Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antiretroviral Therapy Restores Diversity in the T-Cell Receptor Vβ Repertoire of CD4 T-Cell Subpopulations among Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1-Infected Children and Adolescents

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 infection perturbs the T-cell receptor (TCR) Vβ repertoire. The TCR CDR3 length diversity of individual Vβ families was examined within CD45RA and CD45RO CD4 T cells to assess the impact of the virus on clonality throughout CD4 T-cell activation and differentiation. A cross-sectional and longitudinal cohort study of 13 HIV-infected and 8 age-matched healthy children and adolescents examined the Vβ CDR3 length profiles within CD4 T-cell subsets by the use of spectratyping. HIV-infected subjects demonstrated higher numbers of perturbations in CD4 CD45RA T cells (5.8 ± 4.9 Vβ families) than healthy individuals (1.6 ± 1.8 Vβ families) (P = 0.04). Surprisingly, CD4 CD45RO central memory T cells from infected subjects showed no increased perturbations compared to the perturbations for the same cells from healthy subjects (2.9 ± 3.1 and 1.1 ± 1.8 Vβ families, respectively; P = 0.11). CD4 CD45RA TCR perturbations were higher among infected subjects with >25% CD4 cells than healthy subjects (mean number of perturbed Vβ families, 6.6 ± 5.4; P = 0.04). No correlations between perturbations in CD4 subsets and pretherapy age or viral load were evident. In contrast to CD8 T cells, HIV induces TCR disruptions within CD45RA but not CD45RO CD4 T cells. Therapy-induced viral suppression resulted in increases in thymic output and the normalization of the diversity of TCR within CD45RA CD4 T cells after 2 months of treatment. Perturbations occur prior to CD4 T-cell attrition and normalize with effective antiretroviral therapy. The impact of HIV on the diversity of TCR within naïve, central memory, and effector memory CD4 T cells is distinctly different from that in CD8 T cells.
Finding Pain Between Minds and Bodies

Physicians and patients alike find it easy to divide pain into mental pain and physical pain. But close examination of this distinction shows that it fails on clinical and philosophical grounds. The body is not a passive conduit for information about tissue damage. Nociception is modified and analyzed throughout the nervous system. The mind is not a central theater where pain is finally apprehended. Pain perception cannot be understood as the private observation of a pain sensation. Pain must have mental (e.g., aversion) and physical (e.g., location) elements if it is to qualify as pain. We understand our pain as well as the pain of others in terms of socially categorized pain behavior. Pain thus originates, not in mind or body, but between minds and bodies. The dualism of mental and physical pain cannot be overcome if the biological individual is considered in isolation. Mental and physical pain can only be reconciled if their common interpersonal roots are understood. This interpersonal view of pain can help clarify some clinical and moral dilemmas in the care of patients with pain.
Phylogenetic distribution of the novel avian endogenous provirus family EAV-0

A new family of related endogenous proviruses, existing at 50 to 100 copies per haploid genome and distinguishable by remarkably short long terminal repeats, has been described for domestic chickens (Gallus gallus subsp domesticus). In this communication, by using Southern blot analysis and probes derived from both internal viral sequences and locus-specific, cellular flanking sequences, we studied the genetic distribution of this family of moderately repetitive avian endogenous retroviruses within the genomes of four Gallus species. Eight inbred lines of domestic chickens, the evolutionary progenitor to the domestic chicken (red jungle fowl), and two more distantly related species (grey and green jungle fowl) were studied. All Gallus species harbored this class of elements, although the different lines of domestic chickens and different species of jungle fowl bore distinguishable complements of the proviral loci. Jungle fowl appeared to have fewer copies than domestic chickens. For three randomly isolated proviral loci, domestic chickens (G. gallus subsp. domesticus) and red jungle fowl (G. gallus subsp. gallus) showed only a proviral state, whereas the most primitive and divergent of the jungle fowl, the green jungle fowl (G. varius), consistently demonstrated only preintegration states or disparate alleles. The presence of this family in all Gallus species and of related sequences in other genera suggests that a primordial founding integration event occurred prior to the evolutionary separation of Gallus species and possibly related genera. Additionally, at least one proviral locus has been acquired subsequent to speciation, indicating that this family was actively infectious after the primary founding event. This conserved, repetitive proviral family appears to represent the vestigial remnant of an avian retrovirus class related to and evolutionarily more ancient than the Rous-associated virus-0 family of avian endogenous retroviruses.
The Small Molecule NS11021 Is a Potent and Specific Activator of Ca2+-Activated Big-Conductance K+ Channels

Large-conductance Ca2+- and voltage-activated K+ channels (Kca1.1/BK/MaxiK) are widely expressed ion channels. They provide a Ca2+-dependent feedback mechanism for the regulation of various body functions such as blood flow, neurotransmitter release, uresis, and immunity. In addition, a mitochondrial K+ channel with KCa1.1-resembling properties has been found in the heart, where it may be involved in regulation of energy consumption. In the present study, the effect of a novel NeuroSearch compound, 1-(3,5-bis-trifluoromethyl-phenyl)-3-[4-bromo-2-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)-phenyl]-thiourea (NS11021), was investigated on cloned KCa1.1 expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes and mammalian cells using electrophysiological methods. NS11021 at concentrations above 0.3 μM activated KCa1.1 in a concentration-dependent manner by parallel-shifting the channel activation curves to more negative potentials. Single-channel analysis revealed that NS11021 increased the open probability of the channel by altering gating kinetics without affecting the single-channel conductance. NS11021 (10 μM) influenced neither a number of cloned Kv channels nor endogenous Na+ and Ca2+ channels (L- and T-type) in guinea pig cardiac myocytes. In conclusion, NS11021 is a novel KCa1.1 channel activator with better specificity and a 10 times higher potency compared with the most broadly applied KCa1.1 opener, NS1619. Thus, NS11021 might be a valuable tool compound when addressing the physiological and pathophysiological roles of KCa1.1 channels.
The effects of visual degradation on face discrimination

Citation information: McCulloch DL, Loffler G, Colquhoun K, Bruce N, Dutton GN & Bach M. The effects of visual degradation on face discrimination. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt 2011, 31, 240–248. doi: 10.1111/j.1475‐1313.2011. 00828.x
Application of the CIT concept in the clinical environment: hurdles, practicalities, and clinical benefits.

Basic neuroscience research on brain plasticity, motor learning, and recovery has stimulated new concepts in motor rehabilitation. Combined with the development of methodological goal standards in clinical outcome research, these findings have effectuated the introduction of a double-paradigm shift in physical rehabilitation: (a) the move toward evidence-based procedures and disablement models for the assessment of clinical outcome and (b) the introduction of training-based concepts that are theoretically founded in learning theory. A major drive for new interventions has further come from recent findings on the adaptive capacities of neural networks and their linkage to perception, performance, and long-term recovery. In this context, constraint-induced movement therapy, an intervention initially designed for upper-limb hemiparesis, represents the theoretically and empirically most thoroughly founded training concept. Several clinical trials on constraint-induced therapy (CIT) have shown its efficacy in higher functioning patients; however, the transfer of the treatment into standard health care seems slow. Survey research further suggests a rather poor acceptance of CIT among clinical staff and it seems that the implementation of CIT is hindered by barriers constructed of beliefs and assumptions that demand a critical and evidence-based discussion. Within this context, we have conducted a series of experiments on amended CIT protocols and their application in the clinical environment which addressed the following issues: (1) massed practice: are 6 hours of daily training inevitable to achieve clinical benefits? (2) practicality: what is feasible in the standard care setting and what are the clinical benefits achieved by "feasible compromise CIT protocols? " (3) apprehensions: are concerns on increased muscular tone and pathologic movement patterns justified, and (4) learned nonuse: is the assumption of "hidden" residual abilities valid so that it warrants the constraint condition? In the present paper, the key findings of these studies will be summarized and critically discussed.
Eating out of home and its association with dietary intake: a systematic review of the evidence

During the last decades, eating out of home (OH) has gained importance in the diets worldwide. We document the nutritional characteristics of eating OH and its associations with energy intake, dietary quality and socioeconomic status. We carried out a systematic review of peer‐reviewed studies in eight databases up to 10 March 2011. Of the 7,319 studies retrieved, 29 met the inclusion criteria and were analysed in this review. The quality of the data was assessed and a sensitivity analysis was conducted by isolating nationally representative or large cohort data from 6 and 11 countries, respectively. OH foods were important sources of energy in all age groups and their energy contribution increased in adolescents and young adults. Eating OH was associated with a higher total energy intake, energy contribution from fat in the daily diet and higher socioeconomic status. Two large studies showed how eating OH was also associated with a lower intake of micronutrients, particularly vitamin C, Ca and Fe. Although the studies were cross‐sectional and heterogeneous in the way they classified eating OH, we conclude that eating OH is a risk factor for higher energy and fat intake and lower micronutrient intake.
Research on modeling and parameter optimization for a new type of wireless power transmission system

Magnetic coupled resonant wireless power transmission technology has broad prospects for development; this paper takes this as the object of study. Based on the traditional wireless power transmission system, a new three-winding system is proposed. Firstly, the transmission efficiency expressions of two systems and the factors influencing the efficiency are derived. Secondly, based on the chaotic particle swarm optimization algorithm, the optimal parameters corresponding to the highest transmission efficiency are obtained.
Multilocus Sequence Typing Has Better Discriminatory Ability for Typing Vibrio cholerae than Does Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis and Provides a Measure of Phylogenetic Relatedness

ABSTRACT Twenty-two Vibrio cholerae isolates, including some from “epidemic” (O1 and O139) and “nonepidemic” serogroups, were characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) by using three housekeeping genes, gyrB, pgm, and recA; sequence data were also obtained for the virulence-associated genes tcpA, ctxA, and ctxB. Even with the small number of loci used, MLST had better discriminatory ability than did PFGE. On MLST analysis, there was clear clustering of epidemic serogroups; much greater diversity was seen among tcpA- and ctxAB-positive V. cholerae strains from other, nonepidemic serogroups, with a number of tcpA and ctxAB alleles identified.
REGULAR DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGES IN EEG MULTIFRACTAL CHARACTERISTICS

Electroencephalograms (EEGs) of 110 pupils (aged 6.5-19.5 years; 48 healthy subjects, 51 with cerebral palsy, 11 with acquired cerebral defect) were acquired. The stable age dependences of averaged parameters of k × f-β EEG spectra model, deviations from the model, and normalized ranges of detrended EEGs were found. These dependences were observed in both healthy subjects and patients, in males and females, in the cases of congenital and acquired pathology. This regularity reflects the process of cerebral maturation and developmental change of structure types of the EEG process, and it is inherent to normal as well as to abnormal brain development
Clade-Specific Differences between Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Clades B and C: Diversity and Correlations in C3-V4 Regions of gp120

ABSTRACT Current knowledge of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 envelope (Env) glycoprotein structure and function is based on studies of clade B viruses. We present evidence of sequence and structural differences in viral glycoprotein gp120 between clades B and C. In clade C, the C3 region α2-helix exhibits high sequence entropy at the polar face but maintains its amphipathicity, whereas in clade B it accommodates hydrophobic residues. The V4 hypervariable domain in clade C is shorter than that in clade B. Generally, shorter V4 loops are incompatible with a glycine occurring in the α2-helix in clade C, an intriguing association that could be exploited to inform Env immunogen design.
Implementation and Evaluation of Automated First Dose Dispensing at a Community Teaching Hospital in the USA

Abstract. Automated dose dispensing is one of the perks of automated technology that has reduced the chances of error in medication dispensing and thus has increased the quality of patient care, especially of elderly and patients with multiple comorbidities that require multiple medications. The purpose of our study was to determine the difference in the amount of time pharmacists spend checking first doses before implementing a robot-filled first dose process. A descriptive study was performed by pharmacists to check the time taken for first doses before implementing a robot-filled first dose process. Data was collected from Medboard®, a web-based medication tracking system currently in use in central pharmacy. Data collection was done during November 1st until March 31st of 2014.The average time taken by central pharmacists to check first doses was 15.92 minutes. Total 162 dispensing errors involving wrong medication selection were caught. Of total 12 pharmacists 91.6% believed that robot first dose will succeed, 58.3% believed that it will increase the efficiency. More than half pharmacists had positive perception related to robot-filled first dose. Through this cross-sectional study we concluded that in central pharmacy at Midtown Medical Center in Columbus, GA where automated first dose dispensing system had not been established during the time of the study, errors were reported by pharmacists through a manual dispensing system. Moreover, pharmacists had a positive attitude towards implementation of an automated system as they believed that through this system the chances of medication errors will be reduced and overall effectiveness of medication dispensing will be increased. However, current study has been conducted on a very small sample size thus further studies are needed to evaluate the perception of pharmacists. A multicenter study maybe conducted and collaborate Midtown Medical center in Columbus with other health care facilities in a developing country to have more wider and representative population sample.
Prevalence of depression and depressive symptoms among older Japanese people: comorbidity of mild cognitive impairment and depression

The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of DSM‐III‐R major depressive episodes (MDEs), depressive symptoms cases (DSCs) (defined as a score of ≥6 on the Geriatric Depression Scale but falling short of MDE), and coexisting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among Japanese community‐dwelling older people.
FPGA-Based Experimental Investigation of a Quasi-Centralized Model Predictive Control for Back-to-Back Converters

Voltage source back-to-back power converters are widely used in grid-tied applications. This paper presents a quasi-centralized direct model predictive control (QC-DMPC) scheme for back-to-back converter control without a dc-link outer-loop controller. Furthermore, the QC-DMPC is experimentally compared with a conventional proportional-integration (PI) dc-link controller-based DMPC (PI-DMPC) scheme. For the QC-DMPC scheme, the dc-link voltage is directly controlled by a grid-side predictive controller using a dynamic reference generation concept and load-side power estimation. For the PI-DMPC scheme, the dc-link voltage is controlled by an external PI controller. Both schemes are implemented on a field programmable gate array (FPGA)-based platform. Effectiveness of the proposed QC-DMPC is verified by both simulation and experimental data. Moreover, FPGA implementation issues (resource usage and timing information), dc-link control performance, and robustness to parameter variation of the two DMPC schemes are compared in detail. The results emphasize that the QC-DMPC may outperform the PI-DMPC scheme in normal operation but with a slightly higher usage of FPGA resources. However, PI-DMPC scheme is more robust when parameter variations are considered.
Application of indirect immunofluorescence to detection of Dientamoeba fragilis trophozoites in fecal specimens

An indirect fluorescent-antibody (IFA) assay was carried out to examine for the presence of Dientamoeba fragilis trophozoites in preserved fecal specimens. Antiserum to D. fragilis trophozoites was raised in a rabbit with a dixenic culture of D. fragilis (ATCC 30948) from the American Type Culture Collection. After absorption with Klebsiella pneumoniae and Bacteroides vulgatus, the immune rabbit serum was used for examination by the IFA assay. A total of 155 clinical samples were tested; 42 with no parasites, 9 with D. fragilis, and 104 with other parasites. The IFA assay identified seven D. fragilis organisms. Two specimens with doubtful IFA assay readings showed very scanty amounts of D. fragilis trophozoites on stained smears. There were no false-positive IFA assay readings. The IFA assay appeared to be a promising method because of its speed in screening. The specificity of the IFA assay indicates that other diagnostic tests such as an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay could be developed to identify D. fragilis antigens in fecal specimens.
Parametric Channel Estimation for Pseudo-Random User-Allocation in Uplink OFDMA

In this work, we present an algorithm for parametric estimation of a wireless channel for OFDMA transmission, tailored to the pseudo-random "tile" allocation pattern prevalent in multi-user allocation schemes1. Such tile allocations are usually common in the uplink where a tile is usually a small number of adjacent data subcarriers with a few pilot subcarriers. The algorithm estimates the delay subspace of the parametric channel description, and shows robustness for high RMS delay-spread channels. The estimator error convergence performance improves with increase in the channel Doppler frequency. Although the proposed algorithm requires more intensive computation than straight-forward intra-tile linear interpolation, it offers a greatly enhanced Bit-Error-Rate (BER) performance. In mobile channel nel environments, the need for numerous re-transmissions is therefore decreased, making this algorithm suitable for low BER applications such as video and data.
Randomized trial of standard versus ClearWay-infused abciximab and thrombectomy in myocardial infarction: rationale and design of the COCTAIL II study

Background Patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are at substantial risk of suboptimal procedural results and late adverse events. Angiography and optical coherence tomography (OCT) studies have identified residual coronary thrombus and microcirculatory injury as potential culprits for these adverse outcomes. We hypothesized that coronary thrombectomy and local infusion of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors by means of a dedicated infusion device can synergistically improve results of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for STEMI, as appraised by OCT. Methods A total of 128 patients with STEMI will be randomized, to one of the following: abciximab infusion with the ClearWay coronary catheter (C), standard abciximab infusion (A), thrombectomy followed by abciximab infusion with the ClearWay catheter (T+C), or thrombectomy followed by standard abciximab infusion (T+A). The primary objective is to demonstrate that abciximab infusion with the ClearWay catheter with or without manual thrombus aspiration (groups C or T+C) will result in a significant reduction of intrastent thrombus formations when compared with intravenous or intracoronary abciximab with or without thrombectomy (groups A or T+A). The primary endpoint will be the number of cross-sections with thrombus area more than 10% immediately after stent implantation as assessed with OCT. Additional angiographic, ECG and clinical endpoints will be collected and adjudicated. Conclusion This trial will provide important mechanistic insights on the most appropriate invasive treatment strategy for patients with STEMI and significant thrombus burden, by exploiting its factorial design and reliance on sensitive OCT endpoints.
The process of relapse in severely dependent male problem drinkers.

AIMS The aim of the study was to investigate factors hypothesized to influence the relapse process, with a focus on the role of self-efficacy, alcohol dependence and cognitive functioning. DESIGN The study was conducted in the context of a controlled trial of a relapse prevention programme. Subjects were assessed prior to treatment, at immediate conclusion of treatment and at 6- and 12-month follow-up. SETTING The study was conducted in an Alcohol Treatment Unit (ATU) in Scotland. PARTICIPANTS Subjects were 60 male problem drinkers who were patients at the ATU. They were heavy drinkers, with corresponding high levels of alcohol dependence and alcohol-related harm. MEASUREMENTS The independent variables were post-treatment self-efficacy, alcohol dependence, cognitive functioning, level of depression and alcohol consumption prior to admission to treatment. The dependent variables were post-treatment drinking behaviour and functioning and time to lapse and relapse. FINDINGS Although the methodology does not allow identification of causality, support was found for the hypothesis that post-treatment self-efficacy was an intervening variable between treatment and outcome. Higher post-treatment self-efficacy predicted better outcome at 6-month follow-up and was associated with a reduced risk of lapse and relapse over the 12-month follow-up. Poorer cognitive functioning was significantly associated with being categorized as a problem drinker at 6-month follow-up and with higher risk of a lapse over the 12-month follow-up. Level of alcohol dependence did not predict outcome. CONCLUSIONS It was concluded that post-treatment self-efficacy rating is a predictor of treatment outcome and time to lapse and relapse and that cognitive functioning is a predictor of treatment outcome and time to lapse.