Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prognostic Value of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 Levels at Diagnosis and During Follow-up in Melanoma Patients.

BACKGROUND A low 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) serum concentration at melanoma diagnosis might be associated with worse survival. We prospectively studied the prognostic value of 25(OH)D3 at diagnosis and during follow-up. METHODS MelanCohort is a cohort of invasive melanoma patients. Serum 25(OH)D3 was measured by mass spectrometry and standardized on month of blood drawn, age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). Role of 25(OH)D3 levels and risk of relapse was analyzed in a Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for age, sex, BMI, and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS One thousand one hundred seventy-one patients were included. 25(OH)D3 levels at diagnosis (median = 49.0 nmol/L) were inversely correlated with prognostic factors such as AJCC stage (P < .001 Kruskal-Wallis), Breslow's thickness (P < .001 Spearman correlation), and ulceration (P < .001 Kruskal-Wallis), but not with risk of relapse. Changes in 25(OH)D3 levels during follow-up were associated with worse prognosis: With a third quartile Q3 of average change per year (-0.30 to 4.60 nmol/L/Y) used as reference, hazard ratios for the first, second, and fourth quarters were 1.94 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.36 to 2.76), 1.23 (95% CI = 0.85 to 1.78), and 1.61 (95% CI = 1.14 to 2.28), respectively. In sensitivity analyses, no changes were observed either by AJCC stage, number of 25(OH)D3 measures performed, or by 25(OH)D3 level at baseline. No evidence of reverse causation was identified. Analyses performed on overall survival yielded similar results. CONCLUSIONS We show that 25(OH)D3 variation during follow-up is an independent melanoma prognostic marker, but not its level at diagnosis. Previously reported associations between low 25(OH)D3 level at diagnosis and poor prognosis seem to be due to insufficient adjustment for prognostic factors.
Medicare Advantage Plans Pay Hospitals Less Than Traditional Medicare Pays.

There is ongoing debate about how prices paid to providers by Medicare Advantage plans compare to prices paid by fee-for-service Medicare. We used data from Medicare and the Health Care Cost Institute to identify the prices paid for hospital services by fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans, and commercial insurers in 2009 and 2012. We calculated the average price per admission, and its trend over time, in each of the three types of insurance for fixed baskets of hospital admissions across metropolitan areas. After accounting for differences in hospital networks, geographic areas, and case-mix between Medicare Advantage and FFS Medicare, we found that Medicare Advantage plans paid 5.6 percent less for hospital services than FFS Medicare did. Without taking into account the narrower networks of Medicare Advantage, the program paid 8.0 percent less than FFS Medicare. We also found that the rates paid by commercial plans were much higher than those of either Medicare Advantage or FFS Medicare, and growing. At least some of this difference comes from the much higher prices that commercial plans pay for profitable service lines.
Coexistence of Pemphigus Vulgaris and Pemphigus Foliaceus in the Same Patient at the Same Time

Pemphigus is an autoimmune blistering disease and includes two classical forms. These forms are Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and Pemphigus foliaceus (PF). These two subtypes of the disease are related with different auto-antibodies and show different clinical features. Rare cases of simultaneous presence of PV and PF have been presented in the literature. Here, we report the case of a 62-year-old woman who developed PV and PF lesions at the same time.
Press-fit versus cemented all-polyethylene patellar component: midterm results.

This study compared the midterm results between press-fit and cemented implantation of a highly congruent, all-polyethylene patellar component. We followed prospectively 172 implants (cemented, n = 133; press-fit, n = 39). Average follow up was 6 years (range, 5-8 years). Patellofemoral complications occurred in 4 cemented patellae (2.3%). Two of these patellae required revision. Cemented implants had a significantly higher incidence of patellar maltracking (30% vs 8%; P= .005). No significant differences in the overall Knee Society scores (mean, 165; SD, 27) or any of its components relevant to patellofemoral function were detected between fixation methods. A retrieved specimen showed an intervening fibrous membrane at the implant-bone interface. The potential for macrophage-mediated osteolysis at this site is unknown. No other adverse outcome was associated with press-fit implantation. These results suggest that at midterm follow-up, press-fit implantation of this all-polyethylene patellar component may improve tracking and represents a viable alternative to cement fixation.
Maternal Latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis Does Not Affect the Infant Immune Response Following BCG at Birth: An Observational Longitudinal Study in Uganda

Background: BCG has low efficacy in tropical countries. We hypothesized that maternal latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) infection (LTBI) results in fetal tolerance to mycobacterial antigens and impaired responses to BCG immunization. Methods: We enrolled 132 LTBI-positive and 150 LTBI-negative mothers and their babies in Entebbe, Uganda. Infants were BCG-immunized at birth. Cord blood and samples at weeks 1, 4, 6, 10, 14, 24, and 52 were analyzed for cytokine/chemokine responses to M.tb antigens by Luminex 17-plex assay in 6-day whole blood cultures and antibody responses by ELISA. Of the 17 Luminex analytes, seven (IL-2, IL-5, IL-10, IL-13, IL-17A, TNF, and IFN-γ) were included in the main analysis as they were considered most likely to represent T cell responses. Immune sensitization was defined as a detectable cord blood cytokine response to PPD for any of the seven cytokines. Patterns of cytokine and antibody responses were compared between infants of mothers with and without LTBI using linear mixed models adjusting for confounders. Results: Most infants (73%) were sensitized in utero to M.tb antigens, with no overall difference seen between infants born to mothers with or without LTBI. Patterns of post-BCG cytokine and antibody responses to mycobacterial antigens were similar between the two infant groups. Conclusions: Our data do not support the hypothesis that maternal LTBI results in an impaired response to BCG immunization, in Ugandan infants. BCG vaccination at or shortly after birth is likely to be beneficial to all infants, irrespective of maternal LTBI status.
A case of afferent neuropathy and deafness

WHEN complaint of numbness of the face is matched by signs of sensory loss a difficult diagnostic problem arises: in its attempted solution every technique of neurological investigation may be pressed into service, the range and timing of the tests being determined by the interests and experience of the clinician. Between the extremes of the 'stone numb face' of metastatic cancer (Jefferson, 1955) and the seemingly neurotic harping of the patient with incipient trigeminal neuropathy before signs have hardened (Spillane and Wells, 1959), a vast array of disorders—tumours, strokes, infiltrations, degenerations, inflammations, anomalies, injuries— may announce their presence with trigeminal sensory paresis (Stammers, 1930; Harris, 1935; Olive and Svien, 1957; Goldstein, Gibilisco and Rushton, 1963; Horowitz, 1974; Selby, 1975). Today computerized axial tomography is the investigation of choice; but yesterday when the subject of this report was in hospital straight radiography, electroencephalography, examination of the spinal fluid, arteriography and air encephalography— and sometimes myelography—were the diagnostic tools to which the clinician could turn at cost of increasing discomfort for his patient. Not infrequently the passage of time and follow-up observation proved the best tests of all. Despite the sophistication and diagnostic superiority of the CT scan such cases will continue to appear and to baffle, and justify the publication of an isolated case-report.
The Importance of Relationship in Understanding the Experiences of Spouse Mental Health Carers

The burden of caring for family members with mental illness has been researched extensively; however, knowledge of spouse carers’ experiences is limited. In this article, we explore this from a carers’ perspective, with 28 spouse carers, using qualitative open-ended semistructured interviews and a grounded theory approach informed by the social interactionism tradition to collect and analyze the data. We present six interrelated themes around the central theme of this being “a real and genuine relationship. ” The findings indicate that caring for a spouse with severe mental illness is a unique role compared with other caring roles. First and foremost, spouse carers strive for the relationship with their partner and accommodate mental illness into their lives to protect the relationship. Because of this, they often lead surreal lives marked by significant emotional pressure and isolation. This has implications for how mental health service providers work with and support spouse carers.
Energetics of allosteric regulation in muscle pyruvate kinase.

The regulatory mechanism of rabbit muscle pyruvate kinase has been studied as a function of temperature in conjunction with phenylalanine, the allosteric inhibitor. The inhibitory effect of phenylalanine is modulated by temperature. At low temperatures, the presence of phenylalanine is almost inconsequential, but as the temperature increases so does the phenylalanine-dependent inhibition of the kinetic activity. In addition, the presence of phenylalanine induces cooperativity in the relation between velocity and substrate concentration. This effect is especially pronounced at elevated temperature. The kinetic data were analyzed using an equation that describes the steady-state kinetic velocity data as a function of five equilibrium constants and two rate constants. Van't Hoff analysis of the temperature dependence of the equilibrium constants determined by nonlinear curve fitting revealed that the interaction of pyruvate kinase with its substrate, phosphoenolpyruvate, is an enthalpy-driven process. This is consistent with an interaction that involves electrostatic forces, and indeed, phosphoenolpyruvate is a negatively charged substrate. In contrast, the interaction of pyruvate kinase with phenylalanine is strongly entropy driven. These results imply that the binding of phenylalanine involves hydrophobic interaction and are consistent with the basic concepts of strengthening of the hydrophobic effect with an increase in temperature. The effect of phenylalanine at high temperatures is the net consequence of weakening of substrate-enzyme interaction and significant strengthening of inhibitor binding to the inactive state of pyruvate kinase. The effects of salts were also studies. The results show that salts also exert a differential effect on the binding of substrate and inhibitor to the enzyme. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Role of the Fur Regulon in Iron Transport in Bacillus subtilis

ABSTRACT The Bacillus subtilis ferric uptake regulator (Fur) protein mediates the iron-dependent repression of at least 20 operons encoding ∼40 genes. We investigated the physiological roles of Fur-regulated genes by the construction of null mutations in 14 transcription units known or predicted to function in siderophore biosynthesis or iron uptake. We demonstrate that ywbLMN, encoding an elemental iron uptake system orthologous to the copper oxidase-dependent Fe(III) uptake system of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is essential for growth in low iron minimal medium lacking citric acid. 2,3-Dihydroxybenzoyl-glycine (Itoic acid), the siderophore precursor produced by laboratory strains of B. subtilis, is of secondary importance. In the presence of citrate, the YfmCDEF ABC transporter is required for optimal growth. B. subtilis is unable to grow in minimal medium containing the iron chelator EDDHA unless the ability to synthesize the intact bacillibactin siderophore is restored (by the introduction of a functional sfp gene) or exogenous siderophores are provided. Utilization of the catecholate siderophores bacillibactin and enterobactin requires the FeuABC importer and the YusV ATPase. Utilization of hydroxamate siderophores requires the FhuBGC ABC transporter together with the FhuD (ferrichrome) or YxeB (ferrioxamine) substrate-binding proteins. Growth with schizokinen or arthrobactin is at least partially dependent on the YfhA YfiYZ importer and the YusV ATPase. We have also investigated the effects of a fur mutation on the proteome and documented the derepression of 11 Fur-regulated proteins, including a newly identified thioredoxin reductase homolog, YcgT.
Perceptions of pandemic influenza vaccines

Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) (pH1N1) was first identified in North America in early 2009. The pandemic flu outbreak during the 2009–2010 influenza season demonstrated how rapidly a new strain of flu can emerge and spread. Vaccination is the most effective method to prevent influenza, and vaccination during a pandemic is critical in limiting morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, reports of vaccination rates for pH1N1 vaccines during the 2009–2010 influenza season indicated low rates for various demographic groups, including pregnant women, health care workers, child care workers, college students, and the general public. Furthermore, when asked about perceptions of pH1N1 vaccines, respondents in a variety of studies from the pH1N1 pandemic indicated common and universal misconceptions about influenza vaccines, especially in regard to perceptions of need, efficacy and safety. Therefore, if vaccination rates are to increase, an important outcome especially during pandemics, the psychological characteristics underpinning perceptions of influenza vaccines need to be understood better.
An annotated overview of system-reliability optimization

This paper provides: an overview of the methods that have been developed since 1977 for solving various reliability optimization problems; applications of these methods to various types of design problems; and heuristics, metaheuristic algorithms, exact methods, reliability-redundancy allocation, multi-objective optimization and assignment of interchangeable components in reliability systems. Like other applications, exact solutions for reliability optimization problems are not necessarily desirable because exact solutions are difficult to obtain, and even when they are available, their utility is marginal. A majority of the work in this area is devoted to developing heuristic and metaheuristic algorithms for solving optimal redundancy-allocation problems.
Measuring P50 suppression and prepulse inhibition in a single recording session.

OBJECTIVE Two distinct measures have been used to assess inhibitory gating deficits in schizophrenia patients: P50 suppression and prepulse inhibition of the startle response. It remains unclear whether both measures can be assessed in a single testing session. METHOD Twelve normal subjects underwent testing in a carefully designed combined P50/prepulse inhibition session using stimulus characteristics similar to those described in the existing literature. RESULTS The levels of both P50 suppression and prepulse inhibition obtained in the combined session were highly similar to those obtained in independent testing of previous cohorts of normal subjects. As in previous experiments, P50 suppression and prepulse inhibition were not significantly correlated. CONCLUSIONS Measuring P50 suppression and prepulse inhibition in a single session is feasible and offers a unique opportunity to assess these two distinct gating measures contemporaneously in cohorts of normal comparison subjects and schizophrenia patients, so that temporal shifts in one or both measures are minimized.
Compartmentation of cAMP signalling in cardiomyocytes in health and disease

3′,5′‐cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is a ubiquitous second messenger critically involved in the regulation of heart function. It has been shown to act in discrete subcellular signalling compartments formed by differentially localized receptors, phosphodiesterases and protein kinases. Cardiac diseases such as hypertrophy or heart failure are associated with structural and functional remodelling of these microdomains which leads to changes in cAMP compartmentation. In this review, we will discuss recent key findings which provided new insights into cAMP compartmentation in cardiomyocytes with a particular focus on its alterations in heart disease.
Sodium valproate inhibits the movement of secretory vesicles in rat hepatocytes.

Sodium valproate (VPA), a simple 8-carbon branched chain fatty acid, is an effective anti-epileptic drug with an occasional serious side effect of liver damage, including the accumulation of triacylglycerols within hepatocytes, and reductions in serum protein concentrations. By investigating the effects of VPA, using biliary fistula rats and isolated perfused rat livers, we have shown that secretion of triacylglycerols and rat serum albumin at the sinusoidal pole of hepatocytes, and of phospholipids, lysosomal contents, and IgA at their biliary pole, are all reduced, to somewhat different extents, by acute VPA administration. In addition, the vesicular transcytosis of exogenous protein (i.e. bovine serum albumin) from the perfusion fluid into bile is also decreased by VPA administration. To determine whether the phenomena were specific to VPA, a control series of experiments was also performed using octanoate (a straight-chain analogue of VPA). With the biliary fistula rats, octanoate did not show inhibition of secretion as compared with the saline controls; with the isolated perfused livers, however, octanoate did show such an inhibition. These phenomena suggest that VPA inhibition of secretion may be a factor in its hepatotoxicity, as the effects are apparent in both the whole animal and the isolated perfused liver, whereas octanoate is not hepatotoxic in the whole animal. Since when octanoate is administered to the isolated liver it causes an inhibition in secretion similar to that caused by VPA, it may be that the large dose of this compound reaching the liver affects a key step in liver metabolism or vesicle transport under these circumstances. Since octanoate does not normally reach the liver in such amounts, as it will normally be metabolized by other tissues, it is not hepatotoxic in the whole animal as is VPA.
Long-Term Survival After Repetitive Surgery for Malignant Hemangiopericytoma of the Lung with Subsequent Systemic Metastases: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Malignant hemangiopericytoma represent less than 1% of all vascular and about 5% of all sarcomatous tumors. We are reporting the uncommon clinical case of primary pulmonary localization, of which approximately 100 cases have been published in the literature. A 54-year-old male underwent left upper lobectomy seven years ago for a tumor which proved to be a malignant hemangiopericytoma. Six months later a metastasis in the abdominal wall in the epigastrium appeared and was completely excised without further treatment. During a follow-up of 16 months another metastasis developed in the mesenterium causing ileus and leading to laparotomy with resection of 120 cm small bowel. After this procedure followed by two cycles of chemotherapy the patient remained free of disease. Details of the clinical course and a review of the literature are presented.
Characterization of Geographic Regions Based on Georeferenced Data from the Social Web

The characterization of specific places or more general geographic regions is essential to a variety of decision-making processes, particularly in the context of problems related with urbanism or demographic studies. In the context of my MSc thesis, I propose new ways of characterizing geographic regions, through the usage of georeferenced information extracted from location-based social networks and from popular Web 2.0 services, such as Twitter, FourSquare or Flickr. The specific methods that I propose in my dissertation characterize geographic regions with basis on information extracted from publicly available georeferenced photos, shared by the users of Flickr, together with auxiliary information available from raster datasets containing geographic information (e.g., elevation or population density) about the desired locations. Data classification techniques are used to estimate the boundaries of vague regions, or to infer geographic characteristics like the land coverage. The classification methods are based on Support Vector Machines, leveraging on multiple Gaussian kernels to increase the estimation accuracy. An extensive set of experiments attests to the effectiveness of the proposed methods.
Manoeuvring target tracking in clutter using particle filters

A particle filter (PF) is a recursive numerical technique which uses random sampling to approximate the optimal solution to target tracking problems involving nonlinearities and/or non-Gaussianity. A set of particle filtering methods for tracking and manoeuvering target in clutter from angle-only measurements is presented and evaluated. The aim is to compare PFs to a well-established tracking algorithm, the IMM-PDA-EKF (interacting multiple model, probabilistic data association, extended Kalman filter), and to provide an insight into which aspects of PF design are of most importance under given conditions. Monte Carlo simulations show that the use of a resampling scheme which produces particles with distinct values offers significant improvements under almost all conditions. Interestingly, under all conditions considered here,using this resampling scheme with blind particle proposals is shown to be superior, in the sense of providing improved performance for a fixed computational expense, to measurement-directed particle proposals with the same resampling scheme. This occurs even under conditions favourable to the use of measurement-directed proposals. The IMM-PDA-EKF performs poorly compared with the PFs for large clutter densities but is more effective when the measurements are precise.
Autoregulation may control the expression of yeast pyruvate decarboxylase structural genes PDC1 and PDC5.

Recently we deleted the pyruvate decarboxylase structural gene PDC1 from the genome of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The pdc1 deletion mutants had pyruvate decarboxylase activity due to the presence of a second structural gene [Schaaff, I. , Green, J. B. A. , Gozalbo, D. & Hohmann, S. (1989) Curr. Genet. 15, 75-81]. We cloned and sequenced this gene which we call PDC5. The predicted amino acid sequences of PDC1 and PDC5 are 88% identical. Deletion of PDC5 did not cause any decrease in the specific pyruvate decarboxylase activity while pdc1 deletion mutants had 80% of the wild-type activity. Deletion mutants lacking both PDC1 and PDC5 did not show any detectable pyruvate decarboxylase activity in vitro and were unable to ferment glucose. This indicates that PDC1 and PDC5 are the only structural genes for pyruvate decarboxylase in yeast. The PDC5 isoenzyme showed a slightly higher Km value for its substrate pyruvate than the PDC1 product (PDC5: Km = 8 mM; PDC1: Km = 5 mM), as measured in crude extract of pdc1 and pdc5 deletion mutants, respectively. PDC5 is only expressed in pdc1 deletion mutants. No mRNA transcribed from PDC5 could be detected in wild-type cells. Thus, in addition to the control by glucose induction, pyruvate decarboxylase activity seems to be subject to autoregulation. Similar phenomena have been described previously for tubulin, histones and a ribosomal protein but not for metabolic enzymes.