Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Load-dependence of physiologically relaxing cardiac muscle.

In order to better mimic the relaxation sequence of the average ventricular wall muscle fibre, isotonic relaxation of cat papillary muscle was studied after reversal of the isotonic-isometric relaxation sequence into an isometric-isotonic relaxation sequence. During this physiological relaxation, mammalian cardiac muscle remains very sensitive to load. In addition, the reversal of the relaxation sequence allows us to evaluate separately the influence of either external load or muscle length on isotonic relaxation. At any given external load during lengthening a relationship between peak lengthening velocity and muscle length at peak shortening is obtained, i.e. peak relaxation velocity increases with decreasing muscle length at peak shortening. When the external load during lengthening is lowered, the curve shifts towards the right and below, indicating that isotonic relaxation is very sensitive to the external load. The influence of muscle length cannot be accounted for by an internal restoring force since the observed velocity-length relation is obtained for muscle lengths between slack length and the muscle length at which active force development is maximal (Lmax). Instead, the major driving force during lengthening appears to be the difference between the external load, which promotes lengthening, and the parallel elastic force, which opposes lengthening and increases exponentially with muscle length according to the passive length-tension relation of the muscle.
Patent foramen ovale using the Premere device: the results of the CLOSEUP trial.

OBJECTIVES The CLOSEUP trial was conducted to determine the safety and effectiveness of the Premere closure device in closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO). BACKGROUND PFO is a relatively common congenital condition, associated with cryptogenic stroke and migraine with aura. The Premere device is specifically designed to close PFO of variable size and length, with right and left anchor arms connected by a flexible tether. The device has an open architecture, a low profile, and a small surface area on the left atrial side which may discourage thrombus formation. METHODS Patients between 18 and 65 years of age who had a cryptogenic ischemic stroke or a transient ischemic attack and a PFO underwent percutaneous PFO closure using the Premere device. RESULTS Of the 73 enrolled patients, six patients had atrial anatomy not appropriate for the Premere; 27 patients received the 15 mm and 40 patients received the 20 mm device. Implantation was successful in all patients. At 6 months of follow-up, 86% of patients had no shunt that could be provoked with Valsalva as assessed during contrast echocardiography. Closure rates were better with the 20 mm versus the 15 mm device, and three patients with residual shunt had atrial septal aneurysms at baseline. One patient had transient atrial fibrillation which resolved by 3 months. There were no instances of thrombus, death, or stroke. CONCLUSIONS These data demonstrate that the Premere device can safely and effectively close PFO. Additional studies should be undertaken to demonstrate the effectiveness of PFO closure in reducing thrombo-embolic events such as stroke.
Long‐term androgen‐ablation causes increased resistance to PI3K/Akt pathway inhibition in prostate cancer cells

In advanced stages of prostate cancer, the phosphatidylinositol‐3′ kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling cascade, one of the major survival pathways in the cell, is frequently constitutively activated due to mutation or loss of the tumor suppressor protein phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN). Using cell culture models representing different tumor stages, we explored the effect of inhibition of this survival pathway on the induction of apoptosis.
Flavonoid Glycosides and their p-Coumaroyl Esters from Campylospermum calanthum Leaves

Six new compounds, comprising three flavonoid glycosides and their respective coumaroyl esters, have been isolated and characterized from the methanol extract of the leaves of Campylospermum calanthum, along with three known flavonoid aglycones, 7-O-methyl apigenin (1), 7-O-methyl luteolin (2), and 7-O-methyl quercetin (3). Their structures were elucidated based on chemical evidence as well as spectroscopic analysis including 1D and 2D NMR (1H-1H COSY, HSQC, HMBC, and NOESY) spectroscopy and by comparing their spectral data with those reported for related compounds
Liver transplant from Anti‐HBc‐positive, HBsAg‐negative donor into HBsAg‐negative recipient: is it safe? A systematic review of the literature

Avelino‐Silva VI, D′Albuquerque LAC, Bonazzi PR, Song ATW, Miraglia JL, de Brito Neves A, Abdala E. Liver transplant from Anti‐HBc‐positive, HBsAg‐negative donor into HBsAg‐negative recipient: is it safe? A systematic review of the literature. Clin Transplant 2010: 24: 735–746. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.
Information transfer efficiency during rest and task a functional connectome approach

The brain consists of a number of sub-networks dedicated to several perceptual/cognitive functions, and allocates neural resources depending on cognitive demands. Recent studies on resting-state functional connectivity have shown competitive patterns of the functional sub-networks: `task-negative' default mode networks and `task-positive' networks. In this study, we employed the functional connectome approach to study the brain functional networks derived from fMRI data. Several graph theoretical measurements were employed to quantitatively investigate differences in global and local information transfer efficiency calculated between rest and task experimental conditions. Our results have suggested that normalized clustering coefficient was larger during rest compared to task, indicating more local efficiency of information transfer during rest, while small-worldness was preserved. In addition, the betweenness centrality of nodes was larger for task than rest at the orbital part of right superior frontal gyrus, the orbital part of right middle frontal gyrus and right olfactory cortex. In contrast, this parameter was larger for rest at left fusiform gyrus. As a consequence of this analysis, we show that graph theoretical measurements can be powerful biomarkers for quantifying cognitive states considering efficiency of information transfer, which can differ based on cognitive needs.
Granular Basal Cell Tumor in a Wistar Rat

A granular cell variant of a cutaneous basal cell tumor in a Wistar rat is described. The tumor resembles the variant as described in man and dogs. The granular basal cells contain cytoplasmic PAS positive granules, and immunostained positively with HMW cytokeratins. Ultrastructurally, the cytoplasmic granules were secondary lysosomes.
Cell interactions in the induction of tolerance: the role of thymic lymphocytes.

Thymectomized, lethally irradiated, bone marrow reconstituted mice were treated with a large dose of sheep red blood cells (SRBC) over the course of 30 days. They were unable to respond to further antigenic challenge for one month. Fifteen million thymocytes given 4 days after the termination of treatment restored their ability to respond. The same antigenic treatment given to similar chimeras, which differed only in having had 15 × 106 thymus cells added to the bone marrow inoculum, also abolished the response to further antigenic challenge. In contrast to chimeras without thymus cells present during the course of treatment, the later addition of thymocytes to these animals did not restore their response. It did, however, restore the response to a second challenge of antigen given 17 days after the addition of thymocytes. This response was the same as non-treated animals given only one injection of thymocytes and significantly less than non-treated animals given thymocytes twice. The following explanation of these results is offered. Bone marrow derived (BMD) lymphocytes that can make antibody without assistance of thymus derived (TD) lymphocytes were made tolerant in the absence of TD cells. Thymus dependent BMD cells were not. New cells, coming from the bone marrow, broke the tolerant state within a month. When TD cells were present both populations of BMD cells, as well as the TD cells, were made tolerant. New BMD cells regenerating from the bone marrow abrogated the tolerant state of the BMD population. This breaking of tolerance could only be seen in mice given additional thymocytes as the tolerance of the TD cells was not broken in the absence of a thymus. Thus, the induction of tolerance as well as the induction of immunity in thymus dependent BMD cell populations, seems to require the co-operation of TD cells.
Neutrophil and monocyte activation in chronic kidney disease patients under hemodialysis and its relationship with resistance to recombinant human erythropoietin and to the hemodialysis procedure

The aim of the present work was to further clarify leukocyte activation due to hemodialysis (HD) procedures and to investigate its relationship with recombinant human erythropoietin resistance. Therefore, we studied the expression of CXCR1 and CD11b on neutrophils, as well as the monocyte expression of CD11b, HLA‐DR, and CD14. We studied 34 chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients under HD and recombinant human erythropoietin treatment (26 responders and 8 nonresponders to recombinant human erythropoietin therapy). All CKD patients' blood samples were collected before and immediately after the HD procedure. Eighteen healthy individuals (blood donors) were also studied as a control group. Hematological data, neutrophil (CD11b and CXCR1), and monocyte (CD11b, HLA‐DR, and CD14) cell surface markers were measured in all patients (before and after the HD procedure) and controls. When compared with the controls, CKD patients presented a significant decrease in CXCR1 neutrophil expression, and in CD14 monocyte expression, accompanied by a significant increase in HLA‐DR monocyte expression. When comparing the 2 groups of patients, we found that nonresponders showed an additional decrease in CXCR1 neutrophil expression. After the HD procedure, a statistically significant increase in CD14 and CD11b monocyte surface markers and a decrease in CXCR1 neutrophil expression and in HLA‐DR monocyte expression was found. These data further strengthen our previous studies, showing that neutrophils and monocytes are activated in CKD patients, particularly in nonresponder patients. Moreover, this activation is due, at least in part, to the HD procedure, although we should not exclude that it can also be due to the enhanced inflammatory process observed in nonresponder patients.
Patterns of matrix metalloproteinase and TIMP‐1 expression in chronic and normally healing human cutaneous wounds

Summary The present study was carried out to characterize the patterns of expression of matrix metalloproteinases or their tissue inhibitor (TIMP‐1) in normally healing, acute vs. chronic, skin wounds. In situ hybridization was performed to localize collagenase, stromelysin‐1, stromelysin‐2, matrilysin, urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and TIMP‐1 mRNAs in 14 chronic venous ulcers and 10 normally healing wounds, representing different time points after wounding. Surgical wounds, made in piglets harvested at several time points, were studied as controls. Collagenase, stromelysin‐1 and ‐2, as well as uPa, were expressed in keratinocytes in both acute and chronic wounds, while epithelial TIMP‐1 mRNA was not detected in any chronic wound biopsies studied. However, TIMP‐1 was expressed at the epithelial edges of both acute human and pig wounds. Our results suggest that the balance between metalloenzymes and their inhibitor TIMP‐1, is disturbed, in poorly healing wounds.
Tachyons, scalar fields, and cosmology

We study the role that tachyon fields may play in cosmology as compared to the well-established use of minimally coupled scalar fields. We first elaborate on a kind of correspondence existing between tachyons and minimally coupled scalar fields; corresponding theories give rise to the same cosmological evolution for a particular choice of the initial conditions but not for any other. This leads us to study a specific one-parameter family of tachyonic models based on a perfect fluid mixed with a positive cosmological constant. For positive values of the parameter, one needs to modify Sen's action and use the $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ process of resolution of singularities. The physics described by this model is dramatically different and much richer than that of the corresponding scalar field. For particular choices of the initial conditions, the universe, which does mimic for a long time a de Sitter\char21{}like expansion, ends up in a finite time in a special type of singularity that we call a big brake. This singularity is characterized by an infinite deceleration.
The relationship between perception and production of Brazilian Portuguese vowels in European Spanish monolinguals

This study investigates the relationship between non-native perception and production of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) vowels by eight European Spanish monolinguals. Participants’ accuracy on a non-native discrimination task was used to predict performance in non-native production. We also investigated the acoustic similarity between participants’ non-native and native vowel productions. The findings indicate a perception-production link: non-native vowels which were perceptually difficult to discriminate were also less stable and more varied when produced. These findings support the claim of the Second Language Linguistic Perception model (Escudero, 2005; van Leussen & Escudero, 2015) that learners initially perceive and produce the sounds of a second language according to the acoustic properties of the sounds produced in their native language.
Specimen Storage in Transport Medium and Detection of Group B Streptococci by Culture

ABSTRACT Recovery of group B streptococci (GBS) was assessed in 1,204 vaginorectal swabs stored in Amies transport medium at 4 or 21°C for 1 to 4 days either by direct inoculation onto Granada agar (GA) or by culture in blood agar (BA) and GA after a selective broth enrichment (SBE) step. Following storage at 4°C, GBS detection in GA was not affected after 72 h by either direct inoculation or SBE; however, GBS were not detected after SBE in the BA subculture in some samples after 48 h of storage and in GA after 96 h. After storage at 21°C, loss of GBS-positive results was significant after 48 h by direct inoculation in GA and after 96 h by SBE and BA subculture; some GBS-positive samples were not detected after 24 h of storage followed by SBE and BA subculture or after 48 h of storage followed by SBE and GA subculture. Storage of swabs in transport medium, even at 4°C, produced after 24 h an underestimation of the intensity of GBS colonization in most specimens. These data indicate that viability of GBS is not fully preserved by storage of vaginorectal swabs in Amies transport medium, mainly if they are not stored under refrigeration.
LIFTING THE VEIL ON OBSCURED ACCRETION: ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI NUMBER COUNTS AND SURVEY STRATEGIES FOR IMAGING HARD X-RAY MISSIONS

Finding and characterizing the population of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that produces the X-ray background (XRB) is necessary to connect the history of accretion to observations of galaxy evolution at longer wavelengths. The year 2012 will see the deployment of the first hard X-ray imaging telescope which, through deep extragalactic surveys, will be able to measure the AGN population at the energies where the XRB peaks (∼20–30 keV). Here, we present predictions of AGN number counts in three hard X-ray bandpasses: 6–10 keV, 10–30 keV, and 30–60 keV. Separate predictions are presented for the number counts of Compton thick AGNs, the most heavily obscured active galaxies. The number counts are calculated for five different models of the XRB that differ in the assumed hard X-ray luminosity function, the evolution of the Compton thick AGNs, and the underlying AGN spectral model. The majority of the hard X-ray number counts will be Compton thin AGNs, but there is a greater than tenfold increase in the Compton thick number counts from the 6–10 keV to the 10–30 keV band. The Compton thick population shows enough variation that a hard X-ray number counts measurement will constrain the models. The computed number counts are used to consider various survey strategies for the NuSTAR mission, assuming a total exposure time of 6.2 Ms. We find that multiple surveys will allow a measurement of Compton thick evolution. The predictions presented here should be useful for all future imaging hard X-ray missions.
Effects of childhood experience with nature on tolerance of urban residents toward hornets and wild boars in Japan

Urban biodiversity conservation often aims to promote the quality of life for urban residents by providing ecosystem services as well as habitats for diverse wildlife. However, biodiversity inevitably brings some disadvantages, including problems and nuisances caused by wildlife. Although some studies have reported that enhancement of nature interaction among urban children promotes their affective attitude toward of favorable animals, its effect on tolerance toward problem-causing wildlife is unknown. In this study, we assessed the tolerance of 1,030 urban residents in Japan toward hornets and wild boar, and analyzed the effects of childhood experience with nature on tolerance using a structural equation model. The model used sociodemographic factors and childhood nature experience as explanatory variables, affective attitude toward these animals as a mediator, and tolerance as a response variable. The public tolerance toward hornets and boars was low; over 60% of the respondents would request the removal of hornets and wild boar from nearby green spaces by government services, even when the animals had not caused any damage. Tolerance was lower in females and elderly respondents. Childhood experience with nature had a greater influence on tolerance than did sociodemographic factors in the scenario where animals have not caused any problems; however, its effect was only indirect via promoting positive affective attitude toward wildlife when the animals have caused problems. Our results suggest that increasing people’s direct experience with nature is important to raise public tolerance, but its effect is limited to cases where wildlife does not cause any problems. To obtain wider support for conservation in urban areas, conservationists, working together with municipal officials, educators and the media, should provide relevant information on the ecological functions performed by problem-causing wildlife and strategies for avoiding the problems that wildlife can cause.
Leucodepletion for hyperleucocytosis – first report on a novel technology featuring electronic interphase management

Therapeutic leucodepletion plays an established role in the initial treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and possibly other leukaemias presenting with leucostasis. Recently, a new leucodepletion technology, Spectra Optia IDL, has become available that differs from its predecessor, COBE Spectra MNC, by a variety of electronic supports, including by electronic adjustment of buffy coat positioning at the collection port. Given the paucity of patients in need of leucodepletions and marked differences in clinical presentation as well as blast properties (e.g. size, density), formal clinical trials comparing leucodepletion technologies have never been executed.
Cholangiectasis and Duodenal Diverticulosis in a Farm-Raised Elk (Cervus Elaphus)

A 6-year-old male elk presented in August with a 4-month history of weight loss and a 1-day history of being recumbent and unable to rise. The elk's body condition score was 1.5/5. Hematology and blood chemistry showed an inflammatory leukogram, mild electrolyte abnormalities, and elevated liver enzyme activities. Because of poor prognosis, the owner elected euthanasia. On necropsy, 8 diverticula were in the duodenum distal to the common bile duct, which was dilated and filled with feed material. Many intrahepatic bile ducts were dilated up to 5 cm, were filled with ingesta and gritty material, and had walls thickened up to 1.5 mm. On histologic examination, mural thickening of dilated bile ducts was because of increased fibrous connective tissue with inflammatory cell infiltration and hyperplastic and hypertrophic epithelial lining. Portal tracts diffusely contained hyperplastic bile ducts and had increased amounts of fibrous connective tissue. Abscesses that contained bacteria were scattered throughout the liver. Duodenal diverticula lacked the tunica muscularis, and the muscularis mucosa was hypertrophied. Caudal to some diverticula, the duodenal lumen was narrowed. An additional finding was embolic pneumonia with fungi morphologically and immunohistochemically consistent with Aspergillus spp.
Oral Lactobacillus paracasei improves skin barrier function recovery and reduces local skin inflammation.

ejd.2010. 1242 Auteur(s) : David PHILIPPE david.philippe@rdls.nestle. com, Stephanie BLUM, Jalil BENYACOUB Nestle Research Center, Lausanne, Vers chez les blanc, P.O. Box 44, CH-1000, Switzerland Recently, the incidence of subjects presenting dry skin and eczema has considerably increased in industrialized countries [1]. Dry skin is characterized by marked sensitivity of skin to physical (heat, cold…) or chemical (topical product application) stimuli and is often associated with an impairment of [. ]
Analytical solution of the Gross-Neveu model at finite density

Recent numerical calculations have shown that the ground state of the Gross-Neveu model at finite density is a crystal. Here, we present the analytical solution of this problem in terms of elliptic functions. The scalar potential is the superpotential of the nonrelativistic Lam\'e Hamiltonian. This model can also serve as an analytically solvable toy model for a relativistic superconductor in the Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell phase.