Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Atmospheric distribution of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), and non-ortho biphenyls (PCBs) along a North-South Atlantic transect.

Air samples were taken on board the RRS Bransfield (typically for 24-72 h), during an Atlantic cruise from the U.K. to Antarctica in October-December 1998, to investigate the global scale distribution of PCDD/Fs and coplanar PCBs. Highest concentrations of Cl2-8DD/Fs all occurred between 25 and 52 degrees N; lowest concentrations were measured around approximately 60 degrees S and further south. Cl3DFs showed highest overall concentrations (up to 9800 fg/m3), followed by Cl2DFs (up to 5300 fg/m3) and OCDD (up to 1300 fg/m3). Lowest concentrations, measured in the remote Southern hemisphere, were generally 2 orders of magnitude lower than their highest concentrations over the North Atlantic. Concentrations of PCB-77 were higher in the northern hemisphere, while PCB-126 and PCB-169 exhibited highest concentrations around the equator. Evidence was obtained for substantial emissions of PCDD/Fs off west Africa and while in the port of Montevideo, Uruguay. Shifts in PCDD/F profile distribution were observed on increasing distance from source regions, such that those from the most remote locations were dominated by Cl3DF (approximately 40% of the total) and OCDD (approximately 20%). Gas-particle partition data was obtained for all samples. Cl4-6DD/Fs showed the widest range, varying between 10 and 90% of the total in the gas phase, depending on location/ temperature. The study gave limited evidence for the influence of OH-radical initiated depletion reactions of gaseous PCDD/Fs. The global atmospheric burden is estimated to be on the order of 350 kg sigmaCl4-8DD/Fs and approximately 3 kg sigmaTEQ.
Who needs a transplant and when?

Purpose of reviewHeart transplantation remains the treatment of choice for patients with advanced heart failure. We review the current definition of optimal therapy, prediction of prognosis and revisit contraindications for transplant. Recent findingsClinical trials of eplerenone and ivabradine were associated with improved prognosis, whereas others (nesiritide) were disappointing. Advances in cardiac resynchronization therapy and ventricular assist devices (VAD) have resulted in an expansion of their indications. Advances in catheter ablation for ventricular tachycardia have made this an uncommon indication for heart transplantation. Surgical ventricular reconstruction and mitral valve intervention have not resulted in survival benefit. Bypass surgery was associated with a lower mortality from cardiovascular causes. Prognostic risk scores have been developed in heart failure patients; however, ongoing refinements are needed. Selected patients with diabetes, HIV and pretransplant malignancy, now have favourable outcomes after heart transplantation. VAD as bridge to candidacy is an option in heart failure patients with ‘fixed’ pulmonary hypertension. Alternate listing strategies have also been studied to provide high-risk patients with an opportunity for heart transplantation. SummaryHeart failure patients should be on current optimal medical and device therapy with a poor prognosis before consideration for heart transplantation. An individualized approach to heart transplantation assessment is recommended.
USOL-D bac (type 3 poliovirus) vaccine studies.

The attenuated polioviruses most widely used in vaccines are those developed by Sabin. In the past decade the type 1 (LSc2ab) and type 2 (P712 CH2ab) strains have been shown consistently to be safe and effective. The type 3 Leon 12a1b (Leon) strain, however, is less stable genetically than the other two; after passage in the human gut is more likely to induce paralysis when injected into the brain or spinal cord of monkeys; and is less effective in inducing humoral immunity and intestinal tract resistance than the two other types. Type 3 vaccine virus has also been associated more frequently than the other two types with cases of spinal paralysis typical of poliomyelitis which have occurred within a month after it has been administered. It is believed that a number of these cases are causally related to the vaccine strain, though the risk is so low that it is no indication for limiting the use of poliomyelitis vaccine. (In the United States of America the use of monovalent type 3 virus vaccine is not recommended for adults.) The shortcomings of the Leon strain have, however, stimulated the search for a more acceptable strain and a number of candidate strains have been studied.
Antiswing Control of Offshore Boom Cranes With Ship Roll Disturbances

Offshore cranes often work in harsh sea conditions. As a result, they may suffer from various external disturbances, especially the persistent and unpredictable ship motion caused by sea waves, which will introduce severe disturbances to the crane dynamics, including the unactuated part. Due to this reason, the control problem for offshore boom cranes presents great challenges, for which only boundedness or stability, instead of the generally desired asymptotic stability, of the closed-loop system can be usually guaranteed by currently available methods. For this problem, a novel nonlinear control strategy for an offshore crane is proposed in this brief, which ensures that the closed-loop system’s equilibrium point is asymptotically stable even in the presence of the persistent ship roll disturbances. The proposed control law is further extended to be an output feedback controller to deal with the situations when the velocities are unavailable, still guaranteeing asymptotic stability. Finally, some experimental results are provided to validate the efficiency of the proposed controllers.
Performance-based driving evaluation of the elderly driver: safety, reliability, and validity.

BACKGROUND Our driving population is aging and faces increased risk for injury and death from motor vehicle crashes. Clinicians are often asked to judge the driving safety of their patients without adequate guidelines. This article describes the development of a systematic performance-based road test for measuring driving skills of elderly drivers and its correlation with cognitive measures. METHODS This was a prospective, masked, observational study in which a driving instructor's global scores ("criterion standard") and cognitive test scores were correlated with research driving scores created by two independent research raters sitting in the back seat of the care during each driving test. A convenience sample of 30 licensed drivers with a broad range of cognitive skills, over age 60, were studied on a closed course and in traffic. RESULTS Statistically significant correlations were observed between the "criterion standard" and closed course scores (r = .35, p < .05) and between the "criterion standard" and in-traffic scores (r = .64, p < .01). Significant correlations were obtained between in-traffic and cognitive test scores, e.g., Mini-Mental State Exam (r = .72, p < .01). Inter-rater reliability on the closed course was . 84 and on the in-traffic component was . 74. Internal consistency for the closed course was . 78 and for in-traffic was . 89. CONCLUSION This study documented the safety, reliability, and validity of a systematic road test for elderly drivers with a range of cognitive skills. Larger studies are needed to determine the cognitive factors that independently predict driving performance.
Why do trees adjust water relations and hydraulic architecture in response to nutrient availability?

Fil: Goldstein, Guillermo Hernan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecologia, Genetica y Evolucion de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ecologia, Genetica y Evolucion. Laboratorio de Ecologia Funcional; Argentina. University of Miami. Departament of Biology; Estados Unidos
Cognitive Neuroscience Needs Affective Neuroscience (and Vice Versa)

We are continuously being bombarded by a myriad of diverse sensory stimuli. Recollections from our past and reflections upon our future add to this cacophony and we need to select among the vast array of stimuli to which we are exposed and approach what is useful to meet our appetitive needs and withdraw from what is harmful so we avoid situations of threat or danger. The successful negotiation of these life challenges requires an intact cognitive and affective system. The purpose of this brief essay is to underscore the importance of affect to various components of cognition and hint at some of the major advances that have been made in its neuroscientific study. In its beginning, the cognitive revolution did not include feelings within its scientific purview. There was a clear sense among the leading scientists of this era that the major problems of cognition would yield to an experimental and/or computational analysis that did not require emotion. The most striking evidence of this is simply the absence of very many references to emotion in the classic works of cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience that helped to define the field (e.g., Neisser, 1967). This feelingless stance, however, is now yielding to a more balanced analysis and a renewed appreciation for the role that affect might play in the basic mechanisms of cognition. And one of the most powerful sources of this new evidence is derived from affective neuroscience (Davidson & Irwin, 1999; Davidson & Sutton, 1995). One reason for the inescapable conclusion regarding the necessity of considering both cognition and emotion in our efforts to understand the brain bases of complex mental processes is that the circuitry of emotion and the circuitry of cognition at least partially overlap. These anatomical facts begin to provide the mechanistic substrates by which two-way interactions between affect and cognition are likely to occur.
Noninvasive continuous arterial pressure measurements in the assessment of acute, severe central hypovolemia.

UNLABELLED Acute, severe hypovolemia is a medical emergency. Traditional vital sign parameters allow no optimal triage. High predictive power of finger plethysmography-based stroke volume (SV) and pulse pressure (PP) was recently suggested. To assess the performance of the PP and SV parameters, lower body negative pressure of -40 mmHg, than -60 mmHg - corresponding to moderate and severe central hypovolemia - was applied in 22 healthy males (age 35 ± 7 years). Slow breathing induced fluctuations in the above indices, characterized by stroke volume variability (SVV), and pulse pressure variability (PPV), were assessed. Responses in heart rate (HR) and shock index (SI) were also studied. Discriminative capacity of these parameters was characterized by the area under the ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curves (AUC). RESULTS In comparison of baseline to severe central hypovolemia SV, PP, HR, and SI showed good discriminating capacity (AUC 99%, 88%, 87%, and 93%, respectively). The discriminating capacity of SVV and PPV was poor (77% and 70%, respectively). In comparison of moderate and severe hypovolemia, the discriminating capacity of the studied parameters was uniformly limited. CONCLUSIONS Plethysmography-based SV and PP parameters can be used to detect acute severe volume loss. Sensitive parameters discriminating moderate and severe central hypovolemia are still lacking.
White matter integrity associated with volitional motor activity

Variations of white matter integrity have been associated with interindividual differences in brain function. Still, little is known about the impact of white matter integrity on quantitative motor behaviour. Diffusion tensor imaging and continuous wrist actigraphy were measured on the same day in 12 individuals. Fractional anisotropy as measure of white matter integrity was correlated with the motor activity level. Positive correlations of fractional anisotropy and activity level were detected in the cingulum and the right superior longitudinal fasciculus underneath the precentral gyrus. Negative correlations were found in the left corticobulbar tract, in the right posterior corpus callosum and in the left superior longitudinal fasciculus. Volitional motor activity was associated with white matter integrity in motor relevant fiber tracts.
Prevalence of anthelmintic resistant cyathostomes on horse farms.

OBJECTIVE To determine prevalence of anthelmintic resistance in cyathostome nematodes of horses in the southern United States. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. ANIMALS 786 horses on 44 farms and stables in Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, and Louisiana. PROCEDURE Fecal egg count (FEC) reduction tests were performed on 44 large farms and stables. Horses on each farm were treated with an oral paste formulation of fenbendazole, oxibendazole, pyrantel pamoate, or ivermectin at recommended label dosages. A mixed linear model was fitted to the percentage reduction in FEC, accounting for differences among farms, states, ages, treatments, and treatment by state interactions. RESULTS By use of a conservative measure of resistance (< 80% reduction), the percentage of farms with anthelmintic-resistant cyathostomes was 97.7%, 0%, 53.5%, and 40.5% for fenbendazole, ivermectin, oxibendazole, and pyrantel pamoate, respectively. Mean percentage reductions in FEC for all farms were 24.8%, 99.9%, 73.8%, and 78.6% for fenbendazole, ivermectin, oxibendazole, and pyrantel pamoate, respectively. Pairwise contrasts between states for each treatment revealed that in almost all instances, there were no significant differences in results between states. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE The prevalence of resistance found in this study was higher than that reported previously, suggesting that anthelmintic resistance in equine cyathostomes is becoming a major problem. Furthermore, data from these 5 southern states, which are geographically and physiographically distinct, were remarkably similar. This suggests that drug resistance in cyathostomes is highly prevalent throughout the entire southern United States and probably nationwide.
Identification of a novel autoantibody reactive with 155 and 140 kDa nuclear proteins in patients with dermatomyositis: an association with malignancy.

OBJECTIVE Myositis-specific autoantibodies (MSAs) are a useful tool in diagnosis, defining clinical subsets and predicting prognosis of dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis (PM). In this study, we identified a novel MSA reactive with 155 and 140 kDa nuclear proteins [anti-155/140 antibody (Ab)] and determined the clinical feature of DM patients positive for this autoantibody (autoAb). METHODS Sera from 52 Japanese patients with DM, 9 with PM, 48 with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 126 with systemic sclerosis and 18 with idiopathic interstitial pneumonia were examined by immunoprecipitation assays. Positive sera were further characterized by immunodepletion and immunofluorescence staining. RESULTS Seven of the 52 (13%) Japanese patients with DM immunoprecipitated 155 and 140 kDa proteins from 35S-labelled K562 leukaemia cell extract. No patients with SLE, systemic sclerosis or idiopathic interstitial pneumonia as well as healthy controls were positive for this autoAb. Patients with anti-155/140 Ab developed heliotrope rash, Gottron's papules or sign and flagellate erythema significantly more frequently than those negative. Notably, internal malignancy was found at significantly higher frequency in those positive than those negative (71 vs 11%; P < 0.005). In contrast, none of these patients positive for this autoAb had interstitial lung disease. CONCLUSIONS This novel MSA is associated with cancer-associated DM and may serve as a diagnostic serological marker for this specific subset.
Reliability-Based Syndrome Decoding of Linear Block Codes

In this correspondence, various aspects of reliability-based syndrome decoding of binary codes are investigated. First, it is shown that the least reliable basis (LRB) and the most reliable basis (MRB) are dual of each other. By exploiting this duality, an algorithm performing maximum-likelihood (ML) soft-decision syndrome decoding based on the LRB is presented. Contrarily to previous LRB-based ML syndrome decoding algorithms, this algorithm is more conveniently implementable for codes whose codimension is not small. New sufficient conditions for optimality are derived. These conditions exploit both the ordering associated with the LRB and the structure of the code considered. With respect to MRR-based sufficient conditions, they present the advantage of requiring no soft information and thus can be preprocessed and stored. Based on these conditions, low-complexity soft-decision syndrome decoding algorithms for particular classes of codes are proposed. Finally, a simple algorithm is analyzed. After the construction of the LRB, this algorithm computes the syndrome of smallest Hamming weight among o(K/sup i/) candidates, where K is the dimension of the code, for an order i of reprocessing. At practical bit-error rates, for codes of length N/spl les/128, this algorithm always outperforms any algebraic decoding algorithm capable of correcting up to t+1 errors with an order of reprocessing of at most 2, where t is the error-correcting capability of the code considered.
Comparison of Pandemic and Seasonal Influenza in the Pediatric Emergency Department

Background: Emergency department (ED) presentation of pediatric pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) infection is not well characterized. Our objective was to describe the clinical manifestations of pH1N1 in the pediatric ED. We also compared these characteristics to seasonal influenza A, and explored risk factors for pH1N1 hospitalization. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study at a pediatric hospital in Quebec City, Canada. Subjects were ED patients aged 0 to 17 years with laboratory-confirmed pH1N1 (April–July 2009) or seasonal influenza A (June 2006–March 2009). Clinical and laboratory data were analyzed by univariate and multivariate log-binomial regression. Results: A total of 127 pH1N1 cases and 110 seasonal influenza cases were identified. pH1N1 patients were older (9.5 vs. 5.6 years; P < 0.0001) and presented more rapidly (2.8 vs. 3.5 days; P = 0.02). Clinical manifestations were similar, although gastrointestinal findings were less frequent in pH1N1 (relative risk [RR]: 0.49; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.37–0.65). Hospitalization risk was similar (RR: 1.12; 95% CI: 0.81–1.55), but hospitalized pH1N1 subjects were more frequently diagnosed with pneumonia (RR: 2.41; 95% CI: 1.16–5.00). In a multivariable model, age <2 years was independently associated with pH1N1 hospitalization (RR: 3.17; 95% CI: 1.78–5.65), whereas the absence of significant comorbidities decreased its risk (RR: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.31–0.85). Conclusions: After adjustment for age and delay to presentation, clinical manifestations and 21-day outcomes of pediatric pH1N1 were similar to those of seasonal influenza. pH1N1 patients with previously established risk factors for severe seasonal influenza experienced increased hospitalization risk. Our results suggest that pH1N1 clinical diagnosis and management in the pediatric ED can be performed in a manner similar to seasonal influenza.
One virus, one lesion—individual components of CIN lesions contain a specific HPV type

In 20–40% of cervical intra‐epithelial neoplasia (CIN) and in 4–8% of cervical carcinoma tissue specimens, multiple HPV genotypes have been detected. Whole tissue section (WTS) PCR does not determine how the individual types relate causally to complex and multiple CIN. Our objective was to determine whether laser capture micro‐dissection (LCM) with HPV PCR genotyping (LCM‐PCR) could accurately recover type‐specific HPV DNA from epithelial cells in individual areas of CIN and normal epithelium, and whether one or more viruses are present in one lesion. For that, histologically selected samples of CIN and normal epithelium were isolated by LCM and analysed by the SPF10 PCR/LiPA25 (version 1) HPV genotyping system for 25 HPV genotypes. HPV genotypes detected in 756 areas of CIN (grade 1, 2 or 3) by LCM‐PCR were compared with results obtained by WTS‐PCR in 60 cases (74 biopsies). We showed that when a single HPV type is detected by WTS‐PCR, that type was almost always (94%; 29/31) recovered by LCM‐PCR from CIN. When multiple HPV types were present by WTS‐PCR, their distribution within histological sections could be mapped by LCM‐PCR. Association of a single HPV type with a discrete area of CIN was found for 93% (372/399) of LCM fragments analysed by PCR. We found colliding CIN lesions associated with separate HPV types and only 62% (61/99) of HPV types detected by WTS‐PCR were found in CIN by LCM‐PCR. Therefore, the LCM‐PCR technique was found very accurate for high‐resolution HPV genotyping and for assigning an individual HPV type to an area of CIN. At LCM level, in cervical biopsy sections with multiple HPV infections, the relation between HPV types and CIN lesions is often complex. Almost every HPV type found in CIN by LCM‐PCR is associated with a biological separate independent CIN lesion—one virus, one lesion. Copyright © 2012 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cytochrome P450s of the 4A Subfamily in the Brain

Abstract: Members of the P450 4A subfamily are key enzymes in the synthesis and degradation of metabolites of arachidonic acid, which are of physiological importance in the brain. In the rat, four members of this subfamily, 4A1, 4A2, 4A3, and 4A8, have been described. In this study, the expression of members of the 4A subfamily in the rat brain has been examined by PCR amplification, by western and northern blotting, and by protein N‐terminal sequencing. With PCR all four members of the subfamily were detectable in the liver and kidney. P450 4A1 was found exclusively in the liver and kidney, whereas P450 4A2 was detectable in all the tissues tested, including the lung, seminal vesicles, prostate, cerebral cortex, hypothalamic preoptic area, cerebellum, and brainstem. The tissue distribution of P450 4A3 was similar to that of 4A2 except that it was not detectable in seminal vesicles. A P450 4A8‐specific fragment was amplified from the kidney, liver, and prostate and weakly from the cerebral cortex but not from other brain regions. Despite the evidence of their presence by PCR, no members of the 4A family were detectable on northern blots with mRNA from the brain. On western blots a P450 4A‐specific antiserum recognized a band in P450 fractions prepared from the brain. The intensity of the signal with 30 pmol of P450 from the brain was similar to that with 10 pmol of liver microsomal P450. The brain P450 was extracted from 1 g of brain, whereas the 10 pmol of liver P450 is the equivalent of 1 mg of liver. This suggests a brain content of 4A P450 that is 0.1% of that in the liver. N‐terminal sequencing of the protein bands in the brain P450 fraction revealed the presence of both P450 4A8 and 4A3. These data show the presence in the brain of forms of P450 whose level of mRNA is too low to be detected on northern blots. The specificity of tissue distribution shows that this is not just a nonspecific background level of expression and suggests a role of brain P450 in the synthesis and degradation of arachidonic acid metabolites.