Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiac transthyretin amyloidosis

Cardiac amyloidosis of transthyretin fibril protein (ATTR) type is an infiltrative cardiomyopathy characterised by ventricular wall thickening and diastolic heart failure. Increased access to cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging has led to a marked increase in referrals to our centre of Caucasian patients with wild-type ATTR (senile systemic) amyloidosis and Afro-Caribbean patients with the hereditary ATTR V122I type. Both subtypes present predominantly as isolated cardiomyopathy. The differential diagnosis includes cardiac amyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis, which has a poorer prognosis and can be amenable to chemotherapy. We review here the clinical features of cardiac ATTR amyloidosis and describe the diagnostic tests to determine ATTR type. Correct diagnosis is ever more crucial given that several novel therapies for ATTR amyloidosis are on the near horizon.
Endogenous ephrinB 2 mediates colon-urethra cross-organ sensitization via Src kinase-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of NR 2 B

Hsien-Yu Peng, Gin-Den Chen, Cheng-Hung Lai, Kwong-Chung Tung,* Junn-Liang Chang, and Tzer-Bin Lin* Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Urology, Chung-Shan Medical University Hospital, Chung-Shan Medical University, and Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Taoyuan Armed Forces General Hospital, and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ming-Chuan University, Taoyuan; Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital; and Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Body dysmorphic disorder in patients with anxiety disorders and major depression: a comorbidity study.

OBJECTIVE The authors evaluated the frequency of body dysmorphic disorder in patients with a primary diagnosis of anxiety disorders and major depression. METHOD Patients with social phobia (N = 54), obsessive-compulsive disorder (N = 53), generalized anxiety disorder (N = 32), panic disorder (N = 47), and major depression (N = 42) and normal comparison subjects (N = 33) were studied. RESULTS Body dysmorphic disorder was most common in patients with social phobia (11%) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (8%); it was less prevalent among patients with panic disorder (2%), generalized anxiety disorder (0%), and major depression (0%) and among normal subjects (0%). CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that body dysmorphic disorder may share etiologic elements with social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Absolute neighbourhood retracts and spaces of holomorphic maps from Stein manifolds to Oka manifolds

The basic result of Oka theory, due to Gromov, states that every continuous map $f$ from a Stein manifold $S$ to an elliptic manifold $X$ can be deformed to a holomorphic map. It is natural to ask whether this can be done for all $f$ at once, in a way that depends continuously on $f$ and leaves $f$ fixed if it is holomorphic to begin with. In other words, is $\scrO(S,X)$ a deformation retract of $\scrC(S,X)$? We prove that it is if $S$ has a strictly plurisubharmonic Morse exhaustion with finitely many critical points; in particular, if $S$ is affine algebraic. The only property of $X$ used in the proof is the parametric Oka property with approximation with respect to finite polyhedra, so our theorem holds under the weaker assumption that $X$ is an Oka manifold. Our main tool, apart from Oka theory itself, is the theory of absolute neighbourhood retracts. We also make use of the mixed model structure on the category of topological spaces.
Tissue Shrinkage With the Holmium:Yttrium Aluminum Garnet Laser

The effect of laser energy on the length, stiffness, and structure of connective tissue was examined in a rabbit patellar tendon model. A holmium:yttrium-aluminum- garnet laser was used to deliver a calculated dose of laser energy (300 J/cm2) to one randomly selected patellar tendon in each of 13 adult New Zealand White rabbits. The contralateral patellar tendon was used as a control. Radiopaque markers were placed in the patella and tibial tuberosity to allow for patellar tendon length measurements (via standard lateral radio graphs) before and after laser application and at 4 and 8 weeks. Limbs were not immobilized during the post operative period. The tendons were harvested at 0 weeks (N = 7) and 8 weeks (N = 6) and evaluated for tensile stiffness, cross-sectional area, histologic changes, and electron microscopic appearance. The results demonstrated significant tendon shrinkage (6.6% ± 1.4%) after application of the calculated laser energy dose. However, tendon length had increased significantly beyond the immediate postlaser length at 4 weeks and beyond its original length by 8 weeks. At 8 weeks, the lased tendons were significantly less stiff with significantly greater cross-sectional areas than contralateral controls. There was generalized fibro blastic response throughout the entire lased tendon characterized by a marked increase in cellularity. There was also a change from the normal bimodal pattern of large- and small-diameter collagen fibers to a unimodal pattern with predominantly small-diameter fibers in the lased tendons. The tissue alterations seen in this study suggest that the biologic response of connective tissue to laser energy causes a further compromise in tissue integrity, beyond that attributed to the initial physical effects of the laser. These alter ations must be taken into consideration when deter mining postoperative rehabilitation of laser-modified tissues.
Going Home When Home Does Not Feel Like Home : Reentry , Expectancy Violation Theory , Self-Construal , and Psychological and Social Support

Reentry can be an exciting and challenging adjustment. While there are both positive and negative aspects of reentry, most sojourners would say that their cultural experience was worth the trials. The support of one's family and friends is essential in having a successful adjustment. Psychological factors can affect adjustment. Self construals help us understand our own cultural views as well as our host cultural views. They are also related to social support because the more interdependent the more a person is the more that person will rely on their social network or in-group for satisfaction. Expectancy Violations Theory can help explain problems of culture shock, reentry, and reverse culture shock. The study of these variables brought up many questions, contradictions, and ideas for future research.
A test of central coherence theory: Can adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome integrate objects in context?

Weak central coherence was investigated by exploring the conceptual integration of objects. Normally intelligent adults with either autism or Asperger syndrome were given two novel experiments. Experiment 1, the Object Integration test, had sets of line drawings depicting objects and people. Each set had to be either visually integrated to make the most coherent scene, or compared for similarities. The clinical groups were significantly impaired in their ability to integrate objects, but they were not impaired in looking for similarities. Experiment 2, the Scenic test, presented black line drawings of scenes containing an item that was inappropriate for the context. Participants were required to describe the scenes, identify the type of scene and context-inappropriate object, and locate a name (incongruent) object as quickly as they could. The clinical groups' descriptions suggest that they did not spontaneously pay preferential treatment to local details, nor were they faster at locating a named incongruent object. Whereas only a few of their descriptions lacked coherence, there was a deficit in both their ability to spontaneously notice and identify incongruent objects, as well as to identify the scenes. These tests provide support for Frith's (1989) central coherence hypothesis. Conceptual or high-level processing seemed inferior, whereas perceptual or lowlevel processing seemed normal, but not superior. Poor performance on these tasks characterized the majority of clinical participants, but those with autism performed at a consistently poorer level than those with Asperger syndrome. Possible explanations for the clinical groups' difficulties are explored along with suggestions for future research.
Novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for the detection of anti-Fc gamma receptor autoantibodies

There is a substantial interest in the role of antineutrophil antibodies since Fc gamma receptors (Fc gamma Rs) have been identified as the target for the majority of such autoantibodies. Antineutrophil antibodies have long been detected by an indirect immunofluorescence technique. Following optimization of the flow cytometric method of detection, we developed three enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), each specific for autoantibodies against one of the three classes of human Fc gamma R. Fc gamma RI and Fc gamma RII were purified from cultured cells, and Fc gamma RIII was produced as a recombinant molecule. These were then used as capture agents in the respective ELISAs. When applied in parallel to a sizeable group of patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome, both methods established that anti-Fc gamma R autoantibodies were heterogeneous. This finding indicates that different populations of partly cross-reactive antibodies are detectable by these two methods.
Will ethanol-blended gasoline affect groundwater quality?

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) contamination in groundwater and surface water in the United States is widespread and currently considered a major threat to drinking water resources. The fuel additive is therefore being phased out, and it is highly likely that ethanol will replace it. To ensure public safety, possible impacts to groundwater quality resulting from any releases of ethanol-blended gasoline must be understood. Typical scenarios include leaks of ethanol-blended gasoline from underground storage tanks, accidents with railroad cars or tanker trucks, and spills of neat ethanol at distribution terminals. The potential impacts of such releases were the focus of an extensive literature review prepared for the state of California, USA. (A)
Localized spectral analysis on the sphere

It is often advantageous to investigate the relationship between two geophysical data sets in the spectral domain by calculating admittance and coherence functions. While there exist powerful Cartesian windowing techniques to estimate spatially localized (cross-)spectral properties, the inherent sphericity of planetary bodies sometimes necessitates an approach based in spherical coordinates. Direct localized spectral estimates on the sphere can be obtained by tapering, or multiplying the data by a suitable windowing function, and expanding the resultant field in spherical harmonics. The localization of a window in space and its spectral bandlimitation jointly determine the quality of the spatiospectral estimation. Two kinds of axisymmetric windows are here constructed that are ideally suited to this purpose: bandlimited functions that maximize their spatial energy within a cap of angular radius ? 0, and spacelimited functions that maximize their spectral power within a spherical harmonic bandwidth L. Both concentration criteria yield an eigenvalue problem that is solved by an orthogonal family of data tapers, and the properties of these windows depend almost entirely upon the spacebandwidth product N0= (L+ 1) ? 0/? The first N0_1 windows are near perfectly concentrated, and the best-concentrated window approaches a lower bound imposed by a spherical uncertainty principle. In order to make robust localized estimates of the admittance and coherence spectra between two fields on the sphere, we propose a method analogous to Cartesian multitaper spectral analysis that uses our optimally concentrated data tapers. We show that the expectation of localized (cross-)power spectra calculated using our data tapers is nearly unbiased for stochastic processes when the input spectrum is white and when averages are made over all possible realizations of the random variables. In physical situations, only one realization of such a process will be available, but in this case, a weighted average of the spectra obtained using multiple data tapers well approximates the expected spectrum. While developed primarily to solve problems in planetary science, our method has applications in all areas of science that investigate spatiospectral relationships between data fields defined on a sphere.
Two-dimensional and M-mode echocardiographic findings in healthy Thoroughbred foals.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to establish reference values for a series of conventional two-dimensional (2-D) and M-mode echocardiographic variables in Thoroughbred foals at increasing age intervals. DESIGN Nineteen healthy Thoroughbred foals (11 males, 8 females) were examined at 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks of life. Auscultatory findings were recorded and echocardiographic examinations (2-D and M-mode) were performed. Descriptive statistical analyses, including mean, standard deviation and 95% confidence interval for the means, were used to summarise the data. The relationships between selected echocardiographic variables and age, body weight and heart rate were analysed. RESULTS Reference values were determined for 12 routinely used 2-D and M-mode echocardiographic variables in healthy Thoroughbred foals at increasing age intervals. Linear relationships between echocardiographic variables and age (P < 0.001) and body weight (P < 0.001) were found, with the linear relationships between echocardiographic variables and body weight being stronger than those with age. Weak (R(2) ≤ 0.37) but significant (P < 0.001) correlations between the echocardiographic variables and heart rate were identified. CONCLUSIONS Reference values for 2-D and M-mode echocardiographic variables in clinically normal Thoroughbred foals up to 4 months of age and approximately 190 kg body weight may assist in the interpretation of echocardiograms of Thoroughbred foals of similar age and body weight with suspected congenital or acquired cardiac disease.
A selective review of foreign direct investment theories

Several theories have been put forward by the researchers to explain foreign direct investment. However, no single theory fits the different types of direct investment or the investment made by a particular multinational corporation or country in any region. This paper traces the evolution of the theories of foreign direct investment (FDI) during the past few decades. An attempt is also made to explain the growth phenomenon of Third World multinational companies. The applicability of the theory differs with the type and origin of investment. Nevertheless, all these theories are unanimous in their view that a firm moves abroad to reap the benefits of the advantages in the form of location, firm-specific or internationalization of markets.
Serum macroglobulin (S-19) in families of monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia.

The authors studied 16 pairs of monozygotic twins—12 pairs of twins discordant for schizophrenia and four pairs of nonschizophrenic control twins—and their parents to determine the relationship between serum macroglobulin level and schizophrenia. They found no significant relation between the two factors. Evidence from these and other data suggests that serum macroglobulin levels are more influenced by factors based on sex and genetic makeup than by environment.
Wild poliovirus circulation among healthy children immunized with oral polio vaccine in Antananarivo, Madagascar

Summary From July 1995 to December 1996, 3185 stool specimens from healthy children aged 6–59 months attending 6 dispensaries in the Antananarivo area were examined for poliovirus. The children had been routinely immunized according to the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) schedule and received the last dose of oral polio vaccine (OPV) more than 1 month before stool collection. 99.4% of the children were immunized with at least 3 doses of OPV. HEp‐2 cell culture revealed virus infections in 192 stools (6.0%), including 9 poliovirus (0.3%) and 183 nonpolio enterovirus isolates (5.7%). Infections occurred throughout the year, but incidence was higher during the hot and rainy season (P= 0.01). Using a neutralization test with monoclonal antibodies and PCR‐RFLP in two genomic regions coding for the VP1 capsid and RNA polymerase, 4 wild polioviruses (3 type 1 and 1 type 3) and 5 vaccine‐related polioviruses (2 Sabin 1‐like variants, 1 Sabin 2‐like and 2 Sabin 3‐like) strains were identified. The wild polioviruses were isolated at the beginning and the end of the dry season. Similar RFLP patterns were observed for the 3 wild type 1 polioviruses. Comparison of partial genomic sequences in the VP1/2 A region of 1 of the wild type 1 isolates with 2 wild type strains isolated in Antananarivo in 1992 and 1993 showed a divergence of at least 10% between the strains, suggesting at least two different pathways of transmission during this period. Our findings demonstrate that immunization with 3 doses of OPV did not prevent intestinal carriage of wild poliovirus strains, and that there is a risk of wild poliovirus transmission to susceptible children in the area. Multiple strategies are required to improve immunization coverage in Madagascar.
Pulmonary Vasodilator Response to Adenosine Triphosphate‐Sensitive Potassium Channel Activation Is Attenuated during Desflurane but Preserved during Sevoflurane Anesthesia Compared with the Conscious State

Background The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of sevoflurane and desflurane anesthesia on the pulmonary vasodilator response to the adenosine triphosphate‐sensitive potassium channel agonist, lemakalim, compared with the response measured in the conscious state. In addition, the authors assessed the extent to which sympathetic alpha1 ‐adrenoreceptor inhibition and cyclooxygenase pathway inhibition modulate the vasodilator response to lemakalim. Methods Twenty‐four conditioned male mongrel dogs were chronically instrumented to measure the left pulmonary vascular pressure‐flow relationship. After preconstriction with the thromboxane analogue, U46619, dose‐response relationships to lemakalim were assessed on separate days in the conscious state and during sevoflurane ([nearly =] 3.5% end‐tidal) and desflurane ([nearly =] 10.5% end‐tidal) anesthesia ([approximately] 5 minimum alveolar concentration for each anesthetic agent). The effects of sympathetic alpha1 ‐adrenoreceptor inhibition (prazosin) and cyclooxygenase inhibition (indomethacin) on the pulmonary vasodilator response to lemakalim also were assessed in the conscious and desflurane‐anesthetized states. Results Neither sevoflurane nor desflurane had a net effect on the baseline left pulmonary vascular pressure‐flow relationship compared with the conscious state. The magnitude of the pulmonary vasodilator response to lemakalim was preserved during sevoflurane anesthesia but was attenuated (P < 0.05) during desflurane anesthesia compared with the conscious state. The attenuated lemakalim‐induced vasodilator response during desflurane anesthesia was partially reversed (P < 0.05) by pretreatment with prazosin but not indomethacin. Conclusion These results indicate that adenosine triphosphate‐sensitive potassium channel‐mediated pulmonary vasodilation is preserved during sevoflurane anesthesia but is attenuated during desflurane anesthesia. The attenuated response to adenosine triphosphate‐sensitive potassium channel activation during desflurane anesthesia is partially mediated by reflex sympathetic alpha1 ‐adrenoreceptor vasoconstriction.
Posttraumatic phenomena in a longitudinal study of children following a natural disaster.

This longitudinal study examined the prevalence of posttraumatic phenomena and how they relate to symptomatic and behavioral disorders in a population of schoolchildren exposed to an Australian bushfire disaster. The prevalence of these phenomena did not change over an 18-month period, suggesting that they were markers of significant developmental trauma. The mothers' responses to the disaster were better predictors of the presence of posttraumatic phenomena in children than the children's direct exposure to the disaster. Both the experience of intrusive memories by the mothers and a changed pattern of parenting seemed to account for this relationship.
Melkersson-Rosenthal Syndrome and Acquired C1 Inhibitor Deficiency

Background: Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome (MRS) is a rare disease whose full-blown form is characterized by orofacial swelling, facial palsy and lingua plicata. Objective: To investigate the complement system as well as its role in patients with MRS. Methods: Seven patients presenting at this hospital between November 2002 and May 2003 and meeting the diagnostic criteria according to Hornstein were evaluated retrospectively. The investigations included clinical signs, an analysis of the complement system including levels of CH50, C3, C4, C1 inhibitor (INH) functions and C1-INH antigen detection. Results: Two female patients showed isolated low levels of functional C1-INH as determined by duplicate tests. Both patients took estrogen-progestin contraceptives. Conclusion: Since deficiency in plasma protease C1-INH is known to lead to recurrent angioedema, we hypothesize that low levels of functional C1-INH may have contributed to the orofacial swelling in the 2 patients.
TGFβ Inducible Early Gene‐1 Plays an Important Role in Mediating Estrogen Signaling in the Skeleton

TGFβ Inducible Early Gene‐1 (TIEG1) knockout (KO) mice display a sex‐specific osteopenic phenotype characterized by low bone mineral density, bone mineral content, and overall loss of bone strength in female mice. We, therefore, speculated that loss of TIEG1 expression would impair the actions of estrogen on bone in female mice. To test this hypothesis, we employed an ovariectomy (OVX) and estrogen replacement model system to comprehensively analyze the role of TIEG1 in mediating estrogen signaling in bone at the tissue, cell, and biochemical level. Dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA), peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT), and micro‐CT analyses revealed that loss of TIEG1 expression diminished the effects of estrogen throughout the skeleton and within multiple bone compartments. Estrogen exposure also led to reductions in bone formation rates and mineralizing perimeter in wild‐type mice with little to no effects on these parameters in TIEG1 KO mice. Osteoclast perimeter per bone perimeter and resorptive activity as determined by serum levels of CTX‐1 were differentially regulated after estrogen treatment in TIEG1 KO mice compared with wild‐type littermates. No significant differences were detected in serum levels of P1NP between wild‐type and TIEG1 KO mice. Taken together, these data implicate an important role for TIEG1 in mediating estrogen signaling throughout the mouse skeleton and suggest that defects in this pathway are likely to contribute to the sex‐specific osteopenic phenotype observed in female TIEG1 KO mice. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.