Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of ALK status between primary and corresponding lymph node metastatic tumors in lung cancer patients

Background The anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) protein has recently become a promising target in the treatment of non-small cell lung carcinomas(NSCLC) patients with ALK translocation because of the high response rates obtained with an ALK inhibitor. ALK translocations are present in approximately 3-5% of NSCLC patients. According to the literature, little information about the relationship of ALK status between the primary tumor and metastatic sites has been reported. We intended to determine whether the ALK translocations of primary lung cancers are consistent with those in corresponding metastatic lymph node tumors. Materials and Methods We analyzed ALK translocations from paired primary and metastatic lymph node tumors in 78 lung cancer patients who had not received TKI before the tissues were sampled. Results Using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) methods, all 45 patients with ALK translocation-positive primary lung tumors had translocations in the metastases. For 33 patients who were ALK negative in the primary tumors, 1 (3%) was ALK positive in their metastatic tumors. Conclusion According to a paired t-test, there is no significant difference between primary lung tumors and metastatic sites. Analysis of ALK translocations in the primary lung tumor would be suitable for planning the use of a TKI for advanced NSCLC, but it would be better to detect metastasis specimens as ALK negative specimens if both primary and metastatic specimens have developed.
Economic Value of Hurricane Forecasts: An Overview and Research Needs

Hurricane forecasting is in part an economic problem, because it commits scarce resources to save lives, reduce injuries, and lessen economic impacts. New sensing, recording, and reporting technologies, as well as the increased number of clients and their changing needs, have heightened the need to economically justify the hurricane warning system. Estimating forecast value can help show if improved forecast provision and dissemination would offer more benefit to society than alternative public investments such as infrastructure or forecasts of other hazards. We review research that has estimated the economic value of the hurricane forecast and warning system and the value of improving forecast quality. We recommend developing a comprehensive theoretical understanding of economic value of hurricane forecasts to diverse stakeholders across all time scales. This improved, basic understanding would involve a more in-depth discussion of the value of information as well as a broader knowledge of actual (or created) distinctions between adaptation, mitigation, and response to hurricane risks.
Nursing leadership of the transcatheter aortic valve implantation Heart Team

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) is an innovative and resource-intensive treatment of valvular heart disease. Growing evidence and excellent outcomes are contributing to increased patient demand. The Heart Team is foundational to TAVI programs to manage the complexities of case selection and other aspects of care. The competencies and expertise of nurses are well suited to provide administrative and clinical leadership within the TAVI Heart Team to promote efficient, effective, and sustainable program development. The contributions of nursing administrative and clinical leaders exemplify the leadership roles that nurses can assume in healthcare innovation.
Evidence of species specificity in the cytocidal effects of Pasteurella haemolytica

Pasteurella haemolytica was found to have a cytotoxic effect on the peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes of cattle, sheep, and goats, but no effect on the mononuclear leukocytes of swine, horses, or humans. In contrast, Escherichia coli caused marked cell death among mononuclear leukocytes of all species tested.
Intrathoracic Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor with Angiosarcoma in a Child with NF1

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) are uncommon in children and adolescents but occur more frequently in NF1 patients. Angiosarcomatous differentiation in MPNSTs is a rare entity with poor prognosis. We report on a 13-year-old boy with intrathoracic angiosarcoma arising in MPNST associated with NF1.
Comparison of lung protective ventilation strategies in a rabbit model of acute lung injury

Objective To determine the impact of different protective and nonprotective mechanical ventilation strategies on the degree of pulmonary inflammation, oxidative damage, and hemodynamic stability in a saline lavage model of acute lung injury. Design A prospective, randomized, controlled, in vivo animal laboratory study. Setting Animal research facility of a health sciences university. Subjects Forty-six New Zealand White rabbits. Interventions Mature rabbits were instrumented with a tracheostomy and vascular catheters. Lavage-injured rabbits were randomized to receive conventional ventilation with either a) low peak end-expiratory pressure (PEEP; tidal volume of 10 mL/kg, PEEP of 2 cm H2O); b) high PEEP (tidal volume of 10 mL/kg, PEEP of 10 cm H2O); c) low tidal volume with PEEP above Pflex (open lung strategy, tidal volume of 6 mL/kg, PEEP set 2 cm H2O > Pflex); or d) high-frequency oscillatory ventilation. Animals were ventilated for 4 hrs. Lung lavage fluid and tissue samples were obtained immediately after animals were killed. Lung lavage fluid was assayed for measurements of total protein, elastase activity, tumor necrosis factor-&agr;, and malondialdehyde. Lung tissue homogenates were assayed for measurements of myeloperoxidase activity and malondialdehyde. The need for inotropic support was recorded. Measurements and Main Results Animals that received a lung protective strategy (open lung or high-frequency oscillatory ventilation) exhibited more favorable oxygenation and lung mechanics compared with the low PEEP and high PEEP groups. Animals ventilated by a lung protective strategy also showed attenuation of inflammation (reduced tracheal fluid protein, tracheal fluid elastase, tracheal fluid tumor necrosis factor-&agr;, and pulmonary leukostasis). Animals treated with high-frequency oscillatory ventilation had attenuated oxidative injury to the lung and greater hemodynamic stability compared with the other experimental groups. Conclusions Both lung protective strategies were associated with improved oxygenation, attenuated inflammation, and decreased lung damage. However, in this small-animal model of acute lung injury, an open lung strategy with deliberate hypercapnia was associated with significant hemodynamic instability.
Identification of gp350 as the viral glycoprotein mediating attachment of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) to the EBV/C3d receptor of B cells: sequence homology of gp350 and C3 complement fragment C3d

The major Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) envelope glycoprotein, gp350, was purified from the B95-8 cell line and analyzed for its ability to mediate virus attachment to the isolated EBV/C3d receptor (CR2) of human B lymphocytes. Purified gp350 and EBV, but not cytomegalovirus, exhibited dose-dependent binding to purified CR2 in dot blot immunoassays. Binding was inhibited by certain monoclonal antibodies to CR2 and to gp350. Liposomes bearing incorporated gp350 bound to CR2-positive B-cell lines but not to CR2-negative lines. Liposome binding was also inhibited by the OKB7 anti-CR2 monoclonal antibody. A computer-generated comparison of the deduced gp350 amino acid sequence with that of the human C3d complement fragment revealed two regions of significant primary sequence homology, a finding which suggests that a common region on these two unrelated proteins may be involved in CR2 binding.
Gender and Speech Rate in the Perception of Competence and Social Attractiveness

Abstract The authors' hypotheses were that (a) listeners regard speakers whose global speech rates they judge to be similar to their own as more competent and more socially attractive than speakers whose rates are different from their own and (b) gender influences those perceptions. Participants were 17 male and 28 female listeners; they judged each of 3 male and 3 female speakers in terms of 10 unipolar adjective scales. The authors used 8 of the scales to derive 2 scores describing the extent to which the listener viewed a speaker as competent and socially attractive. The 2 scores were related by trend analyses (a) to the listeners' perceptions of the speakers' speech rates as compared with their own and (b) to comparisons of the actual speech rates of the speakers and listeners. The authors examined trend components of the data by split-plot multiple regression analyses. In general, the results supported both hypotheses. The participants judged speakers with speech rates similar to their own as more competent and socially attractive than speakers with speech rates slower or faster than their own. However, the ratings of competence were significantly influenced by the gender of the listeners, and those of social attractiveness were influenced by the gender of the listeners and the speakers.
A novel approach of Content Based Medical Images Indexing System Based on Spatial Distribution of Vector Descriptors

In this paper, we propose a Content Based Medical Images Indexing System Based on Spatial Distribution of Vector Descriptors. The query image can be a portion of images, or entire ones. Our system is based on retrieving and classifying images by extracting local image features using descriptors and statistical distance measurements to compute similarity. For pattern recognition, we applied the approach of Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) descriptor which extracts the local features vector for the key-point in order to obtain a cloud of points indicating the locations of the key-feature. Then, we used the Quick Hull algorithm to delimit this cloud of points into a vector forming a pattern. The medical image dataset we used is provided by EL KASSAB hospital, Tunis, Tunisia. Our system was successfully tested on brain tumor MRI, and we are in the process to extend it to bone images.
Frontal Lobe Functions and Dysfunctions

Frontal lobe syndromes with personality change are well known for about 150 years but mysteries of their underlying anatomophysiological mechanisms have started to unfold in recent years. The frontal lobe accommodates an extension of the primary motor (precentral) cortex, the premotor region and the interhemispherically located supplementary motor region, both of them forming area 6 and its subdivisions. The anterior and inferior frontal structures (and also the eye field, area 8) belong to the prefrontal region. The prefrontal cortex is also involved in motor action: in its initiation, planning, designing and sequencing rather than its mere execution. This requires drive and initiative to move, their deficits resulting in moderate to extreme apathy. Forces of motivation are likely to be mediated via the fronto-orbital cortex (known as an extension of the temporo-limbic system) which also exerts inhibitory influences on prefrontal functioning, and disinhibitory frontal lobe syndromes (from tactlessness to aggression) are the result of frontobasal impairment. A special form of frontal-motor cortex disconnection may occur in childhood: in the rare Rett syndrome and, with limitation to the prefrontal cortex, in the common Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The initiation of movement is based upon the constant influx of afferent-sensory messages from posterior cerebral regions and strong mesiodorsal thalamic connections, providing information for each following initiatory prefrontal motor impulse which depends on such information from the past moment. This "Working Memory" appears to be the keystone of mental and motor prefrontal function. Becoming unnecessary in the next moments, the afferent signals undergo immediate extinction due to inhibitory fronto-orbital impulses. It is assumed that the classical absence attack with generalized spike-waves of frontal onset causes a "suspension of the working memory" and thus permits immediate postictal recuperation of frontal functions. The gap between afferent and efferent signals in the working memory is likely to permit neurocognitive-processes and, in Homo sapiens, a widened gap is thought to provide a basis for reflection and cogitation uniquely human properties.
[Intravascular optical coherence tomography: differentiation of atherosclerotic plaques and quantification of vessel dimensions in crural arterial specimens].

PURPOSE Intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new technique based on infrared light that visualizes the arteries with a resolution of 10-20 microm. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is the current in vivo reference standard and provides a resolution of 100-150 microm. This study compared OCT to IVUS and histopathology with respect to the ability to differentiate atherosclerotic plaques and quantify vascular dimensions in peripheral crural arteries ex vivo. MATERIALS AND METHODS 50 segments of atherosclerotic arteries derived from five amputated human lower extremities were examined. The different plaque types (fibrous, high-lipid content, calcified) were assigned by two independent examiners, and the sensitivity and specificity of OCT in comparison with histopathology as well as intra- and interobserver consensus were calculated. A comparison of OCT with IVUS addressed the parameters: luminal area (LA), vascular wall area (VA) and plaque area (PA). RESULTS When comparing OCT and histopathology with respect to the differentiation of various plaque types, sensitivities of 81 % and specificities of 89 % for fibrous plaques, of 100 % and 93 % for lipid-rich plaques and of 80 % and 89 % for calcified plaques were achieved (overall correlation 83 %). Intra- and interobserver consensus was very high (kappa = 0.86 and kappa = 0.89, p < 0.001, respectively). There was also a high correlation between quantitative measurements (Bland-Altman plot [LA]: mean bias, 0.1 mm(2) accuracy +/- 1.8 mm(2), r = 0.95 [p < 0.001] Bland-Altman plot [VA]: mean bias, 0.3 mm(2) accuracy +/- 2.3 mm(2), r = 0.94 [p < 0.001] Bland-Altman plot [PA]: mean bias, 0.4 mm(2) accuracy +/- 2.3 mm(2), r = 0.80 [p < 0.01]. CONCLUSION OCT allows the differentiation of atherosclerotic plaque types in crural arteries with high accuracy compared to histopathology. Quantitative measurements show a high correlation with IVUS, the current reference standard.
Identification and Characterization of a Succinyl-Coenzyme A (CoA):Benzoate CoA Transferase in Geobacter metallireducens

ABSTRACT Geobacter metallireducens is a Fe(III)-respiring deltaproteobacterium and serves as a model organism for aromatic compound-degrading, obligately anaerobic bacteria. In this study, a genetic system was established for G. metallireducens using nitrate as an alternative electron acceptor. Surprisingly, disruption of the benzoate-induced bamY gene, encoding a benzoate coenzyme A (CoA) ligase, reproducibly showed an increased biomass yield in comparison to the wild type during growth with benzoate but not during growth with acetate. Complementation of bamY in trans converted the biomass yield back to the wild-type level. Growth of the bamY mutant with benzoate can be rationalized by the identification of a previously unknown succinyl-CoA:benzoate CoA transferase activity; it represents an additional, energetically less demanding mode of benzoate activation. The activity was highly enriched from extracts of cells grown on benzoate, yielding a 50-kDa protein band; mass spectrometric analysis identified the corresponding benzoate-induced gene annotated as a CoA transferase. It was heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli and characterized as a specific succinyl-CoA:benzoate CoA transferase. The newly identified enzyme in conjunction with a benzoate-induced succinyl-CoA synthetase links the tricarboxylic acid cycle to the upper benzoyl-CoA degradation pathway during growth on aromatic growth substrates.
Argumentation Mining in Scientific Discourse

The dominant approach to argumentation mining has been to treat argumentation scheme detection as a machine learning problem based upon superficial text features, and to treat the relationships between arguments as support or attack. However, applications such as accurately representing and summarizing argumentation in scientific research articles require a deeper understanding of the text and a richer model of relationships between arguments. This paper presents a semantic rule-based approach to extracting individual arguments, and demonstrates the need for a richer model of inter-argument relationships in biomedical/biological research articles.
Complement activation in the brain after experimental intracerebral hemorrhage.

OBJECT Brain edema formation following intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) appears to be partly related to erythrocyte lysis and hemoglobin release. Erythrocyte lysis may be mediated by the complement cascade, which then triggers parenchymal injury. In this study the authors examine whether the complement cascade is activated after ICH and whether inhibition of complement attenuates brain edema around the hematoma. METHODS This study was divided into three parts. In the first part, 100 microl of autologous blood was infused into the rats' right basal ganglia, and the animals were killed at 24 and 72 hours after intracerebral infusion. Their brains were tested for complement factors C9, C3d, and clusterin (a naturally occurring complement inhibitor) by using immunohistochemical analysis. In the second part of the study, the rats were killed at 24 or 72 hours after injection of 100 microl of blood. The C9 and clusterin proteins were quantitated using Western blot analysis. In the third part, the rats received either 100 microl of blood or 100 microl of blood plus 10 microg of N-acetylheparin (a complement activation inhibitor). Then they were killed 24 or 72 hours later for measurement of brain water and ion contents. It was demonstrated on Western blot analysis that there had been a sixfold increase in C9 around the hematoma 24 hours after the infusion of 100 microl of autologous blood. Marked perihematomal C9 immunoreactivity was detected at 72 hours. Clusterin also increased after ICH and was expressed in neurons 72 hours later. The addition of N-acetylheparin significantly reduced brain edema formation in the ipsilateral basal ganglia at 24 hours (78.5 +/- 0.5% compared with 81.6 +/- 0.8% in control animals, p < 0.001) and at 72 hours (80.9 +/- 2.2% compared with 83.6 +/- 0.9% in control animals, p < 0.05) after ICH. CONCLUSIONS It was found that ICH causes complement activation in the brain. Activation of complement and the formation of membrane attack complex contributes to brain edema formation after ICH. Blocking the complement cascade could be an important step in the therapy for ICH.
Characterization of choline kinase in human endothelial cells

High choline kinase‐α (Chk‐α) expression is frequently observed in cancer cells, making it a novel target for pharmacological and molecular inhibition. As inhibiting agents are delivered systemically, it is important to determine Chk‐α expression levels in endothelial cells that line both normal and tumor vasculature, and the effect of Chk‐α downregulation on these cells. Here, we characterized Chk‐α expression and the effect of its downregulation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) relative to MDA‐MB‐231 human breast cancer cells. We used small interfering RNA (siRNA) to downregulate Chk‐α expression. Basal mRNA levels of Chk‐α were approximately three‐fold lower in HUVECs relative to MDA‐MB‐231 breast cancer cells. Consistent with the differences in Chk‐α protein levels, phosphocholine levels were approximately 10‐fold lower in HUVECs relative to MDA‐MB‐231 cells. Transient transfection with siRNA‐Chk resulted in comparable levels of mRNA and protein in MDA‐MB‐231 breast cancer cells and HUVECs. However, there was a significant reduction in proliferation in MDA‐MB‐231 cells, but not in HUVECs. No significant difference in CD31 immunostaining was observed in tumor sections obtained from mice injected with control luciferase‐short hairpin (sh)RNA or Chk‐shRNA lentivirus. These data suggest that systemically delivered agents that downregulate Chk‐α in tumors will not affect endothelial cell proliferation during delivery, and further support the development of Chk‐α downregulation as a cancer‐specific treatment. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Yield of catheter angiography in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage with and without intraventricular extension

Background and aim The role of imaging for the detection of vascular lesions in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is poorly defined. A study was undertaken to compare the yield of digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in patients with ICH with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and those without IVH. Methods The DSA database at our institution was reviewed for patients who underwent DSA for acute spontaneous ICH over a period of 68 months. Patients with known vascular malformation or brain neoplasm, prior surgery, ischemic infarction, subarachnoid hemorrhage or isolated IVH were excluded. Patients were grouped into those with associated IVH (group A) and those without (group B). Baseline demographic and clinical data, non-contrast head CT (NCCT) probability for a vascular lesion and angiographic results were compared. Results 293 patients met the inclusion and exclusion criteria (141 women, 152 men, mean age 57, range 18–88), 139 in group A and 154 in group B. Age and sex distributions were similar (p>0.05). Group A patients were more likely to be hypertensive or coagulopathic (p=0.001). Group B had more patients with high probability NCCT scans (p<0.001). Underlying vascular lesions were found in 21 patients (15.1%) in group A and 34 (22.1%) in group B (p>0.05). Conclusion The presence of IVH in patients with acute spontaneous ICH is not associated with an increased risk of an underlying vascular lesion and should not be used to select patients for neurovascular evaluation.