Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Remodeling of Afferent Arterioles From Mice With Oxidative Stress Does Not Account for Increased Contractility but Does Limit Excessive Wall Stress

Because superoxide dismutase (SOD) knockout enhances arteriolar remodeling and contractility, we hypothesized that remodeling enhances contractility. In the isolated and perfused renal afferent arterioles from SOD wild type (+/+) and gene-deleted mice, contractility was assessed from reductions in luminal diameter with perfusion pressure from 40 to 80 mm Hg (myogenic responses) or angiotensin II (10–6 mol/L), remodeling from media:lumen area ratio, superoxide (O2·−) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) from fluorescence microscopy, and wall stress from wall tension/wall thickness. Compared with +/+ strains, arterioles from SOD1−/−, SOD2+/−, and SOD3−/− mice developed significantly (P<0.05) more O2·− with perfusion pressure and angiotensin II and significantly increased myogenic responses (SOD1−/−: −20.7±2.2% versus −12.7±1.6%; SOD2+/−: −7.4±1.3% versus −12.6±1.4%; and SOD3−/−: −9.1±1.9% versus −15.8±2.2%) and angiotensin II contractions and ≈2-fold increased media:lumen ratios. Media:lumen ratios correlated with myogenic responses (r2 =0.23; P<0.01), angiotensin II contractions (r2=0.57; P<0.0001), and active wall tension (r2 =0.19; P<0.01), but not with active wall stress (r2=0.08; NS). Differences in myogenic responses among SOD3 mice were abolished by bath addition of SOD and were increased 3 days after inducing SOD3 knockout (−26.9±1.7% versus −20.1±0.7%; P<0.05), despite unchanged media:lumen ratios (2.01±0.09 versus 2.02±0.03; NS). We conclude that cytosolic, mitochondrial, or extracellular O2·− enhance afferent arteriolar contractility and remodeling. Although remodeling does not enhance contractility, it does prevent the potentially damaging effects of increased wall stress.
Re-conceptualizing Information System Success: The IS-Impact Measurement Model

This paper re-conceptualizes 'information system success' as a formative, multidimensional index. A validated and widely accepted such index would facilitate cumulative research on the impacts of IS, while at the same time providing a benchmark for organizations to track their IS performance. The proposed IS-Impact measurement model represents the stream of net benefits from an Information System (IS), to date and anticipated, as perceived by all key-user-groups. Model measures are formulated to be robust, economical and simple, yielding results that are comparable across diverse systems and contexts, and from multiple user perspectives. The model includes 4 dimensions in two halves. The 'impact' half measures benefits to date, or Individual- and Organizational-Impact; the 'quality' half, uses System-Quality and Information-Quality as proxies for probable future impacts. Study findings evidence the necessity, additivity and completeness of these four dimensions. The validation study involved three separate surveys, including exploratory and confirmatory phases preceded by an identification-survey. Content analysis of 485 qualitative 'impacts' cited by 137 respondents from across 27 Australian Government Agencies that implemented SAP Financials in the late 90's, identified salient dimensions and measures. The resultant a-priori model ('pool' of 37 measures) was operationalized in the subsequent specification-survey, yielding 310 responses across the same 27 agencies. The confirmation-survey, employing 27 validated measures from the specification-survey, was next conducted in a large university that had implemented ORACLE Financials. Confirmatory analysis of the 153 responses provides further strong evidence of model validity.
Effects of centrally acting angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors on functional decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND Centrally acting angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (CACE-Is) are associated with reduced rates of cognitive decline in patients with dementia. CACE-Is may also improve exercise tolerance in functionally impaired older adults with normal cognition, suggesting that CACE-Is may positively influence activities of daily living (ADL) in dementia. OBJECTIVE To compare rates of decline in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) receiving CACE-Is to those not currently treated with CACE-Is (NoCACE-I), included in the Doxycycline and Rifampicin for Alzheimer's Disease study (n = 406). METHODS Patients were included if baseline and end-point (twelve months apart) scores were available for measures including the Standardized Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale - Cognitive Subscale; Quick Mild Cognitive Impairment screen; Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR-SB), and Lawton-Brody ADL Scale. RESULTS There was a significant, 25% difference (median one-point) in the 12-month rate of decline in ADL scores in patients taking CACE-Is (n = 91), compared to the NoCACE-I group (n = 274), p = 0.024. This remained significant after adjusting for age, gender, education, and blood pressure, p = 0.034. When individual CACE-Is were compared to the NoCACE-I group, a significant reduction in the rate of decline in ADLs (median one versus four points), were only observed for perindopril, p = 0.01. The CDR-SB was also reduced (median one-point) for the perindopril compared to the NoCACE-I group, p = 0.04. CONCLUSION This observational study suggests that CACE-Is, and potentially perindopril in particular, are associated with a reduced rate of functional decline in patients with AD, without an association with mood or behavior. This suggests that CACE-Is may slow disease progression in AD.
Prevalence , Predictors and correlates of non-adherence to a hemodialysis regimen : a review of the literature

A review was conducted of the literature on prevalence, predictors and correlates of adherence to the therapeutic regimen in adults receiving hemodialysis (HD). Searches were conducted on Medline, PsycINFO and CINAHL from the years 1950 to 2007. Articles selected for this review met the following inclusion criteria: subjects were adult HD patients, at least one predictor or correlate of adherence was studied and at least one adherence outcome was included. Sixty-nine articles were included in the review. Rates, predictors and correlates of non-adherence (NA) varied widely. Young age and smoking were the only variables that consistently predicted NA. Suggestions for practice and future research are described.
Normal secretion and action of the gut incretin hormones glucagon-like peptide-1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide in young men with low birth weight.

CONTEXT Low birth weight (LBW) is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. An impaired incretin effect was reported previously in type 2 diabetic patients. OBJECTIVE We studied the secretion and action of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) in young LBW men (n = 24) and matched normal birth weight controls (NBW) (n = 25). RESULTS LBW subjects were 5 cm shorter but had a body mass index similar to NBW. LBW subjects had significantly elevated fasting and postprandial plasma glucose, as well as postprandial (standard meal test) plasma insulin and C-peptide concentrations, suggestive of insulin resistance. Insulin secretion in response to changes in glucose concentration ("beta-cell responsiveness") during the meal test was similar in LBW and NBW but inappropriate in LBW relative to insulin sensitivity. Fasting and postprandial plasma GLP-1 and GIP levels were similar in the groups. First- and second-phase insulin responses were similar in LBW and NBW during a hyperglycemic clamp (7 mm) with infusion of GLP-1 or GIP, respectively, demonstrating normal action of these hormones on insulin secretion. CONCLUSION Reduced secretion or action of GLP-1 or GIP does not explain a relative reduced beta-cell responsiveness to glucose or the slightly elevated plasma glucose concentrations observed in young LBW men.
Coherent Network Interfaces for Fine-Grain Communication

Historically, processor accesses to memory-mapped device registers have been marked uncachable to insure their visibility to the device. The ubiquity of snooping cache coherence, however, makes it possible for processors and devices to interact with cachable, coherent memory operations. Using coherence can improve performance by facilitating burst transfers of whole cache blocks and reducing control overheads (e.g., for polling). This paper begins an exploration of network interfaces (NIs) that use coherence---coherent network interfaces (CNIs)---to improve communication performance. We restrict this study to NI/CNIs that reside on coherent memory or I/O buses, to NI/CNIs that are much simpler than processors, and to the performance of fine-grain messaging from user process to user process.Our first contribution is to develop and optimize two mechanisms that CNIs use to communicate with processors. A cachable device register---derived from cachable control registers [39,40]---is a coherent, cachable block of memory used to transfer status, control, or data between a device and a processor. Cachable queues generalize cachable device registers from one cachable, coherent memory block to a contiguous region of cachable, coherent blocks managed as a circular queue.Our second contribution is a taxonomy and comparison of four CNIs with a more conventional NI. Microbenchmark results show that CNIs can improve the round-trip latency and achievable bandwidth of a small 64-byte message by 37% and 125% respectively on the memory bus and 74% and 123% respectively on a coherent I/O bus. Experiments with five macrobenchmarks show that CNIs can improve the performance by 17-53% on the memory bus and 30-88% on the I/O bus.
A 10-Year Study of the Impact of Intimate Partner Violence Primary Aggressor Laws on Single and Dual Arrest

The adoption of arrest as the preferred response in incidents of intimate partner violence has generally been welcomed, but it has not come without unintended consequences. Foremost among these has been an increase in dual arrest, the situation where both parties to an incident are arrested. To address this concern, many states have enacted primary aggressor laws which mandate that officers determine who is the primary aggressor in the incident. To date, no longitudinal national study has been conducted on the impact of these laws. Using a dataset comprising 10 years of National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data (2000-2009) from 5,481 jurisdictions in 36 states and the District of Columbia, the authors examine the impact of primary aggressor laws in reducing the prevalence of dual arrests. Taking into account such factors as seriousness of offense, the authors found that the existence of primary aggressor laws does appear to result in officer reluctance to make any arrest. In addition, though these laws do result in a reduction in dual arrests, this reduction was not statistically significant. This is undoubtedly a result of inter-state variation in implementation as well as variations in statutory framework. In addition, these laws were observed to have a disparate effect both on White and non-White and heterosexual and same-sex couples. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.
Psychophysiological Response Patterns to Affective Film Stimuli

Psychophysiological research on emotion utilizes various physiological response measures to index activation of the defense system. Here we tested 1) whether acoustic startle reflex (ASR), skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate (HR) elicited by highly arousing stimuli specifically reflect a defensive state and 2) the relation between resting heart rate variability (HRV) and affective responding. In a within-subject design, participants viewed film clips with a positive, negative and neutral content. In contrast to SCR and HR, we show that ASR differentiated between negative, neutral and positive states and can therefore be considered as a reliable index of activation of the defense system. Furthermore, resting HRV was associated with affect-modulated characteristics of ASR, but not with SCR or HR. Interestingly, individuals with low-HRV showed less differentiation in ASR between affective states. We discuss the important value of ASR in psychophysiological research on emotion and speculate on HRV as a potential biological marker for demarcating adaptive from maladaptive responding.
The Role of Dietary Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Corn Oil on the Alteration of Epigenetic Patterns in the Rat DMBA-Induced Breast Cancer Model

Disruption of epigenetic patterns is a major change occurring in all types of cancers. Such alterations are characterized by global DNA hypomethylation, gene-promoter hypermethylation and aberrant histone modifications, and may be modified by environment. Nutritional factors, and especially dietary lipids, have a role in the etiology of breast cancer. Thus, we aimed to analyze the influence of different high fat diets on DNA methylation and histone modifications in the rat dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)-induced breast cancer model. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a low-fat, a high corn-oil or a high extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) diet from weaning or from induction with DMBA. In mammary glands and tumors we analyzed global and gene specific (RASSF1A, TIMP3) DNA methylation by LUMA and bisulfite pyrosequencing assays, respectively. We also determined gene expression and enzymatic activity of DNA methyltransferases (DNMT1, DNMT3a and DNMT3b) and evaluated changes in histone modifications (H3K4me2, H3K27me3, H4K20me3 and H4K16ac) by western-blot. Our results showed variations along time in the global DNA methylation of the mammary gland displaying decreases at puberty and with aging. The olive oil-enriched diet, on the one hand, increased the levels of global DNA methylation in mammary gland and tumor, and on the other, changed histone modifications patterns. The corn oil-enriched diet increased DNA methyltransferase activity in both tissues, resulting in an increase in the promoter methylation of the tumor suppressor genes RASSF1A and TIMP3. These results suggest a differential effect of the high fat diets on epigenetic patterns with a relevant role in the neoplastic transformation, which could be one of the mechanisms of their differential promoter effect, clearly stimulating for the high corn-oil diet and with a weaker influence for the high EVOO diet, on breast cancer progression.
Efficacy of blanket treatment of cows and heifers with an internal teat sealant in reducing the risk of mastitis in dairy cattle calving on pasture

Abstract AIM: To evaluate the benefit of blanket treatment of all milking cows at drying-off and all replacement heifers one month prior to the planned start of mating with an internal teat sealant on the incidence of mastitis, and somatic cell counts (SCC), postpartum in a 650-cow herd with a mastitis incidence in early lactation of 15% in cows and 26% in heifers. METHODS: Prior to drying-off, lactating cattle were divided on the basis of SCC and mastitis history. Cattle with records of individual SCC >150,000 cells/ml or mastitis in the previous lactation were treated with a cloxacillin-based dry-cow therapy (DCT), while the remaining cattle received no antibiotics. Cattle in each of the two groups were then randomly assigned to receive either an internal teat sealant or no further treatment. Additionally, one month prior to the planned start of calving the rising 2-year-old heifers were also randomly assigned to receive either an internal teat sealant or no treatment. All clinical mastitis cases were recorded for the first 10 weeks after the start of calving, while SCC were measured on three occasions during the subsequent lactation. RESULTS: Data were available from 466 cows and 206 heifers; treatment with the internal teat sealant significantly reduced the incidence of mastitis in both groups. For cows, the reduced risk of mastitis due to treatment with the teat sealant was not significantly different between cows, which, based on their mastitis history, required dry-cow antibiotics and those which did not. There was no effect of teat sealant on the mean SCC of any group at any time-point. CONCLUSIONS: On this farm, treatment of all cows and heifers prior to parturition with an internal teat sealant significantly reduced the risk of clinical mastitis. The benefits of an internal teat sealant were the same when used in combination with antibiotics in cows with a history of mastitis as when used alone in cows with no such history. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: These data support the proposition that blanket treatment with an internal teat sealant of all cows due to enter the milking herd can be a useful method of mastitis control. They also suggest that combined therapy with dry-cow antibiotics and internal teat sealants can be beneficial under New Zealand conditions. More detailed research on more farms in more areas of New Zealand is required to confirm these suggestions.
Acute myeloblastic leukemia with hyperleukocytosis: Risk factors for early mortality in induction

Eighty‐five patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) presenting with hyperleukocytosis (HL) were analyzed to assess morbidity and mortality in early induction. Patients who failed to achieve remission were older and more often had pulmonary leukostasis (62% vs 23%, p = .01) and hepatomegaly (54% vs 31%, p = .06) at presentation. Thirty‐seven patients (44%) did not achieve complete remission (CR); 17 (54%) died early in induction therapy, 11 directly as a result of pulmonary hemorrhage with respiratory failure, while 5 had both pulmonary hemorrhage with respiratory failure and CNS hemorrhage. Early death patients were older and more often had pulmonary leukostasis (88% vs 29%, p < .0001), hepatomegaly (71% vs 34%, p = .01), hyperbilirubinemia (60% vs 16%, p = .01) and hypofibrinogenemia (47% vs 12%, p < .01) at presentation. Primarily for technical reasons, preinduction leukapheresis was not employed as often in this very‐high‐risk group as in other patients (56% vs 82%, respectively). Thus, sufficient heterogeneity exists in patients presenting with HL to define a subset of patients at particularly high risk for early mortality. Preinduction leukapheresis applied in a prospective controlled fashion should be evaluated to assess if such treatment may decrease early mortality in this group.
Historical Divergence and Gene Flow in the Genus Zea

Gene flow plays a fundamental role in plant evolutionary history, yet its role in population divergence—and ultimately speciation—remains poorly understood. We investigated gene flow and the modalities of divergence in the domesticate Zea mays ssp. mays and three wild Zea taxa using sequence polymorphism data from 26 nuclear loci. We described diversity across loci and assessed evidence for adaptive and purifying selection at nonsynonymous sites. For each of three divergence events in the history of these taxa, we used approximate Bayesian simulation to estimate population sizes and divergence times and explicitly compare among alternative models of divergence. Our estimates of divergence times are surprisingly consistent with previous data from other markers and suggest rapid diversification of lineages within Zea in the last ∼150,000 years. We found widespread evidence of historical gene flow, including evidence for divergence in the face of gene flow. We speculate that cultivated maize may serve as a bridge for gene flow among otherwise allopatric wild taxa.
Association between Lead and Cadmium and Reproductive Hormones in Peripubertal U.S. Girls

Background Lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) are known reproductive toxicants thought to disrupt hormone production throughout sensitive developmental windows, although this has not been previously examined in nationally representative peripubertal children. Objectives We examined the association between blood Pb and urinary Cd concentrations and the reproductive hormones inhibin B and luteinizing hormone (LH) in girls 6–11 years of age who participated in the cross-sectional Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) (1988–1994). Methods Pb (micrograms per deciliter) was measured in whole blood, and Cd was measured in urine (nanograms per milliliter). Inhibin B (picograms per milliliter) and LH (milli–International units per milliliter) were measured in residual sera for 705 girls. Survey logistic regression was used to estimate associations with pubertal onset based on inhibin B concentration > 35 pg/mL or LH concentration > 0.4 mIU/mL, and multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the association between Pb and increasing categories of hormone concentrations. Results High Pb (≥ 5 μg/dL) was inversely associated with inhibin B > 35 pg/mL [odds ratio (OR) = 0.26; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.11–0.60; compared with Pb < 1 μg/dL]. At 10 and 11 years of age, girls with low Pb (< 1 μg/dL) had significantly higher inhibin B than did girls with moderate (1–4.99 μg/dL) or high Pb (≥ 5 μg/dL). In the subsample of 260 girls with levels of inhibin B above the level of detection and using survey regression modeling, inhibin B levels were lower among girls with both high Pb and high Cd (β = −0.52; 95% CI, −0.09 to −1.04) than among girls with high Pb alone (β = −0.35; 95% CI, −0.13 to −0.57), relative to girls with low Pb and low Cd. Conclusions Higher Pb was inversely associated with inhibin B, a marker of follicular development, and estimated effects suggestive of pubertal delays appeared to be stronger in the context of higher Cd concentrations. These data underscore the importance of Pb and Cd as reproductive toxicants for young girls.
The Validity of Acupuncture in Veterinary Medicine

Acupuncture is becoming an increasingly popular treatment in veterinary medicine. Scientific validation of the effects and benefits of acupuncture is essential for acceptance by colleagues and clients and integration of acupuncture into conventional veterinary medicine. An ever-expanding body of evidence-based research supports acupuncture as a clinically useful modality and over 10,000 references to acupuncture can be found in the United States Library of Medicine search through PubMed. Prestigious organizations such as the World Health Organization have concluded that acupuncture is valuable in treating many human diseases. Imaging studies now validate acupuncture theories, and clinical studies demonstrate that acupuncture is an effective, safe treatment for many animal diseases. Acupuncture is currently taught at seven AVMA-accredited veterinary schools, with others planning to add it to their curriculum and many more employing clinical staff with certification or interest in acupuncture. The annual AVMA Convention and other national and international meetings frequently include lectures on acupuncture. The Recovery Act of 2009 provided $31 million to complementary medicine research, including acupuncture, showing the importance of acupuncture research to the National Institutes of Health. Veterinary acupuncture training is restricted to veterinarians, involving over 130 classroom hours and rigorous examinations to become a certified veterinary acupuncturist. The American Journal of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine was launched in 2006 to publish scientific, evidence-based research on acupuncture. Although further research is needed for some disorders, the scientifically-proven efficacy for other disorders, low incidence of adverse effects and comparatively low cost combine to validate its place in current veterinary practice.