Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aquagenic Pruritus: A Review of the Pathophysiology – Beyound Histamine

Aquagenic pruritus is a common dermatological problem with prevalence as high as 26.5% in some locations of the world. Pruritus is the major symptom manifesting as prick-like, burning or biting sensation after contact with water. Histamine from mast cells has been the main culprit responsible for the itching associated with this problem and some patients are relieved by anti-histamines when given. However, anti-histamines do not relieve symptoms of aquagenic pruritus when given to some other groups of patients; implying that other risk factors or chemical mediators outside histamine may be responsible for this problem. Recently, other associated risk factors have been enumerated from various scientific researches to be responsible for this health problem. This article reviews these other risk factors that are linked up to the pathophysiology of aquagenic pruritus and the possible pharmacological intervention adopted by various authors and researchers globally.
Derivation and Characterization of Pathogenic Transmitted/Founder Molecular Clones from Simian Immunodeficiency Virus SIVsmE660 and SIVmac251 following Mucosal Infection

ABSTRACT Currently available simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infectious molecular clones (IMCs) and isolates used in nonhuman primate (NHP) models of AIDS were originally derived from infected macaques during chronic infection or end stage disease and may not authentically recapitulate features of transmitted/founder (T/F) genomes that are of particular interest in transmission, pathogenesis, prevention, and treatment studies. We therefore generated and characterized T/F IMCs from genetically and biologically heterogeneous challenge stocks of SIVmac251 and SIVsmE660. Single-genome amplification (SGA) was used to identify full-length T/F genomes present in plasma during acute infection resulting from atraumatic rectal inoculation of Indian rhesus macaques with low doses of SIVmac251 or SIVsmE660. All 8 T/F clones yielded viruses that were infectious and replication competent in vitro, with replication kinetics similar to those of the widely used chronic-infection-derived IMCs SIVmac239 and SIVsmE543. Phenotypically, the new T/F virus strains exhibited a range of neutralization sensitivity profiles. Four T/F virus strains were inoculated into rhesus macaques, and each exhibited typical SIV replication kinetics. The SIVsm T/F viruses were sensitive to TRIM5α restriction. All T/F viruses were pathogenic in rhesus macaques, resulting in progressive CD4+ T cell loss in gastrointestinal tissues, peripheral blood, and lymphatic tissues. The animals developed pathological immune activation; lymphoid tissue damage, including fibrosis; and clinically significant immunodeficiency leading to AIDS-defining clinical endpoints. These T/F clones represent a new molecular platform for the analysis of virus transmission and immunopathogenesis and for the generation of novel “bar-coded” challenge viruses and next-generation simian-human immunodeficiency viruses that may advance the HIV/AIDS vaccine agenda. IMPORTANCE Nonhuman primate research has relied on only a few infectious molecular clones for a myriad of diverse research projects, including pathogenesis, preclinical vaccine evaluations, transmission, and host-versus-pathogen interactions. With new data suggesting a selected phenotype of the virus that causes infection (i.e., the transmitted/founder virus), we sought to generate and characterize infectious molecular clones from two widely used simian immunodeficiency virus lineages (SIVmac251 and SIVsmE660). Although the exact requirements necessary to be a T/F virus are not yet fully understood, we generated cloned viruses with all the necessary characteristic of a successful T/F virus. The cloned viruses revealed typical acute and set point viral-load dynamics with pathological immune activation, lymphoid tissue damage progressing to significant immunodeficiency, and AIDS-defining clinical endpoints in some animals. These T/F clones represent a new molecular platform for studies requiring authentic T/F viruses.
Proposition 227 in California: A Long-Term Appraisal of Its Impact on Language Minority Student Achievement

Proposition 227 in California: A Long-Term Appraisal of Its Impact on Language Minority Student Achievement Laura McCloskey 1 Nathan Pellegrin 2 Karen Thompson 1 Kenji Hakuta 1 lauramc@stanford.edu nathan.pellegrin@gmail.com karendthompson@stanford.edu hakuta@stanford.edu Fall 2008 Preparation of this paper was supported in part by a grant from the Hewlett Foundation to Kenji Hakuta. We would like to gratefully acknowledge the feedback we received on earlier drafts of this paper from Joe Robinson, Patricia Gandara, Robert Linquanti, and Russ Rumberger. Stanford University Nathan Pellegrin and Associates
Schema Theory in Reading

The term "schema" was first used in psychology with the meaning of "an active organization of past reactions or experiences”. It assumes that written text does not carry meaning by itself. Rather, a text only provides directions for readers as to how they should retrieve or construct meaning from their own previously acquired knowledge. The theory of Schema can be used to help guide students to comprehend a text from the global point of view. Therefore, the roles of Schema theory in comprehension cannot be ignored.
Twenty-Nail Dystrophy: A Variant of Lichen Planus

Twenty-nail dystrophy of childhood was described by Hazelrigg and colleagues 1 as a distinct clinical entity. However, no nail biopsies were performed by these authors in their study, and to our knowledge, there is not any published instance of it being done. In the section for diagnosis and treatment of nail diseases at our institution, we were aware of having seen six cases that very closely matched those described by Hazelrigg et al. 1 Our clinical diagnosis in all of these cases was lichen planus. We performed a nail biopsy on one such patient. Incidentally, one of our subjects was an adult; this finding has been reported elsewhere. 2,3 Report of a Case A 7-year-old boy had abnormalities of all 20 nails. The changes consisted of onychorrhexis with distal splitting (Fig 1). The nails exhibited increased fragility and were thinner and less transparent than normal. No abnormal findings were noted on
A biodegradable and biocompatible gecko-inspired tissue adhesive

There is a significant medical need for tough biodegradable polymer adhesives that can adapt to or recover from various mechanical deformations while remaining strongly attached to the underlying tissue. We approached this problem by using a polymer poly(glycerol-co-sebacate acrylate) and modifying the surface to mimic the nanotopography of gecko feet, which allows attachment to vertical surfaces. Translation of existing gecko-inspired adhesives for medical applications is complex, as multiple parameters must be optimized, including: biocompatibility, biodegradation, strong adhesive tissue bonding, as well as compliance and conformability to tissue surfaces. Ideally these adhesives would also have the ability to deliver drugs or growth factors to promote healing. As a first demonstration, we have created a gecko-inspired tissue adhesive from a biocompatible and biodegradable elastomer combined with a thin tissue-reactive biocompatible surface coating. Tissue adhesion was optimized by varying dimensions of the nanoscale pillars, including the ratio of tip diameter to pitch and the ratio of tip diameter to base diameter. Coating these nanomolded pillars of biodegradable elastomers with a thin layer of oxidized dextran significantly increased the interfacial adhesion strength on porcine intestine tissue in vitro and in the rat abdominal subfascial in vivo environment. This gecko-inspired medical adhesive may have potential applications for sealing wounds and for replacement or augmentation of sutures or staples.
Evidence for potential relationship between SLC1A1 and a putative genetic linkage region on chromosome 14q to obsessive‐compulsive disorder with compulsive hoarding

Obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) is likely a disorder involving complex genetic transmission. This suggests that multiple genetic and environmental factors are involved in its etiology. This is complicated further by the probability of genetic heterogeneity for this phenotype. In this report, we describe a preliminary approach to deal with both complexities. SLC1A1, a glutamate transporter gene on chromosome 9p, was originally proposed to be related to OCD based on two linkage studies, and subsequently association of OCD to the gene has been replicated. Additionally, genetic linkage to a subtype of OCD, compulsive hoarding, has been reported on chromosome 14q. We hypothesized that both genomic regions contribute to OCD in some instances. Using the analytic program GENEFINDER we found that conditioning linkage on chromosome 14q to a marker adjacent to SLC1A1, reduced the size of the linkage region on chromosome 14q and provided evidence for interaction between the regions on chromosomes 9p and 14q. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Memory-based Gait Recognition

Gait recognition is an interesting and challenging task aiming to classify the subjects based on the way they walk, which is subject to various covariates including carrying, clothing, surface and view angle. In this paper, we propose to utilize the memory mechanism to effectively alleviate the aforementioned problems. Specifically, we extract the 2D location information of human joints as the gait features via the migratory articulated human detection. Inspired by the mechanism of brain sequence processing, we input the gait feature sequence into the memory-based gait recognition (MGR) network, which achieves the process of memory and identification of the gait sequence. Our proposed MGR is robust to the noise that maybe exist in the gait sequence features. Besides, MGR is able to learn on the data with long range temporal dependencies. The experimental results on the CASIA A and CASIA B gait datasets verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Telomere length and cardiovascular aging

Telomeres are located at the end of chromosomes. They are composed of repetitive TTAGGG tandem repeats and associated proteins of crucial importance for telomere function. Telomeric DNA is shortened by each cell division until a critical length is achieved and the cell enters senescence and eventually apoptosis. Telomeres are therefore considered a ‘biological clock’ of the cell. Telomerase adds nucleotides to telomeric DNA thereby contributing to telomere maintenance, genomic stability, functions, and proliferative capacity of the cell. In certain rare forms of progeria, point mutations within the telomere lead to accelerated telomere attrition and premature aging. Endogenous factors causing telomere shortening are aging, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) shortening is inhibited by estrogen and endogenous antioxidants. Accelerated telomere attrition is associated with cardiovascular risk factors such as age, gender, obesity, smoking, sedentary life-style, excess alcohol intake, and even mental stress. Cardiovascular (CV) diseases and CV aging are usually but not invariably associated with shorter telomeres than in healthy subjects. LTL appears to be a biomarker of CV aging, reflecting the cumulative burden of endogenous and exogenous factors negatively affecting LTL. Whether accelerated telomere shortening is cause or consequence of CV aging and disease is not clear.
IL-21 and IL-12 Inhibit Differentiation of Treg and TH17 Cells and Enhance Cytotoxicity of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Patients With Cervical Cancer

Objectives Interleukin 21 (IL-21) and IL-12 have been known to be effective antitumor agents. In this study, we evaluated whether IL-21 in combination with IL-12 could enhance the cytotoxicity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia III and cervical cancer. Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from peripheral blood of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia III patients (n = 17) and cervical cancer patients (n = 18). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were cultured with IL-2 in low concentration as control group. Interleukin 2–stimulated PBMCs were cocultured with anti–human IL-21 neutralizing antibody, IL-21 alone, IL-12 alone, and IL-21 plus IL-12, respectively, as test groups. The cytotoxicity of PBMCs against SiHa tumor cells was examined by lactate dehydrogenase released assay. CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ T regulatory (Treg) cells and CD4+IL-17A+ T helper 17 (TH17) cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Proliferation and apoptosis were detected by CCK-8 (cell counting kit 8) assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Results Compared with controls, IL-21 and IL-12 significantly elevated PBMC cytotoxicity against SiHa cells. Moreover, IL-21 plus IL-12 significantly elevated PBMC cytotoxicity in comparison to IL-21 alone and IL-12 alone. We also found that IL-21 plus IL-12 significantly decreased Treg and TH17 cell proportion in comparison to controls. Notably, IL-21 plus IL-12 significantly decreased TH17 cell proportion in comparison to IL-21 alone. Both IL-21 and IL-12 significantly decreased the apoptosis rate of PBMCs, whereas neither IL-21 nor IL-12 had significant effect on PBMC proliferation. Conclusions The combination of IL-21 and IL-12 could efficiently stimulate PBMCs with cytotoxicity against SiHa cells, and the possible mechanisms may be due to down-regulated Treg and TH17 cell differentiation.
Relic permafrost structures in the Gobi of Mongolia: age and significance

Relict permafrost structures (ice-wedge casts and cryoturbation structures) are present in the Gobi of southern Mongolia. Luminescence dates of sediments are presented to constrain the age of formation of permafrost structures. These data show that there was a phase of permafrost development during the latter part of the Last Glacial (after about 22 to 15 ka) that resulted in cryoturbated sediments and ice-wedge casts. Furthermore, permafrost degradation occurred during late Pleistocene times (13–10 ka) and was absent during the early Holocene. These permafrost structures mark the southernmost evidence of permafrost in northern Asia during late Quaternary times and indicate that the mean annual air temperature was below approximately −6°C during their formation. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Exploiting abstraction, learning from random simulation, and SVM classification for efficient dynamic prediction of software health problems

We present industrial experience on software health monitoring. Our goal was to determine whether we can predict abnormal behavior, based on data captured from software system interfaces. To analyze the system state and predict software health problems, we used Support Vector Machine (SVM) based analysis. To train the SVM, we exploited random testing with feedback and swarm testing with feedback to generate traces that exercise diverse scenarios, including both normal and abnormal behaviors that can be classified based on the system state after completing an API call. We then used the resulting classifier produced by the SVM-based analysis to predict whether an API call will result in abnormal behavior, given the input values to the API, and other system information. We applied this procedure to a subset of the API functions in the YAFFS2 flash file system, with the objective of predicting whether the health parameter of available free space will go below a threshold, relative to the total space in the flash file system. For several API functions, we achieved prediction accuracy of over 96%. We attribute the high prediction accuracy to using random testing with feedback that is optimized to produce execution traces with highly diverse behavior, which combined with the chosen representation of the system state and length of the traces resulted in a sufficient number of training vectors with diverse numeric values for the API functions of interest.
Quantifying Different Tactile Sensations Evoked by Cutaneous Electrical Stimulation Using Electroencephalography Features

Psychophysical tests and standardized questionnaires are often used to analyze tactile sensation based on subjective judgment in conventional studies. In contrast with the subjective evaluation, a novel method based on electroencephalography (EEG) is proposed to explore the possibility of quantifying tactile sensation in an objective way. The proposed experiments adopt cutaneous electrical stimulation to generate two kinds of sensations (vibration and pressure) with three grades (low/medium/strong) on eight subjects. Event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related synchronization/desynchronization (ERS/ERD) are extracted from EEG, which are used as evaluation indexes to distinguish between vibration and pressure, and also to discriminate sensation grades. Results show that five-phase P1–N1–P2–N2–P3 deflection is induced in EEG. Using amplitudes of latter ERP components (N2 and P3), vibration and pressure sensations can be discriminated on both individual and grand-averaged ERP (p < 0.05). The grand-average ERPs can distinguish the three sensations grades, but there is no significant difference on individuals. In addition, ERS/ERD features of mu rhythm (8–13 Hz) are adopted. Vibration and pressure sensations can be discriminated on grand-average ERS/ERD (p < 0.05), but only some individuals show significant difference. The grand-averaged results show that most sensation grades can be differentiated, and most pairwise comparisons show significant difference on individuals (p < 0.05). The work suggests that ERP- and ERS/ERD-based EEG features may have potential to quantify tactile sensations for medical diagnosis or engineering applications.
Atopic dermatitis and allergic reactions to individual fragrance chemicals

Background: Allergic contact dermatitis prevalence is reported as equal in atopic and nonatopic dermatitis. Atopic dermatitis is under‐represented in those with allergic contact dermatitis to agents having cutaneous and dietary exposure. We compared rates of atopic dermatitis between patients with allergic contact dermatitis arising out of individual fragrance chemicals with known oral/cutaneous exposure against exclusively cutaneous exposure.
Use of a postal questionnaire to estimate the likely under-diagnosis of asthma-like illness in adults.

BACKGROUND Asthma is thought to be under-diagnosed. AIM To estimate how many adults in two practices may have unknown asthma-like illness. METHOD Results from a postal respiratory questionnaire, sent to 11,206 adults registered with two practices, were linked with practice records to identify patients who may have unknown asthma-like illness. RESULTS The questionnaire replies were almost identical in both practices; 30.4% of respondents [95% confidence interval (CI) 29.4-31.4] reported wheezing and 14.1% (95% CI 13.3-14.9) had been woken by breathlessness during the previous year. Using a simple scoring system, 1112 (13.8%) of the respondents were judged possibly to have asthma-like illness; 529 (6.6%) had not previously been diagnosed as having asthma and had not received asthma treatments. CONCLUSION The frequency of asthma-like symptoms was high. A large proportion of adults in the practices may have an unknown asthma-like illness which warrants further evaluation.
Blood pressure control and left ventricular mass in children with chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Heart disease is a major cause of death in young adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is common and is associated with hypertension. The aims of this study were to evaluate whether there is a relationship between LVH and BP in children with CKD and whether current targets for BP control are appropriate. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS In this single-center cross-sectional study, 49 nonhypertensive children, (12.6 ± 3.0 years, mean GFR 26.1 ± 12.9 ml/min per 1.73 m²) underwent echocardiographic evaluation and clinic and 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring. LVH was defined using age-specific reference intervals for left ventricular mass index (LVMI). Biochemical data and clinic BP for 18 months preceding study entry were also analyzed. RESULTS The mean LVMI was 37.8 ± 9.1 g/m²·⁷, with 24 children (49%) exhibiting LVH. Clinic BP values were stable over the 18 months preceding echocardiography. Patients with LVH had consistently higher BP values than those without, although none were overtly hypertensive (> 95th percentile). Multiple linear regression demonstrated a strong relationship between systolic BP and LVMI. Clinic systolic BP showed a stronger relationship than ambulatory measures. Of the confounders evaluated, only elemental calcium intake yielded a consistent, positive relationship with LVMI. CONCLUSIONS LVMI was associated with systolic BP in the absence of overt hypertension, suggesting that current targets for BP control should be re-evaluated. The association of LVMI with elemental calcium intake questions the appropriateness of calcium-based phosphate binders in this population.