Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distribution Volume Ratios without Blood Sampling from Graphical Analysis of PET Data

The distribution volume ratio (DVR), which is a linear function of receptor availability, is widely used as a model parameter in imaging studies. The DVR corresponds to the ratio of the DV of a receptor-containing region to a nonreceptor region and generally requires the measurement of an arterial input function. Here we propose a graphical method for determining the DVR that does not require blood sampling. This method uses data from a nonreceptor region with an average tissue-to-plasma efflux constant k2 to approximate the plasma integral. Data from positron emission tomography studies with [15C]raclopride (n = 20) and [11C]d-threo-methylphenidate ([11C]dMP) (n = 8) in which plasma data were taken and used to compare results from two graphical methods, one that uses plasma data and one that does not. k2 was 0.163 and 0.051 min−1 for [11C]raclopride and [11C]dMP, respectively. Results from both methods were very similar, and the average percentage difference between the methods was −0.11% for [11C]raclopride and 0.46% for [11C]dMP for DVR of basal ganglia (BG) to cerebellum (CB). Good agreement between the two methods was also achieved for DVR images created by both methods. This technique provides an alternative method of analysis not requiring blood sampling that gives equivalent results for the two ligands studied. It requires initial studies with blood sampling to determine the average kinetic constant and to test applicability. In some cases, it may be possible to neglect the b̅2 term if the BG/CB ratio becomes reasonably constant for a sufficiently long period of time over the course of the experiment.
FokI Polymorphism at Translation Initiation Site of the Vitamin D Receptor Gene Predicts Bone Mineral Density and Vertebral Fractures in Postmenopausal Italian Women

A novel T/C polymorphism (ATG to ACG) at the translation initiation site of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene, defined by FokI restriction endonuclease, has been recently associated with variation in bone mineral density (BMD) and rates of bone loss in a group of postmenopausal Mexican‐American women. The presence of the restriction site, designated as f, allows protein translation to initiate from the first ATG, while the allele lacking the site, indicated as F, initiates translation at a second ATG. In this study, we investigated the role of FokI polymorphism in a group of 400 postmenopausal women of Italian descent stratified for BMD into osteoporotic (n = 164), osteopenic (n = 117), and normal (n = 119) groups. There were 159 (41%) FF homozygotes, 55 (14%) ff homozygotes, and 186 (45%) Ff heterozygotes. In the whole population, we observed a weak association between FokI polymorphism and lumbar BMD (p = 0.06, analysis of covariance [ANCOVA]) but not with femoral neck BMD (p = 0.5, ANCOVA). Interestingly, the effect of FokI genotypes on lumbar BMD was influenced by the years since menopause such that differences in BMD related to different VDR allelic variants were greater among women in the first 5 years of menopause (p = 0.04, ANCOVA), progressively declining afterward. In addition, a significantly higher prevalence of ff genotype in osteoporotic than in osteopenic and normal women was observed (p = 0.04, Chi‐square test). Finally, ff genotype resulted significantly over‐represented in the group of women with a vertebral fracture as compared with controls (p = 0.003, Chi‐square test), equivalent to a relative risk of 2.58 (95% confidence intervals 1.36–4.91). We conclude that in this population, FokI polymorphism at the VDR gene locus accounts for a part of the heritable component of BMD at the lumbar spine.
An Evolved, Vision-Based Model of Obstacle Avoidance Behavior

Using a simple computational model of visual perception and locomotion, obstacle avoidance behavior can emerge from evolution under selection pressure from an appropriate fitness measure. The Genetic Programming paradigm is used to model evolution. Both the structure of the visual sensor array, and the mapping from sensor data to motor action is determined by an evolved control program. The motor model assumes an innate constant forward velocity and limited steering. The agent can avoid collisions only by effective steering. Fitness is based on the number of simulation steps the agent can run before colliding with an obstacle.
Toxicology of ethanol.

The rate of disappearance of ethanol from the entire body is usually expressed as mg/kg per hr, which has been designated B sub 60. For humans the average B sub 60 is about 100. It is fairly constant for a given person but varies among individuals, with extremes of about 50 and 200. Essentially the same information may be obtained from the slope of the curve for blood ethanol concentration, which like B sub 60, is a straight line. This is the Widmark Beta factor. It is now expressed as mg percent per hr, and designated as Beta sub 60. For humans the average Beta sub 60 is about 15, with extremes of 10 to 20. This paper considers certain chemicals (drugs) which offer promise of altering B sub 60 and Beta sub 60, and two other procedures of perhaps dubious efficacy. Both live animal and human subject tests were performed.
W-band longitudinal-slot coupling four-way SIW power combiner/divider

A novel W-band four-way substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) power combiner/divider is analyzed and demonstrated. By combining a compact wideband antipodal fin-line transition configuration and the four-way longitudinal-slot SIW coupling structure, a novel back-to-back power dividing/ combining system is achieved, which can operate in the frequency band of 90.5–94.5 GHz with return loss of better than 12 dB and total insertion loss of less than 3.8 dB. Such power combiner/divider has advantages of high port-isolation, low insertion loss, high efficiency, wide band, and small lateral size, which is suitable for the spatial power amplifier applications.
Inhibition of p53 Tumor Suppressor by Viral Interferon Regulatory Factor

ABSTRACT The irreversible cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induced by p53 are part of the host surveillance mechanisms for viral infection and tumor induction. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), the most recently discovered human tumor virus, is associated with the pathogenesis of Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and multicentric Castleman's disease. The K9 open reading frame of KSHV encodes a viral interferon (IFN) regulatory factor (vIRF) which functions as a repressor for cellular IFN-mediated signal transduction and as an oncoprotein to induce cell growth transformation. Here, we demonstrate that KSHV vIRF interacts with the cellular p53 tumor suppressor through the putative DNA binding region of vIRF and the central region of p53. This interaction suppresses the level of phosphorylation and acetylation of p53 and inhibits transcriptional activation of p53. As a consequence, vIRF efficiently prevents p53-mediated apoptosis. These results suggest that KSHV vIRF interacts with and inhibits the p53 tumor suppressor to circumvent host growth surveillance and to facilitate uncontrolled cell proliferation.
Size Selected mRNA Induces Expression of P-Aminohippurate Transport in Xenopus Oocytes

Xenopus oocytes were injected with size-fractionated mRNA isolated from the renal cortex of rabbit kidney and after 4 days incubation, PAH uptake in oocytes injected with mRNA (0.7 - 1.3 kb) was 8 to 45 fold that of the water injected controls. The oocyte to medium ratio of accumulated PAH was 1.95. The Km and Vmax for transport were 333 μM and 66.6 nmoles·oocyte−1· min−l, respectively. This Km is similar to that reported for PAH transport in intact kidneys and slices. The uptake of PAH was unaffected by the absence of Na+ or the presence of probenecid. Expression of the transport represents the first step in an effort to clone and identify the gene for PAH transport.
Development of microbial mercury detoxification processes using mercury-hyperresistant strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PU21.

A mercury-hyperresistant strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PU21 harboring plasmid Rip64 was utilized to develop bioprocesses able to detoxify and recover soluble mercuric ions in aquatic systems. The kinetics of mercury detoxification was investigated to determine the parameters needed for the design of the bioprocesses. Batch, fed-batch, and continuous bioreactors were utilized to evaluate the efficiency and feasibility of each mode of operation. The results showed that the specific mercury detoxification rate was dependent on cell growth phases, as well as the initial mercury concentrations. Cells at the lag growth phase exhibited the best specific detoxification rate of approximately 1.1 x 10(-6) microg Hg/cell/h, and the rate was optimal at an initial mercury concentration of 8 mg/L. In batch operations with initial mercuric ions ranging from 2 to 10 mg/L, the mercuric ions added were rapidly volatilized from the media in less than 2-3 h. With periodic feeding of 3 or 5 mg Hg/L at fixed time intervals, the fed-batch processes had mercury removal efficiencies of 2.9 and 3.3 mg Hg/h/L, respectively. For continuous operations, the effluent cell concentration (Xe) was essentially invariant at 527 and 523 mg/L with the dilution rates (D) of 0.18 and 0.325 h-1, respectively. The increase in mercury feeding concentrations (Hgf) from 1.0 to 6.15 mg Hg2+/L did not affect the steady-state cell concentration (Xe) but forced the effluent mercury concentration (Hge) to increase. The decrease in the dilution rate, however, resulted in lower Hge values. It was also found that sequential mercury vapor absorption columns recovered over 80% of the Hg degrees released from the bioreactor while the residual mercury vapor was subsequently immobilized by an activated carbon trap in the down stream of the absorption column.
Quality of Life: The Concept

Prior to 1970, when one spoke of health outcome in oncology, one was usually referring to the endpoints of survival and treatment toxicity. However, concern for documenting a broader base of outcome for patients receiving treatment for cancerhas increased dramatically in recent years (1,2,3,4,5,6,7). This change has come about for a host of diverse reasons and has been intimately tied to the emergence of palliative care during the same period of time. At the core of palliative care isconcern for quality of life. Given their shared mission, there has been surprisingly little dialogue between palliative care specialists and quality of life experts. Each surely could learn from the other. For example, it is quite reasonable for a pain specialist to evaluate the effectiveness of a new analgesic by assessing pain relief. But the inquiry is enriched by determining whether that pain relief (or even its absence) is associated with improvement in mobility, work functioning, mood state, and social relationships. To do so would be to measure the effect of an analgesic on pain and quality of life. This simple example touches on the dimensional nature of quality of life, which will be discussed in more detail later. Extended survival in people with many forms of cancer has become the rule rather than the exception (8). The successes obtained have not been without cost, however. Multimodality treatments, including surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, have been intensified and combined, placing great demands upon patients. Acute, chronic, and delayed treatment toxicity is associated with many of the life-preserving treatments implemented over the past two decades. Because of thecomplex relationshipbetween treatmentefficacy and toxicity in oncology,qualityof lifemeasurement has become a necessary component of appropriate evaluation in many clinical trials. Over the past decade, outcome evaluation in oncology clinical trials research has evolved from consideration of measurable tumor response, survival time, and provider-rated toxicity into a broader, multidimensional quantification of patient functional status. Theterm "quality of life" has emerged to capture the essence of the construct that refers to this broad-based assessment of the impact of disease and treatment. Although the emphasis of this paper is on the concept of quality of life in oncology, much of it also applies to the conceptof quality of lifein otherchronic or life-threatening medical conditions, such as heart disease, COPD, arthritis, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). This concept frequently overlaps with the implicit goals of palliative care.
An optimized implementation architecture for the Kuwahara filter

This paper proposes an efficient and optimized architecture for the hardware implementation of the Kuwahara filter, which is used for edge-preserving noise removal of images. The algorithmic strength of the Kuwahara algorithm has been greatly reduced by various optimizations in the variance computation. A hybrid serial-parallel architecture is designed which takes advantage of the proposed optimizations. This results in a time and hardware efficient architecture. A comparative study of the proposed and traditional implementation has been done to demonstrate the efficacy of the architecture.
Offsite anesthesiology in the cardiac catheterization lab

Purpose of review The cardiac catheterization lab has concerns for both patient care and for safety. As the cardiac catheterization lab continues to evolve, the demand for anesthesia services will certainly increase. The role of the anesthesiologist in the cardiac catheterization lab must be defined in this changing environment. Recent findings Procedures in the cardiac catheterization lab are more complex, take longer, and involve higher acuity patients. Many of these cases require general anesthesia rather than sedation, and require management of unstable hemodynamics. Knowledge of echocardiography and fluoroscopy is beneficial. Anesthesiologists should be active in developing sedation and practice management guidelines. Radiation exposure and safety is an important concern. Summary The anesthesiologist is becoming an integral part of the cardiac catheterization lab team, and an important element in maintaining a high level of patient care with minimal complications in the evolving modern day cardiac catheterization lab.
Experimenting an indoor bluetooth-based positioning service

The Bluetooth wireless technology is an emerging technology originally designed as a short-range connectivity solution for personal, portable, and handheld electronic devices. This paper briefly presents the functionality, and the architecture of an indoor positioning service based on this technology. Most of the design choices for the service have been strongly influenced by Bluetooth features. The effectiveness of the indoor positioning service is critically analyzed. Experimental and simulation results used for defining the policy of mobile device discovery are shown.
A missense mutation in the gammaD crystallin gene (CRYGD) associated with autosomal dominant "coral-like" cataract linked to chromosome 2q.

PURPOSE Hereditary cataract is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous lens disorder that usually presents as a sight-threatening trait in childhood. The purpose of this study was to map and identify the mutation underlying an autosomal dominant form of coral-shaped cataract segregating in a three generation Caucasian pedigree. METHODS Genomic DNA was prepared from blood leucocytes, genotyping was performed using microsatellite markers, and LOD scores were calculated using the LINKAGE programs. Mutation detection was performed using direct sequencing and primer extension analysis. Following site-directed mutagenesis, mutant and wild type expression constructs were transfected into a human lens epithelial cell line (HLE B-3) and recombinant protein was detected by immunoblotting, imunofluorescence, and immunogold microscopy. Cell death was monitored by fluorescence activated cell sorting. RESULTS Significant evidence of linkage was detected at markers D2S371 (LOD score [Z]=3.81, recombination fraction [theta]=0) and D2S369 (Z=3.64, theta=0). Haplotyping indicated that the disease gene lay in the approximate 10 Mb physical interval between D2S1384 and D2S128, containing the gamma-crystallin gene (CRYGA-CRYGD) cluster on chromosome 2q33.3-q34. Sequencing of the CRYGA-CRYGD cluster identified a C->A transversion in exon 2 of CRYGD that was predicted to result in the non-conservative substitution of threonine for proline at amino-acid residue 23 (P23T) in the processed CRYGD protein. Transfection studies suggested that the P23T mutant was less soluble than its wild type counterpart when expressed in HLE B-3 cells. CONCLUSIONS This study has identified an eighth type of cataract morphology associated with CRYGD and suggests that a CRYGD mutation may underlie the historically important "coralliform" cataract first reported in 1895.
Cell cycle-dependent nuclear retention of p 53 by E 2 F 1 requires phosphorylation of p 53 at Ser 315

We show here that the cell cycle-dependent DNA-binding and transcriptional activity of p53 correlates with E2F expression in human primary fibroblasts. E2F1 binds and stimulates DNA-binding, transactivation and apoptotic functions of p53 but not p63 and p73. E2F1 binds residues 347–370 of p53 and enhances nuclear retention of Ser315 phosphorylated p53. This regulation of p53 by E2F1 is cell cycle dependent, as the cellular distribution of Ser315 phosphorylated p53 is associated with the periodic expression of E2F and cyclin A throughout the cell cycle. This is the first demonstration that the activities of p53 are regulated during the cell cycle by E2F/p53 interactions and that phosphorylation of p53 at Ser315 is required for this regulation. The EMBO Journal (2005) 24, 2768–2782. doi:10.1038/ sj.emboj. 7600735; Published online 21 July 2005 Subject Categories: chromatin & transcription; cell cycle
Motor Learning Produces Parallel Dynamic Functional Changes during the Execution and Imagination of Sequential Foot Movements

The aim of the present positron emission tomography study was to measure the dynamic changes in cerebral activity before and after practice of an explicitly known sequence of foot movements when executed physically and to compare them to those elicited during motor imagery of the same movements. Nine healthy volunteers were scanned while performing both types of movement at an early phase of learning and after a 1-h training period of a sequence of dorsiflexions and plantarflexions with the left foot. These experimental conditions were compared directly, as well as to a perceptual control condition. Changes in regional cerebral blood flow associated with physical execution of the sequence early in the learning process were observed bilaterally in the dorsal premotor cortex and cerebellum, as well as in the left inferior parietal lobule. After training, however, most of these brain regions were no longer significantly activated, suggesting that they are critical for establishing the cognitive strategies and motor routines involved in executing sequential foot movements. By contrast, after practice, an increased level of activity was seen bilaterally in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and striatum, as well as in the left rostral portion of the anterior cingulate and a different region of the inferior parietal lobule, suggesting that these structures play an important role in the development of a long lasting representation of the sequence. Finally, as predicted, a similar pattern of dynamic changes was observed in both phases of learning during the motor imagery conditions. This last finding suggests that the cerebral plasticity occurring during the incremental acquisition of a motor sequence executed physically is reflected by the covert production of this skilled behavior using motor imagery.
Survivin Small Interfering RNA Transfected With a Microbubble and Ultrasound Exposure Inducing Apoptosis in Ovarian Carcinoma Cells

Introduction: Small interfering RNA (siRNA) has been used to knock down the expression of specific genes. However, its delivery remains a challenge. Recently, ultrasound combined with microbubbles has been used to deliver plasmid into cells and has shown much superiority. Whether a survivin siRNA transfected with a microbubble contrast agent combined with ultrasound exposure could inhibit survivin expression and induce ovarian cancer cell apoptosis was investigated. Methods: The survivin gene was amplified and inserted into vector pEGFP-N1, resulting in psurvivin-EGFP. Three siRNA expression cassettes (SECs) targeting survivin were obtained by 2-step polymerase chain reaction. The SECs and psurvivin-EGFP were cotransfected into 293T cells. A functional SEC was selected and inserted into pMD18T, resulting in the survivin-targeting siRNA expression plasmid, which was transfected into SKOV-3 ovarian carcinoma cells using SonoVue, a microbubble contrast agent, and ultrasound exposure. Survivin expression was monitored by Western blot, and apoptosis was determined by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Results: One siRNA effectively inhibited survivin expression. SonoVue with ultrasound effectively delivered survivin siRNA to SKOV-3 cells, inhibited survivin expression, and induced apoptosis. Conclusions: Delivery of survivin siRNA using a microbubble contrast agent combined with ultrasound exposure can effectively inhibit survivin expression and induce apoptosis, providing a new promising approach for siRNA delivery in vivo.
Tactile discrimination of textured surfaces: peripheral neural coding in the monkey.

Recordings were made from single mechanoreceptive afferents in the median or ulnar nerve of the anaesthetized monkey while the appropriate digital pad was stimulated by a textured surface moving at a constant velocity tangentially across the skin. The surface was swept across the afferent's receptive field many times, each time having been displaced sideways (laterally) by a small amount. The neural responses showed a temporal rhythm directly related to the period of the raised dots on the surface in the dimension parallel to the direction of movement. The responses also displayed direct dependence on the position of the dots and the period size in the lateral surface dimension. It was clear that only information from a large number of afferents could enable the discrimination of the textured surfaces examined. For large‐dot (2.0 mm period) surfaces, increases of up to 8% in the period of the dots, in either surface dimension, produced a roughly linear increase in the mean response rate of every rapidly adapting (r.a.) afferent. There was virtually no change in the response rate of any slowly adapting (s.a.) afferent when the period of the dots was increased by similar small amounts, and the pacinian afferents (p.c.) displayed a wide range of behaviour to such period changes. In contrast, the mean response rate of p.c. afferents seemed most able of the three populations to transmit information about changes in the period in the case of small‐dot (1.0 mm period) surfaces. The adequacy of a number of neural codes in accounting for all the psychophysical discrimination reported in the preceding paper (Lamb, 1983) was examined. A strong case could be made for a code involving the total or mean number of impulses evoked (a rate code), based on the r.a. afferent responses for the large‐dot surfaces and, less certainly, on the p.c. afferent responses for the small‐dot surfaces.