Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urinary interleukin-18 is an acute kidney injury biomarker in critically ill children.

BACKGROUND Urinary interleukin-18 (uIL-18) is an earlier acute kidney injury (AKI) biomarker than serum creatinine (SCr) in specific populations. In the present study, the relationship between uIL-18 and AKI was determined in a heterogeneous group of critically ill children. METHODS We studied critically ill children to determine whether uIL-18 was an early predictor of AKI. SCr was determined daily for up to 14 days from mechanical ventilation initiation and up to four serial urine specimens were collected for the uIL-18 measurement. AKI was graded by paediatric modified risk, injury, failure, loss, end-stage kidney disease (pRIFLE) criteria. Day 0 was defined as the day of attaining pRIFLE AKI. RESULTS One hundred thirty-seven children aged 6.5 +/- 6.4 years (53% male) were studied. The peak levels of IL-18 correlated with the severity of AKI by pRIFLE classification (P < 0.05). In non-septic AKI patients, uIL-18 rose to a level higher than control levels 2 days prior to a significant rise in SCr. Urinary IL-18 concentration from the first urine specimen was associated with AKI development within 48 h (odds ratio = 3.5, P < 0.05) independent of the paediatric risk of mortality (PRISM II) score. Urinary IL-18 concentration > or = 100 pg/ml had a specificity and negative predictive value of 81 and 83% to predict AKI development within 24 h. Urinary IL-18 > or = 200 pg/ml collected within 24 h of Day 0 had a specificity and positive predictive value of 93 and 88% respectively to predict the AKI duration > or = 48 h. Urinary IL-18 was associated with mortality (odds ratio = 1.29, P < 0.05), independent of the PRISM II score. CONCLUSIONS Urinary IL-18 rises prior to SCr in non-septic critically ill children, predicts severity of AKI and is an independent predictor of mortality.
Oxidative stress and antibacterial properties of a graphene oxide-cystamine nanohybrid

Oxidative stress can damage proteins, DNA, and lipids, and is involved in the progression of many diseases. Damage to infected cells caused by oxidative stress is related to increased levels of reactive oxygen species, including hydrogen peroxide. During oxidative stress, hydrogen peroxide levels are often increased and catalase level decreased inside cells. This can lead to the death of skin and other cells. Hydrophobic low molecular weight compounds are useful in treating hemorrhagic conditions of the skin. To this end, cystamine has been successfully conjugated with graphene oxide (GO) as a drug carrier. The current study used the microdilution method to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations of cystamine-conjugated GO against four types of pathogenic bacteria. Minimum inhibitory concentrations values were 1 μg/mL against Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium, 6 μg/mL against Enterococcus faecalis, and 4 μg/mL against Bacillus subtilis. Toxicity of the conjugate against squamous cell carcinoma 7 cells was minimal at low concentrations, but increased in a dose-dependent manner. These results demonstrated that our protocol produced a cystamine-conjugated GO with low cytotoxicity, but strong reactive oxygen species effects and high antibacterial activity. This nanohybrid may be useful in the treatment of dermatological disorders. Moreover, this class of nanohybrid may have other biomedical applications due to their low cytotoxicity and high antibacterial activity.
The Differential In Vitro Presentation of Mycobacterium leprae Antigens by Human Dendritic Cells is determined by the Mechanism of Host Cell Adhesion

Clinical manifestations in leprosy, a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, depend on the immunologic reactions of the patient to the bacilli. Previously, we have shown a reversion of the inefficiency of the cellular-mediated immune response against M. leprae in lepromatous leprosy patients when dendritic cells (DCs) were used in vitro as APC. The aim of the current study is to investigate the cell-to-cell interaction when purified human monocytes-derived DCs and macrophages from healthy adult donors were co-cultured with autologous lymphocytes in the presence of either M. leprae or M. bovis BCG by using APCs which were either attached or in suspension. Subsequently, APCs were analyzed by optical microscopy, phenotypically monitored by flow cytometry, and cytokines secretion evaluated by ELISA and Luminex. Overall, our results suggest that: (1) the process of adhesion of the APC may not be absolutely essential for antigen presentation activity; (2) IL-12 production appears to be in direct relation to the susceptibility of the host cell to infection with M. leprae; (3) in the presence of autologous lymphocytes, there is a down-modulation of surface markers studied, except for CD209 in M. leprae-infected CD11c+ DCs, although a similar decreased expression of these markers on macrophages was also observed, and this step occurs in an antigen-dependent manner; and (4) the cytokines secretion is also dependent on the APCs’ adhesion process. In parallel, the human THP-1 cell line was assessed showing that no monokine was differentially regulated when cells remained either attached or in suspension, regardless of the stimulus employed. These results may further guide future pivotal experimental procedures when studying in vitro cellular immune responses against mycobacteria.
Carrageenan: a review.

Carrageenan is a natural carbohydrate (polysaccharide) obtained from edible red seaweeds. The name Carrageenan is derived from the Chondrus crispus species of seaweed known as Carrageen Moss or Irish Moss in England, and Carraigin in Ireland. Carraigin has been used in Ireland since 400 AD as a gelatin and as a home remedy to cure coughs and colds. It grows along the coasts of North America and Europe. Carrageenans are used in a variety of commercial applications as gelling, thickening, and stabilising agents, especially in food products and sauces. Aside from these functions, carrageenans are used in experimental medicine, pharmaceutical formulations, cosmetics, and industrial applications.
CHANGES IN CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF AN ACID VINEYARD SOIL AMENDED WITH SOLID WINERY WASTES

Two solid winery wastes (Bentonite Waste and Perlite Waste) generated during winemaking process were applied separately to a vineyard soil using a randomized complete block testing two different doses of both wastes. After 6 (T1), 12 (T2) and 18 (T3) months of wastes addition, soil samples were collected and analyzed to study the evolution of some chemical properties as result of wastes addition. The soil parameters analyzed were pH (in water and neutral salt solution, pHW and pHKCl), EC, total C and N, exchangeable base cations (Ca, Mg, K and Na) and effective cation exchange capacity (eCEC), and available P (PA). The results showed that BW (Bentonite Waste) and PW (Perlite Waste) addition increased the EC, eCEC and PA values in the amended vineyard. At T1, pHW and pHKCl values were slightly increased in soils treated with BW addition compared to control soils (no wastes addition), whereas no changes in soil pH were observed in PW treated plots. After T2 and T3, only Caex and eCEC still showed higher values in soil from amended plots than in control plots. Soil parameters as total C and N were not affected by both wastes addition throughout the complete study. The changes observed in the analyzed soil parameters are within their allowable limits in vineyard crops, which become their addition to vineyard soils as a suitable alternative to its reutilization and revalorization, contributing to close the cycle in winery agro-ecosystems.
Functional Conservation of the Drosophila gooseberry Gene and Its Evolutionary Alleles

The Drosophila Pax gene gooseberry (gsb) is required for development of the larval cuticle and CNS, survival to adulthood, and male fertility. These functions can be rescued in gsb mutants by two gsb evolutionary alleles, gsb-Prd and gsb-Pax3, which express the Drosophila Paired and mouse Pax3 proteins under the control of gooseberry cis-regulatory region. Therefore, both Paired and Pax3 proteins have conserved all the Gsb functions that are required for survival of embryos to fertile adults, despite the divergent primary sequences in their C-terminal halves. As gsb-Prd and gsb-Pax3 uncover a gsb function involved in male fertility, construction of evolutionary alleles may provide a powerful strategy to dissect hitherto unknown gene functions. Our results provide further evidence for the essential role of cis-regulatory regions in the functional diversification of duplicated genes during evolution.
Comparison of two objective speech quality measures: MBSD and ITU-T Recommendation P.861

The modified bark spectral distortion (MBSD), used for an objective speech quality measure, estimates speech distortion in the loudness domain taking into account the noise masking threshold in order to include only audible distortions in the calculation of the distortion measure. Preliminary simulation results have shown improvement of the MBSD over the conventional BSD. In this paper, the performance of the MBSD is improved by scaling the noise masking threshold. Finally, this new MBSD (MBSD II) measure is compared with the ITU-T Recommendation P.861 objective speech quality measure for telephone-band speech.
Influence of local anesthetics upon human polymorphonuclear leukocyte function in vitro. Reduction of lysosomal enzyme release and superoxide anion production

Cationic local anesthetics have been reported to influence cellular responses to surface stimuli by interfering with the function of microtubules and microfilaments. Since unimpaired microtubule and microfilament functions are required by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes in order to respond normally to surface stimulation, we have studied effects of the local anesthetic, tetracaine on the function and morphology of these cells in vitro. Tetracaine (0.25--1.0 mM) significantly reduced extracellular release of the lysosomal enzymes, beta-glucuronidase and lysozyme from polymorphonuclear leukocytes exposed to serum-treated zymosan (a particulate stimulus), zymosan- treated serum (a soluble stimulus), and to the surface-active lectin, concanavalin A. Tetracaine also significantly reduced superoixde anion production (superoxide dismutase-inhibitable cytochrome c reduction) by these cells. Tetrancaine was not cytotoxic and its effects could be reversed completely by washing cells once with buffer. Electron microscope examination of tetracaine-treated cells revealed marked alterations of surface membranes. Microtubules and microfilaments appeared normal in "resting" polymorphonuclear leukocytes, but the increase in microtubules normally observed in stimulated cells was not seen after tetracaine treatment. These results suggest that tetracaine interferes with those interactions between immune reactants and the polymorphonuclear leukocyte cell surface which provoke exocytosis and increased oxidative metabolism.
Delay constrained throughput analysis of SISO

We analyze the traffic carrying capacity of a single-input single-output system for a given delay guarantee at the flow level. A continuous time ON/OFF data source is considered as the traffic model while the wireless channel is modeled using the Gilbert-Elliot model. We study the impact of the delay bound violation probability, traffic burstiness, channel memory and the delay requirements at the network layer on the throughput under different signal strength.
Neurons responding to whole-body motion in the primate hippocampus

We describe here hippocampal cells that respond during whole-body motion when a monkey is moved on a remote-controlled robot-mounted platform in a cue-controlled test chamber (2 x 2 x 2 m). Some of these cells responded to linear motion, and others to axial rotation. Some of these cells responded when the same motion occurred without a view of the visual field. Such cells appeared to be driven by vestibular inputs. Other cells required a view of the visual field for their response, and these cells appeared to be driven by the visual motion relative to the monkey of the test chamber. Further evidence that this was the case was that some of the cells responded to rotation and linear motion of the test chamber while the monkey remained stationary. Other cells responded to combinations of whole-body motion and a view of the environment. These findings show that information about whole- body motion, as well as about where the animal is looking in an environment, is represented in the primate hippocampus. We suggest that this information is important in spatial memory and thus in spatial navigation.
International Journal of Enterprise Computing and Business Systems Effects of Performance Appraisal Quality on Job Satisfaction in Multinational Companies in Malaysia

Performance appraisal is among the most critical Human Resource functions that brings global success for one organization. It is also important to mention that extensive frustration and dissatisfaction with performance appraisal have challenged practitioners and researchers to appraise the efficiency of performance appraisal quality. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the performance appraisal quality (independent variable) on one important human resource management outcome which is job satisfaction (dependent variable). Using data from 133 employees of multinational companies in Malaysia, employees' performance appraisal experiences were identified. Regression analysis was then employed to examine the relationship between performance appraisal quality of employees and job satisfaction. Employees with high quality performance appraisal experiences were more likely to be satisfied with their job. The challenge for human resource (HR) practitioners is to decide whether the allocation of additional resources to ensure that all employees have a uniformly high quality performance appraisal experience is a worthwhile investment.
Mining Metalinguistic Activity in Corpora to Create Lexical Resources Using Information Extraction Techniques: the MOP System

This paper describes and evaluates MOP, an IE system for automatic extraction of metalinguistic information from technical and scientific documents. We claim that such a system can create special databases to bootstrap compilation and facilitate update of the huge and dynamically changing glossaries, knowledge bases and ontologies that are vital to modern-day research.
Monotonicity and Persistence in Preferential Logics

An important characteristic of many logics for Artificial Intelligence is their nonmonotonicity. This means that adding a formula to the premises can invalidate some of the consequences. There may, however, exist formulae that can always be safely added to the premises without destroying any of the consequences: we say they respect monotonicity. Also, there may be formulae that, when they are a consequence, can not be invalidated when adding any formula to the premises: we call them conservative. We study these two classes of formulae for preferential logics, and show that they are closely linked to the formulae whose truth-value is preserved along the (preferential) ordering. We will consider some preferential logics for illustration, and prove syntactic characterization results for them. The results in this paper may improve the efficiency of theorem provers for preferential logics.
Association of Genetic Variants with Primary Angle Closure Glaucoma in Two Different Populations

Purpose A recent large genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified multiple variants associated with primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG). The present study investigated the role of these variants in two cohorts with PACG recruited from Australia and Nepal. Method Patients with PACG and appropriate controls were recruited from eye clinics in Australia (n = 232 cases and n = 288 controls) and Nepal (n = 106 cases and 204 controls). Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs3753841 (COL11A1), rs1015213 (located between PCMTD1 and ST18), rs11024102 (PLEKHA7), and rs3788317 (TXNRD2) were selected and genotyped on the Sequenom. Analyses were conducted using PLINK and METAL. Results After adjustment for age and sex, SNP rs3753841 was found to be significantly associated with PACG in the Australian cohort (p = 0.017; OR = 1.34). SNPs rs1015213 (p = 0.014; OR 2.35) and rs11024102 (p = 0.039; OR 1.43) were significantly associated with the disease development in the Nepalese cohort. None of these SNPs survived Bonferroni correction (p = 0.05/4 = 0.013). However, in the combined analysis, of both cohorts, rs3753841 and rs1015213 showed significant association with p-values of 0.009 and 0.004, respectively both surviving Bonferroni correction. SNP rs11024102 showed suggestive association with PACG (p-value 0.035) and no association was found with rs3788317. Conclusion The present results support the initial GWAS findings, and confirm the SNP’s contribution to PACG. This is the first study to investigate these loci in both Australian Caucasian and Nepalese populations.
Peer-based automatic configuration of pervasive applications

Pervasive computing envisions seamless support for user tasks through cooperating devices that are present in an environment. Fluctuating availability of devices, induced by mobility and failures, requires mechanisms and algorithms that allow applications to adapt to changing environmental conditions without user intervention. To ease the development of adaptive applications, we have proposed the peer-based component system PCOM. This system provides fundamental mechanisms to support the automated composition of applications at runtime. In this paper, we discuss the requirements on peer-based automatic configuration of pervasive applications and present an approach based on distributed constraint satisfaction. The resulting algorithm configures applications in the presence of strictly limited resources. To show the feasibility of the approach, we have integrated the algorithm into PCOM and provide an evaluation based on simulation and measurements.
Employing the Z-Transform to Optimize the Calculation of the Synaptic Conductance of NMDA and Other Synaptic Channels in Network Simulations

Calculation of the total conductance change induced by multiple synapses at a given membrane compartment remains one of the most time-consuming processes in biophysically realistic neural network simulations. Here we show that this calculation can be achieved in a highly efficient way even for multiply converging synapses with different delays by means of the Z-transform. Using the example of an NMDA synapse, we show that every update of the total conductance is achieved by an iterative process requiring at most three multiplications, which together need only the history values from the two most recent iterations. A major advantage is that this small computational load is independent of the number of synapses simulated. A benchmark comparison to other techniques demonstrates superior performance of the Z-transform. Nonvoltage-dependent synaptic channels can be treated similarly (Olshausen, 1990; Brettle & Niebur, 1994), and the technique can also be generalized to other synaptic channels.
The mechanical environment in dupuytren's contracture determines cell contractility and associated MMP‐mediated matrix remodeling

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are expressed in Dupuytren's contracture and play a role in matrix remodeling. We tested the role of tension on contractility and MMP expression in Dupuytren's nodule and cord cells. Cells were subjected to pre‐determined loading patterns of known repeatable magnitudes (static load, unloading, and overloading) and tested for MMP gene expression (MMP‐1, ‐2, ‐9, ‐13, and TIMP‐1, ‐2) and force generation using a tension‐culture force monitor. Matrix remodeling was assessed by addition of cytochalasin D and residual matrix tension was quantified. Nodule compared to cord and control cells demonstrate greater force generation and remodeling (p < 0.05). Nodule cells subjected to a reduced load and overloading led to threefold increase of MMP‐1, ‐2, and ‐9 compared to static load, whilst cord and control cells only showed a twofold increase of MMP‐9. Nodule cells subjected to overloading showed a twofold increase in TIMP‐2 expression, whilst cord and control cells showed a twofold increase in TIMP‐1 expression. Nodule cells differ from cord cells by increased force generation in response to changes in the mechanical environment and related MMP/TIMP‐mediated matrix remodeling. In turn this may lead to permanent matrix shortening and digital contracture. Interventional therapies should be aimed at nodule cells to prevent contraction and subsequent permanent matrix remodeling. © 2012 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 31: 328–334, 2013
The structure of common psychiatric symptoms: how many dimensions of neurosis?

SYNOPSIS Synopsis In order to replicate and elaborate the two-dimensional model of depression and anxiety underlying the structure of common psychiatric symptoms proposed by Goldberg et al. (1987), we carried out latent trait analyses on PSE symptom data of the original Manchester study and two recent Dutch studies. We used the same analytical strategy as Goldberg et al. to facilitate comparison with the earlier work. It was found that a more comprehensive set of common psychiatric symptoms caused an extra, third dimension to emerge, so that the earlier anxiety dimension became split between a specific anxiety axis characterized by situational and phobic anxiety and avoidance, and a non-specific anxiety axis characterized by free-floating anxiety, various symptoms relating to tension, irritability and restlessness. It is argued that three dimensions are sufficient to account for the covariance between common psychiatric symptoms. A fairly consistent correlation between the non-specific anxiety and the depression dimension was found across sites, as well as independence of the specific anxiety dimension from the other two dimensions. Furthermore, the depression dimension was robust with similar symptom profiles across samples, but there appeared to be local differences in the structure of anxiety symptoms.
The Efficacy of Sodium Channel Blockers to Prevent Phencyclidine-Induced Cognitive Dysfunction in the Rat: Potential for Novel Treatments for Schizophrenia

Sodium channel inhibition is a well precedented mechanism used to treat epilepsy and other hyperexcitability disorders. The established sodium channel blocker and broad-spectrum anticonvulsant lamotrigine is also effective in the treatment of bipolar disorder and has been evaluated in patients with schizophrenia. Double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials found that the drug has potential to reduce cognitive symptoms of the disorder. However, because of compound-related side-effects and the need for dose titration, a conclusive evaluation of the drug's efficacy in patients with schizophrenia has not been possible. (5R)-5-(4-{[(2-Fluorophenyl)methyl]oxy}phenyl)-l-prolinamide (GSK2) and (2R,5R)-2-(4-{[(2-fluorophenyl)methyl]oxy}phenyl)-7-methyl-1,7-diazaspiro[4.4]nonan-6-one (GSK3) are two new structurally diverse sodium channel blockers with potent anticonvulsant activity. In this series of studies in the rat, we compared the efficacy of the two new molecules to prevent a cognitive deficit induced by the N-methyl-d-aspartic acid receptor antagonist phencyclidine (PCP) in the reversal-learning paradigm in the rat. We also explored the effects of the drugs to prevent brain activation and neurochemical effects of PCP. We found that, like lamotrigine, both GSK2 and GSK3 were able to prevent the deficit in reversal learning produced by PCP, thus confirming their potential in the treatment of cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia. However, higher doses than those required for anticonvulsant efficacy of the drugs were needed for activity in the reversal-learning model, suggesting a lower therapeutic window relative to mechanism-dependent central side effects for this indication.