Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fetal microchimerism in Sjögren's syndrome.

Toda and colleagues report that microchimerism of fetal cells is uncommon in women with Sjogren's syndrome (SS). 1 They performed a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that amplified a Y chromosome-specific sequence to detect male cells in peripheral blood of women who had male offspring to prove the hypothesis that microchimerism can induce Sjogren's syndrome as a manifestation of a chronic graft-versus-host like reaction. We have also analysed for the presence of the Y chromosome in DNA extracted from peripheral blood nucleated cells of 20 Spanish women with SS (mean age 54.6 years (range 31–77)). These women had male children and were selected from our series of 92 female patients2 who fulfilled four or more of the diagnostic criteria for SS proposed in 1993 by the European Community Study Group. All 20 female patients analysed for the presence of fetal microchimerism were also classified as having definite SS according to the San Diego criteria. A PCR was performed that could detect one male cell in a background of 5×105 female cells. The amount of genomic DNA used in the … kuwanam{at}sc.itc. keio.ac. jp kuwanam{at}sc.itc. keio.ac. jp
Spline smoothing in Bayesian disease mapping

Penalty splines such as smoothing spline and P‐spline, as well as unpenalized regression splines, have become increasingly popular methods in contemporary non‐parametric and semiparametric regressions, particularly for data arising from longitudinal, multilevel, and spatiotemporal settings. In the recent decade, the development of the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods has facilitated applications of flexible spline fittings via Bayesian hierarchical formulation. In this paper, we study three spline smoothing methods in the context of spatiotemporal modeling of rates and Bayesian disease mapping. We explore their potentials for fully Bayesian (FB) rate and risk trends ensemble estimation and spatiotemporal relative risks inference. In particular, our study presents and compares Bayesian hierarchical formulations of regression B‐spline, smoothing spline, and P‐spline, explores the connections and distinctions among them, and sheds light on their varying capabilities as ‘data‐driven’ smoothers for risk trends exploration and sequential disease mapping. The methods are motivated and illustrated through a Bayesian analysis of adverse medical events (commonly known as iatrogenic injures) to hospitalized children and youth in British Columbia, Canada. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Hepatoprotective and toxic characteristics of the whole herb of traditional Tibetan folk medicine Swertia mussotii Franch.

Swertia mussotii Franch. (SM) (Gentianaceae) was a traditional Tibetan folk herb for hepatitis in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau areas. For understanding the hepatoprotection and toxicity characteristics of Swertia mussotii Franch. , the whole plant of Swertia mussotii was extracted by water (SME-b) and 75% ethanol (SME-a); then, SME-a was dissolved with water, the supernatant was SME-c, and the sedimentation was SME-d. 17.76% SME-a, 14.48% SME-b, 10.13% SME-c, and 4.35% SME-d were extracted from Swertia mussotii. These four extracts were evaluated with acute toxicity and hepatoprotective effect on CCl(4)-induced acute liver damage in mice. The toxic material mainly reside in SME-c and SME-a. The hepatoprotective materials were in SME-a, SME-c and SME-d, while SME-b had no hepatoprotective activities. So, SME-a and SME-c had both the hepatoprotection and toxicity characteristics; SME-b had no toxicity or the hepatoprotection characteristics; only SME-d was hepatoprotective function without toxicity, which could be a good candidate for new drug healing the live disorder.
Stellar population gradients from cosmological simulations: dependence on mass and environment in local galaxies

The age and metallicity gradients for a sample of group and cluster galaxies from N-body+hydrodynamical simulation are analysed in terms of galaxy stellar mass. Dwarf galaxies show null age gradient with a tail of high and positive values for systems in groups and cluster outskirts. Massive systems have generally zero-age gradients which turn to positive for the most massive ones. Metallicity gradients are distributed around zero in dwarf galaxies and become more negative with mass; massive galaxies have steeper negative metallicity gradients, but the trend flattens with mass. In particular, fossil groups are characterized by a tighter distribution of both age and metallicity gradients. We find a good agreement with both local observations and independent simulations. Interestingly, our results suggest that environment differently affects the gradients at low and high masses. The results are also discussed in terms of the central age and metallicity, as well as the total colour, specific star formation and velocity dispersion.
Smoking Habits after Myocardial Infarction

The association between smoking and ischaemic heart disease is well established and the weight of the evidence suggests the relationship to be a causal one[l]. Those who stop smoking have a lower mortality from ischaemic heart disease than those who persist with the habit[2], while in patients who have already suffered a myocardial infarction, stopping smoking is associated with a lower recurrence rate, lower death rate from cardiovascular causes, and a lower overall mortality[3]. Advice against smoking forms an accepted part of management after myocardial infarction but it is not known why some patients give up while others continue to smoke. This article reports on the smoking behaviour of a group of men after their first myocardial infarction and investigates associations between this, personality factors, and psychiatric morbidity. It forms part of a larger study of outcome after a heart attack, the preliminary results of which have been presented elsewhere [4]. Previous reports on the personalities of smokers have shown them to score more highly on extraversion (E) scales than non-smokers [5-9]. An association with neuroticism (N), is less consistent; groups of smokers have been reported to have equal N scores[5,6,8], low N scores[7] and high N scores[9] compared with non-smokers. Likewise there are contradictory reports on the postulated association be- tween psychological symptoms and smoking[10,11].
Improving trade-offs in automated bilateral negotiations for expressive and inexpressive scenarios

In multi-issue bilateral negotiations, it is possible to make issue trade-offs to allow agents to search for win-win solutions. Different techniques may be used to perform these trade-offs. In particular, similarity criteria have been successfully used in this context. However, one drawback of similarity-based trade-offs is that this approach behaves differently depending on the knowledge each agent has about its counterpart, and depending on the order in which the different issues are considered. To address this problem, in this paper we propose three new mechanisms to improve the search for joint gains. Two of them are applicable in expressive scenarios, where agents may be willing to share preference information, while the third one is intended for inexpressive scenarios. The experimental evaluation shows how our proposals improve the efficiency and optimality of the negotiation process over previous approaches.
Self-organizing Maps for Speech Recognition

The spoken speech is the easiest and most natural way for the communication between human beings. So, the human-machine communication can be executed based on the way that human-human communication occurs. Researches in automatic speech recognition (ASR) have been developed for decades to produce communication as natural as possible. There some few attempts to use Self-organizing Maps to solve ASR problems, often working to execute pattern recognition. In this paper, we comparatively analyze the efficiency of two different neural networks, the Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) and the Time Organized Maps (TOM), applied for the recognition of the American English phonemes. We considered phonological features to represent the input data. The results of the experiments suggest that the SOM is more efficient than TOM, even with simulations of disturbed data, including noise that may appear and harm the input signal quality. Keywords— Speech Recognition; Phonemes Recognition; SelfOrganizing Maps; Time-Organized Maps; Phonological Features.
On a test for predicting success in reading skill development : Anatomy of the RAN Task

Reading is a fundamental ability required of everyone by modern society. To become literate is the first step to all other academic achievements, and to be illiterate or a poor reader can result in life-long professional barriers and social challenges. No wonder, then, that so many psychologists, educators, and health professionals share in their determination to learn more about the factors associated with success and failure in reading development. Their goals are to determine, in a timely manner, who is at risk of developing reading problems and to devise efficient ways to either prevent or to overcome reading impairments.
Heart rate and metabolic response to burn injury in humans.

BACKGROUND Although frequently done, estimating the energy requirements of individual burn patients without measuring their resting metabolic rate is a less than satisfactory method of evaluation. METHODS We tested whether heart rate, which relates to the energy expenditure during physical activity, is also associated with postburn hypermetabolism (calculated as percentage increase of resting metabolic rate above the predicted normal fasting resting metabolic rate). Twenty-three patients [12 men and 11 women, aged 38 +/- 13 years (mean +/- SD); weight, 71.6 +/- 14.8 kg; body mass index, 25.4 +/- 3.6; total burn surface area, 35.3 +/- 17.8% (percentage of body surface)] were studied weekly for 3 weeks after an overnight fast. RESULTS Measured resting metabolic rates and heart rates were 2016 +/- 497 kcal/d, 101 +/- 13 bpm (n = 19); 2231 +/- 485 kcal/d, 107 +/- 13 bpm (n = 18); and 1903 +/- 598 kcal/d, 99 +/- 14 bpm (n = 11) for weeks 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Postburn hypermetabolism was +36% +/- 19%, +55% +/- 27%, and +36% +/- 35% in the first, second, and third week, respectively. In each week postburn hypermetabolism correlated with heart rate (r = 0.65, p = .003; r = 0.69, p = .001; and r = 0.80, p = .002, respectively). Only in the second week did postburn hypermetabolism correlate with total burn surface area (r = 0.52, p = .02); there was no correlation with body temperature. In a multiple regression analysis, predicted resting metabolic rate, heart rate, and total burn surface area together explained 77% of all of the variance observed in the 48 fasting resting metabolic rates that were measured in the study (r2 = 0.77, p < .0001), and each of these variables also had a significant partial correlation with fasting resting metabolic rates (r2 = 0.45, p < .0001; r2 = 0.29, p < .0001; and r2 = 0.03, p < .03, respectively). CONCLUSIONS In burn patients, variability in heart rate is associated with a significant part of postburn hypermetabolism variability. Therefore, heart rate may be considered a useful variable to be used for the evaluation of the energy requirements of severely burned patients.
Critical Factors in Software Adoption

The software engineering literature abounds with accounts of “failed” software projects, i.e., projects that came in far over schedule, and/or far over budget, or were cancelled, before completion, with the loss of significant investment. An oft-mentioned whose cause has been the subject of little or no serious study is that of shelfware, i.e., successfully completed software that is never adopted. The work described here is, to our knowledge, the first empirical study of the causes of shelfware, a study that has already resulted in the reduction of shelfware in one of the organizations studied. Our purpose is to identify and understand those factors that can lead to the non-adoption of successfully completed software, with the idea of monitoring those factors during the software development process, in order to maximize the probability of adoption – or to kill the project if adoption is judged to be unlikely.
Paired‐related murine homeobox gene expressed in the developing sclerotome, kidney, and nervous system

We isolated a murine homeobox containing gene, Uncx4.1. The homeodomain sequence exhibits 88% identity to the unc‐4 protein at the amino acid level. In situ hybridization analysis revealed that Uncx4.1is expressed in the paraxial mesoderm, in the developing kidney, and central nervous system. The most intriguing expression domain is the somite, where it is confined to the caudal part of the newly formed somite and subsequently restricted to the caudal domain of the developing sclerotome. In the central nervous system, Uncx4.1is detected in the developing spinal cord, hindbrain, mesencephalon, and telencephalon. The temporal and spatial expression pattern suggests that Uncx4.1 may play an important role in kidney development and in the differentiation of the sclerotome and the nervous system. Dev. Dyn. 1997; 210:53–65. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Dental care access and use among HIV-infected women.

OBJECTIVES This study sought to identify predictors of dental care use in HIV-infected women. METHODS In a cross-sectional survey of HIV-infected women enrolled in the northern California site of the Women's Interagency HIV Study, dental care use and unmet need were assessed in relation to selected variables. RESULTS Among 213 respondents, who were predominantly Black and younger than 45 years, 43% had not seen a dentist and 53% (among dentate women) reported no dental cleaning in more than a year (although 67% had dental insurance coverage, mainly state Medicaid). Nine percent were edentulous. Among nonusers of dental care, 78% reported that they wanted care but failed to get it. Barriers included fear of and discomfort with dentists, not getting around to making an appointment, and not knowing which dentist to visit. Multivariate analysis showed that lack of past-year dental care was associated mainly with unemployment, a perception of poor oral health, and edentulism. CONCLUSIONS HIV-positive women appear to be underusing dental care services. Fear and lack of information regarding available resources, in addition to unemployment and perception of poor oral health, may be important barriers.
Appendix F : Waist Radius Measurement of Gaussian Beams

OI-RD microscopes scan focused Gaussian laser beams across a microarray to provide spatial maps of the reflectivity difference. I review some properties of Gaussian beams, with particular emphasis on the waist diameter, which governs the best resolution achievable with an OI-RD microscope. Data is presented demonstrating a scanning knife-edge method for measuring a Gaussian beam waist; this method was used to measure the waist diameter for several OI-RD microscopes.
Preparation of hole array and dot array by holographic lithography system

The periodic array is fabricated on GaAs substrate by holographic lithography and wet etching. The double exposure for hole array in holographic lithography is adopted to optimized exposure time of 60s, and the optimal time of dot array is 80s. Wet etching solution with 1:1:10 volume ratio of H3PO4, H2O2 and H2O is adopted to etch the hole array for 30 s, and to etch the dot array for 20 s. Images of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) show that the hole array and dot array has a period of 528 nm, with perfect surface morphology, good fringe continuity and uniformity.
A Phase I Weekly Dosing Study of Brentuximab Vedotin in Patients with Relapsed/Refractory CD30-Positive Hematologic Malignancies

Purpose: The antibody–drug conjugate (ADC) brentuximab vedotin comprises a CD30-directed antibody covalently attached to the potent antimicrotubule agent monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) via a protease-cleavable linker. This study explored the safety, maximum-tolerated dose (MTD), and activity of weekly dosing of brentuximab vedotin in patients with relapsed or refractory CD30-positive hematologic malignancies. Experimental Design: In this phase I dose-escalation study, brentuximab vedotin was administered intravenously on Days 1, 8, and 15, of each 28-day cycle at doses ranging from 0.4 to 1.4 mg/kg. Forty-four patients were enrolled: 38 with Hodgkin lymphoma, five with systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma, and one with peripheral T-cell lymphoma not otherwise specified. Doses were escalated in increments of 0.2 mg/kg until dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) was observed. Patients were monitored for antitherapeutic antibodies and pharmacokinetic parameters. Antitumor assessments were carried out every two cycles. Results: The MTD was 1.2 mg/kg. The most common adverse events were peripheral sensory neuropathy, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, arthralgia, and pyrexia; and the majority of events were mild to moderate in severity. Tumor regression occurred in 85% of patients and the overall objective response rate was 59% (n = 24), with 34% (n = 14) complete remissions. The median duration of response was not reached at a median follow-up of 45 weeks on study. Conclusions: Weekly administration of brentuximab vedotin resulted in tumor regression and durable remissions in patients with CD30-positive malignancies. This ADC was associated with manageable toxicity, including peripheral neuropathy. Further study in CD30-positive malignancies is warranted. Clin Cancer Res; 18(1); 248–55. ©2011 AACR.
Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy of Individual Rhodamine 6G Molecules on Large Ag Nanocrystals

To explore the relationship between local electromagnetic field enhancement and the large SERS (surface enhanced Raman scattering) enhancement that enables the observation of single molecule Raman spectra, we measure both resonant Rayleigh scattering spectra and rhodamine 6G Raman spectra from single Ag particles. Our apparatus combines the techniques of dark-field optical microscopy for resonant Rayleigh measurements, and grazing incidence Raman spectroscopy. The Rayleigh spectra show that the citrate-reduced Ag colloid is extremely heterogeneous. Only the larger particles, in part created by salt induced aggregation, show a large SERS effect. In agreement with the work of Nie and Emory, we find that a few nanocrystals show huge single molecule R6G SERS intensities. While all SERS active particles have some resonant Rayleigh scattering at the 514.5 nm laser wavelength, there is no correlation between the resonant Rayleigh spectra and the SERS intensity. We discuss a model in which huge SERS intensities r.
Does a Recent Cancer Diagnosis Predict Smoking Cessation? An Analysis From a Large Prospective US Cohort.

PURPOSE Quitting smoking provides important health benefits to patients with cancer. A cancer diagnosis may motivate quitting-potentially providing a teachable moment in which oncologists can encourage and assist patients to quit-but little is known about whether a recent cancer diagnosis (including diagnosis of a cancer that is less strongly linked to smoking) is associated with increased quitting. METHODS Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort participants reported smoking status at enrollment in 1992 to 1993 and approximately biennially through 2009. Quit rates of smokers diagnosed with cancer during 2- and 4-year intervals were compared with those of smokers not diagnosed with cancer (12,182 and 12,538 smokers in 2- and 4-year analyses, respectively). Cancers likely to cause physical limitations or symptoms that could influence smoking (cancers of the lung, head and neck, esophagus, or any metastatic cancer) were excluded. Logistic regressions calculated quit rates controlling for age, sex, survey year, cardiovascular disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. RESULTS The 2-year quit rate was higher among the 772 smokers who were diagnosed with cancer (31.3%; 95% CI, 28.0% to 34.5%) than among smokers not diagnosed with cancer (19.5%; 95% CI, 19.0% to 19.9%). A similar difference was observed for 4-year quit rates (43.0% v 33.8%). Results were similar by cancer site and stage. CONCLUSION A diagnosis of cancer, even a cancer not strongly related to smoking and with a relatively good prognosis, may be associated with increased quitting that is sustained well after diagnosis. Results support the hypothesis that a cancer diagnosis presents a teachable moment that can be capitalized on to promote cessation.
Tell Me a Story: How Children's Developing Domain Knowledge Affects Their Story Construction

Young children distinguish between the physical and biological domains of knowledge. The current study examines how this distinction is expressed in a story construction task. Three- and 4-year-olds were shown pairs of pictures, one that depicted a normal event and one that depicted an event that violated either physical or biological causal structure. Children were asked to choose which picture to include in a story. Three-year-olds generally showed no systematic patterns of responses when constructing their stories. Four-year-olds, in contrast, made more normal than violation choices overall, and their stories were relatively consistent with regard to the fictional world's internal coherence. When 4-year-olds did include violation events in their stories, those violations tended to be of physical rather than biological causality. These data suggest that a general understanding of impossible events is underpinned by causal domain knowledge.
[Studies on the chemical constituents of Rabdosia rubescens].

OBJECTIVE To study the chemical constituents from Rabdosia rubescens. METHODS Compounds were isolated by Silica gel,Sephadex LH-20 and ODS column chromatographies, their strctures were identified by physicochemical property and NMR, MS. RESULTS Eight constituents were identified as phaeophytin a (1), phaeophytin b (2), 17c-ethoxypheaophorbide a (3), 17c-ethoxyphea ophorbide b (4), oleanolic acid (5), physcion (6), emodin-8-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (7), isorhamnetin (8). CONCLUSION Compounds 1-4, 6 and 7 are obtained for the first time from this plant.
Effects of iloprost, a stable prostacyclin analog, on intestinal leukocyte adherence and microvascular blood flow in rat experimental endotoxemia

ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of iloprost, a stable prostacyclin analog, on leukocyte adherence in intestinal venules and intestinal microvascular blood flow in experimental endotoxemia. DesignProspective, randomized, controlled animal study. SettingExperimental laboratory. SubjectsTwenty-one male Wistar rats weighing 190 ± 40 g. InterventionsThe rats were divided equally into three groups: the first was a control group; the second received endotoxin (20 mg/kg lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli O55:B5 intravenously); and the third received endotoxin and intravenous iloprost infusion (2 ng·kg−1·min−1). Measurements and Main Results The distal small intestine of the animals was examined by using intravital fluorescence videomicroscopy 2 hrs after endotoxin challenge. Leukocytes were stained in vivo by means of rhodamine 6G. Intestinal microvascular blood flow was measured by laser Doppler flowmetry in the terminal ileum. Iloprost treatment significantly attenuated the count of adherent leukocytes in collecting venules (control, 61 ± 10 n/mm2; lipopolysaccharide, 364 ± 60 n/mm2; iloprost, 232 ± 29 n/mm2;p < .05) and in postcapillary venules (control, 96 ± 14 n/mm2; lipopolysaccharide, 470 ± 21 n/mm2; iloprost 390 ± 41 n/mm2;p < .05). Intestinal microvascular blood flow was decreased significantly in the lipopolysaccharide group (−49%), whereas iloprost-treated animals showed no significant difference compared with the control group. ConclusionsThe study demonstrated that administration of iloprost attenuated leukocyte adherence in postcapillary and collecting intestinal venules and improved intestinal microvascular blood flow. Thus, iloprost treatment may impact endotoxin-induced intestinal injury.