Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Isolation of aminoacyl-tRNA and its labeling with stable-isotope tracers: Use in studies of human tissue protein synthesis.

We isolated aminoacyl-tRNA (60-70% yield) from human and rat tissues and measured, by GC/MS, its labeling in vivo by [15N]- and [13C]leucine. Tracer dilution artifacts seemed unlikely since, after infusion of L-[1-13C,15N]leucine into rats, (i) muscle leucyl-tRNA labeling exceeded tissue free leucine labeling, (ii) values were largely unaffected by storing over 5 min at 22 degrees C, and (iii) L-[2,4,5-methyl-13C]leucine was not incorporated into leucyl-tRNA during homogenization. Leucyl-tRNA labeling in liver and muscle suggested charging from extra- and intracellular pools: e.g., after infusing L-[1-13C,15N]leucine, rat muscle tissue free leucine 13C labeling (8.97 +/- 0.30 atom % excess) exceeded that by 15N (3.37 +/- 0.33 atom % excess), and both were significantly lower (P less than 0.02) than venous plasma (13C, 12.1 +/- 1.8; 15N, 5.54 +/- 0.6 atom % excess) indicating tracer dilution by transamination and by proteolysis; however, leucyl-tRNA labeling by either isotope (13C, 10.26 +/- 0.50; 15N, 4.72 +/- 0.72 atom % excess) was significantly above mixed tissue free leucine (P less than 0.05). Labeling of leucyl-tRNA in human erector spinae muscle (obtained after preoperative L-[1-13C]leucine infusion) was, at 4.98 +/- 0.43 atom % excess, lower (27%) than venous plasma leucine (P less than 0.05) and intermediate between muscle free leucine (9% lower; P less than 0.01) and venous alpha-ketoisocaproate (11% higher; P less than 0.02). Human placental leucyl-tRNA labeling (after predelivery tracer infusion) was 37% lower (P less than 0.05) than maternal uterine vein labeling but not significantly different from placental free leucine or umbilical arterial leucine.
Isolated Gastrocnemius and Soleal Vein Thrombosis: Should These Patients Receive Therapeutic Anticoagulation?

Objective:To determine the incidence of isolated gastrocnemius and soleal vein thrombosis (IGSVT) and the effect of anticoagulation on venous thromboembolism (VTE) events in patients with IGSVT. Summary Background Data:Although IGSVT is diagnosed with increasing frequency, the clinical significance and optimal management remains unknown. Methods:Vascular laboratory studies from April 2002 to April 2007 were retrospectively reviewed to identify patients with IGSVT. Medical records were reviewed for demographic data, risk factors, treatment modalities, and VTE events. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed. Results:Of 38,426 lower extremity venous duplex studies, 406 patients with IGSVT were included in this study. Mean follow-up was 7.5 ± 11 months. The overall incidence of VTE among the entire cohort was 18.7%, which included 3.9% pulmonary embolism and 16.3% deep venous thrombosis, with 1.5% of patients having both pulmonary embolism and deep venous thrombosis. However, the incidence of VTE was 30% (36/119) and 27% (13/48) in patients who received no or prophylactic anticoagulation, respectively, but only 12% in patients treated with therapeutic anticoagulation (23/188; P = 0.0003). Multivariate analysis identified lack of therapeutic anticoagulation (P = 0.017) and history of VTE (P = 0.011) as independent predictors of subsequent VTE development. The rate of IGSVT resolution during follow up was 61.2% with therapeutic anticoagulation, but only 40.0% and 41.0% with prophylactic or no anticoagulation, respectively (P = 0.003). Conclusions:IGSVT is associated with a clinically significant rate of VTE which is dramatically reduced with therapeutic anticoagulation. These data warrant further investigation, taking into account the risks and benefits of anticoagulation.
Personal viewpoint: Hemodialysis—Water, power, and waste disposal: Rethinking our environmental responsibilities

While medical health professionals are trained to detect, treat, and comfort, they are not trained to consider the environmental impact of the services they provide. Dialysis practitioners seem particularly careless in the use of natural resources—especially water and power—and seem broadly ignorant of the profound medical waste issues created by single use dialysis equipment. If the data we have collected is an indication, then extrapolation of this data to a dialysis population currently estimated at ∼2 million patients worldwide, a “world dialysis service” would use ∼156 billion liters of water and discard ∼2/3 of that during reverse osmosis. This waste occurs, despite the discarded water being high‐grade “gray water” of potable standard. The same world dialysis service would consume 1.62 billion kWh of power—mostly generated from coal and other environmentally damaging sources. Our world dialysis service, based on ∼2 kg of waste from each dialysis treatment, would generate ∼625,000 tonnes of plastic waste—waste that would be potentially reusable if simple sterilizing techniques were applied to it at the point of generation. Dialysis services must begin to explore eco‐dialysis potentials. The continued plundering of resources without considering reuse or recycling, exploration of renewable energy options, or the reduction of the carbon footprint of the dialysis process … is unsustainable. Sustainable dialysis practices should be a global goal in the coming decade.
The effects of indomethacin on the development of tolerance to amphetamine‐induced hyperthermia. Are prostaglandins involved?

It is currently accepted that amphetamine exerts many of its pharmacological effects through the release of noradrenaline, although evidence has been produced for a r61e of dopainine in certain effects of this drug (Scheel-Kruger, 1972; Creese & Iversen, 1973). Gessa, Clay & Brodie (1969) have proposed that the hyperthermia produced by amphetamine is a calorigenic effect resulting from the peripheral mobilization of fat from adipose tissue and that this effect requires the release of noradrenaline from sympathetic neurons. Our own studies, in which it was found that the intravenous administration of 6-hydroxydopamine abolished amphetamine-induced hyperthermia, are in accord with the proposal that the elevation in body temperature produced by amphetamine is mediated through the peripheral release of noradrenaline (Trelinski & Sever, in preparation). In view of the suggestions that prostaglandins of the E group are involved in a negative feedback mechanism controlling the release of noradrenaline from peripheral sympathetic nerves (Smith, 1972), the possibility that noradrenaline-mediated effects of amphetamine could be potentiated by pretreatment of rats with a prostaglandin inhibitor was explored. Accordingly, female Wistar rats (150-200 g) housed in groups of 5 at constant ambient temperature were dosed with either (+)-amphetamine sulphate (5 mg kg-', i.p.) alone, or after pretreatment with indomethacin (5 mg kg-l administered by gastric tube) 2 h before amphetamine challenge. Colonic temperature was recorded with a Yellow Springs Instruments Model 46 Thermistor Thermometer using a No. 402 probe, placed 5 cm from the anus, immediately before and at 4, 1 and 2 h after amphetamine injection. The results are shown in Fig. 1. The mean maximal temperature rise evoked by amphetamine after indomethacin pretreatment is signifi-
Prevention of posterior capsule opacification with 3 intraocular lens models: a prospective, randomized, long-term clinical trial.

UNLABELLED The aim of this prospective randomized study was to evaluate the impact of different sharp-edged intraocular lenses (IOLs) (hydrophobic acrylic or silicone) on posterior and anterior lens capsule opacification (PCO and ACO) at 3-year postoperative follow-up. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 96 eyes (89 patients) having a standard uncomplicated phacoemulsification procedure for age-related cataract were included in a prospective clinical study: 34 eyes with a 3-piece acrylic hydrophobic (AcrySof, MA3OBA), 32 eyes with a 1-piece acrylic hydrophobic (AcrySof, SA3OAL), and 30 eyes with a 3-piece silicone (CeeOn 911A) IOL. Visual acuity, capsulorrhexis/optic overlapping, ACO and PCO (using EPCO2000 system) were evaluated at 3-year follow-up. Capsulotomies performed by means of neodymium-yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser were recorded. RESULTS Three years after surgery, the grade of ACO of the capsulorrhexis rim area and the capsule/optic area was significantly greater in the silicone IOL group than in the acrylic IOL groups (P<0.05). During 3 postoperative years, there were no significant differences in the PCO values either in the entire IOL optic area or in the central 3-mm optic zone comparing the groups. Three years after surgery, 9% of eyes with a 3-piece acrylic IOL, 3.1% of eyes with a 1-piece acrylic IOL, and no case in the silicone IOL group had Nd:YAG capsulotomy (P>0.05). CONCLUSION The 3-year follow-up after cataract surgery showed no difference in PCO development (EPCO2000) between acrylic hydrophobic and silicone sharp-edged IOLs. However, the need for Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy was higher in the acrylic IOL groups than the silicone IOL group, though the difference was not significant. ACO was greatest in the eyes with 3-piece silicone IOLs.
Mycobacterium avium Biofilm Attenuates Mononuclear Phagocyte Function by Triggering Hyperstimulation and Apoptosis during Early Infection

ABSTRACT Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis is an opportunistic human pathogen that has been shown to form biofilm in vitro and in vivo. Biofilm formation in vivo appears to be associated with infections in the respiratory tract of the host. The reasoning behind how M. avium subsp. hominissuis biofilm is allowed to establish and persist without being cleared by the innate immune system is currently unknown. To identify the mechanism responsible for this, we developed an in vitro model using THP-1 human mononuclear phagocytes cocultured with established M. avium subsp. hominissuis biofilm and surveyed various aspects of the interaction, including phagocyte stimulation and response, bacterial killing, and apoptosis. M. avium subsp. hominissuis biofilm triggered robust tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) release from THP-1 cells as well as superoxide and nitric oxide production. Surprisingly, the hyperstimulated phagocytes did not effectively eliminate the cells of the biofilm, even when prestimulated with gamma interferon (IFN-γ) or TNF-α or cocultured with natural killer cells (which have been shown to induce anti-M. avium subsp. hominissuis activity when added to THP-1 cells infected with planktonic M. avium subsp. hominissuis). Time-lapse microscopy and the TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling) assay determined that contact with the M. avium subsp. hominissuis biofilm led to early, widespread onset of apoptosis, which is not seen until much later in planktonic M. avium subsp. hominissuis infection. Blocking TNF-α or TNF-R1 during interaction with the biofilm significantly reduced THP-1 apoptosis but did not lead to elimination of M. avium subsp. hominissuis. Our data collectively indicate that M. avium subsp. hominissuis biofilm induces TNF-α-driven hyperstimulation and apoptosis of surveilling phagocytes, which prevents clearance of the biofilm by cells of the innate immune system and allows the biofilm-associated infection to persist.
Real-time FPGA implementation of direct MPC for power electronics

Common approaches for direct model predictive control (MPC) for current reference tracking in power electronics suffer from the high computational complexity encountered when solving integer optimal control problems over long prediction horizons. Recently, an alternative method based on approximate dynamic programming showed that it is possible to reduce the computational burden enabling sampling times under 25 μs by shortening the MPC horizon to a very small number of stages while improving the overall controller performance. In this paper we implemented this new approach on a small size FPGA and validated it on a variable speed drive system with a three-level voltage source converter. Time measurements showed that only 5:76 μs are required to run our algorithm for horizon N = 1 and 17:27 μs for N = 2 while outperforming state of the art approaches with much longer horizons in terms of currents distortion and switching frequency. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time direct MPC for current control has been implemented on an FPGA solving the integer optimization problem in real-time and achieving comparable performance to formulations with long prediction horizons.
Change within and among forest communities: the influence of historic disturbance, environmental gradients, and community attributes

Understanding how ecological communities change over time is critical for biodiversity conservation, but few long-term studies directly address decadal-scale changes in both the within- and among-community components of diversity. In this study, we use a network of permanent forest vegetation plots, established in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (USA) in 1978, to examine the factors that influence change in community composition within and among communities. In 2007, we resampled 15 plots that were logged in the late 1920s and 15 plots that had no documented history of intensive human disturbance. We found that understory species richness decreased by an average of 4.3 species over the 30-yr study period in the logged plots, but remained relatively unchanged in the unlogged plots. In addition, tree density decreased by an average of 145 stems ha ―1 in the logged plots, but was relatively stable in the unlogged plots. However, we found that historic logging had no effect on within-community understory or tree compositional turnover during this time period. Instead, sites at lower elevations and sites with lower understory biomass in 1978 had higher understory compositional turnover than did sites at higher elevations and sites with higher understory biomass. In addition, sites with lower soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) and with lower tree basal area in 1978 had higher tree compositional turnover than did sites with higher soil CEC and higher tree basal area. Among-community similarity was unchanged from 1978 to 2007 for both the logged and unlogged plots. Overall, our results indicate that human disturbance can affect plant communities for decades, but the extent of temporal change in community composition may nevertheless depend more on environmental gradients and community attributes.
[Achieving Bcl-2/IgH negativity in peripheral blood/bone marrow after therapy implies better prognosis for patients with follicular lymphoma].

UNLABELLED Bcl-2/IgH rearrangement is a characteristic molecular rearrangement in patients with follicular lymphoma (FL), yet its prognostic significance is still unclear. OBJECTIVE Evaluation of the implications of achieving Bcl-2/IgH negativity for the prognosis of FL patients. Twenty seven patients (54%) were receiving only chemotherapy (CHT), 23 patients (46%) were receiving chemotherapy combined with monoclonal antibody anti/CD20, rituximab (R-CHT). RESULTS Molecular genetic remission was achieved in 7 out of 11 patients (64%) after R-CHT, and only in 2 out of 14 patients (14%) after CHT- this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.037). 4 weekly doses of rituximab were administered in a sequence to 17 out of 27 patients who had received only chemotherapy and failed to achieve complete remission. 12 out of 17 patients (71%) on this therapy were Bcl-2/IgH positive prior to treatment. 7 out of 12 (58 %) patients were no longer Bcl-2/IgH positive in a check performed after one month; the remaining 2 out of 5 patients had a negative Bcl-2/IgH record for the interval of 3 months (1 patient) or 6 (1 patient) months, respectively. The following factors were associated with the achievement of Bcl-2/IgH negativity at any point during the treatment: age < 65 years (p = 0.02) and performance status 0 + 1 according to WHO at baseline (p = 0.02). Patients who were Bcl-2/IgH negative after treatment had a lower recurrence/progression risk rate than the Bcl-2/IgH positive group of patients, i.e. 27% vs. 75% (p = 0.03), and a higher chance for progression-free survival, i.e. 81% vs. 38% (p = 0.004), event-free survival, i.e. 74% vs. 38% (p = 0.01), and overall survival, i.e. 87% vs. 74% (p = 0.05) at 2 years. CONCLUSION In our experience, achieving Bcl-2/IgH negativity after follicular lymphoma therapy implies a better prognosis.
J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace : Introduction

Few novels in recent decades have generated as much serious debate (in addition to media attention) as J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace, published in 1999 by Secker & Warburg in the UK and Viking Penguin in the USA. Never one to shrink from offending sensibilities, Coetzee, in his eighth novel, engaged with the ‘new South Africa’ without indulging in any of the pieties that had surrounded, and to a certain extent protected, the edgling democracy. Focusing on Cape Town and the Eastern Cape, Disgrace portrays a society in which crime is rampant, the police service is inadequate, and the middle classes are barricaded into their fortress-homes; the turning points are the seduction (and on one occasion near-rape) of a 20-year-old coloured female student by a white man in his fties, and the gang rape of his lesbian daughter by three black intruders. This incendiary material provoked a strong reaction from many quarters. It was condemned by prominent South Africans as presenting a damaging image of the country and quoted by the ANC in its submission to the South African Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into racism in the media as a powerful representation of white racist stereotyping. At the same time, the book has been showered with accolades and honours: it won Coetzee the Booker Prize for the second time, it was given the ‘Best Book’ award in the African round of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and it went on to win editorial
Adoption study demonstrating two genetic pathways to drug abuse.

BACKGROUND Studies of adoptees have demonstrated that there are two genetic factors leading to alcohol abuse and/or dependence (abuse/dependence). In addition, environmental factors found in the adoptive family also predict alcohol abuse/dependency independently. One study has found evidence that a similar model of two genetic factors and independent adoptive family factors were involved in drug abuse. Our study was designed to test the hypothesis that genetic factors defined by alcohol abuse/dependency and anti-social personality disorder in biologic parents were etiologic in drug abuse/dependency and that psychiatric problems in adoptive parents were an additional factor associated with drug abuse/dependence. METHODS A sample of 95 male adoptees, separated at birth from their biologic parents, were followed up as adults to determine their psychiatric diagnosis and their substance use/abuse in a structured interview administered blind to biologic parent diagnoses. A high-risk, case-control design was used wherein half of the adoptees came from biologic parents known to be alcohol abuser/dependent and/or have antisocial personalities (diagnoses from hospital or prison records). These adoptees were matched for age, sex, and adoption agency to a control group of adoptees whose biologic parents were not found in the hospital and prison record search. Adoptive home environment was assessed by structured interviews, including psychiatric assessment of both adoptive parents. RESULTS Data were analyzed by log-linear modeling, which showed evidence of two genetic pathways to drug abuse/dependency. One pathway went directly from a biologic parent's alcoholism to drug abuse/dependency. The second pathway was more circuitous, and started with anti-social personality disorder in the biologic parent and proceeded through intervening variables of adoptee aggressivity, conduct disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and, eventually, ended in drug abuse/dependency. Environmental factors defined by psychiatric conditions in adoptive families independently predicted increased antisocial personality disorder in the adoptee. Adoptees born of alcohol-abusing mothers showed evidence of fetal alcohol syndrome, but controlling for this did not diminish the evidence for the direct genetic effect between an alcohol-abusing biologic parent and drug abuse/dependency in offspring. CONCLUSIONS This study confirms the model of two independent genetic factors involved in drug abuse/dependence and previous findings that disturbed adoptive parents are associated with adoptee drug abuse/dependency.
Manchas de tinta y autoconcepto del mexicano: relación etnopsicológica entre lo consciente y lo inconsciente

Se analizaron los rasgos de personalidad de hombres y mujeres mediante la tecnica de manchas de tinta de Holtzman y su relacion con el autoconcepto. Los resultados reflejan la intensidad de los rasgos, ya que son expresados de una forma abierta y corroborados por el tipo de percepcion que el proceso de socializacion ha atribuido a cada sexo. Se puede apreciar, por un lado, la movilidad de las mujeres hacia una androginia y emancipacion, y por otro, una permanencia de expresividad e instrumentalidad negativa, que denotan debilidad y vulnerabilidad. Los hombres comienzan a presentar caracteristicas instrumentales mas deseables para las mujeres.
[Dose-dependent prevention of early periprosthetic bone loss by alendronate].

AIM Periprosthetic bone loss occurs in the first six months after total hip arthroplasty (THA) and is felt to be largely the result of initial operative irritation, immobilization, and stress shielding. This study (a prospective, randomized, open, blinded endpoint evaluation) aims at preventing bone loss around the stem with an oral bisphosphonate. METHOD 66 healthy subjects with uncemented THA and low lumbar bone mass density (BMD) (negative T score) were treated post-operatively with alendronate as follows: n = 21 with 10 mg/d for 10 weeks (A), n = 21 20 mg/d for 5 weeks (B), n = 24 no treatment for controls (C). The periprosthetic BMD in the Gruen zones (ROI) was measured after the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 12th month by DEXA as a percentage of the value measured one week after surgery. RESULTS In C, there was significant bone loss in all ROI during the first months and a deficit of 29 % in ROI 7 following one year. In B, bone loss was completely prevented up to the second month, in ROI 7, a significant difference in comparison to C was registered for the entire year. In A, significant bone loss reduction during 12 months was seen. CONCLUSION Alendronate, therefore, is capable of preventing initial periprosthetic bone loss. A dosage of 20 mg/d is required initially with daily treatment lasting at least 10 weeks.
Root Characteristics in Pea in Relation to Compaction and Fusarium Root Rot.

Differences in pea root length, root surface area, and diameter were rapidly determined using the WinRhizo computer program. Repeatable differences were measured both in the laboratory and in the field. Large-rooted lines, as measured in the laboratory, also were the largest-rooted lines in the field. Large-rooted lines produced more roots and had more root surface area when exposed to a 1.6 g cm-3 bulk density compacted layer with the presence of the Fusarium root rot pathogen (Fusarium solani f. sp. pisi). Also, large-rooted lines regenerated more roots when one-third or two-thirds of the root system was removed or when one cotyledon was removed from 5-day-old plants. Large-rooted pea lines should have an advantage in growing under adverse conditions of compaction and the presence of Fusarium root rot.