Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diagnosis and management of primary pyogenic spinal infections in intravenous recreational drug users.

OBJECT Primary spine infection secondary to intravenous drug abuse (IVDA) is a difficult clinical entity encountered by spine surgeons and infectious disease specialists. Patients tend to be noncompliant with the treatment and follow-up, and some continue to use IV recreational drugs even after the diagnosis of spine infection. The authors undertook this study to analyze the presentation, etiology, demographic characteristics, treatment, and outcome of primary pyogenic spinal infection in patients with IVDA as the major risk factor. METHODS The medical records, radiology imaging, and laboratory results (white blood cell count, inflammatory markers, bacteriology cultures) of all patients with pyogenic spine infection and history of IVDA presenting to a tertiary care center from August 2005 through December 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. The department of neurosurgery database and the hospital electronic medical records of University Hospital in San Antonio were used to identify the cohort for our study. RESULTS A total of 164 patients with spinal infection were evaluated during the study period; 102 of these patients had a history of IVDA. Their average age was 45.4 years, and only 14 (13.7%) were women. The mean laboratory values at presentation included a white blood cell count of 11.1 × 10(3) cells/μl (range 0.5-32 × 10(3) cells/μl), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) of 74 mm/hr (range 9.9-140 mm/hr), and C-reactive protein (CRP) level of 67 mg/L (range 0.1-327 mg/L). Twenty-six patients (25.4%) had an associated epidural abscess. The most common organism isolated from cultures of the bone and/or blood was methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), which was found in 37 cases. A close second was methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), found in 23 cases. The most commonly involved region was the lumbar spine (24 cases [57.8%]), and most patients (69.6%) had involvement of only a single level. Eighty patients were initially treated with long-term IV antibiotic therapy, and only 22 underwent surgical intervention (24 procedures). Of the latter group, 8 patients underwent laminectomy alone while 16 required some type of instrumented stabilization. Of the patients requiring stabilization procedures, 2 (12.5%) required reoperation with extension of their surgical constructs to other levels. The average follow-up was 29.7 weeks (range 6 weeks to 3 years). CONCLUSIONS Diagnosis and management of spinal infection in patients with a history of IVDA is challenging. The data from this study show that initial laboratory values are difficult to interpret given that only a minority of these patients present with leukocytosis. Back pain was the only reliable predictor of spine infection. The authors' experience indicates that the majority of patients with spine infection and a history of IVDA can be successfully treated with IV antibiotic therapy alone.
Cytotoxic T lymphocyte response to minor H-42a alloantigen in H-42b mice: clonal inactivation of the precursor cytotoxic T lymphocytes by veto-like spleen cells that express the H-42a antigen.

When (B10.BR X CWB)F1 (BWF1; H-2k/b) mice carrying the H-42b allele at the minor H-42 locus were injected with H-42a C3H.SW (CSW; H-2b) or C3H (H-2k) spleen cells (SC), self-H-2Kb restricted anti-H-42a pCTL in the BWF1 recipients were primed and differentiated to anti-H-42a CTL after in vitro stimulation with (B10.BR X CSW)F1 (BSF1; H-2k/b, H-42b/a) SC. In contrast, anti-H-42a pCTL in H-42b mice were inactivated by injection with H-42-congenic H-42a SC, and stable anti-H-42a CTL tolerance was induced. Preference of H-2Kb restriction of anti-H-42a CTL was strict, and self-H-2Kb-restricted anti-H-42a CTL did not lyse target cells carrying H-42a antigen in the context of H-2Kbm1. Involvement of suppressor cells in the anti-H-42a CTL tolerance was ruled out by the present cell transfer study and the previous cell-mixing in vitro study. Notably, treatment with anti-Thy-1.2 antibody (Ab) plus complement (C) wiped out the ability of CSW SC in the priming of anti-H-42a pCTL of BWF1 mice but left that of C3H SC unaffected, and injection of the anti-Thy-1.2 Ab plus C-treated CSW SC induced anti-H-42a CTL tolerance in the BWF1 recipients. Furthermore, H-42a/b, I-Ab/bm12 [CSW X B6.CH-2bm12 (bm12)]F1 SC could not prime anti-H-42a pCTL in H-42b, I-Ab (CWB X B6)F1 recipients, whereas H-42a/b, I-Ab (CSW X B6)F1 SC primed anti-H-42a pCTL in H-42b, I-Ab/bm12 (CWB X bm12)F1 recipients. The unresponsiveness of anti-H-42a pCTL in H-42b mice to H-42-congenic H-42a SC was sometimes corrected by immunization of H-42b female mice with H-42-congenic H-42a male SC. Taking all of the results together, we propose the following. Unresponsiveness of anti-H-42a pCTL in H-42b mice to H-42-congenic H-42a SC is caused by "veto cells" contained in the antigenic H-42a SC. Anti-H-42a pCTL in the H-42b recipients directly interacting with H-42-congenic H-42a SC, which bear H-42a antigen and H-2Kb restriction element, are inactivated or vetoed. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Long-living RNA in the CNS of terrestrial snail

ABSTRACT Click-iT method can be used to trace the neurons where the newly synthesized RNA transcripts occur. Our experiments performed with the CNS of terrestrial mollusk Helix demonstrate that 5-ethynyluridine (EU) is selectively incorporated in RNA but not in DNA. The time of EU accumulation necessary for its detection was about several hours. EU was injected into the body cavity of adult mollusks, and was detectable in neurons for several days. In juveniles, EU was introduced via bathing of snails in the EU-containing saline, and was reliably detected within time period of several weeks. Our data suggest that short-living forms of RNA cannot be detected by Click-iT method, while the long-living forms of RNA can be spatially detected in individual neurons.
Oxidative stress and cancer; the role of hesperidin, a citrus natural bioflavonoid, as a cancer chemoprotective agent

Cancer is the third cause of death worldwide, with complex etiology, and is defined as an uncontrolled growth of cells. A high proportion of cancer incidence and deaths are due to different environmental and genetic factors such as high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, exposure to radiation, chronic infections, and heredity also. In addition, oxidative stress plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of different types of cancer. Hence, screening and testing of more effective compounds with minimum side effects for the prevention and treatment of cancers started a few decades ago. Regarding this, much attention has been paid to natural antioxidants as a novel prevention and treatment strategy for cancer. Flavonoids are one of the most important ingredients in vegetables and fruits, especially in the genus Citrus. Hesperidin is a flavonone glycoside, belonging to the flavonoid family, which is widely found in Citrus species and acts as a potent antioxidant and anticancer agent. In the present review, we attempt to provide an overview and summarize the scientific literature about the cancer chemoprotective effects of hesperidin with an emphasis on its relation to the protection roles against oxidative stress.
Intimate partner violence and HIV infection among married Indian women.

CONTEXT Despite reductions in prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among the general population of India, women account for a rising percentage of all HIV cases with husbands' risk behavior described as the major source of women's infection. Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been described as being associated with heterosexual transmission of HIV to women in India and elsewhere. OBJECTIVE To assess the relationship between experiencing IPV and the occurrence of HIV infection in a nationally representative sample of married Indian women tested for HIV. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The Indian National Family Health Survey 3 was conducted across all Indian states in 2005 through 2006. The nationally representative sample included 124,385 married women; analyses conducted in 2007 and 2008 were limited to 28,139 married women who provided IPV data and HIV test results via systematic selection into respective subsamples. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Prevalence estimates of lifetime IPV and HIV infection were calculated and demographic differences assessed. Intimate partner violence was conceptualized as physical violence with or without sexual violence and then was further categorized as physical violence only vs physical and sexual violence. Regression models were used to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for HIV infection among Indian women based on experiences of IPV after adjusting for demographics and women's HIV risk behaviors. RESULTS One-third of married Indian women (35.49%) reported experiencing physical IPV with or without sexual violence from their husbands; 7.68% reported both physical and sexual IPV, and 27.80% reported experiencing physical IPV in the absence of sexual violence. Approximately 1 in 450 women (0.22%) tested positive for HIV. In adjusted models, married Indian women experiencing both physical and sexual violence from husbands demonstrated elevated HIV infection prevalence vs those not experiencing IPV (0.73% vs 0.19%; adjusted OR, 3.92; 95% CI, 1.41-10.94; P = .01). Physical IPV alone was not associated with risk of HIV infection. Women's personal sexual risk behaviors were not associated with HIV infection. CONCLUSIONS Among married Indian women, physical violence combined with sexual violence from husbands was associated with an increased prevalence of HIV infection. Prevention of IPV may augment efforts to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Interpreting the Meaning of Translation

Is “translation” a universal category? This question is examined via some contrastive etymological analysis of words meaning “translation” in a number of languages, mostly non-Indo-European. Different languages seem to give different emphases to three central semantic/semiotic features: difference, similarity, and mediation. Perhaps “translation” is a cluster concept. 1 1. Translation universals? One recent trend in Translation Studies has been the search for what several scholars have called translation universals (see e.g. Mauranen and Kujamaki 2004). Other scholars have preferred to use labels such as regularities, patterns, general tendencies or translation laws. All these terms refer to the underlying intuition that translations seem to share certain linguistic features regardless of the language pairs or text types concerned. Some of these features can be formulated as differences with respect to source texts (such as: a tendency for translations to reduce repetition, or to be more standardized in style, or to be marked by interference). Other potentially distinguishing features are defined with reference to nontranslated native texts in the target language (such as: a tendency to use a more restricted lexis, more simplified syntax, fewer target-languagespecific items). The impulse to look for such universals stems partly from similar movements in general linguistics since Chomsky, and partly from computer programs enabling the quantitative analysis of large electronic corpora of various kinds. Insofar as evidence for translation universals is found, we can speculate that the causes for such widespread features may 1 This contribution is based on a paper read at the symposium “Translation – Interpretation – Meaning”, held at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies on January 27–29, 2005.
Pax6 and SOX2 form a co-DNA-binding partner complex that regulates initiation of lens development.

Pax6 is a key transcription factor in eye development, particularly in lens development, but its molecular action has not been clarified. We demonstrate that Pax6 initiates lens development by forming a molecular complex with SOX2 on the lens-specific enhancer elements, e.g., the delta-crystallin minimal enhancer DC5. DC5 shows a limited similarity to the binding consensus sequence of Pax6 and is bound poorly by Pax6 alone. However, Pax6 binds cooperatively with SOX2 to the DC5 sequence, resulting in formation of a high-mobility form of ternary complex in vitro, which correlates with the enhancer activation in vivo. We observed Pax6 and SOX2-interdependent factor occupancy of DC5 in a chromatin environment in vivo, providing the molecular basis of synergistic activation by Pax6 and SOX2. Subtle alterations of the Pax6-binding-site sequence of DC5 or of the inter-binding-sites distance diminished the cooperative binding and caused formation of a non-functional low-mobility form complex, suggesting DNA sequence-guided and protein interaction-induced conformation change of the Pax6 protein. When ectopically expressed in embryo ectoderm, Pax6 and SOX2 in combination activate delta-crystallin gene and elicit lens placode development, indicating that the complex of Pax6 and SOX2 formed on specific DNA sequences is the genetic switch for initiation of lens differentiation.
Chest Wall Elastance in the estimation of the transpulmonary pressure: How should we use it?

To the Editor: In a recent issue of Critical Care Medicine, we read with interest the article by Gulati et al (1), describing two methods of estimating transpulmonary pressure. One method measured the esophageal pressure (P es ) and used it directly as a surrogate for pleural pressure (P es -based method), whereas the other method derived pleural pressure (P pl ) from chest wall elastance (E cw ). At end-inspiration occlusion, both methods calculated the transpulmonary pressure (P L,eio ) as the difference between the airway opening pressure (P ao,eio ) and pleural pressure (P pl,eio ). In the latter (E cw -based) method, the equation was written as follows:
MITOGEN-ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASES (MAPK) AS PREDICTORS OF CLINICAL OUTCOME IN SEROUS OVARIAN CARCINOMA IN EFFUSIONS

OBJECTIVE The objective was to investigate the expression (level) and phosphorylation status (activity) of the extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun amino-terminal kinase (JNK), and high-osmolarity glycerol response kinase (p38), their role in the biology of ovarian carcinoma, and their correlation with chemotherapy response. METHODS Sixty-four fresh-frozen effusions from patients diagnosed with serous ovarian carcinoma were studied using immunoblotting. Results were analyzed for possible association with expression of proliferation and apoptosis markers, patient age, disease stage, tumor grade, histological grade, chemotherapy status, and survival. RESULTS p38 level correlated with younger age (P = 0.004), while that of JNK correlated with better tumor differentiation (P = 0.009). Higher expression of Pan-JNK (P = 0.018) and higher p-ERK activity (P = 0.014) were seen in postchemotherapy specimens, specifically related to treatment by platinum agents. pan-JNK expression was higher in specimens treated with both platinum agents (P = 0.038) and paclitaxel (P = 0.033). In univariate survival analysis, the level of pan-ERK (P = 0.002), pan-JNK (P = 0.045), and pan-p38 (P = 0.016), as well as p-ERK activity (P = 0.014) correlated with better overall survival. In Cox multivariate survival analysis, pan-ERK (P = 0.001), pan-p38 (P = 0.017), and p-ERK (P = 0.041) retained their predictive value. CONCLUSIONS Our results present the first evidence of in vivo involvement of MAPKs in the clinical course of ovarian cancer and the possible effect of chemotherapy on intracellular signaling in this disease. The improved prognosis associated with expression and phosphorylation of all three mitogen-activated protein kinase families highlights the unique properties of cancer cells in effusions and may expand our understanding of the biology of ovarian carcinoma at this site, possibly affecting treatment strategies for this malignancy.
Big Data and Healthcare: Building an Augmented World

Starting from July of 2016, literally bumping into people on the streets trying to catch Pokemon has become a common sight. Pokemon, of course, are fictional creatures based on the popular Japanese video game franchise that has become the basis of animated series and films [1]. Unlike other fictional characters, however, Pokemon now exist in an augmented reality (AR) in the new mobile game, Pokemon Go, which transforms your physical location into a world that hosts characters superimposed on the reality that we see through our smart phones.
N‐acetylgalactosaminyl GD1a is a target molecule for serum antibody in Guillain‐Barré syndrome

Serum antibodies against such major glycolipids as GM1, GD1b, and LM1 have been reported in patients in the acute phase of Guillain‐Barré syndrome (GBS). Because minor unidentified glycolipids also may be targets of antibodies in GBS sera, we assayed serum antibody against a crude ganglioside fraction using thin‐layer chromatogram immunostaining. Antibody activity was detected against a band that migrated just below GD1a in 6 of the 50 patients with GBS tested. Antibody titer, as determined by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, decreased during the course of the disease. All 6 patients had suffered gastrointestinal infection before the neurological onset of GBS and showed low amplitudes for the compound muscle action potentials and normal or only slightly decreased nerve conduction velocities. Thin‐layer chromatogram immunostaining did not show this antibody activity in any of the 16 normal and 119 disease controls. The unidentified glycolipid was isolated by DEAE–Sephadex A‐25 column chromatography, sialidase treatment, and Iatrobeads column chromatography. Fast atom bombardment‐mass spectra showed it to be N‐acetyl‐galactosaminyl GD1a.
Transposed discriminative low-rank representation for face recognition

In this paper, based on Low-rank Representation (LRR) we present a new method, Transposed Discriminative Low-Rank Representation (TDLRR), for face recognition in which both training and testing images are corrupted. By adding a discriminative term into LRR function, we obtained a low-rank matrix recovery with the increase the discriminative ability between different classes. LRR of transposed data is also applied to extract the salient features of these recovered data so as to produce effective features for classification. In addition, the test samples are also corrected by using a low-rank projection matrix between the recovery results and the original training samples. Experimental results on three popular face databases demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our method.
Droop controlled operation of heat pumps on clustered distribution grids with high PV penetration

In this work the impact of a high penetration of air to water heat pumps and PV plants on the distribution grid in residential areas is investigated. Results show that increasing PV penetration increases the hours of critical states in the distribution grid. Air to water heat pumps reduce those effects slightly when they are added to the grid. With an increasing penetration of heat pumps new problems, such as load peaks in the mornings, arise. By integrating voltage dependent droop control into the heat pumps, the negative effects on the distribution grid can be reduced. This reduction comes with a loss of HP efficiency and shows strong seasonal variability. For this study a set of representative grid layouts is used. Electric and thermal load profiles for each house are generated using the synPRO stochastic bottom-up model. The thermal load is covered by variable speed electric heat pumps combined with thermal storage. Resulting electric loads are used as input for a probabilistic load flow model.
A novel parameter and state joint estimation method of reentry ballistic targets

In this paper, the reentry phase tracking problem of the ballistic missile for the ground-based anti-missile radar is considered, and a novel parameter and state joint estimation method based on the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) is present. The innovation of this thesis lies in using the Dynamic-Singer model and the 1st order Markov model as the state model of the UKF. The Dynamic-Singer model consists of the reentry ballistic missile dynamic model which is built on the earth-centered-earth-fixed (ECEF) coordinate system and the Singer model which is introduced to describe the maneuverability characteristic of the target in the reentry phase. The 1st order Markov process is used to model the mass-to-drag ratio which is an unknown parameter and usually important to the target recognizing. The presented method is easy to use for data process engineers in the practical radar system, and its performance is verified by simulations.
Identification of Six Autographa californica Multicapsid Nucleopolyhedrovirus Early Genes That Mediate Nuclear Localization of G-Actin

ABSTRACT Nuclear filamentous actin (F-actin) is required for nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) progeny production in NPV-infected, cultured lepidopteran cells. We have determined that monomeric G-actin is localized within the nuclei of host cells during the early stage of infection by Autographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV). With a library of cloned AcMNPV genomic fragments, along with a plasmid engineered to express enhanced green fluorescent protein-Bombyx mori G-actin in transient transfection experiments, we identified six AcMNPV early genes that mediate nuclear localization of G-actin in TN-368 cells: ie-1, pe38, he65, Ac004, Ac102, and Ac152. Within this subset, ie-1 and pe38 encode immediate-early transcriptional transactivators, he65 encodes a delayed-early product, and the products encoded by Ac004, Ac102, and Ac152 have not been characterized. We found that when driven by foreign promoters, ie-1, pe38, and Ac004 had to be expressed prior to Ac102 or he65 for nuclear G-actin to accumulate and that expression of Ac152 was no longer required. These results and others suggested that the product of Ac152 was a transactivator (directly or indirectly) of both Ac102 and he65 and that recruitment of G-actin to the nucleus was a temporally regulated process. Determining the functions of each of the six AcMNPV gene products with respect to our assay should provide valuable clues to basic cellular mechanisms of actin regulation and how AcMNPV infection affects them.