Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increased expression of CD11b/CD18 on phagocytes in ischaemic disease: a bridge between inflammation and coagulation

The aim of this study was to assess the expression of CD11b/CD18 integrin adhesion molecules on the phagocytes of patients with ischaemic diseases, and to evaluate the concentration of soluble adhesion molecules that are released from endothelium (sICAM‐1) and from phagocytes (sL‐selectin). A total of 370 patients were enrolled: 120 with coronary artery disease (CAD); 50 with peripheral artery occlusive disease (PAOD); and 200 control subjects with no clinical manifestations of ischaemic disease. CD11b/CD18 integrin was detected by flow cytometry, whereas sL‐selectin and sICAM‐1 concentrations were detected using a sandwich‐type immunoassay. CD11b/CD18 integrin expression was found to be higher in the patients with ischaemic disease than in the control subjects (P < 0.001). The PAOD patients had higher values of CD11b/CD18 integrin than the CAD ones (P < 0.01). The concentration of soluble adhesion molecules did not show any significant differences within the three groups (P = NS). The high expression of CD11b/CD18 integrin in ischaemic disease patients may depend on the increased, but probably stable, cytokine network that has been demonstrated to occur in chronic ischaemic diseases: the difference observed between PAOD and CAD patients could be the consequence of higher inflammatory activation probably resulting from the greater extent of the atherosclerotic process in PAOD, or of the more localized ischaemic area in CAD patients. CD11b/CD18 can therefore be considered a marker of chronic phagocyte activation during ischaemic disease. On the other hand, sICAM and sL‐selectin concentrations were found to be within the normal range; they have recently been considered as a marker for acute ischaemic events and acute inflammatory process activation. Our results confirm that in uncomplicated atherosclerosis no acute inflammatory process activation should occur.
Contrarily to whey and high protein diets, dietary free leucine supplementation cannot reverse the lack of recovery of muscle mass after prolonged immobilization during ageing

Key points • During ageing, there is a lack of recovery of muscle mass following immobilization. • We showed, in old rats, an ‘anabolic resistance’ of muscle protein synthesis to food intake during immobilization and only a slight increase of protein synthesis during the recovery, which explain a poor muscle nitrogen balance that is insufficient to induce a muscle mass gain. • A supplementation with free leucine, an essential amino acid known to stimulate muscle protein metabolism, was efficient in inducing a greater anabolism but failed to induce muscle mass recovery. • This discrepancy was explained by a ‘desynchronization’ between the leucine signal and amino acids coming from dietary protein digestion. • An induction of a larger increase and a longer availability of amino acids in the postprandial state with rich‐protein leucine (i.e. whey) and high protein diets were efficient in inducing a muscle mass recovery after immobilization.
Pharmacological characterization of the uroselective alpha-1 antagonist Rec 15/2739 (SB 216469): role of the alpha-1L adrenoceptor in tissue selectivity, part II.

The aim of the present work was to investigate whether or not the uroselectivity of Rec 15/2739 and several other alpha-1 adrenoceptor (alpha1-AR) antagonists observed in the anesthetized dog could be related to selectivity of these compounds for a particular alpha-1 AR subtype. The binding affinity of the tested compounds for canine prostate alpha-1 ARs and their in vitro functional affinity for the alpha-1 ARs of rabbit urethra and prostate correlated with their functional affinity for the alpha-1L AR subtype, but not with the binding affinity for recombinant animal and human alpha-1a, alpha-1b and alpha-1d AR subtypes. Similar results were obtained when the in vivo potency on urethral pressure was correlated with the affinity for the alpha-1 AR subtypes; also in this case alpha-1L AR gave the best correlation. No correlation was obtained by considering the other alpha-1 AR subtypes. The in vivo hypotensive effects observed in dog after i.v. administration of the considered compounds correlated only with the binding affinity for the animal and human alpha-1d subtype. In conclusion, the results shown in the present paper indicate that the potencies of different alpha-1 antagonists against the contractions induced by norepinephrine on tissues of the lower urinary tract of rabbits and dogs are better correlated with their affinity for the putative alpha-1L subtype than for the alpha-1a subtype. Only the compounds showing selectivity for the alpha-1L subtype versus the alpha-1d subtype proved highly selective in vivo for the lower urinary tract versus the vascular tissues.
Claudin expression in follicle‐associated epithelium of rat Peyer's patches defines a major restriction of the paracellular pathway

Members of the tight junction protein family of claudins have been demonstrated to specifically determine paracellular permeability of the intestinal epithelium. In small intestinal mucosa, which is generally considered to be a leaky epithelium, Peyer's patches are a primary part of the immune system. The aim of this study was to analyse the tight junctional barrier of follicle‐associated epithelium covering Peyer's patches (lymphoid follicles).
Experimenting with Nonmonotonic Reasoning

In this paper, we describe a system, called TheoryBase, whose goal is to facilitate experimental studies of nonmonotonic reasoning systems. TheoryBase generates test default theories and logic programs. It has an identiication system for generated theories, which allows us to reconstruct a logic program or a default theory from its identiier. Hence, exchanging test cases requires only exchanging identiiers. TheoryBase can generate a large variety of examples of default theories and logic programs. We believe that its universal adoption may signiicantly advance experimental studies of nonmonotonic reasoning systems.
On Test Data Generation of Object-Oriented Software

Nowadays, object-oriented (OO) languages are widely used in the development of many different kinds of applications. However, testing those applications is still very expensive and time-consuming for the software community. The automation of this task would therefore be highly desirable. Although automatic testing of procedural software has been studied in depth for many years, comparatively little work has been done about OO software. Different techniques exist. However, the most promising one is probably to model the task as a search problem. This paper explains why automatic testing of OO software is more difficult than procedural software. These difficulties provide strong challenges to the natural computation and software engineering communities. A brief review of the literature of the subject follows. The issues of the current state-of-art of the field are then outlined. Finally, some open research problems are discussed.
Birth Weight and Risk of Adiposity among Adult Inuit in Greenland

Objective The Inuit population in Greenland has undergone rapid socioeconomic and nutritional changes simultaneously with an increasing prevalence of obesity. Therefore, the objective was to examine fetal programming as part of the aetiology of obesity among Inuit in Greenland by investigating the association between birth weight and measures of body composition and fat distribution in adulthood. Methods The study was based on cross-sectional data from a total of 1,473 adults aged 18–61 years in two population-based surveys conducted in Greenland between 1999–2001 and 2005–2010. Information on birth weight was collected from birth records. Adiposity was assessed by anthropometry, fat mass index (FMI), fat-free mass index (FFMI), and visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) estimated by ultrasound. The associations to birth weight were analyzed using linear regression models and quadratic splines. Analyses were stratified by sex, and adjusted for age, birthplace, ancestry and family history of obesity. Results Spline analyses showed linear relations between birth weight and adult adiposity. In multiple regression analyses, birth weight was positively associated with BMI, waist circumference, FMI, FFMI and SAT with generally weaker associations among women compared to men. Birth weight was only associated with VAT after additional adjustment for waist circumference and appeared to be specific and inverse for men only. Conclusions Higher birth weight among Inuit was associated with adiposity in adulthood. More studies are needed to explore a potential inverse association between birth size and VAT.
Body Image and Subjective Well-Being in Portuguese Adolescents

Abstract The study examines the impact of body image in adolescents’ well-being. Well-being was assessed with the scale Kidscreen10, with the Cantril ladder for satisfaction with life and with an ad hoc happiness scale. The study presents data on adolescent health from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC)/World Health Organization study in Portugal (2006), with a sample of 4,877 adolescents, average age of 14 years old and gender distribution at 49,6% males. Portuguese adolescents showed differences between gender and age group regarding their body image-related satisfaction/dissatisfaction and self-perceived body image, being that both components have a direct impact on the levels of well-being. The male gender has better results in the perception of body image and, consequently, well-being. The largest inter-gender differences for well-being is at 15 years of age. The main predictors of well-being are the look and body satisfaction/dissatisfaction, with greater importance on the affective component. This research highlights the importance of body image for adolescents’ well-being, as well as to prepare educational strategies adapted to adolescents’ age and gender, by helping them to develop skills concerning self-knowledge and caring for their look.
EVALUATION OF MALARIA SCREENING IN NEWLY ARRIVED REFUGEES TO THE UNITED STATES BY MICROSCOPY AND RAPID ANTIGEN CAPTURE ENZYME ASSAY

Before an empiric malaria treatment program, >60% of Liberian refugees had malaria on arrival to Minnesota. We compared microscopy with rapid antigen testing for detecting asymptomatic parasitemia. Nine of 103 (8.7%) had malaria by polymerase chain reaction (blood smear and rapid testing had a sensitivity of 22%). The empiric treatment program has decreased the rate of imported asymptomatic malaria. Blood film and rapid antigen testing are poor screening tests.
Sequence, haplotype, and association analysis of ADRbeta2 in a multiethnic asthma case-control study.

RATIONALE The comprehensive evaluation of gene variation, haplotype structure, and linkage disequilibrium is important in understanding the function of beta2-adrenergic receptor gene (ADRbeta2) on disease susceptibility, pulmonary function, and therapeutic responses in different ethnic groups with asthma. OBJECTIVES To identify ADRbeta2 polymorphisms and haplotype structure in white and African American subjects and to test for genotype and haplotype association with asthma phenotypes. METHODS A 5.3-kb region of ADRbeta2 was resequenced in 669 individuals from 429 whites and 240 African Americans. A total of 12 polymorphisms, representing an optimal haplotype tagging set, were genotyped in whites (338 patients and 326 control subjects) and African Americans (222 patients and 299 control subjects). RESULTS A total of 49 polymorphisms were identified, 21 of which are novel; 31 polymorphisms (frequency > 0.03) were used to identify 24 haplotypes (frequency > 0.01) and assess linkage disequilibrium. Association with ratio (FEV1/FVC)2 for single-nucleotide polymorphism +79 (p < 0.05) was observed in African Americans. Significant haplotype association for (FEV1/FVC)2 was also observed in African Americans. CONCLUSIONS There are additional genetic variants besides +46 (Gly16Arg) that are important in determining asthma phenotypes. These data suggest that the length of a poly-C repeat (+1269) in the 3' untranslated region of ADRbeta2 may influence lung function, and may be important in delineating variation in beta-agonist responses, especially in African Americans.
Shrinking Lung Syndrome in a 14‐Year‐Old Boy with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Pulmonary complications occur frequently in people with systemic lupus erythematosus. We report on an adolescent with an acute onset of dyspnea and pleuritic chest pain with severe restrictive lung physiology on pulmonary function testing (forced vital capacity, 20% of predicted) who had no evidence of parenchymal lung or pleural disease. He was found to have restricted diaphragmatic movement as assessed by fluoroscopy, without evidence of generalized respiratory muscle weakness. His clinical presentation and results of diagnostic tests were typical for shrinking lung syndrome. Given the rarity of shrinking lung syndrome in the pediatric age range, many clinicians are not aware of it as a clinical entity. Shrinking lung syndrome should be included in the differential diagnosis of dyspnea in both children and adults with systemic lupus erythematosus. Pediatr Pulmonol. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Gene–gene interactions between HNF4A and KCNJ11 in predicting Type 2 diabetes in women

Aims Recent studies indicate transcription factor hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF‐4α, HNF4A) modulates the transcription of the pancreatic B‐cell ATP‐sensitive K+ (KATP) channel subunit Kir6.2 gene (KCNJ11). Both HNF4A and KCNJ11 have previously been associated with diabetes risk but little is known whether the variations in these genes interact with each other.
Predicting When Saliency Maps are Accurate and Eye Fixations Consistent

Many computational models of visual attention use image features and machine learning techniques to predict eye fixation locations as saliency maps. Recently, the success of Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (DCNNs) for object recognition has opened a new avenue for computational models of visual attention due to the tight link between visual attention and object recognition. In this paper, we show that using features from DCNNs for object recognition we can make predictions that enrich the information provided by saliency models. Namely, we can estimate the reliability of a saliency model from the raw image, which serves as a meta-saliency measure that may be used to select the best saliency algorithm for an image. Analogously, the consistency of the eye fixations among subjects, i.e. the agreement between the eye fixation locations of different subjects, can also be predicted and used by a designer to assess whether subjects reach a consensus about salient image locations.
Absence of the Macrophage Mannose Receptor in Mice Does Not Increase Susceptibility to Pneumocystis carinii Infection In Vivo

ABSTRACT Host defense against the opportunistic pathogen Pneumocystis carinii requires functional interactions of many cell types. Alveolar macrophages are presumed to be a vital host cell in the clearance of P. carinii, and the mechanisms of this interaction have come under scrutiny. The macrophage mannose receptor is believed to play an important role as a receptor involved in the binding and phagocytosis of P. carinii. Although there is in vitro evidence for this interaction, the in vivo role of this receptor in P. carinii clearance in unclear. Using a mouse model in which the mannose receptor has been deleted, we found that the absence of this receptor is not sufficient to allow infection by P. carinii in otherwise immunocompetent mice. Furthermore, when mice were rendered susceptible to P. carinii by CD4+ depletion, mannose receptor knockout mice (MR-KO) had pathogen loads equal to those of wild-type mice. However, the MR-KO mice exhibited a greater influx of phagocytes into the alveoli during infection. This was accompanied by increased pulmonary pathology in the MR-KO mice, as well as greater accumulation of glycoproteins in the alveoli (glycoproteins, including harmful hydrolytic enzymes, are normally cleared by the mannose receptor). We also found that the surface expression of the mannose receptor is not downregulated during P. carinii infection in wild-type mice. Our findings suggest that while the macrophage mannose receptor may be important in the recognition of P. carinii, in vivo, this mechanism may be redundant, and the absence of this receptor may be compensated for.
A Comparative Study on Parenting of Preschool Children Between the Chinese in China and Chinese Immigrants in the United States

The goal of this questionnaire-based study was to compare the relative endorsement of specific parenting patterns among two ethnic Chinese groups rearing preschool children: Chinese parents in China (N = 117) and first-generation Chinese immigrant parents in the United States (N = 94). A significant interaction effect was found between country and gender on the nonreasoning/punitive dimension of authoritarian parenting, revealing that Chinese fathers endorsed this pattern more strongly than both Chinese immigrant fathers and Chinese mothers. There was also a significant interaction effect between country and gender on the practice of shaming/love withdrawal, indicating that Chinese fathers espoused this pattern more strongly than Chinese immigrant fathers and Chinese mothers, but Chinese immigrant mothers endorsed it more strongly than Chinese immigrant fathers. Furthermore, it was revealed that Chinese immigrants endorsed beliefs about maternal involvement more strongly than their Chinese counterparts. The results are discussed in the context of cultural and contextual influences.
Exploiting Data-Usage Statistics for Website Fingerprinting Attacks on Android

The browsing behavior of a user allows to infer personal details, such as health status, political interests, sexual orientation, etc. In order to protect this sensitive information and to cope with possible privacy threats, defense mechanisms like SSH tunnels and anonymity networks (e.g., Tor) have been established. A known shortcoming of these defenses is that website fingerprinting attacks allow to infer a user's browsing behavior based on traffic analysis techniques. However, website fingerprinting typically assumes access to the client's network or to a router near the client, which restricts the applicability of these attacks. In this work, we show that this rather strong assumption is not required for website fingerprinting attacks. Our client-side attack overcomes several limitations and assumptions of network-based fingerprinting attacks, e.g., network conditions and traffic noise, disabled browser caches, expensive training phases, etc. Thereby, we eliminate assumptions used for academic purposes and present a practical attack that can be implemented easily and deployed on a large scale. Eventually, we show that an unprivileged application can infer the browsing behavior by exploiting the unprotected access to the Android data-usage statistics. More specifically, we are able to infer 97% of 2,500 page visits out of a set of 500 monitored pages correctly. Even if the traffic is routed through Tor by using the Orbot proxy in combination with the Orweb browser, we can infer 95% of 500 page visits out of a set of 100 monitored pages correctly. Thus, the READ_HISTORY_BOOKMARKS permission, which is supposed to protect the browsing behavior, does not provide protection.
Influence of substrate and pH on the diversity of the aeroterrestrial alga Klebsormidium (Klebsormidiales, Streptophyta): a potentially important factor for sympatric speciation

Abstract: Our knowledge of the processes involved in speciation of microalgae remains highly limited. In the present study, we investigated a potential role of ecological speciation processes in diversification of the filamentous green alga Klebsormidium. We examined 12 strains representing four different genotypes. The strains were collected from sandstone and limestone rocks and were cultivated at five different pH levels ranging from pH 4 to pH 8. We determined the responses of the 12 strains to the experimental pH conditions by (1) measuring the effective quantum yield of photosystem II, and (2) determining the growth rates after cultivation at different pH levels. Strong differences were found between the results obtained by these two methods. Direct counting of cells revealed a strong ecological differentiation of strains of Klebsormidium isolated from different substrate types. Strains isolated from limestone showed the highest growth rates at higher pH levels; whereas, the strains isolated from sandstone exhibited two distinct growth responses with optima at pH 5 and 6, respectively. In contrast, the effective quantum yield of photosystem II was always down-regulated at lower pH values, probably due to dissolved inorganic carbon limitation. In general, we determined distinct ecophysiological differentiation among distantly and closely related lineages, thereby corroborating our hypothesis that the sympatric speciation of terrestrial algae is driven by ecological divergence. We clearly showed that pH is a critical ecological factor that influences the diversity of autotrophic protists in terrestrial habitats.
Incidence by occupation and industry of acute work related respiratory diseases in the UK, 1992–2001

Aims: To summarise incidence rates and epidemiological characteristics of new cases of work related respiratory disease reported by specialist physicians in thoracic and occupational medicine, with particular reference to occupation, industry, and causal agents for asthma, inhalation accidents, and allergic alveolitis. Methods: Cases reported 1992–2001 to the SWORD and OPRA national surveillance schemes, in which almost all UK chest and occupational physicians participate, were analysed by age, sex, cause, occupation, and industry, with incidence rates calculated against appropriate denominators. Results: Excluding diseases of long latency, infrequently seen by occupational physicians, the distribution of diagnoses in the two specialties was similar, but with rates generally much higher in occupational than chest physicians. Occupational asthma was responsible for about 25% of cases overall, affecting mainly craft related occupations and machinists, and most often attributed to isocyanates, metals, grains, wood dusts, solders, and welding fume. These same occupations were those at highest risk from inhalation injuries, most frequently caused by irritant gases, vapours, and fume. Among medical technicians and nurses, however, glutaraldehyde and latex were the main causes of occupational asthma. Allergic alveolitis was seldom reported, with almost all cases in agriculture, forestry, and fishing. Conclusion: During the 10 year period studied, there were few changes in level of reported incidence, apart from some decline in occupational asthma and inhalation injuries. These results and their implications should be distinguished from much higher estimates of asthma made worse by work derived from population surveys, based on prevalence rather than incidence, and self-reported symptoms rather than diagnoses made by specialist physicians. Even so, the reported incidence of new cases of acute respiratory illness caused by work remains substantial.