Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between Myocardial Performance Index and Severity of Coronary Artery Disease in patients with Stable Coronary Artery Disease

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) assessed with SYNTAX score (SS) and myocardial performance index (MPI) in stable CAD. Methods: The study included 100 patients who were candidate for coronary angiography. All subjects underwent full history taking, complete clinical examination, echocardiographic examination for calculation of MPI, EF and E/A ratio, and coronary angiography for calculation of syntax score. Results: Among study population 49 female (49.0%) and 51 male (51.0%) with mean age (48.96±7.30), 80 patients (80.0%) were had angiographically proven obstructive CAD, whereas 20 (20.0%) patients were had normal coronary angiography. There is statistically significant positive correlation between MPI and SS in patients with obstructive CAD (P-value < 0.001). Conclusion: MPI showed the ability of being a sensitive marker of LV function in SCAD as its value was impaired in proportion to severity of coronary obstruction and it is correlated well with Syntax score as it is the most recent quantitative and qualitative tool that can characterizes angiographically obstructive lesions, risk stratification and prognostication of patients with CAD.
Intracellular Acid-Extruding Regulators and the Effect of Lipopolysaccharide in Cultured Human Renal Artery Smooth Muscle Cells

Homeostasis of the intracellular pH (pHi) in mammalian cells plays a pivotal role in maintaining cell function. Thus far, the housekeeping Na+-H+ exchanger (NHE) and the Na+-HCO3 − co-transporter (NBC) have been confirmed in many mammalian cells as major acid extruders. However, the role of acid-extruding regulators in human renal artery smooth muscle cells (HRASMCs) remains unclear. It has been demonstrated that lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced vascular occlusion is associated with the apoptosis, activating calpain and increased [Ca2+]i that are related to NHE1 activity in endothelia cells. This study determines the acid-extruding mechanisms and the effect of LPS on the resting pHi and active acid extruders in cultured HRASMCs. The mechanism of pHi recovery from intracellular acidosis (induced by NH4Cl-prepulse) is determined using BCECF-fluorescence in cultured HRASMCs. It is seen that (a) the resting pHi is 7.19±0.03 and 7.10±0.02 for HEPES- and CO2/HCO3 −- buffered solution, respectively; (b) apart from the housekeeping NHE1, another Na+-coupled HCO3 − transporter i.e. NBC, functionally co-exists to achieve acid-equivalent extrusion; (c) three different isoforms of NBC: NBCn1 (SLC4A7; electroneutral), NBCe1 (SLC4A4; electrogenic) and NBCe2 (SLC4A5), are detected in protein/mRNA level; and (d) pHi and NHE protein expression/activity are significantly increased by LPS, in both a dose- and time- dependent manner, but NBCs protein expression is not. In conclusion, it is demonstrated, for the first time, that four pHi acid-extruding regulators: NHE1, NBCn1, NBCe1 and NBCe2, co-exist in cultured HRASMCs. LPS also increases cellular growth, pHi and NHE in a dose- and time-dependent manner.
Fluoxetine normalizes disrupted light-induced entrainment, fragmented ultradian rhythms and altered hippocampal clock gene expression in an animal model of high trait anxiety- and depression-related behavior

ABSTRACT Introduction Disturbances of circadian rhythms are a key symptom of mood and anxiety disorders. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) - commonly used antidepressant drugs – also modulate aspects of circadian rhythmicity. However, their potential to restore circadian disturbances in depression remains to be investigated. Materials and methods The effects of the SSRI fluoxetine on genetically based, depression-related circadian disruptions at the behavioral and molecular level were examined using mice selectively bred for high anxiety-related and co-segregating depression-like behavior (HAB) and normal anxiety/depression behavior mice (NAB). Results The length of the circadian period was increased in fluoxetine-treated HAB as compared to NAB mice while the number of activity bouts and light-induced entrainment were comparable. No difference in hippocampal Cry2 expression, previously reported to be dysbalanced in untreated HAB mice, was observed, while Per2 and Per3 mRNA levels were higher in HAB mice under fluoxetine treatment. Discussion The present findings provide evidence that fluoxetine treatment normalizes disrupted circadian locomotor activity and clock gene expression in a genetic mouse model of high trait anxiety and depression. An interaction between the molecular mechanisms mediating the antidepressant response to fluoxetine and the endogenous regulation of circadian rhythms in genetically based mood and anxiety disorders is proposed.
Immobilization of Dystrophin and Laminin α2-Chain Deficient Zebrafish Larvae In Vivo Prevents the Development of Muscular Dystrophy

Muscular dystrophies are often caused by genetic alterations in the dystrophin-dystroglycan complex or its extracellular ligands. These structures are associated with the cell membrane and provide mechanical links between the cytoskeleton and the matrix. Mechanical stress is considered a pathological mechanism and muscle immobilization has been shown to be beneficial in some mouse models of muscular dystrophy. The zebrafish enables novel and less complex models to examine the effects of extended immobilization or muscle relaxation in vivo in different dystrophy models. We have examined effects of immobilization in larvae from two zebrafish strains with muscular dystrophy, the Sapje dystrophin-deficient and the Candyfloss laminin α2-chain-deficient strains. Larvae (4 days post fertilization, dpf) of both mutants have significantly lower active force in vitro, alterations in the muscle structure with gaps between muscle fibers and altered birefringence patterns compared to their normal siblings. Complete immobilization (18 hrs to 4 dpf) was achieved using a small molecular inhibitor of actin-myosin interaction (BTS, 50 μM). This treatment resulted in a significantly weaker active contraction at 4 dpf in both mutated larvae and normal siblings, most likely reflecting a general effect of immobilization on myofibrillogenesis. The immobilization also significantly reduced the structural damage in the mutated strains, showing that muscle activity is an important pathological mechanism. Following one-day washout of BTS, muscle tension partly recovered in the Candyfloss siblings and caused structural damage in these mutants, indicating activity-induced muscle recovery and damage, respectively.
Evidence that RNA polymerase II and not TFIIB is responsible for the difference in transcription initiation patterns between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe

The basal eukaryotic transcription machinery for protein coding genes is highly conserved from unicellular yeast to higher eukaryotes. Whereas TATA-containing promoters in human cells usually contain a single transcription start site (TSS) located ∼30 bp downstream of the TATA element, transcription in the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Saccharomyces cerevisiae typically initiates at multiple sites within a window ranging from 30 to 70 bp or 40 to 200 bp downstream of a TATA element, respectively. By exchanging highly purified factors between reconstituted S. pombe and S. cerevisiae transcription systems, we confirmed previous observations that the dual exchange of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) and transcription factor IIB (TFIIB) confer the distinct initiation patterns between these yeast species. Surprisingly, however, further genetic and biochemical assays of TFIIB chimeras revealed that TFIIB and the proposed B-finger/reader domain do not play a role in determining the distinct initiation patterns between S. pombe and S. cerevisiae, but rather, these patterns are solely due to differences in RNAPII. These results are discussed within the context of a proposed model for the mechanistic coupling of the efficiency of early phosphodiester bond formation during productive TSS utilization and intrinsic elongation proficiency.
Age-related structural changes in the myenteric nervous plexus ganglion along the anterior wall of the proximal human duodenum--a morphometric analysis.

BACKGROUND/AIM Aging is one of the most complex biological processes which probably affect structure and function of the enteric nerve system. However, there is not much available information on this topic, particularly in humans. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of aging on the structure of the myenteric ganglia in the anterior wall of the human proximal duodenum. METHODS We examined the myenteric ganglia in the proximal duodenal anterior wall specimens obtained from 30 cadaver persons aged from 20 to 84 years. Tissue samples were classified into three age groups: 20-44, 45-64 and 65-84 years. After standard histological preparation, specimens were stained with HE, Cresyl Violet and AgNO3. Morphometric analysis of all the specimens, using a multipurpose test system M42, was performed. The data were subjected to the t-test. RESULTS The myenteric ganglia of very old humans contains an empty space, i.e. the respective parts of ganglia show a decreased number of neuron as compared to younger population. The average number of neuron per cm2 of the duodenum in the youngest people (20-44 years) was 69,370 +/- 1,750.00, in the people aged 45-64 years 69,211 +/- 1,573.33, and in the oldest persons (65-84 years) 57,951 +/- 1,291.52. The loss of neurons in the oldest persons was 16.46%. The applied statistic test demonstrated a significant difference between the observed groups (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION Aging does not induce changes in size and surface of neurons in the ganglia, but it decreases the number of neurons. The nerve structures in the elderly are partly emptied of bodies of nerve cells ("empty ganglions"), which indicates the existence of changed myenteric ganglia in the duodenum. These changes could be related to the duodenum motility disorder associated with aging.
Consumer Intention to Shop Online: B2C E-Commerce in Developing Countries

The development of dot com companies in 90s opened a new door of sales and revenue generation for the businesses world wide. The number of online shoppers increased dramatically within a very short span of time. While some people found it a convenient and sophisticated way of shopping, others remained reluctant to adopt this medium. Different factors are considered responsible for this variation in online behavior. Most of the researches on this topic are conducted in the developed countries so there is a need to study the phenomenon from the developing countries perspective. Based on existing literature on the topic a research model was developed which was further tested by means of a survey.
Mitral Valve Repair With Carpentier-McCarthy-Adams IMR ETlogix Annuloplasty Ring for Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation: Early Echocardiographic Results From a Multi-Center Study

Background— Ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) is associated with asymmetric changes in annular and ventricular geometry. Surgical repair with standard symmetric annuloplasty rings results in a high incidence of residual or recurrent mitral regurgitation (MR). The Carpentier-McCarthy-Adams (CMA) IMR ETlogix annuloplasty ring is the first remodeling ring specifically designed to treat asymmetric leaflet tethering and annular dilatation. We used quantitative 2-dimensional echo to examine early results of mitral valve (MV) repair with the CMA IMR ETlogix annuloplasty ring in patients with IMR. Methods and Results— Fifty-nine patients (aged 68±12 years) with grade ≥2+ IMR (graded on a scale of 0 to 4+) underwent MV repair with the CMA IMR ETlogix annuloplasty ring. We assessed the mitral annular diameter (MAD), tethering area (TA), and tenting height (TH) of the MV in 4-chamber, 2-chamber, and long axis views at mid-systole before and 3 to 10 days after surgery. After surgery, 57 of 59 (97%) patients had grade 0 or 1+ MR, whereas 2 patients had 2+ MR. MV repair with the CMA IMR ETlogix ring significantly reduced MAD, TA, and TH (P<0.001, for all 3 echo views), particularly in the long axis and 4-chamber views. Conclusion— Surgical repair of IMR with the novel asymmetric CMA IMR ETlogix annuloplasty ring provided excellent early results with effective reduction of MR, MAD, and leaflet tethering. This novel etiology-specific strategy may result in improved outcomes in IMR patients.
A new electromagnetic exposure metric: high frequency voltage transients associated with increased cancer incidence in teachers in a California school.

BACKGROUND In 2003 the teachers at La Quinta, California middle school complained that they had more cancers than would be expected. A consultant for the school district denied that there was a problem. OBJECTIVES To investigate the cancer incidence in the teachers, and its cause. METHOD We conducted a retrospective study of cancer incidence in the teachers' cohort in relationship to the school's electrical environment. RESULTS Sixteen school teachers in a cohort of 137 teachers hired in 1988 through 2005 were diagnosed with 18 cancers. The observed to expected (O/E) risk ratio for all cancers was 2.78 (P = 0.000098), while the O/E risk ratio for malignant melanoma was 9.8 (P = 0.0008). Thyroid cancer had a risk ratio of 13.3 (P = 0.0098), and uterine cancer had a risk ratio of 9.2 (P = 0.019). Sixty Hertz magnetic fields showed no association with cancer incidence. A new exposure metric, high frequency voltage transients, did show a positive correlation to cancer incidence. A cohort cancer incidence analysis of the teacher population showed a positive trend (P = 7.1 x 10(-10)) of increasing cancer risk with increasing cumulative exposure to high frequency voltage transients on the classroom's electrical wiring measured with a Graham/Stetzer (G/S) meter. The attributable risk of cancer associated with this exposure was 64%. A single year of employment at this school increased a teacher's cancer risk by 21%. CONCLUSION The cancer incidence in the teachers at this school is unusually high and is strongly associated with high frequency voltage transients, which may be a universal carcinogen, similar to ionizing radiation.
Greece and the European Union: An assessment of macroeconomic policies and trade effects

This thesis aims to make a contribution to the study of the Greek economy by means of (i) assessing a number of macroeconomic policies adopted by successive Greek governments; (ii) assessing the present effort of Greece to join the EMU; and (iii) evaluating the trade effects caused by EU participation. Chapter 1 provides a detailed account of the main macroeconomic policies adopted by Greece during the period 1960-97. It also describes the Greek institutional environment and reports the movements of the leading economic indicators. Emphasis is placed on the post-1980 period. Chapter 3 attempts an assessment of a number of fiscal, monetary and exchange rate polices adopted by successive Greek governments based on the theoretical background and econometric methodology presented in chapter 2. We conclude that the post-1974 deterioration of the Greek macroeconomic performance is, to a large extent, explained by the fundamental change of the international economic environment and a number of sub-optimal decisions taken by the Greek authorities. We argue that the continuation of the currently applied policy mix, involving a combination of rather lose fiscal and incomes policies and a tight monetary/exchange rate policy, is questionable. Chapter 4 examines the future prospects of Greek macroeconomic policy in the light of the pursuit of EMIU participation. We suggest that if Greece is to achieve EMTU participation in the foreseeable future, it should adopt an economic strategy involving a reduction in public consumption and a number of structural adjustments. We also argue that Greece should not rush to cñn any new ERM-II arrangement without making sure that its participation involves a sustainable exchange rate, i.e. an exchange rate possibly different to the present one. Chapter 5 uses the original data sets presented in the Trade Data Appendix to examine the trade effects caused by the accession of Greece to the EU. It concludes that during the post-integration period the external trade of Greece has been reoriented towards the EU countries and that Greece lost part of her comparative advantage in those sectors in which such an advantage exists. Chapter 6 summarizes and concludes the thesis.
BNIP3 as a Progression Marker in Primary Human Breast Cancer; Opposing Functions in In situ Versus Invasive Cancer

Purpose: BNIP3 is involved in cell death and cell survival via autophagy. Its perinecrotic localization within ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) suggests an involvement in neoplastic cellular adaptation to low oxygen tension. This study has investigated the role of BNIP3 in normal and neoplastic breast. Experimental Design: Whole sections from 11 normal breast and microarrayed tissue cores from 81 DCIS and 251 invasive carcinomas were stained for BNIP3 and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α. The pattern and level of BNIP3 expression were correlated with clinicopathologic variables and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α. Results: BNIP3 expression was significantly up-regulated in the cytoplasm of DCIS and invasive carcinoma compared with normal breast (P = 0.0005 and P < 0.0001, respectively). Nuclear BNIP3 expression was associated with smaller tumor size (P = 0.04), low tumor grade (P = 0.005), and estrogen receptor positivity (P = 0.008) in invasive tumors. Nuclear BNIP3 expression was also associated with a longer disease-free survival among low-grade and estrogen receptor–positive tumors. (P = 0.03 and 0.04, respectively). Conversely, nuclear BNIP3 expression in DCIS was associated with a 3-fold increase in recurrence and a shorter disease-free survival (P = 0.03). Conclusions: Up-regulation of BNIP3 expression in DCIS and invasive carcinoma suggests a significant role in breast tumor progression. Its association with good survival outcome in invasive carcinoma but with an increased risk of recurrence and shorter disease-free survival in DCIS may suggest a pivotal switch from a cell death to survival function during the transition from preinvasive to invasive breast cancer.
On degeneration of one-dimensional formal group laws and applications to stable homotopy theory

In this note we study a certain formal group law over a complete discrete valuation ring F [[ u n -1 ]] of characteristic p 0 which is of height n over the closed point and of height n -1 over the generic point. By adjoining all coefficients of an isomorphism between the formal group law on the generic point and the Honda group law H n -1 of height n - 1, we get a Galois extension of the quotient field of the discrete valuation ring with Galois group isomorphic to the automorphism group S n -1 of H n -1 . We show that the automorphism group S n of the formal group over the closed point acts on the quotient field, lifting to an action on the Galois extension which commutes with the action of Galois group. We use this to construct a ring homomorphism from the cohomology of S n -1 to the cohomology of S n with coefficients in the quotient field. Applications of these results in stable homotopy theory and relation to the chromatic splitting conjecture are discussed.
Changes in Import Pricing Behaviour: The Case of Germany

Since changes in import prices feed into consumer prices and thus might affect monetary policy decisions, policymakers need to establish whether or not German importers' long-run pricing behaviour has changed. Of particular interest are any shifts in the importance of cost passthrough and pricing-to-market for import pricing in Germany that may have ocurred since the 1990s. We analyse pricing in single equations for 11 product categories because the factors influencing the pricing behaviour, eg competitive pressure, may well have developed differently on the individual product markets. The Saikkonen (1991) approach is applied to test the import price levels for changes in the impact of their determinants. After aggregating the findings for the individual product categories, we find that, on the whole, pricing-to-market has increased, whereas cost pass-through via foreign costs and exchange rates is lower, but not via commodity prices.
Mixed risk aversion and preference for risk disaggregation: a story of moments

In a recent article entitled “Putting Risk in its Proper Place,” Eeckhoudt and Schlesinger (2006) established a theorem linking the sign of the n-th derivative of an agent’s utility function to her preferences among pairs of simple lotteries. We characterize these lotteries and show that, in a given pair, they only differ by their moments of order greater than or equal to n. When the n-th derivative of the utility function is positive (negative) and n is odd (even), the agent prefers a lottery with higher (lower) n + 2p-th moments for p belonging to the set of positive integers. This result links the preference for disaggregation of risks across states of nature to the complete structure of moments preferred by mixed risk averse agents. It can be viewed as a generalization of a proposition appearing in Ekern (1980) which focused only on the differences in the n-th moments.
Kinetic and thermal energy harvesters for implantable medical devices and biomedical autonomous sensors

Implantable medical devices usually require a battery to operate and this can represent a severe restriction. In most cases, the implantable medical devices must be surgically replaced because of the dead batteries; therefore, the longevity of the whole implantable medical device is determined by the battery lifespan. For this reason, researchers have been studying energy harvesting techniques from the human body in order to obtain batteryless implantable medical devices. The human body is a rich source of energy and this energy can be harvested from body heat, breathing, arm motion, leg motion or the motion of other body parts produced during walking or any other activity. In particular, the main human-body energy sources are kinetic energy and thermal energy. This paper reviews the state-of-art in kinetic and thermoelectric energy harvesters for powering implantable medical devices. Kinetic energy harvesters are based on electromagnetic, electrostatic and piezoelectric conversion. The different energy harvesters are analyzed highlighting their sizes, energy or power they produce and their relative applications. As they must be implanted, energy harvesting devices must be limited in size, typically about 1 cm3. The available energy depends on human-body positions; therefore, some positions are more advantageous than others. For example, favorable positions for piezoelectric harvesters are hip, knee and ankle where forces are significant. The energy harvesters here reported produce a power between 6 nW and 7.2 mW; these values are comparable with the supply requirements of the most common implantable medical devices; this demonstrates that energy harvesting techniques is a valid solution to design batteryless implantable medical devices.
Polylogarithmic Cuts in Models of V^0

We study initial cuts of models of weak two-sorted Bounded Arithmetics with respect to the strength of their theories and show that these theories are stronger than the original one. More explicitly we will see that polylogarithmic cuts of models of $\mathbf{V}^0$ are models of $\mathbf{VNC}^1$ by formalizing a proof of Nepomnjascij's Theorem in such cuts. This is a strengthening of a result by Paris and Wilkie. We can then exploit our result in Proof Complexity to observe that Frege proof systems can be sub exponentially simulated by bounded depth Frege proof systems. This result has recently been obtained by Filmus, Pitassi and Santhanam in a direct proof. As an interesting observation we also obtain an average case separation of Resolution from AC0-Frege by applying a recent result with Tzameret.