Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Both Insulin Resistance and Diabetes in Psammomys obesus Upregulate the Hepatic Machinery Involved in Intracellular VLDL Assembly

Objective—In the current study, we examined the mechanisms that regulate hepatic apolipoprotein B (apoB)–containing lipoprotein secretion in Psammomys obesus, a good animal model for the investigation of insulin resistance and diabetes. Methods and Results—When fed chow ad libitum, 22% maintained normoglycemia and normoinsulinemia (group A), 33% exhibited normoglycemia and appreciable hyperinsulinemia (group B), and 45% developed overt diabetes (group C). Body weight gain, plasma free fatty acid elevation, hypertriglyceridemia, and hypercholesterolemia characterized groups B and C. Triton WR-1339 injection, at fasting, resulted in higher plasma VLDL-triglyceride and VLDL-apoB accumulation in groups B and C, suggesting increased VLDL production by the liver. Pulse-chase labeling experiments in cultured hepatocytes with [35S]methionine revealed reduced intracellular degradation and enhanced secretion of newly synthesized apoB in groups B and C. Concomitant with the raised triglyceride and cholesterol contents in the livers of groups B and C, there was an increase in lipogenesis and in the activity of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein, monoacylglycerol acyltransferase, and diacylglycerol transferase. Pretreatment of hepatocytes with proteasomal inhibitors eliminated the differences in apoB secretion among groups A, B, and C. Conclusions—Our data indicate that both insulin resistance and diabetes triggered the intracellular machinery involved in VLDL assembly and secretion.
A BCM Theory of Meta-Plasticity for Online Self-Reorganizing Fuzzy-Associative Learning

Self-organizing neurofuzzy approaches have matured in their online learning of fuzzy-associative structures under time-invariant conditions. To maximize their operative value for online reasoning, these self-sustaining mechanisms must also be able to reorganize fuzzy-associative knowledge in real-time dynamic environments. Hence, it is critical to recognize that they would require self-reorganizational skills to rebuild fluid associative structures when their existing organizations fail to respond well to changing circumstances. In this light, while Hebbian theory (Hebb, 1949) is the basic computational framework for associative learning, it is less attractive for time-variant online learning because it suffers from stability limitations that impedes unlearning. Instead, this paper adopts the Bienenstock-Cooper-Munro (BCM) theory of neurological learning via meta-plasticity principles (Bienenstock et al., 1982) that provides for both online associative and dissociative learning. For almost three decades, BCM theory has been shown to effectively brace physiological evidence of synaptic potentiation (association) and depression (dissociation) into a sound mathematical framework for computational learning. This paper proposes an interpretation of the BCM theory of meta-plasticity for an online self-reorganizing fuzzy-associative learning system to realize online-reasoning capabilities. Experimental findings are twofold: 1) the analysis using S&P-500 stock index illustrated that the self-reorganizing approach could follow the trajectory shifts in the time-variant S&P-500 index for about 60 years, and 2) the benchmark profiles showed that the fuzzy-associative approach yielded comparable results with other fuzzy-precision models with similar online objectives.
Nonelectrolyte Penetration and Sodium Fluxes through the Axolemma of Resting and Stimulated Medium Sized Axons of the Squid Doryteuthis plei

The penetration of 14C-labeled erythritol, mannitol, and sucrose through the axolemma was determined in medium sized paired axons, one at rest and the other stimulated 25 times per sec. The resting permeabilities, in 10-7 cm/sec, are erythritol, 2.9 ± 0.3 (mean ± SEM); mannitol, 2.3 ± 0.4; and sucrose 0.9 ± 0.1. In the stimulated axons they are: erythritol, 5.2 ± 0.3; mannitol, 4.0 ± 0.5; and sucrose, 1.8 ± 0.3. Thus, the calculated permeabilities during activity (1 msec per impulse), in the same units, are: 100, 75, and 38, respectively. These changes in permeability are reversible. The effects of external potassium and sodium concentrations on erythritol penetration were also studied. At rest, erythritol penetration is independent of potassium and sodium concentrations. In the stimulated axons, erythritol penetration decreases when the extracellular sodium is diminished. Sodium influx (not the efflux) decreases during rest and activity when the extracellular sodium is diminished. The diminution during activity of erythritol and sodium entries in low sodium solutions may be related to a decrease of a drag effect of sodium ions on the nonelectrolyte molecules or to independent effects of the sodium concentration on sodium influx and the nonelectrolyte pathways. The axolemma discriminates among erythritol, mannitol, sucrose, and the different ionic species during rest and activity.
Oblivious Decision Trees, Graphs, and Top-Down Pruning

We describe a supervised learning algorithm, EODG that uses mutual information to build an oblivious decision tree. The tree is then converted to an Oblivious read-Once Decision Graph (OODG) by merging nodes at the same level of the tree. For domains that art appropriate for both decision trees and OODGs, performance is approximately the same as that of C4.5), but the number of nodes in the OODG is much smaller. The merging phase that converts the oblivious decision tree to an OODG provides a new way of dealing with the replication problem and a new pruning mechanism that works top down starting from the root. The pruning mechanism is well suited for finding symmetries and aids in recovering from splits on irrelevant features that may happen during the tree construction.
Defining the Bobath concept using the Delphi technique.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Bobath concept, based on the work of Berta and Karel Bobath, offers therapists working in the field of neurological rehabilitation a framework for their clinical interventions. It is the most commonly used approach in the UK. Although they recognize that over the last half-century the concept has undergone considerable developments, proponents of the Bobath concept have been criticized for not publishing these changes. The aim of the present study was to use the Delphi technique to enable experts in the field to define the current Bobath concept. METHOD A four-round Delphi study design was used. The sample included all members of the British Bobath Tutor's Association, who are considered experts in the field. Initial statements were identified from the literature, with respondents generating additional statements during the study. The level of agreement was determined using a five-point Likert scale. The respondents were then provided with feedback on group opinions and given an opportunity to re-rate each statement. The level of group consensus was set at 80%. RESULTS Fifteen experts took part. The response rate was 85% in the first round, and 93% in each subsequent round. Ten statements from the literature were rated with a further 12 generated by the experts. Thirteen statements achieved consensus for agreement and seven for disagreement. CONCLUSIONS The Delphi study was an effective research tool, maintaining anonymity of responses and exploring expert opinions on the Bobath concept. The experts stated that Bobath's work has been misunderstood if it is considered as the inhibition of spasticity and the facilitation of normal movement, as described in some literature. They agreed that the Bobath concept was developed by the Bobaths as a living concept, understanding that as therapists' knowledge base grows their view of treatment broadens.
Elimination of bioelectrical source overlapping effects from the EEG measurements

The transmission of electric fields from a primary bioelectric source through biological tissue towards measurement sensors is known as the volume conduction. This phenomenon is widely exploited in many biosensors used for the measurement of bioelectromagnetism. One example of such sensors is an electroencephalograph (EEG) used for the recording and monitoring the bioelectrical activity of brain. Raw EEG scalp potentials are characterized by weak spatial resolution. Owing to the volume conduction there is an overlapping of the contribution to each electrode from neighboring bioelectrical sources. Due to described reasons, multichannel EEG recordings tend to provide an unclear image of the activity of brain. In this study the performance of algorithms based on spatial filtering in the task of eliminating source overlapping from EEG-based BCI system is examined and compared. The algorithms of choice are Common Average Reference (CAR), Surface Laplacian (SL), Common Spatial Pattern (CSP) and Filter Bank Common Spatial Pattern (FBCSP). Additionally, a new approach to feature selection and knowledge extraction from BCI models is proposed. For that purpose criterion based on the Gini variable importance evaluation, commonly performed by the Random Forests algorithm, is used. For the better performance evaluation of proposed approaches, their effectiveness is tested during the classification of the dataset IVa provided for the “BCI Competition III” organized by the Berlin Brain-Computer Interface group.
Enhancing cell migration in shape-memory alginate–collagen composite scaffolds: In vitro and ex vivo assessment for intervertebral disc repair

Lower lumbar disc disorders pose a significant problem in an aging society with substantial socioeconomic consequences. Both inner tissue (nucleus pulposus) and outer tissue (annulus fibrosus) of the intervertebral disc are affected by such debilitating disorders and can lead to disc herniation and lower back pain. In this study, we developed an alginate–collagen composite porous scaffold with shape-memory properties to fill defects occurring in annulus fibrosus tissue of degenerated intervertebral discs, which has the potential to be administered using minimal invasive surgery. In the first part of this work, we assessed how collagen incorporation on preformed alginate scaffolds influences the physical properties of the final composite scaffold. We also evaluated the ability of annulus fibrosus cells to attach, migrate, and proliferate on the composite alginate–collagen scaffolds compared to control scaffolds (alginate only). In vitro experiments, performed in intervertebral disc-like microenvironmental conditions (low glucose and low oxygen concentrations), revealed that for alginate only scaffolds, annulus fibrosus cells agglomerated in clusters with limited infiltration and migration capacity. In comparison, for alginate–collagen scaffolds, annulus fibrosus cells readily attached and colonized constructs, while preserving their typical fibroblastic-like cell morphology with spreading behavior and intense cytoskeleton expression. In a second part of this study, we investigated the effects of alginate–collagen scaffold when seeded with bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells. In vitro, we observed that alginate–collagen porous scaffolds supported cell proliferation and extracellular matrix deposition (collagen type I), with secretion amplified by the local release of transforming growth factor-β3. In addition, when cultured in ex vivo organ defect model, alginate–collagen scaffolds maintained viability of transplanted mesenchymal stem cells for up to 5 weeks. Taken together, these findings illustrate the advantages of incorporating collagen as a means to enhance cell migration and proliferation in porous scaffolds which could be used to augment tissue repair strategies.
Alcohol exposure impairs myeloid dendritic cell function in rhesus macaques.

BACKGROUND Alcohol intoxication suppresses both the innate and adaptive immunities. Dendritic cells (DCs) are the major cell type bridging the innate and acquired immune responses. At the present time, the effects of alcohol on DC development in hematopoietic tissues and the functional activities of DCs are incompletely elucidated. This study investigated the impact of chronic alcohol exposure on the alteration of hematopoietic precursor cell and DC populations in the bone marrow and peripheral blood of rhesus macaques. METHODS Rhesus macaques were administered alcohol or isocaloric sucrose daily for a period of 3 months through surgically implanted gastric catheters. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and bone marrow cells (BMCs) were isolated for flow cytometric analysis after 3 months. Monocytes were cultured with human IL-4 (10 ng/ml) and GM-CSF (50 ng/ml) in the absence and presence of alcohol (50 mM). On day 6 of the culture, a cocktail of stimulants including IL-1beta (18 ng), IL-6 (1800 U), TNF-alpha (18 ng), and PGE(2) (1.8 microg) were added to the designated wells for transformation of immature dendritic cells (iDCs) to mature myeloid DCs. The cells were analyzed on day 8 by flow cytometry for expression of DC costimulatory molecule expression. RESULTS EtOH-treated animals had significantly lower numbers of myeloid DCs (lineage-HLA-DR+CD11c+CD123-) in both the PBMCs and BMCs compared to controls (5,654 +/- 1,273/10(6) vs. 2,353 +/- 660/10(6) PBMCs and 503 +/- 34 vs. 195 +/- 44/10(6) BMCs). Under culture conditions, the number of lineage-HLA-DR+CD83+ cells was low in control wells (0.38 +/- 0.08%). Alcohol inhibited the increase in the number of lineage-HLA-DR+CD83+ cells in iDC wells (2.30 +/- 0.79% vs. 5.73 +/- 1.40%). Alcohol also inhibited the increase in the number of lineage-HLA-DR+CD83+ cells in mature DC wells (1.23 +/- 0.15% vs. 4.13 +/- 0.62%). CONCLUSIONS Chronic EtOH decreases the bone marrow and circulating pools of myeloid DCs. Additionally, EtOH suppresses costimulatory molecule CD83 expression during DC transformation, which may attenuate the ability of DCs to initiate T-cell expansion.
A New Spontaneously Diabetic Non-obese Torii Rat Strain With Severe Ocular Complications

A new spontaneously diabetic strain of the Sprague-Dawley rat was established in 1997 and named the SDT (Spontaneously Diabetic Torii) rat. In this research, we investigated the characteristics of the disease condition in the SDT rats. The time of onset of glucosuria was different between male and female SDT rats; glucosuria appeared at approximately 20 weeks of age in male rats and at approximately 45 weeks of age in female rats. A cumulative incidence of diabetes of 100% was noted by 40 weeks of age in male rats, while it was only 33.3% even by 65 weeks of age in female rats. The survival rate up to 65 weeks of age was 92.9% in male rats and 97.4% in female rats. Glucose intolerance was observed in male rats from 16 weeks of age. The clinical characteristics of the male SDT rats were (1) hyperglycemia and hypoinsulinemia (from 25 weeks of age); (2) long-term survival without insulin treatment; (3) hypertriglyceridemia (by 35 weeks of age); however, no obesity was noted in any of the male rats. The histopathological characteristics of the male rats with diabetes mellitus (DM) were (1) fibrosis of the pancreatic islets (by 25 weeks of age); (2) cataract (by 40 weeks of age); (3) tractional retinal detachment with fibrous proliferation (by 70 weeks of age) and (4) massive hemorrhaging in the anterior chamber (by 77 weeks of age). These clinical and histopathological characteristics of the disease in SDT rats resemble those of human Type 2 diabetes with insulin hyposecretion. In conclusion, SDT rat is considered to be a potentially useful model for studies of diabetic retinopathy encountered in humans.
Measurement and analytics on social groups of device-to-device sharing in mobile social networks

Recently many studies demonstrate that exploiting the Device-to-Device (D2D) content sharing in offline Mobile Social Networks (MSNs) is a promising solution to offload cellular data to local connectivities in proximity to reduce the duplicated cellular transmissions via the backbone network demanded by nearby users and hence to improve users' quality of service (QoS). However, related D2D-based social sharing and offloading proposals are based on either assumptions and theoretical models, or limited data-driven analysis caused by small scale of data sets (e.g. hundreds of MSN users) or single-dimensional feature (e.g. human mobility only), which severely restricts applications in practice. In this paper, we perform the world-first large-scale measurement and analytics on D2D-based content sharing groups from the perspective of social networks via the platform of Xender, a leading global D2D sharing platform in Asia. We analyze the behaviours of about 30 million users with 443 million D2D transmissions of 17 million files in 884 thousand social groups, and unveil the details of social structure properties, network motifs, cascade trees of friendship and propagation, which are helpful for improving the service of social D2D sharing. Finally we discuss challenges and opportunities for improving social D2D sharing services.
Heuristic Bayesian Segmentation for Discovery of Coexpressed Genes within Genomic Regions

Segmentation aims to separate homogeneous areas from the sequential data, and plays a central role in data mining. It has applications ranging from finance to molecular biology, where bioinformatics tasks such as genome data analysis are active application fields. In this paper, we present a novel application of segmentation in locating genomic regions with coexpressed genes. We aim at automated discovery of such regions without requirement for user-given parameters. In order to perform the segmentation within a reasonable time, we use heuristics. Most of the heuristic segmentation algorithms require some decision on the number of segments. This is usually accomplished by using asymptotic model selection methods like the Bayesian information criterion. Such methods are based on some simplification, which can limit their usage. In this paper, we propose a Bayesian model selection to choose the most proper result from heuristic segmentation. Our Bayesian model presents a simple prior for the segmentation solutions with various segment numbers and a modified Dirichlet prior for modeling multinomial data. We show with various artificial data sets in our benchmark system that our model selection criterion has the best overall performance. The application of our method in yeast cell-cycle gene expression data reveals potential active and passive regions of the genome.
Visceral Leishmaniasis: Drug Carrier System Characteristics and the Ability to Clear Parasites from the Liver, Spleen and Bone Marrow in Leishmania donovani Infected BALB/c Mice

Abstract— The efficacy of various sodium stibogluconate formulations against Leishmania donovani has been investigated using a BALB/c mouse model of visceral leishmaniasis. Only one therapy, multiple dosing with drug loaded sonicated vesicles, liposomes or niosomes, was found to be effective against parasites in the liver, spleen and bone marrow. Other treatments significantly reduced parasite liver burdens but either failed to effect spleen and bone marrow parasites, or were effective but toxic. Prophylactic treatment with sodium stibogluconate preparations, six days before infection, reduced parasite multiplication in the liver (free, niosomal and liposomal drug) and the spleen (sonicated, drug loaded niosomes only), but had no suppressive effect on bone marrow parasite burdens compared with controls. These results indicate that in‐vivo sodium stibogluconate persists in some compartments at parasiticidal concentrations and that failure to reach this concentration at some sites of infection such as bone marrow, is the cause of treatment failure and relapse.
Vaginal versus Obstetric Infection Escherichia coli Isolates among Pregnant Women: Antimicrobial Resistance and Genetic Virulence Profile

Vaginal Escherichia coli colonization is related to obstetric infections and the consequent development of infections in newborns. Ampicillin resistance among E. coli strains is increasing, which is the main choice for treating empirically many obstetric and neonatal infections. Vaginal E. coli strains are very similar to extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli with regards to the virulence factors and the belonging to phylogroup B2. We studied the antimicrobial resistance and the genetic virulence profile of 82 E. coli isolates from 638 vaginal samples and 63 isolated from endometrial aspirate, placental and amniotic fluid samples from pregnant women with obstetric infections. The prevalence of E. coli in the vaginal samples was 13%, which was significant among women with associated risk factors during pregnancy, especially premature preterm rupture of membranes (p<0.0001). Sixty-five percent of the strains were ampicillin-resistant. The E. coli isolates causing obstetric infections showed higher resistance levels than vaginal isolates, particularly for gentamicin (p = 0.001). The most prevalent virulence factor genes were those related to the iron uptake systems revealing clear targets for interventions. More than 50% of the isolates belonged to the virulent B2 group possessing the highest number of virulence factor genes. The ampicillin-resistant isolates had high number of virulence factors primarily related to pathogenicity islands, and the remarkable gentamicin resistance in E. coli isolates from women presenting obstetric infections, the choice of the most appropriate empiric treatment and clinical management of pregnant women and neonates should be carefully made. Taking into account host-susceptibility, the heterogeneity of E. coli due to evolution over time and the geographical area, characterization of E. coli isolates colonizing the vagina and causing obstetric infections in different regions may help to develop interventions and avoid the aetiological link between maternal carriage and obstetric and subsequent puerperal infections.
Occult hepatitis B in the genotype H‐infected Nahuas and Huichol native Mexican population

Mexico is considered to be a low endemic country for HBV infection. However, a high anti‐HBc against a low hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroprevalence is the reported characteristic of native Mexicans. HBV diagnosis and genotype distribution was examined in native populations (Nahuas and Huichol, n = 306), and compared to a non‐native population (Mestizos, n = 17). Overall, 6% of the natives were positive for HBsAg and 33% had detectable anti‐HBc. HBsAg prevalence was lower in Nahuas compared to Huichols (1.4% vs. 9.4%, P < 0.002). Occult hepatitis B was detected in 14.2% (41/289) of natives, who either tested positive (5.88%, 17/289 HBsAg‐negative) or negative for anti‐HBc marker (8%, 24/289 HBsAg‐negative). Age‐adjusted anti‐HBc seroprevalence and HBsAg quantitation revealed a sub‐optimal sensitivity of conventional immunoassays. Nahuas had HBV/H and Huichol had HBV/A as the predominant genotypes followed by genotypes D, C, B, A, and D, G and H, respectively. A less variable HBV/H was characteristic in Mestizos, compared to a much variable HBV/H identified among the Nahuas. In conclusion, these findings indicate a high HBV endemicity among native Mexican groups where occult B infection is common. The different distribution of HBV genotypes among natives suggests multiple reservoirs of HBV from which these genotypes spread into the local communities. High anti‐HBc seroprevalence against a low HBsAg prevalence rate may be due to the limited sensitivity of the immunoassays for the detection of HBsAg that are available in Mexico and/or unknown immunogenetic characteristics of native Mexicans. J. Med. Virol. 82:1527–1536, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.