Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Properties of the Renal Na+‐H+ Exchanger a

Located in the plasma membrane of most i f not all vertebrate cells is a transport system that mediates the transmembrane exchange of Na+ for H+. ' Under normal conditions, the plasma membrane Na+-Ht exchanger (antiporter, countertransporter) mediates the uphill extrusion of H + coupled to, and thus energized by, the downhill entry of Na+. The favorable driving force for N a + entry results from the primary active transport of Na+ out of the cell via the Na-K ATPase. Thus, uphill H + extrusion by the Nat -H+ exchanger is an example of secondary active transport,2 as it is only indirectly coupled to an exergonic chemical reaction, namely ATP hydrolysis by the Na-K ATPase. The plasma membrane Na+-Hi exchanger participates in diverse cell functions involving extrusion of H+ from the cell or uptake of Nat. ' As a consequence of its mediating H + transport, the Na+-H+ exchanger plays an important role in the regulation of intracellular pH. A corollary role is to act as a signal transducer for a broad spectrum of stimuli, such as hormones and growth factors, that alter cell function through changes in intracellular pH. As a transporter of N a + , the Na+-H+ exchanger participates in the regulation of cell volume. In addition, the Na+-H+ exchanger facilitates the transport of not only N a + and H+, but also C1and organic anions across various epithelia. In the proximal tubule of the mammalian kidney, Na+-H+ exchange is the principal mechanism for mediating active reabsorption of the large load of bicarbonate that enters the tubular lumen by glomerular f i l t r a t i ~ n . ~ Microvillus (brush-border) membrane vesicles isolated from the luminal surface of renal proximal tubular cells are oriented right side and possess a Na+-H+ exchanger, as first demonstrated by Murer et aL6 This paper will review studies performed in my laboratory that have used rabbit renal microvillus membrane vesicles as a model system for characterizing the properties of a plasma membrane Na+-H+ exchanger that may be representative of Na+-H+ exchangers in general.
Why change programs don't produce change.

Faced with changing markets and tougher competition, more and more companies realize that to compete effectively they must transform how they function. But while senior managers understand the necessity of change, they often misunderstand what it takes to bring it about. They assume that corporate renewal is the product of company-wide change programs and that in order to transform employee behavior, they must alter a company's formal structure and systems. Both these assumptions are wrong, say these authors. Using examples drawn from their four-year study of organizational change at six large corporations, they argue that change programs are, in fact, the greatest obstacle to successful revitalization and that formal structures and systems are the last thing a company should change, not the first. The most successful change efforts begin at the periphery of a corporation, in a single plant or division. Such efforts are led by general managers, not the CEO or corporate staff people. And these general managers concentrate not on changing formal structures and systems but on creating ad hoc organizational arrangements to solve concrete business problems. This focuses energy for change on the work itself, not on abstractions such as "participation" or "culture. " Once general managers understand the importance of this grass-roots approach to change, they don't have to wait for senior management to start a process of corporate renewal. The authors describe a six-step change process they call the "critical path. "
Body fluid determinations using multiple impedance measurements

It is shown that a significant potential for error exists when a single measurement from wrist to ankle is used to determine body water volume and percentage of body fat, and that by making measurements of multiple regions of the body (arms, legs, and trunk) a more accurate determination can be obtained. This concept is suggested by the results of multiple impedance measurements made on a group of 11 patients undergoing haemodialysis. <<ETX>>
Changes in serum pneumoproteins caused by short-term exposures to nitrogen trichloride in indoor chlorinated swimming pools

Nitrogen trichloride (NCl3) is an irritant gas released in the air of indoor pools sanitized with chlorine-based disinfectants. In the present study we investigated the effects of NCl 3 on the pulmonary epithelium of pool attendees by measuring the leakage into serum of three lung-specific proteins (pneumoproteins): the alveolar surfactant-associated proteins A and B (SP-A and SP-B) and the bronchiolar 16 kDa Clara cell protein (CC16). These pneumoproteins were measured in the serum of 29 recreational swimmers (16 children and 13 adults) before and after attending a chlorinated pool with a mean NCl3 concentration of 490 μg m-3. Pneumoprotein changes in serum were also studied in 14 trained swimmers performing an intensive 45 min standardized swimming session in a chlorinated pool (mean NCl3 concentration of 355 μg m-3) and for the purposes of comparison in a non-chlorinated pool sanitized by the copper/silver method. Serum CC16 was not increased in recreational swimmers, but in trained swimmers serum levels of this protein peaked immediately after strenuous exercise, both in the copper/silver pool and in the chlorinated pool. This acute increase in airway permeability is probably the consequence of the mechanical stress on the epithelial barrier caused by overinflation and/or hyperventilation during intense exercise. Serum levels of SP-A and SP-B were unaffected by strenuous exercise in the copper/silver pool. The two proteins were, however, significantly increased in a time-dependent manner in recreational and trained swimmers attending the chlorinated pool. The intravascular leakage of SP-A and SP-B was already statistically significant after only 1 h of exposure to pool air without exercising and remained elevated for 12 h after. These changes were not associated with decrements in lung function. The ability of NCl3 to acutely disrupt the lung epithelium barrier was confirmed in mice using serum CC16 and plasma proteins in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid as permeability markers. The significance of these permeability changes induced by NCl3 in the deep lung is presently unknown. In view of the increasing and widespread human exposure to this gas not only in indoor pools but also in a variety of other situations, these findings warrant further study.
Melatonin—A Highly Potent Endogenous Radical Scavenger and Electron Donor: New Aspects of the Oxidation Chemistry of this Indole Accessed in vitro a

Endogenous indolamines derived from the essential aromatic amino acid tryptophan can act as substrates and mediators of electron transfer mechanisms and radical reactions. ' The indoleamine melatonin is the most powerful and effective hydroxyl radical scavenger detected to date, which, due to its lipophilic nature, provides on-site protection against oxidative damage to biomolecules within every cell compartment. ',*
Functional acclimation to solar UV‐B radiation in Gunnera magellanica, a native plant species of southernmost Patagonia

The ecosystems of Tierra del Fuego (in southern Patagonia, Argentina) are seasonally exposed to elevated levels of ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B: 280‐315 nm), due to the passage of the ‘ozone hole’ over this region. In the experiments reported in this article the effects of solar UV-B and UV-A (315‐400 nm) on two UV-B defence-related processes: the accumulation of protective UV-absorbing compounds and DNA repair, were tested. It was found that the accumulation of UV-absorbing sunscreens in Gunnera magellanica leaves was not affected by plant exposure to ambient UV radiation. Photorepair was the predominant mechanism of cyclobutane-pyrimidine dimer (CPD) removal in G. magellanica . Plants exposed to solar UV had higher CPD repair capacity under optimal conditions of temperature (25 ° ° ° C) than plants grown under attenuated UV. There was no measurable repair at 8 ° C. The rates of CPD repair in G. magellanica plants were modest in comparison with other species and, under equivalent conditions, were about 50% lower than the repair rates of Arabidopsis thaliana (L er ecotype). Collectively our results suggest that the susceptibility of G. magellanica plants to current ambient levels of solar UV-B in southern Patagonia may be related to a low DNA repair capacity.
Vibrio cholerae O139 Bengal

There have been seven pandemics of cholera in recorded history. Even though the etiological agents of the first four pandemics are not known since they occurred in the time before such agents could be recognized, the last three pandemics are known to be due to Vibrio cholerae serogroup 01. The seventh pandemic of cholera caused by the El Tor vibrio originated in Celebes, Indonesia, in 1961 and has spread far and wide over the last 30 years, reaching the South American continent in 1991 (9, 12). V cholerae non-O1 serogroups were not known to cause epidemics of diarrhea; they were known, however, to cause sporadic cases and small outbreaks of diarrheas and extraintestinal infections (34). A departure from this pattern occurred in October 1992, when an epidemic of cholera-like disease due to a V cholerae non-O1 serogroup broke out in the southern Indian port city of Madras. Over the next few months, it spread to other southern Indian cities and reached the northeastern Indian city of Calcutta (50). In December of that year, there was an outbreak of cholera-like illness in southern coastal Bangladesh, which over the subsequent several months spread to the entire country (1, 6, 8). The strain also caused epidemics of diarrhea in other parts of India at the same time (23). The disease affected thousands of individuals, mainly adults, and caused many deaths in the Indian subcontinent, indicating that the population was virgin to the organism (6). Nomenclature. The epidemic strain was not related to the 138 known serogroups of V cholerae (serogroup 01 and 137 non-O1 serogroups); therefore, a new serogroup, 0139 was assigned to the strain with the synonym Bengal to indicate its first isolation from the coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal (57). At last count, V cholerae 0139 infection had been reported from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, China, and Pakistan (1, 15, 22). There were also imported cases in the United Kingdom (14) and the United States (13). Therefore, it is believed that V cholerae 0139 might be the agent of eighth pandemic of cholera (38, 58). Since the strain causes a disease which is virtually indistinguishable from cholera due to V cholerae 01, it should be considered the second etiological agent of cholera (10, 62). It also shares several properties with V cholerae 01 biotype El Tor: morphology, culture, fimbrial antigens, cholera toxin (CT), genes for zonula occludens toxin (zot), and accessory cholera enterotoxin (ace), in vitro invasiveness for HEp-2 cells, possession and location of CTX element in the core region of the chromosome, possession of toxin coregulated pilus structural gene (tcpA) and iron-regulated genes (IrgA, ViuA, and fur) and their locations on similar sites in the chromosomes,
Transcriptional down-regulation of a rat gene, WDNM2, in metastatic DMBA-8 cells.

We have investigated differences in gene expression between a metastatic and nonmetastatic clone of the DMBA-8 rat mammary adenocarcinoma cell line and have previously identified a differentially expressed gene WDNM1 (T.N. Dear, I.A. Ramshaw, and R.F. Kefford, Cancer Res., 48: 5203-5209, 1988). To further investigate differences in mRNA expression between these cell lines, a complementary DNA library from the nonmetastatic cell line was probed with labeled complementary DNA enriched for sequences specific to this line. We report here the identification in nonmetastatic cells of a second gene, WDNM2, which encodes a 1.7-kilobase mRNA corresponding to a protein (Mr 28,000-30,000) the expression of which shows a positive correlation with the nonmetastatic phenotype in three independently derived rat mammary adenocarcinoma cell lines and is regulated transcriptionally. Homologous sequences in the human genome have been identified. The function of this new gene may relate to regulation of the metastatic phenotype in this tumor.
Complement anaphylatoxin C5a neuroprotects through mitogen‐activated protein kinase‐dependent inhibition of caspase 3

We previously reported that pretreatment of murine cortico‐hippocampal neuronal cultures with the complement‐derived anaphylatoxin C5a, protects against glutamate neurotoxicity. In this study we explored the potential mechanisms involved in C5a‐mediated neuroprotection. We found that C5a neuroprotects in vitro through inhibition of apoptotic death because pretreatment with human recombinant (hr)C5a prevented nuclear DNA fragmentation coincidental to inhibition of the pro‐apoptotic caspase 3 activity mediated by glutamate treatment. Also, hrC5a‐mediated responses appeared to be receptor‐mediated because pretreatment of cultures with the specific C5a receptor antagonist C177, prevented hrC5a‐mediated neuroprotection. Based on this evidence, we further explored possible signaling pathways involved in hrC5a inhibition of caspase 3 activation and apoptotic neuronal death. We found that treatment of cultures with the mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway inhibitor PD98059 prevented hrC5a‐mediated inhibition of caspase 3 and apoptotic neuron death. MAPK pathways, whose activation by hrC5a is inhibited by PD98059 and C177, include the extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK)2 and, to a lesser extent, ERK1. The study suggests that C5a may protect against glutamate‐induced apoptosis in neurons through MAPK‐mediated regulation of caspase cascades.
Conjunctival epithelium expression of HLA-DR in glaucoma patients and its influence on the outcome of filtration surgery

AIMS To analyse the expression of HLA-DR on conjunctival epithelial cells in patients with glaucoma taking topical antiglaucoma therapy. METHODS 10 patients taking no topical medication and 30 patients with uncontrolled glaucoma taking medical therapy participated in the study. The specimens were obtained by impression cytology preoperatively, 3 months, and 6 months after filtration surgery. The expression of HLA-DR on T lymphocytes and epithelial cells was analysed by flow cytometry. RESULTS A significant increase in HLA-DR on epithelial cells was found preoperatively in patients with glaucoma. A significant increased expression of HLA-DR on epithelial cells was detected 3 months and 6 months after surgery. CONCLUSIONS The increased expression of HLA-DR on conjunctival epithelial cells still present 6 months after surgery indicates the increased ability of epithelial cells to induce immune inflammation with subsequent fibrosis.
Livin/melanoma inhibitor of apoptosis protein as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of malignancy

Livin, also called melanoma inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) or kidney IAP, is a member of the IAP family of caspase inhibitors that selectively binds the endogenous IAP antagonist SMAC and caspase-3, caspase-7, and caspase-9. As such, Livin inhibits apoptosis, and its overexpression renders malignant cells resistant to chemotherapy. Therefore, inhibitors of Livin could be useful adjuncts to chemotherapy in the treatment of malignancies. This review will discuss Livin as a potential therapeutic target and strategies for its inhibition, including antisense oligonucleotides, small-molecule inhibitors, and immune-mediated approaches. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(1):24–30]
His-Asp phosphotransfer signal transduction.

In general, protein phosphorylation is one of the most widely used mechanisms for regulating biological processes, including intracellular signal transduction. In eukaryotes, the cascades of protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation events involving a number of protein tyrosine or serine/threonine kinases have been well studied. In contrast, recent intensive studies revealed that bacteria have devised a quite different phosphotransfer signaling mechanism for eliciting a variety of adaptive responses to their environment. Such a bacterial signal transduction mechanism was originally referred to as a "two-component regulatory system. " The mode of molecular communication between a "sensor kinase" and its cognate phospho-accepting "response regulator" is principally based on histidine-to-aspartate (His-Asp) phosphotransfer. In Escherichia coli, for example, at least 30 different sensor-regulator pairs operate in a wide variety of adaptive responses. This particular signal transduction mechanism was once thought to be restricted to prokaryotes. However, many instances have recently been uncovered in diverse eukaryotic species. Furthermore, recent studies suggested that the molecular mechanism underlying the bacterial signal transduction is not simple as, and, in fact, is more sophisticated than thought previously. The new concept should be referred to as the "multi-step His-Asp phosphotransfer signaling mechanism. "
Dynamic feature weighting for imbalanced data sets

Most of data mining algorithms including classifiers suffer from data sets with highly imbalanced distribution of the target variable. The problem becomes more serious when the events have different costs. Feature weighting and instance weighting are two most common ways to tackle this problem. However, none of the current weighting methods take into account the salience of features. In order to accomplish this, a novel and flexible weighting function is proposed that dynamically assigns a proper weight to each feature. Experiments results show that the proposed weighting function is superior to current methods.
Stress and the risk of multiple sclerosis

Objective: Several studies have shown that stressful life events are associated with a subsequent significant increase in risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) exacerbations. We wanted to study prospectively whether stress can increase the risk of developing the disease itself. Methods: We studied 2 cohorts of female nurses: the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) (n = 121,700) followed from 1976 and the Nurses' Health Study II (NHS II) (n = 116,671) followed from 1989. The risk of MS after self-report on general stress at home and at work in the NHS in 1982 was studied prospectively using Cox regression. Logistic regression was used to retrospectively estimate the effects of physical and sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence collected in the NHS II 2001. We identified 77 cases of MS in the NHS by 2005 and 292 in the NHS II by 2004. All analyses were adjusted for age, ethnicity, latitude of birth, body mass index at age 18, and smoking. Results: We found no increased risk of MS associated with severe stress at home in the NHS (hazard ratio 0.85 [95% confidence interval (CI)] 0.32–2.26). No significantly increased risk of MS was found among those who reported severe physical abuse during childhood (odds ratio [OR] 0.68, 95% CI 0.41–1.14) or adolescence (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.46–1.28) or those having been repeatedly forced into sexual activity in childhood (OR 1.47, 95% CI 0.87–2.48) or adolescence (OR 1.21, 95% CI 0.68–2.17). Conclusions: These results do not support a major role of stress in the development of the disease, but repeated and more focused measures of stress are needed to firmly exclude stress as a potential risk factor for MS.
Perceived Religiousness is Protective for Colorectal Cancer: Data from the Melbourne Colorectal Cancer Study

The perceived or self-reported degree of ‘religiousness’ was obtained by interview from 715 colorectal cancer patients and 727 age/sex matched community controls, as part of a large, comprehensive population-based study of colorectal cancer incidence, aetiology and survival (The Melbourne Colorectal Cancer Study) conducted in Melbourne, Australia. Self-reported or perceived ‘religiousness’, as defined in the study, was a statistically significant protective factor [relative risk (RR)=0.70, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.6–0.9, P=0.002]. This statistically significant protection remained after the previously determined major risk factors found in the study, namely a family history of colorectal cancer, dietary risk factors, beer consumption, number of children and age at birth of the first child, were statistically corrected for (P=0.004). There was no association between Dukes' staging of the cancer and perceived degree of ‘religiousness’ (P=0.42). Although self-reported or perceived ‘religiousness’ was associated with a median survival time of 62 months compared with 52 months in those self-reporting as being ‘non-religious’, this difference was not statistically significant (P=0.64).
Morphometric Study of the Thoracic Vertebral Pedicle in an Indian Population

Study Design. Morphometric study of the thoracic vertebral pedicular parameters and comparison with the previous studies in the literature. Objectives. To define pedicular dimensions and screw placement in the Indian population. Summary of the Background Data. Pedicular morphometric characteristics vary in different population groups. Thoracic pedicular screw fixation is being used more frequently with the advent of better imaging methods. Because of the small size and close proximity to the neurovascular structures, thoracic pedicle fixation has little margin of safety. Methods. T1–T12 vertebral pedicles were studied in 18 cadavers by direct, roentgenographic, and computerized tomographic scan methods. The following parameters were studied: transverse diameter, transverse angle, sagittal diameter, sagittal angle, chord length, interpedicular distance, pedicle entrance point, and pedicle cortical thickness (medial and lateral). Results. Transverse diameter was more than 6 mm at both ends of the thoracic spine (T1, T2, T11, and T12). Between T3–T9 levels, it was less than 5 mm at some levels. The transverse angle was widest at T1 (30°) and was less than 5° from T5 to T12. Pedicles were directed cephalad in the sagittal plane at all thoracic levels. Sagittal angle was less than 12° at all thoracic levels. Chord length was largest at T11 (37.3 mm) and smallest at T1 and T2 (29.9 mm). Interpedicular distance was 29 mm at T12 and 21.3 mm at T1. Medial pedicular cortex was thicker than lateral cortex at all levels. Conclusions. These results suggest that even a 4-mm screw should be used carefully at the midthoracic level; 5-mm screw seems to be safe at upper and lower thoracic spine. Because of very small sagittal and transverse angle at mid and lower thoracic levels, the pedicular screw should be inserted along almost perpendicular line in these planes; 25-mm and 30-mm screw length appears to be safe at upper thoracic and lower thoracic levels, respectively. Pedicle entrance point lies along the midtrans-verse line at upper thoracic levels and along the upper border of transverse process at lower thoracic levels.