Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mouse Model of Oral Infection with Virulent Type A Francisella tularensis

ABSTRACT Francisella tularensis is a gram-negative facultative intracellular pathogen and the causative agent of tularemia. Little is known about the immunopathogenesis of oral infection with this pathogen. Here, for the first time, we examined the susceptibility of mice to intragastric inoculation with virulent type A F. tularensis and characterized the course of infection and the associated host responses. Both immunocompetent and immunodeficient mice were relatively susceptible to intragastric inoculation of type A F. tularensis with a 50% lethal dose (LD50) of 106 organisms, which was 100,000-fold higher than the LD100 for intradermal or respiratory routes of infection. Mice deficient in gamma interferon or tumor necrosis factor receptors 1 and 2 were more susceptible than wild-type controls to oral infection with a high dose of the pathogen. After oral inoculation, F. tularensis appeared first in the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) and then rapidly spread to the livers and spleens, where the organism multiplied to high numbers and induced marked neutrophilic infiltration and severe tissue necrosis. Infected mice showed rapid increases in tissue cytokine mRNA expression, which peaked in the MLN at 2 days postinfection (dpi) and in the liver and spleen at 3 dpi. The levels of gamma interferon, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha, macrophage inflammatory protein 1α, KC, interferon-inducible protein 10, and monocyte chemotactic protein 1 were elevated from day 2 postinoculation onward. Moreover, mice intradermally immunized with the live vaccine strain of F. tularensis showed little survival advantage over naive mice after oral challenge with type A F. tularensis. These results suggest that type A F. tularensis is an effective oral pathogen that can cause fatal systemic infection and could pose a public health concern, particularly to immunocompromised individuals, if ingested in contaminated water and food.
[An elevated pretreatment serum globulin level predicts a poor prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the value of serum globulin levels before treatment in predicting the prognosis of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). METHODS A total of 127 patients with non-disseminated NPC were recruited between January, 2009 and December, 2013 at Nanfang Hospital. The pretreatment serum globulin levels were analyzed with the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to select the cut-off point for low and high pretreatment serum globulin levels. Kaplan-Meier and multivariable analyses were used to evaluate the predictive value of serum globulin levels. RESULTS The ROC curve analysis determined 30.05 g/L as the optimal cut-off value for pretreatment serum globulin level, which was significantly associated with gender (P=0.024) and N stage (P=0.016). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that a high pretreatment serum globulin level (>30.05 g/L) significantly predicted poor progression-free survival (P=0.019), overall survival (P=0.034) and distant metastasis-free survival (P=0.049); multivariate analysis identified pretreatment serum globulin level as an independent prognostic factor for progression-free survival (HR=2.344, P=0.031). CONCLUSION Pretreatment serum globulin level may serve as a valuable marker to predict the prognosis of patients with NPC.
Amelioration of excess collagen I&agr;I, fibrosis, and smooth muscle growth in TNBS‐induced colitis in IGF‐I(+/−) mice

Background: Strictures occur in ≈30% of patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and are characterized by intestinal smooth muscle hyperplasia, hypertrophy, and fibrosis due to excess extracellular matrix production including collagen. Insulin‐like growth factor‐I (IGF‐I) expression is increased in smooth muscle cells of the muscularis propria in CD and in animal models of CD, including trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)‐induced colitis. While upregulated IGF‐I is conjectured to cause smooth muscle cell growth and collagen production in the inflamed intestine, its role in the development of fibrosis has not been directly demonstrated. Methods: Colitis was induced in IGF‐I(+/−) or wildtype C57BL/6J mice by rectal administration of TNBS or ethanol vehicle. After 7 days, colonic smooth muscle cells were isolated and used to prepare RNA or protein lysates. Transcript levels of IGF‐IEa, IGF binding protein (IGFBP)‐3, IGFBP‐5, TGF‐&bgr;1, and collagen I&agr;I were measured by quantitative reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR). Corresponding protein levels were measured by Western blot or enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Fibrosis was measured using digital image analysis of Masson's trichrome‐stained histologic sections. Results: In IGF‐I(+/−) mice, which express significantly lower levels of IGF‐I than wildtype, the response to TNBS‐induced colitis: upregulation of IGF‐I, IGFBP‐3, IGFBP‐5 muscle growth, and collagen I&agr;I expression, the resulting collagen deposition, and fibrosis are all significantly diminished compared to C57BL/6J wildtype controls. TGF‐&bgr;1 expression and its increase following TNBS administration are not altered in IGF‐I(+/−) mice compared to wildtype. Conclusions: The findings indicate that IGF‐I is a key regulator in intestinal smooth muscle hyperplasia and excess collagen production that leads to fibrosis and long term to stricture formation. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2011;)
Cinnamon effects on metabolic syndrome: a review based on its mechanisms

Objective(s): Nowadays, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the major risk factors of death globally. One of the most undeniable reasons of CVDs is metabolic syndrome (MetS). MetS is defined as a complex of diseases including insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, obesity, high blood pressure and dyslipidemia. The use of complementary medicine such as traditional herbal species can be effective in treatment of MetS’s complications. Cinnamomum verum (family Lauraceae) is a medicinal global plant which has been used daily by people all over the world. Positive effects of cinnamon in reducing blood pressure, plasma glucose, obesity and ameliorating dyslipidemia which represented in traditional medicine introduced it as probable decreasing MetS’s complications agent. The aim of this review was to investigate the mechanisms of C. verum in reducing the MetS’s complications and CVDs risk factors. Materials and Methods: Various databases such as PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Persian Websites such as www.sid. ir with keywords search of cinnamon, cinnamomum, cinnamaldehyde, atherogenic, hypertension, hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, obesity and dyslipidemia have been included in this search. Results: Clinical data and mechanisms of action of C. verum and its active ingredients that have been shown in this review indicated that cinnamon has protective effects against MetS’s aspects in various ways. Conclusion: The use of this plant can be effective in reducing MetS’s complications and its morbidity and mortality.
Lens Model Degeneracy and Cosmological Tests by Strong Gravitational Lensing

We estimate the sensitivity of lensing observables to the parameters in the lens model (isothermal sphere/Navarro-Frenk-White profile) parameters and to cosmological parameters. We find that the observables are primarily dependent on the lens model parameters, while the dependence on cosmological parameters is minor (especially so for the dark energy parameters). We demonstrate the lens model degeneracy by deriving both the projected mass density profile and the circular velocity profile. We also identify a possible source of the problem of fitting the averaged mass profile of CL 0024+1654 with the Navarro-Frenk-White profile.
Symptom prevalence and physiologic biomarkers among adolescents using a mobile phone intervention following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To examine symptom reports and physiologic parameters in adolescents using the Eating After Transplant (EAT! ) intervention during recovery after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). DESIGN Repeated measures design. SETTING HSCT service at a pediatric teaching institution in the southern United States. SAMPLE 16 adolescents recovering from a first-time allogeneic HSCT. METHODS Use of EAT! was monitored electronically, symptom reports were obtained from a questionnaire, and physiologic parameters were obtained from the medical record at HSCT hospital discharge and 20, 40, and 60 days postdischarge. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES EAT! use, symptom prevalence, symptom-related distress, and physiologic parameters including weight, body mass index (BMI), pre-albumin, and albumin. FINDINGS Symptom prevalence was highest at hospital discharge and steadily declined; however, mean symptom distress scores remained stable. Mean weight and BMI significantly declined during the first 60 days postdischarge; pre-albumin and albumin markers were unchanged. No correlation was noted among use of EAT! and any research variables. CONCLUSIONS The most frequent symptoms were not always the most distressing symptoms. Weight and BMI significantly declined during HSCT recovery. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING Nurses should assess symptom frequency and distress to fully understand patients' symptom experiences. Nurses should monitor weight and BMI throughout HSCT recovery.
Mean-field sparse optimal control

We introduce the rigorous limit process connecting finite dimensional sparse optimal control problems with ODE constraints, modelling parsimonious interventions on the dynamics of a moving population divided into leaders and followers, to an infinite dimensional optimal control problem with a constraint given by a system of ODE for the leaders coupled with a PDE of Vlasov-type, governing the dynamics of the probability distribution of the followers. In the classical mean-field theory, one studies the behaviour of a large number of small individuals freely interacting with each other, by simplifying the effect of all the other individuals on any given individual by a single averaged effect. In this paper, we address instead the situation where the leaders are actually influenced also by an external policy maker, and we propagate its effect for the number N of followers going to infinity. The technical derivation of the sparse mean-field optimal control is realized by the simultaneous development of the mean-field limit of the equations governing the followers dynamics together with the Γ-limit of the finite dimensional sparse optimal control problems.
Association Between Coronary Vascular Dysfunction and Cardiac Mortality in Patients With and Without Diabetes Mellitus

Background— Diabetes mellitus increases the risk of adverse cardiac outcomes and is considered a coronary artery disease (CAD) equivalent. We examined whether coronary vascular dysfunction, an early manifestation of CAD, accounts for increased risk among diabetics compared with nondiabetics. Methods and Results— A total of 2783 consecutive patients (1172 diabetics and 1611 nondiabetics) underwent quantification of coronary flow reserve (CFR; CFR=stress divided by rest myocardial blood flow) by positron emission tomography and were followed up for a median of 1.4 years (quartile 1–3, 0.7–3.2 years). The primary end point was cardiac death. Impaired CFR (below the median) was associated with an adjusted 3.2- and 4.9-fold increase in the rate of cardiac death for diabetics and nondiabetics, respectively (P=0.0004). Addition of CFR to clinical and imaging risk models improved risk discrimination for both diabetics and nondiabetics (c index, 0.77–0.79, P=0.04; 0.82–0.85, P=0.03, respectively). Diabetic patients without known CAD with impaired CFR experienced a rate of cardiac death comparable to that for nondiabetic patients with known CAD (2.8%/y versus 2.0%/y; P=0.33). Conversely, diabetics without known CAD and preserved CFR had very low annualized cardiac mortality, which was similar to patients without known CAD or diabetes mellitus and normal stress perfusion and systolic function (0.3%/y versus 0.5%/y; P=0.65). Conclusions— Coronary vasodilator dysfunction is a powerful, independent correlate of cardiac mortality among both diabetics and nondiabetics and provides meaningful incremental risk stratification. Among diabetic patients without CAD, those with impaired CFR have event rates comparable to those of patients with prior CAD, whereas those with preserved CFR have event rates comparable to those of nondiabetics.
Descriptor and citation retrieval in the Medical Behavioral Sciences literature: Retrieval overlaps and novelty distribution

Search results for nine topics in the Medical Behavioral Sciences are reanalyzed to compare the overall performance of descriptor and citation search strategies in identifying relevant and novel documents. Overlap percentages between an aggregate "descriptor-based" database (MEDLINE, EXCERPTA MEDICA, PSYCINFO) and an aggregate "citation-based" database (SCISEARCH, SOCIAL SCISEARCH) ranged from 1% to 26%, with a median overlap of 8% relevant retrievals found using both search strategies. For seven topics in which both descriptor and citation strategies produced reasonably substantial retrievals, two patterns of search performance and novelty distribution were observed: 1) Where descriptor and citation retrieval showed little overlap, novelty retrieval percentages differed by 17-23% between the two strategies; 2) Topics with a relatively high percentage retrieval overlap showed little difference (1-4%) in descriptor and citation novelty retrieval percentages. These results reflect the varying partial congruence of two literature networks and represent two different types of subject relevance.
Quality Management in Health Systems of Developed and Developing Countries: Which Approaches and Models are Appropriate?

BACKGROUND Quality Management is one of the most effective strategies for improving the health systems performance in developed and developing countries. The main goal of this study was identifying the most important aspects of quality management and preparing an appropriate model for health system. METHOD This research was a comparative study on quality management models in the health systems of different countries. We have selected, as a sample, different countries in Asia, Africa, North America, Europe, and South America having a background in using various samples of total quality models in their health units. The studies also included the experiences of World Health Organization in different countries. RESULTS The main goals for promoting quality in the countries are being studied includes service efficiency increase, promoting services delivery, promoting quality of working life, and changing organizational culture. Total approaches used for the countries studied include quality Assurance, Cultural change, ISO 9001, TQM and improving services quality. There are not generally outcomes criteria in 22 cases of the studies done in the developing countries. The most important problems revealed in establishing the quality management, organizational resistance against the change, lack of senior management commitments, lack of strategic planning and lack of required resources. CONCLUSION The models for quality management should pay attention to the cultural change strategies, staff participation, strategic vision and Strategic planning. Strategic total quality management is the appropriate model in this regard.
Onsets Coincidence for Cross-Modal Analysis

Cross-modal analysis offers information beyond that extracted from individual modalities. Consider a nontrivial scene, that includes several moving visual objects, some of which emit sounds. The scene is sensed by a camcorder having a single microphone. A task for audio-visual analysis is to assess the number of independent audio-associated visual objects (AVOs), pinpoint the AVOs' spatial locations in the video and isolate each corresponding audio component. We describe an approach that helps handle this challenge. The approach does not inspect the low-level data. Rather, it acknowledges the importance of mid-level features in each modality, which are based on significant temporal changes in each modality. A probabilistic formalism identifies temporal coincidences between these features, yielding cross-modal association and visual localization. This association is further utilized in order to isolate sounds that correspond to each of the localized visual features. This is of particular benefit in harmonic sounds, as it enables subsequent isolation of each audio source. We demonstrate this approach in challenging experiments. In these experiments, multiple objects move simultaneously, creating motion distractions for one another, and produce simultaneous sounds which mix.
Speckle noise reduction in SAR imaging using lattice filters based subband decomposition

A new speckle reduction algorithm based on lattice filters for SAR imaging is presented. In the new method, the subband decomposition of the speckled image is performed using lattice filters. The noisy image is decomposed into subband images using high-pass and low-pass filters having lattice structure, then a threshold value is estimated according to noise variance in each subband and soft-thresholding is applied on the subband images. The despeckled image is obtained from the thresholded subband images using the inverse lattice filter. The proposed speckle reduction method is applied to RADARSAT/SAR images. The performance of the proposed method has also been compared with median filtering, and discrete and stationary wavelet transform based speckle reduction methods. Results show that the proposed method may be used efficiently for speckle noise reduction in SAR images.
SIMULATION OF VORTEX SOUND USING THE VISCOUS/ACOUSTIC SPLITTING APPROACH

A numerical viscous/acoustic splitting approach for the calculation of an acoustic field is applied to study the sound generation by a pair of spinning vortices and by the unsteady interaction between an inviscid vortex and a finite length flexible boundary. Based on the unsteady hydrodynamic information from the known incompressible flow field, the perturbed compressible acoustic terms are calculated and compared with analytical solutions. Results suggest that the present numerical approach produces results which are in good agreement with the analytical solutions. The present investigation verifies the applicability of the viscous/ acoustic approach to flow structure-acoustic interaction.
Identification of Protein Kinase Inhibitors with a Selective Negative Effect on the Viability of Epstein-Barr Virus Infected B Cell Lines

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a human herpesvirus, which is causally associated with the development of several B lymphocytic malignancies that include Burkitt's lymphomas, Hodgkin's disease, AIDS and posttransplant associated lymphomas. The transforming activity of EBV is orchestrated by several latent viral proteins that mimic and modulate cellular growth promoting and antiapoptotic signaling pathways, which involve among others the activity of protein kinases. In an effort to identify small molecule inhibitors of the growth of EBV-transformed B lymphocytes a library of 254 kinase inhibitors was screened. This effort identified two tyrosine kinase inhibitors and two MEK inhibitors that compromised preferentially the viability of EBV-infected human B lymphocytes. Our findings highlight the possible dependence of EBV-infected B lymphocytes on specific kinase-regulated pathways underlining the potential for the development of small molecule-based therapeutics that could target selectively EBV-associated human B lymphocyte malignancies.
Efficiency and Stability of Probabilistic Assignments in Marriage Problems

We study marriage problems where two groups of agents match to each other and probabilistic assignments are possible. When only ordinal preferences are observable, an extensively studied efficiency notion is stochastic dominance efficiency (sd-efficiency). First, we provide a characterization of sd-efficient allocations in terms of a property of an order relation defined on the set of man-woman pairs. Then, using this characterization, we constructively prove that for each probabilistic assignment that is sd-efficient for some ordinal preferences, there is a von Neumann-Morgenstern utility profile consistent with the ordinal preferences for which the assignment is Pareto efficient. Next, we analyze stability of probabilistic assignments. We show that, when the preferences are strict, for each probabilistic assignment that is ex-post stable for some ordinal preferences, there is a von Neumann-Morgenstern utility profile consistent with the ordinal preferences such that the assignment belongs to the core: no coalition can deviate to another probabilistic assignment among themselves and achieve a higher total expected utility.
Oxygen Regulates Amino Acid Turnover and Carbohydrate Uptake During the Preimplantation Period of Mouse Embryo Development1

ABSTRACT Oxygen is a powerful regulator of preimplantation embryo development, affecting gene expression, the proteome, and energy metabolism. Even a transient exposure to atmospheric oxygen can have a negative impact on embryo development, which is greatest prior to compaction, and subsequent postcompaction culture at low oxygen cannot alleviate this damage. In spite of this evidence, the majority of human in vitro fertilization is still performed at atmospheric oxygen. One of the physiological parameters shown to be affected by the relative oxygen concentration, carbohydrate metabolism, is linked to the ability of the mammalian embryo to develop in culture and remain viable after transfer. The aim of this study was, therefore, to determine the effect of oxygen concentration on the ability of mouse embryos to utilize both amino acids and carbohydrates both before and after compaction. Metabolomic and fluorometric analysis of embryo culture media revealed that when embryos were exposed to atmospheric oxygen during the cleavage stages, they exhibited significantly greater amino acid utilization and pyruvate uptake than when cultured under 5% oxygen. In contrast, postcompaction embryos cultured in atmospheric oxygen showed significantly lower mean amino acid utilization and glucose uptake. These metabolic changes correlated with developmental compromise because embryos grown in atmospheric oxygen at all stages showed significantly lower blastocyst formation and proliferation. These findings confirm the need to consider both embryo development and metabolism in establishing optimal human embryo growth conditions and prognostic markers of viability, and further highlight the impact of oxygen on such vital parameters.
Coinfection of Viral Agents in Korean Children with Acute Watery Diarrhea

Currently, there are a few reports on viral coinfection that causes an acute watery diarrhea in Korean children. So, to evaluate the features of coinfectious viral agents in children with acute watery diarrhea, we enrolled 155 children with acute watery diarrhea from July 2005 to June 2006. Fecal samples were collected and evaluated for various viral infections such as rotavirus, norovirus, adenovirus and astrovirus. The mean (±standard deviation) age of the children was 2.71±2.37 yr. The detection rate of viral agents was most common in children between the ages of 1 and 3 yr. Rotavirus was detected in 63 children (41.3%), norovirus in 56 (36.2%), adenovirus in 11 (7.1%), and astrovirus in 1 (0.6%). Regarding rotavirus, there were 38 (60.3%) cases with monoinfection and 25 (39.7%) with coinfection. For norovirus, there were 33 (58.9%) cases with monoinfection and 23 (41.1%) with coinfection. Coinfection with rotavirus and norovirus was most common, and occurred in 20/155 cases (12.9%) including coinfection with adenovirus. So, rotavirus and norovirus were the most common coinfectious viral agents in our study population with acute watery diarrhea.