Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sustained Auditory Attention Ability Test (SAAAT) in seven-year-old children with cleft lip and palate

Summary Cleft lip and palate (CLP) is a risk indicator to middle ear alterations, which may damage the development of auditory abilities such as attention that is essential to learn new skills, oral and written communication. Studies on attention process with CLP population are recent and poorly explored in the specific literature. Thus, this study aims to contribute with new subsidies in the field as it investigates the performance of children with CLP in Sustained Auditory Attention Ability Test (SAAAT). Material and Method Comparison of SAAAT performance between children with CLP and children without it. Prospective study. Results ANOVA was used as variance analysis model with two factors to study the variables such as group and gender. The CLP group showed an average of 2.5 units higher than the control group. This difference is between 0.7 and 4.4 with 95% certain. Conclusion children with cleft lip and palate had poorer performance on SAAAT when compared to those without such craniofacial anomaly, considering attention reduction only.
Analog/Digital Data Transmission using Li-Fi

The ubiquitous application of Li-Fi is precluded by the requirement of dedicated and expensive hardware. Therefore, the system is based on appearance that is being proposed in the paper. However, these systems are successfully able to transfer data but they are for only certain applications and high cost. Our aim is to transfer data accurately via both analog and digital transmission at a low cost. In this paper, we test our approach for data transfer using some amplifiers, photodetector, LED, and microcontroller for data transmission. We also developed an application for data transfer which provides an alternative to conventional EM wave communication. We demonstrate that our system can achieve a high improvement and low cost over the state of the art system.
Isolation of a neuropeptide-degrading endopeptidase from the leech Theromyzon tessulatum.

Extracts of head parts prepared from the leech Theromyzon tessulatum hydrolyse the Gly3-Phe4 bond of synthetic [D-Ala2, Leu5]enkephalin and the Gly-His bond of benzoyl-Gly-His-Leu. The metabolism of benzoyl-Gly-His-Leu was completely inhibited by captopril, consistent with an angiotensin-converting enzyme activity. Such an enzyme has recently been isolated from T. tessulatum. However, the enkephalin hydrolysis by captopril (100 microM) was inhibited to a maximum of 70%. The residual activity hydrolyzing enkephalin was inhibited by phosphoramidon, consistent with the presence of endopeptidase-24.11, a mammalian enzyme implicated in the metabolism of neuropeptides. This enzyme was isolated using four steps of purification including gel-permeation and anion-exchange chromatographies followed by reverse-phase HPLC. This neuropeptide endopeptidase (of approximate molecular mass 45 kDa) hydrolyses, at pH 7 and 37 degrees C, both the Gly3-Phe4 bond of synthetic [D-Ala2, Leu5]enkephalin and the Phe8-His9 bond of angiotensin I. Cleavage of [D-Ala2, Leu5]enkephalin yields, respectively, the Tyr-D-Ala-Gly and Phe-Leu peptides with a specific activity of 29 nmol Tyr-D-Ala-Gly.min-1.mg protein-1 (Km 95 microM). The hydrolysis of angiotensin I yields angiotensin II and the dipeptide His-Leu with a specific activity of 1.2 nmol angiotensin min-1.mg protein-1 (Km 330 microM). The metabolism of these peptides was totally inhibited by phosphoramidon. This study therefore provides biochemical evidence for neuropeptide-degrading endopeptidases in leeches.
Fluoroquinolones for treating tuberculosis.

BACKGROUND Fluoroquinolones are sometimes used to treat multiple-drug-resistant and drug-sensitive tuberculosis. The effects of fluoroquinolones in tuberculosis regimens need to be assessed. OBJECTIVES To assess fluoroquinolones as additional or substitute components to antituberculous drug regimens for drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tuberculosis. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group Specialized Register (April 2005), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library Issue 1, 2005), MEDLINE (1966 to April 2005), EMBASE (1974 to April 2005), LILACS (1982 to April 2005), Science Citation Index (1940 to April 2005), and Russian database (1988 to April 2005). We also scanned reference lists of all identified studies and contacted researchers. SELECTION CRITERIA Randomized controlled trials of antituberculous regimens containing fluoroquinolones in people diagnosed with bacteriologically positive (sputum smear or culture) pulmonary tuberculosis. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two authors independently applied inclusion criteria, assessed methodological quality, and extracted data. We used relative risk (RR) for dichotomous data, weighted mean difference (WMD) for continuous data (both with 95% confidence intervals (CI)), and the random-effects model if we detected heterogeneity and appropriate to combine data. MAIN RESULTS Ten trials (1178 participants) met the inclusion criteria. No statistically significant difference was found in trials substituting ciprofloxacin or ofloxacin for first-line drugs in relation to cure (89 participants, 2 trials), treatment failure (388 participants, 3 trials), or clinical or radiological improvement (216 participants, 2 trials). Substituting ciprofloxacin into first-line regimens in drug-sensitive tuberculosis led to a higher incidence of relapse (RR 7.17, 95% CI 1.33 to 38.58; 384 participants, 3 trials) and longer time to sputum culture conversion (WMD 0.50 months, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.82; 168 participants, 1 trial), although this was confined to HIV-positive participants. Adding or substituting levofloxacin to basic regimens in drug-resistant areas had no effect. A comparison of sparfloxacin versus ofloxacin added to regimens showed no statistically significant difference in cure (184 participants, 2 trials), treatment failure (149 participants, 2 trials), or total number of adverse events (253 participants, 3 trials). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS Only ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, levofloxacin, and sparfloxacin have been tested in randomized controlled trials for treating tuberculosis. We cannot recommend ciprofloxacin in treating tuberculosis. Trials of newer fluoroquinolones for treating tuberculosis are needed. No difference has been demonstrated between sparfloxacin and ofloxacin in drug-resistant tuberculosis.
Neuronal Differentiation and Growth Control of Neuro-2a Cells After Retroviral Gene Delivery of Connexin43*

Given the roles proposed for gap junctional intercellular communication in neuronal differentiation and growth control, we examined the effects of connexin43 (Cx43) expression in a neuroblastoma cell line. A vesicular stomatitis virus G protein (VSVG)-pseudotyped retrovector was engineered to co-express the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and Cx43 in the communication-deficient neuro-2a (N2a) cell line. The 293 GPG packaging cell line was used to produce VSVG-pseudotyped retrovectors coding for GFP, Cx43, or chimeric Cx43·GFP fusion protein. The titer of viral supernatant, as measured by flow cytometry for GFP fluorescence, was approximately 2.0 × 107 colony form units (CFU)/ml and was free of replication-competent retroviruses. After a 7-day treatment with retinoic acid (20 μm), N2a transformants (N2a-Cx43 and N2a-Cx43·GFP) maintained the expression of Cx43 and Cx43·GFP. Expression of both constructs resulted in functional coupling, as evidenced by electrophysiological and dye-injection analysis. Suppression of cell growth correlated with expression of both Cx43 or Cx43·GFP and retinoic acid treatment. Based on morphology and immunocytochemistry for neurofilament, no difference was observed in the differentiation of N2a cells compared with cells expressing Cx43 constructs. In conclusion, constitutive expression of Cx43 in N2a cells does not alter retinoic acid-induced neuronal differentiation but does enhance growth inhibition.
Strategies associated with higher postpartum glucose tolerance screening rates for gestational diabetes mellitus patients.

BACKGROUND Most women with histories of gestational diabetes mellitus do not receive a postpartum screening test for type 2 diabetes, even though they are at increased risk. The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with high rates of postpartum glucose screening. METHODS This cross-sectional analysis assessed characteristics associated with postpartum diabetes screening for patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM)-affected pregnancies self-reported by randomly sampled licensed obstetricians/gynecologists (OBs/GYNs) in Ohio in 2010. RESULTS Responses were received from 306 OBs/GYNs (56.5% response rate), among whom 69.9% reported frequently (always/most of the time) screening women with GDM-affected pregnancies for abnormal glucose tolerance at the postpartum visit. Compared to infrequent screeners, OBs/GYNs who frequently screen for postpartum glucose tolerance were statistically (p<0.05) more likely to have a clinical protocol addressing postpartum testing (67.2% vs. 26.7%), an electronic reminder system for providers (10.8% vs. 2.2%) and provide reminders to patients (16.4% vs. 4.4%). Frequent screeners were more likely to use recommended fasting blood glucose or 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (61.8% vs. 34.6%, p<0.001) than infrequent screeners. CONCLUSIONS Strategies associated with higher postpartum glucose screening for GDM patients included clinical protocols for postpartum testing, electronic medical records to alert providers of the need for testing, and reminders to patients.
Notch signalling drives bone marrow stromal cell-mediated chemoresistance in acute myeloid leukemia

Both preclinical and clinical investigations suggest that Notch signalling is critical for the development of many cancers and for their response to chemotherapy. We previously showed that Notch inhibition abrogates stromal-induced chemoresistance in lymphoid neoplasms. However, the role of Notch in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and its contribution to the crosstalk between leukemia cells and bone marrow stromal cells remain controversial. Thus, we evaluated the role of the Notch pathway in the proliferation, survival and chemoresistance of AML cells in co-culture with bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells expanded from both healthy donors (hBM-MSCs) and AML patients (hBM-MSCs*). As compared to hBM-MSCs, hBM-MSCs* showed higher level of Notch1, Jagged1 as well as the main Notch target gene HES1. Notably, hBM-MSCs* induced expression and activation of Notch signalling in AML cells, supporting AML proliferation and being more efficientin inducing AML chemoresistance than hBM-MSCs*. Pharmacological inhibition of Notch using combinations of Notch receptor-blocking antibodies or gamma-secretase inhibitors (GSIs), in presence of chemotherapeutic agents, significant lowered the supportive effect of hBM-MSCs and hBM-MSCs* towards AML cells, by activating apoptotic cascade and reducing protein level of STAT3, AKT and NF-κB. These results suggest that Notch signalling inhibition, by overcoming the stromal-mediated promotion of chemoresistance,may represent a potential therapeutic targetnot only for lymphoid neoplasms, but also for AML.
Gene Therapy for Dopamine Replacement in Parkinson´s Disease

The introduction of l-dopa (l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) therapy 40 years ago was a revolution in the treatment of patients with Parkinson´s disease (PD). With time, however, the shortcomings of oral l-dopa medication became apparent, in particular the appearance of troublesome side effects, expressed as involuntary movements (dyskinesias) that developed over time in many patients. A gene therapy approach, aimed at restoring dopamine synthesis in the affected brain by viral vector delivery of genes that encode the dopamine-synthesizing enzymes, may offer a solution to this problem. Now, a team of French and UK researchers reports promising results in a nonhuman primate model of PD, paving the way for clinical trials of this enzyme-replacement approach. A gene therapy approach aimed at restoring dopamine synthesis in the brain has proven efficacious in a nonhuman primate model of Parkinson's disease.
Pediatric Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation: Considerations for Definitional Criteria

BACKGROUND: A 2005 consensus conference led by the National Association for Medical Direction of Respiratory Care (NAMDRC) defined prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) for adults as invasive and/or noninvasive mechanical ventilation (NIV) for ≥ 21 consecutive days for ≥ 6 h/d. In children, no such consensus definition exists. This results in substantial variability in definitional criteria, making study of the impact and outcomes of PMV across and within settings problematic. The objective of this work was to identify how PMV for children and neonates is described in the literature and to outline pediatric/neonatal considerations related to PMV, with the goal of proposing a pediatric/neonatal adaptation to the NAMDRC definition. METHODS: We searched electronic databases for studies describing PMV in children. We extracted definitional criteria and developed recommendations based on the literature review and our clinical experience. RESULTS: Of the 416 citations obtained, 87 met inclusion criteria, totaling 34,255 subjects. Identified criteria for the pediatric PMV definition included: number of consecutive days of mechanical ventilation (ranging from 6 h to 3 months), inclusion of NIV, time spent off the ventilator during weaning (considered as same ventilation episode), and importance of chronological age (term neonates) and postmenstrual age for preterm neonates. We considered high-flow nasal cannula; however, we determined that its current role as a weaning adjunct is unclear. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, we developed the following recommendations for the pediatric PMV definition: ≥ 21 consecutive days (after 37 weeks postmenstrual age) of ventilation for ≥ 6 h/d considering invasive ventilation and NIV and including short interruptions (< 48 h) of ventilation during the weaning process as the same episode of ventilation. We propose a definition of pediatric PMV that incorporates the number of consecutive days of mechanical ventilation while taking into account use of NIV and lung maturity and including short interruptions during the weaning process.
Effects of systemic hypotension on postnatal intestinal circulation : role of angiotensin

Nowicki, Philip T. , and Lisa A. Minnich Effects of systemic hypotension on postnatal intestinal circulation: role of angiotensin. Am. J. Physiol. 276 (Gastrointest. Liver Physiol. 39): G341–G352, 1999. —Systemic hypotension causes a greater degree of vasoconstriction in intestine from 3than from 35-day-old postnatal swine. To determine the basis for this age-dependent difference, systemic hypotension (pressure reduction to ,50% of baseline) was induced by creating pericardial tamponade in postnatal swine instrumented to allow measurement of intestinal hemodynamics and oxygenation in vivo. Hypotension caused gut vascular resistance to increase 77 6 6% in 3-day-old subjects but only 18 6 3% in 35-day-old subjects. Prior blockade of a1-receptors with phentolamine, vasopressin receptors with [d(CH2)5,D-Phe,Ile,AlaNH2]AVP, or surgical denervation of the gut loop had no effect on hypotension-induced gut vasoconstriction. Losartan, which blocks angiotensin AT1 receptors, significantly attenuated hypotension-induced gut vasoconstriction in both age groups. BQ-610, which blocks endothelin ETA receptors, also limited the magnitude of vasoconstriction but only in younger subjects. This effect may have been consequent to an interaction between endothelin and angiotensin, inasmuch as a subpressor concentration of endothelin increased the contractile response to angiotensin in mesenteric artery rings. The substantial rise in 3-day-old gut vascular resistance was partly consequent to a locally mediated vasoconstriction that occurred in response to pressure and/or flow reduction during hypotension, as evidenced by the significant attenuation of this constriction when blood flow was held constant by controlled-flow perfusion to the gut loop during hypotension. Intestinal O2 uptake was compromised to a significantly greater degree in 3than in 35-day-old subjects during hypotension. This difference was primarily due to the inability of younger intestine to increase O2 extraction in the face of reduced blood flow and may be mediated, in part, by an effect of angiotensin II on intestinal capillary perfusion.
Cardiovascular Autonomic Neuropathy Is Associated With Macrovascular Risk Factors in Type 2 Diabetes

Background: The objective was to identify the presence of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) in a cohort of individuals with diabetes in outpatient clinics from 4 different parts of Denmark and to explore the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes in relation to CAN. Methods: The DAN-Study is a Danish multicenter study focusing on diabetic autonomic neuropathy. Over a period of 12 months, 382 type 1 and 271 type 2 individuals with diabetes were tested for CAN. Patients were randomly recruited and tested during normal visits to outpatient clinics at 4 Danish hospitals. The presence of CAN was quantified by performing 3 cardiovascular reflex tests (response to standing, deep breathing, and valsalva). To describe possible associations, multivariate analysis with CAN as the dependent variable was performed. Results: The prevalence of CAN was higher among patients with type 2 diabetes (35%) compared to patients with type 1 diabetes (25%). Multivariate analysis revealed significant associations between CAN and different risk markers in the 2 populations. In type 1 diabetes patients CAN was associated with microalbuminuria (P < .001), macroalbuminuria (P = .011), simplex retinopathy (P < .001), proliferative retinopathy (P < .001), and peripheral neuropathy (P = .041). Among type 2 diabetes patients CAN was independently associated with high pulse pressure (P < .01), BMI (P = .006), and smoking (P = .025). Conclusion: In this cross-sectional observational study CAN was independently associated with microvascular complication in type 1, whereas in type 2 CAN was associated with macrovascular risk factors.
Antagonists show GTP‐sensitive high‐affinity binding to the sigma‐1 receptor

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Sigma‐1 receptors are atypical receptors with potentially two transmembrane domains. Antagonists require doses significantly higher than their published affinities to have biological effects. We have reassessed the binding characteristics of these ligands and found antagonists bind to high‐ and low‐affinity states not distinguished by agonists.
Multiple access receiver based on hierarchical clusters/users detection using non-binary LDPC codes

A new scheme of detection for multiple access channel is investigated, which consists in the combining of PIC-like detection and joint decoding of LDPC codes. The joint decoding is first investigated through the use of LDPC codes over Galois extensions of binary field for the AWGN multiple access channel. It turns out that the (2,4)-regular GF(4)-based LDPC codes perform 2dB better than the binary regular LDPC. As second result, we point out that GF(4) is also the best suited field's extension for this application. These preliminary results indicate that conjunction of PIC and joint detection could provide substantial improvement without any complexity growth of the emitter in a MC-CDMA like up-link framework.
Simple Rain-Shelter Cultivation Prolongs Accumulation Period of Anthocyanins in Wine Grape Berries

Simple rain-shelter cultivation is normally applied during the grape growth season in continental monsoon climates aiming to reduce the occurrence of diseases caused by excessive rainfall. However, whether or not this cultivation practice affects the composition and concentration of phenolic compounds in wine grapes remains unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of rain-shelter cultivation on the accumulation of anthocyanins in wine grapes (Vitis vinifera L. Cabernet Sauvignon) grown in eastern China. The results showed that rain-shelter cultivation, compared with the open-field, extended the period of rapid accumulation of sugar, increased the soluble solid content in the grape berries, and delayed the senescence of the green leaves at harvest. The concentrations of most anthocyanins were significantly enhanced in the rain-shelter cultivated grapes, and their content increases were closely correlated with the accumulation of sugar. However, the compositions of anthocyanins in the berries were not altered. Correspondingly, the expressions of VvF3'H, VvF3'5'H, and VvUFGT were greatly up-regulated and this rising trend appeared to continue until berry maturation. These results suggested that rain-shelter cultivation might help to improve the quality of wine grape berries by prolonging the life of functional leaves and hence increasing the assimilation products.
Thermography investigation of soldered joints for LED mounting

Passive thermography method was used to investigate the heat sink efficiency for non-traditional soldered joints. Quality testing of soldered samples was conducted, specifically ones soldered using reactive soldering technique that provides the local heating of surfaces of the joint generated as a result of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis reaction in multilayer nano-foils. It is shown that the poorly soldered or damaged areas of tested joints are adequately visualized as areas of uneven heating when the current passes through the sample. It was revealed that reactive soldering with multilayer nano-foils can be considered the suitable method for mounting light emitting diods onto the printed circuit board
IO Glitch Filter

In this paper one of the ways of reducing glitches that are present in the output of a simple CMOS inverter is described. This is done via RC filter. In this filter instead of resistor and capacitor MOS transistors are used, which will reduce the area of the circuit with cost of increased delay. Simulations are done under 1 GHz frequency. Under this condition the glitches were reduced by 76%, going down from 250 mV to 60 mV. All researches and simulations are done using Synopsys Armenia Educational Department's SAED 32/28 nm CMOS technology and HSPICE simulator.
Machine Learning convergence for weather based crop selection

Agriculture plays a vital role in Indian economy. It contributes 18% of total India’s GDP. In India, most of the crops are solely dependent upon weather conditions. Hence, more yield of crops can be achieved by analysing agro-climate data using machine learning techniques. This paper proposes a crop selection method to maximize crop yield based on weather and soil parameters. It also suggests the proper sowing time for suitable crops using seasonal weather forecasting. Machine learning algorithms such as Recurrent neural network is used for weather prediction, and Random forest classification algorithm is used to select suitable crops. The result of proposed weather forecasting technique is compared with conventional Artificial neural network, which shows better performance results for each selected weather parameters.
Sequential diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging study of lysophosphatidyl choline‐induced experimental demyelinating lesion: An animal model of multiple sclerosis

To differentiate the surrounding edema from the focal demyelinating lesion during the early phase of the lesion using an apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and to monitor the changes in ADCs during the complete progression of a lysophosphatidyl choline (LPC)‐induced experimental demyelinating lesion, an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS).