Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diseño de nuevos biomateriales basados en redes poliméricas interpenetradas de ácido hialurónico y polímeros acrílicos

El acido hialuronico (HA) es una molecula imprescindible en la formacion de muchos tejidos del organismo, asi como en la regeneracion de los mismos. No obstante, sus propiedades fisico-quimicas limitan enormemente su uso como material para el soporte de celulas en aplicaciones clinicas si no se modifica su estructura quimica o se acompana de otras moleculas. En esta tesis se ha sintetizado un constructo tridimensional de acido hialuronico acompanado por un segundo material, un polimero acrilico (el poliacrilato de etilo, o PEA) capaz de polimerizar por via radical en el interior del HA tras liofilizarlo. La red interpenetrada polimerica (IPN) resultante ha sido analizada para medir sus propiedades y compararlas con constructos semejantes realizados a partir de ambos polimeros por separado, con el objetivo de comprobar los efectos de la tecnica de sintesis en las propiedades fisico-quimicas del HA. La viabilidad de estos materiales en aplicaciones con celulas ha sido comprobada mediante la realizacion de ensayos in vitro con fibroblastos L929. De forma adicional, se han llevado a cabo varias modificaciones de la tecnica inicial de sintesis para obtener distintas proporciones de ambos componentes - HA y PEA - en los materiales. Las propiedades de esta serie de IPNs han sido medidas y comparadas con su metodo de sintesis y composicion final con tal de dilucidar el efecto que produce cada paso de la sintesis en las mismas. Los biomateriales producidos mediante las tecnicas aqui descritas pueden ofrecer sistemas interesantes para el cultivo y/o trasplante de celulas en futuras aplicaciones clinicas que deseen incorporar el acido hialuronico en forma de constructo tridimensional estable.
Incidence and predictors of large-artery complication (aortic aneurysm, aortic dissection, and/or large-artery stenosis) in patients with giant cell arteritis: a population-based study over 50 years.

OBJECTIVE To determine the incidence and predictors of large-artery complication (aortic aneurysm, aortic dissection, and/or large-artery stenosis) in patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA). METHODS The cohort of all residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, in whom GCA was diagnosed between January 1, 1950, and December 31, 1999, was followed up. The incidence of aortic aneurysm, aortic dissection, and large-artery stenosis was determined. Possible predictors and correlates of large-artery complication were assessed. RESULTS Forty-six incident cases of large-artery complication (representing 27% of the 168 patients in the cohort) were identified. These included 30 incident cases (18%) of aortic aneurysm and/or aortic dissection. Of these cases, 18 (11%) involved the thoracic aorta, with aortic dissection developing in 9 (5%). There were 21 incident cases (13%) of large-artery stenosis. Fifteen patients (9%) had incident cervical artery stenosis, and 6 (4%) had incident subclavian/axillary/brachial artery stenosis. One patient (0.6%) had incident iliac/femoral artery stenosis attributable to GCA. Hyperlipidemia and coronary artery disease were associated with aortic aneurysm and/or dissection (P < 0.05 for both). Cranial symptoms (headache, scalp tenderness, abnormal temporal arteries) were negatively associated with large-artery stenosis (hazard ratio [HR] 0.10 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.03-0.35, P < 0.0005]), as was a higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate (HR 0.80 [95% CI 0.67-0.95, P < 0.05] per 10 mm/hour). CONCLUSION Large-artery complication is common in GCA. Increased awareness of large-artery complication in GCA, particularly early-occurring aortic dissection, may decrease associated mortality.
Immigration, acculturation, and risk factors for obesity and cardiovascular disease: a comparison between Latinos of Peruvian descent in Peru and in the United States.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether migration and acculturation was associated with risk factors for obesity and cardiovascular disease, whether this association is linear or curvilinear, and whether the socio-cultural context alters the association between obesity and cardiovascular disease and individual-level variables. SETTING Lima, Peru, San Diego and San Francisco, California. PARTICIPANTS Ninety-two Peruvian residents of Lima and 83 Peruvian immigrant residents of California. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES total cholesterol, blood pressure, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio. RESULTS A significant linear association was found between migration and acculturation and alcohol consumption and total cholesterol in men and women, systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure and body mass index in men, and physical activity in women. Immigration/acculturation level was a significant independent predictor of total cholesterol. Age and body mass index were independent predictors of total cholesterol only in Peru. Sex was an independent predictor of DBP only in the United States. Body mass index was an in dependent predictor of DBP only in Peru. Household income was an independent predictor of SBP and DBP only in Peru and body mass index only in the United States, while level of education was inversely associated with body mass index only in Peru. Regular strenuous physical activity was an independent predictor of obesity measures only in the United States. CONCLUSIONS The socio-cultural context alters the risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease associated with individual-level variables and accounts for gender and cross-national differences in the migration-illness association.
Histone deacetylase inhibitors in lymphoma and solid malignancies

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are a new class of antineoplastic agents with demonstrable preclinical antitumor activity in both in vitro and in vivo studies in a wide range of malignancies. Based on these preclinical findings, in recent years HDACi have undergone a rapid phase of clinical development with many HDACi entering Phase I–III clinical trials, both as single agents and in combination with other therapies. Favorable clinical responses have been demonstrated in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma with emerging evidence of clinical activity in other types of lymphoma and, to date, a good toxicity profile. Solid tumor responses to single agent and combination therapies have also been reported, paving the way for larger studies in this field. In this review we discuss the recent advances in the clinical development of HDACi and their current therapeutic role in lymphoma and solid malignancies.
Fetal umbilical artery flow velocity waveforms and placental resistance: clinical significance

Summary. Since the umbilical arteries carry fetal blood to the placenta we studied flow velocity waveforms in these vessels with a simple continuous wave Doppler system to assess placental blood flow. The ratio of peak systolic to least diastolic (A/B) flow velocity was measured as an index of placental flow resistance. In 15 normal pregnancies there was a small but significant decrease in this ratio through the last trimester. The A/B ratio was measured on 436 occasions in 168 high‐risk pregnancies. In 32 of 43 fetuses subsequently shown to be small for gestational age there was an increase in placental flow resistance with reduced, absent or even reversed flow in diastole. This finding was also present in the one fetus which died in utero. Serial studies in patients with fetal compromise indicated increasing flow resistance, a reverse of the normal trend. These results were not available to the clinician yet of 24 fetuses born before 32 weeks 13 had a high A/B ratio, and all of them were born electively. Maternal hypertension was associated with an increase in fetal placental flow resistance. The umbilical artery A/B ratio provides a new and non‐invasive measure of fetoplacental blood flow resistance.
Development of a System to Record Cardiac Output Continuously in the Newborn

Intermittent recordings of Doppler flow velocity and cardiac output are of value during intensive care of the sick newborn infant but result in repeated disturbance of the child. We describe a new device for making continuous precordial recordings of Doppler flow velocity from the pulmonary artery in healthy resting newborn infants. Optimal probe siting was evaluated in six babies, and signals were found to be best when the pulmonary artery was insonated from the mid left parasternum. Continuous recordings were made in 13 other babies. Pulmonary artery velocities and, by calculation, cardiac output were measured continuously over periods ranging from 24 to 60 min. Median right ventricular output ranged widely from 148 to 246 mL·kg−1·min−1. In contrast, for individual babies, the values were remarkably stable: the interquartile ranges varied from 13.2 to 29.9 mL·kg−1·min−1. The simultaneous display of signal power allowed independent assessment of artifactual changes in cardiac output. This technique is feasible in healthy term infants and now requires evaluation in the intensive care setting where it may provide useful information concerning trends and short-term variability in right ventricular output.
Intrarectal transmission of simian immunodeficiency virus in rhesus macaques: selective amplification and host responses to transient or persistent viremia

Intrarectal simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection in rhesus macaques is a model for sexual transmission of primate retroviruses. Phylogenetic studies on envelope gene sequences that were present in blood following intrarectal SIV inoculation provided evidence for selective amplification of a subset of viruses present in the inoculum and defined one amino acid sequence uniquely associated with intrarectal infection. Both persistent and transient viremia states were observed after intrarectal infection. Immune responses in persistently infected animals accounted for slower rates of disease progression despite the presence of highly pathogenic viruses that were documented by transfusion studies. Transient viremia elicited protective immunity against subsequent intrarectal virus challenge but did not protect against intravenous virus challenge. Transient viremia usually but not always led to self-limiting infection. In one animal, we documented a relapse to active viremia long after the initial transient viremia. SIV transmission across mucosal barriers affects pathogenesis in the short term by limiting the types of viruses established in the host and in the longer term by establishing host responses that slow disease progression despite the presence of highly pathogenic viruses in blood.
Characterization of serotonin neurotransmission in knockout mice: implications for major depression

Abstract The interaction between genes and environment plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of major depression and mood disorders. Preclinical and clinical studies have established that a dysfunction of serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmission is a common hallmark in major depression and drugs acting on the 5-HT system have antidepressant properties. In the past 15 years, the development of knockout mice showing a depressive-like or resilience-like phenotype have allowed us to better understand the complex relationship between genes, behaviour and the 5-HT system in mood disorders. The present review revises several knockout mice genotypes with ‘mood’ alteration and analyses how 5-HT firing activity, measured with electrophysiological techniques, is impaired after a gene manipulation. The behavior and electrophysiology data from 5-HT transporter (5HTT), 5-HT1A, 5-HT4, the neurokinin 1 (NK1) receptor, fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and the TWIK-1 related K+ (TREK-1) channel knockout mice are here analysed. Interestingly, a correlation between 5-HT firing rate and depressive/resilience phenotypes can be established in these different knockouts. Furthermore, findings in knockout mice have been successfully translated to humans, and findings from human studies have helped to design and generate knockout mice to explore new hypotheses of the etiology of human depression. The correlation of 5-HT activity and behavior could be a predictor factor for understanding the role of receptors, channels and enzymes in depression, and could be used also to assess the potential antidepressive effects of novel drugs.
Can the response to interferon treatment be predicted in patients with chronic active hepatitis C?

Twenty-one of 40 patients with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis (37 anti-HCV positive) were randomised to receive interferon alpha 2b (3 million units subcutaneously thrice weekly for 24 weeks) and then to be observed for six months. Among the other 19 patients (controls) randomised to be observed without treatment for 12 months, eight have subsequently been treated with interferon for six months. One treated patient and three controls were lost to follow-up. A return to normal serum alanine aminotransferase levels which lasted until the end of the treatment period occurred in 18 (64%) of the 28 patients given interferon (and in 13 of 21 (62%) randomised to treatment), but only in one of the 16 untreated controls (p less than 0.001). Multivariant analysis indicated that, compared with the ten nonresponders, the 18 patients who responded to interferon were more likely to have acquired infection by intravenous drug abuse than by blood transfusion (p less than 0.05), and were more likely to have histologically less severe chronic liver disease (p less than 0.01). Thus, all 13 patients with less severe liver disease histologically responded to interferon, but only five of 15 patients with cirrhosis or bridging fibrosis responded. Among 17 responders followed for more than four months, five (28%) are still in remission a median of 13 months (range four months to 24 months) after stopping interferon. The characteristics which favoured a response during treatment also appeared to distinguish those who experienced sustained post-treatment remission. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Intégration de données et découverte de connaissances appliquées à la biologie

Notre travail s’inscrit dans le cadre de l’integration de donnees biologiques, de la representation et de l’aide a la decouverte de connaissances en ce qui concerne un probleme biologique particulier : la construction de reseaux de regulations biologiques. Nous avons propose un systeme automatise permettant de construire des reseaux de regulations a partir d’experiences de bio puces. Ce systeme a ete valide par des partenaires biologistes et des chercheurs en bioinformatique. Nous avons egalement propose un formalisme de representation et d’exportation des connaissances biologiques base sur XML, et un autre formalisme, base sur la theorie des graphes, ayant pour but d’aider a la decouverte de nouvelles connaissances en biologie, en recherchant la similarite entre les differents reseaux de regulations. Finalement, nous developpe un client de services web en java, servant a automatiser la recherche d’homologies de sequences genetiques
Outcomes and challenges of scaling up comprehensive PMTCT services in rural Swaziland, Southern Africa

Abstract To mitigate the negative impacts of HIV infection on pregnant women and their children, comprehensive services to prevent mother to child transmission are required. We report the outcomes and challenges of a comprehensive service to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV infection implemented from January to December 2007 in a referral hospital and its rollout clinics in rural Swaziland, Southern Africa. We reviewed monthly reports, hospital registers, and field diaries and interviewed 64 service providers. A total of 460 HIV tests were done on first and repeat antenatal care visits. From the test done, 93.7% of the results were collected. About 69.1% of first-time visitors accepted HIV test. The antenatal coverage of pregnant women with nevirapine (NVP)±zidovudine (AZT) was 100%. Of 443 antenatal and post-natal care women who underwent CD4 test, 54.4% collected results. About 16.3% of those who collected results were started on antiretroviral treatment. The percentage of postpartum women discharged with unknown HIV status fell by 64.8%. About 91.5% of HIV-positive women received intrapartum antiretroviral prophylaxis of stat dose NVP and AZT + lamivudine with 1-week postpartum tail. From the exposed newborns, 98.8% received NVP stat dose and AZT. A total of 304 HIV exposed infants of age six weeks to 18 months underwent DNA-PCR test. The prevalence of infection among infants where both mother and infant received antiretroviral prophylaxis was 16.1% (n=243). HIV test acceptance rate at first antenatal care visit, proportion of clients collecting CD4 and DNA-PCR test results were low and call for mechanisms for improvement. The proportion of DNA-PCR-positive exposed infants in this study was higher than other reports from Southern Africa. The variation of the findings could be explained by mode of infant feeding, age of testing and mode of delivery. Provision of comprehensive prevention of mother to child transmission services in resource limited setting is possible but challenged by staff shortage, socio-economic and service-related factors.
Excretion of paroxetine into breast milk.

BACKGROUND The study was carried out to quantify the excretion of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor paroxetine in breast milk. METHOD In 6 lactating women, the concentrations of paroxetine in breast milk and serum were studied at the times for assumed minimum (24 hours after dose intake) and maximum (4-7 hours after dose intake) drug levels in milk. Moreover, a seventh subject was studied with frequent and regular sampling throughout a dose interval of 24 hours at 2 different dose levels. RESULTS The mean milk/serum concentration ratios in the first 6 subjects ranged from 0.39 to 1.11 (overall mean +/- SD = 0.69 +/- 0.29), and the mean estimated dose to the infants ranged from 0.7% to 2.9% (overall mean +/- SD = 1.4% +/- 0.79%) of the weight-adjusted maternal dose. Based on area-under-the-curve data from the seventh subject, the milk/serum concentration ratio was 0.69 at a dose of 20 mg/day and 0.72 at a dose of 40 mg/day; the estimated relative doses to the infant were 1.0% and 2.0%, respectively. The mean increase in milk paroxetine concentrations from assumed minimum to assumed maximum was 61% (range, 4%-172%; p < .01). The mean paroxetine concentration in hindmilk was 78% higher than in foremilk (range, 16%-169%; p < .01), an increase that was parallel to the increase in milk triglyceride levels (r = 0.83, p = .005). No adverse drug reactions or unusual behaviors were reported in the infants. CONCLUSION The study indicates that the relative dose to a suckling infant for paroxetine is lower than that reported for fluoxetine and citalopram and higher than that reported for sertraline and fluvoxamine.
Noise–Power Optimization of Incremental Data Converters

Incremental data converters (IDCs) are useful in instrumentation and measurement applications, where low-frequency analog signals need to be converted into digital form with high accuracy and low power dissipation. They are particularly well suited for applications where a single analog-digital converter is multiplexed between many channels. This paper proposes an exact design methodology for IDCs, which optimizes the signal-to-noise ratio of the converter under practical design constraints. The process also allows the designer to apportion the noise budget in an arbitrary manner between thermal and quantization noise. The design process is illustrated by an example which describes the optimization of a third-order multiplexed IDC.
Detection of JC virus DNA in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy

JC virus (JCV) DNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 10 of 13 patients with a diagnosis of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) previously confirmed by histological and virological techniques. It was not found in 42 CSF samples from 41 patients who did not have PML. Four sets of primers were used to amplify polyomavirus DNA. One was from the region of the genome coding the T antigen, a conserved region common to JC and BK viruses. A second set nested to these was used as a confirmatory test in a secondary PCR. The remaining two were from the region of the genome coding VP1, one specific for JCV and the other for BKV. CSF did not inhibit the PCR and preliminary DNA extraction was not considered necessary.
Would Control of Childhood Infectious Diseases Reduce Malnutrition?

Infectious diseases and especially diarrheal diseases have been noted to have an adverse effect on the growth of underprivileged children in developing countries. Diarrheal diseases have been estimated to account for 10–80% of growth retardation in the first few years of life, with the magnitude of effect possibly modified by other factors, such as the adequacy and source of dietary intake, treatment and feeding practices during and following illness and the opportunity for catch‐up growth after illness. In the only study in which infectious diseases and routine dietary intake have been evaluated simultaneously, inadequate dietary intake rather than infectious diseases, was found to have the predominant role in growth faltering. Although reduction in infectious diseases is desirable for many reasons, the relative feasibility and cost of this approach to improve nutritional status must be compared with more direct nutrition interventions.
Sistema para la medición de la humedad relativa usando un DSSP

La medicion de la humedad relativa es de gran importancia en diversas esferas de la vida tales como: la agricultura, la industria, la meteorologia y el confort humano. En estetrabajo se propone el diseno de un transmisor de humedad relativa de alta exactitud y conbajo consumo de potencia basado en el metodo psicrometrico. Se exponen las caracteristicas y funcionamiento de cada uno de los bloques que componen el transmisor disenado, el cual cuenta con un DSSP ( Digital Sensor SignalProcessor ) para realizar todas las compensaciones necesarias yobtener los datos de las variables de interes mediante una interfaz de comunicacion digital con una computadora. El firmware implementado en el DSSP permite que en tiempo real se realice el calculo de la humedad relativa mediante el metodo psicrometrico. Enlos experimentos practicos realizados se obtuvieron errores relativos con respecto al intervalo nominal de 0,8% en la temperatura y 0,6%en la humedad relativa.
A AdaFT : A Framework for Adaptive Fault Tolerance for Cyber-Physical Systems

Cyber-physical systems frequently have to use massive redundancy to meet application requirements for high reliability. While such redundancy is required, it can be activated adaptively, based on the current state of the controlled plant. Most of the time the plant is in a state that allows for a lower level of faulttolerance. Avoiding the continuous deployment of massive fault tolerance will greatly reduce the workload of the CPS, and lower the operating temperature of the cyber sub-system, thus increasing its reliability. In this paper, we extend our prior research by demonstrating a software simulation framework (AdaFT) that can automatically generate the sub-spaces within which our adaptive fault tolerance can be applied. We also show the theoretical benefits of AdaFT, and its actual implementation in several real world CPSs. CCS Concepts: rComputer systems organization→ Embedded systems; Redundancy; Robotics;