Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification and quantitation of precipitins against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients with cystic fibrosis by means of crossed immunoelectrophoresis with intermediate gel.

Crossed immunoelectrophoresis with intermediate gel was used in an attempt to identify and quantitate precipitins against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in sera from 33 patients with Cystic Fibrosis. A standard antigen-antibody system containing 55 precipitates was used as reference. A total of 173 precipitins against Pseudomonas aeruginosa were found in 20 of the sera. 56 per cent of the precipitins representing 30 different precipitin specificities could be identified and quantitated in relation to the reference system. As much as 22 precipitins were found in one serum. In one serum, the simultaneous occurrence of 6 Pseudomonas aeruginosa antigens and 15 Pseudomonas aeruginosa precipitins were demonstrated. Patients harbouring mucoid strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the respiratory tract were found to produce significantly more precipitins than other groups of subjects, and 23 out of the 30 different identified Pseudomonas aeruginosa precipitins were only found in this group of patients. Protective antibodies were not demonstrated. It is suggested that the mucoid strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa characteristic of patients with Cystic Fibrosis are selected in preference to the non-mucoid strains by means of the patient's immune response. The persistent infection and the multiple precipitins produced against the bacteria by many of the patients raise the question whether the local immune reaction could enhance the destructive lesions of the respiratory tract.
Jet‐Impingement Heat Transfer in Gas Turbine Systems

Abstract: A review of jet‐impingement heat transfer in gas turbine systems is presented. Characteristics of the different flow regions for submerged jets ‐ free jet, stagnation flow, and wall jet ‐ are reviewed. Heat transfer characteristics of both single and multiple jets are discussed with consideration of the effects of important parameters relevant to gas turbine systems including curvature of surfaces, crossflow, angle of impact, and rotation.
Moderate Dose Inhaled Corticosteroid-Induced Symptomatic Adrenal Suppression

Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are drugs of choice for persistent asthma. Less than 500 µg/d of fluticasone are believed to be safe. We found 92 cases of adrenal suppression in PubMed; among these cases there were 13 children who took 500 µg/d or less of fluticasone. Adrenal insufficiency was diagnosed in a 7-year-old boy on 460 µg ICS for 16 months, with a diagnosis of chronic persistent asthma. A random cortisol was nondetectable as was an early morning cortisol. ICS have greatly improved the day-to-day lives of children with chronic persistent asthma. Parents of children younger than 12 years, who use at least 400 µg of inhaled fluticasone (or bioequivalent), must be given oral and written instructions about warning symptoms of hypocortisolism. Major stress such as surgery, gastrointestinal, bronchopulmonary, or other systemic infections, and heat stress may mandate a written plan of action for use by hospital physicians.
Neuronal activity‐dependent increase of net matrix metalloproteinase activity is associated with MMP‐9 neurotoxicity after kainate

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and the tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs) are emerging as important modulators of brain physiopathology. Dramatic changes in the expression of MMPs and TIMPs occur during excitotoxic/neuroinflammatory processes. However, only the measurement of net protease activity is relevant physiologically, and the functional consequences of MMP/TIMP ratio modifications in the brain remain elusive. In order to assess MMP activity and effects in brain tissue, we combined in vivo and organotypic culture models of kainate (KA)‐induced excitotoxicity to provoke selective neuronal death and neuroinflammation in the hippocampus. Using in situ zymography, we show that KA‐induced excitotoxic seizures in rats increase net MMP activity in hippocampal neurons 8 h after seizures, before their death, and that this increase is neuronal activity‐dependent. Three days after KA, proteolytic activity increases in blood vessels and reactive glial cells of vulnerable areas, in relation with neuroinflammation. At 7 and 15 days, proteolysis remains high in blood vessels whereas it is reduced in glia. In organotypic hippocampal cultures, which lack blood cell‐mediated inflammation and extrinsic connections, a broad‐spectrum inhibitor of MMPs (MMPI), but also a selective MMP‐9 inhibitor, protect hippocampal neurons against KA‐induced excitotoxicity. Moreover, recombinant MMP‐9, but not MMP‐2, induces selective pyramidal cell death in these cultures and KA‐induced neuronal activity exacerbates the neuronal death promoting effects of MMP‐9. These data strongly implicate MMPs, and MMP‐9 in particular, in both excitotoxic neuronal damage and subsequent neuroinflammatory processes, and suggest that selective MMPIs could be therapeutically relevant in related neurological disorders.
A Novel All-Digital Multichannel Multimode RF Transmitter Using Delta-Sigma Modulation

In this letter, we present a new all-digital multichannel multimode transmitter architecture. The main novelty is the development of an agile radio transmitter where the digital up-conversion to RF operating in the gigahertz frequency range and the multichannel transmission capacity are embedded into a single field-programmable gate array device. Its high flexibility and fast switching of the carriers' frequencies make this transmitter interesting for cognitive radio-based applications.
Direct Regulation of an Oncogenic Micro-RNA Cluster by E2F Transcription Factors*

Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression via the RNA interference pathway. In addition to roles in normal development, miRNAs have recently been implicated in a range of human diseases, including cancer. We recently demonstrated that a polycistronic cluster of miRNAs, miR-17–92, is oncogenic in a mouse model for Burkitt's lymphoma. This is due, in part, to a reduced apoptotic program. In an effort to understand the regulation of miR-17–92, we have studied the promoter structure of this miRNA cluster. The primary transcript initiates from a consensus initiator sequence downstream of a nonconsensus TATA box. The core promoter region contains two functional E2F transcription factor binding sites. Chromatin immunoprecipitation demonstrates that E2F3 is the primary E2F family member that occupies the promoter. These data place miR-17–92 in a regulatory loop between E2F3 and the miR-17 target E2F1. We propose a model whereby miR-17–92 promotes cell proliferation by shifting the E2F transcriptional balance away from the pro-apoptotic E2F1 and toward the proliferative E2F3 transcriptional network.
Enhanced lateral premotor activity during paradoxical gait in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) patients often show marked improvement of hypokinetic gait when exposed to special stimuli. To investigate physiological mechanisms underlying this “paradoxical gait” induced by visual cues in PD patients, we examined regional cerebral blood flow changes during gait on a treadmill guided by two different visual cues, the lines oriented transversely to the direction of walk (TL) and the lines parallel to it (PL). Ten PD patients and 10 age‐matched controls received injections of 99mTc‐hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime twice, once during each walking condition. Brain perfusion images were obtained by single‐photon emission computed tomography. When affected by TL, PD patients showed marked improvement of gait parameters, mainly reduction of cadence. In regional cerebral blood flow analysis, when TL was compared with PL, both groups had common activation in the posterior parietal cortex and cerebellar hemispheres. Especially in the right lateral premotor cortex, PD patients showed enhanced activation induced by TL to a significantly greater degree than the controls. The present study indicates that the network dedicated to visuomotor control, particularly the lateral premotor cortex, plays an important role in the development of the paradoxical gait induced by special visual stimuli in PD patients. Ann Neurol 1999;45:329–336
Factorial Validity and Gender Invariance of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression in Cardiac Rehabilitation Patients

PURPOSE: To find a best-fitting factor structure of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) and test whether this structure is invariant across gender in a cardiac rehabilitation population. METHODS: We examined the data from 920 participants of a cardiac rehabilitation exercise program. Fourteen confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine existing factor solutions from the literature. The best-fitting model was tested for invariance across gender. RESULTS: The data fit best to a 3-factor solution, which has 14 items and 3 factors (ie, somatic symptoms, negative affect, and anhedonia). The goodness-of-fit indices showed an acceptable fit. The invariance analysis revealed that the factor structure is equivalent across gender. CONCLUSIONS: While a fitting factor solution was found, rehabilitation practitioners and researchers need to be aware of the psychometrical shortcomings of the CES-D and consider using other scales as alternative measures of depressive symptoms.
Adoption of telemedicine in Scottish remote and rural general practices: a qualitative study

We conducted a qualitative interview study to explore the factors that have facilitated and prevented the adoption of telemedicine in general practice in remote and rural Scotland. Face-to-face interviews were carried out with general practitioners (GPs) and practice nurses in 26 of Scotland's most remote practices and five of the seven most rural health boards. The interview study found that GPs were more positive about the use of computers and telemedicine than nurses. Although electronic access to simple data, such as laboratory results, had become widely accepted, most respondents had very little experience of more sophisticated telemedicine applications, such as videoconferencing. There was widespread scepticism about the potential usefulness of clinical applications of telemedicine, although it was perceived to have potential benefit in facilitating access to educational resources. A number of barriers to the adoption of telemedicine were reported, including concerns that videoconferencing could diminish the quality of communication in educational and clinical settings, and that telemedicine would not fit easily with the organizational routines of the practices. Policy-makers should prioritize strategies to develop educational programmes, as these are more likely to succeed than clinical initiatives. It may then follow that clinicians will see opportunities for use in their clinical work.
Low birth weight and Latino ethnicity. Examining the epidemiologic paradox.

OBJECTIVE To assess the relation between Latino ethnicity, Latino subgroup, and low birth weight (LBW). DATA SOURCES From the MEDLINE computer data-base, we used the key words birth weight; infant, LBW; Latinos; Hispanic Americans; Cuban Americans; Mexican Americans; and Puerto Ricans to identify studies that analyzed LBW in Latinos. STUDY SELECTION Thirty-two studies, published from 1982 to 1996, that analyzed US Latinos and whites or multiple Latino subgroups, that used the revised definition of LBW (< 2500 g), and had a large sample size (> 10,000) were selected. DATA EXTRACTION Two reviewers extracted LBW rates and data on the relation between Institute of Medicine risk factors and LBW by maternal ethnicity and Latino subgroup. DATA SYNTHESIS Low-birth-weight rates were similar for Latino (median, 6.2%) and white infants (median, 5.8%). By Latino subgroup, LBW rates were similar for Central/South American, Cuban, Mexican, and white infants. Puerto Rican infants had consistently higher LBW rates (median, 9.1%). Two risk factors-maternal birth-place and gestational weight gain-were identified as confounders of the relation between Latino ethnicity, Latino subgroup, and LBW. CONCLUSIONS Low-birth-weight rates of Latinos and whites are similar, consistent with the "epidemiologic paradox" of unexpectedly favorable perinatal outcomes for Latinos. However, this paradoxical relation for all Latinos masks the notably elevated LBW risk among Puerto Ricans. Further study of LBW among Latinos, including cultural factors, is needed.
The Repertoire of Fos and Jun Proteins Expressed during the G1 Phase of the Cell Cycle Is Determined by the Duration of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Activation

ABSTRACT In Rat-1 fibroblasts nonmitogenic doses of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) stimulate a transient activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), whereas mitogenic doses elicit a sustained response. This sustained phase of MAPK activation regulates cell fate decisions such as proliferation or differentiation, presumably by inducing a program of gene expression which is not observed in response to transient MAPK activation. We have examined the expression of members of the AP-1 transcription factor complex in response to stimulation with different doses of LPA. c-Fos, c-Jun, and JunB are induced rapidly in response to LPA stimulation, whereas Fra-1 and Fra-2 are induced after a significant lag. The expression of c-Fos is transient, whereas the expression of c-Jun, JunB, Fra-1, and Fra-2 is sustained. The early expression of c-Fos can be reconstituted with nonmitogenic doses of LPA, but the response is transient compared to that observed with mitogenic doses. In contrast, expression of Fra-1, Fra-2, and JunB and optimal expression of c-Jun are observed only with doses of LPA which induce sustained MAPK activation and DNA synthesis. LPA-stimulated expression of c-Fos, Fra-1, Fra-2, c-Jun, and JunB is inhibited by the MEK1 inhibitor PD098059, indicating that the Raf-MEK-MAPK cascade is required for their expression. In cells expressing a conditionally active form of Raf-1 (ΔRaf-1:ER), we observed that selective, sustained activation of Raf-MEK-MAPK was sufficient to induce expression of Fra-1, Fra-2, and JunB but, interestingly, induced little or no c-Fos or c-Jun. The induction of c-Fos observed in response to LPA was strongly inhibited by buffering the intracellular [Ca2+]. Moreover, although Raf activation or calcium ionophores induced little c-Fos expression, we observed a synergistic induction in response to the combination of ΔRaf-1:ER and ionomycin. These results suggest that kinetically distinct phases of MAPK activation serve to regulate the expression of distinct AP-1 components such that sustained MAPK activation is required for the induced expression of Fra-1, Fra-2, c-Jun, and JunB. However, in contrast to the case for Fra-1, Fra-2, and JunB, activation of the MAPK cascade alone is not sufficient to induce c-Fos expression, which rather requires cooperation with other signals such as Ca2+mobilization. Finally, the identification of the Fra-1, Fra-2, c-Jun, and JunB genes as genes which are selectively regulated by sustained MAPK activation or in response to activated Raf suggests that they are candidates to mediate certain of the effects of Ras proteins in oncogenic transformation.
Dissemination of Bacterial Fluoroquinolone Resistance in Two Multidrug-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae

Bacterial resistance to antimicrobials has become one of the greatest challenges for clinical microbiologists and healthcare practitioners worldwide. Acquisition of resistance genes has proven to be difficult to characterize and is largely uncontrollable in the environment. Here we sought to characterize conjugal horizontal gene transfer of plasmid-encoded fluoroquinolone resistance genes from two strains of Enterobacteriaceae, one clinical and one from a municipal wastewater treatment plant environment. Conjugation was dissimilar between the two strains. Escherichia coli strain LR09, containing a plasmid with the aac(6′)-Ib-cr fluoroquinolone resistance gene, did not conjugate with any of the 15 strains tested, while Enterobacter aerogenes strain YS11 conjugated with two strains of E. coli. The resultant transconjugants were also dissimilar in their stability and potential persistence. The observations presented herein exemplify the difficulties in understanding and controlling the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Thus, it may be prudent to address drug disposal and destruction, incorporating a life-cycle assessment plan ‘from cradle to grave', treating antimicrobials as chemical or environmental contaminants.
A missing data approach to semi‐competing risks problems

For event time data involving multiple mutually exclusive competing causes of failure, classic competing risks results show that marginal survival distributions are not identifiable. In a related instance, one or more failure modes may be observed provided that the failure events occur in a specific order. In such situations, sometimes referred to as semi‐competing risks problems, the observations may under realistic assumptions lend information about parameters of interest that would be nonidentifiable in the strict competing risks case. Here, we present an approach that makes use of partially observable multiple modes of failures to obtain an estimate of the marginal distribution of one event type that may occur prior to the occurrence of another event type or be precluded by it. We apply the proposed method to the problem of estimating the distribution of time to tumour recurrence at specific sites among breast cancer patients participating in randomized clinical trials. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Qualities of Work Environments That Promote Perceived Support for Creativity

This article examines physical and social predictors of perceived support for creativity in the workplace and their effects on important personal and organizational outcomes. Recent conceptualizations of creativity suggest that the physical environment plays a key role in facilitating the development of creative processes and products, yet prior studies have given little attention to demonstrating empirical links between physical and social features of the workplace and employees' subjective experiences of creativity. This study examined employees' perceptions of support for creativity at work as a possible mediator of the relationships between objective measures of distracting stimuli and subjective appraisals of social climate, on the one hand, and self-reported levels of job satisfaction and personal stress, on the other. Results indicated that both recorded levels of environmental distraction and self-reports of social climate are significantly linked to employees' perceptions of support for creativity at work. Moreover, employees' appraisals of support for creativity at work mediate the relationships between their perceptions of social climate and self-reported job satisfaction, social climate and stress, and between environmental distraction and job satisfaction.
Non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease: the role of nuclear receptors and circadian rhythmicity

Non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the accumulation of triglycerides in the hepatocytes in the absence of excess alcohol intake, and is caused by an imbalance between hepatic synthesis and breakdown of fats, as well as fatty acid storage and disposal. Liver metabolic pathways are driven by circadian biological clocks, and hepatic health is maintained by proper timing of circadian patterns of metabolic gene expression with the alternation of anabolic processes corresponding to feeding/activity during wake times, and catabolic processes characterizing fasting/resting during sleep. A number of nuclear receptors in the liver are expressed rhythmically, bind hormones and metabolites, sense energy flux and expenditure, and connect the metabolic pathways to the molecular clockwork throughout the 24‐h day. In this review, we describe the role played by the nuclear receptors in the genesis of NAFLD in relationship with the circadian clock circuitry.
Synthesis and Biological Activity of Trisubstituted Adenines as A 2A Adenosine Receptor Antagonists

The discovery of new drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, has become an attractive field of research. Due to the regulation of D 2 receptor activity by A 2 A adenosine receptor, potent and selective ligands of A 2 A subtype could be useful tools to study neurodegenerative disorders. A series of 2,8-disubstituted-9-ethyladenine derivatives was synthesized and tested in binding affinity assay at human adenosine receptors. New compounds showed good affinity and selectivity at A 2 A receptor versus the other subtypes. The introduction of a bromine atom in 8-position increased the affinity of these compounds, leading to ligands with K i in the nanomolar range.
Improving Prediction of Suicide and Accidental Death After Discharge From General Hospitals With Natural Language Processing.

Importance Suicide represents the 10th leading cause of death across age groups in the United States (12.6 cases per 100 000) and remains challenging to predict. While many individuals who die by suicide are seen by physicians before their attempt, they may not seek psychiatric care. Objective To determine the extent to which incorporating natural language processing of narrative discharge notes improves stratification of risk for death by suicide after medical or surgical hospital discharge. Design, Setting, and Participants In this retrospective health care use study, clinical data were analyzed from individuals with discharges from 2 large academic medical centers between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2013. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was suicide as a reported cause of death based on Massachusetts Department of Public Health records. Regression models for prediction of death by suicide or accidental death were compared relying solely on coded clinical data and those using natural language processing of hospital discharge notes. Results There were 845 417 hospital discharges represented in the cohort, including 458 053 unique individuals. Overall, all-cause mortality was 18% during 9 years, and the median follow-up was 5.2 years. The cohort included 235 (0.1%) who died by suicide during 2.4 million patient-years of follow-up. Positive valence reflected in narrative notes was associated with a 30% reduction in risk for suicide in models adjusted for coded sociodemographic and clinical features (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.58-0.85; P < .001) and improved model fit (χ22 = 14.843, P < .001 by log-likelihood test). The C statistic was 0.741 (95% CI, 0.738-0.744) for models of suicide with or without inclusion of accidental death. Conclusions and Relevance Multiple clinical features available at hospital discharge identified a cohort of individuals at substantially increased risk for suicide. Greater positive valence expressed in narrative discharge summaries was associated with substantially diminished risk. Automated tools to aid clinicians in evaluating these risks may assist in identifying high-risk individuals.