Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A disease activity score for ENT involvement in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's)

Accurate assessment of disease activity in patients with otorhinolaryngological manifestations of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's) (ENT/GPA) is necessary for treatment decisions and clinical trials. We have designed a disease activity score (ENT/GPA DAS) for this purpose.
Association of antibody responses to microbial antigens and complications of small bowel Crohn's disease.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Crohn's disease patients can be characterized by antibody responses against Crohn's disease-related bacterial sequence, Escherichia coli outer membrane porin C, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (oligomannan), and neutrophil nuclear antigens. Our aim was to determine whether expression of antibodies against Crohn's disease-related bacterial sequence and Escherichia coli outer membrane porin C is associated with distinct phenotypic manifestations. METHODS Sera from 303 patients were tested for antibodies to the Crohn's disease-related bacterial sequence (I2), anti-Escherichia coli outer membrane porin C, anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies and for 3 Crohn's disease-associated variants of the NOD2 gene (R702W, G908R, and 1007fs) and compared with clinical data. RESULTS Patients expressing I2 were more likely to have fibrostenosing Crohn's disease (64.4% vs. 40.7%; P < 0.001) and to require small bowel surgery (62.2% vs. 37.4%; P < 0.001). Patients with anti-Escherichia coli outer membrane porin C were more likely to have internal perforating disease (50.0% vs. 30.7%; P = 0.001) and to require small bowel surgery (61.4% vs. 44.2%; P = 0.003). Anti-Crohn's disease-related bacterial sequence was independently associated with fibrostenosis (P = 0.027) and small bowel surgery (P = 0.01), whereas anti-Escherichia coli outer membrane porin C was independently associated with internal perforations (P < 0.006). Patients positive for I2, anti-Escherichia coli outer membrane porin C, and anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae were the most likely to have undergone small bowel surgery (72.0%; odds ratio, 8.6; P < 0.001) compared with patients without reactivity (23.0%). When the presence and magnitude of antibody responses were considered, 90% of patients with small bowel disease who required surgery had high levels of I2, Escherichia coli outer membrane porin C, and oligomannan antibodies, compared with only 18.2% with low-titer responses (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS I2 and anti-Escherichia coli outer membrane porin C are associated with Crohn's disease phenotypes, and patients with the highest level of serum reactivity toward an increasing number of microbiota have the greatest frequency of strictures, internal perforations, and small bowel surgery.
Molecular Characterization of Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia coli Isolates from Irish Cattle Farms

ABSTRACT This study describes the genotypic characteristics of a collection of 100 multidrug-resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli strains recovered from cattle and the farm environment in Ireland in 2007. The most prevalent antimicrobial resistance identified was to streptomycin (100%), followed by tetracycline (99%), sulfonamides (98%), ampicillin (82%), and neomycin (62%). Resistance was mediated predominantly by strA-strB (92%), tetA (67%), sul2 (90%), bla TEM (79%), and aphA1 (63%) gene markers, respectively. Twenty-seven isolates harbored a class 1 integrase (intI1), while qacEΔ1 and sul1 markers were identified in 25 and 26 isolates, respectively. The variable regions of these integrons contained aminoglycoside, trimethoprim, and β-lactam resistance determinants (aadA12, aadB-aadA1, bla OXA-30-aadA1, dfrA1-aadA1, dfrA7). Class 2 integrons were identified less frequently (4%) and contained the gene cassette array dfrA1-sat1-aadA1. Resistance to ampicillin, neomycin, streptomycin, sulfonamide, and tetracycline was associated with transferable high-molecular-weight plasmids, as demonstrated by conjugation assays. A panel of virulence markers was screened for by PCR, and genes identified included vt1, K5 in 2 isolates, papC in 10 isolates, and PAI IV536 in 37 isolates. MDR commensal E. coli isolates from Irish cattle displayed considerable diversity with respect to the genes identified. Our findings highlight the importance of the commensal microflora of food-producing animals as a reservoir of transferable MDR.
Orphans, HIVE and HAND: who are the watch-keepers?

Untreated children with HIV infection are at risk of central nervous system (CNS) sequelae, with prevalence rates of 20 - 60%. HIV-1 invades the developing CNS earlier and with greater severity than in adults, resulting in the condition known as HIV encephalopathy (HIVE). In addition, patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy may remain vulnerable to the effects of HIV on the brain, because the CNS may be a reservoir for persistent viral replication. The concept of a ‘milder’ form of neurocognitive disturbance in HIV-infected children, akin to the adult condition of HAND (HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder), is recognised but has yet to be defined. In SA, children with severe learning difficulties may remain in mainstream schooling with minimal remedial support. Two short case scenarios and a letter from an educator highlight the limitations of this system in the context of children living with HIV.
The Cure PSP Care Guide: A Telephonic Nursing Intervention for Individuals and Families Living With Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

Abstract: Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a rare, progressive, and terminal neurodegenerative disease characterized by problems with ambulation, balance, mobility, vision, speech, swallowing, and behavior during the 7- to 10-year course of the illness. Substantial evidence in the nursing literature supports the benefits of patient education, self-management, chronic disease management, telehealth, and nurse navigation programs, which enhance patient and caregiver knowledge, improve day-to-day management by developing an awareness of resources, decrease dependence on services, and address caregiver needs. The Cure PSP Care Guide is a targeted telehealth nursing intervention aimed at providing knowledge, guidance, and resources to the vulnerable individuals and families living with PSP; identifying local resources; and building community. During the course of two telephone calls, individuals and their caregivers are assessed to develop a Cure PSP Care Guide designed to provide guidance along the trajectory. A knowledge assessment, self-efficacy scale, and Caregiver Strain Index are administered before and after the intervention to determine the program intervention effect. Caregiver knowledge assessments improved after the intervention, whereas strain scores were static. Qualitative data show the ability of the intervention to address caregiver needs for knowledge and support, daily management tips, and resource identification. The preliminary quantitative and qualitative data collected on this pilot project justify further exploration of the use of telehealth to remotely deliver nurse case management to the vulnerable individuals and families living with PSP.
[Lung cancer in smokers and never-smokers].

BACKGROUND Lung cancer is the most frequent cancer-related cause of death for both sexes. Smoking is the cause of most cases, but estimates show that 15-20 % of cases in the western world are not associated with tobacco. Recent evidence - based on molecular and clinical studies - indicate that lung cancer in patients who have never smoked has certain characteristics that are different from those in patients who smoke. In this article we describe some of these characteristics. MATERIAL AND METHODS The present paper is based on literature identified through non-systematic searches in PubMed. RESULTS Lung cancer in never-smokers is estimated to be the seventh most frequent cancer type on a global basis. A number of molecular and clinical characteristics differ between lung cancer related to tobacco use and those not related to tobacco use. 62 % of lung cancers among never-smokers are adenocarcinomas and 18 % are squamous cell carcinomas, while corresponding numbers among patients who smoke are 19 % and 53 %. The K-Ras-gene is often mutated in tumours from smokers, but seldom in tumours from non-smokers; whereas the EGFR-gene is mutated in tumours from non-smokers, and not in smokers. Also, age and sex distribution, therapy response and prognosis are shown to differ between the groups. INTERPRETATION Lung cancer in never-smokers should probably be regarded as a different disease-entity than smoking-induced lung cancer. This could impact prognosis as well as treatment.
Network Science Approach for Device Discovery in Mobile Device-to-Device Communications

With the emerging demands for local area services, mobile device-to-device (D2D) communications is conceived as a vital component for next-generation wireless networks to improve spectral reuse, to bring hop gains, and to enhance system capacity. In mobile D2D networks, energy-efficient probing schemes are vital to prolonging the limited battery life of mobile devices. Current solutions mainly focus on optimizing the probing interval during contacts by assumption of exponential distributed contact. However, studies in the area of network science have shown that the contact interval follows a power-law distribution, which indicates that the current solutions are not optimal while, on the other hand, dramatically increasing the difficulty of analyzing this problem. In this paper, we propose a network science approach for adaptive wakeup schedule based on power-law distributed contacts. Our approach requires nodes to stay asleep when a contact is unlikely to happen and to wake up only when the possibility that it successfully contacts another node is relatively high. By predicting node contacts in the future based on network science, our approach significantly reduces energy consumption without degrading the performance of opportunistic networks. Extensive simulations with real-life human and vehicular traces demonstrate the outstanding performance of our approach. The results show that our scheme saves 30% in energy while keeping the same performance in most scenarios, and it enhances the performance in terms of average delivery ratio and delivery delay by over 15%, compared with the existing best wakeup techniques, without considering network science.
Control of the Phosphorylation State of the HPr Protein of the Phosphotransferase System in Bacillus subtilis: Implication of the Protein Phosphatase PrpC

In the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis as well as in other firmicutes, the HPr protein of the phosphotransferase system (PTS) has two distinct phosphorylation sites, His-15 and Ser-46. These sites are phosphorylated by the Enzyme I of the PTS and by the ATP-dependent HPr kinase/phosphorylase, respectively. As a result, the phosphorylation state of HPr reflects the nutrient supply of the cell and is in turn involved in several responses at the levels of transport activity and expression of catabolic genes. Most important, HPr(Ser-P) serves as a cofactor for the pleiotropic transcription regulator CcpA. In addition to the proteins that phosphorylate HPr, those that are involved in the dephosphorylation are important in controlling the overall HPr phosphorylation state and the resulting regulatory and physiological outputs. In this study, we found that in addition to the phosphorylase activity of the HPr kinase/phosphorylase, the serine/threonine protein phosphatase PrpC uses HPr(Ser-P) as a target.
Calibration of EM simulator on substrate complex permittivity

A novel broadband non-resonant Thru-Line (TL) technique is proposed for the extraction of substrate complex permittivity, while the influence of the end-launch connectors is fully suppressed. The main difference to the traditional TRL techniques is that only two calibration standards are needed and the length difference between Thru and Line is much larger than a quarter of a wavelength at the central frequency of the band. The larger effective line length increases sensitivity to the substrate losses, and allows accurate measurement at lower frequencies. The technique uses the measured propagation constant in a 3D EM field simulator for the complex permittivity extraction. This TL technique has been verified experimentally for microstrip and grounded coplanar waveguide transmission lines using RO4350B substrate in the frequency range 45 MHz - 26 GHz. A ring resonator coupled to microstrip line was used as the verification DUT.
Country food sharing networks, household structure, and implications for understanding food insecurity in Arctic Canada

ABSTRACT We examine the cultural context of food insecurity among Inuit in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada. An analysis of the social network of country food exchanges among 122 households in the settlement reveals that a household’s betweenness centrality—a measure of brokerage—in the country food network is predicted by the age of the household. The households of married couples were better positioned within the sharing network than were the households of single females or single males. Households with an active hunter or elder were also better positioned in the network. The households of single men and women appear to experience limited access to country food, a considerable problem given the increasing number of single-adult households over time. We conclude that the differences between how single women and single men experience constrained access to country foods may partially account for previous findings that single women in arctic settlements appear to be at particular risk for food insecurity.
Reduction of renal uptake of monoclonal antibody fragments by amino acid infusion.

UNLABELLED The renal uptake of radiolabeled antibody fragments and peptides presents a problem in radioimmunodetection and therapy, compromising lesion sensitivity, especially with intracellularly-retained isotopes. Previously, we showed that cationic amino acids and their derivatives are capable of significantly reducing kidney uptake in animals. We report our initial clinical results of successful renal uptake reduction in five patients who underwent cancer radioimmunodetection with 99mTc-anti-CEA Fab' fragments. METHODS The patients were infused with two liters of a commercially-available nutritive amino acid solution (containing approximately 2.25 g/liter lysine-glutamate and 2.50 g/liter arginine), whereas 75 control patients received the same volume of saline (quantification of organ and tumor kinetics from conjugate whole-body views by ROI technique). RESULTS The renal uptake in the amino acid group was significantly lower (p<0.05) than in the control group (11.1 +/- 2.0% injected dose versus 17.7 +/- 7.0% injected dose at 24 hr postinjection), whereas the uptake of all other organs remained unaffected. Gel filtration chromatography of the urine taken from amino-acid-treated patients showed that a significantly higher amount of excreted activity was bound to intact Fab' (53% of excreted activity) in contrast to only less than 10% in the control group. CONCLUSION The renal uptake of monoclonal antibody fragments in patients can be reduced significantly by amino acid infusion, even at considerably lower doses than those that were safe and effective in animals. As was found in animals, the mechanism seems to rely on an inhibition of the re-absorption of tubularly-filtered proteins by the proximal tubule cells. These results encourage further clinical trials to lower the renal uptake experienced in radioimmunodetection, as well as in therapeutic trials with antibody fragments and peptides.
Turnover Analysis of Glutamate Receptors Identifies a Rapidly Degraded Pool of the N-Methyl-d-aspartate Receptor Subunit, NR1, in Cultured Cerebellar Granule Cells*

The number, composition, and location of receptors in neurons are critically important factors in determining the neuron’s response to neurotransmitters. The functional expression of receptors appears to be regulated both generally, at the level of transcription or translation, and locally, at the level of the individual synapse. A key component in the regulation of any protein is its turnover rate, which, measured in half-lives, ranges from a few minutes to several days. In the present study, we measured the turnover rates of subunits of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptors, the two major ionotropic glutamate receptors, using cultured cerebellar granule cells. Turnover rates for NR1, NR2A/B, GluR2/3, and GluR4 subunits were determined by pulse-chase labeling of cells with [35S]methionine. Half-lives were found to be 18 ± 5 h and 23 ± 8 h for the AMPA receptor subunits GluR2/3 and GluR4, respectively, and 16 ± 5 h for NR2A. The NR1 subunit showed a biphasic decay with half-lives of 2 and 34 h for the rapidly and slowly degraded populations, respectively. Splice variants of the NR1 subunit with different carboxyl-terminal cassettes, C2 and C2′, showed similar biphasic degradation patterns. To further characterize the rapidly degraded pool of NR1, surface receptors were labeled by biotinylation, and half-lives of the biotinylated proteins were determined. All surface NR1 was slowly degraded with a pattern similar to that of NR2A, GluR2/3, and GluR4, suggesting that the rapidly degraded pool is confined to the cytoplasm and not assembled with NR2 subunits. A significant amount of NR1 was not immunoprecipitated by NR2 subunit-specific antibodies after solubilization with deoxycholate. This unassembled pool, but not the assembled one, was greatly diminished following treatment of cycloheximide for 5 h, indicating that the rapidly degraded pool of NR1 is not assembled with NR2. These results show that NMDA and AMPA receptors have similar turnover rates, but NMDA receptors have a separate pool of NR1 subunits that is rapidly degraded and accounts for most of the intracellular pool.
Homeostatic Regulation of the Immune System by Receptor Tyrosine Kinases of the Tyro 3 Family

Receptor tyrosine kinases and their ligands mediate cell-cell communication and interaction in many organ systems, but have not been known to act in this capacity in the mature immune system. We now provide genetic evidence that three closely related receptor tyrosine kinases, Tyro 3, Axl, and Mer, play an essential immunoregulatory role. Mutant mice that lack these receptors develop a severe lymphoproliferative disorder accompanied by broad-spectrum autoimmunity. These phenotypes are cell nonautonomous with respect to lymphocytes and result from the hyperactivation of antigen-presenting cells in which the three receptors are normally expressed.
A Conceptual Persistent Healthcare Quality Improvement Process for Software Development Management

This paper illustrates a sustained conceptual service quality improvement process for the management of software development within a healthcare enterprise. Our proposed process is revised from Niland's healthcare quality information system (HQIS). This process includes functions to survey the satisfaction of system functions, describe the operation bylaws on-line, and provide on-demand training. To achieve these goals, we integrate five information systems in National Taiwan University Hospital, including healthcare information systems, health quality information system, requirement management system, executive information system, and digital learning system, to form a full Deming cycle. A preliminary user satisfaction survey showed that our outpatient information system scored an average of 71.31 in 2006.
Effect of Prehospital Cardiac Catheterization Lab Activation on Door-to-Balloon Time, Mortality, and False-Positive Activation

Abstract Background. Reperfusion of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is most effective when performed early. Notification of the cardiac catheterization laboratory (cath lab) prior to hospital arrival based on paramedic-performed ECGs has been proposed as a strategy to decrease time to reperfusion and mortality. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of cath lab activation prior to patient arrival versus activation after arrival at the emergency department (ED). Methods. We performed a retrospective cohort study (n = 1933 cases) using Los Angeles County STEMI database from May 1, 2008 through August 31, 2009. The database includes patients arriving at a STEMI Receiving Center (SRC) by ambulance who were diagnosed with STEMI either before or after hospital arrival. We compared the cohort of patients with prehospital cath lab activation to those activated from the ED within 5 minutes of first ED ECG. Outcomes measured were mortality, door-to-balloon time, percent door-to-balloon time <90 min, and percentage of false-positive activations. Results. Prehospital cath lab activations had mean door-to-balloon times 14 minutes shorter (95% CI 11–17), in-hospital mortality 1.5% higher (95% CI −1.0–5.2), and false-positive activation 7.8%, (95% CI 2.7–13.3) higher than ED activation. For prehospital activation, 93% (95% CI 91–94%) met a door-to-balloon target of 90 minutes versus 85% (95% CI 80–88%) for ED activations. Conclusion. Prehospital cath lab activation based on the prehospital ECG was associated with decreased door-to-balloon times but did not affect hospital mortality. False-positive activation was common and occurred more often with prehospital STEMI diagnosis.
Effect of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine on Nasopharyngeal Bacterial Colonization During Acute Otitis Media

The heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) has been shown to reduce the incidence of acute otitis media (AOM) caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae by 34% and reduces the overall incidence of AOM by 6% to 8%. More recent studies have shown increases in the proportion of Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis in the middle-ear fluid of PCV7-immunized children. There has been no report on the effect of PCV7 on all 3 bacterial pathogens combined, either in the middle-ear fluid or nasopharynx of individual children with AOM. We investigated the impact of PCV7 on nasopharyngeal colonization with bacterial pathogens during AOM in the pre-PCV7 and post-PCV7 vaccination eras. Four hundred seventeen children (6 months to 4 years of age) were enrolled onto AOM studies between September 1995 and December 2004. Of these, 200 were enrolled before the vaccine use (historical controls), and 217 were enrolled after the initiation of PCV7 vaccination (101 were underimmunized, and 116 were immunized). Although the nasopharyngeal colonization rate for S pneumoniae was not different between the 3 groups, a significantly higher proportion of PCV7-immunized children with AOM were colonized with M catarrhalis. Overall, the mean number of pathogenic bacteria types isolated from immunized children (1.7) was significantly higher than in controls (1.4). The increase in bacterial colonization of the nasopharynx during AOM could be associated with an increase in AOM pathogens and theoretically can predispose PCV7-immunized children with AOM to a higher rate of antibiotic treatment failure or recurrent AOM.