Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Iron Acquired from Transferrin by K562 Cells Is Delivered into a Cytoplasmic Pool of Chelatable Iron(II) (*)

The release of iron from transferrin (Tf) in the acidic milieu of endosomes and its translocation into the cytosol are integral steps in the process of iron acquisition via receptor-mediated endocytosis (RME). The translocated metal is thought to enter a low molecular weight cytoplasmic pool, presumed to contain the form of iron which is apparently sensed by iron responsive proteins and is the direct target of iron chelators. The process of iron delivery into the cytoplasmic chelatable pool of K562 cells was studied in situ by continuous monitoring of the fluorescence of cells loaded with the metal-sensitive probe calcein. Upon exposure to Tf at 37°C, intracellular fluorescence decayed, corresponding to an initial iron uptake of 40 nM/min. The Tf-mediated iron uptake was profoundly inhibited by weak bases, the protonophore monensin, energy depletion, or low temperatures (<25°C), all properties characteristic of RME. Cell iron levels were affected by the slowly permeating chelator desferrioxamine only after prolonged incubations. Conversely, rapidly penetrating, lipophilic iron(II) chelators such as 2,2′-bipyridyl, evoked swift increases in cell calcein fluorescence, equivalent to sequestration of 0.2-0.5 μM cytosolic iron, depending on the degree of pre-exposure to Tf. Addition of iron(III) chelators to permeabilized 2,2′-bipyridyl-treated cells, failed to reveal significant levels of chelatable iron(III). The finding that the bulk of the in situ cell chelatable pool is comprised of iron(II) was corroborated by pulsing K562 cells with Tf-Fe, followed by addition of iron(II) and/or iron(III) chelators and extraction of chelator-Fe complexes into organic solvent. Virtually all of the accumulated Fe in the chelatable pool could be complexed by iron(II) chelators. The cytoplasmic concentration of iron(II) fluctuated between 0.3 and 0.5 μM, and its mean transit time through the chelatable pool was 1-2 h. We conclude that after iron is translocated from the endosomes, it is maintained in the cytosol as a transit pool of chelatable iron(II). The ostensible absence of chelatable iron(III) implicates the intracellular operation of vigorous reductive mechanisms.
Lack of association of fibromyalgia with hepatitis C virus infection.

OBJECTIVE An association between chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and fibromyalgia (FM) remains controversial, mainly because previous studies were based on prevalent case series or comparisons with less than optimal control groups. We investigated whether there might be an association between chronic HCV infection and FM. METHODS We prospectively investigated the prevalence of HCV infection in a series of 115 patients with FM and compared it with the prevalence in the general population of our community reported in the same period. Anti-HCV antibodies were determined by ELISA. In positive cases, infection was confirmed by recombinant immunoblot assay and HCV-RNA was detected by PCR using sera samples. Differences between prevalence rates were assessed by chi-square test. RESULTS HCV infection was confirmed in 3 of 115 patients with FM (2.6%). Two of these patients (1.74%) had active HCV infection shown by the presence of viral RNA in serum, whereas HCV RNA was undetectable in the third patient. In these cases, liver disease had previously been undiagnosed and HCV infection manifested itself by extrahepatic symptoms. Although the prevalence of HCV infection was slightly higher in patients with FM than in the general population in the age groups 25-44 and 45-64 years, when we compared prevalence rates in the total group and the different age groups, no statistically significant differences were found. CONCLUSION From our results, it seems unlikely that HCV infection plays a pathogenic role in FM.
Linking Fine-Grained Locations in User Comments

Many domain-specific websites host a profile page for each entity (e.g., locations on Foursquare, movies on IMDb, and products on Amazon) for users to post comments on. When commenting on an entity, users often mention other entities for reference or comparison. Compared with web pages and tweets, the problem of disambiguating the mentioned entities in user comments has not received much attention. This paper investigates linking fine-grained locations in Foursquare comments. We demonstrate that the focal location, i.e., the location that a comment is posted on, provides rich contexts for the linking task. To exploit such information, we represent the Foursquare data in a graph, which includes locations, comments, and their relations. A probabilistic model named FocalLink is proposed to estimate the probability that a user mentions a location when commenting on a focal location, by following different kinds of relations. Experimental results show that FocalLink is consistently superior under different collective linking settings.
Cardiorespiratory effects of manually compressing the rib cage during tidal expiration in mechanically ventilated patients recovering from acute severe asthma.

OBJECTIVES To determine the cardiorespiratory effects of manual expiratory rib cage compression in mechanically ventilated patients recovering from acute severe asthma; and to extrapolate these findings to emergency asthma management where ventilation cannot be achieved by positive-pressure ventilation. DESIGN A prospective, clinical study. SETTING Intensive care unit. PATIENTS Four intubated, mechanically ventilated (volume-controlled), adult patients recovering from acute severe asthma. INTERVENTIONS Patients were studied before, during, and after a 2- to 3-min period of manual compressions applied bilaterally over the lower rib cage (ribs 8 to 10) during consecutive tidal expirations. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Air flow (pneumotachograph), airway pressure, radial or brachial arterial pressure, and the hand pressure applied to the patient's rib cage were monitored and recorded on magnetic tape. Playback of the recorded data enabled measurement of changes in lung volume (air flow integration). Changes during rib cage compression consisted chiefly of small decreases in lung volume and peak inspiratory airway pressure that were only observed in the least obstructed patient and were fully reversed after the cessation of compressions. Air flow-time and air flow-volume plots demonstrated expiratory air flow limitation during essentially the entire tidal expiration in each patient, except the least obstructed patient. CONCLUSION The results suggest that manual compression of the rib cage during consecutive tidal expirations would be ineffective in reducing pulmonary hyperinflation during the emergency management of asthma when air flow obstruction is so severe that ventilation cannot be achieved by positive-pressure ventilation.
Identification of the iron-sulfur clusters in a ferredoxin from the archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. Evidence for a reduced [3Fe-4S] cluster with pH-dependent electronic properties.

A ferredoxin isolated from the archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius strain DSM 639 has been shown to contain one [3Fe-4S]1 + 10 cluster with a reduction potential of -275 mV and one [4Fe-4S]2+/1+ cluster with a reduction potential of -529 mV at pH 6.4, in the temperature range 0-50 degrees C. The monomer molecular mass was confirmed to be 10907.5 +/- 1.0 Da by electrospray mass spectrometry, as calculated from the published amino acid sequence [Minami, Y. Wakabayashi. S. , Wada, K. , Matsubara, H. , Kerscher, L. & Oesterhelt, D. (1985) J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 97, 745-751], while the holoprotein molecular mass was found to be 11,550 +/- 1.0 Da. The reduced [3Fe-4S]0 cluster was also shown by direct electrochemistry and magnetic circular dichroic spectroscopy to undergo a one-proton uptake reaction as first observed for Azotobacter chroococcum ferredoxin I [George, S. J., Richards, A. J. M. , Thomson, A. J. & Yates, M. G. (1984) Biochem. J. 224, 247-251]. The pKa of the protonation step has been determined by a novel thin film electrochemical method to be 5.8. This is significantly different from the pKa of 7.7 determined for A. vinelandii ferredoxin I [Shen, B. , Martin, L. L. , Butt, J. N. , Armstrong, F. A. , Stout, C. D. , Jensen, J. M. , Stephens, P. J., LaMar, G. N. , Gorst, C. M. & Burgess, B. K. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 25928-25939] and indicates that the polypeptide chain around the [3Fe-4S] cluster controls this reaction. Although this appears to be only the second reported case of protonation at or near the reduced [3Fe-4S]0 cluster, its observation in S. acidocaldarius ferredoxin raises the question of the generality of this chemistry for 3Fe clusters. The similarity of the pKa to the estimated intracellular pH of S. acidocaldarius strongly suggests a physiological role for this process.
Warthin-like papillary carcinoma of the thyroid.

BACKGROUND Warthin-like papillary carcinoma of thyroid is characterized by distinct papillary formations lined by tumor cells with oncocytic cytoplasm, nuclear features of papillary carcinoma, and brisk lymphoplasmacytic infiltrates in the papillary stalks. This tumor derives its name from its close resemblance to Warthin tumor of major salivary glands. DESIGN The clinicopathologic features of 17 patients with Warthin-like papillary carcinoma were studied. RESULTS Fifteen tumors occurred in women and 2 arose in men (age range, 23-63 years). The lesions ranged in size from 3 mm to 2.5 cm. Fine-needle aspiration biopsies were performed in 7 cases; 4 were diagnosed as papillary carcinoma, 2 as consistent with lymphocytic thyroiditis, and 1 as atypical cells. All 17 tumors were confined to the thyroid; 6 showed prominent cyst formation and the remaining tumors were solid. In each case, the tumor arose in a background of lymphocytic thyroiditis. Nodal metastases were identified in 3 cases; however, none showed distant metastases. In 7 cases, foci of papillary microcarcinoma and follicular variant of papillary carcinoma were found in other areas of the thyroid. CONCLUSIONS Warthin-like tumors can be mistaken for benign lymphoepithelial lesions of the thyroid, Hürthle cell carcinoma, and tall cell variant of papillary carcinoma in both fine-needle aspiration and histology specimens. Follow-up information on the previously reported cases has suggested that these tumors behave similarly to usual papillary carcinoma. The extensive lymphocytic infiltration in these tumors and their association with chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis may suggest a role for immunological mechanisms in the pathogenesis of thyroid tumors.
Improved-Booth encoding for low-power multipliers

This paper shows that a simple modification to the Booth-encoding algorithm can be used to increase the probability of a zero coded digit. This increases the probability of a zero in the partial product bits of a Booth-encoded multiplier and reduces the average number of transitions in the partial product bits by 3.75% over the traditional Booth-encoding algorithm for a random input sequence. In addition, we show that the transition probability of carry-bits in the partial product adders is directly related to the transition probability of the partial product bits, and is reduced by approximately 3.75% to 7%. HSPICE simulations show that the proposed encoding can reduce the power dissipation by more than 4% for a 16/spl times/16 two's complement linear array and a Wallace tree multiplier core.
Photoinactivation of an identified motoneurone in the locust Locusta migratoria.

1. The common inhibitory motoneurone 1 (CI1) in the mesothoracic ganglion of the locust was photoinactivated using a helium-cadmium laser or a mercury lamp as light source. Treated animals showed no signs of abnormal locomotory behaviour over periods of up to 40 days. 2. Photoinactivation of part of the neurone in the ganglion, i.e. the soma and the primary neurite, is sufficient to cause irreversible degeneration of all the peripheral extensions of the neurone. Three weeks after photoinactivation, all GABA immunoreactivity had disappeared from the axon branches of the photoinactivated neurone and from their terminals on one of the target muscles investigated, the anterior coxa rotator M92, and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials could no longer be elicited through stimulation. This was taken as proof of functional denervation of the muscle with regard to its inhibitory input. By this time, the axon of CI1 in nerve N3C1, which supplies M92, had also disappeared. 3. Animals treated during the fourth or fifth instars showed a permanent loss of the photoinactivated mesothoracic CI1 neurone after moulting into adulthood. 4. Denervation of M92 in the middle legs of instars and adults by axotomy of N3 always led to rapid functional reinnervation of the muscle. The first sign of reinnervation (excitatory neuromuscular activity upon mechanical stimulation of the tarsi) was detected electrophysiologically as early as 8 days after severing the motor nerve. 5. The elimination of CI1 by photoinactivation for a period of up to 40 days did not influence parameters of the target muscle, such as size, number of fibres and phenotypes of fibres defined histochemically according to their myofibrillar ATPase isoforms, irrespective of whether the operation was performed in instars or adults. Similarly, the short period of denervation following axotomy before reinnervation took place did not affect the fibre type composition of the muscle.
Developing T lymphocytes are uniquely sensitive to a lack of topoisomerase III alpha

All organisms possess at least one type IA DNA topoisomerase. These topoisomerases function as part of a DNA structure‐specific “dissolvasome,” also known as the RTR complex, which has critical functions in faithful DNA replication, recombination, and chromosome segregation. In humans, the heteromeric RTR complex consists of RMI1, RMI2, the Bloom's syndrome gene product (BLM), and topoisomerase 3A (TOP3A) proteins. Here, we describe the identification and characterization of two deleterious mutations in the zebrafish top3a gene that reveal an unexpected tissue‐specific requirement of top3a function in developing thymocytes. Deficiency in top3a activates a p53‐dependent check‐point but does not affect VDJ recombination. Our results suggest that TOP3A could be a candidate gene involved in human primary immunodeficiency syndromes.
Comparative genomic hybridization based strategy for the analysis of different chromosome imbalances detected in conventional cytogenetic diagnostics

Today, conventional cytogenetics (CC) is the main technique in routine genetic diagnostics for the analysis of genotype/phenotype correlations. Additionally, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has proven to be useful for the characterization of structural chromosome aberrations found in conventional cytogenetics. Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) is a molecular cytogenetic FISH approach developed for the detection of genomic imbalances with cytogenetic resolution. CGH allows the genome-wide assessment of relative DNA copy number changes using extracted specimen DNA as a probe. We investigated the capacity of CGH in cases referred for conventional cytogenetic diagnostics for the detection of chromosome imbalances. Three different groups of conspicuous karyotypes after CC (intrachromosomal rearrangements, interchromosomal rearrangements, and additional marker chromosomes) in pre- and postnatal diagnostic cases were surveyed by CGH to characterize the underlying imbalances of chromosome segments. All together, we investigated more than 100 cases by CGH and validated the results with other molecular cytogenetic methods. Here we present eight of these cases in order to demonstrate our CGH based strategy to analyze chromosomal de novo rearrangements. CGH provided additional cytogenetic information to complement conventional cytogenetic investigations. Additionally, CGH refined the description of the aberrant chromosome segments allowing us to further characterize the underlying mechanisms involved.
İLKOKUL VE ORTAOKUL ÖĞRETMENLERİNİN ÇOKKÜLTÜRLÜ EĞİTİM TUTUMLARI VE DEMOKRATİK TUTUMLARININ ÇEŞİTLİ DEĞİŞKENLER AÇISINDAN İNCELENMESİ

Bu calismada; ilkokul ve ortaokul ogretmenlerinin cokkulturlu egitim tutumlari ve demokratik tutumlarinin cinsiyet, yas, brans, kidem, okul turu, yerlesim yeri degiskenlerine gore incelenmesi, cokkulturlu egitim tutumlari ile demokratik tutumlari arasindaki iliskinin belirlenmesi amaclanmaktadir. Arastirmada iliskisel tarama modeli icinde yer alan tesadufi olmayan ornekleme yontemi kullanilmistir. Arastirmanin orneklemini 2014-2015 egitim-ogretim yili bahar doneminde Sivas il merkezinde MEB’e bagli 10 ilkokul ve 8 ortaokul olmak uzere toplamda 18 farkli okulda gorev yapmakta olan, 118’i bayan, 120’si erkek 238 ogretmen olusturmaktadir. Bu ogretmenlerin brans dagilimi; 99 Sinif, 29 Turkce, 29 Matematik, 26 Fen ve Teknoloji, 19 Sosyal Bilgiler, 18 Ingilizce, 11 Rehberlik ve 7 Beden Egitimi seklinde olusmustur. Arastirmada Yazici, Basol ve Toprak (2009) tarafindan gelistirilen “Ogretmenler Icin Cokkulturlu Egitim Tutumu Olcegi” ve Gozutok (1995) tarafindan gelistirilen “Ogretmen Demokratik Tutum Olcegi” kullanilmistir. Arastirma verilerinin analizinde; Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S), Aritmetik Ortalama, Standart Sapma, Bagimsiz T Testi, Anova, Spearman Brown Korelasyon Katsayisi kullanilmistir. Ogretmenlerin cokkulturlu egitim tutumlarinin cinsiyet, brans ve okul turu degiskenlerine gore, demokratik tutumlarinin ise cinsiyet, yas, brans, kidem, okul turu ve yerlesim birimi degiskenlerine gore anlamli farklilik gosterdigi belirlenmistir. Ogretmenlerin cokkulturlu egitim tutumlari ve demokratik tutumlari arasindaki korelasyona bakilmis ve negatif yonde zayif bir iliskinin bulundugu belirlenmistir.
GABRG1 and GABRA2 variation associated with alcohol dependence in African Americans.

BACKGROUND GABRG1 and GABRA2, genes that encode the γ1 and α2 subunits, respectively, of the GABA-A receptor, are located in a cluster on chromosome 4p. Association of alcohol dependence (AD) with markers located at the 3' region of GABRA2 has been replicated in several studies, but recent studies suggested the possibility that the signal may be attributable to the adjacent gene, GABRG1, located 90 kb distant in the 3' direction. Owing to strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) in European Americans (EAs), the origin, or origins, of the association signal is very difficult to discern, but our previous population-based study suggested that decreased LD across the GABRG1-GABRA2 region in African Americans (AAs) may be useful for fine mapping and resolution of the association signal in that population. METHODS To examine these associations in greater detail, we genotyped 13 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning GABRG1 and GABRA2 in 380 AAs with AD and in 253 AA controls. RESULTS Although there was no association between any individual SNP and AD, a highly significant difference was shown between AD subjects and controls in the frequency of a 3-SNP GABRA2 haplotype (global p = 0.00029). A similar level of significance was obtained in 6-SNP haplotypes that combined tagging SNPs from both genes (global p = 0.00994). High statistical significance was also shown with a 6-SNP haplotype (T-G-C-G-T-A), p = 0.0033. The T-G-C-G-T-A haplotype contains the most significant GABRA2 3-SNP haplotype (p = 0.00019), G-T-A. CONCLUSIONS These findings reflect the interrelationship between these 2 genes and the likelihood that risk loci exist in each of them. Study of an AA population allowed evaluation of these associations at higher genomic resolution than is possible in a EA population, owing to the much lower LD across these loci in AAs.
Control of Interferon, Migration Inhibition Factor, and Expression of Virus Capsid Antigens in Burkitt's Lymphoma-Derived Cell Lines: Role of l-Arginine

The effects of an arginine-utilizing mycoplasma, Mycoplasma arginini, and of varying levels of arginine in the growth media of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-containing EB1 and EB3 cell lines, and the EBV-free RPMI 1788 cell line, were studied. l-Arginine, at a concentration of 0.1 mM in the growth medium, led to a reduction of the EBV capsid antigen content of the EB1 and EB3 cells lines as determined by indirect immunofluorescence, and M. arginini infection enhanced this reduction. The synthesis of two immune products, interferon and macrophage migration inhibition factor, was enhanced by growing the cell lines in medium containing arginine at a concentration of 0.1 mM, but the RPMI 1788 cell line produced much less of both products than EB1 or EB3 under these conditions. Infection of the cell lines with M. arginini reduced the amount of interferon produced and completely inhibited macrophage migration inhibition factor synthesis. The addition of arginine to a final concentration of 0.6 mM in the growth medium caused a dual effect: the EB1 and EB3 cell lines maintained the original level of EBV capsid antigens, even when infected with M. arginini; immune product synthesis was greatly reduced or completely inhibited by the addition of arginine, and M. arginini infection caused no further reduction of immune product synthesis.
Quality of life and self-reported disability in patients with knee osteoarthritis

ObjectivesOsteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disorder and a major public health problem throughout the world. The aims of this study are to assess quality of life (QoL) in patients with knee OA using the generic instrument Short Form-36 (SF-36) and to determine its relationships with conventional clinical measures and self-reported disability.MethodsPatients with knee OA (n = 112) with median age of 60 (45–76) years and 40 sex- and age-matched healthy controls were included in the study. Age, sex, body mass index (BMI), symptom duration, and Kellgren–Lawrence scores were recorded. QoL, disability, and pain were assessed using the SF-36, the Western Ontario and McMaster (WOMAC) index, the Lequesne index, and a visual analog scale (VAS) in patients. Also, QoL was assessed using the SF-36 in controls.ResultsPatients with knee OA had lower scores in all subgroups of SF-36 compared with controls. In patients, the SF-36 physical function (PF) and pain areas significantly correlated with effusion, VAS pain, and Lequesne and WOMAC subgroup scores (p < 0.05). The pain area of QoL did not show correlation with comorbidity with knee OA. We found that SF-36 and WOMAC pain scores were more severe in female patients.ConclusionsPatients with knee OA had significantly poorer QoL compared with healthy controls. SF-36 is related to the clinical status and functional ability of patients with OA and can be used as a sensitive health status measure for clinical evaluation. Also WOMAC can be used as a sensitive measure for disability of patients with knee OA.