Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Production of a Monoclonal Antibody against Canine GMP-140 (P-Selectin) and Studies of Its Vascular Distribution in Canine Tissues

Rapid upregulation of the adhesion molecule GMP-140 (P-selectin) on endothelial cells is believed to play an important role in the initial binding of leukocytes to endothelium, a very early step in the inflammatory response. Activated platelets that are involved in the coagulation system and in inflammatory processes also express GMP-140 on their surfaces. The objectives of the present study were to develop a monoclonal antibody against this adhesion molecule in the dog and to use this antibody to study platelet–neutrophil interactions in whole blood and to characterize the in vivo localization of GMP-140 in canine tissues. Five Balb/c mice were immunized with thrombin-stimulated dog platelets, and clones were screened using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The clone MD3 (IgG1) showed preferential binding to activated as compared with resting platelets. Flow cytometric analysis using MD3 revealed that 27% of circulating neutrophils in unstimulated blood had platelets bound to their surfaces; stimulation with platelet activating factor increased this percentage to 85%. Immunoblot analysis of solubilized dog platelets resolved by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicated that the antibody MD3 recognized an approximately 140-kd protein. Immunohistochemical study of normal dog tissues with MD3 revealed that the antigen was present in endothelial cells of arteries, capillaries, and veins, depending on the specific tissue examined. Blood vessels staining positively with MD3 were most abundant in the digestive system (liver, stomach, small and large intestines), moderate in the lungs, kidneys, spleen, lymph nodes, and endocrine glands, and minimal in the brain, myocardium, skeletal system, and skin. Based on its presence on stimulated but not resting platelets, its molecular weight, and its vascular distribution, the antigen recognized by MD3 appears to be the selectin GMP-140 of the dog. This study documents that the cellular and tissue distribution of GMP-140 in dogs is very similar to that in human beings.
Diabetic human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells fail to differentiate in functional adipocytes

Adipose tissue dysfunction represents a hallmark of diabetic patients and is a consequence of the altered homeostasis of this tissue. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their differentiation into adipocytes contribute significantly in maintaining the mass and function of adult adipose tissue. The aim of this study was to evaluate the differentiation of MSCs from patients suffering type 2 diabetes (dASC) and how such process results in hyperplasia or rather a stop of adipocyte turnover resulting in hypertrophy of mature adipocytes. Our results showed that gene profile of all adipogenic markers is not expressed in diabetic cells after differentiation indicating that diabetic cells fail to differentiate into adipocytes. Interestingly, delta like 1, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha, and interleukin 1β were upregulated whereas Sirtuin 1 and insulin receptor substrate 1 gene expression were found downregulated in dASC compared to cells obtained from healthy subjects. Taken together our data indicate that dASC lose their ability to differentiate into mature and functional adipocytes. In conclusion, our in vitro study is the first to suggest that diabetic patients might develop obesity through a hypertrophy of existing mature adipocytes due to failure turnover of adipose tissue. Impact statement In the present manuscript, we evaluated the differentiative potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in adipocytes obtained from healthy and diabetic patients. This finding could be of great potential interest for the field of obesity in order to exploit such results to further understand the pathophysiological processes underlying metabolic syndrome. In particular, inflammation in diabetic patients causes a dysfunction in MSCs differentiation and a decrease in adipocytes turnover leading to insulin resistance.
Conceptualizing the personal outcomes of information

Introduction. This paper conceptualizes the outcomes of information as an analytical construct that synthesizes different understandings of information use. The article focuses on the perspective of the individual person. Method. The discussion is primarily based on peer-reviewed articles and monographs in the whole field of information science. The items were normally selected from the Library and Information Science Abstracts database by the keywords outcomes, uses and effects of information. Analysis. Outcome of information is first defined as anything that ensues from the individual's assimilation of a message. The outcomes are then analysed hierarchically by dividing them into categories which are further divided into subcategories, until a concrete enough level is reached. Results. The main types of information outcome are information use and effect of information, and their most prominent common dimension is apparently mental vs. physical outcomes. As a result of the scrutiny, a taxonomy of information outcomes is presented in a conceptual model. Conclusion. The model is also a conceptual map of the research area, and indicates a certain imbalance in our knowledge of information outcomes. The model is detailed enough to enable a deductive mode of inquiry, but inductive approaches ought also to be cultivated.
Ocio y tiempo libre en los centros educativos

El tiempo libre como espacio de ocio esta adquiriendo —en las ultimas decadas— una gran relevancia, en especial entre las naciones avanzadas, dada su directa influencia en el bienestar y crecimiento personal y social de sus ciudadanos, con independencia de las repercusiones economicas que genera. El potencial educativo que encierra esta orientado a conseguir que la persona aproveche su tiempo disponible para alcanzar su plena realizacion. La educacion del ocio, por las caracteristicas que la conforman, constituye un campo profesional propio de la educacion social, enmarcado en la educacion permanente. Ninos y jovenes que estan cambiando sus habitos de ocio han sido siempre los principales protagonistas, por lo que la escuela aparece como un escenario de singular interes, donde el ocio es un factor esencial de la educacion integral. La intervencion socioeducativa, el perfil y las funciones en el centro escolar de los educadores sociales constituyen dos factores con incidencia directa en la mejora del ocio y tiempo libre en los centros educativos.
Relationship between hypoplastic right coronary artery and coronary artery anomalies.

OBJECTIVES The frequency of hypoplastic right coronary artery (HRCA) and its contribution to coronary artery anomalies (CAAs) has not been thoroughly studied. Here we aimed to investigate whether a casual relationship exists between the presence of HRCA and CAAs. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed coronary angiography records of 7500 patients. The images were carefully assessed for coronary artery (CA) anatomy and CAAs. Overall, we compared CAAs at the presence and absence of HRCA and evaluated potential association between HRCA and CAAs. Besides, we grouped HRCA patients according to the presence of CA disease (CAD) into two groups and compared their CAAs. RESULTS While the percentage of HRCA was 6.2%, it was 3.34% for CAAs. The percentage of CA with anomalous origin (CAAO) at the presence of HRCA was significantly higher than the presence of normal right coronary artery (NRCA) (p < 0.01). Similarly, the percentage of absent left main coronary artery (ALMCA) was also considerable increased in HRCA patients with respect to the patients with NRCA (p < 0.01). The percentage of CAAO was notably higher in the CAD (-) than CAD (+) patients with HRCA (p < 0.01). Likewise, the prevalence of ALMCA was also noticeably higher in the CAD (-) than CAD (+) patients with HRCA (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS HRCA is a clinically significant and frequently encountered congenital variation. The present observations indicate that the presence of HRCA is closely associated with a high prevalence of CAAO, particularly with increased rate of ALMCA.
Low Bone Density and Renal Dysfunction Following Environmental Cadmium Exposure in China

Abstract This paper presents the main findings of a study on health effects of environmental cadmium pollution in China, performed in 1998, i.e. approximately 25 years after the first warnings of such effects were published in Ambio. Forearm bone mineral density (BMD) and renal dysfunction were assessed in population groups exposed to cadmium via rice. Decreased BMD was found in postmenopausal women with elevated urinary cadmium (CdU) or cadmium in blood (CdB) and among men with elevated CdB. Also, clear and statistically significant dose-effect and dose-response relationships were found between CdB or CdU and renal dysfunction (increased excretion of retinol-binding protein). This is the first report of bone effects among Cd-exposed population groups in Asia outside Japan. The report is also of interest since it demonstrates that bone effects, a comparatively severe adverse health effect of Cd, in combination with renal dysfunction, still occurs in environmentally exposed population groups in Asia. Recent reports on bone effects in Cd-exposed population groups in Europe are discussed.
Using ultrasound tongue imaging to identify covert contrasts in children’s speech

ABSTRACT Ultrasound tongue imaging has become a promising technique for detecting covert contrasts, due to the developments in data analysis methods that allow for processing information on tongue shape from young children. An important feature concerning analyses of ultrasound data from children who are likely to produce covert contrasts is that the data are likely to be collected without head-to-transducer stabilisation, due to the speakers’ age. This article is a review of the existing methods applicable in analysing data from non-stabilised recordings. The article describes some of the challenges of ultrasound data collection from children, and analysing these data, as well as possible ways to address those challenges. Additionally, there are examples from typical and disordered productions featuring covert contrasts, with illustrations of quantifying differences in tongue shape between target speech sounds.
A System for Visualization and Analysis of Online Pedagogical Interactions

We present a system for a dynamic graphical representation of the interactions captured in educational online environments. The system goes beyond interaction between students and teachers, also addressing resource usage or any other entity for which it is possible to create a relation which binds two entities. By defining these relationships between pairs of entities in an online learning environment (Moodle, in our case) our tool creates a graph, where it is possible to apply techniques of social network analysis. This system brings up new possibilities for e-learning as a tool capable of helping the teacher assorting and illustrating the degree of participation and to find the implicit relations between participants, or participants and resources or events.
Hyperpolarizing synaptic potentials evoked in CA1 pyramidal cells by glutamate stimulation of interneurons from the oriens/alveus border of rat hippocampal slices. II. sensitivity to GABA antagonists

The receptor type mediating the inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (glut‐IPSPs), recorded in CA1 pyramidal cells, as a result of glutamate stimulation of interneurons in stratum oriens near the alveus (O/A) was assessed and compared to the type mediating recurrent IPSPs evoked by recurrent activation of interneurons through glutamate stimulation of pyramidal cells in stratum pyramidale (PYR). In response to repetitive electrical stimulation, the peak amplitude of both the O/A glut‐IPSP and the PYR glut‐IPSP was attenuated (n = 5) in parallel to the reduction in amplitude of the early and late components of the electrically evoked response (stimulus‐evoked disinhibition). This suggested the involvement of GABAergic receptors and attested that the interneurons activated during glut‐IPSPs were also involved in the circuitry of the electrically evoked IPSPs. The local application of the selective GABAA antagonist bicuculline (100–200 μM) to the slice resulted in a significant reduction in the amplitude of both the O/A (by 76.5%; n = 9) and PYR (by 86.2%; n = 5) glut‐IPSPs, in parallel to a decrease of the electrically evoked early IPSP, but not of the late IPSP. The presence of the GABAB antagonist 2‐hydroxy‐saclofen (1 mM) was able to significantly reduce the amplitude of the O/A glut‐IPSPs (by 27.5%; n = 7) and of the electrically evoked late IPSP, but not the PYR glut‐IPSP (n = 3). Although the application of phaclofen (20 mM) to the slice reduced the amplitude of the O/A glut‐IPSPs (n = 3), the reduction was not statistically significant. These results suggest that recurrent IPSPs elicited from activation of interneurons by stimulation of pyramidal cells are mediated solely via GABAA receptors. Inhibitory postsynaptic potentials elicited from stimulation of interneurons in O/A were also mediated mostly by GABAA receptors, but in addition, displayed a minor component mediated by GABAB receptors. Therefore, since a large proportion of interneurons in O/A are recurrently excited by pyramidal cells (Lacaille J‐C et al., 1987, J Neurosci 7:1979–1993), and since recurrent IPSPs appeared mediated by GABAA receptors, a subpopulation of interneurons activated from O/A might exist that do not receive recurrent excitation but can inhibit pyramidal cells via GABAB receptors.
Preadmission Screening of Adults Highlights Previously Unrecognized Carriage of Panton-Valentine Leukocidin-Positive Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in London: a Cause for Concern?

ABSTRACT In the first study of its kind in the United Kingdom, we describe the colonization rate of ciprofloxacin-sensitive Panton-Valentine leukocidin-positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (PVL-MRSA) in adult patients who were screened systematically at the time of hospital admission. We also describe the molecular characteristics of PVL-MRSA and antibiotic resistance phenotypes. A total of 55,760 specimens were screened for MRSA between April 2008 and December 2010. MRSA was identified in 1,998 specimens, and ciprofloxacin-susceptible (CSMRSA) isolates (385/1,998, or 19.3%) were subjected to PVL testing. Of these, 70 (18.1%) were identified as PVL-CSMRSA. During the study period, the MRSA colonization rate decreased from 4.6% to 2.8%. In contrast, the colonization rate of PVL-CSMRSA increased over time, rising from 0.075% in 2008 and 0.07% in 2009 to 0.22% in 2010. The mean patient age was 52 years (range, 18 to 90 years); over two-thirds were male. Seven different lineages of PVL-CSMRSA were identified. Over the 3 years, the Southwest Pacific clone (CC30) was dominant in our population. The CC5 clone was detected once in 2008 and not at all in 2009 but accounted for a third of all PVL-CSMRSA strains in 2010. This lineage was commonly associated with clindamycin resistance and, less frequently, tetracycline resistance. We conclude that there is hitherto unrecognized low-level carriage of PVL-CSMRSA among patients being admitted to hospitals in northwest London. We observed the emergence of the CC5 clone in 2010 with associated clindamycin and tetracycline resistance.
Health-related quality-of-life in the first year following a childhood concussion

Abstract Objectives: (1) To compare pre-injury health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) of children who have sustained mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) to their HRQoL at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months post-injury and (2) to compare the HRQoL of children with mTBI, children with mild non-brain injuries and children who were uninjured at the same time points. Child and parent responses were obtained for both objectives. Patients and methods: This prospective cohort study involved a self-selected convenience sample to evaluate child and parent perspectives of the HRQoL of 5–17 year old children with mTBI using the PedsQL Generic Core Scales and Cognitive Functioning Scale. Total sample size was 120 child/parent dyads, with 40 dyads each in the study and two control groups. Children who required hospitalization greater than 24 hours were excluded from the study. Results: HRQoL of children with mTBI was not significantly different between pre- and post-injury at all-time points. However, children and parents in the mild non-brain injury group reported significantly lower physical HRQoL 1 month post-injury. Conclusions: Children with mTBI had similar pre- and post-injury HRQoL. Thus, children who sustain mTBI and have significantly lower HRQoL within the first year post-injury merit further evaluation.
Chemometrics: From Basics to Wavelet Transform

This is not your father’s chemometrics book. Even though the word “basics” appears in the title, there is no discussion of PLS, SIMCA, experimental design, or any of the other topics that one might expect in a book with this title. What is here is an introduction to signal analysis, especially using the wavelet transform, for signals from analytical chemical instruments. If that sounds like what you do, this may be a good book to check out. Even though there are appendices for both matrix algebra and the MATLAB programming language, in my opinion the reader needs a background in linear algebra and statistics, at least through covariance matrices, to get the most from this book. Chapter 1 is an introduction that includes brief descriptions of a number of websites that provide the reader with much useful information. Chapters 2 and 3 provide brief overviews of standard oneand two-dimensional signal processing techniques that are useful in analytical chemical work. Some of the one-dimensional topics of Chapter 2 are as follows:
A pilot study of hydroxyurea among patients with advanced human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease receiving chronic didanosine therapy: Canadian HIV trials network protocol 080.

To assess the in vivo short-term antiretroviral effect of hydroxyurea in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected persons chronically treated with didanosine (ddI), 26 patients with CD4 cell counts between 100 and 350 were enrolled in a 12-week, open-label pilot study and randomly assigned to receive 500 or 1000 mg/day hydroxyurea. Clinical status, laboratory toxicities, CD4 lymphocyte count, and HIV RNA plasma virus load were assessed weekly. Median declines from baseline of 0.02 and 0.63 log10 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL of plasma were observed for the 500- and 1000-mg/day groups, respectively (P = .02). CD4 cell counts did not change significantly with the addition of hydroxyurea; however, a small but statistically significant decrease in counts was observed during the washout phase. Both doses of hydroxyurea were well-tolerated. These results demonstrate a substantial decrease in plasma virus load when 1000 mg of hydroxyurea is administered over 1 month as adjunctive therapy to ddI among HIV-infected persons with 100-350 CD4 cells/mm3.
Junction Temperature Extraction Approach With Turn-Off Delay Time for High-Voltage High-Power IGBT Modules

Thermo-sensitive electrical parameter (TSEP) approaches are widely employed in the junction temperature extraction and prediction of power semiconductor devices. In this paper, the turn-off delay time is explored as an indicator of a TSEP to extract the junction temperature from high-power insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules. The parasitic inductor LeE between the Kelvin and power emitter terminals of an IGBT module is utilized to extract the turn-off delay time. Furthermore, the monotonic dependence between the junction temperature and turn-off delay time is investigated. The beginning and end point of the turn-off delay time can be determined by monitoring the induced voltage veE across the inductor LeE. A dynamic switching characteristic test platform for high-power IGBT modules is used to experimentally verify the theoretical analysis. The experimental results show that the dependency between IGBT junction temperature and turn-off delay time is near linear. It is established that the turn-off delay time is a viable TSEP with good linearity, fixed sensitivity, and offers nondestruction on-line IGBT junction temperature extraction.
Two new steroidal saponins from the rhizome of Polygonatum sibiricum

Two new furostanol saponins, polygonoides A (1) and B (2), along with three known compounds, were obtained from the ethanolic extract of the rhizome of Polygonatum sibiricum Redoute. On the basis of acid hydrolysis and comprehensive spectroscopic analyses, the structures of polygonoides A and B were elucidated as (25R)-26-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-furost-5,22(23)-dien-3β,26-diol-3-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 3)-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 4)-[α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)]-β-d-glucopyranoside (1) and 22α-(propionyloxy)-furost-5-en-3β,20α-diol-3-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 4)-[α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)]-β-d-glucopyranoside (2).
The complete mitogenome of Rhodeus uyekii (Cypriniformes, Cyprinidae)

The complete nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial genome from the R. uyekii with a total size of 16,817 bp has been determined by long PCR technology. Mitogenome of R. uyekii encoding 13 putative proteins, two ribosomal RNAs and 22 tRNAs shows typical teleost mitogenome structure. Nucleotide composition, amino acid composition and codon usage are in the range of values estimated from other teleost mitogenomes. In the AT rich region of R. uyekii, several conserved blocks which are identified from vertebrates are observed in the genome. R. uyekii, the Korean endemic species, belongs to cyprinid fish from which the information of nine mitogenomes is available. To understand the phylogenetic relationships of Cypriniformes from the known mitogenome information, we analysed Cypriniformes mitogenome based on protein coding gene sequences. In spite of more resolved picture of phylogenetic interrelationships in cyprinid fish in this study, the further study with comprehensive taxon sampling for mitogenome information is strongly needed.