Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Worldwide patterns of genetic differentiation imply multiple ‘domestications’ of Aedes aegypti, a major vector of human diseases

Understanding the processes by which species colonize and adapt to human habitats is particularly important in the case of disease-vectoring arthropods. The mosquito species Aedes aegypti, a major vector of dengue and yellow fever viruses, probably originated as a wild, zoophilic species in sub-Saharan Africa, where some populations still breed in tree holes in forested habitats. Many populations of the species, however, have evolved to thrive in human habitats and to bite humans. This includes some populations within Africa as well as almost all those outside Africa. It is not clear whether all domestic populations are genetically related and represent a single ‘domestication’ event, or whether association with human habitats has developed multiple times independently within the species. To test the hypotheses above, we screened 24 worldwide population samples of Ae. aegypti at 12 polymorphic microsatellite loci. We identified two distinct genetic clusters: one included all domestic populations outside of Africa and the other included both domestic and forest populations within Africa. This suggests that human association in Africa occurred independently from that in domestic populations across the rest of the world. Additionally, measures of genetic diversity support Ae. aegypti in Africa as the ancestral form of the species. Individuals from domestic populations outside Africa can reliably be assigned back to their population of origin, which will help determine the origins of new introductions of Ae. aegypti.
Anticoagulant-Associated Intracerebral Hemorrhage

The incidence of anticoagulant-associated intracerebral hemorrhage (AAICH) quintupled during the 1990 s, probably due to increased warfarin use for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Anticoagulant-associated intracerebral hemorrhage now accounts for nearly 20% of all intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). Among patients using warfarin for atrial fibrillation, the annual risk of ICH in trials is 0.3 to 1.0%. Predictors of potential anticoagulant-associated hemorrhage are increasing age, prior ischemic stroke, hypertension, leukoaraiosis, the early period of warfarin use, higher intensity anticoagulation, and antiplatelet use in addition to anticoagulation. Compared with other intracranial hemorrhage patients, anticoagulated patients have a greater risk of hematoma expansion, subsequent clinical deterioration and death, necessitating vigorous reversal of their coagulopathy. Recommended methods of warfarin reversal are administration of intravenous vitamin K and either prothrombin complex concentrates or fresh frozen plasma. Reversal of unfractionated heparin is accomplished with intravenous protamine sulfate. Surgical treatment of intracranial hemorrhage may be life saving in select cases, but has not reduced morbidity or mortality in large randomized trials.
Studies of the Rickettsial Plaque Assay Technique

A plaque assay system for pathogenic rickettsiae, which utilizes primary chick embryo tissue cultures, is described. It proved to be a highly reproducible measure of infectiousness for Rickettsia rickettsi and R. typhi, which were employed in most studies; as well as for R. canada, R. prowazeki, R. sibirica, R. akari, R. conori, and Coxiella burneti. Plaque-forming units (PFU) were compared to direct rickettsial counts and to 50% infectious dose (ID50) values for embryonated eggs, mice, and guinea pigs. Plaque size, appearance, and number were influenced by diluent, incubation temperature after nutrient overlay, centrifugation of inoculated tissue cultures, and number of host cells planted initially in each flask. The most critical factors in plaque formation were diluent used in making rickettsial suspensions and incubation temperature (32 C) after nutrient overlay. Brain Heart Infusion was the only diluent capable of preventing significant delay in plaque formation and decreases in PFU and mouse ID50. Plaque formation was unaffected by genetic background of host cells, volume of inoculum, temperature and length of incubation period before nutrient overlay, and rapid freezing and thawing of rickettsial seed. Centrifugation of inoculated cultures at 600 × g resulted in 100% irreversible absorption of rickettsiae to host cells within 5 min, whereas without centrifugation at least 4 hr was required to achieve the same effect.
Participation after acquired brain injury: Associations with everyday technology and activities in daily life

Abstract Background: The development of the information society has led to increased use of everyday technology and changed the conditions for participation. Enabling participation in everyday life situations is an important rehabilitation goal after acquired brain injury (ABI). Identifying factors associated with individuals’ experienced participation and problems therein is therefore essential. Objective: This study aimed at exploring the relationship between perceived difficulty in everyday technology use, perceived ability in the activities of daily living (ADL), and perceived participation, and participation problems in persons with ABI. Methods: Eighty-one persons with ABI participated in the study and were assessed by the Impact on Participation and Autonomy questionnaire, the Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire, and the ADL taxonomy. Results: Findings showed that the combined model of difficulty in everyday technology (ET) use, ADL ability, and the interaction between them explained both participation in various domains of everyday life, and also overall level of perceived participation and the perceived problems. Conclusions: The findings underscore the importance of evaluating individuals’ ability in both ET use and ADL after ABI to increase the probability of explaining these persons’ participation in desired everyday life situations and, also, for rehabilitation design.
Engineering Autogenous Cartilage in the Shape of a Helix Using an Injectable Hydrogel Scaffold

Objective Previous successful efforts to tissue engineer cartilage for an auricle have used an immunocompromised nude mouse xenograft model. Subsequent efforts in an immunocompetent autogenous animal model have been less successful because of an inflammatory response directed against the foreign scaffold polymer used to provide an auricular shape. We studied an alternative polymer material and surgical technique to engineer autogenous cartilage in the shape of a human ear helix using injectable hydrogel scaffolding, Pluronic F‐127 (polyethylene oxide and polypropylene oxide).
Tauroursodeoxycholic acid reduces apoptosis and protects against neurological injury after acute hemorrhagic stroke in rats

Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), an endogenous bile acid, modulates cell death by interrupting classic pathways of apoptosis. Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a devastating acute neurological disorder, without effective treatment, in which a significant loss of neuronal cells is thought to occur by apoptosis. In this study, we evaluated whether TUDCA can reduce brain injury and improve neurological function after ICH in rats. Administration of TUDCA before or up to 6 h after stereotaxic collagenase injection into the striatum reduced lesion volumes at 2 days by as much as 50%. Apoptosis was ≈50% decreased in the area immediately surrounding the hematoma and was associated with a similar inhibition of caspase activity. These changes were also associated with improved neurobehavioral deficits as assessed by rotational asymmetry, limb placement, and stepping ability. Furthermore, TUDCA treatment modulated expression of certain Bcl-2 family members, as well as NF-κB activity. In addition to its protective action at the mitochondrial membrane, TUDCA also activated the Akt-1/protein kinase Bα survival pathway and induced Bad phosphorylation at Ser-136. In conclusion, reduction of brain injury underlies the wide-range neuroprotective effects of TUDCA after ICH. Thus, given its clinical safety, TUDCA may provide a potentially useful treatment in patients with hemorrhagic stroke and perhaps other acute brain injuries associated with cell death by apoptosis.
VEGF contributes to postnatal neovascularization by mobilizing bone marrow‐derived endothelial progenitor cells

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been shown to promote neovascularization in animal models and, more recently, in human subjects. This feature has been assumed to result exclusively from its direct effects on fully differentiated endothelial cells, i.e. angiogenesis. Given its regulatory role in both angiogenesis and vasculogenesis during fetal development, we investigated the hypothesis that VEGF may modulate endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) kinetics for postnatal neovascularization. Indeed, we observed an increase in circulating EPCs following VEGF administration in vivo. VEGF‐induced mobilization of bone marrow‐derived EPCs resulted in increased differentiated EPCs in vitro and augmented corneal neovascularization in vivo. These findings thus establish a novel role for VEGF in postnatal neovascularization which complements its known impact on angiogenesis.
Efficient generation of lens progenitor cells and lentoid bodies from human embryonic stem cells in chemically defined conditions

The eye lens is an encapsulated avascular organ whose function is to focus light on the retina. Lens comprises a single progenitor cell lineage in multiple states of differentiation. Disruption of lens function leading to protein aggregation and opacity results in age‐onset cataract. Cataract is a complex disease involving genetic and environmental factors. Here, we report the development of a new 3‐stage system that differentiates human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into large quantities of lens progenitor‐like cells and differentiated 3‐dimensional lentoid bodies. Inhibition of BMP signaling by noggin triggered differentiation of hESCs toward neuroectoderm. Subsequent reactivation of BMP and activation of FGF signaling stimulated formation of lens progenitor cells marked by the expression of PAX6 andα‐crystallins. The formation of lentoid bodies was most efficient in the presence of FGF2 and Wnt‐3a, yielding ∼1000 lentoid bodies/30‐mm well. Lentoid bodies expressed and accumulated lens‐specific markers including αA‐, αB‐, β‐, and γ‐crystallins, filensin, CP49, and MIP/aquaporin 0. Collectively, these studies identify a novel procedure to generate lens cells from hESCs that can be applied for studies of lens differentiation and cataractogenesis using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells derived from various cataract patients. —Yang, C. , Yang, Y. , Brennan, L. , Bouhassira, E. E. , Kantorow, M. , and Cvekl, A. Efficient generation of lens progenitor cells and lentoid bodies from human embryonic stem cells in chemically defined conditions. FASEB J. 24, 3274–3283 (2010). www.fasebj. org
Effect of La Addition on the Electrical Characteristics and Stability of Solution-Processed LaInO Thin-Film Transistors With High- ${k}$ ZrO2 Gate Insulator

In this paper, solution-processed ZrO<sub>2</sub> thin films are used to be as insulting layers for lanthanum indium oxide (LaInO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) with different La doping contents. The influence of La addition on the electrical properties and stability under bias stress and temperatures stress for LaInO TFTs is investigated in detail. With the improvement of La doping contents, the saturation mobility (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) decreases from 48.8 to 32.7 cm<sup>2</sup> <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\cdot \text {V}^{-{1}}\text{s}^{-{1}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and the threshold voltage (V<sub>T</sub>) increases from 1.12 to 1.76 V. When La doping concentration is 10 mol%, LaInO TFT has a small subthreshold swing of 0.12 V/dec. Meanwhile, the stability is improved obviously. It is attributed to the strong bonding strength of La–O relative to that of In–O, resulting in the reduction of trap states. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the generation of oxygen vacancies can effectively be suppressed by La addition. The calculation of density of states and the measurement of the capacitance–voltage can also further confirm that the density of trap states is decreased by La addition, and thus the stability of LaInO TFTs can get an obvious improvement.
Measuring the Quality of Care Provided to Community Dwelling Vulnerable Elders Dually Enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid

Context: Small studies suggest that the quality of healthcare provided to older patients needs improvement. However, measuring the quality of care for larger groups of older adults is difficult. Objective: To measure the quality of care in a community-dwelling vulnerable geriatric population using administrative data to apply quality indicators (QIs) from the Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders project. Design, Setting, and Participants: Cohort study of community-dwelling dual enrollees in Medicare and Medicaid, age 75 years and older, living in 19 California counties in 1999 and 2000. Main Outcome Measure: Measurement of care provided for 43 QIs by condition (eg, heart failure) and by intervention type (eg, medication use), and identification of care inaccessible to measurement by linked Medicare and Medicaid claims. Results: A total of 43 out of 230 QIs were captured using linked claims data. The 100,528 patients triggered 930,753 QIs (9.3 QIs/person). The overall QI pass rate (ie, successful receipt of care) was 65%. QIs with the highest pass rates measured avoidance of adverse medications and appropriate medication use. Fewer than half of the QIs were passed for ischemic heart disease, stroke, and osteoporosis. Few QIs aimed at geriatric care could be measured and none assessed counseling, history taking, or information continuity. Conclusions: The use of claims data-derived quality-of-care process measures is feasible for the vulnerable older population, but requires development of data elements focused on geriatric care. QIs that could be applied to the older patients included in this study identified several areas of care that need improvement.
Dietary salt intake and blood pressure among schoolchildren.

We studied the relationship between dietary salt intake, urinary salt excretion, blood pressure and anthropometric measurements in 322 Japanese schoolchildren, aged between 6 and 11 years. Two surveys were carried out: one among a small group of 22 children from the 322, and one involving all 322. In the former group, both a detailed and a simplified dietary questionnaire were used, and nocturnal and 24 hr urinary salt excretion samples were collected. The latter group's survey used only the simplified questionnaire and nocturnal salt excretion measurements. The surveys from the two different groups were then compared to each other. It was found that the simplified questionnaire and nocturnal urinary samples were statistically accurate enough to be used for the purpose of this study. From the latter survey, dietary salt intake among the children was 7.5 +/- 2.7 g per day, (mean +/- SD), and 65 pupils (20%) consumed more than 10 g of salt per day. It was also found that nocturnal urinary salt excretion levels were 1.47 +/- 0.82 g per day, with 30 pupils (9.3%) registering levels of more than 2.5 g per day. There was a significant correlation between these dietary and urinary salt levels. Systolic blood pressure (SPB) among the schoolchildren showed significant correlation with age, height, weight and BMI. For diastolic blood pressure (DBP), a significant correlation was seen in age only. SBP and DBP showed little relation with either dietary salt intake or urinary salt excretion. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Epstein–Barr virus is rarely associated with diffuse large B cell lymphoma in Taiwan and carries a trend for a shorter median survival time

Aims Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-positive diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) of the elderly is characterised by frequent extranodal involvement, a morphological spectrum from polymorphous to monomorphous and a poor prognosis. The frequency is higher in Japan and Korea but lower in the West, while the status in Taiwan has not been reported yet. Methods We conducted a retrospective study of DLBCL in a single institute in Taiwan by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridisation for EBV. Results Of the 424 consecutive DLBCL cases, 332 cases were studied for EBV. 15 (4.5%) were EBV-positive and 13 (3.9%) fulfil WHO criteria of EBV-positive DLBCL of the elderly with a median age of 75. Of these 15 cases, extranodal presentation occurred in 11 (73%) patients with predominance in the gastrointestinal tract and 6 (40%) were of germinal centre B cell phenotype. There was no difference between EBV-positive and -negative patients in terms of age, gender, nodal versus extranodal presentation, and immunophenotypical profile. EBV-positive patients showed a trend for a shorter median survival time (5.0 vs 39.3 months; p=0.058). Of all DLBCL patients, multivariable analysis revealed a significantly worse overall survival for patients older than 50 (p=0.001) and for those with bcl-6-negative tumours (p=0.003) but not with other clinicopathological factors including EBV status. Conclusions EBV-positive DLBCL of the elderly is relatively rare in Taiwan, with an incidence intermediate between Japan/Korea and the West. Further studies are warranted to clarify the association of EBV and the clinicopathological features and the prognostic significance in patients with DLBCL.
General measures and quality of life issues in psoriasis

Psoriasis generally does not affect survival but has significant detrimental effect on quality of life (QOL), which may be comparable to that of ischemic heart disease, diabetes, depression, and cancer. The foremost important thing in the management of psoriasis is counseling of the patient. The clinician needs to be empathetic and spend adequate time with the patient and educating the patient about psoriasis. Clinicians should make it clear to the patient that the primary goal of treatment is control of the disease rather than cure. Eating a balanced and low glycemic diet could be an important adjuvant factor in the prevention and treatment of moderate nonpustular psoriasis. Obese people are more likely to have severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis than people with an average body mass index. Dietary supplementation with oily fish, rich in n-3 fatty acids, in psoriasis had shown mixed results in trials. Promising results have been documented for parenteral application of n-3 fatty acid, but not with oral supplementation. Increased smoking or alcohol abuse increases the risk of developing psoriasis and may influence disease severity, and hence must be avoided. Soaking in warm water with bath oil can be done in extensive psoriasis for hydration and emollient effect, and bland soaps or soap substitutes should be used; antiseptics should be avoided as they may irritate the skin. Relatively small, localized patches of psoriasis may improve with occlusion, i.e., waterproof adhesive dressings. The use of emollients is an internationally accepted standard adjunctive to the treatment of psoriasis. Dermatology Life Quality Index is a psychometrically sound and responsive measure of psoriasis-specific outcomes and most comprehensively captures the impact of clinical signs and symptoms on patient's well-being.
Use of different d‐dimer levels to exclude venous thromboembolism depending on clinical pretest probability

Summary. Currently, the same d‐dimer cut‐off point is used to define a positive result for all patients with suspected venous thromboembolism, regardless of their pretest probability. However, use of a relatively high d‐dimer cut‐off point (lower sensitivity) for those with a low clinical pretest probability, and a low d‐dimer cut‐off point (higher sensitivity) for those with a high clinical pretest probability, may be preferable. To determine if using three different d‐dimer cut‐off points according to low, moderate or high clinical pretest probability has greater utility for exclusion of venous thromboembolism than using the same single d‐dimer cut‐off point in all patients. Data from a previously published study of 571 patients was used to identify the highest d‐dimer cut‐off point with a negative predictive value of at least 98% for the subgroup of patients with low and high pretest probability. The d‐dimer cut‐off point for those with moderate clinical pretest probability remained unchanged [0.5 fibrinogen equivalent units (FEU) µg mL−1]. Accuracy of d‐dimer testing for venous thromboembolism using three cut‐off points vs. one cut‐off point was than determined. d‐dimer cut‐off points of 0.2 and 2.1 FEU µg mL−1 were selected for the high and low pretest probability groups, respectively. When three pretest probability‐specific cut‐off points were used instead of the previously determined single d‐dimer cut‐off point (0.5 FEU µg mL−1), sensitivity and negative predictive value were unchanged (95 and 98%, respectively), but specificity increased from 44.7 to 60.4% (P < 0.001). This resulted in exclusion of venous thromboembolism in 80 additional patients. Use of three pretest probability‐specific d‐dimer cut‐off points rather than a single d‐dimer cut‐off point for all patients, has the potential to increase the utility of d‐dimer testing for the diagnosis of venous thromboembolism.
Three-Dimensional Shape Recovery Based on Single Historical Image

For unable to establish geometrical relationship of coordinates, conventional methods of 3D shape recovery can not be adopted to a great number of precious historical images to recover the 3D shape of the objects and environments in the images. The new method of 3D shape recovery based on single frame historical image is proposed in this paper. The core idea of this research is that, according to the change of the shade of gray of each pixel, the tilt angle and slant angle of the surface vertical vector of each object's pixel in the image is analyzed, then the depth of each pixel is calculated in response to the tilt angle and slant angle. Simulating human being's vision system and the process of thinking of brain, this method makes the process of man's 3D comprehension of single image computerize to obtain 3D digitized data. These 3D digitized data can be used in the fields of the 3D recovery of historical relics and the identification of 3D portrait and stereo literal.