Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Persistent human papillomavirus infection as a predictor of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

CONTEXT Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is believed to be the central cause of cervical cancer, although most of the epidemiological evidence has come from retrospective, case-control studies, which do not provide information on the dynamics of cumulative or persistent exposure to HPV infection. OBJECTIVE To assess the risks of cervical neoplasia related to prior persistent HPV infections. DESIGN AND SETTING Longitudinal study of the natural history of HPV infection and cervical neoplasia in women residing in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, which was conducted between November 1993 and March 1997 and involved repeated measurements of HPV and lesions with follow-up until June 2000. PARTICIPANTS A total of 1611 women with no cytological lesions at enrollment and HPV test results available from the first 2 visits. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Cervical specimens taken for Papanicolaou cytology and HPV testing every 4 months in the first year and twice yearly thereafter. Incident cervical cancer precursor lesions ascertained by expert review of all cytology smears. RESULTS The incidence rate of squamous intraepithelial lesions (SILs) was 0.73 per 1000 women-months (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.5-0.9) among women free of HPV at the 2 initial visits and 8.68 (95% CI, 2.3-15.1) among women with HPV type 16 or 18 infections persisting over both visits. Relative to those negative for HPV oncogenic types at both initial visits, the relative risk (RR) of incident SIL was 10.19 (95% CI, 5.9-17.6) for persistent infections with any known oncogenic HPV types. The equivalent RR of incident high-grade SIL was 11.67 (95% CI, 4.1-33.3). The RRs of lesions were considerably higher for persistent infections with HPV type 16 or 18. CONCLUSION A strong relationship exists between persistent HPV infections and SIL incidence, particularly for HPV types 16 and 18.
Anion Recognition by Pyrylium Cations and Thio-, Seleno- and Telluro- Analogues: A Combined Theoretical and Cambridge Structural Database Study

Pyrylium salts are a very important class of organic molecules containing a trivalent oxygen atom in a six-membered aromatic ring. In this manuscript, we report a theoretical study of pyrylium salts and their thio-, seleno- and telluro- analogues by means of DFT calculations. For this purpose, unsubstituted 2,4,6-trimethyl and 2,4,6-triphenyl cations and anions with different morphologies were chosen (Cl–, NO3– and BF4–). The complexes were characterized by means of natural bond orbital and “atoms-in-molecules” theories, and the physical nature of the interactions has been analyzed by means of symmetry-adapted perturbation theory calculations. Our results indicate the presence of anion-π interactions and chalcogen bonds based on both σ- and π-hole interactions and the existence of very favorable σ-complexes, especially for unsubstituted cations. The electrostatic component is dominant in the interactions, although the induction contributions are important, particularly for chloride complexes. The geometrical features of the complexes have been compared with experimental data retrieved from the Cambridge Structural Database.
The rise of surveillance medicine

Despite the obvious triumph of a medical theory and practice grounded in the hospital, a new medicine based on the surveillance of normal populations can be identified as emerging in the twentieth century. This new Surveillance Medicine involves a fundamental remapping of the spaces of illness. This includes the problematisation of normality, the redrawing of the relationship between symptom, sign and illness, and the localisation of illness outside the corporal space of the body. It is argued that this new medicine has important implications for the constitution of identity in the late twentieth century.
Shear wave elastography for the characterization of arterial wall stiffness: A thin-plate phantom and ex vivo aorta study

Ultrasound shear wave elastography (SWE) is an emerging technique for characterizing local arterial stiffness - a known indicator for vascular health. However, the implications due to vascular anatomy and tissue environment are still relatively under-examined. Using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based tissue mimicking phantoms, this study assessed the current signal processing framework in demonstrating the challenges due to the wave dispersion (at the medium thicknesses smaller than the shear wavelength) and wave interference at the interface of different media which cause biased stiffness estimations. Hence, 5% PVA and 10% PVA phantoms of varying thicknesses (from 1 to 10 mm) were imaged when placed in water and in 5% PVA and 10% PVA phantoms. Our results confirmed that shear wave propagation was thickness dependent (315% underestimation in 10% PVA). The shear wave velocity was shown to be influenced by the surrounding media with a 150% overestimation in 5% PVA surrounded by 10% PVA. It also demonstrated a key limitation of arterial SWE in that the current phase velocity estimation does not provide accurate SWV estimation, requiring optimization for addressing wave interference.
SIRT4 Prevents Hypoxia-Induced Apoptosis in H9c2 Cardiomyoblast Cells

Aims: Apoptosis plays a critical role in cardiomyocyte loss during ischaemic heart injury. A detailed understanding of the mechanism involved has a substantial impact on the optimization and development of treatment strategies. Here, we report that the expression of SIRT4, a mitochondrial sirtuin, is markedly down-regulated in hypoxia-induced apoptosis of H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells. Methods and Results: SIRT4 interference significantly alters H9c2 cell viability, apoptotic cell number and caspase-3/7 activity. Furthermore, SIRT4 expression can affect the ratio of pro-caspase 9/caspase 9 or pro-caspase 3/caspase 3, an affect Bax translocation, which in turn alters the development of H9c2 cell apoptosis. Conclusion: These results suggest that SIRT4 is a key player in hypoxia-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and that strategies based on its enhancement might be of benefit in the treatment of ischaemic heart disease.
CHINESE CONSUMER READINGS OF GLOBAL AND LOCAL ADVERTISING APPEALS

An implicit assumption in advertising content analysis, as well as in studies of advertiser intent, is that what an ad says, or what its creator intends for it to convey, is also what it means to consumers. The presence of global images and foreign appeals in advertising is thus often incorrectly taken as evidence that local culture is becoming globalized, and that consumer values are changing accordingly. Using a reader-response approach to analyze upscale Chinese consumers' understandings of global and local television and print advertising, we find that this is not the case. Instead, we find two dialectic reactions by Chinese consumers. One side is largely driven by the desire for global cosmopolitanism and status goods for the sake of mianzi (prestige face), whereas the other side is motivated by a more nationalistic desire to invoke Chinese values that are seen as local in origin. These opposing advertising meanings and preferences have important implications for understanding how international advertising affects local cultures.
Interface dynamics and banding in rapid solidification.

Rapid-solidification experiments on metallic alloys in the last decade have provided widespread observations of a novel banded structure. '' We report the results of numerical and analytical studies of the interface dynamics underlying the formation of this structure in a model of directional solidification which includes both solute and heat diffusion and nonequilibrium effects. The thrust of these studies is on the unsteady dynamics of the planar interface and thermal effects. The main conclusion is that the origin of banding can be related to relaxation oscillations of the solidification front, characterized by large variations of the interface velocity, which are dramatically affected by latent-heat diffusion. Without the latter, the oscillations are found to be reasonably well approximated by the phenomenological model of Carrard [ital et] [ital al]. [Acta Metall. 40, 983 (1992)], and the band spacing is inversely proportional to the temperature gradient. In contrast, with latent-heat diffusion the band spacing is insensitive to the temperature gradient, but is controlled instead by the interplay of solute and heat diffusion. The smallness of the solutal diffusivity to thermal diffusivity ratio is exploited to explain analytically this effect and to derive considerably simpler equations of interface motion that provide an efficient numerical meansmore » to study the nonplanar interface dynamics expected to cause dark bands. A reasonable agreement with experiment is found for the spacing of banded structures dominated by light-band microsegregation-free regions in Al-Fe alloys. « less
Modifications of the acyl-D-alanyl-D-alanine terminus affecting complex-formation with vancomycin.

Vancomycin forms complexes with peptides terminating in d-alanyl-d-alanine that are analogous to the biosynthetic precursors of bacterial mucopeptides. The specificity of complex-formation has been studied by means of many synthetic peptides, prepared by both solid-phase and conventional methods. The following conclusions can be drawn: (a) three amide linkages are required to form a stable complex; (b) the terminal carboxyl group must be free; (c) the carboxyl terminal and subterminal residues must be either glycine or of the d-configuration; (d) the size of the side chain in these residues greatly influences the affinity for vancomycin, a methyl group being the optimum in each case; (e) the nature of the side chain in the third and fourth residues has a smaller effect on complex-formation, but an l-configuration was somewhat better than a d-configuration in the third position. In addition to acyl-d-alanyl-d-alanine, other peptides that occur in bacterial cell walls will combine with vancomycin, although less strongly, e.g. acyl-d-alanyl-d-alpha-amino acid (where the terminal d-residue may form the cross-link in mucopeptide structure) and acyl-l-alanyl-d-glutamylglycine (a sequence found in the mucopeptide of Micrococcus lysodeikticus and related organisms). These results throw some light on the specificity of the uptake of vancomycin by living bacteria.
Arterial elastic modulus reconstruction from in-vivo strain image using arterial pressure equalization

A non-invasive free-hand ultrasound scanning procedure was performed to apply external force, comparable to the force generated in measuring a subject's blood pressure, to achieve higher strains by equalizing the internal arterial baseline pressure. An elastic modulus reconstruction procedure was developed to estimate the nonlinear elastic properties of the vascular wall from intramural strain measurements. The undistended elastic modulus of the diseased group is about an order of magnitude larger than that of the normal group. In-vivo measurements demonstrate the feasibility of the clinical application of this technique.
Biphasic rate of CD4+ cell count decline during progression to AIDS correlates with HIV‐1 phenotype

ObjectiveTo determine the kinetics of decline of CD4+ lymphocytes in HIV-1-infected asymptomatic homosexual men. MethodsCD4 + lymphocytes were enumerated in a cohort of 187 HIV-1-infected initially asymptomatic homosexual men seen at 3-month intervals over 5 years. During follow-up, 45 men progressed to AIDS (excluding cases presenting with Kaposi's sarcoma). Correlation between rate of CD4+ cell decline and presence of a particular HIV-1 biological phenotype was analysed in 43 participants. ResultsCD4+ cell counts declined slowly and continuously in HIV-1-seropositive men who remained asymptomatic during follow-up. A biphasic CD4+ cell count decline was observed in the group who developed AIDS: the decline was slow and steady (5.6 × 106/1 per month, similar to that observed in the asymptomatic group) until 18 months before AIDS diagnosis, but became three to five times faster thereafter. Rapid CD4+ cell decline was significantly related to syncytium-inducing, fast-replicating HIV-1 isolates; during the period of slow and steady CD4+ cell count decline, non-syncytium-inducing isolates were predominant. ConclusionsAt an average of 18 months preceding AIDS diagnosis, a three to fivefold increase in the rate of loss of CD4+ lymphocytes occurs, and may be related to the appearance of a more virulent HIV-1 phenotype.
Adenovirus-Mediated Intraarterial Delivery of PTEN Inhibits Neointimal Hyperplasia

Objective— Phosphoinositide (PI) 3-kinase promotes vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) responses necessary for neointimal hyperplasia. We recently demonstrated that the inositol 3-phosphatase PTEN is expressed in VSMCs and that its overexpression inhibits these cellular responses. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of adenovirus-mediated overexpression of PTEN on neointimal hyperplasia in vivo in the rat carotid injury model. Methods and Results— Rat carotid arteries were balloon-injured and treated with a recombinant control adenovirus (AdEV) (n=6), an adenovirus encoding wild-type PTEN (AdPTEN) (n=8), or phosphate-buffered saline (sham) (n=5). Injured vessels demonstrated PTEN overexpression by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry after AdPTEN treatment. Neointimal hyperplasia was assessed 2 weeks after balloon injury and adenovirus administration. Compared with controls, AdPTEN treatment significantly decreased neointimal area and percent stenosis. To investigate the mechanisms of action of AdPTEN, vessels were harvested 3 days after balloon injury and virus infection. AdPTEN significantly increased medial cell apoptosis while decreasing proliferation of the remaining viable cells. Conclusions— PTEN overexpression potently inhibits neointimal hyperplasia through induction of apoptosis and inhibition of medial cell proliferation. These findings suggest that modulation of PTEN expression or activity may be a viable approach to treat neointimal hyperplasia.
Appearance-based mapping and localisation using feature stability histograms

Proposed is an appearance-based mapping and localisation method based on the human memory model, which is used to build a feature stability histogram (FSH) at each node in the robot topological map. FSH registers local feature stability over time through a voting scheme, and most stable features are considered for mapping and Bayesian localisation. Experimental results are presented using omnidirectional images acquired through long-term acquisition considering: illumination changes, occlusions, random removal of features and perceptual aliasing. This method is able to adapt the internal node's representation through time to achieve global and local robot localisation.
Collective guilt: Emotional reactions when one's group has done wrong or been wronged

We examine the conditions that facilitate feelings of collective guilt, and consider the prevalent historial and contemporary conditions that inhibit such guilt. Specifically, we outline the important role that self-categorisation as a member of a group that is responsible for illegitimately harming another group plays in inducing collective guilt. We also consider strategies that legitimise the harm done, along with how the costs of creating a more just relationship with the harmed group can affect the extent to which collective guilt is experienced. The ease of undermining the necessary antecedents for feeling collective guilt suggests that it may be a relatively rare emotional experience, particularly during ongoing intergroup hostilities. We present studies illustrating the important role that categorisation plays in both collective guilt acceptance and its assignment to members of other social groups who have harmed the ingroup. We illustrate the consequences for social change processes when the necessary conditions for collective guilt to be experienced are met.
Social Conditions as Fundamental Causes of Health Inequalities: Theory, Evidence, and Policy Implications

Link and Phelan (1995) developed the theory of fundamental causes to explain why the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and mortality has persisted despite radical changes in the diseases and risk factors that are presumed to explain it. They proposed that the enduring association results because SES embodies an array of resources, such as money, knowledge, prestige, power, and beneficial social connections that protect health no matter what mechanisms are relevant at any given time. In this article, we explicate the theory, review key findings, discuss refinements and limits to the theory, and discuss implications for health policies that might reduce health inequalities. We advocate policies that encourage medical and other health-promoting advances while at the same time breaking or weakening the link between these advances and socioeconomic resources. This can be accomplished either by reducing disparities in socioeconomic resources themselves or by developing interventions that, by their nature, are more equally distributed across SES groups.
Teaching the "Hows" of Mathematics for Everyday Life: A Case Study of a Fifth-Grade Teacher

Valerie Taft's goal is to prepare her fifth-grade students to use mathematics in everyday life. Like the authors of California's Mathematics Framework, Valerie wants students to appreciate the usefulness of mathematics for solving problems. What Valerie considers as useful, however, is what she calls the "hows" of mathematics- knowing how to carry out various computational procedures. This emphasis on mechanics, along with limitations in Valerie's mathematics knowledge, is reflected in 2 lessons described in this article. In the first lesson, taken directly from her district's new textbook, Valerie introduced students to the concept of average. She emphasized the steps of the averaging procedure, providing few opportunities for students to think about the mathematical concepts involved. In the second lesson, Valerie conducted a number of class surveys to provide data for computing averages. Because of the emphasis on the steps of the averaging procedure and lack of reflection on the reasonableness of solutions, however, Valerie and her students unknowingly computed incorrect averages. Valerie has firmly held beliefs about what students should learn and the nature of mathematics. As a result, her mathematics teaching is relatively impervious to pressures from the state and district to change.
Mutations in PA2491 (mexS) Promote MexT-Dependent mexEF-oprN Expression and Multidrug Resistance in a Clinical Strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

ABSTRACT Disruption of the PA2491 gene in a mini-Tn5-tet insertion mutant of a clinical isolate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa increased expression of the mexEF-oprN multidrug efflux genes and decreased production of outer membrane protein OprD, concomitant with enhanced resistance to chloramphenicol, quinolones, and imipenem, which was reminiscent of previously described nfxC mutants. PA2491 encodes a probable oxidoreductase previously shown to be positively regulated by the MexT positive regulator of mexEF-oprN expression (T. Köhler, S. F. Epp, L. K. Curty, and J. C. Pechére, J. Bacteriol. 181:6300-6305, 1999). Spontaneous multidrug-resistant mutants of the P. aeruginosa clinical isolate hyperexpressing mexEF-oprN and showing reduced production of OprD were readily selected in vitro, and all of them were shown to carry mutations in PA2491, highlighting the probable significance of such mutations as determinants of MexEF-OprN-mediated multidrug resistance in vivo.
Study of obesity in dogs visiting veterinary practices in the United Kingdom

A total of 8268 dogs were surveyed in 11 veterinary practices in the United Kingdom during a period of six months in 1983. The primary purpose of the survey was to assess the level of obesity on a five point scale with properly identified criteria. Information on the clinical condition of each dog was also recorded as well as proportions of food types fed, particulars of breed, sex, age, sexual status and the dog's name. Results showed that 21.4 per cent of dogs in the survey were judged to be obese and 2.9 per cent gross; 1.9 per cent were judged as thin, 13.5 per cent lean and 60.3 per cent were optimum. Labradors were found to be the most likely breed to become obese. Neutered females were about twice as likely to be obese as entire females. The same trend was evident with neutered males. Circulatory problems were associated with dogs over 10 years old and those which were gross, rather than obese. A similar trend was discernable with articular/locomotor problems. Skin and reproductive problems showed little relationship with age or obesity. Neoplasia was much more prevalent in dogs over 10 years old but had little relationship with either sexual status or obesity rating. There was a high rate of usage of prepared food for all categories. The amount of fresh food fed decreased rapidly as the proportion of canned food increased, but the obese and non-obese dogs showed very little difference in the type of food fed.
Head‐eye Animation Corresponding to a Conversation for CG Characters

CG character animations, in which CG characters engage in conversations, are widely used in multimedia contents such as videos and games. In constructing such an animation, we should consider about many factors, such as the content of the utterance and the state of conversation, which necessitates a large amount of time and labor. To deal with this problem, this paper proposes a method, which generates the head‐eye movements of the CG characters synchronized with the conversation. In this method, so as to generate a composite head‐eye movement, the view line direction is divided into the head, eye and body rotations by sharing motion mechanism dynamically adjusted according to the view line direction. And letting the two modules generating the head and the eye movements share the same conversation state, head and eye movements synchronized with the conversation are generated. Finally, we apply the proposed method to the conversation scenes, and show that natural animation can be produced easily.
Willing and able: How internal motivation and failure help to overcome prejudice

Internal motivation to behave nonprejudiced reduces automatic and controlled prejudice. The present studies examined the impact of internal motivation to behave nonprejudiced on reactions to one s failure to behave nonprejudiced. In Study 1 higher levels of internal motivation led to more negative self-directed affect when failing to behave nonprejudiced, but not when failing in other domains. In Study 2 higher levels of internal motivation led to less prejudice after failure to behave nonprejudiced, but not in a non-failure condition. These findings suggest that failure to behave nonprejudiced plays a key role for highly internally motivated individuals in learning to regulate prejudice successfully.