Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gene expression profiling identifies MMP-12 and ADAMDEC1 as potential pathogenic mediators of pulmonary sarcoidosis.

RATIONALE Little is known about the genetic regulation of granulomatous inflammation in sarcoidosis. OBJECTIVES To determine if tissue gene array analysis would identify novel genes engaged in inflammation and lung remodeling in patients with sarcoidosis. METHODS Gene expression analysis was performed on tissues obtained from patients with sarcoidosis at the time of diagnosis (untreated) (n = 6) compared with normal lung tissue (n = 6). Expression of select genes was further confirmed in lung tissue from a second series of patients with sarcoidosis and disease-free control subjects (n = 11 per group) by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Interactive gene networks were identified in patients with sarcoidosis using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (Ingenuity Systems, Inc., Redwood, CA) software. The expression of proteins corresponding to selected overexpressed genes was determined using fluorokine multiplex analysis, and immunohistochemistry. Selected genes and proteins were then analyzed in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in an independent series of patients with sarcoidosis (n = 36) and control subjects (n = 12). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS A gene network engaged in Th1-type responses was most significantly overexpressed in the sarcoidosis lung tissues, including genes not previously reported in the context of sarcoidosis (e.g., IL-7). MMP-12 and ADAMDEC1 transcripts were most highly expressed (> 25-fold) in sarcoidosis lung tissues, corresponding with increased protein expression by immunohistochemistry. MMP-12 and ADAMDEC1 gene and protein expression were increased in bronchoalveolar lavage samples from patients with sarcoidosis, correlating with disease severity. CONCLUSIONS Tissue gene expression analyses provide novel insights into the pathogenesis of pulmonary sarcoidosis. MMP-12 and ADAMDEC1 emerge as likely mediators of lung damage and/or remodeling and may serve as markers of disease activity.
A new Pd-oxide-Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/As MOS hydrogen sensor

A new and interesting Pd-oxide-Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/As MOS hydrogen sensor has been fabricated and studied. The steady-state and transient responses with different hydrogen concentrations has been measured at various temperatures. Based on the large Schottky barrier height and presence of oxide layer, the studied device exhibits a high hydrogen detection sensitivity and wide temperature operating regime. The studied device exhibits the low-leakage current and obvious current changes when exposed to hydrogen-contained gas. Even at room temperature, a very high hydrogen detection sensitivity of 155.9 is obtained when a 9090 ppm H/sub 2//air gas is introduced. Furthermore, when exposed to hydrogen-contained gas at 95/spl deg/C, both the forward and reverse currents are substantially increased with increased hydrogen concentration. In other words, the studied device can be used as a hydrogen sensor under the applied bidirectional bias. Under the applied voltage of 0.35 V and 9090 ppm H/sub 2//air hydrogen ambient, a fast adsorption response time about 10 s is found. The transient and steady-state characteristics of hydrogen adsorption are also investigated.
Field transformations and simple models illustrating the impossibility of measuring off-shell effects

In the context of simple models illustrating field transformations in Lagrangian field theories we discuss the impossibility of measuring off-shell effects in nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung, Compton scattering, and related processes. To that end we introduce a simple phenomenological Lagrangian describing nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung and perform an appropriate change of variables leading to different off-shell behavior in the nucleon-nucleon amplitude as well as the photon-nucleon vertex. As a result we obtain a class of equivalent Lagrangians, generating identical S-matrix elements, of which the original Lagrangian is but one representative. We make use of this property in order to show that what appears as an off-shell effect in an S-matrix element for one Lagrangian may originate in a contact term from an equivalent Lagrangian. By explicit calculation we demonstrate for the case of nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung as well as nucleon Compton scattering the equivalence of observables from which we conclude that off-shell effects cannot in any unambiguous way be extracted from an S-matrix element. Finally, we also discuss some implications of introducing off-shell effects on a phenomenological basis, resulting from the requirement that the description of one process be consistent with that of other processes described by the same Lagrangian.
Oral Clindamycin and Ciprofloxacin Therapy for Diabetic Foot Infections

Infected foot ulcers are a common complication in persons with diabetes. In general, treatment consists of intravenous administration of antibiotics, for which the patients are customarily hospitalized. The average length of hospital stay for this therapy in our institution is 15.6 days. We evaluated a regimen of oral clindamycin plus ciprofloxacin, which patients could take at home, with respect to the clinical eradication of the infection and treatment cost savings. Our results demonstrated that with these oral agents, patients' length of hospital stay was greatly reduced, and the pharmacy realized significant cost avoidance.
Mind Wandering in Chinese Daily Lives – An Experience Sampling Study

Mind wandering has recently received extensive research because it reveals an important characteristic of our consciousness: conscious experience can arise internally and involuntarily. As the first attempt to examine mind wandering in a non-western population, the present study used experience-sampling method to collect the daily momentary mind wandering episodes in a Chinese sample. The results showed that mind wandering was also a ubiquitous experience among the Chinese population, and, instead of emerging out of nowhere, it was often elicited by external or internal cues. Furthermore, most of the mind wandering episodes involved prospective thinking and were closely related to one’s personal life. Finally, the frequency of mind wandering was influenced by some contextual factors. These results taken together suggest that mind wandering plays an important role in helping people to maintain a continuous feeling of “self” and to prepare them to cope with the upcoming events.
Ultrasound-Guided Interventional Procedures in Pain Medicine: A Review of Anatomy, Sonoanatomy, and Procedures: Part I: Nonaxial Structures

Application of ultrasound in pain medicine is a rapidly growing medical field in interventional pain management. Ultrasound provides direct visualization of various soft tissues and real-time needle advancement and avoids exposing both the health care provider and the patient to the risks of radiation. The machine itself is more affordable than a fluoroscope, computed tomography scan, or magnetic resonance imaging machine. In the present review, we discuss the challenges and limitations of ultrasound-guided procedures for pain management, anatomy, and sonoanatomy of selected pain management procedures and the literature on those selected procedures.
Variations in different isolates of Rhizoctonia solani based on temperature and pH.

An experiment was conducted to find out variation in isolated Rhizoctonia solani based on radial mycelial growth and sclerotial production. Five isolates of Rhizoctonia solani representing five clusters group were selected and were grown at different levels of temperature and pH on potato dextrose agar (PDA). It was observed that optimum temperature and pH for growth and scierotial production varied among the isolates. The rates of growth and sclerotial formation were not uniform at the same levels of the two growth factors. The maximum mycelial growth of all isolates was found at 30°C. At 35°C, only GAZ-9 and GAZ-18 showed initiation of growth, but the rate was very slow. The optimum temperature for sclerotial production of the isolates GAZ-9, JES- 16, GAZ-18 SYL-26 was 30°C and for the isolate DIN-8 was 25°C. The optimum pH for maximum radial growth was 6 for DIN-8 and 7 for other four isolates. The maximum number of sclerotia was produced by DIN-8, GAZ-9, and SYL-30 at pH 8, 4, and 7, respectively. The optimum pH for sclerotia formation in JES-16 and GAZ-18 was pH 6. Keywords: Rhizoctonia solani; variations; temperature; pH. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3329/bjar.v36i3. 9267 BJAR 2011; 36(3): 389-396
Achieving Flow Level QoS in Cut-Through Networks Through Admission Control and DiffServ

Cluster networks will serve as the future access networks for multimedia streaming, massive multiplayer online gaming, e-commerce, network storage etc. And for those application areas provisioning of Quality of Service (QoS) is becoming and important issue. DiffServ as specified by the IETF is foreseen to be the most prominent concept for providing predictability in the future Internet. To enable seamless interoperation with the higher level IETF concepts the QoS architecture of the lower layers should comply with the DiffServ paradigm as well. Previous work on predictability in cut-through networks has only studied class based QoS. In this paper we set out to achieve flow level QoS using flow aware admission control in combination with a flow negligent DiffServ inspired QoS mechanism. Our results show that flow level bandwidth guarantees are achievable with the use of the Link-by-Link and the Probe based schemes. In addition we are able to achieve an order of magnitude improvement in jitter and latency in individual flows.
High-Throughput Sequencing Reveals H2O2 Stress-Associated MicroRNAs and a Potential Regulatory Network in Brachypodium distachyon Seedlings

Oxidative stress in plants can be triggered by many environmental stress factors, such as drought and salinity. Brachypodium distachyon is a model organism for the study of biofuel plants and crops, such as wheat. Although recent studies have found many oxidative stress response-related proteins, the mechanism of microRNA (miRNA)-mediated oxidative stress response is still unclear. Using next generation high-throughput sequencing technology, the small RNAs were sequenced from the model plant B. distachyon 21 (Bd21) under H2O2 stress and normal growth conditions. In total, 144 known B. distachyon miRNAs and 221 potential new miRNAs were identified. Further analysis of potential new miRNAs suggested that 36 could be clustered into known miRNA families, while the remaining 185 were identified as B. distachyon-specific new miRNAs. Differential analysis of miRNAs from the normal and H2O2 stress libraries identified 31 known and 30 new H2O2 stress responsive miRNAs. The expression patterns of seven representative miRNAs were verified by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis, which produced results consistent with those of the deep sequencing method. Moreover, we also performed RT-qPCR analysis to verify the expression levels of 13 target genes and the cleavage site of 5 target genes by known or novel miRNAs were validated experimentally by 5′ RACE. Additionally, a miRNA-mediated gene regulatory network for H2O2 stress response was constructed. Our study identifies a set of H2O2-responsive miRNAs and their target genes and reveals the mechanism of oxidative stress response and defense at the post-transcriptional regulatory level.
Transplantation of Neuroblastic Progenitor Cells as a Sheet Preserves and Restores Retinal Function

Diseases affecting the outer retina are incurable once photoreceptors are lost, and these diseases usually cause retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) dysfunction. However, the inner retina can remain functional for some time, even though retinal remodeling occurs as compensation for photoreceptor loss. If the damaged part can be replaced with neuroblastic progenitor and RPE cells as sheets with a beneficial effect on function, vision loss may be prevented and vision may be restored. This review presents an overview of the research of transplanting sheets of neural retina, with or without its RPE, to the subretinal space. In different animal models of retinal degeneration, retinal transplants can morphologically reconstruct a damaged retina, and restore visual sensitivity. Good morphological integration of transplants with the host retina can occur, whereas other transplants exhibit a glial barrier. Synaptic connections between transplant and host have been indicated by transsynaptic tracing. Retinal transplants can restore and preserve visual responses in a small area of the superior colliculus corresponding to the placement of the transplant in the retina. The beneficial effect of retinal transplantation likely involves two mechanisms: trophic effects, e.g., rescue of host cones; and synaptic connectivity between transplant and host retina.
Control Charts and Neural Networks for Oestrus Dectection in Dairy Cows

Exponentially weighted moving average control charts and neural networks were used for oestrus detection in dairy cows. The analysis involved 373 cows, each with one verified oestrus event. Model inputs were the traits activity, measured by pedometer, and the period (days) since last oestrus. In total 10,386 records were available, which were partitioned into training and validation subsets to train and test the neural network (multifold cross-validation). When the trained neural network was applied to the validation sets, the averaged sensitivity, specificity and error rate were 77.5, 99.6 and 9.1%, respectively. Performance for the same data with the univariate control chart was less successful. Neural networks are useful tools to improve computerised oestrus detection in dairy cows.
Efficiency of colloidal pitch adsorption onto phyllosilicates: Comparing talc, chlorite and pyrophyllite

Talc is often used to control unwanted deposition of resins and wood processing derivatives in the wet end circuit of a paper mill. These compounds, called pitch, originate from the raw forest material and are brought into a semi-stable colloidal dispersion during the pulping process. In preceding work we found that the efficiency of different talcs in reducing the level of pitch present in a thermo mechanical pulp (TMP) was proportional to the particulate specific surface area. To a lesser, but nonetheless significant, extent, the efficiency also depends on the mineralogical composition. This paper compares talc with its closest structural relatives in the phyllosilicate family, namely its di-octahedral counterpart pyrophyllite and the magnesium-rich chlorite, which is often present in significant quantities in talc ores, studying both the impact of mineralogy and generated specific surface area on the adsorption efficiency of pitch. The minerals chosen are typical commercially available grades. Removal of colloidal pitch by the various minerals from a filtered liquor, obtained by filtration from TMP pulp, the filter pore size being chosen carefully to remove fibrils but not the colloidal pitch, was evaluated by centrifugation of a mix of the mineral and the liquor. According to the results given by chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity, gravimetry, thermo-gravimetric analysis and microscopic analysis, no significant difference between talc and chlorite was observed. Pyrophyllite performs similarly to the other tested phyllosilicates but the measurements were affected by pyrophyllite fines, which in combination with wood resin material could not be removed by the applied centrifuge conditions. These fines may become further stabilised in suspension in the presence of dissolved and colloidal substances (DCS).
Reaction-diffusion model for interface traps induced by BTS stress including H+, H and H2 as diffusion species

Negative and positive bias temperature instability (NBTI and PBTI) are described in the same model using the Reaction-Diffusion (RD) by taking into account all protagonist diffusion hydrogenate species; hydrogen atom (H), proton (H+) and hydrogen molecular (H2). This model is based on the probability that the passivated dangling bonds at the interface of silicon-oxide release the hydrogen H or proton H+. This probability is expressed as a function of experimental parameters.
Exercise standards for testing and training: a statement for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association.

The purpose of this report is to provide revised standards and guidelines for the exercise testing and training of individuals who are free from clinical manifestations of cardiovascular disease and those with known cardiovascular disease. These guidelines are intended for physicians, nurses, exercise physiologists, specialists, technologists, and other healthcare professionals involved in exercise testing and training of these populations. This report is in accord with the “Statement on Exercise” published by the American Heart Association (AHA). 1 These guidelines are a revision of the 1995 standards of the AHA that addressed the issues of exercise testing and training.2 An update of background, scientific rationale, and selected references is provided, and current issues of practical importance in the clinical use of these standards are considered. These guidelines are in accord with the American College of Cardiology (ACC)/AHA Guidelines for Exercise Testing.3 ### The Cardiovascular Response to Exercise Exercise, a common physiological stress, can elicit cardiovascular abnormalities that are not present at rest, and it can be used to determine the adequacy of cardiac function. Because exercise is only one of many stresses to which humans can be exposed, it is more appropriate to call an exercise test exactly that and not a “stress test. ” This is particularly relevant considering the increased use of nonexercise stress tests. ### Types of Exercise Three types of muscular contraction or exercise can be applied as a stress to the cardiovascular system: isometric (static), isotonic (dynamic or locomotory), and resistance (a combination of isometric and isotonic). 4,5 Isotonic exercise, which is defined as a muscular contraction resulting in movement, primarily provides a volume load to the left ventricle, and the response is proportional to the size of the working muscle mass and the intensity of exercise. Isometric exercise is defined as a muscular contraction without movement (eg, handgrip) and imposes greater pressure than volume …
Do Bacterial “Virulence Factors” Always Increase Virulence? A Meta-Analysis of Pyoverdine Production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa As a Test Case

Bacterial traits that contribute to disease are termed “virulence factors” and there is much interest in therapeutic approaches that disrupt such traits. What remains less clear is whether a virulence factor identified as such in a particular context is also important in infections involving different host and pathogen types. Here, we address this question using a meta-analytic approach. We statistically analyzed the infection outcomes of 81 experiments associated with one well-studied virulence factor—pyoverdine, an iron-scavenging compound secreted by the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We found that this factor is consistently involved with virulence across different infection contexts. However, the magnitude of the effect of pyoverdine on virulence varied considerably. Moreover, its effect on virulence was relatively minor in many cases, suggesting that pyoverdine is not indispensable in infections. Our works supports theoretical models from ecology predicting that disease severity is multifactorial and context dependent, a fact that might complicate our efforts to identify the most important virulence factors. More generally, our study highlights how comparative approaches can be used to quantify the magnitude and general importance of virulence factors, key knowledge informing future anti-virulence treatment strategies.
The stages of event extraction

Event detection and recognition is a complex task consisting of multiple sub-tasks of varying difficulty. In this paper, we present a simple, modular approach to event extraction that allows us to experiment with a variety of machine learning methods for these sub-tasks, as well as to evaluate the impact on performance these sub-tasks have on the overall task.
Risk Score for Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Admission in Children Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Analysis of Predictive Factors for Survival

The authors retrospectively analyzed postransplantation events in 198 children who underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) between 1998 and 2002 to obtain a risk score for pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission and to ascertain variables predicting a poor outcome. Thirty-six patients (18%) were admitted to the PICU. Median age was 9 years (range 1-18). On univariate analysis, variables significantly associated with PICU admission were male gender (P = 0.01), more than first complete remission (P = 0.003), allogeneic transplantation (P = 0.001), engraftment syndrome (P = 0.03), and acute graft-versus-host disease grade of at least two (P = 0.05). According to this, patients were divided in two levels of risk (low and high), with a respective probability of PICU admission of 8.8 ± 2.2% and 63.8 ± 8.8% (P < 0.0001). Seventeen (47%) patients were discharged from the PICU. The probability of event-free survival after PICU admission at 3 years was 24.2 ± 7%. On univariate analysis, variables with a negative impact on event-free survival were type of transplantation, inotropic support, a C-reactive protein level of at least 10 mg/dL, and a high O-PRISM score. On multivariate analysis, the only variable that influenced event-free survival was the O-PRISM score (≤10 points, 54.6 ± 15.3%; >10 points, 8.6 ± 5.8%; P = 0.007). In conclusion, the risk of PICU admission may be easily estimated using simple variables. A high O-PRISM score at the time of PICU admission predicts a dismal outcome.
Le questionnaire de dissociation DIS-Q: résultats préliminaires dans une population suisse francophone

Vanderlinden et ses collegues (1993) proposent une premiere echelle clinique europeenne d'evaluation des troubles dissociatifs que nous avons soumise a une population suisse francophone constituee d'un echantillon pathologique (n = 154) et de sujets controles (n = 65). Nos resultats indiquent que la DIS-Q distingue bien les patients (axes I et II du DSM IV) des sujets controles. La comparaison statistique montre des differences significatives entre trois sous-groupes pathologiques (axe I seul, n = 60; axe Il seul, n = 24; axes I et Il ensemble, n = 70) et le groupe controle (n = 65), le score total au questionnaire etant le plus eleve pour la population presentant des troubles a la fois sur l'axe I et Il. Les sujets ayant obtenu les scores les plus eleves representent pres de 12 % de l'echantillon psychiatrique etudie. Nos resultats ne semblent pas etre influences par un facteur culturel.
All supersymmetric solutions of N = 2, D = 4 gauged supergravity

We classify all supersymmetric solutions of minimal gauged supergravity in four dimensions. There are two classes of solutions that are distinguished by the norm of the Killing vector constructed from the Killing spinor. If the Killing vector is timelike, the solutions are determined by the geometry of a two-dimensional base-manifold. When it is lightlike, the most general BPS solution is given by an electrovac AdS travelling wave. This supersymmetric configuration was previously unknown. Generically the solutions preserve one quarter of the supersymmetry. Also in the timelike case we show that there exist new BPS solutions, which are of Petrov type I, and are thus more general than the previously known type D configurations. These geometries can be uplifted to obtain new solutions of eleven-dimensional supergravity.