Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A case-control study of HTLV-infection among blood donors in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil - associated risk factors and trend towards declining prevalence

Previous data suggest that Salvador, the capital of the State of Bahia, a northeastern state of Brazil, has the highest prevalence of HTLV infection in blood donors among Brazilian cities. The aim of this case-control study was to identify the determinants of risk for HTLV infection among blood donors in the city of Salvador. Between January 2000 and December 2003, 504 blood donors with positive screening tests for HTLV infection (unconfirmed prevalence of 0.48%) were invited to participate in our study. A total of 154 had performed a Western Blot (WB) test, 139 were of which found to be positive (false positive screening rate 9.9%). Using a standardized questionnaire, a single interviewer obtained information on demographic, socio-economical and educational characteristics, as well as sexual behavior from 91 out of the 139 positive by WB and from 194 HTLV-negative blood donors. Prevalence of HTLV infection was 0.48%. Multivariate analysis revealed women (OR 3.79 [1.61-8.88], p=0.002), low family income* (OR 3.37 [1.17-9.66], p=0.02), self-reported history of sexual transmitted diseases (OR 6.15 [2.04-18.51], p=0.001), 2 or more sexual partners during life (OR 9.29 [2.16-39.94], p=0.0020) and inconsistent use of condoms (OR 4.73 [1.98-11.26], p=0.0004) as risk factors for HTLV infection. In accordance with previous published data, our results point to an association between low socio-economical level, poor education and unsafe sexual behavior with HTLV infection. We observed a lower prevalence of HLTV infection when compared to previous data.
Structure and Function of Sphingolipid- and Cholesterol-rich Membrane Rafts*

It is well known that separate domains with different lipid compositions can exist in liposomes containing mixtures of different phospholipids. The question of whether cellular membranes contain similar lipid domains has intrigued workers for many years. One type of domain, sphingolipid and cholesterol-based structures called membrane rafts, has received much attention in the last few years. We will review the evidence that rafts exist in cells and focus on their structure, or the organization of raft lipids and proteins. Our discussion of function will focus on the role of rafts in signaling in hematopoietic cells, a particularly well developed area that has provided insights into raft organization in the membrane. Several reviews of rafts (1–4) and of related structures called caveolae (5–7) have appeared recently.
Ear foreign‐body removal: A review of 98 consecutive cases

Although patients with external auditory canal foreign bodies present frequently, there is scant literature on the topic other than case reports. A study of 98 consecutive patients referred over a 1‐year period to otolaryngologists at a large urban county hospital was undertaken. Fifty‐seven percent of these patients were over 12 years of age. A data form was completed by the otolaryngology resident removing the foreign body. Fifty‐three percent of the cases had undergone one or more previous attempts at removal prior to the otolaryngologist's attempt, usually by an emergency room physician. Method of removal included use of a microscope in only 6% of previous attempts, while otolaryngologists used a microscope in 91%. Canal wall lacerations were present in 48% of patients following previous attempts at removal by other health‐care professionals, but were found in only 4% of removals by an otolaryngologist. Recommendations include use of a microscope for removal and referral to an otolaryngologist if the foreign body is not readily removed by the primary‐care physician.
Religious Explanatory Models in Patients with Psychosis: A Three-Year Follow-Up Study

Background/Aims: Spirituality and religiousness have been shown to be highly prevalent in patients with psychosis. Yet the influence of religious denomination as it affects coping methods and/or as an explanatory model for illness and treatment remains to be determined. This study aims (1) to investigate if religious denomination is associated with explanatory models, (2) to assess the evolution over time of these explanatory models, and (3) to examine the relationship between these explanatory models and the spiritual vision of treatment and adhesion to such treatment. Sampling and Methods: Of an initial cohort of 115 outpatients, 80% (n = 92) participated in a 3-year follow-up study. The evolution of their religious explanatory models was assessed in order to evaluate if religious denomination, as a meaning-making coping tool, is associated with the patients’ explanatory models. Finally, we examined the relationship between these representations and the patients’ spiritual visions of treatment and treatment adhesion. Results: A spiritual vision of the illness (as part of an explanatory model) was more frequent in patients with psychosis for whom the subjective dimension of religion was important. However, there was no association between the patients’ religious denomination and their spiritual vision of the illness. The analyses showed that the various contents of spiritual visions of illness were not positive or negative per se; instead, they depended on how this religious vision was integrated into the person’s experience. Examining longitudinal aspects of coping showed that the spiritual vision sometimes changed, but was not associated with clinical or social outcome. Conclusions: For patients with psychosis, explanatory models frequently involve a religious component which is independent of denomination and likely to change over time. Clinicians should address this issue on a regular basis, by asking patients about their explanatory model before trying to build a bridge with the medical model.
Virtual Elements for Linear Elasticity Problems

We discuss the application of virtual elements to linear elasticity problems, for both the compressible and the nearly incompressible case. Virtual elements are very close to mimetic finite differences (see, for linear elasticity, [L. Beirao da Veiga, M2AN Math. Model. Numer. Anal., 44 (2010), pp. 231--250]) and in particular to higher order mimetic finite differences. As such, they share the good features of being able to represent in an exact way certain physical properties (conservation, incompressibility, etc.) and of being applicable in very general geometries. The advantage of virtual elements is the ductility that easily allows high order accuracy and high order continuity.
A game theoretic analysis of selfish mobile computation offloading

Offloading computation to a mobile cloud is a promising approach for enabling the use of computationally intensive applications by mobile devices. In this paper we consider autonomous devices that maximize their own performance by choosing one of many wireless access points for computation offloading. We develop a game theoretic model of the problem, prove the existence of pure strategy Nash equilibria, and provide a polynomial time algorithm for computing an equilibrium. For the case when the cloud computing resources scale with the number of mobile devices we show that all improvement paths are finite. We provide a bound on the price of anarchy of the game, thus our algorithm serves as an approximation algorithm for the global computation offloading cost minimization problem. We use extensive simulations to provide insight into the performance and the convergence time of the algorithms in various scenarios. Our results show that the equilibrium cost may be close to optimal, and the convergence time is almost linear in the number of mobile devices.
An energy aware application controller for optimizing renewable energy consumption in Cloud computing

With the advent of new computing technologies, such as cloud computing and contemporary parallel pro- cessing systems, the building blocks of computing systems have become multi-dimensional. Traditional scheduling systems based on a single-resource optimization, like processors, fail to provide near optimal solutions. The efficient use of new computing systems depends on the efficient use of several resource dimensions. Thus, the scheduling systems have to fully use all resources. In this paper, we address the problem of multi-resource scheduling via multi-capacity bin-packing. We propose the application of multi-capacity-aware resource scheduling at host selection layer and queuing mechanism layer of an scheduling system. The experimental results demonstrate performance improvements of scheduling in terms of waittime and slowdown metrics.
Sex Differences in Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes in Elderly Patients With Heart Failure and Preserved Ejection Fraction: The Irbesartan in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction (I-PRESERVE) Trial

Background—There are few sex-specific outcome data in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Methods and Results—We assessed sex differences in baseline characteristics and outcomes among 4128 patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in the Irbesartan in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (I-PRESERVE) trial. Women (n=2491) with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction were ≈1 year older (72±7 years versus 71±7 years) and more likely to be obese (46% versus 35%) and have chronic kidney disease (34% versus 26%) and hypertension (91% versus 85%) than men but less likely to have an ischemic cause (19% versus 34%), atrial fibrillation (27% versus 33%), or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (8% versus 13%) (all P<0.001). During a mean of 49.5 months, there were 881 deaths (447 in women, 434 in men; risk ratio, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.56–0.74) and 5776 hospitalizations (3239 in women, 2537 in men; risk ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.76–0.84). Women had lower risk of all-cause events (deaths and hospitalizations), even after adjusting for baseline characteristics (adjusted hazards ratio, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.73–0.89). However, the sex-related difference in risk of all-cause events was modified in the presence or absence of atrial fibrillation, renal dysfunction, stable angina pectoris, or advanced New York Heart Association class symptoms. Conclusions—In patients with typical heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, there were prominent sex differences in baseline characteristics and outcomes. Women had better overall prognosis, although the presence of 4 common baseline characteristics seemed to moderate this finding. Clinical Trial Registration—URL: http://www.clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifier: NCT000095238.
Effects of a Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Agonist Implant on Reproduction in a Male Marsupial, Macropus eugenii1

Abstract This study evaluated the potential of slow-release GnRH agonist (deslorelin) implants to inhibit reproductive function in the male tammar wallaby. The specific aim was to measure the effects of graded dosages of deslorelin on testes size and plasma LH and testosterone concentrations. Adult male tammar wallabies were assigned to four groups (n = 6 per group) and received the following treatment: control, placebo implant; low dose, 5 mg deslorelin; medium dose, 10 mg; high dose, 20 mg. All dosages of deslorelin induced acute increases (P < 0.001) in plasma LH and testosterone concentrations within 2 h, with concentrations remaining elevated during the first 24 h but returning to pretreatment levels by Day 7. Thereafter, there was no evidence of a treatment-induced decline in plasma testosterone concentrations. There was no detectable difference in basal LH concentrations between treated and control animals, nor was there a significant change in testes width or length (P > 0.05). These results suggest that the male tammar wallaby is resistant to the contraceptive effects of chronic GnRH agonist treatment. Despite the maintenance of testosterone secretion, the majority of male tammars (10 of 17) failed to respond to a GnRH challenge with a release of LH between Days 186 and 197 of treatment. The failure of animals to respond to exogenous GnRH suggests a direct effect of deslorelin on the pituitary, resulting in a level of desensitization that was sufficient to inhibit a LH surge but insufficient to inhibit basal LH secretion. The variation between animals is believed to result from earlier recovery of some individuals, in particular those that received a lower dose, or individual resistance to the desensitization process.
Controlled Expression of Branch-forming Mannosyltransferase Is Critical for Mycobacterial Lipoarabinomannan Biosynthesis

Lipomannan (LM) and lipoarabinomannan (LAM) are phosphatidylinositol-anchored glycans present in the mycobacterial cell wall. In Mycobacterium smegmatis, the mannan core of LM/LAM constitutes a linear chain of 20–25 α1,6-mannoses elaborated by 8–9 α1,2-monomannose side branches. At least two α1,6-mannosyltransferases mediate the linear mannose chain elongation, and one branching α1,2-mannosyltransferase (encoded by MSMEG_4247) transfers monomannose branches. An MSMEG_4247 deletion mutant accumulates branchless LAM and interestingly fails to accumulate LM, suggesting an unexpected role of mannose branching for LM synthesis or maintenance. To understand the roles of MSMEG_4247-mediated branching more clearly, we analyzed the MSMEG_4247 deletion mutant in detail. Our study showed that the deletion mutant restored the synthesis of wild-type LM and LAM upon the expression of MSMEG_4247 at wild-type levels. In striking contrast, overexpression of MSMEG_4247 resulted in the accumulation of dwarfed LM/LAM, although monomannose branching was restored. The dwarfed LAM carried a mannan chain less than half the length of wild-type LAM and was elaborated by an arabinan that was about 4 times smaller. Induced overexpression of an elongating α1,6-mannosyltransferase competed with the overexpressed branching enzyme, alleviating the dwarfing effect of the branching enzyme. In wild-type cells, LM and LAM decreased in quantity in the stationary phase, and the expression levels of branching and elongating mannosyltransferases were reduced in concert, presumably to avoid producing abnormal LM/LAM. These data suggest that the coordinated expressions of branching and elongating mannosyltransferases are critical for mannan backbone elongation.
miR-147, a microRNA that is induced upon Toll-like receptor stimulation, regulates murine macrophage inflammatory responses

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are major receptors that enable inflammatory cells to recognize invading microbial pathogens. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that play important regulatory roles in a variety of biological processes. In this study, we found that a microRNA, miR-147, was induced upon stimulation of multiple TLRs and functioned as a negative regulator of TLR-associated signaling events in murine macrophages. We first demonstrated that the NMES1 transcript was a functional primary miR-147. miR-147 was induced in LPS-stimulated mouse macrophages and under in vivo conditions in the lungs of LPS-treated mice. Expression of miR-147 was greater after cellular activation by TLR4 than after engagement of either TLR2 or TLR3, suggesting that maximal induction of miR-147 required activation of both NF-κB and IRF3. TLR4-induced miR-147 expression was both MyD88- and TRIF-dependent. The miR-147 promoter was responsive to TLR4 stimulation and both NF-κB and STAT1α bound to the miR-147 promoter. miR-147 mimics or induced expression of miR-147 decreased, whereas miR-147 knockdown increased inflammatory cytokine expression in macrophages stimulated with ligands to TLR2, TLR3, and TLR4. These data demonstrate a negative-feedback loop in which TLR stimulation induces miR-147 to prevent excessive inflammatory responses.
Tragedy or tragicomedy: Mixed feelings induced by positive and negative emotional events

Based on the theory of appraisal, we predicted that positive and negative events happening to the same people or things in a specific chronological order (i.e., a negative event following a positive event) would induce different mixed feelings than the same events happening to different people or things. Pairs of emotional pictures with different captions were used to create two event groups. In the “tragic event” group, the positive and negative events happened to the same person or things, and in the “tragicomic event” group, the positive and negative events happened to different people or things. We designed two experiments to explore and compare the generation of mixed feelings in those two groups. In Experiment 1, the negative event was shown first, and in Experiment 2, the negative event was shown second (although the chronological order of the depicted events was the same). The participants were 381 undergraduates: 195 in Experiment 1 and 186 in Experiment 2. In both experiments, we found that tragic events introduced less intense mixed feelings than did tragicomic events due to fewer pleasurable feelings induced by the tragic events. There was no significant difference in the report of negative emotions between the groups. Appraisal theory and negative bias effects may explain these results.
Título artículo / Títol article : Ecological momentary assessment for chronic pain in fibromyalgia using a smartphone : A randomized crossover study

Background: Daily diaries are a useful way of measuring fluctuations in pain-related symptoms. Although this approach entails a repeated assessment, traditional diaries do not assure the gathering of data in real-time, and therefore do not solve the problem of retrospective assessment. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and, more concretely, real-time data capture (RTDC) by means of electronic diaries can help to improve repeated assessment in chronic pain. Method: The present work contributes to this line of research by comparing the accuracy and acceptability of an RTDC method running on a smartphone using a crossover design for a sample with a low level of education and low familiarity with technology. Forty-seven women diagnosed with fibromyalgia were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: 1) paper diary – smartphone diary, and 2) smartphone diary – paper diary, using each assessment method for one week. Results: The findings of this study showed that the smartphone diary made it possible to gather more accurate and complete ratings of relevant variables. Besides, this method was well accepted by a sample of fibromyalgia patients referred by a public hospital with a large proportion of participants with low level of education and low familiarity with technology. Conclusion: The findings of this study support the use of smartphones for ecological momentary assessment in the field of chronic pain. These methods could help clinicians and researchers to gather more accurate ratings of relevant pain-related variables even in populations with low educational levels and low familiarity with technology.
Impact of hematopoietic chimerism at day +14 on engraftment after unrelated donor umbilical cord blood transplantation for hematologic malignancies

Primary graft failure remains a substantial setback of umbilical cord blood transplantation (CBT). The results of this study emphasize that the extent of donor chimerism very early post-transplant is predictive of hematopoietic engraftment following single-unit CBT in adult patients suffering from malignant hematologic disease. Background Cord blood transplant is a feasible treatment alternative for adult patients with hematologic malignancies lacking a suitable HLA-matched donor. However, the kinetics of myeloid recovery is slow, and primary graft failure cannot be detected easily early after transplantation. We investigated the impact of hematopoietic chimerism status from unselected marrow cells 14 days after transplantation on predicting engraftment after a cord blood transplant. Design and Methods Seventy-one adult patients with hematologic malignancies undergoing single-unit unrelated donor cord blood transplantation after a myeloablative conditioning regimen were included in the study. All patients received conditioning regimens based on busulfan, thiotepa and antithymocyte globulin. Chimerism status was assessed analyzing short tandem repeat polymorphisms. Results The cumulative incidence of myeloid engraftment at 1 month was significantly lower in patients with mixed chimerism than in those with complete donor chimerism (55% vs. 94%; p<0.0001). For patients achieving myeloid recovery, the median time of engraftment was 16 days when donor chimerism at day + 14 was higher than 90%, compared with 24 days when donor chimerism was below this level (p<0.001). A donor chimerism level of 65% was found to be the best cut-off point for predicting primary graft failure, with a sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 80%. The incidence of primary graft failure was 67% for patients with less than 65% donor chimerism at day +14 as compared to only 2% for those with more than 65% donor chimerism (p<0.001). Patients with mixed chimerism also had a lower cumulative incidence of platelet engraftment than those with complete chimerism (62% vs. 89%; p=0.01). Conclusions Donor-recipient chimerism status at day +14 predicts engraftment after a single-unit cord blood transplant in adults.
A co-actor's focus of attention affects stimulus processing and task performance: An ERP study

When acting and attending together, we take each other's perceptual and intentional relations to the environment into account. The present study investigated whether people are also sensitive to a co-actor's attentional relation to jointly attended events. Two participants sat next to each other and performed a two-choice Navon task, responding to the identity of letters formed by identical (congruent) or different (incongruent) smaller letters while EEG was recorded. Crucially, participants either held the same focus of attention (e.g., both attending to local stimulus features) or different foci of attention (e.g., one attending to local and the other to global features). Results revealed a significant slow-down of responses when participants focused on different features. Amplitudes of the occipital P1 and parietal occipital P3 decreased when attentional foci differed. The amplitude of the fronto-central N2 increased when the other attended to local as compared to global features. These results suggest that representations of a co-actor's task can include a specification of his or her focus of attention. Taking into account the other's different attentional relation to stimuli likely induces a conflict at the level of task selection, impairing early allocation of attention (P1) and enhancing the need to monitor response initiation (P3).
The Critical Mass Hypothesis of Suicide: A Test in the United States of America

Lester (1987) has argued that nations with higher suicide rates will have more publicity about suicide and that those in the society will be more likely to know someone who has committed suicide. The role of suggestion then in societies with high suicide rates will be greater and so rhe suicide rates of those nations should increase more. Lester's analysis confirmed this hypothesis. Such a phenomenon would not be expected to occur within the regions of this nation since the publicity attending suicide is not restricted to within a single state and since residential mobility is high. To explore whether the critical mass hypothesis holds true for the 48 continental states of the USA, suicide rates for each stare in 1970 and 1980 were obtained from the Vital Statirtiw of the United States. The absolute increase in the suicide rates from 1970 to 1980 was not related to the 1970 suicide rates (Pearson r = -0.05). The mean suicide rate in 1970 ( M = 12.0, SD = 3.3) did not differ significantly from the suicide rate in 1960 ( M = 12.3, S D = 2.7; t4i = 1.56). As expected, the hypothesis was not confirmed within chis nation.