Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression of glucocorticoid resistance following social stress requires a second signal

Stimulation of splenocytes from socially stressed mice [social disruption (SDR)] with Gram‐negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) revealed a state of functional glucocorticoid (GC) resistance. LPS‐stimulated splenocytes were less sensitive to the inhibitory effects of corticosterone. This study demonstrated that activation signals were required for the expression of splenic GC resistance. The results demonstrated that six cycles of SDR induced splenomegaly and increased the number of CD11b‐positive monocytes. SDR also increased the viability of cultured, nonstimulated splenocytes, and addition of corticosterone reduced the viability of these cells in a dose‐dependent manner. However, following stimulation with LPS, the sensitivity of SDR splenocytes to GC was reduced. Similar results were obtained using lipid A, a fraction of the LPS molecule that binds to Toll‐like receptor (TLR)4. Furthermore, C3H/HeJ mice that do not possess a functional TLR4 molecule responded to SDR with an increased number of CD11b‐positive monocytes in the spleen and increased viability of nonstimulated splenocytes. However, neither LPS nor lipid A stimulation resulted in the expression of GC resistance. Together, these findings suggest that the expression of GC resistance in response to SDR requires a second signal that can be provided by ligation of TLR4.
Sarcopenia: A critical review of its measurements and health‐related significance in the middle‐aged and elderly

A summary of the work performed by Stanley Garn relating to muscle mass while he worked at the Fels Research Institute is followed by a critical review of the measurement of sarcopenia, which is a deficiency of muscle mass, and its implications for health. The only satisfactory data for total muscle mass come from one cadaver study of a small selected sample. Analyses in relation to health (mortality rates) are limited to indices of muscle mass of which the body mass index (BMI) and arm muscle area or circumference are the most important because large amounts of serial data are available for analysis. The association between low BMI values and increased mortality rates is well established. Multiple studies, some of large samples, indicate that the increased mortality in those with low BMI values at entry is not fully explained by smoking behavior or disease at entry. There are, however, contrary findings from one major study. Associations between arm muscle circumference or area with mortality rates have also been reported. Independent effects of low BMI and low arm muscle values on mortality rates could be due to effects of low fat‐free mass, particularly low muscle mass, on host defense mechanisms and risk factors for disease but few relevant data have been reported. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ensemble refinement shows conformational flexibility in crystal structures of human complement factor D

Ensemble-refinement analysis of native and mutant factor D (FD) crystal structures indicates a dynamical transition in FD from a self-inhibited inactive conformation to a substrate-bound active conformation that is reminiscent of the allostery in thrombin. Comparison with previously observed dynamics in thrombin using NMR data supports the crystallographic ensembles.
Pilomyxoid astrocytoma of the cerebellar vermis in an elderly patient

Background: Pilomyxoid astrocytoma (PMA) has recently been accepted as an aggressive variant of pilocytic astrocytoma with distinct histopathological features. PMAs have been frequently described in the pediatric population with a predilection for the hypothalamic/chiasmatic region. Case Description: A 72-year-old African American male presented with 6 months of memory loss, difficulty expressing himself, and a progressively worsening gait. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain demonstrated a heterogeneously enhancing cystic mass centered within the cerebellar vermis with mass effect on the fourth ventricle and ventriculomegaly. The patient underwent placement of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt followed by a surgical resection of the lesion, which after immunohistopathologic evaluation, was diagnosed as a World Health Organization grade II PMA. The patient refused further treatment of the lesion and expired 11 months after initial symptom presentation and 4 months after surgery. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first report of PMA of the cerebellar vermis in a previously unreported age group. This case report describes the natural history of this type of tumor in a patient who refused adjuvant therapy following surgical resection.
Production of volatiles from amino acid homopolymers by irradiation

UR STUDIES SHOWED THAT ALL IRRADIATED MEAT PRODUCED characteristic irradiation odor regardless of degree of lipid oxidation. Also, irradiated meat produced more volatiles than nonirradiated meat, and the chromatograms of raw and cooked irradiated meat suggested that lipid oxidation could be responsible for a small part of the off-odor in irradiated meat (Ahn and others 1997; Ahn and others 1998a, 1998b, 1999). Patterson and Stevenson (1995) found that dimethyl trisulfide is the most potent off-odor compound in irradiated chicken meat, followed by cis-3- and trans-6-nonenals, oct-1-en-3one and bis(methylthio-)methane. Hashim and others (1995) reported that irradiating uncooked chicken breast and thigh produced a characteristic “bloody and sweet” aroma that remained after the thighs were cooked, but was not detectable after the breasts were cooked. Heath and others (1990) reported that irradiating uncooked chicken breast and leg at 2 or 3 kGy produced a “hot fat,” “burned oil,” or “burned feathers” odor that remained after the thighs were cooked. Chen and others (1999) reported that irradiation before cooking did not influence lipid oxidation of cooked pork during storage. These studies also supported the concept that the changes that occur following irradiation are different from those of warmed-over flavor in oxidized meat, and that other mechanisms such as radiolysis of proteins play an important role in the production of volatiles in irradiated meat. Irradiation of amino acids produced distinct volatile compounds via the radiolytic degradation of amino acids (Jo and Ahn 2000). However, radiolytic degradations of amino acids not only occurred at side chains, but also at amino and carboxyl groups. Thus, the volatile compounds produced from amino acid monomers by irradiation cannot represent the volatiles produced from proteins. To overcome this problem, we used amino acid homopolymers in this study. The objective of this study was to determine the volatile compounds produced from each amino acid polymer by irradiation and the odor characteristics of the irradiated amino acid polymers.
From failure to success in South African land reform.

This article assesses the achievement of land reform in South Africa with respect to the number of beneficiaries relative to rural employment and the demand for land and increases in livelihoods and agricultural output. Even though there are islands of success, for the past twenty years the Land Reform Programme has not satisfied these criteria. Implementation has been poor and farm workers’ and farm dwellers’ rights have not been protected. This failure is primarily attributed to the use of group or co-operative farming; inadequate participation by the beneficiaries; the absence, late arrival or poor quality of post-settlement support; and capacity problems in the civil service. Success requires radical change in design and implementation. A reformed programme should be based primarily on family farmer models, from the provision of housing and gardens for supplementary food production to small commercially oriented family farms, and on intensive participation of the beneficiaries or their groups in the identification, planning, implementation and financial management of their projects. This will allow civil servants to focus on the identification of land to be acquired, the approval of land acquisition and investment plans, and the supervision of financial management and implementation of the projects, thereby relieving their capacity constraints. Before scaling up these approaches they should be tested in pilots on a significant scale, sponsored by any group with the required commitment and capabilities. Pilots should be evaluated independently, based on the number of livelihoods created, household food security and agricultural production.
Multilocus Heterozygosity and Coronary Heart Disease: Nested Case-Control Studies in Men and Women

Background Generalized allelic heterozygosity has been proposed to improve reproductive fitness and has been associated with higher blood pressure, but its association with chronic disease is not well characterized. Methods Using the Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human 6.0 array, we performed whole genome scans in parallel case-control studies of coronary heart disease (CHD) nested in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and Nurses’ Health Study. We examined ~700,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 435 men with incident CHD and 878 matched controls and 435 women with incident CHD with 931 matched controls. We examined the relationship of genome-wide heterozygosity with risk of incident of CHD and with baseline levels of cardiovascular risk factors. Results In both cohorts, approximately 227650 (SD 2000) SNPs were heterozygous. The number of heterozygous SNPs was not related to risk of CHD in either men or women (adjusted odds ratios per 2000 heterozygous SNPs 1.01 [95% confidence interval, 0.91-1.13] in women and 0.94 [0.84-1.06] in men). We also found no consistent associations of genome-wide heterozygosity with levels of lipids, inflammatory markers, adhesion molecules, homocysteine, adiponectin, or body-mass index. Conclusions In these parallel nested case-control studies, we found no relationship of multilocus heterozygosity with risk of CHD or its major risk factors. Studies in other populations are needed to rule out associations with lower levels of heterozygosity.
Sustained Pax6 Expression Generates Primate-like Basal Radial Glia in Developing Mouse Neocortex

The evolutionary expansion of the neocortex in mammals has been linked to enlargement of the subventricular zone (SVZ) and increased proliferative capacity of basal progenitors (BPs), notably basal radial glia (bRG). The transcription factor Pax6 is known to be highly expressed in primate, but not mouse, BPs. Here, we demonstrate that sustaining Pax6 expression selectively in BP-genic apical radial glia (aRG) and their BP progeny of embryonic mouse neocortex suffices to induce primate-like progenitor behaviour. Specifically, we conditionally expressed Pax6 by in utero electroporation using a novel, Tis21–CreERT2 mouse line. This expression altered aRG cleavage plane orientation to promote bRG generation, increased cell-cycle re-entry of BPs, and ultimately increased upper-layer neuron production. Upper-layer neuron production was also increased in double-transgenic mouse embryos with sustained Pax6 expression in the neurogenic lineage. Strikingly, increased BPs existed not only in the SVZ but also in the intermediate zone of the neocortex of these double-transgenic mouse embryos. In mutant mouse embryos lacking functional Pax6, the proportion of bRG among BPs was reduced. Our data identify specific Pax6 effects in BPs and imply that sustaining this Pax6 function in BPs could be a key aspect of SVZ enlargement and, consequently, the evolutionary expansion of the neocortex.
Sampling methods: methodological issues involved in the recruitment of older people into a study of sexuality

Sexual desire experienced by people over 65 years of age is a sensitive topic deserving serious and ethical research. The recruitment of participants into a potentially sensitive study poses particular difficulties including ethical challenges such as informed consent and confidentiality. This paper, drawing on a study of sexual desire in an older aged population group, outlines a range of purposive sampling methods that resulted in a high rate of recruitment, thus validating the methodology employed. The paper reports the outcomes of four recruitment strategies: word of mouth, advertising, community-based seminars and direct solicitation that were employed in a study on sexual desire and ageing. The paper aims to encourage researchers and health professionals to consider looking more closely at topics often considered to be socially forbidden and outside the ambit of nursing research. Some of the ethical issues involved in recruitment for the study will also be considered.
Internet Kiosks in Rural India: What Influences Success?

In this paper we investigate an example of a very widely applied model for the delivery of IT services to rural and poor populations. The model is one where limited intervention to support infrastructure and coordinate resources is combined with market-based delivery of IT services to the end user (what we call here the “sustainable franchise model”). Though this model has been deployed world-wide by governments, NGOs, and development institutions in the past few years, there has been little research into the determinants of success in such a model. In this paper we examine the example of n-Logue, a franchise of over 1000 locally-owned, Internet kiosks in rural villages in India. We seek to assess how this new sustainable franchise model has worked in practice by analyzing data from 74 of n-Logue’s kiosks. Among other things, we find that gender and education do not affect success, while location and other measures of social standing (age and caste) do. We also find that the uses that villagers have for IT services are not so different from those which first world users have. The lessons we draw from this example are that while local customs and practices must be taken into account (e.g. the caste system), it is not a foregone conclusion that social biases (e.g. against women) cannot be mitigated by good program design.
The soft X‐ray background: evidence for widespread disruption of the gas haloes of galaxy groups

Almost all of the extragalactic X-ray background (XRB) at 0.25 keV can be accounted for by radio-quiet quasars, allowing us to derive an upper limit of 4 keV cm−2 s−1 sr−1 keV−1 for the remaining background at 0.25 keV. However, the XRB from the gas haloes of groups of galaxies, with gas removal resulting from cooling accounted for, exceeds this upper limit by an order of magnitude if non-gravitational heating is not included. We calculate this using simulations of halo merger trees and realistic gas density profiles, which we require to reproduce the observed gas fractions and abundances of X-ray clusters. In addition, we find that the entire mass range of groups, from ∼5×1012 to ∼1014 M⊙, contributes to the 0.25-keV background in this case. In a further study, we reduce the luminosities of groups by maximally heating their gas haloes while maintaining the same gas fractions. This reduces the XRB by only a factor of 2 or less. We thus argue that most of the gas associated with groups must be outside their virial radii. This conclusion is supported by X-ray studies of individual groups. The properties of both groups and X-ray clusters can be naturally explained by a model in which the gas is given excess specific energies of ∼1 keV per particle by non-gravitational heating. With this excess energy, the gas is gravitationally unbound from groups, but recollapses with the formation of a cluster of temperature ≳1 keV. This is similar to a model proposed by Pen, but is contrary to the evolution of baryons described by Cen & Ostriker. In addition to the soft XRB spectrum, we simulate source counts in two bands, 0.1–0.4 keV and 0.5–2 keV, for comparison with present and future data.
Annealing of Heavy-Ion Induced Floating Gate Errors: LET and Feature Size Dependence

We discuss the room temperature annealing of Floating Gate errors in Flash memories with NAND and NOR architecture after heavy-ion irradiation. We present the evolution of raw bit errors as a function of time after the exposure, examining the annealing dependence on the particle LET, cell feature size, and, for Multi Level Cells, on the program level. The results are explained based on the statistical properties of the cell threshold voltage distributions before and after heavy-ion strikes.
Characterizing Land Use Change in Multidisciplinary Landscape-Level Analyses

Economists increasingly face opportunities to collaborate with ecologists on landscape-level analyses of socioeconomic and ecological processes. This often calls for developing empirical models to project land use change as input into ecological models. Providing ecologists with the land use information they desire can present many challenges regarding data, modeling, and econometrics. This paper provides an overview of the relatively recent adaptation of economics-based land use modeling methods toward greater spatial specificity desired in integrated research with ecologists. Practical issues presented by data, modeling, and econometrics are highlighted, followed by an example based on a multidisciplinary landscape-level analysis in Oregon's Coast Range mountains.
First Isolation of Dengue Virus from the 2010 Epidemic in Nepal

Dengue is an emerging disease in Nepal and was first observed as an outbreak in nine lowland districts in 2006. In 2010, however, a large epidemic of dengue occurred with 4,529 suspected and 917 serologically-confirmed cases and five deaths reported in government hospitals in Nepal. The collection of demographic information was performed along with an entomological survey and clinical evaluation of the patients. A total of 280 serum samples were collected from suspected dengue patients. These samples were subjected to routine laboratory investigations and IgM-capture ELISA for dengue serological identification, and 160 acute serum samples were used for virus isolation, RT-PCR, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The results showed that affected patients were predominately adults, and that 10% of the cases were classified as dengue haemorrhagic fever/ dengue shock syndrome. The genetic characterization of dengue viruses isolated from patients in four major outbreak areas of Nepal suggests that the DENV-1 strain was responsible for the 2010 epidemic. Entomological studies identified Aedes aegypti in all epidemic areas. All viruses belonged to a monophyletic single clade which is phylogenetically close to Indian viruses. The dengue epidemic started in the lowlands and expanded to the highland areas. To our knowledge, this is the first dengue isolation and genetic characterization reported from Nepal.
Prognostic models for selecting patients with acute pulmonary embolism for initial outpatient therapy.

OBJECTIVE To assess the performance of two prognostic models in predicting short-term mortality in patients with pulmonary embolism (PE). SUBJECTS AND METHODS We compared the test characteristics of two prognostic models for predicting 30-day outcomes (mortality, thromboembolic recurrences, and major bleeding) in a cohort of 599 patients with objectively confirmed PE. Patients were stratified into the PE severity index (PESI) risk classes I-V and the Geneva low-risk and high-risk strata. We compared the discriminatory power of both prognostic models. RESULTS The PESI classified fewer patients as low risk (strata I and II) [36%; 216 of 599 patients; 95% confidence interval (CI), 32 to 40%] compared to the Geneva prediction rule (84%; 502 of 599 patients; 95% CI, 81 to 87%) [p < 0.0001]. Using either prediction rule, the low-risk groups showed statistically relevant 30-day mortality difference (PESI, 0.9%; 95% CI, 0.3 to 2.2; vs Geneva, 5.6%; 95% CI, 3.6 to 7.6) [p < 0.0001], although nonfatal recurrent venous thromboembolism or major bleeding rates were statistically similar (PESI, 2.8%; 95% CI, 0.6 to 5.0%; vs Geneva, 4.2%; 95% CI, 2.4 to 5.9%). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was higher for the PESI (0.76; 95% CI, 0.69 to 0.83) than for the Geneva score (0.61; 95% CI, 0.51 to 0.71) [p = 0.002]. CONCLUSIONS The PESI quantified the prognosis of patients with PE better than the Geneva score. This study demonstrated that PESI can select patients with very low adverse event rates during the initial days of acute PE therapy and assist in selecting patients for treatment in the outpatient setting.
Inflammation Thread Runs across Medical Laboratory Specialities

We work on the assumption that four major specialities or sectors of medical laboratory assays, comprising clinical chemistry, haematology, immunology, and microbiology, embraced by genome sequencing techniques, are routinely in use. Medical laboratory markers for inflammation serve as model: they are allotted to most fields of medical lab assays including genomics. Incessant coding of assays aligns each of them in the long lists of big data. As exemplified with the complement gene family, containing C2, C3, C8A, C8B, CFH, CFI, and ITGB2, heritability patterns/risk factors associated with diseases with genetic glitch of complement components are unfolding. The C4 component serum levels depend on sufficient vitamin D whilst low vitamin D is inversely related to IgG1, IgA, and C3 linking vitamin sufficiency to innate immunity. Whole genome sequencing of microbial organisms may distinguish virulent from nonvirulent and antibiotic resistant from nonresistant varieties of the same species and thus can be listed in personal big data banks including microbiological pathology; the big data warehouse continues to grow.
Is sporadic Alzheimer′s disease a developmental disorder?

Alzheimer′s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder of higher age that specifically occurs in human. Its clinical phase, characterized by a decline in physiological, psychological, and social functioning, is preceded by a long clinically silent phase of at least several decades that might perhaps even start very early in life. Overall, key functional abilities in AD patients decline in reverse order of the development of these abilities during normal childhood and adolescence. Early symptoms of AD, thus, typically affect mental functions that have been acquired only during very recent hominid evolution and as such are specific to human. Neurofibrillar degeneration, a typical neuropathological lesion of the disease and one of the most robust pathological correlates of cognitive impairment, is rarely seen in non‐primate mammals and even non‐human primates hardly develop a pathology comparable to those seen in AD patients. Neurofibrillar degeneration is not randomly distributed throughout the AD brain. It preferentially affects brain areas that become increasingly predominant during the evolutionary process of encephalization. During progression of the disease, it affects cortical areas in a stereotypic sequence that inversely recapitulates ontogenetic brain development. The specific distribution of cortical pathology in AD, moreover, appears to be determined by the modular organization of the cerebral cortex which basically is a structural reflection of its ontogeny. Here, we summarize recent evidence that phylogenetic and ontogenetic dimensions of brain structure and function provide the key to our understanding of AD. More recent molecular biological studies of the potential pathogenetic role of a genomic mosaic in the brains of patients with AD might even provide arguments for a developmental origin of AD.