Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MODULATION OF HEPATIC CYP 2 A 1 , CYP 2 C 11 , AND CYP 3 A 9 EXPRESSION IN ADULT RATS BY NEONATAL ADMINISTRATION OF TAMOXIFEN

To examine the effect of neonatal administration of tamoxifen on adult expression of hepatic cytochrome P-450 (CYP) enzymes and steroid 5a-reductase, male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were injected s.c. with tamoxifen (20 mg) or peanut oil (control) once daily at days 1 to 5 of age and sacrificed at 3 months of age. Neonatal tamoxifen treatment did not affect b.wt. or liver weight of adult male and female rats, but decreased testicular weight by approximately 40% in adult male rats. Neonatal administration of tamoxifen decreased hepatic microsomal testosterone 6band 7a-hydroxylase activities in adult female rats whereas it did not alter steroid 5a-reductase activity. The same treatment increased testosterone 7a-hydroxylase activity, but did not affect testosterone 6b-hydroxylase or steroid 5a-reductase activity in adult male rats. Immunoblot analysis indicated that neonatal tamoxifen treatment decreased CYP2C11 protein level by 26% and increased CYP2A1 protein content by 2.6-fold in adult male rats, whereas it had no effect on CYP3A or CYP2B protein expression. The reduction in the CYP3A-mediated testosterone 6b-hydroxylase activity in adult female rats was accompanied by a decrease in CYP3A9 mRNA expression. Analysis of serum hormone levels indicated that neonatal exposure to tamoxifen resulted in a decrease in serum 17b-estradiol concentration in adult female rats, whereas it did not alter serum testosterone concentration in adult male rats. In summary, treatment of neonatal rats with tamoxifen produced a longlasting effect on hepatic CYP2A1, CYP2C11, and CYP3A9 expression in addition to testicular weight and serum 17b-estradiol
Podocyturia in Fabry disease.

INTRODUCTION Fabry disease is a lysosomal storage disorder due to abnormalities in the GLA gene (Xq22). Such changes result in the reduction/absence of activity of the lysosome enzyme α-GAL, whose function is to metabolize globotriaosylceramide (Gb3). Renal disease is a major clinical outcome of the accumulation of Gb3. Podocyte injury is thought to be a major contributor to the progressive loss of the renal function and may be found altered even before the onset of microalbuminuria. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to quantify the urinary excretion of podocytes in Fabry disease patients (V269M, n = 14) and healthy controls (n = 40), and to correlate podocyturia with the variables gender, age, time of therapy and albumin: creatinine ratio (ACR). METHODS Urinary podocytes were stained using immunofluorescence to podocalyxin and DAPi. The number of podocalyxin-positive cells was quantified and the average number was taken (normal range 0-0.6 podocytes/mL). RESULTS The average number of podocytes in the urine of Fabry disease patients was significantly higher than in healthy controls (p < 0.0001). We observed a positive correlation between podocyturia and ACR (p = 0.004; (r2 = 0.6417). We found no correlation between podocyturia and gender, age or duration of therapy. CONCLUSION Podocyturia is an important parameter in the assessment of renal disease in general, and it may serve as an additional early tool for monitoring Fabry disease nephropathy even before changes in ACR are seen. This may prove to be a useful tool to assess disease progression in patients expected to have a more aggressive phenotype.
Mycological examination of the barbers’ tools about sources of fungal infections

The purpose of this study was to determine the colonisation of causative agents for fungal skin infections on the tools and surfaces of barbershops. A total of 357 samples from tools and surfaces of 32 barbershops in Erzurum, Turkey were collected and examined for fungal pathogens. From the combs, Trichophyton rubrum (1), non‐dermatophytic moulds (35) and Candida albicans (1); from the hairbrushes, T. rubrum (3), T. mentagrophytes (1), non‐dermatophytic moulds (21) and yeast (1); from the shaving brushes, non‐dermatophytic moulds (2) and C. albicans (2); from the headrest of barber chairs, T. rubrum (1), non‐dermatophytic moulds (19) were isolated. No fungi were isolated from towels. In conclusion, this study showed that shared tools and contacted surfaces in barbershops are important sources for fungal colonization and may play an important role in spreading mycotic infections among people.
An Interventional Study to Improve Paramedic Diagnosis of Stroke

Objective. The aim of the Faster Access to Stroke Therapy (FAST) study was to determine the effect of educational intervention andthe use of a prehospital stroke tool on the paramedic diagnosis of stroke. Methods. Paramedics in emergency medical service units servicing a university teaching hospital were divided into two groups: FAST study paramedics (n = 18) andnon-FAST study paramedics (n = 43). The FAST study paramedics received stroke education andinstruction in the use of a prehospital stroke assessment tool [Melbourne Ambulance Stroke Screen (MASS)] to assist in stroke diagnosis. Based on final hospital diagnosis, the sensitivities of paramedic stroke diagnosis in the two groups were compared for a 12-month period before andafter the intervention. Results. The sensitivity for the FAST study paramedics in identifying stroke improved from 78% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 63% to 88%) to 94% (95% CI: 86% to 98%) (p = 0.006) after receiving the stroke education session andwith use of the MASS tool. There was no change in stroke diagnosis for the non-study paramedics 78% (95% CI: 71% to 84%) to 80% (95% CI: 72% to 87%) (p = 0.695). Prenotification of impending arrival to the emergency department was associated with higher-priority triage in the emergency department, andsubsequent shorter times for door to medical review (15 min vs. 31 min, p < 0.001) anddoor to computed tomography (CT) scanning (94 min vs. 144 min, p < 0.001). Conclusions. Targeted stroke education andthe use of a simple clinical tool can significantly improve the diagnostic sensitivity of stroke by paramedics in the prehospital setting. Accurate diagnosis combined with prenotification of the pending arrival of stroke patients will allow for the focused andtimely application of resources for the management of acute stroke.
Text-Guided Attention Model for Image Captioning

Visual attention plays an important role to understand images and demonstrates its effectiveness in generating natural language descriptions of images. On the other hand, recent studies show that language associated with an image can steer visual attention in the scene during our cognitive process. Inspired by this, we introduce a text-guided attention model for image captioning, which learns to drive visual attention using associated captions. For this model, we propose an exemplar-based learning approach that retrieves from training data associated captions with each image, and use them to learn attention on visual features. Our attention model enables to describe a detailed state of scenes by distinguishing small or confusable objects effectively. We validate our model on MS-COCO Captioning benchmark and achieve the state-of-the-art performance in standard metrics.
Culture and Psychology: People Around the World

David Matsumoto uses cross-cultural research as a platform to evaluate psychology as we know it and shows readers how to develop their own critical thinking skills. He encourages readers to raise questions about traditional knowledge and theories and to investigate the world around them so they can reap the benefits of diversity and turn its challenges into assets. The Second Edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect current developments in the field and provides an overview of how culture affects psychology to give students a framework they can use throughout the book.
Writing Quality, Coherence, and Cohesion.

This study investigated the relationships among features of textual cohesion, as identified by Halliday and Hasan (1976), and primarytrait assessments of writing quality and coherence, with manuscript length held statistically constant. A random sample of 493 persuasive papers written by 17-year-olds during the 1978-79 National Assessment of Educational Progress writing evaluation were analyzed. The results of the analyses indicate that general coherence is an important element of writing quality and that the lexical cohesive features of synonym, hyponym, and collocation are important elements of writing quality and general coherence in manuscripts of the same length. When Alexander Bain (1867) first categorized prose discourse into four discourse modes, he stipulated that quality in each mode consisted of the elements of unity, mass (later known as emphasis), and coherence. Conners (1981) notes that Bain's ideas greatly influenced composition instruction in this country until 1950 but have waned since then, giving way to conceptualizations of written discourse that place increased emphasis on the contexts for writing (e.g., Kinneavy, 1971) and the processes that writers use to produce writing within varying contexts (e.g., Flower & Hayes, 1980). Clearly, these emphases now permeate all levels of practice and theory. Yet Bain's notion of coherence still holds sway, as Bamberg (1983) points out: "Coherence is generally accepted as a 'sine qua non' in written discourse. " Oddly, little research has been conducted to determine the relationship between writing quality and coherence, an important relationship because coherence is often used to identify the strengths and weaknesses in student writing. For example, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, 1980a) hypothesized that the apparent drop in the writing abilities of 13and 17-year-olds between the first national writing assessment (196970) and the second (1974-75) was due in part to a drop in the number of coherent paragraphs. However, at that time NAEP had no way of empirically determining whether this assertion was accurate. In an effort to determine if coherence in student writing was indeed declining, NAEP (1980a) constructed a primary-trait coherence measure (referred to as a cohesion measure by NAEP) for use in the third national writing assessment (1978-79). Scores on this measure were shown to have the same degree of reliability as scores on primary-trait measures of writing quality. What differed was the focus of the assessment. The primary-trait Research in the Teaching of English, Vol. 19, No. 3, October 1985
An efficient and simple method for designing prototype filters for cosine-modulated pseudo-QMF banks

We present a new method to design prototype filters for conventional cosine-modulated pseudo-quadrature mirror filter (QMF) banks. This method is based on windowing, and sets the 3-dB cutoff frequency of the filter obtained at /spl pi//2M. In this way, the filter bank performance can be significantly improved compared to other existing design methods.
Identification of a protein linked to nascent poliovirus RNA and to the polyuridylic acid of negative-strand RNA

A protein similar to that previously demonstrated on poliovirus RNA and replicative intermediate RNA (VPg) was found on all sizes of nascent viral RNA molecules and on the polyuridylic acid isolated from negative-strand RNA. 32P-labeled nascent chains were released from their template RNA and fractionated by exclusion chromatography on agarose. Fingerprint analysis using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gels of RNase T1 oligonucleotides derived from nascent chains of different lengths showed that a size fractionation of nascent chains was achieved. VPg was recovered from nascent chains varying in length from 7,500 nucleotides (full-sized RNA) to about 500 nucleotides. No other type of 5' terminus could be demonstrated on nascent RNA, and the yield of VPg was consistent with one molecule of the protein on each nascent chain. These results are consistent with the concept that the protein is added to the 5' end of the growing RNA chains at a very early stage, possibly as a primer of RNA synthesis. Analysis of the polyuridylic acid tract isolated from the replicative intermediate and double-stranded RNAs indicated that a protein of the same size as that found on the nascent chains and virion RNA is also linked to the negative-strand RNAs. It is likely that a similar mechanism is responsible for initiation of synthesis of both plus- and minus-strand RNAs.
LRR Conservation Mapping to Predict Functional Sites within Protein Leucine-Rich Repeat Domains

Computational prediction of protein functional sites can be a critical first step for analysis of large or complex proteins. Contemporary methods often require several homologous sequences and/or a known protein structure, but these resources are not available for many proteins. Leucine-rich repeats (LRRs) are ligand interaction domains found in numerous proteins across all taxonomic kingdoms, including immune system receptors in plants and animals. We devised Repeat Conservation Mapping (RCM), a computational method that predicts functional sites of LRR domains. RCM utilizes two or more homologous sequences and a generic representation of the LRR structure to identify conserved or diversified patches of amino acids on the predicted surface of the LRR. RCM was validated using solved LRR+ligand structures from multiple taxa, identifying ligand interaction sites. RCM was then used for de novo dissection of two plant microbe-associated molecular pattern (MAMP) receptors, EF-TU RECEPTOR (EFR) and FLAGELLIN-SENSING 2 (FLS2). In vivo testing of Arabidopsis thaliana EFR and FLS2 receptors mutagenized at sites identified by RCM demonstrated previously unknown functional sites. The RCM predictions for EFR, FLS2 and a third plant LRR protein, PGIP, compared favorably to predictions from ODA (optimal docking area), Consurf, and PAML (positive selection) analyses, but RCM also made valid functional site predictions not available from these other bioinformatic approaches. RCM analyses can be conducted with any LRR-containing proteins at www.plantpath. wisc.edu/RCM, and the approach should be modifiable for use with other types of repeat protein domains.
Increased Midkine Serum Levels in Pediatric Embryonal Tumor Patients

Serum levels of midkine (MK), a heparin-binding growth factor, are elevated in adult cancer patients. We analyzed sera of pediatric tumor patients in comparison to a large number of children and adolescents without malignant disease. MK was studied in sera of 152 noncancer patients and 29 embryonal tumor patients (14 nephroblastoma, 10 neuroblastoma, and 5 rhabdomyosarcoma) using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Noncancer patients underwent elective surgical procedures or suffered from an endocrinologic disease. They had no evidence of inflammation or injury. MK serum levels were significantly higher in tumor patients (median 0.621 ng/mL) than in noncancer patients. About 86% of tumor patients were identified using a cut-off value of 0.176 ng/mL. MK values did neither correlate with tumor size nor with stage or histology, but decreased in half of the nephroblastoma patients after chemotherapy and surgery. MK values were found to be elevated in only 2 out of 5 rhabdomyosarcoma patients. MK may serve as an additional marker for the detection of pediatric embryonal tumors, but its clinical relevance for the evaluation of response to therapy needs further study.
Effects of MST (Metacognitive Strategy Training) on Academic Reading Comprehension of Chinese EFL Students

Metacognitive strategies are important for successful second/foreign language readers. The aim of the study was to explore the effects of MST (metacognitive strategy training) on academic reading comprehension of Chinese university EFL (English as a foreign language) students. Data gathered from the reading comprehension test, questionnaire, students’ journal, and semi-structured interview were either quantitatively or qualitatively analyzed. It was found that the MST has positive effects on the reading comprehension in several ways and the students generally held positive attitudes towards MST incorporated into the regular EFL reading curriculum.
Circulating Tumor Cells Predict Survival Benefit from Treatment in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Purpose: A method for enumerating circulating tumor cells (CTC) has received regulatory clearance. The primary objective of this prospective study was to establish the relationship between posttreatment CTC count and overall survival (OS) in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Secondary objectives included determining the prognostic utility of CTC measurement before initiating therapy, and the relationship of CTC to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) changes and OS at these and other time points. Experimental Design: Blood was drawn from CRPC patients with progressive disease starting a new line of chemotherapy before treatment and monthly thereafter. Patients were stratified into predetermined Favorable or Unfavorable groups (<5 and ≥5 CTC/7.5mL). Results: Two hundred thirty-one of 276 enrolled patients (84%) were evaluable. Patients with Unfavorable pretreatment CTC (57%) had shorter OS (median OS, 11.5 versus 21.7 months; Cox hazard ratio, 3.3; P < 0.0001). Unfavorable posttreatment CTC counts also predicted shorter OS at 2 to 5, 6 to 8, 9 to 12, and 13 to 20 weeks (median OS, 6.7-9.5 versus 19.6-20.7 months; Cox hazard ratio, 3.6-6.5; P < 0.0001). CTC counts predicted OS better than PSA decrement algorithms at all time points; area under the receiver operator curve for CTC was 81% to 87% and 58% to 68% for 30% PSA reduction (P = 0.0218). Prognosis for patients with (a) Unfavorable baseline CTC who converted to Favorable CTC improved (6.8 to 21.3 months); (b) Favorable baseline CTC who converted to Unfavorable worsened (>26 to 9.3 months). Conclusions: CTC are the most accurate and independent predictor of OS in CRPC. These data led to Food and Drug Administration clearance of this assay for the evaluation of CRPC.
Screening and treatment for cardiovascular disease in patients with chronic renal disease.

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE (CVD) is very prevalent in patients with chronic renal disease (CRD) and accounts for much of the morbidity and mortality in this population. Many aspects of the management of this patient group differ from that of patients with cardiac disease in the absence of renal disease. This article makes specific recommendations regarding the use of antiplatelet therapy and coronary revascularization procedures for the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with CRD. The treatment of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) with antihypertensive agents and by correction of anemia is also addressed. Finally, recommendations are made regarding screening for CAD and LVH in patients with CRD. In each instance the evidence supporting these recommendations is presented.
Energy efficiency testbed for wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) consist of many small battery powered nodes with resources constraint. Low power design is a pivotal step of deploying a new platform. A typical sensor node consists of three major components: sensors, micro-controller, and transceiver. It's important to know their dynamic power consumption before optimization. Current research focuses on simulation, or integrating software probes inside the node. They are not always applicable. We proposed an energy efficiency testbed for wireless sensor nodes. It is portable and can realtime sample the data of power consumption. Our device, based on measurements of current and voltage information, enables accurate energy efficiency analysis of nodes in real world. It's useful for evaluating and modeling a new platform at design phase. Moreover, it can be used to monitor health status of sensor nodes from the aspect of power. Experimental results on WSN platform, MicaZ, show that our device can well monitor the energy efficiency of wireless sensor nodes.
IL-18 translational inhibition restricts IFN-gamma expression in crescentic glomerulonephritis.

BACKGROUND Interleukin-18 (IL-18), a potent inducer of interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) production, is a cytokine involved in the cell-mediated immune response that is expressed during inflammatory and pathologic conditions. IFN-gamma plays a role in the development of some models of glomerulonephritis (GN); however, the role of IL-18 in the production of IFN-gamma during these pathologies has not been studied. METHODS Rat IL-18 cDNA was isolated and the regulation of IL-18 gene expression was studied. IFN-gamma and IL-18 expression were determined in anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) antibody (Ab)-induced GN. Recombinant active IL-18 (rIL-18) was used to further identify its effect on IFN-gamma production during this GN. Glomerular injury and levels of IFN-gamma were assayed in Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats with anti-GBM GN in the presence or absence of rIL-18. RESULTS Rat IL-18, similar to the mouse clone, requires processing by the IL-1beta converting enzyme to become activated. A rat IL-18 5'-untranslated region (UTR) translational inhibitor was identified that strongly inhibited the synthesis of IL-18. This translational inhibitor with different lengths (180 and 130 bp) was highly expressed during GN and correlated with minimal IFN-gamma mRNA expression. Injection of recombinant active IL-18 in WKY rats with anti-GBM GN was associated with an increase of glomerular IFN-gamma levels, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)-ED1+ cells, and PCNA-CD8+ cells, with worsening of glomerular injury. CONCLUSION These data suggest that the translational control of IL-18 expression by its 5'-UTR limits the production of IL-18, resulting in restricted expression of mRNA and protein IFN-gamma in this model of GN. Furthermore, it was suggested that possible IL-18/IFN-gamma induction of local proliferation of macrophages and CD8+ cells might be an important mechanism for amplifying CD8+-mediated macrophage-dependent GN.
Re-evaluating the health of coral reef communities: baselines and evidence for human impacts across the central Pacific

Numerous studies have documented declines in the abundance of reef-building corals over the last several decades and in some but not all cases, phase shifts to dominance by macroalgae have occurred. These assessments, however, often ignore the remainder of the benthos and thus provide limited information on the present-day structure and function of coral reef communities. Here, using an unprecedentedly large dataset collected within the last 10 years across 56 islands spanning five archipelagos in the central Pacific, we examine how benthic reef communities differ in the presence and absence of human populations. Using islands as replicates, we examine whether benthic community structure is associated with human habitation within and among archipelagos and across latitude. While there was no evidence for coral to macroalgal phase shifts across our dataset we did find that the majority of reefs on inhabited islands were dominated by fleshy non-reef-building organisms (turf algae, fleshy macroalgae and non-calcifying invertebrates). By contrast, benthic communities from uninhabited islands were more variable but in general supported more calcifiers and active reef builders (stony corals and crustose coralline algae). Our results suggest that cumulative human impacts across the central Pacific may be causing a reduction in the abundance of reef builders resulting in island scale phase shifts to dominance by fleshy organisms.