Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perineal striated muscles: Anatomy, spinal motoneurons, and participation on copulatory behavior in male rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Despite the importance of rabbits in reproductive studies, little information is available on the anatomy and participation of the striated‐perineal muscles in male copulatory behavior. In our study, we describe the gross anatomy of two striated‐perineal muscles: the ischiocavernosus (ICm) and the bulbospongiosus (BSm). Both muscles have their origin at the ischiadic arc, but the ICm is inserted into the penile crura and the BSm onto the ligamentum suspensorium of the penis. The motoneurons of both muscles were identified using retrograde labeling with horseradish peroxidase coupled to wheat‐germ agglutinin. Motoneurons were dispersed in the lower‐lumbar and upper‐sacral spinal‐cord segments, instead of being aggregated in the neuronal nucleus as in other species: the rat, mouse, gerbil, cat, and man. Bilateral dennervation of the ICm or BSm or both in sexually experienced male rabbits did not affect copulatory variables measured at 10, 20, and 30 days after surgery. However, muscular dennervation produced extravaginal ejaculations in 42% of copulatory tests and no ejaculation in 7% of tests, although male pelvic thrusting occurred. These results suggest the participation of the ICm and BSm perineal muscles in penile orientation during copulation but not in seminal emission as described in other mammalian species. Synapse 62:653–661, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A high-throughput scheduling algorithm for a buffered crossbar switch fabric

We examine high-throughput scheduling algorithms for buffered crossbar switch fabrics containing one buffer per crosspoint. We propose a scheduling system that uses longest queue first (LQF) scheduling for virtual output queues (VOQs) at the inputs and round-robin (RR) scheduling for the crosspoints. It is shown, through fluid model techniques, that this system achieves 100% throughput for input traffic that satisfies the strong law of large numbers and that produces a load /spl les/1/N for any input/output pair of an N/spl times/N switching fabric. Simulations indicate that 100% throughput may be attained for a much larger class of admissible loads.
The Plasmodium TRAP/MIC2 family member, TRAP‐Like Protein (TLP), is involved in tissue traversal by sporozoites

In the apicomplexan protozoans motility and cell invasion are mediated by the TRAP/MIC2 family of transmembrane proteins, members of which link extracellular adhesion to the intracellular actomyosin motor complex. Here we characterize a new member of the TRAP/MIC2 family, named TRAP‐Like Protein (TLP), that is highly conserved within the Plasmodium genus. Similar to the Plasmodium sporozoite protein, TRAP, and the ookinete protein, CTRP, TLP possesses an extracellular domain architecture that is comprised of von Willebrand factor A (vWA) and thrombospondin type 1 (TSP1) domains, plus a short cytoplasmic domain. Comparison of the vWA domain of TLP genes from multiple Plasmodium falciparum isolates showed relative low sequence diversity, suggesting that the protein is not under selective pressures of the host immune system. Analysis of transcript levels by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) showed that TLP is predominantly expressed in salivary gland sporozoites of P. falciparum and P. berghei. Targeted disruption of P. berghei TLP resulted in a decreased capacity for cell traversal by sporozoites, and reduced infectivity of sporozoites in vivo, whereas in vitro sporozoite motility and hepatocyte invasion were unaffected. These results indicate a role of TLP in cell traversal by sporozoites.
A randomized trial of maintenance interferon following high‐dose chemotherapy in multiple myeloma: long‐term follow‐up results

High‐dose chemotherapy (melphalan) with autologous marrow stem cell support (AMSCS) results in high response rates in multiple myeloma (MM), with up to 50% of patients achieving complete remission. However, these remissions are generally not durable. As the cytokine interferon alpha has been shown to prolong partial response following conventional chemotherapy, this trial was conducted to evaluate its role following high‐dose chemotherapy. 85 patients were randomly assigned to maintenance treatment with interferon alpha, 3 × 106 units/m2 subcutaneously three times weekly until relapse or no further treatment following recovery from high‐dose chemotherapy (melphalan 140–200 mg/m2 or busulphan 16 mg/kg) combined with AMSCS. At 5.8 years following the accrual of the last patient in this trial, 38 patients had died, 17 in the interferon arm and 21 in the control arm. The median progression‐free survival (PFS) in the 42 patients randomized to interferon alpha was 46 months versus 27 months in the controls. Both overall survival and PFS, which were highly significant at median follow‐up of 52 months, have now ceased to be significant, because most patients have ultimately succumbed to their disease. Interferon was tolerated by the majority of patients with very good compliance. Toxicity consisted mainly of flu‐like symptoms and malaise which were usually self‐limiting. The results of such a pilot study should be carefully interpreted and the benefits of interferon should be confirmed in larger multi‐centre studies in the setting of minimal residual disease following autologous transplantation.
The effect of lung inflation on absolute ventricular volume measurement by conductance

Background Conductance catheter in vivo ventricular volume measurements during lung ventilation may provide important information on left ventricular (LV) function. Breathing potentially may alter parallel conductance (Vc), complicating interpretation of the conductance‐derived volume signals. The effects of controlled positive pressure lung inflation (PPLI) on measured parallel conductance with dual‐field conductance volumetry were investigated.
Helping Hand or Grabbing Hand? Supervisory Architecture, Financial Structure and Market View

The literature stresses the importance of financial market characteristics in determining the supervisory architectures. In the real world it is not always clear to what extent market features are taken into account. We present two complementary approaches to gain insights in the above relationship. First, an empirical test of two theories-the helping and the grabbing hand view of government-seems more consistent with the latter, presuming the market demonstrates a preference for consolidation of supervisory powers. Second, a survey among financial CEOs in Italy confirms a preference for a consolidated supervisory regime and reveals only weak consistency between the views of the policymakers and the market operators.
Intraoperative Temperature Monitoring

Thermal imbalances are common during anesthesia and surgery. Among these, mild hypothermia, defined as a body temperature between 34° and 36°C, is a likely intraoperative event. Low environmental temperature, surgical exposure, and anesthesia-related loss of compensatory mechanisms contribute to the genesis of intraoperative hypothermia. Although body cooling might protect from ischemic organ injury in selected cases, inadvertent hypothermia has been shown to result in complications such as myocardial ischemia, coagulopathy, and wound infection. Hypothermia is less common than hypothermia, but it is often associated with severe events such as malignant hyperthermia or sepsis. Therefore, intraoperative temperature monitoring is important to allow detection and treatment of thermal imbalances. Monitoring technology and positioning of measuring devices are critical for correct estimation of body temperature. At the same time, knowledge of thermal equilibrium mechanisms is necessary to interpret the measured variables.
Potential for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Applications for Identifying Groundwater‐Surface Water Exchange in a Meandering River Reach

The exchange of groundwater and surface water (GW‐SW), including dissolved constituents and energy, represents a critical yet challenging characterization problem for hydrogeologists and stream ecologists. Here we describe the use of a suite of high spatial resolution remote sensing techniques, collected using a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS), to provide novel and complementary data to analyze GW‐SW exchange. sUAS provided centimeter‐scale resolution topography and water surface elevations, which are often drivers of exchange along the river corridor. Additionally, sUAS‐based vegetation imagery, vegetation‐top elevation, and normalized difference vegetation index mapping indicated GW‐SW exchange patterns that are difficult to characterize from the land surface and may not be resolved from coarser satellite‐based imagery. We combined these data with estimates of sediment hydraulic conductivity to provide a direct estimate of GW “shortcutting” through meander necks, which was corroborated by temperature data at the riverbed interface.
Effects and mechanisms of silibinin on human hepatoma cell lines.

AIM To investigate in vitro effects and mechanisms of silibinin on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell growth. METHODS Human HCC cell lines were treated with different doses of silibinin. The effects of silibinin on HCC cell growth and proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle progression, histone acetylation, and other related signal transductions were systematically examined. RESULTS We demonstrated that silibinin significantly reduced the growth of HuH7, HepG2, Hep3B, and PLC/PRF/5 human hepatoma cells. Silibinin-reduced HuH7 cell growth was associated with significantly up-regulated p21/CDK4 and p27/CDK4 complexes, down-regulated Rb-phosphorylation and E2F1/DP1 complex. Silibinin promoted apoptosis of HuH7 cells that was associated with down-regulated survivin and up-regulated activated caspase-3 and -9. Silibinin's anti-angiogenic effects were indicated by down-regulated metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2) and CD34. We found that silibinin-reduced growth of HuH7 cells was associated with increased activity of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) and decreased p-Akt production, indicating the role of PTEN/PI(3)K/Akt pathway in silibinin-mediated anti-HCC effects. We also demonstrated that silibinin increased acetylation of histone H3 and H4 (AC-H3 and AC-H4), indicating a possible role of altered histone acetylation in silibinin-reduced HCC cell proliferation. CONCLUSION Our results defined silibinin's in vitro anti-HCC effects and possible mechanisms, and provided a rationale to further test silibinin for HCC chemoprevention.
Linking up with the community: a fertile strategy for a university hospital?

Abstract Purpose To systematically identify, describe and characterise the collaborative initiatives, which have been established between the Academic Medical Centre/University of Amsterdam and local health care providers in the adjacent community. Background The viability of university hospitals is jeopardised. Their narrowed orientation on delivering the most advanced services to the sickest patients challenges their missions in patient care, science and education. By linking up with local health care providers, university hospitals create synergistic relationships that should secure these three academic missions for the future. Methods We conducted a multiple case study in two stages. Initially, division leaders and the director of integrated care were consulted to identify all existing collaborative initiatives of the Academic Medical Centre. Successively, face-to-face interviews were held with the leaders of these initiatives. During these interviews data were primarily collected through a questionnaire. Notes of the interviewer, and documents (if available) were also collected. The analysis focused on systematically describing and characterising the initiatives using the concept of ‘community-based integrated care’. Results Twenty-seven heterogeneous initiatives were identified. Half of these initiatives are targeted to the adjacent community of the Academic Medical Centre, but only four of them are initiated on the basis of community information and involve the community and/or patients. Furthermore, the extent of integration differed per dimension. Functional integration within the initiatives has been relatively low, clinical integration mixed, and professional integration quite advanced. Conclusions The results indicate that a considerable number of collaborative initiatives have emerged. Still, these initiatives are loosely ‘community-based’ and hardly focus on the full integration of care services. This suggests that the community linkages of the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam could be further developed by gaining the full support of all clinical departments for the strategic approach and by adapting an overall hospital perspective to monitor the progress towards community-based integrated care.
A fission yeast gene (prr1(+)) that encodes a response regulator implicated in oxidative stress response.

An inspection of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe genome database revealed that this eukaryotic microorganism possesses a gene that may encode a bacterial type of histidine-to-aspartate (His-Asp) phosphorelay component, namely, a response regulator. The predicted gene, named prr1(+) (S. pombe response regulator), encodes a protein that contains a typical phospho-accepting receiver domain, preceded by a mammalian heat shock factor (HSF)-like DNA-binding domain. Inactivation of this prr1(+) gene resulted in mutant cells defective in some aspects of stress responses, including sensitivity to oxidative stress, cold-temperature, and heavy metal toxicity. It was also demonstrated that Prr1 is required for the transcription of some genes (e.g., trr1(+), ctt1(+)), which are induced by oxidative stress. These results suggest that a His-Asp phosphorelay system may be involved in a stress-activated signaling pathway in S. pombe.
Clinical and histological associations of cagA and vacA genotypes in Helicobacter pylori gastritis.

AIMS: To determine the relation among the cytotoxin associated gene (cagA) and vacuolating cytotoxin gene (vacA) status of Helicobacter pylori isolates, the associated clinical diseases, and the severity and pattern of chronic gastritis. METHODS: Helicobacter pylori was cultured from gastric biopsies obtained from dyspeptic patients. DNA was extracted from the isolates and the cagA and vacA status determined by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The prevalence of the different cagA and vacA genotypes in three clinical groups, duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcer, and non-ulcer dyspepsia was compared. The histological features in sections from two antral and two corpus biopsies were graded by one blinded observer. The grades were compared with age and sex matched groups with different cagA and vacA genotypes, and with duodenal ulcers, or non-ulcer dyspepsia. RESULTS: Isolates from 161 patients were included. One hundred and nine (68%) harboured a cagA+ strain and 143 (89%) harboured a vacA s1 strain. The prevalence of cagA+ strains in duodenal ulcer patients (94%) was highly significantly greater than in those with non-ulcer dyspepsia (56%). However, of the patients infected with a cagA+ strain, almost equal numbers had non-ulcer dyspepsia or peptic ulceration. Chronic inflammation, polymorph activity, surface epithelial degeneration, atrophy, and intestinal metaplasia were all significantly more severe in the cagA+ than in the cagA- group, whereas only corpus epithelial degeneration was significantly more severe in the vacA s1 group compared with the vacA s2 group. Patients infected with cagA+ strains were almost four times more likely to have antral intestinal metaplasia than cagA- patients. An antral predominant gastritis was present in duodenal ulcer patients compared with matched non-ulcer dyspepsia patients, but this was not attributable to cagA or vacA status. CONCLUSIONS: Helicobacter pylori strains showing cagA positively and the vacA s1 genotype are associated with more severe gastritis but these virulence factors do not appear to determine the overall pattern. The pattern is closely linked to clinical disease. Therefore, it is likely that the nature of the disease complicating chronic infection is determined by host and environmental factors, while bacterial factors determine the magnitude of the risk of developing such disease.
Silent, or masked, giant cell arteritis is associated with a strong inflammatory response and a benign short term course.

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency, characteristics, and short term outcome of patients who have biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis (GCA) but no local symptoms that can be attributed to vasculitis inflammation [silent temporal arteritis (TA)] throughout the pretreatment course of the disease or an observational period lasting at least 2 months. METHODS Of 175 consecutive patients with biopsy-proven GCA, 130 had typical cranial arteritis, 21 had silent vasculitis, and the remaining 24 had either discrete cranial symptoms (19 cases) or isolated extracranial vasculitis (5 cases). We sought to determine which of 15 pretreatment characteristics were associated with silent TA, as compared with typical cranial arteritis, and assessed the short term outcome in these patients. RESULTS Of 21 patients with silent GCA, 14 met criteria for fever of unknown origin. Aside from their different clinical presentation, this population was characterized by a longer delay in diagnosis (p = 0.003), a higher mean erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p = 0.002), higher C-reactive protein (p = 0.002), and lower levels of albumin (p = 0.01) and hemoglobin (p < 0.0001). Permanent visual loss, which occurred in 24 patients (13.7%), exclusively involved those presenting with symptoms and/or signs suggesting cranial arteritis, especially those with frank cranial arteritis. This complication was associated negatively with the delay in diagnosis (p = 0.01), and marginally with the number of symptoms and/or signs suggesting cranial arteritis recorded in each patient (p = 0.07). Oral prednisone at a mean daily dose of 0.7 mg/kg resulted in satisfactory control of silent TA within 4 weeks in all patients but one, and could subsequently be safely tapered by half in a mean delay of 38 +/- 23 days. No differences were observed between patients with silent TA and other forms of the disease regarding the mean prednisone dose at 3 month followup (18.2 +/- 4.5 vs 20.9 +/- 5.9 mg/day) and 6 month followup (14 +/- 4.4 vs 15.6 +/- 6 mg/day ). CONCLUSION Silent TA may represent a distinct subset of giant cell arteritis, marked by a protracted inflammatory response and a relatively benign short term outcome, excellent response to corticosteroids, and no visual ischemic events, despite the long period of exposure to this complication before appropriate treatment.
Sorption and Distribution of Copper in Unsaturated Pseudomonas putida CZ1 Biofilms as Determined by X-Ray Fluorescence Microscopy

ABSTRACT The spatial and temporal distribution of metals in unsaturated Pseudomonas putida CZ1 biofilms was determined using synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XRF). It was found that Fe, Mn, and Ca were mainly distributed near the air-biofilm interface of a biofilm grown on 40 mM citrate, while there were two Fe-, Mn-, and Ca-rich layers within a biofilm grown on 10 mM citrate. The sorption of copper by biofilm grown in medium containing 10 mM citrate was rapid, with copper being found throughout the biofilm after only 1 h of exposure. Copper initially colocalized with Fe and Mn element layers in the biofilm and then precipitated in a 40-μm-thick layer near the air-biofilm interface when exposed for 12 h. Cu K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) analysis revealed that Cu was primarily bound with citrate within the biofilm, and the precipitate formed in the biofilm exposed to copper for 12 h was most similar to copper phosphate. LIVE/DEAD staining revealed that cells at the biofilm-membrane interface were mostly alive even when the copper concentration reached 80.5 mg copper g−1 biomass. This suggests that the biofilm matrix provided significant protection for cells in this area. These results significantly improve our understanding of metal acquisition, transportation, and immobilization in unsaturated biofilm systems.
Linear Aperiodic Array Synthesis Using Differential Evolution Algorithm

In this letter, a modified differential evolution (DE) based on harmony search algorithm is developed for the linear aperiodic array synthesis. By adding the parameter selection strategy into the classic differential evolution, the modified DE combines the good local search capability of the classic DE and the great search diversity of harmony search algorithm. The pattern optimization simulations of the linear aperiodic array verify that it converges faster and requires less computation.
Optimized spiral imaging for measurement of myocardial T2 relaxation

Microcirculation oxygen levels and blood volumes should be reflected in measurements of myocardial T2 relaxation. This work describes the optimization of a spiral imaging strategy for robust myocardial T2 measurement to minimize the standard deviation of T2 measurement (σT2). Theoretical and experimental studies of blurring at muscle/blood interfaces enabled the derivation of parameter sets which reduce σ T2 to the level of 5%. T2 relaxation mapping within healthy volunteers provided estimation of residual σT2 within the optimized technique. The standard deviation in T2 measurement across regions of interest (ROIs) in different locations is about 9%. The standard deviation in T2 measurement in an ROI across different time points is about 5%. Magn Reson Med 49:1089–1097, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cerebral blood flow, metabolic, receptor, and transporter changes in bipolar disorder: The role of PET and SPECT studies

The basic concepts of positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scanning are introduced, and the two modalities are compared. Applications to bipolar disorder (BD) are reviewed. Regional cerebral metabolic rate and blood flow, often used as surrogate measures of neuronal synaptic activity, are increased in the frontal lobes in both unipolar and bipolar depression. In mania, metabolism increases in the dorsal cingulate cortex, striatal regions, and the nucleus accumbens, as well as in limbic structures of the temporal lobes, but decreases in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, possibly reflecting its loss of modulatory control over limbic structures. Specifically targeted PET radioligands are used to investigate neurotransmitter systems. D1 receptor binding potentials are reduced in frontal cortex, but striatal D2 receptor density is normal in all phases of non-psychotic BD. Psychotic BD patients show higher D2 receptor densities in the caudate, which correlate with the degree of psychosis but not mood symptoms. The serotonin transporter shows increased density in the thalamus, dorsal cingulate cortex, medial preftontal cortex, and insula of depressed BD patients. In the dorsal cingulate cortex and insula, it correlates with anxiety (and in the cingulate, with suicide attempts).