Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A functional neuroanatomy of tics in Tourette syndrome.

BACKGROUND Tics are involuntary, brief, stereotyped motor and vocal behaviors often associated with irresistible urges. They are a defining symptom of the classic neuropsychiatric disorder, Tourette syndrome (TS), and constitute an example of disordered human volition. The neural correlates of tics are not well understood and have not been imaged selectively. METHODS Event-related [(15)O]H(2)O positron emission tomography techniques combined with time-synchronized audio and videotaping were used to determine the duration of, frequency of, and radiotracer input during tics in each of 72 scans from 6 patients with TS. This permitted a voxel-by-voxel correlational analysis within Statistical Parametric Mapping of patterns of neural activity associated with the tics. RESULTS Brain regions in which activity was significantly correlated with tic occurrence in the group included medial and lateral premotor cortices, anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral-rostral prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal cortex, putamen, and caudate, as well as primary motor cortex, the Broca's area, superior temporal gyrus, insula, and claustrum. In an individual patient with prominent coprolalia, such vocal tics were associated with activity in prerolandic and postrolandic language regions, insula, caudate, thalamus, and cerebellum, while activity in sensorimotor cortex was noted with motor tics. CONCLUSIONS Aberrant activity in the interrelated sensorimotor, language, executive, and paralimbic circuits identified in this study may account for the initiation and execution of diverse motor and vocal behaviors that characterize tics in TS, as well as for the urges that often accompany them. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2000;57:741-748
Critical Modeling Issues in Negative Bias Temperature Instability

Both the physical mechanisms as well as the modeling of negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) have attracted growing attention during the last years. While the reaction-diffusion theory had been the dominant explanation for a relatively long period, a growing number of authors have recently voiced their doubts regarding its validity. We give a brief review of suggested models and highlight their strengths and, more importantly, their weaknesses. We take care not to get lost in the intricacies of the various models by only qualitatively discussing their features. As will be shown, this is more than sufficient to demonstrate considerable shortcomings. Finally, we summarize our latest modeling attempts which try to overcome the observed modeling contradictions and show comparisons to experimental data.
Towards Real-time Static and Dynamic Profiling of Organisational Complexity

In this position paper, I argue that although the definition and quantifiable metric for organisational complexity may still be controversial, it is possible to capture structural aspects of complexity in both static and dynamic forms. Based on Kannampallilâs theoretical framework for computing complexity, it is proposed here that complexity, in an aggregate sense, can be evaluated in terms of (i) the number of components (NoC) there are within a socio-technical organisation and (ii) the degree of interrelatedness (DoI) between these components. Given these variables, it is then possible to characterise complexity in terms of simple, complicated, relatively complex and complex profiles. These profiles serve as useful toolkits for indicating the complexity level a team, a department or the entire organisation is at for useful interventions or insights to be made. Adapting the ideas of Pentland, I also argue that with technological advances in Information Systems, organisations are now able to capture relational or social network data with relative ease, to construct useful network and complexity maps of individuals, teams and organisations in real time.
Role of protein kinases in mediating diabetes‐induced augmented vasoconstriction to endothelin‐1 in the renal arteries of STZ‐diabetic rats

Diabetes is associated with increased reactivity of the renal vascular bed to endothelin‐1 (ET‐1). It has been observed that diabetes is associated with over‐expression of ETA‐ and ETB‐receptors in the rat renal cortex. However it is not known if these receptors are over‐expressed in the renal artery. The objectives of this study were to determine changes in ET‐1 receptors and signalling pathways in diabetic renal arteries, to determine the relative roles of protein kinase C and tyrosine kinase activation in mediating these responses and to investigate the role of Rho‐kinase activity in mediating the vasoconstrictor responses to ET‐1. This study was performed on isolated renal artery segments obtained from STZ‐diabetic rats. Results from this study showed that the vasoconstrictor response to ET‐1 was potentiated in the diabetic renal artery segments compared to the control animals. Using selective ET‐1 receptor antagonists, BQ123 and BQ788, the enhanced ET‐1‐induced vasoconstriction was shown in this study not to be related to changes in receptor affiinity or receptor subtype distribution. However, the augmented vasoconstrictor response to ET‐1 in the diabetic renal artery preparations may be related to increased influx of Ca2+ through L‐type channels and also to increased tyrosine kinase activity. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Prevalence and correlates of psychosocial conditions among people living with HIV in southern India

ABSTRACT Psychosocial conditions such as depression, intimate partner violence (IPV), and history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) have been associated with poor HIV-related outcomes. In India, which has the third largest HIV epidemic in the world, little is understood about the impact of psychosocial conditions on people living with HIV (PLHIV). We aimed to understand the prevalence and correlates of psychosocial conditions among PLHIV entering into HIV care at the Y.R. Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education in Chennai, India. Thirteen questions were added to the standard voluntary counseling and testing questionnaire, including the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (a depression scale) and questions assessing for CSA and IPV. We fitted logistic regression models, stratified by gender, with psychosocial condition as the outcome of interest and substance use variables and socio-demographic variables as the correlates of interest. Three hundred and eighty-three persons were enrolled into the study; of these, 253 (66%) tested positive for HIV, including 149 men and 104 women, and were included in the models. More than one-quarter (28%) of the men and 19% of the women reported at least one psychosocial condition (probable depression, CSA, or IPV). In adjusted analysis, current alcohol use was associated with greater than two times higher odds of a psychosocial condition (Adjusted Odds Ratio = 2.24, 95% CI, 1.04–4.85) among men. In conclusion, we estimated the prevalence of probable depression, CSA, and IPV among PLHIV presenting for HIV care in southern India and found that, among male PLHIV, alcohol use was associated with a markedly higher odds of reporting a psychosocial condition. Further study is needed to characterize alcohol use among male PLHIV and the possible deleterious impact of psychosocial conditions and alcohol use on HIV-related outcomes in India.
Obesity and the reproductive axis.

Comité de rédaction A. Belcourt (Strasbourg), M. -H. Bernard (Lyon) Ph. Bouchard (Paris), J. Bringer (Montpellier), T. Brue (Marseille), J.-M. Brun (Dijon), M. Chupin (Nantes), B. Delemer (Reims), N. Jeandidier (Strasbourg), V. Lassmann-Vague (Marseille), J. Leclère (Nancy), P. Lecomte (Tours), P. Lefebvre (Liège), Y. Lorcy (Rennes), Y. Morel (Lyon), H. Rochefort (Montpellier), V. Rohmer (Angers), J.-L. Sadoul (Nice), J. Saez (Lyon), G. Slama (Paris), H. Vaudry (Mont Saint-Aignan), J.-L. Wemeau (Lille), G. Weryha (Vandœuvre), Indexé dans, Indexed in : Biosis, Chemical Abstract, Current
Observations on the Epidemiology of Simple Hypospadias

A descriptive epidemiological study of simple hypospadias—that is, hypospadias without coexisting malformation outside the genital system—in a birth population of 46,927 singleton males and 1,013 twin males showed that the condition was significantly more common (P < 0·001) in uniovular twin males than in either singleton or binovular twin males. Also the temporal distribution of dates of conception had a significant cyclic pattern for each year of the study. Both observations are thought to support the view that gonadotrophin levels at stage 3 sexual organogenesis play an important part in normal masculinization of male external genitalia.
Deficiency of Double-Strand DNA Break Repair Does Not Impair Mycobacterium tuberculosis Virulence in Multiple Animal Models of Infection

ABSTRACT Mycobacterium tuberculosis persistence within its human host requires mechanisms to resist the effector molecules of host immunity, which exert their bactericidal effects through damaging pathogen proteins, membranes, and DNA. Substantial evidence indicates that bacterial pathogens, including M. tuberculosis, require DNA repair systems to repair the DNA damage inflicted by the host during infection, but the role of double-strand DNA break (DSB) repair systems is unclear. Double-strand DNA breaks are the most cytotoxic form of DNA damage and must be repaired for chromosome replication to proceed. M. tuberculosis elaborates three genetically distinct DSB repair systems: homologous recombination (HR), nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ), and single-strand annealing (SSA). NHEJ, which repairs DSBs in quiescent cells, may be particularly relevant to M. tuberculosis latency. However, very little information is available about the phenotype of DSB repair-deficient M. tuberculosis in animal models of infection. Here we tested M. tuberculosis strains lacking NHEJ (a Δku ΔligD strain), HR (a ΔrecA strain), or both (a ΔrecA Δku strain) in C57BL/6J mice, C3HeB/FeJ mice, guinea pigs, and a mouse hollow-fiber model of infection. We found no difference in bacterial load, histopathology, or host mortality between wild-type and DSB repair mutant strains in any model of infection. These results suggest that the animal models tested do not inflict DSBs on the mycobacterial chromosome, that other repair pathways can compensate for the loss of NHEJ and HR, or that DSB repair is not required for M. tuberculosis pathogenesis.
ENVI: Elastic resource flexing for Network function Virtualization

Dynamic and elastic resource allocation to Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) in accordance with varying workloads is a must for realizing promised reductions in capital and operational expenses in Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). However, workload heterogeneity and complex relationships between resources allocated to a VNF and the resulting capacity makes elastic resource flexing a challenging task. We propose an NFV resource flexing system, ENVI, that uses a combination of VNF-level features and infrastructure-level features to construct a machine-learning-based decision engine for detecting resource flexing events. ENVI also extracts the dependence relationship among VNFs in deployed Service Function Chains (SFCs) to carefully plan the sequence of resource flexing steps upon scaling detection. We present preliminary results for the accuracy of ENVI’s resource flexing decision engine with two different VNFs, namely, the caching proxy Squid and the intrusion detection system Suricata. Our preliminary results show that using a combination of features to train a neural network model is a promising approach for scaling detection.
Deletion of the CaBIG1 Gene Reduces β-1,6-Glucan Synthesis, Filamentation, Adhesion, and Virulence in Candida albicans

ABSTRACT The human fungal pathogen Candida albicans is able to change its shape in response to various environmental signals. We analyzed the C. albicans BIG1 homolog, which might be involved in β-1,6-glucan biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. C. albicans BIG1 is a functional homolog of an S. cerevisiae BIG1 gene, because the slow growth of an S. cerevisiae big1 mutant was restored by introduction of C. albicans BIG1. CaBig1p was expressed constitutively in both the yeast and hyphal forms. A specific localization of CaBig1p at the endoplasmic reticulum or plasma membrane similar to the subcellular localization of S. cerevisiae Big1p was observed in yeast form. The content of β-1,6-glucan in the cell wall was decreased in the Cabig1Δ strain in comparison with the wild-type or reconstituted strain. The C. albicans BIG1 disruptant showed reduced filamentation on a solid agar medium and in a liquid medium. The Cabig1Δ mutant showed markedly attenuated virulence in a mouse model of systemic candidiasis. Adherence to human epithelial HeLa cells and fungal burden in kidneys of infected mice were reduced in the Cabig1Δ mutant. Deletion of CaBIG1 abolished hyphal growth and invasiveness in the kidneys of infected mice. Our results indicate that adhesion failure and morphological abnormality contribute to the attenuated virulence of the Cabig1Δ mutant.
Glucose regulates its transport in L8 myocytes by modulating cellular trafficking of the transporter GLUT-1.

The effect of culture conditions simulating hypo- and hyper-glycaemia on glucose transport and on the subcellular localization of the glucose transporter GLUT-1 was studied in L8 myocytes. Incubation of the cells with 20 mM-glucose for 25 h decreased the rate of 2-deoxy-D-[3H]glucose (dGlc) uptake to 0.106 +/- 0.016 nmol/min per 10(6) cells compared with 0.212 +/- 0.025 in cells maintained at 2 mM-glucose (final glucose concentrations at the end of the incubation period were 16-17 mM and 0.7-1.0 mM respectively). An additional 5 h incubation of these cells with medium containing the opposite glucose concentration (i.e. change from 17 mM to 1 mM and from 1 mM to 17 mM) increased the transport rate to 0.172 +/- 0.033 nmol/min per 10(6) cells in cultures initially conditioned at high glucose, and decreased the transport to 0.125 +/- 0.029 in those conditioned at low glucose. Plasma-membrane- and microsomal-membrane-enriched fractions were prepared from these cells for [3H]cytochalasin B (CB) binding and Western-blot analysis with antibodies against GLUT-1 and GLUT-4. A decrease in glucose concentration increased the number of D-glucose-displaceable CB-binding sites and GLUT-1 protein in the plasma-membrane fraction to the same extent as the increase in dGlc transport. Under downregulatory conditions, the lower dGlc-transport capacity could be accounted for by a decreased number of transporters in the plasma membrane of the cells. No apparent modification of the intrinsic activity of the glucose transporters was observed in up- or down-regulated cells. Under downregulatory conditions, the CB-binding data indicated a large increase in the number of transporters in the intracellular membranes of the myocytes. Western blots of the same membranes also indicated an increase in GLUT-1 content. However, the interaction of the intracellular GLUT-1 protein with the polyclonal antibodies was much weaker than that of the plasma-membrane-associated GLUT-1. The GLUT-4 concentration was too low to permit quantification in membrane fractions. Our findings suggest that autoregulation of glucose transport in L8 myocytes is accompanied by parallel changes in the number of GLUT-1 transporters in the plasma membrane, and that the rate of transporter degradation may be augmented in the upregulated myocytes. These glucose-induced changes are fully reversible.
Narrative based medicine: narrative based medicine in an evidence based world.

This is the last in a series of five articles on narrative based medicine In a widely quoted riposte to critics who accused them of naive empiricism, Sackett and colleagues claimed that “the practice of evidence based medicine means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence By individual clinical expertise we mean the proficiency and judgment that individual clinicians acquire through clinical experience and clinical practice. ”1 Sackett and colleagues were anxious to acknowledge that there is an art to medicine as well as an objective empirical science but they did not attempt to define or categorise the elusive quality of clinical competence. This article explores the dissonance between the “science” of objective measurement2 and the “art” of clinical proficiency and judgment,3–5 and attempts to integrate these different perspectives on clinical method. ### Summary points Even “evidence based” clinicians uphold the importance of clinical expertise and judgment Clinical method is an interpretive act which draws on narrative skills to integrate the overlapping stories told by patients, clinicians, and test results The art of selecting the most appropriate medical maxim for a particular clinical decision is acquired largely through the accumulation of “case expertise” (the stories or “illness scripts” of patients and clinical anecdotes) The dissonance we experience when trying to apply research findings to the clinical encounter often occurs when we abandon the narrative-interpretive paradigm and try to get by on “evidence” alone Science is concerned with the formulation and attempted falsification of hypotheses using reproducible methods that allow the construction of generalisable statements about how the universe behaves. Conventional medical training teaches students to view medicine as a science and the doctor as an impartial investigator who builds differential diagnoses as if they were scientific theories and who excludes competing possibilities in a manner …
Clinic-based vs. home-based interventions for preventing weight gain in men.

OBJECTIVE Weight gain occurs frequently in men aged 25-40. This study compared the effectiveness of a clinic-based and a home-based intervention with a no-treatment control group in preventing this weight gain. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES Men (n=67)-aged 25 to 40, sedentary, with a body mass index of 22 to 30, recruited from the University of Pittsburgh-were randomly assigned to 4-month treatments focused on increasing aerobic exercise and reducing fat intake through a clinic-based (CB) or a home-based (HB) program, or to a delayed-treatment control group. Subjects were reassessed at 4 months. RESULTS Adherence and outcome did not differ significantly between the CB and HB programs, except that CB subjects recorded their food intake more frequently, and a greater number of CB subjects achieved a total of 120 miles of exercise over the 4 months. Subjects in the two intervention conditions combined lost significantly more weight (-1.6+/-2.5 kg) than control subjects, who gained 0.2+/-1.9 kg (p<0.01); this effect of treatment was seen primarily in men with a body mass index of 27 to 30 (-2.7 kg for CB and HB combined vs. + 1.5 kg for control). Treated subjects also had somewhat greater improvements in body composition, aerobic fitness, and weekly energy expenditure than controls, although these differences did not reach significance. DISCUSSIONS Both CB and HB intervention show promise in preventing weight gain in young men, especially in those who are slightly overweight. Larger studies, using more representative samples of young men, appear warranted.
Development of polymerase chain reaction for detection of predominant streptococcal isolates causing subclinical bovine mastitis

Bovine mastitis is the most important source of loss for the growing dairy industry. Streptococci, with special reference to Streptococcus agalactiae, S. dysgalactiae and S. uberis, are the predominant pathogens causing bovine mastitis. A rapid, sensitive and specific test for the detection of these pathogens needs to be developed. To accomplish this, initially 163 milk samples were collected from various organized and unorganized sectors in and around Bangalore, India. These milk samples were screened for subclinical mastitis by somatic cell counting (SSC) and electro conduction (EC). Of these, 131 samples selected based on SCC and EC values were subjected for isolation of the organisms. Two sets of specific primers, targeting streptococcal 16S rRNA gene were designed for detection of S. agalactiae, S. dysgalactiae and S. uberis. The results of the study showed S. agalactiae as the predominant streptococci among the generally identified streptococcal species associated with subclinical bovine mastitis in dairy cattle in and around Bangalore.
Oil Palm Biomass Fibres and Recent Advancement in Oil Palm Biomass Fibres Based Hybrid Biocomposites

© 2012 Khalil et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Oil Palm Biomass Fibres and Recent Advancement in Oil Palm Biomass Fibres Based Hybrid Biocomposites
Dynamically Consistent α-Maxmin Expected Utility

The α-maxmin model is a prominent example of preferences under Knightian uncertainty as it allows to distinguish ambiguity and ambiguity attitude. These preferences are dynamically inconsistent for nontrivial versions of α. In this paper, we derive a recursive, dynamically consistent version of the α-maxmin model. In the continuous-time limit, the resulting dynamic utility function can be represented as a convex mixture between worst and best case, but now at the local, infinitesimal level. We study the properties of the utility function and provide an Arrow-Pratt approximation of the static and dynamic certainty equivalent. We derive a consumption-based capital asset pricing formula and study the implications for derivative valuation under indifference pricing.
Coffee, tea, and caffeine consumption and incidence of colon and rectal cancer.

BACKGROUND Frequent coffee consumption has been associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer in a number of case-control studies. Cohort studies have not revealed such an association but were limited in size. We explored the association between consumption of coffee and tea and the incidence of colorectal cancer in two large prospective cohorts of women and men. METHODS We used data from the Nurses' Health Study (women) and the Health Professionals' Follow-up Study (men). Consumption of coffee and tea and total caffeine intake were assessed and updated in 1980, 1984, 1986, 1990, and 1994 among women and in 1986, 1990, and 1994 among men. The incidence of cancer of the colon or rectum was ascertained through 1998. Hazard ratios were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models that adjusted for potential confounders. All tests of statistical significance were two-sided. RESULTS During almost 2 million person-years of follow-up, 1438 cases of colorectal cancer were observed. Consumption of caffeinated coffee or tea with caffeine or caffeine intake was not associated with the incidence of colon or rectal cancer in either cohort. For both cohorts combined, the covariate-adjusted hazard ratio for colorectal cancer associated with consumption of each additional cup of caffeinated coffee was 0.99 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.96 to 1.03). However, participants who regularly consumed two or more cups of decaffeinated coffee per day had a 52% (95% CI = 19% to 71%) lower incidence of rectal cancer than those who never consumed decaffeinated coffee. CONCLUSIONS Consumption of caffeinated coffee, tea with caffeine, or caffeine was not associated with incidence of colon of rectal cancer, whereas regular consumption of decaffeinated coffee was associated with a reduced incidence of rectal cancer.