Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interferon γ Signaling Alters the Function of T Helper Type 1 Cells

One mechanism regulating the ability of different subsets of T helper (Th) cells to respond to cytokines is the differential expression of cytokine receptors. For example, Th2 cells express both chains of the interferon γ receptor (IFN-γR), whereas Th1 cells do not express the second chain of the IFN-γR (IFN-γR2) and are therefore unresponsive to IFN-γ. To determine whether the regulation of IFN-γR2 expression, and therefore IFN-γ responsiveness, is important for the differentiation of naive CD4+ T cells into Th1 cells or for Th1 effector function, we generated mice in which transgenic (TG) expression of IFN-γR2 is controlled by the CD2 promoter and enhancer. CD4+ T cells from IFN-γR2 TG mice exhibit impaired Th1 polarization potential in vitro. TG mice also display several defects in Th1-dependent immunity in vivo, including attenuated delayed-type hypersensitivity responses and decreased antigen-specific IFN-γ production. In addition, TG mice mount impaired Th1 responses against Leishmania major, as manifested by increased parasitemia and more severe lesions than their wild-type littermates. Together, these data suggest that the sustained expression of IFN-γR2 inhibits Th1 differentiation and function. Therefore, the acquisition of an IFN-γ–unresponsive phenotype in Th1 cells plays a crucial role in the development and function of these cells.
Factors related to employment status changes in individuals with multiple sclerosis

In a sample of 50 individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), participants able to work full-time (‘W’), those who reduced their hours (‘CB’) and those who were unemployed (‘NW’) were compared on demographic and disease variables and symptoms that the participants identified as being responsible for their work status change. The NW group had significantly greater physical disability than the other two groups and significantly more fatigue than the W group. The CB group had significantly more years of education and higher occupational prestige ratings than the NW group. The W group reported significantly greater mood disturbance compared with the NW group. Employment status was unrelated to age, gender, full scale IQ estimate, disease duration, diagnosis duration or cognitive functioning. Ninety per cent of the CB group reported that fatigue was a primary symptom responsible for their work status change, whereas 86% of the NW group reported that broad physical/neurological symptoms were responsible for their change in work status.
Evidence of Bartonella henselae infection in cats and dogs in the United Kingdom

Sera from cats and dogs in the UK were tested by ELISA for antibodies to Bartonelia henselae. Seropositivity was confirmed in 28 of 69 pet cats (40.6 per cent), 33 of 79 feral cats (41.8 per cent) and three of 100 pet dogs. Reactivity to specific B henselae antigens was confirmed by Western blotting and demonstrated that consistent antigenic bands were bound by sera from the cats and dogs.
This Time, It’s Real: Affective Flexibility, Time Scales, Feedback Loops, and the Regulation of Emotion

Because both emotional arousal and regulation are continuous, ongoing processes, it is difficult, if not impossible, to separate them. Thus, affective dynamics can reveal the regulation of emotion as it occurs in real time. One way that this can be done is through the examination of intra- and interpersonal flexibility or the transitions into and out of affective states. The present article reviews and then expands upon the Flex3 model of real-time dynamic and reactive flexibility, specifying the ways in which individual differences in emotion regulation manifest as differences in flexibility. The differences in results at the real-time scale versus diurnal variability are also discussed within an emotion regulation framework.
Approximation of Liquid Crystal Flows

The numerical solution of the flow of a liquid crystal governed by a particular instance of the Ericksen--Leslie equations is considered. Convergence of finite element approximations is established under appropriate regularity hypotheses, and numerical experiments exhibiting the interaction of singularities and the coupling of the director and momentum equations are presented.
HEPATOPROTECTIVE EFFECT OF PHYLLANTHUS NIRURI ALKALOID FRACTION IN D- GALACTOSAMINE INDUCED HEPATITIS IN RATS Original Article

Objective: The current study was designed to explore the hepatoprotective activity of Phyllanthus niruri (PN) alkaloid fraction in induced hepatitis in rats. Methods: The rats are divided into 5 groups as per the experimental design. Pre alkaloid treatment of PN was given to the hepatitis rats for 21 d. After completion of the treatment, the serum was collected, and biochemical analysis was carried out. The hepatic markers like alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities, bilirubin (BL) urea (UR), creatinine (CR) levels are estimated in serum. Results: ALT, AST activities, BL, CR levels are increased, and UR levels are decreased in hepatitis rats. However with PN alkaloid fraction pretreatment all these hepatic markers significantly (P<0.01) came back to near normal levels. Histopathological studies also prove that PN protected the hepatic tissue from hepatitis. Conclusion: The outcome of the present study showed that the alkaloid fraction of PN possesses hepatoprotective effect in hepatitis rats.
Elevated Plasma Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Levels in Breast Cancer Patients Decrease After Surgical Removal of the Tumor

ObjectiveThe authors determined whether untreated breast cancer patients have elevated plasma levels of transforming growth factor-β1, (TGF-β1). Summary Background DataIncreased plasma TGF-β1 levels recently were found after chemotherapy in patients with advanced breast cancer. However, it currently is unknown whether this elevation in plasma TGF-β1 is caused by chemotherapy-induced normal tissue damage or whether it results from the presence of the tumor. MethodsAn enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure plasma TGF-β1 levels in 26 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients before and after definitive surgery. Patients were grouped by postoperative tumor status: 1) negative lymph nodes (group 1); 2) positive lymph nodes (group 2); and 3) overt residual disease (group 3). The site of TGF-β1 production in the tumors was localized by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. ResultsPlasma TGF-β1 levels were elevated preoperatively in 81% of the patients; TGF-β2 and TGF-β3 were undetectable. The preoperative TGF-β1, levels in the three patient groups were similar; however, the postoperative plasma TGF-β1 levels differed by disease status. The mean plasma TGF-β1 level in group 1 (n = 12) normalized after surgery (19.3 ± 3.2 vs. 5.5 ± 1.0 ng/mL, p < 0.001). In contrast, the mean plasma TGF-β1 levels remained above normal in both group 2 (n = 9) and group 3 (n = 5) after surgery. Transforming growth factor-β1 expression was found to be preferentially increased in the tumor stroma. ConclusionsBreast tumors result in increased plasma TGF-β1 levels in 81% of patients. After surgical removal of the primary tumor, the plasma TGF-β1 level normalizes in the majority of patients; persistently elevated levels correlate with the presence of lymph node metastases or overt residual tumor.
Affective Judgments of Faces Modulate Early Activity (∼160 ms) within the Fusiform Gyri

Functional neuroimaging studies have implicated the fusiform gyri (FG) in structural encoding of faces, while event-related potential (ERP) and magnetoen- cephalography studies have shown that such encoding occurs approximately 170 ms poststimulus. Behavioral and functional neuroimaging studies suggest that pro- cesses involved in face recognition may be strongly modulated by socially relevant information conveyed by faces. To test the hypothesis that affective informa- tion indeed modulates early stages of face processing, ERPs were recorded to individually assessed liked, neutral, and disliked faces and checkerboard-reversal stimuli. At the N170 latency, the cortical three-dimen- sional distribution of current density was computed in stereotactic space using a tomographic source local- ization technique. Mean activity was extracted from the FG, defined by structure-probability maps, and a meta-cluster delineated by the coordinates of the voxel with the strongest face-sensitive response from five published functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. In the FG, 160 ms poststimulus, liked faces elicited stronger activation than disliked and neutral faces and checkerboard-reversal stimuli. Further, confirming recent results, affect-modulated brain elec- trical activity started very early in the human brain (112 ms). These findings suggest that affective fea- tures conveyed by faces modulate structural face en- coding. Behavioral results from an independent study revealed that the stimuli were not biased toward par- ticular facial expressions and confirmed that liked faces were rated as more attractive. Increased FG ac- tivation for liked faces may thus be interpreted as reflecting enhanced attention due to their saliency.
Active vorticity control in a shear flow using a flapping foil

It is shown experimentally that free shear flows can be substantially altered through direct control of the large coherent vortices present in the flow. First, flow-visualization experiments are conducted in Kalliroscope fluid at Reynolds number 550. A foil is placed in the wake of a D-section cylinder, sufficiently far behind the cylinder so that it does not interfere with the vortex formation process. The foil performs a heaving and pitching oscillation at a frequency close to the Strouhal frequency of the cylinder, while cylinder and foil also move forward at constant speed. By varying the phase of the foil oscillation, three basic interaction modes are identified. (i) Formation of a street of pairs of counter-rotating vortices, each pair consisting of one vortex from the initial street of the cylinder and one vortex shed by the foil. The width of the wake is then substantially increased. (ii) Formation of a street of vortices with reduced or even reverse circulation compared to that of oncoming cylinder vortices, through repositioning of cylinder vortices by the foil and interaction with vorticity of the opposite sign shed from the trailing edge of the foil. (iii) Formation of a street of vortices with circulation increased through merging of cylinder vortices with vortices of the same sign shed by the foil. In modes (ii) and (iii) considerable repositioning of the cylinder vortices takes place immediately behind the foil, resulting in a regular or reverse Kármán street. The formation of these three interaction patterns is achieved only for specific parametric values; for different values of the parameters no dominant stable pattern emerges. Subsequently, the experiments are repeated in a different facility at larger scale, resulting in Reynolds number 20000, in order to obtain force and torque measurements. The purpose of the second set of experiments is to assess the impact of flow control on the efficiency of the oscillating foil, and hence investigate the possibility of energy extraction. It is found that the efficiency of the foil depends strongly on the phase difference between the oscillation of the foil and the arrival of cylinder vortices. Peaks in foil efficiency are associated with the formation of a street of weakened vortices and energy extraction by the foil from the vortices of the vortex street.
Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Virus Glycoproteins Are Targeted by Neutralizing Antibodies and Can Use DC-SIGN as a Receptor for pH-Dependent Entry into Human and Animal Cell Lines

ABSTRACT Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a novel bunyavirus that recently emerged in China. Infection with SFTSV is associated with case-fatality rates of up to 30%, and neither antivirals nor vaccines are available at present. Development of antiviral strategies requires the elucidation of virus-host cell interactions. Here, we analyzed host cell entry of SFTSV. Employing lentiviral and rhabdoviral vectors, we found that the Gn/Gc glycoproteins (Gn/Gc) of SFTSV mediate entry into a broad range of human and animal cell lines, as well as human macrophages and dendritic cells. The Gn/Gc proteins of La Crosse virus (LACV) and Rift Valley Fever Virus (RVFV), other members of the bunyavirus family, facilitated entry into an overlapping but not identical range of cell lines, suggesting that SFTSV, LACV, and RVFV might differ in their receptor requirements. Entry driven by SFTSV Gn/Gc was dependent on low pH but did not require the activity of the pH-dependent endosomal/lysosomal cysteine proteases cathepsins B and L. Instead, the activity of a cellular serine protease was required for infection driven by SFTSV and LACV Gn/Gc. Sera from convalescent SFTS patients inhibited SFTSV Gn/Gc-driven host cell entry in a dose-dependent fashion, demonstrating that the vector system employed is suitable to detect neutralizing antibodies. Finally, the C-type lectin DC-SIGN was found to serve as a receptor for SFTSV Gn/Gc-driven entry into cell lines and dendritic cells. Our results provide initial insights into cell tropism, receptor usage, and proteolytic activation of SFTSV and will aid in the understanding of viral spread and pathogenesis.
Civilian and war injuries of the perineum and anal sphincters

Patients with pelvic and perineal non‐obstetric trauma were studied to determine the clinical outcome in relation to faecal continence. Between 1980 and 1992, 65 patients were referred for post‐traumatic assessment of the anal sphincters and continence mechanism. All patients were continent before trauma. Using clinical examination, manometry, concentric‐needle electromyography and most recently anal endosonography, external sphincter defects were identified in 56 patients, of whom 52 underwent overlapping sphincter repair. The external sphincter was considered to be intact in nine patients. At a median follow‐up of 12 months a good result (continence grades 1 and 2) was achieved in 36 of 52 patients and a poor outcome (continence grades 3 and 4) in ten; six patients were lost to follow‐up. A good clinical result was associated with a significant increase in resting pressure (median increase 15 cm H2O; P = 0·017) and squeeze pressure (median increase 35 cmH2O; P = 0·001). At postoperative assessment three patients with a poor outcome were shown to have a second unsuspected contralateral sphincter defect that had not been repaired. Physiological and endosonographic investigation combined with late surgical repair leads to a good outcome in most patients with traumatic sphincter damage.
Age-related differences in the areas of Broca and Wernicke using functional magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND Previous studies have identified differences in the brain activation pattern between children and adults as well as between healthy subjects and patients using various imaging methods. Despite the increase of old people in the population, at present no study has applied a language task to investigate differences in adults. OBJECTIVE We used a simple paradigm to elicit activation in young and old adults to investigate differences in the activation of the classical Broca and Wernicke areas. METHODS Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we applied a simple language paradigm to 10 right-handed subjects in each age group. Words and letter strings were presented separately with the instruction to decide for each pair if it represents a synonym (in case of words) or identical strings (in case of letters). The corresponding changes in the brain activation for words and letters were contrasted for each individual subject and compared by statistical parametric methods. RESULTS For all subjects, the paradigm resulted in the activation of Broca and Wernicke areas in the left hemisphere only. Group analysis demonstrated a higher level of activation in Broca as well as in Wernicke areas for the young adults in comparison with the old adults. CONCLUSIONS The applied, short paradigm provided consistent activation of the classical Broca and Wernicke areas in both age groups. These results demonstrate specific age-related differences in the processing of language stimuli during identical performance measures.
Student Response Systems

This study presents findings from an investigation of student response systems (SRS) in an undergraduate preservice teacher education classroom to investigate the impact of SRS use during lecture on the topic of learning disabilities (LDs). Participants were randomly assigned to the SRS group, a written response group, or a no response group, and evaluated at pre- and posttest for content knowledge, during lecture for reading accountability and engagement, at posttest regarding satisfaction with the learning experience, and following lecture, participants were asked to respond to a case study of a student with LD. Findings indicated that all participants performed significantly better at posttest on the measure of content knowledge, with no significant differences between groups. On the during lecture measure of engagement, students in the written response group outperformed peers in the SRS group on reading accountability items, but students in the SRS group demonstrated significantly better understanding of content and reported higher efficacy for their learning in comparison with peers. Participants were satisfied with the learning experience created by SRS use and reported that it improved their accountability for reading, increased their engagement with content, and that given a choice, they would prefer to use SRS in future classes. However, in response to the case study, relatively low percentages of participants were able to generate viable suggestions for evidence-based practices that could improve academic and social outcomes for students with LD like the case student. Future research should further investigate the impact of SRS on learning and transfer.
Bullying, vitimização por funcionários e depressão: Relações com o engajamento emocional escolar

School violence and depression seem to interfere with emotional school engagement (ESE). This study examined the impact of relationships of a set of variables in the ESE, from testing a theoretical model. For this, 634 students with an average age of 13.6 years, from two public schools in Sao Paulo responded to the School Violence Scale - Version students, Inventory Child and School Engagement Scale Depression. The results indicated that no direct negative impact of depression and bullying authorship in the ESE, while there are indirect negative impact severity and frequency of victimization by bullying, being mediated by bullying authorship, depression and / or victimization by employees. The proposed theoretical model explained 9% of the variance in the ESE, indicating the need to include other variables in future studies. Still, it is shown that an unhealthy environment can harm school student engagement.
Finding a Comparison Group

This article explores the viability of online crowdsourcing for creating matched-comparison groups. This exploratory study compares survey results from a randomized control group to survey results from a matched-comparison group created from Amazon.com’s MTurk crowdsourcing service to determine their comparability. Study findings indicate that online crowdsourcing, a process that allows access to many participants to complete specific tasks, is a potentially viable resource for evaluation designs where access to comparison groups, large budgets, and/or time are limited. The article highlights the strengths and limitations of the online crowdsourcing approach and describes ways that it could potentially be used in evaluation practice.
Serum pseudocholinesterase and very‐low‐density lipoprotein metabolism

Serum pseudocholinesterase (PChE) was discovered in 1932. Since this protein mimics many of the catalytic properties of acetylcholinesterase, it has traditionally been referred to as PChE, even though its true biological function is unknown. Serum PChE is synthesized in the liver and secreted into the circulation as a sialated glycoprotein. Although no convincing evidence of biological function exists, a significant number of obese and diabetic patients have elevated levels of PChE. The same phenomenon is found in experimental animal models of obesity, diabetes and hyperlipoproteinemia. Streptozotocin‐induced diabetic mice showed increased serum PChE activity concomitant with increased serum triacylglycerol and PChE activity declined with treatment. Iso‐OMPA, a nontoxic inhibitor of serum PChE, reduced serum and liver triacylglycerols and serum VLDL in streptozotocininduced rodent diabetes. These findings suggest that PChE may have a role in VLDL metabolism. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Towards Using Fewer Features for Text Classification

Text classification or categorization is a conventional classification problem applied to the text domain. In the cases when statistical classification methods are used, an important research issue is the selection of features from the training texts, each of which is hence treated as a feature vector. In this paper, we propose an approach for feature selection in text classification tasks, based on the exploit of external information that summarizes the text to be classified. In particular, we study the use of their citation contexts in the categorization of academic publications using the Naive Bayesian method. A series of experiments have been performed on a corpus of publications in Computer Science, based on which we observe that publication citation contexts can serve as a liable and effective source of feature selection. We also derive some useful hints on the reduction of feature number with a negligible affects on the accuracies. 1
Effects on Walker 256 tumour of carmustine associated with a cholesterol‐rich microemulsion (LDE)

A cholesterol‐rich microemulsion that binds to low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors (LDE), after injection into the bloodstream, concentrates in neoplastic tissues that over‐express those receptors. LDE can thus serve as a vehicle for drug targeting. It was shown that carmustine side effects are pronouncedly reduced when the drug is associated with LDE in cancer patients. In this study, the therapeutic action of LDE associated with carmustine was compared with that of the non‐associated drug in rats implanted with Walker 256 tumour. The toxicity and anti‐tumour activity in rats treated with either free carmustine or carmustine associated with LDE and in control rats treated with saline solution were determined after a single intraperitoneal injection. The LD90 (90% lethal dose) of LDE‐carmustine was 77 mg kg−1 and of free carmustine was 44 mg kg−1, indicating that LDE decreases toxicity. LDE‐carmustine was able to decrease tumour mass at a lower dose level than free carmustine. Tumour regression time was shorter in LDE‐carmustine‐ than in free carmustine‐treated animals. Therefore, this study shows that the association of carmustine with LDE increases the therapeutic index of carmustine.