Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of aliphatic polyamines on growth and macromolecular syntheses in bacteria.

SUMMARY: The effect of synthetic and naturally occurring polyamines on bacterial growth was studied. The tetra-amine spermine was the most potent anti-bacterial agent and showed maximal activity at high pH values. The anti-bacterial action of the triamines was dependent upon the number of the primary amino groups in the polyamine molecule and was maximal when it contained a -N(CH2)7N- moiety. Polyamines, in low concentrations, stimulated the incorporation of [14C]uracil into the nucleic acids of growing bacteria, whereas higher concentrations were inhibitory. In contrast the incorporation of [14C]valine into bacterial proteins was inhibited by polyamines, even in low concentrations.
Neurodevelopmental and Neurophysiological Actions of Thyroid Hormone

For over 100 years, thyroid hormones have been known to be essential for neonatal neurodevelopment but whether they are required by the foetal brain remains a matter of controversy. For decades, the prevailing view was that thyroid hormones are not necessary until after birth because circulating levels in the foetus are very low and the placenta forms an efficient barrier to their transfer from the mother. Clinical observations of good neurological outcome following early treatment of congenital hypothyroidism were used to support the view that thyroid hormones are not required early in neurodevelopment. Nevertheless, the issue remained contentious because of findings that the severity of foetal neurological deficit due to maternal iodine deficiency correlated with the degree of maternal thyroxine (T4) deficiency. Furthermore, neurological damage in these cases could be prevented by correction of maternal T4 deficiency before mid‐gestation. This observation led to the opposing view, supported by epidemiological studies of neurological cretinism, that maternal thyroid hormones are important and necessary for early foetal neurodevelopment. It is now clear that thyroid hormones are essential for both foetal and post‐natal neurodevelopment and for the regulation of neuropsychological function in children and adults. In recent years, this controversial subject has progressed very rapidly following remarkable progress in understanding of the molecular mechanisms of thyroid hormone action. This article reviews the contributions of molecular biology and genetics to our new understanding of the physiological effects of thyroid hormones on neurodevelopment and in the adult brain.
EFFECTS OF EGG SIZE ON POSTLARVAL PERFORMANCE: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM A SEA URCHIN

Many life‐history and developmental studies of marine invertebrates assume that eggs of species with nonfeeding larvae are large because they provide materials for rapid development. Using the sea urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma which has 400 μm eggs and nonfeeding larvae, we removed an acellular, lipid‐rich component from the blastula equivalent to ca. 40% of the egg volume and ca. 50% of the organic mass. Experimentally manipulated, reduced‐lipid larvae survived well, developed in the usual time (3.5 d), and high percentages of the original numbers metamorphosed into anatomically normal juveniles. Control juveniles were larger at metamorphosis, grew more, and survived longer than siblings that lacked this lipid‐rich material. Moderate increases in egg size in species with nonfeeding larvae may enhance postlarval performance significantly and therefore may reflect selection on early juvenile traits. The contrasts of our results and comparable experiments with feeding larvae suggests that egg size may play fundamentally different roles in species with feeding and nonfeeding larvae. The accommodation of materials reserved for the juvenile stage should be considered among hypotheses on evolutionary modification of developmental patterns.
Pentoxifylline in ALS

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of pentoxifylline, a US Food and Drug Administration–approved drug, in patients with ALS treated with riluzole. Methods: The authors conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial. Four hundred patients with probable or definite ALS and vital capacity less than 100% were randomly assigned to treatment with placebo or 1.2 g pentoxifylline daily. The primary outcome was death. Secondary outcomes were rates of deterioration of ALS Functional Rating Scale–Respiratory and muscle strength. The primary intention-to-treat analysis was the survival comparison of drug vs placebo, assessed before (log-rank test) and after adjustment (Cox model) for predefined prognostic factors. Results: At the end of the study, after 547 days of follow-up, 103 patients (51.7%) in the pentoxifylline group and 120 (59.7%) in the placebo group were alive (unadjusted risk 1.28, p = 0.107; adjusted risk 1.43, p = 0.02). In contrast, analysis of secondary outcome functional variables did not show the same negative effect of the drug. The most common adverse reactions were nausea, dysphagia, and flushing, all reversible after stopping the drug. Conclusions: Pentoxifylline is not beneficial in ALS and should be avoided in patients treated with riluzole. The discrepancy between survival and measures of functional changes urges caution in equating these end points in phase III trials, and suggests that both survival and function should be used in phase III trials.
Inducible RNAi system and its application in novel therapeutics

Abstract RNA interference (RNAi) was discovered as a cellular defense mechanism more than decade ago. It has been exploited as a powerful tool for genetic manipulation. Characterized with specifically silencing target gene expression, it has great potential application for disease treatment. Currently, there are human clinical trials in progress or planned. Despite the excitement regarding this prominent technology, there are many obstacles and concerns that prevent RNAi from being widely used in the therapeutic field. Among them, the non-spatial and non-temporal control is the most difficult challenge, as well as off-target effects and triggering type I immune responses. Inducible RNAi technology can effectively regulate target genes by inducer-mediated small hairpin RNA expression. Combination with inducible regulation systems this makes RNAi technology more sophisticated and may provide a wider application field. This review discusses approaches of inducible RNAi systems, the potential problem areas and solutions and their therapeutic applications. Given the limitations discussed herein being resolved, we believe that inducible RNAi will be a major therapeutic modality within the next several years.
Variants on a Theme: A Biomarker of Crizotinib Response in ALK-Positive Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer?

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangements are found in approximately 5% of non–small cell lung carcinoma patients and confer sensitivity to ALK inhibitors such as crizotinib. The particular ALK fusion expressed may have an impact on protein stability and sensitivity to crizotinib, and this may underlie the heterogeneity in responses observed in the clinic. Clin Cancer Res; 18(17); 4479–81. ©2012 AACR.
Self-organization of trajectory formation. I. Experimental evidence.

Most studies examining the stability and change of patterns in biological coordination have focused on identifying generic bifurcation mechanisms in an already active set of components (see Kelso 1994). A less well understood phenomenon is the process by which previously quiescent degrees of freedom (df) are spontaneously recruited and active df suppressed. To examine such behavior, in part I we study a single limb system composed of three joints (wrist, elbow, and shoulder) performing the kinematically redundant task of tracing a sequence of two-dimensional arcs of monotonically varying curvature, kappa. Arcs were displayed on a computer screen in a decreasing and increasing kappa sequence, and subjects rhythmically traced the arcs with the right hand in the sagittal plane at a fixed frequency (1.0 Hz), with motion restricted to flexion-extension of the wrist, elbow, and shoulder. Only a few coordinative patterns among the three joints were stably produced, e.g., in-phase (flexion-extension of one joint coordinated with flexion-extension of another joint) and antiphase (flexion-extension coordinated with extension-flexion). As kappa was systematically increased and decreased, switching between relative phase patterns was observed around critical curvature values, kappa c. A serendipitous finding was a strong 2:1 frequency ratio between the shoulder and elbow that occurred across all curvature values for some subjects, regardless of the wrist-elbow relative phase pattern. Transitions from 1:1 to 2:1 frequency entrainment and vice versa were also observed. The results indicate that both amplitude modulation and relative phase change are utilized to stabilize the end-effector trajectory. In part II, a theoretical model is derived from three coupled nonlinear oscillators, in which the relative phases (phi) between the components and the relative joint amplitudes (rho) are treated as collective variables with arc curvature as a control parameter.
Model Order Reduction of Non-Linear Magnetostatic Problems Based on POD and DEI Methods

In the domain of numerical computation, model order reduction approaches are more and more frequently applied in mechanics and have shown their efficiency in terms of reduction of computation time and memory storage requirements. One of these approaches, the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), can be very efficient in solving linear problems but encounters limitations in the non-linear (NL) case. In this paper, the discrete empirical interpolation method coupled with the POD method is presented. This is an interesting alternative to reduce large-scale systems deriving from the discretization of NL magnetostatic problems coupled with an external electrical circuit.
Effect of Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation on the Autonomic Nervous System in Parkinson’s Disease Patients Assessed by Spectral Analyses of R-R Interval Variability and Blood Pressure Variability

Objective: Autonomic nervous system impairment is an untoward symptom that is typically observed in advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. However, details of the effects of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) on the autonomic nervous system remain unclear. Methods: Twenty-eight patients with advanced PD (12 males and 16 females) who underwent bilateral STN-DBS and 13 age-matched healthy controls were included in this study. We analyzed the dynamic cardiovascular autonomic function regulating the R-R interval and blood pressure by spectral and transfer function analyses of cardiovascular variability before and after STN-DBS. Results: Vagally mediated arterial-cardiac baroreflex function improved after STN-DBS compared to that before STN-DBS (p < 0.05). However, there were no statistically significant differences in the results of the comparison of vagally mediated arterial-cardiac baroreflex function between on-stimulation and off-stimulation. Conclusions: The vagal component in cardiac autonomic dysfunction associated with PD is expected to improve after STN-DBS. We considered that the patients improved their lifestyle; in particular, increasing the amount of exercise by STN-DBS and the best pharmachological treatment may have positive effects on parasympathetic activities.
Twitter: big data opportunities.

In their Policy Forum “The parable of Google Flu: Traps in big data analysis” (14 March, p. [1203][1]), D. Lazer et al. remark upon recent failures of Google Flu Trends (GFT) and cast these as limitations of big data analysis in general. However, many of these limitations have been overcome by
In vivo expression of interleukin‐8, and regulated on activation, normal, T‐cell expressed, and secreted, by human germinal centre B lymphocytes

T‐cell homing within germinal centres (GCs) is required for humoral B‐cell responses. However, the mechanisms implicated in the recruitment of T cells into the GC are not completely understood. Here we show, by immunohistology, and Northern and Western blots, that in vivo human GC B lymphocytes can express CxC and CC chemokines. Moreover, B‐cell subset‐specific experiments reveal that interleukin (IL)‐8 and regulated on activation, normal, T‐cell expressed, and secreted (RANTES) are predominantly expressed by GC centroblast and centrocytes, suggesting that chemokine expression is essential at stages in which B‐lymphocytes engage in active antigen‐dependent interactions with T lymphocytes. In keeping with this hypothesis, we show that the T cells recruited into the GC correlatively express the receptors for IL‐8 and RANTES. We propose that chemokine expression is a key B‐cell function that facilitates T‐lymphocyte recruitment into the GCs and supports cognate B‐cell : T‐cell encounters. Moreover, our data are consistent with the impaired homing of T cells to secondary lymphoid organs in mice that are either deficient in CC and CxC chemokines or their receptors.
Promethazine Treatment of Steroid-Induced Psychosis in a Child

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of steroid-induced psychosis in a child that resolved with the treatment of promethazine, a phenothiazine derivative. CASE SUMMARY: A 2-year-old white boy with a history of relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia underwent a bone marrow transplant and developed graft-versus-host disease, which was treated with methylprednisolone. Within 24 hours of initiation of the methylprednisolone, the patient developed symptoms associated with steroid-induced psychosis including mania, head-banging, and excessive crying. Because the corticosteroid could not be discontinued, promethazine, a phenothiazine derivative, was used to treat the psychotic symptoms. Symptoms resolved with use of promethazine. DISCUSSION: A number of published reports describe the appearance of psychological symptoms with corticosteroid use. While the mechanism is unclear, the reaction is usually reversible with dose reduction or discontinuation of the corticosteroid. In cases where this cannot be done, typical treatment involves an antipsychotic medication. Most antipsychotic medications, such as the phenothiazine class, have not been evaluated in very young childen. Promethazine is a phenothiazine derivative that has been used in children for a number of nonpsychiatric indications. CONCLUSIONS: Promethazine may be effective in treating steroid-induced psychosis in pediatric patients.
Dynamics of ocular surface topography in healthy subjects

Our topography system is an enhancement of a standard TMS‐1 corneal topograph instrument (Computed Anatomy Inc., New York, NY, USA). Topographic images are captured at a rate of 4 s−1, allowing the recording of a series of 120 images in 30 s after a complete blink. In this prospective preliminary study 15 healthy volunteers were examined. The main outcome measures were the time profile of changes in surface regularity index (SRI), surface asymmetry index (SAI) and simulated keratometry values (K1, K2). After a blink there was a tendency for improvement in ocular surface regularity. Later trends were less clear. Our topography system makes possible the detailed evaluation of tear‐film dynamics in the post‐blink period. The new technique may play an important role in the diagnosis of various tear‐film abnormalities; the results may also have significant implications in the planning of refractive surgeries.
Designing Visual Analytic Tools for Emergency Operation Centers: A Qualitative Approach

The Emergency Management Information System EMIS field has an established tradition of user-centered methodological approaches for design and evaluation research. However, visual analytics, a new field that is starting to intersect with EMIS, is barely using such approaches. Thus an opportunity has emerged to expand these user-centered approaches from EMIS towards visual analytics via the design of visual analytics tools for emergency management. In this article, the authors present a qualitative methodology for design research that takes on this opportunity. This specific methodology is characterized by using non-participant observation and interviews as methods and by being theoretically informed by the multidisciplinary framework of visual analytics. The authors also include a detailed application of the methodology to the design of visual analytic tools for Emergency Operation Centers in Vancouver, Canada as well as the corresponding results: contextual knowledge for design, informed requirements for four design projects and evaluation criteria for these designs.
Treatments for Chronic Pain in Persons With Spinal Cord Injury: A Survey Study

Abstract Background/Objective: To determine the degree and duration of pain relief provided by specific pain treatments used by individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) who have chronic pain. Design: Postal survey. Setting: Community. Participants: Participants were 117 individuals who had traumatic SCI, were 18 years of age or older, and reported a chronic pain problem. Main Outcome Measures: Questions assessing current or past use of 26 different pain treatments, the amount of relief each treatment provided, and the length of time that any pain relief usually lasts. Results: The medications tried most often were nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (tried by 71%) and acetaminophen (tried by 70%); these medications were still being used by more than one half of the patients who had tried them. Opioids produced the greatest degree of pain relief on average (mean, 6.27 ± 3.05 [SD] on a 0-10 scale, with 0 = no relief and 10 = complete relief) but were unlikely to be continued by those who tried them Although 38% of respondents with pain had tried gabapentin, only 17% were still using it, and average pain relief was only moderate (mean, 3.32 ± 3.03 on the 0-10 relief scale). Seventy-three percent of the respondents had tried at least 1 of 7 alternative pain treatments, and the most frequently tried were massage, marijuana, and acupuncture. The most relief was provided by massage (mean, 6.05 ± 2.47] on the 0-10 relief scale) and marijuana (mean, 6.62 ± 2.54 on the 0-10 relief scale). The relief from the various treatments, including most medications, tended to last only minutes or hours; however, pain relief from alternative treatments such as massage, acupuncture, and hypnosis was reported to last for days in 25% to 33% of those who tried these treatments. Conclusions: Many patients are not finding adequate pain relief from commonly prescribed medications. Alternative therapies should be considered as additional treatment options in this population.
The Effect of Methylprednisolone, Interferon Beta and Glatiramer Acetate Treatment on the Levels of Leptin, Adiponectin and Resistin in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Objective: Adipocytokines are cytokine-like mediators that link adipose tissue function with inflammatory and autoimmune processes, and have a suggested role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of methylprednisolone, interferon-1b (INF) and glatiramer acetate (GA) on leptin, resistin, and adiponectin concentrations in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients. Methods: The study included 154 RRMS patients who were hospitalized in the Department of Neurology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences. The comparison group included 31 patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and 39 healthy controls. Serum levels of leptin, adiponectin, and resistin were evaluated before treatment initiation. In the RRMS patients treated with methylprednisolone, adipocytokine evaluation was performed one day after the therapy. Patients treated with INF or GA were evaluated at 1 month and 6 months. Routine neurological examination and expanded disability status scale (EDSS) scoring were performed, and MRI scans were analyzed for the localization of demyelinating plaques. Body mass index, glycemia, and insulin levels were evaluated and homeostatic model assessment insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) was calculated. Results: Adiponectin and resistin levels in RRMS and MG patients were increased compared to controls, but adiponectin levels were lower in RRMS than MG patients. Intravenous methylprednisolone in RRMS with relapse caused an elevation of leptin concentration. INF treatment caused a significant, time-dependent effect on resistin concentration. GA administration influenced only resistin concentration as a long-term effect. No relationship between adipocytokines and metabolic status or insulin resistance was found. Conclusions: We identified resistin as the most important adipocytokine associated with RRMS. Its concentrations are reduced by first line immunomodulatory treatment, which produces a milieu of beneficial inflammatory and metabolic processes. On the other hand, the routine treatment of MS relapses with methylprednisolone induces harmful metabolic and inflammatory effects that may be mediated by elevated leptin levels.
RCS Prediction of Objects Coated by Magnetized Plasma Via Scale Model With FDTD

To overcome the incompatibility of electromagnetic similarity law for dispersive medium like magnetized plasma, the electromagnetic similarity law for magnetized plasma is proposed according to the theory of relaxation similarity law. The relation of radar cross section (RCS) between the prototype and the scale model for magnetized plasma is given based on the electromagnetic similarity for magnetized plasma. To improve the efficiency of finite difference time domain (FDTD) for magnetized plasma, the auxiliary differential equation-alternating direction-implicit FDTD, which avoids complicated convolutions and transformations compared with previous published methods, is proposed. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed FDTD are validated through the numerical test of reflection coefficients on a magnetized plasma sheet. The RCS results of the objects coated by magnetized plasma indicate that predicting RCS through scale model with FDTD is an effective approach and can save a great deal in terms of memory and time.
Incidence of Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Objective Recent data regarding the incidence of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in the United States is lacking. The objective of this study was to assess the current day incidence of SSNHL in the United States using data from a medical and pharmaceutical claims database containing information for more than 60 million unique patients. Study Design Population-based cross-sectional analysis. Setting Inpatient and outpatient. Patients Patients in the database are reported to be representative of the national, commercially insured population on a variety of demographic measures including age, sex, health plan type, and geographic location. Results During 2006 and 2007, the annual incidence of SSNHL was 27 per 100,000 in the United States. The incidence increased with increasing age, ranging from 11 per 100,000 for patients younger than 18 years to 77 per 100,000 for patients 65 years and older. There was an overall slight male preponderance with a male-to-female ratio of 1.07:1. This was more pronounced in patients 65 years and older, with a ratio of 1.30:1. Conclusion More than 66,000 new cases of SSNHL are seen annually in the United States. The disorder is more common in men and the elderly.