Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distribution of proteins within different compartments of tendon varies according to tendon type

Although the predominant function of all tendons is to transfer force from muscle to bone and position the limbs, some tendons additionally function as energy stores, reducing the energetic cost of locomotion. To maximise energy storage and return, energy‐storing tendons need to be more extensible and elastic than tendons with a purely positional function. These properties are conferred in part by a specialisation of a specific compartment of the tendon, the interfascicular matrix, which enables sliding and recoil between adjacent fascicles. However, the composition of the interfascicular matrix is poorly characterised and we therefore tested the hypothesis that the distribution of elastin and proteoglycans differs between energy‐storing and positional tendons, and that protein distribution varies between the fascicular matrix and the interfascicular matrix, with localisation of elastin and lubricin to the interfascicular matrix. Protein distribution in the energy‐storing equine superficial digital flexor tendon and positional common digital extensor tendon was assessed using histology and immunohistochemistry. The results support the hypothesis, demonstrating enrichment of lubricin in the interfascicular matrix in both tendon types, where it is likely to facilitate interfascicular sliding. Elastin was also localised to the interfascicular matrix, specifically in the energy‐storing superficial digital flexor tendon, which may account for the greater elasticity of the interfascicular matrix in this tendon. A differential distribution of proteoglycans was identified between tendon types and regions, which may indicate a distinct role for each of these proteins in tendon. These data provide important advances into fully characterising structure–function relationships within tendon.
Risk, Welfare and the Treatment of Adolescent Cannabis Users in England

Incorporating analysis of data collected from a small sample of interviews within drug-treatment settings, the aim of this article is to critically consider the purpose and scope of adolescent drug treatment with a particular focus on the drugs–crime nexus. A central question is whether treatment can be understood according to the ‘rise of risk’ in advanced liberal democracies, and whether this corresponds to the proposed rupture with ‘welfarist’ approaches to youth justice policy. The findings suggest, in line with other research, that any such rupture may have been overstated. They also suggest that some drug-treatment research has tended towards sweeping accounts of policy changes, when the specificities of age, drug type and history demand more nuanced explanation, as some authors have already argued. Finally, the analysis suggests there should be concern about the extent of ‘net-widening’ within the youth drug-treatment system.
Mapping Challenging Mutations by Whole-Genome Sequencing

Whole-genome sequencing provides a rapid and powerful method for identifying mutations on a global scale, and has spurred a renewed enthusiasm for classical genetic screens in model organisms. The most commonly characterized category of mutation consists of monogenic, recessive traits, due to their genetic tractability. Therefore, most of the mapping methods for mutation identification by whole-genome sequencing are directed toward alleles that fulfill those criteria (i.e., single-gene, homozygous variants). However, such approaches are not entirely suitable for the characterization of a variety of more challenging mutations, such as dominant and semidominant alleles or multigenic traits. Therefore, we have developed strategies for the identification of those classes of mutations, using polymorphism mapping in Caenorhabditis elegans as our model for validation. We also report an alternative approach for mutation identification from traditional recombinant crosses, and a solution to the technical challenge of sequencing sterile or terminally arrested strains where population size is limiting. The methods described herein extend the applicability of whole-genome sequencing to a broader spectrum of mutations, including classes that are difficult to map by traditional means.
Whole Genome Sequence of the Rifamycin B-Producing Strain Amycolatopsis mediterranei S699

ABSTRACT Amycolatopsis mediterranei S699 is an actinomycete that produces an important antibiotic, rifamycin B. Semisynthetic derivatives of rifamycin B are used for the treatment of tuberculosis, leprosy, and AIDS-related mycobacterial infections. Here, we report the complete genome sequence (10.2 Mb) of A. mediterranei S699, with 9,575 predicted coding sequences.
The Effect of Recombinant Human Growth Hormone Therapy in Patients with Completed Stroke: A Pilot Trial

Objective To evaluate the safety and potential efficacy of "recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH)" on the functional recovery of completed stroke patients. Method Completed stroke patients were recruited. All participants were randomly assigned to the GH group (rhGH injection and rehabilitative therapy) or the control group (only rehabilitative therapy). Above all, they were closely monitored for safety. Further, for the efficacy measurement, Korean Modified Barthel Index (K-MBI), Manual Muscle strength Test (MMT), and Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA) were assessed to determine the changes of functional recovery during 6-months of the study period. Along with it, diffusion tensor image was taken as the baseline, and a followed-up study to observe the changes in diffusion tensor tractography (DTT), during the period, and one patient in the GH group was also examined with functional MRI (fMRI). Index of fatigue on 5 point scale for the study period was also assessed. Results Twenty-two patients were enrolled, and 15 completed the study and were included in the analysis. No harmful adverse events were observed in the GH group. By comparison between the groups, the GH group showed more improvement in K-MBI than the control group (p<0.05). DTT showed less decrement of fibers in the GH group than in the control group, without statistical significance. fMRI showed an increment in the activated area. Patients in the GH group expressed no fatigue at all, during the study period (p=0.00). Conclusion The administration of rhGH in long term resulted in the improvement in K-MBI, and subjectively less tiredness during the injection period.
The impact of the perception of risk on international travellers

The primary objective of this paper is twofold: (i) to investigate the impact of perceived risk on the tendency to travel internationally; and (ii) to explore if there is any difference in the perception of risky places among three clusters segmented based on the Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance index. The sample population of the study consists of 1180 international travellers visiting Hong Kong in the fall of 2003. The research findings show that the majority of travellers are more likely to change their travel plans to a destination that has elevated risk while the minority reports they are more unlikely. These findings suggest that international travellers appear to be sensitive towards the occurrence of any type of risk in their evoked destinations. Differences were also observed from one continent to another in terms of the influence of perceived risks. The final note is that travellers from different national cultures may have varying degrees of the perceived risk. Implications both for theory and practitioners are also discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Deliberative polling and public consultation

At the heart of any notion of democracy is some element of public input into the policy-making process. Inputs can take the form of direct democracy or parliamentary democracy or both. Parliamentary democracy is a form of representative democracy, in which the electorate determines who its representatives are; the majority party or coalition forms the government; and the government decides public policies. Historically, British democracy has been representative democracy. Direct democracy is manifest in a referendum or an initiative, in which electors vote directly for or against adopting a policy. Institutions of direct democracy are prominent in Switzerland and in American states such as California, but they have been very unusual in the past in Britain. Tony Blair has made the promotion of more popular inputs in public policy a leading feature of his approach to government, for example endorsing the idea of national referendums on electoral systems and on joining the European Monetary Union. But the distribution of votes in elections and referendums is not necessarily a good indicator of public preferences. One obvious source of error is low turnout: voters and non-voters may differ significantly in their preferences. A more fundamental difficulty is the amount of knowledge and thought underlying the votes that are cast. Substantial scholarly research has produced an overwhelming consensus on the obvious: most people know very little and have thought very little about most policy issues. 1 While there is disagreement about how much the lack of information and interest affects people's views, it is possible that voting preferences would be noticeably different if everyone was more knowledgeable about, attentive to and reflective about the issues involved. Even if every voter were fully informed and deliberated about major public policies, there is the possibility that no party reflects all their views. In a two-party system in which a red and a blue party compete for control of government, a voter who prefers yellow may be unrepresented. Furthermore, when several issues are important, a voter may prefer the policy of different parties on different issues. Public opinion polls have become a kind of advisory input to policy-making between elections, but much the same objections can be made to the results of public opinion polls highlighted in the media. There can be difficulties in recruiting a representative sample because some groups are hard to locate or unwilling to be interviewed, as in the British general election …
Recognition of floral homeotic MADS domain transcription factors by a phytoplasmal effector, phyllogen, induces phyllody

Plant pathogens alter the course of plant developmental processes, resulting in abnormal morphology in infected host plants. Phytoplasmas are unique plant-pathogenic bacteria that transform plant floral organs into leaf-like structures and cause the emergence of secondary flowers. These distinctive symptoms have attracted considerable interest for many years. Here, we revealed the molecular mechanisms of the floral symptoms by focusing on a phytoplasma-secreted protein, PHYL1, which induces morphological changes in flowers that are similar to those seen in phytoplasma-infected plants. PHYL1 is a homolog of the phytoplasmal effector SAP54 that also alters floral development. Using yeast two-hybrid and in planta transient co-expression assays, we found that PHYL1 interacts with and degrades the floral homeotic MADS domain proteins SEPALLATA3 (SEP3), APETALA1 (AP1) and CAULIFLOWER (CAL). This degradation of MADS domain proteins was dependent on the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway. The expression of floral development genes downstream of SEP3 and AP1 was disrupted in 35S::PHYL1 transgenic plants. PHYL1 was genetically and functionally conserved among other phytoplasma strains and species. We designate PHYL1, SAP54 and their homologs as members of the phyllody-inducing gene family of ‘phyllogens’.
Psychological Adjustment and Life Style of Single Lesbians and Single Heterosexual Women

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and a 60-item structured interview questionnaire were administered to 25 white single homosexually-oriented women and 25 white single heterosexually-oriented women between the ages of 20 and 45 years in order to investigate their psychological adjustment and current life styles. Groups were equivalent on age, marital status, educational and occupational levels, and other demographic variables. Groups did not differ in total psychological adjustment as measured by scale scores on the MMPI nor as evaluated by blind expert raters using the MMPI profiles. Groups differed significantly on the Masculinity-Femininity (Mf) scale (p < .001) and the Hypomania (Ma) scale (p < .05). On the interview questionnaire, which included current living situations, roles and relationships, behavior and friendship patterns, and drinking, drug, and suicidal behavior, no major differences between groups were found. Differences between groups were found only on items directly related to sexual orientation. The findings clarify some of the myths and misconceptions about lesbianism.
Beyond Learning by Doing: The Brain Compatible Approach

The current position of the field of experiential education within mainstream education places at a premium attempts to significantly broaden and deepen experiential pedagogy beyond mere “learning by doing. ” This article will explore one such attempt—the Brain Compatible Approach—and its potential linkages with experiential education. An overview of the Brain Compatible Approach will be outlined, followed by a discussion of several key principles. Linkages between these principles and experiential education will be discussed, as well as several “Quick Tips” on possible practical applications of the research. Finally, the benefits of aligning experiential education with the Brain Compatible Approach will be explored.
International Mobility of New Migrants to Australia 1

Statistical models for residential spells and mobility data are used to examine the probability of repeat and return migration and ongoing mobility among New Zealand and British citizens who migrated to Australia between August 1999 and July 2002. The paper focuses on identifying the relationship between ongoing mobility patterns and personal and environmental circumstances, including institutional barriers to immigration and a discrete change in the social welfare eligibility of New Zealanders in Australia. The results confirm that ongoing migration patterns are far more complex than traditional migration paradigms suggest, with repeat and return migration and ongoing mobility being an important part of actual migration experiences.
Cross-border activities in everyday life: the Bengal borderland

This paper will address the multiple forms and layers of porosity that give borderlands, such as the Bengal borderland, their distinctive nature as zones of contestation. Cross-border interactions continue to be an integral feature of everyday life in the Bengal borderland despite increasing militarisation and regulation by the Indian government in the last decade. Criminalization of local cross-border flows has driven them underground - while organized cross-border crimes (smuggling and trafficking) enjoy considerable attention, the breadth and depth of informal cross-border interactions in the quotidian lives of borderlanders remain understudied. What is the significance of such daily cross-border transactions? How do they feed into the local perceptions of the state policies of border control? How do they relate to larger organized flows of smuggling and trafficking? Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork in the border district of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, India, this paper critically examines the rationales and practices of such informal ‘illegal’ cross-border interactions and problematizes the territorial logic of the postcolonial nation-state as it is contested in the realities of the borderland. Such a focus also enables a construction of the social history of those people in whose worlds an international border appeared in the monsoon of 1947, thus relating the present configurations of porosity to the regional unity that existed in the pre-Partition past.
Orchestras as “Ensembles of Possibility”: Understanding the Experience of Orchestral Musicians Through the Lens of Communities of Practice

This article examines the professional culture of a UK symphony orchestra and the ways the musicians perceive themselves as a Community of Practice (CoP). The study draws on data from semi-structured interviews. Findings illuminated aspects of a CoP among the musicians, including having a shared purpose, valuing their collective endeavor, and experiencing tension between individual and collective development. These elements provide insights for our understanding of CoP, and highlight critical aspects of musical and interpersonal interactions that emerging professional musicians and advanced students need to develop and skillfully balance if they are to operate effectively within an orchestral CoP.
Signs of beta-cell autoimmunity in nondiabetic schoolchildren: a comparison between Russian Karelia with a low incidence of type 1 diabetes and Finland with a high incidence rate.

OBJECTIVE We sought to study the prevalence of autoantibodies to various islet cell antigens in the background population of two neighboring countries with a sixfold difference in the incidence of type 1 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Serum samples were obtained from 3,652 nondiabetic schoolchildren in Finland and from 1,988 schoolchildren in the adjacent Karelian Republic of Russia. The Karelian children were divided into three groups (Finns/Karelians, Russians, and others) based on the ethnic background of their mother. The samples were analyzed for islet cell antibodies (ICAs), insulin autoantibodies (IAAs), GAD antibodies (GADAs), and the tyrosine phosphatase-like insulinoma antigen 2 (IA-2A) protein and HLA class II genotypes. RESULTS The frequency of ICAs, IAAs, and GADAs did not differ significantly between the Karelian (3.5, 0.6, and 0.9%, respectively) and Finnish children (2.8, 0.9, and 0.5%, respectively). Similarly, the frequency of multiple (> or = 2) autoantibodies was similar in both countries (0.5 vs. 0.6%). The frequency of IA-2A was, however, four times higher in Finland (0.6 vs. 0.15% in Russian Karelia; P = 0.03). There were no significant differences in autoantibody prevalence among the three ethnic groups in Russian Karelia. There was a falling frequency of GADAs and of positivity for multiple autoantibodies along with decreasing HLA-conferred disease susceptibility among the Finnish schoolchildren. CONCLUSIONS These data indicate that beta-cell autoimmunity among schoolchildren is as frequent in Russian Karelia as in Finland, although the incidence of clinical type 1 diabetes is six times higher in Finland. However, in contrast to this general trend, IA-2As were more common in Finland. Since IA-2As usually appear late in the preclinical process, this suggests that progressive beta-cell autoimmunity is more rare in Russian Karelia.
Improving outcomes for posterolateral knee injuries

Until recently, the posterolateral corner of the knee was noted both for its complex anatomy and diagnostic challenges. To improve the understanding of the posterolateral knee, we completed a comprehensive and stepwise research program with a focus on five primary areas: (1) surgical approach and relevant anatomy; (2) diagnosis; (3) clinically relevant biomechanics; (4) natural history; and (5) surgical treatment. Based on this comprehensive research program, the diagnosis and outcomes following treatment of posterolateral knee injuries have been significantly improved comparing the preoperative state to the state of the knee at a minimum 2 year follow‐up in the cases series presented here. © 2014 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 32:485–491, 2014.
Stability of plasma electrolytes in Barricor and PST II tubes under different storage conditions

Introduction Sample stability can be influenced by many different factors; evaporation and leakage from residual cells are the most relevant factors for electrolytes. During the analytical phase, samples are usually kept uncapped at room temperature. Once samples are processed, they are usually stored sealed and refrigerated. Long turnaround time and the possibility of “add-on test” need consideration for electrolyte stability. The aim of our study is to examine short-term electrolyte stability in this two-common laboratory working conditions in two different lithium heparin plasma tubes (Barricor and PST II, Becton Dickinson). Materials and methods In 39 plasma samples from voluntary subjects we measured sodium (Na+), potassium (K+) and chloride (Cl–) at 6 time points since centrifugation (0h, 3h, 6h, 9h, 12h and 15h). Maximum allowable bias (clinically significant change) was based in SEQC (Sociedad Espańola de Química Clínica) recommendations; 1% for Cl–, 0.6% for Na+ and 4% for K+. Results In open room temperature tubes, clinically significant changes appeared in Na+ and Cl– after 3 hours and in K+ after 9 hours in both types of tubes. In refrigerated sealed tubes, all the analytes were clinically stable up to 12 hours in both kinds of plasma tubes. We observed a statistically significant progressive increase in K+ levels, which was less pronounced in Barricor tubes. Conclusion Stability of electrolytes is compromised after 3 hours in open tubes and after 12 hours in sealed tubes.
[Catheter-related Bloodstream Infections: Do We Know All of It?]

BACKGROUND Catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) represent a life-threatening complication. They are associated with high morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. Cancer patients are at particular risk due to the nature of the disease and the therapy-associated immunodeficiency. Although the incidence of catheter-related infections decreased in the past decade, the mortality rate remains high at 12-25%. The incidence of CRBSI differs among patients. While the incidence in ICU patients across the Europe was reported to be 0.5-4.1 episodes per 1.000 catheter-days, the incidence in cancer patients was 1.1-7.5 episodes per 1.000 catheter-days. One of the factors negatively influencing the incidence is the lack of uniformity in CRBSI definitions, etiology and risk factors for surveillance purposes. PURPOSE This preview not only presents the definitions of catheter-related infections and etiology and risk factors for developing CRBSI, it also it also summarizes epidemiologic data, diagnostic techniques, and the prevention and treatment strategies for CRBSI according to knowledge acquired over the last 10 years. Following the implementation of the prevention strategies guidelines for CRBSI published in 2011 by Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee, the incidence of CRBSI has decreased by more than 50%. As central venous catheters are a common part of cancer treatment, every oncologist should be aware of the risk of catheter-related infections. The prevention and treatment guidelines with surveillance of CRBSI should be the gold standard in the care of cancer patients as well. CONCLUSION Adherence to evidence-based guidelines for prevention of catheter-related infections and surveillance of CRBSI are the basic steps required to reduce the rate of CRBSI. Implementation of these strategies in hospital healthcare policy, particularly in written form, and control of adherence and reporting of the incidence rate to higher authorities are strongly recommended. When these interventions were successfully implemented, they reduced the incidence rate under 1 episode of CRBSI per 1.000 catheter-days in Western countries. Each healthcare facility using central venous catheters should be advised to implement these strategies, particular when treating cancer patients.Key words: central venous catheter - catheter-related infections - cancer - epidemiology - etiology - guidelines - prevention and control - therapy The authors declare they have no potential conflicts of interest concerning drugs, products, or services used in the study. The Editorial Board declares that the manuscript met the ICMJE recommendation for biomedical papers.Submitted: 8. 4. 2017Accepted: 4. 6. 2017.