Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reactive Nitrogen Species Contribute to Innate Host Defense against Campylobacter jejuni

ABSTRACT Campylobacter jejuni, a gram-negative, invasive organism, is a common cause of food-borne bacterial diarrheal disease. However, the relationship between C. jejuni and the innate immune system is not well described. To better characterize host defense against C. jejuni, we investigated the ability of nitric oxide/reactive nitrogen species to kill two strains of C. jejuni. C. jejuni viability was measured after exposure to reactive nitrogen species produced biochemically as acidified nitrite and by bone marrow-derived macrophages. We report that acidified nitrite caused a 3-log-increased kill of C. jejuni (P < 0.05) at doses that did not affect the viability of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Expression of NOS2, the gene responsible for the production of inducible nitric oxide, was increased >100-fold in murine macrophages after incubation with C. jejuni (P < 0.001). These macrophages effected a 2-log-increased kill of C. jejuni over 24 h compared to that by NOS2−/− macrophages unable to produce nitric oxide (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that the mammalian host upregulates the production of nitric oxide in response to exposure to C. jejuni and that nitric oxide and reactive nitrogen species comprise part of the innate defense mechanisms that contribute to the resolution of C. jejuni infection.
A comprehensive study of novel microcapsules incorporating gliclazide and a permeation enhancing bile acid: hypoglycemic effect in an animal model of Type-1 diabetes

Abstract Context: Gliclazide (G) is a commonly prescribed drug for Type 2 diabetes (T2D). In a recent study, we found that when G was combined with a primary bile acid, and gavaged to an animal model of Type 1 diabetes (T1D), it exerted a hypoglycemic effect. We hypothesized this to be due to metabolic activation of the primary bile acid into a secondary or a tertiary bile acid, which enhanced G solubility and absorption. The tertiary bile acid, taurocholic acid (TCA), has shown strong permeation-enhancing effects in vivo. Thus, we aimed to design, characterize, and test microcapsules incorporating G and TCA in an animal model of T1D. Methods: Microcapsules were prepared using the polymer sodium alginate (SA). G-SA microcapsules (control) and G–TCA–SA microcapsules (test) were extensively examined (in-vitro) at different pH and temperatures. The microcapsules were gavaged to diabetic rats, and blood glucose and G concentrations in serum were examined. Ex-vivo studies were also performed using a muscle cell line (C2C12), and cell viability and glucose intake post-treatment were examined. Results: G–TCA–SA microcapsules showed good stability, uniformity, and thermal and chemical excipient compatibilities. TCA did not change the size or the shape of the microcapsules, but it enhanced their mechanical resistance and reduced their swelling properties. G–TCA–SA enhanced the viability of C2C12 cells over 24 hours, and exerted a hypoglycemic effect in alloxan-induced type-1 diabetic rats. Conclusions: The incorporation of TCA into G-microcapsules resulted in functionally improved microcapsules with a positive effect on cell viability and glycemic control in Type-1 diabetic animals.
A mandatory intercalated degree programme: Revitalising and enhancing academic and evidence-based medicine

Background: Recruitment of medical graduates to research careers is declining. Expansion of medical knowledge necessitates all graduates be equipped to critically evaluate new information. To address these challenges, a mandatory intercalated degree programme was introduced as part of curriculum reform. Aims: To review the place on intercalated degrees, the methods available for learning about research and to analyse experience with a new university programme focusing on research. Methods: A literature review followed by the analysis of experience with eight cohorts of students who had completed the new programme. Results: A total of 1599 students completed the programme. Laboratory-based research was the most common choice followed by clinical research, population health, epidemiology, medical humanities and mental health. Also, 93% of students spent over 75% of their time undertaking research. Sixty-three students published their research, half as first authors. Students and coordinators support the programme. Learning about research during the postgraduate phase is variable and frequently left to individual choice. Conclusion: Intercalating an additional degree focusing on research can achieve a number of learning objectives but demands a level of maturity, autonomy and preparedness, not uniformly present in students undertaking a mandatory intercalated programme. A more realistic goal is the development of ‘research-mindedness’ amongst all students.
Strategies of verb and verb phrase focus across basque dialects

In this chapter we study four different strategies available in Basque dialects to focalize the verb and the verb phrase: (i) verb doubling, (ii) ba- insertion, (iii) V1 strategy, and (iv) expletive egin insertion. We argue that the four constructions reflect different ways of complying with morphophonological requirements of foci, including the requirement that foci be capable of bearing sentence stress. In particular, we argue that these strategies reflect selective deletion of material (PF repair operations) that would otherwise violate these constraints (Boskovic and Nunes 2007). In so doing, the discussion provides a partially unified analysis of these four constructions.
Evaluation of Muscle Activity for Loaded and Unloaded Dynamic Squats during Vertical Whole-Body Vibration

Hazell, TJ, Kenno, KA, and Jakobi, JM. Evaluation of muscle activity for loaded and unloaded dynamic squats during vertical whole-body vibration. J Strength Cond Res 24(7): 1860-1865, 2010-The purpose of this investigation was to examine if the addition of a light external load would enhance whole-body vibration (WBV)-induced increases in muscle activity during dynamic squatting in 4 leg muscles. Thirteen recreationally active male university students performed a series of dynamic squats (unloaded with no WBV, unloaded with WBV, loaded with no WBV, and loaded with WBV). The load was set to 30% of body mass and WBV included 25-, 35-, and 45-Hz frequencies with 4-mm amplitude. Muscle activity was recorded with surface electromyography (EMG) on the vastus lateralis (VL), biceps femoris (BF), tibialis anterior (TA), and gastrocnemius (GC) and is reported as EMGrms (root mean square) normalized to %maximal voluntary exertion. During unloaded dynamic squats, exposure to WBV (45 Hz) significantly (p < 0.05) increased baseline muscle activity in all muscles, except the TA compared with no WBV. Adding a light external load without WBV increased baseline muscle activity of the squat exercise in all muscles but decreased the TA. This loaded level of muscle activity was further increased with WBV (45 Hz) in all muscles. The WBV-induced increases in muscle activity in the loaded condition (∼3.5%) were of a similar magnitude to the WBV-induced increases during the unloaded condition (∼2.5%) demonstrating the addition of WBV to unloaded or loaded dynamic squatting results in an increase in muscle activity. These results demonstrate the potential effectiveness of using external loads with exposure to WBV.
Help seeking amongst child and adolescent victims of peer-aggression and bullying: the influence of school-stage, gender, victimisation, appraisal, and emotion.

BACKGROUND An important element of many anti-bullying programmes is encouraging victims to tell someone about their predicament. Research has already reported prevalence of telling, who/when children tell and efficacy of telling. However, seeking help can be viewed as a coping behaviour, and coping processes such as appraisal and emotion may be important predictors of whether pupils ask for help. AIMS To examine the effects that background variables (gender, school-stage), victimisation (duration, frequency), appraisal (threat, challenge, control) and negative emotion have upon support seeking by child and adolescent victims of peer-aggression and bullying. To also examine how effective pupils perceive social support to be. SAMPLE Participants were 830 children (49% male) aged 9-14 years. Three hundred and seventeen pupils were in Primary 6, 307 in Secondary 2 and 206 in Secondary 3. METHOD A self-report bullying questionnaire was completed by the participants within their classes. Questionnaires included items relating to victimisation, appraisal, emotion, and coping strategy choice as well as demographic data. RESULTS Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that gender, challenge appraisals, and emotions were significant predictors of the degree to which child and adolescent victims of peer-aggression and bullying sought help (accounting for 15.8% of the variance): girls were more likely than boys to seek help, as were pupils with high challenge appraisals or those experiencing high levels of negative emotion. Also, girls were more likely than boys to view support as the best strategy for both stopping bullying and for helping them to feel better. CONCLUSION Results suggest that pupils are more willing to seek help when they see the situation as one in which something can be achieved. Pupils also may be seeking support to get help coping with negative emotions, and this may need to be emphasized to teachers.
Association of prehospital advanced airway management with neurologic outcome and survival in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

IMPORTANCE It is unclear whether advanced airway management such as endotracheal intubation or use of supraglottic airway devices in the prehospital setting improves outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) compared with conventional bag-valve-mask ventilation. OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that prehospital advanced airway management is associated with favorable outcome after adult OHCA. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Prospective, nationwide, population-based study (All-Japan Utstein Registry) involving 649,654 consecutive adult patients in Japan who had an OHCA and in whom resuscitation was attempted by emergency responders with subsequent transport to medical institutions from January 2005 through December 2010. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Favorable neurological outcome 1 month after an OHCA, defined as cerebral performance category 1 or 2. RESULTS Of the eligible 649,359 patients with OHCA, 367,837 (57%) underwent bag-valve-mask ventilation and 281,522 (43%) advanced airway management, including 41,972 (6%) with endotracheal intubation and 239,550 (37%) with use of supraglottic airways. In the full cohort, the advanced airway group incurred a lower rate of favorable neurological outcome compared with the bag-valve-mask group (1.1% vs 2.9%; odds ratio [OR], 0.38; 95% CI, 0.36-0.39). In multivariable logistic regression, advanced airway management had an OR for favorable neurological outcome of 0.38 (95% CI, 0.37-0.40) after adjusting for age, sex, etiology of arrest, first documented rhythm, witnessed status, type of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation, use of public access automated external defibrillator, epinephrine administration, and time intervals. Similarly, the odds of neurologically favorable survival were significantly lower both for endotracheal intubation (adjusted OR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.37-0.45) and for supraglottic airways (adjusted OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.36-0.40). In a propensity score-matched cohort (357,228 patients), the adjusted odds of neurologically favorable survival were significantly lower both for endotracheal intubation (adjusted OR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.37-0.55) and for use of supraglottic airways (adjusted OR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.33-0.39). Both endotracheal intubation and use of supraglottic airways were similarly associated with decreased odds of neurologically favorable survival. CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE Among adult patients with OHCA, any type of advanced airway management was independently associated with decreased odds of neurologically favorable survival compared with conventional bag-valve-mask ventilation.
Cognitive behaviour therapy vs rational emotive education: Impact on children's self-talk, self-esteem and irrational beliefs

This study investigated the impact of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Rational-Emotive Education (REE) self-enhancement programs on children's self-talk, self-esteem and irrational beliefs. A total of 116 children (50.9% girls) with a mean age of 9.8 years attending Years 4 and 6 at two primary schools participated in the study. CBT resulted in a reduction in negative self-talk while REE seemed to enhance independence beliefs. Both programs were associated with increased positive self-talk and with having increased rationality in Conformity and Discomfort Intolerance beliefs.
A Bayesian predictive classification approach to robust speech recognition

We introduce a new Bayesian predictive classification (BPC) approach to robust speech recognition and apply the BPC framework to Gaussian mixture continuous density hidden Markov model based speech recognition. We propose and focus on one of the approximate BPC approaches called quasi-Bayesian predictive classification (QBPC). In comparison with the standard plug-in maximum a posteriori decoding, when the QBPC method is applied to speaker independent recognition of a confusable vocabulary namely 26 English letters, where a broad range of mismatches between training and testing conditions exist, the QBPC achieves around 14% relative recognition error rate reduction. While the QBPC method is applied to cross-gender testing on a less confusable vocabulary, namely 20 English digits and commands, the QBPC method achieves around 24% relative recognition error rate reduction.
Surgical and Biomechanical Perspectives on Osteoarthritis and the ACL Deficient Knee: A Critical Review of the Literature

This review was undertaken to better understand the debate regarding the issue of osteoarthritis associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, from a surgical and biomechanical standpoint. Much of the current debate focuses on contributory surgical factors and their relative roles in increasing or decreasing the risk of future osteoarthritis development, primarily highlighting the controversy over whether reconstructive surgery itself is necessarily protective. This review addresses the evolution of ACL reconstruction techniques over time, and with a view to thoroughly examine the role of surgery, outcome differences in procedural technique are reviewed, with a focus on open versus arthroscopic methods, graft choice and the use of a double versus single bundle reconstruction technique. Moreover, other potentially important contributory factors are identified and discussed, such as intrinsic biomechanical alterations sustained at the time of initial injury, and how these may have a more significant role with regard to future osteoarthritic changes in the knee than previously attributed.
Effects of temperature, photoperiod, and hibernation on the testes of golden hamsters.

The effects of hibernation and 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 weeks of cold-exposure (5 ± 1° C) were studied on the testes of 100 adult, male hamsters (Mesocrietus auratus, Waterhouse), having initial body weights of 80 to 100 gm. Half of these animals were maintained on an eight-hour photoperiod and half on a 14-hour photoperiod. Control animals, at both photoperiods, were kept at 25 ± 1° C. At the time of autopsy, the wet weights of the testes were determined and the tissue was prepared for quantitative histological evaluation (diameter of the seminiferous tubules and spermatogenic activity). In animals kept at 25° C and 14 hours of light, the testes remained unchanged. With eight hours of light at the same temperature, however, the testes: (1) were unaffected for four weeks; (2) exhibited a 90% loss in wet weight at eight weeks; and (3) recovered to about 66% of the initial level at 12 and 20 weeks. In cold-exposed hamsters, the testes decreased rapidly in activity between two to four weeks, reaching the lowest weight at eight weeks. Those cold-exposed animals on 14 hours of light returned to the control level by 16 weeks, but those on eight hours showed only slight recovery. The testes of the 14-hour light, cold-exposed animals were larger than those of the eight-hour light, cold-exposed animals at each week tested. Only with the 14-hour photoperiod were the testes of the hibernators significantly smaller than those of the cold-exposed non-hibernators.
A prospective study of 750 definite spider bites, with expert spider identification.

BACKGROUND Spider bite is a subject of much medical mythology with prevalent fears that spiders cause severe envenoming, with neurotoxic effects or necrotic ulcers. Clinical experience and small studies suggest otherwise, but this has not been confirmed by prospective studies of bites by identified spiders. AIM To describe the clinical effects of bites by accurately identified spiders, and determine whether early clinical features and circumstances can predict spider type. DESIGN Prospective follow-up study. METHODS Patients were recruited from admissions to two emergency departments (n=48) and referrals from three state poison information centres (n=1426), over 27 months. Overall, there were 750 people with definite spider bites where the spiders were immediately collected and expertly identified. RESULTS Significant effects occurred in 44 bites (6%), including 37 (of 56) redback spider bites (Latrodectus hasselti) with significant pain lasting >24 h. Of these, only 6 (11%) received antivenom. One severe neurotoxic envenoming by an Australian funnelweb spider required antivenom. No definite spider bites resulted in necrotic ulcers (0%, 99%CI 0-0.7%). There were no early allergic reactions and secondary infection occurred in seven cases (0.9%, 95%CI 0.4-1.9%). Circumstances and early clinical effects were strongly associated with taxonomic spider identification, with positive predictive values >0.95 for common groups of spiders. CONCLUSIONS Australian spider bite caused minor effects in most cases and is unlikely to cause necrotic ulcers, allergic reactions or infection. Redback spider bite (widow spider) caused prolonged pain, and antivenom could have been used more frequently. The circumstances and early clinical features of spider bites may allow early appropriate advice and treatment of spider bite without taxonomic identification.
On the accuracy of embeddings for internet coordinate systems

Internet coordinate systems embed Round-Trip-Times (RTTs) between Internet nodes into some geometric space so that unmeasured RTTs can be estimated using distance computation in that space. If accurate, such techniques would allow us to predict Internet RTTs without extensive measurements. The published techniques appear to work very well when accuracy is measured using metrics such as absolute relative error. Our main observation is that absolute relative error tells us very little about the quality of an embedding as experienced by a user. We define several new accuracy metrics that attempt to quantify various aspects of user-oriented quality. Evaluation of current Internet coordinate systems using our new metrics indicates that their quality is not as high as that suggested by the use of absolute relative error.
Reference region group mobility model for ad hoc networks

In this paper, we propose a novel group mobility model, called reference region group mobility (RRGM) model, which can be used in the description of a group motion behavior as well as individual movement. This model is designed to be applicable to many different scenarios, such as military operation, search and rescue, exhibition hall visiting, building search, etc., where a group may be partitioned into a number of smaller groups and groups may merge whenever necessary. The groups may move independently towards their own destinations. Moreover, by using the density-based approach, our model can control the size of the region to be covered by a group. Our main contribution is on the effectiveness of modeling application scenarios, which are most likely to be deployed in ad hoc networks by including group partitioning and merging processes in group mobility.
Distinct chromatin signature of histone H3 variant H3.3 in human cells

Actively transcribed regions of the genome have been found enriched for the histone H3 variant H3.3. This variant is incorporated into nucleosomes throughout the cell cycle whereas the canonical isoforms are predominately deposited in association with replication. In order to obtain a global picture of the deposition pattern at the single cell level we expressed H3.3 in both normal and malignant human cells and analyzed nuclei using conventional and structured illumination imaging (SIM). We found that the distribution pattern of H3.3 in interphase differs from that of the canonical histone H3 variants and this difference is conveyed to mitotic chromosomes which display a distinct H3.3 banding pattern. Histone H3.3 localization positively correlated with markers for transcriptionally active chromatin and, notably, H3.3 was almost completely absent from the inactive X chromosome. Collectively, our data show that histone variant H3.3 occupies distinct intranuclear chromatin domains and that these genomic loci are associated with gene expression.
Poly(sodium 4-styrene sulfonate): evaluation of a topical microbicide gel against herpes simplex virus type 2 and Chlamydia trachomatis infections in mice.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the in vivo activity of poly(sodium 4-styrene sulfonate) (T-PSS) gel formulations as topical microbicides. METHODS The ability of the gel formulations to reduce the incidence of infection when applied prior to pathogen challenge was examined in mouse models of vaginal herpes simplex type 2 (HSV-2) and Chlamydia trachomatis infection, and rectal HSV-2 infection. RESULTS In the vaginal HSV-2 challenge studies, 10% T-PSS gel provided significant protection against infection, even when administered 60 min prior to virus challenge (P < 0.0001). Both 5% and 10% T-PSS gel formulations significantly reduced the incidence of upper genital tract C. trachomatis infection in animals treated up to 5 min before challenge (P < 0.001). However, no protection against C. trachomatis infection was seen in animals treated 30 min before challenge. In mice challenged rectally with HSV-2, both the 5% and 10% T-PSS gels significantly reduced infection at 20 s (P < 0.01 for both). However, only the 10% gel provided significant protection when administered 5 min before challenge (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS T-PSS gel formulations have promising in vivo activity as topical microbicides.