Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Short-Term Effects of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation on Muscle Architecture of the Tibialis Anterior and Gastrocnemius in Children with Cerebral Palsy: Preliminary Results of a Prospective Controlled Study

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to explore the short-term effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation application on tibialis anterior (stimulated muscle) and gastrocnemius (antagonist) muscles’ size and architecture in children with cerebral palsy by using ultrasound. DesignThis prospective, controlled study included 28 children diagnosed with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy. Participants were treated either with neuromuscular electrical stimulation application and conventional physiotherapy (group A) or with conventional physiotherapy alone (group B). Outcome was evaluated by clinical (gross motor function, selective motor control, range of motion, spasticity) and ultrasonographic (cross-sectional area, pennation angle, fascicle length of tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius muscles) measurements before and after treatment in both groups. ResultsCross-sectional area values of tibialis anterior (238.7 ± 61.5 vs. 282.0 ± 67.1 mm2) and gastrocnemius (207.9 ± 48.0 vs. 229.5 ± 52.4 mm2) (P < 0.001 and P = 0.008, respectively) muscles were increased after treatment in group A. Cross-sectional area values of tibialis anterior muscle were decreased (257.3 ± 64.7 vs. 239.7 ± 60.0 mm2) after treatment in group B (P < 0.001), and the rest of the measurements were found not to have changed significantly in either group. ConclusionsThese results have shown that cross-sectional area of both the agonist and antagonist muscles increased after 20 sessions of neuromuscular electrical stimulation treatment. Future studies with larger samples and longer follow-up are definitely awaited for better evaluation of neuromuscular electrical stimulation application on muscle architecture and its possible correlates in clinical/functional outcome.
Consistent Income Tax Structures When Households Are Heterogeneous

The paper examines the redistributive impact of income taxation for heterogeneous populations. An equivalent income function is introduced in order to adjust the incomes of different types of households and the redistributive performance of the tax system is evaluated by comparing the Lorenz curves of the distributions of before and after tax equivalent incomes. Inequality reduction after tax imposes mild consistency conditions which are met by most current tax systems. If the inequality reducing effect of taxation is required to be independent of the reference household type, then the structure of the equivalent income function is fully determined by the inequality concept. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D31, D63, H24.
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo in Older Women May be Related to Osteoporosis and Osteopenia

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), so-called canalolithiasis and cupulolithiasis, usually occurs after head trauma or viral vestibular neuritis. In many cases, the cause remains obscure, and it often affects women more than 50 years old. The goal of this work was to study a possible relationship between BPPV and osteopenia or osteoporosis. Thirty-two women, whose ages ranged from 50 to 85 years (median age, 69 years), who had BPPV and were free of any other otoneurologic history, were selected. The diagnosis of osteopenia or osteoporosis was confirmed by a bone mineral density measurement made with dual x-ray absorptiometry of spine and hip (T-score). The BPPV was unilateral in 26 patients and bilateral in 6 patients. Our results showed osteopenia or osteoporosis in 24 of the 32 patients (75%) with BPPV. The T-scores were compared in 3 age groups to those of 83 healthy women. The patients with BPPV had a significantly lower (p < .026) T-score in all groups. Possible pathophysiological mechanisms are discussed to explain the apparent correlation between BPPV and osteopenia or osteoporosis.
Oxidative Stress and Cellular Response to Doxorubicin: A Common Factor in the Complex Milieu of Anthracycline Cardiotoxicity

The production of reactive species is a core of the redox cycling profile of anthracyclines. However, these molecular characteristics can be viewed as a double-edged sword acting not only on neoplastic cells but also on multiple cellular targets throughout the body. This phenomenon translates into anthracycline cardiotoxicity that is a serious problem in the growing population of paediatric and adult cancer survivors. Therefore, better understanding of cellular processes that operate within but also go beyond cardiomyocytes is a necessary step to develop more effective tools for the prevention and treatment of progressive and often severe cardiomyopathy experienced by otherwise successfully treated oncologic patients. In this review, we focus on oxidative stress-triggered cellular events such as DNA damage, senescence, and cell death implicated in anthracycline cardiovascular toxicity. The involvement of progenitor cells of cardiac and extracardiac origin as well as different cardiac cell types is discussed, pointing to molecular signals that impact on cell longevity and functional competence.
PVT1: A Cancer-associated Non-coding Gene Revisited

PVT1 was originally identified as a transcriptional unit from a human homologous sequence to Pvt1, which was cloned from murine plasmacytoma with t(6;15). Previous studies have revealed various genetic alterations in the PVT1 locus, including chromosome translocation, amplification, chromothripsis, and single nucleotide polymorphisms in human diseases, suggesting important roles of PVT1 in the pathogenesis. However, because this locus does not produce protein coding sequences, its functional properties have not been characterized and its biological significance remains unclear. Recent studies have shown that the PVT1 locus encodes lincRNAs and microRNAs. Therefore, current investigations are being performed focusing on the biological features of this long-standing puzzle gene as a non-coding gene.
School-Age Caregivers: Perceptions of School Nurses Working in Central England

Children are caring for invalid relatives in Britain today, often at the expense of their own development. Research indicates these children are vulnerable to a wide range of problems. A preliminary investigation was conducted on the experiences of school nurses in central England to ascertain what they know about school-age caregivers, their awareness of how caring affects their health, and their perception of support available for caregivers. Eighteen school nurses participated in a qualitative investigation, which indicated that given recognition and resources, school nurses could identify school-age caregivers, their health needs, and, in cooperation with other agencies, provide these children with the necessary support.
Somatically Evoked Magnetic Fields in the Vicinity of the Neck

This paper describes measurements of somatically evoked magnetic fields in the vicinity of the neck using a SQUID with a second-derivative gradiometer. The evoked fields were observed not only at the head, but also at the back of the shoulder and at the back of the neck when the peripheral nerve of the wrist was stimulated. The field at the neck appeared within about 150 ms after the stimulus with an amplitude of about 1 pT. The waveform of the responses at various points over the neck showed a reversal of the polarity across the midline of the neck. The isofield pattern indicated a current dipole in the vicinity of the spinous process C6 as the signal source. It was suggested that the evoked fields originated from the postsynaptic neuronal activity in the spinal cord.
On the Performance of Spatial Modulation OFDM

In this paper a novel multiple antenna transmission technique, named spatial modulation (SM) is proposed. Here SM is applied to OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) transmission. In SM the transmit antenna number is used as an explicit source of information. SM maps a block of information bits to an information symbol and to a particular transmit antenna such that the same information symbol transmitted from different antennas conveys different information. At each time instant, only the corresponding transmit antenna will be radiating signal power on a particular OFDM sub-carrier, while all other transmit antennas transmit zero power. Consequently, inter-channel interference (ICI) at the receiver input and the need for antenna synchronization are completely avoided. A comparative analysis is made on the performance of SM and V-BLAST (Vertical Bell Labs Layered Space-Time) algorithm assuming Rician fading channel, spatial correlation (SC) and mutual coupling (MC). It is shown that at a BER (bit error ratio) of 10-3, SM outperforms V-BLAST by 5 dB in the presence of Rician fading and by 7 dB in the presence of spatial correlation and mutual coupling for 6 bits/symbol/sub-carrier transmission.
Drivers of bird diversity in an understudied African centre of endemism: The Angolan Central Escarpment Forest

Summary Natural habitats are being rapidly lost due to human activities. It is therefore vital to understand how these activities influence biodiversity so that suitable guidelines can be established for conservation. This is particularly important in understudied, high biodiversity, areas such as the Angolan Escarpment. Here we examine which habitat characteristics drive bird diversity and endemic species presence at Kumbira Forest, a key site in the Central Escarpment Forest. Bird diversity was sampled by 10 min bird point counts, whereas habitat characteristics were measured by a combination of ground-based vegetation surveys and remotely sensed data modelling of Landsat images. GLM, multi-model inference and model averaging were used to determine the most important variables driving species richness and the presence of endemics. The remote sensing variables performed poorly in predicting presence of Red-crested Turaco Tauraco erythrolophus and Gabela Bushshrike Laniarius amboimensis but they contributed significantly to explain species richness and Gabela Akalat Sheppardia gabela presence, both of which were associated with greater canopy cover. Liana density and elevation were also important explanatory variables in certain cases. Conservation actions at Kumbira should focus on increasing canopy cover and maintaining forest integrity (as measured by liana density), as these actions are likely to have the most positive outcomes for the avifauna.
Risk of thoracic injury from direct steering wheel impact in frontal crashes

BACKGROUND The combination of airbag and seat belt is considered to be the most effective vehicle safety system. However, despite the widespread availability of airbags and a belt use rate of more than 85%, US drivers involved in crashes continue to be at risk of serious thoracic injury. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of steering wheel deformation on driver injury risk in frontal automobile crash. METHODS The analysis is based on cases extracted from the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System database for case years 1993 to 2011. The approach was to compare the adjusted odds of frontal crash injury experienced by drivers in vehicles with and without steering wheel deformation. RESULTS Among frontal crash cases with belted drivers, observable steering wheel deformation occurred in less than 4% of all cases but accounted for 30% of belted drivers with serious (Abbreviated Injury Scale [AIS] score, 3+) thoracic injuries. Similarly, steering wheel deformation occurred in approximately 13% of unbelted drivers but accounted for 60% of unbelted drivers with serious thoracic injuries. Belted drivers in frontal crashes with steering wheel deformation were found to have two times greater odds of serious thoracic injury. Unbelted drivers were found to have four times greater odds of serious thoracic injury in crashes with steering wheel deformation. In frontal crashes, steering wheel deformation was more likely to occur in unbelted drivers than belted drivers, as well as higher severity crashes and with heavier drivers. CONCLUSION The results of the present study show that airbag deployment and seat belt restraint do not completely eliminate the possibility of steering wheel contact. Even with the most advanced restraint systems, there remains an opportunity for further reduction in thoracic injury by continued enhancement to the seat belt and airbag systems. Furthermore, the results showed that steering wheel deformation is an indicator of potential serious thoracic injury and can be useful to prehospital personnel in improving the diagnosis of serious injuries. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Prognostic study, level III.
Relationship between expression and distribution of cyclooxygenase-2 and bcl-2 in human gastric adenocarcinoma.

AIM To explore expression and distribution features of COX-2 and bcl-2 in human gastric adenocarcinoma tissues and to study its biological significance. METHODS Totally 36 human gastric carcinoma samples were enrolled in this study (cardiac adenocarcinoma 16 cases, distal gastric adenocarcinoma 20 cases). The expressions of COX-2 and bcl-2 in cancerous tissues and corresponding para-cancerous tissues were investigated by immunohistochemistry using COX-2 polyclonal antibody and bcl-2 monoclonal antibody. The normal gastric mucosa tissues were used as control. RESULTS The expressions of COX-2 and bcl-2 in gastric carcinoma were significantly higher than that in the para-cancerous tissues (77.8% vs 47.2%, P<0.01, 80.56% vs 58.33%, P<0.05). The expression of COX-2 in cardiac adenocarcinoma was remarkably higher than that in the distal gastric carcinoma (93.8% vs 65.0%, P<0.01). The expression of COX-2 was mainly localized in the cytoplasm of tumor cells and partly in the nucleus. There is a transition of the COX-2 cytoplasmic positivity to nucleic in tumor cells with the increase of gastric carcinoma pathological grade. Interstitial macrophages, fibroblasts and vascular endothelial cells also expressed COX-2. The tissues with higher expression of COX-2 also expressed high level of bcl-2 protein. CONCLUSION Abnormal expression pattern of COX-2 within the tissues of human gastric cancer is correlated with tumor location and lymph node metastasis. COX-2 may regulate expression of apoptosis suppressor gene (bcl-2) through interaction of tumor cells and stromal cells and play an important role in the generation and development of tumors, which will be of great help in developing new methods for antitumor therapy.
Imagerie quantitative de biopolymères par génération de second harmonique résolue en polarisation.

Le collagene est un element majeur de l'architecture des organes chez les mammiferes. Cette proteine s'organise en structures tridimensionnelles (3D) specifiques a chaque tissu et responsables de leurs proprietes biophysiques et biomecaniques. La microscopie multiphoton permet de visualiser le collagene fibrillaire dans les tissus biologiques, sans aucun marquage, grâce aux signaux de generation de second harmonique (SHG). Cette these presente des mesures SHG resolues en polarisation (P-SHG), dans le but de caracteriser la structure 3D du collagene dans divers tissus, de l'echelle moleculaire a l'echelle macroscopique.Nous avons d'abord etudie la sensibilite et la fiabilite des mesures P-SHG, afin de valider cette technique comme un outil quantitatif d'observation de la structure 3D du collagene dans des tissus intacts.En collaboration avec le Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matiere Condensee de Paris, cette technique a ensuite ete appliquee a l'etude de systemes modeles de collagene presentant une organisation de type cristal liquide, afin de caracteriser les conditions physico-chimiques menant a des phases proches de celles observees a l’etat stabilise dans la cornee.Enfin, nous presentons une imagerie SHG en difference circulaire (CD-SHG), permettant de determiner la polarite des fibrilles de collagene par rapport au plan de l'image. Ces mesures sont complementaires de l'information obtenue en P-SHG. Une premiere mise en place experimentale de cette technique est presentee dans des coupes histologiques de cornee humaine. Nous presentons de plus les resultats preliminaires d'une imagerie correlative CD-SHG/I-SHG, en collaboration avec l'INRS, donnant une information complete sur la polarite des fibrilles de collagene.
Is globotriaosylceramide a useful biomarker in Fabry disease?

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) is a useful biomarker in Fabry disease. Methods: The levels of Gb3 were measured in plasma and urine by tandem mass spectrometry in untreated hemizygotes and heterozygotes with Fabry disease and in healthy controls, and the levels were monitored in patients on treatment with enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). Results: Hemizygotes with classic Fabry disease showed elevated levels of Gb3 in both plasma and urine and could readily be distinguished from normal controls. Male patients with the N215S mutation had normal levels in their plasma but 50% had marginally elevated levels in their urine. Thirty‐three percent of proven heterozygotes had elevated Gb3 concentrations in plasma but 97% of those without the N215S mutation (36/37) had an elevated level in urine. The four heterozygotes with the N215S mutation had normal Gb3 levels in urine. The level of Gb3 in plasma initially fell following the start of ERT in all patients who had an elevated level before treatment. However, in a few patients the level subsequently rose. Similar results were found for the levels of Gb3 in urine.
Function of the Histone-Like Protein H-NS in Motility of Escherichia coli: Multiple Regulatory Roles Rather than Direct Action at the Flagellar Motor

ABSTRACT A number of investigations of Escherichia coli have suggested that the DNA-binding protein H-NS, in addition to its well-known functions in chromosome organization and gene regulation, interacts directly with the flagellar motor to modulate its function. Here, in a study initially aimed at characterizing the H-NS/motor interaction further, we identify problems and limitations in the previous work that substantially weaken the case for a direct H-NS/motor interaction. Null hns mutants are immotile, largely owing to the downregulation of the flagellar master regulators FlhD and FlhC. We, and others, previously reported that an hns mutant remains poorly motile even when FlhDC are expressed constitutively. In the present work, we use better-engineered strains to show that the motility defect in a Δhns, FlhDC-constitutive strain is milder than that reported previously and does not point to a direct action of H-NS at the motor. H-NS regulates numerous genes and might influence motility via a number of regulatory molecules besides FlhDC. To examine the sources of the motility defect that persists in an FlhDC-constitutive Δhns mutant, we measured transcript levels and overexpression effects of a number of genes in candidate regulatory pathways. The results indicate that H-NS influences motility via multiple regulatory linkages that include, minimally, the messenger molecule cyclic di-GMP, the biofilm regulatory protein CsgD, and the sigma factors σS and σF. The results are in accordance with the more standard view of H-NS as a regulator of gene expression rather than a direct modulator of flagellar motor performance. IMPORTANCE Data from a number of previous studies have been taken to indicate that the nucleoid-organizing protein H-NS influences motility not only by its well-known DNA-based mechanisms but also by binding directly to the flagellar motor to alter function. In this study, H-NS is shown to influence motility through diverse regulatory pathways, but a direct interaction with the motor is not supported. Previous indications of a direct action at the motor appear to be related to the use of nonnull strains and, in some cases, a failure to effectively bypass the requirement for H-NS in the expression of the flagellar regulon. These findings call for a substantially revised interpretation of the literature concerning H-NS and flagellar motility and highlight the importance of H-NS in diverse regulatory processes involved in the motile-sessile transition.
Grundlagenforschung in der Informatik? Perspektiven der Informatik und ihre Erkenntnisziele

Grundlagenforschung bedeutet, die grundlegenden Theorien und Konzepte eines Faches weiterzuentwickeln. Es sind also die Fundamente einer Wissenschaft, die durch Grundlagenforschung erweitert oder erneuert werden. Wo liegen die Fundamente der noch relativ jungen Wissenschaft Informatik? Diese Frage wird seit Jahrzehnten kontrovers diskutiert, gerade weil die Informatik eine so vielfaltige Wissenschaft ist. Dabei gehen schon die Auffassungen uber die Rolle des Computers in der Informatik auseinander. Ist der Computer der Erkenntnisgegenstand der Informatik oder geht es in der Informatik „genauso wenig um Computer wie in der Astronomie um Teleskope“, wie der hollandische Informatiker Edsger W. Dijkstra es ausdruckte? Ich mochte Sie zu einem Rundgang einladen, auf dem wir die Informatik aus vier verschiedenen Perspektiven betrachten. Dabei werde ich auf die Erkenntnisziele eingehen, die sich aus der jeweiligen Perspektive stellen.
Cytomegalovirus infection in day care centers in Rome, Italy: Viral excretion in children and occupational risk among workers

From nine day care centers in Rome, Italy, 253 children of middle to low socioeconomic classes were examined for cytomegalovirus (CMV) excretion in saliva. The overall excretion rate was 13%, with no marked differences between centers. Socioeconomic level, age of enrollment, chronological age, length of attendance, and number of siblings did not have any discernible influence on viral shedding. The most notable result is that during the second year of age, 100% of the excretors had been breast fed, but only 60% in the third year, indicating that maternal transmission is the most likely source of children's infection early in life. Serologic survey of 82 female workers in day care centers, 82 matched housewives, and 229 female students aged 14 to 18 years who were in training to care for children showed that at 14 years of age the CMV seropositivity rate is 85, which suggests that primary infection during childbearing age is an uncommon event in Rome.
THE QUANTITATIVE GENETICS OF POLYPHAGY IN AN INSECT HERBIVORE. II. GENETIC CORRELATIONS IN LARVAL PERFORMANCE WITHIN AND AMONG HOST PLANTS

Because the overall evolution of the phenotype is a composite of direct and correlated responses to selection, the evolutionary trajectories of genetically correlated characters are fundamentally interdependent (Hazel, 1943; Falconer, 1981 Ch. 19). The effects of genetic correlations on phenotypic evolution are twofold. First, genetic covariance can influence the rate of response to selection. If characters simultaneously selected to increase are influenced by genes with positively correlated effects, the response to selection will be more rapid for the pair than for either character selected separately until the underlying genes are fixed. Conversely, negative genetic correlations among characters selected to increase can slow their rate of simultaneous evolution from that predicted by the amount of genetic variation which exists for each character separately (Dickerson, 1955; Antonovics, 1976; Lande, 1982b). Secondly, genetic correlations can affect the direction of evolution in suites of cliaracters such that traits no longer evolve directly toward their individual optima. In some cases, traits may even be drawn away from their optima for many generations due to selection on genetically correlated characters (Lande, 1980; Via and Lande, unpubl.). The manifold evolutionary effects of genetic correlations dictate a multivariate approach to the study of the quantitative genetic basis of evolution (Lande, 1979, 1980, 1982a, 1982b). Inmost non-