Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mobile Virtual Communities for Telemedicine: Research Challenges and Opportunities

Today’s mobile devices have become increasingly powerful with enhanced features such as increased CPU power and memory, internet connectivity in multiple ways (multi-homing) and interfacing with external peripheral devices (for instance GPS receiver, medical sensors). The proliferation of these mobile devices combined with an increasing willingness of users to share information available on and around mobile device (e.g. location, user activity) has given rise to Mobile Virtual Communities (MVC). This way, social interaction is now feasible anywhere and anytime. In another paradigm referred to as telemedicine, information and communication technologies are being investigated and employed in areas such as health maintenance and alleviation, cure and prevention of diseases. In general, (mobile) virtual communities have been explored in the telemedicine domain where they were found to be promising in many cases. However, evidence for their effectiveness has yet to be established. With this background and based on our expertise with MVCs and telemedicine, we address a number of aspects including: 1) basic concepts in telemedicine and MVC and analysis of effectiveness and success factors of MVCs in the telemedicine domain; 2) a prototype architecture addressing mobility issues for the MVC in the telemedicine domain; and 3) reflection on the opportunities and research challenges involved in using MVCs in the telemedicine domain.
Light‐emitting diode therapy induces analgesia and decreases spinal cord and sciatic nerve tumour necrosis factor‐α levels after sciatic nerve crush in mice

Neuropathic pain is severely debilitating and resistant to pharmacological approaches; therefore, the study of therapies to complement its treatment is especially relevant. In a case report study, light‐emitting diode therapy (LEDT) has shown analgesic activity as well as reduced the expression of pro‐inflammatory cytokines in a rabbit osteoarthritis model and in calcaneal tendinitis in rats. Although LEDT stimulated morphofunctional recovery after nerve injury in rats, its effect against neuropathic pain has not been tested.
Immunological and genetic analysis of 65 patients with a clinical suspicion of X linked hyper-IgM

Background: X linked hyper-IgM (XHIM) is a primary immunodeficiency caused by mutations in the tumour necrosis factor superfamily 5 gene, TNFSF5, also known as the CD40 ligand (CD40L) gene. Patients often present with recurrent infections, and confirmation of a diagnosis of XHIM enables appropriate therapeutic interventions, including replacement immunoglobulin, antibiotics, and bone marrow transplantation. Aim: To review and optimise the institution’s diagnostic strategy for XHIM. Method: Samples from 65 boys were referred to this centre for further investigation of suspected XHIM. The results, which included a flow cytometric whole blood assay for CD40L expression followed by mutation analysis in selected patients, were reviewed. Results: Twenty one patients failed to express CD40L and TNFSF5 mutations were found in 20 of these patients. In contrast, no TNFSF5 mutations were found in 16 patients with weak expression of CD40L. Interestingly, one quarter of patients with confirmed XHIM who had TNFSF5 mutations had low concentrations of IgG, IgA, and IgM. Most of the remaining patients with XHIM had the classic pattern of normal or raised IgM with low concentrations of IgA and IgG. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the usefulness of the whole blood staining method as a rapid screen to select patients for subsequent TNFSF5 mutation analysis, and shows the benefits of a unified protein/genetic diagnostic strategy.
DID EGG‐LAYING BOAS BREAK DOLLO'S LAW? PHYLOGENETIC EVIDENCE FOR REVERSAL TO OVIPARITY IN SAND BOAS (ERYX: BOIDAE)

Re‐evolution of lost complex morphological characters has been proposed for several characters, including insect wings, limbs, eyes in snakes, and digits in lizards, among others. There has also been much interest in whether the transition from oviparity to viviparity is reversible, particularly in squamate reptiles where the transition to viviparity has occurred more times than in any other lineage. Here, we present a phylogenetic analysis of boid snakes based on a concatenated multigene study of all genera of erycines, New and Old World boines, plus other groups thought to be closely related with boines such as monotypic species Calabaria and Casarea. We reconstruct ancestral parity mode on this phylogeny and present statistical evidence that oviparity reevolved in a species of Old World sand boa in the genus Eryx nearly 60 million years after the initial boid transition to viviparity. Remarkably, like other viviparous boas hatchlings of oviparous Eryx lack an egg‐tooth providing independent evidence that oviparity is a derived state in these species.
Multiple hybridization events between Drosophila simulans and Drosophila mauritiana are supported by mtDNA introgression

The study of speciation has advanced considerably in the last decades because of the increased application of molecular tools. In particular, the quantification of gene flow between recently diverged species could be addressed. Drosophila simulans and Drosophila mauritiana diverged, probably allopatrically, from a common ancestor approximately 250 000 years ago. However, these species share one mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype indicative of a recent episode of introgression. To study the extent of gene flow between these species, we took advantage of a large sample of D. mauritiana and employed a range of different markers, i.e. nuclear and mitochondrial sequences, and microsatellites. This allowed us to detect two new mtDNA haplotypes (MAU3 and MAU4). These haplotypes diverged quite recently from haplotypes of the siII group present in cosmopolitan populations of D. simulans. The mean divergence time of the most diverged haplotype (MAU4) is approximately 127 000 years, which is more than 100 000 years before the assumed speciation time. Interestingly, we also found some evidence for gene flow at the nuclear level because an excess of putatively neutral loci shows significantly reduced differentiation between D. simulans and D. mauritiana. Our results suggest that these species are exchanging genes more frequently than previously thought.
Using LDA to detect semantically incoherent documents

Detecting the semantic coherence of a document is a challenging task and has several applications such as in text segmentation and categorization. This paper is an attempt to distinguish between a 'semantically coherent' true document and a 'randomly generated' false document through topic detection in the framework of latent Dirichlet analysis. Based on the premise that a true document contains only a few topics and a false document is made up of many topics, it is asserted that the entropy of the topic distribution will be lower for a true document than that for a false document. This hypothesis is tested on several false document sets generated by various methods and is found to be useful for fake content detection applications.
Social responses without early experience: Australian brush-turkey chicks use specific visual cues to aggregate with conspecifics

SUMMARY Almost all birds depend upon early experience with adults and siblings to learn recognition cues. Megapodes, such as the Australian brush-turkey (Alectura lathami), have evolved a very different life history. Eggs are incubated in mounds of decaying organic material. Chicks hatch asynchronously and receive no parental care, so imprinting cannot occur. Nevertheless, chicks subsequently form groups with similar-aged conspecifics. We explored the perceptual basis of this aggregation response, focussing on likely visual cues, such as pecking movements and body colour. Experiments were conducted under naturalistic conditions in a large aviary, using realistic robot models and colour filters. The robots successfully evoked a range of social responses resembling those of a live companion. Aggregation depended upon both behaviour and morphology. Simultaneous choice tests revealed that brush-turkey chicks preferred a pecking robot over either a static model or a scanning robot, suggesting that responsiveness depends upon particular movement patterns. In addition, chicks were sensitive to changes in appearance but only those that affected radiance at short wavelengths. The mechanism underlying social aggregation after hatching hence involves relatively specific cues. This perceptual bias seems to be largely experience independent and may exploit attributes to which potential predators are insensitive.
Chiral Symmetry Breaking on the Lattice: a Study of the Strongly Coupled Lattice Schwinger Model

We revisit the strong coupling limit of the Schwinger model on the lattice using staggered fermions and the hamiltonian approach to lattice gauge theories. Although staggered fermions have no continuous chiral symmetry, they posses a discrete axial invari ance which forbids fermion mass and which must be broken in order for the lattice Schwinger model to exhibit the features of the spectrum of the continuum theory. We show that this discrete symmetry is indeed broken spontaneously in the strong coupling li mit. Expanding around a gauge invariant ground state and carefully considering the normal ordering of the charge operator, we derive an improved strong coupling expansion and compute the masses of the low lying bosonic excitations as well as the chiral co ndensate of the model. We find very good agreement between our lattice calculations and known continuum values for these quantities already in the fourth order of strong coupling perturbation theory. We also find the exact ground state of the antiferromag netic Ising spin chain with long range Coulomb interaction, which determines the nature of the ground state in the strong coupling limit.
Profile control of a borosilicate-glass groove formed by deep reactive ion etching

We investigated the deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) of borosilicate glass and profile control of an etched groove. We carried out DRIE using an anodically bonded silicon wafer as an etching mask. We controlled the glass-groove profile, namely improving its sidewall angle, by removing an excessive polymer film produced by carbon-fluoride etching gases during DRIE. We experimentally compared two fabrication processes for effective removal of the polymer film: (1) DRIE with the addition of argon (Ar) to the etching gases and (2) a novel combined process in which DRIE and subsequent ultrasonic cleaning in DI water were alternately carried out. Both processes improved the sidewall angle, reaching 85° independent of the mask-opening width. The results showed that the processes remove the excessive polymer film on sidewalls. Accordingly, the processes are an effective way to control the groove profile of borosilicate glass.
Modeling the Noun Phrase versus Sentence Coordination Ambiguity in Dutch: Evidence from Surprisal Theory

This paper investigates whether surprisal theory can account for differential processing difficulty in the NP-/S-coordination ambiguity in Dutch. Surprisal is estimated using a Probabilistic Context-Free Grammar (PCFG), which is induced from an automatically annotated corpus. We find that our lexicalized surprisal model can account for the reading time data from a classic experiment on this ambiguity by Frazier (1987). We argue that syntactic and lexical probabilities, as specified in a PCFG, are sufficient to account for what is commonly referred to as an NP-coordination preference.
Perspectives on Adherence and Simplicity for HIV-Infected Patients on Antiretroviral Therapy: Self-Report of the Relative Importance of Multiple Attributes of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) Regimens in Predicting Adherence

Background: Adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) of 95% or greater seems to be required for successful treatment of HIV/AIDS. Efforts to simplify regimens to improve adherence are ongoing, including the advent of once-daily (QD) dosing regimens, which are presumed to be beneficial, although data regarding their overall impact on adherence are not yet available. Objective: To assess patient perceptions of the impact on adherence of 10 attributes of HAART, including QD dosing, and to compare 7 actual regimens based on patients' perceptions of their likelihood to promote adherence. Methods: Two hundred ninety-nine highly treatment-experienced patients with HIV/AIDS completed a questionnaire that evaluated perceptions of the impact on adherence of 10 HAART regimen attributes using a modified adaptive conjoint analysis. Patients' perceptions of the likelihood that they would adhere to 7 actual HAART regimens were scored on Likert scales. Results: Pill count, dosing frequency, and adverse events had the greatest impact on patients' perceived ability to adhere to antiretroviral medication regimens. QD was the preferred dosing frequency, but QD dosing regimens did not score better than other regimens. Among actual regimens, predicted adherence was highest for a twice-daily (BID) regimen with 2 pills daily, no dietary restrictions, and 1 prescription and copayment and lowest for a BID regimen with 13 pills daily, food requirements, and 3 prescriptions and copayments. Conclusions: All HAART regimen attributes studied were perceived to have an impact on adherence, but pill count, dosing frequency, and adverse events had the greatest perceived impact. These data are of potential importance to clinicians as they seek to structure HAART regimens to which their patients are most likely to adhere.
Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 2 Controls Peripheral Immune Tolerance

Adaptive immunity requires signals from both the TCR and the costimulatory molecule CD28. These receptors activate multiple signaling pathways, including the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) cascade, and antigenic signals in the absence of costimulation result in a tolerant state that is enforced by the CDK inhibitory protein p27kip1. We find that CDK2, the major target of p27kip1, is highly active in T cells that infiltrate and reject cardiac allografts. We used mice genetically deficient for CDK2 to determine whether CDK2 is required for T cell alloimmunity. Blockade of CD28 costimulation alone was unable to inhibit the rejection of cardiac allografts by wild-type recipients. However, targeting this pathway in CDK2-deficient recipients led to long-term allograft survival. CDK2-deficient CD4+ T cells proliferated normally in response to stimulation in vitro and in vivo, however, genetic, short hairpin RNA, or small molecule–mediated antagonism of CDK2 resulted in decreased production of IL-2 and IFN-γ. In addition, surviving grafts from CDK2-deficient recipients showed increased infiltration of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg), and Treg from CDK2-deficient mice exhibited increased suppressive activity in vitro and in an in vivo model of inflammatory bowel disease. These data suggest that p27kip1 promotes peripheral tolerance through its ability to inhibit CDK2, which otherwise acts to promote conventional T cell differentiation and restrict Treg function.
Palmitate Impairs and Eicosapentaenoate Restores Insulin Secretion Through Regulation of SREBP-1c in Pancreatic Islets

OBJECTIVE—Chronic exposure to fatty acids causes β-cell failure, often referred to as lipotoxicity. We investigated its mechanisms, focusing on contribution of SREBP-1c, a key transcription factor for lipogenesis. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We studied in vitro and in vivo effects of saturated and polyunsaturated acids on insulin secretion, insulin signaling, and expression of genes involved in β-cell functions. Pancreatic islets isolated from C57BL/6 control and SREBP-1–null mice and adenoviral gene delivery or knockdown systems of related genes were used. RESULTS—Incubation of C57BL/6 islets with palmitate caused inhibition of both glucose- and potassium-stimulated insulin secretion, but addition of eicosapentaenoate (EPA) restored both inhibitions. Concomitantly, palmitate activated and EPA abolished both mRNA and nuclear protein of SREBP-1c, accompanied by reciprocal changes of SREBP-1c target genes such as insulin receptor substrate-2 (IRS-2) and granuphilin. These palmitate-EPA effects on insulin secretion were abolished in SREBP-1–null islets. Suppression of IRS-2/Akt pathway could be a part of the downstream mechanism for the SREBP-1c–mediated insulin secretion defect because adenoviral constitutively active Akt compensated it. Uncoupling protein-2 (UCP-2) also plays a crucial role in the palmitate inhibition of insulin secretion, as confirmed by knockdown experiments, but SREBP-1c contribution to UCP-2 regulation was partial. The palmitate-EPA regulation of insulin secretion was similarly observed in islets from C57BL/6 mice pretreated with dietary manipulations. Furthermore, administration of EPA to diabetic KK-Ay mice ameliorated impairment of insulin secretion in their islets. CONCLUSIONS—SREBP-1c plays a dominant role in palmitate-mediated insulin secretion defect, and EPA prevents it through SREBP-1c inhibition, implicating a therapeutic potential for treating diabetes related to lipotoxicity.
MINERALOGICAL CONTRAINTS TO THE FORMATION OF VEIN-TYPE ZEOLITES FROM KIZARI AREA, THRACE NORTHERN GREECE

Vein-type zeolites in Kizari area, (western Thrace) are found within fresh to zeolitic altered volcanic rocks of andesitic to dacitic composition. The zeolites stilbite-Ca, Sr-bearing heulandite-Ca and laumontite occur in epithermal-style crustiform quartz/chalcedony-calcite veins crosscuting lavas and volcanic breccias. Open-space filling is common and well-shaped crystals (up to 3cm) were observed. Smectite, feldspar, magnetite, pyrite and rutile occur in minor amounts in the veins. Halite and barite grains are included in stilbite-Ca. SEM-EDS data indicate high Sr (up to 4.4 wt. % SrO) and Ba (up to 2.9 wt. % BaO) contents for heulandite-Ca. It is suggested that the studied zeolites are intergral parts of the porphyry-epithermal mineralizing systems which operated in the area during the Oligocene. Their formation took place in the outmost transitional propylitic to fresh zones of the porphyry-epithermal systems and in a submarine environment as indicated by the geological and mineralogical evidence.
Nowa, a novel protein with minicollagen Cys-rich domains, is involved in nematocyst formation in Hydra

The novel protein Nowa was identified in nematocysts, explosive organelles of Hydra, jellyfish, corals and other Cnidaria. Biogenesis of these organelles is complex and involves assembly of proteins inside a post-Golgi vesicle to form a double-layered capsule with a long tubule. Nowa is the major component of the outer wall, which is formed very early in morphogenesis. The high molecular weight glycoprotein has a modular structure with an N-terminal sperm coating glycoprotein domain, a central C-type lectin-like domain, and an eightfold repeated cysteine-rich domain at the C-terminus. Interestingly, the cysteine-rich domains are homologous to the cysteine-rich domains of minicollagens. We have previously shown that the cysteines of these minicollagen cysteine-rich domains undergo an isomerization process from intra- to intermolecular disulfide bonds, which mediates the crosslinking of minicollagens to networks in the inner wall of the capsule. The minicollagen cysteine-rich domains present in both proteins provide a potential link between Nowa in the outer wall and minicollagens in the inner wall. We propose a model for nematocyst formation that integrates cytoskeleton rearrangements around the post-Golgi vesicle and protein assembly inside the vesicle to generate a complex structure that is stabilized by intermolecular disulfide bonds.
Turbulent Blood Flow in the Ascending Aorta of Humans with Normal and Diseased Aortic Valves

Turbulent Mood flow may contribute to a variety of pathophysiological effects. Because of its postulated importance, this study was undertaken to determine whether turbulent flow does in fact occur in the human body. In 15 persons (seven normal, seven aortic valvular disease, one prosthetic aortic valve), point velocity was measured in the ascending aorta with a hot-film anemometer probe. In one normal individual with a high cardiac output, turbulent flow occurred above the aortic valve during peak flow which corresponded to a peak Reynolds number of 10,000. In toe other six normal subjects (peak Reynolds numben of 5,700-8,900), flow was highly disturbed during peak ejection. Each of the subjects with aortic valvular disease and the subject with a prosthetic aortic valve showed turbulent flow during nearly the entire period of ejection, with Fourier components of velocity of significant magnitude up to 320 Hz (the maximum frequency we could evaluate with the equipment available). The turbulence energy density was higher in subjects with abnormal valves (3.2-14.6 ergs/cm'), than in normal subjects (0.6-2.9 ergs/cm1). In subjects with aortic stenosis, turbulence was observed throughout the ascending aorta and in the innominate artery. In others, the turbulence dissipated more proximally. The results of this study indicate that turbulent flow can occur in the as cending aorta of subjects with normal cardiac function; and it occurs consistently in the ascending aorta of individuals with abnormal aor tic valves.
Airway Inflammation and Remodeling in Two Mouse Models of Asthma: Comparison of Males and Females

Background: Asthma and especially severe asthma affect women more frequently than men. Since asthma severity correlates with remodeling changes in the lung, a female propensity to remodeling could be expected. We studied whether our previous observation that female mice have more pronounced airway inflammation than males is associated with more pronounced remodeling in two models of chronic allergic asthma. Methods: Male and female BALB/c mice were (1) sensitized and subsequently challenged with ovalbumin (OVA) for 4 weeks, or (2) exposed to house dust mite (HDM) for 5 weeks. In both models, allergic inflammation, remodeling, antigen-specific IgE and methacholine (MCh) responsiveness were assessed. Results: Females had higher antigen-specific serum IgE levels, higher numbers of eosinophils and were more responsive to MCh. In the OVA model, females also had higher levels of Th2 cytokines in lung tissue than males. Both sexes developed similar airway remodeling (smooth muscle layer thickness, collagen III deposition and goblet cell hyperplasia) in the two models. Conclusions: Combining results of an OVA- and a HDM-induced mouse model of allergic airway inflammation, we have shown that more severe allergic inflammation in females is not accompanied with more pronounced airway remodeling.