Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Brief Working Memory and Physiological Monitoring During a High-Altitude Expedition.

Malle, Carine, Benoît Ginon, and Cyprien Bourrilhon. Brief working memory and physiological monitoring during a high-altitude expedition. High Alt Med Biol. 17:359-364, 2016. -Background: Various studies have shown the deleterious effects of high-altitude hypoxia on cognitive functions, including attention and memory. Since optimal cognitive abilities may be crucial for mountain safety, this study was aimed to assess the relevance of a brief working memory test to quickly assess cognition at high altitude. METHODS A set of physiological and cognitive measurements were collected from four professional climbers at various time points during the course of an expedition to Shishapangma (8043 m). RESULTS Progressive high-altitude exposure induced a classical physiological response (i.e., decreased SpO2 and increased heart rate). Except for the final ascent, no participants suffered from acute mountain sickness and perceived exertion remained low. With the exception of an increased number of night awakenings, reported sleep quality was good. No working memory decline was observed in any of the participants, even at the highest altitudes. CONCLUSION Altogether, these findings show that the participants were properly acclimatized to altitude. They also highlight the technical feasibility of assessing cognitive functions all along high-altitude expeditions. The direct access of such tools on a smartphone may improve mountain climbing safety.
Pharmacokinetics of Antimicrobials in Obese Children.

INTRODUCTION Childhood obesity is common and results in substantial morbidity. The most commonly prescribed drugs in obese children are antibiotics. However, physiologic changes associated with childhood obesity can alter antibiotic pharmacokinetics and optimal body size measures to guide dosing in his population are ill defined. This combination can result in therapeutic failures or drug-related toxicities. This review summarizes pharmacokinetic information for antibiotics in obese children and implications for dosing. METHODS We conducted a comprehensive literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts to identify pharmacokinetic studies of antimicrobial agents in obese children. We included the following search terms: obesity, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, drug toxicity, dosing, anti-infective agents, antiviral agents, and antifungal agents. RESULTS We identified four pharmacokinetic studies of antibiotics in obese children: one for cefazolin and tobramycin, one for gentamicin, and two for vancomycin. Only the cefazolin/tobramycin trial was prospective. The drugs studied differ in their tissue and body water distribution characteristics. Two of the studies (tobramycin and gentamicin) reported pharmacokinetic differences and required dosing modifications in obese children. DISCUSSION The lack of pharmacokinetic studies in obese children is pronounced. The scarcity of pharmacokinetic data limits the ability to predict drug disposition using drug physicochemical properties and impedes a rational approach to selection of appropriate body size measures for dosing. Given this knowledge gap, additional trials in obese children are urgently needed and is a public health concern. CONCLUSION Pharmacokinetic studies of antimicrobials in obese children are desperately needed to guide dosing and avoid therapeutic failures or unwanted toxicities.
Vimentin Proteins Via Caspases Degradation of Cytoskeletal Paxillin and Antiapoptotic Mcl-1 Expression and the Agglutinin-I Accelerates the Loss of Viscum album Neutrophil Apoptosis: Agglutinin-I-Induced Human Viscum album Mechanisms Involved in Spontaneous and

Viscum album agglutinin-I (VAA-I) is a plant lectin that possesses interesting potential therapeutic properties and immunomodulatory activities. We have recently found that VAA-I is a potent inducer of human neutrophil apoptosis, but the mechanism(s) involved require further elucidation. In this study, we found that VAA-I alters mitochondrial transmembrane potential and increases intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Despite these observations, treatment with the mitochondrial stabilizer, bongkrekic acid, or with catalase, known to degrade H 2 O 2 , fails to reverse VAA-I-induced apoptosis. Moreover, VAA-I was found to induce apoptosis in PLB-985 cells deﬁcient in gp91 phox , indicating that the lectin acts via an ROS-independent mechanism. Pretreatment of neutrophils with brefeldin A, an inhibitor of vesicular transport, was found to reverse VAA-I-induced apoptosis. Protein expression of Mcl-1 was decreased by VAA-I. The role of caspases in the degradation of cytoskeletal proteins during both spontaneous and VAA-I-induced neutrophil apoptosis was also investigated. Paxillin and vimentin were markedly degraded by VAA-I when compared with neutrophils that undergo spontaneous apoptosis, but not vinculin or (cid:1) - and (cid:2) -tubulin. Caspases were involved in cytoskeletal protein degradation because preincubation with the pan-caspase inhibitor N-benzyloxy-carbonyl-V-A-D-O-methylﬂuoromethyl ketone was found to reverse protein cleavage. We conclude that VAA-I needs to be internalized to mediate apoptosis and that its activity is not dependent on a cell surface receptor-mediated pathway. Also, we conclude that VAA-I induces apoptosis by ROS-independent and Mcl-1-dependent mechanisms and that caspases are involved in cytoskeletal protein degradation in both spontaneous and VAA-I-induced neutrophil apoptosis. The Journal of Immunology, 2002, 168: 1419–1427.
Explosive neuromuscular performance of males versus females

The purpose of the study was to investigate sex‐related differences in explosive muscular force production, as measured by electromechanical delay (EMD) and rate of force development (RFD), and to examine the physiological mechanisms responsible for any differences. The neuromuscular performance of untrained males (n= 20) and females (n= 20) was assessed during a series of isometric knee extension contractions; explosive and maximal voluntary efforts, as well as supramaximal evoked twitches and octets (eight pulses at 300 Hz). Evoked and voluntary EMD were determined from twitch and explosive contractions. The RFD was recorded over consecutive 50 ms time windows from force onset during evoked and explosive contractions, and normalized to maximal strength. Neuromuscular activity during explosive voluntary contractions was measured with EMG of the superficial knee extensors normalized to maximal M‐wave. Muscle size (thickness) and muscle–tendon unit (MTU) stiffness were assessed using ultrasonic images of the vastus lateralis at rest and during ramped contractions. Males and females had similar evoked and voluntary EMD. Males were 33% stronger (P < 0.001) and their absolute RFD was 26–56% greater (all time points P < 0.05) compared with females. Muscle size (P < 0.001) and absolute MTU stiffness were also greater for males (P < 0.05). However, normalized RFD was similar for both sexes during the first 150 ms of the explosive voluntary contractions (P > 0.05). This was consistent with the similar normalized twitch and octet RFD, MTU stiffness and agonist EMG (all P > 0.05). When differences in maximal strength were accounted for, the evoked capacity of the knee extensors for explosive force production and the ability to utilize that capacity during explosive voluntary contractions was similar for males and females.
Chipless RFID tag based on open-loop resonator

A novel RFID tag employing open-loop resonators is presented in this paper. The resonators have been synthesized using coupled microstrip transmission line. The complete design consists of open-loop resonators based tag, and cross polarized circular patch antenna for transmitting and receiving purpose. The design of 8-bit data encoded tag and the antennas have been prototyped on Rogers 5880 substrate having dielectric constant of 2.2 and loss tangent of 0.0009 for the frequency band between 3.3 GHz and 5.8 GHz. The measured results show a very good performance in the detection of all the 8 bits.
Regulation of the Na+/K+-ATPase Ena1 Expression by Calcineurin/Crz1 under High pH Stress: A Quantitative Study

Regulated expression of the Ena1 Na+-ATPase is a crucial event for adaptation to high salt and/or alkaline pH stress in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. ENA1 expression is under the control of diverse signaling pathways, including that mediated by the calcium-regulatable protein phosphatase calcineurin and its downstream transcription factor Crz1. We present here a quantitative study of the expression of Ena1 in response to alkalinization of the environment and we analyze the contribution of Crz1 to this response. Experimental data and mathematical models substantiate the existence of two stress-responsive Crz1-binding sites in the ENA1 promoter and estimate that the contribution of Crz1 to the early response of the ENA1 promoter is about 60%. The models suggest the existence of a second input with similar kinetics, which would be likely mediated by high pH-induced activation of the Snf1 kinase.
Comparative Efficacy of Extracts from Lycium Barbarum Bark and Fruit on Estrogen Receptor Positive Human Mammary Carcinoma MCF-7 Cells

Chemo-endocrine therapy for estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer exhibits acquired tumor resistance. Herbal medicines provide integrative support for breast cancer patients. Present study compared the efficacy of aqueous extracts from Lycium barbarum bark (LBB) and Lycium barbarum fruit (LBF) on ER+ MCF-7 cells. Cellular growth and 17ß-estradiol (E2) metabolism quantified the efficacy. MCF-7 cells maintained in serum depleted medium+ E2 exhibited increased anchorage-dependent and anchorage-independent growth. LBB exhibited greater potency than LBF (95% reduction in IC50). LBB produced a 6.8-fold increase, 40% decrease, and a 3.7-fold increase in 2-hydroxyestrone (2-OHE1), 16α-hydroxyestrone (16α-OHE1), and estriol (E3) formation. The corresponding values for LBF were 3.9, 33, and 10.5. LBB produced a16.3-fold and a twofold increase in 2-OHE1:16α-OHE1 and E3:16α-OHE1 ratios, whereas LBF produced a sixfold and a 2.9-fold increase. The efficacy of LBB is due to increased 2-OHE1 formation, whereas that of LBF is due to accelerated conversion of 16α-OHE1 to E3. Specific growth inhibitory profiles of LBB and LBF may be due to their distinct chemical composition and their complementary actions on E2 metabolism. This study validates a mechanistic approach to identify efficacious herbal extracts for clinical ER+ breast cancer.
Semantic Richness Effects in Spoken Word Recognition: A Lexical Decision and Semantic Categorization Megastudy

A large number of studies have demonstrated that semantic richness dimensions [e.g., number of features, semantic neighborhood density, semantic diversity , concreteness, emotional valence] influence word recognition processes. Some of these richness effects appear to be task-general, while others have been found to vary across tasks. Importantly, almost all of these findings have been found in the visual word recognition literature. To address this gap, we examined the extent to which these semantic richness effects are also found in spoken word recognition, using a megastudy approach that allows for an examination of the relative contribution of the various semantic properties to performance in two tasks: lexical decision, and semantic categorization. The results show that concreteness, valence, and number of features accounted for unique variance in latencies across both tasks in a similar direction—faster responses for spoken words that were concrete, emotionally valenced, and with a high number of features—while arousal, semantic neighborhood density, and semantic diversity did not influence latencies. Implications for spoken word recognition processes are discussed.
Utterance-level boosting of HMM speech recognizers

We propose an utterance-level approach to boosting HMM speech recognizers. The standard AdaBoost.M2 algorithm is applied to calculate training weights for utterances, which are used in maximum likelihood (ML) training of subsequent acoustic models. In recognition, scores of these models are linearly combined. We evaluate our algorithm on a large vocabulary isolated word recognition task. Significant performance improvements (up to 9% relative) are obtained compared to the ML baseline model, even for high density acoustic models. In particular, combining scores from boosted models outperforms combining scores from different ML baseline models.
Aerobic scope fails to explain the detrimental effects on growth resulting from warming and elevated CO2 in Atlantic halibut

As a consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2, the world's oceans are becoming warmer and more acidic. Whilst the ecological effects of these changes are poorly understood, it has been suggested that fish performance including growth will be reduced mainly as a result of limitations in oxygen transport capacity. Contrary to the predictions given by the oxygen- and capacity-limited thermal tolerance hypothesis, we show that aerobic scope and cardiac performance of Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) increase following 14–16 weeks exposure to elevated temperatures and even more so in combination with CO2-acidified seawater. However, the increase does not translate into improved growth, demonstrating that oxygen uptake is not the limiting factor for growth performance at high temperatures. Instead, long-term exposure to CO2-acidified seawater reduces growth at temperatures that are frequently encountered by this species in nature, indicating that elevated atmospheric CO2 levels may have serious implications on fish populations in the future.
Intensive care decision making in the seriously ill and elderly*

ObjectiveTo determine the influence of self-reported preadmission quality of life, hypothetical quality of life and mortality prognosis, and length and intensity of intensive care on decision making in the seriously ill and elderly. DesignProspective cohort study. SettingMedical university. SubjectsAdult inpatients with chronic illness and an estimated 50% 6-month mortality along with patients ≥80 yrs old with an acute illness. InterventionsPatients were presented with two scenarios: a) mechanical ventilation for 14 days; and 2) mechanical ventilation for 1 month with tracheostomy and feeding tube placement. A modified time trade-off was used to vary survival and quality of life over plausible ranges. Patients could consent to intensive care or choose care directed at comfort measures. Measurements and Main ResultsFifty patients were interviewed. As projected intensive care unit mortality rate or postintensive care unit quality of life decreased, patients were less likely to consent to intensive care. Postintensive care quality of life was as important to patients as intensive care survival estimates. However, prehospitalization quality of life did not significantly influence decision making regarding life-extending treatment. When progressing from the acute intensive care scenario to chronic mechanical ventilation with associated interventions, patients demanded a significant increase in survival and quality of life. Neither race nor previous intensive care unit admission was associated with consent to intensive care. ConclusionsThere is wide variation in preference for aggressive care that does not appear to be influenced by prehospitalization quality of life. However, predicted quality of life appears to be as important as estimates of intensive care unit survival in decision making. When confronted with extended mechanical ventilation and associated care, a significant proportion of patients would accept this care only for an improved prognosis. Length and intensity of intensive care should be incorporated into discussions regarding intensive care.
Protein Arginine Methylation Is More Prone to Inhibition by S-Adenosylhomocysteine than DNA Methylation in Vascular Endothelial Cells

Methyltransferases use S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) as methyl group donor, forming S-adenosylhomocysteine (AdoHcy) and methylated substrates, including DNA and proteins. AdoHcy inhibits most methyltransferases. Accumulation of intracellular AdoHcy secondary to Hcy elevation elicits global DNA hypomethylation. We aimed at determining the extent at which protein arginine methylation status is affected by accumulation of intracellular AdoHcy. AdoHcy accumulation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells was induced by inhibition of AdoHcy hydrolase by adenosine-2,3-dialdehyde (AdOx). As a measure of protein arginine methylation status, the levels of monomethylarginine (MMA) and asymmetric and symmetric dimethylated arginine residues (ADMA and SDMA, respectively) in cell protein hydrolysates were measured by HPLC. A 10% decrease was observed at a 2.5-fold increase of intracellular AdoHcy. Western blotting revealed that the translational levels of the main enzymes catalyzing protein arginine methylation, protein arginine methyl transferases (PRMTs) 1 and 5, were not affected by AdoHcy accumulation. Global DNA methylation status was evaluated by measuring 5-methylcytosine and total cytosine concentrations in DNA hydrolysates by LC-MS/MS. DNA methylation decreased by 10% only when intracellular AdoHcy concentration accumulated to 6-fold of its basal value. In conclusion, our results indicate that protein arginine methylation is more sensitive to AdoHcy accumulation than DNA methylation, pinpointing a possible new player in methylation-related pathology.
Reduction of heat‐induced haemotoxicity in a hyperthermic purging protocol of murine acute myeloid leukaemic stem cells by AcSDKP

The tetrapeptide AcSDKP (Goralatide) is a cytokine with known inhibitory effects on cell proliferation. Many purging agents used in autologous bone marrow transplantation protocols, including hyperthermia, preferentially kill cycling cells. A pretreatment with Goralatide offers a possibility to reduce the haemotoxicity in many purging settings. The impact of Goralatide on the hyperthermic purging protocol was investigated in normal and myeloid leukaemic (SA8) murine cells. The median survival time after transplantation (i.e. leukaemia incidences) was used as an in vivo parameter to determine the effects on leukaemic cells. The hyperthermic effect on normal and leukaemic cells was also investigated in vitro using the cobblestone area‐forming cell (CAFC) assay. A heat treatment of 90 min at 43°C resulted in a 4‐log depletion of leukaemic stem cells. For normal progenitor cells (CFU‐GM) a 2‐log cell kill was shown. The reduction in proliferative activity of the CFU‐GM after an 8 h incubation with 10−9 m Goralatide resulted in a decrease in the heat sensitivity of the progenitor subset to approximately a 1‐log cell kill. The leukaemic precursor cells seem insensitive to Goralatide inhibition, implicating an increase in the therapeutic window of the hyperthermic purging protocol. Finally, simulated remission bone marrow (5% leukaemic blasts) was incubated with Goralatide followed by a heat treatment of 90 min at 43°C. Lethally irradiated (10 Gy) mice transplanted with heat‐treated remission bone marrow (106 normal bone marrow cells versus 5 × 104 leukaemic cells) died of aplasia while Goralatide‐pretreated remission bone marrow could rescue the irradiated mice without revealing leukaemic engraftment. These findings confirmed the enhanced protection against hyperthermia of the normal haemopoietic subsets by Goralatide and thus increased the success of the hyperthermic purging protocol.
Adaptation of canine femoral head articular cartilage to long distance running exercise in young beagles.

OBJECTIVE--To study the effects of long term (one year), long distance (up to 40 km/day) running on the metabolism of articular cartilage the biosynthesis of proteoglycans was examined by in vitro labelling of anterior (weight bearing) and posterior (less weight bearing) areas of the femoral head from young beagles. METHODS--Total sulphate incorporation rates were determined and distribution of the incorporated sulphate was localised by quantitative autoradiography. Concentration and extractability of the proteoglycans were determined, and proteoglycan structures were investigated by gel filtration chromatography, agarose gel electrophoresis, and chemical determinations. RESULTS--In the less weight bearing area the amount of extractable proteoglycans was decreased (p < or = 0.02), simultaneously with an increased concentration of residual glycosaminoglycans in the tissue after 4 M GuCl extraction (p < or = 0.05). In control animals proteoglycan synthesis was most active in the deep zone of the cartilage, whereas exercise increased synthesis in the intermediate zone. There was a tendency to a lower keratan: chondroitin sulphate ratio in the running dogs. No macroscopical or microscopical signs of articular degeneration or injury were visible in any of the animals. CONCLUSION--The articular cartilage of the femoral head showed a great capacity to adapt to the increased mechanical loading. The reduced proteoglycan extractability in the less weight bearing area changed it similar to the weight bearing area, suggesting that the low extractability of proteoglycans reflects the long term loading history of articular cartilage. The congruency of the femoral head with acetabulum seems to protect the cartilage from the untoward alterations that occur in the femoral condyles subjected to a similar running programme.
Finding Planted Partitions in Nearly Linear Time using Arrested Spectral Clustering

We describe an algorithm for clustering using a similarity graph. The algorithm (a) runs in O(n log3 n + m log n) time on graphs with n vertices and m edges, and (b) with high probability, finds all "large enough" clusters in a random graph generated according to the planted partition model. We provide lower bounds that imply that our "large enough" constraint cannot be improved much, even using a computationally unbounded algorithm. We describe some experiments running the algorithm and a few related algorithms on random graphs with partitions generated using a Chinese Restaurant Processes, and some results of applying the algorithm to cluster DBLP titles.
Cancer Chemoprevention by Phytochemicals: Nature’s Healing Touch

Phytochemicals are an important part of traditional medicine and have been investigated in detail for possible inclusion in modern medicine as well. These compounds often serve as the backbone for the synthesis of novel therapeutic agents. For many years, phytochemicals have demonstrated encouraging activity against various human cancer models in pre-clinical assays. Here, we discuss select phytochemicals—curcumin, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), resveratrol, plumbagin and honokiol—in the context of their reported effects on the processes of inflammation and oxidative stress, which play a key role in tumorigenesis. We also discuss the emerging evidence on modulation of tumor microenvironment by these phytochemicals which can possibly define their cancer-specific action. Finally, we provide recent updates on how low bioavailability, a major concern with phytochemicals, is being circumvented and the general efficacy being improved, by synthesis of novel chemical analogs and nanoformulations.