Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A hypo‐status in drug‐dependent brain revealed by multi‐modal MRI

Drug addiction is a chronic brain disorder with no proven effective cure. Assessing both structural and functional brain alterations by using multi‐modal, rather than purely unimodal imaging techniques, may provide a more comprehensive understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying addiction, which in turn may facilitate future treatment strategies. However, this type of research remains scarce in the literature. We acquired multi‐modal magnetic resonance imaging from 20 cocaine‐addicted individuals and 19 age‐matched controls. Compared with controls, cocaine addicts showed a multi‐modal hypo‐status with (1) decreased brain tissue volume in the medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC); (2) hypo‐perfusion in the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, right temporal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and (3) reduced irregularity of resting state activity in the OFC and limbic areas, as well as the cingulate, visual and parietal cortices. In the cocaine‐addicted brain, larger tissue volume in the medial OFC, anterior cingulate cortex and ventral striatum and smaller insular tissue volume were associated with higher cocaine dependence levels. Decreased perfusion in the amygdala and insula was also correlated with higher cocaine dependence levels. Tissue volume, perfusion, and brain entropy in the insula and prefrontal cortex, all showed a trend of negative correlation with drug craving scores. The three modalities showed voxel‐wise correlation in various brain regions, and combining them improved patient versus control brain classification accuracy. These results, for the first time, demonstrate a comprehensive cocaine‐dependence and craving‐related hypo‐status regarding the tissue volume, perfusion and resting brain irregularity in the cocaine‐addicted brain.
Measurement of heritability of myocardial blood flow by positron emission tomography: the Twins Heart Study

Objective To estimate the heritability of myocardial blood flow (MBF) and coronary flow reserve (CFR) measured with positron emission tomography (PET). Design Cross-sectional twin study. Setting General clinical research centre of a university hospital at Atlanta, USA. Patients A sample of 180 middle-aged (mean±SD 55±2.9 years) male twins, including 107 monozygotic and 73 dizygotic twins. Main outcome measures All twins underwent imaging of MBF with PET 13NH3 at rest and after adenosine stress during a single imaging session. Structural equation modelling was used to estimate the heritability of MBF at rest and during adenosine stress, as well as of CFR. Results The basal MBF (mean±SD) was 0.69±0.20 ml/min/g, and the MBF during adenosine stress was 1.70±0.49 ml/min/g; the CFR was 2.62±0.99. There was substantial heritability for MBF both at rest (0.48, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.64) and during adenosine stress (0.51, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.68), as well as CFR (0.48, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.65). Conclusions For the first time, a substantial genetic contribution to the interindividual variation in MBF and CFR measured with PET in middle-aged men has been demonstrated. The data suggest that a fruitful direction for future work would be the identification of genetic variants for early atherosclerotic stages assessed by PET imaging.
CMOS DAC-sharing stimulator for neural recording and stimulation arrays

A compact biphasic neural stimulator for use in multi-channel integrated neural recording and stimulation interfaces is presented. The stimulator is a part of an envisioned closed-loop implantable microsystem for adaptive neural stimulation. The stimulator reuses the capacitive DAC inside the recording SAR ADC to provide 8-bit current amplitude resolution and reconfigures the digital SAR controller logic to provide 4-bit tunability of the duty cycle of the current pulse. A voltage-to-current converter and a current driver are the only additional circuits required. An OTA is reused to provide accurate current matching and to remove excess charge on the electrode. The stimulator is implemented in a standard 0. 13µm CMOS technology. Post-layout and Monte Carlo simulation results show 8-bit functionality from 5µA to 1.2mA, a 2.5V swing and 1 percent current matching between positive and negative pulses.
Diagnostic and prognostic impact of copeptin and high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T in patients with pre-existing coronary artery disease and suspected acute myocardial infarction

Objective The early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) can be particularly challenging in patients with known coronary artery disease (CAD) due to pre-existing ECG changes and chronic increases in cardiac troponin (cTn) levels. Design Of 1170 consecutive patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of AMI, 433 (37%) with pre-existing CAD were analysed in a prospective multicentre study and the diagnostic and prognostic impact of copeptin in combination with either fourth generation cardiac troponin T (cTnT) or high-sensitivity cTnT (hs-cTnT) was evaluated. Results AMI was the final diagnosis in 78 patients with pre-existing CAD (18%). Copeptin was significantly higher in patients with AMI than in those without (26 pmol/l (IQR 9–71) vs 7 pmol/l (IQR 4–16), p<0.001). The diagnostic accuracy for AMI as quantified by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was significantly higher for the combination of copeptin and cTnT than for cTnT alone (0.94 vs 0.86, p<0.001). The combination of copeptin and hs-cTnT (0.94) was trending to superiority compared with hs-cTnT alone (0.92, p=0.11). The combination of copeptin and the cTn assays was able to improve the negative predictive value up to 99.5% to rule out AMI. Copeptin was a strong and independent predictor of 1-year mortality (HR 4.18–4.63). Irrespective of cTn levels, patients with low levels of copeptin had an excellent prognosis compared with patients with raised levels of both copeptin and cTn (360-day mortality 2.8–3.6% vs 23.1–33.8%, p<0.001). Conclusion In patients with pre-existing CAD, copeptin significantly improves the diagnostic accuracy if used in addition to cTnT, but only trended to superiority compared with hs-cTnT alone. Copeptin provides independent prognostic information, largely by overcoming the challenging interpretation of mild increases in hs-cTnT. Clinical trial registration number ClinicalTrials Gov number NCT00470587.
Human cytomegalovirus neutralising antibodies and increased risk of coronary artery disease in Indian population

Background Several studies have reported a conflicting association between cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and coronary artery disease (CAD) based on the levels of total anti-CMV antibodies. However, none have estimated the levels of specific neutralising antibodies (NA) to CMV, which may be clinically more relevant. Objective To determine whether CMV–NA titres show a better association with CAD compared with total anti-CMV antibody levels. Design CMV–NA titres were measured by micro-neutralisation assay and anti-CMV IgG antibodies using ELISA in 391 consecutive CAD patients compared with the same number of controls (N=782), and 91 patients reporting recurrent cardiac events during a 4-year follow-up compared with those without a recurrent event (N=182). Levels of inflammatory markers, interleukin 6, high-sensitivity C reactive protein, fibrinogen and secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2), were measured by ELISA. Analysis of variance and logistic regression were used for statistical analyses. Results High CMV–NA titres showed a positive association with CAD occurrence (OR 2.24, 95% CI 1.31 to 3.85, p=0.003) and recurrent cardiac events in CAD patients (OR 4.65, 95% CI 1.21 to 17.86, p=0.025) compared with total CMV antibodies (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.69, p=0.034, and 2.70, 1.04 to 7.02, p=0.040, respectively). Patients with higher quartile of CMV–NA titres and sPLA2 levels had an adjusted OR of 7.82 (95% CI 1.87 to 32.65, 0.005) for recurrent cardiac events compared with those with the lowest quartiles for both markers. Conclusion These findings suggest that high CMV–NA titres in combination with inflammatory markers improve prediction of cardiac events in the Asian Indian population.
Elevated ApoB serum levels strongly predict early cardiovascular events

Objective ApoB exerts a pro-thrombotic and pro-atherogenic effect and promotes the progression of atherosclerotic lesions. In the present study, we investigated if elevated ApoB serum levels predicted the risk of premature cardiovascular events in a prospective Swedish cohort study of 60-year-old men and women from Stockholm. Design A cohort consisting of every third man and woman turning 60 years of age in the large Stockholm area during the years 1997–1998 (n=4232). Methods Incident cases of cardiovascular diseases have been recorded yearly by matching national registries. Exposure to high ApoB serum levels (≥0.9 g/l) was used to calculate the risk of cardiovascular diseases, and the time to the first cardiovascular event using Cox regression and Laplace regression, respectively. Results Individuals exposed to high ApoB serum levels showed an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases over the 11 years of follow-up. The HR decreased over time from 2.49 at 4 years of study entry (95% CI 1.31 to 4.69) to 1.36 at 11 years (95% CI 1.01 to 1.83), after adjusting for gender, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, obesity, HDL and triglyceride serum levels. The first 5% of the individuals had a cardiovascular event nearly 2 years earlier among those with ApoB ≥0.9 g/l than among those with ApoB <0.9 g/l (p=0.001). Conclusions Our data indicate that increased ApoB serum levels are important predictors of early cardiovascular events. It is possible that this reflects a shift over time in the effects of apoB from a more pro-thrombotic to a more pro-atherogenetic molecule.
Problematic alcohol use associates with sodium channel and clathrin linker 1 (SCLT1) in trauma‐exposed populations

Excessive alcohol use is extremely prevalent in the United States, particularly among trauma‐exposed individuals. While several studies have examined genetic influences on alcohol use and related problems, this has not been studied in the context of trauma‐exposed populations. We report results from a genome‐wide association study of alcohol consumption and associated problems as measured by the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) in a trauma‐exposed cohort. Results indicate a genome‐wide significant association between total AUDIT score and rs1433375 [N = 1036, P = 2.61 × 10−8 (dominant model), P = 7.76 × 10−8 (additive model)], an intergenic single‐nucleotide polymorphism located 323 kb upstream of the sodium channel and clathrin linker 1 (SCLT1) at 4q28. rs1433375 was also significant in a meta‐analysis of two similar, but independent, cohorts (N = 1394, P = 0.0004), the Marine Resiliency Study and Systems Biology PTSD Biomarkers Consortium. Functional analysis indicated that rs1433375 was associated with SCLT1 gene expression and cortical‐cerebellar functional connectivity measured via resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Together, findings suggest a role for sodium channel regulation and cerebellar functioning in alcohol use behavior. Identifying mechanisms underlying risk for problematic alcohol use in trauma‐exposed populations is critical for future treatment and prevention efforts.
A randomized controlled trial of motivational interviewing to prevent risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy in the Western Cape, South Africa.

AIM To test the effectiveness of motivational interviewing (MI) to reduce the risk of an alcohol exposed pregnancy (AEP) in a high-risk population. DESIGN Randomized controlled trial. SETTING Rural population in the Western Cape, South Africa. PARTICIPANTS A total of 165 women aged 18-44 years at risk of AEP. INTERVENTION Five-session MI intervention. MEASUREMENTS Structured questionnaires were administered pre-intervention and at 3 and 12 months follow-up. The primary outcome measure was AEP at 12 months. Secondary outcomes were AEP at 3 months, and alcohol use and effective contraception at 3 and 12 months. FINDINGS There was a significant difference in the decline in the proportion of women at risk for an AEP in the MI group at 3 months (50 versus 24.59%; P = 0.004), maintained at 12 months (50.82 versus 28.12%; P = 0.009). In an intention-to-treat analysis these differences were also significant (32.93 versus 18.07%; P = 0.029; and 37.80 versus 21.69%; P = 0.024, respectively). The odds ratio for no longer being at risk of an AEP (MI versus control) at 12 months was 2.64 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18-5.94]. In the intention-to-treat analysis this ratio was 2.19 (95% CI: 1.05-4.65). CONCLUSIONS A five-session motivational interviewing intervention was found to be effective with women at risk of an alcohol-exposed pregnancy, and could be implemented as part of routine primary care clinic services in similar populations. The message of 'no alcohol in pregnancy' should be adapted to include better family planning and early recognition of pregnancy.
2.5Gbit/s transimpedance amplifier using noise cancelling for optical receivers

This work presents the design and performance of a 2.5Gbit/s transimpedance amplifier (TIA) for optical receivers implemented in a 40nm CMOS technology. The TIA is based on an inverting voltage amplifier with a shunt feedback resistor using noise cancelling technique to reduce the input noise. The TIA is followed by two stages of differential limiting amplifiers and the last stage is a 50Ω differential output driver to provide an interface to the measurement setup. The TIA shows a post layout simulated optical sensitivity of −25dBm for a BER= 10−12 and an optical power dynamic range of 25dB. The complete chip achieves a transimpedance gain of 79. 5dBΩ, 1.5GHz bandwidth and occupies a chip area of 0.16mm2. The power consumption of the TIA is only 4.5mW and the complete chip dissipates 15mW for a 1.1V single supply voltage.
Motivational interviewing to enhance nicotine patch treatment for smoking cessation among homeless smokers: a randomized controlled trial.

AIMS To assess the effects of adding motivational interviewing (MI) counseling to nicotine patch for smoking cessation among homeless smokers. DESIGN Two-group randomized controlled trial with 26-week follow-up. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING A total of 430 homeless smokers from emergency shelters and transitional housing units in Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota, USA. INTERVENTION AND MEASUREMENTS All participants received 8-week treatment of 21-mg nicotine patch. In addition, participants in the intervention group received six individual sessions of MI counseling which aimed to increase adherence to nicotine patches and to motivate cessation. Participants in the standard care control group received one session of brief advice to quit smoking. Primary outcome was 7-day abstinence from cigarette smoking at 26 weeks, as validated by exhaled carbon monoxide and salivary cotinine. FINDINGS Using intention-to-treat analysis, verified 7-day abstinence rate at week 26 for the intervention group was non-significantly higher than for the control group (9.3% versus 5.6%, P = 0.15). Among participants who did not quit smoking, reduction in number of cigarettes from baseline to week 26 was equally high in both study groups (-13.7 ± 11.9 for MI versus -13.5 ± 16.2 for standard care). CONCLUSIONS Adding motivational interviewing counseling to nicotine patch did not increase smoking rate significantly at 26-week follow-up for homeless smokers.
Granulomatous tubulointerstitial nephritis in early renal allograft: a case report

Abstract: Here we report a case of granulomatous tubulointerstitial nephritis occurring seven d after kidney transplantation. The development of macroscopic hematuria, acute prostatitis, a mild elevation of serum creatinine, and high‐grade fever together with a urine culture positive for adenovirus antigen suggested adenovirus infection. Episode biopsy seven d after kidney transplantation showed granulomatous tubulointerstitial nephritis evidenced by predominantly CD68‐positive cell infiltration and epithelioid cells at focal tubulointerstitial spaces with severe tubulitis, such as destruction of the tubular basement membrane. After intervention consisting of a reduction of the immunosuppressive therapy and administration of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and ganciclovir, renal function returned to normal, with a rapid recovery of the pathological as well as clinical features within a month. In renal allografts, adenovirus infection should be considered during the early phase following transplantation, even within seven d, especially when granulomatous tubulointerstitial nephritis is present.
Atrial fibrillation and thromboembolism in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: systematic review

Context HCM is commonly associated with AF. Current guidelines for AF management omit detailed advice for HCM because of a lack of clinical prediction tools that estimate the risk of developing AF and an absence of adequately powered treatment studies. Objective To critically review current literature on atrial fibrillation (AF) and thromboembolism in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and meta-analyse prevalence and incidence. Data Sources PubMed and Web of Science. Study Selection Studies investigating AF and stroke in HCM as primary or secondary endpoint. Data Extraction Two investigators independently reviewed and extracted data from the identified articles. A random effect meta-regression model and I2 statistics were used for analysis. Results A population of 7381 patients (33 studies) revealed overall AF prevalence of 22.45% (95% CI 20.13% to 24.77%), I2=78.9% (p<0.001). Overall prevalence of thromboembolism in HCM patients with AF was 27.09% (95% CI 20.94% to 33.25%), I2=61.4% ( p<0.01). Overall AF incidence was 3.08% per 100 patients per year (95% CI 2.63% to 3.54%, I2=86.5%, p<0.001) and incidence of thromboembolism in HCM patients with AF was 3.75% per 100 patients per year (95% CI 2.88% to 4.61%), I2=37.9% (p=0.1). Left atrial (LA) dimension and age were common predictors for AF and thromboembolism. Meta-analysis revealed an LA diameter of 38.03 mm (95% CI 34.62% to 41.44%) in sinus rhythm and 45.37 mm (95% CI 41.64% to 49.04%) in AF. There were no randomised controlled trials of therapy; anticoagulation was associated with lower stroke incidence but data on other interventions were limited and contradictory. Conclusions AF is common in HCM and associated with high thromboembolic risk. LA dimension and age are independently associated with AF but the literature is insufficient to create robust clinical tools to predict AF or thromboembolism. Most data suggest that AF patients should be anticoagulated.
Patterns of cannabis use and prospective associations with health issues among young males.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS To test prospective associations between cannabis disorder symptoms/frequency of cannabis use and health issues and to investigate stability versus transience in cannabis use trajectories. DESIGN Two waves of data collection from the longitudinal Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors (C-SURF). SETTING A representative sample of young Swiss men in their early 20s from the general population. PARTICIPANTS A total of 5084 young men (mean age 19.98 ± 1.19 years at time 1). MEASUREMENTS Cannabis use (life-time use, frequency of use, cannabis disorder symptoms) and self-reported measures of health issues (depression, mental/physical health, health consequences) were assessed. Significant changes in cannabis use were tested using t-test/Wilcoxon's rank test for paired data. Cross-lagged panel models provided evidence regarding longitudinal associations between cannabis use and health issues. FINDINGS Most of the participants (84.5%) remained in the same use category and cannabis use kept to similar levels at times 1 and 2 (P = 0.114 and P = 0.755; average of 15 ± 2.8 months between times 1 and 2). Cross-lagged panel models showed that cannabis disorder symptoms predicted later health issues (e.g. depression, β = 0.087, P < 0.001; health consequences, β = 0.045, P < 0.05). The reverse paths from health issues to cannabis disorder symptoms and the cross-lagged panel model between frequency of cannabis use and health issues were non-significant. CONCLUSIONS Patterns of cannabis use showed substantial continuity among young Swiss men in their early 20s. The number of symptoms of cannabis use disorder, rather than the frequency of cannabis use, is a clinically important measure of cannabis use among young Swiss men.
8.5.2 Evaluation of Interrater Agreement in Internal Audit based on ISO 9001:2000

An internal audit in quality management system based on ISO 9001:2000 is an important process that continually improves the effectiveness and efficiency of a quality management system. The reliability of assessments of an internal audit based on ISO 9001:2000 is an issue that continues to demand the attention of researchers in this field. One element of reliability is the extent to which different teams assessing the same project produce similar ratings when presented with the same evidence. Cohen's Kappa coefficient has been the most popular measure of reliability for measuring the degree of interrater agreement beyond chance. However, the application of the Kappa coefficient may be biased downwards due to two Kappa “paradoxes. ” To compensate for the deficiency of the Kappa coefficient, we additionally use a simpler index of observed agreement between two teams of auditors. Using Cohen's Kappa coefficient and the observed agreement, this paper presents some results from two assessments between two teams conducted during internal audits in Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in Korea. In each of these assessments, two independent teams performed the same ratings. The results indicate that in general there is at least moderate agreement between the two teams and the extent of agreement between the two teams is substantial.
Occluded object tracking based on trajectory links in surveillance videos

Trajectories of foreground objects provide rich and continuous motion information for event analysis in surveillance videos. These trajectories can be obtained by tracking foreground objects frame by frame. When appearances of foreground objects significantly change during occlusions, tracking results may become incorrect. To solve the occlusion problem, we propose a real-time post processing method based on trajectory links. By analyzing trajectory links, our method can retrieve individual trajectories of occluded foreground objects. As shown in the experiments, our method can achieve better performance compared to previous tracking methods.
INTRA-UTERINE TRANSMISSION OF ANTHRAX: REPORT OF CASE

The possibility of the transmission of anthrax to the fetus of pregnant animals following the inoculation of these animals with anthrax cultures was denied for many years. Pollender, Brauell, Davaine, Bollinger, Wolff and others contended, as a result of experimental work, that the placenta of the experimental animals used afforded an impermeable barrier against this micro-organism. To Strauss and Chamberland1must be given the credit for proving that intra-uterine infection may be induced experimentally in animals. These investigators, by the use of modern methods (cultures and animal inoculation of these cultures), were able to prove that the placental barrier was not as impermeable as previous workers believed, and that while not constantly, yet in a good proportion of experiments, infection of the fetus could be produced. Subsequently, other writers confirmed these conclusions, using various animals (guinea-pigs, dogs, pigs) for inoculation. There are extremely few reports in the literature of