Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of the sit-to-stand movement: a review.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The sit-to-stand (STS) movement is a skill that helps determine the functional level of a person. Assessment of the STS movement has been done using quantitative and semiquantitative techniques. The purposes of this study were to identify the determinants of the STS movement and to describe their influence on the performance of the STS movement. METHODS A search was made using MEDLINE (1980-2001) and the Science Citation Index Expanded of the Institute for Scientific Information (1988-2001) using the key words "chair," "mobility," "rising," "sit-to-stand," and "standing. " Relevant references such as textbooks, presentations, and reports also were included. Of the 160 identified studies, only those in which the determinants of STS movement performance were examined using an experimental setup (n=39) were included in this review. RESULTS The literature indicates that chair seat height, use of armrests, and foot position have a major influence on the ability to do an STS movement. Using a higher chair seat resulted in lower moments at knee level (up to 60%) and hip level (up to 50%); lowering the chair seat increased the need for momentum generation or repositioning of the feet to lower the needed moments. Using the armrests lowered the moments needed at the hip by 50%, probably without influencing the range of motion of the joints. Repositioning of feet influenced the strategy of the STS movement, enabling lower maximum mean extension moments at the hip (148.8 N m versus 32.7 N m when the foot position changed from anterior to posterior). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The ability to do an STS movement, according to the research reviewed, is strongly influenced by the height of the chair seat, use of armrests, and foot position. More study of the interaction among the different determinants is needed. Failing to account for these variables may lead to erroneous measurements of changes in STS performance.
Frequency offset estimation by differentially coherent frequency error characterization for OFDM wireless communications

A novel frequency offset estimation technique for OFDM wireless communications is proposed in this paper. By taking advantage of subcarrier-level differentially coherent detection, the proposed estimator based on frequency error characteristics can effectively overcome frequency-selective fading effects. Frequency error characterization is achieved by means of pseudo-noise (PN) matched filters (MF) on the subcarrier basis; thus, it inherently needs no assistance in the form of accurate timing information. In addition, the proposed technique can combat the rapid time-selectivity caused by a high Doppler spread because it requires channel stationarity within only short time duration due to the exploitation of a single training symbol. Furthermore, a linearized estimator is also proposed to reduce the computational complexity, resulting in some insignificant performance degradation. Extensive computer simulations have verified the superiority of the proposed technique.
Pivotal Advance: High-mobility group box 1 protein—a cytokine with a role in cardiac repair

The nuclear protein high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) has been largely characterized for its role in inflammation. However, HMGB1 released by inflammatory cells, as well as by necrotic cells, may also act as a signal of tissue damage and participate in tissue repair by recruiting stem cells to the injury site. The emergence of this function has focused the interest on HMGB1 as a molecule with an active role in tissue regeneration. We recently demonstrated that HMGB1 administration in a mouse model of myocardial infarction activates cardiac stem cells and promotes their differentiation into cardiomyocytes. The regenerative effect results in the improvement of cardiac function. In this review, we highlight the beneficial role of HMGB1 and discuss growth factor-based therapeutic approaches for the treatment of myocardial infarction. J. Leukoc. Biol. 81: 41–45; 2007.
Reappraisal of lymphocyte responsiveness to concanavalin A during experimental syphilis: evidence that glycosaminoglycans in the sera and tissues interfere ith active binding sites on the lectin and not with the lymphocytes

No significant differences were noted between the responses of lymphocytes from normal and Treponema pallidum-infected rabbits to concanavalin A. When added to cultures of normal peripheral blood lymphocytes, however, sera and tissue supernatant fluids from infected rabbits were capable of suppressing the response to concanavalin A. Although immune complexes were regularly present in suppressive sera and tissue extracts, additional experiments in which both direct and indirect approaches were used indicated that immune complexes were not responsible for the observed depression. Sequential stimulation studies, done with purified glycosaminoglycan materials obtained from suppressive sera and testicular fluids, and specific absorption studies suggested that this material blocks active sites on the lectin and merely prevents recognition of the mitogen by otherwise functionally active cells.
Ambivalence about health-related behaviours: an exploration in the domain of food choice.

OBJECTIVES Interest in attitudes and ambivalence has highlighted problems with the adequacy of conceptualizing attitudes as unitary, unidimensional, evaluations. In this paper, we report an application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) in the domain of dietary choice which investigates the hypothesis that ambivalence will attenuate observed attitude-intention relationships (since the evaluations influencing the expression of attitudes are more likely to differ from the evaluations influencing the expression of intentions for people who are more ambivalent. DESIGN Participants completed a postal questionnaire which contained, inter alia, measures assessing the components of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and a measure of ambivalence. METHODS Participants (N = 296) were recruited via advertisements placed in local newspapers, asking for volunteers to assist in a research project. Participants were randomly assigned to complete a questionnaire about either their chocolate consumption or their meat consumption. Participants were paid 4. RESULTS The findings show considerable support for the hypothesis: there was a tendency for attitude-intention relationships to be attenuated among participants with higher levels of ambivalence, compared to participants with lower levels of ambivalence. CONCLUSIONS The research supports the widespread view that ambivalence is an important issue, both for those involved in basic attitude research and for those who seek to use attitude theories in applied research. In particular, the findings indicate that ambivalence may often have implications for the predictive ability of attitude-intention-behaviour models, especially when applied to health-related behaviours that are characterized by motivational conflicts.
Human neuroblastoma I-type cells are malignant neural crest stem cells.

Human neuroblastoma I-type cells isolated from cell lines in vitro are morphologically intermediate between neuroblastic (N) cells, with properties of embryonic sympathoblasts, and substrate-adherent (S) cells having properties of embryonic Schwann/glial/melanocytic cells of the neural crest. I cells have biochemical features of both N and S cells. We propose that the I-type cell represents a malignant neural crest stem cell. The strongest evidence in support of this hypothesis is that: (a) I cells can generate progeny that have neuronal properties, i.e., are committed neuroblasts, or properties of nonneuronal, embryonic neural crest-derived cells; and (b) I-type cells can generate multipotent I-type progeny, indicating their capacity for self-renewal, a feature of stem cells. We report here that I-type cells, derived from four different human neuroblastoma cell lines and experimentally induced to differentiate, give rise to cells with distinct N or S cell phenotypes, indicative of I cell multipotentiality. Experiments with a large panel of I-type subclones, isolated from clonal I-type BE(2)-C cells and exposed to retinoic acid to induce neuronal differentiation or 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine to obtain S-type cells, demonstrated that differentiation occurs via induction and selection and not by selection of spontaneously arising variants. The differentiation phenotype was stable. We conclude that human neuroblastoma I-type cells are multipotent embryonic precursor cells of the peripheral nervous system, capable of either neuronal or nonneuronal neural crest cell differentiation.
Role of dopamine in the pathogenesis of hypertension.

1. Dopamine, via different dopamine receptor subtypes, regulates cardiovascular functions by actions on the central and peripheral nervous systems, vascular smooth muscle, the heart and the kidney. The dopaminergic system in the central nervous system (CNS) may participate in the regulation of systemic blood pressure. 2. Dopamine 'D2-like' (D2, D3 and D4) receptors, rather than 'D1-like' (D1 and D5) receptors, are involved in the CNS regulation of blood pressure; post-synaptic D2-like receptors increase blood pressure, while presynaptic D2-like receptors (the predominant action) produce the opposite effect. 3. Outside the CNS, dopamine may regulate blood pressure via pressure controls that act with intermediate rapidity (e.g. stress relaxation, arginine vasopressin and renin-angiotensin vasoconstriction), as well as those systems related to the long-term control of body fluid volume. 4. Dopamine D1- and D2-like receptors have been described in resistance vessels, such as the renal, mesenteric, coronary, pulmonary and cerebral arteries. The ability of D1-like receptors to inhibit renal smooth muscle hypertrophy indicates their importance in longer-term regulation of blood pressure. 5. Aberrant dopaminergic regulation of aldosterone secretion, via D2-like receptors, has been reported to be involved in some forms of hyperaldosteronism and hypertension. Some forms of hypertension may also be caused by an aberrant renal dopaminergic system. Abnormalities of three aspects of the renal dopaminergic system may lead to hypertension: (i) renal production of dopamine; (ii) transduction of the renal vascular dopamine signal; and (iii) transduction of the renal tubular dopamine signal. 6. Thus, increased blood pressure occurs after either blockade of D1-like receptors or of dopamine production in rats or disruption of the D1 receptor or the D3 receptor gene in mice.
Genomic analysis of the 8p11‐12 amplicon in familial breast cancer

Amplification of 8p11‐12 has been recurrently reported in sporadic breast cancer. These studies define a complex molecular structure with a set of minimal amplified regions, and different putative oncogenes that show a strong correlation between amplification and over‐expression such as ZNF703/FLJ14299, SPFH2/C8orf2, BRF2 and RAB11FIP. However, none of these studies were carried out on familial breast malignancies. We have studied the incidence, molecular features and clinical value of this amplification in familial breast tumors associated with BRCA1, BRCA2 and non‐BRCA1/2 gene mutations. We detected 9 out of 80 familial tumors with this amplicon by chromosomal comparative genomic hybridization. Next, we used a high‐resolution comparative genomic hybridization array covering the 8p11‐12 region to characterize this chromosomal region. This approach allowed us to define 2 cores of common amplification that largely overlap with those reported in sporadic tumors. Our findings confirm the molecular complexity of this chromosomal region and indicate that this genomic event is a common alteration in breast cancer, present not only in sporadic but also in familial tumors. Finally, we found correlation between the 8p11‐12 amplification and proliferation (Ki‐67) and cyclin E expression, which further proves in familial tumors the poor prognosis association previously reported in sporadic breast cancer. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
CD4 Receptor Localized to Non-raft Membrane Microdomains Supports HIV-1 Entry

Despite the preferential localization of CD4 to lipid rafts, the significance and role of these microdomains in HIV-1 entry is still controversial. The possibility that CD4, when localized to non-raft domains, might be able to support virus entry cannot be excluded. Because disintegration of rafts by extraction of cellular cholesterol with methyl-β-cyclodextrin suffers from various adverse effects, we investigated molecular determinants controlling raft localization of the CD4 receptor. Extensive mutagenesis of the receptor showed that a raft-localizing marker, consisting of a short sequence of positively charged amino acid residues, RHRRR, was present in the membrane-proximal cytoplasmic domain of CD4. Substitution of the RHRRR sequence with alanine residues abolished raft localization of the CD4 mutant, RA5, as determined biochemically using solubilization in nonionic detergents and by confocal microscopy. The possible inhibitory effect of the introduced mutations on the adjacent CVRC palmitoylation site was ruled out because wild type (wt) CD4 and RA5, but not a palmitoylation-deficient mutant, were efficiently palmitoylated. Nonetheless, the RA5 mutant supported productive virus entry to levels equivalent to that of wild type (wt) CD4. Sucrose gradient analysis of Triton X-100 virus lysates showed that Gag and envelope gp120 proteins accumulated in low buoyant, high-density fractions. This pattern was changed after virus incubation with cells. Whereas Gag proteins localized to lipid rafts in cells expressing wt CD4 and RA5, gp120 accumulated in rafts in cells expressing wt CD4 but not RA5. We propose that raft localization of CD4 is not required for virus entry, however, post-binding fusion/entry steps may require lipid raft assembly.
On the best convergence factors of iterative methods of matrix equations based on the gradient and least squares searches

In this paper, we prove the convergence and determine the best convergence factor of the gradient-based iterative algorithm for the equation Ax = b by analyzing the eigenvalues of the relevant matrices. A new property of eigenvalues related to the symmetric positive definite matrix is established. By using this property, we obtain a family of iterative algorithms for the linear matrix equation and coupled matrix equations and also the best convergence factor is determined. The analysis shows that the least squares based iterative algorithm is one of the special cases of these iterative algorithms. A numerical example illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Integrated Direct and Indirect Flood Risk Modeling: Development and Sensitivity Analysis

In this article, we propose an integrated direct and indirect flood risk model for small‐ and large‐scale flood events, allowing for dynamic modeling of total economic losses from a flood event to a full economic recovery. A novel approach is taken that translates direct losses of both capital and labor into production losses using the Cobb‐Douglas production function, aiming at improved consistency in loss accounting. The recovery of the economy is modeled using a hybrid input‐output model and applied to the port region of Rotterdam, using six different flood events (1/10 up to 1/10,000). This procedure allows gaining a better insight regarding the consequences of both high‐ and low‐probability floods. The results show that in terms of expected annual damage, direct losses remain more substantial relative to the indirect losses (approximately 50% larger), but for low‐probability events the indirect losses outweigh the direct losses. Furthermore, we explored parameter uncertainty using a global sensitivity analysis, and varied critical assumptions in the modeling framework related to, among others, flood duration and labor recovery, using a scenario approach. Our findings have two important implications for disaster modelers and practitioners. First, high‐probability events are qualitatively different from low‐probability events in terms of the scale of damages and full recovery period. Second, there are substantial differences in parameter influence between high‐probability and low‐probability flood modeling. These findings suggest that a detailed approach is required when assessing the flood risk for a specific region.
Homocysteine, vitamin B12 and folate levels in Iranian patients with ischemic stroke

Abstract Objectives: Homocysteine, folate, and some group B vitamins have been proposed as a cause of Cerebro-Vascular Accidents (CVA). We conducted a case-control study to compare the plasma levels of folate, vitamin B12 and homocysteine in Iranian subjects with and without cerebro-vascular accident. Methods: We recruited 82 patients with ischemic stroke as cases and 60 subjects as controls (using simple nonrandom sampling). Homocysteine was measured by fluorimetric high-performance liquid chromatography. Plasma folate and vitamin B12 levels were measured by an ion-capture method. Results: Mean plasma level of vitamin B12 in cases and controls were 358.4±290.3 Pg/ml and 369.8±110.4 Pg/ml, respectively which did not show any significant difference. Mean plasma level of folate in cases was significantly lower than the controls (6.8±4.5 ng/ml vs. 12.2±3.0 ng/ml, p=0.001). It was also shown that mean plasma level of total homocysteine in cases was significantly higher than the controls (21.1±9.8 μM/L vs. 13.5±3.2 μM/L, P=0.001). Homocysteine and folate but not plasma B12 had linear relation with age. Male cases had significantly lower Folate and B12 in contrast to women. In addition, male cases had significantly higher Homocysteine level in contrast to women. Conclusions: Our data shows that the level of homocysteine was higher and the level of folate was significantly lower in patients with ischemic stroke in contrast to controls. Effectiveness of supplementary folate and B 12 in such patients needs further well-structured prospective placebo controlled studies.
Effects of Temperature and Salinity on Vibrio vulnificus Population Dynamics as Assessed by Quantitative PCR

ABSTRACT The abundance of Vibrio vulnificus in coastal environments has been linked to water temperature, while its relationship to salinity is less clear. We have developed a culture-independent, most-probable-number quantitative PCR approach to examine V. vulnificus population dynamics in Barnegat Bay, N.J. Based on the combined analysis of our results from Barnegat Bay and from the literature, the present data show that (i) V. vulnificus population dynamics are strongly correlated to water temperature and (ii) although the general trend is for V. vulnificus abundance to be inversely correlated with salinity, this relationship depends on salinity levels. Irrespective of temperature, high abundances of V. vulnificus are observed at 5 to 10 ppt, which thus appears to be the optimal salinity regime for their survival. At 20 to 25 ppt, V. vulnificus abundances show a positive correlation to salinity. Unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate V. vulnificus, combined with our inability to detect cells during the winter despite an assay adapted to detect viable but nonculturable (VBNC) cells, suggest that the decline and eventual disappearance of V. vulnificus from the water column during the winter months is due primarily to a significant reduction in population size and is not only the consequence of cells entering the VBNC state. These findings are in line with the hypothesis that the sediment serves as a refuge for a subpopulation of V. vulnificus over the winter and weather-driven mixing events during the spring initiate a summer bloom in the water column.
Diethylstilbestrol (DES): Carcinogenic Potential in Xpa −/−, Xpa −/−/p53 +/−, and Wild-Type Mice During 9 Months’ Dietary Exposure

DES carcinogenicity has been investigated in 2 mouse knockout models, the Xpa homozygous knockout, and the combined Xpa homozygous and p53 heterozygous knockout. Wild-type (WT) mice were also included. Xpa mice received diets containing DES at concentrations of 0, 100, 300, and 1500 ppb for 39 weeks; Xpa/p53 and WT mice received diets containing 0 or 1500 ppb. There were 15 of each sex per group. Both Xpa and WT mice had a similar incidence of tumors at the high dosage of 1500 ppb, including pituitary adenomas in 4 WT mice and 7 Xpa mice, and single incidences of osteosarcoma (Xpa), T-cell lymphoma (WT and Xpa), and testicular interstitial cell adenoma (WT and Xpa). The incidence of tumors was higher in the Xpa/p53 mice at 1500 ppb, mainly attributable to 5 osteosarcomas in males and 2 in females, but also 4 pituitary adenomas, testicular interstitial cell adenomas in 4 males, and single incidences of cerebral glioma, phaeochromocytoma, and cervical fibrosarcoma. The incidence of osteosarcomas was related to the severity of fibro-osseous lesions in the bone marrow. It was concluded that for carcinogenicity screening, Xpa mice were no more sensitive than wild-type mice for compounds like DES, but the Xpa/p53 model showed an increased sensitivity.
Ribosomal Dna Sequences of Encephalitozoon Hellem and Encephalitozoon Cuniculi: Species Identification and Phylogenetic Construction

ABSTRACT. A segment of ribosomal DNA, about 1,350 base pairs long, was amplified from the microsporidian species Encephalitozoon hellem, isolated from AIDS patients, and Encephalitozoon cuniculi. the amplified DNA segment extends from position 530 in the small ribosomal RNA subunit to position 580 in the large ribosomal RNA subunit. A comparison of sequence data from this region for Encephalitozoon hellem and Encephalitozoon cuniculi shows relatively high sequence similarity, supporting the placement of these two organisms in the same genus. At the same time, sequence differences between the two organisms confirm that they are not the same species. Three separate isolates of E. hellem were sequenced in the highly variable intervening spacer region. the sequence was identical for all three isolates. Within the amplified DNA segment, regions were sequenced which yield highly variable, moderately variable and highly conserved sequence information, appropriate for comparison with other species in the phylum Microspora at all taxonomic levels. We suggest that sequence data from these regions be included in future species descriptions for the purposes of species identification and phylogenetic analysis. Restriction digests of the amplified region are presented and give a rapid method for distinguishing between the two Encephalitozoon species.
Synapsis of DNA ends by DNA‐dependent protein kinase

The catalytic subunit of DNA‐dependent protein kinase (DNA‐PKCS) is required for a non‐homologous end‐joining pathway that repairs DNA double‐strand breaks produced by ionizing radiation or V(D)J recombination; however, its role in this pathway has remained obscure. Using a neutravidin pull‐down assay, we found that DNA‐PKCS mediates formation of a synaptic complex containing two DNA molecules. Furthermore, kinase activity was cooperative with respect to DNA concentration, suggesting that activation of the kinase occurs only after DNA synapsis. Electron microscopy revealed complexes of two DNA ends brought together by two DNA‐PKCS molecules. Our results suggest that DNA‐PKCS brings DNA ends together and then undergoes activation of its kinase, presumably to regulate subsequent steps for processing and ligation of the ends.