Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lymph Nodes and Cancer Metastasis: New Perspectives on the Role of Intranodal Lymphatic Sinuses

The lymphatic system is essential for transporting interstitial fluid, soluble antigen, and immune cells from peripheral tissues to lymph nodes (LNs). Functional integrity of LNs is dependent on intact lymphatics and effective lymph drainage. Molecular mechanisms that facilitate interactions between tumor cells and lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) during tumor progression still remain to be identified. The cellular and molecular structures of LNs are optimized to trigger a rapid and efficient immune response, and to participate in the process of tumor metastasis by stimulating lymphangiogenesis and establishing a premetastatic niche in LNs. Several molecules, e.g., S1P, CCR7-CCL19/CCL21, CXCL12/CXCR4, IL-7, IFN-γ, TGF-β, and integrin α4β1 play an important role in controlling the activity of LN stromal cells including LECs, fibroblastic reticular cells (FRCs) and follicular dendritic cells (DCs). The functional stromal cells are critical for reconstruction and remodeling of the LN that creates a unique microenvironment of tumor cells and LECs for cancer metastasis. LN metastasis is a major determinant for the prognosis of most human cancers and clinical management. Ongoing work to elucidate the function and molecular regulation of LN lymphatic sinuses will provide insight into cancer development mechanisms and improve therapeutic approaches for human malignancy.
Effective Detection of Various Wipe Transitions

Automatic detection of wipes and their frame ranges is important for the purpose of reliable video parsing and video database indexing. Wipes are difficult to detect because of the complexity and variety of the transition effects. Many of the existing wipe detection algorithms could detect only a few wipe effects. The false/miss detection problem caused by motion is also very serious. In this paper, we propose a novel wipe detection algorithm that can detect most wipe effects with accurate frame ranges. We carefully model a wipe based on its nature and then use the model to filter out possible confusion caused by motion or other transition effects. More precisely, properties of independence and completeness are proposed to characterize an ideal wipe; frame ranges of potential wipes are located by finding sequences which are a close approximation to an ideal wipe. Bayes rule is applied to each potential wipe to statistically estimate an adaptive threshold for the purpose of wipe verification. Experiment results on videos with different genres show that the proposed methodology can be used to detect various wipe effects effectively
High‐field continuous arterial spin labeling with long labeling duration: Reduced confounds from blood transit time and postlabeling delay

In quantitative perfusion imaging using arterial spin labeling, variable blood transit times and postlabeling delays are two confounding factors that may compromise the accuracy of perfusion quantifications. In this study, theoretical analyses and experimental data at 9.4 T demonstrate that increasing labeling duration not only enhances the contrast of the arterial spin labeling signal but also minimizes the effect of variable postlabeling delays in multislice arterial spin labeling acquisitions. With a labeling duration of 6.4 sec, arterial spin labeling signal acquired in multislice mode (11 slices) is very similar to that acquired in single‐slice mode. Previous studies have shown that inserting a delay between the spin labeling pulse and the image acquisition pulse could reduce confounds resulting from variable blood transit times at the expense of arterial spin labeling sensitivity. Our simulations suggest that enhancing the contrast of arterial spin labeling signal offers the opportunity for extending the postlabeling delay to a longer duration, minimizing systematic errors associated with a wide range of blood transit times, which could have significant implications for applying arterial spin labeling techniques to perfusion imaging of pathological conditions in animal models. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ticarcillin: a collaborative in vitro comparison with carbenicillin against over 9,000 clinical bacterial isolates

The minimal inhibitory concentrations of ticarcillin and carbenicillin were determined for 9,236 clinical bacterial isolates by the broth microdilution method at four participating laboratories. Ticarcillin showed significantly increased activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae (P <.001) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P <.001) and Aeromonas hydrophilia (P <.005) when compared to carbenicillin, but no significant differences were observed against other gram-negative organisms. Ticarcillin was consistently less active against the gram-positive cocci, and these differences were significant for Staphylococcus aureus (P <.001), Streptococcus agalactiae (P <.001), Staphylococcus epidermidis (P <.001), and Streptococcus viridans(P <.005). Significant regional and institutional differences in susceptibility to the two drugs were observed for several species, including common nosocomial pathogens such as S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae and Escherichia coli.
SIMPLE Approach for Isolating Mutants Expressing Fimbriae

ABSTRACT Genomes of members of the family Enterobacteriaceae contain large repertoires of putative fimbrial operons. Since many of these operons are poorly expressed in vitro, a convenient method for inducing elaboration of the encoded fimbriae would greatly facilitate their functional characterization. Here we describe a new technique for identifying fimbriated bacteria from a library of transposon mutants by screening with immunomagnetic particles for ligand expression (SIMPLE). The SIMPLE method was applied to identify the T-POP mutants of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium carrying on their surfaces filaments composed of PefA, the major subunit product of a fimbrial operon (pef) that is not expressed during growth in Luria-Bertani broth. Four such mutants were identified from a library of 24,000 mutants, each of which carried a T-POP insertion within the hns gene, which encodes a global silencer of horizontally acquired genes. Our data suggest that the SIMPLE method is an effective approach for isolating fimbriated bacteria, which can be readily applied to fimbrial operons identified by whole-genome sequencing.
Mel frequency cepstral feature and Gaussian Mixtures for modeling clinical depression in adolescents

With suicidal behavior being linked to depression that starts at an early age of a person's life, many investigators are trying to find early tell-tale signs to assist psychologists in detecting clinical depression through acoustic analysis of a patient's speech. The purpose of this paper was to study the effectiveness of Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) in capturing the overall mental state of a patient through the analysis of their various vocal emotions displayed during 20 minutes of problem-solving interaction sessions. We also propose both gender based and gender independent clinical depression models using Gaussian Mixture models. Experiments on 139 adolescents subject corpus indicates that incorporation of both first and second time derivatives of MFCCs can improve the overall classification accuracy by 3%. Gender differences proved to be a factor in improving clinical depressed subject detection, where gender based models outperformed the gender independent models by 8%.
Melatonin premedication and the induction dose of propofol

Background and objectives: Melatonin (N‐acetyl‐5‐methoxytryptamine) is the main indolamine secreted by the pineal gland. Many studies showed that premedication with melatonin is associated with preoperative anxiolysis and sedation without impairment of cognitive and psychomotor skills and without prolonging recovery. We hypothesized that melatonin decreases the amount of propofol required to produce an adequate depth of hypnosis at induction time. Methods: After approval from the research committee of the anaesthesia department, informed written consent was taken from 45 adult patients undergoing different surgical procedures. They were allocated randomly into three groups according to the premedication. At 100 min preoperatively, premedication was given in the form of oral melatonin 3 mg (M3 group), oral melatonin 5 mg (M5 group) or no premedication (P group). After preoxygenation an anaesthesiologist who was blinded to the premedication injected propofol 10 mg over 5 s every 15 s until the bispectral index (BIS) score fell to 45. The total dose of propofol required to achieve a BIS score of 45 was recorded. Response to verbal commands and eyelash reflex was evaluated and correlated to the BIS score and propofol dosage. When a BIS score of 45 was reached, tracheal intubation was accomplished after administration of a narcotic and muscle relaxant. Results: The mean (standard devitation (SD)) induction dose of propofol producing a BIS score of 45 was 134 (25) mg in the placebo group vs. 115 (19.5) and 114 (20.9) mg in the M3 and M5 groups, respectively (P < 0.05). The propofol dose required to achieve loss of eyelash reflex and loss of response to verbal commands was more in the placebo group. Anxiety score as assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS) scored more in the placebo group than both melatonin groups. Time spent in the recovery room did not differ between the three groups. Conclusion: Melatonin premedication, in an oral dose of either 3 or 5 mg, reduced the required dose of propofol to achieve a BIS score of 45, reflecting a sufficient level of hypnosis for tracheal intubation without prolongation of postoperative recovery room stay.
Constitutive Ret Activity in Knock-In Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type B Mice Induces Profound Elevation of Brain Dopamine Concentration via Enhanced Synthesis and Increases the Number of TH-Positive Cells in the Substantia Nigra

Ret is the common signaling receptor for glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and other ligands of the GDNF family that have potent effects on brain dopaminergic neurons. The Met918Thr mutation leads to constitutive activity of Ret receptor tyrosine kinase, causing the cancer syndrome called multiple endocrine neoplasia type B (MEN2B). We used knock-in MEN2B mice with the Ret-MEN2B mutation to study the effects of constitutive Ret activity on the brain dopaminergic system and found robustly increased concentrations of dopamine (DA) and its metabolites in the striatum, cortex, and hypothalamus. The concentrations of brain serotonin were not affected and those of noradrenaline were slightly increased only in the lower brainstem. Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) protein levels were increased in the striatum and substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area (SN/VTA), and TH mRNA levels were increased in SN/VTA of MEN2B mice, suggesting that constitutive Ret activity increases DA levels by increasing its synthesis. Also, the striatal DA transporter protein levels in the MEN2B mice were increased, which agrees with increased sensitivity of these mice to the stimulatory effects of cocaine. In the SN pars compacta of homozygous MEN2B mice, we found a 26% increase in the number of TH-positive cells, but no differences were found in the VTA. Thus, we show here that the constitutive Ret activity in mice is sufficient to increase the number of dopaminergic neurons and leads to profound elevation of brain DA concentration. These data clearly suggest that Ret activity per se can have a direct biological function that actively changes and shapes the brain dopaminergic system.
20(S)-ginsenoside Rg3 promotes senescence and apoptosis in gallbladder cancer cells via the p53 pathway

Gallbladder cancer (GBC), the most frequent malignancy of the biliary tract, is associated with high mortality and extremely poor prognosis. 20(S)-ginsenoside Rg3 (20(S)-Rg3) is a steroidal saponin with high pharmacological activity. However, the anticancer effect of 20(S)-Rg3 in human GBC has not yet been determined. In this study, we primarily found that 20(S)-Rg3 exposure suppressed the survival of both NOZ and GBC-SD cell lines in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, induction of cellular senescence and G0/G1 arrest by 20(S)-Rg3 were accompanied by a large accumulation of p53 and p21 as a result of murine double minute 2 (MDM2) inhibition. 20(S)-Rg3 also caused a remarkable increase in apoptosis via the activation of the mitochondrial-mediated intrinsic caspase pathway. Furthermore, intraperitoneal injection of 20(S)-Rg3 (20 or 40 mg/kg) for 3 weeks markedly inhibited the growth of xenografts in nude mice. Our results demonstrated that 20(S)-Rg3 potently inhibited growth and survival of GBC cells both in vitro and in vivo. 20(S)-Rg3 attenuated GBC growth probably via activation of the p53 pathway, and subsequent induction of cellular senescence and mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis. Therefore, 20(S)-Rg3 may be a potential chemotherapeutic agent for GBC therapy.
SUCCESS, FAILURE AND THE GRAY ZONE: HOW ORGANIZATIONS LEARN OR DON'T FROM AMBIGUOUS EXPERIENCE.

A long standing body of work emphasizes that organizations learn from experience by transforming continuous measures of performance into dichotomous outcomes of success and failure. This dichotomy creates a simple heuristic for prescribing behavior: persist when succeeding, change when failing. At the same time an emerging stream of research on mindfulness has started to focus on how organizations learn (or don't) from ambiguous and heterogeneous experience. I connect these literatures arguing that conventional models of organizational learning do not consider how organizations learn (or don't) from outcomes that fall between success and failure.
The Effect of the Menstrual Cycle on Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Prospective Study

Background/Aims The symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) fluctuate considerably over time. However, it has not been determined whether these symptoms are affected by the menstrual cycle in female IBD patients. This study analyzed the effects of the menstrual cycle on IBD symptom variation. Methods This was a prospective study of 91 study subjects (47 IBD patients and 44 healthy controls) who reported daily symptoms and signs throughout their menstrual cycles. Results IBD patients had significantly more frequent gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea (30% vs 7%, p=0.006), flatulence (53% vs 22%, p=0.003), and abdominal pain as compared to controls (68% vs 38%, p=0.006). The IBD patients also experienced more frequent systemic premenstrual symptoms than the controls (79% vs 50%, p=0.003). More severe abdominal pain (p=0.002) and lower mean general condition scores (p=0.001) were noted during the menstrual phase as compared to the pre- or post-menstrual phase in both groups. IBD patients experienced more frequent premenstrual gastrointestinal symptoms than controls, but their IBD symptoms did not change significantly during the menstrual cycle. Conclusions Knowledge of the cyclic alterations in gastrointestinal and systemic symptoms may be helpful in determining the true exacerbation of disease in female IBD patients.
Exposure to Both Positive and Negative Pretrial Pubilicity Reduces or Eliminates Mock-Juror Bias

This experiment examined how exposure to both negative (anti-defendant) and positive (pro-defendant) pretrial publicity (PTP) affects juror memory and verdicts. Mock-jurors were exposed to eight PTP stories over 10 to 12 days. Pure-PTP mock-jurors received only one type of PTP (negative, positive, or unrelated). Mixed-PTP mock-jurors received both types of PTP in either an alternating (e.g., negative, positive, negative, positive) or a blocked fashion (e.g., negative, negative, positive, positive). Mock-jurors in the negative PTP (N-PTP) condition had a greater proportion of guilty verdicts and had higher guilt ratings than positive PTP (P-PTP) and unrelated PTP (U-PTP) mock-jurors; thus demonstrating a pro-prosecution bias. The mock-jurors in the P-PTP condition demonstrated a pro-defense bias by being less likely to vote guilty and having lower guilt ratings than the U-PTP jurors. Regardless of presentation order, mixed-PTP exposure reduced or eliminated PTP's biasing effects on verdicts, with mixed jurors' verdict distributions most closely resembling those of U-PTP jurors. For guilt ratings there was also evidence PTP bias reduction for blocked jurors, while alternating jurors demonstrated a recency effect. As for source memory, mock-jurors in the N-PTP condition made a greater proportion of negative PTP errors than mock-jurors in the P-PTP, U-PTP, and some of the mixed conditions. The authors suggest that the trend for lower source memory errors in this study, as compared to similar past research, may be due to increased temporal and environmental cues afforded by the spaced PTP exposure. Additionally, the smaller proportion of critical source memory errors for mixed-PTP jurors than for pure-PTP jurors may be due to differences in these jurors' memory for PTP facts.
A remote surgery experiment between Japan-Korea using the minimally invasive surgical system

Several robotic surgical systems have been developed for MIS (minimally invasive surgery) including commercialized products such as da Vinci and ZEUS. We have developed a minimally invasive surgical system, which have carried out remote surgery experiments for five times at the writing time. In this paper, a remote surgery experiment, which was conducted between Japan and Korea by using the developed minimally invasive surgical system is described. Research & Development (R & D) Internet testbet, APII (Asia-Pacific Information Infrastructure), which consists of an optical submarine cable network KJCN (Korea-Japan Cable Network), was used. In the experiment, a laparoscopic cholecystectomy was successfully carried out on a pig. The network time-delays of control signal and images were 6.5 msec and 435.5 msec respectively. A comparison of remote surgery experiments using ISDN and the Internet was studied
ARTISST: an extensible and modular simulation tool for real-time systems

ARTISST (ARTISST is a Real-Time System Simulation Tool) is a modular event-driven simulation framework for real-time systems. It is targeted towards the performance evaluation of complex dynamic real-time systems made of tasks performing arbitrary computations and exhibiting a complex and realistic pattern for their arrival law, synchronization relations, and execution time. The simulator actually focuses on a time-accurate simulation, since it allows, among other things, to take the operating system (including its scheduler) costs into account. Furthermore, thanks to its modular and object-oriented software architecture, the simulator is not dedicated to a particular operating system API, but is fully customizable instead. This paper describes ARTISST, and illustrates its functionalities and customization facilities on two example real-time systems.
SWR Mice Are Highly Susceptible to Pulmonary Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis

ABSTRACT Inbred mice differ in their abilities to control the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the lung and can as a result be regarded as either resistant or susceptible strains. In this study we report that the SWR mouse is both highly susceptible and in addition appears incapable of establishing a characteristic state of chronic disease after low-dose aerosol infection. In comparison to C57BL/6 mice, SWR mice were unable to contain the bacterial load in the lungs, resulting in progressive fatal disease. Histologic analysis of the lung tissue revealed evidence of a florid inflammatory cell response in the SWR mice leading to degeneration and necrosis and consolidation of a large percentage of the lung surface area. Digestion of infected lungs and analysis by flow cytometry demonstrated an initially similar but eventually higher number of lymphocytes accumulating in the SWR mice. Additionally, in contrast to the C57BL/6 mice, SWR mice had a significantly lower percentage of CD4 T cells in the lungs showing evidence of proliferation and positive intracellular staining for gamma interferon during the first two months of infection, and a lower percentage of both CD4 and CD8T cells exhibiting differentiation to an effector/memory phenotype during the first month of infection. We propose that further investigation of the SWR mouse may provide a new animal model for immunocompetent individuals apparently unable to effectively control the growth of M. tuberculosis in the lung.
Obesity and Cancer: The Role of Dysfunctional Adipose Tissue

Overweight and obesity are health problems of epidemic proportions, increasing the risk not only of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus but also of various types of cancer. Obesity is strongly associated with changes in the physiological function of adipose tissue, leading to insulin resistance, chronic inflammation, and altered secretion of adipokines. Several of these factors, such as insulin resistance, increased levels of leptin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, and endogenous sex steroids, decreased levels of adiponectin, and chronic inflammation, are involved in carcinogenesis and cancer progression. This article reviews these mechanisms, focusing on adipose tissue dysfunction as a unifying causal factor. Although understanding of the link between obesity and cancer might provide therapeutic targets, preventing overweight and obesity still remains number one priority. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(10):2569–78)
High stroke incidence in the prospective community-based L'Aquila registry (1994-1998). First year's results.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Changes in stroke incidence are likely to occur as a consequence of aging of the population, but evidence for this hypothesis is lacking. METHODS A prospective community-based registry of first-ever strokes (1994 to 1998) classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9) was established in the L'Aquila district, central Italy, with a total population of 297,838 (1991 census). Patients were identified by active monitoring of multiple sources, including general practitioners. RESULTS In 1994, 819 patients (398 men and 421 women; mean +/- SD age, 74.8 +/- 11.3 years) suffered from a first-ever stroke. Eighty-nine percent of the patients had neuroimaging studies of the brain and were reclassified with the recent Application of the International Classification of Diseases to Neurology (ICD-10 NA). The occurrence of subarachnoid hemorrhage, intracerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarction, and ill-defined events was 2.9%, 14.9%, 80.2%, and 2.0%, respectively. Crude annual incidence of first-ever stroke was 2.75/1000 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.57 to 2.94) and 24.23/1000 (95% CI, 21.65 to 27.10) in patients older than 80 years. Incidence rates were higher in men and steeply increased with age. The standardized rate was 2.37/1000 for the Italian and 2.28/1000 for the European population. The 30-day case-fatality rate was 25.6% (95% CI, 22.8% to 28.7%). The occurrence of death, disability, and full recovery at 1 year was 36.9%, 38.9%, and 24.2%, respectively. No differences were found in stroke incidence and case-fatality according to income and urban or rural residences. CONCLUSIONS In our population-based study, we found a high stroke incidence notably in the older age subgroups, suggesting that rather than declining, stroke is only being postponed until later in life.