Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bone augmentation at peri‐implant dehiscence defects comparing a synthetic polyethylene glycol hydrogel matrix vs. standard guided bone regeneration techniques

OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to test whether or not the use of a polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogel with or without the addition of an arginylglycylaspartic acid (RGD) sequence applied as a matrix in combination with hydroxyapatite/tricalciumphosphate (HA/TCP) results in similar peri-implant bone regeneration as traditional guided bone regeneration procedures. MATERIAL AND METHODS In 12 beagle dogs, implant placement and peri-implant bone regeneration were performed 2 months after tooth extraction in the maxilla. Two standardized box-shaped defects were bilaterally created, and dental implants were placed in the center of the defects with a dehiscence of 4 mm. Four treatment modalities were randomly applied: i)HA/TCP mixed with a synthetic PEG hydrogel, ii)HA/TCP mixed with a synthetic PEG hydrogel supplemented with an RGD sequence, iii)HA/TCP covered with a native collagen membrane (CM), iv)and no bone augmentation (empty). After a healing period of 8 or 16 weeks, micro-CT and histological analyses were performed. RESULTS Histomorphometric analysis revealed a greater relative augmented area for groups with bone augmentation (43.3%-53.9% at 8 weeks, 31.2%-42.8% at 16 weeks) compared to empty controls (22.9% at 8 weeks, 1.1% at 16 weeks). The median amount of newly formed bone was greatest in group CM at both time-points. Regarding the first bone-to-implant contact, CM was statistically significantly superior to all other groups at 8 weeks. CONCLUSIONS Bone can partially be regenerated at peri-implant buccal dehiscence defects using traditional guided bone regeneration techniques. The use of a PEG hydrogel applied as a matrix mixed with a synthetic bone substitute material might lack a sufficient stability over time for this kind of defect.
Relationship of transfusion and infectious complications after gastric carcinoma operations

To determine the effect of transfusion on the incidence of postoperative infection, a retrospective cohort study of 196 patients who underwent surgery for gastric carcinoma in the period from 1985 through 1989 was carried out. Seventy‐one patients (36.2%) developed postoperative septic complications; they had received an average of 4.2 blood units, as compared with 2.7 units received by patients not affected (p < 0.0053). The hypothesis of dose‐response relationship is supported by the Mantel‐Haenszel test, as applied to the overall results (p < 0.01) and the results grouped by duration of operation (p < 0.02). Furthermore, logistic regression analysis shows transfusion to be an independent risk factor in the incidence of infection (p < 0.01), as are antibiotic prophylaxis (p < 0.015), urinary tract catheterization (p < 0.002), and the duration of surgery (p < 0.027). This significance is attained after adjustment for age, gender, period of evolution of symptoms; preoperative infection(s), number of white cells, hemoglobin level and total proteins on diagnosis, location of tumor, tumor, nodes, and metastasis staging, operative technique, drainage of the area of operation, enteral nutrition, and the histologic studies and macroscopic appearance of the tumor. This study is further evidence that transfusion may cause an increased incidence of postoperative infection.
Diagnosis of Renovascular Disease by Extra- and Intrarenal Doppler Parameters

It is still a matter of debate as to which parameters should be used for noninvasive diagnosis of renovascular disease by renal Doppler sonography (RDS). The accuracy of RDS in the detection of renal artery stenosis (RAS) was tested in 95 consecutive, moderate to severe hypertensive patients (I-II World Health Organization [WHO] stages). Reno-aortic ratio (RAR) for peak systolic velocity (PSV) was also calculated to assist in the diagnosis of significant (>50%) RAS. Paired receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was plotted for evaluating the relationship between sensitivity and specificity for each parameter. In a subset of 57 kidneys, the influence of blood pressure and age on intraparenchymal parameters was evaluated. Measurements of maximal peak systolic velocity (PSV) at the site of stenosis, RAR for PSV, and minimum acceleration index in the main renal artery showed high accuracy (areas under the ROC curve 0.97, 0.88, and 0.80, respectively). Among intraparenchymal parameters, early systolic accel eration showed the best area under the ROC curve (0.90), but provided a low positive predictive value (29%) and was significantly influenced by blood pressure (multiple r=0.56; p=0.001). Pulsatility and resistive indices were found to be less powerful as absolute values, and both significantly influenced by blood pressure and age (multiple r= 0.60 and 0.50; p=0.001, p=0.02, respectively). However, interindividual variance of intrarenal indices should be minimized by calculation of side difference, although this procedure would become misleading or impossible in patients with bilateral RAS or a single kidney, respectively. These results support the use of extraparenchymal parameters for noninvasive detection of RAS, and emphasize that intrarenal parameters cannot be considered as absolute values.
OFF‐cholinergic‐pathway‐selective localization of P2X2 purinoceptors in the mouse retina

It is known that, in the retina, extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) inhibits acetylcholine (ACh) release from cholinergic neurons, but the types of purinoceptors on cholinergic neurons have not been examined. In the present work, we immunohistochemically examined the distribution of the purinoceptors P2X1, P2X2, P2X4, and P2X7 in relation to the cholinergic system of the retina in wild‐type mice and transgenic mice expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP). Immunoreactivity for P2X2 was very strong in sublamina a of the inner plexiform layer but very weak in sublamina b of the inner plexiform layer of the retina. Immunoreactivity for P2X2 was colocalized with that for choline acetyltransferase (ChAT). When transgenic mice were treated with the immunotoxin‐mediated cell‐targeting technology to ablate cholinergic amacrine cells selectively, immunoreactivity for P2X2 and the signals for GFP disappeared in parallel and selectively in the OFF pathway. The distribution of immunoreactivity for P2X1, P2X4, and P2X7 differed from that of ChAT immunoreactivity. The selective distribution of P2X2 purinergic receptors in OFF‐type cholinergic amacrine cells indicates that the P2X2 purinergic signaling systems in the ON and OFF pathways of the inner plexiform layer of the mouse retina are functionally different. The distribution of P2X2 purinoceptors may be responsible for the selective regulation of ACh release in the OFF pathway. J. Comp. Neurol. 476:103–111, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Enhanced Immunogenicity of a Tricomponent Mannan Tetanus Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine Targeted to Dendritic Cells via Dectin-1 by Incorporating β-Glucan

In a previous attempt to generate a protective vaccine against Candida albicans, a β-mannan tetanus toxoid conjugate showed poor immunogenicity in mice. To improve the specific activation toward the fungal pathogen, we aimed to target Dectin-1, a pattern-recognition receptor expressed on monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Laminarin, a β-glucan ligand of Dectin-1, was incorporated into the original β-mannan tetanus toxoid conjugate providing a tricomponent conjugate vaccine. A macrophage cell line expressing Dectin-1 was employed to show binding and activation of Dectin-1 signal transduction pathway by the β-glucan–containing vaccine. Ligand binding to Dectin-1 resulted in the following: 1) activation of Src family kinases and Syk revealed by their recruitment and phosphorylation in the vicinity of bound conjugate and 2) translocation of NF-κB to the nucleus. Treatment of immature bone marrow–derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) with tricomponent or control vaccine confirmed that the β-glucan–containing vaccine exerted its enhanced activity by virtue of dendritic cell targeting and uptake. Immature primary cells stimulated by the tricomponent vaccine, but not the β-mannan tetanus toxoid vaccine, showed activation of BMDCs. Moreover, treated BMDCs secreted increased levels of several cytokines, including TGF-β and IL-6, which are known activators of Th17 cells. Immunization of mice with the novel type of vaccine resulted in improved immune response manifested by high titers of Ab recognizing C. albicans β-mannan Ag. Vaccine containing laminarin also affected distribution of IgG subclasses, showing that vaccine targeting to Dectin-1 receptor can benefit from augmentation and immunomodulation of the immune response.
Sequencing to NRTI plus NNRTI-Only Combinations After Virological Failure of Protease Inhibitor-Based Combination HIV-1 Therapy

Abstract Purpose: To examine the success of sequencing to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) plus nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-only combinations after virological failure of protease inhibitor (PI)-based combinations in NNRTI-naïve individuals. Method: This was an observational cohort study. Results: 171 patients were identified. The group was highly antiretroviral therapy-experienced with median cumulative NRTI and PI durations prior to change of 53 months and 21 months, respectively. The median CD4 count and viral load (VL) prior to change were 228 cells/mm3 and 24,500 copies/mL. Overall, 37.4% had a VL below the limit of detection (50 copies/mL) at 12 months (intention-to-treat analysis). Markers associated with success at 12 months were efavirenz (EFV) use, the use of three NRTI+NNRTI combinations, and abacavir (ABC) use. In multivariate analysis, use of EFV remained highly significant (relative hazard of virological success of nevirapine [NVP] vs. EFV = 0.39; p = .003), while ABC use became nonsignificant. A benefit from the use of three NRTI + NNRTI regimens was observed. Conclusion: NRTI plus NNRTI-only combinations performed poorly, however the superior outcomes of patients treated with EFV are consistent with findings in cohort studies. The suggestion of benefit in patients receiving three NRTIs in addition to either NVP or EFV deserves further study in randomized trials.
48-Mode Reconfigurable Design of SDF FFT Hardware Architecture Using Radix-32 and Radix-23 Design Approaches

In this paper, we propose a reconfigurable (RC) fast Fourier transform (FFT) design in a systematic design scheme. The RC design bricks are mainly proposed to arbitrarily concatenate to support FFT-point required. Meanwhile, we show three developed design techniques, including six-type RC processing element, systematic first-in first-out reuse arrangement, and section-based twiddle factor generator to elaborate our FFT design. In a design/implementation example, it can support up to 2187 FFT-point manipulation and 48 RC modes. It also supports 32 operating modes defined in 3GPP-LTE standard. In application-specified integrated circuit implementation with TSMC 90-nm CMOS technology, our design work occupies a core area of 1.664 mm2 and consumes 35.2 mW under maximal clock frequency of 188.67 MHz. This paper also has outstanding design performance in terms of speed-area ratio and power-frequency ratio for comparison reference.
What Men and Women Really Want: Differences in Gender-Based Evaluations of Service Recovery Efforts

ABSTRACT This article presents a model of the effects of perceived justice dimensions (distributive, procedural, and interactional) on consumer attitude (satisfaction and trust) and behavioral intention (extra-role behaviors and repurchase intention). Additionally, gender is considered as a moderating variable in the proposed model. A survey was carried out among undergraduate students in a large university in Taiwan. Findings indicate that perceived justice influences satisfaction and trust, which then mediates customer extra-role behaviors and repurchase intention. Concerning the moderator, gender, men and women pay attention to distributive justice differently.
Teaching Delivery of Bad News Using Experiential Sessions With Standardized Patients

Background: Delivering bad news is a difficult task that is important to address in medical education. Purpose: This study evaluated the impact of an experiential educational intervention using multiple standardized patient scenarios on medical students' comfort with delivering difficult news. Methods: In small groups, 3rd-year medical students practiced communicating bad news within the context of five different patient scenarios. During 1999 and 2000, surveys were administered to 341 students before and 4 weeks and 1 year after the program. Students rated comfort level in discussing bad news, terminal illness, hospice, and dying with patients. Results: A significant one standard deviation change was observed in students' self-reported comfort in communicating bad news after the educational program. The intervention was highly rated, especially the encounters with standardized patients and observation of others. Conclusions: Experiential education using multiple standardized patient scenarios is a successful model for increasing student comfort in responding to difficult clinical communication tasks
Specific viral oncogenes cause differential effects on cell‐to‐cell communication, relevant to the suppression of the transformed phenotype by normal cells

We have studied growth regulation in mixed cultures of normal and oncogene‐transformed 3T3 cells. The NIH 3T3 cells transformed by myc, src, and ras showed comparable cloning efficiency in semisolid medium. However, when they were plated on plastic with an excess of normal mouse embryo fibroblasts, BALB/c 3T3 CIA31–1–1, ras‐ and src‐transformed cells were able to form distinct foci on the layer of density‐arrested normal cells, whereas myc‐transformed cells lacked this ability. In order to determine whether suppression or expression of the transformed phenotype could be correlated with the ability of the different cell populations to communicate, gap‐junctional intercellular communication (IC) was measured by the Lucifer yellow dye transfer assay in coculture of normal and transformed cells. The dye was observed to spread from BALB/c 3T3 to myc‐NIH 3T3 cells, indicating the presence of IC between these two cell types. In contrast no passage of Lucifer yellow was observed between src‐NIH 3T3 or ras‐NIH 3T3 and BALB/c 3T3. Addition of a phorbol ester tumor promoter, phorbol‐12,13‐didecanoate, efficiently rescued proliferation and focus formation by myc‐transformed cells. The tumor promoter was able to inhibit IC in BALB/c 3T3 cells, although this response greatly varied among the different oncogene transformed clones. Tumorigenicity in nude mice strongly correlated with growth behavior in vitro: myc‐transformed cells were either nontumorigenic or slowly tumorigenic, and src‐ and ras‐transformed cells were highly tumorigenic. These data suggest an important role of IC in modulating abnormal growth behavior in vitro and in vivo.
Atrial Fibrillation and Cognition: Epidemiological Data and Possible Mechanisms

Dementia is one of the most disabling conditions in older people. Incidence of dementia steeply increases with age, doubling approximately every 5 years, and ranging from 4.0 per 1000 person-years in the group aged 65 to 69 years to 33.5 per 1000 person-years in the group aged 80 to 84 years.1 The most frequent type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease (AD), followed by vascular dementia, a category encompassing different subtypes among which cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) and multi-infarct dementia are the most common.2 In both AD and vascular dementia, vascular risk factors play an important role, suggesting a possible favorable effect of treatment on the onset and progression of cognitive decline. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a supraventricular tachyarrhythmia characterized by uncoordinated atrial activation and ineffective atrial contraction and may be detected on ECG when distinct P waves are absent, and R–R intervals and atrial activity are irregular.3 AF is the most common arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice, and, similarly to dementia, its prevalence increases with age. Approximately 1% of AF patients are 7 days). 3 Interest has emerged concerning the possible role of AF in relation to cognitive decline and dementia. More than 40 years ago, the term cardiogenic dementia had been introduced in support of a possible link between cardiac arrhythmias and cognitive impairment in elderly subjects.4 Only recently the relation between AF and cognitive impairment has become the object of investigations, reviews, and meta-analyses.5–11 …
A Bifurcation approach for Attritional and Large Losses in Chain Ladder Calculations

We introduce a stochastic model for the development of attritional and large claims in long-tail lines of business and present a corresponding â€œchain ladder-likeâ€ IBNR method which allows the use of claims payment data for attritional and claims incurred data for large losses. We derive formulas for the mean squared error of prediction and apply the method to a German motor third party liability portfolio.
Some Empirical Evidence on the Variables Associated with the Ranking of Economics Journals

signed to determine the ranking of economics journals; various criteria have been employed such as journal familiarity and peer evaluation [8], citation frequency [1; 3; 14], institutional affiliation of contributors [10], and a composite index [9]. In a recent study, Eagly pointed out that the specific weights economists assign to each component of a particular index are "unfortunately unspecified" [7, 885]. To provide evidence on these components he presented simple correlation coefficients between the relative frequencies with which each journal cited other journals and the Hawkins-Ritter-Walter (H-R-W) index. In addition, to determine which subject areas were most heavily weighted by the HR-W index, he calculated simple correlation coefficients between this index and a "traf-
Visual Recalibration of Auditory Speech Identification

The kinds of aftereffects, indicative of cross-modal recalibration, that are observed after exposure to spatially incongruent inputs from different sensory modalities have not been demonstrated so far for identity incongruence. We show that exposure to incongruent audiovisual speech (producing the well-known McGurk effect) can recalibrate auditory speech identification. In Experiment 1, exposure to an ambiguous sound intermediate between /aba/ and /ada/ dubbed onto a video of a face articulating either /aba/ or /ada/ increased the proportion of /aba/ or /ada/ responses, respectively, during subsequent sound identification trials. Experiment 2 demonstrated the same recalibration effect or the opposite one, fewer /aba/ or /ada/ responses, revealing selective speech adaptation, depending on whether the ambiguous sound or a congruent nonambiguous one was used during exposure. In separate forced-choice identification trials, bimodal stimulus pairs producing these contrasting effects were identically categorized, which makes a role of postperceptual factors in the generation of the effects unlikely.
The functioning of the yeast Golgi apparatus requires an ER protein encoded by ANP1, a member of a new family of genes affecting the secretory pathway.

Mnt1p is an alpha 1.2‐mannosyltransferase which resides in an early compartment of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Golgi apparatus. We have shown that the signal‐anchor region is sufficient, and the transmembrane domain necessary, for its normal Golgi localization. This is similar to the transmembrane domain‐mediated retention of mammalian glycosyltransferases, and distinct from the tail‐mediated recycling retention of certain mammalian and yeast trans‐Golgi proteins. To examine the mechanism involved in transmembrane domain‐mediated retention, we have isolated six classes of mutants which fail to retain Mnt1p‐reporter fusions in the early Golgi. These mutants all show additional phenotypes which are consistent with alterations in Golgi function. We have called the mutant classes ‘gem’, for Golgi enzyme maintenance. GEM3 is identical to the previously cloned gene ANP1, and homologous to VAN1 and MNN9. Together, these define a new class of proteins involved in the organization and functioning of the secretory pathway. Interestingly, Anp1p is localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), implying that some function of the ER is required to maintain a functional Golgi apparatus.
Purification of CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid synthetase from bovine anterior pituitary glands.

CMP-beta-N-acetylneuraminic acid (CMP-neuNAc) is the substrate for the sialylation of glycoconjugates by sialyltransferases in microbes and higher eukaryotes. CMP-neuNAc synthetase catalyzes the formation of this substrate, CMP-neuNAc, from CTP and neuNAc. In this report we describe the purification of CMP-neuNAc synthetase from bovine anterior pituitary glands. The enzyme was purified by ion exchange, gel filtration, and affinity chromatography. The protein was homogeneous on SDS-PAGE with a molecular weight of 52 kDa, a subunit size similar to that of the E.coli K1 (48.6 kDa). The identity of the 52 kDa protein band was confirmed by native gel electrophoresis in that the position of the enzyme activity in gel slices coincided with the position of major bands in the stained gel. Photoaffinity labeling with 125I-ASA-CDP ethanolamine resulted in the modification of a 52 kDa polypeptide that was partially protected against modification by the substrate CTP. Enzyme activity in crude fractions could be adsorbed onto an immunoadsorbent prepared from antibody against the purified 52 kDa protein. Taken together these data suggest that the 52 kDa polypeptide purified by this procedure described in this report is indeed CMP-neuNAc synthetase. The active enzyme chromatographed on a gel filtration column at 158 kDa suggesting it exists in its native form as an oligomer.
Influence of impulse pattern on noradrenaline release from sympathetic nerves in cerebral and some peripheral vessels.

Earlier findings suggested that the physiological firing rate in sympathetic nerves did not exceed 10 Hz. Later recordings have revealed that this is a net value: impulses are usually not continuous but occur in bursts of high frequencies separated by quiet periods. The effects of continuous and burst-like neurogenic activation in various isolated blood vessels were compared. In the first part of the study changes in vascular tone were registered. Electrical field stimulatory parameters were chosen to give tetrodotoxin-blockable, neurogenic responses. From dose-response experiments in rat caudal artery a net frequency of 6 Hz was chosen, for bursts usually designed as 30 Hz during 0.2 s followed by a quiet period of 0.8 s. In the rabbit ear artery the neurogenic contraction was enhanced by a mean of near 50% during stimulation with bursts. Now appeared a minor phentolamine-resistant portion, which was not due to release of NPY, 5-HT, histamine or ATP. Also in the rat caudal artery and monkey pial artery a significant enhancement of contraction was seen during burst simulation, whereas in the rabbit facial vein no significant difference in dilatation through beta-receptor activation was obtained. In vessels that do not normally respond with purely neurogenic contractions/dilatations during continuous stimulation, like pial arteries from the rat and rabbit, not even bursts revealed a neurogenic response. In a second series of experiments the influence of continuous and burst-like nerve activation on the release of [14C]noradrenaline was studied in monkey, rabbit and rat pial arteries, rat caudal artery and rabbit central ear artery and facial vein. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)