Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intraluminal “balloonless” air tonometry: A new method for determination of gastrointestinal mucosal carbon dioxide tension

Objective: To determine if air introduced directly into the lumen of a hollow viscus can be used instead of fluid in a Silastic balloon to estimate gastrointestinal mucosal Pco2. Design: Prospective, unblinded comparison of two methods of mucosal Pco2 measurement. Setting: Animal surgery suite at a large, university‐affiliated medical center. Interventions: Standard, commercially available, tonometric catheters were positioned in the ileum (n = 4) or the stomach and ileum (n = 12) of anesthetized, immature Yorkshire swine. Using gas‐tight purse‐string sutures, plastic cannulas were inserted into the lumen of the stomach (n = 12) and the lumen of a 10‐cm isolated segment of ileum (n = 16). Data were collected after equilibration periods of 30 or 60 mins. Before each equilibration period, the “air tonometers” (i.e., the lumens of the stomach and/or the isolated ileal segment) were lavaged with 200 mL (stomach) or 20 mL (ileum) of air. In group 1 (n = 4) and group 2 (n = 3), graded degrees of mesenteric hypoperfusion were achieved by mechanical mesenteric occlusion or pericardial tamponade, respectively. In group 3 (n = 8), graded degrees of respiratory acidosis were induced. At various intervals, Pco2 was determined simultaneously in arterial blood, gastric air, saline from the gastric tonometric balloon, ileal air, and saline from the ileal tonometric balloon. Measurements and Main Results: In pigs with ischemia created by mesenteric vascular occlusion (group 1), there was a moderate coi‐relation between Pco2 values in air samples from the ileal lumen and samples of saline from the standard tonometer (r2 = .61, p < .001). In pigs with mesenteric ischemia secondary to pericardial tamponade (group 2), air and saline tonometry were well‐correlated in the stomach (r2 = .71, p < .001) and ileum (r2 = .83, p < .001). In pigs with normal mesenteric perfusion (group 3) and Paco2 >40 torr (5.3 kPa), Paco2 correlated with ileal mucosal Pco2, determined using air (r2 = .93, p < .001) or saline (r2 = .91, p < .001) tonometry, or gastric mucosal Pco2, determined using air (r2 = 1.00, p < .001) or saline (r2 = .97, p < .001) tonometry. Values obtained by air tonometry were highly correlated with values obtained using standard saline tonometry in the stomach (r2 = .98,p < .001; bias = ‐5 ± 5 torr [‐0.65 ± 0.65 kPa]) or ileum (r2 = .96, p < .001; bias = 1 ± 9 torr [0.13 ± 1.17 kPa]). Conclusions: a) Under stable hemodynamic and respiratory conditions, air tonometry (which, in theory, can be performed using a conventional nasogastric or nasoenteric feeding tube) estimates gastrointestinal mucosal Pco2 as accurately as standard saline tonometry in the stomach or ileum; b) respiratory acidosis leads to tissue hypercarbia, a phenomenon that must be considered when tonometry is used to guide therapy in the clinical setting; c) under stable, nonischemic conditions, gastric or intestinal tonometry can be used to estimate Paco2. (Crit Care Med 1994; 22:126‐134)
Pervanadate-induced nuclear factor-kappaB activation requires tyrosine phosphorylation and degradation of IkappaBalpha. Comparison with tumor necrosis factor-alpha.

Tumor necrosis factor activates nuclear transcription factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) by inducing serine phosphorylation of the inhibitory subunit of NF-kappaB (IkappaBalpha), which leads to its ubiquitination and degradation. In contrast, pervanadate (PV) activates NF-kappaB and induces tyrosine phosphorylation of IkappaBalpha (Singh, S., Darney, B. G., and Aggarwal, B. B. (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 31049-31054; Imbert, V. , Rupec, R. A. , Antonia, L. , Pahl, H. L. , Traenckner, E. B. -M. , Mueller-Dieckmann, C. , Farahifar, D. , Rossi, B. , Auderger, P., Baeuerle, P. A. , and Peyron, J.-F. (1996) Cell 86, 787-798). Whether PV also induces IkappaBalpha degradation and whether degradation is required for NF-kappaB activation are not understood. We investigated the effect of PV-induced tyrosine phosphorylation on IkappaBalpha degradation and NF-kappaB activation. PV activated NF-kappaB, as determined by DNA binding, NF-kappaB-dependent reporter gene expression, and phosphorylation and degradation of IkappaBalpha. Maximum degradation of IkappaBalpha occurred at 180 min, followed by NF-kappaB-dependent IkappaBalpha resynthesis. N-Acetylleucylleucylnorlucinal, a proteasome inhibitor, blocked both IkappaBalpha degradation and NF-kappaB activation, suggesting that the IkappaBalpha degradation is required for NF-kappaB activation. PV did not induce serine phosphorylation of IkappaBalpha but induced phosphorylation at tyrosine residue 42. Unlike tumor necrosis factor (TNF), PV did not induce ubiquitination of IkappaBalpha. Like TNF, however, PV induced phosphorylation and degradation of IkappaBalpha, and subsequent NF-kappaB activation, which could be blocked by N-tosyl-L-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone, calpeptin, and pyrrolidine dithiocarbomate, suggesting a close link between PV-induced NF-kappaB activation and IkappaBalpha degradation. Overall, our studies demonstrate that PV activates NF-kappaB, which, unlike TNF, requires tyrosine phosphorylation of IkappaBalpha and its degradation.
Exosomal membrane molecules are potent immune response modulators

Exosomes are endosome-derived vesicles (40-100nm) formed during the formation of multi-vesicular bodies (MVBs). Occasionally, the MVBs fuse with the plasma membrane releasing their intra-luminal vesicles into the extracellular media, which are then known as exosomes. Different cell types such as B-cells, dendritic cells, platelets, reticulocytes and macrophages can release exosomes and current research in this area is more focused towards exosomes released by antigen-presenting cells. Exosomes have recently been shown to be immunomodulatory and the mechanism of immune response initiation by them is beginning to emerge. Besides molecules present inside the lumen of exosomes, it has been suggested that certain exosomal membrane molecules can interact with their surface receptors on the target cells thereby inducing an immunomodulatory response. In this review, Hsp70 and galectin-5, two immunogenic molecules present on exosomal membrane, are discussed in detail for initiating this response.
The Incidence of Japanese Encephalitis in Taiwan—A Population-Based Study

Background A mass Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccination program targeting children was launched in Taiwan in 1968, and the number of pediatric JE cases substantially decreased thereafter. The aim of this study was to elucidate the long-term trend of JE incidence, and to investigate the age-specific seroprevalence of JE-neutralizing antibodies. Methodology/Principal Findings A total of 2,948 laboratory-confirmed JE cases that occurred between 1966 and 2012 were analyzed using a mandatory notification system managed by the Centers for Disease Control, Taiwan. A total of 6,594 randomly-sampled serum specimens obtained in a nationwide population-based survey in 2002 were analyzed to estimate the seroprevalence of JE-neutralizing antibodies in the general population. The average annual JE incidence rate of the group aged 30 years and older was 0.167 cases per 100,000 people between 2001 and 2012, which was higher than the 0.052 cases per 100,000 people among those aged under 30 years. These seroepidemiological findings indicate that the cohort born between 1963 and 1975, who generally received two or three doses of the vaccine and were administered the last booster dose more than 20 years ago, exhibited the lowest positive rate of JE-neutralizing antibodies (54%). The highest and second highest antibody rates were observed, respectively, in the oldest unvaccinated cohort (86%) and in the youngest cohort born between 1981 and 1986, who received four doses 10–15 years ago (74%). Conclusion/Significance Over the past decade, the main age group of the confirmed JE cases in Taiwan shifted from young children to adults over 30 years of age. People who were born between 1963 and 1975 exhibited the lowest seroprevalence of JE-neutralizing antibodies. Thus, the key issue for JE control in Taiwan is to reduce adult JE cases through a cost-effective analysis of various immunization strategies.
A Rigorous Numerical Method for the Global Analysis of Infinite-Dimensional Discrete Dynamical Systems

We present a numerical method to prove certain statements about the global dynamics of infinite-dimensional maps. The method combines set-oriented numerical tools for the computation of invariant sets and isolating neighborhoods, the Conley index theory, and analytic considerations. It not only allows for the detection of a certain dynamical behavior, but also for a precise computation of the corresponding invariant sets in phase space. As an example computation we show the existence of period points, connecting orbits, and chaotic dynamics in the Kot--Schaffer growth-dispersal model for plants.
Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: The Case of Mormon Women

Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse who are members of patriarchal religions face a particular challenge because church teachings and interactions with church members may present barriers to the full recognition and healing of their abuse. This article reports on a study of the experiences of 71 Mormon women survivors of abuse in their dealings with church leaders and the women's responses to these interactions.
FimH family of type 1 fimbrial adhesins: functional heterogeneity due to minor sequence variations among fimH genes

We recently reported that the type 1-fimbriated Escherichia coli strains CSH-50 and HB101(pPKL4), both K-12 derivatives, have different patterns of adhesion to yeast mannan, human plasma fibronectin, and fibronectin derivatives, suggesting functional heterogeneity of type 1 fimbriae. In this report, we provide evidence that this functional heterogeneity is due to variations in the fimH genes. We also investigated functional heterogeneity among clinical isolates and whether variation in fimH genes accounts for differences in receptor specificity. Twelve isolates obtained from human urine were tested for their ability to adhere to mannan, fibronectin, periodate-treated fibronectin, and a synthetic peptide copying the 30 amino-terminal residues of fibronectin. CSH-50 and HB101(pPKL4) were tested for comparison. Selected isolates were also tested for adhesion to purified fragments spanning the entire fibronectin molecule. Three distinct functional classes, designated M, MF, and MFP, were observed. The fimH genes were amplified by PCR from chromosomal DNA obtained from representative strains and expressed in a delta fim strain (AAEC191A) transformed with a recombinant plasmid containing the entire fim gene cluster but with a translational stop-linker inserted into the fimH gene (pPKL114). Cloned fimH genes conferred on AAEC191A(pPKL114) receptor specificities mimicking those of the parent strains from which the fimH genes were obtained, demonstrating that the FimH subunits are responsible for the functional heterogeneity. Representative fimH genes were sequenced, and the deduced amino acid sequences were compared with the previously published FimH sequence. Allelic variants exhibiting >98% homology and encoding proteins differing by as little as a single amino acid substitution confer distinct adhesive phenotypes. This unexpected adhesive diversity within the FimH family broadens the scope of potential receptors for enterobacterial adhesion and may lead to a fundamental change in our understanding of the role(s) that type 1 fimbriae may play in enterobacterial ecology or pathogenesis.
Initial Public Offerings as a Web of Conflicts of Interest: An Empirical Assessment

Abstract: While a ubiquitous phenomenon, initial public offerings (IPOs) have received no attention in the ethics literature. We provide an overview of a series of potential conflicts of interest that pervade the IPO process. We also report the results of an empirical assessment of IPOs and those elements that may inform a substantive moral hazard faced by key players in the period prior to and just after an IPO.
Implantable Bioelectronics for Real-time in vivo Recordings of Enteric Neural Activity

The enteric nervous system represents a primary point of contact for a host of factors that influence bodily health and behavior. This division of the autonomic nervous system is unique in both its extensivity, with neurons distributed throughout the gastrointestinal tract from the esophagus to the rectum, and its capability for local information processing. Here, we show the construction and validation of a bioelectronic device to access neural information produced and processed in the gastrointestinal tract. We designed an implant and concurrent surgical procedure to place a neural recording device within the wall of the colon of rodents. We captured complex multi-frequency electrophysiological responses to neural stimulants and show that we can record activity in the context of mechanical activity mimicking gut motility. We also show the feasibility of utilizing this device for recording colonic activity in freely-moving animals. This work represents a step forward in devising functional bioelectronic devices for understanding the complex pathways of the gut-brain axis. One-Sentence Summary Bioelectronic device for real-time collection of neural information from the enteric nervous system.
Promoting Health and Innovative Health Promotion Practice Through a Community Arts Centre

The salubrious effects of participation in and exposure to the arts are well documented. This paper describes the development of a unique arts centre established in a disadvantaged urban school setting as part of a larger community-based health promotion research project. The discussion highlights how community-based arts programming may impact health not only through positive effects on “upstream” non-medical health determinants, particularly aspects of social support, but also through its ability to facilitate the more traditional health-promotion initiatives of the larger parent project. Also discussed is this centre's potential to act as a catalyst to achieve the overarching project goal of enhanced community health by building constitutive capacity around positive aspects of the community, rather than focusing on capacity only as an instrumental resource to solve social or health problems. Greater incorporation of the arts within health-promotion projects offers potential to enhance both health promotion practice and outcomes.
The 25th Bartlett Lecture

In this review, a description is offered of the way actions are represented, how these representations are built, and how their content can be accessed by the agent and by other agents. Such a description will appear critical for understanding how an action is attributed to its proper origin, or, in other words, how a subject can make a conscious judgement about who the agent of that action is (an agency judgement). This question is central to the problem of self-consciousness: Action is one of the main channels used for communication between individuals, so that determining the agent of an action contributes to differentiating the self from others.
Eecient Temporal Processing with Biologically Realistic Dynamic Synapses

Synapses play a central role in neural computation: the strengths of synaptic connections determine the function of a neural circuit. In conventional models of computation, synaptic strength is assumed to be a static quantity that changes only on the slow time scale of learning. In biological systems, however, synaptic strength undergoes dynamic modulation on rapid time scales through mechanisms such as short term facilitation and depression. Here we describe a general model of computation that exploits dynamic synapses, and use a backpropagation-like algorithm to adjust the synaptic parameters. We show that such gradient descent suuces to approximate a given quadratic lter by a rather small neural system with dynamic synapses. We demonstrate that with this approach the nonlinear lter considered in (Back and Tsoi, 1993) can be approximated even better than by their model. Our numerical results are complemented by theoretical analysis which show that even with just a single hidden layer such networks can approximate a surprisingly large large class of nonlinear lters: all lters that can be characterized by Volterra series. This result is robust with regard to various changes in the model for synaptic dynamics.
Children's Comprehension of Referential Communication: Decoding Ambiguous Messages.

BEARISON, DAVID J., and LEVEY, LINDA M. Children's Comprehension of Referential Communication: Decoding Ambiguous Messages. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 716-720. The present study assessed children's (kindergarten, second, and fourth graders) ability to decode ambiguous and unambiguous verbal messages using standardized procedures. In ambiguous messages, questions were posed using pronouns without indicating their referents. Dependent measures consisted of children's judgments of the quality of the messages and their response latencies. Findings indicated that the ability to distinguish between ambiguous and unambiguous messages increased with age and that response latencies reflected levels of decoding ability.
The Middle Way: East Asian Master's Students' Perceptions of Critical Argumentation in U.K. Universities

This article explores the learning experiences of East Asian master's students in dealing with Western academic norms of critical thinking in classroom debate and assignment writing. The research takes a cultural approach and employs grounded theory and case study methodology. The aim is for students to explain their own perceptions of their learning journeys and tell their own stories through in-depth interviews. The data suggest that the majority of students interviewed rejected full academic acculturation into Western norms of argumentation. They instead opted for a “Middle Way” that synergizes the traditional cultural academic values held by many East Asian students with those elements of Western academic norms that are perceived to be aligned with these. This is a relatively new area of research, which represents a challenge for British lecturers and students.
Iceberg detection using analysis of the received polarization ellipse in compact polarimetry

Iceberg monitoring, as well as maritime surveillance in general, is an important application of synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Compact polarimetry offers the potential for improved detection performance compared to traditional linear dualpol SAR. The Radarsat Constellation, Canada's next Radarsat satellite, will collect compact polarimetric data in a variety of imaging modes. Using Radarsat-2 fine-quad mode data we have simulated Radarsat Constellation data and calculated the detection performance of the compact data using 25 validated iceberg locations in the Labrador Sea. We also propose a method through which the shape and orientation of the received polarization ellipse in the compact polarimetric data can be used to improve the detection performance.
Factors related to Happiness in First year Women Nursing Students.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors related to happiness in first year women nursing students. Methods: The sample consisted of 209 first year women nursing students in three colleges located in S and C cities. Data were collected during October and November 2011. The major variables for this study were depression, self-esteem, optimism, interpersonal relation, and happiness. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, correlation coefficient, and multiple stepwise regression with SPSS/WIN 17.0. Results: There were significant differences in student happiness according to economic status, satisfaction with major, satisfaction with the present college, and health status. Happiness was significantly correlated with depression, self-esteem, optimism, and interpersonal relations. Self-esteem, optimism, interpersonal relations, and satisfaction with major were significant predictors of happiness for first year women nursing students and these four factors accounted for 71% of the variance in happiness. Conclusion: Self-esteem, optimism, interpersonal relations, and satisfaction with major should be considered when addressing ways to increase happiness in first year women nursing students.
Low-dose CT for patients with clinically suspected acute appendicitis: optimal strength of sinogram affirmed iterative reconstruction for image quality and diagnostic performance

Background As there is increased concern over the radiation exposure particularly in adolescents and young adults, computed tomography (CT) dose reduction is needed in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. Purpose To evaluate the optimal strength of sinogram affirmed iterative reconstruction (SAFIRE) to obtain the best image quality on a 30-mAs applied low-dose CT (LDCT30mAs) and to compare the diagnostic performances of the LDCT30mAs with different SAFIRE strengths with that of the 100-mAs applied LDCT (LDCT100mAs) for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. Material and Methods A total of 102 consecutive patients (47 men, 55 women; mean age, 41.2 years; range, 15–82 years) with right lower quadrant pain underwent abdominal-pelvic CT, consisting of arterial phase LDCT100mAs and portal venous phase LDCT30mAs under a fixed 120 kV. LDCT30mAs images were reconstructed separately with five strength levels (S1–S5). Two blinded radiologists recorded scores for the subjective image quality of the LDCT30mAs dataset (S0–S5) and confidence scores for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis on each dataset and LDCT100mAs. CT image noise was measured for each set. Results The study population consisted of 58 patients with confirmed appendicitis and 44 without appendicitis. There was no significant difference in diagnostic performance between LDCT100mAs and LDCT30mAs with any strength for both readers (AUC for reader 1, LDCT30mAs with S0–S5 = 0.97, LDCT100mAs = 0.93, P = 0.0936; for reader 2, LDCT30mAs with S0–S5 = 0.96, LDCT100mAs = 0.97, P = 0.128). The measured noise decreased as the strength increased from S0 to S5 (mean, 20.8 > 17.7 > 15.6 > 13.5 > 11.5 > 9.5, P < 0.0001). However, overall subjective image quality on S3 was better than the other strengths for both readers (S0 < S1 < S2 < S3 > S4 > S5, P < 0.0001). Conclusion Although measured noise declined as SAFIRE strength increased, S3 seems optimal for the best subjective image quality on LDCT30mAs. The diagnostic performance of LDCT30mAs with any strength is comparable to that of LDCT100mAs for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis.