Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of Operculoinsular Cortices in Human Pain Processing: Converging Evidence from PET, fMRI, Dipole Modeling, and Intracerebral Recordings of Evoked Potentials

Insular and SII cortices have been consistently shown by PET, fMRI, EPs, and MEG techniques to be activated bilaterally by a nociceptive stimulation. The aim of the present study was to refer to, and to compare within a common stereotactic space, the nociceptive responses obtained in humans by (i) PET, (ii) fMRI, (iii) dipole modeling of scalp LEPs, and (iv) intracerebral recordings of LEPs. PET, fMRI, and scalp LEPs were obtained from normal subjects during thermal pain. Operculoinsular LEPs were obtained from 13 patients using deep brain electrodes implanted for presurgical evaluation of drug-resistant epilepsy. Whatever the technique, we obtained responses which were located bilaterally in the insular and SII cortices. In electrophysiological responses (LEPs) the SII insular contribution peaked between 150 and 250 ms poststimulus and corresponded to the earliest portions of the whole cerebral response. Group analysis of PET and fMRI data showed highly consistent responses contralateral to stimulation. On single-subject analysis, LEPs and fMRI activations were concentrated in relatively restricted volumes even though spatial sampling was quite different for both techniques. Despite our multimodal approach, however, it was not possible to separate insular from SII activities. Individual variations in the anatomy and function of SII and insular cortices may explain this limitation. This multimodal study provides, however, cross-validated spatial and temporal information on the pain-related processes occurring in the operculoinsular region, which thus appears as a major site for the early cortical pain encoding in the human brain.
Striatal glutamate release evoked in vivo by NMDA is dependent upon ongoing neuronal activity in the substantia nigra, endogenous striatal substance P and dopamine

The aim of the present microdialysis study was to investigate whether the increase in striatal glutamate levels induced by intrastriatal perfusion with NMDA was dependent on the activation of extrastriatal loops and/or endogenous striatal substance P and dopamine. The NMDA‐evoked striatal glutamate release was mediated by selective activation of the NMDA receptor‐channel complex and action potential propagation, as it was prevented by local perfusion with dizocilpine and tetrodotoxin, respectively. Tetrodotoxin and bicuculline, perfused distally in the substantia nigra reticulata, prevented the NMDA‐evoked striatal glutamate release, suggesting its dependence on ongoing neuronal activity and GABAA receptor activation, respectively, in the substantia nigra. The NMDA‐evoked glutamate release was also dependent on striatal substance P and dopamine, as it was antagonized by intrastriatal perfusion with selective NK1 (SR140333), D1‐like (SCH23390) and D2‐like (raclopride) receptor antagonists, as well as by striatal dopamine depletion. Furthermore, impairment of dopaminergic transmission unmasked a glutamatergic stimulation by submicromolar NMDA concentrations. We conclude that in vivo the NMDA‐evoked striatal glutamate release is mediated by activation of striatofugal GABAergic neurons and requires activation of striatal NK1 and dopamine receptors. Endogenous striatal dopamine inhibits or potentiates the NMDA action depending on the strength of the excitatory stimulus (i.e. the NMDA concentration).
Prevention of orofacial clefts caused by smoking: implications of the Surgeon General's report.

BACKGROUND According to the 2014 Surgeon General's Report, smoking in early pregnancy can cause orofacial clefts. We sought to examine the implications of this causal link for the potential prevention of orofacial clefts in the United States. METHODS Using published data on the strength of the association between orofacial clefts and smoking in early pregnancy and the prevalence of smoking at the start of pregnancy, we estimated the attributable fraction for smoking as a cause of orofacial clefts. We then used the prevalence of orofacial clefts in the United States to estimate the number of orofacial clefts that could be prevented in the United States each year by eliminating exposure to smoking during early pregnancy. We also estimated the financial impact of preventing orofacial clefts caused by maternal smoking based on a published estimate of attributable healthcare costs through age 10 for orofacial clefts. RESULTS The estimated attributable fraction of orofacial clefts caused by smoking in early pregnancy was 6.1% (95% uncertainty interval 4.4%, 7.7%). Complete elimination of smoking in early pregnancy could prevent orofacial clefts in approximately 430 infants per year in the United States, and could save an estimated $40.4 million in discounted healthcare costs through age 10 for each birth cohort. CONCLUSION Understanding the magnitude of the preventable burden of orofacial clefts related to maternal smoking could help focus smoking cessation efforts on women who might become pregnant.
Sensitization to Gliadin Induces Moderate Enteropathy and Insulitis in Nonobese Diabetic-DQ8 Mice

Celiac disease (CD) is frequently diagnosed in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D), and T1D patients can exhibit Abs against tissue transglutaminase, the auto-antigen in CD. Thus, gliadin, the trigger in CD, has been suggested to have a role in T1D pathogenesis. The objective of this study was to investigate whether gliadin contributes to enteropathy and insulitis in NOD-DQ8 mice, an animal model that does not spontaneously develop T1D. Gliadin-sensitized NOD-DQ8 mice developed moderate enteropathy, intraepithelial lymphocytosis, and barrier dysfunction, but not insulitis. Administration of anti-CD25 mAbs before gliadin-sensitization induced partial depletion of CD25+Foxp3+ T cells and led to severe insulitis, but did not exacerbate mucosal dysfunction. CD4+ T cells isolated from pancreatic lymph nodes of mice that developed insulitis showed increased proliferation and proinflammatory cytokines after incubation with gliadin but not with BSA. CD4+ T cells isolated from nonsensitized controls did not response to gliadin or BSA. In conclusion, gliadin sensitization induced moderate enteropathy in NOD-DQ8 mice. However, insulitis development required gliadin-sensitization and partial systemic depletion of CD25+Foxp3+ T cells. This humanized murine model provides a mechanistic link to explain how the mucosal intolerance to a dietary protein can lead to insulitis in the presence of partial regulatory T cell deficiency.
High Levels of Cathepsin B Predict Poor Outcome in Patients with Breast Cancer

Cathepsin B (CB) is a thiol-stimulated protease implicated in cancer invasion and metastasis. Other proteases involved in cancer spread such as urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and cathepsin D have previously been shown to be prognostic markers in breast cancer. CB was assayed by ELISA in 193 patients with primary breast cancer. CB levels were significantly higher in both primary and metastatic breast tumors than in fibroadenomas (p=0.0001). In the primary carcinomas, CB levels showed no significant correlation with either nodal status, tumor size or estrogen receptor (ER) status. Patients with primary breast cancers containing high levels of CB had a significantly shorter disease-free interval (p=0.01, chi-square=6.61) and overall survival (p=0.014, chi-square=6.08) than patients with low levels of the protease. However, in multivariate analysis, using nodal status, tumor size, ER status and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), CB was not an independent prognostic marker. In contrast, nodal status, ER status and uPA were prognostic in multivariate analysis. In conclusion, CB, like certain other proteases implicated in cancer metastasis, correlates with poor outcome in patients with breast cancer. These results thus support the evidence from model systems linking CB to cancer spread. Inhibition of CB expression or activity might therefore be exploited for anti-metastatic therapies.
Child as Protagonist: Expanding the Role of Children in Participatory Design

We suggest that a commitment to political participatory design defines a new role for children in participatory practices--the role of protagonist. The objective here transcends the goal of giving children a voice in design, and addresses more broadly how children can be empowered to shape technological development and critically reflect on the role of technology in their practices. This re-accentuation of political participatory design to formulate the protagonist role is important, because it deepens our understanding of how children may be empowered through design. It is also timely in view of current societal challenges pertaining to training children in twenty-first century skills. Based on a case study, we illustrate how the protagonist role, based on political participatory design, can change the objective, process, and outcome measures of the design process.
Immunogenicity, Reactogenicity, and Immune Memory after Primary Vaccination with a Novel Haemophilus influenzae-Neisseria meningitidis Serogroup C Conjugate Vaccine

ABSTRACT We evaluated two formulations of a new combined Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)-meningococcal serogroup C (MenC)-tetanus toxoid (TT) conjugated vaccine and two formulations of a new MenC-TT vaccine (trials 711202/001 and 711202/008; clinical trial register numbers NCT00135486 and NCT00135564 [www.ClinicalTrials.gov ]). A total of 520 healthy infants were randomized to receive primary vaccination (at 2, 3, and 4 months) with either MenC-TT plus diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTPa)-hepatitis B virus (HBV)-inactivated poliovirus (IPV)/Hib, Hib-MenC-TT plus DTPa-HBV-IPV, or MenC-CRM197 plus DTPa-HBV-IPV/Hib (control). At 12 to 15 months, subjects received a polysaccharide challenge with meningococcal polysaccharide C plus a DTPa-HBV-IPV/Hib booster. Immune responses were assessed 1 month after dose 2, 1 month after dose 3, and prior to and 1 month after the booster. After primary vaccination, there was no difference between groups in seroprotection rates as measured by titers of serum bactericidal antibody (SBA) to MenC (≥1:8) or concentrations of anti-polyribosyl ribitol phosphate (PRP) antibody (≥0.15 μg/ml). Prior to the booster, there was no difference between groups in SBA seroprotection rates, whereas anti-PRP seroprotection rates were significantly higher after priming with Hib-MenC-TT. Booster doses induced large increases in SBA and anti-PRP antibodies in primed groups, indicating successful priming with induction of immune memory. Reactogenicity and safety were similar in all groups during the primary and booster phases. A novel combined Hib-MenC-TT conjugate vaccine induced MenC and Hib responses comparable to those induced by licensed monovalent vaccines. A Hib-MenC-TT conjugate vaccine provides vaccination against two major pathogens in a single injection and is a suitable candidate for use in primary or booster vaccination schedules.
Alternative annotations of word usage

Right from Senseval's inception there have been questions over the choice of sense inventory for word sense disambiguation (Kilgarriff, 1998). While researchers usually acknowledge the issues with predefined listings produced by lexicographers, such lexical resources have been a major catalyst to work on annotating words with meaning. As well as the heavy reliance on manually produced sense inventories, the work on word sense disambiguation has focused on the task of selecting the single best sense from the predefined inventory for each given token instance. There is little evidence that the state-of-the-art level of success is sufficient to benefit applications. We also have no evidence that the systems we build are interpreting words in context in the way that humans do. One direction that has been explored for practical reasons is that of finding a level of granularity where annotators and systems can do the task with a high level of agreement (Navigli et al., 2007; Hovy et al., 2006). In this talk I will discuss some alternative annotations using synonyms (McCarthy and Navigli, 2007), translations (Sinha et al., 2009) and WordNet senses with graded judgments (Erk et al., to appear) which are not proposed as a panacea to the issue of semantic representation but will allow us to look at word usages in a more graded fashion and which are arguably better placed to reflect the phenomena we wish to capture than the 'winner takes all' strategy.
Effects of Plantago major Extracts and Its Chemical Compounds on Proliferation of Cancer Cells and Cytokines Production of Lipopolysaccharide-activated THP-1 Macrophages

Background: Plantago major has been reported to have anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties. However, its antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Moreover, which plant parts are more suitable as starting materials has not been explored. Objectives: To investigate the antiproliferative activity of P. major extracts against MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, HeLaS3, A549, and KB cancer cell lines as well as their effects on inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-a, interleukin [IL]-1β, IL-6, and interferon [IFN]-g) production by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated THP-1 macrophages. Materials and Methods: The methanol and aqueous extracts of P. major from different plant parts and its chemical compounds, i.e., ursolic acid (UA), oleanolic acid (OA), and aucubin were tested in this experiment. Results: Methanol and aqueous extracts of P. major seeds exhibited the greatest antiproliferative activity. The methanol extracts of seeds also demonstrated the highest inhibition of TNF-a, IL-1β, IL-6, and IFN-g production. Interestingly, the roots, which were commonly discarded, exhibited comparable activities to those of leaves and petioles. Furthermore, UA exhibited stronger activities than OA and aucubin. Conclusions: The seeds are being proposed as the main source for further development of anticancer and anti-inflammatory products, whereas the roots could be included in the preparation of P. major derived products with respect to anti-inflammatory. Abbreviations used: TNF: Tumor Necrosis Factor; IL: Interleukin; IFN: Interferon; HPTLC: High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography; UA: Ursolic Acid; OA: Oleanolic Acid; AUC: Aucubin.
Palindromic structure and polypeptide expression of 36 kilobase pairs of heterogeneous Epstein-Barr virus (P3HR-1) DNA

Among the Epstein-Barr virions (EBV) produced by the P3HR-1 (HR-1) cell line are a defective subpopulation with rearranged viral DNA designated heterogeneous DNA (het DNA). These defective virions are responsible for the capacity of HR-1 virus to induce early antigen in Raji c cells and for trans activation of latent EBV in X50-7 cells. Virions with het DNA are independent replicons which pass horizontally from cell to cell rather than being partitioned vertically. We analyzed the structure and defined several polypeptide products of het DNA to understand these remarkable biologic properties. A 36-kilobase-pair (kbp) stretch of het DNA was cloned (as two EcoRI fragments of 20 and 16 kbp) from virions released from a cellular subclone of HR-1 cells. The unusual aspect of the 20-kbp fragment was the linkage of sequences of BamHI-M and BamHI-B', which are not adjacent on the standard EBV genome. The 16-kbp fragment was a palindrome in which at least two additional recombinations on each side of the palindrome had linked regions of the standard EBV genome which are not normally contiguous. The 20-kbp het DNA fragment was attached to at least one and possibly both ends of the 16-kbp het DNA fragment. We identified antigenic polypeptides produced in COS-1 cells after gene transfer of various cloned het DNA fragments. The 20-kbp fragment encoded a cytoplasmic antigen of about 95 kilodaltons (kDa). The 16-kbp fragment encoded antigens located in the nucleus, nuclear membrane, and cytoplasm. These were represented by several polypeptides, the most prominent of which were about 55, 52, and 36 kDa. The 36-kDa polypeptide was localized to a 2.7-kbp BamHI fragment which had homology to standard BamHI-W and BamHI-Z. Another polypeptide of 50 kDa found in the nucleus was mapped to the 7.1-kbp BamHI het DNA fragment which spans the EcoRI site linking the 20- and 16-kbp fragments of het DNA. Thus, HR-1 het DNA encodes several discrete polypeptide products, one or more of which could be responsible for the unusual biologic properties of the virus. The composition, regulation, and ultimately the expression of some of these products relative to standard EBV is probably altered by the genomic rearrangements of het DNA.
Multicasting optical cross connects employing splitter-and-delivery switch

A new splitter-and-delivery (SAD) switch having multicasting capability is proposed. It is best implemented in a single silicon board using planar silica waveguide technology. Less than -40-dB crosstalk is achievable by an auxiliary action of the optical gate. Three optical cross-connect architectures employing the SAD switch are proposed. They are strictly nonblocking and have multicasting capability. Furthermore, they have wavelength or fiber modular structures and are expandable when the number of the fibers and the wavelengths increase a few or by a few times. The expanding method and other important issues are discussed in detail.
Etude de l'Ecoulement Sanguin dans des Fistules Arterio-Veineuses Reconstruites à Partir d'Images Médicales.

Pour effectuer correctement les seances d'hemodialyse, on doit disposer d'un acces vasculaire avec un fort debit. Les fistules arterioveineuses (FAV) realisees par chirurgie permettent d'atteindre ce but, mais sont sujettes a de nombreuses pathologies. Afin d'en comprendre les mecanismes, il est necessaire de connaitre les caracteristiques locales de l'ecoulement.La velocimetrie Doppler etant peu precise, nous proposons ici de developper une approche de modelisation biomecanique. Apres un rappel de l'etat de l'art sur les plans clinique et biomecanique, differentes methodes de reconstruction volumique a partir de CT-scan sont decrites. Apres optimisation, nous nous focalisons ensuite sur la simulation et l'analyse de l'ecoulement sanguin dans une FAV simplifiee. Les simulations sont ensuite validees par une confrontation avec des mesures experimentales. Enfin, la methodologie est appliquee a deux fistules reelles, afin d'en tirer des enseignements sur le plan de la physiopathologie.
Reduced p18INK4c, p21CIP1/WAF1 and p27KIP1 mRNA levels in tumours of primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism

objective Hyperparathyroidism (HPT) refers to states of excessive production of parathyroid hormone (PTH). The eukaryotic cell cycle is driven forward by cyclins and their cyclin‐dependent kinase (CDK) partners. Cyclin‐dependent kinase inhibitors (CKIs), which generally inhibit cell cycle progression, modulate the activity of cyclin–CDK complexes.
Experimental Transmission of Hepatozoon clamatae (Apicomplexa: Adeleida) to the Wood Frog, Rana sylvatica, and to the Mosquito Culex pipiens

Abstract Hepatozoon clamatae naturally infects the erythrocytes of green frogs (Rana clamitans), bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana), and northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) in northeastern North America and uses the mosquito Culex territans as a definitive host. In this study, we show that the wood frog, Rana sylvatica, supports merogonic development, but not gamogonic development, of this protozoan parasite, and that the mosquito Culex pipiens serves as an experimental definitive host for sporogonic development. Two wood frogs were each force-fed Cx. territans, containing oocysts of H. clamatae in their Malpighian tubules, which had fed on blood of infected green frogs 30 days previously. Free merozoites were observed in 1 wood frog 35 days after inoculation, but intraerythrocytic gamonts were not observed. Fifteen Cx. pipiens were fed on a mixture of infected frog blood and physiological saline. Thirty days after blood feeding, 2 mosquitoes were infected with oocysts of H. clamatae, whereas the other 13 mosquitoes either were negative for infection or had died. The observed absence of gamogonic development of this parasite in wood frogs are discussed in light of previous records of host specificity of Hepatozoon species for their anuran hosts, and the importance of Cx. pipiens as an additional definitive host for H. clamatae.
Beam Scanning Leaky-Wave Slot Antenna Using Balanced CRLH Waveguide Operating Above the Cutoff Frequency

In this paper, a composite right-left-handed (CRLH) rectangular waveguide satisfying a balanced condition above the cutoff frequency and a beam scanning leaky-wave slot antenna are presented. The proposed metamaterial waveguide consists of one shorted stub and two <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">${\rm H}$</tex></formula>-plane irises, which produce a negative permittivity and negative permeability, respectively. To design a balanced CRLH transmission line, the <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">${\rm H}$</tex> </formula>-plane irises are materialized by twisted shapes that present a minimized coupling with the shorted stub. The independent controls of the LH and RH regions above the cutoff frequency make it relatively easy to obtain a balanced condition due to the minimized coupling effects. Additionally, using the CRLH waveguide, a beam scanning leaky-wave antenna (LWA) is designed. The LWA achieves good leakage radiation and high gain performance through insertion of the slot, which is set as close as possible to the operating frequency band. The design results show that the LWA supports the backward to forward beam scanning property, including a broadside radiation pattern by changing the frequencies without a band gap. The antenna consisting of 20 unit-cells has a beam steering angle from <formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">$-{\hbox {31}}^{\circ}$</tex></formula> or <formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">$+{\hbox {52}}^{\circ}$</tex></formula> and a high gains performance of more than 11.5 dBi in a frequency band from 9.5 GHz to 12.4 GHz.