Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Evolution of Large Body Size in Females: A Critique of Darwin's "Fecundity Advantage" Model

In most species of animals, females attain larger body sizes than do males. This generality was established for many groups (e.g., spiders, insects, fishes, amphibians, reptiles) by Darwin (1874), and it has been supported and extended by many subsequent workers. Even for taxa such as mammals and birds, in which males frequently are the larger sex, there are many examples of greater size in females (e.g., Ralls 1976; Snyder and Wiley 1976). The evolutionary advantages to large body size in females have attracted considerable speculation. Darwin proposed a general explanation for large female size: "Increased size must be in some manner of more importance to the females. and this perhaps is to allow the production of a vast number of ova" (1874, p. 332; see also p. 275 for a similarly worded argument). Darwin invoked additional selective forces for specific groups: for example, he believed that combat between females may favor large body size in some bird species and that the smaller size of male insects is adaptive in allowing them to hatch (and be ready to mate) before the emergence of the larger females. Darwin's general hypothesis on the evolution of large body size in femalesthis character has been favored because larger females can produce more offspring-has enjoyed wide support. This "fecundity advantage" model has been used to explain females growing larger than males in zooplankton, insects, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and most animal species (Williams 1966; Gibbons 1972; Trivers 1972; Crump 1974; Clutton-Brock and Harvey 1978; Shine 1979; Berry and Shine 1980; Veuille 1980; Fitch 1981, 1985; Semlitsch and Gibbons 1982; Gilbert and Williamson 1983; Woolbright 1983; Mueller and Meyer 1985; Hughes and Hughes 1986), and the lack of such a fecundity advantage has been proposed as the reason for the relatively small size of females in many birds and mammals (Trivers 1972). Like many other such hypotheses, the fecundity-advantage model seems to have achieved the status of conventional wisdom, primarily on the bases of its simplicity and its ability to predict he directions of sexual size dimorphism on this very broad level. However, I am not aware of any previous attempts to examine closely the logic and assumptions of the hypothesis or to test the idea by deriving and testing predictions about sexual size dimorphism.
Waiting for Cardiac Surgery: Results of a Risk-Stratified Queuing Process

Background—The Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre uses a weekly peer-review conference of cardiovascular experts to prioritize each surgical case to 1 of 4 queues with the use of standardized criteria of coronary anatomy, stress test result, and symptoms. We examined the hazard of waiting as well as the impact of waiting on surgical outcomes. Methods and Results—Analysis was performed for 2102 consecutive patients queued for CABG, aortic valve replacement, or CABG+aortic valve replacement between January 1, 1998, and December 31, 1999. Among 1854 patients undergoing surgery, median waiting times on the respective queues were as follows: in-house urgent group, 8 days; semiurgent A group, 37 days; semiurgent B group, 64 days; and elective group, 113 days. There were 13 deaths (12 cardiac) that occurred during the waiting period (0.7% of the patients). Of the 8.7% patients upgraded to a more urgent queue, 86.1% required hospitalization before surgery. Although female sex was not associated with prolonged waiting time, it was predictive of urgent status (P =0.001). The incidence of postoperative complications was 25.0%, and operative mortality was 2.86%. Both were more frequent among patients undergoing surgery early (P =0.01); however, this difference was attributable to the in-house urgent queue. The median length of stay was 7 days for all patients and was not affected by waiting time. Conclusions—Death and upgrades while the patients were waiting tended to occur early in the queuing process, and prolonged waiting was not associated with worse surgical outcomes. The cost of reducing waiting times could in part be offset by prevention of hospital admissions among upgraded patients.
Cephalometric analysis in obese and nonobese patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

STUDY OBJECTIVES The aims of this study were to comprehensively evaluate the cephalometric features of patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), and to elucidate the relationship between cephalometric variables and severity of the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). PATIENTS The study population consisted of 62 male patients with OSAS, classified into 33 obese patients (body mass index [BMI] >or= 27) and 29 nonobese patients (BMI < 27), and 13 male simple snorers (AHI < 5 events per hour). METHOD and measurements: Diagnostic polysomnography and measurements of 22 cephalometric variables were carried out for all patients and simple snorers. RESULTS Patients with OSAS in both subgroups showed several significant cephalometric features compared with simple snorers: (1) inferiorly positioned hyoid bone, (2) enlarged soft palate, and (3) reduced upper airway width at soft palate. More extensive and severe soft-tissue enlargements including anteriorly positioned hyoid bone and a longer tongue were found in the obese patients. In the nonobese patients, the anteroposterior distances of the bony nasopharynx and oropharynx were significantly smaller than those of simple snorers and obese patients. Stepwise regression analysis showed that anterior displacement of the hyoid bone and retroposition of the mandible were the dominant overall determinants for AHI in patients with OSAS, and that narrowing of the bony oropharynx and inferior displacement of the hyoid bone were dominant determinants for AHI in nonobese patients. A significant regression model for AHI using cephalometric variables could not be obtained for the obese patients, but the BMI proved to be the most significant determinant. CONCLUSION Characteristics of the craniofacial bony structure such as narrowing of the nasopharynx and oropharynx and enlargement of the soft tissue in the upper airway may be important risk factors for the development of OSAS in nonobese patients. In obese patients, the deposition of adipose tissue in the upper airway may aggravate the severity of OSAS.
Lung Cancer Risk in Nonsmokers and GSTM 1 and GSTT 1 Genetic Polymorphism 1

Glutathione S-transferase (GST) polymorphism may contribute to the individual variability in detoxifying lung carcinogens. This effect might be particularly relevant at low-level exposure to environmental carcinogens, such as in nonsmokers exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). We conducted a case-control study among 122 nonsmoking lung cancer cases and 121 nonsmoking controls from eight countries. Information on environmental exposures was obtained through a personal interview. The presence ofGSTM1 and GSTT1 genes was determined using multiplex PCR. GSTM1positive samples were then analyzed for *1A and *1B polymorphism using an allele-specific amplification-PCR method. GSTM1*2 (null) individuals had an odds ratio (OR) of lung cancer of 1.5 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.9–2.7]; the risk associated with this genotype was higher for cases with squamous and small cell carcinomas (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 0.9–6.1) than for cases with adenocarcinomas. It was also elevated in individuals with long-term exposure to indoor wood combustion (OR, 3.1; 95% CI, 0.9–9.9), in subjects who mainly lived in a rural setting (OR, 3.6; 95% CI, 1.0–13), and in cases exposed to occupational carcinogens (OR, 10.7; 96% CI, 0.4–260) but not in subjects exposed to ETS.GSTT1*2 subjects did not show a risk of lung cancer. Our study suggests that the effect of GSTM1 polymorphism in nonsmokers is similar to that found in smokers. It does not seem to interact with ETS exposure, although we cannot exclude that it does in association with exposure to other specific environmental carcinogens.
Predictors of cervical cancer screening among urban African Americans and Latinas.

OBJECTIVES To assess predictors of cervical cancer screening among African American and Latina women, a needs assessment survey was conducted, exploring screening behavior, knowledge, and access to health care. METHODS Participants (N = 248) were recruited at community health fairs, tenants' association meetings, senior centers, and community health clinics to complete a questionnaire. The findings from 194 African American and Latina women are reported. RESULTS Neither insurance nor physician referral for screening played a role in obtaining cervical cancer screening. Spoken language was influential. CONCLUSION The findings can now inform interventions to increase screening in this population.
Small-Molecule Procaspase-3 Activation Sensitizes Cancer to Treatment with Diverse Chemotherapeutics

Conventional chemotherapeutics remain essential treatments for most cancers, but their combination with other anticancer drugs (including targeted therapeutics) is often complicated by unpredictable synergies and multiplicative toxicities. As cytotoxic anticancer chemotherapeutics generally function through induction of apoptosis, we hypothesized that a molecularly targeted small molecule capable of facilitating a central and defining step in the apoptotic cascade, the activation of procaspase-3 to caspase-3, would broadly and predictably enhance activity of cytotoxic drugs. Here we show that procaspase-activating compound 1 (PAC-1) enhances cancer cell death induced by 15 different FDA-approved chemotherapeutics, across many cancer types and chemotherapeutic targets. In particular, the promising combination of PAC-1 and doxorubicin induces a synergistic reduction in tumor burden and enhances survival in murine tumor models of osteosarcoma and lymphoma. This PAC-1/doxorubicin combination was evaluated in 10 pet dogs with naturally occurring metastatic osteosarcoma or lymphoma, eliciting a biologic response in 3 of 6 osteosarcoma patients and 4 of 4 lymphoma patients. Importantly, in both mice and dogs, coadministration of PAC-1 with doxorubicin resulted in no additional toxicity. On the basis of the mode of action of PAC-1 and the high expression of procaspase-3 in many cancers, these results suggest the combination of PAC-1 with cytotoxic anticancer drugs as a potent and general strategy to enhance therapeutic response.
Inhibition of glycolipid shedding rescues recognition of a CD1+ T cell lymphoma by natural killer T (NKT) cells

Neoplastic transformation of cells is accompanied by an aberration of cell surface glycolipid composition. These tumor-associated, altered glycosphingolipids are often shed into the tumor cell microenvironment and mediate immunosuppressive activity. The nature and form of glycolipids shed by a variety of tumor cell lines and the mechanism(s) of shedding have been well characterized. The murine T cell lymphoma line, L5178Y-R, is known to shed a tumor-associated glycolipid, gangliotriaosylceramide, into the culture medium. We analyzed the effect of glycolipids from L5178Y-R on antigen presentation by murine CD1d1 molecules. CD1d1 molecules present glycolipid antigens to a specialized class of T cells called natural killer T (NKT) cells that mainly express a T cell receptor α chain (Vα14Jα281) associated with Vβ chains of limited diversity. In the current report, we found that L5178Y-R cells express CD1 on their cell surface yet are unable to stimulate CD1d1-specific NKT cells. We hypothesized that the glycolipid(s) shed by L5178Y-R inhibited antigen presentation by CD1d1. Pretreatment of CD1d1+ cells with conditioned medium from L5178Y-R inhibited CD1-specific stimulation of canonical (Vα14+) but not noncanonical (Vα5+) NKT cells. Exogenous addition of lipids extracted from L5178Y-R cells as well as purified gangliotriaosylceramide mimicked this effect. Inhibition of glycolipid shedding in L5178Y-R cells with d-1-phenyl-2-hexadecanoylamino-3-morpholino-1-propanol resulted in the rescue of CD1d1 recognition by canonical (but not noncanonical) NKT cells. These results suggest that one means by which certain tumor cells can evade the host's innate antitumor immune response is by shedding glycolipids that inhibit CD1-mediated antigen presentation to NKT cells.
Pathogenic EFHC1 mutations are tolerated in healthy individuals dependent on reported ancestry

Screening for specific coding mutations in the EFHC1 gene has been proposed as a means of assessing susceptibility to juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). To clarify the role of these mutations, especially those reported to be highly penetrant, we sought to measure the frequency of exonic EFHC1 mutations across multiple population samples.
Using Remote-Sensing Environmental and Fishery Data to Map Potential Yellowfin Tuna Habitats in the Tropical Pacific Ocean

Changes in marine environments affect fishery resources at different spatial and temporal scales in marine ecosystems. Predictions from species distribution models are available to parameterize the environmental characteristics that influence the biology, range, and habitats of the species of interest. This study used generalized additive models (GAMs) fitted to two spatiotemporal fishery data sources, namely 1° spatial grid and observer record longline fishery data from 2006 to 2010, to investigate the relationship between catch rates of yellowfin tuna and oceanographic conditions by using multispectral satellite images and to develop a habitat preference model. The results revealed that the cumulative deviances obtained using the selected GAMs were 33.6% and 16.5% in the 1° spatial grid and observer record data, respectively. The environmental factors in the study were significant in the selected GAMs, and sea surface temperature explained the highest deviance. The results suggest that areas with a higher sea surface temperature, a sea surface height anomaly of approximately −10.0 to 20 cm, and a chlorophyll-a concentration of approximately 0.05–0.25 mg/m3 yield higher catch rates of yellowfin tuna. The 1° spatial grid data had higher cumulative deviances, and the predicted relative catch rates also exhibited a high correlation with observed catch rates. However, the maps of observer record data showed the high-quality spatial resolutions of the predicted relative catch rates in the close-view maps. Thus, these results suggest that models of catch rates of the 1° spatial grid data that incorporate relevant environmental variables can be used to infer possible responses in the distribution of highly migratory species, and the observer record data can be used to detect subtle changes in the target fishing grounds.
Characterization of Software Aging Effects in Elastic Storage Mechanisms for Private Clouds

Cloud computing systems fundamentally provide access to large pools of data and computational resources. Eucalyptus is a software framework used to implement private and hybrid-style Infrastructure as a Service clouds. It implements the Amazon Web Service (AWS) API, allowing interoperability with other AWS-based services. Elastic block storage (EBS) is a technology which provides flexible allocation of remote storage volumes to the virtual machines running in a cloud computing environment. Eucalyptus interacts with many software components to provide EBS features to the virtual machines: KVM hypervisor and Eucalyptus Node Controller (NC) are among those components. This work investigates the software aging effects in a Eucalyptus environment, considering workloads composed of intensive requests for attaching remote storage volumes to virtual machines. The results evidenced that memory leaks in Node Controller and the high CPU utilization by the KVM process are strongly correlated. The experimental analysis also show how much the aging effects are related to the performance degradation of a virtualized web server running on this infrastructure.
An Unsuspected Property of Natriuretic Peptides: Promotion of Calcium-Dependent Catecholamine Release Via Protein Kinase G-Mediated Phosphodiesterase Type 3 Inhibition

Background— Although natriuretic peptides are considered cardioprotective, clinical heart failure trials with recombinant brain natriuretic peptide (nesiritide) failed to prove it. Unsuspected proadrenergic effects might oppose the anticipated benefits of natriuretic peptides. Methods and Results— We investigated whether natriuretic peptides induce catecholamine release in isolated hearts, sympathetic nerve endings (cardiac synaptosomes), and PC12 cells bearing a sympathetic neuron phenotype. Perfusion of isolated guinea pig hearts with brain natriuretic peptide elicited a 3-fold increase in norepinephrine release, which doubled in ischemia/reperfusion conditions. Brain natriuretic peptide and atrial natriuretic peptide also released norepinephrine from cardiac synaptosomes and dopamine from nerve growth factor–differentiated PC12 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. These catecholamine-releasing effects were associated with an increase in intracellular calcium and abolished by blockade of calcium channels and calcium transients, demonstrating a calcium-dependent exocytotic process. Activation of the guanylyl cyclase-cyclic GMP-protein-kinase-G system with nitroprusside or membrane-permeant cyclic GMP analogs mimicked the proexocytotic effect of natriuretic peptides, an action associated with an increase in intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) and protein-kinase-A activity. Cyclic AMP enhancement resulted from an inhibition of phosphodiesterase type 3–induced cAMP hydrolysis. Collectively, these findings indicate that, by inhibiting phosphodiesterase type 3, natriuretic peptides sequentially enhance intracellular cAMP levels, protein kinase A activity, intracellular calcium, and catecholamine exocytosis. Conclusions— Our results show that natriuretic peptides, at concentrations likely to be reached at cardiac sympathetic nerve endings in advanced congestive heart failure, promote norepinephrine release via a protein kinase G–induced inhibition of phosphodiesterase type 3–mediated cAMP hydrolysis. We propose that this proadrenergic action may counteract the beneficial cardiac and hemodynamic effects of natriuretic peptides and thus explain the ineffectiveness of nesiritide as a cardiac failure medication.
Cardiac Medication Use in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction and Nonobstructive Coronary Artery Disease.

IMPORTANCE Patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) and nonobstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) have an elevated cardiac event rate, suggesting that these patients may benefit from cardiac medication. OBJECTIVE We evaluated the rates of cardiac medication use 3 months before angiography and 3 months following clinically indicated angiography for MI in patients with no CAD, nonobstructive CAD, and obstructive CAD. We also examined the sex differences in cardiac medication use 3 months following angiography in patients by extent of angiographic CAD. METHODS We studied patients ≥20 years old with MI undergoing coronary angiography in British Columbia, Canada, from January 1, 2008, to March 31, 2010 (n = 3,841). No CAD, nonobstructive CAD, and obstructive CAD were defined as 0%, 1% to 49%, and ≥50% luminal narrowing in any epicardial coronary artery, respectively. Medication use, 3 months before and 3 months following angiography, was obtained through British Columbia PharmaNet for angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-Is), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), calcium channel blockers (CCBs), beta-blockers, statins, and antiplatelet agents. Optimal medical therapy (OMT) was defined as filled prescriptions for all three: ACE-Is/ARBs, beta-blockers, and statins. RESULTS Following angiography, in all medication categories except CCBs, patients with no CAD and nonobstructive CAD had significantly lower rates of prescriptions filled than patients with obstructive CAD (all p < 0.001). After adjusting for age and prior medication use, patients with nonobstructive CAD were still less likely to receive these medications than patients with obstructive CAD, including OMT with an odds ratio = 0.25 (95% confidence interval: 0.18-0.36). There were no significant sex differences in medication use 3 months postangiography. CONCLUSIONS In post-MI patients, medication use following angiography is significantly lower in nonobstructive CAD than obstructive CAD at 3 months. While sex was not an independent predictor of medication use 3 months post-catheterization, future studies should explore methods of improving medication use in both females and males with nonobstructive CAD post-MI.
Translumbar and Transsacral Magnetic Neurostimulation for the Assessment of Neuropathy in Fecal Incontinence

BACKGROUND: Neurologic dysfunction causes fecal incontinence, but current techniques for its assessment are limited and controversial. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this work was to investigate spino-rectal and spino-anal motor-evoked potentials simultaneously using lumbar and sacral magnetic stimulation in subjects with fecal incontinence and healthy subjects and to compare motor-evoked potentials and pudendal nerve terminal motor latency in subjects with fecal incontinence. DESIGN: This was a prospective, observational study. SETTINGS: The study took place in 2 tertiary care centers. PATIENTS: Subjects included adults with fecal incontinence and healthy subjects. INTERVENTIONS: Translumbar and transsacral magnetic stimulations were performed bilaterally by applying a magnetic coil to the lumbar and sacral regions in 50 subjects with fecal incontinence (1 or more episodes per week) and 20 healthy subjects. Both motor-evoked potentials and pudendal nerve terminal motor latency were assessed in 30 subjects with fecal incontinence. Stimulation-induced, motor-evoked potentials were recorded simultaneously from the rectum and anus with 2 pairs of bipolar ring electrodes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Latency and amplitude of motor-evoked potentials after lumbosacral magnetic stimulation and agreement with pudendal nerve terminal motor latency were measured. RESULTS: When compared with control subjects, 1 or more lumbo-anal, lumbo-rectal, sacro-anal, or sacro-rectal motor-evoked potentials were significantly prolonged (p < 0.01) and were abnormal in 44 (88%) of 50 subjects with fecal incontinence. Positive agreement between abnormal motor-evoked potentials and pudendal nerve terminal motor latency was 63%, whereas negative agreement was 13%. Motor-evoked potentials were abnormal in more (p < 0.05) subjects with fecal incontinence than pudendal nerve terminal motor latency, in 26 (87%) of 30 versus 19 (63%) of 30, and in 24% of subjects with normal pudendal nerve terminal motor latency. There were no adverse events. LIMITATIONS: Anal EMG was not performed. CONCLUSIONS: Translumbar and transsacral magnetic stimulation-induced, motor-evoked potentials provide objective evidence for rectal or anal neuropathy in subjects with fecal incontinence and could be useful. The test was superior to pudendal nerve terminal motor latency and appears to be safe and well tolerated.