A randomized controlled trial of filgrastim as an adjunct to antibiotics for treatment of hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia. CAP Study Group

OBJECTIVE: The aims of the study were to follow prospectively the intrasubject progression of idiopathic PD in a cohort of patients using levodopa kinetic-dynamic modeling and to assess the relation between the rate of progression of the disease and patients' different clinical characteristics. METHODS: Thirty-four patients (Hoehn and Yahr stages 1 to 3) enrolled in the longitudinal follow-up. Each patient was examined at 1-year intervals over a median 4 years by a standardized oral levodopa test. The primary measure outcome was the computed half-life of levodopa in the "effect compartment" (t1/2eq), a proposed indicator of nigrostriatal dopaminergic functionality and integrity. RESULTS: Values of levodopa t1/2eq correlated negatively with severity of symptoms (r = -0.652, p < 0.0001) and decreased over the years together with a worsening of patients' clinical stage (p < 0.001). The rate of reduction in drug t1/2eq was more rapid in patients at the earlier stages of the disease compared with the more advanced ones, falling from a median annual reduction of 37 minutes in patients at initial Hoehn and Yahr stage 1 to 6.5 minutes in stage 3 patients (p < 0.001). Patients without tremor at onset, otherwise comparable to patients with tremor for baseline values of levodopa t1/2eq, disease severity, duration, and daily dose of levodopa, tended to show a higher rate of reduction in levodopa t1/2eq than patients with tremor. Overall, patients' annual reduction in levodopa t1/2eq over baseline values averaged 17+/-9%. CONCLUSIONS: These results are in keeping with PET findings on the objective assessment of idiopathic parkinsonism evolution, and they support the suggestion that levodopa pharmacodynamic modeling may offer a practical clinical tool to assess indirectly the functional integrity of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system over time in parkinsonian patients.     

A comparative empirical study on social media sentiment analysis over various genres and languages

People express their opinions about things like products, celebrities and services using social media channels. The analysis of these textual contents for sentiments is a gold mine for marketing experts as well as for research in humanities, thus automatic sentiment analysis is a popular area of applied artificial intelligence. The chief objective of this paper is to investigate automatic sentiment analysis on social media contents over various text sources and languages. The comparative findings of the investigation may give useful insights to artificial intelligence researchers who develop sentiment analyzers for a new textual source. To achieve this, we describe supervised machine learning based systems which perform sentiment analysis and we comparatively evaluate them on seven publicly available English and Hungarian databases, which contain text documents taken from Twitter and product review sites. We discuss the differences among these text genres and languages in terms of document- and target-level sentiment analysis.     

Incorporation of [1-14C] acetate into fatty acids of the crustaceansDaphnia magna andCyclops strenus in relation to temperature

Daphnia magna andCyclops strenus were maintained in aquaria containing sodium [1-¹⁴C] acetate and the effect of temperature on labeling of their lipids was investigated. Incorporation of radioactivity in total lipids was slowed by a factor of 4 in cold-exposed (5C) specimens compared to those incubated at 25 C. There was no significant difference in the distribution of label in the lipid classes of animals incubated at the two extreme temperatures. Decrease of the temperature from 25 to 5 C brought about a considerable reduction in the formation of palmitic and stearic acids and an increase in labeling of monounsaturated (18∶1) fatty acids inD. magna. Docosapolyenoic acids were absent from lipids of this crustacean.C. strenus directed a higher proportion of radioactivity into both oleic and docosahexaenoic acids upon cold exposure. In response to decrease of the temperature,D. magna formed a less unsaturated fatty acid population, as judged from dpm ratios of total saturated to total unsaturated fatty acids, thanC. strenus. Inability to form and accumulate docosapolyenoic fatty acids byD. magna might be related to their poor survival at reduced temperatures.     

Helium Conditioning Increases Cardiac Fibroblast Migration Which Effect Is Not Propagated via Soluble Factors or Extracellular Vesicles

Helium inhalation induces cardioprotection against ischemia/reperfusion injury, the cellular mechanism of which remains not fully elucidated. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are cell-derived, nano-sized membrane vesicles which play a role in cardioprotective mechanisms, but their function in helium conditioning (HeC) has not been studied so far. We hypothesized that HeC induces fibroblast-mediated cardioprotection via EVs. We isolated neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts (NRCFs) and exposed them to glucose deprivation and HeC rendered by four cycles of 95% helium + 5% CO₂ for 1 h, followed by 1 h under normoxic condition. After 40 h of HeC, NRCF activation was analyzed with a Western blot (WB) and migration assay. From the cell supernatant, medium extracellular vesicles (mEVs) were isolated with differential centrifugation and analyzed with WB and nanoparticle tracking analysis. The supernatant from HeC-treated NRCFs was transferred to naïve NRCFs or immortalized human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC-TERT2), and a migration and angiogenesis assay was performed. We found that HeC accelerated the migration of NRCFs and did not increase the expression of fibroblast activation markers. HeC tended to decrease mEV secretion of NRCFs, but the supernatant of HeC or the control NRCFs did not accelerate the migration of naïve NRCFs or affect the angiogenic potential of HUVEC-TERT2. In conclusion, HeC may contribute to cardioprotection by increasing fibroblast migration but not by releasing protective mEVs or soluble factors from cardiac fibroblasts.     

Epigenetic Regulation of Endothelial Dysfunction and Inflammation in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Once perceived as a disorder treated by vasodilation, pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) has emerged as a pulmonary vascular disease with severe endothelial cell dysfunction. In the absence of a cure, many studies seek to understand the detailed mechanisms of EC regulation to potentially create more therapeutic options for PAH. Endothelial dysfunction is characterized by complex phenotypic changes including unchecked proliferation, apoptosis-resistance, enhanced inflammatory signaling and metabolic reprogramming. Recent studies have highlighted the role of epigenetic modifications leading to pro-inflammatory response pathways, endothelial dysfunction, and the progression of PAH. This review summarizes the existing literature on epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs, which can lead to aberrant endothelial function. Our goal is to develop a conceptual framework for immune dysregulation and epigenetic changes in endothelial cells in the context of PAH. These studies as well as others may lead to advances in therapeutics to treat this devastating disease.     

Comparison of static and step-pulsed ultra-high pressure on the microbial stability of fresh cut pineapple

Fresh cut pineapple cubes inoculated with 10^4–5 CFU g⁻¹ Saccharomyces cerevisiae were packed in heat-sealed polyethylene pouches and subjected at ambient temperature to static and step-pulsed ultra-high pressure (UHP) treatments. Static treatments included 100 and 9000 s at 270 MPa and 9000 s at 340 MPa. Step-pulsed pressure treatments included 100, 300 and 600 s at 0–270 MPa using 0·5-s and 10-s pulses. Inoculated treated and untreated samples were held at 4°C for 60 days. Bacteria and yeast counts were determined using plate count agar and yeast extract peptone dextrose agar, respectively. Static treatment at 270 and 340 MPa for 9000 s resulted in <240 CFU g⁻¹ yeast and bacteria counts for up to 60 days. Step-pulsed pressure treatments for 100 s at 0–270 MPa using 0·5-s (200 pulses) and 10-s pulses (10 pulses) were more effective than a 100-s static 270-MPa treatment. Step-pulsed pressure treatments (300 and 600 s) using 0·5-s pulses (600 and 1200 pulses) and 10-s pulses (30 and 60 pulses) were as effective as 9000-s static pressure treatments at 270 and 340 MPa. This storage study confirmed the superiority of step-pulsed over static pressure treatments. © 1998 SCI.     

Key to Life: Physiological Role and Clinical Implications of Progesterone

The most recent studies of progesterone research provide remarkable insights into the physiological role and clinical importance of this hormone. Although the name progesterone itself means “promoting gestation”, this steroid hormone is far more than a gestational agent. Progesterone is recognized as a key physiological component of not only the menstrual cycle and pregnancy but also as an essential steroidogenic precursor of other gonadal and non-gonadal hormones such as aldosterone, cortisol, estradiol, and testosterone. Based on current findings, progesterone and novel progesterone-based drugs have many important functions, including contraception, treatment of dysfunctional uterine bleeding, immune response, and prevention of cancer. Considering the above, reproduction and life are not possible without progesterone; thus, a better understanding of this essential molecule could enable safe and effective use of this hormone in many clinical conditions.     

Grain velocity distribution in a mixed flow dryer

For corn drying one of the most popular possibilities in Europe is to use a mixed flow dryer. Large differences in the vertical grain particle velocity in this type of dryers are causing differences in the residence time. Hence, uneven drying occurs causing under-drying or over-drying of grain portions. To investigate the influences of the dryer walls and the air ducts on the particle velocity distribution experiments have been carried out in industrial and laboratory sized dryers and the measurements were compared with discrete element models. The particle flow velocity distribution between the air ducts is modelled analytically based on arching hypothesis. Using discrete element models the effects of different possible constructional modifications causing more even vertical grain particle velocity distribution were analyzed.     

Cluster analysis for occupant-behavior based electricity load patterns in buildings: A case study in Shanghai residences

In building performance simulation, occupant behavior contributes to large uncertainties, which often lead to considerable discrepancies between actual energy consumption and simulation results. This paper aims to extract occupant-behavior related electricity load patterns using classical K-means clustering approach at the initial investigation stage. Smart-metering data from a case study in Shanghai, China, was used for the load pattern analysis. The electricity load patterns of occupants were examined on a daily/weekly/seasonal basis. According to their load patterns, occupants were categorized as (a) white-collar workers, (b) poor or older families and (c) rich or young families. The daily patterns indicated that electricity use was much more random and fluctuated over a wide range. Most households of the monitored communities consumed relatively-low electricity; the characteristic double peak with higher level of consumption in the morning and evening were only apparent in a relatively small subset of residents (mostly white-collar workers). The weekly analysis found that significant load shifting towards weekend days occurred in the poor or old family group. The electricity saving potential was greatest in the white-collar workers and the rich or young family groups. This study concludes with recommendations to stakeholders utilizing our load profiling results. The research provides a rare insight into the electricity-use-related occupant behaviors of Shanghai residents through the case study of two communities. The findings of the study are also presented in a meaningful way so that they can directly aid the decision-making of governments and other stakeholders interested in energy efficiency. The research results are also relevant to the building energy simulation community as they are derived from observations, and thus can have the potential to improve the efficiency and accuracy of numerical simulation results.