Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influenza A Virus Induces an Immediate Cytotoxic Activity in All Major Subsets of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

Background A replication defective influenza A vaccine virus (delNS1 virus) was developed. Its attenuation is due to potent stimulation of the innate immune system by the virus. Since the innate immune system can also target cancer cells, we reasoned that delNS1 virus induced immune-stimulation should also lead to the induction of innate cytotoxic effects towards cancer cells. Methodology/Principal Findings Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), isolated CD56+, CD3+, CD14+ and CD19+ subsets and different combinations of the above subsets were stimulated by delNS1, wild type (wt) virus or heat inactivated virus and co-cultured with tumor cell lines in the presence or absence of antibodies against the interferon system. Stimulation of PBMCs by the delNS1 virus effectively induced cytotoxicity against different cancer cell lines. Surprisingly, virus induced cytotoxicity was exerted by all major subtypes of PBMCs including CD56+, CD3+, CD14+ and CD19+ cells. Virus induced cytotoxicity in CD3+, CD14+ and CD19+ cells was dependent on virus replication, whereas virus induced cytotoxicity in CD56+ cells was only dependent on the binding of the virus. Virus induced cytotoxicity of isolated cell cultures of CD14+, CD19+ or CD56+ cells could be partially blocked by antibodies against type I and type II (IFN) interferon. In contrast, virus induced cytotoxicity in the complete PBMC preparation could not be inhibited by blocking type I or type II IFN, indicating a redundant system of activation in whole blood. Conclusions/Significance Our data suggest that apart from their well known specialized functions all main subsets of peripheral blood cells also initially exert a cytotoxic effect upon virus stimulation. This closely links the innate immune system to the adaptive immune response and renders delNS1 virus a potential therapeutic tool for viro-immunotherapy of cancer.
Group-Strategyproof Irresolute Social Choice Functions

An important problem in voting is that agents may misrepresent their preferences in order to obtain a more preferred outcome. Unfortunately, this phenomenon has been shown to be inevitable in the case of resolute, i.e., single-valued, social choice functions. In this paper, we introduce a variant of Maskin-monotonicity that completely characterizes the class of pairwise irresolute social choice functions that are group-strategyproof according to Kelly's preference extension. The class is narrow but contains a number of appealing Condorcet extensions such as the minimal covering set and the bipartisan set, thereby answering a question raised independently by Barbera (1977) and Kelly (1977). These functions furthermore encourage participation and thus do not suffer from the no-show paradox (under Kelly's extension).
Compression based entropy estimation of heart rate variability on multiple time scales

Heart rate fluctuates beat by beat in a complex manner. The aim of this study was to develop a framework for entropy assessment of heart rate fluctuations on multiple time scales. We employed the Lempel-Ziv algorithm for lossless data compression to investigate the compressibility of RR interval time series on different time scales, using a coarse-graining procedure. We estimated the entropy of RR interval time series of 20 young and 20 old subjects and also investigated the compressibility of randomly shuffled surrogate RR time series. The original RR time series displayed significantly smaller compression entropy values than randomized RR interval data. The RR interval time series of older subjects showed significantly different entropy characteristics over multiple time scales than those of younger subjects. In conclusion, data compression may be useful approach for multiscale entropy assessment of heart rate variability.
Soft computing in medical diagnostic applications: A short review

Medical diagnosis is one of the most important issues in healthcare. Computer aided systems have been developed in order to diagnose diseases by examining the internal human organs through medical images captured by MRI, CT scan etc. Many techniques have been utilized in order to develop these systems. In this paper, a short review on artificial neural network, fuzzy logic and genetic algorithm techniques in medical diagnostic applications is presented. The purpose of this review is to select the most suitable soft computing methodology to build a disease diagnosis system with high capabilities. The combination of artificial neural network, fuzzy logic and genetic algorithm in one methodology was reported to have a great advantage in producing systems with better performance.
N-Acetyltransferase and sulfotransferase activity in human prostate: potential for carcinogen activation

Background N-Acetyltransferases (NATs) and sulfotransferases (SULTs) are key phase II metabolizing enzymes that can be involved both in the detoxification and in the activation of many human promutagens and procarcinogens. Methods and results We investigated the expression of NATs and SULTs in human prostate and tested their role in the activation the N-hydroxy (N-OH) metabolite of 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ), a dietary carcinogen, to form DNA adducts. Western blotting showed detectable levels of NAT1, SULT1A1 and SULT1A3 with marked inter-individual variation. NAT2 and other SULT enzymes were not detectable. NAT1 was localized by immunohistochemistry to the cytoplasm of epithelial cells. The presence of acetyl Co-enzyme A (acetyl CoA) and 3′-phosphoadenosine-5′-phosphosulfate (PAPS), NAT and SULT cofactors, respectively, significantly increased the level of DNA adducts, detected by 32P-postlabelling analysis, in calf thymus DNA incubated with N-OH-IQ and prostate cytosolic fractions. The enhancement in the level of DNA adducts in the presence of PAPS correlated with the level of SULT1A1 protein. A single prostate cytosol with the SULT1A1*2/*2 genotype produced less DNA adducts than cytosols with the *1/*2 and *1/*1 genotypes. No significant correlation was observed between NAT1 protein level and the formation of DNA adducts, even in the presence of acetyl CoA. Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that NAT1, SULT1A1 and SULT1A3 are present in human prostate and that both enzyme classes significantly contribute to the activation of N-hydroxylated heterocyclic amines to DNA-damaging species in this tissue. Variation in expression levels, in combination with dietary and/or environmental exposure to carcinogens, could be influential in determining individual susceptibility to prostate cancer.
Education and screening for chronic kidney disease in Indian youth: pilot program results

Background There is a paucity of information on kidney education and screening programs in Indian youth. Methods Participants (n=2,158) from Chennai colleges were educated about the kidneys and chronic kidney disease (CKD) and screened in a pilot program from April to May 2013. This entailed: 1) a presentation and educational video and 2) an on-site assessment of weight, blood pressure, and demographic information. Urinalysis (UA) kits were distributed and returned in ≤48 hours. We examined participant characteristics and their association with dipstick proteinuria using logistic regression. Results The mean (standard deviation [SD]) age was 18.9 (1.6) years, and 1,451 (68%) were men. Mean (SD) body mass index (BMI) was 21.9 (4.3) kg/m2; 745 (36%) had a BMI consistent with being overweight or obese. Mean (SD) systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 118.7 (13.1) mm Hg, and 94 (5%) of the participants had SBP ≥140. Mean (SD) diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was 70.9 (11.4) mm Hg, with 119 participants (6%) having ≥90 mm Hg. A total of 136 participants had glycosuria (UA≥1+) and 120 (6%) had proteinuria (UA≥1+). In unadjusted analyses, sex (odds ratio [OR]=1.64 [confidence interval, CI 1.06–2.55]; p=0.026 men vs. women) and age (OR=1.13 per year [CI 1.01–1.26]; p=0.032) were significantly associated with proteinuria. In the analysis adjusted for age, sex, SBP, DBP, glycosuria, and BMI, age remained independently associated with higher odds for proteinuria (OR=1.14 per year [1.02–1.29]; p=0.026). Males showed a trend of higher risk compared with women (OR=1.57 [CI 1.00–2.50]; p=0.051). Conclusion This education and screening pilot program in a population of college students offers unique opportunities for identification, education, and early intervention for CKD.
Advanced light emitting devices for optoelectronic applications

This review summarizes the recent progress in the development of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and their application that have been reported. New types LED's will become possible by the use of inorganic and recently new organic semiconductors. The main goal in inorganic nitride based device technologies is to increase the performance above 100 lm/W and to use blue high brightness (HB) LEDs as a basic light source in high brightness white light devices. Organic LEDs are an interesting, prospective choice as a source of light for applications. Recent improvements have taken OLEDs to luminous efficiency greater than 20 lm/W, lifetime in excess of 10,000 hours and driving voltage of 5V and below. As LEDs continue to advance in brightness and efficiency, their effect on general lighting, automotive headlamps and television application could be significant to produce a huge impact on our future daily life.
Dynamic Modeling and Experimental Validation for Interactive Endodontic Simulation

To facilitate training of endodontic operations, we have developed an interactive virtual environment to simulate endodontic shaping operations. This paper presents methodologies for dynamic modeling, visual/haptic display and model validation of endodontic shaping. We first investigate the forces generated in the course of shaping operations and discuss the challenging issues in their modeling. Based on the special properties and constraints associated with both pulpal tissue and endodontic files, we propose a dynamic model to simulate endodontic shaping, which is a smoothed particle based model derived for the pulpal tissue coupled with a finite element model for the endodontic files. The virtual environment has been implemented with both graphic and haptic interfaces. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the proposed model has been validated by experimental results through a novel robotic endodontic measurement system.
Current and future challenges in the design and analysis of cluster randomization trials

Randomized trials in which the unit of randomization is a community, worksite, school or family are becoming widely used in the evaluation of life‐style interventions for the prevention of disease. The increasing interest in adopting a cluster randomization design is being matched by rapid methodological developments. In this paper we describe several of these developments. Brief mention is also made of issues related to economic analysis and to the planning and conduct of meta‐analyses for cluster randomization trials. Recommendations for reporting are also discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Smoking in schizophrenia: diagnostic specificity, symptom correlates, and illness severity.

BACKGROUND Cigarette smoking was consistently found to be more prevalent in individuals with schizophrenia than in other psychiatric groups and the general population. These findings have been interpreted as evidence of a specific association between schizophrenia and smoking. However, the supporting data come primarily from cross-sectional studies, which are susceptible to confounding. Our aim was to test specificity of this link longitudinally in an epidemiologic sample. METHODS A cohort of 542 inpatients with psychosis was followed for 10 years after first hospitalization, completing 5 face-to-face interviews. Assessments included ratings of specific symptoms (psychotic, negative, disorganized, and depressive), Global Assessment of Functioning, and a categorical measure of cigarette consumption. All participants were assigned longitudinal consensus diagnoses by study psychiatrists, and 229 were diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SZ). RESULTS At baseline, 52.4% of participants were current smokers and 69.3% were lifetime smokers. Smoking rates did not differ among the diagnostic groups (schizophrenia spectrum, major depressive, bipolar, or other psychotic disorder) at any assessment point. Smokers were more severely ill than nonsmokers but did not differ in specific symptoms either cross-sectionally or longitudinally. Among smokers, changes in cigarette consumption were linked only with changes in depression (beta = .16, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS Rates of smoking were elevated in subjects with schizophrenia but were just as high with other psychotic disorders. Smoking was not associated with psychotic symptoms, but cigarette consumption covaried with depression over time. Given the devastating health consequences of cigarette use, smoking cessation interventions are urgently needed in this population and should specifically address depression.
Inquiring Knowledge Management Systems -- A Chinese Medicine Perspective

Information Systems/Information Technology (IS/IT) can facilitate superior healthcare delivery. However, studies of IS/IT systems and implementations for Chinese Medicine (CM) practice are very limited. We analyze different inquiring systems and identify that CM can be more easily mapped as a combination of Hegelian and Kantian inquiring systems where multiple perspectives and facts as inputs are considered and analyzed in complicated tasks. These two inquiring systems also have characteristics to cater for formal data analysis but the outcome or solution maybe individual and/or non-predefined. This is important in the context of CM and provides the platform for CM's individual prescriptions for the same disease in different patients. From this perspective, we explore how IS/IT might be used to support the delivery of CM clinics in their daily operations. This research uses a mixed research method to study a case clinic in the context of CM clinical medicine management system.
Human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV‐2) in Portugal: Clinical spectrum, circulating subtypes, virus isolation, and plasma viral load

The human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV‐2) is responsible for 4.5% of AIDS cases in Portugal. Six HIV‐2 subtypes have been described so far, subtype A being proposed as more pathogenic than the rest. The relationship between the clinical status and levels of both cellular and plasma HIV‐2 viraemia is not well known, nor their modifications under antiretroviral therapy. Thirty‐two consecutive HIV‐2 infected persons (17 men, 15 women) attending two different hospitals in Lisbon in 1997 were enrolled prospectively in the study. All but 4 individuals most likely acquired the infection through heterosexual contact. More than half of the study population was of African origin, mainly from Guinea‐Bissau. Eleven (34.4%) patients had developed clinical manifestations included within the B or C groups of the CDC classification system for HIV infection, with the rest being asymptomatic. Half of the population was undergoing antiretroviral treatment at the time of the study. HIV‐2 subtypes were investigated using a new Nef‐based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method that allows differentiation of the main two variants, A and B. Plasma viral load was quantified using a new quantitative competitive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (QcRT‐PCR) procedure as well as the Amp‐RT assay. Virus isolation was attempted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells. All but one person carried HIV‐2 subtype A. Plasma viraemia examined by QcRT‐PCR was measurable in 15 (50%) of 30 subjects, yielding in all instances values below 20,000 HIV‐2 RNA copies per ml. Plasma RT activity could be detected in only 10 (33%) of 30 subjects, a rate much lower than that seen in HIV‐1 infection. Virus was isolated from 16 (53.3%) of 30 patients. A significant correlation was found between CD4+ counts, clinical status, rate of virus isolation, and plasma viral load by both QcRT‐PCR and Amp‐RT. In conclusion, HIV‐2 subtype A is the predominant variant circulating in Portugal among both natives and immigrants. A lower cellular and plasma viral load with respect to HIV‐1 was seen in persons without immunosuppression, from whom the rate of virus recovery was extremely low. J. Med. Virol. 61:111–116, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
CXCR4pos circulating progenitor cells coexpressing monocytic and endothelial markers correlating with fibrotic clinical features are present in the peripheral blood of patients affected by systemic sclerosis

This study shows that patients with systemic sclerosis have an increased number of CXCR4pos circulating progenitor cells coexpressing monocytic and endothelial markers. There is still controversy regarding the role of circulating endothelial and progenitor cells (CECs/CEPs) in the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis (SSc). Using a sequential Boolean gating strategy based on a 4-color flow cytometric protocol, an increased number of CD31pos/CD184pos(CXCR4)/CD34pos/CD45pos and CD31pos/CD117pos (c-kit-R) /CD34pos/ CD45pos hematopoietic circulating progenitor cells (HCPCs) was detected in SSc patients compared with healthy subjects. In SSc, no circulating mature and progenitor endothelial cells were observed, while an enhanced generation of erythroid progenitor cells was found to be correlated with the presence of CD117+ HCPCs. The presence of freshly detected CXCR4posHCPC was correlated either to the in vitro cultured spindle-shaped endothelial like cells (SELC) with an endo/myelomonocytic profile or to SDF-1 and VEGF serum level. These data are related to more fibrotic clinical features of the disease, thus supporting a possible role of these cells in fibrosis.
Effects of red and white wine on endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation of rat aorta and human coronary arteries.

Beneficial effects of wine on myocardial infarction mortality may be because of its vasodilatory properties. This study investigated whether the vasodilatory activity involves the endothelium and is specific for certain wines. Effects of different red and white wines and phenolic grape ingredients on vascular tension and cGMP content were studied in human coronary arteries and rat aortic rings in vitro. Only French and Italian red wines produced "en barrique" (Bordeaux, Châteauneuf du Pape, Barolo) (1:1,000, vol/vol), quercetin (1-100 μM), and tannic acid (1-100 μg/ml) decreased tension of precontracted vascular rings and increased vascular cGMP content (both P < 0.001). The effects were abolished after endothelial denudation and reversible by nitric oxide synthase inhibition. Red wines not produced en barrique (Valpolicella, Ahr Spätburgunder), white wines (en barrique-produced Rioja, Chardonnay, Mosel-Riesling), and ethanol did not affect vascular tension or cGMP content. Thus endothelium-dependent vasodilatory effects appear to be specific for red barrique wines, possibly because of their high content of phenolic substances. Divergent effects of wines indicate that a general view on the effects of wine and alcoholic beverages is not warranted.
Intravenous Infusion Safety Initiative: Collaboration, Evidence-Based Best Practices, and “Smart” Technology Help Avert High-Risk Adverse Drug Events and Improve Patient Outcomes

At a 644-bed, tertiary-care, “magnet” system, intravenous (IV) infusion medication errors were determined to present the greatest risk of harm. An IV infusion safety initiative focused on multidisciplinary collaboration, standardization of IV dosing, and medication safety technology. A modular IV infusion safety system was determined to provide the greatest “speed to impact” in reducing harm. In 9 months, the system averted 166 overdoses; IV Medication Harm Index analysis identified 33 as highest risk overdoses (heparin and propofol accounted for 73 percent of these highest risk averted overdoses). Although 78 percent of infusion devices were used with critical care patient types, 52 percent of the highest risk-averted overdoses occurred with noncritical care types. For patient controlled analgesia, respiratory monitoring modules helped avert numerous undesired outcomes. Other results included improved best practices, communication, nursing satisfaction, retention, and recruitment. From January to June 2006, infusion safety systems recorded 328 averted high-risk overdoses. Based on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) value of $6,000 per accidental drug overdose, the system helped avert 6-month costs of $1,968,000. IV infusion safety systems provide rapid, effective, and cost-effective patient safety improvement.
Randomised controlled trials: balance in baseline characteristics

Researchers investigated the effectiveness of helmet therapy for positional skull deformation in infants aged 5-6 months. A randomised controlled trial study design was used. Helmet therapy was delivered for six months. Control treatment was no treatment, which consisted of the natural course of skull deformation. Participants were 84 infants aged 5-6 months with moderate to severe skull deformation. Infants were assigned to helmet therapy (n=42) or the natural course of the condition (n=42) using random allocation with a block size of eight.1 The main outcomes were anthropometric measurements of the change in skull shape from baseline to 24 months of age, including the oblique diameter difference index and cranioproportional index. Statistical hypothesis testing was used to compare the treatment groups in baseline characteristics, including sex distribution, age, birth rank, health problems, and ethnicity, plus education level of the parents. The researchers reported that the treatment groups were comparable in baseline characteristics. There were no significant differences between the treatment groups in the main outcome measures. Furthermore, helmet therapy was associated with a high prevalence of side effects. Because helmet therapy also involved high costs, the researchers discouraged the use of this treatment in healthy infants with moderate to severe skull deformation. Which of the following statements, if any, are true?
Predicting Social Status via Social Networks: A Case Study on University, Occupation, and Region

Social status refers to the relative position within the society. It is an important notion in sociology and related research. The problem of measuring social status has been studied for many years. Various indicators are proposed to assess social status of individuals, including educational attainment, occupation, and income/wealth. However, these indicators are sometimes difficult to collect or measure. We investigate social networks for alternative measures of social status. Online activities expose certain traits of users in the real world. We are interested in how these activities are related to social status, and how social status can be predicted with social network data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on connecting online activities with social status in reality. In particular, we focus on the network structure of microblogs in this study. A user following another implies some kind of status. We cast the predicted social status of users to the "status" of real-world entities, e.g., universities, occupations, and regions, so that we can compare and validate predicted results with facts in the real world. We propose an efficient algorithm for this task and evaluate it on a dataset consisting of 3.4 million users from Sina Weibo. The result shows that it is possible to predict social status with reasonable accuracy using social network data. We also point out challenges and limitations of this approach, e.g., inconsistence between online popularity and real-world status for certain users. Our findings provide insights on analyzing online social status and future designs of ranking schemes for social networks.