Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Totally endoscopic atrial septal repair using no robotic techniques

Standard surgical closure of an atrial septal defect via sternotomy is safe and effective. To avoid sternotomy and improve the cosmetic result, minimally invasive cardiac surgery has emerged as an alternative. Robot-assisted totally endoscopic atrial septal defect repair is convincingly superior, but the robotic system is expensive and complicated. We describe a technique of totally endoscopic closed-chest atrial septal defect closure without the aid of a robotic device. Twenty patients underwent totally endoscopic atrial septal defect repair using no robotic techniques between May 2009 and December 2009. No major intraoperative or postoperative complications were observed. One operation was converted to a conventional sternotomy because bleeding from the aortic root could not be controlled. Closure of an atrial septal defect can be performed safely and effectively via an endoscopic approach using no robotic techniques.
[Molecular pathology of the erythrocyte membrane. Erythrocyte membrane defects as a cause of congenital hemolytic anemia].

Recently numerous defects of erythrocyte membrane proteins have been described in hereditary hemolytic anemias. An exact biochemical characterization of some different types of hereditary spherocytosis, hereditary elliptocytosis, hereditary pyropoikilocytosis and the hemolytic anemias with increased cation permeability (hereditary stomatocytosis) is possible after analysis of membrane proteins with SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, quantitative determination of spectrin, the relation of dimeric to tetrameric spectrin, and partial tryptic digestion of the spectrins. The known clinical heterogeneity of the mentioned disorders is now partially explained by the different biochemical defects of the erythrocyte membrane. In classical hereditary spherocytosis a close relationship between erythrocyte spectrin content and clinical severity has been found. The clinical manifestation in hereditary elliptocytosis and hereditary pyropoikilocytosis mainly depends on the functional disturbance of variant spectrins, especially their ability to form tetramers, i.e. their ability for self-association of the spectrin chains. In the hydrocytic form of stomatocytosis a deficiency of the integral protein band 7.2b has been documented. Besides the analysis of erythrocyte membrane proteins the classical methods used in the study of congenital hemolytic anemias cannot be missed. Signs of increased hemolysis, erythrocyte morphology, osmotic fragility, autohemolysis, heat and mechanical stability of the erythrocyte membrane, intracellular cation concentration and studies of other family members, are indispensable prerequisites for classification, prognosis, and indication of therapeutic efforts, especially splenectomy.
Molecular profiling and cellular localization of connexin isoforms in the rat ciliary epithelium.

The functionally distinct epithelial layers of the ciliary body act as a syncitium to produce the aqueous humour. Ultrastructural studies have shown that the pigmented (PE) and non-pigmented (NPE) cell layers of the ciliary epithelium are connected by gap junctions. However the molecular composition of gap junctions both between and within the two cell layers has not been comprehensively studied. To address this issue the authors have performed an extensive molecular screening of connexin (Cx) expression patterns in ciliary epithelium of the rat. Initially, mRNA was extracted from rat ciliary bodies, reverse-transcribed, and subjected to two rounds of PCR using primer sets designed against each of the 14 Cx isoforms known to be expressed in the rat. This initial screening protocol amplified eight candidate Cx isoforms (Cxs 26, 31, 33, 37, 40, 43, 45 and 46). The Cx isoforms identified in this initial screen were then first assigned to the ciliary epithelium itself (Cxs 26, 31, 40 and 43) or structures outside the epithelium (Cxs 37, 40, and 45) using immunohistochemistry performed on ciliary body whole mounts. No convincing evidence for either Cx 33 or 46 labelling was found in the ciliary body. Then the four Cx isoforms localized to the epithelium were further localized to specific membrane domains within the epithelial cell layers by performing high resolution imaging of the antibody labeling patterns obtained in cryosections. This enabled Cx26 and 31 to be specifically localized to spatially different gap junctions between NPE cells. Cx31 labeled gap junctions associated with an extensive network of membrane interdigitations found between NPE cells at their basal surfaces. In contrast Cx26 labeling in NPE cells was restricted to the basolateral membranes of adjacent NPE cells. Cx40 and Cx43 were both localized to the PE-NPE interface where they formed discrete homomeric/homotypic gap junction plaques. No convincing evidence was found for antibody labeling between PE cells. Thus it appears that intercellular communication, both within the NPE layer and between the PE and NPE cell layers, is mediated by gap junction channels that have distinctive permeability properties. In particular the results raise the possibility that the permeability of PE-NPE gap junctions can be modulated by changing the Cx43 : Cx40 expression ratio. Whether such a change in Cx expression ratios occurs and what effect it has on aqueous humour production and composition remains to be determined.
Modifying Dew-Retted Flax Fibers by Means of an Air-Atomized Enzyme Treatment

The use of atomization or an aerosol formation is investigated as a vehicle for enzyme treatment of dew-retted flax fibers. A cellulase/endoglucanase from Trichoderma reesei is applied by atomization to dew-retted fibers at concentrations of 0. 50, and 100 U. Enzyme activity post-atomization is verified by GLC analyses of sugars hydrolyzed from the treated fibers. Cellulase treatment results in the release of glucose and galactose moieties in a dose response manner. Fiber strength determination also demonstrates a dose response effect in relation to treatment with 50 and 100 U of enzyme, yielding strength decreases of 17 and 56%, respectively. Visualization of treated flax fibers by polarized light microscopy reveal the presence of structural aberrations previously identified as nodes, and treatment with the atomized enzyme coincides with fiber disruption at these regions. Mid-IR attenuated total reflectance spectra of fiber mats show a reduction in bound water and loss of acetylated components at the fiber surface resulting from enzyme treatment. Collectively. these results demonstrate the effectiveness of atomization as a means of applying enzymes for fiber modification, and the results also have implications for the flax fiber structure.
Enhanced Extracellular Production of Aspartyl Proteinase, a Virulence Factor, by Candida albicans Isolates following Growth in Subinhibitory Concentrations of Fluconazole

ABSTRACT We examined the production of secreted aspartyl proteinase (Sap), a putative virulence factor of Candida albicans, by a series of 17 isolates representing a single strain obtained from the oral cavity of an AIDS patient before and after the development of clinical and in vitro resistance to fluconazole. Isolates were grown in Sap-inducing yeast carbon base-bovine serum albumin medium containing 0, 0.25, 0.5, or 1 MIC of fluconazole, and cultures were sampled daily for 14 days to determine extracellular Sap activity by enzymatic degradation of bovine serum albumin. Extracellular Sap activity was significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner for the most fluconazole-susceptible isolate (MIC, 1.0 μg/ml) and significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner for the most fluconazole-resistant isolate (MIC, >64 μg/ml). Enhanced extracellular Sap production could not be attributed to cell death or nonspecific release of Sap, because there was no reduction in the number of CFU and no significant release of enolase, a constitutive enzyme of the glycolytic pathway. Conversely, intracellular Sap concentrations were significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner in the most fluconazole-susceptible isolate and decreased in the most fluconazole-resistant isolate. Enhanced Sap production correlated with the overexpression of a gene encoding a multidrug resistance (MDR1) efflux pump occurring in these isolates. These data indicate that exposure to subinhibitory concentrations of fluconazole can result in enhanced extracellular production of Sap by isolates with the capacity to overexpress MDR1 and imply that patients infected with these isolates and subsequently treated with suboptimal doses of fluconazole may experience enhanced C. albicansvirulence in vivo.
Research on tightening control of solid rocket engine based on expert prediction

The torque control model was established based on the analysis of the mechanical properties of the screw. Aiming at the precision control of the compression ratio of the rubber sealing ring, an improved torque angle control method based on the zero point identification of the seal was put forward by using the torque angle control idea. It was difficult to directly observe and detect the initial deformation point of the sealing ring in the tightening process. The authors use the model prediction and expert control technology to establish the dynamic prediction model, and combine the experts' reasoning to estimate the torque value of the zero point of the sealing ring on-line, and establish the zero-point recognition control algorithm based on expert estimation.
Molecular Regulation of H3K4 Trimethylation by Wdr82, a Component of Human Set1/COMPASS

ABSTRACT In yeast, the macromolecular complex Set1/COMPASS is capable of methylating H3K4, a posttranslational modification associated with actively transcribed genes. There is only one Set1 in yeast; yet in mammalian cells there are multiple H3K4 methylases, including Set1A/B, forming human COMPASS complexes, and MLL1-4, forming human COMPASS-like complexes. We have shown that Wdr82, which associates with chromatin in a histone H2B ubiquitination-dependent manner, is a specific component of Set1 complexes but not that of MLL1-4 complexes. RNA interference-mediated knockdown of Wdr82 results in a reduction in the H3K4 trimethylation levels, although these cells still possess active MLL complexes. Comprehensive in vitro enzymatic studies with Set1 and MLL complexes demonstrated that the Set1 complex is a more robust H3K4 trimethylase in vitro than the MLL complexes. Given our in vivo and in vitro observations, it appears that the human Set1 complex plays a more widespread role in H3K4 trimethylation than do the MLL complexes in mammalian cells.
Therapy of NAFLD: Antioxidants and Cytoprotective Agents

Lipid peroxidation and secondary cellular injury are the dominant mechanism in the transition from relatively stable hepatic steatosis to potentially progressive steatohepatitis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Oxidation of excessive fatty acids generates free radicals (reactive oxygen species) that damage organelles and stimulate signaling pathways leading to fibrosis and cellular injury. Both antioxidant agents (by breaking the chain reaction of lipid peroxidation) and cytoprotective agents (by stabilizing cellular and organelle phospholipid membranes) may be effective agents in treating an active steatohepatitis through amelioration of the driving force and attenuation of the secondary effects. Here we have reviewed the existing studies on such therapies, including vitamin E, S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe), betaine, and ursodeoxycholic acid. Small trials suggest possible improvement in liver enzymes with the use of these agents in NAFLD. However, controlled studies have not uniformly demonstrated benefit from these agents when compared with control groups treated with diet and weight loss alone, and measurement of reliable histologic endpoints is limited. These agents may show benefit in NAFLD through future larger controlled studies. Particular promise may exist in the use of these agents in combination therapy with ones that target other aspects in the pathogenesis of NAFLD, such as insulin-sensitizing agents.
Hypervariable microsatellite loci in the Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) conserved in related species

We describe seven polymorphic microsatellites isolated from a Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) genomic library selected for (GT)n content. The primer sets amplified from four to 11 different alleles in a sample of 14 Japanese macaques from nine different sites along the central and southern distribution of the species. These heterologous primers also detected variability in four other cercopithecine species. Am. J. Primatol. 43:357–360, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
UK Renal Registry 18th Annual Report: Chapter 2 UK Renal Replacement Therapy Prevalence in 2014: National and Centre-specific Analyses

There were 58,968 adult patients receiving renal replacement therapy (RRT) in the UK on 31st December 2014, an absolute increase of 4.0% from 2013.The actual number of patients increased 2.0% for haemodialysis (HD), 5.3% for those with a functioning transplant but decreased 0.7% for peritoneal dialysis (PD). The UK adult prevalence of RRT was 913 per million population (pmp). The reported prevalence in 2000 was 523 pmp.The number of patients receiving home HD increased by 6.7% from 1,113 patients in 2013 to 1,188 patients in 2014.The median age of prevalent patients was 59 years(HD 67 years, PD 64 years, transplant 53 years). In 2000, the median age was 55 years (HD 63 years, PD 58 years, transplant 48 years). In 2014,the percentage of RRT patients aged greater than 75 years was 16.0%. For all ages, the prevalence rate in men exceeded that in women, peaking in age group 75–79 years at 3,100 pmp in men and for women at 1,600 pmp in age group 70–74 years.The most common identifiable renal diagnosis was glomerulonephritis (19%), followed by diabetes(16%) and aetiology uncertain (16%). Transplantation continued as the most common treatment modality (53%), HD was used in 41%and PD in 6% of RRT patients.Prevalence rates in patients aged 585 years continued to increase between 2013 and 2014 (1,021 per million age related population (pmarp) to 1,060 pmarp).
Event-Triggered Adaptive Control for a Class of Uncertain Nonlinear Systems

In this technical note, the problem of event-trigger based adaptive control for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems is considered. The nonlinearities of the system are not required to be globally Lipschitz. Since the system contains unknown parameters, it is a difficult task to check the assumption of the input-to-state stability (ISS) with respect to the measurement errors, which is required in most existing literature. To solve this problem, we design both the adaptive controller and the triggering event at the same time such that the ISS assumption is no longer needed. In addition to presenting new design methodologies based on the fixed threshold strategy and relative threshold strategy, we also propose a new strategy named the switching threshold strategy. It is shown that the proposed control schemes guarantee that all the closed-loop signals are globally bounded and the tracking/stabilization error exponentially converges towards a compact set which is adjustable.
Proposal of integrated search engine of web and TV contents

A search engine that can handle TV programs and Web content in an integrated way is proposed. Conventional search engines have been able to handle Web content and/or data stored in a PC desktop as target information. In the future, however, the target information is expected to be stored in various places such as in hard-disk (HD)/DVD recorders, digital cameras, mobile devices, and even in real space as ubiquitous content, and a search engine that can search across such heterogeneous resources will become essential. Therefore, as a first step towards developing such next-generation search engine, a prototype search system for Web and TV programs is developed that performs integrated search of those content, and that allows chain search where related content can be accessed from each search result. The integrated search is achieved by generating integrated indices for Web and TV content based on vector space model and by computing similarity between the query and all the content described by the indices. The chain search of related content is done by computing similarity between the selected result and all other content based on the integrated indices. Also, the zoom-based display of the search results enables to control media transition and level of details of the contents to acquire information efficiently. In this paper, testing of a prototype of the integrated search engine validated the approach taken by the proposed method.
Blood ethanol. A report of unusually high levels in a living patient.

A young woman with an unusually high blood ethanol level (780 mg/100 ml) was admitted to the emergency room at the University of Colorado Medical Center following an automobile accident. This case is presented because of the exceptional degree of central nervous system tolerance exhibited by the patient and because her ethanol elimination rate appeared to follow first-order kinetics instead of the zero-order kinetics usually seen in the metabolism of ethanol in normal individuals.
A MULTI-WAVELENGTH STUDY OF THE HOST ENVIRONMENT OF SMBHB 4C+37.11

4C+37.11, at z = 0.055, shows two compact radio nuclei, imaged by very long baseline interferometry at 7 mas separation, making it the closest known resolved supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB). An important question is whether this unique object is young and was caught on the way to a gravitational in-spiral and merger, or has “stalled” at 7 pc. We describe new radio/optical/X-ray observations of the massive host and its surrounding X-ray halo. These data reveal X-ray/optical channels following the radio outflow and large scale edges in the X-ray halo. These structures are promising targets for further study which should elucidate their relationship to the unique SMBHB core.
Ethanol promotes T cell apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway

Clinical reports suggest that acute ethanol intoxication is often associated with lymphopenia. Previously, ethanol was reported to invoke thymocyte apoptosis. We studied the effect of ethanol on T cell apoptosis. In addition, we evaluated the molecular mechanism of ethanol‐induced T cell apoptosis. Human T cells harvested from healthy subjects after an alcohol drinking binge showed enhanced T cell apoptosis (before, 0·4 ± 0·2% versus after, 19·6 ± 2·5% apoptotic lymphocytes/field; P < 0·001). In in vitro studies, ethanol in a concentration of 50 mm and higher enhanced the apoptosis of Jurkat cells. DNA isolated from ethanol‐treated Jurkat cells displayed integer multiples of 180 base pairs. Ethanol decreased Jurkat cell expression of Bcl‐2, whereas ethanol increased Jurkat cell expression of Bax. Jurkat cells treated with ethanol also showed translocation of cytochrome C into cytosol. Moreover, a caspase‐9 inhibitor partially inhibited ethanol‐induced Jurkat cell apoptosis. In in vivo studies, after binge drinking, T cell expression of Bcl‐2 also decreased. In addition, binge drinking induced the cleavage of caspase‐3, suggesting activation of caspase‐3 in T cells. These results suggest that ethanol promotes T cell apoptosis through the activation of intrinsic or mitochondrial pathway.
Influence of Climate Changes on Health (Review)

Abstract Although climate changes are one of the most serious public health risks for all nations, it appears that the medical society in the East European countries is not too much concerned. The aim of this paper is to point out the main treats on health provoked by climate changes. The literature review was the source of information. Based on the PubMed where in 2015 more than 65,000 papers were dedicated to different aspects of the influence of the climate changes on the human health, as well as 3,500 articles for the pediatric population, we present a review of the main health risks. Especially, the impact of the climate changes on the children′s health is overviewed. In separate parts, the thermal stress, extreme weather events, changes of infection′s pattern, how to measure health risks as well as some mitigation measures are discussed.
Wide-angle antenna array with the novel radiating element

In this paper the results of computational modeling of the antenna array with a wide beam steering and the experimental investigations of the individual radiator characteristics are presented. The characteristics of the compact radiator prototype as the open-ended waveguide with a dielectric insertion comprising a special exciting pin are analyzed. The novel radiator has the wide beamwidth and the frequency band around 21%. Following the computational modeling the characteristics of antenna array for scan angles up to 50deg are discussed.
Sparse Perceptron Decision Tree for Millions of Dimensions

Due to the nonlinear but highly interpretable representations,decision tree (DT) models have significantly attracted a lot of attention of researchers. However, DT models usually suffer from the curse of dimensionality and achieve degenerated performance when there are many noisy features. To address these issues, this paper first presents a novel data-dependent generalization error bound for the perceptron decision tree(PDT), which provides the theoretical justification to learn a sparse linear hyperplane in each decision node and to prune the tree. Following our analysis, we introduce the notion of sparse perceptron decision node (SPDN) with a budget constraint on the weight coefficients, and propose a sparse perceptron decision tree (SPDT) algorithm to achieve nonlinear prediction performance. To avoid generating an unstable and complicated decision tree and improve the generalization of the SPDT, we present a pruning strategy by learning classifiers to minimize cross-validation errors on each SPDN. Extensive empirical studies verify that our SPDT is more resilient to noisy features and effectively generates a small,yet accurate decision tree. Compared with state-of-the-art DT methods and SVM, our SPDT achieves better generalization performance on ultrahigh dimensional problems with more than 1 million features.
Qualité et évolution des représentations spatiales lors d’une première lecture de L’Occupation des sols

Cet article etudie la qualite et l’evolution des representations spatiales lors d’une premiere lecture de L’Occupation des sols, une nouvelle de Jean Echenoz qui accorde une place remarquable a l’espace. Une experience a ete conduite aupres de 40 participants. La petite taille des representations spatiales rememorees (environ 7 referents spatiaux en moyenne) temoigne de l’importance que joue la memoire de travail dans leur constitution. Les representations convergent assez vite vers quelques elements saillants, par leur frequence et leur pertinence dans le texte. Bien que ces resultats puissent sembler evidents a posteriori, ils mettent neanmoins en lumiere a quel point les representations spatiales elaborees lors d’une premiere lecture sont pauvres et pertinentes a la fois.
Interaction between the min locus and ftsZ

In Escherichia coli, distinct but similar minicell phenotypes resulting from mutation at the minB locus and increased expression of ftsZ suggested a possible interaction between these genes. A four- to fivefold increase in FtsZ resulting from increased gene dosage was found to suppress the lethality of minCD expressed from the lac promoter. Since increased MinCD did not affect the level of FtsZ, this suggested that MinCD may antagonize FtsZ to inhibit its cell division activity. This possibility was supported by the finding that alleles of ftsZ isolated as resistant to the cell division inhibitor SulA were also resistant to MinCD. Among the ftsZ(Rsa) alleles, two appeared to be completely resistant to MinCD as demonstrated by the lack of an effect of MinCD on cell length and a minicell phenotype observed in the absence of a significant increase in FtsZ. It was shown that SulA inhibits cell division independently of MinCD.