Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Astrocyte‐specific activation of TNFR2 promotes oligodendrocyte maturation by secretion of leukemia inhibitory factor

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and its receptors TNFR1 and TNFR2 have pleiotropic effects in neurodegenerative disorders. For example, while TNFR1 mediates neurodegenerative effects in multiple sclerosis, TNFR2 is protective and contributes to remyelination. The exact mode of TNFR2 action, however, is poorly understood. Here, we show that TNFR2‐mediated activation of the PI3K‐PKB/Akt pathway in primary astrocytes increased the expression of neuroprotective genes, including that encoding the neurotrophic cytokine leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). To investigate whether intercellular signaling between TNFR2‐stimulated astrocytes and oligodendrocytes plays a role in oligodendrocyte maturation, we established an astrocyte–oligodendrocyte coculture model, composed of primary astrocytes from huTNFR2‐transgenic (tgE1335) mice and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) from wild‐type mice, capable of differentiating into mature myelinating oligodendrocytes. In this model, selective stimulation of human TNFR2 on astrocytes, promoted differentiation of cocultured OPCs to myelin basic protein‐positive mature oligodendrocytes. Addition of LIF neutralizing antibodies inhibited oligodendrocyte differentiation, indicating a crucial role of TNFR2‐induced astrocyte derived LIF for oligodendrocyte maturation. GLIA 2014;62:272–283
Effect of media composition on citrinin and bio-pigments production by Monascus ruber -

Monascus species are used for production of red bio-pigments, which are used as food coloring agents. However, presence of the mycotoxin citrinin, which is a secondary metabolite produced in conjunction with the red pigments, prevents the use of these pigments in large scale. In the present study, Monascus ruber Van Tieghem was isolated from the Egyptian soil and identified. Effect of media composition on nine of the pigments produced by this fungus in addition to citrinin was studied. The fungus was grown in four different media containing different carbon sources (glucose, ethanol, yeast malt extract and potato dextrose broth). On the other hand, effect of glucose concentration was also studied. The produced pigments and citrinin were extracted by butnol and analyzed by LC/MS/MS as well as HPLC with fluorescence detection of citrinin. The data revealed that the highest amount of red pigments production (4.3g/l) was obtained at glucose concentration 10g/l. This was combined with complete absence of citrinin. Rubropunctamine (26.1%) and ankuflavine (48.7%) were the most abundant pigments in the glucose and ethanol media, respectively; while Moanascin (61.6%) and N-glutarylrubropunctamine (39.4%) were the most abundant in the PDB and YMB media, respectively. This result enables the large scale production of the red pigments by M. ruber without production of the mycotoxin citrinin.
Postnatal growth and development of the lung.

The lung is qualitatively different at birth, compared to adult life, in many species. In the neonatal period, the peripheral part of the acinus is formed by primary saccules, and it is from the walls of these that alveoli develop postnatally in rats, mice, and rabbits. Alveolar development starts in utero in man and probably in several other species, including sheep, cat, and, probably, mammals with relatively advanced physical development at birth. A sequence of events is well established in rats and mice in the postnatal period. A phase of expansion first occurs, during which lung growth lags behind the increase in body weight and lungs enlarge primarily by expansion, but new tissue is laid down in the saccular wall. This is succeeded by a phase of tissue proliferation during which the saccule is subdivided by numerous secondary crests that develop in the saccular wall and result in the formation of alveoli. During this stage, the rate of lung growth exceeds the rate of body growth and there is a rapid increase in alveolar surface area. Elastic tissue plays a key role in the development of alveoli, and elastic fibers lie in the free margins of the secondary crests and around the mouths of the alveoli. At approximately 2 weeks of age, the rate of cellular multiplication and formation of alveoli is markedly diminished and the lung grows mainly by cellular enlargement, dilatation, and modification of pre-existing structures.
Organic acids influence iron uptake in the human epithelial cell line Caco-2.

It has previously been suggested that organic acids enhance iron absorption. We have studied the effect of nine organic acids on the absorption of Fe(II) and Fe(III) in the human epithelial cell line Caco-2. The effect obtained was dose-dependent, and the greatest increase (43-fold) was observed for tartaric acid (4 mmol/L) on Fe(III) (10 micromol/L). Tartaric, malic, succinic, and fumaric acids enhanced Fe(II) and Fe(III) uptake. Citric and oxalic acid, on the other hand, inhibited Fe(II) uptake but enhanced Fe(III) uptake. Propionic and acetic acid increased the Fe(II) uptake, but had no effect on Fe(III) uptake. Our results show a correlation between absorption pattern and chemical structure; e.g. hydroxyl groups, in addition to carboxyls, were connected with a positive influence. The results may be important for elucidating factors affecting iron bioavailability in the small intestine and for the development of foods with improved iron bioavailability.
Effect of Base Station-Sleeping Ratio on Energy Efficiency in Densely Deployed Femtocell Networks

In this paper, we focus on energy efficiency (EE) in densely deployed femtocell networks where a large number of open-access femto base stations (BSs) are deployed in a public hotspot area such as airport, shopping mall, etc. In such areas, femto BSs are underutilized during most of the operation time because they are deployed to support the peak traffic load. Thus, if we can put some of the femto BSs to sleep, the EE, which is defined as the ratio of throughput to power consumption, can be enhanced. In this paper, the effect of the femto BS-sleeping ratio on the EE is quantitatively studied by using a stochastic geometry-based model and the optimal femto BS-sleeping ratio to maximize the EE is obtained by considering both the network traffic load and the location of the designated femtocell deployment area. The optimal femto BS-sleeping ratio can be effectively used to design an energy-efficient BS-sleeping strategy for the densely deployed femtocell networks.
Stuck in the Unit: Three-Year Outcomes Following Prolonged Stay in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit

Introduction: Advances in care of the critically ill patient have promoted growth in the number of “chronically critically ill”-patients who survive acute medical crisis only to require weeks of intensive monitoring. This population accounts for a small fraction of admissions yet a disproportionately large fraction of healthcare resources. Despite this allocation, long-term outcomes are poorly understood. The goal of this study is to determine the rate of mortality in the 3 years following prolonged admission to the surgical intensive care unit. Methods: This retrospective study includes patients discharged from a twenty-bed surgical intensive care unit in an 874-bed tertiary care academic hospital. All patients who were at least 18 years old, spent at least 30 consecutive days in the surgical intensive care unit, and were discharged during 2002-2009 were eligible for inclusion in the study. Patients were followed for 3 years following discharge. Age, sex, length of hospital stay, length of surgical intensive care unit stay, and admitting diagnosis were abstracted from medical records. For living patients, ventilator-dependence at discharge and disposition to rehabilitation facility were documented. Date of death was determined from medical records and the Social Security Death Master File. Using a proportional hazards model, these patient variables were analyzed for their contribution to mortality during admission as well as at 1 year and 3 years post discharge. Results: Sixty-four patients were included in the study: 35 males and 29 females with a mean age of 59 (21 - 83) years, surgical intensive care unit stay of 47 (30 - 125) days, and hospital stay of 58 (30 - 178) days. Thirty patients died during admission, 16 died within 1 year of discharge, and an additional 4 patients died within 3 years. Among those discharged, 70% of deaths occurred within 3 months. No variables were identified as independent risk factors for mortality. Conclusions: An increasing number of patients are admitted for prolonged stays in the surgical intensive care unit. The human cost of prolonged surgical intensive care unit admission is high with 70% of patients succumbing during admission or within the first year after discharge.
Heuristic algorithms for constructing near-optimal structures of linear multihop lightwave networks

The goal of the study described is to exploit the capabilities of emerging lightwave technology and the fact that the IEEE 802.6 MAN is a linear network, to construct near optimal linear multihop lightwave networks. Heuristic algorithms are proposed for constructing photonic implementations of near optimal distributed queue dual bus (DQDB) structures. Two sets of heuristic optimization algorithms are formulated. The first set is concerned with minimizing the maximum flow in any link in the network, while the second set of heuristics is aimed at minimizing the network-wide mean packet delay. Important properties of these algorithms are analyzed and their performance is demonstrated with several representative numerical examples. <<ETX>>
Omalizumab is effective in treating systemic mastocytosis in a nonatopic patient

according to her personal history combined with the histopathologic findings and the positive patch testing, we managed to deliver the offending drug through a desensitization protocol. To our knowledge, this is the first case of a delayed hypersensitivity reaction after the transdermal application of rivastigmine. Unlike other cases of eruptions because of acetylcholinesterase inhibitor in which the offended drug was withdrawn (5, 6) in our case, the patient was able to continue receiving the rivastigmine thanks to the desensitization protocol.
Marginal and Mixed-Effects Models in the Analysis of Human Papillomavirus Natural History Data

Human papillomavirus (HPV) natural history has several characteristics that, at least from a statistical perspective, are not often encountered elsewhere in infectious disease and cancer research. There are, for example, multiple HPV types, and infection by each HPV type may be considered separate events. Although concurrent infections are common, the prevalence, incidence, and duration/persistence of each individual HPV can be separately measured. However, repeated measures involving the same subject tend to be correlated. The probability of detecting any given HPV type, for example, is greater among individuals who are currently positive for at least one other HPV type. Serial testing for HPV over time represents a second form of repeated measures. Statistical inferences that fail to take these correlations into account would be invalid. However, methods that do not use all the data would be inefficient. Marginal and mixed-effects models can address these issues but are not frequently used in HPV research. The current study provides an overview of these methods and then uses HPV data from a cohort of HIV-positive women to illustrate how they may be applied, and compare their results. The findings show the greater efficiency of these models compared with standard logistic regression and Cox models. Because mixed-effects models estimate subject-specific associations, they sometimes gave much higher effect estimates than marginal models, which estimate population-averaged associations. Overall, the results show that marginal and mixed-effects models are efficient for studying HPV natural history, but also highlight the importance of understanding how these models differ. Cancer Epidemiol Biomakers Prev; 19(1); 159–69
Most visits of most patients with rheumatoid arthritis to most rheumatologists do not include a formal quantitative joint count

Objective: To ask rheumatologists about the likelihood of performing a formal joint count at each visit of a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in standard clinical care. Method: Direct query of rheumatologists at an international meeting of about 600 rheumatologists from 17 European countries. Results: Overall, 14% of rheumatologists reported performing a formal joint count at each visit of each patient, and 44% of rheumatologists reported performing a formal joint count at more than 50% of visits of patients with RA. Therefore, 56% of rheumatologists reported performing a joint count at fewer than 50% of visits, including 45% at fewer than 25% of visits. One in eight rheumatologists (13%) reported never performing a formal joint count. Conclusion: Although the joint count remains the most specific measure for RA, most visits of most patients with RA to most rheumatologists do not include a formal quantitative joint count.
Empathy in medical education and patient care.

We read with interest the report on empathy among medical students by Newton and colleagues. The scale used in that study, Mehrabian’s Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale, was developed for the general population, and it may not capture the concept of empathetic care that is specific to health care situations. Recently, we developed the 20-item Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, which is specifically related to the patient–physician relationship and supported by psychometric evidence using data from medical students, nurses, medical residents, and practicing physicians. We administered the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy to a sample of physicians (n = 704) affiliated with the Jefferson Health Care System in an ongoing study. The results will be reported at a later time. Preliminary analyses indicate some differences on empathy scores among groups of physicians. For example, we found that the 462 physicians in ‘‘people-oriented’’ specialties (e.g., primary care specialties, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, medical subspecialties) obtained a significantly higher average score on the physician’s empathy scale (mean = 121.0, SD = 11.6) than did their counterparts in ‘‘technology-oriented’’ specialties (e.g., anesthesiology, pathology, radiology, orthopedic surgery, urology, surgery and surgical subspecialties) (mean = 117.2, SD = 12.1; t(702) = 4.03, p < . 001). The difference in scores remained unchanged when the effect of physicians’ gender was controlled (adjusted F(1,683) = 15.5, p < . 001). Our findings support what Newton and colleagues’ found regarding a higher average emotional empathy score for students who planned to pursue core specialties (e.g., family medicine, pediatrics) versus those who planned to pursue non-core specialties (e.g., radiology, pathology). Also, our preliminary findings are consistent with the previous report that physicians in people-oriented specialties tend to value interpersonal relationships (social values) more than do their counterparts in technology-oriented specialties. While the cross-sectional comparison of medical students’ empathy scores that Newton and colleagues report is informative, we are undertaking a prospective longitudinal study by following the same cohort of students at different stages of medical education to investigate changes in their empathy as they advance through medical school and residency training. Training of empathetic physicians has always been a concern of medical education. With the rise of technologybased diagnosis that limits the opportunity for patient–physician interaction and the waning of bedside interaction straining the patient–physician relationship, it is timely and important to continue studying the influence of medical education in the development of empathy among medical students and physicians.
Spatial interaction with mobile projected displays

The miniaturization of projection technology recently reached a point where battery powered pico-projectors can be carried in ones pocket. These projectors not only allow for mobile stand-alone devices but also the integration into other devices. These new class of devices allow to create ad-hoc mobile projected displays everywhere. Until today this development is mainly technology driven. While projector phones – smartphones with integrated projector – are available, the fact that they are mainly hand-held devices, present a variety of challenges for application and interaction techniques, for the mobile projected display they provide. In this thesis we enable spatial interaction with mobile projected displays to overcome the current technological driven approaches. We contribute by investigating the following three different directions: Applications exploiting spatial features; Analysis of spatial alignment of mobile projected displays; and Interaction techniques exploiting spatial memory techniques. Through the development and evaluation of applications and interaction techniques that rely on spatial features we exploit the users spatial memory and allow mobile projected displays to become a valuable addition of our current mobile devices.
Alternation of factors limiting phytoplankton production in the Cape Fear River Estuary

Phytoplankton nutrient limitation experiments were performed from 1994 to 1996 at three stations in the Cape Fear River Estuary, a riverine system originating in the North Carolina piedmont. Nutrient addition bioassays were conducted by spiking triplicate cubitainers with various nutrient combinations and determining algal response by analyzing chlorophyll a production and 14C uptake daily for 3 d. Ambient chlorophyll a, nutrient concentration, and associated physical data were collected throughout the estuary as well. At a turbid, nutrient-rich oligohaline station, significant responses to nutrient additions were rare, with light the likely principal factor limiting phytoplankton production. During summer at a mesohaline station, phytoplankton community displayed significant nitrogen (N) limitation, while both phosphorus (P) and N were occasionally limiting in spring with some N+P co-limitation. Light was apparently limiting during fall and winter when the water was turid and nutrient-rich, as well as during other months of heavy rainfall and runoff. A polyhaline station in the lower estuary had clearer water and displayed significant responses to nutrient additions during all enrichment experiments. At this site N limitation occurred in summer and fall, and P limitation (with strong N+P co-limitation) occurred in winter and spring. The data suggest there are two patterns controlling phytoplankton productivity in the Cape Fear system: 1) a longitudinal pattern of decreasing light limitation and increasing nutrient sensitivity along the salinity gradient, and 2) a seasonal alternation of N limitation, light limitation, and P limitation in the middle-to-lower estuary. Statistical analyses indicated upper watershed precipitation events led to increased flow, turbidity, light attenuation, and nutrient loading, and decreased chlorophyll a and nutrient limitation potential in the estuary. Periods of low rainfall and river flow led to reduced estuarine turbidity, higher chlorophyll a, lower ambient nutrients, and more pronounced nutrient limitation.
In vitro activities in new oxazolidinone antimicrobial agents against enterococci

The comparative in vitro activities of two new oxazolidinone antimicrobial agents, U-100592 and U-100766, against 180 isolates of enterococci representing several resistance profiles were examined by using an agar dilution technique. The two oxazolidinones inhibited all isolates, including strains resistant to vancomycin, ampicillin, and minocycline, at concentrations between 1 and 4 micrograms/ml.
GIS Users Observed

Abstract As a follow-up to a previously reported postal questionnaire survey of GIS usability issues, a workplace observation study was conducted to clarify the earlier results. Visits were made to 21 user sites in the U.K. and involved structured interviews, checklists and video recordings of users at work with their GIS. Timings extracted from the videotapes were analysed alongside more subjective measures. Error messages and other feedback, and user documentation, were poorly rated by users as in the previous study. Comparison of objective and subjective measures showed a strong relationship between the amount of time wasted on errors and problems, and compatibility of the user's and system's conceptual models.
Correlation of N-myc downstream-regulated gene 1 overexpression with progressive growth of colorectal neoplasm.

AIM To study the function of N-myc downstream-regulated gene 1 (NDRG1) in colorectal carcinogenesis and its correlation with tumor lymph node metastasis. METHODS NDRG1 was detected at its protein level by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and image analysis (IA), and NDRG1 mRNA was detected by in situ hybridization (ISH) in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded sections with a total of 190 specimens including 38 normal colorectal mucosae, 31 colorectal adenomas, 45 non-metastatic colorectal carcinomas (CRCs), 38 metastatic primary CRC and subsequently regional lymph nodes respectively. At the same time, the correlations of NDRG1 with sex, age of patients and histological types of colorectal carcinomas were observed. RESULTS NDRG1 proteins were gradually increased in colorectal carcinogenesis (P<0.05 or P<0.01). There was a significant difference in the expression of NDRG1 between non-metastatic and metastatic CRCs (P<0.05), and the correlation was positive (P<0.01, r(s)=0.329). However, there was no obvious difference in the expression of NDRG1 between the primary sites of CRCs and that in the metastatic sites of corresponding regional lymph nodes, nor was there an apparent difference in sex, age, and histological types. The expression of NDRG1 mRNA was generally in concordance with that of NDRG1 protein. CONCLUSION NDRG1 gene may play an important role in colorectal carcinogenesis. In addition, NDRG1 may be a putative tumor metastasis promoter gene and is regarded as one of the molecular biological markers that can forecast early metastasis of CRCs. NDRG1 gene in the metastatic sites of regional lymph nodes may preserve its expression characteristics in the primary sites of CRCs to some extent. The expression of NDRG1 is not affected by sex, age and histological types. The role of NDRG1 in tumor metastatic process can be demonstrated by in vivo and in vitro.
Mycobacterium Chelonae Infection of the Parotid Gland

Mycobacterium chelonae can cause numerous infections, including lung disease, local cutaneous disease, osteomyelitis, joint infections and ocular disease. With the exception of lung disease, these syndromes commonly develop after direct inoculation. The most common clinical presentation in immunocompetent individuals is skin and soft tissue infection. We present a case of M. chelonae infection of the parotid gland that was successfully treated with clarithromycin monotherapy. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of M. chelonae parotitis in an adult.