Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anti-tumour Necrosis Factor Treatment with Adalimumab Induces Changes in the Microbiota of Crohn's Disease.

BACKGROUND The composition of the intestinal microbiota is altered in Crohn's disease [CD] patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative changes in the microbiota of CD patients in 3 months of treatment with adalimumab [ADA], and determine whether or not these changes are produced towards the recovery of the normal, healthy-like microbiota. METHODS The microbiota composition, and the Faecalibacterium prausnitzii / Escherichia coli quantitative relationship as dysbiosis indicator, were studied at baseline [T0], one month [T1], and 3 months [T3] after starting treatment using a polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis [PCR-DGGE] of 16S rRNA gene fragments and quantitative PCR, respectively, in rectal mucosal biopsies from 15 CD patients and four healthy subjects. RESULTS T0 and T3 fingerprints were different in all patients; whereas T1 and T3 presented similar patterns. Recovered phylogroups were Firmicutes [79.1%], Bacteroides [12.5%], and Actinobacteria [6.25%]. The prevalence of E. coli decreased during treatment. Relative E. coli loads in CD samples were significantly reduced at every analysed step [T1 and T3] [p < 0.005] whereas no significant changes were observed in relative F. prausnitzii counts. CONCLUSION Treatment with ADA induces short-term changes in the microbiota composition which seem to parallel the partial recovery of the gut bacterial ecology, with recovery parameters tending to eubiosis recovery. The quantitative determination of dysbiosis-representative bacteria, such as E. coli, may provide a fast and reliable indicator of the healing state of the intestinal mucosa.
The role of biochemical risk factors in the etiology of AIS in children and adults

Stroke is an abrupt onset of both focal and global neurological deficits secondary to a vascular event lasting more than 24 h and with a vascular background as its only cause. It can be triggered by a rupture of a blood vessel, aneurysm (hemorrhagic stroke, HS), thrombosis or embolisms (ischemic stroke, IS). In developed countries, it is the third most common cause of death in the adult population. Stroke in children is a rare disorder with a reported frequency of about 3 cases per 100 000 children per year. The history of acute brain ischemia is burdened with neurological complications such as motor impairment, speech impairment and intellectual delay. Moreover, in children after AIS seizures and epilepsy are also quite common. Stroke is a heterogeneous disorder; its risk factors in adults are well known, however, in pediatrics, in more than 20% cases, the cause of stroke is impossible to determine. Due to the fact that stroke usually arises as a consequence of the cerebral thrombosis, many of the mechanisms responsible for its occurrence can be considered as risk factors. We have reviewed the recent case-control studies conducted on pediatric patients regarding biochemical risk factors such as elevated levels of homocysteine, fibrinogen, protein C, protein S, antithrombin III, lipoprotein(a), cholesterol and its fractions, and compared them with the results obtained from adult patients.
Switched-capacitor multilevel inverters for high frequency AC microgrids

This paper proposes a novel topology of a switched-capacitor multilevel inverter for high frequency AC microgrids. It employs multiple DC sources which make it ideal to be employed in renewable energy sources based AC microgrids. With the proliferation in renewable energy based solar and wind farms, such multi-input topologies gain tremendous potential. Switched-capacitor based DC-DC converter in the front end produces multiple levels at the DC bus. Further, the H-bridge inverter obtains corresponding bipolar levels and a zero level at the output. The problem of capacitor voltage balancing is inherently solved as the capacitors are charged to the input voltage every cycle. Working principle and primary analysis of the topology are presented. Simulation outcomes are validated with experimental results at different distribution frequencies and power levels.
Isolation, Identification and Usefulness of Antifungal Compounds from Zuccagnia punctata for Control of Toxigenic Ear Rot Pathogens

Infusion, tincture and decoction of leaves of Zuccagnia punctata Cav. were assayed on growth of Fusarium verticillioides, F. graminearum sensu stricto, F. boothii, F. meridionale, F. subglutinans and F. thapsinum. The tincture showed the lowest IC50 on mycelial growth. A diethyl ether fraction of the tincture showed the highest antifungal activity in microdilution assays on F. verticillioides and F. graminearum. The antifungal constituents were separated by silica gel chromatography and identified as 2′,4′-dihydroxychalcone, 2′,4′-dihydroxy-3′-methoxychalcone and 7-hydroxy-3′,4′-dimethoxyflavone. These chalcones had the lowest MIC and MFC values on F. verticillioides and F. graminearum sensu stricto. 2′,4′-Dihydroxychalcone was mildly toxic and the remaining identified compounds were non-toxic in the brine shrimp assay. 2′,4′-Dihydroxychalcone in mixtures with commercial food preservatives showed additive effects on F. graminearum sensu stricto and synergistic ones on F. verticillioides. 2′,4′-Dihydroxy-3′-methoxychalcone showed synergistic effects in mixtures. Our results suggest that addition of chalcones to food preservatives allows reduction in the doses of the preservatives required for control of Fusarium species.
Multi-User ARQ

This paper presents a novel ARQ scheme for multiple unicast flows in a multi-user system, which enhances the aggregate throughput efficiency. The core idea is to exploit knowledge of previously overheard packets by unintended users, and perform wise selection and joint encoding of any retransmitted information. Intended users may decode the jointly encoded packet by exploiting the previously overheard packets. It is found that the throughput efficiency in a K-user system approaches, the fairly remarkable result of, unit value when K goes to infinity. Moreover, complexity and overhead of the scheme is studied and a link to (feedback free) network coding is established
Effects of Certain Growth Factors on In Vitro Maturation of Rat Fetal Islet‐like Structures

We have previously studied the expression of protein tyrosine kinases in different preparations of insulin producing cells by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Among the tyrosine kinases thus identified were the fibroblast growth factor receptor-4 (FGFR-4), c-Kit, the insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) receptor, and the cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase Jak2, which associates with the activated receptor for growth hormone (GH). To elucidate the putative biological effects of the receptors identified, fetal islet-like structures were cultured in the absence or presence of the ligands to the receptors identified, namely, acidic FGF (aFGF), stem-cell factor (SCF), IGF-I, and GH, whereafter insulin and DNA contents as well as insulin secretion to the culture medium were determined. Nerve growth factor (NGF), the ligand to the tyrosine kinase receptor Trk-A, was also included. aFGF and GH were found to stirnulate insulin release to the culture medium, whereas SCF augmented insulin contents/DNA as well as islet DNA contents. No effects of NGF or IGF-I were detected. Immunohistochemical studies of fetal rat pancreas showed localization of the c-Kit protein to the pancreatic ducts, whereas immunoreactivity against FGFR-4 could be detected in both endocrine and exocrine parts of the pancreas as well as in the pancreatic ducts. It is concluded that tyrosine kinase receptors may be involved in the maturation of pancreatic β cells.
Conventional Risk Factors and Cardiovascular Outcomes of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Confirmed Coronary Artery Disease

Background:Inflammation is increasingly being recognized as an important factor in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and outcome of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The purpose of this study was to compare conventional risk factors and PCI outcomes in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and non-IBD controls with angiographically proven coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods:We performed a historical cohort study of patients with IBD who were diagnosed with CAD by cardiac catheterization between January 2004 and June 2010. Four non-IBD controls with CAD were matched to each IBD case. Framingham risk score and corresponding 10-year coronary heart disease risk were calculated for all the patients. Outcomes were obtained using a prospectively maintained Institutional Interventional Catheterization Database. Results:One hundred thirty-one patients with IBD (54 Crohn's disease, 77 ulcerative colitis) with CAD and 524 matched non-IBD controls with CAD were included. Patients with IBD were younger (65.3 ± 10.0 versus 67.8 ± 11.0 yr, P = 0.016), had lower prevalence of active tobacco use (10.7% versus 18.7%, P = 0.03), and had lower body mass index (28.0 ± 5.1 versus 29.4 ± 6.4, P = 0.026) compared with controls. Patients with IBD had lower rates of severe left anterior descending artery disease (56% versus 73%, P < 0.0002) and multivessel CAD (71% versus 79%, P = 0.05). There was no difference in post-PCI major adverse cardiovascular outcomes (defined as all-cause death, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular events, and target lesion revascularization). Conclusions:Patients with IBD are diagnosed with CAD at a younger age as compared with non-IBD patients, are less likely to be active smokers and have lower body mass index. Post-PCI outcomes in patients with IBD with CAD are similar to non-IBD controls with CAD.
Cell wall sorting signals in surface proteins of gram‐positive bacteria.

Staphylococcal protein A is anchored to the cell wall, a unique cellular compartment of Gram‐positive bacteria. The sorting signal sufficient for cell wall anchoring consists of an LPXTG motif, a C‐terminal hydrophobic domain and a charged tail. Homologous sequences are found in many surface proteins of Gram‐positive bacteria and we explored the universality of these sequences to serve as cell wall sorting signals. We show that several signals are able to anchor fusion proteins to the staphylococcal cell wall. Some signals do not sort effectively, but acquire sorting activity once the spacing between the LPXTG motif and the charged tail has been increased to span the same length as in protein A. Thus, signals for cell wall anchoring in Gram‐positive bacteria are as universal as signal (leader) sequences.
Ultra sharp compact folded lowpass filter

This paper presents the ultra sharp compact low pass filter for microwave communication. The sharpness of cutoff is 121.43dB/GHz and the 50dB rejection bandwidth up to 2nd harmonics. Insertion loss in passband is within 0.05dB. Such high performance is only obtained in the coaxial and waveguide media.
Genetics of natural populations. XXXI. Genetics of an isolated marginal population of Drosophila pseudoobscura.

AYR (1954, 1959), CARSON (1955,1956,1959), BROWN (1957), DOBZHANMs~~ (1957 and other publications), TOWNSEND (1952) and others have pointed out that the genetic structures of populations of the same species inhabiting the central and the peripheral parts of the distribution area are likely to be characteristically different on the average. Central populations have, by and large, mastered a greater range of ecological niches, and have thus achieved a more secure adaptedness to the environment than the peripheral ones, which may well be able to survive in only a restricted adaptive zone. The form of natural selection which predominates in central populations has been termed by CARSON (Zoc. cit.) heteroselection; it favors polymorphism, restricted recombination, and a general adaptedness to a multiplicity of conditions. Marginal populations are dominated by homoselection, which favors a relative homozygosity, random genetic drift, free recombination, and adaptive specialization. Evolutionary novelties, such as new species, are, however, more likely to arise, in the opinion of most writers, from the marginal rather than from the central populations. The population of Drosophitila pseudoobscuru discovered in the Andes of Colombia around Bogota occurs in an apparently small area isolated from the main body of the species by extensive territories in which the species in all likelihood does not occur. The results of a cytological and genetic analysis of this population are reported in the pages that follow. MATERIALS AND METHODS During the years 1960-1962, populations of Drosophila have been sampled in different parts of Colombia, especially in the highlands in the vicinity of the city of Bogota. The flies were attracted to bait consisting of fermenting bananas. Drosophila pseudoobscura has been encountered only in the highlands, at elevations of 2,200 to 3,280 meters, The species has been encountered in gardens (near the University), in forests (Pine Woods, Villavicencio Road and El Hato Road,
Modified Supracondylar Amputation of the Femur

The upper leg can be amputated at many levels starting with the through the knee amputation and ending with the hip disarticulation. The most common above the knee amputation is through the mid-femur, and this procedure is taught in most surgical programs in the United States. A new modification of the supracondylar amputation of the femur is herein described. A 20-year experience of over 200 procedures is reported using a new modification of the supracondylar amputation of the leg. Two deaths occurred, and a primary healing rate of 95 per cent was obtained. Revision to a higher level was required in only three patients. The advantages of the modified amputation procedure include short operative procedure, minimal blood loss, long femur stump, reduced pain, strong fascial closure, high rate of primary healing, and avoidance of a postoperative flexion contracture at the hip.
PlasmoID: A P. falciparum Information Discovery Tool

Plasmodium falciparum is the parasite responsible for more than 90% of deaths that occur due to malaria. Organization and mining of 'omic' (genomic, proteomic, transcriptomic, interactomic) data can improve our understanding of P. falciparum biology and help in the fight against malaria. PlasmoID (Plasmodium Information Discovery) is a tool developed for the dynamic exploration of the parasite's 'omic' landscape. Diverse computational and curated P. falciparum protein-protein interaction datasets, as well as binary relationships involving protein-small molecule entities, manually curated protein-protein relationships derived from the published literature and protein-protein interactions based on metabolic pathways are included in the PlasmoID database. The graphical user interface is designed as a plug-in to Cytoscape, an open-source network visualization tool. Important features of this plug-in include a synchronized tabular representation of any network loaded on the canvas, ability to find the shortest path between a pair of nodes in the database, search and expansion of entities from the database, and the ability to add new entities to the database through the interface. Malaria researchers can now seamlessly interrogate heterogeneous 'omic' datasets as well as add proprietary data to generate and visualize P. falciparum pathway and cell process network models. PlasmoID can be downloaded from http://pfalciparum.atc. tcs.com/PlasmoID.
Automobile head restraints--frequency of neck injury claims in relation to the presence of head restraints.

THE STUDY SAMPLE CONSISTED OF 67,143 INSURANCE CLAIMS; THE MANUAL SEARCH OF THE FILES ASSOCIATED WITH THESE CLAIMS LED TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF 6,833 STRUCK CARS MEETING THE STUDY CRITERIA. FOR THESE CLAIMS THE FOLLOWING ITEMS OF DATA WERE RECORDED FOR EACH FORWARD CAR: MODEL YEAR, MANUFACTURER, SEX OF THE DRIVER, AND WHETHER ANY TYPE OF NECK OR BACK INJURY WAS CLAIMED. IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THERE WAS AN 18 PERCENT REDUCTION IN THE FREQUENCY OF CLAIMED NECK INJURIES TO DRIVERS (BOTH SEXES COMBINED) IN CARS WITH HEAD RESTRAINTS AS STANDARD EQUIPMENT WHEN COMPARED WITH THE FREQUENCY FOR DRIVERS IN CARS WITHOUT HEAD RESTRAINTS AS STANDARD EQUIPMENT. SIMILAR RESULTS BY SEX OF DRIVER ARE ALSO PRESENTED. AN ANALYSIS BY MANUFACTURER REVEALED DIFFERENCES SIMILAR TO THE OVERALL PATTERN, BUT THE NUMBERS OF OBSERVATIONS WHEN DIVIDED INTO THESE VARIOUS SUBGROUPS WERE GENERALLY TOO SMALL TO SUPPORT FIRM CONCLUSIONS. THE RESULTS OF A VISUAL SURVEY OF DRIVERS IN 4,983 MOVING DOMESTIC PASSENGER CARS WITH ADJUSTABLE HEAD RESTRAINTS IN THE LOS ANGELES AND WASHINGTON, D. C. METROPOLITAN AREAS INDICATED THAT IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA, 74 PERCENT OF THE MALE DRIVERS AND 57 PERCENT OF THE FEMALE DRIVERS HAD THE HEAD RESTRAINTS IMPROPERLY POSITIONED WHILE IN THE WASHINGTON, D. C. AREA 93 PERCENT OF THE MALES AND 80 PERCENT OF THE FEMALES HAD THE RESTRAINTS IMPROPERLY POSITIONED. THE STUDY IS CONCLUDED WITH A DISCUSSION OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON WHIPLASH INJURIES AND HEAD RESTRAINTS.
Molecular Characterization of Class 3 Integrons from Delftia spp

ABSTRACT Two environmental strains, Delftia acidovorans C17 and Delftia tsuruhatensis A90, were found to carry class 3 integrons, which have seldom been reported and then only from pathogens in which they are associated with antibiotic resistance genes. The Delftia integrons comprised a highly conserved class 3 integrase gene, upstream and oppositely oriented from a set of three or four gene cassettes that encoded unidentified functions. The A90 integron had one more gene cassette than the C17 integron, but the two were otherwise the same; furthermore, they were located within regions of sequence identity in both strains and linked to chromosomal genes. A screen of other Delftia and related strains did not reveal the presence of additional class 3 integrons. The observations suggest that these integrons were horizontally transferred to Delftia as part of a larger region and reside as chromosomal elements that probably predate transposon dissemination, as has been proposed for certain class 1 integrons.
Protein Kinase C Regulates Pleckstrin by Phosphorylation of Sites Adjacent to the N-terminal Pleckstrin Homology Domain (*)

Pleckstrin is a substrate for protein kinase C in activated platelets that contains at its N and C termini two of the pleckstrin homology (PH) domains that have been proposed to mediate protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions. We have recently shown that pleckstrin can inhibit agonist-induced phosphoinositide hydrolysis and that this inhibition requires an intact N-terminal PH domain (residues 6 to 99). In the present studies, we have identified the sites of phosphorylation in pleckstrin and examined their contribution to pleckstrin function. In human platelets activated with thrombin or phorbol esters, and in COS-1 cells expressing pleckstrin, a combination of phosphopeptide analysis and site-directed mutagenesis shows that three residues in the intervening sequence between the two pleckstrin PH domains become phosphorylated: Ser, Thr, and Ser. Replacing all three of these sites with glycine decreased phosphorylation by >90% and reduced pleckstrin's ability to inhibit phosphoinositide hydrolysis by as much as 80%. Replacing the phosphorylation sites with alanine residues had a similar effect, while substitution with aspartate, glutamate, or lysine residues produced pleckstrin variants that were fully active even in the absence of phosphorylation. These results suggest that phosphorylation enhances pleckstrin's activity by introducing a cluster of charges into a region adjacent to, but not within, the N-terminal PH domain. This may have an allosteric effect on the N-terminal PH domain, regulating its interaction with other molecules necessary for the inhibition of phosphoinositide hydrolysis.
Puntos fijos comunes de contracciones generalizadas

Ishikawa [2] introdujo en 1974 un proceso iterativo para construir puntos fijos de aplicaciones no lineales definidas en espacios de Banach el cual ha sido estudiado por algunos autores. En ese mismo ano Ciric [1] demostro que si (X, d) es un espacio metrico completo y T : X −→ X es una aplicacion tal que d(Tx, Ty) ≤ αmax{d(x, y), d(x, Tx), d(y, Ty), d(x, Ty), d(y, Tx)} para todo x, y ∈ X, donde 0 ≤ α < 1, entonces, para todo x0 ∈ X, la sucesion xn = Tx0, n ≥ 1, converge a un unico punto fijo de T . Rhoades [3] extendio el teorema anterior a contracciones generalizadas en espacios de Banach, usando un proceso iterativo mas general que el de Ishikawa.
End-of-life care for the critically ill: A national intensive care unit survey*

Objective:One in five Americans dies following treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU), and evidence indicates the need to improve end-of-life care for ICU patients. We conducted this study to elicit the views and experiences of ICU directors regarding barriers to optimal end-of-life care and to identify the type, availability, and perceived benefit of specific strategies that may improve this care. Design:Self-administered mail survey. Setting:Six hundred intensive care units. Participants:A random, nationally representative sample of nursing and physician directors of 600 adult ICUs in the United States. Interventions:Mail survey. Measurements and Main Results:We asked participants about barriers to end-of-life care (1 = huge to 5 = not at all a barrier), perceived benefit of strategies to improve end-of-life care, and availability of these strategies. From 468 ICUs (78.0% of sample), 590 ICU directors participated (406 nurses [65.1% response] and 184 physicians [31.7% response]). Respondents had a mean of 16.6 yrs (sd 7.6 yrs) of ICU experience. Important barriers to better end-of-life care included patient/family factors, including unrealistic patient/family expectations 2.5 (1.0), inability of patients to participate in discussions 2.7 (0.9), and lack of advance directives 2.9 (1.0); clinician factors, which included insufficient physician training in communication 2.9 (1.1) and competing demands on physicians’ time 3.0 (1.1); and institution/ICU factors, such as suboptimal space for family meetings 3.5 (1.2) and lack of a palliative care service 3.4 (1.2). More than 80% of respondents rated 14 of 14 strategies as likely to improve end-of-life care, including trainee role modeling by experienced clinicians, clinician training in communication and symptom management, regular meetings of senior clinicians with families, bereavement programs, and end-of-life care quality monitoring. However, few of these strategies were widely available. Conclusions:Intensive care unit directors perceive important barriers to optimal end-of-life care but also universally endorse many practical strategies for quality improvement. LEARNING OBJECTIVESOn completion of this article, the reader should be able to: Describe barriers to improved end-of-life care in the intensive care unit. List strategies that are likely to improve end-of-life care. Use this information in the clinical setting. All authors have disclosed that they have no financial relationships with or interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity. Lippincott CME Institute, Inc., has identified and resolved all faculty conflicts of interest regarding this educational activity. Visit the Critical Care Medicine Web site (www.ccmjournal.org) for information on obtaining continuing medical education credit.
Energy Dissipation and Information Flow in Coupled Markovian Systems

A stochastic system under the influence of a stochastic environment is correlated with both present and future states of the environment. Such a system can be seen as implicitly implementing a predictive model of future environmental states. The non-predictive model complexity has been shown to lower-bound the thermodynamic dissipation. Here we explore these statistical and physical quantities at steady state in simple models. We show that under quasi-static driving this model complexity saturates the dissipation. Beyond the quasi-static limit, we demonstrate a lower bound on the ratio of this model complexity to total dissipation, that is realized in the limit of weak driving.