Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chewing Maintains Hippocampus-Dependent Cognitive Function

Mastication (chewing) is important not only for food intake, but also for preserving and promoting the general health. Recent studies have showed that mastication helps to maintain cognitive functions in the hippocampus, a central nervous system region vital for spatial memory and learning. The purpose of this paper is to review the recent progress of the association between mastication and the hippocampus-dependent cognitive function. There are multiple neural circuits connecting the masticatory organs and the hippocampus. Both animal and human studies indicated that cognitive functioning is influenced by mastication. Masticatory dysfunction is associated with the hippocampal morphological impairments and the hippocampus-dependent spatial memory deficits, especially in elderly. Mastication is an effective behavior for maintaining the hippocampus-dependent cognitive performance, which deteriorates with aging. Therefore, chewing may represent a useful approach in preserving and promoting the hippocampus-dependent cognitive function in older people. We also discussed several possible mechanisms involved in the interaction between mastication and the hippocampal neurogenesis and the future directions for this unique fascinating research.
Renal Function and Effectiveness of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitor Therapy in Patients With Chronic Stable Coronary Disease in the Prevention of Events with ACE inhibition (PEACE) Trial

Background— Patients with reduced renal function are at increased risk for adverse cardiovascular outcomes. In the post–myocardial infarction setting, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors have been shown to be as effective in patients with impaired renal function as in those with preserved renal function. Methods and Results— We assessed the relation between renal function and outcomes, the influence of ACE inhibition on this relation, and whether renal function modifies the effectiveness of ACE inhibition in patients with stable coronary artery disease and preserved systolic function enrolled in the Prevention of Events with ACE inhibition trial (PEACE). Patients (n=8290) were randomly assigned to receive trandolapril (target, 4 mg/d) or placebo. Clinical creatinine measures were available for 8280 patients before randomization. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated with the 4-point Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation. Renal function was related to outcomes, and the influence of ACE-inhibitor therapy was assessed with formal interaction modeling. The mean eGFR in PEACE was 77.6±19.4, and 1355 (16.3%) patients had reduced renal function (eGFR <60 mg · mL−1 · 1.73 m−2). We observed a significant interaction between eGFR and treatment group with respect to cardiovascular and all-cause mortality (P=0.02). Trandolapril was associated with a reduction in total mortality in patients with reduced renal function (adjusted HR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.54 to 1.00) but not in patients with preserved renal function (adjusted HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.78 to 1.13). Conclusions— Although trandolapril did not improve survival in the overall PEACE cohort, in which mean eGFR was relatively high, trandolapril reduced mortality in patients with reduced eGFR. These data suggest that reduced renal function may define a subset of patients most likely to benefit from ACE-inhibitor therapy for cardiovascular protection.
Passive immunity of premature infants against measles during early infancy

The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of transferred measles antibodies and seronegativity rates during early infancy in premature newborns whose mothers had infection‐induced immunity. The premature group was composed of 22 and 35 newborns of gestational ages ≤ 32 wk and >32 wk, respectively, and the control group consisted of 28 term newborns. Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used for the qualitative detection of IgG antibodies to measles virus. Mean cord blood relative values were significantly lower in both premature groups, ≤ 32 wk (p < 0.0001) and >32 wk (p < 0.001), when compared with term infants. No seronegative infant was found in the premature group at 2 mo of age. At 4 mo, the seronegativity rate was 27% for premature infants <32 wk and 35% for those >32 wk. At 6 mo, seronegativity increased to 86% and 74% for premature infants born at gestational ages ≤ 32 wk and >32 wk, respectively. Forty‐six percent of the term infants became seronegative at that age. The differences between term infants and those in the two premature groups were statistically significant (p<0.05 and p<0.005). Premature infants, regardless of their prematurity degree, were thought to be more susceptible to measles infection than term ones at the age of 6 mo. Policies for their protection from measles infection are still to be investigated.
Rheumatology patients' use of complementary therapies: results from a one-year longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE To examine the natural history of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use and its impact on outcomes within a cohort of rheumatology patients. METHODS Consecutive patients were recruited from 3 university and 3 private rheumatology practices. Baseline chart reviews provided demographic information and rheumatic diagnoses. Patients answered questions on CAM use and health status during 1 year. We identified correlates of 4 CAM usage patterns (started, maintained, stopped, nonuse) and compared outcomes among these groups. RESULTS Of 232 baseline participants, 203 (87%) and 177 (76%) responded to the 6- and 12-month surveys. In each survey, approximately 34% reported currently using CAM. During the year, 44% of patients remained nonusers whereas 12% started, 22% maintained, and 22% stopped use. The most frequent reasons for stopping CAM were lack of effectiveness and expense. CAM users and nonusers had no difference in outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Arthritis patients' usage behavior varied substantially, but CAM use was not associated with a difference in outcomes.
Inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and type 2 Tat function by transdominant Tat protein localized to both the nucleus and cytoplasm

We introduced various mutations into the activation and RNA binding domains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Tat in order to develop a novel and potent transdominant Tat protein and to characterize its mechanism of action. The different mutant Tat proteins were characterized for their abilities to activate the HIV LTR and inhibit the function of wild-type Tat in trans. A Tat protein containing a deletion of the basic domain (Tat(delta)49-57) localized exclusively to the cytoplasm of transfected human cells was nonfunctional and inhibited both HIV-1 and HIV-2 Tat function in a transdominant manner. Tat proteins containing mutations in the cysteine-rich and core domains were nonfunctional but failed to inhibit Tat function in trans. When Tat nuclear or nucleolar localization signals were fused to the carboxy terminus of Tat(delta)49-57, the chimeric proteins localized to the nucleus or nucleolus, respectively, and remained capable of acting in a transdominant manner. Introduction of secondary mutations in the cysteine-rich and core domains of the various transdominant Tat proteins completely eliminated their abilities to act in a transdominant fashion. Our data best support a mechanism in which these transdominant Tat proteins squelch a cellular factor or factors that interact with the Tat activation domain and are required for Tat to function.
Implementing optimizations at decode time

The number of pipeline stages separating dynamic instruction scheduling from instruction execution has increased considerably in recent out-of-order microprocessor implementations, forcing the scheduler to allocate functional units and other execution resources several cycles before, they are actually used. Unfortunately, several proposed microarchitectural optimizations become less desirable or even impossible in such an environment, since they require instantaneous or near-instantaneous changes in execution behavior and resource usage in response to dynamic events that occur during instruction execution. Since they are detected several cycles after scheduling decisions have already been made, such dynamic responses are infeasible. To overcome this limitation, we propose to implement optimizations by performing what we call speculative decode. Speculative decode alters the mapping between user-visible instructions and the implemented core instructions based on observed runtime characteristics and generates speculative instruction sequences. In these sequences, optimizations are pre-scheduled in a manner compatible with realistic pipelines with multicycle scheduling latency. We present case studies on memory reference combining and silent store squashing, and demonstrate that speculative decode performs comparably or even better than impractical in-core implementations that require zero-cycle scheduling latency.
Soluble HLA-G regulates motility and invasion of the trophoblast-derived cell line SGHPL-4.

BACKGROUND Soluble human leucocyte antigen-G (sHLA-G) is secreted by extravillous trophoblast (EVT) and has roles in regulating immune cells within the decidua. HLA-G expression on EVT increases as they approach uterine spiral arteries and we have suggested that sHLA-G may be important in the remodelling of these vessels. The autocrine role of sHLA-G in regulating trophoblast function at this critical phase has not been studied. We aimed to investigate the effects of sHLA-G on trophoblast motility, invasion and survival. METHODS The human EVT line, SGHPL-4, was stably transfected to over-express sHLA-G (SGHPL-4sG1). Motility and apoptosis were assessed by time-lapse microscopy. Cells were cultured on microcarrier beads embedded in fibrin gels to assess invasion. The effect of sHLA-G expression on motility, invasion and apoptosis in response to stimulation with either hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) or epidermal growth factor (EGF) was determined. RESULTS There was no difference in the motility of either SGHPL-4 cells or SGHPL-4sG1 cells in the absence of stimulation. However, sHLA-G inhibited HGF-induced EVT motility. HGF- and EGF-induced invasions were significantly inhibited in SGHPL-4sG1 compared with SGHPL-4 cells. Increased expression of HLA-G had no significant effect on tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha/actinomycin-induced apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS Growth factor-stimulated trophoblast motility and invasion are regulated by sHLA-G, indicating a novel autocrine role. The inhibition of trophoblast invasion at the spiral artery may be important to allow interactions leading to vascular remodelling.
A 60 GHz CMOS combined mm-wave VCO/divider with 10-GHz tuning range

This paper proposes the use of N-push operation for combining the functions of the VCO and dividers in the mm-wave frequency range. If employed in a PLL, the combined VCO/divider (C-VCO/D) would potentially provide wider tuning range than traditional mm-wave PLLs employing injection locked frequency dividers, thus exploiting the full range available in the 60GHz band (57GHz–64GHz). The C-VCO/D is fabricated in 130nm IBM CMOS technology and achieves a tuning range from 55GHz-65GHz using a VDD=1.5V, Icore=20mA, and Ibuffer=15mA. The C-VCO/D has a phase noise of 97.1 dBc/Hz at 1MHz Offset.
Sparse component analysis and blind source separation of underdetermined mixtures

In this letter, we solve the problem of identifying matrices S /spl isin/ /spl Ropf//sup n/spl times/N/ and A /spl isin/ /spl Ropf//sup m/spl times/n/ knowing only their multiplication X = AS, under some conditions, expressed either in terms of A and sparsity of S (identifiability conditions), or in terms of X (sparse component analysis (SCA) conditions). We present algorithms for such identification and illustrate them by examples.
SPECIFIC ADHERENCE OF IN VITRO DIFFERENTIATED LYMPHOCYTES TO TARGET CELLS

Blast cells which were derived from rat lymphocytes by stimulation with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin A (Con A), or pokeweed mitogen (PWM) transformed within 2–3 days into a new type of lymphocytes when plated without mitogen on embryo fibroblast monolayers. These lymphocytes were termed secondary lyrophocytes. Upon addition of PWM to PWM-secondary lymphocytes a marked adherence to fibroblast monolayers was observed. The degree of adherence was estimated (a) by direct count of the lymphocytes in the medium and in the trypsinized fibroblast fraction, and (b) by using 51Cr-labeled lymphocytes. The adherence process required incubation at 37°C. The process started immediately after the addition of PWM and reached a plateau at 6 hr. At this time more than 80% of the lymphocytes adhered. In the absence of PWM only 12% of the lymphocytes were found in the fibroblast fraction. Unlike PWM-lymphocytes. Con A-lymphocytes, PHA-lymphocytes, and ordinary lymphocytes taken directly from the rat lymph nodes adhered only slightly more in the presence of PWM (10–20% adherence of ordinary lymphocytes) than in its absence (8% adherence). The adherence of the secondary lymphocytes and the ordinary lymphocytes was also studied in the presence of Con A and PHA. These mitogens induced high rate of adherence and they did not demonstrate specificity in their action. The adherence was accompanied by transformation of the lymphocytes to blast cells endowed with target-cell lytic ability. This transformation occurred mostly in the adhering fraction of the lymphocyte population. The results support the notion that target-cell recognition and destruction in cellular immunity involve contact between the cells.
Reliability of magnetic resonance imaging of the traumatic knee as determined by arthroscopy.

BACKGROUND Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become an important modality in the assessment of traumatic soft-tissue injury of the knee. METHODS This prospective study was performed to evaluate the accuracy of MRI used at Wellington Hospital--by comparing the result of the scans of 67 patients with subsequent arthroscopy. RESULTS The imaging studies provided a diagnostic accuracy of 90% for the medial meniscus, 82% for the lateral meniscus, 94% for the anterior cruciate ligament, and 96% for the posterior cruciate. The sensitivity was 87% for the medial meniscus, only 46% for the lateral meniscus, 92 % for the anterior cruciate, and 80% for the posterior cruciate. The specificity was relatively high at 92%, 91%, 94%, and 97%, respectively.
Protection against Chromium (VI)‐induced oxidative stress and apoptosis by Nrf2. recruiting Nrf2 into the nucleus and disrupting the nuclear Nrf2/Keap1 association by toxic metal

Chromium(VI) (Cr) is a major environmental toxic metal and human carcinogen. The molecular events mediating cellular responses to Cr(VI) are not clear at present. We show that Cr(VI) potently induced apoptosis and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in a concentration‐dependent manner. Mouse embryonic fibroblast cells lacking Nrf2 exhibited elevated ROS production and apoptosis, which were markedly further increased by Cr(VI). Protection by Nrf2 correlated with induction of cytoprotective genes Ho‐1 and Nqo1. Induction of the genes by Cr(VI) involved inhibition of ubiquitination of Nrf2 and accumulation of Nrf2 into the nucleus. In the nucleus, treatment with Cr(VI), but not phenolic antioxidant tBHQ, librates Nrf2 from Nrf2/Keap1 association and recruits Nrf2 to the antioxidant response elements (ARE) located in the enhancers of Ho‐1 and Nqo1. Activation of Nrf2 by Cr(VI) was accompanied by the nuclear translocation and deubiquitination of Keap1 implicating recycling of Keap1 in Nrf2 signaling. Thus, protection against Cr(VI) toxicity involves a transcriptional signaling loop that includes activation of Nrf2 signaling by toxic metal, transcription of ARE‐driven genes, and reduction of ROS production.
The association of lipid levels with mortality in patients on chronic peritoneal dialysis.

BACKGROUND The role of traditional risk factors, including plasma lipids, in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular (CV) disease in chronic dialysis patients is unclear. Previous studies have suggested that lower serum total cholesterol (TC) is associated with higher mortality in patients on chronic haemodialysis (HD). Whether this relationship is specific to the HD population or is common to the uraemic state is unclear. The present study evaluated the association of serum TC and triglycerides with clinical outcomes in chronic peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. METHODS Data of 1053 PD patients from the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) prospective Dialysis Morbidity and Mortality Study Wave 2 were examined. Cox regression was used to evaluate the relationship between lipid levels and mortality. RESULTS Patients with TC levels < or =125 mg/dl (3.24 mmol/l) had a statistically significant increased risk of an all-cause mortality, including those taking or not taking lipid-modifying medications, compared with the reference of 176-225 mg/dl (4.54-5.83 mmol/l). In stratified analysis, this association was demonstrated in patients with serum albumin >3.0 g/dl (30 g/l), but not with albumin < or =3.0 g/dl. Compared with patients with triglyceride levels of 201-300 mg/dl (2.27-3.39 mmol/l), a statistically significant reduction of all-cause, but not CV, mortality was observed in patients with triglyceride levels of 101-200 mg/dl (1.14-2.26 mmol/l), as well as in the subgroup with serum albumin levels <3.0 g/dl (30 g/l) and triglycerides of < or =100 mg/dl (1.13 mmol/l) and 101-200 mg/dl (1.14-2.26 mmol/l). CONCLUSIONS While confounding factors and causal pathways have not been clearly identified, aggressive lowering of plasma cholesterol in PD patients is not supported by this study, however, treatment of hypertriglyceridaemia may be warranted with triglyceride levels >200 mg/dl (2.26 mmol/l).
Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography of the Superficial Microvasculature in the Macular and Peripapillary Areas in Glaucomatous and Healthy Eyes.

Purpose To quantitatively evaluate the superficial microvasculature in the macular and peripapillary areas in glaucomatous and healthy eyes using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A). Methods We enrolled 26 eyes of medically managed primary open-angle glaucoma patients and 27 eyes of healthy subjects were enrolled in this prospective study. Measurements of OCT-A vessel density were acquired both in the macular and peripapillary areas. We compared vessel density values, the circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (cpRNFL), the ganglion cell complex (GCC), and standard automated perimetry (SAP) parameters across study groups. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves were used to evaluate diagnostic accuracy. Quadratic regression models were used to determine the correlations between SAP severity and outcome measures. Results The whole image vessel density (wiVD) in glaucomatous eyes was lower than that in healthy eyes in the macular (38.5% ± 2.2% vs. 43.2% ± 2.3%, P < 0.001) and peripapillary areas (43.8% ± 5.7% vs. 53.3% ± 3.0%, P < 0.001). The circumpapillary vessel density (cpVD) was also lower in glaucomatous eyes (53.3% ± 7.0% vs. 61.5% ± 3.2%, P < 0.001). We found the AUROCs for discriminating between glaucomatous and healthy eyes were highest for cpRNFL (0.95) and GCC (0.95); followed by macular wiVD (0.94); peripapillary wiVD (0.93); and cpVD (0.89). The correlations between SAP severity were strongest with peripapillary wiVD (R2 = 0.58); followed by cpVD (R2 = 0.55); GCC (R2 = 0.51); cpRNFL (R2 = 0.42); and macular wiVD (R2 = 0.36). Conclusions Medically managed glaucomatous eyes show sparser superficial microvasculature in the macular area than do healthy eyes. The measurement of the macular superficial vessel density had similar diagnostic accuracy to peripapillary RNFL and macular GCC thickness for differentiating between glaucomatous and healthy eyes.
Compressed Regression

Recent research has studied the role of sparsity in high dimensional regression and signal reconstruction, establishing theoretical limits for recovering sparse models from sparse data. In this paper we study a variant of this problem where the original n input variables are compressed by a random linear transformation to m ≪ n examples in p dimensions, and establish conditions under which a sparse linear model can be successfully recovered from the compressed data. A primary motivation for this compression procedure is to anonymize the data and preserve privacy by revealing little information about the original data. We characterize the number of random projections that are required for l1-regularized compressed regression to identify the nonzero coefficients in the true model with probability approaching one, a property called "sparsistence. " In addition, we show that l1-regularized compressed regression asymptotically predicts as well as an oracle linear model, a property called "persistence. " Finally, we characterize the privacy properties of the compression procedure in information-theoretic terms, establishing upper bounds on the rate of information communicated between the compressed and uncompressed data that decay to zero.
Unachievable Region in Precision-Recall Space and Its Effect on Empirical Evaluation

Precision-recall (PR) curves and the areas under them are widely used to summarize machine learning results, especially for data sets exhibiting class skew. They are often used analogously to ROC curves and the area under ROC curves. It is known that PR curves vary as class skew changes. What was not recognized before this paper is that there is a region of PR space that is completely unachievable, and the size of this region depends only on the skew. This paper precisely characterizes the size of that region and discusses its implications for empirical evaluation methodology in machine learning.
Yield, Quality and Shelf-life Responses of Three Varieties of Soybeans to Three Processing Temperatures Using the Vitagoat System of Soymilk Production

Three improved varieties of soybean, Anidaso, Nangbaar and Quarshie were used in the study to determine the effect of variation and processing temperature on the yield, quality and shelf-life of soymilk produced by the VitaGoat processing system. Two kilograms of each of the varieties were processed into soymilk at three temperatures of 110°C, 115°C and 120°C. The yield of each variety at the various temperature levels was measured by the total volume of the soymilk produced. Three samples of the soymilk from each variety were randomly selected for proximate analysis. Five samples were also randomly selected, kept at room temperature and monitored daily for three weeks to determine their shelf-life based on spoilage by coagulation. Nangbaar variety processed at a temperature of 110°C recorded the significantly highest soymilk yield and the least was recorded by Quarshie variety treated at a temperature of 120°C. Soymilk produced at 110°C Original Research Article Atuahene et al.; AFSJ, 1(2): 1-9, 2018; Article no.AFSJ. 39127 2 was significantly (p<0.01) highest in protein content than at 115°C or 120°C. The combined effect of Anidaso and 110°C was significantly (p<0.01) highest in protein content than that of the other combinations. The soybean varieties did not significantly (p<0.01) influence the shelf-life of soymilk during the study. Soymilk produced at 120°C had significantly (p<0.01) longer in shelf-life than that of 110°C and 115°C. Quarshie at 120°C had significantly (p<0.01) longest in shelf-life than that of the other interactions. It was concluded that Anidaso at 110°C was rated the best among the varieties and processing temperature for producing high protein content soymilk.