Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shared αβ TCR Usage in Lungs of Sarcoidosis Patients with Löfgren’s Syndrome

Sarcoidosis is a granulomatous disease that primarily affects the lungs and is characterized by an accumulation of CD4+ T cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). Previous work has indicated that HLA-DRB1*03:01+ (DR3+) patients diagnosed with the acute form of the disease, Löfgren’s syndrome (LS), have an accumulation of CD4+ T cells bearing TCRs using TRAV12-1 (formerly AV2S3). However, the importance of these α-chains in disease pathogenesis and the paired TCRβ-chain remains unknown. This study aimed to identify expanded αβTCR pairs expressed on CD4+ T cells derived from the BAL of DR3+ LS patients. Using a deep-sequencing approach, we determined TCRα- and TCRβ-chain usage, as well as αβTCR pairs expressed on BAL CD4+ T cells from LS patients. TRAV12-1 and TRBV2 (formerly BV22) were the most expanded V region gene segments in DR3+ LS patients relative to control subjects, and TRAV12-1 and TRBV2 CDR3 motifs were shared among multiple DR3+ LS patients. When assessing αβTCR pairing, TRAV12-1 preferentially paired with TRBV2, and these TRAV12-1/TRBV2 TCRs displayed CDR3 homology. These findings suggest that public CD4+ TCR repertoires exist among LS patients and that these T cells are recognizing the putative sarcoidosis-associated Ag(s) in the context of DR3.
The Effect of Gluten-free Diet on Clinical Symptoms and the Intestinal Mucosa of Patients With Potential Celiac Disease

ABSTRACT In this prospective study, we evaluated the effect of gluten-free diet (GFD) in a cohort of 65 children with potential celiac disease. Patients received GFD for signs/symptoms (N = 47) or parents’ choice (N = 18). Most frequent signs/symptoms were low body mass index (36%), recurrent abdominal pain (34%), and diarrhea (19%). Of the 35/47 patients followed-up on GFD, only 54% (19/35) showed a complete clinical response. In 9 of 65 patients an intestinal biopsy was also performed after at least 1 year of GFD. No significant differences were observed in terms of Marsh grade (P = 0.33), lamina propria CD25+ cells (P = 0.80), CD3+ (P = 0.9), and &ggr;&dgr;+ (P = 0.59) intraepithelial lymphocytes density and intestinal anti-TG2 deposits (P = 0.60). In conclusion, caution is necessary before attributing all symptoms to gluten in this condition.
Citrulline Supplementation Improves Organ Perfusion and Arginine Availability under Conditions with Enhanced Arginase Activity

Enhanced arginase-induced arginine consumption is believed to play a key role in the pathogenesis of sickle cell disease-induced end organ failure. Enhancement of arginine availability with l-arginine supplementation exhibited less consistent results; however, l-citrulline, the precursor of l-arginine, may be a promising alternative. In this study, we determined the effects of l-citrulline compared to l-arginine supplementation on arginine-nitric oxide (NO) metabolism, arginine availability and microcirculation in a murine model with acutely-enhanced arginase activity. The effects were measured in six groups of mice (n = 8 each) injected intraperitoneally with sterile saline or arginase (1000 IE/mouse) with or without being separately injected with l-citrulline or l-arginine 1 h prior to assessment of the microcirculation with side stream dark-field (SDF)-imaging or in vivo NO-production with electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. Arginase injection caused a decrease in plasma and tissue arginine concentrations. l-arginine and l-citrulline supplementation both enhanced plasma and tissue arginine concentrations in arginase-injected mice. However, only the citrulline supplementation increased NO production and improved microcirculatory flow in arginase-injected mice. In conclusion, the present study provides for the first time in vivo experimental evidence that l-citrulline, and not l-arginine supplementation, improves the end organ microcirculation during conditions with acute arginase-induced arginine deficiency by increasing the NO concentration in tissues.
Long-term movement patterns of tiger sharks Galeocerdo cuvier in Hawaii

Little is known about the long-term movement patterns of most marine apex predators. A network of acoustic receivers was used to quantify the long-term movements of transmitter- equipped tiger sharks Galeocerdo cuvier Peron & Lesueur, 1822 in the Main Hawaiian Islands. Tiger sharks were wide-ranging, swam between islands and patrolled up to 109 km of contiguous coastline. Visits to specific acoustic receiver sites were typically brief (mean duration 3.3 min), unpredictable and interspersed by absences of weeks, months or years. This pattern may be an optimal foraging strategy for capturing risk-averse prey. Tiger sharks may have to move on soon after arriving in an area because the element of surprise is quickly lost and potential prey become wary and difficult to catch. Juvenile tiger sharks were significantly wider-ranging and less frequently detected than mature females. Juveniles may be avoiding predation by larger individuals, or explor- ing to find suitable home ranges. Tiger sharks may also switch movement patterns and foraging strategies to take advantage of different prey types, restricting their movements to exploit seasonally abundant and naive prey. Further empirical studies are required to directly link movement patterns with foraging.
Self-Nanoemulsifying Drug Delivery System of Lutein: Physicochemical Properties and Effect on Bioavailability of Warfarin

Objective of present study was to prepare and characterize self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) of lutein and to evaluate its effect on bioavailability of warfarin. The SNEDDS was prepared using an oil, a surfactant, and co-surfactants with optimal composition based on pseudo-ternary phase diagram. Effect of the SNEDDS on the bioavailability of warfarin was performed using Sprague Dawley rats. Lutein was successfully formulated as SNEDDS for immediate self-emulsification and dissolution by using combination of Peceol as oil, Labrasol as surfactant, and Transcutol-HP or Lutrol-E400 as co-surfactant. Almost complete dissolution was achieved after 15 min while lutein was not detectable from the lutein powder or intra-capsule content of a commercial formulation. SNEDDS formulation of lutein affected bioavailability of warfarin, showing about 10% increase in Cmax and AUC of the drug in rats while lutein as non-SNEDDS did not alter these parameters. Although exact mechanism is not yet elucidated, it appears that surfactant and co-surfactant used for SNEDDS formulation caused disturbance in the anatomy of small intestinal microvilli, leading to permeability change of the mucosal membrane. Based on this finding, it is suggested that drugs with narrow therapeutic range such as warfarin be administered with caution to avoid undesirable drug interaction due to large amount of surfactants contained in SNEDDS.
Intraspecific Trait Variation Driven by Plasticity and Ontogeny in Hypochaeris radicata

The importance of intraspecific variation in plant functional traits for structuring communities and driving ecosystem processes is increasingly recognized, but mechanisms governing this variation are less studied. Variation could be due to adaptation to local conditions, plasticity in observed traits, or ontogeny. We investigated 1) whether abiotic stress caused individuals, maternal lines, and populations to exhibit trait convergence, 2) whether trait variation was primarily due to ecotypic differences or trait plasticity, and 3) whether traits varied with ontogeny. We sampled three populations of Hypochaeris radicata that differed significantly in rosette diameter and specific leaf area (SLA). We grew nine maternal lines from each population (27 lines total) under three greenhouse conditions: ambient conditions (control), 50% drought, or 80% shade. Plant diameter and relative chlorophyll content were measured throughout the experiment, and leaf shape, root∶shoot ratio, and SLA were measured after five weeks. We used hierarchical mixed-models and variance component analysis to quantify differences in treatment effects and the contributions of population of origin and maternal line to observed variation. Observed variation in plant traits was driven primarily by plasticity. Shade significantly influenced all measured traits. Plant diameter was the only trait that had a sizable proportion of trait variation (30%) explained by population of origin. There were significant ontogenetic differences for both plant diameter and relative chlorophyll content. When subjected to abiotic stress in the form of light or water limitation, Hypochaeris radicata exhibited significant trait variability. This variation was due primarily to trait plasticity, rather than to adaptation to local conditions, and also differed with ontogeny.
Asiaticoside induces cell proliferation and collagen synthesis in human dermal fibroblasts

Background Asiatiocoside, a saponin component isolated from Centella asiatica can improve wound healing by promoting the proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) and synthesis of collagen. The skin-renewing cells and type I and III collagen synthesis decrease with aging, resulting in the reduction of skin elasticity and delayed wound healing. Usage of natural active compounds from plants in wound healing should be evaluated and compared to retinoic acid as an active agent that regulates wound healing. The aim of this study was to compare and evaluate the effect of asiaticoside and retinoic acid to induce greater cell proliferation and type I and III collagen synthesis in human dermal fibroblast. Methods Laboratory experiments were conducted using human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) isolated from human foreskin explants. Seven passages of HDF were treated with asiaticoside and retinoic acid at several doses and incubated for 24 and 48 hours. Cell viability in all groups was tested with the MTT assay to assess HDF proliferation. Type I and III collagen synthesis was examined using the respective ELISA kits. Analysis of variance was performed to compare the treatment groups. Results Asiaticoside had significantly stronger effects on HDF proliferation than retinoic acid (p<0.05). The type III collagen production was significantly greater induction with asiaticoside compared to retinoic acid (p<0.05). Conclusion Asiaticoside induces HDF proliferation and type I and III collagen synthesis in a time- and dose-dependent pattern. Asiaticoside has a similar effect as retinoic acid on type I and type III collagen synthesis.
Enhancement of electrorheological performance of electrorheological elastomers by improving TiO2 particles/silicon rubber interface

As a composite, the particle/matrix interface may play an important role in the electrorheological (ER) performance of ER elastomers, which has been overlooked in previous studies. In this study, TiO2 particles and silicon rubber were used to prepare ER elastomers. To improve the interfacial bond strength, two coupling agents, 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (A174) and triethoxyvinylsilane (VTEO), were used to modify the surface of the TiO2 particles. Particle characterization results illustrate that the coupling agent modified TiO2 particles present little change in morphology but an increase in size with respect to the bare TiO2 particles. Compared with the bare TiO2 particle filled sample, the modified TiO2 particle filled elastomers present bridging structures between the particles and the matrix, enhanced mechanical properties, and a higher dielectric constant, indicating enhanced interfacial bond strength. The viscoelastic properties of the bare and the modified TiO2 particle filled elastomers were tested and compared. The results indicated that the ER performance, including the field-induced storage modulus and the storage modulus sensitivity, can be promoted by improving the bond strength between the TiO2 particles and the silicon rubber.
Quercitrin from Ixora coccinea Leaves and its Anti-oxidant Activity

One method has been developed to isolate quercitrin from Ixora coccinea leaves, which depends on fractionation of defatted hydro-alcoholic extract by different polarity solvents followed by purification through column chromatography. Isolated quercitrin has been characterized by using UV, IR, Mass spectral data, NMR data and also confirmed by using HPTLC and elemental analysis. The isolated quercitrin was shown a challenging potency to scavenge DPPH free radicals and also nitric oxide free radicals with very low IC value. 50 Ixora coccinea is native to tropical south-east Asia, including Southern India and Sri Lanka. It has become one of the most popular 1 flowering shrubs in South Florida gardens and landscapes. The flower of Ixora traditionally used as anti-inflammatory, aromatic, antipyretic drug and useful in extensive thirst and fatigue according to Siddha literature. In the study presented, flowers of both the varieties of Ixora were pharmacologically tried in different conditions. The fresh juice of flower was used in 2 ml/100g oral 2-5 dose in the studies. Pharmacological evaluation revealed that the plant Ixora coccinea has alterative property in fatigue and thirst, protecting property against electro-convulsions, anti-inflammatory (both acute and chronic) property and haemostatic efficiency in animals. The plant does not have any effect in adjuvant induced arthritis, barbital induced sleeping time and yeast induced anti- pyretic activity in Albino rats. Generally all these disease can be occurred due to the presence of free radicals in our body and in major cases polyphenolic compounds are responsible to scavenge 3-10 free radicals from our body. As in qualitative chemical tests the presence of quercitrin was identified in different extracts of Ixora coccinea leaves, an attempt has been taken to isolate and characterize quercitrin and performed the in vitro anti-oxidant activity of the isolated quercitrin.
Factor Structure and Construct Validity of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP) in a Sample of Chinese Male Inmates

The current study examined the factor structure and convergent and discriminant validity of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy scale (LSRP) in Chinese male inmates (N = 437). The original 2-factor model, the revised 2-factor model, and the 3-factor model were tested through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Additionally, convergent and discriminant validity were examined via correlational and multiple linear regression analyses between LSRP factors and external criterion variables. Results showed that the 3-factor model fit the data better than the 2-factor model. The 3-factor model also showed reasonable convergent and discriminant validity. The findings were consistent with previous studies and suggested that the LSRP can be an effective self-report measure for assessing psychopathy in China.
An Evidence-Based Discussion of Heading the Ball and Concussions in High School Soccer.

IMPORTANCE Soccer, originally introduced as a safer sport for children and adolescents, has seen a rapid increase in popularity in the United States over the past 3 decades. Recently, concerns have been raised regarding the safety of soccer ball heading (when an athlete attempts to play the ball in the air with his or her head) given the rise in concussion rates, with some calling for a ban on heading among soccer players younger than 14 years. OBJECTIVES To evaluate trends over time in boys' and girls' soccer concussions, to identify injury mechanisms commonly leading to concussions, to delineate soccer-specific activities during which most concussions occur, to detail heading-related soccer concussion mechanisms, and to compare concussion symptom patterns by injury mechanism. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Retrospective analysis of longitudinal surveillance data collected from 2005-2006 through 2013-2014 in a large, nationally representative sample of US high schools. Participants were boys and girls who were high school soccer players. EXPOSURES Concussions sustained during high school-sanctioned soccer games and practices. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Mechanism and sport-specific activity of concussion. RESULTS Overall, 627 concussions were sustained during 1,393,753 athlete exposures (AEs) among girls (4.50 concussions per 10,000 AEs), and 442 concussions were sustained during 1,592,238 AEs among boys (2.78 concussions per 10,000 AEs). For boys (68.8%) and girls (51.3%), contact with another player was the most common concussion mechanism. Heading was the most common soccer-specific activity, responsible for 30.6% of boys' concussions and 25.3% of girls' concussions. Contact with another player was the most common mechanism of injury in heading-related concussions among boys (78.1%) and girls (61.9%). There were few differences in concussion symptom patterns by injury mechanism. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Although heading is the most common activity associated with concussions, the most frequent mechanism was athlete-athlete contact. Such information is needed to drive evidence-based, targeted prevention efforts to effectively reduce soccer-related concussions. Although banning heading from youth soccer would likely prevent some concussions, reducing athlete-athlete contact across all phases of play would likely be a more effective way to prevent concussions as well as other injuries.
Seeping Semantics: Linking Datasets Using Word Embeddings for Data Discovery

Employees that spend more time finding relevant data than analyzing it suffer from a data discovery problem. The large volume of data in enterprises, and sometimes the lack of knowledge of the schemas aggravates this problem. Similar to how we navigate the Web, we propose to identify semantic links that assist analysts in their discovery tasks. These links relate tables to each other, to facilitate navigating the schemas. They also relate data to external data sources, such as ontologies and dictionaries, to help explain the schema meaning. We materialize the links in an enterprise knowledge graph, where they become available to analysts. The main challenge is how to find pairs of objects that are semantically related. We propose SEMPROP, a DAG of different components that find links based on syntactic and semantic similarities. SEMPROP is commanded by a semantic matcher which leverages word embeddings to find objects that are semantically related. We introduce coherent group, a technique to combine word embeddings that works better than other state of the art combination alternatives. We implement SEMPROP as part of Aurum, a data discovery system we are building, and conduct user studies, real deployments and a quantitative evaluation to understand the benefits of links for data discovery tasks, as well as the benefits of SEMPROP and coherent groups to find those links.
Mortality in Code Blue; can APACHE II and PRISM scores be used as markers for prognostication?

BACKGROUND Code blue (CB) is an emergency call system developed to respond to cardiac and respiratory arrest in hospitals. However, in literature, no scoring system has been reported that can predict mortality in CB procedures. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of estimated APACHE II and PRISM scores in the prediction of mortality in patients assessed using CB to retrospectively analyze CB calls. METHODS We retrospectively examined 1195 patients who were evaluated by the CB team at our hospital between 2009 and 2013. The demographic data of the patients, diagnosis and relevant de-partments, reasons for CB, cardiopulmonary resuscitation duration, mortality calculated from the APACHE II and PRISM scores, and the actual mortality rates were retrospectively record-ed from CB notification forms and the hospital database. RESULTS In all age groups, there was a significant difference between actual mortality rate and the expected mortality rate as estimated using APACHE II and PRISM scores in CB calls (p<0.05). The actual mortality rate was significantly lower than the expected mortality. CONCLUSION APACHE and PRISM scores with the available parameters will not help predict mortality in CB procedures. Therefore, novels scoring systems using different parameters are needed.
Levels of toxic metals in Telefairia occidentalis from a paint industry environment

Analyses of samples of the plant Telfairia occidentalis grown on soils receiving paint waste were carried out for five metals (Zn, Pb, Cd, Cu and Cr) using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). Similar analyses were carried out for the same metals in samples of the plant from background soils. The results obtained showed higher levels of Zn and Cr in samples from soils receiving paint waste than in those from background soils. On the other hand, levels of Pb and Cu were higher in samples from background soils than those from soils receiving paint waste. The possible reason for this abnormality is given in the text. The degrees of accumulation of these metals in the samples of the paint from soils receiving paint waste in relation to their background values were as follows: Zn (1.10), Pb (0.34), Cd (0.00), Cu (0.80) and Cr (2.98) respectively. The effects these metals may likely have on animals and humans have been discussed based on the results, national and international standards as well as on available literature. Recommendations on possible methods of monitoring and controlling the distribution of these metals in the environment have been made. Journal of Applied Chemistry and Agricultural Research Vol. 1 (1) 1994: pp. 35-42