Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
School Absenteeism Among Children Living With Smokers

OBJECTIVE: Involuntary tobacco smoke exposure causes substantial morbidity in children. We hypothesized that children exposed to tobacco smoke in the home would have increased school absenteeism with associated costs due to lost caregiver wages/time. METHODS: We analyzed data on health and absenteeism among schoolchildren aged 6 to 11 years identified in the 2005 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). We used multivariate models to assess the relationships between adult-reported household smoking and child health and school absenteeism. Analyses were adjusted for children's and parents' demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. The value of lost caregiver time was estimated by using self-reported employment and earnings data in the NHIS and publicly available time-use data. RESULTS: Children living with 1 or ≥2 adults who smoked in the home had 1.06 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.54–1.55) and 1.54 (95% CI: 0.95–2.12) more days absent from school per year, respectively, than children living with 0 smokers in the home. Living with ≥2 adults who smoked in the home was associated with increased reports of having ≥3 ear infections in the previous 12 months (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 2.65 [95% CI: 1.36–5.16]) and having a chest cold in the 2 weeks before interview (aOR: 1.77 [95% CI: 1.03–3.03]) but not with having vomiting/diarrhea in the previous 2 weeks (aOR: 0.93 [95% CI: 0.45–1.89]). Caregivers' time tending children absent from school was valued at $227 million per year. CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco smoke exposure has significant consequences for children and families above and beyond child morbidity, including academic disadvantage and financial burden.
Fine‐needle aspiration of follicular patterned lesions of the thyroid: Diagnosis, management, and follow‐up according to National Cancer Institute (NCI) recommendations

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) State of the Science Conference on thyroid fine‐needle aspiration (FNA) proposed that follicular patterned lesions can be divided into two diagnostic categories; follicular lesion of undetermined significance/Atypia of undetermined significance (FLUS/AUS) and suspicious for follicular neoplasm/follicular neoplasm (SFON/FON). The former group can benefit from repeat FNA (RFNA) to achieve a more definitive diagnosis and the latter should undergo surgical excision for histologic characterization (adenoma vs. carcinoma). In this study, we report the combined experience from our institutions with thyroid FNA cases that can be placed into NCI‐designated thyroid FNA diagnostic categories for follicular patterned lesions.
Nitric Oxide as Key Mediator of Neuron-to-Neuron and Endothelia-to-Glia Communication Involved in the Neuroendocrine Control of Reproduction

Nitric oxide (NO) is a peculiar chemical transmitter that freely diffuses through aqueous and lipid environments and plays a role in major aspects of brain function. Within the hypothalamus, NO exerts critical effects upon the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) network to maintain fertility. Here, we review recent evidence that NO regulates major aspects of the GnRH neuron physiology. Far more active than once thought, NO powerfully controls GnRH neuronal activity, GnRH release and structural plasticity at the neurohemal junction. In the preoptic region, neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) activity is tightly regulated by estrogens and is found to be maximal at the proestrus stage. Natural fluctuations of estrogens control both the differential coupling of this Ca2+-activated enzyme to glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor channels and phosphorylation-mediated nNOS activation. Furthermore, NO endogenously produced by neurons expressing nNOS acutely and directly suppresses spontaneous firing in GnRH neurons, which suggests that neuronal NO may serve as a synchronizing switch within the preoptic region. At the median eminence, NO is spontaneously released from an endothelial source and follows a pulsatile and cyclic pattern of secretion. Importantly, GnRH release appears to be causally related to endothelial NO release. NO is also highly involved in mediating the dialogue set in motion between vascular endothelial cells and tanycytes that control the direct access of GnRH neurons to the pituitary portal blood during the estrous cycle. Altogether, these data raise the intriguing possibility that the neuroendocrine brain uses NO to coordinate both GnRH neuronal activity and GnRH release at key stages of reproductive physiology.
Entering the ‘big data’ era in medicinal chemistry: molecular promiscuity analysis revisited

The ‘big data’ concept plays an increasingly important role in many scientific fields. Big data involves more than unprecedentedly large volumes of data that become available. Different criteria characterizing big data must be carefully considered in computational data mining, as we discuss herein focusing on medicinal chemistry. This is a scientific discipline where big data is beginning to emerge and provide new opportunities. For example, the ability of many drugs to specifically interact with multiple targets, termed promiscuity, forms the molecular basis of polypharmacology, a hot topic in drug discovery. Compound promiscuity analysis is an area that is much influenced by big data phenomena. Different results are obtained depending on chosen data selection and confidence criteria, as we also demonstrate.
Reconstitution of Acid Secretion in Digitonin-permeabilized Rabbit Gastric Glands

When isolated rabbit gastric glands were permeabilized with digitonin, they lost their ability to secrete acid, as monitored by [14C]aminopyrine accumulation, and they never recovered by supplement with cytosol prepared from gastric mucosa. However, the permeabilized glands elicited acid secretion when brain cytosol was supplemented. Fractionation of gastric cytosol by gel filtration revealed that the fraction at 30 kDa stimulated permeabilized glands by itself, whereas the 200-kDa fraction potently inhibited brain cytosol-stimulated acid secretion. Brain cytosol contained only the former stimulatory factor. With further gel filtration, the 30-kDa activator was separated into two components, 20 kDa (peak 1) and 1.8 kDa (peak 2), both of which are necessary for full activity. We purified peak 1 from bovine brain, and phosphatidylinositol transfer protein (PITP) was identified as the main component of the activity. The stimulating activity in brain and gastric mucosa correlated with the contents of PITP, and recombinant PITP mimicked the effect of peak 1, suggesting that PITP is one of the essential components in gastric acid secretion. When gastric glands were stimulated, the inhibitory activity, but not stimulatory activity, in the cytosol was increased. This suggests a regulatory mechanism such as stimulation translocates the inhibitory component from the secretory site on the membrane to cytosol. These results demonstrate a high degree of usefulness for our present model, the reconstituted digitonin-permeabilized gastric glands.
Healthcare Blockchain leads To Transform Healthcare Industry

Blockchain can nail the Healthcare domain. Using the concepts and features of the Distributed ledger, Healthcare industry can be transformed. Blockchain can change the future of Healthcare Industry. Healthcare records, Lab assessment results, doctor’s perceptions and Minute details of the healthcare industry in the form of transactions can be stored in a decentralized way in the form of blocks and these blocks can further be linked as per series of event in the form of blockchain in distributed ledgers. Highly complex process and manually intervention can be eliminated. Highly transparent and secure systems can be built on top of blockchain technology by introducing identity manager.
Audiovisual alignment in child-directed speech facilitates word learning

Adult-to-child interactions are often characterized by prosodically-exaggerated speech accompanied by visually captivating co-speech gestures. In a series of adult studies, we have shown that these gestures are linked in a sophisticated manner to the prosodic structure of adults' utterances. In the current study, we use the Preferential Looking Paradigm to demonstrate that two-year-olds can use the alignment of these gestures to speech to deduce the meaning of words. Index Terms: speech perception, audiovisual alignment, word learning
A mathematical model of salt‐sensitive hypertension: the neurogenic hypothesis

Salt sensitivity of arterial pressure (salt‐sensitive hypertension) is a serious global health issue. The causes of salt‐sensitive hypertension are extremely complex and mathematical models can elucidate potential mechanisms that are experimentally inaccessible. Until recently, the only mathematical model for long‐term control of arterial pressure was the model of Guyton and Coleman; referred to as the G‐C model. The core of this model is the assumption that sodium excretion is driven by renal perfusion pressure, the so‐called ‘renal function curve’. Thus, the G‐C model dictates that all forms of hypertension are due to a primary shift of the renal function curve to a higher operating pressure. However, several recent experimental studies in a model of hypertension produced by the combination of a high salt intake and administration of angiotensin II, the AngII–salt model, are inconsistent with the G‐C model. We developed a new mathematical model that does not limit the cause of salt‐sensitive hypertension solely to primary renal dysfunction. The model is the first known mathematical counterexample to the assumption that all salt‐sensitive forms of hypertension require a primary shift of renal function: we show that in at least one salt‐sensitive form of hypertension the requirement is not necessary. We will refer to this computational model as the ‘neurogenic model’. In this Symposium Review we discuss how, despite fundamental differences between the G‐C model and the neurogenic model regarding mechanisms regulating sodium excretion and vascular resistance, they generate similar haemodynamic profiles of AngII–salt hypertension. In addition, the steady‐state relationships between arterial pressure and sodium excretion, a correlation that is often erroneously presented as the ‘renal function curve’, are also similar in both models. Our findings suggest that salt‐sensitive hypertension is not due solely to renal dysfunction, as predicted by the G‐C model, but may also result from neurogenic dysfunction.
The lipoprotein-associated coagulation inhibitor that inhibits the factor VII-tissue factor complex also inhibits factor Xa: insight into its possible mechanism of action.

Blood coagulation is initiated when plasma factor VII(a) binds to its essential cofactor tissue factor (TF) and proteolytically activates factors X and IX. Progressive inhibition of TF activity occurs upon its addition to plasma. This process is reversible and requires the presence of VII(a), catalytically active Xa, Ca2+, and another component that appears to be associated with the lipoproteins in plasma, a lipoprotein-associated coagulation inhibitor (LACI). A protein, LACI(HG2), possessing the same inhibitory properties as LACI, has recently been isolated from the conditioned media of cultured human liver cells (HepG2). Rabbit antisera raised against a synthetic peptide based on the N-terminal sequence of LACI(HG2) and purified IgG from a rabbit immunized with intact LACI(HG2) inhibit the LACI activity in human serum. In a reaction mixture containing VIIa, Xa, Ca2+, and purified LACI(HG2), the apparent half-life (t1/2) for TF activity was 20 seconds. The presence of heparin accelerated the initial rate of inhibition threefold. Antithrombin III alpha alone had no effect, but antithrombin III alpha with heparin abrogated the TF inhibition. LACI(HG2) also inhibited Xa with an apparent t1/2 of 50 seconds. Heparin enhanced the rate of Xa inhibition 2.5-fold, whereas phospholipids and Ca2+ slowed the reaction 2.5-fold. Xa inhibition was demonstrable with both chromogenic substrate (S-2222) and bioassays, but no complex between Xa and LACI(HG2) could be visualized by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Nondenaturing PAGE, however, showed that LACI(HG2) bound to Xa but not to X or Xa inactivated by diisopropyl fluorophosphate. Thus, LACI(HG2) appears to bind to Xa at or near its active site. Bovine factor Xa lacking its gamma-carboxyglutamic acid-containing domain, BXa(-GD), through treatment with alpha-chymotrypsin, was used to further investigate the Xa requirement for VIIa/TF inhibition by LACI(HG2). LACI(HG2) bound to BXa(-GD) and inhibited its catalytic activity against a small molecular substrate (Spectrozyme Xa), though at a rate approximately sevenfold slower than native BXa. Preincubation of LACI(HG2) with saturating concentrations of BXa(-GD) markedly retarded the subsequent inhibition of BXa. The VII(a)/TF complex was not inhibited by LACI(HG2) in the presence of BXa(-GD), and further, preincubation of LACI(HG2) with BXa(-GD) slowed the inhibition of VIIa/TF after the addition of native Xa. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that inhibition of VII(a)/TF involves the formation of a VIIa-TF-XA-LACI complex that requires the GD of XA. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Enhancing diversity in Top-N recommendation

In recent years it has been argued that, besides the standard accuracy metrics, other characteristics of the recommendation algorithm ought to be taken into account when evaluating recommendation performance. One such characteristic is recommendation diversity and this topic is the focus of this research project. The overall goal of the project is to examine ways to improve the diversity of recommendations while maintaining high accuracy. During the course of my work to date I have addressed the question of how best to evaluate diversification strategies and have proposed a number of new diversity enhancement algorithms.
Identifying residue–residue clashes in protein hybrids by using a second-order mean-field approach

In this article, a second-order mean-field-based approach is introduced for characterizing the complete set of residue–residue couplings consistent with a given protein structure. This information is subsequently used to classify protein hybrids with respect to their potential to be functional based on the presence/absence and severity of clashing residue–residue interactions. First, atomistic representations of both the native and denatured states are used to calculate rotamer–backbone, rotamer–intrinsic, and rotamer–rotamer conformational energies. Next, this complete conformational energy table is coupled with a second-order mean-field description to elucidate the probabilities of all possible rotamer–rotamer combinations in a minimum Helmholtz free-energy ensemble. Computational results for the dihydrofolate reductase family reveal correlation in substitution patterns between not only contacting but also distal second-order structural elements. Residue–residue clashes in hybrid proteins are quantified by contrasting the ensemble probabilities of protein hybrids against the ones of the original parental sequences. Good agreement with experimental data is demonstrated by superimposing these clashes against the functional crossover profiles of bidirectional incremental truncation libraries for Escherichia coli and human glycinamide ribonucleotide transformylases.
A Problem of Prosodic Transfer in the Perception of German Learners of Japanese and Japanese Learners of German

This study investigates F0, intensity and duration as acoustic parameters for the perception changing their relative weight, according to the perceptual development. Four groups – native Japanese who have studied German for one year at the Department of German, native Germans who don’t understand Japanese, Japanese students who had lived in Germany for more than one year, and German students who had lived in Japan for about one year – were given a perception test of manipulated 2-syllable words. The results indicate the following: 1) Japanese students employ F0 as a perception cue. 2) German students employ all of the acoustic parameters as perception cues: F0, intensity and duration. 3) Japanese may also employ intensity as a cue at the similar level to Germans depending on the length of time they have learnt German and lived in Germany. 4) Germans learning Japanese and living in Japan tend to reduce the use of intensity as a cue.
Magnetically induced dynamics of mesoscopic colloidal systems

This cumulative thesis is dedicated to the experimental and theoretical study of the dynamics of mesoscopic colloidal systems. I am presenting new strategies for the mani- pulation of micrometer sized living and non-living colloidal particles based on magnetic fields. I am thereby following three different approaches that either aim to design novel mechanisms for the transport of colloidal particles or to use colloids as model systems for dynamic phenomena in other condensed matter systems. The three parts are (i) the topologically protected transport of colloidal particles, (ii) the magnetic guidance of magnetotactic bacteria and (iii) the dynamics of monopole defects in artificial colloidal ice. In the first part I am presenting a novel approach for the transport of magnetic colloidal particles based on topological protection. The colloids are placed above a periodic ma- gnetic lattice of alternating domains with a lattice constant of the order of the particle size. The system is driven by closed periodic modulation loops of a time-dependent ex- ternal magnetic field. With a clever choice of modulation loops it is possible to transport the particles via adiabatic or deterministic ratchet motion. The theoretical investigation of the connection between the driving loops and the colloidal motion shows that the transport in our system is topologically protected. In consequence the colloidal motion turns out to be robust, for example against thermal fluctuations or details of the modu- lation loops. Therefore multiple particles can be transported in a dispersion free manner. Beyond that it is even possible to simultaneously control two different types of particles (paramagnetic and diamagnetic colloids) and to move them into independent directions. The topology is thereby inherently connected to the symmetry of the magnetic lattices. Different symmetries favor distinct transport modes. This is used to implement a colloi- dal topological insulator. Colloids can be stably guided along arbitrary edges between patterns of different symmetry without explicit information over their location or orien- tation. In contrast to the topologically protected transport of passive particles, the mechanism in the second part is based on actively swimming particles. I am using magnetotac- tic bacteria, which have a internal permanent magnetic moment. This facilitates the manipulation of the bacteria with external magnetic fields. Magnetotactic bacteria are therefore suitable to study the influence of external constraints on the bacterial motion. The bacteria are placed to swim above the magnetic domain structures of garnet films, which allows the stable guidance of magnetotactic bacteria along straight or curved stri- pe domains. Two features are important for this, the active swimming of the bacteria and the magnetic forces and torques exerted on the magnetic moment of the bacteria. A careful balance of these two ingredients results in a stable guidance of the magnetotactic bacteria. The last part is not concerned with the transport…
Specific binding sites for albumin restricted to plasmalemmal vesicles of continuous capillary endothelium: receptor-mediated transcytosis

The interaction of homologous and heterologous albumin-gold complex (Alb-Au) with capillary endothelium was investigated in the mouse lung, heart, and diaphragm. Perfusion of the tracer in situ for from 3 to 35 min was followed by washing with phosphate-buffered saline, fixation by perfusion, and processing for electron microscopy. From the earliest time examined, one and sometimes two rows of densely packed particles bound to some restricted plasma membrane microdomains that appeared as uncoated pits, and to plasmalemmal vesicles open on the luminal front. Morphometric analysis, using various albumin-gold concentrations, showed that the binding is saturable at a very low concentration of the ligand and short exposure. After 5 min, tracer-carrying vesicles appeared on the abluminal front, discharging their content into the subendothelial space. As a function of tracer concentration 1-10% of plasmalemmal vesicles contained Alb-Au particles in fluid phase; from 5 min on, multivesicular bodies were labeled by the tracer. Plasma membrane, coated pits, and coated vesicles were not significantly marked at any time interval. Heparin or high ionic strength did not displace the bound Alb-Au from vesicle membrane. No binding was obtained when Alb-Au was competed in situ with albumin or was injected in vivo. Gold complexes with fibrinogen, fibronectin, glucose oxidase, or polyethyleneglycol did not give a labeling comparable to that of albumin. These results suggest that on the capillary endothelia examined, the Alb-Au is adsorbed on specific binding sites restricted to uncoated pits and plasmalemmal vesicles. The tracer is transported in transcytotic vesicles across endothelium by receptor-mediated transcytosis, and to a lesser extent is taken up by pinocytotic vesicles. The existence of albumin receptors on these continuous capillary endothelia may provide a specific mechanism for the transport of albumin and other molecules carried by this protein.
A Novel Frequency-Selective Power Combiner/Divider in Single-Layer Substrate Integrated Waveguide Technology

A frequency-selective power combiner/divider in single-layer substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology is introduced. The basic building block consists of a planar four cavity structure with three of them operated in SIW TE101 modes and one in SIW TE201 mode. Each cavity is coupled to one port of the unit. In addition the overall configuration considers couplings of each resonator to the two adjacent ones. Due to the coupling transformation properties of the TE201 mode cavity, second order 3 dB transfer functions are obtained from each port to two adjacent ones while the fourth port is almost isolated. The novel combiner/divider is designed for 11 GHz and prototyped on RT/Duroid 5870 substrate. Measurements verify the design process and operation of the device.
Dual Therapy with Cidofovir and Mirtazapine for Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy in a Sarcoidosis Patient

Background: Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a demyelinating central nervous system disease caused by JC virus (JCV) reactivation in immunocompromised patients. The disease course of PML is often progressive, fatal and at present, there are few reports on successful treatment outcomes. Case Report: A 45-year-old man with systemic sarcoidosis presented with rapidly progressive dementia and right hemiparesis. The patient was diagnosed with PML as confirmed via brain biopsy and JCV PCR. With a combination treatment of cidofovir and mirtazapine, there was significant improvement of neurological symptoms without measurable functional deficit. Conclusion: This case suggests that dual therapy with cidofovir and mirtazapine might be an effective treatment option in PML patients with sarcoidosis.