Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Overweight in young adult students: the vulnerability of a distorted self-perception of body image.

Objective: To analyze overweight in young adult students from the individual dimension of vulnerability, especially its interpersonal and subjective markers. Method: An analytical quantitative study was performed with 560 young adults from 26 schools in a capital city in Northeastern Brazil. After obtaining data to administer specifi c questionnaires, logistic regression was used to identify markers of individual vulnerability. Results: In the bivariate analysis, overweight showed a statistically signifi cant association with self-perception of health, satisfaction with body image and self-perception of overweight, the latter remaining in the fi nal regression model. Conclusion: It can be mainly concluded that self-perception of overweight is distorted when compared to one’s actual body weight and, for this reason, young adults are vulnerable to dysfunctional health states. However, it was confi rmed that this health condition must be understood in an individual and contextual perspective.
Fetal programming and epigenetic mechanisms in arterial hypertension

Purpose of review To provide an overview of available evidence of the potential role of epigenetics in the pathogenesis of hypertension and vascular dysfunction. Recent findings Arterial hypertension is a highly heritable condition. Surprisingly, however, genetic variants only explain a tiny fraction of the phenotypic variation and the term ‘missing heritability’ has been coined to describe this phenomenon. Recent evidence suggests that phenotypic alteration that is unrelated to changes in DNA sequence (thereby escaping detection by classic genetic methodology) offers a potential explanation. Here, we present some basic information on epigenetics and review recent work consistent with the hypothesis of epigenetically induced arterial hypertension. Summary New technologies that enable the rigorous assessment of epigenetic changes and their phenotypic consequences may provide the basis for explaining the missing heritability of arterial hypertension and offer new possibilities for treatment and/or prevention.
Relaxed selection is a precursor to the evolution of phenotypic plasticity

Phenotypic plasticity allows organisms to produce alternative phenotypes under different conditions and represents one of the most important ways by which organisms adaptively respond to the environment. However, the relationship between phenotypic plasticity and molecular evolution remains poorly understood. We addressed this issue by investigating the evolution of genes associated with phenotypically plastic castes, sexes, and developmental stages of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta. We first determined if genes associated with phenotypic plasticity in S. invicta evolved at a rapid rate, as predicted under theoretical models. We found that genes differentially expressed between S. invicta castes, sexes, and developmental stages all exhibited elevated rates of evolution compared with ubiquitously expressed genes. We next investigated the evolutionary history of genes associated with the production of castes. Surprisingly, we found that orthologs of caste-biased genes in S. invicta and the social bee Apis mellifera evolved rapidly in lineages without castes. Thus, in contrast to some theoretical predictions, our results suggest that rapid rates of molecular evolution may not arise primarily as a consequence of phenotypic plasticity. Instead, genes evolving under relaxed purifying selection may more readily adopt new forms of biased expression during the evolution of alternate phenotypes. These results suggest that relaxed selective constraint on protein-coding genes is an important and underappreciated element in the evolutionary origin of phenotypic plasticity.
In Vivo Isolation and Characterization of Stem Cells with Diverse Phenotypes Using Growth Factor Impregnated Biomatrices

Background The stimulation to differentiate into specific cell types for somatic stem cells is largely due to a series of internal and external signals coming from the microenvironment that surrounds the stem cell. Even though intensive research has been made, the basic mechanisms of plasticity and/or the molecules regulating stem cells proliferation and differentiation are not completely determined. Potential answers concerning the problems could be derived from the studies of stem cells in culture. Methodology/Principle Findings We combine a new procedure (using the matrigel biopolymer supplemented with a selected cytokine/growth factor) with classic techniques such as light, confocal and electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry and cell culture, to perform an analysis on stem cells involved in the leech (Hirudo medicinalis) repair tissues. The leech has a relative anatomical simplicity and is a reliable model for studying a variety of basic events, such as tissue repair, which has a striking similarity with vertebrate responses. Our data demonstrate that the injection of an appropriate combination of the matrigel biopolymer supplemented with a selected cytokine/growth factor in the leech Hirudo medicinalis is a remarkably effective tool for isolating a specific cell population in vivo. A comparative analysis of biopolymer in vivo sorted stem cells indicates that VEGF recruited cells of a hematopoietic/endothelial phenotype whereas MCP-1/CCL2 isolated cells that were of an early myeloid lineage. Conclusion Our paper describes, for the first time, a method allowing not only the isolation of a specific cell population in relation to the cytokine utilized but also the possibility to culture a precise cell type whose isolation is otherwise quite difficult. This approach could be broadly applied to isolate stem cells of diverse origins based on the recruitment stimuli employed.
An algebraic approach to network coding

We consider the problem of information flow in networks. In particular, we relate the question whether a set of desired connections can be accommodated in a network to the problem of finding a point on a variety defined over a suitable field. This approach lends itself to the derivation of a number of theorems concerning the feasibility of a communication scenario involving failures.
Evaluation of a Treponema pallidum western immunoblot assay as a confirmatory test for syphilis

Tests for the detection of antibodies to Treponema pallidum are recommended for the confirmation of reactive nontreponemal test results and the accurate diagnosis of syphilis. The present-day use of Western blot (immunoblot) technology for the diagnosis of retroviruses prompted the development and evaluation of a Western blot assay with whole-cell T. pallidum as the antigen. The assay detected antibodies in syphilitic serum or plasma from dilutions of specimens incubated overnight with test strips. A test was considered positive when at least three of four major antigens having molecular masses of 15.5, 17, 44.5, and 47 kDa were detected. The Western blot assay had 93.8% sensitivity and 100% specificity for clinically defined samples. The Western blot assay was compared with double-staining fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption [FTA-ABS (DS)], which had a sensitivity and a specificity of 91.7 and 92.0%, respectively. Dilution series studies of syphilis-positive specimens indicated that the Western blot assay has an endpoint of reactivity at least 3 to 4 serial dilutions greater than that for FTA-ABS (DS). Overall, the greater than 95% agreement between the Western blot assay and FTA-ABS (DS) for clinically defined specimens indicates that the sensitivity of the Western blot assay is equal to or greater than that of FTA-ABS (DS). The Western blot assay demonstrated no false-positive or equivocal reactivities for nonsyphilitic specimens, including normal specimens (both plasma and serum), biological false-positives, and specimens with elevated gamma globulin or antinuclear antibody. We conclude that the high sensitivity and specificity of the T. pallidum Western blot assay, together with its simplicity and objectivity, make it a good confirmatory test for syphilis.
Promoter Binding, Initiation, and Elongation By Bacteriophage T7 RNA Polymerase

A single-molecule transcription assay has been developed that allows, for the first time, the direct observation of promoter binding, initiation, and elongation by a single RNA polymerase (RNAP) molecule in real-time. To promote DNA binding and transcription initiation, a DNA molecule tethered between two optically trapped beads was held near a third immobile surface bead sparsely coated with RNAP. By driving the optical trap holding the upstream bead with a triangular oscillation while measuring the position of both trapped beads, we observed the onset of promoter binding, promoter escape (productive initiation), and processive elongation by individual RNAP molecules. After DNA template release, transcription re-initiation on the same DNA template is possible; thus, multiple enzymatic turnovers by an individual RNAP molecule can be observed. Using bacteriophage T7 RNAP, a commonly used RNAP paradigm, we observed the association and dissociation (koff= 2.9 s–1) of T7 RNAP and promoter DNA, the transition to the elongation mode (kfor = 0.36 s–1), and the processive synthesis (kpol = 43 nt s–1) and release of a gene-length RNA transcript (∼1200 nt). The transition from initiation to elongation is much longer than the mean lifetime of the binary T7 RNAP-promoter DNA complex (koff > kfor), identifying a rate-limiting step between promoter DNA binding and promoter escape.
ACALCULIA: AN fMRI STUDY WITH IMPLICATIONS WITH RESPECT TO BRAIN PLASTICITY

We report the case of a 44-year-old right-handed man with severe acalculia and 4 normal age-matched controls. The acalculia patient had magnetic resonance findings of a wedge shaped defect in the left posterior temporal-parietal cortex, involving the angular gyrus, and a lacunar infarct of the right thalamus. Functional magnetic resonance exams were performed utilizing four tasks consisting of serial subtracting by sevens, basic calculation, complex calculation, and abstract calculation. Both patient and controls showed specific task-related activation with some differences that may indicate brain plasticity, even though no significant recovery in calculations abilities was observed in the patient
Cytokines Induce Faster Membrane Diffusion of MHC Class I and the Ly49A Receptor in a Subpopulation of Natural Killer Cells

Cytokines have the potential to drastically augment immune cell activity. Apart from altering the expression of a multitude of proteins, cytokines also affect immune cell dynamics. However, how cytokines affect the molecular dynamics within the cell membrane of immune cells has not been addressed previously. Molecular movement is a vital component of all biological processes, and the rate of motion is, thus, an inherent determining factor for the pace of such processes. Natural killer (NK) cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes, which belong to the innate immune system. By fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, we investigated the influence of cytokine stimulation on the membrane density and molecular dynamics of the inhibitory receptor Ly49A and its ligand, the major histocompatibility complex class I allele H-2Dd, in freshly isolated murine NK cells. H-2Dd was densely expressed and diffused slowly in resting NK cells. Ly49A was expressed at a lower density and diffused faster. The diffusion rate in resting cells was not altered by disrupting the actin cytoskeleton. A short-term stimulation with interleukin-2 or interferon-α + β did not change the surface density of moving H-2Dd or Ly49A, despite a slight upregulation at the cellular level of H-2Dd by interferon-α + β, and of Ly49A by IL-2. However, the molecular diffusion rates of both H-2Dd and Ly49A increased significantly. A multivariate analysis revealed that the increased diffusion was especially marked in a subpopulation of NK cells, where the diffusion rate was increased around fourfold compared to resting NK cells. After IL-2 stimulation, this subpopulation of NK cells also displayed lower density of Ly49A and higher brightness per entity, indicating that Ly49A may homo-cluster to a larger extent in these cells. A faster diffusion of inhibitory receptors could enable a faster accumulation of these molecules at the immune synapse with a target cell, eventually leading to a more efficient NK cell response. It has previously been assumed that cytokines regulate immune cells primarily via alterations of protein expression levels or posttranslational modifications. These findings suggest that cytokines may also modulate immune cell efficiency by increasing the molecular dynamics early on in the response.
Mammogram registration: a phantom-based evaluation of compressed Breast Thickness variation effects

The temporal comparison of mammograms is complex; a wide variety of factors can cause changes in image appearance. Mammogram registration is proposed as a method to reduce the effects of these changes and potentially to emphasize genuine alterations in breast tissue. Evaluation of such registration techniques is difficult since ground truth regarding breast deformations is not available in clinical mammograms. In this paper, we propose a systematic approach to evaluate sensitivity of registration methods to various types of changes in mammograms using synthetic breast images with known deformations. As a first step, images of the same simulated breasts with various amounts of simulated physical compression have been used to evaluate a previously described nonrigid mammogram registration technique. Registration performance is measured by calculating the average displacement error over a set of evaluation points identified in mammogram pairs. Applying appropriate thickness compensation and using a preferred order of the registered images, we obtained an average displacement error of 1.6 mm for mammograms with compression differences of 1-3 cm. The proposed methodology is applicable to analysis of other sources of mammogram differences and can be extended to the registration of multimodality breast data.
Effect of Diet on the Development of Drug Metabolism by Cytochrome P-450 Enzymes in Healthy Infants

Orally administered caffeine and dextromethorphan (DM) were used as pharmacologic probes to determine the effect of infant diet on acquisition of cytochrome P-450 (CYP) enzyme activity during the first 6 mo of life. The caffeine elimination rate constant (ke) was determined from serum, and concentrations of caffeine, DM, and their respective metabolites were measured in urine by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Caffeine ke was low at 2 wk and displayed a significant positive linear correlation with age (p < 0.001); increasing faster in formula-fed than in breast-fed infants (p < 0.001). This occurred concomitantly with a significant increase in urinary 1,7-dimethylxanthine (17X) and 1-methylxanthine (1X) (p < 0.001), suggesting faster acquisition of CYP1A2 activity in formula-fed infants. The urinary molar ratio of (17X + 1X)/caffeine and age strongly predicted caffeine ke (r2 = 0.65; p < 0.001) irrespective of feeding type. CYP3A4 activity, assessed as the molar ratio of 3-hydroxymorphinan/dextrorphan showed a similar marked increase with postnatal age (p < 0.001) that was also greater in formula-fed than in breast-fed infants. Formula feeding appears to accelerate maturation of caffeine and DM metabolism by increasing the activity of CYP1A2 and CYP3A4, respectively. Dietary modification of CYP activity may modulate drug biotransformation and thus alter systemic exposure to xenobiotics from a very early age.
The Earth is spherical ( p < 0 : 05): alternative methods of statistical inference

A literature review was conducted to understand the limitations of well-known statistical analysis techniques, particularly analysis of variance. The review is structured around six major points: (1) averaging across participants can be mis-leading; (2) strong predictions are preferable to weak predictions; (3) constructs and measures should be distinguished conceptually and empirically; (4) statistical signi® cance and practical signi® cance should be distinguished conceptually and empirically; (5) the null hypothesis is virtually never true; and (6) one experiment is always inconclusive. Based on these insights, a number of lesser-known and less-frequently used statistical analysis techniques were identi® ed to address the limitations of more traditional techniques. In addition, a number of methodological conclusions about the conduct of human factors research are presented.
Everyday Miracles: Results of a Representative Survey in Germany

This essay introduces the central results – for the first time in the English language – of a representative survey which was carried out at the Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohgiene in Freiburg in the year 2000. Over 1500 persons of the Federal Republic of Germany were questioned in a telephone interview about their attitude towards paranormal phenomena and about personal experiences in this field. The results are surprising: Germans are quite open-minded about paranormal phenomena, and more than half of the people even give an account of personal exceptional experiences. Interestingly, it is primarily young people who believe in the existence of psi phenomena and who are increasingly having personal experiences in this field. Presented are qualitative results, as well as descriptive statistics. In a second telephone interview more than 200 persons were questioned once again, this time in detail, about their personal experiences. It was found that dealing with the paranormal is not seen as problematic at all.
Relationships Between Fine Particulate Air Pollution, Cardiometabolic Disorders, and Cardiovascular Mortality

Rationale: Growing evidence suggests that long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution contributes to risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. There is uncertainty about who are most susceptible. Individuals with underlying cardiometabolic disorders, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity, may be at greater risk. PM2.5 pollution may also contribute to cardiometabolic disorders, augmenting CVD risk. Objective: This analysis evaluates relationships between long-term PM2.5 exposure and cardiometabolic disease on risk of death from CVD and cardiometabolic conditions. Methods and Results: Data on 669 046 participants from the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study II cohort were linked to modeled PM2.5 concentrations at geocoded home addresses. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate adjusted hazards ratios for death from CVD and cardiometabolic diseases based on death-certificate information. Effect modification by pre-existing cardiometabolic risk factors on the PM2.5–CVD mortality association was examined. PM2.5 exposure was associated with CVD mortality, with the hazards ratios (95% confidence interval) per 10 &mgr;g/m3 increase in PM2.5 equal to 1.12 (1.10–1.15). Deaths linked to hypertension and diabetes mellitus (mentioned on death certificate as either primary or contributing cause of death) were also associated with PM2.5. There was no consistent evidence of effect modification by cardiometabolic disease risk factors on the PM2.5–CVD mortality association. Conclusions: Pollution-induced CVD mortality risk is observed for those with and without existing cardiometabolic disorders. Long-term exposure may also contribute to the development or exacerbation of cardiometabolic disorders, increasing risk of CVD, and cardiometabolic disease mortality.
The clinical diagnosis of chronic acalculous cholecystitis.

BACKGROUND Chronic acalculous cholecystitis (CAC), a diagnosis of exclusion, appears to be more common than was previously thought. We correlated the pathology with test results and response to treatment in a prospective study to obtain data for evidence-based management. METHODS The study subjects were patients with chronic biliary symptoms but had normal sonogram results. They were further investigated with esophagogastroduodenoscopy, multidiscipline evaluations, and cholecystokinin-stimulated scintigraphy (CCK-HIDA). They were offered laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) when the symptoms were intransigent, and the main abnormality was a low ejection fraction (EF) as determined by CCK-HIDA. We analyzed the histologic findings of the gallbladder, CCK-HIDA EF, and clinical outcomes during the control period with a concurrent series of LC for calculus from the same surgeons. RESULTS Of 176 cholecystectomies for biliary pain without stones, 152 had pathologically verified CAC. EF by CCK-HIDA was low in patients with CAC (18%) and low in normal gallbladders (26%). In the same period, 497 patients had cholecystectomies for cholelithiasis. Lasting symptom relief for CAC after LC was not different from that for calculous disease (85% vs 90%). CONCLUSIONS The syndrome consisting of chronic biliary symptoms, stone-free sonograms, low EF in CCK-HIDA, and absence of other pain sources is highly predictive for CAC, which is well treated with LC, with results similar to those for calculous disease.
Research Statement

The goal of my research is to improve the security and reliability of software systems through the use of programming language technology. To that end, I am interested both in developing languages with more expressive type and proof systems and in enhancing and formally certifying the trustworthiness of languages and their implementations. Large software systems consist of hundreds or thousands of components, and many of these may be of uncertain origin. To ensure reliable and secure operation, it is important to defend against faulty or malicious code. Statically-typed programming languages provide facilities for information hiding—type abstraction mechanisms like existential types (the basis of abstract data types or ADTs) and parametric polymorphism— that make large-scale software development feasible by allowing programmers to write modular and secure code. If access to some private implementation detail might enable an attack, then this detail is made inaccessible by hiding it behind an abstract interface (for instance, using an existential type). The theoretical justification for this comes from relational parametricity, a strong semantic property that guarantees representation independence—i.e., that the behavior of a client (or attacker) of an ADT cannot depend on the representation and implementation details hidden behind the abstract type. Unfortunately, type abstraction does not always guarantee information hiding in practice. One issue is that in languages with references (mutable memory cells), it is possible to establish covert channels through which attackers can discover information about the “hidden” representation of an abstract type. This is possible because current type systems do not provide effective mechanisms for keeping references used internally by an ADT (called local state) separate from references that the rest of the program has access to. Thus, a pointer to a “hidden” reference can escape, leaking information about internal representation details. A related but orthogonal problem is that we lack methods for reasoning about parametricity and representation independence in the presence of both type abstraction and references. My research has addressed both of these problems with the goal of enhancing security and modularity in the presence of mutable references. Another issue is that the use of type abstraction to guarantee information hiding merely ensures that private details are hidden from source-level attackers. Once the code is compiled, it may nonetheless be vulnerable to target-level attackers. To preclude such vulnerability, we need security-preserving compilers that ensure that any private details hidden from source-level attackers are also hidden from target-level attackers. Below I describe my research on this and other topics as well as directions for future work.