Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of late acute rejection after cadaveric kidney transplantation

Background: Acute graft rejection (AR) following renal transplantation results in reduced graft survival. However, there is uncertainty regarding the definition, aetiology and long‐term graft and patient outcome of AR occurring late in the post‐transplant period. Aim: To determine if rejection episodes can be classified by time from transplantation by their impact on graft survival into early acute rejection (EAR) and late acute rejection (LAR). Materials and methods: 687 consecutive adult renal transplant recipients who received their first cadaveric renal transplant at a single centre. All received cyclosporine (CyA)‐based immunosuppression, from 1984 to 1996, with a median follow‐up of 6.9 yr. Details were abstracted from clinical records, with emphasis on age, sex, co‐morbid conditions, HLA matching, rejection episodes, patient and graft survival. Analysis: Patients were classified by the presence and time to AR from the date of transplantation. Using those patients who had no AR (NAR) as a baseline, we determined the relative risk of graft failure by time to rejection. The characteristics of patients who had no rejection, EAR and LAR were compared. Results: Compared with NAR, the risk of graft failure was higher for those patients who suffered a rejection episode. A much higher risk of graft failure was seen when the first rejection episode occurred after 90 d. Thus, a period of 90 d was taken to separate EAR and LAR (relative risk of 3.06 and 5.27 compared with NAR as baseline, p<0.001). Seventy‐eight patients (11.4%) had LAR, 271 (39.4%) had EAR and 338 (49.2%) had NAR. The mean age for each of these groups differed (LAR 39.6 yr, EAR 40.8 yr compared with NAR 44 yr, p<0.003). The 5‐yr graft survival for those who had LAR was 45% and 10‐yr survival was 28%. HLA mismatches were more frequent in those with EAR vs. NAR (zero mismatches in HLA‐A: 36 vs. 24%, HLA‐B: 35 vs. 23% and HLA‐DR: 63 vs. 41%, p<0.003). There was no difference in mismatching frequency between NAR and LAR. Conclusions: AR had a deleterious impact on graft survival, particularly if occurring after 90 d. AR episodes should therefore be divided into early and late phases. In view of the very poor graft survival associated with LAR, it is important to gain further insight into the main aetiological factors. Those such as suboptimal CyA blood levels and non‐compliance with medication should be further investigated with the aim of developing more effective immunosuppressive regimens in order to reduce the incidence of LAR.
Dietary Fats And Metabolic Syndrome

AA: Arachidonic Acid; ALA: Alfa-Linolenic Acid; ATP: Adult Treatment Panel; BP: Blood Pressure; CVD: Cardiovascular Disease; CRP: C reactive protein; DGLA: Dihomo-γ-Linolenic Acid; DHA: Docosahexaenoic Acid; DPA: Docosapentaenoic Acid; EFA: Essential Fatty Acids; EPA: Eicosapentaenoic Acid; FA: Fatty Acid; GLA -Gama-Linolenic Acid; HDL: High Density Lipoprotein; IL: Interleukine; IR: Insulin Resistance; LA: Linoleic Acid; LDL: Low Density Lipoprotein; LC: Long Chain; LT: Leukotrienes; MetS: Metabolic Syndrome; MUFA: Monounsaturated Fatty Acid; NCEP: National Cholesterol Education Program; PAI-1 : Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1; PG: Prosta Glandins; PPAR : Peroxisome Proliferation Activator Receptor; PUFA: Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid; SFA: Saturated Fatty Acid; TFA: Trans Fatty Acid; TGF: Transforming growth Factor; TNF: Tumor Necrosis Factor; TX: Thromboxanes; VLDL: Very Low Density Lipoprotein.
Identification of Novel HLA-A2-Restricted Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1-Specific Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Epitopes Predicted by the HLA-A2 Supertype Peptide-Binding Motif

ABSTRACT Virus-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses are critical in the control of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection and will play an important part in therapeutic and prophylactic HIV-1 vaccines. The identification of virus-specific epitopes that are efficiently recognized by CTL is the first step in the development of future vaccines. Here we describe the immunological characterization of a number of novel HIV-1-specific, HLA-A2-restricted CTL epitopes that share a high degree of conservation within HIV-1 and a strong binding to different alleles of the HLA-A2 superfamily. These novel epitopes include the first reported CTL epitope in the Vpr protein. Two of the novel epitopes were immunodominant among the HLA-A2-restricted CTL responses of individuals with acute and chronic HIV-1 infection. The novel CTL epitopes identified here should be included in future vaccines designed to induce HIV-1-specific CTL responses restricted by the HLA-A2 superfamily and will be important to assess in immunogenicity studies in infected persons and in uninfected recipients of candidate HIV-1 vaccines.
LPV techniques for control of an inverted pendulum

The authors present a comprehensive application of linear fractional transformation and polytopic control techniques to the control of an arm-driven inverted pendulum, The particular interest of this application lies in the fact that all ingredients of the design problem have to be taken into account; from the specifications up to the constraints inherent to real-world implementations. In this context, it has been shown that currently available synthesis methodologies, such as μ and LPV techniques, may fail to provide acceptable answers, A major obstacle is undoubtedly the implementation constraint that puts hard limitations on the controller dynamics, These limitations are generally difficult to handle within the usual formulation of LPV control techniques. It has been shown that a suitable extension of these techniques including LMI region constraints on the closed-loop dynamics can overcome this difficulty. When implementable, it has been observed that LPV controllers outperform fixed μ controllers both in robustness and performance. These observations were confirmed by simulations but more importantly by a number of records on the physical experiment.
Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for substance use in a school-based program: services and outcomes.

BACKGROUND Despite the advantages of using high schools for conducting school-based Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) programs for adolescent substance misuse, there have been very few studies of Brief Interventions (BIs) in these settings. OBJECTIVES This multi-site, repeated measures study examined outcomes of adolescents who received SBIRT services and compared the extent of change in substance use based on the intensity of intervention received. METHODS Participants consisted of 629 adolescents, ages 14-17, who received SBIRT services across 13 participating high schools in New Mexico. The level of service received and number of sessions were collected through administrative records, while the number of self-reported days in the past month of drinking; drinking to intoxication; and drug use were gathered at baseline and 6-month follow-up. RESULTS BI was provided to 85.1% of adolescents, while 14.9% received brief treatment or referral to treatment (BT/RT). Participants receiving any intervention reported significant reductions in frequency of drinking to intoxication (p < .05) and drug use (p < .001), but not alcohol use, from baseline to 6-month follow-up. The magnitude of these reductions did not differ based on service variables. Controlling for baseline frequency of use, a BT/RT service level was associated with more days of drinking at 6-month follow-up (p < .05), but was no longer significant when controlling for number of service sessions received. CONCLUSIONS AND SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE These findings support school-based SBIRT for adolescents, but more research is needed on this promising approach.
Rare‐Earth Ion Doped Up‐Conversion Materials for Photovoltaic Applications

With the aim of utilizing the infrared region of solar radiation to improve solar cell performance, significant progress, including theoretical analysis and experimental achievement, has been made in the field of up‐conversion for photovoltaic applications. This Research News article reviews recent progress in the development of rear‐earth (RE) ion doped up‐conversion materials for solar cell applications. In addition, new trends for RE‐ion‐doped phosphors are briefly discussed, among them trivalent RE‐ion‐doped up‐conversion materials for organic solar cell applications.
Presence and biological activity of a GnRH‐like factor in the nervous system of Helisoma trivoluis

Gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) constitutes a family of neuropeptides found throughout the vertebrates. Although a GnRH‐like peptide has also been isolated from yeast (α‐mating factor), the presence of GnRH has not been clearly demonstrated in inverterate phyla. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that GnRH‐like peptides are present and functional in the central nervous system (CNS) of the gastropod mollusc, Helisoma trivoluis. The presence of a GnRH‐like peptide was examined by three methods: (1) in immunofluorescence studies with four different antibodies generated against several GnRH peptides, select neurons and putative neurosecretory cells were specifically and consistently labelled throughout the CNS; (2) reverse‐phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and radioimmunoassay (RIA) analysis revealed a GnRH‐like factor which co‐migrates with mammalian (m)GnRH; and (3) in bioactivity experiments, extracts of Helisoma trivolvis CNS mimicked GnRH in stimulating gonadotropin release from dispersed goldfish pituitary cells in static culture.
VERB PHRASES AND NOUN PHRASES IN ENGLISH : A PARALLEL APPROACH

While VPs have always been studied taking into account both their morphologic modifications (tense, mood, aspect, voice, polarity, etc.) and their syntactic complementation (intensive, intransitive, monotransitive, ditransitive and complextransitive), NPs, as far as I know, have not clearly been analysed taking into account this double perspective, since the analyses that have been carried out normally mix up both aspects. In this paper, I intend to show that if we want to understand the way NPs operate and the way they are structured, it is essential to make this distinction clear.
Do factors like language or word length have effects on the results of a lateralized emotional Stroop task

Can we find support for either the right hemisphere or the valence hypothesis using only a lateralized emotional Stroop task? If so, what are the effects of language and word length on our results? In the present study I want to find support for either the right hemisphere or the valence hypothesis. Therefore, an emotional Stroop experiment was used. During an emotional Stroop task, emotional and neutral words are presented in different colors. The participant has to respond to the colors. Via the reaction times one can conclude about how people process emotions. Aspects of two former studies were replicated in the present study. The words in this study have already been used in those studies. Furthermore, the present study had an additional factor. Both German and Dutch students participated in the experiment. A univariate repeated measures analyses was run on the data. No significant differences were found. The reaction times did not differ neither between emotional versus neutral words nor between the German-Dutch condition.
Alveolar macrophages from C3H/HeJ mice show sensitivity to endotoxin.

Alveolar macrophages (AM) orchestrate the release of several cytokines in the lung, including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF). Lipopolysaccharide endotoxin (LPS), one of the most potent stimulators of TNF production in macrophages, often contributes to the development of adult respiratory distress syndrome. The mechanism by which LPS induces TNF production in macrophages is unclear. Many studies have employed murine macrophages lavaged from the peritoneal cavity (PM), either resident cells or those obtained following elicitation with sterile thioglycollate (TGPM), as these cells are readily accessible. LPS does not induce TNF in PM or TGPM from C3H/HeJ mice, and the alteration is thought to reside at the post-transcriptional level of gene regulation. Generalization of results from PM to AM may not be warranted, however. While investigating cytokine production by AM cell lines, we observed that C3HAMSV40, a transformed cell line derived from C3H/HeJ AM, made substantial quantities of TNF when stimulated with 1 microgram/ml LPS, prompting us to study TNF production in primary C3H/HeJ AM. In the present study, readily detectable quantities of biologically active TNF were found in supernatants of C3H/HeJ AM that had been stimulated in vitro with 0.01 to 10 micrograms/ml LPS. The amount of TNF produced was not significantly different from that observed with AM from endotoxin-sensitive C3HeB/FeJ mice. LPS induction of TNF in AM from either mouse strain was completely inhibited by polymyxin B, demonstrating that the sensitivity of C3H/HeJ AM was not due to a contaminant in the LPS. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Stimulation of IGF-binding protein-1 secretion by AMP-activated protein kinase.

Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) is stimulated during intensive exercise and in catabolic conditions to very high concentrations, which are not completely explained by known regulators such as insulin and glucocorticoids. The role of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), an important signaling system in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, in regulating IGFBP-1 was studied in H4-II-E rat hepatoma cells. Arsenic(III) oxide and 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-riboside (AICAR) were used as activators. AICAR (150 microM) stimulated IGFBP-1 secretion twofold during a 5-h incubation (P = 0.002). Insulin (100 ng/ml) inhibited IGFBP-1 by 80% (P < 0.001), but this was completely abolished in the presence of 150 microM AICAR. The effect of dexamethasone in stimulating IGFBP-1 threefold was additive to the effect of AICAR (P < 0.001) and, in the presence of AICAR, was incompletely inhibited by insulin. In conclusion AMPK is identified as a novel regulatory pathway for IGFBP-1, stimulating secretion and blocking the inhibitory effect of insulin.
Efficacy and safety of pregabalin in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder: a 6-week, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled comparison of pregabalin and venlafaxine.

OBJECTIVE Pregabalin has demonstrated robust, rapid efficacy in reducing symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in 4 placebo-controlled clinical trials. The current study compared the efficacy and safety of pregabalin and venlafaxine in patients diagnosed with moderate to severe GAD. METHOD The study was conducted from December 21, 1999, to July 31, 2001. Outpatients (N = 421) in primary care or psychiatry settings meeting DSM-IV criteria for GAD were randomly assigned to 6 weeks of double-blind treatment with pregabalin 400 or 600 mg/day, venlafaxine 75 mg/day, or placebo. The primary analysis was change in Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A) total score from baseline to last-observation-carried-forward (LOCF) endpoint. Secondary analyses included the change in HAM-A psychic (emotional) and somatic (physical) factor scores, significant improvement at week 1, and week 1 improvement sustained at every visit through endpoint. RESULTS Pregabalin at both dosages (400 mg/day, p = .008; 600 mg/day, p = .03) and venlafaxine (p = .03) produced significantly-greater improvement in HAM-A total score at LOCF endpoint than did placebo. Only the pregabalin 400-mg/day treatment group experienced significant improvement in all a priori primary and secondary efficacy measures. Pregabalin in both dosage treatment groups (400 mg/day, p < .01; 600 mg/day, p < .001) significantly improved HAM-A total score at week 1, with significant improvement through LOCF endpoint. Statistically significant improvement began at week 2 for venlafaxine. Discontinuation rates due to associated adverse events were greatest in the venlafaxine treatment group: venlafaxine, 20.4%; pregabalin 400 mg/day, 6.2%; pregabalin 600 mg/day, 13.6%; placebo, 9.9%. CONCLUSION Pregabalin was safe, well tolerated, and rapidly efficacious across the physical-somatic as well as the emotional symptoms of GAD in the majority of patients studied in primary care and psychiatric settings.
Side-effects of Hall sensors misplacement on BLDC motor drive operation

In this paper, the impact of Hall sensors misalignment on BLDC motor operational characteristics, i.e. DC bus current, electromagnetic torque and system efficiency, is investigated. A method for identifying and evaluating Hall sensors misplacement is described. The BLDC motor drive system is simulated in Matlab/Simulink environment software with ideally and misplaced positioned Hall sensors. Typical scenarios regarding Hall sensors angular misplacement have been simulated for the most commonly mounting configurations. The electromagnetic torque spectrum as an indicator for mechanical vibrations and noise generation has been examined. Simulations results indicate that system efficiency is decisively decreased as angular misplacement becomes greater than 30o electrical degrees.
Engineered Vaginal Lactobacillus Strain for Mucosal Delivery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Inhibitor Cyanovirin-N

ABSTRACT Women are at significant risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, with the cervicovaginal mucosa serving as a major portal for virus entry. Female-initiated preventatives, including topical microbicides, are urgently needed to help curtail the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Here we report on the development of a novel, live microbicide that employs a natural vaginal strain of Lactobacillus jensenii engineered to deliver the potent HIV inhibitor cyanovirin-N (CV-N). To facilitate efficient expression of CV-N by this bacterium, the L. jensenii 1153 genome was sequenced, allowing identification of native regulatory elements and sites for the chromosomal integration of heterologous genes. A CV-N expression cassette was optimized and shown to produce high levels of structurally intact CV-N when expressed in L. jensenii. Lactobacillus-derived CV-N was capable of inhibiting CCR5-tropic HIVBaL infectivity in vitro with a 50% inhibitory concentration of 0.3 nM. The CV-N expression cassette was stably integrated as a single copy into the bacterial chromosome and resolved from extraneous plasmid DNA without adversely affecting the bacterial phenotype. This bacterial strain was capable of colonizing the vagina and producing full-length CV-N when administered intravaginally to mice during estrus phase. The CV-N-producing Lactobacillus was genetically stable when propagated in vitro and in vivo. This work represents a major step towards the development of an inexpensive yet durable protein-based microbicide to block the heterosexual transmission of HIV in women.
The Role of Status-Seeking in Online Communities: Giving the Gift of Experience

This article examines online gift giving in the form of opinion, information, and advice that individuals post on websites. Research has highlighted altruism and reciprocity as the key motives behind such gift giving. We argue that informational gift giving is also strongly driven by status and status seeking, and that status sentiments are more likely to sustain virtual communities. Using theories of status seeking and self-presentation, we investigate the ways in which consumers construct status in online consumer communities. The data reveal insights into the strategies behind constructing a digital status and the rise of online systems to promote celebrity status within online communities.
Advances in the neuroimaging of panic disorder

Models of the neuroanatomy of panic disorder (PD) have relied on both animal work on fear and on clinical data from neuroimaging. Early work hypothesised a network of brain regions involved in fear processing (e.g. the amygdala), but more recent work has also pointed to the involvement of other cortical areas and other brain circuitry (e.g. the insula and anterior cingulate cortex). Studies investigating functional and structural brain connectivity in PD may ultimately shed light on the extent to which the neuroanatomy of PD is localised versus distributed, and on how current treatments alter this neuroanatomy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Anomaly detection on a real-time server using decision trees step by step procedure

Anomaly detection is the process of finding outlying records from a given data set. The aim of this paper is to study a well-known anomaly detection technique on the “Short Message Service Centre” server, used in the telecommunications field to handle and store messages. This server was studied in details, a script was written to gather all the required data that went through a cleaning phase and a labeling process after being deeply analyzed. The decision tree algorithm was chosen to be implemented, and it originally gave a precision of 98.82%. After performing different types of tuning and optimization, the precision reached 99.38% with an effective accuracy of 99.98%. Our approach proved that the application on this type of servers is efficient and leads to very good results, which can also be improved in future studies.
Self-reported uptake of recommendations after dissemination of medication incident alerts

Introduction In the Netherlands, a Central Medication Incidents Registration (CMR) system is operational. To prevent recurrence of reported medication incidents the CMR sends medication incident alerts with recommendations. It is up to the healthcare workers whether or not to implement the recommendations in clinical practice, which may lead to variations in degrees of uptake of the recommendations. Objective The aim of this study was to explore the degree of self-reported uptake of the recommendations and to identify potential determinants associated with successful uptake. Design This is a cross-sectional study conducted within a convenience sample of 33 Dutch hospital pharmacies. The study was carried out from April 2009 to September 2010. Measurements Three alerts were selected for the study: administration of methotrexate in a dosage of once a day instead of once a week, administration of undiluted potassium-sodium-phosphate concentrate, and administration of glucose 50% instead of 5%. The primary outcome was the degree of self-reported uptake of the specific recommendations and the associations of the degree of uptake with several potential determinants. Results Twenty-one hospitals (63.6%) had adopted all recommendations about methotrexate. A quarter of the hospitals (24.2%) had adopted all recommendations related to potassium-sodium-phosphate concentrate. For the alert about glucose 50%, none of the hospitals had implemented all the recommendations. No statistically significant associations between potential determinants and the degree of uptake were found. Conclusions This study is the first to investigate the degree of uptake of the recommendations of three different CMR alerts. The alerts varied in the degrees of self-reported uptake of the recommendations, with the methotrexate alert having the highest degree of uptake. No significant associations with potential determinants were found.