Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Placental protection of the fetal brain during short-term food deprivation

The fetal genome regulates maternal physiology and behavior via its placenta, which produces hormones that act on the maternal hypothalamus. At the same time, the fetus itself develops a hypothalamus. In this study we show that many of the genes that regulate placental development also regulate the developing hypothalamus, and in mouse the coexpression of these genes is particularly high on embryonic days 12 and 13 (days E12–13). Such synchronized expression is regulated, in part, by the maternally imprinted gene, paternally expressed gene 3 (Peg3), which also is developmentally coexpressed in the hypothalamus and placenta at days E12–13. We further show that challenging this genomic linkage of hypothalamus and placenta with 24-h food deprivation results in disruption to coexpressed genes, primarily by affecting placental gene expression. Food deprivation also produces a significant decrease in Peg3 gene expression in the placenta, with consequences similar to many of the placental gene changes induced by Peg3 mutation. Such genomic dysregulation does not occur in the hypothalamus, where Peg3 expression increases with food deprivation. Thus, changes in gene expression brought about by food deprivation are consistent with the fetal genome's maintaining hypothalamic development at a cost to its placenta. This biased change to gene dysregulation in the placenta is linked to autophagy and ribosomal turnover, which sustain, in the short term, nutrient supply for the developing hypothalamus. Thus, the fetus controls its own destiny in times of acute starvation by short-term sacrifice of the placenta to preserve brain development.
Men who have sex with men: estimating the size of at-risk populations in London primary care trusts

The objective of this study was to estimate local at-risk populations of men who have sex with men (MSM) in London primary care trusts (PCTs) to inform the commissioning of targeted health interventions. Estimated population size and prevalence of diagnosed HIV in MSM in all of London were calculated using data from the British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL), Greater London Authority population estimates and the annual survey of diagnosed MSM (Survey of Prevalent HIV Infections Diagnosed [SOPHID]). Estimated MSM population sizes at the PCT level were calculated using un-weighted and SOPHID-weighted methods and methods discussed. Four-fifths of MSM with diagnosed HIV infection in Greater London lived in inner London. Estimated population size of MSM 16–44 years in inner London was 66,000; estimated overall prevalence of diagnosed HIV infection among MSM was 9.5%. Our models show substantial variation at the PCT level between the two methods. Using the SOPHID-weighted method MSM account for up to 16% of the male population in some London PCTs, compared with as low as 3% in others. We provide a novel method of estimating at-risk MSM populations living in inner London PCTs indicating that proportions of MSM vary widely between PCTs. Significant proportions of MSM among the resident populations in several PCTs warrant inclusion of MSM health needs in core PCT prevention and service programming. In light of data source limitations further validation studies are needed.
Endocrine-Related Cancer ( 2011 ) 18 C 1 – C 14 Adrenomedullin and calcitonin gene-related peptide receptors in endocrine-related cancers : opportunities and challenges

Adrenomedullin (AM), adrenomedullin 2 (AM2/intermedin) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) aremembers of the calcitonin family of peptides. They can act as growth or survival factors for a number of tumours, including those that are endocrine-related.Onemechanism throughwhich this occurs is stimulating angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. AM is expressed by numerous tumour types and for some cancers, plasma AM levels can be correlated with the severity of the disease. In cancer models, lowering AM content or blocking AM receptors can reduce tumour mass. AM receptors are complexes formed between a seven transmembrane protein, calcitonin receptor-like receptor and one of the two accessory proteins, receptor activity-modifying proteins (RAMPs) 2 or 3 to give the AM1 and AM2 receptors respectively. AM also has affinity at the CGRP receptor, which uses RAMP1. Unfortunately, due to a lack of selective pharmacological tools or antibodies to distinguish AM and CGRP receptors, the precise receptors and signal transduction pathways used by the peptides are often uncertain. Two other membrane proteins, RDC1 and L1/G10D (the ‘ADMR’), are not currently considered to be genuine CGRPor AM receptors. In order to properly evaluate whether AM or CGRP receptor inhibition has a role in cancer therapy, it is important to identifywhich receptorsmediate the effects of these peptides. To effectively distinguish AM1 and AM2 receptors, selective receptor antagonists need to be developed. The development of specific CGRP receptor antagonists suggests that this is now feasible. Endocrine-Related Cancer (2011) 18 C1–C14
Effect of Dissolved Oxygen Concentration on Superoxide Dismutase Production by Humicola lutea Cells

Cultures of the fungal strain Humicola lutea 110 were grown in a 3-l bioreactor. Effects of dissolved oxygen concentration (DO) on cell growth, intracellular protein content and antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD and catalase) were investigated. Controlling DO from 20 to 60% lead to: (I). The lethal phase of growth was reached faster; (ii) strong reduction of the intracellular protein content, and (iii) increase of antioxidant enzyme activities. The most efficient SOD biosynthesis was achieved at the 1st maximum of activity in the culture grown under DO uncontrolled conditions.
Robot-assisted upper extremity rehabilitation for cervical spinal cord injuries: a systematic scoping review

Abstact Purpose: To provide an overview of the feasibility and outcomes of robotic-assisted upper extremity training for individuals with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI), and to identify gaps in current research and articulate future research directions. Materials and methods: A systematic search was conducted using Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CCTR, CDSR, CINAHL and PubMed on June 7, 2017. Search terms included 3 themes: (1) robotics; (2) SCI; (3) upper extremity. Studies using robots for upper extremity rehabilitation among individuals with cervical SCI were included. Identified articles were independently reviewed by two researchers and compared to pre-specified criteria. Disagreements regarding article inclusion were resolved through discussion. The modified Downs and Black checklist was used to assess article quality. Participant characteristics, study and intervention details, training outcomes, robot features, study limitations and recommendations for future studies were abstracted from included articles. Results: Twelve articles (one randomized clinical trial, six case series, five case studies) met the inclusion criteria. Five robots were exoskeletons and three were end-effectors. Sample sizes ranged from 1 to 17 subjects. Articles had variable quality, with quality scores ranging from 8 to 20. Studies had a low internal validity primarily from lack of blinding or a control group. Individuals with mild-moderate impairments showed the greatest improvements on body structure/function and performance-level measures. This review is limited by the small number of articles, low-sample sizes and the diversity of devices and their associated training protocols, and outcome measures. Conclusions: Preliminary evidence suggests robot-assisted interventions are safe, feasible and can reduce active assistance provided by therapists. Implications for rehabilitation Robot-assisted upper extremity training for individuals with cervical spinal cord injury is safe, feasible and can reduce hands-on assistance provided by therapists. Future research in robotics rehabilitation with individuals with spinal cord injury is needed to determine the optimal device and training protocol as well as effectiveness.
Outcome of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in third complete remission: a vital role for graft‐versus‐host‐disease/ graft‐versus‐leukaemia effect in survival

Children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) receiving haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in third complete remission (CR3) are at high risk for transplant‐related mortality (TRM) and relapse. Twenty‐two consecutive children with ALL in CR3 received HSCT between January 1994 and August 2005. Ten patients died of TRM, seven patients relapsed, six did not have graft‐versus‐host disease (GVHD). Five patients were long‐term survivors, (median follow‐up, 5·8 years; range 2·9–11·7). Three‐year event‐free survival was 0·32 (95% confidence interval 0·19 and 0·59). Survivors had moderate to severe GVHD. Allowing some GVHD or exploring means of inducing GVHD should be considered in CR3 patients.
Recovery and purification process development for monoclonal antibody production

Hundreds of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are currently in development, and many companies have multiple antibodies in their pipelines. Current methodology used in recovery processes for these molecules are reviewed here. Basic unit operations such as harvest, Protein A affinity chromatography, and additional polishing steps are surveyed. Alternative processes such as flocculation, precipitation, and membrane chromatography are discussed. We also cover platform approaches to purification methods development, use of high throughput screening methods, and offer a view on future developments in purification methodology as applied to mAbs.
Genetic Structure and Selection of a Core Collection for Long Term Conservation of Avocado in Mexico

Mexico, as the center of origin of avocado (Persea americama Mill.), harbors a wide genetic diversity of this species, whose identification may provide the grounds to not only understand its unique population structure and domestication history, but also inform the efforts aimed at its conservation. Although molecular characterization of cultivated avocado germplasm has been studied by several research groups, this had not been the case in Mexico. In order to elucidate the genetic structure of avocado in Mexico and the sustainable use of its genetic resources, 318 avocado accessions conserved in the germplasm collection in the National Avocado Genebank were analyzed using 28 markers [9 expressed sequence tag-Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) and 19 genomic SSRs]. Deviation from Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium and high inter-locus linkage disequilibrium were observed especially in drymifolia, and guatemalensis. Total averages of the observed and expected heterozygosity were 0.59 and 0.75, respectively. Although clear genetic differentiation was not observed among 3 botanical races: americana, drymifolia, and guatemalensis, the analyzed Mexican population can be classified into two groups that correspond to two different ecological regions. We developed a core-collection by K-means clustering method. The selected 36 individuals as core-collection successfully represented more than 80% of total alleles and showed heterozygosity values equal to or higher than those of the original collection, despite its constituting slightly more than 10% of the latter. Accessions selected as members of the core collection have now become candidates to be introduced in cryopreservation implying a minimum loss of genetic diversity and a back-up for existing field collections of such important genetic resources.
Evidence for Viral Virulence as a Predominant Factor Limiting Human Immunodeficiency Virus Vaccine Efficacy

ABSTRACT Current strategies in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vaccine development are often based on the production of different vaccine antigens according to particular genetic clades of HIV-1 variants. To determine if virus virulence or genetic distance had a greater impact on HIV-1 vaccine efficacy, we designed a series of heterologous chimeric simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) challenge experiments in HIV-1 subunit-vaccinated rhesus macaques. Of a total of 22 animals, 10 nonimmunized animals served as controls; the remainder were vaccinated with the CCR5 binding envelope of HIV-1W6.1D. In the first study, heterologous challenge included two nonpathogenic SHIV chimeras encoding the envelopes of the divergent clade B HIV-1han2 and HIV-1sf13strains. In the second study, all immunized animals were rechallenged with SHIV89.6p, a virus closely related to the vaccine strain but highly virulent. Protection from either of the divergent SHIVsf13 or SHIVhan2 challenges was demonstrated in the majority of the vaccinated animals. In contrast, upon challenge with the more related but virulent SHIV89.6p, protection was achieved in only one of the previously protected vaccinees. A secondary but beneficial effect of immunization on virus load and CD4+ T-cell counts was observed despite failure to protect from infection. In addition to revealing different levels of protective immunity, these results suggest the importance of developing vaccine strategies capable of protecting from particularly virulent variants of HIV-1.
Emotion-oriented systems - The Humaine handbook: A comprehensive overview

Emotions are a core influence on our health and well-being, and are considered a crucial element for Ambient Intelligence. This book provides readers with a broad overview of the areas that should be familiar to anyone who wants to work on emotion-oriented computing. In eight parts, the foundations of such systems are presented, including theories and models, affective signal processing, databases, embodied conversational agents and emotion synthesis, persuasion, communication, designing user centric closed-loops, and ethical issues. All in all, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the field and is a very useful introduction for those new to affective computing.
Seasonal Variations in the Risk of Reoperation for Surgical Site Infection Following Elective Spinal Fusion Surgery: A Retrospective Study Using the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination Database

Study Design. A retrospective study of data abstracted from the Diagnosis Procedure Combination (DPC) database, a national representative database in Japan. Objective. The aim of this study was to examine seasonal variations in the risk of reoperation for surgical site infection (SSI) following spinal fusion surgery. Summary of Background Data. Although higher rates of infection in the summer than in other seasons were thought to be caused by increasing inexperience of new staff, high temperature, and high humidity, no studies have examined seasonal variations in the risk of SSI following spinal fusion surgery in the country where medical staff rotation timing is not in summer season. In Japan, medical staff rotation starts in April. Methods. We retrospectively extracted the data of patients who were admitted between July 2010 and March 2013 from the DPC database. Patients were included if they were aged 20 years or older and underwent elective spinal fusion surgery. The primary outcome was reoperation for SSI during hospitalization. We performed multivariate analysis to clarify the risk factors of primary outcome with adjustment for patient background characteristics. Results. We identified 47,252 eligible patients (23,659 male, 23,593 female). The mean age of the patients was 65.4 years (range, 20–101 yrs). Overall, reoperation for SSI occurred in 0.93% of the patients during hospitalization. The risk of reoperation for SSI was significantly higher in April (vs. February; odds ratio, 1.93; 95% confidence interval, 1.09–3.43, P = 0.03) as well as other known risk factors. In subgroup analysis with stratification for type of hospital, month of surgery was identified as an independent risk factor of reoperation for SSI among cases in an academic hospital, although there was no seasonal variation among those in a nonacademic hospital. Conclusion. This study showed that month of surgery is a risk factor of reoperation for SSI following elective spinal fusion surgery, nevertheless, in the country where medical staff rotation timing is not in summer season. Level of Evidence: 3
Intravenous Leiomyomatosis

Intravenous leiomyomatosis is a rare benign smooth muscle tumour arising from a venous wall or a uterine leiomyoma. This case highlights that intra-cardiac leiomyomatosis should be considered as a differential diagnosis in addition to extended cancer or thrombus, in female patients, diagnosed with a right sided cardiac mass extending from the IVC. To prevent pulmonary embolism or sudden death in patients with intra-cardiac extension, complete surgical resection is necessary. One stage surgical removal has been recommended for complete resection.
CUIDAR DAS CRIANÇAS ENTRE ANGOLA E PORTUGAL A parentalidade nas famílias transnacionais

A partir dos dados de um inquerito do projeto de investigacao do ICS “Transnational Child-Raising Arrangements between Angola and Portugal” (TCRAf-Eu 2008) e tendo em conta uma escala de analise transnacional, o presente artigo propoe um olhar sobre as formas que assumem os cuidados transnacionais as criancas e jovens de origem angolana, e como estas afetam as vidas daquelas que permanecem no pais de origem, dos seus pais migrantes e dos seus cuidadores. As novas formas de familia que emergem apontam para o lugar central da questao do genero pondo em discussao o papel de ganha-pao dos pais.
It's Duck (Typing) Season!

Duck typing provides a way to reuse code and allow a developer to write more extensible code. At the same time, it scatters the implementation of a functionality over multiple classes and causes difficulties in program comprehension. The extent to which duck typing is used in real programs is not very well understood. We report on a preliminary study of the prevalence of duck typing in more than a thousand dynamically-typed open source software systems developed in Smalltalk. Although a small portion of the call sites in these systems is duck-typed, in half of the analysed systems at least 20% of methods are duck-typed.
Increased Enantioselectivity by Engineering Bottleneck Mutants in an Esterase from Pseudomonas fluorescens

Four hydrophobic and bulky amino acid residues (F126, F144, F159, and I225) were identified to form a bottleneck guarding the entrance to the active site of an esterase from Pseudomonas fluorescens (PFE I). Hence, a range of nonpolar amino acids were introduced into PFE I to broaden the substrate range and to increase enantioselectivity while preserving the hydrophobicity of the tunnel. First, single variants were created and then the most enantioselective ones were combined to find cooperative effects. This resulted in several mutants, which showed substantially enhanced enantioselectivity; for instance, in the kinetic resolution of 1‐phenyl‐1‐propyl acetate, with which the wild type only showed E=1.2, two mutants gave E>46. For 1‐phenyl‐1‐ethyl acetate enantioselectivity increased from ∼50 to >100 for all mutants studied. Furthermore, higher conversions could be found at shorter reaction times; this indicates that the mutations not only enhanced selectivity, but that also the entrance into the active site was indeed facilitated by these mutations. The experimental results could be explained by computer modeling.
Potential roles of melatonin and chronotherapy among the new trends in hypertension treatment

Abstract: The number of well‐controlled hypertensives is unacceptably low worldwide. Respecting the circadian variation of blood pressure, nontraditional antihypertensives, and treatment in early stages of hypertension are potential ways to improve hypertension therapy. First, prominent variations in circadian rhythm are characteristic for blood pressure. The revolutionary MAPEC (Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring and Cardiovascular Events) study, in 3000 adult hypertensives investigates, whether chronotherapy influences the cardiovascular prognosis beyond blood pressure reduction per se. Second, melatonin, statins and aliskiren are hopeful drugs for hypertension treatment. Melatonin, through its scavenging and antioxidant effects, preservation of NO availability, sympatholytic effect or specific melatonin receptor activation exerts antihypertensive and anti‐remodeling effects and may be useful especially in patients with nondipping nighttime blood pressure pattern or with nocturnal hypertension and in hypertensives with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). Owing to its multifunctional physiological actions, this indolamine may offer cardiovascular protection far beyond its hemodynamic benefit. Statins exert several pleiotropic effects through inhibition of small guanosine triphosphate‐binding proteins such as Ras and Rho. Remarkably, statins reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients and more importantly they attenuate LVH. Addition of statins should be considered for high‐risk hypertensives, for hypertensives with LVH, and possibly for high‐risk prehypertensive patients. The direct renin inhibitor, aliskiren, inhibits catalytic activity of renin molecules in circulation and in the kidney, thus lowering angiotensin II levels. Furthermore, aliskiren by modifying the prorenin conformation may prevent prorenin activation. At present, aliskiren should be considered in hypertensive patients not sufficiently controlled or intolerant to other inhibitors of renin–angiotensin system. Third, TROPHY (Trial of Preventing Hypertension) is the first pharmacological intervention for prehypertensive patients revealing that treatment with angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker attenuates hypertension development and thus decreases the risk of cardiovascular events.
Purification, crystallisation and characterization of quinoprotein ethanol dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 17933 when grown on ethanol produces high levels of a quinoprotein ethanol dehydrogenase, which amounts to 7% of the soluble protein. The enzyme has been purified to homogeneity and it crystallizes readily in the presence of polyethylene glycol 1550 or 6000. The ethanol dehydrogenase (Km(ethanol) = 14 microM) resembles the dye-dependent quinoprotein methanol dehydrogenases of methylotrophic bacteria, but has a low affinity for methanol (Km (methanol) = 94mM). In addition the enzyme oxidizes secondary alcohols. With its catalytic properties the ethanol dehydrogenase is similar to the enzyme isolated from P. aeruginosa LMD 80.53 (Groen, B., Frank, J. Jzn. & Duine, J.A. (1984) Biochem. J. 223, 921-924). In contrast to this enzyme from P. aeruginosa LMD 80.53, which is a monomer, the ethanol dehydrogenase isolated from P. aeruginosa ATCC 17933 is a dimer of identical subunits of relative molecular mass 60,000. The N-terminal amino acid is lysine. Inactivation with cyclopropanone ethylhemiketal reveals one molecule of pyrroloquinoline quinone per subunit. As shown by active enzyme sedimentation, the dimer is the enzymatically active form.