Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neuroprotection of cultured foetal rat hippocampal cells against glucose deprivation: are GABAergic neurons less vulnerable or more sensitive to TCP protection?

In the rat brain, hippocampal neurons are particularly sensitive to secondary excitotoxic injury induced by ischaemia or hypoglycaemia. To determine some distinctive features of vulnerability among neuronal phenotypes in the hippocampus following a metabolic insult, we used an in vitro model of mild glucose deprivation. Primary cultures from the rat hippocampus (21 days in vitro) were deprived of glucose for 4 h and then were returned to the standard medium for 24 or 48 h. Survival of the GABAergic neuronal population was evaluated both by measuring [3H]GABA uptake and by counting GAD65‐immunostained cells. This was compared with the survival of the total neuronal population evaluated by counting the neurofilament‐200‐immunostained cells. Glucose deprivation for 4 h followed by a recovery period of 48 h induced a decrease of 59% and 40% in the number of GAD65‐ and neurofilament‐200‐immunostained cells, respectively. Thus, GABAergic neurons were slightly more vulnerable to glucose deprivation than the other neurons in the hippocampal cell cultures. When the excitotoxic component of cellular death was blocked in the presence of TCP, an NMDA‐antagonist, the survival of GABAergic neurons was almost complete after 48 h of recovery. In contrast, measurements of the release of lactate dehydrogenase in the medium indicated that TCP largely protected hippocampal cells after 24 h but was ineffective after 48 h. This observation was confirmed by immunostaining data which showed that after 48 h TCP did not significantly increase the survival of neurofilament‐200‐immunostained cells. These results indicate that after glucose deprivation and a recovery period of 48 h, GABAergic neurons in hippocampal cell cultures are not more resistant than other neurons but they are more sensitive to TCP protection.
Mutation of the prion protein in Libyan Jews with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

BACKGROUND Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a transmissible neurodegenerative disorder that occurs more than 100 times more frequently among Libyan Jews than in the worldwide population. We examined 11 patients with the disease--10 Libyan Jews from Israel and 1 Libyan Jew from Italy--to determine whether abnormalities of the prion protein could be detected in them. Abnormal forms of this host-encoded protein are the predominant if not sole components of the transmissible agent that causes the disease. METHODS The prion-protein open-reading frame in peripheral-leukocyte DNA from the Italian patient was amplified with the polymerase chain reaction and sequenced. Allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization was used to assess a prion-protein codon 200 lysine mutation in the 10 Israeli patients and 37 control subjects. RESULTS The prion-protein sequence in DNA from the Italian patient revealed a single nucleotide change (G----A) at the first position of codon 200 that resulted in a substitution of lysine for glutamate. This substitution was detected in all 10 Israeli patients, 8 of whom had a positive family history of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. One patient was homozygous for the lysine mutation, and her clinical course did not differ from that of the patients heterozygous for the mutation. The lysine mutation was not found in one Moroccan Jew from Israel with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. CONCLUSIONS The codon 200 lysine mutation of the prion-protein gene is consistently present among Libyan Jews with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, strongly supporting a genetic pathogenesis of their illness. The similarity of the clinical courses of the patient homozygous for this mutation and the patients heterozygous for it argues that familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a true dominant disorder.
Quality of Life after Surgery for Stanford Type A Aortic Dissection: Influences of Different Operative Strategies.

BACKGROUND Outcome of surgery for acute Stanford type A aortic dissection extends beyond mortality and morbidity. More than one operative strategy is available but little is known regarding their influence on quality of life. This study analyzes the influence of defensive and aggressive operative strategies on the patients' midterm quality of life (QoL). METHODS From July 2007 to July 2010, 95 patients underwent surgery for acute Stanford type A aortic dissection in our institution. Patients who survived the procedure, gave consent to inclusion in the institution prospective registry, completed at least 2-years of follow-up protocol, and answered two quality of life questionnaires (SF-36 and WHO-QOL-BREF) were included in the study. Patients were divided into two groups according to operative strategy: defensive (DS) with replacement of the ascending aorta only, and aggressive (AS) with replacement of the ascending aorta, aortic arch with/out a frozen elephant trunk procedure. The preoperative, operative, postoperative and the midterm QoL were analyzed and compared. RESULTS 39 patients were included in the study. The DS group had a shorter operative time (184 ± 54 versus 276 ± 110 minutes respectively, P = .001). The AS group had higher incidence of dialysis (31% versus 4% respectively, P = .038). The midterm QoL analysis showed a collective lower value than the normal population. In the SF-36, DS performed better in all categories but with no statistical significance. In the WHO-QOL-BREF, DS performed significantly better in the global life quality and psychological health categories (P = .038 and .049 respectively). CONCLUSION In Stanford type A aortic dissection, adopting an aggressive surgical strategy does not improve the quality of life in midterm follow-up compared to a defensive strategy. Unless the clinical setting dictates an aggressive management strategy, a defensive strategy can be safely adopted.
Flavopiridol (L86 8275; NSC 649890), a new kinase inhibitor for tumor therapy.

Flavopiridol is a new synthetic flavone, structurally related to a natural alkaloid, originally purified from Dysoxylum binectariferum, a plant indigenous to India and used in Indian folk medicine. Flavopiridol was detected by a tandem screening system consisting in inhibition of the EGF-receptor Tyrosine phosphokinase and cytotoxicity. As a cytostatic mechanism, however, Flavopiridol strongly inhibits the cyclin-dependent kinases (cdk1, cdk2, cdk4, cdk7), with the potential to cause inhibition of cell cycle progression in G(1) and G(2) by multiple mechanisms relatable to cdk inhibition. In certain cell types, Flavopiridol induces apoptosis. The antitumor activity of that compound on human xenograft tumors is similar to standard cytostatic drugs and superior to them at least in prostate carcinoma. The dose limiting toxicity is diarrhea. Compared with other flavonoids or other kinase inhibitors Flavopiridol can be regarded as unique as no other compound is yet known that as specifically and potently inhibits nearly all the main cyclin dependent kinases and by that mechanisms can arrest cell cycle progression in G(1) as well as in G(2) and no other specific kinase inhibitor is known, which after i.v. or oral application reduces the growth of subcutaneous or subrenal xenografts of human tumors of different types. Initial results of a phase I study at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), USA, (Investigational New Drug Application no. 46211) provided some clinical and laboratory evidence for antineoplastic effect at nontoxic doses (no grade IV toxicities encountered). Thus, Flavopiridol is clearly in need of further clinical evaluation of its tumor therapeutic potential. In this review the chemical profile, tumorpharmacology (in vitro activity, inhibition of cdk's and preclinical in vivo activity), preclinical toxicology and pharmacokinetic of Flavopiridol are reviewed to provide a comprehensive source to aid further developmental efforts.
Oxygen regulation of the Escherichia coli cytochrome d oxidase (cydAB) operon: roles of multiple promoters and the Fnr‐1 and Fnr‐2 binding sites

The Escherichia coli cydAB operon encodes the high‐affinity terminal oxidase of the oxygen respiratory chain, cytochrome d oxidase. The sensor–regulator pair, ArcB–ArcA, is responsible for the microaerobic activation of the cydAB operon, whereas the anaerobic regulator Fnr represses its expression in the absence of oxygen. Fnr binds in vitro at two sites within the cydAB promoter element. To discern whether these two regions have an in vivo function in the anaerobic regulation of cydAB, the Fnr‐binding motifs were mutagenized individually and in combination. The effects of these mutations on in vivo gene expression were determined by lac fusion and primer extension analysis. Our results show that the Fnr‐2 site is critical for Fnr‐mediated anaerobic repression of the two main cydAB promoters, P1 and P2. In contrast, the Fnr‐1 site has an auxiliary role in the anaerobic repression of P1, but not of P2. Transcription from P1 did not affect ArcA‐mediated activation or Fnr‐mediated repression of P2, indicating that oxygen regulation is exerted on both promoters in an independent fashion. In addition, three new promoters were identified in the cydAB control region, and the 5′ ends of the corresponding transcripts were mapped. Two of these promoters, designated P3 and P4, are co‐ordinately regulated with P1 and P2 in response to oxygen, ArcA and Fnr. The P5 promoter is not Fnr regulated and is only weakly activated by ArcA. The contribution of these three additional promoters to the overall cydAB expression is most relevant under aerobic conditions. Our results suggest a unique repression model, in which one Fnr dimer bound to one single site (Fnr‐2) is sufficient to downregulate transcription from four cydAB promoters. In conclusion, transcription of the cydAB operon is driven by a complex regulatory element containing at least five promoters that act in unison to provide adequate oxygen control of gene expression.
Separation of telomerase functions by reverse genetics

The canonical function of the human telomerase protein (hTERT) is to synthesize telomeric DNA, but it has other biological activities, including enhancing cell proliferation, decreasing apoptosis, regulating DNA damage responses, and increasing cellular proliferative lifespan. The mechanistic relationships among these activities are not understood. We previously demonstrated that ectopic hTERT expression in primary human mammary epithelial cells diminishes their requirement for exogenous mitogens, thus giving them a proliferative advantage in a mitogen-depleted environment. Here, we show that this phenotype is caused by a combination of increased cell division and decreased apoptosis. In addition, we use a panel of hTERT mutants to demonstrate that this enhanced cell proliferation can be uncoupled not only from telomere elongation, but also from other telomerase activities, including cellular lifespan extension and regulation of DNA damage responses. We also find that the proliferative function of hTERT, which requires hTERT catalytic activity, is not caused by increased Wnt signaling, but is accompanied by alterations in key cell cycle regulators and is linked to an hTERT-catalyzed decrease in the levels of the RNA component of mitochondrial RNA processing endoribonuclease. Thus, enhanced cell proliferation is an independent function of hTERT that could provide a new target for the development of anti-telomerase cancer therapeutic agents.
Institutional change and transformations in labour and employment standards

Initially employed by lawyers and geopolitical experts, the concept of ‘grey zones’ can be usefully applied to analyse the recent changes on the labour market. It provides a means of bypassing the dualist approaches that contrast waged work and self-employment, insiders and outsiders, or, then again, formal and informal work in a binary way. It provides visibility of the decoherence between the institutions associated with waged status and actual employment practices, and the layering of several different kinds of regulation. The ‘grey zones’ approach thus provides an analytical framework for understanding a wide variety of situations and studying various processes of institutional change, giving the actors of this change their rightful place. Although grey zones are often areas where laws are absent or weak, through these actors they can also give rise to new institutions.
Multi Pattern Dynamic Time Warping for automatic speech recognition

We are addressing the problem of jointly using multiple noisy speech patterns for automatic speech recognition (ASR), given that they come from the same class. If the user utters a word K times, the ASR system should try to use the information content in all the K patterns of the word simultaneously and improve its speech recognition accuracy compared to that of the single pattern based speech recognition. To address this problem, recently we proposed a multi pattern dynamic time warping (MPDTW) algorithm to align the K patterns by finding the least distortion path between them. A constrained multi pattern Viterbi algorithm was used on this aligned path for isolated word recognition (IWR). In this paper, we explore the possibility of using only the MPDTW algorithm for IWR. We also study the properties of the MPDTW algorithm. We show that using only 2 noisy test patterns (10 percent burst noise at -5 dB SNR) reduces the noisy speech recognition error rate by 37.66 percent when compared to the single pattern recognition using the dynamic time warping algorithm.
The profile of the Greek ‘XXL’ family

Abstract Objective To identify Greek families in which all members were overweight or obese (XXL families) and to describe their profile with regard to their socio-economic status and their eating behaviours and practices. Design A prospective cohort study. Setting The metropolitan area of Kavala. Subjects We recruited children aged 11 and 12 years from twelve primary schools, and their parents, from volunteers. Auxologic measurements of the children included height and weight. A structured questionnaire pertaining to information on the socio-economic status of the family, anthropometric values and educational status of parents, dietary habits and the availability of various food products and beverages at home, as well as dietary intake, physical activity, time spent sleeping and time spent watching television, was filled in by one of the parents of each child. A total of 331 families finally participated. Results In sixty-one families (18·43 %) both parents and child were either overweight or obese (XXL family), and in seven of these families all members were obese. Only twenty-eight families (8·46 %) had all members with a normal BMI. The XXL family was associated with lower educational status of both parents, whereas a higher percentage of XXL families resided in rural areas and had lower income. Skipping breakfast and spending more than 3 h in front of a screen every day were more frequently observed in XXL families. With regard to the availability of various food products and beverages at home, no significant differences were observed between XXL families and the rest of the studied families. Conclusions Greek XXL families have lower educational status and lower annual income.
Evaluation of pre-treatment methods for landfill disposal of residues from municipal solid waste incineration

This study presents results concerning leaching of Pb, Cd, Ca, and Cl with reference to one individual batch of bottom ash and fly ash (5:1) resulting from a municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) in Japan. This ash mixture was stabilised by the following pre-treatments: water washing, carbonation, and phosphate stabilisation. Once the optimum processing condition for each pre-treatment was determined, the performances were evaluated using both pH-stat leaching (pH 6, 9, 12) and availability tests. These performance tests were carried out with only fly ash without considering the mixture of MSWI residues, in order to accurately determine leaching differences among the pre-treatments. Water washing effectively removed the major elements from MSWI residues and also reduced the leachability of trace metals, such as Pb and Cd. A washing time of 15 minutes with a liquid/solid ratio of 5 was reasonably effective. Carbonation had a significant effect on leachability in alkaline ranges (pH 9 and 12), when the reaction occurred only on the surface of MSWI residues, moreover a moisture content of 10-16.7% was proved suitable for carbonation. On the other hand, phosphate stabilisation, even with small amounts of phosphate (0.16 mol-PO4 3- kg-1), was very effective in reducing the leach-ability of heavy metals.
Longitudinal tracking of adolescent smoking, physical activity, and food choice behaviors.

OBJECTIVES A major assumption underlying youth health promotion has been that physiological risk factors track from childhood into adulthood. However, few studies have systematically examined how behaviors change during adolescence. This paper describes longitudinal tracking of adolescent health behaviors in two Minnesota Heart Health Program communities. METHODS Beginning in sixth grade (1983), seven annual waves of behavioral measurements were taken from both communities (baseline n = 2376). Self-reported data included smoking behavior, physical activity, and food preferences. RESULTS A progressive increase in the change to weekly smoking status was observed across the smoking status categories. As students began to experiment with smoking, they were more likely to either begin to be or remain regular smokers. Tracking of physical activity and food choice variables was also apparent. In nearly all the follow-up periods, the students identified at baseline as measuring high remained high, and those measuring low remained low. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that there is evidence of early consolidation and tracking of physical activity, food preference, and smoking behavior. The early consolidation of health behaviors implies that interventions should begin prior to sixth grade, before behavioral patterns are resistant to change. The smoking results suggest that students are experiencing difficulty quitting smoking; thus, youth smoking cessation interventions are warranted.
Prevalence of cognitive impairment in patients with hematologic cancers preceding stem cell transplantation: Program for healthy aging.

32 Background: Older adults, 65 years of age and older, with hematologic cancers may be at higher risk for cognitive impairment. It is postulated that the etiology of cognitive impairment in cancer may a combination of age-related and chemotherapy related cognitive impairment. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis, of older adult patients 65 years and older evaluated at the Program for Healthy Aging at MD Anderson from January 1, 2013 through March 31, 2015. Cognitive assessment was evaluated through personal interview, and the Montreal cognitive assessment, functional assessment utilizing ADLs and IADLs. Screening for depression was conducted with the PHQ-9. Patients were interviewed regarding risk factors for dementia including depression, concussions, alcohol abuse, and family history of dementia. Level of education was assessed. Patients were euthymic. Cognitive impairment was defined as an abnormal MOCA without functional impairment, dementia was defined as an abnormal MOCA with functional impairment. Imaging and assessment for reversible factors of memory loss was conducted. SAS 9.4 (SAS Institute INC, Cary, NC) was used for data analysis. RESULTS The majority of these 62 patients had received chemotherapy for more than 2 years. Cognitive impairment and/or dementia were identified in 50 (80.6%) patients. Types of dementia included Alzheimer's disease (n = 4, 8%), vascular dementia (n = 5, 10 %), and mixed dementia (n = 15, 30%). Mild cognitive impairment was evidenced in 14 cases (28%) The majority of cases of dementia with known stage were early stage dementia (n = 13, 72.2%), moderate stage dementia (n = 3, 16.7%), and advanced or severe dementia (n = 2, 11.1%). Brain imaging was performed identifying white matter microischemic changes, cerebrovascular accidents and brain atrophy in some cases. No significant thyroid abnormalities, B12 deficiency or other reversible causes were identified. CONCLUSIONS Cognitive impairment and dementia are prevalent in older patients with hematologic malignancies. Identification and management of this condition may prevent delirium and hospital complications during stem cell transplantation.
Robust Concurrent Attitude-Position Control of a Swarm of Underactuated Nanosatellites

In this paper, we address the formation flying problem of underactuated nanosatellites by concurrent attitude-position control. Lack of space in nanosatellites hinders us from having omnidirectional motion capabilities. Hence, a practical model for nanosatellites is to employ a one-directional propulsion system together with the reaction wheels. To achieve the formation flying of such nanosatellites, we develop a strategy based on the simultaneous control of attitude and position. The proposed formation flying method consists of three sublevels: first for each underactuated nanosatellite, a virtual fully actuated system is considered and a finite-time translational control method together with a disturbance estimator is developed for the fully actuated system. Subsequently, an adaptive finite-time attitude tracking is proposed to align the thruster of each underactuated nanosatellite with the obtained translational input of the corresponding virtual fully actuated system. Finally, by using the attitude and the obtained virtual input, the thrust for each underactuated nanosatellite is computed. Unlike the existing methods that are merely limited to control of fully actuated satellites, the proposed method presents a robust concurrent formation flying control for a group of underactuated nanosatellites, and accounts for disturbances such as air drag. A rigorous mathematical formulation and the stability analysis of the system are provided. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed method.
Expression in cochlea and retina of myosin VIIa, the gene product defective in Usher syndrome type 1B.

Myosin VIIa is a newly identified member of the myosin superfamily of actin-based motors. Recently, the myosin VIIa gene was identified as the gene defective in shaker-1, a recessive deafness in mice [Gibson, F. , Walsh, J., Mburu, P., Varela, A. , Brown, K.A. , Antonio, M. , Beisel, K.W. , Steel, K.P. & Brown, S.D. M. (1995) Nature (London) 374, 62-64], and in human Usher syndrome type 1B, an inherited disease characterized by congenital deafness, vestibular dysfunction, and retinitis pigmentosa [Weil, D. , Blanchard, S. , Kaplan, J., Guilford, P., Gibson, F. , Walsh, J., Mburu, P., Varela, A. , Levilliers, J., Weston, M.D., Kelley, P.M. , Kimberling, W.J., Wagenaar, M. , Levi-Acobas, F. , Larget-Piet, D. , Munnich, A. , Steel, K.P., Brown, S.D. M. & Petit, C. (1995) Nature (London) 374, 60-61]. To understand the normal function of myosin VIIa and how it could cause these disease phenotypes when defective, we generated antibodies specific to the tail portion of this unconventional myosin. We found that myosin VIIa was expressed in cochlea, retina, testis, lung, and kidney. In cochlea, myosin VIIa expression was restricted to the inner and outer hair cells, where it was found in the apical stereocilia as well as the cytoplasm. In the eye, myosin VIIa was expressed by the retinal pigmented epithelial cells, where it was enriched within the apical actin-rich domain of this cell type. The cell-specific localization of myosin VIIa suggests that the blindness and deafness associated with Usher syndrome is due to lack of proper myosin VIIa function within the cochlear hair cells and the retinal pigmented epithelial cells.