Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bayesian sensitivity analysis for unmeasured confounding in causal mediation analysis

Causal mediation analysis techniques enable investigators to examine whether the effect of the exposure on an outcome is mediated by some intermediate variable. Motivated by a data example from epidemiology, we consider estimation of natural direct and indirect effects on a survival outcome. An important concern is bias from confounders that may be unmeasured. Estimating natural direct and indirect effects requires an elaborate series of assumptions in order to identify the target quantities. The analyst must carefully measure and adjust for important predictors of the exposure, mediator and outcome. Omitting important confounders may bias the results in a way that is difficult to predict. In recent years, several methods have been proposed to explore sensitivity to unmeasured confounding in mediation analysis. However, many of these methods limit complexity by relying on a handful of sensitivity parameters that are difficult to interpret, or alternatively, by assuming that specific patterns of unmeasured confounding are absent. Instead, we propose a simple Bayesian sensitivity analysis technique that is indexed by four bias parameters. Our method has the unique advantage that it is able to simultaneously assess unmeasured confounding in the mediator–outcome, exposure–outcome and exposure–mediator relationships. It is a natural Bayesian extension of the sensitivity analysis methodologies of VanderWeele, which have been widely used in the epidemiology literature. We present simulation findings, and additionally, we illustrate the method in an epidemiological study of mortality rates in criminal offenders from British Columbia.
Un environnement favorable au loisir et à l’activité physique... un atout pour les aînés en résidence.

La personne âgee qui fait son entree en residence privee ou en logement social devrait y trouver un milieu de vie adapte a ses besoins et a son degre d’autonomie. Ce milieu de vie doit lui permettre de demeurer active socialement, intellectuellement et physiquement. Une vie active est indispensable, notamment parce qu’elle est gage de qualite de vie.
Interferon-7 and urine neopterin in attacks of the hyperimmunoglobulinaemia D and periodic fever syndrome

The hyperimmunoglobulinaemia D and per­ iodic fever (hyper-IgD) syndrome is typified by recur­ rent unpredictable febrile attacks with abdominal pain, joint involvement (arthralgias/arthritis), head­ ache, skin lesions and a polyclonal elevation of serum IgD (> 100 U m L” 1). Interferon-gamma (IFN-7 ) is a major proinflammatory cytokine which could play a role in the pathogenesis of the attacks. There is a need for parameters (if possible non-invasive) to monitor disease activity. A potential candidate is neopterin which is released by monocytes/macrophages when stimulated with IFN-7 , excreted unchanged in urine, and appears to be an early and sensitive marker for activation of the immune system. We measured rectal body temperature, serum IFN-7 , and urine neopterin in 10 hyper-IgD patients both during and between attacks. The body temperature rose to a mean of 38,9°C on the first day of the attack and normalized within 5 days. Serum IF N -7 during the first day of the attack was 2-98 IU mL"1 and was significantly lower during remissions. The urine neopterin excretion was 268 ± 170 ¿¿molmol"1 creatinine between attacks and was significantly increased to 638 ± 275 ¿anolmol-1 creatinine on the first day of symptoms. Maximal urine neopterin values were reached on the fourth day of the attack (1051 ± 387 ¿zmolmor1 creatinine) and excretion gradually declined and attained values below 400 (jmolmol”1 creatinine after 9 days. There was a good correlation between serum IF N -7 and urine neopterin. The increases in serum IF N -7 and urine neopterin suggest activation of the cellular immunity during the febrile attacks of the hyper-IgD syndrome. Furthermore, the activation of the cellular immune system appears to persist several days after normalization of the body temperature. The signifi­ cant correlation between IF N -7 and urine neopterin in Correspondence: J. P. H. Drenth MD, Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, University Hospital St Radboud, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, the Netherlands. the hyper-IgD syndrome accords with experimental data suggesting that IF N -7 is the dominant factor in the release of neopterin. Our study shows that urinary neopterin is a good quantitative and qualitative para­ meter to monitor disease activity in patients with the hyper-IgD syndrome
Hierarchical virtual partitioning — Algorithms for virtual private networking

This paper discusses the hierarchical virtual partitioning (HVP) concept, which facilitates the sharing of a resource, such as a link, by multiple customers, each having various service classes. Calls of each service class have distinctive bandwidth requirements, arrival rates, and mean holding times, and quality of service (QoS) is in terms of call blocking probabilities. The algorithms devised provide for the desired mix of fairness, robustness, and multiplexing efficiency at each of two levels — namely, at the customer level and at the level of the various services of each customer. The HVP scheme relies on nominal allocations of capacities to each customer and service, as well as priorities in the call admission process implemented by dynamic trunk reservations. The paper gives an approximate method of analysis based on fixed-point equations. In addition, a reward/penalty paradigm is devised to reflect the issues in virtual private networking, and the performance of our algorithms is compared to the optimal solution. The results show that the HVP scheme is fair, efficient, and robust.
Assessment of myocardial segmental function with coronary artery stenosis in multi-vessel coronary disease patients with normal wall motion.

OBJECTIVE To discover the impact of the various degrees of coronary artery stenosis (CAD) on the left ventricular systolic dysfunction in steady state with quantitative analysis of the regional systolic myocardium in longitudinal, radial and circumferential direction in patients with coronary artery disease by two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (STI). PATIENTS AND METHODS Forty-three normal wall motion-multi vessel coronary artery disease (NWM-MVD) patients labeled as the experimental groups and forty-two subjects with little risk of CAD marked as the control group were enrolled in this study. The two-dimensional STI was obtained in the apical long axis and three levels of the short axis of the left ventricle. The left ventricular wall was divided into 18 segments. The affected myocardia were divided into three groups: group B (coronary stenosis degree ≤50%), group C (coronary stenosis degree 50%-99%)and group D (coronary stenosis degree ≥99%). Using the Q-analysis software, the longitudinal, radial and circumferential systolic strain (SL, SR, SC) and strain ratio (SrL, SrR, SrC) of the myocardium were analyzed. RESULTS The bradycardia in the NWM-MVD group is greater than that in the control group (16/43 vs. 7/42, p <0.05). Compared with the control group, the SL and SR of group B, group C and group D decreased significantly (p <0.05). Compared with group C, the SL of group D also decreased significantly (p <0.05). However, there was no SC difference among the four groups. Meanwhile, compared with group A, the SrL, SrR and SrC of group B, group C and group D decreased significantly (p <0.05). Compared with group A, group B and group C, the SrL and SrC of group D also decreased (p <0.05). Compared with group A and group C, the SrR of group D decreased. The SrL was equal to 1.085 for the cut-off value, and the sum (1.348) of sensitivity (0.673) and specificity (0.675) were the greatest. Bland-Altman analysis showed that there was myocardium conformity of in both the multi-vessel CAD patients and the control subjects. CONCLUSIONS Myocardial systolic function was impaired in the MVD patients of group B (coronary stenosis degree ≤50%), group C (coronary stenosis degree 50%-99%)and group D (coronary stenosis degree ≥99%), especially the longitudinal and radial systolic function, even though they had normal wall motion. The SrL equaled 1.085 for the cut-off value, and the sums (1.348) of sensitivity (0.673) and specificity (0.675) were the greatest. Bradycardia might be a compensatory mechanism in NWM-MVD patients.
Characterization of the ion channels formed by poliovirus in planar lipid membranes

The steps in poliovirus infection leading to viral entry and uncoating are not well understood. Current evidence suggests that the virus first binds to a plasma membrane-bound receptor present in viable cells, leading to a conformational rearrangement of the viral proteins such that the virus crosses the membrane and releases the genomic RNA. The studies described in this report were undertaken to determine if poliovirus (160S) as well as one of the subviral particles (135S) could interact with membranes lacking poliovirus receptors in an effort to begin to understand the process of uncoating of the virus. We report that both forms of viral particles, 160S and 135S, interact with lipid membranes and induce the formation of ion-permeable channels in a manner that does not require acid pH. The channels induced by the viral particles 160S have a voltage-dependent conductance which depends on the ionic composition of the medium. Our findings raise the possibility that viral entry into cells may be mediated by direct interaction of viral surface proteins with membrane lipids.
Serum Lycopene, Lutein and Zeaxanthin, and the Risk of Alzheimer's Disease Mortality in Older Adults

Background: Oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Accumulating evidence shows that antioxidant-rich food reduces the risk of AD by inhibiting oxidative stress. This study investigates whether serum levels of carotenoids were associated with the risk of AD mortality in a nationally representative sample of US adults. Methods: We used data from the Third Nutrition and Health Examination Survey (NHANES III) database and the NHANES III Linked Mortality File. A total of 6,958 participants aged older than 50 years were included in this study. Results: We found that high serum levels of lycopene and lutein+zeaxanthin at baseline were associated with a lower risk of AD mortality after adjustment for potential covariates. The reduction in the mortality risk was progressively raised by increasing serum lycopene (HR = 0.26, 95% CI 0.10-0.69) and lutein+zeaxanthin (HR = 0.43, 95% CI 0.22-0.85) levels. In contrast, no associations with AD mortality were observed for other serum carotenoids, including alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin. Conclusion: High serum levels of lycopene and lutein+zeaxanthin are associated with a lower risk of AD mortality in adults. Our findings suggest that a high intake of lycopene- or lutein+zeaxanthin-rich food may be important for reducing the AD mortality risk.
The Murine NK Receptor 2B4 (CD244) Exhibits Inhibitory Function Independent of Signaling Lymphocytic Activation Molecule-Associated Protein Expression1

2B4 (CD244) is a receptor belonging to the CD2-signaling lymphocytic activation molecule family and is found on all murine NK cells and a subset of NKT and CD8+ T cells. Murine 2B4 is expressed as two isoforms (2B4 short and 2B4 long) that arise by alternative splicing. They differ only in their cytoplasmic domains and exhibit opposing function when expressed in the RNK-16 cell line. The ligand for 2B4, CD48, is expressed on all hemopoietic cells. Previous studies have shown that treatment of NK cells with a 2B4 mAb results in increased cytotoxicity and IFN-γ production. In this report, we used CD48+/− variants of the P815 tumor cell line and 2B4 knockout mice to show that engagement of 2B4 by its counterreceptor, CD48, expressed on target cells leads to an inhibition in NK cytotoxicity. The addition of 2B4 or CD48 mAb relieves this inhibition resulting in enhanced target cell lysis. This 2B4-mediated inhibition acts independently of signaling lymphocytic activation molecule-associated protein expression. Imaging studies show that 2B4 preferentially accumulates at the interface between NK and target cells during nonlytic events also indicative of an inhibitory receptor. This predominant inhibitory function of murine 2B4 correlates with increased 2B4 long isoform level expression over 2B4 short.
Redistribution of presynaptic proteins during α‐latrotoxin‐induced release of neurotransmitter and membrane retrieval at the frog neuromuscular junction

Calcium‐dependent exocytosis at the nerve terminal involves the synaptic core (SNARE) complex composed of the t‐SNAREs syntaxin 1 and synaptosome‐associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP‐25), and the v‐SNARE vesicle‐associated membrane protein (VAMP/synaptobrevin), a stable heterotrimer which can associate with the putative calcium sensor protein, synaptotagmin. The distribution of these proteins at the frog neuromuscular junction was examined by immunofluorescent staining and confocal microscopy following exocytosis induced by α‐latrotoxin. Experiments were performed under conditions in which synaptic vesicle recycling was either maintained in balance with exocytosis, or completely blocked, or during recovery from block of endocytosis. When endocytosis was maintained, protein distribution was essentially identical to that of unstimulated nerve terminals, in which syntaxin 1 and SNAP‐25 are localized to the presynaptic active zones coincident with the postsynaptic folds that contain a high density of acetylcholine receptors (AChRs). Block of endocytosis led to complete incorporation of vesicle proteins into the plasmalemma, and t‐SNARE distribution was no longer restricted to active zones. Five minutes after the onset of recovery, both synaptic vesicle proteins and t‐SNARE proteins were concentrated into small spots, in a similar pattern to that obtained following endocytosis of the vital styryl dye FM1‐43. These findings are consistent with a model in which following sustained exocytosis, t‐SNARE trafficking involves internalization and transit via a vesicular compartment before recycling to the presynaptic plasma membrane.
Interference-driven designs of nonlinear-phase FIR filter with application in FBMC system

In the forthcoming 5G systems, new technologies, such as amorphous networks and non-orthogonal filter bank multi-carriers (FBMC), provide an effective way to accommodate high-rate transmissions. Meanwhile, the prototype filter affects the adjacent channel interference, and therefore is important for FBMC systems. Besides, once the amorphous network is taken into account, the requirement for interference control must be much stricter. Accordingly, this paper focuses on the design of prototype filter with better ability of interference controlling, where we exploit the nonlinear phase FIR filter (NLPFF) instead of traditional linear phase FIR filter (LPFF) to achieve more optimization spaces under a small sacrifice of linear phase. In our designs, both the amplitude and phase responses are handled independently to approach the stop-band performance enhancements, in while the nearly perfect reconstruction (NPR) conditions are relaxed by pre-specified thresholds. Computer simulations confirm the effectiveness of the NLPFF designs, and demonstrate the advantages of the proposed NLPFF in FBMC applications.
Adding virtualization support in MIPS 4Kc-based MPSoCs

Virtualization has emerged as a feasible technique for Embedded Systems, providing safer platforms, improving design quality and reducing manufacturing costs. However, its inherit overhead still prevent its wide adoption. Most of the current attempts use the para-virtualization technique that imposes the cost of performing comprehensive changes in the guest OS. We propose the adoption of full-virtualization for MPSoCs, where no guest OS changes are required and, in order to reduce known virtualization overheads, we propose some hardware modifications to a MIPS-based architecture. We conducted experiments that demonstrate our proposal by comparing its processing and communication overheads against a non-virtualized solution.
Music Genre Classification Algorithm Based on Dynamic Frame Analysis and Support Vector Machine

This paper proposes a new music genre classification algorithm based on dynamic music frame analysis and support vector machine (SVM). The dynamic music frame analysis could cover the long-term and the short-term music genre features which can represent the time-varying behavior of music signals. The music genre features used in this paper are mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) and log energy with dynamic frame length. The dynamic music frame analysis will be applied to train an optimized non-linear decision rule for music genre classifier via SVM. Experimental results show that the proposed new music genre classification algorithm could achieve the average classification accuracy rate of 98% for the six different music genres, including classic, dance, lullaby, Bossa, piano, and blue.
Overexpression of Ets‐1 proto‐oncogene in latent and clinical prostatic carcinomas

Aims : The high incidence of clinically diagnosed prostatic cancer is exceeded by the frequency of tumours detected at autopsy. The Ets‐1 proto‐oncogene is expressed by a variety of malignant and normal tissues. Therefore, in this study, expression of Ets‐1 protein was investigated in ‘latent’ prostatic cancer detected at autopsy, compared with benign prostatic hyperplasia, normal prostatic tissues and clinical prostatic cancer.
The immune system as the sixth sense

One of the truly remarkable discoveries in modern biology is the finding that the nervous system and immune system use a common chemical language for intra‐ and inter‐system communication. This review will discuss some of the pivotal results that deciphered this chemical language. Specifically the nervous and immune systems produce a common set of peptide and nonpeptide neurotransmitters and cytokines that act on a common repertoire of receptors in the two systems. The paper will also review more recent studies that have delineated hardwired and humoral pathways for such bidirectional communication. This is discussed in the context of the idea that the sharing of ligands and receptors allows the immune system to serve as the sixth sense that notifies the nervous system of the presence of entities, such as viruses and bacteria, that are imperceptible to the classic senses. Lastly, this review will suggest ways to apply the newfound knowledge of the sixth sense to understand a placebo effect and to treate human disease.
Do Small Heat Shock Proteins Protect Skeletal Muscle from Injury?

KOH, T.J. Do small heat shock proteins protect skeletal muscle from injury? Exerc. Sport. Sci. Rev., Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 117–121, 2002. Prior exercise training protects skeletal muscle from contraction-induced injury. However, the mechanisms of protection are unknown. In this paper, the hypothesis is developed that exercise-induced increases in small heat shock protein activity may protect muscle cells via interactions with cytoskeletal elements and/or the glutathione system.
Etude du déclin fonctionnel chez les patients âgés hospitalisés au CHU de Toulouse

L'objectif de notre etude est d'evaluer la prevalence du declin fonctionnel survenant chez les personnes âgees hospitalisees en soins courants avant et apres l'admission a l'hopital, et de mettre en evidence les facteurs de risque associes a ce declin. L'enquete est une etude observationnelle, transversale, mono centrique realisee sur tous les services du CHU de Toulouse (medecine et chirurgie, a l'exception des services de reanimation et de soins palliatifs). Le niveau d'autonomie a ete mesure grâce a l'echelle ADL (Activity of daily Living) a 15 jours avant l'hospitalisation, a l'entree, et a la sortie d'hospitalisation. Trois cent soixante deux patients de 75 ans et plus ont ete inclus. Quarante-trois pour cent des patients ont presente un declin fonctionnel entre leur etat fonctionnel de base et la sortie. Les principaux facteurs de risque de cette perte d'autonomie etaient : un âge avance (OR=1,10, p= 0,003), un meilleur statut fonctionnel avant l'hospitalisation (OR=2,27, p <0,001), un ADL bas au moment de l'admission (OR=0,42, p <0,001), la necessite d'une chirurgie durant l'hospitalisation (OR=3,99, p <0,001), et un diagnostic a l'admission de maladie neuro-degenerative (OR=13,17, p <0,001, AVC (OR=4,15, p<0,001), chute (OR=5,66, p=0,006), ou maladie rhumatismale (OR=4,79, p=0,006). L'hospitalisation represente donc un evenement majeur chez les personnes âgees, susceptible d'entrainer une perte d'autonomie fonctionnelle. D'ou la necessite d'identifier les situations de soins les plus a risque pour ces sujets, afin de proposer des interventions ciblees.
Antineuronal antibodies in Parkinson's disease

Antineuronal antibodies (ANAs) have been implicated in the pathophysiology of postinfectious movement disorders, such as Sydenham's chorea. However, their relevance in other movement disorders—in the absence of infectious triggers—remains much disputed. We sought to assess the frequency of ANAs in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) and to explore whether a specific phenotype is associated with the presence of ANAs. For this purpose, we recruited 76 IPD patients, 9 patients with genetic parkinsonism, and 10 with one of the parkinson‐plus syndromes. They were all subjected to a comprehensive clinical review. In addition, 50 patients with non‐extrapyramidal neurological disease and 30 healthy blood donors served as control populations. Blood samples were tested for the presence of ANAs with Western blotting, using recombinant proteins of the three putative antigens (aldolase C, neuron‐specific enolase, and pyruvate kinase M1). We found these antibodies in 11.8% of the 76 IPD patients, which differed significantly from healthy controls (0%, P = 0.043), but nonsignificantly from patients with genetic parkinsonism (11.1%), with a parkinson‐plus syndrome (10%), or from neurological disease controls (4%). With respect to relevant disease characteristics, IPD patients with or without ANAs were indistinguishable, except for atypical disease features (mainly early falls or freezing and marked Pisa syndrome), which were more frequent in the ANA‐positive IPD group. We conclude that ANAs do not play a role in the majority of patients with IPD, but might be relevant in the pathogenesis of IPD with atypical features. © 2008 Movement Disorder Society
Effect of combination of essential oils and bacteriocins on the efficacy of gamma radiation against Salmonella Typhimurium and Listeria monocytogenes

Abstract Purpose: Using essential oils (EO) alone or combined EO with nisin to enhance the lethality of Salmonella Typhimurium and Listeria monocytogenes to γ-irradiation treatment. Materials and methods: Cell suspension or inoculated carrots (106 colony forming unit (CFU)/ml) of L. monocytogenes or Salmonella Typhimurium were treated with carvacrol and mountain savory EO alone or treated by the combined EO plus nisin and were irradiated at different doses. The radiation dose required to reduce bacterial population by 90% (D10 value) and the relative sensitivity (RS) of treated bacteria to irradiation were calculated. Results: The RS of L. monocytogenes cell suspension to irradiation was increased by 4.19 and 6.31 times when treated by carvacrol plus nisin and mountain savory plus nisin, respectively, as compared to the control. The RS of Salmonella Typhimurium cell suspension to irradiation was increased by 1.84-fold when treated with carvacrol plus nisin. Coated carrots by nisin plus carvacrol increased the RS of L. monocytogenes to irradiation by 2.74 times while coated carrots by nisin and nisin plus carvacrol increased the RS of Salmonella Typhimurium to irradiation by 2.46 and 2.52, respectively. Conclusions: The combined EO with nisin and irradiation could increase the RS of L. monocytogenes and Salmonella Typhimurium.