Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patterns of Kidney Function Before and After Orthotopic Liver Transplant: Associations With Length of Hospital Stay, Progression to End-Stage Renal Disease, and Mortality

Background In the context of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), renal dysfunction is used as a criterion for simultaneous liver-kidney transplantation. Changes in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) the year before and after OLT have not been well defined. Methods In a cohort of 416 OLT patients from 1996 to 2009, estimated GFR (eGFR) was assessed during the 12 months before OLT (period A), at time of OLT (period B), and the 12 months after OLT (period C). Outcomes included progression to end stage renal disease (ESRD), length of stay, and mortality. Results The overall rate of progression to ESRD over 15 years of follow-up was 0.155/person-year and was strongly associated with eGFR <60 (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.7; P < 0.001), diabetes (HR = 2.6; P < 0.001), and with a combination of the 2 (HR = 5.5; P < 0.0001). Mean eGFR decreased from period A (86 mL/min per 1.73 m2) to period B (77; P < 0.001) to period C (71; P < 0.001), with similar decreases in eGFR across subgroups of clinical variables. Patients with eGFR less than 60 mL/min per 1.73 m2 at OLT had acute and large decreases in eGFR from periods A to B, then increases to period C. Length of stay was associated with eGFR at OLT, hepatorenal syndrome, dialysis requirement, model for end-stage liver disease score, and alcoholic liver disease. Twelve-month mortality was strongly associated with time-dependent change in eGFR, hepatorenal syndrome, dialysis requirement, hepatitis C, and model for end-stage liver disease era transplantation but was not associated with eGFR at OLT. Conclusions Among OLT patients, renal function worsened in all subgroups from before to after OLT, but the association of progression to ESRD was particularly high among patients with both diabetes and eGFR less than 60 at the time of OLT. This suggests that diabetes could be considered as a criterion when making decisions regarding simultaneous liver-kidney transplantation.
Effects of long‐term fertilization on the diversity of bacterial mercuric reductase gene in a Chinese upland soil

Soil mercury (Hg) pollution has received considerable attention due to its neurotoxin effects and its potential risk to food safety. The microbial transformation of Hg plays a key role in reducing Hg toxicity by the mercuric reductase (MerA) conferred by genes arranged in the mer operon. This study investigated the effects of long‐term fertilization on the diversity of bacterial mercuric reductase gene (merA), which specify the reduction of ionic Hg2+ to the volatile elemental form Hg0, in an agricultural soil with relatively high Hg content. The soil samples were collected from different treatments, including control without fertilizer (CK), fertilizer nitrogen (N), combined fertilizers (NPK) of N, phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), and NPK plus organic manure (NPK + OM). The merA gene diversity patterns were analyzed based on the merA clone libraries and sequencing measurements. Results showed that the merA gene diversity was influenced by soil variables depending on the fertilization practices. In particular, NH4+ and NO3– contents had strong effect on the merA gene diversity pattern both in the N and NPK treatments, whereas the merA gene diversity pattern in NPK + OM treatment was distinctly influenced by the contents of organic matter, available P and K. These results suggested that long‐term fertilization had significant influences on merA gene diversity, which could be helpful to understand the Hg reduction process and potentially serve microbial remediation of Hg contaminated soil. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
List-Based Group-Wise Symbol Detection for Multiple Signal Communications

Co-channel interference (CCI) occurs in a wireless receiver when multiple signals are present. The receiver experiences excessive CCI under overload which occurs when there are more signals than receive antennas. This makes separation and estimation of the transmitted data signals difficult. We develop a novel reduced-complexity receiver structure for the separation and symbol detection of multiple co-channel signals in frequency-flat Rayleigh fading channels. Moreover, we show that list-based group-wise processing can achieve better performance at low and moderate signal-to-noise ratios than existing group-wise soft information processing schemes. The receiver is equipped with multiple antennas and developed to work under overload. Its structure consists of a linear preprocessor followed by a nonlinear reduced-complexity symbol detector. The proposed list group-search detection (LGSD) algorithm relies on list feedback and reduces complexity by iteratively searching over groups of transmitted symbols. It outputs a list of likely data symbols which is well suited to further processing using soft input error control decoders. Simulation shows that LGSD can achieve near optimum joint maximum likelihood performance under overload at significantly lower complexity.
The South London Somatisation Study

In a two-year longitudinal study, a two-stage screening procedure was used to identify subjects in primary care with emotional disorder presenting with a recent onset of physical symptoms and a comparison sample of patients presenting with physical symptoms only. Somatisers (n = 44) were defined as subjects who had an emotional disorder but who presented with physical symptoms that could not be attributed to organic disease. The course and outcome of these conditions were compared with those of pure emotional disorder (n = 11), pure physical disorder (n = 90) and ‘mixed’ conditions (n = 39). The physical symptoms of somatisers were less likely to improve and lagged behind those of the other groups, and 16 of these acute somatisers went on to develop chronic somatoform disorders. Among somatisers, changes in physical symptom levels throughout the follow-up closely mirrored changes in emotional arousal. Emotionally disordered subjects reported more instances of parental lack of care, but somatisers were also more likely than other groups to report parental physical illness and to have had more physical illness themselves in childhood. A logistic regression suggests that adult somatisation is best modelled by parental lack of care followed by childhood illness.
A Double-Sided LC-Compensation Circuit for Loosely Coupled Capacitive Power Transfer

This paper proposes a double-sided LC-compensation circuit for a loosely coupled, long-distance capacitive power transfer (CPT) system. A CPT system usually contains two pairs of metal plates as the capacitive coupler. An LC-compensation circuit resonates with the coupler to generate high voltages, and corresponding electric fields, to transfer power. When the compensation circuit is used on both the primary and secondary sides, it results in a double-sided LC-compensated CPT system. The working principle and frequency properties of the CPT system are analyzed. The results show a similarity with the series–series-compensated inductive power transfer system, which has both constant-voltage (CV) and constant-current (CC) working modes. LC-compensation is also compared with LCLC -compensation in terms of power, frequency properties, and output efficiency. A 150-W double-sided LC -compensated CPT prototype is designed and implemented to demonstrate a loosely coupled CPT system with 2.16% coupling coefficient. For both CC and CV working modes, the experimental results achieve dc–dc efficiencies higher than 70% across an air-gap distance of 180 mm with a switching frequency of 1.5 MHz.
Design and development of a smart continuous passive motion device for knee rehabilitation

Continuous Passive Motion (CPM) device is widely used for knee rehabilitation to recover the range of motion or to lessen edema and swelling of the knee following injuries or surgeries. The objective of this work was to design and develop a smart continuous passive motion (SCPM) for knee rehabilitation after the total knee arthroplasty (TKA). A microcontroller with built-in 7-inch touch-screen LCD was used to control the developed device. There are 4 main operating modes, which are Manual, Auto Run, Intermittent and Progressive modes. In addition, the developed device is capable of flexing/extending the knee joint in the range of motion from 0 to 120 degrees. A rotary encoder was installed to ensure the accuracy of the knee joint angle. In addition, patient data and operating data can also be stored on a memory card. To verify the performance of the developed SCPM, the degrees of motion were tested by comparing the movement angles of the developed device with the angles measured from goniometer. The results show that the errors were found to be within 1%. The developed SCPM was also evaluated by physiotherapists. The results show that it gives better benefits associated with its conventional counterparts since it provides more user friendly interface for the controller and it also has better operating modes (Intermittent and Progressive modes) for the safety of the patients.
LATEST: A Model of Saccadic Decisions in Space and Time

Many of our actions require visual information, and for this it is important to direct the eyes to the right place at the right time. Two or three times every second, we must decide both when and where to direct our gaze. Understanding these decisions can reveal the moment-to-moment information priorities of the visual system and the strategies for information sampling employed by the brain to serve ongoing behavior. Most theoretical frameworks and models of gaze control assume that the spatial and temporal aspects of fixation point selection depend on different mechanisms. We present a single model that can simultaneously account for both when and where we look. Underpinning this model is the theoretical assertion that each decision to move the eyes is an evaluation of the relative benefit expected from moving the eyes to a new location compared with that expected by continuing to fixate the current target. The eyes move when the evidence that favors moving to a new location outweighs that favoring staying at the present location. Our model provides not only an account of when the eyes move, but also what will be fixated. That is, an analysis of saccade timing alone enables us to predict where people look in a scene. Indeed our model accounts for fixation selection as well as (and often better than) current computational models of fixation selection in scene viewing.
Statistical issues in the analysis of disease mapping data.

In this paper we discuss a number of issues that are pertinent to the analysis of disease mapping data. As an illustrative example we consider the mapping of larynx cancer across electoral wards in the North West Thames region of the U.K. Bayesian hierarchical models are now frequently employed to carry out such mapping. In a typical situation, a three-stage hierarchical model is specified in which the data are modelled as a function of area-specific relative risks at stage one; the collection of relative risks across the study region are modelled at stage two; and at stage three prior distributions are assigned to parameters of the stage two distribution. Such models allow area-specific disease relative risks to be 'smoothed' towards global and/or local mean levels across the study region. However, these models contain many structural and functional assumptions at different levels of the hierarchy; we aim to discuss some of these assumptions and illustrate their sensitivity. When relative risks are the endpoint of interest, it is common practice to assume that, for each of the age-sex strata of a particular area, there is a common multiplier (the relative risk) acting upon each of the stratum-specific risks in that area; we will examine this proportionality assumption. We also consider the choices of models and priors at stages two and three of the hierarchy, the effect of outlying areas, and an assessment of the level of smoothing that is being carried out. For inference, we concentrate on the description of the spatial variability in relative risks and on the association between the relative risks of larynx cancer and an area-level measure of socio-economic status.
Effectiveness of Titanium Mesh Cylindrical Cages in Anterior Column Reconstruction After Thoracic and Lumbar Vertebral Body Resection

Study Design. A retrospective cohort study with cross-sectional outcome analysis of patients who underwent anterior column reconstruction with a titanium mesh cage after single-level or multilevel thoracic or lumbar vertebrectomy. Objectives. To radiographically evaluate the ability of titanium mesh cages to maintain alignment and facilitate osseous fusion after thoracolumbar vertebrectomy. Secondary objectives assessed complications and patient outcome. Summary of Background Data. Titanium mesh cages with cancellous autograft bone for postvertebrectomy reconstruction of the thoracolumbar spine avoid some of the potential problems associated with the acquisition or use of structural autograft or allograft. There is little in the literature that describes the efficacy or outcomes of using cylindrical mesh titanium cages for postvertebrectomy reconstruction. Methods. The degree of kyphosis and the subsidence of the cage in relation to the vertebral endplates were measured in 43 of 57 (75%) patients available at a minimum of 2 years following titanium mesh cage reconstruction. Health-related quality of life and disability were assessed with various cross-sectional outcome measures. Results. The average kyphosis of 25.4° before surgery was reduced to 7.5° immediately after surgery, and at final follow-up was measured to be 10.4°. Cage subsidence averaged 0.28 and 0.20 cage fenestrations at the cephalad and caudal endplates, respectively. Osseous union (Grade 1 or 2) was identified in 93% of radiographs at the final follow-up. Thoracic reconstructions were significantly more likely to require surgical revision because of mechanical failure than thoracolumbar or lumbar reconstructions. Conclusion. The cylindrical mesh titanium cage is a successful adjunct in restoring and maintaining sagittal plane alignment after thoracolumbar vertebrectomy and, in this context, provides an effective method for anterior column reconstruction.
Inducible expression of a fusion gene encoding two proteinase inhibitors leads to insect and pathogen resistance in transgenic rice.

Plant proteinase inhibitors (PIs) are considered as candidates for increased insect resistance in transgenic plants. Insect adaptation to PI ingestion might, however, compromise the benefits received by transgenic expression of PIs. In this study, the maize proteinase inhibitor (MPI), an inhibitor of insect serine proteinases, and the potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor (PCI) were fused into a single open reading frame and introduced into rice plants. The two PIs were linked using either the processing site of the Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1B precursor protein or the 2A sequence from the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). Expression of each fusion gene was driven by the wound- and pathogen-inducible mpi promoter. The mpi-pci fusion gene was stably inherited for at least three generations with no penalty on plant phenotype. An important reduction in larval weight of Chilo suppressalis fed on mpi-pci rice, compared with larvae fed on wild-type plants, was observed. Expression of the mpi-pci fusion gene confers resistance to C. suppressalis (striped stem borer), one of the most important insect pest of rice. The mpi-pci expression systems described may represent a suitable strategy for insect pest control, better than strategies based on the use of single PI genes, by preventing insect adaptive responses. The rice plants expressing the mpi-pci fusion gene also showed enhanced resistance to infection by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, the causal agent of the rice blast disease. Our results illustrate the usefulness of the inducible expression of the mpi-pci fusion gene for dual resistance against insects and pathogens in rice plants.
Fgf4 positively regulates scleraxis and tenascin expression in chick limb tendons.

In vertebrates, tendons connect muscles to skeletal elements. Surgical experiments in the chick have underlined developmental interactions between tendons and muscles. Initial formation of tendons occurs autonomously with respect to muscle. However, further tendon development requires the presence of muscle. The molecular signals involved in these interactions remain unknown. In the chick limb, Fgf4 transcripts are located at the extremities of muscles, where the future tendons will attach. In this paper, we analyse the putative role of muscle-Fgf4 on tendon development. We have used three general tendon markers, scleraxis, tenascin, and Fgf8 to analyse the regulation of these tendon-associated molecules by Fgf4 under different experimental conditions. In the absence of Fgf4, in muscleless and aneural limbs, the expression of the three tendon-associated molecules, scleraxis, tenascin, and Fgf8, is down-regulated. Exogenous implantation of Fgf4 in normal, aneural, and muscleless limbs induces scleraxis and tenascin expression but not that of Fgf8. These results indicate that Fgf4 expressed in muscle is required for the maintenance of scleraxis and tenascin but not Fgf8 expression in tendons.
Proximal Vergence and Age

A number of previous investigations have suggested that the relative contribution of proximal vergence to the overall vergence response may increase with age. Accordingly the present study has examined the proximal convergence/test distance (PC/T) ratio in a clinical population of 106 subjects ranging from 6 to 47 years of age. PC/T was assessed by comparing accommodative convergence/accommodative stimulus (AC/As) ratios obtained using the gradient and heterophoria techniques. With the former method, the stimulus to accommodation was produced optically using spherical lenses whereas in the latter technique, the change in accommodative stimulus arose from variation in actual target distance. The difference between these two measurements of AC/As reflected the output of proximal vergence. No significant variation in PC/T was observed with increasing age. It is proposed that increased disparity-vergence, rather than proximal vergence, is more likely to compensate for any age-related decline in AC.
ATP-dependent Transport of Bile Salts by Rat Multidrug Resistance-associated Protein 3 (Mrp3)*

We have previously shown that cloned rat multidrug resistance-associated protein 3 (Mrp3) has the ability to transport organic anions such as 17β-estradiol 17-β-d-glucuronide (E217βG) and has a different substrate specificity from MRP1 and MRP2 in that glutathione conjugates are poor substrates for Mrp3 (Hirohashi, T., Suzuki, H., and Sugiyama, Y. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 15181–15185). In the present study, the involvement of Mrp3 in the transport of endogenous bile salts was investigated using membrane vesicles from LLC-PK1 cells transfected with rat Mrp3 cDNA. The ATP-dependent uptake of [3H]taurocholate (TC), [14C]glycocholate (GC), [3H]taurochenodeoxycholate-3-sulfate (TCDC-S), and [3H]taurolithocholate-3-sulfate (TLC-S) was markedly stimulated by Mrp3 transfection in LLC-PK1 cells. The extent of Mrp3-mediated transport of bile salts was in the order, TLC-S > TCDC-S > TC > GC. The K m andV max values for the uptake of TC and TLC-S wereK m = 15.9 ± 4.9 μm andV max = 50.1 ± 9.3 pmol/min/mg of protein and K m = 3.06 ± 0.57 μm andV max = 161.9 ± 21.7 pmol/min/mg of protein, respectively. At 55 nm[3H]E217βG and 1.2 μm[3H]TC, the apparent K m values for ATP were 1.36 and 0.66 mm, respectively. TC, GC, and TCDC-S inhibited the transport of [3H]E217βG and [3H]TC to the same extent with an apparent IC50 of ∼10 μm. TLC-S inhibited the uptake of [3H]E217βG and [3H]TC most potently (IC50 of ∼1 μm) among the bile salts examined, whereas cholate weakly inhibited the uptake (IC50 ∼75 μm). Although TC and GC are transported by bile salt export pump/sister of P-glycoprotein, but not by MRP2, and TCDC-S and TLC-S are transported by MRP2, but not by bile salt export pump/sister of P-glycoprotein, it was found that Mrp3 accepts all these bile salts as substrates. This information, together with the finding that MRP3 is extensively expressed on the basolateral membrane of human cholangiocytes, suggests that MRP3/Mrp3 plays a significant role in the cholehepatic circulation of bile salts.
Depression and apathy affect functioning in community active subjects with questionable dementia and mild Alzheimer's disease

The relationships between apathy, depression and functional impairment in questionable dementia (QD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are complex. This study aimed to explore the interactions between severity of apathy, depression and functional performance; and to investigate the effects of apathy alone, depression alone and coexistence of apathy and depression on the functional performance in subjects with QD and AD.
Pharmacokinetics of xanthohumol and metabolites in rats after oral and intravenous administration.

SCOPE Xanthohumol (XN), a dietary flavonoid found in hops, may have health-protective actions against cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Yet, there are limited data on the pharmacokinetics (PK) of XN. This study provides PK parameters for XN and its major metabolites in rats. METHODS AND RESULTS A PK study was conducted in male jugular vein-cannulated Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats (n = 12/group) received an intravenous (IV) injection (1.86 mg/kg BW) or an oral gavage of a low (1.86 mg/kg BW), medium (5.64 mg/kg BW), or high (16.9 mg/kg BW) dose of XN. Plasma samples were analyzed for XN and its metabolites using LC-MS/MS. The maximum concentration (C(max) ) and area under the curve (AUC(0-96 h) ) of total XN (free and conjugated) were 2.9±0.1 mg/L and 2.5±0.3 h* mg/L in IV group, 0.019±0.002 mg/L and 0.84±0.17 h* mg/L in the oral low group, 0.043±0.002 mg/L and 1.03±0.12 h* mg/L in the oral medium group, and 0.15±0.01 mg/L and 2.49±0.10 h* mg/L in the oral high group. CONCLUSION The bioavailability of XN is dose-dependent and approximately 0.33, 0.13, and 0.11 in rats, for the low-, medium-, and high-dose groups, respectively.
Calcium-dependent Cleavage of Endogenous Wild-type Huntingtin in Primary Cortical Neurons*

Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by a polyglutamine expansion in the amino-terminal region of huntingtin. Mutant huntingtin is proteolytically cleaved by caspases, generating amino-terminal aggregates that are toxic for cells. The addition of calpains to total brain homogenates also leads to cleavage of wild-type huntingtin, indicating that proteolysis of mutant and wild-type huntingtin may play a role in HD. Here we report that endogenous wild-type huntingtin is promptly cleaved by calpains in primary neurons. Exposure of primary neurons to glutamate or 3-nitropropionic acid increases intracellular calcium concentration, leading to loss of intact full-length wild-type huntingtin. This cleavage could be prevented by calcium chelators and calpain inhibitors. Degradation of wild-type huntingtin by calcium-dependent proteases thus occurs in HD neurons, leading to loss of wild-type huntingtin neuroprotective activity.