Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interleukin 6 receptor expression by human cord blood‐ or peripheral blood‐derived primitive haematopoietic progenitors implies acquisition of different functional properties

The significance of interleukin 6 receptor (IL‐6R) expression by cord blood (CB)‐ and peripheral blood (PB)‐derived primitive haematopoietic progenitors was investigated. IL‐6R was preferentially expressed by PB‐derived myeloid progenitors. Most PB‐derived erythroid bursts (BFU‐E) and mixed colony‐forming cells (CFU‐Mix) did not express this receptor. However, CB‐derived primitive progenitor cells possessed multipotentiality, irrespective of IL‐6R expression. Interestingly, the long‐term culture‐initiating cell (LTC‐IC) population was enriched in PB‐derived CD34+ IL‐6R+ cells, but the extended LTC‐IC (ELTC‐IC) population, which represents a less mature class of haematopoietic progenitors, seemed to be equally distributed in the IL‐6R+ and IL‐6R− cell populations. In contrast, the number of LTC‐ICs and ELTC‐ICs was similar in CB‐derived CD34+ IL‐6R+ or IL‐6R− cells. It is noteworthy that the number of LTC‐ICs and ELTC‐ICs in CB‐derived CD34+ cells was markedly higher than that in PB‐derived CD34+ cells regardless of IL‐6R expression. Telomerase activity was consistently lower in PB‐derived CD34+ IL‐6R− cells than in CD34+ IL‐6R+ cells. In contrast, telomerase activity was similar in CB‐derived CD34+ IL‐6R+ or IL‐6R− cells. The pattern of telomerase induction upon cytokine stimulation differed between CB‐ and PB‐derived CD34+ IL‐6R+ or IL‐6R− cells. However, overall telomerase activity per dish was well correlated with the proliferative potential of both cell populations, suggesting that induction of telomerase plays an important role in the escape from replicative senescence of primitive haematopoietic progenitors. Collectively, these results suggest that CB‐derived primitive progenitors are less mature than PB‐derived progenitors and that the expression of IL‐6R by primitive haematopoietic progenitors may have different implications for PB‐ and CB‐derived CD34+ cells.
Effect of anti-asthma Chinese medicine Chuankezhi on the anti-tumor activity of cytokine-induced killer cells

Chuankezhi (CKZ), a new Chinese medicine, plays an important role in immunoregulation. Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells have been commonly used for immunotherapy in recent years. In this study, we aimed to investigate the immunoregulatory effect of CKZ on CIK cells. Peripheral blood monocytes were isolated from healthy donors, and CIK cells were generated by culturing monocytes with interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and interleukin 2. Different concentrations of CKZ were added on day 2. After incubation for 14 days in culture, the antitumor effects of CIK cells were measured by cytotoxicity assay. Flow cytometry was used to explore the effect of CKZ on CIK cell immunophenotype, intracellular cytokine production, and apoptosis. The effect of CKZ on the antitumor activity of CIK cells in nude mice was also investigated. CKZ increased the percentage of CD3+CD56+ CIK cells but did not significantly change the percentage of CD4+, CD8+, or CD4+CD25+ CIK cells. CKZ-conditioned CIK cells showed a greater ability to kill tumor cells, as well as a higher frequency of IFN-γ and TNF-α production, compared with the CIK cells in the control group. CKZ also suppressed the apoptosis of CIK cells in vitro. Furthermore, CKZ combined with CIK cells had a stronger suppressive effect on tumor growth in vivo than the CIK, CKZ, or normal saline control groups. Our results indicate that CKZ enhances the antitumor activity of CIK cells and is a potential medicine for tumor immunotherapy.
The Minimal Entropy Martingale Measure for Exponential Markov Chains

In this article we investigate the minimal entropy martingale measure for continuous-time Markov chains. The conditions for absence of arbitrage and existence of the minimal entropy martingale measure are discussed. Under this measure, expressions for the transition intensities are obtained. Differential equations for the arbitrage-free price are derived.
HTRF analysis of soluble huntingtin in PHAROS PBMCs

Objective: We measured the levels of mutant huntingtin (mtHtt) and total huntingtin (tHtt) in blood leukocytes from Prospective Huntington At-Risk Observational Study (PHAROS) subjects at 50% risk of carrying the Huntington disease mutation using a homogeneous time-resolved fluorescence (HTRF) assay to assess its potential as a biomarker. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from consenting PHAROS subjects were analyzed by HTRF using antibodies that simultaneously measured mtHtt and tHtt. mtHtt levels were normalized to tHtt, double-stranded DNA, or protein and analyzed according to cytosine-adenine-guanine repeat length (CAGn), demographics, predicted time to clinical onset or known time since clinical onset, and available clinical measures. Results: From 363 assayed samples, 342 met quality control standards. Levels of mtHtt and mt/tHtt were higher in 114 subjects with expanded CAG repeats (CAG ≥37) compared with 228 subjects with nonexpanded CAG repeats (CAG <37) (p < 0.0001). Analysis of relationships to predicted time to onset or to phenoconversion suggested that the HTRF signal could mark changes during the Huntington disease prodrome or after clinical onset. Conclusions: The HTRF assay can effectively measure mtHtt in multicenter sample sets and may be useful in trials of therapies targeting huntingtin.
Smoking , p 53 Mutation , and Lung Cancer

This issue marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health. Perhaps no other singular event has done more to highlight the effects of smoking on the development of cancer. Tobacco exposure is the leading cause of cancers involving the oral cavity, conductive airways, and the lung. Owing to the many carcinogens in tobacco smoke, smoking-related malignancies have a high genome-wide burden of mutations, including in the gene encoding for p53. The p53 protein is the most frequently mutated tumor suppressor in cancer, responsible for a range of critical cellular functions that are compromised by the presence of a mutation. Herein, we review the epidemiologic connection between tobacco exposure and cancer, the molecular basis of p53 mutation in lung cancer, and the normal molecular and cellular roles of p53 that are abrogated during lung tumor development and progression as defined by in vitro and in vivo studies.We also consider the therapeutic potential of targeting mutant p53 in a clinical setting based upon the cellular role of mutant p53 and data from genetic murine models. Mol Cancer Res; 12(1); 3–13. 2014 AACR.
Robust 1-Bit Compressive Sensing via Binary Stable Embeddings of Sparse Vectors

The compressive sensing (CS) framework aims to ease the burden on analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) by reducing the sampling rate required to acquire and stably recover sparse signals. Practical ADCs not only sample but also quantize each measurement to a finite number of bits; moreover, there is an inverse relationship between the achievable sampling rate and the bit depth. In this paper, we investigate an alternative CS approach that shifts the emphasis from the sampling rate to the number of bits per measurement. In particular, we explore the extreme case of 1-bit CS measurements, which capture just their sign. Our results come in two flavors. First, we consider ideal reconstruction from noiseless 1-bit measurements and provide a lower bound on the best achievable reconstruction error. We also demonstrate that i.i. d. random Gaussian matrices provide measurement mappings that, with overwhelming probability, achieve nearly optimal error decay. Next, we consider reconstruction robustness to measurement errors and noise and introduce the binary ε-stable embedding property, which characterizes the robustness of the measurement process to sign changes. We show that the same class of matrices that provide almost optimal noiseless performance also enable such a robust mapping. On the practical side, we introduce the binary iterative hard thresholding algorithm for signal reconstruction from 1-bit measurements that offers state-of-the-art performance.
Sonographic diagnosis of tuberculoid leprosy.

Sonography has recently been used in the evaluation of the extremities,, -3 It is known as a sensitive means to differentiate cystic from solid sofHissue masses. It has also proved accurate in the evaluation of muscular trauma by demonstrating muscular ruptures and hematomas. · However, ultrasound imaging provides no specific information about the histologic nature of solid soft-tissue tumors.2•3 We report a case of a surgically verified leprous tumor of the lower extremity.
TOPOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF RIEMANNIAN FOLIATIONS WITH DENSE LEAVES

A foliation is called Riemannian if its holonomy pseudogroup consists of local isometries for some Riemannian metric. By combining the work on Hilbert’s fifth problem for local groups with our work on equicontinuous foliated spaces, we prove that, if a foliated space is strongly equicontinuous, locally connected and of finite dimension, has a dense leaf, and has holonomy pseudogroup whose closure is quasianalytic, then it is a Riemannian foliation.
Race of Examiner and Performance on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children: A Replication

As in a previous study of a Buffalo, New York sample of 108 black and white boys and girls, there is no evidence in the present research conducted with a St. Louis sample, that white examiners depressed the WISC performance of black children. Where there were significant race of child × race of examiner interactions, the black children achieved their highest scores with a white examiner.
Biochemical Development of Surface Activity in Mammalian Lung: III. Structural Changes in Lung Lecithin during Development of the Rabbit Fetus and Newborn

Extract: This is a report of studies with gas-liquid chromatography of the fatty acids on the α- and β-carbons of surfae active and nonsurface active lecithins isolated from alveolar wash and from residual lung after wash in the developing rabbit fetus. The total fatty acids of lecithin show no clear tendency toward greater saturation with development. In alveolar wash, there was greater saturation of fatty acids (65%) compared with total lung (57%). Fatty acids separately determined on α- and β-carbons of lecithins showed significant developmental differences. Differnces in surface active acetone-precipitated lecithin and nonsurface active acetone-precipitated and acetone-soluble lecithin were in the β-carbon fatty acids. They were highly saturated (+70%) in surface active lecithin but only about 25% saturated in monsurface active lecithin. Concentration of acetone-precipitable lecithin in whole lung rises during fetal development to a peak (84%) with breathing. There was a marked increase in acetone-precipitable lecithin in alvcolar wash after 1 h of breathing (0.35 mg/g dry weight lung in nonbreathing full term to 9.8 mg/g), a 30-fold increase. During gestation, both α- and β-component palmitic acid (C16:0) rose abruptly after day 29 (α-45 to 67% and β-48 to 60%) when alveolar lecithin becomes surface active. The greatest increase in α- and β-palmetic acid followed the onset of breathing, and by day 2 of age, α-palmitic 85%, β-palmitic 62.5%. Thus, dipalmitoyl lecithin is the greatest single identifiable fraction of surface active lecithin isolated from rabbit alveolar wash. Acetone-soluble lecithins, even in the breathing animal, have only about 25% palmitic acid on the β-carbon. Early 29-day fetus, deliverd by cesarean section, synthesized de novo 100% of his surface active lecithin (CDP-choline +α –β-diglyceride pathway), predominantly α- and β-palmitic acid (69.7 and 61.2%, respectively). Phosphatidyl dimethylethanolamine (PDME), a surface active intermediate in the trimethylation of phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE) to form lecithin, showed largely an α-palmitic/β-myristic acid (53/60%) distribution. Since the rate-limiting reaction is the first methyl group in PE, PDME represents the lecithin end product, another pulmonary surface active lecithin with α-palmitic/β-myristic acids.Speculation: Use of the β-carbon fatty acids as markers in studying the acetone-precipitated surface active fraction of lecithin isolated from alveolar wash will permit an assessment of the contributin of each of the two major pathways in the biosynthesis of surface active lecithin.
Nurse migration from a source country perspective: Philippine country case study.

OBJECTIVES To describe nurse migration patterns in the Philippines and their benefits and costs. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The Philippines is a job-scarce environment and, even for those with jobs in the health care sector, poor working conditions often motivate nurses to seek employment overseas. The country has also become dependent on labor migration to ease the tight domestic labor market. National opinion has generally focused on the improved quality of life for individual migrants and their families, and on the benefits of remittances to the nation. However, a shortage of highly skilled nurses and the massive retraining of physicians to become nurses elsewhere has created severe problems for the Filipino health system, including the closure of many hospitals. As a result, policy makers are debating the need for new policies to manage migration such that benefits are also returned to the educational institutions and hospitals that are producing the emigrant nurses. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS There is new interest in the Philippines in identifying ways to mitigate the costs to the health system of nurse emigration. Many of the policy options being debated involve collaboration with those countries recruiting Filipino nurses. Bilateral agreements are essential for managing migration in such a way that both sending and receiving countries derive benefit from the exchange.
Computation and analysis of compliance in grasping and fixturing

This paper presents a method to compute stiffness matrices for compliant grasps and fixtures. While the linear spring contact model has been widely used by robotics researchers, it is in general not accurate for practical applications. More realistic models, including the well-verified Hertz model, are incorporated by use of overlap functions. We derive a stiffness matrix formula that considers surface and material properties of the contacting bodies and applies to both planar and solid grasps. The effects of contact geometry are analyzed and illustrated with examples.
On web communities mining and recommendation

Because of the lack of a uniform schema for web documents and the sheer amount and dynamics of web data, both the effectiveness and the efficiency of information management and retrieval of web data are often unsatisfactory when using conventional data management and searching techniques. To address this issue, we have adopted web mining and web community analysis approaches. On the basis of the analysis of web document contents, hyperlinks analysis, user access logs and semantic analysis, we have developed various approaches or algorithms to construct and analyze web communities, and to make recommendations. This paper will introduce and discuss several approaches on web community mining and recommendation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Do Synesthetes Have a General Advantage in Visual Search and Episodic Memory? A Case for Group Studies

Background Some studies, most of them case-reports, suggest that synesthetes have an advantage in visual search and episodic memory tasks. The goal of this study was to examine this hypothesis in a group study. Methodology/Principal Findings In the present study, we tested thirteen grapheme-color synesthetes and we compared their performance on a visual search task and a memory test to an age-, handedness-, education-, and gender-matched control group. The results showed no significant group differences (all relevant ps>.50). For the visual search task effect sizes indicated a small advantage for synesthetes (Cohen's d between .19 and .32). No such advantage was found for episodic memory (Cohen's d<.05). Conclusions/Significance The results indicate that synesthesia per se does not seem to lead to a strong performance advantage. Rather, the superior performance of synesthetes observed in some case-report studies may be due to individual differences, to a selection bias or to a strategic use of synesthesia as a mnemonic. In order to establish universal effects of synesthesia on cognition single-case studies must be complemented by group studies.
Overexpression of mitochondrial serine hydroxyl-methyltransferase 2 is associated with poor prognosis and promotes cell proliferation and invasion in gliomas

Mitochondrial serine hydroxyl-methyltransferase 2 (SHMT2), participating in the synthesis of mitochondrial thymidine monophosphate, has been reported to drive glioma cell survival in ischemia. However, its clinical relevance in gliomas remains unclear. In the current study, immunohistochemistry was performed to examine subcellular localization and expression levels of SHMT2 protein in glioma and non-neoplastic brain tissue specimens. Then, the associations of SHMT2 expression with various clinicopathological features and patients’ prognosis were statistically evaluated. The roles of SHMT2 in the proliferation and invasion of glioma cells after siRNA-SHMT2 vector transfection were also detected by cell counting kit-8 and transwell assays, respectively. Results showed that SHMT2 immunostaining was predominantly localized in the cellular cytoplasm of tumor cells in glioma tissues but weakly in non-neoplastic brain tissues. Statistically, SHMT2 protein expression was significantly higher in glioma tissues than in non-neoplastic brain tissues (P<0.001). In addition, SHMT2 overexpression more frequently occurred in glioma patients with an advanced grade of malignancy (P<0.001) and poor prognosis (P=0.001). Notably, multivariate analysis based on a Cox regression model identified SHMT2 expression as an independent prognostic factor for glioma patients (P=0.01). Functionally, SHMT2 knockdown efficiently suppressed the proliferation (P=0.02) and invasion (P<0.001) of glioma cells in vitro. In conclusion, our findings suggest that SHMT2 may function as an oncogene in glioma development and progression. Clinically, SHMT2 may serve as a prognostic factor and as a potential therapeutic target for human gliomas.
Automatic feeders for Nile tilapia raised in cages : productive performance at high feeding frequencies and different rates

The main goal of modern intensive fish farms should be to increase productivity at a low cost. The automation of fish feeding plays an important role in this scenario since it may improve feed efficiency and reduce organic waste emissions. The aim of this experiment was to provide basic information for the development of feeding techniques using automatic feeders. The experiment was done from September to December, with tilapia weighing 185g, fed 48 meals a day at 22 or 30 minute intervals, with feeding rates of 2, 3 and 4% of live weight. Eighteen 1m net cages equipped with automatic feeders were distributed in one pond. During the experimental trial the mean values for dissolved oxygen, pH and temperature were 3.20mg/l, 8.03 and 25.43°C, respectively. The highest average weight of 683.73g was achieved for fish treated with 4% of live weight at 30 minute intervals between meals. There was no difference for viscero-somatic index, demonstrating no alteration in the final carcass quality. These results demonstrate that a higher feeding rate added to efficient feed management can be used at the final stages of raising Nile tilapia in cages without compromising final fish productive quality.
Bridging the gap: the effect of gender normativity on differences in empathy and emotional intelligence

Self-report measures of empathy and emotional intelligence have frequently revealed significant gender differences, with females typically scoring higher than males on these dimensions. In this study, we investigated whether, in line with a social identity approach, manipulating the gender normativity of empathy and emotional intelligence would ameliorate typically observed differences. Male and female participants (N = 330) were randomly assigned to read one of three narratives comprising fictitious neurological research evidence which claimed that males (Condition 1) or females (Condition 2) or neither males nor females (Condition 3) scored higher on measures of empathy and emotional intelligence. Results indicated that, in Conditions 2 and 3, females scored significantly higher than males on self-reported empathy. However, when information suggested that males were superior to females (Condition 1), no significant gender differences in self-reported empathy were observed. A similar pattern was found for emotional intelligence, however the predicted interaction effect failed to reach significance. The role of social context in determining gender differences in emotional functioning is discussed with particular reference to gender differences in motivation.
Social Support, Social Network, and Frailty in Korean Elderly

Results: The prevalence of frailty and pre-frailty were 7.7% and 25.5%, respectively. A total of 9.9% of older adults lacked a social network, and 13.6% were deficient in social support. Social support networks were associated with frailty. Adjusting for sociodemographic factors (age, sex, marital status, economic status, and education), lack of a social network and support were associated with increased odds of frailty (social network: odds ratio 2.15, 95% confidence interval 1.58-2.92; social support: odds ratio 2.01, 95% confidence interval 1.54-2.63). Conclusion: Consistent with the concept of frailty being broadened to include social factors, frailty among elderly individuals was found to be influenced by social support networks.
The PCR-Based Diagnosis of Central Nervous System Tuberculosis: Up to Date

Central nervous system (CNS) tuberculosis, particularly tuberculous meningitis (TBM), is the severest form of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.Tb) infection, causing death or severe neurological defects in more than half of those affected, in spite of recent advancements in available anti-tuberculosis treatment. The definitive diagnosis of CNS tuberculosis depends upon the detection of M.Tb bacilli in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). At present, the diagnosis of CNS tuberculosis remains a complex issue because the most widely used conventional “gold standard” based on bacteriological detection methods, such as direct smear and culture identification, cannot rapidly detect M.Tb in CSF specimens with sufficient sensitivity in the acute phase of TBM. Recently, instead of the conventional “gold standard”, the various molecular-based methods including nucleic acid amplification (NAA) assay technique, particularly polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, has emerged as a promising new method for the diagnosis of CNS tuberculosis because of its rapidity, sensitivity and specificity. In addition, the innovation of nested PCR assay technique is worthy of note given its contribution to improve the diagnosis of CNS tuberculosis. In this review, an overview of recent progress of the NAA methods, mainly highlighting the PCR assay technique, was presented.