Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrin α3β1 Binding to Fibronectin Is Dependent on the Ninth Type III Repeat*

Background: The fibronectin (Fn) ninth type III repeat can modulate integrin binding and resulting cell spreading. Results: Mutations within the Fn integrin binding domains affect integrin α3β1 binding. Conclusion: Integrin α3β1-fibronectin binding depends on the presence and spacing of the RGD and synergy sites within Fn. Significance: α3β1-fibronectin binding may modulate epithelial cell wound healing responses. Fibronectin (Fn) is a promiscuous ligand for numerous cell adhesion receptors or integrins. The vast majority of Fn-integrin interactions are mediated through the Fn Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) motif located within the tenth type III repeat. In the case of integrins αIIbβ3 and α5β1, the integrin binds RGD and the synergy site (PHSRN) located within the adjacent ninth type III repeat. Prior work has shown that these synergy-dependent integrins are exquisitely sensitive to perturbations in the Fn integrin binding domain conformation. Our own prior studies of epithelial cell responses to recombinant fragments of the Fn integrin binding domain led us to hypothesize that integrin α3β1 binding may also be modulated by the synergy site. To explore this hypothesis, we created a variety of recombinant variants of the Fn integrin binding domain: (i) a previously reported (Leu → Pro) stabilizing mutant (FnIII9′10), (ii) an Arg to Ala synergy site mutation (FnIII9R→A10), (iii) a two-Gly (FnIII92G10) insertion, and (iv) a four-Gly (FNIII94G10) insertion in the interdomain linker region and used surface plasmon resonance to determine binding kinetics of integrin α3β1 to the Fn fragments. Integrin α3β1 had the highest affinity for FnIII9′10 and FnIII92G10. Mutation within the synergy site decreased integrin α3β1 binding 17-fold, and the four-Gly insertion decreased binding 39-fold compared with FnIII9′10. Cell attachment studies demonstrate that α3β1-mediated epithelial cell binding is greater on FnIII9′10 compared with the other fragments. These studies suggest that the presence and spacing of the RGD and synergy sites modulate integrin α3β1 binding to Fn.
On the Phenomenology of the Perforating Vein of the Elbow

The perforating veins, as the name suggests, are the veins that perforate the muscular aponeuroses ensuring communication between the superficial and the deep veins. Located at the bend of the elbow, almost constantly, there is a vein, named perforating vein of the elbow, which is of great interest to the nephrologist who is responsible for the management of vascular access for hemodialysis (HD). It represents, in fact, because of its intrinsic characteristics and topographical reasons, a valuable resource for the creation of a vascular access for HD, especially in obese patients, elderly patients, diabetics, and patients affected by peripheral vasculopathy. Arterio‐venous fistulae (AVF) constructed with the perforating vein of the elbow are relatively easy to perform, have an excellent patency rate, a low incidence of early thrombosis, adequate flows, and a low incidence of the steal syndrome. In other types of AVFs, the perforating vein of the elbow subtracts flow to the superficial veins slowing or preventing their full maturation, and can become a problem in measuring the blood flow of the AVF. But still, its presence can maintain patent a fistula in case of poor compliance of the superficial veins, while awaiting for interventional procedures able to accelerate a subsequent maturation. This review intends to explore the role that the perforating vein of the elbow plays in the physiology and pathology of the AVF, in relation to the issues that most frequently occur in clinical practice.
Association between virulence profile and fluoroquinolone resistance in Escherichia coli isolated from dogs and cats in China.

INTRODUCTION Escherichia coli is not only a commensal organism in humans and animals, but also a causative agent of diarrhea and extraintestinal infections. Information about the relationship between population structure, virulence gene profiles, and fluoroquinolone resistance of E. coli in dogs and cats in China is limited. METHODOLOGY A total of 174 pathogenic and commensal E. coli isolates were evaluated in terms of phylogenetic group, virulence gene profile, sequence types (STs), and fluoroquinolone susceptibility. RESULTS A total of 46.6% of isolates belonged to phylogenetic group B2. Isolates displayed high resistance to tetracycline (82.2%), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (73.6%), gentamicin (62.1%), and enrofloxacin (60.9%). fimH (81.6%) was the most prevalent virulence gene, and 83.9% of isolates contained one or more investigated virulence genes. The majority of the investigated virulence genes were more prevalent in fluoroquinolone-susceptible isolates and pathogenic isolates. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) showed that E. coli isolates analyzed were assigned to 65 STs. Among of them, pathogenic-resistant and pathogenic-susceptible isolates had 44 and 10 STs, respectively, while there were 8 and 3 STs in the commensal resistant and susceptible isolates, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Phylogenetic group B2 was the dominant group, accounting for 46.6% of the isolates. Pathogenic isolates and fluoroquinolone-susceptible isolates possessed more virulence genes. Pathogenic isolates and fluoroquinolone-resistant isolates exhibited high population diversity, and pandemic clone ST131 appeared in 9.8% of isolates.
Translational Mini‐Review Series on the Immunogenetics of Gut Disease: Immunogenetics of coeliac disease

Recent advances in immunological and genetic research in coeliac disease provide new and complementary insights into the immune response driving this chronic intestinal inflammatory disorder. Both approaches confirm the central importance of T cell‐mediated immune responses to disease pathogenesis and have further begun to highlight other relevant components of the mucosal immune system, including innate immunity and the control of lymphocyte trafficking to the mucosa. In the last year, the first genome wide association study in celiac disease led to the identification of multiple new risk variants. These risk regions implicate genes involved in the immune system. Overlap with autoimmune diseases is striking with several of these regions being shown to confer susceptibility to other chronic immune‐mediated diseases, particularly type 1 diabetes.
A Soldier Suffering from PTSD, Treated by Controlled Stress Exposition Using Virtual Reality and Behavioral Training

This article presents a case of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a 30-year-old soldier of the Polish Military Contingent in Iraq who narrowly escaped death three times. The first time occurred when during a change of guard he was unintentionally shot by his colleague. The projectile penetrated the victim's helmet, slid along its internal shell curvature, and left the shell causing only a scratch on the scalp skin. Another traumatic event was experienced by the soldier a month after the first incident. As a guard of honor, he was "shot" in the same rear head area with a cap of a cream tube, inadvertently stepped on by a colleague. The third event occurred a couple of days later, during a rocket attack on the Diwaniyah base. After this incident the soldier was evacuated to the Clinic of Psychiatry and Combat Stress in Warsaw. Multiform PTSDs that developed in this soldier are described in this work. The course of his comprehensive therapy during his two stays, with a total duration of 8 months, in the clinic is discussed. Also, a detailed description of the therapy controlled exposition to combat stressors in virtual reality (VR), supplemented with behavioral training consisting of desensitization of an aversive reaction to contact with a weapon at a shooting range is presented. The comprehensive treatment activities resulted in full remission of the PTSD symptoms. The soldier continues his service in a logistic support unit.
Mammalian target of rapamycin inhibition as therapy for hematologic malignancies

Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Inhibition as Therapy for Hematologic Malignancies Panwalkar and colleagues present a very complete overview on the evolving role of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors in the treatment of both hematologic and nonhematologic malignancies. We wish to clarify selected statements made by the authors. We would like to point out that all mTOR inhibitors associate with an immunophilin molecule before their interaction with mTOR. Although there are numerous immunophilins, rapamycin and its analogs bind to FKBP12. It is the rapamycin-FKBP12 complex that, in turn, binds to mTOR. ‘FKBP12’ is not an alternative name for mTOR. CCI-779, a novel mTOR inhibitor, is not Sirolimus, as the authors suggest. Sirolimus is the chemical name assigned to rapamycin (Rapamune; Wyeth, Madison, NJ). CCI-779 is the soluble esterified form of sirolimus that currently is under development.
Preparation Ferrule Design Effect on Endocrown Failure Resistance

PURPOSE To evaluate the effect of preparation ferrule inclusion with fracture resistance of mandibular molar endocrowns. MATERIALS AND METHODS Recently extracted mandibular third molars were randomly divided into 3 groups (n = 12) with the coronal tooth structure removed perpendicular to the root long axis approximately 2 mm above the cemento-enamel junction with a slow-speed diamond saw. The pulp chamber was exposed using a diamond bur in a high-speed handpiece with pulpal remnants removed and canals instrumented using endodontic hand instruments. The chamber floor was restored using a resin core material with a two-step, self-etch adhesive and photopolymerized with a visible light-curing unit to create a 2 mm endocrown preparation pulp chamber extension. One and two millimeter ferrule height groups were prepared using a diamond bur in a high-speed handpiece following CAD/CAM guidelines. Completed preparation surface area was determined using a digital measuring microscope. Scanned preparations were restored with lithium disilicate restorations with a self-adhesive resin luting agent. All manufacturer recommendations were followed. Specimens were stored at 37°C/98% humidity and tested to failure after 24 hours at a 45° angle to the tooth long axis using a universal testing machine. Failure load was converted to MPa using the available bonding surface area with mean data analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis/Dunn (p = 0.05). RESULTS Calculated failure stress found no difference in failure resistance among the three groups; however, failure load results identified that the endocrown preparations without ferrule had significantly lower fracture load resistance. Failure mode analysis identified that all preparations demonstrated a high number of catastrophic failures. CONCLUSIONS Under the conditions of this study, ferrule-containing endocrown preparations demonstrated significantly greater failure loads than standard endocrown restorations; however, calculated failure stress based on available surface area for adhesive bonding found no difference between the groups. Lower instances of catastrophic failure were observed with the endocrown preparations containing 1 mm of preparation ferrule design; however, regardless of the presence of ferrule, this study found that all endocrown restorations suffered a high proportion of catastrophic failures but at loads greater than reported under normal masticatory function.
Anti-tumor necrosis factor treatment restores the gut barrier in Crohn's disease

OBJECTIVES:A primary defect of the tight junctions and, hence, increased intestinal epithelial permeability has been proposed as a basic pathogenic event in Crohn's disease. Challenge of the mucosal immune system by the commensal gut flora would then result in chronic inflammation. Alternatively, increased permeability could be the result of inflammation. Our aim was to study intestinal permeability in refractory Crohn's disease before and after treatment with monoclonal chimeric antibodies directed against tumor necrosis factor (TNF) to investigate whether the abnormal permeability persists after control of inflammation.METHODS:Twenty-three patients with active Crohn's disease were evaluated before and 4 wk after a single infusion of 5 mg/kg infliximab. Intestinal permeability was studied by measurement of urinary excretion of 51Cr-EDTA after oral intake.RESULTS:The increased permeation of 51Cr-EDTA through the small intestine (1.63% interquartile range [IQR] 1.06–2.07) and the overall permeation (3.27% IQR 2.40–4.38) before therapy decreased significantly after infliximab infusion to values (1.04% IQR 0.74–1.54 and 2.42% IQR 2.03–2.80, respectively) in the range of those found in normal volunteers (1.12% IQR 0.85–1.58 and 2.28% IQR 1.88–2.86, respectively). CONCLUSION:Inhibiting the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor dramatically reduces gut inflammation and largely restores the gut barrier in Crohn's disease. Our data confirm the central role of TNF in gut barrier modulation in inflammatory conditions in vivo.
Complete Loss and Thermal Model of Power Semiconductors Including Device Rating Information

Thermal loading of power devices are closely related to the reliability performance of the whole converter system. The electrical loading and device rating are both important factors that determine the loss and thermal behaviors of power semiconductor devices. In the existing loss and thermal models, only the electrical loadings are focused and treated as design variables, while the device rating is normally predefined by experience with limited design flexibility. Consequently, a more complete loss and thermal model is proposed in this paper, which takes into account not only the electrical loading but also the device rating as input variables. The quantified correlation between the power loss, thermal impedance, and silicon area of insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is mathematically established. By this new modeling approach, all factors that have impacts to the loss and thermal profiles of the power devices can accurately be mapped, enabling more design freedom to optimize the efficiency and thermal loading of the power converter. The proposed model can be further improved by experimental tests, and it is well agreed by both circuit and finite element method (FEM) simulation results.
Towards Robust Quantum Computation

Quantum computation is a subject of much theoretical promise, but has not been realized in large scale, despite the discovery of fault-tolerant procedures to overcome decoherence. Part of the reason is that the theoretically modest requirements still present daunting experimental challenges. The goal of this Dissertation is to reduce various resources required for robust quantum computation, focusing on quantum error correcting codes and solution NMR quantum computation. A variety of techniques have been developed, including high rate quantum codes for amplitude damping, relaxed criteria for quantum error correction, systematic construction of fault-tolerant gates, recipes for quantum process tomography, techniques in bulk thermal state computation, and efficient decoupling techniques to implement selective coupled logic gates. A detailed experimental study of a quantum error correcting code in NMR is also presented. The Dissertation clarifies and extends results previously reported in quant-ph/9610043, quant-ph/9704002, quant-ph/9811068, quant-ph/9904100, quant-ph/9906112, quant-ph/0002039. Additionally, a procedure for quantum process tomography using maximally entangled states, and a review on NMR quantum computation are included.
Depressive symptoms after breast cancer surgery: Relationships with global, cancer‐related, and life event stress

For women with breast cancer, rates of depression are the third highest of any cancer diagnostic group. Stress, defined as life events or perceptions of stress, is associated with depressive symptoms. However, little is known about the relationships between different types of stress and these symptoms in women with breast cancer. This relationship was tested in 210 women assessed after initial surgical treatment for regional breast cancer. Using Hierarchical Multiple Regression, three types of stress were examined: the occurrence of five stressful life events in the year prior to cancer diagnosis, perceptions of global stress, and perceptions of cancer‐related traumatic stress. Other potentially relevant correlates of depressive symptoms were also examined, including the personality trait neuroticism, sociodemographics, and disease/treatment characteristics. Fifty‐three percent of the variance in depressive symptoms was accounted for by three stress variables (perceptions of global and cancer‐related traumatic stress and the life event‐major financial difficulty) and two control variables (neuroticism and racial group). Specifically, global stress perceptions coupled with cancer‐related intrusive thoughts and financial concerns along with the tendency towards negativity (neuroticism) may conspire to heighten a women's risk for depressive symptoms. Assessing multiple sources of stress would improve our ability to identify women ‘at risk’ for depressive symptoms and provide appropriate intervention. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A woman's heart

Adjuvant therapy in postmenopausal women with breast cancer may contribute to the expression of underlying cardiovascular disease or expose the heart to additional toxicities. Tamoxifen remains an important component of endocrine therapy for breast cancer, although major clinical trials of the aromatase inhibitors (AIs) anastrozole, letrozole, and exemestane suggest that these agents are more effective and better tolerated alternatives to tamoxifen. The AIs inhibit the conversion of androgens to estrogen in postmenopausal women; consequently, their mechanism of action differs from that of tamoxifen. Accordingly, although it has been observed that tamoxifen has some favorable effects on cardiovascular risk, such as reducing total cholesterol levels, because of its partial estrogen‐agonist properties, no such effects exist for the AIs. Some studies, particularly those that compare the AIs with tamoxifen, have suggested a less favorable impact of adjuvant AI therapy on cardiovascular risk. Comorbid conditions, including cardiovascular disease, emerge as competing causes of death as women with breast cancer continue to live longer, and the potential impact of adjuvant therapies on cardiovascular risk becomes an increasingly important consideration for clinicians. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.
Key Strategies for Physical Activity Interventions Among Older Women: Process Evaluation of a Clinical Trial

Purpose: To describe strategies salient to physical activity (PA) initiation and maintenance among older women who participated in a clinical trial that tested a PA intervention. Design: A descriptive phenomenological, qualitative design for a process evaluation of a successful clinical trial. Setting: Senior primary care clinics associated with a large medical center in a southern state. Participants: A total of 20 older women at least 60 years without advanced frailty. Method: Purposive sampling using maximum variation technique was used to select participants. A semi-structured interview guide facilitated individual, in-depth interviews lasting 45 to 90 minutes. Narratives were analyzed using content analysis with constant comparison technique to summarize the data. Results: Eight African American and 12 white older women with a mean age of 68 from control and intervention arms participated. Five central themes described salient strategies to promote and maintain PA: sensed benefits, motivation, and self-efficacy were central to success, while a reduction in barriers was essential before maintaining PA. The last theme, a life-changing awareness indicated that PA had become a shared value. An explanatory model describing interrelationships is presented. Conclusions: This study suggests key strategies to include in PA interventions with older women. An unexpected finding was that PA became a shared value, an action promoted by the Culture of Health initiative to improve population health and well-being.
Incidence and types of childhood exotropia: a population-based study.

OBJECTIVE To determine the incidence and types of childhood exotropia in a defined population. DESIGN Retrospective, population-based cohort. PARTICIPANTS All pediatric (<19 years old) residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota diagnosed with an exodeviation (>or=10 prism diopters) from January 1, 1985 through December 31, 1994. METHODS The medical records of all potential patients identified by the resources of the Rochester Epidemiology Project were reviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Incidence and types of childhood exotropia. RESULTS Two hundred five cases of childhood exotropia were identified during the 10-year period, yielding an annual age- and gender-adjusted incidence of 64.1 (95% confidence interval: 55.2-72.9)/100,000 patients younger than 19 years. This rate corresponds to a prevalence of approximately 1.0% of all children younger than 11 years, with a significant decrease in the incidence during the second decade of life (P<0.001). Eighty-six percent of the children had intermittent exotropia, convergence insufficiency, or an exotropia in the setting of an abnormal central nervous system. CONCLUSIONS The incidence of childhood exotropia from this population-based study is comparable to the prevalence rates in prior reports. Exotropia is most prevalent during the first decade of life, with intermittent exotropia and convergence insufficiency occurring most frequently.
Implanted Telemetry Transmitters Alter the Noradrenergic Response in Vas Deferens from Mice

Implantable telemetry devices are widely used in experimental animals. We investigated the potential for such implants to induce stress in mice. Changes in body weight and post-mortem responses of the vas deferens to noradrenaline (as a measure of sympathetic activation) were measured 28 days after transmitter implantation. We examined the influence of the anaesthetic used during implantation (pentobarbitone or fentanyl/fluanisone/midazolam), the strain (Balb/c and CBA) and the body weight at the time of implantation (small = 19–24g; large = 27–30g). A sham-implantation procedure did not significantly affect the responses to noradrenaline. When telemetry transmitters were implanted in small mice of both strains, there was a significant increase in the maximum response to noradrenaline compared to that obtained in tissues from large mice. The anaesthetic used during implantation did not affect the responses to noradrenaline obtained post mortem. Mice of both strains had a significant post-operative weight loss and this was maintained for the experimental period. The results show that implantation of telemetry transmitters has a significant impact in mice that weigh < 25g.