Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experience with the treatment of trophic ulcers by plaster casts.

Ulcers on the sole of the foot present a very big problem to the leprosy worker, both in the Settlement and in local Segregation Villages. Their treatment entails endless work for dressers, and many patients despair of ever being able to walk about without bandaged feet. It is extremely difficulty to keep bandages clean, and secondary infection is common. The ideal treatment is com­ plete rest for the foot, but here our difficulty must be a common one-our patients feel well in themselves and hate staying in bed. Many patients have been very cooperative and have stayed in bed, only to find on their discharge from hospital that their ulcers have quickly reappeared. Such patients are, not unnaturally, unwilling to embark on another round of hospital treatment. In the past all types of dressing have been in use here-daily eusol, flavine, peroxide, dettol or cod liver oil; or weekly medicated dusting powder, flavine emulsion or dry dressings and strapping. All these have the disadvantage that the application is time­ consuming and entails frequent disturbance of the healing surface. In order to deal with these difficulties, we have been using plaster-of-paris casts (below knee walking plasters) in the treat­ ment of ulcers. The treatment of chronic ulcers by plaster casts is a well­ known and old-established method, but there is little reference to it in the literature on leprosy. The importance of rest has been stressed by Khan(S) but even though he used plaster of paris for immobilising the limb, the ulcers were still dressed through windows in the cast, and although the patients were allowed to walk about they did not lead normal lives. Small plasters of salicylic acid resin have also been used (Haythornthwaite(4») but these were more in the nature of a hard­ wearing dressing than a form of immobilisation. Most writers (Maynard(J), Muir(2) and Lowe(3») are agreed on the necessity for the removal of necrotic bone before the ulcer is able to heal.
Two-Year Group Treatment for Children with Learning Difficulties

The results of a 2-year treatment study of children with learning problems are reported. During the first treatment year, half of the children participated in a multifaceted neurocognitive treatment and the other half in a treatment that provided supervision of school tasks and peer group support. During the second treatment year, all children participated in the neurocognitive treatment. The participants were 74 Chilean children 6 to 11 years old. The issues under investigation were the effect of treatment duration, and the relationship between pretreatment neurocognitive and behavioral characteristics and academic treatment outcome. The results indicated that significant gains occurred during both the first and the second treatment year. No major differences were found between the treatment groups. Pretreatment negative behavioral traits were associated with lesser academic growth in the group participating in the homework supervision treatment but not in the neurocognitive treatment group.
Role of EspF in host cell death induced by enteropathogenic Escherichia coli

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) causes diarrhoea in children in developing countries. Many EPEC genes involved in virulence are contained within the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), a large pathogenicity island. One of the genes at the far righthand end of the LEE encodes EspF, an EPEC secreted protein of unknown function. EspF, like the other Esps, is a substrate for secretion by the type III secretory system. Previous studies found that an espF mutant behaved as wild type in assays of adherence, invasion, actin condensation and tyrosine phosphorylation. As EPEC can kill host cells, we tested esp gene mutants for host cell killing ability. The espF mutant was deficient in host cell killing despite having normal adherence. The addition of purified EspF to tissue culture medium did not cause any damage to host cells, but expression of espF in COS or HeLa cells caused cell death. The mode of cell death in cells transfected with espF appeared to be pure apoptosis. EspF appears to be an effector of host cell death in epithelial cells; its proline‐rich structure suggests that it may act by binding to SH3 domains or EVH1 domains of host cell signalling proteins.
Inhibition of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase down-regulates BRCA1 and RAD51 in a pathway mediated by E2F4 and p130

Inhibitors of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) are in clinical trials for cancer therapy, on the basis of the role of PARP in recruitment of base excision repair (BER) factors to sites of DNA damage. Here we show that PARP inhibition to block BER is toxic to hypoxic cancer cells, in which homology-dependent repair (HDR) is known to be down-regulated. However, we also report the unexpected finding that disruption of PARP, itself, either via chemical PARP inhibitors or siRNAs targeted to PARP-1, can inhibit HDR by suppressing expression of BRCA1 and RAD51, key factors in HDR of DNA breaks. Mechanistically, PARP inhibition was found to cause increased occupancy of the BRCA1 and RAD51 promoters by repressive E2F4/p130 complexes, a pathway prevented by expression of HPV E7, which disrupts p130 activity, or by siRNAs to knock down p130 expression. Functionally, disruption of p130 by E7 expression or by siRNA knockdown also reverses the cytotoxicity and radiosensitivity associated with PARP inhibition, suggesting that the down-regulation of BRCA1 and RAD51 is central to these effects. Direct measurement of HDR using a GFP-based assay demonstrates reduced HDR in cells treated with PARP inhibitors. This work identifies a mechanism by which PARP regulates DNA repair and suggests new strategies for combination cancer therapies.
High-efficiency, high step-up DC-DC converters

Many applications call for high step-up DC-DC converters that do not require isolation. Some DC-DC converters can provide high step-up voltage gain, but with the penalty of either an extreme duty ratio or a large amount of circulating energy. DC-DC converters with coupled inductors can provide high voltage gain, but their efficiency is degraded by the losses associated with leakage inductors. Converters with active clamps recycle the leakage energy at the price of increasing topology complexity. A family of high-efficiency, high step-up DC-DC converters with simple topologies is proposed in this paper. The proposed converters, which use diodes and coupled windings instead of active switches to realize functions similar to those of active clamps, perform better than their active-clamp counterparts. High efficiency is achieved because the leakage energy is recycled and the output rectifier reverse-recovery problem is alleviated.
Role of Cell‐Free Plasma DNA as a Diagnostic Marker for Prostate Cancer

Abstract: Recent evidence has shown elevated levels of cell‐free plasma DNA in cancer patients. The aim of the present study was to quantify and compare the levels of cell‐free plasma DNA in patients with prostate cancer, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN), and benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) to examine if it offered a useful diagnostic test. Blood samples were obtained from 37 patients attending a clinic for prostate biopsies. Samples were taken prior to biopsy, within 1 hour of the biopsy, and then 2 weeks later. DNA was extracted using a QIAamp blood kit (Qiagen) and plasma DNA measured, in genome equivalents/milliliter plasma (GE/mL), using real‐time quantitative PCR for the β‐globin gene. Prior to biopsy, plasma DNA concentration in BPH patients was 936 GE/mL (median; range: 633–2074 GE/mL), while cancer and PIN patients had significantly higher levels of DNA at 1734 GE/mL (median; range: 351–3131 GE/mL; P= 0.01) and 1780 GE/mL (median; range: 1514‐2732 GE/mL; P= 0.04), respectively. Comparison of plasma DNA concentration before and after biopsy showed that 60 minutes after biopsy values were significantly higher in both BPH (1494 GE/mL; range: 613‐2522 GE/mL; P= 0.029) and cancer (2758; range: 1498‐5226 GE/mL; P= 0.007) patients. ROC analysis of the data indicated a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 73% when DNA concentration of 1000 GE/mL was taken as an indicator of malignancy or PIN. The data suggest that quantification of cell‐free plasma DNA may have an important diagnostic role in distinguishing benign and malignant prostate disease.
Targeted gene correction of FKRP by CRISPR/Cas9 restores functional glycosylation of α-dystroglycan in cortical neurons derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells

Mutations in genes required for functional glycosylation of α-dystroglycan cause a group of congenital muscular dystrophies associated with brain malformations, referred to as dystroglycanopathies. The lack of isogenic, physiology-relevant human cellular models has limited our understanding of the cortical abnormalities in dystroglycanopathies. Here we generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from a severe dystroglycanopathy patient with homozygous mutations in the ribitol-5-phosphate transferase gene, FKRP. We carry out targeted gene correction in FKRP-iPSCs using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing. We characterise the directed differentiation of FKRP- and corrected-iPSCs to neural stem cells, cortical progenitors and cortical neurons. Importantly, we show that targeted gene correction of FKRP restores functional glycosylation of α-dystroglycan in iPSC-derived cortical neurons. We independently validate this result by showing targeted gene mutation of FKRP disrupts functional glycosylation of α-dystroglycan. This work demonstrates the feasibility of using CRISPR/Cas9-engineered human iPSCs for modelling dystroglycanopathies and provides a foundation for therapeutic development. Highlights Generation of FKRP-iPSCs for modelling cortical abnormalities in dystroglycanopathies Precise gene correction by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing Directed differentiation of isogenic control and FKRP-iPSC to cortical neurons Functional glycosylation of α-dystroglycan is restored in cortical neurons derived from CRISPR/Cas9-corrected iPSCs Targeted gene mutation of FKRP disrupts functional glycosylation of α-dystroglycan in cortical neurons
Proposed Protocol for Histopathological Examination of Liver Specimen in Diagnosing Chronic Hepatitis

The most common histopathological classification of chronic hepatitis was determined by descriptive terms, which included a subjective factor of histopathological description. It might have caused a lot of interpretative discrepancies among diagnosticians dealing with chronic liver inflammation. These difficulties led sometimes to inappropriate treatment protocol, such as the use of interferon, or caused discrepancies in the morphological rating of treatment efficiency. The first attempt of rating liver specimens in an objective way was Histological Activity Index (HAI), reported in 1981 by Knodell et al. Subsequently, many locally used modifications have been created (Lindh, Scheuer, Batts&Ludwig, Ishak, Gabriel, METAVIR). It made chronic hepatitis classification much more objective and helped in statistical analysis of research results. New diagnostic criteria of chronic liver diseases prepared in 1984 by the World Congress of Gastroenterology and International Association for the Study of the Liver (IASL) prompted authors to update previously used classifications (International Working Party, 1994). The purpose of this study is to optimize the clinical data necessary in proper diagnosis, taking into account the new criteria of inflammatory activity, process of fibrosis and steatosis.
Mutual activation of Ets‐1 and AML1 DNA binding by direct interaction of their autoinhibitory domains

The transcription factors Ets‐1 and AML1 (the αBl subunit of PEBP2/CBF) play critical roles in hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis, and cooperate in the transactivation of the T cell receptor (TCR) β chain enhancer. The DNA binding capacity of both factors is blocked intramolecularly but can be activated by the removal of negative regulatory domains. These include the exon VII domain for Ets‐1 and the negative regulatory domain for DNA binding (NRDB) for αB1. Here we report that the direct interaction between the two factors leads to a reciprocal stimulation of their DNA binding activity and activation of their transactivation function. Detailed mapping revealed two independent contact points involving the exon VII and NRDB regions as well as the two DNA binding domains. Using deletion variants and dominant interfering mutants, we demonstrate that the interaction between exon VII and NRDB is necessary and sufficient for cooperative DNA binding. The exon VII and NRDB motifs are highly conserved in evolution yet deleted in natural variants, suggesting that the mechanism described is of biological relevance. The mutual activation of DNA binding of Ets and AML1 through the intermolecular interaction of autoinhibitory domains may represent a novel principle for the regulation of transcription factor function.
Silicon Nanowire Arrays Based On-Chip Thermoelectric Generators

Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) can improve the net power consumption of electronic packages by generating power from the chip waste heat. In this paper, a 3-D computational model of electronic package with silicon nanowire (Si-NW)-based embedded TEGs has been developed and the effect of crucial geometric parameters, contact resistances, and thermal properties, such as pitch length and length of Si-NWs, the electrical contact resistivity at Si-NW interface, thermal contact resistivity at TEG-package interface, and filling material thermal conductivity on power generation, has been evaluated. The analysis has shown how modifying some crucial parameters from their current values in different experimental studies affect power generation, e.g., decreasing the pitch length from 400 to 200 nm doubled the power generation, increasing the Si-NW length from 1 to 8 μm increased power generation by a factor of three and decreasing contact resistivity by one order of magnitude from 1.0×10-11 Ω · m2 enhanced the power generation by a factor of two. This paper has estimated the energy conversion efficiency of 0.15% for 8-μm long Si-NWs using the best thermoelectric properties available from different experimental studies. Finally, performance of Si-NW-based TEG has been compared against the Bi2Te3 superlattice-based TEGs and the crucial parameters of Si-NW TEGs have been identified which should be the focus of the future studies.
A Novel Integration of Intensity Order and Texture for Effective Feature Description

SUMMARY This paper introduces a novel approach of feature description by integrating the intensity order and textures in di ﬀ erent support regions into a compact vector. We ﬁrst propose the Intensity Order Local Binary Pattern (IO-LBP) operator, which simultaneously encodes the gradient and texture information in the local neighborhood of a pixel. We divide each region of interest into segments according to the order of pixel intensities, build one histogram of IO-LBP patterns for each segment, and then concatenate all histograms to obtain a feature descriptor. Furthermore, multi support regions are adopted to enhance the distinctiveness. The proposed descriptor e ﬀ ectively describes a region at both local and global levels, and thus high performance is expected. Experimental results on the Oxford benchmark and images of cast shadows show that our approach is invariant to common photometric and geometric transformations, such as illumination change and image rotation, and robust to complex lighting e ﬀ ects caused by shadows. It achieves a comparable accuracy to that of state-of-art methods while performs considerably faster.
Safety and Tolerability of Transdermal Rotigotine in a Clinical Practice Cohort for 2 Years

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that occurs as a result of loss of dopaminergic neurons from the substantia nigra. Rotigotine is a non-ergolinic dopamine agonist available as a silicone-based transdermal patch for the treatment of PD. In the European Union, rotigotine transdermal patch is indicated for use as monotherapy in early idiopathic PD, or in combination with levodopa through the disease course to the late stages where motor complications with levodopa become an issue. Objective: To investigate the safety and tolerability of transdermal rotigotine, in patients with PD being treated during routine clinical practice for 2 years. Results: 114 patients were enrolled, and evaluated for adverse events over a 24-month period. Adverse events occurred in 39 patients (34.21%). 23 patients (20.17%) reported application site reactions (dermatitis, erythema, itching), and 16 (14.03%) had systemic adverse events. Sleep disorders were the most common problem; the others were hallucinations, depression, dizziness, and syncope. No patient experienced dyskinesia. Adverse events necessitated the discontinuation of rotigotine for application site reactions in fourteen patients (12.28%) and 11 patients (9.64%); reasons for discontinuation were systemic adverse events. Conclusion: Rotigotine is safe and well tolerated when used to treat PD in routine clinical practice.
Machine learning for energy efficiency: Automatic detection of electric loads from power consumption

This work deals with the problem of energy efficiency and saving: we present a method to automatically extract behavioral rules from consumption data, so that these rules can be applied or fed to an automatic control system. To extract behavioral rules we shall be able to both (i) define power plants similarity techniques and (ii) analyze and gather rules from data, making the correct assumptions.
Running head : SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE TAKING AND INHIBITORY CONTROL 1 The Relation Between Spatial Perspective Taking and Inhibitory Control in 6-Year-Old Children

Developmental research on spatial perspective taking has shown that young children are able to solve perspective-taking problems under favorable circumstances, but they have difficulties succeeding in classic tasks involving a conflict between one’s own perspective and that of another observer. To date, little is known about the reasons for young children’s difficulties dealing with incongruent perspectives. Based on the assumption that one’s own perspective has to be ignored in order to imagine someone else’s perspective, it was investigated whether perspective taking is related to inhibitory control in 6-year-olds (N = 140). An adapted version of the ‘Fruit Stroop Task’, appropriate for preschool children, was used to assess inhibitory control. Perspective taking was assessed using the ‘Perspective-Taking Test for Children’ (PTT-C). Other spatial and nonspatial abilities were assessed to investigate the specificity of the relation. Results showed a significant correlation between perspective taking and inhibitory control, even when controlled for age, verbal-IQ, and socioeconomic status. However, no significant correlations between inhibition and other spatial abilities were found, indicating a specific relation between inhibition and perspective taking. A linear regression analysis showed that, even after accounting for effects of control variables as well as other mental transformation abilities, inhibition accounted for a significant part of the variance in perspective-taking performance. The present findings provide valuable information on what contributes to individual differences in perspective taking, which is an important aspect of everyday cognition and bears relevance for reasoning in technical domains.
Advances in the use of multimarker panels for renal risk stratification

Purpose of reviewThis review discusses novel studies in the past year that have examined the use of combinations of multiple markers to improve risk prediction in the setting of chronic kidney disease (CKD). We will focus on multimarker panels to: improve prediction of CKD onset; improve classification of CKD and risk stratification of persons with CKD; and develop individual-level risk scores for progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Recent findingsOne study reported that several novel circulation biomarkers may aid in predicting incident CKD and microalbuminuria. Second, our group has shown that the combination of creatinine, cystatin C, and albuminuria improves detection and risk stratification for death, heart failure, cardiovascular events, and ESRD compared with creatinine alone. Finally, a highly accurate individual risk score was developed to predict progression to ESRD using readily available clinical markers. SummaryThe combination of multiple markers improves detection and risk stratification in CKD. Future research is needed in understanding the use of a ‘renal panel’ for detection, classification, and risk stratification in kidney disease in diverse populations. The studies presented here represent the beginning of a paradigm shift to multimarker panels in nephrology.
Developing space syntax tools for free and open source software for GIS

The aim of this paper is to reveal the potential of Free and Open Source Software for GIS (FOSS4GIS) in Space Syntax (SS) analysis. For this purpose, firstly the existing software exclusively developed for SS are reviewed in order to unveil both their modalities to produce the key measures of SS and illustrate the lack of their cooperation with GIS and Social Network Analysis (SNA) software. After discussing basic SS parameters, several FOSS4GIS are examined in order to divulge their potential for the extraction of adjusted graphs and calculation of basic SS parameters by presenting the core algorithm behind the plugins created employing the scripting facilities in the respective software programs. This paper exposes that there are rich avenues for future research in the field of analysis of social networks and spatial configurations if the potential of FOSS4GIS and the graph theoretical background of SNA and SS are properly utilized.
B**-tree: a data organization method for high storage utilization

Presents the B**-tree, a data organization method which achieves a storage utilization which is higher than that of the B*-tree. The proposed structure performs especially well in just those cases where the B*-tree performs the worst. The B**-tree attains high storage utilization but incurs some I/O overhead during index creation. The observed I/O overhead ranges from -20% (i.e. I/O gains) to +35%. In all tested cases, the storage utilization achieved by the proposed structure is at least 90%. <<ETX>>