Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feasibility and Histopathologic Studies of Ethylene Vinyl Copolymer ( EV AL ) Using a Swine Endovascular Embolization Model

PURPOSE: To study the safety, technical efficacy, and histopathology of the ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EV AL) embolic mixture in an animal model. METHODS: Microcatheterization of the rete was performed in 29 swine. The clinical, angiographic, and histopathologic consequences of superselective injection of the two principal embolic mixture components (EVAL and dimethyl sulfoxide [DMSO]) were evaluated. Necropsy and standard histologic preparation were used for pathologic analysis. RESULTS: Significant technical difficulties and adverse outcomes occurred. The EV AL mixture was difficult to see under fluoroscopy and prematurely polymerized during one embolization, resulting in catheter occlusion. However, polymerized EVAL did not adhere to the catheter. DMSO damaged the plastic hubs of the microcatheters. Infusions of DMSO always caused immediate, moderate to severe vasospasm and frequently caused either subarachnoid hemorrhage or stroke. Histopathologic findings of both DMSO and DMSO plus EVAL were similar, producing variable endothelial denuding, thrombosis, and disruption of internal elastic lamina in the acute stage. An intense, mixed inflammatory response, organized thrombus , and transmural necrosis with extravasation were seen in the subacute and chronic stages. CONCLUSIONS: Despite having some desirable features as an embolic agent, significant problems were encountered with EV AL; the most important of which is that one of the principal components of the embolic mixture, DMSO, seems to be very angiotoxic.
Human Tracking and Counting In RangeImages by Using Mean Shift and Pylon GridAlgorithm

Pylon grid method used for automatic tracking and counting of people on consumer path in a shopping mall, a subway and an airport in order to collect statistical data about the consumer behavior. In visionbased algorithms for the people counting and tracking has failed when the background changes gradually over time. The contour segmentation method has failed due to multistage threshold limits. If the observed area is so crowded, an occlusion problem has occurred. So we introduce the new algorithm, Pylon Grid, which is used to eliminate all these problems by using a static grid of measure points – pylons. A modified human body tracking system based on the Discrete Wavelet Transform and Mean-shift algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm of motion object detection and segmentation is applied to the video for a crowd of fast moving people. Tracking multiple people accurately in cluttered and crowded scenes has failed in a single view. We present multi view approach to solving this problem. This can be done with a stereo camera. Pylon grid method is the efficient and fast method for human head detection in range images captured by a stereo camera that is positioned vertically, pointing from the roof to the ground. The human head is detected using segmentation of the images. The segmentation process helps to identify the heads of the humans. The objects in the video are obtained using normal Background subtraction. The identified objects are then marked. By using the number of blobs identified the number of people in the video. An essential component of any tracking system is the detector, which determines the positions of the people in each frame of the image sequence. While the vertical camera orientation limits the size of the observed area, it provides a clear view with minimal occlusions among the people. We show how a fast median filter can be used for effective preprocessing of the range data. The person can be detected by using the method only two threshold values. The algorithm is guaranteed to find all local minima and its speed only depends on the resolution of the grid.
GSK‐3: A key player in neurodegeneration and memory

Abnormalities in molecular signalling have been implicated in neurodegeneration. It is emerging that glycogen synthase kinase‐3 (GSK‐3) is a key signalling molecule that induces neurodegeneration and deficits in memory formation related to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Early stages of AD are associated with deficits in memory formation before neuronal cell death is detectable. Recent studies in rodents have suggested that these impairments in memory formation might result from increased GSK‐3 signalling, because enhanced GSK‐3 activity impairs hippocampal memory formation. GSK‐3 activity blocks synaptic long‐term potentiation and induces long‐term depression. Furthermore, increased GSK‐3 signalling is likely to be a key contributor to the formation of the pathological hallmarks in AD, neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and amyloid plaques. Recent studies with mouse models have indicated that GSK‐3, but not cyclin‐dependent kinase 5, is critical for hyperphosphorylation of the cytoskeletal protein tau, which is the prerequisite for NFT formation in AD. Furthermore, increased GSK‐3 signalling in AD mice causes abnormal processing of the amyloid precursor protein so that amyloid peptide production augments and neurotoxicity is induced. Taken together, the current evidences suggest that increased GSK‐3 signalling may be responsible for the deficits in memory formation in early stages of AD and neurodegeneration in later stages of the disease. © 2009 IUBMB IUBMB Life 61(5): 516–521, 2009
Menus leaf: enrichir les menus linéaires par des gestes

We present a new kind of linear menu based on gesture, called Leaf menu. The Leaf menu is adapted to the selection of commands for the cases of small handheld touchscreen devices (PDA, smartphone): Indeed it supports finger-based interaction, minimizes the required screen space, manages occlusion and can be used close to the screen borders. Moreover the Leaf menu suppports eyes-free selection. It can also be used in the context of a tabletop and of a personal computer by providing an alternative to keyboard shortcuts.
Jedd: a BDD-based relational extension of Java

In this paper we present Jedd, a language extension to Java that supports a convenient way of programming with Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs). The Jedd language abstracts BDDs as database-style relations and operations on relations, and provides static type rules to ensure that relational operations are used correctly.The paper provides a description of the Jedd language and reports on the design and implementation of the Jedd translator and associated runtime system. Of particular interest is the approach to assigning attributes from the high-level relations to physical domains in the underlying BDDs, which is done by expressing the constraints as a SAT problem and using a modern SAT solver to compute the solution. Further, a runtime system is defined that handles memory management issues and supports a browsable profiling tool for tuning the key BDD operations.The motivation for designing Jedd was to support the development of whole program analyses based on BDDs, and we have used Jedd to express five key interrelated whole program analyses in our Soot compiler framework. We provide some examples of this application and discuss our experiences using Jedd.
Topographical relationship between the entorhinal cortex and the septotemporal axis of the dentate gyrus in rats: II. Cells projecting from lateral entorhinal subdivision

Projections from the rat lateral entorhinal cortex (area 28‐l) to the dentate gyrus were traced and then interpreted according to a parcellation scheme that recognized four cytoarchitectonic subdivisions of area 28‐1: areas dorsolateral (dl), ventrolateral (vl), ventromedial (vm), and TR. Following lesions of area 28‐l, anterograde degeneration was traced with the Fink‐Heimer method. In parallel experiments iontophoretic injections of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) were made in the lateral perforant path terminal zone of the dentate molecular layer. Retrograde neuronal labeling patterns within area 28‐l were charted following dorsal, midseptotemporal (mid ST), and ventral dentate injections. In two additional cases HRP was deposited in the ventral subiculum.
Application of Multispectral Imaging to Determine Quality Attributes and Ripeness Stage in Strawberry Fruit

Multispectral imaging with 19 wavelengths in the range of 405–970 nm has been evaluated for nondestructive determination of firmness, total soluble solids (TSS) content and ripeness stage in strawberry fruit. Several analysis approaches, including partial least squares (PLS), support vector machine (SVM) and back propagation neural network (BPNN), were applied to develop theoretical models for predicting the firmness and TSS of intact strawberry fruit. Compared with PLS and SVM, BPNN considerably improved the performance of multispectral imaging for predicting firmness and total soluble solids content with the correlation coefficient (r) of 0.94 and 0.83, SEP of 0.375 and 0.573, and bias of 0.035 and 0.056, respectively. Subsequently, the ability of multispectral imaging technology to classify fruit based on ripeness stage was tested using SVM and principal component analysis-back propagation neural network (PCA-BPNN) models. The higher classification accuracy of 100% was achieved using SVM model. Moreover, the results of all these models demonstrated that the VIS parts of the spectra were the main contributor to the determination of firmness, TSS content estimation and classification of ripeness stage in strawberry fruit. These results suggest that multispectral imaging, together with suitable analysis model, is a promising technology for rapid estimation of quality attributes and classification of ripeness stage in strawberry fruit.
Endoscopic palliation of oesophageal cancer: results of a prospective comparison of Nd:YAG laser and ethanol injection.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of intratumoral alcohol injection compared with Nd:YAG laser in the treatment of unresectable fungating cancers of the oesophagus. DESIGN Prospective, randomised clinical study. SETTING University hospital, Italy. SUBJECTS AND INTERVENTIONS 47 consecutive patients were randomly allocated to have endoscopic Nd:YAG laser treatment (n = 24), or intratumoural injection of 98% alcohol (n = 23). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Morbidity, mortality, dysphagia score, survival. RESULTS One patient in the laser group needed analgesic support during and after the treatment, whereas 18 (78%) of those treated with alcohol experienced mild pain and most of them required analgesics. An improvement of at least 2 points in the dysphagia score was noted in 21 patients (88%) in the laser group and in 18 in the alcohol group (78%). The mean dysphagia-free intervals between each treatment were 30 and 37 days, respectively. The median survival was 6 months in each group. There were no significant differences in the mean dysphagia scores of patients still alive. There were no complications in the laser group, but one oesophageal perforation occurred during the preliminary dilatation before the second session of alcohol injection. There were no procedure-related deaths. CONCLUSION The two techniques allowed similar palliation of dysphagia and improvement of quality of life. Intratumoral injection of alcohol is an effective and inexpensive therapeutic option in the palliation of fungating oesophageal lesions.
Visually-driven ocular growth in mice requires functional rod photoreceptors.

PURPOSE Proper refractive eye growth depends on several features of the visual image and requisite retinal pathways. In this study, we determined the contribution of rod pathways to normal refractive development and form deprivation (FD) myopia by testing Gnat1(-/-) mice, which lack functional rods due to a mutation in rod transducin-α. METHODS Refractive development was measured in Gnat1(-/-) (n = 30-36) and wild-type (WT) mice (n = 5-9) from 4 to 12 weeks of age. FD was induced monocularly from 4 weeks of age using head-mounted diffuser goggles (Gnat1(-/-), n = 9-10; WT, n = 7-8). Refractive state and ocular biometry were obtained weekly using a photorefractor, 1310 nm optical coherence tomography, and partial coherence interferometry. We measured retinal dopamine and its metabolite, DOPAC, using HPLC. RESULTS During normal development, the refractions of WT mice started at 5.36 ± 0.68 diopters (D) and became more hyperopic before plateauing at 7.78 ± 0.64 D. In contrast, refractions in Gnat1(-/-) mice were stable at 7.39 ± 1.22 D across all ages. Three weeks of FD induced a 2.54 ± 0.77 D myopic shift in WT mice, while Gnat1(-/-) mice did not respond to FD at any age. Axial lengths of Gnat1(-/-) and WT mice increased with age, but differences between genotypes or with goggling did not reach statistical significance and fell within the precision of the instruments. The DOPAC levels were significantly lower in Gnat1(-/-) mice from 2 to 12 weeks of age with DOPAC/dopamine ratio peaking earlier in Gnat1(-/-) compared to WT mice. No differences in dopamine were seen in response to FD or between genotypes. CONCLUSIONS Functional rod photoreceptors are critical to normal refractive development and the response to FD in mice. Dopamine levels may not directly modulate the refractive state of the mouse eye, but tonic levels of dopamine during development may determine susceptibility to myopia.
Acromegaly: an endocrine society clinical practice guideline.

OBJECTIVE The aim was to formulate clinical practice guidelines for acromegaly. PARTICIPANTS The Task Force included a chair selected by the Endocrine Society Clinical Guidelines Subcommittee (CGS), five experts in the field, and a methodologist. The authors received no corporate funding or remuneration. This guideline is cosponsored by the European Society of Endocrinology. EVIDENCE This evidence-based guideline was developed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system to describe both the strength of recommendations and the quality of evidence. The Task Force reviewed primary evidence and commissioned two additional systematic reviews. CONSENSUS PROCESS One group meeting, several conference calls, and e-mail communications enabled consensus. Committees and members of the Endocrine Society and the European Society of Endocrinology reviewed drafts of the guidelines. CONCLUSIONS Using an evidence-based approach, this acromegaly guideline addresses important clinical issues regarding the evaluation and management of acromegaly, including the appropriate biochemical assessment, a therapeutic algorithm, including use of medical monotherapy or combination therapy, and management during pregnancy.
Treating Epilepsy in Tuberous Sclerosis with Everolimus: Getting Closer

Commentary Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by hamartomas in any organ system, especially the brain, retina, heart, skin, kidney, lung, and liver. Neurological manifestations are responsible for most disability, and include cognitive impairment and subependymal giant cell astrocytomas (SEGAs), but epilepsy is the most common problem, occurring in about 90 percent of individuals with TSC. The epilepsy typically begins early in life and is often intractable. Most TSC cases arise from new inactivating mutations in the TSC1 (encoding hamartin) or TSC2 (encoding tuberin) tumor suppressing genes. The molecular mechanism of TSC is hyperactivity of the “mammalian target of rapamycin” (mTOR) pathway, which is felt to be responsible for both the hamartomas and epilepsy (1). mTOR is a protein kinase that regulates cell growth, proliferation, and survival, as well as expression of neurotransmitter receptors, synaptic plasticity, and axonal and dendritic morphology. Hamartin and tuberin form a complex that activates a GTPase (guansosine triphosphate hydrolase) that inactivates the RHEB (RAS protein homologue enriched in brain)-signaling protein, leading to inhibition of the mTOR pathway; mutations of TSC1 or TSC2 therefore release inhibition of this pathway. Rapamycin, initially developed as an antifungal agent, was the first agent determined to inhibit the mTOR system (2). It was shown to cause regression of SEGAs in humans with TSC (3). In addition, early treatment with rapamycin was shown to prevent premature death and development of epilepsy in experimental models of TSC such as the TSC1 conditional knockout mouse (4), leading to investigation of mTOR inhibitors as therapy for human TSC. Most clinical investigations have been done with everolimus, a rapamycin analog that was originally FDA approved for immunosuppression to prevent organ rejection following renal and cardiac transplantation, and as treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Marked regression of SEGAs within 3 months of treatment was demonstrated in an open study (5), and then confirmed in a large, international, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III trial (6). The FDA and the European Medicines Agency now approve everolimus for treatment of SEGAs that cannot be cured by neurosurgery. The patients in the open trial have now been followed for approximately 3 years with an observed sustained response (7). Everolimus Treatment of Refractory Epilepsy in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex.
Diclofenac-related leakage of experimental anastomoses

Background The contribution of animal research to a reduction in clinical intestinal anastomotic leakage is unknown, despite numerous experimental studies. In view of the current societal call to replace, reduce and refine animal experiments, this study examined the quality of animal research related to anastomotic healing and leakage. Methods Animal studies on intestinal anastomotic healing were retrieved systematically from PubMed and Embase. Study objective, conclusion and animal model were recorded. Reporting quality and internal validity (reporting of randomization and blinding) were assessed. Results A total of 1342 studies were identified, with a rising publication rate. The objectives of most studies were therapeutic interventions (64·8 per cent) and identification of risk factors (27·5 per cent). Of 350 articles studying experimental therapies, 298 (85·1 per cent) reported a positive effect on anastomotic healing. On average, 44·7 per cent of relevant study characteristics were not reported, in particular details on anastomotic complications (31·6 per cent), use of antibiotics (75·7 per cent), sterile surgery (83·4 per cent) and postoperative analgesia (91·4 per cent). The proportion of studies with randomization, blinding of surgery and blinding of primary outcome assessment has increased in the past two decades but remains insufficient, being included in only 62·4, 4·9 and 8·5 per cent of publications respectively. Animal models varied widely in terms of species, method to compromise healing, intestinal segment and outcome measures used. Conclusion Animal research on anastomotic leakage is of poor quality and still increasing, contrary to societal aims. Reporting and study quality must improve if results are to impact on patients.
Negotiating using rewards

In situations where self-interested agents interact repeatedly, it is important that they are endowed with negotiation techniques that enable them to reach agreements that are profitable in the long run. To this end, we devise a novel negotiation algorithm that generates promises of rewards in future interactions, as a means of permitting agents to reach better agreements, in a shorter time, in the present encounter. Moreover, we thus develop a specific negotiation tactic based on this reward generation algorithm and show that it can achieve significantly bettter outcomes than existing benchmark tactics that do not use such inducements. Specifically, we show, via empirical evaluation, that our tactic can lead to a 26% improvement in the utility of deals that are made and that 21 times fewer messages need to be exchanged in order to achieve this under concrete settings.
Application Specific Hardware Design Simulation for High Performance Embedded System

specific simulation is challenging task in various real time high performance embedded devices. In this study specific application is implemented with the help of Xilinx. Xilinx provides SDK and XPS tools, XPS tools used for develop complete hardware platform and SDK provides software platform for application creation and verification. Xilinx XUP-5 board have been used and implemented various specific Applications with hardware platform. In this study the base instruction set with customized instructions, supported with specific hardware resources are analyzed. Keywordsvirtex-5 FPGA board, simulation, hardware and software design, Xilinx Platform Studio.
Non-muscle myosin II in disease: mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities

ABSTRACT The actin motor protein non-muscle myosin II (NMII) acts as a master regulator of cell morphology, with a role in several essential cellular processes, including cell migration and post-synaptic dendritic spine plasticity in neurons. NMII also generates forces that alter biochemical signaling, by driving changes in interactions between actin-associated proteins that can ultimately regulate gene transcription. In addition to its roles in normal cellular physiology, NMII has recently emerged as a critical regulator of diverse, genetically complex diseases, including neuronal disorders, cancers and vascular disease. In the context of these disorders, NMII regulatory pathways can be directly mutated or indirectly altered by disease-causing mutations. NMII regulatory pathway genes are also increasingly found in disease-associated copy-number variants, particularly in neuronal disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. Furthermore, manipulation of NMII-mediated contractility regulates stem cell pluripotency and differentiation, thus highlighting the key role of NMII-based pharmaceuticals in the clinical success of stem cell therapies. In this Review, we discuss the emerging role of NMII activity and its regulation by kinases and microRNAs in the pathogenesis and prognosis of a diverse range of diseases, including neuronal disorders, cancer and vascular disease. We also address promising clinical applications and limitations of NMII-based inhibitors in the treatment of these diseases and the development of stem-cell-based therapies. Summary: Non-muscle myosin II (NMII) contributes to diverse diseases, including neuronal disorders, cancer and vascular disease. We address the role of NMII in disease pathology and highlight promising clinical applications of NMII inhibitors for disease and stem-cell-based therapies.
Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes in cottage cheese manufactured with a lacticin 3147‐producing starter culture

The efficacy of using a lacticin 3147‐producing starter as a protective culture to improve the safety of cottage cheese was investigated. This involved the manufacture of cottage cheese using Lactococcus lactis DPC4268 (control) and L. lactis DPC4275, a bacteriocin‐producing transconjugant strain derived from DPC4268. A number of Listeria monocytogenes strains, including a number of industrial isolates, were assayed for their sensitivity to lacticin 3147. These strains varied considerably with respect to their sensitivity to the bacteriocin. One of the more tolerant strains, Scott A, was used in the cottage cheese study; the cheese was subsequently inoculated with approximately 104L. monocytogenes Scott A g−1. The bacteriocin concentration in the curd was measured at 2560 AU ml−1, and bacteriocin activity could be detected throughout the 1 week storage period. In cottage cheese samples held at 4 °C, there was at least a 99·9% reduction in the numbers of L. monocytogenes Scott A in the bacteriocin‐containing cheese within 5 d, whereas in the control cheeses, numbers remained essentially unchanged. At higher storage temperatures, the kill rate was more rapid. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of lacticin 3147 as an inhibitor of L. monocytogenes in a food system where post‐manufacture contamination by this organism could be problematic.