Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A dendritic cell‐based tumour vaccine for lung cancer: full‐length XAGE‐1b protein‐pulsed dendritic cells induce specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes in vitro

XAGE‐1b is regarded as one of the most immunogenic antigens and the most promising targets for lung adenocarcinoma immunotherapy. In this study, we sought to determine whether monocyte‐derived dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed with purified full‐length XAGE‐1b could induce specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) against tumour cells from patients with non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in vitro. XAGE‐1b mRNA expression was examined in primary cultures of lung cancer cells and normal lung epithelial cells established from fresh tissues surgically resected from 30 patients with NSCLC using reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR). XAGE‐1b mRNA expression was observed in 11 of 18 (61·1%) adenocarcinomas and one of 12 (8·3%) lung cancers of other histological types (P = 0·015). The 246‐base pairs XAGE‐1b gene was inserted into a recombinant expression vector. Full‐length XAGE‐1b was then expressed in BL21 (DE3) Escherichia coli and purified by AKTA‐fast performance liquid chromatography (FPLC). DCs generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells were pulsed with XAGE‐1b by incubation with the protein at an immature stage. The XAGE‐1b‐pulsed DCs induced CTLs following 14 days of co‐culture. Finally, an adherent target detachment (ATD) assay was performed to test the cytotoxicity of the XAGE‐1b‐specific CTLs against cancer cells and normal lung epithelial cells. The XAGE‐1b‐specific CTLs had a stronger lytic effect on autologous XAGE‐1b mRNA‐positive cancer cells than on autologous XAGE‐1b mRNA‐negative cancer cells or allogenous XAGE‐1b mRNA‐positive cancer cells. The CTLs had no lytic activity against normal lung epithelial cells. These results can be used to develop simple and effective cancer/testis antigen‐based immunotherapies for NSCLC.
Effects of a prior high‐intensity knee‐extension exercise on muscle recruitment and energy cost: a combined local and global investigation in humans

The effects of a priming exercise bout on both muscle energy production and the pattern of muscle fibre recruitment during a subsequent exercise bout are poorly understood. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether a prior exercise bout which is known to increase O2 supply and to induce a residual acidosis could alter energy cost and muscle fibre recruitment during a subsequent heavy‐intensity knee‐extension exercise. Fifteen healthy subjects performed two 6 min bouts of heavy exercise separated by a 6 min resting period. Rates of oxidative and anaerobic ATP production, determined with 31P‐magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and breath‐by‐breath measurements of pulmonary oxygen uptake were obtained simultaneously. Changes in muscle oxygenation and muscle fibre recruitment occurring within the quadriceps were measured using near‐infrared spectroscopy and surface electromyography. The priming heavy‐intensity exercise increased motor unit recruitment (P < 0.05) in the early part of the subsequent exercise bout but did not alter muscle energy cost. We also observed a reduced deoxygenation time delay, whereas the deoxygenation amplitude was increased (P < 0.01). These changes were associated with an increased oxidative ATP cost after ∼50 s (P < 0.05) and a slight reduction in the overall anaerobic rate of ATP production (0.11 ± 0.04 mm min−1 W−1 for bout 1 and 0.06 ± 0.11 mm min−1 W−1 for bout 2; P < 0.05). We showed that a priming bout of heavy exercise led to an increased recruitment of motor units in the early part of the second bout of heavy exercise. Considering the increased oxidative cost and the unaltered energy cost, one could suggest that our results illustrate a reduced metabolic strain per fibre.
Clinical Significance of Escherichia albertii

Discriminating Escherichia albertii from other Enterobacteriaceae is difficult. Systematic analyses showed that E. albertii represents a substantial portion of strains currently identified as eae-positive Escherichia coli and includes Shiga toxin 2f–producing strains. Because E. albertii possesses the eae gene, many strains might have been misidentified as enterohemorrhagic or enteropathogenic E. coli.
Fatty acid-requiring mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae defective in acetyl-CoA carboxylase.

The isolation and biochemical properties of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant (acc1-167) defective in acetyl-CoA carboxylase [acetyl-CoA:carbon-dioxide ligase (ADP forming), EC 6.4. 1.2] activity are described. The mutant is deficient in de novo biosynthesis of long-chain fatty acids and specifically requires a saturated fatty acid of chain length 14-16 C atoms for growth. Fatty acid synthetase levels were normal, but the acetyl-CoA carboxylase specific activity of the purified enzyme was reduced to approximately 5% compared to wild-type yeast. Upon sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis the purified mutant enzyme migrated as a single band and was essentially indistinguishable from the wild-type enzyme. The study of acetyl-CoA carboxylase partial activities revealed that the biotin incorporation capacity and the transcarboxylase partial activity were unaffected whereas the biotin carboxylase component enzyme exhibited less than 10% of wild-type specific activity. This biotin carboxylase mutational deficiency could be ascribed to a more than 90% reduction of Vmax and to a comparable increase in the Km value for ATP, which was accompanied by an increased requirement for Mg2+. It is concluded that acc1-167 contains a structural gene mutation in the biotin carboxylase domain of acetyl-CoA carboxylase.
Vitamin E intake and the lung cancer risk among female nonsmokers: A report from the Shanghai Women's Health Study

Vitamin E includes several tocopherol isoforms, which may reduce lung cancer risk, but past studies evaluating the association between vitamin E intake and lung cancer risk were inconsistent. We prospectively investigated the associations between tocopherol intake from diet and from supplements with lung cancer risk among 72,829 Chinese female nonsmokers aged 40–70 years and participating in the Shanghai Women's Health Study (SWHS). Dietary and supplement tocopherol exposure was assessed by a validated food‐frequency questionnaire at baseline and reassessed for change in intake during follow‐up. Cox proportional hazards models with time‐dependent covariates were used to calculate multivariate‐adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence interval (CIs) for lung cancer. After 12.02 years of follow‐up, 481 women were diagnosed with lung cancer. Total dietary tocopherol was inversely associated with lung cancer risk among women meeting dietary guidelines for adequate intake (AI) of tocopherol (14 mg/day or more: HR: 0.78; 95% CI 0.60–0.99; compared with the category less than AI). The protective association between dietary tocopherol intake and lung cancer was restricted to women exposed to side‐stream smoke in the home and workplace [HR = 0.53 (0.29–0.97), p‐trend = 0.04]. In contrast, vitamin E supplement use was associated with increased lung cancer risk (HR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.01–1.73), more so for lung adenocarcinoma risk (HR: 1.79; 95% CI: 1.23–2.60). In summary, dietary tocopherol intake may reduce the risk of lung cancer among female nonsmokers; however, supplements may increase lung adenocarcinoma risk and requires further investigation.
Complete Nucleotide Sequence and Comparative Analysis of pPR9, a 41.7-Kilobase Conjugative Staphylococcal Multiresistance Plasmid Conferring High-Level Mupirocin Resistance

ABSTRACT We have sequenced the conjugative plasmid pPR9, which carries the ileS2 gene, which had contributed to the dissemination of high-level mupirocin resistance at our institution. The plasmid backbone shows extensive genetic conservation with plasmids belonging to the pSK41/pGO1 family, but comparative analyses have revealed key differences that provide important insights into the evolution of these medically important plasmids and high-level mupirocin resistance in staphylococci and highlight the role of insertion sequence IS257 in these processes.
2 Advanced Methods for Time Series Prediction Using Recurrent Neural Networks

Time series prediction has important applications in various domains such as medicine, ecology, meteorology, industrial control or finance. Generally the characteristics of the phenomenon which generates the series are unknown. The information available for the prediction is limited to the past values of the series. The relations which describe the evolution should be deduced from these values, in the form of functional relation approximations between the past and the future values. The most usually adopted approach to consider the future values ( ) 1 t x̂ + consists in using a function f which takes as input a time window of fixed size M representing the recent history of the time series. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) [ ] τ − − τ − = 1 M t x , , t x , t x t . x (1) ( ) ( ) ( ) t f t x̂ x = τ + (2)
VM-Aware Adaptive Storage Cache Prefetching

Storage cache prefetching is an effective technique for reducing the access latency in hierarchical storage systems when the access pattern is predictable based on access locality.In Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) clouds, however, storage virtualization significantly rearranges data placement, thereby reducing the spatial locality observed in the host operating system (OS). Moreover, IaaS clouds consolidate applications with various workloads that may change over time.Therefore, the access pattern changes both spatially and temporally.This paper proposes an adaptive storage cache prefetching scheme that uses structural and statistical information inside virtual machines (VMs). Observation of the application's file usage and internal file-layout information in the guest OS allows the host OS to capture spatial and temporal locality during storage access.In addition, application-level performance statistics allow the host OS to tune the prefetch speed adaptively to prevent performance degradation due to excessive prefetching.We implemented a prototype cache prefetching system that cooperates with Linux and PostgreSQL in a VM.Experiments using the TPCx-V benchmark showed that VM-awareness improved the performance by 17.1% compared with traditional prefetching.Our system achieved 3.15 times better performance than an existing non-prefetching caching system.
Frequency and clinical features of suicide attempts in elderly patients in Japan

The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical features of suicide attempts in elderly patients (≥65 years) in Japan. We enrolled 546 patients who attempted suicide and were hospitalized for inpatient treatment. Characteristics were compared between the elderly and non‐elderly patients. Compared with the non‐elderly group, the incidence of mood disorders was significantly higher and the average length of stay in the intensive care unit and the duration of hospitalization were significantly longer in the elderly group. Elderly patients hospitalized for attempted suicide were more likely to have mood disorders than the non‐elderly.
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Cluster of Differentiation 34 for Assessment of Perioperative Bleeding Risk in Gastric Cancer Patients

Background:Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels to supply nutrients to tumors. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and cluster of differentiation 34 (CD34) are important signaling proteins involved in angiogenesis. Many studies have demonstrated that VEGF and CD34 are related to tumor progression. This study focused on the relationship between VEGF, CD34, and perioperative hemorrhage in patients with gastric cancer. Methods:To observe the relationship between VEGF and CD34, we tracked 112 patients with advanced gastric cancer for 5 years to assess factors related to hemorrhage, using immunohistochemistry. The results were subjected to statistical analysis using a 2 × 2 contingency table, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) test. Results:The concentrations of VEGF and CD34 were critically correlated with perioperative hemorrhage and neural invasion in patients with gastric cancer (P < 0.05). Expression of VEGF and CD34 was related (P < 0.05, &khgr;2 = 6.834). VEGF and CD34 co-expression strongly increased the risk of preoperative bleeding (area under the ROC curve >0.7, P < 0.05). Conclusions:Expression of VEGF and CD34 was critically correlated with perioperative hemorrhage in gastric cancer patients. Co-expression of VEGF and CD34 could be an effective indicator for evaluating the risk of perioperative bleeding in gastric cancer patients.
Aspirin inhibits androgen response to chorionic gonadotropin in humans

DOMENICO CONTE,1 FRANCESCO ROMANELLI,1 SILVIA FILLO,1 LAURA GUIDETTI,2 ALDO ISIDORI,1 FRANCESCO FRANCESCHI,3 MAURIZIO LATINI,1 AND LUIGI DI LUIGI2 1Division of Andrology, Department of Medical Pathophysiology, University ‘‘La Sapienza,’’ 00161 Rome; 2Laboratory of Endocrinological Research, University Institute of Motor Sciences, 00194 Rome; and 3Department of Orthopedics, Libera Universitá, Campus Biomedico, 00155 Rome, Italy
Genetic testing for Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy in Johannesburg, South Africa.

BACKGROUND Genetic testing for Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) mutations initially involved multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR), which targeted two mutation hotspots in the gene and detected deletions in affected males. A newer technology, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), was introduced for diagnostic testing in 2007. OBJECTIVES To evaluate MLPA relative to mPCR as a technique for DMD/BMD diagnostic testing and to establish whether the mutation profile in affected individuals differs between different South African ethnic groups. METHODS; From January 2000 - May 2007, genetic diagnostic testing for DMD/BMD was undertaken in 128 male patients using mPCR. From May 2007 onwards, MLPA replaced this technique and 261 males were investigated. MLPA is a kit-based technology available from MRC-Holland.Results. Of the 128 and 261 probands tested using mPCR and MLPA, respectively, 31% and 34% were found to carry a deletion mutation. Further, MLPA could detect duplication mutations (11.5%), complex rearrangements (1.5%) and small mutations (1.5%). In black patients, deletion mutations were found to cluster in the 3' region of the gene. No population-specific pathogenic mutations were found. CONCLUSIONS The mutation detection rate for mPCR and MLPA is similar for deletion mutations, but MLPA proved to be a better diagnostic approach as it could detect other types of mutations as well, including duplications, complex rearrangements and small mutations. MLPA could also diagnose mutation status in at-risk female relatives, which is not possible with mPCR.
Peptide-amidating Enzymes Are Expressed in the Stellate Epithelial Cells of the Thymic Medulla

C-terminal amidation is a post-translational processing step necessary to convey biological activity to a large number of regulatory peptides. In this study we have demonstrated that the peptidyl-glycine α-amidating monooxygenase enzyme complex (PAM) responsible for this activity is located in the medullary stellate epithelial cells of the thymus and in cultured epithelial cells bearing a medullary phenotype, using Northern blot, immunocytochemistry, in situ hybridization, and enzyme assays. Immunocytochemical localization revealed a granular pattern in the cytoplasm of the stellate cells, which were also positive for cytokeratins and a B-lymphocyte-associated antigen. The presence of PAM activity in medium conditioned by thymic epithelial cell lines suggests that PAM is a secreted product of these cells. Among the four epithelial cell lines examined, there was a direct correlation between PAM activity and content of oxytocin, an amidated peptide. Taken together, these data provide convincing evidence that thymic epithelial cells have the capacity to generate amidated peptides that may influence T-cell differentiation and suggest that the amidating enzymes could play an important role in the regulation of thymic physiology.
Antisense Promoter of Human L1 Retrotransposon Drives Transcription of Adjacent Cellular Genes

ABSTRACT In the human genome, retrotranspositionally competent long interspersed nuclear elements (L1Hs) are involved in the generation of processed pseudogenes and mobilization of unrelated sequences into existing genes. Transcription of each L1Hs is initiated from its internal promoter but may also be driven from the promoters of adjacent cellular genes. Here I show that a hitherto unknown L1Hs antisense promoter (ASP) drives the transcription of adjacent genes. The ASP is located in the L1Hs 5′ untranslated region (5′UTR) and works in the opposite direction. Fifteen cDNAs, isolated from a human NTera2D1 cDNA library by a differential screening method, contained L1Hs 5′UTRs spliced to the sequences of known genes or non-proteincoding sequences. Four of these chimeric transcripts, selected for detailed analysis, were detected in total RNA of different cell lines. Their abundance accounted for roughly 1 to 500% of the transcripts of four known genes, suggesting a large variation in the efficiency of L1Hs ASP-driven transcription. ASP-directed transcription was also revealed from expressed sequence tag sequences and confirmed by using an RNA dot blot analysis. Nine of the 15 randomly selected genomic L1Hs 5′UTRs had ASP activities about 7- to 50-fold higher than background in transient transfection assays. ASP was assigned to the L1Hs 5′UTR between nucleotides 400 to 600 by deletion and mutation analysis. These results indicate that many L1Hs contain active ASPs which are capable of interfering with normal gene expression, and this type of transcriptional control may be widespread.
CAN RBC MODELS EXPLAIN BUSINESS CYCLES IN KOREA?

I examine whether an RBC model can generate a higher volatility of consumption relative to output, a strong negative correlation between output and the trade balance, and a weak countercyclicality of the real interest rate, phenomena that have been observed in the business cycles of emerging economies, including Korea. From an RBC model with recursive utility, I show that it is not the degree of relative risk aversion, but the elasticity of intertemporal substitution (EIS), that governs the movements of the variables of the model in the log linearized environment. The Bayesian estimation results based on Korean data from the period 1987 to 2013 suggest that there are some elements of success in describing the Korean economy based on the simple RBC model both with the EIS larger than one and with an error term for the real interest rate equation. An EIS larger than one improves the performance of the simple RBC model mainly in the direction of raising the volatility of consumption relative to output. Simulation results show that the error term for the real interest rate process mostly reflects the endogenous channel of financial frictions where the domestic real interest rate depends negatively on the expected (transitory) productivity shock.
Entry of simian virus 40 is restricted to apical surfaces of polarized epithelial cells

The uptake of simian virus 40 (SV40) by polarized epithelial cells was investigated by growth of cells on permeable supports and inoculation on either the apical or the basolateral surface. Binding of radiolabeled SV40 occurred on the apical but not the basolateral surfaces of permissive polarized Vero C1008 cells and nonpermissive polarized MDCK cells. When similar experiments were performed on nonpolarized Vero or CV-1 cells, virus binding occurred regardless of the direction of virus input. Electron micrographs of Vero C1008 cells infected at high multiplicities revealed virions lining the surfaces of apically infected cells, while the surfaces of basolaterally infected cells were devoid of virus particles. Analysis of the binding data revealed a single class of virus receptors (9 x 10(4) per cell) with a high affinity for SV40 (Kd = 3.76 pM) on the apical surfaces of Vero C 1008 cells. Indirect immunofluorescence studies revealed that synthesis of viral capsid proteins in Vero C1008 cells occurred only when input virions had access to the apical surface. Virus yields from apically infected Vero C1008 cells were 10(5) PFU per cell, while yields obtained from basolaterally infected cells were less than one PFU per cell. These results indicate that a specific receptor for SV40 is expressed exclusively on the apical surfaces of polarized Vero C1008 cells.
A gene that is related to SRY and is expressed in the testes encodes a leucine zipper-containing protein

SRY-related cDNA encoding a protein with a high-mobility-group (HMG) box and a leucine zipper motif, which was designated SOX-LZ, was isolated from a rainbow trout testis cDNA library. Comparison of this cDNA with the mouse homologous cDNA isolated from a testis cDNA library exhibits an overall amino acid sequence identity of 77%, which is in striking contrast to the abrupt loss of amino acid sequence homology outside the HMG box found among mammalian SRY genes. In both rainbow trout and mice, Northern (RNA) blot analyses have revealed the presence of a testis-specific 3-kb-long SOX-LZ mRNA, and this transcript appeared coincidentally with the protamine mRNA, suggesting its expression in the germ line. A recombinant HMG box region protein encoded by SOX-LZ could bind strongly with an oligonucleotide containing an AACAAT sequence, which is also recognized by mouse Sry and Sox-5. Upon cotransfection into CHO cells, SOX-LZ transactivated transcription through its binding motif when the region including the leucine zipper motif was deleted [SOX-LZ (D105-356)]; however, the intact SOX-LZ failed to transactivate. The intact SOX-LZ could form homodimers through the leucine zipper, which resulted in inhibition of DNA binding by the HMG box, while SOX-LZ (D105-356), which was incapable of dimerization, showed specific binding with the AACAAT sequence. Thus, the repressed transactivation of the intact SOX-LZ in CHO cells was primarily attributable to the low level of DNA binding of SOX-LZ homodimers.
Value of diagnostic techniques for cutaneous leishmaniasis.

BACKGROUND Traditional diagnostic tests, ie, smear, culture, and histopathology of a skin biopsy specimen, are not always conclusive in patients with a clinical diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). OBJECTIVE Our purpose was to find out if a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) specific for Leishmania organisms might be more sensitive than the traditional diagnostic techniques, thereby decreasing the number of false-negative diagnoses. METHODS In a prospective study, smear, culture, and histopathology of skin biopsy specimens from 46 patients with a possible diagnosis of CL were compared with PCR specific for Leishmania. In addition, the Montenegro test as a measure of cellular immunity against the Leishmania parasite was performed. Proven CL was defined as a case in which at least 1 of the 3 traditional tests showed the presence of Leishmania parasites. RESULTS Of our 46 patients, 22 had leishmaniasis. Of the traditional tests, culture was the most sensitive but there were no statistically significant differences between the sensitivities of the various tests. PCR results were positive in all cases of proven leishmaniasis. Moreover, 3 patients with the clinical diagnosis of CL and negative findings on traditional tests had positive PCR results. Only 1 patient with a strong clinical suggestion of CL and positive Montenegro test results had negative PCR findings; this patient also had negative smear, culture, and histopathology results. CONCLUSION PCR appears to be the most sensitive single diagnostic test for CL.