Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Potent Early Immune Response After Kidney Transplantation in Patients of the European Senior Transplant Program

Background. The increasing age of organ donors and the transplantation of older recipients have become clinical practice. Age-adapted immunosuppressive protocols considering these changes are currently not established. This study analyzed the age-dependent immune response after human kidney transplantation. Methods. One hundred renal allograft recipients were prospectively evaluated from 2004 to 2005. Patients older than 65 years of the European Senior Program receiving kidneys from donors older than 65 years were compared with recipients younger than 65 years receiving kidneys from donors younger than 65 years. Age-dependent modifications of the immune response were evaluated before transplantation and 7 days and 6 months after grafting by flow cytometry analysis of lymphocyte surface markers in peripheral blood. The cytokine pattern was determined by Cytometric Bead Array, T-cell alloreactivity by enzyme-linked immunospot analysis. Results. There were no differences between the groups regarding patient survival, graft survival, and function at 6 months after transplantation. Before transplantation, 7 days and 6 months thereafter recipients older than 65 years demonstrated significantly elevated numbers of memory T-cells while counts for naive T-cells were significantly reduced. Numbers of activated cytotoxic cells were elevated with increasing age before and 7 days after transplantation. T-cell alloreactivity was more pronounced in older recipients at all time points. Seven days after transplantation tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels were significantly higher, whereas TNF-α and interleukin-10 (IL-10) concentrations were significantly reduced after 6 months in older recipients. Conclusions. Our data demonstrate an initially pronounced immune response in elderly recipients receiving grafts from elderly donors. This observation supports the concept of a donor and recipient age-adapted immunosuppression.
ATP-Sensitive Potassium Channel-Mediated Lactate Effect on Orexin Neurons: Implications for Brain Energetics during Arousal

Active neurons have a high demand for energy substrate, which is thought to be mainly supplied as lactate by astrocytes. Heavy lactate dependence of neuronal activity suggests that there may be a mechanism that detects and controls lactate levels and/or gates brain activation accordingly. Here, we demonstrate that orexin neurons can behave as such lactate sensors. Using acute brain slice preparations and patch-clamp techniques, we show that the monocarboxylate transporter blocker α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate (4-CIN) inhibits the spontaneous activity of orexin neurons despite the presence of extracellular glucose. Furthermore, fluoroacetate, a glial toxin, inhibits orexin neurons in the presence of glucose but not lactate. Thus, orexin neurons specifically use astrocyte-derived lactate. The effect of lactate on firing activity is concentration dependent, an essential characteristic of lactate sensors. Furthermore, lactate disinhibits and sensitizes these neurons for subsequent excitation. 4-CIN has no effect on the activity of some arcuate neurons, indicating that lactate dependency is not universal. Orexin neurons show an indirect concentration-dependent sensitivity to glucose below 1 mm, responding by hyperpolarization, which is mediated by ATP-sensitive potassium channels composed of Kir6.1 and SUR1 subunits. In conclusion, our study suggests that lactate is a critical energy substrate and a regulator of the orexin system. Together with the known effects of orexins in inducing arousal, food intake, and hepatic glucose production, as well as lactate release from astrocytes in response to neuronal activity, our study suggests that orexin neurons play an integral part in balancing brain activity and energy supply.
Bacterial and viral pathogen spectra of acute respiratory infections in under-5 children in hospital settings in Dhaka city

The study aimed to examine for the first time the spectra of viral and bacterial pathogens along with the antibiotic susceptibility of the isolated bacteria in under-5 children with acute respiratory infections (ARIs) in hospital settings of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Nasal swabs were collected from 200 under-five children hospitalized with clinical signs of ARIs. Nasal swabs from 30 asymptomatic children were also collected. Screening of viral pathogens targeted ten respiratory viruses using RT-qPCR. Bacterial pathogens were identified by bacteriological culture methods and antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates was determined following CLSI guidelines. About 82.5% (n = 165) of specimens were positive for pathogens. Of 165 infected cases, 3% (n = 6) had only single bacterial pathogens, whereas 43.5% (n = 87) cases had only single viral pathogens. The remaining 36% (n = 72) cases had coinfections. In symptomatic cases, human rhinovirus was detected as the predominant virus (31.5%), followed by RSV (31%), HMPV (13%), HBoV (11%), HPIV-3 (10.5%), and adenovirus (7%). Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most frequently isolated bacterial pathogen (9%), whereas Klebsiella pneumaniae, Streptococcus spp. , Enterobacter agglomerans, and Haemophilus influenzae were 5.5%, 5%, 2%, and 1.5%, respectively. Of 15 multidrug-resistant bacteria, a Klebsiella pneumoniae isolate and an Enterobacter agglomerans isolate exhibited resistance against more than 10 different antibiotics. Both ARI incidence and predominant pathogen detection rates were higher during post-monsoon and winter, peaking in September. Pathogen detection rates and coinfection incidence in less than 1-year group were significantly higher (P = 0.0034 and 0.049, respectively) than in 1–5 years age group. Pathogen detection rate (43%) in asymptomatic cases was significantly lower compared to symptomatic group (P<0.0001). Human rhinovirus, HPIV-3, adenovirus, Streptococcus pneumonia, and Klebsiella pneumaniae had significant involvement in coinfections with P values of 0.0001, 0.009 and 0.0001, 0.0001 and 0.001 respectively. Further investigations are required to better understand the clinical roles of the isolated pathogens and their seasonality.
Seasonal indoor radon variations related to precipitation

Indoor radon concentrations show a strong dependence on weather. Winter tends to be associated with higher than average indoor radon, and summer with lower than average. However, in northern Virginia, the summer of 1988 was wetter than the summer of 1987. Consequently, the regional indoor radon during the summer of 1988 was about 30% higher than during the summer of 1987, and indoor radon during the summer of 1988 actually exceeded the indoor radon level of the 1987–1988 winter.
Improved Portfolio Choice Using Second Order Stochastic Dominance

Constructing portfolios based on second-order stochastic dominance (SSD) is theoretically attractive since all risk-averse investors would prefer a dominating portfolio. However, choosing among SSD efficient portfolios is a challenge without an obvious ranking metric. We explore a particular choice based on Kuosmanen (2004) and compare its performance to other SSD-related strategies and to standard portfolio choice approaches. The SSD-related choices (including the Kuosmanen approach) outperform portfolios based on the Sharpe ratio, equal weights, and the information ratio. Portfolios based on minimum variance that also match the benchmark’s mean return perform on a par with the SSD-related choices.
Role of Trichodesmium spp. in the productivity of the subtropical North Pacific Ocean

The concentrations of filamentous diazotroph Trichodesmium spp. , present a s free trichomes and In colonial assemblages, were measured at approximately monthly intervals at Stn ALOHA (22"45'N, 158°00'W) between October 1989 and December 1992. The average abundance of filaments in the upper 45 m of the water column was highly variable ranging from 1.1 to 7.4 X 10"trichomes m-3 and from 0.02 to 1.4 X 102 colonies m-? Colonies were composed, on average, of 182 filaments accounting for 12% of total (free filament plus colonies) Trichodesmium biomass. Low densities of single trlchomes were associated with, but not restricted to, deep mixing events and winter periods. During 1991 and 1992 the concentration of Trichodesmium spp. present in the water column increased relative to the pre 1991 observations. This increase coincided with increases in photosynthetic carbon assimilation and in the molar ratio of N:P of suspended particulate matter in the upper 45 m of the water column. However, the change in Trlchodesmium biomass alone does not account for the change observed in autotrophic carbon assimilation and elemental biomass composition Tricliodesniium spp. comprised, on average, 18":~ of the chlorophyll a, 4'' of the photosynthetic carbon assimilation, 1OCtb of the particulate nitrogen and 5 % of the part~culate phosphorus. We also estimate that Trichodesmium dlnitrogen fixation accounted for, on average, at least 27'7, of the new production at this study site. These observations, combined with primary production experiments conducted on isolated colonies, suggest that phytoplankton production is enhanced due to the release of NH,+ and dissolved organic nitrogen by Trichodesmium spp. during episodes of nitrogen fixation.
Experimental determination of elastic modulus of elasticity and Poisson’s coefficient of date palm tree fiber

ABSTRACT The present study is an attempt to valorize local vegetable fibers by evaluating thire effectiveness as a new composite biomaterial. Our aim was to determine the mechanical characteristics, namely the elastic modulus and Poisson’s coefficient, of a fiber, locally called “Lif,” that is a natural material extracted from different date palm tree varieties in Biskra, a region situated in southeastern Algeria. This study compares the mechanical characteristcs of the Lif date palm tree fiber with other synthetic and plant fibers studied previously.
Microplane Model M4 for Concrete. I: Formulation with Work-Conjugate Deviatoric Stress

The first part of this two-part study presents a new improved microplane constitutive model for concrete, representing the fourth version in the line of microplane models developed at Northwestern University. The constitutive law is characterized as a relation between the normal, volumetric, deviatoric, and shear stresses and strains on planes of various orientations, called the microplanes. The strain components on the microplanes are the projections of the continuum strain tensor, and the continuum stresses are obtained from the microplane stress components according to the principle of virtual work. The improvements include (1) a work-conjugate volumetric deviatoric split—the main improvement, facilitating physical interpretation of stress components; (2) additional horizontal boundaries (yield limits) for the normal and deviatoric microplane stress components, making it possible to control the curvature at the peaks of stress-strain curves; (3) an improved nonlinear frictional yield surface with plasticity asymptote; (4) a simpler and more effective fitting procedure with sequential identification of material parameters; (5) a method to control the steepness and tail length of postpeak softening; and (6) damage modeling with a reduction of unloading stiffness and crack-closing boundary. The second part of this study, by Caner and Bazant, will present an algorithm for implementing the model in structural analysis programs and provide experimental verification and calibration by test data.
Generic non-repudiation protocols supporting transparent off-line TTP

A non-repudiation protocol enables the fair exchange of an electronic message and an irrefutable digital receipt between two mistrusting parties over the Internet. That is, at the end of any execution instance of such a protocol, either both parties obtain their expected items or neither party does. In this paper, we first argue that it is really meaningful in practice to exploit generic fair non-repudiation protocols with transparent off-line trusted third party (TTP). Namely, in those protocols, each involved party could use any secure digital signature algorithm to produce non-repudiation evidences; and the issued evidences are the same regardless of whether the TTP is involved or not. Then, we present such a fair non-repudiation protocol to overcome some limitations and shortcomings in previous schemes. Technical discussions are provided to show that our protocol is not only secure but also the most efficient solution, compared with existing non-repudiation protocols. In addition, some potential extensions are also pointed out.
Functional outcome of femoral peri prosthetic fracture and revision hip arthroplasty: A matched‐pair study from the New Zealand Registry

Background and purpose The number of periprosthetic fractures following total hip arthroplasty (THA) is increasing. There is, however, limited data on the functional outcome following these injuries. We analyzed functional outcome for revision THA following periprosthetic fracture, and compared this to the outcome of elective revision THA performed for aseptic loosening. Methods 232 patients undergoing revision THA for femoral fracture were identified from the New Zealand National Registry. Functional outcome was measured using the Oxford 12 hip score (OHS). A reference group of 232 patients undergoing elective revision THA was selected and matched for age and sex. Results Outcome was worse following revision THA for periprosthetic fracture than in reference patients (mean OHS: 29 vs. 24, p = 0.006). A higher 6‐month mortality rate was seen in periprosthetic fracture patients (7.3% vs. 0.9%, p < 0.001), along with a higher likelihood of re‐revision (7.3% vs. 2.6%, p = 0.06). Interpretation This large comparative series of periprosthetic fractures following THA shows that patients with periprosthetic fracture have poorer functional outcome and higher death rates than patients undergoing revision THA for aseptic loosening.
Evidence of IgY Subclass Diversification in Snakes: Evolutionary Implications

Mammalian IgG and IgE are thought to have evolved from IgY of nonmammalian tetrapods; however, no diversification of IgY subclasses has been reported in reptiles or birds, which are phylogenetically close to mammals. To our knowledge, we report the first evidence of the presence of multiple IgY-encoding (υ) genes in snakes. Two υ genes were identified in the snake Elaphe taeniura, and three υ genes were identified in the Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus). Although four of the υ genes displayed a conventional four-H chain C region exon structure, one of the υ genes in the Burmese python lacked the H chain C region 2 exon, thus exhibiting a structure similar to that of the mammalian γ genes. We developed mouse mAbs specific for the IgY1 and IgY2 of E. taeniura and showed that both were expressed in serum; each had two isoforms: one full-length and one truncated at the C terminus. The truncation was not caused by alternative splicing or transcriptional termination. We also identified the μ and δ genes, but no α gene, in both snakes. This study provides valuable clues for our understanding of Ig gene evolution in tetrapods.
Two novel rat liver membrane proteins that bind advanced glycosylation endproducts: relationship to macrophage receptor for glucose-modified proteins

Advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGEs), the glucose-derived adducts that form nonenzymatically and accumulate on tissue proteins, are implicated in many chronic complications associated with diabetes and aging. We have previously described a monocyte/macrophage surface receptor system thought to coordinate AGE protein removal and tissue remodeling, and purified a corresponding 90-kD AGE-binding protein from the murine RAW 264.7 cell line. To identify AGE-binding proteins in normal animals, the tissue distribution of 125I-AGE rat serum albumin taken up from the blood was determined in rats in vivo. These uptake studies demonstrated that the liver was a major site of AGE protein sequestration. Using a solid-phase assay system involving the immobilization of solubilized membrane proteins onto nitrocellulose to monitor binding activity, and several purification steps including affinity chromatography over an AGE bovine serum albumin matrix, two rat liver membrane proteins were isolated that specifically bound AGEs, one migrating at 60 kD (p60) and the other at 90 kD (p90) on SDS-PAGE. NH2-terminal sequence analysis revealed no significant homology between these two proteins nor to any molecules available in sequence databases. Flow cytometric analyses using avian antibodies to purified rat p60 and p90 demonstrated that both proteins are present on rat monocytes and macrophages. Competition studies revealed no crossreactivity between the two antisera; anti-p60 and anti-p90 antisera prevented AGE-protein binding to rat macrophages when added alone or in combination. These results indicate that rat liver contains at least two novel and distinct proteins that recognize AGE-modified macromolecules, although p90 may be related to the previously described 90-kD AGE receptor isolated from RAW 264.7 cells. The constitutive expression of AGE-binding proteins on rat monocytes and macrophages, and the sequestration of circulating AGE-modified proteins by the liver, provides further evidence in support of a role for these molecules in the normal removal of proteins marked as senescent by accumulated glucose-derived covalent addition products, or AGEs.
Multiple Mechanisms Contribute to Leakiness of a Frameshift Mutation in Canine Cone-Rod Dystrophy

Mutations in RPGRIP1 are associated with early onset retinal degenerations in humans and dogs. Dogs homozygous for a 44 bp insertion including a polyA29 tract potentially leading to premature truncation of the protein, show cone rod degeneration. This is rapid and blinding in a colony of dogs in which the mutation was characterised but in dogs with the same mutation in the pet population there is very variable disease severity and rate of progression. Objective We hypothesized that this variability must be associated with leakiness of the RPGRIP1 mutation, allowing continued RPGRIP1 production. The study was designed to discover mechanisms that might allow such leakiness. Methods We analysed alternate start sites and splicing of RPGRIP1 transcripts; variability of polyAn length in the insertion and slippage at polyAn during transcription/translation. Results and Significance We observed a low rate of use of alternative start codons having potential to allow forms of transcript not including the insertion, with the possibility of encoding truncated functional RPGRIP1 protein isoforms. Complex alternative splicing was observed, but did not increase this potential. Variable polyAn length was confirmed in DNA from different RPGRIP1 −/− dogs, yet polyAn variability did not correspond with the clinical phenotypes and no individual was found that carried a polyAn tract capable of encoding an in-frame variant. Remarkably though, in luciferase reporter gene assays, out-of-frame inserts still allowed downstream reporter gene expression at some 40% of the efficiency of in-frame controls. This indicates a major role of transcriptional or translational frameshifting in RPGRIP1 expression. The known slippage of reverse transcriptases as well as RNA polymerases and thermostable DNA polymerases on oligoA homopolymers meant that we could not distinguish whether the majority of slippage was transcriptional or translational. This leakiness at the mutation site may allow escape from severe effects of the mutation for some dogs.
A Simplified Approach to the Measurement of Specific Airway Resistance

Extract: A simple algebraic manipulation of known formulas leads to a direct expression for the specific airway resistance (SRaw) which precludes separate measurements of the airway resistance (Raw) and the thoracic gas volume (TGV). The equation is: SRaw = tg β (PBar – PH2O) e2, in which tg β stands for the relation between the plethysmographic box volume and pneumotachograph flow fluctuations; PBar – PH2O is the barometric pressure corrected for water vapor pressure at body temperature, and e2 is a calibration for graphical units. Thanks to this new formula SRaw can now be easily measured with great precision and quickly calculated, even in the case of those children (Table 1) with whom this was not previously possible. No further cooperation is needed than breathing at a normal rate through mouthpiece into a whole-body plethysmograph. The intraindividual coefficient of variation (CV) for SRaw is about 8% and never exceeds 15% (Table 1). Speculation: Because of our proposed simplification of the measurement of SRaw, the accumulation of data on bronchial obstruction and hence statistical analysis will be greatly facilitated in pediatrics. Further developments of this method should permit a comparison with previous studies in sedated children and answer the question of whether alteration in specific airway resistance is the consequence either of sedation or of some change associated with growth during the first 5 years life.
The application of diode laser in the treatment of oral soft tissues lesions. A literature review

Background Since its appearance in the dental area, the laser has become a treatment of choice in the removal of lesions in the oral soft tissues, due to the numerous advantages they offer, being one of the most used currently the diode laser. The aim of this review was to determine the efficacy and predictability of diode laser as a treatment of soft tissue injuries compared to other surgical methods. Material and Methods A literature review of articles published in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus and the Cochrane Library databases between 2007 and 2017 was performed. “Diode laser”, “soft tissue”, “oral cavity” and “oral surgery” were employed for the search strategy. Only articles published English or Spanish were selected. Results The diode laser is a minimally invasive technology that offers great advantages, superior to those of the conventional scalpel, such as reduction of bleeding, inflammation and the lower probability of scars. Its effectiveness is comparable to that of other types of lasers, in addition to being an option of lower cost and greater ease of use. Its application in the soft tissues has been evaluated, being a safe and effective method for the excision of lesions like fibromas, epulis fissuratum and the accomplishment of frenectomies. Conclusions The diode laser can be used with very good results for the removal of lesions in soft tissues, being used in small exophytic lesions due to their easy application, adequate coagulation, no need to suture and the slightest inflammation and pain. Key words:Diode laser, soft tissues, oral cavity, oral surgery.
Prior-Free Rare Category Detection

Rare category detection is an open challenge in machine learning. It plays the central role in applications such as detecting new financial fraud patterns, detecting new network malware, and scientific discovery. In such cases rare categories are hidden among huge volumes of normal data and observations. In this paper, we propose a new method for rare category detection named SEDER, which requires no prior information about the data set. It implicitly performs semiparametric density estimation using specially designed exponentially families, and then picks the examples for labeling where the neighborhood density changes the most. SEDER can work in the cases where the data is not separable. Its unique feature over all existing methods lies in its prior-free nature, i.e. it does not require any prior information about the data set (e.g. the number of classes, the proportion of the different classes, etc.). Therefore, it is more suitable for real applications. Experimental results on both synthetic and real data sets demonstrate the superiority of SEDER.