Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Weight gain, metabolic disturbances, and physical health care in a Brazilian sample of outpatients with schizophrenia

Background In the last few decades, a large number of studies have produced compelling evidence that patients with schizophrenia are at increased risk for developing several medical conditions and diseases, including obesity, metabolic disturbances, and cardiovascular diseases. Several protocols have been designed with the aim of reducing such risk. Objective: To investigate current physical health status in a population of outpatients with schizophrenia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in our outpatient clinic, selecting subjects who met DSM-IV diagnosis criteria for schizophrenia. Data were collected regarding clinical characteristics, lifestyle, medication in use, and biometric and laboratory parameters. Results: A total of 261 patients were included. We found a high prevalence of elevated body mass index (BMI . 25) (70%), dyslipidemia (73.2%), and metabolic syndrome (28.7%). Patients’ ages were associated with worsened lipid profiles, but other variables, such as disorder duration or type of antipsychotic in use, were not associated with any metabolic disturbance. Despite the increased prevalence of these conditions, only a small portion of the sample was under regular medical treatment. Conclusion: Outpatients with schizophrenia show signs of poor physical health conditions. These findings reinforce the need for an intensive and appropriate approach to assure that these patients receive adequate clinical referral and treatment.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE FINE STRUCTURE OF MATURE HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS AND ON THE COMPOSITION OF ITS NUCLEOID

The fine structure and composition of mature herpes virus have been investigated in thin sections by electron microscopy. The virus was grown in cultured HeLa cells and was collected with them. Tests for the biological activity of the infected cultures were included in the first half of the work. Preparations were fixed with both osmium and permanganate, and were embedded either in methacrylate or in aquon, a water-miscible fraction of a commercially available epoxy resin. In further experiments material fixed with permanganate was subjected to the action of specific nucleases or control medium before embedding. All the preparations showed numerous uniform particles around and between the cells and this was paralleled by considerable biological activity where tests were made on samples of the culture fluids. Mature herpes virus has been found to be round and to measure, when dehydration shrinkage is avoided, about 165 mµ in diameter. The particle contained an eccentric round-ended rod-shaped, electron-opaque nucleoid lying in an inner zone of low density. A dense outer zone or viroplasm surrounded this, no membrane being present between the two zones. After permanganate fixation the particle was found to have an outer limiting membrane showing a triple-layered structure morphologically indistinguishable from that of the plasma membrane of the HeLa cells. The results of the digestion experiments show that herpes virus contains nucleic acid of deoxyribose type and that this is localized in the dense nucleoid. Both the findings and the methods used are discussed.
Revealing the amino acid composition of proteins within an expanded genetic code

The genetic code can be manipulated to reassign codons for the incorporation of non-standard amino acids (NSAA). Deletion of release factor 1 in Escherichia coli enhances translation of UAG (Stop) codons, yet may also extended protein synthesis at natural UAG terminated messenger RNAs. The fidelity of protein synthesis at reassigned UAG codons and the purity of the NSAA containing proteins produced require careful examination. Proteomics would be an ideal tool for these tasks, but conventional proteomic analyses cannot readily identify the extended proteins and accurately discover multiple amino acid (AA) insertions at a single UAG. To address these challenges, we created a new proteomic workflow that enabled the detection of UAG readthrough in native proteins in E. coli strains in which UAG was reassigned to encode phosphoserine. The method also enabled quantitation of NSAA and natural AA incorporation at UAG in a recombinant reporter protein. As a proof-of-principle, we measured the fidelity and purity of the phosphoserine orthogonal translation system (OTS) and used this information to improve its performance. Our results show a surprising diversity of natural AAs at reassigned stop codons. Our method can be used to improve OTSs and to quantify amino acid purity at reassigned codons in organisms with expanded genetic codes.
The Distribution of Listeria in Pasture-Raised Broiler Farm Soils Is Potentially Related to University of Vermont Medium Enrichment Bias toward Listeria innocua over Listeria monocytogenes

The occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes has been widely investigated in the poultry production chain from the processing plant to the final product. However, limited data are available on Listeria species, including Listeria monocytogenes, in the poultry farm environment. Therefore, fecal and soil samples from 37 pastured poultry flocks from 10 all-natural farms over 3 years were assessed to determine the prevalence and diversity of Listeria within these alternative poultry farm environments using standard cultural and molecular methods. Listeria species were isolated in 15% of poultry farm samples and included Listeria innocua (65.7%), L. monocytogenes (17.4%), and Listeria welshimeri (15.1%). Additional multiplex PCR serotyping showed group 1/2a-3a to be the most dominant L. monocytogenes serovar group. Based on these results, monoculture growth experiments were conducted on four Listeria soil isolates (three L. monocytogenes isolates representing the three recovered serovar groups and one L. innocua isolate) to determine if culture medium [tripticase soy broth (TSB) and University of Vermont modified Listeria enrichment broth (UVM)], inoculum concentration (102 or 105 CFU/ml), or incubation temperature (20, 30, and 42°C) differentially affected these Listeria species. Overall, very few significant growth differences were observed between the behavior of the three L. monocytogenes isolates (representing the three recovered serovar groups) under the growth conditions tested. Alternatively, at 30°C in UVM with the lower inoculum concentration, the L. innocua isolate had a significantly shorter lag phase than the L. monocytogenes isolates. In coculture growth studies under these same incubation conditions, the lag phase of L. innocua and L. monocytogenes was similar, but the final concentration of L. innocua was significantly higher than L. monocytogenes. However, cocultures in UVM for high inoculum concentration did not show preferential growth of L. innocua over L. monocytogenes. These results indicate that the use of UVM as an enrichment medium may preferentially allow L. innocua to outcompete L. monocytogenes at low concentrations, biasing the Listeria prevalence from these farm samples toward L. innocua and potentially underreporting the presence of L. monocytogenes in these environments.
Caffeine Improves Left Hemisphere Processing of Positive Words

A positivity advantage is known in emotional word recognition in that positive words are consistently processed faster and with fewer errors compared to emotionally neutral words. A similar advantage is not evident for negative words. Results of divided visual field studies, where stimuli are presented in either the left or right visual field and are initially processed by the contra-lateral brain hemisphere, point to a specificity of the language-dominant left hemisphere. The present study examined this effect by showing that the intake of caffeine further enhanced the recognition performance of positive, but not negative or neutral stimuli compared to a placebo control group. Because this effect was only present in the right visual field/left hemisphere condition, and based on the close link between caffeine intake and dopaminergic transmission, this result points to a dopaminergic explanation of the positivity advantage in emotional word recognition.
[Correlation between adipocytokines levels and metabolic syndrome in type 2 diabetes mellitus].

OBJECTIVE To study the correlation between adipocytokines levels and metabolic syndrome (MS) in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS Sixty-eight patients with newly diagnosed T2DM, including 51 cases with MS and 17 without MS, were examined for blood pressure (BP), fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting insulin (FINS), insulin resistance index (IRI), waist to hip ratio (W/H), body mass index (BMI), and serum adipocytokine levels (IL-6, vaspin, and adiponectin). RESULTS The diabetic patients with MS had higher BMI, HbA1c, FBG, FINS, IRI, TG, TC, and SBP than those without MS. Serum IL-6 level was higher but adiponectin level was lower in patients with MS than in those without MS. There was no significant difference in vaspin level between the two groups. Adiponectin level was positively correlated with TG (r=-0.30, P=0.02) and inversely with BMI (r=-0.47, P=0.39) and HOMA-IR (r=-0.30, P=0.03); vaspin level was positively correlated with HOMA-IR (r=0.347, P=0.02) and inversely with HDL-L (r=-0.45, P=0.01); IL-6 level was positively correlated with LDL-L (r=0.18, P=0.25) and inversely with HDL-L (r=-0.45, P=0.01). CONCLUSION Adiponectin and IL-6 levels are closely related to MS, but the relationship between vaspin and MS needs further investigation.
Association between fluid balance and survival in critically ill patients

Although the consequences of chronic fluid retention are well known, those of iatrogenic fluid retention that occurs during critical illness have not been fully determined. Therefore, we investigated the association between fluid balance and survival in a cohort of almost 16 000 individuals who survived an intensive care unit (ICU) stay in a large, urban, tertiary medical centre.
Job Insecurity and Organizational Consequences: How Justice Moderates this Relationship

The experience of job insecurity has been related to several organizational outcomes, both immediate and long-term. However, since the strength of these effects have been found to vary across studies, it is essential to identify factors that could influence the relationships. The current study examines interaction effects between job insecurity and organizational justice (distributive, procedural and interactional) for various organizational consequences (affective organizational commitment, citizenship behaviours and perceived performance), some of which have received little research attention. Data from 248 blue collar workers in the Italian organizational context showed the buffer effects of procedural and interactional justice on affective organizational commitment and citizenship behaviours. However, contrary to expectations, the results also indicated that high organizational justice exacerbated the negative impact of job insecurity on perceived performance. Implications for research on job insecurity and the moderating role of organizational justice are discussed.
Gemcitabine plus Capecitabine Combination in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients Previously Treated with Anthracyclines and Taxanes

Background: Treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) exposed to anthracyclines and taxanes is challenging. Effective and well-tolerated regimens are required. Gemcitabine plus capecitabine combination was assessed in MBC patients pretreated with anthracyclines and taxanes. Patients and Methods: A total of 31 patients treated between November 2004 and September 2005 were retrospectively evaluated in 4 institutions. The median age was 48 years (range 29–77). The patients were given gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8, and capecitabine 1,500 mg/m2 twice daily on days 1–14 every 3 weeks. Results: A total of 160 cycles of chemotherapy were administered with a median of 5 cycles per patient (range 2–12). Three patients achieved a partial response (10%) and 8 patients (26%) stable disease. The median time to disease progression was 6 months (95% CI 5–7), with a median survival of 18 months (95% CI 15–21) at a median follow-up of 16 months (range 2–28). One-year and 2-year survival rates were 67 and 28%, respectively. Grade 3–4 toxicities were as follows: neutropenia (n = 11, 35%), nausea and vomiting (n = 4, 13%), hand-foot syndrome (n = 2, 6%), anemia (n = 2, 6%), thrombocytopenia (n = 2, 6%) and asthenia (n = 1, 3%). Conclusion: The combination of gemcitabine plus capecitabine was a tolerable regimen with a mild but comparable survival efficacy to similar regimens in patients with MBC after anthracyclines and taxanes.
Longitudinal Prediction of Divorce in Russia: The Role of Individual and Couple Drinking Patterns

Aims: The aim of the study was to explore associations between dimensions of alcohol use in married couples and subsequent divorce in Russia using longitudinal data. Methods: Follow-up data on 7157 married couples were extracted from 14 consecutive annual rounds (1994–2010) of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, a national population-based panel study. Discrete-time hazard models were fitted to estimate the probability of divorce among married couples by drinking patterns reported in the previous survey wave. Results: In adjusted models, increased odds of divorce were associated with greater frequency of husband and wife drinking (test for trend P = 0.005, and P = 0.05, respectively), wife's binge drinking (P = 0.05) and husband's heavy vodka drinking (P = 0.005). Couples in whom the wife drank more frequently than the husband were more likely to divorce (OR 2.86, 95% CI 1.52–5.36), compared with other combinations of drinking. The association between drinking and divorce was stronger in regions outside Moscow or St. Petersburg. Conclusion: This study adds to the sparse literature on the topic and suggests that in Russia heavy and frequent drinking of both husbands and wives put couples at greater risk of future divorce, with some variation by region and aspect of alcohol use.
The Bone-specific Transcriptional Regulator Cbfa1 Is a Target of Mechanical Signals in Osteoblastic Cells*

A primary goal of bone research is to understand the mechanism(s) by which mechanical forces dictate the cellular and metabolic activities of osteoblasts, the bone-forming cells. Several studies indicate that osteblastic cells respond to physical loading by transducing signals that alter gene expression patterns. Accumulated data have documented the fundamental role of the osteoblast-specific transcription factor Cbfa1 (core-binding factor) in osteoblast differentiation and function. Here, we demonstrate that low level mechanical deformation (stretching) of human osteoblastic cells directly up-regulates the expression and DNA binding activity of Cbfa1. This effect seems to be fine tuned by stretch-triggered induction of distinct mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades. Our novel finding that activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase mitogen-activated protein kinase physically interacts and phosphorylates endogenous Cbfa1 in vivo (ultimately potentiating this transcription factor) provides a molecular link between mechanostressing and stimulation of osteoblast differentiation. Elucidation of the specific modifiers and cofactors that operate in this mechanotranscription circuitry will contribute to a better understanding of mechanical load-induced bone formation which may set the basis for nonpharmacological intervention in bone loss pathologies.
Epigenetic Mechanisms in Respiratory Muscle Dysfunction of Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Epigenetic events are differentially expressed in the lungs and airways of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Moreover, epigenetic mechanisms are involved in the skeletal (peripheral) muscle dysfunction of COPD patients. Whether epigenetic events may also regulate respiratory muscle dysfunction in COPD remains unknown. We hypothesized that epigenetic mechanisms would be differentially expressed in the main inspiratory muscle (diaphragm) of patients with COPD of a wide range of disease severity compared to healthy controls. In diaphragm muscle specimens (thoracotomy due to lung localized neoplasms) of sedentary patients with mild-to-moderate and severe COPD, with preserved body composition, and sedentary healthy controls, expression of muscle-enriched microRNAs, histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and deacetylases (HDACs), total DNA methylation and protein acetylation, small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) ligases, muscle-specific transcription factors, and muscle structure were explored. All subjects were also clinically evaluated: lung and muscle functions and exercise capacity. Compared to healthy controls, patients exhibited moderate airflow limitation and diffusion capacity, and reduced exercise tolerance and transdiaphragmatic strength. Moreover, in the diaphragm of the COPD patients, muscle-specific microRNA expression was downregulated, while HDAC4 and myocyte enhancer factor (MEF)2C protein levels were higher, and DNA methylation levels, muscle fiber types and sizes did not differ between patients and controls. In the main respiratory muscle of COPD patients with a wide range of disease severity and normal body composition, muscle-specific microRNAs were downregulated, while HDAC4 and MEF2C levels were upregulated. It is likely that these epigenetic events act as biological adaptive mechanisms to better overcome the continuous inspiratory loads of the respiratory system in COPD. These findings may offer novel therapeutic strategies to specifically target respiratory muscle dysfunction in patients with COPD.
T Cell Activation is Determined by the Number of Presented Antigens

Antigen recognition is a key event during T cell activation. Here, we introduce nanopatterned antigen arrays that mimic the antigen presenting cell surface during T cell activation. The assessment of activation related events revealed the requirement of a minimal density of 90–140 stimulating major histocompatibility complex class II proteins (pMHC) molecules per μm2. We demonstrate that these substrates induce T cell responses in a pMHC dose-dependent manner and that the number of presented pMHCs dominates over local pMHC density.
Atomistic simulation of the uniaxial compression of black phosphorene nanotubes

We study through molecular dynamics finite element method with Stillinger-Weber potential the uniaxial compression of (0, 24) armchair and (31, 0) zigzag black phosphorene nanotubes with approximately equal diameters. Young's modulus, critical stress and critical strain are estimated with various tube lengths. It is found that under uniaxial compression the (0, 24) armchair black phosphorene nanotube buckles, whereas the failure of the (31, 0) zigzag one is caused by local bond breaking near the boundary.
Age-related alteration of vitamin D metabolism in response to low-phosphate diet in rats

The responses of renal vitamin D metabolism to its major stimuli alter with age. Previous studies showed that the increase in circulating 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D3) as well as renal 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 1-α hydroxylase (1-OHase) activity in response to dietary Ca or P restriction reduced with age in rats. We hypothesized that the mechanism involved in increasing circulating 1,25(OH)2D3 in response to mineral deficiency alters with age. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis by studying the expression of genes involved in renal vitamin D metabolism (renal 1-OHase, 25-hydroxyvitamin D 24-hydroxylase (24-OHase) and vitamin D receptor (VDR)) in young (1-month-old) and adult (6-month-old) rats in response to low-phosphate diet (LPD). As expected, serum 1,25(OH)2D3 increased in both young and adult rats upon LPD treatment and the increase was much higher in younger rats. In young rats, LPD treatment decreased renal 24-OHase (days 1–7, P<0·01) and increased renal 1-OHase mRNA expression (days 1–5, P<0·01). LPD treatment failed to increase renal 1-OHase but did suppress 24-OHase mRNA expression (P<0·01) within 7 d of LPD treatment in adult rats. Renal expression of VDR mRNA decreased with age (P<0·001) and was suppressed by LPD treatment in both age groups (P<0·05) Feeding of adult rats with 10 d of LPD increased 1-OHase (P<0·05) and suppressed 24-OHase (P<0·001) as well as VDR (P<0·05) mRNA expression. These results indicate that the increase in serum 1,25(OH)2D3 level in adult rats during short-term LPD treatment is likely to be mediated by a decrease in metabolic clearance via the down-regulation of both renal 24-OHase and VDR expression. The induction of renal 1-OHase mRNA expression in adult rats requires longer duration of LPD treatment than in younger rats.
Pathogenesis of Severe Neutropenia in Patients With Primary Human Herpesvirus 6B Infection

Background: Although myelosuppression caused by human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) reactivation in transplant recipients has been extensively investigated, the pathophysiological mechanisms of severe neutropenia in primary HHV-6B infection remain unclear. Procedure: Fifty-four patients with primary HHV-6B infection were evaluated. Hematological examinations and blood sampling were conducted on days 1–4 (pre) and 5–10 (post) after the onset of illness. Severe neutropenia was defined as a neutrophil count less than 500 cells/&mgr;L. Patient characteristics, clinical data, and cytokines and chemokines levels were compared between the patients with (n = 16) and without (n = 38) severe neutropenia. Results: Severe neutropenia was detected in samples that were collected between days 5 and 10 after illness. Significantly lower platelet counts (pre, P = 0.048; post, P = 0.032) and regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted levels (post, P = 0.007) were detected in the patients with neutropenia. Aspartate aminotransferase levels (P = 0.008), and interferon &ggr;-inducible protein-10 (P < 0.0001), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (P = 0.005), and monokine induced by interferon &ggr; (P = 0.011) levels were significantly higher in post samples collected from the patients with neutropenia. No differences were observed in any patient characteristics and serum cytokines levels. No bacterial infections were detected during the observation period. Conclusions: Chemokines may play an important role in the pathogenesis of severe neutropenia in patients with primary HHV-6B infection.