Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Technique for Simultaneous Catheter Mapping of Pulmonary Veins for Catheter Ablation in Focal Atrial Fibrillation

Introduction: Most focal atrial fibrillation (AF) can be triggered by premature beats from pulmonary veins (PVs), and ablation of these foci could cure AF. However, it is difficult to locate the trigger points of PVs using only one mapping catheter. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of using four mapping catheters in four PVs simultaneously in the ablation of focal AF. Methods and Results: Thirty-two patients with frequent attacks of paroxysmal AF triggered by PV foci were included. After a transseptal procedure, three 2-french microcatheters and one 7-french catheter for ablation were placed into each of the PVs, and mapping of the four PVs was performed simultaneously. Fifty-eight foci were identified; 51 triggers (88%) originated from the PV and 7 (12%) from atrial tissue. The trigger points of AF were found in a single focus in 14 patients, in 2 foci in 12 patients, and in 3–4 foci in 6 patients. During a mean follow-up period of 10 ± 4 months, ablation eliminated AF without drugs in 86, 50 and 33% of the patients with 1, 2 and 3–4 targeted PVs, respectively; 20 patients (63%) were successfully ablated. Age, history of AF, the dimension of the left atrium and the number of focal origins were significant predictors of success. Conclusion: The technique of simultaneous mapping of PVs using quadruple catheters is a feasible and effective method for mapping the trigger points and ablation of focal AF originating from PVs.
Withdrawal from chronic amphetamine reduces dopamine transmission in the rat lateral septum

The lateral septum (LS) is a brain nucleus implicated in the addictive process. This study investigated whether withdrawal from chronic amphetamine (AMPH) induces alterations in dopamine (DA) transmission within the LS. Male Sprague‐Dawley rats were injected with AMPH (2.5 mg/kg i.p.) or saline during 14 days and thereafter subjected to 24 hr or 14 days of withdrawal. After these withdrawal periods, we measured DA extracellular levels by in vivo microdialysis, DA tissue levels, and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and vesicular monoamine transporter‐2 (VMAT2) expression in the LS. Our results showed a significant decrease in K+‐induced release of DA in the LS of AMPH‐treated rats, 14 days after withdrawal compared with saline‐treated rats. There were no significant differences in DA tissue content and TH expression. Interestingly, there was a decrease of LS VMAT2 expression in AMPH‐treated rats, 14 days after withdrawal compared with saline‐treated rats. This is the first neurochemical evidence showing that withdrawal from repeated AMPH administration decreases K+‐induced DA release in the rat LS. Our results suggest that this decrease in DA releasability could be due to a decrease in DA vesicular uptake. The possibility that these neurochemical changes are associated with AMPH abstinence syndrome should be further explored. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Determinants of the efficacy of prophylactic granulocyte transfusions: A meta‐analysis

Cytokines that improve granulocyte collection yields have recently become available, and may lead to a new series of trials of granulocyte transfusion (GTX) therapy. We conducted a meta‐analysis of studies of prophylactic GTX in order to identify the determinants of efficacy of this intervention, and to assist in the design of future trials of GTX for the treatment of patients with overwhelming infection. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials of the efficacy of prophylactic GTX published in English in 1970–1995 were retrieved, and eight studies were eligible for analysis. Summary relative odds (RR) of bacterial or fungal infection, death, or death from infection in transfused patients vs. controls were computed for patient subsets defined on the basis of dose of granulocytes transfused, assessment of leukocyte compatibility, duration of neutropenia, and infection rate of controls. The random‐effects method was used for all analyses. RESULTS: Assessment of leukocyte compatibility prior to the transfusion, dose of granulocytes transfused, and duration of neutropenia in enrolled patients could account, respectively, for the variation in findings across published reports in terms of all three, two, and one of the outcome measures studied. Transfusion of adequate doses of compatible leukocytes significantly reduced the relative risk (RR) of infection, death, and death from infection in transfused patients vs. controls (RR = 0.075, RR = 0.224, and RR = 0.168, respectively; P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Two necessary elements in the design of future trials of therapeutic GTX should be the transfusion of high doses of granulocytes and the provision of leukocytes that are crossmatch‐compatible with the recipient's serum. J. Clin. Apheresis 12:74–81, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Macrophage IL-12p70 signaling prevents HSV-1-induced CNS autoimmunity triggered by autoaggressive CD4+ Tregs.

PURPOSE CD4(+)CD25(+)FoxP3(+) naturally occurring regulatory T cells (Tregs) maintain self-tolerance and function to suppress overly exuberant immune responses. However, it is unclear whether innate immune cells modulate Treg function. Here the authors examined the role of innate immunity in lymphomyeloid homeostasis. METHODS The involvement of B cells, dendritic cells (DCs), macrophages, natural killer (NK) cells, and T cells in central nervous system (CNS) demyelination in different strains of mice infected ocularly with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) was investigated. RESULTS The authors found that depletion of macrophages, but not DCs, B cells, NK cells, CD4(+) T cells, or CD8(+) T cells, induced CNS demyelination irrespective of virus or mouse strain. As with macrophage depletion, mice deficient in interleukin (IL)-12p35 or IL-12p40 showed CNS demyelination after HSV-1 infection, whereas demyelination was undetectable in HSV-1-infected, IL-23p19-deficient, or Epstein-Barr virus-induced gene 3-deficient mice. Demyelination could be rescued in macrophage-depleted mice after the injection of IL-12p70 DNA and in IL-12p35(-/-) or IL-12p40(-/-) mice after injection with IL-12p35 or IL-12p40 DNA or with recombinant viruses expressing IL-12p35 or IL-12p40. Using FoxP3-, CD4-, CD8-, or CD25-depletion and gene-deficient mouse approaches, the authors demonstrated that HSV-1-induced demyelination was blocked in the absence of CD4, CD25, or FoxP3 in macrophage-depleted mice. Flow cytometry showed an elevation of CD4(+)CD25(+)FoxP3(+) T cells in the spleens of infected macrophage-depleted mice, and adoptive transfer of CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells to infected macrophage-depleted severe combined immunodeficient mice induced CNS demyelination. CONCLUSIONS The authors demonstrated that macrophage IL-12p70 signaling plays an important role in maintaining immune homeostasis in the CNS by preventing the development of autoaggressive CD4(+) Tregs.
Weak nonmild solutions to some SPDEs

We study the nonlinear stochastic heat equation driven by space-time white noise in the case that the initial datum $u_0$ is a (possibly signed) measure. In this case, one cannot obtain a mild random-field solution in the usual sense. We prove instead that it is possible to establish the existence and uniqueness of a weak solution with values in a suitable function space. Our approach is based on a construction of a generalized definition of a stochastic convolution via Young-type inequalities.
Hybrid cooperative relaying and jamming for secure two-way relay networks

In this paper, we address the physical-layer security of a two-way wireless transmission with the help of multiple inter-mediate nodes in the presence of an eavesdropper. We propose a hybrid cooperative relaying and jamming mechanism to enhance the security of the data exchange, where some intermediate nodes adopt distributed beamforming to improve the channel quality to legitimate terminals and others jam the eavesdropper, simultaneously. Two different schemes are proposed with and without the instantaneous channel state information (CSI) of the eavesdropper, respectively. The solutions of both schemes can be obtained by convex optimization techniques. Comparisons show that the proposed hybrid schemes greatly improve the security of the two-way relay networks.
Report of Four Novel Coral Acid-Rich Proteins that Precipitate Carbonates In Vitro

Tali Mass,1 Jeana L. Drake,1 Liti Haramaty,1 J. Dongun Kim,1,3 Ehud Zelzion,2 Debashish Bhattacharya,2 and Paul G. Falkowski1,3,4,* 1Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Program, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences 2Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA 3Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology 4Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
Brief intervention for deliberate self harm: an exploratory study

Objective: To develop and explore the effectiveness of a 4-session intervention that combines elements of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) with elements of solution focused brief therapy (SFBT) to prevent deliberate self harm (DSH) in adults. Methods: An experimental pilot study with follow-up assessments at, 4- months, and 6-months after baseline was conducted using a random sample of 16 participants. Participants were consecutively assessed at the baseline and were assigned to a control group receiving treatment as usual (TAU) or an intervention group (ACT+SFBT+TAU) receiving the intervention in addition to treatment as usual. Results: On the 4- and the 6-month follow-up both groups evidenced significant changes over time in the incidence of DSH. The intervention group further evidenced significant changes over time in depression and emotional dysregulation. Conclusion: The 4-session student-delivered intervention may have positive effects on mechanisms associated with reduction of DSH, and produce additional positive effects as compared to treatment as usual. Practice implications: It is worthwhile in the future to study this type of intervention on larger scale. Keywords: self harm, brief intervention, ACT, SFBT Copyright belongs to the Author(s). Suicidology Online (SOL) is a peer-reviewed open-access journal publishing under the Creative Commons Licence 3.0.
Marine Isopod Biodiversity of the Indian River Lagoon, Florida

Twenty-one species of free-living isopods, and six species of parasitic bopyrids are recorded from the Indian River Lagoon. The distribution of this fauna bears out the zoogeographically transitional nature of the area, but also emphasizes its strong subtropical affinities. The seasonal abundance of the three most common species in Halodule seagrass beds, viz. Erichsonella attenuata, Harrieta faxoni, and Edotea montosa suggests that the various regions of the Indian River Lagoon are not biologically closely coupled, and that seasonal predation pressure may account for lowered numbers during the summer months.
Intracellular Calreticulin Regulates Multiple Steps in Fibrillar Collagen Expression, Trafficking, and Processing into the Extracellular Matrix*

Calreticulin (CRT), a chaperone and Ca2+ regulator, enhances wound healing, and its expression correlates with fibrosis in animal models, suggesting that CRT regulates production of the extracellular matrix. However, direct regulation of collagen matrix by CRT has not been previously demonstrated. We investigated the role of CRT in the regulation of fibrillar collagen expression, secretion, processing, and deposition in the extracellular matrix by fibroblasts. Mouse embryonic fibroblasts deficient in CRT (CRT−/− MEFs) have reduced transcript levels of fibrillar collagen I and III and less soluble collagen as compared with wild type MEFs. Correspondingly, fibroblasts engineered to overexpress CRT have increased collagen type I transcript and protein. Collagen expression appears to be regulated by endoplasmic reticulum (ER) calcium levels and intracellular CRT, because thapsigargin treatment reduced collagen expression, whereas addition of exogenous recombinant CRT had no effect. CRT−/− MEFs exhibited increased ER retention of collagen, and collagen and CRT were co-immunoprecipitated from isolated cell lysates, suggesting that CRT is important for trafficking of collagen through the ER. CRT−/− MEFs also have reduced type I procollagen processing and deposition into the extracellular matrix. The reduced collagen matrix deposition is partly a consequence of reduced fibronectin matrix formation in the CRT-deficient cells. Together, these data show that CRT complexes with collagen in cells and that CRT plays critical roles at multiple stages of collagen expression and processing. These data identify CRT as an important regulator of collagen and suggest that intracellular CRT signaling plays an important role in tissue remodeling and fibrosis.
Slotting Allowances and the Retail Sale of Alcohol Beverages

Considerable controversy and debate surrounds the practice of slotting allowances, or fees, paid by manufacturers for obtaining the patronage of retailers. To date, regulators have yet to agree on public policy toward these practices; at least one federal antitrust agency suggests that slotting fees may be competitive, another has conducted investigations into these practices, and still another suggests banning them altogether. In this article, the authors examine the recent decision by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) to prohibit slotting allowances in the retail sale of alcohol beverages. Focusing on the regulatory environment, industry structure, marketing practices, and consumer consumption behavior in the alcohol beverage industry, the authors analyze the BATF's decision and attempt to reconcile disparate public policy treatment of these practices. Implications for understanding slotting allowances and recommendations for further public policy development and research then are explored.
Effects of Nortriptyline on Depression and Glycemic Control in Diabetes: Results of a Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial

Objective Depression is a prevalent and chronic condition in diabetes and is associated with poor glucose regulation and poor compliance with diabetes treatment. This investigation evaluated the effects of nortriptyline on depression and glycemic control to see whether depression in diabetes is treatable and whether restoring mental health contributes to improved medical outcome. Method: Sixty-eight diabetic patients with poor glycemic control, 28 of whom had active major depression (DSM-IIIR), completed a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial involving 8 weeks of treatment with nortriptyline targeted to therapeutic plasma levels (50-150 ng/ml). Depression improvement was determined with the Beck Depression Inventory; glucose control was measured by glycated hemoglobin levels. Compliance behavior was assessed using medication dispensing devices and glucometers equipped with electronic memory. Results: The reduction in depression symptoms was significantly greater in depressed patients treated with nortriptyline compared with those receiving placebo (-10.2 vs -5.8, p =.03). Nortriptyline was not statistically superior to placebo in reducing glycated hemoglobin of the depressed subjects (p =.5). However, path analysis indicated that the direct effect of nortriptyline was to worsen glycemic control whereas depression improvement had an independent beneficial effect on glycated hemoglobin. These findings were not explained by the relationships of nortriptyline treatment to weight change (r = -0.21, p =.31) or depression improvement to compliance with the protocol for self-monitoring of blood glucose (r = 0.01, p =.97). Conclusions: Major depression in diabetic patients can be effectively treated with nortriptyline at the expense of a direct hyperglycemic effect. Path analysis demonstrated a treatment-independent effect of depression improvement on glycemic control, suggesting that a more ideal antidepressant agent may both restore mental health and improve medical outcome.
Représentations continues dérivées des caractères pour un modèle de langue neuronal à vocabulaire ouvert (Opening the vocabulary of neural language models with character-level word representations)

Cet article propose une architecture neuronale pour un modèle de langue à vocabulaire ouvert. Les représentations continues des mots sont calculées à la volée à partir des caractères les composant, gràce à une couche convolutionnelle suivie d’une couche de regroupement (pooling). Cela permet au modèle de représenter n’importe quel mot, qu’il fasse partie du contexte ou soit évalué pour la prédiction. La fonction objectif est dérivée de l’estimation contrastive bruitée (Noise Contrastive Estimation, ou NCE), calculable dans notre cas sans vocabulaire. Nous évaluons la capacité de notre modèle à construire des représentations continues de mots inconnus sur la tâche de traduction automatique IWSLT-2016, de l’Anglais vers le Tchèque, en ré-évaluant les N meilleures hypothèses (N-best reranking). Les résultats expérimentaux permettent des gains jusqu’à 0,7 point BLEU. Ils montrent aussi la difficulté d’utiliser des représentations dérivées des caractères pour la prédiction.
Eosinophil infiltration and degranulation in normal human tissue

Localization of eosinophil granule major basic protein by immunofluorescence permits recognition of both eosinophil infiltration and degranulation. Over the past decade and a half, our laboratory has shown that eosinophil infiltration and degranulation occur in many diseased tissues in humans; among normal tissues studied as controls, only the gut showed striking eosinophil infiltration and degranulation. Using an indirect immunofluorescence procedure for the detection of major basic protein, we extended our analyses of normal human tissues to include tissues from essentially all body organs; a total of 117 biopsy/ autopsy specimens were analyzed. To determine whether the method of tissue procurement affected the level of eosinophil degranulation in the normal gastrointestinal tract, normal proximal jejunum from six patients was biopsied using either an endoscopic forceps or a scalpel at the time of elective surgery and examined by immunofluorescence. Spleen, lymph node, and thymus tissues showed eosinophil infiltration with scant evidence of degranulation, but the only organ showing both eosinophil infiltration and remarkable degranulation was the gastrointestinal tract. Eosinophil degranulation was significantly increased in specimens obtained by endoscopic forceps compared to those obtained by scalpel (P = 0.021). These results indicate that tissue procurement methods affect the degree of eosinophil degranulation in the gut. Thus, among normal human body organs, both eosinophil infiltration and appreciable degranulation consistently occur only in the gut. Anat. Rec. 252:418–425, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Sybil proof anonymous reputation management

Many new Internet applications base on openness to externally contributed content. The numerous user contributions offer both opportunities and threats. A priori, the quality of those user-generated contributions is unknown. The customers have to decide which offer they want to make use of. Reputation systems can help to optimize the user's return-of-investment. Privacy with respect to user provided reputation information is important for the acceptance. This work presents an architecture for Anonymous Reputation Management (ARM), which is explained for the example of File Sharing (ARM4FS). We propose an anonymization layer separating private data needed for the reputation system from the publicly accessible reputation information, which is a very general concept. Anonymous reputation management (ARM) can be plugged on top of many reputation systems in order to preserve the users' privacy for many scenarios. Our implementation of ARM4FS uses the EigenTrust algorithm [17]. Furthermore, we present a technique for Anonymous Attestation of Unique Service Subscription (AAUSS) in order to prevent Sybil attacks by enforcing that each user has at most only one account without compromising the users' anonymity.
EVI1 is consistently expressed as principal transcript in common and rare recurrent 3q26 rearrangements

In contrast to the well‐documented involvement of EVI1 in various 3q26 aberrations, the transcriptional status of EVI1 in rare recurrent or sporadic 3q26 chromosomal defects has remained largely unexplored. Moreover, in a recent report, the association between 3q26 alterations in myeloid proliferations and ectopic EVI1 expression was questioned. Therefore, we performed a detailed physical mapping of 3q26 breakpoints using a 1.3‐Mb tiling path BAC contig covering the EVI1 locus and a carefully designed quantification of both EVI1 and MDS/EVI1 transcripts in 30 hematological malignancies displaying 3q26 aberrations. Cases included well‐known rare, recurring chromosomal aberrations such as t(3;17)(q26;q22), t(2;3)(p21–22;q26), and t(3;6)(q26;q25), as well as 10 new sporadic cases. Extensive 3q26 breakpoint mapping allowed unequivocal and sensitive FISH detection of EVI1 rearrangements on both metaphases and interphase nuclei. Real‐time quantitative PCR analyses indicated that typically both MDS1/EVI1 and EVI1, but not MDS1, were expressed in these malignancies, with EVI1 the primary transcript. In conclusion, we have demonstrated EVI1 involvement in numerous novel sporadic and recurrent 3q26 rearrangements. Our results underscore the feasibility of FISH as an adjunct to PCR for the identification of EVI1 deranged leukemias and identified EVI1 as the principal transcript expressed in these malignancies. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Expression of Eph receptor tyrosine kinases and their ligands in chick embryonic motor neurons and hindlimb muscles

Evidence is accumulating that Eph receptor tyrosine kinases and their ligands regulate cell migration and axonal guidance during development. It was previously found that one of the Eph receptors, EphA4, is transiently expressed in subsets of chick embryonic motor neurons. Here, the expression of EphA and ephrin‐A subfamily members was further examined, and the dynamic patterns of expression in chick embryonic motor neurons found. EphA3, EphA4, ephrin‐A2, and ephrin‐A5 were also expressed in the connective tissues of limb muscles and EphA3 and EphA4 expressing motor neurons innervated EphA3 and EphA4 expressing limb muscles, respectively. These spatiotemporal expression patterns suggest that EphA and ephrin‐A proteins play important roles in muscle patterning and motor axonal guidance.
Magnetic Nanocomposite Cilia Energy Harvester

An energy harvester capable of converting low-frequency vibrations into electrical energy is presented. The operating principle, fabrication process, and output characteristics at different frequencies are discussed. The harvester is realized by fabricating an array of polydimethylsiloxane-iron nanowire nanocomposite cilia on a planar coil array. Each coil element consists of 14 turns and occupies an area of 600 μm. The cilia are arranged in a 12×5 array, and each cilium is 250 μm wide and 2 mm long. The magnetic characteristics of the fabricated cilia indicate that the nanowires are well aligned inside of the nanocomposite, increasing the efficiency of energy harvesting. The energy harvester occupies an area of 66.96 mm2 and produces an output rms voltage of 206.47 μV when excited by a 40 Hz vibration of 1 mm amplitude.