Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Communicating radiation exposure: a simple approach.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this article is to provide a general method to help explain radiation exposure to patients presenting for nuclear medicine procedures. The concept is to convert the effective dose from any nuclear medicine procedure to the equivalent time in months or years to obtain the same effective dose from background radiation. METHODS The effective dose of each common diagnostic nuclear medicine procedure was obtained from the literature and the corresponding background equivalent radiation time (BERT) was calculated assuming an average background radiation of 3 mSv/y. RESULTS A table of the BERT has been compiled for common nuclear medicine procedures. CONCLUSION The BERT table provides a simple approach to help physicians and technologists effectively communicate radiation exposure information and perhaps potential radiation risk.
Ondansetron reduces mood disturbance among biologically predisposed, alcohol-dependent individuals.

BACKGROUND Early-onset alcoholics (EOA) differ from late-onset alcoholics (LOA) by developing problem drinking during youth, experiencing severe behavioral problems, having a familial disease history, and possessing a tendency toward subsyndromal mood disturbance, including symptoms of depression, anxiety, and hostility. Subsyndromal mood disturbance is, therefore, an important component of the early-onset syndrome and may be mediated by serotonin dysfunction. Therefore, the serotonin-3 antagonist ondansetron, which has been shown to be effective at improving drinking outcomes and promoting abstinence among EOA, presumably by ameliorating serotonin dysfunction, also may exert its beneficial effects by alleviating mood disturbance among EOA. METHODS After one lead-in week of single-blind placebo administration, subjects underwent 11 weeks of double-blind outpatient treatment using a 2 x 4 factorial design that examined age of onset (EOA versus LOA) and medication dose (placebo, or ondansetron 1, 4, or 16 microg/kg twice daily) combined with weekly standardized group cognitive-behavioral therapy. The placebo lead-in week was used to adjust for study entrance effects but not for excluding subjects. Assessments of mood were performed by using the overall score and subscales of the Profile of Mood States both at screening and at weekly intervals during the study. RESULTS Subsyndromal mood disturbance was shown to be an important component of early-onset alcoholism. Ondansetron (16 microg/kg twice daily) showed greater therapeutic efficacy at alleviating symptoms of overall mood disturbance, fatigue, vigor, confusion/bewilderment, and depression among EOA compared with LOA. EOA-associated improvements in mood disturbance seemed to be independent of drinking behavior. CONCLUSIONS Ondansetron has been shown to be an effective treatment for early-onset alcoholism. Ondansetron's ability to improve symptoms of depression, anxiety, and hostility among EOA may make an additional contribution to its therapeutic effect. Mechanistic studies are needed to delineate more clearly the relationship between serotonin dysfunction and pathophysiology among various subtypes of alcohol-dependent individuals.
Spinal actions of ω‐conotoxins, CVID, MVIIA and related peptides in a rat neuropathic pain model

Antagonists of the N‐type voltage gated calcium channel (VGCC), Cav2.2, have a potentially important role in the treatment of chronic neuropathic pain. ω‐conotoxins, such MVIIA and CVID are effective in neuropathic pain models. CVID is reported to have a greater therapeutic index than MVIIA in neuropathic pain models, and it has been suggested that this is due to faster reversibility of binding, but it is not known whether this can be improved further.
CR1-mediated ATP Release by Human Red Blood Cells Promotes CR1 Clustering and Modulates the Immune Transfer Process*

Background: CR1 on human red blood cells (RBC) capture immune complexes and deliver them to phagocytes. Results: RBC CR1-mediated ATP release increases RBC lipid mobility, CR1 avidity, and neutrophil phagocytosis. Conclusion: ATP release following CR1 ligation alters both RBC and neutrophil function. Significance: A new role for ATP from human RBC in modulating immune complex transfer. Humans and other higher primates are unique among mammals in using complement receptor 1 (CR1, CD35) on red blood cells (RBC) to ligate complement-tagged inflammatory particles (immune complexes, apoptotic/necrotic debris, and microbes) in the circulation for quiet transport to the sinusoids of spleen and liver where resident macrophages remove the particles, but allow the RBC to return unharmed to the circulation. This process is called immune-adherence clearance. In this study we found using luminometric- and fluorescence-based methods that ligation of CR1 on human RBC promotes ATP release. Our data show that CR1-mediated ATP release does not depend on Ca2+ or enzymes previously shown to mediate an increase in membrane deformability promoted by CR1 ligation. Furthermore, ATP release following CR1 ligation increases the mobility of the lipid fraction of RBC membranes, which in turn facilitates CR1 clustering, and thereby enhances the binding avidity of complement-opsonized particles to the RBC CR1. Finally, we have found that RBC-derived ATP has a stimulatory effect on phagocytosis of immune-adherent immune complexes.
Fast fluorescence detection in optical bio-systems

In order to detect the fluorescence on biological sample still exist extremely elegant solutions that involve high technology of high equipment costs, rather suitable for biomarker discovery in research than routine clinical tests in a very short time. In this scope, we present a fast real-time application that is running on mobile phones with included optical acquisition system. From the main menu where the application can be configured, as number of samples, colour depth of the camera and picture resolution, all features are automatically filled after a picture is loaded. After the sample selection, some options as re-crop for wrong sample or as start processing will automatically compute the histograms, determine the fluorescence intensity from them, interpolate the logistic curve and show the measured parameters that define the image.
Low-power state-retention dual edge-triggered pulsed latch

This paper presents a new state retention pulsed latch suitable for low-power and high speed applications. The proposed circuit employs power-gating during idle mode to reduce leakage power, while retaining its state. The pulsed structure of the circuit makes it feasible to be used in high speed designs. The HSPICE simulation conducted for 45nm CMOS technology indicates that in addition to state retention the proposed design, in terms of power-delay product (PDP), device count, and leakage power is comparable to other high performance flip-flops.
Hematopoietic cell transplantation and emerging viral infections

Viral infections remain important causes of morbidity and mortality in hematopoietic cell transplant recipients. More recent developments in preparative regimens and graft manipulations, as well as the control of well‐recognized post‐transplant infections by the introduction of prophylaxis and preemptive strategies, have influenced the timing and the epidemiology of infections. As new pathogens, such as human metapneumovirus (HMPV), human bocavirus, human coronaviruses HCoV‐NL63 and HCoV‐HKU1, human herpesviruses HHV‐6 and HHV‐7, and polyomaviruses, have emerged, it is fundamental to determine the significance of the newly discovered viruses and their role in the transplantation field. This article summarizes recent data on epidemiology and laboratory diagnosis of new pathogens, as well as clinical features and management of the associated infectious complications. J. Med. Virol. 82:528–538, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Throughput analysis for IEEE 802.11 in multi-hop wireless networks

IEEE 802.11 network uses the physical carrier sensing and RTS/CTS handshake as the main two techniques to combat interference and hidden node problem. But both techniques do not function well if the interferer or hidden node is beyond the transmission range of receivers. In our model, we take this fact into consideration when analyzing the performance of IEEE 802.11 in multi-hop wireless network. Instead of analyzing the network based on the behavior of the transmitter node, we take the receiver node as the point of reference. Mainly, we divide the network around the multi-hop path into a congregation of interleaved single hop subnetworks, i.e., each subnetwork covers up to 2-hop neighbors of one of the reference nodes. We use a finite capacity M/G/1/K queue and independent samples from saturation analysis to analyze the nonsaturation performance of the single hop wireless network. Then, we present a general analytical model and an iterative method to analyze the performance of the multi-hop path. Simulation results show good agreement with the analytical results.
Primary structure and oxygen-binding properties of the hemoglobin from the lesser hedgehog tenrec (Echinops telfairi, Zalambdodonta). Evidence for phylogenetic isolation.

The primary structures of the alpha- and beta-hemoglobin chains of the lesser hedgehog tenrec (Echinops telfairi, Zalambdodonta) are presented. Chain separation was performed by carboxymethyl-cellulose chromatography. The peptides, obtained by tryptic digestion of the oxidized chains, were prefractionated by gel chromatography and isolated by reversed-phase HPLC. For sequence analysis gas and liquid phase sequencers were employed. The tenrec hemoglobin consists of one alpha- and two beta-chains the latter occurring in a 1:1 ratio and differing in beta 16 Gly/Cys and beta 118 Phe/Leu. Two external cysteine residues at beta 16 and beta 52 cause reversible polymerization to octamers and most likely irreversible formation of higher polymers. A comparison of the whole chains and certain positions of tenrec hemoglobin with those of Insectivora sensu strictu, Scandentia and Proto- and Metatheria corroborates a long and independent evolution of tenrec and its phylogenetic isolation from the Insectivora s.str. (hedgehog, musk shrew and mole). Replacements at positions involved in heme and subunit interface contacts are discussed. Compared to human hemoglobin the tenrec pigment shows a low intrinsic oxygen affinity as well as lower chloride and temperature sensitivities, a reduced Bohr effect and a strong response to 2,3-DPG. The possible adaptive significance of these properties is discussed in relation to the large diurnal body temperature variations seen in tenrecs.
Use of In Situ and Airborne Multiangle Data to Assess MODIS- and Landsat-Based Estimates of Directional Reflectance and Albedo

The quantification of uncertainty in satellite-derived global surface albedo products is a critical aspect in producing complete, physically consistent, and decadal land property data records for studying ecosystem change. A challenge in validating albedo measurements acquired from space is the ability to overcome the spatial scaling errors that can produce disagreements between satellite and field-measured values. Here, we present the results from an accuracy assessment of MODIS and Landsat-TM albedo retrievals, based on collocated comparisons with tower and airborne Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR) measurements collected during the 2007 Cloud and Land Surface Interaction Campaign (CLASIC). The initial focus was on evaluating inter-sensor consistency through comparisons of intrinsic bidirectional reflectance estimates. Local and regional assessments were then performed to obtain estimates of the resulting scaling uncertainties, and to establish the accuracy of albedo reconstructions during extended periods of precipitation. In general, the satellite-derived estimates met the accuracy requirements established for the high-quality MODIS operational albedos at 500 m (the greater of 0.02 units or ±10% of surface measured values). However, results reveal a high degree of variability in the root-mean-square error (RMSE) and bias of MODIS visible (0.3-0.7 μm) and Landsat-TM shortwave (0.3-5.0 μm) albedos; where, in some cases, retrieval uncertainties were found to be in excess of 15 %. Results suggest that an overall improvement in MODIS shortwave albedo retrieval accuracy of 7.8%, based on comparisons between MODIS and CAR albedos, resulted from the removal of sub-grid scale mismatch errors when directly scaling-up the tower measurements to the MODIS satellite footprint.
A reconfigurable multilayered THz leaky-wave antenna employing liquid crystals

In this work, the tunable properties of nematic liquid crystals are exploited in order to design a Fabry-Perot cavity (FPC) leaky-wave antenna (LWA) with beam steering capability at fixed frequency in the THz range. The considered design is a grounded dielectric slab covered with a multistack of alternating layers of low- and high-permittivity dielectric materials, consisting of nematic liquid crystals and alumina thin films, respectively. The former allows for achieving the beam-steering capability at a fixed frequency. Full-wave simulations confirmed the pattern reconfigurability of the device, thus opening very interesting possibilities for the realization of reconfigurable THz antennas.
Effect of Rifampicin on S-ketamine and S-norketamine Plasma Concentrations in Healthy Volunteers after Intravenous S-ketamine Administration

Background:Low-dose ketamine is used as analgesic for acute and chronic pain. It is metabolized in the liver to norketamine via cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes. There are few human data on the involvement of CYP enzymes on the elimination of norketamine and its possible contribution to analgesic effect. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of CYP enzyme induction by rifampicin on the pharmacokinetics of S-ketamine and its major metabolite, S-norketamine, in healthy volunteers. Methods:Twenty healthy male subjects received 20 mg/70 kg/h (n = 10) or 40 mg/70 kg/h (n = 10) intravenous S-ketamine for 2 h after either 5 days oral rifampicin (once daily 600 mg) or placebo treatment. During and 3 h after drug infusion, arterial plasma concentrations of S-ketamine and S-norketamine were obtained at regular intervals. The data were analyzed with a compartmental pharmacokinetic model consisting of three compartments for S-ketamine, three sequential metabolism compartments, and two S-norketamine compartments using the statistical package NONMEM® 7 (ICON Development Solutions, Ellicott City, MD). Results:Rifampicin caused a 10% and 50% reduction in the area-under-the-curve of the plasma concentrations of S-ketamine and S-norketamine, respectively. The compartmental analysis indicated a 13% and 200% increase in S-ketamine and S-norketamine elimination from their respective central compartments by rifampicin. Conclusions:A novel observation is the large effect of rifampicin on S-norketamine concentrations and indicates that rifampicin induces the elimination of S-ketamine's metabolite, S-norketamine, probably via induction of the CYP3A4 and/or CYP2B6 enzymes.
Biphasic Activation of Aurora-A Kinase during the Meiosis I- Meiosis II Transition in Xenopus Oocytes

ABSTRACT Xenopus Aurora-A (also known as Eg2) is a member of the Aurora family of mitotic serine/threonine kinases. In Xenopus oocytes, Aurora-A phosphorylates and activates a cytoplasmic mRNA polyadenylation factor (CPEB) and therefore plays a pivotal role in MOS translation. However, hyperphosphorylation and activation of Aurora-A appear to be dependent on maturation-promoting factor (MPF) activation. To resolve this apparent paradox, we generated a constitutively activated Aurora-A by engineering a myristylation signal at its N terminus. Injection of Myr-Aurora-A mRNA induced germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) with the concomitant activation of MOS, mitogen-activated protein kinase, and MPF. Myr-Aurora-A-injected oocytes, however, appeared to arrest in meiosis I with high MPF activity and highly condensed, metaphase-like chromosomes but no organized microtubule spindles. No degradation of CPEB or cyclin B2 was observed following GVBD in Myr-Aurora-A-injected oocytes. In the presence of progesterone, the endogenous Aurora-A became hyperphosphorylated and activated at the time of MPF activation. Following GVBD, Aurora-A was gradually dephosphorylated and inactivated before it was hyperphosphorylated and activated again. This biphasic pattern of Aurora-A activation mirrored that of MPF activation and hence may explain meiosis I arrest by the constitutively activated Myr-Aurora-A.
Level of physical activity associated with risk of cardiovascular diseases and mortality in patients with type-2 diabetes: report from the Swedish National Diabetes Register

Aims To estimate risks of coronary heart disease (CHD), cardiovascular disease (CVD), and total mortality with low or higher levels of physical activity (PA) assessed with questionnaire, in an observational study of patients with type-2 diabetes from the Swedish National Diabetes Register. Subjects and methods A total of 15,462 patients (60 years), were followed for 5 years from baseline in 2004 until 2009, with 760 CVD events and 427 total mortality events based on 54,344 person-years. Results Comparing 6963 patients with low baseline PA (never or 1–2 times/week for 30 min) and 8499 patients with higher baseline PA (regular 3 times/week or more), hazard ratios for fatal/nonfatal CHD, fatal/nonfatal CVD, fatal CVD, and total mortality were 1.25 (95% CI 1.05–1.48; p = 0.01), 1.26 (95% CI 1.09–1.45; p = 0.002), 1.69 (95% CI 1.18–2.41; p = 0.004), and 1.48 (95% CI 1.22–1.79; p < 0.001), adjusting for age, sex, diabetes duration, diabetes treatment, and smoking (model 1). Adjusting also for HbA1c, systolic blood pressure, low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, body mass index, and albuminuria (model 2), HRs were 1.19 (95% CI 1.00–1.42; p = 0.049), 1.18 (95% CI 1.02–1.36; p = 0.04), 1.54 (95% CI 1.07–2.22; p = 0.02), and 1.41 (95% CI 1.16–1.72; p < 0.001), respectively. Corresponding results (model 2), comparing 4166 patients having low PA both baseline and at follow up with all other 11,296 patients were 1.68 (95% CI 1.41–2.01), 1.68 (95% CI 1.45–1.96), 2.12 (95% CI 1.48–3.03), and 2.03 (95% CI 1.66–2.48) (all p < 0.001) and compared to 2797 patients with low baseline PA and higher PA at follow up were 2.51 (95% CI 1.87–3.38), 2.54 (95% CI 1.98–3.27), 3.26 (95% CI 1.74–6.10), and 2.91 (95% CI 2.08–4.07) (all p < 0.001). Conclusions This large observational study of patients with type-2 diabetes showed considerably increased risks for CVD and mortality with low PA.
An Indicator-Based Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm With Reference Point Adaptation for Better Versatility

During the past two decades, a variety of multiobjective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) have been proposed in the literature. As pointed out in some recent studies, however, the performance of an MOEA can strongly depend on the Pareto front shape of the problem to be solved, whereas most existing MOEAs show poor versatility on problems with different shapes of Pareto fronts. To address this issue, we propose an MOEA based on an enhanced inverted generational distance indicator, in which an adaptation method is suggested to adjust a set of reference points based on the indicator contributions of candidate solutions in an external archive. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is versatile for solving problems with various types of Pareto fronts, outperforming several state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms for multiobjective and many-objective optimization.
Understanding the Cool DA White Dwarf Pulsator, G29–38

The white dwarfs are promising laboratories for the study of cosmochronology and stellar evolution. Through observations of the pulsating white dwarfs, we can measure their internal structures and compositions, critical to understanding post-main-sequence evolution, along with their cooling rates, which will allow us to calibrate their ages directly. The most important set of white dwarf variables to measure are the oldest of the pulsators, the cool DA variables (DAVs), which have not been explored previously through asteroseismology due to their complexity and instability. Through a time-series photometry data set spanning 10 yr, we explore the pulsation spectrum of the cool DAV, G29-38 and find an underlying structure of 19 (not including multiplet components) normal-mode, probably ℓ=1 pulsations amidst an abundance of time variability and linear combination modes. Modeling results are incomplete, but we suggest possible starting directions and discuss probable values for the stellar mass and hydrogen layer size. For the first time, we have made sense out of the complicated power spectra of a large-amplitude DA pulsator. We have shown that its seemingly erratic set of observed frequencies can be understood in terms of a recurring set of normal-mode pulsations and their linear combinations. With this result, we have opened the interior secrets of the DAVs to future asteroseismological modeling, thereby joining the rest of the known white dwarf pulsators.
Transport of LDL-derived cholesterol from the NPC1 compartment to the ER involves the trans-Golgi network and the SNARE protein complex

Mammalian cells acquire cholesterol mainly from LDL. LDL enter the endosomes, allowing cholesteryl esters to be hydrolyzed by acid lipase. The hydrolyzed cholesterol (LDL-CHOL) enters the Niemann–Pick type C1 (NPC1)-containing endosomal compartment en route to various destinations. Whether the Golgi is involved in LDL-CHOL transport downstream of the NPC1 compartment has not been demonstrated. Using subcellular fractionation and immunoadsorption to enrich for specific membrane fractions, here we show that, when parental Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are briefly exposed to 3H-cholesteryl linoleate (CL) labeled-LDL, newly liberated 3H-LDL-CHOL appears in membranes rich in trans-Golgi network (TGN) long before it becomes available for re-esterification at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) or for efflux at the plasma membrane. In mutant cells lacking NPC1, the appearance of newly liberated 3H-LDL-CHOL in the TGN-rich fractions is much reduced. We next report a reconstituted transport system that recapitulates the transport of LDL-CHOL to the TGN and to the ER. The transport system requires ATP and cytosolic factors and depends on functionality of NPC1. We demonstrate that knockdown by RNAi of 3 TGN-specific SNAREs (VAMP4, syntaxin 6, and syntaxin 16) reduces ≥50% of the LDL-CHOL transport in intact cells and in vitro. These results show that vesicular trafficking is involved in transporting a significant portion of LDL-CHOL from the NPC1-containing endosomal compartment to the TGN before its arrival at the ER.
A new approach to minimize torque pulsations in PMSM driven by field oriented control

Torque pulsations are one of the major disadvantages of the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) servo drives. In this paper a new on-line three phase reference currents modification method is proposed based on Fourier analysis and harmonic identification to reduce torque pulsations and current harmonic noises in PMSM driven by field oriented control algorithm. Although the new effective schemes based on active filters are presented to minimizing current harmonic noises and torque pulsation but these are not cost-benefit to motor drive applications and increase complexity of control system. As a comparison with the other methods, the proposed approach provides significant effects to obtain optimal motor drive without any complexity. The advantages is demonstrated as a detailed authentic simulation model of surface mounted PMSM drive based on the Simulink library in MATLAB.