Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epidemiology of Gallbladder Disease: Cholelithiasis and Cancer

Diseases of the gallbladder are common and costly. The best epidemiological screening method to accurately determine point prevalence of gallstone disease is ultrasonography. Many risk factors for cholesterol gallstone formation are not modifiable such as ethnic background, increasing age, female gender and family history or genetics. Conversely, the modifiable risks for cholesterol gallstones are obesity, rapid weight loss and a sedentary lifestyle. The rising epidemic of obesity and the metabolic syndrome predicts an escalation of cholesterol gallstone frequency. Risk factors for biliary sludge include pregnancy, drugs like ceftiaxone, octreotide and thiazide diuretics, and total parenteral nutrition or fasting. Diseases like cirrhosis, chronic hemolysis and ileal Crohn's disease are risk factors for black pigment stones. Gallstone disease in childhood, once considered rare, has become increasingly recognized with similar risk factors as those in adults, particularly obesity. Gallbladder cancer is uncommon in developed countries. In the U.S., it accounts for only ~ 5,000 cases per year. Elsewhere, high incidence rates occur in North and South American Indians. Other than ethnicity and female gender, additional risk factors for gallbladder cancer include cholelithiasis, advancing age, chronic inflammatory conditions affecting the gallbladder, congenital biliary abnormalities, and diagnostic confusion over gallbladder polyps.
Solidarity in a multicultural neighbourhood. Results of a field experiment

This paper investigates the effect of differences in sex, age, ethnicity and residency on the willingness of individuals to share money with others in a solidarity game. The solidarity game that was used in this study consists of groups of four players and has similarities with the well-known ‘dictator game’. The dictator role was either randomly assigned (random conditions) or earned by performing well on a quiz (performance conditions). In each group, two ‘dictators’ could distribute 20 credits (reflecting real money). Contrary to most experimental games, this experiment was carried out both with university students in a laboratory at the University of Amsterdam and with ‘ordinary’ people who visited the Dapper market in a multicultural Amsterdam neighbourhood as subjects. This working paper reports on the latter case. Since the players were informed about the age, the sex, the cultural background and the number of years of residency in the Dapper area of their co-players, we can examine the effect of a difference between two players and of heterogeneity of the group. Thus we test the thesis of Robert Putnam (2007) that ethnic diversity of a group harms both out-group and in-group solidarity. A difference in cultural background between two players appears to have a significantly negative impact on the gift they bestow each other. Natives discriminate against co-players with a Turkish, Moroccan or European background, but not against Surinamese co-players. Surinamese players and players with an ‘other’ cultural background also demonstrated a bias in favour of players of their own or each other’s group compared to natives, Turks, Moroccan and European players. We also found an effect of the ethnic composition of groups on giving, but there is no straightforward relationship between ethnic diversity and the size of gifts. In general, gifts are largest in groups with either three natives or three non-natives, due to intra-ethnic favouritism within these groups. In case of an equal number of natives and non-natives within a group, however, there is little evidence for intra-ethnic favouritism or discrimination against the other ethnic group. Remarkably, we found a similar effect with respect to the diversity of residency within the group, i.e. the number of players who live in the Dapper neighbourhood. Regarding age, both the age of the players and the age difference between the players matters. Up till the age of 50, the size of gifts rises with the age of the player, and gifts are the largest when the players differ about 18.5 years in age, irrespective of who is older and who is younger. Consequently, solidarity seems to be stimulated by a substantial but not too large age difference. Finally, we also examine the relationship between media use and political party preferences on the one hand and gift giving on the other.
Exposure of Sperm Head Equatorin after Acrosome Reaction and Its Fate after Fertilization in Mice1

Abstract Equatorin is a sperm head equatorial protein, possibly involved in sperm-oocyte fusion (Toshimori et al., Biol Reprod 1998; 59:22–29). In the present work, we have shown that equatorin contained in the posterior acrosome is detectable only after spontaneous or induced acrosome reactions following fixation and permeabilization, but not in intact spermatozoa. The presence of protease inhibitors during sonication or ionophore treatments does not inhibit the exposure of the antigenic epitope. The zona-penetrated spermatozoa lying in the perivitelline space display equatorin, similar to those of the acrosome-reacted ones. After sperm-egg fusion during in vitro fertilization (IVF), the equatorin dissociates from the sperm head equatorial region and remains at the vicinity of the decondensing male pronuclei. During pronuclear apposition stage, it is pushed away from the pronuclei, possibly by the perinuclear microtubules. After first cleavage, equatorin is inherited by one of the proembryonic cells. The residual equatorin disappears after the second cleavage. Microinjected whole spermatozoa or sperm heads into the MII stage oocytes display equatorin similar to those of the perivitelline sperm. After activation, it dissociates from the sperm nuclei in a similar manner as during IVF. The mode of equatorin degeneration during fertilization is similar to those of the sperm tail components or mitochondria, but different from those of the membrane associated proteins.
Development of a novel system to quantify the spatial–temporal parameters for crutch-assisted quadrupedal gait

Abstract Patients with gait disorders often use bilateral crutches along with their own two legs. It is a kind of quadrupedalism. Crutch-assisted gait is usually described and evaluated qualitatively. In this study, we developed a system to quantify the spatial and temporal parameters for crutch-assisted quadrupedalism. Our system consists of walkway hardware and our originally developed software. We specifically extended the measurable area to 1200 mm × 4800 mm, large enough to measure crutch gait. Using our system, we could describe crutch gait precisely. Our system has a capability to evaluate differences between patients and changes within a patient.
SDN based service provisioning management in smart buildings

Foundation of every smart building is local area network connecting devices and systems for enabling provisioning of in-building and Internet based services. In the Internet of Things era, in-building local area networks are becoming more complex with support for plethora of access technologies, support for edge processing, interconnecting IoT gateways and supporting different mission critical services depending on low latency and high reliability all while supporting internal company business processes and high QoS for Internet based services like web browsing, content delivery and video streaming. It is evident that smart building local area networks require proper solution for context and service aware resource management. In this paper we introduce SDN-based approach and controller for context aware service provisioning management. We focus on mission critical services of building management system, VoIP for inbuilding voice communication and content delivery. We will show that our SDN controller enables context and service aware utilization of edge processing and storage capacities of the in-building IP infrastructure to ensure required QoS levels for these different classes of in-building and Internet based services.
Febrile neutropenia in children with cancer: A retrospective Norwegian multicentre study of clinical and microbiological outcome

Our objective was to describe clinical and laboratory characteristics, treatment and outcome among Norwegian children with cancer suffering from chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia (FN). We retrospectively reviewed data on paediatric FN episodes in 7 Norwegian hospitals during a 2.5-y period. A total of 236 episodes of FN occurred in 95 children. Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia was the most common diagnosis (49 patients). Blood cultures yielded growth in 39 episodes (17%). Primary empirical antibiotic regimens could be assigned to 2 main groups: 1) benzylpenicillin or ampicillin and an aminoglycoside (58%) or 2) a regimen based on third-generation cephalosporins (42%). There were no statistically significant differences in outcome between the 2 regimens in terms of need to change initial antibiotic treatment, d of fever or maximum C-reactive protein values. One infection-related death (fungal septicaemia) occurred during the study period. We conclude that incidence of septicaemia and clinical outcome is similar to recent international trials on paediatric FN, but antibiotic treatment in Norway differs from international guidelines. However, patients in our study were successfully and safely treated, irrespective of the primary empirical antibiotic regimen.
Prenatal Blockage of Lymphotoxin β Receptor and TNF Receptor p55 Signaling Cascade Resulted in the Acceleration of Tissue Genesis for Isolated Lymphoid Follicles in the Large Intestine1

Signaling by lymphotoxin (LT) and TNF is essential for the organogenesis of secondary lymphoid tissues in systemic and mucosal compartments. In this study, we demonstrated that the progeny of mice treated with fusion protein of LTβR and IgGFc (LTβR-Ig) or LTβR-Ig plus TNFR55-Ig (double Ig) showed significantly increased numbers of isolated lymphoid follicles (ILF) in the large intestine. Interestingly, double Ig treatment accelerated the maturation of large intestinal ILF. Three-week-old progeny of double Ig-treated mice showed increased numbers of ILF in the large intestine, but not in the small intestine. Furthermore, alteration of intestinal microflora by feeding of antibiotic water did not affect the increased numbers of ILF in the large intestine of double Ig-treated mice. Most interestingly, mice that developed numerous ILF also had increased levels of activation-induced cytidine deaminase expression and numbers of IgA-expressing cells in the lamina propria of the large intestine. Taken together, these results suggest that ILF formation in the large intestine is accelerated by blockage of LTβR and TNFR55 signals in utero, and ILF, like colonic patches, might play a role in the induction of IgA response in the large intestine.
The New Political Economy of Urban Education: Neoliberalism, Race, and the Right to the City. Critical Social Thought.

The book, the result of six years of activism and research into school and urban reform in Chicago, begins with a brief overview of neoliberalism. Following this, the first chapter presents Lipman’s central argument: neoliberal urban and education policies, supported and informed by White supremacist ideologies, displace African American and Latino/a working class communities as part of a project to attract urban investment. The second chapter expands upon this claim, linking post-Fordist global capitalism and White supremacy to school reform and urban policies in Chicago. The third chapter presents an analysis of the Chicago Public School Board’s Renaissance 2010 policy document and exposition of how policy actors use it together with federal education policies to further the marketization and disinvestment of public education in Chicago. In the fourth chapter, Lipman critiques mixed income housing and schooling policies and the discourses that underpin both while building further support for her claim that urban reform and school reform are part of the same neoliberal urban initiative. She finds that while framed in egalitarian rhetoric, mixed-income urban development and education policies are implicitly supported by racist discourses that disavow the structural problems facing African American and Latino/a working class communities. Moreover, the recodification of poverty as a cultural problem devalues these communities as spaces of intellectual and cultural production
Synovial fluid levels and serum pharmacokinetics in a large animal model following treatment with oral glucosamine at clinically relevant doses.

OBJECTIVE To examine the concentration of glucosamine in the synovial fluid and its pharmacokinetics in serum in a large animal model following dosing with glucosamine HCl at clinically relevant levels. METHODS Eight adult female horses were studied. After an overnight fast, glucosamine HCl (20 mg/kg of body weight) was administered by either nasogastric (NG) intubation or intravenous (IV) injection. Blood samples were collected before dosing and at 5, 15, 30, 60, 120, 180, 240, 360, 480, and 720 minutes after dosing. Synovial fluid samples were collected from the radiocarpal joints 48 hours before dosing and at 1 and 12 hours after dosing. Glucosamine was assayed by fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis. RESULTS The maximum concentration of glucosamine in serum reached approximately 300 muM ( approximately 50 microg/ml) following IV dosing and approximately 6 microM (approximately 1 microg/ml) following NG dosing. Synovial fluid concentrations reached 9-15 microM with IV dosing and 0.3-0.7 microM with NG dosing, and remained elevated (range 0.1-0.7 microM) in most animals even at 12 hours after dosing. Following NG dosing, the median serum maximal concentration of 6.1 microM (range 4.38-7.58) was attained between 30 minutes and 4 hours postdose. The mean apparent volume of distribution was 15.4 liters/kg, the mean bioavailability was 5.9%, and the mean elimination half-life was 2.82 hours. CONCLUSION Clinically relevant dosing of glucosamine HCl in this large monogastric animal model results in serum and synovial fluid concentrations that are at least 500-fold lower than those reported to modify chondrocyte anabolic and catabolic activities in tissue and cell culture experiments. We conclude that the apparent therapeutic benefit of dietary glucosamine on pain and joint space width in humans and animals may be secondary to its effects on nonarticular tissues, such as the intestinal lining, liver, or kidney, since these may be exposed to much high levels of glucosamine following ingestion.
Expression and immunolocalization of the 14-3-3 protein of Schistosoma mansoni

The 14-3-3 protein is a key player in signal transduction processes in various species. We have previously cloned and expressed the 14-3-3 of Schistosoma mansoni. Using the purified protein we have now raised antibodies against it. A highly specific, affinity-purified antibody preparation was employed for the localization of the 14-3-3 protein in the parasite, by both immunohistochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy. The results demonstrate wide distribution of this protein. It was observed in the female excretory system, the nephridia as well as in the genital systems of both sexes, namely in the vitelline gland of female and in the testis of the male. It is also present in the parenchyma and muscle of both male and female worms. Immunoelectron microscopy demonstrated the presence of immunogold-labelled protein in the tegument, subtegument, muscle, parenchyma and in the female reproductive system, in both the cytoplasm and nucleus of vitelline cells, and oocytes. The possible role of the 14-3-3 protein in the genital organs is discussed.
Evidence for an influence of chemokine ligand 3-like 1 (CCL3L1) gene copy number on susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis

Objective: There is increasing evidence that gene copy-number variation influences phenotypic variation. Chemokine ligand 3-like 1 (CCL3L1) is encoded by a variable copy-number gene, and binds to several pro-inflammatory cytokine receptors, including chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5). Considering lymphocyte recruitment by β-chemokines is a feature of autoimmunity, and that the CCR5Δ32 variant is associated with protection to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we hypothesised that CCL3L1 copy-number influences susceptibility to RA and type 1 diabetes (T1D). Methods: We measured CCL3L1 copy-number in 1136 RA cases from New Zealand (NZ) and the UK, 252 NZ T1D cases and a total of 1470 controls. All subjects were ancestrally Caucasian. Results: A copy-number higher than 2 (the most common copy number) was a risk factor for RA in the NZ cohort (odds ratio (OR) 1.34, 95% CI 1.08–1.66, p = 0.009) but not the smaller UK RA cohort (OR 1.09, 95% CI 0.75–1.60, p = 0.643). There was evidence for association in the T1D cohort (OR 1.46, 95% CI 0.98–2.20, p = 0.064) and in the combined RA/T1D cohort (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.00–1.54, p = 0.003). Genetic interaction between CCL3L1 dosage and CCR5 genotype was found; the increased genetic risk conferred by higher CCL3L1 copy-number was ablated by a dysfunctional CCR5 (CCR5Δ32). Conclusions: These data suggest that increased CCL3L1 expression may enhance inflammatory responses and increase the chance of autoimmune disease. Genetic interaction data were consistent with a biologically plausible model; CCR5Δ32 protects against RA and T1D by blocking signalling through the CCR5 pathway, mitigating the pro-inflammatory effects of excess CCL3L1.
Strong convergence of an iterative algorithm for accretive operators and nonexpansive mappings

In this paper, an iterative algorithm for finding a common point of the set of zeros of an accretive operator and the set of fixed points of a nonexpansive mapping is considered in a uniformly convex Banach space having a weakly continuous duality mapping. Under suitable control conditions, strong convergence of the sequence generated by proposed algorithm to a common point of two sets is established. The main theorems develop and complement the recent results announced by researchers in this area. c ©2016 All rights reserved.
Better open-world website fingerprinting

Website fingerprinting enables an attacker to infer the source of a web page when a client is browsing through encrypted or anonymized network connections. We present a new website fingerprinting attack based on fingerprints extracted from random decision forests. Within the context of this attack we provide an analysis of the utility of previously proposed traffic features. Our attack, k-fingerprinting, performs better than current state-of-the-art attacks even against website fingerprinting defenses. We further show that error rates vary widely between web resources, and thus some patterns of use will be predictably more vulnerable to attack than others.
Sequential Linear MIMO Precoder Optimization for Hybrid ARQ Retransmission of QAM Signals

Our investigation centers on the issue of linear precoding for hybrid-ARQ retransmissions in linear multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) channels driven by non-Gaussian inputs. Leveraging recent works on single transmission MIMO precoding , we derive the gradient of input-output mutual information with respect to precoder matrix for optimization. We further establish that the right eigenvectors of optimum precoder are determined by the associated minimum mean-square error (MMSE) matrix. We then propose a gradient algorithm for maximizing the mutual information. Compared with precoders designed for Gaussian input, our new precoders can significantly improve the input-output mutual information, especially at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and for lower dimensional constellations.
Origin of Nerves Supplying the Posterior Portion of Lumbar Intervertebral Discs in Rats

Study Design The authors studied the origin of nerves supplying the posterior portion of lumbar intervertebral discs in rats by resection of the sympathetic trunks. Objective To understand discogenic low back pain from the innervation of the lumbar intervertebral discs. Summary of Background Data The afferent pathways of discogenic low back pain have not been studied thoroughly. It has been reported that stimulation of an inflamed lower spinal nerve root elicits leg pain but not low back pain and that stimulation of the posterior portion of lumbar intervertebral discs evokes only low back pain. These facts suggest that pain sensation from the posterior portion of lumbar discs is not transmitted via the lower spinal nerve roots. Methods Forty‐five Wistar rats were used. Seven days after the resection of sympathetic trunks with ganglia at different levels, the whole lumbar spine was stained by an acetylcholinesterase histochemical method. The posterior portions of lumbar intervertebral discs were observed. Results The dense nerve network on the posterior portion of lumbar intervertebral discs had disappeared almost completely after total resection of bilateral sympathetic trunks at L2‐L6. However, there was a slight decrease in the network after bilateral single‐level resection or unilateral multisegmental resection. Conclusions The results showed that the posterior portion of lumbar intervertebral discs was innervated by the sympathetic nerves multisegmentally and bilaterally.
Pulmonary Function in Infants with Swallowing Dysfunction

Background Swallowing dysfunction can lead to recurring aspiration and is frequently associated with chronic symptoms such as cough and wheezing in infants. Our objective was to describe the characteristics of infants with swallowing dysfunction, determine if pulmonary function abnormalities are detectable, and if they improve after therapy. Methods We studied 38 infants with a history of coughing and wheezing who had pulmonary function tests performed within two weeks of their diagnosis of swallowing dysfunction. The raised lung volume rapid thoracoabdominal compression technique was used. After 6 months of therapy, 17 of the infants repeated the tests. Results Initially, 25 had abnormal spirometry, 18 had abnormal plethysmography, and 15 demonstrated bronchodilator responsiveness. Six months later test were repeated for seventeen patients. Ten patients had continued abnormal spirometry, two patients remained normal, three patients’ abnormal spirometry had normalized, and two patients’ previously normal studies became abnormal. Eight of the 17 patients had continued abnormal plethysmography, six had continued normal plethysmography, and three patients’ normal plethysmography became abnormal. After 6 months of treatment, eight patients demonstrated bronchodilator responsiveness, of which five continued to demonstrate bronchodilator responsiveness and three developed responsiveness. The remainder either continued to be non- bronchodilator responsive (two) or lost responsiveness (three.) The findings of the abnormal tests in most infants tested is complicated by frequent occurrence of other co-morbidities in this population, including gastroesophageal reflux in 23 and passive smoke exposure in 13 of the infants. Conclusions The interpretation of lung function changes is complicated by the frequent association of swallowing dysfunction with gastroesophageal reflux and passive smoke exposure in this population. Six months of medical therapy for swallowing dysfunction/gastroesophageal reflux did not significantly improve pulmonary function in these infants. Long-term studies will be necessary to determine which of these changes persists into adulthood.