Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prognostic Role of Myocardial Blood Flow Impairment in Idiopathic Left Ventricular Dysfunction

Background—Depressed myocardial blood flow (MBF) has been reported in dilated cardiomyopathy. The aim of this study was to investigate whether MBF impairment is an independent predictor of prognosis in patients with idiopathic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. Methods and Results—Sixty-seven patients (52 male, mean age 52±12 years) with different degrees of idiopathic LV systolic dysfunction (average LV ejection fraction, 0.34±0.10; range, 0.07 to 0.49) were prospectively enrolled. Thirty-four subjects (51%) had no history of heart failure symptoms at enrollment (NYHA class I). All patients underwent clinical and functional evaluation and a PET study to measure absolute MBF at rest and after intravenous dipyridamole. During a mean follow-up of 45±37 months, 24 patients had major cardiac events, including cardiac death in 8 and development or progression of heart failure in 16 patients. Multivariate regression analysis (Cox proportional hazards model) revealed heart rate (&khgr;2 11.06, P <0.001), LV end-diastolic dimension (&khgr;2 11.73, P <0.001), and dipyridamole MBF (&khgr;2 11.04, P <0.001) as independent predictors of subsequent cardiac events. Dipyridamole MBF ≤1.36 mL · min−1 · g−1 was associated with an increase in the relative risk of death, development, or progression of heart failure of 3.5 times over other more common clinical and functional variables. Conclusions—The present study demonstrates that severely depressed MBF is a predictor of poor prognosis in patients with idiopathic LV dysfunction independently of the degree of LV functional impairment and of the presence of overt heart failure.
Heated lidocaine/tetracaine patch for treatment of patellar tendinopathy pain

Introduction The pain of patellar tendinopathy (PT) may be mediated by neuronal glutamate and sodium channels. Lidocaine and tetracaine block both of these channels. This study tested the self-heated lidocaine-tetracaine patch (HLT patch) in patients with PT confirmed by physical examination to determine if the HLT patch might relieve pain and improve function. Methods Thirteen patients with PT pain of ≥14 days’ duration and baseline average pain scores ≥4 (on a 0–10 scale) enrolled in and completed this prospective, single-center pilot study. Patients applied one HLT patch to the affected knee twice daily for 2–4 hours for a total of 14 days. Change in average pain intensity and interference (Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment [VISA]) scores from baseline to day 14 were assessed. No statistical inference testing was performed. Results Average pain scores declined from 5.5 ± 1.3 (mean ± standard deviation) at baseline to 3.8 ± 2.5 on day 14. Similarly, VISA scores improved from 45.2 ± 14.4 at baseline to 54.3 ± 24.5 on day 14. A clinically important reduction in pain score (≥30%) was demonstrated by 54% of patients. Conclusion The results of this pilot study suggest that topical treatment that targets neuronal sodium and glutamate channels may be useful in the treatment of PT.
PapyrusKV: A High-Performance Parallel Key-Value Store for Distributed NVM Architectures

This paper introduces PapyrusKV, a parallel embedded key-value store (KVS) for distributed high-performance computing (HPC) architectures that offer potentially massive pools of nonvolatile memory (NVM). PapyrusKV stores keys with their values in arbitrary byte arrays across multiple NVMs in a distributed system. PapyrusKV provides standard KVS operations such as put, get, and delete. More importantly, PapyrusKV provides advanced features for HPC such as dynamic consistency control, zero-copy workflow, and asynchronous checkpoint/restart. Beyond filesystems, PapyrusKV provides HPC programmers with a high-level interface to exploit distributed NVM in the system, and it transparently organizes data to achieve high performance. Also, it allows HPC applications to specialize PapyrusKV to meet their specific requirements. We empirically evaluate PapyrusKV on three HPC systems with real NVM devices: OLCF’s Summitdev, TACC’s Stampede, and NERSC’s Cori. Our results show that PapyrusKV can offer high performance, scalability, and portability across these various distributed NVM architectures. CCS CONCEPTS • Information systems → Key-value stores; • Hardware → Non-volatile memory; • Software and its engineering → Distributed programming languages;
miR‐15b‐5p facilitates the tumorigenicity by targeting RECK and predicts tumour recurrence in prostate cancer

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to participate in many biological behaviours of multiple malignancies. Recent studies have shown that miR‐15b‐5p (miR‐15b) exhibits dual roles by accelerating or blocking tumour progression. However, the molecular mechanisms by which miR‐15b contributes to prostate cancer (PCa) are still elusive. Here, miR‐15b expression was found significantly up‐regulated in PCa in comparison with the normal samples and was positively correlated with age and Gleason score in patients with PCa. Notably, PCa patients with miR‐15b high expression displayed a higher recurrence rate than those with miR‐15b low expression (P = 0.0058). Knockdown of miR‐15b suppressed cell growth and invasiveness in 22RV1 and PC3 cells, while overexpression of miR‐15b reversed these effects. Then, we validated that RECK acted as a direct target of miR‐15b by dual‐luciferase assay and revealed the negative correlation of RECK with miR‐15b expression in PCa tissues. Ectopic expression of RECK reduced cell proliferation and invasive potential and partially abrogated the tumour‐promoting effects caused by miR‐15b overexpression. Additionally, miR‐15b knockdown inhibited tumour growth activity in a mouse PCa xenograft model. Taken together, our findings indicate that miR‐15b promotes the progression of PCa cells by targeting RECK and represents a potential marker for patients with PCa.
Treatment of community-acquired lower respiratory tract infections in adults

Community-acquired lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is a common cause of acute illness in adults. The spectrum of disease ranges from a mild mucosal colonisation or infection, acute bronchitis or acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AE-CB/COPD), to an overwhelming parenchymal infection with the patient presenting with severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Although the great majority of LRTIs are self-limiting viral infections, CAP is most often a bacterial disease with a substantial mortality. Thus, antibiotic treatment is rarely indicated for acute bronchitis and is only indicated for the more severe cases of AE-CB/COPD, but it is nearly always indicated for CAP, for which a delay in treatment may increase the risk of a fatal outcome. It may be difficult to differentiate between a viral and a bacterial LRTI, or between bronchitis/AE-CB/COPD and CAP. This may be one reason why antibiotics are prescribed to more than two-thirds of patients with LRTIs in Europe and the USA. Considering the worldwide development of antibiotic resistance, this is not an acceptable situation. Since an empirical approach is nearly always necessary in the management of LRTI, greater emphasis must be placed on the decision of whether or not to prescribe an antibiotic at all. This decision should be based on an assessment of the severity of the disease, including underlying risk factors, and on markers for bacterial/parenchymal/invasive LRTI. The choice of empirical therapy must be based on the same data together with epidemiological information. The choice of antibiotic must always cover Streptococcus pneumoniae, which remains the main pathogen of morbidity and mortality in CAP. In hospital, attempts should be made to obtain an aetiological diagnosis in order to be able to switch to a specific treatment or to evaluate a failure of empirical therapy. Several guidelines for the management of community-acquired pneumonia have been published during the last 10 yrs. Some reports indicate that the implementation of such guidelines has resulted in lowered costs, length of stay in hospital and mortality. However, the results from these studies are not consistent and the evidence is still weak.
FIA functions as an early signal component of abscisic acid signal cascade in Vicia faba guard cells

An abscisic acid (ABA)-insensitive Vicia faba mutant, fia (fava bean impaired in ABA-induced stomatal closure) had previously been isolated. In this study, it was investigated how FIA functions in ABA signalling in guard cells of Vicia faba. Unlike ABA, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), H2O2, and nitric oxide (NO) induced stomatal closure in the fia mutant. ABA did not induce production of either reactive oxygen species or NO in the mutant. Moreover, ABA did not suppress inward-rectifying K+ (Kin) currents or activate ABA-activated protein kinase (AAPK) in mutant guard cells. These results suggest that FIA functions as an early signal component upstream of AAPK activation in ABA signalling but does not function in MeJA signalling in guard cells of Vicia faba.
Unique Mechanism of Action of the Thiourea Drug Isoxyl on Mycobacterium tuberculosis*

The thiourea isoxyl (thiocarlide; 4,4′-diisoamyloxydiphenylthiourea) is known to be an effective anti-tuberculosis drug, active against a range of multidrug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and has been used clinically. Little was known of its mode of action. We now demonstrate that isoxyl results in a dose-dependent decrease in the synthesis of oleic and, consequently, tuberculostearic acid in M. tuberculosis with complete inhibition at 3 μg/ml. Synthesis of mycolic acid was also affected. The anti-bacterial effect of isoxyl was partially reversed by supplementing growth medium with oleic acid. The specificity of this inhibition pointed to a Δ9-stearoyl desaturase as the drug target. Development of a cell-free assay for Δ9-desaturase activity allowed direct demonstration of the inhibition of oleic acid synthesis by isoxyl. Interestingly, sterculic acid, a known inhibitor of Δ9-desaturases, emulated the effect of isoxyl on oleic acid synthesis but did not affect mycolic acid synthesis, demonstrating the lack of a relationship between the two effects of the drug. The three putative fatty acid desaturases in the M. tuberculosis genome, desA1, desA2, and desA3, were cloned and expressed in Mycobacterium bovis BCG. Cell-free assays and whole cell labeling demonstrated increased Δ9-desaturase activity and oleic acid synthesis only in the desA3-overexpressing strain and an increase in the minimal inhibitory concentration for isoxyl, indicating that DesA3 is the target of the drug. These results validate membrane-bound Δ9-desaturase, DesA3, as a new therapeutic target, and the thioureas as anti-tuberculosis drugs worthy of further development.
Amyloid Angiopathy and Blood–Brain Barrier Changes in Alzheimer's Disease a, b

ABSTRACT: Evidence is accumulating that suggests that increased permeability of the BBB to blood‐borne proteins is favorable for the development of neuropathologic changes such as amyloid angiopathy and formation of amyloid plaques in the AD brain. To study this problem, we applied a quantitative immunocytochemical procedure that enables evaluation of the barrier function of brain microvasculature to endogenous albumin. This procedure was successfully used on scrapie‐infected mice, which represent a unique animal model enabling study of an interrelation between BBB function and deposition of amyloid within vascular wall and neuritic plaques. Biopsy specimens obtained during neurosurgical procedures (tumors and dementia) were also examined. Our observations indicate that (1) the vast majority of brain microvessels in scrapie‐infected mice and in demented individuals show normal features of the BBB; (2) only those microvascular segments directly surrounded by amyloid plaques or representing amyloid angiopathy show increased permeability to endogenous albumin; (3) numerous immunosignals over the amyloid deposits in plaques and in the wall of angiopathic vessels suggest the affinity of extravasated albumin to the amyloid material.
Modeling Intervention Measures and Severity-Dependent Public Response during Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Outbreak

The 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic came and left swiftly, resulting in more than 8,000 probable cases worldwide and 774 casualties. It is generally believed that quarantine of those individuals suspected of being infected was instrumental in quick containment of the outbreaks. In this work we propose a differential equation model that includes quarantine and other intervention measures implemented by the health authority, including those to prevent nosocomial infections and decrease frequency of contacts among the general public. We also consider the possible behavior change by the general populace to avoid infection, in response to the severity of the outbreak in general and to these intervention measures in particular. Complete analysis is given for the model without quarantine. For the general model with quarantine, a basic reproduction number is derived and full description of its dynamics is provided. We will show that introducing quarantine measures in the model could produce.
Renal Denervation Abolishes the Age-Dependent Increase in Blood Pressure in Female Intrauterine Growth-Restricted Rats at 12 Months of Age

Perinatal insults program sex differences in blood pressure, with males more susceptible than females. Aging may augment developmental programming of chronic disease, but the mechanisms involved are not clear. We previously reported that female growth-restricted offspring are normotensive after puberty. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that age increases susceptibility to hypertension in female growth-restricted offspring. Blood pressure remained similar at 6 months of age; however, blood pressure was significantly elevated in female growth-restricted offspring relative to control by 12 months of age (137±3 vs 117±4 mm Hg; P<0.01, respectively). Body weight did not differ at 6 or 12 months of age; however, total fat mass and visceral fat were significantly increased at 12 months in female growth-restricted offspring (P<0.05 vs control). Glomerular filtration rate remained normal, yet renal vascular resistance was increased at 12 months of age in female growth-restricted offspring (P<0.05 vs control). Plasma leptin, which can increase sympathetic nerve activity, did not differ at 6 months but was increased at 12 months of age in female growth-restricted offspring (P<0.05 vs control). Because of the age-dependent increase in leptin, we hypothesized that the renal nerves may contribute to the age-dependent increase in blood pressure. Bilateral renal denervation abolished the elevated blood pressure in female growth-restricted offspring normalizing it relative to denervated female control offspring. Thus, these data indicate that age induces an increase in visceral fat and circulating leptin associated with a significant increase in blood pressure in female growth-restricted offspring, with the renal nerves serving as an underlying mechanism.
Laboratory evaluation of field produced hot mix asphalt containing post-consumer recycled asphalt shingles and fractionated recycled asphalt pavement

This study investigates the impacts of post-consumer recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) on the performance of hot mix asphalt (HMA) and its compatibility with fractionated recycled asphalt pavement (FRAP). In the summer of 2009, a field demonstration project was conducted by the Illinois Tollway Authority on Interstate Highway I-90. Eight mix designs containing zero and five percent RAS and varying percentages of FRAP were developed and placed in the pavement shoulder. Production and laboratory samples of the mixes were obtained for dynamic modulus testing, beam fatigue testing, fracture energy testing, binder extraction, and subsequent characterization. From the dynamic modulus testing, master curves were constructed to determine how the behavior of the asphalt materials containing RAS differed from the behavior of the asphalt materials not containing RAS when varying percentages of FRAP were a part of the mix designs. From the extracted binders, a suite of Superpave tests was conducted at different temperatures and frequencies to build master curves for analyzing how the addition of RAS binder affected the rheological properties of the mix binder blend. Fracture energy testing was conducted using the disk-shaped compact tension test to estimate thermal cracking potential. Laboratory test results indicate that the mixes containing five percent RAS with less than 40 percent recycled materials exhibit an increased resistance to permanent deformation while maintaining satisfactory performance in fatigue and low temperature cracking. It is thought that fibers in the RAS materials likely contributed to the performance of the mixtures, since the mix performance test results did not follow the trend of low temperature binder performance grade increase with the addition of recycled materials.
The influenza virus PB1-F2 protein has interferon antagonistic activity

Abstract PB1-F2 is a nonstructural protein of influenza viruses encoded by the PB1 gene segment from a +1 open reading frame. It has been shown that PB1-F2 contributes to viral pathogenicity, although the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. Induction of type I interferon (IFN) and the innate immune response are the first line of defense against viral infection. Here we show that influenza A viruses (IAVs) lacking the PB1-F2 protein induce an enhanced expression of IFN-β and IFN-stimulated genes in infected epithelial cells. Studying molecular mechanisms underlying the PB1-F2-mediated IFN antagonistic activity showed that PB1-F2 interferes with the RIG-I/MAVS protein complex thereby inhibiting the activation of the downstream transcription factor IFN regulatory factor 3. These findings were also reflected in in vivo studies demonstrating that infection with PR8 wild-type (wt) virus resulted in higher lung titers and a more severe onset of disease compared with infection with its PB1-F2-deficient counterpart. Accordingly, a much more pronounced infiltration of lungs with immune cells was detected in mice infected with the PB1-F2 wt virus. In summary, we demonstrate that the PB1-F2 protein of IAVs exhibits a type I IFN-antagonistic function by interfering with the RIG-I/MAVS complex, which contributes to an enhanced pathogenicity in vivo.
The relationship between leadership and employee morale in higher education

The University of South Africa (UNISA), like many other institutions of higher education, is facing new challenges, including budget cuts, a new funding formula, changes in technology, mergers, new leadership, and a call for increased research productivity and graduation rate. All these challenges have contributed to dampened staff morale and have led to some resistance and apprehension. The aim of the study reported in this article was to explore the morale, commitment, satisfaction and perceptions of staff of UNISA’s College of Economic and Management Sciences (CEMS) and to explore the relationship between leadership and morale. A self-administrated web-based survey approach was used in a census to collect information among all 604 CEMS staff members. A 42.1% response rate was obtained. The results revealed an overall satisfaction index of 62 and that of CEMS leadership of 61. The study revealed that there is a relationship between leadership and morale, and those leadership competencies such as communication, fostering trust and team building set a clear direction for the college impact on morale. It is recommended that morale surveys should be conducted to obtain the requisite information before developing strategies that relate to employee morale, retention and performance. Key words: Leadership, morale, retention, performance, higher education.
Secretion and metabolism of monomeric human calcitonin: Effects of age, sex, and thyroid damage

Some data suggest that human calcitonin (CT) secretion is lower in women than in men, decreases with age and the menopause, and is absent in thyroidectomized persons. To further explore CT secretory physiology, we have studied basal and calcium‐stimulated plasma immunoreactive CT (iCT) and silica‐extractable monomeric CT concentrations in 148 healthy volunteers and 33 patients with a history of thyroid damage (total or subtotal thyroidectomy, radioiodine treatment for thyrotoxicosis). Both whole‐plasma iCT and extractable CT levels were lower basally and after calcium infusion in women than in men, basal levels being reduced about 50% and calcium‐stimulated values about 75% from those of male subjects. There were no significant changes in basal iCT or extractable CT concentrations with age, and CT secretory capacity (CT response to calcium infusion) likewise did not change with age. Infusion of monomeric CT to constant concentration in 27 persons permitted estimates of CT metabolic clearance rates (MCRs) and secretion rates (SRs). Calculated MCRs of about 9 ml/min · kg−1 (persons aged 21–30 yr) and 6 ml/min · kg−1 (persons aged 54–70 yr) were in good agreement with published data, and did not differ between the sexes. SRs were dependent upon the assay method used to estimate basal plasma CT concentrations, being highest when whole‐plasma iCT values were used. Based on estimates of plasma monomeric CT from the silica extraction procedure, the SR of CT was 59 ± 6 (SE) ng/d · kg−1 in men, and 22 ± 3 ng/d · kg−1 in women. Thyroid damage reduced, but did not abolish, apparent CT immunoreactivity, even in silica extracts of plasma. However, all subsets of thyroiddamaged patients had absent‐to‐markedly‐impaired CT secretion in response to calcium infusion. We conclude that CT secretion is substantially lower both basally and after stimulation in women than in men, and that this difference in CT immunoreactivity probably reflects differences in circulating CT bioactivity. The sex difference in plasma CT concentrations probably results from lower rates of CT secretion in women, not increased MCR. There is no age‐related decrease of plasma CT concentrations (or CT secretory reserve), calling into question the concept that a progressive deficiency of CT is partly resonsible for age‐related (“senile”) osteoporosis. Surgical or radiation damage to the thyroid gland commonly abolishes C‐cell response to calcium; such CT‐deficient patients form a population suitable for determining whether or not reduced CT secretion can impair skeletal homeostasis.