Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dietary compared with blood concentrations of carotenoids and breast cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies.

BACKGROUND Measurement errors in the dietary assessment of fruit and vegetable intake may attenuate associations with breast cancer risk and might explain the weak associations observed in epidemiologic studies. Carotenoid concentrations in blood are biomarkers of fruit and vegetable intake; however, no systematic assessment has compared dietary intake with blood concentrations of carotenoids and breast cancer risk. OBJECTIVE We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies of dietary intake and blood concentrations of carotenoids and breast cancer risk. DESIGN We searched PubMed and several other databases for relevant studies up to 31 August 2011. Random-effects models were used to estimate summary estimates. RESULTS Of the 6 dietary carotenoids assessed, only intake of β-carotene was significantly associated with a reduced breast cancer risk (summary RR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.91, 0.99; I(2): 0%) per 5000 μg/d (n = 10). In contrast, the summary RR for blood concentrations of carotenoids was 0.78 (95% CI: 0.61, 0.99; I(2): 53%) per 100 μg total carotenoids/dL (n = 7), 0.74 (95% CI: 0.57, 0.97; I(2): 43%) per 50 μg β-carotene/dL (n = 13), 0.82 (95% CI: 0.73, 0.92, I(2): 3%) per 10 μg α-carotene/dL (n = 12), and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.52, 0.89; I(2): 0%) per 25 μg lutein/dL (n = 6). CONCLUSIONS Blood concentrations of carotenoids are more strongly associated with reduced breast cancer risk than are carotenoids assessed by dietary questionnaires. Our results suggest that the use of certain biomarkers may clarify inconsistent and weak results between dietary intake and breast cancer risk.
Subspace system identification via weighted nuclear norm optimization

We present a subspace system identification method based on weighted nuclear norm approximation. The weight matrices used in the nuclear norm minimization are the same weights as used in standard subspace identification methods. We show that the inclusion of the weights improves the performance in terms of fit on validation data. Experimental results from randomly generated examples as well as from the Daisy benchmark collection are reported. The key to an efficient implementation is the use of the alternating direction method of multipliers to solve the optimization problem.
Effects of model-mimic frequency on insect visitation and plant reproduction in a self-mimicry pollination system

Offering floral rewards to pollinators such as nectar and pollen may not mean reproductive success. Some plant species present strategies to minimize this cost and dupe their pollinators. Begonia cucullata presents a mimicry system characterized by female rewardless flowers (mimic) that mimic male flowers (model) with a large amount of pollen. For the perfect functioning of mimetism, the proportion of mimics should not be higher than models. We tested different arrays of mimic-model flower proportions to test the efficacy of this system. We observed that bees avoided rewardless female flowers, although fruit set did not indicate pollen limitation.
CONSISTENCY IN MAPS WITH ALTERING SCALES - A CARTOGRAPHIC EXPERIMENT BY THE USE OF MOBILE PHONES

Today it is common that upper end mobile telephones (smartphones) include maps and navigation systems. New hardware technologies for presenting maps require development in cartography. To define rules and methods for cartography on such small displays it is useful to study how people comprehend the maps on their mobile units. This paper discusses how mobile phones can be used as means for cartographic experiments. A prototype application for the study of abrupt change in colours when zooming out is introduced, and the methods are compared to similar experiments for Web-map applications.
Exacerbated and prolonged inflammation impairs wound healing and increases scarring

Altered inflammation in the early stage has long been assumed to affect subsequent steps of the repair process that could influence proper wound healing and remodeling. However, the lack of explicit experimental data makes the connection between dysregulated wound inflammation and poor wound healing elusive. To bridge this gap, we used the established rabbit ear hypertrophic scar model for studying the causal effect of dysregulated inflammation. We induced an exacerbated and prolonged inflammatory state in these wounds with the combination of trauma‐related stimulators of pathogen‐associated molecular patterns from heat‐killed Pseudomonas aeruginosa and damage‐associated molecular patterns from a dermal homogenate. In stimulated wounds, a heightened and lengthened inflammation was observed based on quantitative measurements of IL‐6 expression, tissue polymorphonuclear leukocytes infiltration, and tissue myeloperoxidase activity. Along with the high level of inflammation, wound healing parameters (epithelial gap and others) at postoperative day 7 and 16 were significantly altered in stimulated wounds compared to unstimulated controls. By postoperative day 35, scar elevation of stimulated wounds was higher than that of control wounds (scar elevation index: 1.90 vs. 1.39, p < 0.01). Moreover, treatment of these inflamed wounds with Indomethacin (at concentrations of 0.01, 0.1, and 0.4%) reduced scar elevation but with adverse effects of delayed wound closure and increased cartilage hypertrophy. In summary, successful establishment of this inflamed wound model provides a platform to understand these detrimental aspects of unchecked inflammation and to further test agents that can modulate local inflammation to improve wound outcomes.
Autoantibodies and Resident Renal Cells in the Pathogenesis of Lupus Nephritis : Getting to Know the Unknown

Systemic lupus erythematosus is characterized by a breakdown of self-tolerance and production of autoantibodies. Kidney involvement (i.e., lupus nephritis) is both common and severe and can result in permanent damage within the glomerular, vascular, and tubulo-interstitial compartments of the kidney, leading to acute or chronic renal failure. Accumulating evidence shows that anti-dsDNA antibodies play a critical role in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis through their binding to cell surface proteins of resident kidney cells, thereby triggering the downstream activation of signaling pathways and the release of mediators of inflammation and fibrosis. This paper describes the mechanisms through which autoantibodies interact with resident renal cells and how this interaction plays a part in disease pathogenesis that ultimately leads to structural and functional alterations in lupus nephritis.
Stability of infinite dimensional control problems with pointwise state constraints

A general class of nonlinear infinite dimensional optimization problems is considered that covers semi-linear elliptic control problems with distributed control as well as boundary control. Moreover, pointwise inequality constraints on the control and the state are incorporated. The general optimization problem is perturbed by a certain class of perturbations, and we establish convergence of local solutions of the perturbed problems to a local solution of the unperturbed optimal control problem. These class of perturbations include finite element discretization as well as data perturbation such that the theory implies convergence of finite element approximation and stability w.r. t. noisy data.
Cortical Activation in the Human Brain during Lateral Saccades Using EPISTAR Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The location of the human cortical substrate underlying simple horizontal saccadic eye movements was investigated using echoplanar functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in young healthy volunteers. Echoplanar imaging with signal targeting and alternating radiofrequency (EPISTAR), a novel perfusion technique, measured signal intensity changes in one to four contiguous 10-mm slices centered to include both striate cortex and putative frontal eye fields during horizontal saccade and fixation conditions. Subtraction images of self-paced visually guided saccadic versus fixation conditions showed bilateral marked and statistically significant localized signal increases in the precentral region (Brodmann areas 4, 6) and peristriate cortex (areas 17, 18, 19) and qualitative increases in the superior medial frontal region, as identified by a Talairach-Tournoux generalized template in the brain slices that were scanned. Additional parietal activation occurred during a target-guided saccade task. Our data (i) support the localization of the human FEF, as identified by simple, nonexploratory saccadic eye movements, in the precentral motor strip and premotor cortex, (ii) show individual variability in the exact anatomical location of saccade-related activations, and (iii) confirm that the EPISTAR technique can demonstrate localized signal increases during a behavioral task.
Balls into non-uniform bins

Balls-into-bins games for uniform bins are widely used to model randomized load balancing strategies. Recently, balls-into-bins games have been analysed under the assumption that the selection probabilities for bins are not uniformly distributed. These new models are motivated by properties of many peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, which are not able to perfectly balance the load over the bins. While previous evaluations try to find strategies for uniform bins under non-uniform bin selection probabilities, this paper investigates heterogeneous bins, where the "capacities" of the bins might differ significantly. We show that heterogeneous environments can even help to distribute the load more evenly, and that the load difference between bins can be bounded by 0(log log n) if each ball has two random choices, where n is the number of bins. Our analysis and simulation results show, for the first time, that the maximum load in heterogeneous balls-into-bins games is independent from the overall system capacity C and that bigger bins therefore can help to achieve good load balancing properties.
Correlations of Biomarkers and Self-Reported Seafood Consumption among Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Women in Southeastern Louisiana after the Gulf Oil Spill: The GROWH Study

Seafood contains health-promoting fatty acids, but is often contaminated with mercury (Hg), complicating recommendations and choices around fish consumption during pregnancy. Self-reported diet may be subject to inaccuracy and this inaccuracy could differ according to pregnancy status. We investigated correlations between self-reported seafood consumption and blood levels of Hg and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in women affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated comparing log blood Hg and n-3 PUFAs to seafood consumption, then stratified by pregnancy status. Crude and adjusted linear regression models were constructed using biomarkers of Hg and n-3 PUFA and seafood consumption, adjusting for age and pregnancy status. Weak but significant correlations were found between log Hg levels and intake of Hg-containing seafood (r = 0.15) and were slightly stronger among pregnant women (r = 0.22, vs. r = 0.10). Biomarkers for n-3 PUFAs were significantly correlated with seafood consumption (r = 0.12). Hg-containing seafood consumption was associated with increased blood level Hg in the highest quartile in both unadjusted (β = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.15–0.53) and adjusted models (β = 0.28, 95% CI: 0.08–0.48). Self-reported seafood consumption was correlated with biomarkers of both n-3 PUFA and Hg, but this association was different when stratified by pregnancy status. Pregnant women may have better recall of Hg-containing seafood compared to nonpregnant women.
Na,K-ATPase generates calcium oscillations in hippocampal astrocytes

Na,K-ATPase maintains not only ionic homeostasis, but also participates in a multiprotein complex mediating intracellular signalling. We show that ouabain, a specific ligand for Na,K-ATPase, evokes calcium oscillations in hippocampal astrocytes in primary cultures. Coimmunoprecipitation studies suggest that the mechanism underlying these calcium oscillations involves a multiprotein complex consisting of ankyrin-B, the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor and Na,K-ATPase. The ouabain/Na,K-ATPase multi-protein complex induced calcium-dependent downstream activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor-κB. Calcium oscillations and nuclear factor-κB activation were blocked following intracellular calcium store depletion. Thus, the specific Na,K-ATPase ligand ouabain induced inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor-dependent calcium oscillations in hippocampal astrocytes, which mediates nuclear factor-κB activation.
Energy Availability and Alcohol-Related Liver Pathology

Alcohol consumption alters the metabolism of the most common type of cell found in the liver, the hepatocyte. The presence of alcohol in the body causes the liver to use more oxygen—for example, when breaking down the alcohol. Increased oxygen use, in turn, causes oxygen deficits in several key cells, particularly in hepatocytes located near the small hepatic veins. These veins return blood to the heart for re-oxygenation after it has passed through the liver. Hepatocytes surrounding these veins are the first to show signs of liver disease. The damage induced by oxygen deficits may be exacerbated by alcohol-induced deficits in other components that are essential for cell survival. For example, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the cell’s main source of energy, is generated primarily during the course of two sets of metabolic reactions: glycolysis and the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation process. Alcohol consumption may interfere with both of these pathways of ATP production through several mechanisms. An inadequate supply of ATP impairs the cell’s ability to perform critical functions, including the repair of alcohol-induced cell damage, and may therefore contribute to cell death and alcoholic liver disease.
NCAM expression induces neurogenesis in vivo

Neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) plays an important role during neural development and in the adult brain, whereby most functions of NCAM have been ascribed to its unique polysialic acid (PSA) modification. Recently we presented evidence suggesting that expression of NCAM in vivo interferes with the maintenance of forebrain neuronal stem cells. We here aimed at investigating the fate of cells generated from NCAM‐overexpressing stem cells in postnatal mouse brain and at elucidating the functional domains of NCAM mediating this effect. We show that ectopic expression of the NCAM140 isoform in radial glia and type C cells induces an increase in cell proliferation and consequently the presence of additional neuronal type A cells in the rostral migratory stream. A mutant NCAM protein comprising only fibronectin type III repeats and immunoglobulin‐like domain 5 was sufficient to induce this effect. Furthermore, we show that the neurogenic effect is independent of PSA, as transgenic NCAM is not polysialylated in radial glia and type C cells. These results suggest that heterophilic interactions of NCAM with other components of the cell membrane must be involved.
The Crystal Structure of a Mammalian Fatty Acid Synthase

Mammalian fatty acid synthase is a large multienzyme that catalyzes all steps of fatty acid synthesis. We have determined its crystal structure at 3.2 angstrom resolution covering five catalytic domains, whereas the flexibly tethered terminal acyl carrier protein and thioesterase domains remain unresolved. The structure reveals a complex architecture of alternating linkers and enzymatic domains. Substrate shuttling is facilitated by flexible tethering of the acyl carrier protein domain and by the limited contact between the condensing and modifying portions of the multienzyme, which are mainly connected by linkers rather than direct interaction. The structure identifies two additional nonenzymatic domains: (i) a pseudo-ketoreductase and (ii) a peripheral pseudo-methyltransferase that is probably a remnant of an ancestral methyltransferase domain maintained in some related polyketide synthases. The structural comparison of mammalian fatty acid synthase with modular polyketide synthases shows how their segmental construction allows the variation of domain composition to achieve diverse product synthesis.
A Survey of Galaxy Kinematics to Z ∼ 1 in the Tkrs/goods-n Field. I. Rotation and Dispersion Properties

We present kinematic measurements of a large sample of galaxies from the Team Keck Redshift Survey in the GOODS-N field. We measure line-of-sight velocity dispersions from linewidths of integrated emission for 1089 galaxies with median redshift 0.637, and spatially resolved kinematics for a subsample of 380 galaxies. This is the largest sample of galaxies to z ∼ 1 with kinematics to date, and allows us to measure kinematic properties without morphological pre-selection. Emission linewidths provide a dynamical measurement for the bulk of the blue galaxy population. To fit the spatially resolved kinematics, we construct models with both line-of-sight rotation amplitude and velocity dispersion as fit parameters. Integrated linewidth correlates well with a combination of the spatially-resolved velocity gradient and dispersion, and is a robust measure of galaxy kinematics. The spatial extents of emission and continuum are similar and there is no evidence that linewidths are affected by nuclear or clumpy emission. The measured rotation gradient is a strong function of slit position angle alignment with galaxy major axis, but integrated linewidth is largely independent of slit alignment. Even in a subsample of galaxies with well-aligned slits, there are galaxies whose kinematics are dominated by dispersion (V/σ < 1) rather than rotation. These are probably objects with disordered velocity fields, not dynamically hot stellar systems. About 35% of the spatially resolved sample are dispersion dominated; galaxies that are both dispersion dominated and bright exist at high redshift but appear rare at low redshift. This kinematic morphology may yield a probe of the evolutionary state of these objects. Kinematic morphology is linked to photometric morphology in HST/ACS images: dispersion dominated galaxies include a higher fraction of irregulars and chain galaxies, while rotation dominated galaxies are mostly disks and irregulars. Only one-third of chain/hyphen galaxies are dominated by rotation; high redshift elongated objects cannot be assumed to be inclined disks. In a companion paper, we use the linewidths and rotation to measure evolution in the Tully-Fisher relation. Subject headings: galaxies: distances and redshifts — galaxies: evolution — galaxies: fundamental parameters — galaxies: high-redshift — galaxies: structure — surveys
Modelling water flow under glaciers and ice sheets

Recent observations of dynamic water systems beneath the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have sparked renewed interest in modelling subglacial drainage. The foundations of today's models were laid decades ago, inspired by measurements from mountain glaciers, discovery of the modern ice streams and the study of landscapes evacuated by former ice sheets. Models have progressed from strict adherence to the principles of groundwater flow, to the incorporation of flow ‘elements’ specific to the subglacial environment, to sophisticated two-dimensional representations of interacting distributed and channelized drainage. Although presently in a state of rapid development, subglacial drainage models, when coupled to models of ice flow, are now able to reproduce many of the canonical phenomena that characterize this coupled system. Model calibration remains generally out of reach, whereas widespread application of these models to large problems and real geometries awaits the next level of development.
Sperm count suppression without endocrine dysfunction in lead-exposed men.

To determine if increased lead absorption was associated with sperm count suppression or perterbation of the hypothalamopituitary system, we compared battery workers (N = 18), who were exposed to high airborne lead levels, with cement workers (N = 18), who were exposed to ambient lead levels. Blood lead, urinary lead, semen lead, and zinc protoporphyrin concentrations were markedly elevated (p less than .001) in battery workers. Battery workers had a significantly shifted (p less than .025) frequency distribution of sperm count (median count, 45 vs. 73 X 10(6) cells/cc, respectively). There were no significant differences between the two groups in mean follicle-stimulating hormone, testosterone, prolactin, luteinizing hormone, or total neutral 17-ketosteroid levels. Potential confounding factors (alcohol, cigarette, and coffee consumption, frequency of intercourse, and days of abstinence prior to semen donation) were not significantly different between the two groups. These results suggest a direct toxic effect of increased lead absorption on sperm production or transport in man.
Extended scope physiotherapy roles for orthopedic outpatients: an update systematic review of the literature

Purpose This systematic review updates one conducted in 2008 into extended scope practice (ESP) in physiotherapy in orthopedics. Methods A comprehensive open-ended search was conducted using electronic library data-bases and Google Scholar to identify any primary study design reporting on physiotherapists working in ESP roles within orthopedic settings. Studies were allocated to the National Health and Medical Research Council hierarchy of evidence, although only studies in levels I, II, or III_1 were critically appraised using a purpose-built critical appraisal tool. Information was extracted on the country of origin, ESP tasks, relevant training, patient types, health, process, and cost measures. Results 1071 studies were identified, and twelve were included in the review (including diagnostic and evaluative research). The hierarchy of evidence ranged from II to IV, from which only two diagnostic studies met the criteria for critical appraisal. ESP tasks included injection therapy, removing k-wires, and requesting investigations. The education of ESP physiotherapists varied widely, and included formal and informal training. The positive outcomes of ESP initiatives were reported, in diagnostic ability, reduced costs and waiting times, and improved health outcomes. Conclusion Despite the positive results, the generally low level of evidence and the range of outcome measures reported, constrained clear conclusions regarding the health, process, and cost implications of ESP physiotherapy roles in orthopedic settings. The need for formalized, widely recognized training was highlighted, to give ESP physiotherapy roles credibility.