Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MR appearance of rhinoscleroma.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We describe the MR imaging appearance of rhinoscleroma, an endemic, chronic, granulomatous disease whose causative agent is Klebsiella rhinoscleromatis. METHODS The study included 15 patients (nine males and six females; mean age, 25 years; range, 13-36 years) with rhinoscleroma. MR imaging was performed in all patients. The signal intensity of the nasal masses was compared with that of fat, muscle, and CSF on both T1- and T2-weighted images. All cases were proved by histopathologic examination. RESULTS The nasal masses were bilateral and symmetrical (n = 6), asymmetrical (n = 4), or unilateral (n = 5). They extended through the anterior nares (n = 9) or posterior choana into the nasopharynx (n = 3). They obstructed the ostiomeatal units with retained secretions in the related sinuses (n = 10). On T1-weighted images, rhinoscleroma showed striking (n = 9) or mild (n = 6) high signal intensity relative to muscle and CSF, but less hyperintensity than fat. On T2-weighted images, the nasal masses showed homogeneous high signal intensity (n = 10) or heterogeneous high signal intensity associated with hypointense foci (n = 5). They were hyperintense relative to fat and muscle, but less hyperintense than CSF. CONCLUSION The hypertrophic stage of rhinoscleroma has characteristic mild to marked high signal intensity on both T1- and T2-weighted MR images.
232 Difficult Problems in Cancer Pain activities of daily living

Complex regional pain syndrome type I is infrequently associated with various types of underlying malignancies. When present it can cause significant pain, tenderness, and swelling, as well as limitation of motion and trophic changes [1]. CRPS-I may present itself much earlier than any evidence of neoplastic growth, or it may appear as a complication of advanced malignancy, leading to severe pain in an already debilitated patient. Indeed, patients with malignancy may already have significant cancer pain that requires numerous treatment modalities, including nonpharmacologic techniques and nonopioid and opioid analgesics, which may further complicate the presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of CRPS-I. In this article we review the available literature related to CRPS-I in patients with malignant tumors, explain how CRPS-I may represent a part of paraneoplastic syndrome with certain types of malignancies, and discuss the controversies related to the diagnosis and treatment of CRPS-I. Moreover, we review new therapies and present information on our experience with some new treatment modalities.
The folding mechanism of a beta-sheet: the WW domain.

The folding thermodynamics and kinetics of the Pin WW domain, a three-stranded antiparallel beta-sheet, have been characterized extensively. Folding and activation free energies were determined as a function of temperature for 16 mutants, which sample all strands and turns of the molecule. The mutational phi value (Phi(m)) diagram is a smooth function of sequence, indicating a prevalence of local interactions in the transition state (TS). At 37 degrees C, the diagram has a single pronounced maximum at turn 1: the rate-limiting step during folding is the formation of loop 1. In contrast, key residues for thermodynamic stability are located in the strand hydrophobic clusters, indicating that factors contributing to protein stability and folding kinetics are not correlated. The location of the TS along the entropic reaction coordinate Phi(T), obtained by temperature-tuning the kinetics, reveals that sufficiently destabilizing mutants in loop 2 or in the Leu7-Trp11-Tyr24-Pro37 hydrophobic cluster can cause a switch to a late TS. Phi(m) analysis is usually applied "perturbatively" (methyl truncation), but with Phi(T) to quantitatively assess TS shifts along a reaction coordinate, more severe mutations can be used to probe regions of the free energy surface beyond the TS.
Effects of coastal orientation and depth on the distribution of subtidal benthic assemblages

A better understanding of biological systems can only be gained if we understand what processes are important and how they operate to determine the distribution of organisms. Coastal orientation and depth can influence environmental conditions, including the degree of water motion and availability of light, which in turn may influence the horizontal and vertical patterns of organism distribution. Here, we used a mixed-model design to examine the effects of coastal orientation and depth on the structure of benthic assemblages by comparing the abundance and distribution of macroalgae and invertebrates in shallow and deep waters on
Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli associated with an outbreak of diarrhoea in a neonatal nursery ward

Summary Over a 9-day period in February 1995, 16 newborn babies (age range 2–11 days) and 3 infants (24, 47 and 180 days of age) in a neonatal nursery ward developed diarrhoea accompanied by pyrexia and weight loss. Known enteropathogens were not detected in their stools but Escherichia coli displaying aggregative adherence to HEp-2 cells (enteroaggregative E. coli) were found in 12 (63%) ill infants and in none of 5 well neonates (P = 0·02). The illness lasted 3–9 days (mean 5·2) in 16 babies, whereas in 3 neonates it showed a protracted course of 18–20 days. The source of infection and the mode of transmission remained unclear. The outbreak isolates manifested properties common in this new group of diarrhoeagenic E. coli: mannose-resistant haemagglutination, haemolysis on blood agar, and clump formation in liquid culture medium. They belonged to the O4 E. coli serogroup and expressed multiple antibiotic resistance.
SDHB, SDHC, and SDHD mutation screen in sporadic and familial head and neck paragangliomas

Mutations within three genes, SDHB, SDHC, and SDHD, encoding distinct subunits of a hetero‐oligomeric protein known as the mitochondrial complex II, a component of the mitochondrial electron transport chain and the Krebs cycle have been implicated in the pathogenesis of hereditary paraganglioma (PGL). This study describes a mutation screen of SDHB, SDHC, and SDHD in blood and tumor samples of 14 sporadic and three familial cases of head and neck PGL (HNP). Germline mutations in SDHB and SDHD were identified in two of the three affected individuals with familial HNP. The SDHB mutation was a novel 3 base pair, in‐frame deletion of AGC at nucleotide 583–585 encoding serine (delS195). The SDHD mutation was a C to T transition within codon 81 causing substitution of proline with leucine (P81L). In contrast to familial cases, no germline or somatic mutations were identified in the 14 sporadic cases of HNP. The presence of mutations within SDHB and SDHD in two of the three samples of familial PGLs and absence of mutations in sporadic cases is consistent with the significant contribution of these genes to familial but not sporadic PGL. The etiology of sporadic PGL remains to be elucidated.
Learning to Segment Speech with Self-Organising Maps

In recent years, a number of models of speech segmentation have been developed, including models based on artificial neural networks (ANNs). The latter involved training a recurrent network to predict the next phoneme or utterance boundary, and deriving a means of predicting word boundaries from its behaviour. Here, a different connectionist approach to the task is investigated employing self-organising maps (SOMs) (Kohonen 1990). SOMs differ from other ANNs in that they are unsupervised learners. The aim is to investigate whether the SOM can become sensitive to where word boundaries occur, when trained on phonetically transcribed speech.
Characterization of  $\hbox{MgB}_{2}$ Superconducting Hot Electron Bolometers

Hot-Electron Bolometer (HEB) mixers have proven to be the best tool for high-resolution spectroscopy at the Terahertz frequencies. However, the current state of the art NbN mixers suffer from a small intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth as well as a low operating temperature. MgB2 is a promising material for HEB mixer technology in view of its high critical temperature and fast thermal relaxation allowing for a large IF bandwidth. In this work, we have fabricated and characterized thin-film (~15 nm) MgB2-based spiral antenna-coupled HEB mixers on SiC substrate. We achieved the IF bandwidth greater than 8 GHz at 25 K and the device noise temperature <; 4000 K at 9 K using a 600 GHz source. Using temperature dependencies of the radiation power dissipated in the device we have identified the optical loss in the integrated microantenna responsible as a cause of the limited sensitivity of the current mixer devices. From the analysis of the current-voltage (IV) characteristics, we have derived the effective thermal conductance of the mixer device and estimated the required local oscillator power in an optimized device to be ~4 μW.
Metric perturbations from quantum tunneling in open inflation.

We study the effect that quantum fluctuations produced during the nucleation of a single-bubble open inflationary universe have on the amplitude of temperature anisotropies in the microwave background. We compute the instanton action for the quantum tunneling between the false and true vacua in open inflation models and show that the amplitude of quantum fluctuations of the bubble wall is very sensitive to the gravitational effects of the true vacuum. We study the spectrum of quantum fluctuations of the bubble wall and confirm that there is only an inhomogeneous ($k^2 = -3$) discrete mode associated with transverse traceless fluctuations of the bubble wall. This super-curvature mode could in principle distort the anisotropy of the microwave background. We compute the amplitude of the gauge invariant metric perturbations induced by the bubble wall fluctuations on a comoving hypersurface, and calculate the induced amplitude of temperature fluctuations in the microwave background, for arbitrary values of $\Omega_0$. We find that in the limit $\Omega_0\simeq 1$, the quadrupole dominates the angular power spectrum, like in the usual Grishchuk-Zel'dovich effect. The resulting bounds on the amplitude of quantum fluctuations of the bubble wall from the absence of such an effect in the observed microwave background anisotropies are quite strong. We also study the contribution from a discrete long wavelength super-curvature mode ($k^2 \simeq 2m^2/3H^2$) that appears in the spectrum of open de Sitter vacuum fluctuations. We constrain the parameters of the models of open inflation so that these modes do not distort the observed temperature anisotropy.
Multiset multitemporal canonical analysis of psoriasis images

Nowadays, the medical tracking of dermatological diseases is imprecise, mainly due to the lack of suitable objective methods to evaluate the lesion. The severity of the disease is currently scored by doctors merely by means of visual examination. In this work, multiset canonical correlation analysis over registered images is proposed to track the evolution of the disease automatically. This method transforms the original images into sets of variables that exhibit, decreasing degree of similarity, based on correlation measures. Due to this property, these new variables are more suitable to detect where changes occur. An experiment with 5 different time series collected from psoriasis patients during 4 different sessions is conducted. The analysis of the obtained results points out some patterns that can be used both to interpret and summarize the evolution of the lesion and to achieve a better image registration.
Uncemented Acetabular Components for Arthritis After Acetabular Fracture

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the results of uncemented acetabular components used to treat posttraumatic arthritis after acetabular fracture at a minimum of 10 years. Thirty-four hips in 33 patients (mean age, 49.7 years, range, 19–78 years) were treated from 1984 to 1990 at one institution with a total hip arthroplasty using an uncemented titanium porous-coated socket. Four patients died before 10 years (all with implants intact). Nine patients had the acetabulum revised: four had the shell and liner revised (one for loosening, one for loosening and dislocation, and two for osteolysis) and five had the liner alone revised (three for polyethylene wear and two for dislocation). All patients with unrevised hip replacements who were alive and patients who were not lost to followup had no or minimal pain at final followup (range, 10–16 years); no components were radiographically loose. Uncemented sockets had a low rate of loosening in this challenging patient population, but polyethylene wear and osteolysis were problematic.
2D and 3D high resolution gradient echo functional imaging of the brain: Venous contributions to signal in motor cortex studies

Recent emphasis on high resolution gradient echo studies in functional imaging has led to the conclusion that there are likely three domains of response to the blood circulation in the brain when considering field inhomogeneity effects of the venous blood pre‐ and during activation. The first is a coherent effect due to large or macroscopic vessels on the order of the size of the voxel (ca 200–500 μm in most studies). These can lead to very large signal changes (up to 100%). The second is at the venule level (ca 50–200 μm) and is associated with smaller parenchymal changes (usually ca 10% or less). The third is at the capillary level and is associated with much smaller signal changes at 1.5T and even up to 4 T. The actual signal changes depend on field strength and sequence design. In this paper, we present our experience in detecting the first two domains with 2D and 3D gradient echo imaging at 1.5T. We find that high resolution enables visualization of the larger small veins in motor cortex studies and that, on occasion, it is possible to see the venule effects as well. We suggest a simple model to explain the large signal changes based on susceptibility changes and partial volume effects. Comparisons of the functional imaging data to this model and to MR angiographic studies are also shown as evidence of the venous sources of the susceptibility changes.
Bioaccumulation kinetics of polybrominated diphenyl ethers and decabromodiphenyl ethane from field‐collected sediment in the oligochaete, Lumbriculus variegatus

The extensive use of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) has made them widespread contaminants in abiotic environments, but data regarding their bioavailability to benthic organisms are sparse. The bioaccumulation potential of PBDEs and DBDPE from field‐collected sediment was evaluated in the oligochaete Lumbriculus variegatus using a 49‐d exposure, including a 28‐d uptake and a 21‐d elimination phase. All PBDEs and DBDPE were bioavailable to the worms with biota–sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) ranging from 0.0210 g organic carbon/g lipid to 4.09 g organic carbon/g lipid. However, the bioavailability of highly brominated compounds (BDE‐209 and DBDPE) was poor compared with that of other PBDEs, and this was confirmed by their relatively low freely dissolved concentrations (Cfree) measured by solid‐phase microextraction. The inverse correlation between BSAFs and hydrophobicity was explained by their uptake (ks) and elimination (ke) rate constants. While ke changed little for PBDEs, ks decreased significantly when chemical hydrophobicity increased. The difference in bioaccumulation kinetics of brominated flame retardants in fish and the worms was explained by their physiological difference and the presence of multiple elimination routes. The appropriateness of 28‐d bioaccumulation testing for BSAF estimation was validated for PBDEs and DBDPE. In addition, Cfree was shown to be a good indicator of bioavailability. Environ Toxicol Chem 2013;32:2711–2718. © 2013 SETAC
Effects of n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Therapy on Plasma Inflammatory Markers and N-Terminal Pro-brain Natriuretic Peptide in Elderly Patients with Chronic Heart Failure

Several previous studies have suggested that n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) can exert favourable effects in patients with heart failure, but the mechanisms involved are not fully understood. This study was designed to investigate the effects of n-3 PUFA on circulating inflammatory markers and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in patients with heart failure. Seventy-six patients with heart failure were randomly assigned to receive 2 g/day of n-3 PUFA or placebo for 3 months. Treatment with n-3 PUFA significantly decreased plasma levels of tumour necrosis factor, interleukin-6, intercellular adhesion molecule 1 and NT-proBNP. Left ventricular ejection fraction showed a small, non-significant improvement. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels decreased significantly in smokers after n-3 PUFA treatment. Thus, n-3 PUFA can reduce levels of plasma inflammatory markers and NT-proBNP as biomarkers of risk stratification in patients with heart failure. n-3 PUFA may offer a novel therapy for heart failure.
ITERATIVE NON LOCAL IMAGE RESTORATION USING INTERPOLATION OF UP AND DOWN SAMPLING 1

This research paper proposes an image restoration technique using interpolation of up and down sampling.Image restoration is a function of removing distortion from a noisy image in order to recover the original image. Here, image restoration is performed in three stages. First, a high variance noisy input image is added and denoising is implemented by kernel estimation. In this, the constant noise level is added and iteration is performed. Second, inpainting is carried out using the damaged portion of an image and restoration is done by restoring the local properties of the image. Third, image can be restored by selecting the sampling rate and interpolation of up and down sampling. For each case, the image parameters like PSNR and SSIM are evaluated. Performance graph and tabulation are obtained using the above said quality metrics. The better efficiency of proposed iterative image restoration for image denoising and inpainting is achieved when compared to other interpolation techniques. Using this method convergence time is also reduced.
IL 28 B gene polymorphi sms and viral kinetics in HIV / hepatitis C virus-coinfected patients treated with pegylated interferon and ribavirin

ISSN Background: A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) upstream of the IL28B gene (rs12979860) predicts sustained virological response (SVR) to peginterferon–ribavirin therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients. There is scarce information regarding the influence of this IL28B SNP on early viral kinetics during therapy, particularly in patients coinfected with HIV, in whom treatment response is lower than in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-monoinfected patients.
Diets enriched with cereal brans or inulin modulate protein kinase C activity and isozyme expression in rat colonic mucosa – Comments by Pool-Zobel & Cherbut

Pajari et al. (2000) compared the effect of selected dietary fibres, including inulin, wheat bran, oat bran and rye bran, on the colon and colonic mucosa of rats. A group receiving a fibre-free diet was included as a negative control. The key endpoints were determinations of protein kinase C (PKC) activity and protein levels by immunoblotting. Specifically, the authors measured membrane PKC d and cytosolic PKC a, z and l in tissue of the proximal colonic mucosa, and membrane PKC b2 and cytosolic PKC b2, d, z and l in the distal colonic mucosa. PKC-membrane activities were also determined in the distal and proximal colonic mucosa. There appears to be some confusion in the presentation of the results. Quite logically, data were compared for rats fed fibre-containing diets and those fed a fibre-free diet. However, in some cases data were also compared for rats fed diets containing different fibres, which led to puzzling conclusions. For the results comparing rats fed a fibre-free diet (control) and those fed a fibre-containing diet, the statistically significant results with inulin were: (1) higher weight of caecum plus contents; (2) higher weight of caecal mucosa; (3) higher stool weight; (4) higher membrane PKC d level in the proximal colon; (5) higher cytosolic PKC z and l; (6) higher membrane:cytosol PKC activity in the proximal colon (but the methodology is not described); (7) higher cytosolic PKC b2 protein level in the distal colon. Findings 1 to 3 are the usual effects observed for fermentable carbohydrates in general (Jacobs & Lupton, 1984; Key et al. 1996), including inulin (Remesy et al. 1993; Fontaine et al. 1996), and are also considered as beneficial, health-promoting mechanisms of various fibre sources (Scheppach et al. 2001). However, the PKC findings have not previously been reported in healthy inulinfed rats, and the authors’ conclusions in this respect seem unlikely: ‘However, ingestion of the inulin-enriched diet resulted in an increased PKC activity and PKC b2 level in the distal colonic mucosa, indicating that this highly-fermentable fructose polymer may enhance colon carcinogenesis. ’ As noted below, these conclusions are based on results that are statistically non-significant (in part) and not always consistent with data in the Results section of the paper. Finally, the conclusions are speculative, as they imply that the measured parameters (PKC in healthy rat mucosa) are predictive of carcinogenesis. The following comments suggest that the authors’ conclusions are misleading:
Laser high performance liquid chromatography determination of prostaglandins in nasal lavage fluid in allergic rhinitis

This study was designed to analyse prostaglandins (PGs) in human nasal lavage‐ fluid using the combination of microcolumn high performance liquid chromatography and a He/Cd laser induced fluorescence detection system. Forty‐seven patients with allergic rhinitis and 12 healthy volunteers were investigated. Four species of PG. i.e. PGD2, PGE2, PGF2x and 6‐keto‐PGF1, were detected in the nasal lavage fluid. Concentrations of PGD2; (1.33 ± 0.17 nmol/ml) and PGE2 (0.87 ± 0.11 nmol/ml) in nasal lavage fluid from patients with allergic rhinitis (the allergy group) were significantly increased compared with those of volunteers (the control group, 0.23 ± 0.16 nmol/ml, 0.29 ±0.19 nmol/ml, respectively). On the other hand, no significant differences were observed in concentrations of cither PGF2x, or 6‐keto‐PGF1x between the control group and the allergy group. Histamine concentration in nasal lavage fluid was significantly increased in the allergy group (53 ± 7.6 nmol/l) compared with the control group (3.4 ± 1.0 nmol/1). No significant correlation was observed between PGD2 and histamine concentration (r= 0.24), or between PGE2 and histamine concentration (r= 0.08) in nasal lavage fluid from patients with allergic rhinitis. Treatment with oxatomide, an anti‐histamine and anti‐allergic drug, significantly improved symptom scores, but did not alleviate them completely. Concentrations of each PG detected in nasal lavage fluid did not change significantly after oxatomide treatment. It is concluded that, not only histamine but also PGs, particularly PGD2 and PGE2, might be involved in the genesis of allergic rhinitis.
PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS OF PIG PRODUCTION UNDER INTENSIVE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN NSUKKA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ENUGU STATE , NIGERIA

The study examined the profitability of pig production under intensive management system in Nsukka Local Government Area in the year 2009. Data were obtained from five notable intensive pig farmers and their employees through well structured questionnaire and oral interviews. Data were analyzed using profitability tools like Gross Margin, Net Revenue and Cost Benefit Ratio. Findings showed that under one production year, the gross margin was N1,182,000 while Net Revenue was N1,004,750 and the Cost Benefit Ratio (CBR) was 1.30 which indicates that the enterprise is profitable since BCR is greater than 1. The result also revealed that feed cost was the most expensive resource. It was recommended that feed cost should be reduced through the process of substituting feed with locally available by products. Better marketing channels should be established for increased sales of pork.