Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence for the stochastic acquisition of cytokine profile by CD4+ T cells activated in a T helper type 2‐like response in vivo

The diversity of cytokine production patterns displayed by T cells activated in vivo was investigated by analyzing short‐term antigen‐specific CD4+ T cell clones and single CD4+ T cells derived from draining lymph nodes of mice undergoing a T helper 2 (Th2)‐like response to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH). On average, 2.7% of CD4+ lymph node cells gave rise to clones in the presence of the immunizing antigen and, of these, about 90% secreted interleukin‐4 (IL‐4) and 20% secreted interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) when restimulated after 2 weeks in vitro. Almost all IFN‐γ‐producing clones co‐produced IL‐4. The definition of clones as positive or negative for cytokine synthesis depended on assay sensitivity, however, since their titers were distributed continuously from the threshold of detection over at least a 1000‐fold range.
Association Between VEGF Polymorphisms and Homocysteine Levels in Patients With Ischemic Stroke and Silent Brain Infarction

Background and Purpose— Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a role in atherosclerosis-related diseases such as cerebrovascular or cardiovascular diseases. However, the effect of VEGF -2578C>A, -1154G>A, -634G>C, and 936C>T polymorphisms on the susceptibility to stroke and silent brain infarction has not been reported. Methods— Using polymerase chain reaction-amplified DNA, VEGF polymorphisms were analyzed in 615 patients with ischemic stroke, 376 patients with silent brain infarction, and 494 control subjects. Results— The AA and CC+CA (C allele bearing) genotype frequencies of the -2578C>A polymorphism and the CT+TT (T allele-bearing) genotype frequency of the 936C>T polymorphism were significantly different between the stroke and control groups (false discovery rate-adjusted probability values of 0.016, 0.044, and 0.044, respectively). When stratified by the size of the occluded vessel, the VEGF polymorphisms were associated with patients with multiple small-artery occlusions. Several haplotypes of the VEGF polymorphisms were significantly different between the control and stroke groups. With respect to silent brain infarction, the difference in the frequency of the -634G>C polymorphism between the GC+CC (C allele-bearing) genotype and the controls was marginally significant (false discovery rate-adjusted probability value of 0.056). On the other hand, the -634G>C and 936C>T polymorphisms were associated with plasma homocysteine levels of patients with multiple or single small-artery occlusions, respectively. Conclusions— This study suggests that VEGF polymorphisms and haplotypes are possible genetic determinants for the risk of ischemic stroke, particularly in patients with multiple small-artery occlusions. However, VEGF polymorphisms had only a weak association with plasma homocysteine levels in the Korean population.
Oxidative Burst of Circulating Neutrophils Following Traumatic Brain Injury in Human

Besides secondary injury at the lesional site, Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause a systemic inflammatory response, which may cause damage to initially unaffected organs and potentially further exacerbate the original injury. Here we investigated plasma levels of important inflammatory mediators, oxidative activity of circulating leukocytes, particularly focusing on neutrophils, from TBI subjects and control subjects with general trauma from 6 hours to 2 weeks following injury, comparing with values from uninjured subjects. We observed increased plasma level of inflammatory cytokines/molecules TNF-α, IL-6 and CRP, dramatically increased circulating leukocyte counts and elevated expression of TNF-α and iNOS in circulating leukocytes from TBI patients, which suggests a systemic inflammatory response following TBI. Our data further showed increased free radical production in leukocyte homogenates and elevated expression of key oxidative enzymes iNOS, COX-2 and NADPH oxidase (gp91phox) in circulating leukocytes, indicating an intense induction of oxidative burst following TBI, which is significantly greater than that in control subjects with general trauma. Furthermore, flow cytometry assay proved neutrophils as the largest population in circulation after TBI and showed significantly up-regulated oxidative activity and suppressed phagocytosis rate for circulating neutrophils following brain trauma. It suggests that the highly activated neutrophils might play an important role in the secondary damage, even outside the injured brain. Taken together, the potent systemic inflammatory response induced by TBI, especially the intensively increase oxidative activity of circulating leukocytes, mainly neutrophils, may lead to a systemic damage, dysfunction/damage of bystander tissues/organs and even further exacerbate secondary local damage. Controlling these pathophysiological processes may be a promising therapeutic strategy and will protect unaffected organs and the injured brain from the secondary damage.
Occupational Psychiatric Disorders in Korea

We searched databases and used various online resources to identify and systematically review all articles on occupational psychiatric disorders among Korean workers published in English and Korean before 2009. Three kinds of occupational psychiatric disorders were studied: disorders related to job stress and mental illness, psychiatric symptoms emerging in victims of industrial injuries, and occupational psychiatric disorders compensated by Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance (IACI). Korea does not maintain official statistical records for occupational psychiatric disorders, but several studies have estimated the number of occupational psychiatric disorders using the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service (COMWEL, formerly KLWC) database. The major compensated occupational psychiatric disorders in Korea were "personality and behavioral disorders due to brain disease, damage, and dysfunction", "other mental disorders due to brain damage and dysfunction and to physical diseases", "reactions to severe stress and adjustment disorders", and "depressive episodes". The most common work-related psychiatric disorders, excluding accidents, were "neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform disorders" followed by "mood disorders".
On Designing Time-Varying Delay Feedback Controllers for Master–Slave Synchronization of Lur'e Systems

This paper is concerned with the problem of designing time-varying delay feedback controllers for master-slave synchronization of Lur'e systems. Two cases of time-varying delays are fully considered; one is the time-varying delay being continuous uniformly bounded while the other is the time-varying delay being differentiable uniformly bounded with the derivative of the delay bounded by a constant. Based on Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional approach, some delay-dependent synchronization criteria are first obtained and formulated in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The relationship between synchronization criteria for the two cases of time-varying delays is built. Then, sufficient conditions on the existence of a time-varying delay feedback controller are derived by employing these newly-obtained synchronization criteria. The controller gains can be achieved by solving a set of LMIs. Finally, Chua's circuit is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the design method.
Genetic Relationship between Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans Strains of Serotypes A and D

ABSTRACT Cryptococcus neoformans serotypes A and D are responsible for the overwhelming majority of infections in patients with AIDS. The genetic relationship between the serotypes is poorly understood, but there are significant differences in the epidemiology and clinical presentation of serotype A and D infections. We evaluated the genetic relationship between reference C. neoformansstrains belonging to serotypes A and D by analyzing theirURA5 sequences and restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) with the C. neoformans repetitive element 1 (CNRE-1) probe. The results were compared to those previously obtained for isolates from Brazil and New York City by the same typing methods, and dendrograms were generated. Serotype A and D strains produced distinct RFLP patterns consistent with their separation into two major clusters in the dendrogram generated on the basis of RFLP data. Similarly, serotype A and D strains clustered independently on the basis of the nucleotide sequences of their URA5 genes. Pairwise comparisons revealed average numbers of nucleotide differences within serotypes A and D of 3.0 ± 1.7 and 7.2 ± 3.4, respectively (P < 0.0001), and between serotypes A and D of 41.9 ± 2.7. In summary, our results indicate phylogenetic differences between the two serotypes of C. neoformans var. neoformans and suggest that these serotypes could probably be considered different varieties of C. neoformans.
Albumin versus solvent/detergent–treated pooled plasma as replacement fluid for long‐term plasma exchange therapy in a patient with primary hypertriglyceridemia and recurrent hyperlipidemic pancreatitis

Chylomicronemia syndrome is a metabolic condition characterized by severe fasting hypertrigliceridemia (≥1000 mg/dL) and other clinical features including chronic abdominal pain and recurrent acute pancreatitis. In patients with acute or recurrent pancreatitis, plasma exchange (PEx) is indicated for the treatment of acute disease and prevention of recurrence. The use of plasma instead of albumin as replacement fluid has been suggested for its putative ability to replace the deficient enzyme possibly leading to better clinical improvement.
Particle size characteristics of suspended sediment in hillslope runoff and stream flow

This paper presents results from one of the few scientific studies to examine the physical characteristics of aeolian sediment transport in an alpine area, where topographically reinforced foehn winds initiate dust storm events. The major objective of this study is to improve knowledge of aeolian processes in mid-latitude alpine regions experiencing extreme wind speeds. Of particular interest is the role of surface characteristics in contributing to the unusually deep saltation layer which is seen to form over fluvio-glacial deposits in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Sediment was collected at several heights (05, 1, 2 and 4 m) and locations over a large alpine braided river delta, and standard laboratory techniques used to examine grain size characteristics. An image processing technique was also used to evaluate grain roundness. Grains filtered from the airstream at 05 m and 1 m above such surfaces were found to display a mean grain size of approximately 300 to 435 m, resembling grain size characteristics of saltation clouds previously observed in high latitude, cold climate locations, in contrast to desert and prairie environments. Samples collected at 2 and 4 m above the surface were found to consist of 60 to 65 per cent sand-sized material, with some grains exceeding 1-15 mm in diameter. Grain shape analysis conducted on silt- and clay-sized grains filtered from the airstream above mixed sand and gravel surfaces showed such grains to display an increase in grain roundness with height. This characteristic is thought to reflect the airstream's shape-sorting ability and has important implications with respect to the often observed increase in grain roundness in aeolian deposits with increasing distance from source areas. Namely, if more rounded grains are preferentially carried higher into the airstream and therefore into regions of higher wind speed, they should theoretically be transported further from the entrainment zone before being deposited. The high wind speeds observed, often exceeding 30 m s-1, are seen to transport significantly larger sediment than reported in the literature for desert and prairie environments. In addition, the mixture of grain sizes, and especially the pebble- and cobble-sized clasts that dominate the fluvio-glacial deposits associated with the braided rivers in this mountain region, also appear to increase significantly the trajectory height of saltating sand grains. As a result of these two factors, the depth of the saltation cloud often exceeds 1 m. Observations made in this study therefore highlight the need for field and laboratory aeolian process studies to be extended to examine grain transport over coarse-grained beds during much higher wind velocities than typically reported in the literature. Such studies would provide a valuable insight into aeolian processes in high latitude/altitude environments, such as loess genesis. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cardiac mitochondria exhibit dynamic functional clustering

Multi-oscillatory behavior of mitochondrial inner membrane potential ΔΨm in self-organized cardiac mitochondrial networks can be triggered by metabolic or oxidative stress. Spatio-temporal analyses of cardiac mitochondrial networks have shown that mitochondria are heterogeneously organized in synchronously oscillating clusters in which the mean cluster frequency and size are inversely correlated, thus suggesting a modulation of cluster frequency through local inter-mitochondrial coupling. In this study, we propose a method to examine the mitochondrial network's topology through quantification of its dynamic local clustering coefficients. Individual mitochondrial ΔΨm oscillation signals were identified for each cardiac myocyte and cross-correlated with all network mitochondria using previously described methods (Kurz et al., 2010a). Time-varying inter-mitochondrial connectivity, defined for mitochondria in the whole network whose signals are at least 90% correlated at any given time point, allowed considering functional local clustering coefficients. It is shown that mitochondrial clustering in isolated cardiac myocytes changes dynamically and is significantly higher than for random mitochondrial networks that are constructed using the Erdös–Rényi model based on the same sets of vertices. The network's time-averaged clustering coefficient for cardiac myocytes was found to be 0.500 ± 0.051 (N = 9) vs. 0.061 ± 0.020 for random networks, respectively. Our results demonstrate that cardiac mitochondria constitute a network with dynamically connected constituents whose topological organization is prone to clustering. Cluster partitioning in networks of coupled oscillators has been observed in scale-free and chaotic systems and is therefore in good agreement with previous models of cardiac mitochondrial networks.
Stretching exercises vs manual therapy in treatment of chronic neck pain: a randomized, controlled cross-over trial.

OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of manual therapy and stretching exercise on neck pain and disability. DESIGN An examiner-blinded randomized cross-over trial. PATIENTS A total of 125 women with non-specific neck pain. METHODS PATIENTS were randomized into 2 groups. Group 1 received manual therapy twice weekly and Group 2 performed stretching exercises 5 times a week. After 4 weeks the treatments were changed. The follow-up times were after 4 and 12 weeks. Neck pain (visual analogue scale) and disability indices were measured. RESULTS Mean value (standard deviation) for neck pain was 50 mm (22) and 49 mm (19) at baseline in Group 1 and Group 2, respectively, and decreased during the first 4 weeks by 26 mm (95% Confidence Interval 20-33) and 19 mm (12-27), respectively. There was no significant difference between groups. Neck and shoulder pain and disability index decreased significantly more in Group 1 after manual therapy (p=0.01) as well as neck stiffness (p=0.01). CONCLUSION Both stretching exercise and manual therapy considerably decreased neck pain and disability in women with non-specific neck pain. The difference in effectiveness between the 2 treatments was minor. Low-cost stretching exercises can be recommended in the first instance as an appropriate therapy intervention to relieve pain, at least in the short-term.
Joint CLT for several random sesquilinear forms with applications to large-dimensional spiked population models

In this paper, we derive a joint central limit theorem for random vector whose components are function of random sesquilinear forms. This result is a natural extension of the existing central limit theory on random quadratic forms. We also provide applications in random matrix theory related to large-dimensional spiked population models. For the first application, we find the joint distribution of grouped extreme sample eigenvalues correspond to the spikes. And for the second application, under the assumption that the population covariance matrix is diagonal with $k$ (fixed) simple spikes, we derive the asymptotic joint distribution of the extreme sample eigenvalue and its corresponding sample eigenvector projection.
Beyond Actions: Discriminative Models for Contextual Group Activities

We propose a discriminative model for recognizing group activities. Our model jointly captures the group activity, the individual person actions, and the interactions among them. Two new types of contextual information, group-person interaction and person-person interaction, are explored in a latent variable framework. Different from most of the previous latent structured models which assume a predefined structure for the hidden layer, e.g. a tree structure, we treat the structure of the hidden layer as a latent variable and implicitly infer it during learning and inference. Our experimental results demonstrate that by inferring this contextual information together with adaptive structures, the proposed model can significantly improve activity recognition performance.
Survival and Cause-Specific Mortality of Wild Turkeys in Northern Indiana

Abstract Information regarding survival and cause-specific mortality of eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) is vital to their management, especially in small or isolated populations. Between January 2003 and August 2005, we used radio telemetry to investigate survival and cause-specific mortality of 87 [44 male (24 adult and 20 juvenile) and 43 female (34 adult and 9 juvenile)] wild turkeys in northern Indiana. We estimated annual and seasonal survival using the Kaplan-Meier product-limit method. Mean male and female annual survival estimates were 0.257 and 0.777, respectively. Annual survival estimates were different between sexes within years, but were homogenous within sexes between years. Survival estimates did not differ among seasons for either sex. However, differences in survival estimates between sexes were detected in the spring, fall and winter seasons. Hunter harvest (46.2% male mortality) and predation (33.3% female mortality) were the leading known causes of mortality for male and female wild turkeys, respectively. Predators (canids, birds and unknown mammals) were responsible for 28.6% of mortality for both sexes combined. Although predation on adult birds was not severe, high mortality of male turkeys in the form of legal spring harvest, in addition to other causes of mortality, warrants concern for small, exploited populations in highly fragmented landscapes like those of northern Indiana.
Reporting of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance on cervical smears: Is it significant?

A retrospective 7‐mo study (June 1, 1993‐December 31, 1993) was performed to evaluate the significance of reporting atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) on cervical smears. During this period 114 (0.7%) of 17,330 smears were diagnosed as ASCUS, 62 of which resulted in either follow‐up cervical biopsies and/or endocervical curettages (61%) or repeat smears (39%), and form the basis of this study. Tissue specimens (38 cases) were negative in 24 cases (63%) and were positive in 14 cases (37%). Of the positive specimens, there were 9 low grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) and 5 high grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL). Repeat smears (24 cases) were negative in 19 cases (79%) and were persistent for a lesion in 5 cases (21%). The persistent lesions consisted of 2 ASCUS and 3 LSIL. Overall, of the 62 cases, 43 (69%) were negative and 19 (31%) showed a lesion on follow‐up tissue specimens or smears. Of the 62 cases, ASCUS diagnoses included cellular changes suggestive of human papillomavirus infection in 17 (27%) cases, nondiagnostic cellular changes in 16 (26%) cases, atypical squamous metaplasia vs. a squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) in 15 (24%) cases, inflammatory cell changes vs. a LSIL in 5 (8%) cases, 2 of which contained candida, and atrophic cellular changes in 1 (2%) case. In the remaining 8 (13%) cases, proper cytologic analysis was hampered by partially obscuring acute inflammation (3 cases) and low cellularity (5 cases). The results of this study would indicate that the reporting of ASCUS on cervical smears does lead to the detection of SILs in a significant number of cases (31% in this study). Therefore, further evaluation of the patient is suggested. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Draft Genome Sequence of Microbacterium profundi Shh49T, an Actinobacterium Isolated from Deep-Sea Sediment of a Polymetallic Nodule Environment

ABSTRACT Microbacterium profundi strain Shh49T was isolated from deep-sea sediment from a polymetallic nodule area located in the East Pacific Ocean. Strain Shh49T contains genes related to the reduction/oxidation of metals. It has potential application in the bioremediation of heavy metal-contaminated environments.
Induction of cytochrome P450‐dependent monooxygenase by extracts of the medicinal herb Salvia miltiorrhiza

The herbal medicine Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen) is currently used for the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. To assess possible herb‐drug interactions, the effects of the aqueous and ethyl acetate extracts of S. miltiorrhiza on cytochrome P450 (CYP) were studied. Oral treatment of C57BL/6J mice with the ethyl acetate extract caused a dose‐dependent increase in liver microsomal 7‐methoxyresorufin O‐demethylation (MROD) activity. The ethyl acetate extract caused an 8‐, 2‐, 3‐ and 3‐fold increase in hepatic MROD, tolbutamide hydroxylation, nifedipine oxidation and warfarin 7‐hydroxylation activity, respectively. However, the aqueous extract had no effects on any of the activities determined. Pharmaceutical product of S. miltiorrhiza extract caused a dose‐dependent increase in MROD activity without affecting other activity. Immunoblot analysis of microsomal proteins showed that ethyl acetate extract‐treatment elevated the protein levels of CYP1A and CYP3A. Tanshinone IIA was the main diterpene quinone in S. miltiorrhiza. At the dose corresponding to its content in ethyl acetate extract, tanshinone IIA‐treatment increased mouse liver microsomal MROD activity. These results demonstrated that there were mouse CYP1A, CYP2C and CYP3A‐inducing agents present in the ethyl acetate extract, but not in the aqueous extract, of S. miltiorrhiza. Tanshinone IIA played a role in the induction of CYP1A by S. miltiorrhiza. The CYP induction by the ethyl acetate extract and pharmaceutical product suggested that possible drug interactions between S. miltiorrhiza and CYP substrates should be noticed.