Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vivo production of interleukin‐10 by malignant cells in AIDS lymphomas

Expression of the interleukin (IL)‐10/BCRF1 gene was studied by in situ hybridization in tissue samples from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) lymphomas using a BCRF1 probe which also recognizes the human IL‐10 sequence. Hybridization was detected in 8 out of 15 lymphomas. In contrast, the IL‐10/BCRF1 gene expression was detected in only 1 out of 11 lymphomas from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐seronegative patients (p = 0.05). In AIDS lymphomas, the number of cells labeled with a BCRF1‐specific probe was dramatically lower than that of cells labeled with the IL‐10/BCRF1 probe. Thus, the IL‐10 rather than the BCRF1 gene was expressed. Production of IL‐10 was associated with that of IL‐10 mRNA, as shown by immunodetection of the protein in numerous cells. In contrast, BCRF1‐producing cells were rarely detected. Both in situ hybridization and immunochemical experiments indicated that malignant cells were involved in this IL‐10 synthesis. IL‐10 production in AIDS lymphomas was associated with the presence of Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) in lymphomatous cells (p = 0.02). As IL‐10 is a potent growth factor for human B lymphocytes, these results suggest that IL‐10 may stimulate the proliferation of malignant cells in an autocrine pathway in a number of AIDS lymphomas, and that EBV and HIV may synergistically trigger its production.
Daikenchuto (TU‐100) alters murine hepatic and intestinal drug metabolizing enzymes in an in vivo dietary model: effects of gender and withdrawal

Herbal medicines and natural products used for maintenance of health or treatment of diseases have many biological effects, including altering the pharmacokinetics and metabolism of other medications. Daikenchuto (TU‐100), an aqueous extract of ginger, ginseng, and Japanese green pepper fruit, is a commonly prescribed Kampo (Japanese herbal medicine) for postoperative ileus or bloating. The effects of TU‐100 on drug metabolism have not been investigated. In this study, we analyzed the effect of TU‐100 on expression of key drug‐metabolizing enzymes (DMEs) and drug transporters (DTs) in murine liver and gastrointestinal tract using a dietary model. Liver, jejunum, and proximal colon were analyzed for phase I and II DMEs and DT mRNA expression by reverse transcription (RT) first by nonquantitative and followed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and protein expression. Liver, jejunum, and proximal colon expressed some identical but also unique DMEs and DTs. TU‐100 increased the greatest changes in cytochrome (Cyp) 2b10 and Cyp3a11 and Mdr1a. Basal and TU‐100 stimulated levels of DME and DT expression were gender‐dependent, dose‐dependent and reversible after cessation of TU‐100 supplementation, except for some changes in the intestine. Quantitative Western blot analysis of protein extracts confirmed the quantitative PCR results.
Reliability and validity of the chinese version of the job content questionnaire in Taiwanese workers

The reliability and validity of four selected scales—namely, job control, psychological demands, supervisor support, and coworker support—from the Chinese Version of the Job Content Questionnaire (C—JCL) were studied in 551 male and 648 female workers in Taiwan. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for job control, supervisor support, and coworker support were all above . 80. Whereas it was . 55 for psychological demands, indicating insufficient internal consistency for this subscale. Participants responded to questionnaire items relatively consistently over a 3-month period. Exploratory factor analyses disclosed 4 empirical factors, which corresponded closely with theoretical constructsofthe JCL.As predicted by the model, lowest levels of job satisfaction were found in workers in “iso-strain” category (i.e., high demands combined with low control and low social support). These findings indicated that the C—JCL is reliable and valid for assessing psychosocial work conditions among Taiwanese workers, although further improvement is needed for the psychological demands subscale.
Fatty Acids Activate Transcription of the Muscle Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase I Gene in Cardiac Myocytes via the Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor α*

To explore the gene regulatory mechanisms involved in the metabolic control of cardiac fatty acid oxidative flux, the expression of muscle-type carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (M-CPT I) was characterized in primary cardiac myocytes in culture following exposure to the long-chain mono-unsaturated fatty acid, oleate. Oleate induced steady-state levels of M-CPT I mRNA 4.5-fold. The transcription of a plasmid construct containing the human M-CPT I gene promoter region fused to a luciferase gene reporter transfected into cardiac myocytes, was induced over 20-fold by long-chain fatty acid in a concentration-dependent and fatty acyl-chain length-specific manner. The M-CPT I gene promoter fatty acid response element (FARE-1) was localized to a hexameric repeat sequence located between 775 and 763 base pairs upstream of the initiator codon. Cotransfection experiments with expression vectors for the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) demonstrated that FARE-1 is a PPARα response element capable of conferring oleate-mediated transcriptional activation to homologous or heterologous promoters. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated that PPARα bound FARE-1 with the retinoid X receptor α. The expression of M-CPT I in hearts of mice null for PPARα was approximately 50% lower than levels in wild-type controls. Moreover, a PPARα activator did not induce cardiac expression of the M-CPT I gene in the PPARα null mice. These results demonstrate that long-chain fatty acids regulate the transcription of a gene encoding a pivotal enzyme in the mitochondrial fatty acid uptake pathway in cardiac myocytes and define a role for PPARα in the control of myocardial lipid metabolism.
The Regulation of Public Company Auditing: Evidence from the Transition to AS5

The replacement of Auditing Standard No. 2 (AS2) by Auditing Standard No. 5 (AS5) creates a natural experiment that sheds light on (1) potential inefficiencies caused by regulatory responses to a political crisis and (2) audit efficiency and effectiveness improvements resulting from the risk-based approach embodied in AS5. We study these effects by examining the impact of AS5 on audit fees. We find that AS5 audit fees are aligned with auditee fraud risk, but not AS2 audit fees. Second, relative to AS2 benchmark levels, AS5 audit fees are, on average, lower for all auditees. Third, relative to AS2 benchmarks, AS5 fees are lower for lower-fraud-risk auditees but greater for higher-fraud-risk auditees. Overall, the evidence is consistent with (1) initial overregulation (via AS2) followed by reform (via AS5) and (2) auditors deploying a risk-based audit approach to obtain both efficiency and potential effectiveness gains in audit production.
Signal Postprocessing and Reflectivity Calibration of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program 915-MHz Wind Profilers

AbstractThe Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program has recently initiated a new research avenue toward a better characterization of the transition from cloud to precipitation. Dual-wavelength techniques applied to millimeter-wavelength radars and a Rayleigh reference have a great potential for rain-rate retrievals directly from dual-wavelength ratio measurements. In this context, the recent reconfiguration of the ARM 915-MHz wind profilers in a vertically pointing mode makes these instruments the ideal candidate for providing the Rayleigh reflectivity/Doppler velocity reference. Prior to any scientific study, the wind profiler data must be carefully quality checked. This work describes the signal postprocessing steps that are essential for the delivery of high-quality reflectivity and mean Doppler velocity products—that is, the estimation of the noise floor from clear-air echoes, the absolute calibration with a collocated disdrometer, the dealiasing of Doppler velocities, and.
A tele-oncology model replacing face-to-face specialist cancer care: perspectives of patients in North Queensland

We explored the experiences of patients using the Townsville Tele-oncology clinic, where most patients are no longer seen face-to-face. All medical oncology patients who received services via telehealth at the Townsville Cancer Centre in 2012 were invited to participate in an interview. None refused. Thirty two patients were interviewed by telephone and three via videoconference at their local health service facility. Data analysis identified five major themes (quality of the consultation; communication and relationships; familiarity with technology and initial fears; local services and support; and lack of coordination of services between the local rural hospital and the major regional hospital) and each major theme included a number of sub-themes. Most patients interviewed (69%) had not seen their oncology specialist face-to-face, but 86% of them found the video-consultation to be of high quality and were extremely satisfied with the interaction. The acceptance of teleconsultation appeared to be linked to the patients' trust with their local health system and staff. Overall, the tele-oncology model that replaced face-to-face care in North Queensland was accepted and welcomed by patients.
Efficient Design of Low-Complexity Bit-Parallel Systolic Hankel Multipliers to Implement Multiplication in Normal and Dual Bases of GF (2m)

Normal and dual bases are two popular representation bases for elements in GF(2m). In general, each distinct representation basis has its associated different hardware architecture. In this paper, we will present a unified systolic array multiplication architecture for both normal and dual bases, such a unified multiplication architecture is termed a Hankel multiplier. The Hankel multiplier has lower space complexity while compared with other existing normal basis multipliers and dual basis multipliers.
Filtering location optimization for the reactive packet filtering

Blocking attack flows to protect the threatened resources is a necessary step in defending against the Distributed Denial-of-Service DDoS attacks. Two kinds of reactive packet filtering technologies have been proposed as close to victim-end filtering and close to source-ends filtering. The first scheme only involves a single Active Filtering Routers AFRs but damages the whole network bandwidth resource; another extreme scheme requires millions of AFRs and thus degrades the network transmission performance, but it has the best defense effect. A feasible scheme should use a certain quantity of AFRs to filter attack flows between the victim end and the source ends. Going one step further, in this paper, we make the first effort on studying the filtering location to maximize the protected network bandwidth while not permitting any attack flow to reach the victim. We formulate this problem to an integer linear programming problem and design an efficient heuristic filtering location algorithm. We evaluate our algorithm through integrating it into the existing filtering architecture and implementing this integration scheme on the emulated DDoS scenarios based on real-world Internet topology. Our evaluation results show that compared to the state-of-the-art source-ends filtering scheme Active Internet Traffic Filtering, this integration scheme only uses 20% of its AFRs to achieve more than 70% of its protection effect. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Changes in the surface of four calcium silicate-containing endodontic materials and an epoxy resin-based sealer after a solubility test.

AIM To compare the changes in the surface structure and elemental distribution, as well as the percentage of ion release, of four calcium silicate-containing endodontic materials with a well-established epoxy resin-based sealer, submitted to a solubility test. METHODOLOGY Solubility of AH Plus, iRoot SP, MTA Fillapex, Sealapex and MTA-Angelus (MTA-A) was tested according to ANSI/ADA Specification 57. The deionized water used in the solubility test was submitted to atomic absorption spectrophotometry to determine and quantify Ca(2+), Na(+), K(+), Zn(2+), Ni(2+) and Pb(2+) ions release. In addition, the outer and inner surfaces of nonsubmitted and submitted samples of each material to the solubility test were analysed by means of scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDX). Statistical analysis was performed by using one-way anova and Tukey's post hoc tests (α = 0.05). RESULTS Solubility results, in percentage, sorted in an increasing order were -1.24 ± 0.19 (MTA-A), 0.28 ± 0.08 (AH Plus), 5.65 ± 0.80 (Sealapex), 14.89 ± 0.73 (MTA Fillapex) and 20.64 ± 1.42 (iRoot SP). AH Plus and MTA-A were statistically similar (P > 0.05), but different from the other materials (P < 0.05). High levels of Ca(2+) ion release were observed in all groups except AH Plus sealer. MTA-A also had the highest release of Na(2+) and K(+) ions. Zn(+2) ion release was observed only with AH Plus and Sealapex sealers. After the solubility test, all surfaces had morphological changes. The loss of matrix was evident and the filler particles were more distinguishable. EDX analysis displayed high levels of calcium and carbon at the surface of Sealapex, MTA Fillapex and iRoot SP. CONCLUSIONS AH Plus and MTA-A were in accordance with ANSI/ADA's requirements regarding solubility whilst iRoot SP, MTA Fillapex and Sealapex did not fulfil ANSI/ADA's protocols. High levels of Ca(2+) ion release were observed in all materials except AH Plus. SEM/EDX analysis revealed that all samples had morphological changes in both outer and inner surfaces after the solubility test. High levels of calcium and carbon were also observed at the surface of all materials except AH Plus and MTA-A.
Physical activity and sedentary behaviour at different life stages and adult blood pressure in the 1958 British cohort

Objectives: To investigate whether physical activity or sedentary behaviour at different life stages is associated with blood pressure (BP) in mid-adulthood; activity levels have accumulative associations with BP; and adult body mass index (BMI) mediates associations. Methods: Information on activity and television-viewing was available at several ages (23, 33, 42, 45 years) and BP at 45 years for the 1958 British birth cohort (n = 9927). Associations were examined with and without adjustment for covariates. Results: Active adults, generally, had lower mean systolic and diastolic BP and risk of hypertension than nonactive, although varying by age. After adjustment for covariates, systolic and diastolic BP for active men at 23 years or at 45 years were 1–2 mmHg lower; similar associations were seen for women active at 33 years. Some but not all associations attenuated with further adjustment for BMI: odds ratio (OR) for hypertension associated with 23 years activity changed from 0.82 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74, 0.91] to 0.79 (0.70, 0.90) after BMI adjustment. Independent associations of activity at more than one age were found, such that prevalence of hypertension was higher in men active at 23 years but not at 45 years, than men sustaining activity (39 vs. 31%). Sitting at work was unrelated to BP, but there was a trend of higher BP with greater television-viewing: for example risk of hypertension was higher by 10–12% per h/day television-viewing at 45 years after adjustment for covariates, attenuating after allowance for BMI. Conclusion: Our study suggests that there are benefits to BP of becoming and sustaining active lifestyles and minimizing television-viewing over many years of adulthood, with a mediating role for BMI.
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Urban Housing in Nigeria: Evidence from Ogun State

There is a consensus among housing experts and policy makers that there are not enough resources for government alone to address growing urban housing challenges in many developing countries. Consequently, a paradigm shift from government provision to partnerships between the public and private sectors is advocated. This study examined the prospects and challenges of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in housing provision in Ogun State Southwest Nigeria. Data were derived from the review of official records and interview enquires. Findings show that Public-Private Partnership in housing in the study area is based on the joint venture approach between government agencies and corporate commercial private property developers. So far, attention has been on the provision of housing for high-income earners, while the challenges of insufficient numbers of housing units and housing affordability among low-income earners have not been addressed. The key challenges militating against Public-Private Partnership in housing are inadequate supply of land by government and housing finance, high cost of building materials, graft as well as the exclusion of low-income people from the PPPs. Given the huge housing supply deficit in Ogun State, it is argued that the future success of PPP is contingent upon addressing these challenges and the involvement of organizations that represent low-income people in the institutional framework of the PPPs.
MyoD and myogenin are coexpressed in regenerating skeletal muscle of the mouse

The differential expression of genes triggering myogenesis might cause or reflect differences among myoblasts. Little is known about the presence of MyoD1 and myogenin during the process of regeneration. We therefore examined the expression of MyoD1 and myogenin in muscle regeneration after grafting. Immunostaining of regenerating skeletal muscle of the mouse revealed the presence of both MyoD1 and myogenin. In mononucleated cells the proteins were not detected until shortly before fusion into myotubes. They persisted in the nuclei of regenerated muscle fibers for at least 2 weeks. MyoD1 and myogenin were not detected in nonregenerating control muscle.
Limited Level of Accuracy Provided by Available Rapid Diagnosis Tests for Malaria Enhances the Need for PCR-Based Reference Laboratories

ABSTRACT The rise of imported malaria cases and the high fatality rate in Europe make the search for new and easy diagnostic methods necessary. Rapid diagnosis tests (RDTs) are, in part, developed to cover the lack of diagnosis experience. Unfortunately, our data suggest that the accuracy of RDTs is insufficient and could increase the number of incorrect malaria diagnoses.
Triglycerides and cardiovascular disease: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association.

A long-standing association exists between elevated triglyceride levels and cardiovascular disease* (CVD). 1,2 However, the extent to which triglycerides directly promote CVD or represent a biomarker of risk has been debated for 3 decades.3 To this end, 2 National Institutes of Health consensus conferences evaluated the evidentiary role of triglycerides in cardiovascular risk assessment and provided therapeutic recommendations for hypertriglyceridemic states.4,5 Since 1993, additional insights have been made vis-a-vis the atherogenicity of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRLs; ie, chylomicrons and very low-density lipoproteins), genetic and metabolic regulators of triglyceride metabolism, and classification and treatment of hypertriglyceridemia. It is especially disconcerting that in the United States, mean triglyceride levels have risen since 1976, in concert with the growing epidemic of obesity, insulin resistance (IR), and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). 6,7 In contrast, mean low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels have receded.7 Therefore, the purpose of this scientific statement is to update clinicians on the increasingly crucial role of triglycerides in the evaluation and management of CVD risk and highlight approaches aimed at minimizing the adverse public health–related consequences associated with hypertriglyceridemic states. This statement will complement recent American Heart Association scientific statements on childhood and adolescent obesity8 and dietary sugar intake9 by emphasizing effective lifestyle strategies designed to lower triglyceride levels and improve overall cardiometabolic health. It is not intended to serve as a specific guideline but will be of value to the Adult Treatment Panel IV (ATP IV) of the National Cholesterol Education Program, from which evidence-based guidelines will ensue. Topics to be addressed include epidemiology and CVD risk, ethnic and racial differences, metabolic determinants, genetic and family determinants, risk factor correlates, and effects related to nutrition, physical activity, and lipid medications. In the United States, the National Health and …
Postprandial changes in plasma free amino acid levels obtained simultaneously from the hepatic portal vein and the dorsal aorta in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

SUMMARY For the first time, changes in plasma concentrations of free amino acid (AA) and their metabolites were followed simultaneously in pre- and post-hepatic blood following a single meal in non-anaesthetized and free-swimming fish. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), kept in 10°C water and fitted with cannulae in the hepatic portal vein (HPV) and the dorsal aorta (DA), were force-fed 1% of their body mass and blood samples were taken from both cannulae at 0, 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h postprandially to follow the free AA profile. Almost all free AAs increased rapidly within the first 3 h and only a few free AAs did not change significantly over time. By 6 h, the total free AA concentration had peaked in blood taken from both the DA (7107±369 nmol ml-1) and HPV (9999±572 nmol ml-1). However, individual free AAs showed three main profiles beyond this time: for type I, a peak concentration occurred only at 6 h; for type II, there was a more gradual rise in concentration to a peak at 24 h; and for type III there were two peaks, at 6 h and 24 h. All free AAs returned to or were lower than baseline levels within 48 h, with the exception of threonine and proline. The total free AA concentrations were consistently higher (P<0.05) in the HPV than in the DA at 3 h, 6 h, 12 h and 24 h. Our data provide clear evidence that, during the first pass through the liver, hepatic modification altered individual free AA concentrations as indicated by variable ratios among the simultaneous blood samples. Furthermore, the elevation of ammonium and urea in the HPV indicates intestinal catabolism of ingested free AA before release into the HPV. In conclusion, the dual HPV and DA cannulation shows promise as a useful technique for qualitative and quantitative investigations of absorption and turnover of nutrients, especially if the measurements can be combined with reliable estimates of blood flow and labelled substances.