Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Leishmania vaccines : Still a long way to go uigi

Dogs are the main reservoir host for zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis, a sand fly-borne disease caused by Leishmania infantum. In endemic areas, “susceptible” dogs suffer from a severe disease characterized by chronic polymorphic viscerocutaneous signs that manifest several months from the exposure, whereas “resistant” dogs can remain subclinically infected for years or lifelong. The protective immune response to Leishmania is cell-mediated; for visceralizing Leishmania species a mixed T helper (Th)1/Th2 response with a dominant Th1 profile is required for protection. The activation of the adaptive immune system in naturally resistant dogs is revealed by parasite-specific lymphoproliferation, delayed-type hypersensitivity, the production of interferonand tumour necrosis factorcytokines, and enhanced macrophage leishmanicidal activity via nitric oxide. Hence, an effective canine Leishmania vaccine should induce strong and long-lasting Th1-dominated immunity to control both infection progression and the parasite transmissibility via the vector. Preclinical research in rodent models has evaluated the efficacy of several categories of Leishmania antigens including killed parasites, cell purified fractions, parasite protein components or subunits, single or multiple chimeric recombinant proteins, plasmid DNA and viral particles encoding parasite virulence factors. Promising antigen(s)/adjuvant combinations from each of the above categories have also been tested in dogs; they mostly resulted in limited or no protection in Phase I–II studies (designed to test vaccine safety, immunogenicity and laboratory-induced protection) in which vaccinated dogs were challenged by the artificial intravenous injection of high-load L. infantum promastigotes. The recombinant A2 antigen plus saponin conferred about 40% protection against infection by this challenge system and has been registered in Brazil as a canine vaccine (LeishTec®). An increasing number of efficacy studies have privileged the use of natural challenge consisting in the long-term exposure of vaccinated dogs in endemic settings (Phase III). A 2-year field model including regular assessments by a set of standard diagnostic markers useful for an accurate infection staging has been developed. Again, most of the vaccines tested by this system, which included several antigen categories and adjuvants, failed to protect against infection and disease. Only two vaccines, consisting of parasite purified fractions with saponin derivative adjuvants, showed to confer significant protection against disease and death under natural conditions, and have been registered as canine vaccines: FML-QuilA (Leishmune®) in Brazil, and LiESP/QA-21 (CaniLeish®) in Europe. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Please cite this article in press as: Gradoni, L. , Canine Leishman http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.vetpar. 2015.01. 003 ∗ Tel. : +39 06 499
Differences in Cognitive Process-Related Skills between Taxi and Non-Taxi Drivers between 50 and 70 Years Old

This study investigated differences between 50- to 70-yr. -old taxi and non-taxi drivers with respect to cognitive process-related skills. Psychological indicators associated with perceptuomotor, attentional, and spatial memory recall abilities were collected for 173 taxi drivers (7 women, 166 men; M age = 57.5yr.) and 175 non-taxi drivers (85 women, 90 men; M age = 58.2yr.). The taxi drivers had shorter reaction times and motor times in response to stimuli in simple stimulus-response tasks. There was an age-related decline in monocular vision detection on both sides, processing speed for fovea stimuli, and higher-level cognition for drivers. Accordingly, the frontal visual information processing speed of the taxi drivers was superior to the non-taxi drivers, but a distinct age-related decline was observed for all drivers.
Exploring the Concepts of Abstinence and Recovery through the Experiences of Long-Term Opiate Substitution Clients

Background This study aimed to explore the client experience of long-term opiate substitution treatment (OST). Methods A qualitative grounded theory study set in a UK rural community drug treatment service. Results Continuous OST enabled stability and a sense of “normality. ” Participants expressed relief at moving away from previous chaotic lifestyles and freedom from the persistent fear of opiate withdrawal. However, for some, being on a script made them feel withdrawn, lethargic, and unable to fully participate in mainstream society. Intrapersonal barriers (motivation and fear) were perceived as key barriers to abstinence. Conclusions Participants experienced long-term OST as a transition between illicit drug use and recovery. Recovery was seen as a process rather than a fixed goal, confirming that there is a need for services to negotiate individualized recovery goals, spanning harm minimization and abstinence-oriented treatment approaches.
Energy-efficiency maximization for OFDMA networks with total power constraint

This paper addresses an energy-efficiency (EE) maximized resource allocation (RA) problem for a downlink orthogonal frequency division multiple-access (OFDMA) network, when the system's total power (including transmission power and fixed circuit power) is constrained below a peak value. The EE is evaluated by the number of message bits delivered corresponding to per Joule energy consumed by the whole system. Instrumental to the idea behind the RA algorithm design is to first find the optimum total power leading to the maximum EE, and then the spectral efficiency (SE) maximized RA corresponding to that optimum power is the optimum RA to maximize the EE. This idea is novel and significantly different from those used in previous works. Specifically, the maximum EE when the BS consumes a given total power ρ, denoted by η(ρ), is derived, and theoretical analysis is made to study properties of η(ρ) which leads to much simplicity and insight for the design of an EE-maximized RA algorithm. Most interestingly, intuitive yet insightful geometric interpretation is presented to corroborate that analysis. Furthermore, the analysis and geometric interpretation reveal important insight that the SE-maximized RA leads to the maximum EE when the peak total power is small, while it leads to a significantly smaller EE than the EE-maximized RA when the peak total power is very high. Moreover, that analysis also leads to much elegance for the RA algorithm design, in that motivated by the properties of η(ρ), the bisection method can be used in combination with the sensitivity analysis in convex optimization theory to design a low-complexity yet effective RA algorithm in a very simple way. The theoretical analysis and effectiveness of the RA algorithm are corroborated by numerical experiments.
Defence style and behaviour therapy outcome in a specific phobia

Synopsis The Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ) was administered to patients with a specific phobia (animal type; N = 54) and to control subjects (N = 29). Results indicated that specific phobia patients and non-phobic control subjects exhibit a similar pattern of defences. Also, the study investigated whether specific DSQ defence styles affect behaviour therapy outcome. It was found that an immature defence style, and especially the defence mechanism projection, was related to less favourable treatment results.
Spiral Waves in the Mathematical Models of Simulated Ischemia

Regional myocardial ischemia is a major factor promoting electrophysiological abnormalities leading to ventricular tachycardias (VTs)/fibrillations (VFs). The study was to use computer simulation method to determine the possible role of ischemic size and level in the mechanisms underlying reentrant activities and cardiac arrhythmias. The Noble98 mathematical model of ventricular cell was chosen in the study. The operator splitting and adaptive time step methods were used to integrate the equations in cardiac conduction models. The ischemic cells were simulated by decreasing the intracellular ATP concentration, reducing the Na + conductance, and increasing the extracellular K + concentration within a two-dimensional tissue. Spiral waves were initiated by the cross field technique. The study showed that activities of spiral waves in local severe ischemia displayed three different morphologies while in moderate ischemia only two kinds of waves exhibited. When severely ischemic area was in between 1.2mm×1.2mm and 4.5mm×4.5mm, wavebreak occurred. But to the larger ischemic area spiral wave formed typical functional reentry around obstacle. The study demonstrated that large ischemic area was beneficial for spiral maintenance and could provide a high probability in the genesis of VTs. Spiral waves easily broke up and degenerated into VFs under the critical ischemic area and level.
OrchidBase 2.0: comprehensive collection of Orchidaceae floral transcriptomes.

Both floral development and evolutionary trends of orchid flowers have long attracted the interest of biologists. However, expressed sequences derived from the flowers of other orchid subfamilies are still scarce except for a few species in Epidendroideae. In order to broadly increase our scope of Orchidaceae genetic information, we updated the OrchidBase to version 2.0 which has 1,562,071 newly added floral non-redundant transcribed sequences (unigenes) collected comprehensively from 10 orchid species across five subfamilies of Orchidaceae. A total of 662,671,362 reads were obtained by using next-generation sequencing (NGS) Solexa Illumina sequencers. After assembly, on average 156,207 unigenes were generated for each species. The average length of a unigene is 347 bp. We made a detailed annotation including general information, relative expression level, gene ontology (GO), KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathway mapping and gene network prediction. The online resources for putative annotation can be searched either by text or by using BLAST, and the results can be explored on the website and downloaded. We have re-designed the user interface in the new version. Users can enter the Phalaenopsis transcriptome or Orchidaceae floral transcriptome to browse or search the unigenes. OrchidBase 2.0 is freely available at http://orchidbase.itps. ncku.edu. tw/.
Fluorescence polarization immunoassay for the determination of therapeutic drug levels in human plasma.

Fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) is a technique which has been known for a number of years, but despite its many advantages, its has not seen clinical utility. The main reason for this is the lack of simple, rapid, high performance instrumentation suitable for use in a clinical laboratory. This problem has been addressed in this laboratory and an instrument has been developed which meets these needs. The solutions of the two other problems associated with the technique (i.e. non-specific binding of tracer to serum proteins and the intrinsic fluorescence of serum) have also been accomplished. Assays for a variety of therapeutic drugs including gentamicin, theophylline, phenytoin, and phenobarbital have been developed and shown to correlate well with a number of reference method. The assays have been totally automated with a concomitant increase in speed and ease of use and a significant improvement in performance over the manual system.
Chronic temporomandibular disorders are not necessarily associated with a compromised endogenous analgesic system.

AIMS To test whether temporomandibular disorders (TMD) case-control differences in conditioned pain modulation (CPM) exist, using a mechanically evoked temporal summation (TS) model. METHODS A series of 10 repetitive, mildly noxious, mechanical stimuli were applied to the fingers of 30 women with TMD, who had a primary diagnosis of masticatory myofascial pain, and 30 age-matched healthy women. The subjects rated the pain intensity caused by the 1st, 5th, and 10th stimuli in the series. To evaluate CPM, the same series of mechanical stimulations were applied with concomitant exposure of the other hand to a painfully cold water bath. Statistical inferences were based on t tests, chi-square tests, or analysis of variance (ANOVA), as appropriate. RESULTS Pain ratings increased significantly with stimulus repetition (P < .01) and CPM significantly reduced TS of pain (P < .01). Of particular note, both groups showed very similar degrees of CPM, with no significant group difference. CONCLUSION Painful TMD is not necessarily associated with a compromised ability to engage the endogenous analgesic system in an experimental setting.
Study on the Microscopic Identification of the Adulterated Plant Origin Powdered Seasonings

The present study applied the microscopic powder identification technique to determining the adulterated seasoning powders from several plant origins, such as chili, pepper, cumin and mustard. The microscope observation results showed that the chili powder were adulterated with the fragments of plant straws, foliage and other substances; the pepper powder were adulterated with starch, straws and monosodium glutamate as well as some other substances; cumin and mustard powders were adulterated with straws and starch, etc. The research results showed that the identification method adopted in this study is suitable for determining the adulterated seasoning powders from different plant origins, capable of distinguishing the pure product of the seasonings mentioned above from the adulterated one and able to detect the micro-morphology of the adulterating substances directly.
Trehalase activity and cyclic AMP content during early development of Mucor rouxii spores

Incubation of Mucor rouxii sporangiospores in complex medium under aerobic conditions resulted in a transient 20-fold increase in trehalase activity. Maximum activity was reached after 15 min. Simultaneously, the cyclic AMP (cAMP) content increased approximately eightfold, reaching a maximum within 10 min. Increases in trehalase activity and cAMP content were also observed under anaerobic conditions (CO2). The extent of trehalase activation and the changes in cAMP content, during both aerobic and anaerobic incubation, varied with the medium used. Trehalase was activated in vitro by a cAMP- and ATP-dependent process. An even faster activation was obtained when cAMP was replaced by the catalytic subunit of beef heart protein kinase. The coincidence of, and the correlation between, increased cAMP contents and trehalase activities support the involvement of a cAMP-dependent phosphorylation in the in vivo regulation of trehalase activity.
Pancytopenia : A Clinico-Haematological Evaluation and Correlation with Bone Marrow Examination

Pancytopenia is a reduction in the number of RBCs, WBCs, and platelets in the peripheral blood below the lower limits of the age-adjusted normal range for healthy people. It is therefore the combination of anaemia, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia.The presenting symptoms are usually realted to anaemia, leucopenia or thrombocytopenia. Anaemia leads to fatigue, dysponea and cardiac symptoms.Thrombocytopenia leads to bruising and mucosal bleeding and neutropenia leads to increase susceptibility to infection. It is not a disease entity but a triad of findings that may result from a number of disease processes primarily or secondarily involving the bone marrow (1,2). Delineation of etiologies & severity of pancytopenia determine the management and prognosis of the patients (3,4). Material and Methods The present study was carried out in the Post Graduate Department of Pathology, Acharya Shri Chander College of Medical Sciences and Hospital, Sidhra, Jammu (J&K) over a period of one year. Patients of all age groups and both sexes were included. A total of 50 cases were selected based on clinical features and supported by laboratory evidence, which included peripheral blood counts, hemoglobin, leukocytes and platelets. Inclusion criteria were presence of all 3 of the following: hemoglobin, <9 g/dL; total leukocyte count (TLC), <4,000 / μL ; platelet count, <100,000/ μL. (3) Peripheral smear was stained by Leishman stain for all the cases and examined in detail. Bone marrow aspiration was subsequently carried out under aseptic precaution using Salah's bone marrow aspiration needle after obtaining written consent from the patient or guardian. Results A total of 50 cases who presented with pancytopenia were studied.They consisted of 40 males and 10 females with a male to female ratio of 4:1.The age of patients Introduction Abstract The present study was carried out in the Post Graduate Department of Pathology, Acharya Shri Chander College of Medical Sciences and Hospital, Sidhra, Jammu (J&K) over a period of one year. During this period, bone marrow examination was carried out in all the 50 cases studied.The commonest cause of Pancytopenia as revealed by bone marrow examination was Megaloblastic anaemia (70%) followed by Aplastic anaemia (16%) and others
Physician and patient perceptions on the use of vitamin D and calcium in osteoporosis treatment: a European and Latin American perspective*

ABSTRACT Objective: Although osteoporosis treatment guidelines include recommendations for calcium and vitamin D intake, routine use of adequate supplementation often is low. This study explored the attitudes of physicians and patients towards vitamin D and calcium and patient use of both supplements. Methods: A survey of randomly selected physicians in the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Austria, and the first seven eligible women with osteoporosis from each of their practices, was conducted. Physicians were asked to rate the importance of vitamin D and calcium in osteoporosis management on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = not important at all, 10 = extremely important) and to estimate use of calcium and vitamin D supplements by their patients. Patients were asked about their own use of vitamin D and calcium, and their perceptions regarding these supplements. Results: Altogether 151 physicians (50 in Austria, 51 in the UK, and 50 in Mexico), and 910 osteoporosis patients (350 in Austria, 212 in UK, and 348 in Mexico) completed telephone surveys. Approximately, 86%, 28%, and 46% of physicians rated importance of vitamin D and calcium as being 9 or 10 in Austria, UK, and Mexico, respectively. Overall, 50% of patients reported taking calcium and vitamin D supplements (47% of these on a daily basis and 46% on a regular basis), and 19% of patients reported that they had no discussions with their physicians about calcium, while 39% reported no discussion about vitamin D. Conclusions: Despite the recognition by physicians and patients that vitamin D and calcium are important for bone health, only a small proportion of patients regularly take supplements. This is the case even when vitamin D and calcium supplements are provided free with osteoporosis drug prescriptions, as occurs in Austria. However, these results rely on patient self-report of compliance which can lead to overestimation. In addition this study's participants may not be representative of other patient populations. This study provides additional evidence that compliance with treatment guidelines is suboptimal, and highlights the need for further study to explore the discrepancy between the highly perceived importance of vitamin D and calcium and the low use of both supplements, and to improve use among osteoporosis patients.
A comparative analysis of Direct Power Control algorithms for three-phase power inverters

This paper presents a comparative analysis between three control techniques based on the Direct Power Control (DPC) algorithm for grid-tied Voltage Source Inverters (VSI). These techniques are used to regulate the injection of instantaneous active and reactive powers in a power system for renewable generation system applications. The first technique corresponds to the Classical DPC (C-DPC) and it is based on the definition of a Virtual Flux (VF). In the second one, the instantaneous active and reactive powers are estimated by using the time derivatives of the injected currents, without any voltage sensors. The third algorithm uses the Space Vector Modulation (SVM) technique to generate additional space vectors and it considers the minimum square error of the instantaneous active and reactive powers to determine the switching states. Simulation results of the three control techniques are presented and their performance is compared based on some criteria such as maximum steady-state power error, the current total harmonic distortion and the rise time.
Current understanding of the pathogenesis of autoimmune inner ear disease: a review

Autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) is a poorly understood form of sensorineural hearing loss that causes bilateral, asymmetric, progressive hearing loss, sometimes with vestibular symptoms, often associated with a systemic autoimmune disease, which is noteworthy as the only sensorineural loss responsive to medical therapy. Despite much research interest of the past 25 years, its aetiopathogenesis is still unproven.
Regulatory Focus, Regulatory Fit, and the Search and Consideration of Choice Alternatives

This research investigates the effects of regulatory focus on alternative search and consideration set formation in consumer decision making. Results from three experiments yield two primary findings. First, promotion-focused consumers tend to search for alternatives at a more global level, whereas prevention-focused consumers tend to search for alternatives at a more local level. Second, promotion-focused consumers tend to have larger consideration sets than do prevention-focused consumers. Building on these two primary findings, it is additionally shown that whereas promotion-focused consumers attach relatively greater value to options chosen from hierarchically structured sets, prevention-focused consumers attach relatively greater value to options chosen from nonhierarchically structured item lists. Finally, whereas promotion-focused consumers attach significantly greater value to options chosen from larger sets than to options chosen from smaller sets, prevention-focused consumers do not attach significantly less value to options chosen from larger sets than to options chosen from smaller sets. (c) 2010 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc.