Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Osteoporosis in Cervical Spine Surgery

Study Design. Retrospective administrative database analysis. Objective. To investigate the effect of osteoporosis (OS) on complications and outcomes in patients undergoing cervical spine surgery. Summary of Background Data. OS is the most prevalent degenerative human bone disease, and spine surgeons will inevitably perform procedures on patients with OS. These patients might present a difficult patient cohort because many fixation techniques depend on bone quality and adequate bone healing—both of which are compromised in OS. Methods. The nationwide inpatient sample was queried using the Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification procedural codes for cervical spine procedures and diagnosis codes for degenerative conditions of cervical spine from 2002 to 2011. Patients were separated into two cohorts, those patients with OS and those without OS. Demographics, hospital characteristics, and adjusted complication likelihood were analyzed. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to determine odds of revision surgery in patients with OS. Results. Of all patients undergoing degenerative cervical spine surgery, 2% were identified as having OS (32,557 of a sample of 1,602,129 patients). Osteoporotic patients were more likely to undergo posterior cervical spine fusion when compared with those patients without OS (11.3% vs. 5.4%, P < 0.0001). Moreover, circumferential fusion was performed 3 times more frequently in the osteoporotic cohort. Adjusted complications showed increased odds for postoperative hemorrhage (odds ratio = 1.70, 95% confidence interval = 1.46–1.98, P < 0.0001). Patients with OS stayed in the hospital longer (3.5 vs. 2.5 days, P < 0.0001) and had 30% costlier hospitalizations. Multivariate for revision surgery indicated that osteoporotic patients had significantly increased odds of revision surgery (odds ratio = 1.54, P ⩽ 0.0001) when referenced to non-osteoporotic patients undergoing cervical spine surgery. Conclusion. Osteoporotic patients were more likely to undergo revision surgery, have longer hospitalizations, and have higher hospitalization costs, than their non-osteoporotic counterparts. Level of Evidence: 3
Skeletal muscle IL-6 regulates muscle substrate utilization and adipose tissue metabolism during recovery from an acute bout of exercise

An acute bout of exercise imposes a major challenge on whole-body metabolism and metabolic adjustments are needed in multiple tissues during recovery to reestablish metabolic homeostasis. It is currently unresolved how this regulation is orchestrated between tissues. This study was undertaken to clarify the role of skeletal muscle derived interleukin 6 (IL-6) in the coordination of the metabolic responses during recovery from acute exercise. Skeletal muscle specific IL-6 knockout (IL-6 MKO) and littermate Control mice were rested or ran on a treadmill for 2h. Plasma, skeletal muscle, liver and adipose tissue were obtained after 6 and 10h of recovery. Non-exercised IL-6 MKO mice had higher plasma lactate and lower plasma non-esterified fatty acids than Controls. The activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase in the active form was, in skeletal muscle, higher in IL-6 MKO mice than Controls in non-exercised mice and 6h after exercise. IL-6 MKO mice had lower glucose transporter 4 protein content in inguinal adipose tissue (WAT) than Control in non-exercised mice and 10h after treadmill running. Epididymal WAT hormone sensitive lipase phosphorylation and inguinal WAT mitogen activated kinase P38 phosphorylation were higher in IL-6 MKO than Control mice 6h after exercise. These findings indicate that skeletal muscle IL-6 may play an important role in the regulation of substrate utilization in skeletal muscle, basal and exercise-induced adaptations in adipose tissue glucose uptake and lipolysis during recovery from exercise. Together this indicates that skeletal muscle IL-6 contributes to reestablishing metabolic homeostasis during recovery from exercise by regulating WAT and skeletal muscle metabolism.
Micronutrient status during lactation in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected South African women during the first 6 mo after delivery.

BACKGROUND Little information on the micronutrient status of HIV-infected (HIV-positive) breastfeeding women is available. OBJECTIVE The objective was to compare the protein and micronutrient status of South African breastfeeding women by HIV status. DESIGN Serum albumin, prealbumin, vitamin B-12, folate, retinol, alpha-tocopherol, hemoglobin, ferritin, and zinc concentrations were compared between 92 HIV-positive and 52 HIV-uninfected (HIV-negative) mothers 6, 14, and 24 wk after delivery. C-reactive protein and alpha1-acid glycoprotein were used as proxy indicators of an inflammatory process. RESULTS Mean albumin and prealbumin were significantly lower in HIV-positive mothers, and a higher proportion of HIV-positive mothers had low albumin concentrations (< 35 g/L). Less than 45% of the mothers were vitamin B-12 or folate sufficient. Significantly more HIV-positive (70.5%) than HIV-negative (46.2%) mothers had marginal vitamin B-12 status (P < 0.05), and mean folate concentrations were lower in HIV-positive mothers (P = 0.05). Mean serum retinol was significantly lower in HIV-positive mothers, even after control for the acute phase response. At 24 wk, 70% of both groups had an alpha-tocopherol deficiency (< 11.6 micromol/L), but no significant difference by HIV status was observed. More HIV-positive (33.3%) than HIV-negative (8.7%) mothers had anemia (P = 0.018), whereas 25% of all mothers had low serum ferritin concentrations. After the acute phase response was controlled for, zinc deficiency was more common in HIV-positive (45.0%) than in HIV-negative (25.0%) mothers (P = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Deficiencies in vitamins B-12, folate, alpha-tocopherol, ferritin, and zinc are common in South African breastfeeding mothers. HIV-positive mothers had lower mean serum concentrations of albumin, prealbumin, folate, retinol, and hemoglobin than did HIV-negative mothers.
EReLA: A Low-Power Reliable Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Architecture Processor and Its Irradiation Tests

In this work, facing pressure from both the increasing vulnerability to single event effects (SEEs) and design constraints of the power consumption, we have proposed a Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Architecture (CGRA) processor. Our goal is to translate a user programmable redundancy to a guide for balancing energy consumption on the one hand and the reliability requirements on the other. We designed software (SW) and hardware (HW) approaches, coordinating them closely to achieve this purpose. The framework provides several user-assignable patterns of redundancy and the hardware modules to interpret well these patterns. A first version prototype processor, with the name EReLA (Explicit Redundancy Linear Array) has been implemented and manufactured with a 0.18 μm CMOS technology. Stress tests based on alpha particle irradiation were conducted to verify the tradeoff between the robustness and the power efficiency of the proposed schemes.
Damage Process of GFRP Cross-ply Laminates

The failure process of GFRP cross-ply laminates (up to final failure) is studied. In situ observations of ply cracks during tensile tests are carried out to obtain the damage process of the cross-ply laminates. Based on these experimental results, we propose a numerical simulation to investigate the damage process. In the present model, a ply crack is expressed by the cohesive element. Consequently, the stress-strain relationship and the density of ply cracks are simulated by choosing the strength and the critical energy release rate of the cohesive element.
The Eukaryotic CMG Helicase at the Replication Fork: Emerging Architecture Reveals an Unexpected Mechanism.

The eukaryotic helicase is an 11-subunit machine containing an Mcm2-7 motor ring that encircles DNA, Cdc45 and the GINS tetramer, referred to as CMG (Cdc45, Mcm2-7, GINS). CMG is "built" on DNA at origins in two steps. First, two Mcm2-7 rings are assembled around duplex DNA at origins in G1 phase, forming the Mcm2-7 "double hexamer. " In a second step, in S phase Cdc45 and GINS are assembled onto each Mcm2-7 ring, hence producing two CMGs that ultimately form two replication forks that travel in opposite directions. Here, we review recent findings about CMG structure and function. The CMG unwinds the parental duplex and is also the organizing center of the replisome: it binds DNA polymerases and other factors. EM studies reveal a 20-subunit core replisome with the leading Pol ϵ and lagging Pol α-primase on opposite faces of CMG, forming a fundamentally asymmetric architecture. Structural studies of CMG at a replication fork reveal unexpected details of how CMG engages the DNA fork. The structures of CMG and the Mcm2-7 double hexamer on DNA suggest a completely unanticipated process for formation of bidirectional replication forks at origins.
Removal of Background People Using Object Detection and Inpainting

We present an application of Viola-Jones face detection and exemplar-based inpainting to automatically select and remove unwanted background person(s) in photographs. We experiment with using various source and target region masks as well as patch and neighbourhood selections to produce realistic inpaintings. The final pipeline is able to generate results comparable to those achieved with manual target selection and can be used as a starting point for more complex target selection and inpainting algorithms.
Proposed consensus definitions for new‐onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE), febrile infection‐related epilepsy syndrome (FIRES), and related conditions

We convened an international group of experts to standardize definitions of New‐Onset Refractory Status Epilepticus (NORSE), Febrile Infection‐Related Epilepsy Syndrome (FIRES), and related conditions. This was done to enable improved communication for investigators, physicians, families, patients, and other caregivers. Consensus definitions were achieved via email messages, phone calls, an in‐person consensus conference, and collaborative manuscript preparation. Panel members were from 8 countries and included adult and pediatric experts in epilepsy, electroencephalography (EEG), and neurocritical care. The proposed consensus definitions are as follows: NORSE is a clinical presentation, not a specific diagnosis, in a patient without active epilepsy or other preexisting relevant neurological disorder, with new onset of refractory status epilepticus without a clear acute or active structural, toxic or metabolic cause. FIRES is a subcategory of NORSE, applicable for all ages, that requires a prior febrile infection starting between 2 weeks and 24 hours prior to onset of refractory status epilepticus, with or without fever at onset of status epilepticus. Proposed consensus definitions are also provided for Infantile Hemiconvulsion‐Hemiplegia and Epilepsy syndrome (IHHE) and for prolonged, refractory and super‐refractory status epilepticus. This document has been endorsed by the Critical Care EEG Monitoring Research Consortium. We hope these consensus definitions will promote improved communication, permit multicenter research, and ultimately improve understanding and treatment of these conditions.
Electrospinning of polymeric and ceramic nanofibers as uniaxially aligned arrays

Electrospinning has been applied to prepare uniaxially aligned nanofibers made of organic polymers, ceramics, and polymer/ceramic composites. The key to the success of this method was the use of a collector consisting of two pieces of electrically conductive substrates separated by a gap whose width could be varied from hundreds of micrometers to several centimeters. As driven by electrostatic interactions, the charged nanofibers were stretched to span across the gap and thus to become uniaxially aligned arrays over large areas. Because the nanofibers were suspended over the gap, they could be conveniently transferred onto the surfaces of other substrates for subsequent treatments and various applications. Materials that have been successfully incorporated into this procedure include conventional organic polymers, graphite carbon, and metal oxides. By controlling the parameters for electrospinning, we have also fabricated a number of simple device structures, for example, an individual nanofiber spanning .
Multipolar mitosis and aneuploidy after chrysotile treatment: a consequence of abscission failure and cytokinesis regression

Chrysotile, like other types of asbestos, has been associated with mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. However, the cellular abnormalities induced by these fibers involved in cancer development have not been elucidated yet. Previous works show that chrysotile fibers induce features of cancer cells, such as aneuploidy, multinucleation and multipolar mitosis. In the present study, normal and cancer derived human cell lines were treated with chrysotile and the cellular and molecular mechanisms related to generation of aneuploid cells was elucidated. The first alteration observed was cytokinesis regression, the main cause of multinucleated cells formation and centrosome amplification. The multinucleated cells formed after cytokinesis regression were able to progress through cell cycle and generated aneuploid cells after abnormal mitosis. To understand the process of cytokinesis regression, localization of cytokinetic proteins was investigated. It was observed mislocalization of Anillin, Aurora B, Septin 9 and Alix in the intercellular bridge, and no determination of secondary constriction and abscission sites. Fiber treatment also led to overexpression of genes related to cancer, cytokinesis and cell cycle. The results show that chrysotile fibers induce cellular and molecular alterations in normal and tumor cells that have been related to cancer initiation and progression, and that tetraploidization and aneuploid cell formation are striking events after fiber internalization, which could generate a favorable context to cancer development.
Coupling into Waveguide Evanescent Modes with Applications in Electron Paramagnetic Resonance

COUPLING INTO WAVEGUIDE EVANESCENT MODES WITH APPLICATIONS IN ELECTRON PARAMAGNETIC RESONANCE Jason W. Sidabras, B.S. Marquette University, 2010 The use of analytical and numerical techniques in solving the coupling of evanescent modes in a microwave waveguide through slots can be optimized to create a uniform magnetic field excitation on axis within a waveguide. This work has direct applications in Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) where a 100 kHz time-varying magnetic field is incident on a sample contained in a microwave cavity. Typical cavity designs do not take into consideration the uniformity of the 100 kHz field modulation and assume it to be uniform enough over the sample region from quasi-static principles. This work shows otherwise and uses Ansoft (Pittsburgh, PA) High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS; version 12.0) and analytical dyadic Green’s functions to understand the coupling mechanisms. The techniques described in this work have shown that electromagnetic modes form in a rectangular and cylindrical waveguide domain even at frequencies a number of orders of magnitude below the waveguide cut-off frequencies. With slot thicknesses very small compared to a wavelength, Born’s first approximation must be modified to account for a near field secondary wave. Additionally, mutual coupling between multiple slots has been shown to influence the overall magnetic field profile down the axis of the waveguide and in certain circumstances becomes more complex from interactions outside of the domain of the dyadic Green’s functions. A cylindrical TE01U cavity resonant at W-band (94 GHz) is proposed where both the microwave magnetic field and, from this work, the 100 kHz time-varying magnetic field incident on the sample are uniform. This type of resonator is highly desirable in EPR experiments where inhomogeneity of magnetic fields affect signal purity. With the technology outlined in this work, experiments where a uniform field modulation amplitude is swept over the entire spectra to obtain pure absorption is feasible. This work advances the cutting edge of resonator design and enables new experiments to be performed at high field EPR. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work as supported by grants EB001417 and EB001980 from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health. I would like to thank Dr. James S. Hyde for the opportunity as an engineer at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the support for furthering my education at Marquette University. I would also like to thank Dr. James E. Richie for the numerous hours of discussion, guidance, and support throughout this work and Dr. Richard R. Mett for continuing to push me towards bettering myself. Finally, I would like to thank my family and especially my girlfriend Emily for the support and needed push to finish this work. I couldn’t have done it without all of you. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS
Mbd2 enables tumourigenesis within the intestine while preventing tumour‐promoting inflammation

Epigenetic regulation plays a key role in the link between inflammation and cancer. Here we examine Mbd2, which mediates epigenetic transcriptional silencing by binding to methylated DNA. In separate studies the Mbd2−/− mouse has been shown (1) to be resistant to intestinal tumourigenesis and (2) to have an enhanced inflammatory/immune response, observations that are inconsistent with the links between inflammation and cancer. To clarify its role in tumourigenesis and inflammation, we used constitutive and conditional models of Mbd2 deletion to explore its epithelial and non‐epithelial roles in the intestine. Using a conditional model, we found that suppression of intestinal tumourigenesis is due primarily to the absence of Mbd2 within the epithelia. Next, we demonstrated, using the DSS colitis model, that non‐epithelial roles of Mbd2 are key in preventing the transition from acute to tumour‐promoting chronic inflammation. Combining models revealed that prior to inflammation the altered Mbd2−/− immune response plays a role in intestinal tumour suppression. However, following inflammation the intestine converts from tumour suppressive to tumour promoting. To summarise, in the intestine the normal function of Mbd2 is exploited by cancer cells to enable tumourigenesis, while in the immune system it plays a key role in preventing tumour‐enabling inflammation. Which role is dominant depends on the inflammation status of the intestine. As environmental interactions within the intestine can alter DNA methylation patterns, we propose that Mbd2 plays a key role in determining whether these interactions are anti‐ or pro‐tumourigenic and this makes it a useful new epigenetic model for inflammation‐associated carcinogenesis. © 2018 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Reproducibility and Accuracy of Quantitative Myocardial Blood Flow Assessment with 82Rb PET: Comparison with 13N-Ammonia PET

82Rb cardiac PET allows the assessment of myocardial perfusion with a column generator in clinics that lack a cyclotron. There is evidence that the quantitation of myocardial blood flow (MBF) and coronary flow reserve (CFR) with dynamic 82Rb PET is feasible. The objectives of this study were to determine the accuracy and reproducibility of MBF estimates from dynamic 82Rb PET by using our methodology for generalized factor analysis (generalized factor analysis of dynamic sequences [GFADS]) and compartment analysis. Methods: Reproducibility was evaluated in 22 subjects undergoing dynamic rest and dipyridamole stress 82Rb PET studies at a 2-wk interval. The inter- and intraobserver variability of MBF quantitation with dynamic 82Rb PET was assessed with 4 repeated estimations by each of 4 observers. Accuracy was evaluated in 20 subjects undergoing dynamic rest and dipyridamole stress PET studies with 82Rb and 13N-ammonia, respectively. The left ventricular and right ventricular blood pool and left ventricular tissue time–activity curves were estimated by GFADS. MBF was estimated by fitting the blood pool and tissue time–activity curves to a 2-compartment kinetic model for 82Rb and to a 3-compartment model for 13N-ammonia. CFR was estimated as the ratio of peak MBF to baseline MBF. Results: The reproducibility of the MBF estimates in repeated 82Rb studies was very good at rest and during peak stress (R2= 0.935), as was the reproducibility of the CFR estimates (R2 = 0.841). The slope of the correlation line was very close to one for the estimation of MBF (0.986) and CFR (0.960) in repeated 82Rb studies. The intraobserver reliability was less than 3% for the estimation of MBF at rest and during peak stress as well as for the estimation of CFR. The interobserver reliabilities were 0.950 at rest and 0.975 at peak stress. The correlation between myocardial flow estimates obtained at rest and those obtained during peak stress in 82Rb and 13N-ammonia studies was very good (R2 = 0.857). Bland–Altman plots comparing CFR estimated with 82Rb and CFR estimated with 13N-ammonia revealed an underestimation of CFR with 82Rb compared with 13N-ammonia; the underestimation was within ±1.96 SD. Conclusion: MBF quantitation with GFADS and dynamic 82Rb PET demonstrated excellent reproducibility as well as intra- and interobserver reliability. The accuracy of the absolute quantitation of MBF with factor and compartment analyses and dynamic 82Rb PET was very good, compared with that achieved with 13N-ammonia, for MBF of up to 2.5 mL/g/min.
Vocal flexibility and regional variation in free-tailed bat songs

Male Brazilian free tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis), sing to attract females and defend territories during the mating season. These songs are unusual among mammalian vocalizations in that they are highly complex and hierarchically structured. Songs are composed of multiple syllables which are combined into three phrases that vary in number and order across renditions. While much work has been done on regional vocal variation in birds, relatively a few studies have found similar evidence in mammals. This study aimed to determine if T. brasiliensis songs vary across agographical regions. To accomplish this, we compared spectro-temporal characteristics, and phrase composition of songs recorded from wild colonies in various locations throughout Florida, Georgia, and Texas. Although we found considerable inter-individual and within-individual variation, there are salient regional differences in song structure. These findings combined with a high level of within-individual flexibility, and the lack of local adaptation in foraging echolocation pulses, support a possible role of vocal learning in song production in this species.