Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Single-centre experience of STENTYS Xposition S in treatment of left main stem lesions

ABSTRACT Background: The second generation STENTYS Xposition S self-expanding stent with a novel balloon delivery system was launched in May 2015. The stents unique properties are well suited for the treatment of left main stem disease where large diameters, coverage of diameter differences and precise positioning are required. We report the first consecutive experience of using this device in the treatment of left main stem lesions. Methods: 20 consecutive patients with a mean age of 73.9±10.1 years were treated over a period of 8 months at our institution and were assessed on the parameters of technical, angiographic and procedural success. Results: Technical success was achieved in 95% of cases and angiographic success in 80% of cases. There was no incidence of geographical miss. Side branch access was straightforward, with no failure to recross stent struts, dilate or deploy a second stent if required. In this unselected clinical cohort, 2 critically ill patients with cardiogenic shock on presentation died despite successful revascularisation. There was no incidence of early stent related complications up to 30-day follow up. Conclusion: This first consecutive series of left main lesions treated with STENTYS Xposition S documents high acute technical and procedural success rates.
Reduced cadmium transport determined by a resistance plasmid in Staphylococcus aureus

The presence of a plasmid harboring a gene for Cd2+ resistance led to markedly reduced Cd2+ uptake via the energy-dependent Mn2+ transport system in Staphylococcus aureus strain 17810R. Cd2+ uptake by the resistant strain via this high-affinity system was seen only at very low Cd2+ concentrations. At high concentrations, Cd2+ was taken up by the resistant strain via a different low-affinity uptake system. Cd2+ uptake via this system was energy dependent but was not blocked by Mn2+. Loss of the plasmid from the resistant strain resulted in Cd2+ sensitivity and unblocking of Cd2+ transport via the Mn2+ carrier in the plasmidless derivative strain 17810S. The energy-dependent Cd2+ uptake by the sensitive strain was inhibited by Mn2+ with kinetics indicating competitive inhibition. It is suggested that the second, low-affinity uptake system for Cd2+ in the resistant strain is the energy-dependent cadmium/proton antiporter, which at low Cd2+ concentrations functions in net Cd2+ efflux.
Microfinance and ethnic diversity

We argue that understanding why the levels of success vary across microfinance institutions (MFIs) requires not only an understanding of the interplay between MFIs, MFI-specific practices and macroeconomic factors, but also what role ethnic diversity plays. Thus, this study hypothesises a relationship between ethnic diversity and MFI performance. We measure ethnic diversity using indices of fractionalisation. We find that fractionalisation is associated with poorer MFI financial performance and leads to MFI mission drift. Trust and strong social networks are important mechanisms of influence; they are lower in more fractionalised countries. Results are robust to several sensitivity checks.
Sequential circuits with combinational test generation complexity

We propose a new design for testability (DFT) technique which, like full scan design, guarantees that tests can be derived using a combinational test generator. Our DFT technique has two important advantages over full scan design: (1) the area overhead incurred by our technique is significantly less and (2) the test application time for our technique is significantly lower. This DFT technique selects scan flip-flops and/or test points such that, in the test mode, the circuit will belong to a special class of sequential circuits that we call strongly balanced structures. We give a simple characterization for strongly balanced structures and provide efficient methods to select scan flip-flops and/or test points to reduce any sequential circuit to a strongly balanced structure. A complete test set can be obtained for a strongly balanced structure using a combinational test generator. Experimental results on ISCAS 89 benchmark circuits and production VLSI circuits show that both the DFT overhead and the test application time are substantially lower for our technique.
On the Economic Determinants of Optimal Stock-Bond Portfolios: International Evidence

Using a modified DCC-MIDAS specification that allows the long-term correlation component to be a function of multiple explanatory variables, we show that the stock-bond correlation in the US, the UK, Germany, France, and Italy is mainly driven by inflation and interest rate expectations as well as a flight-to-safety during times of stress in financial markets. Based on the new DCC-MIDAS model, we construct stock-bond hedge portfolios and show that these portfolios outperform various benchmark portfolios in terms of portfolio risk. While optimal daily weights minimize portfolio risk, we find that portfolio turnover and trading costs can be substantially reduced when switching to optimal monthly weights.
Configurational Models to Predict Residents’ Support for Tourism Development

This empirical study developed and tested configural models for predicting residents’ support for tourism development (RSTD). The main contributions of this study are to propose a new analytical method for modeling the complex interactions of RSTD indicators, advancing the necessary theory to support both the ordinary and heterogonous relationships of RSTD and its antecedents, providing managerial guidelines for both promoting RSTD and controlling the negation of RSTD, and modeling RSTD in Hawraman, Iran, a location in which little information is available about host communities. We administered a survey to collect the views of 202 residents with varying demographic characteristics. To ascertain the occurrences of contrarian cases, cross-tabulation tests were performed, and their results helped to identify the functionality of fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) and complexity theory for asymmetrical modeling of RSTD. The predictive validity of causal recipes was also checked. The results from the fsQCA revealed that conditions with a higher level of community attachment, community involvement, knowledge of tourism, power to influence tourism, perceived personal benefit, positive tourism impacts, and satisfaction with quality of life led to a higher RSTD score. The results also indicated that trust in government and tourism negative impacts both positively and negatively, depending on the attributes of other antecedents in the causal recipe, function as determinants of RSTD. This study presents deeper insights into the tourism literature by exploring conditions that indicate high/low RSTD scores, which are useable for modeling other complex tourism issues.
Even it Up: How to tackle inequality in Vietnam

Vietnam has a strong record of poverty reduction, but today, increasing inequality is threatening decades of progress. Vietnam’s 210 super-rich earn more than enough in one year to lift 3.2 million people out of poverty and end extreme poverty in Vietnam. Economic inequality is reinforced by inequality of voice and opportunity, with the poorest excluded in favour of the rich. Millions of people; ethnic minorities, small scale farmers, migrants and informal workers, and women, are more likely to remain poor and excluded from services and political decision making. To tackle the dangerous gap between rich and poor, Vietnam should urgently implement progressive policies on governance, taxation, public spending, public services, labour rights, and civic engagement.
Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease

We studied two patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease by in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and obtained spectra from an extract of biopsy tissue from a third patient. In vivo spectra from the two patients, 3 months and less than 1 month after symptom onset, revealed only minor changes. A second study of one of the patients 10 months after symptom onset found a decrease in N-acetylaspartate and other metabolites. Spectroscopy of the biopsy extract obtained 4 months after onset of symptoms showed no reduction in metabolites measured by in vivo spectroscopy, in accord with quantitative pathology showing no overall neuronal loss. Changes in metabolites detectable by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy are not an early feature of this disease.
Can Pelvic Lymphadenectomy be Omitted in Stage IA2 to IIB Uterine Cervical Cancer?

Objectives The aims of this study were to predict pelvic lymph node metastasis in uterine cervical cancer before surgery and to evaluate the potential efficacy of omitting pelvic lymphadenectomy. Materials and Methods A total of 163 patients with invasive uterine cervical cancer in FIGO stage IA2 to IIB, all of whom underwent primary radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy, participated in this study. Results The incidences of pelvic lymph node metastasis in stage IA2, stage IB1, stage IB2, stage IIA, and stage IIB cervical cancer were 0% (0/12), 17% (13/76), 22% (6/27), 33% (8/24), and 63% (15/24), respectively. A significant difference was observed in overall survival with nodal metastasis status (P < 0.0001). Univariate analysis revealed that parametrial invasion (P < 0.0001), tumor markers (P = 0.0006), tumor size greater than 2 cm (P < 0.0001), tumor size less than 3 cm (P = 0.0009), and tumor size greater than 4 cm (P = 0.0024) were correlated with pelvic lymph node metastasis. However, multivariate analysis revealed that parametrial invasion (P = 0.01; odds ratio, 3.37; 95% confidence interval, 1.31–9.0) and tumor size greater than 2 cm (P = 0.005; odds ratio, 4.93; 95% confidence interval, 1.54–22.01) were independently associated with nodal metastasis. Conclusions Pelvic lymphadenectomy may be avoided in patients with negative parametrial invasion and a tumor size less than 2 cm, thereby minimizing postoperative complications.
Computational Analysis Identifies Human Adenovirus Type 55 as a Re-Emergent Acute Respiratory Disease Pathogen

ABSTRACT Novel human adenoviruses (HAdVs) arise from genome recombination. Analysis of HAdV type 55 from an outbreak in China shows a hexon recombination between HAdV-B11 and HAdV-B14, resulting in a genome that is 97.4% HAdV-B14. Sporadic appearances as a re-emergent pathogen and misidentification as “HAdV-B11a” are due to this partial hexon.
Effect of Substrate Removal on the Optoelectronic Properties of GaAs Epitaxial Layers and GaAs/AlGaAs Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers

We measured the electron Hall mobility of Si-doped GaAs epitaxial layers (ELs) that were flip-chip-bonded onto an alumina mount to investigate how the quality of the thin layer changes before and after GaAs substrate removal. The electron Hall mobilities at room temperature before and after substrate removal were almost unchanged. Photoluminescence spectra after substrate removal exhibited peak wavelengths at 872-874 nm, which were almost equal to those before substrate removal. This indicates that the quality of ELs was maintained after the process. We measured near-field patterns (NFPs) and far-field patterns (FFPs) of GaAs/AlGaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with and without a substrate. There was no change in the full-width-at-half-maximum of the NFP or in the FFP for the optical output range of 0.5-1.3 mW. We confirmed that our novel process is useful for optoelectronic packaging.
Turnover of hydrogen isotopes in lake sturgeon blood: implications for tracking movements of wild populations

ABSTRACT Naturally occurring deuterium (2H) in biota can be used to trace movement, migration and geographic origin of a range of organisms. However, to evaluate movements of animals using δ2H measurements of tissues, it is necessary to establish the turnover time of 2H in the tissues and the extent of isotopic discrimination from different environmental 2H sources to those tissues. We investigated the turnover of 2H in lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) blood by manipulating both environmental water δ2H and diet δ2H over a four-month period. The half-life of deuterium in lake sturgeon blood was 37.9 days after an increase in the environmental water δ2H of +714 ‰. However, no clear turnover in blood 2H occurred over the same period in a separate trial following a change of −63.8 ‰ or +94.2 ‰ in diet. These findings suggest that environmental water 2H exchanges much faster with blood than diets and that blood δ2H values can be used to trace movements of sturgeon and other fish moving among isotopically distinct waters.
[Effect of Tuina on oxygen free radicals metabolism in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome].

OBJECTIVE To explore the mechanism of Tuina for treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome. METHODS A total of 90 patients were randomly divided into a Tuina group, a Taijiquan (take exercise) group and a Fluoxetine group, 30 cases in each group. They were treated with Tuina, Taijiquan and Fluoxetine, respectively. After a month, the therapeutic effects and the changes of malondialdehyde (MDA) content and the activity of serum superoxide dismutases (SOD) and serum glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were ohserved. RESULTS The total effective rate of 93.3% (28/30) in the Tuina group was better than 80.0% (24/30) in the Taijiquan group and 73.3% (22/30) in the Fluoxetine group (both P < 0.05). After treatment, MDA contents in the three groups were all decreased (P < 0.01, P < 0.05), and the activity of SOD. GSH-Px in both the Tuina group and the Fluoxetine group were increased (P < 0.01, P < 0.05), and especially in the Tuina group with a significant difference as compared with the other two groups (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION The therapeutic effect of the Tuina group is superior to that of the Taijiquan group and the Fluoxetine group. Tuina can regulate oxygen free radicals metabolism and clean superfluous oxygen free radicals to alleviate fatigue, which may be one of the mechanisms of Tuina in treating chronic fatigue syndrome.
Fed‐batch culture of Escherichia coli for L‐valine production based on in silico flux response analysis

We have previously reported the development of a 100% genetically defined engineered Escherichia coli strain capable of producing L‐valine from glucose with a high yield of 0.38 g L‐valine per gram glucose (0.58 mol L‐valine per mol glucose) by batch culture. Here we report a systems biological strategy of employing flux response analysis in bioprocess development using L‐valine production by fed‐batch culture as an example. Through the systems‐level analysis, the source of ATP was found to be important for efficient L‐valine production. There existed a trade‐off between L‐valine production and biomass formation, which was optimized for the most efficient L‐valine production. Furthermore, acetic acid feeding strategy was optimized based on flux response analysis. The final fed‐batch cultivation strategy allowed production of 32.3 g/L L‐valine, the highest concentration reported for E. coli. This approach of employing systems‐level analysis of metabolic fluxes in developing fed‐batch cultivation strategy would also be applicable in developing strategies for the efficient production of other bioproducts. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2011; 108:934–946. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Cryopreservation of human oocytes

Cryopreservation is a well established technique by which preimplantation stage embryos can be stored for later use. However, it would be preferable to cryopreserve unfertilized oocytes to overcome the problems related to the ethical and legal status of the embryo. This procedure has been successful in mice, but attempts to extend this approach to other species have been less successful. In human in vitro fertilization (IVF) in particular, very few live births have been reported after the cryopreservation of oocytes. The reason for this lack of success is unclear. The widespread contention that compromised oocyte viability originates principally from damage to the meiotic spindle induced by cryopreservation conditions is unproven. The treatment of large groups of women has shown that pregnancies derived from stored oocytes can be achieved in a reproducible fashion, although success rates are still lower than those derived from frozen embryos. To date, human oocytes have been stored largely by applying methods originally designed for cleaving embryos. Therefore, it is reasonable to envisage that appropriate modification of current freezing techniques will increase survival rates and make oocyte storage an important option in IVF treatment.
Human papillomavirus genotyping, human papillomavirus mRNA expression, and p16/Ki-67 cytology to detect anal cancer precursors in HIV-infected MSM

Objective:Anal cancer incidence is high in HIV-infected MSM. Screening for anal intraepithelial lesions and cancers is performed at specialized clinics and relies on high-resolution anoscopy (HRA) and anal cytology. Both approaches have limited reproducibility and sensitivity for detecting anal cancer precursors. We evaluated biomarkers for human papillomavirus (HPV)-related disease in a population of HIV-infected MSM. Methods:A cross-sectional screening study with passive follow-up included 363 MSM followed at a HIV/AIDS clinic. All men had anal cytology samples taken and were evaluated using HRA and anal biopsies. Using a composite endpoint of biopsy results and cytology, we compared the performance of HPV16/18 genotyping, HPVE6/E7 mRNA expression, and p16/Ki-67 cytology to detect high-grade anal intraepithelial neoplasias (AINs). Results:For all biomarkers analyzed, there was a significant trend of increasing percentage of men testing positive with increasing severity of disease (P < 0.001). HPV DNA testing had the highest sensitivity for anal intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 and anal intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (AIN3), followed by p16/Ki-67, HPVE6/E7 mRNA testing, and HPV16/18 genotyping. The highest Youden's index was observed for HPVE6/E7 mRNA testing, followed by HPV16/18 genotyping, p16/Ki-67 cytology, and HPV DNA testing. Increasing the threshold for positivity of p16/Ki-67 to five or more positive cells led to significantly higher specificity, but unchanged sensitivity for detecting AIN3. Conclusion:Molecular features of anal disease categories are similar to those of corresponding cervical lesions. Biomarkers evaluated for cervical cancer screening may be used for primary anal cancer screening or to decide who should require immediate treatment vs. expectant management.
Neuromuscular function and balance of prepubertal and pubertal blind and sighted boys

Aim: To compare the neuromuscular function and balance of blind prepuberty‐ and puberty‐aged boys to those with normal sight. Methods: Thirty‐three prepubertal (aged 9–13 y) and pubertal (aged 15–18 y) blind and sighted boys were tested for muscle mass thickness, electromyography and maximal isometric strength, dynamic explosive actions, and balance. Results: There was no difference in the muscle mass thickness, maximal strength or vertical jump between the blind and sighted boys. However, fitness‐ball throwing and five‐jump distances were significantly shorter in both blind groups compared to the sighted groups. One‐leg stance of the prepuberty‐aged sighted boys was 109 (67) s and in blind boys 32 (12) s, and in the puberty‐aged boys 120 (57) s and 31 (8) s, respectively. When vision was blocked in the sighted boys, differences between the blind and sighted boys disappeared.
Overexpression of White Collar‐1 (WC‐1) activates circadian clock‐associated genes, but is not sufficient to induce most light‐regulated gene expression in Neurospora crassa

Many processes in fungi are regulated by light, but the molecular mechanisms are not well understood. The White Collar‐1 (WC‐1) protein is required for all known blue‐light responses in Neurospora crassa. In response to light, WC‐1 levels increase, and the protein is transiently phosphorylated. To test the hypothesis that the increase in WC‐1 levels after light treatment is sufficient to activate light‐regulated gene expression, we used microarrays to identify genes that respond to light treatment. We then overexpressed WC‐1 in dark‐grown tissue and used the microarrays to identify genes regulated by an increase in WC‐1 levels. We found that 3% of the genes were responsive to light, whereas 7% of the genes were responsive to WC‐1 overexpression in the dark. However, only four out of 22 light‐induced genes were also induced by WC‐1 overexpression, demonstrating that changes in the levels of WC‐1 are not sufficient to activate all light‐responsive genes. The WC proteins are also required for circadian rhythms in dark‐grown cultures and for light entrainment of the circadian clock, and WC‐1 protein levels show a circadian rhythm in the dark. We found that representative samples of the mRNAs induced by over‐expression of WC‐1 show circadian fluctuations in their levels. These data suggest that WC‐1 can mediate both light and circadian responses, with an increase in WC‐1 levels affecting circadian clock‐responsive gene regulation and other features of WC‐1, possibly its phosphorylation, affecting light‐responsive gene regulation.
Short-term and sustained renal effects of angiotensin II receptor blockade in healthy subjects.

We investigated the short-term and sustained hormonal and renal effects of angiotensin II (Ang II) receptor blockade in normotensive healthy volunteers. Twenty-four subjects maintained on a fixed sodium diet were randomized to receive for 8 days a placebo or 10 or 50 mg doses of the Ang II antagonist irbesartan (SR 47436, BMS 186295) according to a double-blind, parallel group design. Plasma renin activity, plasma immunoreactive Ang II and aldosterone levels, blood pressure, renal hemodynamics, and urinary electrolyte excretion were measured for 8 hours after the first and eighth administration of each dose of irbesartan or placebo. Ang II receptor blockade with irbesartan induced a dose-dependent compensatory increase in plasma renin activity and plasma angiotensin levels and a significant decrease in plasma aldosterone levels. The compensatory rise in plasma renin activity and Ang II levels was more pronounced on day 8, reflecting a long duration of the blocking effect of irbesartan. Irbesartan induced small changes in blood pressure and did not significantly modify renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate. However, a significant decrease in filtration fraction was observed during receptor blockade on days 1 and 8. The tubular effects of irbesartan were characterized by a dose-dependent increase in sodium and chloride excretions. Interestingly, the cumulative natriuretic response to Ang II receptor blockade was similar on days 1 and 8, suggesting that in these subjects, renal Ang II receptors are not blocked over 24 hours during repeated administration even though this antagonist has a long duration of action (t1/2 of 15 to 17 hours). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)