Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Direct Renin Inhibition in a Rat Model of Chronic Allograft Injury

Background. Blockade of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin II (Ang II) receptor blockers (ARBs) slow the progression of various chronic kidney diseases and chronic allograft dysfunction. RAS inhibition can be achieved also by directly blocking renin upstream from ACE. However, direct renin inhibition can have additional effects since formation of renoprotective Ang II breakdown products such as angiotensin (Ang) (1–7) that are produced by ACE2 are also inhibited. Methods. Using a Fischer-to-Lewis renal transplantation model, the effect of the renin inhibitor aliskiren (10 mg/kg/day) was assessed on the development of chronic allograft dysfunction compared with vehicle treatment and Ang II receptor blockers candesartan. Results. Aliskiren had no effect on renal function (proteinuria, creatinine clearance) or on renal morphological changes (glomerulosclerosis collagen deposition, myofibroblast accumulation and macrophage infiltration) compared with the vehicle- and candesartan-treated animals determined 24 weeks after transplantation. On the other hand, atrophy of tubular cells was significantly attenuated. Candesartan reduced both proteinuria and structural injury of the kidney. In aliskiren-treated animals reduced serum Ang II and Ang (1–7) levels were detected, whereas the level of urine angiotensinogen was unchanged. Conclusions. The renin inhibitor aliskiren does not slow the progression of chronic allograft dysfunction. We suggest that the lack of protection might be due to reduced formation of the protective Ang II breakdown products such as Ang (1–7) or due to unchanged intrarenal RAS activity demonstrated by urinary angiotensinogen levels.
Immunologic and Infectious Diseases in Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care

Since the inception of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society (PCICS) in 2003, remarkable advances in the care of children with critical cardiac disease have been developed. Specialized surgical approaches, anesthesiology practices, and intensive care management have all contributed to improved outcomes. However, significant morbidity often results from immunologic or infectious disease in the perioperative period or during a medical intensive care unit admission. The immunologic or infectious illness may lead to fever, which requires the attention and resources of the cardiac intensivist. Frequently, cardiopulmonary bypass leads to an inflammatory state that may present hemodynamic challenges or complicate postoperative care. However, inflammation unchecked by a compensatory anti-inflammatory response may also contribute to the development of capillary leak and lead to a complicated intensive care unit course. Any patient admitted to the intensive care unit is at risk for a hospital acquired infection, and no patients are at greater risk than the child treated with mechanical circulatory support. In summary, the prevention, diagnosis, and management of immunologic and infectious diseases in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit is of paramount importance for the clinician. This review from the tenth PCICS International Conference will summarize the current knowledge in this important aspect of our field.
Regional cerebral metabolism of glucose in comatose and vegetative state patients.

Regional cerebral metabolism of glucose (rCMRglu) was evaluated in patients who were in a coma and vegetative state to determine the level of brain function during these conditions. rCMRglu was measured in 17 discrete brain regions with (/-) [18F] -fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) and positrn emission tomography (PET) in 15 patients with ;brain pathology subsequent to cardiorespiratory arrest (CA), head trauma (HT), or brain ischemia (BI) resulting from cerebrovascular accident or brain surgery. Five comatose patients (Coma group, n = 5), and 10 vegetative state patients (VS, patients awake but not aware) were studied. The VA patients were subdivided, according to the length of their VS condition, into a VS group (n = 6, < 3 months if CA or BI patients, or < 12 months if HT patients) and a persistent vegetative state group (PVS, n = 4, > 3 months if CA or BI patients of > 12 months if HT patients.) Ten normal age-matched subjects served as control. Global CMRglu was 6.72 +/- 0.93 (+/-SD) mg/100 g/min in control subjects. It was significantly (p < - 0.001) reduced to 3.70 +/- 61 in coma, to 3.45 +/- in VS, and to 2.33 +/- 0.34 mg/100 g/min in PVS patients. rCMRglu was significantly reduced (p < - 01001) from control values in all the 17 structures surveyed in every patient. In the Coma and VS groups, there was an overlapping of rCMRglu in the majority of the brain structures. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A rare missense mutation in a type 2 diabetes patient decreases the transcriptional activity of human sterol regulatory element binding protein‐1

Sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP‐1) transcription factors play a key role in energy homeostasis by regulating genes involved in both carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, and in adipocyte differentiation. The 5′ end of the mRNA‐encoding SREBP‐1 exists in two forms, designated 1a and 1c. The divergence results from the use of two transcription start sites that produce two separate 5′ exons, each of which is spliced to a common exon 2. Mutations in the sterol regulatory element binding protein gene (SREBF)‐1 may contribute to insulin resistance states. However, the variants described to date do not affect the SREBP function. In this study, we investigated the functional consequences of a novel missense mutation common to both SREBP‐1 isoforms identified in a Spanish type 2 diabetic patient (c.677C>T, SREBP‐1a p.T226M; c.605C>T, SREBP‐1c p.T202M). Using reporter gene analysis and electrophoretic mobility shift assays, we found that this variant impairs the transcriptional activity and reduces DNA binding ability despite its comparable protein stability to the wild‐type SREBP‐1. This decreased activity impairs the expression of known downstream targets, such as the LDL receptor and fatty acid synthase genes. Our findings suggest that the threonine residue and/or surrounding region play an important role in the SREBP‐1 function. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
[Excitatory amino acids and prostanoids release in spinal cord injury].

UNLABELLED Acute spinal cord trauma may initiate a cascade of hemodynamic and biochemical events characterized by direct mechanical destruction of neurons, hemorrhages and significant increases in active substances (glutamate, prostaglandins (PGs), ets. ). However, there are no data which define the effect of acute spinal cord trauma on biochemical changes in the spinal cord. The aim of the present study was to examine time-dependent biochemical changes in the spinal cord by intrathecal microdialysis in the acute stage of spinal cord turama. METHODS Male Sprague-Dawley rats (300-325g) were implanted with a dialysis catheter and PE-10 catheter in the intrathecal space of the lumbar spinal cord. Three days later the animals were anesthetized with halothane and 10-min dialysis samples were collected. Compression spinal cord injury was produced by inflating an extradural 2F-Fogarty balloon catheter (L4-L5) for 60 sec. After compression, samples were collected while the animals remained anesthetized for 30 min, and additional samples were collected until 4hr post-injury. At the end of the dialysis period neurological function was briefly evaluated. Microdialysate samples were analyzed for glutamate, aspartate, and taurine by HPLC-UV and for PGE2 by RIA. RESULTS Compression of the spinal cord caused significant increases in the levels of all amino acids. The greatest in creases were in glutamate and aspartate at 10 min, followed by a decrease over the rest of the 4-hr period. Similarly, PGE2 showed an immediate increase after compression, with normalization between 1-2 hr, but this was followed by a secondary increase at 2-4 hr. Neurologically, all animals displayed complete paralysis with loss of sensory function that remained unchanged for the 4-hr period. COMMENT The present study clearly demonstrated the time course of spinal amino acids and PGE2 release by using a chronically implanted dialysis catheter after spinal cord compression and also showed a correlation with neurological deterioration. These biochemical changes in the extracellular space may display various, multiphasic patterns reflecting progressively developing edema and corresponding ischemia.
Ultrastructure of the Denitrifying Methanotroph “Candidatus Methylomirabilis oxyfera,” a Novel Polygon-Shaped Bacterium

ABSTRACT “Candidatus Methylomirabilis oxyfera” is a newly discovered denitrifying methanotroph that is unrelated to previously known methanotrophs. This bacterium is a member of the NC10 phylum and couples methane oxidation to denitrification through a newly discovered intra-aerobic pathway. In the present study, we report the first ultrastructural study of “Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera” using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and electron tomography in combination with different sample preparation methods. We observed that “Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera” cells possess an atypical polygonal shape that is distinct from other bacterial shapes described so far. Also, an additional layer was observed as the outermost sheath, which might represent a (glyco)protein surface layer. Further, intracytoplasmic membranes, which are a common feature among proteobacterial methanotrophs, were never observed under the current growth conditions. Our results indicate that “Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera” is ultrastructurally distinct from other bacteria by its atypical cell shape and from the classical proteobacterial methanotrophs by its apparent lack of intracytoplasmic membranes.
Historical Cohort Study of US Man-Made Vitreous Fiber Production Workers: I. 1992 Fiberglass Cohort Follow-Up: Initial Findings

This 1986 to 1992 update and expansion of an earlier historical cohort study examined the 1946 to 1992 mortality experience of 32,110 workers employed for 1 year or more during 1945 to 1978 at any of 10 US fiberglass (FG) manufacturing plants. Included are (1) a new historical exposure reconstruction for respirable glass fibers and several co-exposures (arsenic, asbestos, asphalt, epoxy, formaldehyde, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, phenolics, silica, styrene, and urea); and (2) a nested, matched case-control study of 631 respiratory system cancer (RSC) deaths in male workers during 1970 to 1992 with interview data on tobacco smoking history. Our findings to date from external comparisons based on standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) in the cohort study provide no evidence of excess mortality risk from all causes combined, all cancers combined, and non-malignant respiratory disease. Also, excluding RSC, we observed no evidence of excess mortality risk from any of the other cause-of-death categories considered. For RSC among the total cohort, we observed a 6% excess (P = 0.05) based on 874 deaths. Among long-term workers (5 or more years of employment) we observed a not statistically significant 3% excess based on 496 deaths. Among the total cohort, we observed increases in RSC SMRs with calendar time and time since first employment, but these were less pronounced among long-term workers. RSC SMRs were not related to duration of employment among the total cohort or long-term workers. In an externally controlled analysis of male workers at risk between 1970 and 1992, we observed no association between RSC SMRs and increasing exposure to respirable FG. Our findings to date from internal comparisons based on rate ratios in the case-control study of RSC were limited to analyses of categorized study variables with and without adjustment for smoking. On the basis of these analyses, the duration of exposure and cumulative exposure to respirable FG at the levels encountered at the study plants did not appear to be associated with an increased risk of RSC. RSC risk also did not seem to increase with time since first employment. There is some evidence of elevated RSC risk associated with non-baseline levels of average intensity of exposure to respirable glass, but when adjusted for smoking this was not statistically significant, and there was no apparent trend with increasing exposure. This same pattern of findings was observed for duration of exposure, cumulative exposure, and average intensity of exposure to formaldehyde. None of the other individual co-exposures encountered in the study plants appeared to be associated with an increased risk of RSC. The primary focus of ongoing analyses is to determine the extent to which our present findings are robust to alternative characterizations of exposure.
Models of delivering palliative and end-of-life care in India

Purpose of reviewIndia is home to one-fifth of the global population. This review aims to explore the structures, functions and relevance of palliative care services in India. Although palliative care has been initiated in India almost 3 decades ago, development of services has been patchy and inadequate. Some of the regions are well covered, but most are not. The Indian palliative care scene, with its diversity in approach and delivery of services, can offer valuable lessons to service development in low-income and middle-income countries. Recent findingsThe number of people dying each year in India is more than 9.8 million. The number of people in need of palliative care will be around six million if we assume that 60% of all those who die would benefit from palliative care. Less than 2% of the needy have access to palliative care in India. The available services are very unevenly distributed with the state of Kerala with 3% of the country's population having more than 90% of the palliative care services in the country. SummaryThe state of palliative care in India is discussed with particular attention to the successful Kerala Model in palliative care. Lessons learned from the experiment in Kerala are listed.
Science, the public, and social elites: How the general public, scientists, top politicians and managers perceive science

This paper finds that the Croatian public’s and the social elites’ perceptions of science are a mixture of scientific and technological optimism, of the tendency to absolve science of social responsibility, of skepticism about the social effects of science, and of cognitive optimism and skepticism. However, perceptions differ significantly according to the different social roles and the wider value system of the observed groups.The survey data show some key similarities, as well as certain specificities in the configuration of the types of views of the four groups – the public, scientists, politicians and managers. The results suggest that the well-known typology of the four cultures reveals some of the ideologies of the key actors of scientific and technological policy. The greatest social, primarily educational and socio-spatial, differentiation of the perceptions of science was found in the general public.
Biochemical and histopathological effects in pearl dace (Margariscus margarita) chronically exposed to a synthetic estrogen in a whole lake experiment

Potential effects of exposure to the synthetic estrogen 17α‐ethynylestradiol (EE2) were examined in several species of fish from a lake experimentally treated with environmentally relevant concentrations of the contaminant. Ethynylestradiol was added to Lake 260, a small Precambrian shield lake at the Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario, Canada, from May to October of 2001, 2002, and 2003. Mean concentrations of EE2 in epilimnetic waters ranged between 4.5 and 8.1 ng/L during the three years, with overall means of 6.1 (±2.8), 5.0 (±1.8), and 4.8 (±1.0) ng/L for the three years, respectively. Male and female pearl dace (Margariscus margarita) captured after EE2 additions began contained up to 4,000‐fold higher concentrations of the egg yolk precursor vitellogenin than fish captured from the same lake before the EE2 additions or when compared to fish from reference lakes. Edema in the ovaries, inhibited development of testicular tissue, intersex, and histopathological kidney lesions were all evident in fish exposed to EE2. Some indications that EE2 exposure affected in vitro steroidogenic capacity of the ovaries and the testes existed, although results were not always consistent between years. Pearl dace abundance was similar in the lake treated with EE2 and the reference lake. A trend exists toward a reduced overall population of pearl dace from the treated and reference lakes, as do indications that young‐of‐the‐year size classes are less abundant in the EE2‐treated lake. Biochemical and histopathological impacts observed in fish exposed to EE2 in this study have not yet been linked to clear population level impacts in pearl dace. Monitoring of these populations is ongoing.
The Challenge of Radical Islam

Among the participants were Rashid al-Ghannoushi, the exiled leader and articulate spokesman of al-Nahda, Tunisia's Islamic opposition movement; Ibrahim Shukri, a chief of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt; Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the radical militant leader of Afghanistan's fundamentalist Hezb-i Islami faction; Abassi Madani, then one of the two leaders of Algeria's ascendant Islamic Salvation Front (fis); and, of course, a high-ranking delegate from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Also present were prominent Arab leftist and nationalist figures, such as Georges Habash, the Christian head of the radical secular Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The host was Hassan al-Turabi, the spiritual chief and master mind of Sudan's Islamic military government, who supervised the effort to draft a plan of action for "defying the tyrannical West. "
Concepts of disablement in documents guiding physical therapy practice

Purpose : To describe disability concepts used within documents guiding physical therapist practice. Methods : Content analysis was performed on the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice, second edition; A Normative Model of Physical Therapist Professional Education, version 2000; APTA House of Delegates Standards, Policies, Positions and Guidelines; APTA Board of Directors Policies, Positions and Guidelines; The Model Practice Act for Physical Therapy and The Illinois Physical Therapy Act. Using a word sense framework, text-in-context lists were compiled, from which contextual themes and counts for all occurrences of disability terms were developed. Results : Across documents, contextual themes with number of occurrences were: disability as role performance limitations within specific contexts: 819; disability resulting from health status: 39, disability law: 29; and rights of individuals with disabilities: 25. Conclusions : Documents guiding physical therapist practice commonly conceptualize disability as individual limitations within specific contexts and infrequently conceptualize disability as a societal phenomenon affecting persons across most settings and circumstances. It is believed that a concept of disability that is more inclusive of broad, as well as specific, contexts of disability may lead to improved physical therapy management for individuals with a wide range of performance capacities.
TUMORIGENESIS AND NEOPLASTIC PROGRESSION Myoepithelial Cell Differentiation Markers in Ductal Carcinoma in Situ Progression

opyright a 2015 American Society for Inve ublished by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved ttp://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.ajpath. 2015.07. 004 We describe a preclinical model that investigates progression of early-stage ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and report that compromised myoepithelial cell differentiation occurs before transition to invasive disease. Human breast cancer MCF10DCIS.com cells were delivered into the mouse mammary teat by intraductal injection in the absence of surgical manipulations and accompanying wound-healing confounders. DCIS-like lesions developed throughout the mammary ducts with full representation of human DCIS histologic patterns. Tumor cells were incorporated into the normal mammary epithelium, developed ductal intraepithelial neoplasia and DCIS, and progressed to invasive carcinoma, suggesting the model provides a rigorous approach to study early stages of breast cancer progression. Mammary glands were evaluated for myoepithelium integrity with immunohistochemical assays. Progressive loss of the myoepithelial cell differentiation markers p63, calponin, and a-smooth muscle actin was observed in the mouse myoepithelium surrounding DCISinvolved ducts. p63 loss was an early indicator, calponin loss intermediate, and a-smooth muscle actin a later indicator of compromised myoepithelium. Loss of myoepithelial calponin was specifically associated with gain of the basal marker p63 in adjacent tumor cells. In single time point biopsies obtained from 16 women diagnosed with pure DCIS, a similar loss in myoepithelial cell markers was observed. These results suggest that further research is warranted into the role of myoepithelial cell p63 and calponin expression on DCIS progression to invasive disease. (Am J Pathol 2015, 185: 3076e3089; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath.2015.07.004)
MobIPLity: A trace-based mobility scenario generator for mobile applications

The understanding of human mobility patterns is key for the development and evaluation of ubiquitous applications. To overcome the scarcity and difficulties in capturing mobility data, models have been devised. In general, each model replicates some of the observed metrics, while neglecting others. However, all tend to ignore diversity, in the roles and goals of the users but also in the devices that are used to access the WiFi network. This paper presents the mobility traces from the access records of 49000 devices to the eduroam WiFi network of IPL for 7 years. Traces are made publicly available in the expectation that its large scale permits to support evaluations base on real mobility data, thus removing the uncertainty that emerges from the use of synthetic mobility models. Traces emphasise differences between device types, with impact on aspects like observed trace duration, speed, pause times, ICTs and availability, which can hardly be replicated on synthetic mobility models. Received on 13 February 2015; accepted on 30 April 2015; published on 13 July 2015