Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High prevalence of emphysema and its association with BMI: A study of smokers with normal spirometry

Objectives. To evaluate to what extent emphysema was evident, as identified by High Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT), in smokers with normal lung function and to relate age, gender, smoking history, and body mass index (BMI) to the HRCT results. A secondary aim was to study to what extent emphysema was present in smokers with lower normal values of lung function defined as FEV1/FVC ratio percentage of predicted value (89–93% of predicted value for males and 90–93% for females) or FEF50 ≤ 60% of predicted compared with smokers without this definition. Methods. Fifty-nine smokers, with a mean age of 53 years and with normal lung function, were examined with HRCT. Results. Emphysema evidenced visually by HRCT was present in 43% of the subjects. Using a 0–5 grade scale (0=normal finding; 5=emphysema in most slices), the degree of emphysema was almost exclusively 3–4. The type of emphysema was distributed as centrilobular emphysema predominant in 43.5%, paraseptal emphysema predominant in 43.5%, and as an equal mixture of these types in 13%. The presence of emphysema did not differ between the group of smokers with lower normal values of lung function and the rest of the smokers. Smokers with emphysema had significantly lower BMI than those devoid of emphysema, 24 and 27 respectively (p<0.0011). Conclusion. There was a high occurrence of visual emphysema in middle-aged smokers with normal lung function. The densitometric quantitative analysis method is inadequate for detecting mild emphysema. High prevalence of emphysema was associated with low BMI.
Continuous Reduction of Plasma Paraoxonase Activity With Increasing Dialysis Vintage in Hemodialysis Patients

Plasma paraoxonase (PON) is an enzyme that hydrolyzes organic phosphate and aromatic carboxylic acid esters. Reduced activity is associated with early events of atherogenesis. The relevance of PON phenotypes is not well characterized in hemodialysis patients. In a cross‐sectional study we measured PON activity in 377 hemodialysis patients photometrically using the substrates 4‐nitrophenylacetate and phenylacetate. The PON ratio was calculated from 4‐nitrophenylacetate‐derived activity divided by phenylacetate‐derived activity. Frequency distribution of the PON ratio showed three different PON phenotypes. 74% of hemodialysis patients showed PON phenotype 1, 21% PON phenotype 2, and 5% PON phenotype 3. Compared to hemodialysis patients with PON 1, patients with PON 2 or 3 showed higher conversion rates for 4‐nitrophenylacetate. We observed a significant reduction of PON ratio with increasing dialysis vintage (P < 0.001 by ANOVA and post test for linear trend). In patients on hemodialysis treatment for less than 12 months, the PON ratio was 1.16 ± 0.08 (n = 64). In patients on hemodialysis treatment for more than 60 months the PON ratio was 1.00 ± 0.04 (n = 130; P = 0.05). This reduction of PON activity was due to reduced 4‐nitrophenylacetate‐derived PON activity with increasing dialysis vintage. In conclusion, plasma PON ratio significantly declines with increasing dialysis vintage.
The glnB region of the Escherichia coli chromosome

We present sequences of the glnB gene of Escherichia coli and of two open reading frames (ORFs) located directly upstream of glnB and transcribed in the same direction. The major transcriptional start sites for glnB are located between ORF-2 and glnB, but some transcription of glnB is initiated at the promoter for ORF-1. The putative amino acid sequence of the ORF-2 product has high homology to that of response regulators which by phosphorylation acquire the ability to activate transcription of sigma 54-dependent promoters. The product of ORF-1 showed no similarity to other known proteins. The product of neither ORF-1 nor ORF-2 is necessary for the ability of PII, the product of glnB, to bring about the repression of glutamine synthetase in response to nitrogen excess. On the other hand, the product of hmpA, a gene located on the other side of glnB and transcribed in the opposite direction, appears to play an auxiliary role in this process.
Effect of vitamin C on ambulatory blood pressure and plasma lipids in older persons

Objectives To determine the effect of oral vitamin C supplements on ambulatory blood pressure and plasma lipids. Design A 6-month double-blind randomized placebo-controlled cross-over study with a 1-week washout between cross-over periods. Methods Vitamin C 500 mg daily or matching placebo was given to 40 men and women aged between 60 and 80 years for 3 months each in a cross-over fashion. Clinic and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure, plasma ascorbate and lipids were measured at baseline and at the end of each cross-over phase. Results Clinic blood pressure did not change between placebo and vitamin C phases. Daytime ambulatory blood pressure showed a small but significant fall in systolic blood pressure (2.0 ± 5.2 mmHg; 95% confidence interval 0–3.9 mmHg) but not in diastolic blood pressure. Regression analysis showed that with increasing baseline daytime blood pressure the fall in blood pressure with vitamin C supplementation increased. Regression analysis of the change in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol showed a significant effect of sex on the change in HDL cholesterol. In women, but not men, HDL cholesterol increased significantly by 0.08 ± 0.11 mmol/l, P = 0.007. There was no change in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol between treatment periods. Conclusion In older adults high intakes of ascorbic acid have modest effects on lowering high systolic blood pressure, which could contribute to the reported association between higher vitamin C intake and lower risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
Health‐related quality of life in colorectal cancer

As a consequence of the improved survival of patients and of cost‐effectiveness requirements for new treatments, health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) issues have gained increasing attention in colorectal cancer (CRC). This cross‐sectional study assesses HRQoL in several health states of CRC and explores factors influencing HRQoL.
Functional Impression for Hemimandibulectomy Cases: An Alternative Technique

The altered cast impression technique is preferred to derive maximum support from the residual ridge in the distal extension partial denturehemimandibulectomy cases. The traditional method is designed primarily for making a secondary impression of the ridge in the functional formto correct a master cast. These functional impression techniques are time-consuming and involve multiple steps.This article describes a new clinical and laboratory technique in impression making. Emphasis is placed on recording the anatomical form ofteeth and functional form of the residual ridge in an individual tray using two different impression materials eliminating secondary impression.
Extracellular Signal-Regulated Protein Kinase Mediates Interleukin 17 (IL-17)-Induced IL-8 Secretion in Helicobacter pylori-Infected Human Gastric Epithelial Cells

ABSTRACT Helicobacter pylori-induced mucosal inflammation results in high production of interleukin 17 (IL-17), a potent inducer of IL-8 in gastric epithelial cells. The aim of this study was to investigate signaling pathways by which IL-17 regulates IL-8 production in human gastric epithelial cells. Activation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases in both IL-17-stimulated MKN28 cells and epithelial cells isolated from H. pylori-colonized gastric mucosa was assessed by Western blotting. In IL-17-stimulated MKN28 cells the activation of activatior protein 1 (AP-1), nuclear factor (NF)-IL-6, and NF-κB was also assessed by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. IL-8 production was evaluated by reverse transcription-PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) both for IL-17-stimulated MKN28 cells treated with specific MAP kinase inhibitors and gastric biopsy cultures treated with a neutralizing IL-17 antibody. Serum from H. pylori-infected patients was tested for immunoglobulin G response to CagA by ELISA. Treatment of MKN28 cells with IL-17 caused activation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK 1/2) but not other MAP kinases and had the downstream effects of AP-1 and NF-κB activation and IL-8 synthesis. Blocking ERK 1/2 activity inhibited AP-1-mediated, but not NF-κB-mediated, IL-8 induction. Enhanced activation of ERK 1/2 was seen in gastric epithelial cells isolated from H. pylori-infected patients in comparison to uninfected controls, and this was associated with high IL-8. These effects were even more pronounced in patients seropositive for CagA than in seronegative ones. In gastric biopsy cultures, the addition of a neutralizing IL-17 antibody decreased ERK 1/2 activation, thus resulting in a significant inhibition of IL-8. In H. pylori-colonized gastric epithelial cells, IL-17-induced IL-8 synthesis is associated with and depends at least in part on the activation of ERK 1/2 MAP kinase.
An algorithm for checking termination of Active XML documents materialization

Introducing Web services into XML documents, Active XML(AXML for short) brings more flexibility and dynamics, but also some new problems. Termination of materializing AXML documents is such a problem to XML documents and is undecidable in general case. This paper develope the termination problem of AXML documents materialization and propose algorithms running polynomial time to solve it under some restricts for AXML schema definitions. The main idea of our algorithm is to decide the termination problem by building corresponding AXML schema dependent graph and checking the acyclic of the graph. Finally, the correctness of the algorithm is also proved.
Outlier Analysis Using Frequent Pattern Mining (LOF Algorithm)

- An outlier in a dataset is an observation or a point that is considerably dissimilar to or inconsistent with the remainder of the data. Detection of such outliers is important for many applications and has recently attracted much attention in the data mining research community. In this paper, we present a new method to detect outliers by discovering frequent patterns (or frequent item sets) from the data set. The outliers are defined as the data transactions that contain less frequent patterns in their item sets. We define a measure called FPOF (Frequent Pattern Outlier Factor) to detect the outlier transactions and propose the Find FPOF algorithm to discover outliers. The experimental results have shown that our approach outperformed the existing methods on identifying interesting outliers
Endotracheal Intubation with a Gum-Elastic Bougie in Unanticipated Difficult Direct Laryngoscopy: Comparison of a Blind Technique Versus Indirect Laryngoscopy with a Laryngeal Mirror

We evaluated the efficacy of intubation over a gum-elastic bougie by using either a blind technique or indirect laryngoscopy with a laryngeal mirror in patients with unexpected difficult direct laryngoscopy. In a prospective study, 60 consecutive patients with an unexpected Grade III or IV direct laryngoscopy were randomly allocated for intubation with a gum-elastic bougie either blindly (Group 1) or by indirect laryngoscopy with a laryngeal mirror (Group 2). We evaluated the failure rate of each method of intubation, complications related to either method, and the time required for intubation. Out of 725 patients evaluated over a 2-mo period, 60 patients (8.3%) had a Grade III laryngoscopy, and 30 of these were randomized into each group. There were 8 failed intubations in Group 1 compared with 1 failed intubation in Group 2 (P < 0.05). All eight failures in the blind intubation group ended with esophageal intubation. No additional complications were noted in either group. The time required for endotracheal intubation with each group was not significantly different (45 ± 10 s versus 44 ± 11 s). We conclude that intubation with a gum-elastic bougie had a lower failure rate using indirect laryngoscopy with a laryngeal mirror than a traditional blind technique.
In Vitro Activity and Resistance Profile of Samatasvir, a Novel NS5A Replication Inhibitor of Hepatitis C Virus

ABSTRACT The hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural 5A (NS5A) protein is a clinically validated target for drugs designed to treat chronic HCV infection. This study evaluated the in vitro activity, selectivity, and resistance profile of a novel anti-HCV compound, samatasvir (IDX719), alone and in combination with other antiviral agents. Samatasvir was effective and selective against infectious HCV and replicons, with 50% effective concentrations (EC50s) falling within a tight range of 2 to 24 pM in genotype 1 through 5 replicons and with a 10-fold EC50 shift in the presence of 40% human serum in the genotype 1b replicon. The EC90/EC50 ratio was low (2.6). A 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC50) of >100 μM provided a selectivity index of >5 × 107. Resistance selection experiments (with genotype 1a replicons) and testing against replicons bearing site-directed mutations (with genotype 1a and 1b replicons) identified NS5A amino acids 28, 30, 31, 32, and 93 as potential resistance loci, suggesting that samatasvir affects NS5A function. Samatasvir demonstrated an overall additive effect when combined with interferon alfa (IFN-α), ribavirin, representative HCV protease, and nonnucleoside polymerase inhibitors or the nucleotide prodrug IDX184. Samatasvir retained full activity in the presence of HIV and hepatitis B virus (HBV) antivirals and was not cross-resistant with HCV protease, nucleotide, and nonnucleoside polymerase inhibitor classes. Thus, samatasvir is a selective low-picomolar inhibitor of HCV replication in vitro and is a promising candidate for future combination therapies with other direct-acting antiviral drugs in HCV-infected patients.
Directed Evolution of Mutator Adenoviruses Resistant to Antibody Neutralization

ABSTRACT We incorporated a previously identified mutation that reduces the fidelity of the DNA polymerase into a human adenovirus vector. Using this mutator vector, we demonstrate rapid selection of resistance to a neutralizing anti-hexon monoclonal antibody due to a G434D mutation in hexon that precludes antibody binding. Since mutator adenoviruses can accumulate compound mutations that are unattainable using traditional random mutagenesis techniques, this approach will be valuable to the study of antivirals and host factor interactions.
Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing

SUMMARY The common approach to the multiplicity problem calls for controlling the familywise error rate (FWER). This approach, though, has faults, and we point out a few. A different approach to problems of multiple significance testing is presented. It calls for controlling the expected proportion of falsely rejected hypotheses -the false discovery rate. This error rate is equivalent to the FWER when all hypotheses are true but is smaller otherwise. Therefore, in problems where the control of the false discovery rate rather than that of the FWER is desired, there is potential for a gain in power. A simple sequential Bonferronitype procedure is proved to control the false discovery rate for independent test statistics, and a simulation study shows that the gain in power is substantial. The use of the new procedure and the appropriateness of the criterion are illustrated with examples.
A Review on Message Filtering from Online Social Network

In OSNs (On-line Social Networks), the ability to avoid the display of unwanted content of the posted messages on their own private space; this is one of the most fundamental issue to give users. At the present online social networks provide dissatisfactory support to this requirement. Author built a system which allows online social network users to have a direct control to post messages on their walls. This is possible by using flexible rule-based system which permits user to modify the filtering criteria to be applied to user walls, and a based on soft classifier of Machine Learning, mechanically category messages in favor of content-based filtering.
Arsenic Trioxide and the Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase/Akt Pathway in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Simultaneous targeting of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway increases arsenic trioxide (ATO)–dependent cytotoxicity of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells, whereas it has no significant effects on normal lymphocytes. Combinations of ATO with small molecules that target PI3K and/or Akt may provide a novel approach for the treatment of CLL. Clin Cancer Res; 16(17); 4311–2. ©2010 AACR.
Cytogenetic Study of Pleural Effusions

Chromosome analysis of effusions has been recently regarded as useful means in the diagnosis of cancer. Cytological and cytogenetic findings of 19 pleural effusions from patients with benign and malignant diseases are compared. Conventional cytology does not always give correct positive results because of the high percentage of false negatives, whereas cytogenetic analysis reveals a considerable spread of the chromosome number in neoplastic fluid, with structural chromosome changes, marker chromosomes and minute fragments. Absence of mitosis does not exclude the malignant etiology of the effusion when the patient had been previously treated with antineoplastic drugs. Benign diseases were never falsely classified as malignant by cytogenetic analysis.
Starting and maintaining Monosiga brevicollis cultures.

Cold Spring Harb Protoc; Nicole King, Susan L. Young, Monika Abedin, Martin Carr and Barry S.C. Leadbeater Cultures Monosiga brevicollis Starting and Maintaining Service Email Alerting click here. Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article Categories Subject Cold Spring Harbor Protocols. Browse articles on similar topics from (882 articles) Laboratory Organisms, general (326 articles) Genetics, general (291 articles) Emerging Model Organisms (243 articles) Cell Culture (1068 articles) Cell Biology, general
Identification of 21 r and 22r chromosomes by quinacrine fluorescence

Quinacrine fluorescence has been used to identify ring G chromosomes as a 21 r in one patient and a 22r in two patients. Our finClings confirm the association of ‘antimongolism’ with a 21r, but apart from profound mental retardation, the 22r appears to produce only minimal physical changes.
Improving the comparative map of porcine chromosome 10 with respect to human chromosomes 1, 9 and 10

ZOO-FISH mapping shows human chromosomes 1, 9 and 10 share regions of homology with pig chromosome 10 (SSC10). A more refined comparative map of SSC10 has been developed to help identify positional candidate genes for QTL on SSC10 from human genome sequence. Genes from relevant chromosomal regions of the public human genome sequence were used to BLAST porcine EST databases. Primers were designed from the matching porcine ESTs to assign them to porcine chromosomes using the INRA somatic cell hybrid panel (INRA-SCHP) and the INRA-University of Minnesota Radiation Hybrid Panel (IMpRH). Twenty-eight genes from HSA1, 9 and 10 were physically mapped: fifteen to SSC10 (ACO1, ATP5C1, BMI1, CYB5R1, DCTN3, DNAJA1, EPHX1, GALT, GDI2, HSPC177, OPRS1, NUDT2, PHYH, RGS2, VIM), eleven to SSC1 (ADFP, ALDHIB1, CLTA, CMG1, HARC, PLAA, STOML2, RRP40, TESK1, VCP and VLDLR) and two to SSC4 (ALDH9A1 and TNRC4). Two anonymous markers were also physically mapped to SSC10 (SWR1849 and S0070) to better connect the physical and linkage maps. These assignments have further refined the comparative map between SSC1, 4 and 10 and HSA1, 9 and 10.
Dynamic cerebral autoregulation and beat to beat blood pressure control are impaired in acute ischaemic stroke

Objectives: Hypertension and chronic cerebrovascular disease are known to alter static cerebral autoregulation (CA) but the effects of acute stroke on dynamic CA (dCA) have not been studied in detail. Those studies to date measuring dCA have used sympathetically induced blood pressure (BP) changes, which may themselves directly affect dCA. This study assessed whether dCA is compromised after acute stroke using spontaneous blood pressure (BP) changes as the stimulus for the dCA response. Methods: 56 patients with ischaemic stroke (aged 70 (SD 9) years), studied within 72 hours of ictus were compared with 56 age, sex, and BP matched normal controls. Cerebral blood flow velocity was measured using transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) with non-invasive beat to beat arterial BP levels, surface ECG, and transcutaneous CO2 levels and a dynamic autoregulatory index (dARI) calculated. Results: Beat to beat BP, but not pulse interval variability was significantly increased and cardiac baroreceptor sensitivity (BRS) decreased in the patients with stroke. Dynamic CA was significantly reduced in patients with stroke compared with controls (strokes: ARI 3.8 (SD 2.2) and 3.2 (SD 2.0) for pressor and depressor stimuli respectively v controls: ARI 4.7 (SD 2.2) and 4.5 (SD 2.0) respectively (p<0.05 in all cases)). There was no difference between stroke and non-stroke hemispheres in ARI, which was also independent of severity of stroke, BP, BP variability, BRS, sex, and age. Conclusion: Dynamic cerebral autoregulation, as assessed using spontaneous transient pressor and depressor BP stimuli, is globally impaired after acute ischaemic stroke and may prove to be an important factor in predicting outcome.
Evaluation of Protective Role of Activated Charcoal Against DNA Damage, Cytogenetic Changes and Reproductive Toxicity Induced by Aflatoxin B1 in Mice

The present study was designed to investigate the protective role of activated charcoal (AC) on aflatoxin B1-induced genotoxicity in male and female mice. Charcoal was supplemented at low (500mg/kg diet) and high (750mg/kg diet) levels to basal diet or basal diet containing 40ug AFB1/kg feed. Sixty adult albino mice (30 males and 30 females) were randomly selected and distributed into 12 groups, 6 groups of males and 6 groups of females (five animals each). Both male and female groups were assigned to six treatments for three weeks. Compared to control group, the results showed that mice (males or females) fed the diet contaminated with AFB1 had significant elevation of the rates of DNA fragmentation, polymorphism proportions of RAPD profiles, the percentages of micro nucleated polychromatic erythrocyte (MNPCE) and frequencies of chromosome aberrations. Moreover, the AFB1 diet caused significant increases of sperm shape abnormalities and significant decreases of sperm count in males as well as it induced significant reduction of each of collected number of oocytes and the rate of matured oocytes in females. Feeding the two sexes of mice on AFB1 diet treated with low or high level of AC resulted in a lower genetic deleterious and enhancement in reproductive parameters. The treatment with high level of AC was more effective for amelioration of the adverse effect of AF than the treatment with low level of such adsorbent. Furthermore, the ameliorative response for genetic parameters due to treatment with AC was clearer in females than males and there were significant differences between the two sexes. In conclusion, the present study proved that AC has antagonistic or protective effect against the genotoxicity of AFB1. The protection degree of AC is probably related to its concentration ratio.
Stabilization of bacteriophage Mu repressor‐operator complexes by the Escherichia coli integration host factor protein

All of the previously described effects of integration host factor (IHF) on bacteriophage Mu development have supported the view that IHF favours transposition‐replication over the alternative state of lysogenic phage growth. In this report we show that, consistent with a model in which Mu repressor binding to its operators requires a particular topology of the operator DNA, IHF stimulates repressor binding to the Ol and O2 operators and enhances Mu repression. IHF would thus be one of the keys, besides supercoiling and the H‐NS protein, that lock the operator region into the appropriate topological conformation for high‐affinity binding not only of the phage transposase but also of the phage repressor.