Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Overlapping Alternative Sigma Factor Regulons in the Response to Singlet Oxygen in Rhodobacter sphaeroides

ABSTRACT Organisms performing photosynthesis in the presence of oxygen have to cope with the formation of highly reactive singlet oxygen (1O2) and need to mount an adaptive response to photooxidative stress. Here we show that the alternative sigma factors RpoHI and RpoHII are both involved in the 1O2 response and in the heat stress response in Rhodobacter sphaeroides. We propose RpoHII to be the major player in the 1O2 response, whereas RpoHI is more important for the heat stress response. Mapping of the 5′ ends of RpoHII- and also RpoHI/RpoHII-dependent transcripts revealed clear differences in the −10 regions of the putative promoter sequences. By using bioinformatic tools, we extended the RpoHII regulon, which includes genes induced by 1O2 exposure. These genes encode proteins which are, e.g., involved in methionine sulfoxide reduction and in maintaining the quinone pool. Furthermore, we identified small RNAs which depend on RpoHI and RpoHII and are likely to contribute to the defense against photooxidative stress and heat stress.
Do retinal microvascular abnormalities shed light on the pathophysiology of lacunar stroke

viii Abbreviations xi Chapter 1: Introduction and aims of thesis. Aetiology of lacunar stroke and homology between retinal and cerebral microvasculature 1.1 Synopsis of thesis. 1 1.2 Importance of stroke 1 1.3 Stroke subtypes 2 1.3. 1 The OCSP classification 2 1.3. 2 The TOAST classification 2 1.3. 3 Definition of lacunar stroke 3 1.4 The lacunar hypothesis 5 1.4. 1 Lacunar stroke syndromes 6 1.5 Clinical significance of lacunar stroke 6 1.6 Aetiology of lacunar stroke 7 1.6. 1 Why is the aetiology of lacunar stroke poorly understood? 8 1.6. 2 Lacunar stroke is difficult to diagnose 8 1.7 There may exist two different subtypes of lacunar stroke 9 1.8 Pathological studies of the small vessel abnormality 10 1.9 Possible causes of lacunar stroke 12 1.9. 1 Does embolism cause lacunar strokes? 13 1.9. 2 Does atheroma cause lacunar strokes? 15 1.9. 3 Risk factor analysis 16 1.9. 4 Animal models of lacunar stroke 16
Two small RNAs, CrcY and CrcZ, act in concert to sequester the Crc global regulator in Pseudomonas putida, modulating catabolite repression

The Crc protein is a translational repressor that recognizes a specific target at some mRNAs, controlling catabolite repression and co‐ordinating carbon metabolism in pseudomonads. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the levels of free Crc protein are controlled by CrcZ, a sRNA that sequesters Crc, acting as an antagonist. We show that, in Pseudomonas putida, the levels of free Crc are controlled by CrcZ and by a novel 368 nt sRNA named CrcY. CrcZ and CrcY, which contain six potential targets for Crc, were able to bind Crc specifically in vitro. The levels of CrcZ and CrcY were low under conditions generating a strong catabolite repression, and increased strongly when catabolite repression was absent. Deletion of either crcZ or crcY had no effect on catabolite repression, but the simultaneous absence of both sRNAs led to constitutive catabolite repression that compromised growth on some carbon sources. Overproduction of CrcZ or CrcY significantly reduced repression. We propose that CrcZ and CrcY act in concert, sequestering and modulating the levels of free Crc according to metabolic conditions. The CbrA/CbrB two‐component system activated crcZ transcription, but had little effect on crcY. CrcY was detected in P. putida, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas syringae, but not in P. aeruginosa.
QoE and QoS in wireless mesh networks

The increasing demand of multimedia applications requires a new behavior of routing protocols for Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). It is necessary to support the minimum requirements for Quality of Service (QoS), but WMNs also need to support the minimum requirements for Quality of Experience (QoE). This paper is an additional analysis of the proposed routing protocol OLSR-DC, from a perspective of the network (QoS) and from a perspective of the user (QoE). The simulations were performed to demonstrate the performance of OLSR-DC compared against original OLSR and its ETX and MD versions considering different performance evaluation metrics and the quality of the video received by the user.
Equal but Different? MRI-Guided Stereotactic Laser Amygdalohippocampectomy and Traditional Temporal Lobe Surgery

Commentary Primum non nocere (First do no harm) is one of the bioethical principles medicine is based upon. Nevertheless, in epilepsy surgery we at times accept a neuropsychological or other neurologic deficit and trade it for a good chance for seizure freedom. It has long been known that temporal lobectomy, which to date remains the most effective treatment of temporal drug-resistant epilepsy, can be associated with a memory deficit. In particular, resection of the dominant temporal lobe can lead to significant impairment of verbal memory and object naming (1, 2). Age of seizure onset predicts the extent of postoperative verbal deficit. The extent of the deficit can be quite variable (1). Even more confusing, in some cases improvement and not worsening of cognition can be observed (1). Deficits associated with the nondominant temporal lobe resection are less conspicuous. Lately, problems with facial recognition have been reported with nondominant resections (3). Drane et al. report the neuropsychological outcome of naming and object/face recognition in a cohort of patients who underwent traditional temporal lobectomy or selective amygdalohippocampectomy (SAH) and a cohort of patients who underwent magnetic resonance imaging guided stereotactic laser amygdalohippocampectomy (SLAH) for temporal lobe epilepsy. By placing a saline-cooled laser applicator in the mesial temporal structures, the target area is destroyed, mimicking the effects of an SAH. This procedure avoids any injury to lateral or subtemporal structures as required for traditional surgical access to the mesial temporal structures. The authors report striking differences in postoperative naming and Better Object Recognition and Naming Outcome With MRI-Guided Stereotactic Laser Amygdalohippocampotomy for Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.
Anti-Inflammatory Effects of a Pomegranate Leaf Extract in LPS-Induced Peritonitis

Abstract Folk medicine suggests that pomegranate (peels, seeds and leaves) has anti-inflammatory properties; however, the precise mechanisms by which this plant affects the inflammatory process remain unclear. Herein, we analyzed the anti-inflammatory properties of a hydroalcoholic extract prepared from pomegranate leaves using a rat model of lipopolysaccharide-induced acute peritonitis. Male Wistar rats were treated with either the hydroalcoholic extract, sodium diclofenac, or saline, and 1 h later received an intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharides. Saline-injected animals (i. p.) were used as controls. Animals were culled 4 h after peritonitis induction, and peritoneal lavage and peripheral blood samples were collected. Serum and peritoneal lavage levels of TNF-α as well as TNF-α mRNA expression in peritoneal lavage leukocytes were quantified. Total and differential leukocyte populations were analyzed in peritoneal lavage samples. Lipopolysaccharide-induced increases of both TNF-α mRNA and protein levels were diminished by treatment with either pomegranate leaf hydroalcoholic extract (57 % and 48 % mean reduction, respectively) or sodium diclofenac (41 % and 33 % reduction, respectively). Additionally, the numbers of peritoneal leukocytes, especially neutrophils, were markedly reduced in hydroalcoholic extract-treated rats with acute peritonitis. These results demonstrate that pomegranate leaf extract may be used as an anti-inflammatory drug which suppresses the levels of TNF-α in acute inflammation.
Total administered dose of ibandronate determines its effects on bone mass and architecture in ovariectomized aged rats.

OBJECTIVE Ibandronate is a highly potent nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate that can prevent bone loss in various animal models as well as in clinical trials. We evaluated the effects of different doses and treatment schedules in ovariectomized aged rats, a model of human osteoporosis. METHODS Eight-month-old female Wistar rats were ovariectomized or sham operated (n = 15/group). Doses of 0.1 to 30 microg/kg/day ibandronate were administered subcutaneously over a period of 20 weeks with or without a 5 times higher single loading dose starting one day postsurgery. In a subsequent experiment, the optimal preventive dose, which is the lowest dose that prevented bone loss completely, or a suboptimal preventive dose were administered over the same period, either daily or by 3 cyclical intermittent regimens (on/off weeks = 1/2, 1/4, and 1/6), resulting in the same cumulative total dose. RESULTS Ovariectomy induced significant bone loss in the following primary endpoints: femoral radiographic density, dry weight/tissue volume, and calcium content/tissue volume. Histomorphometry in the tibia resulted in reduced trabecular bone mass, thickness, and number, and increased separation. The optimal dose was 1.0 microg/kg/day, while 0.1 microg/kg/day was suboptimal. Higher doses resulted in a plateau. The loading dose had no effect on the results. Cyclical intermittent administration dose-dependently prevented bone loss, providing equivalent results per total dose, irrespective of the administration schedule. CONCLUSION There were no differences between the various regimens, suggesting that it is the total dose of ibandronate rather than the treatment schedule that is important for efficacy, at least within the tested dosing intervals.
Acceptability of female condom use among women exchanging street sex in New York City

Greater access to alternative female-initiated barrier methods, such as the female condom, is needed among women exchanging street sex. This study describes knowledge of and experience with the female condom among 101 women exchanging sex for money and drugs on the streets of New York City, and examines the acceptability of female condom use as an alternative barrier method for HIV/ STD prevention among this population. Female condom use among this sample of sex workers was found to be related to having a regular sexual partner, living with someone who is a drug or alcohol abuser, not being homeless, using alcohol or intravenous heroin, having heard of the device, and having discussed the device with other women or with a regular sexual partner. Despite decreased acceptability post-use, most sex workers indicated an intention for future female condom use.
[Frequency of imperforate anus and associated risk factors in patients with Down syndrome].

OBJECTIVES To establish the frequency of imperforate anus (IA) in the population with Down syndrome (DS) and study the associated risk factors. METHODS An observational clinical study case control type was performed. The patients were evaluated at the Unit of Medical Genetics, University of the Andes, from February 2006 to February 2011. The patients with DS and IA were compared with 20 DS without IA. Antecedents of parents were obtained. RESULTS The frequency de IA in the population with DS was 4.79%. The presence of fever in the first trimester of gestation and the rural origin were associated as risk factors of AI in patients with DS [OR: 25.33 (IC 95% 2.07- 310.76; P = 0.009) and OR: 7.50 (IC 95% 1.09 - 51.52; P = 0.043), respectively]. The maternal age superior to 35 years presented a marginal significance (P = 0.048). CONCLUSIONS These papers emphasize the high frequency of IA in patients with DS and recommend to investigate the prenatal and environmental risk factors that can increase the presence of this anorectal anomaly in the population with DS, in order to consider them in the programs of prevention of congenital pathologies.
Dermatoses associated with brominated swimming pools

also be expected when any naturally occurring food containing phenylalanine was consumed. The data do not provide any evidence that consumption of aspartame in doses which will occur as a result of consuming foods and drinks sweetened with aspartame might affect mood or behaviour. Similar conclusions about this work have been reached by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States, which had approved the use of aspartame as a "tabletop" sweetener and in processed foods in October 1981 and has now also allowed its use in carbonated soft drinks. Some of the press articles have suggested that aspartame might be harmful to carriers for phenylketonuria, and in particular that children whose mothers are phenylketonuria carriers might be damaged as a result of consumption of aspartame by their mothers during pregnancy. There is no evidence to support these suggestions. A considerable amount of information about the effects of aspartame on phenylketonuria carriers was considered as part of the safety evaluation of aspartame completed in February this year. These data show clearly that when aspartame is given to phenylketonuria carriers in doses which far exceed any possible intake in the normal diet, the levels of phenylalanine in the blood do not reach, even transiently, levels which are known to be toxic. It is the normal practice for any significant new information about any food additive to be considered by the expert staff of this department, in conjunction where necessary with the chairman or other individual members of our expert advisory committees. This practice is part of the continuing evaluation of food additives, and it is being followed in the case of aspartame. It is also normal practice to present any significant new information to the appropriate expert advisory committee at the earliest suitable opportunity, and this will be done with the new information about aspartame. I would like to reassurc those of your readers who may have been concerned about the articles in the national press that this Department remains satisfied as to the safety of aspartame.
Cultural changes in the second millennium BC: a Bayesian examination of radiocarbon evidence from Switzerland and Catalonia

Abstract The Bronze Age in prehistoric Europe represents a perfect case study for analyzing phenomena of cultural change and adoption of innovation in small-scale societies. Specifically, we focus on the large-scale introduction and development of the cremation rite in the second millennium bc. Traditionally, the origin of the so-called ‘Urnfield culture’ has been placed in the Carpatho-Danubian area. From this region cremation burials would have expanded across space and over time towards western and southern territories. In this article an innovative approach is adopted in order to quantify this phenomenon. Through the Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon-dated funerary contexts located in Switzerland and in Catalonia and included in the EUBAR database, the ritual change in these two different regions is modeled in a probabilistic way.
Joint Inventory and Pricing Decisions for an Assortment

We seek optimal inventory levels and prices of multiple products in a given assortment in a newsvendor model (single period, stochastic demand) under price-based substitution, but not stockout-based substitution. We address a demand model involving multiplicative uncertainty, motivated by market share models often used in marketing. The pricing problem that arises is known not to be well behaved in the sense that, in its deterministic version, the objective function is not jointly quasi-concave in prices. However, we find that the objective function is still reasonably well behaved in the sense that there is a unique solution to the first-order conditions, and this solution is optimal for our problem.
Dysgraphia in dementia: A systematic investigation of graphemic buffer features in a case series

In this paper we report findings from a systematic investigation of spelling performance in three patients – PR, RH and AC – who despite their different medical diagnoses showed a very consistent pattern of dysgraphia, more typical of graphemic buffer disorder. Systematic investigation of the features characteristic of this disorder in Study 1 confirmed the presence of length effects in spelling, classic errors (i.e., letter substitution, omission, addition, transposition), a bow-shaped curve in the serial position of errors and consistency in substitution of consonants and vowels. However, in addition to this clear pattern of graphemic buffer impairment, evidence of regularity effects and phonologically plausible errors in spelling raised questions about the integrity of the lexical spelling route in each case. A second study was conducted, using a word and non-word immediate delay copy task, in an attempt to minimise the influence of orthographic representations on written output. Persistence of graphemic buffer errors would suggest an additional, independent source of damage. Two patients, PR and AC, took part and in both cases symptoms of graphemic buffer disorder persisted. Together, these findings suggest that damage to the graphemic buffer may be more common than currently suggested in the literature.
A systems biology approach to dissect the contribution of brassinosteroid and Auxin hormones to vascular patterning in the shoot of Arabidopsis thaliana

Systems biology can foster our understanding of hormonal regulation of plant vasculature. One such example is our recent study on the role of plant hormones brassinosteroid (BR) and auxin in vascular patterning of Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) shoots. By using a combined approach of mathematical modelling and molecular genetics, we have reported that auxin and BRs have complementary effects in the formation of the shoot vascular pattern. We proposed that auxin maxima, driven by auxin polar transport, position vascular bundles in the stem. BRs in turn modulate the number of vascular bundles, potentially by controlling cell division dynamics that enhance the number of provascular cells. Future interdisciplinary studies connecting vascular initiation at the shoot apex with the established vascular pattern in the basal part of the plant stem are now required to understand how and when the shoot vascular pattern emerges in the plant.
Prematurity and associated factors in Divinópolis , Minas Gerais state , Brazil , 2008-2011 : analysis of the Information System on Live Births

Objective: to estimate prematurity prevalence and associated factors in Divinópolis, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, 2008-2011. Methods: this is a cross-sectional study with data from 9,987 records held on the Information System on Live Births; a multiple logistic regression model was used. Results: prevalence of preterm births was 8.0%; the higher likelihood of premature newborns were found to cesarean section (8.9%), mothers aged 15 or less (14.4%) and aged 35 or more (9.3%), mothers who went to 6 or fewer prenatal care visits (16.0%), and had had 4 or more live births (11.7%); after adjustment, the odds of preterm birth was higher among mothers aged under 15 years old (OR=1.22; 95%CI 1.01;1.49), mothers with 6 or fewer prenatal care visits (OR=3.76; 95%CI 3.24;4.38) and mothers undergoing cesarean section (OR=1.73; 95%CI 1.48;2.04). Conclusion: prematurity was associated with cesarean delivery, having fewer than 7 prenatal care visits and lower maternal age.
Rheumatoid arthritis and the evolution of therapy: from symptomatic to bench-to-bedside biological drugs

Although treatment of rheumatoid arthritis was formerly based on the use of classical drugs, which admittedly had proved their efficacy in controlling the disease but whose exact mechanism of action remained unclear (or unknown), recent impressive advances in basic research on rheumatoid arthritis physiopathology have been made, leading directly to science-driven therapy of high specificity. In addition, an increasing number of potential targets are gradually being discovered, with subsequent engineering of – potentially therapeutic – interfering molecules. Beside the actually widely used tumor necrosis factor-blocking drugs, numerous treatments were thus developed, which focus on various levels of the complex immune process perpetuating the disease. If current clinical practice already allows the practitioner to choose between several highly efficient drugs, the exponential development of alternative therapies may complicate the decision, but should also transform long-term prognosis of these patients.
Different Ipsi- and Contralateral Glial Responses to Anti-VEGF and Triamcinolone Intravitreal Injections in Rats.

PURPOSE To investigate the glial response of the rat retina to single or repeated intravitreal injections (IVI). METHODS Albino Sprague-Dawley rats received one or three (one every 7 days) IVI of anti-rat VEGF (5 μL; 0.015 μg/μL), triamcinolone (2.5 or 5 μL; 40 μg/μL; Trigón Depot), bevacizumab (5 μL; 25 μg/μL; Avastin), or their vehicles (PBS and balanced salt solution) and were processed 7 days after the last injection. Retinas were dissected as whole mounts and incubated with antibodies against: Iba1 (Ionized Calcium-Binding Adapter Molecule 1) to label retinal microglia, GFAP (Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein) to label macroglial cells, and vimentin to label Müller cells. The retinas were examined with fluorescence and confocal microscopy, and the numbers of microglial cells in the inner retinal layers were quantified using a semiautomatic method. RESULTS All the injected substances caused an important micro- and macroglial response locally at the injection site and all throughout the injected retina that was exacerbated by repeated injections. The microglial response was also observed but was milder in the contralateral noninjected eyes. The IVI of the humanized antibody bevacizumab caused a very strong microglial reaction in the ipsilateral retina. Two types of macroglial response were observed: astrocyte hypertrophy and Müller end-foot hypertrophy. While astrocyte hypertrophy was widespread throughout the injected retina, Müller end-foot hypertrophy was localized and more extensive with triamcinolone use or after repeated injections. CONCLUSIONS Intravitreal injections cause micro- and macroglial responses that vary depending on the injected agent but increase with repeated injections. This inflammatory glial response may influence the effects of the injected substances on the retina.
Older Adults Navigating Medicare: When Benefits Are Denied

Guided by Bourdieu's theory of practice and symbolic violence, this qualitative study explored experiences and perceptions of elderly beneficiaries who had been denied rehabilitation services by Medicare. In semistructured interviews, 12 beneficiaries or family members told of the physical, psychological, and financial consequences of service denial/termination. The resulting perception of Medicare was as a cumbersome, difficult to negotiate system. Findings have implications for future research on service denial and indicate the need for better communication with, and support of, consumers by health care professionals when this occurs.