Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical, imaging, and follow-up observations of patients with anti-GABAB receptor encephalitis

Purpose: Anti-gamma-aminobutyric acid B (anti-GABAB) receptor encephalitis is a newly described type of autoimmune encephalitis. We report a case series of patients diagnosed with anti-GABAB receptor encephalitis in China, focusing on their presentations, laboratory and imaging results, and outcomes, as well as the treatment strategies which were employed. Methods: Data from patients diagnosed with anti-GABAB receptor encephalitis in the Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, from January 2014 to June 2015 were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Based on specific diagnostic criteria, seven cases were included. Results: Six of the seven patients were males, and a median age at presentation of 56 years (range: 4–71 years). Seizures were the most common initial symptom, and all patients developed symptoms of typical limbic encephalitis during their disease course. Additional types of autoantibodies were identified in four patients. After presentation, three patients were found to have small cell lung cancer and one patient was eventually diagnosed with thymoma. All patients accepted first-line immune therapy, but only one chose tumor treatment. The three tumor-free patients had a good outcome, whereas those with tumors had a poor one. Finally, there were no relapses during follow-up. Conclusion: Anti-GABAB receptor encephalitis is a rare, unique autoimmune disease, and is often associated with tumors. It should be considered in the differential diagnosis for middle and senior-aged patients who present with predominantly limbic encephalitis symptoms. Importantly, earlier recognition of this potentially treatable condition could improve its overall prognosis.
Increases in Lumbosacral Injections in the Medicare Population: 1994 to 2001

Study Design. Anecdotal reports and limited data suggest that the use of spinal injections is increasing, despite equivocal evidence about efficacy. Objective. We sought to evaluate trends in lumbosacral injection use for low back pain, including the specialties providing the injections and the costs of care. Summary of Background Data. The current literature reports success rates of 18% to 90% for lumbosacral steroid injections, depending on methodology, outcome measures, patient selection, and technique. Preliminary data suggest that spinal injection rates are rising, despite ambiguity in the literature regarding their clinical effectiveness. Methods. We used Medicare Physician Part B claims for 1994 through 2001 to examine the use of epidural steroid injections (ESI), facet joint injections, sacroiliac joint injections, and related fluoroscopy. Fee-for-service Medicare enrollees 65 years of age and older were included in this study. We used Current Procedural Technology (CPT) codes to identify the number of procedures performed each year, as well as trends in expenditures, physician specialties involved, and diagnoses assigned. Results. Between 1994 and 2001, there was a 271% increase in lumbar ESIs, from 553 of 100,000 to 2055 of 100,000 patients, and a 231% increase in facet injections from 80 of 100,000 to 264 of 100,000 patients. The total inflation-adjusted reimbursed costs (professional fees only) for lumbosacral injections increased from $24 million to over $175 million. Also, costs per injection doubled, from $115 to $227 per injection. Forty percent of all ESIs were associated with diagnosis codes for sciatica, radiculopathy, or herniated disc, whereas axial low back pain diagnoses accounted for 36%, and spinal stenosis for 23%. Conclusion. Lumbosacral injections increased dramatically in the Medicare population from 1994 to 2001. Less than half were performed for sciatica or radiculopathy, where the greatest evidence of benefit is available. These findings suggest a lack of consensus regarding the indications for ESIs and are cause for concern given the large expenditures for these procedures.
Dendrite-Derived Supernumerary Axons on Adult Axotomized Motor Neurons Possess Proteins That Are Essential for the Initiation and Propagation of Action Potentials and Synaptic Vesicle Release

Axotomy can trigger profound alterations in the neuronal polarity of adult neurons in vivo. This can manifest itself in the development of new axon-like processes emanating from the tips of distal dendrites. Previously, these processes have been defined as axonal based on their axonal morphology. This study extends this definition to determine whether, more importantly, these processes possess the prerequisite molecular machinery to function as axons. Using a combination of intracellular labeling and immunohistochemistry, we demonstrate that the distribution of voltage-gated sodium channels on these processes matches the arrangement of these channels that is necessary for the initiation and conduction of action potentials. At terminal bouton-like structures they possess key proteins necessary for the release of synaptic vesicles (SV2 and synaptophysin). Thus, axon-like processes emanating from the tips of distal dendrites represent a rearrangement of neuronal polarity whereby axotomized neurons can develop additional functional axons in vivo.
An automatic method to generate ensemble averages of movement-related potentials for individuals with spinal cord injuries

Ensemble averaging of the electroencephalogram is known to be a good tool for characterizing various event related potentials. An important part of ensemble averaging is to know the time reference that the signals should be averaged. In able-bodied individuals the muscle activity or switch activation is used to time-lock the averages. In people with spinal cord injuries who lack the ability to produce muscle activity, the expected time of the attempted movement based on an external cue can be used. This time is not accurate and can result in poor ensemble averages. A method that automatically detects the onset of the movement related potentials and use this knowledge to time-lock the averages is introduced. This method is based on the estimation of the probability density distribution of the feature vectors related to spontaneous EEG. To estimate the probability density function Parzen's method is used which is known to be as the most accurate method when large population of data is available. Preliminary experiments demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method and show that the proposed method could generate ensemble averages closer to the averages with muscle activity knowledge than the method based on an external cue.
Morphogenesis of the Dentate Gyrus: What We Are Learning from Mouse Mutants

The dentate gyrus is one of two locations with continuing neurogenesis in adult mammals. While the function of adult neurogenesis is unknown, it is believed that it is involved in learning and memory. For adult neurogenesis to occur, the dentate gyrus must maintain the appropriate precursor cell niche in the subgranular zone, which is likely to be dependent on the developmental mechanisms at play in forming the dentate gyrus. In this review, we graft a molecular framework onto the known neuroanatomic developmental plan by considering the phenotypes of several mouse mutants that have well characterized dentate gyrus developmental abnormalities. This effort reveals that there are at least six distinct developmental steps that need to occur in the formation of the dentate gyrus, which can be associated with specific gene defects: (1) defining the dentate neuroepithelium; (2) forming the primary radial glial scaffolding; (3) radial migration of granule neurons to form the primordial granule cell layer; (4) establishing the precursor pool in the hilus; (5) radial transformation of the tertiary matrix, and (6) differentiation of dentate granule cells. From this analysis, it is clear that some molecular pathways control multiple steps in the development of the dentate gyrus. For example the Wnt pathway (steps 1, 2, 4) and the chemokine receptor CXCR4 (steps 3, 4) are involved in multiple developmental steps, while the neuronal differentiation gene NeuroD (step 6) and the integrin signaling pathway (step 5) are involved only in discrete stages of the dentate gyrus morphogenesis.
Cognitive Outcome After Mild and Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury in Older Adults

This paper presents findings on the cognitive outcome of older adults sustaining mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). Results indicate that mild TBI patients who are 50 years or older, unlike those with moderate TBI, exhibit cognitive functioning that is comparable to noninjured controls by 1-2-months postinjury. However, these patients continue to report significant anxiety, depression, and somatic preoccupation despite their improvement on objective neuropsychological measures. The lowest postresuscitation Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score and the presence of intracranial pathology are more strongly associated with outcome than the durations of posttraumatic amnesia and impaired consciousness, possibly reflecting measurement issues in older persons who are likely to be injured in low velocity falls and to suffer delayed complications. A classification system that considers not only the GCS score but also the presence of intracranial pathology is sensitive to differences in the outcome of older adults, similar to the findings in young patients. The implications of these findings for older TBI patients and directions for research are discussed.
Arterial Inflammation Detected With 18F‐Fluorodeoxyglucose–Positron Emission Tomography in Rheumatoid Arthritis

In addition to traditional risk factors, excess cardiovascular disease (CVD) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is attributed to enhanced vascular and/or systemic inflammation. In several small studies using 18F‐fluorodeoxyglucose–positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F‐FDG–PET/CT) to directly assess vascular inflammation, FDG uptake was higher in RA patients than in controls. Using a substantially larger sample of RA patients, we sought to identify RA disease characteristics independently associated with vascular FDG uptake.
The Politics of Mathematics: Just and Knowing Societies

<p><em>Educational leaders and researchers recognize that mathematics can be an effective tool in enabling substantial advances in many fields of science and technology. However,</em><em> </em><em>the role that mathematics can play in shaping and creating socio-political views of societies</em><em> </em><em>is not as well understood. </em><em> </em><em>Within the mathematics’ learning community there is little discussion connecting the unique role that mathematics can play in conceptualizing a democratic society even within the democratic societies where that learning happens. </em><em> </em><em>Building capacity for learning in context is a critical piece of any comprehensive program but it is sometimes difficult for leaders to agree on what that context should and does look like. </em><em> </em><em>There are multitudes of influences at play when educational systems create and enact curricula but in order to push through the stalemate that can exist with different ideologies, it is essential to understand that mathematics</em><em> </em><em>can be a conduit to</em><em> </em><em>improvements in</em><em> </em><em>political social justice as well as a gateway to developments in science and technology. Mathematics has the potential to be a tool to create, as well as an instrument of influence; the key is for leaders to understand how to do both. </em></p>
Using local expert knowledge to measure prices: Evidence from a survey experiment in Vietnam

Many countries lack spatially disaggregated consumer price data. Yet these data are needed to estimate real inequality and spatial patterns of poverty, especially for poor countries where weak infrastructure and high transport costs create big price variation over space. We experimented in Vietnam with a new way of obtaining disaggregated price data, using local expert knowledge to derive the mean and variance for prices of 64 consumer items in over 1000 communities. We used photographs of the specified items to ensure comparability of the reported prices. These prices are used to calculate regional cost-of-living indexes, which provide a good approximation to benchmark multilateral price indexes that are calculated from data obtained from traditional market price surveys. In comparison, two widely used no-price methods, based on using food Engel curves to derive deflators and based on using unit values (survey group expenditures over group quantity) are very poor proxy indicators of prices and of the cost-of-living and would distort estimates of real inequality and the spatial pattern of poverty. Prices from local expert informants also exhibit a basic spatial feature of prices – the Alchian-Allen effect or ‘shipping the good apples out’ – in much the same way as do prices from the traditional survey approach. This effect is one reason why unit values are a bad proxy for prices and this effect should become more important as food systems commercialize. Using expert knowledge to measure local prices is a low-cost and feasible approach that could be adopted more widely in developing countries.
Ionotropic glutamate receptors in isolated horizontal cells of the rabbit retina

With the use of the whole‐cell voltage‐clamp technique, we have recorded the currents induced by ionotropic glutamate receptor agonists on isolated axonless horizontal cells (HC) of rabbit retina. Bath application of the non‐N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate receptor agonists: kainate (KA), α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) and l‐glutamate (GLU) produced an increase in the conductance for non‐selective cations. All the isolated horizontal cells responded to GLU, AMPA and KA. Responses elicited by GLU and AMPA but not KA exhibited a concentration‐dependent desensitization. Application of N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) evoked no responses. The rank order affinities of the agonists as estimated from EC50 values were AMPA > GLU > KA. Whereas KA had the lowest affinity of the agonists tested, it produced the largest currents. Hill coefficients of the concentration–response data were near 1 for AMPA, and 2 for KA and GLU. Coapplication of AMPA with cyclothiazide (CTZ) blocks AMPA receptor desensitization, and enhanced its effects on conductance. However, CTZ did not change the KA ‐induced conductances. In all cells tested, 6,7‐dinitroquinoxaline (DNQX) completely and reversibly blocked the effects of KA and AMPA. The KA‐ and AMPA‐induced currents were also completely blocked by 1‐(4‐aminophenyl)‐4‐methyl‐7,8‐methylenedioxy‐5H‐2,3‐benzodiazepine (GYKI 52466), a selective AMPA receptor antagonist. These results indicate that the responses to glutamate agonists in HC were mediated almost exclusively by AMPA receptors. Our study indicates that AMPA receptors play a fundamental role in mediating the synaptic input into rabbit horizontal cells.
Cycles of Credit Expansion and Misallocation: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

We offer a tractable dynamic theory where excessive credit creation by the frictional banking sector may lead to over-investment and then endogenous boom-bust cycles. We formalize the idea in a general equilibrium framework with banks and financially constrained heterogeneous firms. In the static model, a moderate credit expansion has a nonmonotonic positive impact on aggregate output, but an excessive credit expansion can trigger an interbank market crisis and result in a discontinuous sharp fall in aggregate output. By extending to a dynamic setting, we show that this mechanism can generate endogenous boom-bust business cycles despite the absence of adverse shocks.
Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus: a multicentre study.

PURPOSE Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important nosocomial pathogen. We report the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of MRSA in major southern districts of Tamilnadu. METHODS A total of 7172 clinical specimens and 1725 carrier screening samples were collected from different centers and subjected to MRSA screening using conventional microbiological methods. Subsequently the antibiotic sensitivity test was performed for the confirmed MRSA isolates. RESULTS Out of 906 strains of S. aureus isolated from clinical and carrier samples, 250 (31.1%) and 39 (37.9%) were found to be methicillin resistant respectively. Almost all clinical MRSA strains (99.6%) were resistant to penicillin, 93.6% to ampicillin, and 63.2% towards gentamicin, co-trimoxazole, cephalexin, erythromycin, and cephotaxime. All MRSA strains (100%) of carrier screening samples had resistance to penicillin and about 71.8% and 35.9% were resistant to ampicillin and co-trimoxazole respectively. Multidrug resistance was observed among 63.6% of clinical and 23% of carrier MRSA isolates. However, all strains of clinical and carrier subjects were sensitive to vancomycin. CONCLUSION The determination of prevalence and antibiotic sensitivity pattern of MRSA will help the treating clinicians for first line treatment in referral hospitals.
Serum CA19–9 Alterations During Preoperative Gemcitabine-Based Chemoradiation Therapy for Resectable Invasive Ductal Carcinoma of the Pancreas as an Indicator for Therapeutic Selection and Survival

Objective:To evaluate serum CA19–9 alterations during preoperative gemcitabine-based chemoradiation therapy (CRT) for resectable pancreatic cancer (PC) in the earlier identification of patients who are likely to benefit from subsequent resection. Summary Background Data:One of the advantages of the preoperative CRT strategy for patients with advanced PC is that undetectable systemic disease may be revealed during preoperative CRT, thus avoiding unnecessary surgery. Serum CA19–9 has been evaluated as a predictive indicator of the treatment efficacy and outcome in various clinical settings. Methods:We retrospectively reviewed 64 consecutive patients with resectable PC (at diagnosis) who received preoperative CRT at our hospital between 2002 and 2008. Patients were divided into 2 groups (efficacy grouping) to evaluate the efficacy of preoperative CRT according to the clinical course. Group A included patients who were unable to receive the subsequent resection due to the development of unresectable factors during preoperative CRT and those who received the subsequent resection but developed recurrent disease within 6 months after surgery; group B included patients who received the subsequent resection and survived without recurrences for more than 6 months after surgery. We developed a new classification utilizing pretreatment CA19–9 and proportional alteration of CA19–9 2 months after the initiation of treatment. The categories were defined as: I (increased), MD (modestly decreased), and SD (substantially decreased). Clinicopathological variables and CA19–9 alteration status were correlated with the efficacy grouping and overall survival. Results:All of the category I patients were included in group A, 93.5% of the category SD patients in group B, and approximately half of the category MD patients in group A. CA19–9 alteration status was a single independent variable associated with efficacy grouping and overall patient survival, with the 1-year survival rate of category I patients, and the 4-year survival rate of category MD and SD patients being 22.2%, 34.1%, and 58.9%, respectively. Conclusions:CA19–9 alteration status is useful in identifying those who will benefit from the preoperative CRT and subsequent resection and those who will not; it was a significant predictor for patient prognosis in the setting of the preoperative CRT strategy for resectable PC.
Group V Phospholipase A2-dependent Induction of Cyclooxygenase-2 in Macrophages*

When exposed for prolonged periods of time (up to 20 h) to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) murine P388D1 macrophages exhibit a delayed prostaglandin biosynthetic response that is entirely mediated by cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). Both the constitutive Group IV cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) and the inducible Group V secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) are involved in the cyclooxygenase-2-dependent generation of prostaglandins in response to LPS. Using the selective sPLA2 inhibitor 3-(3-acetamide-1-benzyl-2-ethylindolyl-5-oxy)propane sulfonic acid (LY311727) and an antisense oligonucleotide specific for Group V sPLA2, we found that induction of COX-2 expression is strikingly dependent on Group V sPLA2, which was further confirmed by experiments in which exogenous Group V sPLA2was added to the cells. Exogenous Group V sPLA2 was able to induce significant arachidonate mobilization on its own and to induce expression of the COX-2. None of these effects was observed if inactive Group V sPLA2 was utilized, implying that enzyme activity is crucial for these effects to take place. Therefore, not only delayed prostaglandin production but also COX-2 gene induction are dependent on a catalytically active Group V sPLA2. COX-2 expression was also found to be blunted by the Group IV cPLA2 inhibitor methyl arachidonyl fluorophosphonate, which we have previously found to block Group V sPLA2 induction as well. Collectively, the results support a model whereby Group IV cPLA2 activation regulates the expression of Group V sPLA2, which in turn is responsible for delayed prostaglandin production by regulating COX-2 expression.
Grouped linear constellation-precoding for subcarrier index modulation OFDM

Subcarrier index modulation (SIM) is an interesting transmission technique that has been considered to improve the spectral efficiency and/or the error performance of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The subcarriers are split into groups, and within each group part of the information is carried by an index associated with a selection of active subcarriers. Other techniques such as grouped linear constellation-precoding (GLCP) have also been applied. With GLCP, a diversity gain as large as the group size (in number of complex subcarriers) can be expected. In this paper, we propose to combine SIM and GLCP in a same scheme (GLCP-SIM), as an alternative to the well-known SIM with complex symbol interleaving (ISIM). Moreover, interleaving at real dimensions level and constellation rotations are also incorporated into the proposed scheme, potentially doubling the diversity gain. The good performance and the diversity gains are shown both through computer simulations and analysis.
Integrating Wi-Fi and magnetic field for fingerprinting based indoor positioning system

Smartphone based personal tracking is very important for people to find their destination in large complex buildings (e.g. shopping malls, airports and museums). Such applications are highly demanded in both industries and research organizations. One critical issue for these applications is lack of mature technologies for highly accurate indoor location tracking. In this paper, a new Wi-Fi and magnetic field based smartphone tracking system, named WMLoc, was introduced. The system is a part of a collaborative project between the RMIT University and a famous Australian software company. A number of tracking algorithms such as K nearest neighbor (KNN), artificial neural network (ANN) and back tracing (BT) have been developed or adopted for the system in order to obtain a real-time precise location of the smartphone user. The integration of Wi-Fi and magnetic field includes physical floor analysis, label pattern creation using ANN and BT for enhancing the tracking reliability and improving positioning accuracy. The WMLoc system was tested in two buildings at the RMIT University, Australia. The preliminary results showed that the average root-mean-square (RMS) error of the WMLoc system was less than 2.6 m.