Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reliability and validity of a short FFQ for assessing the dietary habits of 2–5-year-old children, Sydney, Australia

Abstract Objective A simple FFQ which ranks young children's dietary habits is necessary for population-based monitoring and intervention programmes. The aim of the present study was to determine the reliability and validity of a short FFQ to assess the dietary habits of young children aged 2–5 years. Design Parents completed a seventeen-item FFQ for their children by telephone on two occasions, two weeks apart. Sixty-four parents also completed 3 d food records for their children. The FFQ included daily servings of fruit and vegetables, frequency of eating lean meat, processed meats, take-away food, snack foods (biscuits, cakes, doughnuts, muesli bars), potato crisps and confectionery, and cups of soft drinks/cordials, juice, milk and water. Weighted kappa and intra-class correlation coefficients were used to assess FFQ reliability and the Bland–Altman method was used to assess validity of the FFQ compared with the 3 d food record. Setting Seven pre-school centres in metropolitan Sydney, Australia. Subjects Seventy-seven children aged 2–5 years. Results The majority of questions had moderate to good reliability: κ w ranged from 0·37 (lean meat) to 0·85 (take-away food consumption). Validity analysis showed a significant increase in mean values from the food record with increasing ordered categories from the FFQ for servings of vegetables and fruit and cups of drinks (all trend P ≤ 0·01). Spearman rank correlation coefficient was >0·5 for vegetables, fruit, diet soft drinks and fruit juice. Conclusions The FFQ provides reliable and moderately valid information about the dietary intakes and habits of children aged 2–5 years, in particular for fruit, vegetables and beverages.
Hypoxia increases membranal and secreted HLA‐DR in endothelial cells, rendering them T‐cell activators

Transplantation involves preoperative ischemic periods that contribute to endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction and T‐cell activation, leading to graft rejection. As hypoxia is a major constituent of ischemia, we evaluated its effect on the ability of ECs to express HLA‐DR, which is required for presentation of antigens to T cells, and by itself serves as an important target for allogeneic T cells. Primary human umbilical vein ECs (HUVEC) and the human endothelial cell line EaHy926 were incubated in normoxia or hypoxia (PO2 < 0.3%). Hypoxia increased the membranal expression (by 4–6 fold, P < 0.01) and secretion (by sixfold, P < 0.05) of HLA‐DR protein, without influencing the accumulation of its mRNA. Alternative splicing, attenuated trafficking, or shedding from the plasma membrane were not observed, but the lysosomal inhibitor bafilomycin A1 reduced HLA‐DR secretion. Hypoxia‐induced endothelial HLA‐DR elevated and diminished the secretion of IL‐2 and IL‐10, respectively, from co‐cultured allogeneic CD4+ T cells in a HLA‐DR‐dependent manner, as demonstrated by the use of monoclonal anti‐HLA‐DR. Our results indicate a yet not fully understood post‐translational mechanism(s), which elevate both membranal and soluble HLA‐DR expression. This elevation is involved in allogeneic T‐cell activation, highlighting the pivotal role of ECs in ischemia/hypoxia‐associated injury and graft rejection.
Competitive inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for antibody in sheep and other ruminants to a conserved epitope of malignant catarrhal fever virus

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a severe, usually fatal, acute systemic disease syndrome of certain domestic and wild ruminants caused by members of the family Gammaherpesvirinae. Two distinct but closely related viruses cause clinically indistinguishable syndromes: one that is indigenous to the widebeest and the other that apparently is indigenous to domestic sheep. Neither the pathogenesis nor the epidemiology of sheep-associated MCF (SA-MCF) is understood, primarily because of a lack of adequate detection methods for the etiologic agent or antibody against it. No acceptably documented isolates of SA-MCF virus have been reported, and existing antibody assays suffer from significant cross-reactivity with other viruses. As a basis for a specific serologic assay, an attempt was made to identify an epitope conserved among all isolates of MCF viruses, by using a monoclonal antibody (MAb) produced against a previously reported U.S. isolate of MCF virus. A MAb (15-A) which bound a conserved epitope present on all four isolates of MCF virus examined was found. MAb 15-A did not react with eight common sheep and goat viruses or five common bovine viruses. Immunoprecipitation revealed that the 15-A epitope was located on the viral glycoprotein complex, with molecular masses of 115, 110, 105, 78, and 45 kDa. Sera from experimentally and naturally infected animals which yielded a similar glycoprotein complex immunoprecipitation pattern competed with MAb 15-A for its epitope. A competitive inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on MAb 15-A was therefore developed. The assay detected antibody in inapparently infected sheep and in cattle, deer, and bison with clinical MCF. Of the 149 serum samples from sheep associated with MCF outbreaks, 88 (55%) were seropositive by competitive inhibition ELISA.
Distinction and Temporal Stability of Conformational Epitopes on Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Recognized by Patients with Different Inflammatory Central Nervous System Diseases

Autoantibodies targeting conformationally intact myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) are found in different inflammatory diseases of the CNS, but their antigenic epitopes have not been mapped. We expressed mutants of MOG on human HeLa cells and analyzed sera from 111 patients (104 children, 7 adults) who recognized cell-bound human MOG, but had different diseases, including acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), one episode of transverse myelitis or optic neuritis, multiple sclerosis (MS), anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4)–negative neuromyelitis optica (NMO), and chronic relapsing inflammatory optic neuritis (CRION). We obtained insight into the recognition of epitopes in 98 patients. All epitopes identified were located at loops connecting the β strands of MOG. The most frequently recognized MOG epitope was revealed by the P42S mutation positioned in the CC′-loop. Overall, we distinguished seven epitope patterns, including the one mainly recognized by mouse mAbs. In half of the patients, the anti-MOG response was directed to a single epitope. The epitope specificity was not linked to certain disease entities. Longitudinal analysis of 11 patients for up to 5 y indicated constant epitope recognition without evidence for intramolecular epitope spreading. Patients who rapidly lost their anti-MOG IgG still generated a long-lasting IgG response to vaccines, indicating that their loss of anti-MOG reactivity did not reflect a general lack of capacity for long-standing IgG responses. The majority of human anti-MOG Abs did not recognize rodent MOG, which has implications for animal studies. Our findings might assist in future detection of potential mimotopes and pave the way to Ag-specific depletion.
Evaluation of flow cytometric methods for diagnosis of chronic granulomatous disease variants under routine laboratory conditions.

Neutrophils from 50 pediatric patients with normal phagocyte functions, from 150 healthy adults, from 10 chronic granulomatous disease (CGD)-patients (4 CGD+), and from 18 X-linked carriers for CGD have been tested for their production of H2O2 using staining with dihydrorhodamine 123 and subsequent flow cytometry. Additionally, neutrophils from three patients with myeloperoxidase deficiency were assessed. Cells were activated to produce H2O2 by the phorbol ester phorbol-myristate-acetate (PMA) and by phagocytosis of Escherichia coli bacteria. To evaluate the sensitivity of the method, H2O2-production by neutrophils which was inhibited by different concentrations of diphenyljodonium (DPI) was measured. The results were compared to those from other methods (NBT-testing, cytochrome c-reduction, and especially chemiluminescence). Normal values and ranges of scatter profile were evaluated in terms of peak channel fluorescence: 97% > 700, x = 840 +/- 59 (S.D.), 97% < 890, for pediatric patients. Normal quantitative values also resulted from small blood samples of infants (< 1 year, n = 6, x = 830 +/- 52). For CGD+ (n = 4) the results were clearly far below the normal range. In indicating decreased production of reactive oxygen intermediates the method was at least as sensitive as lucigenin enhanced chemiluminescence. Cytochrome b558-expression of neutrophils from patients and healthy controls was established by flow cytometry following staining with the monoclonal antibody 7D5. The normal range was 97% > 485, 97% < 680, peak channel fluorescence. We conclude that flow cytometric routine diagnostics of CGD can easily enhance the reliability of recognition and the yield of information about this disease compared to conventional methods.
The emerging role of PET imaging in dementia

A compelling need in the field of neurodegenerative diseases is the development and validation of biomarkers for early identification and differential diagnosis. The availability of positron emission tomography (PET) neuroimaging tools for the assessment of molecular biology and neuropathology has opened new venues in the diagnostic design and the conduction of new clinical trials. PET techniques, allowing the in vivo assessment of brain function and pathology changes, are increasingly showing great potential in supporting clinical diagnosis also in the early and even preclinical phases of dementia. This review will summarize the most recent evidence on fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose-, amyloid -, tau -, and neuroinflammation - PET tools, highlighting strengths and limitations and possible new perspectives in research and clinical applications. Appropriate use of PET tools is crucial for a prompt diagnosis and target evaluation of new developed drugs aimed at slowing or preventing dementia.
The use of moderated mediated analysis to study the influence of hypo-hydration on working memory.

INTRODUCTION To date, dehydration has been typically reported to infl uence psychological parameters when there has been at least a 2% loss of body mass, although there has been little examination of those going about their everyday lives, those who have lost less than 1% of body mass. In such situations factors such as the initial hydration status and individual differences in the response to a reduced fl uid intake are likely to be infl uential. Yet to study the complexity added by such additional variables novel methods of statistical analysis are required. OBJECTIVES The present study describes the use of moderated mediation, an approach that asks various questions: fi rstly, is drinking infl uential? ; secondly, does a mediator (e.g.,thirst) sit between an independent and dependent variable? ; and thirdly, does an effect only occur under certain conditions such as initial osmolality? METHOD In the study, 118 subjects were exposed to 30 °C for four hours during which they half drank 300 ml water. The serial sevens test of working memory was performed before and at the end of the procedure. RESULTS A 0.6% loss of body mass reduced the effi ciency of working memory. Those who consumed water had better working memory; working memory was worse in participants who lost more body mass or became thirstier, but only in those with higher levels of baseline osmolality. CONCLUSIONS Small variations in hydration status infl uenced cognitive functioning although there were individual differences in the response. The parameters that influence an adverse response to hypo-hydration need to be established to allow giving appropriate advice.
Dynamics and energetics of water permeation through the aquaporin channel

Structural properties of water inside bovine aquaporin‐1 are investigated by molecular simulation. The calculations, which are based on the recently determined X‐ray structure at 2.2 Å resolution (Sui et al., Nature 2001;414:872–878), are carried out on one monomeric subunit immersed in a water‐n‐octane‐water bilayer. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations suggest that His182, a fully conserved residue in the channel pore, is protonated in the δ position. Furthermore, they reveal a highly ordered water structure in the channel, induced by the electrostatic properties of the protein. Multiple‐steering MD simulations are used to calculate the free‐energy of water diffusion. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first free‐energy calculation based on the new, high‐resolution structure of the pore. The calculated barrier is 2.5 kcal/mol, and it is associated to water permeation through the Asn‐Pro‐Ala (NPA) region of the pore, where water molecules are only hydrogen‐bonded with themselves. These findings are fully consistent with those based on the previous MD studies on the human protein (de Groot and Grubmüller, Science 2001;294:2353–2357). Proteins 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Enzymatic profiling of human kallikrein 14 using phage-display substrate technology

Abstract The human KLK14 gene is one of the newly identified serine protease genes belonging to the human kallikrein family, which contains 15 members. KLK14, like all other members of the human kallikrein family, is predicted to encode for a secreted serine protease already found in various biological fluids. This new kallikrein is mainly expressed in prostate and endocrine tissues, but its function is still unknown. Recent studies have demonstrated that KLK14 gene expression is up-regulated in prostate and breast cancer tissues, and that higher expression levels correlate with more aggressive tumors. In this work, we used phage-display substrate technology to study the substrate specificity of hK14. A phage-displayed random pentapeptide library with exhaustive diversity was screened with purified recombinant hK14. Highly specific and sensitive substrates were selected from the library. We show that hK14 has dual activity, trypsin- and chymotrypsin-like, with a preference for cleavage after arginine residues. A SwissProt database search with selected sequences identified six potential human protein substrates for hK14. Two of them, laminin α-5 and collagen IV, which are major components of the extracellular matrix, have been demonstrated to be hydrolyzed efficiently by hK14.
Job creation and firm-specific location incentives

Abstract Government economic development programmes provide opportunities for firms to leverage financial incentives for business expansion and relocation. This article examines the ability of these incentives to promote employment. Using establishment-level data from the state of Kansas as well as original firm-level survey data, I evaluate the effectiveness of financial incentives in creating jobs through recipient firms. My findings from the establishment-level data indicate that incentive programmes have no discernable impact on firm expansion, measured by job creation. In addition, the survey data suggest that incentive recipients highly recommend this programme to other firms, but few firms actually increased their employment in Kansas because of these incentives; similarly, very few firms would have left the state if they had not benefited from this programme. Thus, incentives have little impact on the relocation or expansion decisions of firms.
Three-Dimensional Segmentation of the Ex-Vivo Anterior Lamina Cribrosa From Second-Harmonic Imaging Microscopy

The lamina cribrosa (LC) is a connective tissue in the posterior eye with a complex mesh-like trabecular microstructure, through which all the retinal ganglion cell axons and central retinal vessels pass. Recent studies have demonstrated that changes in the structure of the LC correlate with glaucomatous damage. Thus, accurate segmentation and reconstruction of the LC is of utmost importance. This paper presents a new automated method for segmenting the microstructure of the anterior LC in the images obtained via multiphoton microscopy using a combination of ideas. In order to reduce noise, we first smooth the input image using a 4-D collaborative filtering scheme. Next, we enhance the beam-like trabecular microstructure of the LC using wavelet multiresolution analysis. The enhanced LC microstructure is then automatically extracted using a combination of histogram thresholding and graph-cut binarization. Finally, we use morphological area opening as a postprocessing step to remove the small and unconnected 3-D regions in the binarized images. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated using mutual overlap accuracy, Tanimoto index, F-score, and Rand index. Quantitative and qualitative results show that the proposed algorithm provides improved segmentation accuracy and computational efficiency compared to the other recent algorithms.
Critical rotation of a harmonically trapped Bose gas.

We study experimentally and theoretically a cold trapped Bose gas under critical rotation, i.e., with a rotation frequency close to the frequency of the radial confinement. We identify two regimes: the regime of explosion where the cloud expands to infinity in one direction, and the regime where the condensate spirals out of the trap as a rigid body. The former is realized for a dilute cloud, and the latter for a condensate with the interparticle interaction exceeding a critical value. This constitutes a novel system in which repulsive interactions help in maintaining particles together.
Dynamics of the Adjustment of Clock Gene Expression in the Rat Suprachiasmatic Nucleus to an Asymmetrical Change from a Long to a Short Photoperiod

The molecular clockwork of the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus, the site of the circadian clock, is affected by the photoperiod (Sumová et al., 2003). The aim of the present study was to partly elucidate the dynamics of the adjustment of the clockwork to a change from a long to a short photoperiod accomplished by an asymmetrical prolongation of the dark period into the morning hours. Rats maintained under a regime with 16 h of light and 8 h of darkness per day (LD 16:8) were transferred to LD 8:16, and after 2, 3, and 13 days, daily profiles of Per1, Per2, Bmal1, and Cry1 mRNA were assessed by in situ hybridization. The rhythms of Per1, Per2, and Bmal1 expression adjusted to the change from a long to a short photoperiod with larger phase delays of the morning Per mRNA rise and Bmal1 mRNA decline than of the evening and nighttime Per mRNA decline and Bmal1 mRNA rise. The rhythm of Cry1 expression adjusted to the change by parallel delays of the Cry1 mRNA rise and decline. Adjustment of the Cry1 mRNA rhythm to short days was almost accomplished within 13 days, whereas adjustment of the Per1 and Bmal1 mRNA rhythms took longer. Different dynamics of the adjustment of rhythms in clock gene expression to a change from a long to a short photoperiod suggests complex resetting effects of the photoperiod change.
Decoder Design for RS-Based LDPC Codes

This brief studies very large-scale integration (VLSI) decoder architectures for RS-based low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, which are a special class of LDPC codes based on Reed-Solomon codes. The considered code ensemble is well known for its excellent error-correcting performance and has been selected as the forward error correction coding scheme for 10GBase-T systems. By exploiting the shift-structured properties hidden in the algebraically generated parity-check matrices, novel decoder architectures are developed with significant advantages of high level of parallel decoding, efficient usage of memory, and low complexity of interconnection. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques, we completed a high-speed decoder design for a (2048, 1723) regular RS-LDPC code, which achieves 10-Gb/s throughput with only 820 000 gates. Furthermore, to support all possible RS-LDPC codes, two special cases in code construction are considered, and the corresponding extensions of the decoder architecture are investigated.
The antioxidant paradox in diabetes mellitus.

There is ample empiric evidence to indicate that oxidative stress contributes to the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease and has a key role in the onset and progression of diabetes and its complications. Diabetes leads to depletion of the cellular antioxidant defense system and is associated with an increase in the production of free radicals. Oxidative stress can be the result of multiple pathways. Some of these are related to substrate-driven overproduction of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species, advanced glycation end product formation, glucose autoxidation, and depletion of micronutrients and cellular elements with antioxidative properties. There are numerous observational studies in the literature showing a beneficial outcome of the consumption of antioxidant vitamins. However, the interventional trials portray a different picture. The divide between the robust experimental evidence of the pathogenetic role of increased oxidative load in diabetes and the overwhelming failure of antioxidants to show any health benefits in clinical trials may well be characterized as the "antioxidant paradox. "
Natural aerosol transmission of foot-and-mouth disease virus to pigs: minimal infectious dose for strain O1 Lausanne

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) can spread by a variety of mechanisms, including, under certain circumstances, by the wind. Simulation models have been developed to predict the risk of airborne spread of FMDV and have played an important part in decision making during emergencies. The minimal infectious dose of FMDV for different species by inhalation is an important determinant of airborne spread. Whereas the doses for cattle and sheep have been quantified, those for pigs are not known. The objective of the study was to obtain that data in order to enhance the capability of simulation models. Under experimental conditions, forty pigs were exposed individually to naturally generated aerosols of FMDV, strain O1 Lausanne. The results indicated that doses under 100 TCID50 failed to infect pigs but doses of approximately 300 TCID50 caused short-term sub-clinical infection. The calculations suggested that a dose of more than 800 TCID50 is required to cause infection and typical disease.
Decision-Directed Retention-Failure Recovery With Channel Update for MLC NAND Flash Memory

To recover from the retention noise induced errors in nand flash memory, a retention-aware belief-propagation (RABP) decoding scheme for low-density parity-check codes is introduced. The RABP is a two-stage decoding scheme in which the memory cell’s charge-loss effect is systematically compensated. In RABP decoding, instead of read retries for data recovery, the probable victim cells are first determined with the help of read-back voltage signal and the decoded bit decisions. Then, for such suspected victim cells, their log-likelihood-ratio regions are modified in such a way as to absorb the effect of cell voltage downshift caused by retention noise, and then a second round of belief-propagation (BP) decoding is performed afresh, often with decoding failure recovery. Furthermore, leveraging on the RABP decoded bit-error pattern, an RABP assisted channel update (RABP-CU) algorithm is proposed which re-estimates the latest cell voltage distribution parameters without incurring new memory sensing operations. This is achieved by minimizing the mean squared error between the measured and predicted bit error/erasure values. Through simulations, it is shown that the RABP decoder increases the retention time limit by up to 70% compared with single round of BP decoding. The proposed RABP-CU algorithm further extends the data retention time.