Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interface in Murine Pregnancies Tolerance Mechanism at the Feto-Maternal of Disrupting Immune Integration and Cross Talk Is a Proximate Mediator Capable Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1/LFA-1

Our understanding why a woman’s immune system does not reject her histoincompatible fetus is still very limited. Distinct insights into the mechanisms involved in pregnancy maintenance may help us to prevent pregnancy complications, e.g., miscarriages or pre-eclampsia. Immune integration and tolerance at the feto-maternal interface appear to be indispensable for successful pregnancy maintenance. Little is known about the cross talk between ICAM-1, expressed on epithelium, endothelium, and APC, and its ligand, LFA-1, at the feto-maternal interface. However, based on the role of ICAM-1/LFA-1 in allograft acceptance or rejection upon transplantation, adhesion molecules are likely to interfere with successful pregnancy outcome. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that ICAM-1/LFA-1 pathways may be involved in pregnancy rejection in murine models. By blocking ICAM-1/LFA-1-mediated intercellular adhesion events, we show that fetal immune acceptance is restored in challenged pregnancies (e.g., upon exposure to sound stress), and adoptive transfer of LFA-1 cells into pregnant mice induces rejection only in abortion-prone mouse models. ICAM-1/LFA-1 cross talk leads to increased recruitment of proinﬂammatory cells to the implantation site, promotes dendritic cell maturation in the decidua, and subsequently induces additional local Th1 polarization via mature dendritic cells. Furthermore, our observations clearly point out that mechanisms of fetal tolerance, e.g., indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase expression, presence of CD4 (cid:1) CD25 bright regulatory T cells, and synthesis of asymmetric Abs, are ICAM-1/LFA-1 dependent. Hence, our data
Beyond Reversal: A Critical Role for Human Orbitofrontal Cortex in Flexible Learning from Probabilistic Feedback

Damage to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) has been linked to impaired reinforcement processing and maladaptive behavior in changing environments across species. Flexible stimulus–outcome learning, canonically captured by reversal learning tasks, has been shown to rely critically on OFC in rats, monkeys, and humans. However, the precise role of OFC in this learning remains unclear. Furthermore, whether other frontal regions also contribute has not been definitively established, particularly in humans. In the present study, a reversal learning task with probabilistic feedback was administered to 39 patients with focal lesions affecting various sectors of the frontal lobes and to 51 healthy, demographically matched control subjects. Standard groupwise comparisons were supplemented with voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping to identify regions within the frontal lobes critical for task performance. Learning in this dynamic stimulus-reinforcement environment was considered both in terms of overall performance and at the trial-by-trial level. In this challenging, probabilistic context, OFC damage disrupted both initial and reversal learning. Trial-by-trial performance patterns suggest that OFC plays a critical role in interpreting feedback from a particular trial within the broader context of the outcome history across trials rather than in simply suppressing preexisting stimulus–outcome associations. The findings show that OFC, and not other prefrontal regions, plays a necessary role in flexible stimulus–reinforcement learning in humans.
The roles of the cerebellum and basal ganglia in timing and error prediction

Recent evidence that the cerebellum and the basal ganglia are activated during the performance of cognitive and attention tasks challenges the prevailing view of their primary function in motor control. The specific roles of the basal ganglia and the cerebellum in cognition, however, have been difficult to identify. At least three functional hypotheses regarding their roles have been proposed. The first hypothesis suggests that their main function is to switch attentional set. The second hypothesis states that they provide error signals regarding stimuli or rewards. The third hypothesis is that they operate as an internal timing system, providing a precise representation of temporal information. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we tested these three hypotheses using a task‐switching experiment with a 2 × 2 factorial design varying timing (random relative to fixed) and task order (unpredictable relative to predictable). This design allowed us to test whether switching between tasks, timing irregularity and/or task order unpredictability activate the basal ganglia and/or the cerebellum. We show that the cerebellum is primarily activated with timing irregularity while the anterior striatum is activated with task order unpredictability, supporting their distinctive roles in two forms of readjustment. Task order unpredictability alone, independent of reward delivery, is sufficient to induce striatal activation. In addition, activation of the cerebellum and basal ganglia were not specific to switching attention because these regions were both activated during switching between tasks and during the simultaneous maintenance of two tasks without switching between them.
Functional status in severe juvenile idiopathic arthritis in the biologic treatment era: an assessment in a French paediatric rheumatology referral centre.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the functional status of difficult-to-treat JIA patients, including patients receiving biotherapies, and to correlate functional status to disease activity. METHODS All JIA patients consecutively evaluated in a paediatric rheumatology referral centre (November 2008 to March 2009) were enrolled in an observational cross-sectional study. The Childhood HAQ (CHAQ), physician's assessment of overall disease activity, parent's assessment of well-being and pain, and active and limited joint numbers were measured. RESULTS We enrolled 95 patients [27% systemic, 29% polyarticular, 22% enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA) and 23% oligoarticular JIA]. Median disease duration was 3.5 years. Treatment included NSAIDs (56%), MTX (23%), CSs (21%) and biologics (45%). Of all patients, 31 and 56%, respectively, had inactive and minimally active disease. The median CHAQ score was 0.375 (range 0-3). Most patients had no or mild functional disability (61%), impaired well-being (63%) or pain (55%); 10% reported severely impaired function and well-being, 19% severe pain. ERA patients reported worse well-being and pain. CHAQ scores correlated with disease activity. Long-lasting disease and biologic treatment were associated with better well-being and pain scores. CONCLUSION Despite the high proportion of severe JIA patients in this cohort, CHAQ values are within the lower range of recent reports, probably related to new therapeutic approaches. Impaired function and well-being remain a challenge for at least 10% of the patients. Impaired well-being and pain in ERA patients require further study. The strong correlation between functional status and well-being underlines the importance of improving function to optimize quality of life.
Deep surface photometry of edge-on spirals in Abell galaxy clusters - Constraining environmental effects

Context. There is a clear scarcity of structural parameters for stellar thick discs, especially for spiral galaxies located in high-density regions, such as galaxy clusters and compact groups. Aims. We have modelled the thin and thick discs of 4 edge-on spirals located in Abell clusters: NGC 705, ESO 243G49, ESO 187G19, LCSBS 0496P. Deep I band images of NGC 705 were taken from the HST archive, whereas the remaining images were obtained with the Southern Telescope for Astrophysical Research (SOAR) in Gunn r filter. They reached surface brightness levels of μI � 26.0 mag arcsec −2 and μr � 26.5 mag arcsec −2 , respectively. Methods. Profiles were extracted from the deep images, in directions both parallel and perpendicular to the major axis. Profile fits were carried out at several positions, yielding horizontal and vertical scale parameters for both thin and thick disc components. Results. The extracted profiles and fitted disc parameters vary from galaxy to galaxy. Two galaxies have a horizontal profile with a strong down-turn at outer radii, preventing a simple exponential from fitting the entire range. For the 2 early-type spirals, the thick discs have larger scalelengths than the thin discs, whereas no trend is seen for the later types. Both the thin and thick discs sampled tend to have similar scalelengths and scaleheights when compared to typical field disc galaxies. However, the thin disc parameters of the 2 farthest galaxies, both late-type spirals, may be significantly affected by seeing effects. Taken at face value, our results suggest that environment plays a minor role in determining the thin and thick disc sizes.
Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Imaging for Non-Invasive Assessment of Renal Histopathology in Chronic Kidney Disease

Objective To investigate the stiffness values obtained by acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) quantification in assessing renal histological fibrosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods 163 patients with CKD and 32 healthy volunteers were enrolled between June 2013 and April 2014. ARFI quantification, given as shear wave velocity (SWV), was performed to measure renal parenchyma stiffness. Diagnostic performance of ARFI imaging and conventional ultrasound (US) were compared with histologic scores at renal biopsy. Intra- and inter-observer reliability of SWV measurement was analyzed. Results In CKD patients, SWV measurements correlated significantly with pathological parameters (r = −0.422–−0.511, P<0.001), serum creatinine (r = −0.503, P<0.001), and glomerular filtration rate (r = 0.587, P<0.001). The mean SWV in kidneys with severely impaired (histologic score: ≥19 points) was significant lower than that mildly impaired (histologic score: ≤9 points), moderately impaired (histologic score: 10–18 points), and control groups (all P<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves analyses indicated that the area under the ROC curve for the diagnosis of renal histological fibrosis using ARFI imaging was superior to these conventional US parameters. Using the optimal cut-off value of 2.65 m/s for the diagnosis of mildly impaired kidneys, 2.50 m/s for moderately impaired kidneys, and 2.33 m/s for severely impaired kidneys, the corresponding area under the ROC curves were 0.735, 0.744, and 0.895, respectively. Intra- and intre-observer agreement of SWV measurements were 0.709 (95% CI: 0.390–0.859, P<0.001) and 0.627 (95% CI: 0.233–0.818, P = 0.004), respectively. Conclusions ARFI may be an effective tool for evaluating renal histological fibrosis in CKD patients.
Human Response to Escherichia coliO157:H7 Infection: Antibodies to Secreted Virulence Factors

ABSTRACT Vaccination has been proposed for the prevention of disease due to enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), but the immune response following human infection, including the choice of potential antigens, has not been well characterized. To study this, sera were obtained from five pediatric patients with acute diarrhea caused byE. coli O157:H7 0, 8, and 60 days after hospitalization. These sera were used to examine the immune response to four different EHEC virulence factors: Tir (translocated intimin receptor, which is inserted into the host cell membrane), intimin (bacterial outer membrane protein which binds to Tir), EspA (secreted protein which forms filamentous structures on EHEC surface), and EspB (inserted into the host membrane and cytoplasm). The response to O157:H7 lipopolysaccharide was also examined. Sera were assayed against purified recombinant proteins using immunoblot analysis and by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to determine the sera's titers to each of the antigens in all patients. We found that there was little reaction to EspA, EspB, and intimin in the acute-phase sera, although there was some reactivity to Tir. By day 8, titers of antibody to all four virulence factors were present in all patients, with a very strong response against Tir (up to a titer of 1:256,000), especially in hemolytic-uremic syndrome patients, and lesser strong responses to the other three antigens. The titer to the antigens 60 days after hospitalization was decreased but was still highest for Tir. These results suggest that there is a strong immune response to Tir, and to a lesser extent to the other three virulence factors, following EHEC disease, indicating that these bacterial molecules are potential vaccine candidates for preventing EHEC disease. They also suggest that bacterial virulence factors that are inserted into host cells during infection by type III secretion systems (Tir or EspB) are still recognized by the host immune response.
Illiterates and Cognition: The Impact of Education

Illiterates represent a nonneglectable percentage of the world population (about one fifth of the world population; www.uis.unesco.org/en/stats/statistics/literacy2000.htm). Average educational level of contemporary man is about 3–4 years of school. Just a few centuries ago, reading and writing abilities were simply uncommon among the general population. Writing, as a matter of fact, has only existed during the past 5 to 6,000 of years of human history. It may be conjectured that the acquisition of these skills may have somehow changed the brain organization of cognitive activity in general. It has been well established that educational attainment highly correlates with scores on standard tests of intelligence. This correlation ranges from about 0.57 to 0.75 (Matarazzo, 1979); thus, education accounts for nearly 50% of the intelligence test performance. Correlations with verbal intelligence subtests are usually higher (from about 0.66 to 0.75) than correlations with performance intelligence subtests (from about 0.57 to 0.61). Evidently, education represents the most crucial variable in cognitive test scores. Several studies have demonstrated a similarly strong association between educational level and performance on various neuropsychological measures (e.g., Ardila, Ostrosky-Solis, Rosselli, & Gomez, 2000; Ardila, Rosselli, Ostrosky, & Puente, 1992; Ardila, Rosselli, & Puente, 1994;
Infrastructuring: Toward an Integrated Perspective on the Design and Use of Information Technology

In this contribution we investigate how results from the ongoing discussion about ‘eInfrastructures’ can be used to improve the design of IT infrastructures in organizations. We first establish a perspective on organizational IT as ‘work infrastructure’ that focuses on the infrastructural nature of organizational Information Systems and describe challenges for designing within and for this type of infrastructure. Then we elaborate on possible use of concepts from the e-infrastructure discussion, in particular on the concept of ‘infrastructuring’ as it was developed by Star and Ruhleder (1996) and Star and Bowker (2002). Using their ‘salient characteristics of infrastructure’ we describe the methodological approach of ‘Infrastructuring’ to develop methodological and tool support for all stakeholders’ activities that contribute to the successful establishment of an information system usage (equivalent to a work infrastructure improvement). We illustrated our ideas by drawing on a case in which new work infrastructures were introduced into an organizational context and by mapping out existing and possible tool support for ‘infrastructuring’.
Does ownership always matter? Evidence from the Indian banking industry

Existing empirical evidence on the ownership-performance issue is weighted towards the property rights hypothesis that private enterprises are superior to public enterprises. However, very few studies examine a developing country in which the strong link between the market for corporate control and the efficiency of private enterprises assumed by the property rights hypothesis may not be satisfied. Our study of the Indian banking industry confirms our expectation that, in the absence of well-functioning capital markets, there may not be significant differences in the performance of private and public enterprises. Our analysis highlights the importance of creating appropriate institutions prior to pursuing privatization in developing countries.
Efficient 1H-NMR Quantitation and Investigation of N-Acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc) and N,N′-Diacetylchitobiose (GlcNAc)2 from Chitin

A quantitative determination method of N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc) and N,N′-diacetylchitobiose (GlcNAc)2 is proposed using a proton nuclear magnetic resonance experiment. N-acetyl groups of GlcNAc and (GlcNAc)2 are chosen as target signals, and the deconvolution technique is used to determine the concentration of the corresponding compound. Compared to the HPLC method, 1H-NMR spectroscopy is simple and fast. The method can be used for the analysis of chitin hydrolyzed products with real-time analysis, and for quantifying the content of products using internal standards without calibration curves. This method can be used to quickly evaluate chitinase activity. The temperature dependence of 1H-NMR spectra (VT-NMR) is studied to monitor the chemical shift variation of acetyl peak. The acetyl groups of products are involved in intramolecular H-bonding with the OH group on anomeric sites. The rotation of the acetyl group is closely related to the intramolecular hydrogen bonding pattern, as suggested by the theoretical data (molecular modeling).
Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL): Comparison Between Children and Adults

The outcome of adults and children with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) has dramatically changed since the introduction of all trans retinoic acid (ATRA) therapy. Based on the results of several multicenter trials, the current recommendations for the treatment of patients with APL include ATRA and anthracycline-based chemotherapy for the remission induction and consolidation, and ATRA combined with low-dose chemotherapy for maintenance. This has improved the prognosis of APL by increasing the complete remission (CR) rate, actually > 90%, decreasing the induction deaths and by reducing the relapse rate, leading to cure rates nowadays exceeding 80% considering both adults and children.1–9 More recently the combination of ATRA and arsenic trioxide (ATO) as induction and consolidation therapy has been shown to be at least not inferior and possibly superior to ATRA plus chemotherapy in adult patients with APL conventionally defined as non-high risk (Sanz score). 10 Childhood APL has customarily been treated on adult protocols. Data from several trials have shown that the overall outcome in pediatric APL appears similar to that reported for the adult population; however, some clinical and therapeutic aspects differ in the two cohorts which require some important considerations and treatment adjustments.
Can Precessing Jets Explain the Light Curves of Gamma-Ray Bursts?

We present a phenomenological model to explain the light curves of gamma-ray bursts. In the model, a black hole is orbited by a precessing accretion disk that is fed by a neutron star. Gamma rays are produced in a highly collimated beam via the Blandford-Znajek mechanism. The gamma-ray beam sweeps through space because of the precession of the slaved accretion disk. The light curve expected from such a precessing luminosity cone can explain the complex temporal behavior of observed bright gamma-ray bursts.
Prevention of the degeneration of human dopaminergic neurons in an astrocyte co‐culture system allowing endogenous drug metabolism

Few neuropharmacological model systems use human neurons. Moreover, available test systems rarely reflect functional roles of co‐cultured glial cells. There is no human in vitro counterpart of the widely used 1‐methyl‐4‐phenyl‐tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) mouse model of Parkinson's disease
HDO measurements with MIPAS

We have used high spectral resolution spectroscopic measurements from the MIPAS instrument on the Envisat satellite to simultaneously retrieve vertical profiles of H 2 O and HDO in the stratosphere and uppermost troposphere. Variations in the deuterium content of water are expressed in the common δ notation, where δD is the deviation of the Deuterium/Hydrogen ratio in a sample from a standard isotope ratio. A thorough error analysis of the retrievals confirms that reliable δD data can be obtained up to an altitude of ~45 km. Averaging over multiple orbits and thus over longitudes further reduces the random part of the error. The absolute total error of averaged δD is between 36‰ and 111‰. With values lower than 42‰ the total random error is significantly smaller than the natural variability of δD. The data compare well with previous investigations. The MIPAS measurements now provide a unique global data set of high-quality δD data that will provide novel insight into the stratospheric water cycle.
Psychometric Properties of Bully, Fighting, and Victimization Scales Among Clinically Referred Youth

ABSTRACT Bullying involvement is a multidimensional issue and a significant concern for school-aged youth. However, research on bullying involvement within clinical samples is limited. The present study examines the psychometric properties of the University of Illinois Bully, Fighting, and Victimization Scales among children and adolescents presenting for mood symptoms at a behavioral health outpatient clinic. Patients (n = 165) with an age range of 8–18 years were included in this investigation. Item frequencies, internal consistency, and construct validity were examined while confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were conducted. Results showed that the scales were low to moderately correlated with each other. Internal consistencies were acceptable for the Bully (α = .70), Fighting (α = .84), and Victimization (α = .88) Scales. Exploratory factor analysis revealed clean three-factor solutions with items loading on their intended factors and with few cross-loadings. Fit of the confirmatory factor analysis was good when items were treated as ordinal and two items were allowed to cross-load on more than one factor. The University of Illinois Bully, Fighting, and Victimization Scales show utility for use with clinically referred youth.
Coincident and leading indicators for the Euro area

This paper proposes a new way to compute a coincident and a leading indicator of economic activity. Our methodology, based on Forni, Hallin, Lippi and Reichlin (2000), reconciles dynamic principal components analysis with dynamic factor analysis. It allows us to extract indicators from a large panel of economic variables (many variables for many countries). The procedure is used to estimate coincident and leading indicators for the EURO area. Unlike other methods used in the literature, the procedure takes into consideration the cross-country as well as the within-country correlation structure and exploit all information on dynamic cross-correlation. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)