Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Delayed Nephrology Consultation and High Mortality on Acute Kidney Injury: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a complex syndrome associated with substantial morbidity, mortality and costs. Despite advancements in diagnosis and care practice, AKI remains a disorder usually under/late-recognized with high mortality. One of the hidden reasons for poor outcome might be delayed nephrology consultation, with the involvement of the specialist only in severe stages of AKI when renal replacement therapy (RRT) is required. Methods: We searched PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane central register for related work on the subject. Six studies were identified for the meta-analysis, correlating time of nephrology consultation and mortality in AKI. Results: We found that delayed nephrology consultation is associated with higher mortality in AKI, with an OR 0.79 (95% CI 0.48-1.10, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Delayed nephrology consultation contributes to higher mortality in AKI. The early involvement of nephrologist may present an advantage in terms of early recognition, prevention and effective treatment of AKI. An early involvement of multidisciplinary task force may contribute to better treatment, before the preventable complications of AKI occur or an emergency RRT is required.
[Low power laser in the treatment of the acute low back pain].

BACKGROUND/AIM Acute low back pain (ALBP) is one of the most frequent painful conditions in the human population. The objective of the paper was to compare the efficacy of the low power laser (LPL) in the pain and the muscular spasm reduction with conservative methods of physical medicine. METHOD The prospective cohort study was done. The study involved 70 patients, both men and women, from 25 to 64 years of age with the diagnosis of ALBP. Two groups were formed. There were 40 patients in the first group and they were treated with the LPL with frequency of 73 Hz. The second group was the control one and it consisted of 30 patients who were treated with conservative methods of physical medicine (electrotherapy: diadynamic currents CP +/- 3 and CP +/- 3, interferent currents--90 Hz for 15 min; electrophoresis with novocaine). The ALBP were diagnosed by clinical examination and by the nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI). The low power laser--Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) was used. The laser sonde consisted of 4 laser diodes, each powered of 15 mW, wavelength 904 nm and with frequency 73 Hz. The total period of time for each treatment was 10 minutes and the total dose per treatment was 15 J. The intensity of acute low back pain was assessed by Roland's scale. The degree of the spasm was assessed in the relaxed position and during movements. Results. The average score in the first group before the onset of rehabilitation was 3.3 +/- 1.1 (Me = 3.0), and in the control group was 3.43 +/- 0.89 (Me = 3.0). After five treatments in patients who were treated with LPL the average score in Roland's scale was decreased (1.12 +/- 1.3, Me = 2.0) and in the control group there were no changes. After 10 treatments with the LPL the analgesic effect was obtained in 82.5% of patients from the first group and in 20% of patients in the control group. The analgesic effect in patients of the first group was obtained after 7.5 +/- 2.1 treatments and in the second group after 17.9 +/- 3.2 treatments. The difference was statistically significant (t = 15.652173, p < 0.001). The spasm disappeared in 92.5% of patients in the first group and in 20% of patients in the control group after 7.02 +/- 2.2 and 17.9 +/- 3.2 treatments respectively. The difference was statistically significant (t = 15.652173, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION The pain and spasm reduction were obtained in the greater number of patients by usage of the LPL than by usage of conservative methods of physical medicine.
Specificity at the basic level in event taxonomies: The case of Maniq verbs of ingestion

Previous research on basic-level object categories shows there is cross-cultural variation in basic-level concepts, arguing against the idea that the basic level reflects an objective reality. In this paper, I extend the investigation to the domain of events. More specifically, I present a case study of verbs of ingestion in Maniq illustrating a highly specific categorization of ingestion events at the basic level. A detailed analysis of these verbs reveals they tap into culturally salient notions. Yet, cultural salience alone cannot explain specificity of basic-level verbs, since ingestion is a domain of universal human experience. Further analysis reveals, however, that another key factor is the language itself. Maniq’s preference for encoding specific meaning in basic-level verbs is not a peculiarity of one domain, but a recurrent characteristic of its verb lexicon, pointing to the significant role of the language system in the structure of event concepts.
School Culture Benchmarks

ABSTRACT A substantial body of research indicates that positive school culture benchmarks are integrally tied to the success of school reform and change in general. Additionally, an emerging body of research suggests a similar role for school culture in effective implementation of school violence prevention and intervention efforts. However, little research is available that specifically focuses on the elements of school culture that promote the successful implementation of bullying intervention programs aimed at reducing the most prevalent form of school violence. Therefore, this case study attempted to identify the school culture characteristics that supported or interfered with implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program from the viewpoint of school staff key informants in a junior high school in its second year of program implementation. Data were collected primarily from open-ended, semi-structured interviews along with informal observations and analysis of school documents. Themes emerging from the interviews were examined in relation to the findings from the observations and documents. School culture characteristics that supported implementation included a sense of family, warmth, collaboration, and connections among staff and between staff and students, combined with a central focus on learning as the primary mission of the school. Identified barriers to implementation included the local community served by the district that was slow to change and accept differences. Outcomes suggest that, beyond ensuring fidelity of implementing the core components of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, examining the characteristics of a school's culture that promote or impede implementation efforts might further ensure its success and integration.
Business Process Embedded Information Systems - For Flexibility and Adaptability

In this ever faster changing world, organisations are faced with the need to have flexible processes. This is only possible if these processes have full control over their supporting information systems, which we propose to embed into the business processes, in stead of a global, common enterprise information system. Therefore we are introducing a fifth stage in the architecture maturity model of Ross to implement these Embedded Information Systems.
Radiosensitization effect of poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase inhibition in cells exposed to low and high liner energy transfer radiation

Poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase (PARP)‐1 promotes base excision repair and DNA strand break repair. Inhibitors of PARP enhance the cytotoxic effects of γ‐irradiation and X‐irradiation. We investigated the impact of PARP inhibition on the responses to γ‐irradiation (low liner energy transfer [LET] radiation) and carbon‐ion irradiation (high LET radiation) in the human pancreatic cancer cell line MIA PaCa‐2. Cell survival was assessed by colony formation assay after combination treatment with the PARP inhibitor AZD2281 and single fraction γ‐irradiation and carbon‐ion irradiation (13 and 70 keV/μm [LET 13 and LET 70]). The DNA damage response (DDR) was assessed by pulse field gel electrophoresis, western blotting and flow cytometry. Treatment with a PARP inhibitor enhanced the cytotoxic effect of γ‐irradiation and LET 13 and LET 70 carbon‐ion irradiation. Moreover, the radiosensitization effect was greater for LET 70 than for LET 13 irradiation. Prolonged and increased levels of γ‐H2AX were observed both after γ‐irradiation and carbon‐ion irradiation in the presence of the PARP inhibitor. Enhanced level of phosphorylated‐p53 (Ser‐15) was observed after γ‐irradiation but not after carbon‐ion irradiation. PARP inhibitor treatment induced S phase arrest and enhanced subsequent G2/M arrest both after γ‐irradiation and carbon‐ion irradiation. These results suggest that the induction of S phase arrest through an enhanced DDR and a local delay in DNA double strand break processing by PARP inhibition caused sensitization to γ‐irradiation and carbon‐ion irradiation. Taken together, PARP inhibitors might be applicable to a wide therapeutic range of LET radiation through their effects on the DDR. (Cancer Sci 2012; 103: 1045–1050)
Catching Objects in Flight

We address the difficult problem of catching in-flight objects with uneven shapes. This requires the solution of three complex problems: accurate prediction of the trajectory of fastmoving objects, predicting the feasible catching configuration, and planning the arm motion, and all within milliseconds. We follow a programming-by-demonstration approach in order to learn, from throwing examples, models of the object dynamics and arm movement. We propose a new methodology to find a feasible catching configuration in a probabilistic manner. We use the dynamical systems approach to encode motion from several demonstrations. This enables a rapid and reactive adaptation of the arm motion in the presence of sensor uncertainty. We validate the approach in simulation with the iCub humanoid robot and in real-world experiments with the KUKA LWR 4+ (7-degree-of-freedom arm robot) to catch a hammer, a tennis racket, an empty bottle, a partially filled bottle, and a cardboard box.
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)–encoded small RNA is released from EBV-infected cells and activates signaling from toll-like receptor 3

Epstein-Barr virus–encoded small RNA (EBER) is nonpolyadenylated, noncoding RNA that forms stem-loop structure by intermolecular base-pairing, giving rise to double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)–like molecules, and exists abundantly in EBV-infected cells. Here, we report that EBER induces signaling from the Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3), which is a sensor of viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and induces type I IFN and proinflammatory cytokines. A substantial amount of EBER, which was sufficient to induce signaling from TLR3, was released from EBV-infected cells, and the majority of the released EBER existed as a complex with a cellular EBER-binding protein La, suggesting that EBER was released from the cells by active secretion of La. Sera from patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM), chronic active EBV infection (CAEBV), and EBV-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH), whose general symptoms are caused by proinflammatory cytokines contained EBER, and addition of RNA purified from the sera into culture medium induced signaling from TLR3 in EBV-transformed lymphocytes and peripheral mononuclear cells. Furthermore, DCs treated with EBER showed mature phenotype and antigen presentation capacity. These findings suggest that EBER, which is released from EBV-infected cells, is responsible for immune activation by EBV, inducing type I IFN and proinflammatory cytokines. EBER-induced activation of innate immunity would account for immunopathologic diseases caused by active EBV infection.
A gaze-contingent reading tutor program for children with developmental dyslexia

Children with developmental dyslexia show significant differences in their perception from control subjects and often are not able to mask text surrounding the words they currently read [Geiger and Lettvin 2000]. The ability to mask surrounding text (called lateral masking) is fundamental for proficient reading. Geiger and Lettvin presented a practical method that allows children with dylexia to learn a new visual strategy for reading. Their results showed major improvements in the reading proficiency.
Characterization of a Chinese Hamster Ovary Cell Line Developed by Retroviral Insertional Mutagenesis That Is Resistant to Sindbis Virus Infection

ABSTRACT The alphavirus Sindbis virus (SV) has a wide host range and infects many types of cultured cells in vitro. The outcome of infection is dependent on the strain of virus used for infection and the properties of the cells infected. To identify cellular determinants of susceptibility to SV infection we mutagenized Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells by retroviral insertion with a vector containing the neomycin resistance gene that allowed selection for integration into transcriptionally active genes. Cells were then selected for survival after infection with SV. The most resistant cell line (CHO-18.4m) exhibited delayed virus replication and virus-induced cell death, had a single retroviral insertion, and was defective in SV binding to the cell surface. Further analysis revealed that CHO-18.4m cells were deficient in the expression of the sulfated glycosaminoglycans heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate. This further confirms the importance of heparan sulfate as an attachment molecule for SV in vitro and demonstrates the usefulness of this technique for identifying cellular genes that are important for virus replication.
The Energy Cost of Control Packets in Hybrid MAC Protocols

This paper investigates the energy cost of control packets in contention-based medium access control protocols in wireless sensor networks. Control packets are useful to avoid collision and overhearing, but cost a significant amount of energy. Therefore, whether or not to apply control packets is a trade-off. It will be shown that this trade-off mainly depends on the packet arrival rate at individual nodes, the transmission rate, the duty cycle and the average number of active neighbors in the network.
JFCS: A Color Modeling Java Software Based on Fuzzy Color Spaces

This paper introduces JFCS (Java Fuzzy Color Space), an open source software for modeling colors on the basis of fuzzy color spaces, which is able to fill the semantic gap between the color representation in computers and the subjective human perception. Fuzzy colors allow introducing semantics in the description of color by using linguistic labels, taking into account the fuzzy boundaries between the representation of color terms. The methodology for building fuzzy color spaces implemented in JFCS was proposed by the authors in previous works, it is based on the paradigm of conceptual spaces including fuzzy boundaries and considering a collection of color names and corresponding crisp color representatives. In this sense, the necessary information for modeling fuzzy color spaces can be easily obtained from non-expert users, since the only information required is a representative crisp color for each linguistic color term to be modeled. The software is implemented in Java and it includes several graphical tools for building different types of spaces with different characteristics in an easy way. These are needed to be consistent with the different nature of the colors a user wants to model. Membership degrees of pixels in images to each fuzzy color in a certain fuzzy color space can be obtained. Tools for 3D visualization of fuzzy color spaces, as well as for describing colors and mapping pixels in images in term of linguistic labels, are also included in JFCS.
Lower and upper bounds of the power absorbed by lossy scatterers located in the near-field region of an antenna

To minimize or maximize the power absorbed in near-field regions remains a complicated problem, for which mostly numerical or experimental particular solutions have been proposed. The method proposed here (Derat et al. (2004)), provides a new answer to this question, by describing the power transfer from a source to a lossy scatterer with an equivalent junction excited by a set of generators. A new matrix formulation of this equivalent junction model is exposed and used to determine lower and upper bounds of dissipated power which is possible to reach with a well-designed source, in the case where both the source and scatterer are surrounded by an homogeneous lossless medium. Those bounds are shown to present a separate dependence on the source and scatterer. Moreover, the only antenna parameters impacting on those limits are the frequency of operation and the total radiated power.
A Subspace Method for the Detection of Transcription Factor Binding Sites

MOTIVATION The identification of the sites at which transcription factors (TFs) bind to Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is an important problem in molecular biology. Many computational methods have been developed for motif finding, most of them based on position-specific scoring matrices (PSSMs) which assume the independence of positions within a binding site. However, some experimental and computational studies demonstrate that interdependences within the positions exist. RESULTS In this article, we introduce a novel motif finding method which constructs a subspace based on the covariance of numerical DNA sequences. When a candidate sequence is projected into the modeled subspace, a threshold in the Q-residuals confidence allows us to predict whether this sequence is a binding site. Using the TRANSFAC and JASPAR databases, we compared our Q-residuals detector with existing PSSM methods. In most of the studied TF binding sites, the Q-residuals detector performs significantly better and faster than MATCH and MAST. As compared with Motifscan, a method which takes into account interdependences, the performance of the Q-residuals detector is better when the number of available sequences is small.
ConnotationWordNet: Learning Connotation over the Word+Sense Network

We introduce ConnotationWordNet, a connotation lexicon over the network of words in conjunction with senses. We formulate the lexicon induction problem as collective inference over pairwise-Markov Random Fields, and present a loopy belief propagation algorithm for inference. The key aspect of our method is that it is the first unified approach that assigns the polarity of both wordand sense-level connotations, exploiting the innate bipartite graph structure encoded in WordNet. We present comprehensive evaluation to demonstrate the quality and utility of the resulting lexicon in comparison to existing connotation and sentiment lexicons.
Molecular Structure of the GARP Family of Plant Myb-Related DNA Binding Motifs of the Arabidopsis Response Regulators Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.002733.

The B motif is a signature of type-B response regulators (ARRs) involved in His-to-Asp phosphorelay signal transduction systems in Arabidopsis. Homologous motifs occur widely in the GARP family of plant transcription factors. To gain general insight into the structure and function of B motifs (or GARP motifs), we characterized the B motif derived from a representative ARR, ARR10, which led to a number of intriguing findings. First, the B motif of ARR10 (named ARR10-B and extending from Thr-179 to Ser-242) possesses a nuclear localization signal, as indicated by the intracellular localization of a green fluorescent protein–ARR10-B fusion protein in onion epidermal cells. Second, the purified ARR10-B molecule binds specifically in vitro to DNA with the core sequence AGATT. This was demonstrated by several in vitro approaches, including PCR-assisted DNA binding site selection, gel retardation assays, and surface plasmon resonance analysis. Finally, the three-dimensional structure of ARR10-B in solution was determined by NMR spectroscopy, showing that it contains a helix-turn-helix structure. Furthermore, the mode of interaction between ARR10-B and the target DNA was assessed extensively by NMR spectroscopy. Together, these results lead us to propose that the mechanism of DNA recognition by ARR10-B is essentially the same as that of homeodomains. We conclude that the B motif is a multifunctional domain responsible for both nuclear localization and DNA binding and suggest that these insights could be applicable generally to the large GARP family of plant transcription factors.
Metabolic disorders and cardiovascular consequences of HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy

Metabolic disturbances associated with HIV disease have become an important factor in patient management and have important implications for long-term outcomes, both in regards to mortality and healthcare burden. Recent research has implicated both HIV infection itself and specific antiretroviral therapies in the development of these disorders. This review examines recent findings from research into insulin and glucose dysregulation, serum lipid abnormalities, adipose tissue and derangements in bone metabolism. This review then describes the cardiovascular consequences and management of these metabolic disorders, and summarizes current thinking on the pathogenesis and effects of antiretroviral therapy. Finally, the review raises some questions regarding ongoing challenges and unmet needs in this field of research.
Elevated interleukin-6 levels in patients with asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

BACKGROUND Elevated interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels are present in patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III and IV congestive heart failure (CHF) and are associated with a poor prognosis. We sought to determine whether elevated IL-6 levels are also present in patients with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction but without clinical symptoms. METHODS Blood samples were obtained from the femoral artery of 58 patients who underwent cardiac catheterization for recognized clinical indications. In a subgroup of 44 patients, samples were also obtained from the femoral vein, the left main coronary artery, and the coronary sinus. Patients with prior coronary artery bypass surgery, recent acute coronary syndrome, or steroid therapy were excluded. All samples were obtained before heparin or contrast administration. IL-6 was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and values are expressed in picograms per milliliter. RESULTS Three groups of patients were identified: controls, no CHF, LV ejection fraction >/=0.55 (n = 32); asymptomatic LV systolic dysfunction, no CHF, LV ejection fraction <0.55 (n = 14); and CHF, pulmonary edema (n = 12). IL-6 levels were higher at all sampling sites in both the asymptomatic LV systolic dysfunction and CHF groups compared with controls with the IL-6 levels inversely related to LV ejection fraction. CONCLUSIONS Elevated IL-6 levels are present in patients with LV dysfunction even in the absence of the clinical syndrome of CHF. These data suggest that IL-6 may be involved in the progression of subclinical LV dysfunction to clinical CHF. IL-6 may be a marker of patients at risk for progression to clinical CHF or a novel target for therapeutic intervention.