Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The new Ghent criteria for Marfan syndrome: what do they change?

Faivre L, Collod‐Beroud G, Adès L, Arbustini E, Child A, Callewaert BL, Loeys B, Binquet C, Gautier E, Mayer K, Arslan‐Kirchner M, Grasso M, Beroud C, Hamroun D, Bonithon‐Kopp C, Plauchu H, Robinson PN, De Backer J, Coucke P, Francke U, Bouchot O, Wolf JE, Stheneur C, Hanna N, Detaint D, De Paepe A, Boileau C, Jondeau G. The new Ghent criteria for Marfan syndrome: what do they change?
The economic significance of infrastructural IT systems

This paper develops a new framework for analysing how and why IT is being applied to the infrastructure of the ‘information economy’. The interaction of micro and macro aspects of IT provides an economic rationale for the IT community to go beyond questions of firms' operations and strategies and to look towards national and international economic change. The micro-economic roles of transactions, communication and information infrastructure are analysed. These are then considered in terms of IT-related policy, from the local to the international level, illustrated by property rights legislation and changes in the European economic environment. It is concluded that the significance of IT lies primarily in its role as the very means by which markets and other economic mechanisms operate.
2 . 1 Use Case and Pipeline

Eucalyptus globulus is a tree used to produce paper pulp. With the aim to study the genes responsible for wood formation in E. globulus, which are not yet fully understood although known to have an impact on the quality of paper pulp, GenEglobwq project was defined. One of the project goals is the development of an annotation module, to automatically annotate the gene sequences obtained. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to extend a web information system, GEDI, used to manage the data from GenEglobwq project, in order to provide a tool for automated genome annotation. In this sense the annotation module in the GEDI system was created, which makes use of an automatic genome annotation pipeline, named MAKER, which can be used to annotate any type of organism. In order to validate the annotation module operation, the chloroplast genomes of Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus grandis was annotated. However, like any automatic genome annotation pipeline, not all the genes were annotated, being necessary a manual curation of the results.
Comparison and analysis of the nucleotide sequences of pilin genes from Haemophilus influenzae type b strains Eagan and M43

Previous studies have demonstrated antigenic differences among the pili expressed by various strains of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). In order to understand the molecular basis for these differences, the structural gene for pilin was cloned from Hib strain Eagan (p+) and the nucleotide sequence was compared to those of strains M43 (p+) and 770235 b0f+, which had been previously determined. The pilin gene of Hib strain Eagan (p+) had a 648-bp open reading frame that encoded a 20-amino-acid leader sequence followed by the 196 amino acids found in mature pilin. The translated sequence was three amino acids larger than pilins of strains M43 (p+) and 770235 b0f+ and was 78% identical and 95% homologous when conservative amino acid substitutions were considered. Differences between the amino acid sequences were not localized to any one region but rather were distributed throughout the proteins. Comparison of protein hydrophilicity profiles showed several hydrophilic regions with sequences that were conserved between strain Eagan (p+) and pilins of other Hib strains, and these regions represent potentially conserved antigenic domains. Southern blot analyses using an intragenic probe from the pilin gene of strain Eagan (p+) showed that the pilin gene was conserved among all type b and nontypeable strains of H. influenzae examined, and only a single copy was present in these strains. Homologous genes were not present in the phylogenetically related species Pasteurella multocida, Pasteurella haemolytica, and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. These data indicate that the pilin gene was highly conserved among different strains of H. influenzae and that small differences in the pilin amino acid sequences account for the observed antigenic differences of assembled pili from these strains.
Autism spectrum and obsessive–compulsive disorders: OC behaviors, phenotypes and genetics

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a phenotypically and etiologically heterogeneous set of disorders that include obsessive–compulsive behaviors (OCB) that partially overlap with symptoms associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). The OCB seen in ASD vary depending on the individual's mental and chronological age as well as the etiology of their ASD. Although progress has been made in the measurement of the OCB associated with ASD, more work is needed including the potential identification of heritable endophenotypes. Likewise, important progress toward the understanding of genetic influences in ASD has been made by greater refinement of relevant phenotypes using a broad range of study designs, including twin and family‐genetic studies, parametric and nonparametric linkage analyses, as well as candidate gene studies and the study of rare genetic variants. These genetic analyses could lead to the refinement of the OCB phenotypes as larger samples are studied and specific associations are replicated. Like ASD, OCB are likely to prove to be multidimensional and polygenic. Some of the vulnerability genes may prove to be generalist genes influencing the phenotypic expression of both ASD and OCD while others will be specific to subcomponents of the ASD phenotype. In order to discover molecular and genetic mechanisms, collaborative approaches need to generate shared samples, resources, novel genomic technologies, as well as more refined phenotypes and innovative statistical approaches. There is a growing need to identify the range of molecular pathways involved in OCB related to ASD in order to develop novel treatment interventions.
Comparison of subthalamic deep brain stimulation with pedunculopontine nucleus stimulation in the treatment of Parkinsonian motor and axial symptoms with and without subthalamic stimulation

Aims: The study compares efficacy of Pedunculopontine Nucleus (PPN) Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), subthalamic DBS and combined PPN-subthalamic stimulation in the treatment of advanced Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Methods: MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were searched for studies published before September 1, 2015. Search terms included various combinations of “subthalamic”, “pedunculopontine”, “deep brain stimulation” and “Parkinson disease”. Two investigators independently examined titles, abstracts, and references. Results of studies on clinical outcomes of PPN DBS and subthalamic DBS for PD were analysed. Therapeutic outcomes of included studies were evaluated using Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale III (UPDRSIII). Meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager Software version 5.3. Results: Three studies were included in the meta-analysis. Subthalamic DBS reduced UPDRSIII scores (off-medication phases) to levels lower than PPN DBS. However, improvement in UPDRSIII axial subscores (on-medication phases) after PPN DBS was greater than that after subthalamic DBS. UPDRSIII scores for combined PPN-subthalamic DBS were not significantly different from subthalamic DBS (on- and off-medication phases). Improvements in UPDRSIII axial subscores for combined PPNsubthalamic DBS were significantly greater than subthalamic DBS (on- and off-medication phases). Conclusions: The study demonstrates differences in therapeutic efficacy for Parkinsonian motor and axial symptoms between PPN DBS and subthalamic DBS based on UPDRSIII scores and axial UPDRSIII subscores. PPN is a better target for PD gait disorders than subthalamic nucleus in onmedication phases. Subthalamic DBS has similar effect on postoperative motor features with combined PPN-subthalamic stimulation. Combined PPN-subthalamic DBS is more effective than subthalamic DBS in treating axial symptoms of PD.
Systematic review and meta-analysis of effects of community-delivered positive youth development interventions on violence outcomes

Background We systematically reviewed and meta-analysed evaluations testing the effectiveness of positive youth development (PYD) interventions for reducing violence in young people. Methods Two reviewers working independently screened records, assessed full-text studies for inclusion and extracted data. Outcomes were transformed to Cohen's d. Quality assessment of included evaluations was undertaken using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Effect sizes were combined using multilevel meta-analysis. We searched 21 databases, including MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL and CENTRAL, and hand-searched key journals and websites. We included studies where the majority of participants were aged 11–18 years and where interventions were delivered in community (not clinical or judicial) settings outside of normal school hours. We excluded studies targeting predefined physical and mental health conditions or parents/carers alongside young people. We defined violence as perpetration or victimisation of physical violence including violent crime. Results Three randomised trials were included in this systematic review. Included evaluations each had design flaws. Meta-analyses suggested that PYD interventions did not have a statistically significant effect on violence outcomes across all time points (d=0.021, 95% CI −0.050 to 0.093), though interventions did have a statistically significant short-term effect (d=0.076, 95% CI 0.013 to 0.140). Conclusions Our meta-analyses do not offer evidence of PYD interventions in general having effects of public health significance in reducing violence among young people. Evaluations did not consistently report theories of change or implementation fidelity, so it is unclear if our meta-analyses provide evidence that the PYD theory of change is ineffective in reducing violence among young people.
Graph-based Semi-Supervised Learning Framework for Medical Image Retrieval

As low level features can not reflect the high level semantic in medical image search, in this paper, we propose an image retrieval algorithm to combine visual concept and local features by graph-based semi-supervised learning framework. More specific, we construct a graph model by distance between images, and add density similarity measure in the label propagation progress to get the membership degree of query images which is called visual semantic representation. Meanwhile, the dense SIFT feature of the image blocks is extracted and described with bag of visual words, in order to get the local feature. Besides, we design a combination of visual concept and local feature strategy for similarity measurement. Experimental results of ImageCLEFmed dataset demonstrate that the proposed algorithm represents the visual semantic of images effectively, and achieves a better retrieval performance than single low level feature.
Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Late Post-Treatment Pain in Women Treated for Primary Breast Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PURPOSE To assess the efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for late post-treatment pain in women treated for primary breast cancer. METHODS A randomized wait list-controlled trial was conducted with 129 women treated for breast cancer reporting post-treatment pain (score ≥ 3 on pain intensity or pain burden assessed with 10-point numeric rating scales). Participants were randomly assigned to a manualized 8-week MBCT program or a wait-list control group. Pain was the primary outcome and was assessed with the Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire 2 (SF-MPQ-2), the Present Pain Intensity subscale (the McGill Pain Questionnaire), and perceived pain intensity and pain burden (numeric rating scales). Secondary outcomes were quality of life (World Health Organization-5 Well-Being Index), psychological distress (the Hospital Depression and Anxiety Scale), and self-reported use of pain medication. All outcome measures were assessed at baseline, postintervention, and 3-month and 6-month follow-up. Treatment effects were evaluated with mixed linear models. RESULTS Statistically significant time × group interactions were found for pain intensity (d = 0.61; P = .002), the Present Pain Intensity subscale (d = 0.26; P = .026), the SF-MPQ-2 neuropathic pain subscale (d = 0.24; P = .036), and SF-MPQ-2 total scores (d = 0.23; P = .036). Only pain intensity remained statistically significant after correction for multiple comparisons. Statistically significant effects were also observed for quality of life (d = 0.42; P = .028) and nonprescription pain medication use (d = 0.40; P = .038). None of the remaining outcomes reached statistical significance. CONCLUSION MBCT showed a statistically significant, robust, and durable effect on pain intensity, indicating that MBCT may be an efficacious pain rehabilitation strategy for women treated for breast cancer. In addition, the effect on neuropathic pain, a pain type reported by women treated for breast cancer, further suggests the potential of MBCT but should be considered preliminary.
Electrocortical and electrodermal responses covary as a function of emotional arousal: a single-trial analysis.

Electrophysiological studies of human visual perception typically involve averaging across trials distributed over time during an experimental session. Using an oscillatory presentation, in which affective or neutral pictures were presented for 6 s, flickering on and off at a rate of 10 Hz, the present study examined single trials of steady-state visual evoked potentials. Moving window averaging and subsequent Fourier analysis at the stimulation frequency yielded spectral amplitude measures of electrocortical activity. Cronbach's alpha reached values >. 79, across electrodes. Single-trial electrocortical activation was significantly related to the size of the skin conductance response recorded during affective picture viewing. These results suggest that individual trials of steady-state potentials may yield reliable indices of electrocortical activity in visual cortex and that amplitude modulation of these indices varies with emotional engagement.
Enzyme induction with antiepileptic drugs: Cause for concern?

Several commonly prescribed antiepileptic drugs (AEDs)—including phenobarbital, phenytoin, and carbamazepine—stimulate the synthesis of a broad range of monooxygenase and conjugating enzymes. These agents are well known to reduce the duration and action of many lipid‐ and non–lipid‐soluble drugs, including anticoagulants, cytotoxics, analgesics, antiretrovirals, glucocorticoids, statins, antihypertensives, oral contraceptives, psychoactive drugs, immunosuppressants, and of course, other AEDs. This process, therefore, may be associated with a number of clinical problems including higher cancer mortality, progressive AIDS, transplant rejection, and unwanted pregnancy. Withdrawal of enzyme‐inducing AEDs will increase the concentration of induced drugs, bringing with it substantial risk of toxicity if doses are not concomitantly reduced. Yet the potential widespread adverse health consequences of these interactions, both with AED initiation and withdrawal, remain largely underappreciated. Furthermore, induction also affects enzymes involved in endogenous metabolic pathways, and can alter bone biochemistry, gonadal steroids, and lipid markers. Therefore, enzyme‐inducing AEDs may contribute to the development of a number of comorbidities, including osteoporosis, sexual dysfunction, and vascular disease. This process continues as long as the patient takes the inducer. Modern AEDs that do not possess this property have similar efficacy for the common epilepsies. Accordingly, perhaps consideration should be given to starting treatment with, or even switching patients to, non–enzyme‐inducing AEDs.
Effects of bombesin on the morphology and function of the rat adrenal cortex : comparison of the acute and chronic responses

The acute and chronic effects of bornbesin (BM) on the structure and function of rat adrenal cortex were investigated by rnorphornetric and radioirnrnunological techniques. An intraperitoneal bolus injection of 2 yglrat BM rnarkedly raised plasma corticosterone (B) concentration (PBC). The intraperitoneal BM infusion (1 yg/rat.h-l) for 1, 2 or 4 days evoked a notable increase in the nurnber of adrenocortical cells, without inducing apparent changes in either PBC or B output by adrenal quarters. Since proliferation and expression of specialized functions are rnutually exclusive states of cells, our findings suggest that the conspicuous stirnulation of adrenocortical-cell proliferation evoked by BM infusion may be responsible for the apparent lack of effect of this treatrnent on B secretion.
CONVERGENCE OF THE PARAMETER CLUSTERING BASED ON THE SIMULATED ANNEALING

The problem of parameter clustering on the basis of their correlation ma­ trix is considered. The convergence in probability of parameter clustering based on the simulated annealing is investigated theoretically. 1. Introduction. Any set of similar objects may be often characterized by common parameters (variables). The term "object" may cover, e.g., people, equipment, or produce of manufacturing. Any parameter may take some values. A combination of values of all parameters characterizes a concrete object from the whole set. The values obtained by any parameter depend on the values of other parameters, i.e., the parameters are correlated. The correlation matrix of parameters may be calculated during the analysis of objects composing the set. There exist groups (clusters) of parameters characterizing different properties of the object. The problem is to find these groups. One of the major objectives of various data analysis methods is to discover relations among the parameters. The methods analysed here are oriented to the analysis of correlation matrices and, in particular, to the clustering of parameters on the basis of correlations. Examples of real correlation matrices:
Influence of Maturity Stage on Nutritional and Therapeutic Potentialities of Solanum anguivi Lam Berries (Gnagnan) Cultivated in Côte D’Ivoire

Solanum anguivi Lam, collectively called Gnagnan in Cote d'Ivoire is an eggplant with nutritional and therapeutic potentialities. The present study was undertaken to analyze the chemical composition of berries at different stages of maturity. Data showed that at the first stage of maturity, green berries are rich in ascorbic acid (34.5 ± 1.7 mg / 100 g DM), phenolic compounds (956.7 ± 71.1 mg / 100 g DM), iron (467.7 ± 1.8 mg / 100 g DM), magnesium (404.6 ± 16.3 mg / 100 g DM) and potassium (2059.7 ± 22.3 mg/100 g DM). However at the last stage of maturity, red berries are rich in proteins, cellulose, total sugars, fat and potassium with values of 22.53 ± 2 g/100 g DM, 19.12 ± 0.4 g/100 g DM, 3.7 ± 0.2 g/100 g DM, 2.7 ± 0.2 g/100 g DM and 2290.8 ± 22.2 mg / 100 g DM respectively. Thin layer chromatography revealed the presence of glucose, ribose, xylose, arabinose and fructose at all maturity stages. Excepted alkaloids and gallic tannins, the phytochemical sorting revealed that Gnagnan contain several pharmacological components. According to the maturity stages, orange and red berries showed a higher content in sterols and polyterpens, flavonoids and saponins. The green berries contain most of polyphenols, catechin tannins and quinons. As to yellow berries, they are rich in polyphenols and catechin tannins. Data of our study may enhance clinical research on the nutritional and pharmacological properties of S. anguivi Lam.
eproductive response of ewes synchronized with different lengths of GA treatments in intrauterine insemination program

A total of 415 fat tailed ewes were randomly assigned to two groups to assess the effect of duration of melengestrol acetate (MGA) (9 versus 12 d) administration on reproductive parameters associated with laparoscopic artificial insemination. At the end of MGA treatment, ewes in each group were subdivided and inseminated with one of two different insemination doses (10 × 107 or 20 × 107 sperm per 0.5 ml insemination dose) of fresh diluted semen. Inseminations were carried out 11–18 h after first detected estrus. Ewes were screened for their return to oestrus from 10 to 21 days post AI and inseminated at their returned oestrus. Pregnancy diagnosis was done from approximately 55 days after insemination in both synchronized and return estrus. For short (9-day) and long (12-day) term MGA treated groups, estrus rates were 62% versus 89% (P < 0.0001), respectively. Ewes (n = 115) that returned to estrus were inseminated (7–11 h after estrus detection) with fresh diluted semen at different doses (20 × 107 or 40 × 107 or 60 × 107 sperm per 0.5 ml insemination dose). Pregnancy rates were 41% and 44% for short term and long term MGA treated ewes, respectively. Pregnancy rate of ewes which returned to oestrus was 53.4%. There was a significant (P < 0.05) increase in pregnancy rates (38–52% for 11–16 h; 63% for 17–18 h) when insemination was held at 17–18 h after first detected estrus following MGA treatments. Pregnancy rates were found to be similar in ewes inseminated with 10 × 107 (36%) or 20 × 107 (47%) motile spermatozoa at first AI, and 20 × 107 (44%) or 40 × 107 (59%) or 60 × 107(48%) at second AI. It was concluded that short term MGA treated ewes were recorded with lower estrus rates but was similar to pregnancy rates with long term MGA treatment. Acceptable pregnancy rates were achieved in MGA induced estrus when insemination is conducted at 17–18 h after estrus onset and with 20 × 107 sperm per insemination dose.
Is Gravity Entropic Force?

If we assume that the source of thermodynamic system, ρ and p, are also the source of gravity, then either thermal quantities, such as entropy, temperature, and chemical potential, can induce gravitational effects, or gravity can induce thermal effects. We find that gravity can be seen as entropic force only for systems with constant temperature and zero chemical potential. The case for Newtonian approximation is discussed.
Code Based Channel Shortening for Faster-than-Nyquist Signaling

In this paper, a novel code based channel shortening (CCS) algorithm for faster-than-Nyquist (FTN) signaling is proposed, where a special type of convolutional codes is used to absorb the channel memory. In contrast to conventional schemes, the proposed CCS algorithm performs joint detection and decoding (JDD) based only on the code trellis by exploiting the code structure. Therefore, the proposed CCS algorithm provides a new view for channel shortening (CS) techniques, i.e., absorbing the channel memory by using channel codes. According to the code structure, we derive the path metric of the proposed CCS algorithm. Furthermore, we introduce a design of self-concatenated convolutional codes (SECCCs) for FTN signaling based on the CCS algorithm. Simulation results show that with a 16-states BCJR algorithm for JDD, the bit error rate (BER) performance of the designed SECCC incorporated with FTN signaling is only around 0.75 dB away from the Shannon limit of the shaping pulse, and the required signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is below the BPSK capacity limit of Nyquist signaling.