Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Circulating MicroRNAs for the Diagnosis and Disease Activity Evaluation in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis by Using the Nanostring Technology

Background:Clinical decision and patient care management in inflammatory bowel diseases is largely based on the assessment of clinical symptoms, while the biomarkers currently in use poorly reflect the actual disease activity. Therefore, the identification of novel biomarkers will serve an unmet clinical need for IBD screening and patient management. We examined the utility of circulating microRNAs for diagnosis and disease activity monitoring in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods:Blood serum microRNAs were isolated from patients with UC with active and inactive disease and healthy donors. High-throughput microRNA profiling was performed using the Nanostring technology platform. Clinical disease activity was captured by calculating the partial Mayo score. C-reactive protein was measured in patients with UC as part of their clinical monitoring. The profiles of circulating microRNAs and C-reactive protein were correlated with clinical disease indices. Results:We have identified a signature of 12 circulating microRNAs that differentiate patients with UC from control subjects. Moreover, 6 of these microRNAs significantly correlated with UC disease activity. Importantly, a set of 4 microRNAs (hsa-miR-4454, hsa-miR-223-3p, hsa-miR-23a-3p, and hsa-miR-320e), which correlated with UC disease activity were found to have higher sensitivity and specificity values than C-reactive protein. Conclusions:Circulating microRNAs provide a novel diagnostic and prognostic marker for patients with UC. The use of an FDA-approved platform could accelerate the application of microRNA screening in a gastrointenstinal clinical setting. When used in combination with current diagnostic and disease activity assessment modalities, microRNAs could improve both IBD screening and care management.
Chronic Use of Intracerebral Dialysis for the In Vivo Measurement of 3,4‐Dihydroxyphenylethylamine and Its Metabolite 3,4‐Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid

Abstract: The intracerebral dialysis technique was studied with a method in which the rat was directly connected to the HPLC equipment. The effect of three pharmacological treatments [perfusion of 60 mmol K+ or 5 × 10−5M (+)‐amphetamine or subcutaneous injection of 2 mg/kg (+)‐amphetamine] on the release of 3,4‐dihydroxy‐phenylethylamine (dopamine) and 3,4‐dihydroxyphenylacetic acid was followed over a period of 7 days. The marked rise of dopamine output seen after infusion of K+ had almost disappeared on day 3. Tissue reactions around the membrane presumably formed a barrier preventing K+ from reaching dopaminergic terminals. In contrast, the pronounced rise in dopamine level after amphetamine (infused as well as systemically administered) was still present (although diminished) 8 days after implantation. It is concluded that, with certain restrictions, brain dialysis of dopamine is still useful several days after implantation of the membrane.
Does threatening their franchise make registered voters more likely to participate? Evidence from an aborted voter purge

Abstract Prior research predicts that election administration changes that increase voting costs should decrease participation, but it fails to consider that some interpret those changes as attacking their franchise. Drawing on psychological reactance theory, this study tests whether such perceived attacks might instead activate those citizens. It leverages the State of Florida’s multi-stage effort in 2012 to purge suspected non-citizens from its voter rolls, comparing the voting rates of suspected non-citizens whose registration was and was not formally challenged by the state. Within-registrant difference-in-difference and matching analyses estimate a positive, significant participatory effect of being challenged, particularly for Hispanics (the vast majority of the sample). Placebo tests show that those challenged were no more likely than those not challenged to vote in previous elections.
[Is adolescent fertility a problem in Turkey?].

The population of Turkey was about 50 million in 1985, and the 15-19 age group was 5.5 million, 10.7% of the total population. Almost half of this 5.5 million were females, the mean age at first marriage was 18.2 years and 15.6% of this group were married. The fertility rate of the 15-19 age group was 64.1 per thousand. These figures show that early marriage and early pregnancy are the main problems. The prenatal care in adolescent pregnancies which present high risks for the mother and the child usually starts in the last trimester (average: 7.15 months) and 31.6% of the deliveries take place under unsuitable conditions. The use of contraceptives in this age group is 34.5% (23.4% traditional methods, 11.1% modern methods). The main solution of the problem, that is, adolescent pregnancy, is increasing the age at first marriage. But until this goal is reached, for healthier mothers and children, prenatal care should be given earlier in adolescent pregnancy and deliveries should take place under the supervision of health personnel. (author's)
Cognitive correlates of job tenure among patients with severe mental illness.

OBJECTIVE There is clear evidence that cognitive performance is a correlate of functional outcome among patients with schizophrenia. However, few studies have specifically examined the cognitive correlates of competitive employment performance or the longer-term outcomes of vocational rehabilitation. The objective of the present study was to examine the cognitive predictors of vocational functioning in the context of a controlled clinical trial by comparing two approaches to vocational rehabilitation. METHOD A broad neuropsychological battery was administered to 150 patients upon entry into the vocational rehabilitation trial. Vocational performance was assessed over a 24-month follow-up interval. RESULTS There were no differences in baseline cognitive performance between the 40 patients who obtained competitive employment and the 110 patients who remained unemployed over the follow-up interval. In contrast, multiple cognitive measures were significantly correlated with the total number of hours that patients were employed. The cognition-job tenure relationship appears to be fairly general, involving measures of IQ, attention, working memory, and problem solving. CONCLUSIONS Cognitive performance was a significant predictor of job tenure but not job attainment in the context of a clinical trial of two vocational rehabilitation approaches. It appears that many persistently unemployed patients are capable of obtaining competitive employment with effective vocational services. Longer-term employment success, however, may be related to multiple aspects of baseline cognitive performance.
‘Joined-up’ local governments? Restructuring and reorganising internal management

ISSN: 0300-3930 (Print) 1743-9388 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline. com/loi/flgs20 ‘Joined-up’ local governments? Restructuring and reorganising internal management Averill Campion To cite this article: Averill Campion (2018): ‘Joined-up’ local governments? Restructuring and reorganising internal management, Local Government Studies, DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2018. 1475171 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2018. 1475171
Rapid Detection of Toxoplasma gondii Antigen in Experimentally Infected Mice by Dot- ELISA

Background Toxoplasmosis is a worldwide endemic disease. In congenitally infected infants and AIDS patients, toxoplasmosis causes high rates of morbidity and mortality. In these cases antibody detection is difficult; so detection of parasite or its components could be useful tool for early detection and following treatment of the infection. Methods Sixty-three BALB/c mice were injected intra-peritoneal with 5×103 tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii RH strain, nine mice were sacrificed daily for 7 days. Fourteen mice were injected with phosphate buffer saline as control group. Dot–ELISA was performed for detection of T.gondii antigen in mice sera and capture – ELISA was done as golden standard assay too. Results Toxoplasma gondii antigen was detected from day 2 in mice sera; 22% of mice sera on day 2, 33% on day 3,77% on day 4 and 100% on day 5 till their death on day 7 had shown antigenemia by dot – ELISA, no positive result was detected in control mice by dot- ELISA. Conclusion Dot-ELISA is a sensitive method for diagnosis of T. gondii infection in the animal model; also, this technique is more rapid and easy to perform method in comparison with capture-ELISA.
Identification of a Novel Pathway Essential for the Immediate-Early, Interferon-Independent Antiviral Response to Enveloped Virions

ABSTRACT Viral infection elicits the activation of numerous cellular signal transduction pathways, leading to the induction of both innate and adaptive immunity. Previously we showed that entry of virion particles from a diverse array of enveloped virus families was capable of eliciting an interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3)-mediated antiviral state in human fibroblasts in the absence of interferon production. Here we show that extracellular regulated kinase 1/2, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, and Jun N-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase activities are not required for antiviral state induction. In contrast, treatment of cells with LY294002, an inhibitor of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3 kinase) family, prevents the induction of interferon-stimulated gene 56 (ISG56) and an antiviral response upon entry of virus particles. However, the prototypic class I p85/p110 PI3 kinase and its downstream effector Akt/PKB are dispensable for ISG and antiviral state induction. Furthermore, DNA-PK and PAK1, LY294002-sensitive members of the PI3 kinase family shown previously to be involved in IRF-3 activation, are also dispensable for ISG and antiviral state induction. The LY294002 inhibitor fails to prevent IRF-3 homodimerization or nuclear translocation upon virus particle entry. Together, these data suggest that virus entry triggers an innate antiviral response that requires the activity of a novel PI3 kinase family member.
Clinical significance of serum auto‐antibodies in Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis C: Negative role of serum viral titre and genotype

Positive serum anti‐nuclear antibody (ANA) and anti‐smooth muscle antibody (SMA) have been reported in 10–66% of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection from Western countries. However, the mechanism involved in this immunological disorder is still unknown. This study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence and clinical significance of positive serum auto‐antibodies in Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis C and to assess the role of serum HCV‐RNA titre and HCV genotype in the presence of serum auto‐antibodies. Serum ANA, SMA and anti‐mitochondrial antibody (AMA) were measured in 122 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Clinical, biochemical and virological data (serum HCV‐RNA titre and HCV genotype) were compared between patients with and without serum auto‐antibodies. Fifty‐eight (48%) patients were associated with positive serum autoantibodies: 42 (34%) positive for ANA, six (5%) positive for SMA, nine (7%) positive for both ANA and SMA and one (1%) positive for AMA. Clinical parameters (age, sex, blood transfusion history), liver biochemical tests, the presence of cryoglobulinaemia or cirrhosis, and the response to interferon treatment were not significantly different between patients with and without positive serum auto‐antibodies. Serum HCV‐RNA levels and HCV genotypes were also not significantly different between the two groups. Logistic regression analysis showed that none of the previously mentioned parameters were significant predictors to associate with serum auto‐antibodies in chronic hepatitis C. We concluded that 48% of Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis C were associated with positive serum auto‐antibodies. Hepatitis C virus genotypes and serum HCV‐RNA levels were not correlated to the presence of serum auto‐antibodies. The clinical significance and actual pathogenesis of this phenomenon remain to be clarified.
Increasing trends of tobacco use in medical students in Slovakia--a reason for concern?

OBJECTIVE The article analyses changes in tobacco use in medical students in Slovakia in 1995, 1999 and 2004. METHODS Questionnaire survey in 448 students of the Jessenius Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Martin, Slovakia, was carried out in October and November 2004. Data were compared with similar surveys carried out in 1995 and 1999. RESULTS Prevalence of daily smoking in men increased from 11.1 in 1995 to 21.8% in 2004. In women, within 1995-2004, daily smoking increased from 5.2% to 12.3%, occasional smoking from 11.6% to 19.8%. Also proportion of women initiating smoking during their university study increased. In both genders the proportion of never smokers dramatically dropped between 1995 and 1999 (in men from 43.2% to 23.2%; in women from 61.9 to 18.2). CONCLUSION Upward trend in tobacco use, particularly in women, is a reason for concern. In medical faculties, principles of prevention should be more emphasized and the students motivated for healthy life-style and to fulfill their future role in public health. The situation noted among medical students indicates that a community in Slovakia is still not satisfactory inclined towards non-smoking and a dramatic decrease of tobacco use can hardly be expected either in the near future.
IMPLANTING FOR SEVERAL SOCIAL GATHERING SECURITY CLASHES IN ONLINE MEDIA

Products mutual about Social Media may alter sparse user’s retreat statue that spotlight various users, comments that introduce numerous users, occasions straight and that legion users mean, etc. Getting less multi-party confidentiality executive responsibility in flood regular Social Media infrastructures makes users helpless to justly command the items are mutual under other conditions. Computational operations so combine the concealment preferences of various users in one indemnity take each merchandise may help do this issue. However, merging legion users’ concealment preferences is not invariably easy, for the sake of penetralium preferences may disagree, so manner to rerun out disagrees mean. Additionally, they need to hold how users would very gain a weaken of the sorts of the disaccord to prevent you can plan solutions and that may make with one another the users disturbed per person item to gain communal. Current procedures are time and again too trying or else feel definitive purpose of aggregating separateness preferences. In this study, we apprise the early computational agency to rework out differs for multi-party concealment supervision in Social Media specifically able to tailor to extraordinary situations by modelling the concessions that users tantalize earn a plan for your Conflicts.
Race/ethnicity and the relationship between homeownership and health.

OBJECTIVES We investigated whether race/ethnicity moderates the association between homeownership and health and whether this association is the same for racial/ethnic minorities as for non-Latino Whites. METHODS With data on US-born Latinos, African Americans, and non-Latino Whites from the 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009 California Health Interview Survey, we used weighted multivariate regression techniques in fully adjusted models, controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors, to test the association between homeownership and number of psychological health conditions, number of general health conditions, self-perceived health status, and health trade-offs. RESULTS Race/ethnicity significantly moderates the effect of homeownership on self-perceived health status, incidence of general health conditions, and health trade-offs, including delays in accessing medical care and delays in obtaining prescription medication. Although homeownership was a robust, independent predictor for each health outcome in the non-Latino White population, the association disappeared in statistical significance for racial/ethnic minorities. CONCLUSIONS The mechanisms that create a significant association between homeownership and health seem not to be operative for racial/ethnic minorities or are countervailed by other processes, such as possible housing insecurity, that may create an adverse association. Homeownership provides a baseline for future investigations.
9 Enzymology of Bacterial Lysine Biosynthesis

Lysine is an essential amino acid in the mammalian diet, but can be synthesised de novo in bacteria, plants and some fungi (Dogovski et al., 2009; Hutton et al., 2007). In bacteria, the lysine biosynthesis pathway, also known as the diaminopimelate (DAP) pathway (Fig. 1), yields the important metabolites meso-2,6-diaminopimelate (meso-DAP) and lysine. Lysine is utilised for protein synthesis in bacteria and forms part of the peptidoglycan cross-link structure in the cell wall of most Gram-positive species; whilst meso-DAP is the peptidoglycan cross-linking moiety in the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria and also Gram-positive Bacillus species (Burgess et al., 2008; Mitsakos et al., 2008; Voss et al., 2010) (Fig. 1).
Modulatory Effects of Escherichia coli Capsular–Derived Sulfaminoheparosans and Heparins on Tissue Factor–Mediated Activation of Platelets: Flow Cytometric Analysis

Sulfaminoheparosans (alternatively known as bioheparins) represent sulfated derivatives obtained from the K5 capsular polysaccharide of Escherichia coli. Previous studies have shown that these agents are structurally comparable to heparins and capable of exerting anticoagulant and antiprotease effects like heparins. Furthermore they are also able to release tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI). Tissue factor (TF) plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of thrombotic and cardiovascular disorders. Anticoagulants such as heparins and bioheparins inhibit this thrombogenic mediator and thereby downregulate the activation of prothrombin and factor X. This study was carried out to determine the effects of several bioheparin fractions and heparins on TF-mediated platelet activation and their direct effect on platelets using human whole blood flow cytometry. Four different sulfaminoheparosan fractions with mean molecular weights of 20, 9, 7, and 6 kDa were tested for their inhibitory effects on platelet activation at two different concentrations (100 and 10 µg/mL). Unfractionated heparin and a low-molecular-weight heparin, tinzaparin, were also tested under the same experimental conditions for comparative modulatory responses. Fresh whole blood from healthy female and male volunteers (n = 5) was mixed with each of these agents and incubated with TF (diluted thromboplastin C) to activate platelets. Platelets were labeled with the antibodies CD61 FITC (GP IIIa) and CD62 PE (P-selectin). The data were analyzed in terms of percent platelet aggregation and platelet P-selectin expression. At 100 µg/mL, all of these agents strongly and significantly inhibited (approximately 40%) the platelet activation induced by TF in comparison to saline control. The inhibitory effects of each of these agents were slightly weaker (approximately 24% inhibition) at 10 µg/mL. The inhibitory effects of these agents on P-selectin expression correspond to their effects on platelet aggregation. At 100 µg/mL all the agents produced greater than 80% inhibition of P-selectin expression whereas at 10 µg/mL, the inhibition is greater than 70% except for bio-20 kDa, which produced less than 50% of inhibition. No molecular weight dependence was observed with bioheparin fractions in terms of inhibitory effects on platelet aggregation or P-selectin expression. None of the bioheparins and heparins exhibited any direct effects on platelets. These observations suggest that both the bioheparins and heparins are capable of inhibiting TF-mediated activation of platelets. Thus the therapeutic effects of bioheparins in the TF-mediated pathogenesis of platelet activation may be similar to those of heparins.
Compact Traveling Wave Micromotor Based on Shear Electromechanical Coupling

A compact traveling wave piezoelectric micromotor is proposed based on d15 shear electromechanical coupling. A single bulk lead zirconate titanate is employed as the stator, which offers a comparatively small length-to-width ratio. The system construction is simplified and favorable for further miniaturization. The wobbling motion of stator generates traveling waves on the surface when the first- or second-order bending mode is stimulated by a rotating electric field, and thus to move the rotor with friction in clockwise or counterclockwise directions. The vibration property is analyzed in detail and design optimization is conducted. A research prototype with a size of 0.75 mm × 1.55 mm has been developed and an experimental rig with adjustable payload is built up for the performance test. Experimental result proves that the proposed motor can work in wide frequency bands of more than 10 kHz for both the first- and second-order bending modes. The system can achieve no-load speed of 1850 r/min and maximum torque of at least 2μN·m at no more than 60Vpp, which is very competitive compared to other micromotors. The developed piezoelectric micromotor has potential applications in small-sized systems such as micromedical robots, etc.
MODEL-BASED REINFORCEMENT LEARNING FOR ONLINE APPROXIMATE OPTIMAL CONTROL

of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy MODEL-BASED REINFORCEMENT LEARNING FOR ONLINE APPROXIMATE OPTIMAL CONTROL By Rushikesh Lambodar Kamalapurkar August 2014 Chair: Warren E. Dixon Major: Mechanical Engineering The objective of an optimal control synthesis problem is to compute the policy that an agent should follow in order to maximize the accumulated reward. Analytical solution of optimal control problems is often impossible when the system dynamics are nonlinear. Many numerical solution techniques are available to solve optimal control problems; however, such methods generally require perfect model knowledge and may not be implementable in real-time. Inroads to solve optimal control problems for nonlinear systems can be made through insights gained from examining the value function. Under a given policy, the value function provides a map from the state space to the set of real numbers that measures the value of a state, generally defined as the total accumulated reward starting from that state. If the value function is known, a reasonable strategy is to apply control to drive the states towards increasing value. If the value function is unknown, a reasonable strategy is to use input-output data to estimate the value function online, and use the estimate to compute the control input. Reinforcement learning (RL)based optimal control synthesis techniques implement the aforementioned strategy by approximating the value function using a parametric approximation scheme. The approximate optimal policy is then computed based on the approximate value function. RL-based techniques are valuable not only as online optimization tools but also as control synthesis tools. In discrete-time stochastic systems with countable state