Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Nitric Oxide Mediate Autoimmune Destruction of β-Cells?: Possible Therapeutic Interventions in IDDM

Cytokines have been implicated as immunological effector molecules that induce dysfunction and destruction of the pancreatic β-cell. The mechanisms of cytokine action on the β-cell are unknown; however, nitric oxide, resulting from cytokine-induced expression of nitric oxide synthase, has been implicated as the cellular effector molecule mediating β-cell dysfunction. Nitric oxide is a free radical that targets intracellular iron-containing enzymes, which results in the loss of their function. The cytokine IL-1β induces the formation of nitric oxide in isolated rat islets and the insulinoma cell line, Rin-m5F. NMMA and NAME, both inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase, completely protect islets from the deleterious effects of IL-1β. These inhibitors are competitive in nature and inhibit both the cytokine-inducible and constitutive isoforms of nitric oxide synthase with nearly identical kinetics. This may preclude their use as therapeutic agents because of increases in blood pressure which result from the inhibition of constitutive nitric oxide synthase activity. Aminoguanidine, an inhibitor of nonenzymatic glycosylation of cellular and extracellular constituents associated with diabetic complications, recently has been reported to inhibit nitric oxide synthase. Aminoguanidine is ∼40-fold more effective in inhibiting the inducible isoform of nitric oxide synthase, suggesting that aminoguanidine or analogues may serve as potential therapeutic agents to block diseases associated with nitric oxide production by the inducible isoform of nitric oxide synthase. In vivo administration of TNF IL-1 has been shown to induce antidiabetogenic effects in the NOD mouse. This anti-diabetogenic effect of cytokines appears to conflict with evidence suggesting that cytokines mediate β-cell dysfunction. The role of nitric oxide in both cytokine-mediated β-cell dysfunction, and the antidiabetogenic effects of cytokines, as well as the potential therapeutic use of aminoguanidine, are evaluated in this study.
Multi-illuminant color reproduction for electronic cameras via CANFIS neuro-fuzzy modular network device characterization

We describe color reproduction and correction of images captured by electronic cameras under multiple illumination (or lighting) conditions, relating to color device characterization for enhancing the quality of color in the obtained images. In particular, we highlight a very practical use of neuro-fuzzy modular network coactive neuro-fuzzy inference systems (CANFIS) models for this application, and discuss their strengths and weaknesses compared with other adaptive network models (e.g., multilayer perceptron (MLP)) as well as conventional lookup-table-type (TRC-matrix) methods. Our in-depth investigation based on comprehensive numerical tests with a wide variety of illumination/lighting data (180 sources of illumination) shows that the "neuro-fuzzy CANFIS with MLP local experts" possesses a remarkable generalization/approximation capacity, even under a very restricted condition where only four-illuminant data sets were permitted to be used for optimization because of efficient practical implementation subject to an industrial setting.
Analysis of the causes of high rates of carcase rejection at a poultry processing plant

A poultry processing plant received approximately 33.65 million birds from 87 commercial broiler growing units in 1992. Carcase rejection rates of 3 per cent or more were recorded in birds received from 13.2 per cent of the rearing houses distributed among 48 per cent of the growing units. The higher rates of carcase rejection were found on the units with an average flock size of over 100,000 birds and from rearing houses with a population of more than 30,000 birds. The main causes of rejection were birds dead on arrival, disease and miscellaneous conditions. The average rates of carcase rejection for birds dead on arrival and disease were higher on the units with a high rejection rate than on the others. The commonest cause of carcase rejection due to disease was colisepticaemia.
Complications in Postmastectomy Breast Reconstruction: Two‐Year Results of the Michigan Breast Reconstruction Outcome Study

&NA; In this study, the effects of procedure type, timing, and other clinical variables on complication rates in mastectomy reconstruction were prospectively evaluated. Using a prospective cohort design, women undergoing firsttime, immediate or delayed breast reconstruction were recruited from 12 centers and 23 plastic surgeons. Complication data for expander/implant, pedicle transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous (TRAM) flap, and free TRAM flap procedures were evaluated 2 years after surgery in 326 patients. For each patient, the total number of complications was recorded and the complication data were dichotomized in two ways: (1) total complications and (2) major complications (those requiring reoperation, rehospitalization, or nonperioperative intravenous antibiotic treatment). The effects of procedure type, timing, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, age, smoking, and body mass index on complication rates were analyzed using logistic regression. Immediate reconstructions had significantly higher total as well as major complication rates, compared with delayed procedures (p = 0.011 and 0.005, respectively). Furthermore, higher body mass indexes were associated with significantly higher total and major complication rates (p = 0.005 and p < 0.001, respectively). No significant effects on complication rates were noted for procedure type or for the other independent variables, although there was evidence of trends for higher total and major complication rates in implant patients who received radiotherapy and a trend for higher major complication rates in TRAM flap patients who received chemotherapy. It was concluded that (1) immediate reconstructions were associated with significantly higher complication rates than delayed procedures, and (2) procedure type had no significant effect on complication rates. (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 109: 2265, 2002.)
Neural induction.

The formation of the vertebrate nervous system is initiated at gastrula stages of development, when signals from a specialized cluster of cells (the organizer) trigger neural development in the ectoderm. This process, termed neural induction, was first described in 1924 and stemmed from experiments on amphibia (Spemann & Mangold 1924). In recent years, the molecular mechanisms underlying neural induction in the amphibian have been elucidated. Surprisingly, neuralizing agents secreted by the organizer do not act via receptor-mediated signaling events; rather, these factors antagonize local epidermal inducers within the cells of the dorsal ectoderm and function to uncover the latent neural fate of these cells. Many of the recent advances in our understanding of vertebrate neural induction come from studies on the frog, Xenopus laevis. It is now clear that a blockade of signaling of the bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) during gastrula stages is sufficient to initiate neuralization of the ectoderm in this species. Thus this review first details our current understanding of neural induction, using the amphibian as a model. We then use data emerging from other systems to examine the extent to which the Xenopus studies can be applied to other vertebrate species. The initiation of the neurectoderm-specific gene expression program and subsequent steps in patterning and neuronal development are only touched on here. We focus primarily on the initial establishment of the neural fate in the vertebrate gastrula ectoderm.
Design, formulation and sensory evaluation of a polyphenol-rich food placebo: an example of aronia juice for food intervention studies

Abstract Products suitable for use as controls in food interventions designed to demonstrate the role of minor components are largely lacking. In the present study, we aimed to develop a formulation to be used as a placebo in a clinical trial designed to assess the effects of aronia juice polyphenols on platelet function. Three formulations with the same nutrient composition as aronia juice were prepared by mixing various nutrients, artificial colours and flavours with water. The similarity of formulations to aronia juice in terms of taste, colour, smell and texture was assessed by six food panellists. The final placebo was tested for its impact on platelet function, biochemical and anthropometric parameters in a 4-week long study. No significant changes in platelet function, or in several cardiovascular and safety markers were recorded. Formulation suitable for use as a placebo for dietary intervention studies using aronia juice has been developed and demonstrated to be well tolerated in humans.
The bvgA gene of Bordetella pertussis encodes a transcriptional activator required for coordinate regulation of several virulence genes

The bvg region of the respiratory pathogen Bordetella pertussis coordinately regulates the expression of several unlinked virulence determinants in response to environmental signals. The DNA sequence of the bvg region contains three genes (bvgA, bvgB, and bvgC). Transcription of a single-copy fusion consisting of the upstream region of a bvg-activated B. pertussis gene (fhaB) attached to the promoterless lac operon in Escherichia coli requires the entire bvgABC region in trans. Activation of the fhaB::lacZYA fusion is sensitive to the same environmental stimuli in E. coli that modulate the expression of bvg-activated genes in B. pertussis. Our data show that overexpression of the bvgA gene from a strong heterologous promoter results in transcriptional activation of the fhaB::lacZYA fusion even in the absence of the bvgB and bvgC products. Activation of fhaB transcription by bvgA overexpression in E. coli is no longer repressed by environmental conditions. The bvgA product has been identified by maxicell analysis as a 23-kilodalton protein. A B. pertussis mutant containing an in-frame deletion in bvgA was constructed. This mutant was nonhemolytic and no longer produced filamentous hemagglutinin and pertussis toxin. The mutation in this strain was complemented by returning the bvgA gene in trans. Transcriptional chloramphenicol acetyltransferase fusions to the fhaB and ptx promoter regions were returned to both the B. pertussis bvgA deletion mutant and its parental wild-type strain. Analysis of these strains indicated that the deletion mutant was defective in transcription of both ptx and fhaB. We conclude from these data that bvgA, bvgB, and bvgC comprise an operon encoding the components essential for coordinate regulation and sensory transduction. The BvgA protein is a transcriptional regulatory factor. The bvgB and bvgC products may be important in regulating the activity of BvgA in response to the changing environmental stimuli that B. pertussis encounters during the diseases whooping cough.
3 Photocrosslinkable Polymers for Biomedical Applications

Photopolymerization techniques provide a number of economic advantages over the usual thermal techniques. These include: rapid cure reaction, low energy requirements, use of room temperature and solvent free formulations as well as low cost. Light beams are used to start the photochemical reactions in organic materials (monomers, oligomers, polymers) to form a new polymeric system This technique allows us to prepare materials with several applications in industry (UV curable inks, printing plates and adhesives, among others). Photopolymerization has also been used in electronic materials, optical materials, membranes, coatings and surface modifications. The efficiency of the polymerization reaction is dependent on the monomers, the photoinitiator and the beam wavelength. More recently, this technique has been used in the preparation of biomaterials with applications in important areas as tissue engineering, (Nguyen & West, 2002), biosensors, (Alves et al., 2009), development of drug delivery systems (Rydhholm et al., 2007) dental restorations in situ (Gatti et al. 2007)) and surface modifications to control the materials cell adhesion (Alves et al., 2011). Photopolymerizable polymers have found numerous applications in the field of tissue engineering for the engineering of tissues as bone, cartilage and liver (Ifkovits & Burdick, 2007) as they may be photopolymerized in vivo and in vitro. Here we will report some of the literature scientific reports in this field. Ortega and co-workers (2008) showed that the photopolymerization kinetics as well as the resulting structure of the methacrylate based structures are influenced by the monomers and oligomers properties, the reaction conditions, e.g. light intensity, reaction temperature and type of photoinitiator. Gatti et al. (2007) referred that photopolymers have been widely used in several dentistry applications. Different monomers have been used for this purpose. Gatti et al. (2007) prepared and characterized copolymers obtained from bisphenylglycidyl dimethacrylate, triethylene glycol dimethacrylate and urethane dimethacrylate. These copolymers were used to obtain dentistry resins. The kinetic parameters of the reaction were evaluated by using photocalorimetry As it is well known, hydrogels are three-dimensional, hydrophilic, polymeric networks capable of imbibing large amounts of water or biological fluids. They represent an important class of materials to be applied in biotechnology and medicine. These networks have been used as membranes for separating solutes, wound dressings, delivery systems for gene therapy and protein controlled-released systems. Hydrogels have also been applied as
Critical Care Issues in Managing Complex Open Abdominal Wound

Over the past 30 years, surgical specialties have introduced and expanded the role of open abdominal management in complicated operative cases, necessitating an intensivist’s understanding of the indications and unique intensive care unit (ICU) issues related to the open abdomen. When presented with the open abdomen, resuscitation to correct shock is of primary concern. This is accomplished by correction of hypothermia, acidosis, and coagulopathy in trauma and adequate resolution of intra-abdominal hypertension or source control in general surgery. These patients typically require deep sedation and often paralysis and benefit from low-volume ventilatory strategies to prevent and treat acute lung injury. Antibiotics must be tailored to the clinical situation, but in most cases, 24 hours of perioperative treatment is all that is required. In cases of gross contamination and peritonitis, a 5- to 7-day course of broad-spectrum antibiotics may be of benefit.Adequate source control has been demonstrated to have the greatest impact on outcome and when the patient’s clinical milieu dictates, bedside washouts. Enteral nutrition should be instituted as early as possible after intestinal continuity has been reestablished. Additional protein is required to account for losses from the open abdomen. Reconstruction may require staging, but in general, should proceed following resolution of shock and control of sepsis. Elevated multiorgan dysfunction score, Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II), and a rise in peak inspiratory pressure portend poor source control and could result in failure of fascial closure. If unable to proceed to fascial closure, then considerations should be made for planned ventral hernia and subsequent abdominal wall reconstruction.
Incremental State Aggregation for Value Function Estimation in Reinforcement Learning

In reinforcement learning, large state and action spaces make the estimation of value functions impractical, so a value function is often represented as a linear combination of basis functions whose linear coefficients constitute parameters to be estimated. However, preparing basis functions requires a certain amount of prior knowledge and is, in general, a difficult task. To overcome this difficulty, an adaptive basis function construction technique has been proposed by Keller recently, but it requires excessive computational cost. We propose an efficient approach to this difficulty, in which the problem of approximating the value function is decomposed into a number of subproblems, each of which can be solved with small computational cost. Computer experiments show that the CPU time needed by our method is much smaller than that by the existing method.
Long term outcome and cost-effectiveness of stenting versus balloon angioplasty for acute myocardial infarction

OBJECTIVE To investigate the long term clinical outcome and cost-effectiveness of stenting compared with balloon angioplasty in patients with acute myocardial infarction. METHODS Patients with acute myocardial infarction were randomly allocated to primary stenting (112) or balloon angioplasty (115). The primary end point was the cumulative first event rate of death, non-fatal reinfarction, or target vessel revascularisation. Secondary end points were restenosis at six months and the cost-effectiveness at follow up. RESULTS After 24 months, the combined clinical end point of death/reinfarction was 4% after stenting and 11% after balloon angioplasty (p = 0.04). Subsequent target vessel revascularisation was necessary in 15 patients (13%) after stenting and in 39 (34%) after balloon angioplasty (p < 0.001). The cumulative cardiac event-free survival rate was also higher after stenting (84% v 62%, p < 0.001). The angiographic restenosis rate after stenting was less than after balloon angioplasty (12% v 34%, p < 0.001). Despite the higher initial costs of stenting (Dfl 21 484v Dfl 18 625, p < 0.001), the cumulative costs at 24 months were comparable with those of balloon angioplasty (Dfl 31 423 v Dfl 32 933, p = 0.83). CONCLUSIONS Compared with balloon angioplasty, primary stenting for acute myocardial infarction results in a better long term clinical outcome without increased cost.
The Cold Chain Logistics for Perishable Agricultural Products in China

This study introduces concepts of the agricultural product cold chain logistics and domestic and international researches. Also, the study discusses issues of Chinese agricultural cold chain logistics in the development process as the following aspects: the dividing of cold chain logistics market, refrigeration hardware facilities, third-party cold chain logistics development, the level of cold chain technologies, cold chain logistics professionals and the legal system and the standard system. Next, this study focuses on the countermeasures to solve problems of the agricultural cold chain logistics development by some ways as followings: increasing investments in technology, accelerating the improvement of the cold chain logistics facilities, strengthening the cultivation of third-party cold chain logistics enterprise, encouraging the training of personnel, promoting the cold chain logistics informatization and improving relevant laws, regulations and standards. Combining with the cold chain logistics of Mengniu Dairy, this study analyzes and proposes countermeasures. Finally, this study summarizes the developments in Chinese agricultural chain logistics, which needs to be strengthened in many aspects for suiting Chinese situation.
Interdisciplinary interventions to improve pediatric palliative care and reduce health care professional suffering.

OBJECTIVE To implement and evaluate a quality improvement program of interdisciplinary palliative care education and support intended to increase the competence, confidence and ability to manage personal grief of health care professionals caring for dying children. SETTING A children's hospital in an urban academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS Pediatric health care professionals of all disciplines caring for children with life-threatening conditions. INTERVENTIONS We initiated a quality improvement program of professional education and support consisting of four interdisciplinary activities facilitated by the pediatric palliative care team. The Compassionate Care Network (CCN) provides an open forum for interdisciplinary networking and education. Palliative Care Rounds (PCR) provides education through monthly case-based discussions on selected units. Patient Care Conferences (PCC) facilitate communication and care planning for selected patients with palliative care needs on any unit in the children's center. Bereavement Debriefing Sessions (BDS) offer health professionals the opportunity to manage their responses to grief after a patient's death. EVALUATION MEASURES: From February 2002 to September 2003, we prospectively tracked the frequency of sessions conducted, the number and discipline of attendees, the age and diagnosis of patients discussed, and themes raised at each session. Participants evaluated each session. RESULTS One hundred one sessions were conducted (PCR = 31, PCC = 23, CCN = 9, BDS = 38) for 950 participants (PCR = 312, PCC = 188, CCN = 193, BDS = 257). All units and disciplines participated in one or more sessions. Evaluations report that sessions are informative and will influence future professional practice. CONCLUSIONS A program of interdisciplinary interventions can successfully educate and support health care professionals in providing palliative and end-of-life care for children. This program model can be applied in diverse pediatric health care settings.
Role of Consumption Emotions Mediate Perceived Service Fairness to the Service Satisfaction and Its Impact on Customers’ Behavioral Intentions

Considering that customers’ emotions toward received services are evaluated in light of fairness and equity theory, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of customers’ perceptions and emotions of received services on their behavioral intentions. Data were collected from 329 questioners that were distributed among Mellat bank customers, and hypotheses and the conceptual model were analyzed based on the data collected through structural equation modeling in AMOS 18. Results showed that three dimensions of interactional, procedural, and distributive justice affected customers’ emotions (negative and positive) and satisfaction. Customers’ emotions were also found to be having a mediating role in the relationship between perceptions of fairness (except procedural fairness) and customer satisfaction. The other results are the effect of customer satisfaction on behavioral intentions (repeat purchases and Word-of-mouth advertising). Finally, the study suggests some practical solutions and future research topics.
Mitochondrial dysfunction in calf muscles of patients with combined peripheral arterial disease and diabetes type 2.

BACKGROUND This study elucidates the effects on muscle mitochondrial function in patients suffering from combined peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) and the relation to patient symptoms and treatment. METHODS Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) calf muscle exercise tests were conducted on 40 subjects, 15 (PAD), 15 (PAD+T2D) and 10 healthy age matched controls (CTRL) recruited from the vascular outpatient clinic at Gentofte County Hospital, Denmark. Calf muscle biopsies (~80 mg, gastrocnemius and anterior tibial muscles) were sampled and mitochondrial function tested applying high resolution oxygraphy on isolated muscle fibers. RESULTS The NIRS exercise tests showed evidence of mitochondrial dysfunction in the PAD+T2D group by a longer recovery of the deoxygenation resulting from exercise in spite of a higher exercise oxygenation level compared to the PAD group. This was confirmed by a ~30% reduction in oxygen consumption in the muscle biopsy tests for the PAD+T2D compared to the PAD group (P<0.05). We claim that this mitochondrial dysfunction partly explains the ~30% reduction in tread mill walking distance for the PAD+T2D group observed in this study. CONCLUSIONS These findings support the use of early surgical revascularization in the PAD+T2D group, in order to obtain better walking performance and probably reduced risk of permanent mitochondrial damage.