Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alternative splicing, methylation state, and expression profile of tropomyosin-related kinase B in the frontal cortex of suicide completers.

CONTEXT Although most of the effort to understand the neurobiology of depressive states and suicide has focused on neuronal processes, recent studies suggest that astroglial dysfunction may play an important role. A truncated variant of the tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB.T1) is expressed in astrocytes, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor-TrkB signaling has been linked to mood disorders. OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that TrkB.T1 expression is downregulated in suicide completers and that this downregulation is mediated by an epigenetic process. DESIGN Postmortem case-control study. Patients, Setting, and MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Thirty-nine French Canadian men underwent screening at the Douglas Hospital Research Institute using the HG-U133 plus 2 microarray chip. Nine frontal cortical regions and the cerebellum were assessed using a microarray screening approach for extreme expression differences across subjects and a conventional screening approach. Results were validated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analyses. Animal experiments were performed to control for drug and alcohol effects. Genetic and epigenetic studies were performed by means of direct sequencing and bisulfite mapping. RESULTS We found that 10 of 28 suicide completers (36%) demonstrated significant decreases in different probe sets specific to TrkB.T1 in Brodmann areas 8 and 9. These findings were generalizable to other frontal regions but not to the cerebellum. The decrease in TrkB expression was specific to the T1 splice variant. Our results were not accounted for by substance comorbidity or by reduction in astrocyte number. We found no effect of genetic variation in a 2500-base pair promoter region or at relevant splice junctions; however, we detected an effect of methylation state at particular CpG dinucleotides on TrkB.T1 expression. CONCLUSION A reduction of TrkB.T1 expression in the frontal cortex of a subpopulation of suicide completers is associated with the methylation state of the promoter region.
VARIABILITY OF RESPONSE TO THE FEMALE HISTOCOMPATIBILITY ANTIGEN IN CHICKENS

Female integumental grafts on males are less likely to survive than are grafts exchanged in other sex combinations with some inbred lines of chickens. The rejection of female integument is commonplace in two inbred lines but cannot be detected in a third. Evidence for a second-set response is presented. This sex-specific rejection by males may be controlled by the W chromosome of the female chicken and is analogous to the rejection of male skin by females in some inbred lines of mice. A line in which males were responsive to the female histocompatibility antigen was reciprocally crossed with a nonresponsive line. F1 males rejected female grafts from both parental lines and from F1's in higher frequency than that for similar grafts in intrasex combinations on F1 males and females. The speed of rejection of female grafts on F1 males was less than that observed on responsive line males. We ascribe differences between lines in responsiveness to the female histocompatibility antigen to be primarily caused by differences in immunological competence.
Robust Detection and Segmentation for Diagnosis of Vertebral Diseases Using Routine MR Images

The diagnosis of certain spine pathologies, such as scoliosis, spondylolisthesis and vertebral fractures, is part of the daily clinical routine. Very frequently, magnetic resonance image data are used to diagnose these kinds of pathologies in order to avoid exposing patients to harmful radiation, like X‐ray. We present a method which detects and segments all acquired vertebral bodies, with minimal user intervention. This allows an automatic diagnosis to detect scoliosis, spondylolisthesis and crushed vertebrae. Our approach consists of three major steps. First, vertebral centres are detected using a Viola–Jones like method, and then the vertebrae are segmented in a parallel manner, and finally, geometric diagnostic features are deduced in order to diagnose the three diseases. Our method was evaluated on 26 lumbar datasets containing 234 reference vertebrae. Vertebra detection has 7.1% false negatives and 1.3% false positives. The average Dice coefficient to manual reference is 79.3% and mean distance error is 1.76 mm. No severe case of the three illnesses was missed, and false alarms occurred rarely—0% for scoliosis, 3.9% for spondylolisthesis and 2.6% for vertebral fractures. The main advantages of our method are high speed, robust handling of a large variety of routine clinical images, and simple and minimal user interaction.
PackMerger: A 3D Print Volume Optimizer

We propose an optimization framework for 3D printing that seeks to save printing time and the support material required to print 3D shapes. Three‐dimensional printing technology is rapidly maturing and may revolutionize how we manufacture objects. The total cost of printing, however, is governed by numerous factors which include not only the price of the printer but also the amount of material and time to fabricate the shape. Our PackMerger framework converts the input 3D watertight mesh into a shell by hollowing its inner parts. The shell is then divided into segments. The location of splits is controlled based on several parameters, including the size of the connection areas or volume of each segment. The pieces are then tightly packed using optimization. The optimization attempts to minimize the amount of support material and the bounding box volume of the packed segments while keeping the number of segments minimal. The final packed configuration can be printed with substantial time and material savings, while also allowing printing of objects that would not fit into the printer volume. We have tested our system on three different printers and it shows a reduction of 5–30% of the printing time while simultaneously saving 15–65% of the support material. The optimization time was approximately 1 min. Once the segments are printed, they need to be assembled.
Prognostic utility of postoperative C-reactive protein for posthepatectomy liver failure.

HYPOTHESIS C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute-phase protein produced by the liver. We hypothesize that an early dampened CRP response after major liver resection is of prognostic importance in predicting posthepatectomy liver failure (PHLF). DESIGN Serum CRP levels were determined on postoperative days 1, 3, and 7 in patients undergoing liver resection (stratified into minor [</=2 segments], standard [3 or 4 segments], and extended [>/=5 segments]). Correlations were made with indices of PHLF (hyperbilirubinemia, coagulopathy, ascites, and encephalopathy), multi-organ dysfunction syndrome, sepsis, and death. SETTING Division of Hepatobiliary and Transplant Surgery, Leeds Teaching Hospitals National Health Service Trust, England. PATIENTS One hundred thirty-eight individuals who underwent liver resection. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Sepsis, PHLF, and mortality. RESULTS A total of 138 liver resections (39 minor, 51 standard, and 48 extended) were included. Median serum CRP levels on day 1 were significantly lower after extended liver resection (28 mg/L; range, 5-119 mg/L [to convert to nanomoles per liter, multiply by 9.524]) compared with standard resection (41 mg/L; range, 5-85 mg/L) and minor resection (51 mg/L; range, 8-203 mg/L; chi(2) = 19; P < . 001). Similar differences were observed on day 3 (chi(2) = 27; P < . 001). Postoperative day 1 CRP levels were significantly lower in patients developing PHLF (hyperbilirubinemia, P = .001; ascites, P < .001; coagulopathy, P = .002; and encephalopathy, P < .001) or multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (P = .009) or who died (P = .01). Day 1 serum CRP levels and extent of resection were independent predictors of PHLF in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION The early dampened CRP response after major liver resection may reflect poor hepatic reserve that could have prognostic utility.
Perceptually‐motivated Stereoscopic Film Grain

Independent management of film grain in each view of a stereoscopic video can lead to visual discomfort. The existing alternative is to project the grain onto the scene geometry. Such grain, however, looks unnatural, changes object perception, and emphasizes inaccuracies in depth arising during 2D‐to‐3D conversion. We propose an advanced method of grain positioning that scatters the grain in the scene space. In a series of perceptual experiments, we estimate the optimal parameter values for the proposed method, analyze the user preference distribution among the proposed and the two existing methods, and show influence of the method on the object perception.
Shape‐from‐Operator: Recovering Shapes from Intrinsic Operators

We formulate the problem of shape‐from‐operator (SfO), recovering an embedding of a mesh from intrinsic operators defined through the discrete metric (edge lengths). Particularly interesting instances of our SfO problem include: shape‐from‐Laplacian, allowing to transfer style between shapes; shape‐from‐difference operator, used to synthesize shape analogies; and shape‐from‐eigenvectors, allowing to generate ‘intrinsic averages’ of shape collections. Numerically, we approach the SfO problem by splitting it into two optimization sub‐problems: metric‐from‐operator (reconstruction of the discrete metric from the intrinsic operator) and embedding‐from‐metric (finding a shape embedding that would realize a given metric, a setting of the multidimensional scaling problem). We study numerical properties of our problem, exemplify it on several applications, and discuss its imitations.
Global Illumination Using Well‐Separated Pair Decomposition

Instant radiosity methods rely on using a large number of virtual point lights (VPLs) to approximate global illumination. Efficiency considerations require grouping the VPLs into a small number of clusters that are treated as individual lights with respect to each point to be shaded. Two examples of clustering algorithms are Lightcuts [WFA*05] and LightSlice [OP11]. In this work, we use the notion of geometric separatedness of point sets as a basis for a data structure for pre‐computing and compactly storing a set of candidate VPL clusterings. Our data structure is created prior to rendering, is view‐independent and relies only on geometric and radiometric information. For any point to be shaded, we show that a suitable clustering of the VPLs can be efficiently extracted from this data structure. We develop the above framework into an accurate and efficient clustering algorithm based on well‐separated pair decompositions which outperforms earlier work in speed and/or quality for diffuse scenes.
Case based learning (CBL), a better option to traditional teaching for undergraduate students in curriculum of Paediatrics

Background: In present Medical system still using traditional didactic teaching method. This method has the disadvantage of pedagogical variations and information overload causing dissatisfaction to the students. Case based learning (CBL) uses virtual ‘trigger cases’ to create interest in a particular area of curriculum. Learning and remembering the subject is much easier when you link it to ’real life patient cases’ and get genuine feel that for how essential it is to clinical practice. Aims & Objectives: Undergraduate medical students should learn knowledge, attitude and skills in Paediatrics through Case Based Learning.Methods: Undergraduate students were randomly divided into two groups and subjected them to pre-test on Dengue fever. After that those groups were underwent CBL session and Traditional didactic lecture on Dengue fever. Post-test was conducted on the same groups. Results: The pre-test results in the form of average marks of target groups were more or less of similar. Whereas in post-test there was a significance improvement in the average marks secured by the CBL group when compare to traditional didactic lecture group. Conclusions: The present study concludes that the Case Based Learning method creates interest in the student to learn new thing. Learning and remembering the subject is much easier when you link it to real life patient cases and get genuine feel that for how essential it is to clinical practice.
Quality measures for breast cancer surgery: initial validation of feasibility and assessment of variation among surgeons.

OBJECTIVES To identify and quantify surgical outcomes as possible quality measures of initial breast cancer surgery and to assess variation among surgeons. DESIGN Descriptive analysis of concurrently collected outcome measures. SETTING University hospital with a designated breast cancer center. PATIENTS Patients with a preoperative diagnosis of invasive breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ undergoing their initial cancer surgery from April 1, 2003, to March 30, 2008. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Eight measures were identified: (1) total mastectomy rate; (2) close (<1 mm) and positive margin rate following initial partial mastectomy; (3) number of operations required in breast conservation; (4) number of nodes obtained from sentinel lymph node biopsy; (5) number of nodes from axillary dissection; (6) proportion of patients with positive sentinel lymph node biopsy undergoing axillary dissection; (7) use of intraoperative lymph node assessment; and (8) time from diagnosis to surgery. RESULTS Nine hundred ten operations (218 for ductal carcinoma in situ, 692 for invasive breast cancer) were performed by 6 surgeons. Variation existed among surgeons in the combined close and positive margin rate, number of nodes obtained from sentinel lymph node biopsy, and use of intraoperative lymph node assessment. No significant variation was seen for the overall mastectomy rate, mean number of operations, positive margin rate alone, and number of lymph nodes from axillary dissection. CONCLUSIONS Quality indicators for breast cancer surgery can be identified and readily monitored. Outcome variation exists at a high-volume breast center. Further study into the causes and effects of this variation on short- and long-term patient outcomes as well as health care costs is needed.
Untersuchung zur Diagnose und Prognose der caninen Leishmaniose

Due to increasing numbers of dogs that are imported from or visited Mediterranean countries, canine leishmaniasis has become an important infectious disease in Germany. Although conjunctival swabs have recently been described as useful diagnostic tool in endemic areas, their usefulness in non-endemic areas is unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of conjunctival swab polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in dogs in a non-endemic area. Seventy four dogs that were presented for suspected canine leishmaniasis or for screening purposes after a history of travelling were prospectively included. PCR results from conjuctival swabs were compared to those from bone marrow, lymph node, blood and to antibody results determined by IFA or ELISA. Dogs were considered infected if bone marrow, lymph node, or blood PCR was positive and were defined as not infected if bone marrow PCR, the gold standard of testing, was negative. Sensitivity and specificity of conjunctival swab PCR were 78.4% (CI 95% 62.8-88.6) and 83.3% (CI 95% 68.1-92.1). There was substantial agreement between PCR results from conjunctival swabs and lymph nodes (κ = 0.642), fair to moderate agreement between conjuncitval swab and bone marrow (κ = 0.483) and almost no agreement between conjunctival swab and blood (κ = 0.070). Dogs with high antibody titres were more likely to be positive on conjunctival swab PCR than dogs with negative or doubtful antibody titres (p < 0.001). Thus, conjunctival swab PCR is a good non-invasive test to diagnose Leishmania infection in dogs in non-endemic countries.
Recomendaciones para el tratamiento y prevención del ictus, 2004

Introduccion. Segun la Organizacion Mundial de la Salud, la enfermedad cerebrovascular constituye la tercera causa de muerte y la primera de invalidez en la poblacion adulta en el mundo. Sin embargo, la atencion urgente del paciente con ictus, en un centro hospitalario bien dotado de medios materiales y personales (neurologos expertos) y la aplicacion de un programa protocolizado de cuidados, metodos diagnosticos y tratamiento especifico (unidades o equipos de ictus) mejora significativamente la evolucion de los pacientes afectados. Desarrollo. Para difundir las evidencias cientificas disponibles acerca del tratamiento y la prevencion del ictus, un comite ad hoc de la Sociedad Iberoamericana de Enfermedad Cerebrovascular ha redactado esta guia, que recoge de manera esquematica todas las recomendaciones vigentes, con los niveles de evidencia que las respaldan y el grado de recomendacion para cada caso. Conclusiones. Este documento pretende servir de apoyo y guia para el tratamiento y la prevencion en los pacientes con ictus en todos los paises de Iberoamerica, y contribuir a lograr los medios necesarios para mejorar la atencion al paciente con ictus en las distintas administraciones sanitarias.
Repeatability of a skin tent test for dehydration in working horses and donkeys

Dehydration is a serious welfare issue for equines working in developing countries. Risk factors such as high ambient temperature, heavy workload and poor water availability are exacerbated by the traditional belief that provision of water to working animals will reduce their strength or cause colic and muscle cramps.As part of the welfare assessment of 4889 working horses and donkeys during 2002/3, eight observers were trained to perform a standardised skin tent test. The prevalence of a prolonged duration of skin tenting was 50% in horses and 37% in donkeys. Two studies investigated inter-observer repeatability of skin tent test techniques, using a total of 220 horses and donkeys in India and then Egypt: measures of agreement with a ‘gold standard’ observer varied from 40 to 99%. Simplifying the test by reducing the number of possible scores for skin tent from three (immediate return of skin to normal position; delayed return up to three seconds; delayed return more than three seconds) to two (immediate return of skin to normal position; delayed return of any duration) did not improve overall repeatability of the skin tent test. Potential reasons for not achieving high levels of agreement include variations in assessment method, assessors' previous experience, subjective demarcation between score categories and biological variability.
Avaliação do perfil hematológico de portadores de talassemia alfa provenientes das regiões Sudeste e Nordeste do Brasil

A talassemia alfa e uma anemia hereditaria resultante da sintese deficiente de cadeias alfa, provocando um excesso relativo de cadeias beta, que vao formar tetrâmeros identificados como hemoglobina H (Hb H) no individuo adulto. Para direcionar o diagnostico laboratorial desta anemia, a analise dos indices eritrocitarios, a eletroforese em acetato de celulose em pH neutro e a pesquisa de corpos de inclusao de Hb H sao essenciais. O objetivo deste estudo foi tracar o perfil hematologico, por meio dos indices eritrocitarios, dos portadores de talassemia alfa das regioes Sudeste e Nordeste do Brasil. Foram analisadas 1.010 amostras de sangue periferico apos consentimento informado. Os indices eritrocitarios como contagem de globulos vermelhos (RBC), dosagem de hemoglobina (HGB), hematocrito (HCT), volume corpuscular medio (VCM), hemoglobina corpuscular media (HCM) e concentracao de hemoglobina corpuscular media (CHCM) foram fornecidos por aparelhos automatizados com controle de qualidade interno e externo. Para o diagnostico de talassemia alfa foram utilizados testes de triagem e complementares para talassemias, como eletroforese em pH neutro e pesquisa de corpos de inclusao de Hb H com coloracao de azul cresil brilhante. Comparando-se os valores hematologicos observados nos dois grupos, notou-se que, em ambas as regioes, os indices com valores discrepantes foram os niveis de HGB e HCT, sendo a maior frequencia de variacao observada entre as mulheres. Nos portadores do fenotipo alfa talassemico da regiao Nordeste, todos os indices eritrocitarios estavam abaixo dos valores de normalidade. Estes resultados evidenciam a necessidade de melhor avaliacao do perfil hematologico de talassemia alfa em diferentes regioes, considerando-se os interferentes ambientais para um diagnostico mais preciso.
CoreFlow: Extracting and Visualizing Branching Patterns from Event Sequences

Event sequence datasets with high event cardinality and long sequences are difficult to visualize and analyze. In particular, it is hard to generate a high level visual summary of paths and volume of flow. Existing approaches of mining and visualizing frequent sequential patterns look promising, but have limitations in terms of scalability, interpretability and utility. We propose CoreFlow, a technique that automatically extracts and visualizes branching patterns in event sequences. CoreFlow constructs a tree by recursively applying a three‐step procedure: rank events, divide sequences into groups, and trim sequences by the chosen event. The resulting tree contains key events as nodes, and links represent aggregated flows between key events. Based on CoreFlow, we have developed an interactive system for event sequence analysis. Our approach can compute branching patterns for millions of events in a few seconds, with improved interpretability of extracted patterns compared to previous work. We also present case studies of using the system in three different domains and discuss success and failure cases of applying CoreFlow to real‐world analytic problems. These case studies call forth future research on metrics and models to evaluate the quality of visual summaries of event sequences.
Pathogenese des chronisch-venösen Ulcus cruris

Zusammenfassung Die physiologische Wundheilung umfasst mehrere Phasen: Entzündungphase mit initialer Blutstillung, Bildung eines Granulationsgewebes, Matrixsynthese und Remodellierung des Ersatzgewebes. In den westlichen Industrienationen ist insbesondere die chronisch-venöse Insuffizienz für Wundheilungsstörungen im Bereich der unteren Extremität verantwortlich. Chronisch-venöse Ulzerationen durchlaufen nicht den physiologischen Wundheilungsablauf, sondern persistieren mit geringer Heilungstendenz in der inflammatorischen Phase. Das molekulare Verständnis der verzögerten Wundheilung im Rahmen der chronisch-venösen Insuffizienz ist entscheidend für die Entwicklung neuer Therapiestrategien. Aktuell stellen plastisch-rekonstruktive Maßnahmen, die Kompressionstherapie und bei therapierefraktärem Ulcus cruris venosum auch die chirurgische Abtragung des liposklerotischen, periulzerösen Gewebes gängige therapeutische Alternativen dar, um das chronisch aggressive Mikromilieu in ein für die Heilung förderliches umzustellen.