Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hyperacute ischemic stroke: middle cerebral artery susceptibility sign at echo-planar gradient-echo MR imaging.

PURPOSE To evaluate the accuracy of echo-planar T2*-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) sequences in detection of acute middle cerebral artery (MCA) or internal carotid artery (ICA) thrombotic occlusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-two consecutive patients with stroke involving the MCA territory underwent MR imaging within 6 hours after clinical onset. MR examination included echo-planar T2*-weighted, diffusion-weighted (DW), and perfusion-weighted (PW) imaging and MR angiography. Presence or absence of the susceptibility sign on echo-planar T2*-weighted images, which is indicative of acute thrombotic occlusion involving MCA or ICA, was assessed in consensus by two observers blinded to clinical information and other MR imaging data. Differences in lesion volume on DW and PW images between patients with and those without the susceptibility sign were evaluated with the Mann-Whitney test. P <. 05 was considered to indicate a significant difference. RESULTS Thirty patients (71%) had a positive susceptibility sign that correlated with MCA or ICA occlusion at MR angiography in all cases (sensitivity, 83%; specificity, 100%). Mean lesion volume on PW images was higher in patients with a positive susceptibility sign (P =.01), but no significant differences were found in mean lesion volume on DW images. Cases in which the susceptibility sign was identified proximal to MCA divisional bifurcation (27 patients) showed a mean perfusion deficit of 83.9% of the total MCA territory (range, 50%-100%). CONCLUSION Presence of the susceptibility sign proximal to MCA bifurcation provides fast and accurate detection of acute proximal MCA or ICA thrombotic occlusion.
Effect of anesthesia and surgery on energy expenditure determined by indirect calorimetry in dogs with malignant and nonmalignant conditions.

OBJECTIVE To determine energy expenditure (EE) of apparently resting, client-owned dogs with malignant or nonmalignant diseases that were recovering from anesthesia and surgery, and compare those values with values from clinically normal, apparently resting, client owned dogs. ANIMALS 40 apparently resting, client-owned dogs that had been given general anesthesia for various elective and nonelective surgical procedures, and 30 apparently resting, clinically normal client-owned dogs used as controls. PROCEDURE EE was determined, using an open-flow indirect calorimetry system. Each dog was evaluated before and after surgery (0, 1, 2, and 3 days after surgery, then at suture removal > 14 days later) and compared with apparently resting, clinically normal, client-owned dogs (n = 30). Parameters evaluated were rate of oxygen consumption (Vo2/kg of body weight: ml/min/kg; Vo2/kg0.75: ml/min/kg0.75), EE (EE/kg: kcal/kg/d; EE/kg0.75: kcal/kg0.75/d), and respiratory quotient. RESULTS Surgery and anesthesia did not significantly alter any of these parameters at any time assessed in any group. The pretreatment Vo2 and EE were significantly lower in the dogs with cancer, compared with dogs of other groups. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that the EE of a restricted group of dogs that undergo anesthesia and surgery for malignant and nonmalignant conditions does not increase from baseline values or when compared with values in clinically normal, client-owned dogs. CLINICAL RELEVANCE This information may be of value when planning nutritional treatment for dogs recovering from anesthesia and surgery.
Chronic exposure to biomass fuel smoke and markers of endothelial inflammation.

Indoor smoke exposure may affect cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk via lung-mediated inflammation, oxidative stress, and endothelial inflammation. We sought to explore the association between indoor smoke exposure from burning biomass fuels and a selected group of markers for endothelial inflammation. We compared serum concentrations of amyloid A protein, E-selectin, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and VCAM-1, von Willebrand factor (vWF), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in 228 biomass-exposed vs. 228 non-exposed participants living in Puno, Peru. Average age was 56 years (s.d. = 13), average BMI was 26.5 kg/m(2) (s.d. = 4.4), 48% were male, 59.4% completed high school, and 2% reported a physician diagnosis of CVD. In unadjusted analysis, serum levels of soluble ICAM-1 (330 vs. 302 ng/ml; P < 0.001), soluble VCAM-1 (403 vs. 362 ng/ml; P < 0.001), and E-selectin (54.2 vs. 52.7 ng/ml; P = 0.05) were increased in biomass-exposed vs. non-exposed participants, respectively, whereas serum levels of vWF (1148 vs. 1311 mU/ml; P < 0.001) and hs-CRP (2.56 vs. 3.12 mg/l; P < 0.001) were decreased, respectively. In adjusted analyses, chronic exposure to biomass fuels remained positively associated with serum levels of soluble ICAM-1 (P = 0.03) and VCAM-1 (P = 0.05) and E-selectin (P = 0.05), and remained negatively associated with serum levels of vWF (P = 0.02) and hs-CRP (P < 0.001). Daily exposure to biomass fuel smoke was associated with important differences in specific biomarkers of endothelial inflammation and may help explain accelerated atherosclerosis among those who are chronically exposed.
Graph Convolutional Networks to explore Drug and Disease Relationships in Biological Networks

Discovering drug-disease relationships is crucial for medical diagnosis and can provide critical insights for medical treatment. Traditionally, this analysis has been based on protein-protein interaction (PPI) graphs where a few known disease-associated proteins are used to identify other proteins by exploring network properties. The aim of this project is to explore recent graph convolutional networks on drug-disease interaction in biological networks. These networks represent nodes using node embeddings (vectors of floating point numbers) which are generated by incorporating features derived from their neighborhoods in the graphs. These embeddings can be learned in an unsupervised manner (to recover the graph structure) or supervised manner (combined with a downstream task). This project could potentially be applied to predicting and uncovering previously undiscovered or incompletely identified disease-drug interactions, with the help of these learned features, bootstrapping off a relatively smaller number of labeled nodes at the start of training (inductive learning). We plan to experiment with both methods for our problem of predicting proteins associated with a particular disease.
Aberrant methylation status of known methylation‐sensitive CpG islands in gastrointestinal stromal tumors without any correlation to the state of c‐kit and PDGFRA gene mutations and their malignancy

To identify additional alterations to c‐kit or platelet‐derived growth factor receptor α (PDGFRA) genes in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), we investigated the methylation status of nine known methylation‐sensitive CpG islands (p15, p16, p73, 0‐6‐methylguanine‐DNA methyltransferase, E‐cadherin, mutL homolog 1, colon cancer nonpolyposis type 2 (escherichia), methylated in tumors [MINT]1, MINT2, and MINT31), and compared the results with the malignant potential and gain‐of‐function mutation types of GIST. Thirty‐five GIST (c‐kit mutations in 25 cases, PDGFRA mutations in seven cases, and lacking either mutation in three cases) were subjected to methylation‐specific polymerase chain reaction to detect the methylation status of the nine methylation‐sensitive CpG islands. Aberrant DNA methylation of these loci was found in 94% of all GIST. The rates of DNA methylation at each locus were as follows: hMLH1, 60%; MINT2, 51%; MGMT, 49%; p73, 49%; p16, 20%; E‐cadherin, 14%; MINT1, 9%; p15, 6%; and MINT31, 0%. CpG islands methylator phenotype, which was defined as methylation involving more than three gene promoters, was found in 57% of GIST with c‐kit or PDGFRA gene mutations. According to the risk categories, CpG islands methylator phenotype was present in 55% of low‐risk GIST, and in 58% of high‐risk GIST. Our results suggested that in addition to c‐kit or PDGFRA mutations, the aberrant methylation of CpG islands, especially of mismatch‐repair genes, may have a role in the tumorigenesis of GIST. (Cancer Sci 2008; 99: 253–259)
Brucella Intracellular Replication Requires Trafficking Through the Late Endosomal/Lysosomal Compartment

Upon entry into mammalian cells, the intracellular pathogen Brucella abortus resides within a membrane‐bound compartment, the Brucella‐containing vacuole (BCV), the maturation of which is controlled by the bacterium to generate a replicative organelle derived from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Prior to reaching the ER, Brucella is believed to ensure its intracellular survival by inhibiting fusion of the intermediate BCV with late endosomes and lysosomes, although such BCVs are acidic and accumulate the lysosomal‐associated membrane protein (LAMP‐1). Here, we have further examined the nature of intermediate BCVs using confocal microscopy and live cell imaging. We show that BCVs rapidly acquire several late endocytic markers, including the guanosine triphosphatase Rab7 and its effector Rab‐interacting lysosomal protein (RILP), and are accessible to fluid‐phase markers either delivered to the whole endocytic pathway or preloaded to lysosomes, indicating that BCVs interact with late endosomes and lysosomes. Consistently, intermediate BCVs are acidic and display proteolytic activity up to 12 h post‐infection. Expression of dominant‐negative Rab7 or overexpression of RILP significantly impaired the ability of bacteria to convert their vacuole into an ER‐derived organelle and replicate, indicating that BCV maturation requires interactions with functional late endosomal/lysosomal compartments. In cells expressing dominant‐negative Rab7[T22N], BCVs remained acidic, yet displayed decreased fusion with lysosomes. Taken together, these results demonstrate that BCVs traffic along the endocytic pathway and fuse with lysosomes, and such fusion events are required for further maturation of BCVs into an ER‐derived replicative organelle.
Molecular characterization of full-length genome of Japanese encephalitis virus genotype V isolated from Tibet, China.

OBJECTIVE To determine the molecular characterization of full-length genome of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) genotype V. METHODS The full-length nucleotide sequences of JEV strains isolated from different locations and sources were used in sequence and phylogenetic analysis. RESULTS The full-length genome of genotypes V JEV, XZ0934, and Muar strain were composed of 10 983 and 10 988 nucleotides respectively and shared a lower level of identity with JEV genotypes I-IV, ranging from 78.4% (G I, KV1899) to 79.7% (G III, JaGAr01), for the nucleotide sequences, and from 90.0% (G I, KV1899) to 91.8% (G III, JaGAr01) for the amino acid sequences. The open reading frame (ORF) of JEV genotype V spanned nucleotides 96 to 10 397 and encoded 3 433 amino acids. Interestingly, a comparison with JEV genotype I-IV revealed that 3 nucleotides (encoded with a serine residue) were inserted in the NS4A gene of JEV genotype V, and the insertion of nucleotides was also found in downstream of the ORF stop codon in 3'-untranslated region. Moreover, numerous amino acid mutations were observed in 3 functional domains of the E gene of JEV genotype V. CONCLUSION The molecular characterization of JEV genotype V is significantly different from that of the known genotypes I-IV. The mutations located in the coding region and the non-coding region may be molecular markers of JEV genotype V and warrant further studies to determine their effects on biology and immunogenicity of genotype V strains.
Pressurized Metered-Dose Inhalers Versus Nebulizers in the Treatment of Mechanically Ventilated Subjects With Artificial Airways: An In Vitro Study

BACKGROUND: The primary focus of previous aerosol research during mechanical ventilation was the endotracheal tube (ETT). Consequently, there are limited data in the literature on the delivery of inhaled medications administered with different aerosol devices in mechanically ventilated patients with a tracheostomy tube (TT). The purpose of this study was to quantify and compare the efficiency of aerosol devices in a lung model of an intubated and mechanically ventilated adult with a TT. METHODS: An in vitro lung model was constructed to simulate a ventilator-dependent adult with a Portex TT and a Mallinckrodt ETT (8-mm inner diameter). Aerosol was collected distal to the bronchi of an adult mannikin on a filter attached to a passive test lung. A ventilator delivered adult breathing parameters (tidal volume 450 mL, breathing frequency 20 breaths/min, peak expiratory flow 40 L/min, and inspiratory-expiratory ratio 1:3) to the airway. A jet nebulizer and pressurized metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) were placed in the inspiratory limb of the circuit 15 cm from the Y-adapter. The jet nebulizer was operated at 8 L/min to deliver albuterol sulfate (2.5 mg/3 mL), whereas an albuterol pMDI was actuated 4 times with a spacer. Drug was eluted from the filter and analyzed by spectrophotometry. RESULTS: Drug delivered via a TT was marginally greater compared with an ETT using the jet nebulizer and pMDI (P = .10 and .046, respectively). Although delivery efficiency with the pMDI was 3-fold greater than with the jet nebulizer with both a TT and an ETT (P = .001 and .002, respectively), the jet nebulizer delivered greater drug mass compared with the pMDI with either a TT (P = .01) or an ETT (P = .005). CONCLUSIONS: Aerosol drug delivery via a TT was greater than with an ETT, whereas the delivery efficiency of a pMDI via either airway was greater than that of a jet nebulizer.
Waiting for an operation: parents' perspectives.

OBJECTIVE To determine parents' attitudes toward and acceptance of waiting times for their child's operation. DESIGN Waiting times were measured by a cross-sectional method. A descriptive survey was conducted of families with a child waiting for a non-urgent operation. SETTING A university teaching hospital. SUBJECTS Parents of children (age < 20 yr) waiting for non-urgent pediatric general-surgery operations. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Parents' concerns and attitudes about waiting for their child's operation, how it was affecting the child and family, how urgent they felt the need for surgery was, and what they thought was a reasonable maximum waiting period. RESULTS Of 89 patients waiting for non-urgent pediatric general-surgery operations at the time of the survey, 61% had been waiting > 6 months and 30% > 12 months. Of the 57 families (64%) who returned completed surveys, 94% reported the wait to be emotionally stressful for the family; 81.5% expected their child's quality of life would improve after the operation. As for length of wait, 83% felt that > 3 months was unacceptable, and 98% > 6 months. CONCLUSIONS Parents of children waiting for pediatric general surgery operations thought that the need for the operation was significantly more urgent then their classification of elective. They felt that waiting periods should not exceed 3 months. Long waiting periods are stressful for both family and child. Parental perceptions are important when considering strategies for wait-list management.
The N* Nakagami fading channel model

A generic distribution, referred to as N* Nakagami, constructed as the product of N statistically independent, but not necessarily identically distributed, Nakagami-m random variables (RV)s, is introduced and analyzed. The proposed distribution turns out to be an extremely convenient tool for analyzing the performance of digital communication systems over generalized fading channels. The main result contributions of the paper are two-fold. Firstly, the moments-generating function (MGF), probability density function, cumulative distribution function (CDF), and moments of the N* Nakagami distribution are derived in closed-form. Using these formulae, generic closed-form expressions for the outage probability, amount of fading, and average symbol error probability for several binary and multilevel modulation signals of digital communication systems operating over the N* Nakagami fading channel model are presented. Various numerical and computer simulation results verify the correctness of the proposed formulation. Secondly, the suitability of the N* Nakagami fading distribution to approximate the lognormal distribution is being investigated. Using Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests, the rate of convergence of the central limit theorem as pertaining to the multiplication of RVs is quantified.
Reduced joint pain after short-term duodenal administration of seal oil in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: comparison with soy oil

Background: Rheumatic joint pain is a common extra-intestinal complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Because the high ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids (FAs) of the Western diet might promote rheumatic disorders, we sought to compare the effects of short-term duodenal administration of n-3-rich seal oil and n-6-rich soy oil on IBD-related joint pain. Methods: Nineteen patients with IBD-related joint pain were included in the study; 9 had Crohn disease and 10 had ulcerative colitis. Ten millilitres seal oil (n = 10) or soy oil (n = 9) was self-administered through a nasoduodenal feeding tube 3 times daily for 10 days. Results: Compared with soy oil treatment, seal oil significantly reduced the duration of morning stiffness (P = 0.024), number of tender joints (P = 0.035), intensity of pain (P = 0.025) and the doctor's scoring of rheumatic disease activity (P = 0.025) at the end of the 10-day treatment period. Analysis of the effects as area under the curve (area between the curve and baseline, zero) for the entire period from start of treatment until 6 months' post-treatment suggested a long-lasting beneficial effect of seal oil administration on joint pain, whereas soy oil tended (not significantly) to aggravate the condition. Consistently, the serum ratios of n-6 to n-3 FAs (P ≪⃒ 0.01) and arachidonic acid to eicosapentaenoic acid (P ≪⃒ 0.01) were reduced after treatment with seal oil. Conclusion: The results suggest distinctive, differential prolonged effects on IBD-related joint pain of short-term duodenal administration of n-3-rich seal oil (significant improvement) and n-6-rich soy oil (tendency to exacerbation).
Underestimation of Cognitive Impairment by Mini-Mental State Examination Versus the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in Patients With Transient Ischemic Attack and Stroke: A Population-Based Study

Background and Purpose— The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is insensitive to mild cognitive impairment and executive function. The more recently developed Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), an alternative, brief 30-point global cognitive screen, might pick up more cognitive abnormalities in patients with cerebrovascular disease. Methods— In a population-based study (Oxford Vascular Study) of transient ischemic attack and stroke, the MMSE and MoCA were administered to consecutive patients at 6-month or 5-year follow-up. Accepted cutoffs of MMSE <27 and MoCA <26 were taken to indicate cognitive impairment. Results— Of 493 patients, 413 (84%) were testable. Untestable patients were older (75.5 versus 69.9 years, P<0.001) and often had dysphasia (24%) or dementia (15%). Although MMSE and MoCA scores were highly correlated (r2=0.80, P<0.001), MMSE scores were skewed toward higher values, whereas MoCA scores were normally distributed: median and interquartile range 28 (26 to 29) and 23 (20 to 26), respectively. Two hundred ninety-one of 413 (70%) patients had MoCA <26 of whom 162 had MMSE ≥27, whereas only 5 patients had MoCA ≥26 and MMSE <27 (P<0.0001). In patients with MMSE ≥27, MoCA <26 was associated with higher Rankin scores (P=0.0003) and deficits in delayed recall, abstraction, visuospatial/executive function, and sustained attention. Conclusion— The MoCA picked up substantially more cognitive abnormalities after transient ischemic attack and stroke than the MMSE, demonstrating deficits in executive function, attention, and delayed recall.
Interleukin-1 gene cluster polymorphisms and risk of coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1 has been suggested to play a role in atherosclerosis. Several genetic polymorphisms have been described in the genes of the IL-1 cluster and associations with coronary artery disease (CAD) have been reported, although with contrasting results. DESIGN AND METHODS The associations of a variable number tandem repeat (86 bp) polymorphism in intron 2 of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL1-RA) and of the 511 C/T polymorphism of IL-1b with the risk of CAD were studied. Three hundred and thirty-five case (CAD+) patients with angiographically documented CAD (stenosis >50% in at least one major coronary artery) were compared with 205 unrelated individuals free of CAD signs at angiogram (CAD- controls). One hundred and two (30.5%) CAD+ patients had single-vessel disease (SVD) and 233 (69.5%) multiple-vessel disease (MVD). RESULTS There was no statistically significant difference in either genotype distribution or allele frequency of both IL-1 RA and IL-1b 511 C/T polymorphisms between CAD+ cases and CAD- controls. Moreover in multivariate analysis, adjusting for multiple comparisons and confounding factors, no difference was found in IL-1 RA genotype distribution between patients with SVD or MVD. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS Our study does not support the association between IL-1 RA intron 2 VNTR and IL-1b 511 C/T polymorphisms and the risk of CAD in individuals undergoing coronary angiography.
Effect of low doses of ethanol on spontaneous locomotor activity in UChB and UChA rats

The effects of low to moderate doses of ethanol on spontaneous locomotor activity were studied in the selectively bred high‐ethanol drinking (UChB) and the low‐ethanol drinking (UChA) strain of rats. Alcohol‐naive rats had food and water available ad libitum, although food was removed 24 hours before and during activity testing. After an injection of c.15 M NaCl or ethanol (0.25–1.0 g/kg), spontaneous locomotor activity was monitored every 5 minutes for 20 minutes in an open field apparatus. The UChB rats exhibited increased locomotor activity after doses of 0.25 and 0.50 g/kg of ethanol, while UChA rats failed to show increased locomotor activity at any ethanol dose. Moreover, the UChA rats appeared to be more sensitive to the sedating effects of 1.0 g/kg of ethanol than the UChB rats. These differences were not the result of different brain‐blood alcohol levels. Ethanol intakes by the UChB and UChA rats determined at the conclusion of activity testing averaged 5.0 ± 0.5 and 1.9 ± 0.4 g/kg/day, respectively. The data suggest that ethanol‐induced locomotor stimulation may be associated with ethanol preference and that hyperactivity may be an expression of the positive reinforcing effect of ethanol in UChB rats.