Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AMPK activator AICAR ameliorates ischaemia reperfusion injury in the rat kidney

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Renal ischaemia/reperfusion (RI/R) injury is a major cause of acute kidney injury (AKI) and an important determinant of long‐term kidney dysfunction. AMP‐kinase and histone deacetylase sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) regulate cellular metabolism and are activated during hypoxia. We investigated whether AMP‐kinase activator AICAR (5‐amino‐4‐imidazolecarboxamide riboside‐1‐β‐D‐ribofuranoside) ameliorates RI/R injury and whether SIRT1 is involved in the pathogenesis.
Human Intestinal Microvascular Endothelial Cells Express Toll-Like Receptor 5: A Binding Partner for Bacterial Flagellin

Bacterial flagellin has recently been identified as a ligand for Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5). Human sites known to specifically express TLR5 include macrophages and gastric and intestinal epithelium. Because infection of intestinal epithelial cells with Salmonella leads to an active transport of flagellin to the subepithelial compartment in proximity to microvessels, we hypothesized that human intestinal endothelial cells functionally express TLR5, thus enabling an active inflammatory response upon binding of translocated flagellin. Endothelial expression of TLR5 in human macro- and microvascular endothelial cells was examined by RT-PCR, immunoblot analysis, and immunofluorescence. Endothelial expression of TLR5 in vivo was verified by immunohistochemistry. Endothelial modulation of ICAM-1 expression was quantitated using flow cytometry, and leukocyte transmigration in vitro was assessed by an endothelial transmigration assay. Epithelial-endothelial cellular interactions upon infection with viable Salmonella were investigated using a coculture system in vitro. We found that Salmonella-infected intestinal epithelial cells induce endothelial ICAM-1 expression in cocultured human endothelial cells. Both macro- (HUVEC) and microvascular endothelial cells derived from human skin (human dermal microvascular endothelial cell 1) and human colon (human intestinal microvascular endothelial cells) were found to express high constitutive amounts of TLR5 mRNA and protein. These findings were paralleled by strong immunoreactivity for TLR5 of normal human colonic microvessels in vivo. Furthermore, incubation of human dermal microvascular endothelial cells with flagellin from clinical isolates of Escherichia and Salmonella strains led to a marked up-regulation of ICAM-1, as well as to an enhanced leukocyte transendothelial cell migration. These results suggest that endothelially expressed TLR5 might play a previously unrecognized role in the innate immune response toward bacterial Ags.
The Influence Of Religion And Spirituality On Rehabilitation Outcomes Among Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors

THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY ON REHABILITATION OUTCOMES AMONG TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY SURVIVORS by BRIGID WALDRON-PERRINE December 2010 Advisor: Lisa. J. Rapport, Ph.D. Major: Psychology (Clinical) Degree: Doctor of Philosophy The long-term consequences of traumatic brain injury affect millions of Americans, many of whom report using religion and spirituality to cope. Little research, however, has investigated how various elements of the religious and spiritual belief systems affect rehabilitation outcomes. The present study sought to assess the use of specifically defined elements of religion and spirituality as coping resources in a sample of traumatically brain injured adults. Furthermore, various mechanisms by which religion and spirituality may affect outcome were explored. The sample included 88 adults with brain injury from 1 to 20 years post injury and their knowledgeable significant others (SOs). Participants subjectively reported on their religious/spiritual beliefs and psychosocial resources in coping as well as their current physical and psychological status. Significant others reported objective rehabilitation outcomes. The majority of the participants with brain injury were male (76%), African American (75%) and Christian (76%). The results indicate that public religious practice was not a unique predictor of any outcome measures after accounting for demographic and injury-related
Antioxidants Accelerate Lung Cancer Progression in Mice

The antioxidants acetylcysteine and vitamin E accelerate tumor progression and reduce survival in mouse models of lung cancer by disrupting the ROS-p53 axis. The Dark Side of Antioxidants Antioxidants, or chemical compounds that prevent oxidation of other molecules, are widely marketed as dietary supplements with a variety of health claims. One particular characteristic that was frequently attributed to antioxidants is an ability to decrease the risk of cancer. However, a number of studies have shed doubt on this claim in recent years, as emerging evidence has suggested that antioxidants may actually increase the risk of some forms of cancer. Now, a study by Sayin and coauthors sheds new light on this issue and suggests that antioxidants may have a particularly detrimental effect in lung cancer development. When mice carrying mutations that increase their risk of lung cancer were treated with antioxidants, their early precancerous lesions progressed more quickly, and the mice developed more tumors and at more advanced stages. The antioxidants did reduce oxidative stress and DNA damage as expected, but at the same time, they also reduced the expression of p53, a key tumor suppressor protein. This work was done in cells and in mice, but the authors took care to make it as relevant to humans as possible. Thus, the mice were treated with types and doses of antioxidants (vitamin E and acetylcysteine) that healthy humans use, and the results were confirmed in human lung cancer cell lines. Although the current study does not show what would happen to wild-type mice or healthy people using antioxidants, it provides evidence for a procarcinogenic role of antioxidants in people who are already at a higher risk of cancer, such as smokers. Antioxidants are widely used to protect cells from damage induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS). The concept that antioxidants can help fight cancer is deeply rooted in the general population, promoted by the food supplement industry, and supported by some scientific studies. However, clinical trials have reported inconsistent results. We show that supplementing the diet with the antioxidants N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and vitamin E markedly increases tumor progression and reduces survival in mouse models of B-RAF– and K-RAS–induced lung cancer. RNA sequencing revealed that NAC and vitamin E, which are structurally unrelated, produce highly coordinated changes in tumor transcriptome profiles, dominated by reduced expression of endogenous antioxidant genes. NAC and vitamin E increase tumor cell proliferation by reducing ROS, DNA damage, and p53 expression in mouse and human lung tumor cells. Inactivation of p53 increases tumor growth to a similar degree as antioxidants and abolishes the antioxidant effect. Thus, antioxidants accelerate tumor growth by disrupting the ROS-p53 axis. Because somatic mutations in p53 occur late in tumor progression, antioxidants may accelerate the growth of early tumors or precancerous lesions in high-risk populations such as smokers and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who receive NAC to relieve mucus production.
An evaluation of various working practices in shops selling raw and cooked meats

SUMMARY Three groups of premises (butchers' shops, supermarkets and general dealers) which sell raw and cooked meats were compared. Salmonellas were not detected, but Escherichia coli, and to a lesser degree Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus faecalis, were widely distributed in all three groups of premises. Contamination of hands, towels and nail brushes was related to poor working practices. The presence of E. coli or Str. faecalis on slicing machines was associated with contamination of meat samples. A number of wiping cloths were heavily contaminated with E. coli, and many also contained Clostridium perjringens. Few premises provided written cleaning plans, and in many cases staff did not receive an adequate training in food hygiene. The use of disinfectants as part of the cleaning process did not necessarily reduce the level of bacterial contamination. In general there was poor correlation between microbiological results and a visual inspection made by an environmental health officer. The possible reasons for this finding arc discussed.
Gender Differences Among Children With ADHD on Continuous Performance Tests

Objective: Gender differences among children with ADHD are not well understood. The continuous performance test (CPT) is the most frequently used direct measure of inattention and impulsivity. This meta-analysis compared CPT performance between boys and girls with and without ADHD. Method: All peer-reviewed ADHD studies published between 1980 and 2010 that used a CPT and enabled gender comparison were included. Gender differences in commission (impulsivity) and omission (inattention) errors were analyzed. Results: Included studies comprised a sample of 772 boys and 325 girls with ADHD. Findings show that boys were significantly more impulsive than girls, but no difference with inattention was found. Within-gender analysis revealed that the difference among boys with and without ADHD was significantly larger than the difference among girls with and without ADHD. Conclusion: The results indicate that gender is a significant moderating factor in the assessment of core ADHD symptoms when using CPTs.
Orthogonal time-frequency signaling over doubly dispersive channels

This paper develops a general framework for communication over doubly dispersive fading channels via an orthogonal short-time Fourier (STF) basis. The STF basis is generated from a prototype pulse via time-frequency shifts. In general, the orthogonality between basis functions is destroyed at the receiver due to channel dispersion. The starting point of this work is a pulse scale adaptation rule first proposed by Kozek to minimize the interference between the basis functions. We show that the average signal-to-interference-and-noise (SINR) ratio associated with different basis functions is identical and is maximized by the scale adaptation rule. The results in this paper highlight the critical impact of the channel spread factor, the product of multipath and Doppler spreads, on system performance. Smaller spread factors result in lesser interference such that a scale-adapted STF basis serves as an approximate eigenbasis for the channel. A highly effective iterative interference cancellation technique is proposed for mitigating the residual interference for larger spread factors. The approximate eigendecomposition leads to an intuitively appealing block-fading interpretation of the channel in terms of time-frequency coherence subspaces: the channel is highly correlated within each coherence subspace whereas it is approximately independent across different subspaces. The block-fading model also yields an approximate expression for the coherent channel capacity in terms of parallel flat-fading channels. The deviation of the capacity of doubly dispersive channels from that of flat-fading channels is quantified by studying the moments of the channel eigenvalue distribution. In particular, the difference between the moments of doubly dispersive and flat-fading channels is proportional to channel spread factor. The results in this paper indicate that the proposed STF signaling framework is applicable for spread factors as large as 0.01.
Enhanced Detection of Diffusion Reductions in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease at a Higher B Factor

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is sensitive to the cerebral manifestations of human prion diseases. The magnitude of diffusion weighting, termed “b factor,” has only been evaluated at the standard b = 1000 s/mm2. This is the first rigorous evaluation of b = 2000 s/mm2 in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We compared DWI characteristics of 13 patients with CJD and 15 healthy controls at b = 1000 s/mm2 and b = 2000 s/mm2. Apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) were computed and analyzed for the whole brain by voxel-wise analysis (by SPM5) as well as in anatomically defined volumes of interest (by FSL FIRST). RESULTS: Measured ADC was significantly lower (by approximately 5%–15%) at b = 2000 s/mm2 than at b = 1000 s/mm2 and significantly lower in patients than in controls. The differences between patients and controls were greater and more extensive at b = 2000 s/mm2 than at b = 1000 s/mm2 in the expected regions (thalamus, putamen, and caudate nucleus). CONCLUSIONS: Because higher b factors change the absolute value of observed ADC, as well as lesion detection, care should be taken when combining studies using different b factors. While the clinical application of high b factors is currently limited by a low signal intensity–to-noise ratio, it may offer more information in questionable cases, and our results confirm and extend the central role of diffusion imaging in human prion diseases.
The Servants of Power: A History of the Use of Social Science in American Industry

Between the social function of the intelligentsia ("the creative production of the representative cultural values,") and the social function of the experts lies the functional realm of the professions freee Berufe). The social function (or role) of the professions is derived from the particular combination of creativity (professional career commitment) and application (translation of knowledge into skills); that is, the professions function as the agent of interposition. In terms of Parsonian pattern variables, professions are universalistic. A graphic representation of the social function of the professions (p. 280) sums up the five theses Stieglitz submits toward the end of his historically founded exploration of the sociological literature of the professions. Of course, for an American reader, it does not read like a survey of occupational sociology, nor is it intended to be one. The first half of the book deals with a sociology of the intelligentsia, mainly within the framework of Theodore Geiger. Since the intelligentsia is exclusivist in its social relations to the rest of the society, the professions become in effect the "intelligentsia of society. " Not only do the professions constitute the first public for the intelligentsia, but act as transplanters of the created representative values into the rest of society. When Steiglitz asks his central question, "What is the social role of the professions? " he uses the term "role" (Auftrag) to mean a vocation, a calling, or a mission, all of which connotations can be comprised in the term, career-centered profession. Thus the profession is a Kulturberuf with three functions; intellectualization, rationalization, and criticism of social existence. A selected bibliography, predominantly German, is included. DANIEL KUBAT Clarkson College of Technology
Using rule-based natural language processing to improve disease normalization in biomedical text

Background and objective In order for computers to extract useful information from unstructured text, a concept normalization system is needed to link relevant concepts in a text to sources that contain further information about the concept. Popular concept normalization tools in the biomedical field are dictionary-based. In this study we investigate the usefulness of natural language processing (NLP) as an adjunct to dictionary-based concept normalization. Methods We compared the performance of two biomedical concept normalization systems, MetaMap and Peregrine, on the Arizona Disease Corpus, with and without the use of a rule-based NLP module. Performance was assessed for exact and inexact boundary matching of the system annotations with those of the gold standard and for concept identifier matching. Results Without the NLP module, MetaMap and Peregrine attained F-scores of 61.0% and 63.9%, respectively, for exact boundary matching, and 55.1% and 56.9% for concept identifier matching. With the aid of the NLP module, the F-scores of MetaMap and Peregrine improved to 73.3% and 78.0% for boundary matching, and to 66.2% and 69.8% for concept identifier matching. For inexact boundary matching, performances further increased to 85.5% and 85.4%, and to 73.6% and 73.3% for concept identifier matching. Conclusions We have shown the added value of NLP for the recognition and normalization of diseases with MetaMap and Peregrine. The NLP module is general and can be applied in combination with any concept normalization system. Whether its use for concept types other than disease is equally advantageous remains to be investigated.
Plasma IP-10 Concentrations Correlate Positively with Viraemia and Inversely with CD4 Counts in Untreated HIV Infection

Background: Chronic immune activation is a feature of HIV infection associated with accelerated HIV disease progression. There is conflicting data on the association of biomarkers of immune activation with traditional markers of HIV disease progression; CD4 counts and viral load (VL). Objective: The study aimed to determine the association of biomarkers of immune activation; interferon (IFN)-γ-induced protein 10 (IP-10) and soluble cluster of differentiation 14 (sCD14) in chronic HIV infection with traditional markers of HIV disease progression. Methods: We collected demographic data, enumerated CD4 counts and quantified VL in 183 antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naive adults with chronic HIV infection. Plasma concentrations of IP-10 and sCD14 were quantified in the ART-naive adults with chronic HIV infection and 75 HIV-uninfected controls. Results: IP-10 concentrations were significantly higher in the HIV-infected group (median; 257.40pg/ml, IQR; 174.08-376.32) than in the HIV-uninfected (median; 86.19pg/ml, IQR; 67.70-116.39) (P<0.001). Similarly, sCD14 concentrations were significantly higher in the HIV-infected (median; 1.45µg/ml, IQR; 1.02-2.16) group than in the controls (median; 0.89µ/ml, IQR; 0.74-1.18) (P<0.001). High log10 IP-10 concentrations were positively correlated with high log10 viral loads (Spearman’s correlation coefficient [R]=0.21, P=0.003) and inversely correlated with low CD4 counts (R= -0.19, P=0.011). In contrast, log10 sCD14 was not significantly associated with either log10 viral loads (R=0.03, P=0.707) nor CD4 count (R=-0.04, P=0.568). Conclusion: We conclude that plasma sCD14 and IP-10 were elevated in the HIV-infected patients compared to HIV-uninfected individuals possibly due to on-going immune activation. In addition, plasma high concentrations of IP-10 but not sCD14 concentrations are associated with high VL and low CD4 count.
Role of Autophagy and Apoptosis in the Postinfluenza Bacterial Pneumonia

The risk of influenza A virus (IAV) is more likely caused by secondary bacterial infections. During the past decades, a great amount of studies have been conducted on increased morbidity from secondary bacterial infections following influenza and provide an increasing number of explanations for the mechanisms underlying the infections. In this paper, we first review the recent research progress that IAV infection increased susceptibility to bacterial infection. We then propose an assumption that autophagy and apoptosis manipulation are beneficial to antagonize post-IAV bacterial infection and discuss the clinical significance.
Modeling the Effects of Time Delay on HIV-1 in Vivo Dynamics in the Presence of ARVs

Mathematical models to describe in vivo and in vitro immunological response to infection in humans by HIV-1 have been of major concern due to the rich variety of parameters affecting its dynamics. In this paper, HIV-1 in vivo dynamics is studied to predict and describe its evolutions in presence of ARVs using delay differential equations. The delay is used to account for the latent period of time that elapsed between HIV – CD4+ T cell binding (infection) and production of infectious virus from this host cell. The model uses four variables: healthy CD4+T-cells (T), infected CD4+T-cells (T*), infectious virus (VI) and noninfectious virus (VN). Of importance is effect of time delay and drug efficacy on stability of disease free and endemic equilibrium points. Analytical results showed that DFE is stable for all τ>0. On the other hand, there is a critical value of delay τ1>0, such that for all τ>τ1, the EEP is stable but unstable forτ τ1 the HIV-1 viral materials will not be reproduced, and the immune system together with treatment will have enough time to clear the viral materials in the blood and thus the EEP is maintain.
Family conflict in childhood: a predictor of later insomnia.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To examine the association between childhood exposure to family conflict and insomnia at 18 years of age. DESIGN Longitudinal prospective data on an entire birth cohort were obtained. Parents completed the Conflict subscale of the Moos Family Environment Scale when the study members were 7, 9, 13, and 15 years of age. Insomnia was examined in a standardized interview when the participants were aged 18 years. SETTING Participants were born in Dunedin, New Zealand, and were interviewed at this location. PATIENTS OR PARTICIPANTS One thousand thirty-seven children born between April 1, 1972, and March 31, 1973, enrolled in the study (52% male). At age 18 years, 993 (97% of living cohort members) provided data. INTERVENTIONS N/A. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS The mean level of family conflict at age 7 to 15 years predicted insomnia at 18 years after controlling for sex, socioeconomic status, sleep problems at 9 years, and self-reported health (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 1.42 [1.17-1.73], p < .001). There was a dose-response relationship, whereby the more assessments at which families scored in the top 25% for conflict, the greater the young person's likelihood of developing insomnia at age 18 years. This association was present even after controlling for depression at 18 years. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates a modest but robust longitudinal link between family conflict during childhood and insomnia experienced at 18 years of age. Future work needs to replicate this finding in different populations and to elucidate the mechanisms underlying this association.
Natural vowel and consonant recognition by Laura cochlear implantees.

OBJECTIVE This study was performed to examine whether spectral and temporal properties of speech sounds are transferred effectively by the Laura cochlear implant device, and to determine whether listeners with different levels of performance use the same type of information to understand speech. DESIGN Twenty-five adult Laura cochlear implantees identified 12 repetitions of 10 vowels in /hVt/ utterances and 16 consonants placed in intervocalic /a/ context. The stimulus-response confusion matrices were analyzed in terms of relative information transmission scores (Miller & Nicely, 1955), and they were subjected to multidimensional INDSCAL analyses to examine whether a similar pattern of results would emerge when no prior assumptions were made about the division of categories. RESULTS To examine perception for different levels of performance, the vowel and consonant confusion data were divided into three groups of subjects: the better, intermediate, and poorer performers. In general, the INDSCAL analyses confirmed the results obtained from the information transmission analyses. However, they also supplemented it with other perceptually relevant cues for cochlear implantees, as well as with the weightings over different perceptual dimensions for different types of performers. These analyses suggest that although all subjects use the same type of information, the better performers are more capable of using these different cues than poor performers.