Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Glioma Stem Cells and Their Microenvironments: Providers of Challenging Therapeutic Targets

Malignant gliomas are aggressive brain tumors with limited therapeutic options, possibly because of highly tumorigenic subpopulations of glioma stem cells. These cells require specific microenvironments to maintain their “stemness,” described as perivascular and hypoxic niches. Each of those niches induces particular signatures in glioma stem cells (e.g., activation of Notch signaling, secretion of VEGF, bFGF, SDF1 for the vascular niche, activation of HIF2α, and metabolic reprogramming for hypoxic niche). Recently, accumulated knowledge on tumor-associated macrophages, possibly delineating a third niche, has underlined the role of immune cells in glioma progression, via specific chemoattractant factors and cytokines, such as macrophage-colony stimulation factor (M-CSF). The local or myeloid origin of this new component of glioma stem cells niche is yet to be determined. Such niches are being increasingly recognized as key regulators involved in multiple stages of disease progression, therapy resistance, immune-escaping, and distant metastasis, thereby substantially impacting the future development of frontline interventions in clinical oncology. This review focuses on the microenvironment impact on the glioma stem cell biology, emphasizing GSCs cross talk with hypoxic, perivascular, and immune niches and their potential use as targeted therapy.
The Real Consequences of Market Segmentation

We study the real effects of market segmentation due to credit ratings by using a matched sample of firms just above and just below the investment-grade cutoff. These firms have similar observables, including average investment rates. However, flows into high-yield mutual funds have an economically significant effect on the issuance and investment of the speculative-grade firms relative to their matches, especially for firms likely to be financially constrained. The effect is associated with the discrete change in label from investment- to speculative-grade, not with changes in continuous measures of credit quality. We do not find similar effects at other rating boundaries. The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. , Oxford University Press.
Pegylated interferon alfa 2b and oral ribavirin in patients with HCV-related cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND The treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related cirrhosis is difficult due to high frequency of adverse effects. We retrospectively reviewed the case records of patients with HCV cirrhosis to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of pegylated (peg) interferon and ribavirin treatment in these patients. METHODS Medical records of 28 patients with HCV-related compensated cirrhosis were reviewed. The treatment protocol was a combination therapy of peg interferon alfa-2b (1 microg/Kg/week) plus oral ribavirin (10-12 mg/Kg/day). Primary endpoint was sustained virological response, with additional endpoints of drug tolerance, clinical or biochemical worsening and death. RESULTS End-of-treatment virlogic response was seen in 24 of 28 patients (85%) and sustained virologic response in 15 of 28 (53%) patients. Biochemical end-of-treatment response and sustained response were seen in 20 and 16 patients (71% and 57%), respectively. Treatment had to be stopped in 3 patients due to decompensation of liver status in two and drug intolerance in one, while dose modification was required in two patients. CONCLUSIONS Combination therapy with peg interferon plus ribavirin seems effective in patients with liver cirrhosis. High relapse rate, poor biochemical recovery and possibility of decompensation are issues that need to be kept in mind.
Diagnosis of gout by ultrasound.

OBJECTIVES To establish the usefulness of ultrasonography (US) for diagnosing gout and to determine whether there are sonographic features that are characteristic for gout but not for other arthropathies. METHODS We retrospectively compared joint images of gout patients with matching images from patients with other rheumatic conditions. Images of 37 joints of 23 patients with monosodium urate (MSU) crystal-proven gout were reviewed. MSU crystals were identified in at least one joint in each patient. Our control group had 23 randomly selected patients with 33 examined joints with rheumatic conditions other than gout. RESULTS Specific diagnostic features included a hyperechoic, irregular band over the superficial margin of the articular cartilage described as a double contour sign in 92% of gouty joints and in none of the controls (P < 0.001); hypoechoic to hyperechoic, inhomogeneous material surrounded by a small anechoic rim, representing tophaceous material, was seen in all gouty metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints, in all metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints and in none of the controls (P < 0.001); erosions adjacent to tophaceous material were seen in 65% of MTP joints and in 25% of MCP joints. One erosion was seen in a MTP joint in a control patient with psoriatic arthritis. CONCLUSIONS US can detect deposition of MSU crystals on cartilaginous surfaces (P < 0.001) as well as tophaceous material and typical erosions. US may serve as a non-invasive means to diagnose gout.
Bmc Infectious Diseases Spectrum of Clinical Disease in a Series of 135 Hospitalised Hiv-infected Patients from North India

Background: Literature on the spectrum of opportunistic disease in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients from developing countries is sparse. The objective of this study was to document the spectrum and determine the frequency of various opportunistic infections (OIs) and non-infectious opportunistic diseases, in hospitalised HIV-infected patients from north India.
Hazards of the Market: The Continuity and Dissolution of Interorganizational Market Relationships

The authors propose a theory of the market as an intertemporal process that integrates multiple theoretical perspectives. Using event-history methods, thery analyze the dissolution of interorganizational market ties between advertising agencies and their clients as a function of three forces - competition, power, and institutional forces. The informal rules of exchange institutionalized in the emergence phase of the advertising services market include exclusivity (sole-source) and loyalty (infrequent switching). They find that most exchange relationships between advertising agencies and their clients are indeed exclusive, and most last for several years; but competition, power, and institutional forces support or undermine these rules. Most institutional forces reduce the risk of dissolution of agency-client ties. Powerful advertising agencies mobilize resources to increase tie stability, but powerful clients mobilize resources to increase or decrease stability. Competition is the weakest market force, but it has a consistent and substantial effect on tie dissolution : competition always increases the risk of dissolution. They conclude that the market is institutionalized as imperfectly repeated patterns of exchange, because competition and changing norms about the duration of market ties destabilize market relationships
Subtypes of human ABO blood groups and subtype-specific antibodies.

We advance an hypothesis which explains the presence of anti-A1 in group A2 individuals and of anti-B1 in group Bv individuals without assuming that A1 and A2 receptors are different or that B1 and Bv receptors are different. Taking into account the known fact that the receptor-density is higher in A1 and A2 erythrocytes, the hypothesis states that anti-A1 antibodies have a low affinity for A receptors and cannot form firm bridges between red cells when they use only one valency per cell. Consequently they do not agglutinate A2 cells, on which the density of receptors is too low. They do agglutinate A1 cells, on which the receptors are closer together. Thus subtype-specific antibodies must be multivalent, and bivalent antibodies such as IgG cannot distinguish between high- and low-receptor-density cells. A corresponding explanation may be valid for subtypes of B and anti-B1. Our results, as far as they go, support this hypothesis. Although normal anti-A and anti-B isoagglutinins contain a small proportion of IgG molecules, we could not demonstrate any IgG in isoagglutinins specific for subtypes A1 and B1. Anti-A1 reagents could be prepared from the purified IgM fraction of anti-A sera but not from the IgG fractions of the same sera. Oligosaccharides with blood group A or B specificity strongly inhibited agglutination when the test cells had a low density of receptors (A2B or Bv). They were much poorer inhibitors of agglutination when the test cells had a high density of receptors (A1 or normal B). Macromolecular salivary blood group substances were used as inhibitors in parallel tests. They inhibited strongly regardless of the receptor density on the erythrocytes. The use of A2B rather than A1, and Bv rather than B1, erythrocytes in agglutination-inhibition tests for blood group specific oligosaccharides improved the method by making it more sensitive. According to the above concept, anti-A1 or A2 individuals may possess an autoantibody directed against their own A receptors. The problems arising from this situation are discussed.
Variation in the volume of zebra finch song control nuclei is heritable: developmental and evolutionary implications

In many songbird species, females prefer males that sing a larger repertoire of syllables. Males with more elaborate songs have a larger high vocal centre (HVC) nucleus, the highest structure in the song production pathway. HVC size is thus a potential target of sexual selection. Here we provide evidence that the size of the HVC and other song production nuclei are heritable across individual males within a species. In contrast, we find that heritabilities of other nuclei in a song-learning pathway are lower, suggesting that variation in the sizes of these structures is more closely tied to developmental and environmental differences between individuals. We find that evolvability, a statistical measure that predicts response to selection, is higher for the HVC and its target for song production, the robustus archistriatalis (RA), than for all other brain volumes measured. This suggests that selection based on the functions of these two structures would result in rapid major shifts in their anatomy. We also show that the size of each song control nucleus is significantly correlated with the song related nuclei to which it is monosynaptically connected. Finally, we find that the volume of the telencephalon is larger in males than in females. These findings begin to join theoretical analyses of the role of female choice in the evolution of bird song to neurobiological mechanisms by which the evolutionary changes in behaviour are expressed.
Serum HSV-1 and -2 IgM in Pregnant Women in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

The present study was undertaken for the purpose of finding IgM antibodies against HSV-1 and 2 infections among pregnant women and also to evaluate correlation of Serum HSV-1 and 2 IgM in these pregnant women. A total of 180 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH) in Port Harcourt, Nigeria were consecutively recruited, after they had given consents to participate in the study. Serum of each sample was assayed for HSV-1&2 IgM antibody using a commercial ELISA. Five (2.8%) of the pregnant women were positive for IgM antibody against HSV-1&2. Marital status mainly correlated (χ2 = 221.5, P < 0.05) with HSV-2 infection and HSV-1/HSV-2 co-infection. Age, educational level, occupation, and gestation were not consistently associated (P>0.05) with HSV-1/HSV-2 infection and co-infection. We also observed a high overall anti-HSV-1&2 IgM seronegativity of 97.2% among these pregnant women. Group-specific seronegativity was also high ranging from 93.3–100%. Although the age-groups significantly differed, none of their variables showed statistical association with the seronegativity. This represents the first analysis of HSV IgM antibody reported in Port Harcourt, Nigeria and has important public health implications, particularly for pregnant women. Consideration of this information would benefit physicians providing primary gynecological and obstetric care to this population of women.
Psychosocial Predictors of Life Quality

A longitudinal study was conducted to examine the effects of infertility on marital and global life quality with wives and husbands from 174 infertile couples and a comparison group of 74 fertile couples. By the third interview, 42% of the infertile couples and 36% of the fertile couples were parents. Bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses were completed. The psychosocial predictors of life quality were highly similar for members of infertile and fertile couples and for couples with and without children. In multivariate analyses, being a parent was associated with increased global life quality for infertile women and diminished marital life quality for everyone except fertile men. These results replicate and extend past research.
Changing Clinical Characteristics according to Insulin Resistance and Insulin Secretion in Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetic Patients in Korea

Background The role of increased insulin resistance in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes has been emphasized in Asian populations. Thus, we evaluated the proportion of insulin resistance and the insulin secretory capacity in patients with early phase type 2 diabetes in Korea. Methods We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 1,314 drug-naive patients with newly diagnosed diabetes from primary care clinics nationwide. The homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was used as an index to measure insulin resistance, which was defined as a HOMA-IR ≥2.5. Insulin secretory defects were classified based on fasting plasma C-peptide levels: severe (<1.1 ng/mL), moderate (1.1 to 1.7 ng/mL) and mild to non-insulin secretory defect (≥1.7 ng/mL). Results The mean body mass index (BMI) was 25.2 kg/m2; 77% of patients had BMIs >23.0 kg/m2. Up to 50% of patients had central obesity based on their waist circumference (≥90 cm in men and 85 cm in women), and 70.6% had metabolic syndrome. Overall, 59.5% of subjects had insulin resistance, and 20.2% demonstrated a moderate to severe insulin secretory defect. Among those with insulin resistance, a high proportion of subjects (79.0%) had a mild or no insulin secretory defect. Only 2.6% of the men and 1.9% of the women had both insulin resistance and a moderate to severe insulin secretory defect. Conclusion In this study, patients with early phase type 2 diabetes demonstrated increased insulin resistance, but preserved insulin secretion, with a high prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome.
Electrically tunable substrate integrated waveguide reflective cavity resonator

This paper presents a novel electronically tunable substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity resonator at microwave frequency. The resonant frequency of the cavity is tuned with different DC biasing voltages applied over a varactor coupled to the cavity. This structure has been analyzed with a full-wave software package. To validate our analyses, an X-band reflective tunable SIW cavity resonator is designed and fabricated as an experimental example. Measured results show that the tuning range of the resonator is about 160 MHz with loaded QL of 150. The proposed resonator can be used to design tunable devices such as microwave and millimeter-wave voltage controlled oscillator (VCO).
Developing and piloting community-based self-injury treatment groups for adolescents and their parents.

INTRODUCTION Self injurious behaviour is not uncommon in depressed adolescents while little is known about effective treatments for this behaviour in this age group. The objective of this article is to illustrate the development and initial pilot of groups for adolescents who self injure and their parents. METHOD Articles and texts derived from a literature search of group treatments for self injuring adolescents were used to develop a pilot group for self injuring adolescents and a separate group for parents. The groups were piloted over the spring of 2004, at a community child and youth mental health clinic. RESULTS Eight weekly sessions for adolescents and 4 biweekly sessions for parents occurred. The adolescent group was a back to back dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) skills group followed by a therapeutic support group. Two thirds of both the adolescents and parents completed their groups. Overall, adolescents found both theirs and the parent group helpful. Parents reported that their group enabled more balanced and less reactive communication as well as benefit in meeting and talking with other parents facing similar difficulties. CONCLUSION Further refinement and formal evaluation of such group therapy approaches to the treatment of self injurious behaviour in adolescents is warranted.
Magnesium Sulfate Does Not Reduce Postoperative Analgesic Requirements

BackgroundBecause magnesium blocks the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor and its associated ion channels, it can prevent central sensitization caused by peripheral nociceptive stimulation. However, transport of magnesium from blood to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) across the blood–brain barrier is limited in normal humans. The current study was designed to evaluate whether perioperative intravenous magnesium sulfate infusion affects postoperative pain. MethodsSixty patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy received 50 mg/kg intravenous magnesium sulfate as a bolus dose followed by a continuous infusion of 15 mg · kg−1 · h−1 for 6 h (magnesium group) or the same volume of isotonic saline (control group). At the end of surgery, serum and CSF magnesium concentration were measured in both groups. The cumulative postoperative analgesic consumption was measured to assess the analgesic effect using a patient-controlled epidural analgesia device. Pain intensities at rest and during forced expiration were evaluated at 6, 24, 48, and 72 h postoperatively. ResultsAt the end of surgery, patients in the magnesium group had significantly greater postoperative serum magnesium concentrations compared with both preoperative and control group values (P < 0.001). Despite significantly higher serum magnesium concentrations in the magnesium group, there was no significant difference in magnesium concentration measured in postoperative CSF. Cumulative postoperative analgesic doses were similar in both groups. However, there was observed an inverse relation between cumulative postoperative analgesic consumption and the CSF magnesium concentration in both groups. Visual analog pain scores at rest and during forced expiration were similar and less than 4 in both groups. ConclusionsPerioperative intravenous administration of magnesium sulfate did not increase CSF magnesium concentration and had no effects on postoperative pain. However, an inverse relation between cumulative postoperative analgesic consumption and the CSF magnesium concentration was observed. These results suggest that perioperative intravenous magnesium infusion may not be useful for preventing postoperative pain.
The Biological Underpinnings of Peer Victimization: Understanding Why and How the Effects of Bullying Can Last a Lifetime

Recent research in the areas of neuroscience, neuroendocrinology, and genetics is reviewed providing convincing evidence for why and how the effects of bullying can last a lifetime. Specifically, the research reviewed herein indicates that (a) the brain experiences peer victimization in a similar way to physical pain, (b) peer victimization is robustly linked to dysregulation of the neuroendocrine response to stress, (c) certain genetic profiles place bullied children at greater risk for poorer sequelae, and (d) the experiences of peer victimization become biologically embedded in the physiology of the developing person, placing him or her at risk for life-long mental and physical health problems. These studies highlight the urgent need to prioritize the reduction of bullying.
Perceived risk and vulnerability as predictors of precautionary behaviour

Virtually all major theories of health-related behaviours are based on the assumption that people estimate their perceived susceptibility to a disease and evaluate the costs and benefits of precautionary behaviour before taking action. Generally, perceived risk or susceptibility is seen as an important determinant of preventive action. First I briefly summarize the literature on the accuracy of perceived risk or susceptibility. Next I turn to the relation between perceived risk and precautionary behaviour. This article reviews the evidence concerning the assumption that perceived risk or vulnerability is an important determinant of precautionary behaviour and points at some shortcomings of the existing literature. Comparative optimism or unrealistic optimism (i.e. the belief that risks apply more to others than to oneself) is also assumed to be related to preventive behaviour. This field of research is briefly reviewed and it is concluded that there is hardly any evidence for the presumed detrimental effect of optimism on preventive behaviour. This is followed by some methodological considerations about how to measure perceived risk and investigate its role as a behavioural determinant. It is recommended to reduce the diversity in which perceived risk is measured and to focus on conditional risk as opposed to unconditional risk. It will be argued that perceived vulnerability is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for preventive action. Other more proximal antecedents of preventive behaviour will be briefly discussed, followed by a brief discussion of the implications for health education practice.
Phonological Information Provides Early Sources of Constraint in the Processing of Letter Strings

Abstract Three experiments addressed the role of phonological information in visual word recognition using a letter search task. Subjects were presented with a target letter (e.g., "I") followed by a letter string (a word, a pseudohomophone, a pseudoword control, or a nonword). Their task was to indicate whether the target letter was present in the letter string. All experiments presented pseudohomophones (e.g., TAIP or BRANE) that either contained a letter (I) that was absent in their sound-alike word (TAPE) or were missing a letter (I) that was present in their sound-alike word (BRAIN). In Experiments 1 and 2, subjects made more miss errors under data-limited conditions when the letter string was a target-present pseudohomophone (TAIP) and more false alarm errors when the letter string was a target-absent pseudohomophone (BRANE). Experiment 2 controlled for a possible confound in the data in terms of word completion strategies. In Experiment 3, we replicated the pseudohomophone disadvantage using resource-limited conditions: detection times were longer for pseudohomophones. The existence of a pseudohomophone disadvantage in a supposedly graphemic task adds further support to the accumulating evidence that phonological information generated from the printed word is an early and major constraint in visual word recognition.