Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Population‐based patterns of human immunodeficiency virus‐related Hodgkin lymphoma in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, 1988–1998

Epidemiologic characteristics of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐related Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) have not been examined in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, a center of the HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, for a decade, despite changes in AIDS‐associated diseases after the availability of highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART).
The influence of matrix metalloproteinase-2, -9, and -12 promoter polymorphisms on Iranian patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Aim of the study Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a zinc-dependant endopeptidase family that can degrade extracellular matrix components. Their dysregulation has been proven in several diseases, including cancer. Genetic variations in MMP promoter regions can alter their expression. The aim of the present study is to investigate the correlation of MMP-2 (-1306C/T), MMP-9 (-1562C/T), and MMP-12 (-82A/G) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) initiation and progression susceptibility in Iranian patients. Material and methods MMP-2 (-1306C/T), MMP-9 (-1562C/T), and MMP-12 (-82A/G) SNPs were detected using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment-length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique in 70 patients and 60 healthy controls. The genotypes and allele distributions were statistically compared in patients and controls. The correlation of MMP-2 (-1306C/T) and MMP-9 (-1562C/T) polymorphisms with clinicopathological features were investigated in 53 patients. Results No statistically significant differences were observed in genotype and allele frequencies of MMP-2 (-1306C/T) and MMP-9 (-1562C/T) between patients and controls (p > 0.05). In addition, no relevance was observed in MMP-2 (-1306C/T) and MMP-9 (-1562C/T) SNPs and clinicopathological features. There was no nucleotide variation in MMP-12 (-82) in the case and control groups. Conclusions This study indicates that these three SNPs may have no significant association in ESCC risk in Iranian patients.
Carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composite drilling via aluminum chromium nitride-coated tools: Hole quality and tool wear assessment

Drilling into carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites presents a stiff challenge in terms of ensuring hole quality aspects such as delamination, roughness, roundness, etc. while maintaining an adequate tool life. The hardened carbon fibers in laid up form generally give rise to chips in powdered form that contribute significantly to tool wear problem. To overcome the aforementioned issues, the use of high performance tools has been reported. This paper reports on the usage of yet another novel high performing but much economical aluminum chromium nitride-coated tools that are typically employed for metallic parts. The effect of aluminum chromium nitride tools at three spindle speeds with constant feed rate was evaluated on hole quality, tool wear, and chip formation pattern of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composite plates. The results were compared with the performance of conventional high speed steel tools taken as baseline. It was found that the coated tools help significantly improve hole quality and provide appreciable tool life at specific machining parameters.
Orbitofrontal Reality Filtering

Decades of research have deepened our understanding of how the brain forms memories and uses them to build our mental past and future. But how does it determine whether an evoked memory refers to the present and can be acted upon? The study of patients who confuse reality, as evident from confabulation and disorientation, has opened ways to explore this vital capacity. Results indicate that the brain recurs to a phylogenetically old faculty of the orbitofrontal cortex – extinction – and structures of the reward system to keep thought and behavior in phase with reality.
Long Term Culture of the A549 Cancer Cell Line Promotes Multilamellar Body Formation and Differentiation towards an Alveolar Type II Pneumocyte Phenotype

Pulmonary research requires models that represent the physiology of alveolar epithelium but concerns with reproducibility, consistency and the technical and ethical challenges of using primary or stem cells has resulted in widespread use of continuous cancer or other immortalized cell lines. The A549 ‘alveolar’ cell line has been available for over four decades but there is an inconsistent view as to its suitability as an appropriate model for primary alveolar type II (ATII) cells. Since most work with A549 cells involves short term culture of proliferating cells, we postulated that culture conditions that reduced proliferation of the cancer cells would promote a more differentiated ATII cell phenotype. We examined A549 cell growth in different media over long term culture and then used microarray analysis to investigate temporal regulation of pathways involved in cell cycle and ATII differentiation; we also made comparisons with gene expression in freshly isolated human ATII cells. Analyses indicated that long term culture in Ham’s F12 resulted in substantial modulation of cell cycle genes to result in a quiescent population of cells with significant up-regulation of autophagic, differentiation and lipidogenic pathways. There were also increased numbers of up- and down-regulated genes shared with primary cells suggesting adoption of ATII characteristics and multilamellar body (MLB) development. Subsequent Oil Red-O staining and Transmission Electron Microscopy confirmed MLB expression in the differentiated A549 cells. This work defines a set of conditions for promoting ATII differentiation characteristics in A549 cells that may be advantageous for studies with this cell line.
A mouse brain homolog of the Drosophila Shab K+ channel with conserved delayed-rectifier properties

We have cloned and expressed a mouse brain K+ channel that is the homolog of the Drosophila Shab K+ channel. Mouse and Drosophila Shab K+ channels (mShab and fShab, respectively) represent an instance of K+ channels and structurally related species that are both functionally and structurally conserved; most kinetic, voltage-sensitive, and pharmacological properties are similar for the 2 channels. The greatest functional difference between the currents is recovery from inactivation, which is several times slower for mShab than for fShab currents. In addition to conserved structure, the mShab polypeptide has an unusually long nonconserved region at the carboxyl end of the protein. Truncation of 293 residues from the carboxyl end produced no noticeable change in voltage-sensitive, kinetic, or pharmacological properties. Thus, the measured functional properties of mShab are determined by the remaining 564 residues, most of which are conserved. The mShab and fShab channels are naturally occurring structural variants having substitutions in conserved portions that appear relatively neutral with respect to all measured properties except for, possibly, the rate of recovery from inactivation. The mShab current closely resembles a native delayed-rectifier-type potassium current, IK, in hippocampal neurons.
A Hamiltonian lattice formulation of topological gravity

Topological gravity is the reduction of Einstein's theory to spacetimes with vanishing curvature, but with global degrees of freedom related to the topology of the universe. We present an exact Hamiltonian lattice theory for topological gravity, which admits translations of the lattice sites as a gauge symmetry. There are additional symmetries, not present in Einstein's theory, which kill the local degrees of freedom. We show that these symmetries can be fixed by choosing a gauge where the torsion is equal to zero. In this gauge, the theory describes flat spacetimes. We propose two methods to advance towards the holy grail of lattice gravity: a Hamiltonian lattice theory for curved spacetimes, with first-class translation constraints.
1 Photodetectors for siliconphotonic integrated circuits

Silicon-based photonic components are especially attractive for realizing low-cost photonic integrated circuits (PICs) using high-volume manufacturing processes (Heck et al., 2013). Due to its transparency in the telecommunications wavelength bands near 1310 and 1550 nm, silicon is an excellent material for realizing low-loss passive optical components. For the same reason, it is not a strong candidate for sources and detectors, and photodetector fabrication requires the integration of either III/V materials or germanium if high speed and high efficiency are required. Photodetectors used in phonic integrated circuits, like photodetectors used in most other applications, typically require large bandwidth, high efficiency, and low dark current. In addition, the devices must be waveguide-integrated (rather than surface-illuminated) and the process used to fabricate the photodiode must be compatible with the processes used to fabricate other components on the chip. For many applications where PICs are a promising solution, for example microwave frequency generation, coherent receivers, and optical interconnects relying on receiverless circuit designs (Assefa et al., 2010b), the maximum output power is also an important figure of merit. There are numerous design trade-offs between speed, efficiency, and output power. Designing for high bandwidth favors small devices for low capacitance. Small devices require abrupt absorption profiles for good efficiency, but design for high output power favors large devices with dilute absorption. Most of the work on silicon-based photodiodes to date has focused on PIN diodes. Both ultra-compact devices with abrupt absorption profiles and devices with larger active areas have been demonstrated. The results have been consistent with this trade-off: ultracompact devices have shown the highest bandwidth-efficiency products (up to 38 GHz (Virot et al., 2013)), while devices utilizing dilute absorption profiles had better power handling (up to 19 dBm output power at 1 GHz (Piels et al., 2013)). Recently, photodetectors with decoupled structures, the separate absorption charge and multiplication (SACM) avalanche structure and the uni-traveling carrier (UTC) structure, have been used in both germanium (Piels and Bowers, 2014; Dai et al., 2010, 2014; Duan et al., 2013) and hybrid III/V-silicon (Beling et al., 2013b) to push performance past the limits imposed by the PIN structure.
Racial differences in treatment and survival from early‐stage breast carcinoma

African‐American women have a significantly worse prognosis from breast carcinoma compared with white women, even when the stage at diagnosis is equivalent. The purpose of this study was to analyze racial differences in the treatment (use of breast‐conserving surgery and radiation therapy) of women with early‐stage breast carcinoma and the resulting effects on survival rates.
Neural encoding of auditory discrimination in ventral premotor cortex

Monkeys have the capacity to accurately discriminate the difference between two acoustic flutter stimuli. In this task, monkeys must compare information about the second stimulus to the memory trace of the first stimulus, and must postpone the decision report until a sensory cue triggers the beginning of the decision motor report. The neuronal processes associated with the different components of this task have been investigated in the primary auditory cortex (A1); but, A1 seems exclusively associated with the sensory and not with the working memory and decision components of this task. Here, we show that ventral premotor cortex (VPC) neurons reflect in their activities the current and remembered acoustic stimulus, their comparison, and the result of the animal's decision report. These results provide evidence that the neural dynamics of VPC is involved in the processing steps that link sensation and decision-making during auditory discrimination.
An Overview of International Literature on School Interventions to Promote Mental Health and Well-being in Children and Adolescents

Introduction: Mental disorders are the largest cause of the burden of disease in the world. Most of the burden affecting adult life has its onset during childhood and adolescence. The European Pact for Mental Health and Wellbeing calls for immediate action and investments in the mental health of children and adolescents. Schools may be the ideal location for promoting health and delivering healthcare services, since schools are a location where young people usually spend their daytime and socialize, schools are easily accessible to families, can provide non-stigmatizing health actions, and form links with the community. Aims and Goals of this Special Issue: This issue is developed within the framework of the Joint Action on Mental Health promoted by the European Commission. This special issue presents a set of systematic reviews on the evidence of the international literature on school interventions for the promotion of the mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents. It is focused on five topical main areas: promoting general health and wellbeing; programs targeting specific mental disorders and conditions and integration of adolescents with mental health problems; Bullying; Sport; Alcohol and Drugs. An additional paper on the results of the largest epidemiological study conducted in some European countries on the prevalence and relative risk factors of mental disorders in school-age completes the issue. Conclusion: These reviews are a first contribution to address future European research and interventions, in particular about the multiple ways through which European policies could support the schooling and wellbeing of children and adolescents.
A voxel‐based morphometry study of semantic dementia: Relationship between temporal lobe atrophy and semantic memory

The cortical anatomy of 6 patients with semantic dementia (the temporal lobe variant of frontotemporal dementia) was contrasted with that of a group of age‐matched normal subjects by using voxel‐based morphometry, a technique that identifies changes in gray matter volume on a voxel‐by‐voxel basis. Among the circumscribed regions of neuronal loss, the left temporal pole (Brodmann area 38) was the most significantly and consistently affected region. Cortical atrophy in the left hemisphere also involved the inferolateral temporal lobe (Brodmann area 20/21) and fusiform gyrus. In addition, the right temporal pole (Brodmann area 38), the ventromedial frontal cortex (Brodmann area 11/32) bilaterally, and the amygdaloid complex were affected, but no significant atrophy was measured in the hippocampus, entorhinal, or caudal perirhinal cortex. The degree of semantic memory impairment across the 6 cases correlated significantly with the extent of atrophy of the left anterior temporal lobe but not with atrophy in the adjacent ventromedial frontal cortex. These results confirm that the anterior temporal lobe is critically involved in semantic processing, and dissociate its function from that of the adjacent frontal region. Ann Neurol 2000; 47:36–45
Integrative and Translational Physiology : Integrative Aspects of Energy Homeostasis and Metabolic Diseases Glucoprivation in the ventrolateral medulla decreases brown adipose tissue sympathetic nerve activity by decreasing the activity of neurons in raphé pallidus

Madden CJ. Glucoprivation in the ventrolateral medulla decreases brown adipose tissue sympathetic nerve activity by decreasing the activity of neurons in raphé pallidus. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 302: R224–R232, 2012. First published November 9, 2011; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00449. 2011. —In urethane/ -chloralose anesthetized rats, cold exposure increased brown adipose tissue sympathetic nerve activity (BAT SNA: 699 104% control). Intravenous administration of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG; 200 mg·ml ·kg ) reversed the cold-evoked activation of BAT SNA (nadir: 139 36% of control) and decreased BAT temperature ( 1.1 0.2°C), expired CO2 ( 0.4 0.1%), and core temperature ( 0.5 0.0). Similarly, unilateral nanoinjection of the glucoprivic agent 5-thioglucose (5-TG; 12 g/100 nl) in the ventrolateral medulla (VLM) completely reversed the cold-evoked increase in BAT SNA (nadir: 104 7% of control), and decreased TBAT ( 1.4 0.3°C), expired CO2 ( 0.2 0.0%), and heart rate ( 35 10 beats/min). The percentage of rostral raphé pallidus (RPa)-projecting neurons in the dorsal hypothalamic area/dorsomedial hypothalamus that expressed Fos in response to cold exposure (ambient temperature: 4–10°C) did not differ between saline (28 6%) and 2-DG (30 5%) pretreated rats, whereas the percentage of spinally projecting neurons in the RPa/raphé magnus that expressed Fos in response to cold exposure was lower in 2-DGcompared with saline-pretreated rats (22 6% vs. 42 5%, respectively). The increases in BAT SNA evoked by nanoinjection of bicuculline in the RPa or by transection of the neuraxis at the pontomedullary border were resistant to inhibition by glucoprivation. These results suggest that neurons within the VLM play a role in the glucoprivic inhibition of BAT SNA and metabolism, that this inhibition requires neural structures rostral to the pontomedullary border, and that this inhibition is mediated by a GABAergic input to the RPa.
Quorum-Sensing and BvrR/BvrS Regulation, the Type IV Secretion System, Cyclic Glucans, and BacA in the Virulence of Brucella ovis: Similarities to and Differences from Smooth Brucellae

ABSTRACT Brucella ovis is a rough bacterium—lacking O-polysaccharide chains in the lipopolysaccharide—that is virulent in its natural host and whose virulence mechanisms remain almost unexplored. In a search for additional traits that distinguish B. ovis from smooth Brucella, which require O-polysaccharide chains for virulence, we have analyzed the significance in B. ovis of the main virulence factors described for smooth Brucella. Attempts to obtain strains of virulent B. ovis strain PA that are mutated in the BvrR/BvrS two-component regulatory system were unsuccessful, suggesting the requirement of that system for in vitro survival, while the inactivation of bacA—in contrast to the results seen with smooth Brucella—did not affect splenic colonization in mice or behavior in J774.A1 murine macrophages. Defects in the synthesis of cyclic ß-1,2 glucans reduced the uptake of B. ovis PA in macrophages and, although the intracellular multiplication rate was unaffected, led to attenuation in mice. Growth of strains with mutations in the type IV secretion system (encoded by the virB operon) and the quorum-sensing-related regulator VjbR was severely attenuated in the mouse model, and although the mutant strains internalized like the parental strain in J774.A1 murine macrophages, they were impaired for intracellular replication. As described for B. melitensis, VjbR regulates the transcription of the virB operon positively, and the N-dodecanoyl-dl-homoserine lactone (C12-HSL) autoinducer abrogates this effect. In contrast, no apparent VjbR-mediated regulation of the fliF flagellar gene was observed in B. ovis, probably due to the two deletions detected upstream of fliF. These results, together with others reported in the text, point to similarities between rough virulent B. ovis and smooth Brucella species as regards virulence but also reveal distinctive traits that could be related to the particular pathogenicity and host tropism characteristics of B. ovis.
Respiratory Dysfunction in Chronic Neck Pain Patients. A Pilot Study

The aim of this pilot study was to add weight to a hypothesis according to which patients presenting with chronic neck pain could have a predisposition towards respiratory dysfunction. Twelve patients with chronic neck pain and 12 matched controls participated in this study. Spirometric values, maximal static pressures, forward head posture and functional tests were examined in all subjects. According to the results, chronic neck patients presented with a statistically significant decreased maximal voluntary ventilation (P = 0.042) and respiratory muscle strength (Pimax and Pemax), (P = 0.001 and P = 0.002, respectively). Furthermore, the current study demonstrated a strong association between an increased forward head posture and decreased respiratory muscle strength in neck pateits. The connection of neck pain and respiratory function could be an important consideration in relation to patient assessment, rehabilitation and consumption of pharmacological agents.
Equal Sharing Rules in Partnerships

Partnerships are the prevalent organizational form in many industries. Most partnerships share profits equally among the partners. Following Kandel and Lazear (1992) it is often argued that ``peer pressure'' mitigates the arising free-rider problem. This line of reasoning takes the equal sharing rule as exogenously given. The purpose of our paper is to show that with inequity averse partners - a behavioral assumption akin to peer pressure - the equal sharing rule arises endogenously as an optimal solution to the incentive problem in a partnership.
Technology assessment of saline contrast hysterosonography.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of our study was to evaluate to which extent saline contrast hysterosonography (SCHS) is able to replace diagnostic hysteroscopy in uterine cavity evaluation in women suspected of intrauterine abnormalities. STUDY DESIGN In this prospective observational study we performed SCHS instead of diagnostic hysteroscopy. Diagnostic hysteroscopy was performed in case of failed or inconclusive SCHS. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to assess subgroups for their risk of failure and inconclusiveness. RESULTS Two hundred fourteen women were included consecutively. SCHS was conclusive in 180 cases (84.1%), failed in 12 (5.6%), and inconclusive in 22 (10.3%). Uterine size above 600 cm(3) was the best predictor of failure and/or inconclusiveness (positive predictive value 0.42). CONCLUSION SCHS was able to replace 84% of the outpatient diagnostic hysteroscopies in uterine cavity evaluation in women suspected of intrauterine abnormalities. Our study showed that diagnostic hysteroscopy can be restricted to inconclusive or failed SCHS.
Removal of redundant dependences in DOACROSS loops with constant dependences

An efficient algorithm to remove redundant dependences in simple loops with constant dependences is presented. Dependences constrain the parallel execution of programs and are typically enforced by synchronization instructions. The synchronization instructions represent a significant part of the overhead in the parallel execution of a program. Some program dependences are redundant because they are covered by other dependences. It is shown that unlike with single loops, in the case of nested loops, a particular dependence may be redundant at some iterations but not redundant at others, so that the redundancy of a dependence may not be uniform over the entire iteration space. A sufficient condition for the uniformity of redundancy in a doubly nested loop is developed. >
Recent development of metal compound applications in lithium–sulphur batteries

Lithium–sulphur (Li–S) batteries are one of the most promising candidates for the next generation of energy storage systems to alleviate the energy crisis. However, Li–S batteries’ commercialization faces the challenges of low active materials utilization, poor cycling life, and low energy density. Recently, tremendous progress has been achieved in improving the electrode performances and tap density by using the nanostructured metal compounds in Li–S batteries. In this review, we not only present the latest various nanostructured metal compounds applications in Li–S batteries, including metal oxides, metal sulphides, metal carbides, metal nitrides, and metal organic frameworks, but also we focus on the interaction mechanisms between these polar metal compounds with polysulphides. The issues and bottlenecks of these metal compounds are concluded and the corresponding available solutions to address these issues are proposed. This systematic discussion and proposed strategies can offer avenues to the practical application of Li–S batteries in the near future.