Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hybrid versus open repair of aortic arch aneurysms: comparison of postoperative and mid-term outcomes with a propensity score-matching analysis.

OBJECTIVES Operative strategies for repairing aortic arch aneurysms should be re-evaluated following recent technical advances. METHODS Of 364 patients who underwent aortic arch repair between 2002 and 2014, 58 were high-risk subjects who received isolated hybrid arch repair (HAR) via median sternotomy (type I n = 32, type II n = 1 and type III n = 25). During this period, excluding patients with type A dissection or extensive aneurysms, 124 patients received isolated open arch repair via median sternotomy. The patients in the HAR and open arch repair groups were compared. A propensity score-matching analysis was applied to adjust for baseline risk factors. RESULTS The patients in the HAR group were older (77 years ± 6 vs 69 ± 9, P < 0.0001), exhibited a greater rate of malignancy (21 vs 4.8%, P = 0.0022) and had higher logistic EuroSCORE values (31 ± 18 vs 20 ± 15, P < 0.0001) than those in the open arch repair group. Following propensity score matching creating 38 matched pairs, the differences in preoperative risk diminished. Operative complications, including the mortality rate (2.6 vs 0%), were similar between the groups. Apart from the lower rates of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and circulatory arrest, there was no apparent superiority of HAR with respect to patient recovery. The mean follow-up duration was 52.5 months, during which the rate of freedom from aortic events in the HAR and open arch repair groups was 79 and 99% at 24 months, respectively (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS HAR achieves equivalent short-term results to standard open arch repair, with a decreased need for CPB. However, considering the inferior mid-term outcomes of this procedure, its indications should be limited to high-risk patients.
Propagation of Human Nasal Chondrocytes in Microcarrier Spinner Culture

Objective The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of nasal septal chondrocytes, propagated in microcarrier spinner culture, as an alternative tissue source of chondrocytic cells for cartilage grafts for head and neck surgery and for articular cartilage repair. Methods We harvested chondrocytes from 159 patients, ranging in age from 15 to 80 years and undergoing repair of a deviated nasal septum, and propagated the cells in a microcarrier spinner culture system. The nasal chondrocytes proliferated and produced extracellular matrix components similar to that produced by articular chondrocytes. Results In microcarrier spinner culture on collagen beads, chondrocyte numbers increased up to 14-fold in 2 weeks. After a month, the microcarriers seeded with nasal chondrocytes began to aggregate, producing a dense cartilage-like material. The newly synthesized extracellular matrix was rich in high molecular weight proteoglycans, and the chondrocytes expressed type II collagen and aggrecan but not type I collagen. Conclusion These studies support the feasibility of engineering cartilage tissue using chondrocytes harvested from the nasal septum. Injectable and solid formulations based on this technology are being evaluated for applications in craniomaxillofacial reconstructive surgery and for plastic and orthopedic surgery practices.
Gene delivery to the spinal cord: Comparison between lentiviral, adenoviral, and retroviral vector delivery systems

Viral gene delivery for spinal cord injury (SCI) is a promising approach for enhancing axonal regeneration and neuroprotection. An understanding of spatio‐temporal transgene expression in the spinal cord is essential for future studies of SCI therapies. Commonly, intracellular marker proteins (e.g., EGFP) were used as indicators of transgene levels after viral delivery, which may not accurately reflect levels of secreted transgene. This study examined transgene expression using ELISA after viral delivery of D15A, a neurotrophin with BDNF and NT‐3 activities, at 1, 2, and 4weeks after in vivo and ex vivo delivery using lentiviral, adenoviral, and retroviral vectors. Further, the inflammatory responses and viral infection patterns after in vivo delivery were examined. Lentiviral vectors had the most stable pattern of gene expression, with D15A levels of 536 ± 38 and 363 ± 47 pg/mg protein seen at 4 weeks after the in vivo and ex vivo delivery, respectively. Our results show that protein levels downregulate disproportionately to levels of EGFP after adenoviral vectors both in vivo and ex vivo. D15A dropped from initial levels of 422 ± 87 to 153 ± 18 pg/mg protein at 4 weeks after in vivo administration. Similarly, ex vivo retrovirus‐mediated transgene expression exhibited rapid downregulation by 2 weeks post‐grafting. Compared to adenoviral infection, macrophage activation was attenuated after lentiviral infection. These results suggest that lentiviral vectors are most suitable in situations where stable long‐term transgene expression is needed. Retroviral ex vivo delivery is optional when transient expression within targeted spinal tissue is desired, with adenoviral vectors in between. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Structural and functional characterization of the two phosphoinositide binding sites of PROPPINs, a β-propeller protein family

β-propellers that bind polyphosphoinositides (PROPPINs), a eukaryotic WD-40 motif-containing protein family, bind via their predicted β-propeller fold the polyphosphoinositides PtdIns3P and PtdIns(3,5)P2 using a conserved FRRG motif. PROPPINs play a key role in macroautophagy in addition to other functions. We present the 3.0-Å crystal structure of Kluyveromyces lactis Hsv2, which shares significant sequence homologies with its three Saccharomyces cerevisiae homologs Atg18, Atg21, and Hsv2. It adopts a seven-bladed β-propeller fold with a rare nonvelcro propeller closure. Remarkably, in the crystal structure, the two arginines of the FRRG motif are part of two distinct basic pockets formed by a set of highly conserved residues. In comprehensive in vivo and in vitro studies of ScAtg18 and ScHsv2, we define within the two pockets a set of conserved residues essential for normal membrane association, phosphoinositide binding, and biological activities. Our experiments show that PROPPINs contain two individual phosphoinositide binding sites. Based on docking studies, we propose a model for phosphoinositide binding of PROPPINs.
Two new species of pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) from a Mexican oak forest near Pico de Orizaba National Park

Abstract. A faunistic inventory from an oak forest near Pico de Orizaba National Park revealed the presence of two new species of pseudoscorpions. Atherochernes breviductus sp. nov. of the family Chernetidae is represented by 286 mature specimens, and is the first record of this genus for the country; Serianus orizabensis sp. nov. of the family Garypinidae is represented by 44 adults and is the first record of the family for the State of Veracruz. Most individuals were collected by sifting leaf litter and processing with Berlese funnels. The new taxa are hereby described and documented with illustrations and high-quality microphotography. The relationships of Atherochernes Beier, 1954 with other chernetids was investigated with a molecular phylogeny. In addition, the species Mexichelifer reddelli Muchmore, 1973 and Mundochthonius mexicanus Muchmore, 1973 are recorded for the first time in the state of Veracruz.
Estimates of the Proportion of Older White Women Who Would Be Recommended for Pharmacologic Treatment by the New U.S. National Osteoporosis Foundation Guidelines

The new U.S. National Osteoporosis Foundation Clinician's Guide to Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis includes criteria for recommending pharmacologic treatment based on history of hip or vertebral fracture, femoral neck (FN), or spine BMD T‐scores ≤−2.5 and presence of low bone mass at the FN or spine plus a 10‐yr risk of hip fracture ≥3% or of major osteoporotic fracture ≥20%. The proportion of women who would be recommended for treatment by these guidelines is not known. We applied the NOF criteria for treatment to women participating in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF). To determine how the SOF population differs from the general U.S. population of white women ≥65 yr of age, we compared women in SOF with women who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III on criteria included in the NOF treatment guidelines that were common to both cohorts. Compared with NHANES III, women in SOF had higher FN BMD and were younger. Application of NOF guidelines to SOF data estimated that at least 72% of U.S. white women ≥65 yr of age and 93% of those ≥75 yr of age would be recommended for drug treatment. Application of the new NOF Guidelines would result in recommending a very large proportion of white women in the United States for pharmacologic treatment of osteoporosis.
A Fully Attenuated Recombinant Salmonid Alphavirus Becomes Pathogenic through a Single Amino Acid Change in the E2 Glycoprotein

ABSTRACT A recombinant sleeping disease virus (rSDV) was previously shown to be totally attenuated and provide long-term protection in trout (C. Moriette, M. Leberre, A. Lamoureux, T. L. Lai, M. Brémont, J. Virol. 80:4088–4098, 2006). Sequence comparison of the rSDV to wild-type genomes exhibited a number of nucleotide changes. In the current study, we demonstrate that the virulent phenotype of SDV was essentially associated with two amino acid changes, V8A and M136T, in the E2 glycoprotein, with the V8A change mostly being involved in the acquisition of the virulent phenotype.
Chlamydophila psittaci eradication with doxycycline as first-line targeted therapy for ocular adnexae lymphoma: final results of an international phase II trial.

PURPOSE The pathogenic association between Chlamydophila psittaci (Cp) and ocular adnexal marginal zone lymphoma (OAMZL) and the efficacy of doxycycline monotherapy have been investigated in retrospective series with variations in stage, management, and follow-up duration. To our knowledge, this is the first international phase II trial aimed at clarifying Cp prevalence and activity of first-line doxycycline in a homogeneous series of consecutive patients with newly diagnosed stage I OAMZL. PATIENTS AND METHODS Forty-seven patients were registered. Tumor tissue, conjunctival swabs, and peripheral blood from 44 patients were assessed for seven Chlamydiaceae infections by three polymerase chain reaction protocols. Thirty-four patients with measurable or parametrable disease were treated with doxycycline and assessed for chlamydial eradication and lymphoma response (primary end point). RESULTS Cp DNA was detected in biopsies of 39 patients (89%); no other Chlamydiaceae were detected. Twenty-nine patients had Cp DNA in baseline swabs and/or blood samples and were evaluable for chlamydial eradication, which was achieved in 14 patients (48%). Lymphoma regression was complete in six patients and partial in 16 (overall response rate, 65%; 95% CI, 49% to 81%); 11 had stable disease, and one had progressive disease. At a median follow-up of 37 months (range, 15 to 62 months), 20 patients remained relapse free (5-year progression-free survival [PFS] ± standard deviation, 55% ± 9%). Cp eradication was associated with improved response rate (86% v 47%; P = .02) and 5-year PFS (68% v 47%; P = .11). CONCLUSION Upfront doxycycline is a rational and active treatment for patients with stage I Cp-positive OAMZL. Lymphoma regression is consequent to Cp eradication, which can easily be monitored on conjunctival and blood samples. Prospective trials aimed at identifying more effective administration schedules for doxycycline are warranted.
Fiscal multipliers in downturns and the effects of Euro Area consolidation

ABSTRACT We estimate the impact of the fiscal consolidation actions in the Euro Area between 2011 and 2013 on output and public finances. We identify the discretionary fiscal consolidation effort based on new data by the European Commission. We combine these data with robust estimates from a rich meta-regression analysis on multipliers for various fiscal measures under different business cycle regimes. The frontloaded consolidation came at a considerable cost with an output loss of 7.7% and only a small gain to the primary balance of 0.2% of GDP. Backloading would have been much less costly due to lower multipliers.
Differential expression of multiple fork head related genes during gastrulation and axial pattern formation in the mouse embryo.

Four genes encoding fork-head-domain-containing proteins (FD genes) have been isolated from a mouse 8.5 days post coitum (p.c.) embryo cDNA library. Two are mouse homologues of rat HNF-3 beta and HNF-3 alpha. The other two are novel and have been named MF-1 and MF-2 (for mesoderm/mesenchyme fork head). Wholemount in situ hybridization of embryos between 6.5 and 9.5 days p. c. shows that each gene has a unique expression pattern. HNF-3 beta is expressed in the node, notochord, floor plate and gut, while HNF-3 alpha is mainly in the definitive endoderm and gut, but also in the floor plate of the midbrain. These results suggest that HNF-3 beta and HNF-3 alpha, in addition to their known functions as transcriptional activators in adult liver, play a role in body axis formation, neural tube patterning and definitive endoderm formation during gastrulation. MF-1 RNA is present in non-notochordal mesoderm, and in neural-crest-derived head mesenchyme, while MF-2 transcripts are found in the sclerotomes of the somites and in head mesenchyme, including that from neural crest. Studies on gastrulation stage embryos suggest that the early temporal and spatial patterns of HNF-3 beta, MF-1 and HNF-3 alpha correlate with populations of cells undergoing commitment to different developmental fates. A model is proposed linking FD gene expression with gastrulation events in the mouse.
Une méthode de classification descendante hiérarchique : application à l'analyse lexicale par contexte

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Decomposing the Impact of Portfolio Constraints, August 2009

This paper analyzes the impact of constraints on portfolio return and risk, extending the insights of previous research in this area. We show that constraints move a manager’s portfolio away from the optimal unconstrained portfolio in two ways. First, they may rein in or increase the risk of the portfolio without impairing its information ratio. Second, they may force the portfolio to take unwanted bets that incur risk but yield no return. As a result, a constrained portfolio consists of positions that are aligned with the manager’s alphas and positions that are orthogonal to the alphas but are adopted to satisfy the constraints. We illustrate how to measure the risk and return arising from each of these sources and how to drill down to examine the contributions of individual constraints.
Water disappearance dynamics in growing-finishing pig production

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to measure the water disappearance in the drinker and the pattern of daily water intake and estimate the amount of water wasted in pig production. The study will also generate information about the daily behaviour of water intake of pigs in the growing and finishing phases. Sixty male pigs with an average initial weight of 44.43 kg subjected to immunocastration were used. Animals received feed and water ad libitum. The animal-performance data, temperature [. ]
Scrutinising the positions of students and teacher engaged in argumentation in a high school physics classroom

ABSTRACT Despite the importance of scientific argumentation, it rarely occurs in science classrooms. Researchers have designed argumentation interventions to bridge this gap, but those efforts have limited impacts on transforming existing classroom practices. Argumentation is a linguistically social interaction. It is necessary to go beyond understanding the input and output of an argumentation innovation and comprehend the interactive process. In this case study, my focus dealt with understanding how a high school physics class adapted argumentation practices. I scrutinised the intellectual ecology of that classroom with a focus on the social dynamic of individuals during argumentation through the lens of interlocutors’ positions. Through close observation of a physics teacher and his 23 high school students for 6 months, I summarised the patterns of how individual variation in the competences of scientific content knowledge and rhetoric argumentation skills shaped the social dynamic of classroom argumentation, and then the adaption of argumentation practices. With the findings, I suggested features advantageous for argumentation implementation, such as comparably strong academic competences and externally motivating tasks. I also discussed the implications for argumentation implementation in high school science classes.
[18F]fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and computed tomography as a prognostic tool before liver transplantation, resection, and loco‐ablative therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer and the third most common cause of cancer‐related death worldwide. Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) and resection are curative treatment options for well‐selected patients with HCC, whereas loco‐ablative therapy has been shown to prolong survival. Organ and treatment allocations for these patients are currently based on the number and size of tumors, as defined by the Milan criteria, and on functional capacity, and they are incorporated into the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging system and treatment strategy. Even though these staging criteria have markedly improved the outcomes of patients with HCC, they still lack accuracy in predicting the risk of tumor recurrence because they do not incorporate markers of tumor biology and behavior. Positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) with [18F]fludeoxyglucose ([18F]FDG) constitute an imaging modality for detecting tumor tissue that is metabolically active. Uptake of [18F]FDG is highly associated with tumor aggressiveness. In this review, we present the accumulating data on the use of [18F]FDG PET‐CT as an in vivo biomarker and its predictive value in identifying patients at risk for HCC recurrence after liver transplantation, resection, or ablation. These data suggest that the introduction of [18F]FDG PET‐CT into the imaging algorithm of patients planned for liver transplantation, resection, or ablation may improve outcomes. Liver Transpl 21:572–580, 2015. © 2015 AASLD.
An empirical study of practical, theoretical and online variants of random forests

Random forests are ensembles of randomized decision trees where diversity is created by injecting randomness into the fitting of each tree. The combination of their accuracy and their simplicity has resulted in their adoption in many applications. Different variants have been developed with different goals in mind: improving predictive accuracy, extending the range of application to online and structure domains, and introducing simplifications for theoretical amenability. While there are many subtle differences among the variants, the core difference is the method of selecting candidate split points. In our work, we examine eight different strategies for selecting candidate split points and study their effect on predictive accuracy, individual strength, diversity, computation time and model complexity. We also examine the effect of different parameter settings and several other design choices including bagging, subsampling data points at each node, taking linear combinations of features, splitting data points into structure and estimation streams and using a fixed frontier for online variants. Our empirical study finds several trends, some of which are in contrast to commonly held beliefs, that have value to practitioners and theoreticians. For variants used by practitioners the most important discoveries include: bagging almost never improves predictive accuracy, selecting candidate split points at all midpoints can achieve lower error than selecting them uniformly at random, and subsampling data points at each node decreases training time without affecting predictive accuracy. We also show that the gap between variants with proofs of consistency and those used in practice can be accounted for by the requirement to split data points into structure and estimation streams. Our work with online forests demonstrates the potential improvement that is possible by selecting candidate split points at data points, constraining memory with a fixed frontier and training with multiple passes through the data.
Pathophysiology of ‘positive’ thought disorder in schizophrenia

Background Formal thought disorder is a characteristic feature of psychosis, but little is known of its pathophysiology. We have investigated this in schizophrenia using positron emission tomography (PET). Method Regional cerebral blood flow was measured using H2 15O and PET while six people with schizophrenia were describing a series of 12 ambiguous pictures which elicited different degrees of thought-disordered speech. In a within-subject design, the severity of positive thought disorder was correlated with cerebral blood flow across the 12 scans in each subject. Results Verbal disorganisation (‘positive’ thought disorder) was inversely correlated with activity in the inferior frontal, cingulate and left superior temporal cortex, and positively correlated with activity in the parahippocampal/anterior fusiform region bilaterally, and in the body of the right caudate (P<0.001). The total amount of speech produced (independent of thought disorder) was positively correlated with activity in the left inferior frontal and left superior temporal cortex. Conclusions The severity of positive thought disorder was inversely correlated with activity in areas implicated in the regulation and monitoring of speech production. Reduced activity in these regions may contribute to the articulation of the linguistic anomalies that characterise positive thought disorder. The positive correlations between positive thought disorder and parahippocampal/anterior fusiform activity may reflect this regions role in the processing of linguistic anomalies.
Calcite: Rates of Dissolution in a Vertical Profile in the Central Pacific

Rate of dissoluton of calcium carbonate (calcite) was determined for a vertical profile 5000 mizeters deep in the central Pacific by measuring the loss of weight of optical calcite spheres arrayed on a mooring. Waters of the Pacific are undersaturated in all but the upper several hundred meters. A sharp increase in the rate of dissolution occurs at a depth of about 3700 meters, which corresponds closely to the depth below which calcite hias been dissolved from the sediments