Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autoimmune hepatitis--approach to diagnosis.

CONTEXT Autoimmune hepatitis has diverse features that can delay its diagnosis and the institution of potentially lifesaving corticosteroid therapy. OBJECTIVE Review the clinical, laboratory, and histologic features of autoimmune hepatitis and promulgate routine application of its codified diagnostic criteria. DATA SOURCES Reference lists and MEDLINE. STUDY SELECTION All clinically pertinent published observations that indicate the diversity of manifestations and pitfalls in diagnosis. DATA EXTRACTION Findings that had common clinical relevance and the potential to confuse the diagnosis or delay institution of therapy were selected. DATA SYNTHESIS Autoimmune hepatitis can present acutely and have histologic features of centrilobular zone 3 inflammation. Many patients may be asymptomatic, but they frequently have severe or advanced disease and typically develop symptoms later. Autoantibodies are reflective of immune-mediated mechanisms, but they are not diagnostic, pathogenic, or even required for the diagnosis. Genetic factors affect susceptibility, clinical phenotype, and treatment outcome, and they may be clues to indigenous etiologic agents. Autoimmune hepatitis can recur or develop de novo after liver transplantation, and it should be considered in all transplanted patients with allograft dysfunction. Diagnostic criteria have been codified, and a scoring system quantifies the strength of the diagnosis and accommodates atypical or deficient features. CONCLUSION Autoimmune hepatitis is an important diagnosis to consider in all patients with chronic hepatitis of undetermined cause.
Effect of dietary supplements of guar gum and cellulose on intestinal cell proliferation, enzyme levels and sugar transport in the rat

1. Male Wistar rats (approximately 200 g) were given fibre-free semi-synthetic diets containing either sucrose (S) or a sucrose-starch mixture (SS) as the carbohydrate component, or a diet similar to SS containing 40 g guar gum/kg (G), or 100 g cellulose/kg (C). The animals remained healthy, and weight gain after 30 d was similar in all groups. 2. The small intestines of the animals given diet G were significantly longer than those of the other groups, and showed signs of increased mitotic activity and mucosal growth. 3. No significant differences in mucosal enzyme activity were detected between the two fibre-free control groups. Lactase (EC 3.2.1.23) and alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1) activities were significantly lower than controls in group G, but were higher in group C. 4. Kinetic analysis of 3-O-methyl glucose uptake by isolated intestine indicated that the maximum transport rate (Vmax) of tissue from group G tended to be lower than from the fibre-free group SS and group C. 5. It is concluded that materials which are classed as dietary fibre but which differ markedly in their physical properties may also differ in the functional changes to which they give rise in the small intestine. These changes may be at least partially mediated by effects on mucosal cell proliferation.
The proper generalized decomposition for the simulation of delamination using cohesive zone model

The use of cohesive zone models is an efficient way to treat the damage especially when the crack path is known a priori. It is the case in the modeling of delamination in composite laminates. However, the simulations using cohesive zone models are expensive in a computational point of view. When using implicit time integration or when solving static problems, the non‐linearity related to the cohesive model requires many iteration before reaching convergence. In explicit approaches, an important number of iterations are also needed because of the time step stability condition. In this article, a new approach based on a separated representation of the solution is proposed. The proper generalized decomposition is used to build the solution. This technique coupled with a cohesive zone model allows a significant reduction of the computational cost. The results approximated with the proper generalized decomposition are very close the ones obtained using the classical finite element approach. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib (VEPTR) in the treatment of scoliosis and thoracic deformities. Preliminary report.

BACKGROUND Severe deformities of the chest, early-onset progressive scoliosis, congenital defects of the ribs and the vertebral column may all give rise to the thoracic insufficiency syndrome (TIS), when the chest capacity is too low to fully support basic vital functions, leading to gradually progressive cardiopulmonary failure. Aim of study. This paper presents new possibilities for sequential correction of progressive deformities of the thorax and spinal column in skeletally immature children using a vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib (VEPTR) system. MATERIAL AND METHODS At the Department of Pediatric Orthopedics of the Medical University in Lublin, three children were treated surgically with VEPTR, a low-profile modular system allowing simultaneous correction of scoliosis and chest deformities. Two children (aged 8 and 9 years) required treatment for multiple congenital spinal deformities, while one (aged 7) had early progressive neuromuscular scoliosis. DISCUSSION Existing surgical approaches based on the Harrington method do not prevent further progression of chest deformity. The ongoing sequential VEPTR treatment of our patients resulted in significant correction of thoracic and spinal deformities already in the first phase of the treatment, with considerably improved respiratory capacity. CONCLUSION The vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib appears to be the best alternative to other approaches to sequential treatment of chest and spine deformities currently in use.
Can Vitamin D Supplementation Reduce the Risk of Fracture in the Elderly? A Randomized Controlled Trial

Randomized controlled trials have shown that a combination of vitamin D and calcium can prevent fragility fractures in the elderly. Whether this effect is attributed to the combination of vitamin D and calcium or to one of these nutrients alone is not known. We studied if an intervention with 10 μg of vitamin D3 per day could prevent hip fracture and other osteoporotic fractures in a double‐blinded randomized controlled trial. Residents from 51 nursing homes were allocated randomly to receive 5 ml of ordinary cod liver oil (n = 569) or 5 ml of cod liver oil where vitamin D was removed (n = 575). During the study period of 2 years, fractures and deaths were registered, and the principal analysis was performed on the intention‐to‐treat basis. Biochemical markers were measured at baseline and after 1 year in a subsample. Forty‐seven persons in the control group and 50 persons in the vitamin D group suffered a hip fracture. The corresponding figures for all nonvertebral fractures were 76 persons (control group) and 69 persons (vitamin D group). There was no difference in the incidence of hip fracture (p = 0.66, log‐rank test), or in the incidence of all nonvertebral fractures (p = 0.60, log‐rank test) in the vitamin D group compared with the control group. Compared with the control group, persons in the vitamin D group increased their serum 25‐hydroxyvitamin D concentration with 22 nmol/liter (p = 0.001). In conclusion, we found that an intervention with 10 μg of vitamin D3 alone produced no fracture‐preventing effect in a nursing home population of frail elderly people.
Feedback Delay Effects on Physical Layer Security in a Dual-Hop Half/Full-Duplex Bi-Directional Wireless Relaying Networks

This paper investigates the feedback delay effects on physical layer security. The investigation considers a dual-hop single amplify-and-forward based untrustworthy half/full-duplex two-way relay with a finite number of friendly jammers in the system model. According to the Monte-Carlo simulation results, the feedback delay degrades the system secrecy achievable rate and causes system coding gain losses in high signal-to-noise regimes. Results also show that if the number of friendly jammers in the system model increases then system secrecy achievable rate tends to degrade and causes system coding gain losses. Results also show that better system secrecy achievable rate can be achieved when the relay terminal operates in full-duplex mode.
Design and Implementation of a Synchronous Language with ODEs Master 2 Internship November 2012 Level :

Level: M2R Length: 5/6 months (spring 2012) Advisors: Marc Pouzet (Marc.Pouzet@ens.fr), Timothy Bourke (Timothy.Bourke@ens.fr) Location: Département d’Informatique, École Normale Supérieure, 45 rue d’Ulm, 75230 Paris cedex 05. Prerequisite: This internship is for a student with strong interest and skills in functional programming, the semantics and implementation of programming languages and reactive systems. Knowledge in numerical analysis is a plus. Collaboration: The work can be continued with a PhD. thesis. The group has a close collaboration with several production teams, including the compilation group of Esterel-Technologies and the one of Modelica at Dassault-Systèmes.
Investigation of Human-Computer Task Markets: Methods and Prototype

We present research on task markets where automated planning procedures are used to enlist computational and human expertise to jointly contribute to the solution of problems, based on a consideration of the competencies, availabilities, and pricing of the different problem-solving resources. The methods meld the area of human computation with automated reasoning. We describe a prototype that creates plans for harnessing people and computation to perform translation among multiple languages. With the prototype, people with different skills are recruited to refine rough translations generated by a machine translation system. We present details about the hardness of plan generation, provide methods for solving them, and review experiences with the use of a prototype.
Chagas' disease: an ecological appraisal with special emphasis on its insect vectors.

The enormous amount of literature on Chagas' disease makes it almost impossible to present a review of all its aspects, a task that would require the collaboration of numerous specialists. This review presents mainly some ecological aspects, with particular emphasis on the ethology of insect vec­ tors and their participation in transmission of the disease. Finally, we discuss some human social factors related to ecological and epidemiological aspects of the disease.
A review of CFD-based system identification

The approach of coupling CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to model control system is a novel “grey-box” method. The principal theories of CFD and system identification are presented in this paper respectively. The principle and steps of CFD-based system identification are given in detail. Some applications are analyzed; and the key problems and developing trends of the method proposed in this paper are indicated.
Switch to Ca2+‐permeable AMPA and reduced NR2B NMDA receptor‐mediated neurotransmission at dorsal horn nociceptive synapses during inflammatory pain in the rat

Glutamate receptor response properties of nociceptive synapses on neurokinin 1 receptor positive (NK1R+) lamina I neurons were determined 3 days after induction of chronic peripheral inflammation with Freund's Complete Adjuvant (CFA). A significant increase in the AMPAR/NMDAR ratio was found during inflammation, which was associated with a significant reduction in the quantal amplitude of NMDAR‐mediated synaptic currents. A significant shortening of the quantal AMPA current decay, a greater inward rectification of the AMPAR‐mediated eEPSC amplitude and an increased sensitivity to the Ca2+‐permeable AMPAR channel blocker 1‐naphthylacetyl spermine (NAS) was also observed, indicating an increase in the contribution of Ca2+‐permeable AMPARs at this synapse during inflammation. Furthermore the reduced effectiveness of the NR2B‐specific antagonist CP‐101,606 on NMDAR‐mediated eEPSCs together with a decrease in Mg2+ sensitivity suggests a down regulation of the highly Mg2+‐sensitive and high conductance NR2B subunit at this synapse. These changes in glutamatergic receptor function during inflammation support the selective effectiveness of Ca2+‐permeable AMPAR antagonists in inflammatory pain models and may underlie the reported ineffectiveness of NR2B antagonists in spinal antinociception.
A smart fuzzing method for detecting heap-based vulnerabilities in executable codes

In this paper, we present a smart fuzzing method for detecting six classes of heap-based vulnerabilities in executable codes, that is, heap-based buffer overflow, buffer underwrite, buffer over-read, buffer under-read, double-free, and use-after-free vulnerabilities. In the proposed method, the executable code is instrumented to perform concolic (concrete + symbolic) execution and calculate the constraints on input data for executing a specific path. We also define a number of vulnerability constraints that determine the characteristics of input data that activate specific vulnerabilities in an execution path. By calculating symbolic path and vulnerability constraints in each executed path, we generate appropriate concrete input data that traverse other paths in the program and detect the vulnerabilities in the executed paths. We have implemented the proposed smart fuzzing method as a plug-in for Valgrind framework and tested it on different groups of benchmark programs. The results demonstrate that the calculated vulnerability constraints are accurate, and our fuzzer is able to detect the vulnerabilities in these programs. We have also compared the implemented fuzzer with three other fuzzers and demonstrated how calculating the path and vulnerability constraints in our method helps to fuzz a program more efficiently. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Finite-time dynamic surface approach to nonlinear systems with mismatched uncertainties

This paper develops a finite-time dynamic surface control (DSC) scheme for nonlinear systems with mismatched uncertainties via a high-order sliding mode(HOSM) observer. By designing a second-order terminal sliding surface based on the estimated signals, an observer-based sliding mode control (SMC) is designed to counteract the mismatched uncertainties in each step of backstepping. The proposed DSC scheme exhibits the following two attractive features. One is the application of HOSM observer to deal with mismatched system uncertainty functions. This is very different from the traditional approximator-based adaptive methods in dealing with high-order uncertain nonlinear systems. The other is the finite-time convergence of the provided algorithm, which guarantees the transient performance of tracking signals. Especially, the finite convergence time is explicitly given in the controller design and stability analysis. Simulation results of numerical example illustrates that the proposed approach shows better control performance than traditional approximators-based adaptive methods.
Obesity and health inequalities

This paper was commissioned by the Foresight programme of the Office of Science and Innovation, Department of Trade and Industry © 2007 Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO; published with permission Journal compilation © 2007 The International Association for the Study of Obesity. obesity reviews 8 (Suppl. 1) , 19–22 19 OnlineOpen: This article is available free online at www.blackwell-synergy.com Blackwell Publishing LtdOxford, UKOBRObesity Reviews1467-7881© 2007 Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO; published with permission; Journal compilation © 2007 The International Association for the Study of Obesity ? 2007 8 ••1922 Review Article Obesity and health inequalities C. Law et al.
Chirality of the cytoskeleton in the origins of cellular asymmetry

Self-assembly of two important components of the cytoskeleton of eukaryotic cells, actin microfilaments and microtubules (MTs) results in polar filaments of one chirality. As is true for bacterial flagella, in actin microfilaments, screw direction is important for assembly processes and motility. For MTs, polar orientation within the cell is paramount. The alignment of these elements in the cell cytoplasm gives rise to emergent properties, including the potential for cell differentiation and specialization. Complex MTs with a characteristic chirality are found in basal bodies and centrioles; this chirality is preserved in cilia. In motile cilia, it is reflected in the direction of the effective stroke. The positioning of the basal body or cilia on the cell surface depends on polarity proteins. In evolution, survival depends on global polarity information relayed to the cell in part by orientation of the MT and actin filament cytoskeletons and the chirality of the basal body to determine left and right coordinates within a defined anterior–posterior cell and tissue axis. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Provocative questions in left–right asymmetry’.
Quantitative assessment of the effects of metals on microbial degradation of organic chemicals

Biodegradation inhibition of a benchmark chemical, 2,4-dichloro-phenoxyacetic acid methyl ester (2,4-DME), was used to quantify the inhibitory effects of heavy metals on aerobic microbial degradation rates of organic chemicals. This procedure used lake sediments and aufwuchs (floating mats) collected in the field or from laboratory microcosms. Effects of CuCl2, HgCl2, ZnCl2, Cd(NO3)2, and Cr(NO3)3 at initial concentrations ranging from 0.3 microM to 73 mM (approximately 0.1 to 10,000 mg liter-1) were investigated. In general, such metallic compounds appeared to be considerably more inhibitory to the biodegradation of an organic chemical than high concentrations of microbially toxic organics studied previously. Effects of various metal concentrations were evaluated based on the following: (i) estimated MICs, (ii) concentrations that caused a significant effect on biodegradation parameters (both a greater than 10% decrease in Vmax and a greater than 10% increase in t1/2 for 2,4-DME degradation), and (iii) concentrations that caused biodegradation half-life doublings (HLDs). The MICs of metals in sediment were lowest for Zn2+ (0.10 microM) and highest for Cd2+ and Cu2+ (0.9 and 1.2 microM, respectively). The MICs of metals in aufwuchs were lowest for Hg2+ (0.01 microM), intermediate for Cu2+ and Zn2+ (0.42 and 0.62 microM, respectively), and highest for Cr3+ and Cd2+ (3.4 and 5.6 microM, respectively). Compared with Cu2+ on aufwuchs, 70 times more Zn2+, 250 times more Cr3+, and 1,000 times more Cd2+ was required to significantly affect aufwuchs biodegradation rate parameters and coefficients (Vmax and t1/2). Aufwuchs was significantly affected by the lowest Hg2+ concentration tested (5 microM). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Global Expression Changes in an Industrial L-Lysine Producer of Corynebacterium glutamicum

Toward the elucidation of advanced mechanisms of L-lysine production by Corynebacterium glutamicum, a highly developed industrial strain B-6 was analyzed from the viewpoint of gene expression. Northern blot analysis showed that the lysC gene encoding aspartokinase, the key enzyme of L-lysine biosynthesis, was up-regulated by several folds in strain B-6, while no repression mechanism exists in L-lysine biosynthesis of this bacterium. To analyze the underlying mechanisms of the up-regulation, we compared the transcriptome between strain B-6 and its parental wild-type, finding that not only lysC but also many other amino acid-biosynthetic genes were up-regulated in the producer. These results suggest that a certain global regulatory mechanism is involved in the industrial levels of L-lysine production.
Chronic corticosterone treatment maintains synaptic activity of CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells: Acute high corticosterone administration increases action potential number

The hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenocortical (HPA) axis controls the levels of plasma corticosterone (CT) in the rat and the levels of cortisol in man. CT is important in maintaining homeostasis and regulating energy production. Homeostasis is maintained by basal activation of the hippocampal‐HPA axis. In response to stress CT secretion is increased. CT activation of receptors in the hippocampus provides feedback inhibition of the HPA axis to return the system to basal activity. There are two types of CT receptors: the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). CT has a 10‐fold higher affinity for MR than GR. Normal basal levels of CT occupy the majority of the MR. During the diurnal surge of CT and following the presentation of a stressful stimulus, the MR and GR are both maximally occupied. To begin to understand how CT influences the hippocampal‐HPA axis, intracellular recording techniques in the hippocampal brain slice preparation were used to determine how high concentrations of CT may alter cell characteristics and/or evoked synaptic activity. Two treatment groups were used, i.e., adrenalectomized (ADX) and ADX with CT pellet replacement (ADX + CT) that produced plasma blood levels equal to that seen in a normal rat in the morning. Acute administration of 100 nM CT decreased action potential threshold and the number of action potentials elicited by a depolarizing current pulse in cells from both the ADX and ADX + CT treated rats. The amplitude of the evoked excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSP) or inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSP) declined in cells recorded from ADX animals and ADX rats acutely treated with high concentrations of CT (ADWCT). The EPSPs and IPSPs were stable in cells from ADX + CT rats exposed to high CT concentrations. We conclude from these data that chronic CT treatment is necessary to maintain EPSP and IPSP amplitude. Also, acute administration of a high concentration of CT alters the output of the CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells by increasing the number of action potentials elicited by a depolarizing current pulse but does not alter the amplitude of subthreshold EPSPs and IPSPs. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Measuring Federalism and Decentralisation

In this article I argue that federal scholars are well-advised to think of federalism as a continuum whereby subnational units can have more or less autonomy rather than allocating countries into federal and non-federal categories. The Regional Authority Index (RAI) measures the extent of self-rule and shared rule of regional government on an annual basis since 1950 and it reveals that regional autonomy arrangements in federal countries are more likely to be affected by reform than nonfederal countries. In addition, self-rule appears to be the object of decentralization in non-federal countries whereas decentralization in federal countries has mostly affected shared rule. These are surprising results which come to the fore only when one escapes categorical thinking. The RAI also changes the way in which we think about the impacts of regional governance and thereby a whole new research agenda is being opened up. Measuring Federalism and Decentralisation | 2