Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MicroRNAs miR-30b, miR-30d, and miR-494 Regulate Human Endometrial Receptivity

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act as important epigenetic posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression. We aimed to gain more understanding of the complex gene expression regulation of endometrial receptivity by analyzing miRNA signatures of fertile human endometria. We set up to analyze miRNA signatures of receptive (LH + 7, n = 4) versus prereceptive (LH + 2, n = 5) endometrium from healthy fertile women. We found hsa-miR-30b and hsa-miR-30d to be significantly upregulated, and hsa-miR-494 and hsa-miR-923 to be downregulated in receptive endometrium. Three algorithms (miRanda, PicTar, and TargetScan) were used for target gene prediction. Functional analyses of the targets using Ingenuity Pathways Analysis and The Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery indicated roles in transcription, cell proliferation and apoptosis, and significant involvement in several relevant pathways, such as axon guidance, Wnt/β-catenin, ERK/MAPK, transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), p53 and leukocyte extravasation. Comparison of predicted miRNA target genes and our previous messenger RNA microarray data resulted in a list of 12 genes, including CAST, CFTR, FGFR2, and LIF that could serve as a panel of genes important for endometrial receptivity. In conclusion, we suggest that a subset of miRNAs and their target genes may play important roles in endometrial receptivity.
An improved diagnostic approach to ascites.

An improved diagnostic approach to ascites has recently been described. 1-4 It is based on the observation that portal pressure is directly proportional to the gradient of oncotic pressure between the splanchnic capillaries and ascites. 3-5 The albumin concentration of bodily fluid is the main determinant of its oncotic pressure. 6 The gradient of albumin concentration between serum and ascites (Albs-a) has empirically been established to be ≥1.1 g/dL (11 g/L) in the presence of portal hypertension, and 1,2,4 The cause of ascites associated with portal hypertension (Albs-a ≥1.1 g/dL [11 g/L]) is almost always cirrhosis or cardiac disease (right ventricular failure or constrictive pericarditis). The causes of ascites not associated with portal hypertension (Albs-a
Assessing Covariates of Drug Use Trajectories Among Adolescents Admitted to a Drug Addiction Center: Mental Health Problems, Therapeutic Alliance, and Treatment Persistence

This study aimed to assess covariates of drug use trajectories among 102 adolescents admitted to a drug user treatment program between November 2005 and November 2006 in Québec, Canada. The influences of mental health, therapeutic alliance, and treatment persistence were examined. The Addiction Severity Index was used to measure drug use severity and mental health problems; the California Psychotherapy Alliance Scales was used for therapeutic alliance. latent growth curve analysis showed associations between (1) mental health and initial drug use severity; (2) therapeutic alliance and initial drug use severity; and (3) number of post-treatment sessions attended and drug use severity over time.
Determination of serum protein-bound iodine as a routine clinical procedure.

DURING the past few years studies of the serum protein-bound iodine (PBI) have proved its determination to be a valuable research tool; however, the complicated methods employed have made the use of this test impractical as a routine clinical laboratory procedure. The recent development of a simple alkaline ashing method which is suitable for the analysis of large numbers of specimens has made this determination available for routine use in medical practice. This technique has been used for the study of patients at Grady Memorial Hospital for the past year. As we have accumulated experience in the routine use of the serum protein-bound iodine determination, its advantages and disadvantages as a diagnostic aid have become increasingly evident. It, therefore, seemed worth while to report our experiences in some detail. The entire subject of the blood iodine was recently reviewed from a theoretical viewpoint by Rapport and Curtis, 1 and some
Chronology of Guitarrero Cave, Peru

Dating by accelerator mass spectrometry of wooden artifacts, cord, and charcoal samples from Guitarrero Cave, Peru, supports the antiquity of South America's earliest textiles and other perishable remains. The new dates are consistent with those obtained from disintegration counters and leave little doubt about the integrity of the lower Preceramic layers and their early cultivars. Re-evaluation of the mode of deposition suggests that most of the remains resulted from short-term use of the cave in the eighth millennium B.C., with a possible brief human visit as early as 12,560 years ago.
Low-dose cyclosporin therapy for recombinant erythropoietin-induced pure red-cell aplasia.

Pure red-cell aplasia (PRCA) is an uncommon condition. It has been reported to occur in dialysis patients following recombinant erythropoietin therapy, initiated for treatment of anaemia of chronic renal failure [1–3]. In those patients, anti-erythropoietin antibodies have been recorded. Little is known of the natural history of this disease or the safest, most efficacious therapy. Here we describe a patient with only moderate renal impairment, who also developed epoetin-induced PRCA. Initial bone marrow histology failed to make a clear diagnosis. There was no spontaneous remission, but the patient was managed successfully with lowdose cyclosporin alone without compromising renal function.
Orthodontic movement in bone defects augmented with Bio-Oss. An experimental study in dogs.

OBJECTIVE To study if it was possible to move, by orthodontic means, a tooth into an area of the jaw that had been augmented with Bio-Oss. MATERIAL AND METHODS 5 beagle dogs were used. The 1st, 2nd, and 4th mandibular premolars on each side were removed. The defect at the left 4th premolar site was filled with a biomaterial (Bio-Oss) while the corresponding defect in the right side was left for spontaneous healing. 3 months later, an orthodontic device was inserted in each side of the mandible. The device was designed to allow distal, bodily movement of the 3rd premolars. When the experimental teeth had been moved into the extraction sites of the 4th premolars, the animals were sacrificed and biopsies of the premolar-molar regions of the mandible sampled. The tissues were prepared for histological analysis using standard procedures. In the sections, 3 zones were identified: zone A=the bone tissue within the distal portion of the previous extraction site (4th premolar), zone B=the pressure side of the 3rd premolar, zone C=the tension side of the 3rd premolar. The area occupied by mineralized bone, Bio-Oss particles and bone marrow was determined by a point counting procedure. The width of the periodontal ligament as well as the percentage of the root surface (in zone B) that exhibited resorption was determined. RESULTS The findings demonstrated that it was possible to move a tooth into an area of an alveolar ridge that 3 months previously had been augmented with a biomaterial. It was also demonstrated that 12 months after grafting, Bio-Oss particles remained as inactive filler material in the not utilized part of zone A. The biomaterial was not present in zone C but present in small amounts in zone B. CONCLUSION During the orthodontic tooth movement the graft material (Bio-Oss) was degraded and eliminated from the part of the alveolar ridge that was utilized for the experiment. In the non-utilized part of the ridge the biomaterial, however, remained as a seemingly inactive filler material.
Challenges in Using ctDNA to Achieve Early Detection of Cancer

Early detection of cancer is a significant unmet clinical need. Improved technical ability to detect circulating tumor-derived DNA (ctDNA) in the cell-free DNA (cfDNA) component of blood plasma via next-generation sequencing and established correlations between ctDNA load and tumor burden in cancer patients have spurred excitement about the possibilities of detecting cancer early by performing ctDNA mutation detection. We reanalyze published data on the expected ctDNA allele fraction in early-stage cancer and the population statistics of cfDNA concentration to show that under conservative technical assumptions, high-sensitivity cancer detection by ctDNA mutation detection will require either more blood volume (150-300mL) than practical for a routine screen or variant filtering that may be impossible given our knowledge of cancer evolution, and will likely remain out of economic reach for routine population screening without multiple-order-of-magnitude decreases in sequencing cost. Instead, new approaches that integrate ctDNA mutations with multiple other blood-based analytes (such as exosomes, circulating tumor cells, ctDNA epigenetics, metabolites) as well as integration of these signals over time for each individual may be needed.
Study of exclusive charmless semileptonic B decays and vertical bar V-ub vertical bar

N. E. Adam, J. P. Alexander, K. Berkelman, D. G. Cassel, J. E. Duboscq, R. Ehrlich, L. Fields, L. Gibbons, R. Gray, S. W. Gray, D. L. Hartill, B. K. Heltsley, D. Hertz, C. D. Jones, J. Kandaswamy, D. L. Kreinick, V. E. Kuznetsov, H. Mahlke-Kruger, T. O. Meyer, P. U. E. Onyisi, J. R. Patterson, D. Peterson, J. Pivarski, D. Riley, A. Ryd, A. J. Sadoff, H. Schwarthoff, X. Shi, S. Stroiney, W. M. Sun, T. Wilksen, M. Weinberger, S. B. Athar, R. Patel, V. Potlia, J. Yelton, P. Rubin, C. Cawlfield, B. I. Eisenstein, I. Karliner, D. Kim, N. Lowrey, P. Naik, M. Selen, E. J. White, J. Wiss, R. E. Mitchell, M. R. Shepherd, D. Besson, T. K. Pedlar, D. Cronin-Hennessy, K. Y. Gao, J. Hietala, Y. Kubota, T. Klein, B. W. Lang, R. Poling, A. W. Scott, A. Smith, P. Zweber, S. Dobbs, Z. Metreveli, K. K. Seth, A. Tomaradze, J. Ernst, K. M. Ecklund, H. Severini, W. Love, V. Savinov, O. Aquines, Z. Li, A. Lopez, S. Mehrabyan, H. Mendez, J. Ramirez, G. S. Huang, D. H. Miller, V. Pavlunin, B. Sanghi, I. P. J. Shipsey, B. Xin, G. S. Adams, M. Anderson, J. P. Cummings, I. Danko, D. Hu, B. Moziak, J. Napolitano, Q. He, J. Insler, H. Muramatsu, C. S. Park, E. H. Thorndike, F. Yang, T. E. Coan, Y. S. Gao, M. Artuso, S. Blusk, J. Butt, J. Li, N. Menaa, R. Mountain, S. Nisar, K. Randrianarivony, R. Sia, T. Skwarnicki, S. Stone, J. C. Wang, K. Zhang, G. Bonvicini, D. Cinabro, M. Dubrovin, A. Lincoln, D. M. Asner, K. W. Edwards, R. A. Briere, T. Ferguson, G. Tatishvili, H. Vogel, M. E. Watkins, and J. L. Rosner
Intervention studies in suicide prevention research.

BACKGROUND Despite the growing strength of the field of suicidology, various commentators have recently noted that insufficient effort is being put into intervention research, and that this is limiting our knowledge of which suicide prevention strategies might be the most effective. AIMS To profile the types of studies currently being undertaken by suicide prevention researchers from around the world, in order to examine the relative balance between intervention studies and other types of research. METHODS We searched the abstract books from the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th Congresses of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the 10th, 11th, and 12th European Symposia on Suicide and Suicidal Behavior (held between 2003 and 2008), and classified the abstracts in them according to a modified version of an existing taxonomy. RESULTS We screened 1209 abstracts and found that only 12% described intervention studies. CONCLUSIONS We need to redouble our efforts and make intervention studies our priority if we are to combat the global problem of suicide.
Customers' Perception towards Service Quality of Life Insurance Corporation of India: A Factor Analytic Approach

The service quality has become a highly instrumental co-efficient in the aggressive competitive marketing. For success and survival in today’s competitive environment, delivering quality service is of paramount importance for any economic enterprise. Life Insurance Corporation of India, the leading insurance company has set up ‘benchmarks’ in enervating the whole concept of service quality. The present study aims to measure customers’ perception towards life insurance service quality by applying a framework developed by Sureshchandar et al. (2001). An advocated procedure has been used to develop, refine and validate a scale. Data has been collected from 337 customers from the three cities of Punjab (a progressive State of India). The findings of the study demonstrate that five-factor structure as proposed by Sureshchandar et al. (2001) has been refined to sevenfactor construct (consisting of 34 items) representing Proficiency; Media and presentations; Physical and ethical excellence; Service delivery process and purpose; Security and dynamic operations; Credibility; and Functionality. Besides, the study also investigates the relationship between each of the generated service quality dimensions and customers overall evaluation of life insurance service quality. It reveals that among these seven factors, three viz., Proficiency; Physical and ethical excellence; and Functionality have significant impact on the overall service quality of Life Insurance Corporation of India. Managerial implications and directions for further research have also been discussed.
New gynecologic cancer staging.

The Oncology Committee of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) at the last triannual meeting (1988) made several changes in the staging of gynecologic cancers. Staging for corpus cancer has been revised completely to comply with surgical staging. Vulvar cancer has been changed modestly with regard to lymph node status and the location of the lesion. Ovarian cancer has had only a minor change in an attempt to clarify staging changes that were made in 1985
Learning Rotation-Invariant Convolutional Neural Networks for Object Detection in VHR Optical Remote Sensing Images

Object detection in very high resolution optical remote sensing images is a fundamental problem faced for remote sensing image analysis. Due to the advances of powerful feature representations, machine-learning-based object detection is receiving increasing attention. Although numerous feature representations exist, most of them are handcrafted or shallow-learning-based features. As the object detection task becomes more challenging, their description capability becomes limited or even impoverished. More recently, deep learning algorithms, especially convolutional neural networks (CNNs), have shown their much stronger feature representation power in computer vision. Despite the progress made in nature scene images, it is problematic to directly use the CNN feature for object detection in optical remote sensing images because it is difficult to effectively deal with the problem of object rotation variations. To address this problem, this paper proposes a novel and effective approach to learn a rotation-invariant CNN (RICNN) model for advancing the performance of object detection, which is achieved by introducing and learning a new rotation-invariant layer on the basis of the existing CNN architectures. However, different from the training of traditional CNN models that only optimizes the multinomial logistic regression objective, our RICNN model is trained by optimizing a new objective function via imposing a regularization constraint, which explicitly enforces the feature representations of the training samples before and after rotating to be mapped close to each other, hence achieving rotation invariance. To facilitate training, we first train the rotation-invariant layer and then domain-specifically fine-tune the whole RICNN network to further boost the performance. Comprehensive evaluations on a publicly available ten-class object detection data set demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Bacteriophage P22 and Staphylococcus aureus Attenuation on Nonporous Fomites as Determined by Plate Assay and Quantitative PCR

ABSTRACT Decay rates of bacteriophage P22 and Staphylococcus aureus on six types of common household inanimate surfaces were evaluated based on cultivation and quantitative PCR. A much higher level of inactivation was observed using the plate assay, suggesting that detection of the pathogen genome in samples from fomites does not necessarily imply a health risk to humans.
Derrida and Wittgenstein: Points of Opposition

The radicality of the challenges posed by Wittgenstein and Derrida to traditional philosophical approaches has provoked a number of comparisons of the two. There have been over a dozen such studies published, two of book length. One comes to these studies hoping for a “productive confrontation” between Wittgenstein and Derrida, to use Ruth Sonderegger’s phrase.1 The aim of the first two parts of this paper is to review these studies. Focusing primarily on the book-length studies, I will examine the problems they present and see what lessons are to be learned from them. Ultimately, we will find that the hopedfor confrontation never takes place. In the third part, I will set forth the issues in which Derrida and Wittgenstein meet in their points of closest opposition. These are the issues which will need to be addressed in order to bring about such a confrontation.
Seasonal Variations of Soil Heavy Metal Contaminants along Urban Roads: A Case Study from the City of Hail, Saudi Arabia

Assessment of seasonal variations in the concentrations of heavy metals -Pb, Cd, Zn, Ni, Cr, Cu, Co, V and Hg- was carried out along two main roads in Hail city; King Abd El-Aziz and King Fahd roads, during August 2009 and January 2010, to identify possible variations in those concentrations during dry and wet seasons. Concentrations were determined using atomic absorbtion spectrometer. The study found that for the samples collected along King Abd El-Aziz road the mean concentrations of Pb, Cd, Zn, Co, Cr, Ni, Cu, V and Hg were: 89ppm, 5ppm, 197ppm, 37ppm, 126ppm, 104ppm, 53ppm, 90ppm and 4ppm in summer season and 88ppm, 6ppm, 201ppm, 38ppm, 120ppm, 106ppm, 55ppm, 93ppm and 4ppm in winter season, respectively. On the other hand, samples collected along King Fahd road showed a mean concetration of 88ppm, 8ppm, 203ppm, 33ppm, 96ppm, 95ppm, 49ppm, 82ppm and 3ppm in summer season and 94ppm, 8ppm, 207ppm, 42ppm, 98ppm, 98ppm, 50ppm, 83ppm and 3ppm in winter season, respectively. According to the calculated values of the geoaccumulation index, the soils of the study area are moderately contaminated with respect to Cd, uncontaminated to moderately contaminated with respect to Pb, Zn and Hg and uncontaminated with respect to Cu, Cr, Co, Ni and V for both winter and summer seasons.
Role of rhamnolipid biosurfactants in the uptake and mineralization of hexadecane in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

A study was undertaken to investigate the mechanisms for biosurfactant‐enhanced hexadecane uptake into Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Two strains of Ps. aeruginosa were studied, one producing rhamnolipids (PG201) and the other rhamnolipid deficient (UO299). Rhamnolipids produced by PG201 acted to increase the solubility of n‐hexadecane in the culture medium (from 1·84 to 22·76 µg l−1). Rates of 14C‐n‐hexadecane uptake and mineralization were higher in PG201 than in UO299. However, the degree of difference was lower than expected. Additional studies were carried out on the cell surface properties of the two strains. During growth on n‐hexadecane, the cell surface hydrophobicity of both PG201 (50·5%) and UO299 (33·7%) increased compared with that observed in water‐soluble growth substrates (7–8%). Studies were also carried out to ascertain any energy requirements for the transport of n‐hexadecane into Ps. aeruginosa cells. The addition of CCCP (an inhibitor of cytochrome oxidase which thereby blocks oxidative phosphorylation) at a range of concentrations caused a marked decrease in n‐hexadecane uptake, indicating that n‐hexadecane uptake in Ps. aeruginosa is an energy‐dependent process. These studies support the hypothesis of alkane transport into microbial cells by direct contact with larger alkane droplets and by pseudosolubilization. Also, it appears that both mechanisms occur simultaneously.
Predictors of poor outcome despite recanalization: a multiple regression analysis of the NASA registry

Background Mechanical thrombectomy with stent-retrievers results in higher recanalization rates compared with previous devices. Despite successful recanalization rates (Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction (TICI) score ≥2b) of 70–83%, good outcomes by 90-day modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score ≤2 are achieved in only 40–55% of patients. We evaluated predictors of poor outcomes (mRS >2) despite successful recanalization (TICI ≥2b) in the North American Solitaire Stent Retriever Acute Stroke (NASA) registry. Methods Logistic regression was used to evaluate baseline characteristics and recanalization outcomes for association with 90-day mRS score of 0–2 (good outcome) vs 3–6 (poor outcome). Univariate tests were carried out for all factors. A multivariable model was developed based on backwards selection from the factors with at least marginal significance (p≤0.10) on univariate analysis with the retention criterion set at p≤0.05. The model was refit to minimize the number of cases excluded because of missing covariate values; the c-statistic was a measure of predictive power. Results Of 354 patients, 256 (72.3%) were recanalized successfully. Based on 234 recanalized patients evaluated for 90-day mRS score, 116 (49.6%) had poor outcomes. Univariate analysis identified an increased risk of poor outcome for age ≥80 years, occlusion site of internal carotid artery (ICA)/basilar artery, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score ≥18, history of diabetes mellitus, TICI 2b, use of rescue therapy, not using a balloon-guided catheter or intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV t-PA), and >30 min to recanalization (p≤0.05). In multivariable analysis, age ≥80 years, occlusion site ICA/basilar, initial NIHSS score ≥18, diabetes, absence of IV t-PA, ≥3 passes, and use of rescue therapy were significant independent predictors of poor 90-day outcome in a model with good predictive power (c-index=0.80). Conclusions Age, occlusion site, high NIHSS, diabetes, no IV t-PA, ≥3 passes, and use of rescue therapy are associated with poor 90-day outcome despite successful recanalization.
A novel approach to the study of human microcirculation: reactivity to locally applied angiotensin II in the conjunctival microvascular bed

Objective To develop a state-of-the-art, computer-assisted intravital microscopy protocol to evaluate directly the effects of topically applied drugs on conjunctival arteriolar and venular diameters. Methods Fifty-one normotensive volunteers were studied. Video-recordings of the bulbar conjunctival microcirculation were made before and following eye drops containing angiotensin II (AngII) (0.001% w/w, or 0.01%) or phenylephrine (0.25%). The computer-assisted analyses of arteriolar and venular diameters were performed off-line. In different protocols the microvascular reactivity to the different eye drops were compared. Results AngII (0.01%) eye drops, but not AngII (0.001%), induced significant constriction in both arterioles (median, 19%) and venules (13%). Phenylephrine eye drops (pharmacological control) induced similar arteriolar (18%) and venular (12%) constrictions. Repeated AngII challenges with a 30-min interval revealed reproducible vasoconstriction responses (median arteriolar constriction, 11 and 17%, respectively; NS). The vasoconstriction responses following AngII challenges on two consecutive days revealed reproducible responses (median arteriolar constriction, 13 and 11%, respectively; NS). Conclusions The present results demonstrate that the proposed model for noninvasive intravital video-microscopy of the conjunctival microcirculation is sensitive for measuring direct arteriolar and venular reactivity following topically applied drugs. We consider this model a valuable tool for sophisticated research on in-vivo microvascular reactivity in humans.