Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phagosomes Induced by Cytokines Function as anti-Listeria Vaccines

Background: The effectiveness of phagosomes as vaccines is unknown. Results: Listericidal phagosomes contain a compartmentalized signaling pathway and a nontoxic listeriolysin form bound to immune molecules. As vaccines they activate effector T cells and recruit immune cells. Conclusion: Protection with listericidal phagosomes requires recruitment of dendritic cells and T cell regulation. Significance: Phagosomes are effective immunotherapies and are a new generation of vaccine tools. Phagosomes are critical compartments for innate immunity. However, their role in the protection against murine listeriosis has not been examined. We describe here that listericidal phago-receptosomes are induced by the function of IFN-γ or IL-6 as centralized compartments for innate and adaptive immunity because they are able to confer protection against murine listeriosis. These phago-receptosomes elicited LLO(91–99)/CD8+- and LLO(189–201)/CD4+-specific immune responses and recruited mature dendritic cells to the vaccination sites controlled by T cells. Moreover, they present exceptional features as efficient vaccine vectors. First, they compartmentalize a novel listericidal STAT-1-mediated signaling pathway that confines multiple innate immune components to the same environment. Second, they show features of MHC class II antigen-loading competent compartments for cathepsin-D-mediated LLO processing. Third, murine cathepsin-D deficiencies fail to develop protective immunity after vaccination with listericidal phago-receptosomes induced by IFN-γ or IL-6. Therefore, it appears that the connection of STAT-1 and cathepsin-D in a single compartment is relevant for protection against listeriosis.
SPECIFIC CHEMICAL GROUPS INVOLVED IN THE CONTROL OF IONIC CONDUCTANCE IN NERVE fn1

The electrophysiological characteristics of ion-permeability control in excitable membranes are becoming increasingly clear. However, the identification of the biochemical constituents involved remains relatively unexplored. Experiments designed to detect chemical changes in ionic channels and gates (the words are not intended to imply any particular mechanism) during excitation are difficult because the events are rapid and the number of sites involved, relative to total surface area, is very small. Electrophysiological studies have been greatly aided by the discovery of pharmacological agents, most notably tetrodotoxin and tetraethylammonium ion, that block either sodium or potassium channels with a very high degree of selectivity. The chemical interaction of these compounds with excitable membranes is, however, not well defined. Reagents that have equally good physiological selectivity, but that in addition are known to bind to membrane components in predictable ways, would therefore be of value in further analysis. We have initiated studies of nerve fibers modified by chemical reagents of known specificities for various reactive groups normally present in proteins and lipids. We have sought to correlate structural perturbations with changes in conductance parameters by means of the voltageclamp technique. Our experiments suggest that it is possible to identify and covalently modify particular groups at sites involved with either sodium or potassium permeation.
Lactoferrin Concentration in Milk From Camels (Camelus dromedarius) With and Without Subclinical Mastitis

The purposes of this study were to investigate the levels of lactoferrin in 180 normal and 132 mastitic camel milk samples and to elucidate the effect of age, lactation stage, presence of pathogens, and somatic cell counts (SCC) on the concentration of lactoferrin in camel milk using radial immunodiffusion test. The mean log concentration of lactoferrin from mastitic camels (3.8 ± 0.67) was significantly higher than that in normal camels (2.65 ± 0.88). The mean log concentrations of lactoferrin in 3- and 4-year-old lactating camels were significantly higher than that in older camels. A correlation was observed between the levels of lactoferrin in normal and mastitic camel milk and the SCC score. The log lactoferrin concentrations in subclinical mastitic camel milk infected with Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci isolates were significantly higher than those for other bacterial isolates. No differences in the concentration of lactoferrin were observed in reference to the stage of lactation. These data could help in understanding the mechanisms of udder resistance to infections. In addition, levels of lactoferrin in milk could be used as a diagnostic tool in cases of subclinical mastitis.
Prospective Study of the Value of Quantitative Culture of Organisms from Blood Collected through Central Venous Catheters in Differentiating between Contamination and Bloodstream Infection

ABSTRACT Collection of blood through a central venous catheter for the diagnosis of bacteremia is a debated topic. Quantitative cultures of organisms from blood collected through central venous catheters were found to be highly sensitive, specific, and predictive of bacteremia, especially when a cutoff point of 15 colonies of skin organisms was used.
Control of diastolic blood pressure in man by feedback and reinforcement.

Abstract : When provided with external feedback of their diastolic blood pressure and incentives to respond appropriately, normal male subjects learned to raise or lower their diastolic pressure in a 35-min training session. The differences between increase and decrease groups at the end of conditioning was 7.0 mm Hg or 10% of baseline. This difference was augmented to 10.4 mm Hg or 15% of 'voluntary control' even though feedback and incentives were withdrawn. Heart rate was also influenced by the conditioning of diastolic pressure although less markedly. Further analysis indicated that when diastolic pressure is reinforced heart rate is partially reinforced in the same direction, accounting for the coincidental conditioning of the related cardiovascular measure. No consistent changes in respiration or post-session verbal reports were obtained. These results lend support to the possibility of therapeutic application of the techniques in patients with essential hypertension. (Author)
Leaf and stem physiological responses to summer and winter extremes of woody species across temperate ecosystems

Winter cold limits temperate plant performance, as does summer water stress in drought-prone ecosystems. Th e relative impact of seasonal extremes on plant performance has received considerable attention for individual systems. An integrated study compiling the existing literature was needed to identify overall trends. First, we conducted a metaanalysis of the impacts of summer and winter on ecophysiology for three woody plant functional types (winter deciduous angiosperms, evergreen angiosperms and conifers), including data for 210 records from 75 studies of ecosystems with and without summer drought across the temperate zone. Second, we tested predictions by conducting a case study in a drought-prone Mediterranean ecosystem subject to winter freezing. As indicators of physiological response of leaves and xylem to seasonal stress, we focused on stomatal conductance ( g s ), percent loss of stem xylem hydraulic conductivity (PLC) and photochemical effi ciency of photosystem II ( F v /F m ). Our meta-analysis showed that in ecosystems without summer drought, g s was higher during summer than winter. By contrast, in drought-prone ecosystems many species maintained open stomata during winter, with potential strong consequences for plant carbon gain over the year. Further, PLC tended to increase and F v /F m to decrease from summer to winter for most functional types and ecosystems due to low temperatures. Overall, deciduous angiosperms were most sensitive to climatic stress. Leaf gas exchange and stem xylem hydraulics showed a coordinated seasonal response at ecosystems without summer drought. In our Mediterranean site subjected to winter freezing the species showed similar responses to those typically found for ecosystems without summer drought. We conclude that winter stress is most extreme for systems without summer drought and systems with summer drought and winter freezing, and less extreme for drought-prone systems without freezing. In all cases the evergreen species show less pronounced seasonal responses in both leaves and stems than deciduous species.
Mailbox based inter-processor communication in SoC

An inter-processor communication scheme is necessary in a multi-core system-on-chip architecture, for data communication, event control and resource sharing which are necessary for efficient performance of SoC. This paper presents the implementation of inter-processor communication using hardware based mailbox and semaphore design. Data communication and event control between processors are accomplished through mailbox and synchronization in resource sharing is achieved with semaphore. Both the schemes are implemented in RTL, simulated and verified using VCS of Synopsys.
Energy saving in heterogeneous cellular network via transfer reinforcement learning based policy

Energy efficient operation of heterogeneous networks (HetNets) has become extremely crucial owing to their fast increasing deployment. This work presents a novel approach in which an actor-critic (AC) reinforcement learning (RL) framework is used to enable traffic based ON/OFF switching of base stations (BSs) in a HetNet leading to a reduction in overall energy consumption. Further, previously estimated traffic statistics is exploited in future scenarios which speeds up the learning process and provide additional improvement in energy saving. The presented scheme leads to up to 82% drop in energy consumption which is a quite significant amount. Furthermore, the analysis of system delay and energy saving trade-off is done.
A qualitative investigation of the experience of a mindfulness-based intervention with incarcerated adolescents.

BACKGROUND This study investigated the experience of 23 incarcerated male adolescents who participated in an adapted 10-week mindfulness-based intervention. METHOD Participants completed semi-structured interviews immediately following the final class of the treatment intervention. A six-step thematic content analysis was used to identify major themes from the transcribed semi-structured interviews. RESULTS Four major clusters of themes were identified: increase in subjective well-being, increase in self-regulation, increase in awareness, and accepting attitude toward the treatment intervention. CONCLUSION Results suggest that adapted mindfulness-based interventions are feasible as treatments for incarcerated youth and have promising potential. Clinical implications are discussed.
Ventriculoperitoneal shunt complications needing shunt revision in children: a review of 5 years of experience with 48 revisions.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to review the management of ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt complications in children. PATIENTS AND METHODS During the last 5 years (January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2010), 236 VP shunt operations were performed in children under 12 years of age; of these, 40 (16.94%) developed shunt complications and those who underwent VP shunt revisions were studied. RESULTS This prospective study included 40 (28 boys and 12 girls) children and required 48 shunt revisions. Complications following VP shunts that required shunt revisions were peritoneal catheter/peritoneal end malfunction (18), shunt/shunt tract infections (7), extrusion of peritoneal catheter through anus (5), ventricular catheter malfunction (4), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak from abdominal wound (4), shunt system failure (2), ventricular end/shunt displacement (2), CSF pseudocysts peritoneal cavity (2), extrusion of peritoneal catheter from neck, chest, abdominal scar and through umbilicus, one each. Four-fifth of these shunt complications occurred within 6 months of previous surgery. Surgical procedures done during shunt revisions in order of frequency were revision of peritoneal part of shunt (27, 56.25%), revision of entire shunt system (6, 12.5%), extra ventricular drainage and delayed re-shunt (5, 10.41%), shunt removal and delayed re-shunt (5, 10.41%), opposite side shunting (2, 4.16%), cysts excision and revision of peritoneal catheter (2, 4.16%) and revision of ventricular catheter (1, 2.08%). The mortalities following VP shunt operations were 44 (18.64%) and following shunt revisions were 4 (10%). CONCLUSIONS VP shunt done for hydrocephalus in children is not only prone for complications and need for revision surgery but also associated with considerable mortality.
The reoperation for infective complications after major surgery of pancreas does not evoke additional cytokine response

Blood cytokines are accepted as semiquantitative markers of the operative tissue trauma and mediators of the host immune response. There is not enough data on the cytokine response following a secondary trauma in the same individual, as an early reoperation, which may influence the clinical course after surgical reintervention and predict the outcome. The reoperation, usually performed within the first week after primary surgery, is an additional burden for the immune system. The objective of this study was to evaluate how does the reoperation affect the level of serum blood cytokines. Does another rise of the proinflammatory or rather of the anti-inflammatory cytokines take place or is there a decrease as an effect of elimination of the source of local infection? Studies were carried out in 43 patients with pancreatic carcinoma before and after operation and reoperation. We measured serum levels of IL6, IL1ra and sTNFRI before and after first operations and after reoperations performed because of infective complications of the pancreatic cancer surgery. Although a high postoperative rise of serum IL-6, IL-1ra and sTNFRI levels in patients after pancreatectomy over the preoperative values was observed, there was no increase in cytokine concentration after re-operation performed because of infective complications. Albeit the serum cytokine levels are good markers of the immune reactivity of surgical patients to the first operative trauma and in certain cases early predictors of the postoperative infective complications, their diagnostic value after reoperations is questionable.
Low Temperatures Affect the Photoperiodically Induced LH and Testicular Cycles Differently in Closely Related Species of Tits (Parus spp.)

Photosensitive great tits (Parus major) and willow tits (P. montanus) were exposed to long days (20L:4D) under three different temperature conditions (4+, +10, and +20 degrees C) in early winter. The two species showed significant differences in their LH and testicular reaction patterns to low temperatures. Testes showed pronounced growth cycles under all temperature regimes. For the willow tit, testes in birds kept at +20 degrees C reached maximum size about 2 weeks earlier than testes in birds living under the two lower temperature regimes, whereas in the great tit testes reached maximum size at about the same time in all three groups. Low temperatures delayed the onset of testicular regression in both species. Plasma levels of LH did change with time in both species. However, the patterns of the induced LH-cycles in the three great tit groups differed significantly from each other, whereas this was not the case for the willow tits. The LH cycle was especially pronounced in great tits kept at +20 degrees C. The initial LH peak in great tits kept at +4 and +10 degrees C was about 50% lower than in great tits kept at +20 degrees C. These results are discussed in relation to species differences in winter ecology and establishment of breeding territories.
Evaluation of the i-STAT Portable Clinical Analyzer in Chickens (Gallus Gallus)

The i-STAT portable clinical analyzer (PCA) was evaluated for performance in avian species. With the EG7+ cartridge, which provided results for hydrogen ion concentration, oxygen tension, carbon dioxide tension, sodium, potassium, ionized calcium, hematocrit, and various calculated parameters, analytical accuracy and precision were tested by comparing obtained values to those of established traditional blood gas and chemistry analyzers. Deming's regression and bias plots were used to compare i-STAT results with those obtained by laboratory professionals using benchtop analyzers. The reliability of the i-STAT PCA with EG7+ cartridges was good, with 0–5.7% system failures in measured values. Regression statistics were good for all blood gas analytes and acceptable for electrolytes and calculated parameters, except for potassium and base excess, for which the regression data or the discrepancy between the methods was too large. The system was reliable and easy to use and had an overall acceptable accuracy in avian species. These features, together with portability and small required blood volumes, make the i-STAT suitable for point-of-care use in critical avian patients, although single values require careful interpretation.
Sulfonylurea receptor 1 gene variants are associated with gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes but not with altered secretion of insulin.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the possible association of the variants in the nucleotide binding fold regions of the sulfonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1) gene with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), type 2 diabetes, and altered insulin secretion in Finnish subjects. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The nucleotide binding fold regions of the SUR1 gene were amplified with polymerase chain reaction and screened by the single-strand conformational polymorphism analysis in 42 subjects with GDM and 40 subjects with type 2 diabetes. Detected variants were further investigated in 377 normoglycemic subjects by restriction fragment-length polymorphism analysis. The effect of the variants of the SUR1 gene on first-phase insulin secretion was studied in 295 normoglycemic subjects. RESULTS In subjects with GDM or type 2 diabetes, one amino acid change (S1369A), four silent substitutions (R1273R, L829L, T759T, and K649K), and three intron variants were identified in the nucleotide binding fold regions of the SUR1 gene. A tagGCC allele of exon 16 splice acceptor site was more frequent in subjects with GDM (0.55 allele frequency, n = 42) and type 2 diabetes (0.60, n = 40) than in normoglycemic subjects (0.43, n = 377) (P1 = 0.024 and P2 = 0.009, respectively). Similarly, an AGG allele of the R1273R polymorphism was more common in subjects with GDM (0.87) and type 2 diabetes (0.87) than in normoglycemic subjects (0.74) (P1 = 0.009 and P2 = 0.001, respectively). However, the S1369A, R1273R, and cagGCC-->tagGCC variants of the SUR1 gene were not associated with altered first-phase insulin secretion in 295 normoglycemic subjects. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that a functional variant that contributes to the risk of GDM and type 2 diabetes may locate close to the SUR1 gene.
The Sympathetic Innervation of the Human Foot

Background: The sympathetic innervation of the hand was demonstrated using formaldehyde staining techniques in the 1990s and provides a basis for both medical (botulinum toxin type A) and surgical (sympathectomy) therapeutic approaches. This research investigates the sympathetic innervation of the human foot using tyrosine hydroxylase immunohistochemistry. Methods: With institutional review board approval, six freshly amputated lower extremities had arterial, venous, and peripheral nerve biopsies obtained at the distal leg, ankle, and forefoot levels. Tibial, peroneal, sural, and saphenous nerves were processed immediately for immunohistochemical staining using an anti–tyrosine hydroxylase antibody, for light and electron microscopy evaluation. Qualitative assessments noted the presence or absence of tyrosine hydroxylase–positive fibers in artery, vein, and peripheral nerve. Within the nerve, location of the tyrosine hydroxylase staining was noted. Results: The presence of tyrosine hydroxylase–positive material was identified in each artery, vein, and nerve examined at each level of the foot and ankle. For the artery, the staining was in the adventitia, and rarely in the media of the vessel wall. There were clear entry points into the artery from the connective tissue. For the vein, the staining was more evenly distributed but to a lesser intensity than in the artery. Within each nerve at the proximal levels, the staining was diffusely throughout the fascicles, with clear sites of fibers leaving the periphery. Conclusions: It is concluded that (1) sympathetic innervation of the foot arrives along each peripheral nerve, (2) the vessels already contain sympathetic innervation at the level of the ankle, and (3) the sympathetic innervation of the foot is extensive.
Prevalence, comorbidities and mortality of toxic shock syndrome in children and adults in the USA

Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS), a superantigen‐mediated illness, is characterized by rash, hypotension and multi‐organ dysfunction. Predictors of TSS and related morbidity and mortality are poorly defined. In this study, data on 61,959,084 hospitalizations from the 2003–2012 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a 20% stratified sample of US hospitalizations, were analyzed and ICD‐9‐CM coding used to identify 4491 hospitalizations with a diagnosis of TSS. Incidence, in‐hospital mortality rate, comorbidities, length of stay and costs of care attributable to TSS were determined. In multivariate survey logistic regression models, TSS was associated with female sex (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.54 [1.48–1.60]), younger age (0–17 years, 2.17 [2.06–2.29]; 40–59: 0.53 [0.50–0.56]; 60–79: 0.28 [0.26–0.30]; 80+: 0.13 [0.11–0.14] compared with 18–39) and race/ethnicity (black, 0.63 [0.59–0.67]; Hispanic: 0.60 [0.56–0.64]; Asian, 1.11 [1.00–1.11]; and other, 0.83 [0.75–0.92] compared with white). Patients with TSS had a three‐fold greater cost of care (mean: $36,656 ± 942) and length of stay (LOS) (mean: 10.65 ± 0.23 days) than patients without TSS. Shared predictors of increased LOS and costs in patients with TSS were male sex; age 40–79 years; Black, Hispanic, Asian and other race/ethnicity; and more than one chronic condition. Predictors of in‐hospital mortality included respiratory failure (13.66 [11.37–16.43]), liver disease/failure (3.36 [2.59–4.34]), chickenpox (91.26 [27.74–300.25]), coagulopathy (2.14 [1.85–2.48]), and higher age. In conclusion, there are significant racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and comorbid disparities in the incidence and mortality of TSS in adults and children in the USA.