Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hepatitis C seropositivity and kidney function decline among women with HIV: data from the Women's Interagency HIV Study.

BACKGROUND How coinfection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) impacts on the trajectory of kidney function in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients is unclear. This study examined the effect of HCV infection on kidney function over time in women infected with HIV. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective observational cohort. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS Study sample included participants from the Women's Interagency HIV Study who were HIV infected and had undergone HCV antibody testing and serum creatinine measurement at baseline. PREDICTOR HCV seropositivity. OUTCOMES & MEASUREMENT Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) calculated from semi-annual serum creatinine measurements using the 4-variable Modification of Diet in Renal Diseases (MDRD) Study equation. Linear mixed models were used to evaluate the independent effect of HCV seropositivity on eGFR over time, adjusting for demographic factors, comorbid conditions, illicit drug use, measures of HIV disease status, use of medications, and interactions with baseline low eGFR (<60 mL/min/1.73 m(2)). RESULTS Of 2,684 HIV-infected women, 952 (35%) were found to be HCV seropositive. In 180 women with chronic kidney disease (CKD) at baseline (eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2)), HCV seropositivity was independently associated with a fully adjusted net decrease in eGFR of approximately 5% per year (95% confidence interval, 3.2 to 7.2) relative to women who were seronegative. In contrast, HCV infection was not independently associated with a decrease in eGFR in women without low eGFR at baseline (P < 0.001 for interaction). LIMITATIONS The MDRD Study equation has not been validated as a measure of GFR in persons with HIV or HCV infection. Proteinuria was not included in the study analysis. Because the study is observational, effects of residual confounding cannot be excluded. CONCLUSIONS In HIV-infected women with CKD, coinfection with HCV is associated with a modest, but statistically significant, decrease in eGFR over time. More careful monitoring of kidney function may be warranted for HIV-infected patients with CKD who are also coinfected with HCV.
AN EXPLANATION FOR COPE'S RULE

Cope's Rule is the name customarily applied to the widespread tendency of animal groups to evolve toward larger physical size. According to Kurten (1953), this paleontologic rule of evolution "is second in repute only to 'Dollo's Law' of . irreversibility. " Although the rule was never concisely formulated by Cope, it is generally implicit in his writings (Cope, 1887, 1896). Like many other evolutionary generalizations extracted from the fossil record, Cope's Rule was derived primarily from study of mammalian phylogeny. Writers like Deperet (1909), Newell (1949), and Rensch (1959) have added diverse examples of evolutionary size increase to the mammalian trends discussed by Cope. Because numerous exceptions are known, recognition of the concept as a law has been rejected by most workers. Still, it has been widely upheld as a valid empirical generalization, and of the definitions for "rule" listed by Webster, "a generally prevailing condition," describes it accurately. Most modern interpreters of Cope's Rule have attributed its validity solely to certain fundamental advantages of size increase, at least one of which is alleged to have operated within most evolutionary lineages (Newell, 1949, p. 122-123; Kurten, 1953, p. 105; Simpson, 1953, p. 151; Rensch, 1959, p. 210-211; Gould, 1966b, p. 1138). Most of the proposed advantages of evolutionary size increase have been reviewed by Newell (1949), Kurten (1953), Rensch (1959), and Gould (1966a). Among the more salient are: improved ability to capture prey or ward off predators, greater reproductive success, increased intelligence (with increased brain size), better stamina, expanded size range of acceptable food, decreased annual mortality, extended individual longevity, and increased heat retention per unit volume. Certainly when evolutionary size increase occurs, it is in response to selection pressure resulting from one or more advantages. As Bonner (1968) pointed out, however, a net trend toward increased size within a higher taxon usually produces an increase in mean and maximum animal size, but not necessarily in minimum animal size. Selection pressure favoring size decrease is not rare but only less common than pressure favoring size increase. Reliance solely on inherent advantages of larger size to explain the high incidence of size increase suffers from deficiencies resembling some of those attached to the discarded concept of orthogenesis. The "inherent advantage" idea attempts only to account for directional evolution, without reference to limits. Clearly when size increase occurs in a
Use of Molecular and Reference Susceptibility Testing Methods in a Multicenter Evaluation of MicroScan Dried Overnight Gram-Positive MIC Panels for Detection of Vancomycin and High-Level Aminoglycoside Resistances in Enterococci

ABSTRACT Modified MicroScan gram-positive MIC no. 8 panels (PM-8) were analyzed for their improved ability to detect vancomycin resistance (VR) and high-level aminoglycoside resistance (HLAR) in enterococci. A validation study design that utilized selected challenge strains, recent clinical isolates, and reproducibility experiments in a multicenter format was selected. Three independent medical centers compared the commercial panels to reference broth microdilution panels (RBM) and Synergy Quad Agar (QA). Resistance was verified by demonstration of VR and HLAR genes by PCR tests. The study was conducted in three phases. (i) In the challenge phase (CP), two well-characterized sets of enterococci were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; one set contained 50 isolates for VR testing and one contained 48 isolates for HLAR testing. In addition, a set of 47 well-characterized isolates representing diverse geographic areas, obtained from earlier national surveillance studies, was tested at the University of Iowa College of Medicine (UICM). (ii) In the efficacy phase (EP), each laboratory tested 50 recent, unique clinical isolates by all methods. (iii) In the reproducibility Phase (RP), each laboratory tested the same 10 strains by all methods in triplicate on three separate days. All isolates from the EP were sent to the UICM for molecular characterization of vanA, -B, -C1, -C2–3, and HLAR genes. In the CP, the ranking of test methods by error rates (in parentheses; very major and major errors combined, versus PCR results) were as follows: for high-level streptomycin resistance (HLSR), QA (12.0%) > PM-8 (5.2%) > RBM (1.6%); for high-level gentamicin resistance (HLGR), RBM (3.7%) > PM-8 (3.1%) > QA (2.6%); and for VR, RBM = QA (3.0%) > PM-8 (1.2%). In the EP, agreement between all methods and the reference PCR result was 98.0% for HLSR, 99.3% for HLGR, and 98.6% for VR. In the RP, the percentages of results ± 1 log2 dilution of the all-participant mode were as follows: for VR, 100% (PM-8), 98.9% (QA), and 90.0% (RBM); for HLSR, 99.6% (RBM), 98.5% (PM-8), and 82.2% (QA); and for HLGR, 99.6% (RBM), 99.3% (PM-8), and 98.1% (QA). The ability of the PM-8 to detect VR and HLAR in enterococci was comparable to those for reference susceptibility and molecular PCR methods and was considered acceptable for routine clinical laboratory use.
First U.S. Near-Total Human Face Transplantation: A Paradigm Shift for Massive Complex Injuries

Background: Severe complex facial injuries are difficult to reconstruct and require multiple surgical procedures. The potential of performing complex craniofacial reconstruction in one surgical procedure is appealing, and composite face allograft transplantation may be considered an alternative option. The authors describe establishment of the Cleveland Clinic face transplantation program that led them to perform the first U.S. near-total face transplantation. Methods: In November of 2004, the authors received the world's first institutional review board approval to perform a face transplant in humans. In December of 2008, after a 22-hour operation, the authors performed the first near-total face transplantation in the United States, replacing 80 percent of the patient's traumatic facial deficit with a composite allograft from a brain-dead donor. This largest, and most complex, face allograft in the world included over 535 cm2 of facial skin; functional units of full nose with nasal lining and bony skeleton; lower eyelids and upper lip; underlying muscles and bones, including orbital floor, zygoma, maxilla, alveolus with teeth, hard palate, and parotid glands; and pertinent nerves, arteries, and veins. Immunosuppressive treatment consisted of thymoglobulin, tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, and prednisone. Results: The patient tolerated the procedure and immunosuppression well. At day 47 after transplantation, routine biopsy showed rejection of the graft mucosa without clinical evidence of skin or graft rejection. The patient's physical and psychological recovery went well. The functional outcome has been excellent, including optimal return of breathing through the nose, smelling, tasting, speaking, drinking from a cup, and eating solid foods. Conclusion: The functional outcome thus far at 8 months is rewarding and confirms the feasibility of performing complex reconstruction of severely disfigured patients in a single surgical procedure of facial allotransplantation.
Structure of the Nucleoprotein Binding Domain of Mokola Virus Phosphoprotein

ABSTRACT Mokola virus (MOKV) is a nonsegmented, negative-sense RNA virus that belongs to the Lyssavirus genus and Rhabdoviridae family. MOKV phosphoprotein P is an essential component of the replication and transcription complex and acts as a cofactor for the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. P recruits the viral polymerase to the nucleoprotein-bound viral RNA (N-RNA) via an interaction between its C-terminal domain and the N-RNA complex. Here we present a structure for this domain of MOKV P, obtained by expression of full-length P in Escherichia coli, which was subsequently truncated during crystallization. The structure has a high degree of homology with P of rabies virus, another member of Lyssavirus genus, and to a lesser degree with P of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), a member of the related Vesiculovirus genus. In addition, analysis of the crystal packing of this domain reveals a potential binding site for the nucleoprotein N. Using both site-directed mutagenesis and yeast two-hybrid experiments to measure P-N interaction, we have determined the relative roles of key amino acids involved in this interaction to map the region of P that binds N. This analysis also reveals a structural relationship between the N-RNA binding domain of the P proteins of the Rhabdoviridae and the Paramyxoviridae.
Nonlinearity and Flight-to-Safety in the Risk-Return Tradeoff for Stocks and Bonds

We document a highly significant, strongly nonlinear dependence of stock and bond returns on past equity market volatility as measured by the VIX. We propose a new estimator for the shape of the nonlinear forecasting relationship that exploits additional variation in the cross-section of returns. The nonlinearities are mirror images for stocks and bonds, revealing flight-to-safety: expected returns increase for stocks when volatility increases from moderate to high levels while they decline for Treasuries. These findings provide support for dynamic asset pricing theories where the price of risk is a nonlinear function of market volatility.
Space vector modulation applied to three-phase three-switch two-level unidirectional PWM rectifier

This work presents a methodology to apply space vector modulation to three-phase three-switch two-level Y-connected unidirectional PWM rectifier. Converter switching stages are analyzed to determine switches control signals for space vector modulation. A switching sequence is proposed to minimize the number of switches commutations. Rectifier models and vector control structure are also described. In order to validate the proposed modulation, experimental results are presented for a 20 kW prototype
Developmentally regulated alternative splicing is perturbed in type 1 diabetic skeletal muscle

Type 1 diabetic patients can develop skeletal muscle weakness and atrophy by molecular mechanisms that are not well understood. Alternative splicing (AS) is critical for gene expression in the skeletal muscle, and its dysregulation is implicated in muscle weakness and atrophy. Therefore, we investigated whether AS patterns are affected in type 1 diabetic skeletal muscle contributing to skeletal muscle defects.
The Relationship Between Health Risks and Work Productivity

We sought to provide evidence for the relationship between health risks and self-reported productivity, including health-related absence and impaired performance on the job. A cross-sectional analysis was implemented consisting of 2264 employees of a large national employer located in the Northeast. Participants responded to a health risk assessment and work productivity scale. Mean productivity loss was compared for individuals with different levels of risk factors using analysis of variance. Multivariate analyses, including logistic and linear regression, were used to determine the significance of health risks on productivity loss. Participants with more risk factors reported greater productivity loss (P < 0.001). The odds of any productivity loss were most significant for individuals with diabetes (absenteeism) and stress (presenteeism). In conclusion, higher risks are strongly associated with greater productivity loss, and different risks are associated with absenteeism than with presenteeism.
Working memory‐related changes in functional connectivity persist beyond task disengagement

We examined whether altered connectivity in functional networks during working memory performance persists following conclusion of that performance, into a subsequent resting state. We conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 50 young adults during an initial resting state, followed by an N‐back working memory task and a subsequent resting state, in order to examine changes in functional connectivity within and between the default‐mode network (DMN) and the task‐positive network (TPN) across the three states. We found that alterations in connectivity observed during the N‐back task persisted into the subsequent resting state within the TPN and between the DMN and TPN, but not within the DMN. Further, both speed of working memory performance and TPN connectivity strength during the N‐back task predicted connectivity strength in the subsequent resting state. Finally, DMN connectivity measured before and during the N‐back task predicted individual differences in self‐reported inattentiveness, but this association was not found during the post‐task resting state. Together, these findings have important implications for models of how the brain recovers following effortful cognition, as well as for experimental designs using resting and task scans. Hum Brain Mapp 35:1004–1017, 2014. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
SCHOOL COUNSELOR’S PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

School counselor is an inseparable component of education in school (Lunenburg, 2010; ASCA, 2015; Omoniyi & Iyabo, 2016). School counselor's guidance and counseling service should be comprehensive for all students. In carrying out their duty, counselors need to possess adequate psychological well-being (Meyer & Ponston, 2006; Merryman, Martin, & Martin, 2015; Ismail, Jamaludin, & Sumari, 2017; Thomas & Morris, 2017). This phenomenological study was aimed at obtaining an in-depth understanding of the school counselor's psychological well-being from their perspective. The subjects of the study were selected through purposive sampling. Five school counselors in state senior high schools in Central Java Province, Indonesia, were selected as the subjects of the study since they met the criteria determined by the study. The data were collected through in-depth interviews, and by the subjects' narration. This study found that: a) six dimensions of psychological well-being were identified although there were different levels for each subject, b) for the subjects of the study, psychological well-being supports their role and function as a counselor. A counselor with high psychological well-being is capable of balancing their condition both as a counselor and as an individual. As a result, working stress can be minimized, c) the supporting factors of school counselor's psychological well-being entail positive self-concept, religiosity, mindfulness, goal-setting, and social support, d) attempts in enhancing counselor's psychological well-being were accomplished by developing and optimizing the available supporting factors. It is recommended that a quantitative study should be conducted in the future by covering a larger sample in the same situations. Hence, it is expected that there will be a confirmation or possibility of generalization on the conclusion of the present study. It is suggested to manage the counselor candidate’s through education and training that concerns with the development of supporting factors of psychological well-being. Article visualizations:
Pediatricians and Personal Digital Assistants: What type are they using?

Increasing attention is being focused on the potential benefits of personal digital assistants (PDA) in medical practice. Although some work has been done to investigate their use, it is still unclear what types of PDAs are being used by pediatricians, and if they are using different types in different ways. Our goals were to determine: (1) which kinds of PDAs were being used by pediatricians; (2) if the personal or professional characteristics of pediatricians differ by type of PDA they are using; (3) if the types of applications they employ differ by the type of PDAs they are using. We randomly selected 2130 pediatricians from the AMA masterfile of United States licensed physicians and surveyed them. Of those respondents that reported using a PDA, 89.7% use a Palm OS based system, 8.9% use a Pocket PC based system, and 1.4% used neither. Residents were significantly more likely to use a Palm OS based PDA than non residents (OR 6.32, 95%CI 1.41-27.53). There were significant associations between the PDA platform being used and types of applications being run on them. More than one third of pediatricians are using PDAs in clinical practice. Palm OS based systems are much more prevalent in clinical practice, and the choice of newer pediatricians.
A Global Manufacturing Big Data Ecosystem for Fault Detection in Predictive Maintenance

Artificial intelligence, big data, machine learning, cloud computing, and Internet of Things (IoT) are terms which have driven the fourth industrial revolution. The digital revolution has transformed the manufacturing industry into smart manufacturing through the development of intelligent systems. In this paper, a big data ecosystem is presented for the implementation of fault detection and diagnosis in predictive maintenance with real industrial big data gathered directly from large-scale global manufacturing plants, aiming to provide a complete architecture which could be used in industrial IoT-based smart manufacturing in an industrial 4.0 system. The proposed architecture overcomes multiple challenges including big data ingestion, integration, transformation, storage, analytics, and visualization in a real-time environment using various technologies such as the data lake, NoSQL database, Apache Spark, Apache Drill, Apache Hive, OPC Collector, and other techniques. Transformation protocols, authentication, and data encryption methods are also utilized to address data and network security issues. A MapReduce-based distributed PCA model is designed for fault detection and diagnosis. In a large-scale manufacturing system, not all kinds of failure data are accessible, and the absence of labels precludes all the supervised methods in the predictive phase. Furthermore, the proposed framework takes advantage of some of the characteristics of PCA such as its ease of implementation on Spark, its simple algorithmic structure, and its real-time processing ability. All these elements are essential for smart manufacturing in the evolution to Industry 4.0. The proposed detection system has been implemented into the real-time industrial production system in a cooperated company, running for several years, and the results successfully provide an alarm warning several days before the fault happens. A test case involving several outages in 2014 is reported and analyzed in detail during the experiment section.
Lack of Immunohistological Changes in the Islets of Nondiabetic, Autoimmune, Polyendocrine Patients With β-Selective GAD-Specific Islet Cell Antibodies

We examined the pancreases from three nondiabetic, autoimmune, polyendocrine patients with islet cell antibodies (ICAs) and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibodies who died without developing insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). All three patients had the β-selective GAD-specific ICA subtype and antibodies to the GAD-derived 50 kD tryptic fragment. None had whole islet ICA or antibodies to the non-GAD-derived 37k islet antigen, which appear to be more closely associated with IDDM than antibodies to GAD. The three patients also were negative for insulin autoantibodies. Islets within pancreas from patients 1 and 2 appeared well preserved as assessed by hematoxylin and eosin staining. In these two patients, insulin content, as assessed by indirect immunofluorescence on cryostat sections, was normal. Patient 3 had a prolonged postmortem time, and the islet insulin content was reduced slightly. In all three pancreases, no evidence was found of increased human leukocyte antigen class I or de novo class II molecule expression on islet cells, and islet infiltration by T- or B-cells or macrophages was not detected. Islet capillary endothelial cells did not show signs of hypertrophy. No immunoglobulin or complement deposition within or around islets was found. These data indicate that humoral GAD autoimmunity does not necessarily associate with visible β-cell damage.
Interleukin‐1 receptors on rat brain endothelial cells: a role in neuroimmune interaction?

Inflammation following an infection induces a range of nonspecific symptoms of sickness in animals and humane. The cytokine interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) mediates many of the brain‐mediated symptoms of sickness. Binding sites for IL‐1 have been found in mouse brain, but not in the brains of rats. This raises questions as to the involvement of these neuronally localized IL‐1 binding sites in the induction of sickness symptoms. Based on observations of IL‐1 receptor mRNA in close vicinity to the vasculature in the mouse and rat brain, we studied the possibility that endothelial cells in the rat brain exhibit IL‐1 receptors to transduce information to the brain. Ligand binding studies reveal that cultured endothelial cells of adult rat brain exhibit specific binding sites for rat IL‐ 1β. Polymerase chain reaction experiments demonstrated that mRNA of the type I but not that of the type II IL‐1 receptor is present in rat brain endothelial cells. Incubation of these endothelial cells with recombinant rat IL‐1β showed a dose‐dependent increase in interleukin‐6, prostaglandin E2, and prostacyclin secretion. Intravenous administration of rat IL‐1β to adult rats enhanced prostaglandin E2 immunoreactivity in en‐dothelial cells of the brain microvasculature. These results indicate that functional type I IL‐1 receptors are present on endothelial cells of adult rat brain. We postulate that circulating IL‐1 can be translated by brain endothelial cells into other signals such as interleukin‐6 or prostaglandins that have access to the brain and induce sickness symptoms. —Van Dam, A. ‐M. , de Vries, H. E. , Kuiper, J., Zijlstra, F. J., de Boer, A. G. , Tilders, F. J. H. , Berkenbosch, F. Interleukui‐1 receptors on rat brain endothelial cells: a role in neuroimmune interaction? FASEB J. 10, 351‐356 (1996)