Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interfascicular Renal Cell Carcinoma Metastasis to the Ulnar Nerve

Background: Metastatic solid tumors to the hand and peripheral nerves are exceedingly rare independent occurrences. Their occurrence together has never been reported in the literature. Methods: We present a case report of a 69 year old male with a previous history of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) presenting with a rapidly-growing painful mass located at the right volar ulnar wrist, found to have endoneural solid tumor metastatic RCC to the ulnar nerve. Results: Preoperative MRI imaging of the wrist revealed a heterogeneous mass on the volar aspect of the wrist extending along the length of the ulnar artery and nerve to the level of Guyon’s canal. Pathologic examination of an incisional biopsy of the mass was consistent with metastatic renal clear cell carcinoma cells, which were infiltrating nerve and surrounding soft tissue. The patient underwent local radiation therapy to the wrist and hand with interval decrease in size of the mass and symptom improvement. Conclusion: Solid tumor metastasis, although exceedingly rare, must be considered in the differential diagnosis of a patient with previous cancer history presenting with a wrist or hand mass associated with peripheral neuropathy.
Controle da esquistossomose no Brasil

The great area with transmission of schistosomiasis in Brazil (11% of the hole country) associated to the focal distribution of the helminthiasis makes the disease control a difficult goal, not only methodologically but also in terms of operation. Since 1976, year when the Special Programme of Schistosomiasis Control was begun, it has been possible to develop regular activities of control. Since then, these activities are conducted in a vertical programme, which is being maintained till it will be possible to get to a prevalence of five percent or under this value. The regular checking of prevalence is made through routine screening works by using stools exams. This works gives the orientation to the activity of cases treatment. From this point, is expected that control activities be conducted by permanent health services. Using of molluscocides is being controlled, so that it can be based in accurate epidemiological criteria. Environmental management and education activities in special areas are being conducted with available resources. The results obtained demonstrate that a reduction of cases with the malignant evolution of the disease and also of the morbidity of schistosomiasis is being obtained, at least if we consider the available data in a more aggregate form.
Glycyrrhiza glabra versus Boswellia carterii in chronic bronchial asthma: A comparative study of efficacy

Bronchial asthma is a clinical syndrome with variable causes. It characterizes by episodes of broncho-constriction which leads to shortness of breath. In traditional medicine, some medicinal plants have been used to cure the asthmatic symptoms. We evaluate the bronchorelaxant effect of Boswellia carterii (Olibanum) and Glycyrrhiza glabra (Licorice) then to choose the better. 54 patients with chronic bronchial asthma were participated. After clinical assessment, estimation of pulmonary function tests and serum electrolytes: calcium, magnesium, potassium and selenium were done before and after the study. Boswellia carterii was given to 18 patients and glycyrrhiza glabra to another 18 patients while prednisolone was given to another 18 patients as control for 21 days. The results showed that the tested plants had significant elevation in the values of forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1%) as (72.45±5.83 vs 61.33±6.04 and 81.10±11.07 vs 62.30±7.22) for olibanum and licorice respectively. Also, elevation in the values of forced volume capacity (FVC) with marked reduction in asthmatic attacks as (2.63±0.82 vs 0.72±0.16, 3.60±0.02 vs 1.08±0.08, and 2.25±0.16 vs 1.05± 0.15) for olibanum licorice and prednisolone respectively, but showed better symptomatic improvement with licorice as compared to olibanum. The results prove the superiority of glycyrrhiza glabra over boswellia carterii for chronic bronchial asthma.
Gender Variations in the Levels of Social Support and Risk of Elder Mistreatment in a Chinese Community Population

This study aimed to examine gender differences in social support and risk of elder mistreatment (EM) in a community-dwelling Chinese population. The authors conducted a cross-sectional study of 141 women and 270 men aged 60 years or above. EM was assessed using the modified Vulnerability to Abuse Screening Scale (VASS), and social support was measured using the Social Support Index (SSI). After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, socioeconomic status, depression, loneliness, and medical conditions, lower levels of social support were associated with an increased odds of EM in men (odds ratio [OR] = 5.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.18-13.15, p < .001) and in women (OR = 5.39, 95% CI = 1.95-14.85, p < .001). Perceived social support, but not instrumental social support, was associated with increased odds of EM in men and women. These findings could have important implication for health care professional and social services agencies in the detection, management, and prevention of EM among the aging Chinese population.
Disease control in asthmatic children seen in private practice in Switzerland

ABSTRACT Background: Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease in Switzerland with a prevalence of 10%. Asthma has a high economic burden accounting for high medical costs. Assessment of disease control is likely to be of help in the implementation of strategies to improve asthma. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate asthma control and therapy regimens among children in private practice. Methods: We assessed asthma control as well as therapy regimens in 575 asthmatic children in an experience programme in Switzerland by using an abbreviated questionnaire based on the asthma control questionnaire and the child health questionnaire on Visit 1 and Visit 2. Results: Good asthma control at Visit 1 was only present in 25.7% of asthmatic children. Occasional asthma symptoms, limitation of physical activity, nocturnal awakening and anxiety of the parent was present in 80.5%, 41.2%, 46.8% and 57% of the children, respectively. After adjustment of therapy regimens at Visit 1, mainly by adding a leukotriene receptor antagonist, asthma control was reported to be much better in 53.4% of the children at Visit 2. Conclusions: As asthma control is inadequately achieved within a major portion of asthmatic children, it is imperative to find measures to improve asthma control and hence, to reduce the burden of disease.
Multiple Two-Component Systems Modulate Alkali Generation in Streptococcus gordonii in Response to Environmental Stresses

ABSTRACT The oral commensal Streptococcus gordonii must adapt to constantly fluctuating and often hostile environmental conditions to persist in the oral cavity. The arginine deiminase system (ADS) of S. gordonii enables cells to produce, ornithine, ammonia, CO2, and ATP from arginine hydrolysis, augmenting the acid tolerance of the organism. The ADS genes are substrate inducible and sensitive to catabolite repression, mediated through ArcR and CcpA, respectively, but the system also requires low pH and anaerobic conditions for optimal activation. Here, we demonstrate that the CiaRH and ComDE two-component systems (TCS) are required for low-pH-dependent expression of ADS genes in S. gordonii. Further, the VicRK TCS is required for optimal ADS gene expression under anaerobic conditions and enhances the sensitivity of the operon to repression by oxygen. The known anaerobic activator of the ADS, Fnr-like protein (Flp), appeared to act independently of the Vic TCS. Mutants of S. gordonii lacking components of the CiaRH, ComDE, or VicRK grew more slowly in acidified media and were more sensitive to killing at lethal pH values and to agents that induce oxidative stress. This study provides the first evidence that TCS can regulate the ADS of bacteria in response to specific environmental signals and reveals some notable differences in the contribution of CiaRH, ComDE, and VicRK to viability and stress tolerance between the oral commensal S. gordonii and the oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans.
A Novel cdsAB Operon Is Involved in the Uptake of l-Cysteine and Participates in the Pathogenesis of Yersinia ruckeri

ABSTRACT Application of in vivo expression technology (IVET) to Yersinia ruckeri, an important fish pathogen, allowed the identification of two adjacent genes that represent a novel bacterial system involved in the uptake and degradation of l-cysteine. Analysis of the translational products of both genes showed permease domains (open reading frame 1 [ORF1]) and amino acid position identities (ORF2) with the l-cysteine desulfidase from Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, a new type of enzyme involved in the breakdown of l-cysteine. The operon was named cdsAB (cysteine desulfidase) and is found widely in anaerobic and facultative bacteria. cdsAB promoter analysis using lacZY gene fusion showed highest induction in the presence of l-cysteine. Two cdsA and cdsB mutant strains were generated. The limited toxic effect and the low utilization of l-cysteine observed in the cdsA mutant, together with radiolabeled experiments, strongly suggested that CdsA is an l-cysteine permease. Fifty percent lethal dose (LD50) and competence index experiments showed that both the cdsA and cdsB loci were involved in the pathogenesis of the bacteria. In conclusion, this study has shown for the first time in bacteria the existence of an l-cysteine uptake system that together with an additional l-cysteine desulfidase-encoding gene constitutes a novel operon involved in bacterial virulence.
Translational Defects in a Mutant Deficient in YajL, the Bacterial Homolog of the Parkinsonism-Associated Protein DJ-1

ABSTRACT We report here that YajL is associated with ribosomes and interacts with many ribosomal proteins and that a yajL mutant of Escherichia coli displays decreased translation accuracy, as well as increased dissociation of 70S ribosomes into 50S and 30S subunits after oxidative stress.
Developing a Health Care Intermediary-Delivered Intervention to Promote an Online Health Information Resource: Results from Formative Research

This study describes the development of a health care intermediary-delivered intervention to promote an existing state-based health information Web site (NC Health Info) originally designed by health science librarians. Two focus groups and six key informant interviews were conducted with 17 health care intermediaries (HCIs) to: (1) identify key trends in HCIs' use of and attitudes toward online health information; (2) understand the barriers HCIs and their patients/clients face when using a health information Web site; and (3) design an intervention promoting the use of the online health information resource among HCIs and their patients/clients.
Cancer Mortality Among People Living in Areas With Various Levels of Natural Background Radiation

There are many places on the earth, where natural background radiation exposures are elevated significantly above about 2.5 mSv/year. The studies of health effects on populations living in such places are crucially important for understanding the impact of low doses of ionizing radiation. This article critically reviews some recent representative literature that addresses the likelihood of radiation-induced cancer and early childhood death in regions with high natural background radiation. The comparative and Bayesian analysis of the published data shows that the linear no-threshold hypothesis does not likely explain the results of these recent studies, whereas they favor the model of threshold or hormesis. Neither cancers nor early childhood deaths positively correlate with dose rates in regions with elevated natural background radiation.
Risk Evaluation of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals

We review here our studies on early exposure to low doses of the estrogenic endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA) on behavior and metabolism in CD-1 mice. Mice were exposed in utero from gestation day (GD) 11 to delivery (prenatal exposure) or via maternal milk from birth to postnatal day 7 (postnatal exposure) to 10 µg/kg body weight/d of BPA or no BPA (controls). Bisphenol A exposure resulted in long-term disruption of sexually dimorphic behaviors. Females exposed to BPA pre- and postnatally showed increased anxiety and behavioral profiles similar to control males. We also evaluated metabolic effects in prenatally exposed adult male offspring of dams fed (from GD 9 to 18) with BPA at doses ranging from 5 to 50 000 µg/kg/d. The males showed an age-related significant change in a number of metabolic indexes ranging from food intake to glucose regulation at BPA doses below the no observed adverse effect level (5000 µg/kg/d). Consistent with prior findings, low but not high BPA doses produced significant effects for many outcomes. These findings provide further evidence of the potential risks that developmental exposure to low doses of the endocrine disrupter BPA may pose to human health, with fetuses and infants being highly vulnerable.
Grasping visual symmetry

The authors discuss establishing a relationship between symmetry and two-fingered grasping of planar contours. Visual representations are chosen to meet the requirements of specified tasks such as object recognition or stereoscopic matching. When vision is regarded as a haptic sense, a new operational description is called for in support of dextrous manipulation. In the context of two-fingered grasp, an appropriate description can be constructed in terms of local reflectional and rotational symmetry. Related to symmetry-based representatons that have been used in pattern and object recognition, its structure is determined not heuristically, but precisely, by the nature of the grasping task. Its value is demonstrated by its incorporation into the control of a robot that can manipulate objects under visual guidance. <<ETX>>
Postprandial Electrocardiographic Modifications

Nevertheless, the study of the normal variations of the electrocardiogram has been neglected, probably due to the great interest aroused by its pathologic changes. Many attempts have been made to establish the limits of the normal variations of the electrocardiogram, since the early works of Waller~ and Lewis and Gilder.2 The changes due to these variations return to normal a short while after the stimulus ends. Both mechanisms and importance of the above mentioned changes remain still unknown, although they are considered devoid of clinical
Crystal Structure of the Klebsiella pneumoniae NFeoB/FeoC Complex and Roles of FeoC in Regulation of Fe2+ Transport by the Bacterial Feo System

ABSTRACT Feo is a transport system commonly used by bacteria to acquire environmental Fe2+. It consists of three proteins: FeoA, FeoB, and FeoC. FeoB is a large protein with a cytosolic N-terminal domain (NFeoB) that contains a regulatory G protein domain and a helical S domain. The C-terminal region of FeoB is a transmembrane domain that likely acts as the Fe2+ permease. NFeoB has been shown to form a trimer pore that may function as an Fe2+ gate. FeoC is a small winged-helix protein that possesses four conserved cysteine residues with a consensus sequence that likely provides binding sites for the [Fe-S] cluster. Therefore, FeoC is presumed to be an [Fe-S] cluster-dependent regulator that directly controls transcription of the feo operon. Despite the apparent significance of the Feo system, however, the function of FeoC has not been experimentally demonstrated. Here, we show that Klebsiella pneumoniae FeoC (KpFeoC) forms a tight complex with the intracellular N-terminal domain of FeoB (KpNFeoB). The crystal structure of the complex reveals that KpFeoC binds to KpNFeoB between the switch II region of the G protein domain and the effector S domain and that the long KpFeoC W1 loop lies above the KpNFeoB nucleotide-binding site. These interactions suggest that KpFeoC modulates the guanine nucleotide-mediated signal transduction process. Moreover, we showed that binding of KpFeoC disrupts pore formation by interfering with KpNFeoB trimerization. These results provide strong evidence suggesting that KpFeoC plays a crucial role in regulating Fe2+ transport in Klebsiella pneumonia in addition to the presumed gene regulator role.
Color recognition in outdoor images

The color associated with an object in machine vision images is not constant; under varying illuminating and viewing conditions (such as in outdoor images), the perceived color of an object can vary significantly, thus making color-based recognition difficult. Existing methods in color-based recognition have been applied mostly to indoor and/or constrained imagery, but not to realistic outdoor data. This work analyzes the variation of object color in outdoor images with respect to existing models of daylight illumination and surface reflectance. Two approaches for color recognition are then proposed: the first develops context-based models of daylight illumination and hybrid surface reflectance, and predicts the color of objects based on scene context. The second method shows that object color can be nonparametrically "learned" through classification methods such as Neural Networks and Multivariate Decision Trees. The methods have been successfully tested in domains such as road/highway scenes, off-road navigation and military target detection.
Impact des consultations prénatales sur le poids de l'enfant à la naissance au Togo

Abstract This paper provides an analysis of the impact of maternal prenatal visits on birth weight of newborns in Togo. The results of econometric estimations based on the national MICS-3 survey of 2006 show that (a) the number of maternal prenatal visits has a statistically significant impact on the weight of the newborn; (b) the other determining factors in newborn weight are the mother's age, newborn gender and household environment; and (c) mother's age and education level as well as nonmonetary wealth assets all influence the likelihood of prenatal visits.
Open direct carotid artery access for coiling of an intracranial aneurysm under conscious sedation

We describe the case of a 61-year-old patient with significant medical co-morbidities and tortuous vascular anatomy presenting with a large middle cerebral artery aneurysm. To avoid the risks of general anesthesia and circumvent a majority of the tortuous vessels, the aneurysm was accessed by direct open exposure of the common carotid artery under conscious sedation and local anesthesia. We were able to achieve complete endovascular occlusion of the aneurysm and the patient tolerated the procedure well with no intra- or post-operative complications. Use of conscious sedation is possible and safe for direct open common carotid artery access in patients with significant vascular tortuosity that makes the standard trans-femoral approach difficult or impossible.
When does a camera see rain?

Rain produces sharp intensity fluctuations in images and videos, which degrade the performance of outdoor vision systems. These intensity fluctuations depend on various factors, such as the camera parameters, the properties of rain, and the brightness of the scene. We show that the properties of rain - its small drop size, high velocity, and low density - make its visibility strongly dependent on camera parameters such as exposure time and depth of field. We show that these parameters can be selected so as to reduce or even remove the effects of rain without altering the appearance of the scene. Conversely, the parameters of a camera can also be set to enhance the visual effects of rain. This can be used to develop an inexpensive and portable camera-based rain gauge that provides instantaneous rain rate measurements. The proposed methods serve to make vision algorithms more robust to rain without any necessity for post-processing. In addition, they can be used to control the visual effects of rain during the filming of movies
Coupled space learning of image style transformation

In this paper, we present a new learning framework for image style transforms. Considering that the images in different style representations constitute different vector spaces, we propose a novel framework called coupled space learning to learn the relations between different spaces and use them to infer the images from one style to another style. Observing that for each style, only the components correlated to the space of the target style are useful for inference, we first develop the correlative component analysis to pursue the embedded hidden subspaces that best preserve the inter-space correlation information. Then we develop the coupled bidirectional transform algorithm to estimate the transforms between the two embedded spaces, where the coupling between the forward transform and the backward transform is explicitly taken into account. To enhance the capability of modelling complex data, we further develop the coupled Gaussian mixture model to generalize our framework to a mixture-model architecture. The effectiveness of the framework is demonstrated in the applications including face super-resolution and bidirectional portrait style transforms
High resolution MRI in treatment decision of anterior communicating artery aneurysm accompanied by visual symptoms: Endovascular treatment or surgical clipping? A report of two cases and literature review

Anterior communicating artery (AComA) aneurysm accompanied by visual symptoms is rarely reported. The first case is an asymptomatic 65-year-old woman who presented with an AComA aneurysm, and the pre-procedure high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed an AComA aneurysm compressed the left optic nerve and the chiasma with a size of 8.3 × 9.2 mm. She suffered a sudden onset of left eye visual loss and the temporal hemianopia of the right eye after endovascular embolization. She had a light sensation of the left eye and minor enlargement of the visual field in the right eye at the six-month follow-up. The second case is a symptomatic 55-year-old woman suffering a visual loss in the left eye and inferior nasal quadrantanopsia in her right eye. Pre-operative high-resolution MRI found an AComA aneurysm compressing the left part of the chiasma with a size of 7.1 × 8.3 mm. Her visual symptoms improved after surgical clipping. High-resolution MRI could depict the anatomic relationship between the AComA aneurysm and the surrounding optic pathways. Endovascular treatment of an AComA aneurysm may result in visual deterioration due to the mass effect or ischemia after the procedure. Surgical clipping of the AComA aneurysm could relieve the compression symptoms.