Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cellular and antibody mediated cytotoxicity in autoimmune thyroid disease.

Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and natural killer (NK) cell-mediated cytotoxicity was measured in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) and Graves' disease (GD) using a cytotoxicity assay against thyroid target cells. In the ADCC assay, mean +/- SD specific lysis produced by sera from patients with HT was 21.7 +/- 10% compared t 6.2 +/- 3.9% from normal subjects. In the NK assay, cytotoxicity was significantly increased using lymphocytes from HT patients as effector cells. At effector: target (E:T) cell ratios of 50:1 and 25:1, mean specific lysis +/- SD was 18.3 +/- 14.3% and 14 +/- 11.6%, respectively, compared to 3.7 +/- 2.1 and 3.1 +/- 2.1, respectively, for normals. In Graves' disease, 9 of 19 patients had elevated cytotoxicity, whereas no significant changes of ADCC could be found either, as determined in thyrotoxic patients, after 6 months and at the end of a one-year antithyroid drug treatment. Eight of 19 patients showed normal cytotoxicity (mean % specific lysis 2.5 +/- 3.1% compared to 2 +/- 2.9% in normal controls) and low titres of microsomal antibodies (Mab), 3 patients had significantly increased cytotoxicity (mean specific lysis 27.6 +/- 10%) in the presence of high titres of Mab, whereas 8 patients evidenced high values for cytotoxicity (mean specific lysis 24.5 +/- 14.1%) but low titres of Mab. NK cell activity, determined in euthyroid Graves' disease patients either under antithyroid drug therapy or in remission, was not significantly different than that of normal subjects at all E:T cell ratios. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Non-State Actors in World Politics and International Relations research - an Introduction

In this edition of Political Perspectives, the four articles examine a broad range of perspectives concerning the role of policy institutions, networks and researchers in world politics and foreign policy. The overarching theme of this edition is purposefully broad – as an endeavour to capture the diversity in topics, theoretical perspectives, ontological underpinnings as well as geographical variation, in ongoing research projects amongst International Relations (IR) academics of tomorrow. The IR discipline, however, has conventionally been preoccupied with the state-system as the focal level of analysis – predominantly through the realist ontological ‘school of thought’ where the ‘state’ performs as the key ‘ontological tool’ (see Waltz, 1979). Consequently, we deliberately chose the expansive phrase of ‘world politics’ as the term of ‘international relations’ implies a focus on nation-states (Baylis, Smith and Owens, 2010:2). This edition of Political Perspectives, thus, accommodates for analysing world politics and foreign policy, rather, from the non-state level, where many a scholar is stressing the interplay between Intergovernmental Organisations (IGOs) and, indeed, states.
Molecular organization of C9 within the membrane attack complex of complement. Induction of circular C9 polymerization by the C5b-8 assembly

Evidence has been presented suggesting that during assembly of the membrane attack complex (MAC) of complement, the C5b-8 complex induces polymerization of C9. The C9 polymer was detected by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) gel electrophoresis of MAC isolated from complement-lysed erythrocytes. It resembled the previously described polymerized C9 (poly C9) produced from isolated monomeric C9 by prolonged incubation at 37 degrees C in that it was resistant to dissociation by SDS and reducing agents and had an apparent molecular weight of approximately 1.1 million. The presence of poly C9 in the MAC was further supported by the expression of identical neoantigens by the MAC and poly C9 and by the high C9 content of the MAC relative to its other constituents. Isolated C8 in solution was found to have a single C9-binding site. In mixture, the two proteins formed a reversible equimolar complex that had a sedimentation coefficient of 10.5S. In contrast, a single, cell-bound C5b-8 complex was found to bind up to 12-15 C9 molecules and clusters of C5b- 8 bound 6-8 C9 molecules per C8 molecule. In either case, typical ultrastructural membrane lesions were observed, suggesting that the membrane lesion is identical with the tubular poly C9 consisting of 12-16 C9 molecules, and that the MAC can have either the composition (C5b-8)polyC9 or (CSb-8)(2)polyC9. When C9 input was restricted so that the molar C9/C8 ratio was less than or equal to 3, C9-induced aggregates of C5b-8 were observed but virtually no circular membrane lesions were found. We suggest, therefore, that C9, at low dosage, causes cross-linking of multiple C5b-8 complexes within the target membrane and that, at high dosage, C9 is polymerized by C5b-8 to form a transmembrane channel within the MAC assembly. It is primarily the C9 polymer that evokes the ultrastructural image of the MAC or of membrane lesions caused by complement.
Detection of genes involved in biofilm formation in Staphylococcus aureus isolates

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the Gram-positive pathogens causing a wide range of nosocomial infections. The present study investigates genotypic and phenotypic aspects involved in biofilm formation in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from nosocomial infections in Isfahan. A total of 110 S. aureus strains were collected from three major hospitals in Isfahan, the center of Iran. The antibiotic resistance pattern, phenotypes, and biofilm formation genes were studied using Congo red agar (CRA) and multiplex PCR (M-PCR). We found that 103 out of 110 samples (93.6%) were MRSA. The highest frequency of resistance was found to penicillin (89%), ciprofloxacin (87.4%), and erythromycin (86.1%). Phenotypic results showed that 53.5% were high biofilm producers, while 33.3% and 13.2% were intermediate and low biofilm producers, respectively. icaC (69.3%) had the highest frequency in comparison to other intercellular adhesion (ica) genes, icaD (54.8%) was second most common. The results show that the adherence or attachment ability and biofilm production are important for enhancing virulence factors among isolates of S. aureus strains.
Auxiliary signal design for robust multimodel identification

Under the assumption that one of two given linear models is the real underlying model of the system, a proper auxiliary signal is defined as an input signal that allows the selection of the correct model. Under the assumption that model noises have bounded energy, the separability index is defined as the inverse of the energy of the proper auxiliary signal of least energy. A method for the computation of this index and the construction of the auxiliary signal is presented. Finally, an efficient procedure for online identification, called the "hyperplane test", is developed.
Oral fluoropyrimidines (capecitabine or S-1) and cisplatin as first line treatment in elderly patients with advanced gastric cancer: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of oral fluoropyrimidines and cisplatin therapy in elderly patients with untreated advanced gastric cancer (AGC) retrospectively. In addition, we evaluated the relative activity and toxicity of these agents in this patient population. METHODS Clinical data from 72 patients with previously untreated AGC, who were treated with capecitabine/cisplatin and S-1/cisplatin, were reviewed. Oral fluoropyrimidines were administered orally twice a day on Days 1-14. The dose of capecitabine was 1250 mg/m(2) and that of S-1 was 50 mg [body surface area (BSA) < 1.5 m(3)] or 60 mg (BSA > 1.5 m(3)) twice a day. Cisplatin was administered intravenously on Day 1 (before the first dose of capecitabine or S-1) at a dose of 70 mg/m(2) over a 2 h period. The chemotherapy cycle was of 3 weeks (with oral capecitabine or S-1). RESULTS Thirty-two and 40 patients received the S-1 and capecitabine regimens, respectively, and were included in the analysis. The S-1 protocol had a response rate of 40.6%, a median time-to-progression (TTP) of 5.4 months and a median survival of 9.6 months. The capecitabine had a response rate of 55%, a median TTP of 5.9 months and a median survival of 10.2 months. Each protocol had a similar incidence of Grade 3 or 4 adverse events. However, there was a higher rate of the hand-foot syndrome (6 versus 37%) and diarrhea (25 versus 32%) in the capecitabine group. CONCLUSION Oral fluoropyrimidines and cisplatin in elderly patients with untreated AGC showed encouraging results. The treatment was well tolerated with a manageable toxicity profile. The comparison of S-1 with capecitabine showed that capecitabine had a slightly higher response rate (statistically not significant) in addition to a higher rate of adverse events such as the hand-foot syndrome and diarrhea. These data should be warranted with further prospective studies.
Sucrose does not raise blood pressure in rats maintained on a low salt intake.

Diets high in sucrose or fructose have been shown by others to induce a modest elevation of blood pressure in rats. The present experiments were conducted to determine whether the sucrose-induced increase of blood pressure is dependent on the intake of sodium chloride. Four groups of Sprague-Dawley rats were studied: 1) a group maintained on a low salt diet and distilled water (0.45% sodium chloride, no added sucrose), 2) a low salt-high sucrose group (0.45% sodium chloride diet and 7% sucrose in distilled water), 3) a high salt group (4% sodium chloride diet and distilled water), and 4) a high salt-high sucrose group on a diet adjusted daily to maintain the same high intakes of sodium chloride and sucrose as those of groups 2 and 3. Systolic blood pressures were measured by tail-cuff plethysmography during weeks 1-3 of treatment, and direct mean arterial blood pressures were recorded in conscious animals during week 4. Animals on the high salt diet gained weight more slowly than those on the low salt intake. On the low sodium chloride intake, blood pressures were not affected by high dietary sucrose (group 1 versus 2). In contrast, on the high sodium chloride intake, blood pressures were 10-14 mm Hg higher in sucrose-drinking animals than in water-drinking animals (group 3 versus 4). The increments in blood pressures of the high sodium chloride-high sucrose group were not accompanied by greater increments in body weight compared with the animals on the high sodium chloride intake alone. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Each‐step activation of oxidative phosphorylation is necessary to explain muscle metabolic kinetic responses to exercise and recovery in humans

The basic control mechanisms of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and glycolysis during work transitions in human skeletal muscle are still a matter of debate. We used simulations of skeletal muscle bioenergetics to identify key system features that contribute to this debate, by comparing kinetic model outputs with experimental human data, including phosphocreatine, pH, pulmonary oxygen uptake and fluxes of ATP production by OXPHOS (vOX), anaerobic glycolysis and creatine kinase in moderate and severe intensity exercise transitions. We found that each‐step activation of particular OXPHOS complexes, NADH supply and glycolysis, and strong (third‐order) glycolytic inhibition by protons was required to reproduce observed phosphocreatine, pH and vOX kinetics during exercise. A slow decay of each‐step activation during recovery, which was slowed further following severe exercise, was necessary to reproduce the experimental findings. Well‐tested computer models offer new insight in the control of the human skeletal muscle bioenergetic system during physical exercise.
Errors in Organizations

Errors are a recurring fact of organizational life and can potentially yield either adverse or positive consequences. Organizational researchers and practitioners alike have become increasingly interested in understanding the causes of errors and the coping strategies that foster organizational success. Although we have learned much about errors in specific research areas across specific organizational contexts, we know little about how multifaceted forces in organizations, especially when they contradict each other, might affect the pathways of errors in organizations. This review strives to integrate the literature on errors, not only by summarizing conceptual foundations and empirical findings, but also by discussing discrepancies, inconsistencies, and opportunities for research synthesis via level of analysis, temporal dynamism, and priority lenses. At the core of this integrative review is a call for future research to explain how to reduce the underlying causes and negative consequences of errors while promoting positive outcomes and learning benefits in organizations. We close this review by offering suggestions that help develop an integrative, rather than isolated, investigation of errors in organizations.
Formal analysis of sporadic overload in real-time systems

This paper presents a new compositional approach providing safe quantitative information about real-time systems. Our method is based on a new model to describe sporadic overload at the input of a system. We show how to derive from such a model safe quantitative information about the response time of each task. Experiments demonstrate the efficiency of this approach on a real-life example. In addition we improve the state of the art in compositional performance analysis by introducing execution time models which take into account several consecutive executions and by using tighter bounds for computing output event models.
Nucleotide sequence variation in Pneumocystis carinii strains that infect humans

The nucleotide sequences of a portion of the large-subunit mitochondrial rRNA gene of Pneumocystis carinii derived from 12 patients were examined. Five sequences were found to be identical to the prototype sequence reported by Sinclair et al. (K. Sinclair, A. E. Wakefield, S. Banerji, and J. M. Hopkin, Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 45:183-184, 1991). Six sequences differed from the prototype sequence at one to three positions. The remaining sequence was markedly different from the prototype sequence and appeared to be a hybrid of the human and rat P. carinii sequences. The results of this study indicate the existence of multiple P. carinii strains infecting humans and suggest that coinfections of animal and human P. carinii strains in the same host are possible.
Combining Lactic Acid Spray with Near-Infrared Radiation Heating To Inactivate Salmonella enterica Serovar Enteritidis on Almond and Pine Nut Kernels

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of near-infrared radiation (NIR) heating combined with lactic acid (LA) sprays for inactivating Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis on almond and pine nut kernels and to elucidate the mechanisms of the lethal effect of the NIR-LA combined treatment. Also, the effect of the combination treatment on product quality was determined. Separately prepared S. Enteritidis phage type (PT) 30 and non-PT 30 S. Enteritidis cocktails were inoculated onto almond and pine nut kernels, respectively, followed by treatments with NIR or 2% LA spray alone, NIR with distilled water spray (NIR-DW), and NIR with 2% LA spray (NIR-LA). Although surface temperatures of nuts treated with NIR were higher than those subjected to NIR-DW or NIR-LA treatment, more S. Enteritidis survived after NIR treatment alone. The effectiveness of NIR-DW and NIR-LA was similar, but significantly more sublethally injured cells were recovered from NIR-DW-treated samples. We confirmed that the enhanced bactericidal effect of the NIR-LA combination may not be attributable to cell membrane damage per se. NIR heat treatment might allow S. Enteritidis cells to become permeable to applied LA solution. The NIR-LA treatment (5 min) did not significantly (P > 0.05) cause changes in the lipid peroxidation parameters, total phenolic contents, color values, moisture contents, and sensory attributes of nut kernels. Given the results of the present study, NIR-LA treatment may be a potential intervention for controlling food-borne pathogens on nut kernel products.
A Scan-Line Forest Growing-Based Hand Segmentation Framework With Multipriority Vertex Stereo Matching for Wearable Devices

A hand segmentation framework is proposed for 3-D hand gesture interaction for wearable devices. In this framework, all the objects in a scene are regarded as directed trees in a forest, and the problem of the hand segmentation can be converted into finding the target tree (called hand tree) in the forest with proper hand properties including color consistency, space consistency, disparity, and hand shape constraints. The forest grows scan-line by scan-line from high reliable regions to low reliable regions. First, the vertices in each tree are generated through boundary detection. To get rid of the interference of skin-colored objects, an under-segment vertex splitting step is added in. Second, a scan-line-based forest growing method is proposed by constructing the maximum spanning forest (MSF) with the edges weighted by the consistencies of color and space. Meanwhile, the high-order history information of the tree construction propagates along each growing tree to the current scan-line to predict the 3-D location of the growing hand tree, so as to achieve semiglobal optimization. At last, the growing hand tree is trimmed and labeled with the disparity and hand shape constraints to correct the misconnection in the MSF. The vertex’s disparity is obtained by our multipriority vertex stereo matching algorithm using the 3-D location prediction to overcome the problem of occlusion and high similarity between fingers. Experimental results demonstrate that by using our method, the hand can be well segmented. The ${F}1$ score and accuracy of the hand segmentation result is about 96.3% and 92.9%, respectively.
The Research On The Relationship of APN with Cerebral Infarction

Objective To investigate the relationships between the level of APN and cerebral infarction. Methods Measured APN、HDL-C、LDL-C、hs-CRP levels of 123 patients with cerebral infarction and 120 healthy controls, and analyzed the correlation with APN and the scale of clinical neurologic deficit. Results APN level in patient group was significantly lower than that of controls (P<0.01). With the Logistic regression analysis,there was a negative correction between the level of APN and the scale of clinical neurologic deficit in the patients, the lower level of APN and HDL-C, the higher level of LDL-C and hs-CRP are the risk factor of cerebral infarction. Conclusions The lower level of APN is the independent risk factor of cerebral infarction.
Talker variability in audio-visual speech perception

A change in talker is a change in the context for the phonetic interpretation of acoustic patterns of speech. Different talkers have different mappings between acoustic patterns and phonetic categories and listeners need to adapt to these differences. Despite this complexity, listeners are adept at comprehending speech in multiple-talker contexts, albeit at a slight but measurable performance cost (e.g., slower recognition). So far, this talker variability cost has been demonstrated only in audio-only speech. Other research in single-talker contexts have shown, however, that when listeners are able to see a talker’s face, speech recognition is improved under adverse listening (e.g., noise or distortion) conditions that can increase uncertainty in the mapping between acoustic patterns and phonetic categories. Does seeing a talker’s face reduce the cost of word recognition in multiple-talker contexts? We used a speeded word-monitoring task in which listeners make quick judgments about target word recognition in single- and multiple-talker contexts. Results show faster recognition performance in single-talker conditions compared to multiple-talker conditions for both audio-only and audio-visual speech. However, recognition time in a multiple-talker context was slower in the audio-visual condition compared to audio-only condition. These results suggest that seeing a talker’s face during speech perception may slow recognition by increasing the importance of talker identification, signaling to the listener a change in talker has occurred.
Local Circassian reactions to the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games

Abstract This paper illustrates how a mega-sports event such as the Sochi Olympics can generate renewed spaces for production of knowledge and counter-branding for marginalized groups. As the indigenous people of the area, the Circassians in different ways, locally and transnationally, used the 2014 Sochi Olympics to promote greater knowledge of local Circassian history. Such knowledge was for many decades suppressed, during the Soviet period as well as afterwards, in the Russian Federation. This paper discusses cases of Circassian counter-branding of local history that were observed in connection with the Sochi Olympics and in opposition to the Russian Olympics project. The paper contends that the processes of counter-branding made visible local indigenous knowledge that even the authorities in Sochi have gradually come to accept.
Antinociceptive activity of natural honey in thermal‐nociception models in mice

Several honey samples of Pakistani origin have been analysed for their effect on nociception. Among the tested samples, Acacia honey showed most effective dose‐dependent antinociceptive activity which was significantly different from the untreated group in tail‐flick and paw‐withdrawal tests (p < 0.01 and p < 0.003), respectively. The antinociceptive activity of honey reached a maximum at 60 min post‐treatment and then gradually decreased, whereas the activity of indomethacin was persistent at 120 min post‐treatment. The absence of antinociceptive activity in simulated honey (which contained fructose, glucose, maltose and sucrose representing the major constituents of honey) indicated that the active principle(s) might be present in minor constituents of honey. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Can the Doha Round Be a Development Round? Setting a Place at the Table

A fundamental objective of the Doha Round of WTO negotiations is to improve the trading prospects of developing countries. The 2001 declaration from the WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, commits the member governments to negotiations aimed at substantial improvements in market access with a view to phasing out export subsidies, while embracing "special and differential treatment" for developing countries as an integral part of all elements of the negotiations. The main message of this paper comes in three parts. First, these stated aims are incompatible from the perspective of our economic analysis; thus, if these aims are pursued as stated, then we conclude that they are unlikely to deliver the meaningful trade gains for developing countries that the WTO membership seeks. Second, in attempting to integrate its developing country membership into the world trading system, the WTO may face a "latecomers" problem that, while occurring also in earlier rounds, is unprecedented in its scale in the Doha Round, and which could potentially account for the current impasse. And third, we argue that if the Round maintains its stated aims but moves away from the non-reciprocal special-and-differential treatment norm as the cornerstone of the approach to meeting developing country needs in the WTO, and if developing countries prepare, in markets where they are large, to come to the bargaining table and to negotiate reciprocally with each other and with developing nations, then it might be possible to break the impasse at Doha, to address the latecomers problem, and to deliver trade gains for developing countries.