Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Uric acid and HMGB1 are involved in the induction of autoantibodies elicited in mice infected with mouse hepatitis virus A59

We have shown that mice infected with mouse hepatitis virus A59 develop autoantibodies (autoAb) to liver and kidney fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (FAH). Because it has been proposed that the immune system is stimulated by alarm signals called damage-associated molecular patterns or alarmins, we investigated the participation of uric acid and high-mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1) in the autoimmune response elicited by mouse hepatitis virus (MHV). Mice subjected to MHV infection had increased plasmatic uric acid concentration that significantly decreased after 20 days of daily treatment with allopurinol and, simultaneously, autoAb to FAH were undetected. Furthermore, this autoAb disappeared after 30 days of treatment with ethyl pyruvate, along with a substantial reduction in serum HMGB1 concentration. Both results indicated a remarkable relationship between the autoimmune process induced by the virus and uric acid and HMGB1 liberation. Unexpectedly, it was found that allopurinol and ethyl pyruvate inhibited the release of both uric acid and HMGB1. Because HMGB1 is activated through binding to interleukin 1β, and that this cytokine is produced by the NLRP3 inflammasome that could be stimulated by uric acid, we propose that both alarmins could be acting in concert with the induction of the autoAb to FAH in MHV-infected mice.
Manifold Regularized Slow Feature Analysis for Dynamic Texture Recognition

Dynamic textures exist in various forms, e.g., fire, smoke, and traffic jams, but recognizing dynamic texture is challenging due to the complex temporal variations. In this paper, we present a novel approach stemmed from slow feature analysis (SFA) for dynamic texture recognition. SFA extracts slowly varying features from fast varying signals. Fortunately, SFA is capable to leach invariant representations from dynamic textures. However, complex temporal variations require high-level semantic representations to fully achieve temporal slowness, and thus it is impractical to learn a high-level representation from dynamic textures directly by SFA. In order to learn a robust low-level feature to resolve the complexity of dynamic textures, we propose manifold regularized SFA (MR-SFA) by exploring the neighbor relationship of the initial state of each temporal transition and retaining the locality of their variations. Therefore, the learned features are not only slowly varying, but also partly predictable. MR-SFA for dynamic texture recognition is proposed in the following steps: 1) learning feature extraction functions as convolution filters by MR-SFA, 2) extracting local features by convolution and pooling, and 3) employing Fisher vectors to form a video-level representation for classification. Experimental results on dynamic texture and dynamic scene recognition datasets validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
The impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy on high-risk behaviour of HIV-infected patients in sub-Saharan Africa.

INTRODUCTION High-risk sexual behaviors such as multiple sexual partners, inconsistent condom use, acquisition of sexually transmitted infection (STIs), and non-use of contraceptives persist in HIV patients undergoing care. We conducted a systematic review of studies conducted in the era of increased access to HAART (2000-2010) to assess whether wide-scale use of HAART was associated with high-risk behavior among HAART-using patients. METHODOLOGY We conducted a comprehensive search of databases (AIDSLINE, National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE, PubMed, CINHAL and EMBASE) from January 2002 to January 2010, reviewed conference proceedings and journals, and contacted the researchers involved. We analyzed the association of high-risk behaviors (non-disclosure of sero-status to sexual partners, inconsistent condom use, unprotected sexual intercourse, multiple sexual partners, non-use of contraceptives and acquisition of STIs) with using HAART. Information from eligible studies was abstracted using a standardized checklist. Fourteen English-language studies met the selection criteria of having high-risk behavior as an outcome in patients using HAART in sub-Saharan Africa. RESULTS Of the 92 eligible articles screened, 14 met the criteria for inclusion as primary articles, 10 showed that HAART is not associated with increased high-risk behavior, two showed increase in acquisition of STIs among HAART-using patients, (which was inconsistent with other measures of high-risk behavior), and two studies showed short-term increase in high-risk behavior. CONCLUSIONS Persistence of high-risk behavior in HAART-using patients suggests that more effort needs to be incorporated in HIV care to reduce such behavior to reduce HIV transmission to uninfected populations.
Association of Esophageal Adenocarcinoma With Other Subsequent Primary Cancers

Purpose Esophageal adenocarcinoma shares risk factors such as obesity and smoking with other common cancers. The association of esophageal adenocarcinoma with other primary cancers has not been systematically evaluated. The authors used the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End-Results database of the National Cancer Institute to explore the association of esophageal adenocarcinoma with other primary cancers. Patients and Methods All adult patients with esophageal cancers, both adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma diagnosed between 1973 and 2001, were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End-Results database, and standardized incidence rates were calculated for all subsequent primary cancers in these patients. The analysis was reversed to estimate the standardized incidence rate for subsequent primary esophageal cancer after a first primary cancer. Results In comparison with a standard population, patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma were at higher risk for the development of another subsequent cancer, specifically, cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx, lung and bronchus, and kidney and renal pelvis, and adenocarcinoma of the colon/rectum and pancreas. With squamous cell esophageal cancer, there was an association with tobacco-related cancers such as those of the oral cavity and pharynx, the lung and bronchus, and the breast. There was either no association or even a negative association of esophageal adenocarcinoma with other obesity-related cancers such as breast, uterine, and prostate cancers. Conclusions Patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are at increased risk for the development of specific second primary cancers that share smoking as a common risk factor. Esophageal adenocarcinoma does not have a strong association with obesity-related cancers with respect to the relative risk for the development of subsequent primary cancers.
Effect of Luminance, Contrast, and Eccentricity on Visual Acuity in Senile Macular Degeneration

ABSTRACT We examined the effect of luminance on low contrast visual acuity in six patients with mild reductions in vision due to senile macular degeneration (SMD) and in six normals of approximately the same age. At the highest luminance tested the SMD patients showed a reduction in acuity compared to the controls, with eccentricity and contrast effects clearly shown. The SMD patients had difficulty performing the acuity task at the lower luminances (0.26 and 0.75 cd/m2); they showed little or no increase in visual acuity with increasing contrast levels at the lower luminances. Acuity was slightly influenced by target eccentricity at these luminances. These data suggest that the adaptation mechanisms allowing the normal visual system to operate efficiently over a wide range of luminances are affected in SMD, even when clinically measured acuity is only moderately depressed.
A Document Image Segmentation System Using Analysis of Connected Components

Page segmentation into text and non-text elements is an essential preprocessing step before optical character recognition (OCR) operation. In case of poor segmentation, an OCR classification engine produces garbage characters due to the presence of non-text elements. This paper presents a method to separate the textual and non textual components in document images using a graph-based modeling and structural analysis. This is a fast and efficient method to separate adequately the graphical and the textual parts of a document. We have evaluated our method on two well-known subsets: the UW-III dataset and the ICDAR 2009 page segmentation competition dataset. Comparisons are led with two methods of state-of-the-art, these results showing that our method proved better performances in this task.
A proposal for wearable controller device and finger gesture recognition using surface electromyography

Hand and finger motion is very complicated and achieved by intertwining forearm part (extrinsic) and finger part (intrinsic) muscles. We created a wearable finger-less glove controller using dry electrodes of sEMG(surface Electromyography) and only intrinsic hand muscles were sensed. Our wearable interface device is easy to wear and light-weighted. In offline analysis, we identified the tapping motion of fingers using the wearable glove. Totally eleven features were extracted, and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was used as a classifier. The average of the discrimination result of intersubject analysis was 88.61±3.61%. In online analysis, we created a demo that reflects actual movement in the virtual space by Unity. Our demo showed a prediction of finger motions, and realized the motions in the virtual space.
Requirement of appropriate glutamate concentrations in the synaptic cleft for hippocampal LTP induction

Although glutamate transporters maintain low extracellular levels of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate in the nervous system, little is known about their roles in synaptic plasticity. Here, using knockout mice lacking GLT‐1, that is the most abundant glial subtype of glutamate transporters, we showed that long‐term potentiation (LTP) induced by tetanic stimulation in mutant mice was impaired in the hippocampal CA1 region. When tetanic stimulation was applied in the presence of low concentrations of an N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, the impairment was overcome. Consistent with these results, the increased glutamate in the synaptic cleft of mutant mice preferentially activated NMDA receptors. Furthermore, analyses of mutant mice revealed that the magnitude of NMDA receptor‐dependent transient synaptic potentiation during low‐frequency stimulation depended on the concentration of glutamate in the synaptic cleft. These findings suggest that GLT‐1 plays critical roles in LTP induction, as well as in short‐term potentiation, through regulation of extracellular levels of glutamate, which enables appropriate NMDA receptor activation.
Interactive video data visualization system based on semantic organization

In this paper, we present a video data visualization system allowing a simple navigation and an effective research in large scale video data corpora. Our tool is based on three steps. The first step consists in the analysis of the video documents: the extraction of high level concepts and the computation of the similarity between the documents of the corpus. The second step is devoted to the preparation of the visualization interface: the projection of the obtained classes in the visualization space and the establishment of the visualization graph. The last step consists to the personalization of the system: the integration of a user model in the visualization system.
Complement dependent trapping of infectious HIV in human lymphoid tissues

Objectives:HIV-1 bound extracellularly to follicular dendritic cells (FDC) in germinal centers (GC) of lymphoid tissues (LT) represents the largest viral reservoir in HIV-infected individuals; however there is no direct evidence as to whether HIV trapped in human GC remains infectious. In the GC, complement receptors and Fcγ receptors have been suggested to participate in trapping of HIV; therefore, the relative contribution of complement- and Fcγ receptors in binding HIV on LT was investigated and the infectivity of this virus was tested. Design:As it is difficult to isolate FDC without contaminations of productively infected cells, HIV was detached from LT of HIV positive individuals using antibodies blocking complement- and Fcγ receptors. Isolated virus was tested in an infectivity assay. Methods:HIV detached from LT was quantified by HIV p24 ELISA, PCR and in an in vitro infectivity assay. Presence and accessibility of viral envelope proteins, complement factors and immunoglobulins on the surface of detached viral particles were evaluated through viral capture by respective antibodies. Results:Although both C3d-fragments and IgG molecules were identified on the surface of HIV detached from LT, trapping of HIV was mediated solely by CR2–C3d interactions, whereas contribution of Fcγ receptors was not detectable. Infectivity assays with HIV stripped from LT of HIV positive individuals revealed that in four out of ten patients HIV particles were infectious. Conclusions:These findings indicate that in the GC infectious virus is trapped on CR2-expressing FDC (or B cells). Reduction of this pool of HIV could be a therapeutic goal.
Extraterritorial forays and male parental care in hooded warblers

Extrapair paternity is common among many songbird species yet few studies have quantified male extraterritorial foray (ETF) effort and examined potential trade-offs. One potentially important constraint for males is the need to provide parental care. Current models of male extrapair mating tactics propose that males reduce extraterritorial foray effort later in the breeding season because they face a trade-off between feeding nestlings versus pursuing extrapair matings. However, detailed field studies examining the trade-off between paternal care and male extraterritorial forays are lacking. We used radiotelemetry to quantify male extraterritorial foray effort in hooded warblers, Wilsonia citrina, to test the widely held predictions that: (1) males make significantly fewer and shorter forays during the nestling stage relative to other stages (i.e. fertile and incubating stages); and (2) male extraterritorial foray effort is negatively correlated with parental effort. Males made 0.87+/-0.09 forays/h and spent on average 12.2% of their time foraying off territory. Results were equivocal; some data suggested male foray effort decreased in relation to parental care, while other data suggested otherwise. Pairwise tests controlling for (1) extrapair mating opportunity among males and (2) male, territory and social mate quality revealed a possible trade-off between the mean duration and percentage of time in extraterritorial foray versus providing parental care. Conversely, results also revealed (1) no difference in foray rate, foray duration or percentage of time spent off territory over the various stages of the breeding season, (2) no relationship between male foray effort and male feeding rate, and (3) no difference in foray rate in pairwise comparisons, controlling for variability in extrapair mating opportunity and male quality. Overall, the trade-off between providing male parental care and pursuing alternative mating tactics may not be as strong for male hooded warblers as once hypothesized because males dedicated relatively little time to seeking extrapair copulations off territory. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
Immunocytochemical detection of interaction products of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) and cis-diammine(1,1-cyclobutanedicarboxylato)platinum(II) with DNA in rodent tissue sections.

Calf thymus DNA was modified in vitro by cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (cisDDP), complexed with methylated bovine serum albumin and used to immunize rabbits. The anti-cisDDP-DNA antiserum obtained was applied in a double peroxidase-antiperoxidase staining procedure to localize cisDDP-DNA and cis-diammine(1,1-cyclobutanedicarboxylato)platinum(II) (CBDCA)-DNA interaction products in cryostat tissue sections of mice and rats. Rats received cisDDP (0-10 mg/kg) and were killed after 24 h. Mice received cisDDP (0-15 mg/kg) or CBDCA (200 mg/kg), and were killed after 2 h-162 days. For each time-dose combination two mice or one rat were used; agents were given i.p. Specific nuclear staining was observed in all tissues examined from cisDDP- or CBDCA-treated animals. No significant nuclear staining could be observed in tissue sections from control rats and mice. The extent of staining after cisDDP was dose and time dependent. The lowest dose of cisDDP after which specific nuclear staining could be detected varied from tissue to tissue [e.g., 0.1 mg/kg, pancreas (mouse); 0.5 mg/kg, liver, kidney (mouse, rat)]. The longest time interval after a single dose of 6 mg/kg cisDDP in which adducts could be visualized also depended on the tissue and varied between 9 days (spleen, testis) and 162 days (kidney). The staining intensity in liver and kidney, measured microdensitometrically, decreased relatively fast in the first days after treatment, but much slower thereafter. In the kidney, cisDDP-induced DNA modification showed regional variation: inner cortex greater than outer cortex greater than medulla (rat) and cortex greater than medulla (mouse). In the mouse kidney, a small subpopulation of tubular cells in close association with the renal corpuscles showed a remarkably high staining intensity after both cisDDP and CBDCA administration. Tissues that showed clear cisDDP-induced histological alterations (kidney, pancreas, testis, and duodenum) also showed moderate to high levels of cisDDP-DNA interaction products. A correlation between cell damage (measured histologically) and cisDDP-DNA binding within one tissue type was demonstrated in the rat inner renal cortex, the murine renal cortex, and in duodenal epithelial cells of both mice and rats.
Physicians’ Preferences for Specialty Involvement in the Care of Patients With Neurological Conditions

Background.Recent changes in the US health care system have produced questions about the appropriate roles and responsibilities of generalist and specialist physicians within a primary care-centered health care delivery system. Objectives.To determine neurologists’ and primary care physicians’ preferences for specialist involvement in the management of common neurologic conditions and the factors influencing these preferences. Research Design and Subjects. A self-administered questionnaire was developed with the assistance of a multispecialty Advisory Board and sent to a stratified probability sample of 608 family physicians, 624 general internists, and 492 neurologists. Measures.The questionnaire contained three clinical scenarios, each followed by questions regarding respondent preferences for the primary care physician to manage alone, curbside, or refer to a specialist. The questionnaire also contained knowledge questions corresponding to each scenario and physician and practice characteristics questions. Results.Response rate was 60%. For all three scenarios, primary care physicians’ preferences to involve a specialist differed substantially from neurologists’ preferences, with nearly all neurologists preferring involvement of a specialist. Primary care physicians with less knowledge were more likely to prefer assistance from a neurologist. Physician age and practice setting influenced the type of assistance preferred (curbside vs. referral). Utilization management techniques and financial incentives had little influence on physician preferences to involve a specialist. Conclusions. The extensive disagreement between primary care physicians’ and specialists’ preferences for specialty involvement represents cause for considerable concern, supporting further efforts to identify where inappropriate referral processes are occurring and to implement mechanisms for improving the coordination and quality of primary and specialty care.
Relating Instructor Feedback and Student Reception in the Clinical Environment.

PURPOSE To identify the relationship between instructor feedback and student receptivity to it in a clinical setting. METHODS Using a correlational design with a convenience sample of 132 students enrolled in radiologic science programs, the authors conducted an electronic survey that included a demographic section, the Feedback Environment Scale (FES), and the Feedback Orientation Scale (FOS). The first research question was whether a relationship existed between the aggregate predictor FES and criterion FOS variables. The second research question was whether relationships existed between separate FES variables and FOS variables. Responses were categorized as interval or ratio data and transferred to the statistical package for the social sciences software for analysis. Statistical Pearson r, coefficients of determination, and regression analysis were used to identify the significance and direction of the correlations. RESULTS A significant (P = .01) positive relationship (r = .50) was found between aggregate FES and FOS variables, and the null hypothesis was rejected. Significant (P = .01) correlations were found between the aggregate FOS and predictor FES variables of feedback quality (r = .51) and feedback delivery (r = .25). In addition, a significant (P = .01) correlation was identified between the aggregate FES value and the FOS variable self-efficacy (r = .50). The null hypothesis was not rejected for all correlations calculated between separate predictor (FES) and criterion (FOS) variables. DISCUSSION Variables that positively influence the feedback exchange between clinical instructors and students are critical to identify and enhance. With detailed understanding of these variables and how they relate to one another, specific guidance can be fashioned to target common barriers affecting productive instructor feedback and student receptivity. CONCLUSION Clinical instructors are essential to the feedback environment and play a significant role in helping students receive, accept, and develop competency. Feedback receptivity is promoted when students perceive consistent, relevant, specific, and altruistic messages. Training for clinical instructors should focus on principles of feedback quality and delivery to enhance the clinical instructor-student relationship and learning.