Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does visual impairment affect mobility over time? The Salisbury Eye Evaluation Study.

PURPOSE To determine if the odds of mobility disability increases at a different rate among visually impaired (VI) as compared with nonvisually impaired (NVI) over an 8-year period. METHODS A total of 2520 Salisbury Eye Evaluation Study participants were followed 2, 6, and 8 years after baseline. VI was defined as best-corrected visual acuity worse than 20/40, or visual field of approximately less than 20°. Self-reported difficulty with three tasks was assessed at each visit: walking up 10 steps, walking down 10 steps, and walking 150 feet. Generalized estimating equation models included a 6-year spline, and explored differences in mobility difficulty trajectories by including an interaction between VI status and the spline terms. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) compared mobility difficulty for each task by VI status. RESULTS At baseline, the VI were significantly more likely to report difficulty mobility tasks than the NVI (OR(difficultywalkingup10steps) = 1.37, CI: 1.02-1.80; OR(difficultywalkingdown10steps) = 1.55, CI: 1.16-2.08; OR(difficultywalking150feet) = 1.50, CI: 1.10-2.04). The trajectory of mobility disability did not differ by VI status from baseline to the 6-year visit. However, the difference between the VI and NVI declined at the 8-year visit, which may be due to loss of VI participants at risk of developing mobility difficulty. CONCLUSIONS The VI were more likely to report mobility disability than the NVI, but the trajectory of mobility disability was not steeper among the VI as compared to the NVI over the study period.
Involvement of IRAKs and TRAFs in anti-β2GPI/β2GPI-induced tissue factor expression in THP-1 cells

Summary Our previous study has shown that Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and its signalling pathway contribute to anti-β2-glycoprotein I/β2-glycoprotein I (anti-β2GPI/β2GPI)-induced tissue factor (TF) expression in human acute monocytic leukaemia cell line THP-1 and annexin A2 (ANX2) is involved in this pathway. However, its downstream molecules have not been well explored. In this study, we have established that interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinases (IRAKs) and tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated factors (TRAFs) are crucial downstream molecules of anti-β2GPI/β2GPI-induced TLR4 signaling pathway in THP-1 cells and explored the potential mechanisms of their self-regulation. Treatment of THP-1 cells with anti-β2GPI/β2GPI complex induced IRAKs and TRAFs expression and activation. Anti-β2GPI/β2GPI complex firstly induced expression of IRAK4 and IRAK1, then IRAK1 phosphorylation and last IRAK3 upregulation. In addition, anti-β2GPI/β2GPI complex simultaneously and acutely enhanced mRNA levels of TRAF6, TRAF4 and zinc finger protein A20 (A20), while chronically increased A20 protein level. Moreover, anti-β2GPI/β2GPI complex-induced IRAKs and TRAFs expression and activation were attenuated by knockdown of ANX2 by infection with ANX2-specific RNA interference lentiviruses (LV-RNAi-ANX2) or by treatment with paclitaxel, which inhibits TLR4 as an antagonist of myeloid differentiation protein 2 (MD-2) ligand. Furthermore, both IRAK1/4 inhibitor and a specific proteasome inhibitor MG-132 could attenuate TRAFs expression as well as TF expression induced by anti-β2GPI/β2GPI complex. In conclusion, our results indicate that IRAKs and TRAFs play important roles in anti-β2GPI/β2GPI-stimulated TLR4/TF signaling pathway in THP-1 cells and contribute to the pathological processes of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS).
SAFROLE OXIDE INDUCES APOPTOSIS IN A549 HUMAN LUNG CANCER CELLS

3,4-(Methylenedioxy)-1-(2′,3′-epoxypropyl)-benzene (safrole oxide) was synthesized in the authors' laboratory. To investigate the effects of safrole oxide on the growth and apoptosis of A549 human lung cancer cells, the authors treated the cells with safrole oxide, 112.36 to 449.44 μmol/L, for 24 to 48 hours. The results showed that the drug led A549 cells to apoptosis and blocked cell cycle completely at G1 phase and partly at G2-M phase. To further study the correlated mechanism, the authors examined P53 and H-Ras protein expressions by using immunofluorescence assay. They found that the expression of P53 was dramatically up-regulated but the expression of H-Ras was hardly affected by safrole oxide, 224.72 μmol/L, within 24 hours. Taken together, these results revealed that safrole oxide could induce apoptosis of A549 cells and suggested that safrole oxide might perform its function by blocking cells completely at G1 phase and partly at G2-M phase, and also by up-regulating the expression of P53 protein. These findings would raise exciting possibilities for cancer therapy in future.
B cells regulate expression of CD40 ligand on activated T cells by lowering the mRNA level and through the release of soluble CD40

The expression of CD40 ligand (CD40L) on activated T cells (CD4+ T cell clone MT9) is diminished when the T cells are cultured in the presence of B cells. This effect, observed both with normal tonsil B cells and with the B cell line JY, was detected after 6 h and sustained at least until 18 h of co‐culture. Analysis of mRNA showed that CD40L mRNA levels were not modified after 6 h, but were significantly down‐regulated after 18 h of co‐culture with B cells. Although CD40L expression could not be detected by a CD40‐Fc chimera, the molecule was still expressed at the membrane as shown with a polyclonal antiserum against CD40L (anti‐TRAP). In addition, T cells activated in the presence of B cells were stained by a polyclonal antiserum against CD40, without the appearance of CD40 mRNA. These results indicated that a soluble form of CD40 (sCD40) bound to the expressed CD40L on T cells. The existence of sCD40 was confirmed by detection of sCD40 in B cell supernatants using a specific enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Collectively, these data show that B cells can regulate the expression of CD40L on activated T cells at least by two different mechanisms.
Analysis of atmospheric lidar observations: some comments.

There have been many discussions of solutions to the lidar equation for elastic scattering (e.g., Fernald et al., Klett, Davis, and Collis and Russell). Most of these are simply variations on Hitschfeld and Bordan's solution for meteorological radars. Klett recently restated this solution in a very convenient form for the analysis of lidar observations collected in very turbid atmospheres. His paper has prompted a restatement of the more general solution of Fer­ nald et al. which is also applicable to mildly turbid atmo­ spheres where both aerosol and molecular scatterers must be considered in the analysis. This has led to a simple numerical scheme for the computer analysis of lidar measurements. The lidar equation for two distinct classes of scatters (Fernald et al.) is
Correlates of sexually transmitted bacterial infections among U.S. women in 1995.

CONTEXT Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) of bacterial origin such as gonorrhea and chlamydial infection can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and infertility. Identifying behaviors and characteristics associated with infection may assist in preventing these often asymptomatic diseases and their sequelae. METHODS Data from 9,882 sexually active women who participated in the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth describe the characteristics of women who report a history of infection with a bacterial STD or of treatment for PID. Multivariate analysis is used to determine which demographic characteristics and sexual and health-related behaviors affect the likelihood of infection or the occurrence of complications. RESULTS Overall, 6% of sexually active women reported a history of a bacterial STD, and 8% reported a history of PID. Women who first had sexual intercourse before age 15 were nearly four times as likely to report a bacterial STD, and more than twice as likely to report PID, as were women who first had sex after age 18. Having more than five lifetime sexual partners also was associated with both having an STD and having PID. PID was more common among women reporting a history of a bacterial STD (23%) than among women who reported no such history (7%). In multivariate analyses, age, race, age at first intercourse and lifetime number of sexual partners had a significant effect on the risk of a bacterial STD. Education, age, a history of IUD use, douching and a history of a bacterial STD had a significant impact on the risk of PID, but early onset of intercourse did not, and lifetime number of partners had only a marginal effect. CONCLUSIONS The pattern of characteristics and behaviors that place women at risk of infection with bacterial STDs is not uniform among groups of women. Further, the level of self-reported PID would suggest higher rates of gonorrhea and chlamydial infection than reported.
The evidence for honey promoting wound healing

The use of honey as a wound dressing material, an ancient remedy that has been rediscovered, is becoming of increasing interest as more reports of its effectiveness are published. The clinical observations recorded are that infection is rapidly cleared, inflammation, swelling and pain are quickly reduced, odour is reduced, sloughing of necrotic tissue is induced, granulation and epithelialisation are hastened, and healing occurs rapidly with minimal scarring. The antimicrobial properties of honey prevent microbial growth in the moist healing environment created. Unlike other topical antiseptics, honey causes no tissue damage: in animal studies it has been demonstrated histologically that it actually promotes the healing process. It has a direct nutrient effect as well as drawing lymph out to the cells by osmosis. The stimulation of healing may also be due to the acidity of honey. The osmosis creates a solution of honey in contact with the wound surface which prevents the dressing sticking, so there is no pain or tissue damage when dressings are changed. There is much anecdotal evidence to support its use, and randomised controlled clinical trials that have shown that honey is more effective than silver sulfadiazine and a polyurethane film dressing (OpSite®) for the treatment of burns.
Appropriate medical data categorization for data mining classification techniques

Some data mining (DM) methods, or software tools, require normalized data, others rely on categorized data, and some can accommodate multiple data scales. Each DM technique has a specific background theory; therefore, different results are expected when applying multiple methods. The purpose of this study is to find the data format appropriate for each DM classification technique for wider applications, and efficiently to obtain trustworthy results. Considering the nature of medical data, categorical variables are sometimes useful for making decisions and can make it easier to extrapolate knowledge. In this study, three mathematical data categorization methods (Fusinter, minimum description length principle [MDLPC] and Chi-merge) were applied to accommodate five data mining classification techniques (statistics discriminant analysis, supervised classification with Neural Networks, Decision trees, Genetic supervised clustering and Bayesian classification [probability neural networks; PNN]) using a heart disease database with four types of data (continuous data, binary data, nominal data, and ordinal data). Compared with original or normalized data, data categorized by the MDLPC categorization method was found to perform better in most of the DM classification techniques used in this study. Categorical data is good for most DM classification techniques (e.g. classification of disease and non-disease groups) and is relatively easy to use for extracting medical knowledge.
Cognitive evaluation of traumatically brain-injured rats using serial testing in the Morris water maze.

PURPOSE As deficits in memory and cognition are commonly observed in survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI), causing reduced quality of life for the patient, a major goal in experimental TBI research is to identify and evaluate cognitive dysfunction. The present study assessed the applicability of the serial Morris water maze (MWM) test to determine cognitive function following experimental TBI in the same group of rats which is particularly important for long-term studies and increasingly valuable for the evaluation of novel treatment strategies. METHODS Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 27) were anesthetized and subjected to either sham injury (n = 9) or lateral fluid percussion (FP) brain injury of moderate severity (n = 18). At 4 weeks post-injury, animals were trained in a water maze over 3 days (acquisition/learning phase) to find a submerged platform. At 8 weeks post-injury the hidden platform was then moved to the opposite quadrant, and animals were trained to find the new position of the platform over 3 days. Forty-eight hours later, animals were tested for memory retention in a probe trial in which the platform was not present. RESULTS Brain-injured animals had significant learning impairment (p < 0.0001), shifted-learning impairment (p < 0.001) and memory retention deficits (p < 0.01) in comparison to their sham-injured counterparts over the 8 week testing period. Swim speed and distance were not significantly altered by brain injury at any time point. CONCLUSION The validation of this testing paradigm using a clinically relevant experimental brain injury model is an important addition to behavioral outcome testing.
Speciation of Heavy Metals in Landfill Leachate: A Review

The literature was reviewed with respect to metal speciation methods in aquatic samples specifically emphasizing speciation of heavy metals in landfill leachate. Speciation here refers to physical fractionation (particulate, colloidal, dissolved), chemical fractionation (organic complexes, inorganic complexes, free metal ions), as well as computer-based thermodynamic models. Relatively few landfill leachate samples have been speciated in detail (less than 30) representing only a few landfills (less than 15). This suggests that our knowledge about metal species in landfill leachate still is indicative. In spite of the limited database and the different definitions of the dissolved fraction (< 0.45 μm or <0.001 μm) the studies consistently show that colloids as well as organic and inorganic complexes are important for all heavy metals in landfill leachate. The free metal ion constitutes less than 30%, typically less than 10%, of the total metal concentration. This has significant implications for sampling, since no standardized procedures exist, and for assessing the content of metals in leachate in the context of its treatment, toxicity and migration in aquifers.
Tactile recognition in infantile nephropathy cystinosis

Previous studies have demonstrated that individuals with cystinosis, an inherited metabolic disorder, have difficulty processing visual information, and may be selectively impaired in the ability to mentally rotate figures, despite having normal IQs and normal primary sensory function. In our novel task ‐ the ‘Black Box’ ‐ subjects identified objects solely by feeling the contours. Twenty‐three subjects with cystinosis, aged 4 to 34 years, were individually matched with controls on age, sex, handedness, and test form. Subjects with cystinosis performed significantly worse in identifying objects than did controls. In addition, when only subjects over 7 years of age were included, those with cystinosis took significantly longer to correctly identify objects than did controls. Our findings suggest that individuals with cystinosis have difficulty with tactile recognition of common objects. These results support the hypothesis that a genetic disorder may have specific behavioral correlates.
Distributed and Collaborative Intrusion Detection Systems

Intrusion detection systems help improve the security of networks by providing early warning and response. To improve the detection of attacks, sharing data among distributed nodes or terminals and collaborating on a decision is key. This paper presents a distributed and collaborative intrusion detection (DaCID) system that relies on Dempster Shafer theory of evidence for fusing data from multiple nodes. In this approach the detection is done collaboratively and the decision is distributed among all nodes. DaCID is more robust than other systems since it is completely distributed and the decision is made autonomously at each node. Simulation results demonstrated that DaCID's performance approaches that of a centralized method.
Unusual case of bilateral talon cusp associated with dens invaginatus.

CASE REPORT This paper presents a rare case of bilateral talon cusp in permanent maxillary central incisors, one on the labial and another on the lingual surface of each tooth. The condition was associated with dens invaginatus in a maxillary permanent lateral incisor, but no developmental syndrome was identified. The left central incisor required no treatment because the aesthetic appearance was satisfactory and neither occlusal interferences nor caries were present. After careful investigation of the right lateral incisor, a sealant was applied. Root canal treatment was indicated for the right central incisor that had a wide open apex with thin, weak, divergent walls, and an apical radiolucency.
The effect of diabetes mellitus on active avoidance learning in rats: the role of nitric oxide.

BACKGROUND Growing data report memory and other cognitive problems among individuals with diabetes mellitus. Nitric oxide may play a key role in many physiological and pathological situations. The aim was to investigate the role of NO in diabetes-induced changes in learning and lipid peroxidation. MATERIAL/METHODS Six groups of 10 rats each were formed: control (C), diabetic (D), control+L-arginine (CA), diabetic+L-arginine (DA), control+L-NAME (CN), and diabetic+L-NAME (DN) groups. Experimental diabetes mellitus was induced by injection of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg body weight). 160 mg/kg/day L-arginine or 10 mg/kg/day L-NAME were injected intraperitoneally to the relevant groups for eight weeks. Active avoidance behavior was studied in the middle of the eighth week using an automated shuttle box. Brain and hippocampal nitrite levels were measured by a fluorometric method. TBARS levels were measured fluorometrically using 1,1,3,3-tetramethoxypropane as a standard. RESULTS The active avoidance training indicated that diabetes was associated with learning impairment. Administration of L-NAME and L-arginine significantly impaired active avoidance performance compared with the control group. They also decreased glucose level in group DA compared with the diabetic group. Brain nitrite level was significantly different in the diabetic group; hippocampus nitrite level tended to be lower in the L-NAME groups than the diabetic and control groups, although L-arginine increased hippocampal and brain nitrite values in the CA group compared with control groups. Brain and hippocampal TBARS levels were significantly higher in diabetic than in control rats. CONCLUSIONS Imbalance related to nitric oxide production may contribute to cognitive dysfunction in diabetes mellitus.
Perceiving the end: effects of tonal relationships on melodic completion.

Two experiments examined listeners' sensitivity to the structural markers of melodic completion. In Experiment 1, both musicians and nonmusicians were asked to rate the ending of folk melodies for their degree of "completeness" and "tonal appropriateness. " Results showed that melodies ending with the conventional leading tone-to-tonic progression were rated the most complete and tonally appropriate to the underlying key, more so than melodies ending with the submediant-to-tonic or the tonic-to-dominant progressions. Conversely, melodies ending on the leading tone seemed the most incomplete and tonally inappropriate. In Experiment 2, the perceptual salience of certain pitch functions was enhanced significantly by the pattern of rhythmic accentuation within a melody's context and the presence of the rare tritone interval. The results illustrate an interactive influence of pitch and temporal variables on musical perception and thereby highlight the need to incorporate dynamic pattern factors into internal representations of tonality.
Single-molecule Force Spectroscopy Reveals the Calcium Dependence of the Alternative Conformations in the Native State of a βγ-Crystallin Protein*

Although multidomain proteins predominate the proteome of all organisms and are expected to display complex folding behaviors and significantly greater structural dynamics as compared with single-domain proteins, their conformational heterogeneity and its impact on their interaction with ligands are poorly understood due to a lack of experimental techniques. The multidomain calcium-binding βγ-crystallin proteins are particularly important because their deterioration and misfolding/aggregation are associated with melanoma tumors and cataracts. Here we investigate the mechanical stability and conformational dynamics of a model calcium-binding βγ-crystallin protein, Protein S, and elaborate on its interactions with calcium. We ask whether domain interactions and calcium binding affect Protein S folding and potential structural heterogeneity. Our results from single-molecule force spectroscopy show that the N-terminal (but not the C-terminal) domain is in equilibrium with an alternative conformation in the absence of Ca2+, which is mechanically stable in contrast to other proteins that were observed to sample a molten globule under similar conditions. Mutagenesis experiments and computer simulations reveal that the alternative conformation of the N-terminal domain is caused by structural instability produced by the high charge density of a calcium binding site. We find that this alternative conformation in the N-terminal domain is diminished in the presence of calcium and can also be partially eliminated with a hitherto unrecognized compensatory mechanism that uses the interaction of the C-terminal domain to neutralize the electronegative site. We find that up to 1% of all identified multidomain calcium-binding proteins contain a similarly highly charged site and therefore may exploit a similar compensatory mechanism to prevent structural instability in the absence of ligand.