Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Depressive symptoms and their correlates in parents of children with autism spectrum disorders

This study aims to investigate the relationship between parental self-reported depression, parent personality, the severity of children’s autism spectrum disorders (ASD) symptoms and parenting stress. A case-control study including 361 autistic children and 345 typically developing children and their parents, respectively was conducted from 2009 to 2012 in Shanghai. Parents (n=722) of autistic outpatients in Shanghai Mental Health Center completed: One in-house questionnaire; Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC); Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS); Parenting Stress Index (PSI); Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). The mean SDS scores of fathers (t=5.837, P=0.000) and mothers (t=10.653, P=0.000) were higher in the case group than in controls. Parents of ASD children showed much more parenting stress and different personality profiles compared to control group parents (t=20.836, P=0.000). Relative analysis showed that parental emotional symptoms were significantly related to parental education level (father: r=-0.304, mother: r=-0.252), parenting stress (father: r=0.337, mother: r=.462), and parental personality traits like Neuroticism (father: r=0.387, mother: r=0.518) and Psychoticism (father: r=0.228, mother: r=0.301). In the subsequent stepwise multiple regression analysis, emotional stability (Neuroticism subscale of EPQ) was most significantly correlated to paternal depression (adjusted R2=0.153) and parenting burden (Parent domain of PSI) was most significantly correlated to maternal depression (adjusted R2=0.284). ASD symptom severity was not related to parental depression. Parental personality traits and parenting stress may be the most salient factors impacting parental depressive symptoms. Understanding how parental personality traits impact on parental emotional states may be an important consideration in the treatment of ASD.
Prognostic value of miR-21 in patients with breast cancer : a meta-analysis

More and more studies investigated the effects of miR-21 expression level on the prognostic role in breast cancer. However, the available results have been controversial. The objective of this study was to perform a metaanalysis and evaluate the association between miR-21 expression and survival outcomes of breast cancer patients. Relevant studies were identified by a comprehensive search from PubMed and EMBASE databases. The hazard ratio (HR) and its corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to assess the strength of relationships. A total of 14 studies involving 2,789 cases were included in this meta-analysis. We found that up-regulated miR-21 had an unfavorable impact on breast cancer patients’ survival, with pooled HR of 2.66 (95% CI 1.61-4.39, P<0.001) for overall survival (OS), 2.55 (95% CI 2.14-3.05, P=0.042) for disease-free survival (DFS) and 3.25 (95% CI 2.005.29, P<0.001) for relapse-free survival (RFS)/metastasis-free survival (MFS). Subgroup analysis suggested that high miR-21 expression was significantly correlated with lower OS in the Asian cohort (HR=4.05, 95% CI 2.04-8.04, P<0.001), but not in the Caucasian cohort (HR=1.86, 95% CI 0.92-3.75, P=0.082). Sensitivity analysis further validated the role of miR-21 as a predictor for prognosis. Our results demonstrate that miR-21 might have a critical prognostic value in patients with breast cancer.
Generation of a Zinc Finger Protein ZPR1 Mutant That Constitutively Interacted with Translation Elongation Factor 1α

Zinc finger protein ZPR1 (ZPR1) binds to eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1α (eEF1α) in response to growth stimuli, and is also involved in transcription and cell cycle regulation. In this study, we characterized the interaction of ZPR1 and eEF1α and generated a ZPR1 mutant that constitutively interacted with eEF1α. ZPR1-ΔA (Δ193–246) bound to eEF1α independently of Zn2+ in vivo. This study indicates that ZPR1-ΔA (Δ193–246) is a useful tool to provide structural insights into ZPR1 and to investigate the biological significance of the interaction between ZPR1 and eEF1α.
The Mobile Pass Project: A User Interaction Evaluation

The Mobile Pass project focused its efforts on developing a technologically advanced mobile equipment for land border crossing points. During the project execution, a mobile device supporting biometric recognition (face and fingerprint) and passport checking was designed and developed. To test this new equipment under an operational environment, a usability evaluation was carried out in the Sculeni border control (border of Romania with Moldavia), being the operators Romanian Policemen and the data subjects' real volunteer travelers. The equipment was used for 2 days under different conditions in real scenarios, and the usability evaluation carried out follows the ISO 9241-11:1998 standard. A total of 93 participants completed the new border checking and fulfilled a satisfaction survey at the end of the experiment. This paper describes the evaluation and reports some preliminary results on the user-Automatic Border Control system interaction and the final conclusions obtained at the end of the project, resulting in a valuable guide for designing user interaction in security areas.
Towards Aiding Decision-Making in Social Networks by Using Sentiment and Stress Combined Analysis

The present work is a study of the detection of negative emotional states that people have using social network sites (SNSs), and the effect that this negative state has on the repercussions of posted messages. We aim to discover in which grade a user having an affective state considered negative by an Analyzer can affect other users and generate bad repercussions. Those Analyzers that we propose are a Sentiment Analyzer, a Stress Analyzer and a novel combined Analyzer. We also want to discover what Analyzer is more suitable to predict a bad future situation, and in what context. We designed a Multi-Agent System (MAS) that uses different Analyzers to protect or advise users. This MAS uses the trained and tested Analyzers to predict future bad situations in social media, which could be triggered by the actions of a user that has an emotional state considered negative. We conducted an experimentation with different datasets of text messages from Twitter.com to examine the ability of the system to predict bad repercussions, by comparing the polarity, stress level or combined value classification of the messages that are replies to the ones of the messages that originated them.
Isolamento das Veias Pulmonares em Pacientes com Fibrilação Atrial Permanente Secundária a Valvopatia Mitral

337 Fibrilação atrial permanente é a arritmia de maior prevalência na população geral, ocorrendo, freqüentemente, em pacientes com doença valvar mitral . Técnicas cirúrgicas, como a desenvolvida por Cox e cols. chamada de cirurgia do labirinto, têm se mostrado efetivas no tratamento da fibrilação atrial, mesmo quando a arritmia é secundaria à valvopatia . O mecanismo fisiopatológico responsável pela fibrilação atrial associada à valvopatia mitral não é totalmente conhecido. Harada e cols. sugeriram que essa associação poderia ser desencadeada por descargas elétricas provenientes do átrio esquerdo. Em trabalho experimental anterior onde fibrilação atrial crônica foi induzida em cães, Morillo e cols. demonstraram que a crioablação restrita à parede posterior do átrio esquerdo era suficiente para eliminar a fibrilação atrial e impedir sua reindução. Baseados nesses conhecimentos, Sueda e cols. descreveram uma modificação da técnica da cirurgia do labirinto, em associação com correção valvar, com incisões cirúrgicas restritas à parte posterior do átrio esquerdo, isolando eletricamente as veias pulmonares e realizando crioablação no ístmo entre a veia cava inferior e a valva tricúspide. Com essa técnica, 86% dos pacientes tiveram alta hospitar em ritmo sinusal, sendo que 94% deles com contração atrial efetiva. Melo e cols. relataram sua experiência com a técnica de isolamento das veias pulmonares associada à correção de valvopatia mitral e dois terços da série de 34 pacientes ficaram livres da fibrilação atrial. Estudos recentes demonstraram zonas de gatilho, no interior das veias pulmonares, que se tornam responsáveis pelo início de fibrilação atrial paroxística. Esses fatos levaram ao desenvolvimento de diversas técnicas direcionadas ao átrio esquerdo, inclusive com ablação por cateter. Devido à limitação atual dos procedimentos por cateter e à complexidade das incisões necessárias para realização da cirurgia do labirinto, variações simplificadas desta cirurgia têm sido relatadas. Essas variações mostraram-se bem sucedidas. Entre essas abordagens estão o mini-Maze restrito ao átrio esquerdo ou até mesmo simplificações maiores com apenas o isolamento das veias pulmonares. O objetivo deste trabalho foi relatar a experiência do Instituto de Cardiologia Fundação Universitária de Cardiologia com uso do isolamento das veias pulmonares em pacientes com fibrilação atrial permanente, secundária à valvopatia mitral, submetidos à cirurgia para correção valvar. Artigo Original
Use of random process-based fractal measure for characterization nodules and suspicious regions in lung

Chest X-ray (CXR) data is a projection image where each pixel of it represents a volumetric integration. Consequently identification of nodules and their characteristics is a difficult task in such images. Using a novel application of random process-based fractal image processing technique we extract features for nodule characterization. The uniqueness of the proposed technique lies in the fact that instead of relying on apriori information from user as in other random process inspired measures, we translate the random walk process into a feature which is based on its realization values. The Normalized Fractional Brownian Motion (NFBM) Model is derived from the random walk process. Using neighborhood region information in an incremental manner we can characterize the smoothness or roughness of a surface. The NFBM system gives a measure of roughness of a surface which in our case is a suspicious region (probable nodule). A classification procedure uses this measure to categorize nodule and non-nodule structures in the lung. The NFBM feature set is integrated in a prototype CAD system for nodule detection in CXR. Our algorithm provided a sensitivity of 75.9% with 3.1 FP/image on an independent test set of 50 CXR studies.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN AUTOMATIC MEETING TRANSCRIPTION HuaYu,

In this paperwe report on new developmentsin the automatic meetingtranscriptiontask.Unlike othertypesof speech(suchas thosefound in BroadcastNews andSwitchboard),meetingsare uniquein their richer dynamicsof human-to-humaninteraction. An intuitive “fingernail” plot is proposedto visualizesuchturntakingbehavior. Wewill alsoshow how recognitionof shortturns canbe improved by building a languagemodel tailoredspecifically for short turns. Out-Of-Vocabulary (OOV) wordsbecome a moresalientproblemin themeetingtranscriptiontask,asthey aremostlytopicwordsandpropernames,lack of whichnotonly causesWord Error Rate(WER) increase,but also limits further useof recognitionhypotheses.We describea prototypesystem which usesthe Web asa sourcefor vocabulary expansion,and presentpreliminaryOOV retrieval results.
Expression patterns of E2F transcription factors and their potential prognostic roles in breast cancer

E2Fs, as a family of pivotal transcription factors, have been implicated in multiple biological functions in human cancer; however, the expression and prognostic significance of E2Fs in breast cancer remains unknown. In the present study, the mRNA expression patterns of E2Fs in breast cancer were investigated with Oncomine and The Cancer Genome Atlas data. Prognostic values of E2Fs for patients with breast cancer were determined using the Kaplan-Meier plotter database. The results strongly indicated that E2F1, E2F2, E2F3, E2F5, E2F7 and E2F8 were overexpressed in patients with breast cancer, whereas E2F4 and E2F6 exhibited no expression difference between patients with cancer and healthy controls. In survival analyses, elevated E2F1, E2F3, E2F5, E2F7 and E2F8 expression levels were significantly associated with lower overall survival, relapse-free survival (RFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) or post-progression survival for patients with breast cancer. Furthermore, high expression of E2F4 indicated improved RFS but reduced DMFS. Subgroup analyses based on four clinicopathological factors further revealed that E2Fs were associated with the prognosis of patients with breast cancer in an estrogen receptor-, progesterone receptor-, human epidermal growth factor 2- and lymph node status-specific manner. These data indicated that E2Fs may serve as promising biomarkers and therapeutic targets for breast cancer.
Glaucoma Improving Glaucoma Detection Using Spatially Correspondent Clusters of Damage and by Combining Standard Automated Perimetry and Optical Coherence Tomography

Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, New York, New York Department of Ophthalmology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York Topcon Advanced Biomedical Imaging Laboratory, Topcon Medical Systems, Oakland, New Jersey New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, New York, New York Department of Ophthalmology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York Department of Ophthalmology, Columbia University, New York, New York
A dynamic continental runoff routing model applied to the last Northern Hemisphere deglaciation

Abstract. We describe and evaluate a dynamical continental runoff routing model for the Northern Hemisphere that calculates the runoff pathways in response to topographic modifications due to changes in ice thickness and isostatic adjustment. The algorithm is based on the steepest gradient method and takes as simplifying assumption that depressions are filled at all times and water drains through the lowest outlet points. It also considers changes in water storage and lake drainage in post-processing mode that become important in the presence of large ice dammed proglacial lakes. Although applicable to other scenarios as well, the model was conceived to study the routing of freshwater fluxes during the last Northern Hemisphere deglaciation. For that specific application we simulated the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets with an existing 3-D thermomechanical ice sheet model, which calculates changes in topography due to changes in ice cover and isostatic adjustment, as well as the evolution of freshwater fluxes resulting from surface ablation, iceberg calving and basal melt. The continental runoff model takes this input, calculates the drainage pathways and routes the freshwater fluxes to the surface grid points of an existing ocean model. This results in a chronology of temporally and spatially varying freshwater fluxes from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present day. We analyse the dependence of the runoff routing to grid resolution and parameters of the isostatic adjustment module of the ice sheet model.
Glyoxal Does Not Preserve Cellular Proteins as Accurately as PFA: A Microscopical Survey of Epitopes

Chemical fixation is one of the most critical steps to retaining cellular targets as naturally as possible. Recent developments in microscopy allow sophisticated detection and measuring techniques with which spatio-temporal molecular alterations is conceivable. Here, we document the fixation competence of glyoxal (Gly), a less-toxic dialdehyde molecule, and paraformaldehyde (PFA) side-by-side (with or without Triton-X 100 permealization) in live- and fixed-cell preparations including human stem cells, spermatozoa, mouse oocytes/embryos using super-resolution microscopy. Although Gly seemed to act faster than PFA, catastrophic consequences were found not acceptable, especially in oocytes and embryos. Due to cell lysate and immunocytochemistry surveys, it was obvious that PFA is superior to Gly in retaining cellular proteins in situ with little/no background staining. In many samples, PFA revealed more reliable and consistent results regarding the protein quantity and cellular localization corresponding to previously defined patterns in the literature. Although the use of Gly is beneficial as indicated by previous reports, we concluded that it does not meet the requirement for proper fixation, at least for the tested cell types and proteins.
A novel near real-time quality-control procedure for radiometric profiles measured by Bio-Argo floats: protocols and performances

AbstractAn array of Bio-Argo floats equipped with radiometric sensors has been recently deployed in various open ocean areas representative of the diversity of trophic and bio-optical conditions prevailing in the so-called case 1 waters. Around solar noon and almost every day, each float acquires 0–250-m vertical profiles of photosynthetically available radiation and downward irradiance at three wavelengths (380, 412, and 490 nm). Up until now, more than 6500 profiles for each radiometric channel have been acquired. As these radiometric data are collected out of an operator’s control and regardless of meteorological conditions, specific and automatic data processing protocols have to be developed. This paper presents a data quality-control procedure aimed at verifying profile shapes and providing near-real-time data distribution. This procedure is specifically developed to 1) identify main issues of measurements (i.e., dark signal, atmospheric clouds, spikes, and wave-focusing occurrences) and 2) validate.
CTX-M-15 is Established in Most Multidrug-Resistant Uropathogenic Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonaceae from Hospitals in Nigeria

β-Lactam antibiotics are widely used to treat urinary tract infections in Nigeria. This study aimed to determine the presence and characteristics of extended spectrum β-lactamases in commonly isolated uropathogenic Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) in Nigeria. Fifty non-duplicate GNB isolates consisting of Escherichia coli, 19; Klebsiella pneumoniae, 21; and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 10 were obtained from three tertiary hospitals in Nigeria. The antibiotic susceptibility testing of all isolates to a panel of antibiotics including minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and extended spectrum β-lactamases was determined. Polymerase chain reactions and sequencing were used to detect β-lactam genes. Polymerase chain reactions and sequencing identified varying extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) encoding genes for 24 isolates (48.0%). Cefotaximase-Munich (CTX-M) 15 was the dominant gene with 20/24 of the isolates positive at 83.3%; multiple genes (2 to 6 ESBL genes) were found in 20 of the isolates. The isolates encoded other genes such as CTX-M-14, 33.3%; sulfhydryl variable (SHV) variants, 58.3%; oxacillinase (OXA) variants, 70.8%; OXA-10, 29.2%; and Vietnamese extended β-lactamase (VEB) 1, 25.0%. There was no difference between the MIC50 and MIC90 of all the isolates. The high-level multidrug resistance of uropathogens to third generation cephalosporins including other antibiotics used in this study is strongly associated with carriage of ESBLs, predominantly CTX-M-15, as well as CTX-X-M-14, OXA-10, and VEB-1.
Antagonistic activities of volatiles produced by two Bacillus strains against Monilinia fructicola in peach fruit.

BACKGROUND Brown rot caused by Monilinia fructicola is one of most serious diseases of postharvest peach fruit. The objective of this study was to select effective antagonistic bacteria against Monilinia fructicola and evaluate the effects of these strains against brown rot. RESULTS Four bacterial strains producing inhibitory volatile gas against Monilinia fructicola were isolated from the peach rhizosphere soil. The volatiles produced by 12a (Bacillus vallismortis) and 14b (Bacillus altitudinis) showed considerable antagonistic activities. Monilinia fructicola showed 80.3% and 68.4% mycelial growth inhibition and cell damage in the presence of strains 12a and 14b, respectively. The inhibition rate of brown rot in peach fruit fumigated with the culture solution of 12a or 14b reached 77.1% and 50.0%, respectively. The volatile compounds produced by 12a and 14b were identified according to gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis. Among them, 6-methyl-2-heptanone and 2-pentylfuran completely inhibited mycelial growth at 100 µL L-1 concentration. Cedrol showed strong inhibitory activity against mycelial growth at 100 µg L-1 and isodecyl methacrylate inhibited growth at high concentration. The inhibition rate of the 50 µL L-1 artificial mixture of these four volatiles was 59.3% in vitro. CONCLUSION These results indicate that the two antagonistic bacteria and some volatiles produced by them have potential value in controlling brown rot in harvested peach fruit. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.
The Gut as a Source of Inflammation in Chronic Kidney Disease

Chronic inflammation is a non-traditional risk factor for cardiovascular mortality in the chronic kidney disease (CKD) population. In recent years, the gastrointestinal tract has emerged as a major instigator of systemic inflammation in CKD. Postmortem studies previously discovered gut wall inflammation throughout the digestive tract in chronic dialysis patients. In CKD animals, colon wall inflammation is associated with breakdown of the epithelial tight junction barrier (‘leaky gut') and translocation of bacterial DNA and endotoxin into the bloodstream. Gut bacterial DNA and endotoxin have also been detected in the serum from CKD and dialysis patients, whereby endotoxin levels increase with the CKD stage and correlate with the severity of systemic inflammation in the dialysis population. The CKD diet that is low in plant fiber and symbiotic organisms (in adherence with low potassium, low phosphorus intake) can alter the normal gut microbiome, leading to overgrowth of bacteria that produce uremic toxins such as cresyl and indoxyl molecules. The translocation of these toxins from the ‘leaky gut' into the bloodstream further promotes systemic inflammation, adverse cardiovascular outcomes and CKD progression. Data are lacking on optimal fiber and yogurt consumption in CKD that would favor growth of a more symbiotic microbiome while avoiding potassium and phosphorus overload. Prebiotic and probiotic formulations have shown promise in small clinical trials, in terms of lowering serum levels of uremic toxins and improving quality of life. The evidence points to a strong relationship between intestinal inflammation and adverse outcomes in CKD, and more trials investigating gut-targeted therapeutics are needed.
Fluoroquinolone and macrolide resistance in Campylobacter jejuni isolated from broiler slaughterhouses in southern Brazil

ABSTRACT Campylobacter jejuni is recognized as a leading cause of acute bacterial gastroenteritis in humans. The over-use of antimicrobials in the human population and in animal husbandry has led to an increase in antimicrobial-resistant infections, particularly with fluoroquinolones and macrolides. The aim of the present study was to provide information of the current status of antimicrobial resistance patterns in Campylobacter jejuni from poultry sources. Fifty strains were recovered from broiler slaughterhouses in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, 2012. The strains were investigated for antimicrobial susceptibility against three agents (ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid and erythromycin) by minimal inhibitory concentrations. The strains were analysed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism for detection of the Thr-86 mutation that confers resistance to ciprofloxacin. In addition, all the strains were tested for the presence of efflux systems (cmeB gene) conferring antimicrobial resistance. The minimum inhibitory concentrations results showed that 98% of isolates were sensitive to erythromycin and most isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (94%) and nalidixic acid (90%). A complete correlation was observed between the minimum inhibitory concentrations and PCR-RFLP assay. Finally, the cmeB gene that is responsible for multidrug resistance was detected in 16 isolates out the 50 strains (32%).