subsite-binding interactions are similar to those observed with the original small molecule. Moreover, the adaptive subsite tethered many more compounds than did the rigid one. Thus, the adaptive nature of a protein–protein interface provides sites for small molecules to bind and underscores the challenge of applying structure-based design strategies that cannot accurately predict a dynamic protein surface.
Effects of epidermal growth factor receptor blockade on ependymoma stem cells in vitro and in orthotopic mouse models

Some lines of evidence suggest that tumors, including ependymoma, might arise from a subpopulation of cells, termed cancer stem cells (CSCs), with self‐renewal and tumor‐initiation properties. Given the strict dependence of CSCs on epidermal growth factor (EGF) through EGF receptor (EGFR), we investigated the effects of EGFR inhibitors in ependymoma‐stem cells (SCs) in vitro and in orthotopic mouse models. We established two ependymoma‐SC lines from two recurrent pediatric ependymoma. Both lines expressed markers of radial glia—the candidate SCs of ependymoma—and showed renewal ability, multipotency, and tumorigenicity after orthotopic implantation, despite markedly different expression of CD133 (94 vs. 6%). High phosphorylated‐EGFR/EGFR ratio was detected, which decreased after differentiation. EGFR inhibitors (gefitinib and AEE788) reduced clonogenicity, proliferation and survival of ependymoma‐SC lines dose‐dependently, and blocked EGF‐induced activation of EGFR, Akt and extracellular signal‐regulated kinase 1/2. Overall, AEE788 was more effective than gefitinib. EGFR blockade as well as differentiation strongly reduced CD133 expression. However, ex vivo treatment with AEE788 did not impair orthotopic tumor engraftment, whereas ex vivo differentiation did, suggesting that CD133 does not absolutely segregate for tumorigenicity in ependymoma‐SCs. Orally administered AEE788 prolonged survival of mice bearing ependymoma‐SC‐driven orthotopic xenografts from 56 to 63 days, close to statistical significance (log‐rank p = 0.06). Our study describes for the first time EGFR signaling in ependymoma‐SCs and the effects of EGFR blockade in complementary in vitro and in vivo systems. The experimental models we developed can be used to further investigate the activity of EGFR inhibitors or other antineoplastic agents in this tumor.
Effect of substance misuse in early psychosis

Background Studies examining the temporal relationship between substance use and the onset of psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia are inconclusive. Method Three groups of out-patients with schizophrenia were compared on onset of illness, symptoms and quality of life. Fifty-one subjects had no past or present history of substance misuse, 29 subjects had a history of past substance misuse occurring around the onset of their illness, and 33 subjects were currently misusing substances. Results Current substance misusers had poorer quality of life scores and less negative symptoms than the non-users. Those who had a past history of substance misuse had a significantly earlier age of onset than those with no substance use. Conclusions Attention should be paid to substance misuse present at the first episode. Treatment for schizophrenia should begin even though a diagnosis of drug-induced psychosis cannot be ruled out.
Variation of Soil Bacterial Communities in a Chronosequence of Rubber Tree (Hevea brasiliensis) Plantations

Regarding rubber tree plantations, researchers lack a basic understanding of soil microbial communities; specifically, little is known about whether or not soil microbial variation is correlated with succession in these plantations. In this paper, we used high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to investigate the diversity and composition of the soil bacterial communities in a chronosequence of rubber tree plantations that were 5, 10, 13, 18, 25, and 30 years old. We determined that: (1) Soil bacterial diversity and composition show changes over the succession stages of rubber tree plantations. The diversity of soil bacteria were highest in 10, 13, and 18 year-old rubber tree plantations, followed by 30 year-old rubber tree plantations, whereas 5 and 25 year-old rubber tree plantations had the lowest values for diversity. A total of 438,870 16S rDNA sequences were detected in 18 soil samples from six rubber tree plantations, found in 28 phyla, 66 classes, 139 orders, 245 families, 355 genera, and 645 species, with 1.01% sequences from unclassified bacteria. The dominant phyla were Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia (relative abundance large than 3%). There were differences in soil bacterial communities among different succession stages of rubber tree plantation. (2) Soil bacteria diversity and composition in the different stages was closely related to pH, vegetation, soil nutrient, and altitude, of which pH, and vegetation were the main drivers.