Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serum Lipase After Secretin Stimulation Detects Mild Pancreatic Involvement in Cystic Fibrosis

Background: The assessment of severe pancreatic insufficiency in cystic fibrosis (CF) is not a diagnostic problem. However, identification of mild cases remains a challenge. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of serum lipase after secretin stimulation to identify mild pancreatic insufficiency in patients with CF. Material and Methods: Thirty patients with CF and pancreatic insufficiency (CF-PI) and 30 patients with CF and pancreatic sufficiency (CF-PS) were studied. Thirty healthy subjects with no known gastrointestinal disease served as controls. In all subjects, fecal fat excretion, fecal elastase-1 (E1) concentration and basal and secretin-stimulated serum lipase concentration were measured. Results: All patients with CF-PI and 3 with CF-PS had abnormally low fecal E1 concentrations. The remaining 27 CF-PS patients and all controls had normal values. Basal and post-stimulation lipase levels were extremely low in patients with CF-PI. Mean basal and poststimulation serum lipase concentrations were significantly higher in CF-PS who had normal fecal E1 concentrations but were still below those of controls (P < 0.001). Among the 27 CF-PS patients with normal fecal elastase, high basal and poststimulation lipase values were found in 6 and 17 patients respectively. Conclusion: In patients with CF-PS who have normal fecal elastase-1 concentration, the measurement of basal or secretin-stimulated lipase levels might be helpful in identifying the progression of the destructive process in the pancreas.
Fibroblasts surrounding melanoma express elevated levels of matrix metalloproteinase‐1 (MMP‐1) and intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) in vitro

Abstract: Tumour growth and metastasis involve the degradation of extracellular matrix components by matrix degrading enzymes produced by tumour cells and stromal fibroblasts. In this study, fibroblasts were obtained from biopsies on the border (TB) and 1 cm distant from the melanoma (TD) and cultured separately. Similar studies were performed with fibroblasts surrounding melanocytic nevi as control. The expression of matrix metalloproteinase‐1 (MMP‐1) mRNA and tissue matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor 1 (TIMP‐1) were studied by Northern blot analysis. The activation antigen intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) in TB‐ and TD‐fibroblasts was investigated by flow cytometry. In melanoma, TB‐fibroblasts showed an increased expression of MMP‐1 mRNA mainly in fibroblasts obtained from tumours with extended invasive growth demonstrated by Clark level whereas the expression of the major specific inhibitor TIMP‐1 was unaltered. In contrast, fibroblasts surrounding benign melanocytic nevi did not express elevated levels of MMP‐1. The upregulation of MMP‐1 in TB‐fibroblasts compared to TD‐fibroblasts was maintained during cultivation. Furthermore, MMP‐1 mRNA expression and MMP‐1 total protein amount in normal fibroblasts were increased by melanoma cell conditioned medium. We demonstrated an increased expression of ICAM‐1 in TB‐fibroblasts compared to TD‐fibroblasts in vitro depending on the amount of inflammatory infiltrate in situ. The differences of ICAM expression disappeared during continued cell culture. These results support the idea that fibroblasts surrounding melanoma are activated and are possibly involved in the degradation of matrix proteins surrounding the tumour.
Donation after cardiac death

Purpose of reviewThe present review will provide anesthesiologists with the scientific information and ethical arguments they need to make decisions about donation after cardiac death (DCD) for their clinical practices. Recent findingsOrgans derived from DCD benefit patients who would otherwise die without transplantation. The practice of DCD ties the withdrawal of life support to organ donation. The close approximation of cessation of circulation to the recovery of organs demands a systematically structured approach to ensure that patient care at the end of life will not be sacrificed for organ donation. In response, the medical community has developed standards of care through expert opinion and consensus. There is general agreement that patients are entitled to expert care at the end of life whether or not they will be organ donors. Thus, abrupt transfer of patient care to an anesthesiologist is usually not in the best interest of the patient. SummaryBy 2007, all US hospitals will have protocols for DCD. Anesthesiologists should review existing protocols and participate in the development of new ones to ensure that the approach to DCD conforms to current standards and that patients have a designated care provider for the withdrawal of life support.
Expression of base excision, mismatch, and recombination repair genes in the organogenesis-stage rat conceptus and effects of exposure to a genotoxic teratogen, 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide.

BACKGROUND DNA repair capability may influence the outcome of genotoxic teratogen exposure. The goals of this study were to assess the expression of base excision repair (BER), mismatch repair (MMR), and recombination repair (RCR) genes in the mid-organogenesis rat conceptus and to determine the effects on expression of exposure to the genotoxic teratogen, 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide (4-OOHCPA). METHODS The expression of 17 BER, MMR, and RCR genes was examined in gestational day (GD) 10-12 rat conceptuses using the antisense RNA (aRNA) technique. Embryos were cultured with 10 microM 4-OOHCPA to examine effects on gene expression. RESULTS Yolk sacs and embryos had similar gene expression patterns for all three DNA repair pathways from GD10-12. Transcripts for APNG, PMS1, and RAD54 were present at high concentrations in both tissues. The remainder of the genes were expressed at low levels in yolk sac, with a few not detected on GD10 and 11. In the embryo, transcripts for most genes were low on GD10 and 11; several increased by GD12. After exposure to 4-OOHCPA for 24 hr, XRCC1 and RAD57 expression decreased in yolk sac, whereas only RAD51 transcripts decreased in the embryo. By 44 hr, transcripts for all BER genes decreased in yolk sac; in the embryo, most BER, MMR, and RCR genes decreased, many below the level of detection. CONCLUSIONS The expression of DNA repair genes in the mid-organogenesis rat conceptus is varied and subject to down-regulation by 4-OOHCPA. DNA repair gene expression may determine the consequences of genotoxicant exposure during development.
lncRNA CCAT1 Promotes Glioma Tumorigenesis by Sponging miR‐181b

Colon cancer‐associated transcript 1 (CCAT1), a long non‐coding RNA (lncRNA), is upregulated and has a vital role in the pathogenesis of numerous cancers. Recently, its high expression was found in glioma tissues. miR‐181b is downregulated in glioma and acts as a tumor suppressor. However, the exact mechanism of CCAT1 action in the regulation of glioma development remains unknown. CCAT1 and miR‐181b expression was firstly examined in glioma tissue samples by real‐time PCR. An RNA interference approach was used to downregulate CCAT1 expression and we analyzed the underlying mechanism of CCAT1 by using bioinformatics analysis, CCK‐8 assay, Transwell assay, flow cytometry, luciferase assay, RNA immunoprecipitation, real‐time PCR, Western blot, and xenograft models. CCAT1 expression was significantly increased, while miR‐181b decreased, in glioma tissues. Interestingly, miR‐181b expression was negatively correlated with the CCAT1 level in glioma samples. Knockdown of CCAT1 notably suppressed proliferation, migration and the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) process, and promoted the apoptosis of U87 and LN229 glioma cells, which could be enhanced by transfection with miR‐181b mimic while it was abolished by anti‐miR‐181b. Additionally, we found that CCAT1 may act as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for miR‐181b, regulating the de‐repression of FGFR3 and PDGFRα. In conclusion, CCAT1 promotes glioma tumorigenesis by sponging miR‐181b, leading to the de‐repression of its endogenous targets FGFR3 and PDGFRα, which provides a potential therapeutic target for glioma treatment. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 4548–4557, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Injuries in pacu embryos (Piaractus mesopotamicus) after freezing and thawing

Summary Although the sperm cryopreservation of freshwater and marine teleosts has been feasible for years, the cryopreservation of some fish embryos still remains elusive. Thus, the objective of this experiment was to analyze the embryo morphology after freezing and thawing 40 embryos of Piaractus mesopotamicus immersed into methanol and ethylene glycol, both at 7, 10 and 13% plus 0.1 M sucrose for 10 min. Soon after thawing, three embryos were treated with historesin, stained with hematoxylin–eosin and analyzed under an optical microscope. From every treatment, one palette containing embryos was thawed and incubated, but none of the eggs hatched. Samples containing two embryos were immersed into 10% methanol or 10% ethylene glycol both in association with sucrose, and embryos immersed into only water or sucrose solution were frozen, processed and analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In both cases, the control group was immersed into only water. Although the embryos had the chorion, vitello, yolk syncytial layer and blastoderm, all of them were found altered under the optical microscope and by SEM. The chorion was irregular and injured; there was no individuality in the yolk granules; the yolk syncytial layer had an irregular shape, thickness and size; the blastoderm showed injuries in the nucleus shape and sometimes was absent; the blastoderm was located in atypical areas and absent in some embryos. In conclusion, no treatment was effective in preserving the embryos, and none of the embryos avoided injury from intracellular ice formation. These morphological injuries during the freezing process made the P. mesopotamicus embryos unfeasible for hatching.
Retrotransposition strategies of the Lactococcus lactis Ll.LtrB group II intron are dictated by host identity and cellular environment

Group II introns are mobile retroelements that invade their cognate intron‐minus gene in a process known as retrohoming. They can also retrotranspose to ectopic sites at low frequency. Previous studies of the Lactococcus lactis intron Ll.LtrB indicated that in its native host, as in Escherichia coli, retrohoming occurs by the intron RNA reverse splicing into double‐stranded DNA (dsDNA) through an endonuclease‐dependent pathway. However, in retrotransposition in L. lactis, the intron inserts predominantly into single‐stranded DNA (ssDNA), in an endonuclease‐independent manner. This work describes the retrotransposition of the Ll.LtrB intron in E. coli, using a retrotransposition indicator gene previously employed in our L. lactis studies. Unlike in L. lactis, in E. coli, Ll.LtrB retrotransposed frequently into dsDNA, and the process was dependent on the endonuclease activity of the intron‐encoded protein. Further, the endonuclease‐dependent insertions preferentially occurred around the origin and terminus of chromosomal DNA replication. Insertions in E. coli can also occur through an endonuclease‐independent pathway, and, as in L. lactis, such events have a more random integration pattern. Together these findings show that Ll.LtrB can retrotranspose through at least two distinct mechanisms and that the host environment influences the choice of integration pathway. Additionally, growth conditions affect the insertion pattern. We propose a model in which DNA replication, compactness of the nucleoid and chromosomal localization influence target site preference.
Effects of clonidine and diazepam on prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response and the N1/P2 auditory evoked potential in man

Contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscle in response to a sudden loud sound (acoustic startle response) and the N1/P2 component of the auditory evoked potential are both attenuated when a brief low-intensity stimulus is presented 30–500 ms before the ‘startle-eliciting’ stimulus (prepulse inhibition). We examined the effects of two sedative/anxiolytic drugs, diazepam and clonidine, on prepulse inhibition of these two responses in healthy volunteers. Fifteen males (aged 18–35 years) participated in three sessions in which they received oral doses of placebo, diazepam 10 mg and clonidine 0.2 mg according to a balanced double-blind protocol. Thirty-minute simultaneous recordings of the electromyographic (EMG) responses of the orbicularis oculi muscle of the right eye and the vertex auditory evoked potentials took place 120 min after ingestion of clonidine and 60 min after ingestion of diazepam. Sound stimuli (1 kHz) were presented in 60 trials separated by variable intervals (mean 25 s): (i) 40-ms 115-dB (‘pulse alone’, 20 trials); (ii) 40-ms 85-dB (20 trials); (iii) 40-ms 85-dB, followed after 120 ms by 40-ms 115-dB (‘prepulse/pulse’, 20 trials). Mean amplitudes of the EMG response and the N1/P2 potential were derived from the pulse-alone trials and, in each case, percentage prepulse inhibition was calculated. The amplitude of the EMG response was significantly reduced both by diazepam and by clonidine; neither drug significantly altered prepulse inhibition of the EMG response. Diazepam, but not clonidine, significantly reduced the amplitude of the N1/P2 potential; neither drug significantly affected prepulse inhibition of the N1/P2 potential. Both drugs reduced self-rated alertness and anxiety, and systolic blood pressure; clonidine, but not diazepam reduced diastolic blood pressure and salivation. The results confirm previous findings that sedative drugs can suppress the startle response without affecting prepulse inhibition of this response, and provide new information on the effects of these drugs on the N1/P2 potential and its inhibition by prepulses.
Involvement of the GspAB Complex in Assembly of the Type II Secretion System Secretin of Aeromonas and Vibrio Species

ABSTRACT The type II secretion system (T2SS) functions as a transport mechanism to translocate proteins from the periplasm to the extracellular environment. The ExeA homologue in Aeromonas hydrophila, GspAAh, is an ATPase that interacts with peptidoglycan and forms an inner membrane complex with the ExeB homologue (GspBAh). The complex may be required to generate space in the peptidoglycan mesh that is necessary for the transport and assembly of the megadalton-sized ExeD homologue (GspDAh) secretin multimer in the outer membrane. In this study, the requirement for GspAB in the assembly of the T2SS secretin in Aeromonas and Vibrio species was investigated. We have demonstrated a requirement for GspAB in T2SS assembly in Aeromonas salmonicida, similar to that previously observed in A. hydrophila. In the Vibrionaceae species Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio vulnificus, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, gspA mutations significantly decreased assembly of the secretin multimer but had minimal effects on the secretion of T2SS substrates. The lack of effect on secretion of the mutant of gspA of V. cholerae (gspAVc) was explained by the finding that native secretin expression greatly exceeds the level needed for efficient secretion in V. cholerae. In cross-complementation experiments, secretin assembly and secretion in an A. hydrophila gspA mutant were partially restored by the expression of GspAB from V. cholerae in trans, further suggesting that GspABVc performs the same role in Vibrio species as GspABAh does in the aeromonads. These results indicate that the GspAB complex is functional in the assembly of the secretin in Vibrio species but that a redundancy of GspAB function may exist in this genus.
Assessment of immunological biomarkers in patients with advanced cancer treated by personalized peptide vaccination

To investigate immunological biomarkers to predict overall survival of advanced cancer patients under treatment with personalized peptide vaccination, correlations between overall survival and biomarkers, including cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) responses to the vaccinated peptides, were investigated in 500 advanced cancer patients who received personalized peptide vaccination from October 2000 to October 2008. The best clinical response was assessed for in 436 patients, 43 patients (10%) had partial response, 144 patients (33%) had stable disease and 249 patients (57%) had progressive, with a median overall survival of 9.9 months. Both lymphocyte counts prior to the vaccination (P = 0.0095) and increased IgG response (P = 0.0116) to the vaccinated peptides, along with performance status (P < 0.0001), well correlated with overall survival. To confirm the superiority of IgG response to CTL response, the samples from advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer patients who survived more than 900 days (n=20) and those who died within 300 days (n=23) were analyzed further. As a result, both the numbers of peptides, to which increased IgG responses were observed, and the fold increases in IgG levels were significantly higher in long-term survivors (P = 0.000282 and P = 0.00045). In contrast, CTL responses were not statistically different between the two groups. Both lymphocyte numbers and IgG response were thus suggested to be biomarkers of cancer vaccine for advanced cancer patients.
Individual- and community-level influences on the timing of sexual debut among youth in Nyanza, Kenya.

CONTEXT Delaying sexual debut is an important HIV prevention strategy, yet few studies have examined associations between both community- and individual-level characteristics and sexual debut among youth in Sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS Cross-sectional survey data collected from 8,183 youth aged 11-17 in 160 schools in Nyanza, Kenya, were used to examine the relationships between individual and community measures and the timing of sexual debut. Multilevel discrete-time hazard models were used to identify bivariate and multivariate associations. RESULTS At the individual level, youth were more likely to have initiated sex (or had done so at an earlier age) if they had felt pressure to engage in sex from a greater number of sources (odds ratios, 1.3-1.8); perceived that they had a small or (among females) moderate chance, rather than no chance, of contracting HIV (1.2-1.3); or endorsed a greater number of HIV transmission myths (1.1 for both sexes). In addition, males with higher abstinence selfefficacy had a reduced risk of sexual debut (0.95). At the community level, males and females had a reduced risk of sexual debut if they lived in a community where AIDS deaths were publicly acknowledged (0.6-0.8) or the Primary School Action for Better Health program had been implemented (0.8-0.95); risk was also reduced among young men who lived in communities where HIV was discussed at a greater number of parent-teacher association meetings (0.9) or where abstinence was the primary AIDS prevention message conveyed to youth (0.9). CONCLUSION Community-level variables are frequently associated with sexual debut and should be included in future research.
A robust vision-based runway detection and tracking algorithm for automatic UAV landing

This work presents a novel real-time algorithm for runway detection and tracking applied to the automatic takeoff and landing of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The algorithm is based on a combination of segmentation based region competition and the minimization of a specific energy function to detect and identify the runway edges from streaming video data. The resulting video-based runway position estimates are updated using a Kalman Filter (KF), which can integrate other sensory information such as position and attitude angle estimates to allow a more robust tracking of the runway under turbulence. We illustrate the performance of the proposed lane detection and tracking scheme on various experimental UAV flights conducted by the Saudi Aerospace Research Center (KACST). Results show an accurate tracking of the runway edges during the landing phase, under various lighting conditions, and suggest that such positional estimates would greatly improve the positional accuracy of the UAV during takeoff and landing phases. The robustness of the proposed algorithm is further validated using Hardware in the Loop (HIL) simulations with diverse takeoff and landing videos generated using a commercial flight simulator.
Relationship between clinical parameters and the colitis-colorectal cancer interval in a cohort of patients with colorectal cancer in inflammatory bowel disease

Objective. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), but more knowledge is needed about the possible relationship between clinical parameters and the time to development of cancer in IBD. The aim of the study was to determine the variability of the colitis-CRC interval and to analyze the association with clinical variables in an attempt to gain information on predictive factors of time to cancer within a relatively large cohort of CRC patients. Material and methods. Patients diagnosed with IBD prior to 1 May 2005 at three university hospitals in Oslo were matched against the CRC files at the Cancer Registry of Norway. Only histological re-confirmed IBD and adenocarcinoma of the colorectum were included. Results. Sixty-one patients with CRC in ulcerative colitis and 6 in Crohn's disease, including 13 CRC in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), covering a follow-up of 1625 patient years, were identified. The median time from diagnosis of IBD to CRC was 17 years. Seven of 58 patients (12%) developed CRC within 10 years from onset of IBD symptoms and 14/67 (21%) within 10 years after the diagnosis of IBD. The colitis-CRC interval decreased by a factor of 0.154 (p=0.018) when age at onset of IBD increased by one year. Mean age at onset of IBD was 30 years in patients with Dukes’ stage C or D compared with 20 years in Dukes’ stage A or B patients (p=0.017). The colitis-CRC interval decreased by a factor of 0.138 (p=0.003) when the percentage of the colitis-CRC interval with active symptoms increased by 1%. Patients with PSC were significantly younger at onset of IBD symptoms (+PSC: 19 years versus no PSC:29 years, p=0.04), but the colitis-CRC interval was similar to IBD without PSC (17 years versus 20 years, p=0.236). Mean duration of the colitis-CRC interval was not related to family history or drug consumption prior to CRC. Conclusions. In the present cohort, for whom the median time from diagnosis of IBD to CRC was 17 years, 21% of the cancers developed before 10 years of disease, which is before colonoscopic screening is usually recommended. High age at onset of IBD may be related to a more aggressive development of CRC in IBD and early inclusion in screening programs might be considered for this group of patients. Symptom activity but not the diagnosis of PSC, family history of CRC or IBD or drug treatment seems to have an effect on the colitis-CRC interval.