Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hepatitis C virus infection in alcoholic hepatitis: prevalence patterns and impact on in-hospital mortality

Background Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and alcohol abuse are common causes of cirrhosis in the USA. There are limited data on HCV prevalence and mortality trends in patients with alcoholic hepatitis (AH). Aim The present study was carried out to assess HCV prevalence and mortality in AH patients. Methods Patients with a primary or a secondary discharge diagnosis of AH obtained from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample dataset (1998–2007) were stratified based on the presence of HCV. Factors associated with HCV positivity and in-hospital mortality were examined using multivariable logistic regression. Results Of 76 957 719 admissions, 111 726 had AH (7240 were HCV positive). The prevalence of HCV in AH patients was 3.6% in 1998 and 7.7% in 2007. In-hospital mortality was 3.2% (6.3% in 1998 and 2.7% in 2007), with an ∼7% annual decrease between 1998 and 2007. HCV was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality after controlling for calendar year [odds ratio 1.29; 95% CI (1.12–1.49); P=0.0005]. Conclusion Patients with AH have a higher prevalence of HCV compared with the general population. Although in-hospital mortality in AH patients has improved, HCV infection predicts a higher mortality. Further studies are required to determine the mechanisms of interaction of HCV and AH and develop treatment strategies to improve outcome of HCV-infected AH patients.
Pathology of Enzootic Intranasal Tumor in Thirty-eight Goats

Intranasal tumors were studied in 38 goats ranging from 7 months to 8 years of age of both Murciana-Granadina and crossed breeds. Tumors were diagnosed in eight herds. Clinically, the affected goats showed a copious seromucous nasal discharge, ocular protusion, and skull deformations. The tumors originated from the ethmoid region. They involved one or both nasal cavities, although most were bilateral (26/38). The tumors were generally accompanied by inflammatory polyps. The histologic patterns were very similar in all cases, and the tumors were classified as low grade adenocarcinomas of the nasal glands. Histochemical, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural studies suggested that the serous glands of nasal mucosa were the probable origin of the neoplastic cells. Budding and extracellular retrovirus-like particles were observed ultra-structurally in 6/8 tumors. The similarities between these caprine tumors and nasal tumors in sheep and the etiologic role of the retrovirus are discussed.
Geovectoring: Reducing Traffic Complexity to Increase the Capacity of UAV airspace

Both U-space in Europe, as well as UTM in the USA, develop concepts and tools for UAV airspace. Enabling highdensity operations is one of the goals of these studies. Past and recent studies have analysed which factors affect the capacity of a UAV airspace. An improved understanding of this can lead to control methods for capacity management. Two general principles for capacity management can be distinguished: controlling the traffic density, and controlling the traffic complexity. The first approach can be achieved using geofencing or geocaging, which is foreseen for UAV airspace. The second approach is hardly addressed in the planned concepts. In this paper a new, general concept, called geovectoring, is proposed which could increase the capacity by reducing the traffic complexity for U-Space and UTM. This paper therefore proposes to add geovectoring as a third service to the already planned concepts of geofencing and geocaging.
Influence of Adalimumab Treatment on Anastomotic Strength, Degree of Inflammation, and Collagen Formation: An Experimental Study on the Small Intestine of Rabbits

Background:Adalimumab is a TNF-&agr; inhibitor, which has gained wide use in the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. The potential detrimental effect of TNF-&agr; inhibitors on postoperative complications such as anastomotic leakage is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a single therapeutic dose of adalimumab on anastomotic strength inflammation and collagen formation. Methods:Twenty-eight female rabbits (1.8-2.2 kg) were allocated to subcutaneous injection with either adalimumab (1.5 mg/kg) (n=14) or placebo (n=14). One week after medication two separate end-to-end anastomoses were performed in the jejunum. The rabbits were killed on the third postoperative day. The anastomosis were subjected to tensile strength analysis and histopathological examination. Results:No statistically significant differences were found between the two groups regarding maximum tensile strength, inflammation parameters and collagen formation in the anastomosis area. Multiple regression analysis showed no association between maximum tensile strength histological changes, time under anaesthesia, duration of surgery, weight gain, weight loss and number of sutures in either group. Conclusion:We found no statistically significant effect of a single therapeutic dose of adalimumab on anastomotic strength, histological parameters or collagen formation in rabbits.
The Fall Armyworm , Spodoptera frugiperda (

The genus Spodoptera, a group of armyworrns, includes serious worldwide pests of maize (Ortega 1974) and other crops (Lamb 1974). The genus was erected in 1852 by Guenee (cited in Luginbill 192 8) and, after the revisión of Zimmerman (1958), includes species formerly in the genus Laphygma. Tmportant species include S. exempta (Walker), the African armyworm, S. exigua (Hubner), the beet armyworm, and S. frugiperda (J.E. Smith), the fall armyworm. The distribution of S. exempta is South-east Asia, Australia and África. S. exigua is found in África, Asia, Australia and North America. S. frugiperda is found only in the Americas. Keys to the mature larvae of the North American species were published by Levy and Habeck (1976).
Family history of colorectal cancer and its impact on survival in patients with resected stage III colon cancer: results from NCCTG Trial N0147 (Alliance).

BACKGROUND Family history of colon cancer often portends increased risk of disease development; however, the prognostic significance of family history related to disease and survival outcomes is unclear. METHODS To investigate the relationship between family history of colorectal cancer and survival outcomes in stage III colon cancer patients, a prospective cohort of 1,935 patients with resected stage III colon cancer enrolled in a randomized controlled trial (N0147), comparing the standard of care FOLFOX to FOLFOX with cetuximab, was studied. Patients completed a baseline questionnaire on family history and were followed every 6 months until death or 5 years after randomization. RESULTS We examined the endpoints of disease-free survival (DFS), time to recurrence (TTR) and overall survival (OS), comparing patients with a positive versus negative family history of colorectal cancer. The adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for patients with a positive family history were 0.95 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.78-1.16] for DFS, 0.94 (95% CI, 0.76-1.16) for TTR, and 0.92 (95% CI, 0.74-1.15) for OS (all adjusted P>0.47). A non-significant trend toward improved DFS (P=0.17; adjusted P=0.34) was observed when 2 or more relatives were affected as compared to 0 relatives (multivariate HR: 0.72; 95% CI, 0.45-1.15), whereas subjects with histories of 0 or 1 affected relatives had similar DFS (multivariate HR for 1 vs. 0: 1.00; 95% CI, 0.81-1.24). Interactions of the molecular factors KRAS, BRAF, and MMR with family history were also explored. The only significant interaction was for deficient MMR (dMMR) and first-degree relatives with a family history of colorectal cancer (0 vs. 1 vs. 2+ relatives) for a benefit on OS (univariate P=0.001), which remained significant after adjusting for other factors (P=0.029). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with stage III resected colon cancer treated with adjuvant FOLFOX, a family history of colorectal cancer did not significantly impact DFS, TTR, or OS outcomes, with the exception of patients with dMMR-expressing tumors.
Estimates of length of neonatal stay for very premature babies in the UK

Objective To describe simple estimates of likely duration of stay for very premature babies born in the UK and discharged home. Design Statistical modelling of data from thirty neonatal units in a geographically defined region of the UK. Participants All babies born at 23 to 32 completed weeks of gestation in 2005, 2006 and 2007 who were discharged home with the expectation that they would survive. Main outcome measure Total duration of stay in the neonatal service. Results 5528 babies were initially identified. 558 (10.1%) who died or who did not follow a normal care pathway were excluded. In a further 27, data were either missing or inadequate, leaving a study population of 4702 babies. As expected, gestation and birthweight exhibited strong influence on length of stay. Of the other variables tested, initial reason for admission (need for early respiratory support) showed the most consistent association. These factors were combined to produce predictive tables. The predictive performance of the tables was found to fit the data well for various groups, with the exception of multiple births who tended to have longer stays. However, when tested against individual units, much greater variation was seen independent of unit size and case mix. Conclusion The prediction tables should permit parents to make sensible estimates about the duration of their baby's stay in the neonatal service; however, there appear to be important differences between units. The variation noted in length of stay between otherwise similar units merits further investigation.
Biomechanical Insights Into Differences Between the Mid-Acceleration and Maximum Velocity Phases of Sprinting

Abstract Yu, J, Sun, Y, Yang, C, Wang, D, Yin, K, Herzog, W, and Liu, Y. Biomechanical insights into differences between the mid-acceleration and maximum velocity phases of sprinting. J Strength Cond Res 30(7): 1906–1916, 2016—Investigating the differences between distinct phases of sprint running may increase the knowledge about the specific physical abilities needed for different phases of sprinting. Differences between the mid-acceleration and maximum velocity phases of sprint running have not yet been adequately investigated. Twenty male sprinters performed maximum-effort sprint runs, and measurements were made at 12 m from start for the mid-acceleration phase and at 40 m from the start for the maximum velocity phase. Kinematic data and ground reaction forces (GRFs) were collected at a rate of 200 and 1000 Hz, respectively. Intersegmental dynamics analysis was performed to investigate the interaction of muscle torque (MUS) with other passive torques. The peak horizontal braking force was significantly lower for the acceleration compared with that for the maximal velocity phase, whereas the peak horizontal propulsive force was similar for both phases. The peak MUS at the hip and knee joints for the braking phase was significantly smaller in the acceleration phase than in the maximum velocity phase. In conclusion, compared with the maximum velocity phase, the lower horizontal braking force was the primary cause for the increase in running velocity during the mid-acceleration phase. The force produced by lower limb muscles required to counteract external torques caused by the horizontal braking force in the braking phase was smaller during the acceleration phase than the maximum velocity phase. Therefore, training aimed at reducing the horizontal braking force might be more important than increasing the force produced by the lower limb muscles for success of the mid-acceleration phase.
Post-Antibiotic Effect of Levofloxacin and Tobramycin Alone or in Combination with Cefepime against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Background: Levofloxacin and tobramycin, alone and in combination with cefepime, were investigated for their in vitro activities and post-antibiotic effects (PAEs) on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Methods: The in vitro activities of tobramycin and levofloxacin in combination with cefepime were determined by microbroth chequerboard technique against six P. aeruginosa strains that were isolated from patients with bacteremia. The results were interpreted by fractional inhibitory concentration index. To determine the PAEs, P. aeruginosa strains in the logarithmic phase of growth were exposed for 1 h to antibiotics, alone and in combination. Recovery periods of test cultures were evaluated using viable counting after centrifugation. Results: Three synergistic interactions were observed with cefepime-tobramycin and one with cefepime-levofloxacin combinations against tested strains.No antagonism was observed. Levofloxacin produced a PAE ranging from 1.9 to 4.5 h in a concentration-dependent manner. Similar PAEs were induced by tobramycin (ranging from 1.5 to 3.1 h). However, negative PAE values were obtained with cefepime. In combination, cefepime slightly reduced the PAE of tobramycin and levofloxacin against studied strains. Conclusion: The finding of this study may have important clinical implications for the timing of doses during therapy with cefepime, levofloxacin and tobramycin alone and in combination.
LDA derived cepstral trajectory filters in adverse environmental conditions

Amongst several data driven approaches for designing filters for the time sequence of spectral parameters, the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) based method has been proposed for automatic speech recognition. Here we apply LDA-based filter design to cepstral features, which better match the inherent assumption of this method that feature vector components are uncorrelated. Extensive recognition experiments have been conducted both on the standard TIMIT phone recognition task and on a proprietary 130-words command word task under various adverse environmental conditions, including reverberant data with real-life room impulse responses and data processed by acoustic echo cancellation algorithms. Significant error rate reductions have been achieved when applying the novel long-range feature filters compared to standard approaches employing cepstral mean normalization and delta and delta-delta features, in particular when facing acoustic echo cancellation scenarios and room reverberation. For example, the phone accuracy on reverberated TIMIT data could be increased from 50.7% to 56.0%.
Monoclonal Antibodies to Thyroid Specific Autoantigens

Monoclonal antibody (MAbs) is a powerful and essential tool to perform studies concerning antigens and antibodies at molecular level. MAbs to major thyroid specific autoantigens, thyroglobulin (Tg), thyroid peroxidase (TPO) and TSH receptor (TSHR), have been prepared and applied for a variety of investigations including the structure of antigens and antibodies, the expression of antigens, the epitopes of antibodies, the functional regions of antigens, mutated antigens in congenital diseases, and clinical applications to diagnosis of various thyroid diseases. Recently, sodium iodide symporter (NIS) was identified and became a potential thyroid autoantigen related to autoimmune thyroid disease, although few MAbs to NIS have been prepared. In this manuscript, I primarily focus on studies concerning MAbs to three major thyroid specific autoantigens, Tg, TPO and TSHR, and summarize studies using the mAbs.
Epidermal growth factor receptor mutations and gene amplification in non-small-cell lung cancer: molecular analysis of the IDEAL/INTACT gefitinib trials.

PURPOSE Most cases of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with dramatic responses to gefitinib have specific activating mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), but the predictive value of these mutations has not been defined in large clinical trials. The goal of this study was to determine the contribution of molecular alterations in EGFR to response and survival within the phase II (IDEAL) and phase III (INTACT) trials of gefitinib. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed the frequency of EGFR mutations in lung cancer specimens from both the IDEAL and INTACT trials and compared it with EGFR gene amplification, another genetic abnormality in NSCLC. RESULTS EGFR mutations correlated with previously identified clinical features of gefitinib response, including adenocarcinoma histology, absence of smoking history, female sex, and Asian ethnicity. No such association was seen in patients whose tumors had EGFR amplification, suggesting that these molecular markers identify different biologic subsets of NSCLC. In the IDEAL trials, responses to gefitinib were seen in six of 13 tumors (46%) with an EGFR mutation, two of seven tumors (29%) with amplification, and five of 56 tumors (9%) with neither mutation nor amplification (P = .001 for either EGFR mutation or amplification v neither abnormality). Analysis of the INTACT trials did not show a statistically significant difference in response to gefitinib plus chemotherapy according to EGFR genotype. CONCLUSION EGFR mutations and, to a lesser extent, amplification appear to identify distinct subsets of NSCLC with an increased response to gefitinib. The combination of gefitinib with chemotherapy does not improve survival in patients with these molecular markers.
Analyses Analysis 1 : Single-Step Predictive Entropy

The lexical frequency of an upcoming word affects reading times even when the upcoming word is masked from readers (Angele et al., 2015). One explanation for this observation is that readers may slow down if there is high uncertainty about upcoming material. In line with this hypothesis, this study finds a positive correlation between predictive entropy and self-paced reading times. This study also demonstrates that such predictive entropy can be effectively approximated by the surprisal of upcoming observations and that this future surprisal estimate is more predictive of reading times when the grammar is more granular, which would be prohibitively expensive for predictive entropy. These results suggest readers engage in fine-grained predictive estimations of certainty about upcoming lexical and syntactic material, that such predictions influence reading times, and that estimating that uncertainty can be done less expensively and more robustly with information-theoretic surprisal.
Lame-Duck CEOs

We examine the relationship between protracted CEO successions and stock returns. In protracted successions, an incumbent CEO announces his or her resignation without a known successor, so the incumbent CEO becomes a “lame duck. ” We find that 31% of CEO successions from 2005 to 2014 in the S&P 1500 are protracted, during which the incumbent CEO is a lame duck for an average period of about 6 months. During the reign of lame duck CEOs, firms generate an annual four-factor alpha of 11% and exhibit significant positive earnings surprises. Investors’ under-reaction to no news on new CEO information and underestimation of the positive effects of the tournament among the CEO candidates drive our results.
Carbon monoxide poisoning is prevented by the energy costs of conformational changes in gas-binding haemproteins

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a product of haem metabolism and organisms must evolve strategies to prevent endogenous CO poisoning of haemoproteins. We show that energy costs associated with conformational changes play a key role in preventing irreversible CO binding. AxCYTcp is a member of a family of haem proteins that form stable 5c–NO and 6c–CO complexes but do not form O2 complexes. Structure of the AxCYTcp–CO complex at 1.25 Å resolution shows that CO binds in two conformations moderated by the extent of displacement of the distal residue Leu16 toward the haem 7-propionate. The presence of two CO conformations is confirmed by cryogenic resonance Raman data. The preferred linear Fe–C–O arrangement (170 ± 8°) is accompanied by a flip of the propionate from the distal to proximal face of the haem. In the second conformation, the Fe–C–O unit is bent (158 ± 8°) with no flip of propionate. The energetic cost of the CO-induced Leu-propionate movements is reflected in a 600 mV (57.9 kJmol-1) decrease in haem potential, a value in good agreement with density functional theory calculations. Substitution of Leu by Ala or Gly (structures determined at 1.03 and 1.04 Å resolutions) resulted in a haem site that binds CO in the linear mode only and where no significant change in redox potential is observed. Remarkably, these variants were isolated as ferrous 6c–CO complexes, attributable to the observed eight orders of magnitude increase in affinity for CO, including an approximately 10,000-fold decrease in the rate of dissociation. These new findings have wide implications for preventing CO poisoning of gas-binding haem proteins.
THE DESMOSTEROL REDUCTASE ACTIVITY OF RAT BRAIN DURING DEVELOPMENT 1

Abstract— The reduction of desmosterol by cell‐free preparations from developing rat brain was established and the age‐dependent alterations in reductase activity were correlated with levels of desmosterol in brain. An increase in enzymic activity followed closely the sharp increase in levels of desmosterol that was observed at about 5 days of age and that reached a maximum at 8‐11 days of postnatal age. Furthermore, the abrupt decrease in the desmosterol content of brain at 13‐15 days of age was associated with a decrease in enzymic activity. We suggest that the enzyme may be substrate‐induced and that this attribute may be of significance with respect to the ontogenesis of myelin. Cerebral desmosterol reductase exhibited a specific requirement for NADPH and was primarily a particulate enzyme.
Attenuation of Forkhead signaling by the retinal determination factor DACH1

The Drosophila Dachshund (Dac) gene, cloned as a dominant inhibitor of the hyperactive growth factor mutant ellipse, encodes a key component of the retinal determination gene network that governs cell fate. Herein, cyclic amplification and selection of targets identified a DACH1 DNA-binding sequence that resembles the FOX (Forkhead box–containing protein) binding site. Genome-wide in silico promoter analysis of DACH1 binding sites identified gene clusters populating cellular pathways associated with the cell cycle and growth factor signaling. ChIP coupled with high-throughput sequencing mapped DACH1 binding sites to corresponding gene clusters predicted in silico and identified as weight matrix resembling the cyclic amplification and selection of targets–defined sequence. DACH1 antagonized FOXM1 target gene expression, promoter occupancy in the context of local chromatin, and contact-independent growth. Attenuation of FOX function by the cell fate determination pathway has broad implications given the diverse role of FOX proteins in cellular biology and tumorigenesis.