Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Colorectal cancer cell-derived extracellular vesicles induce phenotypic alteration of T cells into tumor-growth supporting cells with transforming growth factor-β1-mediated suppression

Emerging studies on tumor cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) have shown the biological significance in tumor development and microenvironment through reprogramming immune cells around cancer cells. In this study, we used colorectal cancer cells as EVs donor, and T cells as recipients to examine whether EVs impair the T cell function. As a result, we found that colorectal cancer cell-derived EVs (CRC-EVs) were enriched with TGF-β1. Interestingly, CRC-EVs induced phenotypic alteration of the T cells to Treg-like cells through activating TGF-β/Smad signaling and inactivating SAPK signaling. Furthermore, the CRC-EVs-induced-Treg-like cells had a remarkable tumor-growth promoting activity in vitro and in vivo. These results suggest that colorectal cancer cells utilize EVs to tame immune cells for their prosperity.
A resistor-based temperature sensor for MEMS frequency references

This paper presents a CMOS temperature sensor intended for the temperature compensation of MEMS frequency references. It is based on a Wien bridge RC filter, whose phase-shift, due to the temperature dependency of the resistors used, is temperature dependent. This phase shift is then digitized by a phase domain sigma-delta modulator. The sensor was implemented in 0. 18μm CMOS, consumes 36 μW and achieves 6mK resolution in a conversion time of 100msec. After batch calibration and a 3-point trim, it achieves ±0.15°C (3σ) inaccuracy over the industrial range (-40°C to 85°C).
Erythrocyte Membrane Vesiculation and Changes in Membrane Composition during Storage in Citrate‐Phosphate‐Dextrose‐Adenine‐1

Abstract. Serial studies were made of the membranes of the erythrocytes and the vesicles shed during storage of blood in polyvinyl chloride containers for 35 days in citrate‐phosphate‐dextrose‐adenine anticoagulant. Special precautions were taken to eliminate artifacts created by contaminating leukocytes, platelets and red blood cell ghosts. A total of 15.6% of the cholesterol and 5.2% of the phospholipids of the membranes was lost with no gross change in the gel electrophoretic patterns. The quantity of vesicles found in the supernatant plasma increased during storage and their membranes were characterized by the absence of spectrin, ankyrin, and periodic acid Schiff bands 2 and 3. The ratio of lipids to protein in the vesicles increased as they accumulated perhaps reflecting a rearrangement of the erythrocyte membrane constituents during prolonged maintenance at 4°C.
SERIE RESEARCH mEIÏIORnnDU PRODUCT FORMS FOR RANDOM ACCESS SCHEMES

A framework is presented to investigate product form expres sions for circuit or packet switching random access protocols such as multihop-CSMA. Acceptation, retransmission and delay or acceleration functions are included. The transmission times and packet lenghts are generally distributed. A concrete invariance condition on the system functions is given which guarantëes an insensitive product form. This condition unifies and extends known results. Several new examples are obtained. In particular, recently derived product form expressions for multihop-CSMA protocols are generalized.
– mass spectrometry voxelation integrated with high-throughput liquid Spatial mapping of protein abundances in the mouse brain by data

Access the most recent version at doi: published online Jan 25, 2007; Genome Res. Smith Joshua N. Adkins, Navdeep Jaitly, David J. Anderson, David G. Camp, II, Desmond J. Smith and Richard D. Vladislav A. Petyuk, Wei-Jun Qian, Mark H. Chin, Haixing Wang, Eric A. Livesay, Matthew E. Monroe, chromatography–mass spectrometry voxelation integrated with high-throughput liquid Spatial mapping of protein abundances in the mouse brain by
Prognostic and survival analysis of 837 Chinese colorectal cancer patients.

AIM To develop a prognostic model to predict survival of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS Survival data of 837 CRC patients undergoing surgery between 1996 and 2006 were collected and analyzed by univariate analysis and Cox proportional hazard regression model to reveal the prognostic factors for CRC. All data were recorded using a standard data form and analyzed using SPSS version 18.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, United States). Survival curves were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. The log rank test was used to assess differences in survival. Univariate hazard ratios and significant and independent predictors of disease-specific survival and were identified by Cox proportional hazard analysis. The stepwise procedure was set to a threshold of 0.05. Statistical significance was defined as P < 0.05. RESULTS The survival rate was 74% at 3 years and 68% at 5 years. The results of univariate analysis suggested age, preoperative obstruction, serum carcinoembryonic antigen level at diagnosis, status of resection, tumor size, histological grade, pathological type, lymphovascular invasion, invasion of adjacent organs, and tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging were positive prognostic factors (P < 0.05). Lymph node ratio (LNR) was also a strong prognostic factor in stage III CRC (P < 0.0001). We divided 341 stage III patients into three groups according to LNR values (LNR1, LNR ≤ 0.33, n = 211; LNR2, LNR 0.34-0.66, n = 76; and LNR3, LNR ≥ 0.67, n = 54). Univariate analysis showed a significant statistical difference in 3-year survival among these groups: LNR1, 73%; LNR2, 55%; and LNR3, 42% (P < 0.0001). The multivariate analysis results showed that histological grade, depth of bowel wall invasion, and number of metastatic lymph nodes were the most important prognostic factors for CRC if we did not consider the interaction of the TNM staging system (P < 0.05). When the TNM staging was taken into account, histological grade lost its statistical significance, while the specific TNM staging system showed a statistically significant difference (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION The overall survival of CRC patients has improved between 1996 and 2006. LNR is a powerful factor for estimating the survival of stage III CRC patients.
Interleukin‐4 Gene Expression in Mercury‐Induced Autoimmunity

Mercuric chloride (HgCl2) induces autoitnmunity in Brown Norway (BN) rats, with necrotizing vasculitis in the gut. Circumstantial evidence implicates the Th2 subset of CD4+ T lymphocytes, which produces IL‐4. We developed a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique to quantify IL‐4 gene expression. A phagemid containing rat IL‐4 cDNA was modified to act as the template for a synthetic RNA construct; a known amount of synthetic RNA was added to total RNA from spleen and caecum of BN rats at various times after HgCl2, followed by reverse transcriptase PCR. IL‐4 gene expression increased markedly in spleen and caecum after HgCl2. Splenic levels peaked by 10 days at approximately five‐times baseline, then returned towards normal as the autoimmune response was spontaneously regulated. Caecal IL‐4 expression peaked at 48 h, at which time we observed a previously unreported early phase of tissue injury, with necrotizing vasculitis qualitatively similar to that reported previously in the later phases of the model. These data support a key role for IL‐4 in this experimental model of autoimmunity. The quantitative PCR technique can be modified for analysis of other cytokines, allowing further investigation of the role of T ceil subsets in this model.
Cost-effectiveness of treatment options for prevention of rheumatic heart disease from Group A streptococcal pharyngitis in a pediatric population.

BACKGROUND We set out to examine which treatment option available in the United States was most cost-effective in treating children with endemic group A streptococcal pharyngitis to prevent rheumatic heart disease. METHODS Cost-effectiveness was calculated from the societal perspective and expressed in cases of rheumatic heart disease prevented annually in the U.S. pediatric population aged 5 to 17 based on U.S. Census data. We used a decision-analysis model to assess the cost-effectiveness of five treatment options for patients with pharyngitis: (1) "treat all," (2) "treat none," (3) "rapid test," where only patients with a positive rapid antigen test are treated, (4) "culture," where only patients with a positive throat culture are treated, and (5) "rapid test with culture" or (RTCX), where confirmatory cultures are used on patients with negative rapid tests. Cost data were gathered from existing empirical data or estimated. We performed sensitivity analyses of the antigen test sensitivity and antibiotic effectiveness and examined whether changes in these variables would alter our outcome. RESULTS The "rapid test" was the most cost-effective option. Using "rapid tests" prevented 85 cases of rheumatic heart disease annually and cost society $727,000 per case prevented. Performing throat cultures instead of "rapid tests" would pick up an additional 11 cases of rheumatic heart disease but would cost $13.7 million for each of these additional cases prevented. The current standard of using throat cultures as a confirmatory test on patients with a negative "rapid" test would detect an additional 21 cases of rheumatic heart disease but cost society an additional $8 million per case prevented. CONCLUSIONS To reduce the incidence of rheumatic heart disease cost-effectively, the management of pediatric pharyngitis may best be accomplished by using antigen testing. The added costs associated with the remaining treatment options may not be justified, especially, as the sensitivity of the antigen tests continues to improve and closely approaches the sensitivity of the practice standard, throat culture.
Double and Multiple Representations in Greek Art and Religious Thought

Greek theology and its canonical iconography have not been studied nearly as much as the Byzantine, although the religious character of pagan art is no less pronounced. When it is studied it is mostly in the representations on the vases. Sculpture, however, in particular terra-cotta and ivory figurines and plaques, and votive offerings in sanctuaries, offers a wide scope for such a study. Greek piety created some standard forms of votive offerings such as the crouching child, the protome, male or female, the seated or standing woman, sometimes exactly identifiable from the attributes. A standard type of votive offering, perhaps not as common as the single figure, is that of reliefs, statuettes and statues representing two, or sometimes more, female figures, identical or slightly differentiated, traditionally explained as Demeter and Kore or the Nymphs. The topic has been treated variously since the early nineteenth century, in isolated examples, or regional and other groups. There is no treatment of it in its entirety in the Greek world, and not much progress has been made in the subject since the basic nineteenth-century treatises. Moreover, in the above publications, never cited in more recent works, one finds some very sound approaches and knowledge of the textual evidence. However, in these early publications the material is mostly Classical, or Hellenistic and Roman. In some of the cases of double figures discussed in them, the duplication, rather than ‘doubleness’, is more apparent than real because the attributes are repeated and are those of the unique war goddess Athena, or the equally unique Tyche or Fortuna. However, the case is not always so, especially in archaic or earlier times, and it gets even more complicated when the figures are not two but three and sometimes more, even up to nine. The repeating of figures, often under one mantle, as diad, triad, etc., could be explained as multiplication of a figure by the folk-mind (mythology), followed by the Greek artists, thus creating the Eileithyiai, Horai, Charites, Muses, etc. Modern scholars have insisted on trying to identify in all of them Demeter and Kore, the female diad par excellence.
Effect of Hip Reconstructive Surgery on Health-Related Quality of Life of Non-Ambulatory Children with Cerebral Palsy.

BACKGROUND The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship of the migration percentage (a radiographic metric quantifying hip displacement) in children with Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level-IV or V cerebral palsy and spastic hip dysplasia to the acetabular index and the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) as measured with the Caregiver Priorities and Child Health Index of Life with Disabilities (CPCHILD) before and after reconstructive hip surgery. METHODS In a prospective cohort study (n = 38), the migration percentage, acetabular index, and CPCHILD scores were analyzed using the Pearson correlation analysis immediately before reconstructive hip surgery and at 6 weeks and 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after the surgery. Subgroup analysis was used to compare patients who had a preoperative migration percentage of ≥50% with those who had a preoperative migration percentage of <50% and to compare the acetabular index between patients who had a pelvic osteotomy and those who had not. Linear mixed models were used to analyze changes in the migration percentage, acetabular index, and CPCHILD scores over time. RESULTS The preoperative migration percentage negatively correlated with the preoperative CPCHILD score (r = -0.50; p = 0.002). This relationship continued throughout the follow-up period such that, for each additional 1% correction in migration percentage, the CPCHILD total score increased by 0.2 point (p < 0.001). There was no correlation between the acetabular index and CPCHILD total score before or after surgery (p = 0.09 to 0.71). The preoperative CPCHILD total scores differed between the migration-percentile groups (mean difference = 13 points; 95% confidence interval = 3.3 to 22.8; p = 0.01). However, after hip surgery, the CPCHILD score improved similarly for both groups. CONCLUSIONS These data support the effectiveness of reconstructive hip surgery for the treatment of spastic hip dysplasia to improve the HRQOL of non-ambulatory children with severe cerebral palsy. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Prospective Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
ALMA MEASUREMENTS OF CIRCUMSTELLAR MATERIAL IN THE GQ LUP SYSTEM

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of the GQ Lup system, a young Sun-like star with a substellar-mass companion in a wide-separation orbit. These observations of 870 μm continuum and CO J = 3–2 line emission with beam size ∼0. ″3 (∼45 au) resolve the disk of dust and gas surrounding the primary star, GQ Lup A, and provide deep limits on any circumplanetary disk surrounding the companion, GQ Lup b. The circumprimary dust disk is compact with an FWHM of 59 ± 12 au, while the gas has a larger extent with a characteristic radius of 46.5 ± 1.8 au. By forward-modeling the velocity field of the circumprimary disk based on the CO emission, we constrain the mass of GQ Lup A to be M* = (1.03 ± 0.05) ∗ (d/156 pc) M⊙, where d is a known distance, and determine that we view the disk at an inclination angle of 60. °5 ± 0. °5 and a position angle of 346° ± 1°. The 3σ upper limit on the 870 μm flux density of any circumplanetary disk associated with GQ Lup b of <0.15 mJy implies an upper limit on the dust disk mass of <0.04 M⊕ for standard assumptions about optically thin emission. We discuss proposed mechanisms for the formation of wide-separation substellar companions given the non-detection of circumplanetary disks around GQ Lup b and other similar systems.
Addressing the Aging Crisis in U.S. Criminal Justice Health Care

The U.S. criminal justice population is aging at a significantly more rapid rate than the overall U.S. population, with the population of older adults in prison having more than tripled since 1990. This increase is at the root of a prison healthcare crisis that is spilling into communities and public healthcare systems because nearly 95% of prisoners are eventually released. The graying prison population is also straining state and local budgets. In prison, older prisoners cost approximately three times as much as younger prisoners to incarcerate, largely because of healthcare costs. In the community, older former prisoners present the least risk of recidivism yet are vulnerable to serious and costly social and medical challenges such as housing instability, poor employability, multiple chronic health conditions, and health‐related mortality; however older current and former prisoners are largely ignored in the current geriatrics evidence base. Knowledge about the health, functional, and cognitive status of older prisoners is limited, with even less known about risk factors for long‐term poor health outcomes during and after incarceration. This article provides an overview of aging in the criminal justice system. It then describes how geriatric models of care could be adapted to address the mounting older prisoner healthcare crisis and identifies areas where additional research is needed to explore prison‐specific models of care for older adults.
Transient pancytopenia preceding acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (pre‐ALL) precipitated by parvovirus B19

A preleukaemic phase, typified by pancytopenia and bone marrow (BM) hypoplasia, is an uncommon but well‐documented prelude to acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (pre‐ALL) in children. Parvovirus B19 (B19) exhibits a marked tropism to human BM and replicates only in erythroid progenitor cells acting as a confounding, but treatable agent in immunocompromised patients. We present the first case of B19‐associated pre‐ALL characterized by severe and recurring transient pancytopenia in a child who developed ALL 5 months later. The advent of B19‐specific IgG at the time of infection and the subsequent disappearance 1·5 years later has not previously been described. In this patient the observed cytopenias were probably the result of B19 acting in concert with the failing BM and B19 is possibly one of several factors capable of triggering the onset of pre‐ALL.
Spin-fluctuation-dominated electrical transport of Ni 3 Al at high pressure

We present the first study of a magnetic quantum phase transition in the itinerant-electron ferromagnet Ni3Al at high pressures. Electrical resistivity measurements in a diamond anvil cell at hydrostatic pressures up to 100 kbar and temperatures as low as 50 mK indicate that the Curie temperature collapses towards absolute zero at a critical pressure pc=82(2) kbar. Over wide ranges in pressure and temperature, both in the ferromagnetic and paramagnetic states, the temperature variation of the resistivity is found to deviate from the conventional Fermi-liquid form. We consider the extent to which this deviation can be understood in terms of a mean-field model of enhanced spin fluctuations on the border of ferromagnetism in three dimensions.
A Reinvestigation of Brindley’s Gland Exocrine Compounds of Rhodnius prolixus (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

Abstract A chemical, electrophysiological and behavioral study was carried out to analyze the volatile compounds of the Brindley’s gland of Rhodnius prolixus Stål. Six compounds were found in the Brindley’s gland of males and females: acetic, isobutyric, caproic acids and three compounds not identified. The mass spectra of the unidentified compounds have the appearance of a propionate ester, a butyrate ester and a valerate ester. There was no difference in the concentration of these compounds in the glands of males and females. The major component was isobutyric acid. The electroantennographic (EAG) evaluation of isobutyric, acetic, and caproic acids elicited weak responses. With both sexes, the EAG responses for the acids were no different from the control response at any of the doses evaluated (1, 10, 100, and 500 μg). The behavioral response of males and females to acetic, isobutyric, and caproic acids at 1, 5, and 10 μg and binary and tertiary mixtures of the three compounds was evaluated in a Y-olfactometer. Males showed preference for acetic acid at a dose of 1 μg, but not at 5 or 10 μg. Females showed preference for this compound at the dose of 5 μg. Males showed preference for isobutyric acid at 1 and 5 μg, but not at 10 μg. Females did not show any preference for isobutyric acid. Males were attracted to caproic acid at the dose of 1 and 10 μg. Females were attracted to the caproic acid. Males, but not females, preferred the mixture of acetic and isobutyric acids over control. Neither males nor females showed preference for the mixture of acetic and caproic acids or hexane control. Females, but not males, were attracted to the mixture of the isobutyric and caproic acids. Only males showed a positive response for the tertiary mixture of the acids.
A comparison of root surface instrumentation using two piezoelectric ultrasonic scalers and a hand scaler in vivo.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE This study compared the effectiveness of two piezoelectric ultrasonic scalers and a hand scaler for subgingival scaling and root planing in vivo. MATERIAL AND METHODS Fifteen patients with advanced periodontal disease and with teeth scheduled for extraction were selected for this study. Three experimental groups of 10 teeth each were treated with one of two piezoelectric ultrasonic scalers [Vector scaler and Enac scaler] or with a hand scaler. Instrumentation was continued until the root surface felt hard and smooth to an explorer tip. The root surface characteristics after instrumentation were examined using scanning electron microscopy, and the amount of remaining calculus, roughness and loss of tooth substance were estimated using the remaining calculus index and roughness loss of tooth substance index. RESULTS The remaining calculus index did not differ significantly among the three groups. The roughness loss of tooth substance index was significantly lower for the Vector scaler and Enac scaler groups than for the hand scaler group and also differed significantly between the Vector scaler and Enac scaler groups. CONCLUSION This study suggests that the Vector scaler produces a smooth root surface with minimal loss of tooth substance. It is a reasonable choice for gentle periodontal maintenance treatment.