Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autoimmune priming, tissue attack and chronic inflammation — The three stages of rheumatoid arthritis

Extensive genome‐wide association studies have recently shed some light on the causes of chronic autoimmune diseases and have confirmed a central role of the adaptive immune system. Moreover, better diagnostics using disease‐associated autoantibodies have been developed, and treatment has improved through the development of biologicals with precise molecular targets. Here, we use rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as a prototype for chronic autoimmune disease to propose that the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases could be divided into three discrete stages. First, yet unknown environmental challenges seem to activate innate immunity thereby providing an adjuvant signal for the induction of adaptive immune responses that lead to the production of autoantibodies and determine the subsequent disease development. Second, a joint‐specific inflammatory reaction occurs. This inflammatory reaction might be clinically diagnosed as the earliest signs of the disease. Third, inflammation is converted to a chronic process leading to tissue destruction and remodeling. In this review, we discuss the stages involved in RA pathogenesis and the experimental approaches, mainly involving animal models that can be used to investigate each disease stage. Although we focus on RA, it is possible that a similar stepwise development of disease also occurs in other chronic autoimmune settings such as multiple sclerosis (MS), type 1 diabetes, and systemic lupus erythematosus.
Is hospital admission and observation required after a normal abdominal computed tomography scan in children with blunt abdominal trauma?

OBJECTIVES The objective was to determine if hospital admission of children with blunt abdominal trauma for observation of possible intraabdominal injury (IAI) is necessary after a normal abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan in the emergency department (ED). METHODS The authors conducted a prospective observational cohort study of children less than 18 years of age with blunt abdominal trauma who underwent an abdominal CT scan in the ED. Abdominal CT scans were obtained with intravenous contrast but no oral contrast. The decision to hospitalize the patient was made by the attending emergency physician (EP) with the trauma or pediatric surgery teams. An abnormal abdominal CT scan was defined by the presence of any visualized IAI or findings suggestive of possible IAI (e.g., intraperitoneal fluid without solid organ injury). Patients were followed to determine if IAI was later diagnosed and the need for acute therapeutic intervention if IAI was present. RESULTS A total of 1,295 patients underwent abdominal CT, and 1,085 (84%) patients had normal abdominal CT scans in the ED and make up the study population. Seven-hundred thirty-seven (68%) were hospitalized, and 348 were discharged to home. None of the 348 patients discharged home and 2 of the 737 hospitalized patients were identified with an IAI after a normal initial abdominal CT. The IAIs in patients with normal initial CT scans included a 10-year-old with a mesenteric hematoma and serosal tear at laparotomy and a 10-year-old with a perinephric hematoma on repeat CT. Neither underwent specific therapy. The negative predictive value (NPV) of a normal abdominal CT scan for IAI was 99.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 99.3% to 100%). CONCLUSIONS Children with blunt abdominal trauma and a normal abdominal CT scan in the ED are at very low risk of having a subsequently diagnosed IAI and are very unlikely to require a therapeutic intervention. Hospitalization of children for evaluation of possible undiagnosed IAI after a normal abdominal CT scan has a low yield and is generally unnecessary.
Generation and applications of bi-shaping shadowing in mobile systems modeling

As a part of propagation characteristics of mobile communication channels, slow fading caused by shadowing not only obeys the lognormal probability density distribution (PDF), but also has an exponential autocorrelation function. Cross-correlation of shadowing process between uplink and downlink also should be included. Generally only the probability distribution of slow fading is considered in modeling of mobile communication channels, but not the power spectral density (PSD) or cross-power spectrum. An accurate correlation/probability model for shadow fading is of vital importance for both analytical and simulation based evaluation of any power control and handover scheme. The paper proposes a method to generate the slow fading random process with specified PDF/PSD for the first time. The applications of the method are introduced in brief. Theoretic analysis has been given to prove the validation of the method, and simulation steps are described. The simulation results show the method works well.
Eating disorders and trauma history in women with perinatal depression.

OBJECTIVE Although the prevalence of perinatal depression (depression occurring during pregnancy and postpartum) is 10%, little is known about psychiatric comorbidity in these women. We examined the prevalence of comorbid eating disorders (ED) and trauma history in women with perinatal depression. METHODS A research questionnaire was administered to 158 consecutive patients seen in a perinatal psychiatry clinic during pregnancy (n=99) or postpartum (n=59). Measures included Structured Clinical Interview for DSM (SCID) IV-based questions for lifetime eating psychopathology and assessments of comorbid psychiatric illness including the State/Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and Trauma Inventory. RESULTS In this cohort, 37.1% reported a putative lifetime ED history; 10.1% reported anorexia nervosa (AN), 10.1% reported bulimia nervosa (BN), 10.1% reported ED not otherwise specified-purging subtype (EDNOS-P), and 7.0% reported binge eating disorder (BED). Women with BN reported more severe depression (EPDS score, 19.1, standard deviation [SD 4.3], p=0.02; PHQ-severity 14.5, SD 7.4, p=0.02) than the referent group of women with perinatal depression and no ED history (EPDS 13.3, SD=6.1; PHQ 9.0, SD=6.2). Women with AN were more likely to report sexual trauma history than the referent group (62.5% vs. 29.3%, p<0.05), and those with BN were more likely report physical (50.0%, p<0.05) and sexual (66.7%, p<0.05) trauma histories. CONCLUSIONS ED histories were present in over one third of admissions to a perinatal psychiatry clinic. Women with BN reported more severe depression and histories of physical and sexual trauma. Screening for histories of eating psychopathology is important in women with perinatal depression.
Antibodies to Molds and Satratoxin in Individuals Exposed in Water-Damaged Buildings

Immunoglobulin (Ig)A, IgM, and IgG antibodies against Penicillium notatum, Aspergillus niger, Stachybotrys chartarum, and satratoxin H were determined in the blood of 500 healthy blood donor controls, 500 random patients, and 500 patients with known exposure to molds. The patients were referred to the immunological testing laboratory for health reasons other than mold exposure, or for measurement of mold antibody levels. Levels of IgA, IgM, and IgG antibodies against molds were significantly greater in the patients (p < 0.001 for all measurements) than in the controls. However, in mold-exposed patients, levels of these antibodies against satratoxin differed significantly for IgG only (p < 0.001), but not for IgM or IgA. These differences in the levels of mold antibodies among the 3 groups were confirmed by calculation of z score and by Scheffé's significant difference tests. A general linear model was applied in the majority of cases, and 3 different subsets were formed, meaning that the healthy control groups were different from the random patients and from the mold-exposed patients. These findings indicated that mold exposure was more common in patients who were referred for immunological evaluation than it was in healthy blood donors. The detection of antibodies to molds and satratoxin H likely resulted from antigenic stimulation of the immune system and the reaction of serum with specially prepared mold antigens. These antigens, which had high protein content, were developed in this laboratory and used in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) procedure. The authors concluded that the antibodies studied are specific to mold antigens and mycotoxins, and therefore could be useful in epidemiological and other studies of humans exposed to molds and mycotoxins.
Variable-Width Channel Allocation in Wireless LAN: A Game-Theoretic Perspective

The fixed channelization structure used by IEEE 802.11-based WLANs constrains the total capacity and leads to unfairness. The concept of variable-width channels is recently proposed to overcome these drawbacks. To investigate the problem of the non-overlapping variable-width channel allocation for selfish access points (APs) in a WLAN, we model it as a non-cooperative game. we aim to investigate two fundamental issues on it in this paper: 1) Are there some fair and system-optimal Nash equilibrium (NE) allocations? 2) How to achieve one of these desirable allocations if they exist? At first, the existence of fair and system-optimal Nash equilibria in this game is proved. Then, a simple protocol to achieve one of these desirable NE allocations is proposed. Considering the implementation issues, a punishment-based method and a transfer-based self-enforcing truth-telling method are proposed for single-stage and multi-stage game scenarios respectively. The numerical results show the effectiveness of our approaches.
VARIATION OF PUPIL SIZE WITH CHANGE IN THE ANGLE AT WHICH THE LIGHT STIMULUS STRIKES THE RETINA*

'iHE possibility of a variation in pupil size depending on the part of the natural pupil through which the light from the external field enters the eye has not been examined hitherto. Such a variation might occur for two reasons: (a) since the apparent brightness of an illuminated field is reduced if the rays enter near the edge rather than near the centre of the pupil (directional sensitivity of the retinat), a slightly larger pupil might be expected in the former case; (b) if, as is possible, the protective action of the constricted pupil consists not so much in reducing the total light flux as in excluding rays which would otherwise strike the retina obliquely, such rays might prove more effective in closing the pupil than rays incident normally. The pupil would then be smaller for rays entering near the edge. While variations from these causes are likely to be smaller than the effects of changes in field brightness and field area, they would be of considerable theoretical interest and would have a bearing on the efficient design and use of optical instruments. In the present work, carried out at the request of the Director of Scientific Research, Admiralty, measurements of the pupil were made under conditions specially, arranged to reveal any change of size with change in the point of entry of the light in the pupil. To obtain the greatest possible separation between rays entering centrally and near the edge, the pupil must be fully dilated. On the other hand it is the pupil of moderate size which is most sensitive to changes in the conditions of illumination. Both requirements were met by exposing the illuminated field to one eye only, the pupil of this eye being kept fully dilated with a mydriatic, and by determining by flash photograplhy the variations in size of the free (unmydriasi,ed) pupil of the other eye wlhich was kept in the dark. It was confirmed that a given light stimulus entering either eye affected both pupils about equally and that mydriasis of one pupil did not inteirfere with the reaction of the other. In the two sets of main measurements, made on 12 subjects, the
Engineering Privacy and Protest: A Case Study of AdNauseam

—The strategy of obfuscation has been broadly applied— in search, location tracking, private communication, anonymity—and has thus been recognized as an important element of the privacy engineer’s toolbox. However, there remains a need for clearly articulated case studies describing not only the engineering of obfuscation mechanisms but, further, providing a critical appraisal of obfusca-tion’s ﬁt for speciﬁc socio-technical applications. This is the aim of our paper, which presents our experiences designing, implementing, and distributing AdNauseam, an open-source browser extension that leverages obfuscation to frustrate tracking by online advertisers. At its core, AdNauseam works like a list-based blocker, hiding or blocking ads and trackers. However, it provides two additional features. First, it collects the ads it ﬁnds in its ‘Vault’, allowing users to interactively explore the ads they have been served, and providing insight into the algorithmic proﬁles created by advertising networks. Second, AdNauseam simulates clicks on ads in order to confuse trackers and diminish the value of aggregated tracking data. A critic might ask: why click? Why not simply hide ads from users and hide users from trackers? The twofold answer reveals what may be distinctive elements of the AdNauseam approach. To begin, we conceptualize privacy as a societal value. Whereas many privacy tools offer solutions only for individual users, AdNauseam is built on the assumption that, often, effective privacy protection must be infused throughout a system. This assumption presents different and interesting engineering challenges. Second, AdNauseam seeks to concurrently achieve the goal of resistance through protest. And since protest frequently involves being vocal, AdNauseam’s core design conﬂicts at times with conceptions of privacy based on secrecy or concealment. While such tensions, and the tradeoffs that result, are not uncommon in privacy engineering
Cytokine‐induced enhancement of autoimmune inflammation in the brain and spinal cord: implications for multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) are autoimmune inflammatory diseases in which cytokines are intimately involved. Here we test the hypothesis that injection of pro‐inflammatory cytokines, tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNFα) and interferon gamma (IFNγ) into the brain of animals in the prodromal phase of EAE significantly enhances inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS). We were particularly interested to learn whether a local increase in cytokines influenced the pathology locally, or more extensively, within the CNS. EAE was induced in female adult Lewis rats. Eight days post‐inoculation, TNFα or INFγ was injected into one cerebral hemisphere. Days 11 and 13 post‐inoculation (3 and 5 days after the injection of cytokine) inflammation was quantified by the number of perivascular cuffs and the degree of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II expression by microglia. Normal animals injected with cytokines, and EAE animals with saline injection served as controls. Results: microglial activation was increased three‐ to fourfold in the brain and eightfold in the spinal cord (P ≤ 0.05); lymphocyte invasion was increased sixfold in the brain and three‐ to fourfold in the spinal cord (P ≤ 0.01) following injections of TNFα or INFγ in EAE animals compared with controls. Significant axonal damage was observed in white matter associated with the perivascular cuffs. Conclusion: local changes in the release of pro‐inflammatory cytokines within the brain in EAE results in the widespread enhancement of autoimmune inflammation within the brain and cord, and exacerbation of clinical symptoms.
We can make forgetting impossible, but should we?

the title of an alleged& inspiring book we overheard two people tzzLk about on the train ht week. Or they may be actions we bavepeformed for example, bavingpzlt our keys at aphce where we can'tfind them back later on. And quite a few of us have gone through the rather embarrassing experience of hiding an object in a secret place and not being able to find it back ourselves. Just for curiosity, try to keep track of the number of times you forget something this week. I wonder how much time of our lives we waste with retracing specific information we know we have once known but have forgotten now. And wasted time is one thing, but think of the agony that comes along with the quest. Some of us know that their memory sometimes lets them down so they take notes and record the information they think they will need later on-by using the miraculous invention of written Ianguage which has turned everything writable into an external memory facility. Others take audio notes: they tape vocalized representations of important information or interesting thoughts on a voice recorder. For the most absent-minded among us, who tend to forget where they have put the notes they took, a personal digital assistant such as Apple's Newton may seem a good help. But taking notes, either on paper, audio tape, or electronic tablet, is neither an easy nor a foolproof anti-information loss technique. If it were, probably everybody would take notes, always. But I've never heard of anybody writing down where he or she puts the keys. The reasons for the fairly restricted use of this technique are multitude, but the most important one is: It is a nuisance to take notes. For important information or likely to forget information (telephone numbers) we are willing to go through this nuisance, but not for infor
Early Weightbearing and Ankle Mobilization after Open Repair of Acute Midsubstance Tears of the Achilles Tendon

Purpose To study the effects of early weightbearing and ankle mobilization after acute repair of ruptured Achilles tendon. Study Design Comparative longitudinal study. Methods Patients in group 1 were postoperatively immobilized with their ankle in gravity equinus, they were encouraged to bear weight on the operated limb as soon as possible to full weightbearing, and they received a single cast change at 2 weeks, with the ankle accommodated in an anterior splint in a plantigrade position, allowing the ankle to be plantar flexed fully but not dorsiflexed above neutral. Patients in group 2 were immobilized with their ankle in full equinus with a cast change at 2 weeks, when the ankle was immobilized in mid equinus, and at 4 weeks, when the ankle was immobilized in a plantigrade position, and they were advised to bear weight. Results Patients in group 1 attended fewer outpatient visits, completely discarded their crutches at an average of 2.5 weeks, and more were satisfied with the results of surgery. At ultrasonography, the average thickness of the repaired tendon was 12.1 mm, with no difference in the thickness of the ruptured tendon regardless of postoperative management. There was no significant difference in isometric strength between the two groups. Conclusions Early weightbearing with the ankle plantigrade is not detrimental to the outcome of repair after acute rupture of the Achilles tendon and shortens the time needed for rehabilitation. However, strength deficit and muscle atrophy are not prevented.
Temporal Structure of the 60 GHz Wireless Channel

In this paper, we present the results of a measurement campaign regarding the short range 60 GHz wireless channel. The measurements were performed inside an airplane cabin by the use of a component-based setup covering 1 GHz of bandwidth. We provide the values of fundamental measures like the delay spread of the channel and take a closer look at the structure of the impulse response from a physically-motivated point of view. Using the example of the measured in-cabin channel, we demonstrate an extended versatile evaluation technique to determine the main multipath components (MMPCs) of the channel.
Frequent monoallelic deletion of PTEN and its reciprocal associatioin with PIK3CA amplification in gastric carcinoma

Mutational alterations of PTEN and PIK3CA, which negatively and positively regulate PI3‐kinase activity, respectively, have been observed in many types of human cancer. To explore the implication of PTEN and PIK3CA mutations in gastric tumorigenesis, we characterized the expression and mutation status of the genes in 126 gastric tissues and 15 cell lines. Expression of PTEN transcript was abnormally low in 5 of 15 (33%) cell lines and 20 of 55 (36%) primary carcinomas, whereas 0 of 71 noncancerous tissues including 16 benign tumors showed altered expression. Allelotyping analysis using an intragenic polymorphism (IVS4+109) revealed that 14 of 30 (47%) informative cases carried LOH of the gene, which is closely linked to low expression. The LOH rate was significantly higher in advanced tumors [12 of 19 (63%)] compared to early‐stage tumors [2 of 11 (18%)] and more frequent in poorly differentiated tumors [9 of 13 (69%)] than well‐ or moderately differentiated tumors [5 of 17 (29%)]. Interestingly, however, none of the LOH tumors carried mutational disruption of the remaining allele, suggesting haploinsufficiency of PTEN in gastric tumorigenesis. Methylation studies revealed that PTEN pseudogene, but not PTEN, is methylated in cell lines and primary tumors, indicating that PTEN is not a target of epigenetic silencing in gastric cancers and that the pseudogene should be considered more carefully in methylation analysis of the PTEN promoter. Genomic amplification of PIK3CA was found in 9 of 15 (60%) cell lines and 20 of 55 (36.4%) primary tumors but in no noncancerous tissues. Furthermore, PIK3CA amplification was predominantly detected in tumors with no PTEN alterations, suggesting that mutations of PTEN and PIK3CA are mutually exclusive events in gastric tumorigenesis. Amplification of PIK3CA was strongly associated with increased expression of PIK3CA transcript and elevated levels of phospho‐AKT. Collectively, our data reveal that 13 of 15 (87%) gastric cell lines and 31 of 55 (56%) primary carcinomas harbored either amplification of PIK3CA or abnormal reduction of PTEN. Mutually exclusive alterations of PTEN and PIK3CA also suggest that mutations of either gene could activate the PI3‐kinase/AKT signaling pathway, which is directly linked to the malignant progression of gastric tumor cells. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Early smoking onset and risk for subsequent nicotine dependence: a monozygotic co-twin control study.

OBJECTIVE Early onset of regular smoking is associated with an elevated risk for later nicotine dependence. Whether or not this association is causal is unknown and has substantial public policy implications. METHOD The authors used a monozygotic co-twin control study design. Pairs were selected from the Virginia Adult Twin Study of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders for discordance in age at onset of regular smoking. Nicotine dependence was measured by the Fagerström test for nicotine dependence and level of craving. RESULTS The authors identified 175 male-male and 69 female-female monozygotic twin pairs who differed by at least 2 years in age at onset of regular smoking. During their period of heaviest smoking, the twin who began smoking earlier had significantly higher Fagerström test scores in both the male-male (Cohen's d=0.20) and female-female twin pairs (d=0.26). Craving for cigarettes when unable to smoke was also higher in the early-onset member in both groups (male pairs, d=0.38; female pairs, d=0.25). The early-onset smoking twin did not differ from the later-onset twin in symptoms of alcohol or cannabis abuse or dependence, current alcohol use, or maximal level of cannabis, sedative, stimulant, or cocaine use. CONCLUSIONS Controlling for genetic and familial-environmental effects, age at onset of regular smoking predicted level of nicotine dependence. Consistent with the animal literature, these findings suggest that in humans, early nicotine exposure directly increases level of later nicotine dependence. These results should be interpreted in the context of the methodological strengths and limitations of the monozygotic co-twin design.