Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coronary anatomy, anatomic variations and anomalies: a retrospective coronary angiography study.

INTRODUCTION The incidence of coronary artery anomalies (CAAs) varies from 0.2% to 8.4%. Knowledge of such anatomical variations is important as coronary procedures are regularly performed these days. We aimed to find the coronary dominance pattern, intermediate artery (IMA) frequency and CAA incidence in our clinic, and compare them to those in the literature. METHODS The medical reports of 5,548 patients who had undergone coronary angiography (CAG) between 2005 and 2009 were retrospectively investigated. Dominance pattern and presence of IMA and CAA were recorded. CAAs were described using two different classifications: Angelini and Khatami's classification, and a new modified classification that was derived from Angelini and Khatami's classification. Some procedural details and clinical features of the patients with CAA were also investigated. RESULTS Coronary dominance pattern was: 81.6% right coronary artery, 12.2% circumflex artery and 6.2% co-dominant. IMA was present in 613 (11.0%) patients. The incidences of overall anomaly were 2.7% and 1.4%, according to the different classifications. Absent left main coronary artery, which was the most common anomaly in the present study, was found in 51 (0.9%) patients. Incidences of myocardial bridge, coronary arteriovenous fistulae and aneurysms were 1.1%, 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION CAAs are generally asymptomatic, isolated lesions. Some may lead to anginal symptoms, myocardial infarction or sudden death. We found that CAA was associated with increased radiation and contrast exposure in patients who underwent CAG. This risk could be reduced if appropriate catheters were designed and training programmes on ostial cannulation were developed.
RNA Polymerase I Transcription Silences Noncoding RNAs at the Ribosomal DNA Locus in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

ABSTRACT In Saccharomyces cerevisiae the repeated units of the ribosomal locus, transcribed by RNA polymerase I (Pol I), are interrupted by nontranscribed spacers (NTSs). These NTS regions are transcribed by RNA polymerase III to synthesize 5S RNA and by RNA polymerase II (Pol II) to synthesize, at low levels, noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). While transcription of both RNA polymerase I and III is highly characterized, at the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) locus only a few studies have been performed on Pol II, whose repression correlates with the SIR2-dependent silencing. The involvement of both chromatin organization and Pol I transcription has been proposed, and peculiar chromatin structures might justify “ribosomal” Pol II silencing. Reporter genes inserted within the rDNA units have been employed for these studies. We studied, in the natural context, yeast mutants differing in Pol I transcription in order to find whether correlations exist between Pol I transcription and Pol II ncRNA production. Here, we demonstrate that silencing at the rDNA locus represses ncRNAs with a strength inversely proportional to Pol I transcription. Moreover, localized regions of histone hyperacetylation appear in cryptic promoter elements when Pol II is active and in the coding region when Pol I is functional; in addition, DNA topoisomerase I site-specific activity follows RNA polymerase I transcription. The repression of ncRNAs at the rDNA locus, in response to RNA polymerase I transcription, could represent a physiological circuit control whose mechanism involves modification of histone acetylation.
Brief Mindfulness Meditation for Depression and Anxiety Symptoms in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis: A Pilot Feasibility Study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Up to 50% of patients undergoing hemodialysis suffer from symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. Access to traditional pharmacotherapies and psychotherapies for depression or anxiety in this patient population has been inadequate. The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of brief mindfulness meditation intervention for patients on hemodialysis with depression and anxiety symptoms. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS This study was a randomized, controlled, assessor-blinded trial conducted in an urban hemodialysis unit. Forty-one patients were randomly assigned to intervention (n=21) and treatment-as-usual (n=20) groups. The intervention group received an 8-week individual chairside meditation intervention lasting 10-15 minutes, three times a week during hemodialysis. Feasibility outcomes were primarily assessed: enrollment rates, intervention completion rates, and intervention tolerability. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7). RESULTS Of those deemed eligible for the study, 67% enrolled (41 of 61). Of the participants randomized to the intervention group, 71% completed the study, with meditation being well tolerated (median rating of 8 of 10 in a Likert scale; interquartile range=10-5 of 10). Barriers to intervention delivery included frequent hemodialysis shift changes, interruptions by staff or alarms, space constraints, fluctuating participant medical status, and participant fatigue. Meditation was associated with subjective benefits but no statistically significant effect on depression scores (change in PHQ-9, -3.0±3.9 in the intervention group versus -2.0±4.7 in controls; P=0.45) or anxiety scores (change in GAD-7, -0.9±4.6 versus -0.8±4.8; P=0.91). CONCLUSIONS On the basis of the results of this study, mindfulness meditation appears to be feasible and well tolerated in patients on hemodialysis with anxiety and depression symptoms. The study did not reveal significant effects of the interventions on depression and anxiety scores. PODCAST This article contains a podcast at https://www.asn-online.org/media/podcast/CJASN/2017_10_12_CJASNPodcast_17_12_. mp3.
Risk Analysis for Distribution Systems in the Northeast U.S. Under Wind Storms

With the growing trend of extreme weather events in the Northeast U.S., a region of dense vegetation, evaluating hazard effects of wind storms on power distribution systems becomes increasingly important for disaster preparedness and fast responses in utilities. In this paper, probabilistic wind storm models for the study region have been built by mining 160-year storm events recorded in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atlantic basin hurricane database (HURDAT). Further, wind storms are classified into six categories according to NOAA criteria and IEEE standard to facilitate the evaluation of distribution system responses under different levels of hazards. The impacts of wind storms in all categories are accurately evaluated through a Sequential Monte Carlo method enhanced by a temporal wind storm sampling strategy. Extensive studies for the selected typical distribution system indicate that our models and methods effectively reveal the hazardous effects of wind storms in the study region, leading to useful insights towards building better system hardening schemes.
Impact of genetic advances and testing for hearing loss: Results from a national consumer survey

Hearing loss is a common neuro‐sensory deficit; nearly 50% of children with hearing loss have a genetic etiology. With the discovery of 40 genes and more than 100 loci involved in hearing loss, genetic testing is becoming more widely available. The information obtained through genetic testing can be perceived and used in different ways by parents of deaf children and deaf adults, based on their prior knowledge and understanding of these advances. It is therefore important to clarify the feelings of these potential consumers towards genetic services for hearing loss and understand their goals for genetic testing. The present study evaluates the feelings of consumers towards the advances in the genetics of hearing loss, the motivations for pursuing testing, and the perceived impact testing may have on their lives. We surveyed 808 parents of children with hearing loss nationally and 156 young deaf adults at Gallaudet University. In this study, learning the etiology of the hearing loss was the most commonly cited motivation for pursuing genetic testing and for parents was the most commonly cited outcome that genetic testing may have on their children's lives. Culturally Deaf respondents were less likely to believe that genetic testing will impact their lives or their children's lives and were less likely to report positive feelings about advances in the genetics of hearing loss. Cultural affiliation and genetic testing status, rather than hearing status, contributed more to the participants' responses. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Price Discovery in Bitcoin Spot or Futures?

In December 2017, both the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange introduced futures contracts on bitcoin. We investigate to what extent they provide useful information for the price discovery of bitcoin. We rely on the information share methodology of Hasbrouck (1995, J Finance, 50, pp. 1175–1199) and Gonzalo and Granger (1995, J Bus Econ Stat, 13, pp. 27–35) and find that the spot price leads the futures price. We attribute this result to the higher trading volume and the longer trading hours of the globally distributed bitcoin spot market, compared to the relatively restricted access to the US‐based futures markets.
Analysis of YKL-40 acute-phase protein and interleukin-6 levels in periodontal disease.

BACKGROUND YKL-40, a new acute-phase protein, is shown to be elevated in inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and coronary artery diseases. However, there is no data indicating a relationship between YKL-40 and periodontal disease. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is the major regulator of acute-phase protein synthesis and one of the most studied inflammatory markers in periodontal disease. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate YKL-40 and IL-6 levels in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and serum of patients with periodontal disease and healthy individuals. METHODS Periodontally healthy individuals (n = 15), patients with gingivitis (n = 15), and patients with severe chronic periodontitis (CP) (n = 15) without any systemic disease were included in the study. Clinical measurements were recorded; GCF and blood samples were obtained from each participant. GCF and serum YKL-40 and IL-6 levels were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Statistical analysis was performed by parametric and non-parametric tests. RESULTS Total amounts of YKL-40 and IL-6 in GCF as well as serum YKL-40 and IL-6 levels were significantly higher in patients with gingivitis and CP compared with healthy controls (P <0.01). YKL-40 levels in GCF and serum as well as serum IL-6 levels were significantly higher in patients with CP compared with patients with gingivitis (P <0.01). CONCLUSIONS YKL-40 levels in GCF as well as serum YKL-40 and IL-6 levels increased from gingivitis to periodontitis. Within the limits of the present study, the YKL-40 molecule might be a potential novel inflammatory marker of periodontal disease.
Gauge Capability for Pass—Fail Inspection

Quantitative measurement is an accepted ideal, but pass–fail inspection remains a fact of life, even in high-technology industries. For pass–fail data, variance components do not separate gauge and material variation. This article focuses on maximum likelihood estimation of conditional misclassification rates, with and without reference evaluations to anchor the analysis. Likelihood-based confidence intervals and testing for reproducibility effects are also discussed.
Compartmentalized Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Present in Cerebrospinal Fluid Is Produced by Short-Lived Cells

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) invades the central nervous system (CNS) during primary infection and persists in this compartment by unknown mechanisms over the course of infection. In this study, we examined viral population dynamics in four asymptomatic subjects commencing antiretroviral therapy to characterize cellular sources of HIV-1 in the CNS. The inability to monitor viruses directly in the brain poses a major challenge in studying HIV-1 dynamics in the CNS. Studies of HIV-1 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) provide a useful surrogate for the sampling of virus in the CNS, but they are complicated by the fact that infected cells in local CNS tissues and in the periphery contribute to the population pool of HIV-1 in CSF. We utilized heteroduplex tracking assays to differentiate CSF HIV-1 variants that were shared with peripheral blood plasma from those that were compartmentalized in CSF and therefore presumably derived from local CNS tissues. We then tracked the relative decline of individual viral variants during the initial days of antiretroviral therapy. We found that HIV-1 variants compartmentalized in CSF declined rapidly during therapy, with maximum half-lives of approximately 1 to 3 days. These kinetics emulate the decline in HIV-1 produced from short-lived CD4+ T cells in the periphery, suggesting that a similarly short-lived, HIV-infected cell population exists within the CNS. We propose that short-lived CD4+ T cells trafficking between the CNS and the periphery play an important role in amplifying and maintaining HIV-1 populations in the CNS during the asymptomatic phase of infection.
Subsistence Marketplaces: Challenges and Opportunities

This introductory article is a biennial exercise to reflect on the stream of subsistence marketplaces as a prelude to the special section on this topic following the Sixth Subsistence Marketplaces Conference in 2016. The call for papers was not restricted to conference presentations. At the end of the review process, the special section contained four articles spanning a diverse set of topics. The authors provide an overview of the subsistence marketplaces stream and a background of the conference series. This is followed by a brief introduction to the special issue. They then discuss the what, how, and why for past and future work on subsistence marketplaces.
Cholera Toxin B Subunit Activates Arachidonic Acid Metabolism

ABSTRACT Cholera toxin (CT) increases intestinal secretion of water and electrolytes and modulates the mucosal immune response by stimulating cellular synthesis of arachidonic acid (AA) metabolites (e.g., prostaglandin E2), as well as the intracellular second messenger cyclic AMP (cAMP). While much is known about the mechanism of CT stimulation of adenylate cyclase, the toxin’s activation of phospholipase A2, which results in increased hydrolysis of AA from membrane phospholipids, is not well understood. To determine whether CT activation of AA metabolism requires CT’s known enzymatic activity (i.e., ADP-ribosylation of GSα), we used native CT and a mutant CT protein (CT-2*) lacking ADP-ribose transferase activity in combination with S49 wild-type (WT) and S49 cyc− murine Theta (Th)1.2-positive lymphoma cells deficient in GSα. The experimental results showed that native CT stimulated the release of [3H[AA from S49 cyc− cells at a level similar to that for S49 WT cells, indicating that GSα is not essential for this process. Further, levels of cAMP in the CT-treated cyc− cells remained the same as those in the untreated control cells. The ADP-ribosyltransferase-deficient CT-2* protein, which was incapable of increasing synthesis of cAMP, displayed about the same capacity as CT to evoke the release of [3H]AA metabolites from both S49 WT and cyc− cells. We concluded that stimulation of arachidonate metabolism in S49 murine lymphoma cells by native CT does not require enzymatically functional CT, capable of catalyzing the ADP-ribosylation reaction. These results demonstrated for the first time that stimulation of adenylate cyclase by CT and stimulation of AA metabolism by CT are not necessarily coregulated. In addition, the B subunits purified from native CT and CT-2* both simulated the release of [3H]AA from S49 cyc− cells and murine monocyte/macrophage cells (RAW 264.7), suggesting a receptor-mediated cell activation process of potential importance in enhancing immune responses to vaccine components.
Customer-Oriented Design of Mobile Phones for Optimal Controllability

Among numerous factors that have an effect on the controllability for the use of mobile phones, the effects of product size and control location were investigated to find the form factors which most affect customer preference while controlling the mobile phones. Moreover we made an effort to find an improve-ment of preference according to control location. An experiment was conducted, in which preference scores were measured. It was found that the effect of product width was larger than that of thickness. The optimal control location was almost the same re-gardless of the hand length. The contour plot was derived by supported vector machine(SVM). The difference in sensitivity was found between the horizontal transfer and the vertical trans-fer of control location. The preferable control area was suggested by the contour plot and sensitivity analysis. The results of the study would be valuable to suggest the guidelines of control layout and packaging of mobile phones.
Two Non-Contiguous Duplications in the DMD Gene in a Spanish Family

DMD and BMD are X-linked myopathy diseases in most cases caused by intragenic deletions, but duplications also appear in a significant number of cases. We present a complex duplication pattern detected by MLPA, a recently formulated method applied here to amplify the 79 exons of the DMD gene. We found a double-duplication in two DMD-affected brothers and in their carrier mother, which consist of two non-contiguous duplications encompassing exons 2 to 7 and exons 50 to 55. Different models are presented to explain formation of this genetic variant.
Alexithymia: The story of a survivor of childhood traumatic brain injury

Abstract Introduction: Affective abnormalities resulting from traumatic brain injuries can pose major threats to the long-term outcomes of neurorehabilitation, especially when they have gone unattended in the process of rehabilitation. This study reports a case of a 46-year-old woman who survived a severe traumatic brain injury to the right occipital cortex (BA18/19) at the age of 10. While her cognitive recovery was remarkable, she has been living with a significant affective disturbance: difficulty with feeling others’ feelings. Method: Neuropsychological tests and self-reported questionnaires capturing the patient’s neuropsychological profile, social cognitive abilities, emotional responses, affective awareness and visual imager were administered to the patient. Results: While cognitive functioning beside attention has recovered well, findings clearly indicate that she is indeed suffering from a high level of alexithymia. Conclusion: It is speculated that the alexithymia observed may relate to the damage to the visual cortex, which is an important neural substrate for visual imagery and/or damage to the bottom-up stimulus-driven attention system in the right hemisphere. This case exemplified a possible organic basis of social affective disturbance, which may be overlooked in the process of neurorehabilitation.
A New Look at Lunar Soil Collected from the Sea of Tranquility during the Apollo 11 Mission

Abstract Complementary state-of-the-art optical, scanning electron, and X-ray microscopy techniques have been used to study the morphology of Apollo 11 lunar soil particles (10084-47). The combination of innovative lighting geometries with image processing of a through focal series of images has allowed us to obtain a unique collection of high-resolution light micrographs of these fascinating particles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) stereo-pair imaging has been exploited to illustrate some of the unique morphological properties of lunar regolith. In addition, for the first time, X-ray micrographs with submicron resolution have been taken of individual particles using X-ray ultramicroscopy (XuM). This SEM-based technique lends itself readily to the imaging of pores, cracks, and inclusions and allows the internal structure of an entire particle to be viewed. Rotational SEM and XuM movies have also been constructed from a series of images collected at sequential angles through 360°. These offer a new and insightful view of these complex particles providing size, shape, and spatial information on many of their internal features.
The Prevalence of Plasmid-mediated Quinolone Resistance Genes in Escherichia coli Isolated from Hospital Wastewater Sources in Tehran, Iran

Background: Considering the importance of hospital wastewaters as potential reservoirs for the dissemination of bacterial pathogens such as Escherichia coli and antibiotic resistance genes in the environment, the need for such information becomes imperative. Methods: E. coli strains were isolated from hospital wastewater sources in Tehran, Iran, over a 24-month sampling period (Jun 2014– Jun 2016) and identified using standard bacteriological methods. Quinolone resistance among the strains was determined using Kirby-Bauer method and the frequency of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance genes (qnrA, qnrB, qnrS) was investigated by PCR. Results: In total, 80 E. coli strains were isolated during the study period, of which 51 (63.8%) isolates were resistant to tested antibiotics. Of note, 13 isolates were resistant to all the antibiotics employed. The highest rates of antibiotic resistance were obtained for nalidixic acid (60%), followed by norfloxacin (30%), and ciprofloxacin (25%). Of the 51 quinolone-resistant strains, 24 (47.1%) isolates harbored qnr genes. None of the isolates harboured the qnrA gene, while 11 (45.8%) and 7 (29.2%) isolates contained qnrB and qnrS, respectively. Conclusion: Our findings showed high rates of quinolone resistance (63.8%) and qnr genes, underlining the importance of hospital wastewaters as reservoirs for dissemination of potentially pathogenic E. coli and horizontal gene transfer between other waterborne bacterial species. Other possible mechanisms of resistance should also be investigated for better characterization of quinolone-resistant E. coli isolates.
A new form of severe spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia: Clinical and radiological characterization

We report on two patients with a severe form of spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia (SEMD). Both patients show normal birth length, early postnatal growth deficiency, severe short stature, flexion contractures in the hips, bowing of the legs with genu varum. Skeletal radiographies show platyspondyly and characteristic vertebral body shape with central indentation of endplates, progressive, and severe metaphyseal changes, very small and irregular proximal femoral epiphyses with severe coxa vara, absence of calcifications, and mild metaphyseal irregularities in upper limbs.