Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endogenous cortisol determines the circadian rhythm of lipopolysaccharide‐ but not lipoteichoic acid‐inducible cytokine release

To investigate the circadian rhythm of inducible cytokine release and a potential pacemaker role of endogenous cortisol, cortisol levels as well as cytokine release from ex vivo LPS‐stimulated blood were assessed at 4‐h intervals over 24 h in 11 volunteers. We found a significant diurnal variation for IFN‐γ and IL‐8, and a tendency for TNF, all inversely correlated to the serum cortisol levels, but no evidence for such a rhythm for IL‐1β and IL‐6. In vitro IC50 values for cytokine inhibition by hydrocortisone (HC) corresponded to the observed rank order for circadian rhythmicity. mRNA analyses revealed that this was due to a reduction of gene transcription. These effects of HC were significantly reversed by the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU486. Supplementation of HC in vivo to maintain morning cortisol levels throughout the day blunted the circadian rhythm of ex vivo LPS‐induced cytokines. Surprisingly, no significant diurnal variation for any investigated cytokine was found in the same volunteer group upon stimulation with lipoteichoic acid (LTA), the gram‐positive counterpart to LPS. Furthermore, 10–50‐fold higher HC concentrations as compared to LPS were required to block LTA‐induced cytokine release. LTA, in contrast to LPS, failed to activate Jun kinase, a reported target for HC action.
A Systematic Framework for Multilevel Theorizing in Information Systems Research

Information systems (IS) research usually investigates phenomena at one level of analysis at a time. However, complex IS phenomena may be difficult to address from such a single-level perspective. A multilevel perspective offers an alternative means to examine phenomena by simultaneously accounting for multiple levels of analysis. Although useful guidelines for theory development are widely available, they give little specific attention to developing theory that is conceptualized and analyzed at multiple levels. Multilevel theorizing or developing theory from a multilevel perspective is more complex and involves unique challenges. To promote multilevel theorizing in the IS discipline, we focus on addressing challenges involved in multilevel theorizing and propose a holistic framework for systematically developing theory from a multilevel perspective. Drawing from the organization science and IS literature, the proposed framework harmonizes and synthesizes previous guidelines, providing a practical basis for conceptualizing and studying multilevel phenomena.
Fault current limiting properties of YBCO-films on sapphire substrates

We have studied the switching of YBCO thin film resistive fault current limiting devices. Films of 300 nm thickness were deposited on 2 inch and 4 inch sapphire substrates by thermal co-evaporation. Bridges 10 mm wide and 22 mm long (2 inch) or 42 mm long (4 inch) were structured by standard photolithography. Contacts were made by in-situ gold overlayers and soft solder. The gold film was removed from the switching area so that the YBCO film was not shunted. The films were tested by 30 /spl mu/s DC pulses and 50 Hz AC pulses for 50 ms. We find evidence that at the AC tests heat propagates over several cm under these conditions in sapphire so that hot spots can be avoided even without shunt layer with the prospect of higher switching power. The highest destruction free switching power-the RMS critical current times RMS voltage after switching-was 57 kVA. The highest switching power density achieved was 2.5 kVA/cm/sup 2/. To our knowledge, these are the highest switching power densities observed so far.
Improved culture conditions stimulate gluconeogenesis in primary cultures of renal proximal tubule cells.

Unlike renal proximal tubule cells (RPTC) in vivo, RPTC cultured in standard conditions are hypoxic, glycolytic, and not gluconeogenic. This study investigated the effects of glucose and lactate on glycolysis and gluconeogenesis in rabbit RPTC cultured in conditions of increased oxygen supply (Shake). Confluent Shake cultures grown in the presence of glucose exhibited increased oxygen consumption and decreased glycolysis compared with stationary (Still) cultures. Addition of 5 mM lactate to a 5 mM glucose medium decreased net glucose consumption and glucose oxidation in Shake cultures by 34 and 50%, respectively, and resulted in net lactate consumption. Addition of 5 mM lactate to a glucose-free medium resulted in a threefold increase in net glucose production (0.024 +/- 0.003 vs. 0.074 +/- 0.013 mumol.mg protein-1.day-1) in Shake cultures. Net glucose production further increased to 0.430 +/- 0.020 and 1.640 +/- 0.040 mumol.mg protein-1.day-1 when glucose reuptake was inhibited by 1 mM phloridzin or 1 mM phloridzin + 1 mM phloretin, respectively. These results show that, under conditions of improved oxygenation and in the presence of lactate and physiological levels of glucose and insulin, RPTC aerobic metabolism increases and glucose metabolism changes from glycolysis and net lactate production to gluconeogenesis and net lactate consumption.
“Medioglycaemia”: A new concept in glycaemic control in intensive care (ICU) units?

Introduction: Critically ill patients can experience stress-induced hyperglycaemia. Glycaemic control therapy (GCT) is administered to control patients’ blood glycaemic levels and reduce the incidence of infection, myocardial infarctions and organ failure. However, there are many factors influencing the effectiveness of glycaemic control for patients. This investigation aimed to review the method of Glycaemic Control Therapy (GCT) used in two hospital settings, to assess the effectiveness of glycaemic control on patients’ blood glycaemic levels and examine any barriers that may be in place. Method: A retnrospective audit was carried out on patients’ case notes in Intensive Care Units (ICU) within the East Midlands, UK. This method prevents the study outcomes being swayed because GCT has already taken place. To reduce selection bias the most recent available case notes were selected. All the patients who were admitted to these adult ICU’s between March and April 2010 had their case notes examined, those who were administered GCT were included in the study, this involved 79 from Hospital A and 50 from Hospital B. The patients’ notes were retrospectively audited. Results: Different glycaemic control protocols were being implemented in each hospital, despite both belonging to the same ICU network. In most incidences, regardless of age, diabetes status or diagnosis, patients were administered the same sliding scale insulin (SSI). It was also found that GCT commenced for 41.9% (n = 52) of ICU patients (across both Hospitals) when glycaemic levels were below the established threshold of 10mmol/L. Additionally, a new glycaemic range has been discovered, where 88.3% (n = 113) of patients (across both Hospitals) receiving GCT were not controlled in hypoglycaemia, normoglycaemia or hyperglycaemia. They had mean blood glycaemic levels maintained between 5.6 - 9.9 mmol/L, now being described as medioglycaemia. Conclusions: The majority of patients receiving GCT were controlled in medioglycaemia and therefore a new comprehensive guideline needs to be developed incorporating this new range. Recommendations also need to be established to adapt the titration regimen to individual patients, to improve the effectiveness and safety of glycaemic control.
Amygdala Activation Modulated by Levodopa During Emotional Recognition Processing in Healthy Volunteers: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study

A critical role of dopaminergic systems in emotional processing has been revealed by several animal and clinical studies in Parkinson disease and schizophrenia. We conducted a study with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 13 healthy volunteers to test the dopaminergic modulation on amygdala response to emotional processing and to evaluate if it was the result of a direct action on amygdalar nuclei or indirect modulation via medial prefrontal cortex projecting on amygdala. A placebo-controlled crossover experimental design was used. Subjects received either levodopa (100 mg) or placebo in 2 fMRI sessions. Amygdala activation was evaluated during a facial emotion recognition test. The statistical comparison between placebo versus levodopa situations revealed a significant reduction in activation of right amygdala during the levodopa fMRI session. The functional connectivity analysis revealed only a change of correlated activations between right and left amygdala, and not medial prefrontal cortex, after levodopa administration. Our results suggest that administration of levodopa to healthy volunteers impairs the amygdalar activation. It supports the hypothesis that amygdala activation follows an inverted U-shaped curve in relation to dopamine (DA) concentration. The results of the functional connectivity seem to suggest a dopaminergic action on amygdalar nuclei rather than a modulation of medial prefrontal cortex on amygdala.
Experimental evaluation of various register‐pressure‐reduction heuristics

Minimizing the amount of spill code is still an open problem in code generation and optimization. The amount of spill code depends on both the register allocation algorithm and the pre‐allocation instruction scheduling algorithm that controls the register pressure. In this paper, we focus on the impact of pre‐allocation instruction scheduling on the amount of spill code. Many heuristic techniques have been proposed to do instruction scheduling with the objective of minimizing register pressure and consequently the amount of spill code. However, the performance of these heuristic techniques has not been studied relative to optimality on real large‐scale programs. In this paper, we present an experimental study that evaluates the performance of several pre‐allocation scheduling heuristics. The evaluation involves computing an experimental lower bound on the size of gap between each heuristic's performance and optimal performance. We also propose a simple heuristic technique based on a specific permutation of two basic priority schemes and experimentally evaluate the performance of this technique compared with other heuristics, including the heuristics implemented in the LLVM open‐source Compiler. The evaluation is carried out by running SPEC CPU2006 on real x86‐64 hardware and measuring both the amount of spill code and the execution time. The results of our study show that the proposed heuristic technique gives better overall performance than LLVM's best heuristic on x86‐64, although it produces slightly more spilling. The proposed heuristic has better overall performance, because it achieves a better balance between register pressure and instruction‐level parallelism (ILP). This result shows the importance of ILP in pre‐allocation scheduling even on out‐of‐order machines. Furthermore, the results of the study show that there is a large gap between the performance of any of the studied heuristics and optimal performance; even the best heuristic in the study produces significantly more spill code than the optimal amount. This experimental result quantifies the intuitive belief that it is unlikely to find a heuristic that works well in all cases, thus showing the need for more rigorous solutions using combinatorial approaches. The paper discusses the challenges and complexities that are involved in developing such rigorous solutions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Vimocin and Vidapin, Cyclic KTS Peptides, Are Dual Antagonists of α1β1/α2β1 Integrins with Antiangiogenic Activity

Obtustatin and viperistatin, members of the disintegrin protein family, served as lead compounds for the synthesis of linear and cyclic peptides containing the KTS binding motif. The most active linear peptide, a viperistatin analog, indicated the importance of Cys19 and Cys29, as well as the presence of Arg at position 24 for their biologic activity, and was used as the basic sequence for the synthesis of cyclic peptides. Vimocin (compound 6) and vidapin (compound 10) showed a high potency (IC50 = 0.17 nM) and intermediate efficacy (20 and 40%) in inhibition of adhesion of α1/α2 integrin overexpressor cells to respective collagens. Vimocin was more active in inhibition of the wound healing (53%) and corneal micropocket (17%) vascularization, whereas vidapin was more potent in inhibition of migration in the Matrigel tube formation assay (90%). Both compounds similarly inhibited proliferation (50–90%) of endothelial cells, and angiogenesis induced by vascular endothelial growth factor (80%) and glioma (55%) in the chorioallantoic membrane assay. These peptides were not toxic to endothelial cell cultures and caused no acute toxicity upon intravenous injection in mice, and were stable for 10–30 hours in human serum. The in vitro and in vivo potency of the peptides are consistent with conformational ensembles and “bioactive” space shared by obtustatin and viperistatin. These findings suggest that vimocin and vidapin can serve as dual α1β1/α2β1 integrin antagonists in antiangiogenesis and cancer therapy.
Deoxyribonucleic acid relationships between different serovars of Mycobacterium avium, Mycobacterium intracellulare and Mycobacterium scrofulaceum.

M. avium and M. intracellulare are difficult to distinguish by means of biochemical tests and by means of numerical taxonomy. DNA-DNA hybridization confirms that these species are different but indicates that some serovars of M. intracellulare actually belong to the species M.avium, viz.: serovars 4, 5, 6 and 8. This corresponds to results obtained with sensitin tests on guinea-pigs. The status of strains belonging to serovar 9 is uncertain. The two strains investigated in this study were closely related to, but not identical with M. scrofulaceum serovar 41.
Combined antiplatelet and novel oral anticoagulant therapy after acute coronary syndrome: is three a crowd?

This editorial refers to ‘New oral anticoagulants in addition to single or dual antiplatelet therapy after an acute coronary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis’, by J. Oldgren et al. , doi:10.1093/eurheartj/eht049 The past 20 years have seen substantial advances in the short- and long-term outcomes for patients after acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Improvements in therapy and adherence to guidelines have resulted in a reduction in hospital mortality from 10.4% in 1994 to 6.3% in 2006.1 Despite this, ∼17% of patients surviving an ACS event would experience recurrent events without secondary prophylaxis, and even with the newer antithrombotics there remains an ∼10% risk of recurrence over 12 months.2,3 The high rates of recurrence highlight the need for more effective secondary prevention strategies. Besides novel antiplatelet therapies.3−5 novel anticoagulants have also been developed. They have first been tested in atrial fibrillation and shown to be effective in stroke prevention.6 Given the positive results obtained with warfarin on top of aspirin after myocardial infarction published >10 years ago,7,8 they have also been tested on a large scale after ACS.9,10 A meta-analysis about the use of the new-generation oral anticoagulant agents on top of single or dual antiplatelet therapy after ACS has now been published.11 Properly randomized controlled trials are lumped together for the evaluation of efficacy against the usual endpoints (cardiovascular) death, (re)infarction, or stroke. Also, the safety with these new agents on top of the standard of dual antiplatelet therapy has been evaluated. …
BEDEN EĞİTİMİVE SPOR YÜKSEKOKULLARINDA OKUYAN AKTİF SPOR YAPAN ÖĞRENCİLERİN BESLENME ALIŞKANLIKLARININ BELİRLENMESİ VE DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

Aktif spor yapan ogrencilerin beslenme aliskanliklarinin belirlenmesi amaciyla yapilan bu arastirma; Selcuk, Karadeniz Teknik ve Gazi Universitelerinin Beden Egitimi ve Spor Yuksek Okullari’nda okuyan ve farklibranslarda aktif spor yapan toplam 309 ogrencinin (77 bayan, 232 erkek) katilimiile yurutulmustur. Ogrencilere III bolumden olusan bir anket uygulanmistir. Anketin I. bolumu kisisel bilgi sorulariniII. bolumu beslenme bilgisi sorularini, III. bolumu ise aliskanliklara iliskin sorulariicermektedir. Arastirma sonuclaridegerlendirildiginde sporcularin gidalarive bu gidalarin icerdikleri besin maddelerini tanima konusunda orta derecede bir bilgiye sahip olduklari, musabaka oncesi yemek ve musabaka arasinda tercih edilen icecekler yonunden takim sporcularinin, gidalarin icerdikleri besinleri tanima ve musabaka oncesi su icme konusunda ise bireysel sporcularin, daha bilgili oldugu saptanmistir. Ulkemizde sporcu egitiminde besinler ve sporcu performansindaki onemleri uzerinde daha detaylibir sekilde durulmasigerektigi sonucuna varilmistir.
The Role of Cyclooxygenase-1 and -2 in the Rat Formalin Test

Prostaglandins are thought to play an important role in nociceptive transmission at peripheral sites and in the spinal cord. Prostaglandins are produced by cyclooxygenase (COX), which catalyzes the conversion of arachidonic acid. Two forms of COX have been identified: COX-1, which is constitutively expressed, and COX-2, which is an inducible enzyme. To define the role of COX-1 in nociceptive transmission, we examined the effect of oral and intrathecal administration of 5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3-trifluoromethylpyrazole (SC-560), a selective COX-1 inhibitor, on the rat formalin test and compared the effect of SC-560 with that of celecoxib, a COX-2 selective inhibitor, and indomethacin, a nonselective COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitor, on the rat formalin test. Oral and intrathecal administration of SC-560 had no effect on the agitation behavior in the rat formalin test. Oral and intrathecal administration of celecoxib and indomethacin depressed agitation behavior during the rat formalin test. These data suggest that prostaglandins synthesized by COX-1 are not involved in nociceptive transmission during the rat formalin test but that COX-2 does play an important role in the rat formalin test.
Cultured bovine corneal endothelial cells express CHIP28 water channels.

Cultured bovine corneal endothelial cells (CBCEC) transport fluid from the basal to the apical surface. In this study, we examined whether the plasma membranes of these cells have water channels. We cultured BCEC on glass plates and monitored the intensity of the light scattered (IS) by the cells. We determined the kinetic constant (k) of the change in IS on exposure to a 10% hypoosmotic challenge to calculate the osmotic permeability (Pf) of the plasma membrane. At 37 degrees C, we found values of k = 0.68 +/- 0.07 s-1 and Pf = 93.3 +/- 33 microns/S (n = 13). The sulfhydryl reagent p-chloromercuribenzenesulfonate (pCMBS; 1 mM) reduced Pf by 75%; 5 mM dithiothreitol reversed such inhibition. The activation energy (Ea) of Pf in the range 10-37 degrees C was 4.7 +/- 0.7 kcal/mol (n = 5). The high Pf, values, the inhibition by pCMBS, and the low Ea strongly suggest the presence of water channels. Therefore, we tested whether the injection of poly(A)+ RNA prepared from CBCEC into Xenopus laevis oocytes results in the expression of water channels. Four days after injection, we measured oocyte Pf values from the rate of volume increase on exposure to hypoosmotic medium. In control oocytes injected with 50 nl of water, Pf was 13.4 +/- 0.3 microns/S (n = 63). In oocytes injected with poly(A)+ RNA (50 ng/oocyte in 50 nl water), Pf was 40.9 +/- 1.6 microns/S (n = 72). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
White Bear Effects in Language Production: Evidence from the Prosodic Realization of Adjectives

A central problem in recent research on speech production concerns the question to what extent speakers adapt their linguistic expressions to the needs of their addressees. It is claimed that speakers sometimes leak information about objects that are only visible for them and not for their listeners. Previous research only takes the occurrence of adjectives as evidence for the leakage of privileged information. The present study hypothesizes that leaked information is also encoded in the prosody of those adjectives. A production experiment elicited adjectives that leak information and adjectives that do not leak information. An acoustic analysis and prominence rating task showed that adjectives that leak information were uttered with a higher pitch and perceived as more prominent compared to adjectives that do not leak information. Furthermore, a guessing task suggested that the adjectives’ prosody relates to how listeners infer possible privileged information.
Analysis of the TCR Vgamma repertoire in healthy donors and HIV-1-infected individuals.

During the course of infection with HIV-1, striking alterations in the subset distribution of peripheral blood gammadelta T cells are observed. While TCR Vdelta2 expression dominates among peripheral blood gammadelta T cells in healthy adults, there is a clear preponderance of Vdelta1 cells in HIV-1-infected persons. In this study, we present the first flow cytometry (FCM) analysis of the complete TCR Vgamma gene repertoire in HIV-1-infected individuals using a panel of mAb against all expressed Vgamma genes. The quantitative analysis of TCR Vgamma transcripts after amplification of cDNA by inverse PCR suggested that Vgamma5 usage is increased in HIV-1+ donors. This was confirmed by FCM with a new anti-Vgamma5 mAb. In addition, all members of the TCR VgammaI gene family (i.e. Vgamma2, 3, 4, 5 and 8) were expressed on significantly higher percentages of gammadelta T cells in HIV+ as compared to HIV- donors, whereas VgammaII (Vgamma9) expression was drastically reduced. No preferential association of the expanded Vdelta1+ cells with a particular Vgamma gene was observed in HIV-1 + donors. These results indicate that the increase in Vgamma1+ cells during HIV-1 infection occurs independently of the Vgamma gene usage and support the hypothesis that a Vdelta1-selective ligand might be involved.
Post-Diagnostic Cardiac Catheterization: Development and Evaluation of an Evidence-Based Standard of Care

The purpose of this article is to describe one process for the development and evaluation of an evidence-based standard of care for inpatients undergoing a diagnostic cardiac catheterization. As the volume of cardiac catheterizations increases, with more high-risk patients and with new methods to achieve hemostasis, an evidence-based standard of care for the post-diagnostic cardiac catheterization patient needs to be developed to ensure positive clinical outcomes. Clinical educators are in a position to affect nursing practice and can provide the impetus for implementing evidence-based standards of care.
Doing it my way.

PURPOSE Historically, hotels and single-room occupancy residences have provided room, board, and social support services to elders, in particular the poor and the disenfranchised. This article presents the results of a case study drawn from a larger ethnographic community study that set forth to describe how and why elders from one rural community chose to live in a motel in that same rural community. The focus of this study is a description of 7 middle-income and affluent rural elders living in a motel setting as a housing option that enabled them to remain independent in their community. DESIGN AND METHODS Using a community study ethnographic design and the strategies of formal and informal interviews, participant observation, and inductive comparative case study analysis, this study provides a description of why these elders decided to live in the motel and how this facilitated their living in the community. RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS Reasons that these elders decided to live at the motel included "saving my energy for living," "safety," "connections and privacy," and "the freedom to come and go. " This study informs elder care policy, emphasizing the importance of naturally occurring networks to develop community capacity for healthy aging in one rural setting.