Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ANTISECRETORY TREATMENT FOR PEDIATRIC GASTROESOPHAGEAL REFLUX DISEASE - A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW.

BACKGROUND Proton pump inhibitors and histamine H2 receptor antagonists are two of the most commonly prescribed drug classes for pediatric gastroesophageal reflux disease, but their efficacy is controversial. Many patients are treated with these drugs for atypical manifestations attributed to gastroesophageal reflux, even that causal relation is not proven. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the use of proton pump inhibitors and histamine H2 receptor antagonists in pediatric gastroesophageal reflux disease through a systematic review. METHODS A systematic review was performed, using MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases. The search was limited to studies published in English, Portuguese or Spanish. There was no limitation regarding date of publication. Studies were considered eligible if they were randomized-controlled trials, evaluating proton pump inhibitors and/or histamine H2 receptor antagonists for the treatment of pediatric gastroesophageal reflux disease. Studies published only as abstracts, studies evaluating only non-clinical outcomes and studies exclusively comparing different doses of the same drug were excluded. Data extraction was performed by independent investigators. The study protocol was registered at PROSPERO platform (CRD42016040156). RESULTS After analyzing 735 retrieved references, 23 studies (1598 randomized patients) were included in the systematic review. Eight studies demonstrated that both proton pump inhibitors and histamine H2 receptor antagonists were effective against typical manifestations of gastroesophageal reflux disease, and that there was no evidence of benefit in combining the latter to the former or in routinely prescribing long-term maintenance treatments. Three studies evaluated the effect of treatments on children with asthma, and neither proton pump inhibitors nor histamine H2 receptor antagonists proved to be significantly better than placebo. One study compared different combinations of omeprazole, bethanechol and placebo for the treatment of children with cough, and there is no clear definition on the best strategy. Another study demonstrated that omeprazole performed better than ranitidine for the treatment of extraesophageal reflux manifestations. Ten studies failed to demonstrate significant benefits of proton pump inhibitors or histamine H2 receptor antagonists for the treatment of unspecific manifestations attributed to gastroesophageal reflux in infants. CONCLUSION Proton pump inhibitors or histamine H2 receptor antagonists may be used to treat children with gastroesophageal reflux disease, but not to treat asthma or unspecific symptoms.
Tissue pharmacokinetics of levofloxacin in human soft tissue infections.

AIMS The present study addressed the ability of levofloxacin to penetrate into subcutaneous adipose tissues in patients with soft tissue infection. METHODS Tissue concentrations of levofloxacin in inflamed and healthy subcutaneous adipose tissue were measured in six patients by microdialysis after administration of a single intravenous dose of 500 mg. Levofloxacin was assayed by high-performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS The mean concentration vs time profile of free levofloxacin in plasma was identical to that in inflamed and healthy tissues. The ratios of the mean area under the free levofloxacin concentration vs time curve from 0 to 10 h (AUC(0,10 h)) in tissue to that in plasma were 1.2 +/- 1.0 for inflamed and 1.1 +/- 0.6 for healthy subcutaneous adipose tissue (mean +/- SD). The mean difference in the ratio of the AUC(tissue) : AUC(plasma) for inflamed and healthy tissue was 0.09 (95% confidence interval -0.58, 0.759, P > 0.05). Interindividual variability in tissue penetration was high, as indicated by a coefficient of variation of approximately 82% for AUC(tissue) : AUC(plasma) ratios. CONCLUSIONS The penetration of levofloxacin into tissue appears to be unaffected by local inflammation. Our plasma and tissue data suggest that an intravenous dose of 500 mg levofloxacin provides effective antibacterial concentrations at the target site. However, in treatment resistant patients, tissue concentrations may be sub-therapeutic.
Surface exclusion specificity of the TraT lipoprotein is determined by single alterations in a five‐amino‐acid region of the protein

The TraT protein is a highly cell‐surface‐exposed lipoprotein specified by F‐like plasmids that confers serum resistance and blocks the conjugative transfer of plasmids to cells bearing identical or closely related plasmids, a process known as surface exclusion. The TraT protein specified by the antibiotic‐resistance plasmid R6‐5 was purified to apparent homogeneity. When added to mating mixtures, TraT blocked the transfer of plasmids belonging to Surface Exclusion Group IV (Sfx IV) but had no significant effect on the transfer of plasmids belonging to other groups. Additionally, the purified protein had a protective effect on bacterial cells incubated in serum, indicating that it does not have to be located on the cell surface to mediate serum resistance. To localize regions of the protein that were responsible for surface exclusion specificity, the amino acid sequence of the TraT protein specified by ColB2‐K98 (Sfx II) was determined by cloning and sequencing of the corresponding gene. Comparison of the derived sequence with those of the F and R100‐1 proteins indicated that surface exclusion specificity of TraT is determined by single alterations in a five‐amino‐acid region (residues 116–120). This was confirmed by segment swapping experiments in which the specificity of the R6‐5 TraT protein (Sfx IV) was switched to that of the COIB2‐K98 protein (Sfx II). Our results suggest that the region defined by residues 116–120 is located on the external face of the outer membrane and interacts specifically with the donor cell in surface exclusion.
Efficient Operation of NAD(P)H Dehydrogenase Requires Supercomplex Formation with Photosystem I via Minor LHCI in Arabidopsis[W]

In higher plants, the chloroplast NAD(P)H dehydrogenase (NDH) complex mediates photosystem I (PSI) cyclic and chlororespiratory electron transport. We reported previously that NDH interacts with the PSI complex to form a supercomplex (NDH-PSI). In this study, NDH18 and FKBP16-2 (FK506 Binding Protein 16-2), detected in the NDH-PSI supercomplex by mass spectrometry, were shown to be NDH subunits by the analysis of their knockdown lines. On the basis of extensive mutant characterization, we propose a structural model for chloroplast NDH, whereby NDH is divided into four subcomplexes. The subcomplex A and membrane subcomplex are conserved in cyanobacteria, but the subcomplex B and lumen subcomplex are specific to chloroplasts. Two minor light-harvesting complex I proteins, Lhca5 and Lhca6, were required for the full-size NDH-PSI supercomplex formation. Similar to crr pgr5 double mutants that completely lack cyclic electron flow activity around PSI, the lhca6 pgr5 double mutant exhibited a severe defect in growth. Consistent with the impaired NDH activity, photosynthesis was also severely affected in mature leaves of lhca6 pgr5. We conclude that chloroplast NDH became equipped with the novel subcomplexes and became associated with PSI during the evolution of land plants, and this process may have facilitated the efficient operation of NDH.
Novel Wire Planning Schemes for Pin Minimization in Digital Microfluidic Biochips

Digital microfluidic biochips (DMFBs), a second-generation lab-on-chip device has developed in recent years as a feasible alternative to conventional laboratory procedure for biochemical analysis and diagnostic applications. These devices enable the precise manipulation of nanoliter volumes of biological fluids and chemical reagents within a 2-D rectangular array of electrodes. Increasing number of control pin requirements together with high wire planning complexity becomes a major issue for integrated execution of multiple bioassays within a single DMFB layout. In this paper, we propose new techniques for interconnection wire routing for actuating the electrodes operating at identical time sequence. Here, we propose three different algorithms to develop feasible wire plans for a given layout with an aim to minimize the overall number of control pin count. Multiple actuation on the same pin termed multiphasing is proposed to resolve the issue of wire planning for handling the issue of cross contamination at any particular site. The proposed techniques are implemented in layouts using testbenches for benchmark suite III and selective testbenches for benchmark suite I. The results obtained through simulation show encouraging improvement over contemporary contributions.
Application of MRF scheme for low-loss transmission lines on CMOS-grade silicon

This paper presents a surface finishing method based on magnetorheological (MR) fluid to obtain low-loss coplanar waveguides on CMOS-grade silicon. CPWs with different lateral dimension but having identical 50 /spl Omega/ characteristic impedance are evaluated. In addition, finite ground effects on CPW performances before and after magnetorheological finishing (MRF) treatment are investigated. In all cases, CPWs treated with the MR fluid-based finishing method reveal much lower attenuation constants compared to original ones owing to reduced conductor roughness. The proposed MRF scheme can be applied to smoothen three dimensional high frequency structures and dramatically improve conductor roughness.
Automatic Generation of Conditional Diagnostic Guidelines

The diagnostic workup for many diseases can be extraordinarily nuanced, and as such reference material text often contains extensive information regarding when it is appropriate to have a patient undergo a given procedure. In this work we employ a three task pipeline for the extraction of statements indicating the conditions under which a procedure should be performed, given a suspected diagnosis. First, we identify each instance in the text where a procedure is being recommended. Next we examine the context around these recommendations to extract conditional statements that dictate the conditions under which the recommendation holds. Finally, corefering recommendations across the document are linked to produce a full recommendation summary. Results indicate that each underlying task can be performed with above baseline performance, and the output can be used to produce concise recommendation summaries.
New palladium–oxazoline complexes: Synthesis and evaluation of the optical properties and the catalytic power during the oxidation of textile dyes

The present paper describes the synthesis of new palladium–oxazoline complexes in one step with good to high yields (68–95%). The oxazolines were prepared from enantiomerically pure α-aminoalcohols. The structures of the synthesized palladium complexes were confirmed by NMR, FTIR, TOFMS, UV–visible spectroscopic analysis and X–ray diffraction. The optical properties of the complexes were evaluated by the determination of the gap energy values (Eg) ranging between 2.34 and 3.21 eV. Their catalytic activities were tested for the degradation of Eriochrome Blue Black B (a model of azo dyes) in the presence of an ecological oxidant (H2O2). The efficiency of the decolorization has been confirmed via UV–visible spectroscopic analysis and the factors affecting the degradation phenomenon have been studied. The removal of the Eriochrome reached high yields. We have found that the complex 9 promoted 84% of color elimination within 5 min (C0 = 30 mg/L, T = 22 °C, pH 7, H2O2 = 0.5 mL) and the energetic parameters have been also determined.
Optimization of convolutional neural network parameters for image classification

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have been widely applied in image classification tasks. CNNs have a large number of parameters and they can produce different classification accuracy for same tasks based on diverse parameters including input window size, filter size, number of layers and number of neurons. The impact of these parameters on CNN accuracy in image classification tasks is investigated and analyzed in this study. A new methodology incorporating CNN for systematically conducting experiments to find the impact of diverse parameters is presented. Two datasets such as benchmark CIFAR-10 dataset and road-side vegetation dataset for real-world applications were selected to conduct this study. The experiments were conducted by varying different network parameters and recording the accuracy. Experimental analysis has shown that changing the number of layers and input window size has significant impact on classification accuracy of CIFAR-10, whereas for roadside vegetation dataset input window size and filter size have maximum impact on classification accuracy. The proposed optimization approach achieved higher accuracy (81%) than the accuracy obtained by Alexnet (77.75%) and PSO-CNN (80.15%) on CIFAR-10 dataset.
A systematic review of transapical aortic valve implantation.

BACKGROUND Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) through a transapical approach (TAAVI) for severe aortic stenosis becomes the procedure of choice in cases where patients have peripheral artery disease and unfeasible access due to excessive atherosclerotic disease of the iliofemoral vessels and aorta. The present systematic review aimed to assess the safety, success rate, clinical outcomes, hemodynamic outcomes, and survival benefits of TAAVI. METHODS Electronic searches were performed in 6 databases from January 2000 to February 2012. The primary end points included feasibility and safety. Other end points included echocardiographic findings, functional class improvement, and survival. RESULTS After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 48 out of 154 shortlisted potentially relevant articles were selected for assessment. Of these, 26 studies from 24 centers including total number of 2,807 patients were included for appraisal and data extraction. The current evidence on TAAVI for aortic stenosis is limited to observational studies. Successful TAAVI implantation occurred in >90% of patients. On average, the procedure took between 64 to 154 minutes to complete. The incidence of major adverse events included 30-day mortality (4.7-20.8%); cerebrovascular accident (0-16.3%); major tachyarrhythmia (0-48.8%); bradyarrhythmia requiring permanent pacemaker insertion (0-18.7%); cardiac tamponade (0-11%); major bleeding (1-17%); myocardial infarction (0-6%); aortic dissection/rupture (0-5%); moderate to severe paravalvular leak (0.7-24%); cardiopulmonary bypass support (0-15%); conversion to surgery (0-9.5%); and valve-in-valve implantation (0.6-8%). Mean aortic valve area improved from 0.4-0.7 cm(2) before TAAVI to 1.4-2.1 cm(2) after TAAVI. The peak pressure gradient across the aortic valve decreased from >70 mmHg to <20 mmHg after TAAVI. One-year survival ranged from 49.3% to 82% and the 3-year survival was 58% in 2 series. CONCLUSIONS TAAVI appears to be feasible with a reasonable safety and efficacy portfolio. Randomised controlled trials are required to compare transapical vs. transfemoral TAVI when both techniques are equally feasible.
Mechanism of chlorine inactivation of DNA-containing parvovirus H-1

An investigation was undertaken to determine the effect of chlorine on a small DNA-containing enteric virus. Parvovirus H-1 was exposed to sodium hypochlorite in a phosphate-buffered saline solution at pH 7. Then, the whole virion, the protein capsid, or the nucleic acid was subjected to analysis. The sedimentation rate of the chlorine-treated whole virus decreased from 110S to 43S. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the virus demonstrated the formation of higher-molecular-weight aggregates resulting from covalent cross-linking of the capsid proteins. Electron microscopic examination revealed that the DNA was extruded as a taillike structure which remained attached to the virus particle. Furthermore, the DNA was intact and still capable of in vitro replication. The adsorption of the chlorine-treated virions to host cells was inhibited, presumably due to the effect of chlorine on the particular spatial arrangement of the capsid proteins required for adsorption. Specific sites on these proteins had become highly reactive, indicating that the initial action of chlorine on parvovirus H-1 was on the viral capsid.
Dendritic cell-tumor cell fusion and staphylococcal enterotoxin B treatment in a pancreatic tumor model.

BACKGROUND Surgical resection of pancreatic tumors removes gross disease but not metastases. Adjuvant therapy such as chemotherapy and radiation treatment is of little value in metastatic pancreatic cancer. The hypothesis of this investigation is that specific and effective immunotherapeutic vaccine (dendritic/tumor cell fusion) will activate cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), leading to the eradication of spontaneous pancreatic cancer. METHODS We have developed a double transgenic mouse model (MET) that forms spontaneous pancreatic tumors and expresses the human MUC1 antigen. Seven-week-old MET mice (n = 8) were treated every 3 weeks with the vaccine. In addition, these mice received 50 microg of superantigen staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), a known T cell stimulant, prior to the first vaccination. A second treatment group received SEB alone (n = 8) and controls received no treatment (n = 9). MUC1-specific CTLs were measured by chromium release assay. At 10 weeks of age and at necropsy, MUC1 serum levels were measured using a MUC1-specific ELISA. RESULTS Mice were known to harbor microscopic foci of cancer at birth. Survival was enhanced in vaccine as well as SEB-treated mice (75% CI +/- 0.42) compared to controls (11% CI +/- 0.28) and both groups of treated mice exhibited mature CTLs without in vitro stimulation. MUC1 serum levels of the vaccine group were 50% less than that of control (P < 0.04) at 10 weeks. MUC1 serum levels directly correlated with tumor weight at necropsy (r = 0.86). CONCLUSIONS This is the first evidence that MUC1-specific CTLs can be stimulated to enhance survival in a spontaneous tumor model.
Nature of Extrasynaptosomal Accumulation of Endogenous Adenosine Evoked by K+ and Veratridine

Abstract: When rat brain synaptosomes were incubated for 10 min at 37°C, basal accumulation of adenosine in the medium was 66 pmol/mg of protein. An elevated K+ level (24 mM) evoked an additional accumulation of 200 pmol/mg of protein, and 50 μM veratridine evoked 583 pmol of adenosine accumulation/mg of protein. K+‐ and veratridine‐evoked accumulation of adenosine did not arise from microsomal or mitochondrial contaminants of the synaptosomal preparation, because purified microsomes and mitochondria did not exhibit evoked accumulation of adenosine in the medium. K+‐evoked accumulation of extrasynaptosomal adenosine was Ca2+‐dependent, whereas veratridine‐evoked accumulation of adenosine was increased in Ca2+‐free medium. In the presence of α,β‐methylene ADP and GMP, which inhibit ecto‐5′‐nucleotidase, conversion of added ATP and AMP to adenosine was inhibited by 90% in synaptosomal suspensions. However, inhibition of ecto‐5′‐nucleotidase only reduced basal extrasynaptosomal accumulation of adenosine by 74%, veratridine‐evoked accumulation of adenosine by 46%, and K+‐evoked accumulation by 33%. Most of the basal accumulation of extrasynaptosomal adenosine appears to be derived from released nucleotide, probably ATP, but about half of the veratridine‐evoked accumulation of adenosine and most of the K+‐evoked accumulation may arise from adenosine released in its own right, rather than from a released nucleotide.
ENDOSCOPY FOR EVALUATION AND TREATMENT OF THE CILIARY BODY IN HYPOTONY

Purpose To determine the clinical utility of the intraocular videoendoscope for evaluation of the ciliary body in eyes with hypotony and as a visualization tool for surgery of the ciliary body. Method A gradient index of refraction rod endoscope was used to evaluate the ciliary body in 14 patients. Videotapes and charts were reviewed retrospectively to correlate the appearance of the ciliary body and to analyze the clinical findings and surgical results. Videoendoscopic surgery to remove fibrous tissue from the ciliary processes was performed in nine eyes. Results The endoscope produced a clear detailed image of the ciliary body in a state that is undisturbed by scleral depression or other forms of mechanical distortion. In eyes without hypotony the normal ciliary processes are uniformly pigmented with a velvet-like surface at high magnification. White surface changes in the peak and crest of individual ciliary processes (white-caps) were seen in 11 of 14 patients with hypotony. At high magnification the white surface changes had a brush-like texture integral to the ciliary processes. Other findings in hypotony were fibrous covering of the ciliary body in 10 patients, loss of pigment epithelium in 5, traction elongation of the ciliary processes in 8, vascular loops in 4, pigmented sheets in 3, and areas of missing ciliary processes in 1. White caps were present in seven of the nine patients who had surgery for fibrous traction of the ciliary processes and hypotony and three patients with hypotony not due to other endoscopically visible abnormalities of the ciliary processes. Endoscopically visualized dissection of ciliary body in 9 patients resulted in normal or elevated tension immediately postoperatively in 7 (78%). At the most recent visit only three of the patients had normal tension, but for these nine patients the pressures were marginally, significantly (P = 0.08) higher compared to the preoperative pressures. Conclusion The evaluation and management of hypotony is enhanced by the use of intraocular videoendoscopy. Clinical findings of whitecaps and traction elongation of the ciliary processes were associated with ocular hypotony. The endoscope facilitated surgery for dissection and removal of fibrous tissue over the ciliary processes. Further studies are needed to better understand the pathophysiology of ocular hypotony.
The humoral immune response to macrocyclic chelating agent DOTA depends on the carrier molecule.

UNLABELLED The chelating agent 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N', N",N"'-tetraacetic acid (DOTA) is used to label monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and peptides with (90)Y. DOTA allows the generation of clinically useful stable metallic radioconjugates for the treatment of a variety of tumors, but its immunogenicity has remained controversial. In this study, we evaluated the immune response to DOTA in a preclinical mouse model and in patients entered in a clinical trial. METHODS Sera were obtained from BALB/c mice injected intraperitoneally or subcutaneously with different doses and formulations of syngeneic and xenogeneic mAbs or peptide (murine mAb Mov19 [mM19]; its chimeric version; murine V/human C ChiMov19 [cM19]; or Tyr(3)-octreotide)-DOTA conjugates. Sera from patients with neuroendocrine tumors, enrolled in a protocol for somatostatin receptor-mediated radionuclide therapy with (90)Y-DOTA-D-Phe(1)-Tyr(3)-octreotide (DOTATOC), were also collected before and after each treatment. Levels and specificity of antibody response to relevant (Mov19, ChiMov19, or Tyr(3)-octreotide) and nonrelevant (human serum albumin) DOTA targets were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and competition assays. An anti-DOTA mAb (IgG1) derived from a ChiMov19-DOTA immunized mouse was used, in a competitive radioimmunoassay, to determine the efficiency of DOTA presentation on the different carriers. RESULTS Depending on the immunogenicity and dosage of the mAb, a specific anti-DOTA response was revealed in the preclinical system. However, DOTA-peptide conjugate induced no immune-detectable response against either chelator or carrier. DOTA was poorly presented on small peptides, as determined using the anti-DOTA mAb. CONCLUSION A humoral response against DOTA is possible, but only as a consequence of the response elicited against the carrier. Octreotide was not immunogenic. Thus, (90)Y-DOTATOC can be considered a safe and useful tool for receptor-mediated radionuclide therapy of somatostatin receptor-overexpressing tumors.