Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anthracycline-induced clinical heart failure in a cohort of 607 children: long-term follow-up study.

PURPOSE To determine the early and late cumulative incidence of anthracycline-induced clinical heart failure (A-CHF) after anthracycline therapy in childhood and to identify associated risk factors. PATIENTS AND METHODS The cumulative incidence of A-CHF and the risk factors of A-CHF were assessed in a cohort of 607 children who had been treated with anthracyclines between 1976 and 1996. For 96% of the cohort, we obtained the clinical status up to at least January 1997. The mean follow-up time was 6.3 years. RESULTS The cumulative incidence of A-CHF was 2.8%, after a mean follow-up time of 6.3 years and a mean cumulative dose of anthracyclines of 301 mg/m(2). A cumulative dose of anthracycline higher than 300 mg/m(2) was associated with an increased risk of A-CHF (relative risk, 11.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.6 to 59.5) compared with a cumulative dose lower than 300 mg/m(2). The estimated risk of A-CHF increased with time after the start of anthracycline chemotherapy to 2% after 2 years and 5% after 15 years. CONCLUSION Up to 5% of patients will develop A-CHF 15 years after treatment, and patients treated with a cumulative dose of anthracyclines higher than 300 mg/m(2) are at highest risk for A-CHF. This is thus a considerable and serious problem among these young patients. The findings reinforce the need for strategies for early detection of patients at risk for A-CHF and for the evaluation of other chemotherapeutic possibilities or cardioprotective agents in relation to the survival.
Fibromyalgia in women. Abnormalities of regional cerebral blood flow in the thalamus and the caudate nucleus are associated with low pain threshold levels.

OBJECTIVE To determine if regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the left and right hemithalami or the left and right heads of the caudate nucleus is abnormal in women with fibromyalgia (FM). METHODS Resting-state rCBF in the hemithalami and left and right heads of the caudate nucleus of 10 untreated women with FM and 7 normal control women was measured by single-photon-emission computed tomography. Pain threshold levels at tender and control points also were assessed in both the women with FM and the controls. RESULTS The rCBF in the left and right hemithalami and the left and right heads of the caudate nucleus was significantly lower in women with FM than in normal controls (P = 0.01, P = 0.003, P = 0.01, and P = 0.02, respectively). Compared with controls, the women with FM also were characterized by significantly lower cortical rCBF (P = 0.001) and lower pain threshold levels at both tender points (P = 0.0001) and control points (P = 0.0001). CONCLUSION The findings of low rCBF and generalized low pain thresholds support the hypothesis that abnormal pain perception in women with FM may result from a functional abnormality within the central nervous system.
A study of four cases with Klinefelter's syndrome, showing motile spermatozoa in their ejaculates.

Summary. Four unusual cases of Klinefelter's syndrome are described, in which motile spermatozoa were found in several ejaculates. One of these subjects was shown to be a 47XXY/46XY mosaic, but intensive cytogenic studies in the other three failed to reveal evidence of this. Records of proven parenthood may eventually disturb the present concept of sterility in this condition.
Rôle du noyau parafasciculaire du thalamus dans le contrôle des activités synchrones oscillatoires pathologiques

Le syndrome d'epilepsie mesio-temporale (EMLT) est la forme d'epilepsie focale pharmacoresistante la plus frequente chez l'adulte et est associee a une sclerose de la formation hippocampique. Le noyau parafasciculaire (PF) du thalamus est etroitement connecte a la fois a differentes regions corticales et a l'ensemble des structures des ganglions de la base, lui permettant de participer aux fonctions sous-tendues par ces structures, incluant a la fois des processus cognitifs, sensoriels et moteurs. L'objectif de ce travail a donc e��te d'etudier l'implication du PF dans le controle des crises d'epilepsies focales mesiotemporales dans un modele d'EMLT chez la souris, presentant a la fois des caracteristiques electrocliniques, histopathologiques et pharmacologiques similaires a celles de l'EMLT humaine. Nous avons montre que l'activite oscillatoire synchrone du PF augmentait dans la seconde precedant la fin des crises hippocampiques, suggerant une communication entre ces deux structures. Ces donnees ont ete corroborees par l'etude de l'activite unitaire des neurones du PF in vivo, montrant une diminution de leur frequence de decharge pendant la crise et un rebond d'activite concomitant a la fin de crise dans l'hippocampe. Au regard des connexions du PF, nous avons ensuite montre que la modulation pharmacologique et electrique de l'activite du PF avait une incidence sur les crises hippocampiques, suggerant un role du PF quant a la survenue et a la modulation des evenements paroxystiques hippocampiques. De ce fait, nous avons pu mettre en evidence l'implication du thalamus intralaminaire dans le controle a distance des crises focales mesio-temporales, chez la souris EMLT.
Role of digital rectal examination and prostate specific antigen in detecting carcinoma prostate.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the ability of digital rectal examination (DRE) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) in detecting carcinoma prostate. DESIGN Descriptive cross-sectional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY The study was conducted in the Department of Urology and Renal Transplantation from December 1996 to December 1999. PATIENTS AND METHODS Two hundred patients entered the protocol. They presented with complaint of prostatism or retention of urine. The patients were evaluated with estimation of serum prostate specific antigen and digital rectal examination was performed. Prostatic tissue biopsy was also done. RESULTS Digital rectal examination has shown sensitivity of 63% and specificity of 73.22%. The sensitivity of PSA was 87% and specificity was 70.8%. The positive predictive value for DRE and PSA was 57.5% and 78.04% respectively. Negative predictive value was 73.22% and 85.22% respectively. P value was statistically significant <0.037. In the second part of study a baseline serum PSA level in age-matched 200 patients without history of prostatism was estimated. CONCLUSION It was concluded that PSA represent an important adjunct to DRE for detection of prostate carcinoma.
Joint Robust Design for Secure AF Relay Networks With SWIPT

In this paper, we investigate the physical layer security for amplify-and-forward relay networks with simultaneous wireless information and power transfer. Specifically, by considering the dual-functional desired receiver, which is capable of decoding information and energy harvesting (EH), and assuming that only imperfect eavesdroppers’ channel state information can be attained, we propose a joint robust cooperative beamforming, artificial noise, and power splitting scheme. We formulate the relay power minimization problem under both the secrecy rate constraint and the EH constraint, which is non-convex and hard to tackle. To tackle this problem, we propose a two-level optimization approach, which involves 1-D search and the semi-definite relaxation. In addition, we testify that the SDR can obtain the rank-one optimal solution. Simulation results show that the proposed robust scheme achieves better secrecy performance than other schemes.
Mechanistic contributions of residues in the M1 transmembrane domain of the nicotinic receptor to channel gating

The nicotinic receptor (AChR) is a pentamer of homologous subunits with an α2βεδ composition in adult muscle. Each subunit contains four transmembrane domains (M1–M4). Position 15′ of the M1 domain is phenylalanine in α subunits while it is isoleucine in non-α subunits. Given this peculiar conservation pattern, we studied its contribution to muscle AChR activation by combining mutagenesis with single-channel kinetic analysis. AChRs containing the mutant α subunit (αF15′I) as well as those containing the reverse mutations in the non-α subunits (βI15′F, δI15′F, and εI15′F) show prolonged lifetimes of the diliganded open channel resulting from a slower closing rate with respect to wild-type AChRs. The kinetic changes are not equivalent among subunits, the β subunit, being the one that produces the most significant stabilization of the open state. Kinetic analysis of βI15′F AChR channels activated by the low-efficacious agonist choline revealed a 10-fold decrease in the closing rate, a 2.5-fold increase in the opening rate, a 28-fold increase in the gating equilibrium constant of the diliganded receptor, and a significant increased opening in the absence of agonist. Mutations at βI15′ showed that the structural bases of its contribution to gating is complex. Rate-equilibrium linear free-energy relationships suggest an ∼70% closed-state-like environment for the β15′ position at the transition state of gating. The overall results identify position 15′ as a subunit-selective determinant of channel gating and add new experimental evidence that gives support to the involvement of the M1 domain in the operation of the channel gating apparatus.
A One-Year Comparison of Cost and Outcomes of Angioplasty in Stent and Nonstent Patients

Most studies on costs and outcomes of stent use in percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) have been limited to less than 1 year of follow-up, in-hospital costs, or regional samples. The objective of this study was to compare restenosis rates and all direct medical care costs during the 1-year period following stent PTCA and nonstent PTCA. A nationwide claims database covering 1.7 million lives was used to identify patients with PTCA during 1995 and no PTCA during the previous year. All costs and rate of restenotic events during the 1-year period following PTCA were examined. Symptomatic restenosis was defined as the occurrence of any of the following: repeat angioplasty, coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), and myocardial infarction (MI). Stents were placed in 304 of 1367 identified patients. Both the rate of restenotic events (stent, 16.1%; no stent, 20.1%) and ischemic disease-related costs (stent, $9207; no stent, $10,498) were lower for patients with a stent during the follow-up period; however, the difference was not significant. Because of the higher cost of placing a stent during the initial procedure, patients with a stent had a significantly higher cost at the end of the 1-year period (stent, $49,245; stent, $40,683). Multivariate analyses further confirmed this finding. Thus, although restenotic events were lower for patients with stents by a nonsignificant margin, follow-up costs did not offset the higher cost of the initial stent placement.
Histone Deacetylases: Unique Players in Shaping the Epigenetic Histone Code

Abstract: The epigenome is defined by DNA methylation patterns and the associated posttranslational modifications of histones. This histone code determines the expression status of individual genes dependent upon their localization on the chromatin. The silencing of gene expression is associated with deacetylated histones, which are often found to be associated with regions of DNA methylation as well as methylation at the lysine 4 residue of histone 3. In contrast, the activation of gene expression is associated with acetylated histones and methylation at the lysine 9 residue of histone 3. The histone deactylases play a major role in keeping the balance between the acetylated and deacetylated states of chromatin. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are divided into three classes: class I HDACs (HDACs 1, 2, 3, and 8) are similar to the yeast RPD3 protein and localize to the nucleus; class II HDACs (HDACs 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10) are homologous to the yeast HDA1 protein and are found in both the nucleus and cytoplasm; and class III HDACs form a structurally distinct class of NAD‐dependent enzymes that are similar to the yeast SIR2 proteins. Since inappropriate silencing of critical genes can result in one or both hits of tumor suppressor gene (TSG) inactivation in cancer, theoretically the reactivation of affected TSGs could have an enormous therapeutic value in preventing and treating cancer. Indeed, several HDAC inhibitors are currently being developed and tested for their potency in cancer chemotherapy. Importantly, these agents are also potentially applicable to chemoprevention if their toxicity can be minimized. Despite the toxic side effects and lack of specificity of some of the inhibitors, progress is being made. With the elucidation of the structures, functions and modes of action of HDACs, finding agents that may be targeted to specific HDACs and potentially reactivate expression of only a defined set of affected genes in cancer will be more attainable.
Vitronectin modulates the expression of complement components of the terminal pathway synthesized by human umbilical vein endothelial cells in vitro

In this study we demonstrate that human endothelial cells (EC) synthesize mRNA for vitronectin by using techniques based on reverse transcriptase (RT) reaction and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The identification of vitronectin mRNA, shown by sequence analysis of PCR‐amplified RT product of RNA extracted from EC, clearly demonstrates that these cells synthesize mRNA for vitronection. We further investigated whether vitronectin in serum‐free EC cultures regulates the net expression of the terminal complement pathway, measured as the terminal complement complex (TCC) bound to co‐cultured agarose beads which activate the alternative pathway. Presence of polyclonal F(ab‘)2 anti‐human vitronectin (VN) antibodies, regardless of concentration (10–80 μg/ml), significantly reduced the binding of monoclonal anti‐C3c antibodies to co‐cultured beads, whereas the binding of monoclonal anti‐TCC antibodies was unaltered or significantly increased compared with controls. Despite some interexperimental variation in the results, addition of vitronectin (10–80 μg/ml) to the EC resulted in an inversely related pattern compared with experiments using anti‐VN antibodies. The binding indices of anti‐C3c are comparable to the controls. On the other hand, there is a steady concentration‐dependent (10–80 μg of vitronectin added) reduction in binding of anti‐TCC up to approximately 60%. The results indicate that vitronectin regulates the expression of synthezised and surface‐bound TCC in serum‐free EC cultures, comparable to previous findings in serum.
Breast Necrosis Secondary to Vasopressor Extravasation: Management Using Indocyanine Green Angiography and Omental Flap Closure

Extravasation is a rare but serious complication of vasopressor administration. A 60‐year‐old female who underwent ascending and hemiarch repair of the aorta along with aortic valve replacement developed extensive right breast and chest wall necrosis after vasopressor extravasation from an internal jugular vein central line. The patient underwent a total mastectomy due to deep tissue necrosis detected by laser‐assisted indocyanine green dye angiography, and eventually required omental flap reconstruction to obtain adequate sternal coverage. This case represents a previously unreported complication of internal jugular central line extravasation of vasopressors with resultant breast and chest wall necrosis, and highlights the utility of the omentum in chest wall reconstruction.
The blunting of coronary flow reserve in hypertension with left ventricular hypertrophy is transmural and correlates with systolic blood pressure

Background: Hypertensive patients show a blunted coronary flow reserve (CFR) that, in the absence of epicardial disease, is an index of microvascular dysfunction. We aimed at assessing subendocardial and subepicardial myocardial blood flow (MBF) and CFR using high-resolution PET and determine the influence of haemodynamic load and ventricular mass in patients with arterial hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy. Methods: We measured MBF (ml/min per g) using PET with oxygen-15 labelled water. Thirty patients (56 ± 8 years, 21 men) with stage 1–2 hypertension in therapy wash-out, except for thiazides, and 10 healthy volunteers were studied at baseline and during dipyridamole-induced hyperaemia (0.56 mg/kg over 4 min). Data are mean ± SD. Results: In patients, left ventricular mass index was 144 ± 40 g/m2 and septal thickness 14.8 ± 1.9 mm. Baseline MBF was similar in patients and healthy volunteers in subendocardial (ENDO) (P = 0.08) and subepicardial (EPI) (P = 0.5), but patients had significantly lower hyperaemic MBF-EPI and MBF-ENDO (P < 0.001) and significantly lower CFR (EPI P < 0.001; ENDO P = 0.003). In patients, the degree of impairment of CFR-EPI (R = 0.52, P = 0.003) and CFR-ENDO (R = 0.51, P = 0.004) was inversely related to SBP, but not to left ventricular mass index. Conclusion: In patients with stage 1–2 hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy, CFR is transmurally blunted due to a reduced hyperaemic response to stress, which is inversely related to SBP. In the absence of coronary stenosis, this phenomenon is most likely the expression of severe coronary microvascular dysfunction.
Cerebral angiography in cardiac myxoma. Correlation of angiographic and histopathological findings.

Abstract A report of 3 cases illustrates the cerebral angiographic findings which can be encountered in left atrial myxoma with cerebral embolization. Since there apparently has been no previous record of the pathological basis of the unusual developments in chronic stages of the embolization, neuropathological findings at autopsy in one patient have been extensively described. Recognition of these angiographic features may be of major significance in establishing diagnosis. To the classical six varieties of aneurysm should probably be added this rare variety, neoplastic, since some of these aneurysms have sufficient remaining elements of the arterial wall to be classified as true aneurysms.
The amino‐terminal non‐catalytic region of Salmonella typhimurium SigD affects actin organization in yeast and mammalian cells

The internalization of Salmonella into epithelial cells relies on the function of bacterial proteins which are injected into the cell by a specialized type III secretion system. Such bacterial effectors interfere with host cell signalling and induce local cytoskeletal rearrangements. One of such effectors is SigD/SopB, which shares homology with mammalian inositol phosphatases. We made use of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae model for elucidating new aspects of SigD function. Endogenous expression of SigD in yeast caused severe growth inhibition. Surprisingly, sigD alleles mutated in the catalytic site or even deleted for the whole C‐terminal phosphatase domain still inhibited yeast growth by inducing loss of actin polarization and precluding the budding process. Accordingly, when expressed in HeLa cells, the same sigD alleles lost the ability of depleting phosphatidylinositol 4,5‐bisphosphate from the plasma membrane, but still caused disappearance of actin fibres and loss of adherence. We delineate a region of 25 amino acids (residues 118–142) that is necessary for the effect of SigD on actin in HeLa cells. Our data indicate that SigD exerts a toxic effect linked to its N‐terminal region and independent of its phosphatase activity.
DOVE: pinpointing firmware security vulnerabilities via symbolic control flow assertion mining (work-in-progress)

In the past decade, the number of reported security attacks exploiting unchecked input firmware values has been on the rise. To address this concerning trend, this work proposes a novel detection framework, called DOVE, capable of identifying unlikely firmware execution flows, specifically those that may reveal a security vulnerability. The DOVE framework operates by leveraging a symbolic simulation of the firmware's execution, paired with a probability computation that can identify unlikely execution flows and provide to the user corresponding formal assertions.
NMR and spin relaxation in systems with magnetic nanoparticles

The 1H NMR spectra and spin dynamics of the host systems have been studied in liquid and solid suspensions of γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. Significant broadening of 1H NMR spectra and growing relaxation rates were observed with increased concentration of nanoparticles in the liquid systems, with the relation T1/T2 depending on the particular host. Solid systems demonstrate inhomogeneous broadening of the spectra and practically no dependence of T1 upon the nanoparticle concentration. We explain the experimental results taking into account the predomination of self-diffusion as a source of the relaxation in liquid suspensions, and estimate effective parameters of relaxation in the systems under study.
Signaling from the Small GTP-binding Proteins Rac1 and Cdc42 to the c-Jun N-terminal Kinase/Stress-activated Protein Kinase Pathway

Certain small GTP-binding proteins control the enzymatic activity of a family of closely related serine-threonine kinases known as mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). In turn, these MAPKs, such as p44mapk and p42mapk, referred to herein as MAPKs, and stress-activated protein kinases, also termed c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs), phosphorylate and regulate the activity of key molecules that ultimately control the expression of genes essential for many cellular processes. Whereas Ras controls the activation of MAPK, we and others have recently observed that two members of the Rho family of small GTP-binding proteins, Rac1 and Cdc42, regulate the activity of JNKs. The identity of molecules communicating Rac1 and Cdc42 to JNK is still poorly understood. It has been suggested that Pak1 is the most upstream kinase connecting these GTPases to JNK; however, we have observed that coexpression of Pak1 with activated forms of Cdc42 or Rac1 diminishes rather than enhances JNK activation. This prompted us to explore the possibility that kinases other than Pak might participate in signaling from GTP-binding proteins to JNK. In this regard, a computer-assisted search for proteins containing areas of homology to that in Pak1 that is involved in binding to Rac1 and Cdc42 led to the identification of mixed lineage kinase 3 (MLK3), also known as protein-tyrosine kinase 1, as a potential candidate for this function. In this study, we found that MLK3 overexpression is sufficient to activate JNK potently without affecting the phosphorylating activity of MAPK or p38. Furthermore, we present evidence that MLK3 binds the GTP-binding proteins Cdc42 and Rac1 in vivo and that MLK3 mediates activation of MEKK-SEK-JNK kinase cascade by Rac1 and Cdc42. Taken together, these findings strongly suggest that members of the novel MLK family of highly related kinases link small GTP-binding proteins to the JNK signaling pathway.
Developing the Reconfiguration Method to Increase Life Expectancy of Dynamic Wireless Sensor Network in Container Terminal

Abstract Nowadays control and management logistics solutions that are used in terminals apply sensor based technologies to identify and localize containers in the yard. Nevertheless, because of the limits in the existing sensor technical specification, the position of nodes is still affected by some errors or sometimes it cannot be determined in real-time systems due to battery fall. The sensor nodes pertaining to information storage and processing are mainly equipped with an uninterrupted power supply, independent distribution network connectivity and low performance computing system. The capacity of data traffic near a coordinator node is much higher than in the distant points; as a result, the existing elements close to processing nodes faster than others stop operating due to a lack of electricity and, as a result, the network ceases its overall work. The article describes the modification of network routing protocols for energy balancing in nodes, using the mobility of the coordinator node, which provides dynamic network reconfiguration possibilities.