Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rapid diagnosis of influenza A infection by direct immunofluorescence of nasopharyngeal aspirates in adults

The efficacy for direct immunofluorescence of a commercial conjugate for influenza A virus prepared against whole A/Udorn (H3NS) virus was studied. The conjugate was specific for influenza A virus, but its sensitivity varied depending upon the strain of influenza A tested. Nasopharyngeal aspirates collected from 25 patients during an outbreak of influenza were examined for viral antigen with the conjugates and inoculated onto monkey kidney (MK) cells for virus isolation. Fifteen patients had isolates for influenza A/USSR/90/77 (H1N1); nasopharyngeal secretions were fluorescent antibody positive in 12. Fluorescent antibody was copositive with culture in 11/15 patients (73.3%) and conegative in 9/10 (90%). The one fluorescent antibody-positive, culture-negative patient had negative serology for influenza A and the fluorescent antibody result was considered to be a false positive. At a 1:10 dilution, the conjugate stained nasopharyngeal and MK cells infected with A/USSR (H1N1) 2 to 3+, whereas cells infected with H3N2 virus stained 4+. A conjugate made specifically against the ribonucleoprotein antigen, which is universal to all influenza A strains, may improve the sensitivity of the direct immunofluorescent test.
An enzyme method of clearing and staining small vertebrates

Cleared (transparent) and stained specimens are used widely for osteological studies of vertebrates. Many such specimens have been prepared by the Schultze method (Schultze, 1897) or modifications of that method (Davis and Gore, 1947; Evans, 1948; Hollister, 1934; Jensh and Brent, 1966). The Schultze method and its modifications chiefly involve tissue maceration in solutions of potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide, staining the bones to give them maxunum visibility, and immersion of the specmien in a liquid with an index of refraction similar to that of the cleared tissues. The method is successful when it is used on fresh or newly preserved specimens, but numerous workers have encountered considerable difficulty in producing good transparent specimens by the above methods after specimens have been stored m various preservatives for several years. Such specimens may remain opaque because of dark stains in the flesh or they may swell and the membranes rupture during the clearing process.
Global issues and opportunities for optimized retinoblastoma care

The RB1 gene is important in all human cancers. Studies of human retinoblastoma point to a rare retinal cell with extreme dependency on RB1 for initiation but not progression to full malignancy. In developed countries, genetic testing within affected families can predict children at high risk of retinoblastoma before birth; chemotherapy with local therapy often saves eyes and vision; and mortality is 4%. In less developed countries where 92% of children with retinoblastoma are born, mortality reaches 90%. Global collaboration is building for the dramatic change in mortality that awareness, simple expertise and therapies could achieve in less developed countries. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2007;49:1083–1090. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Recycling of Vitamin C by a Bystander Effect*

Human cells transport dehydroascorbic acid through facilitative glucose transporters, in apparent contradiction with evidence indicating that vitamin C is present in human blood only as ascorbic acid. On the other hand, activated host defense cells undergoing the oxidative burst show increased vitamin C accumulation. We analyzed the role of the oxidative burst and the glucose transporters on vitamin C recycling in an in vitro system consisting of activated host-defense cells co-cultured with human cell lines and primary cells. We asked whether human cells can acquire vitamin C by a “bystander effect” by taking up dehydroascorbic acid generated from extracellular ascorbic acid by neighboring cells undergoing the oxidative burst. As activated cells, we used HL-60 neutrophils and normal human neutrophils activated with phorbol 12 myristate 13-acetate. As bystander cells, we used immortalized cell lines and primary cultures of human epithelial and endothelial cells. Activated cells produced superoxide anions that oxidized extracellular ascorbic acid to dehydroascorbic acid. At the same time, there was a marked increase in vitamin C uptake by the bystander cells that was blocked by superoxide dismutase but not by catalase and was inhibited by the glucose transporter inhibitor cytochalasin B. Only ascorbic acid was accumulated intracellularly by the bystander cells. Glucose partially blocked vitamin C uptake by the bystander cells, although it increased superoxide production by the activated cells. We conclude that the local production of superoxide anions by activated cells causes the oxidation of extracellular ascorbic acid to dehydroascorbic acid, which is then transported by neighboring cells through the glucose transporters and immediately reduced to ascorbic acid intracellularly. In addition to causing increased intracellular concentrations of ascorbic acid with likely associated enhanced antioxidant defense mechanisms, the bystander effect may allow the recycling of vitamin C in vivo, which may contribute to the low daily requirements of the vitamin in humans.
Of figures and types: brokering knowledge and migration in Indonesia and beyond

This paper takes the broker as an entry-point for considering the problem of exemplification in anthropology. In particular, it approaches this problem by way of the relationship between figure and type, or between example and theoretical exemplar. While the figure is contingent on a specific socio-historical context, the type consciously accentuates particular characteristics in order to form the basis for comparison. More specifically, the paper approaches this relationship by considering the broker as type in relation to two specific figures in the current regime of transnational Indonesian migration, namely the NGO outreach worker and the informal labour recruiter, both identified as field agents', or petugas lapangan, in Indonesia. By way of juxtaposition the paper discusses the oscillation between figure and type in order to consider biases in the anthropological literature on brokers - most notably that the the broker is inherently amoral if not immoral - while suggesting that the broker is an exemplary methodological starting-point for contemporary anthropology. Figures et types : negocier savoir et migrations en Indonesie et au-delaResumeL'article fait du courtier un point d'entree pour examiner le probleme de la creation d'exemples en anthropologie. Plus precisement, il aborde ce probleme par le biais de la relation entre figure et type ou entre exemple et exemplaire theorique. Alors que la figure est inscrite dans un contexte sociohistorique donne, le type accentue consciemment des caracteristiques particulieres afin de constituer la base de la comparaison. Plus precisement, l'article aborde cette relation en examinant le courtier comme un type en relation avec deux figures specifiques du regime actuel de migrations transnationales des Indonesiens: l'envoye en mission sur le terrain des ONG et le recruteur de main-d'OEuvre informel, appeles tous deux > ou petugas lapangan en Indonesie. Par juxtaposition, l'auteur examine, par une discussion de l'oscillation entre figure et type, les biais de la litterature anthropologique sur le courtier (en particulier le fait qu'il serait, par essence, amoral sinon immoral), tout en suggerant que celui-ci constitue un point de depart methodologique exemplaire pour l'anthropologie contemporaine. Keywords: Human trafficking Language: en
A NEW METHOD FOR OBTAINING NUCLEAR GENE SEQUENCES FROM FIELD SAMPLES AND TAXONOMIC REVISIONS OF THE PHOTOSYNTHETIC EUGLENOIDS LEPOCINCLIS (EUGLENA) HELICOIDEUS AND LEPOCINCLIS (PHACUS) HORRIDUS (EUGLENOPHYTA) 1

One of the foremost issues in the field of algal taxonomy is the inability to acquire, grow, and sequence new taxa. This problem is particularly true in the study of photosynthetic euglenoids where most of the distinct taxa in culture collections have been sequenced, and many other taxa of interest have been resistant to culturing, and thus, sequencing. In an effort to address this problem, we have utilized a new technique, novel to the field of taxonomy, which allows for the sequencing of nuclear genes from a very small number of cells. Through this procedure, a DNA extraction followed by a multiple displacement amplification (MDA), taxa obtained by field collection had their genomic DNA (gDNA) amplified many fold to microgram quantities. The DNA was then used as template DNA for PCR reactions, and multiple nuclear genes were amplified successfully from several different taxa. By applying this procedure, we were able to shed new light on taxa that have been historically difficult to classify, resulting in the assignment of Euglena helicoideus (C. Bernard) M. S. Benn. et Triemer and Phacus horridus (Pochm.) M. S. Benn. et Triemer to the genus Lepocinclis.
Normal and reactive NG2+ glial cells are distinct from resting and activated microglia

We have previously used antibodies to the NG2 proteoglycan and the alpha receptor for platelet‐derived growth factor (PDGF α receptor) to identify oligodendroglial progenitor cells in vivo and in vitro. It has recently become evident that the GD3 antigen, which has been widely used as a marker for oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, is also expressed by microglial cells. In this study we have examined the relationship between the NG2+/PDGF α receptor+ glial progenitor cells and microglial cells in normal developing and mature rat brain and in inflammatory lesions in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Double‐labeling of sections from normal rat brain using anti‐NG2 antibodies and lectin from Griffonia simplicifolia (GSA I‐B4) or monoclonal antibody 4H1 indicated that there is no overlap between NG2+ glial progenitor cells and microglia in the parenchyma of the central nervous system. In EAE lesions, both NG2+ cells and microglia, identified by antibodies to F4/80 and CD45, displayed reactive changes characterized by increased cell number and staining intensity and shortening and thickening of cell processes. Both cell types were found surrounding perivascular infiltrates of lymphocytes. Double‐labeling EAE sections for NG2 and F4/80 or CD45 failed to reveal cells that co‐expressed both antigens, suggesting that reactive NG2+ cells are distinct from activated microglia. However, a close spatial relationship between NG2+ cells and microglia was observed in the normal brain and to a greater extent in EAE, where processes of an activated microglial cell were sometimes seen to encircle an NG2+ cell. These observations are indicative of a functional interaction between microglia and the NG2+ glial cells. J. Neurosci. Res. 48:299–312, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
HORMONAL DYNAMICS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MENOPAUSE

The current understanding of androgen estrogenand gonadotropin metabolism in menopausal women is reviewed. In young women the principal ovarian androgen is androstenedione (mean concentration 1500 pg/ml; range 500-3000 pg/ml; and production rate 3 mg in 24 hours). During the menstrual cycle its concentration is 15% higher at midcycle. Increased ovarian secretion is thought to cause this increase. In blood androstenedione is bound loosely to albumin and minimally to sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). The circulating level of testosterone ranges from 200 to 600 pg/ml. Its mean concentration is 20% higher at midcycle. Testosterone is bound extensively to globulin. The average production rate of testosterone is 250 mcg in 24 hours. Of circulating androstenedione 14% is converted to testosterone accounting for 50% of circulating testosterone. After ovariectomy androstenedione of adrenal origin accounts for most of the testosterone. The remainder is the result of direct adrenal secretion of testosterone. In normal postmenopausal women the mean androstenedione concentration is half the concentration found in intact premenopausal women and is similar to that in younger patients after ovariectomy. The clearance rate is the same in older and in younger women. In postmenopausal women ovariectomy results in a small but significant decrease in circulating androstenedione. The adrenal glands secrete comparable amounts of androstenedione before and after the menopause. For testosterone the mean concentration is lower in postmenopausal women but higher than after ovariectomy in young women. The clearance rate does not change. In young women the principal circulating estrogen is 17beta-estradiol. Its level fluctuates widely during each cycle with the highest level prior to ovulation. Estradiol is also bound to SHGB. The production rate varies greatly during each cycle. Most estradiol is secreted by the ovary. Postmenopausal estradiol levels are low and the clearance level is reduced. Estrone levels vary during the menstrual cycle. It is not bound to the SHGB. The metabolic clearance rate is rapid and the production rate changes during the cycle. In postmenopausal women the clearance rate of estrone is lower. The source is then from the peripheral conversion of androstenedione. In postmenopausal women with endometrial cancer or endometrial hyperplasia excessive conversion has been shown with increased estrone production. In cancer patients excessive body weight seemed to be a factor in increasing circulating levels of these hormones. As women approach the menopause follicle stimulating hormone levels rise while luteinizing hormone (LH) levels tend to remain the same. In postmenopausal women both levels are significantly elevated. Marked pulsatile variations in gonadotropin release have been observed. Low estrogen levels are thought to cause increased responsiveness of the pituitary to LH-releasing factor. Endometrial cancer patients may have different gonadotropin activity.
Studies on copper metabolism. VI. Blood copper in normal human subjects.

copper content of whole blood and plasma in the normal human subject (2-11). Cartwright (12) has recently reviewed this literature in detail. A simple and accurate method for the determination of copper in whole blood, plasma and red blood cells has been developed in our laboratory recently (13). In view of the inadequate available data concerning certain aspects of copper metabolism in the human subject to which reference will be made later, and the disagreement regarding other aspects, it was considered worthwhile to undertake
Oral Historiography and the Shirazi of the East African Coast

“Settlements of foreign, predominantly Semitic, peoples” Strandes' gambit concerning ‘Muslim Civilization’ of the east coast of Africa is a familiar one to many Africanists. Persians and Arabs, so the stories go, settled coastal sites as part of the Islamic diaspora; they vanquished less virile African societies; they built cities which were reflections of Middle Eastern prototypes; they imposed their religion; and, they ‘founded’ coastal civilization, a civilization, therefore, which was characteristically Middle Eastern. Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historians cannot be entirely blamed for holding such simplistic views. After all, the traditions themselves at least imply some of these things. And, given the literalist and diffusionist nature of past anthropological and historical theory, simple and biased interpretations of these traditions are not surprising. What is perhaps remarkable, given the developments in anthropological theory since the 1940s, is the persistence of such views in some quarters. Examples include portions of two recently published papers by Saad and Wilkinson. Both deal wholly or in part with the most intriguing of the coastal origin traditions, the stories which tell how many coastal towns were originally settled by immigrants who came from Shiraz or Persia (see appendix). Their interpretations are so literal as to link the Shirazi name not merely with a particular dynasty, but with a specific family or kin group which ruled in pre-fourteenth-century Kilwa.
Interlayer asymmetry gap in the electronic band structure of bilayer graphene

The low‐energy electronic band structure of bilayer graphene consists of four bands: a pair of bands split from zero energy by the interlayer coupling and a pair of bands which touch at zero energy in a nominally undoped system. The latter support massive, chiral quasiparticles with a parabolic dispersion and Berry phase 2π. Asymmetry between the potential energies of the layers opens a tuneable gap between the conduction and valence bands. A self‐consistent Hartree approximation is used to model the control of such an interlayer asymmetry gap induced by a transverse electric field in a graphene‐based field‐effect transistor. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Two Functionally Distinct Forms of a Retroviral Receptor Explain the Nonreciprocal Receptor Interference among Subgroups B, D, and E Avian Leukosis Viruses

ABSTRACT Subgroups B, D, and E avian leukosis viruses (ALV-B, -D, and -E) share the same chicken receptor, TVBS1, a tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR)-related protein. These viruses, however, exhibit nonreciprocal receptor interference (NRI): cells preinfected with ALV-B or ALV-D are resistant to superinfection by viruses of all three subgroups, whereas those pre-infected by ALV-E are resistant only to superinfection by other subgroup E viruses. In this study, we investigated the basis of this phenomenon by characterizing the interaction of TVBS1 with ALV-B Env or ALV-E Env. Sequential immunoprecipitation analysis using surface envelope immunoglobulin fusion proteins revealed the existence of two separate types of TVBS1 that are encoded by the same cDNA clone. One form, designated the type 1 receptor, is specific for ALV-B and ALV-E. The other form, the type 2 receptor, is specific for ALV-B. We show that a protein consisting of only the first and second extracellular cysteine-rich domains of TVBS1 is capable of forming both receptor types. However, the third extracellular cysteine-rich domain is required for efficient formation of the type 1 receptor. We also demonstrate that heterogeneous N-linked glycosylation cannot explain the difference in activities of the two receptor types. The existence of two types of TVBS1 explains the NRI pattern between ALV-B and -E: subgroup B viruses establish receptor interference with both receptor types, whereas subgroup E viruses interfere only with the type 1 receptor, leaving the type 2 receptor available to mediate subsequent rounds of ALV-B entry. The formation of a TVB receptor type that is specific for cytopathic ALV may also have important implications for understanding how some subgroups of ALV cause cell death.
Climate Variability and Migration: Evidence from Tanzania

We analyze whether Tanzanian households engage in internal migration as a response to weather-related shocks. Our findings confirm that climate shocks lead to a higher probability of migration by reducing agricultural yields, which in turn induces households to send their members away in order to spatially diversify their income. This effect is, however, low, since a 1% reduction in agricultural income induced by weather shock increases the probability of migration by 3% for an average household. What is more, such mechanism is valid only for households whose income is highly dependent on agriculture, but is not significant for diversified livelihoods.
Hypersensitivity of platelets to adenosine diphosphate in patients with stable cardiovascular disease predicts major adverse events despite antiplatelet therapy

Enhanced platelet activity correlates with early markers of myocardial damage in patients with cardiovascular disease. However, the extent to which enhanced platelet function signals subsequent adverse clinical outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease is unknown. Blood from patients with stable cardiovascular disease receiving aspirin (325 mg/day) as the only antiplatelet therapy was tested for closure time (CT) with the Dade® PFA-100® Platelet Function Analyzer system collagen/adenosine diphosphate (ADP) [CADP] cartridge and platelet aggregometry using 10 µM ADP. This study intentionally focused on those patients defined as aspirin sensitive by previously established criteria of arachidonic acid- and ADP-induced platelet aggregometry, and separately by collagen/epinephrine (CEPI) CT using the PFA-100®. Follow up averaged 22 months for the adverse clinical events of death, myocardial infarction or cerebrovascular accident. For aspirin sensitivity determined by aggregometry, patients with CADP CT < 90 seconds (125/296 = 42.2%) had a composite endpoint rate of 19.2% (24/125), while those with CADP CT ≥90 seconds (171/296 = 57.8%) had an endpoint rate of 5.3% (9/171). Patients with CADP CT <90 seconds had a relative risk (RR) of 3.65 (95% CI.: 1.76–7.57) for recurrent events and 6.56 (95% CI.: 1.93–22.35) for death compared to patients with CADP CT ≥ 90s. Nearly identical results were obtained when patients were categorized as aspirin sensitive by CEPI CT. Platelet aggregometry with 10 µM ADP yielded no significant RR for the selected outcomes. Platelet function testing using the PFA-100® system appears to identify a subgroup of stable cardiovascular disease patients with increased risk of major adverse events that is associated with hypersensitivity to ADP, regardless of apparently effective aspirin therapy.
LA IMPLEMENTACIÓN DEL PROYECTO AULAS DE INMERSIÓN, DE LA SECRETARÍA DE EDUCACIÓN DE BOGOTÁ

Este trabajo de investigacion pretende ofrecer una perspectiva sobre las posibles nuevas orientaciones para la implementacion de la politica publica para la educacion y su relacion con las necesidades del individuo, en un contexto marcado por la competencia y la globalizacion. Partiendo de analizar la implementacion de un proyecto enfocado en bilinguismo, revisa factores como la colaboracion organizacional, la confianza, la capacidad de adaptacion y flexibilidad y los patrones relacionales existentes entre la sociedad civil y las instituciones. De igual manera, expone resultados sobre la construccion de la experiencia educativa en el aula a traves de principios como la diversidad, la multiculturalidad y el animo por motivar un pensamiento que trascienda lo local. A manera particular, este trabajo sugiere una forma de construccion de capital social basada, ademas de en la confianza, en la afinidad de valores y en el encuentro por objetivos comunes de contribucion.
Prenatal diagnosis of mosaicism for partial trisomy 8: a case report including fetal pathology

A case of prenatally diagnosed partial trisomy 8 is described. The ‘syndrome’ is associated with skeletal and cardiac anomalies, as well as hepatic calcification. Differing proportions of 47,XY,+der(8) and 46 XY were present in the different fetal tissues sampled. The highest proportion of 47,XY,+der(8) cells was found in the placenta. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
QoS-Centric Collision Window Shaping for CSMA-CA MAC Protocol

Collision Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) has been preferred to Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) as medium access scheme for Wireless Multimedia Sensor Network (WMSN) in the scenarios where the traffic is bursty in nature and multiple consecutive and contiguous packets generated from the same collision neighborhood need to be sent. Protocols based on nonuniform probability distribution do not perform well in high contention and heterogeneous traffic scenarios due to nonadaptive nature to contention neighborhood. In this paper we have proposed a scheme to adapt the Contention Window (CW) size according to the collision neighborhood population complying with the application specific latency and success probability constraints. This scheme shows improved performance compared with SIFT, a stereotype of non-uniform probability based CSMA protocol and can be deployed with any CSMA-CA (CSMA with Collision Avoidance) based backoff algorithm.