Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lies tell the truth about cognitive dysfunction in essential tremor: an experimental deception study with the guilty knowledge task

Background Research conducted in the past decade challenges the traditional view that essential tremor (ET) is characterised exclusively by movement disorder, and increasingly shows that these patients have deficits in cognitive and behavioural functioning. The available evidence suggests that this impairment might arise from dysfunction in either the fronto-subcortical or cortico-cerebellar circuits. Although abnormalities in the fronto-subcortical circuits could imply difficulty in lying, no study has investigated deception in patients with ET. Aims To examine the cognitive functions regulating deception in patients with ET, we used a computerised task, the Guilty Knowledge Task (GKT). We also tested a group of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), a disease associated with a known difficulty in lie production, and a group of healthy subjects (HS). Results In the GKT for deception, patients with ET responded less accurately than HS (p=0.014) but similarly to patients with PD (p=0.955). No differences between groups were found in truthful responses (p=0.488). Conclusions Besides confirming impaired deception in patients with PD, our results show a lie production deficit in patients with ET also. These findings suggest that difficulty in lying is an aspecific cognitive feature in movement disorders characterised by fronto-subcortical circuit dysfunction, such as PD and ET. Current knowledge along with our new findings in patients with ET—possibly arising from individually unrecognised extremely mild, cognitive difficulties—should help in designing specific rehabilitative programmes to improve cognitive and behavioural disturbances in patients.
Stimulation of monocyte tissue factor expression in an in vitro model of bacterial endocarditis

The coagulation system plays a major role in the formation of the infected endocardial vegetation in bacterial endocarditis. Since monocytes can express tissue factor (TF) on their surfaces, they are thought to be responsible for the extrinsic activation of the coagulation cascade during this disease. The present study used an in vitro model in which fibrin plates, isolated adherent monocytes, and Streptococcus sanguis were used as an analog for endocardial vegetations. Adherence to fibrin by itself was found to stimulate TF expression on the monocytes, but stimulation by S. sanguis significantly increased TF expression, which was found to be maximal at a bacterium-to-monocyte ratio of 9 or more.
Sulfoquinovose synthase – an important enzyme in the N‐glycosylation pathway of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius

Recently, the Surface (S)‐layer glycoprotein of the thermoacidophilic crenarchaeote Sulfolobus acidocaldarius was found to be N‐glycosylated with a heterogeneous family of glycans, with the largest having a composition Glc1Man2GlcNAc2 plus 6‐sulfoquinovose. However, genetic analyses of genes involved in the N‐glycosylation process in Crenarchaeota were missing so far. In this study we identify a gene cluster involved in the biosynthesis of sulfoquinovose and important for the assembly of the S‐layer N‐glycans. A successful markerless in‐frame deletion of agl3 resulted in a decreased molecular mass of the S‐layer glycoprotein SlaA and the flagellin FlaB, indicating a change in the N‐glycan composition. Analyses with nanoLC ES‐MS/MS confirmed the presence of only a reduced trisaccharide structure composed of Man1GlcNAc2, missing the sulfoquinovose, a mannose and glucose. Biochemical studies of the recombinant Agl3 confirmed the proposed function as a UDP‐sulfoquinovose synthase. Furthermore, S. acidocaldarius cells lacking agl3 had a significantly lower growth rate at elevated salt concentrations compared with the background strain, underlining the importance of the N‐glycosylation to maintain an intact and stable cell envelope, to enable the survival of S. acidocaldarius in its extreme environment.
Factors influencing pain experienced during scaling and root planing: a correlative pilot trial

Background and aims. Scaling and root planing is one of the most commonly performed procedures in a dental clinic. Most patients consider the procedure annoying and some experience pain. Understanding the factors which relate to experience of pain during the procedure is important for the treatment of periodontal diseases. The present study made an attempt to find factors which are correlated with pain during periodontal instrumentation. Materials and methods. The data for the present study was collected from the control group of a double-blind split mouthstudy comparing the effect of intrasulcularly applied 20%Benzocaine with a placebo in reducing pain during scaling and root planing. Heft Parker Visual Analog Scale was used to record the level of pain experienced by the 16 control participants during instrumentation. Pearson’s correlation was used to find factors related to pain. Results. Subgingival calculus was negatively correlated with experience of pain while age, gender, severity of periodontitis, and supragingival calculus were found to have no correlation. Conclusions. Severity of periodontitis, age and gender do not affect the experience of pain due to periodontal instrumenta-tion.
Metamorphosys: Entwurf eines autonomen adaptiven Systems

Many high-performance, embedded applications work in rapidly changing environments. Both power and size constraints limit hardware, while performance requirements demand algorithm-specific architectures. Adaptive systems combine flexibility of software with the possibility of adapting hardware to varying requirements. These adaptive systems contain reconfigurable computing devices integrated in a fixed infrastructure and unchangeable components. Reconfigurable computing devices enable hardware architecture changes in response to the changing environment. Various static and dynamic adaptation methods already exist. However, existing dynamic methods are restricted to do hardware changes prior application execution. In this work we develop a new dynamic method, which allows applicationspecific hardware changes during application runtime. In order to achieve this goal a new method of hardware-based monitoring and controlling is utilized. Because the system hardware layer has a very restricted view in matters of application goals, it is necessary to involve all system layers into the adaptation process. Therefore we develop the Metamorphosys concept. To proof the quality of the concept, the adaptive processor–as an example system component–was developed. This processor incorporates one single off-the-shelf processorcore with additional reconfigurable resources and pattern-based monitoring and controlling functions. Different benchmark programs have shown that the developed adaptive processor equals other approaches in terms of computing performance but show a reduced utilization of hardware-resources by at least 20%. The results of this work are also applicable in the domain of the design of high-performance computers, which are based on fast general-purpose processor-cores and additional configurable accelerator devices.
Discontinuous foci and unalternative semantics

Discontinuous foci – cases in which the focus as expected by semantic or pragmatic considerations is not a single constituent within the phrase marker – are not commonly discussed in the formal literature on focussing. This paper proposes to use Unalternative Semantics to analyze such foci. Unalternative Semantics is a novel framework for calculating focus alternatives from metrically annotated trees (instead of trees with Fmakers); this format naturally lends itself to the modelling of discontinuous foci. The paper compares this approach to other, alternative options involving F-markers and argues in favor of the F-less treatment.
EVALUATION OF THE TOXICITY OF SUBRETINAL TRIAMCINOLONE ACETONIDE IN THE RABBIT

Purpose: Subretinal triamcinolone acetonide (TCA) might be a useful adjuvant in the treatment of subretinal neovascularization. The purpose of this study was to test the toxicity of subretinal TCA in the rabbit eye. Methods: Sixteen New Zealand rabbits were vitrectomized and injected with either decanted TCA solution or vehicle. The concentration of injected TCA was 2 mg, and the delivered volume was 10 &mgr;L. Rabbits were examined on days 1, 3, and 7 and then once a week up to 3 months after surgery. Optical coherence tomography was performed at months 1, 2, and 3. After the last examination, which included electroretinography, the rabbits were killed, and the eyes were enucleated for histopathologic analysis. Results: Subretinal TCA appeared as a white circumscribed deposit. As the drug disappeared, areas of hyperpigmentation were seen adjacent to the drug deposit. Electroretinography tracings were normal, indicating no widespread toxic effect. Histologic analysis revealed areas of absence and/or hyperpigmentation of the retinal pigment epithelium and damage to photoreceptors and the outer nuclear layer of the retina. Conclusion: Subretinal injection of TCA crystals can be toxic to the outer retina and retinal pigment epithelium. Whether the potential beneficial effect of such a high-dose steroid in limiting subretinal inflammation, angiogenesis, and proliferation outweighs toxicity can only be determined from a clinical trial.
Developmental Expression of Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptors in Chick Retina: Selective Induction of M2 Muscarinic Receptor Expression In Ovo by a Factor Secreted by Müller Glial Cells

Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) play an important role in signal processing in the retina. We have used subtype-specific antibodies to identify the changes in the localization of mAChR expression during embryonic development of the retina in vivo and their relationship to the changes in mAChRs in retinal cells in culture. We have demonstrated previously that treatment of fresh retinal cultures with conditioned media from mature retinal cultures specifically induces expression of the M2 mAChR (McKinnon et al., 1998). We show that the M2-inducing activity, which we tentatively have called MARIA (muscarinic acetylcholine receptor-inducing activity) is produced by Müller glial cells in culture, because significant activity can be found in media conditioned by essentially neuron-free cultures of Müller glia, as well as by a Müller glial cell line but not several neuroblastoma cell lines. We also demonstrate that the appearance of the M2 receptorin vivo occurs concomitantly with the appearance of significant numbers of Müller glial cells in the developing retina. Furthermore, the administration of crude or partially purified preparations of MARIA to developing chick embryos in ovoinduces precocious expression of M2 mAChRs in the appropriate cell types in the retina. These results show that a factor secreted by cultured retinal Müller glia can regulate M2 mAChR expression in vivo and in vitro and suggest that the secretion of MARIA by Müller glia in vivo may be responsible for the normal induction of M2 mAChR expression during embryonic development.
Mobile networks planning strategy and development solutions

In this paper I propose a few solutions to improve the planning strategy in different type of mobile networks using special software and network analyzing tools. Frequently maps are used as information sources in different departments of mobile network operators, GSM, 3G service provider companies, or future LTE networks implementation. Using digital databases and professional analysis tools drastically increases efficiency of develop and planning activities. Such type of application as RTM (Radio Telecommunications Modeling) was developed in cooperation with “RDS-RCS” 3G network planners in order to automate their daily tasks and improve the Network Planning Department work. Paper also present overview of an mobile network operator tasks, witch can be simplified using Gis (Geographical information system), and analyze the option to use co-siting conditions to reuse existing GSM site and extend 3G network or implement new one as LTE. Benefits of using professional analyzing tool for specified network parameter measurement and network planning operations are also mentioned, presenting tables with different network parameters and drawings.
Expression of ER, PR, and Her-2/neu in endometrial cancer: a clinicopathological study.

OBJECTIVE To determine any association between expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and Her-2/neu and clinicopathological features, including survival, of endometrial carcinoma (EMC) patients. METHODS Samples of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue of 108 patients with EMC treated at our institution between January 1994 and December 2007 were immunohistochemically studied. RESULTS ER, PR, and Her-2/neu expression were positive in 59.3%, 65.7% and 2.8% of cases, respectively. Positive ER expression was significantly associated with grade I-II tumor while PR expression was linked with endometrioid histology, grade I-II tumor, less myometrial invasion (MI) and negative lymph node involvement. Her-2/neu expression was significantly associated with deep MI, while positive ER and negative Her-2/neu expression in combination was significantly associated with longer disease-free and overall survival. CONCLUSION ER expression is a good prognostic factor while Her-2/neu expression appears to be a poor indicator for both disease-free and overall survival, while PR tended to show favorable influence for only disease-free survival of Thai EMCs.
A comparison of ThinPrep Imager-assisted with manual screening, and its place in the New Zealand cervical cancer screening program

Aims: Overseas studies have shown equivalent sensitivity and specificity between computer-assisted screening and manual screening, with increased screener productivity. This study was undertaken to test these in a New Zealand laboratory setting. Methods: A total of 9232 slides were read manually alone, and following ThinPrep Imager-assisted screening, and the results compared. Two senior screeners and a cytopathologist reviewed the slides with discordant results. Results: The detection rate for abnormalities was 7.30% for Imager-assisted screening and 7.83% for manual screening. The concordance in diagnosis of abnormalities ranged from 72.7% to 100% with the lowest concordance for high-grade abnormalities diagnosed by Imager-assisted screening. The rate of unsatisfactory smears with Imager-assisted screening is half that of manual screening. There was a screener productivity increase of 140%. In all but one case, abnormal cells were identified by the Imager but screeners varied in their interpretations. Conclusions: Overall, Imager-assisted screening was as sensitive as manual screening, and more sensitive for high-grade lesions, with a halving of the rate of unsatisfactory smears. In the setting of the New Zealand cervical screening program, the initial screen by the Imager removes the need for a second, rapid rescreen required by the program for manual screening.
Steam - Water Relative Permeability

A set of relative permeability relations for simultaneous flow of steam and water in porous media have been measured in steady state experiments conducted under the conditions that eliminate most errors associated with saturation and pressure measurements. These relations show that the relative permeabilities for steam-water flow in porous media vary approximately linearly with saturation. This departure from the nitrogen/water behavior indicates that there are fundamental differences between steam/water and nitrogen/water flows. The saturations in these experiments were measured by using a high resolution X-ray computer tomography (CT) scanner. In addition the pressure gradients were obtained from the measurements of liquid phase pressure over the portions with flat saturation profiles. These two aspects constitute a major improvement in the experimental method compared to those used in the past. Comparison of the saturation profiles measured by the X-ray CT scanner during the experiments shows a good agreement with those predicted by numerical simulations. To obtain results that are applicable to general flow of steam and water in porous media similar experiments will be conducted at higher temperature and with porous rocks of different wetting characteristics and porosity distribution.
Prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission: similar access for sub-Sahara African immigrants and for French women?

Objective:To investigate whether mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) management and rate differed between African immigrants and French-born women delivering in France. Methods:MTCT strategies were studied among human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected women delivering between 1984 and 2007 in the multicenter French Perinatal Cohort, according to geographical origin. Results:Among 9245 pregnancies (in 7090 women), the proportion of African mothers increased from 12% in 1984–1986 to 64% in 2003–2004. African women had later access to care than French women, even in recent years (1997–2004). They more often discovered their HIV infection during pregnancy (40.6 vs. 11.5%, P < 0.001), started prenatal care in the third trimester (14.1 vs. 9.8%, P < 0.001) and started antiretroviral therapy after 32 weeks gestation (7.6 vs. 4.1%, P < 0.001). The association with late treatment initiation disappeared when adjusted for late HIV diagnosis and prenatal care (adjusted odds ratio 1.0, 95% confidence interval 0.7–1.4). African and French women did not differ in terms of access to highly active antiretroviral therapy, nor for substandard management such as vaginal delivery with uncontrolled viral load, lack of intrapartum and postpartum treatment or breastfeeding. The MTCT rate was higher for African than for French women receiving antiretroviral therapy (1.8 vs. 0.8%, P = 0.02), but the difference was no longer significant after adjustment for main transmission risk factors (adjusted odds ratio = 1.7, 95% confidence interval 0.8–3.7, P = 0.17). MTCT did not differ among 2110 term deliveries with maternal viral load less than 400 copies/ml, (0.8 vs. 0.6%, P = 0.5). Conclusion:African immigrants more often had late HIV screening in pregnancy than French-born women, but had similar access to MTCT prevention, once the infection was diagnosed.
Argatroban pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in critically ill cardiac surgical patients with suspected heparin-induced thrombocytopenia

Summary Only limited data are available on the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of argatroban in critically ill patients under clinical conditions. We determined plasma concentrations of argatroban, and its main metabolite M1, within a time period of 48 hours in 25 critically ill cardiac surgical patients, who were suspected of heparininduced thrombocytopenia and had the clinical need for anticoagulation. Argatroban infusion was started at 0.5 µg/kg/minute, and adjusted in 0.1–0.25 µg/kg/minute increments when the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) was not within the target range. Median argatroban plasma half-life was 2.7 hours (interquartile range 1.8 to 7.3). Linear regression analysis revealed that argatroban half-life was significantly related to the total bilirubin concentration (R2 = 0.66, p< 0.001), as well as to the metabolism of argatroban, which was assessed by the ratio of the areas under the concentration time curves (AUC) of argatroban and M1 (R2 = 0.60, p< 0.001). Continuous veno-venous haemodialysis did not significantly affect argatroban plasma half-life. The predictive property of argatroban plasma levels for aPTT was low (R2 = 0.28, p< 0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed significant contributions of age and serum albumin levels to the effect of argatroban on aPTT, expressed as the AUC ratio argatroban/aPTT (R2 = 0.67, adjusted R2 = 0.65, p< 0.001). In conclusion, argatroban plasma half-life is markedly increased in critically ill cardiac surgical patients, and further prolonged by hepatic dysfunction due to impaired metabolism. Patient age and serum albumin concentration significantly contribute to the variability in the anticoagulant activity of argatroban.
Phylogenetic analysis of the hyperthermophilic pink filament community in Octopus Spring, Yellowstone National Park

The phylogenetic diversity of a well-known pink filament community associated with the 84 to 88 degrees C outflow from Octopus Spring, Yellowstone National Park, was examined. Three phylogenetic types ("phylotypes"), designated EM 3, EM 17, and EM 19, were identified by cloning and sequencing the small subunit rRNA genes (16S rDNA) obtained by PCR amplification of mixed-population DNA. All three phylotypes diverge deeply within the phylogenetic domain Bacteria sensu Woese (C. R. Woese, O. Kandler, and M. L. Wheelis, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87:4576-4579, 1990). No members of the Archaea or Eucarya were detected. EM 3 comprises a unique lineage within the Thermotogales group, and EM 17 and EM 19 are affiliated with the Aquificales. A total of 35 clones were examined, of which the majority (26 clones) were of a single sequence type (EM 17) closely related to Aquifex pyrophilus. In situ hybridization with clone-specific probes attributes the majority sequence, EM 17, to the pink filaments.
Fundamentos de controle biológico de insetos-praga

O Controle Biologico e um vasto campo de estudos, baseado no fenomeno natural de muitas especies viverem e se alimentarem de outros organismos, cujas populacoes sao reguladas, e as vezes erradicadas de um ecossistema. Estas especies sao denominadas inimigos naturais e Linnaeus, em 1760, ja afirmava que todo organismo tem seu inimigo natural. E, portanto, o aspecto mais importante no qual se deve focalizar a protecao das culturas agricolas e florestais. Assim, Controle Biologico pode ser definido, de forma simples, como um fenomeno natural que consiste na regulacao do numero de plantas e animais por inimigos naturais, os quais se constituem nos agentes de mortalidade biotica.
The Antiapoptotic Gene mcl-1 Is Up-Regulated by the Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase/Akt Signaling Pathway through a Transcription Factor Complex Containing CREB

ABSTRACT mcl-1 is an immediate-early gene activated by the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin 3 (IL-3) signaling pathways and plays an important role in the viability response of these cytokines. In this study, we demonstrated that cytokine stimulation of mcl-1 mRNA and protein expression were attenuated by pretreatment of cells with phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K) inhibitors. Reporter gene assays further showed that the PI3-K/Akt signaling pathway was involved in IL-3 activation of mcl-1 gene transcription. Analysis of the mcl-1 promoter revealed that both promoter elements, SIE at position −87 and CRE-2 at −70, contribute to IL-3 stimulation of mcl-1 gene expression. Although either the SIE site or the CRE-2 site alone was sufficient to confer IL-3 inducibility on a heterologous promoter, only IL-3 activation of the CRE-2 reporter was mediated via the PI3-K/Akt pathway. The SIE binding activity was constitutively high in cells deprived of or stimulated by IL-3. In contrast, the CRE-2 binding activity was low in cytokine-starved cells and was strongly induced within 1 h following cytokine treatment of cells. In addition, cytokine induction of the CRE-2 but not of the SIE binding activity was dependent on activation of the PI3-K/Akt signaling pathway. Lastly, we showed that CREB was one component of the CRE-2 binding complex and played a role in IL-3 activation of themcl-1 reporter gene. Taken together, our results suggest that both PI3-K/Akt-dependent and -independent pathways contribute to the IL-3 activation of mcl-1 gene expression. Activation ofmcl-1 by the PI3-K/Akt-dependent pathway is through a transcription factor complex containing CREB.