Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Radioreceptor Assay for Advanced Glycosylation End Products

Previous assays for nonenzymatic advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs) formed in tissues and/or circulating in blood are unsatisfactory. Based on our earlier identification of AGE-specific receptors on the macrophagelike tumor cell line RAW 264.7, a new assay system for AGEs has been devised. RAW 264.7 cells were used in competitive radioreceptor assays (RRA) after a 3-day culture in 96-well plates with 1 μCi/ml [3H]glycine. Bovine serum albumin (BSA), modified extensively by incubation with glucose-6-phosphate in vitro to form AGE-BSA, was labeled with 125I and was used as a model ligand at a concn of 10 μg/ml. One unit of AGE was defined as the amount of test protein required to inhibit 50% of the specific binding of [125I]-labeled AGE-BSA to the AGE-receptors of intact RAW 264.7 cells. Nonlabeled AGE-BSA was used as a specific competitor to construct standard curves. The reproducibility of the assay was assessed at AGE levels equivalent to mean, maximum, and minimum levels of sensitivity for assays run on a single day and over an extended period, and the RRA had a reproducibility (coefficient of variation) between 5.9 and 14.7%. Protease hydrolysis of in vitro glycosylated proteins before assay increases the competitive ability of these proteins in proportion to their glycosylation. Little or no AGE cross-reactivity was detected in native BSA, Amadori-BSA, maleylated BSA, formaldehyde-treated BSA, palmitic acid–BSA, and acetylated low-density lipoproteins (acetyl-LDL). Polyanions such as heparin or fucoidan strongly interfere with this receptor binding assay. In addition, with this RRA, we quantitated AGE formed on proteins other than albumin, such as collagen, LDL, and RNase, modified by glucose in vitro.
The Power of 'Like' -- Interpreting Usage Behaviors in Company-Hosted Facebook Pages

Company-hosted Facebook pages have emerged as a commonly used marketing tool, but consumers' underlying motivations for using these pages and their effect on members' intentions to purchase the host company's products are currently unclear. The present study examines consumers' hedonic and utilitarian motivations for using company-hosted Facebook pages in relation to the community's usage behavior (browsing vs. contribution), and the relationship between usage behavior and purchase intentions. Analysis of data collected from 1,161 members of a travel agency's Facebook page reveals that hedonic motivations indicate a higher propensity to contribute to the community whereas utilitarian motivations relate more strongly to merely browsing the community page. With regards to purchase intentions, browsing relates more strongly to it than contributing. The findings offer insight into consumers' behavior in brand communities and online brand community content management.
Analysis of Jansen's model of a single cortical column

In this report we present a mathematical analysis of a simple model of a cortical column. We first recall some known biological facts about cortical columns. We then present a mathematical model of such a column, developed by a number of people including Lopes Da Silva, Jansen, Rit. Finally we analyze some aspects of its behaviour in the framework of the theory of dynamical systems using bifurcation theory and the software package XPP-Aut developed by B. Ermentrout. This mathematical approach leads us to a compact representation of the model that allows to finally discuss its adequacy with biology.
Distances and metallicities for 17 Local Group galaxies

We have obtained Johnson V and Gunn i photometry for a large number of Local Group galaxies using the Isaac Newton Telescope Wide Field Camera (INT WFC). The majority of these galaxies are members of the M31 subgroup and the observations are deep enough to study the top few magnitudes of the red giant branch in each system. We previously measured the location of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) for Andromeda I, Andromeda II and M33 to within systematic uncertainties of typically <0.05 mag. As the TRGB acts as a standard candle in old, metal-poor stellar populations, we were able to derive distances to each of these galaxies. Here we derive TRGB distances to the giant spiral galaxy M31 and 13 additional dwarf galaxies ‐ NGC 205, 185, 147, Pegasus, WLM, LGS3, Cetus, Aquarius, And III, V, VI, VII and the newly discovered dwarf spheroidal And IX. The observations for each of the dwarf galaxies were intentionally taken in photometric conditions. In addition to the distances, we also self-consistently derive the median metallicity of each system from the colour of their red giant branches. This allows us to take into account the small metallicity variation of the absolute I magnitude of the TRGB. The homogeneous nature of our data and the identical analysis applied to each of the 17 Local Group galaxies ensures that these estimates form a reliable set of distance and metallicity determinations that are ideal for comparative studies of Local Group galaxy properties. Ke yw ords: galaxies: general ‐ Local Group ‐ galaxies: stellar content.
TLR9 Promoter Polymorphism Is Associated with Both an Increased Susceptibility to Gastric Carcinoma and Poor Prognosis

Objective Genetic polymorphisms of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) may influence the effects of H. pylori infection and play important roles in gastric carcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to determine whether the polymorphisms of TLR4 and TLR9 are associated with susceptibility to gastric carcinoma and its prognosis. Methods This study consisted of 314 patients with gastric cancer and 314 healthy controls. The polymorphisms were assessed using polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP) analysis. Survival was analyzed by Kaplan–Meier survival curves. Results No variant genotypes of TLR4+896A/G, TLR4+1196C/T, or TLR9 -1237T/C were detected. For TLR9 -1486 T/C, multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that compared with the TT homozygote, patients with both the TC variant (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.04–2.10) and the CC variant (adjusted OR = 1.63, 95% CI = 1.01–2.64) had higher risks of gastric cancer. Further stratification analyses revealed that an increased risk of gastric cancer associated with C carriers was evident among females (adjusted OR = 1.84, 95%CI = 1.02–3.33), in younger subjects aged less than 60 years old (adjusted OR = 1.86, 95%CI = 1.15–3.00), and subjects with H. pylori infection (adjusted OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.03–2.27). We also observed a significant association between C carriers and noncardia gastric cancer (adjusted OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.03–2.20). In addition, we demonstrated that the C carrier genotype and H. pylori infection may have a synergistic effect and conferred an OR of 2.44 for developing gastric cancer. TLR9 -1486C was also identified as an independent marker of poor survival of carcinoma. Conclusions Our results suggest that TLR9 -1486C carriers are associated with an increased risk and poor prognosis of gastric carcinoma in the Chinese population.
Grammatical and resource components of sentence processing in Parkinson’s disease

Background: Sentence comprehension requires linguistic processing as well as cognitive resources such as working memory (WM) and information-processing speed (IPS). The authors hypothesize that sentence comprehension difficulty in patients with mild PD is due to degradation of the large-scale neural network that supports cognitive resources during sentence processing. Objective: To understand the neural basis for sentence comprehension difficulty in PD. Method: Regional brain activity with blood oxygenation level–dependent fMRI was monitored while seven PD patients and nine healthy seniors answered a simple probe about written sentences that vary in their grammatical and cognitive resource properties. Results: Healthy seniors recruited posterolateral temporal and ventral inferior frontal regions of the left hemisphere, brain regions associated with grammatical processing that were also activated by PD patients. Healthy seniors also recruited left dorsal inferior frontal, right posterolateral temporal, and striatal regions that are associated with cognitive resources during sentence processing. Direct contrasts showed that striatal, anteromedial prefrontal, and right temporal regions are recruited to a significantly lesser degree in PD, but these patients have increased activation of right inferior frontal and left posterolateral temporal–parietal areas during sentence comprehension. Conclusion: These findings associate impaired sentence comprehension in PD with interruption of a large-scale network important for cognitive resources during sentence processing. These results also imply compensatory up-regulation of cortical activity that allows patients with mild PD to maintain sentence comprehension accuracy.
Integration Versus Distribution in Contract Negotiations: An Interaction Analysis of Strategy Use

This study employed interaction analysis to examine the communicative behav ior displayed by management versus labor negotiators at various phases of the collective bargaining process. Nine hundred and nineteen messages uttered during contract negotiations between two bargaining teams (teachers and administrators) were coded using Putnam and Jones's (1982) revision of Walcott and Hopmann's Bargaining Process Analysis (BPA II). Results indicate that, contrary to the first hypothesis, administration and teacher negotiators were surprisingly similar in the communicative bargaining behaviors exhibited. As predicted, however, communication strategies were found to be different at the various phases of negotiations, with earlier stages being more distributive and later phases being more integrative. Finally, the results suggest that in interac tion with phase, strategy use varies by side. Specifically, labor uses more inte grative and defensive strategies early in the negotiations; while management is more apt to employ offensive strategies. In the middle of the negotiations, labor uses more integrative messages and more offensive tactics; while management tends to rely more heavily on defensive strategies. In the final phase, the differences between management and labor in terms of strategy use even out, with both sides being equally likely to use any of the three message tactics.
Listeria monocytogenes infects human endothelial cells by two distinct mechanisms

Infection of endothelial cells by bacteria may be an important component of the bacteria's ability to escape host defenses and cause disease. Listeria monocytogenes cause sepsis and central nervous system infection in domesticated animals and immunocompromised humans, suggesting that this bacterium interacts with endothelial cells in a significant fashion. The experiments presented here tested the hypothesis that L. monocytogenes can invade and replicate within human endothelial cells. We found that L. monocytogenes grows readily in umbilical vein endothelial cells and that its intracellular life cycle involves phagosomal escape, F-actin-based motility, and cell-to-cell spread. We found that L. monocytogenes invaded endothelial cells by cell-to-cell spread from adherent mononuclear phagocytes which were previously infected by this bacterium. Interestingly, L. monocytogenes mutants lacking the invasion protein, internalin, bound less well to endothelial cells than did wild-type bacteria in the absence, but not the presence, of serum, and their invasion of endothelial cells was diminished under both conditions. Thus, endothelial cell infection by L. monocytogenes can occur by two distinct mechanisms: direct bacterial invasion of the endothelial cells in an internalin-mediated fashion or cell-to-cell spread from adherent, infected mononuclear phagocytes. These data support the idea that endothelial cell infection by L. monocytogenes is an important event in the pathogenesis of listeriosis.
Elaborate Item Count Questioning: Why Do People Underreport in Item Count Responses?

The item count technique, used often to investigate illegal or socially undesirable behaviours, requires respondents to indicate merely the number of applicable items from among a list. However, the number of applicable items indicated via the item count question tends to be smaller than when it is calculated from the direct `applies/does not apply' responses to each item. Because this inconsistency, which we refer to as the underreporting effect, often disturbs proper item count estimates, the causes of this effect are explored in this paper. Web survey results revealed that the order of the response alternatives is irrelevant to the underreporting effect, and that the underreporting effect is caused by the response format in which the item count question requests merely the number of applicable items and not the number of non-applicable items. It is also shown that the magnitude of the underreporting effect decreases when the respondents are asked to indicate the numbers of both applicable and non-applicable items, which we refer to as elaborate item count questioning.
Effects of an In-Vehicle Collision Avoidance Warning System on Short- and Long-Term Driving Performance

Many new in-vehicle systems focus on accident prevention by facilitating the driving task. One such driving aid is an in-vehicle collision avoidance warning system (IVCAWS), used to alert the driver to an impending collision. Our study evaluated the effects of an imperfect IVCAWS both on driver headway maintenance and on driver behavior in response to warning system errors. Our results showed that drivers tend to overestimate their headway and consequently drive with short and potentially dangerous headways, and that IVCAWSs are a useful tool for educating drivers to stimate headway more accurately. Moreover, our study showed that after a relatively short exposure to the system, drivers were able to maintain longer and safer headways for at least six months. The practical implications of these results are that the use of an IVCAWS should be considered for inclusion in driver education and training programs.
Functional lymphocyte immunophenotypes observed in thalassaemia and haemophilia patients receiving current blood product preparations

Immune abnormalities have been reported in recipients of cellular and plasma blood products. To document the effect of current transfusion practices, we performed ex vivo lymphocyte immunophenotypic studies on patients with thalassaemia major who had received multiple (leucocyte‐depleted) transfusions and patients with haemophilia A and B who had received heat viral‐inactivated factor concentrates. Patients with thalassaemia major showed a significant lymphocytosis, with mainly B‐cell changes consistent with ongoing B‐cell stimulation associated with chronic exposure to red cell antigens. Reduced T‐cell IL‐2Rα expression would be consistent with inhibition by desferrioxamine chelation therapy. In contrast, patients with haemophilia showed predominantly T‐cell changes. Patients with haemophilia A showed significantly elevated activated CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes whereas those with haemophilia B showed an increase in CD8+CD11adim and CD4+CD45RA+ suppressor T cells. Several of the immune abnormalities found may be due to the presence of cytokines not removed by leucocyte filtration or destroyed by factor concentrate production (e.g. TGF‐β) causing a T‐helper‐2‐like response. The extensive lymphocyte characterization in this study has not previously been performed and has enabled a closer examination of the functional lymphocyte immunophenotypes seen in patients treated according to current transfusion practices.
Real-Time Computation of Distance to Dynamic Obstacles With Multiple Depth Sensors

We present an efficient method to evaluate distances between dynamic obstacles and a number of points of interests (e.g., placed on the links of a robot) when using multiple depth cameras. A depth-space oriented discretization of the Cartesian space is introduced that represents at best the workspace monitored by a depth camera, including occluded points. A depth grid map can be initialized off line from the arrangement of the multiple depth cameras, and its peculiar search characteristics allows fusing on line the information given by the multiple sensors in a very simple and fast way. The real-time performance of the proposed approach is shown by means of collision avoidance experiments where two Kinect sensors monitor a human-robot coexistence task.
The Development of the Surgical Treatment of Morbid Obesity

Morbid obesity is defined as obesity with a body mass index ≥40, or ≥35 with secondary serious diseases. Conservative medical therapies in these individuals generally fail to sustain weight loss. Thus, surgical operations have evolved which are based on gastric restriction and/or malabsorption. Historically, the intestinal bypass operation was followed by the gastric bypass operation (in some instances combined with intestinal bypass) or by the gastric restriction operations (gastroplasty or gastric banding). Laparoscopic techniques are now being used for these operations, but require surgical expertise in both the bariatric operations and advanced laparoscopic skills. All operations may have complications, but these occur in a very small percent. Postoperative follow-up and nutritional surveillance are mandatory. The operations result in significant weight loss, and the current operations have a mean lasting weight loss of about 50 percent of excess body weight, with improvement or resolution of most obesity-associated conditions. There is evidence that even modest to moderate weight loss in these individuals has significant medical benefit.
Participation of the Lys313-Ile333 Sequence of the Purinergic P2X4 Receptor in Agonist Binding and Transduction of Signals to the Channel Gate*

To study the roles of the Lys313-Ile333 ectodomain sequence of the rat P2X4 receptor in ATP binding and transduction of signals to the channel gate, the conserved Lys313, Tyr315, Gly316, Ike317, Arg318, Asp320, Val323, Lys329, Phe330, and Ile333 residues were mutated. Current recordings were done on lifted cells and ATP was applied using an ultrafast solution-switching system. The rates of wild type channel opening and closing in the presence of ATP, but not the rate of washout-induced closing, were dependent on agonist concentration. All mutants other than I317A were expressed in the plasma membrane at comparable levels. The majority of mutants showed significant changes in the peak amplitude of responses and the EC50 values for ATP. When stimulated with the supramaximal (1.4 mm) ATP concentration, mutants also differed in the kinetics of their activation, deactivation, and/or desensitization. The results suggest a critical role of the Lys313 residue in receptor function other than coordination of the phosphate group of ATP and possible contribution of the Tyr315 residue to the agonist binding module. The pattern of changes of receptor function by mutation of other residues was consistent with the operation of the Gly316-Ile333 sequence as a signal transduction module between the ligand binding domain and the channel gate in the second transmembrane domain.
Predialysis nephrologic care and a functioning arteriovenous fistula at entry are associated with better survival in incident hemodialysis patients: an observational cohort study.

BACKGROUND Late nephrologist referral may adversely affect outcome in patients initiating maintenance hemodialysis therapy, mostly with temporary catheters that may further increase morbidity and mortality. Our aim was to evaluate the influence of 2 variables on mortality: presentation mode (planned versus unplanned) and type of access (arteriovenous fistula [AVF] versus temporary catheter) at entry. METHODS This was a 3-center, 5-year, prospective, observational, cohort study of 538 incident patients. Measurements included presentation mode, type of access, renal function and biochemical test results at entry, and stratification of risk groups. Main outcome measures were mortality and hospitalization. RESULTS Of 281 planned patients (52%), 73% initiated therapy with an AVF. Of 257 unplanned patients (48%), 70% initiated therapy with a catheter (P < 0.001). Multivariate Cox analysis showed that unplanned presentation (hazard ratio [HR], 1.73; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23 to 2.44) and initiation of therapy with catheter (HR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.25 to 2.46) were independently associated with greater mortality and similar HRs after adjusting for confounders. At 12 months, the number of deaths was 3 times higher in both the unplanned versus planned groups and catheter versus AVF groups. The joint effect of unplanned dialysis initiation and catheter use had an additive impact on mortality (HR, 2.89; 95% CI, 1.97 to 4.22). Greater hematocrit (HR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.09) and albumin level (HR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.37 to 2.33) showed an independent association with survival, underscoring the benefits of predialysis care. Using Poisson regression, all-cause hospitalization (incidence rate ratio, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.36 to 1.79; P < 0.001) and infection-related (incidence rate ratio, 2.62; 95% CI, 1.91 to 3.59; P < 0.001) and vascular access-related (incidence rate ratio, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.15 to 1.94; P < 0.003) admissions were higher in unplanned patients initiating therapy with a catheter than in planned patients initiating therapy with an AVF, after adjusting for confounders. CONCLUSION Unplanned dialysis initiation and temporary catheter were independently associated with greater mortality rates in incident patients. The combined influence of both variables was associated with greater morbidity and mortality than either variable alone.
Cost-efficient method for managing network slices in a multi-service 5G core network

“Network slicing” means creating logically isolated virtual networks (slices) running different network functions for different services. However, this technology imposes a loss of multiplexing gain available in monolithic networks as resources allocated to each slice become exclusive and isolated. This situation leads to resource wastage. In this paper, we propose a concept called “per-group slicing” and an algorithm for efficiently automating mechanisms for service grouping and slice creation/accommodation to improve multiplexing gain and resource-usage efficiency. Moreover, the concept is evaluated in consideration of future services discussed in the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) initiative. In addition, the loss in multiplexing gain imposed by network slicing technology was quantitatively evaluated on a testbed, and a means of balancing accommodation of diverse services and resource wastage when a network slice is used was devised.
Some Theoretical Properties of Interval-Valued Conditional Probability Assessments

In this paper we consider interval-valued conditional probability assessments on finite families of conditional events. Based on the coherence principle of de Finetti, we give some preliminary results on precise and imprecise probability assessments, by recalling the properties of avoiding uniform loss (AUL), which coincides with the notion of g-coherence, and of coherence introduced by Walley. Among other results, we generalize to interval-valued assessments a connection property, obtained in a previous paper, for the set n of precise coherent assessments on a family Fn of n conditional events. More specifically, we prove that, with any pair of AUL interval-valued assessments X 0 n ,X 00 n on Fn, we can associate an infinite class X of AUL interval-valued imprecise assessments which are convex combination between X 0 and X 00 n and connect them. Then, we examine the extension of g-coherent imprecise assessments. We also give a result on totally coherent imprecise assessments, by examining its relationship with a necessary and sucient condition of total coherence for interval-valued assessments.