Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mucosal genome‐wide methylation changes in inflammatory bowel disease

Background: DNA methylation constitutes a key epigenetic mechanism by which cells regulate gene transcription. Among its roles are the dynamic regulation of gene expression, for example, as part of an evolving immune response, and cell differentiation in specialized tissues. Here our aim was to study the impact of differences in methylation patterns in the intestine with regard to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) susceptibility and activity. Methods: Having extracted DNA from rectal biopsies, we conducted genome‐wide methylation profiling using the HumanMethylation27 BeadChip microarray to identify genes showing evidence of differential methylation between cases of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease and healthy controls. Selected methylation signals were validated in an independent replication panel by pyrosequencing. Correlation with gene expression was sought by quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR). Results: Multiple genes showed significant evidence of differential methylation, several appearing in both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease comparisons including THRAP2, FANCC, GBGT1, DOK2, TNFSF4, TNFSF12, and FUT7. Many more than expected by chance overlapped with genes previously implicated as playing a role in IBD susceptibility in genome‐wide association scans, including CARD9, ICAM3, and IL8RB (P < 0.001). Correlation between methylation and gene expression was identified for selected transcripts. Conclusions: Consistent differences in DNA methylation between IBD cases and controls at regulatory sites within these genes suggest that their altered transcription contributes to IBD pathogenesis. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2012;)
Study of Effect of Magnesium Sulphate in Management of Acute Organophosphorous Pesticide Poisoning

Background: Organophosphorus compound poisoning (OPCP) is a major public health problem in developing countries like India. Atropine and oximes remain the main-stay of management. Magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) has shown benefit in the management of OPCP. Aims: This study was designed to assess the effect of MgSO4on outcome in OPCP patients admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Settings and Design: Double-blind prospective randomized clinical trial in an ICU of tertiary care institution. Methods: One hundred patients (50 in each group) of OPCP, confirmed by history and syndrome of OPCP with low plasma pseudocholinesterase, aged between 18 and 60 years were studied. Magnesium group (Group M) received 4 g of 20% MgSO4infusion over 30 min at admission to ICU, control group (Group C) received normal saline placebo in the same manner. Patients were assessed for the need for intubation, requirement of atropine, duration of mechanical ventilation, duration of ICU stay, and its effect on mortality. Statistical Analysis: Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test for categorical data, independent sample t-test, and paired t-test for nominal data. Results: Demographics and basal serum magnesium levels were comparable. Atropine requirement was higher in Group C (74.82 ± 22.39 mg) compared to Group M (53.11 ± 45.83 mg) (P < 0.001). A total of 33 patients in Group C and 23 patients in Group M required intubation, respectively (P = 0.043). The mean duration of mechanical ventilation was 4.51 ± 2 days in Group C compared to 4.13 ± 1.6 days in Group M (P = 0.45). ICU stay was 5.36 ± 2.018 days in Group C compared to 4.54 ± 1.581 days in Group M (P = 0.026). There was no significant difference in mortality between the groups. Conclusion: Four grams of MgSO4given to OPCP patients within 24 h of admission to ICU, decreases atropine requirement, need for intubation, and ICU stay.
Homocysteine and B vitamins in mild cognitive impairment and dementia

Abstract Elderly subjects with mild cognitive impairment have a high risk for conversion to Alzheimer's disease or are already in a preclinical dementia stage. By cross-sectionally comparing subjects in prodromal and early phases of dementia with non-demented controls, we tested the hypothesis whether low serum vitamin B12 and folate and high plasma total homocysteine concentrations precede or are a consequence of dementia onset. From a large population of 623 consecutive subjects seen at the Memory Clinic (Ospedale Beata Vergine, Mendrisio, Switzerland), 433 subjects could be included in the analyses: 79 elderly controls, 218 Clinical Dementia Rating 0.5 subjects, and 136 demented patients (111 with Alzheimer's disease and 25 with vascular dementia). As in an earlier report on a smaller sample of the same population (n=228), the lowest folate tertile was strongly associated with mild cognitive impairment (adjusted OR=3.1) and Alzheimer's disease (adjusted OR=4.0). Hyperhomocysteinemia showed a significant association not only with Alzheimer's disease (adjusted OR=3.1) but, at variance with the previous report, also with mild cognitive impairment (adjusted OR=2.6). Present reanalysis results suggest that subclinical folate deficiency and hyperhomocysteinemia might predate dementia onset, findings to be confirmed by longitudinal studies.
Life, death and membrane bilayers

SUMMARY Membrane bilayers are essential elements of life, and the synthesis of the hydrocarbons that make up membrane bilayers may have preceded the appearance of life on Earth. Membrane-associated processes are significant components of metabolism, and the acyl composition of membrane bilayers is associated with metabolic activity in a predictable manner. This has resulted in the `membrane pacemaker' theory of metabolism, which proposes that the relative balance between monounsaturated and long-chain polyunsaturated acyl chains in membrane bilayers is a fundamental determinant of metabolic rate of a species. The omega-3 polyunsaturated docosahexaenoate is an especially important component of membranes in this regard. Whilst it is suggested that the physical properties of membrane polyunsaturates are important with respect to their influence on metabolic rate, it is their chemistry that is important in aging. Membrane acyl composition is related to maximum lifespan in mammals and birds, probably via their role in lipid peroxidation. Calorie restriction modifies acyl composition of membrane bilayers and is associated with decreased membrane lipid peroxidation and lifespan extension. The membrane pacemaker theory of metabolism has given birth to the membrane pacemaker hypothesis of aging, which will require further investigation.
Epichloë spp. associated with grasses: new insights on life cycles, dissemination and evolution

Epichloë species with their asexual states are specialized fungi associated with cool-season grasses. They grow endophytically in tissues of aerial parts of host plants to form systemic and mostly asymptomatic associations. Their life cycles may involve vertical transmission through host seeds and/or horizontal transmission from one plant to other plants of the same species through fungal propagules. Vertical transmission has been well studied, but comparatively little research has been done on horizontal dissemination. The goal of this review is to provide new insights on modes of dissemination of systemic grass endophytes. The review addresses recent progress in research on (i) the process of growth of Epichloë endophytes in the host plant tissues, (ii) the types and development of reproductive structures of the endophyte, (iii) the role of the reproductive structures in endophyte dissemination and host plant infection processes and (iv) some ecological and evolutionary implications of their modes of dissemination. Research in the Epichloë grass endophytes has accelerated in the past 25 y and has demonstrated the enormous complexity in endophyte-grass symbioses. There still remain large gaps in our understanding of the role and functions of these fungi in agricultural systems and understanding the functions, ecology and evolution of these endophytes in natural grass populations.
Hybrid Robust Boundary and Fuzzy Control for Disturbance Attenuation of Nonlinear Coupled ODE-Beam Systems With Application to a Flexible Spacecraft

This paper introduces a hybrid robust boundary and fuzzy control design for disturbance attenuation of a class of coupled systems described by nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and two nonlinear beam equations. Initially, a Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) model is employed to exactly represent the nonlinear ODE subsystem. Then, a fuzzy controller is designed for the ODE subsystem based on the T–S fuzzy model, and a robust boundary controller via beam boundary measurements is proposed for the nonlinear beam subsystem. Such a hybrid robust boundary and fuzzy controller is developed in terms of a set of space-dependent bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs) by Lyapunov's direct method, which can exponentially stabilize the coupled system in the absence of disturbances and achieve an prescribed <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$H_{\infty }$</tex-math></inline-formula> performance of disturbance attenuation in the presence of disturbances. Furthermore, in order to make the level of disturbance attenuation as small as possible, a suboptimal <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$H_{\infty }$</tex-math> </inline-formula> control problem is formulated as a BMI optimization problem. A two-step procedure is subsequently presented to solve this BMI optimization problem by the existing linear matrix inequality optimization techniques. Finally, the proposed control method is applied to the control of a flexible spacecraft to illustrate its effectiveness.
ABSENCE OF DETECTABLE SALMONELLA CLOACAL SHEDDING IN FREE-LIVING REPTILES ON ADMISSION TO THE WILDLIFE CENTER OF VIRGINIA

Abstract Salmonellosis is an important reptile-associated zoonotic infection in the United States. Cloacal swabs were collected from reptiles admitted to the Wildlife Center of Virginia, Waynesboro, Virginia, cultured for Salmonella using Hektoen and xylose lysine deoxycholate agars, and inoculated in selenite broth. All three were incubated at 37°C for 18–24 hr. Seventy-five animals were included in the study, representing eight species, 34 eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina), 14 eastern painted turtles (Chrysemys picta picta), 14 snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina), 6 black rat snakes (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta), 2 redbelly turtles (Pseudemys rubriventris), 2 yellowbelly sliders (Trachemys scripta scripta), 2 eastern garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis), and 1 eastern river cooter (Pseudemys concinna concinna). All cultures were negative for Salmonella spp. , which is in contrast to the high prevalence of Salmonella cloacal shedding reported in captive reptiles but similar to previous reports in free-living North American reptiles. We recommend, nonetheless, practicing proper hygiene methods when handling and housing all reptiles.
Maternal indicators and obstetric outcome in the north Indian population: a hospital-based study.

BACKGROUND Understanding the effect of maternal parameters on obstetric outcome has public health importance because these indicators are associated with infant health and survival and influence development and health in later life. AIM To determine the effects of various maternal indicators on pregnancy outcome in north-Indian women. SETTINGS AND DESIGN A prospective study of all consecutive women with singleton pregnancy, who were registered in the first two months of pregnancy and delivered in the hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS Maternal indicators such as age, height, prepregnancy weight, body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin and parity were correlated with pregnancy outcome. The women with a medical disorder or complication that developed during the course of pregnancy were excluded. RESULTS A total of 2027 women were analyzed. Maternal height, weight, BMI and parity had a positive significant correlation with birth weight of the newborn (r=0.081, P value < 0.001, r=0.148, P value <0.001, r = 0.121, P value < 0.001 and r = 0.099, P value < 0.001, respectively). Maternal height, weight and period of gestation were significant indicators for low birth weight on multivariate logistic regression. The rate of preterm delivery was significantly higher in women with hemoglobin < 7 g% and women with parity >3. The chances of caesarian section increased significantly with increase in maternal height, weight and BMI. CONCLUSIONS A prepregnancy weight of more than 40 kg, BMI of more than 19.8 and hemoglobin of at least 7 g% or more favor good obstetric outcome.
Selective impairment in visual perception of biological motion in obsessive‐compulsive disorder

Obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with a variety of well‐documented cognitive deficits such as deficits in memory and executive functioning, but little is known about basic perceptual concomitants of OCD. This study investigated global, configural processing in OCD using dynamic (moving) and static stimuli with minimal demands on cognitive function. Twenty OCD patients and 16 age‐ and education‐matched healthy control subjects were tested on four perceptual tasks: two motion tasks involved detection and discrimination of human activity portrayed by point‐light animations (“biological” motion). The other two tasks involved detection of coherent, translational motion defined by random‐dot cinematograms and detection of static global shape defined by spatially distributed contours. OCD patients exhibited impaired performance on biological motion tasks; in contrast, their performance on tasks of coherent motion detection and global form perception were comparable to those of healthy controls. These results indicate that OCD patients have a specific deficit in perceiving biological motion signals, whereas their perception of non‐biological coherent motion and static global shape is intact. Because efficient social interactions depend on accurate and rapid perception of subtle socially relevant cues, deficits in biological motion perception may compromise social functioning in people with OCD. Depression and Anxiety 0:1–11, 2007. Published 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Dielectric barrier discharge cascaded with red mud waste to enhance NOx removal from diesel engine exhaust

Red mud is a waste by-product generated during the processing of bauxite, the most common ore of aluminium. With the presence of ferric oxide, high surface area, resistance to poisoning and low cost, red mud made itself a good alternative to the existing commercial automobile catalyst. The cascading of dielectric barrier discharge plasma with red mud improved the NOX removal from diesel engine exhaust significantly. The DeNOX efficiency with discharge plasma was 74% and that with red mud was 31%. The efficiency increased to 92% when plasma was cascaded with red mud catalyst operating at a temperature of 400°C. The NOX removal was dominated by NO2 removal. The studies were conducted at different temperatures and the results were discussed.
Mapping of mutations contributing to the temperature sensitivity of the Sabin 1 vaccine strain of poliovirus

The temperature-sensitive and attenuated phenotypes of the Sabin type 1 vaccine strain of poliovirus result from numerous point mutations which occurred in the virulent Mahoney virus parent. One of these mutations is located in a 3D polymerase (3Dpol) codon (U-6203-->C, Tyr-73-->His) and is involved in attenuation in common mice (M. Tardy-Panit, B. Blondel, A. Martin, F. Tekaia, F. Horaud, and F. Delpeyroux, J. Virol. 67:4630-4638, 1993). This mutation also appears to contribute to temperature sensitivity, in association with at least 1 other of the 10 mutations of the 3'-terminal part of the genome including the 3Dpol coding and 3' noncoding regions. To map the other mutation(s), we constructed poliovirus mutants by mutagenesis and recombination of Mahoney and Sabin 1 cDNAs. Characterization of these poliovirus mutants showed that a second mutation in a 3Dpol codon (C-7071-->U, Thr-362-->Ile) contributes to temperature sensitivity. A mutation in the 3' noncoding region of the genome (A-7441-->G), alone or linked to another mutation (U-7410-->C), also appeared to be involved in this phenotype. The temperature-sensitive effect associated with the 3'-terminal part of the Sabin 1 genome results from the cumulative and/or synergistic effects of at least three genetic determinants, i.e., the His-73 and Ile-362 codons of 3Dpol and nucleotide G-7441. Sequence analysis of strains isolated from patients with vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis showed that these genetic determinants are selected against in vivo, although the Ile-362 codon appeared to be more stable than either the His-73 codon or G-7441. These genetic determinants may contribute to the safety of Sabin 1 in vaccines.
Identification of Genes That Contribute to the Pathogenesis of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease by In Vivo Transcriptomic Analysis

ABSTRACT Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) continues to be responsible for a high level of global morbidity and mortality resulting from pneumonia, bacteremia, meningitis, and otitis media. Here we have used a novel technique involving niche-specific, genome-wide in vivo transcriptomic analyses to identify genes upregulated in distinct niches during pathogenesis after intranasal infection of mice with serotype 4 or 6A pneumococci. The analyses yielded 28 common, significantly upregulated genes in the lungs relative to those in the nasopharynx and 25 significantly upregulated genes in the blood relative to those in the lungs in both strains, some of which were previously unrecognized. The role of five upregulated genes from either the lungs or the blood in pneumococcal pathogenesis and virulence was then evaluated by targeted mutagenesis. One of the mutants (ΔmalX) was significantly attenuated for virulence in the lungs, two (ΔaliA and ΔilvH) were significantly attenuated for virulence in the blood relative to the wild type, and two others (ΔcbiO and ΔpiuA) were completely avirulent in a mouse intranasal challenge model. We also show that the products of aliA, malX, and piuA are promising candidates for incorporation into multicomponent protein-based pneumococcal vaccines currently under development. Importantly, we suggest that this new approach is a viable complement to existing strategies for the discovery of genes critical to the distinct stages of invasive pneumococcal disease and potentially has broad application for novel protein antigen discovery in other pathogens such as S. pyogenes, Haemophilus influenzae type b, and Neisseria meningitidis.
Comparison of postoperative pain after ovariohysterectomy by harmonic scalpel-assisted laparoscopy compared with median celiotomy and ligation in dogs.

OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of postoperative pain after ovariohysterectomy by harmonic scalpel-assisted laparoscopy (HALO) and traditional ovariohysterectomy (OVH) in dogs. STUDY DESIGN A randomized, blinded, prospective study. SAMPLE POPULATION Sixteen, purpose-bred, intact female, Beagle dogs. METHODS Dogs were divided into 2 groups: Group 1 (8 dogs), which had OVH by HALO, and Group 2 (8 dogs), which had traditional OVH. Physiologic data, abdominal nociceptive threshold scores, and University of Melbourne pain scores (UMPS) were recorded at 2, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours after surgery. Blood samples for measurement of plasma cortisol, glucose, and creatine phosphokinase (CPK) concentrations were collected at the time of the incision, and 2, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours after surgery. RESULTS No significant surgical complications occurred. The HALO mean surgical time was significantly longer (55.7 minutes) than traditional OVH (31.7 minutes). No significant differences were observed between groups for the pain measures of heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, CPK, and glucose concentrations. The OVH group had significantly higher mean plasma cortisol levels at hour 2 after surgery than the HALO group (P=.0001). The mean UMPS were significantly higher in OVH than the HALO group at all postoperative times (P=.0001). The mean nociceptive threshold measurements revealed significantly higher tolerated palpation pressures in HALO than OVH at all postoperative times, except hour 72 (P=.0002). CONCLUSIONS Dogs appeared to be in less pain with HALO than OVH. The harmonic scalpel coagulated ovarian and uterine vessels completely with minimal collateral damage to surrounding tissues. CLINICAL RELEVANCE HALO is a safe alternative to OVH and offers a minimally invasive and less painful method of surgery.
The impact of premorbid conditions on temporal pattern and location of adult blunt trauma hospital deaths.

BACKGROUND This study was designed to show the importance of age, presence of premorbid conditions, and the type of injury on time and location of adult inhospital trauma mortality. METHODS All acute blunt trauma deaths at a Level I urban trauma center between April 1, 1993 and March 31, 2003 were individually reviewed to collect data on the following variables: age, gender, presence and number of premorbid conditions, mechanisms of trauma, location of death, acute transfer from another hospital, delay to death, initial Glasgow Coma Score (GCS), Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS), Injury Severity Score (ISS), and revised trauma score (RTS). Bivariate analysis using simple logistic regression was used to show the association between each variable and delay to death. Variables significantly associated with death underwent multivariate analysis to yield adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS During the study period there were 463 blunt trauma deaths (6.8%). Their mean age was 67.5 years, mean ISS was 22.6, mean GCS was 11.0, and 55.3% were male. Most deaths occurred in either the intensive care unit (45.8%) or the ward (46.4%); there were few deaths in the emergency department (6.8%) or the operating room (0.4%). The following were significant bivariate predictors for death: presence of premorbid conditions, number of premorbid conditions, age >60, pulmonary diseases, cardiac diseases, diabetes mellitus, neurologic diseases, GCS, AIS > or =4, and ISS. Multivariate analysis demonstrated the following significant findings: patients with severe thoracic injuries were significantly more likely to die in the first 6 hours (aOR = 1.37; CI = 1.12-1.68; p = 0.002); and patients with severe head injuries were more likely to die after 48 hours (aOR = 1.275; CI = 1.158-1.405; p = 0.0001). Older patients and those with neurologic diseases were more likely to die later and in a hospital ward (aOR = 2.18; CI = 1.25-3.81; p = 0.006). Men and women differed as to age, ISS, mechanism of injury, and type of injury, but not as to delay to death. CONCLUSIONS Age, body area injured, and presence and type of premorbid conditions are significant predictors of location of and delay to death after blunt trauma. We think that incorporating information on premorbid conditions is essential for mortality analysis in an aging population.
Catadioptric line features detection using Hough transform

A line in space is projected to a conic in the central catadioptric image, and such a conic is called a line image. This work proposes a novel approach for efficiently detecting line images using Hough transform. Detecting line images brings two novel challenges for conic detection: one is that effects of occlusion are very significant where traditional conic detecting methods may fail, the other is that line images can belong to any type of conic, such as, line, circle, ellipse, hyperbola, parabola etc., and it is very difficult to detect a conic when its type is unknown. The main contribution of this work is that we prove a line image can be parameterized by only two parameters on the Gaussian sphere rather than five ones as a generic conic requires, and the above two challenges can be substantially solved accordingly. The validity of our proposed approach is illustrated by experiments.