Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relationships Among Satisfaction With Social Support, Quality of Life, and Survival 5 to 10 Years After Heart Transplantation

Background:Despite the fact that social support has been found to be important to cardiovascular health, there is a paucity of information regarding the relationship between social support and outcomes long-term after heart transplantation (HT). Objectives:Therefore, the purposes of our retrospective analyses of a prospective, longitudinal study were to examine (1) the relationship between satisfaction with social support and post-HT health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and survival and (2) whether 2 types of social support (emotional and tangible) were predictors of survival and HRQOL. Methods:Data were collected from 555 HT patients over a 5-year period (78% male, 88% white; mean age, 53.8 years at time of transplantation) at 4 US medical centers using the following instruments: Social Support Index, Quality of Life Index, Heart Transplant Stressor Scale, Jalowiec Coping Scale, and medical records review. Statistical analyses included t tests, correlations, Kaplan-Meier survival actuarials, and linear and multivariable regression. Results:Patients were very satisfied with overall social support from 5 to 10 years after HT (0 = very satisfied, 1 = very dissatisfied), which was stable across time (P = .74). Satisfaction with emotional social support (P = .53) and tangible social support (P = .61) also remained stable over time. When stratified into low, medium, and high levels of satisfaction, satisfaction with social support was not related to survival (P = .24). At 5 years, overall satisfaction with social support was a predictor of HRQOL (r2 = 0.59, P < .0001), and satisfaction with emotional social support was a predictor of HRQOL at 10 years after HT (r2 = 0.66, P < .0001). Conclusions:Patients were very satisfied over time with emotional and tangible social support. While social support explained quality of life outcomes, it did not predict survival. Knowledge of relationships among social support, stress, and outcomes may assist clinicians to address social support needs and resources long-term after HT.
The Immunological and Metabolic Responses to Exercise of Varying Intensities in Normoxic and Hypoxic Environments

Blegen, M, Cheatham, C, Caine-Bish, N, Woolverton, C, Marcinkiewicz, J, and Glickman, E. The immunological and metabolic responses to exercise of varying intensities in normoxic and hypoxic environments. J Strength Cond Res 22(5): 1638-1644, 2008-The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of varying intensities of exercise in normoxic and hypoxic environments on selected immune regulation and metabolic responses. Using a within-subjects design, subjects performed maximal tests on a cycle ergometer in both normoxic (PiO2 = 20.94%) and hypoxic (PiO2 = 14.65%) environments to determine &OV0312;O2max. On separate occasions, subjects then performed four randomly assigned, 1-hour exercise bouts on a cycle ergometer (two each in normoxic and hypoxic environments). The hypoxic environment was created by reducing the O2 concentration of inspired air using a commercially available hypoxic chamber. The intensities for the exercise bouts were predetermined as 40 and 60% of their normoxic &OV0312;O2max for the normoxic exercise bouts and as 40 and 60% of their hypoxic &OV0312;O2max for the hypoxic exercise bouts. Blood samples were collected preexercise, postexercise, 15 minutes postexercise, 2 hours postexercise, and 24 hours postexercise for the determination of interleukin-1 (IL-1), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), glucose, glycerol, free fatty acids, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol. There were no significant differences (p < 0.05) between condition or intensity for IL-1 or TNF-α. Significant differences (p < 0.05) between intensities were demonstrated for epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol (p < 0.05). A significant difference was identified between normoxic and hypoxic environments with respect to nonesterifed fatty acids (0.45 ± 0.37 vs. 0.58 ± 0.31 mEq·L−1, respectively; p = 0.012). During prolonged exercise at 40 and 60% of their respective &OV0312;O2max values, hypoxia did not seem to dramatically alter the response of the selected immune system or metabolic markers. Exercise training that uses acute hypoxic environments does not adversely affect immune regulation system status and may be beneficial for those individuals looking to increase endurance performance.
Depression Subtypes in Predicting Antidepressant Response: A Report From the iSPOT-D Trial.

OBJECTIVE The study aims were 1) to describe the proportions of individuals who met criteria for melancholic, atypical, and anxious depressive subtypes, as well as subtype combinations, in a large sample of depressed outpatients, and 2) to compare subtype profiles on remission and change in depressive symptoms after acute treatment with one of three antidepressant medications. METHOD Participants 18-65 years of age (N=1,008) who met criteria for major depressive disorder were randomly assigned to 8 weeks of treatment with escitalopram, sertraline, or extended-release venlafaxine. Participants were classified by subtype. Those who met criteria for no subtype or multiple subtypes were classified separately, resulting in eight mutually exclusive groups. A mixed-effects model using the intent-to-treat sample compared the groups' symptom score trajectories, and logistic regression compared likelihood of remission (defined as a score ≤5 on the 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self-Report). RESULTS Thirty-nine percent of participants exhibited a pure-form subtype, 36% met criteria for more than one subtype, and 25% did not meet criteria for any subtype. All subtype groups exhibited a similar significant trajectory of symptom reduction across the trial. Likelihood of remission did not differ significantly between subtype groups, and depression subtype was not a moderator of treatment effect. CONCLUSIONS There was substantial overlap of the three depressive subtypes, and individuals in all subtype groups responded similarly to the three antidepressants. The consistency of these findings with those of the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression trial suggests that subtypes may be of minimal value in antidepressant selection.
The Role of M30 in Predicting the Severity of Liver Fibrosis and Inflammation in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients

Background Liver biopsy is an invasive procedure that is currently still necessary for predicting underlying hepatic injury related to chronic viral hepatitis B (CVHB). To date, none of the studied non-invasive methods have been able to replace liver biopsy. An apoptotic serum marker, M30, which has been reported to indicate ongoing liver fibrosis, has been popular in recent years. Objectives We aimed to investigate the possible role of M30 in predicting CVHB-associated hepatic injury and its severity. Methods Forty-eight patients undergoing liver biopsy for evaluation of the severity of CVHB-related liver injury and 40 healthy controls were included in this cross-sectional study. M30 levels were determined for all CVHB patients and controls, and other laboratory parameters and demographic features were obtained from our hospital’s database. Results The mean ages of patients and controls were 39.7 and 45.7 years, respectively, and 35% of the controls and 52% of the patients were male. In contrast to lower platelet counts, transaminase and M30 levels were both higher in the patient group than in the controls. Among the investigated parameters, only transaminase increased as the fibrosis stage changed from mild to moderate; however, none of the laboratory parameters, including M30, differed as the histological activity index (HAI) score increased. Conclusions M30 levels were higher in CVHB patients compared to healthy controls. However, M30 levels were similar in the mild and moderate stages of fibrosis, so they did not indicate the severity of underlying fibrotic or inflammatory processes in CVHB patients.
Phenotypic plasticity of a cooperative behaviour in bacteria

There is strong evidence that natural selection can favour phenotypic plasticity as a mechanism to maximize fitness in animals. Here, we aim to investigate phenotypic plasticity of a cooperative trait in bacteria – the production of an iron‐scavenging molecule (pyoverdin) by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Pyoverdin production is metabolically costly to the individual cell, but provides a benefit to the local group and can potentially be exploited by nonpyoverdin‐producing cheats. Here, we subject bacteria to changes in the social environment in media with different iron availabilities and test whether cells can adjust pyoverdin production in response to these changes. We found that pyoverdin production per cell significantly decreased at higher cell densities and increased in the presence of cheats. This phenotypic plasticity significantly influenced the costs and benefits of cooperation. Specifically, the investment of resources into pyoverdin production was reduced in iron‐rich environments and at high cell densities, but increased under iron limitation, and when pyoverdin was exploited by cheats. Our study demonstrates that phenotypic plasticity in a cooperative trait as a response to changes in the environment occurs in even the simplest of organisms, a bacterium.
OSSim: a generic simulation framework for overlay streaming

Overlay streaming systems have recently been favored by the academic community as a viable approach for IPTV. Over the last years, a multitude of different overlay streaming approaches have been proposed. Most of them, however, have been evaluated individually. The lack of a common simulation framework makes it difficult to compare the properties of the different systems with each other. To bridge this gap, we introduce OSSim, a general-purpose simulation framework that allows the instantiation of different overlay streaming protocols. For this purpose, it provides a generic and modular structure, and several membership management and overlay streaming protocols as well. Our simulation results indicate that the framework is accurate and flexible to simulate different overlay streaming systems.
Interferons and Interferon Regulatory Factors in Malaria

Malaria is one of the most serious infectious diseases in humans and responsible for approximately 500 million clinical cases and 500 thousand deaths annually. Acquired adaptive immune responses control parasite replication and infection-induced pathologies. Most infections are clinically silent which reflects on the ability of adaptive immune mechanisms to prevent the disease. However, a minority of these can become severe and life-threatening, manifesting a range of overlapping syndromes of complex origins which could be induced by uncontrolled immune responses. Major players of the innate and adaptive responses are interferons. Here, we review their roles and the signaling pathways involved in their production and protection against infection and induced immunopathologies.
Intersectin associates with synapsin and regulates its nanoscale localization and function

Significance Mutations in genes regulating neurotransmission in the brain are implicated in neurological disorders and neurodegeneration. Synapsin is a crucial regulator of neurotransmission and allows synapses to maintain a large reserve pool of synaptic vesicles. Human mutations in synapsin genes are linked to epilepsy and autism. How synapsin function is regulated to allow replenishment of synaptic vesicles and sustain neurotransmission is largely unknown. Here we identify a function for the endocytic scaffold protein intersectin, a protein overexpressed in patients with Down syndrome, as a regulator of synapsin nanoscale distribution and function that is controlled by a phosphorylation-dependent autoinhibitory switch. Our results unravel a hitherto unknown molecular connection between the machineries for synaptic vesicle reserve pool organization and endocytosis. Neurotransmission is mediated by the exocytic release of neurotransmitters from readily releasable synaptic vesicles (SVs) at the active zone. To sustain neurotransmission during periods of elevated activity, release-ready vesicles need to be replenished from the reserve pool of SVs. The SV-associated synapsins are crucial for maintaining this reserve pool and regulate the mobilization of reserve pool SVs. How replenishment of release-ready SVs from the reserve pool is regulated and which other factors cooperate with synapsins in this process is unknown. Here we identify the endocytic multidomain scaffold protein intersectin as an important regulator of SV replenishment at hippocampal synapses. We found that intersectin directly associates with synapsin I through its Src-homology 3 A domain, and this association is regulated by an intramolecular switch within intersectin 1. Deletion of intersectin 1/2 in mice alters the presynaptic nanoscale distribution of synapsin I and causes defects in sustained neurotransmission due to defective SV replenishment. These phenotypes were rescued by wild-type intersectin 1 but not by a locked mutant of intersectin 1. Our data reveal intersectin as an autoinhibited scaffold that serves as a molecular linker between the synapsin-dependent reserve pool and the presynaptic endocytosis machinery.
‘Different Children — A Tougher Job’. Icelandic Teachers Reflect on Changes in Their Work

This article is based on interviews with 67 primary school teachers and principals in Iceland about changes in the work of teachers during the last part of the twentieth century. The focus is on what teachers and principals understand as the most important change, how it affects teachers' work lives, and how they talk about change. The changes reported by the interviewees are ‘different children — a tougher job’, transformation in the roles of teachers and principals, increased cooperation between teachers and with other professionals, inclusion practices, more goal-governed versus book-governed teaching, and new methods of evaluation. These changes constitute a changing discourse of teachers about teaching, and they also have an impact on the work lives of teachers by creating tensions and contradictions similar to such tensions in other comparable countries.
Apolipoprotein A-I-stimulated Apolipoprotein E Secretion from Human Macrophages Is Independent of Cholesterol Efflux*

Apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I)-mediated cholesterol efflux involves the binding of apoA-I to the plasma membrane via its C terminus and requires cellular ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABCA1) activity. ApoA-I also stimulates secretion of apolipoprotein E (apoE) from macrophage foam cells, although the mechanism of this process is not understood. In this study, we demonstrate that apoA-I stimulates secretion of apoE independently of both ABCA1-mediated cholesterol efflux and of lipid binding by its C terminus. Pulse-chase experiments using 35S-labeled cellular apoE demonstrate that macrophage apoE exists in both relatively mobile (Em) and stable (Es) pools, that apoA-I diverts apoE from degradation to secretion, and that only a small proportion of apoA-I-mobilized apoE is derived from the cell surface. The structural requirements for induction of apoE secretion and cholesterol efflux are clearly dissociated, as C-terminal deletions in recombinant apoA-I reduce cholesterol efflux but increase apoE secretion, and deletion of central helices 5 and 6 decreases apoE secretion without perturbing cholesterol efflux. Moreover, a range of 11- and 22-mer α-helical peptides representing amphipathic α-helical segments of apoA-I stimulate apoE secretion whereas only the C-terminal α-helix (domains 220–241) stimulates cholesterol efflux. Other α-helix-containing apolipoproteins (apoA-II, apoA-IV, apoE2, apoE3, apoE4) also stimulate apoE secretion, implying a positive feedback autocrine loop for apoE secretion, although apoE4 is less effective. Finally, apoA-I stimulates apoE secretion normally from macrophages of two unrelated subjects with genetically confirmed Tangier Disease (mutations C733R and c.5220–5222delTCT; and mutations A1046D and c.4629–4630insA), despite severely inhibited cholesterol efflux. We conclude that apoA-I stimulates secretion of apoE independently of cholesterol efflux, and that this represents a novel, ABCA-1-independent, positive feedback pathway for stimulation of potentially anti-atherogenic apoE secretion by α-helix-containing molecules including apoA-I and apoE.
The vascular anatomy and angiosome of the posterior auricular artery. A cadaver study.

BACKGROUND Pedicled flaps based on the posterior auricular artery have been used for small auricular and mastoid cavity defects. OBJECTIVE To precisely define the vascular anatomy and angiosome (cutaneous distribution) of the posterior auricular artery. METHODS A fresh cadaver model was used for 3 separate investigations, studying the posterior auricular artery. Intra-arterial ink injections defined the angiosome, and subtraction angiography and latex injection defined the vascular anatomy in relation to bony and soft tissue landmarks. SUBJECTS Eight fresh cadavers, 6 men and 2 women, were used, varying in age from 58 to 85 years. RESULTS The posterior auricular artery has a predictable course in the posterior auricular sulcus. The branching pattern over the auricle and temporal bone and the artery's relationship to bony and soft tissue landmarks were consistent. The angiosome includes the anterior and posterior surfaces of the auricle and the periauricular skin superiorly, posteriorly, and inferiorly. CONCLUSIONS The investigation documented the consistent vascular anatomy and angiosome of the posterior auricular artery. The cutaneous distribution suggests that a large pedicled or island flap based on the posterior auricular artery may be raised safely as a myocutaneous or myofasciocutaneous flap with temporalis fascia and/or periosteum, extending previously published dimensions. Further studies may extend the clinical application to include free flaps based on the posterior auricular artery.
Activation and expression of the nuclear factors of activated T cells, NFATp and NFATc, in human natural killer cells: regulation upon CD16 ligand binding

The putative factors that couple the signal transduction from surface receptors to the activation of cytokine synthesis in natural killer (NK) cells have not been elucidated. We report here that the nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFATp), a cyclosporin A (CsA)-sensitive factor that regulates the transcription of several cytokines, mediates CD16-induced activation of cytokine genes in human NK cells. CD16 (Fc gamma RIIIA)-induced expression of cytokine mRNA in NK cells occurs via a CsA-sensitive and Ca(2+)-dependent mechanism. Stimulation of NK cells with CD16 ligands induces NFAT-like DNA binding activity in the nuclear extracts from these cells, as detected in electrophoretic mobility shift assays. This occurs with fast kinetics after stimulation, via a CsA-sensitive and Ca(2+)-dependent mechanism that does not require de novo protein synthesis. NK cell NFAT is present in the cytosol of nonstimulated cells, migrates to the nucleus upon stimulation, and can associate with AP-1. Two distinct molecules, NFATp and NFATc, have been reported to mediate NFAT activity. The results of supershift assays using NFATp- and NFATc- specific antibodies indicate that NK cell activation early after CD16 ligand binding involves primarily, if not exclusively, NFATp, and Western blot analysis shows that this has the same electrophoretic mobility (approximately 120 kD) as that of T lymphocytes. NK cells do not express NFATc constitutively, but NFATc mRNA accumulation is induced in these cells within 2 h of stimulation with CD16 ligands. However, supershift assays using the available mAb recognizing the T cell NFATc revealed no detectable NFATc protein in nuclear and cytoplasmic extracts from CD16- or phorbol ester-stimulated cells at any time tested, up to 4 h. These results provide the first direct evidence that both CsA-sensitive transcription factors, NFATp and NFATc, are expressed in human NK cells, and that their activation and/or expression can be regulated in primary cells by a single stimulus, that, in the case of CD16 in NK cells, results in early activation of NFATp and subsequently induced expression of NFATc mRNA.
A confirmation of the four-component structure of destination image, and their relationships with tourists’ loyalty

Within the study on destination image, one of the issues remain unsatisfactorily addressed is the structure of the construct. Based on the existing literature, this study retests the cognitive-affective structure of destination image, with the cognitive component constructed by the tangible (functional), intangible (psychological), and mixed attributes. In addition, it reconfirms the importance of destination image as an antecedent of tourists’ loyalty to a destination with the application of the four-component structure of destination image. Using the data collected from international tourists to Vietnam and applying the structural equation modelling method, this study revealed that destination image could be structured by the functional, psychological, mixed, and affective components. All of these components could significantly predict tourists’ loyalty; however, the impact of the affective component was the largest. Theoretical implication for psychology-based marketing, and managerial implication for the projection and communication of Vietnam’s image were discussed.
Non‐invasive assessment of the effects of iontophoresis on human skin in‐vivo

The stratum corneum (SC), the outermost layer of the skin, presents a formidable barrier to transdermal drug delivery. As a result, different strategies have been developed to enhance drug transport into and through skin. Iontophoresis involves the application of a small electrical current which drives molecules across the skin and controls relatively well the rate of delivery. Although the technique has been widely investigated in‐vitro, the evaluation of skin integrity in‐vivo after iontophoresis is absolutely necessary for the future clinical application of this approach. This paper reviews the non‐invasive biophysical techniques which have been used to assess the effects of current application on human skin in‐vivo. Specifically, transepidermal water loss, infrared spectroscopy, impedance spectroscopy and skin blood flow measurements are discussed. After first presenting the basic principles of these methods, their application to the determination of SC barrier function and skin integrity is addressed, and the criteria for selecting the most appropriate approach are considered.
Asymptotically plane wave spacetimes and their actions

We propose a definition of asymptotically plane wave spacetimes in vacuum gravity in terms of the asymptotic falloff of the metric, and discuss the relation to previously constructed exact solutions. We construct a well-behaved action principle for such spacetimes, using the formalism developed by Mann and Marolf. We show that this action is finite on-shell and that the variational principle is well-defined for solutions of vacuum gravity satisfying our asymptotically plane wave falloff conditions.