Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low Plasma Cholecystokinin Levels in Colicky Infants

Objectives: Cholecystokinin (CCK) plays an important role in postprandial gallbladder contraction and may also have pacifying behavioral effects, such as inducing satiety and calming in infants. The authors hypothesized that colicky infants have impaired CCK secretion, which contributes to their gallbladder hypocontractility (reported earlier) and excessive crying. Methods: Cholecystokinin levels of 40 colicky and 37 control infants were evaluated at a mean of age 5 weeks. Plasma CCK levels were drawn before, immediately after, and 1 hour after a regular milk feeding and analyzed using radioimmunoassay (RIA). The contraction of the gallbladder was calculated using ultrasound measurements before and 1 hour after the feeding. The two‐tail t test for independent samples was used to test continuous data. Results: The preprandial and 1‐hour postprandial plasma levels of CCK were lower in the colicky infants than in the control subjects (P < 0.05). The immediate postprandial CCK levels were also lower in the colicky infants, although this difference did not reach a statistical significance. The proportion of gallbladder contractions did not differ between the study groups. Conclusions: The authors conclude that low CCK levels in colicky infants may predispose them to excessive crying in the absence of the calming effect of CCK.
A Morphologic and Immunohistochemical Study of Nasal Mucosa in Leatherworkers

Background The association between intestinal-type sinonasal adenocarcinoma and the occupational exposure to leather dusts has been widely documented, but the identification of precursor lesions in exposed workers has remained controversial. The purpose of this study was to investigate the histological changes and modifications in the phenotype of epithelial cells in nasal mucosa of leather workers. Methods Biopsy specimens of the mucosa of the middle turbinate were obtained from 139 subjects who had been employed in leather factories for 10–48 years (median, 29 years). Tissue fragments were routinely processed for histological examination and immunostainings for cytokeratin 20, CDX-2, and MUC-2 were performed. Results Regarding the surface epithelium, the most common histopathological finding was the presence of squamous metaplasia (64.7%), which was associated with mild to moderate dysplasia in 37 cases (41.1%), and goblet cell hyperplasia was identified in 30 biopsy specimens (21.6%). Positivity for MUC-2 was detected in goblet cells of 20 of the 30 samples with goblet cell hyperplasia (66.6%), whereas no immunostaining was observed for cytokeratin 20 and CDX-2. Presence of goblet cell hyperplasia was significantly associated with longer occupational exposure in leather tanning activities (p = 0.03). None of the alterations observed (squamous metaplasia, dysplasia, or goblet cell hyperplasia) showed correlation with smoking habits. Similarly, there was no correlation between squamous metaplasia with or without dysplasia and type and duration of occupational exposure. Conclusion Our data identify goblet cell hyperplasia as possible work-related alterations of nasal mucosa in leather workers. Additional investigations are needed to clarify the significance of these findings in the development of sinonasal intestinal-type carcinoma.
Recognizing and minimizing hypoglycemia: The need for individualized care

Abstract Hypoglycemia is a condition known to disrupt many everyday activities and is associated with increased risks of hospitalization, falls, motor vehicle accidents and mortality. Many patients with diabetes have an increased risk of hypoglycemia due to interventions targeting glycemic control. In these patients, hypoglycemia and fear of hypoglycemia may further reduce adherence to glucose-lowering regimens, contributing to the further aggravation of diabetes-related complications. Avoiding hypoglycemia should be one of the principal goals of any treatment strategies employing agents that can induce hypoglycemia in order to prevent the occurrence of associated symptoms and consequences. The education of patients and their families is an important feature of individualized management strategies in order to prevent, mitigate and treat hypoglycemic episodes. Patients with diabetes need to be made aware of how to recognize the signs of hypoglycemia and of the simple, highly effective steps that they can take to self-manage hypoglycemic episodes. Clinicians should be familiar with the risk factors for hypoglycemia, especially the profiles of the different classes of glucose-lowering medications such as the sulfonylureas and insulin. This article aims to review the risk factors for hypoglycemia and its implications for patients and healthcare systems, and provide practical advice for minimizing the risk of hypoglycemia and its consequences.
[A study on the significance of plasma thrombospondin1 in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and the relationship between thrombospondin1 and von Willebrand factor cleaving protease (ADAMTS13)].

OBJECTIVE To measure plasma thrombospondin1 (TSP1) in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and other diseases such as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), myocardial infarction, brain infarction, and malignant tumor et al. and 8 patients after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) were also investigated. Then to study on the relationship between TSP1 and von Willebrand factor cleaving protease (ADAMTS13); and to identify the significance of plasma TSP1 in TTP. METHODS TSP1 was measured by a commercial kit and the activity of ADAMTS13 was evaluated by residue collagen binding assay. RESULTS TSP1 in TTP plasma before plasma exchange or plasma infusion was 6.49 mg/L, and stepping up to 13.02 mg/L after therapy, but still significantly lower than 18.34 mg/L in normal control. While the decrease in different degree of ADAMTS13 activity was observed from 0%-52%, and there were 8 samples whose activity of ADAMTS13 were no more than 10%; the different extent of increase in those patients after therapy was demonstrated to be 2.9%-93.4%, only one patient's ADAMTS13 activity was below 10%. The activity of ADAMTS13 in some ITP and SLE patients were mildly decreased (63% +/- 16% and 70% +/- 14% respectively), TSP1 were also decreased (16 mg/L +/- 8 mg/L). TSP1 in patients of myocardial infarction and brain infarction were increased (24.0 mg/L +/- 2.9 mg/L), while ADAMTS13 activity had no significant change (72% +/- 16%). Same things happened in BMT patients. CONCLUSION There was some concordance between the decrease of ADAMTS13 activity and TSP1 in plasma of TTP patients. And the change of TSP1 was restricted to TTP. TSP1 may contribute to the episode of TTP in a still unclear fashions.
Topological Recognition of Critical Transitions in Time Series of Cryptocurrencies

We analyze the time series of four major cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple) before the digital market crash at the end of 2017 - beginning 2018. We introduce a methodology that combines topological data analysis with a machine learning technique -- $k$-means clustering -- in order to automatically recognize the emerging chaotic regime in a complex system approaching a critical transition. We first test our methodology on the complex system dynamics of a Lorenz-type attractor, and then we apply it to the four major cryptocurrencies. We find early warning signals for critical transitions in the cryptocurrency markets, even though the relevant time series exhibit a highly erratic behavior.
Differences in C‐myc and pvt‐1 amplification in sewa sarcoma sublines selected for adherent or non‐adherent growth

Conversion of solid sarcomas and carcinomas into ascites tumors depends on the in vivo selection of phenotypically altered tumor cell variants that can grow in the dissociated form. Once selected, they retain this property even after prolonged s.c. growth as solid tumors. From an s.c. ‐passaged subline of an ascites‐converted murine sarcoma (SEWA‐AS12), we were able to separate cells adapted to the ascites form of growth from cells that can only grow in the solid form on the basis of their differential adherence to plastic. Both c‐myc and pvt‐1 were amplified approximately 63‐ to 77‐fold in the nonadherent subline (SEWA‐AS12‐NA), but only 5‐ to 8‐fold in the adherent subine (SEWA‐AS12‐ADH). This suggests that c‐myc and/or pvt‐1 amplification may provide a selective advantage to cells that can grow in the dissociated form.
Workshop on experimental evaluation of software and systems in computer science (Evaluate 2010)

We call ourselves 'computer scientists', but are we scientists? If we are scientists, then we must practice the scientific method. This includes a solid experimental evaluation. In our experience, our experimental methodology is ad hoc at best, and nonexistent at worst. This workshop brings together experts from different areas of computer science to discuss, explore, and attempt to identify the principles of sound experimental evaluation
After‐effects of near‐threshold stimulation in single human motor axons

Subthreshold electrical stimuli can generate a long‐lasting increase in axonal excitability, superficially resembling the phase of superexcitability that follows a conditioning nerve impulse. This phenomenon of ‘subthreshold superexcitability’ has been investigated in single motor axons in six healthy human subjects, by tracking the excitability changes produced by conditioning stimuli of different amplitudes and waveforms. Near‐threshold 1 ms stimuli caused a mean decrease in threshold at 5 ms of 22.1 ± 6.0% (mean ±s.d.) if excitation occurred, or 6.9 ± 2.6% if excitation did not occur. The subthreshold superexcitability was maximal at an interval of about 5 ms, and fell to zero at 30 ms. It appeared to be made up of two components: a passive component linearly related to conditioning stimulus amplitude, and a non‐linear active component. The active component appeared when conditioning stimuli exceeded 60% of threshold, and accounted for a maximal threshold decrease of 2.6 ± 1.3%. The passive component was directly proportional to stimulus charge, when conditioning stimulus duration was varied between 0.2 and 2 ms, and could be eliminated by using triphasic stimuli with zero net charge. This change in stimulus waveform had little effect on the active component of subthreshold superexcitability or on the ‘suprathreshold superexcitability’ that followed excitation. It is concluded that subthreshold superexcitability in human motor axons is mainly due to the passive electrotonic effects of the stimulating current, but this is supplemented by an active component (about 12% of suprathreshold superexcitability), due to a local response of voltage‐dependent sodium channels.
Extracting common sense knowledge via triple ranking using supervised and unsupervised distributional models

In this paper we are concerned with developing information extraction models that support the extraction of common sense knowledge from a combination of unstructured and semi-structured datasets. Our motivation is to extract manipulation-relevant knowledge that can support robots’ action planning. We frame the task as a relation extraction task and, as proof-of-concept, validate our method on the task of extracting two types of relations: locative and instrumental relations. The locative relation relates objects to the prototypical places where the given object is found or stored. The second instrumental relation relates objects to their prototypical purpose of use. While we extract these relations from text, our goal is not to extract speciﬁc textual mentions, but rather, given an object as input, extract a ranked list of locations and uses ranked by ‘prototypicality’. We use distributional methods in embedding space, relying on the well-known skip-gram model to embed words into a low-dimensional distributional space, using cosine similarity to rank the various candidates. In addition, we also present experiments that rely on the vector space model NASARI, which compute embeddings for disambiguated concepts and are thus semantically aware. While this distributional approach has been published before, we extend our framework by additional methods relying on neural networks that learn a score to judge whether a given candidate pair actually expresses a desired relation. The network thus learns a scoring function using a supervised approach. While we use a ranking-based evaluation, the supervised model is trained using a binary classiﬁcation task. The resulting score from the neural network and the cosine similarity in the case of the distributional approach are both used to compute a ranking. We compare the different approaches and parameterizations thereof on the task of extracting the above mentioned relations. We show that the distributional similarity approach performs very well on the task. The best performing parameterization achieves an NDCG of 0.913, a Precision@1 of 0.400 and a Precision@3 of 0.423. The performance of the supervised learning approach, in spite of having being trained on positive and negative examples of the relation in question, is not as good as expected and achieves an NCDG of 0.908, a Precision@1 of 0.454 and a Precision@3 of 0.387, respectively.
Modelling the Fate and Transport of Nickel in the Mersey Estuary

Modelling heavy metals in estuarine environments is extremely complex for various reasons; one of the primary complicating factors is that metals exist in two phases, dissolved and particulate bound. Dynamic changes in water chemistry, and in particular salinity, affect the partitioning of metals between the two phases and hence make it difficult to determine the relative fractions of each phase. A relatively simple approach was developed to relate variations in partition coefficient for Ni to salinity fluctuations in the Mersey Estuary. The functional relationship developed between partition coefficient and salinity departs from the traditional exponential type curve, providing a more realistic relationship. A numerical model was then developed for predicting the transport and distribution of Ni about the Mersey Estuary. The model couples transport of metals throughout the water along with incorporating the chemical processes controlling how nickel is fractioned between dissolved and particulate phases through the newly developed partition coefficient relationship. Model predictions of dissolved Ni along the longitudinal axis of the estuary were compared with measurements of Ni for two events; very good correlation was obtained between the model results and the data.
Outpatient consolidation treatment with clofarabine in a phase 2 study of older adult patients with previously untreated acute myelogenous leukemia

Abstract This report describes outpatient (OP) administration of clofarabine in older patients (≥60 years) with untreated acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Overall, 112 patients underwent clofarabine induction. Clofarabine was administered to 35 OPs for a total of 72 OP cycles, with 81% of these cycles representing consolidation treatment. Median length of hospital stay was 0–6 days and 5–25 days across OP and inpatient (IP) cycles, respectively. The most common adverse events (AEs) were nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, febrile neutropenia, edema, hypokalemia and pneumonia. The overall frequency of treatment-emergent grade ≥3 AEs and serious AEs was generally not different with IP or OP administration of clofarabine. No deaths were reported within 30 days following OP or IP consolidation cycles. In the appropriately selected older patient, OP administration of clofarabine consolidation appears feasible, is as well tolerated as IP administration and has potential to contribute to the quality of life in elderly patients with AML.
“This is the way the world ends, not…”: towards a polis of performing ecology

In the opening decade of the twenty-first century humans faced a rising surplus of historical double binds that threatened no shortage of highly charged political and ethical dilemmas. For example, humanity’s success at performing survival began to outstrip the carrying capacity of Earth. And, of course, such blatant global dramas offer no obvious denouement. When all futures seem to promise only impossible scenarios, such as an end to ‘history’ or even ‘nature’, what kinds of performance paradigm might offer some glimmers of hope? This presentation approaches that prospect paradoxically by attempting to treat it lightly, as if we are always already such stuff as dreams are made on. So it delves into an end to all ethics and the onset of an especially extreme state of political exception for Homo sapiens as the species passes under a rainbow called climate change. For this particular specimen, on the left is a 1970s Hawaiian happening titled H.C. A.W. – Happy Cleaner Air Week – to the right a recent land-based installation known as A Meadow Meander . Between these unlikely materials it aims to conjure up a few random poles of a dynamic dispersal of Earthly doom that goes by the dubious bioethical alias of ‘performing ecology’.
Flexibility in Surface-Exposed Loops in a Virus Capsid Mediates Escape from Antibody Neutralization

ABSTRACT New human norovirus strains emerge every 2 to 3 years, partly due to mutations in the viral capsid that allow escape from antibody neutralization and herd immunity. To understand how noroviruses evolve antibody resistance, we investigated the structural basis for the escape of murine norovirus (MNV) from antibody neutralization. To identify specific residues in the MNV-1 protruding (P) domain of the capsid that play a role in escape from the neutralizing monoclonal antibody (MAb) A6.2, 22 recombinant MNVs were generated with amino acid substitutions in the A′B′ and E′F′ loops. Six mutations in the E′F′ loop (V378F, A382K, A382P, A382R, D385G, and L386F) mediated escape from MAb A6.2 neutralization. To elucidate underlying structural mechanisms for these results, the atomic structure of the A6.2 Fab was determined and fitted into the previously generated pseudoatomic model of the A6.2 Fab/MNV-1 virion complex. Previously, two distinct conformations, A and B, of the atomic structures of the MNV-1 P domain were identified due to flexibility in the two P domain loops. A superior stereochemical fit of the A6.2 Fab to the A conformation of the MNV P domain was observed. Structural analysis of our observed escape mutants indicates changes toward the less-preferred B conformation of the P domain. The shift in the structural equilibrium of the P domain toward the conformation with poor structural complementarity to the antibody strongly supports a unique mechanism for antibody escape that occurs via antigen flexibility instead of direct antibody-antigen binding. IMPORTANCE Human noroviruses cause the majority of all nonbacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. New epidemic strains arise in part by mutations in the viral capsid leading to escape from antibody neutralization. Herein, we identify a series of point mutations in a norovirus capsid that mediate escape from antibody neutralization and determine the structure of a neutralizing antibody. Fitting of the antibody structure into the virion/antibody complex identifies two conformations of the antibody binding domain of the viral capsid: one with a superior fit and the other with an inferior fit to the antibody. These data suggest a unique mode of antibody neutralization. In contrast to other viruses that largely escape antibody neutralization through direct disruption of the antibody-virus interface, we identify mutations that acted indirectly by limiting the conformation of the antibody binding loop in the viral capsid and drive the antibody binding domain into the conformation unable to be bound by the antibody.
Histopathological Features of Methotrexate Induced Pulmonary Lesions in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients: A Systematic Review of Case Reports

BACKGROUND: Methotrexate (MTX) is the most commonly used disease-modifying drug in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA); however, it causes many side effects, including pulmonary lesions. In this review, we characterised the histopathological features of MTX-induced pulmonary lesions in RA patients. AIM: We carried out an electronic search of the relevant literature published during the period from 1990 to 2016. We included only the cases with definitive histo-pathological findings caused by MTX therapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The total number of cases is 27. Male: female ratio was 1:3, and ages ranged from 48 to 87 years old, with a mean (SD) = 65.7 (1.0). The cases were originally from Asia (55%), Europe (41%), and America (4%). The major complications of methotrexate therapy were lymphoproliferative disorders (42%) followed by interstitial fibrosis (33), and infections (25%). The incidence of these complications significantly increases with the duration of MTX treatment (p = 0.044). Among the infections, the most common causative organism was pneumocystis jiroveci. The majority of patients who developed infections following methotrexate therapy were from Europe whereas the majority of those who developed lymphoproliferative disorders were from Asia (p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, methotrexate therapy in rheumatoid arthritis patients causes different types pulmonary complications.
Donor risk factors, retrieval technique, preservation and ischemia/reperfusion injury in pancreas transplantation

Purpose of reviewPancreas transplantation is still hampered by a high incidence of early graft loss, and organ quality concerns result in high nonrecovery/discard rates. Demographic donor characteristics, surgical retrieval strategy, preservation fluid and ischemia time are crucial factors in the process of organ selection and are discussed in this review. Recent findingsThe donor shortage is driving an increasing utilization of nonideal organs which would previously have been identified as unsuitable. Recent literature suggests that organs from extended criteria donors – older (>45 years), BMI >30 kg/m2, and donation after cardiac death (DCD) – can achieve the same graft and patient survival as those from standard criteria donors, with the proviso that the accumulation of risk factors and long ischemic times should be avoided. Visual assessment of the pancreas is advisable before declining/accepting a pancreas. University of Wisconsin represents the gold standard solution; however, histidine–tryptophan–ketoglutarate and Celsior result in equal outcomes if cold ischemia time (CIT) is less than 12 h. Currently in pancreas transplantation, there is no proven effective ischemia/reperfusion injury prophylaxis than trying to keep CIT as short as possible. SummaryDemographic risk factors, inspection of the pancreas by an experienced surgeon and predicted CIT are crucial factors in deciding whether to accept a pancreas for transplantation. However, there is a need for an improved evidence base to determine where to set the ‘cut-off’ for unsuitable pancreatic grafts.