Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ridge alterations following immediate implant placement and the treatment of bone defects with Bio-Oss in an animal model.

BACKGROUND Conflicting data exist on the outcome of placing Bio-Oss® (Geitslich Pharm AG, Wolhausen, Switzerland) into extraction sockets. It is therefore relevant to study whether the incorporation of Bio-Oss into extraction sockets would influence bone healing outcome at the extraction sites. PURPOSE The aim of this study was to assess peri-implant bone changes when implants were placed in fresh extraction sockets and the remaining defects were filled with Bio-Oss particles in a canine mandible model. MATERIALS AND METHODS Six mongrel dogs were used in the study. In one jaw quadrant of each animal, the fourth mandibular premolars were extracted with an elevation of the mucoperiosteal flap; implants were then placed in the fresh extraction sockets and the remaining defects were filled with Bio-Oss particles. After 4 months of healing, micro-computed tomography at the implant sites was performed. Osseointegration was calculated as the percent of implant surface in contact with bone. Additionally, bone height was measured in the peri-implant bone. RESULTS Average osseointegration was 28.5% (ranged between 14.8 and 34.2%). The mean crestal bone loss was 4.7 ± 2.1 mm on the buccal aspect, 0.4 ± 0.5 mm on the mesial aspect, 0.4 ± 0.3 mm on the distal aspect, and 0.3 ± 0.4 mm on the lingual aspect. CONCLUSION The findings from this study demonstrated that the placement of implants and Bio-Oss® particles into fresh extraction sockets resulted in significant buccal bone loss with low osseointegration.
Rat retina has an active and stable ubiquitin–protein conjugating system

We describe here the presence of ubiquitin and its conjugation system in the rat retina. Retinal homogenates and supernatants conjugate [125I] human ubiquitin with either endogenous or exogenous proteins. The conjugating activity is relatively stable over time, requires ATP, and has a pH optimum of ∼8. The most prominent [125I]ubiquitin conjugates formed are larger than 130 kDa. Several other minor conjugates are also formed between the molecular weights 17 and 75 kDa. The endogenous levels of free and conjugated forms of ubiquitin have been determined in the rat retina. More than 50% of retinal ubiquitin is covalently bound to target proteins. In addition, activities responsible for the ATP‐dependent degradation and disassembly of both endogenous and exogenous ubiquitin conjugates have been detected in vitro. These results provide evidence that the retina contains active and stable ubiquitin‐conjugating enzymes that recognize retinal proteins and have ATP‐dependent proteolytic activity.
MRI evidence of mesial temporal sclerosis in sporadic “benign” temporal lobe epilepsy

Objective: To determine whether there is MRI-detectable mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) in patients with sporadic benign temporal lobe epilepsy (BTLE). Methods: Brain MRIs were obtained from 101 consecutive, unrelated patients (51 women; mean age 37.3 ± 17.5 years; range 10 to 83 years) with BTLE, who reported rarely or never having had seizures at the time of long-term (>2 years) follow-up. The mean age at seizure onset was 22.3 ± 17.4 years; the mean duration of epilepsy was 16.4 ± 14.1 years. MRI diagnosis of MTS was based on the occurrence of hippocampal formation atrophy on T1 slices, an increased mesial temporal signal intensity alteration on fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (FLAIR) or T2 images, or both. Results: Thirty-nine of 101 patients (38.6%) had MRI evidence of unilateral MTS (19/39 left MTS, 20/39 right MTS), which correlated with the epileptiform activity. Hyperintense FLAIR and T2 signal with or without atrophy was observed in 24 of 39 individuals. There was no difference between patients with or without MRI-detected MTS in age at onset and duration of epilepsy. Family history of epilepsy or febrile convulsions (FCs) was more frequent in patients with MRI-detected MTS (36%) as compared with patients with normal MRI (22.7%), but the difference was not significant. Antecedent FCs were more frequent (p = 0.03) in patients with MRI-detected MTS (9/39; 23%) vs those with normal MRI (5/62; 8%). Conclusions: MRI-detected mesial temporal sclerosis is often encountered in patients with sporadic benign temporal lobe epilepsy.
The crystal structure of M. leprae ML2640c defines a large family of putative S‐adenosylmethionine‐dependent methyltransferases in mycobacteria

Mycobacterium leprae protein ML2640c belongs to a large family of conserved hypothetical proteins predominantly found in mycobacteria, some of them predicted as putative S‐adenosylmethionine (AdoMet)‐dependent methyltransferases (MTase). As part of a Structural Genomics initiative on conserved hypothetical proteins in pathogenic mycobacteria, we have determined the structure of ML2640c in two distinct crystal forms. As expected, ML2640c has a typical MTase core domain and binds the methyl donor substrate AdoMet in a manner consistent with other known members of this structural family. The putative acceptor substrate‐binding site of ML2640c is a large internal cavity, mostly lined by aromatic and aliphatic side‐chain residues, suggesting that a lipid‐like molecule might be targeted for catalysis. A flap segment (residues 222–256), which isolates the binding site from the bulk solvent and is highly mobile in the crystal structures, could serve as a gateway to allow substrate entry and product release. The multiple sequence alignment of ML2640c‐like proteins revealed that the central α/β core and the AdoMet‐binding site are very well conserved within the family. However, the amino acid positions defining the binding site for the acceptor substrate display a higher variability, suggestive of distinct acceptor substrate specificities. The ML2640c crystal structures offer the first structural glimpses at this important family of mycobacterial proteins and lend strong support to their functional assignment as AdoMet‐dependent methyltransferases.
Centrosome precursors in the acentriolar mouse oocyte

Centrioles disappear from the mouse oocyte during early oogenesis. However, it has been known for some time that multiple structures known as microtubule organizing centers (MTOC) form the spindle poles during meiosis as well as the mitotic poles during early cleavage. The objective of this study was to identify and describe the structures which exist prior to the appearance of the multiple MTOC associated with meiotic division. Reported here for the first time is a description of the unique structures which exist before the onset of oocyte maturation, their location, and microtubule (MT) nucleating ability. Correlative confocal, immuno‐, and electron microscopic studies of mouse oocytes released from ovaries directly into 2% paraformaldehyde (time zero) show two large γ‐tubulin‐positive structures in the cortex, averaging 10 μm in diameter. The present work is the first to demonstrate that although these structures contain γ‐tubulin, they do not resemble MTOC morphologically nor do they appear to nucleate MT. They are termed here multivesicular aggregates (MVA), and ultrastructural analysis reveals that they contain a variety of vesicular structures including many ring structures of approximately 25 nm. At the onset of maturation, these two MVA migrate toward the GV breaking into smaller units, only some of which mature into MTOC and nucleate MT. These correlative microscopic studies support the conclusion that MVA are centrosomal precursors, but with a unique ultrastructure. The ultrastructural organization of MVA may explain the cryptic function of MTOC in the prematuration environment of the dictyate oocyte. Microsc. Res. Tech. 49:428–434, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Facial color analysis of Overweight-Obesity and its relationship to Healthy and Diabetes Mellitus using statistical pattern recognition

It is well known in the medical community that being overweight/obese is damaging to one's health, and increases the risk of diabetes. However, this is currently investigated via physiological/biochemical experiments considered to be invasive, or through the body mass index of a population. In this paper we propose a non-invasive method with statistical pattern recognition to analyze the relationship between three classes: Overweight/Obesity (140 samples), Healthy (125 samples), and Diabetes Mellitus (284 samples), using facial block color features. Facial images labeled by medical doctors practicing western medicine were captured by a specifically designed non-invasive device adopting color correction. After image capture, color features were extracted from the facial blocks. When comparing the three classes in groups of two by calculating their mean Euclidean distance, the results indicate Overweight/Obesity and Diabetes Mellitus are closer than the other combinations. This supports the claim that being overweight/obese is highly correlated with the presence of diabetes.
Gesture-aware fall detection system: Design and implementation

Falling is the most frequent accident for the elderly in daily life. Falls can cause seriously injuries and even death. Although many fall detection methods have been developed to detect falls in real-time, most are inaccurate and inconvenient to use. Previous studies failed to correctly identify the relationship between normal activities and falls. Another problem is that many proposed methods considered only one device placement and did not investigate how different positions influence recognition accuracy. This study proposes the Gesture-Aware Fall Detection (GAFD) system, which uses a smartphone worn on an arm, the chest, waist or thigh to provide caregivers and instantaneously notify caregivers. While the GAFD system enhances willingness to wear a fall detection device, the difficulty of detection accuracy is increased. To improve fall detection accuracy, the GAFD system uses the back-propagation neural network to establish an awareness model that analyzes historical data of a subject's gestures, and then establishes an empirical model of the subject's gestures to improve identification accuracy. Experimental results show that the proposed system accurately identifies falls. The correction rate for gestures and fall detection is influenced by the position at which a subject wears the smartphone. Finally, strengths and weaknesses of different wear positions are discussed.
Early use of corticosteroids in infants with a clinical diagnosis of Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia in Malawi: a double-blind, randomised clinical trial

Abstract Background: Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PJP) is the most common opportunistic infection in infants with vertically acquired HIV infection and the most common cause of death in HIV-infected infants. Objectives: To determine whether early administration of adjuvant corticosteroids in addition to standard treatment reduces mortality in infants with vertically acquired HIV and clinically diagnosed PJP when co-infection with cytomegalovirus and other pathogens cannot be excluded. Methods: A double-blind placebo-controlled trial of adjuvant prednisolone treatment in HIV-exposed infants aged 2–6 months admitted to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre who were diagnosed clinically with PJP was performed. All recruited infants were HIV-exposed, and the HIV status of the infant was confirmed by DNA-PCR. HIV-exposed and infected infants as well as HIV-exposed but non-infected infants were included in the study. The protocol provided for the addition of prednisolone to the treatment at 48 h if there was clinical deterioration or an independent indication for corticosteroid therapy in any patient not receiving it. Oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) therapy and full supportive treatment were provided according to established guidelines. Primary outcomes for all patients included survival to hospital discharge and 6-month post-discharge survival. Results: It was planned to enroll 200 patients but the trial was stopped early because of recruitment difficulties and a statistically significant result on interim analysis. Seventy-eight infants were enrolled between April 2012 and August 2014; 36 infants (46%) were randomised to receive corticosteroids plus standard treatment with TMP/SMX, and 42 infants (54%) received the standard treatment plus placebo. In an intention-to treat-analysis, the risk ratio of in-hospital mortality in the steroid group compared with the standard treatment plus placebo group was 0.53 [95% CI 0.29–0.97, p = 0.038]. The risk ratio of mortality at 6 months was 0.63 (95% CI 0.41–0.95, p = 0.029). Two children who received steroids developed bloody stools while in hospital. Conclusion: In infants with a clinical diagnosis of PJP, early use of steroids in addition to conventional TMP/SMX therapy significantly reduced mortality in hospital and 6 months after discharge.
Logical circularity in voxel‐based analysis: Normalization strategy may induce statistical bias

Recent discussions within the neuroimaging community have highlighted the problematic presence of selection bias in experimental design. Although initially centering on the selection of voxels during the course of fMRI studies, we demonstrate how this bias can potentially corrupt voxel‐based analyses. For such studies, template‐based registration plays a critical role in which a representative template serves as the normalized space for group alignment. A standard approach maps each subject's image to a representative template before performing statistical comparisons between different groups. We analytically demonstrate that in these scenarios the popular sum of squared difference (SSD) intensity metric, implicitly surrogating as a quantification of anatomical alignment, instead explicitly maximizes effect size—an experimental design flaw referred to as “circularity bias. ” We illustrate how this selection bias varies in strength with the similarity metric used during registration under the hypothesis that while SSD‐related metrics, such as Demons, will manifest similar effects, other metrics which are not formulated based on absolute intensity differences will produce less of an effect. Consequently, given the variability in voxel‐based analysis outcomes with similarity metric choice, we caution researchers specifically in the use of SSD and SSD‐related measures where normalization and statistical analysis involve the same image set. Instead, we advocate a more cautious approach where normalization of the individual subject images to the reference space occurs through corresponding image sets which are independent of statistical testing. Alternatively, one can use similarity terms that are less sensitive to this bias. Hum Brain Mapp 35:745–759, 2014. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Joint effect of maternal depression and intimate partner violence on increased risk of child death in rural Ethiopia

Objectives To assess independent and interaction effect of experience of intimate partner violence and depression on risk of child death. Design Community-based cohort design. Setting The study was conducted within the demographic surveillance site of Butajira Rural Health Program in south central Ethiopia. Participants Women (n=561) who gave birth to a live child. Main outcome measures Exposure status comprising physical, sexual and emotional violence by intimate partner was based on the WHO multi-country questionnaire on violence against women. Depression status was measured using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Risk of child death and its association with maternal exposure to violence and/or being depressed was analysed by incidence, rate ratios and interaction. Results The child death in the cohort was 42.1 (95% CI, 32.7 to 53.5) children per 1000 person years, and maternal depression is associated with child death. The risk of child death increases when maternal depression is combined with physical and emotional violence (RR=4.0; 95% CI, 1.6 to 10.1) and (RR=3.7; 95% CI, 1.3 to 10.4), showing a synergistic interaction. Conclusion An awareness of the devastating consequences on child survival in low income setting of violence against women and depression is needed among public health workers as well as clinicians, for both community and clinical interventions.
Pre‐sowing magnetic treatments of tomato seeds increase the growth and yield of plants

The effects of pre‐sowing magnetic treatments on growth and yield of tomato (cv Campbell‐28) were investigated under field conditions. Tomato seeds were exposed to full‐wave rectified sinusoidal non‐uniform magnetic fields (MFs) induced by an electromagnet at 100 mT (rms) for 10 min and at 170 mT (rms) for 3 min. Non‐treated seeds were considered as controls. Plants were grown in experimental plots (30.2 m2) and were cultivated according to standard agricultural practices. During the vegetative and generative growth stages, samples were collected at regular intervals for growth rate analyses, and the resistance of plants to geminivirus and early blight was evaluated. At physiological maturity, the plants were harvested from each plot and the yield and yield parameters were determined. In the vegetative stage, the treatments led to a significant increase in leaf area, leaf dry weight, and specific leaf area (SLA) per plant. Also, the leaf, stem, and root relative growth rates of plants derived from magnetically treated seeds were greater than those shown by the control plants. In the generative stage, leaf area per plant and relative growth rates of fruits from plants from magnetically exposed seeds were greater than those of the control plant fruits. At fruit maturity stage, all magnetic treatments increased significantly (P < .05) the mean fruit weight, the fruit yield per plant, the fruit yield per area, and the equatorial diameter of fruits in comparison with the controls. At the end of the experiment, total dry matter was significantly higher for plants from magnetically treated seeds than that of the controls. A significant delay in the appearance of first symptoms of geminivirus and early blight and a reduced infection rate of early blight were observed in the plants from exposed seeds to MFs. Pre‐sowing magnetic treatments would enhance the growth and yield of tomato crop. Bioelectromagnetics 27:247–257, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cilostazol (pletal): a dual inhibitor of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase type 3 and adenosine uptake.

Cilostazol (Pletal), a quinolinone derivative, has been approved in the U.S. for the treatment of symptoms of intermittent claudication (IC) since 1999 and for related indications since 1988 in Japan and other Asian countries. The vasodilatory and antiplatelet actions of cilostazol are due mainly to the inhibition of phosphodiesterase 3 (PDE3) and subsequent elevation of intracellular cAMP levels. Recent preclinical studies have demonstrated that cilostazol also possesses the ability to inhibit adenosine uptake, a property that may distinguish it from other PDE3 inhibitors, such as milrinone. Elevation of interstitial and circulating adenosine levels by cilostazol has been found to potentiate the cAMP-elevating effect of PDE3 inhibition in platelets and smooth muscle, thereby augmenting antiplatelet and vasodilatory effects of the drug. In contrast, elevation of interstitial adenosine by cilostazol in the heart has been shown to reduce increases in cAMP caused by the PDE3-inhibitory action of cilostazol, thus attenuating the cardiotonic effects. Cilostazol has also been reported to inhibit smooth muscle cell proliferation in vitro and has been demonstrated in a clinical study to favorably alter plasma lipids: to decrease triglyceride and to increase HDL-cholesterol levels. One, or a combination of several of these effects may contribute to the clinical benefits and safety of this drug in IC and other disease conditions secondary to atherosclerosis. In eight double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trials, cilostazol significantly increased maximal walking distance, or absolute claudication distance on a treadmill. In addition, cilostazol improved quality of life indices as assessed by patient questionnaire. One large randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, multicenter competitor trial demonstrated the superiority of cilostazol over pentoxifylline, the only other drug approved for IC. Cilostazol has been generally well-tolerated, with the most common adverse events being headache, diarrhea, abnormal stools and dizziness. Studies involving off-label use of cilostazol for prevention of coronary thrombosis/restenosis and stroke recurrence have also recently been reported.
Commentary: metformin use is associated with reduced gastric cancer risk – authors' reply

Type 2 diabetes mellitus has been associated with increased all cancer incidence, including gastric cancer. Both hyperinsulinaemia and inflammatory changes secondary to adiposity have been suggested as important underlying mechanisms. 2 The debate of possible advantage or disadvantage of metformin, and other blood glucose lowering drugs, with regard to cancer risk is of great importance given the widespread use of these drugs. Recently, use of incretins was reported to cause no increased risk of pancreatic cancer. Metformin is generally considered the first-line drug for treating type 2 diabetes, and is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs worldwide. Previous population-based reports have suggested a preventive effect of metformin for liver, colorectal, pancreas, oesophageal and stomach cancers, although the available evidence is inconclusive. 5 The anti-carcinogenic effects of metformin have been attributed to several mechanisms, including activation of LKB1/AMPK pathway, induction of cell cycle arrest and/ or apoptosis, and activation of the immune system. Kim et al. report data from a Korean nationwide retrospective cohort study of type 2 diabetic patients. This interesting article, which is a valuable addition to the existing literature, reports a reduction in gastric cancer incidence among patients using metformin during more than 3 years, as compared to type 2 diabetic patients on other oral blood glucose lowering drugs. The relative risk of gastric cancer development among metformin users was reduced up to 43% (HR 0.57; 95% CI 0.37–0.87) after 3 years or more of metformin use. The nationwide data from a national insurance claim database support the validity of the association between metformin use and reduced gastric cancer incidence. However, duration of diabetes, and the need for switching to second-line oral therapies, are still important possible confounders for the reported association. Therefore, results of large randomised controlled trials are needed to finally elucidate this issue. In addition, with regard to clinical implications, and specifically the development of preventive medical strategies for gastric cancer, the preventive effect of metformin use will most certainly still be inferior to the importance of Helicobacter pylori eradication.