Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increased circulating endothelial progenitor cells are associated with survival in acute lung injury.

RATIONALE Repair of damaged endothelium is important in recovery from acute lung injury. In animal models, bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells differentiate into mature endothelium and assist in repairing damaged vasculature. OBJECTIVES The quantity of endothelial progenitor cells in patients with acute lung injury is unknown. We hypothesize that increased numbers of circulating endothelial progenitor cells will be associated with an improved outcome in acute lung injury and the acute respiratory distress syndrome. METHODS Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from the buffy coat of patients with early acute lung injury (n=45), intubated control subjects (n=10), and healthy volunteers (n=7) were isolated using Ficoll density gradient centrifugation, and plated on fibronectin-coated cellware. After 24 hours, nonadherent cells were removed and replated on fibronectin-coated cellware at a concentration of 1x10(6) cells/well. Colony-forming units were counted after 7 days' incubation. MEASUREMENTS/MAIN RESULTS Endothelial progenitor cell colony numbers were significantly higher in patients with acute lung injury compared with healthy control subjects (p<0.05), but did not differ between patients with acute lung injury and intubated control subjects. However, in the 45 patients with acute lung injury, improved survival correlated with a higher colony count (p<0.04). Patients with acute lung injury with a colony count of >or= 35 had a mortality of 30%, compared with 61% in those with colony counts <35 (p<0.03), results that persisted in a multivariable analysis correcting for age, sex, and severity of illness. CONCLUSIONS An increased number of circulating endothelial progenitor cells in acute lung injury is associated with improved survival.
Frequency and distribution of NF2 mutations in schwannomas

Sporadic and inherited schwannomas were scanned for the nature, frequency, and distribution of mutations in the NF2 locus encoding the merlin tumor suppressor protein on 22q. Of 58 tumors, 47% displayed loss of heterozygosity for NF2, leaving a total of 89 NF2 alleles to be examined. Pathogenic alterations were identified in 62 of these alleles, including 36 frameshifts with premature termination, 14 nonsense mutations, and 12 changes presumed to affect splicing. Effects of ten of the latter were confirmed in the NF2 transcript and indicated that activation of cryptic splice sites in coding sequence is another frequent mechanism leading to truncation of merlin. The mutations were relatively evenly distributed across both the protein 4.1 superfamily (exons 1–9) and the α‐helical (exons 10–15) domains of merlin, but they did not occur at all in exons 16 and 17, which encode the protein's alternative COOH‐termini. The data support the “two‐hit” tumor suppressor model for formation of schwannomas and indicate that loss of merlin function can be achieved by truncation at various locations in the protein. However, the absence of mutations in exons 16 and 17 suggests that an inactivating mutation affecting only one of the merlin's alternative termini may not be sufficient to eliminate tumor suppressor function. Genes Chromosom Cancer 17:45–55 (1996). © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Red Wine Polyphenols Prevent Metabolic and Cardiovascular Alterations Associated with Obesity in Zucker Fatty Rats (Fa/Fa)

Background Obesity is associated with increased risks for development of cardiovascular diseases. Epidemiological studies report an inverse association between dietary flavonoid consumption and mortality from cardiovascular diseases. We studied the potential beneficial effects of dietary supplementation of red wine polyphenol extract, Provinols™, on obesity-associated alterations with respect to metabolic disturbances and cardiovascular functions in Zucker fatty (ZF) rats. Methodology/Principal Findings ZF rats or their lean littermates received normal diet or supplemented with Provinols™ for 8 weeks. Provinols™ improved glucose metabolism by reducing plasma glucose and fructosamine in ZF rats. Moreover, it reduced circulating triglycerides and total cholesterol as well as LDL-cholesterol in ZF rats. Echocardiography measurements demonstrated that Provinols™ improved cardiac performance as evidenced by an increase in left ventricular fractional shortening and cardiac output associated with decreased peripheral arterial resistances in ZF rats. Regarding vascular function, Provinols™ corrected endothelial dysfunction in aortas from ZF rats by improving endothelium-dependent relaxation in response to acetylcholine (Ach). Provinols™ enhanced NO bioavailability resulting from increased nitric oxide (NO) production through enhanced endothelial NO-synthase (eNOS) activity and reduced superoxide anion release via decreased expression of NADPH oxidase membrane sub-unit, Nox-1. In small mesenteric arteries, although Provinols™ did not affect the endothelium-dependent response to Ach; it enhanced the endothelial-derived hyperpolarizing factor component of the response. Conclusions/Significance Use of red wine polyphenols may be a potential mechanism for prevention of cardiovascular and metabolic alterations associated with obesity.
State-space architecture of the partitioned-block-based acoustic echo controller

Acoustic echo cancellation has traditionally employed basically all variants known from deterministic adaptive filter design, such as least mean-square (LMS), recursive least-squares (RLS), and frequency-domain adaptive filters (FDAF). More recently, a stochastic adaptive filter design based on the concept of acoustic state-space modeling of the echo path has been introduced to accommodate for an ever sought unification of adaptive filtering and adaptation control. The corresponding Kalman filter theory has been formulated for single-channel, multi-channel, and nonlinear echo cancellation problems. This paper closes an important gap by formulating the state-space model and the corresponding adaptive algorithm for the partitioned-block filtering structure which is especially relevant in practice. This structure allows for the use of significantly longer filter lengths in comparison to previous work, and for the flexible design and implementation of acoustic echo cancellers for widely differing acoustic conditions.
A field synopsis on low-penetrance variants in DNA repair genes and cancer susceptibility.

BACKGROUND Several genes encoding for DNA repair molecules implicated in maintaining genomic integrity have been proposed as cancer-susceptibility genes. Although efforts have been made to create synopses for specific fields that summarize the data from genetic association studies, such an overview is not available for genes involved in DNA repair. METHODS We have created a regularly updated database of studies addressing associations between DNA repair gene variants (excluding highly penetrant mutations) and different types of cancer. Using 1087 datasets and publicly available data from genome-wide association platforms, meta-analyses using dominant and recessive models were performed on 241 associations between individual variants and specific cancer types that had been tested in two or more independent studies. The epidemiological strength of each association was graded with Venice criteria that assess amount of evidence, replication, and protection from bias. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS Thirty-one nominally statistically significant (ie, P < .05 without adjustment for multiple comparisons) associations were recorded for 16 genes in dominant and/or recessive model analyses (BRCA2, CCND1, ERCC1, ERCC2, ERCC4, ERCC5, MGMT, NBN, PARP1, POLI, TP53, XPA, XRCC1, XRCC2, XRCC3, and XRCC4). XRCC1, XRCC2, TP53, and ERCC2 variants were each nominally associated with several types of cancer. Three associations were graded as having "strong" credibility, another four had modest credibility, and 24 had weak credibility based on Venice criteria. Requiring more stringent P values to account for multiplicity of comparisons, only the associations of ERCC2 codon 751 (recessive model) and of XRCC1 -77 T>C (dominant model) with lung cancer had P <or= . 0001 and retained P <or= . 001 even when the first published studies on the respective associations were excluded. CONCLUSIONS We have conducted meta-analyses of 241 associations between variants in DNA repair genes and cancer and have found sparse association signals with strong epidemiological credibility. This synopsis offers a model to survey the current status and gaps in evidence in the field of DNA repair genes and cancer susceptibility, may indicate potential pleiotropic activity of genes and gene pathways, and may offer mechanistic insights in carcinogenesis.
Novel Regulation of Chondroitin Sulfate Glycosaminoglycan Modification of Amyloid Precursor Protein and Its Homologue, APLP2 (*)

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the presence of parenchymal and cerebrovascular deposits of β-amyloid (Aβ). Aβ is derived from larger amyloid precursor proteins (APP), a member of a family of related polypeptides that includes amyloid precursor-like proteins, APLP1 and APLP2. APP and APLP2 isoforms are encoded by several alternatively spliced APP and APLP2 transcripts, respectively. We previously reported that the APLP2-751 isoform is modified by the addition of chondroitin sulfate glycosminoglycan (CS GAG) at Ser-614. In this report, we demonstrate that the APLP2-763 isoform, which contains an insertion of 12 amino acids immediately N-terminal to Ser-614, is not modified by CS GAG. Finally, we demonstrate that like APLP2-751, APP isoforms that lack sequences encoded by exon 15 (L-APP) are also modified by CS GAG, whereas APP forms containing exon 15 are not. We suggest that CS GAG modification of a subset of APP and APLP2 isoforms represents a means of generating functional diversity for these polypeptides.
The 40Ar/39Ar and U/Pb dating of young rhyolites in the Kos‐Nisyros volcanic complex, Eastern Aegean Arc, Greece: Age discordance due to excess 40Ar in biotite

High‐precision dating of Quaternary silicic magmas in the active Kos‐Nisyros volcanic center (Aegean Arc, Greece) by both 40Ar/39Ar on biotite and U/Pb on zircon reveals a complex geochronological story. U/Pb ID‐TIMS multi and single‐grain zircon analyses from 3 different units (Agios Mammas and Zini domes, Kefalos Serie pyroclasts) range in age from 0.3 to 0.5 to 10–20 Ma. The youngest dates provide the maximum eruption age, while the oldest zircons indicate inheritance from local continental crust (Miocene and older). Step‐heating 40Ar/39Ar experiments on 1–3 crystals of fresh biotite yielded highly disturbed Ar‐release patterns with plateau ages typically older than most U/Pb ages. These old plateau ages are probably not a consequence of inheritance from xenocrystic biotites because Ar diffuses extremely fast at magmatic temperatures and ratios are reset within a few days. On the basis of (1) elevated and/or imprecise 40Ar/36Ar ratios, (2) shapes of the Ar release spectra, and (3) a high mantle 3He flux in the Kos‐Nisyros area, we suggest that biotite crystals retained some mantle 40Ar that led to the observed, anomalously old ages. In contrast, sanidine crystals from the only sanidine‐bearing unit in the Kos‐Nisyros volcanic center (the caldera‐forming Kos Plateau Tuff) do not appear to store any excess 40Ar relative to atmospheric composition. The eastern edge of the Aegean Arc is tectonically complex, undergoing rapid extension and located close to a major structural boundary. In such regions, which are characterized by high fluxes of mantle volatiles, 40Ar/39Ar geochronology on biotite can lead to erroneous results due to the presence of excess 40Ar and should be checked either against 40Ar/39Ar sanidine or U/Pb zircon ages.
Sialidase Activity of Influenza A Virus in an Endocytic Pathway Enhances Viral Replication

ABSTRACT N2 neuraminidase (NA) genes of the 1957 and 1968 pandemic influenza virus strains possessed avian-like low-pH stability of sialidase activity, unlike most epidemic strains. We generated four reverse-genetics viruses from a genetic background of A/WSN/33 (H1N1) that included parental N2 NAs of 1968 pandemic (H3N2) and epidemic (H2N2) strains or their counterpart N2 NAs in which the low-pH stability of the sialidase activity was changed by substitutions of one or two amino acid residues. We found that the transfectant viruses bearing low-pH-stable sialidase (WSN/Stable-NAs) showed 25- to 80-times-greater ability to replicate in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells than did the transfectant viruses bearing low-pH-unstable sialidase (WSN/Unstable-NAs). Enzymatic activities of WSN/Stable-NAs were detected in endosomes of MDCK cells after 90 min of virus internalization by in situ fluorescent detection with 5-bromo-4-chloro-indole-3-yl-α-N-acetylneuraminic acid and Fast Red Violet LB. Inhibition of sialidase activity of WSN/Stable-NAs on the endocytic pathway by pretreatment with 4-guanidino-2,4-dideoxy-N-acetylneuraminic acid (zanamivir) resulted in a significant decrease in progeny viruses. In contrast, the enzymatic activities of WSN/Unstable-NAs, the replication of which had no effect on pretreatment with zanamivir, were undetectable in cells under the same conditions. Hemadsorption assays of transfectant-virus-infected cells revealed that the low-pH stability of the sialidase had no effect on the process of removal of sialic acid from hemagglutinin in the Golgi regions. Moreover, high titers of viruses were recovered from the lungs of mice infected with WSN/Stable-NAs on day 3 after intranasal inoculation, but WSN/Unstable-NAs were cleared from the lungs of the mice. These results indicate that sialidase activity in late endosome/lysosome traffic enhances influenza A virus replication.
Friendship Prediction Based on the Fusion of Topology and Geographical Features in LBSN

Friendship prediction in social networks is useful for various applications, such as friend/place recommendation and privacy management. In this paper, we propose a friendship prediction approach by fusing the topology and geographical features in location based social networks (LBSNs). We investigate the features of users' relationship both online and offline and quantify the contributions of selected features through information gain metric. Three key features are selected, namely user social topology, location category, and check-in location. Friendship is predicted based on the fusion of the selected online/offline features. Three inference models are selected to infer the friendship, including Random Forests, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Naive Bayes. The proposed approach is validated by intensive empirical evaluations using the collected Foursquare and Jiepang datasets.
Prediction of number of apheresis procedures necessary in healthy donors to attain minimally required peripheral blood CD34+ cells

BACKGROUND: Allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplantation is widely performed as a curative therapy for hematopoietic malignancies. Donors for PBSC harvest (PBSCH) are usually healthy subjects and undergo granulocyte–colony‐stimulating factor treatment and apheresis procedures. A considerable proportion of donors experience poor mobilization, necessitating additional harvesting or marrow collection or remobilization. Although some characteristics have been reported to correlate with poor mobilization, they may not be taken into account in selecting PBSC donors. To protect healthy donors, it is preferable to predict the number of apheresis procedures needed for PBSCH before the procedure is initiated.
Evaluation of a Zulu translation of the Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status

Background One of the greatest challenges in early communication intervention in South Africa is developing and implementing successful identification strategies in primary health care (PHC). A shortage of trained PHC personnel is one of the barriers to providing adequate health services in South Africa. This dearth of services creates the need to substitute clinician-administered developmental screening tools with parent-administered tools. Aim To determine the accuracy of the Zulu Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) in comparison with the outcome of the English PEDS. Setting The data were collected in a clinical, non-contrived environment at Stanza Bopape Community Health Clinic in Mamelodi, City of Tshwane. Methods The PEDS is a standardised, parent-completed questionnaire regarding the child’s general development. The English PEDS was translated into Zulu by a Zulu linguist. There were 99 potential participants in the study of whom 83 met the necessary prerequisites. Results Of the participants whose home language is Zulu, 54% preferred the PEDS in English over the PEDS in Zulu. This indicates a skewed preference towards English, with only slight associations between language preference and age, education and home language. Conclusion The Zulu PEDS displayed high positive and negative correspondences, representative of an accurate translation of the English PEDS. It is recommended that this study should be repeated in a community where the majority are Zulu home language speakers.
Fabrication and Characterization of Superconducting Probe Coil for High-Sensitivity NMR Spectroscopy

A solenoidal-shaped superconducting probe coil for taking NMR measurements was fabricated using Bi2Sr2CaCu2Ox (Bi-2212), and then its quality factor was evaluated. The Bi-2212 probe coil was fabricated by dip-coating process. The quality factor values were Q = 5960-8820 (4.2 K, 0 T) in a frequency range of 400-600 MHz. These values were 2.3-2.5 times higher than those for a normal metal probe coil under the same measurement set up. In addition, the Bi-2212 probe coil maintained its superiority over a normal metal one even in a magnetic field up to 7 T. The measurement sensitivity of NMR depends on the quality factor of the probe coil. Therefore, the present experimental results obtained using the superconducting Bi-2212 probe coil are promising for taking high-sensitivity NMR measurements.
Automated detection of exudates in retinal images using a split-and-merge algorithm

Retinal image analysis is commonly used for the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases. In fundus photographs, bright lesions representing hard and soft exudates are the earliest signs of diabetic retinopathy. In this paper, an automated method for the detection of these exudates in retinal images is presented. Candidates are detected using a combination of coarse and fine segmentation. The coarse segmentation is based on a local variation operation to outline the boundaries of all candidates which have clear borders. The fine segmentation is based on an adaptive thresholding and a new split-and-merge technique to segment all bright candidates locally. Using a clinician's reference for ground truth exudates were detected from a database with 89.7% sensitivity, 99.3% specificity and 99.4% accuracy. Due to its distinctive performance measures, the proposed method may be successfully applied to images of variable quality.
A Pilot Study on the Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Brain Rhythms and Entropy during Self-Paced Finger Movement using the Epoc Helmet

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the cerebellum is emerging as a novel non-invasive tool to modulate the activity of the cerebellar circuitry. In a single blinded study, we applied anodal tDCS (atDCS) of the cerebellum to assess its effects on brain entropy and brain rhythms during self-paced sequential finger movements in a group of healthy volunteers. Although wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) systems cannot compete with traditional clinical/laboratory set-ups in terms of accuracy and channel density, they have now reached a sufficient maturity to envision daily life applications. Therefore, the EEG was recorded with a comfortable and easy to wear 14 channels wireless helmet (Epoc headset; electrode location was based on the 10–20 system). Cerebellar neurostimulation modified brain rhythmicity with a decrease in the delta band (electrode F3 and T8, p < 0.05). By contrast, our study did not show any significant change in entropy ratios and laterality coefficients (LC) after atDCS of the cerebellum in the 14 channels. The cerebellum is heavily connected with the cerebral cortex including the frontal lobes and parietal lobes via the cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathway. We propose that the effects of anodal stimulation of the cerebellar cortex upon cerebral cortical rhythms are mediated by this key-pathway. Additional studies using high-density EEG recordings and behavioral correlates are now required to confirm our findings, especially given the limited coverage of Epoc headset.
Transferrin Polymorphism and Opportunistic Infections in HIV-Infected Women in Rwanda

Objective: We investigated the prevalence of opportunistic infections in HIV-infected women according to transferrin (TF) phenotype. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 200 HIV-positive women in the Butare University Teaching Hospital in Rwanda. TF phenotypes were determined using starch gel electrophoresis. Results: Phenotype frequencies of TF CD, CB and CC were 14.5, 3 and 82.5%, respectively. The homozygous TF DD phenotype was not found. Subjects with TF CD phenotype had a significantly higher prevalence of opportunistic infections than subjects with TF CC phenotype, 76 and 52%, respectively (p = 0.026). In logistic regression, there was a significant correlation between TF phenotypes and opportunistic infections (p = 0.012). Subjects with TF CD phenotype had significantly lower values for TF (p = 0.006) than TF CC subjects. Hematological parameters (RBC, RBC indices, hemoglobin, hematocrit, WBC, neutrophils, lymphocytes, platelets and erythrocyte sedimentation rate), iron, ferritin, TF saturation, C-reactive protein and CD4 count did not differ according to TF phenotype. Conclusion: Subjects with TF CC phenotype have a lower prevalence of opportunistic infections. Iron status may play a role in this association.
The dual role of CXCL8 in human CNS stem cell function: Multipotent neural stem cell death and oligodendrocyte progenitor cell chemotaxis

Research into multiple sclerosis (MS) has shown that cells purportedly important to myelin repair within the CNS, namely neural stem cells (NSC) and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPC), are recruited to active lesion sites during the course of the disease. However, over time these cells appear to become depleted or functionally blocked in and around lesions, accompanied by a failure of repair mechanisms. We have previously demonstrated elevated CXCL8 in patients with MS, and hypothesized that this chemokine may play a role in the pathology of this disease. Using NSC and OPC derived in vitro from human embryonic stem cells (hESC) we demonstrate here that CXCL8 has a dual role on stem cell biology in vitro. CXCL8 caused CXCR1‐mediated death of NSC, but not OPC, whilst also acting as a potent chemoattractant for both cell types. These data support a context‐dependent role for CXCL8 expression in the CNS in which it may drive recruitment of NSC and OPC to sites of inflammation, but as a side‐effect could also contribute to the failure of myelin repair in MS. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.