Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Omega‐6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, serum zinc, delta‐5‐ and delta‐6‐desaturase activities and incident metabolic syndrome

BACKGROUND The associations of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) with metabolic syndrome have been poorly explored. We investigated the associations of the serum n-6 PUFA and the activities of enzymes involved in the PUFA metabolism, delta-5-desaturase (D5D) and delta-6-desaturase (D6D) with risk of incident metabolic syndrome. We also investigated whether zinc, a cofactor for these enzymes, modifies these associations. METHODS A prospective follow-up study was conducted on 661 men who were aged 42-60 years old at baseline in 1984-1989 and who were re-examined in 1998-2001. RESULTS Men in the highest versus the lowest serum total omega-6 PUFA tertile had a 70% lower multivariate-adjusted risk of incident metabolic syndrome [odds ratio (OR) = 0.30; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.18-0.51, Ptrend < 0.001]. Inverse associations were also observed for linoleic acid, arachidonic acid and D5D activity. By contrast, men in the highest tertile of D6D activity had an 84% higher risk (OR = 1.84; 95% CI = 1.15-2.94, Ptrend = 0.008). Similar associations were observed with many of the metabolic syndrome components at the re-examinations. Most associations were attenuated after adjustment for body mass index. Finally, the associations of D6D and LA were stronger among those with a higher serum zinc concentration. CONCLUSIONS Higher serum total n-6 PUFA, linoleic acid and arachidonic acid concentrations and D5D activity were associated with a lower risk of developing metabolic syndrome and higher D6D activity was associated with a higher risk. The role of zinc also needs to be investigated in other populations.
Optimal robust non-fragile H∞ control for networked control systems with uncertain time-delays

This paper deals with the design problem of optimal robust non-fragile H∞ state feedback controller for networked control systems (NCSs) with uncertain time-delays and controller gain perturbations. First, a new method is presented, according to which the NCS with uncertain time-delays in one sampling period is transformed into a discrete linear system with uncertain parameters. Second, considering the controller gain perturbations, with the linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique, we design a robust non-fragile state feedback controller for the system without external disturbance. Third, considering the system with external disturbance, a suboptimal and an optimal robust non-fragile H∞ state feedback controllers are designed. At last, numerical instances illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Gyroid cuticular structures in butterfly wing scales: biological photonic crystals

We present a systematic study of the cuticular structure in the butterfly wing scales of some papilionids (Parides sesostris and Teinopalpus imperialis) and lycaenids (Callophrys rubi, Cyanophrys remus, Mitoura gryneus and Callophrys dumetorum). Using published scanning and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images, analytical modelling and computer-generated TEM micrographs, we find that the three-dimensional cuticular structures can be modelled by gyroid structures with various filling fractions and lattice parameters. We give a brief discussion of the formation of cubic gyroid membranes from the smooth endoplasmic reticulum in the scale's cell, which dry and harden to leave the cuticular structure behind when the cell dies. The scales of C. rubi are a potentially attractive biotemplate for producing three-dimensional optical photonic crystals since for these scales the cuticle-filling fraction is nearly optimal for obtaining the largest photonic band gap in a gyroid structure.
On the Origins of Disorganized Attachment and Internal Working Models: Paper II. An Empirical Microanalysis of 4-Month Mother–Infant Interaction

A microanalysis of 4-month mother–infant face-to-face communication predicted 12-month infant disorganized (vs. secure) attachment outcomes in an urban community sample. We documented a dyadic systems view of the roles of both partners; the roles of both self- and interactive contingency; and the importance of attention, orientation, and touch, as well as facial and vocal affect, in the co-construction of attachment disorganization. The analysis of different communication modalities identified striking intrapersonal and interpersonal intermodal discordance or conflict, in the context of intensely distressed infants, as the central feature of future disorganized dyads at 4 months. Lowered maternal contingent coordination, and failures of maternal affective correspondence, constituted maternal emotional withdrawal from distressed infants. This maternal withdrawal compromises infant interactive agency and emotional coherence. We characterize of the nature of emerging internal working models of future disorganized infants as follows: Future disorganized infants represent states of not being sensed and known by their mothers, particularly in moments of distress; they represent confusion about both their own and their mothers' basic emotional organization, and about their mothers' response to their distress. This internal working model sets a trajectory in development which may disturb the fundamental integration of the person. The remarkable specificity of our findings has the potential to lead to more finely focused clinical interventions.
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Tracking of Pedometer-determined Physical Activity in Adults Who Relocate: Results from Reside

Background: This secondary analysis investigated the extent and pattern of one-year tracking of pedometer-determined physical activity in people who relocated within the same metropolitan area (T1: baseline and T2: post-relocation). Specifically, data were derived from the RESIDential Environment Project (RESIDE), a natural experiment of people moving into new housing developments.
p-Cresyl Sulfate Aggravates Cardiac Dysfunction Associated With Chronic Kidney Disease by Enhancing Apoptosis of Cardiomyocytes

Background Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in patients with chronic kidney disease. A body of evidence suggests that p-cresyl sulfate (PCS), a uremic toxin, is associated with the cardiovascular mortality rate of patients with chronic kidney disease; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying this feature have not yet been fully elucidated. Methods and Results We aimed to determine whether PCS accumulation could adversely affect cardiac dysfunction via direct cytotoxicity to cardiomyocytes. In mice that underwent 5/6 nephrectomy, PCS promoted cardiac apoptosis and affected the ratio of left ventricular transmitral early peak flow velocity to left ventricular transmitral late peak flow velocity (the E/A ratio) observed by echocardiography (n=8 in each group). Apocynin, an inhibitor of NADPH oxidase activity, attenuates this alteration of the E/A ratio (n=6 in each group). PCS also exhibited proapoptotic properties in H9c2 cells by upregulating the expression of p22phox and p47phox, NADPH oxidase subunits, and the production of reactive oxygen species. Apocynin and N-acetylcysteine were both able to suppress the effect of PCS, underscoring the importance of NADPH oxidase activation for the mechanism of action. Conclusions This study demonstrated that the cardiac toxicity of PCS is at least partially attributed to induced NADPH oxidase activity and reactive oxygen species production facilitating cardiac apoptosis and resulting in diastolic dysfunction.
Conspiracy of silence.

Ireland's prohibition of abortion has been fiercely enforced by conservative anti-abortion activists in organizations such as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child. The Society succeeded in getting the Irish High Court to rule in 1987 that any discussion of abortion or referral to England for legal abortion services on the part of women's health and student groups constituted a violation of the constitutionally protected right to life of the fetus. Supporters of abortion rights were forced further underground and isolated from their constituency--poor women without information or funds. This censorship has not decreased the number of Irish women who travel to England for legal abortion; an average of 400 women/year give Irish addresses at UK clinics and another 4000 probably give a false UK address. Thus, England has been placed in the position of assuming responsibility for what is an Irish social problem. However, the case of a 14-year-old girl who sought to travel to England to abort a pregnancy resulting from rape has forced the Irish Government to confront its hypocrisy. Initially, it was ruled that the schoolgirl must continue the pregnancy, despite her threats of suicide. Massive public outcry resulted in a reversal of this decision, and the European Court of Human Rights found Ireland's abortion information ban in contravention of human rights. The ban has since been reversed through public referendum, and there are some indications that abortions to save the life or health of the mother may be legalized.
What controls connectivity? An empirical, multi-species approach.

The exchange of individuals among habitat patches (connectivity) has broad relevance for the conservation and management of marine metapopulations. Elemental fingerprinting-based research conducted over the past 12 years along the open coastline and bays of San Diego County in southern California evaluated connectivity patterns for seven species: one native and two invasive mussels, an oyster, a brachyuran crab, and two fishes. The studies spanned different years and seasons but overlapped considerably in space, allowing comparisons of dispersal patterns across species, and assessment of the relative importance of location, circulation, and intra-annual and inter-annual variability. We asked whether the species exhibited commonalities in directional transport, transport distances, sources and sinks, self-recruitment, and bay-ocean exchange. Linked connectivity-demographic analyses conducted for two species of mytilid mussels and two fishes allowed evaluation of the contributions of realized connectivity to metapopulation dynamics relative to other life-history attributes. Common trends across species include average along-shore dispersal distances of 15-35 km and seasonal changes in direction of dispersal that mirrored patterns of along-shore circulation. We observed greater isolation of back-bay populations, significant exchange from front bay to ocean, and high self-recruitment in locations on the northern, open coast, and in the southern bays. Connectivity was rarely the most influential driver of growth and persistence of metapopulations, but influenced the importance of other vital rates. Several locations served consistently as sources of larvae or as nurseries for multiple species, but there were few sites in common that were sinks. For the mussels, reproductive timing guided directional transport. These results imply that local management (e.g., habitat protection, opening of the mouths of lagoons, location of aquaculture farms) may be effective along this coastline. Regional, multi-species assessments of exchange of larvae should move us closer to ecosystem-based management.
Vivo-Morpholinos Induced Transient Knockdown of Physical Activity Related Proteins

Physical activity is associated with disease prevention and overall wellbeing. Additionally there has been evidence that physical activity level is a result of genetic influence. However, there has not been a reliable method to silence candidate genes in vivo to determine causal mechanisms of physical activity regulation. Vivo-morpholinos are a potential method to transiently silence specific genes. Thus, the aim of this study was to validate the use of Vivo-morpholinos in a mouse model for voluntary physical activity with several sub-objectives. We observed that Vivo-morpholinos achieved between 60–97% knockdown of Drd1-, Vmat2-, and Glut4-protein in skeletal muscle, the delivery moiety of Vivo-morpholinos (scramble) did not influence physical activity and that a cocktail of multiple Vivo-morpholinos can be given in a single treatment to achieve protein knockdown of two different targeted proteins in skeletal muscle simultaneously. Knocking down Drd1, Vmat2, or Glut4 protein in skeletal muscle did not affect physical activity. Vivo-morpholinos injected intravenously alone did not significantly knockdown Vmat2-protein expression in the brain (p = 0.28). However, the use of a bradykinin analog to increase blood-brain-barrier permeability in conjunction with the Vivo-morpholinos significantly (p = 0.0001) decreased Vmat2-protein in the brain with a corresponding later over-expression of Vmat2 coincident with a significant (p = 0.0016) increase in physical activity. We conclude that Vivo-morpholinos can be a valuable tool in determining causal gene-phenotype relationships in whole animal models.
Origin of symbol-using systems: speech, but not sign, without the semantic urge

Natural language—spoken and signed—is a multichannel phenomenon, involving facial and body expression, and voice and visual intonation that is often used in the service of a social urge to communicate meaning. Given that iconicity seems easier and less abstract than making arbitrary connections between sound and meaning, iconicity and gesture have often been invoked in the origin of language alongside the urge to convey meaning. To get a fresh perspective, we critically distinguish the origin of a system capable of evolution from the subsequent evolution that system becomes capable of. Human language arose on a substrate of a system already capable of Darwinian evolution; the genetically supported uniquely human ability to learn a language reflects a key contact point between Darwinian evolution and language. Though implemented in brains generated by DNA symbols coding for protein meaning, the second higher-level symbol-using system of language now operates in a world mostly decoupled from Darwinian evolutionary constraints. Examination of Darwinian evolution of vocal learning in other animals suggests that the initial fixation of a key prerequisite to language into the human genome may actually have required initially side-stepping not only iconicity, but the urge to mean itself. If sign languages came later, they would not have faced this constraint.
Selection of genetic variants of simian immunodeficiency virus in persistently infected rhesus monkeys

Genetic and antigenic variation may be one means by which lentiviruses that cause AIDS avoid elimination by host immune responses. Genetic variation in the envelope gene (env) was studied by comparing the nucleotide sequences of 27 clones obtained from two rhesus monkeys infected with molecularly cloned simian immunodeficiency virus. All 27 clones differed from each other and differed from the input clone in the gp120 (SU) portion of the envelope gene. Nucleotide substitutions were shown to accumulate with time at an average rate of 8.5 per 1,000 per year in SU. Surprisingly, the majority of nucleotide substitutions (81%) resulted in amino acid changes. Variation in SU was not random but occurred predominantly in five discrete regions. Within these variable regions, a remarkable 98% of the nucleotide substitutions changed the amino acid. These results demonstrate that extensive sequence variability accumulates in vivo after infection with molecularly cloned virus and that selection occurs in vivo for changes in distinct variable regions in env.
Plant Cell Cancer: May Natural Phenolic Compounds Prevent Onset and Development of Plant Cell Malignancy? A Literature Review

Phenolic compounds (PCs) are known as a chemically diverse category of secondary and reactive metabolites which are produced in plants via the shikimate-phenylpropanoid pathways. These compounds—ubiquitous in plants—are an essential part of the human diet, and are of considerable interest due to their antioxidant properties. Phenolic compounds are essential for plant functions, because they are involved in oxidative stress reactions, defensive systems, growth, and development. A large body of cellular and animal evidence carried out in recent decades has confirmed the anticancer role of PCs. Phytohormones—especially auxins and cytokinins—are key contributors to uncontrolled growth and tumor formation. Phenolic compounds can prevent plant growth by the endogenous regulation of auxin transport and enzymatic performance, resulting in the prevention of tumorigenesis. To conclude, polyphenols can reduce plant over-growth rate and the development of tumors in plant cells by regulating phytohormones. Future mechanistic studies are necessary to reveal intracellular transcription and transduction agents associated with the preventive role of phenolics versus plant pathological malignancy cascades.
What Does a Deductible Do? The Impact of Cost-Sharing on Health Care Prices, Quantities, and Spending Dynamics

Measuring consumer responsiveness to medical care prices is a central issue in health economics and a key ingredient in the optimal design and regulation of health insurance markets. We study consumer responsiveness to medical care prices, leveraging a natural experiment that occurred at a large self-insured firm which required all of its employees to switch from an insurance plan that provided free health care to a non-linear, high deductible plan. The switch caused a spending reduction between 11.79%-13.80% of total firm-wide health spending. We decompose this spending reduction into the components of (i) consumer price shopping (ii) quantity reductions and (iii) quantity substitutions, finding that spending reductions are entirely due to outright reductions in quantity. We find no evidence of consumers learning to price shop after two years in high-deductible coverage. Consumers reduce quantities across the spectrum of health care services, including potentially valuable care (e.g. preventive services) and potentially wasteful care (e.g. imaging services). We then leverage the unique data environment to study how consumers respond to the complex structure of the high-deductible contract. We find that consumers respond heavily to spot prices at the time of care, and reduce their spending by 42% when under the deductible, conditional on their true expected end-of-year shadow price and their prior year end-of-year marginal price. In the first-year post plan change, 90% of all spending reductions occur in months that consumers began under the deductible, with 49% of all reductions coming for the ex ante sickest half of consumers under the deductible, despite the fact that these consumers have quite low shadow prices. There is no evidence of learning to respond to the true shadow price in the second year post-switch.
Management of postmenopausal osteoporosis: position statement of the North American Menopause Society.

OBJECTIVE The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) established a goal to create an evidence-based position statement regarding the management of postmenopausal osteoporosis. DESIGN NAMS followed the general principles established for evidence-based guidelines to create this document. A MEDLINE search was conducted. Clinicians and researchers acknowledged to be experts in the field of osteoporosis were enlisted to review the evidence. The NAMS Board of Trustees reviewed and approved the final document. RESULTS Osteoporosis, which has its highest rate of occurrence in postmenopausal women, increases the risk for fractures, including hip and spine fractures. These injuries are often associated with particularly high morbidity and mortality. Given the health implications of osteoporotic fractures, the primary goal of osteoporosis therapy is to prevent fractures by slowing or preventing bone loss, maintaining bone strength, and minimizing or eliminating factors that may contribute to falls. The evaluation of postmenopausal women for osteoporosis risk requires the recording of a medical history, a physical examination, and diagnostic tests. Major risk factors for osteoporosis are age, genetics, lifestyle (especially nutrition), and menopausal status. Management focuses first on nonpharmacologic measures, such as a balanced diet including adequate calcium and vitamin D intakes, appropriate exercise, smoking cessation, avoidance of excessive alcohol intake, and fall prevention. If pharmacologic therapy is indicated, FDA-approved options are estrogens (prevention only), bisphosphonates and selective estrogen-receptor modulators (prevention and treatment), and calcitonin (treatment only). CONCLUSIONS Management of postmenopausal osteoporosis involves identifying the potential risk for osteoporosis and osteoporotic fracture, followed by measures that focus on reducing modifiable risk factors through lifestyle changes and, if indicated, pharmacologic therapy.
Advances of gene therapy for primary immunodeficiencies

In the recent past, the gene therapy field has witnessed a remarkable series of successes, many of which have involved primary immunodeficiency diseases, such as X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency, adenosine deaminase deficiency, chronic granulomatous disease, and Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome. While such progress has widened the choice of therapeutic options in some specific cases of primary immunodeficiency, much remains to be done to extend the geographical availability of such an advanced approach and to increase the number of diseases that can be targeted. At the same time, emerging technologies are stimulating intensive investigations that may lead to the application of precise genetic editing as the next form of gene therapy for these and other human genetic diseases.
Effect of slag and siliceous additions on the performance of stabilized coal waste backfill

Coal mine waste rejected from coal mining process has remained unused due to difficulties in stabilizing it using traditional methods and practices, leading to poor performance. However, the abundance of the waste has enormous potential for application in certain areas, such as for road base or sub-base construction, which requires relatively lower strength and reactivity. This paper presents experimental results of a study on the mechanical and hydration properties of cementitious materials prepared by stabilizing coal mining waste comprising of a 50-50 blend of fine and coarse-grained mine wastes, compacted into cylinders of 50mm in diameter and 100mm in height. The binder comprised of either quicklime (CaO2) or Portland cement (PC), blended with varying amounts of Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag (GGBS). Parallel mixes were also prepared with classified fine Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA) or Lower Oxford Clay (LOC) soil as extra siliceous additions to the coal waste. Results have indicated that the coal mine waste generally had almost no improvement when quicklime alone was used. By blending the lime or PC with GGBS, or when extra siliceous matter was added, the strength and hydration was significantly enhanced. 1 2009 World of Coal Ash (WOCA) Conference May 4-7, 2009 in Lexington, KY, USA http://www.flyash. info/