Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Theory and in vitro validation of a new extracorporeal arteriovenous loop approach for hemodynamic assessment in pediatric and neonatal intensive care unit patients*

Objectives: No simple method exists for repeatedly measuring cardiac output in intensive care pediatric and neonatal patients. The purpose of this study is to present the theory and examine the in vitro accuracy of a new ultrasound dilution cardiac output measurement technology in which an extracorporeal arteriovenous tubing loop is inserted between existing arterial and venous catheters. Design: Laboratory experiments. Setting: Research laboratory. Subjects: None. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: In vitro validations of cardiac output, central blood volume, total end-diastolic volume, and active circulation volume were performed in a model mimicking pediatric (children 2–10 kg) and neonatal (0.5–3 kg) flows and volumes against flows and volumes measured volumetrically. Reusable sensors were clamped onto the arterial and venous limbs of the arteriovenous loop. A peristaltic pump was used to circulate liquid at 6–12 mL/min from the artery to the vein through the arteriovenous loop. Body temperature injections of isotonic saline (0.3–10 mL) were performed. In the pediatric setting, the absolute difference between cardiac output measured by dilution and cardiac output measured volumetrically was 3.97% ± 2.97% (range 212–1200 mL/min); for central blood volume the difference was 4.59% ± 3.14% (range 59–315 mL); for total end-diastolic volume the difference was 4.10% ± 3.08% (range 24–211 mL); and for active circulation volume the difference was 3.30% ± 3.07% (range 247–645 mL). In the neonatal setting the difference for cardiac output was 4.40% ± 4.09% (range 106–370 mL/min); for central blood volume the difference was 4.90% ± 3.69% (range 50–62 mL); and for active circulation volume the difference was 5.39% ± 4.42% (range 104–247 mL). Conclusions: In vitro validation confirmed the ability of the ultrasound dilution technology to accurately measure small flows and volumes required for hemodynamic assessments in small pediatric and neonatal patients. Clinical studies are in progress to assess the reliability of this technology under different clinical situations.
Analogue pattern matching in a dendritic spine model based on phosphorylation of potassium channels

Modification of potassium channels by protein phosphorylation has been shown to play a role in learning and memory. If such memory storage machinery were part of dendritic spines, then a set of spines could act as an ‘analogue pattern matching’ device by learning a repeatedly presented pattern of synaptic activation. In this study, the plausibility of such analogue pattern matching is investigated in a detailed circuit model of a set of spines attached to a dendritic branch. Each spine head contains an AMPA synaptic channel in parallel with a calcium-dependent potassium channel whose sensitivity depends on its phosphorylation state. Repeated presentation of synaptic activity results in calcium activation of protein kinases and subsequent channel phosphorylation. Simulations demonstrate that signal strength is greatest when the synaptic input pattern is equal to the previously learned pattern, and smaller when components of the synaptic input pattern are either smaller or larger than corresponding components of the previously learned pattern. Therefore, our results indicate that dendritic spines may act as an analogue pattern matching device, and suggest that modulation of potassium channels by protein kinases may mediate neuronal pattern recognition.
Live-cell imaging reveals divergent intracellular dynamics of polyglutamine disease proteins and supports a sequestration model of pathogenesis

Protein misfolding and aggregation are central features of the polyglutamine neurodegenerative disorders, but the dynamic properties of expanded polyglutamine proteins are poorly understood. Here, we use fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) and fluorescence loss in photobleaching (FLIP) with green fluorescent protein fusion proteins to study polyglutamine protein kinetics in living cells. Our results reveal markedly divergent mobility states for an expanded polyglutamine protein, ataxin-3, and establish that nuclear inclusions formed by this protein are aggregates. Additional studies of green fluorescent protein-tagged cAMP response element binding protein coexpressed with either of two mutant polyglutamine proteins, ataxin-3 and huntingtin, support a model of disease in which coaggregation of transcriptional components contributes to pathogenesis. Finally, studies of a third polyglutamine disease protein, ataxin-1, reveal unexpected heterogeneity in the dynamics of inclusions formed by different disease proteins, a finding which may help explain disease-specific elements of pathogenesis in these neurodegenerative disorders.
Prognostic Value of Postoperative Detection of Blood Circulating Tumor Cells in Patients With Colorectal Cancer Operated on For Cure

ObjectiveTo assess whether postoperative detection of circulating tumor cells in peripheral blood influenced the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer after radical surgery. Summary Background DataIn a previous study, the authors demonstrated that baseline detection of blood circulating tumor cells does not have prognostic significance in patients with colorectal cancer. However, surgical procedures may increase tumor cell detachment and mobilization. MethodsSixty-six patients with histologically confirmed colorectal cancer operated on for cure were included in this study. Circulating tumor cells were detected by means of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction targeting to carcinoembryonic antigen messenger RNA in peripheral blood samples obtained 24 hours after surgery. Endpoints of the study were tumor recurrence, overall survival, and cancer-related survival. Univariate (Kaplan-Meier method) and multivariate (Cox regression model) analyses were performed. ResultsAfter a median follow-up of 36 months, 15 patients (23%) had tumor relapse and 14 had died (21%), 8 of them from a cancer-related cause. Cox regression analysis identified lymph node metastases and gender as independent predictors of tumor recurrence and cancer-related survival, whereas overall survival was dependent on the degree of differentiation of the primary tumor. More importantly, the presence of circulating tumor cells after surgery had no prognostic influence on tumor recurrence, overall survival, or cancer-related survival. ConclusionsPostoperative detection of blood circulating tumor cells had no prognostic significance in patients with colorectal cancer operated on for cure.
Algorithm for prediction of negative links using sentiment analysis in social networks

The social network being one of the most disruptive innovations of the last decade has gathered a huge amount of attention of the people. The posts of the users of the social media are used by many companies in the world to find the mentality of the users, the current trend of the market and many more things. But still, there is a latent potential in the social network. One of the aspect that we were able to discover was about finding the relationship between the users (i.e., especially, the negative link) on the social network using the posts that the users make and the reaction of the other users towards it. The prediction of the negative link can be applied in the cyber security field, to observe the aberrations in the network and further find the malicious nodes in the social network; say, if two nodes are doing things together even though there is no relation between them. It can also be used in improving the recommendation system in social media as if there is some probability between the two nodes of being the enemy or disliking each other then we can remove them from each other's recommendation list or could assign a lower weight to them in our recommendation algorithm. To achieve all this relationship between the nodes we first need to find whether the user is posting posts with positive emotion (like happy, excited, etc.) or negative emotion (like angry, sad, etc.) so that we can further analyze the mentality of the user and use it to recommend the people who we have previously classified with the similar personality. For that, we have used the sentiment analysis, which divides the users into five simple categories: Extremely +ve(i.e.,positive), +ve, Neutral, -ve (i.e.,negative) and Extremely -ve. This research paper explains the methodologies that we have used to achieve the prediction of negative links between the nodes in the social network.
Application of a multigene reverse transcription-PCR assay for detection of mammaglobin and complementary transcribed genes in breast cancer lymph nodes.

BACKGROUND Mammaglobin mRNA expression is found in 70-80% of primary and metastatic breast tumor biopsies. The potential breast tumor markers B305D, B726P, and gamma-aminobutyrate type A receptor pi subunit (GABApi) complement the expression of mammaglobin. Collectively the expression profile of these four genes could be used as a diagnostic and prognostic indicator for breast cancer. METHODS A multigene reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assay was established to detect the expression of mammaglobin, GABApi, B305D, and B726P simultaneously. Specific primers and TaqMan probes were used to analyze combined mRNA expression profiles in primary breast tumors and metastatic lymph node specimens. RESULTS The multigene RT-PCR assay detected substantial expression signals in 27 of 27 primary tumor and 50 of 50 metastatic breast lymph node samples. Specificity studies demonstrated no significant expression signal in 27 non-breast cancer lymph nodes, in 22 various healthy tissue samples, or in 14 colon tumor samples. CONCLUSION The novel RT-PCR-based assay described here provides a sensitive detection system for disseminated breast tumor cells in lymph nodes. In addition, this multigene assay could also be used to test peripheral blood and bone marrow samples.
GPI-microdomains (membrane rafts) and signaling of the multi-chain interleukin-2 receptor in human lymphoma/leukemia T cell lines.

Subunits (alpha, beta and gamma) of the interleukin-2 receptor complex (IL-2R) are involved in both proliferative and activation-induced cell death (AICD) signaling of T cells. In addition, the signaling beta and gamma chains are shared by other cytokines (e.g. IL-7, IL-9, IL-15). However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for recruiting/sorting the alpha chains to the signaling chains at the cell surface are not clear. Here we show, in four cell lines of human adult T cell lymphoma/leukemia origin, that the three IL-2R subunits are compartmented together with HLA glycoproteins and CD48 molecules in the plasma membrane, by means of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), confocal microscopy and immuno-biochemical techniques. In addition to the beta and gamma(c) chains constitutively expressed in detergent-resistant membrane fractions (DRMs) of T cells, IL-2Ralpha (CD25) was also found in DRMs, independently of its ligand-occupation. Association of CD25 with rafts was also confirmed by its colocalization with GM-1 ganglioside. Depletion of membrane cholesterol using methyl-beta-cyclodextrin substantially reduced co-clustering of CD25 with CD48 and HLA-DR, as well as the IL-2 stimulated tyrosine-phosphorylation of STATs (signal transducer and activator of transcription). These data indicate a GPI-microdomain (raft)-assisted recruitment of CD25 to the vicinity of the signaling beta and gamma(c) chains. Rafts may promote rapid formation of a high affinity IL-2R complex, even at low levels of IL-2 stimulus, and may also form a platform for the regulation of IL-2 induced signals by GPI-proteins (e.g. CD48). Based on these data, the integrity of these GPI-microdomains seems critical in signal transduction through the IL-2R complex.
Brain perfusion and dopaminergic genes in boys with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Neuroimaging studies have suggested the involvement of several brain areas in attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Genetic investigations have supported the role of both dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) and dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) in the vulnerability to the disorder. This study evaluates whether the presence of risk alleles at DRD4 and/or DAT1 genes is associated with differences in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in a sample of ADHD boys. The rCBF was compared between ADHD patients with and without risk alleles at DRD4 (7‐repeat allele) and/or at DAT1 (homozygosis for the 10‐repeat allele) genes by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) during continuous performance test. Images were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM‐99). No significant differences in rCBF were found both between ADHD boys with and without the 7‐repeat allele at DRD4 locus, as well as between ADHD boys homozygous for the 10‐repeat allele and ADHD subjects with other genotypes at the DAT1 locus. However, a significantly higher perfusion in the right middle temporal gyrus was found in the group with risk alleles at both DRD4 and DAT1 loci (n = 6) compared to ADHD boys without risk alleles at both loci (n = 28) (P < 0.05). Our findings suggest that a higher recruitment in middle temporal gyrus, an area associated to working memory and selective attention, should exist to compensate a putative effect of the interaction between these dopaminergic genes. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The S factor in the British Isles: A reanalysis of Lynn (1979)

I reanalyze data reported by Richard Lynn in a 1979 paper concerning IQ and socioeconomic variables in 12 regions of the United Kingdom as well as Ireland. I find a substantial S factor across regions (66% of variance with MinRes extraction). I produce a new best estimate of the G scores of regions. The correlation of this with the S scores is . 79. The MCV with reversal correlation is . 47.
A smart mobility solution for physically challenged

This paper presents a hand gesture and a vision driven wheelchair system for physically handicapped people. The system is contrived to have a utilitarian design that caters to most of the disabilities rather than just one. In order to minimize system-human interaction, we have endeavored to present two distinct but closely related concepts viz. the hand gesture and vision based control system in conjunction for the wheelchair control. The wheelchair system is designed such that it provides for a natural and an intuitive user interface which can comprehend and react to in compliance with the users' instinctive volition which eases the mobility of the physically challenged people. All image processing was performed using NI Vision Assistant. NI LabVIEW was used to train and implement Neural Networks for Hand Gesture Classification and also to enable motion control. A prototype was developed on which all our experiments were successfully carried out. The system has been tested for users with varied hand shapes and proved to be extremely reliable.
Increased mortality for colorectal cancer patients with preexisting diabetes mellitus: an updated meta-analysis

Background Although the preexisting diabetes mellitus (DM) is known to have a high risk for death in many cancers, its impact on the mortality for the colorectal cancer (CRC) patients is still uncertain. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis to explore an association of DM with the survival for the CRC patients. Materials and Methods We made a relative data search from the public available databases including Medline and Embase with a cutoff date to Jan 31, 2017. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated using either a fixed or random effect model. Trim and fill analysis was conducted to test and adjust for publication bias. Subgroup analyses were also performed for overall survival and all-cause mortality when stratified by tumor stage, geographical region, duration of follow-up, gender and subsite of cancer. Results Twenty-one eligible cohorts including 1,025,034 patients were identified and included in this meta-analysis review. The sample size for each analysis was ranged from 207 to 771,297 patients. It is revealed that with the preexisting DM, the CRC patients had a significantly increased all-cause mortality (pooled adjusted HR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.37) and decreased overall survival (pooled adjusted HR: 1.25, 95% CI: 1.19–1.31). But no difference was found for adjusted cancer-specific survival for the CRC patients with the preexisting DM compared with subjects without DM. These associations almost remained consistent after trim and fill adjustment and across those outcomes when stratified by site of cancer, tumor stage, population geography, study design, duration of follow-up, data resource or gender. Conclusions This meta-analysis review indicates that preexisting diabetes mellitus in CRC patients is severely associated with the worse overall survival but not with cancer-specific survival.
Multiscale description of molecular adsorption on gold nanoparticles by nonlinear optical spectroscopy

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Multiscale description of molecular adsorption on gold nanoparticles by nonlinear optical spectroscopy C. Humbert, O. Pluchery, E. Lacaze, A. Tadjeddine, Bertrand Busson
Clinical utility of routine MPL exon 10 analysis in the diagnosis of essential thrombocythaemia and primary myelofibrosis

Approximately 50% of essential thrombocythaemia and primary myelo‐fibrosis patients do not have a JAK2 V617F mutation. Up to 5% of these are reported to have a MPL exon 10 mutation but testing for MPL is not routine as there are multiple mutation types. The ability to routinely assess both JAK2 and MPL mutations would be beneficial in the differential diagnosis of unexplained thrombocytosis or myelofibrosis. We developed and applied a high resolution melt (HRM) assay, capable of detecting all known MPL mutations in a single analysis, for the detection of MPL exon 10 mutations. We assessed 175 ET and PMF patients, including 67 that were JAK2 V617F‐negative by real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Overall, 19/175 (11%) patients had a MPL exon 10 mutation, of whom 16 were JAK2 V617F‐negative (16/67; 24%). MPL mutation types were W515L (11), W515K (4), W515R (2) and W515A (1). One patient had both W515L and S505N MPL mutations and these were present in the same haemopoietic colonies. Real time PCR for JAK2 V617F analysis and HRM for MPL exon 10 status identified one or more clonal marker in 71% of patients. This combined genetic approach increases the sensitivity of meeting the World Health Organization diagnostic criteria for these myeloproliferative neoplasms.
A review of techniques design acoustic energy harvesting

This paper presents a study of recent development in the field of acoustic energy harvesters (AEHs) technique and the maximum power generated from each of these techniques. AEHs convert the acoustic energy into useful electrical energy for the operation of autonomous wireless sensors. Acoustic energy is an important form of efficiency energy which is created and unused all around us. Due to the majority of acoustic energy a main challenge of energy harvesting is the low power density in typical acoustic noise fields. With a superior emphasis on green energy, acoustic energy is one of the enormously existing energy sources and so harvesting this energy plays an significant role in research. Since acoustic energy is environmentally friendly and sufficient to replace as disadvantages of conventional battery which have limited lifespan and problematic in electronics could expire at any time and replacement of the battery causing some cost and time. The induced acoustic wave can be transformed into electricity by presenting novel environment friendly energy converters.
Reproducible Measurement of Single-Molecule Conductivity

A reliable method has been developed for making through-bond electrical contacts to molecules. Current-voltage curves are quantized as integer multiples of one fundamental curve, an observation used to identify single-molecule contacts. The resistance of a single octanedithiol molecule was 900 ± 50 megohms, based on measurements on more than 1000 single molecules. In contrast, nonbonded contacts to octanethiol monolayers were at least four orders of magnitude more resistive, less reproducible, and had a different voltage dependence, demonstrating that the measurement of intrinsic molecular properties requires chemically bonded contacts.
SECOND HIT POST BURN INCREASED PROXIMAL GUT MUCOSA EPITHELIAL CELLS DAMAGE

Secondary infections after burn are common and are a major contributor to morbidity and mortality. We previously showed that burn disrupted proximal gut mucosal homeostasis through increased epithelial cell apoptosis. In the present study, we sought to determine whether proximal gut mucosal disruption is additively affected by secondary endotoxemia after a severe burn. C57BL/6 mice received 30% total body surface area full-thickness scald burns and were randomized to receive saline or LPS 1 mg/kg body weight given intraperitoneally 72 h after burn. Proximal small bowel was harvested 12 h after LPS injection. Mucosal height and epithelial cell number were assessed on hematoxylin-eosin sections, intestinal epithelial cell apoptosis was identified by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling, and cell proliferation by immunohistochemical staining for proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Results showed that proximal gut mucosa impairment occurred 12 h after injury, including significantly decreased proximal gut wet weight, gut mucosal height, and epithelial cell number associated with increased proximal gut epithelial apoptosis (P < 0.05). This impairment diminished 72 h after burn. Second-hit endotoxemia caused additional proximal gut mucosa damage with decreased proximal gut weight, cell number, and mucosal height (P < 0.05) and significantly increased small intestinal epithelial apoptosis and mucosal atrophy, even after the first event, indicating a second detrimental effect of endotoxemia after the initial injury.
Monoclonal antibodies expression improvement in CHO cells by PiggyBac transposition regarding vectors ratios and design

Establishing stable Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells producing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) usually pass through the random integration of vectors to the cell genome, which is sensitive to gene silencing. One approach to overcome this issue is to target a highly transcribed region in the genome. Transposons are useful devices to target active parts of genomes, and PiggyBac (PB) transposon can be considered as a good option. In the present study, three PB transposon donor vectors containing both heavy and light chains were constructed, one contained independent expression cassettes while the others utilized either an Internal Ribosome Entry Site (IRES) or 2A element to express mAb. Conventional cell pools were created by transferring donor vectors into the CHO cells, whereas transposon-based cells were generated by transfecting the cells with donor vectors with a companion of a transposase-encoding helper vector, with 1:2.5 helper/donor vectors ratio. To evaluate the influence of helper/donor vectors ratio on expression, the second transposon-based cell pools were generated with 1:5 helper/donor ratio. Expression levels in the transposon-based cells were two to five -folds more than those created by conventional method except for the IRES-mediated ones, in which the observed difference increased more than 100-fold. The results were dependent on both donor vector design and vectors ratios.