Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Severe Abdominal Pain in 2 Teenage Girls

CW, a 15-year-old African American girl, presented to the ER at Children’s Hospital of New Orleans with severe abdominal pain and a history of diarrhea, fatigue, and weight loss of 6 lb over 4 months. The patient did not have any mouth ulcers or rashes and had no joint pain or swelling. Her past medical history was only positive for eczema. Her cousin had lupus. On examination, the patient was afebrile and had normal blood pressure and regular pulse. Examination of the head and neck did not reveal any lymphadenopathy, alopecia, or ulcers. Her heart sounds were normal, with some left lower precordial pain that was worse with sneezing. Abdominal exam was negative for organomegaly, and there was slight tenderness around the umbilical area. There was no edema, and normal pulsations were present in the lower extremities. No signs of joint swelling or arthritis were present in any joint. There was no evidence of skin rash or mucositis. The patient’s menstrual periods were regular. Laboratory evaluation revealed an erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) of 92 mm/h. Her serum chemistry, including amylase and lipase, was within normal limits. The C-reactive protein level was 2.5 mg/dL. Her white cell count was 4.8, with normal differential, hemoglobin level was 9.6 mg/dL, hematocrit was 30.8%, and platelet count was 419 000. Antinuclear antibody test and rheumatoid factor were negative. The immunoglobulin serum levels showed that IgG was significantly elevated to 2260 mg/dL (normal 510-1275 mg/dL). A CT of the abdomen was ordered, which revealed thickening of the superior mesenteric artery and abdominal aorta (Figures 1 and 2). A magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) image revealed a thickening of the wall of the lower thoracic aorta. Also, the MRA showed a narrowing of the roots of the left carotid, right brachiocephalic artery bilaterally in addition to some pleural effusion, which was greater in the left than the right. The EKG and echocardiogram were normal. No blood or mucus was observed in the stool.
Chronic increases in sphingosine kinase-1 activity induce a pro-inflammatory, pro-angiogenic phenotype in endothelial cells

Sphingosine kinase-1 (SK1) promotes the formation of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), which has potent pro-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic effects. We investigated the effects of raised SK1 levels on endothelial cell function and the possibility that this signaling pathway is activated in rheumatoid arthritis. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells with 3- to 5-fold SK1 (ECSK) overexpression were generated by adenoviral and retroviralmediated gene delivery. The activation state of these cells and their ability to undergo angiogenesis was determined. S1P was measured in synovial fluid from patients with RA and OA. ECSK showed an enhanced migratory capacity and a stimulated rate of capillary tube formation. The cells showed constitutive activation as evidenced by the induction of basal VCAM-1 expression, and further showed a more augmented VCAM-1 and E selectin response to TNF compared with empty vector control cells (ECEV). These changes had functional consequences in terms of enhanced neutrophil binding in the basal and TNFstimulated states in ECSK. By contrast, over-expression of a dominant-negative SK inhibited the TNF-induced VCAM-1 and E selectin and inhibited PMN adhesion, confirming that the observed effects were specifically mediated by SK. The synovial fluid levels of S1P were significantly higher in patients with RA than in those with OA. Small chronic increases in SK1 activity in the endothelial cells enhance the ability of the cells to support inflammation and undergo angiogenesis, and sensitize the cells to inflammatory cytokines. The SK1 signaling pathway is activated in RA, suggesting that manipulation of SK1 activity in diseases of aberrant inflammation and angiogenesis may be beneficial.
Estudios de cefditoren como modelo de actualización de farmacodinamia continua en la ecología de la microbiota respiratoria humana

El objetivo general de esta tesis ha sido disenar un programa de estudios preclinicos con una cefalosporina oral de tercera generacion, cefditoren, mas alla de los exigidos por las Autoridades Reguladoras frente a las bacterias mas prevalentes en la infeccion respiratoria en la comunidad. Este programa se ha llevado a cabo en 16 centros de investigacion la mayoria de ellos localizados en Espana y han permitido obtener datos que, interrelacionados entre si muestran la actividad antibiotica de esta cefalosporina frente a bacterias con fenotipos de resistencia emergentes, que no se encuentran en numero suficiente durante el desarrollo clinico y determinen los parametros farmacodinamicos que predicen eficacia y previenen la seleccion de resistencia. De los 13 estudios de susceptibilidad antibiotica se ha conseguido informacion actualizada sobre sensibilidad y resistencia a cefditoren y a otros antibioticos en las bacterias mas prevalentes en la infeccion respiratoria en la comuni dad. Los 6 modelos de simulacion realizados han permitido por un lado, conocer la actividad de cefditoren y los parametros predictores de eficacia frente a cepas con determinados genotipos/fenotipos de resistencia que no se encontraron en numero sufi ciente en los ensayos clinicos terapeuticos y por otro conocer los valores de los parametros PK/PD que predicen la aparicion de poblaciones y subpoblaciones resistentes. Frente al impacto que el uso de antibioticos tendra en la microbiota los 4 ensay os realizados simulando distintos nichos ecologicos han ayudando a predecir la potencial seleccion y transmision de resistencias. Los resultados procedentes de este programa de estudios sugieren la necesidad de mantener actualizados los datos de a ntibioticos, teniendo en cuenta la dinamica cambiante del mundo de los antimicrobianos debido, en gran parte al impacto que las medidas terapeuticas y profilacticas tendran en las bacterias patogenas y en la microbiota humana
The histone deacetylase inhibitor UCL67022 has potent activity in multiple myeloma and non‐Hodgkin lymphoma pre‐clinical models

van Esser, J.W. , van der Holt, B. , Meijer, E. , Niesters, H.G. , Trenschel, R. , Thijsen, S.F. , van Loon, A.M., Frassoni, F. , Bacigalupo, A. , Schaefer, U.W. , Osterhaus, A.D., Gratama, J.W. , L€ owenberg, B. , Verdonck, L.F. & Cornelissen, J.J. (2001) Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivation is a frequent event after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) and quantitatively predicts EBV-lymphoproliferative disease following T-cell –depleted SCT. Blood, 98, 972–978. Gaspar, H.B. , Sharifi, R. , Gilmour, K.C. & Thrasher, A.J. (2002) X-linked lymphoproliferative disease: clinical, diagnostic and molecular perspective. British Journal of Haematology, 119, 585–595. Gratama, J.W. , Oosterveer, M.A.P., Zwaan, F.E. , Lepoutre, J., Klein, G. & Ernberg, I. (1988) Eradication of Epstein Barr virus by allogeneic bone marrow transplantation: implications for sites of viral latency. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 85, 8693–8696. Harjunpaa, A. , Wiklund, T. , Collan, J., Janes, R. , Rosenberg, J., Lee, D. , Grillo-L opez, A. & Meri, S. (2001) Complement activation in circulation and central nervous system after rituximab (anti-CD20) treatment of B-cell lymphoma. Leukemia & Lymphoma, 42, 731–738. Harrington, D.S. , Weisenburger, D.D. & Purtilo, D.T. (1987) Malignant lymphoma in the X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome. Cancer, 59, 1419–1429. Kimura, H. , Hoshino, Y. , Kanegane, H. , Tsuge, I. , Okamura, T. , Kawa, K. & Morishima, T. (2001) Clinical and virological characteristics of chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection. Blood, 98, 280–286. Nagy, N. & Klein, E. (2010) Deficiency of the proapoptotic SAP function in X-linked lymphoproliferative disease aggravates Epstein-Barr (EBV) induced mononucleosis and promotes lymphoma development. Immunology Letters, 130, 13–18. Nichols, K.E. , Ma, C.S. , Cannons, J.L. , Schwartzberg, P.L. & Tangye, S.G. (2005) Molecular and cellular pathogenesis of X-linked lymphoproliferative disorder. Immunological Reviews, 203, 180–199. Rezaei, N. , Mahmoudi, E. , Aghamohammadi, A. , Das, R. & Nichols, K.E. (2011) X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome: a genetic condition typified by the triad of infection, immunodeficiency and lymphoma. British Journal of Haematology, 152, 13–30. Sumegi, J., Huang, D. , Lanyi, A. , Davis, J.D. , Seemayer, T.A. , Maeda, A. , Klein, G. , Seri, M. , Wakiguchi, H. , Purtilo, D.T. & Gross, T.G. (2000) Correlation of mutations of the SH2D1A gene and Epstein-Barr virus infection with clinical phenotype and outcome in X-linked lymphoproliferative disease. Blood, 96, 3118–3125.
Specifically Targeted Modification of Human Aldose Reductase by Physiological Disulfides*

Aldose reductase is inactivated by physiological disulfides such as GSSG and cystine. To study the mechanism of disulfide-induced enzyme inactivation, we examined the rate and extent of enzyme inactivation using wild-type human aldose reductase and mutants containing cysteine-to-serine substitutions at positions 80 (C80S), 298 (C298S), and 303 (C303S). The wild-type, C80S, and C303S enzymes lost >80% activity following incubation with GSSG, whereas the C298S mutant was not affected. Loss of activity correlated with enzyme thiolation. The binary enzyme-NADP+ complex was less susceptible to enzyme thiolation than the apoenzyme. These results suggest that thiolation of human aldose reductase occurs predominantly at Cys-298. Energy minimization of a hypothetical enzyme complex modified by glutathione at Cys-298 revealed that the glycyl carboxylate of glutathione may participate in a charged interaction with His-110 in a manner strikingly similar to that involving the carboxylate group of the potent aldose reductase inhibitor Zopolrestat. In contrast to what was observed with GSSG and cystine, cystamine inactivated the wild-type enzyme as well as all three cysteine mutants. This suggests that cystamine-induced inactivation of aldose reductase does not involve modification of cysteines exclusively at position 80, 298, or 303.
Research on adaptive SIFT algorithm in image matching of pipeline inner surface visual measurement

SIFT algorithm has many advantages such as high matching rate and good robustness. However, it still has same imperfect. Due to the large number of key points and large amount of computation, the processing speed is very slow. This article propose an improved SIFT matching algorithm with threshold and adaptive. In this algorithm, the threshold size is changeable. The number of feature points and the spatial domain are also controllable. The matching accuracy and speed can be improved by optimizing parameters. Then stereo image matching of inner surface of pipeline can be realized. Experimental results show that the matching rate and the matching speed are improved obviously. The algorithm can be applied to the matching of the inner surface corrosion images.
Spared written naming of proper nouns: a case report.

In this study we describe an investigation into the residual written word retrieval skills of M.E. D. , a patient with a severe aphasia. M.E. D. 's performance on written naming and writing to dictation tasks showed a distinctive pattern of performance across semantic categories. The patient's ability to write the names of countries and famous people was consistently superior to her ability to write the names of objects. These results could be considered as indicative of a double dissociation in the proper nouns category, as there are already patients on record who have a selective deficit in retrieving proper nouns.
Alleviating Promotion of Inflammation and Cancer Induced by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs

Clinical Relevance Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) including aspirin are of intensive use nowadays. These drugs exert their activity via the metabolism of arachidonic acid (AA) by cyclooxygenase inhibition. Though beneficial for health in some instances, both unspecific and specific cyclooxygenase inhibitor activity interfere with AA metabolism producing also proinflammatory lipids that may promote cancer. Materials and Methods This review is based on available literature on clinical uses, biochemical investigations, molecular medicine, pharmacology, toxicity, and epidemiology-clinical studies on NSAIDs and other drugs that may be used accordingly, which was collected from electronic (SciFinder, Medline, Science Direct, and ACS among others) and library searches of books and journals. Results Relevant literature supports the notion that NDSAID use may also promote proinflammatory biochemical events that are also related to precancerous predisposition. Several agents are proposed that may be employed in immediate future to supplement and optimize treatment with NSAIDs. In this way serious side effects arising from promotion of inflammation and cancer, especially in chronic NSAID users and high risk groups of patients, could be avoided.
Racial Differences in the Performance of Existing Risk Prediction Models for Incident Type 2 Diabetes: The CARDIA Study

OBJECTIVE In 2010, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) added hemoglobin A1c (A1C) to the guidelines for diagnosing type 2 diabetes. However, existing models for predicting diabetes risk were developed prior to the widespread adoption of A1C. Thus, it remains unknown how well existing diabetes risk prediction models predict incident diabetes defined according to the ADA 2010 guidelines. Accordingly, we examined the performance of an existing diabetes prediction model applied to a cohort of African American (AA) and white adults from the Coronary Artery Risk Development Study in Young Adults (CARDIA). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We evaluated the performance of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) diabetes risk prediction model among 2,456 participants in CARDIA free of diabetes at the 2005–2006 exam and followed for 5 years. We evaluated model discrimination, calibration, and integrated discrimination improvement with incident diabetes defined by ADA 2010 guidelines before and after adding baseline A1C to the prediction model. RESULTS In the overall cohort, re-estimating the ARIC model in the CARDIA cohort resulted in good discrimination for the prediction of 5-year diabetes risk (area under the curve [AUC] 0.841). Adding baseline A1C as a predictor improved discrimination (AUC 0.841 vs. 0.863, P = 0.03). In race-stratified analyses, model discrimination was significantly higher in whites than AA (AUC AA 0.816 vs. whites 0.902; P = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS Addition of A1C to the ARIC diabetes risk prediction model improved performance overall and in racial subgroups. However, for all models examined, discrimination was better in whites than AA. Additional studies are needed to further improve diabetes risk prediction among AA.
Predicting stem total and assortment volumes in an industrial Pinus taeda L. forest plantation using airborne laser scanning data and random forest

Improvements in the management of pine plantations result in multiple industrial and environmental benefits. Remote sensing techniques can dramatically increase the efficiency of plantation management by reducing or replacing time-consuming field sampling. We tested the utility and accuracy of combining field and airborne lidar data with Random Forest, a supervised machine learning algorithm, to estimate stem total and assortment (commercial and pulpwood) volumes in an industrial Pinus taeda L. forest plantation in southern Brazil. Random Forest was populated using field and lidar-derived forest metrics from 50 sample plots with trees ranging from three to nine years old. We found that a model defined as a function of only two metrics (height of the top of the canopy and the skewness of the vertical distribution of lidar points) has a very strong and unbiased predictive power. We found that predictions of total, commercial, and pulp volume, respectively, showed an adjusted R2 equal to 0.98, 0.98 and 0.96, with unbiased predictions of −0.17%, −0.12% and −0.23%, and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values of 7.83%, 7.71% and 8.63%. Our methodology makes use of commercially available airborne lidar and widely used mathematical tools to provide solutions for increasing the industry efficiency in monitoring and managing wood volume.
Enzyme millisecond conformational dynamics do not catalyze the chemical step

The idea that enzymes catalyze reactions by dynamical coupling between the conformational motions and the chemical coordinates has recently attracted major experimental and theoretical interest. However, experimental studies have not directly established that the conformational motions transfer energy to the chemical coordinate, and simulating enzyme catalysis on the relevant timescales has been impractical. Here, we introduce a renormalization approach that transforms the energetics and dynamics of the enzyme to an equivalent low-dimensional system, and allows us to simulate the dynamical coupling on a ms timescale. The simulations establish, by means of several independent approaches, that the conformational dynamics is not remembered during the chemical step and does not contribute significantly to catalysis. Nevertheless, the precise nature of this coupling is a question of great importance.
Safety and immunogenicity of a cold‐adapted influenza A (H1N1) reassortant virus vaccine administered to infants less than six months of age

A safe and effective influenza vaccine is needed to prevent serious influenza illness in infants younger than 6 months of age. The purpose of this study was to determine whether two doses of the cold‐adapted (ca) influenza A reassortant vaccine would be safe and immunogenic in this age group. In the first part of this study, infants received two doses of 105 or 108 50% tissue culture‐infectious dose (TCID50) of the ca influenza vaccine separately from routine immunizations. In the second part of this study two 106 TCID50 doses of the ca influenza vaccine were given with routine immunizations at 2 and 4 or 2 and 6 months of age. The ca influenza vaccine was well‐tolerated by participants in both parts of this study. Two doses of the ca influenza vaccine were immunogenic in infants who received them separately from routine immunizations; 83% of vaccinees developed protective titers of serum hemagglutination‐inhibition (HAI) antibody. In contrast, when the ca vaccine was administered with routine immunizations, protective HAI antibody titers were induced in only 20% of those immunized at 2 and 4 months of age and 50% of those immunized at 2 and 6 months of age. There were no statistically significant associations between HAI antibody response to ca influenza vaccination and dose schedule, presence of passively acquired maternal HAI antibody, ethnic group or breast‐feeding status. Young age at the time of first immunization, however, appeared to correlate with decreased response to the hemagglutinin antigen of the influenza A virus. Further studies are needed to determine whether a larger dose of vaccine (107 TCID50) could be used safely to improve the serum antibody response to influenza in very young infants.
Differential Structure‐Activity Relationships of Phosphoramidon Analogues for Inhibition of Three Metalloproteases: Endothelin‐Converting Enzyme, Neutral Endopeptidase, and Angiotensin‐Converting Enzyme

Summary: The structure-activity relationships of phosphoramidon analogues for inhibition of endothelin-converting enzyme (ECE), neutral endopeptidase 24.11 (NEP), and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) were compared. Phosphoramidon inhibited ECE, NEP, and ACE activities with IC50 values of 3.5, 0.034, and 78 u,M, respectively. Removal of the rhamnose moiety of phosphoramidon (dipeptide 3) reduced the potency for ECE (IC50 = 70 μM), whereas the potencies for NEP (0.003 uJW) and ACE (0.20 μ,M) were increased. Addition of 2-(2-naphthyl)ethyl to dipeptide 3 improved the potency for ECE (0.55 μM) but weakened the potency for NEP (0.02 μ.M), and had no significant change for ACE. Interchange between Leu and Trp abolished the inhibitory activities for ECE and NEP, but the compound remained active for ACE. These results suggest that a hydrophobic group in the P1 position of phosphoramidon analogues increases the potency for ECE significantly, whereas compounds containing a free phosphonic acid are optimal for inhibition of NEP and ACE. Furthermore, an aromatic group in the V2 position is essential for the inhibition of ECE and NEP, but not ACE.
Emission structure stability investigation in alternating and reverse polarity electrical fields

Structure stability of a multiwall carbon nanotube - polystyrene nanocomposite was investigated in two operational modes. Statistical analysis of the emission parameters of the whiskers formed on the anode surface during field emission was carried out. The histograms of the statistical distribution of effective heights at different current levels were plotted. Mass-spectrometry data in alternating electrical fields show the presence of C2H2, H2 and CO in spectra.
Comprehensive criteria to judge validity and reliability of qualitative research within the realism paradigm

Aims to address a gap in the literature about quality criteria for validity and reliability in qualitative research within the realism scientific paradigm. Six comprehensive and explicit criteria for judging realism research are developed, drawing on the three elements of a scientific paradigm of ontology, epistemology and methodology. The first two criteria concern ontology, that is, ontological appropriateness and contingent validity. The third criterion concerns epistemology: multiple perceptions of participants and of peer researchers. The final three criteria concern methodology: methodological trustworthiness, analytic generalisation and construct validity. Comparisons are made with criteria in other paradigms, particularly positivism and constructivism. An example of the use of the criteria is given. In conclusion, this paper’s set of six criteria will facilitate the further adoption of the realism paradigm and its evaluation in marketing research about, for instance, networks and relationship marketing.
Localization of vascular endothelial growth factor in human retina and choroid.

OBJECTIVE To examine the distribution and relative levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the nondiabetic and preproliferative diabetic human retina and choroid. METHODS Immunohistochemical localization was performed on frozen sections from cryopreserved postmortem human tissue using a polyclonal antibody against VEGF and a streptavidin peroxidase system. Eyes from 5 subjects without diabetes and 8 subjects with diabetes were examined and analyzed using a 7-point immunohistochemical grading system. RESULTS In subjects without diabetes, weak or no VEGF immunoreactivity was associated with retinal blood vessels. In subjects with diabetes, we found significantly increased immunoreactivity in the retinal vascular endothelium and blood vessel walls. Vascular endothelial growth factor immunoreactivity was also associated with intravascular leukocytes in subjects with and without diabetes. In the choroid of subjects without diabetes, immunoreactivity was almost exclusively associated with intravascular leukocytes, whereas in diabetic subjects, immunoreactivity was localized within choriocapillaris endothelium, choroidal neovascular endothelium, and migrating retinal pigment epithelium cells. CONCLUSIONS The observed increase in VEGF immunoreactivity in the diabetic retina and choroid suggests that VEGF may contribute to 2 well-documented events during retinopathy: increased vascular permeability and angiogenesis.