Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of the inflamatory potential of inhalable organic aerosols present in an urban atmosphere

Airborne particulate matter (PM), are defined as solid or liquid particles suspended in a gas (i.e., atmosphere), and are typically distributed in three sizeranges: PM10 (coarse PM, aerodynamic diameter < 10μm), PM2.5 (fine PM, aerodynamic diameter < 2.5μm) and PM1.0 (ultrafine PM, aerodynamic diameter < 1.0μm). These particles can be emitted directly into the atmosphere from both anthropogenic and natural sources, or formed in situ in the atmosphere through physico-chemical processes. The PM plays a significant role in diverse atmospheric and climatic processes, as well as on human health by increasing the risk of cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, the susceptibility to infections, and having carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. Particularly, in the lungs, the main effects of PM described in the literature include the induction of oxidative stress and inflammation, occasionally leading to lung injury. The knowledge of the harmful effects of PM on public health is fundamentally due to studies carried out with particles, being the contribution of the fraction of watersoluble organic matter (WSOM) largely unknown. Therefore, the present work aims to characterize the WSOM fraction of PM2.5, collected during autumn season, and assess its effects on macrophages. The structural characterization of the WSOM from atmospheric particles, by means of proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy, showed that samples collected during the night have higher content of aromatic and oxygenated structures than those collected during the day, with the later exhibiting higher content of aliphatic structures. Furthermore, the structural characterization of the WSOM samples by means of two-dimensional (2D) NMR spectroscopy also allowed the identification of different structural components and the tentative assignment of their sources. The biological assays on the effect of an acute exposure (24h) to the WSOM samples showed that both day and night samples induced an increase in the transcription of the detoxifying enzyme Hmox, and the proinflammatory molecules Il1b, Il6 and Nos2. It was also observed that these extracts present antioxidant activity in chemico and in vitro. In the biological assays of prolonged exposure (3 weeks) at physiologically relevant concentrations, it was observed a small increase in the transcription of the studied genes. However, the obtained data show that these macrophages present a limited capacity to respond to an inflammatory agent such as bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In general, the obtained results show that a prolonged exposure to WSOM present in atmospheric particles can induce or worsen an inflammatory response at the pulmonary level, leading however, to a limited capacity of response of the macrophages to invading agents which could increase the susceptibility to infections.
Human ES and iPS cells as cell sources for the treatment of Parkinson's disease: Current state and problems

Cell therapy using human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) is a promising therapeutic option for Parkinson's disease (PD), an incurable neurodegenerative disease. A prerequisite for clinical application of hESCs for PD is an efficient and strict differentiation of hESCs into midbrain dopamine (mDA) neuron‐like cells, which would be directly translated into high effectiveness of the therapy with minimum risk of undesirable side effects. Due to fruitful efforts from many laboratories, a variety of strategies for improving efficiency of dopaminergic differentiation from hESCs have been developed, mostly by optimizing culture conditions, genetic modification, and modulating intracellular signaling pathways. The rapid advances in the fields of dopaminergic differentiation of hESCs, prevention of tumor formation, and establishment of safe human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) would open the door to highly effective, tumor‐free, and immune rejection‐free cell therapy for PD in the near future. J. Cell. Biochem. 109: 292–301, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Antiviral Responses in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

Background: mESCs are deficient in type I IFN expression. Results: mESCs can respond to type I IFNs and express interferon-stimulated genes. Conclusion: mESCs are unable to express type I IFNs but can respond to type I IFNs. Significance: The findings are important for understanding the antiviral mechanisms and innate immunity in ESCs. We have recently reported that mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) are deficient in expressing type I interferons (IFNs) in response to viral infection and synthetic viral RNA analogs (Wang, R., Wang, J., Paul, A. M., Acharya, D., Bai, F., Huang, F., and Guo, Y. L. (2013) J. Biol. Chem. 288, 15926–15936). Here, we report that mESCs are able to respond to type I IFNs, express IFN-stimulated genes, and mediate the antiviral effect of type I IFNs against La Crosse virus and chikungunya virus. The major signaling components in the IFN pathway are expressed in mESCs. Therefore, the basic molecular mechanisms that mediate the effects of type I IFNs are functional in mESCs; however, these mechanisms may not yet be fully developed as mESCs express lower levels of IFN-stimulated genes and display weaker antiviral activity in response to type I IFNs when compared with fibroblasts. Further analysis demonstrated that type I IFNs do not affect the stem cell state of mESCs. We conclude that mESCs are deficient in type I IFN expression, but they can respond to and mediate the cellular effects of type I IFNs. These findings represent unique and uncharacterized properties of mESCs and are important for understanding innate immunity development and ESC physiology.
Canadian guidelines on sexually transmitted infections, 2006

The 2006 edition of the Canadian Guidelines on Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) is available online (at [www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/std-mts/sti\_2006/sti\_intro2006_e.html][1]) and in hard copy from the Canadian Public Health Association. For this edition, revision and chapter review followed an even
Induction of eye-derived tolerance does not depend on naturally occurring CD4+CD25+ T regulatory cells.

PURPOSE Regulatory CD4+ T cells (T regs) arise in the spleens of mice with anterior chamber-associated immune deviation (ACAID), an eye-derived tolerance evoked by injection of antigen into the ocular anterior chamber (AC). The current study was conducted to investigate the possibility that these T regs express CD25 and are derived from natural CD4+CD25+ T cells. METHODS Naïve T cells from DO11.10 mice were activated in vitro by ovalbumin (OVA)-pulsed, TGFbeta-treated antigen-presenting cells (APCs), and the expression of CD25 assayed by flow cytometry. OVA-specific ACAID T regs were obtained from the spleens of DO11.10 mice with ACAID to OVA. Immunomagnetic enrichment was used to sort out CD4+CD25+, and CD4+CD25- ACAID T cells before they were injected into OVA-immunized mice or examined for mRNA expression of the regulatory T-cell transcription factor Foxp3. In addition, before AC injection of OVA, systemic depletion of CD25+ T cells was performed with injections of anti-IL-2 receptor antibody into the mice. RESULTS OVA-specific T cells from DO11.10 mice expressed CD25 when exposed to OVA-pulsed, TGFbeta-treated APCs, even when the DO11.10 T cells were depleted of CD25+ cells before their in vitro stimulation. In addition, DH was suppressed in naïve mice that were injected with CD4+CD25+ or CD4+CD25- ACAID T cells. The CD4+CD25+, but not the CD4+CD25-, ACAID T regs expressed Foxp3. Finally, OVA induced ACAID in mice depleted of CD25+ cells. CONCLUSIONS Some of the CD4+ T regs of ACAID arise from CD25- precursors, and the induction of ACAID is not dependent on the presence of natural CD4+CD25+ T regs.
High-resolution modeling of the 25 December 2002 Northeast U.S. banded snowstorm

Mesoscale band formation on the poleward side of extratropical cyclones can dramatically affect precipitation intensity and amount. These bands are favored during the cold season, and are often associated with midlevel frontogenesis in the presence of weak moist symmetric stability and sufficient moisture (Thorpe and Emanuel 1985; Nicosa and Grumm 1999; Novak et al. 2004a). Several observational case studies have focused on the development and evolution of such bands (e.g., Sanders and Bosart 1985). However, studies investigating high-resolution (≤ 12 km) modeling of these features have been limited (e.g., Han et al. 2003). Given the impact cold season mesoscale band formation has on precipitation intensity and amount, there is a need to further explore the capability of high-resolution models to simulate such cold season mesoscale banding events. This study will use the fifth-generation Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5) and Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) modeling frameworks to explore the capabilities of high-resolution models to simulate the development of banded precipitation during the 25 December 2002 snowstorm. Particular emphasis is placed on comparing the MM5 and WRF forecasts of the mesoscale band observed during this case.
Pravastatin activates platelet nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and NOS activation is accompanied by serine phosphorylation.

Statins cause reductions in myocardial infarction and also morbidity and mortality of type 2 diabetes related to atheromatous disease and its thrombotic complications beyond those predicted by reductions in low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL). ~ 1,2 It has been suggested that the protective mechanism(s) may relate to improved endothelial function and/or antithrombotic effects, but the mechanism is not clear.
Differential Regulation of Effector- and Central-Memory Responses to Toxoplasma gondii Infection by IL-12 Revealed by Tracking of Tgd057-Specific CD8+ T Cells

Production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-12 by innate phagocytes drives the differentiation of IFN-γ-producing effector T cells during Toxoplasma gondii infection. However, the role of IL-12 in the regulation of memory CD8+ T cell differentiation and function during murine toxoplasmosis is unclear. To track memory CTL development, we identified a novel H-2Kb-restricted CTL population specific for the Toxoplasma antigen tgd057. Tgd057-specific CTLs were induced by both vaccination and natural peroral infection, and were representative of the polyclonal CTL population. Tgd057-specific primary effector cells required IL-12 for the differentiation of KLRG1+ effector subpopulations and IFN-γ production in response to restimulation with parasite-infected cells, but not to restimulation with cognate peptide. The effect of IL-12 deficiency during the primary response was profoundly imprinted on memory CTLs, which continued to show defects in cell numbers, KLRG1+ effector memory subpopulation differentiation, and IFN-γ recall responses. Importantly, isolated CD62Lhi KLRG1- CD8+ T cells differentiated in the absence of IL-12 were enhanced in their ability to generate IFN-γ-producing secondary tgd057-specific effector cells. Our data, for the first time, demonstrate the negative impact of IL-12 signaling on the quality of the central memory CTL compartment. Thus, despite the beneficial role of IL-12 in promoting effector differentiation, excessive exposure to IL-12 during CTL priming may limit the development of long-term protective immunity through the decreased fitness of central memory CTL responses.
Arabidopsis Seed Development and Germination Is Associated with Temporally Distinct Metabolic Switches1[W]

While the metabolic networks in developing seeds during the period of reserve accumulation have been extensively characterized, much less is known about those present during seed desiccation and subsequent germination. Here we utilized metabolite profiling, in conjunction with selective mRNA and physiological profiling to characterize Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seeds throughout development and germination. Seed maturation was associated with a significant reduction of most sugars, organic acids, and amino acids, suggesting their efficient incorporation into storage reserves. The transition from reserve accumulation to seed desiccation was associated with a major metabolic switch, resulting in the accumulation of distinct sugars, organic acids, nitrogen-rich amino acids, and shikimate-derived metabolites. In contrast, seed vernalization was associated with a decrease in the content of several of the metabolic intermediates accumulated during seed desiccation, implying that these intermediates might support the metabolic reorganization needed for seed germination. Concomitantly, the levels of other metabolites significantly increased during vernalization and were boosted further during germination sensu stricto, implying their importance for germination and seedling establishment. The metabolic switches during seed maturation and germination were also associated with distinct patterns of expression of genes encoding metabolism-associated gene products, as determined by semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and analysis of publicly available microarray data. When taken together our results provide a comprehensive picture of the coordinated changes in primary metabolism that underlie seed development and germination in Arabidopsis. They furthermore imply that the metabolic preparation for germination and efficient seedling establishment initiates already during seed desiccation and continues by additional distinct metabolic switches during vernalization and early germination.
State of Water Supply Sources and Sanitation in Nigeria: Implications for Muslims in Ikare-Akoko Township

Access to sanitation and water supply is a fundamental need and a human right, vital to the life, health, and dignity of human beings. According to the World Health Organization, improved water supply and adequate sanitation would result in a 25 % to 33 % reduction in diarrheal diseases in the developing world, which now accounts for 4 billion cases each year; decreased incidence of intestinal worm infestations that lead to malnutrition, anemia, and retarded growth; and control of blindness due to trachoma and schistosomiasis, which are also water related. In Nigeria, less than 50 % of the population have access to improved water supply and sanitation. The percentage varies from urban to rural communities and from cities to villages. Ikare-Akoko is one of the towns that suffers from deficient water supply and sanitation. This study was carried out to establish the implications of unsafe water-supply sources and poor sanitation on Muslims in Ikare-Akoko Township, Nigeria. The study revealed that the main s.
Quality Assessment for Reassembled Image Files

Reassembling fragmented image files plays a crucial role in seizing digital evidence from scattered digital image files. However, little attention has been paid to the quality assessment for reassembled image files. We propose a method to assign a reassembled image file with a score indicating its quality, defined as the amount of information that the reassembled image affords for its original image. The score ranges from 0 to 1. A higher score indicates better quality. The basic idea of the proposed method is to disintegrate the quality assessment of a reassembled image file into the calculations of the contributions of the fragments contained in the reassembled image file. For each fragment, if it is not from the original image file, it affords the least contribution. Otherwise its contribution depends on the extent to which the fragment and its neighbor fragments are concatenated correctly. We validate the performance of the proposed method with an extensive subjective study involving 588 reassembled image files. We also show that the existing quality assessments for images cannot be directly used to assess the quality of reassembled image files.
Ethnic differences in viral dominance patterns in patients with hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus dual infection

Studies of hepatitis B virus (HBV)/hepatitis C virus (HCV) dual infection are limited. Most are small, conducted outside the United States, and compare dual infection with HCV monoinfection. The goal of this study was to characterize HBV/HCV dual infection in a large multiethnic, matched, case‐control study of dual‐infected and HBV‐monoinfected patients at two United States centers. Using an International Classification of Disease Version 9 electronic query and chart review, we identified 115 HBV/HCV dual‐infected patients with serial HBV DNA, HCV RNA, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. As a control, 115 HBV‐monoinfected patients were chosen randomly and matched with cases by age ±10 years, sex, Asian versus non‐Asian ethnicity, and study site. Both groups had similar sex, ethnic, and age distributions (68% male, 83% Asian, age 52 ± 14 years). The median follow‐up times were 33 and 38 months for the dual‐infected and monoinfected groups, respectively. More monoinfected patients received HBV antiviral therapy than dual‐infected patients (43% versus 24%; P = 0.002). No significant difference was detected between the proportion of monoinfected versus dual‐infected patients with ALT above 40 U/L at presentation or during follow‐up. Dual infection patients exhibited very little HBV/HCV codominance at baseline and throughout follow‐up: patients had either HBV viremia with low or absent HCV RNA or detectable HCV RNA with low or absent HBV DNA. Asian ethnicity was predictive of HBV dominance after adjusting for sex, age, and baseline ALT elevation (odds ratio 7.35; P = 0.01). Conclusion: HBV/HCV dual‐infected and HBV‐monoinfected patients had similar clinical characteristics. Asian ethnicity is a major independent predictor of HBV‐dominant disease, and HCV dominance with undetectable HBV DNA is more common in non‐Asian individuals. Larger studies are needed to further characterize the natural history of HBV/HCV dual infection in Asian and non‐Asian individuals. (HEPATOLOGY 2011;)
ffective attenuation anisotropy of thin-layered media

One of the well-known factors responsible for the anisotropy of seismic attenuation is interbedding of thin attenuative layers with different properties. Here, we apply Backus averaging to obtain the complex stiffness matrix of an effective medium formed by an arbitrary number of anisotropic, attenuative constituents. Unless the intrinsic attenuation is uncommonly strong, the effective velocity function is controlled by the real-valued stiffnesses i.e., independent of attenuation and can be determined from the known equations for purely elastic media. Attenuation analysis is more complicated because the attenuation parameters are influenced by the coupling between the real and imaginary parts of the stiffness matrix. The main focus of this work is on effective transversely isotropic models with a vertical symmetry axis VTI that include isotropic and VTI constituents. Assuming that the stiffness contrasts, as well as the intrinsic velocity and attenuation anisotropy, are weak, we develop explicit first-order linear and second-order quadratic approximations for the attenuation-anisotropy parameters Q, Q, and Q. Whereas the first-order approximation for each parameter isgiven sim-
High factor VIII plasma levels as a risk factor for venous thrombosis: no evidence of inheritance from a family cohort study.

We assessed inheritance of high factor VIII:C (FVIII:C greater than or equal to150%) levels in 52 probands carrying factor V Leiden and 176 first-degree relatives. Although age-adjusted FVIII:C levels aggregated within families, relatives of probands with FVIII:C levels greater than or equal to150% and <150% were comparable regarding median FVIII:C levels, cumulative distribution curves, and annual incidence of venous thromboembolism. Aggregation of high FVIII:C levels could not be explained by inheritance and was not predictable from FVIII:C levels in probands
Approximation schemes for PSPACE-complete problems for succinct specifications (preliminary version)

We study the existence of polynomial time approximation algorithms and approximation schemes for a number of basic problems in the literature including the various natural problems in [Ba83, Ka91, Ka92, PY9 1], when instances are specified using the succinct specification languages of [Le89, Wa93, Ga82]. We introduce the concept of k-level-restricted specifications, and show that this syntactic restriction can be applied to each of the succinct specification languages of [Le89, Wa93, Ga82]. Although many basic problems are PSPACE-hard even for level-restricted specifications of planar instances, we show that . Many of these basic problems II have efficient approximation algorithms with performance guarantees which are asymptotically equal to the best known performance guarantee for H for flat specification. This result holds, for both sequential and parallel capproximations and approximation schemes. As a corollary of the above result, we get that for every fixed k >1, all planar graph problems shown to have a PTAS–in Baker [Ba83] when instances are specified non-succinctly, have a PTAS when graphs are specified by k-leveI-restricted succinct specifications. Thus our results answer an open question by Condon et. al. in their recent paper [CF+93a]. 1Email addresses: {madhav, hunt ,res}c? cs.albany. edu QSuPPOrted bY NSF Grants CCR 89-CISS1$I and CCR g905296. 3Department of Computer Science, University at Albany SUNY, Albany, NY 12222. 4Current Address: Mailstop 47LA, Hewlett-Packard Company, 19447 Pruneridge Avenue, Cupertino, California SMO149913. Email: rven@cup.hp . com Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the ACM copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the Association of Computing Machinery. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or specific permission. R.E. Stearns 1’2J3 V. Radhakrishnan 2Y4
In Vitro Activity of Lactobacilli with Probiotic Potential Isolated from Cocoa Fermentation against Gardnerella vaginalis

Study of the probiotic potential of microorganisms isolated from fermented foods has been increasing, especially studies related to lactobacilli. In intestinal models, lactobacilli have demonstrated beneficial properties, such as anti-inflammatory activity and increased antibody production, but the molecular mechanisms involving probiotic and antagonistic action as well as their effect on human vaginal cells have not yet been fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the functional and antagonistic properties of three strains of lactobacilli isolated from cocoa fermentation (Lactobacillus fermentum 5.2, L. plantarum 6.2, and L. plantarum 7.1) against Gardnerella vaginalis. Our results show that the lactobacilli have potential use as probiotics, since they have high hydrophobicity and autoaggregation properties and effectively adhere to vaginal cells. Metabolites secreted into the culture medium and whole cells of the strains under study are capable of interfering with the growth of G. vaginalis to different degrees. The elucidation of the antagonistic mechanisms as well as their effect on human cells may be useful in the development of a product containing such microorganisms or products secreted by them.
On the Evaluation of Space-Time Functions

The Proto spatial programming language abstracts the distributed execution of programs as evaluation of space-time functions over dynamically defined subspaces on a manifold. Previously, however, function evaluation has always been defined in terms of a complete in lining of expressions during compilation. This simplified the definition of programs, at the cost of limiting expressiveness and duplicating code in compiled binaries. In this paper, we address these shortcomings, producing a model of in-place function evaluation and analysis of its implications for Proto. We have extended the MIT Proto compiler and Proto Kernel virtual machine to implement this model, and empirically verified the reduction of compiled binary size.