Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An uncommon cause of intraoperative airleak

DOI: 10.4103/0972-5229.92071 Anesthetic considerations included: difficult mask ventilation, C-spine instability, transoral surgery, shared airway with surgeons, prolonged duration of surgery, prone position, risk of aspiration, bleeding, and postoperative airway edema. Airway management was a major concern in such presentations, because of cervical spine injury and the unpredictable extent of airway damage. Mask ventilation was a challenge due to the nature of the impacted foreign body. Usage of sedatives for premedication and induction were avoided for fear of airway loss. Awake fiberoptic-guided intubation helped in securing the airway safely and minimizing the movement of the cervical spine. Elective ventilation in the postoperative period was planned to ensure smooth recovery, as coughing and straining could have caused a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak[2] and infection. [3] There was considerable facial edema after removal of the foreign body and prolonged surgery in the prone posture.
The relationship between physical fitness and game behaviours in rugby union players

Abstract The physical preparation of team sport athletes should reflect the degree to which each component of fitness is relied upon in competition. The aim of the study was therefore to establish the relationship between fitness-test data and game behaviours known or thought to be important for successful play in rugby union matches. Fitness-test measures from 510 players were analysed with game statistics, from 296 games within the 2007 and 2008 calendar years. Sprint times over 10, 20 and 30 m had moderate to small negative correlations (r) with line breaks (~0.26), metres advanced (~0.22), tackle breaks (~0.16) and tries scored (~0.15). The average time of 12 repeated sprints and percentage body fat in the forwards, and repeated sprint fatigue in the backs had moderate to small correlations with a measure of activity rate on and around the ball (−0.38, –0.17 and –0.17, respectively). These low correlations are partly due to uniformly high physical fitness as a result of selection pressures at the elite level and leave room for the identification of other key predictors. Nonetheless, physical conditioning programmes should be adapted to reflect the importance of speed, repeated sprint ability and body composition in the performance of key game behaviours during competition.
Visual marker detection and decoding in AR systems: a comparative study

Visual markers are widely used in existing augmented reality (AR) applications. In most of such applications, the performance of an AR system depends highly on the tracking system for visual marker detection, tracking, and pose estimation. Currently, there are more than one marker based tracking/calibration systems available. It is thus desirable for the user to know which marker tracking system is likely to perform the best for a specific AR application. For this purpose, we compare several marker systems all using planar square coded visual markers. We present the evaluation results, both qualitatively and quantitatively, for the usability, efficiency, accuracy, and reliability. For a particular AR application, there are different marker detection and tracking requirements. Therefore, the purpose of this work is not to rank existing marker systems; instead, we try to analyze the strength and weakness of various aspects of the marker tracking systems and provide AR application developers with this information.
Anti-inflammatory activity and conformational behavior of a branched (1 leads to 3)-beta-D-glucan from an alkaline extract of Dictyophora indusiata Fisch.

A (1 leads to 6)-branched (1 leads to 3)-beta-D-glucan (T-5-N), isolated from a M sodium hydroxide extract of the fruit bodies of Dictyophora indusita Fisch. , markedly exhibited anti-inflammatory effects on both carrageenan-induced edema and scalded edematous hyperalgesia in rat's hindpaws. The activities of T-5-N (25 mg/kg i.p. X 2) were more potent than those of phenylbutazone (25-50 mg/kg i.p. X 2). The conformational behavior of T-5-N was studied. Its molecular weight in neutral solution was about three times that in 0.25M sodium hydroxide. This finding, in addition to the results of optical rotatory measurement and complex-formation with Congo Red, indicated that T-5-N has an ordered, triple-helical structure in neutral or slightly alkaline solution (less than 0.15M NaOH), and has single chains in highly alkaline solution (greater than 0.25M NaOH). The conformational transition occurs at concentrations of sodium hydroxide in the range of 0.15-0.25M.
Ester-Mediated Amide Bond Formation Driven by Wet–Dry Cycles: A Possible Path to Polypeptides on the Prebiotic Earth**

Although it is generally accepted that amino acids were present on the prebiotic Earth, the mechanism by which α-amino acids were condensed into polypeptides before the emergence of enzymes remains unsolved. Here, we demonstrate a prebiotically plausible mechanism for peptide (amide) bond formation that is enabled by α-hydroxy acids, which were likely present along with amino acids on the early Earth. Together, α-hydroxy acids and α-amino acids form depsipeptides—oligomers with a combination of ester and amide linkages—in model prebiotic reactions that are driven by wet–cool/dry–hot cycles. Through a combination of ester–amide bond exchange and ester bond hydrolysis, depsipeptides are enriched with amino acids over time. These results support a long-standing hypothesis that peptides might have arisen from ester-based precursors.
Projective Low-rank Subspace Clustering via Learning Deep Encoder

Low-rank subspace clustering (LRSC) has been considered as the state-of-the-art method on small datasets. LRSC constructs a desired similarity graph by low-rank representation (LRR), and employs a spectral clustering to segment the data samples. However, effectively applying LRSC into clustering big data becomes a challenge because both LRR and spectral clustering suffer from high computational cost. To address this challenge, we create a projective low-rank subspace clustering (PLrSC) scheme for large scale clustering problem. First, a small dataset is randomly sampled from big dataset. Second, our proposed predictive low-rank decomposition (PLD) is applied to train a deep encoder by using the small dataset, and the deep encoder is used to fast compute the low-rank representations of all data samples. Third, fast spectral clustering is employed to segment the representations. As a non-trivial contribution, we theoretically prove the deep encoder can universally approximate to the exact (or bounded) recovery of the row space. Experiments verify that our scheme outperforms the related methods on large scale datasets in a small amount of time. We achieve the state-of-art clustering accuracy by 95.8% on MNIST using scattering convolution features.
The novel hypothalamic peptide ghrelin stimulates food intake and growth hormone secretion.

Ghrelin, a novel 28 amino acid peptide found in hypothalamus and stomach, was recently identified as the endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R). We have now found that both intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) and intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of ghrelin in freely feeding rats stimulated food intake. The onset of increased feeding was rapid and after i.c. v. administration was sustained for 24 hours. Following i.c. v. administration of 3 nmol ghrelin, the duration and magnitude of the feeding stimulation was similar to that following 5 nmol neuropeptide Y (NPY). Plasma growth hormone (GH) concentration increased following both i.c. v. and i.p. administration of ghrelin. Release of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) was stimulated and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) inhibited following i.c. v. administration of ghrelin. These data suggest a possible role for the newly identified endogenous hypothalamic peptide, ghrelin, in stimulation of feeding and growth hormone secretion.
Regulation of Rat Hepatocyte Function by P2Y Receptors: Focus on Control of Glycogen Phosphorylase and Cyclic AMP by 2-Methylthioadenosine 5′-Diphosphate

Hepatocyte function is regulated by several P2Y receptor subtypes. Here we report that 2-methylthioadenosine 5′-diphosphate (2-MeSADP), an agonist at P2Y1, P2Y12, and P2Y13 receptors, potently (threshold 30 nM) stimulates glycogen phosphorylase in freshly isolated rat hepatocytes. Antagonism by N6-methyl 2′-deoxyadenosine 3′,5′-bisphosphate (MRS 2179) confirms that this response is mediated by P2Y1 receptors. In addition, in these cells, both 2-MeSADP and UTP inhibited glucagon-stimulated cyclic AMP accumulation. This inhibitory effect of 2-MeSADP was not reversed by the P2Y1 antagonists, adenosine-3′-phosphate-5′-phosphate (A3P5P) or MRS 2179, both in the range 1 to 300 μM, indicating that it was not mediated by P2Y1 receptors. This contrasts with the increase in cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]c) induced by 2-MeSADP, which has shown to be inhibited by A3P5P. Pertussis toxin abolished the inhibitory effect of both UTP and 2-MeSADP. After culture of cells for 48 h, the ability of 2-MeSADP to inhibit cyclic AMP accumulation was greatly diminished. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that during this culture period, there was a decline in the ability to detect transcripts for P2Y12 and P2Y13 receptors, both of which are activated by 2-MeSADP and negatively coupled to adenylyl cyclase. However, in freshly isolated cells, the P2Y12 and P2Y13 receptor antagonist, 2-propylthio-β,γ-dichloromethylene-d-ATP (AR-C67085) (10 nM to 300 μM) did not alter the ability of 2-MeSADP to inhibit glucagon-stimulated cyclic AMP accumulation. We conclude that 2-MeSADP regulates rat hepatocyte glycogen phosphorylase by acting on P2Y1 receptors coupled to raised [Ca2+]c, and by inhibiting cyclic AMP levels by an unknown Gi-coupled receptor subtype, distinct from P2Y1, P2Y12, or P2Y13 receptors.
Authentic food, authentic people ? Le Social Dining de VizEat en Italie

Le leader du Social Dining sur le marche europeen est la start-up parisienne VizEat. Creee en 2014, elle a rapidement conquis un marche deja domine par des autres acteurs pour se positionner dans plusieurs pays. Malgre son origine francaise, la start-up compte avec une grande communaute d’utilisateurs italiens et une forte presence dans la presqu’ile italienne. Avec son slogan « Authentic food, authentic people » elle attire des milliers de personnes en deplacement qui ne souhaitent pas seulement voyager avec leurs papilles, mais s’immerger egalement dans la culture grâce aux rencontres avec des hotes locaux. Par consequent, il se pose la question du role de l’authenticite dans ce nouveau genre de tourisme. Cette jeune start-up, peut-elle accomplir sa promesse d’authenticite ? Comment est-elle percue par les differents acteurs dans ces rencontres ? Comment est-elle construite ou mise en scene ? Dans le cadre de ce travail, la recherche s’etend sur deux grandes villes italiennes : Bologne et Milan. La premiere compte sur une forte identite alimentaire ancree dans son histoire et sa culture urbaine, tandis que Milan vient d’etablir un lien avec l’alimentation globalement reconnue grâce a l’Expo 2016 intitulee « Nourrir la planete, energie pour la vie ». En outre, les deux villes sont listees dans le classement des dix villes plus visitees en Italie, etant la destination des touristes nationaux comme internationaux. Afin de pouvoir repondre a ces questionnements, il convient tout d’abord de comprendre le fonctionnement du service offert par VizEat ainsi que la philosophie de la start-up.
Results of Islet Isolation and their Relationship to the Clinical Outcome of Kidney Transplantation in Cases where Both Grafts are Harvested from the Same Non-Heart-Beating Donor

Grafts from non-heart-beating donors (NHBDs) are used because of the limited availability of heart-beating brain-dead donors. These grafts sustain ischemic damage, and the severity of this damage varies among different areas of an organ. This study determined whether the results of islet isolation were correlated with the clinical outcomes of kidney transplantations in cases where both grafts were harvested from the same NHBD. Islets we isolated from the pancreata of 23 NHBDs between February 2004 and March 2007. Forty-six kidneys were also harvested from these NHBDs. The recipients of kidney transplants were divided into the successful isolation (n = 14) and failed isolation (n = 32) groups depending on the results of islet isolation. The clinical outcomes of kidney transplantation were compared between the recipients in these two groups. The immediate graft function rate and the 1-year graft survival rate after kidney transplantation in both groups were similar. Hemodialysis after transplantation was required for 6.0 days (SD, 5.2 days) in the successful isolation group and for 12.7 days (13.1 days) in the failed isolation group (p < 0.05). The serum creatinine concentrations at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after transplantation were elevated in the failed isolation group (p < 0.05). The islet yield was inversely correlated with the requirement of hemodialysis (days) and the serum creatinine level at 1 month after transplantation. However, hemodialysis was required for only 7 days in the recipients of six kidneys that were obtained from NHBDs from whom <40,000 IEQ were obtained (extreme failure of islet isolation). The results of islet isolation were found to correlate with the kidney function after transplantation when both grafts are harvested from the same NHBD. However, the marginal conditions of NHBDs affect the results of islet isolation more than they do the posttransplantation kidney function.
Management of cerebrovascular accidents during cardiac catheterization

Ischemic cerebrovascular events are a rare complication of cardiac catheterization. Consequently a unique standard of management for these events is yet to be defined. Immediate cerebral angiography followed by local thrombolysis is an effective strategy and we report six cases for which this approach was successfully employed. In contrast the use of immediate neuroimaging by means of MRI or CT scan in two cases delayed the implementation of appropriate therapy. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Targeting enteric bacteria in treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases: why, how, and when

Purpose This review discusses the role of bacterial adjuvants and antigens in induction and reactivation of chronic intestinal inflammation in susceptible hosts; discusses the results of recent therapeutic trials of antibiotics, probiotics, and prebiotics; and suggests future treatment strategies. Recent findings Bacterial adjuvants, including peptidoglycan, lipopolysaccharide, and DNA (CpG) bind to membrane‐bound toll‐like receptors (TLR‐2, 4, and 9. respectively) or cytoplasmic (NOD1 and NOD2) receptors (pattern recognition receptors) that activate nuclear factor‐&kgr;B and transcription of many proinflammatory cytokines and adhesion, costimulatory, and major histocompatibility complex class II molecules. Experimental enterocolitis does not occur in a sterile (germ‐free) environment and is prevented and treated by broad‐spectrum antibiotics. Individual nonpathogenic intestinal bacterial species selectively induce experimental colitis, with host specificity. Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis patients exhibit pathogenic immune responses (loss of immunologic tolerance) to multiple normal enteric bacterial species and serologic responses to Mycobacterium paratuberculosis. Metronidazole and ciprofloxacin selectively treat colonic Crohn disease, but not ulcerative colitis or ileal Crohn disease, and may prevent recurrence of postoperative Crohn disease. Certain probiotic species decrease relapse of ulcerative colitis and chronic pouchitis and delay onset of pouchitis. Summary Normal, nonpathogenic enteric bacteria induce and perpetuate chronic intestinal inflammation in genetically susceptible hosts with defective immunoregulation, bacterial clearance, or mucosal barrier function. Altering the composition and decreasing mucosal adherence/invasion of commensal bacteria with antibiotics, probiotics, and prebiotics can potentially prevent and treat Crohn disease, pouchitis, and possibly ulcerative colitis, but optimal treatments have not yet been identified.
Regeneration Rosetta: An Interactive Web Application To Explore Regeneration-Associated Gene Expression and Chromatin Accessibility

Time-course high-throughput assays of gene expression and enhancer usage in zebrafish provide a valuable characterization of the dynamic mechanisms governing gene regulatory programs during CNS axon regeneration. To facilitate the exploration and functional interpretation of a set of fully-processed data on regeneration-associated temporal transcription networks, we have created an interactive web application called Regeneration Rosetta. Using either built-in or user-provided lists of genes in one of dozens of supported organisms, our web application facilitates the (1) visualization of clustered temporal expression trends; (2) identification of proximal and distal regions of accessible chromatin to expedite downstream motif analysis; and (3) description of enriched functional gene ontology categories. By enabling a straightforward interrogation of these rich data without extensive bioinformatic expertise, Regeneration Rosetta is broadly useful for both a deep investigation of time-dependent regulation during regeneration in zebrafish and hypothesis generation in other organisms.
Trajectory Planning for Spacecraft Rendezvous in Elliptical Orbits with On/Off Thrusters

Abstract In a previous work, the authors developed a trajectory planning algorithm for spacecraft rendezvous which computed optimal Pulse-Width Modulated (PWM) control signals, assuming that the target was moving in a circular Keplerian orbit. In this paper we extend the algorithm to the case of an elliptical target orbit with arbitrary eccentricity. Since the orbit is elliptical, the linear time-varying Tschauner-Hempel model is used, whose exact solution is possible by using true (or eccentric) anomaly instead of time (which is directly related to both via Kepler's equation). Unlike in the circular case, computing the PWM solution itself requires numerical integration. However, explicit linearization around the computed solution turns out to be possible and is exploited for rapidly improving the solution using linear programming (LP) techniques. The algorithm is initialized by solving the impulsive problem first; the impulses are converted to PWM signals, which are used as an initial guess. Using the explicit linearization and LP, the solution is refined until a (possibly local) optimal value is reached. The efficacy of the method is shown in a simulation study where it is compared to the impulsive-only approach.
Carbon ion radiotherapy for skull base chordoma.

OBJECTIVE To present the results of the clinical study of carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT) for skull base and paracervical spine tumors at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba, Japan. METHODS The study is comprised of three protocols: a pilot study, a phase I/II dose escalation study, and a phase II study. All the patients were treated by 16 fractions for 4 weeks with total doses of 48.0, 52.8, 57.6, and 60.8 Gy equivalents (GyE). RESULTS As a result of the dose escalation study of CIRT for skull base tumors, a dose fractionation of 60.8 GyE/16 fractions for 4 weeks was decided as the recommended dose because of acceptable normal tissue reactions and good local tumor control. CONCLUSIONS Preliminary results of the phase II clinical study of CIRT for skull base chordoma showed local control at 5 years at 100%, and normal tissues showed a mild reaction without any severe morbidity of important organs.
Microfluidic Immunoaffinity Basophil Activation Test for Point-of-Care Allergy Diagnosis.

BACKGROUND The flow cytometry-based basophil activation test (BAT) is used for the diagnosis of allergic response. However, flow cytometry is time-consuming, requiring skilled personnel and cumbersome processing, which has limited its use in the clinic. Here, we introduce a novel microfluidic-based immunoaffinity BAT (miBAT) method. METHODS The microfluidic device, coated with anti-CD203c, was designed to capture basophils directly from whole blood. The captured basophils are activated by anti-FcεRI antibody followed by optical detection of CD63 expression (degranulation marker). The device was first characterized using a basophil cell line followed by whole blood experiments. We evaluated the device with ex vivo stimulation of basophils in whole blood from healthy controls and patients with allergies and compared it with flow cytometry. RESULTS The microfluidic device was capable of capturing basophils directly from whole blood followed by in vitro activation and quantification of CD63 expression. CD63 expression was significantly higher (P = 0.0002) in on-chip activated basophils compared with nonactivated cells. The difference in CD63 expression on anti-FcεRI-activated captured basophils in microfluidic chip was significantly higher (P = 0.03) in patients with allergies compared with healthy controls, and the results were comparable with flow cytometry analysis (P = 0.04). Furthermore, there was no significant difference of CD63% expression in anti-FcεRI-activated captured basophils in microfluidic chip compared with flow cytometry. CONCLUSIONS We report on the miBAT. This device is capable of isolating basophils directly from whole blood for on-chip activation and detection. The new miBAT method awaits validation in larger patient populations to assess performance in diagnosis and monitoring of patients with allergies at the point of care.
Unusual molecular findings in Kindler syndrome

Kindler syndrome (KS) is a rare inherited skin disorder with blistering and poikiloderma as its main clinical features. It is caused by loss‐of‐function mutations in the C20orf42 (KIND1) gene which encodes kindlin‐1, an actin cytoskeleton–focal contact‐associated protein which is predominantly expressed in keratinocytes. We investigated the molecular basis of KS in a 16‐year‐old Indian boy who had additional clinical findings, including scleroatrophic changes of the hands and feet, pseudoainhum and early onset of squamous cell carcinoma on his foot. Immunostaining for kindlin‐1 in the patient’s skin was completely absent and sequencing of C20orf42 (KIND1) genomic DNA showed a homozygous splice‐site mutation at the ‐6 position, IVS9‐6T→A. Amplification and sequencing of cDNA from the skin revealed aberrant splicing with either deletion of exon 10 or deletion of exons 9, 10 and 11, both of which involve loss of the pleckstrin homology domain of kindlin‐1 that is thought to play a role in cytoskeletal attachment and integrin‐mediated cell signalling. Pathogenic splice‐site mutations at the ‐6 position are unusual and have rarely been reported for any genetic disorder. Collectively, these findings extend the spectrum of clinical and molecular abnormalities in this rare genodermatosis.
MINISECTION: ANTERIOR SEGMENT IMAGING Central and peripheral pachymetrymeasurements according to age using the Pentacam rotating Scheimpflug camera

METHODS: Seventy-six healthy volunteers were enrolled in a clinical prospective study. Three consecutive Pentacam measurements of 1 eye per subject were taken. Evaluated were the central corneal thickness (CCT), corneal thickness at 4 peripheral points (3.0 mm superior, inferior, nasal, and temporal), and the thinnest point of the cornea. The volunteers were then assigned to 3 groups to assess the influence of increasing age on the study parameters.