Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fused X-ray and MR imaging guidance of intrapericardial delivery of microencapsulated human mesenchymal stem cells in immunocompetent swine.

PURPOSE To assess intrapericardial delivery of microencapsulated, xenogeneic human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) by using x-ray fused with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (x-ray/MR imaging) guidance as a potential treatment for ischemic cardiovascular disease in an immunocompetent swine model. MATERIALS AND METHODS All animal experiments were approved by the institutional animal care and use committee. Stem cell microencapsulation was performed by using a modified alginate-poly-l-lysine-alginate encapsulation method to include 10% (wt/vol) barium sulfate to create barium-alginate microcapsules (BaCaps) that contained hMSCs. With x-ray/MR imaging guidance, eight female pigs (approximately 25 kg) were randomized to receive either BaCaps with hMSCs, empty BaCaps, naked hMSCs, or saline by using a percutaneous subxiphoid approach and were compared with animals that received empty BaCaps (n = 1) or BaCaps with hMSCs (n = 2) by using standard fluoroscopic delivery only. MR images and C-arm computed tomographic (CT) images were acquired before injection and 1 week after delivery. Animals were sacrificed immediately or at 1 week for histopathologic validation. Cardiac function between baseline and 1 week after delivery was evaluated by using a paired Student t test. RESULTS hMSCs remained highly viable (94.8% ± 6) 2 days after encapsulation in vitro. With x-ray/MR imaging, successful intrapericardial access and delivery were achieved in all animals. BaCaps were visible fluoroscopically and at C-arm CT immediately and 1 week after delivery. Whereas BaCaps were free floating immediately after delivery, they consolidated into a pseudoepicardial tissue patch at 1 week, with hMSCs remaining highly viable within BaCaps; naked hMSCs were poorly retained. Follow-up imaging 1 week after x-ray/MR imaging-guided intrapericardial delivery showed no evidence of pericardial adhesion and/or effusion or adverse effect on cardiac function. In contradistinction, BaCaps delivery with x-ray fluoroscopy without x-ray/MR imaging (n = 3) resulted in pericardial adhesions and poor hMSC viability after 1 week. CONCLUSION Intrapericardial delivery of BaCaps with hMSCs leads to high cell retention and survival. With x-ray/MR imaging guidance, intrapericardial delivery can be performed safely in the absence of preexisting pericardial effusion to provide a novel route for cardiac cellular regenerative therapy.
Business Cycles with Spirit of Capitalism and Conspicuous Consumption in a Multi-Country Growth Model

This paper generalizes the global economic growth model with spirit of capitalism, social status, and conspicuous consumption recently proposed by Zhang (2016). Zhang’s model examines the role of spirit of capitalism, social status, and conspicuous consumption in national and international economic development, trade patterns, and distribution of income and wealth between countries. The multi-country growth model treats social status and wealth accumulation as endogenous variables. This paper generalizes the model by Zhang through making all exogenous constant parameters as exogenous time-dependent parameters. We demonstrate how the system reacts to exogenous periodic perturbations.
Cynical Selection of Language Model Training Data

The Moore-Lewis method of "intelligent selection of language model training data" is very effective, cheap, efficient. and also has structural problems. (1) The method defines relevance by playing language models trained on the in-domain and the out-of-domain (or data pool) corpora against each other. This powerful idea-- which we set out to preserve-- treats the two corpora as the opposing ends of a single spectrum. This lack of nuance does not allow for the two corpora to be very similar. In the extreme case where the come from the same distribution, all of the sentences have a Moore-Lewis score of zero, so there is no resulting ranking. (2) The selected sentences are not guaranteed to be able to model the in-domain data, nor to even cover the in-domain data. They are simply well-liked by the in-domain model; this is necessary, but not sufficient. (3) There is no way to tell what is the optimal number of sentences to select, short of picking various thresholds and building the systems. We present a greedy, lazy, approximate, and generally efficient information-theoretic method of accomplishing the same goal using only vocabulary counts. The method has the following properties: (1) Is responsive to the extent to which two corpora differ. (2) Quickly reaches near-optimal vocabulary coverage. (3) Takes into account what has already been selected. (4) Does not involve defining any kind of domain, nor any kind of classifier. (6) Knows approximately when to stop. This method can be used as an inherently-meaningful measure of similarity, as it measures the bits of information to be gained by adding one text to another.
Vasa vasorum and atherosclerosis – Quid novi?

Summary The role of vasa vasorum (VV) in atherosclerosis is hotly debated, and new experimental techniques have recently opened an opportunity to take a fresh look at this important topic. Although the proliferation of VV due to atherogenic stimuli is controversial, experimental and clinical evidence strongly suggest the potential of VV in vascular proliferative disorders. In the past, paradigms of atherosclerosis and restenosis have excluded the adventitia and VV in the artery wall due, in part, to a lack of i) appropriate animal models featuring adventitial VV neovascularization, ii) imaging technologies to quantitate adventitial VV and plaque neovascularization and iii) its consequences, concerning information on detectable plaque substrate in vulnerable lesions. VV proliferation is associated with increasing plaque burden and is linked to cellular processes which are critical during the development of atherosclerotic plaques such as inflammation, plaque perfusion and concomitant intraplaque hemorrhage – but the regulation and induction of VV based on pathological settings are poorly understood. This review discusses the current scientific status and its controversies and identifies open research questions.
RhNAC2 and RhEXPA4 Are Involved in the Regulation of Dehydration Tolerance during the Expansion of Rose Petals1[C][W][OA]

Dehydration inhibits petal expansion resulting in abnormal flower opening and results in quality loss during the marketing of cut flowers. We constructed a suppression subtractive hybridization library from rose (Rosa hybrida) flowers containing 3,513 unique expressed sequence tags and analyzed their expression profiles during cycles of dehydration. We found that 54 genes were up-regulated by the first dehydration, restored or even down-regulated by rehydration, and once again up-regulated by the second dehydration. Among them, we identified a putative NAC family transcription factor (RhNAC2). With transactivation activity of its carboxyl-terminal domain in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) cell and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) protoplast, RhNAC2 belongs to the NAC transcription factor clade related to plant development in Arabidopsis. A putative expansin gene named RhEXPA4 was also dramatically up-regulated by dehydration. Silencing RhNAC2 or RhEXPA4 in rose petals by virus-induced gene silencing significantly decreased the recovery of intact petals and petal discs during rehydration. Overexpression of RhNAC2 or RhEXPA4 in Arabidopsis conferred strong drought tolerance in the transgenic plants. RhEXPA4 expression was repressed in RhNAC2-silenced rose petals, and the amino-terminal binding domain of RhNAC2 bound to the RhEXPA4 promoter. Twenty cell wall-related genes, including seven expansin family members, were up-regulated in Arabidopsis plants overexpressing RhNAC2. These data indicate that RhNAC2 and RhEXPA4 are involved in the regulation of dehydration tolerance during the expansion of rose petals and that RhEXPA4 expression may be regulated by RhNAC2.
The Cardiac Determination Factor, Nkx2-5, Is Activated by Mutual Cofactors GATA-4 and Smad1/4 via a Novel Upstream Enhancer*

The mammalian homologue of Drosophila tinman, Nkx2-5, plays an early role in regulating cardiac genes and morphogenesis. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), members of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β family of signaling molecules, are involved in numerous developmental processes. BMP signaling is crucial in the regulation of Nkx2-5 expression and specification of the cardiac lineage. Constitutively active BMP type I receptor or the downstream pathway components and DNA-binding transcription factors, Smad1/4 directly activated Nkx2-5 gene transcription. We identified and characterized a novel upstream Nkx2-5 enhancer, composed of clustered repeats of Smad and GATA DNA binding sites. This composite Nkx2-5 enhancer was a direct target of BMP signaling via cooperative interactions between the downstream transducers Smad1/4 and GATA-4. In mammalian two hybrid assays, Smad factors recruited the hybrid gene GATA4-VP16 to strongly drive transcription of a reporter gene containing multimerized Smad binding sites These cofactors interacted through the second zinc finger and adjacent basic domain of GATA-4 and the N-terminal domain of Smads. Smad4 and GATA4 were also found to bind in vivo with the Nkx2-5 composite enhancer, as revealed by chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis of differentiated P19 cells. Finally, transgenic mice containing the Smad/GATA composite enhancer recapitulated early murine Nkx2-5 cardiac expression and deletion of this enhancer within a 10-kb transgene pBS-Nkx2-5 LacZ significantly reduced expression in the cardiac crescent. Thus, integration of GATA transcription factors with BMP signaling, through co-association with Smads factors, may initiate early Nkx2-5 expression; suggesting a vital role for the combination of these factors in the specification of cardiac progenitors.
Freedom and entrepreneurship: a spatial econometric approach

Purpose While many studies find a positive relationship between economic freedom and entrepreneurship, very few of these studies account for possible spatial autocorrelation. Moreover, the development of an overall freedom measure has allowed researchers to test the relationship between overall freedom (personal plus economic) and entrepreneurship. The literature, however, does not account for spatial dependence in entrepreneurial activity. The purpose of this paper is to test for possible spatial dependence in entrepreneurial activity. Design/methodology/approach The authors employ a spatial autoregressive model to account for possible spatial dependence in entrepreneurial activity across states. The authors have data for entrepreneurial activity and overall freedom for a cross-section of data on the 48 contiguous US states for 2009. Findings The authors find no evidence of spatial dependence in entrepreneurial activity. Research limitations/implications The authors are limited to a cross-section. Combined with the spatial lag of the dependent variable, the authors might have too few observations to find statistical significance on either the spatial lag or other explanatory variables. Practical implications Future research should continue to account for possible spatial dependence. Social implications Entrepreneurship is key to economic growth. Freedom has been shown to lead to more entrepreneurship at the state level in other research. Originality/value This brief research note is the first paper to account for spatial dependence in the relationship between overall freedom and entrepreneurial activity.
Reproducibility of carotid intima-media thickness measurements in young adults.

PURPOSE To prospectively compare the reproducibility of carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) measurements obtained from the right and left carotid arteries in young adults by using ultrasonographic (US) images acquired at the maximum dimension, minimum dimension, and electrocardiographically (ECG)-triggered cardiac end diastole. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was HIPAA compliant and approved by the institutional review board; all participants provided informed consent. Medical history, anthropometric measurements, and blood pressure (BP) values were obtained from 50 men and 50 women aged 18-25 years. Images of the common carotid arteries were acquired from three independent complete cardiac cycles by using a 15L8-MHz US transducer. CIMT was measured on the images of each cycle that depicted the narrowest and widest vessel diameters, and at the R wave of the ECG. Measurements from the right and left carotid arteries were analyzed by using paired t tests; possible sex differences, by using unpaired t tests. Reproducibility was determined by using coefficients of variation and intraclass correlations (ICCs). Pearson correlations and multiple regression analyses were used to compare CIMT, body mass index (BMI), and BP. RESULTS CIMT values were 7.2% and 7% greater in frames showing the narrowest lumen diameter and in R-wave ECG-triggered frames, respectively, than in those with the widest diameter. CIMT measurements were 2.2%-3.1% greater in the right carotid artery than in the left (P < .001) and were significantly related to BMI (r = 0.40, P < .001) and systolic BP (r = 0.34, P < .001). ICCs were stronger when assessments were obtained in three different cardiac cycles (0.92-0.98), rather than in one (0.79-0.91). CONCLUSION In healthy young adults, reproducibility of CIMT measurements is greatest when combining values from both carotid arteries and/or from the maximal and minimal arterial diameters.
Hyperplanar Morphological Clustering of a Hippocampus by Using Volumetric Computerized Tomography in Early Alzheimer’s Disease

Background: On diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease (AD), most existing imaging-based schemes have relied on analyzing the hippocampus and its peripheral structures. Recent studies have confirmed that volumetric variations are one of the primary indicators in differentiating symptomatic AD from healthy aging. In this study, we focused on deriving discriminative shape-based parameters that could effectively identify early AD from volumetric computerized tomography (VCT) delineation, which was previously almost intangible. Methods: Participants were 63 volunteers of Thai nationality, whose ages were between 40 and 90 years old. Thirty subjects (age 68.51 ± 5.5) were diagnosed with early AD, by using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV) criteria and the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and the Stroke and the Alzheimer’s disease and Related Disorders Association (NINCDS-ADRDA) criteria, while the remaining 33 were in the healthy control group (age 67.93 ± 5.5). The structural imaging study was conducted by using VCT. Three uninformed readers were asked to draw left and right hippocampal outlines on a coronal section. The resultant shapes were aligned and then analyzed with statistical shape analysis to obtain the first few dominant variational parameters, residing in hyperplanes. A supervised machine learning, i.e., support vector machine (SVM) was then employed to elucidate the proposed scheme. Results: Provided trivial delineations, relatively as low as 5 to 7 implicit model parameters could be extracted and used as discriminants. Clinical verification showed that the model could differentiate early AD from aging, with high sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and F-measure of 0.970, 0.968, 0.983 and 0.983, respectively, with no apparent effect of left-right asymmetry. Thanks to a less laborious task required, yet high discriminating capability, the proposed scheme is expected to be applicable in a typical clinical setting, equipped with only a moderate-specs VCT.
CARD15 gene variants in aggressive periodontitis.

OBJECTIVE The CARD15 gene encodes a protein that acts as an intracellular receptor of bacterial products, thus playing an important role in the innate immune response. Recently, CARD15 gene variants have been identified as a cause of increased susceptibility to Crohn's disease. The present study aimed to examine a potential association of CARD15 gene variants with aggressive periodontitis susceptibility. MATERIAL AND METHODS The three main known CARD15 gene variants (p.R702W, p.G908R, and p.L1007fsX1008) were analysed by direct sequencing of exon 4, 8, and 11 of the gene in a total of 86 generalized aggressive periodontitis patients in comparison with 67 healthy controls. RESULTS The mutant allele frequencies of the CARD15 variants were low in the generalized aggressive periodontitis group as well as in the control group and not significantly different (R702W: 3.5% versus 5.2%; G908R: 1.7% versus 1.5%; L1007fsX1008: 5.2% versus 4.5%). Two rare variants (A755V and R791Q), previously described only in patients with other inflammatory diseases, were observed in three patients having aggressive periodontitis but not in controls. CONCLUSIONS Unlike in Crohn's disease, our results did not show an association between the three main CARD15 mutations and aggressive periodontitis. The role of rare variants remains unclear.
Evidence-based practice: extending the search to find material for the systematic review.

BACKGROUND Cochrane-style systematic reviews increasingly require the participation of librarians. Guidelines on the appropriate search strategy to use for systematic reviews have been proposed. However, research evidence supporting these recommendations is limited. OBJECTIVE This study investigates the effectiveness of various systematic search methods used to uncover randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for systematic reviews. Effectiveness is defined as the proportion of relevant material uncovered for the systematic review using extended systematic review search methods. The following extended systematic search methods are evaluated: searching subject-specific or specialized databases (including trial registries), hand searching, scanning reference lists, and communicating personally. METHODS Two systematic review projects were prospectively monitored regarding the method used to identify items as well as the type of items retrieved. The proportion of RCTs identified by each systematic search method was calculated. RESULTS The extended systematic search methods uncovered 29.2% of all items retrieved for the systematic reviews. The search of specialized databases was the most effective method, followed by scanning of reference lists, communicating personally, and hand searching. Although the number of items identified through hand searching was small, these unique items would otherwise have been missed. CONCLUSIONS Extended systematic search methods are effective tools for uncovering material for the systematic review. The quality of the items uncovered has yet to be assessed and will be key in evaluating the value of the systematic search methods.
Regions of Endonuclease EcoRII Involved in DNA Target Recognition Identified by Membrane-bound Peptide Repertoires*

Target sequence-specific DNA binding regions of the restriction endonuclease EcoRII were identified by screening a membrane-bound EcoRII-derived peptide scan with an EcoRII recognition site (CCWGG) oligonucleotide duplex. Dodecapeptides overlapping by nine amino acids and representing the complete protein were prepared by spot synthesis. Two separate DNA binding regions, amino acids 88–102 and amino acids 256–273, which share the consensus motif KXRXXK, emerged. Screening 570 single substitution analogues obtained by exchanging every residue of both binding sites for all other amino acids demonstrated that replacing basic residues in the consensus motifs significantly reduced DNA binding. EcoRII mutant enzymes generated by substituting alanine or glutamic acid for the consensus lysine residues in DNA binding site I expressed attenuated DNA binding, whereas corresponding substitutions in DNA binding site II caused impaired cleavage, but enzyme secondary structure was unaffected. Furthermore, Glu96, which is part of a potential catalytic motif and also locates to DNA binding site I, was demonstrated to be critical for DNA cleavage and binding. Homology studies of DNA binding site II revealed strong local homology to SsoII (recognition sequence, CCNGG) and patterns of sequence conservation, suggesting the existence of functionally related DNA binding sites in diverse restriction endonucleases with recognition sequences containing terminal C:G or G:C pairs.
Early referral of Type 2 diabetic patients: are we ready for the assault?

BACKGROUND Elderly diabetics on dialysis are dramatically increasing in number. Their late referral reduces efficacy of therapeutic interventions; early referral is fundamental for their survival on dialysis. However, need for nephrological follow-up in case of early referral is not assessed. The objective was to define the need for follow-up in the nephrology setting of Type 2 diabetics, according to the early referral criteria of serum creatinine > or = 1.5 mg/dl or macroproteinuria. METHODS The setting of the study was an outpatient diabetic care unit (University of Torino), where approximately 25% of the Type 2 diabetics of a 900,000-inhabitant city (Torino, Northern Italy) were followed. At the time of the study (1998-1999) the unit followed 5182 Type 2 diabetics whose serum creatinine and proteinuria were tested at least yearly. A total of 3826 prevalent and 478 incident patients with one or more analyses in the same laboratory were included in the study. Demographic data were not statistically different between selected and excluded patients. We calculated the stepwise need for nephrological follow-ups calculated according to our usual policy (4-12 evaluations/ year, on serum creatinine and proteinuria, and 30 min/evaluation). RESULTS The prevalence of increased serum creatinine and macroproteinuria was high (in the prevalent cohort: serum creatinine > or = 1.5 mg/dl, 8.1%; proteinuria 0.3 g/day, 25.2%; serum creatinine > or = 3 mg/dl, 1.2%; nephrotic proteinuria 3.4%). Projecting data to the entire unit, with adherence to our evaluation protocol, early nephrological follow-up of Type 2 diabetics requires approximately 1300 h/year (one full-time nephrologist); five nephrologists are needed for our city, and 24 for the region (4350 000 inhabitants). CONCLUSIONS Early nephrological referral and follow-up of Type 2 diabetics is time consuming and expensive. Meeting the outpatient care needs of this critical cohort requires considerable resources.
The Sustained Influence of Short Term Exposure to a Proprietary Extract of North American Ginseng on the Hemopoietic Cells of the Bone Marrow, Spleen and Blood of Adult and Juvenile Mice

This study assessed the influences of CVT‐E002, a proprietary extract of North American ginseng, Panax quinquefolius (Afexa Life Sciences, Inc., Edmonton, AB, Canada), in vivo, on murine hemopoietic and immune cells when administered as a dietary additive. The extract was given daily to young, adult mice for a period of 4 weeks, immediately following which one group was euthanized and the hemopoietic and immune cells of their bone marrow, spleen and blood were assayed for CVT‐E002‐mediated alterations in any of five cell lineages (lymphocytes, nucleated erythroid cells, granulocytes, immature granuloid precursors and monocytes). Another group of these mice was left for a subsequent 8 weeks on control diet, following which the same organs and cell lineages were analysed. In another study, juvenile mice immediately upon weaning (age: 4 weeks), were subjected to the above protocol, and their organs/cell lineages assayed. The results revealed that CVT‐E002 had a long‐lasting, positive quantitative effect on the lymphocytes and monocytes, regardless of age at commencement of daily, dietary CVT‐E002. CVT‐E002 may therefore have a prophylactic disease defense, immunostimulatory role, or potentially, even a therapeutic role. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.