Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Legionella type IV effector activates the NF-κB pathway by phosphorylating the IκB family of inhibitors

NF-κB is critical in innate immune defense responses against invading microbial pathogens. Legionella pneumophila infection of lung macrophages causes Legionnaire's disease with pneumonia symptoms. A set of NF-κB-controlled genes involved in inflammation and anti-apoptosis are up-regulated in macrophages upon L. pneumophila infection in a Legionella Dot/Icm type IV secretion system-dependent manner. Among ≈100 Dot/Icm substrates screened, we identified LegK1 as the sole Legionella protein that harbors a highly potent NF-κB-stimulating activity. LegK1 does not affect MAPK and IFN pathways. Activation of the NF-κB pathway by LegK1 requires its eukaryotic-like Ser/Thr kinase activity and is independent of upstream components in the NF-κB pathway, including TRAFs, NIK, MEKK3, and TAK1. Cell-free reconstitution revealed that LegK1 stimulated NF-κB activation in the absence of IKKα and IKKβ, and LegK1 efficiently phosphorylated IκBα on Ser-32 and Ser-36 both in vitro and in cells. LegK1 seems to mimic the host IKK as LegK1 also directly phosphorylated other IκB family of inhibitors including p100 in the noncanonical NF-κB pathway. Phosphorylation of p100 by LegK1 led to its maturation into p52. Thus, LegK1 is a bacterial effector that directly activates the host NF-κB signaling and likely plays important roles in modulating macrophage defense or inflammatory responses during L. pneumophila infection.
Pain measures and cut‐offs – ‘no worse than mild pain’ as a simple, universal outcome

Now admittedly the patient in question had undergone a life-saving operation in a brand new hospital staffed by some wonderful and talented people. However, a pain score of 6/10 is not mild, but borderline between moderate and severe, and the patient did need something for that. Was the nurse ignorant of what pain scores meant, or was it just that caring professionals typically underestimate patients’ pain [1]? Both these questions are deserving of research, but for this patient, the only point is that the system failed him, and for him the reasons behind the failure were of little interest. He had pain that was borderline severe, and it was not treated. This is not uncommon. A fairly recent survey of Italian hospital wards came to the hardly original conclusion that those wards in which less analgesic was prescribed had higher rates of patients experiencing severe pain than those where more analgesics were prescribed [2]; Fig. 1 shows the clear inverse relationship between the presence of severe pain and the percentage of patients treated for their pain. There is a wealth of evidence that pain is poorly treated, and that significant proportions of patients suffer from moderate or severe pain, whether it is acute pain in hospital [3] or chronic pain in the community [4, 5]. Barriers to progress are many and varied, but one particular and important barrier is a degree of confusion about pain scoring systems and what they mean. How does a simple categorical verbal rating system (no pain, mild, moderate, severe) relate to a 100-mm visual analogue scale (VAS) or an 11-point numerical rating scale (NRS)? Does it matter what the anchors are at each end? Where are the boundaries for moderate or severe pain? What is the minimal clinically significant difference? Does it matter whether the scale has been ‘validated’ in Welsh, or Farsi, or Urdu? All of which makes for terrific grist for
Increased circulating leptin concentrations in insulin-resistant first-degree relatives of patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus: relationship to body composition and insulin sensitivity but not to family history of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE To explore a possible association between serum concentration of leptin, insulin sensitivity and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). DESIGN Forty first-degree relatives of NIDDM patients and 35 control subjects matched for age, gender and body mass index underwent a hyperinsulinaemic (insulin infusion rate 0.6 mU/kg per min) euglycaemic clamp combined with indirect calorimetry. Serum leptin was measured in fasting blood samples obtained before the clamp. RESULTS All subjects had a normal oral glucose tolerance test. Insulin-stimulated glucose uptake (M) was decreased in the relatives compared with the control subjects (4.58 +/- 0.27 versus 6.06 +/- 0.25 mg/kg per min, P < 0.001). Conversely, serum leptin was increased in the relatives (9.6 x/divided by 1.1 versus 6.1 x/divided by 1.2 ng/ml (geometric mean x/divided by antilog S.E.M.), P < 0.05). A positive correlation was observed between circulating levels of leptin and percentage body fat (P < 0.001) and inverse correlations were found between leptin, M (P < 0.01), maximal aerobic capacity (VO2 max) (P < 0.01), and energy expenditure (P < or = 0.01) in both groups. In multiple linear regression analysis, percentage body fat, gender and M significantly determined the level of leptin (r2 = 0.71, P < 0.001) whereas family history of NIDDM and VO2 max did not. CONCLUSION Serum leptin is increased in insulin-resistant offspring of NIDDM patients. The association between leptin, anthropometric measures and insulin sensitivity is, however, comparable with that of a control group. The increased concentrations of serum leptin in the relatives appear to be associated with the insulin resistance, but not with a family history of NIDDM.
Biologically confirmed sexually transmitted infection and depressive symptomatology among African-American female adolescents

Objective: To determine prospectively the relation between sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnosis and depressive symptomatology. Methods: Secondary data analyses were performed on 175 sexually active African-American female adolescents, who were recruited from high risk neighbourhoods in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Results: ANCOVA was used to compare adolescents who tested positive with adolescents who tested negative on three waves of depressive symptom scores, controlling for age. The STI positive group had higher depressive symptom levels at 6 months relative to the STI negative group. This result was moderated by baseline depressive symptom levels: for adolescents above the clinical threshold, the STI negative group experienced a decrease in symptoms at 6 months whereas the STI positive group maintained the same level. For adolescents below the clinical threshold, there were no changes in depressive symptom levels regardless of diagnosis. Conclusions: Receiving an STI diagnosis may affect depressive symptomatology for those at risk for depression. Screening for depression in settings that provide STI testing and treatment may be warranted for this population.
Human Milk From Atopic Mothers Has Lower Levels of Short Chain Fatty Acids

Short chain fatty acids (SFCAs) are microbial metabolites produced in the gut upon fermentation of dietary fiber. These metabolites interact with the host immune system and can elicit epigenetic effects. There is evidence to suggest that SCFAs may play a role in the developmental programming of immune disorders and obesity, though evidence in humans remains sparse. Here we have quantified human milk (HM) SCFA levels in an international cohort of atopic and non-atopic mothers (n = 109). Our results demonstrate that human milk contains detectable levels of the SCFAs acetate, butyrate, and formate. Samples from atopic mothers had significantly lower concentrations of acetate and butyrate than those of non-atopic mothers. HM SCFA levels in atopic and non-atopic women also varied based on maternal country of residence (Australia, Japan, Norway, South Africa, USA). Reduced exposure to HM SCFA in early life may program atopy or overweight risk in breastfed infants.
Determining contrast medium dose and rate on basis of lean body weight: does this strategy improve patient-to-patient uniformity of hepatic enhancement during multi-detector row CT?

PURPOSE To prospectively evaluate the use of lean body weight (LBW) as the main determinant of the volume and rate of contrast material administration during multi-detector row computed tomography of the liver. MATERIALS AND METHODS This HIPAA-compliant study had institutional review board approval. All patients gave written informed consent. Four protocols were compared. Standard protocol involved 125 mL of iopamidol injected at 4 mL/sec. Total body weight (TBW) protocol involved 0.7 g iodine per kilogram of TBW. Calculated LBW and measured LBW protocols involved 0.86 g of iodine per kilogram and 0.92 g of iodine per kilogram calculated or measured LBW for men and women, respectively. Injection rate used for the three experimental protocols was determined proportionally on the basis of the calculated volume of contrast material. Postcontrast attenuation measurements during portal venous phase were obtained in liver, portal vein, and aorta for each group and were summed for each patient. Patient-to-patient enhancement variability in same group was measured with Levene test. Two-tailed t test was used to compare the three experimental protocols with the standard protocol. RESULTS Data analysis was performed in 101 patients (25 or 26 patients per group), including 56 men and 45 women (mean age, 53 years). Average summed attenuation values for standard, TBW, calculated LBW, and measured LBW protocols were 419 HU +/- 50 (standard deviation), 443 HU +/- 51, 433 HU +/- 50, and 426 HU +/- 33, respectively (P = not significant for all). Levene test results for summed attenuation data for standard, TBW, calculated LBW, and measured LBW protocols were 40 +/- 29, 38 +/- 33 (P = .83), 35 +/- 35 (P = .56), and 26 +/- 19 (P = .05), respectively. CONCLUSION By excluding highly variable but poorly perfused adipose tissue from calculation of contrast medium dose, the measured LBW protocol may lessen patient-to-patient enhancement variability while maintaining satisfactory hepatic and vascular enhancement.
Establishment of Z Score Reference of Growth Parameters for Egyptian School Children and Adolescents Aged From 5 to 19 Years: A Cross Sectional Study

Background: Growth charts are an important method for evaluating a child's health, growth, and nutritional status. Objective: To establish Lambda—Mu- Sigma (LMS) and Z score references for assessment of growth and nutritional status in Egyptian school children and adolescents. Methods: A total of 34,822 Egyptian school children and adolescents from 5 to 19 years were enrolled in a cross sectional randomized study from December 2017 to November 2019 to create LMS and Z score references for weight, height and body mass index (BMI) corresponding to ages. They were selected from different districts in Egypt. Apparent Healthy children with good nutritional history and not suffering from any chronic diseases were included in the study. Results: Egyptian children of both sexes (54.3% boys and 45.7 % girls) from 5 to 19 years old were studied. Then LMS and Z scores for weight for age, height for age, BMI for age of both sexes were represented in detailed tables and graphs. There was no statistically significant difference between the Egyptian Z score charts and the reference values of WHO for weight, height and BMI corresponding to age (P > 0.05). Conclusion: This is the first national reference for growth and nutritional assessment using LMS and Z score charts in Egyptian school children and adolescents, this tool is essential for healthcare and research.
Methods for estimating isometric recruitment curves of electrically stimulated muscle

Three methods were tested experimentally in isolated tibialis anterior and medial gastrocnemius muscles of cats. The three methods are steady-state step response, peak impulse response, and deconvolved ramp response. A fourth method, described but not tested, is a stochastic iteration technique. The results demonstrate that estimations of recruitment curves depend on the method used and that all methods are sensitive to short-term and long-term time variations in muscle properties. While the step-response technique is the traditional method for estimating recruitment curves, the ramp-deconvolution method appears to offer acceptable accuracy with much shorter testing times. <<ETX>>
ATRIBUTOS DE QUALIDADE EM DISCIPLINAS DE ADMINISTRAÇÃO E CIÊNCIAS CONTÁBEIS VOLTADAS PARA O ESTUDO DE CUSTOS: O PONTO DE VISTA DOS DISCENTES

A identificacao dos atributos de qualidade percebidos pelos alunos em disciplinas de Administracao e de Contabilidade para o estudo de custos se constitui no objetivo desta pesquisa. Os sujeitos sociais foram 126 academicos que cursaram as disciplinas de Custo Aplicado a Administracao, Contabilidade de Custos, e Analise de Custos, correspondendo ao total dos estudantes do semestre em que a pesquisa foi realizada. O estudo foi, portanto, de carater censitario. A instituicao pesquisada e uma universidade publica, com cursos de pos-graduacao em nivel de mestrado e doutorado em Ciencias Contabeis e Administracao, com destaque na regiao Sul do Brasil. O delineamento de pesquisa foi exploratorio, com metodo qualitativo em sua primeira parte, e descritivo, com metodo quantitativo, na fase posterior. Os dados foram coletados por meio de um questionario estruturado, com questoes abertas, adotando a Tecnica de Incidente Critico. Adotou-se a analise de conteudo para classificar as verbalizacoes dos respondentes em unidades de significados, categorizando-as. Essas categorias foram transformadas em variaveis categoricas, na segunda fase da pesquisa, sendo analisadas por meio de procedimentos estatisticos. Os resultados evidenciaram que os atributos de qualidade constituiram determinado Eixo, sendo que na disciplina de Analise de Custos privilegiaram a qualidade do docente. Na disciplina Contabilidade de Custos, os academicos evidenciaram como atributo relevante o comprometimento do professor e a aplicacao de exemplos praticos. Na disciplina de Custo Aplicado a Administracao, os resultados sinalizaram como atributos de qualidade o entendimento da materia, o esclarecimento de duvidas e didatica do professor.
New therapeutic targets for the antiphospholipid syndrome

Importance of the field: The antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune condition whereby pathogenic antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) cause vascular thrombosis and/or recurrent miscarriage, and carries a high burden of morbidity and mortality. Currently the only proven treatment is long-term anticoagulation, which is not effective in all patients and carries risk of haemorrhage. Areas covered in this review: Novel therapeutic targets that are currently being explored for APS in order to address the unmet needs of better, safer and ideally targeted therapy. These include B cell depletion, new-generation anticoagulants, interfering with aPL cell-mediated activation of endothelial cells and platelets both at the cell surface level and intracellularly, targeting components of the complement system and the novel concept of using decoy peptides to target only the pathogenic sub-population of aPL. What the reader will gain: An overview of the potential targets and rationale underpinning them. Take home message: Though current options remain limited for the treatment of APS, the future holds much promise with the identification of multiple targets, many of which are currently being explored. The challenge will be to undertake carefully designed prospective multi-centre trials to generate the evidence necessary to support integration of such candidates into clinical practice.
Galactic potentials.

The information contained in galactic rotation curves is examined under a minimal set of assumptions. If emission occurs from stable circular geodesic orbits of a static spherically symmetric field, with information propagated to us along null geodesics, observed rotation curves determine galactic potentials without specific reference to any metric theory of gravity. Given the potential, the gravitational mass can be obtained by way of an anisotropy function of this field. The gravitational mass and anisotropy function can be solved simultaneously in a Newtonian limit without specifying any specific source. This procedure, based on a minimal set of assumptions, puts very strong constraints on any model of the "dark matter. "
Temporal dynamics of THz quantum cascade laser frequency combs with strong injector anticrossing

Due to their broad spectral bandwidth and superior temperature performance, resonant phonon quantum cascade laser (QCL) designs have become the active-region of choice for many of the leading groups in terahertz (THz) QCL research. These gain media can vary substantially in the number of wells and barriers as well as their corresponding thicknesses, but all such structures employ a common resonant phonon lower laser level depopulation scheme and a resonant tunneling mechanism for efficient current injection into the upper laser level. The presence of a strong anticrossing between the injector and upper laser level leads, under the right conditions, to a pronounced splitting of the emission spectra into high and low frequency lobe components around some central transition frequency. This spectral hole burning effect also manifests itself in the time domain as a form of pulse switching between signals corresponding to the two lobes of the split gain, as it has already been experimentally observed. This process was termed as a form of temporal hole burning (THB), which next to spectral and spatial hole burning, completes the plethora of dynamic "hole burning" phenomena encountered in QCLs. In this work, we investigate the temporal dynamics of THz QCLs with a strong injector anticrossing via numerical solution of the Maxwell-Bloch laser equations. Our simulation results show remarkable agreement with experiment and we further outline the development of a theoretical model which intuitively explains this effect.
A Bayesian space varying parameter model applied to estimating fertility schedules

We propose a spatial generalized linear model (GLM) to analyse the vital rates for small areas. In each small area, we have a response vector and covariates to explain its variability. The statistical methodology is based on a spatial Bayesian approach and it allows the covariates' parameters of the generalized linear model to vary smoothly on space. Hence, the effect of a covariate on the response varies depending on the random variables measurement location. Our model is an extension of disease mapping models allowing the space–covariate interaction to be modelled in a natural way and giving space a position of intrinsic interest. We introduce the model in the context of fertility curve estimation. In each small area, we have a curve describing the variation of fertility rates by age modelled by Coale's fertility model, which implies a GLM in each area. A simulation shows the advantages of our approach. In addition, the paper applies the procedure to census data used to study the diffusion of low fertility behaviour in Brazil. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Extrinsic Motivation of Freedom at Work

Under incomplete contracts, a worker faces a ratchet effect of innovating when closely monitored: if he uncovers a process innovation, the firm raises the future performance requirement; anticipating this, the worker never innovates. With reduced oversight, the worker accrues private information about his innovation, which generates information rent that feeds back as the worker’s ex-ante innovation incentive. The firm’s strategic ignorance is complemented with an incentive scheme that simultaneously induces effort from the worker and endogenously generates asymmetric information against the firm. The resulting mechanism provides a novel rationale to weak incentives and low-scale production at early stages of relationships.
Macular volume determined by optical coherence tomography as a measure of neuronal loss in multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND Inner (area adjacent to the fovea) and outer regions of the macula differ with respect to relative thicknesses of the ganglion cell layer (neurons) vs retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL; axons). OBJECTIVE To determine how inner vs outer macular volumes relate to peripapillary RNFL thickness and visual function in multiple sclerosis (MS) and to examine how these patterns differ among eyes with vs without a history of acute optic neuritis (ON). DESIGN Study using cross-sectional optical coherence tomography. SETTING Three academic tertiary care MS centers. PARTICIPANTS Patients with MS, diagnosed by standard criteria, and disease-free control participants. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Optical coherence tomography was used to measure macular volumes and RNFL thickness. Visual function was assessed using low-contrast letter acuity and high-contrast visual acuity (Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study charts). RESULTS Among eyes of patients with MS (n = 1058 eyes of 530 patients), reduced macular volumes were associated with peripapillary RNFL thinning; 10-microm differences in RNFL thickness (9.6% of thickness in control participants without disease) corresponded to 0.20-mm(3) reductions in total macular volume (2.9% of volume in control participants without disease, P < .001). This relation was similar for eyes of MS patients with and without a history of ON. Although peripapillary RNFL thinning was more strongly associated with decrements in outer compared with inner macular volumes, correlations with inner macular volume were significant (r = 0.58, P < .001) and of slightly greater magnitude for eyes of MS patients with a history of ON vs eyes of MS patients without a history of ON (r = 0.61 vs r = 0.50). Lower (worse) visual function scores were associated with reduced total, inner, and outer macular volumes. However, accounting for peripapillary RNFL thickness, the relation between vision and inner macular volume remained significant and unchanged in magnitude, suggesting that this region contains retinal structures separate from RNFL axons that are important to vision. CONCLUSIONS Analogous to studies of gray matter in MS, these data provide evidence that reductions of volume in the macula (approximately 34% neuronal cells by average thickness) accompany RNFL axonal loss. Peripapillary RNFL thinning and inner macular volume loss are less strongly linked in eyes of MS patients without a history of ON than in eyes of MS patients with a history of ON, suggesting alternative mechanisms for neuronal cell loss. Longitudinal studies with segmentation of retinal layers will further explore the relation and timing of ganglion cell degeneration and RNFL thinning in MS.
Cyclosporine and ketoconazole for the treatment of perianal fistulas in dogs.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate efficacy and cost of using cyclosporine and ketoconazole for the treatment of perianal fistulas in dogs. DESIGN Clinical trial. ANIMALS 12 dogs with perianal fistulas. PROCEDURE Dogs received cyclosporine and ketoconazole orally (target whole blood trough cyclosporine concentrations of 400 to 600 ng/ml). Study endpoints were resolution of clinical signs, remission, and recurrence of disease. Adverse effects and cost of medications were reported. Results were compared with those from previous studies in humans and in dogs in which single agent cyclosporine treatment for perianal fistulas was used. RESULTS All dogs had resolution of clinical signs. Eight dogs went into remission; however, 5 of those 8 had recurrence of fistulas. Adverse effects of treatment were minimal and well tolerated. Cost of treatment was comparable to traditional surgical options and less than single agent cyclosporine treatment. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Administration of cyclosporine with ketoconazole is an effective and cost-comparable treatment for perianal fistulas in dogs.