Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Skeletal Muscle and Lymphocyte Mitochondrial Dysfunctions in Septic Shock Trigger ICU-Acquired Weakness and Sepsis-Induced Immunoparalysis

Fundamental events driving the pathological processes of septic shock-induced multiorgan failure (MOF) at the cellular and subcellular levels remain debated. Emerging data implicate mitochondrial dysfunction as a critical factor in the pathogenesis of sepsis-associated MOF. If macrocirculatory and microcirculatory dysfunctions undoubtedly participate in organ dysfunction at the early stage of septic shock, an intrinsic bioenergetic failure, sometimes called “cytopathic hypoxia,” perpetuates cellular dysfunction. Short-term failure of vital organs immediately threatens patient survival but long-term recovery is also severely hindered by persistent dysfunction of organs traditionally described as nonvital, such as skeletal muscle and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). In this review, we will stress how and why a persistent mitochondrial dysfunction in skeletal muscles and PBMC could impair survival in patients who overcome the first acute phase of their septic episode. First, muscle wasting protracts weaning from mechanical ventilation, increases the risk of mechanical ventilator-associated pneumonia, and creates a state of ICU-acquired muscle weakness, compelling the patient to bed. Second, failure of the immune system (“immunoparalysis”) translates into its inability to clear infectious foci and predisposes the patient to recurrent nosocomial infections. We will finally emphasize how mitochondrial-targeted therapies could represent a realistic strategy to promote long-term recovery after sepsis.
Influence of lifestyle factors and stress on the radioallergosorbent test scores: two case reports

It is well known that lifestyle factors and stress can influence the immune system, but it is less clear whether they have any effect on radioallergosorbent test (RAST) scores. The RAST scores were measured over time in 2 allergy patients, being assessed monthly for a period exceeding 10 years in one of them. The potential influence of lifestyle factors and stress on RAST scores was investigated in these 2 patients. The results showed that RAST scores were more strongly affected by lifestyle factors than by environmental levels of allergens. Both patients gave permission for publication of the information in this report. Case 1: The patient was a 68-year-old man with hay fever who was positive for 41 out of 58 RAST items. From 1995 to 2005, testing was performed at monthly intervals to observe changes of the RAST scores. Two months after a major theft, which was important enough to be reported on television, the RAST scores of this patient became maximal. The profile of cedar pollen scores over 3 years is shown in Figure 1, revealing a marked increase after the theft. All 41 items with high RAST scores prior to the theft showed increases that ranged from 19.18-fold to 3.16-fold (mean: 13.72-fold). There was a 19.18-fold increase of the RAST score for strawberry (from 0.50 to 9.59), while the scores for celery, purple squid, potato, and banana increased from 0.63 to 11.00, 0.37 to 6.45, 0.72 to 12.50, and 0.59 to 10.20, respectively. There was also a 2.22-fold increase in immunoglobulin E (IgE) from 494.0 to 1089.0. In addition, there was a more than 10-fold increase in the RAST scores for Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass), ragweed, Japanese cypress, cedar, wheat, corn, rice, sesame, buckwheat, pea, peanut, soy, almond, tomato, carrot, orange, coconut, garlic, apple, bamboo shoot, sweet potato, parsley, melon, malt, mango, banana, pear, peach, grapefruit, spinach, and pumpkin, while there was a more than 3-fold increase in the scores for octopus, crab, squid, shrimp, and house dust. Among 20 items with normal RAST scores prior to the theft, the score increased for 10 items (sardine, horse mackerel, flounder, mackerel, kiwi fruit, α-lactalbumin, lamb, moldy cheese, cocoa, and dog dander). Subsequently, some of the RAST scores decreased over time. In general, this patient’s RAST scores showed monthly variations and annual changes were also observed when scores were compared for the same month of different years. However, > 10-fold changes of the RAST scores for more than 50 items were only observed after the major theft. Case 2: The patient was a 55-year-old woman with hay fever who received advice to improve her lifestyle without taking anti-allergy medication. From 2004, RAST scores for cedar, Japanese cypress, and ragweed were measured in March for three years consecutively and changes of the RAST scores were compared with
Increased expression of mucinous glycoprotein KL-6 in human pterygium

Pterygia represent growth onto the cornea of fibrovascular tissue continuous with the conjunctiva.1 KL-6 (Krebs von den Lunge-6) is a high molecular weight mucinous glycoprotein, and the monoclonal antibody reacts with the sugar moiety of MUC-1.2,3 We have reported that measurement of serum KL-6 levels is useful for the diagnosis and management of uveitis patients with sarcoidosis.4,5 The aim of this study was to examine the expression of KL-6, and Ki-67, a proliferation marker, in normal human conjunctiva, pterygium, and pseudopterygium tissues. Five samples consisting of one normal conjunctiva, three pterygia, and one pseudopterygium were surgically collected. Formalin fixed and paraffin embedded tissue sections were incubated with anti-KL-6 and anti-Ki-67 monoclonal antibodies, and then examined immunohistochemically. Immunoreactivity for KL-6 was detected on the apical membrane of the wing and basal …
Resonant switched capacitor converter with high efficiency

Conventional switched capacitor converters have an inherent drawback that their efficiency is much decreased as the output current is increased. This inherent drawback is due to a periodical forced charging and discharging operation in the internal switched capacitors accompanied by a large capacitor current, so that their efficiency can not be increased by decreasing its internal resistance. As a result, conventional switched capacitor converters have been limited to be used with a very small output current. This paper presents some novel switched capacitor converter topologies that use a resonant operation instead of the forced charging and discharging operation. Their advantage over conventional switched capacitor converters is a high efficiency even in a high output current region. The operation analysis and steady-state characteristics are described in detail for a half-buck type switched capacitor converter, and they are confirmed by experiments.
Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Chemically Modified Epoxy Resin

Diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA), having number average molecular weight (Mn) 375, was modified by incorporating the hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) based prepolymer using isophorone diisocyanate as a coupling agent. To increase the compatibility between the epoxy resin and HTPB part, polar groups were introduced in the later to achieve physical and chemical interactions between the two phases. The finally modified DGEBA system was cured with amine based hardener. FTIR and 1H-NMR were used to monitor the whole modification procedure. The rubber particles size and distribution was monitored as a function of HTPB contents in the resin system using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mechanical, thermal and thermo-mechanical properties have shown that the tensile strength, toughness, ductility and impact strength of the modified cured system have been successfully increased at some optimum HTPB contents without affecting the inherent thermal and thermo-mechanical stability associated with DGEBA resin system. Some of the mechanical properties like flexural modulus, tensile modulus and compressive strength decreased with increasing rubber contents.
An empirical study of computation equivalence as determined by decomposition slice equivalence

In order to further understand and assess decompositionslicing we characterize and evaluate the size ofreductions obtained by computing equivalent decompositionslices from the perspective of the comprehender,maintainer, tester and researcher.The analysis wasperformed on 68 C language systems of sizes 100 to50,000 lines.All decomposition slices were computedand compared for simple equality.From this data, wewere able to determine with 95% confidence that thetrue mean percentage of equivalent decomposition slicesis between 50.0% and 60.3%, with a p-value < 0.005. This has clear and significant impact for softwaretesting, as any converge method used for one of thevariables used in an equivalence will apply to all variables in the class; for software comprehension as thenumber of items (variables) used for the understanderis substantially reduced; for the software maintenance,as the number computational relationships is reduced;and for the researcher, in attempting to ascertain theunderlying cause of this phenomena.
Long-term results (up to 14 years) of the clover technique for the treatment of complex tricuspid valve regurgitation†

OBJECTIVES To report the long-term results of the clover technique for the treatment of complex forms of tricuspid regurgitation (TR). METHODS Ninety-six consecutive patients (mean age 60 ± 16.4, left ventricular ejection fraction 58 ± 8.8%) with severe or moderately-severe TR due to important leaflets prolapse/flail (81 patients), tethering (13 patients) or mixed (2 patients) lesions underwent clover repair combined with annuloplasty. The aetiology of TR was degenerative in 74 cases (77.1%), post-traumatic in 9 (9.4%) and secondary to dilated cardiomyopathy in 13 (13.5%). All patients but 3 (96.8%) underwent ring (59 patients, 61.5%) or suture (34 patients, 35.4%) annuloplasty. Concomitant procedures (mainly mitral surgery) were performed in 82 patients (85.4%). RESULTS Hospital mortality was 7.2%. At hospital discharge 92 (95.8%) patients had no or mild TR. Follow-up was 98% complete (median 9 years, interquartile range 5.1; 10.9). At 12 years the overall survival was 71.6 ± 7.22% and the cumulative incidence function of cardiac death with non-cardiac death as competing risk 16 ± 4.1% [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 9.5-25.7]. At 12 years the cumulative incidence function of TR ≥ 3+ and TR ≥ 2+ with death as competing risk were 1.2 ± 1.2% (95% CI 0.1-5.8) and 28 ± 7.7% (95% CI 14.3-43.5), respectively. Preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction (hazard ratio 0.9, CI 0.9-1, P = 0.05) and previous cardiac surgery (hazard ratio 2.7, 95% CI 1-7.1, P = 0.03) were predictors of recurrent TR ≥ 2+ at univariable but not at multivariable analysis. CONCLUSIONS Complex forms of TR due to severe prolapse or tethering of the leaflets can be effectively treated with the clover technique with very satisfactory long-term results and extremely low recurrence of severe TR.
Modelling weld bead geometry using neural networks for GTAW of austenitic stainless steel

The authors analyse the importance of different weld control parameters on the weld pool geometry of gas tungsten arc welding using an online feature selection technique that suggests weld voltage and vertex–angle pair as more important than the weld voltage and torch speed pair. Using the selected features multi layer perception and radial basis function networks are developed for prediction of bead width, penetration depth, and bead area. With cross-validation the authors have extensively studied the performance of composite models (one model for all outputs) and individual models (one model for each output). The individual models are found to work better than composite models. Usually, radial basis function networks are found to work better than the multi layer perception networks. To assess the influence of weld control parameters the authors have studied the performance of both networks using different combination of inputs. Overall, the performance of the proposed models is found to be quite satisfactory.
Comparison of HER2 testing among laboratories: Our experience with review cases retested at Moffitt Cancer Center in a two‐year period

Determination of human epidermal receptor protein‐2 (HER2) is a crucial step in the treatment of patients diagnosed with invasive breast carcinoma. HER2 status is an independent clinical prognostic factor and a predictive factor of tumor response to chemotherapeutic agents such as trastuzumab. Accurate testing is necessary to offer adequate therapy to patients. To evaluate the variation in HER2 testing results, we analyzed our data from review cases in which HER2 testing was repeated at our institution from January 2013 to December 2014. For the study, the reason for repeating the test, the testing methodology used, and the tests results were collected. Concordance between outside and in‐house HER2 results was compared. Discrepancies were classified as major and minor. A total of 173 cases were retested during this period. One‐hundred and twenty‐eight cases met the inclusion criteria. Sixteen cases were originally tested at large reference laboratories and two in international laboratories. In the 110 remaining cases, the test was performed at small community laboratories or the testing facility was not available. Forty‐one (32%) discrepancies were identified. Of these, 15 (12% of 128 total) were major and 26 (20% of 128 total) were considered minor discrepancies. Our study confirms that significant discrepancies in HER2 results persist even after stricter and well‐developed testing guidelines have been embraced.
Human olfactory mesenchymal stromal cell transplants promote remyelination and earlier improvement in gait co‐ordination after spinal cord injury

Autologous cell transplantation is a promising strategy for repair of the injured spinal cord. Here we have studied the repair potential of mesenchymal stromal cells isolated from the human olfactory mucosa after transplantation into a rodent model of incomplete spinal cord injury. Investigation of peripheral type remyelination at the injury site using immunocytochemistry for P0, showed a more extensive distribution in transplanted compared with control animals. In addition to the typical distribution in the dorsal columns (common to all animals), in transplanted animals only, P0 immunolabelling was consistently detected in white matter lateral and ventral to the injury site. Transplanted animals also showed reduced cavitation. Several functional outcome measures including end‐point electrophysiological testing of dorsal column conduction and weekly behavioural testing of BBB, weight bearing and pain, showed no difference between transplanted and control animals. However, gait analysis revealed an earlier recovery of co‐ordination between forelimb and hindlimb stepping in transplanted animals. This improvement in gait may be associated with the enhanced myelination in ventral and lateral white matter, where fibre tracts important for locomotion reside. Autologous transplantation of mesenchymal stromal cells from the olfactory mucosa may therefore be therapeutically beneficial in the treatment of spinal cord injury. GLIA 2017 GLIA 2017;65:639–656
Physical Layer Network Coding Over Finite And Infinite Fields

Direct application of network coding at the physical layer - physical layer network coding (PNC) - is a promising technique for two-way relay wireless networks. In a two-way relay network, relay nodes are used to relay two-way information flows between pairs of end nodes. This paper proposes a precise definition for PNC. Specifically, in PNC, a relay node does not decode the source information from the two ends separately, but rather directly maps the combined signals received simultaneously to a signal to be relayed. Based on this definition, PNC can be further sub-classed into two categories - PNCF (PNC over finite field) and PNCI (PNC over infinite field) - according to whether the network-code field (or groups, rings) adopted is finite or infinite. For each of PNCF and PNCI, we consider two specific estimation techniques for dealing with noise in the mapping process. The performance of the four schemes is investigated by means of analysis and simulation, assuming symbol-level synchronization only.
Oncogenic BRAF mutation induces DNA methylation changes in a murine model for human serrated colorectal neoplasia

ABSTRACT Colorectal cancer is a major cause of cancer death and approximately 20% arises within serrated polyps, which are under-recognized and poorly understood. Human serrated colorectal polyps frequently exhibit both oncogenic BRAF mutation and widespread DNA methylation changes, which are important in silencing genes restraining neoplastic progression. Here, we investigated whether in vivo induction of mutant Braf is sufficient to result in coordinated promoter methylation changes for multiple cancer-related genes. The BrafV637E mutation was induced in murine intestine on an FVB;C57BL/6J background and assessed for morphological and DNA methylation changes at multiple time points from 10 days to 14 months. Extensive intestinal hyperplasia developed by 10 days post-induction of the mutation. By 8 months, most mice had murine serrated adenomas with dysplasia and invasive cancer developed in 40% of mice by 14 months. From 5 months onwards, Braf mutant mice showed extensive, gene-specific increases in DNA methylation even in hyperplastic mucosa without lesions. This demonstrates that persistent oncogenic Braf signaling is sufficient to induce widespread DNA methylation changes. This occurs over an extended period of time, mimicking the long latency followed by rapid progression of human serrated neoplasia. This study establishes for the first time that DNA methylation arises slowly in direct response to prolonged oncogenic Braf signaling in serrated polyps; this finding has implications both for chemoprevention and for understanding the origin of DNA hypermethylation in cancer generally.
In-stent restenosis-prone coronary plaque composition: A retrospective virtual histology-intravascular ultrasound study.

BACKGROUND The mechanism of in-stent restenosis (ISR) is multifactorial, which includes biological, mechanical and technical factors. This study hypothesized that increased inflammatory reaction, which is known to be an important atherosclerotic process, at a culprit lesion may lead to higher restenosis rates. METHODS The study population consisted of 241 patients who had undergone percutaneous coronary intervention with virtual histology-intravascular ultrasound (VH-IVUS) and a 9-month follow-up coronary angiography. Compared herein is the coronary plaque composition between patients with ISR and those without ISR. RESULTS Patients with ISR (n = 27) were likely to be older (66.2 ± 9.5 years vs. 58.7 ± 11.7 years, p = 0.002) and have higher levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP, 1.60 ± 3.59 mg/dL vs. 0.31 ± 0.76 mg/dL, p < 0.001) than those without ISR (n = 214). VH-IVUS examination showed that percent necrotic core volume (14.3 ± 8.7% vs. 19.5 ± 9.1%, p = 0.005) was higher in those without ISR than those with ISR. Multivariate analysis revealed that hs-CRP (odds ratio [OR] 3.334, 95% con-fidence interval [CI] 1.158-9.596, p = 0.026) and age (OR 3.557, 95% CI 1.242-10.192, p = 0.018) were associated with ISR. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that ISR is not associated with baseline coronary plaque composition but is associated with old age and increased expression of the inflammatory marker of hs-CRP. (Cardiol J 2018; 25, 1: 7-13).
Pediatric oncologist willingness to offer germline TP53 testing in osteosarcoma

Li‐Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) is a cancer predisposition syndrome caused by mutations in the tumor‐suppressor gene TP53. Osteosarcoma is a sentinel cancer in LFS. Prior studies using Sanger sequencing platforms have demonstrated that 3% of individuals with osteosarcoma harbor a mutation in TP53. New data from next‐generation sequencing have demonstrated that 3.8% of patients with osteosarcoma have a known pathogenic variant, and an additional 5.7% carry exonic variants of unknown significance in TP53.
DPP4/CD26 overexpression in urothelial carcinoma confers an independent prognostic impact and correlates with intrinsic biological aggressiveness

Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is common cancer worldwide. The molecular aberrations regarding tumor progression remain unclear. Pericellular proteolysis is crucial in tumorigenesis, but its significance is unexplored in UC. By data mining the datasets in Gene Expression Omnibus, specifically focus on the proteolysis pathway, and followed by a preliminary validation in a pilot batch of tumor samples, we identified that the upregulation of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) was most significantly associated with clinical aggressiveness of UCs. Quantitative RT-PCR confirmed upregulation of DPP4 mRNA in advanced stage UCs. The clinical significance of DPP4 expression was validated in our large cohort consists of 635 UCs from upper urinary tract and urinary bladder. Univariate and multivariate analyses show that DPP4 is an independent prognosticatory biomarker for disease-specific survival and metastasis-free survival. Comparing the DPP4 expression level of three urothelial cell lines with normal urothelial cells, J82 and RTCC-1 showed a significantly increased in transcript and protein expression. DPP4 knockdown as conducted by using short-hairpin RNA resulted in a significantly decreased cell viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion in J82 and RTCC-1 cells. These findings implicate that DPP4 plays a role in the aggressiveness of UCs, and can serve as a novel prognostic marker and therapeutic target.
A Comparison of Performance and Accuracy of Measurement Algorithms in Software

Many network functions are moving from hardware to software to get better programmability and lower cost. Measurement is critical to most network functions because getting detailed information about traffic is often the first step to make control decisions and diagnose problems. The key challenge for measurement is how to keep a large number of counters while processing packets at line rate. Previous work on measurement algorithms mostly focuses on reducing memory usage while achieving high accuracy. However, software servers have plenty of memory but incur new challenges of achieving both high performance and high accuracy. In this paper, we revisit the measurement algorithms and data structures under the new metrics of performance and accuracy. We show that saving memory through extra computation is not worthwhile. As a result, a linear hash table and count array outperform more complex data structures such as Cuckoo hashing, Count-Min sketches, and heaps in a variety of scenarios.
Application of pharmacologically induced transcriptomic profiles to interrogate PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway activity associated with cancer patient prognosis

The PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway has been identified as a key driver of carcinogenesis in several cancer types. As such, a major area of focus in cancer biology is the development of genomic biomarkers that can measure the activity level of the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway. In this study, we systematically estimate PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway activity in breast primary tumor samples using transcriptomic profiles derived from drug treatment in MCF7 cell lines. We demonstrate that gene expression profiles derived from chemically-induced protein inhibition allows us to measure PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway activity in patient tumor samples. With this approach, we predict prognosis and response to chemotherapy in cancer patients, and screen for potential pharmacological modulators of PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway inhibitors.