Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of Side Populations in HNSCC: Highly Invasive, Chemoresistant and Abnormal Wnt Signaling

Side Population (SP) cells, a subset of Hoechst-low cells, are enriched with stem cells. Originally, SP cells were isolated from bone marrow but recently have been found in various solid tumors and cancer cell lines that are clonogenic in vitro and tumorigenic in vivo. In this study, SP cells from lymph node metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines were examined using flow cytometry and Hoechst 3342 efflux assay. We found that highly metastatic HNSCC cell lines M3a2 and M4e contained more SP cells compared to the low metastatic parental HNSCC cell line 686LN. SP cells in HNSCC were highly invasive in vitro and tumorigenic in vivo compared to non-SP cells. Furthermore, SP cells highly expressed ABCG2 and were chemoresistant to Bortezomib and etoposide. Importantly, we found that SP cells in HNSCC had abnormal activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling as compared to non-SP cells. Together, these findings indicate that SP cells might be a major driving force of head and neck tumor formation and metastasis. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway may be an important target for eliminating cancer stem cells in HNSCC.
Cutting Edge: Conventional CD8α+ Dendritic Cells Are Preferentially Involved in CTL Priming After Footpad Infection with Herpes Simplex Virus-11

CTL play a major role in immunity to HSV type 1, but little is known about the priming process. In this study, we have examined the class I-restricted presentation of an immunodominant determinant from HSV-1 glycoprotein B after footpad infection. We have found that the only cell types capable of presenting this determinant in draining popliteal lymph nodes within the first 3 days after infection are the CD11c+CD8α+CD45RA− dendritic cells. Given that such class I-restricted presentation is essential for CTL priming, this implies that these conventional CD8α+ dendritic cells are the key subset involved in CTL immunity to this virus.
Outpatient endometrial biopsy with Pipelle vs diagnostic dilatation and curettage.

BACKGROUND Pipelle is a silastic curette which does not require a tenaculum or straightening of the cervical fundus axis because of its flexibility and does not require general anaesthesia, whereas Dilatation and curettage (D&C) requires hospitalization and general anaesthesia along with the problem of postoperative pain. The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of Pipelle sampling in terms of adequate specimen collection and patients' knowledge and perception about Pipelle and compare it D&C. METHODS In this randomized control trial, 203 women presenting with abnormal uterine bleeding were enrolled. The patients were randomly assigned to one of the two procedures. In group A 102 patients were subjected to Pipelle endometrial sampling and in group B 101 patients were enrolled for D&C. Frequencies of adequacy of histopathology reports and cost effectiveness of both groups were compared. Patient's knowledge, perception, pain and acceptability of the procedure of both groups were also assessed and compared. RESULTS The mean age of the patients was 46.3 ± 4.45 years. Tissue obtained for histopathology was 100% adequate when the procedure was D&C while it was 98% in Pipelle group. In group-A 92% patients experienced no discomfort, with only 2% experiencing severe pain and 6% mild pain. On the other hand in group-B, 45% patients experienced moderate and 5% experienced severe pain up to 9 on visual analogue scale (VAS) postoperatively arid requiring post-operative analgesia. The acceptability for the Pipelle suction curette was 98% and for the D&C group was 34%. Regarding previous knowledge of procedure none of patients (100%) knew about Pipelle procedure but 98% patients were aware of D&C procedure. Pipelle was eight times more cost effective as compared to D&C. CONCLUSIONS The results of obtained by endometrial sample by Pipelle and D&C are compareable. Pipelle significantly produced less pain than D&C.
Modulation of Endothelial Cell KCa3.1 Channels During Endothelium-Derived Hyperpolarizing Factor Signaling in Mesenteric Resistance Arteries

Arterial hyperpolarization to acetylcholine (ACh) reflects coactivation of KCa3.1 (IKCa) channels and KCa2.3 (SKCa) channels in the endothelium that transfers through myoendothelial gap junctions and diffusible factor(s) to affect smooth muscle relaxation (endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor [EDHF] response). However, ACh can differentially activate KCa3.1 and KCa2.3 channels, and we investigated the mechanisms responsible in rat mesenteric arteries. KCa3.1 channel input to EDHF hyperpolarization was enhanced by reducing external [Ca2+]o but blocked either with forskolin to activate protein kinase A or by limiting smooth muscle [Ca2+]i increases stimulated by phenylephrine depolarization. Imaging [Ca2+]i within the endothelial cell projections forming myoendothelial gap junctions revealed increases in cytoplasmic [Ca2+]i during endothelial stimulation with ACh that were unaffected by simultaneous increases in muscle [Ca2+]i evoked by phenylephrine. If gap junctions were uncoupled, KCa3.1 channels became the predominant input to EDHF hyperpolarization, and relaxation was inhibited with ouabain, implicating a crucial link through Na+/K+-ATPase. There was no evidence for an equivalent link through KCa2.3 channels nor between these channels and the putative EDHF pathway involving natriuretic peptide receptor-C. Reconstruction of confocal z-stack images from pressurized arteries revealed KCa2.3 immunostain at endothelial cell borders, including endothelial cell projections, whereas KCa3.1 channels and Na+/K+-ATPase α2/α3 subunits were highly concentrated in endothelial cell projections and adjacent to myoendothelial gap junctions. Thus, extracellular [Ca2+]o appears to modify KCa3.1 channel activity through a protein kinase A–dependent mechanism independent of changes in endothelial [Ca2+]i. The resulting hyperpolarization links to arterial relaxation largely through Na+/K+-ATPase, possibly reflecting K+ acting as an EDHF. In contrast, KCa2.3 hyperpolarization appears mainly to affect relaxation through myoendothelial gap junctions. Overall, these data suggest that K+ and myoendothelial coupling evoke EDHF-mediated relaxation through distinct, definable pathways.
The Prediction of Response to Galantamine Treatment in Patients with Mild to Moderate Alzheimer’s Disease

The prediction of efficacy in long-term treatment of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) is a major clinical issue, although no consistently strong predictive factors have emerged thus far. The present analyses aimed to identify factors for predicting long-term outcome of galantamine treatment. Analyses were conducted with data from a 24 weeks randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy and the safety of galantamine in the treatment of 303 patients with mild to moderate AD. Patients were divided into responders (4 or more point improvement of ADAS-cog scores at 24 weeks of treatment) and non-responders. We explored whether patients’ background (e.g. sex, age, and duration of disease) and scores of cognitive scales at early stage, are relevant to the long-term response to AChEIs. Predictive values were estimated by the logistic regression model. The responder rate was 31.7 %. We found that changes in scores of ADAS-J cog subscales between week 4 and baseline, especially word recognition, can be a good variable to predict subsequent response to galantamine, with approximately 75% of predictive performance. Characteristics of patients, including demographic characteristics, severity of disease and neuropsychological features before treatment were poorly predictive. The present study indicate that initial response to galantamine administration in patients with mild to moderate AD seems to be a reliable predictor of response of consequent galantamine treatment. Patients who show improvement of episodic memory function during the first 4 weeks of galantamine administration may be likely to particularly benefit from galantamine treatment.
Irish exceptionalism? local food environments and dietary quality

Objective To explore whether distance to and density of food outlets within the local area have an impact on individual dietary quality, controlling for the socioeconomic characteristics of individuals and their households. Methods An analysis of the Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition in Ireland (SLÁN), a two-stage clustered sample of 10 364 individuals aged 18+ from the Republic of Ireland. Socioeconomic status was measured using net household income and highest level of education. Diet was assessed via a food frequency questionnaire and the results scored in terms of cardiovascular risk. Food availability was measured in terms of distance to (Euclidean and network) and density of different types of food outlets. Dietary quality was decomposed using fixed effects regression models. Results There is a pronounced gradient in distances to nearest food store and quality of diet by socioeconomic status. Controlling for individual and household socioeconomic status and demographic characteristics, individuals who live closer to a larger food outlet or who live in an area with a higher density of larger food outlets have a significantly better diet in terms of cardiovascular risk. Conclusions Studies outside of North America have failed to find that the physical availability of food plays a significant role in socioeconomic gradients in diet and nutrition. This study suggests that food availability in the Republic of Ireland plays a small but statistically significant role in influencing the diets of individuals and communities and, as such, may also influence socioeconomic inequalities in health.
University of Wisconsin-Madison

The University of Wisconsin Survey Center (UWSC) conducted the ninth Undergraduate Survey during the spring semester of the 2005-06 academic year. (The survey was conducted annually from 1993 to 1998, in 2000, and again in 2003.) As in previous years, a random sample of UWMadison undergraduates was selected. The sample was drawn in the fall of 2005, and fielded February 1, 2006. Interviews were completed for a total of 1303 students, who were interviewed by telephone midway through the semester. The students were asked questions to assess student attitudes, engagement, and satisfaction with many aspects of campus life.
Early Markers of Ongoing Action-Effect Learning

Acquiring knowledge about the relationship between stimulus conditions, one’s own actions, and the resulting consequences or effects, is one prerequisite for intentional action. Previous studies have shown that such contextualized associations between actions and their effects (S-R-E associations) can be picked up very quickly. The present study examined how such weakly practiced associations might affect overt behavior during the process of initial learning and during subsequent retrieval, and how these two measures are inter-related. We examined incidental (S-)R-E learning in the context of trial-and-error S-R learning and in the context of instruction-based S-R learning. Furthermore, as a control condition, common outcome (CO) learning blocks were included in which all responses produced one common sound effect, hence precluding differential (S-)R-E learning. Post-learning retrieval of R-E associations was tested by re-using previously produced sound effects as novel imperative stimuli combined with actions that were either compatible or incompatible with the previously encountered R-E mapping. The central result was that the size of the compatibility effect could be predicted by the size of relative response slowing during ongoing learning in the preceding acquisition phase, both in trial-and-error learning and in instruction-based learning. Importantly, this correlation was absent for the CO control condition, precluding accounts based on unspecific factors. Instead, the results suggest that differential outcomes are “actively” integrated into action planning and that this takes additional planning time. We speculate that this might be especially true for weakly practiced (S-)R-E associations before an initial goal-directed action mode transitions into a more stimulus-based action mode.
Coupling of ferredoxin and heterodisulfide reduction via electron bifurcation in hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaea

In methanogenic archaea growing on H2 and CO2 the first step in methanogenesis is the ferredoxin-dependent endergonic reduction of CO2 with H2 to formylmethanofuran and the last step is the exergonic reduction of the heterodisulfide CoM-S-S-CoB with H2 to coenzyme M (CoM-SH) and coenzyme B (CoB-SH). We recently proposed that in hydrogenotrophic methanogens the two reactions are energetically coupled via the cytoplasmic MvhADG/HdrABC complex. It is reported here that the purified complex from Methanothermobacter marburgensis catalyzes the CoM-S-S-CoB-dependent reduction of ferredoxin with H2. Per mole CoM-S-S-CoB added, 1 mol of ferredoxin (Fd) was reduced, indicating an electron bifurcation coupling mechanism: This stoichiometry of coupling is consistent with an ATP gain per mole methane from 4 H2 and CO2 of near 0.5 deduced from an H2-threshold concentration of 8 Pa and a growth yield of up to 3 g/mol methane.
Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Extracts from Cassia alata, Eleusine indica, Eremomastax speciosa, Carica papaya and Polyscias fulva Medicinal Plants Collected in Cameroon

Background The vast majority of the population around the world has always used medicinal plants as first source of health care to fight infectious and non infectious diseases. Most of these medicinal plants may have scientific evidence to be considered in general practice. Objective The aim of this work was to investigate the antioxidant capacities and anti-inflammatory activities of ethanol extracts of leaves of Cassia alata, Eleusine indica, Carica papaya, Eremomastax speciosa and the stem bark of Polyscias fulva, collected in Cameroon. Methods Chemiluminescence was used to analyze the antioxidant activities of plant extracts against hydrogen peroxide or superoxide anion. Comet assays were used to analyze the protection against antioxidant-induced DNA damage induced in white blood cells after treating with hydrogen peroxide. Flow cytometry was used to measure γδ T cells proliferation and anti-inflammatory activity of γδ T cells and of immature dendritic cells (imDC) in the presence of different concentrations of plant extracts. Results Ethanol extracts showed strong antioxidant properties against both hydrogen peroxide and superoxide anion. Cassia alata showed the highest antioxidant activity. The effect of plant extracts on γδ T cells and imDC was evidenced by the dose dependent reduction in TNF-α production in the presence of Cassia alata, Carica papaya, Eremomastax speciosa Eleusine indica, and Polyscias fulva. γδ T cells proliferation was affected to the greatest extent by Polyscias fulva. Conclusion These results clearly show the antioxidant capacity and anti-inflammatory activities of plant extracts collected in Cameroon. These properties of leaves and stem bark extracts may contribute to the value for these plants in traditional medicine and in general medical practice.
Anti-Obesity Effect of Artemisia capillaris Extracts in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Rats

This study evaluated the anti-obesity effects of Artemisia capillaris extracts in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese rats. After six weeks feeding with HFD, Wistar male rats (12-weeks-old) were divided into three groups: HFD-control group and HFD mixed with 0.4% and 0.8% Artemisia capillaris extracts treated groups. After seven weeks of treatments, the body weight gain of the 0.4% and 0.8% A. capillaris extracts treated groups were significantly less than that of the HFD-control group by 11.8% and 15.4%, respectively. Also, A. capillaris extracts treated groups showed significantly lower serum TG, TC and LDL-c levels in a dose-related manner, while causing the reverse effect in serum HDL-c, and exhibited a hepatoprotective effects in vivo, indicated by reduced hepatic lipid contents, and serum ALT and AST levels. These results show that A. capillaris extracts may prevent body weight increases and improve dyslipidemia in HFD-induced obese rats by enhancing their lipid metabolism.
Mirror Neurons Differentially Encode the Peripersonal and Extrapersonal Space of Monkeys

Actions performed by others may have different relevance for the observer, and thus lead to different behavioral responses, depending on the regions of space in which they are executed. We found that in rhesus monkeys, the premotor cortex neurons activated by both the execution and the observation of motor acts (mirror neurons) are differentially modulated by the location in space of the observed motor acts relative to the monkey, with about half of them preferring either the monkey's peripersonal or extrapersonal space. A portion of these spatially selective mirror neurons encode space according to a metric representation, whereas other neurons encode space in operational terms, changing their properties according to the possibility that the monkey will interact with the object. These results suggest that a set of mirror neurons encodes the observed motor acts not only for action understanding, but also to analyze such acts in terms of features that are relevant to generating appropriate behaviors.
The Study of Kinetic Energy of Ion and Sheath Thickness in Magnetized Plasma Sheath

In all plasma applications, sheath formed in front of a material wall is responsible for the flow of particles and energy towards the wall. The kinetic energy of ion and sheath thickness in magnetized plasma sheath region has been numerically investigated by using a kinetic trajectory simulation model for different magnetic field and its obliqueness. It has been revealed that, the kinetic energy of ions reaching the material wall can be controlled by the strength of applied magnetic field and its orientation. Kinetic energy of ion increases when we move towards the wall, whereas the kinetic energy of electrons decreases as expected, which becomes prominent as the strength and obliqueness of the field increase. It is found that by increasing the magnetic field strength, there is an increase in the ion energy and a decrease in the sheath thickness.
Hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control in national surveys from England, the USA and Canada, and correlation with stroke and ischaemic heart disease mortality: a cross-sectional study

Objective Comparison of recent national survey data on prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in England, the USA and Canada, and correlation of these parameters with each country stroke and ischaemic heart disease (IHD) mortality. Design Non-institutionalised population surveys. Setting and participants England (2006 n=6873), the USA (2007–2010 n=10 003) and Canada (2007–2009 n=3485) aged 20–79 years. Outcomes Stroke and IHD mortality rates were plotted against countries’ specific prevalence data. Results Mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) was higher in England than in the USA and Canada in all age–gender groups. Mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was similar in the three countries before age 50 and then fell more rapidly in the USA, being the lowest in the USA. Only 34% had a BP under 140/90 mm Hg in England, compared with 50% in the USA and 66% in Canada. Prehypertension and stages 1 and 2 hypertension prevalence figures were the highest in England. Hypertension prevalence (≥140 mm Hg SBP and/or ≥90 mm Hg DBP) was lower in Canada (19·5%) than in the USA (29%) and England (30%). Hypertension awareness was higher in the USA (81%) and Canada (83%) than in England (65%). England also had lower levels of hypertension treatment (51%; USA 74%; Canada 80%) and control (<140/90 mm Hg; 27%; the USA 53%; Canada 66%). Canada had the lowest stroke and IHD mortality rates, England the highest and the rates were inversely related to the mean SBP in each country and strongly related to the blood pressure indicators, the strongest relationship being between low hypertension awareness and stroke mortality. Conclusions While the current prevention efforts in England should result in future-improved figures, especially at younger ages, these data still show important gaps in the management of hypertension in these countries, with consequences on stroke and IHD mortality.
Role and impact of error propagation in software architecture reliability : closed-form solutions

We present a novel approach to the analysis of the reliability of a software architecture that takes into account an important architectural attribute, namely the error propagation probability. This is the probability that an error, arising somewhere in the architecture, propagates to other components, possibly up to the output. Although this attribute is often neglected in modeling the architecture reliability, it may heavily affect decisions on crucial architectural choices. With our approach, we are able to derive closed-form expressions for the overall system reliability and its sensitivity to variations in the reliability properties of each component (i.e. the probability of failure and the probability of error propagation). This latter result is useful to drive several significant tasks, such as: placing error detection and recovery mechanisms, focusing the design and implementation efforts on critical components, devising cost-effective testing strategies.
Using Hector to run MPI programs over networked workstations

Networked workstations represent an increasingly popular distributed platform for running large parallel programs. They can present a low-cost alternative to purchasing supercomputer time or additional usable computational capability. Several capabilities are desirable in order to harness workstations, including support for a widely accepted parallel programming environment, task migration, intelligent resource allocation, fault tolerance, and totally transparent support of these features. The Hector system is designed to provide these capabilities to MPI programs. The structure of the system and experiences using the system on loaded workstations to run scientific codes are described. Copyright  1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Perylene-like Dyes in Liquid Crystalline Media

Abstract The spectral and electrooptical properties of some dichroic fluorescent dyes (derivatives of 3.4,9,10-perylenetetracorboxylic acid and of 3,4,9-perylenetricarboxylic acid) in isotropic solvents and nematic liquid crystals have been studied. The order parameter of the dyes in the anisotropic matrices has been determined by means of optical spectroscopy methods. Moreover, the influence of the dye addition on the nematic-isotropic phase transition temperature of the pure host has been investigated. It was found that some of the dyes studied can be utilized in guest-host liquid crystal display devices.