Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mapping the Effect of Psoriatic Arthritis Using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health

Objective. The effect of a disease can be categorized by a standardized reference system: the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The objective was to map the effect of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) from the patient’s perspective to the ICF. Methods. A systematic literature review was performed. Qualitative publications reporting domains of impact important for patients with PsA were identified using the following terms: (“psoriatic arthritis”) AND (“quality of life” OR “impact”). Meaningful concepts were extracted from the publications, grouped into domains and linked to the ICF categories. The number of concepts linked to each ICF category and to each ICF level was calculated. The number of concepts not linkable was also calculated. Results. Eleven studies (13 articles) were included in the analysis. Twenty-five domains of impact were cited, of which the ability to work/volunteer and social participation were the most cited (both by 10 studies). In total, 258 concepts were identified, of which 217 could be linked to 136 different ICF categories; 41 concepts, mostly personal factors, could not be precisely linked. The most represented ICF component was activities and participation (42.6%) rather than body structures (10.3%) or body functions (29.4%). Ten studies (90.9%) reported impairments in the ability to work/volunteer and social participation, and 7 (63.6%) reported leisure activities, family and intimacy, pain, skin problems, and body image. Conclusion. PsA widely affects all aspects of patients’ lives, in particular aspects related to activities and participation. The ICF is a useful approach for the classification of disease effect.
Immune Modulation by Silencing IL-12 Production in Dendritic Cells Using Small Interfering RNA12

RNA interference is a mechanism of posttranscriptional gene silencing that functions in most eukaryotic cells, including human and mouse. Specific gene silencing is mediated by short strands of duplex RNA of ∼21 nt in length (termed small interfering RNA or siRNA) that target the cognate mRNA sequence for degradation. We demonstrate here that RNAi can be used for immune modulation by targeting dendritic cell (DC) gene expression. Transfection of DC with siRNA specific for the IL-12 p35 gene resulted in potent suppression of gene expression and blockade of bioactive IL-12 p70 production without affecting unrelated genes or cellular viability. Inhibition of IL-12 was associated with increased IL-10 production, which endowed the DC with the ability to stimulate production of Th2 cytokines from allogenic T cells in vitro. Furthermore, siRNA-silenced DC lacking IL-12 production were poor allostimulators in MLR. IL-12-silenced and KLH-pulsed DC polarized the immune response toward a Th2 cytokine profile in an Ag-specific manner. These data are the first to demonstrate that RNA interference is a potent and specific tool for modulating DC-mediated immune responses.
Does time matter? A pooled analysis of randomized clinical trials comparing primary percutaneous coronary intervention and in-hospital fibrinolysis in acute myocardial infarction patients.

AIMS Although outcomes after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) seemed to be superior with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) relative to fibrinolysis (FL), the extent to which treatment delay modulates this treatment effect is unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS Twenty-five randomized trials (n = 7743) testing the efficacy of PPCI vs. FL were identified in journal articles and abstract listings published between 1990 and 2002. Of these, individual patient data from 22 trials (n = 6763) were pooled, and multi-level logistic regression assessed the relationship among treatment, treatment delay, and 30-day mortality. Treatment delay was divided into 'presentation delay' [symptom onset to randomization; FL: median 143 (IQR: 91-225) min; PPCI: 140 (91-220) min] and hospital-specific 'PCI-related delay' [median time from randomization to PPCI minus median time to FL per hospital; median 55 (IQR: 37-74) min]. PPCI was associated with a significant 37% reduction in 30-day mortality [adjusted OR, 0.63; 95% CI (0.42-0.84)]. Although, there was no heterogeneity in the treatment effect by presentation delay (pBreslow-Day = 0.88), the absolute mortality reduction by PPCI widened over time (1.3% 0-1 h to 4.2% >6 h after symptom onset). When the PCI-related delay was <35 min, the relative (67 vs. 28% pBreslow-Day = 0.004) and absolute (5.4 vs. 2.0%) mortality reduction was significantly higher than those with longer delays. CONCLUSION PPCI was associated with significantly lower 30-day mortality relative to FL, regardless of treatment delay. Although logistic and economic constraints challenge the feasibility of 'PPCI-for-all', the benefit of timely treatment underscores the importance of a comprehensive, unified approach to delivery of cardiac care in all AMI patients.
CMOS unclonable system for secure authentication based on device variability

An unclonable system for product authentication in anti-counterfeiting has been implemented in standard 90 nm CMOS technology. The circuit exploits the intrinsic variability of the electrical characteristics of minimum size MOSFETs, in order to generate a physical one-way function that univocally identifies each particular IC. Effects of temperature, voltage supply and process variations have been internally compensated to obtain a robust and reliable behavior. Experimental measurements show that the circuit exhibits 30 muW power consumption, a bit error rate in response to a challenge smaller than 0.4% at 125degC or with a 10% voltage supply variation. Accelerated aging tests provide an estimate of a lifetime much in excess of the ten-year requirement. The very low power consumption makes the circuit also feasible for integration in RFID transponders.
EfeUOB (YcdNOB) is a tripartite, acid‐induced and CpxAR‐regulated, low‐pH Fe2+ transporter that is cryptic in Escherichia coli K‐12 but functional in E. coli O157:H7

Escherichia coli possesses iron transporters specific for either Fe2+ or Fe3+. Although Fe2+ is far more soluble than Fe3+, it rapidly oxidizes aerobically at pH ≥ 7. Thus, FeoAB, the major Fe2+ transporter of E. coli, operates anaerobically. However, Fe2+ remains stable aerobically under acidic conditions, although a low‐pH Fe2+ importer has not been previously identified. Here we show that ycdNOB (efeUOB) specifies the first such transporter. efeUOB is repressed at high pH by CpxAR, and is Fe2+–Fur repressed. EfeU is homologous to the high‐affinity iron permease, Ftr1p, of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other fungi. EfeO is periplasmic with a cupredoxin N‐terminal domain; EfeB is also periplasmic and is haem peroxidase‐like. All three Efe proteins are required for Efe function. The efeU gene of E. coli K‐12 is cryptic due to a frameshift mutation – repair of the single‐base‐pair deletion generates a functional EfeUOB system. In contrast, the efeUOB operon of the enterohaemorrhagic strain, O157:H7, lacks any frameshift and is functional. A ‘wild‐type’ K‐12 strain bearing a functional EfeUOB displays a major growth advantage under aerobic, low‐pH, low‐iron conditions when a competing metal is provided. 55Fe transport assays confirm the ferrous iron specificity of EfeUOB.
Gold nanoprisms for photothermal cell ablation in vivo.

AIM To develop new methodologies for selective cell ablation in a temporally and spatially precise fashion in model organisms. MATERIALS & METHODS living polyps (Hydra vulgaris) treated with gold nanoprisms were near-infrared (NIR) irradiated and the photothermal effects evaluated at whole-animal, cellular and molecular levels. RESULTS Nanoprisms showed good efficiency of internalization in living specimens, with no sign of toxicity; under NIR irradiation they induced cell death and the overexpression of the hsp70 gene. CONCLUSION gold nanoprisms could be employed as efficient heat mediators in model organisms, and NIR-triggered cell ablation may represent a new advanced tool to study cell function. Solving bioethical and economical issues, invertebrates may provide alternative models bridging the gap between cell research and preclinical studies of photothermal therapy.
The Hospice Decision: Psychosocial Facilitators and Barriers

This study examined the social and contextual process of discussion and decision making around the use of the hospice in order to clarify the facilitative and obstructive aspects to hospice patient entry. Four participants groups of physicians, hospice and home health care patient family survivors, and hospice and home health care staff, completed four complementary mail surveys of their discussions and decision process for hospice care. Non-parametric analysis of the data reaffirmed the central and key role of the physician as the expected initiator and gatekeeper of the hospice discussion and decision-making process. Physicians were found generally aware of hospice and to have discussed hospice with their patients, though that awareness and the frequency of hospice patient discussions varied by the type of medical practice. Patient family survivors were unaware of hospice prior to the terminal illness, with a majority of hospice patient family survivors receiving their initial hospice information from relatives. Implications of these results and issues for future research are identified.
Urinary Liver-Type Fatty Acid-Binding Protein: Discrimination between IgA Nephropathy and Thin Basement Membrane Nephropathy

Background: Microscopic hematuria without proteinuria is a common clinical finding in cases of immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy and of thin basement membrane nephropathy. Liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) is expressed in renal proximal tubules and is reported to be a useful marker of the progression of chronic glomerulonephritis. Aim: To assess urinary L-FABP levels for differential diagnosis in patients with microscopic hematuria but without proteinuria. Methods: This was a multi-center retrospective study. Thirty adult patients who underwent renal biopsy for microscopic hematuria and 20 healthy adult volunteers were included in this study. Urinary L-FABP levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and compared, particularly between those diagnosed with IgA nephropathy and those diagnosed with thin basement membrane nephropathy. Results: Twelve (40%) patients had IgA nephropathy, 6 (20%) had thin basement membrane nephropathy and 12 (40%) had normal biopsy findings. The urinary L-FABP level was significantly higher in patients with IgA nephropathy (38.4 ± 26.8 µg/g Cr) than in healthy subjects (5.8 ± 4.0 µg/g Cr) (p < 0.01); however, the level in patients with thin basement membrane nephropathy or normal biopsy results was comparable to that in healthy subjects. Follow-up data were available for 11 of the 12 patients with IgA nephropathy who initially had no proteinuria. After 24 months, 4 of the 11 were found to have proteinuria, and the urinary L-FABP level had increased from 40.6 ± 30.5 µg/g Cr to 58.8 ± 40.5 µg/g Cr (p < 0.01). Conclusions: Our data suggest that the urinary L-FABP level can be used to discriminate between IgA nephropathy and thin basement membrane nephropathy in patients with microscopic hematuria.
Relationship of age, sex, and ethnicity with myopia progression and axial elongation in the correction of myopia evaluation trial.

OBJECTIVE To identify the baseline factors independently related to 3-year myopia progression and axial elongation in COMET. METHODS A total of 469 children were enrolled, randomly assigned to progressive addition lenses with a + 2.00 diopter (D) addition or to single vision lenses and observed for 3 years. Eligible children were 6 to 11 years old, with spherical equivalent myopia of - 1.25 to - 4.50 D, bilaterally. The primary and secondary outcomes, myopia progression by cycloplegic autorefraction and axial elongation by A-scan ultrasonography, were measured annually. Multiple linear regression was used to adjust for covariates, including treatment. RESULTS Younger baseline age (6-7 vs 11 years, 8 vs 11 years, and 9 vs 11 years, P<.001; 10 vs 11 years, P = .04), female sex (P = .01), and each ethnic group compared with African Americans (Asian, P = .02; Hispanic, P = .002; mixed, P = .002; white, P = .001) were independently associated with faster 3-year progression. Children aged 6 to 7 years had the fastest progression of all age groups, progressing by a mean (+/- SD) of 1.31 D +/- 0.13 more than children aged 11 years. Females progressed 0.16 D more than the males. Children of mixed, Hispanic, Asian, and white ethnicity progressed more than African American children by 0.49 D +/- 0.16, 0.33 D +/- 0.11, 0.32 D +/- 0.13, 0.27 D +/- 0.08, respectively. Age and ethnicity, but not sex, were independently associated with axial elongation. Among these myopic children, a 0.5 mm increase in axial length was associated with 1 D of myopia progression. CONCLUSIONS Younger baseline age was the strongest factor independently associated with faster myopic progression and greater axial elongation at 3 years. African American children had less myopic progression and axial elongation than the other ethnic groups.
Reasons for and parental satisfaction with children's dental care under general anaesthesia.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to describe why healthy children's previous treatment experiences can be reasons for their dental treatment under general anaesthesia (GA), and to describe their parents' experiences and satisfaction with that treatment. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The data cover those children (n=102) below 16 years of age who, being otherwise healthy, were referred for Public Dental Service GA dental care in Helsinki, Finland, over the course of one year because of serious difficulties in dental treatment. The parents were given a self-administered questionnaire inquiring about their child's previous experiences of dental care, and about their access to and satisfaction with the present GA treatment. Data on the children's dental state were taken from patient records. RESULTS The children's mean age was 6.4 years (SD=2.6 years), and the mean number of teeth with untreated caries was 7.7 (SD=3.0). Of the total sample, 32% had undergone four or more previous unsuccessful dental visits. At the time of their first difficulties in dental care, 39% were below 3 years of age. The older the child, the more serious was her or his parents' ranking of the difficulties met during dental care (P=0.02). From the parents' point of view, dental fear was the most important reason for treatment failures, followed by pain. Seeking GA treatment had been easy for 93% of parents, and most of them were also satisfied with their child's present GA treatment. CONCLUSIONS The most important factors leading to the use of GA, as reported by the parents, are dental fear and repeated unpleasant experiences during dental care, and therefore, these should always be properly diagnosed, prevented and controlled.
An Invisible Barrier to Integrating HIV Primary Care with Harm Reduction Services: Philosophical Clashes between the Harm Reduction and Medical Models

Overall AIDS mortality in the United States has declined in recent years, but declines have not been consistent across all populations. Due to an array of barriers to care, minorities and poor people who are active substance users have not benefited as others have from advances in the treatment of HIV disease. One way to address this problem is to integrate HIV primary care into harm reduction programs that already effectively serve this population. Such collaborations, however, are difficult to initiate and sustain. Philosophical differences between the medical model and the harm reduction model, which often remain invisible to the parties involved, underlie these difficulties. This article addresses the issue by describing a partnership in the Bronx, NY, between CitiWide Harm Reduction Inc. (CitiWideHR) and the Montefiore Medical Center. It focuses specifically on the sources of philosophical differences between models, and briefly assesses the potential for successful collaborations of this sort.
Objective and subjective factors in the disproportionate referral of children for academic problems.

R. S. Drabman, K. J. Tarnowski, and P. A. Kelly (1987) and K. J. Tarnowski, D. F. Anderson, R. S. Drabman, and P. A. Kelly (1990) examined children's month of birth in relation to referral for psychological services and found that younger children in the classroom were disproportionately referred for services. No differences were found between younger and older students on standardized measures of intelligence or academic achievement. Results of a replication and extension of these studies indicated (a) that younger children in the classroom were referred at a disproportionately higher rate, (b) that the referral pattern could not be explained by differences in children's competencies, (c) that Caucasian students were referred at disproportinately higher rates than minority students, and (d) a trend in which the proportionate referral rate of students as height or weight increased. Results are discussed within the context of teacher expectancies.
Web 2.0 applications' usage and trends in top US academic libraries

Purpose – This paper aims to explore Web 2.0 technologies usage and trends in the top 100 US academic libraries as exemplified through the academic library websites. Design/methodology/approach – The top 100 universities were selected from the US News & World Report's (USNWR) 2013 ranked list's top 100 of the best colleges in the USA. Content analysis was used in terms of quantitative approach. A checklist was developed as the main research instrument based on other checklists and questionnaires. Each of the selected university library websites was visited within a period of two weeks to explore implementation and usage of web tools, including SNS, blog, RSS, wikis, podcast/vodcast, and social bookmarking/tagging. Findings – All 100 academic libraries had a social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, making SNS the most widely applied Web 2.0 tool. The wiki was the least applied Web 2.0 technology, with a 34 percent participation rate. Blog was the second most popular tool with a 99 percent participati.
Sufficient Conditions for Error Backflow Convergence in Dynamical Recurrent Neural Networks

This article extends previous analysis of the gradient decay to a class of discrete-time fully recurrent networks, called dynamical recurrent neural networks, obtained by modeling synapses as finite impulse response (FIR) filters instead of multiplicative scalars. Using elementary matrix manipulations, we provide an upper bound on the norm of the weight matrix, ensuring that the gradient vector, when propagated in a reverse manner in time through the error-propagation network, decays exponentially to zero. This bound applies to all recurrent FIR architecture proposals, as well as fixed-point recurrent networks, regardless of delay and connectivity. In addition, we show that the computational overhead of the learning algorithm can be reduced drastically by taking advantage of the exponential decay of the gradient.
High incidence of extrapancreatic neoplasms in patients with intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms.

BACKGROUND Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) are associated with a high incidence of extrapancreatic neoplasms. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING Tertiary care referral center. PATIENTS Sixty-one patients underwent surgical resection for IPMN between January 1, 1993, and June 30, 2004. Thirty-eight patients with mucinous cystic neoplasms and 50 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma also were examined for development of extrapancreatic neoplasms. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The incidence and clinicopathological features of extrapancreatic neoplasms with IPMNs were compared with those with mucinous cystic neoplasm and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. RESULTS Of the 61 patients with IPMNs, 24 (39%) developed 26 extrapancreatic neoplasms, and 18 (30%) had extrapancreatic malignancies. Gastric adenocarcinoma (33%) and colorectal adenocarcinoma (17%) were the most common neoplasms in the 24 patients. During postoperative follow-up, 3 patients died of malignant IPMNs, 3 of associated malignancies, and 1 of a nonmalignancy-related cause. Comparisons of the clinicopathological features in patients with IPMNs with and without associated malignancies revealed no significant differences in age, sex, family history of malignancy, history of cigarette smoking or alcohol abuse, or type of IPMN. The incidence of extrapancreatic neoplasms in patients with IPMN was significantly higher than in those with other pancreatic diseases such as mucinous cystic neoplasm (8%) or pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (10%). CONCLUSIONS Frequently, IPMNs are associated with the development of extrapancreatic neoplasms. Considerable attention should be paid to the possible occurrence of other associated malignancies in patients with IPMNs, either concurrently or postoperatively. Further molecular studies may be necessary to elucidate the unusual association between IPMN and other primary neoplasms.
Title Secure and effective gene delivery system of plasmid DNA coated bypolynucleotide

Polynucleotides are anionic macromolecules which are expected to transfer into the targeted cells through specific uptake mechanisms. So, we developed polynucleotides coating complexes of plasmid DNA (pDNA) and polyethylenimine (PEI) for a secure and efficient gene delivery system and evaluated their usefulness. Polyadenylic acid (polyA), polyuridylic acid (polyU), polycytidylic acid (polyC), and polyguanylic acid (polyG) were examined as the coating materials. pDNA/PEI/polyA, pDNA/PEI/polyU, and pDNA/PEI/polyC complexes formed nanoparticles with a negative surface charge although pDNA/PEI/polyG was aggregated. The pDNA/PEI/polyC complex showed high transgene efficiency in B16-F10 cells although there was little efficiency in pDNA/PEI/polyA and pDNA/PEI/polyU complexes. An inhibition study strongly indicated the specific uptake mechanism of pDNA/PEI/polyC complex. Polynucleotide coating complexes had lower cytotoxicity than pDNA/PEI complex. The pDNA/PEI/polyC complex showed high gene expression selectively in the spleen after intravenous injection into mice. The pDNA/PEI/polyC complex showed no agglutination with erythrocytes and no acute toxicity although these were observed in pDNA/PEI complex. Thus, we developed polynucleotide coating complexes as novel vectors for clinical gene therapy, and the pDNA/PEI/polyC complex as a useful