Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gastrin, Cholecystokinin, and Somatostatin in a Laboratory Experiment of Patients With Functional Dyspepsia

Objective To explore the pattern of gastrointestinal hormonal variations in plasma and to relate this to possible pathophysiological mechanisms in functional dyspepsia. Method There were 25 patients, 12 men and 13 women, aged 24 to 50 years, with recurrent functional dyspepsia, compared with community control subjects pair-wise, matched for age and sex. The subjects participated in a laboratory stress experiment with timed provocations. At fixed intervals, 22 samples of blood were drawn from each subject and frozen for later peptide analyses. Levels of gastrin, cholecystokinin (CCK), and somatostatin were measured by radioimmunoassay. Peptide levels were studied during a friendly greeting, a stress interview, and a food stimulation. Results Mean hormone values did not differ between the groups. Smokers had lower mean CCK than nonsmokers. Patients with a high degree of dyspeptic symptoms during the week preceding the experiment had a higher mean somatostatin level than patients with a low degree of dyspeptic symptoms. Heartburn correlated positively with the mean somatostatin level. Mean gastrin correlated with body mass index. During the 15-minute stress interview, significant changes in peptide variations were noted: Gastrin increased in both patient and control group subjects. CCK levels increased in patients from 7.2 pmol/l (6.0-8.5) to 9.8 pmol/l (8.2-11.4), but not in control subjects (p < 0.04, two-way interaction). Somatostatin increased significantly earlier in patients than in the control subjects during the stress interview. Conclusions A positive relationship was found between the mean level of somatostatin and the degree of dyspeptic symptoms. Gastrin, CCK, and somatostatin were all sensitive to an anxiety-provoking interview. CCK and somatostatin may possibly link psychological reactions to the pathophysiology of functional dyspepsia.
Impact of Postdiagnosis Smoking on Long-term Survival of Cancer Patients: The Shanghai Cohort Study

Background: Cancer is the number one cause of death among men in China. Cigarette smoking is the most preventable cause of cancer. Data on the impact of continued smoking after cancer diagnosis on survival of patients with cancer are sparse. Methods: We studied the association between postdiagnosis smoking and risk of all-cause death among 1,632 incident cancer patients in the Shanghai Cohort Study, a population-based prospective cohort of 18,244 men in Shanghai. The change of smoking status after baseline interview was ascertained through annual in-person interviews. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate HR and 95% confidence interval (CI) for all-cause mortality associated with change in smoking status. Results: Patients who continued smoking after cancer diagnosis experienced a statistically significant 59% (95% CI, 36–86) increase in risk of death compared with patients with cancer who did not smoke after cancer diagnosis. Among current smokers at cancer diagnosis, HRs (95% CIs) were 1.79 (1.49–2.16) in all patients with cancer, 2.36 (1.63–3.42) in patients with lung cancer, 1.63 (0.98–2.73) in patients with stomach cancer, 2.31 (1.40–3.81) in patients with colorectal cancer, and 2.95 (1.09–7.95) in patients with bladder cancer who continued smoking compared with their counterparts who stopped smoking after cancer diagnosis. Conclusion: Postdiagnosis cigarettes smoking significantly increased the risk of death for male patients with cancer. Impact: These data provide new information about smoking and cancer survival, which should inform future research into the contextual and individual-level barriers that may result in inadequate attention of smoking among patients with cancer in the postdiagnosis setting. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 22(12); 2404–11. ©2013 AACR.
Efficient intrabody biosensor communication using ultrasonic wave propagation

This paper presents a novel approach for intra-body biosensor communication through ultrasonic wave propagation. The proposed system utilizes acoustic waves operating in the ultrasonic frequency band. An ultrasonic system is attractive in comparison to a radio frequency system since ultrasonic waves propagate efficiently through the human body. The paper presents a general description of the ultrasonic intra-body communication channel including the key features of ultrasonic transducers. The propagation characteristics of ultrasonic waves are discussed including attenuation, reflection, and multipath propagation effects. Moreover, the noise effect is modeled in order to understand the statistical behavior of the channel. Finally, the health implications associated with the ultrasonic propagation medium are illustrated. Our findings affirm the feasibility of using ultrasonic waves as a mechanism for intra-body communication, which is one of the key enablers of future healthcare systems. This work lays out the foundation to design reliable and efficient communication systems operating at the ultrasonic frequency.
ChlVPP/EVA hybrid versus the weekly VAPEC-B regimen for previously untreated Hodgkin's disease.

PURPOSE To test the hypothesis that a chemotherapy regimen of relatively low toxicity and 11 weeks' duration (doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, etoposide, vincristine, bleomycin, and prednisolone [VAPEC-B]) is at least as effective in terms of disease control as 6 months' treatment with chlorambucil, vinblastine, procarbazine, and prednisone/etoposide, vincristine, and doxorubicin (ChlVPP/EVA hybrid), which is associated with a high risk of permanent sterility. PATIENTS AND METHODS Two hundred eighty-two patients with previously untreated Hodgkin's disease, clinical stages I/II (plus mediastinal bulk and/or B symptoms) and clinical stages III/IV were randomized at three United Kingdom and one Italian center to receive either six monthly cycles of ChlVPP/EVA hybrid or 11 weekly cycles of VAPEC-B. After chemotherapy and a restaging evaluation, radiotherapy was administered to sites of previous bulk or residual radiographic abnormality before patients were observed off treatment. RESULTS Further accrual to the trial was halted at the planned third interim analysis in September 1996. After a median follow-up of 4.9 years, freedom from progression (FFP), event-free survival (EFS), and overall survival (OS) are all significantly better in the population treated with ChlVPP/EVA than VAPEC-B, where the comparative 5-year results are 82% and 62% (FFP), 78% and 58% (EFS), and 89% and 79% (OS), respectively. The superiority of ChlVPP/EVA was seen in both low-risk and intermediate/high-risk patients, although subset analysis suggested that ChlVPP/EVA and VAPEC-B produce equivalent results in the best-prognosis patients (Hasenclever score <or= 2, nonbulky disease). CONCLUSION Apart from possibly in the best-prognosis group, where results are equivalent, ChlVPP/EVA hybrid produces significantly better FFP, EFS, and OS than VAPEC-B in patients with previously untreated Hodgkin's disease.
LigandRNA: computational predictor of RNA–ligand interactions

LigandRNA is a novel program for scoring and ranking ligand poses in RNA 3D structures, based on a statistical potential. It is available free of charge as a web server at http://ligandrna.genesilico. pl. It can be run for a single RNA–ligand complex as well as for a list of ligand poses generated by any third-party docking program. For ligand poses generated by Dock6, it is possible to obtain a consensus score (Dock6 + LigandRNA).
Mechanisms of epileptogenesis in cortical structures

Studies of the mechanisms of epileptogenesis in brain‐slice model systems have emphasized the role of three interacting processes in the development of interictal discharge. These processes are intrinsic burst activity, disinhibition, and excitatory synaptic coupling. Intrinsic membrane excitability may be altered by neuromodulators, injury, genetic mutations, and other factors. Disinhibition releases intrinsic burst‐generating capacities in subpopulations of neurons and may become an important factor following cortical injury or repetitive activation of inhibitory circuits. Excitatory synaptic coupling is required in order to synchronize populations of neurons. Synaptic currents also serve as a major generator of slow depolarization shifts in individual neurons. The contribution of each of these factors to epileptogenesis may vary with the type of pathological process and the properties of the specific neuronal population.
The prevalence of major anxiety disorders in relatives of alcohol dependent men and women.

OBJECTIVE The relationship between alcohol dependence and lifelong major anxiety disorders is complex. The literature indicates a close association between anxiety symptoms and drinking behavior. However, it is difficult to determine whether the anxiety conditions are lifelong disorders or if they represent temporary organic conditions related to alcohol intoxication and withdrawal. One approach to understanding more about the relationships between alcohol dependence and major anxiety disorders is to observe the rate of anxiety-related diagnoses in close relatives of alcoholics. This approach evaluates whether alcoholism and major anxiety disorders might share a common genetic basis. METHOD The data presented here describe the rates of four major anxiety disorders in 591 interviewed first-degree relatives of alcohol dependent men and women. The data were gathered through face-to-face structured standardized interviews. RESULTS The analyses reveal that after focusing on DSM-III-R anxiety disorders, controlling for the potential presence of temporary organic conditions in the subject and considering the impact of assortative mating in their parents, the life-time risk for panic disorder in close biological family members of alcoholics is 3.4%; for agoraphobia, 1.4%; for social phobia, 2.3%; and for obsessive-compulsive disease, 1.4%. CONCLUSIONS These data do not indicate an exceptionally high rate of anxiety disorders among close relatives of alcoholics. While other mechanisms might contribute to relationship between alcoholism and major anxiety disorders, the results do not support evidence of a common genotype for the two disorders.
Pathogenesis and management of antiphospholipid syndrome

Antiphospholipid antibodies are a heterogeneous group of autoantibodies that have clear associations with thrombosis and pregnancy morbidity, and which together constitute the ‘antiphospholipid syndrome’ (APS). However, the pathophysiology of these complications is not well understood and their heterogeneity suggests that more than one pathogenic process may be involved. Diagnosis remains a combination of laboratory analysis and clinical observation but there have been significant advances in identifying specific pathogenic features, such as domain I‐specific anti‐β2‐glycoprotein‐I antibodies. This in turn has pointed to endothelial and complement activation as important factors in the pathogenesis of APS. Consequently, although anticoagulation remains the standard treatment for thrombotic APS and during pregnancy, the realisation that these additional pathways are involved in the pathogenesis of APS has significant implications for treatment: agents acting outside the coagulation system, such as hydroxychloroquine for pregnancy complications and sirolimus as an inhibitor of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, are now under evaluation and represent a radical change in thinking for haematologists. Conventional anticoagulation is also under challenge from new, direct acting anticoagulants. This review will provide a comprehensive overview of the evolving understanding of APS pathogenesis and how this and novel therapeutics will alter diagnosis and management.
THE CONCEPTS OF CRITICAL ORGAN AND RADIATION DOSE AS APPLIED TO PLUTONIUM*†

Abstract— The concepts of critical organ or tissue and the calculation of radiation dose have been and may well continue to be central to the development of standards for most radionuclides. In the case of plutonium the occupational standard was based on a modification of the direct calculations of maximum permissible annual dose (MPAD) or dose rate but critical organs must still be chosen for different routes of entry and different compounds and for all of the derived standards. Changes in such standards by likely variations in metabolic parameters and models are shown to be significant but not large. Application of the critical organ concept to population exposure standards poses some new problems because the basic MPAD does not distinguish among organs. A simple scaling factor from occupational exposure standards thus is not satisfactory. Use of the concept of dose commitment has many advantages but it is still necessary to select a critical organ and calculate dose. By-passing some of the problems in present practices by using risk-estimates seems unlikely for plutonium at the present time because of the paucity of human effects data and the fact that the animal experiments used quite different dosage regimens from the likely exposure situations to plutonium. A brief comparison is made of radiation and chemical hazard evaluation procedures.
New proposal for real time measurements of visibility and signal levels in free space optical systems

The authors demonstrate a new method for recording precision measurements of visibility for free space optics systems correlated with received optical signal levels in three links using different wavelengths. The experimental results had been acquired with the use of the links in near, mid and far infrared transmission windows in the atmosphere. Our results proved that 10 /spl mu/m window is considerable better than the 1600 nm and 800 nm ones in dense and thick fog conditions.
Finding Related Forum Posts through Content Similarity over Intention-Based Segmentation

We study the problem of finding related forum posts to a post at hand. In contrast to traditional approaches for finding related documents that perform content comparisons across the content of the posts as a whole, we consider each post as a set of segments, each written with a different goal in mind. We advocate that the relatedness between two posts should be based on the similarity of their respective segments that are intended for the same goal, i.e., are conveying the same intention. This means that it is possible for the same terms to weigh differently in the relatedness score depending on the intention of the segment in which they are found. We have developed a segmentation method that by monitoring a number of text features can identify the parts of a post where significant jumps occur indicating a point where a segmentation should take place. The generated segments of all the posts are clustered to form intention clusters and then similarities across the posts are calculated through similarities across segments with the same intention. We experimentally illustrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our segmentation method and our overall approach of finding related forum posts.
Cloning and functional characterization of a mammalian zinc transporter that confers resistance to zinc.

A cDNA encoding a zinc transporter (ZnT‐1) was isolated from a rat kidney cDNA expression library by complementation of a mutated, zinc‐sensitive BHK cell line. This cDNA was used to isolate the homologous mouse ZnT‐1 gene. The proteins predicted for these transporters contain six membrane‐spanning domains, a large intracellular loop and a C‐terminal tail. ZnT‐1 is homologous to zinc and cobalt resistance genes of yeast. Immunocytochemistry with an antibody to a myc epitope added to the C‐terminus of ZnT‐1 revealed localization to the plasma membrane. Transformation of normal cells with a mutant ZnT‐1 lacking the first membrane‐spanning domain conferred zinc sensitivity on wild‐type cells, suggesting that ZnT‐1 functions as a multimer. Deletion of the first two membrane‐spanning domains resulted in a non‐functional molecule, whereas deletion of the C‐terminal tail produced a toxic phenotype. Mutant cells have a slightly higher steady‐state level of intracellular zinc and high basal expression of a zinc‐dependent reporter gene compared with normal cells. Mutant cells have a lower turnover of 65Zn compared with normal cells or mutant cells transformed with ZnT‐1. We propose that ZnT‐1 transports zinc out of cells and that its absence accounts for the increased sensitivity of mutant cells to zinc toxicity.
Instrument Orientation-Based Metrics for Surgical Skill Evaluation in Robot-Assisted and Open Needle Driving

The technical skill of surgeons directly impacts patient outcomes. Advanced tracking systems enable the development of objective motion-based metrics for skill evaluation, but these metrics are not sufficient to evaluate the performance in complex surgical tasks. In this study, we developed metrics for surgical skill evaluation that are based on the orientation of the surgical instruments. Experienced robotic surgeons and novice users performed teleoperated (using the da Vinci Research Kit) and open needle-driving. Task time and the rate of orientation change successfully distinguished between experienced surgeons and novice users. Path length and the normalized angular displacement allowed for a good separation only in part of the experiment. Our new promising metrics for surgical skill evaluation captured technical aspects that are taught during surgeons' training. They provide complementing evaluation to those of classical metrics. Orientation-based metrics add value to skill assessment and may be an adjunct to classic objective metrics providing more granular discrimination of skills.
Joint Interpolation of Multisensor Sea Surface Temperature Fields Using Nonlocal and Statistical Priors

This paper addresses the joint analysis of multisource and multiresolution remote sensing data for the interpolation of high-resolution sea surface geophysical fields. As case-study application, we consider the interpolation of sea surface temperature (SST) fields. We propose a novel statistical model that combines two key features: an exemplar-based prior and statistical priors. The exemplar-based prior, referred to as a nonlocal prior, exploits similarities between local patches (small field regions) to interpolate missing data areas from previously observed exemplars. This nonlocal prior also sets an explicit conditioning between the multisensor data. Two complementary statistical priors, namely a prior on the spatial covariance and a prior on the marginal distribution of the high-resolution details, are considered as sea surface geophysical fields that are expected to depict specific spectral and marginal features in relation to the underlying turbulent ocean dynamics. We report the experiments on both synthetic and real SST data. These experiments demonstrate the contributions of the proposed combination of nonlocal and statistical priors to interpolate visually consistent and geophysically sound SST fields from multisource satellite data. We further discuss the key features and parameterizations of this model as well as its relevance with respect to classical interpolation techniques.
Can famotidine and omeprazole be combined on a once-daily basis?

Objective. Prompt and long-standing acid control following once-daily administration of antisecretory drugs is desirable. The objective of this study was to determine whether co-administration of a well-characterized H2-receptor antagonist, famotidine, can be combined with the proton-pump inhibitor omeprazole. Material and methods. Intragastric 24-h pH-metry was performed in healthy, Helicobacter pylori-negative volunteers on day 1 and after 8 days of daily administration of 20 mg omeprazole, 10 mg famotidine, or a combination of these in a three-way crossover design. Results. A combination of famotidine and omeprazole raised the gastric pH level to >4 in less than 1 h. The percentage of daytime with pH > 4 on day 1 was significantly higher with the combination of omeprazole and famotidine (median: 37%) than that with omeprazole alone (22%; p < 0.05). On day 8, daytime intragastric pH > 4 following treatment with omeprazole (median: 55%) or a combination of omeprazole and famotidine (61%) was superior (p < 0.05) to that with famotidine (21%). On day 1 treatment with both famotidine and the combination (famotidine and omeprazole) showed a significantly shorter time to reach a pH of 4 (medians: 93 and 63 min, respectively) compared with treatment with omeprazole alone (173 min; p < 0.05). Conclusions. Compared with treatment with omeprazole alone, on day 1 famotidine and omeprazole in combination improved the duration of and time to reach intragastric pH > 4. With regard to duration with pH > 4, the combination therapy was superior to famotidine alone on day 8. The rapid acid control with an H2-receptor antagonist may be combined with the long-lasting antisecretory effect of a proton-pump inhibitor.
Acetylcholine‐induced seizure‐like activity and modified cholinergic gene expression in chronically epileptic rats

The entorhinal cortex (EC) plays an important role in temporal lobe epilepsy. Under normal conditions, the enriched cholinergic innervation of the EC modulates local synchronized oscillatory activity; however, its role in epilepsy is unknown. Enhanced neuronal activation has been shown to induce transcriptional changes of key cholinergic genes and thus alter cholinergic responses. To examine cholinergic modulations in epileptic tissue we studied molecular and electrophysiological cholinergic responses in the EC of chronically epileptic rats following exposure to pilocarpine or kainic acid. We confirmed that while the total activity of the acetylcholine (ACh)‐hydrolysing enzyme, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was not altered, epileptic rats showed alternative splicing of AChE pre‐mRNA transcripts, accompanied by a shift from membrane‐bound AChE tetramers to soluble monomers. This was associated with increased sensitivity to ACh application: thus, in control rats, ACh (10–100 µm) induced slow (< 1Hz), periodic events confined to the EC; however, in epileptic rats, ACh evoked seconds‐long seizure‐like events with initial appearance in the EC, and frequent propagation to neighbouring cortical regions. ACh‐induced seizure‐like events could be completely blocked by the non‐specific muscarinic antagonist, atropine, and were partially blocked by the muscarinic‐1 receptor antagonist, pirenzepine; but were not affected by the non‐specific nicotinic antagonist, mecamylamine. Epileptic rats presented reduced transcript levels of muscarinic receptors with no evidence of mRNA editing or altered mRNA levels for nicotinic ACh receptors. Our findings suggest that altered cholinergic modulation may initiate seizure events in the epileptic temporal cortex.
Water Uptake by Growing Cells: An Assessment of the Controlling Roles of Wall Relaxation, Solute Uptake, and Hydraulic Conductance

Growing plant cells increase in volume principally by water uptake into the vacuole. There are only three general mechanisms by which a cell can modulate the process of water uptake: (a) by relaxing wall stress to reduce cell turgor pressure (thereby reducing cell water potential), (b) by modifying the solute content of the cell or its surroundings (likewise affecting water potential), and (c) by changing the hydraulic conductance of the water uptake pathway (this works only for cells remote from water potential equilibrium). Recent studies supporting each of these potential mechanisms are reviewed and critically assessed. The importance of solute uptake and hydraulic conductance is advocated by some recent studies, but the evidence is indirect and conclusions remain controversial. For most growing plant cells with substantial turgor pressure, it appears that reduction in cell turgor pressure, as a consequence of wall relaxation, serves as the major initiator and control point for plant cell enlargement. Two views of wall relaxation as a viscoelastic or a cherr orheological process are compared and distinguished.