Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-cytotoxic inhibition of HIV-1 infection by unstimulated CD8+ T lymphocytes from HIV-exposed-uninfected individuals

Objectives Some individuals remain uninfected despite repeated exposure to HIV-1 [exposed-uninfected (EU)]. In addition to genetic factors, acquired immune responses elicited by repeated exposure to HIV antigens may contribute to protection. We investigated the ability of unstimulated CD8+ T lymphocytes from EU individuals to inhibit HIV-1 infection. Methods Peripheral blood CD8+ T lymphocytes from a well-characterized cohort of 16 HIV-1-discordant monogamous heterosexual couples were tested for their suppressive activity against HIV-1 strains displaying different coreceptor usage (R5, X4, X4R5). To evaluate the in vivo functional competence of CD8+ T cells, no ex vivo activatory stimuli were used prior to cocultivation with infected CD4+ T cells. In some experiments, a semi-permeable membrane was used to separate CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Results Unstimulated CD8+ T cells from all but one of the EU individuals analysed effectively inhibited the growth of all HIV-1 strains, regardless of their coreceptor usage, with a mean potency similar to that of asymptomatic HIV-infected patients. The HIV-inhibitory activity persisted for a long time after ceasing high-risk sexual behaviour, although a moderate decline was observed starting 4 years after the last risk episode. Transwell culture experiments showed that soluble factors are involved in CD8-mediated viral suppression, although the activity was higher when cell-to-cell contact was allowed. Conclusions These data demonstrate that CD8+ T cells from EU individuals exert a strong, broad-spectrum HIV-suppressive activity, suggesting a role of non-cytotoxic antiviral mechanisms in resistance to HIV-1 infection.
Quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (VaxigripTetra™)

ABSTRACT Introduction: VaxigripTetra™ (IIV4; Sanofi Pasteur) is a quadrivalent split-virion influenza vaccine approved in Europe in 2016 for individuals ≥ 3 years of age. IIV4 builds on the well-established record of the trivalent split-virion influenza vaccine (Vaxigrip®). Areas covered: This literature review summarizes the rationale for developing quadrivalent influenza vaccines and discusses the phase III clinical trial results supporting the immunogenicity, safety, and tolerability of IIV4. Expert commentary: IIV4 is immunogenic and well tolerated. Adding a second B strain to the trivalent split-virion influenza vaccine provides a superior immune response for the additional strain but does not reduce the immune response for the three other strains or negatively affect the safety profile. By offering broader protection against co-circulating influenza B lineages, IIV4 has the potential to further reduce influenza-related morbidity and mortality beyond that achieved with trivalent vaccines.
Researching L2 Strategic Competence-Conceptualization, Mechanism, and Teachability

Strategic competence as a crucial component in the construct of communicative competence has been widely recognized. Previous studies mostly focused on distinguishing, defining and advancing CS taxonomies. However, few studies were concerned with the underlying approaches to the defining of CS and with the proper mechanism of how strategic competence operates. This paper firstly revisited the two primary approaches to CS conceptualization, i.e. the process oriented linguistic approach and the product oriented cognitive psychological approach. Then, the study continued to analyze the operating mechanism, i.e. psycholinguistic model of speech production (Faerch & Kasper, 1980, 1983a), in which planning phase is differentiated from execution phase. Finally, the study lent support to the clarification of the controversial question that the CS should be taught or not. As pointed out in the end, CS in L2 communication context supposedly should and could be taught by taking into such factors as Transfer of L1 skills, learners’ motivation to communicate, etc. Keywords—conceptualizations; operating mechanisms; teachability; strategic competence; communication
Notice of RetractionEffect of Different Matters in Water on Accumulation of Dieldrin by Triolein-Embedded Membrane

Taking dieldrin as objective of POPs, how heavy metal ions, organic matters and microbe affected accumulated capacity of filament-like membrane was investigated by batch experiments, using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR). Experimental results showed that heavy metal ions had little effect on accumulated capacity of filament-like membrane for dieldrin due to the weak bond with cellulose acetate and little interaction with triolein. Accumulated capacity increased with the increase of contents of organic matters in water. It is the main reason that organic matters can be adsorbed on the surface of filament-like membrane because of the large quantity of active groups on organic matters. Microbe could intake dieldrin and other organic matters as diet, but subsequent inhibition of dieldrin on microbe leads the decrease of microbe contents, and further deadsorption of dieldrin from the filament-like membrane.
Coagulation and fibrinolytic parameters in patients with pulmonary hypertension

Background: Vascular endothelium reacts to various patho‐physiologic stimuli by releasing several autocoids and cyto‐kines that can be used along with the coagulation and fibrinolytic markers for the diagnosis of hemostatic alterations. Several newer markers for vascular distress, such as tissue plasminogen activator (TPA), tissue plasminogen activator inhibitor‐ I (PAI‐1), TPA/PAI‐1 complex, and the newly reported inhibitor of the coagulation process, namely, tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), have been implicated in the pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension.
DURAL AUGMENTATION: PART I—EVALUATION OF COLLAGEN MATRIX ALLOGRAFTS FOR DURAL DEFECT AFTER CRANIOTOMY

OBJECTIVEPrimary closure of the dura remains difficult in many neurosurgical cases. One option for dural grafting is the collagen sponge, which is available in multiple forms, namely, monolayer collagen and bilayer collagen. Our primary goal was to assess differences in the incidence of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak, including fistula and pseudomeningocele, and postoperative infection between monolayer collagen and bilayer collagen grafts. METHODSA single-center retrospective analysis of 475 consecutive neurosurgical procedures was performed. Primary endpoints were CSF leak and infection, adjusting for the impact of additional nonautologous materials. Multivariate regression analysis was used to identify predictors of postoperative CSF leak and infection. RESULTSThe overall frequency of postoperative CSF leak was 6.7%. There was no significant difference in the incidence of CSF leak based on the type of collagen sponge (monolayer versus bilayer) used (5.5% versus 7.5%, respectively; P = 0.38). The overall frequency of postoperative infection was 4.2%. There was no significant difference in the incidence of infection between groups (4.9% versus 3.8%; P = 0.54). Bilayer sponges were associated with a significantly lower incidence of CSF leak than monolayer sponges (odds ratio, 0.09; 95% confidence interval, 0.01–0.73). CONCLUSIONBilayer collagen sponges are associated with a reduction in postoperative CSF leak, notably in posterior fossa surgery. The need for additional non-native materials is predictive of postoperative CSF leak, along with location and type of procedure. Intrinsic patient characteristics (e.g., age, diabetes, smoking) do not seem to affect the efficacy of collagen sponge dural grafts.
Isoniazid Pharmacokinetics-Pharmacodynamics in an Aerosol Infection Model of Tuberculosis

ABSTRACT Limited data exist on the pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) parameters of the bactericidal activities of the available antimycobacterial drugs. We report on the PK-PD relationships for isoniazid. Isoniazid exhibited concentration (C)-dependent killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv in vitro, with a maximum reduction of 4 log10 CFU/ml. In these studies, 50% of the maximum effect was achieved at a C/MIC ratio of 0.5, and the maximum effect did not increase with exposure times of up to 21 days. Conversely, isoniazid produced less than a 0.5-log10 CFU/ml reduction in two different intracellular infection models (J774A.1 murine macrophages and whole human blood). In a murine model of aerosol infection, isoniazid therapy for 6 days produced a reduction of 1.4 log10 CFU/lung. Dose fractionation studies demonstrated that the 24-h area under the concentration-time curve/MIC (r2 = 0.83) correlated best with the bactericidal efficacy, followed by the maximum concentration of drug in serum/MIC (r2 = 0.73).
Vitamin A Supplementation and Serum Th1- and Th2-Associated Cytokine Response in Women

Aims and Background: T helper (Th)1/Th2 immune response has been linked to obesity-related immune disorders. It has been proven that retinoid active derivates improve immunity via regulating Th1/Th2 balance. However, there is not a well-identified report of direct effect of vitamin A on Th1/Th2 balance in obesity. The present study aimed to investigate the possible role of vitamin A on serum Th1/Th2 response in obese women. Materials and Methods: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial was conducted on 84 obese (n = 56; body mass index [BMI] 30–39.9 kg/m2) and nonobese (n = 28; BMI 18.5–24.9 kg/m2) women. Obese women were randomly allocated to receive either vitamin A (retinyl palmitate 25,000 IU/d) or placebo. Nonobese women also received 25,000 IU/d retinyl palmitate. Anthropometric variables were assessed and serum interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-4, and IL-13 were analyzed before and 4 months after intervention. Results: Vitamin A treatment significantly reduced serum concentrations of IL-1β in obese vitamin A–treated subjects (from 3.58 ± 0.36 to 2.45 ± 0.23 pg/ml, p < 0.006). Serum concentrations of IL-4 and IL-13 were also reduced in obese and nonobese vitamin A–treated subjects (p < 0.05). A significant reduction in IL-1β/IL-4 ratio in the obese vitamin A–treated group was also observed (p = 0.03). Conclusions: Decline in serum concentrations of IL-1β and IL-1β/IL-4 ratio in obese women suggests that vitamin A is capable of regulating the immune system and possibly reducing the risk of autoimmune disease in this group. Further studies are needed to explore the possible underlying mechanisms.
Electromechanical Mode Online Estimation Using Regularized Robust RLS Methods

This paper proposes a regularized robust recursive least squares (R3LS) method for online estimation of power-system electromechanical modes based on synchronized phasor measurement unit (PMU) data. The proposed method utilizes an autoregressive moving average exogenous (ARMAX) model to account for typical measurement data, which includes low-level pseudo-random probing, ambient, and ringdown data. A robust objective function is utilized to reduce the negative influence from nontypical data, which include outliers and missing data. A dynamic regularization method is introduced to help include a priori knowledge about the system and reduce the influence of under-determined problems. Based on a 17-machine simulation model, it is shown through the Monte Carlo method that the proposed R3LS method can estimate and track electromechanical modes by effectively using combined typical and nontypical measurement data.
Effects of acute and repeated morphine treatment on κ-opioid receptor protein levels in mesocorticolimbic system

Abstract Context: Our previous study demonstrated that acute and repeated morphine treatment differentially regulated κ-opioid receptor mRNA levels in the rat mesocorticolimbic system. Here, we further investigated the effects of morphine on protein levels of κ-opioid receptor in this reward-related circuitry. Methods: Three groups of rats received intraperitoneal injection of saline, acute morphine (8.0 mg/kg) and repeated morphine (8.0 mg/kg, once daily for 5 consecutive days) and the κ-receptor protein expression was examined by Western blot analysis. Results: We found that acute morphine treatment did not affect the κ-receptor protein levels in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), nucleus accumbens (NAc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA). However, repeated morphine treatment downregulated the κ-receptor protein levels in mPFC and VTA, while there was no significant change in NAc. Conclusions: These results, along with those reported previously, suggested that morphine dependence may be associated with regionally specific changes in κ-opioid receptor expression in mesocorticolimbic system.
Modelling Smooth Transition (Auto)Regression in Rental Prices of U.K. Real Estate Sectors

This paper presents a new approach to analysing real estate rental adjustment processes. We model the rental adjustment process in U.K. commercial real estate sectors by using non-linear smooth transition (auto)regression (ST(A)R) models. The ST(A)R models, which clearly outperform their linear counterparts, account for different phases or regimes, which can be considered subperiods of the physical real estate market cycle. Because the physical market cycles are the result of supply and demand interactions reflected in substantial changes in economic factors, it is of great importance to investors to understand the drivers of these cyclical shifts. The results are striking: In addition to the influence of contemporaneous exogenous factors, rental growth is driven by both its own past and by lagged exogenous factors, exhibiting the well-known stickiness of real estate markets. Furthermore, the rental series behave differently in different phases of the market cycle, and the adjustment of real rents is best described in a non-linear fashion. Empirical evidence shows that models using lagged real rental growth rates as the transition variable seem to be adequate for explaining and forecasting the rental adjustments process. A transition into another state sets in for the industrial, retail, and office sectors at real rental growth rates above 2.5%, 4.2%, and 6.1% respectively. Using the ST(A)R models enables us to describe the very nature of the rental adjustment process more accurately, with the technical properties of the estimation method being more in line with theoretical underpinnings than linear methods, without state-dependent or time-varying features.
Is There an Arab Variety of Capitalism

This paper argues that capitalism in Arab low- to mid-income countries is organized in a distinct and recognizable pattern. The key stylized facts are: a stretched, over-committed and interventionist state; deep insider-outsider divides in private sectors and labor markets resulting from lopsided state intervention; and low levels of cooperation and trust between state, business and workers. These features produce an equilibrium of low skills and low productivity that hampers private-driven growth in the region. Some fundamental parts of this story apply to underdeveloped economies in general, notably low government capacity and a segmentation of business and labor into formal and informal markets. Others, however, are regionally specific, including the relative importance and historical ambition of the state in the economy and, closely related, the relative size of the insider coalitions created through government employment and subsidies. Unusually rigid insider-outsider divisions are cemented by a particularly pronounced weakness of universal social security and safety mechanisms. As a result of uneven government intervention and market segmentation, trust and cooperation between state, business and labor are even lower than elsewhere, both on the individual and the organizational levels. Arab cronyism needs to be understood as a key feature of this larger complex of deep state intervention and rigid insider-outsider boundaries. The paper helps explain why cronyism has been so hard to eradicate, but also points to potential structural reforms that could contribute to reducing its incidence.
An dynamic-weighted collaborative filtering approach to address sparsity and adaptivity issues

Recommendation systems, as efficient measures to handle the information overload and personalized service problems, have attracted considerable attention in research community. Collaborative filtering is one of the most successful techniques based on the user-item matrix in recommendation systems. Usually the matrix is extremely sparse due to the massive number of users and items. And the sparsity of users and items tends to differ significantly in degree. The feature of the matrix changes with the variation of users/items data and hence, leads to poor scalability of the recommendation method. This paper proposes a dynamic-weighted collaborative filtering approach (DWCF) to address sparsity and adaptivity issues. In this approach, the relationship between the distributions of similar users and items is considered to get better recommendation, i.e., the contributions of the user part and the item part to recommendation results depend on their similarity ratios. Moreover, the effect strength of different parts is controlled by an averaging parameter. Experiments on MovieLens dataset illustrate that the DWCF approach proposed in this paper can obtain good recommendation result given different conditions of data sparsity and perform better than a user-based predictor, an item-based predictor and a conventional hybrid approach.
The impact of social capital on the personalisation of care

One of the tenets of personalisation was that people using services could achieve greater citizenship and help to design better supports if they were able to direct innovation in services. Implicit in this was an assumption that people using services would be able to utilise their social capital (resources based on social networks), an asset which was not prioritised by previous approaches to service delivery. This thesis sought to identify if social capital was present and if it was being accessed to support the personalisation of services, comparing and contrasting the situation in services for older people and for people with learning disabilities. Whilst an initial hypothesis was that service providers for these different groups charged different rates due to different levels of social capital, no difference in social capital was established between these two groups. People did have social capital, but it was not mobilised by individuals or state actors responsible for commissioning support. This led to a consideration of street-level bureaucracy and the environment shaped by austerity and the Care Act. The study concludes that the implementation of personalisation has frustrated the use of social capital, such that it has not contributed to the transformation of care.
VTE, thrombophilia, antithrombotic therapy, and pregnancy: Antithrombotic Therapy and Prevention of Thrombosis, 9th ed: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines.

BACKGROUND The use of anticoagulant therapy during pregnancy is challenging because of the potential for both fetal and maternal complications. This guideline focuses on the management of VTE and thrombophilia as well as the use of antithrombotic agents during pregnancy. METHODS The methods of this guideline follow the Methodology for the Development of Antithrombotic Therapy and Prevention of Thrombosis Guidelines: Antithrombotic Therapy and Prevention of Thrombosis, 9th ed: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines in this supplement. RESULTS We recommend low-molecular-weight heparin for the prevention and treatment of VTE in pregnant women instead of unfractionated heparin (Grade 1B). For pregnant women with acute VTE, we suggest that anticoagulants be continued for at least 6 weeks postpartum (for a minimum duration of therapy of 3 months) compared with shorter durations of treatment (Grade 2C). For women who fulfill the laboratory criteria for antiphospholipid antibody (APLA) syndrome and meet the clinical APLA criteria based on a history of three or more pregnancy losses, we recommend antepartum administration of prophylactic or intermediate-dose unfractionated heparin or prophylactic low-molecular-weight heparin combined with low-dose aspirin (75-100 mg/d) over no treatment (Grade 1B). For women with inherited thrombophilia and a history of pregnancy complications, we suggest not to use antithrombotic prophylaxis (Grade 2C). For women with two or more miscarriages but without APLA or thrombophilia, we recommend against antithrombotic prophylaxis (Grade 1B). CONCLUSIONS Most recommendations in this guideline are based on observational studies and extrapolation from other populations. There is an urgent need for appropriately designed studies in this population.
Inflammation and apoptosis genes and the risk of restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention

Objectives Genetic factors appear to be important in the development of restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention, as well as in the process of inflammation, a pivotal factor in restenosis. Caspase-1, interleukin-1-receptor and protein tyrosine phosphatase nonreceptor type 22 are important mediators in the inflammatory response and caspase-1 also in apoptosis. Therefore, we examined whether polymorphisms in these candidate genes are related to the risk of developing restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods The GENetic DEterminants of Restenosis-project is a multicenter prospective follow-up study. The 5352G/A (L235L) caspase-1-polymorphism, the 7464C/G (A124G) interleukin-1r-polymorphism and the 1858C/T (R620W) protein tyrosine phosphatase nonreceptor type 22-polymorphism were genotyped. To examine the functional effect of the caspase-1 polymorphism, mature plasma interleukin-1&bgr; levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated whole blood from a subpopulation of patients. Results A total of 3104 patients, age 62.1±10.7 years, were included after successful percutaneous coronary intervention. A significant association between the 5352AA genotype of the caspase-1 gene and target vessel revascularization (relative risk 2.2, 95% confidence interval 1.32–3.76) was observed after correcting for clinical variables. Angiographic analysis of a subgroup of patients (N=478) also showed an increased risk for developing restenosis for patients having the 5352GA/AA genotype (P=0.001). The results were corroborated, although they were not statistically significant, by somewhat higher mature interleukin-1&bgr; levels in patients with the 5352AA genotype. Conclusions The present study shows that patients with the 5352AA genotype in the caspase-1 gene are at increased risk of developing restenosis. If confirmed by other studies, screening patients for this genotype can lead to better risk stratification and provide indications for improving individual treatment; for instance, by providing a new target for drug-eluting stents.