Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk Factors for Asthma Morbidity and Mortality in a Large Metropolitan City

Morbidity and mortality due to asthma continues to increase despite advances in understanding the pathophysiology and treatment of the disease. We evaluated the potential risk factors for asthma morbidity and mortality in a large metropolitan city (St. Louis, MO) using small area geographic analysis. We found that the risk of hospitalization for children with asthma was 8.4 times greater (95% confidence interval [CI] 7.0–9.9) in lower socioeconomic zip code areas and 5.3 times greater (95% CI 4.7–5.9) in those zip codes with a higher percentage of African Americans. Similarly, the risk of death due to asthma was 6.4 times greater in the lower socioeconomic zip code areas (95% CI 3.4–12.1). Lower socioeconomic status and African American race are strong risk factors for hospitalization and mortality from asthma. Public policy and healthcare resources need to be organized and directed more efficiently to this population.
Trypanosoma cruzi: a putative vacuolar ATP synthase subunit and a CAAX prenyl protease-encoding gene, as examples of gene identification in genome projects.

An international genome program has been initiated to increase the knowledge about the Trypanosoma cruzi genome and thereby find effective tools to treat Chagas' disease. We here report the molecular characterization of two novel genes found in the course of this project. Two of the open reading frames (ORF) identified in the sequencing of the third smallest chromosome of the CL Brener strain of T. cruzi were selected for further molecular characterization due to their similarity to genes with interesting functions in other organisms and their potential as targets to combat the parasite. The first ORF (402 bp) showed homology to a 14-kDa vacuolar ATP synthase subunit F from a variety of organisms, such as yeast, rat, bovine, human, and a number of prokaryotes. The second ORF (1188 bp) resembled a CAAX prenyl protease-encoding gene, identified in different organisms, including Homo sapiens, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Arabidopsis thaliana, as well as several prokaryotes. RT-PCR from T. cruzi total epimastigote RNA allowed us to isolate the complete transcripts of these genes. Furthermore, screening of an available normalized cDNA library derived from the same stage of the parasite confirmed that both genes are expressed at least in the epimastigote stage of T. cruzi. Comparison of the putative T. cruzi proteins to their counterparts in other organisms revealed significant protein sequence conservation over large evolutionary distances. Computer analysis revealed the presence of several motifs in both proteins, possibly related to the regulation and localization of these proteins in the parasite.
Clinical course of cardiomyopathy in HIV-infected patients with or without encephalopathy related to the myocardial expression of tumour necrosis factor-α and nitric oxide synthase

ObjectiveTo define whether the development of encephalopathy influences the clinical course of HIV-associated cardiomyopathy (HIV-DCM) in relation to the myocardial expression of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). DesignProspective study. SettingUniversity hospitals and AIDS centres. Methods115 HIV-infected patients with echocardiographic diagnosis of HIV-associated cardiomyopathy (34 with encephalopathy and 81 without encephalopathy) were followed for a mean of 24 ± 3.2 months. All patients underwent endomyocardial biopsy for determination of myocardial immunostaining intensity of TNF-α and iNOS. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients with encephalopathy was examined for the presence of viruses. Patients underwent clinical examination every 3 months and echocardiographic examination every 6 months. The intensity of TNF-α and iNOS immunostaining was also evaluated on postmortem cerebral tissue of patients who died of congestive heart failure (CHF). ResultsA greater impairment of echocardiographic parameters was observed in patients with HIV-associated cardiomyopathy after development of encephalopathy. These parameters tended to worsen progressively during the follow-up period and were inversely correlated with HIV-1 viral load, CD4 cell count, mini mental status score and the intensity of myocardial and cerebral TNF-α and iNOS staining. CSF specimens were available in 29 patients with encephalopathy. HIV-1 sequences were detected in CSF of all these patients with cytomegalovirus sequences in two. The mortality rate for CHF was greater among patients with encephalopathy (73% versus 12%). ConclusionsThe development of encephalopathy has an adverse effect on the clinical course of HIV-associated cardiomyopathy. In the relationship between cardiomyopathy and encephalopathy, the activation of iNOS by TNF-α may have a significant pathogenetic role in HIV disease.
Application of optimal fuzzy tracking control for automotive driving

This paper proposes a new automotive driving control for vehicle to track the specified multi-objectives. By considering the nonlinear and coupling vehicle dynamics and relative motions with respect to the road, the corresponding T-S fuzzy model of vehicle can be obtained with a suitable input decoupled technique. The controller based on the optimal fuzzy tracking design is then developed and it pushes the outputs of vehicle systems close to any desired targets without excessive control-energy consumption. The desired speed and lateral offset in double lane-change maneuver are given as tracking targets in this work, and simulation results show that the effectiveness of proposed tracking scheme.
Semilunar coronally positioned flap or subepithelial connective tissue graft for the treatment of gingival recession: a 30-month follow-up study.

BACKGROUND The objective of this prospective, controlled clinical trial was to evaluate the long-term outcomes of subepithelial connective tissue graft (SCTG) or semilunar coronally positioned flap (SCPF) for the treatment of Miller Class I gingival recession defects. METHODS Seventeen patients with bilateral Miller Class I gingival recessions (< or =4.0 mm) in maxillary canines or premolars were selected. The recessions were randomly assigned to receive SCPF or SCTG. Recession height (RH), recession width (RW), width of keratinized tissue (WKT), thickness of keratinized tissue (TKT), probing depth (PD), and clinical attachment level (CAL) were measured at baseline and at 6 and 30 months post-surgery. Patient satisfaction with esthetics and root sensitivity was also evaluated. RESULTS The root-coverage outcomes obtained at 6 months were maintained throughout the study. At the 30-month examination, the average percentage of root coverage was 89.25% for SCPF and 96.83% for SCTG (P >0.05); complete root coverage was observed in 58.82% and 88.24% of patients, respectively. SCTG maintained a statistically significant increase in TKT (P <0.05) at 30 months. At this time, there were no significant differences between the two groups with regard to RH, RW, WKT, PD, and CAL. The evaluation of the esthetic outcome by the patient showed a preference for the SCTG treatment. Furthermore, in this group, no patient complained of residual or additional root hypersensitivity. In the SCPF group, three patients had this complaint at 30 months. CONCLUSIONS SCPF and SCTG can be successfully used to treat Class I gingival recession, presenting outcomes with long-term stability. However, patient-oriented outcomes, such as esthetics and root sensitivity, favor SCTG therapy.
Temperature-sensitive transformation by Rous sarcoma virus and temperature-sensitive protein kinase activity

The transforming protein of Rous sarcoma virus, p60src, has associated with it a protein kinase activity. We examined whether a correlation exists between the cellular concentration of enzymatically active p60src and the degree to which chick cells are transformed by mutants of Rous sarcoma virus which are temperature-sensitive for transformation. Such a correlation does exist, but cells infected with some mutants could be shown to contain, at the nonpermissive temperature, an amount of protein kinase activity equal to 30 to 40% of that in a wild-type transformed cell. We quantified the amount of virus-induced protein kinase activity by precipitation of p60src with an excess of antitumor antiserum. Our initial measurements of activity were serious underestimates, due to the lability of the protein kinase activity associated with p60src of at least four temperature-sensitive mutants. In fact, no activity at all was associated with p60src of tsLA90 when immunoprecipitation was performed by standard means. However, when immunoprecipitation was performed with procedures which minimize inactivation, it became apparent both that cells transformed by tsLA90 contained protein kinase activity and that cells infected with either NY68 or BK5 contained at the nonpermissive temperature, one-third to one-half as much activity as wild-type transformed cells. This level of activity was much more than that arising from p60sarc in uninfected cells. In uninfected cells we found an amount of protein kinase activity which varied from 3 to 5% as much as that in a virally transformed cell. The lability of the protein kinase activity of each of these mutants is a further demonstration that this activity is essential for the transformation of cells by Rous sarcoma virus. So as to explain the high protein kinase levels in cells infected with NY68 and BK5 at the nonpermissive temperature, the idea that transformation may be a response to a small quantitative change in the total activity of p60src and the possibility that there may be more than one viral function which is essential for transformation are discussed.
Human anterior intraparietal area subserves prehension

It has been shown in nonhuman primates that the posterior parietal cortex is involved in coordination of arm and eye movements in space, whereas the anterior intraparietal area in the anterior lateral bank of the intraparietal sulcus plays a crucial role in fine finger movements, such as grasping. In this study we show by optoelectronic movement recordings that patients with cortical lesions involving the anterior lateral bank of the intraparietal sulcus have selective deficits in the coordination of finger movements required for object grasping, whereas reaching is much less disturbed. Patients with parietal lesions sparing the cortex lining the anterior intraparietal sulcus showed intact grasping behavior. Complementary evidence was obtained from functional MRI in normal control subjects showing a specific activation of the anterior lateral bank of the intraparietal sulcus during grasping. In conclusion, this combined lesion and activation study suggests that the anterior lateral bank of the intraparietal sulcus, possibly including the human homologue of the anterior intraparietal area, mediates the processing of sensorimotor integration of precisely tuned finger movements in humans.
Characterization of a CO-responsive Transcriptional Activator from Rhodospirillum rubrum(*)

In Rhodospirillum rubrum, CO induces the expression of at least two transcripts that encode an enzyme system for CO oxidation. This regulon is positively regulated by CooA, which is a member of the cAMP receptor protein family of transcriptional regulators. The transcriptional start site of one of the transcripts (cooFSCTJ) has been identified by primer extension. The ability of CooA to bind to this promoter in vitro was characterized with DNase I footprinting experiments using extracts of a CooA-overproducing strain. CooA- and CO-dependent protection was observed for a region with 2-fold symmetry (5′-TGTCA-N-CGACA) that is highly similar to the consensus core motifs recognized by cAMP receptor protein/FNR family. In vivo analysis in a heterologous background indicates that CooA is sufficient for CO-dependent expression, implicating it as the likely CO sensor.
Produção e bem-estar animal - aspectos técnicos e éticos da produção intensiva de suínos

O processo de industrializacao da pecuaria exacerbou-se no periodo compreendido entre a II Guerra Mundial e meados dos anos 70, quando foi registrado um aumento dramatico nos seus indices de produtividade. Contudo, tal constatacao resultou em mudancas significativas nos sistemas de criacao, visto que paralelamente ao declinio registrado no numero de trabalhadores rurais verificou-se um aumento exponencial no efetivo de animais produzidos. Isto so foi possivel em virtude da mecanizacao das propriedades, dos avancos tecnologicos e das facilidades para ampliar o numero de grandes operacoes animais em confinamento. Como resultado, menos atencao passou a ser dispensada aos animais, individualmente, em nivel das granjas, particularmente naquelas destinadas a exploracao de suinos e aves. Como consequencia da urbanizacao de areas tradicionalmente rurais em paises detentores de grande tradicao pecuaria, a maioria dos consumidores de tais produtos nao dispoe de elementos para questionar a maneira como se processa a criacao de animais em larga escala.
Analysis of neutralizing antigenic sites on the surface of type A12 foot-and-mouth disease virus

A series of seven neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (nMAbs) directed against type A12 foot-and-mouth disease virus was used to generate neutralization-resistant variants. Both plaque reduction neutralization and microneutralization assays showed that the variants were no longer neutralized by the nMAbs used to generate them, although some of the variants still reacted with the nMAbs at high antibody concentrations. Results of cross-neutralization studies by both plaque reduction neutralization and microneutralization assays suggested the presence of at least one immunodominant antigenic site on the surface of type A12 foot-and-mouth disease virus, along with evidence of a second antigenic site on the viral surface. Two of the variants had reduced virulence in tissue culture as evidenced by their inability to inhibit cellular protein synthesis and a marked reduction in virus-induced cellular morphological alterations. Nucleotide sequencing of the variant genomes placed three epitopes of the major antigenic site on VP1 and the fourth epitope on VP3 and VP1. The one epitope of the minor site appears to reside only on VP1.
Human Umbilical Cord Matrix Stem Cells: Preliminary Characterization and Effect of Transplantation in a Rodent Model of Parkinson's Disease

The umbilical cord contains an inexhaustible, noncontroversial source of stem cells for therapy. In the U.S., stem cells found in the umbilical cord are routinely placed into bio‐hazardous waste after birth. Here, stem cells derived from human umbilical cord Wharton's Jelly, called umbilical cord matrix stem (UCMS) cells, are characterized. UCMS cells have several properties that make them of interest as a source of cells for therapeutic use. For example, they 1) can be isolated in large numbers, 2) are negative for CD34 and CD45, 3) grow robustly and can be frozen/thawed, 4) can be clonally expanded, and 5) can easily be engineered to express exogenous proteins. UCMS cells have genetic and surface markers of mesenchymal stem cells (positive for CD10, CD13, CD29, CD44, and CD90 and negative for CD14, CD33, CD56, CD31, CD34, CD45, and HLA‐DR) and appear to be stable in terms of their surface marker expression in early passage (passages 4–8). Unlike traditional mesenchymal stem cells derived from adult bone marrow stromal cells, small populations of UCMS cells express endoglin (SH2, CD105) and CD49e at passage 8. UCMS cells express growth factors and angiogenic factors, suggesting that they may be used to treat neurodegenerative disease. To test the therapeutic value of UCMS cells, undifferentiated human UCMS cells were transplanted into the brains of hemiparkinsonian rats that were not immune‐suppressed. UCMS cells ameliorated apomorphine‐induced rotations in the pilot test. UCMS cells transplanted into normal rats did not produce brain tumors, rotational behavior, or a frank host immune rejection response. In summary, the umbilical cord matrix appears to be a rich, noncontroversial, and inexhaustible source of primitive mesenchymal stem cells.
Automatic classification of ceramic sherds with relief motifs

Abstract. A large corpus of ceramic sherds dating from the High Middle Ages has been extracted in Saran (France). The sherds have an engraved frieze made by the potter with a carved wooden wheel. These relief patterns can be used to date the sherds in order to study the diffusion of ceramic production. The aim of the ARCADIA project was to develop an automatic classification of this archaeological heritage. The sherds were scanned using a three-dimensional (3-D) laser scanner. After projecting the 3-D point cloud onto a depth map, the local variance highlighted the shallow relief patterns. The saliency region focused on the motif was extracted by a density-based spatial clustering of FAST points. An adaptive thresholding was then applied to the depth to obtain a binary pattern close to manual sampling. The five most representative types of motif were classified by training an SVM model with a pyramid histogram of visual words descriptor. Compared with other state-of-the-art methods, the proposed approach succeeded in classifying up to 84% of the binary patterns on a dataset of 377 scanned sherds. The automatic method is extremely time-saving compared to manual stamping.
Oral anticoagulant therapy: Antithrombotic Therapy and Prevention of Thrombosis, 9th ed: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines.

BACKGROUND The objective of this article is to summarize the published literature concerning the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of oral anticoagulant drugs that are currently available for clinical use and other aspects related to their management. METHODS We carried out a standard review of published articles focusing on the laboratory and clinical characteristics of the vitamin K antagonists; the direct thrombin inhibitor, dabigatran etexilate; and the direct factor Xa inhibitor, rivaroxaban RESULTS The antithrombotic effect of each oral anticoagulant drug, the interactions, and the monitoring of anticoagulation intensity are described in detail and discussed without providing specific recommendations. Moreover, we describe and discuss the clinical applications and optimal dosages of oral anticoagulant therapies, practical issues related to their initiation and monitoring, adverse events such as bleeding and other potential side effects, and available strategies for reversal. CONCLUSIONS There is a large amount of evidence on laboratory and clinical characteristics of vitamin K antagonists. A growing body of evidence is becoming available on the first new oral anticoagulant drugs available for clinical use, dabigatran and rivaroxaban.
Reading to babies: Exploring the beginnings of literacy

In this study, the researchers explored the impact of reading aloud on language acquisition for 12 infants and toddlers (6–22 months old) attending a preschool located in South Florida. The research team included university professors, a preschool director and two preschool teachers. A teacher assistant read a selected picture book to each child individually for 10 weeks using scripts with prompts to assess receptive and expressive language. In addition to the book scripts, data collection included parent surveys, observation, developmental checklists, videotaping and field notes. Researchers measured each child's length of engaged time and level of engagement individually and as a whole group. Results indicate that participants demonstrated book preferences in terms of engagement, with the toddlers showing interest in books on familiar topics. Effective read-aloud strategies and techniques for young children are shared to promote the love of literacy.
Attenuated relationship between cardiac output and oxygen uptake during high‐intensity exercise

Aim: Recent findings have challenged the belief that the cardiac output (CO) and oxygen consumption (VO2) relationship is linear from rest to maximal exercise. The purpose of this study was to determine the CO and stroke volume (SV) response to a range of exercise intensities, 40–100% of VO2max, during cycling.
Analysis of $\hbox {IM}_{\rm 3}$ Asymmetry in MOSFET Small-Signal Amplifiers

This paper describes and analyzes asymmetry issues for weakly nonlinear MOSFET Common-Gate (CG) and Common-Source (CS) architectures. Using a Volterra series analysis, the cause of asymmetry in CG and CS amplifiers is explained. The asymmetry between high-side and low-side products in the CG amplifier exhibits a larger amplitude difference at low-frequency offset than at high frequency offset, while the CS amplifier shows more asymmetry at a high frequency offset. The magnitude of the product asymmetry in the CS amplifier can be significantly higher than the CG amplifier. Methods of mitigating asymmetry are suggested for both CG and CS amplifiers. A 65 nm Si CMOS technology is used for the simulation verification of the results derived in this paper.
Loss of RAB25 expression in breast cancer

A novel breast cancer cell line (RAO‐3) was established by transduction of the Q61L mutant RAS into human mammary epithelial cells that were immortalized with catalytic subunit of telomerase (hTERT). The cells displayed anchorage‐independent growth and proliferation, and formed human mammary spindle cell carcinoma when injected into nude mice. Chromosome locus 1q22‐23 was partially duplicated and inverted on one of the 3 chromosomes present in the cell line. We report here that mutations of chromosome 1q22‐23 locus have resulted in the loss of RAB25 expression in the breast cancer cell line. Transduction of RAB25 into the breast cancer cell line arrests anchorage‐independent growth. We have also demonstrated loss of RAB25 in human breast tumor tissue. These data suggest that loss of RAB25 might contribute to tumorigenesis of breast cancer, and RAB25 is likely to be an important factor in the development of breast cancer. RAB25 could be used as biological marker of breast cancer and provides a target for gene replacement therapy. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Analysis of three-phase partial discharge signals

Power distribution networks represent a dynamic and complex challenge with regard to the issues of maintenance and providing a reliable, high quality supply. Utilities historically used regular off-line testing to inform themselves of the health of their assets. This method is reasonably effective for this purpose but does have certain drawbacks associated with it; customer supply can be interrupted during the testing process and the cable sample is not tested under normal working conditions. The modern approach for understanding the health of medium voltage (MV) distribution systems is to continuously monitor the assets whilst on-line. The analysis of the captured data is then used to inform decisions regarding asset replacement and maintenance strategies. Partial discharge (PD) activity is widely recognized as a symptom linked to the degradation of high voltage plant. EDF Energy Networks sponsored research is being undertaken to investigate the evolution of PD activity within paper insulated lead covered (PILC) cables containing known defects. An experiment has been designed to stress cable sections in a such a manner that is representative of the conditions met by on-line circuits. A cable section containing a defect that is known to lead to the failure of in-service cables has been PD tested over a range of operational temperatures. The experiment utilizes three-phase energization and thermal cycling to replicate the daily load pattern experienced by circuits in the field.