Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The mast cell function‐associated antigen exhibits saccharide binding capacity

The mast cell function‐associated antigen (MAFA) is a membrane glycoprotein first identified on rat mucosal type mast cells (line RBL‐2H3) and known to inhibit the FcεRI‐mediated secretory response. In its extracellular domain, an amino acid stretch homologous to the carbohydrate binding domain of calcium‐dependent animal lectins has been found. To investigate its carbohydrate binding capacity, the MAFA has been expressed in the Spodoptera frugiperda insect cell line (Sf9) using the baculovirus expression system. Analysis by flow cytometry and surface labeling with 125I showed that the recombinant MAFA (rMAFA) was expressed as a monomeric and disulfide‐linked homodimeric glycoprotein in the membrane of the insect cells, and both forms exhibited the same epitopes as the protein isolated from RBL‐2H3 cells. Immunoaffinity‐purified rMAFA was then employed for studies of its saccharide binding capacity by using different neoglycans and glycoproteins. The rMAFA was found to bind specifically terminal mannose residues in a Ca2+‐dependent manner. These results support the notion that the extracellular domain of the MAFA is indeed able to bind ligands, which may be modulatory for the mast cell response.
Intracranial, Intraaxial, Space‐Occupying Lesions in Patients with Intractable Partial Seizures: An Anatomoclinical, Neuropsychological, and Surgical Correlation

Summary: : Fifty of ˜250 patients evaluated for intractable partial seizures were shown to have a space‐occupying lesion detected with radiographs and/or neuroimaging. Twenty‐eight males and 22 females had a mean age at seizure onset of 13 years and a mean duration of seizures of 11 years. All patients had closed‐circuit television with EEG monitoring and complete neurologic and neuropsychological assessment. Findings were correlated with lesion location and surgical data. Twenty‐seven lesions (54%) were located in the temporal lobe. Thirty‐five lesions (70%) were neoplastic. All patients with temporal lobe lesions had complex partial seizures, as did 74% of patients with extratemporal lesions. A good correlation between clinical seizure characteristics and lesion localization was found with the temporal, occipital, and frontal lesions but not with the parietal lesions. Sixty‐six percent of patients had focal interictal EEG findings. Lateralization corresponded to the side of the lesion in 64% and was localized to the region of the lesion in 30%. Lateralized ictal EEGs occurred in 58% of patients, corresponding with the side of the lesion in all but one patient. Abnormal findings on neuropsychological testing were congruent with lesion lateralization in 56% of patients and were localized to the region in 26%. Thirty‐nine of 47 patients who underwent a subtotal lobectomy to include the lesion are seizure‐free after ≫1 year of follow‐up, and five others are markedly improved.
Congenital heart disease: current knowledge about causes and inheritance

About 80% of congenital heart disease (CHD) is multifactorial and arises through various combinations of genetic and environmental contributors. About 20% of cases can be attributed to chromosomal anomalies, Mendelian syndromes, non‐syndromal single gene disorders or teratogens. Down syndrome and velocardiofacial syndrome are the most commonly seen syndromes in patients with CHD. To date, more than 30 genes have been linked to non‐syndromal forms of CHD. Their contribution to CHD remains unknown but is presumed to be relatively small. There is limited evidence for the contribution of specific environmental factors to CHD causation. However, folic acid supplementation in the pre‐ and peri‐conception period, ensuring rubella vaccination has been completed before pregnancy, and maintaining good glycaemic control in mothers with diabetes may reduce the risk of CHD in infants. Recurrence risks vary between different types of non‐syndromal CHD with multifactorial inheritance, and can be as high as 10% when two or more siblings are affected. Generally, the recurrence risk increases if a parent rather than a sibling is affected, particularly when the affected parent is the mother. Individualised recurrence risks can be generated for members of families affected by CHD after obtaining a detailed family history, including accurate cardiac diagnoses for all affected members. High‐throughput genetic techniques can accelerate gene discovery and improve our ability to provide individualised genetic counselling.
Perceptions of gay, lesbian, and heterosexual domestic violence among undergraduates in Sweden

An experimental study of perceptions about gay, lesbian, and heterosexual domestic violence in Sweden. Undergraduate students (N = 1009) read one of eight fictitious scenarios of domestic violence in married couple relationships, where sexual orientation, sex of victim and batterer, and severity of violence were varied. Perceptions of seriousness of the described incident and attitudes toward women, gays and lesbians were measured. Domestic violence was perceived as more serious in cases where: the respondent was a woman, the batterer was a man, the victim was a woman, or the battering was severe. Wife-battering in a heterosexual relationship was considered the most serious case in both the less and more severe battering scenario. Where battering was less severe, domestic violence in gay and lesbian relationships was perceived as more serious than heterosexual husband-battering; this difference disappeared in the severe battering scenario. Negative attitudes toward gays, lesbians, and women were associated with less concern about domestic violence in all types of relationships. The findings suggest that stereotypes about gays, lesbians, and women affect perceptions of domestic violence, but mainly when violence is less severe.
On codes satisfying M th-order running digital sum constraints

Multi level sequences with a spectral null of order M at frequency f, meaning that the power spectral density, and its first 2M-1 derivatives vanish at f, are characterized by finite-state transition diagrams (FSTDs) whose edge labels satisfy bounds on the variation of the Mth-order running digital sum (RDS). Necessary and sufficient conditions for FSTDs with higher order null constraints at DC and at an arbitrary submultiple of the symbol frequency are derived. Analytical results are given concerning the performance of codes satisfying an Mth-order RDS constraint on partial-response channels. Specific code designs for quaternary channel inputs are presented. The Euclidean distance properties of this new class of codes, aside from their spectral-shaping properties, are demonstrated. >
A Cognitive Approach to Electronic Music: Theoretical and Experiment-Based Perspectives

Meaning in music has been a topic of discussion throughout the history of the art form. Infuenced chiefy by the trends in scientifc methodology, perspectives on the semantics of music manifested considerable shifts in focus over time. Especially in the last century, the upsurge in cognitive research in the feld of psychology has yielded a growing body of new studies that probe the processes at play during the perception of sound and music. However, research that specifcally focuses on electronic music within this respect has been sparse and largely theoretical. As both the material and the language of electronic music diverge from that of traditional musical practices, the composer's engagement with the listener's cognitive faculties is fundamentally altered. This necessitates idiosyncratic approaches towards electronic music that take into account the act of meaning attribution on both compositional and analytical levels. Stemming from the author's compositional practice, research discussed here incorporates an environmental event perception model to motivate a gesture-based approach to the study of cognitive units in electronic music. Current paper provides theoretical perspectives on this topic as well as preliminary experiment results which substantiate the proposed ideas.
Intrahepatic chemotherapy for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

From 1976 to 1983, 28 patients (24 male and four female) with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were treated by intraarterial chemotherapy at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan, Milan, Italy. Tumors were retrospectively classified by a previously proposed staging system. Two patients were classified as Stage I and 26 as Stage II. Liver cirrhosis was present only in the males (in 50% of them). Nineteen patients were treated with doxorubicin (Adriamycin [Adria Laboratories, Columbus, OH]) and nine with 5‐fluorouraciI. Systemic toxicity was mild, but the treatment induced hepatic toxicity (ascites, clinical jaundice, or biochemical impairment) in 18% of noncirrhotic and 66% of cirrhotic patients. Clinical reduction of hepatomegaly was observed in 50% of noncirrhotic versus 16% of cirrhotic patients. Doxorubicin was effective in 66% of noncirrhotic patients and 20% of cirrhotic patients, with an overall response rate of 42%. 5‐fluorouracil was effective only in patients without cirrhosis, with an overall response rate of 22%. Overall median actuarial survival was 3.5 months, with a significant difference between noncirrhotic and cirrhotic patients (6 versus 2 months, respectively). Overall median survival of patients who responded to the treatment was 13 versus 2 months for nonresponders (P < 0.001). Liver cirrhosis was the most important prognostic factor in terms of liver toxicity, response rate, and survival. This study emphasized the negative impact of the treatment on cirrhotic patients. Also, the real value of intraarterial administration of doxorubicin was investigated.
An Area Efficient SEU-Tolerant Latch Design

This paper presents a new SEU-tolerant latch design based on Quatro and NMOS feedback transistors. By using these feedback transistors, the SEU susceptibility is decreased because of the cutoff feedback loop. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed design is immune to static single node upsets. The proposed latch and the reference Quatro were designed and fabricated on a 130 nm process. The test chip was exposed to heavy ions at the TAMU Cyclotron facility. The testing results show that the proposed design has a higher upset LET threshold and lower cross-section when compared to the reference latch. Its lower SEU vulnerability comes with small area penalty.
IMATT: An Integrated Multi-Agent Testing Tool for the Security of Agent-Based Web Applications

In this paper, an integrated multiagent testing tool, is presented. Such tool comprises static analyzer, dynamic tester and an integrator of the two components for detecting security vulnerabilities and errors in agent based web applications written in Java. The static analysis component analyzes the source code of the web application to identify the locations of security vulnerabilities and displays them to the programmer. Consequently, dynamic testing of the web application is carried out. Here, a temporal-based assertion language is introduced to help in detecting security violations (errors) in the underlying application. The proposed language has operators for detecting SQL injection and cross-site scripting, XSS, security errors. The dynamic tester consists of two components: instrumentor (preprocessor) and run-time-agent. The instrumentor has many modules that have been implemented as software agents using Java language under the control of a multi agent framework. The agents of the instrumentor are: static analyzer agent, parser agent, and code converter agent. Moreover, an integrator for integrating both static and dynamic analyses is employed. Eventually the implementation details of IMATT are reported.
Transcriptional silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Transcriptional silencing is a heritable form of gene inactivation that involves the assembly of large regions of DNA into a specialized chromatin structure that inhibits transcription. This phenomenon is responsible for inhibiting transcription at silent mating-type loci, telomeres and rDNA repeats in both budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, as well as at centromeres in fission yeast. Although transcriptional silencing in both S.cerevisiae and S.pombe involves modification of chromatin, no apparent amino acid sequence similarities have been reported between the proteins involved in establishment and maintenance of silent chromatin in these two distantly related yeasts. Silencing in S.cerevisiae is mediated by Sir2p-containing complexes, whereas silencing in S.pombe is mediated primarily by Swi6-containing complexes. The Swi6 complexes of S.pombe contain proteins closely related to their counterparts in higher eukaryotes, but have no apparent orthologs in S.cerevisiae. Silencing proteins from both yeasts are also actively involved in other chromosome-related nuclear functions, including DNA repair and the regulation of chromatin structure.
Targeting PDGF pathway in pulmonary arterial hypertension

Introduction: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) encompasses a rare potentially lethal group of diseases characterized by vasoconstriction, in situ thrombosis and vascular remodeling. Most of the existing therapies including endothelin receptor antagonists, prostacyclin and derivatives, or phsophodiesterase-5 inhibitors tackle mainly the endothelial dysfunction, leaving the remodeling suboptimally inhibited. This explains the disease progression that occurs even with combined therapies and the need for other therapies able to adequately inhibit the vascular remodeling. Areas covered: Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) signaling pathway was demonstrated to be involved in the vascular remodeling in PAH, and therefore, it might be a desirable therapeutic target in this setting. This review discusses the pathogenic role of this pathway in PAH and its potential inhibitory approaches, focusing on imatinib as well as on the existing preclinical data on this compound. Expert opinion: Preclinical studies demonstrated that PDGF inhibition with receptor antagonists such as imatinib reduces vascular remodeling. Therefore, PDGF might represent a plausible therapeutic target in this disease. However, compounds able to block this pathway via different mechanisms might also become potential PAH therapies.
Individual Robotic Arms Manipulator Control Employing Electromyographic Signals Acquired by Myo Armbands

This paper presents the control of two manipulating arms using EMG signals captured with a gesture control and motion control device, Myo Armband. It was used an electromyographic signal recognition obtained by Myo in order to control the degrees of freedom of two different manipulating arms to achieve a work altogether. First, the Myo armband was analyzed to acquire the control signals, after that robotic arms were characterized for associate its freedom degrees to the electromyographic signal moves. Finally, a test scenario was implemented to validate the robotic arms control through the moves of the user arms using the
Blood pressure lowering in the oldest old.

Persons aged 80 or older (the ‘oldest old’) represent the fastest growing age group in developed countries. Because systolic blood pressure (SBP) increases with age, hypertension is common in the oldest old. This condition was evident in 57% of 1160 older men, mean age 80 years, and in 60% of 2464 older women, mean age 81 years, in a long-term care facility [1], with two-thirds of these older persons having isolated systolic hypertension [2]. Hypertension prevalence was as high as 67.2% among 1002 Chinese patients aged 80 or more in retirement centers for army officers [3], and reached 74% in patients 80 years or older in the Framingham study [4]. High BP values cause a striking increase in the risk of target organ damage and cardiovascular mortality and morbidity, particularly stroke and coronary heart disease, as well as of chronic kidney disease. Despite this, many very elderly patients continue to live with uncontrolled or inadequately controlled hypertension. In the aforementioned study based on Framingham data, for example, only 38% of men and 23% of women aged 80 or more had BP values controlled to ‘target’ [defined as SBP <140 and diastolic BP (DBP) <90 mmHg] [4].
The epidemiology of cerebral palsy: Incidence, impairments and risk factors

Purpose. Describing the epidemiology of cerebral palsy (CP), its impairments and risk factors. Method. Literature review 1965 – 2004. Search terms: Cerebral palsy, incidence, prevalence, impairments, risk factors. Results. In the last 40 years the prevalence of CP has risen to well above 2.0 per 1000 life births. In this time span the proportion of low-birthweight infants rose, the proportion of diplegia decreased, while the proportion of hemiplegia increased. CP is more prevalent in more deprived socio-economic populations. The majority of people with CP have the spastic syndrome of which the diplegic group is the smallest. Dependent on the subgroup of CP, 25 – 80% have additional impairments. A large proportion has some kind of cognitive impairment; the prevalence varies with the type of CP and especially increases when epilepsy is present. Epilepsy is present in 20 – 40%; it is most common among the hemi- and tetraplegics. Sensibility of the hands is impaired in about half. Chronic pain is reported by more than a quarter of the adults. Up to 80% have at least some impairment of speech. Low visual acuity is reported in almost three-quarters of all children. Half of all children have gastrointestinal and feeding problems. Stunted growth occurs in a quarter, while under- or overweight problems are present in half of the children. Almost 70% of people with spastic CP have abnormal brain CT findings; abnormal cranial ultrasounds is most strongly associated with hemiplegia, normal cranial ultrasounds with diplegia. The most important risk factors for CP are low birthweight, intrauterine infections and multiple gestation.
Roles of the soluble cytochrome c2 and membrane-associated cytochrome cy of Rhodobacter capsulatus in photosynthetic electron transfer.

Genetic evidence indicates that Rhodobacter capsulatus has two different pathways for reduction of the photooxidized reaction center (RC) [Jenney, F. E. , & Daldal, F. (1993) EMBO J. 12, 1283-1292]. One pathway is via the water soluble cytochrome (cyt) c2, and the other is via a novel, membrane-associated c-type cytochrome, cyt cy, now believed to be identical to the cyt cx of Jones et al. [Jones, M. R. , et al. (1990) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 975, 59-66] and c354 of Zannoni et al. [Zannoni, D. , et al. (1992) Arch. Microbiol. 157, 367-374]. Mutants lacking either cyt c2, cyt cy, or the bc1 complex, as well as various combinations, were utilized to probe the functional role of these cytochromes in electron transfer. Data obtained by monitoring flas induced electron transfer kinetics in the RC, cyt c pool, cyt b, and the carotenoid band shift indicate that there are two pathways for electron transfer from the bc1 complex to the RC in R. capsulatus, one via cyt c2 and the other through cty cy. The two pathways show strikingly different kinetics for RC reduction and cyt c oxidation, and both are present in the wild-type strain MT-1131. After genetic inactivation of both cyt c2 and cyt cy there remains no flash oxidizible c-type cytochrome, and inactivation of cyt cy rather than cyt c2 has a more pronounced effect on the extent of the light-induced membrane potential under the conditions tested. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Evaluation of the Feasibility and Utility of a Pharmacist-Centered Collaborative Drug Therapy Management Program for Oncology-Based Symptom Management

Collaborative drug therapy management (CDTM) is a practice agreement between a pharmacist and a physician, which allows the pharmacist to assume responsibility of drug therapy management. There has been limited documentation of CDTM practices in the oncology setting. Therefore, a CDTM program in the gynecology oncology clinic at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) was initiated to establish the feasibility and utility of CDTM and its effects on patient care and physician satisfaction. Primarily, 3 symptoms were managed by the CDTM pharmacists, namely chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), and women’s health. The CDTM program showed favorable results after a short 4-month period. The CDTM pharmacists were referred a total of 12 consultations for CDTM purposes; 8 patients enrolled in the CIPN CDTM protocol, 3 in the CINV protocol, and 1 in the women’s health protocol. The CDTM pharmacists were able to perform a total of 54 consultations, with a mean time of 16.9 minutes spent with each patient per consultation. Additionally, the CDTM pharmacists made 70 interventions and identified 6 medication-related adverse effects. The patient and physician satisfaction survey demonstrated the value of the CDTM pharmacists, and respondents were supportive of the program.
The effect of hyperbaric oxygenation on retinal ischemia.

The theoretical possibility of extending the effective choroidal oxygen diffusion gradient to supply ischemic inner retinal layers following retinal arterial occlusion is investigated. The feasibility of this concept is demonstrated in the adult cat and monkey breathing oxygen at hyperbaric pressures following sudden occlusion of the retinal circulation. Two methods of producing an experimental model of retinal arterial occlusion xoere used in this study. One consisted of the reduction of the net ocular perfusion pressure by raising intraocular pressure to a level at which retinal blood floiu stopped. This model, however, also included a simultaneous reduction in choroidal blood flow. The second, experimental model consisted of argon laser photocoagulation of retinal arteries near the edge of the disc; in this model, choroidal circulation way left essentially intact. Changes in the stabilized, electroretinographic response were used as indicators of retinal tissue viability during experiments. Similar results were obtained using both experimental models of retinal arterial occlusion.