Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute phase proteins in pregnant women with urinary schistosomiasis in Ilie Village, Osun state, Nigeria

Background: The acute phase proteins (APPs) are plasma proteins whose concentration rise or reduce in reaction to infection, inflammation or trauma (Baumann and Gauldie, 1990). The circulating concentration of these proteins are related to the severity of the underlying condition, thus quantification of their concentrations provide a ready means of giving valuable clinical information and extent of the disease processes (Thompson et. al., 1992). Materials and Methods: Serum levels of three acute phase proteins (transferrin, a2-macroglobulin and haptoglobin) were determined using single radial immuno-diffusion technique in one hundred and eight Nigerian women aged between 15 and 30 years. They were made up of thirty pregnant women with urinary schistosomiasis (P+USS), thirty-six pregnant women without USS (P-USS), eighteen non-pregnant women with USS (NP+USS), and twenty-four healthy non-pregnant women without USS (NP-USS) as controls. Results: The result shows that transferrin was least in P-USS group and highest in NP+USS. The highest mean value of alpha-2 macroglobulin was found in P+USS group and the least in NP+USS. Haptoglobin was significantly reduced in P+USS compared with other groups. Conclusions: The finding of this study suggests an independent effect of USS and pregnancy on serum levels of APPs, therefore APPs could be used to distinguish P+USS from P-USS
The number of PML nuclear bodies increases in early S phase by a fission mechanism

Promyelocytic leukemia (PML) nuclear bodies have been implicated in a variety of cellular processes including apoptosis, tumour suppression, anti-viral response, DNA repair and transcriptional regulation. PML nuclear bodies are both positionally and structurally stable over extended periods of interphase. As demonstrated in this study, the structural stability is lost as cells enter S phase, evidenced both by distortions in shape and by fission and fusion events. At the end of this period of structural instability, the number of PML nuclear bodies has increased by a factor of twofold. Association of the fission products with chromatin implies that the PML nuclear bodies respond to changes in chromatin organisation or topology, and thus could play a role in monitoring genome integrity during DNA synthesis or in the continued maintenance of functional chromosomal domains prior to mitosis.
Identification of Glycoprotein gpTRL10 as a Structural Component of Human Cytomegalovirus

ABSTRACT Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has a coding capacity for glycoproteins which far exceeds that of other herpesviruses. Few of these proteins have been characterized. We have investigated the gene product(s) of reading frame 10, which is present in both the internal and terminal repeat regions of HCMV strain AD169 and only once in clinical isolates. The putative protein product is a 171-amino-acid glycoprotein with a theoretical mass of 20.5 kDa. We characterized the protein encoded by this reading frame in the laboratory strain AD169 and a recent isolate, TB40E. The results from both strains were comparable. Northern blot analyses showed that the gene was transcribed with early/late kinetics. Two proteins of 22 and 23.5-kDa were detected in virus-infected cells and in cells transiently expressing recombinant TRL10. Both forms contained only high-mannose-linked carbohydrate modifications. In addition, virus-infected cells expressed small amounts of the protein modified with complex N-linked sugars. Image analysis localized transiently expressed TRL10 to the endoplasmic reticulum. Immunoblot analyses as well as immunoelectron microscopy of purified virions demonstrated that TRL10 represents a structural component of the virus particle. Immunoblot analysis in the absence of reducing agents indicated that TRL10, like the other HCMV envelope glycoproteins, is present in a disulfide-linked complex. Sequence analysis of the TRL10 coding region in nine low-passage clinical isolates revealed strain-specific variation. In summary, the protein product of the TRL10 open reading frame represents a novel structural glycoprotein of HCMV and was termed gpTRL10.
MR Imaging of IgG4-Related Disease in the Head and Neck and Brain

Autoimmune pancreatitis, sclerosing cholangitis and sialoadenitis, retroperitoneal and mediastinal fibrosis, and insterstitial pneumonia are all IgG-4 related disorders. This short article discusses the head and neck manifestations of this disease: orbital pseudotumor and lacrimal gland, cranial nerve, and pituitary involvement. Intracranially, the dura may be also affected. All of these lesions were contrast-enhancing and T2 dark, findings to be kept in mind so that one can suggest their etiology. SUMMARY: IgG4-related disease is characterized by histologic fibrosis with IgG4-positive plasma cell infiltration. Our study evaluated MR imaging features of IgG4-related disease in the head and neck and brain. Images from 15 patients were retrospectively evaluated for the location, signal intensity, and enhancement patterns of lesions. Lacrimal gland enlargement was observed in 8 cases. Other lesions included orbital pseudotumor in 5, pituitary enlargement in 5, and cranial nerve enlargement in 7; the infraorbital nerve was involved in 4. All lesions were hypointense on T2-weighted images, which is typical for IgG4-related lesions. Multiple sites were involved in the head and neck and brain in 11 patients. The diagnosis of IgG4-related disease should be considered in a patient presenting with T2 hypointense lacrimal gland, pituitary, or cranial nerve enlargement, or a T2 hypointense orbital mass, especially if multiple sites in the head and neck are involved in the presence of elevated serum IgG4.
Physiological and Transcriptomic Aspects of Urea Uptake and Assimilation in Arabidopsis Plants1[W]

Urea is the major nitrogen (N) form supplied as fertilizer in agriculture, but it is also an important N metabolite in plants. Urea transport and assimilation were investigated in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Uptake studies using 15N-labeled urea demonstrated the capacity of Arabidopsis to absorb urea and that the urea uptake was regulated by the initial N status of the plants. Urea uptake was stimulated by urea but was reduced by the presence of ammonium nitrate in the growth medium. N deficiency in plants did not affect urea uptake. Urea exerted a repressive effect on nitrate influx, whereas urea enhanced ammonium uptake. The use of [15N]urea and [15N]ammonium tracers allowed us to show that urea and ammonium assimilation pathways were similar. Finally, urea uptake was less efficient than nitrate uptake, and urea grown-plants presented signs of N starvation. We also report the first analysis, to our knowledge, of Arabidopsis gene expression profiling in response to urea. Our transcriptomic approach revealed that nitrate and ammonium transporters were transcriptionally regulated by urea as well as key enzymes of the glutamine synthetase-glutamate synthase pathway. AtDUR3, a high-affinity urea transporter in Arabidopsis, was strongly up-regulated by urea. Moreover, our transcriptomic data suggest that other genes are also involved in urea influx.
Comparing the Number of Ill or Injured Students Who Are Released Early From School by School Nursing and Nonnursing Personnel

There is a growing demand for research linking specific educational services with positive student outcomes. Little empirical evidence exists to show that school nursing services improve student success. School attendance is one of many factors that has been associated with improved learning; school nurses can affect that factor. This study compared the number of students in a Midwest urban public school district who were dismissed from school early for illness or injury with and without interaction with a school nurse. A student sign-out and sign-in log identified the number of students who left school prior to the official dismissal time, and a school nurse activity log indicated the students who were dismissed early from school after contact with a school nurse. Analysis of these data indicates that 57% fewer students left school early with school nurse contact compared with those who left school early without such contact. The results of this study indicate school nurses may positively influence student school success by reducing avoidable early release from school for ill or injured students.
Social Work Practice: Cases and Principles

Incorporating the components of practice (relationship, assessment, communication, self-awareness/use of self, and intervention), Cynthia Bisman presents general principles that all practitioners can follow and helps you understand how "what" is done is related to "why" it is done. Social Work Practice: Cases and Principles also features: . Material from over twenty-five case studies, including verbatim dialogue taken from process recordings, audio, and video tapes, that exposes the gritty reality of social workers in practice with clients. Discussion of new concepts, including relationship as a belief-bonding, self-awareness; use of self as practitioner observation; and assessment as the social workers' case history. And much, much more!
Review of sports injuries presenting to an accident and emergency department

The sport and leisure industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the business market. It has been estimated that each year 1–1.5 million people attend accident and emergency (A&E) departments in Britain,1 and 3.7 million people present to emergency departments in the USA,2 with an injury related to sport and exercise. With these levels of presentation A&E departments can provide valuable research into the demographics of sports related injuries. There are numerous studies regarding the incidence of sports injuries within a community or defined population, however, there is little modern research investigating specifically the nature of sports injuries presenting to an A&E department in Britain.3–6 Other studies have been published from Ireland,7,8 Europe,9–11 Australasia,12,13 Asia,14 and more recently North America.2,15 This observational study aimed to determine the incidence of attendance, types of injuries, nature of the sport involved, and the arrangements for follow up management in patients presenting, with an injury related to sport, to the A&E department of Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock. The study took place prospectively over a period of three months from February to April 1999 and included people 16 years of age or over. Any patient presenting with an injury attributable to participation in organised sport or recreational activity had their details and A&E number noted by the triage nurse on duty. Only new attendances were included. Relevant A&E cards …
Fecal Protease Activity Is Associated with Compositional Alterations in the Intestinal Microbiota

Objective Intestinal proteases carry out a variety of functions in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Studies have reported that elevated enteric proteases in patients with GI disease can alter intestinal physiology, however the origin (human vs. microbial) of elevated proteases in patients with GI disease is unclear. Aim The aim of this study was to investigate the association between protease activity and the microbiota in human fecal samples. Design In order to capture a wide range of fecal protease (FP) activity stool samples were collected from 30 IBS patients and 24 healthy controls. The intestinal microbiota was characterized using 454 high throughput pyro-sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The composition and diversity of microbial communities were determined and compared using the Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology (QIIME) pipeline. FP activity levels were determined using an ELISA-based method. FP activity was ranked and top and bottom quartiles (n=13 per quartile) were identified as having high and low FP activity, respectively. Results The overall diversity of the intestinal microbiota displayed significant clustering separation (p = 0.001) between samples with high vs. low FP activity. The Lactobacillales, Lachnospiraceae, and Streptococcaceae groups were positively associated with FP activity across the entire study population, whilst the Ruminococcaceae family and an unclassified Coriobacteriales family were negatively associated with FP activity. Conclusions These data demonstrate significant associations between specific intestinal bacterial groups and fecal protease activity and provide a basis for further causative studies investigating the role of enteric microbes and GI diseases.
Pathology of malignant lymphomas

Attempts to understand the malignant lymphomas have followed two major lines of investigation: attempts to define the relationship of neoplastic lymphoid cells to stages of normal T- and B-lymphocyte differentiation, and attempts to understand the genetic abnormalities associated with malignant transformation. It is hoped that these two lines of investigation will make it possible to define clinically important entities, so that specific treatment strategies can be developed and tested, and will also point the way to new options for treatment and prevention. Despite the advances in immunology of the last two decades, our understanding of the relationships of lymphoma cells to the normal immune system remains incomplete. Techniques of molecular genetics, which initially promised to resolve questions of clonality and lineage, have proven less definitive than had been hoped. Studies in the field of molecular cytogenetics—the study of chromosomal translocations by molecular techniques—have just begun to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding neoplastic transformation and differentiation. As we enter the last decade of the century, small advances continue to chip away at the uncertainties shrouding the malignant lymphomas. Advances in the past year include the subclassification of low-grade B-cell lymphomas, including so-called intermediate lymphocytic lymphoma and extranodal lymphomas of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue, the classification off-cell lymphomas, the definition of Hodgkin's disease and its relationship to anaplastic large cell lymphoma, and new techniques for characterizing lymphoid cells in paraffin-embedded tissue sections.
Optimal design of musculoskeletal models using force field data

We propose an optimal design framework for a musculoskeletal model. A six degrees of freedom generalized force field at an end effector is measured by activating a specific muscle in-situ. Given that we have a musculoskeletal simulation model with a set of undetermined design parameters, the framework chooses the optimal parameters which minimize the difference between simulated and measured force field data. To ensure generality, the framework is model independent, which means that any type of musculoskeletal model can be applied. As a generalized method, a PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) controller and an empirical Jacobian are used to correctly simulate the force field without suffering from numerical issues such as stability and indeterminacy. Case studies of the muscles of the rat hind limb show a satisfactory capability of the framework.
Iterative Implementations for Linear Multiuser Detectors

We consider the convergence properties of several iterative implementations of linear multiuser receivers, under the assumption of long random spreading sequences. We nd that parallel interference cancellation diverges for systems loads of greater than 17%. Using known results from the theory of iterative solutions for linear systems, we derive optimal or near optimal relaxation parameters for parallel ( rst and second order stationary, Chebyshev) and serial cancellation (successive relaxation) methods. An analytic comparison of the asymptotic convergence factor for the various methods is given. Simulations are used to verify results for nite size systems.
Addressing Barriers to Cultural Competence

Although the need for cultural competence in healthcare is well established, the integration of cultural competence approaches in most healthcare settings is not yet a reality. A review of the literature reveals several factors in clinical settings that pose barriers for health providers. The purpose of this article is to explore the barriers to cultural competence faced by nurses and to examine the role of staff development in addressing these barriers.
Posttraumatic stress disorder in abused and neglected children grown up.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to describe the extent to which childhood abuse and neglect increase a person's risk for subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to determine whether the relationship to PTSD persists despite controls for family, individual, and lifestyle characteristics associated with both childhood victimization and PTSD. METHOD Victims of substantiated child abuse and neglect from 1967 to 1971 in a Midwestern metropolitan county area were matched on the basis of age, race, sex, and approximate family socioeconomic class with a group of nonabused and nonneglected children and followed prospectively into young adulthood. Subjects (N = 1,196) were located and administered a 2-hour interview that included the National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule to assess PTSD. RESULTS Childhood victimization was associated with increased risk for lifetime and current PTSD. Slightly more than a third of the childhood victims of sexual abuse (37.5%), 32.7% of those physically abused, and 30.6% of victims of childhood neglect met DSM-III-R criteria for lifetime PTSD. The relationship between childhood victimization and number of PTSD symptoms persisted despite the introduction of covariates associated with risk for both. CONCLUSIONS Victims of child abuse (sexual and physical) and neglect are at increased risk for developing PTSD, but childhood victimization is not a sufficient condition. Family, individual, and lifestyle variables also place individuals at risk and contribute to the symptoms of PTSD.
Evaluation of the CAMEQ2-HF Method for Fitting Hearing Aids With Multichannel Amplitude Compression

Objective: A method for fitting multichannel compression hearing aids with an extended high-frequency response, called CAMEQ2-HF, was described by Moore et al. (2010). This study describes an evaluation of the method, using a 16-channel behind the ear hearing aid incorporating slow-acting compression and providing gain for frequencies up to 7500 Hz. Design: Eleven participants with mild to moderate cochlear hearing loss were fitted bilaterally using the gains prescribed by CAMEQ2-HF. The fittings were checked using real-ear measurements with swept sinusoidal signals, and adjustments were made so that the target gains at the center frequency of each channel were achieved with a typical tolerance of ±3 dB for an input level of 65 dB and with a typical tolerance of ±5 dB for levels of 50 and 80 dB SPL. Participants were asked to wear the hearing aids as much as possible in their everyday lives and to fill in questionnaires and a structured diary about their experience of loudness and their listening problems in everyday life, both for listening unaided and after a period of use of the aids. Results: Scores obtained using the Profile of Aided Loudness (PAL) indicated that the hearing aids led to a clear increase in loudness (relative to unaided listening) for weak sounds and to smaller increases in loudness for sounds of medium and high intensity. For aided listening, strong sounds were typically rated as “loud, but OK. ” Satisfaction ratings for loudness obtained using the PAL showed only small differences between unaided and aided listening. Responses obtained via the structured diary (for aided listening only) indicated that target speech was usually judged as “loud enough” in a variety of situations. Clarity judgments ranged from “reasonably clear” to “OK” for most situations, but fell to “not very clear” for a noisy group situation. The loudness of background sounds was mostly judged as “OK,” except for the noisy group situation in which the background was judged “bit loud. ” Results from the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing-Aid Benefit questionnaire indicated fewer problems with “ease of communication,” “reverberation,” and “background noise” for aided than for unaided listening, but more problems with “aversiveness. ” Nine of 11 ratings of overall sound quality fell in the categories “satisfied” or “very satisfied. ” Conclusions: The CAMEQ2-HF fitting method generally led to satisfactory loudness and sound quality in everyday life for people with mild to moderate hearing loss.
Infection with multiple viruses is not associated with increased disease severity in children with bronchiolitis

To the Editor: Brand et al. explored the association between the detection of multiple viruses by RT-PCR and disease severity in children with bronchiolitis. This is a controversial topic, since some papers suggested that an infection with multiple viruses results in more severe disease whereas other papers did not describe this relation. The results by Brand et al. showed a lower rate of multiple viruses infection in children with severe disease compared to children with mild or moderate disease and so the authors concluded that disease severity was not associated with infection by multiple viruses. We think that there are a few points worth of discussion that limit interpretation of the results. First, the authors compared patient characteristics between three groups based on disease severity using Kruskal–Wallis or chi-squared tests followed by pairwise comparisons using Mann–Whitney or chi-squared tests; the same procedure was used when children were allocated in three groups based on RSV infection. This approach could lead to multiple comparisons problem, which increases the familywise error rate and, simply, the likelihood of getting a significant result by chance alone. This problem is well-known and several methods (Bonferroni, Holm, Student–Newman–Keuls, Benjamini–Hochberg. . .) were developed to control the familywise error rate. We suggest authors to apply an adjustment method for multiple comparisons in pairwise tests to achieve correct P-values. The second matter concerns the analysis of the association between disease severity and infection with multiple viruses. Since there are statistically significant differences (about age, prematurity, maternal smoking, daycare attendance) between the disease severity groups, a multivariate analysis could help authors to evaluate the above mentioned associations, adjusting for possible confounders. The association between RSV infection and disease severity could also be explored using this approach. The results of the multivariate analysis will be useful to draw stronger conclusions and to avoid limitation of the interpretation. In summary, we think that the interesting paper by Brand et al. could be improved by adjustment for multiple comparisons and by multivariate analysis, allowing a better clinical interpretation of the study results.
Belonging nowhere: Marginalization & radicalization risk among Muslim immigrants

In the last 15 years, the threat of Muslim violent extremists emerging within Western countries has grown. Terrorist organizations based in the Middle East are recruiting Muslims in the United States and Europe via social media. Yet we know little about the factors that would drive Muslim immigrants in a Western country to heed this call and become radicalized, even at the cost of their own lives. Research into the psychology of terrorism suggests that a person's cultural identity plays a key role in radicalization, so we surveyed 198 Muslims in the United States about their cultural identities and attitudes toward extremism. We found that immigrants who identify with neither their heritage culture nor the culture they are living in feel marginalized and insignificant. Experiences of discrimination make the situation worse and lead to greater support for radicalism, which promises a sense of meaning and life purpose. Such insights could be of use to policymakers engaged in efforts against violent extremism, including terrorism.