Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Retinal emboli and cardiovascular disease: the Beaver Dam Eye Study.

OBJECTIVE To describe the 10-year incidence of retinal emboli, associated risk factors, and relationship of retinal emboli at baseline to stroke and ischemic heart disease mortality. METHODS The Beaver Dam Eye Study is a large (N = 4926) population-based study of persons 43 to 86 years of age at the time of the baseline examination. Retinal emboli were detected at baseline (1988-1990) and at a 5-year (1993-1995) and 10-year (1998-2000) follow-up by grading of stereoscopic 30 degrees color fundus photographs using standardized protocols. Cause-specific mortality was determined from death certificates. RESULTS The 10-year cumulative incidence of retinal emboli was 1.5%. After adjustment for age and sex, the incidence of retinal emboli was associated with increased pulse pressure (odds ratio [OR] [fourth vs first quartile range], 2.42; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.98-5.97; P =.03, for test of trend), higher serum total cholesterol level (OR, 2.77; 95% CI, 1.06-7.23; P =.03), higher white blood cell count (OR, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.04-4.96; P =.05), smoking status (OR [current vs never-smoker], 4.60; 95% CI, 2.08-10.16; P<.001), and a history of coronary artery bypass surgery (OR, 7.17; 95% CI, 3.18-16.18; P<.001) at baseline. After controlling for age, sex, and systemic factors, a significantly higher hazard of dying with a mention of stroke on the death certificate was found in people with retinal emboli (hazard ratio, 2.40; 95% CI, 1.16-4.99) compared with those without. CONCLUSIONS We found associations of smoking and cardiovascular disease with the incidence of retinal emboli. Persons with retinal emboli are also at increased risk of stroke-related death.
Effect of Antihypertensive Treatment with Doxazosin on Insulin Sensitivity and Fibrinolytic Parameters

Summary The effects of the selective alpha-1-adrenoceptor antagonist doxazosin on metabolic and fibrinolytic parameters were studied in hypertensive patients with various degrees of fasting plasma insulin levels (Group A: 22.5 ± 3 μU/ml, Group B: 8.1 ± 1.5 μU/ml; p <0.01) to disclose a potential link between a doxazosin-induced alteration of insulin and/or lipid metabolism and possible changes of these parameters on the fibrinolytic system. Doxazosin treatment resulted in a dose-dependent reduction of basal insulin levels in group A to 16 ± 3 μU/ml; p <0.05. This finding was paralleled by a dose-dependent increase in t-PAmass concentration in the same patient group (basal t-PAmass from 9.7 ± 1 to 15.5 ± 2 ng/ml; p <0.05). As PAI-1 “active” as well as total antigen levels were not altered in parallel, the net effect on the endogenous fibrinolytic system is an increase of the fibrinolytic potential.
Antiviral Properties, Metabolism, and Pharmacokinetics of a Novel Azolo-1,2,4-Triazine-Derived Inhibitor of Influenza A and B Virus Replication

ABSTRACT Influenza viruses of types A and B cause periodic pandemics in the human population. The antiviral drugs approved to combat influenza virus infections are currently limited. We have investigated an effective novel inhibitor of human influenza A and B viruses, triazavirine {2-methylthio-6-nitro-1,2,4-triazolo[5,1-c]-1,2,4-triazine-7(4Í)-one} (TZV). TZV suppressed the replication of influenza virus in cell culture and in chicken chorioallantoic membranes, and it protected mice from death caused by type A and B influenza viruses. TZV was also effective against a rimantadine-resistant influenza virus strain and against avian influenza A virus H5N1 strains. The pharmacokinetic parameters and bioavailability of TZV were calculated after the administration of TZV to rabbits. The TZV metabolite AMTZV {2-methylthio-6-amino-1,2,4-triazolo[5,1-s]-1,2,4-triazin(e)-7(4Í)-one} was discovered in ÍÅK 293T and Huh7 cell cultures, a liver homogenate, and rabbit blood after intragastric administration of TZV. AMTZV was nontoxic and inactive as an inhibitor of influenza virus in cell culture. Most likely, this metabolite is a product of TZV elimination.
Tuberculosis in the intensive care unit: A retrospective descriptive cohort study with determination of a predictive fatality score

S Valade, L Raskine, M Aout, al. Tuberculosis in the intensive care unit: A retrospective descriptive cohort study with determination of a predictive fatality score. Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol 2012;23(4):173-178. bACkgRounD: Despite effective treatments, tuberculosis-related mortality remains high among patients requiring admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). obJeCTIVe: To determine prognostic factors of death in tuberculosis patients admitted to the ICU, and to develop a simple predictive scoring system. MeThoDS: A 10-year, retrospective study of 53 patients admitted consecutively to the Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Lariboisière (Paris, France) ICU with confirmed tuberculosis, was conducted. A multivariate analysis was performed to identify risk factors for death. A predictive fatality score was determined. ReSuLTS: Diagnoses included pulmonary tuberculosis (96%) and tuberculous encephalomeningitis (26%). Patients required mechanical ventilation (45%) and vasopressor infusion (28%) on admission. Twenty patients (38%) died, related to direct tuberculosis-induced organ failure (n=5), pulmonary bacterial coinfections (n=14) and pulmonary embolism (n=1). Using a multivariate analysis, three independent factors on ICU admission were predictive of fatality: miliary pulmonary tuberculosis (OR 9.04 [95% CI 1.25 to 65.30]), mechanical ventilation (OR 11.36 [95% CI 1.55 to 83.48]) and vasopressor requirement (OR 8.45 [95% CI 1.29 to 55.18]). A score generated by summing these three independent variables was effective at predicting fatality with an area under the ROC curve of 0.92 (95% CI 0.85 to 0.98). ConCLuSIonS: Fatalities remain high in patients admitted to the ICU with tuberculosis. Miliary pulmonary tuberculosis, mechanical ventilation and vasopressor requirement on admission were predictive of death. ventilation mécanique (RRR 11,36 [95 % IC 1,55 à 83,48]) et des besoins vasopressifs (RRR 8,45 [95 % IC 1,29 à 55,18]). Un indice conforme à la somme de ces trois variables indépendantes était efficace pour prévenir la fatalité, avec une zone sous la courbe ROC de 0,92 (95 % IC 0,85 à 0,98). ConCLuSIonS : Les décès demeurent élevés chez les patients tuberculeux admis à l’USI. La tuberculose miliaire, la ventilation mécanique et les besoins vasopressifs à l’admission sont prédictifs d’un décès. the ICU or in the medical wards. Two patients (4%) presented with extrapulmonary tuberculosis Chest x-rays showed alveolar pneumonia nodules miliary lesions cavitary lesions pleural effusion (29%) and mediastinal lymphadenopathy (27%). More two lobes were involved in 28 of 53 patients (53%).
Serum thyroglobulin reference values according to NACB criteria in healthy subjects with normal thyroid ultrasound

Abstract Background: The present study was undertaken to establish serum thyroglobulin (Tg) normal reference values in a large group of healthy subjects. Methods: Four hundred and thirty-eight non-smoking healthy subjects were selected to assess the Tg reference values (209 males, 229 non-pregnant females, age 34.7±13.1 years). Inclusion criteria were: no personal or familial history of thyroid disease, thyrotropin levels from 0.5 to 2.00 mUI/L, negative thyroperoxidase and thyroglobulin antibodies. In addition, the patients had a normal size thyroid (females ≤18 mL, males ≤25 mL) without nodules on the thyroid ultrasound (TUS). According to National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry (NACB) criteria the Tg results were transformed to a logarithmic scale and reference ranges were calculated as mean±2 SD. Results: Serum Tg was measured on the Beckman Coulter UniCel DxI 800 automated platform by the simultaneous 1-step immunoenzymatic Access Thyroglobulin assay (Beckmann-Coulter SA, Nyon, Switzerland). Serum Tg levels were higher in females than in males (p=0.0022). Accordingly, gender-specific reference values were calculated (i.e., males: 1.40–29.2 ng/mL; females: 1.50–38.5 ng/mL). Conclusions: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first reference interval study for Tg that integrates NACB criteria and TUS assessment for the selection of the reference population is provided here.
Microbiological and epidemiological investigation of cholera epidemic in Ukraine during 1994 and 1995

The Ukraine cholera epidemic of 1994 and 1995 was caused by Vibrio cholerae O1, serotype Ogawa, biotype El Tor. This epidemic was centred in the area around Respublika Krim (Crimea) and Mykolajiv, and spread to include parts of southern Ukraine. Cases of cholera occurred between September and November of 1994 and between June and October of 1995. The 32 fatalities among 1370 recorded cases (case fatality ratio, 2·3%) occurred throughout the course of the epidemic. V. cholerae from patients with cholera produced cholera toxin and were resistant to multiple antibiotics, though no resistance plasmids were found. Conjugation experiments suggested that resistance to multiple antibiotics may be present on a self-transmissible genetic element. Environmental sources of V. cholerae O1 El Tor included sewage, sea and surface water, and fresh water and marine fish. All but one of the environmental V. cholerae isolated during the epidemic were very similar to selected isolates from patients at the same time, supporting the role of these environmental sources in the spread of disease.
Synthetic receptors prepared by organized assembly of organic molecules

Synthetic organic molecular approaches to prepare materials for fabricating molecular functional devices is one of the most attractive themes for chemists to pursue. Organized assemblies of organic molecules could be expected to exhibit new functionality in the resulting structure. However, the desirable functionality sometimes requires structure that is too complicated to synthesize by means of conventional synthetic techniques. In 1988, Lehn elucidated the concept of supramolecular chemistry in his Nobel lecture, which involved the construction of complicated molecules by self-assembling of small molecules with multiple weak-bond formation, allowing new functions to be induced. Considerable efforts have been made to develop supramolecular self-assembling systems. It appears that such systems have a great potential for the preparation of functional molecules in the field of molecular electronics and biosensor technology. In this article, we describe two topics with regard to self-assembly-induced molecular recognition systems including (1) metal ions-mediated supramolecular assembling of small molecules to form well-defined structures in aqueous solution and (2) molecular imprinting, the combined technique of self-assembling and cross-linked synthetic polymer synthesis to prepare synthetic receptors/enzymes. We present several examples and demonstrate the possibility of new frontier technologies of molecular architecture in designed chemistry, producing a new class of functional molecules.
Two epipodophyllotoxin derivatives, VM 26 and VP 16213, in the treatment of leukemias, hematosarcomas, and lymphomas

The preliminary results obtained with VM 26 and VP 16213 (two semisynthetic derivatives from epipodophyllotoxin) on leukemias and hematosarcomas are described. These compounds are phase M dependent, myelostatic agents whose toxicity can be controlled by intermittent administration. VM 26 proved capable of inducing regression in Hodgkin's disease, reticulosarcomas, and lymphosarcomas. Its most remarkable effect was the total regression of neoplastic pleural effusions by systemic administration. VP 16213 seemed to be effective on the same hematosarcomas, but less often. Its most striking action was its oncostatic effect in acute monocytoid leukemia and in the monocytoid component of acute myelomonocytoid leukemia.
Effects of psychological priming, video, and music on anaerobic exercise performance

Peak performance videos accompanied by music can help athletes to optimize their pre‐competition mindset and are often used. Priming techniques can be incorporated into such videos to influence athletes' motivational state. There has been limited empirical work investigating the combined effects of such stimuli on anaerobic performance. The present study examined the psychological and psychophysiological effects of video, music, and priming when used as a pre‐performance intervention for an anaerobic endurance task. Psychological measures included the main axes of the circumplex model of affect and liking scores taken pre‐task, and the Exercise‐induced Feeling Inventory, which was administered post‐task. Physiological measures comprised heart rate variability and heart rate recorded pre‐task. Fifteen males (age = 26.3 ± 2.8 years) were exposed to four conditions prior to performing the Wingate Anaerobic Test: music‐only, video and music, video with music and motivational primes, and a no‐video/no‐music control. Results indicate that the combined video, music, and primes condition was the most effective in terms of influencing participants' pre‐task affect and subsequent anaerobic performance; this was followed by the music‐only condition. The findings indicate the utility of such stimuli as a pre‐performance technique to enhance athletes' or exercisers' psychological states.
Exact Closed-Form ABER for Multi-Hop Regenerative Relay Systems Over $\kappa$ – $\mu$ Fading

A new exact closed-form expression for average bit error rate (ABER) for multi-hop decode-and-forward relay systems with quadrature amplitude modulation scheme over <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\boldsymbol {\kappa }$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\boldsymbol {\mu }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> fading channels is presented. The analysis uses the cumulative distribution function based approach to obtain ABER expression. Further, a simple asymptotic ABER expression is derived which is useful to determine coding gain and diversity order. The asymptotic ABER analysis shows that the diversity order is determined by the most severely faded link, while the coding gain is affected by the total transmission power of the system. Numerical examples are verified by simulation.
Posterior Weighted Bernoulli Mixture Model for Music Tag Annotation and Retrieval

Music tags provide different types of semantic information about music. Recently, automatic music tagging has generated a great deal of interest among researchers in the field of music information retrieval. In this paper, we propose a posterior weighted Bernoulli mixture model (PWBMM) that automatically annotates a song with tags, or retrieves relevant songs given a semantic tag. The PWBMM approach improves the codeword Bernoulli average (CBA) approach in two ways. First, it uses a Gaussian mixture model-based posterior representation of music feature vectors, instead of a vectorquantized representation; second, it incorporates the counts of tags assigned to training songs when training the Bernoulli mixture model. The results of music tag annotation and retrieval experiments on the MajorMiner and CAL-500 datasets demonstrate that the PWBMM approach outperforms the CBA approach in terms of different evaluation metrics.
Genome analysis of Rhizobium species using codon usage bias tools

Bacteria from genus Rhizobium have ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in symbiosis with leguminous plants resulting in formation of root nodules. They act as an alternate source of nitrogenous fertilizers. The study of codon usage patterns of Rhizobium species is gaining increasing attention over the times. In the present study three strains of Rhizobium namely Sinorhizobium meliloti 1021, Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA110 and Rhizobium tropici CIAT899 whose complete genome sequence are available were retrieved from NCBI for the analysis of codon usage. The overall codon usage analysis showed that codons ending with G and C are preferred more in the rhizobium genome than codon ending with A and T. ENc plot revealed that compositional constraints along with translational selection are the major cause of codon usage bias. Correspondence analysis (COA) showed that the variation in codon usage is accounted mainly by the first two axes. From the Pearson correlation analysis significant correlation was identified among the first axis of COA and Codon adaptation index (CAI) and other factors of codon usage bias. 17 optimal codons were identified that were shared among these three strains.
β-Catenin as a multilayer modulator of zonal cytochrome P450 expression in mouse liver

Abstract The liver is the major organ for metabolism of drugs and other xenobiotics. Expression of many drug-metabolizing enzymes is not equally distributed throughout the liver: under normal conditions, many of them, including the most relevant members of the cytochrome P450 superfamily, are exclusively expressed in a hepatocyte subpopulation located near branches of the efferent central vein. Activation of different ligand-dependent transcription factors by exogenous compounds stimulates high expression of certain cytochrome P450 isoforms. This process also occurs preferentially in perivenous hepatocytes. The mechanisms, however, which determine the zone-specificity of basal and xenobiotic-induced expression of cytochrome P450 enzymes, have remained largely unknown for decades. Very recently, signaling through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway has been implicated in the regulation of zonal gene expression in mouse liver. In this review, current knowledge of cytochrome P450 regulation by β-catenin-dependent transcription is summarized and underlying molecular mechanisms are discussed.
Chromatic Aberrations in the Field Evaporation Behavior of Small Precipitates

Abstract Artifacts in the field evaporation behavior of small precipitates have limited the accuracy of atom probe tomography analysis of clusters and precipitates smaller than 2 nm. Here, we report on specific observations of reconstruction artifacts that were obtained in case of precipitates with radii less than 10 nm in Al alloys, focusing particularly on a shift that appears in the relative positioning of matrix and precipitate atoms. We show that this chemically dependent behavior, referred to as “chromatic aberration,” is due to the electrostatic field above the emitter and the variations in field evaporation of the elements constituting the precipitates.
Improving Electrical Properties of Bottom-Gate Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Thin-Film Transistor Using $\hbox{CF}_{4}$ Plasma Treatment

In this letter, the effect of CF<sub>4</sub> plasma treatment on poly(3-hexylthiophene)-based organic thin-film transistors has been investigated. It was found that CF<sub>4</sub> plasma treatment on the source/drain electrode can reduce contact resistance and increase mobility. The CF<sub>4</sub> plasma treatment can increase the mobility from 0.0021 to 0.0102 cm<sup>2</sup>/V·s and decrease the contact resistance by about 70%. Moreover, the CF<sub>4</sub> plasma treatment is compatible with the bottom-gate bottom-contact structure without degrading the SiO<sub>2</sub> layer.
Study of Multimedia Delivery over Software Defined Networks

Software Defined Networks (SDN) have become a new way to make dynamic topologies. They have great potential in both the creation and development of new network protocols and the inclusion of distributed artificial intelligence in the network. There are few emulators, like Mininet, that allow emulating a SDN in a single personal computer, but there is lack of works showing its performance and how it performs compared with real cases. This paper shows a performance comparison between Mininet and a real network when multimedia streams are being delivered. We are going to compare them in terms of consumed bandwidth (throughput), delay and jitter. Our study shows that there are some important differences when these parameters are compared. We hope that this research will be the basis to show the difference with real deployments when Mininet is used.
Transferrin receptor co‐localizes and interacts with the hemochromatosis factor (HFE) and the divalent metal transporter‐1 (DMT1) in trophoblast cells

Iron uptake and storage are tightly regulated to guarantee sufficient iron for essential cellular processes and to prevent the production of damaging free radicals. The placenta is the entry site for iron, which is delivered to the developing embryo. Iron is taken up by syncytiotrophoblast cells and is transported unidirectionally from mother to fetus against a concentration gradient. Several iron transporters and regulators were recently characterized, including DMT1 and ferroportin/Ireg1 that transport iron through membranes, and HFE that regulates TfR‐mediated iron uptake. In this study we demonstrate that in a differentiated choriocarcinoma cell line BeWo, HFE, and TfR are localized mainly in recycling endosomes and a small percentage of these complexes is observed in late endosomes with DMT1 while in trophoblast cells, the level of TfR is significantly lower and it is detected with HFE and DMT1 mainly in late endosomes. Most interestingly, TfR and HFE, as well as TfR and DMT1 interact in placental trophoblast cells. Based on previous and these data we suggest that the level of intracellular iron may regulate both TfR expression (on the post‐transcriptional and the post‐translational levels) and TfR trafficking/transcytosis in polarized cells. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Bacterial cellulose modified with xyloglucan bearing the adhesion peptide RGD promotes endothelial cell adhesion and metabolism—a promising modification for vascular grafts

Today, biomaterials such as polytetrafluorethylene (ePTFE) are used clinically as prosthetic grafts for vascular surgery of large vessels (>5 mm). In small diameter vessels, however, their performance is poor due to early thrombosis. Bacterial‐derived cellulose (BC) is a new promising material as a replacement for blood vessels. This material is highly biocompatible in vivo but shows poor cell adhesion. In the native blood vessel, the endothelium creates a smooth non‐thrombogenic surface. In order to sustain cell adhesion, BC has to be modified. With a novel xyloglucan (XG) glycoconjugate method, it is possible to introduce the cell adhesion peptide RGD (Arg‐Gly‐Asp) onto bacterial cellulose. The advantage of the XG‐technique is that it is an easy one‐step procedure carried out in water and it does not weaken or alter the fiber structure of the hydrogel. In this study, BC was modified with XG and XGRGD to asses primary human vascular endothelial cell adhesion, proliferation, and metabolism as compared with unmodified BC. This XG‐RGD‐modification significantly increased cell adhesion and the metabolism of seeded primary endothelial cells as compared with unmodified BC whereas the proliferation rate was affected only to some extent. The introduction of an RGD‐peptide to the BC surface further resulted in enhanced cell spreading with more pronounced stress fiber formation and mature phenotype. This makes BC together with the XG‐method a promising material for synthetic grafts in vascular surgery and cardiovascular research. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.