Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis by utilizing carotid intima-media thickness as a surrogate marker

Background & objectives: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are more prone for accelerated atherosclerosis and Asian Indians as an ethnic group are predisposed to a high risk of premature atherosclerosis. However, sparse data are available regarding the burden of atherosclerosis among asymptomatic adult patients with RA in south India. We studied the burden of asymptomatic atherosclerosis in adult south Indian patients with RA at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India, utilizing carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) as a surrogate marker. Methods: Ultrasound examination of the carotids and CIMT measurement (mm) were carried out in 32 patients with RA, 32 age- and gender-matched normal controls, and 32 patients with atherosclerosis and angiographically proven coronary artery disease. The CIMT values in patients with CAD and normal controls were used to derive the appropriate cut-off value of CIMT for defining atherosclerosis that would be applicable for the ethnic population studied. Results: Patients with RA had a higher mean CIMT (mm) compared with normal control subjects (0.598 ± 0.131 vs 0.501 ± 0.081; P = 0.001). Carotid plaque was found more frequently among the cases compared with normal controls [5/32 (15.6%) vs 0/32 (0%), P=0.020]. Using this cut-off value derived by the receiver operator characteristic curve method (≥ 0.57 mm; sensitivity 84.4; specificity 90.6%) and the 75th percentile value among normal controls (≥ 0.55 mm) as surrogate markers, the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis was significantly more among asymptomatic patients with RA compared with normal controls [(59.3 vs 12.5%; P<0.001) and (62.5 vs 25%; P<0.001) respectively]. Interpretation & conclusions: Based on the present findings CIMT appears to be a useful surrogate marker for detecting subclinical atherosclerosis in adult Indian patients with RA.
Prevalência do uso de drogas entre acadêmicos de uma universidade particular do sul do Brasil

O objetivo do estudo foi investigar a prevalencia e motivos do uso de alcool, tabaco e outras drogas por academicos. A amostra foi composta por 560 estudantes, entre 17 e 74 anos ( M = 31,16, DP = 11,10). As substâncias com maior prevalencia de uso na vida foram alcool e tabaco. Dentre as drogas ilicitas, a maconha, as anfetaminas e a cocaina ou o crack foram as mais relatadas. O uso de alcool na vida foi mais prevalente em homens do que em mulheres, considerando os ultimos tres meses. Quanto aos motivos para o uso das substâncias psicoativas, os mais relatados foram diversao ou prazer, curiosidade e alivio de tensao psicologica. Cerca de 90% dos participantes se mostraram receptivos a implementacao de um servico de prevencao ao uso de drogas na universidade avaliada. Os resultados sugerem a necessidade do desenvolvimento de prevencoes especificas ao uso de drogas no meio academico.
A 12-week study comparing moclobemide and sertraline in the treatment of outpatients with atypical depression

One hundred and ninety-seven outpatients with atypical depression [Atypical Depression Diagnostic Scale (ADDS) score=4] were randomized to 12 weeks of double-blind treatment with sertraline or moclobemide in a multicentre, parallel-group clinical trial. Patients were started on either 50 mg/day sertraline or 300 mg/day moclobemide. If the therapeutic response was not satisfactoryafter 4 weeks, the dose could be increased to either 100 mg/day sertraline or 450 mg/day moclobemide. Primary effcacy evaluations were the 29-item Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) and the Clinical Global Impression of Improvement (CGI I) response rate (much or very much improved) at study endpoint. Secondary effcacy evaluations included the ADDS, the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), the Leeds Sleep Scale, and the Battelle Quality of Life Battery (BQOLB). In the analysis of the 172 patient effcacy-evaluable population, there was significant baseline to endpoint improvement in all primary and secondary effcacy assessments after treatment with either sertraline or moclobemide. At the endpoint, the proportion of responders on CGI-I, was 77.5% in the sertraline group and 67.5% in the moclobemide group (p=0.052). The baseline to endpoint mean 29-item HAM-D score decreased from 35.9 to 14.5 in the sertraline group and from 36.3 to 16.1 in the moclobemide group. Sertraline also resulted in a significantly (p50.05) greater degree of improvement at the endpoint, compared with moclobemide, in the proportion of remitters on the HAMA (total score47), ADDS Category IID (Rejection Sensitivity), Leeds Sleep Factor 4 (Integrity of Behaviour Following Awakening), and on three dimensions of the BQOLB (Energy/Vitality, Social Interaction and Life Satisfaction). There were no other significant differences between treatment groups. Overall, both medications were well tolerated. In this study, both sertraline and moclobemide improved the symptoms of atypical depression.
Fanconi Anemia Proteins FANCA, FANCC, and FANCG/XRCC9 Interact in a Functional Nuclear Complex

ABSTRACT Fanconi anemia (FA) is an autosomal recessive cancer susceptibility syndrome with at least eight complementation groups (A to H). Three FA genes, corresponding to complementation groups A, C, and G, have been cloned, but their cellular function remains unknown. We have previously demonstrated that the FANCA and FANCC proteins interact and form a nuclear complex in normal cells, suggesting that the proteins cooperate in a nuclear function. In this report, we demonstrate that the recently cloned FANCG/XRCC9 protein is required for binding of the FANCA and FANCC proteins. Moreover, the FANCG protein is a component of a nuclear protein complex containing FANCA and FANCC. The amino-terminal region of the FANCA protein is required for FANCG binding, FANCC binding, nuclear localization, and functional activity of the complex. Our results demonstrate that the three cloned FA proteins cooperate in a large multisubunit complex. Disruption of this complex results in the specific cellular and clinical phenotype common to most FA complementation groups.
Meta-analysis of 2040 sickle cell anemia patients: BCL11A and HBS1L-MYB are the major modifiers of HbF in African Americans.

To the editor: Fetal hemoglobin (HbF) protects against many but not all of the hematologic and clinical complications of sickle cell anemia. [1][1],[2][2] This protection is dependent on the ability of HbF to hinder deoxyHbS polymerization. HbF level is variable and highly heritable. Previous
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Signaling in the HVC Is Required for Testosterone-Induced Song of Female Canaries

Testosterone-induced singing in songbirds is thought to involve testosterone-dependent morphological changes that include angiogenesis and neuronal recruitment into the HVC, a central part of the song control circuit. Previous work showed that testosterone induces the production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor (VEGFR2 tyrosine kinase), which in turn leads to an upregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) production in HVC endothelial cells. Here we report for the first time that systemic inhibition of the VEGFR2 tyrosine kinase is sufficient to block testosterone-induced song in adult female canaries, despite sustained androgen exposure and the persistence of the effects of testosterone on HVC morphology. Expression of exogenous BDNF in HVC, induced locally by in situ transfection, reversed the VEGFR2 inhibition-mediated blockade of song development, thereby restoring the behavioral phenotype associated with androgen-induced song. The VEGFR2-inhibited, BDNF-treated females developed elaborate male-like song that included large syllable repertoires and high syllable repetition rates, features known to attract females. Importantly, although functionally competent new neurons were recruited to HVC after testosterone treatment, the time course of neuronal addition appeared to follow BDNF-induced song development. These findings indicate that testosterone-associated VEGFR2 activity is required for androgen-induced song in adult songbirds and that the behavioral effects of VEGFR2 inhibition can be rescued by BDNF within the adult HVC.
Immigration and Ideas: What Did Russian Scientists “Bring” to the United States?

This paper examines how high-skilled immigrants contribute to knowledge diffusion using a rich data set of Russian scientists and US citations to Soviet-era publications. Analysis of a panel of US cities and scientific fields shows that citations to Soviet-era work increased significantly with the arrival of immigrants. A difference-in-differences analysis with matched paper pairs also shows that after Russian scientists moved to the United States, citations to their Soviet-era papers increased relative to control papers. Both strategies reveal scientific field–specific effects. Ideas in high-impact papers and papers previously accessible to US scientists were the most likely to “spill over” to natives.
Factors Impacting Sense of Belonging at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

This study examines factors that impact students' sense of belonging at a Hispanic-serving institution. Findings indicate that various variables measuring academic and social integration as well as experiences with and perceptions of diversity have a positive impact on sense of belonging. Implications support the idea that campus diversity may improve sense of belonging and ultimately improve retention of all students. Implications and recommendations are discussed.
Correction for “ Heptahelical protein PQLC 2 is a lysosomal cationic amino acid exporter underlying the action of cys-teamine in cystinosis therapy

BIOCHEMISTRY Correction for “Heptahelical protein PQLC2 is a lysosomal cationic amino acid exporter underlying the action of cysteamine in cystinosis therapy,” by Adrien Jézégou, Elisa Llinares, Christine Anne, Sylvie Kieffer-Jaquinod, Seana O’Regan, Joëlle Aupetit, Allel Chabli, Corinne Sagné, Cécile Debacker, Bernadette Chadefaux-Vekemans, Agnès Journet, Bruno André, and Bruno Gasnier, which appeared in issue 50, December 11, 2012, of Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (109: E3434E3443; first published November 20, 2012; 10.1073/pnas. 1211198109). The authors note that within Figure 6A, a structural formula of the mixed disulfide appeared incorrectly. The corrected Figure 6 and its legend appear below. This error does not affect the conclusions of the article.
I Know What You Did Last Week! Do You?: Dynamic Security Questions for Fallback Authentication on Smartphones

In this paper, we present the design and evaluation of dynamic security questions for fallback authentication. In case users lose access to their device, the system asks questions about their usage behavior (e.g. calls, text messages or app usage). We performed two consecutive user studies with real users and real adversaries to identify questions that work well in the sense that they are easy to answer for the genuine user, but hard to guess for an adversary. The results show that app installations and communication are the most promising categories of questions. Using three questions from the evaluated categories was sufficient to get an accuracy of 95.5% - 100%.
Symmetric continuum opinion dynamics: Convergence, but sometimes only in distribution

This paper investigates the asymptotic behavior of some common opinion dynamic models. We show that as long as interactions in a continuum of agents are symmetric, the distribution of the agents' opinions converges, but that there exist examples where the opinions themselves do not converge. This phenomenon is in sharp contrast with symmetric models on finite numbers of agents where convergence of opinions is always guaranteed. However, as long as every agent in the continuum interacts with those whose opinions are close to its own (a common assumption in opinion modeling), or that the interactions are uniquely determined by their opinions, the opinions of almost all agents will in fact converge.
Female multiple mating in wild and laboratory populations of the two‐spot ladybird, Adalia bipunctata

Female mating rate is an important variable for understanding the role of females in the evolution of mating systems. Polyandry influences patterns of sexual selection and has implications for sexual conflict over mating, as well as for wider issues such as patterns of gene flow and levels of genetic diversity. Despite this, remarkably few studies of insects have provided detailed estimates of polyandry in the wild. Here we combine behavioural and molecular genetic data to assess female mating frequency in wild populations of the two‐spot ladybird, Adalia bipunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). We also explore patterns of sperm use in a controlled laboratory environment to examine how sperm from multiple males is used over time by females, to link mating with fertilization. We confirm that females are highly polyandrous in the wild, both in terms of population mating rates (~20% of the population found in copula at any given time) and the number of males siring offspring in a single clutch (three to four males, on average). These patterns are consistent across two study populations. Patterns of sperm use in the laboratory show that the number of mates does not exceed the number of fathers, suggesting that females have little postcopulatory influence on paternity. Instead, longer copulations result in higher paternity for males, probably due to the transfer of larger numbers of sperm in multiple spermatophores. Our results emphasize the importance of combining field and laboratory data to explore mating rates in the wild.
[Clinical and molecular analysis of two Chinese siblings with Cockayne syndrome].

OBJECTIVE Cockayne syndrome is a rare disease and difficult to be recognized. This study aimed to expand the knowledge of the clinical and molecular characteristics of the children with Cockayne syndrome (CS). METHOD Clinical data of two siblings with classic CS of Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center from July 2013 to November 2014 were obtained and analyzed. The whole DNA of peripheral blood was collected from two CS siblings and their parents. Amplification of all exons and adjacent introns for ERCC6 gene was conducted using PCR, and measurement of reaction product was performed to find mutation sites by two-way sequencing. RESULT Two affected siblings were males, and came from unconsanguineous parents, 7 years and 5 months old and 4 years and 8 months old, respectively. They were in treatment because of developmental and mental retardation for years. When they were younger than one year of age, their heights and weight were within normal limits. However, poor growth of height and weight and psychomotor retardation appeared after one and a half years of age, as well as skin and eye sensitivity to sunshine, hearing impairment, optic nerve atrophy, microcephaly, and deep-set eyes. The proband's height was 90.8 cm, and weight 9.1 kg, head circumference 41 cm, and chest circumference 44 cm when he was taken to hospital. The elder brother of the proband had a height of 92 cm, weight 11.2 kg, head circumference 41 cm, and chest circumference 44 cm when he was taken to hospital. When the proband was four and a half years old, ventricular enlargement, hypomyelination, and brain atrophy were detected for his elder brother at 7 years of age by cranial MRI. MRS imaging indicated that damages occurred at the left and right sides of dorsal thalamus, lobus insularis, along with the left half circle of central neurons. Symmetrical calcification on bilateral basal ganglia was found on the brain CT scan. Pathogenic compound heterozygous c. 1357C > T (p.Arg453Ter) and c. 1607T > G (p.Leu536Trp) mutations of ERCC6 gene were identified in the two siblings which were separately inherited from their unaffected parents. CONCLUSION CS children are usually normal at birth, however, they have severe clinical characteristics such as poor growth, psychomotor retardation, cerebral injury, microcephalus, deep-set eyes, and skin sensitivity to sunshine. ERCC6 gene mutation usually occurs, and it is easy to misdiagnose CS as cerebral palsy, primary microcephaly, and so on.
Wound Infection Rates in Clean Surgery: A Potentially Misleading Risk Classification

Abstract Objectives: To evaluate the incidence of wound infection in inguinal hernioplasties, incisional hernioplasties, splenectomies, and splenectomies performed in patients with hepatosplenic schistomiasis, and to examine the relationship of surgical wound infection to antibiotic use, patient age, length of stay in the hospital prior to surgery, and the duration of the operation. Design: Retrospective surveillance study. Results: One thousand five hundred forty-two clean operations were analyzed. Comparing response (wound infection) and explanatory variables (age, length of hospital stay, duration of surgery, antibiotics, and surgery type), we found that age, use of antibiotics, and type of surgery were statistically significant, while length of hospital stay and duration of surgery were not significant. Conclusions: From these results, we can predict that the probability of wound infection in surgical patients considering these significant variables is lower for patients ages 14 to 30 years and higher for patients ages 31 to 60 years and lower for patients with prophylactic antibiotic use (up to 72 hours of use) and higher for patients with prolonged use (more than 72 hours); and lower for patients undergoing inguinal heria, followed in ascending order by nonschistosomotic patients undergoing splenectomy in schistosomotic patients.
CONCENTRAÇÃO DE PROPRIEDADE E O IMPAIRMENT LOSS SOBRE O GOODWILL: INVESTIGAÇÃO EMPÍRICA NO CONTEXTO DAS COMPANHIAS ABERTAS BRASILEIRAS

Purpose of this article is to check that the concentration of ownership interfere in decision making regarding the application of the impairment test on goodwill. As well as notes to the disclosure of supplementary information about goodwill and corporate governance is associated with this test, in the context of Brazilian companies listed. The research is quantitative, like descriptive and documen- tary, analyzed a sample of listed companies on the BM&FBOVESPA. Although the results are not achieved through robust statistical methods, is realized initially, that the concentration of ownership
Posttraumatic stress disorder in the new zealand police: The moderating role of social support following traumatic stress

It has been consistently demonstrated that social support affects psychological outcomes following the experience of trauma. Information processing theories of traumatic stress and empirical evidence suggest a model of social support and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) aetiology, in which emotional support and disclosure moderates the effects of trauma. This model was tested using survey data from 527 New Zealand Police officers. The results showed that all support variables had significant negative main effects on PTSD symptoms. Trauma was positively related to PTSD symptoms and this relationship was moderated by police officers' attitudes to expressing emotions at work and emotional support from peers. These results have implications for the provision of support for workers whose job places them at risk of experiencing multiple trauma.
Disrupting the Gender Order: Leveling Up and Claiming Space in an After-School Video Game Club

This paper provides an overview of the persisting inequitable experiences, conditions and attributions that have thus far defined and delimited what and how girls play. Breaking away from previous research that sought to catalogue ‘gender differences’, but really only conflated facts about gender with facts about relative skill level, this article reports on the observed play patterns, pleasures and preferences of girls and boys who were at the same skill level. We argue that if there is to be some hope of changing these de-limited and limiting repetitions in gender and gaming research, it is probably as much or more through technical innovation than through ideological transformation. Strategic interventionist research practice makes possible structurally divergent directions for play that might in time destabilize the resilient ideological containment-field of theory, practice, research and development concerning girls and gaming.
THE OSTEOCLAST

Osteoclasts, Kölliker's universal agent of bone destruction, must still be regarded as enigmatical structures. It is likely that their life span is limited to a few days. Regarded by some as resulting from fusion of relatively immobile individuals of connective tissue type, and by others of mobile cells such as macrophages, it seems a possibility that they may form from any cell, indifferently, which has assumed the ‘histiocytic state’. Osteoclasts resemble histiocytes in their reaction to supravital neutral red, in their brisk motility and in the differentiation of a superficial ecto‐plasmic layer into an ‘undulating membrane’ in tissue culture. There is no direct evidence that osteoclasts erode bone, but their constant occurrence in zones where absorption is taking place, together with the associated histological picture and especially their striated border, suggest that their presence is more than incidental. A linear orientation of cytoplasmic ultramicrons may be reflected in the striated border, which may thus constitute a cytoplasmic zone adapted for the transfer of material into or out from the cell. There is practically no evidence upon which to base an explanation of how osteoclasts could erode bone. The cells form in response to such a wide variety of normal and experimental stimuli that at least in part a local action on the bone seems likely. Local humoral factors, emanating from the bone, may be responsible for the determination of osteoclasts, and the formation of giant cells under the influence of injected phthioic acid seems to provide a valid analogy. It may be that the factors reside in the ground substance. The process of osteoclastic absorption does not appear to be regulated by the nervous system. Further experiments should be undertaken to test the ability of osteoclasts to erode bone and to ascertain whether bone about to be absorbed differs constitutionally from normal bone.
Predicting the Flory-Huggins χ Parameter for Polymers with Stiffness Mismatch from Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The Flory–Huggins χ parameter describes the excess free energy of mixing and governs phase behavior for polymer blends and block copolymers. For chemically-distinct nonpolar polymers, the value of χ is dominated by the mismatch in cohesive energy densities of the monomers. For blends of chemically-similar polymers, the entropic portion of χ, arising from non-ideal local packing, becomes more significant. Using polymer field theory, Fredrickson et al. predicted that a difference in backbone stiffness can result in a positive χ for chains consisting of chemically-identical monomers. To quantitatively investigate this phenomenon, we perform molecular dynamic (MD) simulations for bead-spring chains, which differ only in stiffness. From the simulations, we apply a novel thermodynamic integration to extract χ as low as 10-4 per monomer for blends with stiffness mismatch. To compare with experiments, we introduce a standardized effective monomer to map real polymers onto our bead-spring chains. The predicted χ agrees well with experimental values for a wide variety of pairs of chemically-similar polymers.