Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reference Values for TSH and Free Thyroid Hormones in Healthy Pregnant Women in Poland: A Prospective, Multicenter Study

Objectives: The diagnosis and treatment of thyroid diseases in pregnant women remains a challenge. Various medical associations recommend establishing the reference intervals for thyroid hormones by a local laboratory. Considering differences within geophysical, socioeconomic conditions, and iodine prophylaxis in various populations, it is advisable to assess reference intervals for thyroid hormones specific to a region of residence. The objective was to assess trimester-specific reference intervals for TSH, fT3, and fT4 for pregnant women in the Polish population. Methods and Results: We conducted a prospective study in 4 centers representing different regions of Poland (Krakow, Warsaw, Poznan, and Bialystok). Our study included consecutive, healthy pregnant women (172 patients), with an age range of 27-47 years. All women had a negative history for thyroid diseases, normal thyroid peroxidase antibody levels, and proper iodine prophylaxis. All newborns had TSH levels in the appropriate reference range. Serum TSH, fT3, fT4, and thyroid-peroxidase antibodies were measured in each trimester. The reference intervals were calculated using the percentile method, as recommended by the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry. The reference values calculated were 0.009-3.177, 0.05-3.442, and 0.11-3.53 mIU/L for TSH; 3.63-6.55, 3.29-5.45, and 3.1-5.37 pmol/L for fT3; and 11.99-21.89, 10.46-16.67, and 8.96-17.23 pmol/L for fT4 in consecutive trimesters of pregnancy. Reference intervals for pregnant women when compared to the general population showed a lower concentration of TSH in every trimester of pregnancy and lower fT4 in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters. Conclusions: Using appropriate trimester-specific reference intervals may improve care of pregnant women by preventing misdiagnosis and inadequate treatment.
The Process Model of Problem-Solving Difficulty Özge Pala

Groups and organizations, or in general multi-actor decision-making groups, frequently come across complex problems in which neither the problem definition nor the interrelations of parts that make up the problem are well defined. In these kinds of situations, members of a decision-making group have disagreements on what the problem is and/or how it should be solved. The study reported in this paper represents a causal loop diagram, which brings together different causes that lead the group members into disagreement. In this way features of individual and group decision-making can be integrated in a coherent framework. By analyzing the problem from a feedback point of view, we hope to clarify the self-perpetuating quality of these problems. The main feedback loops in this model were identified with the aim of pointing out key issues to keep in mind for interventions in complex problems. A small portion of this model was also quantified to show the possible creation of a sustained disagreement situation.
A single session of exercise increases connectivity in sensorimotor-related brain networks: a resting-state fMRI study in young healthy adults

Habitual long term physical activity is known to have beneficial cognitive, structural, and neuro-protective brain effects, but to date there is limited knowledge on whether a single session of exercise can alter the brain’s functional connectivity, as assessed by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). The primary objective of this study was to characterize potential session effects in resting-state networks (RSNs). We examined the acute effects of exercise on the functional connectivity of young healthy adults (N = 15) by collecting rs-fMRI before and after 20 min of moderate intensity aerobic exercise and compared this with a no-exercise control group (N = 15). Data were analyzed using independent component analysis, denoising and dual regression procedures. Regions of interest-based group session effect statistics were calculated in RSNs of interest using voxel-wise permutation testing and Cohen’s D effect size. Group analysis in the exercising group data set revealed a session effect in sub-regions of three sensorimotor related areas: the pre and/or postcentral gyri, secondary somatosensory area and thalamus, characterized by increased co-activation after exercise (corrected p < 0.05). Cohen’s D analysis also showed a significant effect of session in these three RSNs (p< 0.05), corroborating the voxel-wise findings. Analyses of the no-exercise dataset produced no significant results, thereby providing support for the exercise findings and establishing the inherent test–retest reliability of the analysis pipeline on the RSNs of interest. This study establishes the feasibility of rs-fMRI to localize brain regions that are associated with acute exercise, as well as an analysis consideration to improve sensitivity to a session effect.
Trauma, Delinquency, and Substance Use: Co-Occurring Problems for Adolescent Girls in the Juvenile Justice System

Girls in the juvenile justice system are known to have high rates of co-occurring childhood abuse, trauma, and substance abuse. Girls with this constellation of problems are at high risk for serious adverse outcomes, including problems with drug dependence and abuse. The relationship among childhood sexual abuse, childhood physical abuse, other types of childhood trauma, and rates of substance use during adolescence were examined for girls in the juvenile justice system. As expected, childhood sexual abuse was significantly related to girls' substance use during adolescence. In contrast to prior research, no link was found between physical abuse, lifetime trauma, and substance use. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
Authentication via localized names

We address the problem of message authentication using the /spl pi/-calculus, which has been given an operational semantics that provides each sequential process of a system with its own local space of names. We exploit here that semantics and its localized names to guarantee by construction that a message has been generated by a given entity. Therefore, our proposal can be seen as a reference for the analysis of "real" protocols. As an example, we study the way authentication is ensured by encrypting messages in the spi-calculus.
NO Attenuates Insulin Signaling and Motility in Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells via Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 1B–Mediated Mechanism

Objective—Hyperinsulinemia is a significant risk factor for the pathogenesis of vascular disease. Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) has been recognized as a modulator of insulin signaling in nonvascular cells, and we have recently reported that NO increases the activity of PTP1B in rat vascular smooth muscle cells. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that NO attenuates insulin-stimulated cell motility via a PTP1B-mediated mechanism involving downregulation of insulin signal transduction. Methods and Results—Treatment of primary aortic smooth muscle cells from newborn rats with the NO donor S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine reduced cell motility, tyrosine phosphorylation levels of insulin receptor &bgr; subunit and insulin receptor substrate-1, and extracellular signal–regulated kinase activity. Overexpression of wild-type PTP1B via an adenoviral vector blocked the capacity of insulin to stimulate cell motility and insulin receptor phosphorylation, whereas expression of a dominant-negative mutant of PTP1B attenuated the capacity of NO to decrease cell motility. Conclusions—Our findings indicate that activation of PTP1B is necessary and sufficient to account for the capacity of NO to decrease insulin-stimulated signal transduction and cell motility in cultured aortic smooth muscle cells. The results could explain the capacity of NO to oppose neointima formation in states of hyperinsulinemia.
Distinct Roles of Autophagy in the Heart During Ischemia and Reperfusion: Roles of AMP-Activated Protein Kinase and Beclin 1 in Mediating Autophagy

Autophagy is an intracellular bulk degradation process for proteins and organelles. In the heart, autophagy is stimulated by myocardial ischemia. However, the causative role of autophagy in the survival of cardiac myocytes and the underlying signaling mechanisms are poorly understood. Glucose deprivation (GD), which mimics myocardial ischemia, induces autophagy in cultured cardiac myocytes. Survival of cardiac myocytes was decreased by 3-methyladenine, an inhibitor of autophagy, suggesting that autophagy is protective against GD in cardiac myocytes. GD-induced autophagy coincided with activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and inactivation of mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin). Inhibition of AMPK by adenine 9-&bgr;-d-arabinofuranoside or dominant negative AMPK significantly reduced GD-induced autophagy, whereas stimulation of autophagy by rapamycin failed to cause an additive effect on GD-induced autophagy, suggesting that activation of AMPK and inhibition of mTOR mediate GD-induced autophagy. Autophagy was also induced by ischemia and further enhanced by reperfusion in the mouse heart, in vivo. Autophagy resulting from ischemia was accompanied by activation of AMPK and was inhibited by dominant negative AMPK. In contrast, autophagy during reperfusion was accompanied by upregulation of Beclin 1 but not by activation of AMPK. Induction of autophagy and cardiac injury during the reperfusion phase was significantly attenuated in beclin 1+/− mice. These results suggest that, in the heart, ischemia stimulates autophagy through an AMPK-dependent mechanism, whereas ischemia/reperfusion stimulates autophagy through a Beclin 1–dependent but AMPK-independent mechanism. Furthermore, autophagy plays distinct roles during ischemia and reperfusion: autophagy may be protective during ischemia, whereas it may be detrimental during reperfusion.
Toward surround gates on vertical single-walled carbon nanotube devices

The one-dimensional, cylindrical nature of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) suggests that the ideal gating geometry for nanotube field-effect transistors (FETs) is a surround gate (SG). Using vertical SWCNTs templated in porous anodic alumina, SGs are formed using top-down processes for the dielectric/metal depositions and definition of the channel length. Surround gates allow aggressive scaling of the channel to 25% of the length attainable with a bottom-gate geometry without incurring short-channel effects. The process demonstrated here for forming SGs on vertical SWCNTs is amenable for large-scale fabrication of multinanotube FETs.The one-dimensional, cylindrical nature of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) suggests that the ideal gating geometry for nanotube field-effect transistors (FETs) is a surround gate (SG). Using vertical SWCNTs templated in porous anodic alumina, SGs are formed using top-down processes for the dielectric/metal depositions and definition of the channel length. Surround gates allow aggressive scaling of the channel to 25% of the length attainable with a bottom-gate geometry without incurring short-channel effects. The process demonstrated here for forming SGs on vertical SWCNTs is amenable for large-scale fabrication of multinanotube FETs.
Laboratory Evolution of Toluene Dioxygenase To Accept 4-Picoline as a Substrate

ABSTRACT We are using directed evolution to extend the range of dioxygenase-catalyzed biotransformations to include substrates that are either poorly accepted or not accepted at all by the naturally occurring enzymes. Here we report on the oxidation of a heterocyclic substrate, 4-picoline, by toluene dioxygenase (TDO) and improvement of the enzyme's activity by laboratory evolution. The biotransformation of 4-picoline proceeds at only ∼4.5% of the rate of the natural reaction on toluene. Random mutagenesis, saturation mutagenesis, and screening directly for product formation using a modified Gibbs assay generated mutant TDO 3-B38, in which the wild-type stop codon was replaced with a codon encoding threonine. Escherichia coli-expressed TDO 3-B38 exhibited 5.6 times higher activity toward 4-picoline and ∼20% more activity towards toluene than wild-type TDO. The product of the biotransformation of 4-picoline is 3-hydroxy-4-picoline; no cis-diols of 4-picoline were observed.
Multi-Parametric Statistical Method for Estimation of Accumulated Fatigue by Sensors in Ordinary Gadgets

The new method is proposed to monitor the level of currently accumulated fatigue and estimate it by the several statistical methods. The experimental software application was developed and used to get data from sensors (accelerometer, GPS, gyroscope, magnetometer, and camera), conducted experiments, collected data, calculated parameters of their distributions (mean, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis), and analyzed them by statistical methods (moment analysis, cluster analysis, bootstrapping, periodogram and spectrogram analyses). The hypothesis 1 (physical activity can be estimated and classified by moment and cluster analysis) and hypothesis 2 (fatigue can be estimated by moment analysis, bootstrapping analysis, periodogram, and spectrogram) were proposed and proved. Several "fatigue metrics" were proposed: location, size, shape of clouds of points on bootstrapping plot. The most promising fatigue metrics is the distance from the "rest" state point to the "fatigue" state point (sum of 3 squared non-normal distribution of non-correlated acceleration values) on the skewness-kurtosis plot. These hypotheses were verified on several persons of various age, gender, fitness level and improved standard statistical methods in similar researches. The method can be used in practice for ordinary people in everyday situations (to estimate their fatigue, give tips about it and advice on context-related information).
Use of Side-Scan Sonar to Locate Tulotoma magnifica (Conrad, 1834) (Gastropoda: Viviparidae) in the Alabama River

ABSTRACT Tulotoma magnifica is a federally threatened freshwater gastropod endemic to the Mobile Basin in Alabama. It was considered extirpated from the Alabama River until its rediscovery there in 2006. Tulotoma occurs primarily in colonies in large interstitial spaces beneath boulders and in bedrock crevices. We used side-scan sonar to identify boulder habitat in the Alabama River and to focus dive surveys at those sites. Eighty-five sites with potential Tulotoma habitat were identified with sonar and assessed by a diver. Colonies were found at five locations, three of which were previously unknown. Side-scan sonar greatly increased efficiency during this survey and was a useful tool.
Elementary Processes in the Development of the Electrical Breakdown of Liquids

A review is given of the elementary processes which play a role in the initiation and the propagation of electric breakdown processes in liquids. The discussion is essentially limited to pure, non-polar liquids subjected to step-impulse voltages and to voltages which vary slowly in time (dc, line-frequency ac). The topics treated include: electrode processes, ionization in the liquid phase, bubble formation, and evolution of the breakdown phenomenon.
Compensatory Uptake of I‐123 MIBG in the Contralateral Adrenal Gland After Removal of a Pheochromocytoma

&NA; The identification of recurrent or residual tumor tissue is sometimes complicated. The authors describe a 53‐year‐old woman in whom I‐123 metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy revealed a pheochromocytoma in the right adrenal gland. After the tumor was removed, the patient's catecholamine levels normalized. At the 3‐month follow‐up examination, I‐123 MIBG scintigraphy did not reveal uptake in the right adrenal region but rather showed uptake in the left adrenal region. The patient's blood pressure remained in the normal range. A third scintigram, obtained 1 year after tumor resection, no longer detected I‐123 MIBG accumulation in the left adrenal gland. These findings suggest that compensatory hyperplasia of the left adrenal gland led to enhanced uptake of I‐123 MIBG. They also highlight the need for careful follow‐up of such patients to distinguish between physiologic and pathologic processes.
Robustness in filter designs . Implications for receptor internalization

A common signaling processing step is to filter the signal. In biology there are amble examples where the physiological response depends on the duration of the signal. A simple way to obtain such a filter effect is with the help of a delay circuitry. There are at least two principally different ways to obtain the delay: activate an activator or by inhibiting an inhibitor. Previously a model based on the first option has been proposed in connection with the early signaling events in the mammalian response to Insulin. Here we consider the equivalent model based on the second option. We demonstrate that although the two options are able to obtain the exact same filter characteristics, the robustness to external perturbations are very different. In particular is the inhibitory version insensitive to variations in the concentration of the inhibitor, while the cross-over frequency in the activator case depends linearly on the concentration of the activator. The cross-over frequency determines the timescale that separates the two different physiological responses metabolic versus mitogenic. This kind of robustness is thus very important in the design of drugs that interfere with the signaling pathway (Insulin sensitizers). However one can not generally conclude that the inhibitor version is the most robust as in transcriptional feed forward loops the activate an activator version is the most robust. Furthermore we point out that receptor internalization effectively implement a robust delay circuitry, and this raises the intriguing possibility that receptor internalization quite generally is involved in filtering of the external signal.
International Consensus Diagnostic Criteria for Autoimmune Pancreatitis: Guidelines of the International Association of Pancreatology

Objectives: To achieve the goal of developing international consensus diagnostic criteria (ICDC) for autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP). Methods: An international panel of experts met during the 14th Congress of the International Association of Pancreatology held in Fukuoka, Japan, from July 11 through 13, 2010. The proposed criteria represent a consensus opinion of the working group. Results: Autoimmune pancreatitis was classified into types 1 and 2. The ICDC used 5 cardinal features of AIP, namely, imaging of pancreatic parenchyma and duct, serology, other organ involvement, pancreatic histology, and an optional criterion of response to steroid therapy. Each feature was categorized as level 1 and 2 findings depending on the diagnostic reliability. The diagnosis of type 1 and type 2 AIP can be definitive or probable, and in some cases, the distinction between the subtypes may not be possible (AIP-not otherwise specified). Conclusions: The ICDC for AIP were developed based on the agreement of an international panel of experts in the hope that they will promote worldwide recognition of AIP. The categorization of AIP into types 1 and 2 should be helpful for further clarification of the clinical features, pathogenesis, and natural history of these diseases.
Matrix product state representations

This work gives a detailed investigation of matrix product state (MPS) representations for pure multipartite quantum states. We determine the freedom in representations with and without translation symmetry, derive respective canonical forms and provide efficient methods for obtaining them. Results on frustration free Hamiltonians and the generation of MPS are extended, and the use of the MPS-representation for classical simulations of quantum systems is discussed.
Cardioprotective Function of the Long Pentraxin PTX3 in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Background— Despite widespread clinical use as a prognostic marker in ischemic heart disorders, the actual pathogenetic role of the short pentraxin, C-reactive protein, has not undergone stringent genetic testing because of evolutionary divergence between mouse and humans. The long pentraxin PTX3 is conserved in evolution, is expressed in the heart under inflammatory conditions, and is a candidate prognostic marker in acute myocardial infarction. It was therefore important to assess whether PTX3 plays a pathogenetic role in acute myocardial infarction. Methods and Results— In a model of acute myocardial infarction caused by coronary artery ligation and reperfusion, tissue mRNA expression and circulating levels of PTX3 increased. The interleukin-1R–MyD88 pathway plays a pivotal role in the induction of PTX3 transcript after ischemia. ptx3-deficient mice showed exacerbated heart damage (33% larger infarcts in null mice; P=0.0047). Increased myocardial damage in ptx3-deficient mice was associated with a greater no-reflow area, increased neutrophil infiltration, decreased number of capillaries, and increased number of apoptotic cardiomyocytes. In addition, ptx3-deficient mice with acute myocardial infarction showed higher circulating levels of interleukin-6 and increased C3 deposition in lesional tissue. The phenotype was reversed by exogenous PTX3. Conclusions— Thus, PTX3 plays a nonredundant, regulatory, cardioprotective role in acute myocardial infarction in mice. Our results suggest that modulation of the complement cascade contributes to the cardioprotective function of PTX3.
RAC1 Takes the Lead in Solid Tumors

Three GTPases, RAC, RHO, and Cdc42, play essential roles in coordinating many cellular functions during embryonic development, both in healthy cells and in disease conditions like cancers. We have presented patterns of distribution of the frequency of RAC1-alteration(s) in cancers as obtained from cBioPortal. With this background data, we have interrogated the various functions of RAC1 in tumors, including proliferation, metastasis-associated phenotypes, and drug-resistance with a special emphasis on solid tumors in adults. We have reviewed the activation and regulation of RAC1 functions on the basis of its sub-cellular localization in tumor cells. Our review focuses on the role of RAC1 in cancers and summarizes the regulatory mechanisms, inhibitory efficacy, and the anticancer potential of RAC1-PAK targeting agents.
A study in greedy oracle improvement of translation hypotheses

This paper describes a study of translation hypotheses that can be obtained by iterative, greedy oracle improvement from the best hypothesis of a state-of-the-art phrase-based Statistical Machine Translation system. The factors that we consider include the influence of the rewriting operations, target languages, and training data sizes. Analysis of our results provide new insights into some previously unanswered questions, which include the reachability of previously unreachable hypotheses via indirect translation (thanks to the introduction of a rewrite operation on the source text), and the potential translation performance of systems relying on pruned phrase tables.