Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Engaging Inner-City Fathers in Breastfeeding Support.

PURPOSE Our objective was to pilot a method of engaging fathers/partners of high-risk inner-city mothers in breastfeeding support. MATERIALS AND METHODS Breast for Success was a breastfeeding promotion initiative with a father engagement component. In collaboration with Community Endeavors, Inc., we organized father-friendly evening programs (one night per week for 3 weeks, repeating quarterly) led by a male facilitator to provide breastfeeding education, with ongoing availability of a resource specialist to link men to community resources relevant to their legal, financial, and health needs. Fathers/partners were recruited from community programs and via our community partner, The City of Cleveland Department of Public Health MomsFirst™ Project, a federally funded Healthy Start program. University Hospitals Case Medical Center Institutional Review Board approved the study. RESULTS Sixty-six fathers/partners attended eight evening programs, and 30 (45%) attended all three nights. Their median age was 27.5 years (range, 17-64 years), and 49 (74%) self-described themselves as African American. At the start of the groups, 39% (21/54 responding) had a breastfed child, and 64% (39/61 responding) said they were comfortable with breastfeeding for their own child. After Sessions 1, 2, and 3, respectively, 40 (85%), 42 (89%), and 33 (80%) were "more likely" to want their next baby to breastfeed. On average, in 62% of all responses (278/450 possible), men endorsed learning "a lot more" about the 10 breastfeeding curriculum topics presented. CONCLUSIONS Recruitment of inner-city fathers/partners for a breastfeeding education program was feasible, and among men who attended, fathers' perceptions about their breastfeeding knowledge were positively impacted.
Composite Tissue Allotransplantation and Dysregulation in Tissue Repair and Regeneration: A Role for Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Vascularized composite tissue allotransplantation is a rapidly evolving area that has brought technological advances to the forefront of plastic surgery, hand surgery, and transplant biology. Composite tissue allografts (CTAs) may have profound functional, esthetic, and psychological benefits, but carry with them the risks of life-long immunosuppression and the inadequate abilities to monitor and prevent rejection. Allografts may suffer from additional insults further weakening their overall benefits. Changes in local blood flow, lack of fully restored neurologic function, infection, inflammation with subsequent dysregulated regenerative activity, and paucity of appropriate growth factors may all be involved in reducing the potential of CTAs and therefore serve as new therapeutic targets to improve outcomes. Strategies involving minimized immunosuppression and pro-regenerative therapy may provide a greater path to optimizing long-term CTA function. One such strategy may include mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which can provide unique anti-inflammatory and pro-regenerative effects. Insights gained from new studies with MSCs on composite allografts, advances in tissue regeneration reported in other MSC-based clinical studies, as well as consideration of newly described capacities of MSCs, may provide new regenerative based strategies for the care of CTAs.
IL-10 Gene Polymorphisms Are Associated with Post-Bronchiolitis Lung Function Abnormalities at Six Years of Age

Aim Interleukin-10 (IL-10) has been associated with wheezing and asthma in children and the genetic variation of the IL-10 cytokine production may be linked to post-bronchiolitis lung function. We used impulse oscillometry (IOS) to evaluate the associations of IL10 polymorphisms with lung function at a median age of 6.3 years in children hospitalised for bronchiolitis before six months of age. Methods We performed baseline and post-exercise IOS on 103 former bronchiolitis patients. Data on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of IL10 rs1800896 (–1082G/A), rs1800871 (–819C/T), rs1800872 (–592C/A) were available for 99 children and of IL10 rs1800890 (–3575T/A) for 98 children. Results IL10 rs1800896, rs1800871 and rs1800872 combined genotype AA+CT+CA and carriage of haplotype ATA, respectively, were associated with higher resistance and lower reactance in baseline IOS in adjusted analyses. At IL10 rs1800890, the A/A-genotype and carriers of A-allele were associated with lower reactance in baseline IOS. There were no significant associations between the studied SNPs and airway hyper-reactivity to exercise. Conclusion Low-IL-10-producing polymorphisms in the IL-10 encoding gene were associated with obstructive lung function parameters, suggesting an important role for IL-10 in development of lung function deficit in early bronchiolitis patients.
Mapping and linkage disequilibrium analysis with a genome-wide collection of SNPs that detect polymorphism in cultivated tomato

The history of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) improvement includes genetic bottlenecks, wild species introgressions, and divergence into distinct market classes. This history makes tomato an excellent model to investigate the effects of selection on genome variation. A combination of linkage mapping in two F2 populations and physical mapping with emerging genome sequence data was used to position 434 PCR-based markers including SNPs. Three-hundred-and-forty markers were used to genotype 102 tomato lines representing wild species, landraces, vintage cultivars, and contemporary (fresh market and processing) varieties. Principal component analysis confirmed genetic divergence between market classes of cultivated tomato (P <0.0001). A genome-wide survey indicated that linkage disequilibrium (LD) decays over 6–8 cM when all cultivated tomatoes, including vintage and contemporary, were considered together. Within contemporary processing varieties, LD decayed over 6–14 cM, and decay was over 3–16 cM within fresh market varieties. Significant inter-chromosomal (gametic phase) LD was detected in both fresh market and processing varieties between chromosomes 2 and 3, and 2 and 4, but in distinct chromosomal locations for each market class. Additional LD was detected between chromosomes 3 and 4, 3 and 11, and 4 and 6 in fresh market varieties and chromosomes 3 and 12 in processing varieties. These results suggest that breeding practices for market specialization in tomato have led to a genetic divergence between fresh market and processing types.
Subcutaneous and total fat at L4–L5 and subcutaneous, visceral and total fat at L3–L4 are important contributors of fasting and postprandial adiponectin levels

Abstract Objectives: Insulin resistance and central obesity have been implicated in the pathogenesis of hypoadiponectinemia in obesity. The aim of this study is to evaluate circulating post-prandial adiponectin in relation to glucose and insulin metabolism, indexes of insulin resistance and sensitivity and, indexes of body fat accumulation and distribution in obese men. Methods: Twenty-eight non-diabetic men underwent an OGTT followed by an oral fat load and were studied at baseline and for 5 h post-prandially for serum adiponectin, glucose and insulin. Insulin resistance was estimated by Homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) and insulin sensitivity by Matsuda index. Body fat accumulation and distribution were evaluated by anthropometric indexes and multiple slices MRI of the abdomen and hip. Results: Adiponectin was negatively correlated to insulin levels. Fasting and area under the curve (AUC) adiponectin levels were negatively correlated to HOMA (both p < 0.01) and positively to Matsuda index (both p < 0.05). Negative correlations between fasting adiponectin and total fat (r = −0.408, p < 0.05), AUC adiponectin and subcutaneous, visceral and total fat (r = −0.375, −0.413 and −0.475 respectively, all p < 0.05) at L3–L4 were found, and negative correlations between fasting adiponectin and subcutaneous (r = −0.402, p < 0.05) and total fat (r = −0.491, p < 0.05) and between AUC adiponectin and subcutaneous and total fat (r = −0.506 and −0.547, respectively, both p < 0.01) were present at L4–L5. Conclusions: Circulating adiponectin is inversely correlated to both visceral and subcutaneous fat in non-diabetic men, implying that both compartments are important for adiponectin levels. The best correlation is found at measurement site L4–L5.
Autonomous Deployment for Load Balancing  $k$-Surface Coverage in Sensor Networks

Although the problem of k-area coverage has been intensively investigated for dense wireless sensor networks (WSNs), how to arrive at a k-coverage sensor deployment that optimizes certain objectives in relatively sparse WSNs still faces both theoretical and practical difficulties. Moreover, only a handful of centralized algorithms have been proposed to elevate 2-D area coverage to 3-D surface coverage. In this paper, we present a practical algorithm, i.e., the Autonomous dePlOyment for Load baLancing k-surface cOverage (APOLLO), to move sensor nodes toward k-surface coverage, aiming at minimizing the maximum sensing range required by the nodes. APOLLO enables purely autonomous node deployment as it only entails localized computations. We prove the termination of the algorithm and the (local) optimality of the output. We also show that our optimization objective is closely related to other frequently considered objectives for 2-D area coverage. Therefore, our practical algorithm design also contributes to the theoretical understanding of the 2-D k-area coverage problem. Finally, we use extensive simulation results to both confirm our theoretical claims and demonstrate the efficacy of APOLLO.
The heart is the center of a new endocrine, paracrine, and neuroendocrine system.

This review indicates that the heart is a polypeptide-producing organ which should be classified among the traditional endocrine tissues. Cardiac hormones have only been known for a few years, the discovery of their endocrine functions, however, occurred in the 1950ies when Gauer, Henry and Kisch observed specific physiological and morphological features of the heart atria indicative of an endocrine activity. Because of their basic effects many target organs involved in the regulation of body fluid pressure and composition are related to this endocrine organ located in the atrial appendages of the heart. The compact endocrine portion of the heart is built up by myoendocrine cells which form the functional endocrine units and produce a variety of polypeptide hormones called cardiodilatin (CDD) or atrial natriuretic polypeptide (ANP), which belong to one family. Also, co-storage of a partially homologous regulatory polypeptide called brain natriuretic polypeptide (BNP) occurs, as has been determined by immunohistochemistry and radioimmunoassay. CDD and/or BNP are found in numerous organs where they exert paracrine and neurocrine functions, e.g., in the brain, peripheral nervous system, kidney, and adrenal medulla. In these organs, a differential post-translational processing of cardiac polypeptides is observed, resulting in different functional activities according to discriminating receptor interactions and degrading metabolism. Some of the extra-auricular sites of synthesis and storage of CDD-like peptides are briefly mentioned. In summary the heart constitutes the center of a multilocal and multifunctional system of specific cardiac polypeptides of endocrine, paraneuronal, and neuronal character.
In vivo anti‐tumour activity of recombinant human and murine TNF, alone and in combination with murine IFN‐γ, on a syngeneic murine melanoma

TNF, a protein released by induced macrophages, is believed to mediate, at least in part, the tumoritoxic effects of activated macrophages. In vitro, it has cyto‐toxic effects on transformed cells but not on normal cells, and in vivo it causes necrosis of tumours. Recently, both human and murine TNF became available as pure recombinant proteins. Subsequent work confirmed its in vitro cytotoxic activity, selective for transformed cells, and revealed other, non‐cytotoxic effects on some normal cells. In vitro, the B16BL6 melanoma cells, syngeneic with C57BL6 mice, are resistant to the cytotoxic effects of rTNF but become sensitive when they are also treated with rIFN‐γ. We report that established, s.c. B16BL6 tumours in vivo can be induced to necrotize and regress by a combined systemic treatment with rTNF and murine rIFN‐γ. Although TNF is not species‐specific in vitro, the effects of treatment with human and murine rTNF in vivo are different: with murine rTNF, the synergism with rIFN‐γ is relatively less clear, the addition of IFN‐γ is not necessary to induce regression, toxicity is more pronounced and additional mechanisms of tu‐moritoxicity could be involved. Relapses are frequent but complete cures have been observed. These results give further evidence in favour of a potential clinical use of TNF in combination therapy, e.g. with IFN‐γ. However, there is still a need to develop better regimens, especially for consolidation, and to continue research in order to understand and limit the toxicity, which could be mediated by the activating effects of TNF on some normal cell types.
Impact of Early Surgery on Outcome After Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: A Population‐Based Study

Background and Purpose Population-based patient materials have not been used earlier in assessing the effects of neurosurgical treatment on survival and functional outcome of subarachnoid hemorrhage. Moreover, the proportion of all subarachnoid hemorrhage patients who might be candidates for neurosurgical treatment has not been estimated. Methods We compared the survival and functional outcome of two population-based patient materials from Central Finland in 1976 through 1978 (n=146) and 1980 through 1987 (n=351). The most important basic characteristics of both materials were similar. In the 1970s, only patients aged <60 years with carotid territory aneurysms were operated on after an interval of 2 weeks from the bleeding. In the 1980s, early surgery was attempted, and the other exclusion criteria were abandoned. Allocation to medical or surgical treatment was not randomized. Results During the 1970s, only 14% of the patients had surgical treatment, with a median delay of 15 days after the bleeding; in the 1980s, the corresponding figures were 46% and 4 days. Despite these fundamental changes in the treatment policy, the survival up to 3 years in the 1980s was only marginally improved compared with the 1970s. Conversely, the functional outcome at 4 years after the bleeding was significantly better in the 1980s than the 1970s, with 82% and 64% of the survivors, respectively, being independent in the activities of daily living (P=.002). We estimated that 60% of all patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage might be candidates for neurosurgical treatment, provided that there are no delays in admission or evaluation. Conclusions An active treatment policy of subarachnoid hemorrhage including early surgery only marginally improves survival, but the quality of life of the survivors is significantly better. Only 60% of all patients in the population with subarachnoid hemorrhage can, at least theoretically, benefit from surgical treatment. (Stroke. 1993;24:1649-1654.)
Economic Evaluation of ISO 2859 Acceptance Sampling Plans Used with Rectifying Inspection of Rejected Lots

ABSTRACT To conduct acceptance sampling, companies often use plans that are determined by easy-to-use standards. However, these standards do not take quality costs directly into account. Motivated by the case of a Greek company, which uses the Greek equivalent to the ISO 2859 (1974) for the quality control of its incoming raw materials, this article aims to evaluate the single-sampling plans recommended by the latest update of ISO 2859 from an economic point of view. The evaluation shows that the use of standards rarely leads to satisfactory economic results. Therefore, simple rules for the economical use of the standard are provided.
Glutamine in the phenylketonuric central nervous system.

Abstract Concentrations of glutamine in 31 untreated phenylketonuric adults were decreased in the serum but increased in cerebrospinal fluid (131 per cent of nonphenylketonuric values) and in cerebral white matter (in three patients, 155 per cent of control values). Tyrosine, serine and histidine concentrations in the cerebrospinal fluid were also increased, whereas threonine was significantly lower in untreated phenylketonuria. Of the amino acids reported, only tyrosine was consistently lower in brain tissue. These findings do not support the hypothesis that Central-nervous-system glutamine depletion is responsible for the cerebral abnormalities in phenylketonuria. Alterations in amino acid concentration of the central nervous system may be the result of competitive impairment of active transport mechanisms that control influx to brain and efflux from the cerebrospinal-fluid compartment. In a phenylketonuric subject with relatively normal intellect, amino acid efflux from this compartment appeared less i.
Apoptosis Induction by MEK Inhibition in Human Lung Cancer Cells Is Mediated by Bim

AZD6244 (ARRY-142886) is an inhibitor of MEK1/2 and can inhibit cell proliferation or induce apoptosis in a cell-type dependent manner. The precise molecular mechanism of AZD6244-induced apoptosis is not clear. To investigate mechanisms of AZD6244 induced apoptosis in human lung cancer, we determined the molecular changes of two subgroups of human lung cancer cell lines that are either sensitive or resistant to AZD6244 treatment. We found that AZD6244 elicited a large increase of Bim proteins and a smaller increase of PUMA and NOXA proteins, and induced cell death in sensitive lung cancer cell lines, but had no effect on other Bcl-2 related proteins in those cell lines. Knockdown of Bim by siRNA greatly increased the IC50 and reduced apoptosis for AZD6244 treated cells. We also found that levels of endogenous p-Thr32-FOXO3a and p-Ser253-FOXO3a were lower in AZD6244-sensitive cells than in AZD6244-resistant cells. In the sensitive cells, AZD6244 induced FOXO3a nuclear translocation required for Bim activation. Moreover, the silencing of FOXO3a by siRNA abrogated AZD6244-induced cell apoptosis. In addition, we found that transfection of constitutively active AKT up-regulated p-Thr32-FOXO3a and p-Ser253-FOXO3a expression and inhibited AZD6244-induced Bim expression in sensitive cells. These results show that Bim plays an important role in AZD6244-induced apoptosis in lung cancer cells and that the PI3K/AKT/FOXO3a pathway is involved in Bim regulation and susceptibility of lung cancer cells to AZD6244. These results have implications in the development of strategies to overcome resistance to MEK inhibitors.
Psychological Factors and Personality Traits Associated With Patients in Chronic Foot and Ankle Pain

Background: The impact of psychosocial factors and personality traits in chronic pain is well established. However, there has been limited literature analyzing the influence of psychological issues in chronic foot and ankle pain. The aim of our study was to identify the association of certain psychosocial factors and personality traits in individuals with chronic painful foot and ankle disorders. Methods: Patients with chronic foot and ankle pain were recruited from the specialist foot and ankle clinic. The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire–Revised (EPQ-R), Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS), and Hospital Anxiety Depression (HAD) scale were administered in the form of questionnaires. An age- and sex-matched cohort of healthy volunteers served as the control group. Sample size was determined after power calculation, and a total of 90 participants were recruited with informed consent with 45 participants in each arm. Results were analyzed and statistical analyses were performed using SPSS. Results: Patients with chronic foot and ankle pain had significantly higher neuroticism scores than the control group (P < .05). The study also revealed greater prevalence of anxiety and depression in patients with chronic pain (P < .05). Conclusion: The study showed a significant association of anxiety, depression, and neuroticism in patients presenting with chronic foot and ankle pain. Clinicians should recognize the influence of these specific psychological issues to provide a more holistic approach to the clinical problem. Level of Evidence: Level III, case control study.
Creative template-dependent synthesis by human polymerase mu

Significance Template-dependent DNA polymerases usually add nucleotides to the 3ʹ end of a primer, using the first available template-strand nucleotide as a guide. This behavior holds true for all polymerases, except one, DNA polymerase μ. When presented with 2-nt single- or double-strand gaps, polymerase μ (Pol μ) engages the substrate with the last available template-strand nucleotide closest to the 5′-phosphate on the downstream end of the gap, guiding synthesis. Crystal structures of Pol μ with a 2-nt gapped DNA substrate explain how the unpaired base is accommodated in the active site, and yield insights into the behavior of this polymerase within the context of nonhomologous end joining in DNA double-strand break repair. Among the many proteins used to repair DNA double-strand breaks by nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) are two related family X DNA polymerases, Pol λ and Pol µ. Which of these two polymerases is preferentially used for filling DNA gaps during NHEJ partly depends on sequence complementarity at the break, with Pol λ and Pol µ repairing complementary and noncomplementary ends, respectively. To better understand these substrate preferences, we present crystal structures of Pol µ on a 2-nt gapped DNA substrate, representing three steps of the catalytic cycle. In striking contrast to Pol λ, Pol µ “skips” the first available template nucleotide, instead using the template base at the 5′ end of the gap to direct nucleotide binding and incorporation. This remarkable divergence from canonical 3′-end gap filling is consistent with data on end-joining substrate specificity in cells, and provides insights into polymerase substrate choices during NHEJ.
Hexagonal Patterns in a Simplified Model for Block Copolymers

In this paper we study a new model for patterns in two dimensions, inspired by diblock copolymer melts with a dominant phase. The model is simple enough to be amenable not only to numerics but also to analysis, yet sophisticated enough to reproduce hexagonally packed structures that resemble the cylinder patterns observed in block copolymer experiments. Starting from a sharp-interface continuum model, a nonlocal energy functional involving a Wasserstein cost, we derive the new model using Gamma-convergence in a limit where the volume fraction of one phase tends to zero. The limit energy is defined on atomic measures; in three dimensions the atoms represent small spherical blobs of the minority phase, and in two dimensions they represent thin cylinders of the minority phase. We then study local minimizers of the limit energy. Numerical minimization is performed in two dimensions by recasting the problem as a computational geometry problem involving power diagrams. The numerical results suggest that the sma.