Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chondrogenic Differentiation of MSCs Induced via Cbfa1 Driven by SOX9 Promoter

The good seed cells were the key component of cartilage tissue engineering. Because of their own advantages, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) became a good choice of seed cells in cartilage tissue engineering field. However, how to regulate MSCs to directly differentiate into chondrocytes was one of the difficulties at present. Sox9 and Cbfa1 were two important transcription factors for chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs and played an important role in the cartilage formation. In this study, the eukaryotic expression vector of Cbfa1 driven by Sox9 promoter was constructed and then was transfected into MSCs. The higher capacity of stable transfectants(Cbfa1- MSCs) for chondrogenic differentiation had been identified. As a readily available source of seed cells for cartilage tissue engineering, Cbfa1-MSCs should have broad application prospects.
Software engineering is engineering

letters to the editor I wa s c o n f o u n d e d by the conclusion of Michael Davis's Viewpoint " Will Software Engineering Ever Be Engineer-ing? " (Nov. 2011), mainly because anything I can do in code I can also do in digital hardware, analog hardware, fluidics, even gears and motors. One could say " Maintenance is a nightmare, " but there is ample proof that software maintenance can also be a nightmare with even modest code. By drawing attention to " [m]oderate the interests of the software engineer, the employer, the client, and the users for the public good, " Davis exposed an unfortunate turn of phrase that is easily misconstrued. However, the following from the ACM's own " Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice " (version 5.2 http:// www.acm.org/about/se-code) states the principle clearly: " Software engineers shall act consistent with the public interest, " which also maps well to the National Society of Professional Engineers' " Code of Ethics for Engineers " (http://www.nspe.org/Ethics/ CodeofEthics/index.html): " Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public. " Software engineering is not computer programming. Programming is a constructive activity, like soldering, riveting, and pouring concrete, where excellence requires special knowledge, skill, and ability. The fact that many engineers strive to be competent technicians should not confuse the issue; engineering work and technical work are simply different types of work, often done by the same person. The overarching engineering para-digm—systems engineering—recruits specialty engineering disciplines, including hardware (such as electrical and mechanical), software (such as applications and embedded), and human factors (such as micro-ergonomics and macro-ergonomics). All are used, knowingly or unknowingly, in the formulation and translation of engineering requirements (design inputs) into engineering specifications (design outputs), enabling construction of systems with utilitarian and/or aesthetic value. Ideally, systems engineering occurs in a structured, systematic manner with incremental verifications and the physical realization validated against the original requirements. Haphazard design and construction may be " engineering " but is indeed un-professional and provides no rational means for ensuring the protection of the public's safety, health, and welfare. It may be reasonable to say developing banking and retail software systems do not require training in advanced mathematics, physics, chemistry , biology, or even social science; the same cannot be said of software systems for nuclear weapons, transportation systems, or medical devices. Designing and programming banking and retail …
Removal of blood from laboratory mammals and birds

4. Venous cannulae and 11. Summary of good practice rules.19 cannulation.9 Glossary of terms.20 5. Blood collection from arteries.14 Appendix A: Retro-orbital bleeding.20 6. Cardiac puncture.15 References.21 7. Volume of blood to be removed.16 Further reading and information. 21
Adjuvant chemotherapy for adult soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities and girdles: results of the Italian randomized cooperative trial.

PURPOSE Adjuvant chemotherapy for soft tissue sarcoma is controversial because previous trials reported conflicting results. The present study was designed with restricted selection criteria and high dose-intensities of the two most active chemotherapeutic agents. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients between 18 and 65 years of age with grade 3 to 4 spindle-cell sarcomas (primary diameter > or = 5 cm or any size recurrent tumor) in extremities or girdles were eligible. Stratification was by primary versus recurrent tumors and by tumor diameter greater than or equal to 10 cm versus less than 10 cm. One hundred four patients were randomized, 51 to the control group and 53 to the treatment group (five cycles of 4'-epidoxorubicin 60 mg/m(2) days 1 and 2 and ifosfamide 1.8 g/m(2) days 1 through 5, with hydration, mesna, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor). RESULTS After a median follow-up of 59 months, 60 patients had relapsed and 48 died (28 and 20 in the treatment arm and 32 and 28 in the control arm, respectively). The median disease-free survival (DFS) was 48 months in the treatment group and 16 months in the control group (P =.04); and the median overall survival (OS) was 75 months for treated and 46 months for untreated patients (P =.03). For OS, the absolute benefit deriving from chemotherapy was 13% at 2 years and increased to 19% at 4 years (P =.04). CONCLUSION Intensified adjuvant chemotherapy had a positive impact on the DFS and OS of patients with high-risk extremity soft tissue sarcomas at a median follow-up of 59 months. Therefore, our data favor an intensified treatment in similar cases. Although cure is still difficult to achieve, a significant delay in death is worthwhile, also considering the short duration of treatment and the absence of toxic deaths.
Interleukin‐2 activation of STAT5 requires the convergent action of tyrosine kinases and a serine/threonine kinase pathway distinct from the Raf1/ERK2 MAP kinase pathway.

Interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) induces DNA binding of STAT5, a member of the family of cytokine‐regulated transcription factors termed ‘signal transducers and activators of transcription’. IL‐2‐stimulated STAT5‐DNA complexes include two tyrosine phosphoproteins which exhibit distinct mobilities in SDS‐PAGE gels. Our studies have shown that IL‐2 rapidly induces both tyrosine phosphorylation and serine phosphorylation of STAT5 and that the two STAT5 tyrosine phosphoproteins detected in IL‐2‐activated cells differ in their levels of phosphorylation on serine residues. The two different phosphoforms of STAT5 have identical in vitro DNA binding specificity and reactivity with tyrosine phosphopeptides, but differ in their cellular localization. As well, the present data indicate that the transcriptional activity of STAT5 is regulated by serine kinases in T lymphocytes. Two previously characterized serine kinases activated by IL‐2, MAP kinase/ERK2 and p70 S6 kinase, do not appear to be involved in STAT5 regulation by this cytokine. Accordingly, STAT5 activation in T cells requires the convergent action of tyrosine kinases and a distinct serine/threonine kinase which has not previously been implicated in IL‐2 signalling.
Iatrogenic Blood-borne Viral Infections in Refugee Children from War and Transition Zones

Pediatric infectious disease clinicians in industrialized countries may encounter iatrogenically transmitted HIV, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus infections in refugee children from Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. The consequences of political collapse and/or civil war—work migration, prostitution, intravenous drug use, defective public health resources, and poor access to good medical care—all contribute to the spread of blood-borne viruses. Inadequate infection control practices by medical establishments can lead to iatrogenic infection of children. Summaries of 4 cases in refugee children in Australia are a salient reminder of this problem.
Low cytotoxic elastic niosomes loaded with salmon calcitonin on human skin fibroblasts

A low cytotoxic elastic niosomal formulation loaded with salmon calcitonin was developed. The elastic niosomes were prepared from Tween 61 mixed with cholesterol at various concentrations of the edge activators (sodium cholate (NaC) and sodium deoxycholate (NaDC); 0.25, 0.5, 2.5, 5 and 10% mole) or ethanol (10–30% v/v). The effects of the niosomal concentrations (5, 10 and 20 mM) and phosphate buffer at pH 7.0 (5, 10, 20 and 30 mM) on the physical characteristics of niosomes were investigated. The 5 mM elastic niosomes in 5 mM phosphate buffer containing calcitonin 0.22 mg/mL gave the highest elasticity (deformability index (DI)) at 6.79 ± 2.03 determined by the extrusion method. The blank elastic niosomes comprised 2.5% mole NaDC, 5% mole NaC or 20% v/v ethanol showed the highest elasticity. The 5% mole NaC elastic niosomes loaded with calcitonin gave the highest DI (21.59 ± 0.91) and percentages of calcitonin entrapment efficiency (60.11 ± 4.98). This study has demonstrated that this NaC elastic niosome did not only reduce the cytotoxicity of the loaded calcitonin but also gave superior cell viability to the ethanolic elastic niosome as well.
Presence of key findings in the medical record prior to a documented high-risk diagnosis

BACKGROUND Failure or delay in diagnosis is a common preventable source of error. The authors sought to determine the frequency with which high-information clinical findings (HIFs) suggestive of a high-risk diagnosis (HRD) appear in the medical record before HRD documentation. METHODS A knowledge base from a diagnostic decision support system was used to identify HIFs for selected HRDs: lumbar disc disease, myocardial infarction, appendicitis, and colon, breast, lung, ovarian and bladder carcinomas. Two physicians reviewed at least 20 patient records retrieved from a research patient data registry for each of these eight HRDs and for age- and gender-compatible controls. Records were searched for HIFs in visit notes that were created before the HRD was established in the electronic record and in general medical visit notes for controls. RESULTS 25% of records reviewed (61/243) contained HIFs in notes before the HRD was established. The mean duration between HIFs first occurring in the record and time of diagnosis ranged from 19 days for breast cancer to 2 years for bladder cancer. In three of the eight HRDs, HIFs were much less likely in control patients without the HRD. CONCLUSIONS In many records of patients with an HRD, HIFs were present before the HRD was established. Reasons for delay include non-compliance with recommended follow-up, unusual presentation of a disease, and system errors (eg, lack of laboratory follow-up). The presence of HIFs in clinical records suggests a potential role for the integration of diagnostic decision support into the clinical workflow to provide reminder alerts to improve the diagnostic focus.
Regulation of replication timing in fission yeast

Here we report the first characterization of replication timing and its regulation in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We used three different synchronization methods: centrifugal elutriation, cdc10 temperature‐shift and release, and starvation for deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) by treatment with hydroxyurea (HU) followed by removal of HU, to study the times when specific autonomously replicating sequence elements (ARS elements; potential replication origins) replicate during S phase. We found that individual ARS elements replicate at characteristic times, some early and some late, independently of synchronization method. In wild‐type cells treated with HU, early ARS elements replicated but late ones did not. However, in HU‐treated mutant cells lacking the Rad3 (similar to human ATR and ATM) or Cds1 (similar to human CHK2) checkpoint kinase, both early and late ARS elements were able to replicate. Thus under conditions of dNTP starvation the Rad3 and Cds1 kinases are needed to suppress the replication of normally late‐replicating regions.
Compiling Keyphrase Candidates for Scientific Literature Based on Wikipedia

Keyphrase candidate compilation is a crucial step for both supervised and unsupervised keyphrase extractors. The traditional methods are usually based on the lexical or frequency properties of the phrases to come up the list. However, terms collected based on these properties do not always semantically meaningful. We show that Wikipedia can be a great auxiliary resource to compile meaningful keyphrase candidates for scientific literature. We conducted empirical experiments on digital libraries of two disciplines, namely Computer Science and Chemistry. The results suggest that Wikipedia has a good coverage of the two disciplines and has the potential to be applied to other scientific disciplines.
The prevalence of microalbuminuria and ECG left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive patients in private practices in South Africa.

INTRODUCTION In South Africa a cluster of cardiovascular diseases accounts for 17% of all deaths. It is also predicted that South Africa will face an epidemic of chronic kidney disease due to obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension. It is important to estimate the burden of underlying cardiovascular and renal disease in South Africa. OBJECTIVES The primary objective of the study was to establish the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy by ECG criteria, and micro- and macroalbuminuria in mild, moderate and severe hypertensive groups. The secondary objective was to establish the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy and micro- and macroalbuminuria in hypertensive patients with underlying type 2 diabetes. METHODS Patients > or = 35 years with essential hypertension with or without type 2 diabetes were recruited from 100 general practices throughout South Africa. BP, weight, height, waist circumference and urinary albumin/creatinine ratio were measured, and an ECG was performed. The Sokolow-Lyon and Cornell criteria were used for estimation of left ventricular hypertrophy. An overall prevalence rate was determined using weights from the severity category distribution inside the study population. RESULTS One thousand and ninety-one patients were available for analysis. There were 530 (48.5%) males and 561 (51.5%) females, 691 (63.3%) whites, 162 (14.8%) blacks, 150 (13.7%) Asians and 88 (8.1%) Coloureds. Of the patients, 10.9% had newly diagnosed hypertension, 20% had type 2 diabetes, and 38.1% mild, 32.1% moderate and 30.6% severe hypertension. The prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy in the sample weighted to the hypertensive population over the age of 35 years with access to medical aids was 18.9%. Relative to white ethnicity, black ethnicity (OR 2, p = 0.03), and relative to mild hypertension, moderate (OR 2.2, p = 0.05) and severe hypertension (OR 4.9, p < 0.0001) were independent predictors of left ventricular hypertrophy. The overall prevalence of micro- and macroalbuminuria in the weighted sample was 21.3 and 4.1%, respectively. In the diabetics the prevalence of microalbuminuria was 32.3% and macroalbuminuria 10.4%, respectively. The independent predictors of microalbuminuria or worse were severe hypertension (OR 2.9, p < 0.0001), type 2 diabetes (OR 2.5, p < 0.002), and Asian ethnic group (OR 2, p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS The study, based on a convenience sample of hypertensives from private practices in South Africa showed that the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy and microalbuminuria or worse was 18.9 and 25.4%, respectively.
Heart-type fatty acid-binding protein permits early risk stratification of pulmonary embolism.

AIMS We investigated the value of a novel early biomarker, heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP), in risk stratification of patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). METHODS AND RESULTS We prospectively included 107 consecutive patients with confirmed PE. The endpoints were (i) PE-related death or major complications and (ii) overall 30-day mortality. Overall, 29 patients (27%) had abnormal (>6 ng/mL) H-FABP levels at presentation. Of those, 12 (41%) had a complicated course, whereas all patients with normal baseline H-FABP had a favourable 30-day outcome (OR, 71.45; P<0.0001). At multivariable analysis, H-FABP (P<0.0001), but not cardiac troponin T (P=0.13) or N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (P=0.36), predicted an adverse outcome. Evaluation of a strategy combining biomarker testing with echocardiography revealed that patients with a negative H-FABP test had an excellent prognosis regardless of echocardiographic findings. In contrast, patients with a positive H-FABP test had a complication rate of 23.1% even in the presence of a normal echocardiogram, and this rose to 57.1% if echocardiography also demonstrated right ventricular dysfunction (OR vs. a negative H-FABP test, 5.6 and 81.4, respectively). CONCLUSION H-FABP is a promising early indicator of right ventricular injury and dysfunction in acute PE. It may help optimize risk stratification algorithms and treatment strategies.
Reachability analysis for base placement in mobile manipulators

This article addresses the problem of base placement for mobile robots using a reachability analysis. A simple geometric solution is proposed to determine the appropriate base locations from which the robot can reach a stationary or moving target point. This leads to a simple criterion for automated base placement, thus relieving the operator from the tedious and repetitive procedure for continuously positioning the robot base manually during the execution of the end-effector task. For robots with one degree-of-mobility such as tracked robots, the feasible base locations consists of a region on the translational axis, the boundaries of which are derived in this article. The results are used to obtain the base locations so that the robot can reach a vertical line, a square surface, and a cubic volume. Using the proposed method, two experimental studies at the JPL Surface Inspection Laboratory are described: scanning a surface and reaching inside an opening. The results of the article are extended to mobile robots with two and three degrees-of-mobility such as rover-mounted arms and gantry robots, and a simple numerical example is given for illustration. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Exigências térmicas de Ctenocephalides felis Bouché, 1835 (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae)

Este trabalho teve como objetivo estimar, atraves do Metodo da Hiperbole, as exigencias termicas e a viabilidade das fases de desenvolvimento de Ctenocephalides felis, em Bage, RS, Brasil. Estabeleceu-se uma colonia de C. felis, em laboratorio, para obtencao de ovos, larvas, pupas e adultos, que foram mantidos em temperaturas constantes de 18oC, 22oC, 26oC e 30oC, com umidade relativa de 90% +/- 5. As temperaturas base dos estagios de ovo, larva, pupa e ciclo ovo-adulto foram, respectivamente, 10,91oC; 11,38oC; 11,18oC e 12,00oC. As constantes termicas foram 37,81GD; 331,13GD; 113,24GD e 451,24GD (Graus Dia). A temperatura influenciou na velocidade do ciclo de desenvolvimento de C. felis em seus tres estagios, ovo, larva e pupa, sendo observado que o desenvolvimento dos tres estagios e mais tardio nas temperaturas mais baixas e, mais precoce, nas temperaturas altas. Com relacao aogenero, houve diferenca no tempo de eclosao da femea com relacao ao macho, apenas nas temperaturas de 26 e 32oC.
Mass media and repulsive interactions in continuous-opinion dynamics

This letter focuses on the effect of repulsive interactions on the adoption of an external message in an opinion model. With a simple change in the rules, we modify the Deffuant et al. model to incorporate the presence of repulsive interactions. We will show that information receptiveness is optimal for an intermediate fraction of repulsive links. Using the master equation as well as Monte Carlo simulations of the message-free model, we identify the point where the system becomes optimally permeable to external influence with an order-disorder transition.
Body weight and leptin plasma levels during treatment with antipsychotic drugs.

OBJECTIVE Leptin is produced by fat cells and is presumed to signal the size of the adipose tissue to the brain. The authors investigated whether antipsychotic drugs that often induce weight gain affect circulating levels of leptin. METHOD Weight, body mass index, and leptin plasma level were measured weekly over 4 weeks in psychiatric inpatients who received clozapine (N = 11), olanzapine (N = 8), haloperidol (N = 13), or no psychopharmacological treatment (N = 12). RESULTS In patients receiving clozapine or olanzapine, significant increases in weight, body mass index, and leptin level were found, whereas these measures remained stable in patients who received haloperidol or no pharmacological treatment. CONCLUSIONS Weight gain induced by clozapine or olanzapine appears to be associated with an increase in leptin level that cannot be attributed to dietary changes upon hospitalization.
Content-based image retrieval by feature point matching

With the advance of multimedia technologies and the explosive expansion of the World Wide Web, the volume of image and video data increases rapidly. An efficient and effective multimedia data retrieval technique is needed. In this paper, we propose an approach based on feature points for the content-based image retrieval. The feature points extracted from the multiresolution representation of the query image and database image are first matched to determine the matching pairs. Then, the marching pairs are classified into groups. Finally, two similarity measurements based on different similarity requirements are proposed to compute the similarity degree. We perform a series of experiments to study the characteristics of this approach, and compare with the region-based approach on similar-shot sequence retrieval. The comparison shows the superiority of this approach.
Entrepreneurial Stress: Is it Hazardous to Your Health?

Entrepreneurship is playing an increasing role in the U.S. economy. Kirchoff and Phillips (1988) reported that small firms are the major source of new job creation. New business ventures accounted for 55% of new jobs between 1970 and 1980 (Hoy and Carland, 1983). New firm creation enhances economic growth and expansion. However, entrepreneurship is a risky process; while more than five hundred thousand businesses are started each year, only one in five survives for ten years (Wall Street Journal, 1982: 15). Recognizing the need to understand the nature of this influential business segment, researchers have begun to focus on the nature of entrepreneurship. For purposes of this study, an entrepreneur is defined as one who innovates, creating a new business and assuming full authority and control of the venture (Cunningham and Lischeron, 1991). Although an entrepreneur clearly has managerial responsibilities, the venture creation process adds a unique element to entrepreneurship. Do entrepreneurs experience high levels of stress in the initiation and management of a new business? The three research questions posed by this study are: 1. Is the nature of entrepreneurial stress different from managerial stress, 2. What factors in venture creation and growth are related to entrepreneurial stress, and ? 3. Do personality and behavioral characteristics moderate the relationships between en-trepreneurial stressors and health and job satisfaction? What causes stress? Kahn et al. (1964) and Kahn and Quinn (1970) view stress as a function of discrepancies between one's expectations and one's ability to meet demands, and discrepancies between the individual's expectations and his/her personality. When one is unable to fulfill one's role demands, stress occurs. To the extent that entrepreneurs' work demands and expectations exceed their abilities to perform as venture initiators, they are likely to experience stress. However, entrepreneurs and their role demands differ from those of managers as the next section shows.