Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between CYP2C19*2 variant and clinical outcome in Clopidogrel treated patients from Republic of Macedonia

Clopidogrel is the thienopyridine of choice for prevention of ischemic events and stent thrombosis in patients with atherotrombotic disease. Recent studies suggest that certain genetic variants involving CYP450 system are responsible for wide interindividual variability in treatment response profiles among clopidogrel treated individuals. The aim of this study was to define the prevalence of most common CYP2C19*2: 681G>A (rs4244285) allelic variant in Macedonian population and determine the risk association with major cardiovascular adverse events in clopidogrel treated patients with atherotrombotic cardiovascular disease. CYP2C19 *2 genotype was assessed in 198 subjects from R.Macedonia. The association between the reduced function CYP2C19 *2 A allele and clinical outcome was evaluated in 67 clopidogrel treated patients within a follow up period of at least 6 months (from 6 to 60 months) after initializing clopidogrel therapy. The population frequency of polymorphic A allele responsible for impaired clopidogrel metabolism in Macedonian population was 0.18. CYP2C19*2 variant was significantly associated with increased rate of adverse cardiovascular events in the allelic (OR= 3.188; 95% CI= 1.437-7.058), dominant (OR=3.477; 95% CI= 1.256-9.630) and co-dominant model ( OR=6.750, 95% CI: 1.186-38.410) of statistical analysis (adjusted OR= 2.619; Ptrend=0.0088). The influence of CYP2C19*2 was most strongly correlated with worse event free survival in patients carrying AA genotype (log rank P = 0.0024) and patients carrying at least one CYP2C19*2 reduced function allele (log rank P=0.0058). CYP2C19*2 genetic variant in the population from Republic of Macedonia has similar distribution as determined in other European populations. Carriage of reduced function CYP2C19 *2 allele is associated with worse event free survival in clopidogrel treated patients with atherotrombotic disorders.
Distributed simulation of mechatronic systems using decentralized sliding control

In this paper a distributed simulation method for mechatronic systems is developed based on decentralized sliding mode control. This method is potentially much more efficient than existing centralized approaches due to the reduction in computation and communication associated with large scale matrix inversion problems. Necessary conditions for stability of the decentralized approach are developed. The new method is applied for simulation of a double pendulum system to demonstrate the validity of the approach.
Visual quality indices and lowquality images

Visual quality indices are frequently used instead of human evaluation for the quality assessment of impaired images (or videomaterial). These visual quality indices are in turn evaluated on databases containing impaired images in conjunction with a score given by evaluation with human observers. The fitness of these indices are judged on the entire quality scale of the respective database. However, this leads to the incorrect assumption that these quality indices perform well over the whole range possible qualities. This is unfortunately not true, especially towards the low quality range of images these quality indices often show little actual correlation to human judgement. In this paper a number of visual quality indices will be evaluated with regard to the lower quality spectrum of impairments and it will be shown that the overall fitness of a quality index is not generally related to its performance regarding high impairment.
The Application of Rapid Prototyping Techniques in Cranial Reconstruction and Preoperative Planning in Neurosurgery

The value of rapid prototype models of the skull in our craniofacial and neurosurgical practice was analyzed. Individual skull models of 52 patients were produced by means of rapid prototyping techniques and used in various procedures. Patients were divided into three groups as follows: group I (26 patients) requiring corrective cranioplasty 1) after resection of osseous tumors (15 patients) and 2) with congenital and posttraumatic craniofacial deformities (11 patients), group II (10 patients) requiring reconstructive cranioplasty, and group III (16 patients) requiring planning of difficult skull base approaches. The utility of the stereolithographic models was assessed using the Gillespie scoring system. The esthetic and clinical outcomes were assessed by means of the esthetic outcome score and the Glasgow Outcome Score, respectively. Simulation of osteotomies for advancement plasty and craniofacial reassembly in the model before surgery in group I reduced operating time and intraoperative errors. In group II, the usefulness of the models depended directly on the size and configuration of the cranial defect. The planning of approaches to uncommon and complex skull base tumors (group III) was significantly influenced by the stereolithographic models. The esthetic outcome was pleasing. The indications for the manufacture of individual three-dimensional models could be cases of craniofacial dysmorphism that require meticulous preoperative planning and skull base surgery with difficult anatomical and reconstructive problems. The stereolithographic models provide 1) better understanding of the anatomy, 2) presurgical simulation, 3) intraoperative accuracy in localization of lesions, 4) accurate fabrication of implants, and 5) improved education of trainees.
Prophenoloxidase from Pieris rapae: gene cloning, activity, and transcription in response to venom/calyx fluid from the endoparasitoid wasp Cotesia glomerata

Prophenoloxidase (PPO) plays an important role in melanization, necessary for defense against intruding parasitoids. Parasitoids have evolved to inject maternal virulence factors into the host hemocoel to suppress hemolymph melanization for the successful development of their progeny. In this study, the full-length complementary DNA (cDNA) of a Pieris rapae PPO was cloned. Its cDNA contained a 2 076-base pair (bp) open reading frame (ORF) encoding 691 amino acids (aa). Two putative copper-binding sites, a proteolytic activation site, three conserved hemocyanin domains, and a thiol ester motif were found in the deduced amino acid sequence. According to both multiple alignment and phylogenetic analysis, P. rapae PPO gene cloned here is a member of the lepidopteran PPO-2 family. Injection of Cotesia glomerata venom or calyx fluid resulted in reduction of P. rapae hemolymph phenoloxidase activity, demonstrating the ability to inhibit the host’s melanization. Real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) showed that transcripts of P. rapae PPO-2 in the haemocytes from larvae had not significantly changed following venom injection, suggesting that the regulation of PPO messenger RNA (mRNA) expression by venom was not employed by C. glomerata to cause failure of melanization in parasitized host. While decreased P. rapae PPO-2 gene expression was observed in the haemocytes after calyx fluid injection, no detectable transcriptional change was induced by parasitization, indicating that transcriptional down-regulation of PPO by calyx fluid might play a minor role involved in inhibiting the host’s melanization.
Discovering information diffusion paths from blogosphere for online advertising

Allowing global distribution of information to large audiences at very low cost, the Internet has emerged as a vital medium for marketing and advertising. Weblogs, a new form of self publication on the Internet, have attracted online advertisers because of their incredible growth-rate in recent years. In this paper, we propose to discover information diffusion paths from the blogosphere to track how information frequently flows from blog to blog. This knowledge can be used in various applications of online campaign. Our approach is based on analyzing the content of blogs. After detecting trackable topics of blogs, we model a blog community as a blog sequence database. Then, the discovery of information diffusion paths is formalized as a problem of frequent pattern mining. We develop a new data mining algorithm to discover information diffusion paths. Experiments conducted on real life dataset show that our algorithm discovers information diffusion paths efficiently. The discovered information diffusion paths are accurate in predicting the future information flow in the blog community.
Using Exemplary Knowledge for Justified Analogical Reasoning

Typical instances, that is, instances that are representative for a particular situ-ation or concept, play an important role in human knowledge representationand reasoning, in particular in analogical reasoning. This wellADknown obser-vation has been a motivation for investigations in cognitive psychology whichprovide a basis for our characterization of typical instances within conceptstructures and for a new inference rule for justified analogical reasoning withtypical instances. In a nutshell this paper suggests to augment the proposi-tional knowledge representation system by a non-propositional part consistingof concept structures which may have directly represented instances as ele-ments. The traditional reasoning system is extended by a rule for justifiedanalogical inference with typical instances using information extracted fromboth knowledge representation subsystems.
Simultaneous localization and mapping based on the local volumetric hybrid map

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) plays a significant role in autonomous vehicles when a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is not available. Environment models and underlying estimation techniques are key factors of this algorithm. In this paper, we present a hybrid map-based SLAM approach using Rao-Blackwellized particle filters (RBPFs). We represent the environment with the hybrid map which consists of feature and grid maps. The joint posterior between the vehicle positions and both maps are maintained using RBPFs. This approach allows a vehicle to update its states in a more robust and efficient way. We derived a novel sampling formula by combining a feature measurement likelihood to the traditional grid-based SLAM framework and can decrease the uncertainty of the predicted vehicle position significantly. Moreover, we represent the grid maps with 3D models because 2D models could be insufficient and less reliable to achieve tasks such as navigation and obstacle avoidance in complex 3D environment. We are also able to show that the 3D grid measurement likelihood has a lower variance and with that we can improve the overall performance of the algorithm.
Checklist of bees (Apoidea) from a private conservation property in west-central Montana

Abstract Background Here we present preliminary results from the first three years of a long-term bee survey conducted at a 3,840-ha private conservation property in the northern Sapphire Mountains and Bitterroot River Valley, and a pilot study at an associated 80-ha property in the Swan River Valley, Missoula County, Montana, USA. The survey includes hand-net, bowl-trap, and blue-vane trap collections. The resulting checklist comprises 229 bee species and morphospecies within 5 families, 38 genera and 91 subgenera. Of the total species in the list, 34 of them represent first state records Montana. This survey expands the number of bee species recorded in Montana to 366. Included in these species is Megachile (Eutricharaea) apicalis Spinola, showing a range expansion for this introduced bee. New information We present new distributional records for 34 bee species, including Megachile (Eutricharaea) apicalis Spinola, an introduced bee that was discovered to be resident in North America in 1984 in Santa Barbara County, California. This species has since expanded its range in the across the west, but had not been previously recorded in Montana.
Phytase in non-ruminant animal nutrition: a critical review on phytase activities in the gastrointestinal tract and influencing factors

This review focuses on phytase functionality in the digestive tract of farmed non-ruminant animals and the factors influencing in vivo phytase enzyme activity. In pigs, feed phytase is mainly active in the stomach and upper part of the small intestine, and added phytase activity is not recovered in the ileum. In poultry, feed phytase activities are mainly found in the upper part of the digestive tract, including the crop, proventriculus and gizzard. For fish with a stomach, phytase activities are mainly in the stomach. Many factors can influence the efficiency of feed phytase in the gastrointestinal tract, and they can be divided into three main groups: (i) phytase related; (ii) dietary related and (iii) animal related. Phytase-related factors include type of phytase (e.g. 3- or 6-phytase; bacterial or fungal phytase origin), the pH optimum and the resistance of phytase to endogenous protease. Dietary-related factors are mainly associated with dietary phytate content, feed ingredient composition and feed processing, and total P, Ca and Na content. Animal-related factors include species, gender and age of animals. To eliminate the antinutritional effects of phytate (IP6), it needs to be hydrolyzed as quickly as possible by phytase in the upper part of the digestive tract. A phytase that works over a wide range of pH values and is active in the stomach and upper intestine (along with several other characteristics and in addition to being refractory to endogenous enzymes) would be ideal. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
Influence of Protein and Energy Level in Finishing Diets for Feedlot Hair Lambs: Growth Performance, Dietary Energetics and Carcass Characteristics

Forty-eight Pelibuey×Katahdin male intact lambs (23.87±2.84 kg) were used in an 84-d feeding trial, with six pens per treatment in a 2×2 factorial design arrangement. The aim of the study was to evaluate the interaction of two dietary energy levels (3.05 and 2.83 Mcal/kg ME) and two dietary protein levels (17.5% and 14.5%) on growth performance, dietary energetics and carcass traits. The dietary treatments used were: i) High protein-high energy (HP-HE); ii) High protein-low energy (HP-LE); iii) Low protein-high energy (LP-HE), and iv) Low protein-low energy (LP-LE). With a high-energy level, dry matter intake (DMI) values were 6.1% lower in the low-protein diets, while with low-energy, the DMI values did not differ between the dietary protein levels. Energy levels did not influence the final weight and average daily gain (ADG), but resulted in lower DMI values and higher gain efficiencies. No effects of protein level were detected on growth performance. The observed dietary net energy (NE) ratio and observed DMI were closer than expected in all treatments and were not affected by the different treatments. There was an interaction (p<0.03) between energy and protein level for kidney-pelvic and heart fat (KPH), KPH was higher in lambs fed high energy and high protein diet but not in high energy and low protein diet. The KPH was increased (20.2%, p = 0.01) in high-energy diets, while fat thickness was increased (21.7%, p = 0.02) in high-protein diets. Therefore, it is concluded that dietary energy levels play a more important role in feed efficiency than protein levels in finishing lambs with a high-energy diet (>2.80 Mcal/kg ME). Providing a level of protein above 14.5% does not improves growth-performance, dietary energetics or carcass dressing percentage.
ERYTHROCYTE MEMBRANE MODIFICATIONS IN CHRONIC GRANULOCYTIC LEUKAEMIA

In the past few years important observations have been made on the plasma membranes of neoplastic cells. Although some ofthese have been conflicting it is likely that plasma membrane modifications play a fundamental role in the pathogenesis of neoplastic diseases. Membrane glycoproteins in particular were found to undergo remarkable variations (Hughes, 1976). Chronic granulocytic leukaemia (CGL) with the Philadelphia chromosome is thought to be initiated a t the pluripotential stem cell level (Moore et al, 1974); it would not therefore be surprising if red cell (whose nucleated precursors are Ph' +) expressed some membrane abnormalities. With this possiblity in mind we evaluated sialic acid content (Balduini et al , 1978) and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic profiles after PAS staining (Brovelli et al , 1977) of erythrocyte membranes of patients suffering from CGL. Twenty-two subjects were studied; seven were in the chronic phase of the disease, 15 in that phase reported by Spiers (1977) as metamorphosis and divided into acute phase, blast crisis, and mixed group, on the basis of morphological and clinical data. Eight patients suffering from acute myeloblastic leukaemia (AML) were also investigated. None of the subjects studied had transfusions in the month preceding these tests; some of them never received cytostatic therapy; none had been under treatment in the week preceding the experiments. In the chronic phase of the disease no significant variations in membrane sialic acid/protein ratio or in electrophoretic pattern were observed. In contrast in the 15 patients in metamorphosis a wide variation of N-acetylneuraminic acid content values were obtained; in all the cases of terminal blast crisis membrane sialic acid content was significantly increased. In seven cases of blast crisis the pattern of membrane glycoproteins after SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed the decrease or the absence of PAS 3 band. In two of these a decrease of PAS 1 and an increase of PAS 2 was also evident. No correlation was found between the alterations of electrophoretic pattern and the clinical stage of blast crisis. No significant modifications of membrane sialic acid content or of the glycoprotein electrophoretic patterns were detected in the erythrocytes of patients with AML. These data indicate that during the evolution of CGL red cell membrane changes occur; these modifications are constantly present in the terminal blast crisis. It could be hypothesized that when the new granulocytic clone without differentiation arises, a pathological red cell clone is also produced. Our observations support the hypothesis that a change in a pluripotential stem cell is responsible for CGL metamorphosis and they are in agreement with the finding of Van Beek et al (1973) that malignancy is associated with an increase in membrane sialic acid. From a
Inhibition of Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Limits Mitochondrial Damage and Preserves Function Following Ischemic Injury

Aims: Myocardial ischemia can result in marked mitochondrial damage leading to cardiac dysfunction, as such identifying novel mechanisms to limit mitochondrial injury is important. This study investigated the hypothesis that inhibiting soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH), responsible for converting epoxyeicosatrienoic acids to dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acids protects mitochondrial from injury caused by myocardial infarction. Methods: sEH null and WT littermate mice were subjected to surgical occlusion of the left anterior descending (LAD) artery or sham operation. A parallel group of WT mice received an sEH inhibitor, trans-4-[4-(3-adamantan-1-y1-ureido)-cyclohexyloxy]-benzoic acid (tAUCB; 10 mg/L) or vehicle in the drinking water 4 days prior and 7 days post-MI. Cardiac function was assessed by echocardiography prior- and 7-days post-surgery. Heart tissues were dissected into infarct, peri-, and non-infarct regions to assess ultrastructure by electron microscopy. Complexes I, II, IV, citrate synthase, PI3K activities, and mitochondrial respiration were assessed in non-infarct regions. Isolated working hearts were used to measure the rates of glucose and palmitate oxidation. Results: Echocardiography revealed that tAUCB treatment or sEH deficiency significantly improved systolic and diastolic function post-MI compared to controls. Reduced infarct expansion and less adverse cardiac remodeling were observed in tAUCB-treated and sEH null groups. EM data demonstrated mitochondrial ultrastructure damage occurred in infarct and peri-infarct regions but not in non-infarct regions. Inhibition of sEH resulted in significant improvements in mitochondrial respiration, ATP content, mitochondrial enzymatic activities and restored insulin sensitivity and PI3K activity. Conclusion: Inhibition or genetic deletion of sEH protects against long-term ischemia by preserving cardiac function and maintaining mitochondrial efficiency.
Vieillissement et réorganisation neurofonctionnelle pour le traitement du sens métaphorique des mots

Modifications of interhemispheric dynamics: an index of the influence of age on language? Most current neurocognitive models of language propose a functional organization which asserts the notion of a definitive fixation point, as if language had reached its final state. Recent models based on findings from functional neuroimaging suggest that the functional organization of the brain continues to evolve with age, even during adulthood. This suggests that the neurobiological substrates of language undergo similar changes with aging. The purpose of the present article is to review these findings and to examine the impact of these changes on the age-related evolution of the role of each hemisphere in language. Taking into account the effect of aging also influences the way we conceptualize the neurobiological bases of language, as well as methods used for assisting individuals who suffer language from deficits following a brain lesion. These types of advances in the cognitive neuroscience of language represent a fundamental step for the development of rehabilitation programs designed for stroke survivors, who are becoming older as the population ages.
Plasmodium falciparum malaria in children at a tertiary teaching hospital: ABO blood group is a risk factor

Background ABO blood group antigens are formed by terminal glycosylation of glycoproteins and glycolipid chains present on cell surfaces. Glycosylation modulates all kinds of cell-to-cell interactions and this may be relevant in malaria pathophysiology, in which adhesion has been increasingly implicated in disease severity. This study was done to determine the association between ABO phenotypes and the severity of P. falciparum malaria in children. Methods One hundred and twenty one children were assessed at the Department of Child Health, KBTH from May to August 2008. ABO blood groups were determined by agglutination. The haemoglobin measurement was done with the haematology analyzer, Sysmex KX-21N. Malaria parasites were enumerated and the presence of malaria pigment noted. Identification of P. falciparum was done. Statistical tests used were odds ratio and chi square at a significance level of p<0.05. Results 24.3% of the 121 children had severe falciparum malaria, and their mean haemoglobin was 4.49 g/dl (SD ±1.69). No significant association was found between the ABO phenotypes and malaria infection (p>0.05). Blood group A was associated with more severe malaria as compared to the blood group O individuals (Odds ratio=0.79, p>0.05); blood group AB (Odds ratio=0.14, p>0.05) and also there was a significant difference in severity of malaria between blood group O and blood group B (Odds ratio=1.28, p>0.05). Conclusion Non-O blood group children are more prone to severe malaria caused by P. falciparum malaria than the group O, despite the lack of significant association between ABO blood groups and falciparum malaria.
Induction of Condensed Determinations

In this paper we suggest determinations as a representation of knowledge that should be easy to understand. We briefly review determinations, which can be displayed in a tabular format, and their use in prediction, which involves a simple matching process. We describe CONDET, an algorithm that uses feature selection to construct determinations from training data, augmented by a condensation process that collapses rows to produce simpler structures. We report experiments that show condensation reduces complexity with no loss of accuracy, then discuss CONDET'S relation to other work and outline directions for future studies.