Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sleep disordered breathing at the extremes of age: the elderly

Key points Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is common and its prevalence increases with age. Despite this high prevalence, SDB is frequently unrecognised and undiagnosed in older people. There is accumulating evidence that SDB in older people is associated with worsening cardio- cerebrovascular, cognitive and functional outcomes. There is now good evidence to support the use of continuous positive airway pressure therapy in older patients with symptomatic SDB. Educational aims To highlight the prevalence and presentation of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in older people. To inform readers about the risk factors for SDB in older people. To explore the impact of SDB in older people. To introduce current evidence based treatment options for SDB in older people. Sleep disordered breathing (SBD) increases in prevalence as we age, most likely due to physiological and physical changes that occur with ageing. Additionally, SDB is associated with comorbidity and its subsequent polypharmacy, which may increase with increasing age. Finally, the increased prevalence of SDB is intrinsically linked to the obesity epidemic. SDB is associated with serious outcomes in younger people and, likewise, older people. Thus, identification, diagnosis and treatment of SDB is important irrelevant of age. This article reviews the age-related changes contributing to SDB, the epidemiology and the risk factors for SDB in older people, the association of SDB with adverse outcomes, and diagnostic and treatment options for this population. SDB is common in the elderly and treatment with CPAP therapy should be considered http://ow.ly/YSg5z
Migration and recovery of the genetic diversity during the increasing density phase in cyclic vole populations

In cyclic populations, high genetic diversity is currently reported despite the periodic low numbers experienced by the populations during the low phases. Here, we report spatio‐temporal monitoring at a very fine scale of cyclic populations of the fossorial water vole (Arvicola terrestris) during the increasing density phase. This phase marks the transition from a patchy structure (demes) during low density to a continuous population in high density. We found that the genetic diversity was effectively high but also that it displayed a local increase within demes over the increasing phase. The genetic diversity remained relatively constant when considering all demes together. The increase in vole abundance was also correlated with a decrease of genetic differentiation among demes. Such results suggest that at the end of the low phase, demes are affected by genetic drift as the result of being small and geographically isolated. This leads to a loss of local genetic diversity and a spatial differentiation among demes. This situation is counterbalanced during the increasing phase by the spatial expansion of demes and the increase of the effective migration among differentiated demes. We provide evidences that in cyclic populations of the fossorial water voles, the relative influence of drift operating during low density populations and migration occurring principally while population size increases interacts closely to maintain high genetic diversity.
Grand Challenge: How Do We Dodge the Obesity Armageddon?

" To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science. " Albert Einstein To find new questions and new possibilities in the field of obesity, that is the Grand Challenge, the gauntlet I humbly place before us aspects of this pandemic, clinicians at the coal face treating the myriad of diseases either caused by or accelerated by obesity, industry producing foods or products to ameliorate the crisis (rather than exacerbate it) or policy makers and politicians charged with steering our local, national, and international ship to safer waters. The solution to our crisis in obesity and its fall outs requires these and many other players to build on the evidence that informs innovative scientific developments, novel treatments, and prevention approaches and guides health policy and political commitment. Obesity today threatens to undermine the benefits of two centuries of improved longevity and human health won by hygiene, water safety, nutrition, antibiosis, immunization, smoking cessation, and medical care. Overweight and obesity have reached epidemic proportions worldwide, affecting 39% of adults, an estimated 1.9 billion people of whom 600 million are obese (1). In the United States of America, rates of adult overweight and obesity exceed 68% (2). The most recent reports in a sobering corpus of evidence show that obesity afflicts 38% of adults (3) and 17% of children and adolescents (4). Of concern, there is evidence that obesity prevalence continues to grow in women and adolescents (3, 4). Obesity prevalence rates in low-and middle-income countries have not been spared the upsurge in obesity prevalence. Now imagine if all that could change. Imagine if we could alter the energy balance equation at any of the multitude of opportunities that exist from agriculture to food production, to the consumer as a mass and as individuals, to the mouth, the brain, the gut, the cell, the mitochondrium, the DNA, and how it is decoded, read, amplified, or silenced; how energy is utilized, expended, and how an excess might be stored or perhaps not stored. How the effects of excess energy on health and disease might be blunted. How the health of those affected can be ameliorated, improved, or cured; how the unaffected can remain so. These are the challenges that are ahead that require vision, effort, enterprise, commitment, and endurance across a united front of multiple disciplines. Frontiers in Endocrinology, …
DISTRIBUIÇÃO DA MEIOFAUNA EM DOIS HABITATS ESTUARINOS DA APA DO RIO MAMANGUAPE (NE BRASIL)

As assembleias infaunais sao conhecidas por terem um papel importante em termos do uso da energia em ecossistemas estuarinos atraves de processos de decomposicao. Estes organismos tem diferentes funcoes ecologicas, tais como ciclagem de nutrientes, degradacao de poluentes, a dispersao, o processo de producao secundaria, aeracao e bioturbacao, desempenhando um papel chave na cadeia alimentar dos ecossistemas de mangue. O objetivo deste estudo foi comparar as assembleias infaunais de dois ambientes estuarinos com diferentes tipos de sedimentos. As amostras foram coletadas em quatro estacoes ao longo do estuario, considerando dois tipos de substrato (areia e lama). Um total de 102 individuos pertencentes a nove taxons foram registrados. Foram observadas diferencas significativas na densidade dentro e entre os substratos amostrados, observando-se o maior numero medio de individuos por cm³ e diversidade no fundo lamacento. Maior riqueza e equitabilidade foram encontradas na areia. Assim, as informacoes sobre as assembleias infaunais nos dois tipos de substratos estudados , contribui para a descricao biologica da area de estudo , tornando-se estudos adicionais necessarios que se concentram em fatores fisico- quimicos, tamanho de particulas e materia orgânica , uma vez que esses fatores tem sido fortemente correlacionada com a distribuicao de organismos bentonicos. Unitermos: Infauna, manguezais, substrato inconsolidado.
Glycine‐ and GABA‐activated Currents in Identified Glial Cells of the Developing Rat Spinal Cord Slice

In the neonatal rat spinal cord, four types of glial cells, namely astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and two types of precursor cells, can be distinguished based on their membrane current patterns and distinct morphological features. In the present study, we demonstrate that these cells respond to the inhibitory neurotransmitters glycine and GABA, as revealed with the whole‐cell recording configuration of the patch‐clamp technique. All astrocytes and glial precursor cells and a subpopulation of oligodendrocytes responded to glycine. The involvement of glycine receptors was inferred from the observation that the response was blocked by strychnine and that the induced current reversed close to the Cl‐ equilibrium potential. GABA induced large membrane currents in astrocytes and precursor cells while oligodendrocytes showed only small responses. The GABA‐activated current was due to the activation of GABAA receptors since muscimol mimicked and bicuculline blocked the response; moreover, the reversal potential was close to the Cl‐ equilibrium potential. Besides the increase in a Cl‐ conductance, GABAA receptor activation also induced a block of the resting K+ conductance, as observed previously in Bergmann glial cells. Our experiments show that while glial GABAA receptors are found in many brain regions and the spinal cord, glial glycine receptors have so far been detected only in the spinal cord. The restricted coexpression of glial and neuronal glycine receptors in a defined central nervous system grey matter area implies that such glial receptors may be involved in synaptic transmission.
Comparison of Active Stretching Technique and Static Stretching Technique on Hamstring Flexibility

Objectives:To compare a passive and an active stretching technique to determine which one would produce and maintain the greatest gain in hamstring flexibility. To determine whether a passive or an active stretching technique results in a greater increase in hamstring flexibility and to compare whether the gains are maintained. Design:Randomized controlled trial. Setting:Institutional. Participants:Sixty-five volunteer healthy subjects completed the enrollment questionnaire, 33 completed the required 75% of the treatment after 6 weeks, and 22 were assessed 4 weeks after the training interruption. Intervention:A 6-week stretching program with subjects divided into 2 groups with group 1 performing active stretching exercises and group 2 performing passive stretching exercises. Main Outcome Measures:Range of motion (ROM) was measured after 3 and 6 weeks of training and again 4 weeks after the cessation of training and compared with the initial measurement. Results:After 3 weeks of training, the mean gain in group 1 (active stretching) on performing the active knee extension range of motion (AKER) test was 5.7°, whereas the mean gain in group 2 (passive stretching) was 3° (P = .015). After 6 weeks of training, the mean gain in group 1 was 8.7°, whereas the mean gain in group 2 was 5.3° (P = .006). Twenty-two subjects were reassessed 4 weeks after the cessation of the training with the maintained gain of ROM in group 1 being 6.3°, whereas the maintained gain in group 2 was 0.1° (P = .003). Conclusions:Active stretching produced the greater gain in the AKER test, and the gain was almost completely maintained 4 weeks after the end of the training, which was not seen with the passive stretching group. Active stretching was more time efficient compared with the static stretching and needed a lower compliance to produce effects on flexibility.
Delayed Expulsion of the Nematode Trichinella spiralis in Mice Lacking the Mucosal Mast Cell – specific Granule Chymase

Expulsion of gastrointestinal nematodes is associated with pronounced mucosal mast cell (MMC) hyperplasia, differentiation, and activation, accompanied by the systemic release of MMC granule chymases (chymotrypsin-like serine proteases). The b -chymase mouse mast cell protease-1 (mMCP-1) is expressed predominantly by intraepithelial MMCs, and levels in the bloodstream and intestinal lumen are maximal at the time of worm expulsion in parasitized mice. To address the in vivo functions of MMC-specific b -chymases, we have generated transgenic mice that lack the mMCP-1 gene. They were backcrossed onto a congenic BALB/c background to investigate the response to nematode infection. The deletion of the mMCP-1 gene is associated with significantly delayed expulsion of Trichinella spiralis and increased deposition of muscle larvae in BALB/c mice despite the presence of normal and sometimes increased numbers of MMCs. Neither worm fecundity nor worm burdens were altered in Nippostrongylus -infected mMCP-1 2 / 2 BALB/c mice. These data demonstrate, for the first time, that the ablation of an MMC-derived effector molecule compromises the expulsion process.
P17, an Original Host Defense Peptide from Ant Venom, Promotes Antifungal Activities of Macrophages through the Induction of C-Type Lectin Receptors Dependent on LTB4-Mediated PPARγ Activation

Despite the growing knowledge with regard to the immunomodulatory properties of host defense peptides, their impact on macrophage differentiation and on its associated microbicidal functions is still poorly understood. Here, we demonstrated that the P17, a new cationic antimicrobial peptide from ant venom, induces an alternative phenotype of human monocyte-derived macrophages (h-MDMs). This phenotype is characterized by a C-type lectin receptors (CLRs) signature composed of mannose receptor (MR) and Dectin-1 expression. Concomitantly, this activation is associated to an inflammatory profile characterized by reactive oxygen species (ROS), interleukin (IL)-1β, and TNF-α release. P17-activated h-MDMs exhibit an improved capacity to recognize and to engulf Candida albicans through the overexpression both of MR and Dectin-1. This upregulation requires arachidonic acid (AA) mobilization and the activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) nuclear receptor through the leukotriene B4 (LTB4) production. AA/LTB4/PPARγ/Dectin-1-MR signaling pathway is crucial for P17-mediated anti-fungal activity of h-MDMs, as indicated by the fact that the activation of this axis by P17 triggered ROS production and inflammasome-dependent IL-1β release. Moreover, we showed that the increased anti-fungal immune response of h-MDMs by P17 was dependent on intracellular calcium mobilization triggered by the interaction of P17 with pertussis toxin-sensitive G-protein-coupled receptors on h-MDMs. Finally, we also demonstrated that P17-treated mice infected with C. albicans develop less severe gastrointestinal infection related to a higher efficiency of their macrophages to engulf Candida, to produce ROS and IL-1β and to kill the yeasts. Altogether, these results identify P17 as an original activator of the fungicidal response of macrophages that acts upstream PPARγ/CLRs axis and offer new immunomodulatory therapeutic perspectives in the field of infectious diseases.
Problems of nosology and psychodynamics of early infantile autism.

I under the title Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact, I published 11 cases of infantile psychosis noticed as early as in the first two years of life. Since then, I have seen more than 50 such children, and knowledge of many others has come to me from psychiatrists and pediatricians in this country and abroad. To satisfy the need for some terminological identification of the condition, I have come to refer to it as "early infantile autism. " Briefly, the characteristic features consist of a profound withdrawal from contact with people, an obsessive desire for the preservation of sameness, a skillful and even affectionate relation to objects, the retention of an intelligent and pensive physiognomy, and either mutism or the kind of language which does not seem intended to serve the purpose of interpersonal comr;unication. An analysis of this language has revealed a peculiar reversal ? of pronouns, neologism.s, metaphors, and apparently irrelevant utterances which become meaningful to the extent to which they can be traced to the , patient's experiences and their emotional implications. The syndrome of early infantile autism is by now reasonably well established and commonly accepted as a psychopathologic pattern. The symptom combination in most instances warrants an unequivocal diagnostic formulation. Once 1became impressed by the syndrome, my first interests went in the direction of observation and description. In the early days of scientific psychiatry, the singling out of a pathologic behavior syndrome was deemed fully sufficient. A certain type of symptom mosaic was lifted out of the diagnostic diffuseness and given a distinctive name, which was viewed as the designation of a disease entity. This happened, for instance, to Hecker's hebephrenia and Kahlbaum's catatonia. Nowadays, the study of a psychotic pattern imposes two major obligations. Kraepelin introduced one of these by emphasizing similarities anddissimilarities of clinical pictures. He was able to find a common denominator for hebephrenia, catatonia, and other apparently heterogeneous phenomena. Now that early infantile autism has a well-defined symptomatology and the syndrome as such can be recognized with relative ease, it is ready to apply for a place in the existing psychiatric nosology. In accepting this application, I am less interested in terminological allocation than in the in-
Etude des interactions feuille/lumière et de leurs implications pour le phénotypage haut débit au champ

Ce travail de these s’inscrit dans le cadre des problematiques liees au phenotypage haut debit des plantes au champ. L’objectif est de realiser des mesures non destructives a distance, rapides et pertinentes pour caracteriser le peuplement vegetal ainsi que les organes (feuilles, tiges, epis) qui le constituent. Ce travail de these s’articule en deux axes : Un axe plutot operationnel ou les methodes existantes, generalement issues de la communaute de teledetection peuvent etre adaptees a cette nouvelle problematique. A l’echelle de l’organe (la feuille) l’inversion du modele de transfert radiatif PROSPECT est testee pour discriminer les varietes de ble. Nous montrons que cette methode permet d’obtenir une meilleure discrimination par rapport a celle obtenue a partir des mesures destructives classiques. A l’echelle du peuplement vegetal, un systeme semi-automatique permettant de mesurer un grand nombre de micro-parcelles experimentales est presente. Les mesures acquises decrivent la dynamique de la fraction de vert, du FIPAR ainsi que d’indices sensible au LAI et a la chlorophylle au cours du cycle du ble. Cette premiere partie s’acheve sur une discussion des ameliorations necessaires pour optimiser la chaine d’acquisition et d’interpretation des mesures pour le phenotypage haut debit au champ. Le second axe, plus academique, se concentre sur l’amelioration de la connaissance des proprietes directionnelles des feuilles de ble. Un instrument, le conosocope, est utilise pour mesurer le facteur de reflectance directionnelle sur un grand nombre de feuilles et de directions. On montre que le systeme vasculaire parallele des feuilles de ble cree une anisotropie azimutale peu decrite auparavant dans la litterature. Ce phenomene est modelise en adaptant un modele physique de micro-facettes caracterisee par une distribution azimutale anisotrope. La rugosite perpendiculaire au systeme vasculaire apparait etre deux fois superieure a celle observee parallelement. Finalement ce modele est couple a un modele de lancer de rayon pour evaluer l’effet de l’anisotrope des proprietes de la feuille sur celles observees au niveau du couvert. Cette avancee dans la comprehension des processus du transfert radiatif au niveau de la feuille ouvre la voie a une interpretation plus fine des mesures radiometriques realisees a differentes echelles et en particulier pour le phenotypage haut-debit.
An Intervention Approach for Children with Teacher-and Parent-Identified Attentional Difficulties

Using a multimodal and multi-informant method for diagnosis, we selected 33 children by teacher and parent nomination for attention and work completion problems that met DSM-IV criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Of the 33 children in this group, 21 participated in the initial intervention, and 12 were placed in an ADHD control group and received the intervention after pre- and posttesting. A similarly selected group of 21 children without difficulties in attention and work completion served as a control group. Each child was assessed on pre- and posttest measures of visual and auditory attention. After an 18-week intervention period that included attention and problem-solving training, all children in the intervention and control groups were retested on visual and auditory tasks. Children in both ADHD groups showed significantly poorer initial performance on the visual attention task. Whereas the ADHD intervention group showed commensurate performance to the nondisabled control group after training, the ADHD control group did not show significant improvement over the same period. Auditory attention was poorer compared to the control group for both ADHD groups initially and improved only for the ADHD intervention group. These findings are discussed as a possible intervention for children with difficulties in strategy selection in a classroom setting.
Evanescent Waves at the Interface between Ear Canal and Otoacoustic Emission Probe

The measurement of otoacoustic emissions (OAE) allows for an objective examination of the cochlear function. However, the validity of OAE tests is affected negatively by calibration errors, rendering the diagnosis less accurate. In this report, we shed light on the evanescent waves arising at the interface between the OAE probe and the ear canal. For this purpose, finite element models of the ear canal along with the microphone and sound tubes of the OAE probe were created. The impact of evanescent waves on the estimation of the acoustic length was studied. This effect was negligible for an average human ear canal model (8 mm diameter). However, for a 12 mm-diameter ear canal model, an extension of the probe microphone tube by 2 mm was required to counterbalance the evanescent wave effect. Hence, as a preliminary result, we expect that modifying the 12 mm-diameter eartips – by extending the probe microphone tube by about 2 mm – will have a positive effect on the length estimation of large-diameter ear canals.
Normocalcemic hyperparathyroidism with "normal" parathyroid glands.

Ten patients with recurrent renal calculi were evaluated for parathyroid function. Each patient had persistently normal serum calcium values, normal or low serum phosphorus values, and increased urinary excretion of calcium, thus satisfying the criteria for "idiopathic hypercalcuria. " However, each patient had reduced tubular resorption of phosphorus (TRP) in the presence of normal renal function, consistent with hyperparathyroidism. Four grossly normal parathyroids were identified in each patient at operation; three or 3½ glands were removed in each instance. Parathyroid hyperfunction was evident by electron microscopy in six of six patients examined. The clinical and biochemical response to parathyroidectomy corroborated the diagnosis of hyperparathyroidism. The incidence of stone formation was dramatically reduced. There was a prompt and sustained fall in urinary calcium, a rise in TRP, and an insignificant fall in serum calcium value. No patient had persistent hypocalcemia despite removal of 3 or 3½ parathyroid glands. In all four patients in whom serum parathyroid hormone levels were determined, the preoperative level was significantly elevated and fell promptly to normal postoperatively.
Measurement of 3D Distance between Artificial Cup and Head from AP & Lateral Roentgens with Unknown Angle after THR

The purpose of our work is measurement of 3D distance between a cup as an artificial acetabular and a head as an artificial femoral head in a patient body from AP and lateral Roentgen images without known angle between AP (anteriorposterior) and lateral after THR (total hip replacement). Martell measured the 2D distance between a cup and a head of an artificial hip joint. And also RSA (Roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis) is famous as a 3D measurement method of things in a living body. But RSA needs expensive equipments. Our method needs only an ordinary Roentgen equipment and doesn't need to know the angle between AP and lateral. But our method is applied only to the cases of cups which rotation is identified with such as a notch. We show the result of a computer simulation with CG image we made and the result in vitro with real Roentgen images of artificial cup and head moved by a micromanipulator.