Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical symptoms, immune factors, and molecular characteristics of an adult male in Shenzhen, China infected with influenza virus H5N1

On December 29, 2011, a man infected with a subclade of the H5N1 virus was confirmed in Shenzhen, China. The clinical symptoms and immune factors of the patient were investigated and the phylogenetic and molecular characteristics of the virus were analyzed. High fever, rapid development of serious pneumonia and multi‐organ failure were the main clinical symptoms. Arterial blood gas analysis showed that PaCO2 rose sharply and PO2 decreased. Leukocyte and platelet counts decreased rapidly. Peripheral blood lymphocyte counts indicated lymphopenia and inverted ratios of CD4+ to CD8+ cells. Cytokine analysis showed that the levels of serum IL‐6, IL‐10, and IFN‐r continued to increase, whereas the levels of IL‐12 and TNFs decreased during the clinical course. MCP‐1 and IP‐10 remained at a high level after infection. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed that the virus A/Shenzhen/1/2011 belongs to the new subclade 2.3. 2.1. An Arg (R) insertion at P6 and an RP8I substitution in the HA cleavage site motif were detected in the virus. Compared to the vaccine strain, 16 specific substitutions occurred in the HA1 protein. Some of them were located on the receptor‐binding site, glycosylation site and the region of the antigenic determinant. In summary, serious complications and immune system disorders were the main features of the infection with H5N1. Gene variation did not weaken the highly pathogenic features of viruses and the pathogenicity and antigenicity of the new subclade virus were changed. J. Med. Virol. 85:760–768, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Intravitreal ranibizumab for the treatment of cystoid macular edema in Irvine-Gass syndrome.

PURPOSE To evaluate the functional and anatomical outcome after intravitreal ranibizumab injection in 2 patients with cystoid macular edema (CME) related to Irvine-Gass syndrome. METHODS Two patients with pseudophakic CME refractory to current standard topical treatment were enrolled in this study. Intravitreal (0.5 mg/0.05 mL) ranibizumab injection was performed. Baseline visits included best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), a fundus examination, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and fundus fluorescein angiography (FA). The main outcome measures were changes in visual acuity, retinal thickness on OCT, and complications related to treatment. RESULTS FA and OCT confirmed the diagnosis of pseudophakic CME in both cases. The initial BCVA was 5/100 in the first case. After 1 injection of intravitreal ranibizumab, retinal edema totally regressed and BCVA improved to 6/10. The central macular thickness (CMT) measured with OCT was 379 μm at baseline and decreased to 227 μm at the 16-month visit. The initial BCVA was 5/10 in the second case. It improved to 8/10 after 2 ranibizumab injections and remained unchanged at the 21-month visit. The CMT measured with OCT was 419 μm at baseline and decreased to 243 μm at the final follow-up. There were no ocular or systemic complications related to the intravitreal injections. CONCLUSION Intravitreal ranibizumab appeared to be an effective treatment of macular edema related to Irvine-Gass syndrome. Prospective controlled studies are warranted to compare the long-term safety and efficacy between intravitreal ranibizumab and other treatment options in cases of Irvine-Gass syndrome.
Interacting with Large Distributed Datasets Using Sketch

We present Sketch, a library and a distributed runtime for building interactive tools for exploring large datasets, distributed across multiple machines. We have built several applications using Sketch; here we describe a billion-row spreadsheet, and a distributed-systems performance analyzer. Sketch applications allow interactive and responsive exploration of complex distributed datasets, scaling effectively to use large computational resources.
Hemodynamic differences between unstable and stable unruptured aneurysms independent of size and location: a pilot study

Background While clinical and angiographic risk factors for intracranial aneurysm instability are well established, it is reasonable to postulate that intra-aneurysmal hemodynamics also have a role in aneurysm instability. Objective To identify hemodynamic characteristics that differ between radiologically unstable and stable unruptured intracranial aneurysms. Materials and methods 12 pairs of unruptured intracranial aneurysms with a 3D rotational angiographic set of images and followed up longitudinally without treatment were studied. Each pair consisted of one stable aneurysm (no change on serial imaging) and one unstable aneurysm (demonstrated growth of at least 1 mm diameter or ruptured during follow-up) of matching size (within 10%) and locations. Patient-specific computational fluid dynamics models were created and run under pulsatile flow conditions. Relevant hemodynamic and geometric variables were calculated and compared between groups using the paired Wilcoxon test. Results The area of the aneurysm under low wall shear stress (low shear stress area (LSA)) was 2.26 times larger in unstable aneurysms than in stable aneurysms (p=0.0499). The mean aneurysm vorticity was smaller by a factor of 0.57 in unstable aneurysms compared with stable aneurysms (p=0.0499). No statistically significant differences in geometric variables or shape indices were found. Conclusions This pilot study suggests there may be hemodynamic differences between unstable and stable unruptured cerebral aneurysms. In particular, the area under low wall shear stress was larger in unstable aneurysms. These findings should be considered tentative until confirmed by future larger studies.
Health Impact Assessment of Cyclone Bejisa in Reunion Island (France) Using Syndromic Surveillance

Abstract Introduction On January 2, 2014, Cyclone Bejisa struck Reunion Island (France). This storm led to major material damages, such as power outages, disturbance of drinking water systems, road closures, and the evacuation of residents. In this context, the Regional Office of French Institute for Public Health Surveillance in Indian Ocean (Cire OI) set up an epidemiological surveillance in order to describe short-term health effects of the cyclone. Methods The assessment of the health impact was based mainly on a syndromic surveillance system, including the activity of all emergency departments (EDs) and the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) of the island. From these data, several health indicators were collected and analyzed daily and weekly. To complete this assessment, all medical charts recorded in the EDs of Reunion Island from January 2, 2014 through January 5, 2014 were reviewed in order to identify visits directly and indirectly related to the cyclone, and to determine mechanisms of injuries. Results The number of calls to the EMS peaked the day of the cyclone, and the number of ED visits increased markedly over the next two days. At the same time, a significant increase in visits for trauma, burns, and carbon monoxide poisoning was detected in all EDs. Among 1,748 medical records reviewed, eight visits were directly related to the cyclone and 208 were indirectly related. For trauma, the main mechanisms of injury were falls and injuries by machinery or tools during the clean-up and repair works. Due to prolonged power outages, several patients were hospitalized: some to assure continuity of care, others to take care of an exacerbation of a chronic disease. An increase in leptospirosis cases linked to post-cyclone clean-up was observed two weeks after the cyclone. Conclusion Information based on the syndromic surveillance system allowed the authors to assess rapidly the health impact of Cyclone Bejisa in Reunion Island; however, an underestimation of this impact was still possible. In the near future, several lines of work will be planned by the authors in order to improve the assessment. VilainP, PagèsF, CombesX, Marianne Dit CassouPJ, Mougin-DamourK, Jacques-AntoineY, FilleulL. Health impact assessment of Cyclone Bejisa in Reunion Island (France) using syndromic surveillance. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(2):1-8
Serum β-carotene, lycopene and α-tocopherol levels of healthy people in northeast Thailand

Human serum contains many different antioxidants which may be important in the maintenance of antioxidant status. β-carotene and lycopene are carotenoids with potent antioxidant activity. Carotenoids intake probably protects against cancers and may affect the risk of several chronic conditions. α-tocopherol is well known for its function as antioxidant and in reduction of heart disease and cancer risk. We aimed to establish baseline values for serum β-carotene, lycopene and α-tocopherol concentrations in healthy northeast Thais. Fasting serum β-carotene, lycopene and α-tocopherol levels from 294 subjects aged 23-75 years old in northeast Thailand were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The mean serum β-carotene, lycopene and α-tocopherol levels were 0.53 ± 0.32 μmol/L, 0.57 ± 0.37 μmol/L, and 26.64 ± 14.85 μmol/L respectively. Serum β-carotene and lycopene levels in females (N = 118) were significantly higher than the value for males (N = 176), ie 0.60 ± 0.31 μmol/L versus 0.48 ± 0.32 μmol/L (p = 0.002) for β-carotene and 0.74 ± 0.38 μmol/L versus 0.46 ± 0.33 μmol/L (p＜0.001) for lycopene whereas α-tocopherol level in males (28.60 ± 14.34 μmol/L) was significantly higher than in females (23.72 ± 15.16 μmol/L) (p = 0.006). β-carotene level was positively correlated with α-tocopherol (r = 0.22, p＜0.001) and lycopene levels (r = 0.63, p ＜0.001). The results from this study give the baseline data of serum β-carotene, lycopene and α-tocopherol levels in healthy northeast Thai population and also suggest future study on the relationship of dietary intake.
Chronic Hepatitis B Infection and Pregnancy

&NA; It is estimated that 350 to 400 million individuals worldwide are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV). In regions of high endemicity, many of these are females of reproductive age who are an important source for perinatal transmission. There are a number of issues specific to the women of childbearing age who have chronic HBV infection, including the safety of antiviral therapy during pregnancy and breast-feeding, the changes in the immune system during pregnancy and postpartum that may impact on the natural history of HBV, and the emerging role of antivirals to reduce perinatal transmission of HBV. For women in their reproductive years who require treatment, many of the available antivirals have not been studied in pregnant or breast-feeding women and their use requires the development of a carefully considered strategy, considering the impact of both the disease and treatment on the mother and fetus/infant. The purpose of this article is to (1) review data regarding the mechanisms and timing of perinatal HBV infection; (2) review data on interventions, particularly antiviral therapy, to reduce perinatal transmission beyond the protection afforded by hepatitis B immunoglobulin and vaccination; (3) summarize the immunological changes associated with pregnancy and the potential effect these may have on the natural history of HBV infection; and (4) summarize the information currently available for antiviral therapy available for HBV treatment, focusing specifically on safety data pertaining to reproduction, pregnancy, and breast-feeding. Target Audience: Obstetricians & Gynecologists and Family Physicians Learning Objectives: After completing this CME activity physicians should be better able to classify the interventions to reduce mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B including antivirals, caesarean section, hepatitis B immunoglobulin and hepatitis B vaccine, assess the immunological changes associated with pregnancy and the potential effect this may have on the natural history of HBV infection and apply the information currently available for antiviral therapy licensed for HBV treatment, focusing specifically on safety data in pregnancy and during breastfeeding.
Weak Convergence of a Relaxed and Inertial Hybrid Projection-Proximal Point Algorithm for Maximal Monotone Operators in Hilbert Space

This paper introduces a general implicit iterative method for finding zeros of a maximal monotone operator in a Hilbert space which unifies three previously studied strategies: relaxation, inertial type extrapolation and projection step. The first two strategies are intended to speed up the convergence of the standard proximal point algorithm, while the third permits one to perform inexact proximal iterations with fixed relative error tolerance. The paper establishes the global convergence of the method for the weak topology under appropriate assumptions on the algorithm parameters.
Transmission of Cell-Free and Cell-Associated HIV-1 Through Breast-Feeding

Background:Transmission through breast-feeding is an important cause of infant HIV-1 infections in developing countries; however, its mechanism remains largely unknown. We have explored the association between cell-free virus (CFV) and cell-associated virus (CAV) levels in breast milk (BM), as reflected by viral RNA and proviral DNA, respectively, and the risk of infant HIV-1 infection after 6 weeks postpartum. Methods:Sixty-one HIV-positive mothers who transmitted HIV-1 by BM were matched to 61 HIV-positive nontransmitting mothers based on their infant's age at sample collection. CFV and CAV were quantified in a single milk specimen per mother preceding the infant's first HIV-positive result. Results:After adjusting for maternal CD4+ cell counts and disease stage, each 10-fold increase in CFV or CAV load was associated with an almost 3-fold increase in BM transmission. Whereas CAV load was predictive of transmission before and after 9 months postpartum, CFV was a significant predictor of transmission occurring only after 9 months. Phylogenetic analyses of the C2 to C5 env region showed that 85% of infants (11 of 13 infants) harboring viruses that clustered with CFV in their mother's milk were infected after 9 months postpartum. Conclusion:A reduction in milk CAV and CFV loads might significantly decrease HIV-1 transmission by breast-feeding.
Effect of simulated environmental change on alpine soil arthropods

The effects of environmental change on soil animal communities are poorly known. Norwegian mountains are subject to both atmospheric nitrogen deposition and increased temperature. In a nutrient poor alpine Dryas heath in south Norway, soil arthropods were studied after 4 years of simulated environmental change by warming and/or nutrient addition. Warming alone only affected three low‐density Collembola species, while nutrient addition, with or without warming, greatly changed the dominance hierarchy of the microarthropod community. Certain Collembola species with a short (1 year) life cycle and predatory Gamasina mites increased markedly in density. These groups may have been favored by increased litter production, as plant biomass and litter producing graminoids and forbs increased significantly in plots with nutrient addition and nutrient addition combined with warming. Microarthropods with a longer life cycle, such as Oribatida and certain Collembola, were generally unaffected by nutrient addition and probably need more time to respond. The number of Oribatida taxa was, however, reduced in plots with nutrient addition, both with and without warming. A ground‐living species of Coccoidea (Homoptera) declined in plots with nutrient addition and warming compared with only warming, probably due to reduced cover of its host plant Dryas. The density of Diptera larvae (Sciaridae and Chironomidae) was unaffected by the treatments. Our results show that increased nutrient availability in nutrient poor alpine soils may have large but different effects on different taxa of soil animals. Species with short life cycles reacted first. Nutrient addition and nutrient addition combined with warming resulted in several effects below ground on microarthropods as previously shown above ground on plants: Increased biomass, high dominance of a few rapid‐growing species, contrasting responses of closely related species, and a reduction in species numbers. These short‐term responses may have profound long‐term effects in this alpine ecosystem.
Multi-access In-vivo Biotelemetry using Sonomicrometry and M-scan Ultrasound Imaging Sri

Objective: In this paper we investigate the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) diagnostic ultrasound readers to achieve multi-access wireless in-vivo telemetry with millimetersized sonomicrometry crystal transducers. Methods: The sonomicrometry crystals generate ultrasonic pulses that supersede the echoes generated at the tissue interfaces in response to Mscan interrogation pulses. The traces of these synthetic pulses are captured on an M-scan image and the transmitted data is decoded using image deconvolution and de-blurring algorithms. Results: Using a chicken phantom and 1.3 MHz sonomicrometry crystals of diameter 1 mm, we first demonstrate that a standard ultrasound reader can achieve bio-telemetry data rates up to 1 Mbps for implantation depths greater than 10 cm. For this experiment the maximum power dissipation at the crystals was measured to be 20 μW and BER of the telemetry link was shown to be 10−2. We also demonstrate the use of this method for multi-access bio-telemetry where several sonomicrometry crystals simultaneously transmit the data using different modulation and coding techniques. Using a live ovine model we demonstrate a sonomicrometry crystal implanted in the sheep’s tricuspid valve can maintain a continuous, reliable telemetry link at data rates up to 800 Kbps in the presence of respiratory and cardiac motion artifacts. Conclusion: Compared to existing radio-frequency and ultrasound based bio-telemetry devices, the reported data-rates are significantly higher considering the transducer’s form-factor and its implantation depth. Significance: The proposed technique thus validates the feasibility of establishing reliable communication link with multiple in-vivo implants using M-scan based ultrasound imaging.
Naming without necessity

In this thesis I argue that we should break with the dominant Kripkean tradition concerning natural kind terms and theoretical identity. I claim that there is just no interesting connection between the metaphysics and semantics of natural kind terms, and demonstrate this by constructing a version of descriptivism that is combined with the same metaphysics – that is, a nontrivial version of essentialism – found in Kripke, but which effectively avoids all of the standard criticisms. With my version of descriptivism in place, I present what I take to be the most reasonable version of metaphysical essentialism, positing only what I call 'thin' essences. I claim that thin essences are perfectly adequate to underpin scientific realism, and moreover that they are sufficient to support the version of descriptivism developed here. In effect, what I offer here is an error theory of the Kripkean tradition: Kripke is right to think that there are interesting things to say about meaning and essence, but just wrong about what those things are. Thus whilst Kripke thinks that it is possible to make discoveries about the meanings of natural kind terms, I think, rather, that we make empirical discoveries that lead to revisions in meaning. Furthermore, whilst Kripke thinks there is a dichotomy between de re and de dicto necessity, and that theoretical identities are necessary de re, I think this distinction is both misleading and inaccurate, and that the necessity of theoretical identities is neither entirely de re nor entirely de dicto. By separating and insulating questions concerning meaning from questions concerning essence I show that whilst scientific discoveries are contingent and a posteriori, the definition of scientific terms are both necessary and a priori.
Can leprosy affect the central nervous system ?

Objective: We aimed to study the leprosy cranial Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) findings and cerebral pathology. Methods: A total of 20 patients with leprosy who underwent MRI findings were presented. Results: Nonspecific senile atrophic changes were observed in most of patients with leprosy. Furthermore; meningiomas was observed in three patients with leprosy and chronic dural venous sinus thrombosis was observed in one patient with leprosy. Conclusion: According to our study findings there may be involvement of Central Nervous System (CNS) in patients with leprosy. Leprosy effect on CNS must be supported by the further largely investigations.
Distinct profiles of immunoglobulin G-binding-protein expression by invasive serotype M1 isolates of Streptococcus pyogenes

Analysis of immunoglobulin G (IgG)-binding-protein expression by invasive group A streptococcal isolates of the M1 serotype collected as part of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance study revealed two distinct phenotypes. One group of type M1 isolates expressed a surface protein reactive with all four human IgG subclasses (type IIo), while a second group expressed a surface protein demonstrating significant reactivity only with human IgG3 (type IIb). The functional forms of IgG-binding protein were antigenically related, and both were recognized by a rabbit polyclonal antiserum to serotype M1 but not by normal rabbit serum. While the quantities of antigenic M1 protein present in the extracts of representative isolates displaying each phenotype differed, the functional differences were found to be qualitative and not solely quantitative. The IgG-binding properties of these antigenically related M1 proteins could be readily distinguished from those of another IgG-binding protein, protein H. Type M1 isolates of the IIb phenotype differed from those of the IIo phenotype by secreting larger amounts of a casein-hydrolyzing protease into culture supernatants.
Photodynamic therapy: a 5-year study of its effectiveness in the treatment of posterior uveal melanoma, and evaluation of haematoporphyrin uptake and photocytotoxicity of melanoma cells in tissue culture

A human melanoma cell line RVH-421 which selectively demonstrates melanin synthesis when cultured in L15 Leibowitz medium but not in RPMI medium was used as a model to examine haematoporphyrin derivative (HPD) uptake and the photocytotoxicity of photodynamic therapy (PDT). Confocal scanning microscopy and extraction fluorimetry showed HPD uptake in both non-pigmented and pigmented melanoma cells. Phototoxicity was determined by incubating pigmented and non-pigmented monolayer cells with HPD, exposing them to variable periods of white fluorescent light and calculating the number of viable cells in the samples relative to the controls. Both the non-pigmented and pigmented melanoma cells were affected by light-dependent cytotoxicity which was greater in the non-pigmented cells. Melanin or other substances may reduce the photo-oxidative effects of PDT. Posterior uveal melanomas in 36 patients were treated with PDT with the longest duration of tumour control being 6.5 years. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that 76% of melanomas were not growing at the end of the first year, declining to 62% at the end of the second year, with 38% showing no signs of growth at the end of the fifth year. No eyes were lost as a result of PDT. Cox's hazards analysis showed that the degree of tumour pigmentation and patient age at therapy significantly influence the tumour response to PDT.