Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[Tc99m-pertechnetate thyroid scintigraphy in newborns with congenital hypothyroidism].

BACKGROUND Congenital hypothyroidism is one of the most frequent endocrine diseases of the newborn and requires an early diagnosis to avoid its deleterious effects on neurological and intellectual functions. AIM To evaluate thyroid scintigraphy (TS) findings in newborns with congenital hypothyroidism (CH), detected in the national program of newborn screening, which is working in Chile since 1992. MATERIAL AND METHODS TS findings of 189 newborns with CH (68% female) were analyzed. Tc99m pertechnetate TS was performed at 19 +/- 11 days of life. The gland was classified as eutopic, ectopic or absence of contrast (AC). Eutopic glands were classified by visual and quantitative criteria as: normal, goiter and decreased contrast (DC). TS results were compared by gender and hormonal levels. RESULTS Forty seven percent of newborns had ectopy, 29.1% eutopy and 24.3% AC. Eutopic gland predominated in males (44.2% vs 22.7%) and ectopy was more frequent in girls (53.1% vs 32.8%, p < 0.05). Newborns with AC had the most severe hormonal alterations, without gender differences. Newborns with normal TS had less hormonal alterations than those with goiter. CONCLUSIONS TS allows an etiological classification of CH. Thyroid dysgenesis is the most frequent cause, most of which correspond to ectopy, especially in girls. Eutopic glands are present in one third of newborns with CH. Goiter predominates, especially in males.
Cul4A and DDB1 Associate with Skp2 To Target p27Kip1 for Proteolysis Involving the COP9 Signalosome

ABSTRACT DDB1, a subunit of the damaged-DNA binding protein DDB, has been shown to function also as an adaptor for Cul4A, a member of the cullin family of E3 ubiquitin ligase. The Cul4A-DDB1 complex remains associated with the COP9 signalosome, and that interaction is conserved from fission yeast to human. Studies with fission yeast suggested a role of the Pcu4-Ddb1-signalosome complex in the proteolysis of the replication inhibitor Spd1. Here we provide evidence that the function of replication inhibitor proteolysis is conserved in the mammalian DDB1-Cul4A-signalosome complex. We show that small interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of DDB1, CSN1 (a subunit of the signalosome), and Cul4A in mammalian cells causes an accumulation of p27Kip1. Moreover, expression of DDB1 reduces the level of p27Kip1 by increasing its decay rate. The DDB1-induced proteolysis of p27Kip1 requires signalosome and Cul4A, because DDB1 failed to increase the decay rate of p27Kip1 in cells deficient in CSN1 or Cul4A. Surprisingly, the DDB1-induced proteolysis of p27Kip1 also involves Skp2, an F-box protein that allows targeting of p27Kip1 for ubiquitination by the Skp1-Cul1-F-box complex. Moreover, we provide evidence for a physical association between Cul4A, DDB1, and Skp2. We speculate that the F-box protein Skp2, in addition to utilizing Cul1-Skp1, utilizes Cul4A-DDB1 to induce proteolysis of p27Kip1.
Characterization of a 14 kDa oocyst wall protein of Eimeria tenella and E. acervulina

Summary We have extracted a protein of 14 kDa from purified oocyst walls of several Eimeria species. Polyclonal antibodies were raised in rats against the 14 kDa proteins of E. acervulina and E. tenella. On immunoblots these antisera reacted in a highly specific manner with the homologous 14 kDa antigens, but not with heterologous antigens. In addition, specific binding of the two antisera to oocyst wall fragments of E. acervulina and E. tenella was demonstrated by immunofluorescence. Partial amino-terminal sequences comprising 20 amino acid residues were obtained from the 14 kDa oocyst wall proteins of E. acervulina and E. tenella. They are characterized by an abundance of amino acids containing hydroxyl groups in their side chains (serine, tyrosine, threonine). Binding of the oocyst wall protein of E. tenella by peanut agglutinin indicates the presence of O-linked carbohydrates.
Dynamic Regulation of Cell Volume and Extracellular ATP of Human Erythrocytes

Introduction The peptide mastoparan 7 (MST7) triggered in human erythrocytes (rbcs) the release of ATP and swelling. Since swelling is a well-known inducer of ATP release, and extracellular (ATPe), interacting with P (purinergic) receptors, can affect cell volume (Vr), we explored the dynamic regulation between Vr and ATPe. Methods and Treatments We made a quantitative assessment of MST7-dependent kinetics of Vr and of [ATPe], both in the absence and presence of blockers of ATP efflux, swelling and P receptors. Results In rbcs 10 μM MST7 promoted acute, strongly correlated changes in [ATPe] and Vr. Whereas MST7 induced increases of 10% in Vr and 190 nM in [ATPe], blocking swelling in a hyperosmotic medium + MST7 reduced [ATPe] by 40%. Pre-incubation of rbcs with 10 μM of either carbenoxolone or probenecid, two inhibitors of the ATP conduit pannexin 1, reduced [ATPe] by 40–50% and swelling by 40–60%, while in the presence of 80 U/mL apyrase, an ATPe scavenger, cell swelling was prevented. While exposure to 10 μM NF110, a blocker of ATP-P2X receptors mediating sodium influx, reduced [ATPe] by 48%, and swelling by 80%, incubation of cells in sodium free medium reduced swelling by 92%. Analysis and Discussion Results were analyzed by means of a mathematical model where ATPe kinetics and Vr kinetics were mutually regulated. Model dependent fit to experimental data showed that, upon MST7 exposure, ATP efflux required a fast 1960-fold increase of ATP permeability, mediated by two kinetically different conduits, both of which were activated by swelling and inactivated by time. Both experimental and theoretical results suggest that, following MST7 exposure, ATP is released via two conduits, one of which is mediated by pannexin 1. The accumulated ATPe activates P2X receptors, followed by sodium influx, resulting in cell swelling, which in turn further activates ATP release. Thus swelling and P2X receptors constitute essential components of a positive feedback loop underlying ATP-induced ATP release of rbcs.
Phenotypic Evidence of Emerging Ivermectin Resistance in Onchocerca volvulus

Background Ivermectin (IVM) has been used in Ghana for over two decades for onchocerciasis control. In recent years there have been reports of persistent microfilaridermias despite multiple treatments. This has necessitated a reexamination of its microfilaricidal and suppressive effects on reproduction in the adult female Onchocerca volvulus. In an initial study, we demonstrated the continued potent microfilaricidal effect of IVM. However, we also found communities in which the skin microfilarial repopulation rates at days 90 and 180 were much higher than expected. In this follow up study we have investigated the reproductive response of female worms to multiple treatments with IVM. Methods and Findings The parasitological responses to IVM in two hundred and sixty-eight microfilaridermic subjects from nine communities that had received 10 to 19 annual doses of IVM treatment and one pre-study IVM-naïve community were followed. Skin snips were taken 364 days after the initial IVM treatment during the study to determine the microfilaria (mf) recovery rate. Nodules were excised and skin snips taken 90 days following a second study IVM treatment. Nodule and worm density and the reproductive status of female worms were determined. On the basis of skin mf repopulation and skin mf recovery rates we defined three categories of response—good, intermediate and poor—and also determined that approximately 25% of subjects in the study carried adult female worms that responded suboptimally to IVM. Stratification of the female worms by morphological age and microfilarial content showed that almost 90% of the worms were older or middle aged and that most of the mf were produced by the middle aged and older worms previously exposed to multiple treatments with little contribution from young worms derived from ongoing transmission. Conclusions The results confirm that in some communities adult female worms were non-responsive or resistant to the anti-fecundity effects of multiple treatments with IVM. A scheme of the varied responses of the adult female worm to multiple treatments is proposed.
Interactive schematic summaries for exploration of surveillance video

We present a new and scalable technique to explore surveillance videos by scatter/gather browsing of trajectories of moving objects. The proposed approach facilitates interactive clustering of trajectories by an effective way of cluster visualization that we term schematic summaries. This novel visualization illustrates cluster summaries in a schematic, non-photorealistic style. To reduce visual clutter, we introduce the trajectory bundling technique. The fusion of schematic summaries and user interaction leads to efficient hierarchical exploration of video data. Examples of different browsing scenarios demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Direct Torque Control of Three Phase Induction Motor Using Fuzzy Logic

Induction motor drives using field oriented control (FOC) for torque and flux control have been used in high performance industrial applications instead of dc motors for many years. In FOC, torque and flux of an induction motor can be controlled independently by decoupling the stator current into its orthogonal components. The FOC method has achieved a quick torque response. But in order to achieve expected performance from FOC, exact identification of parameters is required. A new torque and flux control scheme called the direct torque control (DTC) has been introduced for induction motors. In DTC the torque and flux of an induction motor can be controlled directly by applying a suitable voltage vector to the stator of an induction motor. However, convectional DTC result in large torque and flux ripples. In this paper, a controller based on fuzzy logic is designed to improve the performance of DTC and reduce the torque and flux ripple.
Glycogen in adipose tissue

When rats are fed on a carbohydrate-rich diet after prolonged starvation, appearance of glycogen within adipose tissue is an early indication that deposition of fat is impending. Other findings also suggest that glycogen is converted in the adipose tissue into fat (Tuerkischer & Wertheimer, 1942; Mirski, 1942). On this view it is expected that glycogen will precede fat deposition in adipose tissue whenever newly synthesized fat, derived from carbohydrate, is stored. The present paper describes the continuation of experiments on the relation between glycogen and fat within adipose tissue. I. Insulin treatment. Clinicians have long assumed that insulin favours deposition of fat. The effect is generally believed to be an indirect one due to a stimulation of the appetite. Drury (1940) and MacKay, Callaway & Barnes (1940) showed that insulin increased appetite, body weight, and fat storage in rats and rabbits. Is such fat deposition under insulin treatment preceded by deposition of glycogen within the adipose tissue? Is the insulin effect direct, or only secondary to increase in appetite for carbohydrate? As early as in 1927 Hoffmann & Wertheimer demonstrated that insulin sometimes induces glycogen deposition in the adipose tissue of dogs. Insulin was found to be without effect on glycogen deposition in the adipose tissue of rats fed a carbohydrate-rich diet after being starved (Tuerkischer & Wertheimer, 1942). II. Alternate starving and feeding. MacKay & Drury (1941) have shown that, when rats are fed on a diet consisting ualmost entirely of carbohydrates and starved on alternate days, so that their average body weight and food intake become constant; the food carbohydrate comes to be stored largely in the form of fat. Is fat deposition in this case also associated with the appearance of glycogen in adipose tissue? III. Carbohydrate excess. Is glycogen deposited in the adipose tissue after excessive intake of carbohydrates?
Ironless machine design and novel digital control for automotive applications

Permanent magnet brushless DC machines are commonly used for automotive applications because of their inherently high efficiency, power density, reliability and low maintenance. However, in order to obtain high performance for mentioned applications, the overall hardware system can be very complex and costly. This paper presents an ironless machine design that can be used for in-wheel traction machines as well as for Integrated Starter/Alternators (ISA), controlled by a novel digital control strategy for 4-quadrant machine operation. Machine design is suitable for different radius of the wheel and is scalable in terms of power density. It does not require iron, so composite materials can be used, which was one of the limitations with conventional machine. In addition, a low-cost digital control strategy has been presented that can be used by itself, or as a subsystem of a more complex control scheme. For applications that do not require a high degree of speed accuracy, the proposed control strategy shows faster response when variable speed command is applied to the shaft of the machine. The implementation of this scheme is also much simpler than most existing methods used in automotive applications.
Critical area computation—a new approach

In this paper we present a new approach for computing the critical area for shorts in a circuit layout. The critical area calculation is the main computational problem in VLSI yield prediction. The method is based on the concept of Voronoi diagrams and computes the critical area for shorts (for all possible defect radii, assuming square defects) accurately in <italic>O</italic>(<italic>n</italic> log <italic>n</italic>) time, where <italic>n</italic> is the size of the input. The method is presented for rectilinear layouts but it is extendible to general layouts. As a byproduct we briefly sketch how to speed up the grid method of Wagner and Koren [16].
The diagnostic value of on‐site cytopathological evaluation and cell block preparation in fine‐needle aspiration cytology of liver masses

Objective: The aims of this study were to evaluate the typing accuracy of conventional smear (CS), cell block (CB) preparations and combined use of both procedures (CS + CB) for the diagnosis of hepatic malignancies and to determine whether immediate on‐site cytopathological evaluation improves the diagnostic yield of liver fine‐needle aspiration cytology (FNAC).
ABORDAREA EMBODIED COGNITION ŞI STUDIUL DEZVOLTĂRII COGNITIVE

This theoretical article presents one of the main post-cognivist approaches, namely embodied cognition, with the aim of analyzing its role for the study of cognitive development. In the first part, we will discuss the notion of "cognition" by considering traditional cognitivism and embodied cognition. The second part presents empirical evidence for the embodied nature of cognition throughout development, and also for the role that developmental studies have for the embodied cognition approach in psychology. The article ends with presenting the positive consequences that the embodied cognition approach can have both for research and practice. 1. INTRODUCERE De-a lungul timpului, s-au succedat in psihologia dezvoltării numeroase incercări de explicare a dezvoltării cognitive. Unele mai coerente (cum este teoria lui Piaget), altele mai fragmentare (cum sunt microteoriile/modelele existente astăzi pentru aproape fiecare abilitate), toate au avut ca si scop final o teorie care să explice modul in care ajungem să avem o cogniţie matură, eficientă si sofisticată (Ionescu, 2003). In ultimul timp insă revine sub lupă in paradigma cognitivistă intrebarea "ce este cogniţia? ", lucru care influenţează fireste si căutările nostre referitoare la dezvoltarea ei. In cognitivismul tradiţional, sistemul cognitiv a fost separat de aspectele senzorio-motorii sau de context, iar accentul s-a pus pe reprezentări si pe procesele cognitive cu care operăm asupra lor. Această abordare e usor de inţeles dacă ne gândim că paradigma cognitivistă a apărut ca reacţie la behaviorism si, intr-un fel, revenea la tradiţiile filosofice care puneau accent pe raţiune. Pe măsură ce se maturiza ca paradigmă, in psihologia cognitivă au apărut tot mai multe date care arătau că de fapt cogniţia nu poate fi separată de alte aspecte: studiile punctau influenţa contextului, a emoţiilor, a acţiunii sau a percepţiei asupra manifestării variatelor funcţii cognitive considerate de nivel superior (vezi studiile privind
LMW-E/CDK2 Deregulates Acinar Morphogenesis, Induces Tumorigenesis, and Associates with the Activated b-Raf-ERK1/2-mTOR Pathway in Breast Cancer Patients

Elastase-mediated cleavage of cyclin E generates low molecular weight cyclin E (LMW-E) isoforms exhibiting enhanced CDK2–associated kinase activity and resistance to inhibition by CDK inhibitors p21 and p27. Approximately 27% of breast cancers express high LMW-E protein levels, which significantly correlates with poor survival. The objective of this study was to identify the signaling pathway(s) deregulated by LMW-E expression in breast cancer patients and to identify pharmaceutical agents to effectively target this pathway. Ectopic LMW-E expression in nontumorigenic human mammary epithelial cells (hMECs) was sufficient to generate xenografts with greater tumorigenic potential than full-length cyclin E, and the tumorigenicity was augmented by in vivo passaging. However, cyclin E mutants unable to interact with CDK2 protected hMECs from tumor development. When hMECs were cultured on Matrigel, LMW-E mediated aberrant acinar morphogenesis, including enlargement of acinar structures and formation of multi-acinar complexes, as denoted by reduced BIM and elevated Ki67 expression. Similarly, inducible expression of LMW-E in transgenic mice generated hyper-proliferative terminal end buds resulting in enhanced mammary tumor development. Reverse-phase protein array assay of 276 breast tumor patient samples and cells cultured on monolayer and in three-dimensional Matrigel demonstrated that, in terms of protein expression profile, hMECs cultured in Matrigel more closely resembled patient tissues than did cells cultured on monolayer. Additionally, the b-Raf-ERK1/2-mTOR pathway was activated in LMW-E–expressing patient samples, and activation of this pathway was associated with poor disease-specific survival. Combination treatment using roscovitine (CDK inhibitor) plus either rapamycin (mTOR inhibitor) or sorafenib (a pan kinase inhibitor targeting b-Raf) effectively prevented aberrant acinar formation in LMW-E–expressing cells by inducing G1/S cell cycle arrest. LMW-E requires CDK2–associated kinase activity to induce mammary tumor formation by disrupting acinar development. The b-Raf-ERK1/2-mTOR signaling pathway is aberrantly activated in breast cancer and can be suppressed by combination treatment with roscovitine plus either rapamycin or sorafenib.
Cortesia verbal e ensino de língua: reflexões sobre competência comunicativa, jogo interpessoal e normatividade

A partir de uma perspectiva pragmatica, este capitulo busca refletir sobre a necessidade de se trabalhar a cortesia verbal no ensino de lingua portuguesa, em suas modalidades oral e escrita, observando como se instaura o jogo interpessoal em contextos sociais diversos. Torna-se evidente a necessidade de discussao dos fatores sociais implicados na expressao da cortesia, bem como da capacidade de expressar e interpretar as funcoes comunicativas e o conhecimento das normas. O trabalho examina a cortesia em interacoes orais e escritas (registro formal/semiformal), tendo como objeto de analise textos do seculo XX, a saber, entrevistas de televisao, entrevistas posteriormente impressas, bem como cartas pessoais (trocadas entre amigos ou familiares) e publicadas em coletâneas de estudos literarios. Tambem faz parte deste capitulo uma breve reflexao sobre o tratamento da oralidade e da escrita no ensino de lingua portuguesa, visando a sugerir aos professores de ensino fundamental e medio como trabalhar a cortesia verbal nas atividades cotidianas (conversas, entrevistas, cartas, bilhetes), contribuindo para que o aluno possa desempenhar seu papel social adequadamente por meio de variadas praticas discursivas.
Adolescents’ Character Role Models: Exploring Who Young People Look Up to as Examples of How to Be a Good Person

Research has explored young people’s role models in general, but little is known about role models whom youth look up to in relation to their character. The authors asked 220 adolescents (M age = 13.4, 45% White, 15% Hispanic, 11% Black) from Massachusetts and Connecticut to nominate a character role model, someone they knew personally and looked up to as an example of how to be a good person; 142 (64.5%) listed a character role model, with family members nominated most frequently, followed by friends and other adults (e.g., teachers). Youth cited how their character role model treated them as well as other people as reasons for selecting their character role models. Participants also rated the quality of the relationship, role-modeling behaviors, and socialization practices. There were similar positive characteristics associated with the three character role model types, but there were also differences (e.g., family character role models were rated most positively on relationship quality as well as role-modeling behaviors, whereas friend character role models rarely provided character socialization). Findings suggested that youth understand the relational nature of character and also point to the potentially powerful role of character role models in promoting character development.
Semantic image retrieval through human subject segmentation and characterization

Video databases can be searched for visual content by searching over automatically extracted key frames rather than the complete video sequence. Many video materials used in the humanities and social sciences contain a preponderance of shots of people. In this paper, we describe our work in semantic image retrieval of person-rich scenes (key frames) for video databases and libraries. We use an approach called retrieval through segmentation. A key-frame image is first segmented into human subjects and background. We developed a specialized segmentation technique that utilizes both human flesh-tone detection and contour analysis. Experimental results show that this technique can effectively segment images in a low time complexity. Once the image has been segmented, we can then extract features or pose queries about both the people and the background. We propose a retrieval framework that is based on the segmentation results and the extracted features of people and background.
Abnormal Recovery Phenomenon Induced by Hole Injection During Hot Carrier Degradation in SOI n-MOSFETs

This letter investigates an abnormal recovery phenomenon induced by hole injection during hot carrier degradation in silicon-on-insulator n-type metal–oxide–semiconductor transistors. The method by which the hole injection induces the abnormal recovery behavior can be clarified by different hot carrier degradation (HCD) measurement sequences. According to this HCD result, the channel surface energy band is drawn down and the interface defect will be temporarily shielded, an effect caused by the trapped hole. Furthermore, results of different stress voltage experiments indicate that the amount of hole injection is determined by the electric field between the gate and drain.