Unsupervised mRNA-seq classification of heart transplant endomyocardial biopsies.

Background: Endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) is currently considered the gold standard for diagnosing cardiac allograft rejection. However, significant limitations related to histological interpretation variability are well-recognized. We sought to develop a methodology to evaluate EMB solely based on gene expression, without relying on histology interpretation.

Effect of Varied Tube Phonation in Water Exercises on Nasometric and Electroglottographic parameters: Modification in Terms of Fluid Density and Tube Submerged Depth.

Objective: Within the scope of semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTEs), we aimed to examine the effects of four exercise combinations, which involved various fluid densities and tube submersion depths, on acoustic and electroglottographic (EGG) parameters.

Methods: Four procedures (P) were applied consecutively to 30 female participants with normal voices using different tube submersion depths and fluid densities, including P1 (2 cm, water), P2 (2 cm, nectar), P3 (10 cm, water), and P4 (10 cm, nectar). Nasometric (Nasometer II model 6450) and EGG (Electroglottograph model 6103) measurements were taken before the procedures were initiated (pre-test) and at the end of each procedure.

Enabling personalized decision support with patient-generated data and attributable components.

Decision-making related to health is complex. Machine learning (ML) and patient generated data can identify patterns and insights at the individual level, where human cognition falls short, but not all ML-generated information is of equal utility for making health-related decisions. We develop and apply attributable components analysis (ACA), a method inspired by optimal transport theory, to type 2 diabetes self-monitoring data to identify patterns of association between nutrition and blood glucose control.

Rejection-associated Mitochondrial Impairment After Heart Transplantation.

Background: Mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with poor allograft prognosis. Mitochondrial-related gene expression (GE) in endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs) could be useful as a nonimmune functional marker of rejection. We hypothesize that acute cardiac allograft rejection is associated with decreased mitochondrial-related GE in EMBs.

Glucocorticoid-endocannabinoid uncoupling mediates fear suppression deficits after early - Life stress.

Early-life stress (ELS) creates life-long vulnerability to stress-related anxiety disorders through altering stress and fear systems in the brain. The endocannabinoid system has emerged as an important regulator of the stress response through a crosstalk with the glucocorticoid system, yet whether it plays a role in the persistent effects of ELS remains unanswered. By combining, behavioral, pharmacological and biochemical approaches in adult male rats, we examined the impact of ELS on the regulation of endocannabinoid function by stress and glucocorticoids.

Origin and Segmental Diversity of Spinal Inhibitory Interneurons.

Motor output varies along the rostro-caudal axis of the tetrapod spinal cord. At limb levels, ∼60 motor pools control the alternation of flexor and extensor muscles about each joint, whereas at thoracic levels as few as 10 motor pools supply muscle groups that support posture, inspiration, and expiration. Whether such differences in motor neuron identity and muscle number are associated with segmental distinctions in interneuron diversity has not been resolved.

Downloading plug-ins for nationalism and cosmopolitanism.

A crucial factor in differentiation between existing approaches to nationalism and cosmopolitanism is the positioning of these approaches within a continuum between particularism and universalism, based on their understanding of space and time. However, this also poses a major difficulty in studying practices of nationalism and cosmopolitanism: Reducing these practices to a position within the particularism/universalism continuum establishes different forms of nationalism and cosmopolitanism as 'order of things', through which any practice is projected as an approximation or a distortion of this ideal 'order'. Such a projection tells more about the researchers' own theoretical commitments than the participants' practices.

Dynamical phenotyping: using temporal analysis of clinically collected physiologic data to stratify populations.

Using glucose time series data from a well measured population drawn from an electronic health record (EHR) repository, the variation in predictability of glucose values quantified by the time-delayed mutual information (TDMI) was explained using a mechanistic endocrine model and manual and automated review of written patient records. The results suggest that predictability of glucose varies with health state where the relationship (e.g.

Evolving management of symptomatic chronic subdural hematoma: experience of a single institution and review of the literature.

Objective: Chronic subdural hematoma (cSDH) has an increasing incidence and results in high morbidity and mortality. We review here the 10-year experience of a single institution and the literature regarding the treatment and major associations of cSDH.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all cSDHs surgically treated from 2000 to 2010 in the New York Harbor Health Care System to evaluate the duration from admission to treatment, type of treatment, length of stay (LOS) in critical care, LOS in the hospital, and recurrence.

A non-linear model of information sharing practices in academic communities.

A new model of information sharing practices in academic communities is based on Latour's circulatory system of scientific facts, and some elements of Foster's non-linear model of information-seeking behavior. The main proposition of this model is that information-sharing practices and context simultaneously shape each other. The proposed model supports Foster's conceptualization of information practices as non-linear processes, but its emphasis on the interdependence between context and information practices provides a more effective means to capture complex negotiations involved in information-sharing practices.

Characterization of a photonic strain sensor in silicon-on-insulator technology.

Recently there has been growing interest in sensing by means of optical microring resonators in photonic integrated circuits that are fabricated in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. Taillaert et al. [Proc.

Drosophila insulin and target of rapamycin (TOR) pathways regulate GSK3 beta activity to control Myc stability and determine Myc expression in vivo.

Background: Genetic studies in Drosophila melanogaster reveal an important role for Myc in controlling growth. Similar studies have also shown how components of the insulin and target of rapamycin (TOR) pathways are key regulators of growth. Despite a few suggestions that Myc transcriptional activity lies downstream of these pathways, a molecular mechanism linking these signaling pathways to Myc has not been clearly described.

Gene Expression Signatures of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells during the Early Post-Transplant Period in Patients Developing Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy.

Background. Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is a major cause of graft loss and death after heart transplantation. Currently, no diagnostic methods are available during the early post-transplant period to accurately identify patients at risk of CAV.

Drawing networks of rejection - a systems biological approach to the identification of candidate genes in heart transplantation.

Technological development led to an increased interest in systems biological approaches to characterize disease mechanisms and candidate genes relevant to specific diseases. We suggested that the human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) network can be delineated by cellular reconstruction to guide identification of candidate genes. Based on 285 microarrays (7370 genes) from 98 heart transplant patients enrolled in the Cardiac Allograft Rejection Gene Expression Observational study, we used an information-theoretic, reverse-engineering algorithm called ARACNe (algorithm for the reconstruction of accurate cellular networks) and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay to reconstruct and validate a putative gene PBMC interaction network.

Comparison of conduction velocities of nerve fibers to smaller and larger muscles in rats.

The aim of this study was to compare conduction velocities of motor fibers to smaller and larger muscles and to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of recordings from the gastrocnemius muscle with surface electrodes over the recordings from small foot muscles (interosseous muscles) with needle electrodes in rats. Surface and needle recordings are suitable in measuring the motor conduction velocity of the sciatic (tibial) nerve. It should be noted that the motor velocity measured from the gastrocnemius muscle is higher than the motor velocity elicited from small foot muscles.

Association between cholesterols, homocysteine and silent brain infarcts.

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between total plasma homocysteine, cholesterol levels, vitamin B(12), folate, thyroid hormones, urea, ferritin, uric acid, C-reactive protein, cardiovascular risk factors and silent brain infarct (SBI) in patients without any neurological disorder. Whether the factors of interest were associated with SBI is investigated.

Methods: One hundred and forty-two subjects with a mean age of 52.

Expert and consumer evaluation of patient medication leaflets provided in U.S. pharmacies.

Objective: Evaluate the distribution and quality of patient medication leaflets provided in U.S. pharmacies.

Is laparotomy necessary in the diagnosis of fever of unknown origin?

Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is a diagnostic challenge for the practising physician. Detailed medical history, physical examination, non-invasive laboratory tests, and radiologic examinations compose the first level in the diagnostic approach to the FUO. When a diagnosis cannot be established with these procedures, some invasive diagnostic techniques and finally exploratory laparotomy are performed.

Energy spectra of the ocean's internal wave field: theory and observations.

The high-frequency limit of the Garrett and Munk spectrum of internal waves in the ocean and the observed deviations from it are shown to form a pattern consistent with the predictions of wave turbulence theory. In particular, the high-frequency limit of the Garrett and Munk spectrum constitutes an exact steady-state solution of the corresponding kinetic equation.

Evaluation of written prescription information provided in community pharmacies: a study in eight states.

Objectives: To develop three tools for assessing the quality of written information provided with new prescriptions in community pharmacies and to identify pharmacy, pharmacist, and patient characteristics associated with the dissemination and quality of that information.

Design: Observational study. Regression techniques were used to analyze the influence of pharmacy, pharmacist, and shopper (acting as patient) characteristics on outcome measures.

Hamiltonian formalism and the Garrett-Munk spectrum of internal waves in the ocean.

Wave turbulence formalism for long internal waves in a stratified fluid is developed, based on a natural Hamiltonian description. A kinetic equation appropriate for the description of spectral energy transfer is derived, and its anisotropic self-similar stationary solution corresponding to a direct cascade of energy toward the short scales is found. This solution is very close to the high wave-number limit of the Garrett-Munk spectrum of long internal waves in the ocean.

Near-field coherent spectroscopy and microscopy of a quantum dot system.

We combined coherent nonlinear optical spectroscopy with nano-electron volt energy resolution and low-temperature near-field microscopy with subwavelength resolution ( View Article and Find Full Text PDF