Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of immuno assays during the development of a Hemophilus influenzae type b vaccine for technology transfer to emerging vaccine manufacturers

Quality control of Hemophilus Influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccines is mainly dependent on physicochemical methods. Overcoming sample matrix interference when using physicochemical tests is very challenging, these tests are therefore only used to test purified samples of polysaccharide, protein, bulk conjugate, and final product. For successful development of a Hib conjugate vaccine, several ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) methods were needed as an additional tool to enable testing of in process (IP) samples. In this paper, three of the ELISA's that have been very valuable during the process development, implementation and scaling up are highlighted. The PRP-ELISA, was a very efficient tool in testing in process (IP) samples generated during the development of the cultivation and purification process of the Hib-polysaccharide. The antigenicity ELISA, was used to confirm the covalent linkage of PRP and TTd in the conjugate. The anti-PRP IgG ELISA was developed as part of the immunogenicity test, used to demonstrate the ability of the Hib conjugate vaccine to elicit a T-cell dependent immune response in mice. ELISA methods are relatively cheap and easy to implement and therefore very useful during the development of polysaccharide conjugate vaccines.
The expression of cyclooxygenase 2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase indicates no active inflammation in vulvar vestibulitis

Background. Although women with vulvar vestibulitis syndrome have principal symptoms of inflammation such as local erythema and pain in the mucosa around the vaginal introitus, it is not clear if vestibulitis is an inflammatory condition. Cyclooxygenase 2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase are known to be upregulated during inflammation. The aim of the present study was to analyze the expression of these enzymes in the vestibular mucosa in order to evaluate the inflammatory activity in the tissue.
Losartan therapy for Raynaud's phenomenon and scleroderma: clinical and biochemical findings in a fifteen-week, randomized, parallel-group, controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE To compare the efficacy and tolerability of losartan, an antagonist of angiotensin II receptor type 1, with nifedipine for the treatment of primary and secondary Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) in a pilot study. METHODS In a randomized, parallel-group, controlled trial, patients with primary RP (n = 25) or RP secondary to systemic sclerosis (SSc [scleroderma]; n = 27) were allocated to receive 12 weeks' treatment with either losartan (50 mg/day) or nifedipine (40 mg/day). Primary outcome variables were the severity and frequency of RP episodes and findings on vascular measurements, including thermography and laser Doppler flowmetry. Serum levels of soluble adhesion molecules, endothelin 1, fibrinogen, von Willebrand factor, and procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide (PINP) were also measured. RESULTS There was a reduction in the severity of RP episodes following treatment with losartan and with nifedipine, but this effect was greater in the losartan arm of the study (P<0.05): episode frequency was reduced only in the losartan group (P<0.01 versus baseline). Symptomatic improvement was associated with a significant reduction in soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 and PINP (P<0.01). Subgroup analysis suggested that although these biochemical changes occurred mainly in SSc patients, the clinical benefit was greater in the primary RP group. CONCLUSION This study confirms the tolerability of short-term treatment of RP with losartan, and our data suggest its clinical benefit. Further evaluation of this drug as a long-term treatment for SSc-associated RP should be considered, since it may have additional disease-modifying potential.
Clinical implication of an insufficient number of examined lymph nodes after curative resection for gastric cancer

The seventh edition of the tumor, lymph node (LN), metastasis (TNM) staging system increased the required number of examined LNs in gastric cancer from 15 to 16. However, the same staging system defines lymph node‐negative gastric cancer regardless of the number of examined LNs. In this study, the authors evaluated whether gastric cancer can be staged properly with fewer than 15 examined LNs.
Imaging Lymphoid Cell Death In Vivo During Polymicrobial Sepsis*

Objectives: Cell death in lymphatic organs, such as the spleen, is in part responsible for immunosuppression and contributes to mortality during sepsis. An early and noninvasive detection of lymphoid cell death could thus have significant clinical implications. Here, we tested in vivo imaging of lymphoid cell death using a near-infrared annexin V (AV-750). Design: Animal study. Setting: Laboratory investigation. Subjects: C57BL/6J wild-type and toll-like receptor 3 knockout mice. Interventions: Mild and severe polymicrobial sepsis was induced with cecum ligation and puncture. Serum cytokines and acute kidney injury markers were tested by immunoassay and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Sepsis-induced lymphoid cell death was detected by fluorescent AV-750 accumulation in the thorax and abdomen (in vivo), in isolated organs (ex vivo), and in isolated cells (flow cytometry). Caspase-3 cleavage/activity and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling staining were tested for apoptosis. Measurements and Main Results: Severe sepsis induced marked apoptosis in the thymus, spleen, and liver as demonstrated by cleaved caspase-3 and an increase in caspase-3 activity and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling–positive cells. A significant increase in fluorescent AV-750 signal was seen in the thoracic and upper abdominal fields and associated with the severity of sepsis. The in vivo thoracic and abdominal AV-750 fluorescent signal was attributed to the thymus, liver, and spleen as determined by ex vivo imaging and highly correlated with the levels of cell death in thymocytes and splenocytes, respectively, as measured by flow cytometry. Compared with wild-type septic mice, toll-like receptor 3 septic mice had attenuated abdominal AV-750 fluorescent signal, reduced ex vivo fluorescence in the spleen, and decreased splenocyte cell death. Conclusions: In vivo AV-750 fluorescent imaging provides spatially resolved and organ-specific detection of lymphoid cell death during polymicrobial sepsis. The AV-750 fluorescent intensity in the thoracic and abdominal fields is associated with sepsis severity and well correlated with sepsis-induced cell death in the thymus and spleen, respectively.
Development of new mobile application services: An approach using context-driven morphology analysis

Under the dynamic environment where competition of new service development is significantly increased, most of new mobile services are developed based on the analysis of everyday-life of user. Therefore, understanding of user context can provide a wide scope of information including location, time, purpose, or social setting that can provide significant information to develop new mobile application services. Therefore, this paper proposes a new approach to planning new mobile services using context-driven morphology analysis. Firstly, a contextual dictionary is constructed based on the literature and application information. Next, a contextual morphology is constructed based on the dictionary. The dimension of contextual morphology is considered the types of user-context whereas the shape of morphology is the value and example of each context. This morphology is composed of two main parts: the first morphology deals with the micro-level whereas the second morphology covers the macro-level analysis. Following on the construction of contextual morphology, business morphology is constructed to realize the generated context to new services, with consideration of stakeholders, product/services or functions. Finally, new mobile services are developed. The approach suggested in this paper is able to serve the basis of the development of new mobile services, by providing the possible and promising combination of user context and its application.
Test of the child/adolescent Rome III criteria: agreement with physician diagnosis and daily symptoms

Background Establishment of the Rome criteria advanced diagnosis of children with Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. The criteria were overhauled in 2006, but these revisions were never systematically tested. The aim of the current study was to assess psychometric properties of the childhood Rome III criteria and determine how well they agree with physician diagnoses and daily symptoms.
Current Progress in Synthesis, Characterization and Applications of Silver Nanoparticles: Precepts and Prospects.

BACKGROUND Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), are amongst the utmost striking nanosized materials that are extensively applied in a variety of biomedical applications which includes diagnostic use, disease management, medical device coating, drug delivery and for personal health care. DISCUSSION With the growing interest and its application in the health care sector, it is becoming necessary for a better understanding and exploration of AgNPs mechanism of action like biological interaction, their possible toxicity, and safety concern to human exposure. AgNPs have been the subject of researchers attention and interest due to the unique properties and quality such as shape and size depending optical, electrical, and antimicrobial potentials (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral etc.). In recent times, several studies have been conducted on AgNPs antimicrobial potential and also a number of patents related to its synthesis, clinical role and importance have also been registered. In this review, a short overview of AgNPs synthesis approach is presented (physical, chemical, and biological or green synthesis) and it also delivers a historical outlook of AgNPs application as an antimicrobial agent which includes combined evidence of microbial resistance and safety issues with human exposure.
The Relative and Absolute Reliability of Leg Muscle Strength Testing by a Handheld Dynamometer

Lu, Y-M, Lin, J-H, Hsiao, S-F, Liu, M-F, Chen, S-M, and Lue, Y-J. The relative and absolute reliability of leg muscle strength testing by a handheld dynamometer. J Strength Cond Res 25(4): 1065-1071, 2011-To examine the relative and absolute interrater reliability of handheld dynamometers (HHD) for assessing the lower extremity muscle strength, maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs) of 16 young adults for bilateral hip and knee muscles were tested using the break method. Three MVCs of each muscle group were required for obtaining the muscle strength. Participants' muscle strengths were tested by 2 raters. The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and the smallest real differences (SRD) were used to examine the relative and absolute reliabilities, and the Bland-Altman analyses were used to check whether systematic bias exists. The results showed that the relative reliabilities of all muscle groups were excellent (ICCs = 0.83-0.92) except for the knee extensors (ICC = 0.60). The SRD represents the smallest difference that indicates a real change for a single subject. The SRD% of all muscle groups was acceptable (ranging from 8.4 to 22.8 %), with the hip extensors being the smallest and knee extensors being the largest. The reliability of the knee extensors was unsatisfactory because of poor relative and absolute reliabilities and systematic bias. In addition to assessing the relative reliability in strength measurement, the absolute reliability provides the data of the measurement error, which is useful information in clinical practice to know whether the change in strength of a subject is real. Hand-held dynamometer is a reliable tool for quantifying most of the hip and knee strength except for the knee extensors. Modifying the measuring technique for knee extension is needed in future studies to improve the reliability.
Nuclear Organization of DNA Replication Initiation Proteins in Mammalian Cells*

Origin recognition complex (ORC), CDC6, and MCM proteins assemble sequentially to form prereplication chromatin. However, their organization remains largely unclear in mammalian cells. Here we show that ORC1 proteins are associated with non-chromatin nuclear structures and assemble in nuclear foci in mammalian cells using an in vivo chemical cross-linking method. CDC6 proteins were also found to assemble in nuclear foci on non-chromatin nuclear structures, although their physical association with ORC1 has been undetectable. In contrast to the situation in yeast cells, CDC6 was found to remain associated with non-chromatin nuclear structures even after cells entered into S phase. Instead, ORC1 proteins were found to be degraded by a proteasome-dependent pathway during S phase. We also found that some ORC2 proteins are associated with non-chromatin nuclear structures like ORC1, although the remainder binds to nuclease-sensitive chromatin. Further analyses indicate that ORC2 physically interacts with ORC1 on non-chromatin nuclear structures. On the other hand, our results suggest that although a small proportion of MCM complexes are loaded onto chromatin regions near ORC foci, most of them are more widely distributed. Possible relations between such organization of prereplication chromatin and complicated origin specification in higher eukaryotic cells are discussed.
A Qualitative Evaluation of Patient-Perceived Benefits and Barriers to Participation in a Telephone Care Management Program

Purpose. To examine why high-risk individuals targeted for a telephone care management program participated at low rates. Design. Study design consisted of qualitative, semistructured interviews. Setting. The setting was a large national insurer's telephone-based care management program. The program employed registered nurses to provide individually tailored education and counseling about health and health care. Subjects. Study subjects comprised members of a national insurer who were recruited to participate in a care management program but had either dropped out of the program after a short period of initial engagement or had never participated despite recruitment efforts. Measures. Interview content was divided into four categories: knowledge of the case management program, barriers to program participation, perceptions of benefits of the program, and suggestions for program improvement. Analysis. Investigators conducted a directed content analysis. Results. The most commonly cited barriers to participation were a lack of perceived need and a sense of distrust toward the program and its staff. The most commonly cited benefits were psychosocial support and goal setting. Conclusion. Care management programs may benefit from changes to how insurance plan members are selected for the program and from adjusting program content to address perceived needs among members.
Correlates of insider and outsider conceptualizations of recovery.

OBJECTIVE The concept of recovery can be based on the self report of the individual experiencing the phenomenon ("insider" perspective) or objectively measured by clinicians and researchers ("outsider perspective"). The purpose of this study was to examine the relations among insider (hope and empowerment) and outsider (symptoms and cognition) variables of recovery. METHODS 66 individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression were administered the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, a battery of cognitive measures, The Hope Scale and The Empowerment Scale. RESULTS For symptoms, depression and anxiety had the strongest relationships with hope and empowerment. Cognition was associated with a subset of activist oriented empowerment subscales. There were strong relationships among the hope and empowerment measures but few relationships among symptoms and cognition. CONCLUSIONS Relationships exist between insider and outsider conceptualizations of recovery in that symptoms and cognition are associated with some aspects of hope and empowerment.
Nonviral gene transfer into primary cultures of human and procine mesothelial cells

SummaryDue to their abundance and accessibility, mesothelial cells may be suitable tools for recombinant reagent expression by gene transfer. Genetically modified porcine mesothelial cells (PMCs) may have the potential for the treatment of vascular diseases in humans. We studied the effect of various transfection reagents on the primary culture of PMCs and human mesothelial cells (HMCs). The cells were transfected with a plasmid encoding a reporter gene (luciferase or green fluorescent protein [GFP]) under the control of the cytomegalovirus promoter. Transfection was achieved using cationic lipids (DOSPER and DOTAP) or calcium phosphate/deoxyribonucleic acid coprecipitation or Fugene 6. Results showed that Fugene 6 was the most efficient and reproducible transfection reagent with both PMCs and HMCs. With, Fugene 6, luciferase activity in PMCs (1.5×108 relative light units [RLU]/106 cells) was at least 2.5-fold higher than with the other transfection reagents, and it was 100-fold higher than in HMCs. However, the proportion of transfected cells expressing GFP was only 1%. These preliminary findings open up new avenues for developing experimental studies on the use of genetically modified PMCs.
Rationale for promoting physical activity among cancer survivors: literature review and epidemiologic examination.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To review the extant literature on the link between physical activity and health outcomes among cancer survivors; identify evidence-based strategies to promote physical activity among this population; and conduct an epidemiologic study based on gaps from the literature review, examining the association between physical activity and various biologic markers. DATA SOURCES The authors used PubMed and Google Scholar up to July 2013, as well as data from the 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for the empirical study. DATA SYNTHESIS Studies were examined through a systematic review process. In the epidemiologic study, 227 adult cancer survivors wore an accelerometer for four days or longer, with biologic markers (e.g., cholesterol) assessed from a blood sample. CONCLUSIONS The review study demonstrated that cancer survivors are relatively inactive, but physical activity may help to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and cancer-related mortality, increase cancer treatment rates, reduce pain and other side effects associated with cancer treatment, and improve physical and mental health. The epidemiologic study showed that physical activity was associated with several understudied biomarkers (e.g., neutrophils, white blood cells) that are linked with cancer recurrence, cancer-related mortality, and other chronic diseases. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING Nurses are encouraged to promote physical activity in cancer survivors.
Association of Diabetes and Insulin Therapy With Risk of Hospitalization for Infection and 28-Day Mortality Risk

Background Epidemiologic and experimental evidence suggests that individuals with diabetes are at increased risk of infection. We sought to examine the association of diabetes and insulin therapy with hospitalization for infection and 28-day mortality. Methods We performed a prospective cohort study using data from 30 239 community-dwelling participants aged ≥45 years enrolled in the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study. We defined diabetes as a fasting glucose level ≥126 mg/L (or ≥200 mg/L for those not fasting), the use of insulin or oral hypoglycemic agents, or self-reported history. We identified infection-related hospitalizations over the years 2003–2012. We fit Cox proportional hazards models to assess the association of diabetes with hazard rates of infection and logistic regression models for 28-day mortality. Results Among 29 683 patients from the REGARDS study with complete follow-up, 7375 had diabetes. Over a median follow-up period of 6.5 years, we identified 2593 first and 3411 total infection hospitalizations. In adjusted analyses, participants with diabetes had an increased hazard of infection (hazard ratio, 1.50; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37–1.64) compared with those without diabetes. Participants with diabetes hospitalized for infection did not have an increased odds of death within 28 days (odds ratio, 0.94; 95% CI, .67–1.32). Participants receiving insulin therapy had greater hazard of infection (hazard ratio, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.90–2.51) but no increased odds of mortality (odd ratio, 1.07; 95% CI, .67–1.71). Conclusions Diabetes is associated with increased risk of hospitalization for infection. However, we did not find an association with 28-day mortality. Insulin therapy conferred an even greater risk of hospitalization, without increased mortality.
The accessibility of a developing lepidopteran nervous system to lanthanum and peroxidase.

The accessibility of the nervous system of Manduca sexta to horseradish peroxidase and lanthanum during metamorphosis has been studied. In the fifth instar larva, peroxidase penetrates the thick neural lamella but does not reach the perineurium. In the first week after larval-pupal ecdysis, when the intercellular channels between hypertrophied perineurial I cells are the least tortuous, the enzymic tracer bypasses the perineurial I tight and gap junctions and penetrates as far as the perineurial II bracelet layer. During this time, there is active uptake of peroxidase by the perineurial I cells but no reaction product is found in the underlying perineurial II cell bracelet. In the second week after larval-pupal ecdysis, when the perineurium is a flattened interdigitating cell layer, peroxidase does not penetrate as far as the perineurial I and II interspace and there is little or no uptake of the protein by the perineurial I cells. Lanthanum, in contrast, passes the perineurial I tight and gap junctions, which are presumed to be macular, and travels within the entire perineurial I and II interspace throughout metamorphosis. As it travels within this interspace, it gains access to the perineurial II bracelet connexions, which differ in their ability to restrict lanthanum. Lanthanum is able to penetrate the entire overlapping connexion with its predominant gap junctions before being stopped, but penetrates the more complex interdigitating connexion with its extensive tight, gap and septate junctions for only a short distance. The relevance of the perineurial II bracelet layer and its intercellular connexions to the maintenance of a blood-brain barrier in this developing nervous system is discussed.