Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Change in left atrial and ventricular dimensions during and immediately after exercise.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to evaluate differences in the left atrial (LAD), total ventricular end-diastolic (TEDD), end-systolic diameters (TESD), and left ventricular shortening fraction (SF) compared with heart rate (HR) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) during exercise and recovery. METHODS Healthy young male (N = 15) and female (N = 16) subjects performed an incremental cycle ergometer test in upright position, and three phases of energy supply were defined by means of blood lactate concentration (LA) and respiratory gas exchange variables (I: aerobic; II: aerobic-anaerobic transition; III: anaerobic). Subjects were required to rest their arms on a steering bar and to lean their upper body forward; two dimensional (2-D) echocardiograms were obtained over the left parasternal area at rest (R), at the end of each phase, immediately within 15 s post, and 6 min after exercise (6 min). By using VINGMED's "Anatomical M-Mode," it was possible to extract M-Mode Sweeps from stored 2-D-Loops and perform the M-Mode measurement. RESULTS In contrast to the significant decrease in TEDD and TESD from III to 15 s up to resting values and the significant increase in SF from III to 15 s, the moderate decrease in HR immediately post exercise (15 s) was not significant. The SBP showed a significantly decrease from III to 15 s; in contrast to TEDD, TESD, and SF, the values at 15 s were comparable with the values at II. For LAD, significant increase during exercise and a decrease during recovery were observed. Sex-specific differences of changes in measured variables could not be found. CONCLUSION We concluded that post exercise measurement of left ventricular and atrial dimensions or SF were not valid to describe heart function at maximal exercise although immediately post exercise HR was near maximal level.
Unusual profiles of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia with MLL gene rearrangement

The most common chromosomal abnormality of infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the t(4;11)(q21;q23), which gives rise to the MLL-AF4 fusion gene [1]. MLL (also known as ALL-I, HTRX or HRX) gene translocations are among the most common chromosomal abnormalities recognized in both B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Translocations interrupting the mixed lineage leukemia gene (MLL) occur in 7 – 10% of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 5 – 6% of acute myeloid leukemia cases [2]. The MLL gene, which is located at the 11q23, has been cloned and has homology to the Drosophila trithorax gene [3]. MLL is required for the proper maintenance of HOX gene expression during development and hematopoiesis. About 50 different MLL fusion partners have been isolated to date, and while similarities exist between groups of partners, there exists no unifying property shared by all the partners. MLL gene rearrangements are found in leukemias with both lymphoid and myeloid phenotypes, and are often associated with infant and secondary leukemias. The immature phenotype of the leukemic blasts suggests an important role, including therapyrelated leukemias, for MLL in the early stages of hematopoietic development [4 – 6]. Rearrangements of chromosome band 11q23 are common in infant leukemias, comprising more than 70% of the observed chromosome abnormalities in children less than 1 year of age [3]. Mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) abnormalities occur in *50% of childhood pre-pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia [7]. In spite of the fact that it is one of the most common nonrandom chromosomal abnormalities, there are scant data showing occurrence of MLL rearrangement in childhood ALL with different phenotype, such as common-ALL or T-ALL. We analyzed 121 consecutive pediatric ALL cases diagnosed and treated in one center. All children were screened at diagnosis for immunophenotype, DNA index, karyotype by G-banding method, MLL, and BCR-ABL gene rearrangements by FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) and RT-PCR. Both conventional cytogenetics and FISH were carried out. FISH analysis was performed utilizing commercially available DNA probes, including whole chromosome painting probes, locus specific probes, and specific dual color translocation fusion probes. As far as MLL rearrangements are concerned, FISH can not only detect reciprocal translocation but also a deletion of at least 190 kb from the 30 region of the MLL gene [8]. Common/ pre-B-ALL immunophenotype was diagnosed as CD19þ, HLA-DRþ, CD10þ, and surface immunoglobulin7 [sIg7]; pre-pre-B-ALL (pro-B-ALL) immunophenotype as (CD19þ, HLA-DRþ, CD107, cytoplasmic m chain7 and surface immunoglobulin7 [sIg7]). Mature B-ALL cells characterized
Subungual malignant melanoma: clinicopathological features of 100 cases

From the files of the Scottish Melanoma Group, we have identified 100 cases of subungual malignant melanoma (melanoma arising in the nailbed), and this represents 2.8% of the total melanomas registered during the period 1979–1989. Almost equal numbers arose on the foot as on the hand, with the thumb and big toe as the commonest digit affected. More than 80% were greater than 1.5 mm, with the mean Breslow depth 4.7 mm, and 70% were Clark level IV or V. Approximately half of the cases were of acral lentiginous type. At 5‐year follow‐up (54 cases), 26 have died of melanoma, six have died of an unrelated disease, four are alive with recurrence and 18 are alive and well. Features related to clinical outcome at 3 years were Breslow depth, mitotic count and the presence of vascular invasion.
Observations of the Hubble Deep Field South with the Infrared Space Observatory– II. Associations and star formation rates

We present results from a deep mid-infrared survey of the Hubble Deep Field South (HDF-S) region performed at 6.7 and 15mum with the ISOCAM instrument on board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO ). We find reliable optical/near-infrared associations for 32 of the 35 sources detected in this field by Oliver et al. (Paper I): eight of them are identified as stars, one is definitely an active galactic nucleus (AGN), a second seems likely to be an AGN too, while the remaining 22 appear to be normal spiral or starburst galaxies. Using model spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of similar galaxies, we compare methods for estimating the star formation rates (SFRs) in these objects, finding that an estimator based on integrated (3-1000mum) infrared luminosity reproduces the model SFRs best. Applying this estimator to model fits to the SEDs of our 22 spiral and starburst galaxies, we find that they are forming stars at rates of ~1-100Msolar yr-1 , with a median value of ~40Msolar yr-1 , assuming an Einstein-de Sitter universe with a Hubble constant of 50kms-1 Mpc-1 , and star formation taking place according to a Salpeter initial mass function (IMF) across the mass range 0.1-100Msolar . We split the redshift range 0.0<=z <=0.6 into two equal-volume bins to compute raw estimates of the star formation rate density, rhod *, contributed by these sources, assuming the same cosmology and IMF as above and computing errors based on estimated uncertainties in the SFRs of individual galaxies. We compare these results with other estimates of rhod * made with the same assumptions, showing them to be consistent with the results of Flores et al. from their ISO survey of the CFRS 1415+52 field. However, the relatively small volume of our survey means that our rhod * estimates suffer from a large sampling variance, implying that our results, by themselves, do not place tight constraints on the global mean star formation rate density.
The 12 year prognosis of unilateral functional weakness and sensory disturbance

Background: Although the symptoms of unilateral “medically unexplained” or “functional” weakness and sensory disturbance present commonly to neurologists, little is known about their long term prognosis. Objective: To determine the long term outcome of functional weakness and sensory disturbance. Patients: A previously assembled cohort of 60 patients seen as inpatients by consultant neurologists in Edinburgh between 1985 and 1992 and diagnosed as having unilateral functional weakness or sensory disturbance. Methods: Current symptoms, disability, and distress were assessed by postal questionnaire to the patients and their family doctors. Results: Follow up data relating to mortality were obtained in 56 patients (93%) and to current diagnosis in 48 patients (80%). Patient questionnaire data were obtained in 42 patients (70%). The median duration of follow up was 12.5 years (range 9 to 16). Thirty five of the 42 patients (83%) still reported weakness or sensory symptoms, and the majority reported limitation of physical function, distress, and multiple other somatic symptoms. Twenty nine per cent had taken medical retirement. An examination of baseline predictors indicated that patients who had sensory symptoms had better functioning at follow up than those who had weakness. Only one patient had developed a neurological disorder which, in hindsight, explained the original presentation. Another patient had died of unrelated causes. Conclusions: Many patients assessed by neurologists with unilateral functional weakness and sensory symptoms as inpatients remain symptomatic, distressed, and disabled as long as 12 years after the original diagnosis. These symptoms are only rarely explained by the subsequent development of a recognisable neurological disorder in the long term.
Obesity in African women in the North West Province, South Africa is associated with an increased risk of non-communicable diseases: the THUSA study

The objective of the present study was to assess the relationship between anthropometric measurements and risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCD) in South African black women. A cross-sectional sample of 1040 apparently healthy black female volunteers, 15–70 years old, was recruited from thirty-seven randomly selected sites in the North West Province, stratified according to level of urbanisation. We analysed the association between BMI, waist:hip (WHR), waist circumference (WC) and skinfold measurements and the following risk factors for NCD: blood pressure, serum lipids, fasting serum glucose and insulin and plasma fibrinogen, by using age-adjusted correlation analyses and stepwise regression analysis. Of the subjects, 28·6 % were obese (BMI>30). After adjustment for age and smoking status, BMI correlated significantly with diastolic blood pressure (r 0·21, P=0·037), serum triacylglycerols (TG) (r 0·30, P=0·003), fasting glucose (r 0·29, P=0·005) and log fasting insulin (r 0·24, P=0·02). There was a significant negative correlation between BMI and HDL-cholesterol (r -0·38, P<0·001). Similar but stronger correlations were found between both WC and WHR and these risk factors. Together with age, WC was a significant predictor of TG, HDL-cholesterol and fasting glucose in regression analysis, while subscapular skinfold was a significant predictor of diastolic blood pressure and fasting glucose concentration. Triceps skinfold was a significant predictor of total serum cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, plasma fibrinogen and the insulin sensitivity index. Measures of obesity, particularly WC, are associated with the risk for NCD in black South African women, in which a high rate of obesity has been found.
Surface‐based morphometry of the anterior cingulate cortex in first episode schizophrenia

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) appears to be critically involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, but past attempts at characterizing pathological changes in the region using magnetic resonance imaging have been restricted by a limited appreciation of its functional and anatomical diversity and a reliance on relatively coarse metrics (e.g., volume) to index anatomical change. In this study, we applied a novel, surface‐based protocol to T1‐weighted scans acquired from 40 first episode schizophrenia patients and 40 healthy controls individually matched for age, sex, and morphology of the paracingulate sulcus, a major anatomical variation that has been shown to affect morphometric estimates in the region. The surface‐based approach enabled calculation of regional grey matter volume, surface area and curvature, cortical thickness, and depth of the cingulate sulcus, with sub‐millimeter precision. Relative to controls, schizophrenia patients displayed a bilateral reduction in thickness of paralimbic regions of the ACC, along with a concomitant increase in surface area of both the limbic and paralimbic ACC. No differences were identified for regional grey matter volume, surface curvature, or CS depth. These findings illustrate the advantages of moving beyond traditional volume‐based approaches when investigating cortical morphometry, and indicate that the early stages of schizophrenia are associated with a specific pattern of ACC abnormalities that cannot be attributed to variations in sulcal and gyral morphology. Hum Brain Mapp, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Stenosis of the main artery supplying an organ: effect of end-organ vascular resistance on the poststenotic peak systolic velocity in an in vitro hydraulic model at Doppler US.

PURPOSE To test the hypothesis that increased end-organ vascular resistance reduces blood flow to the kidney, thus reducing the mean velocity in the renal artery and secondarily lowering the peak systolic velocity (PSV). MATERIALS AND METHODS An in vitro hydraulic model with a pulsatile pump, blood-mimicking fluid, interchangeable stenoses, and variable compliance and resistance was used to investigate the relationship between end-organ vascular resistance and poststenotic PSV. RESULTS Poststenotic PSV was mildly dependent on end-organ vascular resistance and decreased with increasing resistance. CONCLUSION The results help explain some of the reported variability from using poststenotic PSV to detect hemodynamically significant renal arterial stenoses, but the effect is not great enough to completely explain the variability. Other factors not investigated in this study must be at work as well.
End-to-end 3 D face reconstruction with deep neural networks

Monocular 3D facial shape reconstruction from a single 2D facial image has been an active research area due to its wide applications. Inspired by the success of deep neural networks (DNN), we propose a DNN-based approach for End-to-End 3D FAce Reconstruction (UH-E2FAR) from a single 2D image. Different from recent works that reconstruct and refine the 3D face in an iterative manner using both an RGB image and an initial 3D facial shape rendering, our DNN model is end-to-end, and thus the complicated 3D rendering process can be avoided. Moreover, we integrate in the DNN architecture two components, namely a multi-task loss function and a fusion convolutional neural network (CNN) to improve facial expression reconstruction. With the multi-task loss function, 3D face reconstruction is divided into neutral 3D facial shape reconstruction and expressive 3D facial shape reconstruction. The neutral 3D facial shape is class-specific. Therefore, higher layer features are useful. In comparison, the expressive 3D facial shape favors lower or intermediate layer features. With the fusion-CNN, features from different intermediate layers are fused and transformed for predicting the 3D expressive facial shape. Through extensive experiments, we demonstrate the superiority of our end-to-end framework in improving the accuracy of 3D face reconstruction.
Structure and dynamics of the fenestrae‐associated cytoskeleton of rat liver sinusoidal endothelial cells

This article describes the cytoskeleton associated with fenestrae and sieve plates of rat liver sinusoidal endothelial cells. Fenestrae control the exchange between the blood and parenchymal cells. We present evidence indicating that several agents that change the fenestrae and sieve plates also cause changes in the cytoskeleton. Cultured liver endothelial cells (LECs) were slightly fixed and treated with cytoskeleton extraction buffer. Detergent‐extracted whole mounts of cultured cells were prepared for either scanning electron microscopy (SEM) or transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Extracted cells show an integral intricate cytoskeleton; sieve plates and fenestrae are delineated by cytoskeleton elements. Fenestrae are surrounded by a filamentous, fenestrae‐associated cytoskeleton with a mean filament thickness of 16 nm. Sieve plates are surrounded and delineated by microtubuli, which form a network together with additional branching cytoskeletal elements. The addition of ethanol to cultured cells enlarged the diameter for these fenestrae‐associated cytoskeleton rings by 5%, whereas serotonin treatment reduced the diameter by 20%. These observations indicate that the fenestrae‐associated cytoskeleton probably changes the size of fenestrae after different treatments. After treatment with cytochalasin B the number of fenestrae increased. However, cytochalasin B did not change the structure of the fenestrae‐associated cytoskeleton ring, but disperses the microtubuli. In conclusion, LECs have a cytoskeleton that defines and supports sieve plates and fenestrae. Fenestrae‐associated cytoskeleton is a dynamic structure and plays a role in maintaining and regulating the size of fenestrae after different treatments. Therefore, the fenestrae‐associated cytoskeleton controls the important hepatic function of endothelial filtration. (Hepatology 1995;21:180–189).
Integrating Fiber Fabry-Perot Cavity Sensor Into 3-D Printed Metal Components for Extreme High-Temperature Monitoring Applications

This paper reports the methods of embedding into 3-D printed metal components a fused silica capillary designed to accept an in-fiber Fabry–Perot cavity-based extreme high-temperature sensor. The components are manufactured in stainless steel (SS316) by additive manufacturing using selective laser melting (SLM). The temperature sensor consists of a standard single-mode optical fiber with the F-P sensor located at the distal end of the fiber with the fiber being inserted into the capillary. The capillary is either directly embedded into the structure during the SLM build process or brazed into the structure in between the SLM build process, and the advantages and disadvantages of these two manufacturing approaches are discussed. Temperature sensing of up to 1000 °C inside the metal with an accuracy better than ±10 °C is reported. The capillary can be directly embedded in the component, which needs to be monitored, or it can be embedded in a metal coupon, which can be attached to a component by conventional welding technology, including the use of laser metal deposition (LMD). In the case of LMD, the sensor coupon can also be fully encapsulated by over cladding the coupon.
Emerging drugs for hepatitis C

Background: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a global health threat with approximately 200 million carriers worldwide. Current treatment consists of the use of peginterferon (pegIFN)/ribavirin (RBV) for 24 or 48 weeks depending on HCV genotype. Serious side effects and the fact that less than half of patients infected with HCV genotypes 1 and 4 (which are the most common) accomplish sustained virological response with this medication warrant the need for novel anti-HCV therapies. Objective: Description of specifically targeted antiviral therapies for hepatitis C (STAT-C) designed to inhibit the serine protease and the RNA-dependent HCV-RNA polymerase. Methods: Review of available data reported in peer-reviewed journals and medical conferences. Results/conclusions: Early preclinical studies using these compounds produced encouraging results, but the initial enthusiasm has been hampered by toxicity issues and rapid selection of resistance. Therefore, combination therapy with a backbone of pegIFN/RBV, or perhaps in the future using several of these small molecules, preferably having distinct modes of action and resistance profiles, will be required.
Topographic outcomes predicted by stream erosion models: Sensitivity analysis and intermodel comparison

[1] Mechanistic theories of fluvial erosion are essential for quantifying large-scale orogenic denudation. We examine the topographic implications of two leading classes of river erosion model, detachment-limited and transport-limited, in order to identify diagnostic and testable differences between them. Several formulations predict distinctly different longitudinal profile shapes, which are shown to be closely linked to terrain morphology. Of these, some can be rejected on the basis of unrealistic morphology and slope-area scaling. An expression is derived for total drainage basin relief and its apportionment between hillslope and fluvial components. Relief and valley density are found to vary with tectonic forcing in a manner that reflects erosion physics; these properties therefore constitute an additional set of testable predictions. Finally, transient responses to tectonic perturbations are shown to depend strongly on the degree of nonlinearity in the incision process. These findings indicate that given proper constraints, fluvial erosion theories can be tested on the basis of observed topography.
Ranibizumab versus verteporfin for neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

BACKGROUND We compared ranibizumab--a recombinant, humanized, monoclonal antibody Fab that neutralizes all active forms of vascular endothelial growth factor A--with photodynamic therapy with verteporfin in the treatment of predominantly classic neovascular age-related macular degeneration. METHODS During the first year of this 2-year, multicenter, double-blind study, we randomly assigned patients in a 1:1:1 ratio to receive monthly intravitreal injections of ranibizumab (0.3 mg or 0.5 mg) plus sham verteporfin therapy or monthly sham injections plus active verteporfin therapy. The primary end point was the proportion of patients losing fewer than 15 letters from baseline visual acuity at 12 months. RESULTS Of the 423 patients enrolled, 94.3% of those given 0.3 mg of ranibizumab and 96.4% of those given 0.5 mg lost fewer than 15 letters, as compared with 64.3% of those in the verteporfin group (P<0.001 for each comparison). Visual acuity improved by 15 letters or more in 35.7% of the 0.3-mg group and 40.3% of the 0.5-mg group, as compared with 5.6% of the verteporfin group (P<0.001 for each comparison). Mean visual acuity increased by 8.5 letters in the 0.3-mg group and 11.3 letters in the 0.5-mg group, as compared with a decrease of 9.5 letters in the verteporfin group (P<0.001 for each comparison). Among 140 patients treated with 0.5 mg of ranibizumab, presumed endophthalmitis occurred in 2 patients (1.4%) and serious uveitis in 1 (0.7%). CONCLUSIONS Ranibizumab was superior to verteporfin as intravitreal treatment of predominantly classic neovascular age-related macular degeneration, with low rates of serious ocular adverse events. Treatment improved visual acuity on average at 1 year. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00061594 [ClinicalTrials.gov].).
Does Latent Semantic Analysis Reflect Human Associations ?

In the past decade, Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) was used in many NLP approaches with sometimes remarkable success. However, its abilities to express semantic relatedness have been not yet systematically investigated. In this work, the semantic similarity measures as provided by LSA (based on a term-by-term matrix) are compared with human free associations. Three tasks have been performed: (i)correlationwith human association norms, (ii)discriminationof associated and unassociated pairs and (iii) predictionof the first human response. After a presentation of the results a closer look is taken to the statistical behavior of the data, and a qualitative (example-based) analysis of the LSA similarity values is given as well.