Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Earthworm Gut: an Ideal Habitat for Ingested N2O-Producing Microorganisms

ABSTRACT The in vivo production of nitrous oxide (N2O) by earthworms is due to their gut microbiota, and it is hypothesized that the microenvironment of the gut activates ingested N2O-producing soil bacteria. In situ measurement of N2O and O2 with microsensors demonstrated that the earthworm gut is anoxic and the site of N2O production. The gut had a pH of 6.9 and an average water content of approximately 50%. The water content within the gut decreased from the anterior end to the posterior end. In contrast, the concentration of N2O increased from the anterior end to the mid-gut region and then decreased along the posterior part of the gut. Compared to the soil in which worms lived and fed, the gut of the earthworm was highly enriched in total carbon, organic carbon, and total nitrogen and had a C/N ratio of 7 (compared to a C/N ratio of 12 in soil). The aqueous phase of gut contents contained up to 80 mM glucose and numerous compounds that were indicative of anaerobic metabolism, including up to 9 mM formate, 8 mM acetate, 3 mM lactate, and 2 mM succinate. Compared to the soil contents, nitrite and ammonium were enriched in the gut up to 10- and 100-fold, respectively. The production of N2O by soil was induced when the gut environment was simulated in anoxic microcosms for 24 h (the approximate time for passage of soil through the earthworm). Anoxia, high osmolarity, nitrite, and nitrate were the dominant factors that stimulated the production of N2O. Supplemental organic carbon had a very minimal stimulatory effect on the production of N2O, and addition of buffer or ammonium had essentially no effect on the initial N2O production rates. However, a combination of supplements yielded rates greater than that obtained mathematically for single supplements, suggesting that the maximum rates observed were due to synergistic effects of supplements. Collectively, these results indicate that the special microenvironment of the earthworm gut is ideally suited for N2O-producing bacteria and support the hypothesis that the in situ conditions of the earthworm gut activate ingested N2O-producing soil bacteria during gut passage.
Applications of protective cultures, bacteriocins and bacteriophages in fresh seafood and seafood products

Microbial seafood-borne disease represents 10 to 20% of the total food-borne outbreaks. Most of them are from bacterial origin and involve seafood products that have been contaminated by pathogenic Vibrio, Listeria monocytogenes and histaminogen bacteria. On the other hand, seafood products are very sensitive to the development of spoiling bacteria producing off-odours. Pathogenic and spoiling microflora are not always reduced or limited by the processing steps that are currently used in these foodstuffs, and the interest for alternative techniques such as bioprotection to improve quality and safety of seafood has increased in the last years. Among the microbial flora of lightly preserved seafood products, lactic acid bacteria usually become dominant during the storage under vacuum or modified atmosphere. In some cases these bacteria are responsible for spoilage but some of them have demonstrated potential for pathogenic or spoiling microflora inhibition. Those bacteria as far as some bacteriocins have been tested, mainly for the control of Listeria monocytogenes in cold smoked salmon and in a lesser extend in other products to enhance sensory shelf-life. Many successful results have been obtained at the laboratory scale, nevertheless, the application in seafood industry is still limited.
Posttraumatic stress disorder and the structure of common mental disorders

Krueger [1999: Arch Gen Psychiatry 56:921–926] identified a three‐factor structure of psychopathology that explained the covariation or grouping of common mental disorders found in the U.S. National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) [Kessler et al., 1994: Arch Gen Psychiatry 51:8–19]. These three fundamental groupings included an externalizing disorders factor and two internalizing disorders factors (anxious‐misery and fear). We extended this research through the examination of additional data from a large subsample of the NCS (n=5,877) that contained diagnostic information on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Factor analytic findings revealed that PTSD showed no affinity with the fear factor defined by panic and phobic disorders, and instead loaded on the anxious‐misery factor defined primarily by mood disorders. An identical pattern of results emerged for both lifetime PTSD and 12‐month PTSD prevalence figures. Implications of these findings for the classification of PTSD and research on its etiology are briefly discussed. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
[Expression of adrenomedullin and its receptor mRNA in the tissues of normal adrenal medulla and pheochromocytoma].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the expression of human adrenomedullin (ADM) and its receptor-receptor activity modifying protein 2/calcitonin receptor-like receptor (RAMP2/CRLR) mRNA in the tissues of normal adrenal medulla and pheochromocytoma. METHODS Total RNA was extracted from normal adrenal medulla and pheochromocytomas. The expression of ADM and RAMP2/CRLR mRNA were studied by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The ratios of ADM/GAPDH, RAMP2/ GAPDH, CRLR/GAPDH were used to evaluate the expression levels of ADM, RAMP2 and CRLR mRNA. RESULTS Expressions of ADM and its receptor- RAMP2/CRLR mRNA were detected in normal adrenal medulla and pheochromocytoma tissues. ADM/GAPDH were 0.48+/-0.09 and 0.75+/-0.24, RAMP2/ GAPDH 0.79+/-0.12 and 1.29+/-0.30, CRLR/GAPDH 0.40+/-0.08 and 0.87+/-0.22 in normal adrenal medulla and pheochromocytomas, respectively (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION ADM exerts a possible autocrine or paracrine effect in the adrenal. ADM may be involved in the pathogenesis of pheochromocytoma.
All-arthroscopic versus mini-open rotator cuff repair: A long-term retrospective outcome comparison.

PURPOSE The goal of the study was to compare the results of all-arthroscopic rotator cuff repair with those of our mini-open rotator cuff repair. TYPE OF STUDY Retrospective outcome study. METHODS Sixty-four shoulders (58 patients) were identified; 35 in the all-arthroscopic group and 29 in the mini-open group. Average follow-up for all patients was 44.6 months, with a minimum of 24 months. The all-arthroscopic group included 3 small tears (< 1 cm), 24 medium-size tears (1 to 3 cm), and 9 large tears (3 to 5 cm). The mini-open group included 2 small tears, 9 medium tears, and 18 large tears. All patients in both groups underwent arthroscopic assessment with arthroscopic subacromial decompression. None underwent formal acromioclavicular joint resection. Four of the all-arthroscopic and 11 of the mini-open patients underwent coplaning of the acromioclavicular joint. Anchors were the primary method of arthroscopic fixation, with an average of 1.5 anchors per case. RESULTS The average final follow-up UCLA score for the arthroscopic group was 32.6 and for the mini-open group was 31.4, and the average final follow-up ASES score for the arthroscopic group was 91.7 and for the mini-open group was 90.0. No patients in the arthroscopic group developed fibrous ankylosis, whereas 4 patients in the mini-open group developed the condition (14%). No anchor-related complications were noted. Shoulders in the all-arthroscopic group showed greater motion at 6 and 12 weeks postoperatively and slightly better motion at final review. However, final motion difference was not statistically significant. Overall, 4 patients (6.3%) demonstrated some tenderness in the acromioclavicular joint on palpation, but none had clinical symptoms requiring treatment. CONCLUSIONS All-arthroscopic cuff repair provides comparable outcomes and complication rates to arthroscopic decompression with mini-open repair. The lower incidence of fibrous ankylosis favors the all-arthroscopic technique. A trend for better early motion was also noted in the all-arthroscopic group. Analysis of variance shows no measurable outcome difference between tear sizes.
Simultaneously Capturing Electrocardiography and Impedance Plethysmogram Signals From Human Feet by Capacitive Coupled Electrode System

A microprocessor measurement system is developed for simultaneously capturing electrocardiography (ECG) and impedance plethysmogram (IPG) signals. All the measurement electrodes are coupled with human skin in a non-contact capacitive way. A capacitive coupled pickup circuit is used for obtaining the original ECG and IPG signals. Three differences of electrode configurations are experimentally tested for picking up the ECG signals, i.e., from the plantar area of the feet, from the instep area of the feet, and from a single hand and a single foot. Two different configurations (i.e., two-electrode IPG and four-electrode IPG) are tested to get IPG signals. A singular spectrum analysis (SSA)-based algorithm is embedded in a microprocessor system for signal processing. It is found that the original signals, especially the IPG signals, are quite noisy and can only be used after SSA processing. When both the ECG and IPG signals are measured simultaneously, the ECG signal will be severely ruined by the interference from the excitation current signal of IPG measurement. Relatively satisfied signals can only be simultaneously obtained when one ECG electrode is placed in a hand. The time difference between the ECG R-peak and IPG C-peak (the peak point in IPG) is experimentally tested for its potential application in blood pressure measurement.
Suicidal behavior in patients with current or past panic disorder: five years of prospective data from the Harvard/Brown Anxiety Research Program.

OBJECTIVE The authors' goals were to examine predictors of suicidal behavior and provide guidelines for assessing suicide risk in patients with panic disorder. METHOD Four hundred ninety-eight patients with panic disorder were followed for 5 years. Survival analysis was used to examine variables correlated with prospectively observed suicidal behavior. RESULTS Subjects had a 0.06 probability of suicidal behavior during follow-up. Affective disorders, substance abuse, eating disorders, personality disorders, and being female were risk factors. Two subjects were suicidal in the absence of risk factors; both developed depression during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Panic disorder is not associated with suicidal behavior in the absence of other risk factors.
An antimicrobial protein of the gut symbiont Bacteroides fragilis with a MACPF domain of host immune proteins

Bacteroidales are the most abundant Gram‐negative bacteria of the human intestinal microbiota comprising more than half of the bacteria in many individuals. Some of the factors that these bacteria use to establish and maintain themselves in this ecosystem are beginning to be identified. However, ecological competition, especially interference competition where one organism directly harms another, is largely unexplored. To begin to understand the relevance of this ecological principle as it applies to these abundant gut bacteria and factors that may promote such competition, we screened Bacteroides fragilis for the production of antimicrobial molecules. We found that the production of extracellularly secreted antimicrobial molecules is widespread in this species. The first identified molecule, described in this manuscript, contains a membrane attack complex/perforin (MACPF) domain present in host immune molecules that kill bacteria and virally infected cells by pore formation, and mutations affecting key residues of this domain abrogated its activity. This antimicrobial molecule, termed BSAP‐1, is secreted from the cell in outer membrane vesicles and no additional proteins are required for its secretion, processing or immunity of the producing cell. This study provides the first insight into secreted molecules that promote competitive interference among Bacteroidales strains of the human gut.
Does back reaction enforce the averaged null energy condition in semiclassical gravity?

The expected stress-energy tensor of quantum fields generically violates the local positive energy conditions of general relativity. However, may satisfy some nonlocal conditions such as the averaged null energy condition (ANEC), which would rule out traversable wormholes. Although ANEC holds in Minkowski spacetime, it can be violated in curved spacetimes if one is allowed to choose the spacetime and quantum state arbitrarily, without imposition of the semiclassical Einstein equation G_{ab} = 8 \pi . In this paper we investigate whether ANEC holds for solutions to this equation, by studying a free, massless scalar field with arbitrary curvature coupling in perturbation theory to second order about the flat spacetime/vacuum solution. We "reduce the order" of the perturbation equations to eliminate spurious solutions, and consider the limit in which the lengthscales determined by the incoming state are much larger than the Planck length. We also need to assume that incoming classical gravitational radiation does not dominate the first order metric perturbation. We find that although the ANEC integral can be negative, if we average the ANEC integral transverse to the geodesic with a suitable Planck scale smearing function, then a strictly positive result is obtained in all cases except for the flat spacetime/vacuum solution. This result suggests --- in agreement with conclusions drawn by Ford and Roman from entirely independent arguments --- that if traversable wormholes do exist as solutions to the semiclassical equations, they cannot be macroscopic but must be ``Planck scale''. A large portion of our paper is devoted to the analysis of general issues concerning the nature of the semiclassical Einstein equation and of prescriptions for extracting physically relevant solutions.
In vitro Analysis of Birch-Pollen-Associated Food Allergy by Use of Recombinant Allergens in the Basophil Activation Test

Background: Basophil activation is associated with the expression of CD63. In birch-pollen-associated food allergy to celery, carrot and apple, Bet v 1, Api g 1, Dau c 1 and Mal d 1 are major allergens. Recombinant allergens have not yet been used in the CD63-based basophil activation test (BAT). Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of using recombinant allergens in the BAT in the diagnosis of allergy to apple, carrot and celery and to compare results with routine tests, i.e. skin prick tests (SPTs) and specific IgE. Methods: Thirty-two patients with an oral allergy syndrome induced by apple, carrot or celery and 22 controls were studied. SPTs were performed with native foods. Specific IgE was determined by the CAP method and basophil activation by flowcytometry upon double staining with anti-IgE/anti-CD63 monoclonal antibodies after incubating with purified recombinant Bet v 1, Bet v 2, Api g 1, Dau c 1 and Mal d 1. Results: By the combined use of the BAT and the CAP method, sensitization to Bet v 1 and Bet v 2 was detected in 100 and 25% of all subjects, respectively. Sensitivity of specific IgE for apple, carrot and celery was 60, 70 and 75% with corresponding specificities of 64, 86 and 82%. Sensitivity of the BAT for Mal d 1, Dau c 1 and Api g 1 was 75, 65 and 75% with corresponding specificities of 68, 100 and 77%. Conclusions: The BAT using recombinant allergens provides a valuable new in vitro method for the detection of sensitization to foods. Although double-blind placebo-controlled food challenges remain the gold standard to confirm food allergy, the CD63-based BAT with recombinant allergens may supplement routine tests for allergy diagnosis.
Transient ischemic attack--proposal for a new definition.

The definition of transient ischemic attack (TIA) and the assumptions underlying the definition have been out of date for some time and are no longer consistent with current concepts of brain ischemia. The classic definition of TIA is a sudden, focal neurologic deficit that lasts for less than 24 hours, is presumed to be of vascular origin, and is confined to an area of the brain or eye perfused by a specific artery. Typical symptoms include hemiparesis, hemiparesthesia, dysarthria, dysphasia, diplopia, circumoral numbness, imbalance, and monocular blindness. TIAs are often referred to as ministrokes, warning strokes, or transient strokes because .
Influence of Intrachannel Crosstalk With Frequency Dependence on Signal Degradation in Optical Switch Network

In this paper, we show the influence of intrachannel crosstalk in an optical switch network. The intrachannel crosstalk is mainly due to a signal that is not sufficiently blocked by the optical switch. The signal has a broadband spectrum and causes coherent crosstalk at the optical switching node. We investigate analytically the relationship between the channel isolation of the optical switching node that the optical switch network comprises and the crosstalk penalty due to the broadband signal. We confirm experimentally that the relationship is suited to the optical switch network that emulates an optical cross-connect system. We also show experimentally that it is important to use the optical switch with a high channel isolation level in the entire range of the signal bandwidth in order to suppress the impairment due to the crosstalk. We confirm that in a 50-GHz spaced system, a 44-Gb/s return-to-zero differential quadrature phase-shift-keying signal is sufficiently transmitted without a crosstalk penalty through 24 optical switching nodes, comprising wavelength selective filters with a high channel isolation level in the entire range of the signal bandwidth.
Variations in sex hormone metabolism genes, postmenopausal hormone therapy and risk of endometrial cancer

We investigated whether variants in sex steroid hormone metabolism genes modify the effect of hormone therapy (HT) on endometrial cancer risk in postmenopausal non‐Hispanic white women. A nested case–control study was conducted within the California Teachers Study (CTS). We genotyped htSNPs in six genes involved in the hormone metabolism in 286 endometrial cancer cases and 488 controls. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated for each haplotype using unconditional logistic regression, adjusting for age. The strongest interaction was observed between duration of estrogen therapy (ET) use and haplotype 1A in CYP11A1 (pinteraction = 0.0027; pinteraction = 0.010 after correcting for multiple testing within each gene). The OR for endometrial cancer per copy of haplotype 1A was 2.00 (95% CI: 1.05–3.96) for long‐term ET users and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.69–1.18) for never users. The most significant interaction with estrogen‐progestin therapy (EPT) was found for two haplotypes on CYP19A1 and EPT use (haplotype 4A, pinteraction = 0.024 and haplotype 3B, pinteraction = 0.043). However, neither this interaction, nor the ET or EPT interactions for any other genes, was statistically significant after correction for multiple testing. Variations in CYP11A1 may modify the effect of ET use on risk of postmenopausal endometrial cancer; however, larger studies are needed to explore these findings further.
Estimating prognosis in heart failure: time for a better approach

More research is needed into estimating risk in heart failure and in communicating prognostic information to patients Estimating prognosis is endorsed by recent clinical guidelines as a key element of the management of heart failure.1,2 How this is to be done is less clear. Heart failure follows a variable clinical course, and as many as one half of patients will die suddenly rather than dying of progressive heart failure.3 The predictability of death may therefore be lower than in other conditions. The challenge of identifying clinical variables consistently associated with mortality has been summarised by Cowburn and colleagues.4 Many of the published studies are small, and include highly selected patient populations, with different variables recorded in each dataset. Differences in the way measurements are made—for example, in the assessment of left ventricular systolic function—and the close correlation between many variables add further complexity. Also, it should not be assumed that the same variables will be associated with mortality in the early phases of heart failure as well as in the later phases. The recent rise in the use of β blockade may make the conclusions drawn from earlier studies less relevant to modern practice. From the statistical viewpoint, the methodology of how best to use available data and to validate the derived risk equations is rapidly evolving.5,6 Writing in this issue of Heart …
Evaluation of Listeria spp. and Listeria monocytogenes in selected vegetable farms

The aim of the study was to examine the prevalence of Listeria spp. and Listeria monocytogenes in soil, poultry manure, irrigation water, and freshly harvested vegetables from three vegetable farms in Cameron Highlands. A total of 177 samples including environmental and vegetable samples were collected. Among the environmental samples (n = 94), poultry manure was found to have a higher prevalence of Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes at 77.8% and 61.1% respectively using the MPN-PCR analysis procedure. Soil samples were also found to harbour Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes at 47.6% and 38.1% respectively. Irrigation water sampled from the farms were found to be free from Listeria spp. Both Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes were also detected in 24% and 12% of swabs done at the three farms respectively. Among the freshly harvested vegetables, Listeria spp. was detected in cabbages (30%), cucumber (20%), yardlong beans (10%) and carrots (10%) whereas L. monocytogenes was detected in cabbages (10%), yardlong beans (10%) and carrots (10%) using the MPN-PCR analysis procedure. The present results signify that Listeria spp. poses a potential risk for raw vegetable consumption in Malaysia. The study also provides baseline data on Listeria spp. contamination at farm level.