Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Ethanol and Acetaldehyde on Tight Junction Integrity: In Vitro Study in a Three Dimensional Intestinal Epithelial Cell Culture Model

Background Intestinal barrier dysfunction and translocation of endotoxins are involved in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease. Exposure to ethanol and its metabolite, acetaldehyde at relatively high concentrations have been shown to disrupt intestinal epithelial tight junctions in the conventional two dimensional cell culture models. The present study investigated quantitatively and qualitatively the effects of ethanol at concentrations detected in the blood after moderate ethanol consumption, of its metabolite acetaldehyde and of the combination of both compounds on intestinal barrier function in a three-dimensional cell culture model. Methods and Findings Caco-2 cells were grown in a basement membrane matrix (Matrigel™) to induce spheroid formation and were then exposed to the compounds at the basolateral side. Morphological differentiation of the spheroids was assessed by immunocytochemistry and transmission electron microscopy. The barrier function was assessed by the flux of FITC-labeled dextran from the basal side into the spheroids' luminal compartment using confocal microscopy. Caco-2 cells grown on Matrigel assembled into fully differentiated and polarized spheroids with a central lumen, closely resembling enterocytes in vivo and provide an excellent model to study epithelial barrier functionality. Exposure to ethanol (10–40 mM) or acetaldehyde (25–200 µM) for 3 h, dose-dependently and additively increased the paracellular permeability and induced redistribution of ZO-1 and occludin without affecting cell viability or tight junction-encoding gene expression. Furthermore, ethanol and acetaldehyde induced lysine residue and microtubules hyperacetylation. Conclusions These results indicate that ethanol at concentrations found in the blood after moderate drinking and acetaldehyde, alone and in combination, can increase the intestinal epithelial permeability. The data also point to the involvement of protein hyperacetylation in ethanol- and acetaldehyde-induced loss of tight junctions integrity.
Drug safety evaluation of pregabalin

Introduction: Pregabalin is an anticonvulsant with one known mechanism of action which is used most specifically in the management of neuropathic pain. Areas covered: The adverse effect profile of this medication from controlled, randomized studies as well as open and long-term studies is described with consideration of the evidence-based results for pregabalin's clinical use. Expert opinion: Pregabalin is a mostly well tolerated medication for the management of neuropathic pain and other conditions. Pregabalin use is associated with benign central nervous system and systemic adverse effects with very limited metabolic, idiosyncratic, or teratogenic adverse effects. Understanding of these adverse effects is essential for the clinician treating the patient and for the patient receiving treatment. Sedation, dizziness, peripheral edema, and dry mouth are the most prevalent adverse events experienced in all clinical populations. Other adverse effects are rare, but are discussed.
Comparison of Distance Measures in Evolutionary Time Series Segmentation

Time series segmentation is a fundamental component in the process of analyzing and mining time series data. Given a set of pattern templates, evolutionary computation is an appropriate tool to segment time series flexibly and effectively. However, the choice of distance measure in fitness function is very important to evolutionary time series segmentation, for it will affect the convergence of the algorithm greatly. As a simple and easy method, direct point-to-point distance (DPPD) is always used as similarity measure. However, it is brittle to time phase. In this paper, we present three other distance measures for fitness evaluation, which are based on enclosed area, time warping and trend similarity respectively. Moreover, experiments are conducted to compare the performances of new distance measures with the DPPD approach. Results show that new distance measures outperform the DPPD approach in correct match, accurate segmentation.
A comparative study of HIV-1 clade C env evolution in a Zambian infant with an infected rhesus macaque during disease progression

Objective:To evaluate whether HIV-1 clade C (HIV-C) envelope variations that arise during disease progression in rhesus macaque model reflect changes that occur naturally in human infection. Design:An infant macaque was infected with SHIV-1157i, an R5 tropic clade C SHIV, that expresses a primary HIV-C envelope derived from an infected human infant and monitored over a 5-year period. Genetic variation of the V1–V5 envelope region, which is the main target for humoral immune responses, derived from the infected macaque and infant was examined. Methods:The V1–V5 envelope region was cloned and sequenced from longitudinal peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples collected from the infected macaque and infant. Phylogenetic analysis [phylogenetic tree, diversity, divergence, ratio of nonsynonymous (dN) and synonymous substitution (dS) and dN distribution] was performed. Plasma RNA viral load, CD4+ T-cell count, changes in the length of V1–V5 region, putative N-linked glycosylation site number and distribution were also measured. Results:Phylogenetic analysis revealed that changes in the macaque closely reflected those of the infant during disease progression. Similar distribution patterns of dN and hot spots were observed between the macaque and infant. Analysis of putative N-linked glycosylation sites revealed several common variations between the virus populations in the two host species. These variations correlate with decline of CD4 T-cell count in the macaque and might be linked with disease progression. Conclusion:SHIV-C infection of macaque is a relevant animal model for studying variation of primary HIV-C envelope during disease progression and could be used to analyze the selection pressures that are associated with those changes.
Ethnic differences in risk of compulsory psychiatric admission among representative cases of psychosis in London

Abstract Objective: To compare the risk of detention under the Mental Health Act 1983 in a representative group of people with psychotic disorders from different ethnic groups. Setting: Two defined geographical areas in south London. Design: Annual period prevalent cases of psychosis were identified in 1993 in the study areas from hospital and community data. Standardised criteria were applied to case notes to establish diagnosis and detention under the act. Subjects: 535 patients were identified, of whom 439 fulfilled ICD-10 criteria for psychosis. Main outcome measures: Risk of ever having been detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, risk of detention under specific sections of the act during the study year, and risk of contact with forensic services for the different ethnic groups. Results: 439 patients with a psychotic illness were identified. Nearly half of the white patients had been detained under the act compared with 70% and 69% of black Caribbean and black African patients, respectively. Black Caribbean and black African patients were more likely than white patients to have been involuntarily detained (adjusted odds ratio 3.67; 95% confidence interval 2.07 to 6.50 and 2.88; 1.04 to 7.95, respectively). Rates of use of sections 2, 3, and 136 in the study year were higher for black than for white patients, and black patients were more likely than white patients to have been admitted to a psychiatric intensive care facility or prison. Conclusion: Independent of psychiatric diagnosis and sociodemographic differences, black African and black Caribbean patients with psychosis in south London were more likely than white patients to have ever been detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. Key messages Key messages Black patients are significantly more likely to have been admitted to a psychiatric intensive care facility or to prison The differential contact with mental health services may well set up a vicious circle Purchasers and providers need to assess how accessible and responsive their mental health services are to black people
Effective core area for stimulated Raman scattering in single-mode optical fibres

The broad spectrum of radiation from first-order stimulated Raman scattering in glass fibres leads to a spread of transverse Stokes fields in a single-mode fibre. A general expression for the effective core area (ECA) for the laser-pump ith longitudinal Stokes-mode interaction has been found. Computations of the variation of ECA with V-value are presented, together with a single ECA for use when computing the total Stokes power.
Severe and unrecognised: pertussis in UK infants

Aims: To diagnose pertussis using culture, polymerase chain reaction, and serology, in children admitted to intensive care units (PICUs) and some paediatric wards in London, and in their household contacts to determine the source of infection. Methods: Infants <5 months old admitted to London PICUs between 1998 and 2000 with respiratory failure, apnoea and/or bradycardia, or acute life threatening episodes (ALTE), and children <15 years admitted to paediatric wards at St Mary’s and St George’s Hospitals between 1999 and 2000 with lower respiratory tract infection, apnoea, or ALTE were studied. Results: Sixty seven per cent of eligible children (142/212) were recruited; 23% (33/142) had pertussis, 19.8% (25/126) on the PICU and 50% (8/16) on wards. Two died. Only 4% (6/142) were culture positive. Pertussis was clinically suspected on admission in 28% of infants (7/25) on the PICU and 75% (6/8) on the wards. Infants on PICU with pertussis coughed for longer, had apnoeas and whooped more often, and a higher lymphocyte count than infants without pertussis. Pertussis and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) co-infection was frequent (11/33, 33%). Pertussis was confirmed in 22/33 (67%) of those who were first to become ill in the family. For 14/33 children the source of infection was a parent; for 9/33 the source of pertussis was an older fully vaccinated child in the household. Conclusions: Severe pertussis is under diagnosed. An RSV diagnosis does not exclude pertussis. Future changes to the UK vaccination programme should aim to reduce pertussis transmission to young infants by their parents and older siblings.
Growth Promotion and Disease Suppression Ability of a Streptomyces sp. CB-75 from Banana Rhizosphere Soil

An actinomycete strain, CB-75, was isolated from the soil of a diseased banana plantation in Hainan, China. Based on phenotypic and molecular characteristics, and 99.93% sequence similarity with Streptomyces spectabilis NBRC 13424 (AB184393), the strain was identified as Streptomyces sp. This strain exhibited broad-spectrum antifungal activity against 11 plant pathogenic fungi. Type I polyketide synthase (PKS-I) and non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) were detected, which were indicative of the antifungal compounds that Streptomyces sp. CB-75 could produce. An ethyl acetate extract from the strain exhibited the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against Colletotrichum musae (ATCC 96167) (0.78 μg/ml) and yielded the highest antifungal activity against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (ATCC 16330) (50.0 μg/ml). Also, spore germination was significantly inhibited by the crude extract. After treatment with the crude extract of Streptomyces sp. CB-75 at the concentration 2 × MIC, the pathogenic fungi showed deformation, shrinkage, collapse, and tortuosity when observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). By gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) of the crude extract, 18 chemical constituents were identified; (Z)-13-docosenamide was the major constituent. Pot experiments showed that the incidence of banana seedlings was reduced after using Streptomyces sp. CB-75 treatment. The disease index was 10.23, and the prevention and control effect was 83.12%. Furthermore, Streptomyces sp. CB-75 had a growth-promoting effect on banana plants. The chlorophyll content showed 88.24% improvement, the leaf area, root length, root diameter, plant height, and stem showed 88.24, 90.49, 136.17, 61.78, and 50.98% improvement, respectively, and the shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight, and root dry weight showed 82.38, 72.01, 195.33, and 113.33% improvement, respectively, compared with treatment of fermentation broth without Streptomyces sp. CB-75. Thus, Streptomyces sp. CB-75 is an important microbial resource as a biological control against plant pathogenic fungi and for promoting banana growth.
Tay-Sachs Disease with Altered β-Hexosaniinidase B: A New Variant?

Summary: A 2.5-year-old Japanese girl who showed signs and symptoms compatible with classic Tay-Sachs disease and had altered β-hexosaminidase B and I1 as well as completely deficient β-hexosaminidase A activity is reported herein.Heat treatment of the patient's serum and leukocyte samples showed the existence of 13.5–27.3% and 35.7% of the heat-labile component of β-hexosaminidase, respectively, such is usually considered to correspond to β-hexosaminidase A. The absence of β-hexosaminidase A activity was confirmed by DEAE-cellulose column chromatography and cellulose acetate paper electrophoresis. The patient's serum β-hexosaminidase also contained a significant amount of acid pH-labile components. The effects of buffer concentrations on the activities of total and heat-labile components of the serum β-hexosaminidase of the patient differed from those of the control subjects.Heat treatment of the each component of serum β-hexosaminidase which had been separated by DEAE-cellulose column chromatography showed that β-hexosaminidase B and I1 in the serum from this patient were heat labile as compared with those from the control subjects, and the other component I2 was less heat labile at 50° for 3 h.There were no differences in the km values of β-hexosaminidase B, I1, and I2 for the synthetic substrate 4-methylumbeIli-feryl N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminide before and after heat treatment at 50° for 3 h among the reported patient, another patient with classic Tay-Sachs disease, and a normal infant.Speculation: In prenatal diagnosis of such patients as reported herein, it will be necessary to confirm the absence of β-hexosaminidase A in amniotic fluid and/or amniotic fluid cells by methods other than the heat-inactivation method, e.g., electrophoresis or ion-exchange column chromatography.
Recognition of temporal events using multiscale bags of features

This paper presents a novel method for learning classes of temporal sequences using a bag-of-features approach. We define a temporal sequence as a bag of temporal features and show how this representation can be used for the recognition and segmentation of temporal events. A codebook of temporal descriptors, representing the local temporal texture, is automatically constructed from a set of sample sequences at multiple time scales. Temporal sequences are then encoded using accumulated histograms of parts from this codebook. This representation, though simple, proves to be surprisingly powerful and able to implicitly learn the sequence dynamics. Based on this representation, a multi-class classifier, treating the bag of features as the feature vector, is applied to estimate the corresponding class of the temporal sequence. Finally, extensive experiments are performed on two datasets to compare our method against state-of-the-art algorithms. The results show that our algorithm performs better and requires less training data than competing techniques.
Schizophrenia as Failure of Left Hemispheric Dominance for the Phonological Component of Language

Background T. J. Crow suggested that the genetic variance associated with the evolution in Homo sapiens of hemispheric dominance for language carries with it the hazard of the symptoms of schizophrenia. Individuals lacking the typical left hemisphere advantage for language, in particular for phonological components, would be at increased risk of the typical symptoms such as auditory hallucinations and delusions. Methodology/Principal Findings Twelve schizophrenic patients treated with low levels of neuroleptics and twelve matched healthy controls participated in an event-related potential experiment. Subjects matched word-pairs in three tasks: rhyming/phonological, semantic judgment and word recognition. Slow evoked potentials were recorded from 26 scalp electrodes, and a laterality index was computed for anterior and posterior regions during the inter stimulus interval. During phonological processing individuals with schizophrenia failed to achieve the left hemispheric dominance consistently observed in healthy controls. The effect involved anterior (fronto-temporal) brain regions and was specific for the Phonological task; group differences were small or absent when subjects processed the same stimulus material in a Semantic task or during Word Recognition, i.e. during tasks that typically activate more widespread areas in both hemispheres. Conclusions/Significance We show for the first time how the deficit of lateralization in the schizophrenic brain is specific for the phonological component of language. This loss of hemispheric dominance would explain typical symptoms, e.g. when an individual's own thoughts are perceived as an external intruding voice. The change can be interpreted as a consequence of “hemispheric indecision”, a failure to segregate phonological engrams in one hemisphere.
Physiotherapy in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

BACKGROUND: Physiotherapy is an essential for the treatment of patients with chronic respiratory non-inflammatory diseases especially for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). AIM: To assess the effect of six months physiotherapy (PT) program on functional status in patients with COPD. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The patients were divided into two groups according to the severity of the disease. Group A included 33 patients (mean age 68.6 ± 7.3; GOLD II – III stages). Group B included 32 patients (mean age 71.7 ± 6.9; GOLD I –II). They were referred to supervised PT program performed three times weekly for a half a year. All the patients were on standard medical care. At entry and after PT, six minutes walking test (6 MWT), Borg scale and modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) scale were assessed. RESULTS: Significant changes in 6 MWT (p < 0.001) and mMRC scale (p < 0.001) were found after applied physical therapy program in patients of group A. Exertional dyspnoea decreased significantly in patients with group A (p < 0.001). Positive changes were found in physical tolerance in the patients of group B (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The present study revealed the positive effect of six months physiotherapy in physical tolerance and dyspnoea in patients with COPD at different stages of the disease.
Differences in the morphology of spinal V2a neurons reflect their recruitment order during swimming in larval zebrafish

Networks of neurons in spinal cord generate locomotion. However, little is known about potential differences in network architecture that underlie the production of varying speeds of movement. In larval zebrafish, as swimming speed increases, Chx10‐positive V2a excitatory premotor interneurons are activated from ventral to dorsal in a topographic pattern that parallels axial motoneuron recruitment. Here, we examined whether differences in the morphology and synaptic output of V2a neurons reflect their recruitment order during swimming. To do so, we used in vivo single‐cell labeling approaches to quantify the dorsoventral distribution of V2a axonal projections and synapses. Two different classes of V2a neurons are described, cells with ascending and descending axons and cells that are only descending. Among the purely descending V2a cells, more dorsal cells project longer distances than ventral ones. Proximally, all V2a neurons have axonal distributions that suggest potential connections to cells at and below their own soma positions. At more distal locations, V2a axons project dorsally, which creates a cumulative intersegmental bias to dorsally located spinal neurons. Assessments of the synapse distribution of V2a cells, reported by synaptophysin expression, support the morphological observations and also demonstrate that dorsal V2a cells have higher synapse densities proximally. Our results suggest that V2a cells with more potential output to spinal neurons are systematically engaged during increases in swimming frequency. The findings help explain patterns of axial motoneuron recruitment and set up clear predictions for future physiological studies examining the nature of spinal excitatory network connectivity as it relates to movement intensity. J. Comp. Neurol. 522:1232–1248, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Modifying the torque–angle behavior of rotary shape memory alloy actuators through axial loading: A semi-analytical study of combined tension–torsion behavior

In this article, a semi-analytical modeling approach is presented to study the pseudoelastic response of shape memory alloy rods and tubes subjected to combined tension–torsion loading states. A three-dimensional phenomenological shape memory alloy constitutive model is used to obtain the corresponding two-dimensional constitutive relations. The rod is partitioned into a finite number of narrow annular regions, and the equilibrium equations are found in each region for both loading and unloading paths. The derived equations are then solved based on an iterative algorithm. A set of experiments is conducted on a shape memory alloy thin-walled tube, and the results are then used to evaluate the performance of the modeling approach. Several numerical examples along with a finite element analysis are finally presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed method. Using this approach, it is possible to design active biomedical devices with shape memory alloy actuators under combined loading conditions.
Comparison of Numerical and Experimental Studies for Flow-Field Optimization Based on Under-Rib Convection in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

The flow-field design based on under-rib convection plays an important role in enhancing the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) because it ensures the uniform distribution of the reacting gas and the facilitation of water. This research focused on developing suitable configurations of the anode and cathode bipolar plates to enhance the fuel cell performance based on under-rib convection. The work here evaluated the effects of flow-field designs, including a serpentine flow field with sub channel and by pass and a conventional serpentine flow-field on single-cell performance. Both the experiment and computer simulation indicated that the serpentine flow field with sub channel and by pass (SFFSB) configuration enables more effective utilization of the electrocatalysts since it improves reactant transformation rate from the channel to the catalyst layer, thereby dramatically improving the fuel cell performance. The simulation and experimental results indicated that the power densities are increased by up to 16.74% and 18.21%, respectively, when applying suitable flow-field configurations to the anode and cathode bipolar plates. The findings in this are the foundation for enhancing efficient PEMFCs based on flow field design.