Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acupuncture for Depression: A Review of Clinical Applications

While increasing numbers of patients are seeking acupuncture treatment for depression in recent years, there is limited evidence of the antidepressant (AD) effectiveness of acupuncture. Given the unsatisfactory response rates of many Food and Drug Administration- approved ADs, research on acupuncture remains of potential value. Therefore, we sought to review the efficacy and safety of acupuncture treatment for depression in clinical applications. We conducted a PubMed search for publications through 2011. We assessed the adequacy of each report and abstracted information on reported effectiveness or efficacy of acupuncture as monotherapy for major depressive disorder (MDD) and as augmentation of ADs. We also examined adverse events associated with acupuncture, and evidence for acupuncture as a means of reducing side effects of ADs. Published data suggest that acupuncture, including manual-, electrical-, and laser-based, is a generally beneficial, well-tolerated, and safe monotherapy for depression. However, acupuncture augmentation in AD partial responders and nonresponders is not as well studied as monotherapy; and available studies have only investigated MDD, but not other depressive spectrum disorders. Manual acupuncture reduced side effects of ADs in MDD. We found no data on depressive recurrence rates after recovery with acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture is a potential effective monotherapy for depression, and a safe, well-tolerated augmentation in AD partial responders and nonresponders. However, the body of evidence based on well-designed studies is limited, and further investigation is called for.
Add Data into Business Process Verification: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice

The need to extend business process languages with the capability to model complex data objects along with the control flow perspective has lead to significant practical and theoretical advances in the field of Business Process Modeling (BPM). On the practical side, there are several suites for control flow and data modeling; nonetheless, when it comes to formal verification, the data perspective is abstracted away due to the intrinsic difficulty of handling unbounded data. On the theoretical side, there is significant literature providing decidability results for expressive data-aware processes. However, they struggle to produce a concrete impact as being far from real BPM architectures and, most of all, not providing actual verification tools. In this paper we aim at bridging such a gap: we provide a concrete framework which, on the one hand, being based on Petri Nets and relational models, is close to the widely used BPM suites, and on the other is grounded on solid formal basis which allow to perform formal verification tasks. Moreover, we show how to encode our framework in an action language so as to perform reachability analysis using virtually any state-of-the-art planner.
Influence of p53 mutations on prognosis of patients with glioblastoma

The influence of p53 mutations on the biology of astrocytic tumors is controversial. p53 is thought to be inactivated in the early stage of gliomagenesis; however, what role its inactivation plays in the malignancy of gliomas remains unknown. To understand the significance of p53 inactivation, the authors identified the locus of p53 gene mutation in glioma samples at different stages of progression and studied the correlation between the mutation and clinical behavior.
Dynamic PV array reconfiguration under suboptimal conditions in hybrid solar energy harvesting systems

Solar energy is the most popular renewable energy source, but solar energy harvesting suffers from a series of serious obstacles in effective utilisation. In case of suboptimal conditions such as partial shading of photovoltaic (PV) module, PV cell mismatch, early ageing and different fault conditions, the overall system efficiency and robustness are severely degraded. The use of bypass diode and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques doesn't offer anymore a near optimal solution for the above-mentioned problems. In the past, reconfigurable PV arrays have been proposed with the possibility to interchange PV cells with spare cells. In this paper, the efficiency and robustness enhancement given by dynamic PV array reconfiguration is investigated in order to minimise the negative effects of suboptimal conditions and to offer the golden ratio in output energy in case of hybrid solar energy harvesting systems.
A relative color approach to color discrimination for malignant melanoma detection in dermoscopy images

Background: Skin lesion color is an important feature for diagnosing malignant melanoma. In previous research, skin lesion color was investigated for discriminating malignant melanoma lesions from benign lesions in clinical images. Colors characteristics of melanoma were determined using color histogram analysis over a training set of images. Percent melanoma color and color clustering ratio features were used to quantify the presence of melanoma‐colored pixels within skin lesions for skin lesion discrimination.
Read My Lips: Brain Dynamics Associated with Audiovisual Integration and Deviance Detection

Information from different modalities is initially processed in different brain areas, yet real-world perception often requires the integration of multisensory signals into a single percept. An example is the McGurk effect, in which people viewing a speaker whose lip movements do not match the utterance perceive the spoken sounds incorrectly, hearing them as more similar to those signaled by the visual rather than the auditory input. This indicates that audiovisual integration is important for generating the phoneme percept. Here we asked when and where the audiovisual integration process occurs, providing spatial and temporal boundaries for the processes generating phoneme perception. Specifically, we wanted to separate audiovisual integration from other processes, such as simple deviance detection. Building on previous work employing ERPs, we used an oddball paradigm in which task-irrelevant audiovisually deviant stimuli were embedded in strings of non-deviant stimuli. We also recorded the event-related optical signal, an imaging method combining spatial and temporal resolution, to investigate the time course and neuroanatomical substrate of audiovisual integration. We found that audiovisual deviants elicit a short duration response in the middle/superior temporal gyrus, whereas audiovisual integration elicits a more extended response involving also inferior frontal and occipital regions. Interactions between audiovisual integration and deviance detection processes were observed in the posterior/superior temporal gyrus. These data suggest that dynamic interactions between inferior frontal cortex and sensory regions play a significant role in multimodal integration.
A BRCA1 deficient, NFκB driven immune signal predicts good outcome in triple negative breast cancer

Triple negative (TNBCs) and the closely related Basal-like (BLBCs) breast cancers are a loosely defined collection of cancers with poor clinical outcomes. Both show strong similarities with BRCA1-mutant breast cancers and BRCA1 dysfunction, or ‘BRCAness’, is observed in a large proportion of sporadic BLBCs. BRCA1 expression and function has been shown in vitro to modulate responses to radiation and chemotherapy. Exploitation of this knowledge in the treatment of BRCA1-mutant patients has had varying degrees of success. This reflects the significant problem of accurately detecting those patients with BRCA1 dysfunction. Moreover, not all BRCA1 mutations/loss of function result in the same histology/pathology or indeed have similar effects in modulating therapeutic responses. Given the poor clinical outcomes and lack of targeted therapy for these subtypes, a better understanding of the biology underlying these diseases is required in order to develop novel therapeutic strategies. We have discovered a consistent NFκB hyperactivity associated with BRCA1 dysfunction as a consequence of increased Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). This biology is found in a subset of BRCA1-mutant and triple negative breast cancer cases and confers good outcome. The increased NFκB signalling results in an anti-tumour microenvironment which may allow CD8+ cytotoxic T cells to suppress tumour progression. However, tumours lacking this NFκB-driven biology have a more tumour-promoting environment and so are associated with poorer prognosis. Tumour-derived gene expression data and cell line models imply that these tumours may benefit from alternative treatment strategies such as reprogramming the microenvironment and targeting the IGF and AR signalling pathways.
A novel murine model of severe pulmonary arterial hypertension.

RATIONALE The complex pathologies associated with severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in humans have been a challenge to reproduce in mice due to the subtle phenotype displayed to PAH stimuli. OBJECTIVES Here we aim to develop a novel murine model of PAH that recapitulates more of the pathologic processes, such as complex vascular remodeling and cardiac indices, that are not characteristic of alternative mouse models. METHODS Inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) with SU5416 combined with 3 weeks of chronic hypoxia was investigated. Hemodynamics, cardiac function, histological assessment of pulmonary vasculature, and molecular pathway analysis gauged the extent of PAH pathology development. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS The combination of VEGFR inhibition with chronic hypoxia profoundly exacerbated all measures of PAH-like pathology when compared with hypoxia alone (> 45 mm Hg right ventricular pressure, > 0.35 right ventricular hypertrophy). The changes in pulmonary vascular remodeling in response to hypoxia were further enhanced on SU5416 treatment. Furthermore, hypoxia/SU5416 treatment steadily decreased cardiac output, indicating incipient heart failure. Molecular analysis showed a dysregulated transforming growth factor-β/bone morphogenetic protein/Smad axis in SU5416- and/or hypoxia-treated mice as well as augmented induction of IL-6 and Hif-1α levels. These changes were observed in accordance with up-regulation of Tph1 and Pdgfr gene transcripts as well as a rise in platelet-rich serotonin. Biomarker analysis in response to VEGFR inhibition and/or hypoxia revealed distinct signatures that correlate with cytokine profiles of patients with idiopathic PAH. CONCLUSIONS These data describe a novel murine model of PAH, which displays many of the hallmarks of the human disease, thus opening new avenues of investigation to better understand PAH pathophysiology.
CHOP‐mediated hepcidin suppression modulates hepatic iron load

The liver is the central regulator of iron metabolism and accordingly, chronic liver diseases often lead to systemic iron overload due to diminished expression of the iron‐regulatory hormone hepcidin. To study the largely unknown regulation of iron metabolism in the context of hepatic disease, we used two established models of chronic liver injury, ie repeated carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) or thioacetamide (TAA) injections. To determine the impact of CCAAT/enhancer‐binding protein (C/EBP)‐homologous protein (CHOP) on hepcidin production, the effect of a single TAA injection was determined in wild‐type and CHOP knockout mice. Furthermore, CHOP and hepcidin expression was assessed in control subjects and patients with alcoholic liver disease. Both chronic injury models developed a distinct iron overload in macrophages. TAA‐, but not CCl4‐ injected mice displayed additional iron accumulation in hepatocytes, resulting in a significant hepatic and systemic iron overload which was due to suppressed hepcidin levels. C/EBPα signalling, a known hepcidin inducer, was markedly inhibited in TAA mice, due to lower C/EBPα levels and overexpression of CHOP, a C/EBPα inhibitor. A single TAA injection resulted in a long‐lasting (> 6 days) suppression of hepcidin levels and CHOP knockouts (compared to wild‐types) displayed significantly attenuated hepcidin down‐regulation in response to acute TAA administration. CHOP mRNA levels increased 5‐fold in alcoholic liver disease patients versus controls (p < 0.005) and negatively correlated with hepcidin expression. Our results establish CHOP as an important regulator of hepatic hepcidin expression in chronic liver disease. The differences in iron metabolism between the two widely used fibrosis models likely reflect the differential regulation of hepcidin expression in human liver disease. Copyright © 2013 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Latent dry eye disease state variable.

PURPOSE Evidence is growing that dry eye represents a common disease process resulting from a number of underlying pathologies that impact the ocular surface and that clinical estimates of dry eye severity reflect the magnitude of a single dry eye disease state variable, Θ. A theory for estimating Θ from scaled clinical observations is developed, and the hypothesis is tested that Θ exists. METHODS The theory is developed around three assumptions: (1) a monotonic function unique to each person and indicator maps the indicator onto Θ, (2) between-person differences in mapping functions are random, and (3) observed indicator values include random perturbations. Data recently published by Sullivan and his colleagues were digitized from scatter plots of seven different indicators versus a composite severity score (square root of summed weighted squared indicator scores). RESULTS The data were analyzed with a model derived under the specific assumptions that between-person variance in mapping functions is independent of the indicator value and random perturbations in observed indicator values are normally distributed. Tear osmolarity was the most sensitive indicator, and tear breakup time was the least. The distribution of residuals (squared difference between observed and predicted indicator values) agreed with model expectations for all indicators except tear osmolarity, which had larger residuals than expected, and the composite severity score, which had smaller residuals than expected. CONCLUSIONS The results are consistent with the existence of a single latent dry eye disease state variable. Only tear osmolarity does not appear to map monotonically and/or unidimensionally onto the latent variable.
Design and evaluation of colon targeted modified pulsincap delivery of 5-fluorouracil according to circadian rhythm

Introduction: A modified pulsincap dosage form of 5-fluorouracil was developed to target drug to colorectal carcinoma according to daily oscillations of rate-limiting metabolizing enzyme dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase. Materials and Methods: The capsule body was made water insoluble by exposing the body to formaldehyde vapor. A mixture of granules containing drug, superdisintegrant, and osmogen was filled in the capsule body. A hydrogel plug was fitted to the mouth of the treated body, and the untreated cap was fitted to the body which was coated with Eudragit S100. Developed formulations were evaluated for in vitro drug release in 1.2 pH (2 h), 6.8 pH (3 h), and 7.4 pH (up to 12 h) buffer solutions. A 23 full factorial design was used for optimization in which the type of hydrogel plug (X1), the type of osmogen (X2), and the type of superdisintegrant (X3) were selected as independent variables while, cap opening time, percentage drug released in 5(Q5), 6(Q6), and 12(Q12) h were taken as dependent variables. Results: Dissolution data were fitted to various models to ascertain the kinetic of drug release. Regression analysis and analysis of variance were performed for dependent variables. The results of the F-statistics were used to select the most appropriate model. Conclusion: Formulation F1 containing sodium starch glycolate, potassium chloride, and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose K4M plug was considered optimum since it showed more similarity to the theoretical predicted dissolution profile (f2 = 77.33). The studies indicate that the formulation was effective in providing in vitro colon targeted release and controlled release after predetermined lag time.
Use of a conditionally lethal gene in Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 to select for double recombinants and to entrap insertion sequences

Use of the sacB gene (J. L. Ried and A. Collmer, Gene 57:239-246, 1987) provides a simple, effective, positive selection for double recombinants in Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120, a filamentous cyanobacterium. This gene, which encodes the secretory levansucrase of Bacillus subtilis, was inserted into the vector portion of a suicide plasmid bearing a mutant version of a chromosomal gene. Cells of colonies in which such a plasmid had integrated into the Anabaena chromosome through single recombination were plated on solid medium containing 5% sucrose. Under this condition, the presence of the sacB gene is lethal. A small fraction of the cells from initially sucrose-sensitive colonies became sucrose resistant; the majority of these sucrose-resistant derivatives had undergone a second recombinational event in which the sacB-containing vector had been lost and the wild-type form of the chromosomal gene had been replaced by the mutant form. By the use of this technique, we mutated two selected genes in the chromosome of Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120. The conditionally lethal nature of the sacB gene was also used to detect insertion sequences from this Anabaena strain. Sucrose-resistant colonies derived from cells bearing a sacB-containing autonomously replicating plasmid were analyzed. Five different, presumed insertion sequences were found to have inserted into the sacB gene of the plasmids in these colonies. One of them, denoted IS892, was characterized by physical mapping. It is 1.7 kilobases in size and is present in at least five copies in the genome of Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120.
An anatomically realistic whole-body pregnant-woman model and specific absorption rates for pregnant-woman exposure to electromagnetic plane waves from 10 MHz to 2 GHz

The numerical dosimetry of pregnant women is an important issue in electromagnetic-field safety. However, an anatomically realistic whole-body pregnant-woman model for electromagnetic dosimetry has not been developed. Therefore, we have developed a high-resolution whole-body model of pregnant women. A new fetus model including inherent tissues of pregnant women was constructed on the basis of abdominal magnetic resonance imaging data of a 26-week-pregnant woman. The whole-body pregnant-woman model was developed by combining the fetus model and a nonpregnant-woman model that was developed previously. The developed model consists of about 7 million cubical voxels of 2 mm size and is segmented into 56 tissues and organs. This pregnant-woman model is the first completely anatomically realistic voxel model that includes a realistic fetus model and enables a numerical simulation of electromagnetic dosimetry up to the gigahertz band. In this paper, we also present the basic specific absorption rate characteristics of the pregnant-woman model exposed to vertically and horizontally polarized electromagnetic waves from 10 MHz to 2 GHz.
Absorption characteristics of periodic arrangements of infinite helices

The absorption properties of periodic arrangements of lossy, infinite helices are investigated. The helices are assumed to be embedded in free space and backed by a p.e. c. plane. The method of moments is used to solve for the scattering parameters of a single layer, and a multiscattering technique is used to form a composite matrix that describes the scattering due to several layers. The resistivity of the wire, the pitch to length ratio of the helix, and the thickness of the layer are shown to affect the power absorbed. <<ETX>>
Attentional modulation of reward processing in the human brain

Although neural signals of reward anticipation have been studied extensively, the functional relationship between reward and attention has remained unclear: Neural signals implicated in reward processing could either reflect attentional biases towards motivationally salient stimuli, or proceed independently of attentional processes. Here, we sought to disentangle reward and attention‐related neural processes by independently modulating reward value and attentional task demands in a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in healthy human participants. During presentation of a visual reward cue that indicated whether monetary reward could be obtained in a subsequent reaction time task, participants either attended to the reward cue or performed an unrelated attention‐demanding task at two different levels of difficulty. In ventral striatum and ventral tegmental area, neural responses were modulated by reward anticipation irrespective of attentional demands, thus indicating attention‐independent processing of reward cues. By contrast, additive effects of reward and attention were observed in visual cortex. Critically, reward‐related activations in right anterior insula strongly depended on attention to the reward cue. Dynamic causal modelling revealed that the attentional modulation of reward processing in insular cortex was mediated by enhanced effective connectivity from ventral striatum to anterior insula. Our results provide evidence for distinct functional roles of the brain regions involved in the processing of reward‐indicating information: While subcortical structures signal the motivational salience of reward cues even when attention is fully engaged elsewhere, reward‐related responses in anterior insula depend on available attentional resources, likely reflecting the conscious evaluation of sensory information with respect to motivational value. Hum Brain Mapp 35:3036–3051, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
[Number, shape, and topography of leakage points in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy].

PURPOSE To evaluate the number, shape and topography of leakage points in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). METHODS Digital photographic files of fluorescein angiography with the diagnosis of CSC were reviewed by the author. The cases considered in remission and the examinations related to the same episode were excluded. The author filled out a form containing medical record number, initials, sex, age, date of the examination and leakage point characteristics (number, shape, and topography) of the selected cases. RESULTS The examinations of 418 patients (455 eyes) were included, with a male:female ratio of 2.32:1. Ninety-one point fifteen percent of the patients presented the disease unilaterally and 8.85% bilaterally. The mean age was 43.04 years (range, 19-68 years). Among the 455 selected eyes, 88.35% presented typical forms of CSC while 10.11% decompensation of the retinal pigment epithelium and 1.54% with isolated retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) detachment. The evaluation of typical forms of CSC showed a leakage point with uniform dye spread (inkblot) in 88.81% and 11.19% with a smoke-stack phenomenon. Regarding the leakage points, 46.01% were located in the upper nasal quadrant, 23.27% in the upper temporal quadrant, 19.18% in the lower nasal quadrant, 11.01% in the lower temporal quadrant and 0.53% in the subfoveal area. CONCLUSIONS In our series men were affected approximately two times more often then women, most of them with a unilateral involvement and in around the fourth decade of life. About 90% of the patients presented the typical forms, with 1 or 2 inkblot points or leakage. The superior nasal quadrant was the most affected. The isolated RPE detachment rarely occurred. Decompensation of RPE affected about 10% of the patients.