Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Levothyroxin inhibits heterotopic ossification: an experimental study in rabbits.

BACKGROUND Heterotopic ossification is a common complication of surgery or trauma. OBJECTIVE To investigate the efficacy of levothyroxin in inhibition of heterotopic ossification. METHODS Heterotopic ossification was induced in 36 rabbits in three identical groups by injecting 2 mL of bone marrow in right thigh. To prevent heterotopic ossification, levothyroxin (20 microg/kg) was administered orally daily for 4 weeks to two groups of adult rabbits: group A (preload)--starting 1 week preceding bone marrow injection; group B--started on day of injection; and group C--control group (no levothyroxin) in a rabbit model. After 5 weeks the rabbits were evaluated by radiographs for evidence of ossification. At the end of the study histologic samples were taken from all the thighs. RESULTS Imaging and histologic studies showed, with statistical significance, almost complete prevention of heterotopic ossification in group A (preload) and a marked decrease in group B, when compared with the controls. CONCLUSIONS Levothyroxin demonstrated efficacy in preventing heterotopic ossification.
Role of the Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Count Ratio in the Differential Diagnosis between Pulmonary Tuberculosis and Bacterial Community-Acquired Pneumonia

Background Differential diagnosis between pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and bacterial community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is often challenging. The neutrophil-lymphocyte count ratio (NLR), a convenient marker of inflammation, has been demonstrated to be a useful biomarker for predicting bacteremia. We investigated the usefulness of the NLR for discriminating pulmonary TB from bacterial CAP in an intermediate TB-burden country. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and laboratory characteristics of 206 patients suspected of having pulmonary TB or bacterial CAP from January 2009 to February 2011. The diagnostic ability of the NLR for differential diagnosis was evaluated and compared with that of C-reactive protein. Results Serum NLR levels were significantly lower in patients with pulmonary TB than in patients with bacterial CAP (3.67±2.12 vs. 14.64±9.72, P<0.001). A NLR <7 was an optimal cut-off value to discriminate patients with pulmonary TB from patients with bacterial CAP (sensitivity 91.1%, specificity 81.9%, positive predictive value 85.7%, negative predictive value 88.5%). The area under the curve for the NLR (0.95, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.91-0.98) was significantly greater than that of C-reactive protein (0.83, 95% CI, 0.76-0.88; P=0.0015). Conclusions The NLR obtained at the initial diagnostic stage is a useful laboratory marker to discriminate patients with pulmonary TB from patients with bacterial CAP in an intermediate TB-burden country.
Regulation of the Ribosome–Membrane Junction at Early Stages of Presecretory Protein Translocation in the Mammalian Endoplasmic Reticulum

A series of fusion protein constructs were designed to investigate the contribution of secretory nascent chains to regulation of the ribosome–membrane junction in the mammalian endoplasmic reticulum. As a component of these studies, the membrane topology of the signal sequence was determined at stages of protein translocation immediately after targeting and before signal sequence cleavage. Truncated translation products were used to delimit the analysis to defined stages of translocation. In a study of secretory protein precursors, formation of a protease-resistant ribosome–membrane junction, currently thought to define the pathway of the translocating nascent chain, was observed to be precursor- and stage-dependent. Analysis of the binding of early intermediates indicated that the nascent chain was bound to the membrane independent of the ribosome, and that the binding was predominately electrostatic. The membrane topology of the signal sequence was determined as a function of the stage of translocation, and was found to be identical for all assayed intermediates. Unexpectedly, the hydrophobic core of the signal sequence was observed to be accessible to the cytosolic face of the membrane at stages of translocation immediately after targeting as well as stages before signal sequence cleavage. Removal of the ribosome from bound intermediates did not disrupt subsequent translocation, suggesting that the active state of the protein-conducting channel is maintained in the absence of the bound ribosome. A model describing a potential mode of regulation of the ribosome–membrane junction by the nascent chain is presented.
Interaction in the English classroom; an exploratory study

The main purpose of this article is to describe the interaction process that took place in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom at a public high school in the province of Alajuela, Costa Rica. This article examines some theoretical background knowledge in regards to the interaction in the language classroom. The ethnographic method, which belongs to the qualitative paradigm, was used to conduct this study. Some of the techniques and the instruments used were the non-participant observations, the use of a questionnaire, interviews, and personal diaries. Triangulation was applied in order to make valid the interpretation, results, and recommendations. The study determined that the teacher- student interaction and student-student interaction is based on a question and answer pattern. The teacher regulates and limits students` participation through the use of different activities which do not stimulate meaningful learning. Students interact among themselves by using Spanish. The study also suggests to varying the classroom activities to enhance students` learning. El objetivo de este articulo es describir el tipo de interaccion que ocurrio en una clase de Ingles en un colegio publico de zona rural en Costa Rica. Se presentan algunos principios teoricos relacionados con la interaccion en la clase de idioma. Se utilizo el metodo etnografico del paradigma cualitativo para llevar a cabo este estudio. Entre las tecnicas e instrumentos utilizados estan la observacion no participante, el uso de un cuestionario, entrevistas, y diarios personales. Se utilizo la triangulacion para validar las interpretaciones, recomendaciones, y los resultados de este estudio. Se concluye que la interaccion entre profesor-estudiante y estudiante-estudiante esta basada en un modelo de pregunta-respuesta en donde el profesor regula y limita la participacion de los estudiantes mediante el uso de diferentes activities las cuales no estimulan un aprendizaje significativo. Los estudiantes estan motivados en aprender Ingles, sin embargo existen pocos espacios para interactuar. La participacion de los estudiantes es pasiva y limitada, la mayor parte del tiempo escuchan, repiten, preguntan, y responden. Los estudiantes utilizan el idioma Espanol para comunicarse e interactuar entre ellos. El estudio sugiere variar las actividades que se llevan a cabo en la clase para mejorar el aprendizaje de los estudiantes.
Robots in Formation Using Local Information

We study the problem of achieving global behavior in a group of robots using only local sensing and interaction, in the context of formations. The goal is to have N mobile robots establish and maintain some predetermined geometric shape. We report results from 40 experiments with physical robots, showing the viability of our approach. The key idea is to keep a single friend at a desired angle by panning the camera and centering the friend in the image. We present a general analytical measure for evaluating formations and apply it to the position data obtained from two data gathering lasers tracking the robots during the experiments.
Photodynamic Therapy-mediated Cancer Vaccination Enhances Stem-like Phenotype and Immune Escape, Which Can Be Blocked by Thrombospondin-1 Signaling through CD47 Receptor Protein*

Background: Photodynamic therapy (PDT)-mediated vaccination has shown poor clinical outcomes in tumor treatment. Results: Tumor cells that escaped from PDT-mediated vaccination exhibited enhanced stem-like phenotypes and undermined immunogenicity, which were prevented by interfering TSP-1/CD47/SIRP-α signal axis. Conclusion: TSP-1/CD47/SIRP-α signal axis is associated with the malignant evolution of tumor cells upon tumor vaccination. Significance: This study provides new evidence for improving the clinical outcome of immunotherapy. Like most of the strategies for cancer immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy-mediated vaccination has shown poor clinical outcomes in application. The aim of this study is to offer a glimpse at the mechanisms that are responsible for the failure based on cancer immuno-editing theory and to search for a positive solution. In this study we found that tumor cells were able to adapt themselves to the immune pressure exerted by vaccination. The survived tumor cells exhibited enhanced tumorigenic and stem-like phenotypes as well as undermined immunogenicity. Viewed as a whole, immune-selected tumor cells showed more malignant characteristics and the ability of immune escape, which might contribute to the eventual relapse. Thrombospondin-1 signaling via CD47 helped prevent tumor cells from becoming stem-like and rendered them vulnerable to immune attack. These findings prove that the TSP-1/CD47/SIRP-α signal axis is important to the evolution of tumor cells in the microenvironment of immunotherapy and identify thrombospondin-1 as a key signal with therapeutic benefits in overcoming long term relapse, providing new evidence for the clinical promise of cancer vaccination.
Seasonal changes in the size of the avian song control nucleus HVC defined by multiple histological markers

Bird song is controlled by a discrete network of brain nuclei. The size of several song control nuclei changes seasonally in many seasonally breeding songbird species. Reports of seasonal changes in the size of song nuclei have relied primarily on Nissl stains to define the borders of these regions. Recent studies found that the size of the song nucleus higher vocal center (HVC) in male canaries did not change seasonally when its borders were defined by histological markers other than Nissl staining. We used three labels to define the borders of the HVC in male Gambel's white‐crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii): Nissl staining, the distribution of acetylcholinesterase‐positive neuropil, and the distribution of neurons projecting to another song nucleus, area X. The HVC was larger in males exposed to a breeding photoperiod and testosterone concentrations than in males exposed to a nonbreeding photoperiod and testosterone concentrations, regardless of which of these three methods was used to define the borders of the HVC. This result suggests that seasonal changes in the Nissl‐defined borders of the HVC reflect changes in the distribution of physiologically relevant markers of the nucleus and are not merely artifacts of the Nissl‐staining method. J. Comp. Neurol. 381:253‐261, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Proactive Environmental Strategies and Employee Inclusion

The organizational literature has often acknowledged that under certain conditions, corporations should limit the information that employees receive and how they interact to improve corporate financial performance. The present article criticizes the logic of such corporate restrictions. Data obtained from 164 pharmaceutical firms operating in 27 different countries support the positive implications of inclusive and collaborative human resources practices. Our results reveal positive and significant relationships between the practices of information sharing with employees and promoting employee collaboration and the development of a proactive natural environmental strategy for a firm. In addition, this research tests the moderating role of general environment uncertainty in these relationships. Contrary to expectations based on contingency theory, uncertainty does not appear to moderate these results for the sampled firms.
Phylogenetic Analysis of Stenotrophomonas spp. Isolates Contributes to the Identification of Nosocomial and Community-Acquired Infections

Stenotrophomonas ssp. has a wide environmental distribution and is also found as an opportunistic pathogen, causing nosocomial or community-acquired infections. One species, S. maltophilia, presents multidrug resistance and has been associated with serious infections in pediatric and immunocompromised patients. Therefore, it is relevant to conduct resistance profile and phylogenetic studies in clinical isolates for identifying infection origins and isolates with augmented pathogenic potential. Here, multilocus sequence typing was performed for phylogenetic analysis of nosocomial isolates of Stenotrophomonas spp. and, environmental and clinical strains of S. maltophilia. Biochemical and multidrug resistance profiles of nosocomial and clinical strains were determined. The inferred phylogenetic profile showed high clonal variability, what correlates with the adaptability process of Stenotrophomonas to different habitats. Two clinical isolates subgroups of S. maltophilia sharing high phylogenetic homogeneity presented intergroup recombination, thus indicating the high permittivity to horizontal gene transfer, a mechanism involved in the acquisition of antibiotic resistance and expression of virulence factors. For most of the clinical strains, phylogenetic inference was made using only partial ppsA gene sequence. Therefore, the sequencing of just one specific fragment of this gene would allow, in many cases, determining whether the infection with S. maltophilia was nosocomial or community-acquired.
Bias-Corrected Production Frontiers : Application to Productivity Growth and Convergence

Data envelopment analysis (DEA), originally developed to study production efficiency of micro-level organizations, has recently been used to adopt a production-frontier approach to the analysis of international macroeconomic growth and convergence patterns. DEA methods, however, are known to provide biased estimates of the production frontier and efficiency. We employ recent results from the statistics/econometrics literature (and more recent, more extensive, and more accurate data than previously employed) to construct the unbiased convex production frontier and then use this construction to decompose productivity growth into components attributable to technological change (shift of the production frontier), efficiency change (movements toward or away from the frontier), physical capital deepening, and human capital accumulation. Using this decomposition, we analyze the evolution of the world productivity distribution, especially the shift from uni-modality to bimodality over the 1965–2000 period.
Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 release is higher in visceral than subcutaneous human adipose tissue (AT): implication of macrophages resident in the AT.

UNLABELLED Human adipose tissue (AT) produces several adipokines including monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. OBJECTIVE Human AT cultures, isolated adipocytes, and stromal-vascular cells were used to investigate the relationship among AT-resident macrophages, MCP-1, and adiposity and the regulation of MCP-1. RESULTS mRNA levels of specific macrophage markers (CD68 and CD14) are correlated with adiposity in sc AT and visceral AT (P < 0.05). MCP-1 production is higher in stromal-vascular cells vs. adipocytes (P < 0.01) and correlates with macrophage markers in both AT compartments (P < 0.05). MCP-1 release is higher in obese subjects (P < 0.05) and in VAT (P < 0.01), but after adjusting for AT-resident macrophages, the differences disappear. MCP-1 is stimulated by IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, IL-8, IL-4, and IL-6 + IL-6-soluble receptor and is decreased by dexamethasone, IL-10, metformin, and thiazolidinediones. DISCUSSION MCP-1 is correlated with specific macrophage markers, adiposity, and AT localization, but the relationship seems to be related to the number of AT-resident macrophages. Despite this, MCP-1 may be involved in obesity-related health complications, and the decrease of MCP-1 by metformin and thiazolidinediones suggests that these antidiabetic compounds have antiinflammatory properties improving the low-grade inflammatory state observed in obesity.
To appear in the Proceedings of NELS43. When Worst is Best: Grammar Construction in Phonological Learning

This paper explores a benefit of a language learner that accumulates and stores selected information about the target grammar, separate from the representation of the grammar itself. The benefit of interest is the ability to use the accumulated information to construct grammars other than the most plausible “best guess” grammar, and to use those grammars to advance learning. In particular, there are circumstances where constructing the “worst” grammar consistent with accumulated information actually allows the learner to progress more efficiently.
Differential Degradation and Detoxification of an Aromatic Pollutant by Two Different Peroxidases

Enzymatic degradation of organic pollutants is a new and promising remediation approach. Peroxidases are one of the most commonly used classes of enzymes to degrade organic pollutants. However, it is generally assumed that all peroxidases behave similarly and produce similar degradation products. In this study, we conducted detailed studies of the degradation of a model aromatic pollutant, Sulforhodamine B dye (SRB dye), using two peroxidases—soybean peroxidase (SBP) and chloroperoxidase (CPO). Our results show that these two related enzymes had different optimum conditions (pH, temperature, H2O2 concentration, etc.) for efficiently degrading SRB dye. High-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography –mass spectrometry analyses confirmed that both SBP and CPO transformed the SRB dye into low molecular weight intermediates. While most of the intermediates produced by the two enzymes were the same, the CPO treatment produced at least one different intermediate. Furthermore, toxicological evaluation using lettuce (Lactuca sativa) seeds demonstrated that the SBP-based treatment was able to eliminate the phytotoxicity of SRB dye, but the CPO-based treatment did not. Our results show, for the first time, that while both of these related enzymes can be used to efficiently degrade organic pollutants, they have different optimum reaction conditions and may not be equally efficient in detoxification of organic pollutants.
Optimal Stopping under Model Uncertainty

Optimal Stopping under Model Uncertainty Ingrid-Mona Zamfirescu The aim of this paper is to extend the theory of optimal stopping to cases in which there is model-uncertainty. This means that we are given a set of possible models in the form of a family P of probability measures, equivalent to a reference probability measure Q on a given measurable space (Ω,F). We are also given a filtration F = {Ft}t≥0 that satisfies the “usual conditions”, and a nonnegative adapted reward process Y with RCLL paths. We shall denote by S the class of F− stopping times. Our goal is to compute the maximum expected reward under the specified model uncertainty, i.e., to calculate R = supP∈P supτ∈S E P (Yτ ), and to find necessary and/or sufficient conditions for the existence of an optimal stopping time τ ∗ and an optimal model P ∗. We also study the stochastic game with the upper value V = infP∈P supτ∈S E P (Yτ ) and the lower value V = supτ∈S infP∈P E P (Yτ ); we state conditions under which this game has value, i.e. V = V =: V , and conditions under which there exists a “saddle-point” (τ ∗, P ∗) of strategies, i.e. V = E ∗ (Yτ∗).
Implications of search accuracy for serial self-terminating models of search

In two experiments, the data from a total of 35 participants was compared to predictions from two competing serial search models, one with perfect memory and one with no memory. Reaction times were collected from an unlimited exposure duration, 4-alternative, target identification search task with array sizes of 8, 12, or 16 items. From the linear function relating RT to number of distractors a hypothetical “inspection time/item” was computed under the assumption of SSTS. Target identification accuracy was obtained from the same participants using the same displays, but with pre- and post-masks used to limit total inspection time (to 120, 180, 300, and 540 ms). Neither the memoryful nor memoryless model provided a good enough fit to the data to support the assumption that serial inspection is the primary process determining search time. Despite direct evidence for serial allocation of attention in visual search, these results suggest that scholars should seriously consider the possibility of hybrid search models in which serial and parallel strategies operate jointly.
Effect of K+ and Rb+ on the action of verapamil on a voltage‐gated K+ channel, hKv1.3: implications for a second open state?

Background and purpose: Verapamil blocks current through the voltage‐gated K+ channel Kv1.3 in the open and inactivated state of the channel but not the closed state. The binding site for verapamil was proposed to be close to the selectivity filter and the occupancy of the selectivity filter might therefore influence verapamil affinity.
A typed specification for security protocols

Security protocol attacks are known to have various sources, from flawed implementations, to running parallel sessions of the same protocol. Because of this attack diversity, it is quite difficult (or impossible) to create an abstract model that is suitable for analyzing a protocol against all possible attacks. However, if we categorize the attacks based on their characteristics we should be able to create multiple abstract models that simplify the analysis. Therefore, in this paper we identify attacks based on message similarities, that we call "structural attacks", and create an abstract model, based on message component types (session keys, nonces, participants), that is powerful enough to capture the structure of security protocol messages.
P300-Based Brain–Computer Interface Communication: Evaluation and Follow-up in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

To describe results of training and 1-year follow-up of brain-communication in a larger group of early and middle stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients using a P300-based brain–computer interface (BCI), and to investigate the relationship between clinical status, age and BCI performance. A group of 21 ALS patients were tested with a BCI-system using two-dimensional cursor movements. A four choice visual paradigm was employed to training and test the brain-communication abilities. The task consisted of reaching with the cursor one out of four icons representing four basic needs. Five patients performed a follow-up test 1 year later. The clinical severity in all patients were assessed with a battery of clinical tests. A comparable control group of nine healthy subjects was employed to investigate performance differences. Nineteen patients and nine healthy subjects were able to achieve good and excellent cursor movements' control, acquiring at least communication abilities above chance level; during follow-up the patients maintained their BCI-skill. We found mild cognitive impairments in the ALS group which may be attributed to motor deficiencies, while no relevant correlation has been found between clinical data and BCI performance. A positive correlation between age and the BCI-skill in patients was found. Time since training acquisition and clinical status did not affect the patients brain-communication skill at early and middle stage of the disease. A brain-communication tool can be used in most ALS patients at early and middle stage of the disease before entering the locked-in stage.