Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of adiponectin by adipose tissue-derived cytokines: in vivo and in vitro investigations in humans.

Adiponectin is an adipose tissue-specific protein that is abundantly present in the circulation and suggested to be involved in insulin sensitivity and development of atherosclerosis. Because cytokines are suggested to regulate adiponectin, the aim of the present study was to investigate the interaction between adiponectin and three adipose tissue-derived cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-alpha). The study was divided into three substudies as follows: 1) plasma adiponectin and mRNA levels in adipose tissue biopsies from obese subjects [mean body mass index (BMI): 39.7 kg/m2, n = 6] before and after weight loss; 2) plasma adiponectin in obese men (mean BMI: 38.7 kg/m2, n = 19) compared with lean men (mean BMI: 23.4 kg/m2, n = 10) before and after weight loss; and 3) in vitro direct effects of IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-alpha on adiponectin mRNA levels in adipose tissue cultures. The results were that 1) weight loss resulted in a 51% (P < 0.05) increase in plasma adiponectin and a 45% (P < 0.05) increase in adipose tissue mRNA levels; 2) plasma adiponectin was 53% (P < 0.01) higher in lean compared with obese men, and plasma adiponectin was inversely correlated with adiposity, insulin sensitivity, and IL-6; and 3) TNF-alpha (P < 0.01) and IL-6 plus its soluble receptor (P < 0.05) decreased adiponectin mRNA levels in vitro. The inverse relationship between plasma adiponectin and cytokines in vivo and the cytokine-induced reduction in adiponectin mRNA in vitro suggests that endogenous cytokines may inhibit adiponectin. This could be of importance for the association between cytokines (e.g., IL-6) and insulin resistance and atherosclerosis.
Evolution of DNA amounts across land plants (embryophyta).

BACKGROUND AND AIMS DNA C-values in land plants (comprising bryophytes, lycophytes, monilophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms) vary approximately 1000-fold from approx. 0.11 to 127.4 pg. To understand the evolutionary significance of this huge variation it is essential to evaluate the phylogenetic component. Recent increases in C-value data (e.g. Plant DNA C-values database; release 2.0, January 2003; http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/cval/homepage.html) together with improved consensus of relationships between and within land plant groups makes such an analysis timely. METHODS Insights into the distribution of C-values in each group of land plants were gained by superimposing available C-value data (4119 angiosperms, 181 gymnosperms, 63 monilophytes, 4 lycophytes and 171 bryophytes) onto phylogenetic trees. To enable ancestral C-values to be reconstructed for clades within land plants, character-state mapping with parsimony and MacClade was also applied. KEY RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Different land plant groups are characterized by different C-value profiles, distribution of C-values and ancestral C-values. For example, the large ( approximately 1000-fold) range yet strongly skewed distribution of C-values in angiosperms contrasts with the very narrow 12-fold range in bryophytes. Further, character-state mapping showed that the ancestral genome sizes of both angiosperms and bryophytes were reconstructed as very small (i.e. < or =1.4 pg) whereas gymnosperms and most branches of monilophytes were reconstructed with intermediate C-values (i.e. >3.5, <14.0 pg). More in-depth analyses provided evidence for several independent increases and decreases in C-values; for example, decreases in Gnetaceae (Gymnosperms) and heterosperous water ferns (monilophytes); increases in Santalales and some monocots (both angiosperms), Pinaceae, Sciadopityaceae and Cephalotaxaceae (Gymnosperms) and possibly in the Psilotaceae + Ophioglossaceae clade (monilophytes). Thus, in agreement with several focused studies within angiosperm families and genera showing that C-values may both increase and decrease, it is apparent that this dynamic pattern of genome size evolution is repeated on a broad scale across land plants.
Regulations and Standards for Wireless applications in eHealth

Many of the implementations of eHealth require some form of telecommunications facility. Although wired networks can be applicable, there are many areas in which a wireless communications facility is required. The particular method of wireless communication is dependent upon the application: for example, wireless programming of an implantable device such as a pacemaker has vastly different requirements to those of a wireless alarm for a blood oxymeter However, wireless devices have to exist in an electromagnetically shared environment, and it is therefore necessary for the standards and regulations applying to such devices to be so designed as to optimise both the efficient use of the radio spectrum, and the usefulness of the wireless link in the context of eHealth. Such wireless devices currently include the use of such general wireless technologies as Bluetooth, cellular telephony, and RFID, as well as those using radio spectrum shared on a secondary basis intended for communication with medical devices. This paper briefly reviews the current situation regarding such standards, including the potential reliability and the degree of subjectivity to interference, and looks to the probable areas of future development in radio standards that will be required to meet the increasing demands of the technologies inherent in the growth of eHealth.
Etiology of peritonitis.

AIM To determine the etiology of peritonitis, as well as the sensitivity of isolated bacteria to antibiotics. METHODS Study was performed at the Surgical Clinic, Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Department of Microbiology, Department of Clinical Pharmacology of University Clinical Centre (UCC) Tuzla. In a prospective study, starting from 1.6. 2009. to 30.6. 2010. , was 60 patients analyzed who underwent surgery for acute peritonitis in the Surgical Clinic, UCC Tuzla. RESULTS After microbiological processing of the content of the operative field, wound swabs and smears of drainage, we isolated Gram positive coccid bacteria: Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus in 18.36%, Staphylococcus aureus in 12.6%, while Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecum were found in 3.44% isolates. In the group of Gram-negative bacteria we isolated: Escherichia coli in 15.51%, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae in 10.34% of the cases. The sensitivity of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus was largest to vancomycin (100%), and lowest to penicillin (10%) and Staphylococcus aureus sensitivity was largest to vancomycin and amoxicillin-clavulanate (100%) and lowest to penicillins (3.7%). Sensitivity of the facultative anaerobic Gram-negative bacilli was highest to carbapenems 95-100%, and lowest to penicillin preparations 0-56%. CONCLUSION Based on the results of microbiological findings of 83.33% patients empirical antibiotic therapy was appropriately involved, and in 16.67% was inadequate and later changed, following the results of microbiological findings. This study indicates the importance and validity of microbiological diagnostics to determine the etiology of peritonitis and appropriate selection of antibiotics to treat these infections, with the required surgical treatment.
Leveraging on Predictive Analytics to Manage Clinic No Show and Improve Accessibility of Care

Clinic No-Shows result in inefficient use of precious hospital resources as it deprives needy patients of timely appointments. Accurately predicting a patient's risk of clinic No-Show enables clinic managers to intervene with appointment reminders, optimize allocation of staff, balance clinic workload and use intelligent overbooking techniques to reduce appointment waiting time. While previous work have identified significant factors associated with clinic No-Show, little work have showcased the real life deployment and application of predictive modelling of No-Shows. In this paper, we present a feature engineering approach with text mining, the modelling of our No-Show predictive model, the insights gained, and discuss modeling considerations on the trade-offs between model accuracy and complexity of deployment. We also present our deployment architecture and demonstrate how the risk scores produced by the model were being used as a business intelligence report in real clinic settings for intervention. Finally, through case studies, we showcase that our model could be used to manage No-Shows and improve accessibility of care.
Diabetes and Cause-Specific Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of One Million U.S. Adults

OBJECTIVE Diabetes is a major predictor of death from heart disease and stroke; its impact on nonvascular mortality, including specific cancers, is less understood. We examined the association of diabetes with cause-specific mortality, including deaths from specific cancers. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A prospective cohort of 1,053,831 U.S. adults, without cancer at baseline, enrolled in the Cancer Prevention Study-II in 1982 and was followed for mortality until December 2008. At baseline, participants completed a self-administered questionnaire that included information on diabetes, smoking, physical activity, height, and weight. Multivariable-adjusted relative risks (RRs) (95% CI) were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression. RESULTS During 26 years of follow-up, 243,051 men and 222,109 women died. In multivariable models that controlled for age, BMI, and other variables, diabetes was associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality (women RR 1.90 [95% CI 1.87–1.93]; men 1.73 [1.70–1.75]). Among women, diabetes was associated with higher risk of death from cancers of the liver (1.40 [1.05–1.86]), pancreas (1.31 [1.14–1.51]), endometrium (1.33 [1.08–1.65]), colon (1.18 [1.04–1.33]), and breast (1.16 [1.03–1.29]). Among men, diabetes was associated with risk of death from cancers of the breast (4.20 [2.20–8.04]), liver (2.26 [1.89–2.70]), oral cavity and pharynx (1.44 [1.07–1.94]), pancreas (1.40 [1.23–1.59]), bladder (1.22 [1.01–1.47]), colon (1.15 [1.03–1.29]), and (inversely) prostate (0.88 [0.79–0.97]). Diabetes was also associated with higher risks of death involving the circulatory system, respiratory system, digestive system, genitourinary system, and external causes/accidental deaths. CONCLUSIONS Diabetes is associated with higher risk of death for many diseases, including several specific forms of cancer.
Smart grid interoperability use cases for extending electricity storage modeling within the IEC Common Information Model

The IEC Common Information Model (CIM) is recognized as a core standard, supporting electricity transmission system interoperability. Packages of UML classes make up its domain ontology to enable a standardised abstraction of network topology and proprietary power system models. Since the early days of its design, the CIM has grown to reflect the widening scope and detail of utility information use cases as the desire to interoperate between a greater number of systems has increased. The cyber-physical nature of the smart grid places even greater demand upon the CIM to model future scenarios for power system operation and management that are starting to arise. Recent developments of modern electricity networks have begun to implement electricity storage (ES) technologies to provide ancillary balancing services, useful to grid integration of large-scale renewable energy systems. In response to this we investigate modeling of grid-scale electricity storage, by drawing on information use cases for future smart grid operational scenarios at National Grid, the GB Transmission System Operator. We find current structures within the CIM do not accommodate the informational requirements associated with novel ES systems and propose extensions to address this requirement.
A hybrid approach to sentiment analysis of news comments

Today, the web hosts quite a voluminous amount of information. Among such information is user generated content which plays an important role in analyzing different business aspects. Sentiment analysis therefore becomes an effective way of understanding public opinions. Businesses, particularly in ecommerce, stock market, social networks and also political entities can use sentiment analysis for decision making. Traditional methods of opinion gathering involved the use of questioners and interviews which solely depend on the good will of the people to be interviewed. Most research on sentiment analysis focused on social networks, product reviews and also on the stock market. Less research has been covered on analysis of news comments. This research embarks on a hybrid approach to sentiment analysis of news comments which involves using sentiment lexicon for polarity detection (polarity will be classified as positive, negative and neutral). The results from the lexicon based method are then used to train machine learning algorithms. Two algorithms employed in this research are the Support Vector Machine (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbour (kNN). Experimental results show that SVM performs better than kNN on news comments.
‘I call it the dark side’: Stigma, social capital and social networks in a disadvantaged neighbourhood

It is well established that the stigmatisation of residents of socio-economically disadvantaged places by outsiders can have harmful consequences for those residents’ wellbeing and opportunities. However, relatively little research examines the effects of intra-neighbourhood stigmatisation on residents. We draw on Loïc Wacquant’s ‘advanced marginality’ thesis to explore this dynamic. We extend Wacquant’s concept of ‘territorial stigmatisation’ empirically with a social and spatial analysis of relational ties and stigma in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in Tasmania, Australia. This shifts the analytical focus from insider–outsider boundary-making to the ‘micro-territories’ of stigma production, which we argue are relationally as well as geographically constituted.
Behavioral Biases of Informed Traders: Evidence from Insider Trading on the 52-Week High

Abstract We provide evidence on anchoring biases in insider trading using a stock’s 52-week high. When stock prices are close to their 52-week highs, insiders are reluctant to purchase stocks and willing to sell them. Similarly, when stock prices are far from the 52-week highs, they are willing to buy stocks instead of selling them. This anchoring behavior is robust to controlling for insiders’ contrarian strategy, firm characteristics, and trading ranges. We find that these biased insider trades are not able to predict future returns or may lead to losses to investors who follow such insider trading. Our findings suggest that insiders are prone to behavioral biases, notwithstanding their access to private information.
Synergistic effect of alcohol drinking and smoking on in vivo acetaldehyde concentration in saliva

Alcohol drinking and smoking are independent risk factors for upper digestive tract cancers. Furthermore, their combined use interacts in a multiplicative way on cancer risk. There is convincing evidence that acetaldehyde, the first metabolite of ethanol and a constituent of tobacco smoke, is a local carcinogen in humans. Therefore, we examined the combined effect of alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking on in vivo acetaldehyde concentration in saliva. Seven smokers and 6 nonsmokers participated in the study. First, to measure the effect of alcohol on salivary acetaldehyde, all volunteers ingested 0.8 g/kg body weight of ethanol and saliva samples were collected every 20 min for 160 min thereafter. After a 3‐day washout period, smokers ingested again the same amount of ethanol and smoked one cigarette every 20 min and saliva samples were collected at 10 min intervals for 160 min. Acetaldehyde and ethanol concentrations were analyzed by headspace gas chromatograph. Firstly, smokers without concomitant smoking during ethanol challenge had 2 times higher in vivo salivary acetaldehyde concentrations than nonsmokers after ethanol ingestion (AUC 114.8 ± 11.5 vs. 54.2 ± 8.7 μM × hr, respectively; p = 0.002). Secondly, smokers with active smoking during ethanol challenge had 7 times higher in vivo salivary acetaldehyde levels than nonsmokers (AUC 369.5 ± 12.2 vs. 54.2 ± 8.7 μM × hr, respectively; p < 0.001). We conclude that this markedly increased exposure of upper digestive tract mucosa to carcinogenic salivary acetaldehyde of smoking and drinking subjects may explain the synergistic and multiplicative risk effect of alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking on upper gastrointestinal tract carcinogenesis. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Clearance of Sendai virus by CD8+ T cells requires direct targeting to virus‐infected epithelium

Minimal numbers of CD8+ T cells are found in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) populations recovered from Sendai virus‐infected mice that are homozygous (−/−) for β2‐microglobulin (β2‐m) gene disruption. The prevalence of the CD8+ set was substantially increased in the pneumonic lungs of 8−12‐week radiation chimeras made using substantially class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) glycoprotein‐negative β2‐m (−/−) recipients and normal β2‐m (+/+) bone marrow. Even so, the CD8+ (but not the CD4+) lymphocyte counts were still much lower than in the (+/+)→(+/+) controls. The (+/+)→(+/+) and (+/+)→(−/−) chimeras cleared Sendai virus and potent virus‐immune CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) specific for H‐2Kb + viral nucleoprotein peptide were found in the BAL from both groups. However, following in vivo depletion of the CD4+ population, only the (+/+)→(+/+) mice were able to deal with the infection. Similarly, adoptively transferred, H‐2Kb‐restricted CD8+ T cells from previously‐primed (+/+) mice also failed to clear virus from the lungs of (+/+)→(−/−) chimeras infected within 2 weeks of reconstitution with bone marrow, though they were effective in the (+/+)→(+/+) controls. Sendai virus‐immune CD8+ T cells are thus unable to eliminate virus‐infected β2‐m (−/−) lung epithelial cells that might be thought to be expressing very small amounts of either isolated class I heavy chain, or class I MHC glycoprotein that has bound β2‐m derived from β2‐m (+/+) T cells or macrophages present in the pneumonic lung. Furthermore, the CD8+ CTL that are being exposed to β2‐m (+/+) stimulators in the BAL population cannot operate in some bystander mode to clear virus from respiratory epithelium.
A Hybrid Tool for Visual Pollution Assessment in Urban Environments

With increasing focus on more nuanced aspects of quality of life, the phenomenon of urban visual pollution has been progressively gaining attention from researchers and policy makers, especially in the developed world. However, the subjectivity and complexity of assessing visual pollution in urban settings remain a challenge, especially given the lack of robust and reliable methods for quantification of visual pollution. This paper presents a novel systematic approach for the development of a robust Visual Pollution Assessment (VPA) tool. A key feature of our methodology is explicit and systematic incorporation of expert and public opinion for listing and ranking Visual Pollution Objects (VPOs). Moreover, our methodology deploys established empirical complex decision-making techniques to address the challenge of subjectivity in weighting the impact of individual VPOs. The resultant VPA tool uses close-ended options to capture the presence and characteristics of various VPOs on a given node. Based on these inputs, it calculates a point based visual pollution scorecard for the observation point. The performance of the VPA tool has been extensively tested and verified at various locations in Pakistan. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such tool, both in terms of quantitative robustness and broad coverage of VPOs. Our VPA tool will help regulators in assessing and charting visual pollution in a consistent and objective manner. It will also help policy makers by providing an empirical basis for gathering evidence; hence facilitating evidence-based and evidence-driven policy strategies, which are likely to have significant impact, especially in the developing countries.
Clinical spectrum of pulmonary involvement in leptospirosis in a region of endemicity, with quantification of leptospiral burden.

BACKGROUND Pulmonary involvement in leptospirosis remains poorly recognized in regions where it is endemic, despite reports of recent outbreaks and epidemic disease. METHODS A prospective, population-based study was carried out to identify febrile patients exposed to Leptospira in urban and rural contexts in Iquitos, Peru. Evidence of exposure to Leptospira was obtained by serologic testing, and diagnosis of leptospirosis was confirmed in pulmonary cases by culture or quantitative real-time PCR assay. RESULTS Of 633 consecutively enrolled febrile patients, 321 (50.7%) had antileptospiral IgM antibodies or high titers of antileptospiral antibodies. Seven patients with histories of only urban exposure to leptospires had severe pulmonary manifestations; of these, 5 patients died; 4 of the deaths were caused by pulmonary hemorrhage, and 1 was caused by acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiorgan failure. Real-time, quantitative PCR assay showed high levels of leptospiremia (>or=10(4) leptospires/mL) in most fatal cases; 1 patient, from whom tissue specimens were obtained at autopsy, had >or=10(5) leptospires/g of lung, kidney, and muscle tissue. DISCUSSION. This study demonstrates the underdiagnosis of leptospirosis in a region of high endemicity and the underrecognition of grave pulmonary complications. Pulmonary involvement in leptospirosis was present in urban but not rural areas. Presumptive treatment for leptospirosis should be initiated immediately in the appropriate epidemiological and clinical context.
Effectiveness of topically administered neutralizing antibodies in experimental immunotherapy of respiratory syncytial virus infection in cotton rats

Initial studies of the prophylactic effect of parenterally administered respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-neutralizing antibodies in cotton rats indicated that virus replication in lung tissues was restricted when animals with preexisting antibody titers in serum of 1:100 or more (as measured by plaque reduction) were challenged intranasally with 10(4) PFU of virus. Subsequently, a therapeutic effect of parenterally administered RSV antibodies (present in human gamma globulin) was demonstrated in both cotton rats and owl monkeys. Parenteral inoculation of RSV-infected cotton rats or owl monkeys with purified human immunoglobulin licensed for intravenous administration in humans (IVIG) effected a 10(-1.7) to 10(-2.7) reduction in the level of pulmonary virus at the height of infection. Because of these encouraging results, we examined topical administration of IVIG to determine whether it was also effective and whether it offered an advantage over the parenteral route with regard to simplicity and the dose required for full therapeutic effect. IVIG (0.025 g/kg) administered topically by the intranasal route to anesthetized cotton rats at the height of RSV infection effected a 10(2.2)-fold reduction in viral titers of pulmonary tissues and a complete clearance of detectable virus in 92% of the animals within 24 h. In contrast, 4 g of IVIG per kg was required to produce a comparable therapeutic effect when the material was administered parenterally. Thus, the therapeutic effect of IVIG was 160 times greater by the topical route than by parenteral inoculation.