Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of APOE and RNF219 on Behavioral and Cognitive Features of Female Patients Affected by Mild Cognitive Impairment or Alzheimer’s Disease

The risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with the presence of the 𝜀4 allele of Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene and, recently, with a novel genetic variant of the RNF219 gene. This study aimed at evaluating interactions between APOE-𝜀4 and RNF219/G variants in the modulation of behavioral and cognitive features of two cohorts of patients suffering from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or AD. We enrolled a total of 173 female MCI or AD patients (83 MCI; 90 AD). Subjects were screened with a comprehensive set of neuropsychological evaluations and genotyped for the APOE and RNF219 polymorphic variants. Analysis of covariance was performed to assess the main and interaction effects of APOE and RNF219 genotypes on the cognitive and behavioral scores. The analysis revealed that the simultaneous presence of APOE-𝜀4 and RNF219/G variants results in significant effects on specific neuropsychiatric scores in MCI and AD patients. In MCI patients, RNF219 and APOE variants worked together to impact the levels of anxiety negatively. Similarly, in AD patients, the RNF219 variants were found to be associated with increased anxiety levels. Our data indicate a novel synergistic activity APOE and RNF219 in the modulation of behavioral traits of female MCI and AD patients.
Review: What Is the Current Evidence for Disease Subsets in Giant Cell Arteritis?

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is an autoimmune vasculitis affecting large and medium‐sized arteries. Ample evidence indicates that GCA is a heterogeneous disease in terms of symptoms, immune pathology, and response to treatment. In the current review, we discuss the evidence for disease subsets in GCA. We describe clinical and immunologic characteristics that may impact the risk of cranial ischemic symptoms, relapse rates, and long‐term glucocorticoid requirements in patients with GCA. In addition, we discuss both proven and putative immunologic targets for therapy in patients with GCA who have an unfavorable prognosis. Finally, we provide recommendations for further research on disease subsets in GCA.
Effect of emotional content on online video sharing among health care professionals and researchers (DIFFUSION): results and lessons learnt from a randomised controlled trial

Objectives We assessed the effect of emotional content on the extent to which online videos are shared among health professionals. Setting We conducted a two-arm randomised controlled trial. We sent a link to one of two videos by email to participants asking them to watch the video and forward it to their colleagues. Participants Health professionals and researchers (obstetrics, gynaecology and midwifery) with an email address apart from those in countries where access to YouTube is banned. We estimated that 7000 participants were required. Interventions We compared two online videos providing background information about the WOMAN trial. The videos were the same length and had the same content. However, the intervention video had more emotional impact than the control video. Outcome measures The primary outcome was video sharing and the secondary outcome was views generated by participants. We conducted a χ2 test for the primary outcome and t-test for the secondary outcome. Results We randomly allocated 8353 email addresses, 4178 to the intervention video and 4175 to the control. Of these, 221 (5.3%) watched the intervention video and 215 (5.1%) watched the control. In the intervention group, 44 (1.1%) forwarded the video compared with 37 (0.9%) in the control group (risk ratio 1.2 [95% CI 0.8 to 1.8], p=0.44). Mean number of views generated by participants allocated to the intervention video was 0.04 and the control video was 0.03 (mean difference 0.01 [95% CI −0.02 to 0.04], p=0.53). Conclusions We found no evidence that emotional content increased forwarding. The trial had low power due to the low video watching rate and the small number of outcome events. A key challenge for online dissemination is ensuring recipients watch the video. Trial registration number NCT02109159; Results.
Online and Offline Awareness Deficits: Anosognosia for Spatial Neglect

Purpose/Objective: Anosognosia for spatial neglect (ASN) can be offline or online. Offline ASN is general unawareness of having experienced spatial deficits. Online ASN is an awareness deficit of underestimating spatial difficulties that likely to occur in an upcoming task (anticipatory ASN) or have just occurred during the task (emergent ASN). We explored the relationships among spatial neglect, offline ASN, anticipatory ASN, and emergent ASN. Research Method/Design: Forty-four survivors of stroke answered questionnaires assessing offline and online self-awareness of spatial problems. The online questionnaire was asked immediately before and after each of 4 tests for spatial neglect, including shape cancellation, address and sentence copying, telephone dialing, and indented paragraph reading. Results: Participants were certain they had difficulties in daily spatial tasks (offline awareness), in the task they were about to perform (anticipatory awareness) and had just performed (emergent awareness). Nonetheless, they consistently overestimated their spatial abilities, indicating ASN. Offline and online ASN appeared independent. Online ASN improved after task execution. Neglect severity was not positively correlated with offline ASN. Greater neglect severity correlated with both greater anticipatory and emergent ASN. Regardless of neglect severity, we found task-specific differences in emergent ASN but not in anticipatory ASN. Conclusions/Implications: Individuals with spatial neglect acknowledge their spatial difficulty (certainty of error occurrence) but may not necessarily recognize the extent of their difficulty (accuracy of error estimation). Our findings suggest that offline and online ASN are independent. A potential implication from the study is that familiar and challenging tasks may facilitate emergence of self-awareness.
Reversal of Schistosome Resistance In Biomphalaria glabrata By Heat Shock May Be Dependent On Snail Genotype

Abstract Several genes have recently been shown to affect the innate resistance of laboratory strains of Biomphalaria glabrata to infection with Schistosoma mansoni, including Hsp90, the expression of which following a brief exposure to elevated temperature can interfere with resistance in juvenile BS-90 snails. Because a prior study failed to see a similar effect in adult snails, juvenile BS-90 snails were exposed to 10 or 50 miracidia following a 4.5 to 6 hr incubation at 33 or 37 C. Snails were then monitored for production of secondary sporocysts or release of cercariae. In addition, snails exposed to 33 C were examined histologically between 1 and 15 days post exposure (DPE) to 30 miracidia to assess the fate of primary sporocysts. Other than elevated numbers of viable primary sporocysts in the tissues of heat shocked snails at 3 DPE, no statistically significant effect of elevated temperature was observed. This discrepancy with regard to prior studies is hypothesized to result from genetic divergence in different laboratory colonies of the same strain of snail.
Modern implant dentistry based on osseointegration: 50 years of progress, current trends and open questions.

In the 1960s and 1970s, implant-supported prostheses based on subperiosteal or blade implants had a poor reputation because of questionable clinical outcomes and lack of scientific documentation. The change to a scientifically sound discipline was initiated by the two scientific pioneers of modern implant dentistry, Professor P. I. Brånemark from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and Professor André Schroeder from the University of Bern in Switzerland. Together with their teams, and independently of each other, they laid the foundation for the most significant development and paradigm shift in dental medicine. The present volume of Periodontology 2000 celebrates 50 years of osseointegration. It reviews the progress of implant therapy over the past 50 years, including the basics of implant surgery required to achieve osseointegration on a predictable basis and evolving innovations. The development of bone-augmentation techniques, such as guided bone regeneration and sinus floor elevation, to correct local bone defects at potential implant sites has increased the indications for implant therapy. The paradigm shift to moderately rough implant surfaces resulted in faster and enhanced bone integration and led to improvements in various treatment protocols, such as immediate and early implant placement in postextraction sites, and made various loading protocols possible, including immediate and early implant loading. In the past 15 years, preoperative analysis and presurgical planning improved as a result of the introduction of three-dimensional imaging techniques. Hereby, cone-beam computed tomography offers better image quality with reduced radiation exposure, when compared with dental computed tomography. This opened the door for digital planning and surgical modifications. Over the last 50 years this evolution has facilitated tremendous progress in esthetic outcomes with implant-supported prostheses and improved patient-centered outcomes. This volume of Periodontology 2000 also discusses the current trends and open questions of implant dentistry, such as the potential of digital implant dentistry in the surgical and prosthetic field, the trend for an increasing average age of implant patients and the related adaptations of treatment protocols, and the second attempt to establish ceramic implants using, this time, zirconia as the implant material. Finally, some of the hottest controversies are discussed, such as recent suggestions on bone integration being a potential foreign-body reaction and the evidence-based appraisal of the peri-implantitis debate.
A Comprehensive Comparative Study on Inductive and Ultrasonic Wireless Power Transmission to Biomedical Implants

This paper presents a comprehensive comparison between inductive coupling and ultrasound for wireless power transmission to biomedical implants. Several sets of inductive and ultrasonic links for different powering distances (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d_{12}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) and receiver dimensions have been optimized, and their key parameters, including power transmission efficiency (PTE) and power delivered to the load (PDL) within safety constraints, have been compared to find out which method is optimal for any given condition. Two design procedures have been presented for maximizing the PTE of inductive and ultrasonic links by finding the optimal geometry for the transmitter and receiver (Rx) coils and ultrasonic transducers as well as the optimal operation frequency (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$f_{p}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>). Our simulation and measurement results showed that the ultrasonic link transcends the inductive link in PTE and somewhat in PDL for a small Rx of 1.1 mm<sup>3</sup> (diameter of 1.2 mm), particularly when the Rx was deeply implanted inside the tissue (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d_{12} \ge 10$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm). However, for a larger 20 mm<sup>3</sup> Rx (diameter of 5 mm), the inductive link achieved higher PTE and PDL, particularly at shorter distances (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d_{12} < 30$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm). The optimal loading condition is shown to be quite different in inductive and ultrasonic links. Despite higher performance for small Rx and large <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d_{12}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, the ultrasonic link is more sensitive to Rx misalignments and orientations. This led us to propose a new design procedure based on the worst-case misalignment scenario. The simulation results have been validated by measurements. The inductive and ultrasonic links, operating at 30 and 1.1 MHz, achieved measured PTEs of 0.05% and 0.65% for the 1.1 mm<sup>3</sup> Rx located 30 mm inside tissue and oil environments with optimal load resistances of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$295~\Omega $ </tex-math></inline-formula> and 3.8 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{k}\Omega $ </tex-math></inline-formula>, respectively.
Catalyzing role of erythropoietin on the nitric oxide central pathway during the ventilatory responses to hypoxia

The N‐Methyl‐d‐Aspartate (NMDA) receptors – neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) pathway is involved in the ventilatory response to hypoxia. The objective was to assess the possible effect of erythropoietin deficiency and chronic exposure to hypoxia on this pathway during ventilatory response to acute hypoxia. Wild‐type (WT) and erythropoietin‐deficient (Epo‐TAgh) male mice were exposed (14 days) either to hypobaric hypoxia (Pb = 435 mmHg) or to normoxia. The ventilation was measured at 21% or 8% O2 after injection of vehicle (NaCl), nNOS inhibitor (SMTC) or NMDA receptor antagonist (MK‐801). Nitric oxide production and the expression of NMDA receptor and nNOS were assessed by real‐time RT‐PCR and Western blot analyses in the medulla. At rest, Epo‐TAgh mice displayed normal ventilatory parameters at 21% O2 but did not respond to acute hypoxia despite a larger expression of NMDA receptors and nNOS in the medulla. Ventilatory acclimatization to hypoxia was observed in WT but was absent in Epo‐TAgh mice. nNOS inhibition blunted the hypoxic ventilatory acclimatization of WT mice without any effect in Epo‐TAgh mice. Acute hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) was increased after chronic hypoxia in WT but remained unchanged in Epo‐TAgh mice. Ventilatory response to acute hypoxia was modified by MK‐801 injection in WT and Epo‐TAgh mice. The results confirm that adequate erythropoietin level is necessary to obtain an appropriate HVR and a significant ventilatory acclimatization to hypoxia. Furthermore, erythropoietin plays a potential catalyzing role in the NMDA‐NO central pathway during the ventilatory response and acclimatization to hypoxia.
Heritability of Geographic Range Sizes Revisited: A Reply to Hunt et al.

Hunt et al.(2005) revisit the issue of range size heritability following our recent article on this topic (Webb and Gaston 2003). In that article, we showed that the range sizes of closely related species tend to be highly dissimilar and argued that this provided evidence to counter Jablonski’s (1987) claim that range size was a heritable species-level trait. Hunt et al. do not dispute the fact that the species pairs that we examined have highly asymmetric range sizes; however, they claim that the statistical technique that we used to assess the significance of this asymmetry is flawed. They then return to correlation analyses to support their assertion that range size is indeed heritable. While some points of technical interest are raised, we disagree with their conclusions and feel that the analyses that they present provide little insight into the ultimate questions.
What the bat's voice tells the bat's brain

For over half a century, the echolocating bat has served as a valuable model in neuroscience to elucidate mechanisms of auditory processing and adaptive behavior in biological sonar. Our article emphasizes the importance of the bat's vocal-motor system to spatial orientation by sonar, and we present this view in the context of three problems that the echolocating bat must solve: (i) auditory scene analysis, (ii) sensorimotor transformations, and (iii) spatial memory and navigation. We summarize our research findings from behavioral studies of echolocating bats engaged in natural tasks and from neurophysiological studies of the bat superior colliculus and hippocampus, brain structures implicated in sensorimotor integration, orientation, and spatial memory. Our perspective is that studies of neural activity in freely vocalizing bats engaged in natural behaviors will prove essential to advancing a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying perception and memory in mammals.
In-Tournament Digraphs

Abstract In this paper we introduce a generalization of digraphs that are locally tournaments (and hence of tournaments). This is the class of in-tournament digraphs-the set of predecessors of every vertex induces a tournament. We show that many properties of local tournament digraphs can be extended even to in-tournament digraphs. For instance, any strongly connected in-tournament digraph has a directed hamiltonian cycle. We prove that the underlying graph of any in-tournament digraph is l-homotopic. We investigate the problem of which graphs are orientable as in-tournament digraphs and prove that any graph representable as an intersection subgraph of a unicyclic graph can be so oriented. It is shown that there is a polynomial algorithm for recognizing those graphs that can be oriented as in-tournament digraphs.
Response of marine bacterioplankton to differential filtration and confinement

The bacterioplankton community of confined seawater at 25 degrees C changed significantly within 16 h of collection. Confinement increased CFU, total cell number (by epifluorescence microscopy), and average cell volume of bacterioplankton and increased the turnover rate of amino acids in seawater sampled at Frying Pan Shoals, N.C. The bacterioplankton community was characterized by two components: differential doubling times during confinement shifted dominance from bacteria which were nonculturable to bacteria which were culturable on a complex nutrient medium. Culturable cells (especially those of the genera Pseudomonas, Alcaligenes, and Acinetobacter) increased from 0.08% of the total cell number in the seawater immediately after collection to 13% at 16 h and 41% at 32 h of confinement. Differential filtration before confinement indicated that particles passing through a 3.9-microns-, but retained by a 0.2-micron-, pore-size Nuclepore filter may be a major source of primary amines to the confined population. The 3.0-microns filtration increased growth rate and ultimate numbers of culturable cells through the removal of bacterial predators or the release of primary amines from cells damaged during filtration or both.
Performance evaluation of haptically enabled sEMG

Commodity electromyography (EMG) armbands are inexpensive tools and provide a platform for new human-computer interfaces. EMG devices measure electrical activity which is associated with muscle movement. These digitally encoded signals present a novel channel in human computer interaction whereby a user's muscle movements govern inputs. However, issues related to transparency, confusion, as well as increased task load can arise if the encoded muscle movements do not translate directly to the computer task. This work explores the use of 3 degree of freedom (DOF) kinesthetic haptic sensory feedback to augment an sEMG controlled interaction in a gaming environment. In this game, haptic feedback or visual feedback modes are presented to users. To validate and evaluate the efficacy of the addition of haptic feedback in using the novel EMG user interface, extensive user studies were conducted. This work has implications with regard to performance during use and learning of a novel computer interface. Results are promising and shed insight into future uses of commodity EMG devices.
Regional Variation in Fundamental Frequency of American English Vowels

Abstract We examined whether the fundamental frequency (f0) of vowels is influenced by regional variation, aiming to (1) establish how the relationship between vowel height and f0 (“intrinsic f0”) is utilized in regional vowel systems and (2) determine whether regional varieties differ in their implementation of the effects of phonetic context on f0 variations. An extended set of acoustic measures explored f0 in vowels in isolated tokens (experiment 1) and in connected speech (experiment 2) from 36 women representing 3 different varieties of American English. Regional differences were found in f0 shape in isolated tokens, in the magnitude of intrinsic f0 difference between high and low vowels, in the nature of f0 contours in stressed vowels, and in the completion of f0 contours in the context of coda voicing. Regional varieties utilize f0 control in vowels in different ways, including regional f0 ranges and variation in f0 shape.
Minimally Invasive Management of Severe Aortoiliac Occlusive Disease.

BACKGROUND Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a complex and highly prevalent pathology. It has been estimated that ∼8.5 million people in the United States are affected by PAD, of which 12%-20% are older than age 60. The TransAtlantic Inter-Society Consensus (TASC) guidelines classified aortoiliac atherosclerotic disease based on morphology and level of lesions. TASC II guidelines recommend bilateral surgical bypass to the femoral arteries for TASC II C and D lesions. The aortobifemoral bypass (ABF) has been considered the gold standard in the treatment of aortoiliac occlusive disease (AIOD). The long-term patency rate of 85%-90% at 5 years and 75%-80% at 10 years has been for a long time unmatched by other methods of revascularization. METHODS This is a review of the current literature regarding minimally invasive strategies in the care of TASC II C and D aortoiliac disease. RESULTS Endovascular therapies have led to a paradigm change even in the treatment of highly advanced lesions. Reconstruction of the aortic bifurcation for distal aortic and/or ostial unilateral/bilateral common iliac artery disease can be achieved via the deployment of stents with "kissing" technique and aortic endografts. Laparoscopic aortoiliac surgery for TASC II C and D lesions was first proposed in 1993. Total laparoscopic, laparoscopic-assisted, and laparobotic techniques have been described. Minimal incision aortic surgery (MIAS) describes abdominal incisions varying from 6 to 12 cm and positional adjustment of retractors to access the retroperitoneum for infrarenal aortic aneurysms and/or AIOD. CONCLUSIONS Although initial enthusiasm laparoscopic aortic surgery and MIAS have failed to gain acceptance in the vascular surgery community due to intrinsic procedural challenges, they are currently practiced in few highly specialized centers. At this moment, high-quality evidence is lacking regarding the further feasibility of these techniques and their applicability in general practice compared to endovascular therapies. While the ABF remains still the optimal choice in select, fit for surgery patients, endovascular therapies offer a less invasive approach that may provide a mortality and morbidity benefit in higher risk patients with acceptable short- and long-term outcomes.
Application of turbulence models to equilibrium boundary layers under adverse pressure gradient By

Four classes of turbulence models (algebraic, k− , k−ω and a differential Reynolds-stress model) are applied to boundary layers under adverse pressure gradient with a constant equilibrium parameter β = δ∗ τw dp dx . Numerical solutions up to Reθ = 10 give the classical scalings in the inner and outer layer for all models. Comparison is made with experiments of Clauser at β ≈ 2 and 8 and with recent experiments by Sk̊are and Krogstad at β = 20. We have also performed new direct numerical simulations at β ≈ 0.25 and 0.65 up to Reθ = 700. The differential Reynolds-stress model shows the best agreement with the experiments and the DNS.