Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epithelial Tight Junction Structure in the Jejunum of Children with Acute and Treated Celiac Sprue

Tight junction morphology was analyzed in freeze fracture electron micrographs from biopsies at two locations along the surface-crypt axis in the jejunum of children with treated and untreated sprue and in control subjects. In control jejunum, strand number, meshwork depth, and total depth of the tight junction decreased from surface to crypt, consistent with the concept of the crypt being more permeable than the surface epithelium. In acute sprue, strand number was reduced in all regions along the surface-crypt axis, from 5.5 ± 0.2 to 3.4 ± 0.3 (surface) and from 4.7 ± 0.2 to 3.6 ± 0.1 (crypt). Meshwork depth was also reduced at all regions along the surface-crypt axis. Strand discontinuities were more frequent in acute sprue. Aberrant strands appeared below the main meshwork of crypt tight junctions in acute sprue. In asymptomatic children treated with the gluten-free diet, jejunal tight junctional structure only partially recovered. Strand number was restored to normal at the surface, but was still decreased in the crypts, from 4.7 ± 0.2 to 3.9 ± 0.3. We conclude that the epithelial barrier function of the small intestine is seriously disturbed by structural modifications of the tight junction in acute symptomatic celiac disease, thereby accounting for increased ionic permeability noted in a parallel study on identical specimens. This epithelial barrier defect may contribute to diarrhea in celiac disease by a “leak flux mechanism. ” In children with sprue treated with a gluten-free diet, barrier dysfunction was only partly recovered, suggesting a level of“minimal damage. ”
Design of wideband antennas with coupling feed structures for wireless applications

An approach to design a unidirectional antenna with wideband impedance matching and stable radiation pattern is presented. By employing several kinds of coupling feed structures, wideband impedance matching is achieved. Through a rational design of a box-shaped reflector and the position of the antennas, stable radiation pattern can be obtained. Several wideband antennas with different coupling feed structures are investigated in this paper. Some of them have been fabricated and tested. The measured results agree well with the simulated results.
Cognition, gender, and functional abilities in Alzheimer's disease: how are they related?

BACKGROUND Few studies have investigated in detail which factors influence activities of daily (ADL) in Alzheimer's disease (AD). OBJECTIVE To assess the influence of cognitive, gender, and other factors on ADL in patients with mild to moderate AD. METHODS This study is part of the Prospective Registry on Dementia in Austria (PRODEM) project, a multicenter dementia research project. A cohort of 221 AD patients (130 females; means: age 76 years, disease duration 34.4 months, MMSE 22.3) was included in a cross-sectional analysis. Everyday abilities were assessed with the Disability Assessment for Dementia scale, and cognitive functions with the CERAD plus neuropsychological test battery. Two models of multiple linear regressions were performed to find factors predicting functional decline, one entering demographical and disease related factors, and a joint model combining demographical and disease variables with neuropsychological scores. RESULTS Non-cognitive factors explained 18%, whereas the adding of neuropsychological variables explained 39% of variance. Poor figural and verbal memory, constructional abilities, old age, longer disease duration, depression, and male gender were independent risk factors for reduced ADL. Instrumental and basic ADL were predicted by similar factors, except gender (predicting only instrumental ADL) and phonological fluency (predictor of basic ADL). CONCLUSION In addition to demographical factors, disease duration, and depression, neuropsychological variables are valuable predictors of the functional status in AD in an early disease stage.
Ensuring safety and reliability of IP-based system design – A container approach

The application of built-to-order embedded hardware designs in safety critical systems requires a high design quality and robustness during operation. Flawless execution of the involved software can be compromised by malfunctioning hardware components or by software-induced errors. Furthermore, intellectual property (IP) tends to become unavoidable in modern hardware designs. Any unexpected behavior of IP components may cause unrecoverable system errors. In order to construct correct and safe systems from unverified and potentially malicious components, we propose a system integration approach which encapsulates IP blocks in verifiable container modules. The synthesis of these container modules is driven by a domain specific language (DSL) augmented with sequential extended regular expressions (SEREs). The approach is demonstrated by showing the synthesis of an effective countermeasure against software-induced memory disturbance errors.
The Hypertrophic Scar. Glycoprotein and Collagen Components of Burn Scars

Summary A study of the hexose hexosamine, sialic acid, uronic acid, glycogen, and collagen fractions has been made on hypertrophic scars, nonhypertrophic scars, and normal skin. Hexose, hexosamine, sialic acid, uronic acid, and glycogen levels were significantly and consistently elevated in hypertrophic scars. These same components were slightly, but significantly, higher in the nonhypertrophic scars. Salt-soluble collagen of hypertrophic scars was significantly elevated, citrate-soluble and insoluble collagen fractions were not different in the three groups. From these data it is concluded that hypertrophic scars contain more glycoprotein and mucopolysaccharide and are more active metabolically.
Sex-Specific UV and Fluorescence Signals in Jumping Spiders

No animals are known to possess both ultraviolet (UV) reflectance and fluorescence that are sex-specific. We provide evidence for this separation in the jumping spider Cosmophasis umbratica, which has UV reflectance and UV-induced green fluorescence restricted to males and females, respectively. During courtship, many of the studied pairs failed to show typical display posturing when UV light was blocked. Occluding the UV component of sunlight to only one of each pair also caused atypical behavior: Females showed no interest in non‐UV-reflective courting males, and males either ignored or were lackluster in courting nonfluorescing females. These results demonstrate the importance of both sex-specific hues as sexual signals for effective intraspecific communication.
Surface Atrial Frequency Analysis in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation: Assessing the Effects of Linear Left Atrial Ablation

Introduction: Our group has shown previously that measurements of atrial frequency can be obtained from surface 12‐lead ECG recordings of patients during atrial fibrillation (AF), using a combination of principal component and Fourier transform algorithms. Such measurements are reproducible over time and change with drug manipulation of the arrhythmia.
Treatment Patterns in Elderly Patients (≥70 YEARS) with Breast Carcinoma. A Retrospective Study of the Gruppo Oncologico Clinico Cooperativo del Nord-est (Goccne)

The pattern of treatment used in elderly women affected by breast carcinoma was evaluated in a retrospective study by the North-East Clinical Cooperative Group in Italy (GOCCNE). Six divisions were involved in the study. The medical records of 115 elderly women were reviewed; the women's median age was 75 years (range, 70-93). Surgery was used in 70/72 operable patients (97 %), although limited surgery plus radiotherapy was used in only 7.5 %. Most stage II patients were treated with adjuvant tamoxifen, as were younger postmenopausal patients, according to the guidelines of the Bethesda Consensus Meeting. Comorbid conditions are of particular concern in therapy planning, considering that more stage III patients died of competing causes than for disease progression. The role of chemotherapy was very marginal.
Bovine Leukemia Virus Infection in Dairy Cows in Egypt

2 Abstract: Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a lymphotropic virus that affects cattle. In the current study 240 Holstein, Holstein Friesian and Red Sindhi dairy Cows in Kafr El Shekh, Alexandria and Monofia governorates of Egypt from five dairy farms and at small holder breeders were examined for the presence of BLV. The sera of tested dairy cows were subjected to commercial Agar Gel Immuno-Diffusion (AGID) and ELISA kits specific for BLV antibodies. Also the milk samples were subjected to another commercial ELISA kit for detection of BLV antibodies in milk. Meanwhile, PCR technique was conducted on serum samples for the specific identification of the viral genome. Clinical examination revealed lymph node enlargement which was a predominant sign in 6.25% of animals. In some cases protrusion of conjunctival membrane was found in 1.67% of animals. Lameness and respiratory manifestations, such as rale and dry cough and emaciation appeared in a few cases representing 0.42, 0.83 and 1.25%, respectively. Laboratory results showed that 15.83% of cows were serologically by both tests positive where 4.17% of animals which belonged to different cow's farms were infected with BLV, 11.67% of animals which belonged to small animal holders were infected by BLV. Concerning the disease risk factors, 7.08% of infected animals were 4-6 years and 5.42% were 2-4 years, while 3.33% were less than two years, pointing out that the occurrence of the disease increases with age. ELISA tests in blood showed the same or even upper limit of detection than the same test in milk samples, when the analytical sensitivities were checked reactivity, dilutions of 1:64 and 1:32. PCR confirmed the results of serology but considered more accurate forit detects the viral genome and is more sensitive than serological tests especially in high dilutions which is a serious problem in the used methods.
Peer violence perpetration and victimization: Prevalence, associated factors and pathways among 1752 sixth grade boys and girls in schools in Pakistan

Background Child peer violence is a global problem and seriously impacts health and education. There are few research studies available in Pakistan, or South Asia. We describe the prevalence of peer violence, associations, and pathways between socio-economic status, school performance, gender attitudes and violence at home. Methods 1752 children were recruited into a cluster randomized controlled trial conducted on 40 fairly homogeneous public schools (20 for girls and 20 for boys), in Hyderabad, Pakistan. This was ranging from 20–65 children per school. All children were interviewed with questionnaires at baseline. Results Few children had no experience of peer violence in the previous 4 weeks (21.7% of girls vs.7% of boys). Some were victims (28.6%, of girls vs. 17.9% of boys), some only perpetrated (3.3% of girls vs. 2.5%) but mostly they perpetrated and were victims (46.4%.of girls vs 72.6%. of boys). The girls’ multivariable models showed that missing the last school day due to work, witnessing her father fight a man in the last month and having more patriarchal gender attitudes were associated with both experiencing violence and perpetration, while, hunger was associated with perpetration only. For boys, missing two or more days of school in the last month, poorer school performance and more patriarchal attitudes were associated with both victimization and perpetration. Witnessing father fight, was associated with peer violence perpetration for boys. These findings are additionally confirmed with structural models. Discussion Peer violence in Pakistan is rooted in poverty and socialization of children, especially at home. A critical question is whether a school-based intervention can empower children to reduce their violence engagement in the context of poverty and social norms supportive of violence. In the political context of Pakistan, reducing all violence is essential and understanding the potential of schools as a platform for intervention is key.
Polymorphism of Werner Helicase-Associated Gene in Long-Term Hemodialysis Patients

Accessible online at: www.karger. com/journals/nef Dear Sir, Werner syndrome (WS) is a rare autosomal recessive progeroid syndrome characterized by the premature onset of multiple agerelated disorders such as atherosclerosis, cancer and myocardial infarction, which are common complications in long-term hemodialysis patients [1]. WS is caused by a mutation of the WRN gene belonging to the RecQ family of DNA helicase, which precipitates in DNA replication and repair [2]. The mutation of the WRN gene is potentially related to the onset of cardiovascular disease as a result of acceleration of aging. Ye et al. [3] reported that polymorphic variants of the WRN gene exist at nt 4330 in exon 34. These polymorphisms for A/G create an amino acid change from cysteine to arginine at amino acid position 1367 [3]. Among them, allele coding for cysteine is common and allele coding for arginine, which is associated with less of a risk of myocardial infarction, is rare [3, 4]. We retrospectively studied the polymorphic variants in healthy control subjects, and patients with shortor long-term hemodialysis. As subjects, we studied 230 healthy persons, and 110 hemodialysis patients including 60 who had been receiving hemodialysis therapy for less than 6 months (short-term hemodialysis) and 50 for over 15 years (longterm hemodialysis) in August 1999. Genotyping was determined by the presence (Rgenotype) or absence (C-genotype) of the Pml I site in the PCR products. As table 1 shows, the allele coding for cysteine (C) is predominant in both the control and hemodialysis patients. However, the minor allele coding for arginine (R) is almost 7 times more frequent in the long-term hemodialysis group than in the short-term hemodialysis group or healthy control subjects. Vascular disorders including myocardial infarction, which is a cause of early death in WS [1], also affect the prognosis of long-term hemodialysis patients. The homozygosity in allele coding (R) associated with lower risk of myocardial infarction was frequently found in long-term hemodialysis patients. This result might show that polymorphism of the WRN gene plays a significant role in longterm hemodialysis in the incidence of ischemic heart disease. This result could show homozygosity from cysteine to arginine in the polymorphic site exhibiting a beneficial effect for long-term dialysis patients. References
Estimation of "safe doses" in carcinogenic experiments.

The statistical methodology for carcinogenic safety testing here developed has the following advantages: (1) Rather than making possibly unwarranted assumptions about a minimum slope in a dose response relationship, the present method represents an objective data based method of estimating "safe" doses. It is applicable to any specified permissible risk (of exceeding the spontaneous rate) and the latter must of course be specified by F.D. A. (2) Although the model which is used for the estimation of safe doses and their lower confidence points is parametric it comprises an adequately large number of parameters to allow for differences in the idiosyncracies of suspected carcinogens, host species and to a limited degree for variations in the experimental protocols. (3) The same computer program will cover the analysis of an experiments in which times to tumor have been recorded as well as experiments in which only tumor incidence rates have been recorded or mixtures of the two. "Better experimentation" is "rewarded" in that the lower confidence limits for the "safe doses" should be higher and more closely approach the true safe dose as the experimental effort increases. (4) The maximum likelihood estimation procedure is sophisticated and has asymptotic optimality properties. It utilizes the latest techniques of "convex programming" and the computer algorithm is straightforward and fast. The methodology proposed here also has the following shortcomings: (1) The model is (multi)parametric. However, it is of the form of the product model for age specific hazard rates which is now widely accepted. (2) Robustness studies on the effect of model breakdown on the estimated safe doses are as yet limited and should be followed up with more extensive studies. (3) Obviously no estimates of "safe doses" can be made if the spontaneous incidence rate is zero and the experimental dose levels have been chosen too small and no tumors have been observed. Similarly if the experimental doses are too small and the tumor incidence rates are all comparable with the spontaneous rate the estimation procedure is afflicted by extremely large errors. The situation improves slightly if the incidence for the highest dose level is higher than that of the lower dose levels which are all approximately equal. In such situations more satisfactory experimental data are needed. Some general recommendations are as follows: (1) Whenever possible it is preferable to record times to tumor and not just incidence rates. However, for experiments of sufficiently long duration necropsies following the varying times of death will provide adequate information on the time dependence of tumor incidence. It may also be advisable to deliberately vary the times of sacrifice to two or three different times. (2) Other considerations being equal it is preferable to have a large number of dose levels rather than more animals per dose level.
Beta-Lactamase Activity in Anaerobic Bacteria

A diverse group of anaerobic bacteria representing a spectrum of resistance to β-lactam antibiotics was studied to characterize their β-lactamase activity and relate it to resistance. The Bacteroides fragilis organisms had moderate resistance and produced a cephalosporinase with low activity. The Clostridium ramosum was intermediate in resistance and had intermediate, inducible β-lactamase activity. The B. clostridiiformis organism was highly resistant, produced a potent inducible penicillinase, and had a barrier to the penicillin substrates. Only the β-lactamase of C. ramosum fit Richmond's classification (class IV). Although there was a rough correlation between β-lactamase activity and antibiotic resistance, other mechanisms are undoubtedly involved in determining resistance levels.
Effect of preoperative exercise on measures of functional status in men and women undergoing total hip and knee arthroplasty.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of a short preoperative exercise intervention on the functional status, pain, and muscle strength of patients before and after total joint arthroplasty. METHODS A total of 108 men and women scheduled for total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA) were randomized to a 6-week exercise or education (control) intervention immediately prior to surgery. We assessed outcomes through questionnaires and performance measures. Analyses examined differences between groups over the preoperative and immediate postoperative periods and at 8 and 26 weeks postsurgery. RESULTS Among THA patients, the exercise intervention was associated with improvements in preoperative Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index function score (improvement of 2.2 in exercisers versus decline of 3.9 in controls; P = 0.02) and Short Form 36 physical function score (decline of 0.4 in exercisers versus decline of 14.3 in controls; P = 0.003). No significant differences were seen in TKA patients. Exercise participation increased muscle strength preoperatively (18% in THA patients and 20% in TKA patients), whereas the control patients had essentially no change in strength (P > 0.05 for exercise versus education in both THA and TKA groups). Exercise participation prior to total joint arthroplasty substantially reduced the risk of discharge to a rehabilitation facility in THA and TKA patients (adjusted odds ratio 0.27, 95% confidence interval 0.074-0.998). The intervention had no effects on outcomes 8 and 26 weeks postoperatively. CONCLUSION A 6-week presurgical exercise program can safely improve preoperative functional status and muscle strength levels in persons undergoing THA. Additionally, exercise participation prior to total joint arthroplasty dramatically reduces the odds of inpatient rehabilitation.
COGNITIVE MODEL FOR IDENTIFICATION OF MALICIOUS SENSOR NODE BEHAVIOR 1

Wireless sensor networks [1-2] is a technology which as a diverse number of applications. While these networks are infrastructure less and do not have any public address. They are made up of many tiny sensor nodes and have insecure radio links. Thus they are highly vulnerable to security threats since the sensor nodes are the core weakness as they are with limited-resource. This paper aims at mitigating the security threats [7] to the wireless sensor network by implementing the reinforcement Q learning algorithm [4-6]. A new intrusion detection system called the Markovian [1] IDS is designed, to protect sensor nodes from malicious attacks. The Markovian IDS incorporates Q learning [4-6] to sense the network and attributes of each nodes.
Brivaracetam: Rationale for discovery and preclinical profile of a selective SV2A ligand for epilepsy treatment

Despite availability of effective antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), many patients with epilepsy continue to experience refractory seizures and adverse events. Achievement of better seizure control and fewer side effects is key to improving quality of life. This review describes the rationale for the discovery and preclinical profile of brivaracetam (BRV), currently under regulatory review as adjunctive therapy for adults with partial‐onset seizures. The discovery of BRV was triggered by the novel mechanism of action and atypical properties of levetiracetam (LEV) in preclinical seizure and epilepsy models. LEV is associated with several mechanisms that may contribute to its antiepileptic properties and adverse effect profile. Early findings observed a moderate affinity for a unique brain‐specific LEV binding site (LBS) that correlated with anticonvulsant effects in animal models of epilepsy. This provided a promising molecular target and rationale for identifying selective, high‐affinity ligands for LBS with potential for improved antiepileptic properties. The later discovery that synaptic vesicle protein 2A (SV2A) was the molecular correlate of LBS confirmed the novelty of the target. A drug discovery program resulted in the identification of anticonvulsants, comprising two distinct families of high‐affinity SV2A ligands possessing different pharmacologic properties. Among these, BRV differed significantly from LEV by its selective, high affinity and differential interaction with SV2A as well as a higher lipophilicity, correlating with more potent and complete seizure suppression, as well as a more rapid brain penetration in preclinical models. Initial studies in animal models also revealed BRV had a greater antiepileptogenic potential than LEV. These properties of BRV highlight its promising potential as an AED that might provide broad‐spectrum efficacy, associated with a promising tolerability profile and a fast onset of action. BRV represents the first selective SV2A ligand for epilepsy treatment and may add a significant contribution to the existing armamentarium of AEDs.