Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reversible multifocal conduction block in sarcoid neuropathy

Dear Editor, Sarcoid neuropathy has features of axonal abnormalities, either pathologically or neurophysiologically (Oh, 1980; Nemni et al., 1981; Galassi et al., 1984; Gainsborough et al., 1991; Said et al., 2002). We report two consecutive patients with sarcoid neuropathy in which nerve conduction study (NCS) revealed reversible multifocal conduction block, indicating treatable demyelinating process. Patient 1: In April 1997, a 74-year-old woman developed right facial palsy. Two months later she showed left facial palsy, left blephaloptosis, and numbness in distal extremities. Dysesthetic pain then occurred in the feet. On examination, ankle dorsoflexion, wrist extension, and the small hand muscles were weak bilaterally. Tendon reflexes were lost. Plantar responses were flexor. Vibratory sense was slightly decreased in the feet. Ophthalmologic examination revealed active iritis and bilateral chronic glaucoma. Serum lysozyme was 18 mg/mL (normal, 3.0–10.6). Autoantibodies were negative. Her blood count, electrolytes, calcium, and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) were normal. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) protein was 71 mg/dL with no pleocytosis. Chest X-ray revealed mediastinal lymphadenopathy. Magnetic resonance imaging of brain showed no abnormalities. NCS performed on July 8, 1997 revealed the right median compound muscle action potential (CMAP) of 1.8 mV after elbow stimulation, while wrist stimulation elicited 6.3 mV CMAP. Motor conduction velocity (MCV) was 39 m/s. Left median nerve study also demonstrated abnormal amplitude reduction more than 80% after proximal stimulation (Fig. 1A). The sural compound sensory nerve action potential (CSAP) could not be elicited bilaterally. On July 15, the right median study revealed a decrease in distal CMAP with prolonged distal latency. The left median nerve showed a marked reduction in proximal amplitude to 1.2 mV, while distal CMAP was 5.2 mV. The right ulnar NCS revealed a novel abnormal reduction in proximal CMAP of 2.9 mV, while distal CMAP was 5.9 mV. In the end of July, abnormal amplitude reduction of proximal CMAP still persisted in several nerves (Table 1). Muscle biopsy from the anterior tibial muscle revealed numerous non-caseous granulomas composed of lymphocytes, epithelioid cells, and multinuclear giant cells, which were consistent with sarcoidosis. The biopsied sural nerve also showed a non-caseous granuloma that occupied the endoneurium of a nerve fascicle. No angiitis was observed. Myelinated fiber density was slightly reduced (5,261/ mm). There were some degenerating axons, clustering of small fibers, and occasional thinly myelinated fibers. We treated the patient with prednisone 30 mg/ day. Gradual symptomatic improvement developed over the next 6 months. Follow-up NCS on January 27,
Bank Loans with Chinese Characteristics: Some Evidence on Inside Debt in a State-Controlled Banking System

Abstract We study a transitional economy where state-controlled banks make loan decisions based on noisy inside information on prospective borrowers, and may lend to avert unemployment and social instability. In China, poor financial performance and high managerial expenses increase the likelihood of obtaining a bank loan, and bank loan approval predicts poor subsequent borrower performance. Negative event study responses occur at bank loan announcements, particularly for borrowers measuring poorly on quality and creditworthiness, or for lenders or borrowers involved in litigation regarding loans. Our results highlight dilemmas in a state-led financial system and the local stock market’s sophistication in interpreting news.
Is there a correlation between dyslipidemia and cognitive impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis?

Abstract Background. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune and demyelination disease of the central nervous system that causes progressive accumulation of disability over time. Recent studies have highlighted the correlation between metabolic disorders and cognitive dysfunctions. The present study aims to evaluate the correlation between components of the lipid profile and cognitive dysfunctions in patients affected by MS. Methods. 90 MS inpatients were included in this study. We divided the sample into three subgroups to evaluate the influence of the presence of dyslipidemia: G1 (patients with dyslipidemia), G2 (patients without dyslipidemia), G3 (patients with a higher than normal lipid value). Patients underwent rehabilitation treatment which included conventional physiotherapy, speech therapy, psychological support, cognitive rehabilitation, nutritional therapy, robotic rehabilitation, cognitive rehabilitation, and virtual reality. Results. The results showed that the three subgroups had a significant improvement in global cognitive functioning (MOCA p < 0.00), working memory (BRB-NV SRT-LTS p < 0.00) and in attention process (BRB-NV SDMT p < 0.00). Only in the G2, we observed a significant improvement in visuospatial abilities (RAO SPART p < 0.00). Moreover, we found that the cholesterol was negatively correlated with the cognitive functioning score of the patients after rehabilitation and the EDSS score. While the triglyceride scores were negatively correlated with the working memory score before and after rehabilitation. BMI scores were negatively correlated with the visuospatial ability score. Conclusion. Investigating these aspects could help in managing patients, preventing alterations that compromise the patient's quality of life.
Accounting for representativeness errors in the inversion of atmospheric constituent emissions: application to the retrieval of regional carbon monoxide fluxes

ABSTRACT A four-dimensional variational data assimilation system (4D-Var) is developed to retrieve carbon monoxide (CO) fluxes at regional scale, using an air quality network. The air quality stations that monitor CO are proximity stations located close to industrial, urban or traffic sources. The mismatch between the coarsely discretised Eulerian transport model and the observations, inferred to be mainly due to representativeness errors in this context, lead to a bias (average simulated concentrations minus observed concentrations) of the same order of magnitude as the concentrations. 4D-Var leads to a mild improvement in the bias because it does not adequately handle the representativeness issue. For this reason, a simple statistical subgrid model is introduced and is coupled to 4D-Var. In addition to CO fluxes, the optimisation seeks to jointly retrieve influence coefficients, which quantify each station's representativeness. The method leads to a much better representation of the CO concentration variability, with a significant improvement of statistical indicators. The resulting increase in the total inventory estimate is close to the one obtained from remote sensing data assimilation. This methodology and experiments suggest that information useful at coarse scales can be better extracted from atmospheric constituent observations strongly impacted by representativeness errors.
Folates and the fetus 1

It is proven that folic acid supplied in the periconceptional period can lower the recurrence and occurrence rate of neural tube defects (NTDs). Our research team on prevention of birth defects could demonstrate that folic acid preventable N TD s are partly based on hyperhomocystinemia and a genetic predisposition (mutation o f the metliylenetetrahydrofolate-reductase gene (MTHFR)). Reduced activity of the folate méthylation cycle seems to be an attractive working hypothesis in the aetiology o f NTDs. This genetic metabolic defect can be overcome by treatment with folic acid and/or vitamin B12. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved
‘I hate having nobody here. I’d like to know where they all are’: Can qualitative research detect differences in quality of life among nursing home residents with different levels of cognitive impairment?

Objective: To ascertain if similarities or differences exist in perceptions of quality of life (QoL) amongst nursing home (NH) residents with different levels of cognitive impairment (CI). Method: Face-to-face interviews using a simple 15-item semi-structured interview schedule with 61 older people with a CI (13 mild, 20 moderate and 28 severe) living in three Dublin area based NHs. Results: Four key themes of QoL with accompanying sub-themes were identified: (1) social contact, (2) attachment, (3) pleasurable activities and (4) affect. Whilst some similarities existed between the three groups, results showed emerging differences, particularly between those with a mild and severe CI. In particular, the narratives of those with a severe CI reflected an absence of social contact, a quest for human contact and a lack of awareness of structured pleasurable activities. A large majority also reported feelings of loneliness, isolation and a search for home. Conclusions: Findings support the increasing evidence that people with a CI and even those with a probable advanced dementia can often still communicate their views and preferences about what is important to them. Whilst apathy, depression and anxiety are common features of advanced dementia, the social inclusion of these people in the day-to-day ethos of NH life needs a lot more careful consideration. More research is also needed to better understand the chronic and unique needs of this very vulnerable group of people.
Streptococcus mutans in Caries-free and Caries-active Naval Recruits

Streptococcus mutans was detected by a colorimetric test in all of 53 caries-active naval recruits and in 98 of 120 caries-free (DMFT = 0) recruits. The number of positive sites was greater in the caries-active subjects. The low percentage of false positive and false negative S. mutans isolations confirmed the value of the colorimetric test as a preliminary indicator of S. mutans.
Prolongation of the bovine estrous cycle with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog.

A series of in vitro and in vivo experiments was conducted to determine the effects of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) on bovine luteal function. Biosynthesis of progesterone by bovine luteal cells during a 2-h incubation was determined following addition of 0, 10, 20, 40, 80 and 100 ng GnRH. Synthesis of progesterone was significantly depressed only by the 100-ng dose of GnRH. Luteal cells were incubated with 0.1 and 1.0 microgram GnRH in the presence and absence of 0, 1, 2 and 5 ng bovine luteinizing hormone (LH). Again, only the highest dose of GnRH significantly depressed LH-stimulated production of progesterone. Three experiments were conducted to assess the effects of repetitively administered GnRH. In the first, twice daily intrauterine infusions of 100 micrograms GnRH on Days 12, 13 and 14 of the bovine estrous cycle was without effect on plasma concentrations of progesterone and the functional life span of the corpus luteum (CL). In the second experiment, 10 micrograms of a highly potent GnRH analog (GnRH-A) was injected subcutaneously four times daily on Days 9-12 of the estrous cycle. GnRH-A-treated heifers had longer (P less than 0.05) mean estrous cycle lengths (26.2 +/- 0.72 days) when compared to control heifers (20.25 +/- 0.25 days). Plasma concentrations of progesterone were higher in the GnRH-A-treated group on Days 9-13 and Days 15-22 of the estrous cycle. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Dissociations in dopamine release in medial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum during the acquisition and extinction of classical aversive conditioning in the rat

Dual perfusion in vivo brain microdialysis was used to monitor extracellular levels of dopamine in the medial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum during the acquisition and extinction of a classical aversive conditioning paradigm in rats. The main finding was a dissociation in the pattern of release in the two brain areas. The first stimulus–footshock pairing elicited large increases in cortical dopamine over baseline levels that were much greater than the increases elicited by different stimuli of equivalent salience that were unpaired with footshock. In contrast, dopamine levels in ventral striatum were unchanged under these conditions. Over the next two pairings, there was a decline in the cortical response and an increase in the response in ventral striatum. The first presentation of the aversive conditioned stimulus in a separate context elicited the largest response in ventral striatum. Post‐conditioning, the cortical response to the conditioned stimulus was smaller than that elicited by the initial stimulus–footshock pairing and was equivalent in magnitude to that elicited by stimuli unpaired with footshock. Over the final two conditioned stimuli presentations, in the absence of the footshock reinforcer (extinction), responses declined in both brain areas. Simultaneous monitoring of behaviour indicated that the neurochemical events were accompanied by effective aversive learning, as indexed by conditioned freezing responses. The data are discussed in terms of the hypothesis that medial prefrontal cortex is especially engaged during novel circumstances which may, potentially, require new learning, whilst ventral striatal dopamine more closely follows the expression of conditioned responding during learning and extinction.
Diffusion‐Based Snow Cover Generation

We present a method to generate snow covers on complex scene geometries. Both volumetric snow shapes and photorealistic texturing are computed. We formulate snow accumulation as a diffusive distribution process on a ground scene. Our theoretical framework is motivated by models for granular material deposition. With the framework we can capture the most relevant features of natural snow cover geometries in a concise local computation scheme. Snow bridges and overhangs are also included. Snow surface texture coordinates are computed to create realistic ground–snow interfaces. Several example scenes and a supplementary snow cover growth animation demonstrate the method's efficiency.
Effects of gamma-interferon on human trabecular meshwork cell phagocytosis.

PURPOSE Gamma-interferon (G-IFN) regulates a variety of immune responses including the modulation of the phagocytic response and induction of class II major histocompatibility complex antigens. Because human trabecular meshwork (HTM) cells in culture are known to be actively phagocytic and have been shown to express class II major histocompatibility complex antigens, the effects of G-IFN on HTM cells were examined. METHODS Confluent HTM cells were incubated in media (Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium +10% fetal bovine serum) containing 0, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, or 5000 units/ml of recombinant human G-IFN for 72 hr. After incubation, the cultured HTM cells were challenged with 5 ml of media containing 1 x 10(8) fluorescein labeled microspheres/ml. Phagocytic uptake was determined by flow cytometry. RESULTS Flow cytometric analysis of microsphere uptake shows that G-IFN inhibited HTM cell phagocytosis of microspheres in a dose-dependent fashion. At 5000 units/ml of G-IFN, phagocytosis of microspheres was inhibited by 64.5 +/- 2.4% compared to control (P < 0.007). The half maximal dose of phagocytic inhibition is < 10 units/ml. Increasing the time of G-IFN exposure from 24 to 72 hr at 10 units/ml increased the level of phagocytic inhibition from 39 to 49%, respectively. The rate of microsphere uptake was also reduced in a dose-dependent fashion. Morphologic examination after G-IFN incubation showed that HTM cells became enlarged and flattened compared to the control. Actin cytoskeletal immunofluorescence staining showed that parallel actin beams of the control cells were changed to a radical, spokelike arrangement when incubated in G-IFN. CONCLUSIONS G-IFN is a potent inhibitor of HTM cell phagocytosis in vitro. G-IFN's effect on the actin cytoskeleton suggests that G-IFN may be disturbing the cytoskeletal organization necessary for phagocytosis.
Place of Death of Older Persons with Dementia. A Study in Five European Countries

The aging of the European population will lead to a rapid increase in dementia cases in the coming decades, posing challenges for the organization and provision of end‐of‐life care. Studying the place of death of patients with dementia, and what determines it, is relevant in this context. Using death certificates, the deaths of people aged 65 and older whose underlying cause of death was a dementia‐related disease was studied in Belgium, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, and Wales. Between 50% (Wales) and 92% (Netherlands) of patients with dementia died in a nursing home and between 3% (Netherlands) and 46% (Wales) in hospital. Home death was rare (3–5%) except in Belgium (11%). Multivariate analysis showed that place of death was related to age, sex, available hospital and nursing home beds, and country of residence. Although availability of hospital and nursing home beds partially explained the variation between countries, considerable variation remained even after controlling for that, plus age, sex, and social support. Place of death from dementia differed significantly between the countries studied. In all countries, a majority of patients with dementia died in a long‐term care facility. The provision of appropriate long‐term care facilities with appropriate staffing could be the primary policy instrument that could help patients with dementia avoid dying in the hospital and ensure quality of end‐of‐life care in Europe.
Neutralizing Anti-F Glycoprotein and Anti-Substance P Antibody Treatment Effectively Reduces Infection and Inflammation Associated with Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection

ABSTRACT Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most important virus mediating lower respiratory tract illness in infants and young children. RSV infection is associated with pulmonary inflammation and increased levels of substance P (SP), making the airways and leukocytes that express SP receptors susceptible to the proinflammatory effects of this peptide. This study examines combining neutralizing anti-F glycoprotein and anti-SP antibody treatment of RSV-infected BALB/c mice to inhibit RSV replication and inflammation associated with infection. BALB/c mice were prophylactically treated with antibody prior to RSV infection or were therapeutically treated at day 2 or 6 post-RSV infection. Prophylactic or therapeutic treatment with anti-SP antibodies promptly reduced pulmonary inflammatory cell infiltration and decreased the number of cells expressing proinflammatory cytokines, while anti-F antibody treatment reduced virus titers. The results suggest that combined anti-viral and anti-SP antibody treatment may be effective in treating RSV disease.
Integration of clinical and microarray data with kernel methods

Currently, the clinical management of cancer is based on empirical data from the literature (clinical studies) or based on the expertise of the clinician. Recently microarray technology emerged and it has the potential to revolutionize the clinical management of cancer and other diseases. A microarray allows to measure the expression levels of thousands of genes simultaneously which may reflect diagnostic or prognostic categories and sensitivity to treatment. The objective of this paper is to investigate whether clinical data, which is the basis of day-to-day clinical decision support, can be efficiently combined with microarray data, which has yet to prove its potential to deliver patient tailored therapy, using least squares support vector machines.
Dysfunctional growth hormone receptor in a strain of sex-linked dwarf chicken: evidence for a mutation in the intracellular domain.

The sex-linked dwarf (dwdw) chicken represents a valuable animal model for studying GH insensitivity and the consequence of mutations in the GH receptor (GHR) gene. We have recently reported undetectable hepatic GH-binding activity and an aberrantly sized transcript in a strain of dwdw chickens obtained from Arbor Acre Farms, Inc. (Glastonbury, CT, USA). Southern blot analysis of the chicken GHR (cGHR) gene revealed a restriction-fragment length polymorphism in HindIII and EcoRI digests of genomic DNA in this strain of dwdw chicken. In order to localize the molecular mutation, we analysed the gene structure and determined the complete sequence of the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR) of the normal cGHR. With the use of this information, we located a large deletion in the 3' end of the cGHR gene of the Connecticut (CT) strain of dwdw chicken. This deletion (1773 bp) contained 27 highly conserved amino acids of the 3' end of the coding region, the in-frame stop codon, a less frequently used poly(A) signal that is normally found 445 bp downstream of the stop codon, and a large portion of the 3' UTR. Because of this deletion, 27 novel amino acids were substituted and the open reading frame was extended for an additional 26 amino acids before reaching the transcriptional termination site. The predicted amino acid sequence of the novel carboxyl-terminus of the dwdw cGHR is largely hydrophobic with a polylysine tail, whereas the carboxyl-terminus of the wild-type (DwDw) cGHR is composed of hydrophilic amino acids. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Bacterial Resistance to Ultrasonic Waves under Pressure at Nonlethal (Manosonication) and Lethal (Manothermosonication) Temperatures

ABSTRACT The decimal reduction times of Streptococcus faecium,Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enteritidis, and Aeromonas hydrophila corresponding to heat treatment at 62°C were 7.1, 0.34, 0.024, and 0.0096 min, and those corresponding to manosonication treatment (40°C, 200 kPa, 117 μm) were 4.0, 1.5, 0.86, and 0.90 min, respectively. The manosonication decimal reduction times of the four species investigated decreased sixfold when the amplitude was increased from 62 to 150 μm and fivefold when the relative pressure was raised from 0 to 400 kPa. In L. monocytogenes, S. enteritidis, and A. hydrophila, the lethal effect of manothermosonication was the result of the addition of the lethal effects of heat and manosonication, whereas in S. faecium it was a synergistic effect.