Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular Characterization of the Fragilysin Pathogenicity Islet of Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis

ABSTRACT Enterotoxigenic strains of Bacteroides fragilis produce an extracellular metalloprotease toxin (termed fragilysin) which is cytopathic to intestinal epithelial cells and induces fluid secretion and tissue damage in ligated intestinal loops. We report here that the fragilysin gene is contained within a small genetic element termed the fragilysin pathogenicity islet. The pathogenicity islet of B. fragilis VPI 13784 was defined as 6,033 bp in length and contained nearly perfect 12-bp direct repeats near its ends. Sequencing across the ends of the pathogenicity islet from two additional enterotoxigenic strains, along with PCR analysis of 20 additional enterotoxigenic strains, revealed that the islet is inserted at a specific site on the B. fragilis chromosome. The site of integration in three nontoxigenic strains contained a 17-bp GC-rich sequence which was not present in toxigenic strains and may represent a target sequence for chromosomal integration. In addition to the fragilysin gene, we identified an open reading frame encoding a predicted protein with a size and structural features similar to those of fragilysin. The deduced amino acid sequence was 28.5% identical and 56.3% similar to fragilysin and contained a nearly identical zinc-binding motif and methionine-turn region.
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Mortality among Adult HIV Patients Initiating ART in Rural Setting of HIV Care and Treatment Services in North Western Tanzania: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Introduction HIV still causes high mortality despite use of ART. This study was designed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of mortality among HIV patients receiving ART in northwestern rural Tanzania. Methods A retrospective study of HIV patients on ART was done at Sengerema in Mwanza, Tanzania. The data on demography, date of HIV diagnosis, WHO stage, opportunistic infections, CD4, hemoglobin, ART regimen, and time and outcome on treatment as dead or alive were collected and analyzed using STATA version 11. Results In total, 740 patients were studied. The median age was 35 (27–42) years with female predominance of 465 (62.8%). Of the participants, 261 (35.3%) had WHO stages 3 and 4 diseases. Most participants, 258 (34.9%), had baseline CD4 counts <200 cells/μl. Deaths occurred in 86 (11.6%) patients which were independently associated with male gender (16.0% versus 9.0%, p = 0.015), being divorced (OR = 2.7, p < 0.001), WHO stages 3 and 4 (OR = 2.3, p = 0.05), CD4 <200 cells/μl (OR = 3.4, p < 0.001), and severe anemia (OR = 6.6, p < 0.001). Conclusions The mortality is high among HIV patients receiving ART in northwestern rural Tanzania. Universal testing could increase early diagnosis and treatment. A close follow-up of at-risk patients within the first year of ART could reduce the mortality of this subgroup of patients.
Using Culture-Centered Qualitative Formative Research to Design Broadcast Messages for HIV Prevention for African American Adolescents

The need for formative research in designing mass media health-education messages is widely accepted; however, distinct methodologies for developing such messages are less well documented. This article describes a culture-centered approach for developing messages to promote sexual risk reduction in urban African American adolescents. The method uses qualitative formative research to identify “competing narratives” that support healthy behavior despite the dominance of messages that favor risk-taking behavior. The method is illustrated using qualitative analysis of semistructured interviews with 124 adolescents. Analysis focuses on two barriers to sexual risk reduction: (a) social pressure for early initiation of sexual intercourse and (b) perceptions that condoms reduce sexual pleasure. We demonstrate how competing narratives identified in the analysis can be featured in radio and television messages advocating healthy behavior by modeling risk-reducing negotiation skills.
An Update on Clinical Applications of Intravascular Ultrasound

Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) has emerged as the first clinical imaging method to visualize atherosclerosis and other pathologic conditions within vessel wall. It is of paramount importance in clarifying situations in which angiography is equivocal or difficult to interpret, choosing the appropriate intervention, and optimizing the results. It is an important tool providing several unique insights into plaque burden, remodeling, and restenosis. In percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES), IVUS guidance may reduce stent thrombosis. IVUS guidance appears to be most beneficial in complex lesion subsets, such as left main coronary artery (LMCA) and bifurcations. In this review, the author examines the clinical applications of IVUS in current PCI era dominated by use of DES.
Rearrangements of intranuclear structures involved in RNA processing in response to adenovirus infection.

We have studied in HeLa cells at the electron microscope level the response to adenovirus infection of the RNA processing machinery. Components of the spliceosomes were localized by in situ hybridization with biotinylated U1 and U2 DNA probes and by immunolabeling with Y12 anti-Sm monoclonal antibody, whereas poly(A)+ RNAs were localized by specific binding of biotinylated poly(dT) probe. At early stages of nuclear transformation, the distribution of small nuclear RNPs was similar to that previously described in non-infected nuclei (Visa, N., Puvion-Dutilleul, F., Bachellerie, J.P. and Puvion, E., Eur. J. Cell Biol. 60, 308-321, 1993; Visa, N., Puvion-Dutilleul, F., Harper, F., Bachellerie, J. P. and Puvion, E., Exp. Cell Res. 208, 19-34, 1993). As the infection progresses, the large virus-induced inclusion body consists of a central storage site of functionally inactive viral genomes surrounded by a peripheral shell formed by clusters of interchromatin granules, compact rings and a fibrillogranular network in which are embedded the viral single-stranded DNA accumulation sites. Spliceosome components and poly(A)+ RNAs were then exclusively detected over the clusters of interchromatin granules and the fibrillogranular network whereas the viral single-stranded DNA accumulation sites and compact rings remained unlabeled, thus appearing to not be directly involved in splicing. Our data, therefore, suggest that the fibrillogranular network, in addition to being the site of viral transcription, is also a major site of viral RNA splicing. Like the clusters of interchromatin granules, which had been already involved in spliceosome assembly, they could also have a role in the sorting of viral spliced polyadenylated mRNAs before export to the cytoplasm. The compact rings, which contain non-polyadenylated viral RNA, might accumulate the non-used portions of the viral transcripts resulting from differential poly(A)+ site selection.
Characteristics of cursor trajectories controlled by the computer mouse

An analysis of computer screen cursor trajectories can provide insights into the factors limiting efficient cursor positioning and can assist in the design of humancomputer interfaces. Cursor locations as controlled by a Microsoft computer mouse with standard settings were therefore sampled at 5ms intervals and kinematic analyses addressed the proportions of time spent in the initiation, accelerative and terminal guidance phases of cursor positioning. Twelve participants used a computer mouse to move a cursor over different distances (7.5cm, 15cm) from a home location in the lower centre of the screen to targets of different diameters (8mm, 16mm), situated to the left, middle or right of the computer screen. Cursor trajectories were irregular, and participants regularly overshot their targets, spending 70% of movement duration in terminal guidance. Participants appeared to use the initial part of their movement to establish mappings between controller and display. Interventions should seek to reduce the terminal guidance phase of cursor positioning.
Application of fluoroimmunoassay to cerebrospinal fluid immunoglobulin G and albumin

Special solid-phase fluoroimmunoasssay protocols were used to measure the amount of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and albumin in 1,511 samples of cerebrospinal fluid. The fluoroimmunoassay is an inhibition test conducted on the surface of a plastic probe, whose fluorescence is inversely related to the concentration of spinal fluid IgG or albumin. A microcomputer interfaced with the fluorometer calculates the sample IgG or albumin from a calibration curve based on standard cerebrospinal fluid values. The test and interpretation take less than 90 min. Correlation coefficients for over 100 cerebrospinal fluid samples tested by both fluoroimmunoassay and radial immunodiffusion were: IgG, 0.90 (slope, 1.04); albumin, 0.95 (slope, 0.99). The within-run precision (coefficient of variation) was: IgG, 4.4%; albumin, 6.3%. Run-to-run precision on a midrange sample was: IgG, 7.7%, albumin, 11.7%. These findings establish the simplicity, speed, and precision of the modified fluoroimmunoassay system for specific cerebrospinal fluid proteins.
Biological and Dietary Correlates of Plasma Lipids and Lipoproteins among Elderly Japanese Men in Hawaii

The relationships of plasma total cholesterol (total-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and trlglycerlde (TG) to a variety of personal attributes were investigated cross-sectionally in a random sample of approximately 1360 elderly Japanese men, aged 60–81 years, in Hawaii. In multivariate analyses, total-C was positively related to hematocrit (p < 0.01); LDL-C was positively related to hematocrit (p < 0.000l), and inversely related to alcohol consumption (p < 0.0001); HDL-C was positively related to alcohol consumption (p < 0.0001) and physical activity index (p < 0.05), and inversely related to body mass index (p < 0.0001) and antihypertensive medication (p < 0.05); and LogTG was positively related to body mass index (p < 0.0001), alcohol consumption (p < 0.0001), antihypertensive medication (p < 0.0001), and diastolic blood pressure (p < 0.01), and inversely related to physical activity Index (p < 0.01). Body mass index and alcohol consumption were the most important correlates of plasma lipids and lipoproteins. Several dietary variables were significantly related to each lipid or lipoprotein fraction after controlling for nondietary variables, but their independent contributions were generally quite modest.
Developmental Immunotoxicity of Trichloroethylene (TCE): Studies in B6C3F1 Mice

This study assessed the developmental immunotoxicity of trichloroethylene (TCE) in B6C3F1 mice exposed via drinking water (0, 1,400, 14,000 ppb) from gestation day 0 (GD0) to either 3 or 8 weeks of age. Lymphocyte proliferation, NK cell activity, SRBC-specific IgM production (PFC response), splenic B220+ cells, and thymic and splenic T-cell immunophenotypes were assessed at 3 and 8 weeks of age. Delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) and autoantibodies to ds-DNA were assessed in 8-week old animals only. Proliferation and NK cell activity were not affected at either age. Decreased PFC responses were noted in male offspring at both ages and both TCE treatment levels. PFC responses in female offspring were suppressed by treatment with 14,000 ppb TCE at both ages assessed and at 1,400 ppb TCE at 8 weeks of age. Splenic numbers of B220 cells were only decreased in 3-week old pups exposed to 14,000 ppb TCE. The most pronounced alteration in T-cell subpopulations were increases in all thymic (CD4+, CD8+, CD4+/CD8+, and CD4-/CD8-) T-cell types in 8-week old animals. DTH was increased in females at both TCE levels and in males at the high dose only. These results indicate that TCE may be an effective developmental immunotoxicant and suggests that additional studies are required to determine the health risks associated with developmental exposure to TCE. *Present Address: Clinical Laboratory Sciences, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV, USA
The Retrieval Context of Intervening Tasks Influences Subsequent Memory in Younger and Older Adults

Background/Study Context: What people remember can be shaped by how they access and evaluate their memories as well as by events that happen after the original experience. This study examined how thinking about events in different ways after their occurrence can influence younger and older adults’ memory for what really occurred. Methods: Younger adults (ages 18–22) and older adults (ages 65–88) saw and imagined pictures of objects and later evaluated each object 0, 1, or 3 times on a task that either required them to remember the objects in a general way (old or new? ), in a more specific manner (perceived, imagined, or new? ), or that required thinking about objects without regard to whether or how they were earlier experienced (e.g., judging their function or frequency in everyday life). Results: Results showed that probing items multiple times on the intervening tasks increased the number of items younger and older adults successfully remembered later but also increased source misattributions of claiming to have seen objects that were really imagined, with older adults showing lower recall but higher source errors. Exposure to items on the nonretrieval intervening tasks negatively affected later source memory, and remembering items without explicitly considering their source increased source errors even more that did the non-retrieval-based intervening tasks. Conclusions: These findings illustrate the negative impact of thinking about and nondiscriminately remembering past events on subsequent memory accuracy.
Hemisphericity Style, Sex, and Performance on a Mirror-Tracing Task

60 right-handed college students classified as preferring either a style of left or right hemisphericity mirror-traced a star pattern once with each hand. Speed of tracing and number of deviations outside the star pattern were the dependent measures. Analysis showed no statistically significant differences in performance between right- and left-style groups or between men and women. However, subjects classified as showing a right-hemisphericity style mirror-traced the star pattern significantly faster and more accurately with the left hand than with the right. The left-hemisphericity-scoring group displayed a nonsignificant tendency to perform better on the reverse pattern.
Detection of Object Existence From a Single Reconstructed Plane Obtained by Integral Imaging

We use 3D computational reconstructed integral imaging to detect the existence objects at a 3D space. In order to find the precise location of the objects, we apply an efficient wavelet-based filtering with adaptive thresholding to identify and outline focused regions, which relate to object surfaces located at a single examined reconstructed plane. Finally, we present experimental results of 3D object detection, both in good illumination and under photon-starved conditions.
Accessing the Neural Drive to Muscle and Translation to Neurorehabilitation Technologies

This review describes methods for interfacing motor neurons from muscle recordings and their applications in studies on the neural control of movement and in the design of technologies for neurorehabilitation. After describing methods for accessing the neural drive to muscles in vivo in humans, we discuss the mechanisms of transmission of synaptic input into motor neuron output and of force generation. The synaptic input received by a motor neuron population is largely common among motor neurons. This allows linear transmission of the input and a reduced dimensionality of control by the central nervous system. Force is generated by low-pass filtering the neural signal sent to the muscle. These concepts on neural control of movement are used for the development of neurorehabilitation technologies, which are discussed with representative examples on movement replacement, restoration, and neuromodulation. It is concluded that the analysis of the output of spinal motor neurons from muscle signals provides a unique means for understanding the neural coding of movement in vivo in humans and thus for reproducing this code artificially with the aim of restoring lost or impaired motor functions.
Degree of methylation of ZAC1 (PLAGL1) is associated with prenatal and post-natal growth in healthy infants of the EDEN mother child cohort

The ZAC1 gene, mapped to the 6q24 region, is part of a network of co-regulated imprinted genes involved in the control of embryonic growth. Loss of methylation at the ZAC1 differentially methylated region (DMR) is associated with transient neonatal diabetes mellitus, a developmental disorder involving growth retardation and diabetes in the first weeks of post-natal life. We assessed whether the degree of methylation of the ZAC1 DMR in leukocytes DNA extracted from cord blood is associated with fetal, birth and post-natal anthropometric measures or with C-peptide concentrations in cord serum. We also searched for an influence of dietary intake and maternal parameters on ZAC1 DMR methylation. We found positive correlations between the ZAC1 DMR methylation index (MI) and estimated fetal weight (EFW) at 32 weeks of gestation, weight at birth and weight at one year of age (respectively, r = 0.15, 0.09, 0.14; P values = 0.01, 0.15, 0.03). However, there were no significant correlations between the ZAC1 DMR MI and cord blood C-peptide levels. Maternal intakes of alcohol and of vitamins B2 were positively correlated with ZAC1 DMR methylation (respectively, r = 0.2 and 0.14; P = 0.004 and 0.04). The influence of ZAC1 seems to start in the second half of pregnancy and continue at least until the first year of life. The maternal environment also appears to contribute to the regulation of DNA methylation.
Skeletal muscle uptake of fluorine-18-FDG: effect of oral diazepam.

UNLABELLED We have observed a pattern of symmetrically increased uptake of [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in the neck and thoracic paravertebral regions of several patients referred for whole-body PET. The distribution is suggestive of uptake in contracting skeletal muscle in tense patients. METHODS To test this hypothesis, six successive patients who exhibited this pattern of uptake underwent rescanning using an identical imaging protocol but with oral diazepam before injection of FDG. RESULTS The increased neck and paravertebral uptake was significantly reduced or abolished with diazepam, confirming the supposition that this increased neck and paravertebral uptake represents a normal variant of muscle uptake. CONCLUSION Oral diazepam, given before the uptake period can be helpful in such patients to exclude the masking of potential abnormalities by this characteristic pattern of FDG uptake.
Cellular Mechanisms of Tissue Fibrosis Requirement for active glycogen synthase kinase-3 in TGF-1 upregulation of connective tissue growth factor ( CCN 2 / CTGF ) levels in human gingival fibroblasts

Bahammam M, Black SA, Jr, Sume SS, Assaggaf MA, Faibish M, Trackman PC. Requirement for active glycogen synthase kinase-3 in TGF1 upregulation of connective tissue growth factor (CCN2/CTGF) levels in human gingival fibroblasts. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 305: C581–C590, 2013. First published July 3, 2013; doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00032. 2013. —Connective tissue growth factor (CCN2/CTGF) mediates transforming growth factor(TGF)-induced fibrosis. Drug-induced gingival overgrowth is tissue specific. Here the role of the phosphoinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway in mediating TGF1-stimulated CCN2/CTGF expression in primary human adult gingival fibroblasts and human adult lung fibroblasts was compared. Data indicate that PI3K inhibitors attenuate upregulation of TGF1-induced CCN2/CTGF expression in human gingival fibroblasts independent of reducing JNK MAP kinase activation. Pharmacologic inhibitors and small interfering (si)RNA-mediated knockdown studies indicate that calcium-dependent isoforms and an atypical isoform of protein kinase C (PKC) do not mediate TGF1-stimulated CCN2/ CTGF expression in gingival fibroblasts. As glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3 ) can undergo phosphorylation by the PI3K/pathway, the effects of GSK-3 inhibitor kenpaullone and siRNA knockdown were investigated. Data in gingival fibroblasts indicate that kenpaullone attenuates TGF1-mediated CCN2/CTGF expression. Activation of the Wnt canonical pathways with Wnt3a, which inhibits GSK-3 , similarly inhibits TGF1-stimulated CCN2/CTGF expression. In contrast, inhibition of GSK-3 by Wnt3a does not inhibit, but modestly stimulates, CCN2/CTGF levels in primary human adult lung fibroblasts and is -catenin dependent, consistent with previous studies performed in other cell models. These data identify a novel pathway in gingival fibroblasts in which inhibition of GSK-3 attenuates CCN2/CTGF expression. In adult lung fibroblasts inhibition of GSK-3 modestly stimulates TGF1-regulated CCN2/CTGF expression. These studies have potential clinical relevance to the tissue specificity of drug-induced gingival overgrowth.
Composition and characteristics of camel milk

Present distribution and milk production. Main components (proteins, casein fractions, size distribution of casein, whey protein fractions, lipids, fatty acids, phospholipids, physical state and properties of fat globules, lactose, minerals and vitamines). Enzymic coagulation. Effects of heat on milk. Antibacterial activity
Nephrinuria associates with multiple renal traits in type 2 diabetes.

BACKGROUND The involvement of nephrin in controlling renal function is unclear with the literature only emphasizing its role in albuminuria. We therefore investigated the potential association between nephrinuria as evidenced by the appearance of urinary immunopositive nephrin fragments, with multiple renal traits. METHODS Western blot analysis of the urine samples from a cross-sectional study of 381 Chinese type 2 diabetic patients revealed four distinct protein fragments, indicative of nephrinuria. Albuminuria was measured in random spot urine samples using the albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR), while estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated using the creatinine-based Modification of Diet in Renal Disease formula. RESULTS Each nephrin fragment was associated with a decline in eGFR (smallest P = 0.001). Even with the inclusion of logarithmic form of ACR (ln ACR) in the multivariate model, nephrinuria still remained significantly associated with lower eGFR (smallest P < 0.05). Nephrinuria was also strongly associated with lnACR and this finding was independent of eGFR (smallest P < 0.001). Thus, nephrinuria was independently associated with both renal traits in the form of lnACR and eGFR. Furthermore, nephrinuria was significantly associated with lower eGFR even among normoalbuminuric patients (ACR ≤ 30 mg/g) (smallest P = 0.002), potentially implicating nephrinuria in the development of normoalbuminuric renal insufficiency. Apart from the renal traits under investigation, the presence of nephrinuria did not associate with other patient clinical characteristics. CONCLUSIONS Nephrinuria was associated with multiple renal traits in type 2 diabetes even in normoalbuminuric patients who are traditionally perceived as having a low risk of chronic kidney disease.