Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Apolipoprotein E-Mediated Immune Regulation in Sepsis1

Lipids and lipoproteins have emerged as key constituents of the immune response to microbial infection. We, therefore, sought to understand the complex interaction between lipoprotein metabolism and sepsis. Apolipoprotein E (apoE), a component of plasma lipoproteins, has been suggested to bind and traffic Ags for NKT cell activation. However, apoE’s role in sepsis has not been demonstrated. In this study, we examined the effect of exogenous apoE in a rat model of septic peritonitis, induced by cecal ligation and puncture. We demonstrate that 48 h after serial injections of apoE, septic mortality increased in a dose-dependent manner. While sepsis resulted in increased splenic and decreased hepatic and circulating NKT cell populations, serial injections of apoE for 24 h after cecal ligation and puncture increased the frequency, cell number, and BrdU uptake in splenic and hepatic NKT cell populations, while concomitantly depleting these populations in the circulation. These changes were correlated with elevated alanine amino transferase levels, an indicator of liver injury. Interestingly, while sepsis increased hepatic T cell apoptosis and necrosis, apoE reversed these changes. apoE also promoted increases in predominantly Th1 cytokine levels in sera and a decrease in IL-4, the main NKT cell-derived Th2 cytokine. Consequently, apoE treatment is associated with increased sepsis-induced mortality, and increased NKT cell frequency and proliferation in the liver and spleen, with concomitant decreases in these NKT cell parameters in the peripheral circulation. apoE treatment also promoted a Th1 cytokine response, increased the degree of liver injury, and decreased apoptosis in hepatic lymphocytes.
Fluoride varnishes for preventing dental caries in children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND Topically applied fluoride varnishes have been used extensively as an operator-applied caries-preventive intervention for over two decades. OBJECTIVES To determine the effectiveness and safety of fluoride varnishes in the prevention of dental caries in children and to examine factors potentially modifying their effect. SEARCH STRATEGY Multiple electronic database searches, reference lists of articles, journal handsearch, selected authors and manufacturers. SELECTION CRITERIA Randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials with blind outcome assessment, comparing fluoride varnish with placebo or no treatment in children up to 16 years during at least one year. The main outcome was caries increment measured by the change in decayed, missing and filled tooth surfaces (D(M)FS). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Inclusion decisions, quality assessment and data extraction were duplicated in a random sample of one third of studies, and consensus achieved by discussion or a third party. Study authors were contacted for missing data. The primary measure of effect was the prevented fraction (PF), that is the difference in caries increments between the treatment and control groups expressed as a percentage of the increment in the control group. Random effects meta-analyses were performed where data could be pooled. Potential sources of heterogeneity were examined in random effects meta-regression analyses. MAIN RESULTS Nine studies were included, involving 2709 children. For the seven that contributed data for the main meta-analysis, the D(M)FS pooled prevented fraction estimate was 46% (95% CI, 30% to 63%; p<0.0001). There was substantial heterogeneity, confirmed statistically (p<0.0001). The pooled d(e/m)fs prevented fraction estimate was 33% (95% CI, 19% to 48%; p<0.0001). No significant association between estimates of D(M)FS prevented fractions and baseline caries severity or background exposure to fluorides was found in meta-regression, and a funnel plot of the seven studies indicated no relationship between prevented fraction and study precision. In both methods, power is limited when only a few trials are included. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS The review suggests a substantial caries-inhibiting effect of fluoride varnish in both the permanent and the deciduous dentitions based largely on trials with no treatment controls. There is little information concerning acceptability of treatment or possible side effects in the included trials. Given the relatively poor quality of most of the included studies and the wide confidence intervals around the estimates of effect, there remains a need for further trials. It is important that these trials should be of high quality and include assessment of potential adverse effects.
Rectal cancer: MR imaging in local staging--is gadolinium-based contrast material helpful?

PURPOSE To determine retrospectively whether addition of gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) sequence to T2-weighted turbo spin-echo (SE) MR imaging is valuable for preoperative assessment of T stage and circumferential resection margin in patients with primary rectal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS Local institutional review board approved study and waived informed patient consent. Eighty-three patients with operable primary rectal cancer underwent preoperative MR imaging. Retrospectively, two observers independently scored T2-weighted turbo SE MR images and, in a second reading, T2-weighted images combined with gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted turbo SE MR images for tumor penetration through rectal wall and tumor extension into mesorectal fascia. A confidence level scoring system was used, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated. Histologic findings were standard of reference. Difference in performance of T2-weighted and combined T2-weighted plus gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted sequences was analyzed by comparing corresponding areas under ROC curves (A(z)) for each observer. Interobserver agreement was calculated by using linear weighted kappa statistics. RESULTS Addition of contrast-enhanced T1-weighted to T2-weighted MR imaging did not significantly improve diagnostic accuracy for prediction of tumor penetration through rectal wall (A(z) of T2-weighted vs T2-weighted plus T1-weighted images for observer 1, 0.740 vs 0.764; observer 2, 0.856 vs 0.768) and tumor extension into mesorectal fascia (A(z) for observer 1, 0.962 vs 0.902; observer 2, 0.902 vs 0.911). Diagnostic performance (A(z)) of MR and interobserver agreement were high for prediction of tumor extension into mesorectal fascia (kappa = 0.61, 0.74) but only moderate for penetration through rectal wall (kappa = 0.47, 0.45). CONCLUSION Gadolinium-enhanced MR sequences did not improve diagnostic accuracy for assessment of tumor penetration through rectal wall and tumor extension into mesorectal fascia.
Replication of cytomegalovirus in human arterial smooth muscle cells

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) strain AD-169 replicated in smooth muscle cell (SMC) cultures derived from human umbilical arteries, producing enveloped infectious virions. However, unlike the effects of CMV on fully permissive human lung fibroblasts, the effects of strain AD-169 on SMC cultures were delayed and prolonged, resulting in extended survival of a fraction of the starting population. This period of survival did not exceed the life-span of the control SMC cultures. Infectious CMV continued to be isolated from the surviving SMC cultures after extinction of the original inoculum by dilution and after treatment of the cultures with CMV neutralizing antibody. The implications of these findings for the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis are discussed.
Efficient simultaneous excision of multiple selectable marker cassettes using I-SceI-induced double-strand DNA breaks in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Large strain construction programs and functional analysis studies are becoming commonplace in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and involve construction of strains that carry multiple selectable marker genes. Extensive strain engineering is, however, severely hampered by the limited number of recyclable marker genes and by the reduced genome stability that occurs upon repeated use of heterologous recombinase-based marker removal methods. The present study proposes an efficient method to recycle multiple markers in S. cerevisiae simultaneously, thereby circumventing shortcomings of existing techniques and substantially accelerating the process of selection-excision. This method relies on artificial generation of double-strand breaks around the selection marker cassette by the meganuclease I-SceI and the subsequent repair of these breaks by the yeast homologous recombination machinery, guided by direct repeats. Simultaneous removal of up to three marker cassettes was achieved with high efficiencies (up to 56%), suggesting that I-SceI-based marker removal has the potential to co-excise an even larger number of markers. This locus- and marker-independent method can be used for both dominant and auxotrophy-complementing marker genes. Seven pDS plasmids carrying various selectable markers, which can be used for PCR-based generation of deletion cassettes suited for I-SceI marker recycling, are described and made available to the scientific community.
HEVS: Herbal effect visualization system for treatments in oriental medicine

Fairness evaluating effects of prescriptions is indispensably importance in disease treatment. The development of Intelligence Technologies nowadays makes it realizable for a moderation of subjective prescription evaluations in medicine. In this paper, we present an application of Self-Organizing Map (SOM) to visualization of herbal prescription effects in Oriental Medicine (OM). The application is used to estimate influence of herbal ingredients prescribed for patients who have several concurrent diseases. Inputs to the SOM are herbal treatment prescriptions, and an output is a map that shows disease states that can be influenced by these prescriptions. Training data is 133 standard prescriptions with 221 popular herbs in 17 disease groups collected from oriental medical text books by experienced doctors. First, the prescription problem in OM is described. Next the system structure and implementation of a proposed system are shown. Finally the visualization abilities of the proposed system verified by experienced doctors are presented.
Docosahexaenoic Acid-Induced Vasorelaxation in Hypertensive Rats: Mechanisms of Action

The authors investigated the vasorelaxant properties of the omega-3 fatty acid, docosahexaenoic (DHA, 22:6n-3), and the possible involvement of endothelium-derived nitric oxide, prostanoids, opening of K+ channels, and/or modulation of calcium-mediated events. Isolated aorta from male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) (age 16-17 weeks) were used to measure isometric tension. DHA-induced (1-100 mol/l) relaxation was examined following contraction to norepinephrine (NE) (10– 6 mol/l) or high-K+ (80 mmol/l) solution in the presence and absence of various inhibitors and calcium-containing solution. DHA acid induced a significant vasorelaxant effect in both NE and high-K+-induced contracted SHR aortic rings, although DHA relaxations were greater in high-K+-induced contracted rings. In the absence of extracellular calcium, DHA (5-30 mol/l) inhibited the initial phasic and sustained components of NE-induced contraction under different conditions. Inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis by N•-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (100 mol/l) had no effect on DHA relaxations; however, indomethacin or nifedipine caused significant inhibition at• 30 mol/l DHA. The K+ channel blocker, glibenclamide, but not tetraethyl-ammonium, also had an inhibitory effect on DHA-induced relaxation. These results indicate that DHA’s vasorelaxant actions in SHR aorta are independent of endothelium-derived nitric oxide; however, at DHA concentrations• 30 mol/l, vasodilatory prostanoids that activate AT Psensitive K+ channels (KATP) may be involved. At lower concentrations, DHA-induced relaxation appears to be attributed to modulation of intracellular Ca2+release and L-type Ca2+channels in vascular smooth muscle cells. The vasorelaxant properties of DHA may contribute, in part, to the blood pressure–lowering effect of dietary fish oil in this hypertensive model.
The effect of low-flow sevoflurane and desflurane on pulmonary mechanics during laparoscopic surgery.

BACKGROUND This study was designed to investigate the effects of inhaled anesthetic agents on respiratory mechanics with low flow anesthesia in laparoscopic abdominal surgery. Two inhaled anesthetics, desflurane and sevoflurane, have a lower solubility in blood and tissues than all previous volatile anesthetics, and have become the preferred volatile anesthetics for routine surgical procedures. METHODS Twenty-six patients were examined. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups, to receive sevoflurane (n = 13) or desflurane (n = 13). Tidal volume and ventilation rate were kept unchanged throughout the operation. Intra-abdominal pressure was kept constant at the level of 12 mm Hg. Respiratory mechanics such as peak inspiratory pressure (PIP), respiratory resistance (Rr), and dynamic compliance (Cdyn) measurements were recorded by a Datex-Ohmeda respiratory device (Datex-Ohmeda, Finland) at four timepoints: 5 minutes after mechanical ventilation started (T1), after insufflation of the peritoneum (T2), in the 30-degree Trendelenburg position (T3), and after desufflation of the peritoneum (T4). RESULTS In our study, desflurane caused a statistically significant increase in PIP and Rr and decrease in C(dyn). When the two groups were compared, Rr values in the deslurane group showed significant increases at T2, T3, and T4 compared to the sevoflurane group (P < 0.05). These values did not change in the sevoflurane group, while PIP significantly increased at T2, T3, and T4 after desufflation in the desflurane group (P < 0.05). Cdyn values decreased significantly at all 4 timepoints in the desflurane group compared to the sevoflurane group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION We concluded that respiratory mechanics were affected by desflurane with low flow anesthesia in patients undergoing laparoscopic abdominal surgery. No significant influence on respiratory mechanics was seen with sevoflurane anesthesia.
Kolmogorov complexity and degrees of tally sets

A recent paper by S. Tang and R. Book (1988) initiated a study of the classes of sets which are equivalent to tally sets or sparse sets, under varying notions of reducibility. A number of interesting results are proved, and many additional questions are posed and left open. The authors investigate some of these questions and show that they are equivalent to each other and are closely related to other important open questions in complexity theory. <<ETX>>
PUAR: Performance and Usage Aware Routing Algorithm for Long and Linear Wireless Sensor Networks

Aiming at requirements of performance and usage in the monitoring of tunnels with the long and linear structure, this work demonstrates a low-energy and quality of service- (QoS-) supported uneven clustering routing algorithm based on the labor cost called PUAR. PUAR realizes uneven clusters by a designed cluster radius related to the distance and the labor cost, with consideration of the residual energy and spatial layout of sensor nodes in the cluster head selection. With QoS support, PUAR uses the quality of link to reduce the packet loss and shortens the total transmitting distance to reduce the average delivery delay in multihop transmission. For the usage requirements of tunnel monitoring, PUAR utilizes the labor cost of replacing batteries to realize local or global energy balance. According to the analysis and simulation results, PUAR is found to achieve low-power consumption and reliable QoS support, and it can also reduce the operating cost of tunnel monitoring.
The capacity of the semideterministic relay channel

The capacity of the class of relay channels with sender x_{1} , a relay sender x_{2} , a relay receiver y_{1}=f(x_{1},x_{2}) , and ultimate receiver y is proved to be C = \max\min_{p(x_{1},x_{2})} \{I(X_{1}, X_{2}; Y), H(Y_{1}|X_{2})+I(X_{1};Y|X_{2},Y_{1}})\}.
Structural Dynamics in the Activation of Epac*

Epac1 is a cAMP-responsive exchange factor for the small G-protein Rap. It consists of a regulatory region containing a cyclic nucleotide binding (CNB) domain and a catalytic region that activates Rap. In the absence of cAMP, access of Rap to the catalytic site is blocked by the regulatory region. We analyzed the conformational states of the CNB domain in the absence and in the presence of cAMP and cAMP analogues by NMR spectroscopy, resulting in the first direct insights into the activation mechanism of Epac. We prove that the CNB domain exists in equilibrium between the inactive and the active conformation, which is shifted by binding of cAMP. cAMP binding results in conformational changes in both the ligand binding pocket and the outer helical segments. We used two different cAMP antagonists that block these successive changes to elucidate the steps of this process. Highlighting the role of dynamics, the superactivator 8-pCPT-2′-O-Me-cAMP induces similar conformational changes as cAMP but causes different internal mobility. The results reveal the critical elements of the CNB domain of Epac required for activation and highlight the role of dynamics in this process.
Brillouin Distributed Fiber Sensors: An Overview and Applications

A review focused on real world applications of Brillouin distributed fiber sensors is presented in this paper. After a brief overview of the theoretical principles, some works to face the two main technical challenges (large dynamic range and higher spatial resolution) are commented. Then an overview of some real and on-field applications is done.
Identification of 1,1′-Bi(4-anilino)naphthalene-5,5′-disulfonic Acid Binding Sequences in α-Crystallin*

The hydrophobic binding sites in α-crystallin were evaluated using fluorescent probes 1,1′-bi(4-anilino)naphthalenesulfonic acid (bis-ANS), 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS), and 1-azidonaphthalene 5-sulfonate (1,5-AZNS). The photolysis of bis-ANS-α-crystallin complex resulted in incorporation of the probe to both αA- and αB-subunits. Prior binding of denatured alcohol dehydrogenase to α-crystallin significantly decreased the photoincorporation of bis-ANS to α-crystallin. Localization of bis-ANS incorporated into αA-crystallin resulted in the identification of residues QSLFR and HFSPEDLTVK as the fluorophore binding regions. In αB-crystallin, sequences DRFSVNLNVK and VLGDVIEVHGK were found to be the bis-ANS binding regions. Of the bis-ANS binding sequences, HFSPEDLTVK of αA-crystallin and DRFSVNLNVK and VLGDVIEVHGK of αB-crystallin were earlier identified as part of the sequences involved in their interaction with target proteins during the molecular chaperone-like action. The hydrophobic probe, 1,5-AZNS, also interacted with both subunits of α-crystallin. Localization of 1,5-AZNS binding site in αB-crystallin lead to the identification of HFSPEEK sequence as the interacting site in this subunit of α-crystallin. Glycated α-crystallin displayed decreased ANS fluorescence and loss of chaperone-like function, suggesting the involvement of glycation site as well as ANS binding site in chaperone-like activity display.
A PCA-Based Traffic Monitoring Approach for Distributed Computing Systems

Monitoring traffics between applications deployed in a distributed computing system (DCS) can help analyzers perceive the dynamic load of each application, and detect the anomalies in all the running processes. However, due to the factors of high dimension and strong periodicity, the traffic data is difficult to visualize and interpret. In this paper, we propose a traffic monitoring approach based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) which is a classical dimension-reduction tool. We find that the first PC represents the overall scale of the traffic while the second PC reflects all nontrivial variations caused by different applications. Then we locate the exact alteration time and identify the very changing applications by a semi-Bayes algorithm on the second PC. We further perform online anomaly detection on new traffics utilizing the previously classified data. Experiments on datasets collected from several distributed computing systems including 44 applications show the proposed approach can effectively facilitate DSC traffic monitoring, and outperforms Kmeans and DBSCAN in identifying different system states.
Improved language modelling through better language model evaluation measures

This paper explores the interaction between a language model? s perplexity and its effect on the word error rate of a speech recognition system. Much recent research has indicated that these two measures are not as well correlated as was once thought, and many examples exist of models which have a much lower perplexity than the equivalent N -gram model, yet lead to no improvement in recognition accuracy. This paper investigates the reasons for this apparent discrepancy. Perplexity? s calculation is based solely on the probabilities of words contained within the test text; it disregards the probabilities of alternative words which will be competing with the correct word within the decoder. It is shown that by considering the probabilities of the alternative words it is possible to derive measures of language model quality which are better correlated with word error rate than perplexity is. Furthermore, optimizing language model parameters with respect to these new measures leads to a significant reduction in the word error rate.
The effects of adverse condition warning system characteristics on driver performance: An investigation of alarm signal type and threshold level

This study addresses the issues concerning the design of adverse condition warning systems (ACWS). ACWS are designed to sense adverse road and weather conditions as well as system states that can negatively impact driving performance leading to skids or accidents, and alert drivers to these conditions. In this case, an ACWS was designed to sense when a car was likely to skid. A virtual-driving environment was used to test two levels of alarm sensitivity (low and high) and two types of auditory alarm signal (Binary ON/OFF and Graded) along with a no-alarm control group. Dependent measures reflected driver performance, response to the alarm signal and trust in the alerting system. Results indicated that participants had fewer skids in the low sensitivity and graded alarm signal condition compared to some other alerting system configurations. Participants in the graded alarm signal condition also had a greater degree of lateral control over the vehicle. Additionally, trust was found to be lower for the high vs. low sensitivity alarm condition, indicating a reduction in trust when the alerting system activated more often, perhaps because participants did not feel the system was accurately reflecting a dangerous condition. This simulator-based research emphasizes the fact that while ACWS may provide an advantage in terms of vehicle control, characteristics of both the alerting signal and system configuration should be considered.
Phyto-oestrogens and risk of prostate cancer in Scottish men

A population-based case–control study of diet, inherited susceptibility and prostate cancer was undertaken in the lowlands and central belt of Scotland to investigate the effect of phyto-oestrogen intake and serum concentrations on prostate cancer risk. A total of 433 cases and 483 controls aged 50–74 years were asked to complete a validated FFQ and provide a non-fasting blood sample. Multivariate logistic regression analysis found significant inverse associations with increased serum concentrations of enterolactone (adjusted OR 0·40, 95 % CI 0·22, 0·71] and with the consumption of soy foods (adjusted OR 0·52, 95 % CI 0·30, 0·91). However, no significant associations were observed for isoflavone intake or serum genistein, daidzein and equol. This study supports the hypotheses that soy foods and enterolactone metabolised from dietary lignans protect against prostate cancer in older Scottish men.