Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cathepsin G binds to human lymphocytes

Cathepsin G is a serine protease located in the azurophil granules of neutrophils. We have shown previously that cathepsin G stimulates human lymphocytes. In this study, we demonstrate that cathepsin G exhibits specific, saturable and reversible binding to lymphocytes: B cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and natural killer (NK) cells. Phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) ‐inhibited cathepsin G also bound to lymphocytes, although both the number of binding sites and the affinity were less than those of native cathepsin G. The binding of cathepsin G to lymphocytes showed cooperativity, but that of PMSF‐inhibited cathepsin G did not. PMSF‐inhibited cathepsin G was able to partially displace bound cathepsin G. These results suggest that molecules on the lymphocyte surface that bind cathepsin G recognize not only the active site of cathepsin G but also other sites of this molecule, but the active site has an important function in this binding because stimulation of lymphocytes requires the binding of proteolytically active cathepsin G. J. Leukoc. Biol. 61: 73–79; 1997.
Human parainfluenza virus-associated hospitalizations among children less than five years of age in the United States

Background. Human parainfluenza viruses 1 through 3 (HPIV-1–3) are important causes of respiratory tract infections in young children. This study sought to provide current estimates of HPIV-1–3-associated hospitalizations among US children. Methods. Hospitalizations for bronchiolitis, bronchitis, croup and pneumonia among children age <5 years were determined for the years 1979 through 1997 using the National Hospital Discharge Survey. Average annual hospitalizations during the last 4 years of the study for each of these four diseases were multiplied by the proportions of each disease associated with HPIV-1–3 infection (as previously reported in hospital-based studies) to estimate hospitalizations potentially associated with HPIV-1–3 infections. Seasonal trends in HPIV-1–3-associated hospitalizations were compared with HPIV detections in the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System, which prospectively monitors respiratory viral detections throughout the United States. Results. The proportions of hospitalizations associated with HPIV infection for each disease varied widely in the 6 hospital-based studies we selected. Consequently our annual estimated rates of hospitalization were broad: HPIV-1, 0.32 to 1.59 per 1000 children; HPIV-2, 0.10 to 0.86 per 1000 children; and HPIV-3, 0.48 to 2.6 per 1000 children. Based on these data HPIV-1 may account for 5800 to 28 900 annual hospitalizations; HPIV-2 for 1800 to 15 600 hospitalizations; and HPIV-3 for 8700 to 52 000 hospitalizations. Conclusions. We provide broad, serotype-specific estimates of US childhood hospitalizations associated with HPIV infections. More precise estimates of HPIV-associated hospitalizations would require large prospective studies of HPIV-associated diseases by more sensitive viral testing methods, such as polymerase chain reaction techniques.
Interaction between Erythropoietin and Peripheral Polymorphonuclear Leukocytes in Continuous Ambulatory Dialysis Patients

The effect of erythropoietin (EPO) on the oxidative stress (OS) and inflammation caused by polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs) in end-stage renal failure patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) was investigated in vivo and in vitro. The studies were performed on isolated PMNLs from peripheral blood of CAPD patients before and following 6 weeks of EPO treatment and from healthy controls. OS was expressed by the rate of superoxide release from phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) stimulated isolated PMNLs and the inflammatory state was evaluated by PMNL counts of the enrolled subjects. Following 6 weeks of EPO treatment in CAPD patients, both the rate of superoxide release from PMNLs and PMNL counts fell significantly when compared with the pretreatment values. In vitro incubation of PMNLs from CAPD patients with increasing amounts of EPO displayed a significant reduction in their rates of superoxide release. EPO, by direct interaction with PMNLs, attenuated their primed state, causing reduction in oxidative stress and inflammation.
Occult Androgenetic-Biparental Mosaicism and Sporadic Hepatic Mesenchymal Hamartoma

The incidence of hepatic mesenchymal hamartoma (HMH) is increased in patients with placental mesenchymal dysplasia (PMD), which appears to be caused by androgeneticbiparental mosaicism (ABM). We hypothesized that occult ABM might underlie cases of HMH with no known history of PMD. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded HMH specimens from 10 such patients and liver specimens from 6 non-HMH controls were identified retrospectively from the surgical pathology records of a pediatric hospital. The relative abundance of maternal and paternal alleles was assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction amplification of polymorphic short tandem repeats and single nucleotide polymorphisms located on 15 different chromosomes. Androgenetic-biparental mosaicism was diagnosed in one patient based on global allelic imbalances at all informative loci. In that patient, the greatest imbalances were observed in stroma-rich portions of the hamartoma, with no significant imbalance in histologically normal liver or epithelium-rich portions of the hamartoma. A retrospective, unbiased review of the histology and clinical records from all 10 patients revealed no morphologic or clinical correlates to distinguish the affected patient, except that she had multiple cutaneous hemangiomas, which like HMH, appear to be more common in patients with PMD. Our findings suggest that other patients with apparently sporadic HMH, hemangioma, or other lesions seen more frequently with PMD may harbor occult ABM. Recognition of ABM may be important because its long-term consequences are unknown but may be significant.
Bilateral Interstitial Pneumonic Shadows Caused by Perivascular Fibrosis and Extramedullary Megakaryopoiesis of the Lung in a Case of Advanced Agnogenic Myeloid Metaplasia and Myelofibrosis

A 59-year-old man with progressive and advanced agnogenic myeloid metaplasia, also called idiopathic myelofibrosis, had complications showing bilateral interstitial pneumonic shadows. Pathological assessment of transbronchial biopsy revealed pulmonary perivascular fibrosis and infiltration of megakaryocytes. Autopsy 3 months later showed extramedullary megakaryopoiesis and fibrosis in lung, pleura, kidney, liver and spleen. Histopathological analysis for platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and PDGF-receptor revealed an abnormally high expression of the PDGF-receptor-β gene in pulmonary fibroblasts. This is the first description of an association between pulmonary fibrosis and PDGF in idiopathic myelofibrosis.
Influenza Vaccination: The Persuasiveness of Messages Among People Aged 65 Years and Older

About 90% of all influenza-related deaths occur among people aged 65 years and older. Vaccination remains the primary option for preventing influenza infection. This study examined the efficacy of messages designed to increase the uptake of influenza vaccination. Two messages, narrative and didactic, were created based on the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM). The study employed a one-factor between-subjects experimental design with participants assigned randomly to three conditions: no message, didactic communication, and narrative communication. Participants were 311 Italian people aged 65 years or older. The results showed that, compared to no message and didactic communication, narrative communication was related to higher risk perception of influenza, to higher perception of the efficacy of the vaccine, and to self-efficacy related to vaccination, controlling for social trust, previous flu shot, and demographic variables. There were no differences among the three conditions with respect to the intention to receive the influenza vaccine. Findings suggest that narrative communication based on EPPM may have a persuasive effect on people aged 65 years or older.
The Life of the Gay Gene: From Hypothetical Genetic Marker to Social Reality

The gay gene was first identified in 1993 as a correlation between the genetic marker Xq28 and gay male sexuality. The results of this original study were never replicated, and the biological reality of such an entity remains hypothetical. However, despite such tenuous provenance, the gay gene has persisted as a reference in science news, popular science writings, and in press releases and editorials about biomedical research. An examination of the life of the gay gene in U.K. news media demonstrates that the gay gene has become an assumed back-story to genetic sexuality research over time, and that the critique of its very existence has been diminished. Latterly, the gay gene has entered into the online biomedical databases of the 21st century with the same pattern of persistence and diminishing critique. This article draws on an analysis of the U.K. press and online databases to represent the process through which the address of the gay gene has shifted and become an index of biomedicalization. The consequent unmooring of the gay gene from accountability and accuracy demonstrates that the organization of biomedical databases could benefit from greater cross-disciplinary attention.
Induction of osteoprogenitor cell differentiation in rat marrow stroma increases mitochondrial retention of rhodamine 123 in stromal cells

Bone marrow stromal cells contain colony forming cells with the potential to differentiate into osteoprogenitor (OPC) cells. OPC‐stimulation medium, containing dexamethasone, ascorbate, and β‐glycerophosphate is widely used to recruit OPCs in culture. Cultures were incubated 24 h with rhodamine 123 (Rho), on different days, to examine the effect of the OPC‐stimulation medium on the mitochondrial membrane potential of stromal cells. Cultures grown in both ordinary medium (DMEM with 15% FCS) and OPC‐stimulation medium showed 2 Rho retention peaks on days 3–4 and 10–11. Between days 5 and 10 there was a drop in Rho retention/cell. OPC‐stimulation medium increased Rho retention by at least twice the amount relative to ordinary medium, and has quadrupled it on day 7. Incubation with Rho concentrations above 5.0 μg/ml inhibited the portion of increased Rho retention which was contributed by the OPC‐stimulation medium. Prolonged exposure to 0.1, 1.0, and 10.0 μg/ml Rho for 12 days only slightly increased day 12 ALP activity/cell, had no effect on day‐21 mineralization and only the high dose, 10.0 μg/ml, doubled stromal cell proliferation. Under 24 h incubation Rho concentrations of 1.0 μg/ml and below can serve as a marker for mitochondrial membrane potential in differentiating stromal cells. The results indicate that under both culture conditions stromal cell mitochondria undergo cycles of high and low membrane potential states and that the OPC‐stimulation medium constantly maintains an elevated membrane potential relative to ordinary medium.
The establishment of ubiquitous portfolio management system and learning behaviour analysis scheme

The ubiquitous learning environment consists of wireless communication and sensing technology, integrates traditional paper-materials or digitalised multimedia materials to the authentic learning environment. In such environment, learners could read digital materials with mobile devices as well as interact with the authentic learning situation that the learning behaviours become more complicated than general network learning environments. This study aims to establish a portfolio management system for mobile learning environments and a learning behaviour analysis scheme that researchers and teachers could import to manage the learning activities and analyse the learning behaviours in the ubiquitous learning environment. As the portfolio in the ubiquitous learning environment presents time sequence, mining sequential pattern is applied for analysis in order to discover the learning paths and the difference between the learners with high learning achievement and low learning achievement for teaching and learning reference.
Prenatal cell phone use and developmental milestone delays among infants.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine if prenatal use of cell phones by pregnant mothers is associated with developmental milestones delays among offspring up to 18 months of age. METHODS Our work is based upon the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC), which recruited pregnant mothers from 1996-2002, and was initiated to collect a variety of detailed information regarding in utero exposures and various health outcomes. At the end of 2008, over 41,000 singleton, live births had been followed with the Age-7 questionnaire, which collected cell phone use exposure for mothers during pregnancy. Outcomes for developmental milestones were obtained from telephone interviews completed by mothers at age 6 and 18 months postpartum. RESULTS A logistic regression model estimated the odds ratios (OR) for developmental milestone delays, adjusted for potential confounders. Less than 5% of children at age 6 and 18 months had cognitive/language or motor developmental delays. At 6 months, the adjusted OR was 0.8 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.7-1.0] for cognitive/language delay and 0.9 (95% CI 0.8-1.1) for motor development delay. At 18 months, the adjusted OR were 1.1 (95% CI 0.9-1.3) and 0.9 (95% CI 0.8-1.0) for cognitive/language and motor development delay, respectively. CONCLUSIONS No evidence of an association between prenatal cell phone use and motor or cognitive/language developmental delays among infants at 6 and 18 months of age was observed. Even when considering dose-response associations for cell phone, associations were null.
Etanercept during pregnancy and lactation in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis: drug levels in maternal serum, cord blood, breast milk and the infant’s serum

Women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) appear to be at a high risk of preterm delivery, preeclampsia and low birth weight infants.1 Reduction of inflammatory activity is of particular importance in those desirous of having children.2 3 The use of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, including biological preparations, has been shown to be essential for suppression of the activity of RA. Tumour necrosis factor inhibitors have been introduced for the treatment of RA, with the expectation of obtaining immediate and certain effect. Although no teratogenicity of these drugs has been recognised in animal experiments,4 5 the safety of their use in pregnancy has not yet been adequately established. In this …
Occupational outcome after temporal lobectomy for refractory epilepsy

Article abstract—We evaluated employment after temporal lobectomy for refractory epilepsy in 86 patients (3.5 to 8 years of follow-up). Seventy-three patients qualified for the work force before and after surgery. Unemployment rates declined after surgery (18 patients [25%1 unemployed before surgery, eight patients [11%] unemployed after surgery), and underemployment also tended to diminish. Improvement in occupational status related strongly to the degree of postoperative seizure relief. Seizure-free patients fared better (no unemployment, little underemployment) than patients with some seizure-free years and some years with seizures after surgery, whose high underemployment level persisted. Patients with seizures in each year after surgery fared worst (despite reduced seizure frequency), with increased unemployment after surgery. Age at surgery also influenced vocational outcome in patients who were unemployed before surgery. Historical, educational, cognitive, and behavioral measures did not correlate with vocational outcome. Employment gains came slowly; unemployed patients took up to 6 years to obtain work after surgery. Of 13 students at the time of surgery, 11 have graduated and nine are now employed. We conclude that seizures play a large role in limiting employment, and that by alleviating seizures, temporal lobectomy improves employability in people with refractory epilepsy. Surgery thereby provides benefit to individuals with epilepsy by increasing financial independence and to society by reducing unemployment.
Canal construction destroys the barrier between major European invasion lineages of the zebra mussel

Since the mid–1980s the zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, Pallas 1771, has become the protagonist of a spectacular freshwater invasion in North America due to its large economic and biological impact. Several genetic studies on American populations have failed to detect any large–scale geographical patterns. In western Europe, where D. polymorpha has been a classical invader from the Pontocaspian since the early 19th century, the situation is strikingly different. Here, we show with genetic markers that two major western European invasion lineages with lowered genetic variability within and among populations can be discriminated. These two invasion lineages correspond with two separate navigable waterways to western Europe. We found a rapid and asymmetrical genetic interchange of the two invasion lines after the construction of the Main–Danube canal in 1992, which interconnected the two waterways across the main watershed.
Hide and Seek: An Introduction to Steganography

Although people have hidden secrets in plain sight-now called steganography-throughout the ages, the recent growth in computational power and technology has propelled it to the forefront of today's security techniques. Essentially, the information-hiding process in a steganographic system starts by identifying a cover medium's redundant bits (those that can be modified without destroying that medium's integrity). The embedding process creates a stego medium by replacing these redundant bits with data from the hidden message. This article discusses existing steganographic systems and presents recent research in detecting them via statistical steganalysis. Here, we present recent research and discuss the practical application of detection algorithms and the mechanisms for getting around them.
Induced resistance to Helicoverpa armigera through exogenous application of jasmonic acid and salicylic acid in groundnut, Arachis hypogaea.

BACKGROUND Induced resistance to Helicoverpa armigera through exogenous application of jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA) was studied in groundnut genotypes (ICGV 86699, ICGV 86031, ICG 2271 and ICG 1697) with different levels of resistance to insects and the susceptible check JL 24 under greenhouse conditions. Activities of oxidative enzymes and the amounts of secondary metabolites and proteins were quantified at 6 days after JA and SA application/insect infestation. Data were also recorded on plant damage and H. armigera larval weights and survival. RESULTS Higher levels of enzymatic activities and amounts of secondary metabolites were observed in the insect-resistant genotypes pretreated with JA and then infested with H. armigera than in JL 24. The insect-resistant genotypes suffered lower insect damage and resulted in poor survival and lower weights of H. armigera larvae than JL 24. In some cases, JA and SA showed similar effects. CONCLUSION JA and SA induced the activity of antioxidative enzymes in groundnut plants against H. armigera, and reduced its growth and development. However, induced response to application of JA was greater than to SA, and resulted in reduced plant damage, and larval weights and survival, suggesting that induced resistance can be used as a component of pest management in groundnut.
How Conservatism and Normative Gender Constrain Variation in Inland California: The Case of /s/

Sociophonetic research on /s/ has revealed that sex, gender identity, sexuality, and regional identity can significantly structure the variation found in the production and perception of its acoustic signal. Relative /s/ frontness has been associated with femininity (e.g., Stuart-Smith 2007) and gay-sounding speech (e.g., Munson et al. 2006), while relative /s/ retraction has been associated with masculinity (e.g., Zimman 2013) and a Southern or country identity (e.g., Campbell-Kibler 2011). However, much of the work to date has been experimental in nature or conducted in urban centers. This paper analyzes the acoustic realization of /s/ in one inland non-urban community in Northern California, where speakers carry strong antiurban (and antiliberal) sentiment. Our acoustic analysis examines sociolinguistic interviews with 42 speakers, diverse in terms of gender, sexuality, and attitudes toward rurality (townoriented versus countryoriented). In this community, the data show a stronger polarization between men and women than found in urban settings (e.g., Hazenberg 2012, Zimman 2012), likely due to social conservatism prevalent in the community. These prominent gender norms seriously constrain the production of /s/ by gay men, who pattern much more like straight men in this community than to urban gay speakers. At the same time, variants of /s/ prevalent among straight country-oriented speakers serve as resources for sexual minorities (i.e., lesbians) to construct nonheteronormative identities without transgressing gender norms. This working paper is available in University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: http://repository.upenn. edu/pwpl/
Golden Rule of Forecasting : Be Conservative

This article proposes a unifying theory, or Golden Rule, of forecasting. The Golden Rule of Forecasting is to be conservative. A conservative forecast is consistent with cumulative knowledge about the present and the past. To be conservative, forecasters must seek out and use all knowledge relevant to the problem, including knowledge of methods validated for the situation. Twenty-eight guidelines are logically deduced from the Golden Rule. A review of evidence identified 105 papers with experimental comparisons; 102 support the guidelines. Ignoring a single guideline increased forecast error by more than two-fifths on average. Ignoring the Golden Rule is likely to harm accuracy most when the situation is uncertain and complex, and when bias is likely. Non-experts who use the Golden Rule can identify dubious forecasts quickly and inexpensively. To date, ignorance of research findings, bias, sophisticated statistical procedures, and the proliferation of big data, have led forecasters to violate the Golden Rule. As a result, despite major advances in evidence-based forecasting methods, forecasting practice in many fields has failed to improve over the past half-century.
Study orientations of graduate entry medical students

Background: In order to meet the changing needs of health care, the University of Turku has introduced a graduate entry programme aimed at students with previous education and experience in health care professions. Aims: In this study, we look at the study performance of students with different educational backgrounds with special emphasis on graduate entry students. Methods: We surveyed the study orientations of 145 first-year medical students with different educational backgrounds in the Medical Faculty of the University of Turku, Finland. Special emphasis was placed on graduate entry students (n = 25) with previous education and work experience in health care professions. The students were characterized based on student records and the questionnaire Inventory of General Study Orientation (IGSO). Results: Our results revealed that after the first year of medical studies the graduate entry students showed exceptionally strong theoretical and practical commitment to their studies with a strong work-life orientation which makes them a distinct group among medical students.
Length of the third stage of labor at term pregnancies is shorter if placenta is located at fundus: Prospective study

Aim: To investigate how the location of the placenta at term pregnancies affects the duration of the third stage of labor and to discuss the possible mechanisms affecting the duration of the third stage. We believe that this is the first prospective study comparing the duration of the third stage of labor according to placental location.