Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gamma Interferon Primes Productive Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Astrocytes

ABSTRACT Considerable controversy exists over whether astrocytes can support human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. We evaluated the impact of three cytokines critical to the development of HIV neuropathogenesis, gamma interferon (IFN-γ), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, and tumor necrosis factor alpha, on priming astrocytes for HIV infection. We demonstrate that IFN-γ was the most potent in its ability to facilitate substantial productive HIV infection of an astroglioma cell line (U87MG) and human fetal astrocytes (HFA). The mechanism of IFN-γ-mediated priming of HIV in HFA is unlikely to be at the level of up-regulation of receptors and coreceptors relevant to HIV entry. These data demonstrate that cytokine priming can alter HIV replication in astrocytes.
The new cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines: what you need to know.

A significant milestone in evidencebased practice was reached in November 2013, when the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology (AHA/ACC) published 4 clinical practice guidelines on the prevention of cardiovascular disease. These guidelines—on obesity, lifestyle management, cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment, and cholesterol—were developed under the auspices of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to update its prior guidelines on the treatment of hypertension, high cholesterol, and obesity that were published more than a decade ago. After the NHLBI had organized the respective guideline panels and progressed through most of the guideline development process (which lasted several years each), it arranged for the AHA/ACC to assume sponsorship and publication of the guidelines. The NHLBI decided its role should be to develop evidence reports, leaving the development of guidelines to professional organizations. While the prior guidelines on hypertension and hypercholesterolemia were influential and widely cited as the standard of care, they were heavily influenced by expert opinion and were not strictly evidence based. The NHLBI sought to develop the new guidelines using more contemporary and rigorous evidence-based processes to meet standards set by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The group started with key clinical questions, conducted comprehensive systematic reviews of the evidence, and then rated the quality of the evidence and assigned strength of recommendation ratings. The guidelines and evidence reports are lengthy, and are summarized below. In December 2013, the Eighth Joint National Committee (the 5th panel organized by the NHLBI to address CVD prevention) published its updated guideline on the treatment of hypertension, which has also generated controversy. Visit www.jfponline. com to listen to an audiocast summary of these recommendations.
Semi-reversible quantization based data hiding using missing samples recovery technique

A blind semi-invertible quantization based data hiding scheme, which reconstructs the original signal with high precision has been proposed. In order to produce correlated quantization yielding reversibility of the quantization based approach, a new transform domain has been introduced. In decoder, by compensating the quantization error and using the iterative technique, the original signal is recovered; then the watermarked signal is compared with the reconstructed original signal and hidden data is retrieved. Simulation results show that the proposed method in comparison with other reversible methods imposes less distortion and thus a higher Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) is achieved.
Characterization of salivary alpha-amylase binding to Streptococcus sanguis

The purpose of this study was to identify the major salivary components which interact with oral bacteria and to determine the mechanism(s) responsible for their binding to the bacterial surface. Strains of Streptococcus sanguis, Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus mutans, and Actinomyces viscosus were incubated for 2 h in freshly collected human submandibular-sublingual saliva (HSMSL) or parotid saliva (HPS), and bound salivary components were eluted with 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate. By sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western transfer, alpha-amylase (EC 3.2.1.1) was the prominent salivary component eluted from S. sanguis. Studies with 125I-labeled HSMSL or 125I-labeled HPS also demonstrated a component with an electrophoretic mobility identical to that of alpha-amylase which bound to S. sanguis. Purified alpha-amylase from human parotid saliva was radiolabeled and found to bind to strains of S. sanguis genotypes 1 and 3 and S. mitis genotype 2, but not to strains of other species of oral bacteria. Binding of [125I]alpha-amylase to streptococci was saturable, calcium independent, and inhibitable by excess unlabeled alpha-amylases from a variety of sources, but not by secretory immunoglobulin A and the proline-rich glycoprotein from HPS. Reduced and alkylated alpha-amylase lost enzymatic and bacterial binding activities. Binding was inhibited by incubation with maltotriose, maltooligosaccharides, limit dextrins, and starch.
Surgical Treatment of Axillary Hyperhidrosis: A Study Comparing Liposuction Cannulas With a Suction-Curettage Cannula

Background:Suction-curettage is a minimally invasive surgical approach for the treatment of focal axillary hyperhidrosis. Studies comparing the efficacy of different surgical cannulas are missing. Therefore, we gravimetrically compared a specially designed cannula versus 2 standard liposuction cannulas. Methods:Axillary suction-curettage was performed in 42 patients (n = 42). Fourteen patients (n = 14) were operated with a 1-hole liposuction cannula, 14 patients (n = 14) with a larger 3-hole liposuction cannula, and 14 (n = 14) with a sharp suction-curettage cannula. Sweat rates in mg/min were measured by gravimetry before and 6 months after surgery. Results:Sweat rate in the 1-hole liposuction cannula group was significantly reduced from 57.65 ± 5.85 mg/min to 32.58 ± 4.64 mg/min (P < 0.001), corresponding to a reduction of 44.15%. Patients operated with the larger 3-hole liposuction cannula showed a significant reduction of sweat rate from 63.95 ± 8.25 mg/min to 33.14 ± 6.25 mg/min (P < 0.001), corresponding to a reduction of 49.19%. The largest reduction of sweat rates (63.07%) was achieved with the suction-curettage cannula (61.85 ± 9.03 mg/min to 21.27 ± 4.42 mg/min (P < 0.001). No severe side effects were observed. Conclusion:Due to the higher efficacy we recommend performing suction-curettage with a sharp suction-curettage cannula.
Identifying drug-pathway association pairs based on L1L2,1-integrative penalized matrix decomposition

The traditional methods of drug discovery follow the “one drug-one target” approach, which ignores the cellular and physiological environment of the action mechanism of drugs. However, pathway-based drug discovery methods can overcome this limitation. This kind of method, such as the Integrative Penalized Matrix Decomposition (iPaD) method, identifies the drug-pathway associations by taking the lasso-type penalty on the regularization term. Moreover, instead of imposing the L1-norm regularization, the L2,1-Integrative Penalized Matrix Decomposition (L2,1-iPaD) method imposes the L2,1-norm penalty on the regularization term. In this paper, based on the iPaD and L2,1-iPaD methods, we propose a novel method named L1L2,1-iPaD (L1L2,1-Integrative Penalized Matrix Decomposition), which takes the sum of the L1-norm and L2,1-norm penalties on the regularization term. Besides, we perform permutation test to assess the significance of the identified drug-pathway association pairs and compute the P-values. Compared with the existing methods, our method can identify more drug-pathway association pairs which have been validated in the CancerResource database. In order to identify drug-pathway associations which are not validated in the CancerResource database, we retrieve published papers to prove these associations. The results on two real datasets prove that our method can achieve better enrichment for identified association pairs than the iPaD and L2,1-iPaD methods.
Development and Testing of a Passive Variable-Pitch Propeller Stearns

A novel approach to passive propeller blade pitch variation is investigated. To effect passive pitch changes, the propeller blades are allowed to pivot freely about a radial axis, and aerodynamic pitchingmoments are tailored to give favorablebladepitch angles over awide range of advance ratios.Computationalmodelingof the system indicated that a large expansion of the efficient operating envelope is possible, compared to a fixed-pitch propeller. Wind-tunnel experiments corroborated the computational results and demonstrated that the propeller maintained near-peak efficiency by passively adjusting blade pitch angles by over 15 deg to the match changing advance ratio. The passive variable-pitch propeller was then successfully demonstrated in flight on an unmanned aerial vehicle. Using tailored aerodynamics in place of active control allows this performance improvement to be realized at a fraction of theweight and complexity of a traditionally actuated variable-pitch propeller. The concept enables the benefits to be realized on platforms for which a traditional constant-speed variable-pitch propeller is not viable, such as on small general aviation aircraft or on unmanned platforms.
Early Eutrophication in the Lower Great Lakes:

New Evidence from Biogenic Silica in Sediments New evidence from studies of biogenic silica and diatoms in sediment cores indicates that eutrophication in the lower Great Lakes resulted from nutrient enrichment associated with early settlement and forest clearance. Diatom production peaked from 1820 to 1850 in Lake Ontario, at about 1880 in Lake Erie, but not until 1970 in Lake Michigan. This is the first reported sediment record of the silica-depletion sequence for the Great Lakes.
Effects of treatment of dairy cows with recombinant bovine somatotropin over three or four lactations.

Jersey, Dutch Red and White, and Friesian cows were subcutaneously injected with 640 mg of recombinant bST at 28-d intervals from 87 to 115 d after calving through four successive lactations. A TMR (6.72 MJ of NEL) and 168 g of CP/kg of DM) was fed for ad libitum consumption. The bST effects per day were 3.3 kg for milk yield, 189 g for fat yield, 109 g for protein yield, 157 g for lactose yield, 4 MJ of NEL for feed intake, and -4 kg for body weight. Responses in blood parameters measured 7 d after injection were -. 007 mmol/L for glucose, -1.3 mg of N/100 ml for urea, 221 mumol/L for 3-hydroxybutyrate, 59 mumol/L for NEFA, 65 ng/L for insulin, 2.8 micrograms/L for thyroxine, and 26.7 micrograms/L for somatotropin. Somatic cell count in milk was 75,000 cells/ml higher in treated cows. Concentrations of NEFA, Ca, Mg, and phosphorus were unaffected. Repeatability of the maximum response in milk yield after bST treatment was low: . 2 within and . 5 between lactations. Cows treated in the previous lactation had slightly more retained placentas, and birth weight of their calves was 2 kg less. No differences were observed between treated and control cows in disease incidence. Six treated cows were culled in third and fourth lactations. No indications for tissue damage, inflammation, or stress after bST injections were detected.
Wage Price Spirals *

When ﬁrms and workers disagree on the relative price of labor and goods, they try to outpace each other in setting nominal wages and prices, and inﬂation follows. This mechanism is at work in a standard new Keynesian model, where the degree of disagreement is tied to the distance of aggregate output from its natural level. We look at how different shocks translate into different degrees of inﬂationary pressure on the good market and on the labor market side of the model. Depending on the relative force of these pressures, real wages can increase or fall. The direction in which the real wage moves is not indicative of how powerful the wage price spiral is. If the economy features a scarce non-labor input, inelastically supplied, with a relatively ﬂexible price, episodes of excess demand are characterized by an initial spike in the input price, followed by persistent price inﬂation, and by a smaller but more persistent increase in wage inﬂation. The real wage falls early on and recovers later. In response to a supply shock optimal policy may involve choosing a positive output gap, if it helps relieve negative pressure on nominal wages.
Fructose consumption: potential mechanisms for its effects to increase visceral adiposity and induce dyslipidemia and insulin resistance

Purpose of review Based on interim results from an ongoing study, we have reported that consumption of a high-fructose diet, but not a high-glucose diet, promotes the development of three of the pathological characteristics associated with metabolic syndrome: visceral adiposity, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. From these results and a review of the current literature, we present two potential sequences of events by which fructose consumption may contribute to metabolic syndrome. Recent findings The earliest metabolic perturbation resulting from fructose consumption is postprandial hypertriglyceridemia, which may increase visceral adipose deposition. Visceral adiposity contributes to hepatic triglyceride accumulation, novel protein kinase C activation, and hepatic insulin resistance by increasing the portal delivery of free fatty acids to the liver. With insulin resistance, VLDL production is upregulated and this, along with systemic free fatty acids, increase lipid delivery to muscle. It is also possible that fructose initiates hepatic insulin resistance independently of visceral adiposity and free fatty acid delivery. By providing substrate for hepatic lipogenesis, fructose may result in a direct lipid overload that leads to triglyceride accumulation, novel protein kinase C activation, and hepatic insulin resistance. Summary Our investigation and future studies of the effects of fructose consumption may help to clarify the sequence of events leading to development of metabolic syndrome.
The Role of IFN-alpha in Experimental and Clinical Uveitis

ABSTRACT Purpose: IFN-α is the only treatment capable of inducing long-term remission in some patients with ocular Behçet’s disease. In this review, we focus on immune mechanisms of IFN-α in animal models and patients and compare the outcome of different clinical studies. Methods: Review of literature using PubMed and Google and original data from rat models with monophasic/chronic or relapsing experimental autoimmune uveitis treated with IFN-α. Results: The role of IFN-α and its effect on various cell types were investigated, in some cases with contradictory results. Some patients respond very well to IFN-α treatment, while others are non-responders, which was reflected in the uveitis rat models: relapsing uveitis was ameliorated, the monophasic/chronic disease even aggravated. Conclusions: Despite intensive investigations in patients and animal models, the immune mechanisms explaining the therapeutic effect of IFN-α in ocular Behçet’s disease are not yet fully understood and need further investigation.
Introduction of Aedes albopictus in Gabon: what consequences for dengue and chikungunya transmission?

The 2007 outbreak of chikungunya in Gabon has indicated the potential of this disease to spread beyond its usual range ensuing from the expansion of the mosquito Aedes albopictus. A few cases of dengue (DEN) infection were also detected. Because little is known about the potential for Gabonese mosquito species to transmit both chikungunya and DEN viruses (DENV), we conducted studies to determine the susceptibility of Ae. albopictus and Aedes aegypti collected in Libreville to both viruses by experimental infections. Disseminated infection rates were high for Ae. albopictus infected with chikungunya virus (CHIKV) (66.7–86%) and low with DENV (13–21.4%). Moreover, Ae. aegypti sp. formosus was a less efficient vector of CHIKV than Ae. albopictus. The recent introduction and dissemination of chikungunya associated with the invasion of Ae. albopictus in Africa illustrates the potential for CHIKV to spread to other parts of the world.
The Effects of United Way Membership on Employee Pay in Nonprofit Organizations

This research investigates the relationship between United Way membership and the compensation level of employees in nonprofit organizations. This study is based on questionnaires completed by 1,811 employees from sixty-nine nonprofit agencies in a large metropolitan area. Managerial capitalism, agency theory, and United Way funding and governance roles were used to develop the hypotheses. We found that employees of organizations belonging to the United Way receive pay premiums, suggesting that the United Way member agencies are higher-quality agencies that pay their employees higher wages.
A circuit technique improving the image rejection of RF front-ends

This work presents a technique to reduce the phase errors of quadrature signals. The proposed concept is demonstrated on a 2.4-GHz single-sideband up-converter in a 0.35-/spl mu/m BiCMOS process. The quadrature LO signals are obtained on-chip by means of two coupled oscillators, achieving a figure-of-merit of 186 dB. The image-rejection ratio improves by 7 to 11dB across the 28% LO tuning range with respect to a conventional design. The whole circuit dissipates 47 mW.
The liability market value as benchmark in pension fund performance measurement

Often performance of pension funds is assessed based on the development of the assets only, neglecting the simultaneous development of the liabilities. This especially is the case in Switzerland, one of the world's largest markets for corporate pension funds. We create a new liability benchmark for referencing the asset performance. Measuring the asset performance with respect to the liability benchmark yields the Asset-Liability-Result. We apply the model to (i) the Swiss pension fund market as a whole and (ii) an individual Swiss pension fund. With our new approach, we are able to show that the pension fundsâ€™ recovery from the recent financial crisis took much longer than the value increase of the asset portfolios suggests. We strongly advocate the use of a liability benchmark for analyzing the entire pension fund marketsâ€™ performance and specifically as operational tool for individual pension funds.
The Dynamics of Political Control of the Bureaucracy

A new paradigm of political-bureaucratic relations emerged through the 1980s holding that U.S. democratic institutions continuously shape nonelective public bureaucracies. Several empirical studies support the paradigm with evidence suggestive of political manipulation but none reveals the scope or specific mechanisms of political control. We explore the dynamics of political control of the bureaucracy explicitly to determine the scope and mechanisms. We examine output time series from seven different public bureaucracies for responsiveness to political tools applied in the late Carter and early Reagan administrations. We find responsiveness in all seven cases. The evidence also shows that political appointments—a shared power of the president and Congress—is the most important instrument of political control; changing budgets, legislation, congressional signals, and administrative reorganizations are less important. These findings confirm intuitive assertions by institutional scholars and suggest a method of “policy monitoring” that could enhance future democratic control of the bureaucracy.
B-lymphoma induction by reticuloendotheliosis virus: characterization of a mutated chicken syncytial virus provirus involved in c-myc activation

Nondefective reticuloendotheliosis virus induces chicken bursal lymphoma in a manner similar to that of avian leukosis virus. The provirus integrates in the c-myc locus and uses a promoter insertion mechanism to activate c-myc expression. We cloned a provirus involved in c-myc activation from a B lymphoma. Detailed structural characterization of this clone, including sequence determination, revealed proviral insertion at 512 base pairs preceding the second c-myc exon. The provirus has a deletion of 80% of the viral genes but retains two intact long terminal repeats (LTRs). A segment of the viral env sequence is present in an inverted orientation. Elevated expression of c-myc, apparently directed by the 3' LTR, was detected. However, despite the presence of an intact 5' LTR, no viral transcripts were detected. Thus, the internal proviral rearrangement can affect 5' LTR transcription or stability of the message or both. This finding is in consonance with the view that proviral deletion plays an important role in the induction of bursal lymphomas by nonacute retroviruses.
A survey on the use of the Internet for investor relations in the USA, the UK and Germany

In this paper, the role of the Internet as an instrument for investor relations activities is addressed. The empirical study compares the Internet investor relations activities of US, UK and German corporations. A sample comprising the respective country's relevant stock market 100 index (S&P, FTSE, DAX) is used. The authors find that, in the USA, investor relations via the Internet is more common and offers more features than in the other two countries. Although Internet technology offers a variety of possibilities to communicate with investors, the possibilities are only used partially in all three countries.
Predictors of asthma severity during the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj).

INTRODUCTION The annual pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) is one of the largest gatherings in the world and thus its participants are exposed to various communicable and noncommunicable diseases. This provides an opportunity to study travel epidemiology. OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to estimate the predictors of asthma severity during the Hajj. PATIENTS AND METHODS The study cohort was recruited from patients who presented to the emergency department (ED) of the King Abdul Aziz Hospital, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, between December 3 and 18, 2008 (5-20 Dhul-Hijjah 1429 H). We included newly diagnosed and previously documented cases presenting with asthma symptoms. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected and the risk factors were assessed. The severity of asthma exacerbation was measured according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute guidelines. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software. RESULTS The study involved 58 subjects, including 38 women (65.5%). There were 27 subjects (46.6%) with mild asthma attack, 18 (31%) with moderate asthma attack, and no cases with life-threatening asthma. Insignificantly increased risk of severe asthma attack was observed in the following groups: women, people aged 46-60 years, pilgrims (hajis) who did not belong to a hajj group, non-hajis, illiterates, and nonsmokers - the odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval [CI]) was 3.7 (0.7-18.5), 1.7 (0.5-6.3), 2.4 (0.7-8.5), 5.1 (0.6-44.1), 2.3 (0.7-9.1), and 2.0 (0.4-10.4), respectively. Forty-six subjects (79.3%) had a history of allergy to components of smoke, detergents, dust, animal dander, and perfumes, while only 5 patients (8.6%) had drug allergy. High risk of severe asthma was observed in subjects with a history of drug allergy, as well as in obese subjects and those who often presented to the ED - OR (95% CI) was 6.5 (0.9-43.9), 18.0 (4.0-80.7), and 3.1 (0.8-11.5), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Higher risk of severe asthma attack was observed in women, people aged 46-60 years, hajis who did not belong to a hajj group, non-hajis, illiterates, nonsmokers, obese patients, and those who often presented to the ED within the previous 12 months due to asthma exacerbation.