Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
E-cadherin Expression Loss in T 1 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma of the Breast as a Predictive Marker for Lymph Node Metastasis

Background : E-cadherin is a transmembrane glycoprotein, which has been shown to mediate calcium-dependent epithelial cell adhesion. A loss of E-cadherin expression has been associated with the tumor invasion and metastatic potential in some human cancers. The objective of this study was to evaluate E-cadherin expression in T1 breast ductal carcinomas in order to determine whether the loss of E-cadherin expression is correlated with lymph node metastasis. Methods : One hundred seventy nine patients with breast invasive ductal carcinoma, measuring less than 2 cm, were enrolled in this study. The subjects were divided into two groups on the basis of the status of the ipsilateral axillary lymph node, T1N1 (lymph node positive, n=91) or T1N0 (lymph node negative, n=88). None of the patients in this study had undergone preoperative chemotherapy. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections of the primary breast cancers were stained by immunohistochemistry, using a mouse monoclonal antibody against E-cadherin. E-cadherin expression was designated as either positive (complete membranous staining) or negative (absent or incomplete membranous staining). Results : Benign breast parenchyma adjacent to invasive carcinoma was positive for E-cadherin. The loss of E-cadherin expression in the tumor was observed in 42% of patients of the T1N1 group, and in 24% of the T1N0 group. There was a significant correlation between the loss of E-cadherin expression and lymph node metastasis in the examined breast invasive ductal carcinomas (p=0.011). Conclusions : Our findings suggest that E-cadherin is an important molecule with regard to both tumor cell adhesion and metastasis, and its absence may constitue an early event in metastatic development. Therefore, E-cadherin may be a useful predictive marker for nodal metastasis in patients suffering from invasive ductal carcinoma.
Characterization of antibodies mediating protection and cure of Trypanosoma musculi infection in mice

Plasma samples were collected from mice infected with Trypanosoma musculi at different times postinfection and administered to naive recipient mice either before or during T. musculi infection. The protective and curative activities of these plasma samples were shown to increase as the time of collection postinfection increased; plasma collected at 14 days postinfection was partially protective and partially curative, whereas that collected at 28 days postinfection was completely protective and curative. The curative activity was labile to heat treatment (30 min at 56 degrees C), whereas the protective activity was heat stable. Additional kinetic parameters relating to the efficacy of protection were investigated. Evidence is presented that both activities are immunoglobulin in nature. Protein A-Sepharose chromatography indicated that the activities are associated with the immunoglobulin G2a or immunoglobulin G3 subclasses of immunoglobulin G. The curative antibody appears to be intrinsically heat labile, since heat treatment of a purified immunoglobulin preparation abolished the ability to cure. Studies on the mechanism of parasite elimination from blood suggest that the process not only requires antibody but is also complement dependent.
Primary production, food web structure, and fish yields in constructed and natural wetlands in the floodplain of an African river

In the Oueme River, Africa, whedo (artificial pond) aquaculture on the floodplain is an important method of fishery production. We surveyed fishes in whedos and adjacent main-channel and floodplain habitats during the receding-water period (December 2010 - January 2011) and analyzed carbon (13C) and nitrogen (15N) stable isotope ratios of fish and primary producer tissue samples to investigate food web structure. We also measured instream respiration, net primary production, algal biomass (chlorophyll a), and nutrient concentrations in the habitats. Floodplain habitats were more nutrient-rich than the river channel, and whedos were net heterotrophic (net primary production < 0). Phytomicrobenthos and C3 macrophytes accounted for a large fraction of fish biomass in whedos and the natural floodplain depression, while the river channel was mainly supported by seston and C3 macrophytes. Whedo food webs were dominated by piscivorous fishes and had fewer trophic transfers compared with the food web of the river channel. Our results suggest that control of aquatic macrophyte growth in whedos may yield greater algal production and consumer biomass, including harvestable fish stocks. Resume : L'aquaculture en whedos (etangs artificiels) dans la plaine inondable du fleuve Oueme, en Afrique, constitue une importante methode de production halieutique. Nous avons recense des poissons dans des whedos et dans des habitats attenants du chenal principal et de la plaine inondable en periode de decrue (de decembre 2010 ajanvier 2011) et analyse les rapports d'isotopes stables de carbone (13C) et d'azote (15N) d'echantillons de tissus de poissons et de producteurs primaires afin d'etudier
Investigation and benchmark of intrinsic drain-induced-barrier-lowering (DIBL) for ultra-thin-body III–V-on-insulator n-MOSFETs

The intrinsic drain-induced-barrier-lowering (DIBL) characteristics of ultra-thin-body (UTB) MOSFETs with various III-V channel materials (such as GaAs, In<sub>0.53</sub>Ga<sub>0.47</sub>As, In<sub>0.7</sub>Ga<sub>0.3</sub>As, InAs, In<sub>0.2</sub>Ga<sub>0.8</sub>Sb, InSb, etc.) has been investigated and benchmarked with the Si device. Our results indicate that the DIBL of the III-V-on-insulator devices can be worse than what permittivity predicts. The underlying mechanism is proposed. We also show that, with the aid of quantum confinement (along the channel-thickness direction), the DIBL of the III-V devices can be comparable to the Si device.
Identification of a new subset of myeloid suppressor cells in peripheral blood of melanoma patients with modulation by a granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulation factor-based antitumor vaccine.

PURPOSE Phenotypic and functional features of myeloid suppressor cells (MSC), which are known to serve as critical regulators of antitumor T-cell responses in tumor-bearing mice, are still poorly defined in human cancers. Here, we analyzed myeloid subsets with suppressive activity present in peripheral blood of metastatic melanoma patients and evaluated their modulation by a granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)--based antitumor vaccine. PATIENTS AND METHODS Stage IV metastatic melanoma patients (n = 16) vaccinated with autologous tumor-derived heat shock protein peptide complex gp96 (HSPPC-96) and low-dose GM-CSF provided pre- and post-treatment whole blood specimens. Peripheral-blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were analyzed by flow cytometry, separated into cellular subsets, and used for in vitro proliferation assays. PBMCs from stage-matched metastatic melanoma patients (n = 12) treated with non-GM-CSF-based vaccines (ie, HSPPC-96 alone or interferon alfa/melanoma-derived peptides) or sex- and age-matched healthy donors (n = 16) were also analyzed for comparison. RESULTS The lack of or low HLA-DR expression was found to identify a CD14+ cell subset highly suppressive of lymphocyte functions. CD14+HLA-DR-/lo cells were significantly expanded in all metastatic melanoma patients, whereas they were undetectable in healthy donors. Suppressive activity was mediated by transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), whereas no involvement of the arginase and inducible nitric oxide synthase pathways could be detected. CD14+HLA-DR-/lo cells, as well as spontaneous ex vivo release and plasma levels of TGF-beta, were augmented after administration of the HSPPC-96/GM-CSF vaccine. No enhancement of the CD14+-mediated suppressive activity was found in patients receiving non-GM-CSF-based vaccines. CONCLUSION CD14+HLA-DR-/lo cells exerting TGF-beta-mediated immune suppression represent a new subset of MSC potentially expandable by the administration of GM-CSF-based vaccines in metastatic melanoma patients.
Two-tone suppression in auditory-nerve fibers: extension of a stimulus-response relationship.

Average discharge rate of single auditory‐nerve fibers in cats was measured in response to one‐ and two‐tone stimuli. One component (the ’’suppressor tone’’) of each two‐tone stimulus was at a frequency (f2) which produced two‐tone suppression at some stimulus levels. The other component (excitor tone) produced an increase in rate above the spontaneous rate when presented alone. Fractional response was defined as the driven rate to the two‐tone stimulus divided by the driven rate to the excitor alone. Fractional response is thus a quantitative measure of the amount of suppression produced by a suppressor tone. A number of qualitative differences were found in the dependence of fractional response for f2≳CF and f2<CF. For suppressor tone frequencies greater than CF, fractional response depends only on the ratio of suppressor to excitor levels (P2/P1) for a range of excitor levels (P1). For P1 large enough to drive a unit into saturation, fractional response increases with P1. For f2<CF, however, fractional.
Investigation of Transient Forces Produced by Gases Expelled from Rapidly Heated Surfaces

A torsional impulse balance has been developed as a new diagnostic tool to study fundamental processes in laser‐surface interactions. The impulse balance has been designed and tested with a robust calibration system to measure impulsive forces with resolution as low as 1 nano‐Newton‐second. A simple technique has been developed to accurately determine the force as a function of time from the motion of the nano‐impulse balance system (NIBS). This technique will be useful in examining the transient responses of photon‐surface interactions. Initial ablation measurements using anodized aluminum plates at vacuum and with various background gases are presented.
Serum irisin levels are regulated by acute strenuous exercise.

RATIONALE The newly discovered myokine irisin has been proposed to affect obesity and metabolism by promoting browning of white adipose tissue. However, clinical and functional studies on the association of irisin with obesity, muscle mass, and metabolic status remain controversial. Here we assessed the effect of 4 distinct exercise regimens on serum irisin levels in children and young adults and systematically evaluated the influence of diurnal rhythm, anthropometric and metabolic parameters, and exercise on irisin. RESULTS Serum irisin levels did not show diurnal variations, nor were they affected by meal intake or defined glucose load during oral glucose tolerance testing. Irisin levels decreased with age. In adults, irisin levels were higher in men than in women, and obese subjects had significantly higher levels than lean control subjects. Irisin levels were closely correlated with muscle-associated bioimpedance parameters such as fat-free mass and body cell mass. Of the 4 exercise regimens that differed in duration and intensity, we identified a clear and immediate increase in serum irisin levels after acute strenuous exercise (cycling ergometry) and a 30-minute bout of intensive exercise in children and young adults, whereas longer (6 weeks) or chronic (1 year) increases in physical activity did not affect irisin levels. SUMMARY We show that irisin levels are affected by age, sex, obesity, and particularly muscle mass, whereas diurnal rhythm and meals do not contribute to the variation in irisin levels. Short bouts of intensive exercise but not long-term elevations in physical activity, acutely and transiently increase serum irisin levels in children and adults.
CD40 ligand is a T cell growth factor

CD40 ligand (CD40L) is a 33‐kDa type II membrane glycoprotein induced on T cells upon activation. CD40L has previously been shown to induce proliferation of resting B cells, immunoglobulin (Ig) secretion from B cells cultured with cytokines and cytokine secretion and tumoricidal activity from monocytes. In this report CD40L is shown to be stimulatory for human T cells, inducing CD25 (p55 IL‐2R) and CD40L expression on resting peripheral blood T cells, enhanced expression of these molecules and CD69 on CD3‐activated cells and secretion of interferon‐y, tumor necrosis factor‐a and interleukin (IL)‐2 from T cells cultured in the presence of a sub‐mitogenic concentration of phytohemagglutinin A (PHA). Furthermore, stimulation with CD40L induces proliferation of CD3‐ or PHA‐activated T cells of blood, tonsillar or thymic origin. A similar proliferative response is observed with CD4− and CD8+ T cells and this effect is largely IL‐2 independent. A soluble construct of the extracellular domain of the CD40L has similar activity to that of membrane‐expressed ligand in the induction of T cell surface antigens and proliferation. The results presented here taken together with the various activities ascribed for CD40L on B cells and monocytes demonstrate that CD40L has pleiotropic biological activity for cells of the hemopoietic lineage.
Collaborative study for the characterization of a chikungunya virus RNA reference reagent for use in nucleic acid testing

Infections with the mosquito‐borne chikungunya virus (CHIKV) can cause febrile illness or be asymptomatic. Laboratory diagnosis of CHIKV is often made with laboratory‐developed nucleic acid amplification technology (NAT) assays because there are no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)‐approved diagnostic or blood screening assays. We aimed to produce a well‐characterized CHIKV RNA reference reagent (CHIKV‐RR) for use in NAT assays.
The Parimutuel Kelly Probability Scoring Rule

Kilgour and Gerchak (Kilgour, D. M., Y. Gerchak. 2004. Elicitation of probabilities using competitive scoring rules. Decision Anal.2 108--113) introduce a competitive probability scoring rule designed to reward forecasters for their accuracy relative to rival forecasters. The rule proposed is both proper (in the usual sense of scoring rules) and self-financing in that forecasters share a preset reward pool that can be fixed at net zero. This paper elaborates on the Kilgour-Gerchak forecasting competition by demonstrating its possible analogy with forecasters making “Kelly bets” in an exogenous fixed-odds betting market. The construction of forecasters as Kelly (log utility) bettors leads to a modification of the Kilgour-Gerchak rule, called the parimutuel Kelly competitive scoring rule. Unlike the Kilgour-Gerchak score, the parimutuel Kelly score is not proper. Its appeal, however, is that it emulates a prediction market formed within a cohort of forecasters, as if they engage in a closed betting tournament where each attempts to accumulate maximum possible wealth over the long run and ruin all others. Within such a competition, near honesty is a Nash equilibrium forecasting strategy under realistic conditions.
Exploiting syntactic and semantics information for chemical–disease relation extraction

Identifying chemical–disease relations (CDR) from biomedical literature could improve chemical safety and toxicity studies. This article proposes a novel syntactic and semantic information exploitation method for CDR extraction. The proposed method consists of a feature-based model, a tree kernel-based model and a neural network model. The feature-based model exploits lexical features, the tree kernel-based model captures syntactic structure features, and the neural network model generates semantic representations. The motivation of our method is to fully utilize the nice properties of the three models to explore diverse information for CDR extraction. Experiments on the BioCreative V CDR dataset show that the three models are all effective for CDR extraction, and their combination could further improve extraction performance. Database URL: http://www.biocreative. org/resources/corpora/biocreative-v-cdr-corpus/.
Localization of binding sites for purified Escherichia coli P fimbriae in the human kidney

Binding sites in the human kidney for purified P fimbriae of pyelonephritogenic Escherichia coli were determined. The purified KS71A (F7(1)) fimbriae bound only to epithelial elements of the kidney, i.e., to the apical aspect of proximal and distal tubular cells, as well as to the apical and cytoplasmic sites of collecting ducts. In addition, binding was seen at the vascular endothelium throughout the kidney and at the parietal epithelium of the glomeruli. The binding was specifically inhibited by the receptor analog of E. coli P fimbriae, globotriose. The binding sites identified suggested a possible pathogenetic mechanism for the invasion of P-fimbriated bacteria into the renal parenchyma, as well as for their subsequent spread into the circulatory system.
Regulation of calcium release by interdomain interaction within ryanodine receptors.

In excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling, various types of activation signals, which are received presumably at the bulky cytoplasmic domain of the ryanodine receptor (RyR), are translated (or transduced) into the opening of the Ca2+ release channel located in the trans-membrane domain of the RyR. In order to elucidate the detailed mechanism of the signal transduction process, it is essential (i) to identify various sub-domains of the RyR that are involved in the Ca2+ channel regulation, (ii) to characterize the events occurring in these sub-domains during the activation process, and (iii) to characterize the modes of active interactions among these sub-domains. Recent developments in the E-C coupling research have provided us with new insight into each of these aspects, as outlined in this review. Of many putative regulatory sub-domains of the RyR, two domains (designated as N-terminal domain and central domain) are particularly interesting, because disease-linked mutations that have occurred in these domains (malignant hyperthermia and central core disease in skeletal muscle, and inheritable cardiac disease) induce abnormal modes of Ca2+ channel regulation. Pieces of evidence accumulated to this date suggest the following hypothesis. The N-terminal and central domains form, at least partly, the interacting domain pair, and unzipping and zipping actions of such domain-pair are involved in the opening and closing actions of the Ca2+ channel, respectively. We also propose that there are local conformational changes in the signal reception domains (e.g. the II-III loop-binding core), and such conformational changes are coupled with the aforementioned actions of the interacting domain pair. It seems that by virtue of such a coordination of the events occurring in various regions of the RyR, the Ca2+ channel can recognize the activation signal received at the cytoplasmic region of the RyR.
Recent advances in opioid prescription for chronic non-cancer pain

Chronic pain is pain that persists past the normal time of healing, and is seen as a common problem with a significant socioeconomic impact. Pharmacological management for chronic non-cancer pain also involves the prescription of opioids, with the aim of an improved quality of life for the patient. New guidelines have been published to aid prescribing clinicians improve opioid safety and patient care, and include recommendations on when to refer patients to a pain specialist. In recent years there has been a rapid increase in opioid prescription in the UK and USA, prompting further concern regarding opioid abuse and side effects. Opioid use may also result in physical dependence and tolerance. Earlier recognition and diagnosis of unwanted effects of long term opioid use is needed, such as opioid induced suppression of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis, and opioid induced immunosuppression. Patients may themselves discontinue opioids, however, due to minor side effects. Recent advances in opioid prescription include the increasing use of transdermal preparations and extended release, oral, once daily preparations. New formulations of existing drugs have been developed, as well as a new chemical entity. Abuse deterrent formulations and delivery systems may prevent the artificial acceleration of drug delivery and reduce the potential for opioid addiction. Overdose concerns and the potential for fatal overdose may necessitate mandatory training for all clinicians who prescribe opioids. Despite the widespread use of opioids in the management of chronic non-cancer pain, significant research gaps remain. An improvement in the evidence base for its prescription is required.
A Weighted Logarithmic Model based Enhancement of Weather Degraded Images

The lack of information content in the images captured under bad weather dominates the reason of poor visibility more, than due to the overall contrast or other. This paper presents a novel method for enhancement of weather degraded images. The proposed enhancement method is based upon the logarithmic image processing (LIP) framework and human visual system (HVS). The proposed method uses multiple images of the same scene in order to increase the information content and produce a visibly enhanced resultant image. A region based contrast measure called the logarithmic region contrast measure (LRCM) for finding the optimal value of location based parameters of the proposed method and its comparison with other traditional contrast measures has been presented here in this paper. The experimental results on two data sets of weather degraded images are included here in this correspondence.
A Study On Renal Function Tests and its Correlation With Blood Glucose And EGFR in Freshly Diagnosed Type-2 Diabetes Patients

High values of renal function tests are associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus. But there are studies that found that the levels of creatinine and uric acid are low in cases of diabetes mellitus. Comparative studies related to serum renal function tests with eGFR and blood glucose in type 2 DM is less. Hence the study was undertaken to study the RFT and its correlation with blood glucose and eGFR in type 2 DM. 25 freshly diagnosed cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus and 25 healthy controls were studied. It is found Mean serum urea levels were 25.80±6.75 mg/dL in controls and 34.08±9.62 in cases, which was statistically highly significant. Mean serum creatinine and uric acid values were also highly significant (p=0.0002) in cases, as compared to controls. Significant positive correlation was found between FBS (p<0.001) and PPBS (p<0.0001) with the eGFR and renal function tests in both cases and controls. Our study shows urea, creatinine and uric acid levels are towards higher reference limits in cases compared to controls.