Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of tumour necrosis factor blockers in reducing uveitis flares in patients with spondylarthropathy: a retrospective study

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) treatments (given for rheumatological manifestations) in reducing uveitis flares in patients with spondylarthropathy in daily practice. Methods: A retrospective observational study of all patients with spondylarthropathy with at least one uveitis flare treated with anti-TNF in one centre (December 1997–December 2004). The number of uveitis flares per 100 patient-years was compared before and during anti-TNF treatment; each patient was his or her own control. The relative risk (RR) and the number needed to treat (NNT) were calculated. Results: 46 patients with spondylarthropathy treated with anti-TNF drugs had at least one uveitis flare (33 treated with anti-TNF antibodies, infliximab or adalimumab, and 13 with soluble TNF receptor, etanercept). The mean age at first symptoms was 26 years, 71% were men. Patients were followed for 15.2 years (mean) before anti-TNF versus 1.2 years during anti-TNF treatment. The number of uveitis flares per 100 patient-years before and during anti-TNF were, respectively: for all anti-TNF treatments,—51.8 v 21.4 (p = 0.03), RR = 2.4, NNT = 3 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2 to 5); for soluble TNF receptor—54.6 v 58.5 (p = 0.92), RR = 0.9; and for anti-TNF antibodies—50.6 v 6.8 (p = 0.001), RR = 7.4, NNT = 2 (95% CI 2 to 5). Conclusion: Anti-TNF treatments were efficacious in decreasing the number of uveitis flares in patients with spondylarthropathy. Anti-TNF antibodies decreased the rate of uveitis flares, whereas soluble TNF receptor did not seem to decrease this rate. These results could have consequences for the choice of anti-TNF treatment in certain patients.
Social and attentional aspects of echolalia in highly echolalic mentally retarded persons.

Echolalia was examined in a sample of highly echolalic mentally retarded individuals. When presented with a standard set of questions, under conditions differing in appropriateness for exchange of discourse (e.g., questions presented with examiner and patient face-to-face vs. questions presented with the examiner's face averted vs. questions addressed towards another person sitting silently beside the patient), subjects' frequency of echolalia varied. Besides showing considerable sensitivity to aspects of discourse exchange, subjects exhibited some limited capacity for processing linguistic information.
Genetic Analysis of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells Bearing Msh3 and Msh2 Single and Compound Mutations

ABSTRACT We have previously described the use of homologous recombination and CRE-loxP-mediated marker recycling to generate mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell lines homozygous for mutations at theMsh3, Msh2, and both Msh3 andMsh2 loci (2). In this study, we describe the analysis of these ES cells with respect to processes known to be affected by DNA mismatch repair. ES cells homozygous for theMsh2 mutation displayed increased resistance to killing by the cytotoxic drug 6-thioguanine (6TG), indicating that the 6TG cytotoxic mechanism is mediated by Msh2. The mutation rate of the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase 1 (HSV-tk1) gene was unchanged in Msh3-deficient ES cell lines but markedly elevated in Msh2-deficient and Msh3 Msh2 double-mutant cells. Notably, the HSV-tk1 mutation rate was 11-fold higher, on average, than that of the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (Hprt) locus in Msh2-deficient cells. Sequence analysis of HSV-tk1 mutants from these cells indicated the presence of a frameshift hotspot within the HSV-tk1 coding region. Msh3-deficient cells displayed a modest (16-fold) elevation in the instability of a dinucleotide repeat, whereas Msh2-deficient andMsh2 Msh3 double-mutant cells displayed markedly increased levels of repeat instability. Targeting frequencies of nonisogenic vectors were elevated in Msh2-deficient ES cell lines, confirming the role of Msh2 in blocking recombination between diverged sequences (homeologous recombination) in mammalian cells. These results are consistent with accumulating data from other laboratories and support the current model of DNA mismatch repair in mammalian cells.
An adaptive fuzzy wavelet neural network with gradient learning algorithm for nonlinear function approximation

In this paper a new adaptive fuzzy wavelet neural network (AFWNN) model is proposed for nonlinear function approximation problems. The AFWNN model is a Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) fuzzy system in which the membership functions of fuzzy rules are replaced with wavelet basis functions, which are known to have time and frequency localization properties. The AFWNN model is trained using a gradient-based optimization algorithm for certain types of nonlinear time series, for instance fractal processes and the simulation results are found to be substantially more accurate than alternative methods.
Hepatitis C virus infection among drug injectors in St Petersburg, Russia: social and molecular epidemiology of an endemic infection.

AIMS To understand the epidemiology and transmission patterns of hepatitis C virus (HCV), the predominant blood borne-pathogen infecting injection drug users (IDUs), in a part of the former Soviet Union. DESIGN Cross-sectional respondent-driven sample of IDUs. SETTING St Petersburg, Russia. PARTICIPANTS A total of 387 IDUs were recruited in late 2005 and throughout 2006. MEASUREMENTS Participants were surveyed to collect demographic, medical and both general and dyad-specific drug injection and sexual behaviors. A blood sample was collected to detect antibodies to hepatitis C and to amplify viral RNA for molecular analysis. The molecular data, including genotypes, were analyzed spatially and linkage patterns were compared to the social linkages obtained by respondent-driven sampling (RDS) for chains of respondents and among the injection dyads. FINDINGS HCV infection was all but ubiquitous: 94.6% of IDUs were HCV-seropositive. Among the 209 viral sequences amplified, genotype 3a predominated (n = 119, 56.9%), followed by 1b (n = 61, 29.2%) and 1a (n = 25, 11.9%). There was no significant clustering of genotypes spatially. Neither genotypes nor closely related sequences were clustered within RDS chains. Analysis of HCV sequences from dyads failed to find associations of genotype or sequence homology within pairs. CONCLUSIONS Genotyping reveals that there have been at least five unique introductions of HCV genotypes into the IDU community in St Petersburg. Analysis of prevalent infections does not appear to correlate with the social networks of IDUs, suggesting that simple approaches to link these networks to prevalent infections, rather than incident transmission, will not prove meaningful. On a more positive note, the majority of IDUs are infected with 3a genotype that is associated with sustained virological response to antiviral therapy.
Discrepancy between self- and observer ratings of performance in social phobics.

Twenty-eight subjects meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (rev. 3rd ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) criteria for social phobia and without a comorbid affective disorder and 33 nonclinical controls were asked to present a brief, impromptu speech to a small audience. Speakers themselves, as well as members of the audience, rated each speaker on a public speaking questionnaire that included both specific items (e.g., voice shook) and global items (e.g., appeared confident). For global items, no significant difference was indicated between the two groups on observers' ratings of public speaking performance. However, social phobics rated their own performance worse than did nonclinical controls, and there was a significantly greater discrepancy between self and other ratings for social phobics than controls. Fear of negative evaluation was the only significant predictor of the self-other discrepancy on global items.
HR managers’ talent philosophies: prevalence and relationships with perceived talent management practices

Abstract HR managers have different beliefs about the nature, value, and instrumentality of talent—referred to as ‘talent philosophies’. In line with cognitive psychology, we reason that talent philosophies are similar to mental models that influence how HR managers interpret and use talent management (TM) practices within their organizations. In this article, we explore the prevalence of four different talent philosophies (exclusive/stable; exclusive/developable; inclusive/stable; inclusive/developable) in a sample of 321 HR managers. We then explore how talent philosophies relate to organizational context (i.e. size, ownership form, multinational orientation) as well as to HR managers’ perceptions of their organization’s TM practices. Cluster analysis corroborated the presence of the four talent philosophies in our dataset. All four talent philosophies were represented almost equally often in the overall dataset. Organizational size was found to be related to talent philosophies, such that HR managers who worked in smaller organizations were more likely to hold an inclusive talent philosophy. We also found support for the relationship between talent philosophies and perceptions of the exclusiveness or inclusiveness of the organization’s definition of talent, and its degree of workforce differentiation. Contrary to expectations, results did not support a link between talent philosophies and perceived talent identification criteria.
Optokinetic drum tilt hastens the onset of vection-induced motion sickness.

BACKGROUND Under optokinetic drum conditions, a stationary participant views the patterned interior of a rotating drum. Quickly, most participants perceive illusory self-rotation in the direction opposite to the drum's true rotation (vection). It has been documented that up to 60% of participants experience motion sickness-like symptoms under optokinetic conditions perhaps because of conflicting sensory information from the visual and vestibular systems. METHODS Keeping rotation speed constant (10 RPM), drum tilt relative to the axis of rotation was systematically manipulated (0 degrees, 5 degrees, 10 degrees), producing a wobble effect. Overall well-being and eight motion sickness symptoms were assessed every 2 min using subjective scales. RESULTS Participants reported 1) a complex type of circular vection that included a "wobble" or "sway" component and 2) a quicker onset of motion sickness-like symptoms as tilt increased. CONCLUSION In a tilted drum, the vestibular system correctly indicates that the participant is stationary while the visual system indicates a complex type of self-rotation. This type of sensory conflict is more severe than what takes place under typical optokinetic drum conditions (no tilt). Results suggest that as visual/vestibular sensory conflict increases, so does the speed at which motion sickness symptoms occur.
Group IIA phospholipase A2 as a prognostic marker in prostate cancer: relevance to clinicopathological variables and disease‐specific mortality

Group IIA Phospholipase A2 (PLA2‐IIA), a key enzyme in arachidonic acid and eicosanoid metabolism, participates in a variety of inflammatory processes but possibly also plays a role in tumor progression in vivo. Our aim was to determine the mRNA and protein expression of PLA2‐IIA during prostate cancer progression in localized and metastatic prostate tumors. We evaluated the prognostic significance of PLA2‐IIA expression in biochemical recurrence, clinical recurrence and disease‐specific survival after surgical treatment. The expression of PLA2‐IIA was examined by immunohistochemistry and chromogenic in situ hybridization in tissue microarrays of radical prostatectomy specimens and advanced/metastatic carcinomas. The expression data were analyzed in conjunction with clinical follow‐up information and clinicopathological variables. The mRNA and protein expression of PLA2‐IIA was significantly increased in Gleason pattern grade 2–4 carcinomas compared with benign prostate (p‐values 0.042–0.001). In metastases, the expression was significantly lower than in local cancers (p=0.001). The PLA2‐IIA expression correlated positively with Ki‐67 and α‐methylacyl CoA racemase (AMACR) expression. The prognostic evaluation revealed decreased PLA2‐IIA protein expression among patients who had died of prostate cancer. In conclusion, PLA2‐IIA expression is increased in carcinoma when compared with benign prostate. However, metastatic carcinoma showed decreased expression of PLA2‐IIA when compared with primary carcinomas. PLA2‐IIA may serve as a marker for highly proliferating, possibly poorly differentiated prostate carcinomas. The protein expression of PLA2‐IIA may be diminished in patients who consequently die of prostate cancer.
Three-dimensional doping and diffusion in nano scaled devices as studied by atom probe tomography

Nowadays, technological developments towards advanced nano scale devices such as FinFETs and TFETs require a fundamental understanding of three-dimensional doping incorporation, activation and diffusion, as these details directly impact decisive parameters such as gate overlap and doping conformality and thus the device performance. Whereas novel doping methods such as plasma doping are presently exploited to meet these goals, their application needs to be coupled with new metrology approaches such as atom probe tomography, which provides the 3D-dopant distribution with atomic resolution. In order to highlight the relevant processes in terms of dopant conformality, 3D-diffusion, dopant activation and dopant clustering, in this paper we report on 3D-doping and diffusion phenomena in silicon FinFET devices. Through the use of atom probe tomography we determine the dopant distribution in a fully completed device which has been doped using the concept of self-regulatory plasma doping (SRPD). We extract the dopant conformality and spatial extent of this doping process and demonstrate that after annealing the resulting 3D-doping profiles and gate overlap are dependent on the details of the plasma doping process. We also demonstrate that the concentration-dependent 3D-diffusion process leads to concentration gradients which are different for the vertical versus the lateral direction. Through a statistical analysis of the dopant atom distributions we can identify dopant clustering in high concentration regions and correlate this with details of the dopant activation and, eventually, the device performance.
MultiEdTech 2017: 1st International Workshop on Multimedia-based Educational and Knowledge Technologies for Personalized and Social Online Training

Educational and Knowledge Technologies (EdTech), especially in connection to multimedia content and the vision of mobile and personalized learning, is a hot topic in both academia and the business start-ups ecosystem. The driver and enabler of this is on the one side the development and widespread availability of multimedia materials and MOOCs, which represent multimedia content produced specifically for supporting e-learning; and, on the other side, the ever increasing availability of all sorts on information on the Internet and in social media channels (e. g. lectures, research papers, user-generated videos, news items), which, despite not directly targeting e-learning, can prove to be valuable complements to the more targeted learning materials. Although the availability of such content is not a problem these days, finding the right content and associating different relevant pieces of multimedia so as to enable a comprehensive learning experience on a chosen subject is by no means a trivial task. This workshop provides research in areas related to multimedia-based educational and knowledge technologies and particularly on the use of multimedia search and retrieval, analysis and understanding, browsing, summarization, recommendation, and visualization technologies on multimedia content available in specialized learning platforms, the Web, mobile devices and/or social networks for supporting personalized and adaptive e-learning and training.
Prehospital-initiated vs hospital-initiated thrombolytic therapy. The Myocardial Infarction Triage and Intervention Trial.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of prehospital-initiated vs hospital-initiated treatment of myocardial infarction on clinical outcome. DESIGN Randomized, controlled clinical trial. SETTING Multicenter study involving 19 hospitals and all paramedic systems in the Seattle, Wash, metropolitan area. PATIENTS A total of 360 patients with symptoms for 6 hours or less, no risk factors for serious bleeding, and ST-segment elevation were selected by paramedics and a remote physician for inclusion into the trial. They represented 4% of patients with chest pain who were screened and 21% of those with acute infarction. INTERVENTIONS Patients were allocated to have aspirin and alteplase treatment initiated before or after hospital arrival. Intravenous sodium heparin was administered to both groups in the hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The primary endpoint was a ranked composite score (combining death, stroke, serious bleeding, and infarct size). The relation between time to treatment and outcome (composite score, infarct size, ejection fraction, and mortality) was also assessed. RESULTS Initiating treatment before hospital arrival decreased the interval from symptom onset to treatment from 110 to 77 minutes (P < .001). Although more patients whose therapy was initiated before hospital arrival had resolution of pain by admission (23% vs 7%; P < .001), there were no significant differences in the composite score (P = .64), mortality (5.7% vs 8.1%), ejection fraction (53% vs 54%), or infarct size (6.1% vs 6.5%). A secondary analysis of time to treatment and outcome showed that treatment initiated within 70 minutes of symptom onset was associated with better outcome (composite score, P = .009; mortality, 1.2% vs 8.7%, P = .04; infarct size, 4.9% vs 11.2%, P < .001; and ejection fraction, 53% vs 49%, P = .03) than later treatment. Identification of patients eligible for thrombolysis by paramedics reduced the hospital treatment time from 60 minutes (for patients not in the study) to 20 minutes (for study patients allocated to begin treatment in the hospital). CONCLUSION There was no improvement in outcome associated with initiating treatment before hospital arrival; however, treatment within 70 minutes of symptom onset--whether in the hospital or in the field--minimized the infarct process and its complications.
Effects of magnesium on renal and intestinal calbindin-D.

The possible effects of magnesium on the vitamin D-dependent renal and intestinal calbindin-D were investigated. In a low magnesium model 70 Wistar rats were allocated to either a normomagnesemic diet (Mg 3.2 g/kg) or a Mg-deficient diet (Mg 0.18 g/kg) for 10 or 24 days. The rats had intraperitoneal injections of 1,25-(OH)2 vitamin D3 0.2 microgram, MgSO4 100 mumol or placebo daily for the last 4 days. In a high magnesium model 60 Wistar rats were allocated to three groups on a normomagnesemic diet supplied with intraperitoneal MgSO4 20 mumol, 100 mumol or placebo daily. Half of the animals in each group were further supplied with intraperitoneal 1,25-(OH)2 vitamin D3 0.2 micrograms daily. The concentrations of intestinal calbindin-D9k increased on the low Mg diet from 1.6 (1.1-2.0) to 2.7 (2.0-2.9) micrograms/mg protein (p < 0.02), but were unchanged in the high Mg groups. Vitamin D treatment raised the levels of calbindin-D9k in the normomagnesemic group (p < 0.01), but not significantly in the low Mg group. Administration of MgSO4 to the low Mg rats normalized the elevated levels of intestinal calbindin-D9k (p < 0.05). The concentrations of renal calbindin-D28k were not changed by the low Mg diet, but were lower in the high Mg group [0.8 (0.6-1.1) micrograms/mg protein] than in the control group [1.5 (1.1-1.8) micrograms/mg protein; p < 0.05]. Animals in the low, high and normal magnesium group showed no differences in plasma concentrations of 1,25-(OH)2 vitamin D. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Osmotically Actuated Micropumps and Control Valves for Point-of-Care Applications

We present novel micropumps and valves actuated by osmotic flow for point-of-care (POC) applications. Although there has been significant progress in the development of microfluidic flowcontrol components, such as fluidic switches, diodes, and resonators, the flow needs to be ultimately supplied by bulky off-chip active components. These off-chip components cannot be easily miniaturized integrated micropumps that utilize electrostatic, piezoelectric, or electroosmotic actuation require high operational voltages, limiting their applications. Other novel approaches, such as magnetic actuation and liquid metal pumping, are also limited by their nonstandard processes and biocompatibility. In this paper, we report two active components, control valves and fluid pumps, actuated by osmotic mechanism, allowing completely stand-alone integrated microfluidic systems. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to realize control valves by osmosis. The valve can maintain robust sealing up to 125 kPa of back pressure. The fabricated osmotic pump is capable of pumping at >30 μL/min, which is higher than that of previous works by an order of magnitude. To demonstrate the feasibility of manipulating biofluids, white blood cells suspended in serum were driven and filtered by osmotic actuation. The experimental results verified the potential use of osmotic actuation for POC disposable microfluidics.
The N-terminal Truncated Isoform of SOCS3 Translated from an Alternative Initiation AUG Codon under Stress Conditions Is Stable Due to the Lack of a Major Ubiquitination Site, Lys-6*

The suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (SOCS3/CIS-33/SSI-3) is an important negative regulator of cytokine signaling. Here, we show that an N-terminal truncated isoform (ΔN-SOCS3) translated from the internal AUG codon 12 was profoundly induced by endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress- or active double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase PKR, as a result of induction of eukaryotic initiation factor 2α phosphorylation. ΔN-SOCS3 exhibited a stronger cytokine-inhibitory activity and a higher stability than WT-SOCS3 in Ba/F3 hematopoietic cells. A potential ubiquitination residue, Lys-6, at the N terminus is evolutionary conserved among SOCS3 species. The K6Q-SOCS3 mutant showed a much longer half-life than WT-SOCS3 in Ba/F3 cells. Furthermore, inhibition of the 26 S proteasome pathway increased both ubiquitination and protein levels of WT-SOCS3 but had no effect on K6Q-SOCS3. SOCS3 mutant lacking the carboxyl-terminal SOCS-box exhibited the same stability as K6Q-SOCS3. These observations suggest that the short form of SOCS3 is a naturally occurring stabilized inhibitory protein, whereas WT-SOCS3 is a short-lived protein modulated by Lys-6 ubiquitination and proteasome-dependent degradation. Our findings provide strong evidence for the first time that translational control plays an important role in stabilization and function of SOCS3.