Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suppression of matrix metalloproteinase production from nasal fibroblasts by macrolide antibiotics in vitro

It is well known that low-dose and long-term administration of macrolide antibiotics favourably modify the clinical status of chronic airway inflammatory diseases. However, the therapeutic mode of action of macrolide antibiotics is not well understood. The present study aimed to examine the influence of macrolide antibiotics, roxithromycin (RXM) and josamycin (JM) on matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) production from nasal polyp fibroblasts (NPF) in vitro. NPF, at a concentration of 2.5×105 cells·mL−1, were stimulated with tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α in the presence of various concentrations of RXM or JM for 24 h. MMP‐2 and ‐9 levels in culture supernatants were analysed by ELISA, and MMP mRNA expression was examined by RT-PCR. The influence of RXM on nuclear factor (NF)-κB and activator protein (AP)‐1 activation was also examined. Addition of RXM (but not JM) at 5.0 and 7.5 µg·mL−1 significantly suppressed the production of MMP‐2 and ‐9 from NPF induced by TNF-α stimulation. RXM also suppressed MMP mRNA expression through the inhibition of NF-κB and AP-1 activation. The present results suggest that the suppressive activity of roxithromycin on MMP‐2 and ‐9 production is, in part, responsible for the therapeutic action of macrolides on chronic airway inflammatory diseases.
Sperm DNA fragmentation, recurrent implantation failure and recurrent miscarriage

Evidence is increasing that the integrity of sperm DNA may also be related to implantation failure and recurrent miscarriage (RM). To investigate this, the sperm DNA fragmentation in partners of 35 women with recurrent implantation failure (RIF) following in vitro fertilization, 16 women diagnosed with RM and seven recent fathers (control) were examined. Sperm were examined pre- and post-density centrifugation by the sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) test and the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. There were no significant differences in the age of either partner or sperm concentration, motility or morphology between three groups. Moreover, there were no obvious differences in sperm DNA fragmentation measured by either test. However, whilst on average sperm DNA fragmentation in all groups was statistically lower in prepared sperm when measured by the SCD test, this was not seen with the results from the TUNEL assay. These results do not support the hypothesis that sperm DNA fragmentation is an important cause of RIF or RM, or that sperm DNA integrity testing has value in such patients. It also highlights significant differences between test methodologies and sperm preparation methods in interpreting the data from sperm DNA fragmentation tests.
Understanding how people use search engines: a statistical analysis for e-Business

In this paper we describe the analysis realised of the users' behaviour of a Spanish portal named BIWE (http://www.biwe.es). This portal offers to his users a high variety of services, although our study was mainly focused in the search services: a Web directory and a search engine. During a period of two weeks (from 3 May 2000 to 18 May 2000) we logged all the accesses realised by the users to the search services. Next, we realised a statistical study focused mainly in four points: the categories visited by the users in the Web directory, the queries asked to the search engine and the Web pages visited afterwards, and finally a special analysis of the users' sessions. Through this study we will be able to answer questions like these: how far will a user browse the categories of the directory? , how many words does a common query include? , how complicated are these queries? , how many searches will a user perform during a session? All these questions (and their answers) will help us to build a profile of a common Web user and to have a better knowledge of how Web users behave, which is fundamental for e-Business.
An Investigation into the Educational Philosophy and Spirituality of Iranian EFL Teachers

Although philosophy and spirituality are related to various branches of disciplines, they have not been subject to focused attention in foreign language teaching. In this paper, schools of educational philosophy, and spirituality in education were connected together to present the stance, viewpoint, and practice of these two constructs in English as foreign language (EFL) Iranian educators. Results indicated that the dominant philosophy of education of Iranian EFL teachers was progressive education. Furthermore, combination of progressive and humanistic philosophies and humanistic philosophy were to some extent established a balance with progressivism. None of the participants practice spirituality in classrooms. By illuminating the spiritual language of humanistic and progressive philosophies, we may conclude that the nature and spiritual discourse of each philosophy as well as their practical implications should be articulated in teacher education programs to fulfill the everlasting growth of an individual as an utmost purpose of education.
Stability of spatial queueing systems

In this paper, we analyze a queueing system characterized by a space-time arrival process of customers served by a countable set of servers. Customers arrive at points in space and the server stations have space-dependent processing rates. The workload is seen as a Radon measure and the server stations can adapt their power allocation to the current workload. We derive the stability region of the queueing system in the usual stationary ergodic framework. The analysis of this stability region gives some counter-intuitive results. Some specific subclasses of policy are also studied. Wireless communications networks is a natural field of application for the model.
Renal denervation, adjusted drugs, or combined therapy for resistant hypertension

AbstractThe objective of this study is to systematically evaluate the efficacy of renal denervation (RD), adjusted drugs, or combined therapy for resistant hypertension (RH) through a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled studies.Publications were comprehensively searched. Studies that investigated the effects of RD and/or adjusted drugs in lowering blood pressure (BP) were included. After quality assessment and data extraction, subgroup analyzes were first performed according to blinding method. Meta-regression and inverted funnel plots were also conducted.A total of 13 studies containing 1604 RH patients were included. Compared with control, the meta-analysis showed that RD significantly reduced office-based BP and ambulatory BP in 6 months in the unblinded studies, while no significant difference was found in the blinded studies. Meta-regression demonstrated the significant influence of blinding method on BP reduction, and further analysis revealed a significant BP reduction compared with baseline even in the control arm of blinded studies. RD had similar effects compared with adjusted drugs, and combined therapy seemed to further reduce the level of BP.The efficacy of RD was different between blinded and unblinded studies, and our data revealed a significant BP-lowering effect in the control arm of blinded studies, which was helpful to explain this finding. Furthermore, RD seemed to be equivalent to adjusted drugs, and also we suggested a potential advantage of combined therapy of RD and adjusted drugs compared with monotherapy for RH. However, more studies are warranted to better address the issue.
Microevolution of Anthrax from a Young Ancestor (M.A.Y.A.) Suggests a Soil-Borne Life Cycle of Bacillus anthracis

During an anthrax outbreak at the Pollino National Park (Basilicata, Italy) in 2004, diseased cattle were buried and from these anthrax-foci Bacillus anthracis endospores still diffuse to the surface resulting in local accumulations. Recent data suggest that B. anthracis multiplies in soil outside the animal-host body. This notion is supported by the frequent isolation of B. anthracis from soil lacking one or both virulence plasmids. Such strains represent an evolutionary dead end, as they are likely no longer able to successfully infect new hosts. This loss of virulence plasmids is explained most simply by postulating a soil-borne life cycle of the pathogen. To test this hypothesis we investigated possible microevolution at two natural anthrax foci from the 2004 outbreak. If valid, then genotypes of strains isolated from near the surface at these foci should be on a different evolutionary trajectory from those below residing in deeper-laying horizons close to the carcass. Thus, the genetic diversity of B. anthracis isolates was compared conducting Progressive Hierarchical Resolving Assays using Nucleic Acids (PHRANA) and next generation Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS). PHRANA was not discriminatory enough to resolve the fine genetic relationships between the isolates. Conversely, WGS of nine isolates from near-surface and nine from near-carcass revealed five isolate specific SNPs, four of which were found only in different near-surface isolates. In support of our hypothesis, one surface-isolate lacked plasmid pXO1 and also harbored one of the unique SNPs. Taken together, our results suggest a limited soil-borne life cycle of B. anthracis.
Up-regulated expression of phospholipase C, β1 is associated with tumor cell proliferation and poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

Background Phospholipase C, β1 (PLCB1) plays critical roles in intracellular transduction and regulating signal activation which are important to tumorigenesis. However, the mechanism of PLCB1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still unknown. This study aims to investigate whether its expression is associated with the clinicopathological parameters and prognosis of the patients with HCC. Methods Immunohistochemistry on two tissue microarrays containing 141 cases of HCC tissues and adjacent non-tumorous tissues were performed to analyze the correlation between PLCB1 expression and clinicopathological features. Kaplan–Meier analysis and Cox multivariate analysis were performed to determine the PLCB1 expression in HCC prognosis. Furthermore, effects of PLCB1 on proliferation of HCC cells were explored using a colony formation assay and apoptosis assay. Results We identified that PLCB1 expression was significantly higher in tumor tissues than that in adjacent non-tumorous tissues and associated with advanced tumor stage. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed that patients with PLCB1-positive tumors had poorer survival than the patients with PLCB1-negative tumors. In multivariate analyses, PLCB1 expression was an independent prognostic factor. Moreover, overexpression of PLCB1 in HCC cells promoted cell proliferation and inhibited apoptosis, while knocking down PLCB1 reduced cell viability in vitro. Further investigation found that activation of ERK signaling might involve in PLCB1-mediated cell growth. Conclusion Our study suggests that PLCB1 promotes the progression of HCC and can be served as an independent prognostic factor and a promising therapeutic target in HCC.
Association of the CTLA4 Gene with Graves' Disease in the Chinese Han Population

To determine whether genetic heterogeneity exists in patients with Graves' disease (GD), the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated 4 (CTLA-4) gene, which is implicated a susceptibility gene for GD by considerable genetic and immunological evidence, was used for association analysis in a Chinese Han cohort recruited from various geographic regions. Our association study for the SNPs in the CTLA4 gene in 2640 GD patients and 2204 control subjects confirmed that CTLA4 is the susceptibility gene for GD in the Chinese Han population. Moreover, the logistic regression analysis in the combined Chinese Han cohort revealed that SNP rs231779 (allele frequencies p = 2.81×10−9, OR = 1.35, and genotype distributions p = 2.75×10−9, OR = 1.42) is likely the susceptibility variant for GD. Interestingly, the logistic regression analysis revealed that SNP rs35219727 may be the susceptibility variant to GD in the Shandong population; however, SNP, rs231779 in the CTLA4 gene probably independently confers GD susceptibility in the Xuzhou and southern China populations. These data suggest that the susceptibility variants of the CTLA4 gene varied between the different geographic populations with GD.
Modeling Mortality: Empirical Studies on the Effect of Mortality on Annuity Markets.

Chapter 3 of the dissertation models the macro-longevity risk and introduces a stochastic model for human mortality rates. Chapter 4 analyzes the importance of mortality improvement and mortality risk (macro- and micro-longevity risk and parameter uncertainty) on solvency positions of pension funds of various sizes. Chapter 5 measures the present value of a single year participation in a collective pension scheme consisting of heterogeneous participants with respect to survival characteristics, and quantifies the incentives for individuals that participate in such systems.
Inhibitory role of Gas 6 in intestinal tumorigenesis

Growth arrest-specific gene (Gas) 6 is a γ-carboxyglutamic acid domain-containing protein, which shares 43% amino acid identity with protein S. Gas6 has been shown to enhance cancer cell proliferation in vitro. On the other hand, recent studies have demonstrated that Gas6 inhibits toll-like receptor-mediated immune reactions. Immune reactions are known to affect intestinal tumorigenesis. In this study, we investigated how Gas6 contributes to tumorigenesis in the intestine. Administration of recombinant Gas6 weakly, but significantly, enhanced proliferation of intestinal cancer cells (SW480 and HT29), whereas it suppressed the inflammatory responses of Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated monocytes (THP-1). Compared with Gas6+/+ mice, Gas6–/– mice exhibited enhanced azoxymethane/dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)induced tumorigenesis and had a shorter survival. Gas6–/– mice also exhibited more severe DSS-induced colitis. DSS-treated Gas6– /– mice showed attenuated Socs1/3 messenger RNA expression and enhanced nuclear factor-kappaB activation in the colonic stroma, suggesting that the target of Gas6 is stromal cells. Bone marrow transplantation experiments indicated that both epithelial cells and bone marrow-derived cells are Gas6 sources. Furthermore, the number of intestinal tumors in ApcMin Gas6–/– mice was higher than that in ApcMin Gas6+/+ mice, resulting in shorter survival. In a group of 62 patients with advanced colorectal cancer, Gas6 immunoreactivity in cancer tissues was positively correlated with prognosis. Thus, we revealed a unique in vivo inhibitory role of Gas6 during the progression of intestinal tumors associated with suppression of stromal immune reactions. These results suggest a novel therapeutic approach for colorectal cancer patients by regulation of stromal immune responses.
Safety and Feasibility of using the EksoTM Bionic Exoskeleton to Aid Ambulation after Spinal Cord Injury

Objective: Evaluate feasibility and safety of EksoTM to aid ambulation in individuals with SCI. Design: Prospective pilot study. Setting: SCI Rehabilitation Center Outpatient Gym. Participants: Eight individuals, at least 18 years of age, with complete T1 SCI or below, within 2 years of injury, completed initial inpatient rehabilitation. All participants signed informed consent, had been cleared from requiring spinal orthoses, met inclusion criteria, and were pre-screened based on device requirements and medical stability. Intervention: Six weekly sessions with graduated time and less assistance in the EksoTM device. Outcome Measures: Skin evaluation, blood pressure, pain level, spasticity, time and level of assistance needed to transfer into and donn device; time ambulating; time up in device; assistive devices used during ambulation; step length; distance walked; level of assistance during use; and level of assistance needed to doff and transfer out of device. Results: No major skin effects, minimal pain reports, no known fractures, swelling, or other adverse events. Level of assistance ranged from dependent to moderate independent, average set up time was 18.13 minutes, loss of balance and falls were infrequent. Conclusions: Bionic exoskeletons such as EksoTM are safe for those with complete thoracic SCI in a controlled environment, in the presence of experts, and may eventually enhance mobility in those without volitional lower extremity function. There appears to be a training effect in the device but further trials are needed. Future studies of bionic exoskeletons as gait training devices are warranted. Future studies of bionic exoskeletons as a clinical tool to alleviate secondary complications should be considered.
Proactive Parent Engagement in Public Schools: Using a Brief Strengths and Needs Assessment in a Multiple-Gating Risk Management Strategy

This study examined the viability of a brief, parent-reported strengths and needs assessment as the first step in a multiple-gating approach to proactive positive behavior support for families. The Positive Family Support–Strengths and Needs Assessment (PFS-SaNA) was designed to collaboratively engage parents early in the school year in a home–school coordinated Positive Family Support (PFS) system. In this study, we evaluated the reliability and validity of the PFS-SaNA in the context of public middle schools. Findings suggest that the 14-item, unidimensional PFS-SaNA shows convergent validity with teacher ratings of risk. It can be easily and cost-effectively used by school personnel when parents register their children for school at the beginning of each school year.
Enhancing speculative code parallelization in VMAD with new patterns

Los procesadores con múltiples núcleos de hoy en d́ıa requieren nuevas estrategias para sacar ventaja del hardware subyacente. Dos aspectos que afectan drásticamente el desempeño son el grado de paralelismo y la locaĺıa de datos. Una forma de mejorar estos aspectos es a través del uso de compiladores que puedan, automáticamente, paralelizar el código con muy poca intervención del programador. Dado que los ciclos juegan un rol central en el tiempo de ejecución total de las aplicaciones, los compiladores prestan particular atención a ellos. Esta tesis se enfoca en el problema de paralelizar automáticamente ciclos. Un modelo matemático llamado modelo del poliedro cubre la teoŕıa detrás del análisis y transformación de ciclos. Sin embargo, este modelo, originalmente, esta limitado a ciclos que pueden ser precisamente analizados en tiempo de ejecución, no puede tratar con ciclos con accesos a memoria a través de punteros o indirecciones. VMAD es un framework que permite instrumentación en tiempo de ejecución y paralelización dinámica. Adaptando el modelo del poliedro a una técnica llamada paralelización especulativa, este framework puede tratar con ciclos que no pueden ser paralelizados utilizando las técnicas tradicionales. Esta tesis continua el trabajo hecho en VMAD de la siguiente forma: 1. Extendiendo la cantidad de transformaciones soportadas por VMAD dando soporte para tiling, una transformación que mejora la locaĺıa de datos. 2. Proponemos una paralelización de ciclos optimizada, para ciclos que pueden ser paralelizados sin aplicar ningún tipo de transformación. 3. Presentamos una optimización para reducir la penalización impuesta por utilizar paralelización especulativa. Evaluamos emṕıricamente la efectividad de las extensiones usando una serie de benchmarks bien conocidos.
Use of Plasma Metabolomics to Identify Diagnostic Biomarkers for Early Stage Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

The early detection of ovarian carcinoma is difficult due to the absence of recognizable physical symptoms and a lack of sensitive screening methods. The currently available biomarkers (such as CA125 and HE4) are insufficiently reliable to distinguish early stage (I/II) epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients from normal individuals because they possess a relatively poor sensitivity and specificity. To evaluate the application of metabolomics to biomarker discovery in the early stages of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), plasma samples from 21 early stage EOC patients and 31 healthy controls were analyzed with ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-Tof/MS) in conjunction with multivariate statistical analysis. Eighteen metabolites, including lysophospholipids, 2-piperidone and MG (18:2), were found to be disturbed in early stage EOC with satisfactory diagnostic accuracy (AUC=0.920). These biomarkers were specifically validated in the EOC nude mouse model, and five of the biomarkers (lysophospholipids, adrenoyl ethanolamide et al.) were highly suspected of being associated with EOC because they were differentially expressed with the same tendency in the EOC nude mice versus normal controls. In conclusion, the selected metabolic biomarkers have considerable utility and significant potential for diagnosing early ovarian cancer and investigating its underlying mechanisms.
Assessment of Drug-Drug Interactions among Renal Failure Patients of Nephrology Ward in a South Indian Tertiary Care Hospital

Polypharmacy is common in drug prescriptions of chronic kidney disease patients. A study of the prescription patterns of drugs with potential interactions would be of interest to prevent drug related adverse events. A prospective observational study of six months (Dec 2009-May 2010) was carried out among the chronic kidney disease patients admitted to the nephrology ward of a South Indian tertiary care hospital. The pattern and rates of drug-drug interactions seen in the prescriptions of these patients was studied. Among the 205 prescriptions included, a total of 474 interactions were reported, making 2.7 interactions per prescription with incidence rates of 76.09%. Around 19.62% of interactions were of major severity. Most common interactions were found between ascorbic acid and cyanocobalamine (12.45%), clonidine and metoprolol (3.80%) respectively. Hypo or hypertension (31.65%), decreased drug efficacy (29.11%) and hypo or hyperglycemia (14.14%), were the most commonly reported clinical outcomes of the drug interactions. Cardiovascular drugs (calcium channel blockers and beta blockers; 52%) constitute the major class of drugs involved in interactions. As most of the interactions had a delayed onset, long term follow-up is essential to predict the clinically significant outcomes of these interactions. Hence, drug interactions are commonly seen in the prescriptions of chronic kidney disease patients which can lead to serious adverse events if not detected early. Need for collaboration with a clinical pharmacist and electronic surveillance, which are absent in developing countries like India, is emphatic.
Motor programming and the prediction of everyday functioning

The purpose of this study was to examine cognitive reserve, level of cognitive functioning, and motor programming as early markers for detecting declines in everyday functioning. Fifty nondemented, community-dwelling older adults completed a battery of traditional and experimental assessment measures at two time points. The results showed that both overall cognitive functioning and motor programming were useful for identifying individuals at risk for future changes in everyday functioning. The motor programming task did better than overall cognitive functioning in predicting current performances and was the most useful variable for predicting a change in functioning over time. double-tapping block a two-movement sequence, followed by blocks of three-, four-, and five-movement sequences. begins with a of the sequence on the computer three sequences, the of the