Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antioxidant vitamins and cytokines are altered in breast cancer

A case–control study was conducted to assess the levels of &agr;-tocopherol, retinol, and &bgr;-carotene in different tissues and the genetic expression of inflammatory mediators in women with breast cancer. The study included 51 women divided into two groups: case (n=25) and benign breast disease (n=26). We evaluated the dietary intake of &agr;-tocopherol, retinol, and &bgr;-carotene and measured plasma and tissue concentrations of these compounds and the inflammatory mediators IL-8, IL-10, and IFN&ggr;. The benign breast disease group showed greater ingestion of &agr;-tocopherol (P=0.04) and &bgr;-carotene (P=0.011). The concentration of tissue &agr;-tocopherol was reduced in the case group (P=0.005). The expression of IL-10, IL-8, and IFN&ggr; increased by 231.0, 49.1, and 57.5%, respectively in the case group. The results show that antioxidant nutrients possibly exert biological effects in preventing breast cancer and the immune response is activated in the course of the disease, given the increased expression of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory compounds with the aid of food.
Journaling engagements with literature on racism: a critical race theoretic approach

Abstract An extensive body of research on the pedagogic uses of journal writing highlights its potential for stimulating detailed reflection on the knowledge that students are engaging with in a style and register that which suits the personality and proficiency of each student. This study examines the constructions of race and racism that emerge from a sample of online journals, compiled by students on the basis of their engagement with post-colonial literature. Departing from extant work on the discursive manifestation of resistance to difficult knowledge, we examine the ideologically productive ways in which students frame race and racism. We focus on the discourse through which particular understandings of race and racism are expressed and legitimised, as well as the perceived relevance of race and racism to the respondents’ own academic careers and personal lives. Owing to page constraints, the analysis is limited to those respondents who self-identify as white. The results underscore the various discursive frames that respondents draw on as a means of managing the perceived implications of difficult knowledge surrounding the continuation of racism, as the issue is broached in the context of post-colonial literature.
Cultivable and Pyrosequenced Fecal Microflora in Centenarians and Young Subjects

Goal: The aim of this study was to characterize the composition of the intestinal microbiota in healthy centenarians in comparison with younger adults, considering both quantitative and qualitative aspects of gut community structure. Background: The gut microbiota plays an essential role in human health. Toward seniority, its balance is affected by deep physiological changes. Long-lived people (age >90 y) have unusual features that differ from the younger elderly, so they should be considered separately when analyzing age-related features. However, they have been included in few studies and they have usually been grouped together with the younger elderly. Study: The gut microbiota of 14 centenarians and 10 younger adults was analyzed. Cultivable bacteria belonging to the following groups were enumerated: enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcus, Staphylococcus, Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, Bacteroides, and yeast. Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria were further characterized at the species level by pyrosequencing. Results: In centenarians, we observed a reduction in the quantity of enterobacteriaceae, bifidobacteria, and bacteroides and an increase in clostridia sensu stricto (P<0.05). The number of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species isolated in centenarians and younger adults was similar. The composition of the Lactobacillus subpopulation was quite different between the groups. The presence of Bifidobacterium longum in the gut seems to be a particular feature in centenarians. It is interesting to note that only 1 strain of B. longum was isolated from each centenarian subject. Conclusions: The gut microbiota of centenarians has particular features that differ from both younger adults and the younger elderly. Further studies would help to understand whether the intestinal microbiota can influence life expectancy and whether the administration of probiotic bacteria could help to extend the longevity of human life.
Serum Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Euthymic Bipolar Patients on Prophylactic Lithium Therapy

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in a group of euthymic bipolar patients on long-term prophylactic lithium treatment and to delineate putative relationships between lithium efficacy and BDNF concentrations. Methods: 141 euthymic bipolar patients (51 male, 90 female) on long-term lithium treatment were studied. Three categories of prophylactic lithium response were delineated: excellent lithium responders (ER; 30 patients), partial lithium responders (PR; 61 patients) and lithium nonresponders (NR; 50 patients). The control group consisted of 75 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects. Results: The lithium-treated patients as a whole group had lower BDNF levels compared to the healthy controls. However, after breaking down the patients into ER, PR and NR, it appeared that only NR had significantly lower BDNF levels compared with the healthy control subjects. No association between the age of the patients, duration of bipolar illness, and serum lithium and BDNF levels was found. Conclusion: The results point to a relationship between lithium prophylactic efficacy and plasma BDNF levels in euthymic bipolar patients where lithium NR had reduced BDNF levels. These findings suggest that serum BDNF is associated with lithium efficacy in bipolar disorder.
Expression of Interstitial Collagenase (Matrix Metalloproteinase‐1) in Gastric Cancers

The expression of matrix metalloproteinase‐1 (MMP‐1) gene and the presence of MMP‐1 protein in gastric cancer were examined by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. Expression of the interstitial Collagenase (MMP‐1) gene was detected within the stroma of the neoplastic glands, and infiltration of eosinopilic was observed to be associated with regions of MMP‐1 gene expression. The degree of eosinophils infiltration correlated with the level of MMP‐1 mRNA expression. Immunostaining showed localization of MMP‐1 protein in the stromal cells, and additionally in the neoplastic glands. These findings indicate that the stromal cells may play an important role in the expression of MMP‐1, and suggest a pathophysiological role for MMP‐1 in the invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer.
Setting Aside Criminal Convictions in Canada

Expunging a criminal conviction in the United States is a rare event and often limited to persons who committed offenses as juveniles or adult misdemeanants. Criminal convictions in Canada, however, are routinely set aside through pardons after offenders have demonstrated a period of crime-free behavior. Sealing an offender’s criminal record, the practice in Canada, is a significant step in his or her reentry into society and official acknowledgment of society’s forgiveness. This exploratory study of pardons in Canada has two clear findings: First, despite the relatively easy process, few individuals with criminal records make application for pardons. Second, of those who do apply, few applications are ever denied, and a very small percentage of successful applicants reoffend. Although setting aside criminal convictions seems inconsistent with the increasing use of collateral consequences for U.S. offenders, taking this approach might contribute to increased public safety in the long term by easing offender reintegration.
Effects of Nicotine on Emotional Reactivity in PTSD and Non-PTSD Smokers: Results of a Pilot fMRI Study

There is evidence that individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may smoke in part to regulate negative affect. This pilot fMRI study examined the effects of nicotine on emotional information processing in smokers with and without PTSD. Across groups, nicotine increased brain activation in response to fearful/angry faces (compared to neutral faces) in ventral caudate. Patch x Group interactions were observed in brain regions involved in emotional and facial feature processing. These preliminary findings suggest that nicotine differentially modulates negative information processing in PTSD and non-PTSD smokers.
Activities of Ertapenem, a New Long-Acting Carbapenem, against Penicillin-Sensitive or -Resistant Pneumococci in Experimental Meningitis

ABSTRACT The penetration of ertapenem, a new carbapenem with a long half-life, reached 7.1 and 2.4% into inflamed and noninflamed meninges, respectively. Ertapenem had excellent antibacterial activity in the treatment of experimental meningitis due to penicillin-sensitive and -resistant pneumococci, leading to a decrease of 0.69 ± 0.17 and 0.59 ± 0.22 log10 CFU/ml · h, respectively, in the viable cell counts in the cerebrospinal fluid. The efficacy of ertapenem was comparable to that of standard regimens (ceftriaxone monotherapy against the penicillin-sensitive strain and ceftriaxone combined with vancomycin against the penicillin-resistant strain). In vitro, ertapenem in concentrations above the MIC was highly bactericidal against both strains. Even against a penicillin- and quinolone-resistant mutant, ertapenem had similar bactericidal activity in vitro.
Biyoloji Öğretmen Adaylarının Evrim Öğretimine İlişkin Pedagojik Alan Bilgileri

Calismada biyoloji ogretmen adaylarinin evrim konusunu ogretmeye iliskin pedagojik alan bilgileri, evrim ogretimine yonelik tutum, niyet ve kaygilari ile bilimin dogasi hakkindaki gorusleri incelenmistir. Yedi biyoloji ogretmen adayindan olusan bu arastirmanin yontemi ornek olaydir. Veriler yari yapilandirilmis gorusmeler ile toplanmistir. Bulgular adaylarinin olcme-degerlendirme yontemleri, ogrencilerin anlama guclukleri ve ogretim stratejileri hakkinda genel bilgileri olmasina ragmen, mufredat bilgilerinin yetersiz oldugunu ve evrimin ogretimi ile ilgili cesitli kaygilar tasidigini ortaya koymustur. Evrim ve bilimin dogasi konularinda kavram yanilgilari oldugu saptanan adaylarin evrim ogretime yonelik olumlu tutum gelistirdikleri belirlenmistir. Calismanin sonuclari, biyoloji ogretmen adaylarinin evrim konusunu ogretmeye iliskin pedagojik alan bilgileri ile bilimin dogasi hakkindaki goruslerin gelistirilmesi gerektigini ortaya koymustur.
Object Oriented Metrics and Quality Attributes: A Survey

Design phase is considered one of the most important phases of software development process. Considering design quality is a significant indicator to guarantee a good product. Despite the fact that this phase is more important, it takes less effort in processing but it can take a large part of the total effort consumed in correcting earlier issues that resulted from bad design decisions. If the design quality of a product wasn't previously considered, the cost of fixing bad design issues after software delivery will be very high. Recently researchers have introduced several object oriented metrics for identifying design problems and avoiding such issues at earlier development phases. This paper initiates a survey regarding object-oriented metrics and their quality attributes. Also it shows the relationship between internal and external quality attributes and identify a group of practical and common used metrics which having a significant impact on design quality.
Radio Interferometric Calibration Using The SAGE Algorithm

The aim of the new generation of radio synthesis arrays such as LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) and Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is to achieve much higher sensitivity, resolution and frequency coverage than what is available now, especially at low frequencies. To accomplish this goal, the accuracy of the calibration techniques used is of considerable importance. Moreover, since these telescopes produce huge amounts of data, speed of convergence of calibration is a major bottleneck. The errors in calibration are due to system noise (sky and instrumental) as well as the estimation errors introduced by the calibration technique itself, which we call 'solver noise'. We define solver noise as the 'distance' between the optimal solution (the true value of the unknowns, uncorrupted by the system noise) and the solution obtained by calibration. We present the Space Alternating Generalized Expectation Maximization (SAGE) calibration technique, which is a modification of the Expectation Maximization algorithm, and compare its performance with the traditional least squares calibration based on the level of solver noise introduced by each technique. For this purpose, we develop statistical methods that use the calibrated solutions to estimate the level of solver noise. The SAGE calibration algorithm yields very promising results in terms of both accuracy and speed of convergence. The comparison approaches that we adopt introduce a new framework for assessing the performance of different calibration schemes.
Executive functions in adolescents with spina bifida: Relations with autonomy development and parental intrusiveness

The current study was part of a larger longitudinal investigation and examined the relation of parent-report and performance measures of executive functioning (EF) with measures of behavioral and emotional autonomy and parental intrusiveness in adolescents with and without spina bifida (SB; n = 65 in a comparison sample and 61 in an SB sample; M age = 14.55, SD = 0.63). For both groups, higher levels of parent-reported EF problems predicted higher levels of observed child dependency and lower levels of teacher-reported intrinsic motivation. Higher scores on performance EF measures predicted lower levels of observed child dependency and observed maternal intrusiveness for both groups. In adolescents with SB only, higher performance EF scores predicted higher intrinsic motivation and emotional autonomy from both mother and father and predicted lower levels of observed paternal intrusiveness. While causal conclusions cannot be drawn, EFs appear to be closely related to autonomy development and parental intrusiveness, particularly for adolescents with SB. These results suggest that the inclusion of EF training in interventions targeting adolescents with SB may be beneficial for autonomy development.
Dietary and physical activity counselling on Type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance by physicians and nurses in primary healthcare in Finland

Objective. To investigate the initiation of dietary and physical activity counselling and the arguments used when discussing physical activity and the type and consumption of dietary fats, during nurse–patient and physician–patient diabetic lifestyle counselling. Design and subjects. This study is a part of a larger follow-up research project focusing on diabetes counselling. The data include 129 videotaped counselling sessions between 17 patients and their physicians and nurses. Content analysis was carried out by identifying the verbal comments and reactions of participants concerning both physical activity and the type and consumption of dietary fats. Results. The physicians and nurses spent little time on dietary and physical activity counselling. The counselling sessions consisted mainly of short questions with minimal feedback from either party. The beginning of the sessions concentrated on blood cholesterol levels and the extent of physical activity. The health professionals failed to emphasize the roles of reduced dietary fats and increased physical activity in substituting for or supplementing diabetes care. Although the patients communicated the factors that encouraged or discouraged physical activity the subject was generally not pursued by the health professionals. Conclusion. Within primary care there is a need for methods that would facilitate the discussion of health behaviour changes. In healthcare settings, education and training are required to develop the communication skills of health professionals in all aspects of preventive medicine.
Clinical implications of U2AF1 mutation in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and its stability during disease progression

We aimed to analyze clinical impacts of the U2AF1 mutation on patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and its stability during disease progression. We checked mutation status of the U2AF1 by direct sequencing in 478 de novo MDS patients and correlated with the clinical characteristics and outcomes. We also sequentially analyzed the U2AF1 mutation in 421 samples from 142 patients to determine its stability during the disease courses. Thirty‐six patients (7.5%) were found to have U2AF1 mutations, which occurred more frequently in younger patients (P = 0.033). U2AF1 mutation was an independent poor‐risk factor for overall survival (OS) in all patients (P = 0.030) and younger patients (P = 0.041). U2AF1 mutation could also predict shorter time‐to‐leukemia transformation (TTL) in younger patients (P = 0.020). In addition, U2AF1 mutation was associated with shorter TTL in lower‐risk MDS patients. Sequential analyses showed all original U2AF1 mutations in U2AF1‐mutated patients were retained during follow‐ups unless complete remission was achieved, whereas none of the U2AF1‐wild patients acquired a novel mutation during disease evolution. U2AF1 mutation is more prevalent in younger MDS patients and associated with inferior outcomes although it is stable during the clinical course. The mutation may be used as a biomarker for risk stratification. Am. J. Heamtol. 88:E277–E282, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Partial Escape of HIV-1 from Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes during Chronic Infection

ABSTRACT Viral mutational escape from CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) is typically considered to be a dichotomous process and uncommon during chronic HIV-1 infection. Ex vivo passaging of HIV-1 from persons with chronic infection, however, revealed the evolution of many fixed substitutions within and around CTL-targeted regions, with an associated increase in replicative capacity. This indicates an evolution of mutations during chronic HIV-1 infection that trade replicative fitness for incomplete evasion of CTLs, or “partial escape. ”
MicroRNA-206: a Promising Theranostic Marker

MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate gene expression by binding to the 3` untranslated regions (3`UTR) of their target mRNAs. MiRs were shown to play pivotal roles in tissue development and function and are also involved in the pathogenesis of various diseases including cancer. MicroRNA-206, which belongs to the group of so-called “myomiRs”, is one of the most studied miRs thus far. In addition to being involved in skeletal muscle development and pathology, it has also been established that it is involved in the pathogenesis of numerous diseases including heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Alzheimer's disease and various types of cancers. The aim of this review is to provide a complex overview of microRNA-206, including regulating its expression, a brief description of its known functions in skeletal muscle and a complex overview of its roles in the biology and pathology of other tissues, emphasizing its significant diagnostic and therapeutic potential.
Introduction Correlation of p 210 BCR-ABL transcript variants with clinical , parameters and disease outcome in 45 chronic myeloid leukemia patients

1 fusion gene in 45 chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) Syrian patients using nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and compare our results with those of conventional cytogenetics and molecular cytogenetics methods. Methods: 45 bone marrow or peripheral blood samples from untreated CML patients in chronic phase (CP) were obtained at diagnosis, and analyzed by nested RT-PCR, conventional cytogenetics and molecular cyto-genetics methods. Results: 45 patients examined were positive for some type of BCR/ABL1 fusion gene rearrangement. Out of 45 studied CML patients, 23 (51.1%) expressed b3a2 fusion transcript, 21 (46.7%) b2a2 transcript, and 1 (2.2%) a rare b2a3 transcript. No patient co-expressed both b3a2/b2a2 types. Conclusions: The distribution BCR-ABL1 transcript types found in Syria were similar to that of Indian Far-Eastern, African or European populations and the M-BCR rearrangement types were not dependent on white blood count (WBC), platelet count, hemoglobin level or gender of the patients. Overall, we could show that patients with b3a2 rearrangements were younger than patients with b2a2 transcripts, thus our young patients may have a worse prognosis.
Decision tree analysis to evaluate dry cow strategies under UK conditions

Economic decisions on animal health strategies address the cost-benefit aspect along with animal welfare and public health concerns. Decision tree analysis at an individual cow level highlighted that there is little economic difference between the use of either dry cow antibiotic or an internal teat sealant in preventing a new intramammary infection in a cow free of infection in all quarters of the mammary gland at drying off. However, a potential net loss of over £20 per cow might occur if the uninfected cow was left untreated. The only economically viable option, for a cow with one or more quarters infected at drying off, is antibiotic treatment, although a loss might still be incurred depending on the pathogen concerned and the cure rates achievable. There was a net loss for cows with quarters infected with Corynebacterium spp. at drying off, for both the teat sealant and untreated groups (£22 and £48, respectively) with only antibiotic-treated cows showing a gain.
A comparative study of an accelerated life‐test model and a toxicokinetics‐based model for the analysis of Porcellio scaber survival data

Statistical models have long been used for reliability analysis and risk assessment. In the present study, an accelerated life‐test model was used to analyze a set of dose‐time‐response data obtained with the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber. Survival data were experimentally obtained by exposing P. scaber to diazinon (a nonpersistent insecticide) at six concentrations between 2 and 11.31 μg/g (toxicant/soil). Survival data are presented on a weekly basis. The accelerated life‐test model assumed a log‐normal distribution and constant variance across all diazinon concentrations. Model parameters were obtained by maximum likelihood estimation. The accelerated life‐test model was compared to a toxicokinetics‐based model reported in the literature. Survival predictions made by both models were compared with the observed data. Both the accelerated life‐test model and the toxicokineticsbased model underestimated toxicity at a diazinon concentration of 8 μg/g. Overall, however, the accelerated life‐test model outperformed the toxicokinetics‐based model, with survival predictions closer to the observed data in most cases and a stronger correlation between predicted and observed survivals. However, as a statistical model, the accelerated life‐test model did not reveal mechanistic information, and only statistical and distributional interpretations of its model parameters could be made.
Common Fixed Point Results in G-Metric Spaces and Applications

common fixed point theorem using EA-property for four weakly compatible maps is obtained in the setting of G- metric spaces without exploiting the notion of continuity. Our results generalize the results of Abbas and Rhoades(7), and Manro et. al.(11). Moreover, we show that these maps satisfy property R. Applications to certain intergral equations and functional equations are also obtained.