Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gene profiling in murine corneas challenged with Aspergillus fumigatus.

PURPOSE Fungal keratitis (FK) is a blinding infection of the corneas and accounts for a significant portion of all keratitis in the world but little is known about the pathogenesis of FK, especially at the level of molecular biology. This study tried to determine the genes that are modulated in the process and thus deserve further investigation for understanding the pathogenesis of FK. METHODS Agilent Mouse Oligo Microarray was used to compare the gene profiles in control corneas and in corneas challenged with heat-inactivated Aspergillus fumigatus spores. Semiquantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry were used to confirm the changes of interested genes. RESULTS In the 18,335 genes detected by array, 61 showed an increase of more than one-fold in RNA expression and 48 showed a decrease of over 50%. Among the regulated genes some are known to be related to host defense such as IL3, mannose binding lectin A (MBL-A), and prostaglandin D2 synthase (Psgd) while others like Dopachrome tautomerase (Dct) have never been correlated to ocular or host defense. The other 33 changed genes either have unknown functions or encode hypothetical proteins. The changes in the expression of early growth response 4 (Egr4), Dct, Psgd, MBL-A, and hemoglobin alpha adult chain 1 were confirmed by using RT-PCR. MBL-A expression regulation was further confirmed by using immunohistochemistry in both in vitro and in vivo challenged murine corneas. CONCLUSIONS MBL-A is among the primary responding genes during the onset of fungal keratitis. Also it was found that the microarray is a useful tool in elucidating the pathogenesis of FK.
Thermal injury alters myocardial sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium channel function.

BACKGROUND We have previously shown that a major cutaneous thermal injury produces profound cardiac contractile dysfunction despite adequate resuscitation. While the molecular basis of this dysfunction is unknown, recent work has suggested that alterations in calcium flux between the myocyte sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) to the cytoplasm may play a role. MATERIALS AND METHODS To determine if thermal injury-induced contractile dysfunction is related to intracellular calcium transport across the SR membrane, we accessed myocardial microsomal preparations from scalded (43% TBSA) guinea pigs for the ability of the cardiac calcium efflux channel to bind radiolabeled ryanodine. Intracellular calcium flux was assessed by fluorescence spectrophotometry. RESULTS Thermal injury resulted in severe cardiac contractile deficit characterized by loss of LVP and +/-dP/dt despite resuscitation. Analysis of isolated myocyte cultures showed a twofold increase in cytoplasmic [Ca2+]l by 24 h postburn. Competitive binding and Scatchard analysis demonstrated a single, high-affinity binding site present in both sham and burn animal hearts. Myocardial membrane vesicles revealed a significantly enhanced number of calcium efflux channels in the open configuration at both 8 and 24 h following thermal injury compared to time-matched shams (1.07 +/- 0.01 and 0.95 +/- 0.06 vs 0.85 +/- 0.01 pmol bound/mg protein, P < 0.05). The data indicate that altered function of the myocardial transmembrane SR calcium efflux channel following thermal injury was associated with elevated [Ca2+]l and contractile dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that postburn cardiac dysfunction may partly be a result of elevated cytoplasmic calcium concentrations and diminished regulation of SR calcium efflux channel activity.
A Meta-Analysis of Risk Markers for Intimate Partner Violence in Same-Sex Relationships

Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) has largely focused on heterosexual relationships, but, in recent years, researchers have expanded their focus to include same-sex relationships. Using meta-analytic techniques, this study was conducted to examine the relative strength of various risk markers for men and women being perpetrators and victims of physical IPV in same-sex relationships. Articles were identified through research search engines and screened to identify articles fitting the inclusion criteria, a process that resulted in 24 studies and 114 effect sizes for the meta-analysis. The strongest risk marker among those with at least two effect sizes for both male and female perpetration was psychological abuse perpetration. The strongest risk marker among those with at least two effect sizes for IPV victimization was also perpetration of psychological abuse for males and psychological abuse victimization for females. Among same-sex-specific risk markers, internalized homophobia and fusion were the strongest predictors for being perpetrators of IPV for men and women, respectively. HIV status and internalized homophobia were the strongest risk markers for IPV victimization for men and women, respectively. Of 10 comparisons between men and women in risk markers for IPV perpetration and victimization, only 1 significant difference was found. The results suggest that although same-sex and heterosexual relationships may share a number of risk markers for IPV, there are risk markers for physical IPV unique to same-sex relationships. Further research and increased specificity in measurement are needed to better study and understand the influence of same-sex-specific risk markers for IPV.
Proteolysis of monocyte CD14 by human leukocyte elastase inhibits lipopolysaccharide-mediated cell activation.

Human leukocyte elastase (HLE), a polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) serine proteinase, is proteolytically active on some membrane receptors at the surface of immune cells. The present study focused on the effect of HLE on the expression of CD14, the main bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) receptor at the surface of monocytes. HLE exhibited a time- and concentration-dependent downregulatory effect on CD14 surface expression. A 30-minute incubation of 3 microM HLE was required to display 95% disappearance of the receptor. This downregulation resulted from a direct proteolytic process, not from a shedding consecutive to monocyte activation as observed upon challenge with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). To confirm that CD14 is a substrate for HLE, this enzyme was incubated with recombinant human CD14 (Mr approximately 57,000), and proteolysis was further analyzed by immunoblot analysis. Cleavage of the CD14 molecule was directly evidenced by the generation of short-lived fragments (Mr approximately 47,000 and 30,000). As a consequence of the CD14 proteolysis, a decrease in the responsiveness of monocytes to LPS was observed, as assessed by measuring tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) formation. This inhibition was only observed with 1 ng/ml of LPS, i.e., when only the CD14-dependent pathway was involved. At a higher LPS concentration, such as 10 microgram/ml, when CD14-independent pathways were operative, this inhibition was overcome. The direct proteolysis by HLE of the membrane CD14 expressed on monocytes illustrates a potential anti-inflammatory effect of HLE through inhibition of LPS-mediated cell activation.
Planned adolescent pregnancy: what they wanted.

INTRODUCTION Approximately 15% of all adolescent pregnancies are planned. Little previous research has been conducted regarding why adolescents choose pregnancy or what the experience is like for them. METHOD Phenomenology was used to describe adolescents' experience planning their current pregnancy. Eight pregnant adolescents (ages 14 to 17 years) were interviewed. RESULTS Eleven themes related to planning a pregnancy during adolescence emerged from the participant interviews. Themes may be divided into two broad categories: themes relating to planning the pregnancy and themes that are related to the pregnancy. Themes related to planning the pregnancy can be further divided into two distinct groups: wants and needs. Themes that were related to planning for pregnancy in the "wants" section included: (a) the desire to be or be perceived as more grown up, with increased responsibility, independence, and maturity; (b) a long history of desiring pregnancy and the maternal role; (c) never having had anything to call their own and wanting something to care for and love; and (d) the pregnancy was the natural next step in their life or their relationship with their boyfriend. DISCUSSION Health care providers need to be aware that not all adolescent pregnancies occur as a result of error. Interventions should be developed to help provide the best care for this unique group of pregnant adolescents.
Computerized Automated Reminder Diabetes System (CARDS): e-mail and SMS cell phone text messaging reminders to support diabetes management.

BACKGROUND Cell phone text messaging, via the Short Messaging Service (SMS), offers the promise of a highly portable, well-accepted, and inexpensive modality for engaging youth and young adults in the management of their diabetes. This pilot and feasibility study compared two-way SMS cell phone messaging with e-mail reminders that were directed at encouraging blood glucose (BG) monitoring. METHODS Forty insulin-treated adolescents and young adults with diabetes were randomized to receive electronic reminders to check their BG levels via cell phone text messaging or e-mail reminders for a 3-month pilot study. Electronic messages were automatically generated, and participant replies with BG results were processed by the locally developed Computerized Automated Reminder Diabetes System (CARDS). Participants set their schedule for reminders on the secure CARDS website where they could also enter and review BG data. RESULTS Of the 40 participants, 22 were randomized to receive cell phone text message reminders and 18 to receive e-mail reminders; 18 in the cell phone group and 11 in the e-mail group used the system. Compared to the e-mail group, users in the cell phone group received more reminders (180.4 vs. 106.6 per user) and responded with BG results significantly more often (30.0 vs. 6.9 per user, P = 0.04). During the first month cell phone users submitted twice as many BGs as e-mail users (27.2 vs. 13.8 per user); by month 3, usage waned. CONCLUSIONS Cell phone text messaging to promote BG monitoring is a viable and acceptable option in adolescents and young adults with diabetes. However, maintaining interest levels for prolonged intervals remains a challenge.
Effect of peripheral nerve injury on receptive fields of cells in the cat spinal cord

When the sciatic and saphenous nerves are cut and ligated in adult cats, the immediate effect is the production of a completely anesthetic foot and a region in medial lumbar dorsal horn where almost all cells have lost their natural receptive fields (RFs). Beginning at about 1 week and maturing by 4 weeks, some 40% of cells in the medial dorsal horn gain a novel RF on proximal skin, that is, upper and lower leg, thigh, lower back, or perineum. This new RF is supplied by intact proximal nerves and not by sciatic and saphenous nerve fibers that sprouted in the periphery. During the period of switching of RFs from distal to proximal skin there was no gross atrophy of dorsal horn grey matter and no Fink‐Heimer stainable degeneration of central arbors and terminals of peripherally axotomized afferents. In intact animals medial dorsal horn cells showed no sing of response to mechanical stimulation of proximal skin. RFs of some of the cells had spontaneous variations in size and sensitivity, but these were not nearly sufficient to explain the large shifts observed after chronic nerve section. Tetanic electrical stimulation of skin or peripheral nerves often caused RFs to shrink, but never to expand. Although natural stimuli of proximal skin would not excite medial dorsal horn cells in intact or acutely deafferented animals, it was found that electrical stimulation of proximal nerves did excite many of these cells, often at short latencies. In the discussion we justify our working hypothesis that the appearance of novel RFs is due to the strengthening or unmasking of normally present but ineffective afferent terminals, rather than to long‐distance sprouting of new afferent arbors within the spinal cord.
Stress-induced gene expression and behavior are controlled by DNA methylation and methyl donor availability in the dentate gyrus

Significance Appropriate behavioral responses to psychologically stressful events are important for maintaining mental health and well-being. The consolidation of these behavioral responses critically depends on the induction of the immediate-early gene products FBJ murine osteosarcoma viral oncogene homolog (c-Fos) and early growth response protein 1 (Egr-1) in dentate gyrus neurons. In this report, we found that an intricate balance between DNA methylation, DNA demethylation, and availability of the methyl donor S-adenosyl methionine governs the induction of these genes as well as the behavioral responses after stress. These findings provide insights into the epigenetic control of gene expression underlying stress-induced behavioral adaptation. Stressful events evoke long-term changes in behavioral responses; however, the underlying mechanisms in the brain are not well understood. Previous work has shown that epigenetic changes and immediate-early gene (IEG) induction in stress-activated dentate gyrus (DG) granule neurons play a crucial role in these behavioral responses. Here, we show that an acute stressful challenge [i.e., forced swimming (FS)] results in DNA demethylation at specific CpG (5′-cytosine–phosphate–guanine-3′) sites close to the c-Fos (FBJ murine osteosarcoma viral oncogene homolog) transcriptional start site and within the gene promoter region of Egr-1 (early growth response protein 1) specifically in the DG. Administration of the (endogenous) methyl donor S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) did not affect CpG methylation and IEG gene expression at baseline. However, administration of SAM before the FS challenge resulted in an enhanced CpG methylation at the IEG loci and suppression of IEG induction specifically in the DG and an impaired behavioral immobility response 24 h later. The stressor also specifically increased the expression of the de novo DNA methyltransferase Dnmt3a [DNA (cytosine-5-)-methyltransferase 3 alpha] in this hippocampus region. Moreover, stress resulted in an increased association of Dnmt3a enzyme with the affected CpG loci within the IEG genes. No effects of SAM were observed on stress-evoked histone modifications, including H3S10p-K14ac (histone H3, phosphorylated serine 10 and acetylated lysine-14), H3K4me3 (histone H3, trimethylated lysine-4), H3K9me3 (histone H3, trimethylated lysine-9), and H3K27me3 (histone H3, trimethylated lysine-27). We conclude that the DNA methylation status of IEGs plays a crucial role in FS-induced IEG induction in DG granule neurons and associated behavioral responses. In addition, the concentration of available methyl donor, possibly in conjunction with Dnmt3a, is critical for the responsiveness of dentate neurons to environmental stimuli in terms of gene expression and behavior.
Design of a High Extinction Ratio Tunable Graphene on White Graphene Polarizer

A thermally/electrically tunable graphene on white graphene polarizer is proposed, in which the resonant coupling between the plasmonic surface modes of the structure and the transverse electric (TE) [or transverse magnetic (TM)] polarized incident wave is used to absorb this polarization, while the TM (or TE) polarized incident wave is totally reflected. It is then shown that the thermal and electrical tunability of surface conductivity of graphene can be used to control the optical properties of the proposed polarizer, including the selection of the desired polarization, and adjusting the amplitude of the reflected (desired) polarization. The application of the hexagonal boron-nitride (white graphene) as the substrate of graphene increases the propagation of the surface waves of the structure, which in turn results in the very high polarization extinction ratio of 75 dB. Moreover, the ultra-small insertion loss of 0.022 dB and relatively large bandwidth of ~ 60 nm are calculated for the proposed polarizer.
Risk analyses for screening sigmoidoscopy based on a colorectal cancer (CRC) population

Objective. Although colonoscopy can be effective in the prevention of colorectal cancer (CRC), it requires many endoscopic facilities, has a high patient burden and risk of complications, and it is expensive. The aim of this study was to determine the risk for proximal CRC and to identify subgroups in which screening sigmoidoscopy can be effective. Material and methods. A database search was carried out on all patients who underwent endoscopy of the lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract between 1997 and 2005. All patients diagnosed with CRC were included. Variables including age, gender and the presence of distal colonic neoplasia were used for risk analyses. Results. In total, 783 patients were diagnosed with CRC. Tumour was located in the proximal colon in 68/255 (27%) of the patients <65 years. Of the patients <65 years, 22% (57/255) had proximal CRC without synchronous distal lesions and would thus have been missed by sigmoidoscopy screening. Among patients >65 years, 41% (216/528) were diagnosed with proximal CRC, significantly more often in women than in men (p <0.001). In 35% of patients (185/528) proximal CRC without distal colonic neoplasia was found, significantly more than in those under 65 years of age (p <0.001). Conclusions. Significantly more proximal localized CRC would have been missed by sigmoidoscopy screening in elderly patients, especially in women. In subjects <65 years of age, sigmoidoscopy screening allows detection of almost 80% of CRC cases and might suffice as a screening method.
NADPH‐Diaphorase (Nitric Oxide Synthase) Staining in the Rat Supraoptic Nucleus is Activity‐Dependent: Possible Functional Implications

NADPH‐diaphorase has recently been shown to be the enzyme nitric oxide (NO) synthase, and to be present in the rat supraoptic nucleus (SON) and posterior pituitary. Investigations were carried out to assess whether there is any difference in the extent to which this enzyme is present, as assessed by light‐microscopic histochemistry, in SON of normal and dehydrated male Wistar rats. In normal rats there was clear cellular heterogeneity; cells located in the ventral and caudal areas of the SON stained only weakly or not at all, while cells in the rostro‐dorsal areas of the nucleus stained strongly. Dehydration of rats for 12 h caused a large and rapid increase in staining intensity of the nucleus, particularly of cells in its ventral and caudal parts. On the basis of its known biological actions, and the kinetics of its induction, it is suggested that NO would be a strong candidate as a modulator of SON and posterior pituitary morphology and function, with the potential to rapidly modulate blood flow, neuronal activity, and possibly astrocyte morphology, in response to changes in neuronal activity.
Renal handling of albumin: a critical review of basic concepts and perspective.

Biochemical and physiological processes that underlie the mechanism of albuminuria are completely reassessed in this article in view of recent discoveries that filtered proteins undergo rapid degradation during renal passage and the resulting excreted peptide fragments are not detected by conventional urine protein assays. This means that filtered protein and/or albumin levels in urine have been seriously underestimated. The concept that albuminuria is a result of changes in glomerular permeability is questioned in light of these findings and also in terms of a critical examination of charge selectivity, shunts, or large-pore formation and hemodynamic effects. The glomerulus appears to function merely in terms of size selectivity alone, and for albumin, this does not change significantly in disease states. Intensive albumin processing by a living kidney occurs through cellular processes distal to the glomerular basement membrane. Failure of this cellular processing primarily leads to albuminuria. This review brings together recent data about urinary albumin clearance and current knowledge of receptors known to process albumin in both health and disease states. We conclude with a discussion of topical and controversial issues associated with the proposed new understanding of renal handling of albumin.
The Motivational Component of Withdrawal in Opiate Addiction: Role of Associative Learning and Aversive Memory in Opiate Addiction from a Behavioral, Anatomical and Functional Perspective

A major challenge in current drug addiction research is not only to understand the immediate effects of drugs of abuse on brain operations, but also to define at the behavioral and neural levels how cognitive, emotional and motivational processes interact with drug use in order to lead to this psychopathological state which defines addiction. It is now clear that factors other than the direct effects of drugs of abuse are able to powerfully affect drug-seeking and drug-taking behaviors. In former opiate addicts, re-exposure to environmental situations previously paired with withdrawal is able to induce strong craving episodes. It has been proposed that these conditioned stimuli could be strongly involved in precipitating relapse in drug-taking behavior by re-activating the neurobiological circuits which are engaged in an unconditioned way by the withdrawal state itself, leading to a powerful aversive state relieved by drug consumption renewal. In the present review, we provide evidence from a neuropsychopharmacological viewpoint that environmental situations previously paired with the opiate withdrawal syndrome might be able to maintain drug-seeking motivation. Using behavioral models which allow assessment of the aversive and motivational properties of opiate withdrawal both in the unconditioned and conditioned situations, we have recently investigated using extensive mapping the neurobiological correlates which underlie acute withdrawal and the trace of its memory in the brain in terms of localization and neuronal population involved, with an anatomical and functional approach. Thus, on the basis of our results, and together with a number of data in the literature, we provide a functional model for the formation and retrieval of opiate withdrawal memories.