Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cuspal deflection and depth of cure in resin-based composite restorations filled by using bulk, incremental and transtooth-illumination techniques.

BACKGROUND Restoration techniques affect shrinkage stress and depth of cure. The authors tested cuspal deflection and depth of cure resulting from the use of different techniques (bulk, incremental, bulk/transtooth illumination) and two resin-based composites (deep curing and conventional). METHODS The authors restored extracted teeth with deep-curing X-tra fil (VOCO, Cuxhaven, Germany) (by using bulk and incremental techniques) and Filtek Supreme Plus (3M ESPE, St. Paul, Minn.) (by using bulk, incremental and bulk/transtooth-illumination techniques). The sample size for each technique was five. They determined cuspal deflections as changes in buccal and lingual surfaces before and after restoration. To determine the extent of cure, they measured hardness 0.5 to 3.5 millimeters deep on the sectioned restorations. RESULTS The authors found no difference in cuspal deflection between filling techniques within the same materials (P > .05). They found no difference in hardness for X-tra fil at any depth with either the bulk or the incremental technique (P > .05). Filtek Supreme Plus had higher hardness values at depths of less than 1.5 mm with the bulk/transtooth-illumination technique, whereas the bulk technique resulted in lower hardness values at depths of 2.0 mm and below (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS Cuspal deflection was not affected by filling techniques. X-tra fil cured up to a depth of at least 3.5 mm; Filtek Supreme Plus had lower curing values below a depth of 2 mm. The transtooth-illumination technique improved curing depth for restorations placed in bulk. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS When using resin-based composite restorative materials, clinicians should be more concerned about the effect of filling techniques on curing depth than about how these techniques affect shrinkage stresses.
Generation of a Tlx1CreER‐Venus knock‐in mouse strain for the study of spleen development

The spleen is a lymphoid organ that serves as a unique niche for immune reactions, extramedullary hematopoiesis, and the removal of aged erythrocytes from the circulation. While much is known about the immunological functions of the spleen, the mechanisms governing the development and organization of its stromal microenvironment remain poorly understood. Here we report the generation and analysis of a Tlx1CreER‐Venus knock‐in mouse strain engineered to simultaneously express tamoxifen‐inducible CreERT2 and Venus fluorescent protein under the control of regulatory elements of the Tlx1 gene, which encodes a transcription factor essential for spleen development. We demonstrated that Venus as well as CreER expression recapitulates endogenous Tlx1 transcription within the spleen microenvironment. When Tlx1CreER‐Venus mice were crossed with the Cre‐inducible reporter strain, Tlx1‐expressing cells as well as their descendants were specifically labeled following tamoxifen administration. We also showed by cell lineage tracing that asplenia caused by Tlx1 deficiency is attributable to altered contribution of mesenchymal cells in the spleen anlage to the pancreatic mesenchyme. Thus, Tlx1CreER‐Venus mice represent a new tool for lineage tracing and conditional gene manipulation of spleen mesenchymal cells, essential approaches for understanding the molecular mechanisms of spleen development. genesis 52:916–923, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Diaphragmatic proteasome function is maintained in the ageing Fisher 344 rat

The diaphragm is the most important inspiratory muscle in mammals and is essential for normal ventilation. Therefore, maintenance of diaphragm function is critical to overall health throughout the lifespan. Evidence indicates that the ubiquitin proteasome pathway (UPP) function is diminished in locomotor skeletal muscle of ageing animals, but the function of the UPP in the senescent diaphragm has not yet been studied. Diaphragms were harvested from 6‐ and 24‐ to 26‐month‐old Fisher 344 rats (n= 8 per group), and a comprehensive assessment of key components of the UPP, proteasome activity and ubiquitin‐conjugating enzyme activity was performed. Gene expression and diaphragmatic protein levels of several key proteasome components are not altered in the diaphragm by ageing. Furthermore and most importantly, the senescent diaphragm exhibited no age‐related changes in the content of endogenous ubiquitin–protein conjugates or 20S proteasome activity. In conclusion, in contrast to locomotor skeletal muscle, proteasome function and ubiquitin‐conjugating enzyme activity are preserved during senescence in diaphragm. A more thorough understanding of the divergent molecular mechanisms and pathways regulating the UPP in different skeletal muscles could lead to the enhancement of therapeutic strategies aimed at improving morbidity and mortality outcomes in different clinical populations.
Time perspective and quality of life among HIV-infected patients in the context of HAART

Abstract We explored associations between time perspective (TP) and quality of life (QOL) among HIV-infected patients. With the French validated version of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory, we evaluated the TP of patients. A self-administered questionnaire gathered information about QOL (WHOQOL-HIV), TP, relationship with medical staff and self-reported side effects of HAART. Six scores of QOL—physical, psychological, social relationship, environment, patient independence and spirituality were used as dependent variables in the linear regressions to identify factors associated with QOL. The sample (n=72) for this study was recruited from a hospital department specialising in HIV care and consisted of 48 (67%) HIV-infected women and 24 (33%) HIV-infected men with a mean age of 42 years. Using hierarchical regression analysis adjusted on socio-demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics and co-factors, significant relationships were observed between the several TP orientations and an impaired physical, environmental QOL as well as level-of-independence QOL. Specific dimensions of QOL are influenced by specific orientations of TP, which provides information on self-perception and subjective evaluation of QOL. The TP construct provides keys to managing HIV infection in order to improve QOL.
Silver nanoparticle toxicity to Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) and Caenorhabditis elegans: A comparison of mesocosm, microcosm, and conventional laboratory studies

The use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in consumer products and industrial applications, as well as their recent detection in waste streams, has created concern about potential impacts on aquatic ecosystems. The effect of complex environmental media on AgNP toxicity was investigated using wetland mesocosms and smaller scale microcosms. Mesocosms were dosed with 2.5 mg Ag/L as gum arabic (GA)‐coated AgNPs, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)‐coated AgNPs, or AgNO3. Water samples were taken from mesocosms 24 h after dosing for acute toxicity tests with embryos and larvae of Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Acute toxicity tests were also performed on Atlantic killifish with AgNO3, GA AgNPs, and PVP AgNPs prepared in the laboratory with similar water. For killifish embryos, mesocosm samples were much less toxic than laboratory samples for all types of silver. For larvae, in contrast, all 3 silver mesocosm treatments exhibited toxicity. Interestingly, mesocosm samples of AgNO3 were less toxic than laboratory samples; samples containing GA AgNPs were similar in toxicity, and samples containing PVP AgNPs were more toxic. For C. elegans, results were similar to killifish larvae. Results obtained from the mesocosms were not replicated on the smaller scale of the microcosms. These results indicate that environmental factors unique to the mesocosms acted differentially on AgNO3 to reduce its toxicity in a manner that does not translate to AgNPs for larval fish. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;9999:1–9. © 2014 SETAC
Neutrophil Migration in the Activation of the Innate Immune Response to Different Flavobacterium psychrophilum Vaccines in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Flavobacterium psychrophilum is a Gram-negative bacterium, responsible for the bacterial cold-water disease and the rainbow trout fry syndrome in freshwater salmonid fish. At present, there is only one commercial vaccine in Chile, made with two Chilean F. psychrophilum isolates and another licensed in Europe. The present study analyzed neutrophil migration, as a marker of innate immune activation, in zebrafish (Danio rerio) in response to different F. psychrophilum bath vaccines, which is the first step in evaluating vaccine effectiveness and efficiency in fish. Results indicated that bacterins of the LM-02-Fp isolate were more immunogenic than those from the LM-13-Fp isolate. However, no differences were observed between the same bacteria inactivated by either formaldehyde or heat. Importantly, the same vaccine formulation without an adjuvant only triggered a mild neutrophil migration compared to the complete vaccine. Observations also found that, after a year of storage at 4°C, the activation of the innate immune system by the different vaccines was considerably decreased. Finally, new vaccine formulations prepared with heat and formaldehyde inactivated LM-02-Fp were significantly more efficient than the available commercial vaccine in regard to stimulating the innate immune system.
The Associations of Maternal Caffeine Consumption and Nausea with Spontaneous Abortion

To examine whether maternal caffeine consumption is associated with the risk of spontaneous abortion, we analyzed data from a population-based prospective study. The study population comprised 575 women delivering singleton livebirths and 75 women who had spontaneous abortions. The subjects were predominantly white, middle-class women enrolled before pregnancy. Study participants were traced to delivery of a liveborn, singleton infant or a spontaneous abortion. Of the 71 women who did not experience nausea, 29.6% had a spontaneous abortion, compared with 7.2% of 514 women who did experience nausea. Maternal caffeine consumption before pregnancy, or in women without nausea, did not increase the risk of spontaneous abortion, whereas maternal caffeine consumption during the first trimester after nausea started might increase risk of spontaneous abortion (risk ratio = 5.4, 95% confidence interval = 2.0–14.6 for caffeine consumption ≥300 mg per day compared with <20 mg per day). These results suggest that maternal caffeine consumption during pregnancy may influence fetal viability in women with nausea.
Automated fluorometric determination of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD) activities in red blood cells.

An automated fluorometric microtechnic, suitable for screening purposes, has been developed for the quantitative determination of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD) levels in red blood cells. The method is rapid, simple, and precise. It uses 50 µl whole-blood (capillary) samples and is based on the measurement of natural fluorescence emitted by the NADPH generated during the enzymatic reactions.
The Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) Family Members are Key Players in S-adenosylmethionine Formation by MAT2A and Modify BACE1 and PSEN1 Gene Expression-Relevance for Alzheimer's Disease*

Central hallmark of Alzheimer's disease are senile plaques mainly composed of β-amyloid, which is a cleavage product of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). The physiological function of APP and its family members APLP1 and APLP2 is poorly understood. In order to fill this gap, we established a cell-culture based model with simultaneous knockdown of all members of the family. A comprehensive proteome study of the APP/APLP1/APLP2 knockdown cell lysates versus controls revealed significant protein abundance changes of more than 30 proteins. Targeted validation of selected candidates by immunoblotting supported the significant down-regulation of the methionine adenosyltransferase II, alpha (MAT2A) as well as of peroxiredoxin 4 in the knockdown cells. Moreover, MAT2A was significantly down-regulated at the mRNA level as well. MAT2A catalyzes the production of S-adenosylmethionine from methionine and ATP, which plays a pivotal role in the methylation of neurotransmitters, DNA, proteins, and lipids. MAT2A-dependent significant up-regulation of S-adenosylmethionine was also detectable in the knockdown cells compared with controls. Our results point to a role of the APP family proteins in cellular methylation mechanisms and fit to findings of disturbed S-adenosylmethionine levels in tissue and CSF of Alzheimer disease patients versus controls. Importantly, methylation plays a central role for neurotransmitter generation like acetylcholine pointing to a crucial relevance of our findings for Alzheimer's disease. In addition, we identified differential gene expression of BACE1 and PSEN1 in the knockdown cells, which is possibly a consequence of MAT2A deregulation and may indicate a self regulatory mechanism.
Cost-effectiveness of neonatal surgery: a review.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE Technological developments have revolutionized both diagnosis and treatment in neonatal surgery. However, it has been increasingly recognized that financial resources might become insufficient to provide all the medical care that is technically feasible or that patients and families might desire. The purpose of this study is to apply the theory of health economics to neonatal surgery and to explore the extent and the kind of economic evaluation done in neonatal surgery. METHODS To explore the work done so far, the authors undertook a literature search aimed at costs and effects of surgical interventions in newborns with Ravitch' surgical index diagnoses of congenital anomalies. Common keywords in cost-effectiveness analysis were used to search Medline. RESULTS Evidence about the cost effectiveness of neonatal surgery is largely lacking. This is probably because of difficulties in long-term tracking of the patients and to the problem that most generic quality-of-life measures are not applicable in children yet. CONCLUSIONS Further cost-effectiveness research in neonatal surgery is warranted to settle priority discussions in health care when neonatal surgery is part of such discussions. Methodology for generic quality-of-life measurement in children is badly needed.
Identification and Characterization of DegP, a Serine Protease Associated with the Luminal Side of the Thylakoid Membrane*

The proteases involved in proteolytic degradation in the thylakoid lumen are largely unknown. Western analysis with an antibody against the Escherichia coli periplasmic serine protease DegP suggested that pea chloroplasts contain a homologue of this protease. This homologue was peripherally bound to the luminal side of the thylakoid membrane and could only be removed by a combination of high salt and non-ionic detergent. Its level increased almost 2-fold in pea seedlings exposed to elevated temperature for 4 h, suggesting this protease’s role in the chloroplast’s heat response. Isolated thylakoid membranes containing the chloroplastic homologue of DegP degraded β-casein, an in vitrosubstrate of the bacterial protease. This activity was partially inhibited by a serine protease inhibitor, suggesting that at least part of the casein-degrading activity in the thylakoid membrane is attributable to DegP. The existence of chloroplastic DegP was further supported by isolating a full-length Arabidopsis cDNA (designated AtDegP) encoding a protein that is 37% identical and 60% similar to the E. coli protease. The amino terminus of the deduced amino acid sequence contained a bipartite transit peptide, typical of proteins targeted to the thylakoid lumen, and the mature portion of the protein contained the highly conserved serine protease catalytic triad His-Asp-Ser. The possible physiological roles of chloroplastic DegP protease are discussed.
Adoption of XP practices in the industry - A survey

Agile software development has recently become popular in the software industry. The methodologies in the Agile family are considered to be based on best practices. The most popular approach, Extreme Programming (XP), recommends certain best practices during the requirements gathering, implementation and testing phases of software development. In this paper, the authors analyze the best practices according to data from recent case studies and survey studies to see if and how they are followed. Metaphor was the least used practice, while unit testing was one of the most popular. Most of the practices varied across studies and projects. Agile software development is evolutionary in nature, so customizing the practices is still well within its sounds. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Towards State-of-the-art English-Vietnamese Neural Machine Translation

Machine translation is one of the most challenging topics in natural language processing. The common approaches to machine translation base on either statistical or rule-based methods. Rule-based translation analyzes sentence structures, requires extensive lexicons with morphological, syntactic, semantic information, and large sets of manually created rules. Statistics-based translation faces the challenge of collecting bilingual text corpora, which is particularly difficult for low resource language pairs as English-Vietnamese. This research aims at building state-of-the-art English-Vietnamese machine translation. Our contribution includes: (1) an enormous effort in collecting training dataset, (2) adaptation of current neural machine for English-Vietnamese translation, (3) an experimental result suggested the unnecessary of Vietnamese word segmentation as a common pre-processing step. Our model achieves a highest BLEU score in comparison with other researches.
Identifying Attentional Bias and Emotional Response After Appearance-Related Stimuli Exposure

The effect of media images has been regarded as a significant variable in the construction or in the activation of body images. Individuals who have a negative body image use avoidance coping strategies to minimize damage to their body image. We identified attentional biases and negative emotional responses following exposure to body stimuli. Female university students were divided into two groups based on their use of avoidance coping strategies (high-level group: high avoidance [HA]; low-group: low avoidance [LA]), and were assigned to two different conditions (exposure to thin body pictures, ET, and exposure to oversized body pictures, EO). Results showed that the HA group paid more attention to slim bodies and reported more negative emotions than the LA group, and that the EO had more negative effects than the ET. We suggest that HAs may attend more to slim bodies as a way of avoiding overweight bodies, influenced by social pressure, and in the search for a compensation of a positive emotional balance. However, attentional bias toward slim bodies can cause an upward comparison process, leading to increased body dissatisfaction, which is the main factor in the development of eating disorders (EDs). Therefore, altering avoidance coping strategies should be considered for people at risk of EDs.
Respiratory infection complicating long-term tracheostomy. The implication of persistent gram-negative tracheobronchial colonization.

Colonization of the lower respiratory tract by enteric Gram-negative bacilli (EGNB) has been a frequent finding in patients with long-term tracheostomies; however, the association of hospitalization and certain features of serious illness with this phenomenon has not been clearly established. Because such factors can render the oropharynx more susceptible to EGNB colonization, we sought to discover whether they can also have this effect on the tracheobronchial tree and its microflora. Thus, we collected serial paired culture samples from these two mucosal sites in 15 subjects with long-term tracheostomies and examined patterns and rates of colonization and related these findings to clinical parameters. In 49 sets of cultures, we found that EGNB (especially Pseudomonas species) were present in significantly fewer upper-airway cultures (36.7 percent) than lower-airway cultures (75.5 percent) (p = 0.009). At the tracheobronchial site, seven subjects had persistent EGNB colonization, all with Pseudomonas species, while only one subject had this finding at the oropharyngeal site (p = 0.015). Patients with persistent tracheobronchial colonization were more ill than those without this finding. They were treated with higher doses of prednisone (p = 0.06), received antibiotics more often, and developed purulent tracheobronchitis more often (100 percent vs 25 percent) than patients without persistent colonization. In addition, in the month following the culture survey, four subjects developed pneumonia, and three of these had previous persistent tracheobronchial colonization. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Thalassotalea crassostreae sp. nov., isolated from Pacific oyster.

A Gram-staining-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated LPB0090T, was isolated from the Pacific oyster, Crassostreagigas, collected from the Yeongheung Island, Korea (37° 15' 16.1″ N; 126° 29' 46.5″ E). The complete genome sequence of LPB0090T (accession number CP017689) was 3 861 670 bp long with a DNA G+C content of 38.8 mol%. The genome included 3245 protein-coding genes and six copies of rRNA operons. On the basis of the results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, LPB0090T was found to form an independent phyletic line within the genus Thalassotalea, with 94.7-96.0 % sequence similarities to the previously known species of the genus. The isoprenoid quinone (Q-8) and major fatty acids (C16 : 0, C17 : 1 ω8c, and C16 : 1 ω7c and/or C16 : 1 ω6c) of the isolate were similar to those of the other members of the genus Thalassotalea. A number of phenotypic features, however, distinguished LPB0090T from its closest neighbour Thalassotalea ponticola as well as other species of the genus Thalassotalea. On the basis of the phylogenetic, genomic and phenotypic data presented in this study, the strain was classified as representing a novel species of the genus Thalassotalea. Therefore, the name Thalassotalea crassostreae sp. nov. is proposed for the isolate. The type strain is LPB0090T (=KACC 18695T=JCM 31189T).
Functional demonstration of surface carbonic anhydrase IV activity on rat astrocytes

Buffering of the brain extracellular fluid is catalyzed by carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity. Whereas the extracellular isoform CA XIV has been localized exclusively to neurons in the brain, and to glial cells in the retina, there has been uncertainty regarding the form or forms of CA on the surface of brain astrocytes. We addressed this issue using physiological methods on cultured and acutely dissociated rat astrocytes. Prior work showed that the intracellular lactate‐induced acidification (LIA) of astrocytes is diminished by benzolamide, a poorly permeant, nonspecific CA inhibitor. We demonstrate that pretreatment of astrocytes with phosphatidylinositol‐specific phospholipase C (PI‐PLC) results in a similar inhibition of the mean LIA (by 66 ± 3%), suggesting that the glycosylphosphatidylinositol‐anchored CA IV was responsible. Pretreatment of astrocytes with CA IV inhibitory antisera also markedly reduced the mean LIA in both cultured cortical (by 46 ± 4%) and acutely dissociated hippocampal astrocytes (by 54 ± 8%). Pre‐immune sera had no effect. The inhibition produced by PIPLC or CA IV antisera was not significantly less than that by benzolamide, suggesting that the majority of detectable surface CA activity was attributable to CA IV. Thus, our data collectively document the presence of CAIV on the surface of brain astrocytes, and suggest that this is the predominant CA isoform on these cells. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.