Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neutralizing GM-CSF inhibits cigarette smoke-induced lung inflammation

Short Title: GM-CSF and lung inflammation Author for Correspondence: Dr Ross Vlahos, Department of Pharmacology, The University of Melbourne, VIC 3010 Australia. Phone: +61 3 8344 4221, Fax: +61 3 8344 0241, Email: rossv@unimelb.edu. au Manuscript Descriptor Number = 7.10 Inflammation/Lung Injury Word Count for body of manuscript = 3,217 Funding: National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. Scientific Knowledge on The Subject Elevated levels of GM-CSF have been observed in a variety of human inflammatory lung diseases. Previously, GM-CSF has been considered a homeostatic mediator in lung macrophages, epithelial innate immunity and leukocyte survival. We have shown that antibody neutralization of GM-CSF markedly reduces smoke-induced lung inflammation and sequelae. What This Study Adds to the Field Antibody neutralization of GM-CSF may represent a novel means of controlling inflammatory lung disease. Page 1 of 32 Media embargo until 2 weeks after above posting date; see thoracic.org/go/embargo AJRCCM Articles in Press. Published on March 4, 2010 as doi:10.1164/rccm.200912-1794OC
Methodological Approaches to Assessing Risk Perceptions Associated with Food‐Related Hazards

The psychometric approach developed by Slovic and his co‐workers has been effectively used to assess risk perceptions associated with different food‐related hazards. However, further examination (using questionnaire data and partial correlation techniques) has indicated that technological hazards are highly differentiated from lifestyle hazards, in terms of both hazard control and knowledge about the hazard. Optimistic bias was also seen to vary between hazards. Further research has focused on a particular hazard, genetic engineering. Risk perceptions associated with genetic engineering are underpinned by ethical concern and questions relating to perceived need for the technology, as well as perceptions of risk or harm. However, increasing the specificity of hazard stimuli was found to alter the factor structure of underlying risk perceptions. The utility of preference mapping procedures in determining individual differences in trust in risk regulators is also discussed.
A mechanism for repression of class II gene transcription through specific binding of NC2 to TBP‐promoter complexes via heterodimeric histone fold domains.

Negative co‐factor 2 (NC2) regulates transcription of the class II genes through binding to TFIID and inhibition of pre‐initiation complex formation. We have isolated and cloned NC2, and investigated the molecular mechanism underlying repression of transcription. NC2 consists of two subunits, termed NC2alpha and NC2beta, the latter of which is identical to Dr1. The NC2 subunits dimerize and bind to TATA binding protein (TBP)‐promoter complexes via histone fold domains of the H2A‐H2B type. Repression of basal transcription requires the histone fold and carboxy‐terminal domains of the NC2 subunits. Several mechanisms probably contribute to transcriptional repression. Binding of NC2 inhibits association of TFIIB with TBP‐promoter complexes. NC2 binds directly to DNA, and binding of NC2 to TBP‐promoter complexes affects the conformation of DNA, which could be one cause for the inhibition of TFIIB. In addition, multimerization of repressor‐TBP complexes on DNA might inhibit the assembly of the pre‐initiation complex. We suggest that binding of the repressor to TRP‐promoter complexes establishes a mechanism that controls the rate of transcription by RNA polymerase II.
Effect of Microwave Treatment of Graphite on the Electrical Conductivity and Electrochemical Properties of Polyaniline/Graphene Oxide Composites

Polyaniline (PANI)/graphene oxide (GO) composites were synthesized via in situ polymerization of aniline in the presence of GO. The effect of microwave treatment of graphite on the electrical conductivity and electrochemical properties of PANI/GO composites was highlighted, and the morphology and microstructure were subsequently characterized using transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis. The results demonstrated that microwave treatment of graphite imparted a well-dispersed, highly ordered layered structure to the as-prepared GO, and in turn facilitated strong bonding between the GO and PANI nanosheets, which may be responsible for the improved electrical conductivity and electrochemical properties of the resulting PANI/GO composites. The desired PANI/GO composites possessed an electrical conductivity of 508 S/m, an areal capacitance of 172.8 mF/cm2, and a retained capacitance of 87.4% after cycling, representing percentage increases of 102, 232, and 112, respectively, as a result of the microwave treatment of graphite. The resulting composites are promising electrode materials for high-performance and ecofriendly electrical energy storage devices.
Cortisol and Hippocampal Volume as Predictors of Active Suicidal Behavior in Major Depressive Disorder: Case Report.

BACKGROUND Suicide is frequently encountered in patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD). Since only a third of treated depressed patients are able to achieve remission, in the last few years, new theories have been proposed to better understand the mechanism of this illness. Our paper analyzes the interrelation between cortisol as a marker of neuroendocrine theory as a response to stress, and hippocampal volume subfields in depression as a marker of neurogenesis and neuroplasticity theory. CASE REPORT Here we present the case of a 52-year-old male patient with known history of MDD, who died as a result of completed suicide by hanging. The patient had been recently discharged from a psychiatric clinic, after being hospitalized for a major depressive episode (MDE). The result of the autopsy, medical records, laboratory analysis and a magnetic resonance image (MRI) of the patient were analyzed. Both the right and left volumes of the hippocampus were found to be smaller when compared to normal values reported in the literature. The morning level of cortisol was higher than the normal value. CONCLUSION In a depressed patient with an acute stressful event, high levels of cortisol associated with decreased volume of the hippocampus could represent predictors for an increased risk of suicide.
Programming-Model Centric Debugging for multicore embedded systems / Debogage Interactif des systemes embarques multicoeur base sur le model de programmation

In this thesis, we propose to study interactive debugging of applications running on embedded systems Multi-Processor System on Chip (MPSoC). A literature study showed that nowadays, the design and development of these applications rely more and more on programming models and development frameworks. These environments gather established algorithmic and programming good-practices, and hence speed up the development process of applications running on MPSoC processors. However, sound programming models are not always sufficient to reach or approach error-free codes, especially in the case of dynamic programming, where they offer little to no help. Our contribution to lighten these challenges consists in a novel approach for interac- tive debugging, named Programming Model-Centric Debugging, as well as a prototype debugger implementation. Model-centric debugging raises interactive debugging to the level of programming models, by capturing and interpreting events generated during the application execution (e.g. through breakpointed API function calls). We illustrate how we applied this approach to three different programming models, software components, dataflow and kernel-based programming. Then, we detail how we developed a debugger prototype based on GDB, for STMicroelectronics's STHORM programming environment. STHORM development toolkit provides supportive environments for component, dataflow and kernel-based programming. We also demonstrate how to tackle software debugging with our debugger prototype through four case studies: an augmented reality feature tacker built with components, a dataflow implementation of the H.264 video decoding standard and two scientific HPC computing applications.
Percutaneous radiofrequency coagulation of osteoid osteoma in children and adolescents

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation of osteoid osteoma in children and adolescents. Twenty-three patients aged 4.5–19.5 years were retrospectively reviewed. All patients with lower limb lesions were able to bear full weight on their operated limb immediately after the procedure, and to resume their daily activities within 24–48 h. Pain disappeared immediately after surgery in 21 cases, and in lower limb lesions the gait was back to normal after an average of 5 days. No septic or neurovascular complications were observed. At an average follow-up of 3.5 years, all the patients including two cases of initial failure were free of pain and had a normal gait. Clinical healing was confirmed by computed tomography and bone scan performed in 12 cases. This precise and minimally invasive method is safe, effective and associated with reduced health care resources. It could be recommended as the treatment of choice for osteoid osteoma of the limbs in children and adolescents.
Allergens in urban schools and homes of children with asthma

To cite this article: Permaul P, Hoffman E, Fu C, Sheehan W, Baxi S, Gaffin J, Lane J, Bailey A, King E, Chapman M, Gold D, Phipatanakul W. Allergens in urban schools and homes of children with asthma. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2012: 23: 543–549.
Chromosome Banding Patterns and Nucleolar Organizing Regions in Three Species of Callithricidae (Saguinus oedipus, Saguinus fuscicollis, and Callithrix jacchus)

Chromosome complements of three species of Callithricidae, Saguinus oedipus, Saguinus fuscicollis and Callithrix jacchus, were analyzed by various banding techniques. Morphometric data are presented. A diploid chromosome number of 2n = 46 is reconfirmed for all three species. Several interesting interspecies chromosomal variations were demonstrated by G‐ and C‐band patterns. Active nucleolar organizing regions (NORs) were revealed by the Ag‐AS silver histochemical stain.
Precision Laser spectroscopy in the Extreme Ultraviolet

Techniques for the production of short wavelengths in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength range are described, spanning low-order harmonic generation in the perturbative regime for narrow bandwidth XUV production to the plateau-regime with the three-step collisional model for the generation of high harmonics with broadband ultrafast pulses. In addition, the intermediate regime is discussed for pulses of 300 ps duration, as well as the regime of harmonic conversion based on continuous wave lasers aiming at the production of coherent Lyman-α radiation. Applications of XUV sources in the frequency domain typically rely on the production of XUV-light from narrowband Fourier-transform-limited pulses for recording high-resolution spectra. Alternatively, harmonically upconverted pulses of ultrashort duration (with inter-pulse coherence) can be used for spectroscopic studies in the time and frequency domain (such as direct frequency comb spectroscopy techniques). Examples of both approaches for atomic and molecular spectroscopy are discussed at some length. For precision metrology on atomic systems, a focus is put on the Lamb shift determination in the He ground state. In the realm of molecular spectroscopy, predissociation phenomena in the nitrogen molecule are highlighted, with relevance for dissociation processes occurring in the upper layers of the Earth atmosphere. Similar predissociation phenomena in carbon monoxide are also treated in some detail, in this case with relevance for the chemistry in interstellar clouds. Precision XUV spectroscopy of molecular hydrogen is discussed as well, as it relates to the possibility of detecting a variation of the proton–electron mass ratio on a cosmological time scale. In the last section, applications of direct frequency comb spectroscopic techniques at short wavelengths are explained and prospects are given for using these techniques at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. Keywords: extreme ultraviolet; vacuum ultraviolet; laser spectroscopy; harmonic generation; predissociation; line broadening; frequency comb lasers; direct frequency comb spectroscopy
Legal Ages for Purchase and Consumption of Alcohol and Heavy Drinking among College Students in Canada, Europe, and the United States

Heavy drinking and associated negative consequences remain a serious problem among college students. In a secondary analysis of data from two published study, the authors examine the correlation between minimum legal age to purchase and/or consume alcohol and rates of heavy drinking among college students in 22 countries. The published studies use identical definitions of heavy drinking and similar methodologies. In the study of 20 European countries and the United States, there is a positive correlation between prevalence of heavy drinking and both minimum legal purchase age (r =.34) and minimum legal drinking age (r =.19); in the study of Canada and the United States, there is a perfect positive correlation (r = 1.0). Examination of this evidence does not support the conclusion that a lower minimum legal age for purchase and/or consumption of alcoholic beverages is a protective factor for decreasing heavy drinking among college students.
Respiratory variability in panic disorder

Disordered breathing may play an important role in the pathophysiology of panic disorder. Several studies have now indicated that panic disorder patients have greater respiratory variability than normal controls. In this study, we examine baseline respiratory measures in four diagnostic groups to determine whether greater respiratory variability is specific to panic disorder and whether effective anti‐panic treatment alters respiratory variability. Patients with panic disorder, major depression, or premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and normal control subjects underwent two respiratory exposures (5% and 7% CO2 inhalation), while in a canopy system. Panic disorder patients returned after 12 weeks of either anti‐panic medication or cognitive behavioral therapy, and were retested. Normal control subjects were also retested after a period of 12 weeks. Panic disorder patients had significantly greater respiratory variability at baseline than normal control subjects and patients with major depression. The premenstrual dysphoric patients also had greater variability than the normal control group. Panic disorder patients who panicked to 7% CO2 inhalation had significantly greater baseline variability than panic disorder patients who did not panic. Anti‐panic treatment did not significantly alter baseline respiratory variability. Our data suggest that increased respiratory variability may be an important trait feature for some panic disorder patients and may make them more vulnerable to CO2‐induced panic. Depression and Anxiety 14:232–237, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
[Psychometric properties of a quality of life questionnaire specific to liver transplant].

OBJECTIVE To translate and evaluate the psychometric properties of a quality of life questionnaire specific to liver transplant patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS The questionnaire was administered to 60 patients on the waiting list for liver transplant in the Cruces Hospital Transplant Unit, and again at 6 months after the transplant. The reliability, validity, sensitivity to change, and minimum detectable change (MDC) were studied. Two questionnaires, the SF-36 (Health Survey Short Form 36) and HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), were used to evaluate the convergent validity. RESULTS The specific questionnaire presented a Cronbach s alpha coefficient of over 0.7. The factor analysis demonstrates a single dimension. Correlations with the areas of SF-36 varied between -0.34 and -0.71 in the preoperative phase, and between -0.21 and -0.67 at 6 months. With respect to the HAD-anxiety scale, the coefficients were 0.44 in the preoperative phase and 0.51 at 6 months, and for the HAD-depression scale these were 0.64 and 0.39, respectively. Discriminant validation studies confirm that the questionnaire shows differences between patients with cirrhosis of various etiologies and severities. In the study of sensitivity to change, values were obtained for the SES (standardised effect size) and SRM (standardised response mean) indices of 0.92 and 0.99, respectively. Furthermore, 58.33% of patients had scores higher than MDC. CONCLUSIONS The specific questionnaire has adequate psychometric properties. Its use in these patients may therefore be recommended as another scale for evaluating the results of this intervention.
Oxidation rate and turnover of ingested sugar in hovering Anna's (Calypte anna) and rufous (Selasphorus rufus) hummingbirds

SUMMARY Hummingbirds obtain most of their dietary calories from floral nectar ingested during hovering flight. Despite the importance of dietary sugar to hummingbird metabolism, the turnover of newly ingested carbon in the pool of actively metabolized substrates has not been adequately characterized in hovering hummingbirds. By combining respirometry with stable carbon isotope analysis of respired breath, we show that in rufous (Selasphorus rufus) and Anna's (Calypte anna) hummingbirds at high foraging frequencies, utilization of newly ingested sugars increased over a period of 30–45 min until it accounted for virtually 100% of the fuel oxidized. This newly ingested sugar disappears from the actively metabolized pool of substrates over a similar time course. These results demonstrate that turnover of carbon in the pool of actively metabolized substrates is rapid; carbon from ingested sucrose is available for oxidation for 30–45 min before being cleared. By monitoring expired CO2 for the appearance and disappearance of the signature characteristic of newly ingested sugar and then calculating energy budgets using video recordings of hummingbird activity, we estimated the proportion of recently ingested sugar used to fuel ongoing metabolism as well as the proportion devoted to energy storage. Consistent differences between species in the percentage of ingested cane sugar oxidized during the 2 h experimental periods suggest that individuals of each species adopted energy intake patterns appropriate to their needs. This approach provides a means by which to examine the partitioning of dietary carbon intake between energy expenditure and storage using non-invasive, field-compatible techniques.
Exercise training-induced modification of the gut microbiota persists after microbiota colonization and attenuates the response to chemically-induced colitis in gnotobiotic mice

ABSTRACT Exercise reduces the risk of inflammatory disease by modulating a variety of tissue and cell types, including those within the gastrointestinal tract. Recent data indicates that exercise can also alter the gut microbiota, but little is known as to whether these changes affect host function. Here, we use a germ-free (GF) animal model to test whether exercise-induced modifications in the gut microbiota can directly affect host responses to microbiota colonization and chemically-induced colitis. Donor mice (n = 19) received access to a running wheel (n = 10) or remained without access (n = 9) for a period of six weeks. After euthanasia, cecal contents were pooled by activity treatment and transplanted into two separate cohorts of GF mice. Two experiments were then conducted. First, mice were euthanized five weeks after the microbiota transplant and tissues were collected for analysis. A second cohort of GF mice were colonized by donor microbiotas for four weeks before dextran-sodium-sulfate was administered to induce acute colitis, after which mice were euthanized for tissue analysis. We observed that microbial transplants from donor (exercised or control) mice led to differences in microbiota β-diversity, metabolite profiles, colon inflammation, and body mass in recipient mice five weeks after colonization. We also demonstrate that colonization of mice with a gut microbiota from exercise-trained mice led to an attenuated response to chemical colitis, evidenced by reduced colon shortening, attenuated mucus depletion and augmented expression of cytokines involved in tissue regeneration. Exercise-induced modifications in the gut microbiota can mediate host-microbial interactions with potentially beneficial outcomes for the host.
An image hiding scheme based on magic square

Image data hiding technology is a secret communication which carries hidden data in such a way that no one apart from the sender and intended recipient can even realize there is a hidden message. High embedding capacity, good images quality and security are three important essentials. In this paper, each confidential hexadecimal will be carried by two cover pixels based on a magic matrix generated from a square template to reach the goal of higher embedding capacity while keeping good image visualization. Experimental results reveal that the proposed scheme guarantees higher embedding capacity of 2 bits per pixel and has the PSNR of 44.7 dB on average. Moreover, secret keys are used to ensure security consideration.
Clinical and Diagnostic Findings in a Patient with Creutzfeldt‐Jakob Disease (Type Heidenhain)

A 61‐year‐old woman had Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease, type Heidenhain, that progressed for 4 months until death, 3 of which she spent in a hospital. The diagnosis was verified by autopsy. Consecutive brain computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, blood flow measurements, electroencephalography (EEG), and routine laboratory tests were performed. All imaging techniques showed non‐specific pathological changes, whereas EEG revealed alterations indicative for Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease.
Is the first hydration shell of lysozyme of higher density than bulk water?

Characterization of the physical properties of protein surface hydration water is critical for understanding protein structure and folding. Here, using molecular dynamics simulation, we provide an explanation of recent x-ray and neutron solution scattering data that indicate that the density of water on the surface of lysozyme is significantly higher than that of bulk water. The simulation-derived scattering profiles are in excellent agreement with the experiment. In the simulation, the 3-Å-thick first hydration layer is 15% denser than bulk water. About two-thirds of this increase is the result of a geometric contribution that would also be present if the water was unperturbed from the bulk. The remaining third arises from modification of the water structure and dynamics, involving approximately equal contributions from shortening of the average water–water O–O distance and an increase in the coordination number. Variation in the first hydration shell density is shown to be determined by topographical and electrostatic properties of the protein surface. On average, denser water is found in depressions on the surface in which the water dipoles tend to be aligned parallel to each other by the electrostatic field generated by the protein atoms.