Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Renal measurements, including length, parenchymal thickness, and medullary pyramid thickness, in healthy children: what are the normative ultrasound values?

OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to develop, by use of ultrasound, nomograms of renal parenchymal thickness, medullary pyramid thickness (height), renal length, and the ratio of medullary pyramid thickness to parenchymal thickness in healthy children. SUBJECTS AND METHODS This prospective study included 292 consecutive children (136 boys and 156 girls) who were referred between October 2008 and March 2009 for problems other than urinary tract symptoms or underlying kidney disorders. The children were between 1 month and 18 years old (mean age, 6.1 +/- 5.9 years). Real-time gray-scale sonography was performed with a linear or curved array transducer. All examinations were performed by the same experienced radiologist (16 years of experience in pediatric sonography at the time the study began). All the children were well hydrated and had full bladders at the time of examination. Renal length measurements were performed in the sagittal view, and the maximum length of each kidney was measured. Measurements of parenchymal thickness and medullary pyramid thickness were performed on the same image on which length measurements were made. Parenchymal thickness and medullary pyramid thickness were measured at the middle third portion of the kidney. The Wilcoxon's signed rank test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS Nomograms of renal parenchymal thickness, medullary pyramid thickness, renal length, and the ratio of medullary pyramid thickness to parenchymal thickness were developed. When all age groups were pooled together, statistically significant differences were observed between right and left kidneys in terms of parenchymal thickness (p < 0.001), medullary pyramid thickness (p < 0.001), and renal length (left kidneys were longer, with thicker medullary pyramids and parenchyma; p < 0.001). A slight but significant difference in the ratio of medullary pyramid thickness to parenchymal thickness was observed (p = 0.045). CONCLUSION By use of renal sonography, nomograms of renal parenchymal thickness, medullary pyramid thickness, renal length, and the ratio of medullary pyramid thickness to parenchymal thickness were established in healthy children.
Determinants of sensitivity to lovastatin-induced apoptosis in multiple myeloma

Statins, commonly used to treat hypercholesterolemia, have been shown to trigger tumor-specific apoptosis in certain cancers, including multiple myeloma (MM), a plasma cell malignancy with poor prognosis. In this article, we show that of a panel of 17 genetically distinct MM cell lines, half were sensitive to statin-induced apoptosis and, despite pharmacodynamic evidence of drug uptake and activity, the remainder were insensitive. Sensitive cells were rescued from lovastatin-induced apoptosis by mevalonate, geranylgeranyl PPi, and partially by farnesyl PPi, highlighting the importance of isoprenylation. Expression profiling revealed that Rho GTPase mRNAs were differentially expressed upon lovastatin exposure in sensitive cells, yet ectopic expression of constitutively active Rho or Ras proteins was insufficient to alter sensitivity to lovastatin-induced apoptosis. This suggests that sensitivity involves more than one isoprenylated protein and that statins trigger apoptosis by blocking many signaling cascades, directly or indirectly deregulated by the oncogenic lesions of the tumor cell. Indeed, clustering on the basis of genetic abnormalities was shown to be significantly associated with sensitivity (P = 0.003). These results suggest that statins may be a useful molecular targeted therapy in the treatment of a subset of MM. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(6):1886–97]
Accuracy of diagnosis of persistent vegetative state

We reviewed pre-admission diagnosis in all patients referred for inpatient brain injury neurorehabilitation over a 5-year period (n = 193). All patients more than 1 month postinjury with diagnosis of coma or persistent vegetative state were selected for review (n = 49). We found that 18 (37%) of these patients were diagnosed inaccurately. Inaccurate diagnosis was more likely if the injury was more than 3 months before admission and the etiology of injury was trauma (48%). Results were statistically significant when traumatic injuries were compared with anoxic injuries (p < 0.10). Errors in diagnosis may result from confusion in terminology, lack of extended observation of patients, and lack of skill or training in the assessment of neurologically devastated patients.
Early Antenatal Care: Does It Make a Difference to Outcomes of Pregnancy Associated with Syphilis? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective Despite an increase in the proportion of women who access antenatal care, mother-to-child transmission of syphilis continues to be a consequence of undiagnosed, untreated, or inadequately treated maternal syphilis. We reviewed evidence on the optimal timing of antenatal interventions to prevent mother-to-child transmission of syphilis and its associated adverse outcomes. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature. English-language articles were included if they (1) reported the gestational age at which the mother was screened or tested for syphilis; (2) reported on pregnancy outcome. No publication date limits were set. Results We identified a total of 1,199 publications, of which 84 were selected for further review and five were included. All showed a lower prevalence of any adverse outcome among women who received an intervention (to include screening and treatment) in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy compared to the third trimester. The overall odds ratio for any adverse outcome was 2.24 (95% CI 1.28, 3.93). All sub-analyses by type of outcome presented important heterogeneity between studies, except for those studies reporting an infected infant (odds ratio 2.92, 95% CI 0.66, 12.87; I2 = 48.2%, p = 0.165). Conclusions Our review has shown that the timing of antenatal care interventions makes a significant difference in the risk of having an adverse outcome due to syphilis. Women who sought care in the first two trimesters of their pregnancy, and received the appropriate intervention, were more likely to have a healthy infant, compared to women screened and treated in the third trimester. Encouraging ALL pregnant women to seek care in the first two trimesters of their pregnancy should be a priority for health programmes. For interventions to be effective within these health programmes, health systems and community engagement programmes need to be strengthened to enable pregnant women to seek antenatal care early.
Analytical Armature Reaction Field Distribution of Slotless Brushless Machines With Inset Permanent Magnets

An analytical armature reaction magnetic field calculation is proposed for slotless brushless machines with inset permanent magnets (PMs). The rotor/stator back-irons are assumed to have infinite permeability and therefore the analytical solutions are obtained for the winding, air-gap, and magnets regions. The analytical expressions can be used for the brushless slotless surface-inset PM machines with any armature current waveform and any number of phases. The effects of the iron inter-poles on the armature reaction field have been studied. To verify the model, the analytical results have been compared with those obtained from finite-element analyses (FEA).
Developmentally regulated alternative splicing generates a complex array of Drosophila para sodium channel isoforms

The para locus encodes the predominant class of sodium channels expressed in Drosophila neurons. Previous sequence analysis of para cDNAs indicated the occurrence of alternative splicing at several sites within the open reading frame. Here we report a detailed analysis of this alternative splicing and its regulation during development. We have used a combination of RNA-PCR and sequence analysis to examine a 1.7 kilobase region of the para mRNA that encompasses the previously reported sites of alternative splicing. Five sites of alternative splicing were identified; 48 different splice variants could be generated by the differential exon usage observed. The number of splice forms and their relative frequency in vivo were characterized in RNA samples of both embryos and adults. The range of splice types was found to be much more diverse in adults than in embryos; of a total of 19 different combinations of alternative exons, 11 splice types were found in embryos and 18 in adults. Usage of some individual alternative exons changed during development; a newly identified exon, which is found in one of two forms either 24 or 30 base pairs long, was present in about 85% of para transcripts from embryos but only 7% of those in adults. These data suggest that a wide variety of subtly distinct Na channel isoforms are present in Drosophila, and that these may provide a range of voltage-gated sodium channel functions. Although multiple sodium channel genes have already been described in both Drosophila and mammalian systems, this study provides a clear indication that sodium channel variability may be much greater than previously thought.
Turbo equalization: principles and new results

We study the turbo equalization approach to coded data transmission over channels with intersymbol interference. In the original system invented by Douillard et al. (1995), the data are protected by a convolutional code and the receiver consists of two trellis-based detectors, one for the channel (the equalizer) and one for the code (the decoder). It has been shown that iterating equalization and decoding tasks can yield tremendous improvements in bit error rate. We introduce new approaches to combining equalization based on linear filtering, with decoding. Through simulation and analytical results, we show that the performance of the new approaches is similar to the trellis-based receiver, while providing large savings in computational complexity. Moreover, this paper provides an overview of the design alternatives for turbo equalization with given system parameters, such as the channel response or the signal-to-noise ratio.
Expression of human ARGONAUTE 2 inhibits endogenous microRNA activity in Arabidopsis

Plant and animal microRNA (miRNA) pathways share many analogous components, the ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins being foremost among them. We sought to ascertain the degree of functional conservation shared by Homo sapiens ARGONAUTE 2 (HsAGO2) and Arabidopsis thaliana ARGONAUTE 1 (AtAGO1), which are the predominant AGO family members involved with miRNA activity in their respective species. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants expressing HsAGO2 were indistinguishable from counterparts over-expressing AtAGO1, each group exhibiting the morphological and molecular hallmarks of miRNA-pathway loss-of-function alleles. However, unlike AtAGO1, HsAGO2 was unable to rescue the ago1–27 allele. We conclude that, despite the evolutionary gulf between them, HsAGO2 is likely capable of interacting with some component/s of the Arabidopsis miRNA pathway, thereby perturbing its operation, although differences have arisen such that HsAGO2 alone is insufficient to confer efficient silencing of miRNA targets in planta.
Induced pluripotent stem cells from human hair follicle keratinocytes as a potential source for in vitro hair follicle cloning

Background Human hair follicles are important for the renewal of new hairs and their development. The generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from hair follicles is easy due to its accessibility and availability. The pluripotent cells derived from hair follicles not only have a higher tendency to re-differentiate into hair follicles, but are also more suited for growth in hair scalp tissue microenvironment. Methods In this study, human hair follicular keratinocytes were used to generate iPSCs, which were then further differentiated in vitro into keratinocytes. The derived iPSCs were characterised by using immunofluorescence staining, flow cytometry, and reverse-transcription PCR to check for its pluripotency markers expression. Results The iPSC clones expressed pluripotency markers such as TRA-1-60, TRA-1-81, SSEA4, OCT4, SOX2, NANOG, LEFTY, and GABRB. The well-formed three germ layers were observed during differentiation using iPSCs derived from hair follicles. The successful formation of keratioctyes from iPSCs was confirmed by the expression of cytokeratin 14 marker. Discussion Hair follicles represent a valuable keratinocytes source for in vitro hair cloning for use in treating hair balding or grafting in burn patients. Our significant findings in this report proved that hair follicles could be used to produce pluripotent stem cells and suggested that the genetic and micro-environmental elements of hair follicles might trigger higher and more efficient hair follicles re-differentiation.
Development and Validation of RP-HPLC Method for the Determination of Methamphetamine and Propranolol in Tablet Dosage Form

A new isocratic reversed-phase HPLC method with diode-array UV detection was developed and validated for the determination of methamphetamine and propranolol in tablet dosage forms. Chromatography was carried out on an XTerra RP18 (150×4.6 mm, 5 μm) column using 50 mM pyrrolidine (pH 11.5) – acetonitrile (50:50, v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. Spectrophotometric detection was performed at a wavelength of 214 nm. The linearity was established over the concentration range of 0.075-0.60 mg/ml for both drugs. The correlation coefficients (r2) were ≥0.9998 in each case. The relative standard deviation values for intermediate precision studies were <1%. Statistical analysis of the data showed that the method was precise, accurate, reproducible and selective for the analysis of methamphetamine and propranolol drugs. The method was successfully employed for the determination of propranolol and methamphetamine in commercially available tablet dosage form.
Draft Genome Sequence of Romboutsia weinsteinii sp. nov. Strain CCRI-19649T Isolated from Surface Water

ABSTRACT Romboutsia weinsteinii sp. nov. CCRI-19649T belongs to the genus Romboutsia. The strain was isolated from a water sample harvested in Québec City, Québec, Canada. The genome assembly comprised 4,134,593 bp with a 29.3% GC content. This is the first documentation that reports the genome sequence of R. weinsteinii.
Pressions et stratégies dans la formation professionnelle universitaire : le cas de la formation des directions d’établissement scolaire du Québec (1988-1989 à 2008-2009)

The multiplication of university professional training programs (UPTP) has generated some interest in the description of such programs. Their permeability to pressures is often cited as a characteristic of UPTP. Departments that offer UPTP deal with pressures that are both diverse and often contradictory. This phenomenon is well documented in the scientific literature, though said literature does not well inform researchers on how departments respond to these pressures. This doctoral research used various concepts taken from institutional theory (itself a branch of organizational sociology) to analyze the recent evolution of UPTP for educational leadership in the province of Quebec (Canada). This field of training has gone through major changes in the past 25 years. Using an embedded interpretative case study (Yin, 2003), this research studied the evolution of educational leadership training programs in two university departments: the Département d’administration et fondements de l’éducation at Université de Montréal and the Département de gestion de l’éducation et de la formation at Université de Sherbrooke. We analyzed the discourse from the two departments (from 1988-1989 to 2008-2009) and from other organizations involved in educational leadership training in Quebec. We compiled data from three distinct document sources and from a series of interviews (ten per department) conducted with key agents (deans, department chairs, program coordinators). Results show that the two units tend to become isomorphic to their environment. They behave as such as a response to institutional pressures and organizational competition in a changing environment. These changes, often driven by a deeper transformation in the field of school administration, actually help create a more structured organizational field in which demands regarding UPTP for educational leadership were made more explicit. This had observable impacts on the evolution of training programs in both departments, where they went through several changes and were lead to share a ‘logic’ of professionalization, a training ‘archetype’ (a graduate continuing education program with, at its core, a graduate diploma) and some relevant institutional ‘tools’ (widened admissions policies and target student population, enhanced program flexibility, professionalized training activities, and teaching teams with diversified backgrounds).
Incremental Concept Learning for Bounded Data Mining

Important refinements of concept learning in the limit from positive data considerably restricting the accessibility of input data are studied. Let c be any concept; every infinite sequence of elements exhausting c is called positive presentation of c. In all learning models considered the learning machine computes a sequence of hypotheses about the target concept from a positive presentation of it. With iterative learning, the learning machine, in making a conjecture, has access to its previous conjecture and the latest data items coming in. In k-bounded example-memory inference (k is a priori fixed) the learner is allowed to access, in making a conjecture, its previous hypothesis, its memory of up to k data items it has already seen, and the next element coming in. In the case of k-feedback identification, the learning machine, in making a conjecture, has access to its previous conjecture, the latest data item coming in, and, on the basis of this information, it can compute k items and query the database of previous data to find out, for each of the k items, whether or not it is in the database (k is again a priori fixed). In all cases, the sequence of conjectures has to converge to a hypothesis correctly describing the target concept. Our results are manyfold. An infinite hierarchy of more and more powerful feedback learners in dependence on the number k of queries allowed to be asked is established. However, the hierarchy collapses to 1-feedback inference if only indexed families of infinite concepts are considered, and moreover, its learning power is then equal to learning in the limit. But it remains infinite for concept classes of only infinite r.e. concepts. Both k-feedback inference and k-bounded example-memory identification are more powerful than iterative learning but incomparable to one another. Furthermore, there are cases where redundancy in the hypothesis space is shown to be a resource increasing the learning power of iterative learners. Finally, the union of at most k pattern languages is shown to be iteratively inferable.
Decreased carbohydrate metabolism enzyme activities in the glaucomatous trabecular meshwork

Purpose To determine whether activity of carbohydrate metabolism enzymes (aldolase, pyruvate kinase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, and malate dehydrogenase) are altered in the glaucomatous trabecular meshwork (TM) compared to controls. Methods Tissue specimens were obtained from trabeculectomy (n=45 open angle glaucoma; Caucasian, average age 61±8 years of age of both genders) and from cadaver eyes (n=15 control and n=5 glaucoma; Caucasian, average age 63±4 years of both genders). Protein extracts from TM tissue were prepared in a non-denaturing buffer containing 0.1% genapol. Aldolase activity was measured spectrophotometrically at 240 nm absorbance using reaction of 3-phosphoglycerate with hydrazine to form hydrazone. Pyruvate kinase activity was measured by coupling lactate dehydrogenase with NADPH and pyruvate absorbance was measured at 340 nm. Isocitrate dehydrogenase activity was measured using reduction of NADP to NADPH at the characteristic absorbance at 340 nm. Malate dehydrogenase catalyzes the interconversion of L-malate and oxaloacetate using NADP as a coenzyme, quantified by its absorbance at 340 nm. Results Aldolase, pyruvate kinase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, and malate dehyrogenase activities in the glaucomatous TM tissue were found to be reduced 70, 50, 25, and 69 percent, respectively. SDS–PAGE analysis suggests the presence of 4-hydorxynonenal (HNE) modified isocitrate dehydrogenase protein in the glaucomatous TM tissue compared to controls. Conclusions Several Krebs cycle enzyme activities are considerably reduced in glaucomatous TM. HNE modified isocitrate dehydrogenase activity is consistent with reduced inactivated form of the protein. Lipid peroxidation product modification of aldolase, pyruvate kinase, and isocitrate dehydrogenase serves as a likely reason for the reduction of enzyme activity.
Model-based pose estimation using genetic algorithm

In this paper, we propose a method of the model-based pose estimation in the 3D world from a 2D image. This process consists in searching for the best value of coordinates (x, y, z) and of rotating angles (/spl theta//sub x/, /spl theta//sub y/, /spl theta//sub z/) in which the model object matches most exactly the given input edge image. Taking the match of objects as an index on the six-parameter space, this process can be regarded as a maximum searching problem. We use a genetic algorithm in the estimation of those parameters, and propose a new concept of fitness which takes edge direction into consideration. Our experiments show the results of the proposed method on edge input images.
Cognitive and neural components of the phenomenology of agency

A primary aspect of the self is the sense of agency – the sense that one is causing an action. In the spirit of recent reductionistic approaches to other complex, multifaceted phenomena (e.g., working memory; cf. Johnson & Johnson, 2009), we attempt to unravel the sense of agency by investigating its most basic components, without invoking high-level conceptual or ‘central executive’ processes. After considering the high-level components of agency, we examine the cognitive and neural underpinnings of its low-level components, which include basic consciousness and subjective urges (e.g., the urge to breathe when holding one's breath). Regarding urges, a quantitative review revealed that certain inter-representational dynamics (conflicts between action plans, as when holding one's breath) reliably engender fundamental aspects both of the phenomenology of agency and of ‘something countering the will of the self’. The neural correlates of such dynamics, for both primordial urges (e.g., air hunger) and urges elicited in laboratory interference tasks, are entertained. In addition, we discuss the implications of this unique perspective for the study of disorders involving agency.
BIOTECHNOLOGY IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

The global development of improved transport infrastructure has contributed to increased international movement of people and goods. Consequently, the risk of pathogen transfer between countries or even between continents is increased. In response to global climate changes, diseases endemic in certain areas, such as bluetongue and African swine fever, are showing a tendency to move or extend to other geographical areas outside their normal range. Finally, the constant intensification of animal production requires different approaches related to the preventive measures, diagnosis and control of animal diseases.