Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A thyroid model describing kinetics of exchange, concentrating, and organic binding of iodide.

IN MODELS describing the kinetics of accumulation of radioiodine by thyroid tissue it has been assumed that the equilibration of radioiodide between blood and thyroid tissue is instantaneous (Myant, Pochin and-Goldie, 1949; Oddie, 1949; Brownell, 1951; Riggs, 1952; Wollman, 1953). However, recent measurements show that the equilibration is not instantaneous in the mouse (Wollman and Scow, 1953). In addition, the following simple calculation shows that the equilibration must be expected to take an appreciable length of time if the ratio of the radioiodide concentrations in thyroid gland and serum (T/S ratio) is large. The T/S ratio has been found to be approximately 250 in the normal mouse (Wollman and Scow, 1953). This implies that at equilibrium the radioiodide content of the thyroid is 250 times that of an equal volume of serum or (approximately) blood.2 If one assumes that the radioiodide concentration in the blood of the mouse is held constant after injection
Inferential Role Semantics for Natural Language

Cognitive models have long been used to study linguistic phenomena spanning the domains of phonology, syntax, and semantics. Of these domains, semantics is somewhat unique in that there is little clarity concerning what a model needs to be able to do in order to provide an account of how the meanings of complex linguistic expressions, such as sentences, are understood. To help address this problem, we introduce a treestructured neural model that is trained to generate further sentences that follow from an input sentence. These further sentences chart out the “inferential role” of the input sentence, which we argue constitutes an important part of its meaning. The model is trained using the Stanford Natural Language Inference (SNLI) dataset, and to evaluate its performance, we report entailment prediction accuracies on a set of test sentences not present in the training data. We also report the results of a simple study that compares human plausibility ratings for both ground-truth and model-generated entailments for a random selection of sentences in this test set. Finally, we examine a number of qualitative features of the model’s ability to generalize. Taken together, these analyses indicate that our model is able to accurately account for important inferential relationships amongst linguistic expressions.
Subtelomeric expression regions of Borrelia hermsii linear plasmids are highly polymorphic

Borrelia hermsii, a relapsing fever agent, undergoes multiphasic antigenic variation to evade its host's immune response. Serotype specificity is determined by variable membrane lipoproteins, Vmps, which are expressed from genes located near the end of a linear plasmid. Using the polymerase chain reaction and primers representing the promoter of the active vmp and a conserved telomeric sequence, we characterized the subtelomeric expression regions of the 25 known serotypes of strain HS1. The distance from the promoter to the telomere fell into three size classes of approximately 1.0, 1.5, and 2.5 kilobases. In the sequenced serotypes the size differences were accounted for by variable lengths of the vmp genes and intervening sequences between 3’end of the vmp gene and the start of a downstream homology block. The degree of nucleotide identity between different vmp genes, or between the different 3’flanking DNA varied from 39‐78%. Thus, there is length and sequence variability not only between vmp genes themselves but also between the 3’flanking regions of vmp genes.
Invariance and reliability in statístical shape models

La presente tesis se centra en la aplicacion de metodos estadisticos al modelado y analisis facial. A partir del paradigma de losmodelos de forma y apariencia, introducidos en la ultima decada, se proponen extensiones algoritmicas que permiten mejorar suconfianbilidad y su invarianza a distintos tipos de rotaciones. Dichas extensiones se plantean de forma generica, tal que los modelosconserven su relevancia original en otros ambitos de aplicacion.La validacion experimental de las tecnicas propuestas se ha realizado en tomo al analisis facial. Este campo ha cobrado especialrelevancia en los ultimos anos, con un importante crecimiento de su mercado a nivel internacional. Uno de los hechos masdestacables es la reciente adopcion de biometria facial como tecnologia de base en los nuevos pasaportes, relegando asi a un segundoplano a otras modalidades como la basada en las huellas dactilares y en el iris, a pesar de ofrecer estas ultimas menores tasas deerror. Siendo la forma natural de identificacion en el ser humano, el reconocimiento facial se ha visto favorecido por ser percibidocomo menos intrusivo que otras modalidades y por ofrecer, en teoria, la posibilidad de operar sin necesidad de colaboracion de lapersona a identificar.En el Capitulo 1 se hace una breve introduccion a la biometria y se describen los componentes basicos de un sistema automatico dereconocimiento facial, contextualizando asi los modelos de forma y apariencia. Concretamente, los modelos activos de forma (ASMpor sus siglas en ingles) constituyen el principal componente metodologico de esta tesis y su teoria se introduce someramente en elCapitulo 2.Los ASM permiten la segmentacion y analisis automatico de imagenes a traves de un metodo generativo. Introducidos en 1992 (porT. Cootes et al.), han dado lugar a numerosas publicaciones centradas en la aplicacion de los ASM a diversos tipos de imagenes,entre las cuales las imagenes medicas y faciales han sido las
A DNA-binding protein factor recognizes two binding domains within the octopine synthase enhancer element.

A protein that binds to the enhancing element of the octopine synthase gene has been identified in nuclear extracts from maize cell suspension cultures. Two protein-DNA complexes are distinguishable by electrophoretic mobility in gel retardation assays. Footprint analyses of these low and high molecular weight complexes show, respectively, half and complete protection of the ocs-element DNA from cleavage by methidiumpropyl-EDTA.FE(II). Two lines of evidence indicate that the element has two recognition sites, each of which can bind identical protein units. Elements that are mutated in one or the other half and form only the low molecular weight complex interfere with the formation of both the low and high molecular weight complexes by the wild-type element. Protein isolated from a complex with only one binding site occupied can bind to the wild-type ocs-element and generate complexes with protein occupying one or both binding sites. Occupation of both sites of the ocs-element is a prerequisite for transcriptional enhancement.
Effect of chicken antibodies on inflammation in human lung epithelial cell lines.

OBJECTIVES As an alternative therapeutic approach for the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections with P. aeruginosa of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, chicken yolk antibodies (IgY) could be used. The most significant advantage of IgY, in contrast to mammalian IgG, consists in the fact, that when bound to the antigen, they usually do not induce inflammatory reaction. In addition, the simplicity of egg production and the ease of IgY preparation makes this kind of antibody an excellent tool for passive immunization. Thus, the aim of our project was to study the effect of IgY and its Fab fragment on the potential induction of pro-inflammatory reactions in lung epithelial cells. METHODS Chicken IgY were prepared from pooled egg yolks. Fab fragmens of IgY were purified from the papain digest of IgY using DEAE-Sephacel ion exchange chromatography. Their purity was verified by SDS electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel. Immortalized human cell lines, CuFi (CF patient) and NuLi (healthy subject), and A549 (human adenocarcinoma cells) were exposed to IgY, Fab, OVA, LPS (positive control), PBS (negative control), and human and goat IgG for 24 hours. The concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and GM-CSF were determined in cell media using the BioPlex method, which enables the quantification of multiple analytes simultaneously in one sample. RESULTS Our results show that i) the Fab fragment induced levels of some proinflammatory cytokines, when compared to the PBS control, whereas ii) chicken IgYs did not induce any notable production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in contrast to intense effect of LPS on TNF-α and GM-CSF. In summary, our data show that levels of all cytokines are comparable with physiological values in human serum except of IL-1β, which concentration in cell medium was markedly elevated by Fab fragment. CONCLUSIONS The present data indicate that IgY are not inflammatory for lung cells and thus they are possibly applicable for prevention of airway bacterial infections.
Fitness Profiling of Elite Level Adolescent Gaelic Football Players

Abstract Cullen, BD, Cregg, CJ, Kelly, DT, Hughes, SM, Daly, PG, and Moyna, NM. Fitness profiling of elite level adolescent Gaelic football players. J Strength Cond Res 27(8): 2096–2103, 2013—The purpose of this study was to evaluate the anthropometric characteristics and fitness levels of elite level under 18 (U-18) Gaelic football players to establish normative centile scores for selected fitness parameters and to compare the physical and fitness characteristics relative to each playing position. A total of 265 male U-18 Gaelic football players (age: 16.96 ± 0.7 years; height: 178.11 ± 6.27 cm; weight: 72.07 ± 8.68 kg) participated in the study. According to positional roles, players were categorized as goalkeepers (n = 13), defenders (n = 113), midfielders (n = 30), and forwards (n = 109). Height and weight were measured, and skinfolds were taken before participants sequentially performed a sit and reach test (S&R), countermovement jump (CMJ), standing long jump (SLJ), 5- and 20-m speed test, and the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1 (YYIRT1). The percentage body fat was higher (p < 0.01) in goalkeepers than the other playing positions. Goalkeepers had a higher body mass index than defenders (p < 0.05) and forwards (p < 0.01). Midfielders and goalkeepers were taller (p < 0.01) and heavier (p < 0.01) than defenders and forwards. The total distance covered in the YYIRT1 was significantly lower (p < 0.01) in goalkeepers than the other playing positions. There was no significant positional difference in the performance scores in the S&R test, CMJ, SLJ, and 5- and 20-m running speed. The study findings indicate minimal differences in the anthropometric and physiological characteristics between playing positions in elite youth level Gaelic football players. The norm-referenced percentile scores will enable conditioning coaches to benchmark elite performance and design training programs.
“What She Told Us Made the world of Difference”: Carers’ Perspectives on A Hospice at Home Service

This paper explores the expectations and needs of current and bereaved carers whose relatives received care at home from a palliative care team. Aim: A hospice at home service was established in 2006 to provide patients with care in their own homes. We examined whether this model of care was helpful in mitigating carers’ burden and in enabling terminally ill patients to be cared for and die at home. Methods: This study utilized a survey and interviews. Participants were carers in the midwest of Ireland. Survey responses from 122 carers were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 (SPSS Inc., 2009); interviews with 15 carers were also conducted. Results: Carers’ expectations of the service were often exceeded, and quality of care dimensions were rated highly. Future improvements could include facilitating discussions on place of death and offering bereavement support. Conclusion: The service is supporting carers in facilitating their relatives’ choice to die at home.
Overtreatment of young adults with colon cancer: more intense treatments with unmatched survival gains.

IMPORTANCE Colon cancer is increasing among adults younger than 50 years. However, the prognosis of young-onset colon cancer remains poorly defined given significant age-related demographic, disease, and treatment differences. OBJECTIVE To define stage-specific treatments and prognosis of colon cancer diagnosed in young adults (ages 18-49 years) vs older adults (ages 65-75 years) outside of the clinical trial setting while accounting for real-world age-related variations in patient, tumor, and treatment factors. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A nationwide cohort study was conducted among US hospitals accredited by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. Participants were 13 102 patients diagnosed as having young-onset colon adenocarcinoma aged 18 to 49 years and 37 007 patients diagnosed as having later-onset colon adenocarcinoma aged 65 to 75 years treated between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2005, and reported to the National Cancer Data Base. EXPOSURES Patients who underwent surgical resection and postoperative systemic chemotherapy of curative intent. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary end point was stage-specific relative survival, an objective measure of survival among patients with cancer, adjusting for baseline mortality rates and independent of the data on cause of death. The secondary end point was stage-specific likelihood of receiving postoperative systemic chemotherapy. RESULTS Most young-onset colon cancer was initially seen at advanced stages (61.8% had stage III or IV). After adjusting for patient-related and tumor-related factors, young patients were more likely to receive systemic chemotherapy, particularly multiagent regimens, at all stages relative to those with later-onset disease. These odds ratios were 2.88 (95% CI, 2.21-3.77) for stage I, 3.93 (95% CI, 3.58-4.31) for stage II, 2.42 (95% CI, 2.18-2.68) for stage III, and 2.74 (95% CI, 2.44-3.07) for stage IV. The significantly more intense treatments received by younger patients were unmatched by any survival gain, which was nil for stage II (relative risk, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.69-1.17) and marginal for stage III (relative risk, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.81-0.97) and stage IV (relative risk, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.79-0.90). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Young adults with colon cancer received significantly more postoperative systemic chemotherapy at all stages, but they experienced only minimal gain in adjusted survival compared with their older counterparts who received less treatment. This mismatch suggests that attention should be given to long-term cancer survivorship in young adults with colon cancer because they likely face survivorship needs that are distinct from those of their older counterparts.
From T‐tubule to sarcolemma: damage‐induced dysferlin translocation in early myogenesis

The dysferlin gene is mutated in limb‐girdle muscular dystrophy type 2B, Miyoshi myopathy, and distal anterior compartment myopathy. In mature skeletal muscle, dysferlin is located predominantly at the sarcolemma, where it plays a role in membrane fusion and repair. To investigate the role of dysferlin during early muscle differentiation, its localization was studied at high resolution in a muscle cell line. This demonstrated that dysferlin is not expressed at the plasmalemma of myotubes but mostly localizes to the T‐tubule network. However, dysferlin translocated to the site of injury and toward the plasma membrane in a Ca2+‐dependent fashion in response to a newly designed in vitro wounding assay. This reaction was specific to the full‐length protein, as heterologously expressed deletion mutants of distinct C2 domains of dysferlin did not show this response. These results shed light on the dynamics of muscle membrane repair and are highly indicative of a specific role of dysferlin in this process in early myogenesis. —Klinge, L. , Laval, S. , Keers, S. , Haldane, F. , Straub, V. , Barresi, R. , Bushby, K. From T‐tubule to sarcolemma: damage‐induced dys‐ferlin translocation in early myogenesis. FASEB J. 21, 1768–1776 (2007)
Estimates of Classification Complexity for Myoelectric Pattern Recognition

Myoelectric pattern recognition (MPR) can be used for intuitive control of virtual and robotic effectors in clinical applications such as prosthetic limbs and the treatment of phantom limb pain. The conventional approach is to feed classifiers with descriptive electromyographic (EMG) features that represent the aimed movements. The complexity and consequently classification accuracy of MPR is highly affected by the separability of such features. In this study, classification complexity estimating algorithms were investigated as a potential tool to estimate MPR performance. An early prediction of MPR accuracy could inform the user of faulty data acquisition, as well as suggest the repetition or elimination of detrimental movements in the repository of classes. Two such algorithms, Nearest Neighbor Separability (NNS) and Separability Index (SI), were found to be highly correlated with classification accuracy in three commonly used classifiers for MPR (Linear Discriminant Analysis, Multi-Layer Perceptron, and Support Vector Machine). These Classification Complexity Estimating Algorithms (CCEAs) were implemented in the open source software BioPatRec and are available freely online. This work deepens the understanding of the complexity of MPR for the prediction of motor volition.
Fear of Flying: A Case Report Using Virtual Reality Therapy with Physiological Monitoring

Virtual reality therapy has been used to successfully treat specific phobias. To illustrate the physiological differences between a person suffering from a fear of flying and a person without a fear of flying, heart rate, peripheral skin temperature, respiration rate, sweat gland activity, and brain wave activity were measured during a five-minute eyes closed baseline period, a twenty-minute virtual reality flight, and a five-minute eyes closed recovery period. Clear differences were found between the two participants' physiological responses. Four sessions of virtual reality exposure therapy were successsful in reducing physiological arousal for a person with a fear of flying. Self-report measures related to fear and avoidance of flying, as well as absorption ability, hypnotizability, and stress were also given to both participants and scores reflected distinct differences.
Modelling Contemporary Gatekeeping

Gatekeeping theory struggles to describe the rise of algorithms and users as information selectors in digital spaces. Algorithms and users may co-exist as decision-makers and reach high visibility through decentralised gatekeeping mechanisms. Classic gatekeeping theory is no longer adequate in describing contemporary news selection processes online and recent gatekeeping approaches at theory-building are isolated and have not been synthesised in a coherent gatekeeping theory. This theoretical paper addresses this issue and develops a digital gatekeeping model in three steps. First, four gatekeeper archetypes are identified that differ in access, selection criteria and publication choices. Second, gatekeeping frequently involves platforms on which gatekeepers operate. These platforms either apply gatekeeping mechanisms controlled by a central authority or rely on collaborations between many micro-level interactions to publish news. Third, a digital gatekeeping model is derived to model the four gatekeeper archetypes and their selection processes in relation to platforms employing collaborative gatekeeping mechanisms. This proposed digital gatekeeping model extends previous research on gatekeeping by synthesising classic gatekeeping theory with contemporary approaches and by providing a framework for future research on information control and dissemination.
Cardiac resident nestin+ cells participate in reparative vascularisation

The rodent heart contains a population of nestin(+) cells derived from the embryonic neural crest and migrate to the scar after myocardial infarction (MI). The present study tested the hypothesis that intron 2 of the nestin gene drives expression and a subpopulation of nestin(+) cells participate in reparative vascularisation. The directed expression of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) by the second intron of the nestin gene identified GFP/nestin(+) cells intercalated among ventricular myocytes in the heart of normal transgenic mice. Ischemic injury led to the migration of GFP(+) cells to the scar and a subpopulation was detected in CD31/nestin(+) endothelial cells of newly formed blood vessels. The direct contribution to reparative vascularisation provided the impetus to test the hypothesis that increasing the population of nestin(+) cells in the infarcted heart will improve scar healing. Skin‐derived cells isolated from E18 Sprague–Dawley rats grew as spheres, expressed nestin, sox2, neural crest‐related transcriptional genes and a panel of peptide growth factors. Skin‐derived cells transplanted in the non‐infarcted left ventricle of 3‐day post‐MI rats migrated to the peri‐infarct/infarct region and remained engrafted for 21 days. A significantly smaller infarct, increased number of small calibre blood vessels and improved ventricular function were observed in engrafted infarcted rat hearts. Thus, the second intron of the nestin gene drives expression in the mouse heart and a subpopulation of GFP/nestin(+) cells directly participate in reparative vascularisation. Increasing the population of nestin(+) cells via the transplantation of skin‐derived cells represents a potential approach to limit ischemic damage to the heart. J. Cell. Physiol. 228: 1844–1853, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Diffusion Tensor Imaging of the Subcortical Auditory Tract in Subjects with Long-Term Unilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Several indices including axial diffusivity (λII), radial diffusivity (λ·), mean diffusivity, and fractional anisotropy (FA) along the auditory pathway were extracted from diffusion tensor magnetic resonance images in 19 patients with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Two regions of interest were selected bilaterally for evaluation: the lateral lemniscus and inferior colliculus. A significant decrease was observed in FA on the contralateral side in patients with SNHL due to an increase in λII while λ· remained unchanged. Although the orientation of neural fibers along the subcortical auditory pathway appeared to be intact, the reduction in FA and increase in λ· on the contralateral side might be attributed to axonal loss and/or demyelination.
Early Postpartum Sleep and Fatigue for Mothers After Cesarean Delivery Compared With Vaginal Delivery: An Exploratory Study

Objective The purpose of this study was to describe sleep and fatigue during the first week of postpartum recovery, and compare women after cesarean delivery with women after vaginal delivery while their infants were hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods This cross-sectional descriptive exploratory study involved 21 postpartum Chinese American mothers (6 after cesarean delivery and 15 after vaginal delivery). Three types of data were collected: (1) mothers' demographic data; (2) objective sleep that included total sleep time (TST) and wake after sleep onset (WASO) measured using wrist actigraphy, and (3) subjective sleep quality (General Sleep Disturbance Scale) and fatigue severity (Numerical Rating Scale—Fatigue). Results All of the mothers experienced poor sleep while their 3- to 5-day-old infants were in the ICU. After cesarean birth, mothers averaged only about 4 hours TST with 34% WASO while still hospitalized, compared with 6.5 hours TST with 14% WASO for mothers after vaginal birth monitored in their home after hospital discharge. Conclusion Sleep disturbances and fatigue need to be further investigated to better understand the relationship between type of delivery and maternal health outcomes. Despite infant care provided in ICUs, these new mothers could benefit from interventions to promote their own sleep, particularly when also recovering from cesarean delivery.