Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circulating leptin and the perioperative neuroendocrinological stress response after pediatric cardiac surgery

Objective Leptin may be involved in the acute stress response, regulating inflammatory parameters of major importance after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) surgery. Critically ill patients demonstrated significant increases in leptin levels in response to stress-related cytokines (tumor necrosis factor, interleukin [IL]-1) and abolishment of the circadian rhythm of leptin secretion. We characterized the pattern of leptin secretion in the acute postoperative period in children undergoing cardiac surgery and compared the changes in leptin levels with concomitantly occurring changes in cortisol levels, IL-8, and clinical parameters. Design Investigative study. Setting University-affiliated tertiary care hospital. Participants and Interventions Twenty-nine consecutive patients, aged 6 days to 15 yrs, operated upon for the correction of congenital heart defects were studied. Surgery in 20 patients (group 1) involved conventional CPB techniques, and 9 (group 2) underwent closed-heart surgery. The time courses of leptin, cortisol, and IL-8 levels were determined. Serial blood samples were collected preoperatively, on termination of CPB, and at six time points postoperatively. Plasma was recovered immediately, aliquoted, and frozen at −70°C until use. Measurements and Main Results The leptin levels in group 1 decreased during CPB to 51% of baseline (p < .001), then gradually increased, reaching 120% of baseline levels at 12–18 hrs postoperatively (p < .001), returning to baseline levels at 24 hrs (p < .01). In patients undergoing closed-heart surgery (group 2), leptin levels displayed a pattern resembling the first group: they decreased during surgery to 71% of baseline levels (p = .002) and showed a tendency to return to baseline thereafter. All group 1 patients’ cortisol levels increased significantly during the first hour of surgery, then decreased, returning to baseline levels at 18–24 hrs postoperatively. There was a significant negative correlation between leptin and cortisol levels (r = −2.8, p < .01). In group 2, cortisol levels increased during and after surgery, peaking 4 hrs postoperatively and decreasing thereafter. IL-8 levels determined in 15 group 1 patients increased significantly during CPB, peaked at the end of surgery, and then decreased but remained slightly elevated even at 48 hrs postoperatively. There was a significant correlation between cortisol and IL-8 levels (r = 2.55, p < .05). Children with leukocytosis, tachycardia, and hypotension had lower leptin levels and less variation over time as opposed to those with an uncomplicated course. Conclusions CPB is associated with acute changes in circulating leptin levels. These changes parallel those in cortisol, demonstrating an inverse relationship between leptin and cortisol. Further studies of the prognostic and therapeutic roles of leptin after CPB should be investigated.
Noble gases as cardioprotectants – translatability and mechanism

Several noble gases, although classified as inert substances, exert a tissue‐protective effect in different experimental models when applied before organ ischaemia as an early or late preconditioning stimulus, after ischaemia as a post‐conditioning stimulus or when given in combination before, during and/or after ischaemia. A wide range of organs can be protected by these inert substances, in particular cardiac and neuronal tissue. In this review we summarize the data on noble gas‐induced cardioprotection, focusing on the underlying protective mechanisms. We will also look at translatability of experimental data to the clinical situation.
Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and the role of platelets in infection

Summary In addition to playing a central role in normal haemostasis, platelets make important contributions to host inflammatory and immune responses to injury or infection. Under pathophysiological conditions where platelet function is not tightly controlled, platelets also play critical roles in pathogenic processes underlying cardiovascular disease, uncontrolled inflammation, coagulopathy and in tumour metastasis. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are webs of histone-modified nuclear material extruded from activated neutrophils during inflammatory responses and these degranulation events can be directly triggered by platelet/neutrophil engagement. Emerging research describes how NETs influence platelet function, particularly in the setting of infection and inflammation. Especially intriguing is the potential for platelet-driven coagulation to be modulated by NETs in plasma and interstitial spaces. These findings also reveal new perspectives related to improved therapy for venous thrombosis.
Regionalization of hydrological model parameters using data depth

The parameters of hydrological models with no or short discharge records can only be estimated using regional information. We can assume that catchments with similar characteristics show a similar hydrological behaviour. A regionalization of hydrological model parameters on the basis of catchment characteristics is therefore plausible. However, due to the non-uniqueness of the rainfall/runoff model parameters (equifinality), a procedure of a regional parameter estimation by model calibration and a subsequent fit of a regional function is not appropriate. In this paper, a different procedure based on the depth function and convex combinations of model parameters is introduced. Catchment characteristics to be used for regionalization can be identified by the same procedure. Regionalization is then performed using different approaches: multiple linear regression using the deepest parameter sets and convex combinations. The assessment of the quality of the regionalized models is also discussed. An example of 28 British catchments illustrates the methodology.
Chemoattractant mechanism of Th1 cells in class III and IV lupus nephritis

Proliferative lupus nephritis (PLN) is the common, severe, and important form of lupus nephritis. Recent report showed that T cells producing Interferon (IFN)γ (Th1 cells) increased in patients with World Health Organization class IV. However, the relation between the increase of Th1 cells and the pathogenesis has been made unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the chemoattractant mechanism of Th1-producing cells and whether in vitro IFNγ secretion from Th1-producing cells in PLN. The Th1:Th2 ratio in peripheral blood was measured by flow cytometry. The serum levels of IL-2, IFNγ, IL-13, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and IP-10 were determined by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In in vitro IFNγ production assay, CD4+T cells co-cultured with IL-12 and/or IL-18. Th1:Th2 ratio in PLN was high and not correlated with the serum Th1 cytokine level. This Th1-producing cell tended to go toward the inflammatory lesion by low CD62L expression and chemokines. The level of MCP-1 and IP-10 in patients with PLN significantly increased. Lastly, in vitro IFNγ production assay, patients with PLN CD4+T cells produced IFNγ by the addition of IL-12 and IL-18, while CD4+T cells in normal controls did not produce. These findings suggest that combination of Th1 inducers and chemokine inhibition might be powerful threrapeutic approach in PLN.
Instrumental Variable Analysis with a Nonlinear Exposure–Outcome Relationship

Background: Instrumental variable methods can estimate the causal effect of an exposure on an outcome using observational data. Many instrumental variable methods assume that the exposure–outcome relation is linear, but in practice this assumption is often in doubt, or perhaps the shape of the relation is a target for investigation. We investigate this issue in the context of Mendelian randomization, the use of genetic variants as instrumental variables. Methods: Using simulations, we demonstrate the performance of a simple linear instrumental variable method when the true shape of the exposure–outcome relation is not linear. We also present a novel method for estimating the effect of the exposure on the outcome within strata of the exposure distribution. This enables the estimation of localized average causal effects within quantile groups of the exposure or as a continuous function of the exposure using a sliding window approach. Results: Our simulations suggest that linear instrumental variable estimates approximate a population-averaged causal effect. This is the average difference in the outcome if the exposure for every individual in the population is increased by a fixed amount. Estimates of localized average causal effects reveal the shape of the exposure–outcome relation for a variety of models. These methods are used to investigate the relations between body mass index and a range of cardiovascular risk factors. Conclusions: Nonlinear exposure–outcome relations should not be a barrier to instrumental variable analyses. When the exposure–outcome relation is not linear, either a population-averaged causal effect or the shape of the exposure–outcome relation can be estimated.
The association between dietary saturated fatty acids and ischemic heart disease depends on the type and source of fatty acid in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Netherlands cohort.

BACKGROUND The association between saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake and ischemic heart disease (IHD) risk is debated. OBJECTIVE We sought to investigate whether dietary SFAs were associated with IHD risk and whether associations depended on 1) the substituting macronutrient, 2) the carbon chain length of SFAs, and 3) the SFA food source. DESIGN Baseline (1993-1997) SFA intake was measured with a food-frequency questionnaire among 35,597 participants from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Netherlands cohort. IHD risks were estimated with multivariable Cox regression for the substitution of SFAs with other macronutrients and for higher intakes of total SFAs, individual SFAs, and SFAs from different food sources. RESULTS During 12 y of follow-up, 1807 IHD events occurred. Total SFA intake was associated with a lower IHD risk (HR per 5% of energy: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.74, 0.93). Substituting SFAs with animal protein, cis monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), or carbohydrates was significantly associated with higher IHD risks (HR per 5% of energy: 1.27-1.37). Slightly lower IHD risks were observed for higher intakes of the sum of butyric (4:0) through capric (10:0) acid (HRSD: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.89, 0.99), myristic acid (14:0) (HRSD: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.83, 0.97), the sum of pentadecylic (15:0) and margaric (17:0) acid (HRSD: 0.91: 95% CI: 0.83, 0.99), and for SFAs from dairy sources, including butter (HRSD: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.90, 0.99), cheese (HRSD: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.86, 0.97), and milk and milk products (HRSD: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.86, 0.97). CONCLUSIONS In this Dutch population, higher SFA intake was not associated with higher IHD risks. The lower IHD risk observed did not depend on the substituting macronutrient but appeared to be driven mainly by the sums of butyric through capric acid, the sum of pentadecylic and margaric acid, myristic acid, and SFAs from dairy sources. Residual confounding by cholesterol-lowering therapy and trans fat or limited variation in SFA and PUFA intake may explain our findings. Analyses need to be repeated in populations with larger differences in SFA intake and different SFA food sources.
Shifting attention: ERP correlates of action orientation in processing behaviorally irrelevant information.

The present study examines the role of interindividual personality differences in the modulation of the inhibition of return effect (IOR) by means of event-related potentials (ERPs). The IOR mechanism protects humans from reattending to already scanned visual locations and is suggested to be modulated by interindividual differences in action control. Action-oriented individuals are more skilled at the efficient use of action control strategies compared with state-oriented subjects. They confine their attention to behaviorally relevant information, and inhibit the processing of irrelevant information more efficiently than state-oriented individuals. The results of this study revealed that, as expected, IOR developed faster in action-oriented subjects. In the cue-evoked ERPs, this behavioral effect was reflected in a shorter latency of the N2. Thus, behavioral and electrophysiological data indicated more efficient inhibitory mechanisms in actioncompared with state-oriented individuals. Group differences were especially pronounced in target processing and early sensory cue processing (N1, P1). These results support the theory of action control: Action-oriented individuals are more efficient in activating prefrontal top-down control and better at inhibiting behaviorally irrelevant information compared to state-oriented individuals, which can also be shown at the physiological level.
Five years audit for presence of toxic agents/drug of abuse at autopsy.

OBJECTIVE To know the frequency of fatal poisoning in Peshawar regarding the toxic agents mostly involved and yearwise percentage. To know the age group and the gender that is most vulnerable to fatal poisoning. DESIGN Non-interventional (descriptive) type. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY This study was conducted over a period of five years (1997-2001) at Forensic Medicine Department, Khyber Medical College, Peshawar. METHODOLOGY The study included 3508 autopsies conducted at Khyber Medical College, Peshawar. Out of these, 52 cases were those caused by fatal poisoning. These were analyzed according to age, gender and the toxic agent involved. t-test was applied as the test of significance. RESULTS Poisoning was the cause of death in 1.48% of the total autopsies conducted during the five years. Males were more involved than the females, 90.38 %. Suicidal poisoning was present in 17.30% of the total cases and accidental poisoning was found in 80.72% cases, while homicidal cases were 1.29% only. Diacetylmorphine (heroin) was the most commonly involved agent, 65.38 %, of the total cases. The incidence of poisoning was more during the third and fourth decades of life. CONCLUSION Diacetylmorphine (heroin) was the main causative agent involved in young males due to accidental over- dosage. Accidental and suicidal deaths should not be considered as inevitable. More elaborative studies are required in this area of recent research to adopt appropriate and adequate measures to save precious lives.
The Link between Default and Recovery Rates: Implications for Credit Risk Models and Procyclicality

This paper analyzes the impact of various assumptions about the association between aggregate default probabilities and the loss given default on bank loans and corporate bonds, and seeks to empirically explain this critical relationship. Moreover, it simulates the effects on mandatory capital requirements like those proposed in 2001 by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. We present the analysis and results in four distinct sections. The first section examines the literature of the last three decades of the various structural-form, closed-form and other credit risk and portfolio credit value-at-risk (VaR) models and the way they explicitly or implicitly treat the recovery rate variable. Section 2 presents simulation results under three different recovery rate scenarios and examines the impact of these scenarios on the resulting risk measures: our results show a significant increase in both expected and unexpected losses when recovery rates are stochastic and negatively correlated with default probabilities. In Section 3, we empirically examine the recovery rates on corporate bond defaults, over the period 1982-2000. We attempt to explain recovery rates by specifying a rather straightforward statistical least squares regression model. The central thesis is that aggregate recovery rates are basically a function of supply and demand for the securities. Our econometric univariate and multivariate time series models explain a significant portion of the variance in bond recovery rates aggregated across all seniority and collateral levels. Finally, in Section 4 we analyze how the link between default probability and recovery risk would affect the procyclicality effects of the New Basel Capital Accord, due to be released in 2002. We see that, if banks use their own estimates of LGD (as in the "advanced" IRB approach), an increase in the sensitivity of banks' LGD due to the variation in PD over economic cycles is likely to follow. Our results have important implications for just about all portfolio credit risk models, for markets which depend on recovery rates as a key variable (e.g., securitizations, credit derivatives, etc.), for the current debate on the revised BIS guidelines for capital requirements on bank credit assets, and for investors in corporate bonds of all credit qualities.
Tissue factor expression in breast cancer tissues: its correlation with prognosis and plasma concentration

Tissue factor (TF), an initiator of the extrinsic coagulation cascade, is expressed in a wide range of cancer cells and plays important roles in cancer progression and metastasis. Recently, the intracellular function of TF has been revealed to be involved in cancer invasion, independent of the blood coagulation pathway. To evaluate the clinical significance of TF expression, we performed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the plasma of 67 breast cancer patients and immunohistochemistry in 213 breast cancer tissues. In the ELISA study, we showed an up-regulation of plasma TF concentration in breast cancer patients compared with normal controls. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that TF was expressed in tumour cells and stromal cells and tumour TF expression closely correlated with stromal TF expression (P = 0.0005). The concentration of plasma TF was associated with tissue TF expression in both tumour and stroma. The multivariate analysis demonstrated that tumour TF expression was an independent prognostic indicator for overall survival (P = 0.0452). Our data show that plasma TF concentration reflects tissue TF expression and tumour TF expression can provide some predictive value for prognosis and distant metastasis, which indicates the importance of TF function in tumour progression. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaign
Reducible polynomials in more than one variable

Polynomials in more than one variable arise frequently in multidimensional signal processing applications. Unlike polynomials in a single variable, multidimensional polynomials cannot, in general, be factored. In this note, it is shown that the set of factorable multi-dimensional polynomials is extremely small in the sense that almost all polynomials in two or more variables are irreducible.
Trace Elements in Coal and Coal Combustion Residues

Introduction: Coal Ashes--Industrial Wastes or Beneficial By-Products? (R.F. Keefer). An Overview of Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Related to Effective Management of Coal Combustion Residues (I.P. Murarka, S.V. Mattigod, and R.F. Keefer). Environmental Effects from Power Plants: Coal-Based Environmental Problems in a Low-Rainfall Tropical Region (M. Agrawal, J. Singh, A.K. Jha, and J.S. Singh). Trace Element Concentrations in the Soft Tissue of Transplanted Freshwater Mussels Near a Coal-Fired Power Plant (C.S. Klusek, M. Heit, and S. Hodgkiss). Tests for and Monitoring of Fossil Fuel Dispersion and Ash Disposal: Strontium and Lead Isotopes as Monitors of Fossil Fuel Dispersion (R.W. Hurst, T.E. Davis, A.A. Elseewi, and A.L. Page). Baker Soil Test Applications for Land Reclamation, Animal Health, and Food Chain Protection (D.E. Baker, F.G. Pannebaker, J.P. Senft, and J.P. Coetzee). Transport and Leachability of Metals from Coal and Ash Piles: Multicomponent Transport Through Soil Subjected to Coal Pile Runoff Under Steady Saturated Flow (M.A. Anderson, P.M. Bertsch, and L.W. Zelazny). Leachability of Ni, Cd, Cr, and As from Coal Ash Impoundments of Different Ages on the Savannah River Site (S.S. Sandhu, G.L. Mills, and K.S. Sajwan). Use of Coal Ash for Plant Growth: Extractable and Plant Concentrations of Metals in Amended Coal Ash (A.P. Schwab). Uptake of Chemical Elements by Terrestrial Plants Growing on a Coal Fly Ash Landfill (L.H. Weinstein, M.A. Arthur, R.E. Schneider, P.B. Woodbury, J.A. Laurence, A.O. Beers, and G. Rubin). Accumulation of Mo in Wheat and Alfalfa Grown on Fly Ash-Amended Acid Mine Spoils (R.F. Keefer, D.K. Bhumbla, and R.N. Singh). Elements in Coal and Coal Ash Residues and Their Potential for Agricultural Crops (M.P. Menon, K.S. Sajwan, G.S. Ghuman, J. James, and K. Chandra).
MiR‐146a protects small intestine against ischemia/reperfusion injury by down‐regulating TLR4/TRAF6/NF‐κB pathway

Previous studies reported that miR‐146a was involved in small intestine ischemia‐reperfusion (I/R) injury, but the mechanism is largely vague. Here, we aimed to identify the change of miR‐146a in patients with mesenteric ischemia and explore the potential regulatory mechanism of miR‐146a in intestine epithelial cells survival under ischemia and I/R injury. The plasma of 20 patients with mesenteric ischemia and 25 controls was collected to examine the miR‐146a expression by qPCR. Rat intestinal epithelial cells (IEC‐6) and 24 male Sprague–Dawley rats were included to build ischemia and I/R model in vitro and in vivo. The qPCR results showed that miR‐146a decreased both in the plasma of patients with mesenteric ischemia and in IEC‐6 cells and rat small intestine tissues in ischemia and I/R model compared to controls. Both the in vitro and in vivo results showed that I/R resulted in more severe apoptotic injury than ischemia. Cleaved‐caspase 3, TLR4, TRAF6, and nuclear NF‐κB p65 were up‐regulated accompanying reduced XIAP and SOCS3 expression in intestinal ischemia and I/R injury. After up‐regulation of miR‐146a in IEC‐6 cells, increased cell survival and decreased cell apoptosis were observed, concomitant with decreased cleaved‐caspase 3 and down‐regulated TLR4/TRAF6/NF‐κB pathway. What is more, this protective effect was blocked by TRAF6 overexpression and increased nuclear NF‐κB p65 nuclear. Taken together, this study revealed that miR‐146a expression was decreased in small intestine ischemia and I/R injury. And miR‐146a improves intestine epithelial cells survival under ischemia and I/R injury through inhibition TLR4, TRAF6, and p‐IκBα, subsequently leading to decreased NF‐κB p65 nuclear translocation.
Travel time expenditures and travel time budgets: preliminary findings

There has been discussion now for four decades on the issue of whether or not people around the world have a constant travel-time budget. Most of the research into travel-time budgets has used large aggregate data sets and has shown that average amounts of time spent travelling are on the order of 1 to 1.5 hours. There have also been a number of studies that have failed to find evidence of constancy in travel-time budgets. In this paper, the authors report on some preliminary research that uses data from a panel of 50 households that provided GPS data for a period of up to 28 days. In the research to date, the analysis deals only with evidence from one wave of the panel, to determine whether there is evidence over a period of one week of stability in travel-time expenditures. The data set provides very precise times of travel for each person for up to28 consecutive days of travel. The analysis looks at travel time expenditure on a daily basis per person and then aggregates this to a week. The issue of regression to the mean is also considered and reviewed and conclusions are drawn that it is not an issue in this analysis. Evidence is found of some stability in travel time expenditures, especially when data are averaged over a two-week period.