Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interferon regulatory factor‐1 gene deletion decreases glomerulonephritis in MRL/lpr mice

To investigate the role of interferon regulatory factor‐1 (IRF‐1) in the development of lupus nephritis, IRF‐1–/– genotype mice were bred onto the MRL/lpJfaslpr (MRL/lpr) background. We examined kidney mesangial cell function and disease progression. Endpoints evaluated included inflammatory mediators, autoantibody production, immune complex deposition, renal pathology, T cell subset analysis, and duration of survival. Mesangial cells cultured from IRF‐1–/– mice produced significantly lower levels of nitric oxide and IL‐12 but not TNF‐α when stimulated with LPS + IFN‐γ. IRF‐1–/– mice showed less aggravated dermatitis compared to the wild‐type mice. Anti‐double‐stranded DNA production and proteinuria were significantly decreased in IRF‐1–/– mice compared to IRF‐1+/+ mice. IgG and C3 deposition as well as glomerulonephritis were decreased in IRF‐1–/– mice at 26 wk of age compared to the IRF‐1+/+ mice. Splenic CD4–CD8–CD44+ T cells were decreased while CD4+CD25+ T cells were increased in the IRF‐1–/– mice when compared to IRF‐1+/+ mice. Survival rates (ED50) were 22 wk for IRF‐1+/+ mice and 45 wk for IRF‐1–/– mice. These findings suggest an important role of IRF‐1 in mediating renal disease in MRL/lpr mice.
A LACK OF DELAYED INTRAOCULAR PRESSURE ELEVATION IN PATIENTS TREATED WITH INTRAVITREAL INJECTION OF BEVACIZUMAB AND RANIBIZUMAB

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report the rate of intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation after intravitreal injections of anti–vascular endothelial growth factor agents for exudative age-related macular degeneration. Methods: Retrospective chart review of all patients receiving intravitreal ranibizumab and/or bevacizumab injections for exudative age-related macular degeneration from November 2005 to June 2010. Delayed ocular hypertension (OHT) was defined as either an IOP ≥22 mmHg on 2 consecutive visits (with an increase from baseline >6 mmHg) or an IOP >26 mmHg on a single visit with a concomitant initiation or augmentation of IOP-lowering treatment. Noninjected fellow eyes served as controls. Incidence of delayed OHT was analyzed using survival analyses, with risk assessed by Cox proportional hazards regression models. Eyes with glaucoma were evaluated separately. Results: Three hundred and two treated eyes and 226 control eyes met inclusion criteria. In eyes with exudative age-related macular degeneration without glaucoma, 3 of 270 injected eyes (0.51% incidence per eye-year) developed delayed OHT compared with 4 of 195 control eyes (1.00% incidence per eye-year), a difference that was not statistically significant (hazard ratio = 0.48; 95% confidence interval: 0.11–2.23). In eyes with exudative age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma, 2 of 32 injected eyes developed delayed OHT (3.1% incidence per eye-year) compared with 3 of 31 control eyes (5.7% incidence per eye-year), a difference that was not statistically significant (hazard ratio = 0.59; 95% confidence interval: 0.10–3.60). Conclusion: The incidence of delayed OHT after intravitreal anti–vascular endothelial growth factor injections was low and did not differ between injected and control eyes, including eyes with glaucoma. These results argue against a significant risk of IOP elevation because of repeated anti–vascular endothelial growth factor therapy.
Periodontal disease and adverse pregnancy outcomes: a systematic review

Sir, We were interested to read the systematic review, periodontal disease and adverse pregnancy outcomes by Xiong et al.1 in BJOG. The suggestion that periodontal disease provides a source of subclinical and persistent infection which may induce a systemic inflammatory response that increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcome is certainly enticing, particularly as the possible treatment intervention of improving dental hygiene is relatively ‘simple’. Xiong et al. concluded that periodontal disease may be associated with an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcome, suggesting that more methodologically rigorous studies are needed for confirmation. We feel that their review is lacking in its assessment of obstetric outcome measures, particularly the use of low birthweight <2500 g as an indication of poor growth in utero. Intrauterine growth restriction is responsible for considerable perinatal mortality and morbidity. If the association between periodontal disease and adverse pregnancy outcome is to be accurately assessed, the obstetric outcomes measured need to reliably identify these growth-restricted infants. Low birthweight is a predictor of perinatal morbidity and mortality and is better than gestational age alone. However, for a given birthweight, a greater gestational age decreases the risk. Using a birthweight of less than 2500 g has been shown to be a poor predictor of perinatal outcome.2 This creates the problem of identifying infants as growth restricted, who are normally grown and constitutionally small. It also excludes larger infants who are truly growth restricted. For a given gestational age, an individual baby has an intrinsic birthweight potential which it either achieves, underachieves or overachieves. The individualised birthweight ratio (IBR) calculates a baby’s predicted birthweight using birthweight at delivery, gestation at delivery, baby’s sex and maternal height, weight, ethnicity and parity. The baby’s actual birthweight is divided by the predicted weight and expressed as a percentage. A baby is growth restricted if its IBR is less than the 5th percentile. (With the increasing computerisation of obstetric records, the information required is easily accessible and an IBR can easily be calculated at the time of delivery). 3 Projects reviewed in the article that imply an association between periodontal disease and growth restriction are scientifically flawed; it is important that growth-restricted infants are accurately recognised, so that they can be comprehensively studied and interventions targeted where they would have most clinical impact. j
Maximum-likelihood scintillation detection for EM-CCD based gamma cameras

Gamma cameras based on charge-coupled devices (CCDs) coupled to continuous scintillation crystals can combine a good detection efficiency with high spatial resolutions with the aid of advanced scintillation detection algorithms. A previously developed analytical multi-scale algorithm (MSA) models the depth-dependent light distribution but does not take statistics into account. Here we present and validate a novel statistical maximum-likelihood algorithm (MLA) that combines a realistic light distribution model with an experimentally validated statistical model. The MLA was tested for an electron multiplying CCD optically coupled to CsI(Tl) scintillators of different thicknesses. For 99mTc imaging, the spatial resolution (for perpendicular and oblique incidence), energy resolution and signal-to-background counts ratio (SBR) obtained with the MLA were compared with those of the MSA. Compared to the MSA, the MLA improves the energy resolution by more than a factor of 1.6 and the SBR is enhanced by more than a factor of 1.3. For oblique incidence (approximately 45°), the depth-of-interaction corrected spatial resolution is improved by a factor of at least 1.1, while for perpendicular incidence the MLA resolution does not consistently differ significantly from the MSA result for all tested scintillator thicknesses. For the thickest scintillator (3 mm, interaction probability 66% at 141 keV) a spatial resolution (perpendicular incidence) of 147 µm full width at half maximum (FWHM) was obtained with an energy resolution of 35.2% FWHM. These results of the MLA were achieved without prior calibration of scintillations as is needed for many statistical scintillation detection algorithms. We conclude that the MLA significantly improves the gamma camera performance compared to the MSA.
Heads First: Visual Aftereffects Reveal Hierarchical Integration of Cues to Social Attention

Determining where another person is attending is an important skill for social interaction that relies on various visual cues, including the turning direction of the head and body. This study reports a novel high-level visual aftereffect that addresses the important question of how these sources of information are combined in gauging social attention. We show that adapting to images of heads turned 25° to the right or left produces a perceptual bias in judging the turning direction of subsequently presented bodies. In contrast, little to no change in the judgment of head orientation occurs after adapting to extremely oriented bodies. The unidirectional nature of the aftereffect suggests that cues from the human body signaling social attention are combined in a hierarchical fashion and is consistent with evidence from single-cell recording studies in nonhuman primates showing that information about head orientation can override information about body posture when both are visible.
Direct Sub-Angstrom Imaging of a Crystal Lattice

Despite the use of electrons with wavelengths of just a few picometers, spatial resolution in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) has been limited by spherical aberration to typically around 0.15 nanometer. Individual atomic columns in a crystalline lattice can therefore only be imaged for a few low-order orientations, limiting the range of defects that can be imaged at atomic resolution. The recent development of spherical aberration correctors for transmission electron microscopy allows this limit to be overcome. We present direct images from an aberration-corrected scanning TEM that resolve a lattice in which the atomic columns are sepa-rated by less than 0.1 nanometer.
Prognostic impact of coronary vasodilator dysfunction on adverse long-term outcome of coronary heart disease.

BACKGROUND Endothelial vasodilator dysfunction is a characteristic feature of patients at risk for coronary atherosclerosis. Therefore, we prospectively investigated whether coronary endothelial dysfunction predicts disease progression and cardiovascular event rates. METHODS AND RESULTS Coronary vasoreactivity was assessed in 147 patients using the endothelium-dependent dilator acetylcholine, sympathetic activation by cold pressor testing, dilator responses to increased blood flow, and dilation in response to nitroglycerin. Cardiovascular events (cardiovascular death, unstable angina, myocardial infarction, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, coronary bypass grafting, ischemic stroke, or peripheral artery revascularization) served as outcome variables over a median follow-up period of 7.7 years. Patients suffering from cardiovascular events during follow-up (n=16) had significantly increased vasoconstrictor responses to acetylcholine infusion (P=0. 009) and cold pressor testing (P=0.002), as well as significantly blunted vasodilator responses to increased blood flow (P<0.001) and the intracoronary injection of nitroglycerin (P=0.001). Impaired endothelial and endothelium-independent coronary vasoreactivity were associated with a significantly higher incidence of cardiovascular events by Kaplan-Meier analysis. By multivariate analysis, all tests of coronary vasoreactivity were significant, independent predictors of a poor prognosis, even after adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors or the presence of atherosclerosis itself. CONCLUSIONS Coronary endothelial vasodilator dysfunction predicts long-term atherosclerotic disease progression and cardiovascular event rates. Thus, the assessment of coronary endothelial vasoreactivity can provide pivotal information as both a diagnostic and prognostic tool in patients at risk for coronary heart disease.
The importance of mammalian torpor for survival in a post-fire landscape

Wildfires have increased in frequency and intensity worldwide with climate change as a main driving factor. While a number of studies have focused on population changes in regard to fires, there are essentially no quantitative data on behavioural and physiological adjustments that are vital for the persistence of individuals during and after fires. Here we show that brown antechinus, a small insectivorous marsupial mammal, (i) endured a prescribed fire in situ, (ii) remained in their scorched home range despite unburned areas nearby, and (iii) substantially increased post-fire torpor use and thus reduced foraging requirements and exposure to predators. Hence, torpor is a physiological adaptation that, although not quantified in this context previously, appears to play a key role in post-fire survival for this and other heterothermic species.
Astrovirus Infection in Hospitalized Infants with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Infants with severe primary combined immunodeficiency (SCID) and children post-allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are extremely susceptible to unusual infections. The lack of generic tools to detect disease-causing viruses among more than 200 potential human viral pathogens represents a major challenge to clinicians and virologists. We investigated retrospectively the causes of a fatal disseminated viral infection with meningoencephalitis in an infant with gamma C-SCID and of chronic gastroenteritis in 2 other infants admitted for HSCT during the same time period. Analysis was undertaken by combining cell culture, electron microscopy and sequence-independent single primer amplification (SISPA) techniques. Caco-2 cells inoculated with fecal samples developed a cytopathic effect and non-enveloped viral particles in infected cells were detected by electron microscopy. SISPA led to the identification of astrovirus as the pathogen. Both sequencing of the capsid gene and the pattern of infection suggested nosocomial transmission from a chronically excreting index case to 2 other patients leading to fatal infection in 1 and to transient disease in the others. Virus-specific, real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was then performed on different stored samples to assess the extent of infection. Infection was associated with viremia in 2 cases and contributed to death in 1. At autopsy, viral RNA was detected in the brain and different other organs, while immunochemistry confirmed infection of gastrointestinal tissues. This report illustrates the usefulness of the combined use of classical virology procedures and modern molecular tools for the diagnosis of unexpected infections. It illustrates that astrovirus has the potential to cause severe disseminated lethal infection in highly immunocompromised pediatric patients.
Modulation of cortical neural dynamics during thalamic deep brain stimulation in patients with essential tremor

Although thalamic deep brain stimulation is an effective treatment for patients with essential tremor, little is known about its effect on cortical neural dynamics. Therefore, we investigated long-range temporal correlations and spectral power in electroencephalographic recordings of patients during OFF versus ON bilateral thalamic deep brain stimulation in comparison with healthy controls. Cortical dynamics were analyzed in the range of 6–30 Hz. We found the presence of long-range temporal correlations up to 20 s in patients and controls. Thalamic deep brain stimulation was associated with increased long-range temporal correlations in the high beta band (21–30 Hz) and decreased power in the low beta band (13–20 Hz) compared with OFF stimulation and healthy controls. Long-range temporal correlations in the 6–10 Hz range were increased with OFF stimulation compared with the controls. Importantly, deep brain stimulation-induced changes in long-range temporal correlations within 6–10 Hz and in the beta ranges (13–20, 21–30 Hz) were correlated with OFF–ON changes in the tremor severity and with the disease duration, respectively. The differential reactivity of long-range temporal correlations and spectral power to deep brain stimulation might suggest that both measures reflect distinct aspects of cortical dynamics and might represent biomarkers for stimulation-induced modulations of neural dynamics in electroencephalography. The fact that long-range temporal correlations, but not spectral power, were correlated with clinical information might suggest long-range temporal correlations as a potential marker for disease severity in essential tremor.
Modifying the Refining Energy Consumption of Chemi-Mechanical Pulping with NaOH-Thiourea-Urea Aqueous Solution

To reduce the refining energy consumption of chemi-mechanical pulping, treatment with NaOH-thiourea-urea aqueous solution was studied in this work. By means of single-factor experiments, the effects of alkali dosage, soaking time, and freezing time were evaluated. It was found that the optimal conditions were an alkali dosage of 8%, soaking time of 45 min, and freezing time of 105 min. The results revealed that refining energy consumption could be reduced by approximately 40% under optimal conditions compared with that of alkaline peroxide mechanical pulp, while other pulping or paper-making properties were similar. There were no significant effects on the structure of the functional groups, the crystalline region of the pulp, or the whole structure of the treated wood chips. However, damage to single wood fibers on the chips treated in NaOH-thiourea-urea aqueous solution was more obvious.
I do not understand but I care: The prosocial dog

Prosocial behaviour benefits another individual and occurs voluntarily. It may have a cognitive and a motivational component. The actor who benefits a recipient – for example by solving her/his problem (1) must recognize the recipient’s goal and understand how to fulfil it and (2) has to be motivated to support the recipient. In the current paper I will review recent studies on prosocial behavior in dogs and I will compare them to studies with primates. I will address the cognitive and motivational skills required for the actor in order to support the recipient. I conclude that dogs and also chimpanzees display a number of prosocial behaviours, but there are remarkable differences. In contrast to humans, which have an outstanding biological predisposition to benefit others, dogs and chimpanzees only do so under certain conditions.
Visual exploration of frequent patterns in multivariate time series

The detection of frequently occurring patterns, also called motifs, in data streams has been recognized as an important task. To find these motifs, we use an advanced event encoding and pattern discovery algorithm. As a large time series can contain hundreds of motifs, there is a need to support interactive analysis and exploration. In addition, for certain applications, such as data center resource management, service managers want to be able to predict the next day’s power consumption from the previous months’ data. For this purpose, we introduce four novel visual analytics methods: (i) motif layout – using colored rectangles for visualizing the occurrences and hierarchical relationships of motifs; (ii) motif distortion – enlarging or shrinking motifs for visualizing them more clearly; (iii) motif merging – combining a number of identical adjacent motif instances to simplify the display; and (iv) pattern preserving prediction – using a pattern-preserving smoothing and prediction algorithm to provide a reliable prediction for seasonal data. We have applied these methods to three real-world datasets: data center chilling utilization, oil well production, and system resource utilization. The results enable service managers to interactively examine motifs and gain new insights into the recurring patterns to analyze system operations. Using the above methods, we have also predicted both power consumption and server utilization in data centers with an accuracy of 70–80%.
Level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet among children from Cyprus: the CYKIDS study

Abstract Background The Mediterranean diet (MD) prototype is widely used as an educational tool in public health programmes; few studies, however, have been conducted on the adherence of children to this diet. Objective To evaluate the quality of Cypriot children’s diet by assessing the degree of adherence to the MD. Methods A national cross-sectional study among 1140 children (mean age = 10·7 (sd 0·98) years), using stratified multistage sampling design, was conducted in primary schools of Cyprus. Dietary assessment was based on a 154-item semi-quantitative FFQ and the two supplementary questionnaires (a Food Groups Frequency Questionnaire and a Short Eating Habits Questionnaire). Adherence to the MD was assessed by the KIDMED index. The association between the frequencies of consumption of various food groups and the level of adherence to the MD (poor v. average v. good KIDMED score) was also evaluated. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to adjust for potential confounders. Results Only 6·7 % of the sample was classified as high adherers of MD, whereas 37 % had a poor KIDMED score. Multiple logistic regression analysis has shown that children with at least an average KIDMED score were more likely to eat frequently seafood and fish, legumes, nuts, bread, fruits, leafy vegetables, olives, low glycaemic index foods and unrefined foods. Effect size of associations was from medium to high. Conclusion Higher adherence to MD is associated with better diet quality in children. The MD prototype may thus represent a useful educational tool for promotion of healthy eating habits in children.
SCAMSTOP: A Platform for Mitigating Fraud in VoIP Environments

In traditional telecommunication networks, fraud accounts for significant annual losses at an average up of 5% of the operators’ revenue and still increasing. The current shift towards Voice-over-IP (VoIP) networks increases to exposure to fraud due to the lack of strong built-in security mechanisms and the full usage of the open Internet. In this book chapter, the authors discuss an anti-fraud framework they are currently developing within the SCAMSTOP project. Although a short description of the framework is provided, the focus of this chapter is mainly on the methods used to detect fraudulent activity. In particular the authors focus on unsupervised methods including signature and clustering based techniques. Preliminary testing results are also discussed. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-1888-6.ch012
Update on anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis in children and adolescents

Purpose of review Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is a recently identified disorder that is increasingly recognized in children and adolescents. Prompt diagnosis and treatment are important to obtain full recovery. We review here the main clinical features and differential diagnosis and provide algorithms of the clinical correlates of antibody-mediated decrease of NMDAR and a suggested treatment approach. Recent findings The sharp increase of patients identified with anti-NMDAR encephalitis reveals a multistage disorder that usually presents with psychiatric manifestations progressing to a decrease of verbal output, catatonia, seizures, dyskinesias, and frequent autonomic instability and hypoventilation. In adults, the disorder often occurs in association with a tumor that expresses NMDAR (usually ovarian teratoma), but in male patients and children the presence of a tumor is rare. Given that patients' antibodies have pathogenic effects on the NMDAR, immunotherapy and tumor resection, when appropriate, are often effective. The outcome is usually good, but the recovery is slow with frequent protracted symptoms of frontal lobe dysfunction. Summary Anti-NMDAR encephalitis is a severe but treatable disorder that frequently affects children and adolescents and is likely under-recognized. The syndrome is highly predictable, recognizable on clinical grounds and can be confirmed with the demonstration of NMDAR antibodies.