Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Eating Disorders and Attachment : The Effects of Hidden Family Processes on Eating Disorders y

Aim: This study examined pattern of attachment in cohort of women with an eating disorder to determine what types of selfprotective strategies they used, and further whether there was a specific relationship between strategy and diagnosis. Method: The participants were 62 young women with an eating disorder (19 with anorexia nervosa, 26 with bulimia nervosa and 17 with bulimic anorexia). Attachment was assessed using the Adult attachment interview (AAI), classified using Crittenden’s Dynamic-Maturational Method. Results: The results indicated that all women with an eating disorder were anxiously attached. About half used an extreme coercive Type C strategy while most of the others combined coercion with an extreme dismissing Type A strategy. The content of the AAIs suggested lack of resolution of trauma or loss among the mothers and also of hidden family conflict between the parents. This in turn elicited extreme strategies for generating parent–child contingency from the daughters. Conclusions: Central in almost all cases was the women’s confusion regarding how parental behaviour was tied causally to their own behaviour. Questions are raised regarding the focus of treatment. Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.
Maternal smoking during pregnancy, fetal arterial resistance adaptations and cardiovascular function in childhood

Please cite this paper as: Geelhoed J, el Marroun H, Verburg B, van Osch‐Gevers L, Hofman A, Huizink A, Moll H, Verhulst F, Helbing W, Steegers E, Jaddoe V. Maternal smoking during pregnancy, fetal arterial resistance adaptations and cardiovascular function in childhood. BJOG 2011;118:755–762.
A new experimental procedure to quantify annular dark field images in scanning transmission electron microscopy

A new procedure to quantify the contrast in annular dark field images recorded without lattice resolution in a scanning transmission electron microscope is proposed. The method relies on the use of an in‐column energy filter prior to the annular dark field detector and the acquisition of a series of energy‐filtered images as a function of the inner detection angle. When the image contrast of an interface between two materials in such energy‐filtered annular dark field images is plotted vs. camera length and extrapolated to zero (i.e. infinite scattering angle), the contrast is shown to behave exactly as predicted by Rutherford's scattering formula (i.e. intensity scales ∝Z2). This can then be used to determine the local chemistry at and the effective chemical widths of interfaces or thin films without any additional spectroscopy method for calibration, provided the global chemical composition is known. As examples, the systems SiGe/Si and InGaAs/Ge are considered in detail.
Police Use of Less Lethal Force: Does Administrative Policy Matter?

Scholars have long theorized that constraining police officer discretion via organizational policy improves decision-making. Empirically, prior research shows that more restrictive lethal force policies result in a reduction in the number of police shootings and in racial disparity. Yet, researchers have never examined the impact of less lethal force policies in relation to the full spectrum of less lethal force tactics. In addressing this research void, we examine 3,340 use of force incidents from three US agencies, each varying in terms of policy direction and restrictiveness. The results consistently show that officers working within the most restrictive policy framework used force less readily than officers who operated within more permissive policy environments. Hence, police administrators wishing to reduce coercion should consider the potential effect that a more restrictive policy may have on such behavior.
Remineralization of Artificial Enamel Lesions by Theobromine

Objective: This study investigated the remineralization potential of theobromine in comparison to a standard NaF dentifrice. Methods: Three tooth blocks were produced from each of 30 teeth. Caries-like lesion was created on each block using acidified gel. A smaller block was cut from each block for baseline scanning electron microscopy imaging and electron-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis for surface Ca level. A tooth slice was cut from each lesion-bearing block for transverse microradiography (TMR) quantification of baseline mineral loss (Δz) and lesion depth (LD). Then baseline surface microhardness (SMH) of each lesion was measured. The three blocks from each tooth were assigned to three remineralizing agents: (1) artificial saliva; (2) artificial saliva with theobromine (0.0011 mol/l), and (3) NaF toothpaste slurry (0.0789 mol/l F). Remineralization was conducted using a pH cycling model with storage in artificial saliva. After a 28-day cycle, samples were analyzed using EDS, TMR, and SMH. Intragroup comparison of pre- and posttest data was performed using t tests (p < 0.05). Intergroup comparisons were performed by post hoc multistep comparisons (Tukey). Results: SMH indicated significant (p < 0.01) remineralization only with theobromine (38 ± 32%) and toothpaste (29 ± 16%). With TMR (Δz/lD), theobromine and toothpaste exhibited significantly (p < 0.01) higher mineral gain relative to artificial saliva. With SMH and TMR, remineralization produced by theobromine and toothpaste was not significantly different. With EDS, calcium deposition was significant in all groups, but not significantly different among the groups (theobromine 13 ± 8%, toothpaste 10 ± 5%, and artificial saliva 6 ± 8%). Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that theobromine in an apatite-forming medium can enhance the remineralization potential of the medium.
Photoplethysmogram signal analysis for detecting vital physiological parameters: An evaluating study

The photoplethysmogram (PPG) is the signal resulting from local variations of blood volume in tissues. It reflects the peripheral pulse wave modulated by heart activity, respiration and other physiological effects. This signal is detected through optical devices set up as a transducer fixed on a vascular path, in which light is transmitted using LEDs in red and/or infra-red wavelengths and the reflected or transmitted lights are detected through photodiodes or phototransistors. This signal is then amplified and processed to provide the desired output: the PPG signal. PPG is applied for detecting and assessing different vital physiological parameters in different situations which can be classified as:-the Monitoring of Clinical Physiological Parameter such as: Blood Oxygen Saturation, Heart Rate, Respiration and Cardiac Output, Blood Pressure. — the Vascular Assessment such as Arterial Compliance, Arterial Disease and Ageing, Venous Assessment, Vaso-Spastic Conditions, Endothelial Function. — the Autonomic Function assessment such as: Thermoregulation and Vasomotor Function, Orthostatic Intolerance, Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Variability, Neurology, and further Cardiovascular Variability Assessments such as arterial stiffness. In fact different approaches are developed in order to analyze the PPG signal and determine indices which are used in evaluating and assessing these vital physiological parameters. As for example, the pulse transit time PTT defined as the time duration from a reference point of time, for the pulse pressure wave to travel to any specified point on the periphery which is used in assessing Blood Pressure changes, Heart Rate and the compliance of the arterial walls. Furthermore, the amplitude, slope or duration variations of the PPG can also be used for Blood oxygen saturation assessment, arterial disease and ageing and arterial stiffness evaluation. The objectives of this paper is a review and evaluating study of the different methods which are developed in order to analyze the PPG and extract different parameters which are used in assessing vital physiological situations.
The Nation-state and Violence: Volume Two of a Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism

'The twentieth century is' as Anthony Giddens reminds us in his introduction (p. 3), 'a bloody and frightening one'. And the violence has not, for the most part, been the result of the fierce class struggles anticipated by Marx. Not only modem Marxists but social scientists of all persuasions have failed to adequately address the contrast between the 'long peace' of the nineteenth century and the horrors, actual and potential, of our century. This is because the immediate roots of our social science lie in this 'long peace' when so-called peaceful industrial society seemed so far advanced on the warlike military societies of Europe's past. Such an optimistic contrast between present and past is clearly no longer tenable and yet we continue to neglect the role of the nation state and its violence in our social
GSHSite: Exploiting an Iteratively Statistical Method to Identify S-Glutathionylation Sites with Substrate Specificity

S-glutathionylation, the covalent attachment of a glutathione (GSH) to the sulfur atom of cysteine, is a selective and reversible protein post-translational modification (PTM) that regulates protein activity, localization, and stability. Despite its implication in the regulation of protein functions and cell signaling, the substrate specificity of cysteine S-glutathionylation remains unknown. Based on a total of 1783 experimentally identified S-glutathionylation sites from mouse macrophages, this work presents an informatics investigation on S-glutathionylation sites including structural factors such as the flanking amino acids composition and the accessible surface area (ASA). TwoSampleLogo presents that positively charged amino acids flanking the S-glutathionylated cysteine may influence the formation of S-glutathionylation in closed three-dimensional environment. A statistical method is further applied to iteratively detect the conserved substrate motifs with statistical significance. Support vector machine (SVM) is then applied to generate predictive model considering the substrate motifs. According to five-fold cross-validation, the SVMs trained with substrate motifs could achieve an enhanced sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, and provides a promising performance in an independent test set. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by the correct identification of previously reported S-glutathionylation sites of mouse thioredoxin (TXN) and human protein tyrosine phosphatase 1b (PTP1B). Finally, the constructed models are adopted to implement an effective web-based tool, named GSHSite (http://csb.cse.yzu.edu.tw/GSHSite/), for identifying uncharacterized GSH substrate sites on the protein sequences.
Antibiotic treatment for Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in people with cystic fibrosis.

BACKGROUND Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is one of the most common emerging multi-drug resistant organisms found in the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis and its prevalence is increasing. Chronic infection with Stenotrophomonas maltophilia has recently been shown to be an independent predictor of pulmonary exacerbation requiring hospitalization and antibiotics. However, the role of antibiotic treatment of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infection in people with cystic fibrosis is still unclear. This is an update of a previously published review. OBJECTIVES The objective of our review is to assess the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment for Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in people with cystic fibrosis. The primary objective is to assess this in relation to lung function and pulmonary exacerbations in the setting of acute pulmonary exacerbations. The secondary objective is to assess this in relation to the eradication of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. SEARCH METHODS We searched the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis Trials Register, compiled from electronic database searches and handsearching of journals and conference abstract books. We also searched a registry of ongoing trials and the reference lists of relevant articles and reviews.Date of latest search: 27 May 2016. SELECTION CRITERIA Any randomized controlled trial of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia mono-infection or Stenotrophomonas maltophilia co-infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in either the setting of an acute pulmonary exacerbation or a chronic infection treated with suppressive antibiotic therapy. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Both authors independently assessed the trials identified by the search for potential inclusion in the review. MAIN RESULTS The initial search strategy identified only one trial of antibiotic treatment of pulmonary exacerbations that included people with cystic fibrosis with Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. However, this trial had to be excluded because data was not available per pathogen. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS This review did not identify any evidence regarding the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment for Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in people with cystic fibrosis. Until such evidence becomes available, clinicians need to use their clinical judgement as to whether or not to treat Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infection in people with cystic fibrosis. Randomized clinical trials are needed to address these unanswered clinical questions.
Growth hormone (GH) provocative retesting of 108 young adults with childhood-onset GH deficiency and the diagnostic value of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and IGF-binding protein-3.

Serum levels of total insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) reflect the endogenous GH secretion in healthy children and exhibit little diurnal variation, which makes them good diagnostic markers for screening of GH deficiency (GHD) in short children, although some controversy still exists. In adults, the diagnostic value of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 suspected of GHD has been reported in only a few studies. We performed a GH provocative test, using oral clonidine, in 108 patients who had previously been treated with GH during childhood (73 men and 35 women). Basal IGF-I and IGFBP-3 levels were compared to those in 1237 healthy controls (312 controls > 18 yr) as well as to peak GH levels. Seventy-nine patients had peak GH values below a cut-off value of 7.5 micrograms/L (34 with isolated GHD), whereas 29 patients had a normal GH response (28 with previous isolated GHD), i.e. 45% of patients treated with GH during childhood because of isolated GHD had a normal GH response when retested in adulthood. Multiple regression analysis revealed that peak GH levels were dependent on the degree of hypopituitarism, body mass index, and duration of disease. IGF-I levels were below -2 SD in 60 of 79 GHD patients and above -2 SD in 21 of 29 patients with a normal GH response. IGFBP-3 levels were below -2 SD in 54 of 79 GHD patients and above -2 SD in 23 of 29 patients with a normal GH response. Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that IGF-I and IGFBP-3 were significantly dependent on peak GH levels and the number of other pituitary axes affected. In this analysis, duration of disease was significantly associated with both IGF-I and IGFBP-3, whereas body mass index was significantly associated with IGFBP-3, but not with IGF-I. We conclude that IGF-I and IGFBP-3 determinations predict the outcome of a GH provocative test in adults suspected of GHD and believe that IGF-I as well as IGFBP-3 serum concentrations are valuable diagnostic parameters in the evaluation of GHD in adults with childhood-onset disease. We suggest that children who have been treated with GH should undergo reassessment of their GH secretory status as young adults by provocative testing as well as by IGF-related peptides before continued adult GH replacement therapy is considered. However, our data suggest that it is not necessary to reconfirm GH deficiency by GH provocative testing in young adults who have two or more pituitary hormone deficiencies in addition to GHD.
Inflammatory aneurysm and neurocysticercosis: further evidence for a causal relationship? Case report.

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE Two cases of inflammatory aneurysms in patients with neurocysticercosis have been reported previously. Clinical and radiographic studies suggest a causal relationship. CLINICAL PRESENTATION A man with neurocysticercosis presented with an acute subarachnoid hemorrhage from a left middle cerebral artery aneurysm. INTERVENTION The patient underwent a craniotomy and clipping of his aneurysm. Diffuse inflammatory changes and multiple cysticercal cysts were found throughout the left sylvian fissure. CONCLUSION The patient had an uneventful recovery. Angiography suggested an inflammatory rather than a congenital aneurysm. Although rare, neurocysticercosis may induce aneurysm formation in the appropriate setting.
Oxidative stress and related factors in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

OBJECTIVE Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the spine and sacroiliac joints of unknown etiology. Recent studies have reported increased oxidative stress, which is implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of diseases, in AS. The purpose of this study was to investigate oxidative stress and related factors in AS. MATERIAL AND METHODS Eighty-five patients with AS [36 (16-64) years; 65 male/20 female] and 56 healthy subjects [36 (21-63) years; 39 male/17 female] with no known cardiovascular risk factors were enrolled. Serum total oxidant status (TOS) and total anti-oxidant status (TAS) were studied. The Bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index (BASFI), Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index (BASDAI), and Bath ankylosing spondylitis metrology index (BASMI) were calculated. A logistic regression model was used to identify the independent risk factors for TOS. RESULTS No differences were observed in terms of demographic characteristics, laboratory findings, or TAS concentrations between the patient and control groups. However, the serum TOS levels were significantly higher in the AS group than in the controls (p=0.003). The comparison of cases of active (BASDAI ≥4) and inactive AS revealed significantly higher TOS levels in the active disease group. The TOS and TAS concentrations did not differ between patients treated with biological agents and those treated with conventional agents. Correlation analysis yielded significant correlations between TOS and TAS, BASMI, BASFI, BASDAI, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (p<0.05; r values ranged from 0.291 to 0.452) and a positive correlation between TAS and BASMI (p<0.05; r=0.344). Based on regression analysis, BASDAI, BASMI, and hs-CRP independently predicted the TOS levels [p<0.05, R2: 0.262, and standard error of the estimate (SEE): 10.96]. CONCLUSION Oxidative stress levels were higher in patients with AS than in healthy subjects. Patients with active disease status had significantly higher oxidative stress than patients with inactive disease status and healthy controls. Treatment status has no effect on TOS, and BASMI, BASDAI, and hs-CRP are independent variables associated with TOS. The TAS levels were found to be associated with only BASMI.
Molecular Characterization of Antigen-Peptide Pulsed Dendritic Cells: Immature Dendritic Cells Develop a Distinct Molecular Profile when Pulsed with Antigen Peptide

As dendritic cells (DCs) are the most potent professional antigen-presenting cells, they are being tested as cancer vaccines for immunotherapy of established cancers. Although numerous studies have characterized DCs by their phenotype and function, few have identified potential molecular markers of antigen presentation prior to vaccination of host. In this study we generated pre-immature DC (piDC), immature DC (iDC), and mature DC (mDC) from human peripheral blood monocytes (PBMC) obtained from HLA-A2 healthy donors, and pulsed them with human papillomavirus E7 peptide (p11-20), a class I HLA-A2 binding antigen. We then characterized DCs for cell surface phenotype and gene expression profile by microarray technology. We identified a set of 59 genes that distinguished three differentiation stages of DCs (piDC, iDC and mDC). When piDC, iDC and mDC were pulsed with E7 peptide for 2 hrs, the surface phenotype did not change, however, iDCs rather than mDCs showed transcriptional response by up-regulation of a set of genes. A total of 52 genes were modulated in iDC upon antigen pulsing. Elongation of pulse time for iDCs to 10 and 24 hrs did not significantly bring further changes in gene expression. The E7 peptide up-modulated immune response (KPNA7, IGSF6, NCR3, TREM2, TUBAL3, IL8, NFKBIA), pro-apoptosis (BTG1, SEMA6A, IGFBP3 and SRGN), anti-apoptosis (NFKBIA), DNA repair (MRPS11, RAD21, TXNRD1), and cell adhesion and cell migration genes (EPHA1, PGF, IL8 and CYR61) in iDCs. We confirmed our results by Q-PCR analysis. The E7 peptide but not control peptide (PADRE) induced up-regulation of NFKB1A gene only in HLA-A2 positive iDCs and not in HLA-A2 negative iDCs. These results suggest that E7 up-regulation of genes is specific and HLA restricted and that these genes may represent markers of antigen presentation and help rapidly assess the quality of dendritic cells prior to administration to the host.
Anxiety and adherence to breast self-examination in women with a family history of breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE Previous research has indicated low rates of adherence to monthly breast self-examination (BSE) in women with a family history of breast cancer, and anxiety has been identified as a major factor that may interfere with regular self-examination. However, the direction of the relationship between anxiety and BSE frequency remains unclear, with some studies indicating that high anxiety promotes adherence and others indicating that it leads to avoidance. The aim of the present study was to clarify the relationship between anxiety and adherence to breast self-examination by comparing the impact of general anxiety with that of cancer-specific anxiety on BSE frequency. METHODS A sample of at-risk women (N=833) completed a questionnaire regarding BSE frequency, general anxiety, breast cancer worries, perceived risk of breast cancer, and family history of breast cancer. Women who self-examined infrequently (N=211), appropriately (N=462), or excessively (N=156) were compared on these variables. RESULTS Statistical analyses indicated that general anxiety differentiated only between excessive self-examiners and less frequent self-examiners, with excessive self-examiners reporting significantly higher general anxiety. Breast cancer worries differentiated between all three groups in a linear fashion, with increasing cancer worries associated with higher levels of BSE. CONCLUSIONS In some at-risk women, high cancer anxiety may lead to high general anxiety and precipitate hypervigilant breast self-examination rather than avoidance. These findings are discussed in relation to psychoeducational interventions and genetic counseling services for women with a family history of breast cancer.