Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dietary protein recommendations and the prevention of sarcopenia

Purpose of reviewTo draw attention to recent work on the role of protein and the amount of protein needed with each meal to preserve skeletal muscle mass in ageing. Recent findingsAgeing does not inevitably reduce the anabolic response to a high-quality protein meal. Ingestion of approximately 25–30 g of protein per meal maximally stimulates muscle protein synthesis in both young and older individuals. However, muscle protein synthesis is blunted in elderly when protein and carbohydrate are coingested or when the quantity of protein is less than approximately 20 g per meal. Supplementing regular mixed-nutrient meals with leucine may also enhance the muscle protein synthetic response in elders. SummaryOn the basis of recent work, we propose a novel and specific dietary approach to prevent or slow down muscle loss with ageing. Rather than recommending a large, global increase in the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for protein for all elderly individuals, clinicians should stress the importance of ingesting a sufficient amount of protein with each meal. To maximize muscle protein synthesis while being cognizant of total energy intake, we propose a dietary plan that includes 25–30 g of high quality protein per meal.
Vasopressor use following traumatic injury: protocol for a systematic review

Introduction Worldwide, traumatic casualties are projected to exceed 8 million by year 2020. Haemorrhagic shock and brain injury are the leading causes of death following trauma. While intravenous fluids have traditionally been used to support organ perfusion in the setting of haemorrhage, recent investigations have suggested that restricting fluid therapy by tolerating more severe hypotension may improve survival. However, the safety of permissive hypotension remains uncertain, particularly among patients who have suffered a traumatic brain injury. Vasopressors preferentially vasoconstrict blood vessels that supply non-vital organs and capacitance vessels, thereby mobilising the unstressed blood volume. Used as fluid-sparing adjuncts, these drugs can complement resuscitative measures by correcting hypotension without diluting clotting factors or increasing the risk for tissue oedema. Methods and analysis We will identify randomised control trials comparing early resuscitation with vasopressors versus placebo or standard care in adults following traumatic injury. Data sources will include MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, clinical trial registries and conference proceedings. Two reviewers will independently determine trial eligibility. For each included trial, we will conduct duplicate independent data extraction and risk of bias assessment. We will assess the overall quality of the data for each individual outcome using the GRADE approach. Ethics and dissemination We will report this review in accordance with the PRISMA statement. We will disseminate our findings at critical care and trauma conferences and through a publication in a peer-reviewed journal. We will also use this systematic review to create clinical guidelines (http://www.magicapp.org), which will be disseminated in a standalone publication. Trial registration number CRD42016033437.
Escherichia coli strains involved in diarrhea in France: high prevalence and heterogeneity of diffusely adhering strains

Two hundred sixty-two strains of Escherichia coli isolated from diarrheal stool specimens from infants, children, and adults hospitalized in Clermont-Ferrand, France, were studied to classify them in the previously described pathogenic groups of E. coli involved in diarrheal diseases. A total of 1.5% of them belonged to the enterotoxigenic E. coli pathotype, but none belonged to the enteroinvasive E. coli, enterohemorrhagic E. coli, or enteropathogenic E. coli pathotypes. Seventeen strains (6.5%) exhibited an aggregative pattern of adhesion to HEp-2 cells (EAggEC pathotype), but of these, three (17.6%) did not hybridize with the EAggEC DNA probe. Most of the strains involved in diarrhea belonged to the diffusely adhering E. coli group; 100 strains (38.2%) exhibited a diffuse adhesion (DA) to HEp-2 cells. Only eight strains (8.9%) from controls diffusely adhered to HEp-2 cells. The highly significant difference (P < 0.0001) between DA strains from patients and from controls suggests that the diffusely adhering E. coli strains should be considered pathogens. Only 33 of them (33%) hybridized with the previously described DA DNA probe, and only 2 (2%) hybridized with the AIDA DNA probe. Four different major proteins were observed in the bacterial surface extracts of the 33 strains positive with the DA DNA probe. In addition, 16 strains that diffusely adhered to HEp-2 cells induced a cytotoxic effect on HEp-2 cells that was characterized by pyknosis and lysis of the cytoplasmic membrane. This cytotoxic effect was correlated with the synthesis of a hemolysin. The genes involved in diffuse adhesion to HEp-2 cells were located on conjugative R plasmids in strains that did not hybridize with the DA or AIDA DNA probes.
Group Recommendation: Semantics and Efficiency

We study the problem of group recommendation. Recommendation is an important information exploration paradigm that retrieves interesting items for users based on their profiles and past activities. Single user recommendation has received significant attention in the past due to its extensive use in Amazon and Netflix. How to recommend to a group of users who may or may not share similar tastes, however, is still an open problem. The need for group recommendation arises in many scenarios: a movie for friends to watch together, a travel destination for a family to spend a holiday break, and a good restaurant for colleagues to have a working lunch. Intuitively, items that are ideal for recommendation to a group may be quite different from those for individual members. In this paper, we analyze the desiderata of group recommendation and propose a formal semantics that accounts for both item relevance to a group and disagreements among group members. We design and implement algorithms for efficiently computing group recommendations. We evaluate our group recommendation method through a comprehensive user study conducted on Amazon Mechanical Turk and demonstrate that incorporating disagreements is critical to the effectiveness of group recommendation. We further evaluate the efficiency and scalability of our algorithms on the MovieLens data set with 10M ratings.
Happiness on your doorstep: disputing the boundaries of wellbeing and localism

This paper is a critical review and analysis of the recent emergence of wellbeing discourses in UK national politics and their relationship with localism agendas. In 2011 the UK Coalition Government initiated a national programme to measure wellbeing. Despite a stated desire to consult the public as widely as possible on what matters for wellbeing, policy discourse is currently dominated by particular framings of wellbeing, predominantly within the arenas of subjective wellbeing research, positive psychology and individual behaviour change, where community participation and volunteerism narratives feature heavily. Ideas of wellbeing are enmeshed within narratives of reducing bureaucracy and creating the Big Society. This argument is backed up by a discourse analysis of government documentation on wellbeing and localism, which illustrates how discursive boundaries are being created around the concept of wellbeing which in turn demarcates clear boundaries of responsibility. The explicit desire on the part of the UK Coalition Government to devolve more responsibilities to the ‘local community’ is justified by appeals to particular ideas of wellbeing which are evidenced by particular sorts of research, limiting room for other, more progressive, accounts.
Air pollution effects on the respiratory health of the resident adult population in Turin, Italy

Abstract A case-control study was employed to investigate the relationship between atmospheric pollution and emergency hospital attendance for respiratory causes among adult and elderly patients resident in Turin in the period 1997 – 1999. Based on the primary diagnosis, adult (15 – 64 years) and elderly (>64 years) patients resident in Turin and admitted for respiratory causes were defined as Cases (n1 = 4.645); adult and elderly patients admitted for causes other than respiratory diseases or heart diseases were defined as Controls (n2 = 152.954). Sulfur dioxide (SO2 in µg/m3), total suspended particulate (TSP in µg/m3) and carbon monoxide (CO in mg/m3) were taken as indicators of urban air pollution; principal confounding factors were patient sex, age and education level; season, temperature, humidity, solar radiation; day of hospital admission. Statistical analysis was performed using logistic regression models. In accordance with Odds Ratio (OR) values and relative 95% Confidence Intervals (OR_95% CI) estimated by the models, associations are expressed as percent increase in risk (Increase%)1 and relative 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) per 10 µg/m3 in SO2 and TSP, and per 1 mg/m3 in CO exposure. After adjusting for confounding factors, there was a mean increase in emergency hospital attendance of 2.20% (95% CI 1.70 – 2.60) and 2.55% (95% CI 1.79 – 3.32) per 10 µg/m3 increase in exposure to SO2 and TSP, respectively, and a mean increase of 5.30% (95% CI 3.00 – 7.70) per 1 mg/m3 increase in exposure to CO. A significant association was separately confirmed for SO2 and TSP in adult (15 – 64 years) and elderly (>64 years) patients, but for CO only among elderly patients. A significant association was found between the increase in emergency hospital attendance for respiratory causes and exposure to sulfur dioxide, total suspended particulate and carbon monoxide in Turin during the study period. This easy to use and manage case-control study produced results in line with those reported for other Italian and European cities.
Readability of annual reports: Western versus Asian evidence

Flesch, Fog and Lix readability formulas were used to measure 32 randomly selected chairmen′s address and footnote passages from the annual reports of some Hong Kong public companies for the years 1986 and 1991. Examines four issues: temporal change in readability levels, influence of industrial grouping on readability, and the relationship between corporate size or profitability on readability levels. Finds that readability is beyond the fluent comprehension levels of 90 per cent of the adult population, overall readability declined over the five‐year period; industrial classification has insignificant impact, and neither company size nor profitability are associated with improved readability levels. These Asian findings are consistent with those from similar studies in the USA, UK, Canada and New Zealand.
Special Forces Selection Involving Neuroendocrine Stress Markers: Future Directions in Human Reliability Analyses

Special Forces (SF) selection applications include diverse forms of human reliability analyses. The current paper reports from a field experiment during an extremely strenuous prisoner of war (POW) exercise within the Belgian SF selection procedure. Twenty-seven SF candidates (M = 27.4 years, SD = 5.1) were randomly assigned to a no-stress control group (n = 14) or to a high-intensity stress group (n = 13). Immediately after stress or control treatment, candidates’ coping capabilities were assessed through standardized cognitive (digit span test and Rey-Osterrieth complex figure). Concurrently, stress levels were assessed subjectively (NASA task load index) and objectively by obtaining salivary cortisol assays as neuroendocrine stress markers. As expected, exposure to POW stress led to significant differences in subjectively perceived stress, robust increases of cortisol concentrations, and substantially deteriorated cognitive performance. Interestingly, in the stress group, cognitive performance outcomes correlated negatively with cortisol reactivity. Furthermore, distinct differences between high and low cortisol responders were observed with respect to the stress reaction. Incited by the latter bottom-up approach, the authors discuss potential future directions in naturalistic stress research that involve endocrinological stress markers to detect individual differences in the response to stressors. Potential promising fields of application in the military appear to be the assessment of training aimed at stress reduction, cognitive reliability analyses, and – in a later stadium – improved predictive validity of the selection process of high-reliability professionals such as SF operators.
The efficiency of binaural listening among the hearing-impaired.

Both monaural and binaural hearing aid systems now are widely used by the hearing-impaired to increase their social adequacy by compensating for their loss in acuity. A recent review of previous experiments and clinical reports on binaural hearing 9 has shown that there is no adequate a priori evidence to support a final conclusion about the efficiency of one hearing aid system over another. For example, the argument has persisted that because the person with a binaural hearing aid system regains use of both ears, a more reasonable approximation of normal hearing is obtained than with a monaural system. However, one can not easily demonstrate an equivalence between the ears among the hearing-impaired comparable to that among normal-hearing persons. Again, evidence that some persons with unilateral hearing losses do, in fact, localize 1,6,8 does not support the contention that the salient advantage of binaural hearing aid use is localization. These arguments both
Oxygen Sensing in Health and Disease O 2-regulated gene expression : transcriptional control of cardiorespiratory physiology by HIF-1

Semenza, Gregg L.O2-regulated gene expression: transcriptional control of cardiorespiratory physiology by HIF-1. J Appl Physiol 96: 1173–1177, 2004; 10.1152/japplphysiol.00770. 2003. —The cardiovascular and respiratory systems play key roles in O2 homeostasis. Physiological responses to hypoxia involve changes in gene expression that are mediated by the transcriptional activator hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1. Analysis of mice heterozygous for a knockout allele at the locus encoding the O2-regulated HIF-1 or HIF-2 subunit has revealed that these proteins are required for multiple physiological responses to chronic hypoxia, including erythrocytosis and pulmonary vascular remodeling. In mice with partial HIF-2 deficiency, hypoxia-induced expression of endothelin-1 and norepinephrine is dramatically impaired, and the mice fail to develop pulmonary hypertension after 4 wk of exposure to 10% O2. In mice with partial HIF-1 deficiency, the ability of the carotid body to sense and/or respond to acute or chronic hypoxia is lost. In wild-type mice, brief episodes of intermittent hypoxia are sufficient to induce production of erythropoietin (EPO), which protects the heart against apoptosis after ischemia-reperfusion, whereas in mice with partial HIF-1 deficiency, intermittent hypoxia does not induce EPO production or cardiac protection. Parenteral administration of EPO to rodents is sufficient to induce dramatic protection against ischemia-reperfusion injury in the heart. Thus HIF-1 mediates critical physiological responses to hypoxia, and the elucidation of these homeostatic mechanisms may lead to novel therapies for the most common causes of mortality in the US population.
Systematic fluoroscopic and electrical assessment of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator patients implanted with silicone-polyurethane copolymer (Optim™) coated leads.

AIMS Serious concerns have been recently raised about the reliability of the silicone-polyurethane copolymer (Optim™) lead insulation system. We sought to identify insulation defects and Optim-lead failures by systematic fluoroscopic and electrical assessment in a prospectively defined cohort of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) patients. METHODS AND RESULTS Between July 2007 and December 2011, 234 patients were implanted with 413 optim-coated leads as part of an ICD system at a single centre. Fluoroscopic screening with high-resolution cine-fluoroscopy at 30 frames per second was offered to all patients. In addition, the electrical integrity of all implanted leads was assessed. Durata, Riata ST Optim, and low-voltage Optim leads were implanted in 199, 26, and 188 cases, respectively. During a total follow-up of 10 036 lead-months, there were 7 Optim-lead failures (defined as electrical malfunction resulting in lead replacement) and 31 deaths; no cases of electrical noises were encountered. The overall incidence of lead failure was 1.2 vs. 0.3 per 100 lead-years, for high- and low-voltage leads, respectively (P = 0.1). One hundred fifty-one patients agreed to undergo fluoroscopy screening; none of the 264 analysed Optim leads were found to have any fluoroscopically visible structural defects after an average of 31 months post-implant. CONCLUSION This study represents the first systematic screening of Optim-coated leads in a large unselected cohort of ICD patients. Over a 5-year period few lead failures were observed and normal fluoroscopic appearance was present in all patients.
The V4 and V5 Variable Loops of HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein Are Tolerant to Insertion of Green Fluorescent Protein and Are Useful Targets for Labeling*

Background: Validation of the trimeric HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env) quaternary structure is required. Results: Insertional mutagenesis analysis showed that the V4 and V5 loops of HIV-1 Env were tolerant to insertion of GFP. Conclusion: Functional analysis of the insertional mutants supports the recent structural models of HIV-1 Env. Significance: GFP insertion simultaneously achieves structural probing and generation of GFP-tagged Env. The mature human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoprotein (Env) comprises the non-covalently associated gp120 and gp41 subunits generated from the gp160 precursor. Recent structural analyses have provided quaternary structural models for gp120/gp41 trimers, including the variable loops (V1–V5) of gp120. In these models, the V3 loop is located under V1/V2 at the apical center of the Env trimer, and the V4 and V5 loops project outward from the trimeric protomers. In addition, the V4 and V5 loops are predicted to have less movement upon receptor binding during membrane fusion events. We performed insertional mutagenesis using a GFP variant, GFPOPT, placed into the variable loops of HXB2 gp120. This allowed us to evaluate the current structural models and to simultaneously generate a GFP-tagged HIV-1 Env, which was useful for image analyses. All GFP-inserted mutants showed similar levels of whole-cell expression, although certain mutants, particularly V3 mutants, showed lower levels of cell surface expression. Functional evaluation of their fusogenicities in cell-cell and virus-like particle-cell fusion assays revealed that V3 was the most sensitive to the insertion and that the V1/V2 loops were less sensitive than V3. The V4 and V5 loops were the most tolerant to insertion, and certain tag proteins other than GFPOPT could also be inserted without functional consequences. Our results support the current structural models and provide a GFPOPT-tagged Env construct for imaging studies.
Peripheral Arterial Disease in Patients With End-Stage Renal Disease: Observations From the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS)

Background— Patients with end-stage renal disease are at high risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The aims of the present study were to describe the prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and its effects on prognosis and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in an international cohort of patients on hemodialysis. Methods and Results— Data from the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS), a prospective, international, observational study of hemodialysis patients (n=29 873), were analyzed. Associations between baseline clinical variables and PAD were evaluated by logistic regression analysis. Cox regression models were used to test the association between PAD and risk for all-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, and hospitalization. PAD was diagnosed in 7411 patients (25.3%) with significant geographic variation. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors including age, male sex, diabetes, hypertension, and smoking were identified, together with the duration of hemodialysis, as significant correlates of PAD. Diagnosis of PAD was associated with increased all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR]=1.36; P<0.0001), cardiac mortality (HR=1.43; P<0.0001), all-cause hospitalization (HR=1.19; P<0.0001), and hospitalization for a major adverse cardiovascular event (HR=2.05; P<0.0001). HRQOL questionnaires revealed physical health scores that were significantly lower in PAD compared with non-PAD patients (P<0.0001). Conclusions— PAD is common in hemodialysis patients and is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular mortality, morbidity, and hospitalization and reduced HRQOL.
IMPLICATIONS FROM EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES ON MAGNETIC FIELDS AND THE RISK OF CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA ON PROTECTION GUIDELINES

The objective of this review is to discuss the impact of findings in epidemiological studies on magnetic fields and the risk of childhood leukemia on the definition of exposure limits. A large number of epidemiological studies have consistently shown an association between the risk of childhood leukemia and residential extremely low-frequency magnetic field exposures. There is virtually no supportive data from experimental research and, so far, no proposed explanation has reached a level beyond speculation. The contradictory results from epidemiological and experimental research may either be due to methodological limitations creating a spurious association in the epidemiological studies or to a failure of experimental research to examine mechanisms relevant in the complex origin of childhood leukemia. Taking this together, the overall evidence is not strong enough to demand a revision of the current guidelines for public protection. Application of precautionary measures may be an option; however, decision-makers should be advised that these measures are often not straightforward and a careful evaluation of a possible benefit needs to be performed for each individual situation. Undoubtedly there are gaps in research, and no substantial contribution for clarification of the apparent inconsistencies emerges from recent studies. However, there are important lessons to learn, either with respect to the etiology of childhood leukemia or with respect to the need for improving epidemiological methods for the identification of presumably weak associations.
Non-completion of a Degree Course and Its Effect on the Subsequent Experience of Non-completers in the Labour Market.

This paper reports the findings of a pilot study of the post-university experiences of graduates and non-completers during the first few years after leaving university. The research is based upon a follow-up survey of a sample of graduates and non-completers who entered the University of Lancaster in 1979 and 1980. Information was obtained by postal survey of their family background, educational qualifications and labour market experiences. Several indicators are used to measure each person's experience in the labour market: unemployment incidence, unemployment duration, salary in first job after leaving university and salary in most recent job. In a regression analysis of inter-personal differences in the salary level, it was found that part of the salary differential in favour of graduates was accounted for by a range of factors in addition to whether a person was a graduate or a non-completer.