Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential induction of interleukin-1beta and tumour necrosis factor-alpha may account for specific patterns of leukocyte recruitment in the brain.

In peripheral tissue, IL-1beta has been shown to induce TNFalpha expression and vice versa, resulting in mixed neutrophil and mononuclear cell recruitment to the site of injury. This has led to the concept of crosstalk in peripheral cytokine signalling pathways. In the brain parenchyma, however, restricted patterns of leukocyte recruitment following the focal injection of pro-inflammatory agents into the brain are observed. This study investigates the expression of the principal pro-inflammatory cytokines--IL-1beta and TNFalpha--in the brain after IL-1beta, TNFalpha, NMDA or endotoxin injection into the brain parenchyma of rats. Each of these agents gives rise to a distinct pattern of acute leukocyte recruitment at 24 h. We found that IL-1beta induces de novo synthesis of additional IL-1beta but not TNFalpha, as determined by RT-PCR and ELISA, and TNFalpha does not induce either itself or IL-1beta. Injection of NMDA results in IL-1beta, but not TNFalpha up-regulation. Injection of IL-1beta or NMDA is associated with neutrophil recruitment whereas injection of TNFalpha is associated with mononuclear cell recruitment. Following injection of endotoxin, both TNFalpha and IL-1beta levels are elevated and neutrophils and mononuclear cells are recruited to the brain. These data suggest that the signalling pathways that are present in the periphery are modified in the brain and that differential induction of TNFalpha and IL-1beta may have a role in the atypical pattern of leukocyte recruitment observed in the brain.
The School Food Plan

Going forward, Anne Bull Chair of LACA, is keen to highlight the need for a ‘whole school’ approach to school food, everybody has to play their part to ensure that the plan is a success. The Department for Education has a number of experts in school food available to support and enact the recommendations of this plan and, as the professional body representing the school food industry, LACA is committed to being actively involved in the implementation of this plan.
Role of haemodialysis and hepatitis c virus infection in spontaneous and induced cytokine production of patients with chronic renal disease.

Cytokines modulate general and virus infection-related host immune responses. We have investigated cytokine responses in chronic renal disease patients with regard to haemodialysis and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Compared with healthy subjects with normal renal function (n=15), non-dialyzed/renal disease individuals without HCV infection (n=11) showed increased production of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL-)6, IL-10, interferon (IFN-)gamma and IL-12 by blood mononuclear cells (P<0.05). These inflammatory cytokine responses were abolished in haemodialysis patients (n=37;P<0.05), except for IL-12. This hyporesponsiveness in haemodialysis patients was more evident in stimulatory conditions, as shown by the consistent inhibition of IFN-gamma production, and the failure of exogenous IFN-gamma to prime for IL-12 inducibility (P<0.01). The disturbed cytokine response appeared to focus in the T-helper lymphocyte phenotype 1 (Th(1)) because the stimulation of IL-6 and IL-10 (Th(2)phenotype cytokines) was not impaired. The pattern of response was similar among haemodialysis patients with (n=24) or without (n=13) HCV infection. However, HCV-positive haemodialysis patients had a blunted TNF-alpha response (P<0.05) and failed to increase the stimulated IFN-gamma and IL-12 production (P<0.01) compared with chronic hepatitis C patients without renal disease (n=25). On the contrary, IL-10 stimulation was higher in HCV-positive haemodialysis patients (P<0.01). These results disclose the presence in haemodialysis patients of markedly abnormal general and HCV infection-related cytokine responses; the inhibitory alterations appear to affect predominantly the stimulated responses via the Th(1)subset and its relationship with monocyte response with possible pathogenic and therapeutic implications.
Electrostatic interactions in a neutral model phospholipid bilayer by molecular dynamics simulations

The organization of the lipid headgroups in a neutral model membrane is studied by atomistic simulations in the fluid lamellar phase, Lα. In particular, we report the results obtained for a fully hydrated 1-stearoyl-2-docosahexaenoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine lipid bilayer at room temperature. The orientational distribution of the lipid dipole moments with respect to the membrane normal presents a maximum at 70° (20° above the plane of the interface, pointing toward the water region). We also found another smaller peak at 110° (−20° with respect to the membrane plane). This preferential orientation of the lipid headgroup dipoles with respect to the bilayer normal obtained at 303 K is qualitatively different from previous calculations at higher temperatures in the fluid lamellar phase, where headgroup dipoles were uniformly distributed with orientations spanning 0°–135°. Despite their differences, both situations give rise to a similar mean orientation of ∼70°, which is in excellent agreement with experi.
Comparison of multivariate normalization techniques as applied to electronic nose based pattern classification for black tea

An appropriate normalization technique selection is one of the key issues for increasing the accuracy of correct classification for pattern recognition in an electronic nose system. This paper presents a comparative study of different normalization techniques for enhancing pattern classification of black tea using electronic nose. For this study black tea samples were collected from different tea gardens in India. At first principal component analysis (PCA) was used to investigate presence of clusters in the sensors responses in multidimensional space. Then different normalization techniques were used on the black tea data. Finally classification performances were done using BP-MLP. BP-MLP algorithm for black tea classifications using normalized data marginally enhances the pattern recognition accuracy of electronic nose system.
Extractive Industries Reporting: A Review of Accounting Challenges and the Research Literature

While the extractive industries (EI) are of major significance economically, the reporting of their activities has been the subject of contentious debate posing dilemmas for regulators and standard setters over many decades. In order to ensure alignment with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) research project on EI, we first identify some important economic characteristics of EI and associated accounting challenges together with an overview of how current accounting standards deal with these challenges using International Financial Reporting Standards as the focus. Second, we conduct a review of extant research on EI reporting analyzed around the key areas of: (a) international diversity of accounting practices and the challenges facing information users; (b) standard‐setting processes and lobbying behaviour that deals with why the IASB (and other standard setters) have not succeeded in developing rigorous standards for extractive activities; (c) the reporting of oil, gas, and mineral reserves, given that large proportions of the assets of EI firms (the reserves) are off‐balance sheet; (d) environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting dealing with how EI firms have increased their reporting of ESG information in response to regulatory demands and pressure for voluntary disclosures; and (e) other EI related topics such as earnings management, risk disclosures, and voluntary disclosure behaviour. Finally, we present some conclusions together with suggestions relating to key areas for future research on EI reporting.
New Evidence on the Effects of Tea on Mercury Metabolism in Humans

The authors present the results of an experiment in which they explored the role of tea in human metabolic processing of methylmercury (MeHg) from fish consumption. The experiment involved 50 scientists from the Collaborative Mercury Research Network (COMERN) who agreed to eat fish for 2 daily meals for 3 consecutive days. Half of the participants also drank 6 cups of tea daily, starting a week before and continuing through the experiment. The authors calculated the total amount of MeHg that each participant ingested from (1) the measured mercury (Hg) level in fish and (2) the quantity of fish eaten, and compared it with the total increases of Hg and MeHg levels in participants' blood. Results indicated that the control group metabolized roughly 100% of the available fish MeHg, whereas the tea-exposed group showed blood levels of MeHg at more than 40% than that available in the fish provided, suggesting that an external MeHg pool supplied part of the measured blood MeHg increase. The authors conclude that tea may accelerate the enterohepatic MeHg cycle and contribute to a temporary bioamplification of MeHg in the bloodstream.
Addition of granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor does not improve response to early treatment of high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia with alemtuzumab and rituximab

Abstract Thirty-three previously untreated patients with high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) were treated before meeting standard criteria with alemtuzumab and rituximab. Granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) was added to the regimen to determine whether it would improve treatment efficacy without increasing toxicity. High risk was defined as at least one of the following: 17p13−; 11q22.3−; unmutated IGHV (or use of VH3–21) together with elevated expression of ZAP-70 and/or CD38. Treatment was subcutaneous GM-CSF 250 μg Monday–Wednesday–Friday for 6 weeks from day 1, subcutaneous alemtuzumab 3 mg–10 mg–30 mg from day 3 and then 30 mg Monday–Wednesday–Friday for 4 weeks, and intravenous rituximab (375 mg/m2/week) for 4 weeks from day 8. Patients received standard supportive care and were monitored weekly for cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation. Using standard criteria, 31 (94%) patients responded to treatment, with nine (27%) complete responses (one with persistent cytopenia) and nine (27%) nodular partial responses. Median progression-free survival was 13.0 months and time to next treatment was 33.5 months. No patient died during treatment, seven (21%) had grade 3–4 toxicities attributable to treatment, and 10 (30%) had CMV viremia. Addition of GM-CSF to therapy with alemtuzumab and rituximab decreased treatment efficacy and increased the rate of CMV reactivation compared to a historical control.
Fault Current Limiter Using Transformer and Modular Device of YBCO Coated Conductor

In this work, we report on the evaluation of a superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL). It is consisted of a modular superconducting device combined with a short-circuited transformer with a primary copper winding connected in series to the power line and the secondary side short-circuited by the superconducting device. The basic idea is adding a magnetic component to contribute to the current limitation by the impedance reflected to the line after transition of the superconducting device. The evaluation tests were performed with a prospective current up to 2 kA, with the short-circuited transformer of 2.5 kVA, 220 V/660 V connected to a test facility of 100 kVA power capacity. The resistive SFCL using a modular superconducting device was tested without degradation for a prospective fault current of 1.8 kA, achieving the limiting factor 2.78; the voltage achieved 282 V corresponding to an electric field of 11 V/m. The test performed with the combined SFCL ( superconducting device + transformer) using series and toroidal transformers showed current limiting factor of 3.1 and 2 times, respectively. The test results of the combined SFCL with short-circuited transformer showed undesirable influence of the transformer impedance, resulting in reduction of the fault current level.
Experimental rhinovirus 16 infection increases intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 expression in bronchial epithelium of asthmatics regardless of inhaled steroid treatment

Rhinovirus infections in airway epithelial cells in vitro have been shown to upregulate intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) expression. Epithelial ICAM‐1, in its dual role as the major rhinovirus receptor and as adhesion molecule for inflammatory cells may be involved in the pathogenesis of rhinovirus‐induced exacerbations of asthma.
Heteronormativity and prostate cancer: a discussion paper.

: Aims and objectives: To discuss the role that heteronormative assumptions play in prostate cancer care and how these may be addressed. Background: Evidence exists to support the case that LGBT cancer patients are less likely to report poor health or self-disclose sexual orientation. Gender-specific cancers, such as prostate cancer, evoke particular needs in terms of supportive care. These may include advice about side-effect management, treatment choices and social and emotional issues. In this paper we discuss and problematize the heteronormative discourse and culture that exists around this cancer. We argue that situation may act as a barrier to effective supportive care for gay men. Design: Theoretical exploration of heteronormativity against the clinical context of prostate cancer. Methods: Scan of relevant evidence combined with discussion. Results: The paper posits a number of questions around heteronormativity in relation to cancer information provision, supportive care and sexuality and disability more generally. Whilst assumptions regarding sexual orientation should be avoided in clinical encounters, this may be difficult when heteronormativity dominates. Existing research supports the ascertain that patient experience. Conclusion: Sexual orientation and relational models of care should be promoted at the start of cancer treatment in an appropriate manner. This can assist in reducing the risks of embarrassment or offence to patients or professionals. Service providers should also remain aware of potential bias in the provision of information or supportive care resources to men who do not identify as exclusively heterosexual. to practice: Awareness heteronormative assumptions can be useful for health professionals in prostate cancer This can prevent embarrassment for patients and ensure a more equitable provision of support; including men who do not identify as heterosexual.
Origin of hyperactivity in the hamster dorsal cochlear nucleus following intense sound exposure

This study sought to determine whether maintenance of noise‐induced dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) hyperactivity depends on descending projections. Twenty‐two hamsters were exposed under anesthesia to a 10‐kHz tone at 125–130 dB SPL for 4 hr, and another 21 unexposed animals served as controls. After approximately 4–6 weeks of recovery, surgical transections were made to isolate the DCN from its adjacent brainstem structures. Spontaneous multiunit activity was recorded from the DCN surface 30–40 min after the surgical manipulations. Spontaneous rates were derived from the recording sites of the DCN along its mediolateral axis for each animal, yielding average spontaneous rates for both control and exposed groups. Histology was performed to assess the degree of sectioning of descending fiber tract connections to the cochlear nucleus, via the acoustic striae route, subpeduncular route, trapezoid body route, and ventral route of the olivocochlear bundle connection. The results showed that complete or nearly complete transections of descending inputs did not affect significantly the magnitude of DCN hyperactivity. However, this manipulation triggered a lateral shift of the peak mean rate, suggesting that descending inputs may play a modulatory role on the profile of DCN hyperactivity. Indeed, exposed animals with transection of only the strial route of entry manifested a level of hyperactivity much higher than that observed in exposed animals in which no sections were performed. This enhancement of DCN hyperactivity was weakened by damage to the subpeduncular or trapezoid routes of input, suggesting that the dorsally located inputs may have an inhibitory effect on DCN hyperactivity. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Differential effects of permanent and rotating shifts on self-report sleep length: a meta-analytic review.

STUDY OBJECTIVES The current study used the meta-analytic technique to quantitatively assess the effects of permanent and rotating shift-work schedules on sleep length. DESIGN A meta-analysis was completed on 36 primary studies resulting in 165 effect sizes. Effect sizes comparing shift-workers to a permanent day shift control group were calculated for permanent evening shifts, permanent night shifts, and morning, evening, and night shifts worked as part of slowly and rapidly rotating shift systems. SETTING NA PATIENTS OR PARTICIPANTS: NA INTERVENTIONS: NA RESULTS: Permanent night shifts resulted in a decrease, whereas permanent evening shifts resulted in an increase in sleep length. The shifts within rotating schedules followed the same pattern, with the addition of morning shifts having a moderate detrimental effect on sleep length. Furthermore, the speed of shift rotation had an impact. Slowly rotating shifts, in general, had the least detrimental effect on sleep length of the permanent and rotating shift-work schedules studied here. The pattern of effects among morning, evening, and night shifts was the same for rapidly and slowly rotating shifts, with night shifts having the greatest detrimental effect, morning shifts having a moderate detrimental effect and evening shifts having a positive effect on sleep length. In addition, nights on rotating shifts had a greater negative effect on sleep length than permanent night shifts. CONCLUSIONS Slowly rotating shifts have the least negative impact on sleep length of shift-work schedules including a night shift. However, permanent night shifts could be an alternative shift-work schedule in operational settings that require many workers at night.
Hemispheric activity during creative thinking: role of gender factor

Creative thinking was studied by psychometric and electrophysiological methods in men and women, taking into account their social stereotypes of behavior. The verbal and figural creativity was measured in university students of technical and humanitarian departments under control of intelligence scores and masculine-feminine psychological traits. The sex differences in figural creativity were obtained with higher index of originality in men. These differences can be reduced by the changing of social roles: when women choose occupations, which have greater male's features. Another factor of a weakening of sex differences during performance of figural creative task was high level of female intelligence. The reliable differences between men and women in verbal creativity testing by performance of remote associates task are not obtained. The discriminate criterion of effective divergent thinking showed higher scores for both masculinity and femininity in persons. A hemispheric interaction associated with performance of convergent and divergent verbal tasks and masculine-feminine psychological traits in men and women was analyzed by using the power and coherence of cortex electrical activity in 4-30 Hz range. No significant gender differences in originality of associations were also revealed, however, gender-related differences in a regional dynamic of the beta2-power were found during verbal creative thinking by comparing the final and initial stages of the remote associates task. Successful search of original word - associates vs. a generation of standard words - is accompanied by local increase of interhemispheric coherence of beta2 rhythm mostly in the parietotemporal cortex. At that, for an organization of neuronal assembles requiring to a research of original words, creative man had an increase of hemispheric interaction focused in frontal and temporal loci of the right hemisphere and in the left occipital locus and for women in the left frontal and temporal regions. Creative men differed from noncreative ones by greater values of inter- and intrahemispheric coherence and were similar by hemispheric interaction with women. Hemispheric interaction among the rest was associated with ratio of masculinity and femininity correlated to coherence patterns mostly in the left hemisphere. It is suggested that the verbal creative thinking in men is based on "insight" strategy whereas women additionally involve the "intellectual" strategy. Gender social stereotypes have a great extent of influence on rational function of the left hemisphere and, correspondingly, on creative processes in a brain.
Screening and diagnostic performance of enzyme immunoassay for antibody to lymphadenopathy-associated virus

In a multicenter cooperative study, an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) using purified antigen of lymphadenopathy-associated virus was compared with radioimmune precipitation (RIP) for detection of antibody to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 634 patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or related conditions, 687 apparently healthy persons at risk for HIV infection, 93 controls with cancer or autoimmune diseases, and 10,038 blood or plasma donors. Excluding the donors, the EIA was reactive in 875 (61.9%) of 1,414 subjects; compared with RIP, the sensitivity and specificity of EIA both were 99.8%. There was one false-positive EIA among 148 intravenous drug abusers and two false-negative EIAs among 472 apparently healthy homosexual men; no other discordant results between EIA and RIP occurred in these subjects. The EIA was repeatably reactive in 20 donors (0.2%), among whom 13 (65%) were positive by RIP; none of 529 randomly selected EIA-negative donors was RIP positive. In addition to its utility as a screening test in low-risk populations, the EIA for antibody to lymphadenopathy-associated virus is useful as a diagnostic test in persons with clinical evidence of or at risk for HIV infection.
Phase I Trial of Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitor Vismodegib (GDC-0449) in Patients with Refractory, Locally Advanced or Metastatic Solid Tumors

Purpose: The hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway, a key regulator of cell growth and differentiation during development is implicated in pathogenesis of certain cancers. Vismodegib (GDC-0449) is a small-molecule inhibitor of smoothened, a key component of Hh signaling. This phase I trial assessed GDC-0449 treatment in patients with solid tumors refractory to current therapies or for which no standard therapy existed. Experimental Design: Sixty-eight patients received GDC-0449 at 150 mg/d (n = 41), 270 mg/d (n = 23), or 540 mg/d (n = 4). Adverse events, tumor responses, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamic down-modulation of GLI1 expression in noninvolved skin were assessed. Results: Thirty-three of 68 patients had advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC), 8 had pancreatic cancer, 1 had medulloblastoma; 17 other types of cancer were also represented. GDC-0449 was generally well-tolerated. Six patients (8.8%) experienced 7 grade 4 events (hyponatremia, fatigue, pyelonephritis, presyncope, resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and paranoia with hyperglycemia), and 27.9% of patients experienced a grade 3 event [most commonly hyponatremia (10.3%), abdominal pain (7.4%), and fatigue (5.9%)]. No maximum tolerated dose was reached. The recommended phase II dose was 150 mg/d, based on achievement of maximal plasma concentration and pharmacodynamic response at this dose. Tumor responses were observed in 20 patients (19 with BCC and 1 unconfirmed response in medulloblastoma), 14 patients had stable disease as best response, and 28 had progressive disease. Evidence of GLI1 down-modulation was observed in noninvolved skin. Conclusions: GDC-0449 has an acceptable safety profile and encouraging anti-tumor activity in advanced BCC and medulloblastoma. Further study in these and other cancer types is warranted. Clin Cancer Res; 17(8); 2502–11. ©2011 AACR.