Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dietary carbohydrates and fatty liver disease: de novo lipogenesis

Purpose of review To review recent evidence for the role of dietary carbohydrate in de novo lipogenesis (DNL) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Recent findings A large body of evidence suggests that increased hepatic DNL is a significant pathway contributing to the development of NAFLD. Dietary carbohydrates, in particular, fructose, have been shown to stimulate DNL and increase liver fat, although it is debated whether this is due to excess energy or fructose per se. Recent dietary intervention studies conducted in energy balance show that high-fructose diets increase DNL and liver fat, whereas fructose restriction decreases DNL and liver fat. Summary The association of high-carbohydrate and high-sugar diets with NAFLD may in part be explained by the effect of sugar on increasing hepatic DNL.
In Situ Hybridization for the Identification of Yeastlike Organisms in Tissue Section

The identification of yeast and yeastlike organisms in tissue sections can be very difficult. Biopsy tissues may be limited, with only occasional organisms present. In addition, several common species have overlapping histologic features. Deoxyribonucleic acid probes were designed to detect both the 18S and 28S ribosomal ribonucleic acid sequences of five fungal organisms with a high degree of specificity for each fungus. Each of these organisms—Blastomyces dermatitidis, Coccidioides immitis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Histoplasma capsulatum, and Sporothrix schenckii—can be manifested histologically as round, yeastlike structures, often within a similar size range. Probes were tested against 98 archived, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue specimens, each of which had culture-proved involvement by one of these organisms. Assessment of accuracy was based on the presence of yeastlike organisms in consecutive Grocott's methanemine silver (GMS)-stained tissue sections, and agreement with culture results. The results indicated that GMS had a greater overall sensitivity in detecting fungal organisms (95.9%) compared with in situ hybridization (ISH; 82.7%). ISH with oligonucleotide deoxyribonucleic acid probes, however, was more specific, with all species-specific probes yielding 100% specificity (compared with 96.2–100% specificity based on morphology alone). ISH also had a higher positive predictive value (100% in all cases) compared with GMS (83.3–100%). In addition, four cases with rare organisms present (4.1% of cases tested) were detected by ISH but not by GMS staining. These results show that ISH, directed against ribosomal ribonucleic acid, provides a rapid, accurate technique for the identification of yeastlike organisms in histologic tissue sections. Its primary strength lies in the ability to speciate organisms accurately that are too few or atypical to identify based solely on morphologic features.
Discrete Factorization Machines for Fast Feature-based Recommendation

User and item features of side information are crucial for accurate recommendation. However, the large number of feature dimensions, e.g., usually larger than 107, results in expensive storage and computational cost. This prohibits fast recommendation especially on mobile applications where the computational resource is very limited. In this paper, we develop a generic feature-based recommendation model, called Discrete Factorization Machine (DFM), for fast and accurate recommendation. DFM binarizes the real-valued model parameters (e.g., float32) of every feature embedding into binary codes (e.g., boolean), and thus supports efficient storage and fast user-item score computation. To avoid the severe quantization loss of the binarization, we propose a convergent updating rule that resolves the challenging discrete optimization of DFM. Through extensive experiments on two real-world datasets, we show that 1) DFM consistently outperforms state-of-the-art binarized recommendation models, and 2) DFM shows very competitive performance compared to its real-valued version (FM), demonstrating the minimized quantization loss.
The KEX2 gene of Candida glabrata is required for cell surface integrity

Candida glabrata has emerged as one of the most common causes of candidosis. In order to identify factors that are necessary for viability and pathogenicity of this fungal pathogen, we analysed the role of the KEX2 gene, which codes for a regulatory endoproteinase that is known to process certain virulence factors in Candida albicans. The KEX2 gene from C. glabrata was cloned and found to have 51% and 62% identity and high structural similarities to the homologous counterparts in C. albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. KEX2 was expressed at all time points investigated during growth in complex medium. In order to investigate the role of this putative regulatory proteinase, Kex2‐deficient mutants were produced. In addition to known kex2 phenotypes, such as pH and calcium hypersensitivity, the mutants grew in cellular aggregates and were found to be hypersensitive to several antifungal drugs that target the cell membrane, including azoles, amorolfine and amphotericin B. Ultrastructural investigation after exposure to low doses of itraconazole showed azole‐specific alterations such as enlarged vacuoles and proliferation of the cytoplasmatic membrane in the kex2 mutants, but not in the control strains. In contrast, antifungals such as 5‐flucytosine and hydroxypyridones inhibited growth of the kex2 mutants and the control strains to the same extent. In an in vitro model of oral candidosis, kex2 mutants showed reduced tissue damage in the presence of itraconazole compared with the control infections. These data suggest that Kex2 is involved in the processing of proteins that are essential for cell surface integrity of C. glabrata.
Hospital volume and mortality of very low-birthweight infants in South America.

OBJECTIVE To assess the effects of hospital volume of very low-birthweight (VLBW) infants on in-hospital mortality of VLBW and very preterm birth (VPB) infants in South America. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING Birth-registry data for infants born in 1982-2008 at VLBW or very preterm in 66 hospitals in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. DESIGN Regression analyses that adjust for several individual-level demographic, socioeconomic, and health factors; hospital-level characteristics; and country-fixed effects are employed. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS Physicians interviewed mothers before hospital discharge and abstracted hospital medical records using similar methods at all hospitals. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Volume has significant nonlinear beneficial effects on VLBW and VPB in-hospital survival. The largest survival benefits--more than 80 percent decrease in mortality rates--are with volume increases from low to medium or medium-high levels (from ≤ 25 to 72 infants annually) with significantly lower incremental benefits thereafter. The cumulative volume effects are maximized at the 121-144 annual VLBW infant range--about 90 percent decrease in mortality rates compared to <25 VLBW infants annually. CONCLUSIONS Increasing the access of pregnancies at-risk of VLBW and VPB to medium- or high-volume hospitals up to 144 VLBW infants per year may substantially improve in-hospital infant survival in the study countries.
Validity of indirect comparison for estimating efficacy of competing interventions: empirical evidence from published meta-analyses

Abstract Objective: To determine the validity of adjusted indirect comparisons by using data from published meta-analyses of randomised trials. Design: Direct comparison of different interventions in randomised trials and adjusted indirect comparison in which two interventions were compared through their relative effect versus a common comparator. The discrepancy between the direct and adjusted indirect comparison was measured by the difference between the two estimates. Data sources: Database of abstracts of reviews of effectiveness (1994-8), the Cochrane database of systematic reviews, Medline, and references of retrieved articles. Results: 44 published meta-analyses (from 28 systematic reviews) provided sufficient data. In most cases, results of adjusted indirect comparisons were not significantly different from those of direct comparisons. A significant discrepancy (P<0.05) was observed in three of the 44 comparisons between the direct and the adjusted indirect estimates. There was a moderate agreement between the statistical conclusions from the direct and adjusted indirect comparisons (κ 0.51). The direction of discrepancy between the two estimates was inconsistent. Conclusions: Adjusted indirect comparisons usually but not always agree with the results of head to head randomised trials. When there is no or insufficient direct evidence from randomised trials, the adjusted indirect comparison may provide useful or supplementary information on the relative efficacy of competing interventions. The validity of the adjusted indirect comparisons depends on the internal validity and similarity of the included trials. What is already known on this topic Many competing interventions have not been compared in randomised trials Indirect comparison of competing interventions has been carried out in systematic reviews, often implicitly Indirect comparison adjusted by a common control can partially take account of prognostic characteristics of patients in different trials What this study adds Results of adjusted indirect comparison usually, but not always, agree with those of head to head randomised trials The validity of adjusted indirect comparisons depends on the internal validity and similarity of the trials involved
Constitutive Activity of the Cannabinoid CB1 Receptor Regulates the Function of Co-expressed Mu Opioid Receptors*

The human mu opioid receptor was expressed stably in Flp-In T-REx HEK293 cells. Occupancy by the agonist DAMGO (Tyr-d-Ala-Gly-N-methyl-Phe-Gly-ol) resulted in phosphorylation of the ERK1/2 MAP kinases, which was blocked by the opioid antagonist naloxone but not the cannabinoid CB1 receptor inverse agonist SR141716A. Expression of the human cannabinoid CB1 receptor in these cells from the inducible Flp-In T-REx locus did not alter expression levels of the mu opioid receptor. This allowed the cannabinoid CB1 agonist WIN55212-2 to stimulate ERK1/2 phosphorylation but resulted in a large reduction in the capacity of DAMGO to activate these kinases. Although lacking affinity for the mu opioid receptor, co-addition of SR141716A caused recovery of the effectiveness of DAMGO. In contrast co-addition of the CB1 receptor neutral antagonist O-2050 did not. Induction of the CB1 receptor also resulted in an increase of basal [35S]guanosine 5′-3-O-(thio)triphosphate (GTPγS) binding and thereby a greatly reduced capacity of DAMGO to further stimulate [35S]GTPγS binding. CB1 inverse agonists attenuated basal [35S]GTPγS binding and restored the capacity of DAMGO to stimulate. Flp-In T-REx HEK293 cells were generated, which express the human mu opioid receptor constitutively and harbor a modified D163N cannabinoid CB1 receptor that lacks constitutive activity. Induction of expression of the modified cannabinoid CB1 receptor did not limit DAMGO-mediated ERK1/2 MAP kinase phosphorylation and did not allow SR141716A to enhance the function of DAMGO. These data indicate that it is the constitutive activity inherent in the cannabinoid CB1 receptor that reduces the capacity of co-expressed mu opioid receptor to function.
Variation in the histopathological features of patients with ascending aortic aneurysms: a study of 111 surgically excised cases

Background: Ascending aortic aneurysms (AA) are a common, though poorly understood medical condition. Aims: To document the histological changes in a large series of human ascending AA, and to correlate these changes with clinical variables. Methods: 111 ascending AA were excised at surgery over a 3 year period. Each aneurysm was received as a continuous ring of tissue. Sections were taken from the anterior, posterior, greater and lesser curvature of the aorta and graded in a semi-quantitative fashion for the degree of elastin fragmentation, elastin loss, smooth muscle cell (SMC) loss, intimal changes and inflammation. Results: Mean patient age at surgery was 58.7 (15.6) years; there were 70 men and 41 women. 12 patients had Marfan syndrome, 34 (30.6%) had a bicuspid aortic valve (BAV), while 71 (64.0%) had a tricuspid aortic valve (TAV). Inflammatory cells were present in 28 cases (25.2%) and were confined to the adventitia. No particular region of the aortic circumference was more severely affected, however a BAV was associated with significantly less intimal change, and less fragmentation and loss of elastic tissue compared with patients with a TAV. Advanced age (>65 years), female gender and Marfan syndrome were all associated with more severe elastin degeneration and smooth muscle cell loss (p<0.05 for all). Conclusion: Results indicate a wide variation in the histological appearance in ascending AA, depending on patient characteristics. They suggest that the underlying aneurysm pathogenesis may also be highly variable; this warrants further investigation.
Distinct Modulations in Sensorimotor Postmovement and Foreperiod β-Band Activities Related to Error Salience Processing and Sensorimotor Adaptation

In a recent study, Tan et al. (2014a,b) showed that the increase in β-power typically observed after a movement above sensorimotor regions (β-rebound) is attenuated when movement-execution errors are induced by visual perturbations. Moreover, akin to sensorimotor adaptation, the effect depended on the context in which the errors are experienced. Thus the β-rebound attenuation might relate to neural processes involved in trial-to-trial adaptive mechanisms. In two EEG experiments with human participants, along with the β-rebound, we examine β-activity during the preparation of reaches immediately following perturbed movements. In the first experiment, we show that both foreperiod and postmovement β-activities are parametrically modulated by the sizes of kinematic errors produced by unpredictable mechanical perturbations (force field) independent of their on-line corrections. In the second experiment, we contrast two types of reach errors: movement-execution errors that trigger trial-to-trial adaptive mechanisms and goal errors that do not elicit sensorimotor adaptation. Movement-execution errors were induced by mechanical or visual perturbations, whereas goal errors were caused by unexpected displacements of the target at movement initiation. Interestingly, foreperiod and postmovement β-activities exhibit contrasting patterns, pointing to important functional differences of their underlying neuronal activity. While both types of reach errors attenuate the postmovement β-rebound, only the kinematic errors that trigger trial-to-trial motor-command updates influenced β-activity during the foreperiod. These findings suggest that the error-related modulation of the β-rebound may reflect salience processing, independent of sensorimotor adaptation. In contrast, modulations in the foreperiod β-power might relate to the motor-command adjustments activated after movement-execution errors are experienced. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The functional significance of sensorimotor β-band (15–25 Hz) oscillations remains uncertain. Recently β-power was found to be reduced following erroneous movements. We extend and refine this novel finding in two crucial ways. First, by contrasting the EEG correlates of movement errors driving or not driving adaptation we dissociate error-salience processing from error-based adaptation. Second, in addition to β-activity in error trials, we examine β-power during the preparation of the subsequent movements. We find clearly distinct patterns of error-related modulations for β-activities preceding and succeeding movements, highlighting critical functional differences. Postmovement β-power may reflect error-salience processing independent of sensorimotor adaptation. In contrast, modulations in the foreperiod β-band power may directly relate to the motor-command adjustments activated after movement-execution errors are experienced.
Improved color to gray and back

This paper proposes an improved reversible color to textured gray image mapping. The method was originally devised using the wavelet transform, where high-frequency subbands are replaced by subsampled chrominance plane. The problem with this method was lower Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR). Proposed method is an attempt to improve the original method by embedding the content of both horizontal and vertical subbands into diagonal subbands and making a place to embed Cb and Cr chrominance planes. To embed two subbands into one we have used two dimensional Discrete Cosine Transform (2D-DCT). Our aim is to reduce the loss in subband replacement. The experimental results shows that we have achieved higher PSNR, almost up to 2--3 dB gain compared to the original method. This makes the proposed method a good candidate for application that needs to preserve the original color fidelity and sharpness.
WHO co-ordinated short-term double-blind trial with thalidomide in the treatment of acute lepra reactions in male lepromatous patients.

The treatment of lepra reactions constitutes one of the most serious problems in leprosy. For this reason, the first reports in 1965 of the favourable results obtained with thalidomide aroused considerable interest and led WHO, in 1967, to carry out a trial with the co-operation of four centres. A short-term double-blind trial was designed to study the effect of thalidomide, in comparison with acetylsalicylic acid, in the treatment of acute lepra reactions in male lepromatous patients. Acetylsalicylic acid was used instead of a placebo because of its antipyretic and analgesic activity. Because of the severe adverse reactions that may be caused by thalidomide, mainly the teratogenic effects, only males were included in the trial.The results of this short-term study seem to confirm previous reports of the efficacy of thalidomide and indicate that acetylsalicylic acid also seems to be helpful in the management of certain symptoms of lepra reactions.
Advice as a smoking cessation strategy: A systematic review and implications for physical therapists

Although identified as a clinical priority, smoking cessation has been addressed minimally in the literature in the context of physical therapy practice. Smoking cessation advice delivered by a health professional can help smokers quit. The salient components of such advice however warranted elucidation to enable physical therapists to integrate this clinical competence into their practices. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review to elucidate the effectiveness of advice by a health professional and its components to optimize smoking cessation instituted in the context of physical therapy practice. Thirty source articles were identified. A random-effects model meta-analysis was used to assess the effectiveness of the advice parameters. Risk ratios (RRs) were used to estimate pooled treatment effects. RRs for brief, intermediate, and intensive advice were 1.74 (95% CI=1.37, 2.22), 1.71 (95% CI=1.39, 2.09), and 1.60 (95% CI=1.13, 2.27), respectively. Self-help materials, follow-up, and interventions based on psychological or motivational frameworks were particularly effective components of intermediate and intensive advice interventions. Advice can be readily integrated into physical therapy practice and used to initiate or support ongoing smoking cessation in clients irrespective of reason for referral. Incorporating smoking cessation as a physical therapy goal is consistent with the contemporary definition of the profession and the mandates of physical therapy professional associations to promote health and wellness, including smoking cessation for both primary health benefit and to minimize secondary effects (e.g., delayed healing and recovery, and medical and surgical complications). Thus, advice is an evidence-based strategy to effect smoking cessation that can be exploited in physical therapy practice. Further research to refine how best to assess smokers and, in turn, individualize brief smoking cessation advice could augment positive smoking cessation outcomes.
Target-controlled Infusion Propofol Versus Sevoflurane Anaesthesia for Emergency Traumatic Brain Surgery: Comparison of the Outcomes.

Background The choice of anaesthetic techniques is important for the outcome of traumatic brain injury (TBI) emergency surgery. The objective of this study was to compare patient outcomes for target-controlled infusion (TCI) of propofol and sevoflurane anaesthesia. Methods A total of 110 severe TBI patients, aged 18-60, who underwent emergency brain surgery were randomised into Group T (TCI) (n = 55) and Group S (sevoflurane) (n = 55). Anaesthesia was maintained in Group T with propofol target plasma concentration of 3-6 μg/mL and in Group S with minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of sevoflurane 1.0-1.5. Both groups received TCI remifentanil 2-8 ng/mL for analgesia. After the surgery, patients were managed in the intensive care unit and were followed up until discharge for the outcome parameters. Results Demographic characteristics were comparable in both groups. Differences in Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score at discharge were not significant between Group T and Group S (P = 0.25): the percentages of mortality (GOS 1) [27.3% versus 16.4%], vegetative and severe disability (GOS 2-3) [29.1% versus 41.8%] and good outcome (GOS 4-5) [43.6% versus 41.8%] were comparable in both groups. There were no significant differences in other outcome parameters. Conclusion TCI propofol and sevoflurane anaesthesia were comparable in the outcomes of TBI patients after emergency surgery.
A game theoretic approach for robust power control in cognitive radio networks

In cognitive radio networks, it is challenging for secondary users (SUs) to keep track of their interference at the receivers of primary users (PUs), due to the error in channel estimation and irregular information exchange between SUs and PUs. In this paper, we practically consider that SUs have only partial knowledge about the channel gains from SUs to PUs, based on which SUs estimate the worst-case channel gains and decide transmit power to robustly protect PUs. As it is rare that all SU-PU channels experience the worst-case conditions simultaneously, we proposed the worst-case selective robust model for SUs to estimate the aggregate interference power at PU receivers by predicting that only a part of SU-PU channels are in the worst-case conditions. We study SUs' robust power control problem in a non-cooperative game, where each SU maximizes its own throughput subject to interference constraints at PU receivers. We propose an iterative algorithm for SUs to achieve unique Nash equilibrium in a distributed manner. Extensive numerical results show that our algorithm provides guaranteed protection for PUs provided with uncertain SU-PU channel information.