Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Renal Ischemia-reperfusion injury in the rat is prevented by a novel immune modulation therapy

Background. Vasogen Inc.’s (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) immune modulation therapy (IMT) is a therapy in which cells from the patient’s own blood are modified by ex vivo exposure to specific physicochemical stressors, including oxidation, ultraviolet (UV) light, and an elevated temperature. The therapy has been shown to have a beneficial effect in models of inflammation and vascular diseases. This study tested the hypothesis that IMT can prevent renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats. Methods. Whole blood was collected from syngeneic age-matched donors by cardiac puncture. It was treated with a combination of controlled physiochemical stressors consisting of elevated temperature, a gas mixture of medical oxygen containing ozone, and UV light. The treated blood (150 &mgr;L) was injected in the gluteal muscle. Control animals received the same volume of untreated blood or physiological saline. Transient (45 or 60 minutes) left-renal ischemia was produced with simultaneous contralateral nephrectomy in treated and control spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Young and old male and female rats were studied. Plasma creatinine, diuresis, and the survival rates of each group were compared. Renal apoptosis–necrosis was estimated by DNA laddering, histology, and in situ terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase assay. mRNA levels of several regulators of apoptosis–regeneration were determined in control and postischemic kidneys by Northern blotting. Results. IMT pretreatment of SHR significantly reduced renal I/R injury compared with equivalent placebo treatments consisting of untreated blood- or saline-injected SHR, as evidenced by a significant increase of the survival rate curves in young and old male SHR, which correlated with 24-hour postischemic diuresis. The increases in plasma creatinine following renal I/R were significantly lower in IMT-treated young male and old female SHR compared with saline or untreated blood-injected controls. Dilution analysis showed that the protective effect of treated blood was lost by dilution. Loss of epithelial cells was reduced in IMT-treated rats, with a significant decline in the peak of apoptosis 12 hours after acute ischemic renal injury. IMT did not modify the pattern of mRNA levels of several genes involved in the inflammation and regeneration processes. Conclusion. Our data demonstrate that IMT prevents the destruction of kidney tissue and the resulting animal death caused by renal I/R injury.
Differential Modulation of prM Cleavage, Extracellular Particle Distribution, and Virus Infectivity by Conserved Residues at Nonfurin Consensus Positions of the Dengue Virus pr-M Junction

ABSTRACT In the generation of flavivirus particles, an internal cleavage of the envelope glycoprotein prM by furin is required for the acquisition of infectivity. Unlike cleavage of the prM of other flaviviruses, cleavage of dengue virus prM is incomplete in many cell lines; the partial cleavage reflects the influence of residues at furin nonconsensus positions of the pr-M junction, as flaviviruses share basic residues at positions P1, P2, and P4, recognized by furin. In this study, viruses harboring the alanine-scanning and other multiple-point mutations of the pr-M junction were generated, employing a dengue virus background that exhibited 60 to 70% prM cleavage and a preponderance of virion-sized extracellular particles. Analysis of prM and its cleavage products in viable mutants revealed a cleavage-suppressive effect at the conserved P3 Glu residue, as well as the cleavage-augmenting effects at the P5 Arg and P6 His residues, indicating an interplay between opposing modulatory influences mediated by these residues on the cleavage of the pr-M junction. Changes in the prM cleavage level were associated with altered proportions of extracellular virions and subviral particles; mutants with reduced cleavage were enriched with subviral particles and prM-containing virions, whereas the mutant with enhanced cleavage was deprived of these particles. Alterations of virus multiplication were detected in mutants with reduced prM cleavage and were correlated with their low specific infectivities. These findings define the functional roles of charged residues located adjacent to the furin consensus sequence in the cleavage of dengue virus prM and provide plausible mechanisms by which the reduction in the pr-M junction cleavability may affect virus replication.
Global Neuromagnetic Cortical Fields Have Non-Zero Velocity

Globally coherent patterns of phase can be obscured by analysis techniques that aggregate brain activity measures across-trials, whether prior to source localization or for estimating inter-areal coherence. We analyzed, at single-trial level, whole head MEG recorded during an observer-triggered apparent motion task. Episodes of globally coherent activity occurred in the delta, theta, alpha and beta bands of the signal in the form of large-scale waves, which propagated with a variety of velocities. Their mean speed at each frequency band was proportional to temporal frequency, giving a range of 0.06 to 4.0 m/s, from delta to beta. The wave peaks moved over the entire measurement array, during both ongoing activity and task-relevant intervals; direction of motion was more predictable during the latter. A large proportion of the cortical signal, measurable at the scalp, exists as large-scale coherent motion. We argue that the distribution of observable phase velocities in MEG is dominated by spatial filtering considerations in combination with group velocity of cortical activity. Traveling waves may index processes involved in global coordination of cortical activity.
Methadone doses of 100 mg or greater are more effective than lower doses at suppressing heroin self-administration in opioid-dependent volunteers.

AIMS Methadone maintenance has been an effective pharmacotherapy for the treatment of heroin dependence for nearly four decades. Recent clinical research suggests that methadone doses larger than those used in most clinics are more effective at suppressing illicit heroin use. This greater efficacy may result from greater cross-tolerance to the reinforcing effects of heroin. DESIGN The purpose of this double-blind, within-subject study was to examine the relationship between methadone maintenance dose and the reinforcing effects of heroin. SETTING Participants were stabilized on 50, 100 and 150 mg methadone (ascending order) during separate outpatient periods before being admitted to an inpatient research unit for testing at each maintenance dose. PARTICIPANTS Five opiate-dependent volunteers completed the study. MEASUREMENTS During each 4-week inpatient testing period, participants sampled three doses of heroin (0, 10, or 20 mg; random order; one dose per week) and were subsequently allowed seven opportunities to choose between another injection of that week's heroin dose and varying amounts of money (dollars 2-38). FINDINGS The number of heroin injections chosen decreased as methadone dose was increased. Larger alternative monetary reinforcers were required to suppress heroin self-administration during maintenance on 50 compared to 100 or 150 mg methadone. Larger methadone doses also completely blocked the subjective effects of heroin and produced greater withdrawal suppression during the outpatient periods. CONCLUSIONS These results support other clinical and laboratory-based research indicating that persistent heroin use may be reduced by providing larger methadone maintenance doses that produce more effective cross-tolerance to heroin.
Apoptosis Induction in Nonirradiated Human HL‐60 and Murine NSO/2 Tumor Cells by Photoproducts of lndole‐3‐acetic Acid and Riboflavin

The effect of the photoproducts of indole‐3‐acetic acid sensitized by riboflavin on nonirradiated human HL‐60 and murine NSO/2 tumor cells was studied. Severe damage with a dose‐response effect was observed on both cell types. The effect was greater than that previously described for the tryptophan riboflavin photoproducts. Electron microscopy studies and flow cytometry analysis of DNA fragmentation allowed us to conclude that the photoproducts studied in this work induce cell death by an apoptotic mechanism.
Candidacy for bilateral hearing aids: a retrospective multicenter study.

PURPOSE The goal of this study was to find factors for refining candidacy criteria for bilateral hearing aid fittings. Clinical files of 1,000 consecutive hearing aid fittings were analyzed. METHOD Case history, audiometric, and rehabilitation data were collected from clinical files, and an extensive questionnaire on long-term outcome measures was conducted. After at least 2 years of hearing aid use, 505 questionnaires were returned. In order to compare differences in benefits between unilateral and bilateral fittings, two subgroups were composed in which most relevant variables (age, degree of hearing loss, and audiometric asymmetry) were matched for unilateral fittings (n=212) and bilateral fittings (n=477). RESULTS The bilateral group had significantly higher benefit scores than the unilateral group for detection, speech intelligibility in reverberation, and localization, but poorer scores for comfort of loud sounds. The benefit of bilateral hearing aids was not significantly related to the level of technology of the hearing aids. CONCLUSION The analysis of the relation between objective parameters and the subjective outcome measures showed that candidacy for a successful bilateral fitting could not be predicted from age, maximum speech intelligibility, employment, exposure to background noise, or social activities.
Time-of-Flight Adjustment Procedure for Acoustic Measurements in Structural Timber

The effect of timber length on time-of-flight acoustic longitudinal measurements was investigated on the structural timber of four Spanish species: radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), laricio pine (Pinus nigra Arn.), and maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.). Time-of-flight longitudinal measurements were conducted on 120 specimens of dimensions 90 × 140 mm using three commercially available acoustic instruments (Sylvatest Duo, USLab, and Microsecond Timer). Time-of-flight data were initially obtained from the full-length (4 m) specimens, and then from the specimens cut to 3, 2, and 1 meter in length by successively cutting off 0.5 m from each end. The acoustic longitudinal velocity of the timber specimens of different lengths was also measured using a resonance-based acoustic method. The apparent acoustic longitudinal velocity for all species increased linearly as the timber length decreased from 4 to 1 meter. Acoustic velocity determined from time-of-flight data was significantly higher than the acoustic velocity determined using the resonance method, indicating systematic measurement errors associated with the time-of-flight instruments. Empirical models were developed for the relationships between time-of-flight measurements on timber specimens and timber lengths in the range of 1 to 4 m. Finally, a procedure was proposed to correct the time-of-flight data.
Sustained attention in hyperactive children.

SUMMARY The ability of hyperactive children to maintain attention on three tasks was examined. One of the tasks, a Choice Reaction Time Task, measured attention for brief periods, while the other two measured sustained attention. Of the latter two, one was an experimenter-paced task (the Continuous Performance Test) and the other a self-paced task (the Serial Reaction Task). It was found that the hyperactive children were no different from their normal controls in their ability to direct their attention for brief periods. They were, however, significantly inferior to the controls in their ability to sustain attention, particularly on the experimenter-paced task.
A Pallial Visual Area in the Telencephalon of the Bony Fish Polypterus

The dorsal (P2) and lateral (P3) pallial zones of bichirs receive a substantial projection from nucleus medianus of the posterior tuberculum. Although nucleus medianus does not receive a direct retinal input, its close proximity to ascending tectal efferents suggests that it might receive a tectal input and form a segment of a retinotectal-tubercular pathway to the pallium. In order to test this possibility, evoked responses to light flashes were electrophysiologically recorded and tectal efferents were experimentally determined in bichirs. These experiments suggest that a single visual field exists across the dorsal and lateral pallial zones and that this field is mediated by nucleus medianus, which does receive a direct tectal projection. This visual pathway appears to be uniquely derived and not homologous to any other known pathway in tetrapods. Furthermore, these results support the contention that the P2 and P3 pallial zones in bichirs are subdivisions of a single pallial zone.
On minimum reload cost paths, tours, and flows

The concept of reload cost, that is of a cost incurred when two consecutive arcs along a path are of different types, naturally arises in a variety of applications related to transportation, telecommunication, and energy networks. Previous work on reload costs is devoted to the problem of finding a spanning tree of minimum reload cost diameter (with no arc costs) or of minimum reload cost. In this article, we investigate the complexity and approximability of the problems of finding optimum paths, tours, and flows under a general cost model including reload costs as well as regular arc costs. Some of these problems, such as shortest paths and minimum cost flows, turn out to be polynomially solvable while others, such as minimum shortest path tree and minimum unsplittable multicommodity flows, are NP‐hard to approximate within any polynomial‐time computable function. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 57(3), 254–260 2011
Everyday emotional experience of adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: evidence for reactive and endogenous emotional lability

Background. Emotional lability (EL), characterized by negative emotional traits and emotional instability, is frequently reported in children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, EL is primarily assessed using retrospective self-report, which is subject to reporting bias and does not consider the potential influence of positive and negative everyday experiences. Method. Ambulatory assessment was carried out in 41 men with ADHD without co-morbidity, current medication or substance abuse, and 47 healthy control participants. Reports of negative and positive emotions (irritability, frustration, anger, happiness, excitement) and the occurrence of bad and good events were completed eight times daily during a working week. Group differences in emotional intensity and instability were investigated using multilevel models, and explored in relation to bad and good events and the Affective Lability Scale – Short Form (ALS-SF), an EL questionnaire. Results. The ADHD group reported significantly more frequent bad events, heightened intensity and instability of irritability and frustration, and greater intensity of anger. The results for positive emotions were equivocal or negative. Bad events significantly contributed to the intensity and instability of negative emotions, and showed a stronger influence in the ADHD group. However, covariation for their effect did not eliminate group differences. Small-to-moderate correlations were seen between intensity and instability of negative emotions and the ALS-SF. Conclusions. Adults with ADHD report heightened intensity and instability of negative emotions in daily life. The results suggest two components of EL in ADHD: a reactive component responsive to bad events and an endogenous component, independent of negative everyday events.
Early HIV RNA decay during raltegravir-containing regimens exhibits two distinct subphases (1a and 1b)

Background:We analyzed the early kinetics with integrase inhibitor treatment to gain new insights into viral dynamics. Methodology:We analyzed data from 39 HIV-1 infected, treatment-naive, participants: 28 treated with raltegravir (RAL; multiple doses) monotherapy for 9 days, and 11 with RAL 400 mg twice daily and emtricitabine (200 mg daily)/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (300 mg daily). Plasma HIV-1 RNA was measured frequently; the data was fitted using a mathematical model of viral dynamics distinguishing between infected cells with unintegrated HIV DNA and productively infected cells. Parameters were estimated using mixed-effect models. Results:RAL treatment led to a biphasic viral decline with a rapid first phase (1a) lasting approximately 5 days followed by a slower phase (1b). Phase 1a is attributed to the rapid elimination of productively infected cells. Phase 1b reflects the loss of infected cells with nonintegrated provirus due to cell loss and integration of HIV DNA. The half-lives of productively infected cells and of infected cells that had completed reverse transcription but had not yet integrated HIV DNA were approximately 19 h and between 3.6 and 5.8 days, respectively. The effectiveness of RAL in preventing proviral integration was 94% and 99.7%, for the combination therapy and monotherapy groups, respectively. Conclusion:We found that the first phase of viral decay with RAL therapy was composed of two subphases corresponding to the half-lives of infected cells with integrated proviruses and with unintegrated HIV-DNA.
Expression of Lysozyme in the Life History of the House Fly (Musca domestica L.)

ABSTRACT From egg to adult, all life history stages of house flies associate with septic environments teeming with bacteria. House fly lysozyme was first identified in the larval midgut, where it is used for digestion of microbe-rich meals because of its broad-spectrum activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as fungi. This study aimed to determine the temporal expression of lysozyme in the life history of house flies (from egg through adults) on both the mRNA and protein level, and to determine the tissue-specific expression of lysozyme in adult flies induced by feeding Staphylococcus aureus. From 30-min postoviposition through adulthood, all life history stages of the house fly express lysozyme on the mRNA level. In adult flies, lysozyme is expressed both locally in the alimentary canal and systemically in the fat body. Interestingly, we found that during the normal life history of flies, lysozyme protein was only detected in larval stages and older adults, likely because of ingestion of immune-stimulating levels of bacteria, not experienced during egg, pupa, and teneral adult stages. Constitutive expression on the mRNA level implies that this effector is a primary defense molecule in all stages of the house fly life history, and that a mechanism for posttranscriptional control of mature lysozyme enzyme expression may be present. Lysozyme active enzyme primarily serves both a digestive and defensive function in larval and adult flies, and may be a key player in the ability of Musca domestica L. to thrive in microbe-rich environments.
Importance of Inoculum Size and Sampling Effect in Rapid Antigen Detection for Diagnosis of Streptococcus pyogenesPharyngitis

ABSTRACT Current recommendations suggest that negative rapidStreptococcus pyogenes antigen tests be backed up with a culture, reflecting evidence that culture may have a higher sensitivity and also that testing of a second swab may yield a different (i.e., a positive) result because of variation in sample size or distribution. If the latter is common, the sensitivities of current antigen detection tests might be improved by simply increasing the amount of sample tested. The present study assessed the effect of antigen testing of two swabs extracted together compared to independent testing of each swab extracted separately for children with clinical pharyngitis. S. pyogenes grew from one or both swabs for 198 (37%) of 537 children. The combined culture was significantly (P < 0.05) more sensitive than culture of either swab alone. Compared to combined culture, antigen testing of two swabs extracted and tested together was significantly more sensitive than two single swab extractions (94.1 versus 80%; P = 0.03); however, the specificity was decreased (81.5 versus 89.8 to 92.7%;P < 0.05). This study suggests that sample size and/or uneven sample distribution may have influenced the apparent sensitivities of prior studies that compared antigen tests to a single plate culture. A strategy, such as the one used in the present study, that increases the sample size available for antigen testing (i.e., extraction of samples from both swabs) may improve detection rates to a level that will better approximate true disease status and obviate the need for backup cultures if specificity can be improved.
Internet Diffusion in Creative Micro-Businesses: Identifying Change Agent Characteristics As Critical Success Factors

Micro-businesses make a substantial contribution to the economic and social well being of Europe, the Asian Pacific region, and the United States. In Europe, for example, 30% of firms with less than 10 employees generate 70% of turnover. This remarkable statistic has prompted the European Union to fund novel research projects aimed at stimulating growth within the very small businesses sector. In particular, projects aimed at improving the adoption rate of information and communication technology (ICT) are seen as vital. The Internet is a unique and powerful form of ICT, which is making electronic commerce attractive to even the smallest of businesses. These micro-businesses stand to gain tremendous business advantages from implementing Internet technology. For this reason, in this article we focus specifically on Internet diffusion processes in micro-businesses.1 Through a field study within a geographic cluster of creative micro-businesses, we identify the vital role played by the change agents. Revealing that the unique way in which the change agents became infused into the local community had a significant impact on fostering mutual trust that led to successful Internet adoption. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the provision of customized training programs by the change agents was a critical success factor. Finally, we reflect on the successful diffusion projects and identify the characteristics of the change agents that were instrumental in ensuring Internet adoption.
How to Explain Why "Unequal Anisotropy Ratios" is Important Using Pictures but No Mathematics

"Unequal anisotropy ratios" is an important property of cardiac tissue. Many of the fundamental mechanisms governing how the heart responds to an electrical shock require unequal anisotropy ratios. In this paper, author explains the role of unequal anisotropy ratios using pictures rather than mathematics. The goal is to develop physical insight, so has to understand qualitatively why the condition of unequal anisotropy ratios is so important