Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experiencing Physical Pain Leads to More Sympathetic Moral Judgments

Previous studies have shown that observing another’s pain can evoke other-oriented emotions, which instigate empathic concern for another’s needs. It is not clear whether experiencing first-hand physical pain may also evoke other-oriented emotion and thus influence people’s moral judgment. Based on the embodied simulation literature and neuroimaging evidence, the present research tested the idea that participants who experienced physical pain would be more sympathetic in their moral judgments. Study 1 showed that ice-induced physical pain facilitated higher self-assessments of empathy, which motivated participants to be more sympathetic in their moral judgments. Study 2 confirmed findings in study 1 and also showed that State Perspective Taking subscale of the State Empathy Scale mediated the effects of physical pain on moral judgment. These results provide support for embodied view of morality and for the view that pain can serve a positive psychosocial function.
Formation of cyclic 1,N2--adducts by reaction of deoxyguanosine with alpha-acetoxy-N-nitrosopyrrolidine, 4-(carbethoxynitrosamino)butanal, or crotonaldehyde.

The structures of the DNA adducts formed in the metabolism of cyclic N -nitrosamines are not known. To approach this problem, we studied the reactions with deoxyguanosine, catalyzed by porcine liver esterase, of α-acetoxy- N -nitrosopyrrolidine and 4-(carbethoxynitrosamino)butanal which are stable precursors to the reactive intermediates, α-hydroxy- N -nitrosopyrrolidine and 3-formyl-1-propanediazohydroxide, formed in the α-hydroxylation of the cyclic nitrosamine, N -nitrosopyrrolidine. The same two major deoxyguanosine adducts were produced in each reaction. They were isolated by high-performance liquid chromatography and characterized by their ultraviolet spectra, mass spectra, and proton magnetic resonance spectra. On the basis of these spectral data, the structures of the two major adducts were assigned as 3-(2-deoxy-β-d- erythro -pentofuranosyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-8 R -hydroxy-6 R -methylpyrimido [1,2- a ]purine-10(3 H )one and 3-(2-deoxy-β-d- erythro -pentofuranosyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-8 S -hydroxy-6 S -methylpyrimido[1,2- a ]purine-10(3 H )one, in which a new saturated six-membered ring is formed by reaction at the 1- and N 2-positions of deoxyguanosine. The same two adducts were formed in the reaction of crotonaldehyde (2-butenal) with deoxyguanosine. Mild acid hydrolysis of each of the two diastereomeric deoxyguanosine adducts yielded a pair of enantiomeric tricyclic 1, N2 -guanine derivatives which had spectral properties in accordance with the assigned structures. Treatment of these tricyclic 1, N2 -guanine derivatives with NaOH and NaBH4 yielded N2 -(3-hydroxy-1-methylpropyl)guanine, confirming the structural assignments. The results of this study demonstrate that, unlike saturated dialkylnitrosamines which are metabolized to intermediates that give mainly 7-alkylation of deoxyguanosine, the intermediates formed in the α-hydroxylation of a cyclic nitrosamine, N -nitrosopyrrolidine, modify deoxyguanosine by forming cyclic 1, N2 -adducts.
Fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 overexpression is predictive of poor prognosis in rectal cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy

Aims Neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) followed by surgery is an increasingly used therapeutic strategy for advanced rectal cancer, but risk stratification and final outcomes remain suboptimal. Recently, the oncogenic role of the fibroblast growth factor/fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) signalling pathway has been recognised; however, its clinical significance in rectal cancer has not been elucidated. In this study, we identify and validate targetable drivers associated with the FGFR signalling pathway in rectal cancer patients treated with CCRT. Methods Using a published transcriptome of rectal cancers, we found FGFR2 gene significantly predicted response to CCRT. The expression levels of FGFR2, using immunohistochemistry assays, were further evaluated in 172 rectal cancer specimens that had not received any treatment. Expression levels of FGFR2 were statistically correlated with major clinicopathological features and clinical survival in this valid cohort. Results High expression of FGFR2 was significantly related to advanced pretreatment tumour (p=0.022) and nodal status (p=0.026), post-treatment tumour (p<0.001) and nodal status (p=0.004), and inferior tumour regression grade (p<0.001). In survival analyses, high expression of FGFR2 was significantly associated with shorter local recurrence-free survival (p=0.0001), metastasis-free survival (MeFS; p=0.0003) and disease-specific survival (DSS; p<0.0001). Notably, high expression of FGFR2 was independently predictive of worse outcomes for MeFS (p=0.002, HR=5.387) and DSS (p=0.004, HR=4.997). Conclusions High expression of FGFR2 is correlated with advanced tumour stage, poor therapeutic response and worse survival in rectal cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant CCRT. These findings indicate that FGFR2 is a prognostic factor for treating rectal cancer.
Difference in aneurysm characteristics between ruptured and unruptured aneurysms in patients with multiple intracranial aneurysms

Background: The risk of aneurysmal rupture is dependent upon numerous factors, however, there are inconsistencies in the results between studies, which may be due to confounding factors. This can be avoided by comparing the characteristics of ruptured and unruptured aneurysms within the same patient. We sought to analyze the aneurysm characteristics of patients with acute aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and multiple intracranial aneurysms. Methods: We reviewed our prospectively maintained institutional database, between 01/10/2007 and 01/01/2017, for all patients with confirmed SAH and >1 aneurysm. We recorded the size, location, and morphology and calculated secondary geometric indices such as bottleneck factor and aspect ratio. Results: During the study period, a total of 694 patients with aneurysmal SAH were admitted to our institution. We identified 113 patients (74.3% female, average age 51.7 ± 12.3). The majority of patients had only one associate unruptured aneurysm (79.6%). The average unruptured aneurysm was 3.1 ± 1.5 mm and the average ruptured aneurysm was 5.7 ± 2.7 mm (P < 0.001). In the multivariate analysis, aneurysm location, aneurysm morphology, and size were independently associated with rupture. A complex aneurysm morphology was the strongest risk factor for rupture (OR, 29.27; 95% CI 14.33–59.78; P < 0.001) with size >7 mm (OR, 17.74; 95% CI 4.07–77.35; P < 0.001), and AcomA location also showing a strong independent association. Conclusion: Size plays an important part in determining rupture risk, however, other factors such as location and in particular morphology must also be considered. We believe that the introduction of vessel wall imaging will help to risk stratify aneurysms.
Informal requirements analysis supporting system for human engineer

As software becomes more complicated and large-scale, users' demands are becoming more varied, and the expectation level of a software product is becoming higher. Therefore, it is very important that a software engineer analyzes the user's requirements precisely and applies them effectively in the development step. This paper proposes a requirements analysis support system that effectively reduces and revises the errors made in the requirements analysis. The proposed system measures the similarity between requirements specifications or sentences. It extracts those sentences that contain ambiguous words. An indexing method for the similarity measurements combines a sliding window model and a parser model. This method can complement each model's weak points. Using these methods in information retrieval, the proposed system supports a function to trace the dependency between documents, improve the completeness in a document, reduce the inconsistency between sentences and improve the document quality. This paper verifies the efficiency of the proposed system in similarity measurement techniques through experiments, and presents a process for the analysis of requirements specifications using the system.
Models of Talik, Permafrost and Gas Hydrate Histories—Beaufort Mackenzie Basin, Canada

Models of talik, permafrost and gas hydrate (GH) histories below shallow lakes are investigated and compared to models of Beaufort Mackenzie Basin (BMB) GH occurrences to describe lacustrine inundation effects, which are compared against factors controlling the variations among Mackenzie Delta (MD) permafrost, GH and talik occurrence. Models using a 2–4 °C boundary temperature range indicate that geological setting, specifically underlying lithology and porosity, are the primary controls in talik formation below lakes. Below a lake of any size, where the underlying lithology is sandy it is practically impossible to produce a pervasive talik or to completely degrade significant GH accumulations in response to the boundary condition thermal effects alone. Models predict that talik formation is, in such cases, restricted to the upper few tens of meters below the lake. Permafrost degradation appears common where porosities are <40% and water bottom temperatures reach 2–4 °C, in both marine and lacustrine settings. Where porosities are higher a thin GH stability zone can persist, even where deep taliks have formed.
Vulnerable COPD patients with comorbidities: the role of roflumilast

Roflumilast is a selective phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE-4) inhibitor that was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in February 2011 for the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Literature was retrieved through PubMed using the terms “roflumilast” and “COPD”. Reference citations from publications identified were also reviewed. All articles published in English using the terms “roflumilast” and “COPD” were retrieved. For evaluation of clinical efficacy, published Phase III studies and pooled analyses of Phase III trials were included. In seven published Phase III trials, roflumilast at 500 μg daily showed improvements in lung function as measured by pre- and post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second. Roflumilast appears to be useful in vulnerable patients who are at high risk for exacerbations. Roflumilast was found to be effective when administered alone and with concomitant long-acting bronchodilator therapy in the Caucasian and Asian population. Patients with severe-to-very severe COPD, chronic bronchitis, and frequent history of exacerbations derived the greatest benefit with roflumilast. Compared to the standard of care therapies, roflumilast is more cost-prohibitive. Roflumilast was well tolerated, with the most common adverse events observed in clinical trials being diarrhea, nausea, and headache. Weight loss and increased risk of psychiatric events have also been observed with roflumilast in clinical trials. Roflumilast is a safe and effective option for the treatment of COPD.
What are the determinants of gene expression levels and breadths in the human genome?

In complex organisms, different tissues express different genes, which ultimately shape the function and phenotype of each tissue. An important goal of modern biology is to understand how some genes are turned on and off in specific tissues and how the numbers of different gene expression products are determined. These aspects are named ‘expression breadth’ (or ‘tissue specificity’) and ‘expression level’, respectively. Here, we show that we can predict substantial amount of variation in levels and breadths of gene expression using genomic information of each gene. Interestingly, many genomic traits are correlated with both aspects of gene expression in similar directions, suggesting shared molecular pathways. However, to elucidate distinctive molecular mechanisms governing gene expression levels and breadths, we need to identify the relative significance of each genomic trait on these two aspects of gene expression. To this end, we developed a novel multivariate multiple regression method. Using this new method, we show that gene compactness (in particular, the mean size of exons), codon usage bias and non-synonymous rates have a stronger influence on expression levels compared with their effects on expression breadths. In contrast, the propensity of promoter DNA methylation is a stronger indicator of expression breadths than of expression levels. Interestingly, intron DNA methylation exhibits an opposite pattern to the promoter DNA methylation in the human genome, suggesting that DNA methylation may play multiple roles depending upon its genomic targets. Furthermore, synonymous rates have stronger associations with expression breadths than with expression levels in the human genome. These findings provide clues toward distinctive molecular mechanisms regulating different aspects of gene expression.
Is water security necessary? An empirical analysis of the effects of climate hazards on national-level economic growth

The influence of climate and the role of water security on economic growth are topics of growing interest. Few studies have investigated the potential role that climate hazards, which water security addresses, and their cumulative effects have on the growth prospects for a country. Owing to the relatively stationary spatial patterns of global climate, certain regions and countries are more prone to climate hazards and climate variability than others. For example, El Nino/Southern Oscillation patterns result in greater hydroclimatic variability in much of the tropics than that experienced at higher latitudes. In this study, we use a precipitation index that preserves the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation and differentiates between precipitation maxima (e.g. floods) and minima (e.g. droughts). The index is a more precise instrument for hydroclimate hazards than that used in any previous studies. A fixed effects, for year and country, regression model was developed to test the influence of climate variables on measures of economic growth and activity. The results indicate that precipitation extremes (i.e. floods and droughts) are the dominant climate influences on economic growth and that the effects are significant and negative. The drought index was found to be associated with a highly significant negative influence on gross domestic product (GDP) growth, while the flood index was associated with a negative influence on GDP growth and lagged effects on growth. The flood index was also found to have a negative effect on industrial value added in contemporary and lagged regressions. Temperature was found to have little significant effect. These results have important implications for economic projections of climate change impacts. Perhaps more important, the results make clear that hydroclimatic hazards have measurable negative impacts, and thus lack of water security is an impediment to growth. In addition, adaptation strategies should recognize the importance of managing hazards given the identification of precipitation extremes as the key climate influence on historical GDP growth.
Increased activation of p38 MAPK in COPD

Inflammation, oxidative stress and apoptosis, which are involved in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathogenesis, may activate the p38 subgroup of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the expression of the phosphorylated, active form of p38 MAPK (phospho-p38) in the lungs of COPD patients. Surgical specimens were obtained from 18 smokers with COPD at different stages of disease severity, plus nine smoking and eight nonsmoking subjects with normal lung function. Phospho-p38+ cells were quantified by immunohistochemistry in both alveolar spaces and alveolar walls. Moreover, a Western blot analysis of phospho-p38 and total p38α isoform expressed by alveolar macrophages was performed. Phospho-p38+ alveolar macrophages and phospho-p38+ cells in alveolar walls were increased in patients with severe and mild/moderate COPD, compared with smoking and nonsmoking controls. Moreover, they were inversely correlated to values of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and FEV1/forced vital capacity. Western blot analysis showed that phosphorylated p38, but not the total p38α isoform, was specifically increased in alveolar macrophages from COPD patients. Activation of the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway appears to be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The present findings suggest that this protein may be a suitable pharmacological target for therapeutic intervention.
Driver Stress and Performance on a Driving Simulator

Effects of stress on driving performance can depend on the nature of driver's stress reactions and on the traffic environment. In an experimental study, we assessed multiple dimensions of vulnerability to driver stress by a questionnaire that was validated in previous field studies and related those dimensions to performance on a driving simulator. Results were broadly consistent with prediction. A dimension of habitual dislike of driving was associated with reduced control skills, greater caution, and disturbance of moods. A measure of aggressive driving predicted more frequent and more error-prone overtaking, which are effects attributed to the use of confrontive coping strategies in interaction with other vehicles. An alertness measure predicted speed of reaction to pedestrian hazards. This research has practical applications for system design, automated monitoring of driver performance, selection and assessment of drivers, and training.
Features of bainite transformation i n steels

Some features of bainite transformation in steels are reviewed with the objective of summarising the progress of current schools. A great deal of research has revealed substantial information concerning the mechanism of the bainite transformation in steels. Two competing models regarding the formation of bainite from austenite in steels are reviewed. Four basic controversies concerning the formation of bainite are discussed. They concern the diffusive or displacive mechanism of bainite transformation, the role of carbon diffusion, the surface relief effects and thickening process of bainitic ferrite laths. The review also includes an assessment of modelling of novel ultrahigh bainitic steels.
Microtubule-Macrotubule Transitions: Intermediates after Exposure to the Mitotic Inhibitor Vinblastine

Vinblastine treatment of microtubule protein or intact microtubules assembled in vitro produced bifilar rings and bifilar helices. Suspentsions of rings and helices were demonstrated to bind [3H]colchicine, a diagnostic property of microtubule protein. Macrotubules are suggested to consist of tightly coiled helices formed by longitudinal compacting of loosely coiled protofilament pair intermediates.
Cell kinetics and gene expression changes in colorectal cancer patients given resistant starch: a randomised controlled trial

Objective: This study investigated the effects of oral supplementation of resistant starch (RS) on tumour cell and colonic mucosal cell kinetics and on gene expression in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), and its potential role in colon cancer prevention. Methods: 65 patients with CRC were randomised to treatment with RS or ordinary starch (OS) and were given starch treatment for up to 4 weeks. Pretreatment and post-treatment biopsies were obtained from the tumour and colonic mucosa, and the effects of the starch treatment on cell proliferation and expression of the cell cycle regulatory genes CDK4 (cyclin-dependent kinase 4) and GADD45A (growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible, alpha) were investigated. Results: The proportion of mitotic cells in the top half of the colonic crypt was significantly lower following RS treatment (3.1 (1.5), mean (SEM)) as compared with OS treatment (13.7 (3.2)) (p = 0.028). However, there was no effect of RS treatment on crypt dimensions and tumour cell proliferation index. There was significant upregulation in expression of CDK4 (p<0.01) and downregulation in expression of GADD45A (p<0.001) in the tumour tissue when compared with macroscopically normal mucosa. Following RS treatment, CDK4 expression in tumours (0.88 (0.15)) was twofold higher than that in the OS group (0.37 (0.16)) (p = 0.02). The expression of GADD45A, which was downregulated in the presence of cancer, was significantly upregulated (p = 0.048) following RS treatment (1.41 (0.26)) as compared with OS treatment (0.56 (0.3)). However, there were no significant differences in the expression of these genes in the normal mucosa following starch treatment. Conclusions: Cell proliferation in the upper part of colonic crypts is a premalignant marker and its reduction by RS supplementation is consistent with an antineoplastic action of this food component. Differential expression of the key cell cycle regulatory genes may contribute to the molecular mechanisms underlying these antineoplastic effects of RS. Trial registration number: ISRCTN93586244.
TopBP1 Governs Hematopoietic Stem/Progenitor Cells Survival in Zebrafish Definitive Hematopoiesis

In vertebrate definitive hematopoiesis, nascent hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) migrate to and reside in proliferative hematopoietic microenvironment for transitory expansion. In this process, well-established DNA damage response pathways are vital to resolve the replication stress, which is deleterious for genome stability and cell survival. However, the detailed mechanism on the response and repair of the replication stress-induced DNA damage during hematopoietic progenitor expansion remains elusive. Here we report that a novel zebrafish mutantcas003 with nonsense mutation in topbp1 gene encoding topoisomerase II β binding protein 1 (TopBP1) exhibits severe definitive hematopoiesis failure. Homozygous topbp1cas003 mutants manifest reduced number of HSPCs during definitive hematopoietic cell expansion, without affecting the formation and migration of HSPCs. Moreover, HSPCs in the caudal hematopoietic tissue (an equivalent of the fetal liver in mammals) in topbp1cas003 mutant embryos are more sensitive to hydroxyurea (HU) treatment. Mechanistically, subcellular mislocalization of TopBP1cas003 protein results in ATR/Chk1 activation failure and DNA damage accumulation in HSPCs, and eventually induces the p53-dependent apoptosis of HSPCs. Collectively, this study demonstrates a novel and vital role of TopBP1 in the maintenance of HSPCs genome integrity and survival during hematopoietic progenitor expansion.
Detection of Mycobacterium avium in Blood Samples of Patients with AIDS by Using PCR

ABSTRACT Sixty-nine blood samples from 47 patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus were analyzed by using PCR to detect Mycobacterium avium. The sensitivity can be up to 95.7%, depending on the detection method used and the number of blood samples analyzed from each patient. The procedure can be helpful in the diagnosis of mycobacterial disease.