Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low-Iodine-Load and Low-Tube-Voltage CT Angiographic Imaging of the Kidney by Using Bolus Tracking with Saline Flushing.

PURPOSE To prospectively determine the feasibility of low-iodine-load and low-tube-voltage computed tomographic (CT) angiographic imaging of the kidney and to evaluate the opacification and image quality compared with moderate-iodine-load and high-iodine-load techniques. MATERIALS AND METHODS Institutional review board approval and written informed consent was obtained. One hundred thirteen consecutive patients randomly underwent three protocols for dual-phase renal CT angiographic imaging: high-iodine-load (600 mg iodine per kilogram of body weight at 120 kVp); moderate-iodine-load (400 mg iodine per kilogram of body weight at 80 kVp); and low-iodine-load (contrast agent injection initially prepared at 400 mg iodine per kilogram of body weight but stopped immediately after bolus-tracking trigger at 80 kVp) scanning. CT numbers of vessels and kidneys were measured. CT numbers and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were compared with one-way analysis of variance and posthoc Tukey-Kramer test and depiction of vessels and image noise, with Kruskal-Wallis test and pair-wise Mann-Whitney test with Bonferroni correction. RESULTS Mean iodine weight administered was significantly reduced in order of low- (16.4 g), moderate- (23.5 g), and high-iodine-load (33.7 g) protocols (P < .001). Mean CT numbers of abdominal aorta, renal artery, and renal cortex in first phase were significantly lower with high-iodine-load protocol (308, 274, and 132 HU, respectively) than with moderate- (347, 334, and 156 HU, respectively; P = .001-.006) or low-iodine-load (362, 316, and 161 HU, respectively; P = .001-.003) protocol. Mean CT number of renal vein in second phase was significantly lower with low-iodine-load protocol (223 HU) than with moderate- (299 HU; P < .001) or high-iodine-load (258 HU; P = .020). Mean SNR of renal medulla in second phase was significantly lower (P = .019) with moderate-iodine-load protocol (mean SNR, 7.2) than with high-iodine-load protocol (mean SNR, 10.0). No significant difference in image quality grades was found between high-iodine-load (mean grade, 2.6-2.9), moderate-iodine-load (mean grade, 2.6-3.0), and low-iodine-load (mean grade, 2.6-2.9) protocols (P = .018-.31). CONCLUSION Combined application of low-iodine-load, bolus tracking with saline flushing, and low-tube-voltage scanning is feasible and resulted in substantial reduction of iodine dose for renal CT angiographic imaging without compromising image quality.
MAK33 antibody light chain amyloid fibrils are similar to oligomeric precursors

Little structural information is available so far on amyloid fibrils consisting of immunoglobulin light chains. It is not understood which features of the primary sequence of the protein result in fibril formation. We report here MAS solid-state NMR studies to identify the structured core of κ-type variable domain light chain fibrils. The core contains residues of the CDR2 and the β-strands D, E, F and G of the native immunoglobulin fold. The assigned core region of the fibril is distinct in comparison to the core identified in a previous solid-state NMR study on AL-09 by Piehl at. al, suggesting that VL fibrils can adopt different topologies. In addition, we investigated a soluble oligomeric intermediate state, previously termed the alternatively folded state (AFS), using NMR and FTIR spectroscopy. The NMR oligomer spectra display a high degree of similarity when compared to the fibril spectra, indicating a high structural similarity of the two aggregation states. Based on comparison to the native state NMR chemical shifts, we suggest that fibril formation via domain-swapping seems unlikely. Moreover, we used our results to test the quality of different amyloid prediction algorithms.
Using age‐referenced prostate‐specific antigen percentile to predict survival outcomes in screened Taiwanese men

The survival outcomes of Asian men with elevated prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) levels at screening are largely unknown. We present the clinical outcomes of Taiwanese men based on their screening PSA levels. Between 1994 and 2006, 27,761 men aged over 40 years underwent PSA screening in a self‐funded health examination. The clinical database was linked with the national cancer and death registry databases to generate prostate cancer incidence, prostate cancer mortality (PCM) and overall mortality (OM). Participants were followed until the end of 2009. Survival analyses were performed for the participants' outcomes, and were stratified by five 10‐year age strata (age 40–<50, 50–<60, 60–<70, 70–<80 and ≥80), and six age‐referenced PSA percentile groups, divided by the 50th, 75th, 90th, 95th and 99th percentile of PSA values for each 10‐year age stratum. The median age of the 27,761 men was 54.7 years. The median PSA level at cancer diagnosis was 4.46 ngml−1. Specifically, the PSA levels for the five 10‐year age strata in order of respectively increasing ages were 1.93, 3.50, 4.10, 6.94 and 12.4 ngml−1. After a median follow‐up of 8.4 years, 2,463 men died and 337 were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Among the 337 patients, 29 (8.6%) died of prostate cancer. The prostate cancer incidence, PCM and OM rates were higher in men with higher age‐referenced PSA percentile values. The 10‐year PCM rate for men with ≥ the 99th age‐referenced PSA percentile was 3.9%, which was significantly higher than the rate of ≤ 0.5% in the lower percentile groups.
Prevalence of occult hepatitis C virus infection in Iranian patients with lymphoproliferative disorders

Occult HCV infection is a form of chronic HCV infection characterized by absence of detectable anti‐HCV antibodies or plasma HCV‐RNA but presence of HCV‐RNA in liver biopsy and/or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The aim of this study was to determine the presence of HCV‐RNA in PBMCs of patients with lymphoproliferative disorders. One hundred and four consecutive patients with lymphoproliferative disorders admitted to Firouzgar Hospital from January 2010 to March 2011 were recruited in this cross‐sectional study. A 6‐ml sample of whole blood was taken from the patients, the total RNA was extracted from the samples after the separation of plasma and PBMCs. The HCV‐RNA of the samples was amplified by reverse transcriptase‐nested polymerase chain reaction (RT‐nested PCR). The HCV genotypes of the positive samples were tested using the INNO‐LiPA™ HCV II kit, and the HCV genotypes were then confirmed by sequencing of the 5′‐UTR fragments after the PCR products were cloned into a pJET1.2/blunt cloning vector. The mean age of the patients was 48.3 ± 1.76 years (range: 16–83). HCV‐RNA was found in PBMCs from 2 (1.9%) of the 104 patients. Genotyping showed that the patients were infected with HCV subtype 1a. One patient suffered non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma and the other suffered chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Patients with lymphoproliferative disorders with negative anti‐HCV antibodies and negative plasma HCV‐RNA may have occult HCV infection. Therefore, in the absence of a liver biopsy, the testing of PBMCs for the detection of genomic HCV‐RNA may be beneficial. J. Med. Virol. 85:235–240, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
ESIM: Edge Similarity for Screen Content Image Quality Assessment

In this paper, an accurate full-reference image quality assessment (IQA) model developed for assessing screen content images (SCIs), called the edge similarity (ESIM), is proposed. It is inspired by the fact that the human visual system (HVS) is highly sensitive to edges that are often encountered in SCIs; therefore, essential edge features are extracted and exploited for conducting IQA for the SCIs. The key novelty of the proposed ESIM lies in the extraction and use of three salient edge features—i.e., edge contrast, edge width, and edge direction. The first two attributes are simultaneously generated from the input SCI based on a parametric edge model, while the last one is derived directly from the input SCI. The extraction of these three features will be performed for the reference SCI and the distorted SCI, individually. The degree of similarity measured for each above-mentioned edge attribute is then computed independently, followed by combining them together using our proposed edge-width pooling strategy to generate the final ESIM score. To conduct the performance evaluation of our proposed ESIM model, a new and the largest SCI database (denoted as SCID) is established in our work and made to the public for download. Our database contains 1800 distorted SCIs that are generated from 40 reference SCIs. For each SCI, nine distortion types are investigated, and five degradation levels are produced for each distortion type. Extensive simulation results have clearly shown that the proposed ESIM model is more consistent with the perception of the HVS on the evaluation of distorted SCIs than the multiple state-of-the-art IQA methods.
MC1R common variants, CDKN2A and their association with melanoma and breast cancer risk

We sought to examine the association between MC1R variants and the risk of melanoma and breast cancer in Polish population. We also determined the prevalence of compound heterozygous carriers of MC1R and CDKN2A (A148T) variants. We examined 500 unselected melanoma cases, 511 consecutive invasive breast cancer patients, 800 newborns, 421 healthy adults matched for sex and age with the melanoma cases and 511 healthy women matched for sex and age with the breast cancer cases. A statistically significant association of all 4 MC1R variants with the melanoma risk was found. For the R151C variant p value was 0.000008 and odds ratio 2.9; for the V60L variant p value was 0.007 and OR 1.78; for the R160C p was 0.006 and OR 1.76; for the R163Q p was 0.015 and odds ratio 2.1. None of the compound heterozygotes were significantly over‐represented among any of the melanoma cases, the highest OR (4.2) observed in patients harbouring the A148T variant in CDKN2A and the R151C variant in MC1R. Positive association was found between carrying any of the MC1R variants and (i) increased occurrence of melanoma among I degree relatives of the carriers; (ii) increased occurrence of melanoma on UV‐non‐exposed skin areas. We also observed a tendency of increased risk of multiple melanomas among carriers of MC1R variants. The haplotype analysis demonstrates that MC1R variants do not co‐occur in cis, compound carriers have both alleles affected. We found no association with the MC1R variants and breast cancer risk. In conclusion, the results of this population‐based study show herein that MC1R variants are associated with increased melanoma risk in the Polish population. The risk of disease seems to be increased additively for patients harbouring also the CDKN2A common variant A148T. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Physicochemical characterization and antioxidant activity of 17 commercial Moroccan honeys

Abstract In this study, 17 commercial honey samples from Morocco were analyzed. Four samples did not meet the international physicochemical standards due to high hydroxymethylfurfural content and low diastase activity. Phenol content varied from 163.82 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/kg in citrus honey to 923.70 mg (GAE)/kg in thyme honey from Rachidia; flavonoid content ranged from 4.26 mg quercetin equivalent (QE)/kg in citrus honey to 139.62 mg QE/kg in black cumin honey. Black cumin honey had the highest peroxyl scavenging activity; oregano (from Zaraphyt) and thyme honeys (from Rachidia) had the highest ABTS (2,2′-azino-bis[3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid]) scavenging activity; and thyme honey (Saouira) had the highest NO scavenging capacity. The antioxidant activity of Moroccan honeys was correlated with the phenol, flavonoid, and melanoidin contents. Dark honeys had higher antioxidant activity than light honeys. Samples with high sodium levels had lower free radical scavenging activity. On the other hand, calcium and magnesium increased the ABTS and peroxyl scavenging capacity, respectively, of honey samples. According to cluster and discriminant analyses, the honey samples were grouped in three clusters with respect to the phenol, flavonoid, melanoidin, proline, mineral and sugar contents, and free radical scavenging capacity.
Mnemonic Training in Older Adults: Effects of Age, Length of Training, and Type of Cognitive Pretraining

Objectives: To improve performance with mnemonic techniques for remembering words and proper names. Design: For word recall, a 2 × 2 factorial in which type of pretraining and length of training were between-subjects manipulations. For proper name recall, a two-group design in which type of pretraining was manipulated between subjects. Setting: Community. Participants: 268 community-dwelling adults over the age of 55 years who wished to improve their memory. Measurements: Recall of words and proper names both before and after training in mnemonics. Intervention: Participants received a 2-week training course on two mnemonic techniques, the method of loci for words and a name association technique for proper names. Results: There was no effect of the pretraining manipulation on proper name recall. For word recall, however, a multiple regression that included age indicated that the older-old participants benefited more from a combination of comprehensive pretraining and extended mnemonic training than did the younger-old. Conclusions: Increased training time coupled with a comprehensive pretraining regimen can improve the performance of the older-old in using mnemonics; this improved performance cannot be attributed solely to enhanced knowledge of the mnemonic.
Association of germline mutations and polymorphisms of the RET proto-oncogene with idiopathic congenital central hypoventilation syndrome in 33 patients

The idiopathic congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) was first described by Mellins et al 1 and is characterised by an alteration of the ventilatory response to hypercapnia and hypoxia.1 Whereas normal ventilation is adequate in many of the patients during wakefulness, the alveolar hypoventilation observed during sleep seems attributable to a failure of the central autonomic control of ventilation in the brainstem.2 CCHS is a rare entity in which affected children show symptoms typically in the newborn period. These symptoms include a period of cyanosis upon sleep induction, a decrease of oxyhaemoglobin saturation with simultaneous life threatening increase of the partial pressure of CO2 in arterial blood (PaCO2), which yields no respiratory response, and no arousal reflex by the infants. Primary neuromuscular, lung, or cardiac disorders or an identifiable brainstem lesion are absent.3 The first extensive series of CCHS patients was described by Weese-Mayer et al 4 in 1992. The apparent functional defect possibly stems from an abnormal migration or differentiation of neural crest derived cells into the autonomic ventilatory control system. Therefore, idiopathic congenital central hypoventilation syndrome may be regarded as a feature of complex neurocristopathies, as confirmed by the observation of a combination of CCHS and other neurocristopathies.5 Specifically, CCHS has been reported in association with neoplastic as well as dysgenetic neurocristopathies, such as neuroblastomas6 and ganglioneuromas,7 but the frequency of such cases is lower than 5%. Furthermore, in 16-20% of the patients, CCHS is combined with Hirschsprung disease (HSCR), a developmental disorder characterised by congenital absence of ganglion cells in the myoenteric and submucosal plexuses of the bowel.6,8–16 Although most CCHS cases are sporadic, a putative genetic origin for CCHS has also been considered because of the familial occurrence in several reported cases, such as monozygotic …
Split cord malformation associated with myelomeningocele.

OBJECT The coexistence of split cord malformations (SCMs) and myelomeningoceles (MMCs) can be misdiagnosed or ignored and can cause spinal cord tethering. The authors investigated cases involving the coexistence of SCMs and MMCs in patients from the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Tehran. METHODS Of the 330 patients with MMCs who underwent operations at the Children's Hospital Medical Center between January 2001 and June 2005, 33 (10%) had an associated SCM. These 33 cases were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS Eighteen patients (55%) were female, and the mean age of the patients at presentation was 2.9 months. In 17 of the 33 patients, the SCM occurred at the level of the neural placode. A Type I SCM was found in 26 children. Two patients had hypertrichosis. Eight patients had unilateral leg paresis. The MMC sac was located in the lumbar region in 14 cases. Two patients had double spinal dysraphism with meningoceles at the thoracic level. All patients underwent simultaneous repair of both lesions at the time of surgery. CONCLUSIONS Patients with MMCs, especially those with unusual manifestations such as unilateral paresis or skin lesions, should undergo a preoperative clinical examination to check for the presence of an SCM. Use of spinal magnetic resonance imaging can help in identifying the associated abnormalities. The neural placode and the rostral and caudal spinal cord segments should be carefully inspected for dysraphic lesions such as SCMs during the operation to repair the MMC. In this paper, the authors hope to show the wisdom of identifying these anomalies at the time of the initial repair of the MMC.
Hip Joint Stresses Due to Cam-Type Femoroacetabular Impingement: A Systematic Review of Finite Element Simulations

Background The cam deformity causes the anterosuperior femoral head to obstruct with the acetabulum, resulting in femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and elevated risks of early osteoarthritis. Several finite element models have simulated adverse loading conditions due to cam FAI, to better understand the relationship between mechanical stresses and cartilage degeneration. Our purpose was to conduct a systematic review and examine the previous finite element models and simulations that examined hip joint stresses due to cam FAI. Methods The systematic review was conducted to identify those finite element studies of cam-type FAI. The review conformed to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and studies that reported hip joint contact pressures or stresses were included in the quantitative synthesis. Results Nine articles studied FAI morphologies using finite element methods and were included in the qualitative synthesis. Four articles specifically examined contact pressures and stresses due to cam FAI and were included in the quantitative synthesis. The studies demonstrated that cam FAI resulted in substantially elevated contact pressures (median = 10.4 MPa, range = 8.5–12.2 MPa) and von Mises stresses (median 15.5 MPa, range = 15.0–16.0 MPa) at the acetabular cartilage; and elevated maximum-shear stress on the bone (median = 15.2 MPa, range = 14.3–16.0 MPa), in comparison with control hips, during large amplitudes of hip motions. Many studies implemented or adapted idealized, ball-and-cup, parametric models to predict stresses, along with homogeneous bone material properties and in vivo instrumented prostheses loading data. Conclusion The formulation of a robust subject-specific FE model, to delineate the pathomechanisms of FAI, remains an ongoing challenge. The available literature provides clear insight into the estimated stresses due to the cam deformity and provides an assessment of its risks leading to early joint degeneration.
Preexamination and Postexamination Assessment of Parental‐Fetal Bonding in Patients Undergoing 3‐/4‐Dimensional Obstetric Ultrasonography

Objective. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a change in parental bonding and couples' attitudes toward their fetus after undergoing 3‐/4‐dimensional ultrasonography (3D/4DUS). Methods. Sixty‐five fathers and 124 mothers were asked to fill out a maternal‐fetal attachment questionnaire relating to how they felt about their fetus before and after 3D/4DUS and to mark on a line indicating their feelings about the ultrasonography experience. In addition, 135 parents filled out a positive feelings questionnaire consisting of 5 sections assessing their feelings about the fetus. The 3D/4DUS examination included rendering of the fetal face, limbs, and thorax. Results. One hundred forty‐two patients filled out all questions and were analyzed for the total attachment score. The difference of the total score for the maternal‐fetal attachment questionnaire before and after 3D/4DUS had a z value of 5.6 for all patients and was statistically significant (P < .0001). In analyzing each question, 5 were found to have a statistically significantly different score for women, but only 2 were found so for men. The scores for the line, before and after 3D/4DUS, showed a significant difference for men but not women. The women studied did not show a change using this instrument because their median response was at the maximum measurement before their sonograms. The positive feelings questionnaire showed a statistically significant change for women in all sections but for men in only 2. Conclusions. Parents have a change in attitude regarding their fetus after undergoing 3D/4DUS. Mothers showed an increase in bonding to their fetus after 3D/4DUS in more categories than fathers.
The Cochrane Schizophrenia Group: Preparing, maintaining and disseminating the evidence for interventions used for people with schizophrenia

The Cochrane Collaboration's Schizophrenia Group has, since 1994, been preparing, disseminating and updating high quality systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials of interventions for people with schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to summarise the Group's methods and its output in terms of effective interventions for people with schizophrenia, and to evaluate this evidence from the perspective of the care of people with schizophrenia in developing countries. This was achieved by a search and narrative synthesis of the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's module and database of systematic reviews in Issue 4, 2003 of the Cochrane Library. The results found that the Schizophrenia Group had, by December 2003, published 100 completed reviews, or protocols for reviews, of pharmacological, physical, spiritual, psychosocial interventions and health care delivery pertaining to those with schizophrenia. While evidence of efficacy is present for many of these interventions, evidence of efficiency is less compelling. The reviews in the Cochrane Library provide the currently best available evidence on the value of interventions for people with schizophrenia, but this may not generalize to developing country settings. Pragmatic randomized trials of interventions and evaluations of systems of health care delivery relevant to developing countries are required if the care of those with schizophrenia in these settings is to improve.