Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Indirect Effects of Leptin Receptor Deficiency on Lymphocyte Populations and Immune Response in db/db Mice1

Leptin-deficient ob/ob and leptin receptor (Ob-rb)-deficient db/db mice display a marked thymic atrophy and exhibit defective immune responses. Lymphocytes express leptin receptors and leptin exerts direct effects on T cells in vitro. In addition, ob/ob and db/db mice display multiple neuroendocrine and metabolic defects, through which leptin deficiency may indirectly affect the immune system in vivo. To study the relative contributions of direct and indirect effects of leptin on the immune system in a normal environment, we generated bone marrow chimeras (BMCs) by transplantation of leptin receptor-deficient db/db, or control db/+, bone marrow cells into wild-type (WT) recipients. The size and cellularity of the thymus, as well as cellular and humoral immune responses, were similar in db/db to WT and db/+ to WT BMCs. The immune phenotype of db/db mice is thus not explained by a cell autonomous defect of db/db lymphocytes. Conversely, thymus weight and cell number were decreased in the reverse graft setting in WT to db/db BMCs, indicating that expression of the leptin receptor in the environment is important for T cell development. Finally, normal thymocyte development occurred in fetal db/db thymi transplanted into WT hosts, indicating that direct effects of leptin are not required locally in the thymic microenvironment. In conclusion, direct effects of leptin on bone marrow-derived cells and on thymic stromal cells are not necessary for T lymphocyte maturation in normal mice. In contrast, leptin receptor deficiency affects the immune system indirectly via changes in the systemic environment.
Coronary revascularization for patients with unprotected left main coronary artery disease: Evidence, guidelines, and judgment! making clinical decisions in 2009

The current clinical practice guidelines categorize the use of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery for revascularization of patients with unprotected left main coronary artery disease (ULMCAD) as a class IA recommendation while it categorize the use of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) as a class III recommendation. The evidence underlying these recommendations is weak and out dated. The purpose of this review is to critically reevaluate current state‐of‐the‐art with respect to revascularization of patients with ULMCAD who are acceptable surgical candidates. In doing so we will highlight the divergence between practice guidelines and patient‐centered clinical decision‐making; critically appraise the “evidence” underlying the current practice guidelines; review the emerging data regarding utility of CABG versus PCI in these patients; and finally discuss the elements of a contemporary approach to clinical decision‐making in light of the current state of knowledge. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Thymosin B 4 Is a Determinant of the Transformed Phenotype and Invasiveness of S-Adenosylmethionine Decarboxylase – Transfected Fibroblasts

S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC) is a key enzyme in the synthesis of polyamines essential for cell growth and proliferation. Its overexpression induces the transformation of murine fibroblasts in both sense and antisense orientations, yielding highly invasive tumors in nude mice. These cell lines hence provide a good model to study cell invasion. Here, the gene expression profiles of these cells were compared with their normal counterpart by microarray analyses (Incyte Genomics, Palo Alto, CA, and Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA). Up-regulation of the actin sequestering molecule thymosin B4 was the most prominent change in both cell lines. Tetracycline-inducible expression of thymosin B4 antisense RNA caused a partial reversal of the transformed phenotype. Further, reversal of transformation by dominantnegative mutant of c-Jun (TAM67) caused reduction in thymosin B4 mRNA. Interestingly, a sponge toxin, latrunculin A, which inhibits the binding of thymosin B4 to actin, was found to profoundly affect the morphology and proliferation of the AdoMetDC transformants and to block their invasion in three-dimensional Matrigel. Thus, thymosin B4 is a determinant of AdoMetDC-induced transformed phenotype and invasiveness. Up-regulation of thymosin B4 was also found in ras-transformed fibroblasts and metastatic human melanoma cells. These data encourage testing latrunculin A–like and other agents interfering with thymosin B4 for treatment of thymosin B4–overexpressing tumors with high invasive and metastatic potential. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(2): 701-12)
Estimación de parámetros genéticos para la producción de leche en diferentes lactancias de vacas Mambí de Cuba

Se utilizaron 25 036 registros de produccion de leche acumulada hasta 305 d (13 495 primera lactancia (L1), 6 067 de la segunda (L2), 3 445 de la tercera (L3) y 2 029 de la cuarta (L4), pertenecientes a 13 495 vacas Mambi de Cuba (3/4 Holstein ¼ Cebu) que parieron entre 1981- 2006. Las vacas estaban distribuidas en 173 rebanos de cuatro empresas ganaderas. El objetivo de este estudio fue estimar las heredabilidades y correlaciones geneticas entre las cuatro primeras lactancias (L1 – L4) y determinar si la primera lactancia podria ser considerada como criterio de seleccion de vacas y sementales de esta raza. Para estimar los componentes de covarianza y parametros geneticos se utilizo el programa REMLF90, empleando un modelo animal multivariado que incluyo como efecto fijo el grupo de contemporaneos (rebano-ano-cuatrimestre de parto), la edad al parto como covariable lineal y cuadratica, y el animal y el error como efectos aleatorios. Los promedios para L1 hasta L4 fueron de 1957, 2086, 2099 y 2106 kg, y los valores de heredabilidad de 0.22 ± 0.03, 0.17 ± 0.04, 0.22 ± 0.05 y 0.26 ± 0.06, respectivamente. Las correlaciones geneticas entre las cuatro primeras lactancias fueron altas, con valores entre 0.76 y 0.95. Se concluye que es posible obtener ganancias geneticas mediante seleccion por produccion de leche, y que hubo alto porcentaje de genes en comun que influyeron en las diferentes lactancias. Se determino que la produccion lechera en la primera lactancia es un buen indicador del comportamiento productivo de las vacas Mambi de Cuba, y que puede ser utilizado como criterio de seleccion
Facteurs décisionnels de la vaccination anti papillomavirus chez les parents de jeunes filles de 9 à 19 ans après l’abaissement de l’âge vaccinal à 11 ans : une enquête qualitative

Objectifs : Identifier chez les parents des adolescentes les freins et les elements favorables a la vaccination anti-papillomavirus, suite a l’abaissement de l’âge vaccinal a 11 ans. Proposer une nouvelle approche permettant d’ameliorer le choix eclaire et repondant ainsi a l’objectif d’augmentation de la couverture vaccinale en Sante publique. Methode : Une enquete qualitative a ete realisee a partir d’entretiens individuels aupres de parents (pere et/ou mere) de jeunes filles âgees de 9 a 19 ans et residant dans le sud du Bassin d’Arcachon. Les entretiens ont ete soutenus par une grille d’entretien. Les donnees ont ensuite ete analysees a l’aide d’un logiciel d’analyse qualitative NVivo®. Resultats : 24 parents ont ete interviewes : ils avaient peur des effets secondaires du vaccin. Cette inquietude etait renforcee par le caractere recent du vaccin et par les faits divers relayes dans les medias, notamment concernant les vaccins contre l’hepatite B et la grippe et plus recemment contre le vaccin anti papillomavirus lui-meme. Les parents des jeunes filles âgees de 14 ans et plus avaient tendance a laisser leurs filles decisionnaires vis-a-vis de la vaccination. Le medecin traitant avait un role capital dans la decision et beaucoup choisissaient de suivre ses recommandations. Des parents s’inquietaient d’eventuels effets secondaires sur la puberte ou la croissance si le vaccin etait fait plus tot. Les parents qui trouvaient l’âge de 11 ans trop precoce l’expliquaient par le fait que leurs enfants etaient loin d’avoir une activite sexuelle. La vaccination a l’ecole rencontrait un avis positif des parents : ils y voyaient une facon d’apporter une information fiable a leurs enfants. La qualification de vaccin « anti-cancer » semblait etre un atout. Conclusion : Cette etude a permis d’identifier deux principaux freins a cette vaccination. D’une part, la peur des effets secondaires, avec un role negatif des medias relayant des faits divers. Face a cette situation le medecin generaliste, occupait une place capitale pour rassurer les parents. D’autre part, le lien du vaccin avec la sexualite. Pour ameliorer la couverture vaccinale, il a ete propose de renforcer l’information par les medias et l’ecole, et de poursuivre l’abaissement de l’âge de maniere a mettre en avant un vaccin « anti cancer » : cela evacuerait ainsi le lien symbolique avec la sexualite.
Multi-Agent User-Centric Specialization and Collaboration for Information Retrieval

The amount of information on the World Wide Web (WWW) is rapidly growing in pace and topic diversity. This has made it increasingly difficult, and often frustrating, for information seekers to retrieve the content they are looking for as information retrieval systems (e.g., search engines) are unable to decipher the relevance of the retrieved information as it pertains to the information they are searching for. This issue can be decomposed into two aspects: 1) variability of information relevance as it pertains to an information seeker. In other words, different information seekers may enter the same search text, or keywords, but expect completely different results. It is therefore, imperative that information retrieval systems possess an ability to incorporate a model of the information seeker in order to estimate the relevance and context of use of information before presenting results. Of course, in this context, by a model we mean the capture of trends in the information seeker’s search behaviour. This is what many researchers refer to as the personalized search. 2) Information diversity. Information available on the World Wide Web today spans multitudes of inherently overlapping topics, and it is difficult for any information retrieval system to decide effectively on the relevance of the information retrieved in response to an information seeker’s query. For example, the information seeker who wishes to use WWW to learn about a cure for a certain illness would receive a more relevant answer if the search engine was optimized into such domains of topics. This is what is being referred to in the WWW nomenclature as a ’specialized search’. This thesis maintains that the information seeker’s search is not intended to be completely random and therefore tends to portray itself as consistent patterns of behaviour. Nonetheless, this behaviour, despite being consistent, can be quite complex to capture. To accomplish this goal the thesis proposes a Multi-Agent Personalized Information Retrieval with Specialization Ontology (MAPIRSO). MAPIRSO offers a complete learning framework that is able to model the end user’s search behaviour and interests and to organize information into categorized domains so as to ensure maximum relevance of its responses as they pertain to the end user queries. Specialization and personalization are accomplished using a group of collaborative agents. Each agent employs a Reinforcement Learning (RL) strategy to capture end user’s behaviour and interests. Reinforcement learning allows the
Iterative Transmit/Receive Antenna Selection in MIMO Systems Based on Channel Capacity Analysis

This letter introduces a closed form expression for the channel capacity increase achieved by adding a new pair of transmit and receive antennas. By analyzing this expression, an iterative transmit/receive antenna selection algorithm of low computational complexity is proposed. The new algorithm has higher computational complexity than some existing algorithms, but as the results show, the performance improvement of the proposed algorithm approaching more to the optimal algorithm.
Exposing malaria in-host diversity and estimating population diversity by capture-recapture using massively parallel pyrosequencing

Malaria infections commonly contain multiple genetically distinct variants. Mathematical and animal models suggest that interactions among these variants have a profound impact on the emergence of drug resistance. However, methods currently used for quantifying parasite diversity in individual infections are insensitive to low-abundance variants and are not quantitative for variant population sizes. To more completely describe the in-host complexity and ecology of malaria infections, we used massively parallel pyrosequencing to characterize malaria parasite diversity in the infections of a group of patients. By individually sequencing single strands of DNA in a complex mixture, this technique can quantify uncommon variants in mixed infections. The in-host diversity revealed by this method far exceeded that described by currently recommended genotyping methods, with as many as sixfold more variants per infection. In addition, in paired pre- and posttreatment samples, we show a complex milieu of parasites, including variants likely up-selected and down-selected by drug therapy. As with all surveys of diversity, sampling limitations prevent full discovery and differences in sampling effort can confound comparisons among samples, hosts, and populations. Here, we used ecological approaches of species accumulation curves and capture-recapture to estimate the number of variants we failed to detect in the population, and show that these methods enable comparisons of diversity before and after treatment, as well as between malaria populations. The combination of ecological statistics and massively parallel pyrosequencing provides a powerful tool for studying the evolution of drug resistance and the in-host ecology of malaria infections.
Electronic structure of Zr–Ni–Sn systems: role of clustering and nanostructures in half-Heusler and Heusler limits

Half-Heusler and Heusler compounds have been of great interest for several decades for thermoelectric, magnetic, half-metallic and many other interesting properties. Among these systems, Zr–Ni–Sn compounds are interesting thermoelectrics which can go from semiconducting half-Heusler (HH) limit, ZrNiSn, to metallic Heusler (FH) limit, ZrNi2Sn. Recently Makongo et al (2011 J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133 18843) found that dramatic improvement in the thermoelectric power factor of HH can be achieved by putting excess Ni into the system. This was attributed to an energy filtering mechanism due to the presence of FH nanostructures in the HH matrix. Using density functional theory we have investigated clustering and nanostructure formation in ZrNi1+xSn (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1) systems near the HH (x = 0) and FH (x = 1) ends and have found that excess Ni atoms in HH tend to stay close to each other and form nanoclusters. On the other hand, there is competing interaction between Ni-vacancies occupying different sites in FH which prevents them from forming vacancy nanoclusters. Effects of nano-inclusions on the electronic structure near HH and FH ends are discussed.
Weight gain occurs after onset of bipolar illness in overweight bipolar patients.

BACKGROUND Bipolar patients appear to have a risk of weight gain and obesity higher than the general population. This has traditionally been attributed to medication and disease variables, but there have not been any studies that have investigated this directly. METHODS We examined 32 consecutive bipolar subjects and 32 matched controls for weight, BMI, fat content, and historic weight at age 18. RESULTS Bipolar patients were heavier (193.1 +/- 55.6 vs. 165.6 +/- 37.8 lbs., P = 0.03), with greater BMI (30.3 +/- 8.8 vs. 24.3 +/- 4.0, P = 0.001), and higher fat content (33.3 +/- 9.9 vs. 19.1 +/- 9.9%, P < 0.0001) than psychiatrically well controls. A larger fraction of bipolar subjects were obese (BMI > 30, 50% vs. 9.7%, z = 3.88, P < 0.01). However, weight at age 18 was not statistically different (143.0 +/- 35.8 for bipolar subjects vs. 152.8 +/- 42.7 lbs., P = 0.3). CONCLUSIONS This is the first controlled study examining weight gain in bipolar illness and the first demonstration that premorbid weight is in the normal range for bipolar subjects. Subsequent weight gain is probably related to illness and treatment variables.
Sequence features of MADS-domain proteins that act as hubs in the protein-protein interaction network controlling flower development

Protein-protein interaction networks (PPIs) are usually scale-free networks that contain a small number of highly connected nodes (hubs) and many poorly connected nodes. However, the molecular mechanisms that underlie the promiscuous interactions of hub proteins remain largely unknown. Here, we show that the floral homeotic MADS-domain transcription factor SEPALLATA3 from Arabidopsis thaliana can act as a hub in the PPI controlling flower development because it contains leucine residues at inter- and intramolecular interaction interfaces. Comprehensive sequence analyses of diverse MADS-domain proteins indicate exceedingly high conservation of the identified leucine residues within SEPALLATA-subfamily proteins, whereas non-hub MADS-domain proteins exhibit preferences for other amino acids at homologous sites. Our results indicate that the conservation of leucine residues at positions critical for protein-protein interactions contributed significantly to the present-day structure of the PPI and may have facilitated the evolution of the flower.
Is total hip arthroplasty a successful and safe procedure in Jehovah's Witnesses? Mean five-year results

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) can be challenging in Jehovah's Witnesses because of the potential for blood loss. Because these patients will not accept blood transfusions, multiple strategies to prevent blood loss have been developed. The purpose of this study was to report implant survivorship, clinical outcomes, radiographic outcomes, morbidity, and mortality of Jehovah's Witnesses undergoing primary THA. Databases from two institutions were reviewed to identify 53 patients (55 hips) who were Jehovah's Witnesses and had a primary total hip arthroplasty. There were 27 women and 26 men who had a mean age of 63 years (range 35-94 years), and a mean follow-up of 63 months (range 24-120 months). All Jehovah's Witnesses had a comprehensive perioperative blood management strategy employed by a coordinated medical and surgical team. Mean post-operative Harris Hip Scores were 86 points, and implant survivorship was 97%. There were two aseptic revisions for osteolysis and component loosening. There were no mortalities, and three minor surgical and two minor medical complications occurred during the study. Excellent clinical outcomes were found for Jehovah's Witness undergoing total hip arthroplasty using a comprehensive blood management protocol. We believe that the use of a specialised blood management protocol involving a team approach to preoperative evaluation, appropriate anaesthesia, and surgical and postoperative management was responsible for minimising complications. Total hip arthroplasty is safe and efficacious in this patient group if proper preoperative safeguards are utilised.
Prolonged Vigabatrin Treatment Modifies Developmental Changes of GABAA‐Receptor Binding in Young Children with Epilepsy

Summary: Purpose: To determine whether prolonged treatment with vigabatrin (VGB), an antiepileptic drug (AED) that acts by elevating brain γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels, interferes with age‐related changes of in vivo GABAA‐receptor binding in children with epilepsy.
Impact of certain flavonoids on lipid profiles—­potential action of Garcinia cambogia flavonoids

Flavonoids from Cocos nucifera, Myristica fragrance, Saraka asoka and Garcinia cambogia exerted hypolipidaemic activity in rats. Lipid lowering activity was maximum in rats administered flavonoids (10 mg/kg BW/day) from Garcinia cambogia. A dose response study revealed biphasic activity. Higher doses were less effective in reducing lipid levels in serum and tissues, although devoid of toxic effects. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Magnetic materials for electrical machine design and future research directions: A review

The selection of the appropriate core magnetic material for an electrical machine is one of the main design decisions that will significantly influence the power density and efficiency of the machine. The selection of the material is function of the torque/speed requirements and structure of the machine itself. Recent research have investigated different material options for electrical machine design and the basis of this paper is to provide a review and comparison of the research outcomes. The review is presented under three sections, viz. application of soft magnetic alloys, soft magnetic composites and amorphous magnetic materials. Based on the research outcomes, the most suitable applications for these different material categories have been identified. Future research directions of electrical machine design that may benefit the efficiency and power density are identified and associated research challenges are highlighted. The core loss parameters of state-of-the-art material in literature are compared and discussed.
Turning quickly on myself: Automatic interpretation biases in dysphoria are self-referent

ABSTRACT Cognitive theories emphasise automatic interpretation biases (AIB) in the development and maintenance of depression. The current study examined AIB using the word sentence association paradigm for depression (WSAP-D) via endorsement rates and reaction time indices. We directly tested the importance of self-relevance for AIB by modifying the WASP-D task to include self-referent ambiguous stimuli and contrasting them with other-referent ambiguous stimuli. We hypothesised that the dysphoric group, but not the non-dysphoric group, would demonstrate AIB only for self-referent ambiguous stimuli. Consistent with our main hypotheses, dysphoric individuals endorsed negative interpretations more often and faster than non-dysphoric individuals, only for self-referent ambiguous stimuli. Self-relevance may be a critical aspect of AIB in dysphoric populations.
España ante la economía del conocimiento: el papel de los servicios a empresas intensivos en conocimiento

La Economia del conocimiento ha traido consigo un resurgimiento del interes por la inversion en conocimiento y la innovacion, contribuyendo de modo indirecto a crear una nueva "vision" de los servicios, y mas concretamente de los servicios a empresas intensivos en conocimiento (KIBS). El objetivo de este trabajo es contrastar de modo empirico el importante papel que los KIBS desempenan en la creacion y transmision de conocimiento, actividades estas que, en ultima instancia, acaban incidiendo sobre el crecimiento y el desempeno del sistema productivo.