Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Helicobacter pylori and cardiovascular disease: any missing data?

In a recent interesting review, Kucukazman et al1 investigated the association between Helicobacter pylori infection and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). To discuss this issue, the authors reported in Table I studies comparing the prevalence of H. pylori infection in CVD patients and non-CVD controls1. Among these, they included 3 studies performed by our group in several areas of Northern Italy2-4. I would like to highlight that another paper that met these inclusion criteria and included a large sample size was not reported. In particular, in a multicentre casecontrol study, performed in 4 Turin hospitals and in Sondalo hospital (Northern Italy), between June 1996 and June 1998, were included 223 consecutive male patients, aged 40-79 years (mean 60.2), admitted for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and compared to controls, matched for geographical area and socio-economic status. The prevalence of H. pylori was significantly higher among patients with AMI (84.7%) compared to control population (61.8%, p < 0.0001, odds ratio 3.42 [2.12–5.54]). On the contrary, no difference was observed comparing the seroprevalence of more virulent strains (anti CagA-positive) of H. pylori among the two cohorts (p = 0.17)5. A second key point is that considering prospective cohort studies (see Table II)1 the authors discussed studies published in the period 1997-2003. However, as reported in a recent meta-analysis6, several papers have been published thereafter. Since establishing a causal link between this infection and CVD would be of major public health importance7 and considering that the above reported paper included a large cohort, I think that it is important its inclusion among the case-control studies considered by Kucukazman et al1.
La théorie modifiée des modèles mentaux : une approche développementale du raisonnement conditionnel

Barrouillet, Gauffroy et Lecas (2008) ont propose de modifier la theorie des modeles mentaux (Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 2002) pour lui permettre de rendre compte de la maniere dont les individus evaluent la verite ou la faussete d’un conditionnel. L’objectif de ce travail etait de tester la theorie modifiee des modeles mentaux selon laquelle l’evaluation de la valeur de verite du conditionnel dependrait des modeles mentaux construits. Cette construction peut etre modulee notamment par le developpement, le contenu ou le contexte de l’enonce. Nous avons donc etudie le developpement de l’evaluation de la valeur de verite de differents types de conditionnels a travers differents paradigmes, avant de comparer le developpement des deux formes de raisonnement specifiques au Si (i.e., evaluation de la valeur de verite et evaluation des etats du monde possibles). L’ensemble des resultats supporte l’idee selon laquelle le raisonnement conditionnel reposerait sur un processus de construction de modeles mentaux.
Nyquist-Filtering (De)Multiplexer Using a Ring Resonator Assisted Interferometer Circuit

We present a Nyquist-filtering optical (de)multiplexer using a ring resonator-assisted interferometer circuit. It features a near-rectangular passband spectrum, scalable port count, and can be designed with sub-GHz spectral resolution. The circuit can be constructed using ordinary passive photonic-integrated circuit building blocks. In contrast to its counterparts using tapped-delay-line circuit topologies, this circuit has a chip area two-orders-of-magnitude smaller. The results of this study show the potential for realizing high-spectral-efficiency multicarrier transceivers and reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers in a fully integrated form.
Identificacion de competencias Del docente de excelencia de la universidad Del bio-bio

Los desafíos que enfrenta la educación superior están produciendo cambios en el perfil del estudiante y en la modalidad de interacción docente-alumno. El docente va transformándose en un mediador del proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje, de tal manera que debe ser capaz de generar un progreso real de mejoramiento de aprendizajes significativos. Cabe, pues, preguntarse por las nuevas competencias que deben poseer los docentes para el logro de estos propósitos. El presente trabajo identifica las competencias que debe poseer el docente de la Universidad del Bío-Bío para ejercer una docencia de alto desempeño. Se pone especial énfasis en las necesidades institucionales. Así, las competencias identificadas apuntan a dar cumplimiento a esas necesidades. Para lo anterior, se trabaja con los conceptos que la Universidad define para su desarrollo y que constituyen sus lineamientos estratégicos. La metodología desarrollada a través de la aplicación de entrevistas y encuestas nos permitió identificar las competencias necesarias para dar cumplimiento a los objetivos de la Universidad del Bío-Bío, las mejores prácticas asociadas a las competencias, los indicadores de cumplimiento de cada una de estas prácticas y los factores del entorno que facilitan o dificultan un buen desempeño en docencia. A partir de esta investigación se propone un esquema de gestión de los recursos humanos tomando como elemento central las competencias, a partir del cual se abre el horizonte de investigación a temas complementarios y necesarios para su desarrollo.
Acquired Cystic Kidney Disease: Occurrence, Prevalence, and Renal Cancers

Acquired cystic kidney disease (ACKD) is the result of cyst formation in the failing kidney. It has become more common because of increases in retention of the patients' own kidneys, growth in the dialysis population, and survival of long-term dialysis patients. We studied our chronic dialysis population for ACKD and renal cancers, and conducted a literature review of ACKD and renal cancer. We analyzed our chronic dialysis patients from 1979 through 1989 for native kidney retention, and studied patients undergoing their first kidney transplant at our center from 1967 through 1989. Our patients and those in literature reports were characterized by age, sex, race, underlying renal disease, dialysis time, and survival. We found that: 1) Native kidney retention in dialysis and transplant patients has increased linearly over the past 10 to 20 years and is now greater than 90% in both groups; 2) ACKD occurs in ESRD patients with all types of underlying kidney disease. 3) ACKD affects CAPD patients and HD patients equally; 4) ACKD affects both sexes equally and age is not a factor in the development of ACKD; 5) there appears to be a greater prevalence of ACKD in black patients with ESRD as compared to white patients with ESRD; 6) the prevalence of ACKD is a function of time on dialysis; 7) the incidence of renal cancer in ESRD is increased over that of the general population and occurs 80% of the time in patients with ACKD; 8) renal cancer can develop at any time in patients with ESRD and also occurs in renal transplant recipients; 9) the incidence of renal cancer in ESRD is 5 to 7 times greater in males than in females, and blacks are affected nearly twice as often as whites; and 10) the 5-year survival of patients with renal cancer and ESRD is approximately 35%--similar to that of patients not on dialysis. ACKD is an important complication of ESRD and will grow in importance as the population at risk continues to increase. These results support the need for investigation of 3-year dialysis patients for the presence of cystic disease and appropriate therapy based on findings. Further study is needed to discern the quantitative importance of ACKD and renal cancers in renal transplant patients.
Multi-Color in Vivo MR Imaging of Lymph Nodes using DIACEST Liposomes

G. Liu, M. M. Moake, A. A. Gilad, M. Jamil, Y-E. Har-el, C. Long, P. Walczak, J. Zhang, A. Cardona, M. A. DeLiso, G. Sgouros, J. W. Bulte, P. C. van Zijl, and M. T. McMahon F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States, Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, Institute for Cell Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
Predição Multiescala de Tráfego de Redes Utilizando Redes Neurais RBF Treinadas com Algoritmo de Mínimos Quadrados Ortogonais

Neste artigo, apresentamos um novo algoritmo de treinamento para redes neurais RBF (Funcao de Base Radial) baseado em minimos quadrados ortogonais e em decomposicao multiescala de sinais. Propomos um algoritmo de predicao de series temporais que combina as predicoes de aproximacoes para estas mesmas series e de seus detalhes em diferentes escalas atraves da Transformada Wavelet. Aplicamos as redes neurais RBF treinadas com o algoritmo proposto na predicaode trafego de redes de computadores. O treinamento das redes neurais RBF com algoritmo de minimos quadrados ortogonais aliada a decomposicao wavelet contribui para evitar problemas de mal condicionamento da matriz de interpolacao, como tambem para melhorar a capacidade de extrapolacao da rede neural RBF. Esta ultima caracteristica e verificada pela reducao do erro quadratico medio de predicao. As simulacoes realizadas confirmam que predicoes mais precisas sao obtidas para as series temporais de trafego de redes em relacao a outras redes neurais existentes.
Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy in Patients With Chronic Atrial Fibrillation

Heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF), 2 of the most common cardiovascular disorders, often coexist in the same patient, as 1 condition can lead to the other. The best approach to AF management in patients with HF is currently under investigation, but there seems to be an abundance of evidence in support of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in this group of patients. In addition, CRT is emerging as a superior option to stand-alone right ventricular pacing in patients with structural heart disease. However, in patients with AF, an adequate rate control is critical for this therapy to be highly effective. As control of the ventricular response can be difficult to achieve in many of those patients, often a nonpharmacologic intervention is required, such as ablation of the atrioventricular node to create heart block. The definitive role for CRT with or without atrioventricular nodal ablation in patients with AF and HF is yet to be studied in large, well-designed, randomized, controlled clinical trials.
Information Extraction from Unstructured Electronic Health Records and Integration into a Data Warehouse

For epidemiological research, the usage of standard electronic health records may be regarded a convenient way to obtain large amounts of medical data. Unfortunately, large parts of clinical reports are in written text form and cannot be used for statistical evaluations without appropriate preprocessing. This functionality is one of the main tasks in medical language processing. Here we present an approach to extract information from medical texts and a workflow to integrate this information into a clinical data warehouse. Our technique for information extraction is based on Conditional Random Fields and keyword matching with terminology-based disambiguation. Furthermore, we present an application of our data warehouse in a clinical study.
INTERACTIONS BETWEEN VASOPRESSIN AND BAROREFLEX CONTROL OF THE SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

1. In addition to its effects at the renal tubules to influence water retention and at vascular smooth muscle to cause vasoconstriction, the hormone arginine vasopressin also appears to modulate cardiovascular reflex control of the sympathetic nervous system. Infusion or endogenous release of vasopressin results in enhanced baroreflex sympatho‐inhibitory responses compared with other pressor agents. In addition, when changes in arterial pressure are imposed on an elevated background level of circulating vasopressin, due either to infusion or endogenous release, the arterial baroreflex response is shifted to lower pressures, and the maximum sympatho‐excitation to a decrease in pressure is reduced.
ATP-driven active transport of calcium in the membranes of the sarcoplasmic reticulum

During the uptake of calcium by the isolated vesicles of the sarcoplasmic reticulum from oxalate-containing solutions, calcium is accumulated inside the vesicles as calcium oxalate, until the product of the active concentrations of calcium and oxalate inside is about 5000 times higher than outside. The increase of the product of the ions involved is brought about by a calcium pump and not by an oxalate pump. The uptake of calcium is strictly correlated with the calcium-induced splitting of ATP (extra ATPase) as well as with the calcium-induced P-exchange between ATP and ADP. Both reactions depend on the concentration of the free calcium ions outside and cease when the level of the free calcium ions has been reduced to values about 10-8 to 10-9M. Vesicles subfractionated take up 2 moles of calcium for every mole of ATP split as long as the concentration of free calcium exceeds 10-7M. The ratio of calcium stored to ATP split declines to a value of 1 when the concentration of free calcium is reduced below 10-7M. 12 μmoles calcium (mg N)-1 min-1 are accumulated by the most active fraction of the vesicles at 20 °C.
The Elastic Fiber Network of the Anulus Fibrosus of the Normal and Scoliotic Human Intervertebral Disc

Study Design. Immunohistochemical study of elastic fibers in human intervertebral discs (IVD) collected at surgery from patients with scoliosis. Objectives. To compare the elastic fiber network in scoliotic discs (idiopathic scoliosis or neuromuscular scoliosis) to that of control (normal) discs. To study whether the change in elastic fiber organization could contribute to the progression of spinal deformity. Summary of Background Data. Elastin and elastic fibers have been identified previously in human IVD but were believed to contribute little to the tissue’s mechanical properties. However, a recent immunohistochemical study has revealed an abundant and organized elastic fiber network in bovine IVD, indicating that elastic fibers could play an important mechanical role. This article reports the organization of elastic fibers in human IVD and the changes of elastic fiber organization in scoliosis. Methods. Intact wedges of IVD were obtained from patients undergoing surgery for scoliosis (aged 12−22 years). Control discs were obtained from a patient (aged 12 years) with a spinal tumor and a trauma patient (aged 17 years). The discs were dissected to give radial slices and were snap frozen. Frozen sections were cut and digested with hyaluronidase to remove glycosaminoglycans. Micrographs of the sections were examined by polarized light to visualize collagen organization. The elastic fiber network was visualized immunohistochemically or by histochemical staining with orcein. Results. A highly organized elastic fiber network, similar to that described in bovine discs, was revealed in the control human discs. In the anulus fibrosus of control discs, dense elastic fibers were located between adjacent lamellae, with fibers also present within individual lamellae. Elastic fibers appeared to be long (>200 &mgr;m) and straight in outer anulus, whereas in inner anulus, they nearly ran parallel to each other and at an angle of approximately 60° or 120° to those in adjacent lamellae. However, in scoliotic discs, elastic fibers were sparse, and the collagen and elastic fiber networks were disorganized with loss of lamellar structure. Cell clusters, one of typical degenerative feature, were seen in scoliotic discs but not in age-matched control discs. Conclusions. Our results reveal an abundant and organized network of elastic fibers in the adolescent (12 and 17-year-olds) human IVD, and suggest that elastic fiber network plays a significant biomechanical role. This network is sparse and disrupted in scoliotic discs, and could be involved in the progression of the spinal deformity.
NADPH Oxidase–Derived Superoxide Anion Mediates Angiotensin II–Induced Pressor Effect via Activation of p38 Mitogen–Activated Protein Kinase in the Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla

The rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM), where sympathetic premotor neurons are located, is a central site via which angiotensin II (Ang II) elicits its pressor effect. We tested the hypothesis that NADPH oxidase-derived superoxide anion (O2·−) in the RVLM mediates Ang II–induced pressor response via activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways. Bilateral microinjection of Ang II into the RVLM resulted in an angiotensin subtype 1 (AT1) receptor-dependent phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK)1/2, but not stress-activated protein kinase/Jun N-terminal kinase (SAPK/JNK), in the ventrolateral medulla. The Ang II–induced p38 MAPK or ERK1/2 phosphorylation was attenuated by application into the RVLM of a NADPH oxidase inhibitor, diphenyleneiodonium chloride (DPI), an antisense oligonucleotide that targets against p22phox or p47phox subunit of NADPH oxidase mRNA, or the superoxide dismutase mimetic tempol. DPI or antisense p22phox or p47phox oligonucleotide treatment also attenuated the AT1 receptor-dependent increase in O2·− production in the ventrolateral medulla elicited by Ang II at the RVLM. Functionally, Ang II–elicited pressor response in the RVLM was attenuated by DPI, tempol, or a p38 MAPK inhibitor, SB203580. The AT1 receptor-mediated enhancement of the frequency of glutamate-sensitive spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents induced by Ang II in RVLM neurons was also abolished by SB203580. These results suggest that NADPH oxidase-derived O2·− underlies the activation of p38 MAPK or ERK1/2 by Ang II in the ventrolateral medulla. Furthermore, the p38 MAPK signaling pathway may mediate Ang II–induced pressor response via enhancement of presynaptic release of glutamate to RVLM neurons.
A Randomized, Comparative Study to Evaluate Efficacy and Safety of Two Injection Volumes of AbobotulinumtoxinA in Treatment of Glabellar Lines

BACKGROUND Different volumes of 0.9% NaCl may be used to reconstitute abobotulinumtoxinA yielding an injection volume that ranges from 0.05 to 0.1 mL per injection point for treatment of glabellar lines. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and subject satisfaction of 2 different injection volumes to deliver the same unit dose of abobotulinumtoxinA for treatment of glabellar lines. MATERIALS AND METHODS This randomized comparative study was conducted using 2 different reconstitution volumes to deliver a fixed unit dose of 10 Speywood units (sU) of abobotulinumtoxinA in either 0.05 mL (labeled volume) or 0.1 mL (twofold volume) per injection point. Evaluations included wrinkle severity, neurophysiological assessment by compound muscle action potential (CMAP), and subject satisfaction. RESULTS Use of either injection volume of abobotulinumtoxinA resulted in the early onset of effect, high effectiveness, and long duration of effect. The safety profile and injection pain levels were similar in both groups. The twofold injection volume was shown to be noninferior to the labeled injection volume based on CMAP results. CONCLUSION A twofold increase in injection volume to 0.1 mL per injection point to deliver 10 sU of abobotulinumtoxinA is effective and safe.
[Travel distance and the utilisation of out-of-hours services].

BACKGROUND It has been documented from a number of out-of-hours primary health care services that the utilisation of the services declines with increasing travel distances. In this study we have investigated the correlation between travel distances and the use of out-of-hours medical services for all Norwegian municipalities that provide such services at a single permanent casualty clinic round the clock. In addition, we have sought to reveal any differences in consultation rates between municipalities that maintain single-municipality or inter-municipal out-of-hours services, as well as between municipalities in which the casualty clinics are co-located with a hospital or located separately. MATERIAL AND METHOD Information on the types of out-of-hours services existing in 2011 was retrieved from the Norwegian Emergency Primary Health Care Registry, and 315 municipalities with single permanent casualty clinic premises were included. Rates for various types of utilisation of these clinics were calculated on the basis of statistics generated from reimbursement claims. RESULTS The number of medical consultations and house calls per inhabitant fell by 48 % and 55 % respectively when average travel distance increased from 0 to 50 kilometres. The use of telephone/letter contact was not significantly associated with distances. Single-municipality casualty clinics located outside hospitals had the highest consultation rate for out-of-hours medical services when adjusted for distance. INTERPRETATION This supports previous findings to the fact that distance is a crucial factor for the utilisation of out-of-hours medical services. Establishing inter-municipal casualty clinics and co-locating them with hospitals may contribute to a lower rate of use of out-of-hours medical services.
Evaluation of SVM, RVM and SMLR for Accurate Image Classification With Limited Ground Data

The accuracy of a conventional supervised classification is in part a function of the training set used, notably impacted by the quantity and quality of the training cases. Since it can be costly to acquire a large number of high quality training cases, recent research has focused on methods that allow accurate classification from small training sets. Previous work has shown the potential of support vector machine (SVM) based classifiers. Here, the potential of the relevance vector machine (RVM) and sparse multinominal logistic regression (SMLR) approaches is evaluated relative to SVM classification. With both airborne and spaceborne multispectral data sets, the RVM and SMLR were able to derive classifications of similar accuracy to the SVM but required considerably fewer training cases. For example, from a training set comprising 600 cases acquired with a conventional stratified random sampling design from an airborne thematic mapper (ATM) data set, the RVM produced the most accurate classification, 93.75%, and needed only 7.33% of the available training cases. In comparison, the SVM yielded a classification that had an accuracy of 92.50% and needed 4.5 times more useful training cases. Similarly, with a Landsat ETM+ (Littleport, Cambridgeshire, UK) data set, the SVM required 4.0 times more useful training cases than the RVM. For each data set, however, the classifications derived by each classifier were of similar magnitude, differing by no more than 1.25%. Finally, for both the ATM and ETM+ (Littleport) data sets, the useful training cases by SVM and RVM had distinct and potentially predictable characteristics. Support vectors were generally atypical but lay in the boundary region between classes in feature space while the relevance vectors were atypical but anti-boundary in nature. The SMLR also tended to mostly, but not always, use extreme cases that lay away from class boundary. The results, therefore, suggest a potential to design classifier-specific intelligent training data acquisition activities for accurate classification from small training sets, especially with the SVM and RVM.