Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cognitive Assessment in Proximity to Acute Ischemic Stroke/Transient Ischemic Attack: Comparison of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test and MindStreams Computerized Cognitive Assessment Battery

Background/Aims: Even mild stroke survivors may sometimes experience residual cognitive damage. No consensus has emerged about which cognitive test is most appropriate for the diagnosis of poststroke cognitive impairment. We aim to compare a computerized battery of neuropsychological tests for memory, attention and executive functions (MindStreams®) with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to detect mild-to-moderate cognitive impairments in poststroke patients. Methods: Subjects enrolled to the TABASCO (Tel Aviv Brain Acute Stroke Cohort) study, a prospective study which includes consecutive first-ever mild-to-moderate stroke patients, were included. All participants underwent neurological and cognitive evaluations. Results: A total of 454 patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke are reported. Their mean MoCA and MindStreams scores were lower than normal; however, the TIA group presented significantly better scores using either method. The correlation between the MoCA and the computerized global score was 0.6 (p < 0.001). A significant correlation was found between the subcategory scores (executive function, memory and attention). However, the MoCA identified many more subjects with low scores (<26) compared to the MindStreams (70.6 vs. 15.7%). Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that either of the modalities alone is sensitive enough for identifying subtle cognitive impairment and none picks up substantially more cognitive losses than the other in patients with cerebrovascular disease.
Reduced Semantic Fluency as an Additional Screening Tool for Subjects with Questionable Dementia

Background: Subjective memory complaints in subjects with mild cognitive impairment may represent a genuine decline in episodic memory. This paper evaluates the neuropsychological correlates of the semantic fluency test in subjects with questionable dementia (QD). Methods: A total of 331 Chinese subjects (118 normal controls, NC, 150 with QD and 63 with mild Alzheimer’s disease, AD) were assessed with the Category Verbal Fluency Test (CVFT), the AD Assessment Scale – cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog), and digit and verbal span tests. CVFT performance was evaluated in each Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) group. The total number of exemplars, the subcategory and the category size generated were evaluated. Neuropsychological correlates of CVFT scores were computed. Results: Significant differences in CVFT performance were found between the different CDR groups. The subjects with QD had intermediate scores compared to the NC and AD subjects (1-way ANOVA, p < 0.001, post-hoc Bonferroni comparisons). In NC the CVFT scores were significantly associated with ADAS-Cog total, and immediate and delayed recall scores (partial correlations controlled for age and education, p < 0.005). In the QD group the CVFT scores were correlated with ADAS-Cog total, and immediate recall and object naming scores (partial correlation controlled for age and education, p < 0.005). Regression analysis revealed that age and delayed recall were significant predictors of CVFT performance in NCs. In the QD group, age, ADAS-Cog immediate recall and object naming scores predicted the CVFT performance. Conclusions: The CVFT was impaired in the subjects with QD. Apart from episodic memory, semantic memory deficits also occur early in AD. The different cognitive predictors of CVFT scores in the NC and QD groups suggest that the test is associated with specific psychological functions at different stages of cognitive impairment.
Chest-Worn Health Monitor Based on a Bistatic Self-Injection-Locked Radar

This paper presents wearable health monitors that are based on continuous-wave Doppler radar technology. To achieve low complexity, low power consumption, and simultaneous wireless transmission of Doppler information, the radar architecture is bistatic with a self-injection-locked oscillator (SILO) tag and an injection-locked oscillator (ILO)-based frequency demodulator. In experiments with a prototype that was operated in the medical body area network and the industrial scientific and medical bands from 2.36 to 2.484 GHz, the SILO tag is attached to the chest of a subject to transform the movement of the chest due to cardiopulmonary activity and body exercise into a transmitted frequency-modulated wave. The tag consumes a very low power of 4.4 mW. The ILO-based frequency demodulator, located 30 cm from the subject, receives and processes this wave to yield the waveform that is associated with the movement of the chest. Following further digital signal processing, the cardiopulmonary activity and body exercise are displayed as time-frequency spectrograms. Promisingly, the experimental results that are presented in this paper reveal that the proposed health monitor has high potential to integrate a cardiopulmonary sensor, a pedometer, and a wireless transmission device on a single radar platform.
An RNasin-resistant ribonuclease selective for interleukin 2 mRNA

Interleukin 2 (IL2) mRNA has a short half-life in the cytoplasm of T lymphocytes, relative to most mRNA. We have discovered a candidate ribonuclease to account for the rapid turnover of IL2 mRNA in the cytosol of the human T lymphocyte cell line Jurkat. In partially purified form, this RNase is about 7 times as active on IL2 as on beta-globin mRNA. Pancreatic RNase, by contrast, does not show a significant preference for IL2 mRNA. Neither 5' capping, nor polyadenylation of the substrate mRNAs affects their degradation by the IL2-selective mRNase, whose activity is optimal in 0.5 mM Mg++ and 100 mM potassium acetate. The mRNase behaves like a protein of molecular weight 60-70,000 on gel chromatography, and is unusual in that it is insensitive to placental RNase inhibitor (RNasin). The mRNase cleaves IL2 mRNA at a small number of sites in the coding region, and IL2 mRNA containing only the coding region and 36 nucleotides of the 3'-noncoding region competes efficiently with full-length IL2 mRNA for the mRNase, whereas beta-globin mRNA does not.
Novel approach for α‐helical topology prediction in globular proteins: Generation of interhelical restraints

The protein folding problem represents one of the most challenging problems in computational biology. Distance constraints and topology predictions can be highly useful for the folding problem in reducing the conformational space that must be searched by deterministic algorithms to find a protein structure of minimum conformational energy. We present a novel optimization framework for predicting topological contacts and generating interhelical distance restraints between hydrophobic residues in α‐helical globular proteins. It should be emphasized that since the model does not make assumptions about the form of the helices, it is applicable to all α‐helical proteins, including helices with kinks and irregular helices. This model aims at enhancing the ASTRO‐FOLD protein folding approach of Klepeis and Floudas (Journal of Computational Chemistry 2003;24:191–208), which finds the structure of global minimum conformational energy via a constrained nonlinear optimization problem. The proposed topology prediction model was evaluated on 26 α‐helical proteins ranging from 2 to 8 helices and 35 to 159 residues, and the best identified average interhelical distances corresponding to the predicted contacts fell below 11 Å in all 26 of these systems. Given the positive results of applying the model to several protein systems, the importance of interhelical hydrophobic‐to‐hydrophobic contacts in determining the folding of α‐helical globular proteins is highlighted. Proteins 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Association of Random Plasma Glucose Levels With the Risk for Cardiovascular Disease Among Chinese Adults Without Known Diabetes.

Importance Diabetes is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Substantial uncertainty remains, however, about the relevance to CVD risk for blood glucose levels below the diabetes threshold. Objective To examine the association of random plasma glucose (RPG) levels with the risk for major CVD in Chinese adults without known diabetes. Design, Setting, and Participants This prospective cohort study included 467 508 men and women aged 30 to 79 years with no history of diabetes, ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, or transient ischemic attack. Participants were recruited from 5 urban and 5 rural diverse locations across China from June 25, 2004, to July 15, 2008, and followed up to January 1, 2014. Exposures Baseline and usual (longer-term average) RPG level. Main Outcomes and Measures Cardiovascular deaths, major coronary events (MCE) (including fatal IHD and nonfatal myocardial infarction), ischemic stroke (IS), major occlusive vascular disease (MOVD) (including MCE or IS), and intracerebral hemorrhage. Preliminary validation of stroke and IHD events demonstrated positive predictive values of approximately 90% and 85%, respectively. Cox regression yielded adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for CVD associated with RPG levels. Results Among the 467 508 participants (41.0% men; 59.0% women; mean [SD] age, 51 [11] years), a significant positive association of baseline RPG levels with CVD risks continued to 4.0 mmol/L (72 mg/dL). After adjusting for regression dilution bias, each 1-mmol/L (18-mg/dL) higher usual RPG level above 5.9 mmol/L (106 mg/dL) was associated with an 11% higher risk for cardiovascular death (6645 deaths; aHR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.10-1.13). Similarly strong positive associations were seen for MCE (3270 events; aHR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.08-1.13), IS (19 153 events; aHR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.07-1.09), and MOVD (22 023 events; aHR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.07-1.09). For intracerebral hemorrhage, the association was weaker, but also significant (4326 events; aHR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.02-1.07). These associations persisted after excluding participants who developed diabetes during follow-up. Conclusions and Relevance Among adult Chinese without diabetes, lower RPG levels are associated with lower risks for major CVDs, even within a normal range of blood glucose levels.
The Km for Radiosensitization of Human Tumor Cells by Oxygen is Much Greater than 3 mmHg and is Further Increased by Elevated Levels of Cysteine

Abstract Horan, A. D. and Koch, C. J. The Km for Radiosensitization of Human Tumor Cells by Oxygen is Much Greater than 3 mmHg and is Further Increased by Elevated Levels of Cysteine. Radiat. Res. 156, 388–398 (2001). We studied the role of cysteine as an intracellular radiation protector under conditions in which both oxygen and thiols were monitored at 37°C. In HCT-116 human colon cancer cells, the intracellular cysteine content affects the radiation survival dramatically at intermediate oxygen levels, but not at zero or high oxygen levels. Using a spin-through-oil method with a dual radioactive label detection system, we measured intracellular cysteine and glutathione (GSH) levels for cells in suspension culture. A comparison of the cysteine levels of monolayer cells lysed in situ and of trypsinized monolayer cells in suspension (Horan et al., Cytometry 29, 76–82, 1997) revealed that, upon trypsinization from monolayer culture and transfer to a spinner apparatus at 37°C, HCT-116 cells lose most of their intracellular cysteine. Over the 60-min time course of control experiments, these cells do not recover intracellular cysteine despite the availability of cystine (the disulfide of cysteine) in the medium. When cells in spinner culture are provided with exogenous cysteine, they initially concentrate it to 10-fold the extracellular concentration, with the concentration factor decreasing to about 5-fold over the course of an hour. The intracellular GSH concentration changes little throughout this period, regardless of the changes in cysteine levels. The same apparatus was used to assess the survival of HCT-116 cells irradiated at 37°C under conditions of constant pO2 monitoring. For cells without added cysteine, the oxygen concentration for half-maximal radiation sensitivity was about 7.5 mmHg (intermediate hypoxia), more than twice the commonly accepted value (3 mmHg). At 7.5 mmHg, cells with added cysteine (intracellular concentration 3.5 mM) were almost as radioresistant as severely hypoxic cells (≈0.005% oxygen). Cells in parallel experiments in which the cells were grown in monolayers on glass Petri dishes had intermediate cysteine values and also intermediate radiosensitivity. We conclude that the radiation response of cells at intermediate oxygen levels is controlled predominantly by intracellular cysteine levels and that the cysteine levels commonly found in tumors may increase the Km for radiosensitivity to values much higher than suggested previously.
Optimizing weight gain in pregnancy to prevent obesity in women and children

Pregnancy is now considered to be an important risk factor for new or persistent obesity among women during the childbearing years. High gestational weight gain is the strongest predictor of maternal overweight or obesity following pregnancy. A growing body of evidence also suggests that both high and low gestational weight gains are independently associated with an increased risk of childhood obesity, suggesting that influences occurring very early in life are contributing to obesity onset. In response to these data, the US Institute of Medicine (IOM) revised gestational weight gain guidelines in 2009 for the first time in nearly two decades. However, less than one third of pregnant women achieve guideline‐recommended gains, with the majority gaining above IOM recommended levels. To date, interventions to optimize pregnancy weight gains have had mixed success. In this paper, we summarize the evidence from human and animal studies linking over‐nutrition and under‐nutrition in pregnancy to maternal and child obesity. In addition, we discuss published trials and ongoing interventions to achieve appropriate gestational weight gain as a strategy for obesity prevention in women and their children.
Simplified Chip Power Modeling Methodology Without Netlist Information in Early Stage of SoC Design Process

This paper presents a novel methodology for on-chip power-noise modeling in the early stage of system-on-chip (SoC) design. Conventionally, the on-chip power-noise simulation is performed in “placement and routing” design stage. Therefore, designers experience difficulty in applying the simulation results to improve power-noise performance because of the delivery time. The proposed methodology enables modeling of the dynamic current profile, without any geometry information and estimation of SoC power noise in the register-transfer-level design phase. Each SoC sub-block is defined as a unit simplified chip power model (SCPM), and the defined unit SCPMs are integrated into one SCPM, including multiblock characteristics. SCPM presents various types of current profiles to accurately predict the maximum current peak, and it includes the background current to prevent overestimation of the ac current. To improve the simulation accuracy, this paper proposes a voltage ripple measurement method that considers the SoC operating scenario. The simulation results of the SCPM are verified by the measurement results, and the SCPM methodology shows the correlation results of 7 and 18 mV on two test vehicles with a 1.1 V core voltage. In the chip-package design industry for electronic applications, the proposed methodology presents a design guide for the power delivery network, such as essential capacitance per location (e.g., chip, package, and printed circuit board) and the limit of the off-chip routing inductance. In addition, the forecast by the SCPM simulation shows that preactive design is available at the early stages of the design process.
Ki-67 staining is a strong predictor of distant metastasis and mortality for men with prostate cancer treated with radiotherapy plus androgen deprivation: Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Trial 92-02.

PURPOSE The Ki-67 staining index (Ki67-SI) has been associated with prostate cancer patient outcome; however, few studies have involved radiotherapy (RT) -treated patients. The association of Ki67-SI to local failure (LF), biochemical failure (BF), distant metastasis (DM), cause-specific death (CSD) and overall death (OD) was determined in men randomly assigned to short term androgen deprivation (STAD) + RT or long-term androgen deprivation (LTAD) + RT. PATIENTS AND METHODS There were 537 patients (35.5%) on Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 92-02 who had sufficient tissue for Ki67-SI analysis. Median follow-up was 96.3 months. Ki67-SI cut points of 3.5% and 7.1% were previously found to be related to patient outcome and were examined here in a Cox proportional hazards multivariate analysis (MVA). Ki67-SI was also tested as a continuous variable. Covariates were dichotomized in accordance with stratification and randomization criteria. RESULTS Median Ki67-SI was 6.5% (range, 0% to 58.2%). There was no difference in the distribution of patients in the Ki-67 analysis cohort (n = 537) and the other patients in RTOG 92-02 (n = 977) by any of the covariates or end points tested. In MVAs, Ki67-SI (continuous) was associated with LF (P =.08), BF (P =.0445), DM (P <.0001), CSD (P <.0001), and OD (P =.0094). When categoric variables were used in MVAs, the 3.5% Ki67-SI cut point was not significant. The 7.1% cut point was related to BF (P =.09), DM (P =.0008), and CSD (P =.017). Ki67-SI was the most significant correlate of DM and CSD. A detailed analysis of the hazard rates for DM in all possible covariate combinations revealed subgroups of patients treated with STAD + RT that did not require LTAD. CONCLUSION Ki67-SI was the most significant determinant of DM and CSD and was also associated with OD. The Ki67-SI should be considered for the stratification of patients in future trials.
Accurate vehicle positioning in urban areas

We present in this paper a method for land-vehicle navigation systems which fuses GPS and dead reckoning data especially in urban areas where GPS outages can happen. The DR sensor here computes the differential odometry of the vehicle. In order to improve the positioning accuracy, our algorithm also fuses the road map database of a GIS. The digital road map here is modeled as a measure described by a set of node locations and road bearings. This measurement equation allows a direct modeling of the map errors and uncertainties that can be embedded in the filter, and it is initialized by a matching procedure that uses the Mahalanobis metric as a statistical distance criterion. Based on a centralized fusion scheme, the filter sequentially processes the available measurements. We present experimental results from an urban transport network scenario in presence of GPS outages, which shows the benefits of the proposed method for the vehicle positioning.
Macular ultrastructural features in amblyopia using high-definition optical coherence tomography

Purpose To study macular morphology in amblyopic eyes using high-definition spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and to compare the findings with fellow eyes. Methods This was a prospective institutional study of patients ≥6 years of age with unilateral amblyopia. Enhanced high-definition single line macular scans of amblyopic eyes were obtained using SD-OCT and compared with fellow eyes. Scans were evaluated qualitatively for structural differences. Central foveal thickness was measured and areas of the different retinal layers were computed within 500 µm from the foveal centre nasally and temporally. Results Forty-five patients with unilateral amblyopia were included: 25 with strabismic and 20 with anisometropic amblyopia with a mean age of 24.8 years. Qualitatively, the bulge in the inner segment/outer segment junction of the central fovea was noted to be attenuated or absent in 60% of amblyopic eyes compared with 29% of normal eyes, p=0.02. Also, amblyopic eyes demonstrated a shallow foveal pit compared with normal fellow eyes. Mean foveal thickness was significantly increased in amblyopic (228.56 µm) versus fellow eyes (221.72 µm), p=0.03. Upon exploring different retinal layers, the temporal inner nuclear layer area was increased (p=0.04) while the outer nuclear layer area was decreased (p=0.04) in amblyopic eyes compared with fellow eyes. Conclusions Using enhanced high-definition SD-OCT, amblyopic eyes demonstrated qualitative and quantitative differences in macular features, possibly representing signs of immaturity compared with normal fellow eyes.
Correlation of WHO clinical staging with CD4 counts in adult HIV/AIDS patients at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi.

OBJECTIVE To determine the degree of correlation between the WHO clinical staging and CD4 T-cell counts in HIV/AIDS adults at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi. SUBJECTS One hundread and fifty two newly diagnosed HIV patients were recruited prospectively. Patients were first staged using the 2005 WHO clinical staging and then blood drawn for CD4 cell count. RESULTS The mean age in the study was 35 years, with females comprising 52.6% of the study group. The mean CD4 counts were 455, 420, 203 and 92 for WHO Stage 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. The sensitivity of the WHO clinical staging to predict CD4 counts of > 350 cells/microl was 63% with a specificity of 82%. The most common HIV clinical events were bacterial infections (33%), severe weight loss (28%) and tuberculosis (27%). CONCLUSIONS There was correlation between the WHO clinical staging and expected CD4 T-cell count. However, the sensitivity was low and missed over a third of the patients in need of HAART. Majority of the patients presented in severe disease in need of HAART at the onset of their HIV diagnosis with 107 (70.3%) of the patients with Stage 3 or 4 disease and 114 (75%) of patients with CD4 counts of < 350 cells/microl.