Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Refractory status epilepticus

Purpose of reviewRefractory status epilepticus (RSE) has a high morbidity and mortality. There are currently no definitive data to guide both the optimal choice of therapy and treatment goals. This review focuses on RSE diagnosis and outcome and discusses both commonly used and anecdotal therapies for RSE. Recent findingsThe challenges in performing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in neurocritical care and more specifically for the treatment of RSE are illustrated by the early termination of the first RCT of RSE due to low recruitment that compared propofol to barbiturates. Recent case series include the successful treatment of recurrent RSE with ketamine, intravenous lacosamide as an add-on treatment, the use of combination antiepileptics (phenytoin, levetiracetam, and pregabalin), and surgical treatments (vagal nerve and deep brain stimulation) for the control of RSE. SummaryA number of different therapeutic options are available for the treatment of RSE but none have been shown to be superior to others at this point.
First discovery of a primitive coelacanth fin fills a major gap in the evolution of lobed fins and limbs

SUMMARY The fossil record provides unique clues about the primitive pattern of lobed fins, the precursors of digit‐bearing limbs. Such information is vital for understanding the evolutionary transition from fish fins to tetrapod limbs, and it guides the choice of model systems for investigating the developmental changes underpinning this event. However, the evolutionary preconditions for tetrapod limbs remain unclear. This uncertainty arises from an outstanding gap in our knowledge of early lobed fins: there are no fossil data that record primitive pectoral fin conditions in coelacanths, one of the three major groups of sarcopterygian (lobe‐finned) fishes. A new fossil from the Middle–Late Devonian of Wyoming preserves the first and only example of a primitive coelacanth pectoral fin endoskeleton. The strongly asymmetrical skeleton of this fin corroborates the hypothesis that this is the primitive sarcopterygian pattern, and that this pattern persisted in the closest fish‐like relatives of land vertebrates. The new material reveals the specializations of paired fins in the modern coelacanth, as well as in living lungfishes. Consequently, the context in which these might be used to investigate evolutionary and developmental relationships between vertebrate fins and limbs is changed. Our data suggest that primitive actinopterygians, rather than living sarcopterygian fishes and their derived appendages, are the most informative comparators for developmental studies seeking to understand the origin of tetrapod limbs.
Expression of transforming growth factor β in the embryonic avian lens coincides with the presence of mitochondria

During their maturation, lens cells lose all membrane bound organelles, including mitochondira. In chicken embryos this process begins in the central lens fibers beginning around embryonic day 12 (E12). Transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) is a multipotent growth modulator thought to play a role in numerous developmental processes. TGFβ1 has been localized to mitochondria in rat liver cells and muscle cells. In the present study, we examined the expression of TGFβ isoform mRNAs and proteins during chicken embryonic lens development. PCR analysis demonstrated TGFβ2 and TGFβ3 trasncripts in the lens epithelium and fibers throughout pre‐ and post‐hatching development. TGFβ isoforms were detected throughout the lens epithelium and fibers early in development (E6). However by E19, the distribution of TGFβ2 and TGFβ3 transcripts and proteins coincided with regions of the lens that contained mitochondria. In addition, intense TGFβ staining was observed in the basal portions of the equatorial epithelial cells, a region with abundant mitochondria. Transcripts for TGFβ1 and TGFβ4 were not detected in any tissue or time frame examined. Similarly, no immunostaining for TGFβ1 was observed. ©1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Projecting future complications of chronic hepatitis C in the United States

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is common and often results in slowly progressive liver disease. Although acute hepatitis C is now uncommon, most patients with acute infection have developed chronic hepatitis, and, therefore, the pool of infected patients is large. We used a modification of a previously described natural history model for HCV infection to project the number of cases of HCV infection, cirrhosis, and liver failure over the next 40 years. The model estimated the prevalence of HCV infection in the United States was 3.07 × 106 in 1993 (compared with an adjusted National Health and Nutrition Evaluation Survey (NHANES) III estimate of 2.8 to 3.5 × 106). A gradual decline in the prevalence of infection should occur by year 2040 because of aging and natural deaths among the infected pool. However, as the duration of infection increases in the surviving cohort, the proportion with cirrhosis will increase from 16% to 32% by 2020 in an untreated population. Complications of cirrhosis also will increase dramatically over the next 20 years: hepatic decompensation (up 106%), hepatocellular carcinoma (up 81%), and liver‐related deaths (up 180%). Although current treatment regimens eradicate HCV in over 50% of cases, many more patients would need to be treated to significantly impact disease progression. Identification and treatment of every case of HCV infection (with or without cirrhosis) would reduce the number of cases of decompensated cirrhosis by almost half after 20 years. Despite the declining incidence of acute HCV infection, chronic hepatitis C is common. The prevalence of cirrhosis and the incidence of its complications will increase over the next 10 to 20 years, because the duration of infection increases among those with chronic hepatitis C. These data emphasize the need for greater access to transplantation by expansion of the donor pool, increasing use of split livers and living donors, and novel options such as xenotransplantation.
The formation of the axonal pattern in the embryonic avian retina

Both the polarity of the axonal growth and the formation of the optic fiber pattern early in retinal morphogenesis were studied in silver stained whole mounts of embryonic chick, quail, and pigeon retinae. The surface area of the retina and of the optic fiber layer increases in size exponentially, the optic fiber layer expanding faster than the retina. The optic fiber layer covers the retinal surface at E5 in quail and at E6 in chick and pigeon. In all species studied, the retinal fiber layer does not expand homogeneously with the optic nerve head as the center. Instead, the retinal fiber layer enlarges with polarities in the dorsal to ventral and nasal to temporal direction. The very first axon bearing ganglion cells appear at stage 16 in the dorsal and central portion of the retina and grow ventrally to merge at the optic disk. From stage 23 on, the optic fiber layer expands faster in the temporal than in the nasal side. Measurements on the initial polarization of young axonal processes show that the axonal growth is directed toward the optic fissure and the optic nerve head. This growth polarization is found at the onset of growth cone formation and in axons far from the nearest ganglion cells or ganglion cell axons. Therefore axon‐axon interaction cannot be involved in the initial axon orientation early in retinal morphogenesis.
Membrane Rafts in T Cell Activation: A Spotlight on CD28 Costimulation

Spatiotemporal compartmentalization of signaling pathways and second messengers is pivotal for cell biology and membrane rafts are, therefore, required for several lymphocyte functions. On the other hand, T cells have the specific necessity of tuning signaling amplification depending on the context in which the antigen is presented. In this review, we discuss of membrane rafts in the context of T cell signaling, focusing on CD28-mediated costimulation.
Variations in farm consumption and their relationship to income: an empirical investigation of Illinois farm households

ABSTRACT Empirical tests of household consumption have yielded mixed results regarding the validity of the life cycle/permanent income (LCPI) hypothesis. A significant problem with such studies is the difficulty in finding sufficient micro-level data on household expenditures. By using the recent rich quantity of such data in the Farm Business Farm Management (FBFM) data for Illinois farms from 1995 to 2009, the study reported here for farm households should provide more consistent results regarding the LCPI hypothesis. Applying an empirical model based on the LCPI hypothesis, this article identifies the determinants of farm consumption and the relationship to income. This study provides evidence that current income changes are not significant in explaining the consumption changes of farm households, thus supporting the LCPI hypothesis for farm households.
Molecular spandrels : tests of adaptation at the genetic level

| Although much progress has been made in identifying the genes (and, in rare cases, mutations) that contribute to phenotypic variation, less is known about the effects that these genes have on fitness. Nonetheless, genes are commonly labelled as ‘adaptive’ if an allele has been shown to affect a phenotype with known or suspected functional importance or if patterns of nucleotide variation at the locus are consistent with positive selection. In these cases, the ‘adaptive’ designation may be premature and may lead to incorrect conclusions about the relationships between gene function and fitness. Experiments to test targets and agents of natural selection within a genomic context are necessary for identifying the adaptive consequences of individual alleles. S T U DY D E S I G N S R E V I E W S NATURE REVIEWS | GENETICS VOLUME 12 | NOVEMBER 2011 | 767 © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved Disruptive selection Natural selection that favours extreme values of a quantitative trait over intermediate values.
Incidence of depression on labor supply decissions

This paper studies the estimation of the impact of a mental illness, such as the depression, on labor market decisions. We present a class of binary choice models for panel data with two main objectives to examine, the endogeneity of the depression and also the impact of controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. Sample selection and endogeneity are usual cases of biases in nonexperimental studies so it is necessary to deal with them. Thus, using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, Retirement and Employment of Europe (SHARE), we propose a model to deal with selectivity bias and to estimate other time invariant unobserved heterogeneity. Firstly, we propose a bivariate estimation to capture the correlation between the probability of being employed and having depression. In a second part, a generalization of this model is proposed with a switching binary panel-data model. Finally, we discuss the weakness of this approaches and propose a new model to relax strong assumptions.
Prisoners in 2014

At yearend 2014, the United States held an estimated 1,561,500 prisoners in state and federal correctional facilities, a decrease of approximately 15,400 prisoners (down 1%) from December 31, 2013. A third (34%) of the decrease was due to fewer prisoners under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which declined for the second consecutive year (figure 1). Prisoners sentenced to more than 1 year in state or federal prison declined by almost 1% (down 11,800 prison inmates) from yearend 2013 (1,520,400) to yearend 2014 (1,508,600). The number of prisoners housed in private facilities in the United States decreased by almost 2% in 2014 to 131,300 prison inmates.
Physical and chemical analysis of Passiflora seeds and seed oil from China

The physical and chemical properties of seeds and seed oil from ‘Tainung No. 1’ passion fruit in China have been analyzed in order to evaluate their nutritional value. Proximate analysis shows that the seeds have a high amount of protein (10.8±0.60%) and are rich in oil (23.40±2.50%). The seeds are found to be a good source of minerals. They contain considerable amounts of sodium (2.980±0.002 mg/g), magnesium (1.540±0.001 mg/g), potassium (0.850±0.001 mg/g), and calcium (0.540±0.002 mg/g). The passion fruit seeds contain the 17 amino acids that are found naturally in plant protein (tryptophan is not analyzed). The essential amino acids account for 34% of the 17 amino acids. The amino acid score of passion fruit seeds protein is 74 and the first limiting amino acid is methionine and cystine. The oil extracted by solvent and supercritical dioxide carbon is liquid at room temperature and the color is golden–orange. The specific gravity of the oil is about 0.917. Comparing the chemical properties of the oil extracted by solvent with that by supercritical dioxide carbon, the latter may be suitable as edible oil directly, while the former will be edible after it must be refined to improve on clarity. Fatty acid composition of the seed oil indicates that the oil contains two essential fatty acids (linoleic acid and linolenic acid), but the content of linoleic acid (72.69±0.32%) is by far greater than that of linolenic acid (0.26±0.00%). The present analytical results show the passion fruit seed to be a potentially valuable non-conventional source for high-quality oil.
Charting the Voyage of Planned Educational Change: Year One--The Scarborough Transition Years Pilot Projects.

Early adolescence presents many challenge: to youth, their parents, and educators. During these transition years, students experience physical, emotional, and educational transformations. The Scarborough school system Ontario, Canada, conducted a study of the Ministry of Education's Transition Years pilot project in four of its schools. The Scarborough study had several objectives: describe the context of each of the pilot project sites in terms of demographics, organizational structures, and beliefs and attitudes of the school community and the community at large; document the Transition Years development phase in each site in relation to historical context, school culture, collaboration, staff development, leadership, planning, student participation, parental involvement, obstacles, and facilitators; summarize commonalities and differences; and measure individual concerns about change. Focused group interviews and questionnaires were used in the study. Chapters discuss the following topics: background and methodology of the Scarborough study, site profiles, collaboration, leadership, staff development, site planning, and finally, reflections on the concerns and restraints experienced by those involved in Year One of the project and suggestions for Year Two. Eight appendices include study questionnaires and site-level and system-level focused-interview topics. (Contains 50 references.) (JPT) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EARS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************
[Effects of serum from the obesity patients with diabetic mellitus on TLR4/NF-κB pathway in human THP-1 monocytes].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of serum from the obesity patients and obesity patients with Diabetic mellitus on toll-like receptor 4/Nuclear factor -κB p65 (TLR/NF-κB) pathway in human THP-1 monocytes and to explore the inflammatory immune response in obesity. METHODS Peripheral serum was isolated from healthy volunteers (the control group), the obesity patients (Ob group) and the obesity patients with diabetic mellitus (the Ob with DM group), respectively, 20 in each group. THP-1 monocytes were incubated with the serum for 48 h. The monocytes and culture supernatant were collected. The phosphorylation level of NF-κB p65 protein in THP-1 monocytes was evaluated by Western blot as well as immunofluorescence assay. The TLR4 mRNA expression was evaluated by RT-PCR. ELISA was used to measure the monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) levels in the culture supernatant. RESULTS In the presence of serum, the obesity group and the obesity with diabetic mellitus group showed the up-regulated phosphorylation level of NF-κB p65 protein and TLR4 mRNA expression in THP-1 monocytes compared with the healthy control group (both P<0.05), and the MCP-1 levels in the obesity patients were up-regulated significantly compared with the healthy control group [healthy control group (26.4 ± 3.9) pg/mL, Ob group (45.8 ± 10.0) pg/mL, Ob with DM group (58.0 ± 15.3) pg/mL; P<0.05]. These parameters were further up-regulated in the obesity patients with diabetic mellitus patients. CONCLUSION The serum from the obesity patients or the obesity patients with diabetes can induce monocyte dysfunction, which might be related to the activation of TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.
The Recent Inflation Crisis and Long-run Economic Growth in India: An Empirical Survey of Threshold Level of Inflation

This article investigates the existence of a threshold level of inflation and how any such level affects the growth of Indian economy. The article also seeks to examine the dynamic short-run and long-run relationship between inflation and economic growth in India. By employing spline regression method to estimate the threshold level of inflation and the long-run and short-run relationships, the results show a statistically significant structural break in the relationship between inflation and economic growth at 4 per cent. The study suggests that if inflation exceeds the threshold point, that is, 4 per cent, it will negatively affect economic growth. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model bound testing cointegration suggests that there are two cointegration vectors when gross domestic product and rate of interest are considered as the dependent variables. This result confirms the existence of the long-run equilibrium relationship between economic growth, inflation, exchange rate and rate of interest. From the long-run analysis, the study found that inflation is positively related to economic growth, whereas the other variables are not significant. JEL Classification: E4, E6
Cognitive Radar: Step Toward Bridging the Gap Between Neuroscience and Engineering

In this paper, we describe a cognitive radar (CR) that mimics the visual brain. Although the visual brain and radar are different in that the visual brain does not transmit a probing signal to the environment while the active radar greatly relies on the probing signal it transmits to the environment, both of them are observers of the surrounding environment. As such, there is much that we can learn from the visual brain in building a new generation of CRs that outperform traditional radars. In this paper, we confine the discussion, in both analytic and experimental terms, to CR aimed at target tracking. From a theoretical perspective, using the posterior Cramér-Rao lower bound (PCRLB), it is shown that a cognitive tracking radar has the potential to improve tracking performance significantly. In particular, computer experiments are presented, which demonstrate that CR can indeed go beyond the theoretical limits of traditional active radars (TARs) as well as fore-active radars (FARs); the latter are radars equipped with feedback from the receiver to the transmitter. Moreover, computer experiments are presented to demonstrate another practical benefit resulting from the combined use of memory and executive attention in CR for a target-tracking application. Specifically, it is shown that with the provision of these two cognitive processes, the transition in switching from one transmit waveform to another goes forward in a smooth manner. Such a capability is beyond that of TAR or FAR.
Factors affecting blood sample haemolysis: a cross-sectional study

Objective To determine the effect of blood sampling through an intravenous catheter compared with a needle in Emergency Department blood sampling. Methods We undertook a prospective, cross-sectional study in a UK university teaching hospital Emergency Department. A convenience sample of 985 patients who required blood sampling via venepuncture was collected. A total of 844 complete sets of data were analysed. The median age was 63 years, and 57% of patients were male. The primary outcome measure was the incidence of haemolysis in blood samples obtained via a needle compared with samples obtained via an intravenous catheter. Secondary outcome measures defined the effect on sample haemolysis of the side of the patient the sample was obtained from, the anatomical location of sampling, the perceived difficulty in obtaining the sample, the order of sample tubes collected, estimated tourniquet time and bench time. Data were analysed with logistic regression, and expressed as odds ratios (95% confidence intervals; P-values). Results Blood samples obtained through an intravenous catheter were more likely to be haemolysed than those obtained via a needle, odds ratio 5.63 (95% confidence interval 2.49–12.73; P<0.001). Conclusion Blood sampling via an intravenous catheter was significantly associated with an increase in the likelihood of sample haemolysis compared with sampling with a needle. Wherever practicable, blood samples should be obtained via a needle in preference to an intravenous catheter. Future research should include both an economic evaluation, and staff and patient satisfaction of separating blood sampling and intravenous catheter placement.
Neuropsychological dysfunction following repeat concussions in jockeys

Background: Single and repeat concussions have a high prevalence in sport. However, there is limited research into longterm risks associated with single and repeat concussions. Objectives: To determine the effects of single and repeat historical concussions on the neuropsychological functioning and neurological reports of licensed jockeys. Methods: Six hundred and ninety eight licensed jockeys in the UK were assessed for neurological and neuropsychological symptoms of concussion at least three months after potential episodes. Results: Jockeys reporting multiple historical injuries versus a single injury showed reliable decrements on a measure of response inhibition and, to a less robust degree, on divided attention. Younger adults showed greater vulnerability. Conclusions: Repeated concussion is associated with reliable decrements in cognitive performance—even after a three month window for recent recovery.
GammaKey software for acquiring, storing, retrieving and processing images obtained by gamma camera — Benefits for clinical practice

The aim of this paper is to present the functionality and clinical application of developed GammaKey software for nuclear medicine imaging. GammaKey software consists of image acquisition module (compatibile with semi-analog gamma cameras), database, image processing module and network communication module. This software prolonged life of old gamma cameras, but also enabled image processing of DICOM data from modern gamma cameras. This paper emphasizes the importance of GammaKey application in clinical practice through several examples.