Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The association between 25-dehydroxy vitamin D and lower respiratory infection in children aged less than "5" years in Imam Reza hospital, Bojnurd, Iran.

OBJECTIVE To clarify the association between vitamin D deficiency and acute respiratory infection in children below age 5 years. METHODS The cross-sectional study was conducted at Imam Reza Hospital in Bojnurd, Iran, in June 2013 and comprised 90 children below 5 years of age suffering from respiratory infections. They was selected on the basis of purposive sampling and were then categorised into two equal groups of 'acute' and 'non-acute' respiratory infection. Data collection was done using a questionnaire and serum level of 25-dehydroxycalcciferol was measured. SPSS 11 was used to analyse and interpret the data. RESULTS In the group of children with respiratory disorders, 9 (42.9%) exhibited vitamin D deficiency. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of demographic characteristics such as age, intrauterine age, weight, birth-weight, head circumference, height, gender, living area and respiratory distress (p>0.05 each). Vitamin D deficiency showed no meaningful statistical relation with acute respiratory infections (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS More studies with higher sample size and are recommended.
Variability of Ventricular Premature Complexes and Mortality Risk

A method using a parameter from the field of nonlinear dynamics to quantify the variability of ventricular premature complexes (VPCs) is presented. One hundred patients with coronary artery disease and ≥ 10 VPCs/hour were included in the studv. The RR intervals were plotted in a three‐dimensional artificial phase space, and the structures in phase space were quantified by the local scaling indices, a. In the frequency distribution histogram, n(α), for each patient, the maximum of the ventricular ectopies αvpc, adjusted to the VPC frequency, was assessed; αvpc, was used as the risk indicator. Endpoints were total mortality and sudden cardiac death. During follow‐up (mean 3.1 years), 28 out of 100 patients died, 16 suddenly; αvpc had a significant prognostic impact end was independent from other risk indicators, such as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Patients who died during follow‐up were characterized by a high αvpc. The optimal discrimination of high risk patients and low risk patients occurred at αvpc — 3.0. After 4 years, the survival rate of patients with a αvpc > 3.0 was 59%, in contrast to 97% in patients with αvpc ≤ 0.3. As to the sudden death mortality, the survival rates were 74% and 97%, respectively. The difference between the groups were significant for both endpoints. Patients with an increased VPC variability (i.e., αvpc > 3.0) were at enhanced risk of sudden death and total mortality risk; αvpc was independent from other risk indicators such as the LVEF or heart rate variability parameters.
Review article. Studying climate effects on ecology through the use of climate indices: the North Atlantic Oscillation, El Niño Southern Oscillation and beyond

Whereas the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects weather and climate variability worldwide, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) represents the dominant climate pattern in the North Atlantic region. Both climate systems have been demonstrated to considerably influence ecological processes. Several other large–scale climate patterns also exist. Although less well known outside the field of climatology, these patterns are also likely to be of ecological interest. We provide an overview of these climate patterns within the context of the ecological effects of climate variability. The application of climate indices by definition reduces complex space and time variability into simple measures, ‘packages of weather’. The disadvantages of using global climate indices are all related to the fact that another level of problems are added to the ecology–climate interface, namely the link between global climate indices and local climate. We identify issues related to: (i) spatial variation; (ii) seasonality; (iii) non–stationarity; (iv) nonlinearity; and (v) lack of correlation in the relationship between global and local climate. The main advantages of using global climate indices are: (i) biological effects may be related more strongly to global indices than to any single local climate variable; (ii) it helps to avoid problems of model selection; (iii) it opens the possibility for ecologists to make predictions; and (iv) they are typically readily available on Internet.
Management of patients with difficult autoimmune hepatitis

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is characterized by a T-cell rich infiltrate associated with lobular and interface hepatitis, hypergammaglobulinemia and production of autoantibodies. Genetic risk is linked to the HLA particularly DRB1*0301 and DRB1*0401 alleles in North American and European Caucasian populations. It has recently been suggested that functional deficiencies in CD4+CD25+CD127lowFOXP3+ regulatory T cells contribute to the breakdown of immune tolerance that results in AIH. Most patients respond to immunosuppressive therapy with corticosteroids and can be maintained in remission by low-dose corticosteroid treatment and/or azathioprine. For those who progress to end-stage disease liver transplantation is an effective treatment although it is associated with recurrence. In the future it is likely that biological therapies will allow more targeted therapy designed to switch the balance to immune regulation and thereby restore immune homeostasis. Although treatment for many cases is relatively straightforward and successful problems are encountered in those who fail to respond to standard treatment, are unable to tolerate it or relapse. In such cases alternative therapies should be considered. In addition treatment is complicated in some patients by comorbidity and special care is required during and after pregnancy. We will discuss the current and future therapeutic options for patients with difficult to treat AIH.
TP53 deletion is not an adverse feature in multiple myeloma treated with total therapy 3

Contrary to Total Therapy (TT) 2 for multiple myeloma patients, FGFR3− translocation bore no adverse effects on outcome in TT3 with added bortezomib. Del TP53, another poor‐risk feature in TT2 and present in 10% of 441 patients treated, was examined for its prognostic consequences in TT3. Not affecting rate or duration of complete response, TP53 haplo‐insufficiency also did not compromise, in the 83% with genomically defined low‐risk myeloma, survival or event‐free survival. FGFR3+ and FGFR3− molecular subgroups fared worse in the presence of del TP53 when applying TT2 but not TT3. Thus, the prognostic implications of del TP53 were protocol‐, genome‐defined risk‐ and molecular subgroup‐dependent.
An improved orthogonal matching pursuit based on randomly enhanced adaptive subspace pursuit

Greedy pursuit algorithms are widely used for sparse signal recovery from a compressed measurement system due to their low computational complexity. Combining different greedy pursuit algorithms can improve the recovery performance. In this paper an improved orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) is proposed, in which the randomly enhanced adaptive subspace pursuit (REASP) is used to refine the estimated support set of the OMP at each iteration and hence boost the sparse signal recovery performance of the OMP. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and show that it has good performance in noiseless and noisy cases.
Evolution of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Through Plio-Pleistocene Glaciation

A tropical Pacific climate state resembling that of a permanent El Niño is hypothesized to have ended as a result of a reorganization of the ocean heat budget ∼3 million years ago, a time when large ice sheets appeared in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. We report a high-resolution alkenone reconstruction of conditions in the heart of the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) cold tongue that reflects the combined influences of changes in the equatorial thermocline, the properties of the thermocline's source waters, atmospheric greenhouse gas content, and orbital variations on sea surface temperature (SST) and biological productivity over the past 5 million years. Our data indicate that the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation ∼3 million years ago did not interrupt an almost monotonic cooling of the EEP during the Plio-Pleistocene. SST and productivity in the eastern tropical Pacific varied in phase with global ice volume changes at a dominant 41,000-year (obliquity) frequency throughout this time. Changes in the Southern Hemisphere most likely modulated most of the changes observed.
Exposure to Nonpersistent Insecticides and Male Reproductive Hormones

Background: Urinary metabolites of several nonpersistent insecticides have been measured in a high percentage of men in the general population, suggesting widespread environmental exposures to these compounds. The present study explored the association of urinary concentrations of 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCPY), a metabolite of chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl, and 1-naphthol (1N), a metabolite of carbaryl and naphthalene, with serum reproductive hormone levels in adult men. Methods: Subjects (n = 268) were the male partners in couples presenting to a Massachusetts infertility clinic in years 2000 through 2003. TCPY and 1N were measured in a spot urine sample from each subject and adjusted for dilution using specific gravity. Reproductive hormones (follicle-stimulating hormone, leuteinizing hormone, inhibin B, testosterone, and sex hormone-binding globulin) were measured in serum collected from subjects during the same clinic visit. Results: Multiple linear regression models showed an inverse association between TCPY and testosterone concentration. An interquartile range (IQR) increase in TCPY was associated with a decline of 25 ng/dL (95% confidence interval = −40 to −10) in testosterone concentration. The association appeared to be dose-dependent when exposure was divided into quintiles. The highest TCPY quintile was associated with a testosterone decline of 83 ng/dL (−128 to −39) compared with the lowest TCPY quintile. We also found inverse associations between TCPY and free androgen index and between 1N and testosterone, and suggestive inverse associations between TCPY and leuteinizing hormone and between 1N and free androgen index. Conclusion: In adult men, TCPY and 1N were associated with reduced testosterone levels. On a population level, these reductions are of potential public health importance because of widespread exposure to these nonpersistent insecticides.
Cytomorphology of gastrointestinal stromal tumors and extra-gastrointestinal stromal tumors: A comprehensive morphologic study

Background: The term gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) is used to refer to those mesenchymal neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) which express CD117, a c-kit proto-oncogene protein. Aims: To study the cytological features of GIST and extra-gastrointestinal stromal tumors (EGIST), to correlate them with histology and to determine cytological indicators of malignancy. Materials and Methods: Cytological smears from patients diagnosed as GIST/EGIST on histology were retrieved. From Jan 2000 to July 2010, 26 GIST (13 primary, 12 metastatic, one recurrent) and seven EGIST (5 primary, one metastatic, one recurrent) cytologic samples from 27 patients were identified. Results: The patients included 20 males and 7 females with a mean age of 50.6 years. Tumor sites included stomach (5), duodenum (5), ileum (2), ileocecal (1), rectum (1), liver (9), retroperitoneum (5), mesentery (1), subcutaneous nodule (1), supra-penile lump (1), ascitic (1) and pleural fluids (1). The smears were cellular with cohesive to loosely cohesive thinly spread irregularly outlined cell clusters held together by thin calibre vessels. The tumor cells were mild to moderately pleomorphic, spindle to epithelioid with variable chromatin pattern and variable cytoplasm. Cellular dyscohesion, nuclear pleomorphism, intranuclear pseudoinclusions, prominent nucleoli, mitosis and necrosis were more prominent in malignant, metastatic and recurrent tumors. Conclusions: GISTs show a wide spectrum of cytological features and the presence of mitosis, necrosis and nuclear pleomorphism can help in prediction of malignant behavior. Further, cytology is a very useful screening modality in patients of GIST and EGIST to detect early recurrence and metastasis at follow-up.
T‐cell receptor CDR3 size distribution analysis to evaluate specific T‐cell response to cancer vaccines

To evaluate immunization procedures in cancer patients, it is important to define which biological parameters reflecting a specific immune response to the vaccine should be followed. One of these may be the recruitment or expansion of clonally amplified T‐cell subpopulations previously primed by tumor‐specific antigen that could be detected in tiny samples by CDR3 length analysis of T‐cell receptor Vβ transcripts. To evaluate this procedure, we studied one patient with metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma who had received 4 intradermal injections of irradiated autologous tumor cells plus IL‐2 on days 1, 8, 15 and 36. Skin tests for delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction to irradiated autologous tumor cells were performed on days 1 and 43. Although no change was observed in day 43 PBMCs, some recurrent transcripts were detected with similar CDR3 size patterns in both vaccine and DTH sites. Fine analysis of these Vβ‐Cβ PCR products with Jβ primers confirmed that transcripts with similar length were recruited in both vaccine and DTH sites. Induction of an inflammatory response in both DTH and vaccine sites may therefore be associated with the recruitment of few T‐cell clonotypes. In addition, a Vβ15‐Jβ2. 5 transcript similar to those detected in vaccine and DTH sites was also identified in enzymatically dissociated tumor cells and in a tumor fragment. Sequencing confirmed that an identical junctional sequence was shared by Vβ15‐Jβ2. 5 transcripts from both DTH and tumor samples. Our results indicate that a T‐cell clone similar to the one amplified in the tumor was recruited at the vaccine and DTH reaction sites. We therefore suggest that such an approach would be useful in assessing specific expansion of T‐cell clones induced by cancer vaccines. Int. J. Cancer 71: 972‐977, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss Inc.
The histopathology of fibrous dysplasia of bone in patients with activating mutations of the Gsα gene: site‐specific patterns and recurrent histological hallmarks

Gsα mutations and histopathology have been analysed in a series of 13 patients with fibrous dysplasia (FD) of bone, including 12 patients with the McCune–Albright syndrome (MAS) and one patient with monostotic FD. Activating mutations (either R201C or R201H) of the gene encoding the α subunit of the stimulatory G protein, Gs, were detected in all cases, including the case of monostotic FD, using a variety of techniques [reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) with allele‐specific primers, allele‐specific oligonucleotide hybridization, and DNA sequencing]. A spectrum of bone lesions associated with such mutations was identified and it was possible to recognize three primary, but distinct, histological patterns, defined here as Chinese writing type, sclerotic/Pagetoid type, and sclerotic/hypercellular type, which are characteristically associated with the axial/appendicular skeleton, cranial bones, or gnathic bones, respectively. Features of FD histopathology were characterized by confocal fluorescence microscopy, which allowed the definition of osteogenic cell shape changes and ‘Sharpey fibre bone’ as common denominators of all histological subtypes. Defining characteristics of the different subtypes, two of which diverge from standard descriptions of FD and have never been characterized before, were dependent on the amount and structure of bone tissue within the FD lesion. These data emphasize the non‐random (site‐specific) variability of FD histopathology in patients carrying activating mutations of the Gsα gene and provide additional evidence for the occurrence of Gsα mutations in cases of FD other than typical MAS. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Mutational Analysis of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa Myovirus ϕKZ Morphogenetic Protease gp175

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa myovirus ϕKZ has a 270-kb genome within a T=27 icosahedral capsid that contains a large, unusual, and structurally well-defined protein cylindrical inner body (IB) spanning its interior. Proteolysis forms a pivotal stage in ϕKZ head and IB morphogenesis, with the protease gp175 cleaving at least 19 of 49 different head proteins, including the major capsid protein and five major structural IB proteins. Here we show that the purified mature form of gp175 is active and cleaves purified IB structural proteins gp93 and gp89. Expression vector synthesis and purification of the zymogen/precursor yielded an active, mature-length protease, showing independent C-terminal gp175 self-cleavage autoactivation. Mutation of either the predicted catalytic serine or histidine inactivated mature gp175, supporting its classification as a serine protease and representing the first such direct biochemical demonstration with purified protease and substrate proteins for any phage protease. These mutations also blocked self-cleavage of the precursor while allowing intermolecular gp175 processing. To confirm the cleavage specificity of gp175, we mutated three cleavage sites in gp93, which blocked proteolysis at these sites. The N-terminal propeptide of gp93 was shown to undergo more extensive proteolysis than previously identified. We found that proteolysis in gp93 progressed from the N to C terminus, while blocking cleavage sites slowed but did not eliminate downstream proteolysis. These findings were shown by informatics to be relevant to the head morphogenesis of numbers of other related IB-containing giant phages as well as to T4 and herpesviruses, which have homologous proteases.
Double-port AlN/Sapphire high overtone bulk acoustic resonators for the stabilization of radio-frequency oscillators

The interest of double-port AlN/Sapphire high overtone bulk acoustic resonators for the stabilization of radiofrequency oscillators is investigated. Resonators are built by depositing AlN onto Sapphire to provide high quality factors, as required for stable oscillators. The resonators are based on laterally-coupled single resonators exchanging energy via a gap of few tens of μm separating them and adjusted to optimize the quality factor. Combining AlN with high acoustic quality materials finally has provided a quality factor of 53,000 at 1.8 GHz (Q.f product of about 9.5 × 1013) at room temperature. An oscillator stabilized with this resonator has been characterized, yielding a phase noise floor of -155 dBc/Hz and an Allan deviation of 10-9 for τ = 1 s.
Ten year follow-up of healthy children who received one or two injections of varicella vaccine

Background. The rate of varicella and persistence of varicella antibody after a one dose vs. a two dose regimen of varicella virus vaccine live Oka/Merck (VARIVAX®; Merck & Co., Inc., West Point, PA) in ∼2000 children were compared during a 9- to 10-year follow-up period. Methods. Children 12 months to 12 years of age with a negative history of varicella were randomized in late 1991 to early 1993 to receive either one or two injections of varicella vaccine given 3 months apart. Subjects were actively followed for varicella, any varicella-like illness or zoster and any exposures to varicella or zoster on a yearly basis for 10 years after vaccination. Persistence of varicella antibody was measured yearly for 9 years. Results. Most cases of varicella reported in recipients of one or two injections of vaccine were mild. The risk of developing varicella >42 days postvaccination during the 10-year observation period was 3.3-fold lower (P < 0.001) in children who received two injections than in those who received one injection (2.2%vs. 7.3%, respectively). The estimated vaccine efficacy for the 10-year observation period was 94.4% for one injection and 98.3% for two injections (P < 0.001). Measurable serum antibody persisted for 9 years in all subjects. Conclusions. Administration of either one or two injections of varicella vaccine to healthy children results in long term protection against most varicella disease. The two dose regimen was significantly more effective than a single injection.
Regression Based on Sparse Bayesian Learning and the Applications in Electric Systems

This paper introduces a general Bayesian framework for obtaining sparse solutions to regression predicting, and the practical model 'relevance vector machine' (RVM) by Michael E. Tipping. As a brand-new thought of probabilistic learning model, it offers the superior level of generalization accuracy and a number of additional advantages comparable with the popular and state-of-the-art 'support vector machine' (SVM). Utilize the advantages of the RVM, it can be applied in sorts of practical engineering fields and gain the special benefits. In this paper we also give the perspective of the model in electric systems regression implementations. A short-term electricity load prediction model is presented as an example.
Selective Effects of Calcium Chelators on Anterograde and Retrograde Protein Transport in the Cell*

Calcium plays a regulatory role in several aspects of protein trafficking in the cell. Both vesicle fusion and vesicle formation can be inhibited by the addition of calcium chelators. Because the effects of calcium chelators have been studied predominantly in cell-free systems, it is not clear exactly which transport steps in the secretory pathway are sensitive to calcium levels. In this regard, we have studied the effects of calcium chelators on both anterograde and retrograde protein transport in whole cells. Using both cytochemical and biochemical analyses, we find that the anterograde-directed exit of vesicular stomatitis virus G protein and the retrograde-directed exit of Shiga toxin from the Golgi apparatus are both inhibited by calcium chelation. The exit of vesicular stomatitis virus G from a pre-Golgi compartment and the exit of Shiga toxin from an endosomal compartment are sensitive to the membrane-permeant calcium chelator 1,2-bis(2-amino phenoxy)ethane-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid–tetrakis (acetoxymethyl ester) (BAPTA-AM). By contrast, endoplasmic reticulum exit and endocytic internalization from the plasma membrane are not affected by BAPTA. Together, our data show that some, but not all, trafficking steps in the cell may be regulated by calcium. These studies provide a framework for a more detailed analysis of the role of calcium as a regulatory agent during protein transport.