Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A study on the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration of Nano Colloidal Silver on food-borne pathogens

In the emerging issue of increased multi-resistant properties in foodborne pathogens, silver nano particles are being used increasingly as antimicrobial agents. Thus, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of Nano Colloidal Silver towards food-borne pathogens such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhi, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus were examined in this study. The results obtained suggested that Nano Colloidal Silver exhibit a good bacteriostatic effect but poor bactericidal effect towards all food-borne pathogens tested. Nano Colloidal Silver can be a potential antimicrobial agent due to its low cost of production and high effectiveness in antimicrobial properties, which may find wide applications in various food industries to address food safety issues.
Kidney biopsy fi ndings in primary Sjögren syndrome

Background. Renal involvement is rare in primary Sjögren syndrome (PSS). In this study, we examined renal biopsy findings in patients with PSS and correlated them with their clinical and renal findings. Methods. Twenty-five patients with PSS who underwent renal biopsies from two renal units in Scotland between 1978 and 2013 were identified from renal biopsy database. We examined the renal morphologic, clinical and renal findings at the time of renal biopsy, renal and patient outcomes. Results. The diagnosis of PSS preceded renal biopsy in 18/25 patients. In this group, the median duration of the disease was 5.5 years. Significant proteinuria, combined microscopic haematuria and proteinuria and reduced renal excretory function were found in 76, 56 and 84% of patients, respectively. The 3-year actuarial patient survival was significantly lower in patients with glomerulonephritis as compared with tubulointerstitial nephritis (66 versus 100%, P = 0.02). Therewas no difference in 3-year actuarial renal survival between these two groups (92 versus 92%, P = 1.0). Conclusions. Renal biopsy is rare in PSS and often reveals diverse pathological findings. Glomerulonephritis, as compared with tubulointerstitial nephritis, is associated with higher early mortality. Further studies are needed to evaluate the utility of renal biopsy and its impact on disease management.
Cutting Edge: IL-12 and Type I IFN Differentially Program CD8 T Cells for Programmed Death 1 Re-expression Levels and Tumor Control

Naive CD8 T cells proliferate in response to TCR and CD28 signals, but require IL-12 or type I IFN to survive and develop optimal effector functions. Although murine CTL generated in vitro in response to IL-12 or IFN-α had comparable effector functions, IL-12–stimulated cells were significantly more effective in controlling tumor in an adoptive immunotherapy model. They maintained high numbers and function, whereas IFN-α–stimulated cells declined in number and became exhausted. Consistent with this, IFN-α–stimulated cells in the tumor expressed higher levels of programmed death 1 (PD-1) inhibitory receptor than did IL-12–stimulated cells. When blocking Ab specific for the PD-L1 ligand of PD-1 was administered, the efficacy of IFN-α–stimulated CTL became comparable with that of IL-12–stimulated cells. Thus, IL-12 and IFN-α differentially program CD8 T cells to re-express distinct levels of PD-1 upon re-encountering Ag, resulting in IL-12–stimulated cells being less susceptible to exhaustion in the face of sustained tumor Ag.
High reinfection rate of Helicobacter pylori in young type 1 diabetic patients: a three-year follow-up study.

BACKGROUND Several studies have demonstrated that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication does not affect metabolic control in diabetic patients. The prevalence of H. pylori infection and reinfection rate in adult diabetic patients seems to be higher than in controls. AIM OF THE STUDY To evaluate the reinfection rate of H. pylori three years after a standard eradicating treatment and the late effect of eradication upon metabolic control in young diabetic patients. METHODS We enrolled 75 diabetic patients and 99 controls, from previous our studies in which we had evaluated H. pylori infection. In all subjects we re-evaluated the presence of H. pylori by means of 13C-Urea Breath Test, metabolic control and the prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms. The effect of age, sex and socio-economic factors on H. pylori reinfection were also evaluated. RESULTS The prevalence of H. pylori infection was higher in diabetic patients (17/69, 24%) than in dyspeptic controls of similar age, gender and socio-economical status after three years of follow-up. The reinfection rate was higher in diabetic patients than in controls. Multivariate analysis confirmed that age and socio-economical status were independently associated with H. pylori reinfection. CONCLUSIONS Young patients with diabetes present a higher risk of H. pylori gastric reinfection than controls. In addition, age and mean annual income are associated with reinfection.
Airglow observations over the equatorial ionization anomaly zone in Taiwan

Abstract. Airglow imaging at mid-latitude stations often show intensity modulations associated with medium scale travelling ionospheric disturbances (MSTID), while those carried out near the equatorial regions reveal depletions caused by equatorial plasma bubbles (EPB). Two all sky cameras are used to observe plasma depletions in the 630.0 nm emission over the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) region, Taiwan (23° N, 121° E; 13.5° N Magnetic) during 1998–2002 and 2006–2007. The results show EPB and MSTID depletions in different solar activity conditions. Several new features of the EPB depletions such as bifurcation, secondary structure on the walls, westward tilt, etc., are discussed in this paper. Evidence of tilted depletions with secondary structures developing on the eastern wall that later evolve to appear as bifurcations, are presented for the first time. Moreover, detail investigations are carried out using International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model as well as the electron density from Ionosonde and Global Positioning System (GPS) Occultation Experiment (GOX) onboard FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellite, to understand the conditions that favor the propagation of MSTID to the latitude of Taiwan.
Serotonin-induced high intracellular pH aids in alkali secretion in the anterior midgut of larval yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti L.

SUMMARY The anterior midgut of the larval yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti generates a luminal pH in excess of 10 in vivo and similar values are attained by isolated and perfused anterior midgut segments after stimulation with submicromolar serotonin. In the present study we investigated the mechanisms of strong luminal alkalinization using the intracellular fluorescent indicator BCECF-AM. Following stimulation with serotonin, we observed that intracellular pH (pHi) of the anterior midgut increased from a mean of 6.89 to a mean of 7.62, whereas pHi of the posterior midgut did not change in response to serotonin. Moreover, a further increase of pHi to 8.58 occurred when the pH of the luminal perfusate was raised to an in vivo-like value of 10.0. Luminal Zn2+ (10 μmol l–1), an inhibitor of conductive proton pathways, did not inhibit the increase in pHi, the transepithelial voltage, or the capacity of the isolated tissue to alkalinize the lumen. Finally, the transapical voltage did not significantly respond to luminal pH changes induced either by perfusion with pH 10 or by stopping the luminal perfusion with unbuffered solution which results in spontaneous luminal alkalinization. Together, these results seem to rule out the involvement of conductive pathways for proton absorption across the apical membrane and suggest that a serotonin-induced alkaline pHi plays an important role in the generation of an alkaline lumen.
Cognition following subarachnoid hemorrhage from anterior communicating artery aneurysm: relation to timing of surgery.

OBJECT This study was conducted to define neuropsychological changes following operation for subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) caused by rupture of an anterior communicating artery (ACoA) aneurysm and to assess the influence of the timing of surgery to clip the aneurysm. METHODS Cognitive outcome was evaluated using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery in patients with an ACoA aneurysm that had caused an SAH. Adult patients younger than 70 years of age who had achieved a favorable neurological outcome (Glasgow Outcome Scale scores of 4 or 5) were studied 6 to 24 months postsurgery. Patients were divided into early (Days 0-3) and late surgery groups (after Day 3) according to the timing of surgery after the ictus. Neuropsychological analysis was performed by reviewers who were blinded to the timing of surgery. Forty-seven patients whose mean age was 51.5 years were tested. They were compared with age- and intelligence quotient (IQ)matched controls by using premorbid IQ as estimated on the National Adult Reading Test. Patients showed deficiencies in several tasks of verbal fluency, pattern recognition, and spatial working memory; this profile of deficits was similar to that seen in patients who underwent temporal lobe excisions. However, there was no significant difference in cognitive performance between the early and late surgery groups. CONCLUSIONS After open surgery for ruptured ACoA aneurysms, patients who have achieved a favorable neurological outcome still exhibit significant cognitive deficits, primarily in tests sensitive to temporal lobe dysfunction. However, early surgery does not carry a higher risk of neuropsychological disability.
Cardiac Gated MR Imaging of Cerebrospinal Fluid Flow

This is a preliminary investigation of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) spaces using cardiac gated magnetic resonance imaging. A variation of intensity of the signal from the cerebral aqueduct is demonstrated during the cardiac cycle. The pattern of this variation suggests pulsatile CSF flow. Calculations that have been verified by phantom measurements show that CSF flow rates less than I mm/s may be detectable. Magnetic resonance may therefore offer a new method for the demonstration and measurement of CSF flow.
Combined use of remote sensing, GIS and GPS data for landslide mapping

The term landslide includes a wide range of ground movement, such as slides, falls, flows etc. mainly based on gravity with the aid of many conditioning and triggering factors. Particularly in the last two decades, there is an increasing international interest on the landslide susceptibility, hazard or risk assessments. In this paper a combined use of Remote Sensing, GIS and GPS data is presented. The area of study is Lefkas Island in the Ionian Sea, Greece. The Ionian Sea presents a very big seismicity and the Landslides phenomena are very often. During the last twenty-five years more than 20 big landslides have been recorded on Lefkas Island. The latest landslides have been recorded in August 2003 as a consequence of a 6.1R earthquake. Multispectral and multitemporal satellite data were used for landslide detection. More especially we have used Landsat MSS, Landsat TM & ETM data and Terra ASTER data. Because most of the landslides are mostly bare of vegetation they present high reflectance. As a result big landslides can be detect from satellite data. ASTER stereo-pairs have been used for the creation of two DTM’s. The images cover an area of 60X60 km. The images have been received in the near infrared (0,78-0,86μm) part of the spectrum with a spatial resolution of 15m. The first stereo-pair was acquired on January 2000 and the second one on August 2003 a few days after the earthquake and the landslides. The same GCP’s were used for the creation of the two DTM’s. In some cases the landslides can be detected as a difference of the two DTM’s. All the landslides have been mapped in-situ using a GPS receiver. Finally all the above data have been integrated in a GIS and detailed landslides maps have been produced. Keywords-component: Landslides, satellite data, DTM, GPS stero-pairs, GIS.
Group B streptococcal carriage in Sweden: a national study on risk factors for mother and infant colonisation

Background. To study group B streptococcus (GBS) colonisation in parturients and infants in relation to obstetric outcome and to define serotypes and antibiotic resistance in GBS isolates acquired. Methods. A population‐based, national cohort of parturients and their infants was investigated. During 1 calendar week in 2005 all women giving birth (n = 1,754) were requested to participate in the study. Results. A total of 1,569 mother/infant pairs with obstetric and bacteriological data were obtained. Maternal carriage rate was 25.4% (95% confidence interval (CI): 23.3–27.6). In GBS‐positive mothers with vaginal delivery and no intrapartum antibiotics, the infant colonisation rate was 68%. Some 30% of infants were colonised after acute caesarean section, and 0% were colonised after an elective procedure. Duration of transport of maternal recto/vaginal swabs of more than 1 day impeded culture sensitivity. Infant mMales were more frequently colonised than females (76.9 versus 59.8%, odds ratio (OR): 2.16; 95% CI: 1.27–3.70), as were infants born after rupture of membranes ≥24 h (p =0.039). Gestational age, birth weight and duration of labor did not significantly influence infant colonisation. Some 30% of parturients with at least one risk factor for neonatal disease received intrapartum antibiotics. The most common GBS serotypes were type III and V. Some 5% of the isolates were resistant to clindamycin and erythromycin, respectively. Conclusions. Maternal GBS prevalence and infant transfer rate were high in Sweden. Males were more frequently colonised than females. The sensitivity of maternal cultures decreased with the duration of sample transport. Clindamycin resistance was scarce. The use of intrapartum antibiotics was limited in parturients with obstetric risk factors for early onset group B streptococcal disease.
MECHANICAL AND SUBCELLULAR FUNCTION OF THE CANINE HETEROTOPIC TRANSPLANTED MYOCARDIUM DURING ACTIVE TRANSPLANT INJURY

A chronically instrumented canine cardiac allograft has been developed to follow sequential mechanical, electrical, and subcellular function. In the first group (n = 6), base line mechanical activity (dP/dt-max) demonstrated a period of recovery from 48 to 72 hr (control = 2200 ± 100 mm Hg/sec; group 1 = 2800 ± 100 mm Hg/sec, P < 0.05), followed by the onset of immune injury and increasing depression of function until day 8 (1000 ± 100 mm Hg/sec). Maximal activation (0.25 μg of adrenalin/kg of recipient weight) was 3800 ± 200 mm Hg/sec at day 1 and progressively decayed through day 8 (1900 ± 100 mm Hg/sec, P < 0.01). The chronotropic response to maximal activation (MA) remained intact until day 7 (control = 121 ± 9 beats/min; MA = 188 ± 6 beats/min, P < 0.01). In a second series, mechanical activity and the function of the isolated sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and myofibrils were studied in a 24-hr post-transplant group (T + 24, n = 6) and a 3− to 4-day post-transplant group (T + 72, n = 6). In the absence of MA, neither positive nor negative dJP/dt-max was significantly different in the two groups. With MA, positive and negative dP/dt-max decreased significantly in the T+ 72 animals (+dP/dt-max: T + 24 = 6600 ± 100, T + 72 = 3500±100 mm Hg/sec, P < 0.05; -dP/dt-max: T + 24 = 5900 ± 60, T + 72 = 2800 ± 60 mm Hg/sec, P < 0.05). Left ventricular biopsies of the 3− to 4-day post-transplant group showed acute immune injury. Myofibrillar function, as assessed by pCa-ATPase curves, was depressed when compared to nontransplanted (C, n = 4) myofibrillar activity. Vmax at pCa = 5.4: C = 0.180 ± 0.005; T + 24 = 0.060 ± 0.005; T + 72 = 0.108 ± 0.005 μmol Pi/mg-min. The Vmax of the 3− to 4-day post-transplant group was significantly greater than the controls. Oxalate supported calcium transport by the isolated SR from both the T + 24 and T + 72 group was significantly depressed (C = 0.92 ± 0.05; T + 24 = 0.22 ± 0.02; T + 72 = 0.20 ± 0.02 μmol Ca2+/mg-min; P < 0.01). Ca2+-stimulated, Mg2+-dependent ATPase activity of the SR isolated from the T + 24 group demonstrated uncoupling of ATP hydrolysis from calcium transport (C = 1.15 ± 0.100, T + 24 = 0.75 ± 0.100 μmol Pi/mg-min), while the T + 72 group demonstrated a significant depression of SR ATPase activity (0.30 ± 0.05 μmol Pi/mg-min, P < 0.01). The SR coupling ratio (Ca2+ transported/Pi hydrolysis) confirmed uncoupling in the T + 24 group (C = 0.875, T + 24 = 0.275) and depression in the 3− to 4-day post-transplant group (T + 72 = 0.796). Transplant injury is multifactorial with an initial phase of ischemia-reperfusion injury with the maintenance of normal mechanical function but a significant depression in activity of the isolated SR and myofibrils. With the onset of immune injury, there is a depression of mechanical function as well as a depression of both myofibrillar ATPase function and SR calcium transport and ATPase activity.
Uptake of apoptotic DC converts immature DC into tolerogenic DC that induce differentiation of Foxp3+ Treg

DC apoptosis has been observed in patients with cancer and sepsis, and defects in DC apoptosis have been implicated in the development of autoimmune diseases. However, the mechanisms of how DC apoptosis affects immune responses, are unclear. In this study, we showed that immature viable DC have the ability to uptake apoptotic DC as well as necrotic DC without it being recognized as an inflammatory event by immature viable DC. However, the specific uptake of apoptotic DC converted immature viable DC into tolerogenic DC, which were resistant to LPS‐induced maturation. These tolerogenic DC secreted increased levels of TGF‐β1, which induced differentiation of naïve T cells into Foxp3+ Treg. Furthermore, induction of Treg differentiation only occurred upon uptake of apoptotic DC and not apoptotic splenocytes by viable DC, indicating that it is specifically the uptake of apoptotic DC that gives viable immature DC the potential to induce Foxp3+ Treg. Taken together, these findings identify uptake of apoptotic DC by viable immature DC as an immunologically tolerogenic event.
Unawareness of Cognitive Deficit in Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias

The objective of this study was to determine whether unawareness of cognitive deficit is disease-specific. One hundred thirty-two patients were studied, grouped according to diagnosis of definite or probable Alzheimer disease, vascular dementia, geropsychiatric control, or geriatric control. Diagnosis was the independent variable, and unawareness of cognitive deficit was the dependent variable. The Mini-Mental State Examination score was used as a dementia severity covariate. Analysis of covariance was significant (F = 8.0, p < 0.0001). Follow-up mean comparisons showed the Alzheimer disease group to have significantly greater unawareness of cognitive deficit than all other groups. The vascular dementia group had significantly greater unawareness of cognitive deficit than the two control groups. These results support the premise that, independent of dementia severity, unawareness of cognitive deficit is disease specific.
Characterizing communicative development in children referred for Autism Spectrum Disorders using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI)*

ABSTRACT Characterizing early communicative development in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is valuable for understanding profiles of ability in this population. The current investigation was modeled on Charman, Drew, Baird & Baird (2003b). Analyses explored parent report of early vocabulary, non-verbal communication, functional object use and play skills on the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) in 93 children with ASD, 31 children with developmental delay (DD) and 29 typically developing children. Results were generally consistent with those of Charman and colleagues (2003b), suggesting that skills improve with increasing non-verbal mental age and chronological age but that most children with ASD are delayed in receptive and expressive vocabulary and non-verbal communication, functional object use and play skills. Vocabulary profiles in the ASD sample were similar to those in the comparison samples, as was the developmental pattern of gesture and vocabulary mastery. However, when compared to published norms, children with ASD may show less of a discrepancy between their receptive and expressive vocabulary.
Accuracy of Genomic Prediction in Synthetic Populations Depending on the Number of Parents, Relatedness, and Ancestral Linkage Disequilibrium

Synthetics play an important role in quantitative genetic research and plant breeding, but few studies have investigated the application of genomic prediction (GP) to these populations. Synthetics are generated by intermating a small number of parents (NP) and thereby possess unique genetic properties, which make them especially suited for systematic investigations of factors contributing to the accuracy of GP. We generated synthetics in silico from NP=2 to 32 maize (Zea mays L.) lines taken from an ancestral population with either short- or long-range linkage disequilibrium (LD). In eight scenarios differing in relatedness of the training and prediction sets and in the types of data used to calculate the relationship matrix (QTL, SNPs, tag markers, and pedigree), we investigated the prediction accuracy (PA) of Genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP) and analyzed contributions from pedigree relationships captured by SNP markers, as well as from cosegregation and ancestral LD between QTL and SNPs. The effects of training set size NTS and marker density were also studied. Sampling few parents (2≤NP<8) generates substantial sample LD that carries over into synthetics through cosegregation of alleles at linked loci. For fixed NTS, NP influences PA most strongly. If the training and prediction set are related, using NP<8 parents yields high PA regardless of ancestral LD because SNPs capture pedigree relationships and Mendelian sampling through cosegregation. As NP increases, ancestral LD contributes more information, while other factors contribute less due to lower frequencies of closely related individuals. For unrelated prediction sets, only ancestral LD contributes information and accuracies were poor and highly variable for NP≤4 due to large sample LD. For large NP, achieving moderate accuracy requires large NTS, long-range ancestral LD, and high marker density. Our approach for analyzing PA in synthetics provides new insights into the prospects of GP for many types of source populations encountered in plant breeding.
Three-dimensional video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery in major lung resection

Thoracoscopic surgery has been potentiated by advances in technology since it was first embarked upon in the early twentieth century. We conducted a review of the literature for the use of three-dimensional (3D) imaging in video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. There is little high quality data available on this topic. Current evidence supports non-inferiority of 3D over conventional two-dimensional (2D) systems, with a shorter operative time as the sole consistently-noted benefit of this technology. Further investigation is warranted to better evaluate the role of 3D technology in improving patient-centred outcomes and further empowering clinicians to expand the scope of our practice.