Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Programmed Cell Death (PCD): Apoptosis, Autophagic PCD, or Others?

Abstract: The occurrence of cell death as a physiological event in multicellular organisms has been known for more than 150 years; in 1972 the term apoptosis was introduced on morphological grounds. However, accumulating evidence suggests that programmed cell death (PCD) is not confined to apoptosis, but that cells use different pathways for active self‐destruction as reflected by different morphology: condensation prominent, type I or apoptosis; autophagy prominent, type II; etc. Autophagic PCD appears to be a phylogenetically old phenomenon; it may occur in physiological and disease states. We have studied the relation between morphological and biochemical events during autophagic and apoptotic PCD in human mammary, lymphoblast, and colon cancer cells using electron microscopy and proteom analysis. We find that autophagic cell death (type II) PCD includes degradation of Golgi apparatus, polyribosomes, and endoplasmic reticulum, which precedes nuclear destruction. Intermediate and microfilaments are largely preserved; presumably the cytoskeleton is required for autophagocytosis. Apoptosis (type I) PCD is characterized by condensation of cytoplasm and preservation of organelles; cytoskeletal elements disintegrate in early stages. Either type of PCD involves synthesis of distinct proteins. Finally, both types of PCD share features some of a cell's stress response (e.g., translocation of hsp90). In conclusion our findings support the concept that autophagic cell death is a separate pathway of PCD distinctly different from “classical” apoptosis. However, autophagic and apoptotic PCD should not be considered as mutually exclusive phenomena. Rather, they appear to reflect a high degree of flexibility in a cell's response to changes of environmental conditions, both physiological or pathological.
Messenger RNA for FOXP3 in the urine of renal-allograft recipients.

BACKGROUND The outcome of renal transplantation after an episode of acute rejection is difficult to predict, even with an allograft biopsy. METHODS We studied urine specimens from 36 subjects with acute rejection, 18 subjects with chronic allograft nephropathy, and 29 subjects with normal biopsy results. Levels of messenger RNA (mRNA) for FOXP3, a specification and functional factor for regulatory T lymphocytes, and mRNA for CD25, CD3epsilon, perforin, and 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) were measured with a kinetic, quantitative polymerase-chain-reaction assay. We examined associations of mRNA levels with acute rejection, rejection reversal, and graft failure. RESULTS The log-transformed mean (+/-SE) ratio of FOXP3 mRNA copies to 18S ribosomal RNA copies was higher in urine from the group with acute rejection (3.8+/-0.5) than in the group with chronic allograft nephropathy (1.3+/-0.7) or the group with normal biopsy results (1.6+/-0.4) (P<0.001 by the Kruskal-Wallis test). FOXP3 mRNA levels were inversely correlated with serum creatinine levels measured at the time of biopsy in the acute-rejection group (Spearman's correlation coefficient = -0.38, P=0.02) but not in the group with chronic allograft nephropathy or the group with normal biopsy results. Analyses of receiver-operating-characteristic curves demonstrated that reversal of acute rejection can be predicted with 90 percent sensitivity and 73 percent specificity with use of the optimal identified cutoff for FOXP3 mRNA of 3.46 (P=0.001). FOXP3 mRNA levels identified subjects at risk for graft failure within six months after the incident episode of acute rejection (relative risk for the lowest third of FOXP3 mRNA levels, 6; P=0.02). None of the other mRNA levels were predictive of reversal of acute rejection or graft failure. CONCLUSIONS Measurement of FOXP3 mRNA in urine may offer a noninvasive means of improving the prediction of outcome of acute rejection of renal transplants.
Human Response to Dioxin: Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) Molecular Structure, Function, and Dose-Response Data for Enzyme Induction Indicate an Impaired Human AhR

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) mediates nearly all studied adverse effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and many related compounds. Binding of TCDD or related ligands to AhR is the key initiating event in downstream biochemical responses. The binding affinity of AhR for TCDD is specific to species and strain, and studies of human AhR demonstrate binding affinities approximately an order of magnitude or more lower than those observed in the most sensitive laboratory strains and species. Molecular genetic studies confirmed that human AhR shares key mutations with the DBA mouse strain that result in an “impaired” AhR (with respect to TCDD binding and responsiveness). Despite a number of polymorphisms in human AhR, the key “DBA-type” mutations appear to be a constant feature of the human AhR, and no polymorphisms have been identified that compensate for the impaired binding function conferred by these mutations. Consistent with the impaired binding status of the human AhR, human cells have consistently required approximately 10-fold higher concentrations of TCDD in vitro than rodent cells to respond with enzyme induction. Recent studies of in vivo enzyme induction-related endpoints in human populations with moderately and highly increased TCDD body burdens detected no relationship between these endpoints and TCDD body burdens at body-burden levels up to 250 ng TEQ/kg body weight, or approximately 25 times above the upper range of current general population background body burdens, while marked elevations in enzyme activity were observed in persons with body burdens above 750 ng TEQ/kg. In contrast, the more sensitive laboratory rodent strains and species exposed to TCDD exhibit significant enzyme induction at body burdens below 50 ng/kg. These interspecies data on the most sensitive and best understood response to binding of TCDD and related compounds to the AhR are consistent with the binding affinity and molecular structure data and support the hypothesis that the human AhR is less functional than the AhR of the more sensitive laboratory animals at a molecular level. Quantitative risk assessments involving interspecies extrapolation from sensitive laboratory species and strains should take these fundamental differences into account when margins of exposure and safety factors are considered. We appreciate the detailed technical assistance and reviews provided by Brent Finley, Robert A. Budinsky, and Shawn Seidel. This article was supported by funding from the Chlorine Chemistry Council.
HIV antigen in brains of patients with AIDS

W e wish to respond to references in the paper of PumarolaSune and colleagues 141 to our study of immunohistochemical identification of HTLV-Ill (HIV) antigens in brains of patients with AIDS 111. We detected HIV antigens in the brains of 5 of 13 patients (38.5%) with AIDS and found that monocyte/macrophages were among the infected cell populations in the central nervous system (CNS) El]. These results were supported by similar findings using a monoclonal antibody to the HIV envelope glycoprotein gp 120 (unpublished data, 1986). Similar observations have been made by other investigators using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization [2,47). Pumarola-Sune and associates detected HIV antigen in brains from 8 of 23 patients (34.8%) with AIDS [4]. Similar findings were reported by Vazeux and co-workers in 5 of 16 patients (31.3%;) 151, by Ward and colleagues in 6 of 13 (46.2%) { B ] , and Wiley and colleagues in 9 of 12 (75%) 17). These investigators also found evidence that other infected populations include multinucleated giant cells, endothelial cells, and glial cells. We found that the frequency of positively stained cells was low and did not demonstrate HIV antigens in multinucleated cells or other cell types. Pumarola-Sune and associates state that this resulted from the insensitivity of our methods [41. Another explanation for variability in detection of HIVinfected cells may be differences in patterns and degrees of CNS infection by HIV. Multinucleated giant cells were rarely seen in paraffin sections (at least 20 sections per case) or frozen sections in patients with subacute encephalitis in our study. Our inability to identify HIV antigens in multinucleated giant cells was most likely due to their paucity in these cases. Furthermore, as we indicated in Table 2, the majority of frozen tissue samples we studied were from cerebral cortex rather than basal ganglia or deep white matter, areas in which multinucleated giant cells are most frequently observed 131. Our case material may be similar to the group of AIDS patients with dementia and subacute encephalirk without multinucleated giant cells 13-51 in which PumardE Sune and colleagues found HIV antigens in brain in only 1 of 12 patients (8.3%). We agree with (he main conclusions of Pumarola-Sune and co-workers that in patients with AIDS monocyte/ macrophages and macrophage-derived multinucleated giant cells are the cell populations in the CNS most frequently infected by H I V arid that additional studies are required to understand the spectrum of HIV CNS infection.
Design of piecewise uniform scalar quantizer for the backward adaptive algorithm

This paper proposes a novel piecewise uniform scalar quantizer model built on the bases of the Jayant's quantizer model. The novel model utilizes the Jayant's manner of maximum amplitude adaptation, which means according to the one word memory and with the use of the backward adaptive technique. Particularly, the proposed model is equal to the Jayant's quantizer model when the step size multiplier, introduced by the novel model, has the unit value. Therefore, we actually propose more general model of a quantizer that, as we will demonstrate, provides overreaching of the Jayant's average signal to quantization noise ratio for about 9 dB.
Insulin sensitivity and insulin binding to monocytes in maturity-onset diabetes.

Tissue sensitive to insulin and insulin binding to monocytes were evaluated in 15 nonobese maturity-onset diabetics and in 16 healthy controls. Insulin sensitivity was determined by the insulin clamp technique in which the plasma insulin is acutely raised and maintained 100 muU/ml above the fasting level and plasma glucose is held constant at fasting levels by a variable glucose infusion. The amount of glucose infused is a measure of overall tissue sensitivity to insulin. In the diabetic group, the fasting plasma glucose concentration (168+/-4 mg/dl) was 85% greater than controls (P < 0.01) whereas the plasma insulin level (15+/-1 muU/ml) was similar to controls. During the insulin clamp study, comparable plasma insulin levels were achieved in the diabetics (118+/-5) and the controls (114+/-5 muU/ml). However, the glucose infusion rate in the diabetics (4.7+/-0.4 mg/kg.min) was 30% below controls (P < 0.01). Among the diabetics, the glucose infusion rate correlated directly with the fasting plasma glucose level (r = 0.57, P < 0.05). In five diabetic subjects, glucose metabolism was similar to controls, and these diabetics had the highest fasting glucose levels. When they were restudied after prior normalization (with insulin) of the fasting plasma glucose (100+/-1 mg/dl), the glucose infusion rate during the insulin clamp was 30% lower than observed in association with hyperglycemia (P < 0.01). Studies that employed tritiated glucose to measure endogenous glucose production indicated comparable 90-95% inhibition of hepatic glucose production during hyperinsulinemia in the diabetic and control subjects. (125)I-insulin binding to monocytes in the diabetics (5.5+/-0.6%) was 30% below that in controls (P < 0.01). Insulin binding to monocytes and insulin action as determined with the insulin clamp were highly correlated in both control (r = 0.67, P < 0.01), and diabetic subjects (r = 0.88, P < 0.001). We conclude that (a) tissue sensitivity to physiologic hyperinsulinemia is reduced in most maturity-onset diabetics; (b) this decrease in sensitivity is located, at least in part, in extrahepatic tissues; (c) the resistance to insulin may be mediated by a reduction in insulin binding; and (d) in maturity-onset diabetics with normal tissue sensitivity to insulin, hyperglycemia may be a contributing factor to the normal rates of insulin-mediated glucose uptake.
Discoid Lupus Erythematosus in Children—A Retrospective Study of 34 Patients

Abstract: Discoid lupus erythematosus is much less frequent and studied in children. We undertook a retrospective study of 34 children less than 16 years of age with this disease, seen over a period of 9 years. A female predominance of 2:1 was found. An association between discoid lupus erythematosus and systemic lupus erythematosus was observed in 23.5% of patients, a higher proportion compared to adult discoid lupus erythematosus. Disseminated lesions were much more frequent in patients with criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (87.5% vs 34%), suggesting that it could be associated with a worse prognosis. Histologic findings were similar to those observed in adult discoid lupus erythematosus.
Covering all bases with a short blanket: A dynamic monitoring resource allocation scheme

The ability of a management system to dynamically reallocate monitoring resources in order to address changes in the current state is a very important building block of future self-enable management systems. In a world where the total amount of management resources is bounded, being able to focus on the most important threat at any given time can make management systems much more reliable and cost effective. In this paper we study this resource allocation problem, where the network monitoring resources should be allocated to the current threats according to their relative severeness. We formally define a model describing the problem and show that it is NP-hard and does not obey any constant factor approximation. Nevertheless, under reasonable constraints, that hold in most practical scenarios, we present a centralized algorithm that achieves a constant factor approximation. We evaluate the performance of this algorithm using extensive simulation study. We alThe ability of a management system to dynamically reallocate monitoring resources in order to address changes in the current state is a very important building block of future self- enable management systems. In a world where the total amount of management resources is bounded, being able to focus on the most important threat at any given time can make management systems much more reliable and cost effective. In this paper we study this resource allocation problem, where the network monitoring resources should be allocated to the current threats according to their relative severeness. We formally define a model describing the problem and show that it is NP-hard and does not obey any constant factor approximation. Nevertheless, under reasonable constraints, that hold in most practical scenarios, we present a centralized algorithm that achieves a constant factor approximation. We evaluate the performance of this algorithm using extensive simulation study. We also study a distributed version of this algorithm, a much better candidate for real settings, and show that one can get similar performances using the fully distributed version of our algorithm.so study a distributed version of this algorithm, a much better candidate for real settings, and show that one can get similar performances using the fully distributed version of our algorithm.
Repérage de citations, classification des styles de discours rapporté et identification des constituants citationnels en écrits journalistiques

Dans le contexte de la recherche de plagiat, le repérage de citations et de ses constituants est primordial puisqu’il peut amener à évaluer le caractère licite ou illicite d’une reprise (source citée ou non). Nous proposons ici une comparaison de méthodes automatiques pour le repérage de ces informations et rapportons une évaluation quantitative de celles-ci. Un corpus d’écrits journalistiques français a été manuellement annoté pour nous servir de base d’apprentissage et de test.
Effect of Oral Administration of Lead Acetate Exposure on the Histology of the Testis and Testicular Sperm Concentration in Wistar Albino Rats

Lead is a heavy metal found in all environmental components such as earth crust, air and water. The present study evaluates the effect of lead acetate on the histology of the testis and testicular sperm concentration in Wistar Albino rats. Twenty four matured male albino rats were weighed and divided into four groups I, II, III and IV, each comprising of six animals. Group I served as control while groups II, III and IV received 50mg/kg, 100mg/kg and 150mg/kg body weight lead acetate solution orally for 21 days respectively. At the end of the experiment, animals were sacrificed tissues processed for testicular histology. Administration of 150mg/kg and 200mg/kg of lead acetate solution caused decreased in testicular sperm concentration that was significant at p < 0.05 with an increase in coiling and head detachment that was dose dependent. Histological observation showed thickening and detachment of the basement membrane, degeneration of the germ cells, and degeneration of the cells of the spermatogenic series including sertoli cells. There were also interstitial oedema, congestion of blood vessel, karyolysis and degeneration of Leydig cells. Therefore this study concludes that lead acetate adversely affect the testis by producing various degrees of histopathological changes as dosage increases.
In vivo molecular imaging of angiogenesis, targeting alphavbeta3 integrin expression, in a patient after acute myocardial infarction.

A 35-year-old Caucasian male presented with chest pain and nausea in the emergency room. The initial ECG displayed sinus-rhythm with ST elevation in I, aVL, V1–5, ST-depression in III, and aVR and pathological Q waves in V1–5. The laboratory results showed severely elevated cardiac enzymes. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with stenting of the completely occluded proximal left anterior descending (LAD) was performed without complications. Two weeks after the myocardial infarction and PCI, the patient underwent MRI and PET/CT evaluation …
Anxiety symptoms and suicidal feelings in a population sample of 70-year-olds without dementia

ABSTRACT Background: The role of anxiety in late-life suicidal behavior has received relatively little attention. The aim was to explore the association between anxiety symptoms and suicidal feelings in a population sample of 70-year-olds without dementia, and to test whether associations would be independent of depression. Methods: Face-to-face interviews (N = 560) were carried out by psychiatric nurses and past month symptoms were rated with the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale (CPRS). The Brief Scale for Anxiety (BSA) was derived from the CPRS to quantify anxiety symptom burden. Past month suicidal feelings were evaluated with the Paykel questions. Results: Anxiety symptom burden was associated with suicidal feelings and the association remained after adjusting for major depression. One individual BSA item (Inner tension) was independently associated with suicidal feelings in a multivariate regression model. The association did not remain, however, in a final model in which depression symptoms replaced depression diagnosis. Conclusions: Results from this population study suggest an association between anxiety and suicidal feelings in older adults. The role of anxiety and depression symptoms needs further clarification in the study of suicidal behavior in late life.
The influence of the intestinal microflora on disaccharidase activities in the chick

1. Maltase sucrase, palatinase (the enzyme that hydrolyses palatinose, i.e. 6-o-α-D-gluco-pyranosyl-D-fructose) and lactase activities were measured in the small and large intestines of germ-free and conventional chicks given either a diet of purified ingredients or a practical chick mash. 2. With the purified diet there were no differences in body-weight or small intestinal disaccharidase activities between germ-free and conventional chicks. With the chick mash the germ-free birds were heavier and had higher total amounts of maltase, sucrase and palatinase activities in the small intestine than did their conventional controls. When disaccharidase activities were expressed in terms of body-weight there were no differences between birds in the two environments. Enzyme activities were consistently higher in the birds given chick mash. 3. Inclusion of milled fibre in the purified diet did not increase the weight or disaccharidase activities of the small intestine in either environment. 4. Lactase was virtually absent from the small intestine of birds in both environments and from the large intestine of germ-free birds. There was appreciable lactase activity in the large intestinal contents of conventional chicks, and it was increased by inclusion of lactose in the diet. 5. When lactose was the sole source of carbohydrate the birds grew poorly but mortality rate was less among conventional compared with germ-free chicks. 6. It was concluded that the presence of micro-organisms has no direct effect on disaccharidase production in the small intestine of the chick. Microbial lactase is present in the large intestine, and at least some of the products of its action can be utilized by the bird.
Children's Persistence with Methylphenidate Therapy: A Population-Based Study

Objective: To examine persistence with methylphenidate (MPH) therapy among children and youth in the general population. Method: We conducted a retrospective analysis of longitudinally organized, individual-specific anonymous data from linked prescription and health databases covering the population of British Columbia for 1990 through 1996. No prescriptions being filled for 4 months indicated cessation of one bout of therapy. Results: Among 16 945 identified MPH patients aged 19 years or under, overall duration of therapy was 584 days, and the average number of prescriptions received was 6.6. One-third of patients received 2 or fewer prescriptions, while 18% followed a chronic, continuous course. Among patients receiving more than 2 prescriptions, 50% of discrete therapy bouts lasted 4 months or less, and one-third of cases had multiple bouts of therapy (range 2 to 6 bouts). Younger age (that is, children aged 0 to 8 years, vs those aged 10 to 19 years), male sex, and receipt of initial prescription from a psychiatrist were associated with greater persistence. Conclusions: Enormous variability in persistence with MPH therapy and often-occurring low rates of persistence raises questions about the diligence with which MPH patients are selected, prepared, and followed in the general population. Special attention to the needs of older children and to the needs of girls is required, and discontinuities during children's therapy courses require explication.