Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Histopathology of cholestasis.

Cholestasis may be extrahepatic or intrahepatic in origin. The block in bile secretion may be complete or incomplete to variable extent. Complete cholestasis occurs in case of primary parenchymal disease (intrahepatic cholestasis) or total obstruction of extrahepatic bile ducts (extrahepatic cholestasis). Incomplete block in bile secretion is due to incomplete obstruction of intra- or extrahepatic bile ducts (intra- or extrahepatic cholestasis or both). Histologically, it is useful to distinguish between bilirubionstasis and cholate-stasis. Complete secretory block causes as early changers: bilirubinostasis (in hepatocytes, canaliculi and Kupffer cells) in acinar zone 3, and "ductular reaction" in acinar zone 1. The latter refers to an increase in periportal ductular profiles, associated with neutrophil infiltration. With longer duration of cholestasis, further lesions ensue: feathery degeneration of hepatocytes due to retention of detergent bile acids, cholestatic liver cell rosettes representing a shift from hepatocellular to biliary differentiation, xanthomatous cells reflecting hyperlipidemia, cholate stasis in acinar zone 1 due to overload of membrane-damaging bile acids, eventually paraportal bile infarcts, and progressive ductular reaction. The latter may be due to multiplication of pre-existing ductules, to metaplasia of periportal hepatocytes, or to activation of progenitor cells. It is invariably associated with periductular fibrosis: the pacemaker for increasing matrix deposition, resulting in biliary fibrosis and eventually in true biliary cirrhosis. Incomplete cholestasis (e.g. PBC, PSC) is characterized by absence of bilirubinostasis during long periods of time, whereas the afore mentioned features of chronic cholestasis do appear. Hence follows that the most reliable markers of chronic incomplete cholestasis are cholate stasis, cholestatic rosettes and ductular reaction. Bilirubinostasis is only a late and often ominous sign.
Search for New Physics with a Mono-Jet and Missing Transverse Energy in pp Collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A study of events with missing transverse energy and an energetic jet is performed using pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The data were collected by the CMS detector at the LHC, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns. An excess of these events over standard model contributions is a signature of new physics such as large extra dimensions and unparticles. The number of observed events is in good agreement with the prediction of the standard model, and significant extension of the current limits on parameters of new physics benchmark models is achieved.
Adaptive prediction for speech encoding

An overview of adaptive prediction in differential pulse code modulation (DPCM) systems used for speech encoding at 16 to 32 kilobits/sec. (kbps) is presented. Features of the paper include a discussion of both infinite impulse response and finite impulse response predictors and a development of the various predictor implementation structures, such as the direct or transversal form, the lattice form, and the cascade of second order sections form. Differences between forward and backward adaptation are described, and comparative performances results of several backward adaptive algorithms and predictor structures are discussed.
Determination of Groundwater Quality Based on Important Irrigation Indices Using Analytical Hierarchy Process Method

The purpose of this research is the zoning of groundwater quality for agriculture usages in the Eyvanakey plain, conjugating Interpolation methods by Geographic Information System (GIS) and selection of the best weights in Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Achieving this aim, groundwater quality data from 19 wells in Eyvanakey plain were used. First, raster maps of the study area was prepared, using Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) method, containing the Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR), Permeability Index (PI), Kelley Ratio (KR), Magnesium Absorption Ratio (MAR), Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC), Sodium solubility Percentage (SSP), Electrical Conductivity (EC) and Total Hardness (TH). Then, the final weights of parameters were determined by Hierarchical Analysis Process and pairwise matrix. Finally, the map of groundwater qualitative potential for agricultural purposes, prepared, using map overlaying and final weights of the parameters, applying in GIS. Results showed, the groundwater quality for agriculture uses in center and south is bad whereas at east is moderate and at west it was good.
Isolation of Genomic DNA from Feathers

The use of feathers in veterinary clinical practice simplifies the sampling of avian genomic DNA, especially when blood extraction is difficult because of the age or the size of the bird. A rapid and accurate protocol was used to isolate high-quality genomic DNA from feathers. The technique includes a lysis step of the feather quill, which differs in temperature and time of incubation depending on the feather size. Purification of genomic DNA is performed with phenol: chloroform: isoamyl alcohol extraction and ethanol precipitation. This protocol consistently provided significant amounts of high-quality genomic DNA from more than 800 birds belonging to 120 different species. Genomic DNA isolated with this method was used for Southern blotting and also in several polymerase chain reaction systems devoted to sex determination and paternity testing.
Effect of hormone replacement therapies and selective estrogen receptor modulators in postmenopausal women with uterine leiomyomas:a literature review

This systematic review examines current literature relating to clinical studies of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and tibolone, including selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) such as tamoxifen and raloxifene, and their usage in postmenopausal women with fibroids. After a MEDLINE search, 28 relevant articles were found in total, of which five concerned randomized controlled trials. The results from class I studies and class II studies are evaluated in the categories of those that involved tibolone only, those that involved HRT only, and those that involved SERMs such as tamoxifen and raloxifene. In conclusion, tibolone has no significant effect on myoma size in postmenopausal women. There is myoma growth in postmenopausal women taking HRT. However, this does not appear to cause clinical symptoms.
Cloning and characterization of two genes from Bacillus polymyxa expressing beta-glucosidase activity in Escherichia coli

DNA fragments from Bacillus polymyxa which encode beta-glucosidase activity were cloned in Escherichia coli by selection of yellow transformants able to hydrolyze the artificial chromogenic substrate p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside. Restriction endonuclease maps and Southern analysis of the cloned fragments showed the existence of two different genes. Expression of either one of these genes allowed growth of E. coli in minimal medium with cellobiose as the only carbon source. One of the two enzymes was found in the periplasm of E. coli, hydrolyzed arylglucosides more actively than cellobiose, and rendered glucose as the only product upon cellobiose hydrolysis. The other enzyme was located in the cytoplasm, was more active toward cellobiose, and hydrolyzed this disaccharide, yielding glucose and another, unidentified compound, probably a phosphorylated sugar.
POLYVINYL PYRROLIDONE‐IODINE LIPOSOME HYDROGEL IMPROVES EPITHELIALIZATION BY COMBINING MOISTURE AND ANTISEPIS. A NEW CONCEPT IN WOUND THERAPY

Moist treatment of wounds has been shown to improve epithelialization, however at an increased risk of bacterial infection. In this monocentric, randomized, open, phase II pilot study of polyvinyl pyrrolidone‐iodine, a well‐established topical antiseptic was tested in a new liposomal complexed form in patients receiving meshed skin grafts after burns or reconstructive procedures. Mesh skin graft sites of 36 patients were dressed either with the new polyvinyl‐pyrrolidone‐iodine liposome hydrogel formulation (Betasom hydrogel) (n= 21), or chlorhexidine‐gauze (n= 15). After the first dressing change, wounds were assessed daily and documented every other day until they were healed. Methods of analysis included clinical assessment, photoplanimetry (rate of epithelialization), impedance measurement (moisture of surface and wound healing quality), patient's assessment of pain and other sensations, and thyroid hormones (T3, T4, and TSH). The rate of epithelialization was improved with Betasom hydrogel compared to chlorhexidine‐gauze on day 11 (96.3% vs. 75.9%p= 0.056) and significantly on day 13 (100% vs. 82.3%p= 0.005), respectively. Impedance measurements showed an earlier return to normal values (day 9) in Betasom‐hydrogel–treated wounds as opposed to chlorhexidine treatment (day 11). Clinical assessment indicated significantly better antiseptic efficacy (p= 0.002) and wound healing quality (p= 0.004) of Betasom hydrogel. Graft loss occurred at a significantly lower rate in Betasom treatment (n= 1; 5%), than in chlorhexidine treatment (n= 5; 35.7%) (p= 0.001). No relevant adverse events or clinically relevant changes of thyroid hormones were observed with Betasom hydrogel. The rationale of this new polyvinyl pyrrolidone‐iodine liposomal formulation was based on the properties of liposomes that provide higher moisture to the wound surface, release PVP‐iodine at a low rate, and target the substance more exactly by interaction with the cell surface. These initial clinical results show earlier epithelialization and better healing in wounds treated with polyvinyl pyrrolidone‐iodine liposome hydrogel, which combines moisture and antisepsis, compared to wounds treated with a conventional antiseptic chlorhexidine‐gauze.
Correlations in the results of virus neutralization test, hemagglutination inhibition test, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to determine infectious bronchitis virus vaccine potency

: The virus neutralization (VN) test was used to determine potency of the infectious bronchitis (IB) vaccine. The results of VN, hemagglutination inhibition (HI), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were compared with those of the IBV M41. The r 2 values between VN and HI titers and the ELISA antibody titer were 0.8782 and 0.0336, respectively, indicating a high correlation between VN and HI, but not VN and ELISA. The Cohen’s kappa coefficient between the VN titer of 2 log 10 and HI titer of 5 log 2 was 0.909. Our results showed that VN could be replaced with HI for testing the potency of IBV M41.
On the mathematical foundations of smoothness constraints for the determination of optical flow and for surface reconstruction

Gradient-based approaches to the computation of optical flow often use a minimization technique incorporating a smoothness constraint on the optical flow field. The author derives the most general form of such a smoothness constraint which is quadratic in first or second derivatives of the grey-level image intensity function, based on three simple assumptions about the smoothness constraint: (1) that it be expressed in a form which is independent of the choice of Cartesian coordinate system in the image; (2) that it be positive definite; and (3) that it not couple different components of the optical flow. It is shown that there are essentially only four such constraints; any smoothness constraint satisfying all three assumptions must be a linear combination of these four, possibly multipled by certain quantities of these four, possibly multipled by certain quantities invariant under a change in the Cartesian coordinate system. Beginning with the three assumptions mentioned above, the author mathematically demonstrates that all the best-known smoothness constraints appearing in the literature are special cases of this general form, and, in particular, that the 'weight matrix' introduced by H. -H. Nagel (1983) is essentially the only physically plausible such constraint. <<ETX>>
To Compare The Effect Of Core Stability Exercises And Muscle Energy Techniques On Low Back Pain Patients.

Low back pain is considered one of the commonest condition in the western and industrialized countries. It is estimated that up to 50% of adults experience low back pain during their life span. People of all age group can be effected by this menace irrespective to their gender and quality of life. It has become one of the leading causes for the visit to physician thus also puts a heavy burden on the currency of the country. Physiotherapy is the most widely used form of treatment adopted for gaining relief from low back pain. The exercises include stretching, strengthening, range of motion exercises, McKenzie therapy and core stability exercises other techniques like muscle energy technique etc. It has been concluded in various studies core stability exercises and muscle energy technique are beneficial in low back pain patients but comparison of their effect needs to be established to provide early and better relief from the disability. Therefore objective of the study was to compare the effect of core stability exercises and muscle energy techniques on low back pain patients. 60 subjects aged 18 – 45 years with low back pain were made part of the study based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and were then divided into three groups named A, B and C. Group A received core stability exercise and conventional physiotheraphy and group B received muscle energy techniques and conventional physiotherapy. The exercise program was given on alternate days with a total of 24 sessions and progression of the activity was made within the tolerance of the patient. Pre and post treatment readings were taken of pain, ROM and quality of life scale. Results were analyzed using paired, unpaired ttest and ANOVA. Results showed that there is significant effect on pain, ROM and quality of life scale in the three groups but group A was clinically more significant than the other groups. The study concluded that patients with low back pain are benefitted more by core stability exercises. So, core stability exercises should be practiced more.
Observational case-control study of non-invasive ventilation in patients with ARDS.

BACKGROUND The application of non-invasive pressure support ventilation (NIPSV) in patients with acute lung injury or ARDS remains controversial despite recent promising results. Data in rather homogeneous ARDS groups is lacking. OBJECTIVE To compare the outcome of NIPSV-treated patients satisfying the diagnostic criteria for primary (pulmonary) ARDS (ARDSp) and presenting without distant organ failures at admission, with those of a matched control group treated in the same ICU with endotracheal mechanical ventilation (ETMV). METHODS We applied NIPSV in 12 immunocompetent and collaborative patients who met the above cited criteria. NIPSV failure rate, short-term oxygenation, length of stay, mortality rate and complications were analyzed and compared with a control group of 12 intubated ARDSp-patients matched for age, SAPS II, PaO2/FiO2 and pH at admission. RESULTS NIPSV failed in 4 patients developing distant organ failures. Compared to the ETMV control group, NIPSV success patients had reduced cumulative time on ventilation (p = 0.001) and length of ICU stay (p = 0.004). After the first 60' of ventilation, oxygenation improved more in the NIPSV than in the ETMV group (146 +/- 52 mmHg vs 109 +/- 34 mmHg; p = 0.05). The overall ICU mortality rate did not differ significantly between the groups but tended to be higher in the NIPSV group. CONCLUSIONS In ARDSp patients without distant organ failures at admission and during the disease course, NIPSV might be a suitable alternative to invasive ventilation; however, the real effects on outcome of NIPSV applied to stable homogeneous subgroups of ARDS patients merit further investigations in randomised studies.
Pronounced Diversity in Electronic and Chemical Properties between the Catalytic Zinc Sites of Tumor Necrosis Factor-α-converting Enzyme and Matrix Metalloproteinases despite Their High Structural Similarity*

The metalloproteinase tumor necrosis factor-α-converting enzyme (TACE) is involved in the regulation of several key physiological and pathological processes. Therefore, potent and selective synthetic inhibitors are highly sought for the study of the physiological roles of TACE as well as for therapeutic purposes. Because of the high structural similarities between the active site of TACE and those of other related zinc endopeptidases such as disintegrin (ADAMs) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), the design of such tailor-made inhibitors is not trivial. To obtain new insights into this problem, we have used a selective MMP inhibitor as a probe to examine the structural and kinetic effects occurring at the active site of TACE upon inhibition. Specifically, we used the selective MMP mechanism-based inhibitor SB-3CT to characterize the fine structural and electronic differences between the catalytic zinc ions within the active sites of TACE and MMP-2. We show that SB-3CT directly binds the metal ion of TACE as observed before with MMP-2. However, in contrast to MMP-2, the binding mode of SB-3CT to the catalytic zinc ion of TACE is different in the length of the Zn-S(SB-3CT) bond distance and the total effective charge of the catalytic zinc ion. In addition, SB-3CT inhibits TACE in a non-competitive fashion by inducing significant conformational changes in the structure. For MMP-2, SB-3CT behaved as a competitive inhibitor and no significant conformational changes were observed. An examination of the second shell amino acids surrounding the catalytic zinc ion of these enzymes indicated that the active site of TACE is more polar than that of MMP-2 and of other MMPs. On the basis of these results, we propose that although there is a seemingly high structural similarity between TACE and MMP-2, these enzymes are significantly diverse in the electronic and chemical properties within their active sites.
Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei B21060 Suppresses Human T-Cell Proliferation

ABSTRACT Recent studies have shown that probiotics are beneficial in T-cell-mediated inflammatory diseases. The molecular mechanism by which probiotics work remains elusive, but accumulating evidence indicates that probiotics can modulate immune cell responses. Since T cells express receptors for bacterial products or components, we examined whether different strains of lactobacilli directly regulate the functions of human T cells. CD4+ T cells were isolated from blood and intestinal lamina propria (LP) of normal individuals and patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Mononuclear cells were also isolated from Peyer's patches. Cells were activated with anti-CD3/CD2/CD28 in the presence or absence of Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei B21060, L. paracasei subsp. paracasei F19, or L. casei subsp. casei DG. Cell proliferation and death, Foxp3, intracellular pH, and cytokine production were evaluated by flow cytometry. We showed that L. paracasei subsp. paracasei B21060 but neither L. paracasei subsp. paracasei F19 nor L. casei subsp. casei DG inhibited blood CD4+ T-cell growth. This effect was associated with no change in cell survival, expression of Foxp3, or production of gamma interferon, interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-5, and IL-10. L. paracasei subsp. paracasei B21060-mediated blockade of CD4+ T-cell proliferation required a viable bacterium and was associated with decreased MCT-1 expression and low intracellular pH. L. paracasei subsp. paracasei B21060 also inhibited the growth of Peyer's patch mononuclear cells, normal lymphocytes, and IBD CD4+ LP lymphocytes without affecting cytokine production. The data show that L. paracasei subsp. paracasei B21060 blocks T-cell growth, thus suggesting a mechanism by which these probiotics could interfere with T-cell-driven immune responses.
Transitioning Native Application into Virtual Machine by Using Hardware Virtualization Extensions

In presence of known and unknown vulnerabilities in code and flow control of programs, virtual machine alike isolation and sandboxing to confine maliciousness of process, by monitoring and controlling the behaviour of untrusted application, is an effective strategy. A confined malicious application cannot effect system resources and other applications running on same operating system. But present techniques used for sandboxing have some drawbacks ranging from scope to methodology. Some of proposed techniques restrict specific aspect of execution e.g. system calls and file system access. In the same way techniques that truly isolate the application by providing separate execution environment either require modification in kernel or full blown operating system. Moreover these do not provide isolation from top to bottom but only virtualize operating system services. In this paper, we propose a design to confine native Linux process in virtual machine equivalent isolation by using hardware virtualization extensions with nominal initialization and acceptable execution overheads. We implemented our prototype called Process Virtual Machine that transition a native process into virtual machine, provides minimal possible execution environment, intercept and virtualize system calls to execute it on host kernel. Experimental results show effectiveness of our proposed technique.
Mimicking the nicotinic receptor binding site by a single chain Fv selected by competitive panning from a synthetic phage library

We have developed a novel competitive method to select from a phage display library a single chain Fv which is able to mimic the α‐bungarotoxin binding site of the muscle nicotinic receptor. The single chain Fv was selected from a large synthetic library using α‐bungarotoxin‐coated magnetic beads. Toxin‐bound phages were then eluted by competition with affinity purified nicotinic receptor. Recognition of the toxin by the anti‐α‐bungarotoxin single chain Fv was very similar to that of the receptor, such as indicated by the epitope mapping of α‐bungarotoxin through overlapping synthetic peptides. Moreover, several positively charged residues located in the toxin second loop and in the C‐terminal region were found to be critical, to a similar extent, for toxin recognition by the single chain Fv and the receptor. However, although the anti‐α‐bungarotoxin single chain Fv seems to mimic the toxin binding site of the nicotinic receptor, it does not bind other nicotinic agonists or antagonists. Our results suggest that competitive selection of anti‐ligand antibody phages can allow the production of receptor‐mimicking molecules directly and exclusively targeted at one specific ligand. Since physiologically and pharmacologically different ligands can produce opposite effects on receptor functions, such selective ligand decoys can have important therapeutic applications.
Grading diastolic left ventricular function

This editorial refers to ‘Diagnosis of heart failure with pre-served ejection fraction: which parameters and diagnosticstrategies are more valuable? ’, by X. -X. Shuai et al.,published in this issue on page 737–745.The diagnosis of heart failure (HF) is based on symptoms and signsof HF, as well as evidence for a functional or structural abnormalityof the heart. For patients with a reduced left ventricular ejectionfraction (LVEF), the latter part of the diagnosis does not yieldany problems. Assessment of LVEF can be easily performed withmultiple techniques, including echocardiography. The diagnosisand treatment of diastolic heart failure (DHF) [or heart failurewith a preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF)] is a much bigger chal-lenge.