Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of protein C concentrate in pediatric patients with sepsis.

AIM Protein C (PC) is a plasma glycoprotein implicated in modulating coagulation and inflammation. Its levels decrease in sepsis and related diseases, where it has also proved to be a prognostic indicator of outcome. Infusion of exogenous PC, although not able to decrease mortality in severe sepsis and septic shock, can safely resolve the coagulation imbalances related to these pathological states. METHODS A retrospective study was performed about utilisation of PC in severe sepsis and septic shock patients in three italian PICUs during a one-year period. Data from 29 patients were analysed. Age, PIM 2, mortality and length of stay were compared between treated and non treated patients. Treated patients were also analysed for PC dosage received, length of treatment, and modification of hemocoagulation parameters, before PC infusion and every 24 hours. RESULTS In treated patients, the activity of PC, PT and PTT activity and fibrinogen improved significantly from basal to day 5 (p<0.05). Diminution of d-dimer was not quite significant (p=0.0514). Rise in platelets count and antithrombin III activity was not significant. No adverse reactions related to Protein C concentrate were observed. No difference in mortality was observed between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS Although PC is included in guidelines for management of severe sepsis and septic shock, only 38%, of observed patients received PC treatment. Even in the treated group, patients received a lower dosage of PC, and for a shorter period, than recommended. In accordance to previous studies, we did not observe differences in mortality between treated and untreated patients. Our results showed a significant increase in plasma PC activity, following infusion of PC concentrate. This increase in PC appeared sufficient to restore some, but not all, of the abnormalities in the coagulation system. A large randomized, phase 3, placebo-controlled trial in children with severe sepsis and septic shock is advisable to establish effective role of therapy with PC in reducing mortality of these patients.
An update on uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women

Purpose of review Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in women comprise uncomplicated and complicated UTIs. Uncomplicated UTIs, such as acute uncomplicated cystitis and pyelonephritis, are very common infections in otherwise healthy women, with a high tendency to recur. Although severe complications are rare, their high prevalence causes remarkable costs in the healthcare systems. Recent findings As most scientific evidence has been gathered in uncomplicated UTI, this study focuses on recent developments in epidemiology, pathogenesis, cause, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of uncomplicated UTI and recurrent UTI in women. Summary A remarkable increase of antibiotic resistance is also noted in uncomplicated UTI. Therefore, prudent use of antibiotic substances in uncomplicated UTI is increasingly important.
The Relationship between institutional, course level and individual teaching excellence in Higher Education: a proposal for developing competitive advantage through leveraging the expertise of excellent university teachers.

Internationally many nations are seeking to recognise and reward excellent teaching at an institutional, subject and individual level, acknowledging the importance of outstanding teaching as a contribution to positive student learning experiences through students’ academic, emotional and transactional engagement. This paper explores the ways in which higher education teaching excellence can be recognised and rewarded, using a case study from the UK, and considers the relationship between institutional, course-level and individual teaching excellence. We conclude by proposing that HEIs can develop a competitive advantage through leveraging the expertise of excellent university teachers to the benefit of learners.
DOT1L/KMT4 Recruitment and H3K79 Methylation Are Ubiquitously Coupled with Gene Transcription in Mammalian Cells

ABSTRACT The histone H3 lysine 79 methyltransferase DOT1L/KMT4 can promote an oncogenic pattern of gene expression through binding with several MLL fusion partners found in acute leukemia. However, the normal function of DOT1L in mammalian gene regulation is poorly understood. Here we report that DOT1L recruitment is ubiquitously coupled with active transcription in diverse mammalian cell types. DOT1L preferentially occupies the proximal transcribed region of active genes, correlating with enrichment of H3K79 di- and trimethylation. Furthermore, Dot1l mutant fibroblasts lacked H3K79 di- and trimethylation at all sites examined, indicating that DOT1L is the sole enzyme responsible for these marks. Importantly, we identified chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay conditions necessary for reliable H3K79 methylation detection. ChIP-chip tiling arrays revealed that levels of all degrees of genic H3K79 methylation correlate with mRNA abundance and dynamically respond to changes in gene activity. Conversion of H3K79 monomethylation into di- and trimethylation correlated with the transition from low- to high-level gene transcription. We also observed enrichment of H3K79 monomethylation at intergenic regions occupied by DNA-binding transcriptional activators. Our findings highlight several similarities between the patterning of H3K4 methylation and that of H3K79 methylation in mammalian chromatin, suggesting a widespread mechanism for parallel or sequential recruitment of DOT1L and MLL to genes in their normal “on” state.
Synthesis for Testability of Highly Complex Controllers by Functional Redundancy Removal

This paper presents a testable synthesis methodology applicable to any top-down design method based on hardware-description-language descriptions, or graphical representations. The methodology is targeted on control-dominated applications and it is based on the identification and removal of a new class of redundant faults, called functionally redundant faults. The formal relation between functionally redundant faults and sequentially redundant faults is introduced. Moreover, the relation between functionally redundant faults and logic synthesis algorithms based on local don't cares is shown. Functionally redundant faults are identified and removed by comparing the implemented synchronous sequential circuit, which can be technology dependent, to its specification. The specification can be a single finite state machine (FSM), a set of interacting FSMs, or a hierarchical FSM that allows the description of highly complex controllers. The proposed methodology produces testable circuits, with area reduction, still mapped on the same technology library, and it manages circuits which cannot be handled by other methods presented in the literature.
A Comparative Study on Nine- and Twelve-Phase Flux-Switching Permanent-Magnet Wind Power Generators

In this paper, two flux-switching permanent-magnet (FSPM) wind power generators with 9- and 12-phase windings are designed and comparatively analyzed. Both two generators are designed under the rated specifications of 10 kW output power and 220 V phase voltage at 500 r/min. The static characteristics and power generating performances including output voltage, power, and efficiency at rated and variable load/speed conditions are predicted by finite-element analysis and validated by experimental tests based on the two FSPM prototypes. It shows that the 12-phase 24-stator-slot/22-rotor-pole FSPM generator exhibits a higher air-gap flux density, a higher torque/power density, and a lower voltage regulation factor. Besides, it has a better overload capability than its 9-phase 36-stator-slot/34-rotor-pole counterpart when the load and wind speed exceed the rated levels. The comparative study reveals the benefits of the lower leakage flux and permeance from the larger stator-slot opening and longer magnetic circuit.
Intestinal epithelium, intraepithelial lymphocytes and the gut microbiota - Key players in the pathogenesis of celiac disease

Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic immune-mediated disorder triggered by the ingestion of gluten in genetically predisposed individuals. Before activating the immune system, gluten peptides are transferred by the epithelial barrier to the mucosal lamina propria, where they are deamidated by intestinal tissue transglutaminase 2. As a result, they strongly bind to human leucocyte antigens (HLAs), especially HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8, expressed on antigen-presenting cells. This induces an inflammatory response, which results in small bowel enteropathy. Although gluten is the main external trigger activating both innate and adaptive (specific) immunity, its presence in the intestinal lumen does not fully explain CD pathogenesis. It has been hypothesized that an early disruption of the gut barrier in genetically susceptible individuals, which would result in an increased intestinal permeability, could precede the onset of gluten-induced immune events. The intestinal barrier is a complex functional structure, whose functioning is dependent on intestinal microbiota homeostasis, epithelial layer integrity, and the gut-associated lymphoid tissue with its intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs). The aim of this paper was to review the current literature and summarize the role of the gut microbiota, epithelial cells and their intercellular junctions, and IELs in CD development.
Ability to Predict Metastasis Based On Pathology Findings and Alterations in Nuclear Structure Of Normal-Appearing and Cancer Peripheral Zone Epithelium in the Prostate

Purpose: Malignant transformation in the prostate produces significant alterations in glandular architecture (Gleason grade) and nuclear structure that provide valuable prognostic information. Normal-appearing nuclei (NN) adjacent to cancer may also have altered functions in response to malignancy. We studied NN adjacent to peripheral zone (PZ) prostate cancer (PCa), as well as the PZ cancer nuclei (CaN) using quantitative image cytometry. The nuclear structure information was combined with routine pathological findings to predict metastatic PCa progression and/or death. Experimental Design: Tissue microarrays of normal-appearing and cancer areas were prepared from 182 pathologist-selected paraffin blocks. Feulgen-stained CaN and NN were captured from the tissue microarrays using the AutoCyte Pathology Workstation. Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate quantitative nuclear grade (QNG) solutions based on nuclear morphometric descriptors determined from NN and CaN. Multivariate logistic regression and Kaplan-Meier plots were also used to predict risk for distant metastasis and/or PCa-specific death using QNG solutions and routine pathology. Results: The pathology model yielded an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 72.5%. The QNG-NN and QNG-CaN solutions yielded an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 81.6 and 79.9%, respectively, but used different sets of nuclear morphometric descriptors. Kaplan-Meier plots for the pathology variables, the QNG-NN and QNG-CaN solutions, were combined with pathology to defined three statistically significantly distinct risk groups for distant metastasis and/or death (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Alterations in cancer or normal-appearing nuclei adjacent to peripheral zone cancer areas can predict PCa progression and/or death. The QNG-NN and QNG-CA solutions could be combined with pathology variables to improve the prediction of distant metastasis.
High-resolution Mapping in Patients with Persistent AF

Ablation of AF through electrical isolation of the pulmonary veins is a well-established technique and a cornerstone in the ablation of AF, although there are a variety of techniques and ablation strategies now available. However, high numbers of patients are returning to hospital after ablation procedures such as pulmonary vein isolation (PVI). Scar tissue (as identified by contact voltage mapping) is found to be present in many of these patients, especially those with persistent AF and even those with paroxysmal AF. This scarring is associated with poor outcomes after PVI. Cardiac mapping is necessary to locate triggers and substrate so that an ablation strategy can be optimised. Multipolar mapping catheters offer more information regarding the status of the tissue than standard ablation catheters. A patient-tailored catheter ablation approach, targeting the patient-specific low voltage/fibrotic substrate can lead to improved outcomes.
The Identification of a Calmodulin-Binding Domain within the Cytoplasmic Tail of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme-2

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-2 is a homolog of the well-characterized plasma membrane-bound angiotensin-converting enzyme. ACE2 is thought to play a critical role in regulating heart function, and in 2003, ACE2 was identified as a functional receptor for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus. We have recently shown that like ACE, ACE2 undergoes ectodomain shedding and that this shedding event is up-regulated by phorbol esters. In the present study, we used gel shift assays to demonstrate that calmodulin, an intracellular calcium-binding protein implicated in the regulation of other ectodomain shedding events, binds a 16-amino acid synthetic peptide corresponding to residues 762–777 within the cytoplasmic domain of human ACE2, forming a calcium-dependent calmodulin-peptide complex. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that ACE2 expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells specifically binds to glutathione-S-transferase-calmodulin, but not glutathione-S-transferase alone, in pull-down assays using cell lysates. Finally, to investigate whether calmodulin has any effect on ACE2 ectodomain shedding in cells that endogenously express the enzyme, cells from a human liver cell line (Huh-7) expressing ACE2 were incubated with calmodulin-specific inhibitors, trifluoperazine and calmidazolium. Both trifluoperazine (25 μmol/liter) and calmidazolium, (25 μmol/liter) significantly increased the release of ACE2 into the medium (44.1 ± 10.8%, P < 0.05, Student’s t test; unpaired, two-tailed, and 51.1 ± 7.4% P < 0.05, one-way ANOVA, respectively;), as analyzed by an ACE2-specific quenched fluorescence substrate assay. We also show that the calmodulin-specific inhibitor-stimulated shedding of ACE2 is independent from phorbol ester-induced shedding. In summary, we have demonstrated that calmodulin is able to bind ACE2 and suggest that the ACE2 ectodomain shedding and/or sheddase(s) activation regulated by calmodulin is independent from the phorbol ester-induced shedding.
Switchless bi-directional amplifier

Traditional radio frequency bi-directional amplifiers rely on switches with their associated increase in cost, size and loss to achieve time division duplexing. A switchless bi-directional amplifier is proposed whereby the power amplifier (PA) and low noise amplifier (LNA) are connected directly in an anti-parallel configuration. Experimental results show that there is no gain degradation when compared with the individual power amplifier and low noise amplifier.
Risorse educative aperte e professione docente nell'era dell'accesso

The use of Open Educational Resources (OER) has been considered a valid strategy for fostering innovative educational practices that adopt a learner centered approach. Following the conceptualization of OER proposed by UNESCO, a number of significant experiences have emerged in the use and sharing of OER. Nevertheless, these new modalities of interaction require new competences in the use and sharing of knowledge on the web. This paper introduces a preliminary study of teachers’ knowledge about the OER concept. It was carried out within the OER-Univirtual project, which is promoted by the Univirtual Lab on e-Learning Technologies. Analysis of results has provided the basis for formulating a training approach designed to foster teachers’ competences regarding the implementation of a new model of open education in secondary school teaching practice.
Concerted Interneuron Activity in the Cerebellar Molecular Layer During Rhythmic Oromotor Behaviors

Molecular layer interneurons (MLIs, stellate and basket cells) of the cerebellar cortex are linked together by chemical and electrical synapses and exert a potent feedforward inhibition on Purkinje cells. The functional role of MLIs during specific motor tasks is uncertain. Here, we used two-photon imaging to study the patterns of activity of neighboring individual MLIs in the Crus II region of awake female mice during two types of oromotor activity, licking and bruxing, using specific expression of the genetically encoded calcium indicator protein GCaMP6s. We found that both stellate and basket cells engaged in synchronized waves of calcium activity during licking and bruxing, with high degrees of correlation among the signals collected in individual MLIs. In contrast, no calcium activity was observed during whisking. MLI activity tended to lag behind the onset of sustained licking episodes, indicating a regulatory action of MLIs during licking. Furthermore, during licking, stellate cell activity was anisotropic: the coordination was constant along the direction of parallel fibers (PFs), but fell off with distance along the orthogonal direction. These results suggest a PF drive for Ca2+ signals during licking. In contrast, during bruxing, MLI activity was neither clearly organized spatially nor temporally correlated with oromotor activity. In conclusion, MLI activity exhibits a high degree of correlation both in licking and in bruxing, but spatiotemporal patterns of activity display significant differences for the two types of behavior. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT It is known that, during movement, the activity of molecular layer interneurons (MLIs) of the cerebellar cortex is enhanced. However, MLI–MLI interactions are complex because they depend both from excitatory electrical synapses and from potentially inhibitory chemical synapses. Accordingly, the pattern of MLI activity during movement has been unclear. Here, during two oromotor tasks, licking and bruxism, individual neighboring MLIs displayed highly coordinated activity, showing that the positive influences binding MLIs together are predominant. We further find that spatiotemporal patterns differ between licking and bruxing, suggesting that the precise pattern of MLI activity depends on the nature of the motor task.
Structural information-based image quality assessment using LU factorization

The goal of the objective image quality assessment is to quantitatively measure the image quality of a distorted image, which is close to the subjective image quality assessment such as the mean opinion score. The image quality assessment algorithms are generally classified into two methodologies: perceptual and structural. This paper proposes a structural information-based image quality assessment algorithm, in which LU factorization is used for representation of the structural information of an image. The proposed algorithm performs LU factorization of reference and distorted images, from which the distortion map is computed for measuring the quality of the distorted image. Finally, the proposed image quality metric is computed from the two-dimensional distortion map. Experimental results with the LIVE database images show the efficiency of the proposed method. In commercial systems, the proposed algorithm can be used for quality assessment of mobile contents and video coding, which effectively replaces the peak signal to noise ratio or the mean square error.
Learning and memory in the mosquito Aedes aegypti shown by conditioning against oviposition deterrence

Abstract. Oviposition site choice by female mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti (L) (Diptera: Culicidae), was affected by rearing them in water treated with 0.016% of the repellent Mozaway™ containing citronella and neem. Given a choice between a bowl of repellent‐treated and a bowl of untreated water, Ae. aegypti reared in untreated water strongly preferred to oviposit on the clean water (93–98%) instead of repellent‐treated water. This demonstrates effective deterrence of oviposition by dilute Mozaway™. Those reared in repellent‐treated water were less deterred: 38–46% of their eggs were laid on the repellent‐treated water and 54–62% on the clean water. Evidently the female mosquitoes reared in repellent‐treated water were conditioned against oviposition site deterrence, as shown when choice tests were conducted 6 days post‐emergence from the treated water. This demonstrates learning and memory in the mosquito Ae. aegypti, with implications for dengue vector surveillance and control.
siRNA gelsolin knockdown induces epithelial‐mesenchymal transition with a cadherin switch in human mammary epithelial cells

Epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) describes a process occurring during development and oncogenesis by which epithelial cells obtain fibroblast‐like properties and show reduced cell adhesion and increased motility. In this report, we demonstrated typical EMT in human mammary epithelial MCF10A small interfering (si)RNA gelsolin‐knockdown cells. EMT was characterized by fibroblastic morphology, loss of contact inhibition and focus formation in monolayer growth, enhanced motility and invasiveness in vitro, increased actin filaments, overexpression of RAC, activation of both extracellular signal‐regulated kinase and AKT, inactivation of glycogen synthase kinase‐3, conversion of cadherin from the E‐ to N‐type and induction of the transcription factor Snail. These results suggested that gelsolin functions as a switch that controls E‐ and N‐cadherin conversion via Snail, and demonstrated that its knockdown leads to EMT in human mammary epithelial cells and possibly to the development of human mammary tumors. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
France: Towards the End of an Active Minimum Wage Policy?

This book provides in-depth and innovative analysis of the minimum wage in Europe. The authors explore its role and scope within the enlarged EU, and address the question of whether there should be harmonization between the individual member states or even a common EU minimum wage. They also examine the impact of the minimum wage at the national level, looking at trends and effects through case studies of specific policy issues and industrial sectors.