Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A prospective study of haemostatic parameters in relation to the clinical course of myeloproliferative disorders

Abstract: Platelet function and the clinical course of the disease were prospectively investigated in 29 patients with myeloproliferative disorders. Serial determinations (median: 5 investigations per patient within 17 months) of platelet aggregation, plasma and intraplatelet concentrations of β‐thromboglobulin (βTG) and platelet factor 4 (PF4), and of fibrino‐peptide A (FPA) plasma levels were carried out. In the chronic phase of polycythaemia vera, patients with thrombohaemorrhagic complications during the study period had higher platelet count, more severe platelet aggregation defects, and increased plasma levels of βTG and FPA compared to patients without complications. However, thrombohaemorrhagic complications were not predicted by changes in these parameters in the individual patient during the chronic disease phase. When patients with chronic myelogenous leukaemia entered blast crisis, bleeding complications were related to thrombocytopenia, impaired platelet function and low intraplatelet concentrations of βTG and PF4. Cytoreduction by chemotherapy in the chronic phase of CML did not alter βTG and PF4 plasma levels, whereas treatment of polycythaemia rubra vera by venesection favourably influenced platelet α‐granule secretion and increased intraplatelet concentrations of βTG and PF4.
Experimental Performance of MPPT Algorithm for Photovoltaic Sources Subject to Inhomogeneous Insolation

Photovoltaic (PV) power system performance depends on local irradiance conditions. PV systems are sometimes subject to partial shading, which may produce a nonideal characteristic curve, presenting true and local power maxima in the P -I curve. Traditional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms can converge to local maximum, which is not the true MPP. In order to solve the problem, this paper investigates the effects of nonuniform solar irradiance distribution on a PV source. An MPPT algorithm that is able to optimize the source instantaneous operating power under nonuniform irradiance is proposed. The ability of the algorithm and its increased performance with respect to traditional algorithms are evaluated by means of experimental tests performed on a real PV power system.
A simple low voltage current sense amplifier with switchable input transistor

A simple SRAM current sense amplifier with common gate input stage is presented. Instead of keeping the gate at constant potential it is controlled by the select signal of the bit line multiplexer (MUX). If the transistor is turned on it maintains a low input resistance while the off-state is used for multiplexing and power down. Experimental results in 0. 18µm 1.8V CMOS show that the circuit is superior to conventional voltage sensing. It is shown that for supply voltages below IV where the driving cell currents become very small, only current sensing is capable of fast reading. For a 0. 12µm technology the simulated lower supply voltage limit of the proposed circuit is as low as 0.4V.
Exploring Design Principles for a Business Model Mining Tool

Organizations increasingly need the ability to respond to ever-changing environments. Resulting transformations require organizations to possess a solid knowledge of the status-quo of existing business models to transform them towards future target models. However, business model creation in established frameworks is a manual, timeconsuming, highly subjective and error-prone process. Following a design science approach, this short paper proposes the development of an artefact in form of a business model mining tool to overcome weaknesses of manual approaches to business model derivation by deriving business models from data stored within organizational information systems. This short paper further introduces a set of meta-requirements, design principles and a preliminary prototype such as enterprise resource planning systems. For the design and the evaluation of the artefact, an industry cooperation with a manufacturing corporation was formed to gain access to real-world data.
Physicochemical and microbiological quality of raspberries (Rubus idaeus) treated with different doses of gamma irradiation

This study was conducted to evaluate the physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of raspberries exposed to different radiation doses. The fruits were harvested in the city of Campestre, MG, packed in polyethylene bags, and transported to the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), where they were separated into 4 lots. Irradiation was performed at the Center for Development of Nuclear Technology in Belo Horizonte, MG. The doses used were 0 (control), 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 kGy. After irradiation, the fruits were transported back to UFLA and stored at 1 oC and 95% relative humidity (RH) for 12 days. The physicochemical analyses for mass loss, total soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH, total soluble sugars, total soluble pectin, firmness, vitamin C content, total antioxidant activity, and total phenolic, and the microbiological assays (coliform at 35 and 45 oC, psychrotrophic and filamentous fungi and yeasts) were performed after 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 days of storage. Lower loss of mass and filamentous fungi and yeast count were observed in the irradiated fruits, and 2 kGy was determined as the most effective dose for microbial control, but this irradiation dose also resulted in increased loss of fruit firmness.
Phosphatase of regenerating liver: a novel target for cancer therapy

Introduction: Phosphatases of regenerating livers (PRLs) are novel oncogenes that interact with many well-established cell signaling pathways that are misregulated in cancer, and are known to drive cancer metastasis when overexpressed. Areas covered: This review covers basic information of the discovery and characteristics of the PRL family. We also report findings on the role of PRL in cancer, cell functions and cell signaling. Furthermore, PRL's suitability as a novel drug target is discussed along with current methods being developed to facilitate PRL inhibition. Expert opinion: PRLs show great potential as novel drug targets for anticancer therapeutics. Studies indicate that PRL can perturb major cancer pathways such as Src/ERK1/2 and PTEN/PI3K/Akt. Upregulation of PRLs has also been shown to drive cancer metastasis. However, in order to fully realize its therapeutic potential, a deeper understanding of the function of PRL in normal tissue and in cancer must be obtained. Novel and integrated biochemical, chemical, biological, and genetic approaches will be needed to identify PRL substrate(s) and to provide proof-of-concept data on the druggability of the PRL phosphatases.
Experimental gingivitis in cigarette smokers: a clinical and microbiological study.

OBJECTIVE To assess clinical and microbiological changes during experimental gingivitis in cigarette smokers and non-smokers. MATERIAL AND METHODS Eleven current smokers (>/=5 years) and 11 (never-) non-smokers periodontally healthy or with gingivitis (PPD</=4 mm) were included. According to the original model (Löe et al. 1965), an experimental 3-week plaque accumulation period resulting in experimental gingivitis and a subsequent 2-week period of optimal plaque control were performed. Subgingival plaque samples were collected at days 0, 21 and 35 from one site per quadrant, pooled and analysed using checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization. RESULTS Smokers {mean age: 24.7+/-2.2 [standard deviation (SD)] years, range 21-28 years} had a mean lifetime cigarette exposure of 6.4+/-2.8 (SD) pack-years, while non-smokers presented with a mean age of 23.1+/-2.2 (SD) years (range 21-29 years). Between days 0, 21 and 35, no statistically significant differences in mean Plaque and mean Gingival Index scores were observed between smokers and non-smokers. In both smokers and non-smokers, mean total DNA probe counts did not significantly differ nor increase between days 0 and 21. Also, between days 21 and 35 they did not significantly differ nor decrease. This was also true for the various proportions of bacterial complexes. CONCLUSION Both current smokers and (never-) non-smokers reacted to experimental plaque accumulation with gingival inflammation. Periodontal and microbiological parameters assessed in current cigarette smokers did not significantly differ from those in non-smokers during an identical period of experimental plaque accumulation. Hence, the early host response to the bacterial challenge appears to be of similar magnitude and timing in both groups.
Estructura de los supuestos básicos: una propuesta de evaluación

Se presenta el diseno y las bases teoricas de un instrumento de auto-informe, el Cuestionario para la Inferencia de la Estructura Actitudinal (CIEA), construido para inferir las relaciones funcionales entre los supuestos basicos (actitudes disfuncionales). Para la construccion del CIEA se utilizaron la Escala de Actitudes Disfuncionales (Weissman y Beck, 1978) y diez nuevos items propuestos para la evaluacion de la necesidad de control. Se incluye ademas un ejemplo comentado de la informacion obtenida tras la aplicacion del CIEA.
MAPK‐dependent actin cytoskeletal reorganization underlies BK channel activation by insulin

Numerous brain regions are enriched with insulin and insulin receptors, and several lines of evidence indicate that insulin is an important modulator of neuronal function. Indeed, recent studies have demonstrated that insulin inhibits hippocampal epileptiform‐like activity, in part by activating large‐conductance Ca2+‐activated potassium (BK) channels. Moreover, the mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling cascade has been found to couple insulin to BK channel activation. However, the cellular events downstream of MAPK that underlie this action of insulin are unknown. Here we demonstrate that in hippocampal neurons, BK channel activation by insulin is blocked by actin filament stabilization, suggesting that this process is dependent on the actin cytoskeleton. Stabilizing actin filaments also markedly attenuated the ability of insulin to inhibit the aberrant hippocampal synaptic activity evoked following Mg2+ removal. Insulin also promoted rapid reorganization of fluorescently labelled polymerized actin filaments; an action that was prevented by inhibitors of MAPK activation. Moreover, in parallel studies, insulin increased the level of phospho‐MAPK immunostaining in hippocampal neurons. These data are consistent with BK channel activation by insulin involving MAPK‐dependent alterations in actin dynamics. This process may have important implications for the role of insulin in regulating hippocampal excitability.
Gene Transfer by Adeno-Associated Virus Vectors into the Central Nervous System

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors are derived from a nonpathogenic and defective human parvovirus. Although currently unable to display the integration specificity featured by its wild-type parent, the recombinant AAV (rAAV) system has continued to attract enormous interest primarily due to its unique features such as safety, high titers, broad host range, transduction of quiescent cells, and vector integration. Recently, rAAV-mediated in vivo gene transfers have demonstrated efficient long-term transduction (from 3 months to more than 1.5 years) and lack of cytotoxicity and cellular immune responses in the target tissues, especially in the CNS. Alternative approaches using rAAV plasmid DNA in nonviral gene delivery systems also generated promising results. Propelled by various efforts to improve the system, rAAV vectors will provide numerous opportunities to explore the potential therapeutic applications in humans.
Neural Correlates of Reward Processing in Typical and Atypical Development

Atypically developing children including those born preterm or who have autism spectrum disorder can display difficulties with evaluating rewarding stimuli, which may result from impaired maturation of reward and cognitive control brain regions. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, 58 typically and atypically developing children (6-12 years) participated in a set-shifting task that included the presentation of monetary reward stimuli. In typically developing children, reward stimuli were associated with age-related increases in activation in cognitive control centers, with weaker changes in reward regions. In atypically developing children, no age-related changes were evident. Maturational disturbances in the frontostriatal regions during atypical development may underlie task-based differences in activation.
Taxometric Analysis of Impression Management and Self-Deception in College Student and Personnel Evaluation Settings

The typology of impression management (IM), a deliberate attempt to create a positive social image, and self-deceptive positivity (SDP), an overly positive bias in self-description, was examined using taxometric procedures with Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) underreporting scales and Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (Paulhus, 1988) impression management and SDP scales in a sample of college students. MMPI-2 underreporting scales were then examined in a personnel evaluation sample. IM was found to be taxonic in both student and personnel settings. Given support for the IM taxon, taxometric procedures allow the estimation of the base rate of IM and the classification accuracy of MMPI-2 IM scales in the absence of a separate criterion. Using taxometric procedures, the mean base-rate estimates were . 16 and . 25 for student and personnel settings, respectively. Overall classification rates ranged from . 80 to . 94 for MMPI-2 IM scales in the personnel setting.
Heat Shock Protein Vaccines: From Bench to Bedside

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are immunogenic, with the specificity of the immune response provided by the peptides that they chaperone. Binding of cell surface receptors by HSPs is central to the elicitation of the innate and adaptive immune responses obtained after vaccination and also plays a physiologic role in cross-priming. These effects of HSPs have been exploited in prophylaxis and therapy of cancer and infectious disease. The data obtained from murine studies have been translated into ongoing clinical trials of cancer of which the most recent results are provided here.
XIAP is highly expressed in esophageal cancer and its downregulation by RNAi sensitizes esophageal carcinoma cell lines to chemotherapeutics

X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) is the most potent member of the IAP gene family in terms of its ability to inhibit caspases and suppress apoptosis. In this study, we investigated the expression of XIAP in esophageal cancer tissues and cell lines, and found the elevated expression of XIAP in esophageal cancer tissues compared with normal tissues. Then we used small interfering RNA (siRNA) to block XIAP expression while evaluating the effect of XIAP siRNA on cell apoptosis, and the combined effects with Paclitaxel, Cisplatin, Fluorouracil, and Etoposide in XIAP high expression ESCC cell line KYSE150 and EC9706. The results showed that XIAP siRNA efficiently decreased XIAP expression and induced cell apoptosis. Treatment with XIAP siRNA in combination with Paclitaxel, Cisplatin, Fluorouracil, and Etoposide enhanced chemosensitivity. These results suggest that XIAP might be helpful for diagnosis of ESCC and XIAP siRNA combined with Paclitaxel, Cisplatin, Fluorouracil, and Etoposide may be a feasible strategy to enhance the effects of chemotherapy in patients with ESCC.
Ability of the Bispectral Index, Autoregressive Modelling with Exogenous Input-derived Auditory Evoked Potentials, and Predicted Propofol Concentrations to Measure Patient Responsiveness during Anesthesia with Propofol and Remifentanil

Background This study was conducted to compare the performance accuracy of the independent variables Bispectral Index (BIS), A-Line ARX index (AAI), and predicted propofol effect-site concentration (CePROP) to measure the dependent variables of loss of responses to different stimulation defined as loss of response to verbal command (LORverbal), eyelash reflex (LORlash), and noxious stimulus (LORnoxious) during stepwise increased levels of propofol infusion with and without remifentanil. Methods Forty-five patients were randomly allocated to one of three groups (0, 2, and 4 ng/ml remifentanil) to receive graded CePROP and predicted effect compartment controlled remifentanil (CeREMI). At every step, the ability to respond to verbal command using the Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation Scale (OAA/S), eyelash reflex, and electrical tetanic noxious stimulus were compared against BIS, AAI, and CePROP. Prediction probability and sensitivity/specificity were calculated. Results Increasing CeREMI increased BIS and AAI values at LORverbal and LORlash and decreased CePROP. Similar findings were found for LORnoxious. The overall prediction probability to measure the hypnotic component of anesthesia remained accurate in the three groups for BIS, AAI, and CePROP. Combined information from CePROP, CeREMI, and BIS or AAI increased the overall prediction probability for predicting the OAA/S scale and LORlash. Less accuracy to LORnoxious was found in all independent variables. Conclusions Although BIS, AAI, and CePROP were influenced by remifentanil during propofol administration, their ability to detect OAA/S and LORlash remained accurate. Improved performance is obtained when BIS and AAI are measured in conjunction with drug targeted effect-site concentrations. Remifentanil decreases the ability of these independent variables to detect LORnoxious.
Blur Invariant Image Forgery Detection Method Using Local Phase Quantization

: With the rapid development of powerful image, editing software makes the forgery of the digital image easy. Researchers proposed methods to cope with image authentication in recent years. We proposed a passive image authentication technique to determine the copy move forgery that copied a part of an image and pasted it on the other region in the same image. First, the method divides the image into overlapping blocks. It uses LPQ (local phase quantization) to label each block. The column average value of labeled blocks constitutes the feature vector for the block. Similarity among the feature vectors gives a clue about the forgery. Local phase quantization has not been used to detect copy move forgery in the literature before. Experimental results show that, the method has higher accuracy ratios and lower false negative values under blurring operation at high levels compared to other methods. Our method can also detect multiple copy move forgery.
Auswirkungen belastender Arbeitsbedingungen auf die Qualität privater Lebensverhältnisse.

Aufgrund der Vielfalt von Anforderungen und Bedurfnissen in der Erwerbsarbeit und im Privatleben wird die konfliktfreie Passung beider Lebensbereiche fur immer mehr Menschen zu einer schwierigen Aufgabe. Erst wenig wissen wir daruber, welche Faktoren fur eine erfolgreiche Vermeidung zeitlicher Konflikte zwischen Erwerbsarbeit und Privatleben tatsachlich relevant sind. Ein Forschungsprojekt der Universitaten Bielefeld und Duisburg-Essen hat dieses Bedingungsgeflecht u. a. untersucht. Der Beitrag stellt zentrale Befunde vor, welche erwerbsarbeitsbedingten Konstellationen und Konflikte das Privatleben negativ beeinflussen, also zu sogenannten Work-to-Family-Conflicts fuhren. Damit zeigt er zugleich Ansatzpunkte auf, wie Abhilfe geschaffen werden kann.
Feeding problems in children with cerebral palsy.

OBJECTIVE To determine the magnitude and extent of feeding problems in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to evaluate the effectiveness of nutritional interventions. DESIGN Prospective hospital based interventional study. METHOD Children with cerebral palsy of either sex were enrolled randomly and their parents were interviewed for their perception about feeding problems, nutritional status and for their views about the expected outcome of feeding problems. Each case was assessed for feeding problems based on Gisel and Patrick feeding skill score; for nutritional status by measurement of weight, skinfold thickness (at biceps, triceps, suprailiac and subscapular), mid arm circumference and caloric intake; neurologically for type and severity of cerebral palsy and for developmental age by Gasell s developmental scale. Equal number of age and sex matched controls were included for comparison of nutritional status and developmental quotient. Various rehabilitation procedures were applied and their response was observed in the followup ranging from 3-10 months. RESULTS One hundred children (76 boys and 24 girls) with cerebral palsy of mean age 2.5 years (range 1 to 9 years) and mean developmental age of 7.6 months (range 1 to 36 months) were included in the study. Oral motor dysfunction (OMD) was found in all cases and in each category. Spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy (SQCP) and hypotonic patients had significantly poor feeding skill score (p < 0.001). Mean duration of feeding session was 31.5 minutes (range 10-60 minutes). Main food of children with cerebral palsy consisted of liquid and semisolid diet. Children with poor OMD were unable to take solid food. Cases with seizures had significantly more feeding problems than those without seizures (p < 0.001). Parental awareness about feeding problems of their children was significantly low and they overestimated the nutritional status of their children. Anthropometric indicators were significantly lower than controls (p < 0.001). Spastic quadreparesis, hypotonia and poor feeding skill score had negative effect on nutritional status. Thirty per cent parents of cerebral palsy patients were pessimistic about the possibility of any improvement in feeding problems. After nutritional rehabilitation, good improvement was seen in feeding problems, OMD and nutritional status. CONCLUSION Nutritional status of children with cerebral palsy is poor due to summation of several factors. Therefore, they should be thoroughly assessed for feeding problems and nutritional status in order to start timely nutritional rehabilitation which can significantly improve their nutritional status and quality of life.
[18F]FDOPA PET and clinical features in parkinsonism due to manganism

Manganese exposure reportedly causes a clinically and pathophysiologically distinct syndrome from idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). We describe the clinical features and results of positron emission tomography with 6‐[18F]fluorodopa ([18F]FDOPA PET) of a patient with parkinsonism occurring in the setting of elevated blood manganese. The patient developed parkinsonism associated with elevated serum manganese from hepatic dysfunction. [18F]FDOPA PET demonstrated relatively symmetric and severely reduced [18F]FDOPA levels in the posterior putamen compared to controls. The globus pallidum interna had increased signal on T1‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images. We conclude that elevated manganese exposure may be associated with reduced striatal [18F]FDOPA uptake, and MRI may reveal selective abnormality within the internal segment of the pallidum. This case suggests that the clinical and pathophysiological features of manganese‐associated parkinsonism may overlap with that of PD. © 2005 Movement Disorder Society