Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Japanese individuals do not harbor the T594M mutation but do have the P592S mutation in the C‐terminus of the β‐subunit of the epithelial sodium channel: the Ohasama Study

Objective To assess the implications of polymorphisms of the amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channel in essential hypertension in the Japanese population by determining the incidence of the T594M mutation in the β subunit of the epithelial sodium channel, and by screening the C-terminus of the epithelial sodium channel. Methods Single-strand confirmational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis using two sets of primers which cover the last two-thirds of the last exon coding the B epithelial sodium channel and modification of a specific enzyme restriction site (Nla III) for the T594M mutation were performed on 803 Japanese subjects. They were randomly selected from the study participants representative of a general population of Ohasama, Japan, who measured their home blood pressure. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products presenting a shift in SSCP gel, as well as controls, were directly sequenced by autoanalyser to identify the mutation. Results SSCP analysis identified altered migration in five subjects. Four SSCP variants found by sequencing were heterogeneous for the P592S (C CT to T CT) mutation conserving the PY motif, although it was not significantly associated with either home or casual blood pressure values. The resting polymorphism was at codon Thr 594, leading to no change in the amino acid sequence (ACG to ACA). None of the PCR products were modified by Nla III, indicating the absence of the T594M mutation. Conclusions The epithelial sodium channel variants at the C-terminus are not involved in the common form of essential hypertension in Japanese.
Transcriptional regulation of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)‐mRNA expression during postnatal development of mouse brain

During mouse brain maturation, GFAP‐mRNA undergoes a two‐step developmental expression. It increases between birth and day 15 (period of astrocytic proliferation) and then decreases until day 55 (period of astrocytic morphological differentiation). We have developed an in vitro transcription procedure, as a mean to study the part of transcriptional control in this biphasic expression. After RNA synthesis by endogenous RNA polymerases in nuclei isolated from mouse brain (of 3 to 55 days and 217 days), the relative rates of GFAP‐mRNA transcripts were analysed by hybridization with a specific cDNA probe. As early as 3 days after birth, the rate of GFAP‐mRNA transcripts was maximal, whereas unexpectedly, it showed a significant decrease in mice of 15 days and stayed low until the 55th day. Therefore, a transcriptional control may take place early in mouse brain postnatal development by increasing the transcriptional rate of the GFAP gene in astrocytes, and during the transition from proliferation to differentiation phase of astrocytes (that occurs at the 15th day after birth) by decreasing this rate. However, posttranscriptional events may also occur to modulate the level of the cytoplasmic GFAP‐mRNA. In older mice (217 days), the low rate of GFAP‐mRNA transcripts found is not concordant with the high cytoplasmic level generally observed in gliosis of the aging brain. Our data suggest posttranscriptional events at this age. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Carotid Intima‐Media Thickness is Inversely Related to Bone Density in Female but not in Male Patients with Acute Stroke

Atherosclerosis and osteoporosis are two major public health problems. It is still uncertain whether an abnormal carotid ultrasonography, either increased intima‐media thickness (IMT) or plaque thickness, is associated with osteoporosis in acute ischemic stroke patients. To investigate the possible relationships between osteoporosis and carotid atherosclerosis, we evaluated the correlation between carotid IMT/plaque thickness and bone mineral density (BMD) in acute ischemic stroke patients.
Cyclin A associates with the fusome during germline cyst formation in the Drosophila ovary.

Regulated changes in the cell cycle underlie many aspects of growth and differentiation. Prior to meiosis, germ cell cycles in many organisms become accelerated, synchronized, and modified to lack cytokinesis. These changes cause cysts of interconnected germ cells to form that typically contain 2(n) cells. In Drosophila, developing germ cells during this period contain a distinctive organelle, the fusome, that is required for normal cyst formation. We find that the cell cycle regulator Cyclin A transiently associates with the fusome during the cystocyte cell cycles, suggesting that fusome-associated Cyclin A drives the interconnected cells within each cyst synchronously into mitosis. In the presence of a normal fusome, overexpression of Cyclin A forces cysts through an extra round of cell division to produce cysts with 32 germline cells. Female sterile mutations in UbcD1, encoding an E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, have a similar effect. Our observations suggest that programmed changes in the expression and cytoplasmic localization of key cell cycle regulatory proteins control germline cyst production.
CWIG3G2 - Complex Word Identification Task across Three Text Genres and Two User Groups

Complex word identification (CWI) is an important task in text accessibility. However, due to the scarcity of CWI datasets, previous studies have only addressed this problem on Wikipedia sentences and have solely taken into account the needs of non-native English speakers. We collect a new CWI dataset (CWIG3G2) covering three text genres News, WikiNews, and Wikipedia) annotated by both native and non-native English speakers. Unlike previous datasets, we cover single words, as well as complex phrases, and present them for judgment in a paragraph context. We present the first study on cross-genre and cross-group CWI, showing measurable influences in native language and genre types.
Successful Treatment of Granulomatous Reactions Secondary to Injection of Esthetic Implants

In recent years, various injectable materials have come into use to improve esthetic appearance. Objective We describe the clinical and histopathologic aspects of two patients who received intradermal injections of an unknown dermal filler and the different diagnostic tools used to identify the unknown injected material (reflexion electron microscopy, electron dispersing x-ray) and discuss the possibility of a metastatic granulomatous reaction in one patient. We also describe two treatments for this complication and evaluate the legal considerations of the use of materials that have been adulterated and/or whose composition is unknown to the patient. Methods We present two patients who developed a granulomatous foreign-body reaction after the subcutaneous injection of an esthetic implant. We treated patient 1 with isotretinoin and 2 months later with doxycycline. We administered isotretinoin to patient 2. Results We observed a partial improvement in patient 1 after isotretinoin treatment and a remarkable improvement after administration of doxycycline. In patient 2, we observed an excellent response to isotretinoin. Conclusion Isotretinoin and doxycycline, when administered separately, seem to offer effective treatment for reactions resulting from silicone implants. However, further studies that include a larger number of patients and those with reactions secondary to other fillers are clearly needed before the effectiveness of this treatment can be confirmed.
Early implant placement with simultaneous guided bone regeneration following single-tooth extraction in the esthetic zone: 12-month results of a prospective study with 20 consecutive patients.

BACKGROUND Early implant placement is one of the treatment options in postextraction sites in the anterior maxilla. Implant placement is performed after a soft tissue healing period of 4 to 8 weeks. Implant placement is combined with a simultaneous guided bone regeneration (GBR) procedure to rebuild esthetic facial hard and soft tissue contours. METHODS In this prospective case-series study, 20 consecutive patients treated with an implant-borne single crown were prospectively followed for 12 months. Clinical, radiologic, and esthetic parameters were recorded to assess treatment outcomes. RESULTS At the 12-month examination, all 20 implants were successfully integrated, demonstrating ankylotic stability and healthy peri-implant soft tissues as documented by standard parameters. The esthetic outcomes assessed by a pink esthetic score (PES) and a white esthetic score (WES) demonstrated pleasing results overall. The WES values were slightly superior to the PES values. The periapical radiographs showed minimal crestal bone loss around the used bone level implants, with mean bone loss of 0.18 mm at 12 months. Only one implant showed >0.5 mm bone loss, combined with minor mucosal recession of 0.5 to 1.0 mm. CONCLUSIONS This prospective case series study evaluating the concept of early implant placement demonstrated successful tissue integration for all 20 implants. The short-term follow-up of 12 months revealed pleasing esthetic outcomes overall, as assessed by objective parameters. The risk for mucosal recession was low; only one patient showed minor recession of the facial mucosa. These encouraging results need to be confirmed with 3- and 5-year follow-up examinations.
Disposition of eslicarbazepine acetate in the mouse after oral administration

Eslicarbazepine acetate is a promising antiepileptic drug structurally related to carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine, which is in the final phase of clinical development. The metabolism of eslicarbazepine acetate is clearly species dependent and, in this case, among small laboratory animals, the mouse seems to be the most relevant species to humans. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the plasma, brain and liver disposition of eslicarbazepine acetate in mice to better understand its disposition in humans. Adult male CD‐1 mice were treated orally with a single dose of eslicarbazepine acetate 350 mg/kg. Blood samples, brain and liver tissues were taken at 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 16 and 24 h post‐dose. Plasma and tissue levels of eslicarbazepine acetate and its metabolites (S‐licarbazepine, R‐licarbazepine and oxcarbazepine) were assessed by using high‐performance liquid chromatography‐ultraviolet detection. Both eslicarbazepine acetate and R‐licarbazepine concentrations were below the limit of quantification of the assay in all matrices. Eslicarbazepine acetate was rapidly and extensively metabolized to S‐licarbazepine (major metabolite), which was oxidized to oxcarbazepine to a small extent. The brain/plasma ratios suggest that the brain exposure to S‐licarbazepine and oxcarbazepine was approximately 30% of their total systemic exposure. However, S‐licarbazepine crossed the blood–brain barrier (BBB) less efficiently than oxcarbazepine. On the other hand, the liver/plasma ratios support the notion that S‐licarbazepine undergoes hepatic accumulation, whereas oxcarbazepine appears to leave this compartment twice as fast as S‐licarbazepine. Thus, the diffusion through the BBB is favourable to oxcarbazepine and the liver acts like a deposit of the pharmacologically active metabolite of eslicarbazepine acetate (S‐licarbazepine).
Semantic analysis of manipulation actions using spatial relations

Recognition of human manipulation actions together with the analysis and execution by a robot is an important issue. Also, perception of spatial relationships between objects is central to understanding the meaning of manipulation actions. Here we would like to merge these two notions and analyze manipulation actions using symbolic spatial relations between objects in the scene. Specifically, we define procedures for extraction of symbolic human-readable relations based on Axis Aligned Bounding Box object models and use sequences of those relations for action recognition from image sequences. Our framework is inspired by the so called Semantic Event Chain framework, which analyzes touching and un-touching events of different objects during the manipulation. However, our framework uses fourteen spatial relations instead of two. We show that our relational framework is able to differentiate between more manipulation actions than the original Semantic Event Chains. We quantitatively evaluate the method on the MANIAC dataset containing 120 videos of eight different manipulation actions and obtain 97% classification accuracy which is 12 % more as compared to the original Semantic Event Chains.
Aspirin plus Clopidogrel as Secondary Prevention after Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Antiplatelet agents are the mainstay for secondary prevention of non-cardioembolic stroke. This systematic review examined the safety and efficacy of short-, middle-, and long-term aspirin in combination with clopidogrel as secondary prevention of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) of presumed arterial origin. Methods: PubMed, EmBase, and CENTRAL were searched up to May 2014. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared aspirin plus clopidogrel versus aspirin or clopidogrel as secondary prevention of stroke or TIA of arterial origin were included. The analyses were stratified into short-term (≤3 months), middle-term (>3 months and <1 year), and long-term (≥1 year). Outcomes were compared using risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: Eight RCTs (20,728 patients) were included in the overall analysis. Compared with aspirin or clopidogrel alone, the complete analysis of all the data indicated that the combination therapy significantly reduced the risk of stroke recurrence (RR, 0.82; 95% CI 0.70-0.96, p = 0.01) and major vascular events (RR, 0.84; 95% CI 0.73-0.96, p < 0.01). But the risk of hemorrhagic stroke (RR, 1.59; 95% CI 1.08-2.33, p = 0.02) and major bleeding (RR, 1.83; 95% CI 1.37-2.45, p < 0.01) was increased. No RCT studied middle-term combination therapy. The analyses were therefore stratified into only two subgroups, short- and long-term treatment. Stratified analysis of short-term treatment showed that relative to monotherapy, the drug combination reduced the risk of stroke recurrence (RR, 0.69; 95% CI 0.59-0.81, p < 0.01) and did not increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke (RR, 1.23; 95% CI 0.50-3.04, p = 0.65) and major bleeding events (RR, 2.17; 95% CI 0.18-25.71, p = 0.54). Short-term combination therapy was associated with a significantly lower risk of major vascular events (RR, 0.70; 95% CI 0.69 to 0.82, p < 0.01). Stratified analysis of long-term treatment revealed that the combination treatment did not decrease the risk of stroke recurrence (RR, 0.92; 95% CI 0.83-1.03, p = 0.15), but was associated with a significantly higher risk of hemorrhagic stroke (RR, 1.67; 95% CI 1.10-2.56, p = 0.02) and major bleeding events (RR, 1.90; 95% CI 1.46-2.48, p < 0.01). Long-term combination therapy failed to reduce the risk of major vascular events (RR, 0.92; 95% CI 0.84-1.03, p = 0.09). Conclusions: Compared with monotherapy, short-term aspirin in combination with clopidogrel is more effective as secondary prevention of stroke or TIA without increasing the risk of hemorrhagic stroke and major bleeding events. Long-term combination therapy does not reduce the risk of stroke recurrence, and is associated with increased major bleeding events. The clinical applicability of the findings of this systematic review, however, needs to be confirmed in future clinical trials.
Changing the Perspective

Die arztlich-pflegerische wie auch die pflegerisch-arztliche Kooperation in der Stationsarbeit ist ein fragiles Gebilde und muss anscheinend bei jedem personellen Wechsel von Grund auf neu erarbeitet werden. Dieses ggf. hoch ressourcenkonsumierende Unterfangen wird u.a. beeinflusst durch das Image, welches die Berufsgruppen voneinander wahrnehmen und sich gegenseitig spiegeln. Dieser Artikel basiert auf Teilergebnissen aus einer Interview-Studie mit 25 Pflegenden (funf mannlich/20 weiblich) und 18 ArztInnen (elf mannlich/ sieben weiblich) zweier internistischer Stationen in zwei Kliniken der Regelversorgung (akademische Lehrkrankenhauser in freier christlicher Tragerschaft, ca. 350 Betten, in einer norddeutschen Grosstadt). Es wird gezeigt, wie und warum die erfahrenen beruflichen (Spiegel-)Bilder der beiden Berufsgruppen qualitativ stark voneinander abweichen. Die befragten ArztInnen zeigen sich relativ ignorant gegenuber der Frage nach ihrem Bild bei den Pflegenden und versuchen in der Antwort nicht ube.
Indomethacin and acetylsalicylic acid reduce intrapulmonary shunt in experimental pneumococcal pneumonia.

Arterial hypoxemia in acute experimental pneumococcal pneumonia is caused primarily by persistence of pulmonary blood flow to lung regions consolidated by pneumonia, which results in an intrapulmonary shunt. In order to test the hypothesis that in acute pneumonia indomethacin or acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) would improve gas exchange, as has been observed in some other disease models, 15 pentobarbital-anesthetized dogs with acute lobar pneumonia caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae type 3 were studied. After baseline measurements of pulmonary gas exchange, central hemodynamics and radionuclide-labeled microsphere determination of regional distribution of pulmonary blood flow, the dogs were randomly assigned to receive an intravenous infusion of indomethacin (2 mg/kg, n = 5), ASA, (100 mg/kg, n = 5) or a saline infusion (control, n = 5). All measurements were then repeated 30 and 60 min after infusion. Although there were no significant changes in the control group, PaO2 during O2 ventilation increased from a mean +/- SD value of 104 +/- 46 mmHg at baseline to 180 +/- 73 mmHg after ASA and from 262 +/- 173 to 361 +/- 134 mmHg after indomethacin. These improvements in PaO2 were associated with a decrease in shunt from 0.38 +/- 0.12 to 0.23 +/- 0.03 with ASA and from 0.29 +/- 0.21 to 0.21 +/- 0.08 with indomethacin. The reduction in shunt in both treatment groups was attributable to a fall in the fraction of the pulmonary blood flow perfusing the consolidated lung regions, from 33 +/- 8 to 21 +/- 5% after ASA and from 33 +/- 12 to 22 +/- 9% after indomethacin. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Searching for the Mismatch Negativity in Primary Auditory Cortex of the Awake Monkey: Deviance Detection or Stimulus Specific Adaptation?

The mismatch negativity (MMN) is a preattentive component of the auditory event-related potential that is elicited by a change in a repetitive acoustic pattern. While MMN has been extensively used in human electrophysiological studies of auditory processing, the neural mechanisms and brain regions underlying its generation remain unclear. We investigate possible homologs of the MMN in macaque primary auditory cortex (A1) using a frequency oddball paradigm in which rare “deviant” tones are randomly interspersed among frequent “standard” tones. Standards and deviants had frequencies equal to the best frequency (BF) of the recorded neural population or to a frequency that evoked a response half the amplitude of the BF response. Early and later field potentials, current source density components, multiunit activity, and induced high-gamma band responses were larger when elicited by deviants than by standards of the same frequency. Laminar analysis indicated that differences between deviant and standard responses were more prominent in later activity, thus suggesting cortical amplification of initial responses driven by thalamocortical inputs. However, unlike the human MMN, larger deviant responses were characterized by the enhancement of “obligatory” responses rather than the introduction of new components. Furthermore, a control condition wherein deviants were interspersed among many tones of variable frequency replicated the larger responses to deviants under the oddball condition. Results suggest that differential responses under the oddball condition in macaque A1 reflect stimulus-specific adaptation rather than deviance detection per se. We conclude that neural mechanisms of deviance detection likely reside in cortical areas outside of A1.
Prevalence of Primary Focal or Segmental Dystonia in Adults in the District of Foggia, Southern Italy: A Service-Based Study

Background: Primary focal or segmental dystonia is a rare clinical condition including early-onset dystonia, which has the tendency to generalize, and late-onset dystonia, which may be focal or segmental. The prevalence of late-onset dystonia ranges from 30 to 7,320 cases per million, but no data are available in Italy. Methods: A service-based study was conducted in the period 1 January 2001 through 31 December 2002 in the administrative district of Foggia, southern Italy (population 541,653). Cases were traced through hospital discharge diagnosis, botulinum toxin services, day hospital access, ear, nose and throat, ophthalmology and orthopedic surgery specialists, and territorial outpatient services. Inclusion criteria were age 17 years or older, residency in the study area and a diagnosis of primary focal/segmental dystonia. Results: A total of 69 patients were included, giving a crude prevalence of 127.4 per 1,000,000 (women: 146.4; men: 107.0; age 18–34 years: 39.2; 35–54 years: 98.7; 55–74 years: 273.6; 75+ years: 163.3). The standardized rate was 137.5 (95% confidence interval 107.0–174.6). Blepharospasm was the commonest clinical condition (prevalence 68.2), followed by cervical dystonia (prevalence 44.8). Conclusion: The prevalence of primary focal or segmental dystonia in Italy is in keeping with several other reports, but is lower than in studies performed in northern Europe, Minnesota, USA, and Japan. The difference in our results may be mostly explained by misdiagnosis, underascertainment of cases and a fairly limited observation period.
Islamic Televangelism: Religion, Media and Visuality in Contemporary Egypt

In the Egyptian hit film Awqaat Faraagh (Leisure Time, 2006), three young college students experience an existential crisis when one of their friends suddenly dies while crossing the street to buy them more beer. Sitting in a souped-up Mercedes Benz filled with hashish smoke and scantily clad girls, the three boys watch in horror as their friend, high and tripping, is hit by a car and immediately falls to the ground, breathing his last with the words: “I am afraid, I am afraid. ” Chastened and shocked by this tragedy, they vow to repent their dissolute lifestyles and lead more moral lives. Instead of watching Internet porn, they begin to download and watch together episodes of a religious talk-show by Amr Khaled, an immensely popular Islamic da’iya (activist, “caller” to Islam), who regularly appears on satellite television. This is an integral part of a strict moral regimen of increased prayers, abstinence from sex, alcohol and cigarettes, and more regular visits to the mosque. Soon, however, with the memory of their friend’s sudden death fading and their own lives no longer seeming so precarious, the three friends tire of this pious leisure. They switch off Khaled’s show and venture once more into Cairo’s glittering nightlife in search of other highs and ways to fill their free time.
Comparison of the time and latitude trends of melanoma incidence in anorectal region and perianal skin with those of cutaneous malignant melanoma in Norway

Background Melanoma incidence is increasing in many parts of the world. The main environmental risk factor is exposure to solar radiation. However, melanomas may arise also on non‐sun‐exposed areas (uveal and mucosal melanomas) and little is known about a possible relationship between sun exposure and melanoma on such locations.