Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Essential role of hypothalamic muscarinic and alpha-adrenergic receptors in atrial natriuretic peptide release induced by blood volume expansion.

Expansion of the blood volume induces natriuresis, which tends to return the blood volume to normal. This response is mediated at least in part by the release of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) into the circulation. Previous experiments have shown the participation of the anterior ventral third ventricular (AV3V) region of the hypothalamus in the ANP release that follows volume expansion. When injected into the AV3V region, the cholinergic drug carbachol induces natriuresis and the release of ANP. In the present experiments, microinjection of norepinephrine into the AV3V region induced natriuresis and an increase in plasma ANP. To determine whether cholinergic and alpha-adrenergic pathways are crucial to the volume expansion-induced release of ANP, certain receptor-blocking drugs were injected into the AV3V region of conscious rats. Thirty minutes later blood volume was expanded by intravenous injection of 2.0 ml/100 g of body weight of hypertonic saline (0.3 M NaCl). Microinjection of isotonic saline (2 microliters) into AV3V region of control animals 30 min prior to volume expansion had no effect on the 3-fold increase in plasma ANP concentrations measured 5 min after volume expansion. In contrast, although the receptor-blocking drugs did not alter the initial concentrations of plasma ANP 30 min later, just prior to volume expansion, blockade of muscarinic cholinergic receptors by intraventricular injection of 5 nmol (2 microliters) of atropine sulfate or methylatropine markedly reduced the response to volume expansion but did not obliterate it. Microinjection of the alpha receptor blocker phentolamine (5 nmol) into the AV3V 30 min prior to volume expansion also markedly suppressed the ANP response. Intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of methylatropine (0.01 mmol/100 g of body weight), which does not cross the blood-brain barrier, also did not affect the basal levels of ANP 30 min after i.p. injection. But, in striking contrast with the blockade of the response to volume expansion induced by intraventricular injection of methylatropine, the response to volume expansion was markedly enhanced by i.p. injection of methylatropine. The results therefore indicate that hypothalamic muscarinic and alpha-adrenergic synapses are essential to release of ANP in response to volume expansion. These results are consistent with a hypothetical pathway for physiological control of ANP release which involves distension of baroreceptors within the right atria, carotid and aortic sinuses, and kidney which alters afferent input to brain stem noradrenergic neurons with axons projecting to the AV3V region. There they activate cholinergic interneurons by an alpha 1-adrenergic synapse. The cholinergic neurons in turn stimulate ANP neurons in this brain region via muscarinic receptors. The stimulation of these neurons activates efferent pathways which induce the release of ANP.
Reduction of Brochothrix thermosphacta on beef surfaces following immobilization of nisin in calcium alginate gels

C.N. CUTTER AND G.R. SIRAGUSA. 1996. Lean and adipose beef carcass tissues inoculated with Brochothrix thermosphacta (BT) (approx. 4.50 log,, cfu cm-2) were left untreated (U) or treated with 100 ,ug ml-' nisin (N), calcium alginate (A) or 100 pg ml-' nisin immobilized in a calcium alginate gel (AN). Tissue samples were refrigerated after treatments and bacterial populations and nisin activity were determined at 0, 1, 2 and 7 d. U, A and N treatments of lean and adipose tissues did not suppress bacterial growth (> 6 log,, cfu cm-* by day 7 ) while treatments of lean and adipose tissues with AN suppressed bacteria ( > 2.42 log,, cfu cm-* by day 7). Bacteriocin titres from both tissues were higher in AN us N samples after the 7 d incubation. Th i s study demonstrates that immobilization of nisin in a gel may be a more effective delivery system of a bacteriocin to the carcass surface than direct application.
Infliximab treatment induces apoptosis of lamina propria T lymphocytes in Crohn's disease

Background and aims: Treatment with infliximab induces remission in about 70% of patients with steroid refractory Crohn's disease. Because Crohn's disease is considered to be mediated by uncontrolled activation of mucosal T lymphocytes, we hypothesised that infliximab could induce apoptosis of T lymphocytes. Methods: Induction of apoptosis in vivo was studied in 10 patients with therapy refractory Crohn's disease. In vitro, resting or stimulated Jurkat T cells were incubated with infliximab. Results: Infusion of infliximab (5 mg/kg) in steroid refractory patients with Crohn's disease induced a clinical response in 9/10 patients but did not influence expression of activation markers, homing receptors, memory cells, Fas expression, or Bax/Bcl-2 expression on peripheral blood T lymphocytes. In contrast, a significant increase in CD3 and TUNEL positive cells within colonic biopsies was detected 24 hours after infusion of infliximab, suggesting that infliximab stimulates apoptosis of activated T lymphocytes but not of resting T cells. To test this hypothesis, the effects of infliximab on Jurkat T cells were investigated. We observed that infliximab induced apoptosis and an increase in the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio of CD3/CD28 stimulated Jurkat T cells but not of unstimulated Jurkat cells. Conclusions: Our data indicate that infliximab treatment causes a rapid and specific increase in apoptosis of T lymphocytes in the gut mucosa. These findings may explain the rapid and sustained therapeutic effects of infliximab in Crohn's disease.
Infectivity and pathogenicity of the oomycete Aphanomyces invadans in Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus.

Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus develop characteristic skin ulcers in response to infection by the oomycete Aphanomyces invadans. To investigate pathogenicity, we conducted a dose response study. Juvenile menhaden were inoculated subcutaneously with 0, 1, 5, 10, 100, and 500 secondary zoospores per fish and monitored for 37 d post-injection (p.i.). Survival rates declined with increasing zoospore dose, with significantly different survivorship curves for the different doses. Moribund and dead fish exhibited characteristic ulcerous lesions at the injection site starting at 13 d p.i. None of the sham-injected control fish (0 zoospore treatment) died. The LD50 (lethal dose killing 50% of exposed menhaden) for inoculated fish was estimated at 9.7 zoospores; however, some fish receiving an estimated single zoospore developed infections that resulted in death. Menhaden were also challenged by aqueous exposure and confirmed that A. invadans was highly pathogenic by this more environmentally realistic route. Fish that were acclimated to culture conditions for 30 d, and presumably free of skin damage, then aqueously exposed to 100 zoospores ml(-1), exhibited 14% lesion prevalence with 11% mortality. Net-handled fish that were similarly infected had a significantly higher lesion prevalence (64%) and mortality (64%). Control fish developed no lesions and did not die. Scanning electron microscopy of fish skin indicated that zoospores adhered to intact epidermis, germinated and penetrated the epithelium with a germ tube. Our results indicate that A. invadans is a primary pathogen of menhaden and is able to cause disease at very low zoospore concentrations.
On the Diversity-Multiplexing Tradeoff of an Improved Amplify-and-Forward Relaying Strategy

The diversity-multiplexing tradeoff (DMT) is one of the most important criteria to evaluate the performance of wireless relay networks. Previous work shows that, compared to decode-and-forward (DF) and estimate-and-forward (EF) relaying protocols, amplify-and-forward (AF) achieves the worst DMT and cannot reach the DMT upper bound. In this paper, we propose a new relaying protocol, called dynamic AF (DAF), which allows the relay to adapt the receiving and forwarding time durations to the channel conditions. We show that DAF achieves the DMT upper bound when the multiplexing gain r is between 0 and α, where 0 <; α <; 0.5 is a constant set according to the relaying channel conditions.
On the Cyclicality of Research and Development

Economists have recently argued recessions play a useful role in fostering growth. Yet a major source of growth, R&D, is procyclical. This paper argues one reason for procyclical R&D is a dynamic externality inherent in R&D that makes entrepreneurs short-sighted and concentrate their innovation in booms, even when it is optimal to concentrate it in recessions. Additional forces may imply that procyclical R&D is desirable, but equilibrium R&D is likely to be too procyclical, and macroeconomic shocks are likely to have overly persistent effects on output and make growth more costly than in the absence of such shocks.
Colorectal Adenomas in Participants of the SELECT Randomized Trial of Selenium and Vitamin E for Prostate Cancer Prevention

Selenium and vitamin E micronutrients have been advocated for the prevention of colorectal cancer. Colorectal adenoma occurrence was used as a surrogate for colorectal cancer in an ancillary study to the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) for prostate cancer prevention. The primary objective was to measure the effect of selenium (as selenomethionine) on colorectal adenomas occurrence, with the effect of vitamin E (as α-tocopherol) supplementation on colorectal adenoma occurrence considered as a secondary objective. Participants who underwent lower endoscopy while in SELECT were identified from a subgroup of the 35,533 men randomized in the trial. Adenoma occurrence was ascertained from the endoscopy and pathology reports for these procedures. Relative Risk (RR) estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of adenoma occurrence were generated comparing those randomized to selenium versus placebo and to vitamin E versus placebo based on the full factorial design. Evaluable endoscopy information was obtained for 6,546 participants, of whom 2,286 had 1+ adenomas. Apart from 21 flexible sigmoidoscopies, all the procedures yielding adenomas were colonoscopies. Adenomas occurred in 34.2% and 35.7%, respectively, of participants whose intervention included or did not include selenium. Compared with placebo, the RR for adenoma occurrence in participants randomized to selenium was 0.96 (95% CI, 0.90–1.02; P = 0.194). Vitamin E did not affect adenoma occurrence compared with placebo (RR = 1.03; 95% CI, 0.96–1.10; P = 0.38). Neither selenium nor vitamin E supplementation can be recommended for colorectal adenoma prevention. Cancer Prev Res; 10(1); 45–54. ©2016 AACR.
Behavioral testing of mice exposed to intermediate frequency magnetic fields indicates mild memory impairment

Human exposure to intermediate frequency magnetic fields (MF) is increasing due to applications like electronic article surveillance systems and induction heating cooking hobs. However, limited data is available on their possible health effects. The present study assessed behavioral and histopathological consequences of exposing mice to 7.5 kHz MF at 12 or 120 μT for 5 weeks. No effects were observed on body weight, spontaneous activity, motor coordination, level of anxiety or aggression. In the Morris swim task, mice in the 120 μT group showed less steep learning curve than the other groups, but did not differ from controls in their search bias in the probe test. The passive avoidance task indicated a clear impairment of memory over 48 h in the 120 μT group. No effects on astroglial activation or neurogenesis were observed in the hippocampus. The mRNA expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor did not change but expression of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha mRNA was significantly increased in the 120 μT group. These findings suggest that 7.5 kHz MF exposure may lead to mild learning and memory impairment, possibly through an inflammatory reaction in the hippocampus.
Dementia Patient Suffering and Caregiver Depression

Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were carried out to assess the relationship between dementia patient suffering, caregiver depression, and antidepressant medication use in 1222 dementia patients and their caregivers. We assessed the prevalence of 2 types of patient suffering, emotional and existential distress, and examined their independent associations with caregiver depression and antidepressant medication use when controlling for sociodemographic characteristics of caregivers and patients, cognitive and physical disability of the patient, the frequency of patient memory problems and disruptive behaviors, and the amount of time spent caring for the patient. Multiple linear regression models showed that both aspects of perceived patient suffering independently contribute to caregiver depression (emotional distress: β=1.24; P<0.001; existential distress: β=0.66; P<0.01) whereas only existential suffering contributes to antidepressant medication use: odds ratio=1.25 95% confidence interval, 1.10-1.42; P<0.01. In longitudinal analyses, increases in both types of suffering were associated with increases in caregiver depression (emotional distress: β=1.02; P<0.01; existential distress: β=0.64; P<0.01). This is the first study to show in a large sample that perceived patient suffering independently contributes to family caregiver depression and medication use. Medical treatment of patients that maintain or improve memory but do not address suffering may have little impact on the caregiver. Alzheimer disease patient suffering should be systematically assessed and treated by clinicians.
Predicting The Impact Of Abuse: Is Experiential Avoidance A Mediator?

Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs between two individuals who have formerly been or are currently in an intimate relationship. IPV includes physical violence, sexual violence, threats of physical or sexual violence, and emotional abuse (Kernic, Wolf, & Holt, 2000; Rennison & Welchans, 2000). Experiencing IPV is associated with a serious impact on psychological health (Afifi, MacMillan, Cox, Asmundson, Stein, & Sareen, 2008; Calvete, Corral , & EstΘvez, 2008). Research on other forms of trauma indicates that experiential avoidance (EA) plays an important role in psychological distress and psychopathology. Thus, it was hypothesized that EA would play a key role in the impact of IPV. Using the Baron and Kenny (1986) method, the current study examined whether EA was a mediator between IPV severity and psychological distress, and whether EA was a mediator between IPV severity and PTSD symptomology, more specifically. In addition, mediational analyses were run to determine if suppression changed the relationships between IPV severity and psychological distress, or IPV severity and PTSD symptomology. Using the same methods, EA and suppression were both also examined as mediators between psychological/verbal abuse severity and psychological distress, and between psychological/verbal abuse severity and PTSD symptomology. No significant results were found in a treatment sample. However, several mediations and partial mediations were found in an undergraduate sample. These findings are likely to impact treatment of individuals who have experienced IPV and demonstrate the utility of acceptance and mindfulness based interventions such as ACT with this population.
The effect of pronuclear morphology on embryo quality parameters and blastocyst transfer outcome.

BACKGROUND Embryo quality may be accurately assessed as early as the pronuclear zygote phase, as shown in recent studies. However, it is not known whether good quality zygotes are destined to become good quality cleavage stage embryos and blastocysts. METHODS In this retrospective study, 86 intracytoplasmic sperm injection-embryo transfer cycles were studied where each available embryo was scored from the zygote until the blastocyst stage. Embryonic normality parameters such as pronuclear pattern, early cleavage, cleavage stage embryo grade, the presence of embryos with > or =8 cells on day 3 and blastocyst quality were recorded. Embryo transfer was undertaken at the blastocyst stage and the outcome was studied according to the pronuclear pattern exhibited by the zygotes. RESULTS Embryos that showed an ideal pronuclear pattern (0 PN pattern) cleaved earlier and faster and resulted in better quality cleavage stage embryos and blastocysts. The incidence of blastocyst formation was 72% in zygotes showing a 0 PN pattern, compared with 12.7% in zygotes with double pronuclear abnormality. Higher implantation and pregnancy rates were obtained when at least one blastocyst derived from a 0 PN pattern zygote was included in the set of embryos to be transferred. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that the pronuclear pattern of the zygote is closely related to blastocyst formation and quality. Blastocysts derived from 0 PN zygotes have a higher potential for implantation.
Immunofluorescent visualization of the excretory and gut system of Schistosoma mansoni by confocal laser scanning microscopy.

Conventional epifluorescence microscopy (CEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) were used to visualize the excretory system and the gut on whole organisms of different life-cycle stages of Schistosoma mansoni. To visualize the gut system, an anti-circulating anodic antigen (CAA) monoclonal antibody (MAb) (120-1B10-A) was used, whereas the excretory system was immunohistochemically stained with an anti-flame cell MAb (51-4H8-A) and with a recently described anti-egg MAb (114-5B1-A). The CEM procedure resulted in clear images at low magnification but the signal-to-noise ratio on the higher magnification images was very poor. Using CLSM on the adult worm, the 114-581-A MAb demonstrated a well-defined system of canals that could be morphologically identified as the excretory system. The flame cells terminating the branches of the excretory canals showed a clear immunoreactivity with the 114-5B1-A MAb as well as with the specific flame cell MAb. The gut system could be visualized, using an anti-CAA MAb, as two well-defined bands throughout the length of the parasite. Application of the 114-5B1-A MAb on cercariae revealed a strong fluorescence on the cercarial surface, whereas no immunoreactivity could be detected on internal structures. Whole eggs showed a bright fluorescence of the egg shell, whereas miracidia showed immunoreactivity of the germinal cells located in the center of the organism. The CLSM procedure, especially with the recently introduced fast photon-counting option, provides a superior tool to investigate the three-dimensional localization of different epitopes on immunofluorescently stained whole mounts of multicellular organisms in comparison with CEM. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Vascular endothelial growth factor-B and vascular endothelial growth factor-C expression in renal cell carcinomas: regulation by the von Hippel-Lindau gene and hypoxia.

Angiogenesis is essential for tumor growth and metastasis. It is regulated by numerous angiogenic factors, one of the most important being vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Recently VEGF-B and VEGF-C, two new VEGF family members, have been identified that bind to the tyrosine kinase receptors flt-1 (VEGFR1), KDR (VEGFR2), and flt-4 (VEGFR3). Although the importance of VEGF-A has been shown in renal carcinomas, the contribution of these new ligands in kidney tumors is not clear. We have, therefore, measured the mRNA level of VEGF-B and VEGF-C together with their receptors by RNase protection assay (RPA) in 26 normal kidney samples and 45 renal cell cancers. We observed a significant up-regulation of VEGF-B (P = 0.002) but not VEGF-C (P = 0.3) in neoplastic kidney compared with normal tissues. In addition, although VEGF receptors were higher in tumors than normal kidney, there was a significant up-regulation of only flt-1 (P = 0.003) but not KDR (P = 0.12) or flt-4 (P = 0.09). There was also a significant correlation between VEGF-C and both of its receptors flt-4 (P = 0.006) and KDR (P = 0.03) but no association between VEGF-B and its receptor flt-1 (P = 0.23). A significant increase was observed in flt-1 (P < 0.001), KDR (P = 0.02), and flt-4 (P = 0.01) but not VEGF-B (P = 0.82) or VEGF-C (P = 0.52) expression in clear cell compared with chromophil (papillary) carcinomas. No significant association was demonstrated between VEGF-B, VEGF-C, flt-1, KDR, and flt-4 with patient sex, patient age, or tumor size (P > 0.05). The effect of von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) gene and hypoxia on VEGF-B and VEGF-C expression in the renal carcinoma cell line 786-0 transfected with wild-type and mutant VHL was determined by growing cells under 21% O2- and 0.1% O2. In wild-type VHL cells, whereas VEGF-A was significantly up-regulated under hypoxic compared with normoxic conditions (P < 0.001), expression of VEGF-C was reduced (P < 0.002). Nevertheless, the repression of VEGF-C was lost in mutant VHL cell lines under hypoxia. In contrast VEGF-B was not regulated by VHL despite clear up-regulation in vivo. These findings strongly support an enhanced role for this pathway in clear cell carcinomas by regulating angiogenesis and/or lymphangiogenesis. The study shows that clear cell tumors are able to up-regulate angiogenic growth factor receptors more efficiently than chromophil (papillary), that clear cell tumors can use pathways independent of VHL to regulate angiogenesis, and that this combined regulation may account for their more aggressive phenotype, which suggests that targeting VEGFR1 (flt-l) may be particularly effective in these tumor types.
Observer detection limits for a dedicated SPECT breast imaging system

An observer-based contrast-detail study is performed in an effort to evaluate the limits of object detectability using a dedicated CZT-based breast SPECT imaging system under various imaging conditions. A custom geometric contrast-resolution phantom was developed that can be used for both positive (‘hot’) and negative contrasts (‘cold’). The 3 cm long fillable tubes are arranged in six sectors having equal inner diameters ranging from 1 mm to 6 mm with plastic wall thicknesses of <0.25 mm, on a pitch of twice their inner diameters. Scans of the activity filled tubes using simple circular trajectories are obtained in a 215 mL uniform water filled cylinder, varying the rod:background concentration ratios from 10:1 to 1:10 simulating a large range of biological uptake ratios. The rod phantom is then placed inside a non-uniformly shaped 500 mL breast phantom and scans are again acquired using both simple and complex 3D trajectories for similarly varying contrasts. Summed slice and contiguous multi-slice images are evaluated by five independent readers, identifying the smallest distinguishable rod for each concentration and experimental setup. Linear and quadratic regression is used to compare the resulting contrast-detail curves. Results indicate that in a moderately low-noise 500 mL background, using the SPECT camera having 2.5 mm intrinsic pixels, the mean detectable rod was ∼3.4 mm at a 10:1 ratio, degrading to ∼5.2 mm with the 2.5:1 concentration ratio. The smallest object detail was observed using a 45° tilted trajectory acquisition. The complex 3D projected sine wave acquisition, however, had the most consistent combined intra- and inter-observer results, making it potentially the best imaging approach for consistent results.