Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heparin‐induced Thrombocytopenia: Effect of Heparin Platelet Antibody on Platelets

Summary. The plasma of two patients with heparin‐induced thrombocytopenia has been shown to cause platelet aggregation in the presence of heparin. The platelet aggregating factor was isolated in the IgG fraction of the patients’sera suggesting that it was an antibody. This heparin anti‐platelet antibody (HAP‐Ab) induced platelet aggregation and release but did not cause platelet lysis, although it fixed complement. Platelet aggregation was inhibited by EDTA and by inactivation of complement. There was a significant production of malondialdehyde (MDA) and thromboxane B2 (TXB2) implying a role of the prostaglandin synthesis pathway in HAP‐Ab induced aggregation. ADP release also appeared to be involved as apyrase blocked aggregation while hirudin, a thrombin inhibitor, had no effect. The thrombotic complications that have recently been reported in patients with heparin‐induced thrombocytopenia may be explained by some effects of HAP‐Ab on platelets, namely: the antibody mediated platelet factor 3 release, prostaglandin endoperoxides and thromboxane A2 (TXA2) production and platelet aggregation in vivo. These HAP‐Ab mediated effects could be inhibited by anti‐platelet drugs such as aspirin, indomethacin and dipyridamole and thus may have therapeutic implications.
Urinary iodine excretion and serum thyroid function in adults after iodinated contrast administration.

BACKGROUND Iodinated contrast media (ICM) is a source of excess iodine that may induce thyroid dysfunction. A prospective cohort study was conducted to assess the effects of ICM on urinary iodine clearance and serum thyroid function tests (TFTs) in adults. METHODS In this prospective cohort study of 54 adults undergoing elective computed tomography (CT) scans at an academic medical center, serial urinary iodine concentrations (UIC) and serum TFTs were obtained until UIC normalized following ICM administration. Thyroid volume/nodularity were assessed by ultrasound. Associations between covariates and peak UIC, duration for UIC to peak and normalize, and thyroid dysfunction risk were assessed. RESULTS The mean±standard deviation (SD) iodine administered was 34.6±6.0 g. Baseline median (range) UIC was 105.1 (17.0-866.1) μg/L, and serum thyrotropin (TSH) concentration was 1.26 (0.5-11.2) mIU/L. The mean±SD times to achieve peak UIC (median [range]: 3519 [233-157,500] μg/L] and normalized UIC were 1.1±0.5 and 5.2±4.0 weeks, respectively. Four subjects had elevated baseline TSH, and one had missing baseline TSH values. Of the remaining 49 subjects, 11 (22%) developed an abnormal TSH within one to four weeks (six elevated and five decreased). Administered iodine amount correlated with peak UIC following ICM administration (p<0.001). Increasing age and administered iodine amount predicted peak UIC (p=0.024 and p<0.001, respectively). Age, sex, race/ethnicity, smoking status, family history of thyroid disease, personal or family history of thyroid autoimmunity, thyroid volume, presence of thyroid nodules ≥1 cm, iodine dose, baseline UIC, and baseline TFTs were not predictive of durations to achieve peak or normalized UIC. CONCLUSION Peak UIC occurred at 1.1 weeks and normalized by 5.2 weeks following ICM administration for outpatient CT scans. Because thyroid dysfunction developed in 22% of individuals following a single ICM dose, monitoring of thyroid function should be considered in at-risk patients.
Glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase: a “housekeeping” enzyme subject to tissue‐specific regulation by hormones, nutrients, and oxidant stress

The enzyme, glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH, EC1.1.1.49), has long been considered and studied as the archetypical X‐linked “housekeeping” enzyme that is present in all cells, where it plays the key role in regulating carbon flow through the pentose phosphate pathway. Specifically, the enzyme catalyzes the first reaction in the pathway leading to the production of pentose phosphates and reducing power in the form of NADPH for reductive biosynthesis and maintenance of the redox state of the cell. It was in this latter function that the crucial importance of the enzyme was first appreciated with the description of the human deficiency syndrome. While the gene can be considered to be a constitutively expressed “housekeeping” gene in many tissues, there are several other tissues (liver, adipose, lung, and proliferating cells) wherein modulation of cellular G6PDH activity represents an important component of the integrated response to external stimuli (hormones, growth factors, nutrients, and oxidant stress). In this regard, adaptive regulation of G6PDH has been found to be exerted at transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. However, the regulation observed is tissue‐specific, which elicits the central question of this review, “How can the G6PDH gene be constitutively expressed in some tissues while displaying adaptive regulation in others when there exists a single transcription unit for the gene? ” Future studies utilizing cloned genomic fragments of the human and other mammalian G6PDH genes should provide answers to this question. —Kletzien, R. F. , Harris, P. K. W. , Foellmi, L. A. Glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase: a “housekeeping” enzyme subject to tissue‐specific regulation by hormones, nutrients, and oxidant stress. FASEB J. 8: 174‐181; 1994.
Interactive Mesh Deformation in Multiresolution through Augmented Reality

This work presents a method that allows the deformation of a terrain by modifying its heightmap in an augmented reality environment. The hierarchical structure of A4- 8 meshes was used to represent terrains. This structure defines a parameter space to calculate the coordinates of a field in the R3 Euclidean space. In particular, this paper deals with the problem of modeling spherical terrains. An error metric dependent on the observer and the geometry of the land used for its observation and modeling. The results demonstrate that the use of A4-8 mesh combined with the tangible augmented reality system is flexible to shape spherical terrains and can be easily modified to deal with other topologies, such as the torus and the cylinder. The development of an efficient and intuitive to use method for mesh generation, based on augmented reality markers, is the main contribution of this work.
Microsomal Prostaglandin E Synthase Is Regulated by Proinflammatory Cytokines and Glucocorticoids in Primary Rheumatoid Synovial Cells1

The selective induction of PGE2 synthesis in inflammation suggests that a PGE synthase may be linked to an inducible pathway for PG synthesis. We examined the expression of the recently cloned inducible microsomal PGE synthase (mPGES) in synoviocytes from patients with rheumatoid arthritis, its modulation by cytokines and dexamethasone, and its linkage to the inducible cyclooxygenase-2. Northern blot analysis showed that IL-1β or TNF-α treatment induces mPGES mRNA from very low levels at baseline to maximum levels at 24 h. IL-1β-induced mPGES mRNA was inhibited by dexamethasone in a dose-dependent fashion. Western blot analysis demonstrated that mPGES protein was induced by IL-1β, and maximum expression was sustained for up to 72 h. There was a coordinated up-regulation of cyclooxygenase-2 protein, although peak expression was earlier. Differential Western blot analysis of the microsomal and the cytosolic fractions revealed that the induced expression of mPGES protein was limited to the microsomal fraction. The detected mPGES protein was catalytically functional as indicated by a 3-fold increase of PGES activity in synoviocytes following treatment with IL-1β; this increased synthase activity was limited to the microsomal fraction. In summary, these data demonstrate an induction of mPGES in rheumatoid synoviocytes by proinflammatory cytokines. This novel pathway may be a target for therapeutic intervention for patients with arthritis.
Breast cancer risk following bilateral oophorectomy in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers: an international case-control study.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to estimate the extent of protection offered against breast cancer by prophylactic oophorectomy in carriers of BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations and to determine to what extent risk reduction varies with age at oophorectomy, age at diagnosis, and time elapsed since surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed 1,439 patients with breast cancer and 1,866 matched controls derived from a registry of BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) of breast cancer for having had a bilateral oophorectomy, using conditional logistic regression, matched for parity and for oral contraceptive use. RESULTS A previous history of oophorectomy was associated with a significant reduction in breast cancer risk of 56% for BRCA1 carriers (OR = 0.44; 95% CI, 0.29 to 0.66) and of 46% for BRCA2 carriers (OR = 0.57; 95% CI, 0.28 to 1.15). The risk reduction was greater if the oophorectomy was performed before age 40 (OR = 0.36; 95% CI, 0.20 to 0.64 for BRCA1 carriers) than after age 40 (OR = 0.53; 95% CI, 0.30 to 0.91). The protective effect was evident for 15 years post-oophorectomy (OR = 0.39; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.57). CONCLUSION Oophorectomy is an effective means of reducing the risk of breast cancer in carriers of BRCA1 mutations. The data suggest oophorectomy is protective in BRCA2 carriers as well, but needs to be confirmed in other studies.
Neuropsychological Functioning in Obsessive-Compulsive Washers: Drug-Naive Without Depressive Symptoms

Introduction: Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a complex and heterogeneous neuropsychiatric syndrome. Contamination obsessions and washing/cleaning compulsions are the most frequent clinical OCD subtypes. The current study aimed at examining the neuropsychological impairments in drug-naive obsessive-compulsive (OC) washers without depressive symptoms and their association with the severity of symptoms. Methods: In the current causal-comparative study, 35 patients with diagnostic and statistical mental disorders class (DSM)-IV diagnosed with washing-subtype OCD and 35 healthy subjects were selected by the convenience sampling method and evaluated by computerized neuropsychology battery and clinical tests as Stroop Color-Word Test (SCWT), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Go/No-Go Test, Digits Forward (DF), Digits Backward (DB), Yale-Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-28. The patients were matched to the comparison group with regard to age, gender, intelligence quotient (IQ), education, and handedness. All the tests were standardized in Iran. SPSS version 20.00 was used for descriptive and analytical data analysis. Results: There was no statistically significant different between the OCD washing and the control groups regarding socio-demographic variables or IQ. There were significant differences between the OC washer and the healthy control groups on the neuropsychological functioning. The obtained results suggested that OC washers performed significantly worse on neuropsychological measures than the controls. There was no significant association between the severity of OC symptoms and the neuropsychological functions in the OCD washing group. Conclusion: It was concluded that executive function impairment, which is a core feature in OC washers was trait-like in nature.
Global Wildland Fire Emission Model (GWEM): Evaluating the use of global area burnt satellite data

[1] The new Global Wildland Fire Emission Model (GWEM) has been developed on the basis of data from the European Space Agency’s monthly Global Burnt Scar satellite product (GLOBSCAR) and results from the Lund-Potsdam-Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (LPJ-DGVM). GWEM computes monthly emissions of more than 40 chemical compounds and aerosols from forest and savanna fires. This study focuses on an evaluation of the GLOBSCAR data set. The GWEM version presented here makes use of the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover map. Emission totals for the year 2000 are 1741 Tg C, 5716 Tg CO2, 271 Tg CO, 12.52 Tg CH4, 9.09 Tg C (as nonmethane hydrocarbons), 8.08 Tg NOx (as NO), 24.30 Tg PM2.5, 15.80 Tg OC, and 1.84 Tg black carbon. These emissions are lower than other estimates found in literature. An evaluation assesses the uncertainties of the individual input data. The GLOBSCAR product yields reasonable estimates of burnt area for large wildland fires in most parts of the globe but experiences problems in some regions where small fires dominate. The seasonality derived from GLOBSCAR differs from other satellite products detecting active fires owing to the different algorithms applied. Application of the presented GWEM results in global chemistry transport modeling will require additional treatment of small deforestation fires in the tropical rain forest regions and small savanna fires, mainly in subequatorial Africa. Further improvements are expected from a more detailed description of the carbon pools and the inclusion of anthropogenic disturbances in the LPJ model. INDEX TERMS: 0315 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Biosphere/atmosphere interactions; 0368 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere—constituent transport and chemistry; 0322 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Constituent sources and sinks; 1615 Global Change: Biogeochemical processes (4805); KEYWORDS: vegetation fire emissions, global area burnt satellite products, tropospheric chemistry
Highly-sensitive mercury ion sensor based on DNA modified micro-nano fiber

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was modified on the surface of a non-adiabatic micro-nano fiber by electrostatic adsorption to detect the concentration of Hg2+ in water. Since Hg2+ specifically binds to DNA, the structure of DNA changes, and then the refractive index of fiber surface changes. Micro-nano fiber, which is very sensitive to the change of refractive index of solution, can convert the change of refractive index into the significant shift of interference wavelength. Therefore, by monitoring the shift of the resonance wavelength, the concentration of Hg2+ can be obtained. Such a combination can fully increase the detection sensitivity, which is 0.767nM/lgM in the range of 10-15-10-8M of Hg2+ concentration.
Understanding bowtie nanoantennas excited by a localized emitter

A full analytical description of a bowtie nanoantenna excited by a localized emitter is presented using the transformation electromagnetic technique. By applying the conformal mapping, the bowtie nanoantenna is transformed into a periodic multi-parallel plate transmission line problem which can be easily evaluated analytically providing physical insight of the coupling between the dipole nanoemitter and the bowtie nanoantenna. The non-radiative Purcell enhancement spectrum is evaluated both analytically and numerically for different lengths, arm angles and metals, demonstrating a good agreement between both approaches. The method here presented fills the gap of the design techniques for optical nanoantennas.
Finite-time synchronization control of fractional-order memristive neural networks with time varying delays

This paper considers the finite-time synchronization control of fractional-order memristive neural networks with time varying delays. By utilizing the properties of fractional calculus and fractional-order comparison principle, we propose a new lemma. Base on the new lemma and some analysis techniques, some novel criteria are given to ensure finite-time synchronization of fractional-order memristive neural networks with time varying delays by adopting a delay-dependent feedback controller, and the upper bound of the setting time for synchronization is estimated. Finally, numerical simulations are given to verify the effectiveness of the obtained results and the superiority of the new finite-time stability theorem.
A Modified Charge-Pumping Method for the Characterization of Interface-Trap Generation in MOSFETs

A novel recovery-free interface-trap measurement method is presented in detail. This method is the modification of the conventional charge pumping (CP) by extending the pulse low level to the stress-bias and minimizing the pulse high-level duty cycle to suppress the recovery effect. The method is applied to study the negative-bias temperature instability in p-MOSFETs. As compared with the conventional CP, a much larger interface-trap generation under stress is observed by the new method. A power law time dependence ( ~ t n) of interface-trap generation is observed. The index n is less than that derived from conventional CP and increases with temperature, demonstrating a dispersive process involved in the trap generation dynamics.
Hybrid Zone Origins, Species Boundaries, and the Evolution of Wing-Pattern Diversity in a Polytypic Species Complex of North American Admiral Butterflies (Nymphalidae: Limenitis)

Abstract Hybrid zones present opportunities to study the effects of gene flow, selection, and recombination in natural populations and, thus, provide insights into the genetic and phenotypic changes that occur early in speciation. Here we investigate a hybrid zone between mimetic (Limenitis arthemis astyanax) and nonmimetic (Limenitis arthemis arthemis) populations of admiral butterflies using DNA sequence variation from mtDNA and seven nuclear gene loci. We find three distinct mitochondrial clades within this complex, and observe a strong overall concordance between wing-pattern phenotypes and mitochondrial variation. Nuclear gene genealogies, in contrast, revealed no evidence of exclusivity for either wing-pattern phenotype, suggesting incomplete barriers to gene exchange and/or insufficient time for lineage sorting. Coalescent simulations indicate that gene flow between these two subspecies is highly asymmetric, with the majority of migration occurring from mimetic into nonmimetic populations. Selective sweeps of alleles responsible for mimetic phenotypes may have occurred more than once when mimetic and nonmimetic Limenitis occurred together in the presence of the model (Battus philenor).
Characterization of Bacterial Community Diversity in Cystic Fibrosis Lung Infections by Use of 16S Ribosomal DNA Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Profiling

ABSTRACT Progressive loss of lung function resulting from the inflammatory response to bacterial colonization is the leading cause of mortality in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. A greater understanding of these bacterial infections is needed to improve lung disease management. As culture-based diagnoses are associated with fundamental drawbacks, we used terminal restriction fragment (T-RF) length polymorphism profiling and 16S rRNA clone data to characterize, without prior cultivation, the bacterial community in 71 sputa from 34 adult CF patients. Nineteen species from 15 genera were identified in 53 16S rRNA clones from three patients. Of these, 15 species have not previously been reported in CF lung infections and many were species requiring strict anaerobic conditions for growth. The species richness and evenness were determined from the T-RF length and volume for the 71 profiles. Species richness was on average 13.3 ± 7.9 per sample and 13.4 ± 6.7 per patient. On average, the T-RF bands of the lowest and highest volumes represented 0.6 and 59.2% of the total volume in each profile, respectively. The second through fifth most dominant T-RF bands represented 15.3, 7.5, 4.7, and 2.8% of the total profile volume, respectively. On average, the remaining T-RF bands represented 10.2% of the total profile volume. The T-RF band corresponding to Pseudomonas aeruginosa had the highest volume in 61.1% of the samples. However, 18 other T-RF band lengths were dominant in at least one sample. In conclusion, this reveals the enormous complexity of bacteria within the CF lung. Although their significance is yet to be determined, these findings alter our perception of CF lung infections.
Effects of dietary education, followed by a tailored fructose-restricted diet in adults with fructose malabsorption

Objective Fructose is absorbed by GLUT transporters in the small intestine. If this process is inadequate, abdominal symptoms because of fructose intolerance may arise. The effect of a tailored fructose-restricted diet on gastrointestinal complaints was assessed in patients with fructose intolerance. Materials and methods Following an abnormal fructose breath test (50 g), 107 patients (64 also with lactose intolerance) entered three study periods: weeks 0–32 (free diet), weeks 32–36 (progressive increasing amount of fructose up to quantity inducing symptoms, ‘trigger dose’), and weeks 36–48 (tailored fructose-restricted diet according to the ‘trigger dose’). A subgroup of 15 patients underwent additional fructose breath tests (35, 25 g) to compare three different doses. Results At baseline, the most frequent symptoms were bloating and abdominal pain, and were more severe with combined fructose and lactose intolerance. During the free diet, patients reported eliminating (48%) or reducing (52%) fructose-containing foods, with a significant improvement in symptoms (abdominal pain from 79.7±1.3 to 19.3±1.8 mm; bloating from 83.1±1.3 to 19.4±1.8 mm; number of evacuations/day from 3.9±0.16 to 1.1±0.04; Bristol score from 5.1±0.14 to 3.8±0.1, P<0.00001). During the tailored fructose-restricted diet, the consistent improvement in symptoms persisted and was similar to the improvement on free diet (abdominal pain 23.6±1.9 mm; bloating 19.4±1.8 mm; number of evacuations/day 1.7±0.07; Bristol score 3.5±0.06, P<0.00001 vs. baseline). A dose-dependent effect of fructose was observed on symptoms during the fructose breath test. Conclusion In our setting, individuals with fructose intolerance show an inappropriate dietary self-management. By contrast, a tailored fructose-restricted diet improves gastrointestinal symptoms without senseless food deprivation.