Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Amyloid fibrils as functionalizable components of nanocomposite materials

Amyloid fibrils are a form of protein nanofiber that show promise as components of multifunctional bionanomaterials. In this work, native bovine insulin and bovine insulin that had been previously converted into amyloid fibrils were combined with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH) via solution casting to determine the effect of fibrillization on the thermomechanical properties of the resulting composite. The synthesis method was found to preserve the amyloid fibril structure and properties of the resulting fibril‐PVOH composite were investigated. At a filling level of 0.6 wt %, the fibril‐reinforced PVOH was 15% stiffer than the PVOH control. Various properties of the films, including the glass transition temperature, degradation temperature, microstructure, and film morphology were characterized. Although more work is required to optimize the properties of the composites, this study provides proof of principle that incorporation of amyloid fibrils into a polymeric material can impart useful changes to the mechanical and morphological properties of the films. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 2012
Optical coherence tomography evaluation of in-stent restenotic lesions with visible microvessels.

OBJECTIVE We sought to evaluate the characteristics of in-stent restenosis (ISR) lesions with microvessels, detected by an optical coherence tomography (OCT). BACKGROUND No sufficient in vivo data exist regarding microvessel characteristics in ISR lesions. METHODS Among 78 ISR lesions (drug-eluting stent, n = 72; bare-metal stent, n = 6) in our OCT registry database, visible microvessels were detected in 21 (27%). Microvessels were defined as low backscattering structures <200 μm in diameter on OCT. Clinical, angiographic, and OCT findings were compared between lesions with and without microvessels. RESULTS Lesions with microvessels had a larger reference vessel diameter (2.90 ± 0.47 mm vs 2.58 ± 0.42 mm; P=.009) and post-stent minimum lumen diameter (2.76 ± 0.29 mm vs 2.54 ± 0.39 mm; P=.033) than those without microvessels. From OCT findings at the segment with minimal lumen cross-sectional area (CSA), neointimal hyperplasia (NIH) CSA (5.4 ± 1.7 mm² vs 4.2 ± 2.1 mm²; P=.024) and percent NIH CSA (NIH CSA x 100/stent CSA) were significantly greater in lesions with microvessels (79 ± 12% vs 67 ± 16%; P=.001). On multivariate analysis, reference vessel diameter (odds ratio [OR], 4.64; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-20.4; P=.043) and percent NIH CSA at the segment with minimal lumen CSA (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01-1.12; P=.021) were independent predictors of microvessels. From receiver operating characteristic analysis, the cut-off values of reference vessel diameter and percent NIH CSA predicting the presence of microvessels were 3.1 mm and 74%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Visible microvessels in ISR lesions might be associated with increased vessel size and extent of NIH.
Patient-Provider Interactions and Patient Outcomes

Research shows that a number of provider interactional skills are empirically related to patient adherence, making interaction skills a necessary and important part of clinical competence. These skills fall into three broad categories: techniques to elicit and modify patients' health and treatment beliefs, to aid recall of information, and to aid adherence. Specific skills in each category are discussed. Research further shows that health care providers can be taught effective communication skills, and that one of the most effective teaching techniques is audio or video feedback in which the provider's interaction with a patient is judged by tutor and peers using explicit, empirically based criteria.
Utilization and evaluation of CHO‐specific sequence databases for mass spectrometry based proteomics

Recently released sequence information on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells promises to not only facilitate our understanding of these industrially important cell factories through direct analysis of the sequence, but also to enhance existing methodologies and allow new tools to be developed. In this article we demonstrate the utilization of CHO specific sequence information to improve mass spectrometry (MS) based proteomic identification. The use of various CHO specific databases enabled the identification of 282 additional proteins, thus increasing the total number of identified proteins by 40–50%, depending on the sample source and methods used. In addition, a considerable portion of those proteins that were identified previously based on inter‐species sequence homology were now identified by a larger number of peptides matched, thus increasing the confidence of identification. The new sequence information offers improved interpretation of proteomic analyses and will, in the years to come, prove vital to unraveling the CHO proteome. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2012; 109:1386–1394. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Reliable automatic alignment of tomographic projection data by passive auto-focus.

PURPOSE The authors present a robust algorithm that removes the blurring and double-edge artifacts in high-resolution computed tomography (CT) images that are caused by misaligned scanner components. This alleviates the time-consuming process of physically aligning hardware, which is of particular benefit if components are moved or swapped frequently. METHODS The proposed method uses the experimental data itself for calibration. A parameterized model of the scanner geometry is constructed and the parameters are varied until the sharpest 3D reconstruction is found. The concept is similar to passive auto-focus algorithms of digital optical instruments. The parameters are used to remap the projection data from the physical detector to a virtual aligned detector. This is followed by a standard reconstruction algorithm, namely the Feldkamp algorithm. Feldkamp et al. [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 1, 612-619 (1984)]. RESULTS An example implementation is given for a rabbit liver specimen that was collected with a circular trajectory. The optimal parameters were determined in less computation time than that for a full reconstruction. The example serves to demonstrate that (a) sharpness is an appropriate measure for projection alignment, (b) our parameterization is sufficient to characterize misalignments for cone-beam CT, and (c) the procedure determines parameter values with sufficient precision to remove the associated artifacts. CONCLUSIONS The algorithm is fully tested and implemented for regular use at The Australian National University micro-CT facility for both circular and helical trajectories. It can in principle be applied to more general imaging geometries and modalities. It is as robust as manual alignment but more precise since we have quantified the effect of misalignment.
EFFECT OF FGF‐1 AND FGF‐2 ON VEGF BINDING TO HUMAN UMBILICAL VEIN ENDOTHELIAL CELLS

When FGF‐1 or FGF‐2 and VEGF were added together, the mitogenic effect of FGF‐1 or FGF‐2 and VEGF on HUVEC was additive. However, when HUVECs were preincubated for 2 days with 10ng/ml FGF‐1 in the absence of VEGF, the Scatchard plot of [125I]VEGF binding sites was shifted to the right: both affinity classes of VEGF binding sites were equally affected, such that the total number of sites increased twofold. It is suggested that this type of interaction may be related to tumor angiogenesis and wound repair.
Application-Level Virtual Memory for Object-Oriented Systems. (Un gestionnaire de mémoire virtuelle contrôlé par les applications à objets)

During the execution of object-oriented applications, several millions of objects are created, used and then collected if they are not referenced. Problems appear when objects are unused but cannot be garbage-collected because they are still referenced from other objects. This is an issue because those objects waste primary memory and applications use more primary memory than what they actually need. We claim that relying on operating systems (OS) virtual memory is not always enough since it is completely transparent to applications. The OS cannot take into account the domain and structure of applications. At the same time, applications have no easy way to control nor influence memory management. In this dissertation, we present Marea, an efficient application-level virtual memory for object-oriented programming languages. Its main goal is to offer the programmer a novel solution to handle application-level memory. Developers can instruct our system to release primary memory by swapping out unused yet referenced objects to secondary memory. Marea is designed to: 1) save as much memory as possible i.e., the memory used by its infrastructure is minimal compared to the amount of memory released by swapping out unused objects, 2) minimize the runtime overhead i.e., the swapping process is fast enough to avoid slowing down primary computations of applications, and 3) allow the programmer to control or influence the objects to swap. Besides describing the model and the algorithms behind Marea, we also present our implementation in the Pharo programming language. Our approach has been qualitatively and quantitatively validated. Our experiments and benchmarks on real-world applications show that Marea can reduce the memory footprint between 25% and 40%.
[Screening of differentially expressed proteins from human esophageal cancer and esophageal tissues by two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry].

OBJECTIVE To establish two-dimensional electrophoresis profiles from human esophageal cancer tissue and paired normal esophageal tissue and identify differentially expressed proteins to identify the molecular markers for early-stage diagnosis. METHODS The total proteins of human esophageal cancer tissue and paired normal esophageal tissue were separated by immobilized pH gradient-based two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE). The 6 differentially expressed proteins were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). The peptide mass fingerprintings (PMF) were identified by database searching. Six differentially expressed proteins were validated by RT-PCR. RESULTS The well-resolved, reproducible 2-DE patterns of esophageal cancer tissue and esophageal normal tissue were established. Using MALDI-TOF-MS technology, 6 differential protein spots were identified. Among them, the expressions of squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1 (SCCA1b), KRT4 and annexin A1 were downregulated and triosephosphate isomerase (TPI1), heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) and manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) were upregulated in esophageal cancer tissues. CONCLUSION The identification of differential expressed proteins in human esophageal cancer and normal tissue will be helpful for screening the biomarker for early-stage diagnosis.
A note on shortest cycle covers of cubic graphs

Let SCC3(G) be the length of a shortest 3‐cycle cover of a bridgeless cubic graph G. It is proved in this note that if G contains no circuit of length 5 (an improvement of Jackson's (JCTB 1994) result: if G has girth at least 7) and if all 5‐circuits of G are disjoint (a new upper bound of SCC3(G) for the special class of graphs).
Anosognosia and confabulation during the Wada test

Feinberg et al. proposed that right-hemisphere-damaged stroke patients with anosognosia for hemiplegia (AHP) confabulate seeing stimuli on the left side but those without AHP admit to having inadequate visual information. This study examines the relationship between AHP and confabulation using selective anesthesia of the cerebral hemispheres. Seventeen patients with intractable epilepsy were tested during intracarotid methohexital infusion. For half of the trials, subjects were stimulated on their paretic hand with a material (sandpaper, metal, or cloth), and for the remaining trials they were not stimulated. The subjects were trained to use a pointing response to indicate if they been stimulated and the type of material they had felt. Admission of uncertainty was defined as pointing to a question mark. Confabulation was defined as any material response to a no-touch trial. During anesthesia of either hemisphere, subjects with and without AHP confabulated responses. The AHP and non-AHP groups did not differ in admission of uncertainty. Our results support the postulate that confabulation and AHP are independent disorders, and therefore confabulation cannot fully account for AHP.
Blood pressure-lowering for secondary prevention of stroke: ACE inhibition is the key.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors undoubtedly represent one of the major advances in cardiovascular therapeutics over the past 20 years. Having been originally derived from the venom of the Brazilian arboreal viper Bothrops jararaca , captopril and subsequent ACE inhibitors are currently well-established agents for the treatment of patients with hypertension, heart failure, and left ventricular dysfunction. They have also been shown to reduce the risk of major vascular events and progression of renal disease in patients with diabetes and proteinuria, while the Heart Outcomes Protection Evaluation (HOPE)1 study demonstrated benefits of ramipril in patients with coronary artery disease and preserved left ventricular function. Most recently, the Perindopril Protection Against Recurrent Stroke Study (PROGRESS)2 showed that an ACE inhibitor (perindopril)–based therapy reduced the risks of both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in patients with established cerebrovascular disease. Moreover, the benefits of treatment were consistent across different patient subgroups, such as those with and without a history of hypertension (or high blood pressure [BP] at entry), ischemic subtypes and intracerebral hemorrhage, and …
Validation of experimental whole‐body SAR assessment method in a complex indoor environment

Experimentally assessing the whole‐body specific absorption rate (SARwb) in a complex indoor environment is very challenging. An experimental method based on room electromagnetics theory (accounting only the line‐of‐sight as specular path) is validated using numerical simulations with the finite‐difference time‐domain method. Furthermore, the method accounts for diffuse multipath components (DMC) in the total absorption rate by considering the reverberation time of the investigated room, which describes all the losses in a complex indoor environment. The advantage of the proposed method is that it allows discarding the computational burden because it does not use any discretizations. Results show good agreement between measurement and computation at 2.8 GHz, as long as the plane wave assumption is valid, that is, at large distances from the transmitter. Relative deviations of 0.71% and 4% have been obtained for far‐field scenarios, and 77.5% for the near field‐scenario. The contribution of the DMC in the total absorption rate is also quantified here, which has never been investigated before. It is found that the DMC may represent an important part of the total absorption rate; its contribution may reach up to 90% for certain scenarios in an indoor environment. Bioelectromagnetics 34:122–132, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
NONPARAMETRIC INFERENCE UNDER BIASED SAMPLING FROM A FINITE POPULATION

We consider a biased sampling model that has been found useful in incorporating size biases inherent in many types of discovery data. The model postulates that the data are obtained from a finite population by selecting successively without replacement and with probability proportional to some measure of size. Unlike the ppswor scheme in survey sampling, it is assumed here that the size measure is a function of the unknown population values. In this article, we consider maximum likelihood estimation of the finite population parameters under this biased sampling model. We study the large sample behavior of the MLE's and derive a simple, asymptotically efficient approximation to the MLE. The approximate MLE is structurally similar to the Horvitz-Thompson estimator. We show that information about the order in the sample can be used to make inference even when the population size is unknown, which in fact can be estimated. Small sample behavior of the estimators is investigated through a limited simulation study, and the results are used to analyze oil and gas discovery data from the North Sea basin.
Transcatheter Closure of Patent Foramen Ovale for Hypoxemia During Left Ventricular Assist Device Support

Abstract The diagnosis of a patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a dynamic process and it is based on the detection of blood shunting at the atrial level. Only under abnormal physiologic conditions, such as with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), when right atrial pressure (RAP) exceeds left atrial pressure (LAP) the PFO may cause hypoxemia due to a right‐to‐left shunt. We report the closure of a PFO using a transcatheter approach in a patient on LVAD support. (J Card Surg 2012;27:528‐529)
Sympathetic tone restrains arterial distensibility of healthy and atherosclerotic subjects.

BACKGROUND Sympathetic activation induced by cold pressor test or cigarette smoking is accompanied by a marked reduction of radial artery distensibility. It is not known, however, whether arterial distensibility is under tonic sympathetic restraint, or whether this restraint involves arteries greater than the radial one in both normal and pathological conditions. METHODS We studied the distensibility of radial artery by continuous ultrasonographic assessment of the changes in arterial diameter over the diasto-systolic pressure range (finger pressure measurement) in eight patients with a Dupuytren disease before and 20 min after ipsilateral brachial plexus anaesthesia. We also studied ultrasonographic distensibility of femoral artery in seven subjects before and 20 min after ipsilateral subarachnoid anaesthesia, performed before arthroscopic surgery, and in five patients with claudicatio intermittens before and 1 month after ipsilateral removal of the lumbar sympathectomy chain. In all three conditions, the contralateral artery served as control. RESULTS The three interventions did not cause any significant alteration in blood pressure and heart rate. Radial artery distensibility was markedly increased by ipsilateral anaesthesia of the brachial plexus (+36%, P<0.01). This was the case also for femoral artery distensibility both following ipsilateral subarachnoid anaesthesia in healthy subjects (+47%, P<0.05) or ipsilateral sympathetic gangliectomy in patients with peripheral artery disease (+26%, P<0.05). In all three instances, the distensibility of the contralateral artery remained unaffected. CONCLUSIONS These data indicate that the sympathetic nervous system exerts a marked tonic restraint of arterial distensibility. This restraint involves medium-size and large muscular arteries and can also be seen in subjects with peripheral artery disease. This stiffening influence may increase the traumatic effect of intravascular pressure on the vessel wall and favour atherosclerosis.
Confirmation of six Be X-ray binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud

This paper is based on ESO data from 079.D−0371 and 088.D−0352. The AAT observations have been supported by the OPTICON project (observing proposals 2011A/014 and 2012/A015), which is funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). VAM acknowledges financial support from the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant 93405) and the World Universities Network. RD, AM and IN from the University of Alicante acknowledge support from the Spanish Government Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad under grant AYA2015-68012-C2-2-P (MINECO/FEDER). ESB acknowledges support from a Claude Leon Foundation fellowship and from the Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission (FP7-COFUND). The OGLE project has received funding from the National Science Centre, Poland, grant MAESTRO 2014/14/A/ST9/00121 to AU.
Relative Size of the Hyperstriatum ventrale Is the Best Predictor of Feeding Innovation Rate in Birds

Within the avian telencephalon, the dorsal ventricular ridge (DVR) contains higher order and multimodal integration areas. Using multiple regressions on 17 avian taxa, we show that an operational estimate of behavioral flexibility, the frequency of feeding innovation reports in ornithology journals, is most closely predicted by relative size of one of these DVR areas, the hyperstriatum ventrale. Neither phylogeny, juvenile development mode, nor species sampled account for the relationship. Similar results are found when the hyperstriatum ventrale is lumped with a second DVR structure, the neostriatum. In simple correlations, size of the wulst and the striatopallidal complex is associated with feeding innovation rate, but the two structures are eliminated from the multiple regressions. Our results parallel those on primates showing a correlation between innovation rate and neocortex size and support the idea that the mammalian neocortex and the neostriatum-hyperstriatum ventrale complex in birds have similar integrative roles.
Efficacy and safety results of patients with HCV genotype 2 or 3 infection treated with ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir and sofosbuvir with or without ribavirin (QUARTZ II‐III)

The efficacy and safety of an investigational combination of ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir (OBV/PTV/r) plus sofosbuvir (SOF) ± ribavirin (RBV) in patients with HCV genotype 2 or 3 infection with or without cirrhosis was evaluated. Patients with HCV genotype 3 infection without cirrhosis were randomized to receive OBV/PTV/r + SOF ± RBV for 12 weeks; OBV/PTV/r + SOF + RBV was administered to genotype 3‐infected patients with cirrhosis for 12 weeks and to genotype 2‐infected patients without cirrhosis for either 6 or 8 weeks. Efficacy was assessed by sustained virologic response [HCV RNA <25 IU/mL] 12 weeks post‐treatment (SVR12). Safety was assessed in all treated patients. In patients with genotype 3 infection with or without cirrhosis treated with 12 weeks of OBV/PTV/r + SOF ± RBV, the overall SVR12 rate was 98% (50/51), with no virologic failures. Patients with genotype 2 infection treated with OBV/PTV/r + SOF + RBV had SVR12 rates of 90% (9/10) and 44% (4/9) following 8‐ and 6‐week treatment durations, respectively; failure to achieve SVR12 for these patients was due to relapse without baseline or treatment‐emergent resistance‐associated substitutions. Thus, the investigational combination of OBV/PTV/r with SOF ± RBV was well tolerated and achieved high SVR rates with no virologic failures in patients with genotype 3 infection. Combining direct‐acting antivirals with complementary mechanisms of action and different viral targets may be an effective treatment strategy that may allow for shorter durations of therapy.