Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Proliferation Activity in Dysplastic and Nondysplastic Oral Lichen Planus Through the Analysis of Argyrophilic Nucleolar Organizer Regions

AbstractLichen planus is a mucocutaneous disease, and its potential for malignant transformation is a subject of controversy. We found dysplastic changes in slide review of about 11% of oral lichen planus (OLP) in our previous research. Dysplastic changes can be an initial phase for carcinogenesis. The question is whether it is possible to detect early malignant changes in OLP through the evaluation of proliferation activity. The aim of this study was to compare the cell proliferation activity in dysplastic and nondysplastic oral lichen planus using the quantitative and qualitative analysis of argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) and to compare candidal infection in these 2 groups. In this cross-sectional, observational, and analytical study, all 14 cases of confirmed dysplastic OLPs and 17 nondysplastic OLPs were stained with an AgNOR technique. Analysis of argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region dots were counted in 100 cells of basal and parabasal layers, and proliferation index (cells with ≥5 dots in nucleus) and variations in size of AgNOR dots were also evaluated. Periodic acid–Schiff staining was performed for detection of candidal infection. Mean AgNOR count in dysplastic OLP (2.39 ± 0.2) was more than nondysplastic OLP (2.27 ± 0.59). Candidiasis was found in 14.3% of dysplastic OLP and in 12.5% of nondysplastic OLP. There was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups in mean AgNOR count (P = 0.62), variation in size of AgNOR dots (P = 1), proliferation index (P = 0.53), and candidiasis (P = 1). The current study showed slight difference in proliferation rate and candidal infection between dysplastic and nondysplastic OLP.
Comparative Efficacy of Lormetazepam (Noctamid®) and Diazepam (Valium®) in 100 Out-Patients with Insomnia

Lormetazepam (Noctamid®) at a dosage of 1 mg was compared with diazepam (Valium®) at a dosage of 5 mg in a 7-day double-blind study. The study involved fifty patients in the lormetazepam group and fifty patients in the diazepam group. All the patients were suffering from sleep disorders as a concomitant symptom of general diseases. Lormetazepam was significantly better than diazepam in the: Reduction of the time taken to fall asleep (p < 0.05) Prolongation of the duration of uninterrupted sleep (p < 0.05) Reduction of the frequency of awakening (p < 0.05) Lormetazepam displayed no hang-over effects or other side-effects and, in this respect too, was significantly superior to diazepam (p < 0.05).
The hunting of the snark: the elusive calcium receptor(s).

“For the snark’s a peculiar creature that won’t be caught in a commonplace way. ” —Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark The first hunt took a long time. The existence of a highly sensitive calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) was postulated more than 30 years ago based on the exquisite ability of the parathyroid cell to respond to small changes in serum ionized calcium concentration (1). The gene encoding CaSR was finally cloned in 1993 (2). Shortly thereafter it was found that inactivating mutations in CaSR were responsible for familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia (FHH) in heterozygotes and for severe hyperparathyroidism in homozygous infants while activating mutations caused hypoparathyroidism (3, 4). Deletion of the mouse calcium receptor mimics the phenotype of FHH in heterozygote individuals. In homozygous mice there is early death due to hypercalcemia and a surprising skeletal phenotype of rickets, which suggested that CaSR might be essential for normal mineralization (5, 6).
Hsp25 and the p38 MAPK pathway are involved in differentiation of cardiomyocytes.

The small heat-shock protein HSP25 is expressed in the heart early during development, and although multiple roles for HSP25 have been proposed, its specific role during development and differentiation is not known. P19 is an embryonal carcinoma cell line which can be induced to differentiate in vitro into either cardiomyocytes or neurons. We have used P19 to examine the role of HSP25 in differentiation. We found that HSP25 expression is strongly increased in P19 cardiomyocytes. Antisense HSP25 expression reduced the extent of cardiomyocyte differentiation and resulted in reduced expression of cardiac actin and the intermediate filament desmin and reduced level of cardiac mRNAs. Thus, HSP25 is necessary for differentiation of P19 into cardiomyocytes. In contrast, P19 neurons did not express HSP25 and antisense HSP25 expression had no effect on neuronal differentiation. The phosphorylation of HSP25 by the p38/SAPK2 pathway is known to be important for certain of its functions. Inhibition of this pathway by the specific inhibitor SB203580 prevented cardiomyocyte differentiation of P19 cells. In contrast, PD90589, which inhibits the ERK1/2 pathway, had no effect. Surprisingly, cardiogenesis was only sensitive to SB203580 during the first 2 days of differentiation, before HSP25 expression increases. In contrast to the effect of antisense HSP25, SB203580 reduced the level of expression of the mesodermal marker Brachyury-T during differentiation. Therefore, we propose that the p38 pathway acts on an essential target during early cardiogenesis. Once this initial step is complete, HSP25 is necessary for the functional differentiation of P19 cardiomyocytes, but its phosphorylation by p38/SAPK2 is not required.
Distribution of Temporomandibular Joint Vibration Transfer to the Opposite Side

Abstract A vibration produced when a displaced temporomandibular disc reduces during opening can transfer some of its energy from the ipsilateral joint to the contralateral joint. The objective of this study was to measure what percentage of the ipsilateral vibration is transferred to the contralateral joint. The study included the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) vibrations of 144 (informed consent) subjects, (113 F, 31 M), with reducing displaced discs (DDR). Vibrations from 165 joints were recorded bilaterally with BioJVA (BioResearch Associates, Inc. Milwaukee, WI). In each case, any contralateral vibration was analyzed to verify that it was caused by the ipsilateral joint. The contralateral amplitude was divided by the ipsilateral amplitude and multiplied by 100 to produce a percentage of transfer. The percentage values (0-100%) were used to create a Relative Frequency Histogram with 20 classes (1-5%, 6-10%, 11-15%, etc.). The Relative Frequency Histogram graph revealed a three-mounded distribution of the percentage of transfer. One mound fell between 5 and 34 percent, one between 35 and 69 percent and the third between 70 and 98 percent. The appearance of a three-mounded distribution suggests that there may be three different failure modes leading to TMJ internal derangements. Alternatively, it may be that failure of the disc’s stabilizing ligaments leads to three different internal derangement conditions that are in some way distinct. The evidence of apparent tri-modality in this vibration data distribution suggests that there may be three different failure modes of disc displacement with reduction (e.g., anterior, anteromedial, and medio-lateral disc displacement). If so, identifying them could allow for a more detailed description of DDR. Therefore, further investigation of this ‘tri-modal’ distribution should be undertaken.
RF-Care: Device-Free Posture Recognition for Elderly People Using A Passive RFID Tag Array

Activity recognition is a fundamental research topic for a wide range of important applications such as fall detection for elderly people. Existing techniques mainly rely on wearable sensors, which may not be reliable and practical in real-world situations since people often forget to wear these sensors. For this reason, device-free activity recognition has gained the popularity in recent years. In this paper, we propose an RFID (radio frequency identification) based, device-free posture recognition system. More specifically, we analyze Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) signal patterns from an RFID tag array, and systematically examine the impact of tag configuration on system performance. On top of selected optimal subset of tags, we study the challenges on posture recognition. Apart from exploring posture classification, we specially propose to infer posture transitions via Dirichlet Process Gaussian Mixture Model (DPGMM) based Hidden Markov Model (HMM), which effectively captures the nature of uncertainty caused by signal strength varieties during posture transitions. We run a pilot study to evaluate our system with 12 orientation-sensitive postures and a series of posture change sequences. We conduct extensive experiments in both lab and real-life home environments. The results demonstrate that our system achieves high accuracy in both environments, which holds the potential to support assisted living of elderly people.
Galectin-3 is essential for reactive oxygen species production by peritoneal neutrophils from mice infected with a virulent strain of Toxoplasma gondii

SUMMARY Toxoplasma gondii stimulates a potent pro-inflammatory response and neutrophils are involved in early infection. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is an endogenous modulator of inflammatory processes and anti-infective agents, but its interaction with neutrophils in T. gondii infection is still unclear. Here, we evaluated the role of Gal-3 in peritoneal inflammation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by neutrophils and survival, after in vivo T. gondii infection with virulent RH strain, using Gal-3 deficient and wild type mice. Animals were inoculated with thioglycollate or tachyzoites, and peritoneal cells were harvested for analysis of the influx of leukocytes. Neutrophils were isolated from peritoneal exudates from infected mice and stimulated with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) to evaluate ROS production by luminol-dependent chemiluminescence assay. Our results showed that: (1) Gal-3 upregulates peritoneal inflammation, with enhanced recruitment of neutrophils and lymphocytes after thioglycollate stimulation, but does not influence the enhanced neutrophil influx after early T. gondii infection; (2) Gal-3 upregulates ROS generation by inflammatory peritoneal neutrophils from infected mice, but downregulates its production in non-infected mice and (3) Gal-3 does not influence the survival of mice after infection with the virulent T. gondii strain. In conclusion, Gal-3 is essential for ROS generation by neutrophils in the initial acute phase of T. gondii infection and this phenomenon may constitute an attempt to control parasite growth during in vivo infection with the T. gondii virulent strain.
An Engineered Cytochromeb6c1 Complex with a Split Cytochrome b Is Able To Support Photosynthetic Growth of Rhodobacter capsulatus

ABSTRACT The ubihydroquinone-cytochrome c oxidoreductase (or the cytochrome bc1 complex) fromRhodobacter capsulatus is composed of the Fe-S protein, cytochrome b, and cytochromec1 subunits encoded bypetA(fbcF), petB(fbcB), and petC(fbcC) genes organized as an operon. In the work reported here, petB(fbcB) was split genetically into two cistrons, petB6 andpetBIV, which encoded two polypeptides corresponding to the four amino-terminal and four carboxyl-terminal transmembrane helices of cytochrome b, respectively. These polypeptides resembled the cytochromeb6 and su IV subunits of chloroplast cytochromeb6f complexes, and together with the unmodified subunits of the cytochromebc1 complex, they formed a novel enzyme, named cytochrome b6c1complex. This membrane-bound multisubunit complex was functional, and despite its smaller amount, it was able to support the photosynthetic growth of R. capsulatus. Upon further mutagenesis, a mutant overproducing it, due to a C-to-T transition at the second base of the second codon of petBIV, was obtained. Biochemical analyses, including electron paramagnetic spectroscopy, with this mutant revealed that the properties of the cytochromeb6c1 complex were similar to those of the cytochrome bc1 complex. In particular, it was highly sensitive to inhibitors of the cytochrome bc1 complex, including antimycin A, and the redox properties of its b- and c-type heme prosthetic groups were unchanged. However, the optical absorption spectrum of its cytochrome bL heme was modified in a way reminiscent of that of a cytochromeb6f complex. Based on the work described here and that with Rhodobacter sphaeroides (R. Kuras, M. Guergova-Kuras, and A. R. Crofts, Biochemistry 37:16280–16288, 1998), it appears that neither the inhibitor resistance nor the redox potential differences observed between the bacterial (or mitochondrial) cytochromebc1 complexes and the chloroplast cytochromeb6f complexes are direct consequences of splitting cytochrome b into two separate polypeptides. The overall findings also illustrate the possible evolutionary relationships among various cytochrome bcoxidoreductases.
Preliminary Report of a Validation Study of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living in a Greek Sample

To validate the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living in Greek, 44 men (M age = 70.5 yr., SD = 7.2) and 58 women (M age = 68.4, SD = 9.2), outpatients of memory clinics, were studied. Sex differences in the item responses were evaluated. Reliability assessed as Cronbach alpha was . 84, while validity was assessed by correlation of . 77 with the Mini-Mental State Examination. 21 men and 20 women had moderate to severe dementia, with Mini-Mental State Examination scores < 20. The results show that this Greek language version can be effectively used in Greece.
STRUCTURAL AND CHEMICAL STUDIES ON THE CONNECTIVE TISSUE OF MARINE SPONGES

1. The mesoglea of the marine sponge, S. graminea, resembles in its organization and composition the connective tissue of vertebrates in that it is composed of collagen fibers and fibrils embedded in an amorphous matrix containing carbohydrates. 2. Two morphologically distinct forms of spongin fibers, designated spongin "A" and spongin "B", were demonstrated to be members of the collagen class, structurally by x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy, and chemically by their hydroxyproline and glycine content as well as by the general amino acid pattern. Ratios of glycine to hydroxyproline were 1.6 and 1.8 for spongin "A" and "B" respectively. Spongin "A" is a long unbranched fibril of uniform width, of the order of 200 A revealing an axial period of 625 A by small-angle x-ray diffraction and of about 650 A by electron microscopy. Spongin "B" is a large branched fiber 10-50 µ in width composed primarily of bundles of thin unbranched filaments less than 100 A wide. "B" fiber fragments occasionally showed an axial period in the collagen range although x-ray preparations did not yield a low-angle pattern. 3. Content of hexosamine, hexose, pentose and uronic acid was determined in both fiber types and in the amorphous matrix. Glucosamine, galactosamine, glucose, galactose, mannose, fucose, arabinose and uronic acid were identified chromatographically in both spongin "A" and in the amorphous substance. A very small amount of amino sugar plus glucose and galactose were identified in spongin "B". All sugars with the exception of arabinose are found in mammalian skin connective tissue. 4. Spongins "A", "B" and the amorphous matrix were readily separated by tryptic digestion and water extraction.
Ischemic Preconditioning Reduces Intestinal Epithelial Apoptosis in Rats

Recent experimental studies have described protective effect of ischemic preconditioning (IPC) on ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury of the intestine. We hypothesize that to reach a new point of view on the effect of IPC in intestinal barrier function, the relationship between I/R-induced mucosal injury and apoptosis must first be clarified. The present study was undertaken to investigate the role of IPC on intestinal apoptosis and probable contributions of bcl-2 expression to this process. We also investigated the effect of intestinal IPC on ileal malondyaldihyde levels. Forty-four male Wistar rats were randomized into four groups each consisting of 11 rats: sham-operated control, I/R group (30 min of superior mesenteric artery occlusion), IPC-I/R group (10 min of temporary artery occlusion prior before an ischemic insult of 30 min), and IPC alone group (10 min of preconditioning). Twenty-four hours later, ileum samples were obtained. Ileal malondyaldihyde levels were increased in the I/R group (31.9 ± 18.8 vs. 106.8 ± 39.8) but not in the IPC alone and IPC-I/R groups (38.1 ± 13.6 and 44.7 ± 12.7;P < 0.01). The number of apoptotic cells was significantly lower in IPC-I/R group than that of I/R group, and these findings were further supported by DNA laddering and M30 findings. Diminished bcl-2 expression observed in the ileal specimens of I/R group was prevented by IPC. Our results indicate that IPC may provide a protective effect on ileal epithelium and that this effect is probably the result of a significant increase in the expression of bcl-2 after the insult. The reversal of apoptosis by IPC might help preserving the vitality of intestinal structures that have a critical function, cessation of which often leads to multiorgan dysfunction syndrome.
Educational disparities in rates of smoking among diabetic adults: the translating research into action for diabetes study.

OBJECTIVES We assessed educational disparities in smoking rates among adults with diabetes in managed care settings. METHODS We used a cross-sectional, survey-based (2002-2003) observational study among 6538 diabetic patients older than 25 years across multiple managed care health plans and states. For smoking at each level of self-reported educational attainment, predicted probabilities were estimated by means of hierarchical logistic regression models with random intercepts for health plan, adjusted for potential confounders. RESULTS Overall, 15% the participants reported current smoking. An educational gradient in smoking was observed that varied significantly (P<.003) across age groups, with the educational gradient being strong in those aged 25 to 44 years, modest in those aged 45 to 64 years, and nonexistent in those aged 65 years or older. Of particular note, the prevalence of smoking observed in adults aged 25-44 years with less than a high school education was 50% (95% confidence interval: 36% to 63%). CONCLUSIONS Approximately half of poorly educated young adults with diabetes smoke, magnifying the health risk associated with early-onset diabetes. Targeted public health interventions for smoking prevention and cessation among young, poorly educated people with diabetes are needed.
Compartmentalized Calcium Transients Trigger Dendrite Pruning in Drosophila Sensory Neurons

Dendritic Pruning During metamorphosis, Drosophila sensory neurons eliminate their dendritic trees, but axons and soma remain intact. Kanamori et al. (p. 1475, published online 30 May) demonstrate that compartmentalized calcium transients in dendrites function as the spatiotemporal cue for pruning of unwanted branches. Such a localized calcium signal, induced by a local elevation of branch excitability, activates calcium-dependent proteinases and eventually causes branch death. During fruit fly metamorphosis, dendritic calcium signaling defines the branches to be eliminated in sensory neurons. Dendrite pruning is critical for sculpting the final connectivity of neural circuits as it removes inappropriate projections, yet how neurons can selectively eliminate unnecessary dendritic branches remains elusive. Here, we show that calcium transients that are compartmentalized in specific dendritic branches act as temporal and spatial cues to trigger pruning in Drosophila sensory neurons. Calcium transients occurred in local dendrites at ~3 hours before branch elimination. In dendritic branches, intrinsic excitability increased locally to activate calcium influx via the voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs), and blockade of the VGCC activities impaired pruning. Further genetic analyses suggest that the calcium-activated protease calpain functions downstream of the calcium transients. Our findings reveal the importance of the compartmentalized subdendritic calcium signaling in spatiotemporally selective elimination of dendritic branches.
How and why to measure the germination process

In the last two centuries, papers have been published including measurements of the germination process. High diversity of mathematical expressions has made comparisons between papers and some times the interpretation of results difficult. Thus, in this paper is included a review about measurements of the germination process, with an analysis of the several mathematical expressions included in the specific literature, recovering the history, sense, and limitations of some germination measurements. Among the measurements included in this paper are the germinability, germination time, coefficient of uniformity of germination (CUG), coefficient of variation of the germination time (CVt), germination rate (mean rate, weighted mean rate, coefficient of velocity, germination rate of George, Timsons index, GV or Czabators index; Throneberry and Smiths method and its adaptations, including Maguires rate; ERI or emergence rate index, germination index, and its modifications), uncertainty associated to the distribution of the relative frequency of germination (U), and synchronization index (Z). The limits of the germination measurements were included to make the interpretation and decisions during comparisons easier. Time, rate, homogeneity, and synchrony are aspects that can be measured, informing the dynamics of the germination process. These characteristics are important not only for physiologists and seed technologists, but also for ecologists because it is possible to predict the degree of successful of a species based on the capacity of their harvest seed to spread the germination through time, permitting the recruitment in the environment of some part of the seedlings formed.
Mosquito control with active principle of garlic, Allium sativum.

Crude methanolic extracts were obtained from minced dehydrated garlic, Allium sativum L. , and after the solvent was removed, the extracts were resuspended in water. An oil fraction was obtained from reconstituted minced dehydrated garlic by steam distillation. Both the crude extract and the oil fraction were found to be larvicidal in nature and active against 3rd-stage larvae of Culex peus Speiser, C. tarsalis Coquillett, Aedes aegypti (L.), A. triseriatus (Say), A. sierrensis (Ludlow), and 3rd- and 4th-stage larvae of highly insecticide-resistant strains of A. nigromaculis (Ludlow). An LC50 for 3rd-stage C. tarsalis larvae was obtained with 25 ppm of crude extract and 2 ppm of a partially purified oil fraction, indicating that the active principle was present in the oil of garlic. The partially purified oil fraction was 12.5 times more potent to this species than the crude extract.