Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of liver fibrosis by transient elastography in persons with hepatitis C virus infection or HIV-hepatitis C virus coinfection.

BACKGROUND Transient elastography is a novel, noninvasive method for staging liver fibrosis. We compared elastography with histologic methods among hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-HCV-coinfected participants in an urban, predominantly black study population. METHODS Participants recruited from the AIDS Linked to the Intravenous Experience and the Johns Hopkins HIV Clinical Cohort studies underwent elastography to determine liver stiffness measurements. Liver biopsy specimens were staged F0-F4 in accordance with the Metavir score. Diagnostic accuracy and determination of liver stiffness cutoff values, compared with histologic methods, were determined by receiver operating characteristic analysis. Logistic regression methods identified parameters associated with discordant classification status. RESULTS Of 192 participants, 139 (72%) were coinfected with HIV and HCV, 121 (63%) had insignificant fibrosis, and 48 (25%) had cirrhosis. Overall, the area-under-the-curve receiver operating characteristic was 0.87 for detection of both significant fibrosis (95% confidence interval, 0.82-0.92) and cirrhosis (95% confidence interval, 0.81-0.93). With use of cutoff values of 9.3 kPa for fibrosis and 12.3 kPa for cirrhosis, 79%-83% of participants were correctly classified by liver stiffness measurement (compared with histologic methods); accuracy appeared to be higher among HIV-uninfected participants than among HIV-infected participants. Most discordance occurred when liver stiffness measurements indicated liver disease and histologic examination did not (in 16% of participants); the patients with these discordant results were more likely to have attributes that increased the odds of significant fibrosis, such as elevated serum fibrosis markers or HIV-related immunosuppression, compared with persons in whom low fibrosis was predicted by both examination of a biopsy specimen and elastography. CONCLUSIONS For most HCV-infected persons, fibrosis stage predicted by elastography is similar to that predicted by examination of a biopsy specimen. Elastography-based measurement of liver stiffness holds promise to expand liver disease screening and monitoring, particularly among injection drug users.
Genetic and nosological aspects of schizotypal and borderline personality disorders. A twin study.

The aim of this study was to investigate etiological and nosological aspects of the schizotypal and borderline personality disorders. The sample consisted of 44 schizotypal, 15 schizotypal and borderline, and ten borderline same-sexed twin probands. The investigation of the co-twins indicated that genetic factors seemed to influence the development of the schizotypal, but not the borderline, personality disorders. The basic genetic core of the schizotypal syndrome seemed to consist of schizoid and paranoidlike features, and not psychoticlike cognitive and perceptual distortions. The study did not indicate any relationship between schizotypal and borderline personality disorders and affective and schizophrenic disorders. Further research is needed to confirm the independent status of the schizotypal syndrome in relation to the schizoid, avoidant, and paranoid personality disorders, and the borderline syndrome in relation to the histrionic , narcissistic, and antisocial personality disorders.
Emotional Face Processing and Emotion Regulation in Children: An ERP Study

Emotion regulation is a critical component of healthy development, yet few studies examine neural correlates of emotion regulation in childhood. In the present study, we assessed whether children's neurophysiological responses to salient and socially significant emotional distracters—emotional faces—were related to broader emotion regulation capacities. Emotion regulation was measured as attention performance following emotional distracters and as maternal report of child emotional dysregulation. Electroencephalography was recorded while participants (15 children aged 5–9) performed an attention task. Scalp-recorded event related potentials (ERPs) were time-locked to emotional distracters (fearful, sad, and neutral faces) and reflected a range of rapid attentional and face processing operations (P1, N1, N170, and Nc). P1 latencies were faster whereas N1 amplitudes were reduced to fearful compared to sad faces. Larger P1 and Nc amplitudes to fearful and sad faces were correlated with more effective emotion regulation. Results are discussed in terms of mechanisms in emotion regulation and the use of ERPs to detect early risk for psychopathology and inform intervention efforts.
A Unidimensional Measure of Hong's Psychological Reactance Scale

Research using Hong's Psychological Reactance Scale has been fraught with methodological concerns. Researchers have been unable to find a stable, reliable, and replicable factor structure. Here, results suggested that Hong's Psychological Reactance Scale is a unidimensional one with an average alpha of . 74 (SD = .46). This value was attained by first analyzing correlation matrices reproduced from three reports on Hong's Psychological Reactance Scale and then verifying this new factor structure with original data. Tests for internal consistency supported a 1-factor solution. Tests for external consistency supported prior findings in relation to Psychological Reactance and offer evidence that the 1-factor solution is externally valid. While the authors contend that a 1-factor solution is appropriate, further testing is needed for external consistency and refinement of the measure.
Differential Resource Allocation in Deer Mice Exposed to Sin Nombre Virus

The resource allocation hypothesis predicts that reproductive activity suppresses immunocompetence; however, this has never been tested in an endemic disease system with free‐ranging mammals. We tested the resource allocation hypothesis in wild deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) with natural exposure to Sin Nombre Virus (SNV). Immunocompetence was estimated from the extent of swelling elicited after deer mice were injected with phytohemagglutinin (PHA); swelling is positively correlated with immunocompetence. After livetrapping deer mice, we determined their reproductive state and SNV infection status. Males were more likely to be seropositive for SNV than females (37% vs. 25%) and exhibited 10% less swelling after PHA injection. The swelling response of females differed with both infection status and reproductive condition. There was also a significant infection status by reproductive condition interaction: nonreproductive, seropositive females experienced the least amount of swelling, whereas females in all other categories experienced significantly greater swelling. The swelling response of males differed with both SNV infection status and reproductive condition, but there was no significant infection status by reproductive condition interaction. Seronegative males elicited greater swelling than seropositive males regardless of reproductive status. In contrast to the resource allocation hypothesis, these results do not indicate that reproductive activity suppresses immunocompetence of deer mice but rather suggest that chronic SNV infection reduces immunocompetence. Sex‐based differences in swelling indicate that SNV modulates the immune system of female deer mice differently than it does that of males, particularly during reproduction. We propose that differences in resource allocation between males and females could result from inherent sex‐based differences in parental investment.
Design of Cerebellar and Nontegmental Rhombencephalic Microvascular Bed in the Sterlet, Acipenser ruthenus: A Scanning Electron Microscope and 3D Morphometry Study of Vascular Corrosion Casts

The design of the microvasculature of cerebellum and nontegmental rhombencephalic areas was studied in eight adult Acipenser ruthenus L. by scanning electron microscopy of vascular corrosion casts and three-dimensional morphometry. Gross vascularization was described and diameters and total branching angles of parent and daughter vessels of randomly selected arterial and capillary bifurcations (respectively, venous mergings) were measured. With diameters ranging from 15.9 ± 1.9 μm (cerebellum; mean ± S.D.) to 15.9 ± 1.7 mm (nontegmental rhombencephalon; mean ± S.D.) capillaries in Acipenser were significantly (p ≥ .05) smaller than in cyclostomes (18–20 μm) but significantly thicker than in higher vertebrates and men (6–8 μm). With the exception of the area ratio β (i.e., sum of squared daugther diameters divided by squared diameter of parent vessel) of the venular mergings in the nontegmental rhombencephalon, no significant differences (p ≥ .05) existed between the two brain areas. Data showed that arteriolar and capillary bifurcations and venular mergings are optimally designed in respect to diameters of parent vessel to daughter vessels and to branching (merging) angles. Quantitative data are discussed both in respect to methodical pitfalls and the optimality principles possibly underlying the design of vascular bifurcations/mergings in selected brain areas of a nonteleost primitive actinopterygian fish.
What do healthcare providers know about nutrition support? A survey of the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of pharmacists and doctors toward nutrition support in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Malnutrition is one of the health problems that can be prevented by appropriate nutrition care provided by healthcare providers. However, this practice is still lacking possibly because of the providers' inadequate knowledge. The aim of this study was to evaluate the self-reported knowledge, attitudes, and practices of pharmacists and doctors toward nutrition support in a tertiary care hospital setting. METHODS A validated questionnaire was distributed to all the doctors and pharmacists working in a tertiary hospital in Penang, Malaysia. Seven individuals including academics, general surgeons, and pharmacists performed the face and content validity. The questionnaire was piloted using 24 healthcare providers at a different hospital. RESULT Of 400 surveyed, 158 doctors and 72 pharmacists from various grades completed the questionnaire. More doctors (31.6%) than pharmacists (15.3%) reported adequate knowledge to perform patients' nutrition screening. However, in the knowledge assessment, pharmacists had a higher mean score (6.07 ± 1.77) than the doctors did (4.59 ± 1.87; P < .001), and most (70.4%) of them were grouped in the "average" score range. In addition, both pharmacists and doctors have ambivalent attitudes toward nutrition support. Only 31.3% stated that they perform nutrition screening on admission, and half of them performed nutrition assessment during hospitalization. CONCLUSION Inappropriate nutrition care might be due to the lack of guidelines and insufficient knowledge among doctors and pharmacists. Special nutrition training and education for both pharmacists and doctors should be established.
Step-Up DC-DC converters combining basic topologies with charge pump

Hybrid DC-DC converter topologies, combining inductor-based switching cells with Switched-Capacitor cells, are gaining an increasing attention in low to medium power applications where the miniaturization and possible integration of the power supply call for a reduction of the magnetic element energy and volume as well as an increase of the switching frequency. The latter, can be attained by reducing the device voltage stress, to keep the associated switching losses to a reasonable value. In this paper, a family of step-up DC-DC converters are derived combining a basic Buck and Boost cell with a charge pump. Lower DC and AC current levels are obtained in the filter inductor as well as lower device voltage stress compared to an equivalent standard Boost topology. The drawbacks are a floating load connection and possibly higher conduction losses. Simulations and experimental results are reported to validate the theoretical analysis and expectations.
A Kinetic Study of Human Protein Arginine N-Methyltransferase 6 Reveals a Distributive Mechanism*

Human protein arginine N-methyltransferase 6 (PRMT6) transfers methyl groups from the co-substrate S-adenosyl-l-methionine to arginine residues within proteins, forming S-adenosyl-l-homocysteine as well as ω-NG-monomethylarginine (MMA) and asymmetric dimethylarginine (aDMA) residues in the process. We have characterized the kinetic mechanism of recombinant His-tagged PRMT6 using a mass spectrometry method for monitoring the methylation of a series of peptides bearing a single arginine, MMA, or aDMA residue. We find that PRMT6 follows an ordered sequential mechanism in which S-adenosyl-l-methionine binds to the enzyme first and the methylated product is the first to dissociate. Furthermore, we find that the enzyme displays a preference for the monomethylated peptide substrate, exhibiting both lower Km and higher Vmax values than what are observed for the unmethylated peptide. This difference in substrate Km and Vmax, as well as the lack of detectable aDMA-containing product from the unmethylated substrate, suggest a distributive rather than processive mechanism for multiple methylations of a single arginine residue. In addition, we speculate that the increased catalytic efficiency of PRMT6 for methylated substrates combined with lower Km values for native protein methyl acceptors may obscure this distributive mechanism to produce an apparently processive mechanism.
Endonasal Access to the Upper Cervical Spine: Part 2—Cadaveric Analysis

Abstract Objectives The study aims to determine factors that augment endonasal exposure of the cervical spine. Setting We used fluoroscopy and endoscopy to study endonasal visualization of the upper cervical spine. Participants Ten cadavers with normal anatomy were studied. Main Outcome Measures Endoscopic visualization was simulated with projected lines from an endoscope to the cervical spine in multiple positions. Results Neck position alone did not affect the extent of endonasal exposure of the upper cervical spine, although there was a trend correlating the extended neck position with more caudal exposure. The greatest impact was with concurrent use of a 30-degree endoscope and neck extension, and more caudal access was achieved by tilting the endoscope against the piriform aperture, using the posterior tip of the hard palate as the fulcrum. Conclusions Concurrent use of a 30-degree endoscope and neck extension increased the degree of exposure down the cervical spine. Maximum endonasal exposure of the upper cervical spine was obtained by maneuvering instruments at the fulcrum of the posterior hard palate and the nares, rather than changing the position of the neck alone. These results complement radiographic morphometric data in Part 1 of this study for preoperative assessment and surgical planning.
Bendamustine is effective in relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

BACKGROUND Bendamustine, an alkylating agent with a nitrogen mustard group and a purine-like benzimidazol group, has been shown to be effective in several solid tumors and indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, but has not yet been studied for efficacy in aggressive lymphomas. PATIENTS AND METHODS We conducted a phase II study in patients with relapsed or refractory high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, using bendamustine at a dose of 120 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 2, every 3 weeks for up to six cycles. Twenty-one patients were enrolled; 18 were evaluable for response and toxicity, 10 of whom were refractory to previous chemotherapy. RESULTS With three patients achieving a complete response (at 6, >or=8 and >or=22 months) and five a partial response (three at 2 months, one at 3 months and one at 10 months), the total response rate of the evaluable patients was 44% (eight out of 18; 38% of all patients). Two complete and two partial responders were refractory to prior treatment. In 10 patients, treatment had to be stopped after one to three cycles due to progressive disease or hematological toxicity (n = 2). Non-hematological side effects were mild. Eight (13%) WHO grade 3 and no grade 4 events were observed in 60 evaluable treatment cycles. Hematologic toxicity was moderate (grade 3 and 4): anemia in five cycles (8%), leukopenia in seven (12%) and thrombocytopenia in eight (13%). CONCLUSIONS Bendamustine as a single agent is effective against aggressive lymphoma, even in cases of refractory disease. Further studies are warranted to determine the significance of bendamustine in the treatment of aggressive lymphomas.
Understanding campaign “axiotechniques”: Their nature and practical usage in Ukrainian elections

Abstract This article seeks to shed more light on Ukraine’s parliamentary elections by considering campaign tools that were derived from values in the electorate and used in elections between 2006 and 2012. The influence of political values on the electoral process was pointed out by American political scientists in the mid-20th century. My research demonstrates, however, that the political choices of Ukrainians in the 2006–2012 elections gave rise to campaign techniques that were not based on “classic” political values like freedom, human rights and democracy. Instead, their source was national identity-related values including the importance of a common history, culture and language along with religious and geopolitical preferences. These values differed between the western and central regions of Ukraine on the one hand and the southern and eastern parts of the state on the other. This regional polarisation did not seem very dangerous, however, until the emergence of election campaigns based on political ideology. As ideology gradually lost its mobilising potential, there was a need for an effective new system of political influence. Manipulative techniques were deployed to incite artificial clashes between citizens with different political identities. This article analyses specific uses of these techniques and uncovers links between their application and the destruction of the electoral space in Ukraine as well as the division of the country’s real political arena.
Crystal structure of 2-{[1-(4-bromobenzyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl]methoxy}naphthalene-1,4-dione

In the title compound, C20H14BrN3O3, the benzene ring makes dihedral angles of 71.30 (11) and 68.95 (14)° with the naphthalene ring system and the triazole ring, respectively. The latter two ring systems are coplanar, with a dihedral angle of 2.92 (12)°. The O atoms deviate from the naphthalene ring system by 0.029 (2) and −0.051 (2) Å. In the crystal, molecules are linked by C—H⋯O and C—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, forming ribbons parallel to (10-1). The ribbons are linked via C—H⋯O and π–π stacking interactions [centroid–centroid distance = 3.4451 (14) Å], forming slabs parallel to the bc plane.
Macro-Financial Linkages: The Role of Liquidity Dependence

We estimate a panel Bayesian vector autoregression model for a cross-section of seven advanced European economies and produce out-of-sample forecasts of GDP conditionally on observed developments of interest rates and credit. We show that, by using a smooth transition version of the model and allowing the parameters to vary across economies conditionally on their liquidity dependence (i.e. dependence on the availability of funding from external sources), it is possible to improve the accuracy of the forecasts. We conclude that the degree of liquidity dependence is likely to be among the important predictors of heterogeneity in macro-financial linkages across countries.
Cryptotanshinone inhibits breast cancer cell growth by suppressing estrogen receptor signaling

Estrogen receptor (ER) is a major therapeutic target for the treatment of breast cancer, because of the crucial role of estrogen signaling deregulation in the development and progression of breast cancer. In this study, we report the identification of a novel ERα binding compound, cryptotanshinone (CPT), by screening the CADD database. We also show that CPT effectively inhibits estrogen-induced ER transactivation and gene expression of ER target genes. Furthermore, we showed that CPT suppressed breast cancer cell growth mainly in an ERα dependent manner. Finally, we confirmed the potential therapeutic efficiency of CPT using xenograft experiments in vivo. Taken together, our results describe a novel mechanism for the anticancer activity of CPT and provide supporting evidence for its use as a potential therapeutic agent to treat patients with ERα positive breast cancer.
Work-in-progress: balanced cache bypassing for critical warp reduction

Warp-level cache bypassing has been proposed to resolve GPU memory resource contention on GPU computing. However, the proposed cache bypassing scheme has sub-optimal perfor- mance due to warp criticality problem in balanced workload. In this paper, we show that warp-level cache bypassing is a sub-optimal solution and propose a balanced cache bypassing scheme to solve this problem.
Granite: Diversified, Sparse Tensor Factorization for Electronic Health Record-Based Phenotyping

One of the most formidable challenges electronic health records (EHRs) pose for traditional analytics is the inability to map directly (or reliably) to medical concepts or phenotypes. Among other things, EHR-based phenotyping can help identify and target patients for interventions and improve real-time clinical decisions. Existing phenotyping approaches often require labor-intensive supervision from medical experts or do not focus on generating concise and diverse phenotypes. Sparsity in phenotypes is key to making them interpretable and useful to clinicians, while diversity allows clinicians to grasp the main features of a patient population quickly.In this paper, we introduce Granite, a diversified, sparse nonnegative tensor factorization method to derive phenotypes with limited human supervision. Compared to existing high-throughput phenotyping techniques, Granite yields phenotypes with much more distinct (non-overlapping) elements that can, as an artifact, capture rare phenotypes. Moreover, the resulting concise phenotypes retain predictive powers comparable to or surpassing existing dimensionality reduction techniques. We evaluate Granite by comparing its resulting phenotypes with those generated using state-of-the-art, high-throughput methods on simulated as well as real EHR data. Our algorithm offers a promising and novel data-driven solution to rapidly characterize, predict, and manage a wide range of diseases.