Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation and management of language and speech disorders in preschool children.

1. Heidi M. Feldman, MD, PhD* 1. *Ronald L. and Patricia M. Professor of Child Development, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh; Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pa After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Describe key milestones in the development of language and speech. 2. List indications for further evaluation of language and speech delays. 3. Differentiate global delays, autism, and specific language impairment. 4. Generate a differential diagnosis for language and speech delay. 5. Evaluate management options for a child who has hearing loss. 6. Justify referral to early intervention for children who have global delays. 7. Discuss treatment of language impairments in autism. 8. Evaluate the effectiveness of language and speech therapy for language and speech disorders. Language is the expression of human communication through which ideas, information, emotions, and beliefs can be shared. Typically developing children master the fundamentals of language and speech in the toddler-preschool era. Language and speech skills serve a pivotal role in learning and social relationships. Delays in the early development of language and speech skills, which are prevalent in the population, may affect several domains of function. Management and treatment can improve language and speech skills substantially and reduce the functional impact of persistent disorders. Therefore, identifying children who have language and speech delays in the toddler-preschool period should be a priority for the pediatric clinician. This article reviews the normal process of language development up to school age, discusses the use of screening measures and parent report inventories to verify parental reports of delays, provides a differential diagnosis of language and speech delay, and suggests an approach to the child who has language or speech problems in the absence of history or physical findings suggestive of a specific medical condition associated with language and speech disorders. In addition, the review discusses general management of language and speech disorders and provides updates about management of some of the underlying causes of speech and language delay. Language is the use of systematic, arbitrary, and socially …
Transverse-plane mechanics at the knee and tibia in runners with and without a history of achilles tendonopathy.

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. OBJECTIVES To determine if runners with a history of Achilles tendonopathy (AT) demonstrate a difference in transverse-plane motion and moments at the distal tibia and knee compared to runners without a history of AT. BACKGROUND One of the more prevalent overuse running injuries is AT. It has been hypothesized that prolonged pronation causes contradictory rotational forces acting on the AT. Conflicting joint motions may also accentuate the rotation of the tendon. This may further affect the opposing transverse-plane moments at the knee and distal tibia. METHODS AND MEASURES Eight runners with a history of AT and a noninjured control group consisting of 8 runners ran along a 20-m runway at a fixed speed. Biomechanical measurements were taken using a 6-camera motion analysis system and a force plate. Student t tests were employed to determine statistically significant differences (P </= .05) in transverse-plane motion and moment variables at the distal tibia and knee between groups. RESULTS The AT group showed less tibial external rotation moment (P = .01) and peak knee internal rotation (P = .05) compared to the control group. There was no difference in external rotation moment at the knee (P = .34) or peak tibial internal rotation (P = .44). CONCLUSION Runners with a previous history of AT exhibited less tibial external rotation moments during running. The lack of control in the transverse-plane at the distal tibia may be due to decreased function of the muscles primarily responsible for transverse-plane motion, resulting in greater strain on the AT in the transverse-plane. Designing an exercise program to strengthen lower leg muscles and improve distal tibial control in the transverse-plane may reduce the risk for developing AT or augment the rehabilitation of AT.
Production of IL-8, VEGF and Elastase by Circulating and Intraplaque Neutrophils in Patients with Carotid Atherosclerosis

Objectives Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) in atherosclerotic plaques have been identified only recently, and their contribution to plaque development is not yet fully understood. In this study, production of elastase, interleukin (IL)-8 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) by PMN was investigated in subjects with carotid stenosis undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Methods The study enrolled 50 patients (Pts) and 10 healthy subjects (HS). Circulating PMN (cPMN) isolated from venous blood (in both Pts and HS) and from plaques (pPMN, in Pts) were cultured, alone or with 0.1 μM fMLP. Elastase, IL-8 and VEGF mRNA were analyzed by real-time PCR. In CEA specimens, PMN were localized by immunohistochemistry. Results In both Pts cPMN and pPMN, IL-8 mRNA was higher at rest but lower after fMLP (P<0.01 vs HS), and VEGF mRNA was higher both at rest and after fMLP (P<0.01 vs HS), while elastase mRNA was not significantly different. On the contrary, protein production was always higher in cPMN of HS with respect to values measured in cells of Pts. In CEA specimens, CD66b+ cells localized to areas with massive plaque formation close to neovessels. Pts with soft and mix plaques, as defined by computed tomography, did not differ in cPMN or pPMN IL-8, VEGF or elastase mRNA, or in intraplaque CD66b+ cell density. However, Pts with soft plaques had higher white blood cell count due to increased PMN. Conclusions In Pts with carotid plaques, both circulating and intraplaque PMN produce IL-8, VEGF and elastase, which are crucial for plaque development and progression. These findings suggest mechanistic explanations to the reported correlation between PMN count and cardiovascular mortality in carotid ATH.
Cup‐to‐disc and arteriole‐to‐venule ratios in children aged 6–7 and 12–13 years

Citation information: McClelland JF, O’Donoghue L, McIntyre M & Saunders KJ. Cup‐to‐disc and arteriole‐to‐venule ratios in children aged 6–7 and 12–13 years. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt 2011. doi: 10.1111/j.1475‐1313.2011. 00878.x
Design Considerations for Wireless Networked Control Systems

In traditional networked control systems, wired communication networks are used for the transmission of information between the communicating systems. With the increasing demand for distributed systems and the growth in the scale of the applications, the use of wireless communication networks offers significant advantages over their wired counterparts. To facilitate the deployment of a fully automated closed-loop wireless networked control system (WNCS), this paper addresses several design considerations for a proposed topology for potential use as a closed-loop WNCS. The topology consists of a plant system having sensor and actuator nodes, a controller system having input and output nodes, an intermediate network system having interconnected nodes, and wireless communication links for the information transfer between the different nodes of the plant, controller, and network systems. More specifically, the design considerations addressed in the paper are: the condition requirements needed to facilitate the design of optimal controller and network systems, the joint design of optimal controller and network systems to control the plant system, and the structured model reduction of the closed-loop WNCS to reduce its scale. Finally, simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the applicability of discussed design considerations.
Gene profiling of hippocampal neuronal culture

We performed mRNA expression profiling of mouse primary hippocampal neurones undergoing differentiation in vitro. We show that 2314 genes significantly changed expression during neuronal differentiation. The temporal resolution of our experiment (six time points) permits us to distinguish between gene expression patterns characteristic for the axonal and for the dendritic stages of neurite outgrowth. Cluster analysis reveals that, in the process of in vitro neuronal differentiation, a high level of expression of genes involved in the synthesis of DNA and proteins precedes the up regulation of genes involved in protein transport, energy generation and synaptic functions. We report in detail changes in gene expression for genes involved in the synaptic vesicle cycle. Data for other genes can be accessed at our website. We directly compare expression of 475 genes in the differentiating neurones and the developing mouse hippocampus. We demonstrate that the program of gene expression is accelerated in vitro as compared to the situation in vivo. When this factor is accounted for, the gene expression profiles in vitro and in vivo become very similar (median gene‐wise correlation 0.787). Apparently once the cells have taken a neuronal fate, the further program of gene expression is largely independent of histological or anatomical context. Our results also demonstrate that a comparison across the two experimental platforms (cDNA microarrays and oligonucleotide chips) and across different biological paradigms is feasible.
SIX-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF AN ACUTE 241Am INHALATION INTAKE

Abstract— A 38-y-old Caucasian male who suffered an acute accidental inhalation intake of 6.3 kBq of 241Am was monitored over 2,135 d using periodic in vivo measurements of the activity in the lungs, liver, and skeleton. Lung clearance was described by a two-compartment exponential model with half-times of 110 d and 10,000 d. The observed uptake of 241Am in the liver (72 Bq) and skeleton (170 Bq) was significantly greater than predicted by the ICRP models for liver (5 Bq) and skeleton (8 Bq). The half-time in the liver was approximately 850 d. Estimates of skeletal activity based on head, wrist, and knee counts generally agreed within 25% over the course of the monitoring period. The half-time in the skeleton was approximately 20,000 d.
Mechanosignaling in bone health, trauma and inflammation.

SIGNIFICANCE Mechanosignaling is vital for maintaining the structural integrity of bone under physiologic conditions. These signals activate and suppress multiple signaling cascades regulating bone formation and resorption. Understanding these pathways is of prime importance to exploit their therapeutic potential in disorders associated with bone loss due to disuse, trauma, or disruption of homeostatic mechanisms. RECENT ADVANCES In the case of cells of the bone, an impressive amount of data has been generated that provides evidence of a complex mechanism by which mechanical signals can maintain or disrupt cellular homeostasis by driving transcriptional regulation of growth factors, matrix proteins and inflammatory mediators in health and inflammation. Mechanical signals act on cells in a magnitude dependent manner to induce bone deposition or resorption. During health, physiological levels of these signals are essential for maintaining bone strength and architecture, whereas during inflammation, similar signals can curb inflammation by suppressing the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling cascade, while upregulating matrix synthesis via mothers against decapentaplegic homolog and/or Wnt signaling cascades. Contrarily, excessive mechanical forces can induce inflammation via activation of the NF-κB signaling cascade. CRITICAL ISSUES Given the osteogenic potential of mechanical signals, it is imperative to exploit their therapeutic efficacy for the treatment of bone disorders. Here we review select signaling pathways and mediators stimulated by mechanical signals to modulate the strength and integrity of the bone. FUTURE DIRECTIONS Understanding the mechanisms of mechanotransduction and its effects on bone lay the groundwork for development of nonpharmacologic mechanostimulatory approaches for osteodegenerative diseases and optimal bone health.
SolveDB: Integrating Optimization Problem Solvers Into SQL Databases

Many real-world decision problems involve solving optimization problems based on data in an SQL database. Traditionally, solving such problems requires combining a DBMS with optimization software packages for each required class of problems (e.g. linear and constraint programming) -- leading to workflows that are cumbersome, complex, inefficient, and error-prone. In this paper, we present SolveDB - a DBMS for optimization applications. SolveDB supports solvers for different problem classes and offers seamless data management and optimization problem solving in a pure SQL-based setting. This allows for much simpler and more effective solutions of database-based optimization problems. SolveDB is based on the 3-level ANSI/SPARC architecture and allows formulating, solving, and analysing solutions of optimization problems using a single so-called solve query. SolveDB provides (1) an SQL-based syntax for optimization problems, (2) an extensible infrastructure for integrating different solvers, and (3) query optimization techniques to achieve the best execution performance and/or result quality. Extensive experiments with the PostgreSQL-based implementation show that SolveDB is a versatile tool offering much higher developer productivity and order of magnitude better performance for specification-complex and data-intensive problems.
Adaptive Finite-Time Stabilization of a Class of Uncertain Nonlinear Systems via Logic-Based Switchings

In this paper, global adaptive finite-time stabilization is investigated by logic-based switching control for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with the powers of positive odd rational numbers. Parametric uncertainties entering the state equations nonlinearly can be fast time-varying or jumping at unknown time instants, and the control coefficient appearing in the control channel can be unknown. The bounds of the parametric uncertainties and the unknown control coefficient are not required to know a priori. Our proposed controller is a switching-type one, in which a nonlinear controller with two parameters to be tuned is first designed by adding a power integrator, and then a switching mechanism is proposed to tune the parameters online to finite-time stabilize the system. An example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed result.
Clinical profile and ultasonogaphic findings in children with dengue fever.

Dengue fever is one of the most important emerging vector-borne viral diseases. There are four serotypes of dengue viruses, each of which is capable of causing self-limited dengue fever or even life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical and sonographic findings of dengue fever. This cross sectional observational study included 200 serologically confirmed children with dengue fever admitted in the year 2013. The participants were clinically and serologically evaluated against NS1 antigen, IgM and IgG antibody. These patients also underwent USG abdomen and chest within the first week of the illness. Out of the 200 confirmed dengue cases, 106(53%) cases were males and the remaining 94 (47%) were females. The most common age group was school going chidren (42%) and adolescents (36%). All the cases had fever (100%). Other features were vomiting in 72%, abdominal pain in 46 %, 67cases (33.5%) had hepatomegaly in 33.5%, hypotension and shock in 23.5%, bradycardia in 13%, and rashes in 10.5%. Investigations revealed thrombocytopenia in 97%, hemoconcentration in 94.5%, leucopenia (< 4000/mm3) in 63% and raised liver enzymes in 43.5%. The ultrasonographic findings were hepatomegaly in 84 cases, gall bladder thickening in 61 and splenomegaly in 16.5% of cases. Pleural effusion was noticed in 46.5% and 74 cases (37%) had ascites. All the 4 cases who expired had shock and ARDS.
Alcohol and Anesthetic Actions on Excitatory Amino Acid—Activated Ion Channels

The actions of alcohol and anesthetics have been studied on excitatory amino acid activated ion channels in mammalian neurons. Ethanol inhibits NMDA-activated current over a concentration range that produces intoxication, and the potency of several alcohols for inhibiting the NMDA-activated current is correlated with their intoxicating potency, suggesting that alcohol-induced inhibition of responses to NMDA receptor activation may contribute to the neural and cognitive impairments associated with intoxication. Studies on the mechanism of ethanol inhibition of NMDA-activated current indicate that ethanol does not appear to block the ion channel, alter the ion selectivity of the channel, or interact with previously described binding sites on the NMDA receptor/ionophore complex. The linear relation between the potency of several alcohols for inhibiting the NMDA-activated current and the hydrophobicity of the alcohols suggests that ethanol may inhibit the NMDA-activated ion current by a novel type of interaction with a hydrophobic site associated with the NMDA channel. In addition, different types of general anesthetic agents exhibit different inhibitory actions on NMDA-, kainate-, and quisqualate-activated currents, suggesting that differences in the profile of inhibition of excitatory amino acid neurotransmission in the CNS among different classes of general anesthetics may contribute to the differences in their behavioral and physiological effects.
A multi-institution prospective observational study of small bowel obstruction: Clinical and computerized tomography predictors of which patients may require early surgery

BACKGROUND For patients with adhesive small bowel obstruction (ASBO), early surgery after a failed trial of nonoperative treatment can improve outcome. However, deciding which patients require early surgery is difficult, given the lack of specific clinical or radiographic signs. The study goals were to identify clinical and computed tomography (CT) predictors of which patients may need early surgery and to evaluate the utility of the common CT findings. METHODS This was a multi-institution prospective observational study for patients who were admitted with ASBO. Patients were excluded if their SBO were not managed conservative initially; were within 30 days postoperatively; were caused by external hernias, small bowel tumor, or intussusception; and were related to Crohn’s disease. Clinical and laboratory variables were collected prospectively. CT findings were interpreted by a blinded designated radiologist. To identify significant predictors, we performed a multivariable regression analysis. RESULTS During 22 months, we enrolled 200 patients with ASBO. Patients’ mean (SD) age was 60 (18) years; 50% were male. Fifty-two patients (26%) underwent surgery. Of those who underwent surgery, the median duration of nonoperative treatment was 1.5 days (interquartile range, 1–2.5 days). In the regression model, we identified no flatus (odds ratio [OR], 3.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.51–7.12; p = 0.003), presence of free fluid on CT (OR, 2.59; 95% CI, 1.13–5.90; p = 0.023), and high-grade obstruction by CT (OR, 2.44; 95% CI, 1.10–5.43; p = 0.028) to be significant predictors for ASBO patients who may need early surgery. CONCLUSION In this study, we prospectively derived one clinical and two CT predictors which ASBO patients may benefit from an early surgical intervention. However, a future study to validate these predictors is needed. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic study, level III; prognostic study, level II.
Tobacco Mosaic Virus Movement Protein Interacts with Green Fluorescent Protein-Tagged Microtubule End-Binding Protein 11[W]

The targeting of the movement protein (MP) of Tobacco mosaic virus to plasmodesmata involves the actin/endoplasmic reticulum network and does not require an intact microtubule cytoskeleton. Nevertheless, the ability of MP to facilitate the cell-to-cell spread of infection is tightly correlated with interactions of the protein with microtubules, indicating that the microtubule system is involved in the transport of viral RNA. While the MP acts like a microtubule-associated protein able to stabilize microtubules during late infection stages, the protein was also shown to cause the inactivation of the centrosome upon expression in mammalian cells, thus suggesting that MP may interact with factors involved in microtubule attachment, nucleation, or polymerization. To further investigate the interactions of MP with the microtubule system in planta, we expressed the MP in the presence of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-fused microtubule end-binding protein 1a (EB1a) of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana; AtEB1a:GFP). The two proteins colocalize and interact in vivo as well as in vitro and exhibit mutual functional interference. These findings suggest that MP interacts with EB1 and that this interaction may play a role in the associations of MP with the microtubule system during infection.
Classification of plant trypanosomatids (Phytomonas spp.): parity between random-primer DNA typing and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis

The genetic polymorphism of 30 isolates of plant trypanosomatids colloquially referred to as plant trypanosomes was assayed by means of RAPD. The principle objectives of this study were to assess the discriminative power of RAPD analysis for studying plant trypanosomes and to determine whether the results obtained were comparable with those from a previous isoenzyme (MLEE) study. The principle groups of plant trypanosomes identified previously by isoenzyme analysis – intraphloemic trypanosomes, intralaticiferous trypanosomes and trypanosomes isolated from fruits – were also clearly separated by the RAPD technique. Moreover, the results showed a fair parity between MLEE and RAPD data (coefficient of correlation = 0·84) and the two techniques have comparable discriminative ability. Most of the separation revealed by the two techniques between the clusters was associated with major biological properties. However, the RAPD technique gave a more coherent separation than MLEE because the intraphloemic isolates, which were biologically similar in terms of their specific localization in the sieve tubes of the plant, were found to be in closer groups by the RAPD. For both techniques, the existence of the main clusters was correlated with the existence of synapomorphic characters, which could be used as powerful tools in taxonomy and epidemiology.