Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EuCliD (European Clinical Database): a database comparing different realities.

Quality and variability of dialysis practice are generally gaining more and more importance. Fresenius Medical Care (FMC), as provider of dialysis, has the duty to continuously monitor and guarantee the quality of care delivered to patients treated in its European dialysis units. Accordingly, a new clinical database called EuCliD has been developed. It is a multilingual and fully codified database, using as far as possible international standard coding tables. EuCliD collects and handles sensitive medical patient data, fully assuring confidentiality. The Infrastructure: a Domino server is installed in each country connected to EuCliD. All the centres belonging to a country are connected via modem to the country server. All the Domino Servers are connected via Wide Area Network to the Head Quarter Server in Bad Homburg (Germany). Inside each country server only anonymous data related to that particular country are available. The only place where all the anonymous data are available is the Head Quarter Server. The data collection is strongly supported in each country by "key-persons" with solid relationships to their respective national dialysis units. The quality of the data in EuCliD is ensured at different levels. At the end of January 2001, more than 11,000 patients treated in 135 centres located in 7 countries are already included in the system. FMC has put the patient care at the centre of its activities for many years and now is able to provide transparency to the community (Authorities, Nephrologists, Patients.) thus demonstrating the quality of the service.
Experience with an Ultrasonic Aspirator in Neuroendoscopy

This report describes the clinical application of an ultrasonic aspirator for endoscopic neurosurgery. Eight patients with intraventricular hematoma with complete tamponade of the ventricular system and marked hydrocephalus were treated with the ultrasonic aspirator for endoscopic neurosurgery. Clinical evaluation and neuroimaging studies were obtained for one month. Removal of hematoma was confirmed on follow-up imaging. The ultrasonic aspirator is operated by electrostriction transducer on low generating power (15-30 watts). Its tube has an outer diameter of 1.8 mm. This aspirator is designed to fragment and aspirate the cattle-liver. On observing the adjacent neural and vascular structures with the neuroendoscope, the massive hematoma within the ventricles is removed with the use of this aspirator. Subtotal removal (> 90% of hematoma volume) was achieved in all patients. All patients tolerated the procedure well. However, postoperative re-rupture occurred in two patients prior to aneurysm clipping following an immediate interval. Three patients with hypertension, two patients with head trauma, and one patient after aneurysm clipping were discharged home within one month after treatment. Preliminary experience with this aspirator has demonstrated its feasibility and safety. Clinical application of this technique is expected in other fields of neurosurgery.
Differential Expression of Putative Ornithodoros turicata Defensins Mediated by Tick Feeding

Additional research on soft ticks in the family Argasidae is needed to bridge the knowledge gap relative to hard ticks of the family Ixodidae; especially, the molecular mechanisms of Ornithodoros biology. Ornithodoros species are vectors of human and animal pathogens that include tick-borne relapsing fever spirochetes and African swine fever virus. Soft tick vector-pathogen interactions involving components of the tick immune response are not understood. Ticks utilize a basic innate immune system consisting of recognition factors and cellular and humoral responses to produce antimicrobial peptides, like defensins. In the present study, we identified and characterized the first putative defensins of Ornithodoros turicata, an argasid tick found primarily in the southwestern United States and regions of Latin America. Four genes (otdA, otdB, otdC, and otdD) were identified through sequencing and their predicted amino acid sequences contained motifs characteristic of arthropod defensins. A phylogenetic analysis grouped these four genes with arthropod defensins, and computational structural analyses further supported the identification. Since pathogens transmitted by O. turicata colonize both the midgut and salivary glands, expression patterns of the putative defensins were determined in these tissues 1 week post engorgement and after molting. Defensin genes up-regulated in the tick midgut 1 week post blood feeding were otdA and otdC, while otdD was up-regulated in the midgut of post-molt ticks. Moreover, otdB and otdD were also up-regulated in the salivary glands of flat post-molt ticks, while otdC was up-regulated within 1 week post blood-feeding. This work is foundational toward additional studies to determine mechanisms of vector competence and pathogen transmission from O. turicata.
The complete mitochondrial genome of Pseudobagrus trilineatus (Siluriformes: Bagridae)

Abstract Pseudobagrus trilineatus was listed as a vulnerable species in the China Species Red List. In the present paper, we reported the complete mitochondrial genome of P. trilineatus. The genome was 16,535 bp in length, containing 13 protein-coding genes, two rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes and a control region, a gene organization similar to that of typical vertebrate mitochondrial genome. The overall nucleotide base composition of P. trilineatus mitogenome was A (31.56%), T (26.48%), C (27.13%) and G (14.83%), with an AT content of 58.04%. This study contributes to providing new molecular data for the conservation of this endangered species.
A preliminary algorithm introducing immunogenicity assessment in the management of patients with RA receiving tumour necrosis factor inhibitor therapies

Introduction Clinical remission is today the treatment goal for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which requires fast and assertive therapeutic decisions for a tight control of disease activity. Few objective parameters are available to guide clinical decisions, particularly in switcher patients. We designed a preliminary algorithm introducing immunogenicity assessment in the current approach to patients with RA receiving tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi). Objective To evaluate the concordance between the new algorithm and current clinical practice, comparing the effectiveness of ‘immunogenicity-based’ versus ‘empirical-based’ switches in a cohort of patients with established RA receiving biologics. Methods EULAR therapeutic response was evaluated in 105 patients with RA (naive or switchers) over one year, through generalised estimation equation (GEE) analyses. Serum drug trough levels were assessed by ELISA and antidrug antibodies (ADAb) by Bridging ELISA. Results During follow-up, 48.6% of patients had therapeutic decisions concordant with the proposed algorithm (Group A), and 51.4% had discordant decisions (Group B). One year after the therapeutic decision, patients from Group A had a higher probability of achieving response (OR=7.91, p<0.001, 95% CI 3.27 to 19.13) and low disease activity (OR=9.77, p<0.001, 95% CI 4.69 to 20.37) than patients in Group B. Conclusions Immunogenicity assessment might help to optimise therapeutic decisions, leading to a better control of disease activity with significantly better clinical outcomes in patients with RA receiving TNFi.
Cognitive functioning and disturbances of mood in UK veterans of the Persian Gulf War: a comparative study

Background. Complaints of poor memory and concentration are common in veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War as are other symptoms. Despite a large research effort, such symptoms remain largely unexplained. Method. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests and rating scales was administered to 341 UK servicemen who were returnees from the Gulf War and peace keeping duties in Bosnia, plus non-deployed military controls. All were drawn from a large randomized survey. Most were selected on the basis of impaired physical functioning defined operationally. Results. Group comparisons revealed an association between physical functioning and symptoms of depression, post-traumatic stress reactions, increased anger and subjective cognitive failures. Poorer performance on some general cognitive measures, sequencing and attention was also seen in association with being ‘ill’ but virtually all differences disappeared after adjusting for depressed mood or multiple comparisons. Deployment was also associated with symptoms of post-traumatic stress and subjective cognitive failures, independently of health status, as well as minor general cognitive and constructional impairment. The latter remained significantly poorer in the Gulf group even after adjusting for depressed mood. Conclusions. Disturbances of mood are more prominent than quantifiable cognitive deficits in Gulf War veterans and probably lead to subjective underestimation of ability. Task performance deficits can themselves be explained by depressed mood although the direction of causality cannot be inferred confidently. Reduced constructional ability cannot be explained in this way and could be an effect of Gulf-specific exposures.
Patterns of C1-Inhibitor/Plasma Serine Protease Complexes in Healthy Humans and in Hereditary Angioedema Patients

C1-inhibitor (C1-INH) is an important regulator of the complement, coagulation, fibrinolytic and contact systems. The quantity of protease/C1-INH complexes in the blood is proportional to the level of the in vivo activation of these four cascade-like plasma enzyme systems. Parallel determination of C1-INH-containing activation complexes could be important to understand the regulatory role of C1-INH in diseases such as hereditary angioedema (HAE) due to C1-INH deficiency (C1-INH-HAE). We developed in-house ELISAs to measure the concentration of complexes of C1-INH formed with active proteases: C1r, C1s, MASP-1, MASP-2, plasma kallikrein, factor XIIa, factor XIa, and thrombin, as well as to determine total and functionally active C1-INH. We measured the concentration of the complexes in EDTA plasma from 6 healthy controls, from 5 with type I and 5 with type II C1-INH-HAE patients during symptom-free periods and from five patients during HAE attacks. We also assessed the concentration of these complexes in blood samples taken from one C1-INH-HAE patient during the kinetic follow-up of a HAE attack. The overall pattern of complexed C1-INH was similar in controls and C1-INH-HAE patients. C1-INH formed the highest concentration complexes with C1r and C1s. We observed higher plasma kallikrein/C1-INH complex concentration in both type I and type II C1-INH-HAE, and higher concentration of MASP-1/C1-INH, and MASP-2/C1-INH complexes in type II C1-INH-HAE patients compared to healthy controls and type I patients. Interestingly, none of the C1-INH complex concentrations changed significantly during HAE attacks. During the kinetic follow-up of an HAE attack, the concentration of plasma kallikrein/C1-INH complex was elevated at the onset of the attack. In parallel, C1r, FXIIa and FXIa complexes of C1-INH also tended to be elevated, and the changes in the concentrations of the complexes followed rather rapid kinetics. Our results suggest that the complement classical pathway plays a critical role in the metabolism of C1-INH, however, in C1-INH-HAE, contact system activation is the most significant in this respect. Due to the fast changes in the concentration of complexes, high resolution kinetic follow-up studies are needed to clarify the precise molecular background of C1-INH-HAE pathogenesis.
Development of Patterned Self-Assembled Monolayers Toward the Study of Axonal Differentiation

ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS vii LIST OF FIGURES x LIST OF TABLES xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Overview 1 1.2 Photolithography 2 1.3 Self-Assembled Monolayer Chemistry 10 1.4 Soft Lithography 12 1.5 Axonal Differentiation 16 1.6 Summary 19 1.7 References 20 CHAPTER TWO: DIRECT PRINTING OF TRICHLOROSILANES ON GLASS FOR SELECTIVE PROTEIN ADSORPTION AND CELL GROWTH 32 2.
Optimization Design of Substation Grounding Grid Based on Genetic Algorithm

With the incessant increase of power system capacity and voltage grade, the safety of grounding grid becomes more and more prominent. How better uniform the surface potential distribution of grounding grid; how to ensure the safety of equipment and personal has become one of the most important topics of grounding researchers who has been working hard to resolve the problem. Based on the electromagnetic field(EMF) and circuit combining theoretical, the paper studies the numerical calculation of grounding grid parameters, and make use of genetic algorithm studies optimization design of the grounding grid, under the condition of that the most touch potential of grounding grid is less than IEEE guide provision value to optimize grounding grid design. Due to genetic algorithm aim to operate coding set of the problem variables, thus maintain a good integrity of variable. Calculation shows that the calculation method is feasible and obtain optimal results which is not subject to hierarchical structure of soil.
Validity and reliability of the Anorectic Behavior Observation Scale for parents

The Anorectic Behavior Observation Scale (ABOS) is a new self‐reporting questionnaire developed to obtain information from parents about specific behaviors and attitudes in their children that might be symptomatic for anorexia or bulimia nervosa. Parents of 191 eating disorder patients and 174 female students completed the questionnaire. Using a cut‐off score of 19, the ABOS has a sensitivity of 90.0% and a specificity of 89.6%. A comparison with a clinician's evaluation of the patients’ behavior and, in the control group, with the subjects’ own judgement, revealed that parents generally give reliable information. The ABOS may be used as a valuable supplement to existing screening instruments for eating disorders.
AN APPLICATION OF CONTROL REGION SEQUENCE AS A MATRILINEAGE MARKER FOR ELLIOT'S PHEASANT OF A ZOO POPULATION

ABSTRACT Control region sequence, an mtDNA marker, was usually used in phylogenesis analysis in species level or genetic structure study among populations. In this study, enlightened by its character of maternal heredity in vertebrates, we used control region sequence as a matrilineage marker for Elliot's pheasant (Syrmaticus ellioti) of Ningbo Zoo population. In Ningbo Zoo, 36 individuals of Elliot's pheasant were descendants from three female founders introduced in 1988. Three control region haplotypes (Ha, Hb, Hc) were identified by six variable nucleotide positions among the control region sequences over 36 individuals. The number of haplotypes was accorded with the number of female founders. Total 20 individuals (C04, C06, C08–11, C14, C20, C21, C23–29, C32, C34–36) shared haplotype a, while 12 individuals (C01, C05, C07, C12, C13, C16–19, C22, C30, C33) shared haplotype b and 4 individuals (C02, C03, C15, C31) shared haplotype c. Those individuals sharing the same haplotype were offspring from one female founder. In other words, there were three maternal lineages and the simple relationship among individuals was indicated. As a result, it seemed that the control region sequence was a useful marker for identification of matrilineage in this study. Meanwhile, the matrilineage information may be compensatory data if there were no any pedigree records in captive species for breeding management.
Regulation of RNA polymerase III transcription during transformation of human IMR90 fibroblasts with defined genetic elements

ABSTRACT RNA polymerase (Pol) III transcribes small untranslated RNAs that are essential for cellular homeostasis and growth. Its activity is regulated by inactivation of tumor suppressor proteins and overexpression of the oncogene c-MYC, but the concerted action of these tumor-promoting factors on Pol III transcription has not yet been assessed. In order to comprehensively analyse the regulation of Pol III transcription during tumorigenesis we employ a model system that relies on the expression of five genetic elements to achieve cellular transformation. Expression of these elements in six distinct transformation intermediate cell lines leads to the inactivation of TP53, RB1, and protein phosphatase 2A, as well as the activation of RAS and the protection of telomeres by TERT, thereby conducting to full tumoral transformation of IMR90 fibroblasts. Transformation is accompanied by moderately enhanced levels of a subset of Pol III-transcribed RNAs (7SK; MRP; H1). In addition, mRNA and/or protein levels of several Pol III subunits and transcription factors are upregulated, including increased protein levels of TFIIIB and TFIIIC subunits, of SNAPC1 and of Pol III subunits. Strikingly, the expression of POLR3G and of SNAPC1 is strongly enhanced during transformation in this cellular transformation model. Collectively, our data indicate that increased expression of several components of the Pol III transcription system accompanied by a 2-fold increase in steady state levels of a subset of Pol III RNAs is sufficient for sustaining tumor formation.
Protein Kinase B/Akt Mediates Effects of Insulin on Hepatic Insulin-like Growth Factor-binding Protein-1 Gene Expression through a Conserved Insulin Response Sequence*

Insulin regulates the expression of multiple hepatic genes through a conserved insulin response sequence (IRS) (CAAAAC/TAA) by an as yet undetermined mechanism. Protein kinase B/Akt (PKB/Akt), a member of the PKA/PKC serine/threonine kinase family, functions downstream from phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase (PI3K) in mediating effects of insulin on glucose transport and glycogen synthesis. We asked whether PKB/Akt mediates sequence-specific effects of insulin on hepatic gene expression using the model of the insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) promoter. Insulin lowers IGFBP-1 mRNA levels, inhibits IGFBP-1 promoter activity, and activates PKB/Akt in HepG2 hepatoma cells through a PI3K-dependent, rapamycin-insensitive mechanism. Constitutively active PI3K and PKB/Akt are each sufficient to mediate effects of insulin on the IGFBP-1 promoter in a nonadditive fashion. Dominant negative K179 PKB/Akt disrupts the ability of insulin and PI3K to activate PKB/Akt and to inhibit promoter activity. The IGFBP-1 promoter contains two IRSs each of which is sufficient to mediate sequence-specific effects of insulin, PI3K, and PKB/Akt on promoter activity. Highly related IRSs from the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and apolipoprotein CIII genes also are effective in this setting. These results indicate that PKB/Akt functions downstream from PI3K in mediating sequence-specific effects of insulin on the expression of IGFBP-1 and perhaps multiple hepatic genes through a conserved IRS.
Electromyographic Activities of the Rotator Cuff Muscles During Walking, Eating, and Washing

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the activity of rotator cuff (RC) muscles during activities of daily living. DesignMotion analysis was conducted with 14 volunteers. Activation of RC (subscapularis, supraspinatus, and infraspinatus) was assessed using electromyography (EMG). Walking was performed with or without a shoulder immobilizer. Eating was conducted with or without the support of the elbow with the contralateral hand. Washing the hair was simulated while standing or leaning forward; washing the body was simulated while standing or holding the elbow; and washing the face was simulated using both hands while leaning forward. ResultsDuring walking, RC’s peak EMG activities remained below 7% maximum voluntary isometric contraction at all times, regardless of the use of immobilizers. Eating caused mild EMG activities (14%–32%), whereas eating with elbow support resulted in significantly lower EMG activities in the supraspinatus and infraspinatus. Washing the hair standing moderately activated RC (23%–57%), whereas leaning forward decreased it to 6% to 36%. Washing the body while holding the elbow decreased infraspinatus activation to 4% from 10% when standing. Washing the face with both hands and leaning forward resulted in high-peak EMG activities in the upper subscapularis (37%). ConclusionsThere was no difference in RC activity level between walking with or without immobilizers. From the point of muscle contraction, an immobilizer is not mandatory. Holding the elbow with the contralateral hand while eating or washing can help decrease the load in the supraspinatus and infraspinatus.
Nutritional and Immunological Status and their Associations among HIV-Infected Adults in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Background In the search for cost-effective interventions to reduce morbidity and mortality in HIV disease, the identification of nutritional status and levels of micronutrients is very important. Objective To generate information on the level of energy malnutrition and on vitamin A, zinc, and hemoglobin levels and their relationships with disease status in HIV-infected adults in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out on 153 HIV-positive adults (19% male, 81% female) living in Addis Ababa. The nutritional status and the levels of zinc, retinol, and hemoglobin were determined by anthropometric and biochemical methods. CD4+ counts and C-reactive protein levels were measured by standard methods. Results Of the patients, 18% were chronically energy deficient, 71% were normal, and 11% were overweight. Serum zinc levels were low (< 10.7 μmol/L) in 53% of subjects, and serum retinol levels were low (< 30 μg/dL) in 47% of subjects. Low hemoglobin levels (< 12 g/dL) were observed in only 4.72% of the study population. CD4+ counts under 200/mm3 and elevated C-reactive protein levels were both found in 21% of the subjects. CD4+ counts were positively and significantly correlated with hemoglobin (r = 0.271, p < .001), zinc (r = 0.180, p < .033), and body mass index (r = 0.194, p < .017). There were significant negative associations between levels of C-reactive protein and levels of zinc (r = −0.178, p < 0.036 and hemoglobin (r = −0.253, p < .002). Conclusions Our results provide evidence that compromised nutritional and micronutrient status begins early in the course of HIV-1 infection. Low serum zinc and vitamin A levels were observed in almost half of the subjects. The clinical significance of low serum zinc and vitamin A levels is unclear, and more research is required.