Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MutL-Homolog 1 Expression and Risk of Incident, Sporadic Colorectal Adenoma: Search for Prospective Biomarkers of Risk for Colorectal Cancer

To characterize the expression of the mismatch repair gene MutL-homolog 1 (MLH1) in normal colorectal crypts in humans, and assess parameters of its expression as a potential biomarker of risk for colorectal neoplasms, we conducted a pilot, colonoscopy-based case-control study (51 cases, 154 controls) of incident, sporadic colorectal adenoma. Biopsies of normal-appearing rectal, sigmoid, and ascending colon mucosa were procured, immunohistochemically processed for MLH1 protein, and analyzed using custom quantitative image analysis procedures. MLH1 expression in the ascending colon was, on average, 49% proportionally lower in cases than controls (P = 0.03), but there was little evidence for case-control differences in the rectum and sigmoid colon. In cases and controls, average MLH1 expression in the ascending colon tended to be lower with increased age [by 56% (P = 0.02) and 25% (P = 0.16), respectively, for those ≥55 years], and with a history of colorectal cancer in a first-degree relative (by 22% [P = 0.56] and 34% [P = 0.16], respectively). Among cases, but not controls, average MLH1 expression tended to be higher with current alcohol consumption, regular aspirin use, and higher total intakes of calcium, vitamin D, and folate. There was little indication of similar differences in the rectum. These preliminary data suggest that lower MLH1 expression in the normal colonic mucosa, at least in the ascending colon, may be associated with increased risk of incident, sporadic colorectal adenoma, as well as with modifiable risk factors for colorectal neoplasms, thus supporting further investigation of MLH1 expression as a potential “treatable” biomarker of risk for colorectal neoplasms. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(5):1599–609)
Sulphide Sinking in Magma Conduits: Evidence from Mafic–Ultramafic Plugs on Rum and the Wider North Atlantic Igneous Province

Ni–Cu–PGE (platinum group element) sulphide mineralization is commonly found in magmatic conduit systems. In many cases the trigger for formation of an immiscible sulphide liquid involves assimilation of S-bearing crustal rocks. Conceptually, the fluid dynamics of sulphide liquid droplets within such conduits is essentially a balance between gravitational sinking and upwards entrainment. Thus, crustal contamination signatures may be present in sulphides preserved both up- and down-flow from the point of interaction with the contaminant. We examine a suite of ultramafic volcanic plugs on the Isle of Rum, Scotland, to decipher controls on sulphide accumulation in near-surface magma conduits intruded into a variable sedimentary stratigraphy. The whole-rock compositions of the plugs broadly overlap with the compositions of ultramafic units within the Rum Layered Complex, although subtle differences between each plug highlight their individuality. Interstitial base metal sulphide minerals occur in all ultramafic plugs on Rum. Sulphide minerals have magmatic δ34S (ranging from –1·3 to +2·1‰) and S/Se ratios (mean = 2299), and demonstrate that the conduit magmas were already S-saturated. However, two plugs in NW Rum contain substantially coarser (sometimes net-textured) sulphides with unusually light δ34S (–14·7 to +0·3‰) and elevated S/Se ratios (mean = 4457), not represented by the immediate host-rocks. Based on the Hebrides Basin sedimentary stratigraphy, it is likely that the volcanic con duits would have intruded through a package of Jurassic mudrocks with characteristically light δ34S (–33·8 to –14·7‰). We propose that a secondary crustal S contamination event took place at a level above that currently exposed, and that these sulphides sank back to their present position. Modelling suggests that upon the cessation of active magma transport, sulphide liquids could have sunk back through the conduit over a distance of several hundreds of metres, over a period of a few days. This sulphide ‘withdrawal’ process may be observed in other vertical or steeply inclined magma conduits globally; for example, in the macrodykes of East Greenland. Sulphide liquid sinking within a non-active conduit or during magma ‘suck-back’ may help to explain crustal S-isotopic compositions in magma conduits that appear to lack appropriate lithologies to support this contamination, either locally or deeper in the system.
Sleep Problems in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective. To investigate sleep problems, and the relationship between sleep and disease activity, in Belgian patients with established rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. This cross-sectional, observational, multicenter study assessed sleep quality using the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and daytime sleepiness using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Additional patient-reported outcomes included visual analog scales (VAS) for fatigue and pain, the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 Health Survey, the Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Multivariate regression and structural equation modeling identified factors associated with sleep quality, with the 28-joint Disease Activity Score [DAS28-C-reactive protein (CRP)] as a continuous or categorical variable. Analyses were performed on the total population and on patients stratified by disease activity status: remission/low (DAS28-CRP ≤ 3.2) or moderate to high (DAS28-CRP > 3.2). Results. Among 305 patients, mean (SD) age was 57.00 (12.38) years and mean (SD) disease duration was 11.77 (9.94) years. Mean (SD) AIS, PSQI, and ESS scores were 6.8 (4.79), 7.8 (4.30), and 7.3 (4.67), respectively. Mean (SD) VAS fatigue, VAS pain, and HAQ-DI were 45.22 (26.29), 39.04 (26.21), and 1.08 (0.75), respectively. There were significant positive relationships between DAS28-CRP and AIS/PSQI, but a significant negative relationship between DAS28-CRP and ESS. Several potentially confounding factors were identified. Conclusions. Poor control of RA is associated with a reduction in sleep quality and decreased daytime sleepiness, which is likely explained by pain-related alertness. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm potential relationships between sleep quality, sleepiness, and RA treatment.
Alkaloids from Esenbeckia pilocarpoides.

A preliminary screening showed the occurrence of alkaloids only in root bark and roots of ESENBECKIA PILOCARPOIDES H. B. K. , (Rutaceae). Six alkaloids have been isolated and identified from root bark: one acridone, 1-hydroxy-3-methoxy- N-methyl-acridone; four furoquinolines, maculine, flindersiamine, kokusaginine, kokusagine; the sixth, isomaculine, a furo-4-quinolone, known as a synthetic product, has been isolated for the first time from a natural source.
Integrative Genomic Analysis Reveals Extended Germline Homozygosity with Lung Cancer Risk in the PLCO Cohort

Susceptibility to common cancers is multigenic resulting from low-to-high penetrance predisposition-factors and environmental exposure. Genomic studies suggest germline homozygosity as a novel low-penetrance factor contributing to common cancers. We hypothesized that long homozygous regions (tracts-of-homozygosity [TOH]) harbor tobacco-dependent and independent lung-cancer predisposition (or protection) genes. We performed in silico genome-wide SNP-array-based analysis of lung-cancer patients of European-ancestry from the PLCO screening-trial cohort to identify TOH regions amongst 788 cancer-cases and 830 ancestry-matched controls. Association analyses was then performed between presence of lung cancer and common(c)TOHs (operationally defined as 10 or more subjects sharing ≥100 identical homozygous calls), aTOHs (allelically-matched groups within a cTOH), demographics and tobacco-exposure. Finally, integration of significant c/aTOH with transcriptome was performed to functionally-map lung-cancer risk-genes. After controlling for demographics and smoking, we identified 7 cTOHs and 5 aTOHs associated with lung cancer (adjusted p<0.01). Three cTOHs were over-represented in cases over controls (OR = 1.75–2.06, p = 0.007–0.001), whereas 4 were under-represented (OR = 0.28–0.69, p = 0.006–0.001). Interaction between smoking status and cTOH3/aTOH2 (2p16.3–2p16.1) was observed (adjusted p<0.03). The remaining significant aTOHs have ORs 0.23–0.50 (p = 0.004–0.006) and 2.95–3.97 (p = 0.008–0.001). After integrating significant cTOH/aTOHs with publicly-available lung-cancer transcriptome datasets followed by filtering based on lung cancer and its relevant pathways revealed 9 putative predisposing genes (p<0.0001). In conclusion, differentially-distributed cTOH/aTOH genomic variants between cases and controls harbor sets of plausible differentially-expressed genes accounting for the complexity of lung-cancer predisposition.
Rewarding Altruism? A Natural Field Experiment

We present evidence from a natural field experiment involving nearly 100,000 individuals on the effects of offering economic incentives for blood donations. Subjects who were offered economic rewards to donate blood were more likely to donate, and more so the higher the value of the rewards. They were also more likely to attract others to donate, spatially alter the location of their donations towards the drives offering rewards, and modify their temporal donation schedule leading to a short-term reduction in donations immediately after the reward offer was removed. Although offering economic incentives, combining all of these effects, positively and significantly increased donations, ignoring individuals who took additional actions beyond donating to get others to donate would have led to an under-estimate of the total effect, whereas ignoring the spatial effect would have led to an over-estimate of the total effect. We also find that individuals who received a reward by surprise were less likely to donate after the intervention than subjects who received no reward, suggesting that for some individuals a surprise reward adversely affected their intrinsic motivations. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding pro-social behavior.
Accretion discs with strong toroidal magnetic fields

Simulations and analytic arguments suggest that the turbulence driven by magnetorotational instability (MRI) in accretion discs can amplify the toroidal (azimuthal) component of the magnetic field to a point at which magnetic pressure exceeds the combined gas + radiation pressure in the disc. Arguing from the recent analysis by Pessah & Psaltis, and other MRI results in the literature, we conjecture that the limiting field strength for a thin disc is such that the Alfven speed roughly equals the geometric mean of the Keplerian speed and the speed of sound in gas. We examine the properties of such magnetically dominated discs, and show that they resolve a number of outstanding problems in accretion disc theory. The discs would be thicker than standard (Shakura-Sunyaev) discs at the same radius and accretion rate, and would tend to have higher colour temperatures. If they transport angular momentum according to an a prescription, they would be stable against the thermal and viscous instabilities that are found in standard disc models. In discs fuelling active galactic nuclei, magnetic pressure support could also alleviate the restriction on accretion rate imposed by disc self-gravity.
Distinction between MOG antibody-positive and AQP4 antibody-positive NMO spectrum disorders

Editors' Note: In reference to the article “Distinction between MOG antibody-positive and AQP4 antibody-positive NMO spectrum disorders,” Mao et al. bring up the conflicting data and many challenges associated with this area of study. Authors Sato et al. address their concerns. Commenting on a p value of <0.0000, Lopez Valle and author Gronseth discuss how low a p value can go. —Megan Alcauskas, MD, and Robert C. Griggs, MD Sato et al.1 assessed the differences among patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders who have myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibodies, aquaporin-4 (AQP4) …
Asymmetric Septal Hypertrophy in Childhood

Although considerable information is available concerning the clinical features and natural history of asymmetric septal hypertrophy (ASH) in adults, little is known of this disease in children. The clinical characteristics and course of 46 children with ASH, who were evaluated at the National Heart and Lung Institute, have been analyzed. Twenty-four children had obstruction to ventricular outflow; 22 children had no obstruction to ventricular outflow, including 11 patients without overt manifestations of cardiac disease other than echocardiographic evidence of ASH. Thirty-five of the 46 children have been followed for one to 16 years (average 7.4 years). These latter children represent that subgroup of patients with ASH referred to the National Heart and Lung Institute and diagnosed prior to the general availability of echocardiography. The clinical course of these patients was variable. Fourteen (40%) of the 35 patients improved or remained stable, including four patients who received propranolol. Ten (29%) of the 35 patients deteriorated clinically and 11 (31%) of the 35 patients died suddenly (4% mortality per year). Two of the patients who died suddenly had previously undergone operation (six and 13 years previously) with resultant abolition of the outflow gradient; four others were taking propranolol. Neither symptomatology, electrocardiographic abnormalities, heart size, left ventricular ejection or upstroke time, magnitude of outflow gradient, or left ventricular enddiastolic pressure proved predictive of sudden death. Excluding patients who had previous operation, eight (40%) of 20 patients with obstruction who were followed long term and one (9%) of patients without outflow obstruction died suddenly. Thus, the clinical and hemodynamic spectrum of ASH in childhood is broad. However, deterioration in clinical condition or sudden death has been relatively common in children with overt signs of cardiac disease.
Microbial synthesis of highly dispersed PdAu alloy for enhanced electrocatalysis

A biosynthetic strategy is proposed to fabricate highly dispersed bimetallic electrocatalysts for efficient energy conversion. Biosynthesis based on the reducing capacity of electrochemically active bacteria is frequently used in the reduction of metal ions into nanoparticles as an eco-friendly way to recycle metal resources. However, those bionanoparticles cannot be used directly as electrocatalysts because of the poor conductivity of cell substrates. This problem was solved by a hydrothermal reaction, which also contributes to the heteroatom doping and alloying between Pd and Au. With the protection of graphene, the aggregation of nanoparticles was successfully avoided, and the porous structure was maintained, resulting in better electrocatalytic activity and durability than commercial Pd/C under both alkaline (CH3CH2OH, 6.15-fold of mass activity) and acidic (HCOOH, 6.58-fold of mass activity) conditions. The strategy developed in this work opens up a horizon into designing electrocatalysts through fully utilizing the abundant resources in nature.
Time-intensity trade of bilaterally bone-conducted sounds in normal hearing subjects.

OBJECTIVE AND METHODS In an effort to examine the rules by which information of bilaterally applied bone-conducted signals arising from interaural time differences (ITD) and interaural intensity differences (IID) is combined, data were measured for continuous 500 Hz narrow-band noise at 60 dBHL in 30 normal-hearing subjects using a centering method. Time-intensity trading functions were obtained by means of a sound image shifted towards one side by presenting an ITD, and shifted back to a centered sound image by varying the IID in the same ear. ITD values were varied from -600 to +600 microseconds at 200 microseconds steps, where negative values indicate delays to the right ear. RESULTS Time-intensity trading functions in response to bone-conducted signals showed significantly lower discrimination thresholds across IIDs, when compared to a control group with applied air-conducted signals. These findings can be interpreted as a constructive interference effect related to the intimate mechanism of bilateral bone conduction, where interaural time differences play a major role. CONCLUSION Time-intensity trade of bilaterally bone-conducted sounds in normal-hearing subjects is the highly sensitive. The high speed of sound through the skull may be the main reason for the high sensitivity of time-intensity trading.
An Interdisciplinary Theoretical Interpretive Synthesis Examining the Barriers to Implementing Restorative Justice as the Standard Paradigm of Adult Criminal Justice Within the Context of the United States

A systemic paradigm shift of any sort is complex and multifaceted. A systemic paradigm shift of justice is no different. The purpose of this study is to identify the barriers that exist in a systemic paradigm shift from retributive justice to restorative justice. The methodology for this study is an interpretive synthesis of literature on restorative justice and consists of primarily theoretical literature. The literature for this study came from a variety of disciplines (e.g. psychology, criminal justice, sociology, and social work) in order to obtain a holistic perspective. A tripartite analysis was conducted using three perspectives: criminal justice, social systems model, and social work. In using these three lenses, different barriers to a systemic paradigm shift were able to be identified. This study identified several barriers from all three perspectives that may likely impede a systemic paradigm shift to restorative justice. With these barriers is it possible that a restorative justice paradigm might not be able to wholly replace the criminal justice system, but rather, that it can grow to work in concert with the current criminal justice system, and infusing the criminal justice system with restorative values. This study holds the potential for social workers to focus efforts on social change, and addressing the barriers that have been identified. This research advocates for social workers to be active in political action as well as in community organizing and development. Social work, because of its mission, values, and perspectives, is in a unique position to address these barriers.
Analytical modeling and simulation of the energy consumption of independent tasks

The estimation and evaluation of the energy consumption of computers is becoming an important issue. In this article, we address the question how the energy consumption for computations can be captured by an analytical energy consumption model. In particular, we address the possibility to reduce the energy consumption by dynamic frequency scaling and model this energy reduction in the context of task execution models. We demonstrate the use of the model by simulating task executions and their energy consumption.
Reduced-Packet-Delay Generalized Buffer-Aided Relaying Protocol: Simultaneous Activation of Multiple Source-to-Relay Links

Motivated by the recent buffer-aided relaying protocol that selects the best available link at each time slot, we herein introduce an additional degree of freedom to the protocol by simultaneously exploiting multiple links between the source node and the multiple buffer-aided relay nodes, which is enabled owing to the broadcast nature of wireless channels. More specifically, the proposed schemes are designed to allow multiple relay nodes to receive a source packet through source-to-relay broadcast channels, resulting in multiple copies of the source packet, which are stored in relay node buffers. As the explicit benefits of its increased design degree of freedom, the proposed protocols attain a significantly lower end-to-end packet delay than the conventional buffer-aided relaying protocols, which is achieved without imposing any substantial penalty on the achievable outage probability. Furthermore, the proposed protocol is capable of reducing the overhead required for monitoring the available links and buffer statuses of the relay nodes. Based on the Markov chain model, we derive the theoretical bounds of the outage probabilities of the proposed protocols.
Cellular Expression Requirements for Inhibition of Type 1 Diabetes by a Dominantly Protective Major Histocompatibility Complex Haplotype

The H2g7 (Kd, Ag7, Enull, and Db) major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is the primary genetic contributor to type 1 diabetes in NOD mice. NOD stocks congenically expressing other MHC haplotypes such as H2nb1 (Kb, Anb1, Ek, and Db) in a heterozygous state are type 1 diabetes resistant. Hematopoietically derived antigen-presenting cells (APCs) expressing H2nb1 MHC molecules delete or inactivate autoreactive diabetogenic T-cells. Thus, provided a relatively benign preconditioning protocol is ultimately developed, hematopoietic chimerization by APCs expressing dominantly protective MHC molecules could conceivably provide a means for type 1 diabetes prevention in humans. Before hematopoietic chimerization can be considered for type 1 diabetes prevention, it must be determined what subtype(s) of APCs (B-cells, macrophages, and/or dendritic cells) expressing protective MHC molecules most efficiently inhibit disease, as well as the engraftment level they must achieve to accomplish this. These issues were addressed through analyses of NOD background bone marrow chimeras in which H2nb1 molecules were selectively expressed on variable proportions of different APC subtypes. While a modest B-cell effect was observed, the strongest type 1 diabetes protection resulted from at least 50% of dendritic cells and macrophages expressing H2nb1 molecules. At this engraftment level, H2nb1-expressing dendritic cells and macrophages mediated virtually complete deletion of a highly pathogenic CD8 T-cell population.