Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Smoking cessation in college-aged women: A qualitative analysis of factors important to this population

Tobacco use continues to be the leading, preventable cause of mortality among US adults. Research frequently cites weight maintenance and body image as influential in women's reasons for smoking. Objective: This present study sought information for informing effective smoking cessation interventions through the examination of young women's views on smoking. Participants: Forty-three 18–21-year-old women were recruited from November 2006 to April 2007. Methods: Participants signed up for focus groups and completed questionnaires assessing body image, weight concerns, smoking behavior, and physical activity. Results: Qualitative data revealed that reasons for smoking included psychosocial factors, body image and weight concerns, stress management, appetite suppression, procrastination, addiction, and relationship with drinking. Suggestions for successful cessation interventions included exercise components, group-based meetings, healthy, and affordable eating tips, reminders of drawbacks to smoking, and use of technology. Conclusions: Learning directly from college-aged women, their reasons for smoking and their suggestions for intervention offers recruitment and intervention strategies tailored to this population.
A review on applications of activity recognition systems with regard to performance and evaluation

Activity recognition systems are a large field of research and development, currently with a focus on advanced machine learning algorithms, innovations in the field of hardware architecture, and on decreasing the costs of monitoring while increasing safety. This article concentrates on the applications of activity recognition systems and surveys their state of the art. We categorize such applications into active and assisted living systems for smart homes, healthcare monitoring applications, monitoring and surveillance systems for indoor and outdoor activities, and tele-immersion applications. Within these categories, the applications are classified according to the methodology used for recognizing human behavior, namely, based on visual, non-visual, and multimodal sensor technology. We provide an overview of these applications and discuss the advantages and limitations of each approach. Additionally, we illustrate public data sets that are designed for the evaluation of such recognition systems. The article concludes with a comparison of the existing methodologies which, when applied to real-world scenarios, allow to formulate research questions for future approaches.
Yttrium-90 Ibritumomab Tiuxetan-Induced Complete Remission in a Patient with Classical Lymphocyte-Rich Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Background: Radioimmunotherapeutics directed against CD20 have been established in several types of B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). Yttrium-90 (90Y) ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin®) is the only approved radio - immunoconstruct for NHL in the EU. The malignant Hodgkin’s and Reed-Sternberg cells in classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cHL) express CD20 infrequently. Thus, only very limited data of cHL patients treated with anti- CD20 immunoconstructs are available. To date, none of the patients treated with 90Y ibritumomab tiuxetan demonstrated any response. Case Report: We report on a 78-year-old female patient suffering from a second systemic relapse of classical nodular lymphocyte-rich HL who experienced a complete remission (CR) after treatment with 90Y ibritumomab tiuxetan lasting over a period of 6 months. Discussion: Treatment of patients with cHL with the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab resulted in a response rate of 22%. 90Y ibritumomab tiuxetan demonstrated superiority compared with rituximab in a randomized phase III trial. HL represents a radiosensitive tumor responding to anti-CD30 or antiferritin radioimmunotherapy. Further HL patients have to be treated with 90Y ibritumomab tiuxetan to evaluate a potential benefit. Conclusion: Treatment with 90Y ibritumomab tiuxetan induced a clinically relevant CR in a patient with CD20-positive cHL. Thus, we will expand treatment of relapsed CD20-positive HL with 90Y ibritumomab tiuxetan at our institution.
WHO Classification of Malignant Lymphomas in Korea: Report of the Third Nationwide Study

Background: The aim of study was to determine the relative frequency of malignant lymphoma according to World Health Organization (WHO) classification in Korea. Methods: A total of 3,998 cases diagnosed at 31 institutes between 2005 and 2006 were enrolled. Information including age, gender, pathologic diagnosis, site of involvement and immunophenotypes were obtained. Results: The relative frequency of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) was 95.4% and 4.6%, respectively. B-cell lymphomas accounted for 77.6% of all NHL, while T/ natural killer (T/NK)-cell lymphomas accounted for 22.4%. The most frequent subtypes of NHL were diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (42.7%), extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (MZBCL) of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (19.0%), NK/T-cell lymphoma (6.3%) and peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), unspecified (6.3%), in decreasing order. The relative frequency of HL was no dular sclerosis (47.4%), mixed cellularity (30.6%), and nodular lymphocyte predominant (12.1%) subtypes. Compared with a previous study in 1998, increase in gastric MZBCL and nodular sclerosis HL, and slight decrease of follicular lymphoma, PTCL, and NK/T-cell lymphoma were observed. Conclusions: Korea had lower rates of HL and follicular lymphoma, and higher rates of extranodal NHL, extranodal MZBCL, and NK/T-cell lymphoma of nasal type compared with Western countries. Changes in the relative frequency of lymphoma subtypes are likely ascribed to refined diagnostic criteria and a change in national health care policy.
An Enterotoxin-Bearing Pathogenicity Island in Staphylococcus epidermidis

ABSTRACT Cocolonization of human mucosal surfaces causes frequent encounters between various staphylococcal species, creating opportunities for the horizontal acquisition of mobile genetic elements. The majority of Staphylococcus aureus toxins and virulence factors are encoded on S. aureus pathogenicity islands (SaPIs). Horizontal movement of SaPIs between S. aureus strains plays a role in the evolution of virulent clinical isolates. Although there have been reports of the production of toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1), enterotoxin, and other superantigens by coagulase-negative staphylococci, no associated pathogenicity islands have been found in the genome of Staphylococcus epidermidis, a generally less virulent relative of S. aureus. We show here the first evidence of a composite S. epidermidis pathogenicity island (SePI), the product of multiple insertions in the genome of a clinical isolate. The taxonomic placement of S. epidermidis strain FRI909 was confirmed by a number of biochemical tests and multilocus sequence typing. The genome sequence of this strain was analyzed for other unique gene clusters and their locations. This pathogenicity island encodes and expresses staphylococcal enterotoxin C3 (SEC3) and staphylococcal enterotoxin-like toxin L (SElL), as confirmed by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) and immunoblotting. We present here an initial characterization of this novel pathogenicity island, and we establish that it is stable, expresses enterotoxins, and is not obviously transmissible by phage transduction. We also describe the genome sequence, excision, replication, and packaging of a novel bacteriophage in S. epidermidis FRI909, as well as attempts to mobilize the SePI element by this phage.
Variation among Genome Sequences of H37Rv Strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Multiple Laboratories

ABSTRACT The publication of the complete genome sequence for Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv in 1998 has had a great impact on the research community. Nonetheless, it is suspected that genetic differences have arisen in stocks of H37Rv that are maintained in different laboratories. In order to assess the consistency of the genome sequences among H37Rv strains in use and the extent to which they have diverged from the original strain sequenced, we carried out whole-genome sequencing on six strains of H37Rv from different laboratories. Polymorphisms at 73 sites were observed, which were shared among the lab strains, though 72 of these were also shared with H37Ra and are likely to be due to sequencing errors in the original H37Rv reference sequence. An updated H37Rv genome sequence should be valuable to the tuberculosis research community as well as the broader microbial research community. In addition, several polymorphisms unique to individual strains and several shared polymorphisms were identified and shown to be consistent with the known provenance of these strains. Aside from nucleotide substitutions and insertion/deletions, multiple IS6110 transposition events were observed, supporting the theory that they play a significant role in plasticity of the M. tuberculosis genome. This genome-wide catalog of genetic differences can help explain any phenotypic differences that might be found, including a frameshift mutation in the mycocerosic acid synthase gene which causes two of the strains to be deficient in biosynthesis of the surface glycolipid phthiocerol dimycocerosate (PDIM). The resequencing of these six lab strains represents a fortuitous “in vitro evolution” experiment that demonstrates how the M. tuberculosis genome continues to evolve even in a controlled environment.
Iron Regulates Expression of Bacillus cereus Hemolysin II via Global Regulator Fur

ABSTRACT The capacity of pathogens to respond to environmental signals, such as iron concentration, is key to bacterial survival and establishment of a successful infection. Bacillus cereus is a widely distributed bacterium with distinct pathogenic properties. Hemolysin II (HlyII) is one of its pore-forming cytotoxins and has been shown to be involved in bacterial pathogenicity in a number of cell and animal models. Unlike many other B. cereus pathogenicity factors, HlyII is not regulated by pleiotropic transcriptional regulator PlcR but is controlled by its own regulator, HlyIIR. Using a combination of in vivo and in vitro techniques, we show that hlyII expression is also negatively regulated by iron by the global regulator Fur via direct interaction with the hlyII promoter. DNase I footprinting and in vitro transcription experiments indicate that Fur prevents RNA polymerase binding to the hlyII promoter. HlyII expression profiles demonstrate that both HlyIIR and Fur regulate HlyII expression in a concerted fashion, with the effect of Fur being maximal in the early stages of bacterial growth. In sum, these results show that Fur serves as a transcriptional repressor for hlyII expression.
Characterization of the CRISPR/Cas Subtype I-A System of the Hyperthermophilic Crenarchaeon Thermoproteus tenax

ABSTRACT CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) elements and cas (CRISPR-associated) genes are widespread in Bacteria and Archaea. The CRISPR/Cas system operates as a defense mechanism against mobile genetic elements (i.e., viruses or plasmids). Here, we investigate seven CRISPR loci in the genome of the crenarchaeon Thermoproteus tenax that include spacers with significant similarity not only to archaeal viruses but also to T. tenax genes. The analysis of CRISPR RNA (crRNA) transcription reveals transcripts of a length between 50 and 130 nucleotides, demonstrating the processing of larger crRNA precursors. The organization of identified cas genes resembles CRISPR/Cas subtype I-A, and the core cas genes are shown to be arranged on two polycistronic transcripts: cascis (cas4, cas1/2, and csa1) and cascade (csa5, cas7, cas5a, cas3, cas3′, and cas8a2). Changes in the environmental parameters such as UV-light exposure or high ionic strength modulate cas gene transcription. Two reconstitution protocols were established for the production of two discrete multipartite Cas protein complexes that correspond to their operonic gene arrangement. These data provide insights into the specialized mechanisms of an archaeal CRISPR/Cas system and allow selective functional analyses of Cas protein complexes in the future.
Design and analysis of queue control functions for explicit rate switch schemes

The ABR rate allocation schemes can achieve high link utilizations by maintaining non-zero (small) queues in the steady state, and draining queues when the sources do not have data to send. The queue length (and queuing delays) can be controlled if part of the available bandwidth is used for draining queues in the event of queue build up. A simple threshold function can allocate such bandwidth to drain queues. Better control of the queues, and hence delay, can be achieved using more sophisticated queue control functions. We study the design and analysis of several such queue control functions: the step, linear, hyperbolic and inverse hyperbolic functions. Analytical explanation and simulation results consistent with analysis are presented. From the study, we conclude that the inverse hyperbolic is the best queue control function. To reduce complexity, the linear function can be used since it performs satisfactorily in most cases.
Homoimmune Uveitis in the Guinea Pig: II. Clinical Manifestations

In the first part of this study we discussed the theory of experimental autoimmune and homoimmune uveitis. Four experiments, designed to detect the existence of this type of uveitis, were presented. In Experiment I, 18 pigmented and 18 albino guinea pigs were immunized with large amounts of pigmented uveal antigen-adjuvant suspension over a short period; in Experiment II, 30 pigmented and 30 albino guinea pigs were immunized with pigmented uveal antigen in a low-dose, long-term study. In Experiment III, 20 pigmented and 30 albino guinea pigs were immunized intensively over a short period of time with albino uveal antigen in adjuvant, and in Experiment IV, 12 pigmented guinea pigs were immunized over a long period of time with smaller amounts of pigmented uveal tract in adjuvant. It was found that the pigmented antigen and adjuvant produced uveitis in 57% of pigmented animals in Groups I and II, and 78% in
The Safe Way to Early Intervention: An Account of the SAFE (Southern Area First Episode) Project

“Early intervention and prevention in psychotic disorders is increasingly seen as having the potential to produce better outcomes for people who have developed these disorders. ”[1] However, the operationalisation of this hypothesis is less clear, and the emphasis to date has been on specialised services within large metropolitan areas. This paper will describe an initiative in the provision of best possible care in early psychosis undertaken by Southern Area Health Service, NSW, a small predominantly rural service with few resources and a scattered and attenuated population. It will demonstrate how a mainstreamed early intervention program can be effective and efficient, providing it pays careful attention to partnerships in early identification, and the absorption into the health service culture of sound principles, practices and processes.
The Effect of Melatonin Against FK506-Induced Renal Oxidative Stress in Rats

Background: Nephrotoxicity is an important side effect of FK506 and oxidative stress has been considered as one of the possible mechanisms. The present investigation examines the ability of melatonin to protect against FK506-induced renal oxidative stress. Methods: Thirty rats were divided into 3 groups (n = 10 each group). Group A was the sham group. Group B received 14 days FK506 (5 mg/kg/d, intraperitoneally [i.p.]) and group C received FK506 (5 mg/kg/d, i.p.) together with melatonin (4 mg/kg, i.p.) for 14 days. Kidney tissues were harvested to determine the tissue levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), total nitrite and nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Results: In group C, the levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and NO were lower than in the group B (P < .01, P < .03, and P < .04, respectively) and although MDA levels were lower than in group B, the differences were not statistically significant (P >" xbd="1697" xhg="1674" ybd="1384" yhg="1343"/> .05). Conclusion: These results suggest that melatonin has protective effect against FK506-induced renal oxidative stress.
Relationship Between Angiotensin- Converting Enzyme Gene Polymorphism (Insertion/Deletion) and the Clinical Condition of Sepsis in Turkish Children

ABS TRACT Objective: It has be en pos tu la ted that ge ne tic pre dis po si ti on may inf lu en ce the sus cep ti bi lity to in fec ti on and the di se a se out co me. The D al le le of the an gi o ten sin-con ver ting enz yme (ACE) ge ne is as so ci a ted with many di se a ses. Ho we ver, the re are only few re ports ava i lab le abo ut in fec ti on. We ha ve in ves ti ga ted the as so ci a ti on bet we en ACE I/D poly morp hism and sep sis, its cli ni cal fe a tu res such as acu te res pi ra tory dis tress syndro me (ARDS), mul ti or gan dysfunc ti on syndro me (MODS) and mor ta lity. Material and Met hods: Ni nety-eight chil dren who had be en di ag no sed with sep sis and 100 he althy in di vi di u als we re inc lu ded. The pa ti ents we re di vi ded in to gro ups ba sed on the pre sen ce of ARDS, MODS and sur vi vor or non sur vi vor. The ACE ge ne poly morp hism was analy zed by the poly me ra se cha in re ac ti on. Re sults: The re was no sta tis ti cal dif fe ren ce bet we en the con trol and pa ti ent’s ge noty pe (p= 0.29). No evi den ce emer ged re gar ding the as so ci a ti on of ACE I/D poly morp hism with MODS, but the re was evi den ce of as so ci a ti on with sep sis-re la ted ARDS. It was fo und that carr ying D/D ge noty pes in cre a sed the risk of the ha ving ARDS 4.5 fold (95%CI 1.15-19.6, p= 0.028). On the ot her hand, the re was not sta tis ti cally sig ni fi cant dif fe ren ce be t we en ACE ge ne poly morp hism and mor ta lity. Conc lu si on: In our study, the de le ti on poly morp hism in an gi o ten sin-con ver ting enz yme ge ne is as so ci a ted with in cre a se in the risk of sep sis-re la ted ARDS but not MODS and mor ta lity in Tur kish chil dren.
Implementing an HIV Rapid Testing Intervention for Homeless Veterans in Shelter Settings within Los Angeles County, USA

Abstract We implemented and evaluated an HIV rapid testing intervention in collaboration withthe US Department of Veterans Affairs and the Los Angeles County Department ofHealth to 1) increase HIV testing/receipt of results, and 2) increase veteran access to VA homeless services. Ninety-seven veterans recruited in 9 shelters as part of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) emergency shelter program were randomized (2-to-1 ratio) into one of two interventional arms: rapid test (RT) arm (on-site HIV rapid testing/referral to VA homeless program) and referral arm (VA referral only). Recruiters approached 2664 individuals; 136 (5.1%) were eligible. Ninety-seven (71.3% of those eligible) accepted enrollment. Testing rates were 100.0% in RT arm and 3.3%in Referral arm (p<0.001). Test result receipt rates were 98.5% in RT arm and 0.0% in Referral arm (p<0.001). There was no increase in visits to VA homeless programs in either arm. HIV prevalence/rate of new incidence was 1.5%. While more than half admitted high-risk behaviors in the past 12 months, 78% reported chances of HIV infection as “none” or “low” rather than “moderate” or “high. ” On-site rapid testing in homeless shelters is feasible and acceptable for testing hard-toreach and vulnerable populations. More robust outreach efforts are needed to improve linkage to care.
A Putative Transmembrane Leucine Zipper of Agrobacterium VirB10 Is Essential for T-Pilus Biogenesis but Not Type IV Secretion

ABSTRACT The Agrobacterium tumefaciens VirB/VirD4 type IV secretion system is composed of a translocation channel and an extracellular T pilus. Bitopic VirB10, the VirB7 lipoprotein, and VirB9 interact to form a cell envelope-spanning structural scaffold termed the “core complex” that is required for the assembly of both structures. The related pKM101-encoded core complex is composed of 14 copies each of these VirB homologs, and the transmembrane (TM) α helices of VirB10-like TraF form a 55-Å-diameter ring at the inner membrane. Here, we report that the VirB10 TM helix possesses two types of putative dimerization motifs, a GxxxA (GA4) motif and two leucine (Leu1, Leu2) zippers. Mutations in the Leu1 motif disrupted T-pilus biogenesis, but these or other mutations in the GA4 or Leu2 motif did not abolish substrate transfer. Replacement of the VirB10 TM domain with a nondimerizing poly-Leu/Ala TM domain sequence also blocked pilus production but not substrate transfer or formation of immunoprecipitable complexes with the core subunits VirB7 and VirB9 and the substrate receptor VirD4. The VirB10 TM helix formed weak homodimers in Escherichia coli, as determined with the TOXCAT assay, whereas replacement of the VirB10 TM helix with the strongly dimerizing TM helix from glycophorin A blocked T-pilus biogenesis in A. tumefaciens. Our findings support a model in which VirB10's TM helix contributes to the assembly or activity of the translocation channel as a weakly self-interacting membrane anchor but establishes a heteromeric TM-TM helix interaction via its Leu1 motif that is critical for T-pilus biogenesis.
YscP and YscU Switch the Substrate Specificity of the Yersinia Type III Secretion System by Regulating Export of the Inner Rod Protein YscI

ABSTRACT Pathogenic yersiniae utilize a type III secretion system to inject antihost factors, called Yops, directly into the cytosol of eukaryotic cells. The Yops are injected via a needle-like structure, comprising the YscF protein, on the bacterial surface. While the needle is being assembled, Yops cannot be secreted. YscP and YscU switch the substrate specificity of the secretion system to enable Yop export once the needle attains its proper length. Here, we demonstrate that the inner rod protein YscI plays a critical role in substrate specificity switching. We show that YscI is secreted by the type III secretion system and that YscI secretion by a yscP mutant is abnormally elevated. Furthermore, we show that mutations in the cytoplasmic domain of YscU reduce YscI secretion by the yscP null strain. We also demonstrate that mutants expressing one of three forms of YscI (those with mutations Q84A, L87A, and L96A) secrete substantial amounts of Yops yet exhibit severe defects in needle formation. In the absence of YscP, mutants with the same changes in YscI assemble needles but are unable to secrete Yops. Together, these results suggest that the formation of the inner rod, not the needle, is critical for substrate specificity switching and that YscP and YscU exert their effects on substrate export by controlling the secretion of YscI.
The Resonant Retina: Exploiting Vibration Noise to Optimally Detect Edges in an Image

We show that, far from being a drawback, the ubiquitous presence of random vibrations in vision systems operating from mobile devices can advantageously be used as a fundamental tool for edge detection. Directly inspired by biology, the concept of dynamic retina uses the random spatiotemporal path, traced by a moving receptor that samples the image over time, as the basis for the edge detection operation. We propose a simple mathematical formalization of the dynamic retina concept that shows that the relevant information needed for edge detection is contained in the modulation of the variance of the output signal delivered by the retina. Based on a sequence of observations, we then use a variance estimator to determine the presence of the image edges. Following again a biological inspiration, more specifically focusing on neuron dynamics, we introduce a threshold type estimator and use its local asymptotic normality to optimize, via the Cramer-Rao relation, the value of the threshold. The optimal threshold value coincides with a maximum of the associated Fisher information and the overall process can therefore be directly interpreted as a stochastic resonance. We end our contribution by reporting some simple experimental illustrations.