Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Survival of a native toxigenic isolate of Listeria monocytogenes CFR 1302 during storage of milk-based foods can be a potential cause of health risk

The ability of a native toxigenic culture of Listeria monocytogenes CFR 1302 to survive and elaborate associated toxigenic trait in ice cream and mango pulp-based lactic fermented milk was studied. The culture of L. monocytogenes inoculated at two initial levels of 4.6 and 5.6 log10 CFU/ml almost remained unaltered during storage of the food products. However, in both the milk-based products, a marginal increase in viable population was observed during 2–4 d of storage as against the initial inoculum levels. The toxigenic trait, listeriolysin “O” was detected by PCR based on species-specific hlyA primers in the two products without any step of enrichment. The positive amplification in PCR was evidenced with initial population levels of 6.3, 7.3, and 8.3 log10 CFU/ml of the respective products. In culture broth, PCR detection was positive with the lowest level of 2.3 log10 CFU/ml. The established pathogenic strain of L. monocytogenes Scott A used as a reference culture revealed almost the same behavior to that of native culture in the food products. The findings of present study bring into focus that, irrespective of low storage temperatures, there exists the potential health hazard associated with foods initially contaminated with risk population levels of L. monocytogenes.
Potential role of platelet-leukocyte aggregation in trauma-induced coagulopathy: Ex vivo findings

BACKGROUND Platelet dysfunction has been identified as an important contributor of trauma-induced coagulopathy, but the underlying mechanism still remains to be elucidated. Trauma-associated proinflammatory stimuli strongly activate leukocytes, which in turn bind activated platelets. Therefore, we investigated the role of platelet-leukocyte aggregation (PLA) as a potential feature of trauma-induced platelet dysfunction. METHODS Whole blood from 10 healthy donors was exposed to selective and collective platelet and leukocyte agonists in order to simulate differential states of activation. PLA formation and CD11b expression as a measure of leukocyte activation were determined by flow cytometry. Platelet-mediated hemostatic function was measured by thromboelastometry (ROTEM) and impedance aggregometry (Multiplate). RESULTS Activation of platelets and leukocytes was associated with diminished platelet-mediated hemostatic potential. Aggregation of platelets with monocytes rather than granulocytes resulted in a reduction of hemostatic function, as indicated by an impaired responsiveness in platelet aggregometry and a reduction of thromboelastometric maximum clot firmness. This finding was irrespective of CD11b expression and was not paralleled by a reduction of measurable platelet counts. CONCLUSION PLA formation occurs primarily between monocytes and activated platelets and is associated with impaired platelet-mediated hemostatic function. PLA formation was not paralleled by a reduction in platelet complete blood counts.
Contact system revisited: an interface between inflammation, coagulation, and innate immunity

The contact system is a plasma protease cascade initiated by factor XII (FXII) that activates the proinflammatory kallikrein‐kinin system and the procoagulant intrinsic coagulation pathway. Anionic surfaces induce FXII zymogen activation to form proteolytically active FXIIa. Bacterial surfaces also have the ability to activate contact system proteins, indicating an important role for host defense using the cooperation of the inflammatory and coagulation pathways. Recent research has shown that inorganic polyphosphate found in platelets activates FXII in vivo and can induce coagulation in pathological thrombus formation. Experimental studies have shown that interference with FXII provides thromboprotection without a therapy‐associated increase in bleeding, renewing interest in the FXIIa‐driven intrinsic pathway of coagulation as a therapeutic target. This review summarizes how the contact system acts as the cross‐road of inflammation, coagulation, and innate immunity.
The effects of the economic crisis on active citizenship among young people in Spain and what we can do about it through civic education in universities

The recent economic crisis has had a particularly serious consequence for young people, who have suffered from a delayed transition into adulthood as a result of unemployment and job insecurity and delayed independent living. This has been particularly the case for Spain and there is a concern that these experiences of unemployment may lead to social exclusion and isolation. This article argues that learning social and civic skills may well allow young people to maintain their social connectedness and self-worth by enabling them to make connections with their local community. One institution that could offer these learning opportunities, we argue, is the university. In this article we identify the possibilities and limitations for Spanish universities to promote social and civic learning. We conclude by evaluating the support that higher education can offer young people in the context of the crisis and continued austerity.
Pulmonary Hypertension in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients: Prevalence and Risk Factors

Aim To investigate the prevalence of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and the possible contributing factors for PAH in patients receiving regular continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Patients and Methods The study included 135 CAPD patients and 15 disease-free controls. Patients that had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, severe mitral or aortic valve disease, connective tissue disease, history of pulmonary embolism, left ventricular ejection fraction <50%, or chest wall or parenchymal lung disease were excluded. All patients and controls were examined using echocardiography and bioelectrical impedance analysis. PAH was defined as systolic pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) >35 mmHg at rest. Results Mean systolic PAP was higher in the CAPD patients than in the controls (19.66 ± 11.66 vs 14.27 ± 4.55 mmHg, p = 0.001). PAH was detected in 17 (12.6%) of the 135 CAPD patients. Mean systolic PAP was significantly higher in patients with PAH than in those without PAH (42.00 ± 9.13 vs 16.44 ± 7.83 mmHg, p = 0.001). Serum albumin level and ejection fraction were lower in patients with PAH than in those without PAH (p = 0.001 and 0.003 respectively). The ratio of extracellular water/total body water (ECW/TBW), which can reflect hydration status, was significantly higher in patients with PAH than in those without PAH (p = 0.008). In the PD group, no patients were hypovolemic; 51 (37.8%) of the 135 PD patients were hypervolemic and 84 (62.2%) were normovolemic. Only 3 of the 17 patients with PAH were normovolemic; the rest were hypervolemic. Mean systolic PAP was significantly higher in hypervolemic PD patients (24.57 ± 14.19 mmHg) than in normovolemic PD patients (16.68 ± 7.61 mmHg) (p = 0.001). PAP correlated with ECW/TBW (r=0.317, p = 0.001) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI; r=0.286, p = 0.001). On the other hand, it inversely correlated with serum albumin level (r = –0.281, p = 0.001), hemoglobin level (r = –0.165, p = 0.044), and ejection fraction (r = –0.263, p = 0.001). Serum albumin level, ECW/TBW, and LVMI were found in multivariate analysis to be independent risk factors for PAP. Conclusion PAH is a frequent cardiovascular complication in CAPD patients. Serum albumin level, hypervolemia, and LVMI are major risk factors for PAH. Therefore, strategies for treatment of hypervolemia, left ventricular hypertrophy, and hypoalbuminemia should be enhanced to prevent the development of PAH in CAPD patients.
Role of the Stress-activated/c-Jun NH2-terminal Protein Kinase Pathway in the Cellular Response to Adriamycin and Other Chemotherapeutic Drugs*

c-Jun NH2-terminal protein kinase (JNK), a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase family, is activated in response to many stressful stimuli including heat shock, UV irradiation, protein synthesis inhibitors, and inflammatory cytokines. In this study, we investigated whether JNK plays a role in the cellular response to different drugs commonly used in cancer chemotherapy. Treatment of human KB-3 carcinoma cells with Adriamycin resulted in a time- and dose-dependent activation of JNK of up to 40-fold. Treatment with vinblastine or etoposide (VP-16) also activated JNK, with maximum increases of 6.5- and 4.3-fold, respectively. Consistent with these findings, increased c-Jun phosphorylation was observed after drug treatment of cells. In contrast, none of the drugs significantly activated the extracellular response kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Since these drugs are transport substrates for the MDR1 gene product, P-glycoprotein, JNK was assayed in two multidrug-resistant (MDR) KB cell lines, KB-A1 and KB-V1, selected for resistance to Adriamycin and vinblastine, respectively. Relative to KB-3 cells, basal JNK activity was increased 7-fold in KB-A1 cells and 4-fold in KB-V1 cells, with no change in JNK protein expression, indicating that JNK is present in a more highly activated form in the MDR cell lines. Under conditions optimal for JNK activation, Adriamycin, vinblastine, and VP-16 all induced MDR1 mRNA expression in KB-3 cells. Our findings suggest that JNK activation is an important component of the cellular response to several structurally and functionally distinct anticancer drugs and may also play a role in the MDR phenotype.
Population Dynamics of an Acinetobacter baumannii Clonal Complex during Colonization of Patients

ABSTRACT Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as one of the leading pathogens causing hospital-acquired infection. The success of A. baumannii as a pathogen has to a large extent been attributed to its capacity to remodel its genome. Several major epidemic clonal complexes of A. baumannii spread across different health care facilities around the world, each of which contains a subset of diversified strains. However, little is known about the population dynamics during colonization of A. baumannii within hosts. Here, whole-genome sequencing was used to analyze population dynamics of A. baumannii strains isolated from a group of patients at different time points as well as from different sites of a particular patient. Seven out of nine of the sampled A. baumannii strains belonged to the international clone II (CC92 clonal complex). While the A. baumannii strains were found to be stable in three patients, there was a change of A. baumannii strains in one patient. Comparative genomic analysis revealed that the accessory genome of these strains contained a large set of virulence-encoding genes and these virulence factors might play a role in determining population dynamics. Microscale genome modification has been revealed by analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) between A. baumannii strains isolated from the same patient. Parallel evolutionary traits have been observed during genome diversification when A. baumannii colonize in different patients. Our study suggested that both antibiotic usage and host environment might impose selective forces that drive the rapid adaptive evolution in colonizing A. baumannii.
The Crystal Structure of Human Placenta Growth Factor-1 (PlGF-1), an Angiogenic Protein, at 2.0 Å Resolution*

The angiogenic molecule placenta growth factor (PlGF) is a member of the cysteine-knot family of growth factors. In this study, a mature isoform of the human PlGF protein, PlGF-1, was crystallized as a homodimer in the crystallographic asymmetric unit, and its crystal structure was elucidated at 2.0 Å resolution. The overall structure of PlGF-1 is similar to that of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) with which it shares 42% amino acid sequence identity. Based on structural and biochemical data, we have mapped several important residues on the PlGF-1 molecule that are involved in recognition of the fms-like tyrosine kinase receptor (Flt-1, also known as VEGFR-1). We propose a model for the association of PlGF-1 and Flt-1 domain 2 with precise shape complementarity, consider the relevance of this assembly for PlGF-1 signal transduction, and provide a structural basis for altered specificity of this molecule.
Sharing Ledgers for Sharing Economies: An Exploration of Mutual Distributed Ledgers (Aka Blockchain Technology)

Mutual distributed ledgers (MDLs) have the potential to transform the way people and organizations handle identity, transaction and debt information. MDL technology provides an electronic public transaction record of integrity without central ownership. The ability to have a globally available, verifiable and untamperable source of data provides anyone wishing to provide trusted third-party services, i.e., most financial services firms, the ability to do so cheaply and robustly. Blockchain technology is a form of MDL. The InterChainZ project was a consortium research project to share learning on MDLs during the summer of 2015. The study found that InterChainZ showcased several distributed ledger configurations and numerous variants, exploring how they might work in a set of agreed “use cases. ” The outputs were a series of functioning, interlinked MDLs along with software, explanatory materials and website information. The research consortium concluded that MDLs incorporating trusted third parties for some functions had significant potential in financial services, such as know-your-customer (KYC), anti- money laundering (AML), insurance, credit and wholesale financial services.
Incremental algorithm for detecting community structure in dynamic networks

Community structure is an important property of networks. Being able to identify communities can provide invaluable help in exploiting and understanding both social and non-social networks. Several algorithms have been developed up till now. However all these algorithms can work well only with small or moderate networks with vertexes of order 10/sup 4/. Additionally, all existing algorithms are off-line and can not work well with highly dynamic networks such as Web, in which Web pages are updated frequently every day. When the already clustered network is updated, the entire network including original and incremental parts has to be recalculated, even only slight changes involved. To address this problem we develop an incremental algorithm which allows for detecting community structure in large-scale and dynamic networks. Based on the community structure it detect previously our algorithm takes little time to reclassify the entire network including both original and incremental parts. Furthermore, our algorithm is faster than most existing algorithms such as Girvan and Newman's algorithm and its improved versions. Also our algorithm can help to visualize these community structures in network and provide a new approach to research the evolving process of dynamic networks.
Secondary Deterioration of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient After 1-Hour Transient Focal Cerebral Ischemia in Rats

Recent investigations on transient focal cerebral ischemia suggested recovery of energy metabolism during early reperfusion, but followed by secondary energy failure. As disturbances of energy metabolism are reflected by changes of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of water, the aim of the current study was to follow the dynamics of the ADC during 1 hour of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and 10 hours of reperfusion. The right MCA was occluded in male Wistar rats inside the magnet using a remotely controlled thread occlusion model. Diffusion-, perfusion-, and T2-weighted images were performed repetitively, and ADC, perfusion, and T2maps were calculated and normalized to the respective preischemic value. The lesion volume at each time point was defined by ADC < 80% of control. At the end of 1-hour MCAO the hemispheric lesion volume was 22.3 ± 9.0%; it decreased to 6.4 ± 5.7% in the first 2 hours of reperfusion (P < 0.01), but then increased again, and by the end of 10 hours of reperfusion reached 17.3 ± 9.3%. The mean relative ADC in the end ischemic lesion volume significantly improved within 2 hours of reperfusion (from 65.7 ± 1.2% to 90.1 ± 6.7% of control), but later declined and decreased to 75.4 ± 7.3% of control by the end of the experiment. Pixels with secondary deterioration of ADC showed a continuous increase of T2value during the first 2 hours of reperfusion in spite of ADC improvement, indicating improving cytotoxic, but generation of vasogenic edema during early reperfusion. A significant decrease of the perfusion level was not observed during 10 hours of recirculation. The authors conclude that the improvement of ADC in the early phase of reperfusion may be followed by secondary deterioration that was not caused by delayed hypoperfusion.
Modelling and forecasting money demand: divide and conquer

The literature on money demand suggests several specification forms of empirical functions that better describe observed data on money in circulation. In a first stage, we select the best long-run model specification for a money demand function at the aggregate level based on forecast performance. On a second stage we divide the money in circulation by denomination and argue that determinants of a low-level denomination is different than those of a high-level. We then estimate the best model specification for each denomination and aggregate each forecast in order to have an aggregate proyection. We finally compare forecasts between these strategies. Our results indicate that the bottom-up approach has a better performance than the traditional view of directly forecasting the aggregate.
Australia's agricultural future: the social and political context

[Extract] Agriculture has long been central to narratives about Australian identity and prosperity; the wellbeing of farmers seen as crucial to the wellbeing of all. Paradoxically, agriculture has also long been subject fears of social and economic crises undermining the ability of farmers to maintain productivity growth and to care for rural environments and communities. As we face the challenges of the 21st Century we must ask what we expect of agriculture and how we will support Australian farmers to deliver on these expectations. This report examines: • Social and economic stressors in the Australian farm sector with the potential to undermine human capital and, in turn, agricultural productivity. • The politics of food and agriculture both within, and outside, the formal political sphere. This involves consideration of both national and global politics, on the one hand, and of the micropolitics of consumption and the vertical coordination of agricultural value chains, on the other. • Possible futures and the infrastructure, technology, farm business models and governance systems required to envision and realize positive futures.
Training Family Medicine Residents to Perform Home Visits: A CERA Survey.

BACKGROUND Home visits have been shown to improve quality of care, save money, and improve outcomes. Primary care physicians are in an ideal position to provide these visits; of note, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education no longer requires home visits as a component of family medicine residency training. OBJECTIVE To investigate changes in home visit numbers and expectations, attitudes, and approaches to training among family medicine residency program directors. METHODS This research used the Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA) national survey of family medicine program directors in 2015. Questions addressed home visit practices, teaching and evaluation methods, common types of patient and visit categories, and barriers. RESULTS There were 252 responses from 455 possible respondents, representing a response rate of 55%. At most programs, residents performed 2 to 5 home visits by graduation in both 2014 (69% of programs, 174 of 252) and 2015 (68%, 172 of 252). The vast majority (68%, 172 of 252) of program directors expect less than one-third of their graduates to provide home visits after graduation. Scheduling difficulties, lack of faculty time, and lack of resident time were the top 3 barriers to residents performing home visits. CONCLUSIONS There appeared to be no decline in resident-performed home visits in family medicine residencies 1 year after they were no longer required. Family medicine program directors may recognize the value of home visits despite a lack of few formal curricula.
The nACHR4 594C/T polymorphism in Alzheimer disease.

Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia with complex etiology and multifactorial origin. Although several neurochemical deficits have been described in AD patients, explanation of the nature of the cognitive disturbance is focused on the "cholinergic hypothesis. " The neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (neuronal nAChR) belongs to the superfamily of ionic channel activated by ligand. This paper presents a population-based population association study, testing the hypothesis that variants of the nAChR gene confer genetic susceptibility to AD. The authors analyzed two cohorts constituted by 60 controls and 80 AD patients in which significant increase of 594T polymorphism in patients affected by AD versus controls was found. However, further studies are necessary to confirm this polymorphism trend and to establish the polymorphism functionality and its correlation with behavioral and cognitive deficit.
Single methylation of 23S rRNA triggers late steps of 50S ribosomal subunit assembly

Significance Ribosome biogenesis requires a number of assembly factors. However, the exact mechanism of this process remains largely unknown. We could successfully reconstitute the 50S subunit from the 45S precursor by a 2′-O-methylation of U2552 (Um2552) mediated by rRNA methyltransferase RlmE, in the presence of the wash fraction from crude ribosomes. To our knowledge, this experiment is the first demonstration of enzymatic formation of a ribosomal subunit in vitro from its precursor via the action of an assembly factor. Mechanistic studies revealed that RlmE-mediated Um2552 formation promotes interdomain interactions of 23S rRNA, in concert with the incorporation of L36, triggering late steps of 50S subunit assembly. RlmE and Um2552 are conserved in other organisms, including human, indicating the functional importance of this process in ribosome biogenesis. Ribosome biogenesis requires multiple assembly factors. In Escherichia coli, deletion of RlmE, the methyltransferase responsible for the 2′-O-methyluridine modification at position 2552 (Um2552) in helix 92 of the 23S rRNA, results in slow growth and accumulation of the 45S particle. We demonstrate that the 45S particle that accumulates in ΔrlmE is a genuine precursor that can be assembled into the 50S subunit. Indeed, 50S formation from the 45S precursor could be promoted by RlmE-mediated Um2552 formation in vitro. Ribosomal protein L36 (encoded by rpmJ) was completely absent from the 45S precursor in ΔrlmE, and we observed a strong genetic interaction between rlmE and rpmJ. Structural probing of 23S rRNA and high-salt stripping of 45S components revealed that RlmE-mediated methylation promotes interdomain interactions via the association between helices 92 and 71, stabilized by the single 2′-O-methylation of Um2552, in concert with the incorporation of L36, triggering late steps of 50S subunit assembly.