Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictors and prognosis of status epilepticus treated with intravenous sodium valproate.

OBJECTIVE To retrospectively review the efficacy of intravenous sodium valproate (VPAiv) treatment of status epilepticus (SE) and analyse predictive factors for seizure control and death. METHODS Patients were included with a diagnosis of SE who had received intravenous sodium valproate (VPAiv) during 2005-2007 at Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. Logistic regression analysis with a stepwise approach was used to evaluate the predictors of seizure control and death. RESULTS Thirty-two cases were diagnosed as SE with VPAiv treatment; 12 and 20 patients received VPAiv as the first- and second-line therapy, respectively. SE ceased in nine out of 12 patients (75%) and in seven out of 20 (35%) patients with VPAiv as the first- and second-line therapy, respectively. No serious cardiovascular compromise was recorded. The first-line therapy of VPAiv was the only factor that was significantly related to seizure control with an adjusted odds ratio [OR] of 5.571; 95% confidence interval [CI] of 1.128-27.523. Initial leukocytosis and hypotension were significantly associated with death (adjusted OR: 22.765, 95% CI: 1.176-440.640 and adjusted OR: 37.591, 95% CI: 3.035-465.571, respectively). CONCLUSION For SE patients who received VPAiv treatment, the first-line VPAiv was effective. Initial leukocytosis and hypotension were factors that correlated with death.
Proteomic profile of visceral adipose tissues between low-fat diet-fed obesity-resistant and obesity-prone C57BL/6 mice.

Certain individuals ingesting a low-fat diet are still prone to visceral obesity, and the reasons remain undetermined. This study aimed to investigate differentially expressed proteins of visceral adipose tissues between low-fat diet-fed obesity-resistant and obesity-prone C57BL/6 mice through a proteomics approach and to ascertain potential mechanisms associated with these obesity-prone animals. First, animals were fed low-fat or normal-chow diets for 6 weeks. Dietary intake and body weight were monitored during this period. After 6 weeks of the low-fat diet, obesity-prone and obesity-resistant mice (NOP and NOR groups) were defined as those within the upper and lower quarters for weight gain, respectively. Proteomic analysis showed that ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase core protein 1 (Uqcrc1) and Enolase 3, β muscle were decreased by 8.1- and 8.8-fold in the visceral adipose tissues of the NOP mice compared to the NOR controls, respectively, while monoglyceride lipase (MGLL) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) X-linked were increased by 5.3- and 4.7-fold, respectively. These results indicate that obesity-prone animals fed low-fat diets exhibited differentially expressed proteins, e.g., Uqcrc1, Enolase 3, MGLL and G6PDH involved in energy metabolism, glycolysis and fat synthesis in visceral adipose tissues, which are useful for defining molecular markers and understanding the mechanisms of the development of obesity.
A Worldwide Map of Plasmodium falciparum K13-Propeller Polymorphisms.

BACKGROUND Recent gains in reducing the global burden of malaria are threatened by the emergence of Plasmodium falciparum resistance to artemisinins. The discovery that mutations in portions of a P. falciparum gene encoding kelch (K13)-propeller domains are the major determinant of resistance has provided opportunities for monitoring such resistance on a global scale. METHODS We analyzed the K13-propeller sequence polymorphism in 14,037 samples collected in 59 countries in which malaria is endemic. Most of the samples (84.5%) were obtained from patients who were treated at sentinel sites used for nationwide surveillance of antimalarial resistance. We evaluated the emergence and dissemination of mutations by haplotyping neighboring loci. RESULTS We identified 108 nonsynonymous K13 mutations, which showed marked geographic disparity in their frequency and distribution. In Asia, 36.5% of the K13 mutations were distributed within two areas--one in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos and the other in western Thailand, Myanmar, and China--with no overlap. In Africa, we observed a broad array of rare nonsynonymous mutations that were not associated with delayed parasite clearance. The gene-edited Dd2 transgenic line with the A578S mutation, which expresses the most frequently observed African allele, was found to be susceptible to artemisinin in vitro on a ring-stage survival assay. CONCLUSIONS No evidence of artemisinin resistance was found outside Southeast Asia and China, where resistance-associated K13 mutations were confined. The common African A578S allele was not associated with clinical or in vitro resistance to artemisinin, and many African mutations appear to be neutral. (Funded by Institut Pasteur Paris and others.).
Geographical information systems for studying the epidemiology of cattle diseases caused by Theileria parva

Data on selected variables which influence the epidemiology of cattle diseases caused by Theileria parva were assembled and entered in a computerised geographical information system. Variables studied included the distributions of major hosts (cattle and buffalo), the vector ticks (Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and related species) and the reported presence of East Coast fever, corridor disease and January disease. In addition, the distribution of climatic suitability for R appendiculatus was assessed using the model CLIMEX run on an interpolated climate database developed for Africa. Distribution maps of each variable were produced. The potential value of geographical information systems in studies of disease epidemiology and control is discussed, with examples of how sensitivity may be enhanced by the inclusion of additional variables. In addition, subject areas in which poor data quality and inadequate data standardisation may limit the use of these systems are identified and discussed.
Application of fuzzy support vector machine for determining the health index of the insulation system of in-service power transformers

With the integration of data and information obtained from a variety of chemical and electrical tests on transformer insulating oil, it is possible to evaluate the health condition of the insulation system of an in-service power transformer. This paper develops an intelligent algorithm for automatically processing the data collected from oil tests and determining a health index for the transformer insulation system. This intelligent algorithm adopts a fuzzy support vector machine (FSVM) approach, which constructs a statistical model using a training database based on the historic data collected from 181 in-service power transformers. The procedure of constructing the training database, the formulation and implementation of FSVM and the data preprocessing methods for dealing with a class imbalanced training database is presented in this paper. Numerical experiments are also conducted to evaluate the performance of the algorithms developed in the paper.
Familial Partial Epilepsy with Variable Foci: Clinical Features and Linkage to Chromosome 22q12

Summary: Background: Familial partial epilepsy with variable foci (FPEVF) is an autosomal dominant syndrome characterized by partial seizures originating from different brain regions in different family members in the absence of detectable structural abnormalities. A gene for FPEVF was mapped to chromosome 22q12 in two distantly related French‐Canadian families.
Tourists’ Emotions as a Resource for Customer Value Creation, Cocreation, and Destruction: A Customer-Grounded Understanding

Research on customer value creation in a tourism setting has tended to prioritize the firm’s over the customer’s perspective. However, new understandings of customer value through the lens of customer-dominant logic emphasize the need to consider value as emerging within the broader context of a customer’s lifeworld, which transcends customer–firm interactions and includes interactions with others. Tourism experiences are experiential and meaning-laden at the individual and collective levels. As a resource for value creation, emotions play an important but underexplored role during value-in-use and influence the tourist’s consumption experience. We provide a customer-grounded understanding of value creation as emerging and evolving over time by examining how emotions are experienced and contribute to the holistic consumption experience both intra- and intersubjectively. By demonstrating how emotions, as a customer operant resource, contribute to the process of value creation as well as value destruction, we extend our knowledge of experiential consumption practices.
OIL PRICE SHOCKS, INFLATION, AND CHINESE MONETARY POLICY

This paper proposes a New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model of the Chinese economy incorporating the demand of oil to study the effects of oil price shocks on the business cycle. The model answers several questions, including how monetary policy should respond to the disturbances from such shocks, and whether monetary authorities should use core inflation or headline inflation including oil price inflation as the monetary policy rule. The contributions could be summarized as follows: First, the model reveals that the oil transmission mechanism is determined by the nominal inertia, income effect, and the portfolio allocation effect. Second, both noncore inflation monetary policy and core inflation monetary policy that are simultaneously pegged to oil prices fluctuations are inferior to the monetary policy purely pegged to core inflation. Our findings suggest that the monetary policy should focus on core inflation instead of headline inflation.
Diverse spore rains and limited local exchange shape fern genetic diversity in a recently created habitat colonized by long-distance dispersal.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Populations established by long-distance colonization are expected to show low levels of genetic variation per population, but strong genetic differentiation among populations. Whether isolated populations indeed show this genetic signature of isolation depends on the amount and diversity of diaspores arriving by long-distance dispersal, and time since colonization. For ferns, however, reliable estimates of long-distance dispersal rates remain largely unknown, and previous studies on fern population genetics often sampled older or non-isolated populations. Young populations in recent, disjunct habitats form a useful study system to improve our understanding of the genetic impact of long-distance dispersal. METHODS Microsatellite markers were used to analyse the amount and distribution of genetic diversity in young populations of four widespread calcicole ferns (Asplenium scolopendrium, diploid; Asplenium trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens, tetraploid; Polystichum setiferum, diploid; and Polystichum aculeatum, tetraploid), which are rare in The Netherlands but established multiple populations in a forest (the Kuinderbos) on recently reclaimed Dutch polder land following long-distance dispersal. Reference samples from populations throughout Europe were used to assess how much of the existing variation was already present in the Kuinderbos. KEY RESULTS A large part of the Dutch and European genetic diversity in all four species was already found in the Kuinderbos. This diversity was strongly partitioned among populations. Most populations showed low genetic variation and high inbreeding coefficients, and were assigned to single, unique gene pools in cluster analyses. Evidence for interpopulational gene flow was low, except for the most abundant species. CONCLUSIONS The results show that all four species, diploids as well as polyploids, were capable of frequent long-distance colonization via single-spore establishment. This indicates that even isolated habitats receive dense and diverse spore rains, including genotypes capable of self-fertilization. Limited gene flow may conserve the genetic signature of multiple long-distance colonization events for several decades.
Cellular immune response to human immunodeficiency virus

Despite recent success with the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy, eradication of HIV type 1 appears beyond the capabilities of presently available therapy. Therefore, greater emphasis has been given to finding mechanisms that promote immunologic control of viral replication rather than eradication. Although the correlates of immune protection in HIV-1 infection remain undefined, increasing evidence indicates that HIV-1-specific cellular immune responses may play a critical role in antiviral control. Vigorous HIV-1-specific CD4+ T-helper cell and CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses may play a critical role in control of viral replication in the absence of antiretroviral therapy, which has been demonstrated in individuals with long-term nonprogressive infection. However, in chronic, progressive HIV-1 infection, virus-specific T-helper cell responses are typically weak or absent in all stages of disease, and HIV-1-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses wane over time, presumably due to the lack of HIV-1-specific T helper cells. Effective treatment of individuals during acute HIV-1 seroconversion syndrome appears to restore HIV-1-specific T-helper cell responses, which are otherwise only observed in persons with long-term nonprogressive infection. This observation, along with anecdotal reports of individuals successfully controlling viral replication after treating acute HIV-1 infection, provides immunologic rationale for structured treatment interruption and other immunotherapeutic approaches designed to augment HIV-1-specific immune responses.
Cyclosporin-A therapy in severe uveitis of Behçet's disease.

PURPOSE Cyclosporine-A (CSA) combined with corticosteroid therapy was administered to 12 patients with severe Behçet's uveitis who were resistant to colchicine or cytotoxic therapy. METHODS Previous colchicine or cytotoxic therapies were tapered off one month before CSA therapy. All patients were started on an initial oral dose of 5 mg/kg/day of CSA. After the first three months, the CSA dose was reduced to a maintenance dose according to the intraocular inflammatory response. RESULTS The average follow-up period was 20 (12-36) months. Visual acuity remained the same in 12 (%54.5) and improved in 8 (%36.4) eyes. There was a decrease in the frequency (p<0.01) and severity (p<0.01) of ocular attacks and in the maintenance steroid dose (p<0.01) when compared with conventional therapy. The frequent side effects were paraesthesia-hyperesthesia, fatigue, nausea, hirsutism and dose-related nephrotoxicity in one patient. CONCLUSION The results of the study suggest that low dose CSA combined with low dose corticosteroid may be an effective therapeutic alternative in the treatment of severe refractory Behçet's uveitis.
Barriers of trust in information sharing networks

The research area in question in this thesis is an analysis of success factors in information sharing trust networks that are designed to combat cyber crime. Information sharing is one of the key elements in successful security work, both in intrusion prevention as well as detection and incident handling. Information sharing has been addressed by numerous national institutions, and also international bodies like the EU committees CEPS and ENISA. However, many of the research questions posed are of a technical nature, focusing on the technical side of creating an information sharing regime. Trust is just as important, and it partly replaces control. Based on interviews with key persons in security organizations, and on literature review, we look into elements of trust culture and the impact these have on a successful information network. We raise questions on the importance and facilitation of personal trust, and the impact of laws and regulations governing these areas, considering the lack of defined judiciary and of possible reprisals in trust communities. We look into the complex area of trust of intent, the constraints this puts on group size, and the complications of having participation by representation. We take into consideration relevant trust inhibitors and -enablers, both in terms of culture, communication mechanisms and trust network structure, and we consider whether political correctness can be an inhibitor of trust. We also provide some trust network recommendations based on our research.
Mental Health Over Time in a Military Sample: The Impact of Alcohol Use Disorder on Trajectories of Psychopathology After Deployment.

To identify trajectories of depression and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptom groups after deployment and determine the effect of alcohol use disorder on these trajectories, depression symptoms were modeled using the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire in 727 Ohio National Guard members, and PTS symptoms were modeled using the PTSD Checklist in 472 Ohio National Guard members. There were 55.8% who were resistant to depression symptoms across the 4 years of study, and 41.5% who were resistant to PTS symptoms. There were 18.7% and 42.2% of participants who showed resilience (experiencing slightly elevated symptoms followed by a decline, according to Bonanno et al., 2002) to depression and PTS symptoms, respectively. Mild and chronic dysfunction constituted the smallest trajectory groups across disorders. Marital status, deployment to an area of conflict, and number of lifetime stressors were associated with membership into different latent groups for depression (unstandardized β estimates range = 0.69 to 1.37). Deployment to an area of conflict, number of lifetime traumatic events and education predicted membership into different latent groups for PTS (significant unstandardized β estimate range = 0.83 to 3.17). AUD was associated with an increase in both symptom outcomes (significant unstandardized β estimate range = 0.20 to 9.45). These results suggested that alcohol use disorder may have contributed substantially to trajectories of psychopathology in this population.
Effect of pH on the structure and stability of Bacillus circulans ssp. alkalophilus phosphoserine aminotransferase: Thermodynamic and crystallographic studies

pH is one of the key parameters that affect the stability and function of proteins. We have studied the effect of pH on the pyridoxal‐5′‐phosphate‐dependent enzyme phosphoserine aminotransferase produced by the facultative alkaliphile Bacillus circulans ssp. alkalophilus using thermodynamic and crystallographic analysis. Enzymatic activity assay showed that the enzyme has maximum activity at pH 9.0 and relative activity less than 10% at pH 7.0. Differential scanning calorimetry and circular dichroism experiments revealed variations in the stability and denaturation profiles of the enzyme at different pHs. Most importantly, release of pyridoxal‐5′‐phosphate and protein thermal denaturation were found to occur simultaneously at pH 6.0 in contrast to pH 8.5 where denaturation preceded cofactor's release by approximately 3°C. To correlate the observed differences in thermal denaturation with structural features, the crystal structure of phosphoserine aminotransferase was determined at 1.2 and 1.5 Å resolution at two different pHs (8.5 and 4.6, respectively). Analysis of the two structures revealed changes in the vicinity of the active site and in surface residues. A conformational change in a loop involved in substrate binding at the entrance of the active site has been identified upon pH change. Moreover, the number of intramolecular ion pairs was found reduced in the pH 4.6 structure. Taken together, the presented kinetics, thermal denaturation, and crystallographic data demonstrate a potential role of the active site in unfolding and suggest that subtle but structurally significant conformational rearrangements are involved in the stability and integrity of phosphoserine aminotransferase in response to pH changes. Proteins 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Correlation of Corneal Elevation With Severity of Keratoconus by Means of Anterior and Posterior Topographic Analysis

Purpose: To investigate the severity of keratoconus in terms of corneal elevation differences with 2 different reference surfaces using topographic analysis. Methods: Eighty-six eyes of 50 patients with keratoconus of various clinical stages (61 male and 25 female eyes) with mean age of 37.3 ± 11.6 years were evaluated. Anterior and posterior corneal elevations were measured using topographic analysis (using a rotating Scheimpflug camera), and the imaging data were analyzed to estimate elevation differences as differential values from conventional best-fit-sphere and enhanced best-fit-sphere (exclusion of a 4-mm-diameter area from the most thinned cornea). The data correlated with the keratoconus severity index and Amsler–Krumeich classification of keratoconus. Results: There was a significant positive correlation between elevation differences and keratoconus severity index in both anterior and posterior surfaces (Pearson correlation coefficient, r = 0.66; P < 0.001; r = 0.74; P < 0.001). Cases of larger elevation differences in the anterior and posterior corneal surfaces were staged higher in Amsler–Krumeich classification (1-way analysis of variance, P = 0.040; P < 0.001). Cases of lower staging in the Amsler–Krumeich classification had a larger area under the receiver operating characteristic curve in the posterior elevation differences than in the anterior elevation differences, suggesting a greater diagnostic value of the posterior elevation measurement. Conclusions: Anterior and posterior corneal surface height data obtained by elevation-based tomography provide useful information in improving keratoconus diagnostic accuracy and in grading the severity of keratoconus.
Toward a NOTCH1/FBXW7/RAS/PTEN-based oncogenetic risk classification of adult T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a Group for Research in Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia study.

PURPOSE The Group for Research in Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (GRAALL) recently reported a significantly better outcome in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) harboring NOTCH1 and/or FBXW7 (N/F) mutations compared with unmutated T-ALL. Despite this, one third of patients with N/F-mutated T-ALL experienced relapse. PATIENTS AND METHODS In a series of 212 adult T-ALLs included in the multicenter randomized GRAALL-2003 and -2005 trials, we searched for additional N/K-RAS mutations and PTEN defects (mutations and gene deletion). RESULTS N/F mutations were identified in 143 (67%) of 212 patients, and lack of N/F mutation was confirmed to be associated with a poor prognosis. K-RAS, N-RAS, and PTEN mutations/deletions were identified in three (1.6%) of 191, 17 (8.9%) of 191, and 21 (12%) of 175 patients, respectively. The favorable prognostic significance of N/F mutations was restricted to patients without RAS/PTEN abnormalities. These observations led us to propose a new T-ALL oncogenetic classifier defining low-risk patients as those with N/F mutation but no RAS/PTEN mutation (97 of 189 patients; 51%) and all other patients (49%; including 13% with N/F and RAS/PTEN mutations) as high-risk patients. In multivariable analysis, this oncogenetic classifier remained the only significant prognostic covariate (event-free survival: hazard ratio [HR], 3.2; 95% CI, 1.9 to 5.15; P < .001; and overall survival: HR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.9 to 5.6; P < .001). CONCLUSION These data demonstrate that the presence of N/F mutations in the absence of RAS or PTEN abnormalities predicts good outcome in almost 50% of adult T-ALL. Conversely, the absence of N/F or presence of RAS/PTEN alterations identifies the remaining cohort of patients with poor prognosis.