Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Vascular Anatomy of the Glenohumeral Capsule and Ligaments: An Anatomic Study

Background: A detailed description of the vascular anatomy of the shoulder capsule is lacking, yet surgical procedures may put this capsular blood supply at risk. We hypothesized that a hypovascular area is present in the capsule. The purpose of the present study was to describe the vascular anatomy of the human glenohumeral capsule and ligaments and its relevance to surgical treatment of the shoulder.Methods: In twenty-four fresh adult cadaveric shoulders, the axillary artery proximal to the thoracoacromial branch and the suprascapular artery were injected with India ink. The specimens were sectioned and then cleared with a modified Spalteholz technique.Results: The glenohumeral capsule demonstrates consistent arterial contributions from the anterior circumflex, posterior circumflex, circumflex scapular, and suprascapular arteries. The arterial supply is centripetal in nature. The contributing vessels enter the capsule both laterally and medially and arborize toward the middle of the capsule. The rotator cuff provides additional blood supply to the capsule through perforating vessels. The dominant capsular vessels run horizontally and form intracapsular anastomoses via vertical branches. The anterior and posterior bands of the inferior glenohumeral ligament complex are vascularized by adjacent parallel vessels. In five of twelve specimens, a hypovascular zone was located near the humeral insertion of the anterior aspect of the capsule. In these five specimens, there was an associated hypovascular zone in the underlying capsule.Conclusion: The glenohumeral capsule is a well-vascularized structure with direct predictable contributions from four named arteries. These arteries send branches that enter the capsule superficially and from the periphery. These dominant vessels run horizontally toward the midcapsule and to deeper layers of the capsule. Vessels originating from the rotator cuff provide additional blood supply to the capsule.Clinical Relevance: Surgical approaches to the shoulder that separate the rotator cuff from the capsule may disrupt the perforating blood supply from the overlying rotator cuff. Horizontal capsular incisions run parallel to the dominant vessels of the capsule, while vertical incisions are likely to cross these vessels. Laterally based capsular incisions may traverse the hypovascular zone when it is present.
Impact of downscaling and poly-gate depletion on the RF noise parameters of advanced nMOS transistors

For the first time, the effects of poly depletion on the RF noise performance of advanced CMOS transistors are reported and analyzed. Based on measurements and physical device simulations we quantify the increasing danger of poly gate depletion with downscaling on the RF noise parameters of CMOS devices. While poly depletion does not affect the minimum noise figure, it results in a degradation of the noise matching freedom for RFIC designers. This trend worsens with technology downscaling.
SNARE tagging allows stepwise assembly of a multimodular medicinal toxin

Generation of supramolecular architectures through controlled linking of suitable building blocks can offer new perspectives to medicine and applied technologies. Current linking strategies often rely on chemical methods that have limitations and cannot take full advantage of the recombinant technologies. Here we used SNARE proteins, namely, syntaxin, SNAP25, and synaptobrevin, which form stable tetrahelical complexes that drive fusion of intracellular membranes, as versatile tags for irreversible linking of recombinant and synthetic functional units. We show that SNARE tagging allows stepwise production of a functional modular medicinal toxin, namely, botulinum neurotoxin type A, commonly known as BOTOX. This toxin consists of three structurally independent units: Receptor-binding domain (Rbd), Translocation domain (Td), and the Light chain (Lc), the last being a proteolytic enzyme. Fusing the receptor-binding domain with synaptobrevin SNARE motif allowed delivery of the active part of botulinum neurotoxin (Lc-Td), tagged with SNAP25, into neurons. Our data show that SNARE-tagged toxin was able to cleave its intraneuronal molecular target and to inhibit release of neurotransmitters. The reassembled toxin provides a safer alternative to existing botulinum neurotoxin and may offer wider use of this popular research and medical tool. Finally, SNARE tagging allowed the Rbd portion of the toxin to be used to deliver quantum dots and other fluorescent markers into neurons, showing versatility of this unique tagging and self-assembly technique. Together, these results demonstrate that the SNARE tetrahelical coiled-coil allows controlled linking of various building blocks into multifunctional assemblies.
The Accessory SecA2 System of Mycobacteria Requires ATP Binding and the Canonical SecA1*

In bacteria, the majority of exported proteins are transported by the general Sec pathway from their site of synthesis in the cytoplasm across the cytoplasmic membrane. The essential SecA ATPase powers this Sec-mediated export. Mycobacteria possess two nonredundant SecA homologs: SecA1 and SecA2. In pathogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the nonpathogenic model mycobacterium Mycobacterium smegmatis, SecA1 is essential for protein export and is the “housekeeping” SecA, whereas SecA2 is an accessory SecA that exports a specific subset of proteins. In M. tuberculosis the accessory SecA2 pathway plays a role in virulence. In this study, we uncovered basic properties of the mycobacterial SecA2 protein and its pathway for exporting select proteins. By constructing secA2 mutant alleles that encode proteins defective in ATP binding, we showed that ATP binding is required for SecA2 function. SecA2 mutant proteins unable to bind ATP were nonfunctional and dominant negative. By evaluating the subcellular distribution of each SecA, SecA1 was shown to be equally divided between cytosolic and cell envelope fractions, whereas SecA2 was predominantly localized to the cytosol. Finally, we showed that the canonical SecA1 has a role in the process of SecA2-dependent export. The accessory SecA2 export system is important to the physiology and virulence of mycobacteria. These studies help establish the mechanism of this new type of specialized protein export pathway.
Coffee, pancreatic cancer and the question of causation

The article by Miquel Porta and his colleagues1indicating that pancreatic cancer cases without activating mutations in the K- ras gene drank significantly less coffee than cases with a mutation and the accompanying editorial by Paolo Vineis2 are both important. The study by Porta et al epitomises the way epidemiology is likely to be practised in the future, and the editorial by Vineis highlights the issues that will confront investigators when molecular epidemiology becomes more mainstream. The two papers also bring forward a crucial question: “How do we assess causality in epidemiology? ”. The study by Porta and his colleagues has a considerable advantage over conventional case-control studies—it is less likely to have suffered from substantial selection or information bias.3 Unless chance has operated in a sinister way, …
Tracking and determinants of kidney size from fetal life until the age of 2 years: the Generation R Study.

BACKGROUND An adverse fetal environment may lead to smaller kidneys and subsequently kidney disease and hypertension in adulthood. The aims of this study are to examine whether kidney size tracks from fetal life to childhood and whether maternal and fetal characteristics are associated with kidney size at the age of 2 years. STUDY DESIGN Prospective cohort study from fetal life onward. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS The study was conducted in a group of 688 infants in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Entry criteria were singleton, noncomplicated pregnancies, and Dutch ethnicity. PREDICTORS The maternal characteristics age, height, and prepregnancy weight were measured in early pregnancy. Fetal growth, head circumference, abdominal circumference, femur length and estimated fetal weight, and placental characteristics were assessed in the second and third trimesters. OUTCOMES & MEASUREMENTS Kidney size, defined as length, width, depth, and volume, was measured in the third trimester of pregnancy and at postnatal ages 6 and 24 months. RESULTS Overall median gestational age was 40.3 weeks (95% range, 36.0 to 42.3 weeks), and mean birth weight was 3,536 +/- 524 (SD) g. Children tended to remain in the lowest and highest quartiles of kidney volume from the third trimester to the age of 2 years (odds ratio, 2.05; 95% confidence interval, 1.38 to 3.06; odds ratio, 3.29; 95% confidence interval, 2.22 to 4.87, respectively). Maternal height and prepregnancy weight were associated positively with kidney volume at the age of 2 years. Third-trimester fetal head circumference, abdominal circumference, and estimated weight and postnatal length were associated positively with kidney volume at the age of 2 years. Preferential fetal blood flow to the brain was associated with smaller kidneys. LIMITATIONS Kidney measurements successfully performed in only 86% of children. CONCLUSIONS Small kidney size in fetal life tends to persist in early childhood. Maternal anthropometrics and fetal biometrics and blood flow patterns are associated with kidney size in childhood. Follow-up studies are needed to examine whether these variations in kidney size are related to kidney function and blood pressure in later life.
What Proportion of Newspaper Stories about Child Molestation Involves Homosexuality?

Do homosexuals disproportionately molest children? A survey of 8 of the nation's newspaper news stories of child molestation during the first 9 months of 1995 showed that about 40% of child molestation stories in the major cities involve homosexuality. An Internet survey of FirstSearch for 1989 through 1995 indicated 46%, and of Newsbank for 1990 through 1995 60% of molestations were homosexual. About half of teachers, day care workers and other professionals caught molesting children assaulted them homosexually. It is argued that large unbiased sets of newspaper news stories appear to approximate the figures for incidence of child molestation by those occupying a newsworthy status but overreport homosexual molestation in general.
On-Line Evidence for Context Use by Right-Brain-Damaged Patients

The ability of right-brain-damaged (RBD) patients to use on-line contextual information in a word-monitoring task was examined. Subjects were required to monitor for target words in the contexts of both normal and semantically anomalous sentences. Similar to previous studies with normals (e.g., Marslen-Wilson & Tyler, 1980), the semantic integrity of the context was influential in the word-recognition process. Importantly, the RBD patients performed similarly to normals in showing context effects. These results were interpreted as substantiating the findings of Leonard, Waters, and Caplan (1997a, 1997b) that RBD patients do not present with a specific deficit in the use of contextual information. The results are discussed in terms of proposals that suggest that an impaired ability to use contextual information by RBD patients may be a function of increased processing demands.
Stenting in the Carotid Artery: Initial Experience in 110 Patients

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of intravascular stents in the treatment of extracranial carotid artery occlusive disease. Methods: According to protocol, stent therapy was offered to symptomatic patients with ≥ 70% arteriographically defined carotid stenoses or ulcerative lesions and, after September 1994, to asymptomatic patients with ≥ 75% stenoses. From April 1993 to September 1995, 110 nonconsecutive patients (79 males; mean age 72 years, range 45 to 85) consented to participate in the study. The majority (79 [72%]) were asymptomatic. Lesions meeting the treatment criteria were in the proximal common (n = 3); mid common (n = 12); distal common (n = 8); internal (ICA) (n = 92); and external (n = 2) carotid arteries. Seven patients had bilateral ICA stenoses, and 17 patients were treated for postsurgical recurrent disease. The mean lesion length and diameter stenosis for all lesions were 12.4 ± 9.2 mm and 86.5% ± 10.6%, respectively. The procedures were performed either via direct percutaneous access to the cervical common carotid artery or through a retrograde femoral artery approach. Standard balloon dilation preceded deployment of balloon-expandable stents in most cases. No postprocedural anticoagulation was used (aspirin only). Results: In 110 patients (117 arteries) intended for treatment, 109 (99.0%) (116 arteries [99.1%]) were successfully treated with 129 stents (128 Palmaz, 1 Wallstent). One percutaneous procedure failed (0.9%) for technical reasons (stent could not be deployed) and was converted to carotid endarterectomy. Minor complications included 4 cases of spasm (successfully treated with papaverine); 1 flow-limiting dissection (stented); and 6 access-site problems. There were 7 strokes (2 major, 5 reversible) (6.4%) and 5 minor transient events (4.5%) that resolved within 24 hours. Three patients were converted to endarterectomy (2.7%) prior to discharge; 1 stroke patient expired (0.9%), and another patient died of an unrelated cardiac event in hospital. In the 30-day postprocedural period, 2 ICA stents occluded (patients asymptomatic). Clinical success at 30 days (no technical failure, death, endarterectomy, stroke, or occlusion) was 89.1% (98/110). Over a mean 7.6-month follow-up (range 2 to 31), no new neurological symptoms developed. Another stent occlusion at 2 months and one case of flow-limiting intimal hyperplasia at 7 months were detected on routine duplex scanning in asymptomatic patients. Life-table analysis shows an 89% cumulative primary patency rate. Conclusions: Based on this early experience, carotid stenting appears feasible from a technical standpoint, with good midterm patency. However, the incidence of neurological sequelae is a serious problem. Technical enhancements and a more aggressive antiplatelet regimen may have a positive impact on these events.
Remote Ischemic Conditioning and the Long Road to Clinical Translation: Lessons Learned From ERICCA and RIPHeart.

Remote ischemic preconditioning and outcomes of cardiac surgery Hausenloy et al N Engl J Med . 2015;373:1408–1417. A multicenter trial of remote ischemic preconditioning for heart surgery Meybohm et al N Engl J Med. 2015;373:1397–1407. Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is the phenomenon whereby brief episodes of peripheral ischemia-reperfusion, typically applied to ≥1 limbs by inflation–deflation of a standard blood pressure cuff, increase the tolerance of the myocardium to a sustained ischemic episode. Compelling preclinical evidence of infarct size reduction with RIC, together with promising results from small, proof-of-concept phase II trials, has yielded cautious optimism that RIC may be the long sought-after cardioprotective strategy capable of attenuating morbidity and mortality in patients having a spontaneous or planned period of prolonged cardiac ischemia. Progress toward clinical translation may, however, be hindered by the recent release of 2 eagerly anticipated phase III trials. ERICCA (Effect of Remote Ischemic Preconditioning on Clinical Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery) and RIPHeart (Remote Ischaemic Preconditioning for Heart Surgery), both published in the New England Journal of Medicine and both designed to assess major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events after cardiac surgery in RIC-treated cohorts versus sham controls, concluded that RIC had no benefit on clinical outcomes . In the 2 decades since the first report of the phenomenon of “preconditioning at a distance,”1 RIC has evolved from theoretical concept2 to preclinical investigation3 to multiple phase II clinical trials in patients undergoing cardiac surgery or percutaneous coronary intervention.4–6 RIC has largely been investigated as a pretreatment before planned ischemic events, including elective coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), and is particularly well suited to the controlled surgical environment. Among the phase II trials that focused on CABG in adult patients and provided the foundation for ERICCA and RIPHeart, …
The Limits of Partisan Prejudice

Partisanship increasingly factors into the behavior of Americans in both political and nonpolitical situations, yet the bounds of partisan prejudice are largely unknown. In this paper, we systematically evaluate the limits of partisan prejudice using a series of five studies situated within a typology of prejudice. We find that partisan prejudice predicts suppression of hostile rhetoric toward one’s own party, avoidance of members of the opposition, and a desire for preferential treatment for one’s own party. While these behaviors may cause incidental or indirect harm to the opposition, we find that even the most affectively polarized—those with the strongest disdain for the opposition—are no more likely to intentionally harm the opposition than those with minimal levels of affective polarization.
Alpha Interferon Inhibits Hepatitis C Virus Replication in Primary Human Hepatocytes Infected In Vitro

ABSTRACT Chronic hepatitis C is a common cause of liver disease, the complications of which include cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Treatment of chronic hepatitis C is based on the use of alpha interferon (IFN-α). Recently, indirect evidence based on mathematical modeling of hepatitis C virus (HCV) dynamics during human IFN-α therapy suggested that the major initial effect of IFN-α is to block HCV virion production or release. Here, we used primary cultures of healthy, uninfected human hepatocytes to show that: (i) healthy human hepatocytes can be infected in vitro and support HCV genome replication, (ii) hepatocyte treatment with IFN-α results in expression of IFN-α-induced genes, and (iii) IFN-α inhibits HCV replication in infected human hepatocytes. These results show that IFN-α acts primarily through its nonspecific antiviral effects and suggest that primary cultures of human hepatocytes may provide a good model to study intrinsic HCV resistance to IFN-α.
The regulation and role of the periplasmic copper, zinc superoxide dismutase of Escherichia coli

The discovery of superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD) within the periplasms of several Gram‐negative pathogens suggested that this enzyme evolved to protect cells from exogenous sources of superoxide, such as the oxidative burst of phagocytes. However, its presence in some non‐pathogenic bacteria implies that there may be a role for this SOD during normal growth conditions. We found that sodC, the gene that encodes the periplasmic SOD of Escherichia coli, is repressed anaerobically by Fnr and is among the many antioxidant genes that are induced in stationary phase by RpoS. Surprisingly, the entry of wild‐type E. coli into stationary phase is accompanied by a several‐hour‐long period of acute sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide. Induction of the RpoS regulon helps to diminish that sensitivity. While mutants of E. coli and Salmonella typhimurium that lacked CuZnSOD were not detectably sensitive to exogenous superoxide, both were killed more rapidly than their parent strains by exogenous hydrogen peroxide in early stationary phase. This sensitivity required prior growth in air. Evidently, periplasmic superoxide is generated during stationary phase by endogenous metabolism and, if it is not scavenged by CuZnSOD, it causes an unknown lesion that augments or accelerates the damage done by peroxide. The molecular details await elucidation.
Use of antisense RNA to modify the composition of cellulosomes produced by Clostridium cellulolyticum

The enzymatic composition of the cellulosomes produced by Clostridium cellulolyticum was modified by inhibiting the synthesis of Cel48F that is the major cellulase of the cellulosomes. The strain ATCC 35319 (pSOSasrF) was developed to over‐produce a 469 nucleotide‐long antisense‐RNA (asRNA) directed against the ribosome‐binding site region and the beginning of the coding region of the cel48F mRNAs. The cellulolytic system secreted by the asRNA‐producing strain showed a markedly lower amount of Cel48F, compared to the control strain transformed with the empty plasmid (pSOSzero). This was correlated with a 30% decrease of the specific activity of the cellulolytic system on Avicel cellulose, indicating that Cel48F plays an important role in the recalcitrant cellulose degradation. However, only minor effects were observed on the growth parameters on cellulose. In both transformant strains, cellulosome production was found to be reduced and two unknown proteins (P105 and P98) appeared as major components of their cellulolytic systems. These proteins did not contain any dockerin domain and were shown to be not included into the cellulosomes; they are expected to participate to the non‐cellulosomal cellulolytic system of C. cellulolyticum.
Geographic pattern of genetic variation in the European globeflower Trollius europaeus L. (Ranunculaceae) inferred from amplified fragment length polymorphism markers

The distribution of genetic variation and the phylogenetic relationships between 18 populations of the arctic‐alpine plant Trollius europaeus were analysed in three main regions (Alps, Pyrenees and Fennoscandia) by using dominant AFLP markers. Analysis of molecular variance revealed that most of the genetic variability was found within populations (64%), although variation among regions (17%) and among populations within regions (19%) was highly significant (P < 0.001). Accordingly, the global fixation index FST averaged over loci was high (0.39). The among‐population differentiation indicates restricted gene flow, congruent with limited dispersal of specific globeflower's pollinating flies (Chiastocheta spp.). Within‐population diversity levels were significantly higher in the Alps (mean Nei's expected heterozygosity HE = 0.229) than in the Pyrenees (HE= 0.197) or in Fennoscandia (HE = 0.158). This finding is congruent with the species‐richness of the associated flies, which is maximum in the Alps. We discuss the processes involved in shaping observed patterns of genetic diversity within and among T. europaeus populations. Genetic drift is the major factor acting on the small Pyrenean populations at the southern edge of T. europaeus distribution, while large Fennoscandian populations result probably from a founder effect followed by demographic expansion. The Alpine populations represent moderately fragmented relics of large southern ancestral populations. The patterns of genetic variability observed in the host plant support the hypothesis of sympatric speciation in associated flies, rather than recurrent allopatric speciations.