Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anesthetic Management of Neonatal Emergency Abdominal Surgery

Anesthetic management of neonatal surgical emergencies presents serious difficulties and challenges for the anesthesiologist and is associated with increased risks of morbidity and mortality. Therefore, in these patients, anesthetic assessment should be directed to the patient's current disease and associated anomalies. The provision of safe anesthesia and perioperative management of these cases also depends on a clear understanding of the physiologic and hemodynamic variables of the preterm and term infants and a precise knowledge of the pathophysiology of disease states likely to affect the neonate. This chapter describes physiology and pathophysiology‐based view on the neonatal abdominal emergency surgeries. General principles of surgery and anesthetic management of specific neonatal emergencies that include congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), abdominal wall defects, necrotizing enterocolitis, and esophageal atresia are reviewed and discussed.
Prdm5 Regulates Collagen Gene Transcription by Association with RNA Polymerase II in Developing Bone

PRDM family members are transcriptional regulators involved in tissue specific differentiation. PRDM5 has been reported to predominantly repress transcription, but a characterization of its molecular functions in a relevant biological context is lacking. We demonstrate here that Prdm5 is highly expressed in developing bones; and, by genome-wide mapping of Prdm5 occupancy in pre-osteoblastic cells, we uncover a novel and unique role for Prdm5 in targeting all mouse collagen genes as well as several SLRP proteoglycan genes. In particular, we show that Prdm5 controls both Collagen I transcription and fibrillogenesis by binding inside the Col1a1 gene body and maintaining RNA polymerase II occupancy. In vivo, Prdm5 loss results in delayed ossification involving a pronounced impairment in the assembly of fibrillar collagens. Collectively, our results define a novel role for Prdm5 in sustaining the transcriptional program necessary to the proper assembly of osteoblastic extracellular matrix.
Modulation of Apoptosis by Adenosine in the Central Nervous System: a Possible Role for the A3 Receptor

A great body of evidence has been accumulating in the last 20 years supporting a role for adenosine as a neurotransmitter and neuromodulator in the central nervous system.1 In brain, adenosine acts as a potent depressant of excitatory neurotransmission and is colocalized (either as adenosine per se or as its precursor molecule, adenosine triphosphate (ATP)) with “classic” excitatory transmitters in many presynaptic terminals, whence it is released during physiological neurotransmission. It is now well established that the multiple effects of this nucleoside are mediated by activation of specific cell surface receptors, which, based on biochemical, pharmacological and molecular cloning studies, have been classified into four subtypes, denoted as A1, A2A, A2B and A3.2 All the adenosine receptors are members of the guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein)-coupled receptor family and possess seven transmembrane helical regions.3 The functional roles of some of the adenosine receptor subtypes (e.g., the A1 and A2A receptors) are relatively well established (see below), whereas the role(s) of the A2B and the recently cloned A3 receptors are still largely unknown.
Type 1 Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor and Its Potential Influence on Thrombolytic Therapy

Plasminogen activation provides an important source of localized proteolytic activity not only dur­ ing fibrinolysis, 1 but also during ovulation, cell migration, epithelial differentiation, tumor invasion, and a variety of other physiologic processes. 1-3 Pre­ cise regulation of plasminogen activator (PA) activity thus constitutes a critical feature of many biologic processes. This control may be effected at the level of the formation and resolution of fibrin, 1 through the synthesis and release of PAs 2 and their subsequent binding to cells or extracellular matrix, 4-6 or by the presence of specific PA inhibitors (PAIs). 3,7 These recently discovered PAIs have been detected in tis­ sues, cells, plasma
Dynamic data type refinement methodology for systematic performance-energy design exploration of network applications

Network applications are becoming increasingly popular in the embedded systems domain requiring high performance, which leads to high energy consumption. In networks is observed that due to their inherent dynamic nature the dynamic memory subsystem is a main contributor to the overall energy consumption and performance. This paper presents a new systematic methodology, generating performance-energy trade-offs by implementing dynamic data types (DDTs), targeting network applications. The proposed methodology consists of: (i) the application-level DDT exploration; (ii) the network-level DDT exploration; and (iii) the Pareto-level DDT exploration. The methodology, supported by an automated tool, offers the designer a set of optimal dynamic data type design solutions. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is tested on four representative real-life case studies. By applying the second step, it is proved that energy savings up to 80% and performance improvement up to 22% (compared to the original implementations of the benchmarks) can be achieved. Additional energy and performance gains can be achieved and a wide range of possible trade-offs among our Pareto-optimal design choices are obtained, by applying the third step. We achieved up to 93% reduction in energy consumption and up to 48% increase in performance
Autism spectrum disorders and childhood-onset schizophrenia: clinical and biological contributions to a relation revisited.

OBJECTIVE To highlight emerging evidence for clinical and biological links between autism/pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) and schizophrenia, with particular attention to childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS). METHOD Clinical, demographic, and brain developmental data from the National Institute of Mental Health (and other) COS studies and selected family, imaging, and genetic data from studies of autism, PDD, and schizophrenia were reviewed. RESULTS In the two large studies that have examined this systematically, COS is preceded by and comorbid with PDD in 30% to 50% of cases. Epidemiological and family studies find association between the disorders. Both disorders have evidence of accelerated trajectories of anatomic brain development at ages near disorder onset. A growing number of risk genes and/or rare small chromosomal variants (microdeletions or duplications) are shared by schizophrenia and autism. CONCLUSIONS Biological risk does not closely follow DSM phenotypes, and core neurobiological processes are likely common for subsets of these two heterogeneous clinical groups. Long-term prospective follow-up of autistic populations and greater diagnostic distinction between schizophrenia spectrum and autism spectrum disorders in adult relatives are needed.
Prospective longitudinal voxel-based morphometry study of major depressive disorder in young individuals at high familial risk

Background Previous neuroimaging studies indicate abnormalities in cortico-limbic circuitry in mood disorder. Here we employ prospective longitudinal voxel-based morphometry to examine the trajectory of these abnormalities during early stages of illness development. Method Unaffected individuals (16–25 years) at high and low familial risk of mood disorder underwent structural brain imaging on two occasions 2 years apart. Further clinical assessment was conducted 2 years after the second scan (time 3). Clinical outcome data at time 3 was used to categorize individuals: (i) healthy controls (‘low risk’, n = 48); (ii) high-risk individuals who remained well (HR well, n = 53); and (iii) high-risk individuals who developed a major depressive disorder (HR MDD, n = 30). Groups were compared using longitudinal voxel-based morphometry. We also examined whether progress to illness was associated with changes in other potential risk markers (personality traits, symptoms scores and baseline measures of childhood trauma), and whether any changes in brain structure could be indexed using these measures. Results Significant decreases in right amygdala grey matter were found in HR MDD v. controls (p = 0.001) and v. HR well (p = 0.005). This structural change was not related to measures of childhood trauma, symptom severity or measures of sub-diagnostic anxiety, neuroticism or extraversion, although cross-sectionally these measures significantly differentiated the groups at baseline. Conclusions These longitudinal findings implicate structural amygdala changes in the neurobiology of mood disorder. They also provide a potential biomarker for risk stratification capturing additional information beyond clinically ascertained measures.
The Role of PIEZO2 in Human Mechanosensation.

BACKGROUND The senses of touch and proprioception evoke a range of perceptions and rely on the ability to detect and transduce mechanical force. The molecular and neural mechanisms underlying these sensory functions remain poorly defined. The stretch-gated ion channel PIEZO2 has been shown to be essential for aspects of mechanosensation in model organisms. METHODS We performed whole-exome sequencing analysis in two patients who had unique neuromuscular and skeletal symptoms, including progressive scoliosis, that did not conform to standard diagnostic classification. In vitro and messenger RNA assays, functional brain imaging, and psychophysical and kinematic tests were used to establish the effect of the genetic variants on protein function and somatosensation. RESULTS Each patient carried compound-inactivating variants in PIEZO2, and each had a selective loss of discriminative touch perception but nevertheless responded to specific types of gentle mechanical stimulation on hairy skin. The patients had profoundly decreased proprioception leading to ataxia and dysmetria that were markedly worse in the absence of visual cues. However, they had the ability to perform a range of tasks, such as walking, talking, and writing, that are considered to rely heavily on proprioception. CONCLUSIONS Our results show that PIEZO2 is a determinant of mechanosensation in humans. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Program.).
The dorsomedial visual area of owl monkeys: Connections, myeloarchitecture, and homologies in other primates

Cortical connections of the dorsomedial visual area (DM) of owl monkeys were revealed with injections of the bidirectional tracer, wheatgerm agglutinin conjugated with horseradish peroxidase (WGA‐HRP), or the retrograde fluorescent tracer, diamidino yellow. Microelectrode recordings in two cases identified DM as a systematic representation of the visual hemifield in a densely myelinated rectangle of cortex just rostral to the dorsomedial portion of the second visual area (V–II, or area 18). Cortex was flattened and cut parallel to the surface in all cases so that the myeloarchitectonic borders of DM and other areas such as the primary visual area (V‐I or area 17), V‐II or area 18, and the middle temporal visual area (MT) could be readily determined, and the surface view patterns of connections could be directly appreciated. The ipsilateral pattern of connections of DM were dense and visuotopically congruent with area 17, area 18, and MT, and moderate to dense connections were with the medial visual area (M), the rostral division of the dorsolateral visual area, the dorsointermediate area, the ventral posterior area, the caudal division of inferotemporal cortex (ITc), the ventral posterior parietal area, and visuomotor cortex of the frontal lobe. The connections of DM were concentrated in the cytochrome oxidase (CO)‐dense blobs of area 17, the CO‐dense bands of area 18, and the CO‐dense regions of MT. Callosal connections of DM were with matched locations in DM in the opposite hemisphere, and with VPP.
Coping with the cost burdens of illness: Combining qualitative and quantitative methods in longitudinal, household research

Over the last 10—15 years, poor African households have had to cope with the burden of increased levels of chronic illness such as HIV/AIDS. How do these households cope with the cost burdens of ill health and healthcare, and has this burden further impoverished them? What policy responses might better support these households? This is a report from the field of the South African Costs and Coping study (SACOCO) — a longitudinal investigation of household experiences in the Agincourt health and demographic surveillance site.
TLR‐mediated signaling pathways circumvent the requirement for DAP12 in mast cells for the induction of inflammatory mediator release

TLR, expressed on the surface of mast cells, respond to a variety of bacterial and viral components to induce and enhance high‐affinity IgE receptor‐mediated cytokine production. Recent reports have indicated that specific TLR‐dependent responses in macrophages and dendritic cells are regulated by the ITAM‐containing molecule, DAP12. When phosphorylated, DAP12 recruits Syk, which is a critical molecule for mast cell activation. We therefore examined whether DAP12 similarly regulates TLR‐mediated responses in mast cells. DAP12 was confirmed to be expressed in both human and mouse mast cells and, upon phosphorylation, to recruit Syk. However, although TLR agonists induced cytokine production, and synergistically enhanced high‐affinity IgE receptor‐mediated cytokine production, surprisingly, they failed to increase DAP12 phosphorylation in mouse bone marrow‐derived mast cells (BMMC). Furthermore, normal TLR‐mediated responses were observed in DAP12−/− BMMC. However, DAP12 phosphorylation and subsequent Syk recruitment were observed in BMMC following Con A‐induced aggregation of mannose‐glycosylated receptors, and these responses, together with Con A‐induced degranulation, were substantially reduced in the DAP12−/− BMMC. These data demonstrate that TLR have differential requirements for DAP12 for their function in different cell types and that the inability of TLR to influence mast cell degranulation may be linked to their inability to utilize DAP12 to recruit Syk.
Bioavailability of Particle-Associated Se to the Bivalve Potamocorbula amurensis

Elemental selenium, Se(0), is a prevalent chemical form in sediments, but little is known about its bioavailability. We evaluated the bioavailability of two forms of Se(0) by generating radioisotopic 75Se(0) through bacterial dissimilatory reduction of 75SeO32- by pure bacterial cultures (SES) and by an anaerobic sediment microbial consortium (SED). A third form was generated by reducing 75SeO32- with ascorbic acid (AA). Speciation determinations showed that AA and SES were >90% Se(0), but SED showed a mixture of Se(0), selenoanions, and a residual fraction. Pulse-chase techniques were used to measure assimilation efficiencies (AE) of these particulate Se forms by the bivalve Potamocorbula amurensis. Mean AE values were 3 ± 2% for AA, 7 ± 1% for SES, and 28 ± 15% for SED, showing that the bioavailability of reduced, particle-associated Se is dependent upon its origin. To determine if oxidative microbial processes increased Se transfer, SES 75Se(0) was incubated with an aerobic sediment microbial consortiu.
Performing Data Replication and Virtual Machine Migrations to Mitigate Network Overhead between Traditional Cloud and Mobile Cloud Systems

Several virtual machine (VM) placement algorithms have been proposed and studied in the literature with various scopes such as server consolidation or network cost minimization. In most cases, decisions on VM migrations are taken without factoring in directly the data access cost by VMs. In this paper, we investigate the use of data replication in conjunction with the VM assignment problem and target on developing algorithms that decide both on which data should be replicated where and which VM must be migrated so as to minimize the network overhead among traditional cloud and mobile cloud systems. We discuss both the un-capacitated case and the more realistic case whereby datacenters (for the traditional cloud case) and micro-datacenters (for the mobile cloud case) have limited storage and computing capacity. We propose an algorithm based on hyper-graph partitioning to solve the aforementioned problem in an optimal way regarding the unconstrained case and extend it to capture storage and computing capacity constraints. Experimental evaluation shows that the proposed algorithm yields up to 50% network overhead reduction when compared to state-of-the-art algorithms found in the literature.
Preserved muscle oxidative metabolic phenotype in newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer cachexia

Cachexia augments cancer‐related mortality and has devastating effects on quality of life. Pre‐clinical studies indicate that systemic inflammation‐induced loss of muscle oxidative phenotype (OXPHEN) stimulates cancer‐induced muscle wasting. The aim of the current proof of concept study is to validate the presence of muscle OXPHEN loss in newly diagnosed patients with lung cancer, especially in those with cachexia.
A Framework to Model Human Behavior at Large Scale during Natural Disasters

Natural disasters affect millions of people every year. Understanding human behavior is critical to improve both emergency planning and prevention. However, emergency responders typically struggle to gain access to timely, fine-grained models of human behavior during disasters. In this paper, we propose a novel framework to analyze behavioral changes during disasters using Call Detail Records (CDRs) from a telecommunications company. CDR datasets are collections of spatio-temporal traces that can characterize individual mobility and social network behaviors at very fine scales. The proposed framework exploits the granular behavioral models to evaluate the similarities and differences between the pre and post-disaster patterns. The framework consists of three steps: data pre-processing, behavioral baseline modeling and disaster analytics. The data pre-processing step uses data mining techniques to extract individual mobility traces and individual social network features from the CDR data. The behavioral baseline modeling step computes the baseline models that characterize normal mobility and social network behaviors in non-disaster scenarios. This step uses n-th order Markov Chain models to approximate mobility patterns from the CDR spatio-temporal data. Finally, the disaster analytics step allows for the statistical analysis of behavioral changes during disasters by comparing the real behaviors observed during a disaster with the behaviors that would have been expected under normal circumstances (extracted using the baseline models). We use the framework to analyze Rwanda's 2012 floods and show that disasters tend to disrupt both mobility patterns and communication behaviors while recovery times can take several weeks.
Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in South Korea: risk factors and treatment outcomes among patients at a tertiary referral hospital.

BACKGROUND Extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health threat in South Korea. METHODS We analyzed baseline epidemiological data for 250 patients enrolled in an ongoing prospective observational study of TB at a large tertiary referral hospital in South Korea. RESULTS Twenty-six subjects with XDR TB were identified; all were patients who had previously received TB therapy. Cumulative previous treatment duration (range, 18-34 months; odds ratio [OR], 5.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0-59), number of previously received second-line anti-TB drugs (OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.5), and female sex (OR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.1-8.3) were significantly associated with XDR TB in crude analyses. After controlling for other factors in a multivariable model, cumulative previous treatment duration remained significantly associated with XDR TB (OR, 5.8; 95% CI, 1.0-61). Subjects with XDR TB were more likely to produce culture-positive sputum at 6 months, compared with patients with non-multidrug resistant TB (risk ratio, 13; 95% CI, 5.1-53). Kanamycin resistance was found to be predictive of 6-month culture positivity after adjustment for ofloxacin and streptomycin resistance (risk ratio, 3.9; 95% CI, 1.9-11). CONCLUSIONS XDR TB was found to be associated with the cumulative duration of previous treatment with second-line TB drugs among subjects in a tertiary care TB hospital. Patients with XDR TB were more likely to not respond to therapy, and successful conversion of sputum culture results to negative was correlated with initial susceptibility to both fluoroquinolones and kanamycin but not to streptomycin.
Seroepidemiology of Helicobacter pylori infection and hepatitis A in a rural area: evidence against a common mode of transmission

Background and aims—Recent studies have shown that the age-specific seroprevalence of H pylori infection parallels hepatitis A (HAV), suggesting similar modes of transmission. The aim of this study was to investigate the seroepidemiology ofH pylori and HAV in the same setting. Patients—A sample of 705 resident subjects (273 men, age range 1–87 years, median 50) who attended the outpatient medical centre of the rural town of Cirò, Southern Italy (11 000 inhabitants) for blood testing were recruited. Methods—All subjects completed a structured questionnaire. A serum sample was drawn from each subject and assayed for H pylori IgG by a validated in house enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Antibodies to HAV were determined in 466 subjects (163 men, age range 1–87 years, median 49). A measure of agreement between H pylori and HAV seropositivity, the κ statistic, was used. Results—Overall, 446 (63%) subjects were seropositive for H pylori. Of the 466 subjects screened for both H pylori and HAV, 291 (62%) were seropositive for H pylori and 407 (87%) for HAV. Cross-tabulation of these data showed that 275 (59%) were seropositive and 43 (9%) seronegative for both H pylori and HAV, 16 (3%) were seropositive for H pylori, and 132 (28%) were seropositive for HAV (OR = 5.6, CI 3 to 10). There was a parallel, weakly correlated (r = 0.287) rise in the seroprevalence of the two infections with increasing age. However, the agreement between H pylori and HAV seropositivity was little better than chance (κ = 0.21) and in those aged less than 20 years it was worse than chance (κ = –0.064). Furthermore, multiple logistic regression analysis did not show any risk factor shared by both infections. Conclusions—The correlation between H pylori and HAV reflects the age-specific seroprevalence of both infections rather than a true association. This study provides evidence against a common mode of transmission of H pylori and HAV.
Rapamycin slows aging in mice

Rapamycin increases lifespan in mice, but whether this represents merely inhibition of lethal neoplastic diseases, or an overall slowing in multiple aspects of aging is currently unclear. We report here that many forms of age‐dependent change, including alterations in heart, liver, adrenal glands, endometrium, and tendon, as well as age‐dependent decline in spontaneous activity, occur more slowly in rapamycin‐treated mice, suggesting strongly that rapamycin retards multiple aspects of aging in mice, in addition to any beneficial effects it may have on neoplastic disease. We also note, however, that mice treated with rapamycin starting at 9 months of age have significantly higher incidence of testicular degeneration and cataracts; harmful effects of this kind will guide further studies on timing, dosage, and tissue‐specific actions of rapamycin relevant to the development of clinically useful inhibitors of TOR action.