Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Superantigen hypothesis for the early development of chronic hyperplastic sinusitis with massive nasal polyposis

Purpose of review The pathogenesis, pathophysiology, and immunobiology of chronic hyperplastic sinusitis with massive nasal polyposis are starting to become unraveled. Allergy, viral infection, bacterial infection, fungal infection, and environmental pollution have all been suggested as possible initial triggers that may upregulate inflammation of the lateral wall of the nose to develop nasal polyposis. The purpose of this review is to present data from our laboratory that suggest that one of the possible early events in the development of inflammation of the lateral wall of the nose in chronic hyperplastic sinusitis with massive nasal polyposis is the production of exotoxins from Staphylococcus aureus. The exotoxins may act as superantigens and cause activation and clonal expansion of lymphocytes with specific Vβ regions, resulting in massive cytokine production. Recent findings Recent published studies suggest that S. aureus is the most common organism isolated from the mucus adjacent to massive nasal polyposis. Staphylococci produce exotoxins. These exotoxins, sometimes known as enterotoxins, include SEA, SEB, and TSST-1. These exotoxins are capable of acting as superantigens and therefore, reacting with T lymphocytes with specific Vβs in the lateral wall of the nose. Thereafter, it is possible that these lymphocytes are stimulated to produce both TH1 and TH2 cytokines, which have also been demonstrated in the nasal polyp. The consequence of these findings may be the upregulation and increased survival of eosinophils in the nasal polyp. Summary Staphylococcus aureus is present in the mucin adjacent to nasal polyps in about 60 to 70% of cases of massive nasal polyposis. These organism, as studied up to the present, always produce exotoxins, which may act as superantigens, causing activation and clonal expansion of lymphocytes with specific Vβ region in the lateral wall of the nose. The present review suggests that activation of these lymphocytes produce both TH1 and TH2 cytokines. The potential damage to the nasal mucosa from eosinophils is briefly discussed. Theoretically, topical antibiotics to suppress the colonization of S. aureus may be a logical approach to downregulate the production of superantigen in the lateral wall of the nose after appropriate endoscopic sinus surgery.
Pharmacological treatment of biliary cirrhosis with ursodeoxycholic acid

Importance of the field: Primary biliary cirrhosis is a cholestatic liver disease that at one time was the leading indication for liver transplantation. Treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid has clearly improved the natural history of primary biliary cirrhosis. Areas covered in this review: The treatment of primary biliary cirrhosis with a focus on ursodeoxycholic acid is covered. Papers related to treatment of primary biliary cirrhosis and associated conditions, using a variety of drugs but with a focus on ursodeoxycholic acid, are included. The papers reviewed date from 1984 – 2009. What will the reader gain: The reader will gain an up-to-date understanding of current treatment strategies for primary biliary cirrhosis using ursodeoxycholic acid and an appreciation of what conditions are improved with this therapy and what associated conditions are not. Take-home message: Ursodeoxycholic acid in a dose of 13 – 15 mg/kg/day should be considered in all patients with primary biliary cirrhosis who have abnormal liver enzymes.
Reduced contribution of endothelin to the regulation of systemic and pulmonary vascular tone in severe familial hypercholesterolaemia

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) causes vascular dysfunction involving reduced nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability and limits exercise‐induced vasodilatation in the systemic, but not pulmonary, vasculature. The mechanism(s) underlying blunted exercise‐induced systemic vasodilatation in FH are unclear but may involve enhanced endothelin‐1 (ET‐1)‐mediated vasoconstriction resulting from lessened NO‐dependent inhibition. In a chronically instrumented swine model of FH, ET‐1 receptor inhibition in vivo did not restore systemic exercise‐induced vasodilatation but rather revealed a reduced role for ET‐1 in regulating systemic and pulmonary vascular tone at rest and during exercise associated with reduced circulating ET‐1 in FH swine. In contrast, isolated skeletal muscle arterioles from FH swine exhibited enhanced ET‐1 sensitivity due to reduced NO with no change in smooth muscle ET receptor expression. These results increase understanding of FH‐associated vascular dysfunction by revealing a novel reduction in ET production and resultant attenuation of ET‐dependent vascular tone in vivo in FH.
RECURSIVE INATTENTIVENESS WITH HETEROGENEOUS EXPECTATIONS

We model agents' endogenous updating of information sets over time under changing macroeconomic conditions. Building on sticky information models, the degree of inattentiveness is endogenized by allowing agents to choose between a costly full-information predictor and a costless sticky-information predictor. This is modeled as a choice between discrete alternatives under rational inattention. Recursive simulation shows that the dynamic equilibrium paths of aggregate variables are highly persistent and match the moments of U.S. data better than a model with fixed sticky information or with sticky prices, especially with regard to higher moments and the degree of persistence. Predictors are chosen in line with the predictions from rational inattention models, as the aggregate degree of attentiveness increases with rising variance of the forecast variable. Moreover, the model can generate hump-shaped impulse responses of inflation to a monetary policy shock if the degree of inattentiveness is sufficiently high.
Transport, Welfare and Externalities

This book discusses a paradigm shift for dealing with the internalization of external costs in transport. Crucial to the analysis is the insight that the polluters are not the only cost drivers; both pollutees and the state can also contribute to reducing social costs. The authors show that applying the Cheapest Cost Avoider Principle (CCAP) instead of the Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) can lead to substantial welfare improvements.
Modulation of ligand binding to leukotriene B4 receptors on guinea pig lung membranes by sulfhydryl modifying reagents.

We investigated the mechanism and modulation of 3H-labeled leukotriene B4 (LTB4) binding to guinea pig lung membranes. [3H] LTB4 bound specifically and rapidly (Kobs = 0.06 +/- 0.006 min-1) to high affinity (Kd = 0.63 +/- 0.06 nM) and saturable (Bmax = 224 +/- 16 fmol/mg) sites without cooperativity (nH = 1.05). Bound ligand was partially (70%) dissociated with excess LTB4 or the selective antagonist U-75,302. Complete dissociation could be achieved with either LTB4 or U-75,302 in combination with 10 microM GTP gamma S. A series of structural analogs and selective antagonists inhibited binding in a competitive manner with the following order: LTB4 much greater than 20-(OH)-LTB4 greater than LTB5 greater than LTB-dimethylamide = U-75,302 greater than 12(R)-hydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acid greater than 5(S),12(S)-dihydroxy,6-trans,8-cis,10-trans,14-cis-ETE greater than 12(S)-hydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acid much greater than trans-LTB4 isomers. 5(S)-hydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acid, prostaglandins, peptide-leukotrienes and platelet-activating factor (at 10 microM each) did not inhibit, providing evidence that [3H]LTB4 bound to specific receptors on guinea pig lung membranes. N-Ethylmaleimide (NEM) and p-chloromercuriphenyl sulfonic acid (PCMP) inhibited binding (IC50 = 144 +/- 66 and 4.6 +/- 1.0 microM, respectively) in an irreversible manner, as evident by an inability to overcome the inhibition by extensive washing. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Effect of cigarette smoke on spermatogenesis in rats.

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to evaluate the process of spermatogenesis in rats exposed to the cigarette smoke. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty adult male rats were divided into 2 groups of cases and controls. An apparatus made especially for this study was used to produce smoke from a commonly used cigarette and expose the rats to the smoke. The rats in the case group were exposed to the cigarette smoke for 10 weeks (90 minutes every day for 6 days in each week). The rats in the control group were meanwhile in the fresh room air. RESULTS Development of the sperms was mildly reduced in 14 (93.3%) and 4 (26.7%) rats in the case and control groups, respectively (P < .001). The mean average diameter of the seminiferous tubules was reported to be 0.421 +/- 0.097 mm and 0.493 +/- 0.026 mm in the case and control groups, respectively (P = .04). The mean numbers of Sertoli cells were 9.2 +/- 1.2 and 13.3 +/- 1.8 in the case and control groups, respectively (P < .001). A concurrent reduction in the number of germ cells and Leydig cells with the decrease in the number of Sertoli cells was seen in the rats of the case group. CONCLUSION Cigarette smoke has a rather obvious effect on spermatogenesis in rats which may be due to toxic substances in the cigarette or the histologic reactions due to hypoxemia induced by smoke. Although further documentation, especially in humans is required, the potential impact of smoking on fertility in men should be considered in public health education.
Information Content of USDA Rice Reports and Price Reactions of Rice Futures

Rice is a predominant food staple in many regions of the world, and it is important to determine how efficiently the U.S. rice market helps to ensure world food security. This question can be answered by gauging the price discovery performance of the U.S. rice futures market and the economic usefulness of the U.S. government's supply and demand forecasts. So, to this end, we employ two event study approaches: (1) to examine variability in returns on report‐release days as compared to returns on pre‐ and post‐report days, and (2) to regress price reactions on changes in usage and production information. It is found that the USDA provides the rice futures markets with valuable information and rice futures respond to the information in an economically consistent manner.
The Significance of Business Exit for Future Entrepreneurial Activity

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of business exits on future dimensions of entrepreneurial activity at the macroeconomic level. Design/methodology/approach: This research uses the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data for 41 countries and the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to carry out the analysis. The paper differentiates the effect of the two components of total entrepreneurial activity, and the two motivations for it â€“ opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship. Findings: The results presented here show a positive and significant effect of the coefficient associated with exits in all models. This means that the levels of entrepreneurial activity exceed business exits. The robustness of the models are tested, including other variables such as the fear of failure, the Gross Domestic Product, role models, entrepreneurial skills and the unemployment variables. The main hypothesis which stated that at national level business exits imply greater rates of opportunity-driven entrepreneurship is corroborated. Originality/value: One would expect that unemployment rates would imply higher levels of necessity entrepreneurship. However, results show that unemployment rates do in fact favour opportunity entrepreneurship levels. This could be due to those government policies that are aimed at promoting entrepreneurship through the capitalization of unemployment to be totally invested in a new start-up. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first panel data study to link previous exit rates to future dimensions of entrepreneurial activity. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, business exits, social values, industrial organization Paper type: Research paper
The effect of changing from glasses to soft contact lenses on myopia progression in adolescents

At the end of a clinical trial of bifocals as myopia treatment, subjects were allowed to select any type of optical correction they wished and were asked to return in 1 year. This report gives results of that last examination with emphasis on how progression rates differed between those remaining in their original type of glasses compared with those who switched to soft contact lenses. We found that myopia progressed at an age‐adjusted average rate of 0.74 D in 19 children who switched to soft contact lens wear compared with 0.25 D for 24 children remaining in glasses (p < 0.0001). Increased growth of the vitreous chamber appeared to account for much of this excess myopia progression, although the difference in that variable did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.101). We also noted a 0.203 D steepening in the corneal curvature in contact lens wearers compared with spectacle wearers whose corneas steepened very little (0.014 D, p = 0.007). Soft contact lens wear was also accompanied by a greater change in the near‐point phoria which moved 4.5 prism dioptres in the exo direction compared with spectacle wearers who experienced only a 1.4 prism dioptre divergent shift (p = 0.048).
Scientometric Analysis and Bibliography of Digit Ratio (2D:4D) Research, 1998–2008

A scientometric analysis of modern research on the second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D), a widely studied putative marker for prenatal androgen action, is presented. In early 2009, this literature totalled more than 300 publications and, since its initiation in 1998, has grown at a rate slightly faster than linear. Key findings included evidence of publication bias and citation bias, incomplete coverage and outdatedness of existing reviews, and a dearth of meta-analyses in this field. 2D:4D research clusters noticeably in terms of researchers, institutions, countries, and journals involved. Although 2D:4D is an anthropometric trait, most of the research has been conducted at psychology departments, not anthropology departments. However, 2D:4D research has not been predominantly published in core and specialized journals of psychology, but rather in more broadly scoped journals of the behavioral sciences, biomedical social sciences, and neurosciences. Total citation numbers of 2D:4D papers for the most part were not larger than their citation counts within 2D:4D research, indicating that until now, only a few 2D:4D studies have attained broader interest outside this specific field. Comparative citation analyses show that 2D:4D research presently is commensurate in size and importance to evolutionary psychological jealousy research, but has grown faster than the latter field. In contrast, it is much smaller and has spread more slowly than research about the Implicit Association Test. Fifteen conjectures about anticipated trends in 2D:4D research are outlined, appendixed by a first-time bibliography of the entirety of the published 2D:4D literature.
Scalp hair cortisol for diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome.

OBJECTIVE Current first-line screening tests for Cushing's syndrome (CS) only measure time-point or short-term cortisol. Hair cortisol content (HCC) offers a non-invasive way to measure long-term cortisol exposure over several months of time. We aimed to evaluate HCC as a screening tool for CS. DESIGN Case-control study in two academic referral centers for CS. METHODS Between 2009 and 2016, we collected scalp hair from patients suspected of CS and healthy controls. HCC was measured using ELISA. HCC was available in 43 confirmed CS patients, 35 patients in whom the diagnosis CS was rejected during diagnostic work-up and follow-up (patient controls), and 174 healthy controls. Additionally, we created HCC timelines in two patients with ectopic CS. RESULTS CS patients had higher HCC than patient controls and healthy controls (geometric mean 106.9 vs 12.7 and 8.4 pg/mg respectively, P < 0.001). At a cut-off of 31.1 pg/mg, HCC could differentiate between CS patients and healthy controls with a sensitivity of 93% and a specificity of 90%. With patient controls as a reference, specificity remained the same (91%). Within CS patients, HCC correlated significantly with urinary free cortisol (r = 0.691, P < 0.001). In two ectopic CS patients, HCC timelines indicated that cortisol was increased 3 and 6 months before CS became clinically apparent. CONCLUSIONS Analysis of cortisol in a single scalp hair sample offers diagnostic accuracy for CS similar to currently used first-line tests, and can be used to investigate cortisol exposure in CS patients months to years back in time, enabling the estimation of disease onset.
Social norms and dietary behaviors among young adults.

OBJECTIVE To examine associations between young adults' dietary behaviors and perceived social norms for healthy eating. METHODS Cross-sectional survey of 1000 diverse college students. Associations between perceived behaviors of family, friends, and significant other and participants' dietary behaviors were examined using t-tests and linear regression. RESULTS Young adults consumed more fast food if they perceived that their family, friends, or significant other did so (p < .003). Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption was associated with perceived consumption by family and friends (p < .035). Fruit and vegetable consumption and dinner preparation were associated with perceived behavior of friends only (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS Young adults' dietary behaviors appear to reflect their perceptions of normative behavior, particularly among friends.
Unsupervised Negative Link Prediction in Signed Social Networks

It has been proved in a number of applications that it is useful to predict unknown social links, and link prediction has played an important role in sociological study. Although there has been a surge of pertinent approaches to link prediction, most of them focus on positive link prediction while giving few attentions to the problem of inferring unknown negative links. The inherent characteristics of negative relations present great challenges to traditional link prediction: (1) there are very few negative interaction data; (2) negative links are much sparser than positive links; (3) social data is often noisy, incomplete, and fast-evolved. This paper intends to address this novel problem by solely leveraging structural information and further proposes the UN-PNMF framework based on the projective nonnegative matrix factorization, so as to incorporate network embedding and user’s property embedding into negative link prediction. Empirical experiments on real-world datasets corroborate their effectiveness.
Influence of resolution of the input data on distributed generation integration studies

One of the main issues concerning large penetration of the renewable energy based generators on the distribution network is related to the voltage variations due to intermittent character of the solar irradiance and wind. The actual power quality standards provide only general information regarding the evaluation procedure of the voltage fluctuations and no directions regarding the sampling frequency of the data used. As a consequence, most of the studies neglect effect of the solar irradiance and wind speed in fast changing conditions on the utility grid. This work proposes a methodology to evaluate the voltage fluctuations into the low voltage distribution network caused by variable generation and reveals the influence of data resolution on the final results. A short review regarding the assessment of the voltage variations is presented in advance and an appropriate model of the power system is build, including the generating units that are capable to operate with high resolution input data. Real parameters for the components of the simulated system are used in order to obtain realistic results.
Neutrophil degranulation response to 2 hours of exercise in a 30 degrees C environment.

INTRODUCTION Evidence supports an interaction between neuro-endocrine responses to exercise and immune responses to exercise. We hypothesized that prolonged exercise in the heat would evoke a greater stress hormone response and a greater decrease in neutrophil degranulation [lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated elastase release] than when the same exercise was performed in thermoneutral conditions. METHODS In counterbalanced order and separated by 7 d, 13 male cyclists cycled for 2 h at 62 +/- 3% VO2max (mean +/- SEM), with ad libitum water intake, on one occasion with heat (HOT: 30.3 degrees C, 76% RH) and on another occasion without ( CONTROL 20.4 degrees C, 60% RH). Venous blood samples were collected at pre-, post-, and 2 h post-exercise. RESULTS Exercising HR, rating of perceived exertion, rectal temperature, corrected body mass loss, and plasma cortisol at post- and 2 h post-exercise were greater during HOT. A marked neutrophilia was evident at post- and 2 h post-exercise with no difference between trials. LPS-stimulated elastase release per neutrophil decreased post-exercise with no difference between trials (pre-exercise: HOT 189 +/- 20 and CONTROL 210 +/- 32; post-exercise: HOT 127 +/- 18 and CONTROL 136 +/- 29 fg x cell(-1)). There was no effect of exercise or trial on neutrophil CD11b expression (neutrophil activation index) or band cell percentage (neutrophil maturity index). CONCLUSIONS Prolonged exercise results in a decrease in neutrophil degranulation that is unaffected by performing the exercise in hot conditions despite the increase in physiological stress. Additionally, these data suggest that the decrease in neutrophil degranulation after prolonged exercise is not associated with a change in neutrophil activation or maturity as previously suggested.
Impact of harvesting on constructed wetlands performance—a comparison between Scirpus grossus and Typha angustifolia

Three units of free water surface (FWS) constructed wetlands treating domestic wastewater under tropical conditions were examined in terms of water quality and biomass characteristics. One unit (L2) was planted with Scirpus grossus, one with Typha angustifolia (L3), and the unplanted third (L1) served as control. Influent and effluent quality parameters: biological oxygen demand (BOD5), nitrate (NO3 −-N), ammonium (NH4 +-N), phosphorus (P), total suspended solids (TSS) and fecal coliforms were regularly measured. The average BOD5 reductions were 37.0%, 58.5%, and 53.8% for units L1, L2, and L3, respectively. The planted units removed pollutants more effectively although there was no significant difference between the Scirpus grossus and Typha angustifolia units. Plant growth was monitored in marked quadrats by measuring shoot height and other growth parameters. The above-ground organs in L2 and L3 was harvested whenever the shoots reached maximum shoot height and formed flowers. Scirpus grossus had sustainable above-ground biomass production but Typha angustifolia could not sustain repeated harvestings with the above-ground biomass production declining significantly following four consecutive harvests.