Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MYCOBACTERIUM AVIUM SUBSPECIES PARATUBERCULOSIS AND MYCOBACTERIUM AVIUM SUBSP. AVIUM INFECTIONS IN A TULE ELK (CERVUS ELAPHUS NANNODES) HERD

Between 2 August and 22 September 2000, 37 hunter-killed tule elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes) were evaluated at the Grizzly Island Wildlife Area, California, USA, for evidence of paratuberculosis. Elk were examined post-mortem, and tissue and fecal samples were submitted for radiometric mycobacterial culture. Acid-fast isolates were identified by a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that discriminates among members of the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). Histopathologic evaluations were completed, and animals were tested for antibodies using a Johne's enzyme–linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and agar gel immunodiffusion. In addition, 104 fecal samples from tule elk remaining in the herd were collected from the ground and submitted for radiometric mycobacterial culture. No gross lesions were detected in any of the hunter-killed animals. Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) was cultured once from ileocecal tissue of one adult elk and was determined to be a strain (A18) found commonly in infected cattle. One or more isolates of Mycobacterium avium subsp. avium (MAA) were isolated from tissues of five additional adult elk. Gastrointestinal tract and lymph node tissues from 17 of the 37 elk (46%) examined had histopathologic lesions commonly seen with mycobacterial infection; however, acid-fast bacteria were not observed. All MAC infections were detected from adult elk (P = 0.023). In adult elk, a statistically significant association was found between MAA infection and ELISA sample-to-positive ratio (S/P)≥0.25 (P=0.021); four of five MAA culture–positive elk tested positive by ELISA. Sensitivity and specificity of ELISA S/P≥0.25 for detection of MAA in adult elk were 50% and 93%, respectively. No significant associations were found between MAC infection and sex or histopathologic lesions. Bacteriologic culture confirmed infection with MAP and MAA in this asymptomatic tule elk herd. The Johne's ELISA was useful in signaling mycobacterial infection on a population basis but could not discriminate between MAA and MAP antibodies. The multiplex PCR was useful in discriminating among the closely related species belonging to MAC.
The Continuing Multidisciplinary Needs of Adult Patients with Cleft Lip and/or Palate

Objective: Babies born with cleft lip and/or palate are followed-up throughout their growth in childhood. During adulthood, they may require further functional and/or aesthetic treatment. Adult multidisciplinary cleft clinics have been in place in the West Midlands, U.K. since June 2000. The aim of this study was to review the number and nature of problems these adult patients had and the types of treatment they required. Design: All adult patients seen in 2004 were identified. Case notes were reviewed for patient epidemiology, problems at initial presentation, and interventions carried out until their last clinic visit in 2004. Results: In 2004, there were 145 patients seen in the adult cleft clinic. Of those, 55 patients attended as part of their continuing care. Ninety were newly referred as adults to the cleft service. Patients ranged in age from 15 to 70 years and had, on average, three clinical problems each. One hundred and sixteen patients were listed for surgery of varying types, nine patients had nonsurgical speech-related intervention, 21 patients had restorative dental intervention, and 16 patients needed an extended clinical psychology assessment. Conclusion: For some patients who have had a cleft lip and/or palate, problems continue into adulthood or arise later in life. These problems are often multiple and treatment often requires the input of more than one specialist. The results of this audit support the need for coordinated multidisciplinary care for adults who have had a cleft lip and/or palate.
Early symptom burden predicts recovery after sport-related concussion

Objective: To identify independent predictors of and use recursive partitioning to develop a multivariate regression tree predicting symptom duration greater than 28 days after a sport-related concussion. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of patients in a sports concussion clinic. Participants completed questionnaires that included the Post-Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS). Participants were asked to record the date on which they last experienced symptoms. Potential predictor variables included age, sex, score on symptom inventories, history of prior concussions, performance on computerized neurocognitive assessments, loss of consciousness and amnesia at the time of injury, history of prior medical treatment for headaches, history of migraines, and family history of concussion. We used recursive partitioning analysis to develop a multivariate prediction model for identifying athletes at risk for a prolonged recovery from concussion. Results: A total of 531 patients ranged in age from 7 to 26 years (mean 14.6 ± 2.9 years). The mean PCSS score at the initial visit was 26 ± 26; mean time to presentation was 12 ± 5 days. Only total score on symptom inventory was independently associated with symptoms lasting longer than 28 days (adjusted odds ratio 1.044; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.034, 1.054 for PCSS). No other potential predictor variables were independently associated with symptom duration or useful in developing the optimal regression decision tree. Most participants (86%; 95% CI 80%, 90%) with an initial PCSS score of <13 had resolution of their symptoms within 28 days of injury. Conclusions: The only independent predictor of prolonged symptoms after sport-related concussion is overall symptom burden.
Impulsivity and socio-economic status interact to increase the risk of gambling onset among youth.

AIMS To determine if impulsivity and socio-economic status (SES) interact to influence gambling onset in youth. DESIGN Longitudinal study of grade 7 students followed for 8 years. SETTING Montréal, Canada. PARTICIPANTS A total of 628 adult students aged 12.6 years on average at cohort inception. MEASUREMENTS Impulsivity and SES (parent education, area deprivation) were collected during secondary school. Age of gambling onset was collected retrospectively when participants were aged 20.3 years. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model the association between time to first report of gambling and interaction terms for each of impulsivity and parent education, and impulsivity and area deprivation accounting for sex and ethnicity. FINDINGS Median (interquartile range) age of gambling onset was 17.0 (4.0) years. Impulsivity independently increased the risk of gambling onset among participants with no university-educated parent [hazard ratio (HR) 1.3; 95% confidence interval 1.1-1.5] and those living in highly deprived areas (HR 1.7; 1.5-2.0). Impulsivity was not associated with gambling onset among high SES youth. Among participants with high impulsivity, risks were elevated for those with no university-educated parent relative to one or more university-educated parent (HR 1.7; 1.1-2.7), and for participants living in deprived relative to advantaged areas (HR 5.0; 2.6-9.6). SES was not associated with gambling onset among participants with low impulsivity. CONCLUSIONS Impulsivity is a risk factor for gambling onset among low but not high SES youth, and low SES influences gambling onset primarily among impulsive youth. Gambling prevention programmes may need to consider potential interaction between impulsivity and SES.
Resistance to therapy in BRCA2 mutant cells due to loss of the nucleosome remodeling factor CHD4

BRCA-associated cancers are sensitive to DNA-damaging agents such as cisplatin, but the efficacy of cisplatin is limited by the development of resistance. Guillemette et al. performed a genome-wide short hairpin (shRNA) screen and found that loss of the nucleosome remodeling factor CHD4 conferred cisplatin resistance. Cisplatin-resistant clones lacking genetic reversion of BRCA2 show de novo loss of CHD4 expression in vitro. BRCA2 mutant ovarian cancers with reduced CHD4 expression correlate with shorter progression-free survival and shorter overall survival.
Brain synchronization during perception of facial emotional expressions with natural and unnatural dynamics

Research on the perception of facial emotional expressions (FEEs) often uses static images that do not capture the dynamic character of social coordination in natural settings. Recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies suggest that dynamic FEEs (videos or morphs) enhance emotion perception. To identify mechanisms associated with the perception of FEEs with natural dynamics, the present EEG (Electroencephalography)study compared (i) ecologically valid stimuli of angry and happy FEEs with natural dynamics to (ii) FEEs with unnatural dynamics, and to (iii) static FEEs. FEEs with unnatural dynamics showed faces moving in a biologically possible but unpredictable and atypical manner, generally resulting in ambivalent emotional content. Participants were asked to explicitly recognize FEEs. Using whole power (WP) and phase synchrony (Phase Locking Index, PLI), we found that brain responses discriminated between natural and unnatural FEEs (both static and dynamic). Differences were primarily observed in the timing and brain topographies of delta and theta PLI and WP, and in alpha and beta WP. Our results support the view that biologically plausible, albeit atypical, FEEs are processed by the brain by different mechanisms than natural FEEs. We conclude that natural movement dynamics are essential for the perception of FEEs and the associated brain processes.
Nanoscale Heating of the Near Field Transducer in Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording

Current heat assistance magnetic recording hard disk drive systems are designed to heat a 20 nm writing spot on the disk to more than 400 °C by a near field transducer (NFT) located within the slider and spaced a few nanometers from the disk. It is important for the NFT to remain relatively cool to insure that it will not fail during the required lifetime of the drive. Due to the nanometer scale separation between the heated spot and the NFT, the heat exchange between them cannot be accurately calculated by conventional methods. This paper first explains why the conventional models of heat transfer fail at the nanoscale. Then, we estimate the heat radiation and heat conduction due to phonon tunneling using an extension of Planck's law from equilibrium systems to systems with a non-vanishing heat flux. It is shown that the heat transport across a few nanometers wide gap is expected to be high enough to provide significant back-heating of the NFT from the heated spot on the disk.
Otogenic Cranial Base Osteomyelitis: A Proposed Prognosis-Based System for Disease Classification

Objectives: To review the presentation, microbiology, and long-term results of treating otogenic cranial base osteomyelitis to develop a prognosis-based disease classification system. Patients and Methods: Thirty-eight patients with otogenic cranial base osteomyelitis treated between 1989 and 2002 were studied. Patient demographics, presentation, pathogens, details of therapy, and disease-specific survival were recorded. Patients were stratified using Technetium-99 single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) at presentation into 4 grades: I, mild uptake; II, focal mastoid/temporal bone uptake not reaching midline; III, petrous temporal bone uptake reaching midline; and IV, uptake crossing midline, involving the contralateral temporal bone. Actuarial analysis was used to identify prognostic factors. Results: There were 27 men. The average age at presentation was 65 ± 16 years (range, 19-95 yr). The median age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity score was 5, and 63% of patients were diabetic. The most common presenting symptoms were pain and otorrhea, and 8 patients had cranial nerve neuropathy. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most common bacterial pathogen (n = 28; 74%), and 9 patients had fungal or mixed infections. On average, antibiotics were administered for 161 days, and 6 patients had concomitant surgery. The average follow-up was 33 months, and 3-year disease-specific survival was 76%. Univariate predictors of survival were the SPECT grade, fungal/mixed infections, Charlson score, immune compromise, and cranial nerve neuropathy. The only independent predictor of survival on multivariate Cox regression was the SPECT stage at presentation. Conclusion: Cranial base osteomyelitis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality and requires prolonged treatment. Long-term outcome can be predicted from the initial SPECT scan.
Physiological responses of Betula pendula Roth growing in polluted areas

Plant functioning is affected by drought, extreme temperatures, heavy metal pollution and other unfavorable environmental conditions. High intensity of stress factors can be lethal to sensitive organisms or significantly decrease their condition. Intensification of stress factors is observed especially in urban and industrial areas. During the vegetative season plants purify the air and soil, decrease air temperature, increase humidity and have others psychosociological advantages. It is especially important to monitor growth of plants in areas with high anthropopression. In presented study condition of silver birch ( Betula pendula Roth) growing in different stressful environments was investigated. During the research soil parameters such as pH, EC and heavy metals content were observed. Chlorophyll a fluorescence, photosynthetic pigment content, phenolic compounds concentration, ability to scavenging DPPH free radical, activity of anti-oxidative enzymes (superoxide dismutase-SOD, peroxidase-POD, catalase-CAT) were examined in the leaves to study plant response to stress factors. Investigated trees showed two types of antioxidative defense systems: with high activity of low molecular weight antioxidants (phenolics) or with high enzymatic antioxidant activity. The most stressed trees showed highest concentration of low molecular weight antioxidants (phenolics).
Children and Families Bill

This paper has been written for the House of Commons Second Reading debate on the Children and Families Bill [Bill 131] on 25 February 2013. The Bill seeks to reform legislation relating to adoption and children in care; aspects of the family justice system; children and young people with special educational needs; the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England; statutory rights to leave and pay for parents and adopters; time off work for ante-natal care; and the right to request flexible working.
New antibiotics for the treatment of severe staphylococcal infection in the critically ill patient

Purpose of reviewInfection by Staphylococcus aureus in critically ill patients is usually associated with antimicrobial resistance and high mortality. A more effective antibiotic treatment is needed to replace older drugs that have limited efficacy. Novel substances active on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which are already available on the market or are still in development, are discussed in this review, with emphasis on nosocomial infections. Recent findingsA number of new antibiotics are on the market (linezolid, quinupristin-dalfopristin, daptomycin) and there is good evidence regarding their efficacy, especially in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections. Linezolid is, to date, the best alternative in treating nosocomial pneumonia by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It is cost-effective; resistance levels are still very low but there are some concerns regarding its adverse events. Quinupristin-dalfopristin shows good activity in vitro but its efficacy in patients with pneumonia by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is modest. Daptomycin is not recommended for pulmonary infections because of its reduced penetration in the lung tissue. Under current phase III trials in patients with nosocomial infections are tigecycline, ceftobiprole, and three new glycopeptides, all with particular activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. SummaryFor the moment, there are limited and rather expensive therapeutic options for the infections by Staphylococcus aureus in the critically ill. No dramatic superiority of the new drugs in comparison to the standard therapies was observed in most of the clinical trials. Better results on the efficacy of the drugs under investigation are expected.
Plasma Proteome Analysis Reveals Overlapping, yet Distinct Mechanisms of Immune Activation in Chronic HCV and HIV Infections

Background:HIV infection contributes to accelerated rates of progression of liver fibrosis during hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and HCV liver disease contributes to mortality during HIV infection. Although mechanisms underlying these interactions are not well known, soluble and cellular markers of immune activation associate with disease progression during both infections. Methods:We identified proteins varying in expression across the plasma proteomes of subjects with untreated HIV infection, untreated HCV infection with low aspartate transaminase/platelet ratio index, untreated HCV infection with high aspartate transaminase/platelet ratio index, HIV–HCV coinfection, and controls. We examined correlations between dysregulated proteins and markers of immune activation to uncover biomarkers specific to disease states. Results:We observed the anticipated higher frequencies of HLA-DR+CD38+CD4 and CD8 T cells, higher serum soluble CD14 levels, and higher serum interleukin-6 levels for HCV- and HIV-infected groups compared with controls. Plasma proteome analysis identified 2297 peptides mapping to 227 proteins, and quantitative analysis of peptide intensity identified significant changes in 85 proteins across the 5 groups. Abundance for 7 of these proteins was validated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Forty-three of these proteins correlated with markers of immune activation, including at least 2 proteins that may directly drive T-cell activation. As a functional validation, we tested the enzymatic pathway product (lysophosphatidic acid, LPA) of one such protein, ecotonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-2, for ability to activate T cells in vitro. LPA activated T cells to express CD38 and HLA-DR. Conclusions:These data indicate that elevated levels of ecotonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-2 and LPA during advanced HCV disease may play a role in exacerbating immune activation during HCV–HIV coinfection.
Multi-Objective Optimization of Coordinated Multipoint-Aided MIMO-OFDMA Systems With Frequency Reuse

Recent years have seen an upsurge in novel techniques to satisfy the ambitious requirements of modern wireless cellular systems in terms of area spectral efficiency whereby users located anywhere in the cell, even at the edge, should be able to obtain a reasonably large throughput. In particular, interference control/cancellation techniques based on different forms of frequency reuse (FR) and coordinated multipoint transmission (CoMP) have shown great potential to realize such a goal. This paper proposes a framework to evaluate the combination of FR and CoMP from a multi-objective performance point of view, where different metrics related to capacity and fairness can be incorporated. This framework rests on a physical layer abstraction derived for the particular case of block diagonalization-based MIMO processing, a widely used technique known to perform close to optimality yet remaining computationally simple. For the derived results to be practically relevant, all wireless channel effects have been considered (e.g., large and small propagation losses, shadowing, and antenna directivity) as well as the existence of per-base power constraints when using CoMP. Numerical simulations show that the design of the FR parameters play a key role in the overall network performance and suggest the use of utility-based functions that combine various metrics as a suitable mechanism to conduct this optimization.
Psychologic and neuropsychologic functioning of patients with limited small-cell lung cancer treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy with or without warfarin: a study by the Cancer and Leukemia Group B.

PURPOSE The current study assessed the psychologic and neuropsychologic functioning of patients with small-cell lung cancer who were randomized in a large clinical trial to receive intensive doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, etoposide (ACE)/cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, etoposide (PCE) chemotherapy and radiation therapy (RT) to the primary tumor and prophylactic whole-brain irradiation with (regimen I) or without (regimen II) warfarin. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients' emotional states and cognitive functioning were assessed using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and Trail Making B Test (Trails B), respectively. Two hundred ninety-five patients completed the POMS and Trails B at pretreatment, 224 patients after the completion of the ACE course of chemotherapy (week 9), and 177 patients after the completion of the PCE chemotherapy and RT (week 17). RESULTS No differences on the POMS or Trails B measures were found between the two treatment arms as predicted, given that the only difference between the two treatment arms was the presence or absence of warfarin. Analysis of the POMS revealed that, overall, mean scores remained stable over the course of treatment; however, women showed a trend toward higher mean scores, which indicated a higher level of distress, compared with men at the pretreatment assessment. Examination of cognitive functioning, measured by the Trails B, revealed improved performance from baseline to post-ACE chemotherapy, which is consistent with a practice effect, but a significant worsening of Trails B scores post-RT compared with the pre-RT assessments, which is consistent with impaired cognitive functioning because of treatment (P < .0001). CONCLUSION Emotional state, measured by the POMS, did not differ between the groups or change significantly over time in this study of small-cell lung cancer patients treated with a combination of chemotherapy and RT plus or minus warfarin. However, the pattern of relatively stable POMS scores and poorer Trails B performance post-RT suggested that this combination of chemotherapy and RT had a negative impact on cognitive functioning.
Burden of Depression Among Impoverished HIV-Positive Women in Peru

Objectives:In resource-poor settings, the mental health burden among HIV-positive women is exacerbated by poverty. We sought to describe the extent, risk factors, and experience of depression among impoverished HIV-positive women living in Lima, Peru. Methods:This is a case series of 78 HIV-positive women in Lima, Peru. We measured depression, stigma, and social support and performed a multivariable analysis to identify factors associated with depression. Results:Among 78 HIV-positive patients, 68% were depressed. Depression and suicidal ideation were rarely diagnosed by providers. In multivariable analysis, HIV-related stigma and food scarcity were associated with depression. Conclusions:In our cohort of HIV-positive women in Lima, Peru, poverty and socioeconomic vulnerability contributed to depression. Findings highlight the heavy burden of depression in this cohort of poor women and the need to incorporate mental health services as an integral component of HIV care.