Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dual Antiplatelet Therapy Monitoring for Neurointerventional Procedures Using a Point-of-Care Platelet Function Test: A Single-Center Experience

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Growing evidence of the relationship between poor antiplatelet response and occurrence of clinical events elicited the need of monitoring the response which has not been part of our daily practice. We present our initial experience with a new point-of-care antiplatelet-function test (VerifyNow assay) in neurointerventional procedures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Among the 106 consecutive patients from July 2006 to April 2007, ninety-eight met the inclusion criteria. Our preferred antiplatelet regimen was aspirin (325 mg daily) and clopidogrel (300 mg of loading dose followed by 75 mg daily) starting 5–10 days before the procedure. The test results were reported as aspirin-reaction unit (ARU) for aspirin and P2Y12 reaction units (PRU), baseline (BASE), and percentage inhibition for the P2Y12 assay and were summarized as mean ± SD of the values. We analyzed the effects of several factors of poor clopidogrel response (<40% inhibition). The occurrence of thrombotic events was recorded. RESULTS: The mean ARU of aspirin assays was 438.3 ± 47.9 (range, 350–632), and the response was poor in 2 patients (2.1%). For clopidogrel, the mean of the BASE, PRU, and percentage inhibition was 356.8 ± 56.3 (range, 234–495), 198.9 ± 104.4 (range, 8–401), and 45.2 ± 27.1% (range, 0–98), respectively. Forty-two patients (42.9%) showed poor response. Multivariate analysis showed greater body weight (81.9 Kg ± 19.1 kg versus 69.9 ± 15 kg) in the poor-response group. All 3 cases of intraprocedural thrombosis (3.1%) were observed only in the poor-response group. CONCLUSION: We observed a high frequency of poor clopidogrel responses in the neurointerventional setting. Routine monitoring of the drug response would be helpful for the early identification of poor antiplatelet responders so that we may modify the regimen and/or treatment plan.
The B7-Independent Isoform of CTLA-4 Functions To Regulate Autoimmune Diabetes

The critical role of CTLA-4 in inhibiting Ag-driven T cell responses upon engagement with its ligands, B7-1 and B7-2 and its importance for peripheral T cell tolerance and T cell homeostasis has been studied intensively. The CTLA-4 splice variant ligand-independent (li)-CTLA-4 is expressed in naive and activated T cells and can actively alter T cell signaling despite its lack of a B7 binding domain. To study the effect of li-CTLA-4 in regulating T cell responses in the context of autoimmunity, we engineered a B6.CTLA-4 (floxed-Exon2)-BAC-transgene, resulting in selective expression of li-CTLA-4 upon Cre-mediated deletion of Exon 2. Introducing the B6.BAC into the NOD background, which is genetically deficient for li-CTLA-4, restores mRNA levels of li-CTLA-4 to those observed in C57BL/6 mice. Furthermore, re-expressing this ligand nonbinding isoform in NOD mice reduced IFN-γ production in T effector cells accompanied by a significant decrease in insulitis and type 1 diabetes frequency. However, selective expression of li-CTLA-4 could not fully rescue the CTLA-4 knockout disease phenotype when bred onto NOD.BDC2. 5.CTLA-4 knockout background because of the requirement of the full-length, B7-binding CTLA-4 molecule on T effector cells. Thus, the li-CTLA-4 form, when expressed at physiologic levels in the CTLA-4–sufficient NOD background can suppress autoimmunity; however, the functionality of the li-CTLA-4 isoform depends on the presence of the full-length molecule to alter effector T cell signaling.
Is butyrate the link between diet, intestinal microbiota and obesity‐related metabolic diseases?

It is increasingly recognized that there is a connection between diet, intestinal microbiota, intestinal barrier function and the low‐grade inflammation that characterizes the progression from obesity to metabolic disturbances, making dietary strategies to modulate the intestinal environment relevant. In this context, the ability of some Gram‐positive anaerobic bacteria to produce the short‐chain fatty acid butyrate is interesting. A lower abundance of butyrate‐producing bacteria has been associated with metabolic risk in humans, and recent studies suggest that butyrate might have an anti‐inflammatory potential that can alleviate obesity‐related metabolic complications, possibly due to its ability to enhance the intestinal barrier function.
Complete Quadtree Based Construction of Bounding Volume Hierarchies for Ray Tracing

This paper presents an efficient space partitioning approach for building high quality Bounding Volume Hierarchies using x86 CPU architectures. Using this approach a structure can be built faster than a binned-SAH heuristic while the structure preserves its quality. This method consists of a hybrid implementation that uses binned-SAH for the top level and a binary partitioning approach for the rest of the levels. As a result, this method produces more regular axis-aligned bounding boxes (AABB) into a complete quadtree. Additionally, this approach takes advantage of the 4-wide vector units and exploits the SIMD extensions available for current CPU architectures. Using our construction approach a structure can be built up to three times faster than binned-SAH.
Translational Repression of Human Matrix Metalloproteinases-13 by an Alternatively Spliced Form of T-cell-restricted Intracellular Antigen-related Protein (TIAR)*

Human matrix metalloproteinases-13 (HMMP13) shows a wide substrate specificity, and its expression is limited to pathological situations such as chronic inflammation and cancer. The coding sequence for HMMP13 is 86% identical to rat matrix metalloproteinases-13 (RMMP13); however, the regulation of HMMP13 and RMMP13 protein synthesis in renal mesangial cells is strikingly different. In human cells there is a discordance between HMMP13 mRNA levels and protein expression. Following IL-1β or TGF-β1 stimulation, HMMP13 mRNA levels increase significantly, whereas the protein expression is absent. This discordance is because of a species-dependent translational repression. In addition to the 3′-untranslated region of the matrix metalloproteinases-13 (MMP13) gene, the differential expression of an alternatively spliced transcript of the RNA-binding protein TIAR in human cell cultures is also critical for this post-transcriptional regulation. Transient expression of the 17-amino acid insert of the alternatively spliced form of TIAR reverses the HMMP13 mRNA silencing observed in human and primate species. In addition, co-transfection of the alternatively spliced form of TIAR and HMMP13 into Rat2 cells suppresses HMMP13 protein expression. Thus, we report for the first time that a species-dependent TIAR isoform plays a major role in the post-transcriptional silencing for HMMP13.
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy Treatment for Renal and Ureteral Stones in Duhok City

The present study reports the results of extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy treatment for renal and ureteral stones in Duhok city. The data were collected from the center of breakdown kidney stones in Duhok hospital. There were a total of 40 patients (25 males and 15 females) aged from 20 to 60 years old. The patients harboring (23 renal and 17 ureteral) stones of size ranged from 7.5 to 20 mm. Almost stones are of average size 9 mm and composed of uric acid, calcium and cystine stones. The study has been carried out by taking into consideration the parameters (type, sizes, composition and location of stone as well as region and ages of patients, also power, number of shock wave and sessions). The results show that the stones size increases according to increasing ages of patients (male and female) for uric acid ureter stone and calcium (renal, ureter) stones. Also (renal, ureter) stone size for patients aged from 20 to 30 years old increases from the minimum value for phosphate to maximum value for cystine stones, while for patients aged from 40 to 60 years old, the minimum size is obtained for calcium oxalate and the maximum size for calcium only. On the other hand, for uric acid stones of average size 9 mm, number of shock wave and sessions as well as the power required to breakdown the stones decrease nearly exponentially according to enhancing patients’ ages. At the same time, it's found that for adult patients (20 - 30 years old), number of sessions and the power of shock wave decrease also according to increasing size of calcium and cystine stones. Contrary to that, for the same ages and renal, uretral cysteine stones number of shock wave needed to breakdown large stones will be increased.
Dystrophin and dystrophin‐related protein in the brains of normal and mdx mice

To clarify the localization and characterization of dystrophin and dystrophin‐related protein (DRP) in the brains of normal and mdx mice, we carried out immunostaining and immunoblotting studies using four region‐specific antidystrophin and anti‐DRP antibodies. With immunostaining, punctate immunoreactivity of dystrophin was seen along the cell bodies and dendrites of the cerebral cortical neurons in the normal mice. By contrast, dystrophin was not detected at all in the brains of mdx mice. Immunoreactivity of DRP was observed in the vascular walls, pia mater, and choroid plexus of both normal and mdx brains, but not in the neuronal cells. The possible compensatory increase of DRP as seen in the skeletal muscles of mdx mice was not noted in the brains. The immunoblot findings were very consistent with those of immunostain. Although further studies of brain‐type dystrophin are necessary, it seems unlikely that DRP participates in any physiological function of the neuronal cells. © 1994 John & Sons, Inc.
Classification of low probability of interception communication signal modulations based on time-frequency analysis and artificial neural network

Classification of modulation types faces a problem of low SNR in conditions where Low Probability of Interception signals are used. A novel feature vector extraction algorithm fit for LPI communication signals is presented, in which feature vector is generated by autonomously cropping the modulation energy from Time-Frequency images. Multi-Layered Perceptron is adopted as classification decision parts. Probabilities of correct classification are obtained via computer simulation. The results show that the classification scheme proposed in this paper has promising performance in low SNR conditions.
Position Control of a Three-link Shape Memory Alloy Actuated Robot

A simple and robust position controller is proposed for a small planar three- degree-of-freedom robot arm actuated by two shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators and a servomotor. A simple model of the robot is used for controller development. The model combines robot kinematics and dynamics with crude models of SMA wire heat convection, constitutive law, and phase transformation. It is then used to estimate ‘optimal’ parameters for the position controllers. The controllers are based on variable structure control approach and their development is of an evolutionary nature starting with a simple switching surface of position tracking errors and followed by the addition of velocity and integral tracking errors, respectively. The final controller is shown to be particularly fast since it heats the SMA wires with maximum available voltage, but avoids overshoot thereby avoiding the slow natural cooling process compared. Several experiments have been performed with a desktop prototype of the robot. The experimental results verify the effective and robust performance of the controllers despite significant modeling inaccuracies during the controller parameter development process. An additional advantage of the controller is that it can be implemented on a controller board with very limited computation capacity.
Who are Lonely? Loneliness in Different Age Groups (18–81 Years Old), Using Two Measures of Loneliness

This study asks if the prevalence of loneliness in the population varies depending on the measures used, with special focus on loneliness among the elderly. The study compares loneliness in different age groups between 18 and 81 years old (N = 14,743) using two measures of loneliness: the (indirect) six-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale and a single-item, direct question about loneliness. Data are from the Norwegian LOGG (Life Course, Generation, and Gender) study. We compare the findings on loneliness according to age, gender, health, and partner status. Overall, the two loneliness measures indicate a similar prevalence of loneliness, but attribute loneliness to somewhat different people. When using a direct measure, loneliness is more prevalent among women; when using the (indirect) De Jong Gierveld Scale, loneliness is more prevalent among men. Also, the association between age and loneliness differed when using the direct and the indirect measure.
Toward comprehensive reliability testing of electronic component boards

Many electronic products, particularly portable electronic products, experience during operation different loadings simultaneously. It has become clear that the single load tests do not represent well enough the use environments loading conditions of many electronic products and modifications to the reliability evaluation procedures are necessary. But before loading conditions can be combined in a meaningful manner, the failure mechanisms under single load environments and their possible interactions when combined need to be clarified. This paper makes a brief review to the reliability of electronic assemblies under different loading conditions from the perspective of failure modes and mechanisms. Failure modes and mechanisms under thermal/power cycling and mechanical shock/vibration conditions are discussed first. Thereafter, the interactions of the loading conditions when combined consecutively or concurrently will be investigated.
Biological functions of the disulfides in bovine pancreatic deoxyribonuclease

We characterized the biochemical functions of the small nonessential (C101–C104) and the large essential (C173–C209) disulfides in bovine pancreatic (bp) DNase using alanine mutants [brDNase(C101A)] and [brDNase(C173A) and brDNase(C209A)], respectively. We also characterized the effects of an additional third disulfide [brDNase(F192C/A217C)]. Without the Ca2+ protection, bpDNase and brDNase(C101A) were readily inactivated by trypsin, whereas brDNase(F192C/A217C) remained active. With Ca2+, all forms of DNase, except for brDNase(C101A), were protected against trypsin. All forms of DNase, after being dissolved in 6 M guanidine‐HCl, were fully reactivated by diluting into a Ca2+‐containing buffer. However, when diluted into a Ca2+‐free buffer, bpDNase and brDNase(C101A) remained inactive, but 60% of the bpDNase activity was restored with brDNase(F192C/A217C). When heated, bpDNase was inactivated at a transition temperature of 65°C, brDNase(C101A) at 60°C, and brDNase(F192C/A217C) at 73°C, indicating that the small disulfide, albeit not essential for activity, is important for the structural integrity, and that the introduction of a third disulfide can further stabilize the enzyme. When pellets of brDNase(C173A) and brDNase(C209A) in inclusion bodies were dissolved in 6 M guanidine‐HCl and then diluted into a Ca2+‐containing buffer, 10%–18% of the bpDNase activity was restored, suggesting that the “essential” disulfide is not absolutely crucial for enzymatic catalysis. Owing to the structure‐based sequence alignment revealing homology between the “nonessential” disulfide of bpDNase and the active‐site motif of thioredoxin, we measured 39% of the thioredoxin‐like activity for bpDNase based on the rate of insulin precipitation (ΔA650nm/min). Thus, the disulfides in bpDNase not only play the role of stabilizing the protein molecule but also may engage in biological functions such as the disulfide/dithiol exchange reaction.
DTC-SVM control of induction machine fed by three level NPC matrix converter

This work proposes a DTC-SVM control algorithm based on Stator coordinate transformation to control an induction machine fed by a three level Neutral point clamped matrix converter. The algorithm is simulated on Matlab Simulink to verify its performance. It gives good performance in general. The results are discussed and a study of the effect of the variation of stator resistance is proposed also.
Hyperactivation of Signal Transduction Systems in Alzheimer's Disease a

A compromise or deregulation in signal transduction cascades could adversely affect cellular functions and possibly contribute to cell death. In recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that pronounced activation of neuronal signal transduction systems is a characteristic of AD brain. There is evidence that signal transduction systems play a role in the formation or development of these pathological features of AD. Aberrant activity and localization of components of signaling mechanisms (growth factors, their receptors, protein kinases, phosphoprotein phosphatases, and phosphoproteins) are closely associated with the intracellular accumulation of PHF, the extracellular deposition of amyloid, and the formation of neuritic plaques in AD brain. In particular, immunohistochemical studies reveal increased levels of neuronal staining for APP, possibly an important growth factor in AD, both in frontal cortex and hippocampus. Anti‐APP immunostaining is also associated with the neuritic component of plaques. Additionally, PKC(βII) immunostaining is increased in the neuronal cell body and neuropil of AD samples, particularly in association with plaques, suggesting a postsynaptic involvement of this enzyme. On the other hand, PKC(βI) immunostaining is associated with axonal staining particularly in the sprouting neurites of plaques. Sprouting neuritic components of plaques are immunopositive with other growth‐associated proteins, such as GAP43, MARCKS, and spectrin. Immunoreactivity of other members of signal transduction systems such as Fos and stathmin are all increased in AD hippocampal neurons. On the other hand, several protein kinases and phosphoproteins were immunolocalized to tangles. Thus, the hyperactivation and dysfunction of signal transduction systems could be involved in the pathogenesis of AD.
The prevalence by staged severity of various types of diabetic neuropathy, retinopathy, and nephropathy in a population‐based cohort

The magnitude of the health problem from diabetic neuropathies remains inadequately estimated due to the lack of prospective population-based studies employing standardized and validated assessments of the type and stage of neuropathy as compared with background frequency. All Rochester, Minnesota, residents with diabetes mellitus on January 1, 1986, were invited to participate in a cross-sectional and longitudinal study of diabetic neuropathies (and also of other microvascular and macrovascular complications). Of 64,573 inhabitants on January 1, 1986 in Rochester, 870 (1.3%) had clinically recognized diabetes mellitus (National Diabetes Data Group criteria), of whom 380 were enrolled in the Rochester Diabetic Neuropathy Study. Of these, 102 (26.8%) had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), and 278 (73.2%) had non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Approximately 10% of diabetic patients had neurologic deficits attributable to nondiabetic causes. Sixty-six percent of IDDM patients had some form of neuropathy; the frequencies of individual types were as follows: polyneuropathy, 54%; carpal tunnel syndrome, asymptomatic, 22%, and symptomatic, 11%; visceral autonomic neuropathy, 7%; and other varieties, 3%. Among NIDDM patients, 59% had various neuropathies; the individual percentages were 45%, 29%, 6%, 5%, and 3%. Symptomatic degrees of polyneuropathy occurred in only 15% of IDDM and 13% of NIDDM patients. The more severe stage of polyneuropathy, to the point that patients were unable to walk on their heels and also had distal sensory and autonomic deficits (stage 2b) occurred even less frequently–6% of IDDM and 1% of NIDDM patients. Overall, two thirds of diabetic patients have objective evidence for some variety of neuropathy, but only about 20% have symptoms, and only 6% of IDDM and only 1% of NIDDM patients have sufficiently severe polyneuropathy to be graded stage 2b, and none were graded stage 3. Approximately one quarter of patients had subclinical carpal tunnel syndrome, but only 7.7% had symptomatic carpal tunnel syndrome. Thus, diabetic peripheral neuropathy is frequent but less severe than generally thought. As generally believed, however, neuropathy, retinopathy, and nephropathy are significantly associated.
Information Asymmetry and Accounting Conservatism under IFRS Adoption

This paper investigates information asymmetry and accounting conservatism under IFRS adoption and how the change of accounting conservatism under IFRS is related to the change in information environment. We provide strong evidence that the level of accounting conservatism decreases after mandatory IFRS adoption, but the adoption of IFRS is likely to weaken the relationship between information asymmetry and accounting conservatism. Moreover, we document that accounting conservatism increases information environment, supporting the idea that, by providing comparatively credible information, conservative accounting is beneficial to the information environment.
An airtight approach to the inebriometer

The mechanism by which inhaled anesthetics work is not fully understood, although they have been extensively used. Much research has been done showing the likelihood that there is more than one pathway or mechanism of action. A long-term goal of our laboratory is to decipher these mechanisms using Drosophila melanogaster, an excellent model organism for this purpose. In order to do this, we have modified and constructed an apparatus called the inebriometer to quantitatively analyze the response of flies to inhaled anesthetics. While the inebriometer is not new to the fly community, our updated design provides a relatively low-labor, high-throughput means for performing screens in search of genes involved in the anesthetic mechanism. Here we describe our construction of an airtight inebriometer that we have designed for this purpose. We also provide data that validates this apparatus and establishes a procedure for its use.
Replication properties of dUTPase-deficient mutants of caprine and ovine lentiviruses

The virion-associated dUTPase activities of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV) and visna virus were determined by using an assay which measure the actual ability of the dUTPase to prevent the dUTP misincorporations into cDNA during reverse transcription. We showed that the CAEV molecular clone from the Cork isolate was dUTPase defective as a result of a single amino acid substitution. Using this point mutant and deletion mutants of CAEV as well as a deletion mutant of visna virus, we demonstrated that dUTPase-deficient viruses replicate similarly to wild-type viruses in dividing cells but show delayed replication in nondividing primary macrophages.