Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary interventions: an update on recent developments

Purpose of review Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided biliary drainage procedures can be utilized in patients with biliary obstruction and incomplete drainage with prior interventions, in those whose ampulla is inaccessible (i.e. from surgically altered anatomy and malignant luminal obstruction), or in those who failed bile duct cannulation during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Improved techniques and accessories have streamlined these procedures; however, further investigation is required. The purpose of this review is to provide the highlights of the most recent literature on EUS-guided biliary drainage. Recent findings Recent literature has demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of EUS-guided gallbladder drainage, both as a primary intervention in patients with cholecystitis who are unfit for urgent surgical intervention and as a secondary intervention to internalize biliary drainage after initial placement of a cholecystostomy catheter. EUS-guided bile duct drainage can be performed using various techniques. The optimal technique requires further study and may vary by clinical scenario. Summary The role of EUS-guided biliary drainage continues to evolve. The most recent literature has attempted to clarify the optimal strategies and indications for employing the various EUS-guided biliary drainage techniques.
Neurones in a discrete region of the nucleus tractus solitarius are required for the Breuer‐Hering reflex in rat.

1. The Breuer‐Hering reflex consists of a shortening of inspiration and lengthening of expiration in response to afferent input from slowly adapting pulmonary stretch receptors (SAR). We hypothesized that neurones in a discrete region of the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) are required for producing the reflex. Accordingly, the present studies were undertaken to: (1) identify sites in the NTS in which chemical excitation of neurones inhibited phrenic nerve discharge in a manner consistent with SAR activation, (2) determine whether localized interruption of synaptic transmission prevented the Breuer‐Hering reflex, and (3) determine whether these regions contained pump cells and SAR terminal afferents. Studies were carried out in urethane‐anaesthetized rats. 2. Injection of picomoles of an excitatory amino acid, DL‐homocysteic acid (DLH), in the NTS, at the rostrocaudal level of the area postrema and immediately medial to the tractus solitarius, silenced phrenic nerve activity similarly to that expected from SAR activation. These apnoeas lasted from 3 to 43 s and were produced with little or no change in arterial pressure or heart rate. 3. The Breuer‐Hering reflex, physiologically activated by maintaining lung inflation, was transiently impaired by interruption of synaptic transmission following injections of cobalt chloride in the DLH‐responsive region. 4. Pump cell (SAR interneurone) and SAR afferent activity were recorded at the site in which DLH produced apnoea. 5. Taken together, the results of chemical excitation, interruption of synaptic transmission and extracellular recording, suggest that cells within a discrete region of the NTS, probably pump cells, are necessary for the production of the Breuer‐Hering reflex.
Statewide strategy to improve quality of care in nursing facilities.

PURPOSE We describe the development of a statewide strategy to improve resident outcomes in nursing facilities, and we present some evaluative data from this strategy. DESIGN AND METHODS Key components of the strategy include (a) a partnership between the state agency responsible for the nursing home survey and certification and the school of nursing in an academic health sciences center; and (b) on-site clinical expert technical assistance and support to facilities throughout the state. RESULTS The partnership has resulted in state agency staff having information from analyses about resident needs and outcomes in the state and facilities having access to the quarterly electronic "Show-Me Quality Indicator Report. " On-site clinical expert technical assistance is now used widely across the state, with 569 site visits conducted in 286 different facilities to help them interpret their quality indicator (QI) reports and implement quality improvement programs; statewide improvements in QI scores have been measured in several key QIs. IMPLICATIONS Other states should consider building partnerships with schools of nursing in an academic health sciences center. Programs using on-site clinical consultation can facilitate improving quality of care in nursing facilities.
Comprehensive phenotypic analysis of single‐gene deletion and overexpression strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

We quantified the growth behaviour of all available single‐gene deletion and overexpression strains of budding yeast. Genome‐wide analyses enabled the extraction of the genes and identification of the functional categories for which genetic perturbation caused the change of growth behaviour. Statistical analyses revealed defective growth for 646 deletion and 1302 overexpression strains. We classified these deleted and overexpressed genes into known functional categories, and identified several functional categories having fragility and robustness for cellular growth. We also screened the deletion and overexpression strains that exhibited a significantly higher growth rate than the strain without genetic perturbation, and found that three deletion and two overexpression strains were high‐growth strains. The genes and functional categories identified in the analysis might provide useful information on designing industrially useful yeast strains. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Renal blood flow in malignant disease of the liver

Although functional renal failure has been reported in patients with malignant disease of the liver, renal haemodynamics and function have not been investigated. Renal and intrarenal blood flow was measured using the 133Xenon washout technique and creatinine clearances by the standard method in 14 patients with a variety of primary and secondary tumours of the liver in the absence of cirrhosis and without evidence of renal disease. In 11 patients renal and outer cortical blood flow was reduced and this was sometimes accompanied by a reduction in glomerular filtration rate. The pattern of renal circulatory changes was similar to that seen in renal dysfunction associated with hepatic cirrhosis. Possible causes of these disturbances and their significance in relation to the aetiology of functional renal failure in liver disease are discussed.
Multiple stromal populations contribute to pulmonary fibrosis without evidence for epithelial to mesenchymal transition

There are currently few treatment options for pulmonary fibrosis. Innovations may come from a better understanding of the cellular origin of the characteristic fibrotic lesions. We have analyzed normal and fibrotic mouse and human lungs by confocal microscopy to define stromal cell populations with respect to several commonly used markers. In both species, we observed unexpected heterogeneity of stromal cells. These include numerous cells with molecular and morphological characteristics of pericytes, implicated as a source of myofibroblasts in other fibrotic tissues. We used mouse genetic tools to follow the fates of specific cell types in the bleomcyin-induced model of pulmonary fibrosis. Using inducible transgenic alleles to lineage trace pericyte-like cells in the alveolar interstitium, we show that this population proliferates in fibrotic regions. However, neither these cells nor their descendants express high levels of the myofibroblast marker alpha smooth muscle actin (Acta2, aSMA). We then used a Surfactant protein C-CreERT2 knock-in allele to follow the fate of Type II alveolar cells (AEC2) in vivo. We find no evidence at the cellular or molecular level for epithelial to mesenchymal transition of labeled cells into myofibroblasts. Rather, bleomycin accelerates the previously reported conversion of AEC2 into AEC1 cells. Similarly, epithelial cells labeled with our Scgb1a1-CreER allele do not give rise to fibroblasts but generate both AEC2 and AEC1 cells in response to bleomycin-induced lung injury. Taken together, our results show a previously unappreciated heterogeneity of cell types proliferating in fibrotic lesions and exclude pericytes and two epithelial cell populations as the origin of myofibroblasts.
Spatial Resolution of Bistatic Synthetic Aperture Radar: Impact of Acquisition Geometry on Imaging Performance

This paper analyzes the spatial resolution of bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in general hybrid configurations, such as air- and spaceborne systems moving along independent trajectories. The gradient method is utilized to point out the effects of the acquisition geometry, namely, position and velocity of both the transmitter and the receiver, on image resolution. This general approach is applied to different realizations of bistatic SAR, such as low-Earth-orbit monostatic-bistatic SAR, spaceborne-airborne bistatic SAR, and a bistatic system consisting of a high-altitude long-endurance illuminator and lower altitude airborne receivers. The main features of the method are then put in evidence, including the derivation of analytical tools to individuate adequate relative geometries for achieving satisfactory resolutions. A comparison to the other proposed techniques for computing the spatial resolution of bistatic SAR is also reported in order to highlight some peculiarities of all presented methodologies. Finally, the good agreement between the image resolution results achieved by recently carried out bistatic SAR experiments and the ones derived by the gradient method strengthens the potentialities of the proposed approach.
Grading of cellular rejection after orthotopic liver transplantation

All 684 post‐orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) liver biopsies performed at the Royal Free Hospital (RFH) between 1988 and 1993, from 120 patients, were reviewed in order to try to define the relative importance of the histological features of immunosuppressionresponsive cellular rejection. Twenty histological features considered to be possible contributors to the diagnosis of cellular rejection were documented in a binary (present/absent) fashion. These features in 106 biopsy specimens obtained 1 to 8 days after OLT were analyzed using stepwise logistic discriminant analysis. All clinical and treatment records were reviewed, and each biopsy specimen was assigned to a diagnostic category depending on these records and follow‐up information. Important determinants of the histological diagnosis of cellular rejection (which occurred in 84 of the 106 cases) were moderate/severe mixed portal inflammation, eosinophils, endotheliitis, and bile duct damage. When these all occurred together, the odds of rejection increased 3.6‐fold. The original histological diagnosis was recorded, and each biopsy specimen showing cellular rejection was regraded according to the specific criteria of Snover et al., Demetris et al., and a novel RFH scoring system. The latter consists of evaluating portal inflammation, endotheliitis, eosinophils, and bile duct damage, each on a 0 to 3 scale (none, mild, moderate, or severe, respectively) and summation. The resulting cellular rejection score thus can range from 0 to 12. The agreement between the different scoring systems was analyzed using K statistics, and there was good concordance (K, 0.64 to 0.78), despite different histological criteria being used to derive each score. Each system showed a similar degree of sensitivity (87% to 96%). The specificity ranged from 59% to 77%. We conclude that the histological diagnosis of cellular rejection relies mainly on the previously described features of mixed portal inflammation, endotheliitis, eosinophils, and duct damage. There is scope for unification and simplification of the existing grading systems, which depend on differing criteria, and we suggest one such scheme. (Hepatology 1995;21:46–57).
Systématique grammaticale du kisikongo (Angola)

Cette theseporte sur l'etude du systeme grammatical du kisikongo, dialecte du kikongo (langue bantoue, h10), parle au nord-ouest de l'angola. S'inspirant de la methode d'e. Bonvini, l'analyse porte principalement sur la morphosyntaxe de la predication, le nominal, le verbal et l'enonce et ses variations. Le premier chapitre presente l'inventaire des schemes d'enonces verbaux (assertifs, intimatifs et interrogatifs) et nominaux et identifie le scheme predicatif sous-jacent a tous les enonces de la langue, ainsi que les fonctions syntaxiques et les constituants qui les assument. Le deuxieme chapitre etudie d'abord le nominant en tant que morpheme majeur commun a tous les nominaux et organise en un systeme base sur une double realite : celle de "classe" et de "genre". Il se poursuit par l'analyse detaillee du nom (simple et compose), du pronom, du numeral et du syntagme nominal. Le troisieme chapitre presente d'abord une systematique foemelle des elements de la forme verbale selon la methode des bantouistes. Il etudie ensuite le verbal a deux niveaux : au niveau du constituant verbal, l'etude porte sur le derivatif verbal en tant qu'elargissement formel et semantique de la base verbale et support de la diathese verbale, ainsi que le verbant, en tant que morpheme aspecto-temporel. Au niveau de la specification verbale sont analyses les actualisateurs, les indices de fonction ainsi que les specificatifs verbaux. Enfin, le quatrieme chapitre traite des variations enonciatives internes (focalisation et thematisation) et des variations enonciatives externes liees a la sequence des propositioins (coordination et subordination).
Polymorphisms of the glucocorticoid receptor gene in Graves ophthalmopathy

Background/aims: Glucocorticoids have an important role in the regulation of the immune system, and alterations in glucocorticoid signaling may have an impact on the pathophysiology of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. Because polymorphisms of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene, including the N363S, ER22/23EK, A3669G and BclI variants were found to influence glucocorticoid signalling, we examined whether these polymorphisms could be associated with the development or clinical manifestations of Graves ophthalmopathy (GO). Methods: The carrier and allelic frequencies of the N363S, ER22/23EK, A3669G, and BclI polymorphisms of the GR were determined in 95 Hungarian outpatients with GO and 160 healthy controls. Results: No significant changes were found in carrier frequencies of the four polymorphisms between GO patients and healthy controls. However, when GO patients were divided into two subgroups (American Thyroid Association Committee, ATA I–II vs ATA III or greater), the frequency of the polymorphic BclI allele was significantly higher in patients with ATA I–II compared with those with ATA III or more (p = 0.009). Conclusion: The significant association between the frequency of the polymorphic BclI allele and ATA stage distribution suggests that this polymorphism of the GR gene may affect clinical manifestations of GO, presumably due to an increased signaling of endogenous glucocorticoids.
Involvement of the Pallidal‐thalamocortical Circuit in Adaptive Behavior

ABSTRACT: Interconnections among the ventral mesencephalon, nucleus accumbens, and ventral pallidum are critical in the initiation of adaptive behavioral responses to environmental stimuli. Within this circuit are two highly topographically organized subcircuits that are differentially interconnected with limbic and motor circuitry in the brain. However, there is not a great deal of anatomical interconnection between the limbic and motor subcircuits. A polysynaptic connection between the two subcircuits involves projections from the limbic ventral pallidum to the mediodorsal thalamus to the prefrontal cortex back to the motor regions of the nucleus accumbens. In the present report we show that this connection is critical in the expression of motor behavior elicited by opioids and the capacity of a rat to perform in a task requiring spatial working memory.
Entorhinal Cortex: Antemortem Cortical Thickness and Postmortem Neurofibrillary Tangles and Amyloid Pathology

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The entorhinal cortex, a critical gateway between the neocortex and hippocampus, is one of the earliest regions affected by Alzheimer disease–associated neurofibrillary tangle pathology. Although our prior work has automatically delineated an MR imaging–based measure of the entorhinal cortex, whether antemortem entorhinal cortex thickness is associated with postmortem tangle burden within the entorhinal cortex is still unknown. Our objective was to evaluate the relationship between antemortem MRI measures of entorhinal cortex thickness and postmortem neuropathological measures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated 50 participants from the Rush Memory and Aging Project with antemortem structural T1-weighted MR imaging and postmortem neuropathologic assessments. Here, we focused on thickness within the entorhinal cortex as anatomically defined by our previously developed MR imaging parcellation system (Desikan-Killiany Atlas in FreeSurfer). Using linear regression, we evaluated the association between entorhinal cortex thickness and tangles and amyloid-β load within the entorhinal cortex and medial temporal and neocortical regions. RESULTS: We found a significant relationship between antemortem entorhinal cortex thickness and entorhinal cortex (P = .006) and medial temporal lobe tangles (P = .002); we found no relationship between entorhinal cortex thickness and entorhinal cortex (P = .09) and medial temporal lobe amyloid-β (P = .09). We also found a significant association between entorhinal cortex thickness and cortical tangles (P = .003) and amyloid-β (P = .01). We found no relationship between parahippocampal gyrus thickness and entorhinal cortex (P = .31) and medial temporal lobe tangles (P = .051). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that entorhinal cortex–associated in vivo cortical thinning may represent a marker of postmortem medial temporal and neocortical Alzheimer disease pathology.
Estimating the contributions of NMDA and non-NMDA currents to EPSPs in retinal ganglion cells

Abstract Whole-cell recordings were obtained from retinal ganglion cells of the tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) in a superfused slice preparation to evaluate contributions of NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) and KA/AMPA (kainate/α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxalone propionic acid) receptors to excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) of retinal ganglion cells. Synaptic activation of retinal ganglion cells was achieved through the use of a brief pressure pulse of hyperosmotic Ringer (Ringer + sucrose) delivered through a microelectrode visually placed in the inner plexiform layer while whole-cell recordings were obtained from adjacent cells in the ganglion cell layer. Separation of NMDA and KA/AMPA excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) was achieved through the application of the antagonists NBQX and D-AP7, while inhibitory currents were blocked by strychnine and picrotoxin. Simple addition of the two independent EPSCs showed, most often, that the sum of the KA/AMPA and NMDA currents was less than the control response, but in some cases the sum of the two currents exceeded the magnitude of the control response. Neither result was consistent with expectations based on voltage-clamp principles and the assumption that the two currents were independent; for this reason, we considered the possibility of nonlinear interactions between KA/AMPA and NMDA receptors. Computer simulations were carried out to evaluate the summation experiments. We used both an equivalent cylinder model and a more realistic, compartmental model of a ganglion cell constrained by a passive leakage conductance, a linear KA/AMPA synaptic current, and a nonlinear NMDA current based on the well-known, voltage-sensitive Mg2+ block. Computer simulation studies suggest that the hypo- and hyper-summation of NMDA and KA/AMPA currents, observed physiologically, can be accounted for by a failure to adequately space clamp the neuron. Clamp failure leads to enhanced NMDA currents as the ion channels are relieved of the Mg2+ block; their contribution is thus exaggerated depending on the magnitude of the conductance change and the spatial location of the synaptic input.
Comparison between the free‐radical‐scavenging activities with vitamin E and ubiquinol in biological systems based on their reaction rates: A research account

Detailed kinetic studies have been performed for the reaction of aroxyl (ArO•) radical with vitamin E (α‐, β‐, γ‐, δ‐tocopherol, TocH), ubiquinol‐10, and related antioxidants in micellar solution, using a stopped‐flow spectrophotometer. The second‐order reaction rates (κs) obtained increased in the order of hydroquinone
Roadmap Roadmap on silicon photonics

Silicon photonics research can be dated back to the 1980s. However, the previous decade has witnessed an explosive growth in the field. Silicon photonics is a disruptive technology that is poised to revolutionize a number of application areas, for example, data centers, high-performance computing and sensing. The key driving force behind silicon photonics is the ability to use CMOSlike fabrication resulting in high-volume production at low cost. This is a key enabling factor for bringing photonics to a range of technology areas where the costs of implementation using traditional photonic elements such as those used for the telecommunications industry would be prohibitive. Silicon does however have a number of shortcomings as a photonic material. In its basic form it is not an ideal material in which to produce light sources, optical modulators or photodetectors for example. A wealth of research effort from both academia and industry in recent years has fueled the demonstration of multiple solutions to these and other problems, and as time progresses new approaches are increasingly being conceived. It is clear that silicon photonics has a bright future. However, with a growing number of approaches available, what will the silicon photonic integrated circuit of the future look like? This roadmap on silicon photonics delves into the different technology and application areas of the field giving an insight into the state-of-the-art as well as current and future challenges faced by researchers worldwide. Contributions authored by experts from both industry and academia provide an overview and outlook for the silicon waveguide platform, optical sources, optical modulators, photodetectors, integration approaches, packaging, applications of silicon photonics and approaches required to satisfy applications at midinfrared wavelengths. Advances in science and technology required to meet challenges faced by Journal of Optics J. Opt. 18 (2016) 073003 (20pp) doi:10.1088/2040-8978/18/7/073003 10 Guest editor of the roadmap. 11 No supporting research data in this publication 2040-8978/16/073003+20$33.00 © 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK 1 the field in each of these areas are also addressed together with predictions of where the field is destined to reach.