Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Multimodal, Nonpharmacologic Intervention Improves Mood and Cognitive Function in People with Multiple Sclerosis

ABSTRACT Objective: The objective of this study was to examine whether participation in a 12-month multimodal intervention would improve mood and cognitive function in adults with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: In this one-arm, open-label feasibility trial, participants were prescribed a home-based multimodal intervention, including (1) a modified Paleolithic diet; (2) an exercise program (stretching and strengthening of the trunk and lower limb muscles); (3) neuromuscular electrical stimulation (EStim) of trunk and lower limb muscles; and (4) stress management (meditation and self-massage). Individuals completed measures of mood (Beck Anxiety and Depression Inventories) and cognitive (Cognitive Stability Index, Cognitive Screening Test, Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System) and executive function (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) at baseline and 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after the start of the intervention. Dosage of the multimodal intervention was assessed at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Results: The more individuals participated in the intervention activities, the greater improvements they had from baseline to 12 months on self-report measures of anxiety (Beck Anxiety Inventory [BAI]; ps = 0.001 to 0.02), depression (Beck Depression Inventory [BDI]; ps = <0.0001 to 0.09), cognitive function (Cognitive Stability Index [CSI/T], Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System [DKEFS]; ps = 0.001 to 0.06), and executive function (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale [WAIS]; ps = <0.0001 to 0.09). Mood and cognitive improvements were more closely related to a higher intake of the modified Paleolithic diet than to exercise and stress management dosage. Anxiety and depression changes were evident after just a few months, whereas changes in cognitive function were generally not observed until later in the intervention period. Mood and cognitive function changes from baseline to 12 months were significantly associated with fatigue improvements (ps = <0.0001 to 0.03). Conclusions: A modified Paleolithic diet, exercise, EStim, and stress management intervention like this one has the potential to improve the mood and cognitive symptoms that can lead to considerable suffering in people with MS, potentially improving quality of life and function for people with progressive MS.
Prediction of Bovine Serum Albumin‐Water Partition Coefficients of a Wide Variety of Neutral Organic Compounds by Means of Support Vector Machine

Support vector machine (SVM) was used to develop a quantitative structure property relationship (QSPR) model that correlates molecular structures to their bovine serum albumin water partition coefficients (KBSA/W). The performance and predictive aptitude of SVM are considered and compared with other methods such as multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural network (ANN) methods. A set of 83 natural organic compounds and drugs were selected and suitable sets of molecular descriptors were calculated. Genetic algorithm (GA) was used to select important molecular descriptors, and linear and nonlinear models were applied to correlate the selected descriptors with the experimental values of log KBSA/W. The correlation coefficients, R, between experimental and predicted log KBSA/W for the validation set by MLR, ANN and SVM are 0.951, 0.986 and 0.991, respectively. Results obtained document the reliability and good predictability of the nonlinear QSPR model to predict partition coefficients of organic compounds. Comparison between the values of statistical parameters demonstrates that the predictive ability of the SVM model is comparable or superior to those obtained by MLR and ANN.
Constraints on a mixed inflaton and curvaton scenario for the generation of the curvature perturbation

We consider a simple supersymmetric grand unified model which naturally solves the strong CP and {mu} problems via a Peccei-Quinn symmetry and leads to the standard realization of hybrid inflation. We show that the Peccei-Quinn field of this model can act as a curvaton. In contrast to the standard curvaton hypothesis, both the inflaton and the curvaton contribute to the total curvature perturbation. The model predicts the existence of an isocurvature perturbation, too, which has mixed correlation with the adiabatic one. The cold dark matter of the Universe is mostly constituted by axions, which are produced at the QCD phase transition, plus a small amount of lightest sparticles. The predictions of the model are confronted with the first-year Wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe and other cosmic microwave background radiation data. We analyze in detail two representative choices of parameters for our model and derive bounds on the curvaton contribution to the adiabatic perturbation. We find that, for the choice which provides the best fitting of the data, the curvaton contribution to the amplitude of the adiabatic perturbation must be smaller than about 67% and the amplitude of the partial curvature perturbation from the curvaton smaller than 43.2x10{sup -5} (both at 95%more » confidence level). The best-fit power spectra are dominated by the adiabatic part of the inflaton contribution. We use Bayesian model comparison to show that this choice of parameters is disfavored with respect to the pure inflaton scale-invariant case with odds of about 50 to 1. For the second choice of parameters examined, the adiabatic mode is dominated by the curvaton, but this choice is strongly disfavored relative to the pure inflaton scale-invariant case (with odds of about 10{sup 7} to 1). We conclude that in the present framework the perturbations must be dominated by the adiabatic component from the inflaton. « less
The Emerging Role of Complement C3 as A Biomarker of Insulin Resistance and Cardiometabolic Diseases: Preclinical and Clinical Evidence.

BACKGROUND An intricate network of reciprocal interactions between adipose tissue and immune system have been largely demonstrated, leading to the well-accepted concept of insulin resistance as a low grade inflammatory state and, conversely, chronic high-grade inflammation as a dysmetabolic condition. Immune homeostasis is regulated by several players including the complement system, a complex protein network at the crossroad between the innate and adaptive arms of the human defences against pathogens. OBJECTIVE Complement C3 represents the nodal point of the complement cascade independently of the pathway recruited. Aim of this review is to collect the evidence supporting the role of complement C3 as a candidate biomarker of insulin resistance and other metabolic disorders. METHODS We reviewed the available evidence pointing to a role of complement system, and in particular complement C3, in insulin resistance and other cardiometabolic diseases including diabetes (T2D), hypertension, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and atherosclerosis. RESULTS Compelling preclinical evidence demonstrated a role of adipose-tissue C3 and its cleavage products C3a and acylation stimulating protein (ASP) in adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance. To further support this hypothesis, several clinical studies, both cross-sectional and longitudinal, confirmed this association in independent cohorts. Moreover, preliminary evidence support a role of complement C3 in other cardiometabolic diseases such as hypertension, NAFLD and atherosclerosis. CONCLUSION Future studies are needed to fully confirm the usefulness of C3 as a clinical biomarker and to establish accurate cut-off values. Moreover, the therapeutic potential of C3 modulation in either cardiometabolic and inflammatory diseases need to be investigated.
Performance analysis of co-operative MIMO channel model for a tree canopy terrain

Wireless Sensor networks have become a part and parcel of our daily life. New protocols have been proposed every day aiming towards improving their reliability and quality of service. One such unique application of wireless sensor network is ecological monitoring. Approximately 26.19% of the Earth's surface is covered by forest and India is among the world's top ten most forest-rich countries. Monitoring and management of forest resources greatly demands a scientific management approach. Experimental forests are designated sites used for research work by scientists. The study is based on research and restoration of wildlife, plant population, effects of climate change and pollution. Experimental forests play an important role in conservation of our natural resource. Man, and the economy are inextricably linked to forests. Food, water, wood and medicines have been major bi-products on which more than 1billion people depend every day. Establishing a wireless communication network for a tree canopy terrain like forests calls for a real time based technology that is self-adaptive. Fading and shadowing are major concerns in establishing communication wirelessly in a forest environment. To overcome these challenges, technique of cooperative communication with amplify and forward scheme in the relay node is adopted. Node hopping technique mitigates the power constraint in nodes, thereby improving the overall network lifetime. The performance is verified using symbol error rate for a QPSK modulation in a two-hop network.
Patients’ self-reported function, symptoms and health-related quality of life before and 6 months after transcatheter aortic valve implantation and surgical aortic valve replacement

Background: Aortic stenosis is the most common valve disease in western countries and has poor prognosis without treatment. Surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) is the gold standard, and transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a new method that is used in high-risk patients who are denied surgery. The purpose of treatment is not only to save life, but also to reduce symptoms and increase health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Objective: The aim of this study was to describe patients’ self-reported outcomes in terms of physical function, symptoms, dependence, HRQoL, and cognitive function after TAVI and SAVR. Methods: All patients treated with TAVI during 1 year (n = 24) and age-matched patients treated with SAVR (n = 24) were included. Data were collected on the day before and at 6 months after treatment using structural questionnaires. Results: Self-rated function was low before treatment and increased at follow-up. A quarter of all patients reported syncope at baseline, and none reported this at follow-up. Breathlessness was reported by all patients to be the most limiting cardiac symptom, but the TAVI patients reported more severe symptoms. At 6 months’ follow-up, symptoms were reduced, but breathlessness and fatigue were still common, especially in the TAVI group. HRQoL, which was very low in the TAVI group at baseline, increased in all dimensions except social function. Conclusion: We found no change in cognitive function or dependence at follow-up. There was no difference in the size of improvement between groups. The results could be helpful when informing future patients in order to give them realistic expectations.
MIOCARDIA: integrating cardiac function and muscular architecture for a better diagnosis

Deep understanding of myocardial structure of the heart would unravel crucial knowledge for clinical and medical procedures. The MIOCARDIA project is a multidisciplinary project in cooperation with the Computer Vision Center, l'Hospital de la Santa Creu i de Sant Pau, Clínica Creu Blanca and Barcelona Supercomputing Center. The ultimate goal of this project is defining a computational model of the myocardium. The model takes into account the deep interrelation between the anatomy and the mechanics of the heart. The paper explains the workflow of the MIOCARDIA project. It also introduces a multiresolution reconstruction technique based on DT-MRI streamlining for simplified global myocardial model generation. Our reconstructions can restore the most complex myocardial structures and provides evidences of a global helical organization.
A Modified Greedy Algorithm for Wavelet Coefficients Reconstruction

A modified greedy algorithm called Multi-Tree-based Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (MTOMP) is presented for wavelet coefficients reconstruction in this paper. The proposed algorithm treats the tree model in the wavelet domain as an additional prior information, selects from multiple trees some optimal nodes where wavelet coefficients' coordinates would be added into the estimated support set, and then refines the estimated support set renewed according to a backtracking method, so as to reconstruct the wavelet coefficients more accurately with fewer iterations on the condition that the sparsity level is unknown. The analytical theory and simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve better reconstruction performances and it is superior to other greedy algorithms both visually and objectively with reducing the computational complexity and improving the reconstruction efficiency.
Predictors of long‐term outcomes in patients with acute severe colitis: A northern Indian cohort study

Knowledge of long‐term outcomes following an index episode of acute severe colitis (ASC) can help informed decision making at a time of acute exacerbation especially when colectomy is an option. We aimed to identify long‐term outcomes and their predictors after a first episode of ASC in a large North Indian cohort.
Distance-based location privacy protection in social networks

The current privacy protection methods adopted by social network providers rely on restricting users' access rights. They force a user to rigidly divide other users into two categories only: friends and strangers. Based on this classification, they prevent non-friends from accessing to the user's data while provide full access for friends regardless of how close they are to her. However, the level of privacy protection can be increased gradually and smoothly rather than firmly like a zero/one function. Moreover, the utility of social networks is reduced if we prevent data miners from computing global statistics by applying rigid privacy policies. In this paper, we present a distance-based location privacy protection system (DBLP2) to preserve location privacy of social network users based on their friendship distance. Whenever a user wants to see another user's location (in her profile or from spatiotemporal tags on her posts), the system returns a differentially private response based on their friendship distance. In our proposed system, a user's location information provided for other users is more generalized as the friendship distance increases. In other words, family members and close friends receive a more accurate response than casual friends and strangers. Through analysis, we show that our proposed system makes the process of location privacy protection more flexible in terms of friendship distances.
Improving discharge data fidelity for use in large administrative databases.

OBJECT Large administrative databases have assumed a major role in population-based studies examining health care delivery. Lumbar fusion surgeries specifically have been scrutinized for rising rates coupled with ill-defined indications for fusion such as stenosis and spondylosis. Administrative databases classify cases with the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM). The ICD-9-CM discharge codes are not designated by surgeons, but rather are assigned by trained hospital medical coders. It is unclear how accurately they capture the surgeon's indication for fusion. The authors first sought to compare the ICD-9-CM code(s) assigned by the medical coder according to the surgeon's indication based on a review of the medical chart, and then to elucidate barriers to data fidelity. METHODS A retrospective review was undertaken of all lumbar fusions performed in the Department of Neurosurgery at the authors' institution between August 1, 2011, and August 31, 2013. Based on this review, the indication for fusion in each case was categorized as follows: spondylolisthesis, deformity, tumor, infection, nonpathological fracture, pseudarthrosis, adjacent-level degeneration, stenosis, degenerative disc disease, or disc herniation. These surgeon diagnoses were compared with the primary ICD-9-CM codes that were generated by the medical coders and submitted to administrative databases. A follow-up interview with the hospital's coders and coding manager was undertaken to review causes of error and suggestions for future improvement in data fidelity. RESULTS There were 178 lumbar fusion operations performed in the course of 170 hospital admissions. There were 44 hospitalizations in which fusion was performed for tumor, infection, or nonpathological fracture. Of these, the primary diagnosis matched the surgical indication for fusion in 98% of cases. The remaining 126 hospitalizations were for degenerative diseases, and of these, the primary ICD-9-CM diagnosis matched the surgeon's diagnosis in only 61 (48%) of 126 cases of degenerative disease. When both the primary and all secondary ICD-9-CM diagnoses were considered, the indication for fusion was identified in 100 (79%) of 126 cases. Still, in 21% of hospitalizations, the coder did not identify the surgical diagnosis, which was in fact present in the chart. There are many different causes of coding inaccuracy and data corruption. They include factors related to the quality of documentation by the physicians, coder training and experience, and ICD code ambiguity. CONCLUSIONS Researchers, policymakers, payers, and physicians should note these limitations when reviewing studies in which hospital claims data are used. Advanced domain-specific coder training, increased attention to detail and utilization of ICD-9-CM diagnoses by the surgeon, and improved direction from the surgeon to the coder may augment data fidelity and minimize coding errors. By understanding sources of error, users of these large databases can evaluate their limitations and make more useful decisions based on them.
Properties of the inwardly rectifying K+ conductance in the toad retinal pigment epithelium.

An inwardly rectifying K+ current was analysed in isolated toad retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells using the perforated‐patch clamp technique. The zero‐current potential (Vo) of RPE cells averaged ‐71 mV when the extracellular K+ concentration ([K+]o) was 2 mM. Increasing [K+]o from 0.5 to 5 mM shifted V0 by +43 mV, indicating a relative K+ conductance (TK) of 0.74. At [K+]o greater than 5 mM, TK decreased to 0.53. Currents were larger in response to hyperpolarizing voltage pulses than depolarizing pulses, indicating an inwardly rectifying conductance. Currents were time independent except in response to voltage pulses to potentials positive to 0 mV, where the outward current decayed with an exponential time course. Both the inwardly rectifying current and the transient outward current were eliminated by the addition of 0.5 mM Ba2+, 5 mM Cs+ or 2 mM Rb+ to the extracellular solution. The current blocked by these ions reversed near the K+ equilibrium potential (EK) over a wide range of [K+]o, indicating a highly selective K+ channel. The current‐voltage relationship of the isolated K+ current exhibited mild inward rectification at voltages negative to ‐20 mV and a negative slope conductance at voltages positive to ‐20 mV. The Cs(+)‐ and Ba(2+)‐induced blocks of the K+ current were concentration dependent but voltage independent. The apparent dissociation constants were 0.8 mM for Cs+ and 40 microM for Ba2+. The K+ conductance decreased when extracellular Na+ was removed. Increasing [K+]o decreased the K+ chord conductance (gK) at negative membrane potentials. In the physiological voltage range, increasing [K+]o from 2 to 5 mM caused gK to decrease by approximately 25%. We conclude that the inwardly rectifying K+ conductance represents the resting K+ conductance of the toad RPE apical membrane. The unusual properties of this conductance may enhance the ability of the RPE to buffer [K+]o changes that take place in the subretinal space at the transition between dark and light.
Biomimetic hydrogels direct spinal progenitor cell differentiation and promote functional recovery after spinal cord injury

Objective. Demyelination that results from disease or traumatic injury, such as spinal cord injury (SCI), can have a devastating effect on neural function and recovery. Many researchers are examining treatments to minimize demyelination by improving oligodendrocyte availability in vivo. Transplantation of stem and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells is a promising option, however, trials are plagued by undirected differentiation. Here we introduce a biomaterial that has been optimized to direct the differentiation of neural progenitor cells (NPCs) toward oligodendrocytes as a cell delivery vehicle after SCI. Approach. A collagen-based hydrogel was modified to mimic the mechanical properties of the neonatal spinal cord, and components present in the developing extracellular matrix were included to provide appropriate chemical cues to the NPCs to direct their differentiation toward oligodendrocytes. The hydrogel with cells was then transplanted into a unilateral cervical contusion model of SCI to examine the functional recovery with this treatment. Six behavioral tests and histological assessment were performed to examine the in vivo response to this treatment. Main results. Our results demonstrate that we can achieve a significant increase in oligodendrocyte differentiation of NPCs compared to standard culture conditions using a three-component biomaterial composed of collagen, hyaluronic acid, and laminin that has mechanical properties matched to those of neonatal neural tissue. Additionally, SCI rats with hydrogel transplants, with and without NPCs, showed functional recovery. Animals transplanted with hydrogels with NPCs showed significantly increased functional recovery over six weeks compared to the media control group. Significance. The three-component hydrogel presented here has the potential to provide cues to direct differentiation in vivo to encourage regeneration of the central nervous system.
FOXO4 expression is related to stem cell-like properties and resistance to treatment in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Cancer stem cells are proposed to be responsible for resistance to chemotherapeutic agents, including doxorubicin. As phenylbutyrate enhances cancer stem cell properties, we analyzed surviving lymphoma cells after treatment with doxorubicin and phenylbutyrate. Human B-cell lymphoma cell lines, including Toledo, BJAB, Daudi, and Raji were incubated with IC90 concentrations of doxorubicin (300 nM) or phenylbutyrate (8 mM). After 48 h, live cells were sorted and analyzed for their resistance to treatment by examining gene expression profiles using cDNA microarray and biological characteristics. A small fraction of lymphoma cells that survived after drug application showed higher expression of stem cell markers (NANOG, and SOX2) and superior ability of self-renewal and sphere formation, compared to untreated control cells (P < 0.05). Gene expression analysis disclosed elevated expression of 41 genes, including FOXO4, in the four lymphoma cell lines that survived drug treatment. Overexpression of FOXO4 was evident in lymphoma cells surviving after phenylbutyrate treatment and refractory patient-derived lymphoma cells. Induction of FOXO4 expression promoted self-renewal whereas its knockdown led to diminished expression of stem cell markers and colony-forming ability of lymphoma cells. Immunohistochemical staining for FOXO4 in tumor tissue of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma revealed nuclear localization and significant association with poor prognosis. In conclusion, lymphoma cells resistant to treatment exhibit stem cell-like properties and enhanced FOXO4 expression. The presence of FOXO4-expressing cells in tumor tissue and their association with poor survival supports a role of FOXO4 in promoting stem cell properties resulting in poor outcomes.