Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plasma Concentrations of Diltiazem and Desacetyldiltiazem in an Overdose Situation

Objective To describe the elimination of diltiazem and desacetyldiltiazem in an overdose situation. Case Summary An 18-year-old woman ingested controlled delivery diltiazem 14.94 g in a suicide attempt. After arriving at the hospital unresponsive and hypotensive, her condition progressed to complete heart block, cardiogenic shock, asystole, and acute renal failure. Supportive care consisted of vasopressors, intravenous calcium, intravenous glucagon, charcoal hemoperfusion, temporary transvenous pacing, and an intraaortic balloon pump. After 12 days in the hospital, the patient recovered fully. Discussion We report a large, documented overdose of diltiazem and detail the pharmacokinetic profiles of both diltiazem and its active metabolite, desacetyldiltiazem. Nonlinear elimination of diltiazem appears to occur at higher concentrations. Although the patient improved clinically following charcoal hemoperfusion, no dramatic effects on diltiazem elimination were apparent. Conclusions Survival following massive diltiazem overdose can be achieved with supportive care. Charcoal hemoperfusion had a limited effect on improving the clearance of diltiazem as evidenced by serial plasma concentrations.
Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Polyimide Films: The Effects of UV Irradiation on Microscale Surface

As an attractive dielectric material, polyimide has been widely used in the field of electronics, aerospace, and automobiles due to its useful mechanical properties and good chemical resistance. UV irradiation was considered to be the main factor related to the damage and failure of polyimide. Here the effects of UV irradiation on the surface morphology and microscale mechanical properties of polyimide films are characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The surface roughness of the UV-irradiated samples developed and the mechanical properties degraded with the radiation dose increased. For comparison, uniaxial tensile test was performed to obtain the macroscale Young’s modulus of polyimide film. The UV-irradiated damaging depth was simulated with finite element method (FEM).
Not All Epenthetic Contexts are Equal: Differential Effects in Japanese Illusory Vowel Perception*

Recent psycholinguistic research has emphasized the role of native language phonological knowledge in the online perception of non-native structure (Näätänen et al. 1997; Dupoux et al. 1999; Dehaene-Lambertz, Dupoux and Gout 2000; Dupoux et al. 2001; Kazanina, Phillips and Idsardi 2006; Kabak and Idsardi 2007). These findings indicate that the native language phonology strongly constrains the types of linguistic representations that can be constructed and entertained during speech perception. For example, Dupoux et al. (1999) demonstrated that Japanese listeners illusorily perceive an epenthetic [u] – more properly [ɯ] – when presented with consonant clusters that violate the phonotactics of Japanese. Thus, it appears that Japanese listeners bring their native language phonology to bear on their
A Multi‐granularity Parallel Model for Unified Remote Sensing Image Processing WebServices

The growth of the Web has resulted in the Web‐based sharing of distributed geospatial data and computational resources. The Geospatial Processing Web (GeoPW) described here is a set of services that provide a wide array of geo‐processing utilities over the Web and make geo‐processing functionalities easily accessible to users. High‐performance remote sensing image processing is an important component of the GeoPW. The design and implementation of high‐performance image processing are, at present, an actively pursued research topic. Researchers have proposed various parallel strategies for single image processing algorithm, based on a computer science approach to parallel processing. This article proposes a multi‐granularity parallel model for various remote sensing image processing algorithms. This model has four hierarchical interfaces that are labeled the Region of Interest oriented (ROI‐oriented), Decompose/Merge, Hierarchical Task Chain and Dynamic Task interfaces or sub‐models. In addition, interfaces, definitions, parallel task scheduling and fault‐tolerance mechanisms are described in detail. Based on the model and methods, we propose an open‐source online platform named OpenRS‐Cloud. A number of parallel algorithms were uniformly and efficiently developed, thus certifying the validity of the multi‐granularity parallel model for unified remote sensing image processing web services.
A new statistical excitation mapping for enhancement of throat microphone recordings

In this paper we investigate a new statistical excitation mapping technique to enhance throat-microphone speech using joint analysis of throat-and acoustic-microphone recordings. In a recent study we employed source-ﬁlter decomposition to enhance spectral envelope of the throat-microphone recordings. In the source-ﬁlter decomposition framework we observed that the spectral envelope difference of the excitation signals of throat-and acoustic-microphone recordings is an important source of the degradation in the throat-microphone voice quality. In this study we model spectral envelope difference of the excitation signals as a spectral tilt vector, and we propose a new phone-dependent GMM-based spectral tilt mapping scheme to enhance throat excitation signal. Experiments are performed to evaluate the proposed excitation mapping scheme in comparison with the state-of-the-art throat-microphone speech enhancement techniques using both objective and subjective evaluations. Objective evaluations are performed with the wide-band perceptual evaluation of speech quality (ITU-PESQ) metric. Subjective evaluations are performed with the A/B pair comparison listening test. Both objective and subjective evaluations yield that the proposed statistical excitation mapping consistently delivers higher improvements than the statistical mapping of the spectral envelope to enhance the throat-microphone recordings.
The Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, Clinician Rating (IDS-C) and Self-Report (IDS-SR), and the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, Clinician Rating (QIDS-C) and Self-Report (QIDS-SR) in public sector patients with mood disorders: a psychometric evaluation

Background. The present study provides additional data on the psychometric properties of the 30-item Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS) and of the recently developed Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS), a brief 16-item symptom severity rating scale that was derived from the longer form. Both the IDS and QIDS are available in matched clinician-rated (IDS-C30; QIDS-C16) and self-report (IDS-SR30; QIDS-SR16) formats. Method. The patient samples included 544 out-patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 402 out-patients with bipolar disorder (BD) drawn from 19 regionally and ethnicically diverse clinics as part of the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP). Psychometric analyses including sensitivity to change with treatment were conducted. Results. Internal consistencies (Cronbach's alpha) ranged from 0·81 to 0·94 for all four scales (QIDS-C16, QIDS-SR16, IDS-C30 and IDS-SR30) in both MDD and BD patients. Sad mood, involvement, energy, concentration and self-outlook had the highest item-total correlations among patients with MDD and BD across all four scales. QIDS-SR16 and IDS-SR30 total scores were highly correlated among patients with MDD at exit (c=0·83). QIDS-C16 and IDS-C30 total scores were also highly correlated among patients with MDD (c=0·82) and patients with BD (c=0·81). The IDS-SR30, IDS-C30, QIDS-SR16, and QIDS-C16 were equivalently sensitive to symptom change, indicating high concurrent validity for all four scales. High concurrent validity was also documented based on the SF-12 Mental Health Summary score for the population divided in quintiles based on their IDS or QIDS score. Conclusion. The QIDS-SR16 and QIDS-C16, as well as the longer 30-item versions, have highly acceptable psychometric properties and are treatment sensitive measures of symptom severity in depression.
Regulation of the Electroanalytical Performance of Ultrathin Titanium Dioxide Nanosheets toward Lead Ions by Non-Metal Doping

Three non-metallic elements, sulfur, fluorine, and iodine, were used to dope the ultrathin two-dimensional TiO2 nanosheets, which would regulate their electroanalytical properties toward heavy metal ions. Among these doped materials, fluorine-doped TiO2 nanosheets shows the highest electrochemical sensitivity and a superior detection limit toward Pb(II) when the doping concentration is 10%. When compared with the bare TiO2 nanosheets, the sensitivity increased by 102%, and the detection limit decreased by 36.4%. Through combining further electrochemical experiments and density-functional theory calculations, the enhanced electrochemical performance stemming from element doping was then investigated in detail. The theoretical calculation demonstrated that fluorine doping could greatly increase the adsorption energy of Pb(II) on the TiO2 nanosheets and enhance their loading capacity. Both cyclic voltammetric and electrical impedance spectroscopy analysis indicated the enhanced electron transfer rate on the electrode modified by fluorine-doped TiO2 nanosheets. Further measurement on the desorption performance showed the better stripping response of Pb(II) on the electrode with TiO2 nanosheets after fluorine doping, which suggests that fluorine doping is beneficial for Pb(II) diffuse onto the electrode surface for the reduction and stripping reaction. Therefore, the element doping of two-dimensional TiO2 nanosheets provides a facile method to extend the electronic materials toward detection of heavy metal ions in the environment.
Biological role of NK cells and immunotherapeutic approaches in breast cancer

In recent decades, tumor surveillance by the immune system and its impact on disease outcomes in cancer patients in general and in breast cancer (BC) patients in particular has been documented. Natural killer (NK) cells are central components of the innate immunity and existing data indicate that they play a role in preventing and controlling tumor growth and metastasis. Their biological significance was first recognized by their ability to exert direct cellular cytotoxicity without prior sensitization. This is important in tumors, as transforming events are likely to result in downregulation of self-ligands and expression of stress-induced ligands which can be recognized by NK cells. Their activation also leads to secretion of stimulatory cytokines which participate in cancer elimination by several direct mechanisms as well as by stimulating the adaptive immune system. In this regard, it was recently revealed a dendritic cell (DC)-NK-cell crosstalk which provides another novel pathway linking innate and adaptive immunity. In addition, NK cells are feasible targets of stimulation in immunotherapeutic approaches such as antibody-based strategies and adoptive cell transfer. Nevertheless, NK cells display impaired functionality and capability to infiltrate tumors in BC patients. This review compiles information about NK-cell biology in BC and the attempts which aim to manipulate them in novel therapeutic approaches in this pathology.
Revenue Maximizing Mechanisms with Strategic Customers and Unknown Demand

A designer allocates several indivisible objects to a stream of randomly arriving agents. The long-lived agents are privately informed about their value for an object, and about their arrival time to the market. The designer learns about future arrivals from past arrivals, while agents strategically choose when to make themselves available for trade. We characterize revenue maximizing direct mechanism and show that it can be implemented by a ”Name-Your-Own-Price” dynamic auction mechanism.
Dexmedetomidine versus propofol in dilatation and curettage: An open-label pilot randomized controlled trial

Background: Traditionally propofol has been used for providing sedation in dilatation and curettage (D and C). Recently, dexmedetomidine has been tried, but very little evidence exists to support its use. Aims: The aim was to compare hemodynamic and recovery profile of both the drugs along with a degree of comfort experienced by patients and the usefulness of the drug to surgeons. Settings and Design: Tertiary care center and open-label randomized controlled trial. Materials and Methods: Patients posted for D and C were enrolled in two groups (25 each). Both groups received fentanyl 1 μg/kg intravenous (IV) at the beginning of the procedure. Group P received IV propofol in dose of 1.5 mg/kg over 10-15 min and Group D received dexmedetomidine at a loading dose of 1 μg/kg over 10 min, followed by 0.5 μg/kg/h infusion until Ramsay sedation score reached 3-4. Hemodynamic vitals were compared during and after the procedure. In the recovery room time to reach modified Aldrete score (MAS) of 9-10 and patient′s and surgeon′s satisfaction scores were also recorded and compared. Results: In Group D, patients had statistically significant lower heart rate at 2, 5, 10 and 15 min as compared to Group P. Hypotension was present in 52% in Group P and 4% in Group D (P < 0.05). MAS of 9-10 was achieved in 4.4 min in subjects in Group D in contrast to 16.2 min in Group P (P < 0.05). Group D showed higher patient and surgeon satisfaction scores (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Dexmedetomidine provide better hemodynamic and recovery profile than propofol. It can be a superior alternative for short surgical day care procedures.
Mitigating Radiation-induced Toxicity: An Overview of New Approaches Developed at the French Military Biomedical Research Institute

AbstractAcute radiation syndrome represents the clinical response of radiation-sensitive key tissues (i.e., hematopoietic, gastrointestinal and neurovascular) following exposure to high doses of ionizing radiation. In this context, the hematopoietic syndrome remains the first therapeutic challenge. Today, identifying new drugs and developing new strategies to cope with acute radiation syndrome remain a priority, especially to prevent/cure the radiation-induced multiple organ dysfunction syndrome then failure. Cytokine, non-cytokine drugs, and cell/gene therapy represent a pattern of sophisticated approaches developed by this group and others to achieve this goal.
Leucine-Rich Repeat-Containing G Protein-Coupled Receptor-4 (LGR4, Gpr48) Is Essential for Renal Development in Mice

Leucine-rich repeat-containing G protein-coupled receptor (LGR)-4 is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) with a seven-transmembrane domain structure. LGRs are evolutionally and structurally phylogenetic, classified into three subgroups and are members of the so-called orphan receptors whose ligands have yet to be identified. We generated knockout mice lacking Lgr4(Gpr48) by targeted deletion of part of exon 18, which codes for the transmembrane and signal-transducing domains of the receptor. Lgr4 null mice were born at much less than the 25% expected frequency from crosses of Lgr4 heterozygous mice (Lgr4+/–). Lgr4 null mice that survived in utero died shortly after birth in almost all cases. We observed striking renal hypoplasia in the null mice, accompanied by elevated concentration of plasma creatinine. Histological analysis of the P0 null mouse kidney showed a notable decrease in the total number and density of the glomerulus. Thus, the function of Lgr4 is essential to regulate renal development in the mouse. This study suggests that the Lgr4 gene is a new and important member of LGRs involved in a group of genes responsible for hereditary disease in the kidney.
Une tentative d'exploitation bi-directionnelle d'un corpus bilingue

Cet article cherche a etablir si on peut utiliser un corpus bilingue pour faire des travaux terminologiques, et plus particulierement pour reperer des elements definitoires. La premiere partie de l'article traite de la construction et traitement d'un corpus bilingue (anglais-francais) de textes specialises. Dans la deuxieme partie, des marqueurs linguistiques signes de la presence d'elements definitoires (called en anglais, c'est-a-dire en francais) seront examines, l'un repere dans les textes-source et l'autre dans les textes-cible afin d'etablir comment chacun de ces marqueurs est rendu dans l'autre langue. L'intention est d'etablir si les marqueurs linguistiques que l'on peut reperer dans une langue reapparaissent dans l'autre et s'ils sont rendus de facon systematique. A plus long terme, le but est d'etablir si l'on peut utiliser des marqueurs linguistiques dans une langue pour acceder a des elements definitoires dans une autre langue, des elements qui seraient peut-etre autrement difficilement reperables.
Thrombectomy in Acute Ischemic Stroke: Challenges to Procedural Success

The overwhelming clinical benefit of intra-arterial stroke therapy owes to the major advance in revascularization brought on by the current generation of thrombectomy devices. Nevertheless, there remains a sizeable proportion of patients for whom substantial reperfusion cannot be achieved or is achieved too late. This article addresses the persistent challenges that face neurointerventionists and reviews technical refinements that may help to mitigate these obstacles to procedural success. Insights from in vitro modeling and clinical research are organized around a conceptual framework that examines the interaction between the device, the thrombus and the vessel wall.
Effective Representation and Storage of Mass Spectrometry–Based Proteomic Data Sets for the Scientific Community

Proteomics data need a reliability tag to allow scientists to discriminate among data sets in public repositories. Mass spectrometry–based proteomics has emerged as a technology of choice for global analysis of cell signaling networks. However, reporting and sharing of MS data are often haphazard, limiting the usefulness of proteomics to the signaling community. We argue that raw data should always be provided with proteomics studies together with detailed peptide and protein identification and quantification information. Statistical criteria for peptide identification and their posttranslational modifications have largely been established for individual projects. However, the current practice of indiscriminately incorporating these individual results into databases such as UniProt is problematic. Because of the vast differences in underlying data quality, we advocate a differentiated annotation of data by level of reliability. Requirements for the reporting of quantitative data are being developed, but there are few mechanisms for community-wide sharing of these data.
Hospital RNs’ Job Satisfactions and Dissatisfactions

In a survey addressing work-related stress, 1,780 registered nurses (RNs) discussed the many variables affecting their job satisfaction, including: why they chose nursing, patient care issues, nurse manager roles, salaries and benefits, and intent to stay in nursing. Their responses may be painful for nursing management to read. Yet, if new candidates are to be attracted and existing RNs retained, satisfaction of RNs with their jobs must be considered.
Enhanced proliferation and differentiation of rat hepatocytes cultured with bone marrow stromal cells

Liver transplantation is the only clinically effective method of treating acute liver failure. However, wider application of this therapeutic modality is restricted primarily by shortage of donor organs. In the search for alternative methods of liver replacement therapy, investigators have focused on transplantation of normal allogeneic hepatocytes and on the development of liver support systems utilizing isolated hepatocytes. Since all human livers suitable for cell harvest are being used for transplantation, hepatocyte therapy using human tissue would require growing of cells in vitro. Unfortunately, although hepatocytes have tremendous capacity to proliferate in vivo, their ability to grow in culture is severely limited. Stromal cells from bone marrow and other blood‐forming organs have been found to support hematopoiesis. In this paper, we show that bone marrow‐derived stromal cells (BMSCs) enhance proliferation and support differentiation of rat hepatocytes in culture. Further, we demonstrate that in hepatocyte/BMSC co‐cultures, clonal expansion of small hepatocytes (SH) is increased. Using semipermeable membrane cultures, we established that direct cell–cell contact is necessary for stimulation of cell proliferation. We also show that BMSCs which are in direct contact with hepatocytes and SH colonies express Jagged1. This suggests a potential role for Notch signaling in the observed effects. Finally, we present evidence that the expression and activity of liver specific transcirption factors, CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins and liver specific key enzymes such as tryptophan 2,3‐dioxygenase, are improved in hepatocyte/BMSC co‐cultures. In conclusion, results of this study indicate that BMSCs could facilitate proliferation and differentiation of primary rat hepatocytes and their progenitors (SH) in vitro. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Maximum activity of recombinant ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase of Anabaena sp. strain CA requires the product of the rbcX gene

Filamentous cyanobacteria of the genus Anabaena contain a unique open reading frame, rbcX, which is juxtaposed and cotranscribed with the genes (rbcL and rbcS) encoding form I ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO). Plasmid constructions containing the genes from Anabaena sp. strain CA were prepared, and expression studies in Escherichia coli indicated that the product of the rbcX gene mimicked the ability of chaperonin proteins to facilitate the proper folding of recombinant RubisCO proteins. The purified recombinant Anabaena sp. strain CA RubisCO, much like the RubisCO enzymes from other cyanobacteria, was shown not to undergo inhibition of activity during a time course experiment, and the properties of this chaperoned recombinant protein appear to be consistent with those of the enzyme isolated from the native organism.
Loss of One Copy of Zfp148 Reduces Lesional Macrophage Proliferation and Atherosclerosis in Mice by Activating p53

Rationale: Cell proliferation and cell cycle control mechanisms are thought to play central roles in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The transcription factor Zinc finger protein 148 (Zfp148) was shown recently to maintain cell proliferation under oxidative conditions by suppressing p53, a checkpoint protein that arrests proliferation in response to various stressors. It is established that inactivation of p53 accelerates atherosclerosis, but whether increased p53 activation confers protection against the disease remains to be determined. Objective: We aimed to test the hypothesis that Zfp148 deficiency reduces atherosclerosis by unleashing p53 activity. Methods and Results: Mice harboring a gene-trap mutation in the Zfp148 locus (Zfp148gt/+) were bred onto the apolipoprotein E (Apoe)–/– genetic background and fed a high-fat or chow diet. Loss of 1 copy of Zfp148 markedly reduced atherosclerosis without affecting lipid metabolism. Bone marrow transplantation experiments revealed that the effector cell is of hematopoietic origin. Peritoneal macrophages and atherosclerotic lesions from Zfp148gt/+Apoe–/– mice showed increased levels of phosphorylated p53 compared with controls, and atherosclerotic lesions contained fewer proliferating macrophages. Zfp148gt/+Apoe–/– mice were further crossed with p53-null mice (Trp53–/– [the gene encoding p53]). There was no difference in atherosclerosis between Zfp148gt/+Apoe–/– mice and controls on a Trp53+/– genetic background, and there was no difference in levels of phosphorylated p53 or cell proliferation. Conclusions: Zfp148 deficiency increases p53 activity and protects against atherosclerosis by causing proliferation arrest of lesional macrophages, suggesting that drugs targeting macrophage proliferation may be useful in the treatment of atherosclerosis.