Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Induced T regulatory cells suppress osteoclastogenesis and bone erosion in collagen-induced arthritis better than natural T regulatory cells

Background Although natural regulatory T cells (nTregs) can suppress osteoclastogenesis, the role of TGF-β-induced CD4+Foxp3+ Tregs (iTregs) in osteoclastogenesis remains unknown. Objective To determine the effects of iTregs on osteoclastogenesis in vitro and on bone erosion in vivo in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). Methods Osteoclastogenesis was induced in bone marrow CD11b+ cells with receptor activator of nuclear factor κ B (NF-κB) ligand (RANKL) and macrophage colony stimulating factor. Graded doses of Tregs were added to inhibit osteoclastogenesis. Transwell and antibody blockade experiments were performed to assess the roles for cell contact and soluble cytokines. NF-κB activation was determined by western blot. iTregs or nTregs were adoptively transferred to mice with CIA to assess in vivo effects on disease incidence and bone erosion, the latter determined by CT scanning. Results Both nTregs and iTregs greatly suppressed osteoclastogenesis in vitro, but only iTregs sustained this effect when interleukin-6 was present. iTregs, but not nTregs, significantly suppressed development of CIA. Bone erosions in iTregs-treated mice were diminished compared with untreated mice or nTregs-treated mice. Treatment with iTregs, but not with nTregs, dramatically decreased NF-κB p65/p50 levels in osteoclasts in vitro and p65/50 and RANKL expression by synovial tissues in vivo. Conclusion iTregs may be therapeutically beneficial in rheumatoid arthritis and related diseases associated with bone erosions.
Phase I trial of intrathecal liposomal cytarabine in children with neoplastic meningitis.

PURPOSE We performed a phase I trial of intrathecal (IT) liposomal cytarabine (DepoCyt; Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Piscataway, NJ and SkyePharma Inc, San Diego, CA) to determine the maximum-tolerated dose, the dose-limiting toxicities, and the plasma and CSF pharmacokinetics of IT lipsomal cytarabine in children >/= 3 years of age with advanced meningeal malignancies. PATIENTS AND METHODS Eighteen assessable patients received IT liposomal cytarabine through either an indwelling ventricular access device or via lumbar puncture. Liposomal cytarabine was given once every 2 weeks during induction, once every 4 weeks during consolidation, and once every 8 weeks during the maintenance phase of treatment. The initial dose was 25 mg, with subsequent escalations to 35 and 50 mg. CSF pharmacokinetic samples were obtained in a subset of patients. RESULTS Arachnoiditis, characterized by fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, and back pain was noted in the first two patients at the 25 mg dose level. Therefore, subsequent patients were treated with dexamethasone, beginning the day of liposomal cytarabine administration and continuing for 5 days. Headache (grade 3) was dose limiting in two of eight patients enrolled at the 50 mg dose level. Eight of the 14 patients assessable for response demonstrated evidence of benefit manifest as prolonged disease stabilization or response. CONCLUSION The maximum-tolerated dose and recommended phase II dose of liposomal cytarabine in patients between the ages of 3 and 21 years is 35 mg, administered with dexamethasone (0.15 mg/kg/dose, twice a day for 5 days). A phase II trial of IT liposomal cytarabine in children with CNS leukemia in second or higher relapse is in development.
Public Understanding of the Role of Nurses During Ebola.

PURPOSE To examine media portrayals of nurses and their roles during the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in western Africa. METHODS The study used document analysis and in-depth content analysis to review and assess literature on the Ebola epidemic. A total of 234 potentially relevant articles were identified; 109 were excluded and 125 were included in the analysis. FINDINGS The analysis revealed a gap in system preparedness for global health events and a lack of public awareness of the critical role of nurses. Little attention was paid to nurses and their knowledge and expertise as they worked through the Ebola event. The perception of nurses evolved over the epidemic. CONCLUSIONS Portrayals of nurses and their work during the Ebola epidemic evolved over the epidemic, from positive to negative, and health systems were shown to be unprepared for a major epidemic. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Media coverage of major health events can demonstrate system inadequacies, but inaccurate and misleading portrayals of nurses and the nursing profession can undermine and diminish the image of the nursing profession.
Use of bovine somatotropin in lactating dairy cows receiving timed artificial insemination.

Objectives of the research were to examine the effect of bovine somatotropin (bST) on pregnancy rates to a timed artificial insemination protocol and to test a resynchronization system with two consecutive synchronized services. Lactating Holstein cows (n = 403) were assigned to the following treatments: bST treatment (500 mg) was initiated at 63 +/- 3 d postpartum concomitantly with initiation of the timed artificial insemination protocol or bST treatment was initiated at 105 +/- 3 d postpartum. At 63 +/- 3 d postpartum, all cows received GnRH (100 microg), an injection of PGF2alpha (25 mg) 7 d later, and a GnRH injection at 48 h after PGF2alpha and were inseminated 16 to 20 h later. Cows were reinseminated at detected estrus or resynchronized with a GnRH injection at 20 d after insemination. At 27 d after insemination, cows were examined for pregnancy. Resynchronized cows diagnosed nonpregnant received an injection of PGF2alpha and were inseminated at detected estrus or received an injection of GnRH at 48 h after PGF2alpha and inseminated 16 to 20 h later. Cows pregnant at d 27 were reexamined for pregnancy at 45 d after insemination. First-service pregnancy rates at d 45 were increased in cows not resynchronized that initiated bST treatment at 63 +/- 3 d postpartum, compared with cows initiating bST treatment at 105 +/- 3 d postpartum (37.7 +/- 5.8% and 22.1 +/- 4.2%, respectively), but the effect of bST treatment was not observed when cows were resynchronized (25.6 +/- 4.3% and 25.8 +/- 5.5%, respectively). Thus, bST increased pregnancy rates to a timed artificial insemination protocol.
How Latina mothers navigate a ‘food swamp’ to feed their children: a photovoice approach

Abstract Objective To understand how mothers who recently migrated from Central America to the USA feed their children in a neighbourhood saturated with unhealthful food choices (‘food swamp’) and to formulate a mother-driven plan of action to facilitate their acquisition of foods. Design/Setting/Subjects We purposively sampled mothers with children (<10 years old) who were recent immigrants/refugees from Central America and lived in a ‘food swamp’ neighbourhood. We used the photovoice approach to elicit textual data from thirty in-depth interviews, a participatory workshop, and visual data from photographs. Analyses were guided by the Social Ecological Framework and Social Cognitive Theory to identify barriers, facilitators and strategies that support parents in feeding their children. Results Mothers valued foods that they considered to be ‘traditional’ and ‘healthful’. They navigated their food retail environment looking for these foods (of good quality and well-priced). Food values were reinforced by pre-migration food customs and culture, health professionals’ advice and, in some cases, by the desire to avoid conflict with their children. The neighbourhood food environment could directly influence children’s food preferences and often created conflict between what the child wanted to eat and the foods that mothers valued. Mothers in this ‘food swamp’ wanted to be engaged in addressing the selection of foods offered in schools and in neighbourhood food venues to reflect their own food values. Conclusions These mothers’ feeding choices were influenced directly by their food values, and indirectly by the neighbourhood and school food environments via their children’s preferences.
Steroidal saponins from the rhizomes of Polygonatum odoratum

Three steroidal saponins were isolated and characterised from the rhizomes of Polygonatum odoratum. The structure of the compounds were determined as 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-[β-D-xylopyranosyl-(1 → 3)]-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 4)-galactopyranosyl-25(S)-spirost-5(6)-en-3β-ol (1), 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-[β-D-xylopyranosyl-(1 → 3)]-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 4)-galactopyranosyl-25(S)-spirost-5(6),14(15)-dien-3β-ol (2) and 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-[β-D-xylopyranosyl-(1 → 3)]-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 4)-galactopyranosyl-25(S)–spirost-5 (6)-en-3β, 14α-diol (3). Compound 2 was identified as a new compound. Compounds 1–3 were found to be strong against the growth of bacteria and plant pathogenic fungi.
Structure and function of the PHO82-pho4 locus controlling the synthesis of repressible acid phosphatase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

pho4 mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, although rare among phosphatase-negative mutants isolated from wild-type strains, were isolated efficiently from pho80, pho85, or pho80 pho85 strains. The distribution of these pho4 mutants over the pho4 locus was determined by analyzing random spores of two- and three-factor crosses. The pho4-4 mutation confers temperature-sensitive synthesis of repressible acid phosphatase. An intragenic suppressor for the pho4-12 allele results in the temperature-sensitive synthesis of repressible acid phosphatase. Recombination between these sites occurs at 1.0 to 3.0%, the highest for any pair of sites within the pho4 locus. All these results strongly indicate that the information of the pho4 locus is translated into a protein. The PHO82 site was mapped inside the pho4 locus by random spore analysis. The order met10-pho4-1PHO82-1-pho4-9 on the right arm of chromosome VI was confirmed by tetrad analysis. Doubly heterozygous diploids, pho3 PHO82c PHO4+/pho3 pho82+ pho4, produce variable amounts of repressible acid phosphatase under repressive conditions depending on the combination of PHO82c and pho4 alleles. This phenomenon may reflect the constitutive production of the pho82+-pho4 product in the repressed condition, which interferes with the function of the PHO82c-PHO4+ product. The earlier model for the function of the PHO82-pho4 cluster, in which the PHO82 site acts as an operator of the pho4 gene, has been revised to a model in which the PHO82 site codes for the part of the pho4 protein that has affinity for the regulatory protein encoded by the pho80 and pho85 genes.
Inositol synthesis and catabolism in Cryptococcus neoformans

Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that synthesizes and catabolizes inositol. This study demonstrates inositol synthesis from glucose‐6‐phosphate via inositol‐1‐phosphate synthase and catabolism to glucuronic acid via inositol oxygenase in this organism. These inositol synthetic and catabolic pathways are regulated in opposition; repressing conditions for one are inducing conditions for the other. An inositol‐requiring strain was generated by UV mutagenesis. Without inositol, this mutant strain undergoes ‘inositol‐less’ death, during which time the phosphatidylinositol composition of the membranes decreases without alteration of the proportion of other phospholipids. The mutation on this strain results in no detectable inositol synthetic activity but normal (wild‐type) inositol catabolic activity. This inositol‐requiring mutant strain reverted at a high frequency. Classical genetic experiments revealed that the majority of the reverting mutations are at second sites. Interestingly, the revertants exhibited unusual morphological phenotypes when deprived of inositol, while provision of inositol restored wild‐type morphology. Inositol metabolism is clearly important for growth and development of C. neoformans and may be involved in this organism's mechanism for survival as both a saprophyte in soil and a parasite in humans. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Girls, identities and agency in adolescents' digital literacy practices

This paper focuses on the ways girls use digital environments, like Word, PowerPoint and chatting programmes, for writing and communication purposes. By combining quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis and by adopting a critical discourse framework, we will explore the relationship between girls and new media, especially the ones related to digital writing, in terms of three interconnected variables. The first one is related to the role of the two most important socialisation institutions, home and school, at the present historical juncture, characterised by intense mobility and an expansion of traditional forms of literacy. The strategic choices of the girls’ families and their schools’ teaching practices contributed significantly to the formulation of their digital writing practices. The second variable is gender. Our data clearly show that a substantial number of girls were more inclined than their male peers to use word-processing and presentation software, performing, thus, the school discourses of ‘diligent students’. The third key variable concerns the personality of the girls who filtered in their own unique ways their social experiences, overcame limitations, took initiatives and appropriated technologically-mediated writing media for personally meaningful ends that enhanced their school and/or entertainment Discourses.
HIV Partner Notification Is Effective and Feasible in Sub-Saharan Africa: Opportunities for HIV Treatment and Prevention

Background:Sexual partners of persons with newly diagnosed HIV infection require HIV counseling, testing and, if necessary, evaluation for therapy. However, many African countries do not have a standardized protocol for partner notification, and the effectiveness of partner notification has not been evaluated in developing countries. Methods:Individuals with newly diagnosed HIV infection presenting to sexually transmitted infection clinics in Lilongwe, Malawi, were randomized to 1 of 3 methods of partner notification: passive referral, contract referral, or provider referral. The passive referral group was responsible for notifying their partners themselves. The contract referral group was given seven days to notify their partners, after which a health care provider contacted partners who had not reported for counseling and testing. In the provider referral group, a health care provider notified partners directly. Results:Two hundred forty-five index patients named 302 sexual partners and provided locator information for 252. Among locatable partners, 107 returned for HIV counseling and testing; 20 of 82 [24%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 15% to 34%] partners returned in the passive referral arm, 45 of 88 (51%; 95% CI: 41% to 62%) in the contract referral arm, and 42 of 82 (51%; 95% CI: 40% to 62%) in the provider referral arm (P < 0.001). Among returning partners (n = 107), 67 (64%) of were HIV infected with 54 (81%) newly diagnosed. Discussion:This study provides the first evidence of the effectiveness of partner notification in sub-Saharan Africa. Active partner notification was feasible, acceptable, and effective among sexually transmitted infections clinic patients. Partner notification will increase early referral to care and facilitate risk reduction among high-risk uninfected partners.
Downregulation of eIF4G by microRNA-503 enhances drug sensitivity of MCF-7/ADR cells through suppressing the expression of ABC transport proteins

Overexpression of adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette (ABC) transport protein is emerging as a critical contributor to anticancer drug resistance. The eukaryotic translation initiation factor (eIF) 4F complex, the key modulator of mRNA translation, is regulated by the phosphoinositide 3-kinase-AKT-mammalian target of rapamycin pathway in anticancer drug-resistant tumors. The present study demonstrated the roles of ABC translation protein alterations in the acquisition of the Adriamycin (ADM)-resistant phenotype of MCF-7 human breast cells. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis were applied to examine the differences in mRNA and protein levels, respectively. It was found that the expression of the ABC sub-family B member 1, ABC sub-family C member 1 and ABC sub-family G member 2 transport proteins were upregulated in MCF-7/ADR cells. An MTT assay was used to detect the cell viability, from the results MCF-7/ADR cells were less sensitive to ADM, tamoxifen (TAM) and taxol (TAX) treatment compared with MCF-7 cells. We predicted that the 3′-untranslated region of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4-γ 1 (eIF4G) contains a potential miRNA binding site for microRNA (miR)-503 through using computational programs. These binding sites were confirmed by luciferase reporter assays. eIF4G mRNA degradation was accelerated in cells transfected with miR-503 mimics. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that eIF4G and ABC translation proteins were significantly downregulated in MCF-7/ADR cells after transfection with miR-503. It was found that miR-503 mimics could sensitize the cells to treatment with ADM, TAM and TAX. These findings demonstrated for the first time that eIF4G acted as a key factor in MCF-7/ADR cells, and may be an efficient agent for preventing and reversing multi-drug resistance in breast cancer.
Absence of synapsin I and II is accompanied by decreases in vesicular transport of specific neurotransmitters

Studies of synapsin‐deficient mice have shown decreases in the number of synaptic vesicles but knowledge about the consequences of this decrease, and which classes of vesicles are being affected, has been lacking. In this study, glutamatergic, GABAergic and dopaminergic transport has been analysed in animals where the genes encoding synapsin I and II were inactivated. The levels of the vesicular glutamate transporter (VGLUT) 1, VGLUT2 and the vesicular GABA transporter (VGAT) were decreased by approximately 40% in adult forebrain from mice devoid of synapsin I and II, while vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT) 2 and VGLUT3 were present in unchanged amounts compared with wild‐type mice. Functional studies on synaptic vesicles showed that the vesicular uptake of glutamate and GABA was decreased by 41 and 23%, respectively, while uptake of dopamine was unaffected by the lack of synapsin I and II. Double‐labelling studies showed that VGLUT1 and VGLUT2 colocalized fully with synapsin I and/or II in the hippocampus and neostriatum, respectively. VGAT showed partial colocalization, while VGLUT3 and VMAT2 did not colocalize with either synapsin I or II in the brain areas studied. In conclusion, distinct vesicular transporters show a variable degree of colocalization with synapsin proteins and, hence, distinct sensitivities to inactivation of the genes encoding synapsin I and II.
Barriers towards the adoption of a practical training management system at the University of Dar es Salaam

There is a growing demand for work-based learning in higher education. This motivated the modification of curricula of higher learning institutions in Tanzania to include a Practical Training course. At the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) and other institutions, the management and coordination of the course, however, is not computerised and this led to the development of a Practical Training Management System which surprisingly took a long time to adopt. This study therefore aimed to investigate the barriers towards the adoption of the Practical Training Management System at the University of Dar es Salaam. The research was conducted at the College of Information and Communication Technologies (CoICT) at the University of Dar es Salaam whereby a total of 254 staff and students responded to a survey that tested various aspects that were considered to be possible barriers towards the adoption of the system such as the environment, training, awareness and policies. The results showed the main barriers to be lack of awareness and training, unreliable and slow Internet connectivity, and policy and administrative support.
Real time ECG characteristic point detection with randomly selected signal pair difference (RSSPD) feature and random forest classifier

Detection of ECG characteristic points serves as a first step in many automated ECG analysis techniques. We propose a novel statistical scheme for ECG recognition. We design an effective feature, i.e. the randomly selected signal pair difference (RSSPD) feature, to effectively represent ECG morphology. The RSSPD generates a feature pool of signal pairs, and then a multi-class random forest is adopted in this work to train a classification model to detect all the ECG characteristic points simultaneously. After the post processing stage, the final output is generated. Our work provides robust and accurate detection performance in ECG datasets. The evaluation results on QT database show better detection accuracy compared with other studies.
Role of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation.

BACKGROUND Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) is a pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine and contributes to many kinds of cardiovascular diseases via its receptors (TNFR1/TNFR2). We hypothesize that TNF-α plays a role in the pathogenesis of chronic atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS Sixty-seven consecutive patients who were scheduled to have cardiac surgery were enrolled into the study. Thirty-one patients with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and AF were enrolled as study group (AF group). The sinus rhythm (SR) control groups consisted of 20 patients with RHD and 16 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Peripheral blood sample was collected before the operation. About 5 mm(3) left atrial tissue was disserted during the operation and was separated into three parts for Western blotting, real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis. RESULTS Compared with the controls (RHD SR and CAD SR), the levels of TNF-α ((14.40 ± 5.45) pg/ml vs. (4.20 ± 3.19) pg/ml vs. (2.68 ± 2.20) pg/ml, P = 0.000) and its soluble receptor 1 (sTNFR1) ((1623.9 ± 558.6) pg/ml vs. (1222.3 ± 175.6) pg/ml vs. (1387.5 ± 362.2) pg/ml, P = 0.001) in plasma were higher in patients with AF. TNF-α level had positive correlation with the left atrial diameter (LAD) (r = 0.642, P = 0.000). Western blotting analysis showed that the protein levels of TNF-α (0.618 ± 0.236 vs. 0.234 ± 0.178 vs. 0.180 ± 0.103, P = 0.000) were higher in patients with AF. The RT-PCR analysis results demonstrated that the mRNA expression of TNF-α (0.103 ± 0.047 vs. 0.031 ± 0.027 vs. 0.023 ± 0.018, P = 0.000) increased in patients with AF. IHC analysis displayed that, comparing to the SR, the expression of TNF-α (0.125 ± 0.025 vs. 0.080 ± 0.027 vs. 0.070 ± 0.023, P = 0.000) increased in the AF group. The protein level and mRNA expression of TNF-α also had positive correlation with left atrium diameter (LAD) (r = 0.415, P = 0.000 and r = 0.499, P = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS The results revealed that TNF-α elevated in the plasma and left atrial tissue and had positive correlation with LAD in patients of chronic AF. TNF-α might involve in the pathogenesis of chronic AF.
Profile of the mosaic element BTMR1 in the genome of the bumble bee Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Co‐evolution involving a mariner transposon, Botmar1 and the other repeats contained in the Bombus terrestris genome was investigated. We found that the 5′‐region of Botmar1 forms one of the components of a mosaic element, known as B. terrestris mosaic repeat 1 (BTMR1), which is also composed of inner segments originating from two different retrotransposons and a pseudogene corresponding to an RNA methyltransferase cDNA. The fact that BTMR1 is interspersed within chromosomes and the differences in its abundance in different species indicate that it is very probably a mobile element. Nevertheless, the absences of direct or inverted repeats at its ends and of target site duplication indicate that its mobility is not ensured by a cardinal transposable element, but putatively by a Crypton‐like element.