Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interactions of thrombospondin with endothelial cells: receptor- mediated binding and degradation

We studied binding and degradation of labeled platelet thrombospondin (TSP) by normal and variant bovine aorta endothelial (BAE) cells. [125I]-labeled TSP bound to cells at 37 degrees C in a specific, saturable, and time-dependent fashion. Incubation of cell monolayers with fluoresceinated TSP resulted in punctate cellular staining, but no staining of the extracellular matrix. Heparin, fucoidan, chondroitin sulfate, platelet factor 4, beta-thromboglobulin, unlabeled TSP, and serum derived from whole blood all competed for binding of [125I]TSP. [125I]TSP was degraded to TCA-soluble radioactivity, which appeared in the medium after a 60-90-min lag. Degradation was inhibited to the same extent as binding by increasing concentrations of heparin, fucoidan, platelet factor 4, or whole blood serum. Normal BAE cells bound and degraded less [125I]TSP than variant BAE cells. The dissociation constants (Kds) for binding and the constants for degradation (Kms) for degradation by the two cell strains, however, were similar (30-50 nM). The inhibitory effects of heparin and platelet factor 4 were lost when the two inhibitors were present in a 1:1 (wt/wt) ratio. Treatment of suspended cells with trypsin or heparitinase caused less binding of TSP. These results indicate that there is a specific receptor for TSP on endothelial cells which mediates binding and degradation. This receptor may be a heparan sulfate proteoglycan.
A Comparison of Infection Rates among Older and Younger Patients on Continuous Peritoneal Dialysis

Objective To determine if peritoneal dialysis -related infection rates are higher in older patients compared with younger patients. Design A retrospective review of prospectively collected data. Control adult patients were matched with older study patients for race, sex, insulin dependence, connection device, and time on dialysis. Setting A university-based peritoneal dialysis program which includes patients from a Veterans Administration Hospital outpatient dialysis program. Patients Infection rates of 103 patients 60 years of age (older patients) were compared with 103 matched control patients 18–49 years of age (younger patients). Main Outcome Measures Rates of peritonitis, exit site and tunnel infection expressed as episodes/patient/year (episodes/year) and the infecting organisms for each were examined. Outcomes, including catheter removal and the cause for removal, transfer to another dialysis modality and the reason for such, death and transplantation were also assessed. Results Mean time on peritoneal dialysis was the same in each group (20±21 months in the older and 18±17 months in the younger patients). The overall peritonitis rates were the same in the two groups (0.95/year in the older and 0.89/year in the younger patients), but the older patients had a higher rate of S. epidermidis peritonitis (0.28/year vs 0. 13/year, p=0.0001). S. aureus peritonitis rates were similar (0.16/year in older and 0.17/year in younger patients). Older patients had fewer exit-site infections (0.80/year versus 1.2/year, p=0.0001) and, specifically, lower rates of S. aureusexit-site infections (0.23/year vs 0.47/year, p=0.0001). Tunnel infections were also less common in older patients (0.15/year vs 0.23/year, p=0.008), but S. aureustunnel infection rates were similar (0.05/year and 0.09/year). Catheter infection was the most common reason for catheter removal in both patient groups (35% of catheters in the older and 44% of catheters in the younger patients, p=NS). More catheters were removed from older patients because of dementia or the loss of mechanical skills required to perform peritoneal dialysis exchanges (15% vs 5%, p=0.04). Conclusions Older age per se is not associated with higher peritonitis rates, but the use of disconnect sys tems should be encouraged in older patients and their mental and physical skills monitored to avoid S. epidermidis peritonitis. The lower rates of S. aureus catheter infection in older patients requires further study.
Body Size and Risk of Luminal , HER 2-Overexpressing , and Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women

Although the clinical relevance of molecular subtypes of breast cancer has been documented, little is known about risk factors for different tumor subtypes, especially the HER2-overexpressing and the triple-negative subtypes that have poor prognoses. Obesity may be differentially related to the risk of different subtypes given the various potential mechanisms underlying its association with breast cancer. We pooled two population-based case-control studies of postmenopausal breast cancer for an analysis, including 1,447 controls and 1,008 luminal (hormone receptor positive), 39 HER2-overexpressing (hormone receptor negative, HER2 positive), and 77 triple-negative (hormone receptor and HER2 negative) cases. Associations between anthropometric factors and the risk of different breast cancer subtypes were evaluated using polytomous logistic regression. Among women not currently using menopausal hormone therapy, body mass index (BMI) and weight were associated with the risk of luminal tumors [odds ratio (OR) comparing highest versus lowest quartiles, 1.7; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.2-2.4 and OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.2-2.4, respectively] and suggestively associated with risk of triple-negative tumors (OR, 2.7; 95% CI, 1.0-7.5 and OR, 5.1; 95% CI, 1.1-23.0, respectively). Neither BMI nor weight was associated with the risk of any tumor subtype among hormone therapy users. The positive relationship between BMI and luminal tumors among postmenopausal women not using hormone therapy is well characterized in the literature. Although our sample size was limited, body size may also be related to the risk of postmenopausal triple-negative breast cancer among nonusers of hormone therapy. Given the expanding obesity epidemic, the widespread cessation of hormone therapy use, and the poor prognosis of triple-negative tumors, this novel finding merits confirmation. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(8):2078–86)
Factors affecting the energy intake from gruel by-breast-fed children in developing countries

The main obje tives F this paper are to revi W WT nt know1 dgcon erning nergy intake from gruel in developing countries and define their immediate and underlying determinants. A conceptual framework for determinants of the energy intake from gruel by breast-fed children living in natural conditions is offered in order to distinguish between immediate factors, underlying factors, and basic causes whatever they are child-related, caregiver-related or diet related factors. The immediate factors affecting total energy intake from gruels are the feeding frequency, the energy density and the amounts consumed per meal. The feeding frequency (number of grueldday) mainly depends on factors relative to child caregivers (e.g., occupation, feeding habits, food availability etc.). The energy density of gruels results from the composition (e.g., water and lipid contents) and physico-chemical characteristics of their ingredients, and from their preparation methods. The amounts consumed per meal mainly depend on child appetite and on the organoleptic characteristics of the gruels, in particular their consistency. It is generally assumed that the gastric capacity of infants and young children ranges from 30 to 40 mlkg body weight. Actually, a review of published data and preliminary results of surveys recently carried out in various African countries show that energy intakes per meal of gruel amongst 4-23-month-old children 'greatly vary and are lower than expected considering their supposed gastric capacity. Effects of immediate and underlying factors previously studied are discussed. However, their relative significance in free-living conditions is still not well known. An in-depth analysis of these factors is necessary in order to elaborate strategies appropriate to the various contexts and likely to improve total energy intakes. -
A Computer Study of the Relation Between Chamber Mechanical Properties and Mean Pressure‐Mean Flow of the Left Ventricle

Computer simulation of left ventricular contraction was used to analyze the mean left ventricular pressure-mean flow relation with changes of parameter values: end-diastolic volume, contractile state, internal resistance, characteristic resistance, capacitance, end-diastolic stiffness, and heart rate and with changes of experimental conditions: filling kinetics (constant atrial pressure as opposed to constant end-diastolic volume) and coronary perfusion pressure (constant or varying with atrial pressure, i.e., self-perfused). The chamber mechanical properties used in the simulation were defined in terms of a modified purely elastic behavior model with a flow-dependent resistive component. Computed results showed that at constant end-diastolic volume and constant ventricular perfusion pressure the mean pressure-mean flow relation was linear, except for changes in internal resistance where a cubic fit of points was more appropriate. In these conditions, parameter variations in the accepted linear relation produced changes in the slope and mean pressure axis intercept. Imposition of changes in experimental conditions gave rise to nonlinear mean pressure-mean flow relations. The results indicate that with elastic-resistive chamber mechanical properties as a starting point, the experimental conditions would be responsible for the different shapes of the mean pressure-mean flow relation obtained in isolated heart experiments. However, a more complete description of chamber properties (such as the addition of a deactivation component) could also give rise to nonlinear pump function graphs.
The impact of information security breaches: Has there been a downward shift in costs?

By analyzing evidence of stock returns using a sophisticated market model over a long period and over two distinct and naturally arising sub-periods, this study helps resolve conflicting evidence from previous studies concerning the effect of information security breaches on market returns of firms. This study has three major findings. First, the impact of the broad class of information security breaches on stock market returns of firms is significant. Second, when breaches are classified by their primary effect in terms of (i) confidentiality, (ii) availability or (iii) integrity, attacks associated with breaches of availability are seen to have the greatest negative effect on stock market returns. Third, there has been a significant downward shift in the impact of the security breaches in the sub-period following the 9/11/2001 attacks versus the impact in the pre-9/11 period. Apparently, with increased media reporting of information security breaches without apparent devastating effects on targeted corporations, investors lowered their assessment of the costs of such breaches. Two possible reasons for this downward shift are (1) more effective remediation and disaster recovery and (2) a perceived decrease in the tendency of customers to refrain from doing business with firms experiencing an information security breach.
Visual analysis of graphs with multiple connected components

In this paper, we present a system for the interactive visualization and exploration of graphs with many weakly connected components. The visualization of large graphs has recently received much research attention. However, specific systems for visual analysis of graph data sets consisting of many components are rare. In our approach, we rely on graph clustering using an extensive set of topology descriptors. Specifically, we use the Self-Organizing-Map algorithm in conjunction with a user-adaptable combination of graph features for clustering of graphs. It offers insight into the overall structure of the data set. The clustering output is presented in a grid containing clusters of the connected components of the input graph. Interactive feature selection and task-tailored data views allow the exploration of the whole graph space. The system provides also tools for assessment and display of cluster quality. We demonstrate the usefulness of our system by application to a shareholder network analysis problem based on a large real-world data set. While so far our approach is applied to weighted directed graphs only, it can be used for various graph types.
Extrinsic Jensen–Shannon Divergence: Applications to Variable-Length Coding

This paper considers the problem of variable-length coding over a discrete memoryless channel with noiseless feedback. This paper provides a stochastic control view of the problem whose solution is analyzed via a newly proposed symmetrized divergence, termed extrinsic Jensen-Shannon (EJS) divergence. It is shown that strictly positive lower bounds on EJS divergence provide nonasymptotic upper bounds on the expected code length. This paper presents strictly positive lower bounds on EJS divergence, and hence nonasymptotic upper bounds on the expected code length, for the following two coding schemes: 1) variable-length posterior matching and 2) MaxEJS coding scheme that is based on a greedy maximization of the EJS divergence. As an asymptotic corollary of the main results, this paper also provides a rate-reliability test. Variable-length coding schemes that satisfy the condition(s) of the test for parameters R and E are guaranteed to achieve a rate R and an error exponent E. The results are specialized for posterior matching and MaxEJS to obtain deterministic one-phase coding schemes achieving capacity and optimal error exponent. For the special case of symmetric binary-input channels, simpler deterministic schemes of optimal performance are proposed and analyzed.
iHAT: Interactive hierarchical aggregation table

In the search for single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), genome wide association studies have become an important technique for the identification of associations between genotype and phenotype of a diverse set of sequence-based data. In this work, we present a methodology for the visual assessment of SNPs using interactive hierarchical aggregation techniques combined with methods known from traditional sequence browsers and cluster heatmaps. Our prototype tool iHAT supports the visualization of multiple sequence alignments, associated metadata, and hierarchical clusterings. Moreover, data-type dependent colormaps and aggregation strategies as well as different filtering options support the user in finding correlations between sequences and metadata. Similar to other visualizations such as parallel coordinates or heatmaps, iHAT is aimed at exploiting the human pattern-recognition ability for spotting patterns that might indicate correlation or anticorrelation. Together with its interactive features and a database backend for fast data retrieval, we consider iHAT as a prototype for a visual analytics system for genome-wide association studies.
N -Acetyltransferase 2 Polymorphisms and Susceptibility to Infant Leukemia with Maternal Exposure to Dipyrone during Pregnancy

Background: Maternal exposure to dipyrone during pregnancy has been associated with risk of infant leukemia (IL). N-Acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) enzyme acetylates dipyrone, resulting in a detoxified metabolite. We performed genotyping to identify the distribution of NAT2 polymorphisms in duo samples from mothers and children previously investigated in a case-controlled study of IL. Methods: Samples from 132 IL, 131 age-matched controls, mothers of cases (n = 86), and mothers of controls (n = 36) were analyzed. PCR-RFLP assays were used to determine the NAT2 variants 191G>A, 282C>T, 341T>C, 481C>T, 590G>A, 803A>G, and 857G>A. The test for case-control differences in the distribution of genotypes was based on χ2 statistics. Unconditional logistic regression was used to examine the association between maternal exposure to dipyrone during the index pregnancy, IL, and NAT2 phenotypes. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) are given with the 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: NAT2 slow-acetylation haplotypes were associated with IL (OR, 8.90; 95% CI, 1.71-86.7). An association between IL and NAT2 phenotype was observed in IL whether the mothers reported dipyrone exposures (OR, 4.48; 95% CI, 1.88-10.7) or not (OR, 4.27; 95% CI, 1.75-10.5). The combination of NAT2 slow/slow (mother/child) phenotypes confers a higher risk of IL (OR, 30.0; 95% CI, 5.87-279.7). Conclusion: NAT2 slow-acetylation profiles are associated with IL regardless of maternal exposure to dipyrone during pregnancy. Impact: Further recommendations about medicine exposures during pregnancy should take into account that infants with the maternal NAT2 slow-acetylation genotypes might be particularly vulnerable to greater risk. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 19(12); 3037–43. ©2010 AACR.
Drogas ilícitas e trânsito: problema pouco discutido no Brasil: [revisão]

CONTEXTO: Dirigir e uma tarefa complexa na qual o condutor recebe informacao continuamente, analisa-a e reage a respeito desta. Substâncias que influem nas funcoes cerebrais ou em processos mentais envolvidos na conducao certamente irao afetar o desempenho do condutor. Alteracoes motoras provocadas por drogas ilicitas tem recebido crescente atencao em anos recentes como uma possivel ameaca a seguranca no trânsito. Pesquisas tem indicado a presenca de drogas psicoativas em motoristas mortos ou feridos em acidentes de trânsito, e estudos experimentais mostram prejuizo na performance de individuos sob efeito de drogas. OBJETIVOS: Em razao de esse problema ser pouco discutido em nosso pais, embora seja preocupante, este trabalho visa fornecer dados sobre o problema do uso de drogas por motoristas, a legislacao brasileira vigente sobre drogas e direcao veicular e quais sao as medidas que podem ser adotadas para que os acidentes de trânsito relacionados ao uso de drogas sejam reduzidos. METODOS: Revisao bibliografica de trabalhos publicados nos ultimos quinze anos. RESULTADOS: Os trabalhos mais relevantes apontaram claros indicios de prejuizo na capacidade de dirigir sob efeito de drogas psicotropicas. CONCLUSOES: Todas as drogas psicotropicas causam prejuizos nas funcoes psicomotoras e riscos aumentados de envolvimento em acidentes de trânsito, sendo necessaria uma legislacao especifica que aborde esse tema. BACKGROUND: Driving is a complex task in which the driver receives, analyzes and reacts to information continuously. Substances that influence brain functions and/or mental processes involved in driving will certainly affect the driverAEs performance. Psychomotor alterations caused by illegal drugs have received growing attention in recent years as a possible threat to roadway safety. Research has shown the presence of psychoactive drugs in drivers who were killed or injured in driving accidents, and experimental studies have shown impairment in the performance of individuals under the influence of drugs. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to present data on the problem of drug abuse by drivers, the current Brazilian legislation on driving and drug abuse, and what possible measures might be adopted in order to reduce drug-related driving accidents. METHODS: The method applied was a literature review of the last fifteen years of publications. RESULTS: The most relevant publications indicate clear evidence of impairment in driving skills under the influence of psychotropic drugs. CONCLUSIONS: All psychotropic drugs cause impairment in psychomotor functions and as such, a higher risk of involvement in driving accidents, which makes specific legislation dealing with this issue necessary.
Happiness and the heart : an investigation into the mechanisms linking psychological well-being, work stress and cardiovascular disease

Prospective studies have reported that positive psychological well-being is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Direct psychobiological processes have been implicated in this association. It is unclear to what extent well-being predicts health outcomes independently of chronic stressors, such as job strain. This thesis explores associations between well-being, job strain and outcomes relevant to cardiovascular disease in four empirical studies. Two biomarkers are investigated: cortisol, a neuroendocrine marker, and blood pressure. In study one, higher positive emotions over one week predicted lower reported stress during a standardised laboratory mental stress task, lower cortisol responses and faster blood pressure recovery. In study two, cross-sectional analyses of employee surveys indicated that low positive affect could mediate associations between job strain and fatigue, but reverse associations could not be discounted. Study three showed that job strain predicted heightened evening cortisol and a flatter diurnal rhythm in shift workers. Positive affect was not associated with cortisol. The hypothesis emerged that intervening to increase well-being might reduce perceived job strain and associated physiological activation. Study four tested this hypothesis in healthy workers using a mindfulness meditation smartphone application to promote well-being. The intervention was associated with increased well-being, reduced job strain and a trend for lower blood pressure after eight weeks. Decreased negative affect, not positive affect, predicted blood pressure declines. Changes in hair cortisol concentration were not associated with the intervention or psychological outcomes. Well-being appears to predict favourable cognitive appraisals of the work environment. Frequent positive emotions may reduce autonomic activation directly or via a reduction in negative emotion. Intervention findings suggested that self-guided mindfulness meditation practice enhanced well-being in the short term but effects on blood pressure and cortisol were inconclusive. Further research to examine longer term effects on psychological and biological outcomes is warranted to determine whether mindfulness-based therapies could play a role in cardiovascular disease prevention.
Analysis of medical disputes regarding chronic pain management in the 2009–2016 period using the Korean Society of Anesthesiologists database

Background The active involvement of anesthesiologists in chronic pain management has been associated with an increase in the number of related medical dispute cases. Methods Using the Korean Society of Anesthesiologists Legislation Committee database covering case files from July 2009 to June 2016, we explored injuries and liability characteristics in a subset of cases involving chronic pain management. Results During the study period, 58 cases were eligible for final analysis. There were 27 cases related to complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), many of them involving problems with financial compensation (24/27, 88.9%). The CRPS cases showed male dominance (22 males, 5 females). In a disproportionately large number of these cases, the causative injury occurred during military training (n = 5). Two cases were associated with noninvasive pain managements, and 29 cases with invasive procedures. Of the latter group, procedures involving the spine (both neuraxial and non-neuraxial procedures) resulted in more severe complications than other procedures (P = 0.007). Seven of the patients who underwent invasive procedures died. The most common type of invasive procedures were lumbosacral procedures (16/29, 55.2%). More specifically, the most common damaging events were inadvertent intravascular or intrathecal injection of local anesthetics (n = 6). Conclusions Several characteristics of medical disputes related to chronic pain management were identified: the prevalence of injury benefit claims in CRPS patients, higher severity of complications in procedures performed at the spine or cervical region, and the preventability of inadvertent intravascular or intrathecal injection of local anesthetics.