Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contribution of mammalian target of rapamycin in the pathophysiology of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy.

AIM To explore the role of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in the pathogenesis of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy and the potential of rapamycin to improve this pathologic condition. METHODS Male albino Wistar rats weighing 100-120 g were treated with tetrachloride carbon (CCl4) for 8 wk to induce cirrhosis. Subsequently, animals were administered rapamycin (2 mg/kg per day). The QTc intervals were calculated in a 5-min electrocardiogram. Then, the left ventricular papillary muscles were isolated to examine inotropic responsiveness to β-adrenergic stimulation using a standard organ bath equipped by Powerlab system. Phosphorylated-mTOR localization in left ventricles was immunohistochemically assessed, and ventricular tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α was measured. Western blot was used to measure levels of ventricular phosphorylated-mTOR protein. RESULTS Cirrhosis was confirmed by hematoxylin and eosin staining of liver tissues, visual observation of lethargy, weight loss, jaundice, brown urine, ascites, liver stiffness, and a significant increase of spleen weight (P < 0.001). A significant prolongation in QTc intervals occurred in cirrhotic rats exposed to CCl4 (P < 0.001), while this prolongation was decreased with rapamycin treatment (P < 0.01). CCl4-induced cirrhosis caused a significant decrease of contractile responsiveness to isoproterenol stimulation and a significant increase in cardiac TNF-α. These findings were correlated with data from western blot and immunohistochemical studies on phosphorylated-mTOR expression in left ventricles. Phosphorylated-mTOR was significantly enhanced in cirrhotic rats, especially in the endothelium, compared to controls. Rapamycin treatment significantly increased contractile force and myocardial localization of phosphorylated-mTOR and decreased cardiac TNF-α concentration compared to cirrhotic rats with no treatment. CONCLUSION In this study, we demonstrated a potential role for cardiac mTOR in the pathophysiology of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy. Rapamycin normalized the inotropic effect and altered phosphorylated-mTOR expression and myocardial localization in cirrhotic rats.
Tibial Shaft Fracture and Ankle Joint Injury

Objective: Detection of tibial fractures in which a concomitant ankle injury may exist. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Department of Trauma Surgery, University Hospital. Patients: 43 (20.1%) of 214 patients with a tibial fracture were found to have an associated injury of the ankle joint. Intervention: Analysis of all patients with tibial fractures regarding typical mechanisms of injuries and typical radiographic criteria for concomitant injuries of the ankle joint. Main Outcome Measures: Primary x-rays were analyzed looking for spiral fractures of the tibia or proximal fibular fractures or an intact fibula, typically associated with syndesmotic injury. The assessment of patients was based on radiological findings and functional recovery. Results: 45 ankle injuries in 43 patients were found. There were distal fibular fractures in 14, Maisonneuve fractures in 13, isolated ruptures of the syndesmosis in 3, fractures of the posterior malleolus in 8, and fractures of the medial malleolus in 7 of the cases. In 38 of the 43 patients, the distal tibiofibular syndesmosis was ruptured, and 88.4% of the tibia injuries were spiral fractures located in the distal third. Of the 38 patients who could be followed, 31 were categorized according to the Phillip's Score as very good, 3 as good, 2 as satisfactory, and 2 as unsatisfactory after an average of 19.8 months (12-26). Conclusion: Due to the obvious injury of the tibia, the potential instability of the ankle joint is often overlooked, and the risk of development of secondary osteoarthritis is often consequently underestimated. Added attention should be paid to the ankle in the following tibial fracture cases: pronation-eversion trauma, spiral fracture of the tibia, proximal fibular fracture, or intact fibula. Using these markers, we were able to diagnose 20.1% of combined injuries compared to our retrospective study in 1999, in which only 13.6% of these injuries could be detected (Pearson r = 0.1305, not significant).
Optimal Subset Mapping And Convergence Evaluation of Mapping Algorithms for Distributing Task Graphs on Multiprocessor SoC

Mapping an application on multiprocessor system-on-chip (MPSoC) is a crucial step in architecture exploration. The problem is to minimize optimization effort and application execution time. Applications are modeled as static acyclic task graphs which are mapped to an MPSoC. The analysis is based on extensive simulations with 300 node graphs from the standard graph set. We present a new algorithm, optimal subset mapping (OSM), that rapidly evaluates task distribution mapping space, and then compare it to simulated annealing (SA) and group migration (GM) algorithms. OSM was developed to make architecture exploration faster. Efficiency of OSM is 5.0 times and 2.4 times than that of GM and SA, respectively, when efficiency is measured as the application speedup divided by the number of iterations needed for optimization. This saves 81% and 62% in wall clock optimization time, respectively. However, this is a tradeoff because OSM reaches 96% and 89% application speedup compared to GM and SA. Results show that OSM and GM have opposite convergence behavior and SA comes between these two.
NOESIS: A nitric oxide exhaled sensor integrated system

This work describes the results of a handheld sensor system for monitoring exhaled nitric oxide. The device was developed during a framework of 3-year national project “NOESIS” in cooperation with an Italian SME (Medical International Research S.r.l.). In this apparatus a conductive sensor based on titania nanofibers coated with an ultra-thin film of PEDOT:PSS is capable of detecting up to 5 ppb of NO gas. The sensor system implements a smart recirculation measurement methodology to comply recommendations of the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society about the medical instrumentations devoted to monitor and diagnose the respiratory inflammations. Such implemented system executes the measure in 90 seconds, with an exhalation time of about 10 seconds.
Regulatory role of the cell adhesion molecule nectin‐1 in GABAergic inhibitory synaptic transmission in the CA3 region of mouse hippocampus

Proper operation of a neural circuit relies on both excitatory and inhibitory synapses. We previously showed that cell adhesion molecules nectin‐1 and nectin‐3 are localized at puncta adherentia junctions of the hippocampal mossy fiber glutamatergic excitatory synapses and that they do not regulate the excitatory synaptic transmission onto the CA3 pyramidal cells. We studied here the roles of these nectins in the GABAergic inhibitory synaptic transmission onto the CA3 pyramidal cells using nectin‐1‐deficient and nectin‐3‐deficient cultured mouse hippocampal slices. In these mutant slices, the amplitudes and frequencies of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents were indistinguishable from those in the control slices. In the nectin‐1‐deficient slices, but not in the nectin‐3‐deficient slices, however, the amplitude of miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs) was larger than that in the control slices, although the frequency of the mIPSCs was not different between these two groups of slices. In the dissociated culture of hippocampal neurons from the nectin‐1‐deficient mice, the amplitude and frequency of mIPSCs were indistinguishable from those in the control neurons. Nectin‐1 was not localized at or near the GABAergic inhibitory synapses. These results indicate that nectin‐1 regulates the neuronal activities in the CA3 region of the hippocampus by suppressing the GABAergic inhibitory synaptic transmission.
A 30-kDa host protein binds to two very-late baculovirus promoters.

A 30-kDa host factor (polyhedrin-promoter-binding protein; PPBP) specifically binds to sequences critical for transcription from the baculovirus polyhedrin (p29) gene initiator promoter [Burma, S. , Mukherjee, B. , Jain, A. , Habib, S. & Hasnain, S. E. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 2750-2757; Mukherjee, B. , Burma, S. & Hasnain, S. E. (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270, 4405-4411]. A host factor also binds, in gel shift assays, to the very-late p10 gene promoter through DNA sequence motifs similar to the PPBP.p29 interaction. The p10 host factor complex was specifically competed out with oligonucleotides containing p29 cognate sequence motifs AATAAA and TAAGTATT, but this did not occur when these motifs were replaced with random sequences. From ultraviolet cross-linking analysis, the molecular mass of this host factor was estimated to be approximately 30 kDa. Experiments were performed to investigate if this host factor displayed any differences in affinity and turnover with respect to the p29 and p10 untranslated leader sequences known to be important for temporal fine tuning and the late burst of transcription. Half-life determination of the p10-binding protein revealed similar binding affinities for the initiator elements of both the promoters, but higher affinity for the p10 5'-untranslated region (approximately 30 min versus approximately 10 min). The involvement of a similar host factor binding to both the p10 and p29 promoters indicates the possibility of a similar mode of transcription initiation from these two very-late promoters.
Validation of surrogate markers for metabolic syndrome and cardiometabolic risk factor clustering in children and adolescents: A nationwide population-based study

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in children is increasing and identifying the risk factors for MetS during childhood is an important first step to prevent chronic diseases later in life. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of MetS and cardiometabolic risk factor (CMRF) clustering among Korean children and adolescents and to validate the associated anthropometric and laboratory surrogate markers. We used data from the 2011–2014 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. In total, data for 2,935 subjects (1539 boys, 52.6%) aged 10–19 years were assessed. MetS was defined by central obesity plus any two or more of CMRFs such as abdominal obesity, hypertension, hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and decreased high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) using the International Diabetes Federation criteria for children and adolescents. The presence of two or more CMRFs was classified as CMRF clustering. The prevalence of MetS and CMRF clustering in this group was found to be 1.8% and 8.9%, respectively. The receiver operating characteristic analysis of MetS and CMRF clustering, and the area under the curve (95% confidence interval) of surrogate markers revealed that the waist circumference to height ratio [0.960 (95% CI 0.959–0.960), cut-off 0.491] showed the highest predictability for MetS whereas triglyceride to HDL-C ratio [0.891 (95% CI 0.891–0.892), cut-off 2.63] showed the highest predictability for CMRF clustering. Long-term follow-up is needed for further validation.
Longitudinal Memory Profiles in Behavioral-Variant Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.

BACKGROUND Alzheimer's disease (AD) and behavioral-variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can present with an overlapping neuropsychological profile, which often hinders their clinical differentiation. OBJECTIVE To compare changes over time in memory, general cognition tasks, and functional scales between bvFTD and AD. METHODS Consecutive cases diagnosed with probable bvFTD (n = 22) and typical AD (n = 31) with at least two clinical visits were selected. Of these, 13 (9 AD, 4 bvFTD) underwent Pittsburgh compound B PET scan, which supported the clinical diagnosis in all cases. Mixed-model regressions were used to estimate the differential rate of decline on selected tasks between cohorts. RESULTS Analyses demonstrated that, despite equivalent baseline performance, bvFTD patients experienced a more rapid functional deterioration and a steeper decline in global cognition than AD patients. At baseline, both groups were impaired on executive function and memory tasks compared to controls, but these deficits were more marked in the bvFTD group. In addition, performance on these domains continued to decline more rapidly in this group. CONCLUSIONS Neither the initial neuropsychological assessment nor projected performances can reliably distinguish the totality of bvFTD and AD individuals. Nevertheless, annual rates of progression on cognitive tasks provide valuable information and will potentially help establish the impact of future therapeutic treatments in these dementia syndromes.
A comparative analysis of estimation of age at menarche by various methods in women participating in the Krakow Longitudinal Growth Study, Poland

The purpose of this study was to see whether menarcheal age assessment by means of the most frequently used methods that were conducted every time on the same group of girls would yield the same results. One hundred and one Polish girls, whose ages at menarche were recorded in a longitudinal study between 1976 and 1990, were asked to recall the age of menarche in 2004. The mean menarcheal ages of those women were calculated by means of the probit (PA), prospective (AA), retrospective method without age correction (RA), and retrospective method with the recall age corrected by 0.5 year (RcA). The PA, AA, and retrospective methods: RA and RcA revealed results: 13.14 ± 1.1; 13.10 ± 1.1; 13.12 ± 1.36, and 14.39 ± 1.34 years, respectively. The menarcheal AA was insignificantly different from the PA (95% CI) and RA. The RcA was significantly higher than the AA and RA (P = 0.05). The correlation coefficient (r) between AA and RA was 0.70. Only 16% of the interviewed women accurately remembered the date of their menarche, 63% of them missed their menarche time by about 1 year, whereas 22% were wrong by 2 and more years. (1) The PA and the AA method yield comparable results when estimating menarcheal age. (2) The menarcheal age determined by the retrospective methods is not very reliable and the application of age correction overestimates the results. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Assessment of multiple hormonal activities in wastewater at different stages of treatment

Changes in the endocrine potency of municipal wastewater at 3 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Australia were investigated using a panel of in vitro receptor‐driven transactivation assays. The assays were based on human estrogen receptor α, androgen receptor, progesterone receptor, glucocorticoid receptor, and peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor γ2. Total removal efficiencies for estrogenic activity in the dissolved phase were 79.8% to 99.4%. Chemical analysis of 17β‐estradiol, estrone, and 17α‐ethinylestradiol levels showed that they accounted for the majority of the observed in vitro estrogenic activity in the final effluents but only 18% to 70% of estrogenic activity in the influents. Removal efficiency for androgenic activity was 97.5% to 100%. Endocrine activity levels were low in the final effluent of the WWTP with the lowest catchment population, with only estrogenic activity detected. In the final effluent of the WWTP with an intermediate catchment population, estrogenic, glucocorticoid, and peroxisome proliferator activities were detected. Estrogenic, antiandrogenic, progestagenic, glucocorticoid, and peroxisome proliferator activities were detected in the final effluent of the WWTP with the highest catchment population. The present study confirms the efficacy of secondary and tertiary treatment in reducing the concentrations of endocrine‐active compounds in municipal wastewater. Further work is required to determine the possible health risks to aquatic biota posed by multiple hormonal activities present at low levels. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:2297–2307. © 2014 SETAC
A Spectral Glottal Flow Model for Source-filter Separation of Speech

The estimation of glottal flow from a speech waveform is an essential technique used in speech analysis and parameterisation. Significant research effort has been addressed at separating the first vocal tract resonance from the glottal formant (the low-frequency resonance that describes the open-phase of the vocal fold vibration), but few methods are capable of estimating the high-frequency spectral tilt, characteristic of the closing phase of the vocal fold vibration (which is crucial to the perception of vocal effort). This paper proposes an improved Iterative Adaptive Inverse Filtering (IAIF) method based on a Glottal Flow Model, which we call GFM-IAIF. The proposed method models the wide-band glottis response, incorporating both glottal formant and spectral tilt characteristics. Evaluation against IAIF and recently proposed IOP-IAIF shows that, while GFM-IAIF maintains good performance on vocal tract modelling, it significantly improves the glottis model. This ensures that timbral variations associated to voice quality can be correctly attributed and described.
Depression and cognitive impairment in patients with mild parkinsonian signs

Mild parkinsonian signs (MPS) are reported to be associated with increased risk of dementia, Parkinson's disease, parkinsonism, and vascular lesions of white matter and are also a significant predictor of mortality. Although more than 20% of subjects aged 60 years and older suffer from MPS in Japan, it is often unrecognized and underestimated by patients and medical physicians. We used neuropsychological methods to examine cognitive function and depressive symptoms in subjects with MPS.
OIL FDI, ENVIRONMENT AND WELFARE ISSUES: EVIDENCE FROM NIGER DELTA REGION

The study investigates oil foreign direct investment impacts on the environment and people of Niger Delta oil producing communities, using structural equation models. Structural equation model is adopted because it accommodates multiple dependent variables simultaneously. Evidence shows that oil foreign direct investment has greater adverse impact on the environment than improving the well-being of the people in host communities. By implication, the environment appears to be devastating at a faster rate than well-being. This suggests that the marginal environmental cost of addition exploitation will rise over time. Therefore, there are needs for efficient allocation of resources in production and consumption so as to reduce the degree of environmental degradation.
Efficacy of Organizational Learning and Social Capital in Online Communities of Practice: Dualities and Intersections

This chapter deals with the evolution of communities of practice by considering two key components which facilitate knowledge sharing: Organizational Learning and Social Capital. Dualities and intersections between the building blocks of these two components are investigated by discussing organizational learning in its explorative and exploitative forms, while considering social capital in its bridging and bonding forms. As a critical contemporary step of evolution, information and communication technologies are also elaborated in order to examine the impact of constant and instant tools on these facilitators of knowledge sharing. The study aims to derive proxies among these components of organizational learning and social capital in order to design an integrated framework that reflects the nature of online communities of practice.
Chronic Myelopathy Associated with Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Type I (HTLV-I)

PURPOSE To review the clinical, epidemiologic, immunologic, and virologic aspects of the chronic myelopathy associated with human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I (HTLV-I), currently called tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (TSP/HAM). DATA IDENTIFICATION Studies done after 1985, when TSP/HAM was first recognized, were identified by a computer search using MEDLARS II and CANCERLIT. Additional information was acquired from personal files and bibliographies of existing literature. STUDY SELECTION A total of 400 articles, 90 book chapters, and 150 abstracts from meetings covering all aspects of HTLV-I and neurologic diseases were critically analyzed, and information from 250 publications was included. RESULTS OF DATA ANALYSIS TSP/HAM is present in most HTLV-I endemic areas, with a prevalence ranging from 5.1 to 128 per 100,000 inhabitants. Up to 20% of patients develop TSP/HAM after transfusion of HTLV-I contaminated blood. Pathologic characteristics indicate a chronic meningomyelitis. The clinical features consist of a chronic progressive spastic paraparesis or paraplegia, sphincter disturbances, and minimal sensory loss. Supraspinal and peripheral nerve involvement is sometimes observed. High titers of HTLV-I-specific antibodies are present in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid. The high level of humoral and cellular immunologic response and the association of TSP/HAM with other immunologic diseases suggest an immune-mediated process. Corticosteroids and immunosuppressor treatment usually result in only short-term improvement. CONCLUSION TSP/HAM is a common neurologic disease in many parts of the world. All patients with chronic progressive myelopathies should be tested for serum and cerebrospinal fluid HTLV-I-specific antibodies. Systematic screening of blood donors for HTLV-I is necessary to help prevent the dissemination of the virus and the occurrence of post-transfusional cases.
Fuzzy logic based control system for cascaded H-bridge converter

In this paper a simple and effective control system for a Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) converter is proposed. The proposed control system utilizes the square of the capacitor voltages as the control variable for the voltage control loops. Therefore, the individual capacitor voltage control loop and the cluster voltage control loop are completely decoupled without adding any complexity to the system. A fuzzy logic control system is proposed to regulate the individual capacitor voltages of the cells while a proportional-integral controller is used for the cluster voltage control loop. The operation of the proposed control system is verified using simulations and experiments on a single-phase 7-level CHB converter based STATCOM.
A multidimensional model of the quality of life in older age

The broad aim of the research presented here was to define the constituents and indicators of quality of life (QoL) in older age, in order to offer a more multidimensional and useful model of quality of life, based on the perspectives of older people themselves. This paper focuses on the extent to which self-evaluations of global QoL are influenced by health, psychological and social variables, and social circumstances. It reports the results of a national survey of the quality of life in people aged 65 and over, living at home in Britain. Multiple regression analysis with the self-evaluation of quality of life rating as the dependent variable showed that the overall model (Model 9) of QoL indicators explained 26.7% of the variance in quality of life ratings. This is sizeable given the amorphous nature of this concept. The main independent predictors of self-rated global quality of life were: social comparisons and expectations, personality and psychological characteristics (optimism-pessimism), health and functional status and personal and neighbourhood social capital. These variables explained the highest proportion of the variance between groups in their quality of life ratings. Socio-economic indicators contributed relatively little to the model.