Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INVESTIGATION OF URINARY EXCRETION OF HYDROXYETHYL STARCH AND DEXTRAN BY UHPLC-HRMS IN DIFFERENT ACQUISITION MODES

Plasma volume expanders (PVEs) such as hydroxyethyl starch (HES) and dextran are misused in sports because they can prevent dehydration and reduce haematocrit values to mask erythropoietin abuse. Endogenous hydrolysis generates multiple HES and dextran oligosaccharides which are excreted in urine. Composition of the urinary metabolic profiles of PVEs varies depending on post-administration time and can have an impact on their detectability. In this work, different mass spectrometry data acquisition modes (full scan with and without in-source collision-induced dissociation) were used to study urinary excretion profiles of HES and dextran, particularly by investigating time-dependent detectability of HES and dextran urinary oligosaccharide metabolites in post-administration samples. In-source fragmentation yielded the best results in terms of limit of detection (LOD) and detection times, whereas detection of HES and dextran metabolites in full scan mode with no in-source fragmentation is related to recent administration (< 24 hours). Urinary excretion studies showed detection windows for HES and dextran respectively of 72 and 48 hours after administration. Dextran concentrations were above the previously proposed threshold of 500 µg · mL−1 for 12 hours. A “dilute-and-shoot” method for the detection of HES and dextran in human urine by ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-high resolution Orbitrap™ mass spectrometry was developed for this study. Validation of the method showed an LOD in the range of 10-500 µg · mL−1 for the most significant HES and dextran metabolites in the different modes. The method allows retrospective data analysis and can be implemented in existing high-resolution mass spectrometry-based doping control screening analysis.
Development of a lower extremity model for high strain rate impact loading

In recent military conflicts, the incidence of underbody blasts has led to severe injuries, specifically in the lower extremities. The development of a lower extremity model may lead to a better understanding of injury patterns and mechanisms. A computational finite element model of the lower extremity was developed based on geometry made available in an anatomical repository. The portion of the extremity model below the knee was used in initial comparisons between simulations and experimental data. Impact was applied via a loading plate with a vertical velocity of 5 m/s, 10 m/s, and 12 m/s. Resultant axial force was compared to experimental data. Results of these simulations fall within the range of available experimental data, which gives confidence that this model represents advancement in lower extremity modelling capabilities. Bone fracture has also been modelled and shows consistency with injuries typical of underbody blast scenarios.
Shape differences in the corpus callosum in first-episode schizophrenia and first-episode psychotic affective disorder.

OBJECTIVE The corpus callosum, the largest white matter tract in the brain, is a midline structure associated with the formation of the hippocampus, septum pellucidum, and cingulate cortex, which have been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Corpus callosum shape deformation, therefore, may reflect a midline neurodevelopmental abnormality. METHOD Corpus callosum area and shape were analyzed in 14 first-episode psychotic patients with schizophrenia, 19 first-episode psychotic patients with affective disorder, and 18 normal comparison subjects. RESULTS No statistically significant corpus callosum area differences between groups were found, but there were differences in the structure's shape between the patients with schizophrenia and the comparison subjects. A correlation between width and angle of the corpus callosum was found in patients with affective disorder. CONCLUSIONS Corpus callosum shape abnormalities in first-episode psychotic patients with schizophrenia may reflect a midline neurodevelopmental abnormality.
Vitamin D deficiency and type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a major public health problem, accounting for significant premature mortality and morbidity. The growth in prevalence of the condition appears to be closely linked with obesity. Over the last 5 years, a number of large observational studies have suggested an association between the onset of type 2 diabetes and Vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D has important effects on insulin action, and may impact on a number of pathways which may be of importance in the development of type 2 diabetes. This article reviews the evidence linking Vitamin D deficiency in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes, and suggests areas for urgent further research to determine whether Vitamin D replacement has a role in the prevention of type 2 diabetes.
Implementing Indigenous Education Policy Directives in Ontario Public Schools: Experiences, Challenges and Successful Practices

The Ontario Ministry of Education has declared a commitment to Indigenous student success and has advanced a policy framework that articulates inclusion of Indigenous content in schooling curriculum (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007). What are the perceptions among educators and parents regarding the implementation of policy directives, and what is seen to encourage or limit meaningful implementation? To answer these questions, this article draws on interviews with 100 Indigenous (mainly Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Metis) and non-Indigenous parents and educators from Ontario Canada. Policy directives are seen to benefit Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Interviews also reveal challenges to implementing Indigenous curricular policy, such as unawareness and intimidation among non-Indigenous educators regarding how to teach material. Policy implications are considered.
Fundamental Movement Skill Interventions in Youth: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Fundamental movement skill (FMS) proficiency is positively associated with physical activity and fitness levels. The objective of this study was to systematically review evidence for the benefits of FMS interventions targeting youth. METHODS: A search with no date restrictions was conducted across 7 databases. Studies included any school-, home-, or community-based intervention for typically developing youth with clear intent to improve FMS proficiency and that reported statistical analysis of FMS competence at both preintervention and at least 1 other postintervention time point. Study designs included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using experimental and quasi-experimental designs and single group pre-post trials. Risk of bias was independently assessed by 2 reviewers. RESULTS: Twenty-two articles (6 RCTs, 13 quasi-experimental trials, 3 pre-post trials) describing 19 interventions were included. All but 1 intervention were evaluated in primary/elementary schools. All studies reported significant intervention effects for ≥1 FMS. Meta-analyses revealed large effect sizes for overall gross motor proficiency (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 1.42, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.68–2.16, Z = 3.77, P < .0002) and locomotor skill competency (SMD = 1.42, 95% CI 0.56–2.27, Z = 3.25, P = .001). A medium effect size for object control skill competency was observed (SMD = 0.63, 95% CI 0.28–0.98, Z = 3.53, P = .0004). Many studies scored poorly for risk of bias items. CONCLUSIONS: School- and community-based programs that include developmentally appropriate FMS learning experiences delivered by physical education specialists or highly trained classroom teachers significantly improve FMS proficiency in youth.
Promoting vulnerability or resilience to HIV? A qualitative study on polygamy in Maiduguri, Nigeria

Abstract Literature on the links between polygamy and HIV and AIDS is limited and the findings inconclusive. Literature to date in Sub-Saharan Africa has relied mainly on case–control studies and surveys. This qualitative study aimed to explore different community members' perceptions of the links between the practice of polygamy and vulnerability or resilience to HIV and AIDS in Maiduguri, north-eastern Nigeria. The study used focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with religious and community leaders and different groups of women and men in the community. Participant views on the links between polygamy and HIV were varied. However, one clear emerging theme was that it is not the practice of polygamy per se that shapes vulnerability to HIV and AIDS but the dynamics of sexual relations and practices both within and beyond the marital union – whether monogamous or polygamous. The ways in which these social relationships are negotiated and experienced are in turn shaped by religious traditions, gender roles and relations, education and socio-economic status. Within the religious environment of north-eastern Nigeria, where asymmetrical gender roles and relations and connotations of morality shape experiences of sexual interactions, windows of opportunity to promote behaviour-change strategies to support women and men's resilience to HIV need to be carefully created. Health practitioners and planners should develop partnerships with religious and community leaders and women's groups to construct and deliver behaviour-changes strategies.
Differential action of polyunsaturated fatty acids and eicosanoids on bleomycin-induced cytotoxicity to neuroblastoma cells and lymphocytes

Introduction This study was conducted to examine whether bleomycin-induced growth inhibitory action on human neuroblastoma cells (IMR-32) is influenced by anti-inflammatory metabolites of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs): lipoxin A4 (LXA4), resolvin D1 and protectin D1 in vitro. Material and methods The in vitro study was conducted using monolayer cultures of exponentially growing IMR-32 cells. The effects of various PUFAs and eicosanoids and anti-inflammatory metabolites of PUFAs such as lipoxin A4 (LXA4), resolvin D1 and protectin D1 on the growth of IMR-32 cells and human lymphocytes in vitro were investigated. The potential of PUFAs, eicosanoids and LXA4, resolvin D1 and protectin D1 to modify the growth inhibitory effects of bleomycin was also studied in IMR-32 cells and human lymphocytes. Results PUFAs inhibited the growth of IMR-32 cells (EPA > DHA = AA > GLA = ALA > DGLA = LA) significantly (p < 0.001) while prostaglandins were found to be not effective. Bleomycin-induced growth inhibitory action on IMR-32 cells was augmented by PUFAs and its metabolites (p < 0.05). PUFAs and LXA4 did not inhibit the growth of human lymphocytes and bleomycin-induced growth inhibitory action was also not enhanced by these bioactive lipids. Conclusions Bioactive lipids have differential action on normal human lymphocytes and tumor cells in vitro. The apparent lack of effect of PUFAs in combination with bleomycin on the growth of human lymphocytes in comparison to their growth inhibitory action on IMR-32 cells suggests that PUFAs can be used in combination with bleomycin to target tumor cells with little concern over this combination’s effect on the growth of human lymphocytes. Further studies are warranted to evaluate these differential effects under in vivo conditions.
To Be or Want to Be: Disentangling the Role of Actual versus Ideal Self in Implicit Self-Esteem

A growing body of work suggests that both depressed and non-depressed individuals display implicit positivity towards the self. In the current study, we examined whether this positivity can be underpinned by two qualitatively distinct propositions related to actual (‘I am good’) or ideal (‘I want to be good’) self-esteem. Dysphoric and non-dysphoric participants completed a self-esteem Implicit Association Test (IAT) as well an Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) targeting their actual self-esteem and an IRAP targeting ideal self-esteem. Both groups demonstrated similar and positive IAT effects. A more complex picture emerged with regard to the IRAP effects. Whereas non-dysphorics did not differ in their actual and ideal self-esteem, their dysphoric counterparts demonstrated lower actual than ideal self-esteem. Our results suggest that closer attention to the role of propositional processes in implicit measures may unlock novel insight into the relationship between implicit self-esteem and depression.
Biomimetic Hydroxyapatite Coating on Metal Implants

The combination of the high mechanical strength of metals with the osteoconductive properties of calcium phosphates make hydroxyapatite coatings on titanium implants widely used in orthopedic surgery. However, the most popular coating method, plasma spraying, exhibits some important drawbacks: the inability to cover porous implants and to incorporate biologically active agents, delamination, and particle release. The aim of this study was to elaborate a dense, strong, and thick calcium-phosphate coating on titanium and porous-tantalum implants using a two-step biomimetic procedure. In the first step, the implants were soaked in a solution that was 5 times more concentrated than regular simulated body fluid (SBF-A solution). A thin but uniform amorphous calcium-phosphate coating was deposited on the metal. Then, the implants were immersed in the SBF-B solution, which had a similar composition as the SBF-A solution, but with decreased contents of crystal growth inhibitors (i.e., Mg2+ and HCO3−). This resulted in the fast precipitation of a 30 μm thick crystalline calcium-phosphate coating. The pH of the SBF-B solution and the thickness of the crystalline coating layer were studied as a function of time. The Fourier transform infrared spectra and X-ray diffraction patterns showed that this new coating closely resembles bone mineral. Our biomimetic coating should facilitate rapid bone formation around the implant, reducing therewith the patient's recovery time after surgery.
Akt-Induced Phosphorylation of N-CoR at Serine 1450 Contributes to Its Misfolded Conformational Dependent Loss (MCDL) in Acute Myeloid Leukemia of the M5 Subtype

The nuclear receptor co-repressor (N-CoR) is a key component of the generic co-repressor complex that plays an important role in the control of cellular growth and differentiation. As shown by us recently, the growth suppressive function of N-CoR largely relies on its capacity to repress Flt3, a key regulator of cellular gorwth during normal and malignant hematopoesis. We further demonstrated how de-repression of Flt3 due to the misfolded conformation dependent loss (MCDL) of N-CoR contributed to malignant growth in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, the molecular mechanism underlying the MCDL of N-CoR and its implication in AML pathogenesis is not fully understood. Here, we report that Akt-induced phosphorylation of N-CoR at the consensus Akt motif is crucial for its misfolding and subsequent loss in AML (AML-M5). N-CoR displayed significantly higher level of serine specific phosphorylation in almost all AML-M5 derived cells and was subjected to processing by AML-M5 specific aberrant protease activity. To identify the kinase linked to N-CoR phosphorylation, a library of activated kinases was screened with the extracts of AML cells; leading to the identification of Akt as the putative kinase linked to N-CoR phosphorylation. Consistent with this finding, a constitutively active Akt consistently phosphorylated N-CoR leading to its misfolding; while the therapeutic and genetic ablation of Akt largely abrogated the MCDL of N-CoR in AML-M5 cells. Site directed mutagenic analysis of N-CoR identified serine 1450 as the crucial residue whose phosphorylation by Akt was essential for the misfolding and loss of N-CoR protein. Moreover, Akt-induced phosphorylation of N-CoR contributed to the de-repression of Flt3, suggesting a cross talk between Akt signaling and N-CoR misfolding pathway in the pathogenesis of AML-M5. The N-CoR misfolding pathway could be the common downstream thread of pleiotropic Akt signaling activated by various oncogenic insults in some subtypes of leukemia and solid tumors.
Fairness Oriented MAC Protocol for the Next Generation WLAN

Due to the dramatic growth of human demands for wireless business, wireless local area network (WLAN) achieves rapid popularization and world-wide development recently. In order to improve the efficiency of the next generation WLAN, especially in the dense deployment scenarios, IEEE sets up a new task group named TGax to draft out the amendment 802.11ax in 2014. The motion of TGax confirms that Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) is still one important method of channel access in 802.11ax. In this paper, we show that the traditional EDCA mechanism faces the fairness issues, including intra-node problem and inter-node problem, in the next generation WLAN. Thus, we propose an enhanced virtual collision management mechanism named EVCM by introducing access weight factor and rate of successful access to improve fairness of EDCA. Simulation results show that the EVCM significantly improves both the intra-node fairness and inter-node fairness in the dense deployment scenarios. Especially, it obtains ten-fold intra-node fairness compared with EDCA, and three times inter-node fairness than that in EDCA.
Impaired Hepatitis C Virus-Specific T Cell Responses and Recurrent Hepatitis C Virus in HIV Coinfection

Background Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific T cell responses are critical for spontaneous resolution of HCV viremia. Here we examined the effect of a lymphotropic virus, HIV-1, on the ability of coinfected patients to maintain spontaneous control of HCV infection. Methods and Findings We measured T cell responsiveness by lymphoproliferation and interferon-γ ELISPOT in a large cohort of HCV-infected individuals with and without HIV infection. Among 47 HCV/HIV-1-coinfected individuals, spontaneous control of HCV was associated with more frequent HCV-specific lymphoproliferative (LP) responses (35%) compared to coinfected persons who exhibited chronic HCV viremia (7%, p = 0.016), but less frequent compared to HCV controllers who were not HIV infected (86%, p = 0.003). Preservation of HCV-specific LP responses in coinfected individuals was associated with a higher nadir CD4 count (r 2 = 0.45, p < 0.001) and the presence and magnitude of the HCV-specific CD8+ T cell interferon-γ response (p = 0.0014). During long-term follow-up, recurrence of HCV viremia occurred in six of 25 coinfected individuals with prior control of HCV, but in 0 of 16 HIV-1-negative HCV controllers (p = 0.03, log rank test). In these six individuals with recurrent HCV viremia, the magnitude of HCV viremia following recurrence inversely correlated with the CD4 count at time of breakthrough (r = −0.94, p = 0.017). Conclusions These results indicate that HIV infection impairs the immune response to HCV—including in persons who have cleared HCV infection—and that HIV-1-infected individuals with spontaneous control of HCV remain at significant risk for a second episode of HCV viremia. These findings highlight the need for repeat viral RNA testing of apparent controllers of HCV infection in the setting of HIV-1 coinfection and provide a possible explanation for the higher rate of HCV persistence observed in this population.
The p75 receptor is associated with inflammatory thermal hypersensitivity

Inflammatory pain, characterized by a decrease in the nociceptive threshold, arises through the actions of inflammatory mediators, and one of the key molecules is nerve growth factor (NGF). Here we report that the administration of neutralizing antibody to the neurotrophin receptor p75 (p75NTR) blocks hyperalgesia, which develops with complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)‐induced inflammation or with an intraplantar injection of NGF. Although CFA injection results in the up‐regulation of calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP) levels in the primary sensory neurons, blocking p75NTR abolishes this effect. We further demonstrate that pro‐NGF is the predominant ligand of p75NTR in vivo. Plasmin treatment, which is intended to decompose pro‐NGF, ameliorates CFA‐induced hyperalgesia. In addition, an intraplantar injection of pro‐NGF induces hyperalgesia. These data together suggest that pro‐NGF, as well as mature NGF, binding to p75NTR plays an important role in inflammation‐induced hyperalgesia. Interference in the binding may provide a therapeutic approach for the treatment of inflammatory pain. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Complementarities in information acquisition with short-term trades

This item is a preserved copy. In a financial market where agents trade for short-term profit and where news can increase the uncertainty of the public belief, there are strategic complementarities in the acquisition of private information and, if the cost of information is sufficiently small, a continuum of equilibrium strategies. Imperfect observation of past prices reduces the continuum of Nash equilibria to a Strongly Rational-Expectations Equilibrium. In that equilibrium, there are two sharply different regimes for the evolution of the price, the volume of trade, and information acquisit
Functional Mechanisms of Recovery after Chronic Stroke: Modeling with the Virtual Brain123

Abstract We have seen important strides in our understanding of mechanisms underlying stroke recovery, yet effective translational links between basic and applied sciences, as well as from big data to individualized therapies, are needed to truly develop a cure for stroke. We present such an approach using The Virtual Brain (TVB), a neuroinformatics platform that uses empirical neuroimaging data to create dynamic models of an individual’s human brain; specifically, we simulate fMRI signals by modeling parameters associated with brain dynamics after stroke. In 20 individuals with stroke and 11 controls, we obtained rest fMRI, T1w, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data. Motor performance was assessed pre-therapy, post-therapy, and 6–12 months post-therapy. Based on individual structural connectomes derived from DTI, the following steps were performed in the TVB platform: (1) optimization of local and global parameters (conduction velocity, global coupling); (2) simulation of BOLD signal using optimized parameter values; (3) validation of simulated time series by comparing frequency, amplitude, and phase of the simulated signal with empirical time series; and (4) multivariate linear regression of model parameters with clinical phenotype. Compared with controls, individuals with stroke demonstrated a consistent reduction in conduction velocity, increased local dynamics, and reduced local inhibitory coupling. A negative relationship between local excitation and motor recovery, and a positive correlation between local dynamics and motor recovery were seen. TVB reveals a disrupted post-stroke system favoring excitation-over-inhibition and local-over-global dynamics, consistent with existing mammal literature on stroke mechanisms. Our results point to the potential of TVB to determine individualized biomarkers of stroke recovery.