Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characteristics and Prognosis of Epilepsy in Children With Cerebral Palsy

The aims of the study were to describe the prevalence and characteristics of epilepsy in a population of patients with cerebral palsy in a university referral center and to determine the rate of relapse caused by discontinuation of antiepileptic drugs after a 3-year seizure-free period. A total of 178 consecutive patients with cerebral palsy and epilepsy were prospectively followed for 9.2 ± 2.4 years after onset of seizures and compared to a control group of 150 epileptic patients without cerebral palsy (median follow-up period, 10.5 years). The overall prevalence of epilepsy was 36.1%. Patients with atonic-diplegic, dystonic, tetraplegic, and hemiplegic cerebral palsy had a higher incidence of epilepsy (87.5%, 87.1%, 56.5%, and 42%, respectively). In all, 134 (75.3%) patients were seizure free for more than 3 years and could discontinue therapy, whereas 44 patients (24.7%) were still on antiepileptic drugs. Eighteen of 134 patients relapsed after a 3-year seizure-free period and subsequent discontinuation of antiepileptic drugs, thus giving a relapse rate of 13.4%. First seizures occurred during the first year of life in 69.7% of the patients with epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Complete control of seizures could be achieved in 65.2% of the patients with cerebral palsy and epilepsy; however, regardless of the prognosis of seizures, epilepsy was a major prognostic factor regarding both the presence of mental retardation and the motor development of children with cerebral palsy. (J Child Neurol 1999;14:289-294).
DIFFUSION TENSOR TRACTOGRAPHY PREDICTS MOTOR FUNCTIONAL OUTCOME IN PATIENTS WITH SPONTANEOUS INTRACEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE

OBJECTIVEWe prospectively investigated the predictive value of diffusion tensor tractography for motor functional outcome in a case series of patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. METHODSDiffusion tensor tractography was performed in 17 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (putamen, nine patients; thalamus, seven patients; combined, one patient) within 5 days after onset. Mean fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values along the corticospinal tracts at the level of the hematoma were measured bilaterally, and the ratios of values (hematoma side/contralateral side) were determined as FA and ADC ratios, respectively. Patients were evaluated for motor function on admission and at 3 months after onset using the manual muscle test score and then divided into good (manual muscle test, 4–5) and poor (manual muscle test, 0–3) motor function groups. RESULTSFA ratio measured shortly after the onset of intracerebral hemorrhage correlated well with motor functional outcome at 3 months (P < 0.05) but not with motor function on admission. FA ratios in the group with good motor functional outcome were significantly higher than those in the group with poor motor functional outcome (P < 0.01). The ADC ratio did not correlate with motor function either on admission or at 3 months. All patients with an FA ratio greater than 0.8 had a good motor functional outcome. In three patients, however, motor functional outcomes were favorable even though FA ratios were not high; in these patients, ADC ratios tended to be elevated. CONCLUSIONMotor functional outcome in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage can be predicted by measuring FA values using diffusion tensor tractography.
Trans-Suppression of Misfolding in an Amyloid Disease

The transthyretin (TTR) amyloid diseases, representative of numerous misfolding disorders, are of considerable interest because there are mutations that cause or suppress disease. The Val30 → Met30 (V30M) TTR mutation is the most prevalent cause of familial amyloid polyneuropathy in heterozygotes, whereas a Thr119 → Met119(T119M) mutation on the second TTR allele protects V30M carriers from disease. Here, we show that the incorporation of one or more T119M TTR subunits into a predominantly V30M tetramer strongly stabilized the mixed tetramer against dissociation. Dissociation is required for amyloid formation, so these findings provide a molecular explanation for intragenictrans-suppression of amyloidosis. The data also suggest a potential therapeutic strategy, provide insight into tissue-specific deposition and amyloid composition, and support the validity of the amyloid hypothesis in human disease.
Basolateral but not corticomedial amygdala shows neuroarchitectural changes in schizophrenia

The neuropathology of subcortical nuclei has received little attention in schizophrenia (SZ). Decreased volume and neuron size have been reported for the mediodorsal thalamus, caudate, and putamen, and a total mean neuron decrease has been reported for the basolateral amygdala (BLA; Byne et al., 2002; Kreczmanski et al., 2007). Lying inferior to the parahippocampal gyrus and anterior to the hippocampus, the amygdala is involved in functions such as analyzing the emotional significance of a stimulus and coordinating the actions of a variety of brain systems (Nolte, 2002). The amygdala is a key nucleus of the limbic system and is thought to play an important role in recognition and generation of emotion. It is thought to identify emotional and motivational values of sensory inputs and to process interpretation of fear-related stimulus from others and the environment (Siegle et al., 2007). The amygdala has been implicated in emotional processing abnormalities observed in patients with schizophrenia (Shayegan and Stahl, 2005; Berretta et al., 2007) and with depression (Caetano et al., 2004; Munn et al., 2007). The amygdala contains a heterogeneous collection of nuclei, functionally grouped into basolateral, corticomedial, and olfactory clusters. The nuclei of the amygdala are reciprocally connected to the hypothalamus, brainstem, hippocampus, thalamus, and neocortex. The BLA receives sensory information from the prefrontal, temporal, insular, and occipital cortices and direct cholinergic input from the nucleus basalis. The corticoor centromedial nucleus (CMA) receives inputs from the hippocampus, insula, and orbitofrontal cortex. Amygdala dysfunction may contribute to affective symptoms observed in SZ and major depressive disorder (MDD). In humans, the primary amygdala regions are the basolateral region/nucleus (basal, lateral, and accessory basal nuclei) and the corticomedial region/nucleus (cortical, medial, and central nuclei). The basolateral region is proximal to the lateral ventricle and the entorhinal cortex and is considered the deeper nuclear group, whereas the more superficial corticomedial group is in the part of the amygdala just below the striatum, as shown in Figure 1. It is difficult to establish clear cytoarchitectural definitions for these regions because there is no consistent nomenclature among research groups (McDonald, 1998; Campbell et al., 2006). The basolateral nucleus has spiny pyramidallike neurons and spine-sparse stellate cells, thus resembling the nearby entorhinal cortex. Neurons in the central nucleus (corticomedial) group resemble the mediumsized spiny neurons of the striatum, and oval cells make up the majority of the corticomedial nucleus (McDonald, 1998). In Figure 1, the basolateral region is defined as the subnuclei and labeled “ba” and “la,” and the corticomedial nuclei are labeled “me” and “co.” For SZ, functional imaging has demonstrated increased amygdala activity when subjects are shown both neutral and fearful faces (Gur et al., 2002). Meta-analysis
Targeting the inhibitor of ADAMTS13 in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

There has clearly been an evolution in the treatment of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) over the past several years based upon a better understanding of the pathophysiology of this disorder. An autoantibody inhibitor of the ADAMTS13 protease and the resulting severe deficiency of ADAMTS13 function seem to be significant risk factors for the development of TTP, a disease increasingly recognized as an autoimmune disorder. Immune-based therapy aimed at suppressing the inhibitor of ADAMTS13 has been applied to the treatment of patients with TTP who are refractory to the standard treatment of plasma exchange and to patients with multiple recurrences of TTP. More recently, immunosuppressive therapy has been used alone as prophylactic therapy to prevent recurrences of acute TTP. This review focuses on the recent developments in the use of rituximab and ciclosporin in the treatment of TTP.
Interactions Between Apparent Motion Rivalry in Vision and Touch

In multistable perception, the brain alternates between several perceptual explanations of ambiguous sensory signals. It is unknown whether multistable processes can interact across the senses. In the study reported here, we presented subjects with unisensory (visual or tactile), spatially congruent visuotactile, and spatially incongruent visuotactile apparent motion quartets. Congruent stimulation induced pronounced visuotactile interactions, as indicated by increased dominance times for both vision and touch, and an increased percentage bias for the percept already dominant under unisensory stimulation. Thus, the joint evidence from vision and touch stabilizes the more likely perceptual interpretation and thereby decelerates the rivalry dynamics. Yet the temporal dynamics depended also on subjects’ attentional focus and was generally slower for tactile than for visual reports. Our results support Bayesian approaches to perceptual inference, in which the probability of a perceptual interpretation is determined by combining visual, tactile, or visuotactile evidence with modality-specific priors that depend on subjects’ attentional focus. Critically, the specificity of visuotactile interactions for spatially congruent stimulation indicates multisensory rather than cognitive-bias mechanisms.
[Genital infections in women attending a Primary Unit of Health: prevalence and risk behaviors].

PURPOSE to describe the prevalence and behavioral profile of genital infections in women attended at a Primary Health Unit in Vitoria, ES. METHODS a transversal study including 14 to 49-year-old women attended by the Family Health Program (FHP). Exclusion criteria were: having been submitted to gynecological examination in less than one year before, and history of recent treatment (in the last three months) for genital infections. An interview including socio-demographic, clinical and behavioral data was applied. Genital specimens were collected for cytology, GRAM bacterioscopy and culture, and urine sample for molecular biological test for Chlamydia trachomatis. RESULTS two hundred and ninety-nine women took part in the study. The median age was 30.0 (interquartile interval: 24;38) years old; the average age of the first intercourse was 17.3 (sd=3.6) years old. The first pregnancy average age was 19.2 (3.9) years old. About 70% reported up to 8 years of schooling; 5% reported previous Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD), and 8%, the use of illicit drugs. Only 23.7% reported consistent use of condoms. Clinical complaints were: genital ulcer (3%); dysuria (7.7%); vaginal discharge (46.6%): pruritus (20%) and pelvic pain (18%). Prevalence rates were: Chlamydia trachomatis 7.4%; gonorrhea 2%; trichomoniasis 2%; bacterial vaginosis 21.3%; candidiasis 9.3%; and cytological changes suggestive of HPV 3.3%. In the final logistic regression model, the factors independently associated to genital infections were: abnormal cervical mucus, OR=9.7 (CI95%=5.6-13.7), previous HIV testing, OR=6.5 (CI95%=4.0-8.9), having more than one partner during the previous year, OR=3.9 (CI95%=2.7-5.0), and having more than one partner in life, OR=4.7 (CI95%=2.4-6.8). CONCLUSIONS results show a high rate of genital infections and the need of preventive measures, such as STD surveys and risk reduction programs for women that look for routine gynecological service.
[Comparison of pharmacological effects of Fructus Mume and its processed products].

OBJECTIVE To compare the pharmacological effects of Fructus Mume and its processed products, to investigate pharmacologic relation among Fructus Mume, malic acid, citric acid. METHODS Blood glucose from orbital sinus was measured to observe the effects of Fructus Mume, Fructus Mume sarcocarp and Fructus Mume carbon, malic acid, citric acid on blood glucose level of normal mice. The efficacy of drugs above on gastrointestinal motility was investigated through coated charcoal method in small intestinal propulsive motion in mice. Antimicrobial spectrum and minimal inhibitory concentrations for drugs were obtained by antimicrobial tests in vitro. RESULTS Fructus Mume, Fructus Mume sarcocarp, Fructus Mume carbon and malic acid could enhance intestinal propulsive motion and motility in percentage. Fructus Mume sarcocarp and Fructus Mume carbon, malic acid and citric acid could reduce the level of blood glucose in normal mice. Fructus Mume, Fructus Mume sarcocarp and Fructus Mume carbon, citric acid and malic acid showed an inhibitory effect on growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Monilia albican to a certain extent. CONCLUSION Pharmacological functions of Fructus Mume are not exactly the same with its products. Thus, in order to achieve safety during drug application, they should be administrated base on diagnosis. Because malic acid and citric acid in Fructus Mume show a correlation with its pharmacological actions, they can be used as parameters for quality control standard.
Are fluorescence-based chlorophyll quantification methods suitable for algae toxicity assessment of carbon nanomaterials?

Abstract Using a multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and graphene oxide (GO) as representative test materials, we evaluated the applicability of in vivo and in vitro chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) fluorescence quantification methods, which are used in standard algae ecotoxicity tests such as OECD 201 and ISO 8692. In vivo quantification of Chl-a from Raphidocelis subcapitata indicated a significant reduction in Chl-a fluorescence in the presence of MWCNTs due to shading, but a significant autofluorescence from GO caused an overestimation of Chl-a concentration. In vitro Chl-a quantification methods employing a modified acetone and an ethanol extraction protocol reduced the influence of shading and autofluorescence, but both resulted in a significant loss of fluorescence signal in the presence of 100 mgL−1 MWCNTs (99–100%) and GO (21–52%). Chl-a reduction was dose dependent for both tested carbon-based MNMs (CNMs), but effects were more pronounced for MWCNT, which caused a significant fluorescence reduction (16 ± 0.3%) already at 1 mgL−1. Further study of the CNM–algae–Chl-a interaction processes revealed that CNM can not only interact with live algae, but also efficiently adsorb extracted Chl-a. Our results showed that within 10 min, 95–100% of Chl-a extracted from two algae concentrations were adsorbed to MWCNT, while 35–60% of Chl-a was adsorbed to the GO. This study shows that Chl-a quantification by fluorescence determination is not a suitable method for ecotoxicity testing of CNM. However, a quick screening test for individual MNMs is recommended to determine whether Chl-a adsorption is a significant process prior to selection of a quantification method.
Early Events in Free Radical‐Mediated Damage of Isolated Nerve Terminals: Effects of Peroxides on Membrane Potential and Intracellular Na+ and Ca2+ Concentrations

Abstract: The effects of peroxides were investigated on the membrane potential, intracellular Na+ ([Na+]i) and intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) concentrations, and basal glutamate release of synaptosomes. Both H2O2 and the organic cumene hydroperoxide produced a slow and continuous depolarization, parallel to an increase of [Na+]i over an incubation period of 15 min. A steady rise of the [Ca2+]i due to peroxides was also observed that was external Ca2+ dependent and detected only at an inwardly directed Ca2+ gradient of the plasma membrane. These changes did not correlate with lipid peroxidation, which was elicited by cumene hydroperoxide but not by H2O2. Resting release of glutamate remained unchanged during the first 15 min of incubation in the presence of peroxides. These alterations may indicate early dysfunctions in the sequence of events occurring in the nerve terminals in response to oxidative stress.
A comparison of the clinical features and prognosis of pancreatic head cancer with that of other periampullary cancers.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Our purpose was to compare the clinical features and prognosis of pancreatic head cancer with that of other periampullary cancers. METHODOLOGY The medical records of 82 patients (mean age of 61.67±10.52 years) with ductal adenocarcinoma of the head of pancreas and 73 patients (mean age of 60.52±11.72 years) with other periampullary adenocarcinomas, all of whom had received radical surgery, were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS There were no significant differences in age and gender between the groups (both, p>0.05). However, there were significant differences in lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, clear surgical margins, tumor size, and neural invasion between the 2 groups (all p<0.05). Patients with pancreatic head adenocarcinoma had significantly higher red blood cell (RBC) count and hemoglobin (Hb), albumin and pre-albumin levels, and higher platelet and white blood cell (WBC) counts than the patients with other periampullary adenocarcinomas (all p<0.05). No differences in carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) or CA19-9 were noted between the groups. The 1-year survival rates were not different between the groups (p=0.299). CONCLUSIONS Pancreatic head carcinoma has different clinical manifestations and biological features than other periampullary cancers.
Effects of Adjustable Furniture on VDT Users

Telephone operators served as their own controls in two field studies of advanced furniture designed for video display terminal (VDT) workstations. The advanced furniture was characterized by dimensions that were easily adjusted by users, in contrast with conventional furniture that provided either no adjustments or inconvenient adjustments that could only be made with difficulty. An eight-week study focused on advanced VDT tables, and a fiveweek study focused on advanced chairs. Four combinations of advanced and conventional workstation components were compared. Although on-the-job discomfort was reduced when either conventional component was replaced with an advanced component, the effect was far greater when the advanced table and the advanced chair were used together. The adjustments of the advanced furniture were reported to be easy to use, and the advanced furniture was rated more highly than the conventional furniture.
Exploration of social science's compactness by cluster analysis

In this paper, we proposed to explore the compactness of social science by cluster analysis. In terms of the aggregated journal-journal citation reports of the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI), 1578 social science journals are clustered by an emerging hierarchical clustering method with single-link, complete-link and average-link as cluster-cluster similarities. The statistical properties of the clustering results, detailed comparisons of the clustering results and graph-theoretic interpretations show that social science has little interdisciplinary property, which demonstrates the intra-domain compactness of social science.
Protective effect of phytic acid on oxidative DNA damage with reference to cancer chemoprevention.

Phytic acid (myo-inositol hexaphosphate) is one of the most promising cancer chemopreventive agents. We investigated the mechanism by which phytic acid expresses preventive action to cancer. Phytic acid inhibited the formation of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine in cultured cells treated with an H2O2-generating system, although it did not scavenge H2O2. Site-specific DNA damage by H2O2 and Cu(II) at GG and GGG sequences was inhibited by phytic acid, but not by myo-inositol. Phytic acid alone did not cause DNA damage and thus, it should not act as a prooxidant. We conclude that phytic acid acts as an antioxidant to inhibit the generation of reactive oxygen species from H2O2 by chelating metals, resulting in chemoprevention of cancer.
Sarcomatoid carcinomas of the lung: a clinicopathologic review.

Sarcomatoid carcinomas (SC) of the lung are the most common pulmonary neoplasms that exhibit a composition by spindled or pleomorphic tumor cells. As such, many of them may be confused easily with true sarcomas diagnostically unless special immunohistological or ultrastructural analyses are performed. Reactivity is expected for keratin, epithelial membrane antigen, or collagen type IV in the sarcomalike elements in SC, although it may be focal. Electron microscopy often shows the presence of junctional complexes between tumor cells, with or without pericellular basal lamina and cytoplasmic skeins of intermediate filaments. Current terminological preferences are such that several formerly used terms--including "spindle-cell carcinoma," "pulmonary blastoma," "squamous cell carcinoma with pseudosarcomatous stroma," "pseudosarcoma," and "carcinosarcoma"--are now encompassed by the more generic designation of "sarcomatoid carcinoma. " The clinical course of patients with this neoplasm is aggressive, with an overall 5-year survival rate approximating 20%.
Partial Visibility for Virual Reality Applications

This paper presents new approximated visibility algorithms. The aim is to develop output sensitive algorithms for virtual environment walk-through applications. We aim to achieve efficient rendering of complex computer models containing partially occluded areas. Emphasis is paid to the rendering of natural environment models. The algorithms presented in this paper perform visibility calculations in a plane, these algorithms have a more general 3D analogy which has many practical applications within the field of virtual environments. The algorithms presented here have been used with minor extensions to be applied to 2.5D ground based virtual environment walk-throughs.
The relationship between chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and prolymphocytic leukaemia

The prognostic value of biological, clinical and laboratory features was analysed in a series of 265 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and prolymphocytic leukaemia (PLL). On univariate analysis seven features were shown to influence significantly the survival of the whole group of patients: absolute prolymphocyte count (ABS PROL), percentage of prolymphocytes (%PROL), WBC, spleen size, age, intensity of surface‐membrane immunoglobulin (SmIg) and mouse (M) rosettes. Multivariate regression analysis of these features showed that only ABS PROL and spleen size had independent prognostic significance. The survival in PLL (38 cases) was significantly shorter than in CLL (227 cases) (median survival=3 and 8 years, respectively). Patients with CLL with an increased %PROL (11–55%), defined as CLL/PL, could be divided into two groups: those with ABS PROL ≤ 15 × 109/1 (26 cases) fell within the ‘standard‐prognostic risk’ for typical CLL (i.e. ≤ 10% PROL), whereas the survival outlook for the cases with ABS PROL > 15 × 109/1 (40 cases) was as bad as for PLL. A scoring system was generated with the four features that showed high prognostic significance: ABS PROL, spleen size, SmIg and M‐rosettes. The score proved to be superior to any single feature as a predictor of survival, being especially useful in the analysis of the CLL/PL group: cases with high scores (>2) had a median survival of 2·5 years, while the median has not been reached for those with low scores (≤2). We suggest that this scoring system may help to identify the cases of CLL/PL that behave as PLL, and as such may benefit from different treatment.