Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrophysiologic Changes in Ischemic Ventricular Myocardium: I. Influence of Ionic, Metabolic, and Energetic Changes

Myocardial Ischemia. Myocardial ischemia leads to significant changes in the intracellular and extracellular ionic milieu, high‐energy phosphate compounds, and accumulation of metabolic by‐products. Changes are measured in extracellular pH and K+ and intracellular pH, Ca2+, Na+ Mg2+, ATP, ADP, and inorganic phosphate. Alterations of membrane currents occur as a consequence of these ionic changes, adrenergic receptor stimulation, and accumulation of lactate, amphipathic compounds, and adenosine. Changes in the volume of the extracellular and intracellular spaces contribute further to the ultimate perturbations of active and passive membrane properties that underlie alterations in excitability, abnormal automaticity, refractoriness, and conduction. These characteristic changes of electrophysiologic properties culminate in loss of excitability and failure of impulse propagation and form the substrate for ventricular arrhythmias mediated through abnormal impulse formation and reentry. The ability to detail the changes in ions, metabolites, and high‐energy phosphate compounds in both the extracellular and intracellular spaces and to correlate them directly with the simultaneously occurring electrophysiologic changes have greatly enhanced our understanding of the electrical events that characterize the ischemic process and hold promise for permitting studies aimed at developing interventions that may lessen the lethal consequences of ischemia.
Adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate (APS) kinase: diagnosing the mechanism of substrate inhibition.

Adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate (APS) kinase is subject to strong substrate inhibition by APS. The inhibition has been variously reported to be uncompetitive with respect to MgATP (resulting from the formation of a dead-end E. APS. MgADP complex) or competitive with MgATP (resulting from the formation of a dead-end E. APS complex). It is shown that these two types of substrate inhibition can be differentiated for ordered kinetic mechanisms by simple inspection of the v versus [APS] plots at different fixed concentrations of MgATP. Linear diagnostic plots are unnecessary. One diagnostic feature is the changing position of [APS]opt, the concentration of APS that yields the peak velocity. In the uncompetitive system, [APS]opt decreases asymptotically to a limit as the fixed [MgATP] is increased, while in the competitive system, [APS]opt increases continuously as the fixed [MgATP] is increased. A second (and more easily discerned) diagnostic feature is that, at any given inhibitory level of APS, enzyme activity relative to the velocity at [APS]opt (v/vopt) decreases as the fixed [MgATP] is increased in the uncompetitive system, while in the competitive system the relative activity increases as the fixed [MgATP] is increased. Normalized plots of v/vopt versus [APS] clearly display these distinguishing characteristics. The method confirmed that Penicillium chrysogenum APS kinase exhibits uncompetitive inhibition by APS.
Drugs, diagnostic agents and disinfectants in wastewater and water--a review.

After administration pharmaceuticals are excreted by the patients into the aquatic environment via wastewater. Unused medications are sometimes disposed of in drains. The drugs may enter the aquatic environment and eventually reach drinking water, if they are not biodegraded or eliminated during sewage treatment. Additionally, antibiotics and disinfectants are assumed to disturb the wastewater treatment process and the microbial ecology in surface waters. Furthermore, resistant bacteria may be selected in the aeration tanks of sewage treatment plants by the antibiotic substances present. Since the 1980s, data on the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in natural surface waters and the effluents of sewage treatment plants have been reported. More recently, pharmaceuticals have been detected in ground and drinking water. However, only little is known about the risk imposed on humans by pharmaceuticals and their metabolites in surface and drinking water. An overview of input, occurrence, elimination (e.g. biodegradability) and possible effects of different pharmaceutical groups such as anti-tumour drugs, antibiotics and contrast media as well as AOX resulting from hospitals effluent input into sewage water and surface water is presented.
Aspergillus fumigatus and other thermotolerant fungi generated by hospital building demolition

On 13 September 1981, a 51-year-old seven-story building within our hospital complex was demolished by explosives. The concern that this event might release large numbers of thermotolerant fungi (TF), potentially hazardous to immunosuppressed patients, led us to seal hospital windows and doors. The air-handling systems were also manipulated. Concentrations of airborne TF, especially Aspergillus fumigatus, were determined before and after demolition, using Andersen and Cassella air samplers with inhibitory mold agar plates. Two outdoor and two hospital ward locations were sampled. The plates were incubated at 37 degrees C; the CFU per cubic meter were counted at 72 h. The outdoor concentration of TF increased at one site by an average of 1.8 log10 (10(2) to 10(5] over the predemolition level. A. fumigatus increased 3.3 log10 (10(0) to 10(4] at the other outdoor site. The indoor TF concentrations increased about 1 log10 (10(1) to 10(2] after demolition. Counts on the hospital wards were not remarkable when compared with previous surveillance air sampling. Protective measures apparently minimized the infiltration of TF during explosive demolition.
Continuous wavelet application for the assessment of neural potential interaction during time discrimination task

The aim of the paper is to assess the interaction of the neural potentials during a time discrimination psychoacoustic task. Ten subjects participated in the experiment and were asked about the equality of two acoustic pulses: one reference of 500ms and one trial that varied from 420ms to 620ms. During the experimental procedure, Electroencephalogram (EEG) and Event Related Potential (ERP) signals were recorded. The analysis combines results from Continuous Wavelet signal processing and subjects responses which were analyzed based on psychoacoustic theory. The Wavelet Coherence metric index is employed to assess the interaction of neural potentials. The results indicate the points at which the duration of the trial pulse is equal to 560ms and 460ms as the minimum and maximum of the Wavelet Coherence metric index, respectively. This observation is valid in most electrodes, for all basic EEG rhythms, revealing in parallel the differentiation of the gamma rhythm, in relation to the others. These maximum and minimum values are correlated to the Just Noticeable Difference (JND) in pulses duration, calculated by the psychoacoustic analysis.
The Proteasome, a Novel Protease Regulated by Multiple Mechanisms*

Investigators have long recognized the potential importance of protein degradation as a mechanism for regulating levels of cellular proteins (1‐3). Nevertheless, only recent studies of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway have shown how extensively proteolysis is involved in the regulation of crucial cellular processes such as: progression of the cell cycle, oncogenesis, transcription, development, growth and atrophy of developed tissues, flux of substrates through metabolic pathways, selective elimination of abnormal proteins, and antigen processing. The role of a single protease, the proteasome, in such a large and diverse set of events suggests that this enzyme is highly regulated. In fact, regulation of proteasome function occurs on multiple levels and is extraordinarily complex. We first will review briefly the structure of the proteasome because of its inherent role in the regulation of proteasome function. We then will describe emerging themes regarding the multiple mechanisms by which proteasome function is regulated. Details of these themes demonstrate that the proteasome operates within a novel and surprisingly complex proteolytic system that defines a new paradigm for intracellular protein degradation.
Suicide by burning barbecue charcoal in England.

BACKGROUND Suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning from burning barbecue charcoal has become a common method of suicide in several Asian countries over the last 15 years. The characteristics of people using this method in Western countries have received little attention. METHOD We reviewed the inquest reports of 12 English Coroners (11% of all Coroners) to identify charcoal-burning suicides. We compared socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of suicide by charcoal burning occurring between 2005 and 2007 with suicides using other methods in 2005. RESULTS Eleven charcoal-burning suicides were identified; people using this method were younger (mean age 33.4 versus 44.8 years, P = 0.02), and more likely to be unemployed (70.0 versus 30.1%, P = 0.01) and unmarried (100 versus 70%, P = 0.04) than those using other methods. Charcoal-burning suicides had higher levels of contact with psychiatric services (80.0 versus 59.1%) and previous self-harm (63.6 versus 53.0%) compared with suicides using other methods, but these differences did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance. Over one-third of people dying by charcoal burning obtained information on this method from the Internet. CONCLUSIONS Working with media, including Internet Service Providers, and close monitoring of changes in the incidence of suicide using this method might help prevent an epidemic of charcoal-burning suicides such as that seen in some Asian countries.
Adaptive Multiscale Noise Tuning Stochastic Resonance for Health Diagnosis of Rolling Element Bearings

The analysis of vibration or acoustic signals is most widely used in the health diagnosis of rolling element bearings. One of the main challenges for vibration or acoustic bearing diagnosis is that the weak signature of incipient defects is generally swamped by severe surrounding noise in the acquired signals. This problem can be solved by the stochastic resonance (SR) approach, which is to enhance the desired signal by the aid of noise. This paper presents an adaptive multiscale noise tuning SR (AMSTSR) for effective and efficient fault identification of rolling element bearings. A new criterion, called weighted power spectrum kurtosis (WPSK), is proposed as the optimization index without prior knowledge of the bearing fault condition. The WPSK concerns both the kurtosis in signal power spectrum and the similarity to a sinusoidal signal in signal waveform, thus it can balance the enhancement of possible characteristic frequency in the frequency domain and the regularity of the signal in the time domain for the SR performance. Two parameters in the AMSTSR, including the cutoff wavelet decomposition level and the tuning parameter, are simultaneously optimized based on the WPSK index through the artificial fish swarm algorithm. The AMSTSR is further applied to the health diagnosis of rolling element bearings and four experimental case studies verify the effectiveness of the proposed method in adaptive identification of the bearing characteristic frequencies.
Les armes de guerre et l'environnement naturel : essai d'étude juridique

Obus a uranium appauvri, mines, bombes a fragmentation, armes biologiques, chimiques ou nucleaires ; telle est la liste non exhaustive des armes pouvant porter atteinte a l'environnement naturel. Face a ce peril, le droit international public, dans ses differentes branches, semble en retard sur les avancees technologiques en matiere d'armement. Les atteintes ecologiques consecutives a la guerre du Golfe de 1991 ont place l'environnement naturel au centre de la scene juridique internationale. Une regle coutumiere s'est alors degagee, prohibant les atteintes etendues, durables et graves a l'environnement naturel. Cette regle a ete consacree par le Statut de Rome portant creation de la Cour penale internationale. Neanmoins, les armes de guerre ne polluent pas uniquement quand elles sont employees sur les champs de bataille, mais aussi lors des phases d'essais ou de destruction de celles-ci. Dans ce contexte s'appliquent a la fois le droit de la maitrise des armements, mais aussi les prescriptions du droit international de l'environnement. La question de la mise en oeuvre de la responsabilite en cas d'atteinte a l'environnement naturel appelle des reponses differentes en fonction de l'auteur de l'acte et de la zone polluee. L'achevement des travaux de la Commission du droit international sur la responsabilite de l'Etat pour fait illicite tend a degager l'existence d'une "actio popularis" faisant de l'environnement un bien de l'humanite. Toutefois, la realisation effective du contentieux international demeure une entreprise delicate au regard de la souverainete des Etats.
Crude oil prices and the balance of trade: Asymmetric evidence from selected OPEC member countries

ABSTRACT The contribution of this article is to assess whether the effects of crude oil price fluctuations on the trade balance are symmetric or asymmetric in the context of an individual oil-exporting country, specifically four OPEC member countries – Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. To examine this subject thoroughly, we use three different measures of trade balances such as oil trade balance, non-oil trade balance, and total trade balance, and examine whether oil prices are asymmetrically passed on to the trade balances for those OPEC countries in the long- and short-run. After implementation of the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, we find that changes in oil prices indeed have asymmetric effects on the oil trade balance for all four OPEC countries in the long-run, though not in the short-run. In the case of the non-oil and total trade balance, however, the asymmetry of oil price changes is not detected in both the long- and short-run.
Differential Activities of Murine Single Minded 1 (SIM1) and SIM2 on a Hypoxic Response Element

The basic helix-loop-helix/Per-Arnt-Sim homology (bHLH/PAS) protein family comprises a group of transcriptional regulators that often respond to a variety of developmental and environmental stimuli. Two murine members of this family, Single Minded 1 (SIM1) and Single Minded 2 (SIM2), are essential for postnatal survival but differ from other prototypical family members such as the dioxin receptor (DR) and hypoxia-inducible factors, in that they behave as transcriptional repressors in mammalian one-hybrid experiments and have yet to be ascribed a regulating signal. In cell lines engineered to stably express SIM1 and SIM2, we show that both are nuclear proteins that constitutively complex with the general bHLH/PAS partner factor, ARNT. We report that the murine SIM factors, in combination with ARNT, attenuate transcription from the hypoxia-inducible erythropoietin (EPO) enhancer during hypoxia. Such cross-talk between coexpressed bHLH/PAS factors can occur through competition for ARNT, which we find evident in SIM repression of DR-induced transcription from a xenobiotic response element reporter gene. However, SIM1/ARNT, but not SIM2/ARNT, can activate transcription from the EPOenhancer at normoxia, implying that the SIM proteins have the ability to bind hypoxia response elements and affect either activation or repression of transcription. This notion is supported by co-immunoprecipitation of EPO enhancer sequences with the SIM2 protein. SIM protein levels decrease with hypoxia treatment in our stable cell lines, although levels of the transcripts encoding SIM1 and SIM2 and the approximately 2-h half-lives of each protein are unchanged during hypoxia. Inhibition of protein synthesis, known to occur in cells during hypoxic stress in order to decrease ATP utilization, appears to account for the fall in SIM levels. Our data suggest the existence of a hypoxic switch mechanism in cells that coexpress hypoxia-inducible factor and SIM proteins, where up-regulation and activation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α is concomitant with attenuation of SIM activities.
Human Metapneumovirus Persists in BALB/c Mice despite the Presence of Neutralizing Antibodies

ABSTRACT Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) has emerged as an important human respiratory pathogen causing upper and lower respiratory tract infections in young children and older adults. Recent epidemiological evidence indicates that HMPV may cocirculate with respiratory syncytial virus, and HMPV infection has been associated with other respiratory diseases. In this study, we show that BALB/c mice are susceptible to HMPV infection, the virus replicates in the lungs with biphasic growth kinetics in which peak titers occur at days 7 and 14 postinfection (p.i.), and infectious HMPV can be recovered from lungs up to day 60 p.i. In addition, we show that genomic HMPV RNA can be detected in the lungs for ≥180 days p.i. by reverse transcription-PCR; however, neither HMPV RNA nor infectious virus can be detected in serum, spleen, kidneys, heart, trachea, and brain tissue. Lung histopathology revealed prevalent mononuclear cell infiltration in the interstitium beginning at day 2 p.i. and peaking at day 4 p.i. which decreased by day 14 p.i. and was associated with airway remodeling. Increased mucus production evident at day 2 p.i. was concordant with increased bronchial and bronchiolar inflammation. HMPV-specific antibodies were detected by day 14 p.i. , neutralizing antibody titers reached ≥6.46 log2 end-point titers by day 28 p.i. , and depletion of T cells or NK cells resulted in increased HMPV titers in the lungs, suggesting some immune control of viral persistence. This study shows that BALB/c mice are amenable for HMPV studies and indicates that HMPV persists as infectious virus in the lungs of normal mice for several weeks postinfection.
The topological features of nonessential-nonhub proteins in the protein-protein interaction network

One of the important problems in system biology is to discover the relationship between topological properties and functional features of proteins in protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks. There are many essential-nonhub proteins and lots of nonessential-nonhub proteins in the PPI network. Both essential-nonhub proteins and nonessential-nonhub proteins are low-connectivity proteins, but they have different lethality. In order to explain why nonessential-nonhub proteins are not essential, we compare them with essential-nonhub proteins from topological view. The comparison results show that there are statistical differences between nonessential-nonhub proteins and essential-nonhub proteins in centrality measures and clustering coefficient.
Activity of Broad-Spectrum T Cells as Treatment for AdV, EBV, CMV, BKV, and HHV6 Infections after HSCT

Rapidly generated broad-spectrum T cells can simultaneously treat multiple viral infections after hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Killing Multiple Viruses with One Stone Bone marrow or stem cell transplantation is becoming increasingly common for cancer as well as for other blood disorders and genetic diseases. Although patient outcomes are often good and are continuing to improve as technology evolves, the patients are still at risk for a variety of complications. One of the deadliest complications for newly transplanted patients is infection due to their severely compromised immune function. Viral infections are especially problematic, because many viruses have no specific treatments. In a small clinical trial, Papadopoulou et al. demonstrated a way to quickly generate antiviral T cells and give them to transplant patients, to help them safely clear up to four (and potentially five) simultaneous viral infections. It remains difficult to treat the multiplicity of distinct viral infections that afflict immunocompromised patients. Adoptive transfer of virus-specific T cells (VSTs) can be safe and effective, but such cells have been complex to prepare and limited in antiviral range. We now demonstrate the feasibility and clinical utility of rapidly generated single-culture VSTs that recognize 12 immunogenic antigens from five viruses (Epstein-Barr virus, adenovirus, cytomegalovirus, BK virus, and human herpesvirus 6) that frequently cause disease in immunocompromised patients. When administered to 11 recipients of allogeneic transplants, 8 of whom had up to four active infections with the targeted viruses, these VSTs proved safe in all subjects and produced an overall 94% virological and clinical response rate that was sustained long-term.
Treatment of dyslipidaemia in childhood

Importance of the field: Atherosclerosis, the condition underlying cardiovascular disease (CVD), often begins in childhood. A disturbance in lipoprotein metabolism is one of the major modifiable risk factors for the development of atherosclerosis and ensuing CVD. Therefore, strategies to prevent CVD should be implemented at an early age, especially in populations at high risk. Areas covered in this review: We discuss the current treatment options for a number of primary and secondary dyslipidaemias. A literature search was done using PubMed, and references from 1973 to 2009 are cited. What the reader will gain: The reader will gain a comprehensive review on pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment options for primary and secondary dyslipidaemia in childhood. Take home message: Dyslipidaemia may require early diagnosis and management, especially when it is familial with elevated cholesterol levels from birth onwards. If target goals for low-density lipoprotein reduction cannot be reached with lifestyle modification, drug therapy can be considered.
Evaluation of the radioprotective effect of bael leaf (Aegle marmelos) extract in mice

Purpose: To investigate the radioprotective activity of a leaf extract of bael leaf (Aegle marmelos) (AME) in mice exposed to different doses of γ‐radiation. Materials and methods: The acute toxicity of AME was evaluated in Swiss albino male mice administered various intraperitoneal single doses of AME. For radioprotection studies, mice were administered different doses, 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 40 mg kg−1, of AME or sterile physiological saline intraperitoneally once daily consecutively for 5 days before exposure to 10 Gy 60Co γ‐radiation or five doses of 15 mg kg−1 AME before exposure to 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11 Gy. The animals were monitored for symptoms of radiation sickness and mortality up to 30 days post‐irradiation. Glutathione and lipid peroxidation were estimated in the surviving animals of both groups on day 31 post‐irradiation. Results: AME was non‐toxic up to a single dose of 1750 mg kg−1. The optimum radioprotective dose was five consecutive doses of 15 mg kg−1 AME, where the highest survival to 10 Gy radiation was observed. The irradiation caused a dose‐dependent decline in survival, while treatment of mice with AME enhanced survival. The dose reduction factor was 1.15. Irradiation caused a dose‐dependent decline in the level of glutathione accompanied by an elevation in lipid peroxidation. AME pretreatment arrested glutathione decline and lipid peroxidation significantly. Conclusion: AME treatment reduced the symptoms of radiation‐induced sickness and increased survival. The radioprotective action might be due to free‐radical scavenging and arrest of lipid peroxidation accompanied by an elevation in glutathione.