Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Air Force/Texas Coronary Atherosclerosis Prevention Study (AFCAPS/TexCAPS): efficacy and tolerability of long-term treatment with lovastatin in women.

The Air Force/Texas Coronary Atherosclerosis Prevention Study (AFCAPS/TexCAPS) is the first coronary heart disease (CHD) primary prevention trial of the cholesterol-reducing agents called "statins" to include women. For 5608 men and 997 postmenopausal women without clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) who had average low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and below average high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), 20-40 mg/day lovastatin reduced first acute major coronary events (AMCEs) 37% (for those receiving placebo and lovastatin, respectively, 183 and 116 first AMCEs defined as fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction [MI], unstable angina, or sudden cardiac death; relative risk [RR] 0.63; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.50, 0.79; p < 0.001). Statistically significant reductions in prespecified secondary end points (coronary revascularizations, unstable angina, MI, cardiovascular end point events, and coronary end point events) were also associated with lovastatin treatment in the overall cohort. This paper provides results in women, a prespecified subgroup. Among women, 20-40 mg/day lovastatin reduced LDL-C 25% and increased HDLC 9% (p < 0.001). A prespecified analysis revealed consistency with the overall results regardless of gender (i.e., there were no statistical differences between men and women in risk reduction for first AMCEs with lovastatin). However, the number of women who had an AMCE was small, and there was insufficient power to detect a treatment group difference among women (7 of 499 vs. 13 of 498 first AMCEs in those receiving lovastatin and placebo, respectively; RR 0.54; 95% CI 0.22, 1.35; p = 0.183). Numerical reductions in all prespecified secondary end points were observed for women treated with lovastatin, but again, the numbers of events were small and the differences were not statistically significant. Chronic long-term treatment with lovastatin was well tolerated, with no treatment group differences in the frequency of cancer, muscle symptoms, and clinically important liver enzyme elevations. In AFCAPS/TexCAPS, a consistent pattern of numerical reductions in all prespecified primary and secondary cardiovascular end points was observed in women treated with lovastatin for primary prevention of CHD. However, because of the small number of events, there was insufficient power to detect significant treatment group differences. Lovastatin treatment was associated with statistically significant decreases in LDL-C and increases in HDL-C, and chronic long-term treatment with 20-40 mg/day lovastatin was well tolerated in women.
Measurement of stray radiation within a scanning proton therapy facility: EURADOS WG9 intercomparison exercise of active dosimetry systems.

PURPOSE To characterize stray radiation around the target volume in scanning proton therapy and study the performance of active neutron monitors. METHODS Working Group 9 of the European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS WG9-Radiation protection in medicine) carried out a large measurement campaign at the Trento Centro di Protonterapia (Trento, Italy) in order to determine the neutron spectra near the patient using two extended-range Bonner sphere spectrometry (BSS) systems. In addition, the work focused on acknowledging the performance of different commercial active dosimetry systems when measuring neutron ambient dose equivalents, H(∗)(10), at several positions inside (8 positions) and outside (3 positions) the treatment room. Detectors included three TEPCs--tissue equivalent proportional counters (Hawk type from Far West Technology, Inc.) and six rem-counters (WENDI-II, LB 6411, RadEye™ NL, a regular and an extended-range NM2B). Meanwhile, the photon component of stray radiation was deduced from the low-lineal energy transfer part of TEPC spectra or measured using a Thermo Scientific™ FH-40G survey meter. Experiments involved a water tank phantom (60 × 30 × 30 cm(3)) representing the patient that was uniformly irradiated using a 3 mm spot diameter proton pencil beam with 10 cm modulation width, 19.95 cm distal beam range, and 10 × 10 cm(2) field size. RESULTS Neutron spectrometry around the target volume showed two main components at the thermal and fast energy ranges. The study also revealed the large dependence of the energy distribution of neutrons, and consequently of out-of-field doses, on the primary beam direction (directional emission of intranuclear cascade neutrons) and energy (spectral composition of secondary neutrons). In addition, neutron mapping within the facility was conducted and showed the highest H(∗)(10) value of ∼ 51 μSv Gy(-1); this was measured at 1.15 m along the beam axis. H(∗)(10) values significantly decreased with distance and angular position with respect to beam axis falling below 2 nSv Gy(-1) at the entrance of the maze, at the door outside the room and below detection limit in the gantry control room, and at an adjacent room (<0.1 nSv Gy(-1)). Finally, the agreement on H(∗)(10) values between all detectors showed a direct dependence on neutron spectra at the measurement position. While conventional rem-counters (LB 6411, RadEye™ NL, NM2-458) underestimated the H(∗)(10) by up to a factor of 4, Hawk TEPCs and the WENDI-II range-extended detector were found to have good performance (within 20%) even at the highest neutron fluence and energy range. Meanwhile, secondary photon dose equivalents were found to be up to five times lower than neutrons; remaining nonetheless of concern to the patient. CONCLUSIONS Extended-range BSS, TEPCs, and the WENDI-II enable accurate measurements of stray neutrons while other rem-counters are not appropriate considering the high-energy range of neutrons involved in proton therapy.
Haloalkylphosphorus Hydrolases Purified from Sphingomonas sp. Strain TDK1 and Sphingobium sp. Strain TCM1

ABSTRACT Phosphotriesterases catalyze the first step of organophosphorus triester degradation. The bacterial phosphotriesterases purified and characterized to date hydrolyze mainly aryl dialkyl phosphates, such as parathion, paraoxon, and chlorpyrifos. In this study, we purified and cloned two novel phosphotriesterases from Sphingomonas sp. strain TDK1 and Sphingobium sp. strain TCM1 that hydrolyze tri(haloalkyl)phosphates, and we named these enzymes haloalkylphosphorus hydrolases (TDK-HAD and TCM-HAD, respectively). Both HADs are monomeric proteins with molecular masses of 59.6 (TDK-HAD) and 58.4 kDa (TCM-HAD). The enzyme activities were affected by the addition of divalent cations, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis suggested that zinc is a native cofactor for HADs. These enzymes hydrolyzed not only chlorinated organophosphates but also a brominated organophosphate [tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate], as well as triaryl phosphates (tricresyl and triphenyl phosphates). Paraoxon-methyl and paraoxon were efficiently degraded by TCM-HAD, whereas TDK-HAD showed weak activity toward these substrates. Dichlorvos was degraded only by TCM-HAD. The enzymes displayed weak or no activity against trialkyl phosphates and organophosphorothioates. The TCM-HAD and TDK-HAD genes were cloned and found to encode proteins of 583 and 574 amino acid residues, respectively. The primary structures of TCM-HAD and TDK-HAD were very similar, and the enzymes also shared sequence similarity with fenitrothion hydrolase (FedA) of Burkholderia sp. strain NF100 and organophosphorus hydrolase (OphB) of Burkholderia sp. strain JBA3. However, the substrate specificities and quaternary structures of the HADs were largely different from those of FedA and OphB. These results show that HADs from sphingomonads are novel members of the bacterial phosphotriesterase family.
Characteristics of stork feces‐derived H5N1 viruses that are preferentially transmitted to primary human airway epithelial cells

Avian influenza viruses are a possible threat to human health as they may cause an influenza pandemic. Asian open‐bill storks are migratory birds that brought H5N1 viruses into Thailand during the 2004–2005 epidemic. However, to date, there are no reports of direct transmission of stork‐derived H5N1 viruses to Thais. Therefore, we questioned whether or not H5N1 viruses secreted in the feces of infected storks could directly infect cells derived from the human respiratory tract. To answer this question, we used primary NHBE cells as a model. We found that H5N1 viruses from two of the three cloacal swabs rapidly replicated and caused severe structural damage to the infected NHBE cells within the early phase of infection. Viruses from the remaining swab replicated poorly and caused no damage to the infected cells. The rapid‐replicating viruses were able to replicate efficiently even in the presence of a high level of type I IFN production and stimulated a high level of IL‐6 production but not the immunosuppressive cytokine, IL‐10. The genotypic study revealed that the major genotypes of the two rapid‐replicating viruses present in stork feces were the best‐fit genotypes for replication in the primary NHBE cells. In contrast, the major NA‐based genotype found in the cloacal swab containing slow‐replicating viruses could not survive in the primary NHBE cells. Altogether, the data suggested that those stork‐derived H5N1 viruses that preferentially replicated in human airway epithelial cells may exist in nature, and may not require additional mutations in order to defeat the species barrier.
Electronic health records: use, barriers and satisfaction among physicians who care for black and Hispanic patients.

OBJECTIVES Electronic health records (EHRs) are a promising tool to improve the quality of health care, although it remains unclear who will benefit from this new technology. Given that a small group of providers care for most racial/ethnic minorities, we sought to determine whether minority-serving providers adopt EHR systems at comparable rates to other providers. METHODS We used survey data from stratified random sample of all medical practices in Massachusetts in 2005. We determined rates of EHR adoption, perceived barriers to adoption, and satisfaction with EHR systems. RESULTS Physicians who reported patient panels of more than 40% black or Hispanic had comparable levels of EHR adoption than other physicians (27.9% and 21.8%, respectively, P = 0.46). Physicians from minority-serving practices identified financial and other barriers to implementing EHR systems at similar rates, although these physicians were less likely to be concerned with privacy and security concerns of EHRs (47.1% vs. 64.4%, P = 0.01). Finally, physicians from high-minority practices had similar perceptions about the positive impact of EHRs on quality (73.7% vs. 76.6%, P = 0.43) and costs (46.9% vs. 51.5%, P = 0.17) of care. CONCLUSIONS In a state with a diverse minority population, we found no evidence that minority-serving providers had lower EHR adoption rates, faced different barriers to adoption or were less satisfied with EHRs. Given the importance of ensuring that minority-serving providers have equal access to EHR systems, we failed to find evidence of a new digital divide.
Telepsychiatry for Children and Adolescents: A Review of the PROMETTED Project.

BACKGROUND Telemedicine for children and adolescents is a public health topic, and since 2009 in France, the legal framework defines practical modalities. Some children with Attention Deficit with or without Hyperactivity Disorder, social anxiety, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be easily engaged within a teleconsultation model. Literature suggests new opportunities to facilitate the care process for the ASD person and his family: diagnosis with the use of validated instruments and parental accompaniment. METHODS Since 2015, a pilot project called PROMETTED was supported by the Regional Health Agency of Ile de France. It was developed and managed by the team of the Center for Diagnosis and Evaluation for Autism (CDEA) of Sainte-Anne Hospital and associated PEDIATED, the CDEA of Versailles. RESULTS Five medico-social structures for children and adolescents with ASD and the two CDEAs co-elaborated a scheme of intervention with telemedicine. The remote evaluation is a four-step process structured around the medical history and the observation of the young subject; the Autism Diagnostic Interview; the use of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales; and feedback to parents. CONCLUSIONS Medico-economic and satisfaction evaluations are in progress.
Blocking the road, stopping the engine or killing the driver? Advances in targeting EWS/FLI-1 fusion in Ewing sarcoma as novel therapy

Introduction: Ewing sarcoma (ES) represents the paradigm of an aberrant E-twenty-six (ETS) oncogene-driven cancer. It is characterized by specific rearrangements of one of five alternative ETS family member genes with EWSR1. There is experimental evidence that the resulting fusion proteins act as aberrant transcription factors driving ES pathogenesis. The transcriptional gene regulatory network driven by EWS-ETS proteins provides the oncogenic engine to the tumor. Therefore, EWS-ETS and their downstream machinery are considered ideal tumor-specific therapeutic targets. Areas covered: This review critically discusses the literature on the development of EWS-ETS-directed ES targeting strategies considering current knowledge of EWS-ETS biology and cellular context. It focuses on determinants of EWS-FLI1 function with an emphasis on interactions with chromatin structure. We speculate about the relevance of poorly investigated aspects in ES research such as chromatin remodeling and DNA damage repair for the development of targeted therapies. Expert opinion: This review questions the specificity of signature-based screening approaches to the identification of EWS-FLI1-targeted compounds. It challenges the view that targeting the downstream gene regulatory network carries potential for therapeutic breakthroughs because of resistance-inducing network rewiring. Instead, we propose to combine targeting of the fusion protein with epigenetic therapy as a future treatment strategy in ES.
A mmWave Wideband Slot Array Antenna Based on Ridge Gap Waveguide With 30% Bandwidth

A wideband <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$8 \times 8$ </tex-math></inline-formula> element slot antenna array based on ridge gap waveguide feeding network has been proposed for mmWave applications. The antenna subarray consists of four radiating slots which are excited by a groove gap cavity layer. Compared with previously published works, the proposed planar antenna array has quite wide impedance bandwidth. The antenna covers a wideband of 50–67.8 GHz with 30% impedance bandwidth (VSWR < 2). Also, the antenna has only 2.5 dB gain variation over the entire bandwidth which implies also good radiation characteristics for the proposed antenna. The maximum measured gain value is about 27.5 dBi with a total efficiency of 80% for the proposed antenna within the band of interest. With this performance, the proposed antenna array is a promising candidate for mmWave communication systems.
An image filtering model based on Universal Partial Differential Equations

Based on the research and analysis of the evolution process of three different level models, a concept of anisotropic diffusion equation which gathers all the majority of them is introduced. Furthermore, we propose the definition of UPDE (Universal Partial Differential Equations)-a more general equation, which is better in diffusion filtering and also keeps the edge's information in an image at the same time. In addition, UPDE have most of local geometry structure characteristic of above three models. So we can conveniently control the new function through different smoothing parameter. Finally, some applications are shown through the experiment of image patch and smoothing.
Effects of five-day versus one-day infusion of iloprost on the peripheral microcirculation in patients with systemic sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of iloprost infusion on the microcirculation in patients suffering from severe Raynaud's phenomenon secondary to systemic sclerosis. METHODS Eight patients received a 7-hour infusion of iloprost for five consecutive days and then for one day 3 months later. The effects on vascular distensibility were evaluated by piezoelectric plethysmography before and after the treatment and at 2, 4 and 6 weeks. RESULTS The beneficial effects on the peripheral microcirculation were statistically significant after five days of infusion (distensibility index: 0.18 +/- 0.01 vs 0.23 +/- 0.01, p < 0.002) and lasted for less than four weeks, whereas no difference (0.22 +/- 0.04 vs 0.24 +/- 0.02, p: ns) was seen after one day of treatment. One patient suffered from typical angina pectoris with electrocardiographic changes of the ST wave detected during the infusion. CONCLUSION Our results show that a five-day infusion of iloprost has an effect which lasts from two to four weeks; after four weeks the distensibility index returned to the baseline value. The one-day infusion had no effect on the vascular bed, studied by the piezoelectric pletysmographic method. Treatment with five consecutive days of infusion every four weeks is an impracticable scheme to adopt, however. We have therefore instituted a treatment schedule of a single daily infusion every four weeks with the aim of maintaining the effects induced by the initial five-day infusion. The preliminary results obtained with this schedule are reported.
Association of Circulating Vitamin D Concentrations with Intestinal but Not Systemic Inflammation in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Background:Vitamin D may mediate immunomodulatory effects in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The relationships between disease activity and circulating levels of total, free, and bioavailable 25(OH) vitamin D (25(OH)D) are poorly defined. The aim of this study was to measure circulating components of the vitamin D axis in patients with IBD and healthy controls and to correlate these with markers of disease activity, adjusting for potential confounders. Methods:Clinical data were obtained and serum was analyzed for 25(OH)D and vitamin D–binding protein in patients with IBD and controls. Markers of systemic and intestinal (fecal calprotectin) inflammation were measured. Results:Serum 25(OH)D concentration was similar across 23 controls, 40 patients with Crohn's disease, and 31 with ulcerative colitis. An inverse correlation between 25(OH)D and calprotectin was noted in Crohn's disease (Pearson's r = −0.35, P = 0.040), ulcerative colitis (r = −0.39, P = 0.039), and all IBD together (r = −0.37, P = 0.003), but not with systemic markers. A similar trend was noted for free and bioavailable 25(OH)D. This inverse correlation remained after partial correlation analysis correcting for sunlight exposure, total oral vitamin D intake, and obesity and was also noted among the subgroup without small intestinal involvement. Conclusions:Despite total, free, and bioavailable 25(OH)D concentrations being similar to those in a healthy control population, they inversely correlated strongly with intestinal inflammation. This was independent of potential malabsorption, sunlight exposure, and total vitamin D intake and obesity. Vitamin D may play an immunomodulatory role in IBD.
Ethanol feeding of micropigs alters methionine metabolism and increases hepatocellular apoptosis and proliferation

Chronic alcoholism is associated with increased cancer risk that may be related to ethanol‐induced alterations in methionine and deoxynucleotide metabolism. These metabolic relationships were studied in micropigs fed diets for 12 months that contained 40% ethanol or cornstarch control with adequate folate. Ethanol feeding altered methionine metabolism without changing mean terminal liver folate levels. After initial equilibration to diet, ethanol feeding significantly increased monthly serum homocysteine levels while reducing serum methionine levels over the time course of the experiment. After 12 months, hepatic methionine synthase activity and the ratio of S‐adenosylmethionine (SAM) to S‐adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) were significantly reduced in ethanol‐fed animals, whereas the ratio of liver deoxyuridine triphosphate (dUTP) to deoxythymidine triphosphate (dTTP) was increased and correlated inversely with methionine synthase activity. These findings were associated with increased frequency of hepatocytes with apoptotic bodies and positivity for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in livers from ethanol‐fed minipigs. These studies suggest that chronic ethanol feeding perturbs methionine metabolism by impairment of methionine synthase activity, resulting in deoxynucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) imbalance, increased apoptosis, and regenerative proliferation. These biochemical alterations may provide a promoting environment for carcinogenesis during long‐term ethanol exposure.
Military Spending and Economic Growth in Greece and the Arms Race between Greece and Turkey

One of the most important reasons that led Greece to the current macroeconomic instability is the high military spending during the last decades. Thus, it is necessary to examine the impact of military spending on economic growth for the case of Greece. Furthermore, it will be very useful to examine the arms race hypothesis between Greece and Turkey in order to identify if there is an interaction between these countries that leads to the high level of military spending. In this paper we empirically test the relationship between military spending and economic growth for Greece and Turkey during 1957-2013, and examine the validity of arms race hypothesis between the two countries. We deployed unit root tests, unit root tests with structural changes, cointegration techniques and finally Granger causality tests. Granger causality tests in the case of Greece and Turkey imply that the causality runs from military spending to economic growth, however we find that there is no evidence of causality between Greek and Turkish military spending, which mean that these countries act independently.
Instrumentation Amplifier using Robust Rail-to-Rail Operational Amplifiers with gm Control

An instrumentation amplifier based on constant gm, rail-to-rail transconductance amplifiers is presented. The circuit was designed to 0.5 mum AMIS CS CMOS technology. Simulation results show that a -3 dB bandwidth about 190 kHz could be obtained. Operating with a 3 V supply and its dc gain set to 66 dB, the amplifier has a power consumption of 110 muW, and a CMRR higher than 140 dB.