Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transcallosal Resection of Hypothalamic Hamartomas, with Control of Seizures, in Children with Gelastic Epilepsy

OBJECTIVE Hypothalamic hamartomas (HHs) are associated with precocious puberty and gelastic epilepsy; the seizures are often refractory to antiepileptic medications and associated with delayed development and disturbed behavior. The current opinion is that surgery to treat intrahypothalamic lesions is formidable and that complete excision is not technically achievable. We report our experience with a transcallosal approach to the resection of HHs. METHODS Five children (age, 4–13 yr) with intractable epilepsy and HHs underwent preoperative clinical, electroencephalographic, and imaging evaluations. Two patients experienced only gelastic seizures, and three patients experienced mixed seizure disorders with drop attacks; all experienced multiple daily seizures. Patients were evaluated with respect to seizures, cognition, behavior, and endocrine status 9 to 37 months (mean, 24 mo) after surgery. The HHs were approached via a transcallosal-interforniceal route to the third ventricle and were resected using a microsurgical technique and frameless stereotaxy. RESULTS Complete or nearly complete (>95%) excision of the HHs was achieved for all patients, with no adverse neurological, psychological, or visual sequelae. Two patients experienced mild transient diabetes insipidus after surgery. Two patients developed appetite stimulation, but no other significant endocrinological sequelae were observed. Three patients are seizure-free and two patients have experienced only occasional, brief, mild gelastic seizures after surgery, all with reduced antiepileptic medications. On the basis of parental reports and our own subjective observations, the children also exhibited marked improvements in behavior, school performance, and quality of life. CONCLUSION Complete or nearly complete resection of HHs can be safely achieved via a transcallosal approach, with the possibility of seizure freedom and neurobehavioral improvements.
Visualization of simulated airflow in a clean room

Techniques for visualizing a simulated air flow in a clean room are developed by using an efficient cell traverse of tetrahedral cells generated from irregular volumes. The proposed techniques, probing and stream line display, are related to the measurement techniques used in actual clean rooms. The efficient traverse makes it possible to move freely around a given irregular volume and to spawn off stream lines. A successful application of these techniques to a problem in a clean room is also described. <<ETX>>
Monkeypox virus: ecology and public health significance.

Recent investigations have revealed that monkeypox virus infections occur with a high prevalence in several species of squirrels belonging to the genus Funisciurus, less frequently in squirrels of the genus Heliosciurus, and rarely in forest-dwelling primates. These squirrels commonly inhabit the secondary forests around human settlements in the rural areas of Zaire, especially where oil palms are grown, and are rare in the primary rain forest.Human infection with monkeypox virus occurs most frequently in the 5-9-year-old age group, particularly in small villages where the children hunt and eat squirrels and other small mammals. As the populations are now increasing in number and can no longer feed on wild life alone for their animal protein requirements, the development of animal husbandry as a source of meat will certainly decrease the risk and the incidence of human monkeypox, even in areas where monkeypox virus is present in the local population of squirrels.Although population growth and economic development in western and central Africa will probably reduce the risk of human infection with monkeypox virus, visitors to these areas who are likely to come into contact with wild animals should be offered smallpox vaccination as a protection.
An Imaging Bistatic Lidar System for Boundary Layer Monitoring

A simple, inexpensive bistatic lidar system has been designed for low altitude scattering measurements in the range at which monostatic lidar systems typically require substantial overlap corrections. The new system requires no overlap correction and has the advantage of extremely small dynamic range. The instrument employs a pulsed laser transmitter and wide-angle receiving optics which image the entire beam onto a CCD detector. Thus the scanning typical of many bistatic systems is not required. Altitude is determined from geometrical constraints rather than through timing. The system offers sub-meter altitude resolution near the ground. The system has been tested under molecular scattering conditions. The system has also been tested under aerosol scattering conditions and compared to a nephelometer whose intake stack is at 10 m above ground. Keywords-lidar; CLidar; aerosols
Substance abuse among Iranian high school students

Purpose of review In this study, we reviewed data on drug use among high school students in Iran. Recent findings Published epidemiological studies in international and domestic journals show that drug use/abuse is a serious mental health problem in Iran. There is cultural support for opium in Iran and also there is cultural tolerance for tobacco smoking, especially as water pipe smoking in Iranian families. Alcohol, opium and cannabis are the most frequently used illicit drugs, but there are new emerging problems with anabolic steroids, ecstasy and stimulant substances, such as crystal methamphetamine. Summary There is a serious drug abuse problem among Iranian high school students. It could be due to role modeling by parents – mainly fathers – and also cultural tolerance of some substances. Early onset of tobacco smoking, with a daily use rate between 4.4 and 12.8% in high school students, is an important risk factor for other drug abuse problems. Use of all types of drugs, except prescription drugs, is more prevalent among boys. Alcohol is the most frequently abused substance, with a lifetime rate of at least 9.9%. Lifetime rates of opiate use – mostly opium – was between 1.2 and 8.6% in different parts of the country. As drug abuse is a frequent problem among Iranian high school students, it is necessary to design and implement drug prevention programs to protect them. Such programs, including life skills training and drug education, have been operating in recent years for Iranian students from kindergarten to the university level.
Diffusivity of cerebellar hemispheres enables discrimination of cerebellar or parkinsonian multiple system atrophy from progressive supranuclear palsy-Richardson syndrome and Parkinson disease.

PURPOSE To explore the usefulness of histogram analysis of mean diffusivity (MD) derived from diffusion-weighted imaging of large infratentorial structures to distinguish parkinsonian syndromes. MATERIALS AND METHODS Local research ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained. Ten patients with Parkinson disease (PD), nine with the parkinsonian variant of multiple system atrophy (MSA-P), seven with the cerebellar variant of MSA (MSA-C), 17 with progressive supranuclear palsy-Richardson syndrome (PSP-RS), and 10 healthy subjects were recruited. Histograms of MD values were generated for all pixels in the whole infratentorial compartment and separately for the whole brainstem, vermis, and cerebellar hemispheres. To assess the differences in MD values among groups, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used, followed by the Mann-Whitney U test for pairwise comparisons. All P values resulting from pairwise comparisons were corrected with the Bonferroni method. RESULTS MSA-P and MSA-C groups had higher median MD values (P < .01) in the brainstem and cerebellum when compared with other groups; this finding was in line with the known consistent neurodegenerative damage in posterior cranial fossa structures in these diseases. Median MD values from cerebellar hemispheres were used to discriminate patients with MSA-C and those with MSA-P from patients with PD and those with PSP-RS (P < .01; sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value equaled 100%). Furthermore, patients with PSP-RS had significantly higher MD values in the vermis than did healthy subjects (P < .05) and patients with PD (P < .001). CONCLUSION These findings support the clinical usefulness of diffusion imaging in the differential diagnosis of parkinsonism, suggesting that the minimally operator-dependent histogram analysis of the infratentorial structures and particularly of the whole cerebellar hemispheres can be used to distinguish patients with MSA-P and those with MSA-C from patients with PSP-RS and those with PD.
Low frequency oscillation in the PI type of average current controlled Boost converter

In this paper, the low frequency oscillation in the PI type of average current controlled Boost converter is studied. Firstly, the circuit operation is briefly presented, and some typical time-domain waveforms for describing the low frequency oscillation from the power electronics simulator (PSIM) and circuit experiment are given. And then, the low frequency oscillation in the PI type of average current controlled Boost converter is analyzed by establishing the improved averaged model. It is found that the switching frequency has an important influence on the low frequency oscillation in the PI type of average current controlled Boost converter and it is effective to use the improved averaged model to analyze the switching frequency's influence.
Children With and Without Developmental Disabilities: Sedation Medication Requirements and Adverse Events Related to Sedation

Objective Our objective was to prospectively compare sedation medication requirements and adverse events related to sedation in children with and without developmental disabilities. Methods We conducted a prospective, observational, age-matched, 1:2 case-control study of children (3–10 years) sedated for brain magnetic resonance imaging at a tertiary-care children’s hospital. Developmental assessment was performed using the Vineland Adaptive Behavioral Scale and by a pediatric neurologist. Patients were sedated according to institutional sedation protocol. Patient demographics, type and dose of sedation medications, depth of sedation, and adverse events were collected. We defined hypoxia as oxygen saturation 90% or less for 30 seconds or longer and requiring airway maneuvers. Results Seventy children were designated as cases (DD) and 140 as controls (DN). DD had a significantly lower mean Vineland Adaptive Behavioral Scale score than did DN (DD: 62.34 ± 9.70, DN: 103.0 ± 13.71; P < 0.001). A combination of pentobarbital and fentanyl (DD: 32/70 [45.7%], DN: 60/140 [42.9%]) and combination of pentobarbital and midazolam (DD: 28/70 [40%], DN: 43/140 [30.7%]) were the most common sedatives used in both groups. There was no difference in the mean dose of pentobarbital (DD:4.68 ± 1.63 mg/kg, DN:4.67 ± 1.69 mg/kg; P = 0.9), fentanyl (DD: 0.61 ± 0.65 &mgr;g/kg, DN: 0.64 ± 0.65 &mgr;g/kg; P = 0.7), and midazolam (DD: 0.15 ± 0.17 mg/kg, DN: 0.11 ± 0.14 mg/kg; P = 0.1). There was no difference in the overall adverse events (DD: 30%, DN: 32.9%; P = 0.7) as well as hypoxia (DD: 10%; DN: 9.3%, P = 0.9). Conclusions When compared with DN children, DD children do not require a higher dose of sedatives and do not have a higher incidence of adverse events.
Pulmonary nodules at risk in patients undergoing liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma

The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of pretransplant imaging in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) considering small pulmonary nodules, and to determine whether preoperatively diagnosed small pulmonary nodules should be considered ‘nodules at risk’. We evaluated 10 consecutive liver transplant patients with a diagnosis of HCC and pulmonary nodules detected by preoperative computerized tomography (CT) scanning. Pretransplant CT evaluation of pulmonary nodules showed a 90% accuracy rate. There was only one incorrect reading in the case of a patient, where a metastasis was misdiagnosed as a pulmonary fibroma. Two patients died from multifocal tumor recurrence with pulmonary metastases 17 and 19 months post‐transplant. One more patient died 29 months post‐transplantation on account of diffuse metastatic prostate carcinoma. Seven patients are currently alive with no evidence of tumor after a median follow‐up period of 48 months post‐transplantation. Small pulmonary nodules in high‐risk HCC patients (low tumor grading, exceeding Milan criteria) may be characterized as nodules at risk, and evaluated very closely prior to listing and during the pre‐ and post‐transplant periods.
Hyperpolarisation-activated current in glomerular cells of the rat olfactory bulb

Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings were carried out in visually identified periglomerular and external tufted cells of rat olfactory bulb. Most of the neurones showed a slowly developing hyperpolarisation-activated current with a threshold generally positive to resting potential and with a strongly voltage-dependent activation time constant. The current, identified as Ih, was sodium- and potassium-sensitive, suppressed by external caesium, and insensitive to barium. Under current-clamp conditions, perfusion with caesium induced a 10 mV hyperpolarisation and a marked reduction of the rate of low-frequency oscillations induced experimentally. It is concluded that most of the cells in the rat glomerular layer present a distinct h-current, which is tonically active at rest and which may contribute to the oscillatory behaviour of the bulbar network.
MUC4 expression in non-small cell lung carcinomas: relationship to tumor histology and patient survival.

CONTEXT Mucin 4 (MUC4) is a high-molecular-weight membrane-bound glycoprotein that is expressed in the foregut before epithelial differentiation. It is found in normal adult airway epithelium, non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) and in other human malignancies independent of mucus secretion. Although its tissue distribution has been studied, its utility in predicting prognosis in NSCLC is unknown. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between MUC4 overexpression and long-term survival in patients with NSCLC. DESIGN Immunohistochemical staining for MUC4 was performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples from 343 cases of NSCLC arranged in a high-density tissue microarray. Information about long-term survival and tumor stage was collected for all patients. Semiquantitative assessment of MUC4 staining was correlated with survival (Kaplan-Meier analysis). RESULTS MUC4 was frequently expressed in adenocarcinomas (151/187 [81%]), squamous cell carcinomas (69/ 88 [78%]), adenosquamous carcinomas (6/8 [75%]), and large cell carcinomas (33/60 [55%]). High levels of expression (combined score, 2+/3+) for MUC4 were more characteristic of adenocarcinomas (126/187 [68%]) and adenosquamous carcinomas (6/8 [75%]) than of squamous cell carcinomas (46/88 [52%]) and large cell carcinomas (17/60 [28%]) (P < .001). In patients with stage I and II adenocarcinoma, there was a trend toward longer patient survival with higher levels of MUC4 immunoreactivity compared with lower levels (P = .11). CONCLUSION MUC4 expression is common in pulmonary adenocarcinomas and may indicate a more favorable prognosis in early-stage adenocarcinomas.
Muscarinic inhibition of sympathetic C neurones in the bullfrog.

1. The muscarinic inhibitory post‐synaptic potential (i.p.s.p.) in sympathetic C neurones has been characterized in an isolated preparation of bullfrog paravertebral chain ganglia. Interactions between the i.p.s.p. and two other synaptic potentials have also been examined. 2. A single presynaptic stimulus to a C cell produces a nicotinic excitatory post‐synaptic potential (e.p.s.p.) followed by a muscarine i.p.s.p. The latency of the i.p.s.p. is 50 msec or longer and the response lasts for seconds. C cells receive multiple cholinergic innervation but the thresholds for activation of the e.p.s.p. and i.p.s.p. are inseparable. Trains of 50 or more presynaptic stimuli produce a non‐cholinergic e.p.s.p. which follows the nicotinic e.p.s.p. and i.p.s.p. and which lasts for tens of seconds. 3. The i.p.s.p. produced by a single presynaptic stimulus can be 30 mV in amplitude. However, in most cells, a short train of stimuli applied at an optimal frequency of 10 Hz is required to produce a large i.p.s.p. 4. The i.p.s.p. is blocked by atropine but is not affected by catecholamine antagonists. 5. Ionophoretically applied acetylcholine (ACh) mimics the i.p.s.p. in its latency, time course and amplitude. In addition, the i.p.s.p. and the muscarinic response to ACh reverse polarity at the same membrane potential: ‐102 mV in normal Ringer solution. The i.p.s.p. reversal potential shifts by 55 mV/decade change in extracellular K+ concentration and is insensitive to the Cl‐ gradient. 300 microM‐Ba2+ totally blocks the muscarinically activated conductance in a reversible manner. 6. Action potentials, when initiated by a supramaximal nicotinic e.p.s.p. or by an antidromic impulse, are not blocked by the i.p.s.p. 7. Near resting potential (‐50 to ‐60 mV), C cells can fire repetitively. The non‐cholinergic slow e.p.s.p. is often accompanied by oscillations in membrane potential and firing of action potentials. This repetitive firing of C cells, which appears to be enhanced by the non‐cholinergic e.p.s.p., is strongly inhibited by the i.p.s.p. The inhibition can be mimicked by injection of very small hyperpolarizing currents (e.g. 25 pA). Interactions between the i.p.s.p. and the non‐cholinergic e.p.s.p. can generate phasic bursting patterns in C cells. 8. The mechanism underlying the i.p.s.p. and the consequences of these findings for ganglionic integration are discussed.
A Transformation System for Developing Recursive Programs

A system of rules for transforming programs is described, with the programs in the form of recursion equations. An initially very simple, lucid, and hopefully correct program is transformed into a more efficient one by altering the recursion structure. Illustrative examples of program transformations are given, and a tentative implementation is described. Alternative structures for programs are shown, and a possible initial phase for an automatic or semiautomatic program-manipulation system is indicated.
p14Arf acts as an antagonist of HMGA2 in senescence of mesenchymal stem cells—implications for benign tumorigenesis

HMGA2 is a major regulator of benign tumorigenesis from mesenchyme‐derived tissues and stem‐cell self‐renewal. It has been postulated that HMGA2 mediates its critical function by decreasing p16Ink4a/p14Arf expression and cellular senescence. To repress the oncogenic activity of HMGA2, the lin‐28‐let‐7 axis is thought to increasingly repress the expression of HMGA2 with age. To understand the HMGA2‐p14Arf‐relationship in benign tumorigenesis, we performed a series of experiments on mesenchymal stem‐cells, i.e., the proposed cells of origin of lipomas and uterine leiomyomas. The expression of both genes was inversely correlated during senescence in vitro but contrary to the expectations in adipose tissue derived stem cells (ADSCs) stimulation of HMGA2 by FGF1 increased the expression of p14Arf. Based on the assumption that in ADSCs p14Arf is repressing HMGA2, siRNA silencing of p14Arf was performed resulting in a significant upregulation of HMGA2. To see if p14Arf can repress HMGA2 by a TP53‐dependent mechanism, nutlin‐3, a known MDM2 antagonist, was used which not only increased the activity of the senescence, associated markers p21 and beta‐galactosidase, but also decreased the expression of HMGA2, suggesting that p14Arf indeed influences HMGA2 by a p53‐dependent mechanism because nutlin‐3 stabilizes p53. Accordingly, the HMGA2 response triggered by serum was reduced by treatment of ADSCs with nutlin‐3. As to the interaction between HMGA2 and p14Arf in benign tumorigenesis, we propose a model where akin to MSC self‐renewal during tissue repair the simultaneous increase of p14Arf with HMGA2 ensures genomic stability, whereas in turn p14Arf can repress HMGA2 via TP53. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The evaluation of cost-of-illness due to use of cost-of-illness-based chemicals

Objectives This study is conducted to estimate the cost paid by the public suffering from disease possibly caused by chemical and to examine the effect on public health. Methods Cost-benefit analysis is an important factor in analysis and decision-making and is an important policy decision tool in many countries. Cost-of-illness (COI), a kind of scale-based analysis method, estimates the potential value lost as a result of illness as a monetary unit and calculates the cost in terms of direct, indirect and psychological costs. This study estimates direct medical costs, transportation fees for hospitalization and outpatient treatment, and nursing fees through a number of patients suffering from disease caused by chemicals in order to analyze COI, taking into account the cost of productivity loss as an indirect cost. Results The total yearly cost of the diseases studied in 2012 is calculated as 77 million Korean won (KRW) per person. The direct and indirect costs being 52 million KRW and 23 million KRW, respectively. Within the total cost of illness, mental and behavioral disability costs amounted to 16 million KRW, relevant blood immunological parameters costs were 7.4 million KRW, and disease of the nervous system costs were 6.7 million KRW. Conclusions This study reports on a survey conducted by experts regarding diseases possibly caused by chemicals and estimates the cost for the general public. The results can be used to formulate a basic report for a social-economic evaluation of the permitted use of chemicals and limits of usage.
Designing Rehabilitation Programs for Neglect: Could 2 Be More Than 1+1?

Unilateral neglect is a multimodal neuropsychological disorder that has puzzled scientists for a long time. Many interventions have been developed, but only a handful has proven to be effective. This review examines whether applying different therapeutic techniques in combination will increase therapeutic benefits. Studies were reviewed where therapies are applied sequentially or in combination with other techniques. The results indicate that combining different interventions leads to increased general improvement compared with other noncombined designs, even when the number of treatment sessions is not constant. Practical and theoretical aspects of different treatments are discussed. The combined approach to treatment may have direct relevance to disorders other than neglect. This report introduces a new classification scheme for different interventions with the aim of facilitating more focused therapy. Finally, suggestions are made as to what the focus of future studies of neglect therapy should be and how therapeutic benefits might be maximized.