Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High prevalence of chronic hepatitis D virus infection in Eastern Turkey: urbanization of the disease

Introduction Both hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection play an increasingly important role in liver diseases. The main objective of this study was to investigate the socio-epidemiological, laboratory and radiological aspects of both HBV and HDV infection near the Iranian border of Turkey. Material and methods The study included 3352 patients with HBV and HDV infection. Socioepidemiological, laboratory and radiological aspects of the study subjects were retrospectively examined. Comorbid metabolic diseases were not assessed due to the retrospective design of the study. Results Most of the study subjects were HBe antigen negative. No significant difference in terms of HBV-DNA levels or HBe antigen seropositivity was detected between the city centre and rural areas (p > 0.005). The mean HBV-DNA level in the anti-HDV-positive group was significantly lower than in the anti-HDV-negative group (p < 0.001). The rate of HDV-RNA positivity in women was higher than in their male counterparts (p = 0.017). Anti-HDV-IgG was detected in 18.4% of tested subjects who came from an urban area. In contrast, 12.5% of subjects of the rural group had a positive result for anti-HDV-IgG. Among 134 ultrasonographically evaluated delta hepatitis patients, 37.3% had liver cirrhosis. On the other hand, in 1244 patients with hepatitis B monoinfection, there were 90 patients with liver cirrhosis. Radiologically, the rate of hepatic steatosis in delta hepatitis patients was lower than in those with HBV monoinfection. Conclusions Hepatitis D virus infection was particularly prevalent among the urban population as well as in female subjects. More broadly, the current observations are the first to suggest an inverse correlation between delta hepatitis and ultrasonography-proven hepatic steatosis.
Interactive comment on “ Chemical composition of ambient aerosol , ice residues and cloud droplet residues in mixed-phase clouds : single particle analysis during the Cloud and Aerosol Characterization Experiment ( CLACE 6 ) ”

spectrometers at the Swiss High Alpine Research Station Jungfraujoch. Chemical composition data are compared for background aerosol, droplet residues and ice residues. Results are consistent with previous work, suggesting an enhancement of mineral dusts in ice residues and an enhancement of sulfates in the droplet residues. The data are a useful addition to the existing literature, and the manuscript should be published, but I believe that some additional analysis would make the dataset most useful to the reader.
Reduced Mortality and Brain Damage After Locomotor Activity in Gerbil Forebrain Ischemia

Preischemic spontaneous locomotor activity was distinguished in this laboratory as a factor influencing outcome after 15 and 20 minutes of forebrain ischemia in gerbils. Histological investigations were carried out to analyze potential relations between postischemic survival and a reduction of cerebral damage by spontaneous locomotor activity. Methods Male Mongolian gerbils were divided into two groups, one with access to running wheels (“runners”) and one kept in conventional cages (“nonrunners”) for 2 weeks preceding forebrain ischemia of 15 or 20 minutes. A total of 99 gerbils were divided in subgroups and were allowed to recover for 2 weeks for assessment of survival. Other subgroups (n=7 to 9) were killed at day 4 for quantitative histology of selectively vulnerable areas such as hippocampus, cortex, striatum, and thalamus. Results Two weeks after 15-minute ischemia, 44% of non-runners had survived compared with 90% of runners (P<.01). With 20-minute ischemia all runners survived compared with 21% of nonrunners. Quantitative histology (15-minute ischemia) revealed selective nerve cell injury in various cerebral regions in both groups. In runners, however, with the exception of the CAl sector, damage was attenuated in cortex, striatum, and hippocampus. Furthermore, the extent of thalamic infarction was reduced (P<.05). Conclusions Locomotor activity before global cerebral ischemia is highly efficient'in protecting the brain as demonstrated by enhanced survival and a reduction of tissue damage in Mongolian gerbils. The mechanisms underlying this protection are currently unclear. However, further understanding of this intriguing phenomenon should enhance the understanding of ischemia pathophysiology and lead to the development of new treatment strategies.
Synthesis and Antimicrobial Activity of 9-O-Substituted Palmatine Derivatives

A series of new palmatine derivatives with alkyl or alkyl with N-heterocyclic structures were designed and synthesized at C-9-O according to the principle of association. These compounds were characterised by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, ESI-MS and elemental analysis, and tested for their antimicrobial activity in vitro to evaluate structure-activity relationships. The results indicated that 9-O-substituted palmatine derivatives exhibit varying degrees of antimicrobial activity. Antibacterial activities of compounds (3a-f) against Gram +ve bacteria increased 2- to 64-fold than that of palmatine. The compounds (3a-f) possessed relatively weaker inhibitory effects against Gram −ve bacteria and fungi than that against Gram +ve bacteria. Antimicrobial activities of compounds (5a-e) are lower than that of compounds (3a-f). Compound 3d showed the highest antimicrobial activity of all the compounds. The LD50 values of compounds (3a-f) decreased as the alkyl side chain was elongated. Compound 3f showed least toxicity.
Control of the adaptive response of the heart to stress via the Notch1 receptor pathway

In the damaged heart, cardiac adaptation relies primarily on cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. The recent discovery of cardiac stem cells in the postnatal heart, however, suggests that these cells could participate in the response to stress via their capacity to regenerate cardiac tissues. Using models of cardiac hypertrophy and failure, we demonstrate that components of the Notch pathway are up-regulated in the hypertrophic heart. The Notch pathway is an evolutionarily conserved cell-to-cell communication system, which is crucial in many developmental processes. Notch also plays key roles in the regenerative capacity of self-renewing organs. In the heart, Notch1 signaling takes place in cardiomyocytes and in mesenchymal cardiac precursors and is activated secondary to stimulated Jagged1 expression on the surface of cardiomyocytes. Using mice lacking Notch1 expression specifically in the heart, we show that the Notch1 pathway controls pathophysiological cardiac remodeling. In the absence of Notch1, cardiac hypertrophy is exacerbated, fibrosis develops, function is altered, and the mortality rate increases. Therefore, in cardiomyocytes, Notch controls maturation, limits the extent of the hypertrophic response, and may thereby contribute to cell survival. In cardiac precursors, Notch prevents cardiogenic differentiation, favors proliferation, and may facilitate the expansion of a transient amplifying cell compartment.
Large‐eddy simulation of a diurnal cycle of the atmospheric boundary layer: Atmospheric stability and scaling issues

A simulation of a diurnal cycle of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow over a homogeneous terrain is performed using large‐eddy simulation (LES) with the Lagrangian scale‐dependent dynamic subgrid‐scale model. The surface boundary condition is derived from the field observations of surface heat flux from the HATS experiment (Horst et al., 2004; Kleissl et al., 2004). The simulation results display good general agreement with previous modeling and experimental studies with regard to characteristic features such as growth of the convective boundary layer by entrainment, nocturnal jet, and multilayered flow structure of the nocturnal regime. To gain a better understanding of the physical parameters affecting the statistics of the flow, we study the dependence of a subgrid parameter (dynamic Smagorinsky coefficient), resolved turbulent kinetic energy, and resolved vertical velocity variance upon atmospheric stability. The profiles of these turbulent variables plotted as a function of Obukhov length show “hysteretic” behavior that implies nonunique dependence. The subsequent use of local Richardson number as the scaling parameter shows a decrease in this “hysteresis,” but there is an increased scatter in the profiles with increasing height. Conversely, profiles plotted as a function of local Obukhov length (based on the fluxes at the local vertical level) show almost no hysteresis, confirming the validity of Nieuwstadt's local scaling hypothesis. Although the local scaling hypothesis was formulated for the stable boundary layer, we find that it applies to the entire stability range of the diurnal cycle.
Restructuring of deep neural network acoustic models with singular value decomposition

Recently proposed deep neural network (DNN) obtains significant accuracy improvements in many large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) tasks. However, DNN requires much more parameters than traditional systems, which brings huge cost during online evaluation, and also limits the application of DNN in a lot of scenarios. In this paper we present our new effort on DNN aiming at reducing the model size while keeping the accuracy improvements. We apply singular value decomposition (SVD) on the weight matrices in DNN, and then restructure the model based on the inherent sparseness of the original matrices. After restructuring we can reduce the DNN model size significantly with negligible accuracy loss. We also fine-tune the restructured model using the regular back-propagation method to get the accuracy back when reducing the DNN model size heavily. The proposed method has been evaluated on two LVCSR tasks, with context-dependent DNN hidden Markov model (CD-DNN-HMM). Experimental results show that the proposed approach dramatically reduces the DNN model size by more than 80% without losing any accuracy. Index Terms: deep neural network, singular value decomposition, model restructuring
Decoding differences on the verbal and nonverbal channels among "A" and "B" therapist types

The original designation of therapists into 11 A and 11 B types was made by Whitehorn and Betz (1954) on the basis of success with schizophrenic and neurotic patients. Subsequent studies have yielded mixed results concerning this therapist-patient interaction. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the apparent differences in interpersonal styles between 11 A and 11 B therapist types could be linked to decoding preferences on the visual, audio and linguistic channels of communication. Specifically, it was predicted that the 11 A therapist type would decode more accurately on the visual channel, while the 11 8 therapist type would decode more accurately on the linguistic channel. Decoding accuracy on the audio channel was predicted to fall in the midrange of scores between the visual and linguistic channels for both therapist types. The effect of sex as a variable in decoding ability was also considered. A videotape of a female actress portraying a submissive style in an interview was targeted as the independent variable. A silent videotape was used to convey the visual communication channel; an audio tape was used to convey the audio communication channel, and a transcript was used for the linguistic channel. Sixty-four subjects (32 male and 32 female) were selected according to their scores on subform SSZ-46 of the Whitehorn-Betz A-B scale. The subjects viewed either the silent videotape, listened to the audio tape, or read the transcript of the submissive interviewee and then rated their feelings about that person on a set of Semantic Differential Scales and the Impact Message Inventory. Two scales from the IMI, Submissiveness and Inhibition, were used to record the impact. The hypotheses were tested by a 2 x 2 x 3 analysis of variance, followed by a Newman-Keuls multimean test. The IMI scores showed a significant interaction between the 11 A therapist type and the visual channel. A trend toward a significant interaction for the 11 8 therapist type and the linguistic channel was also observed. No significant differences were found on the audio channel or for the sex variable. No differences were found with the Semantic Differential Scales for any of the experimental conditions. The results indicate that differences do exist between "A" and 11 8 therapist types for decoding preferences, with the 11 A therapist type receiving a significantly higher impact on the visual channel than the 11 8 therapist type as measured by the IMI scales of Submissiveness and Inhibition. Implications for future research were discussed, focusing on the role of nonverbal communication in therapeutic interactions and the effect of individual subject variables such as sex and experience on decoding abilities. viii
The Comparative Morphology of the Cerebellum in Caprimulgiform Birds: Evolutionary and Functional Implications

Interspecific variation in the structure of the avian cerebellum is poorly understood. We present the first comparison of cerebellar morphology within the avian order Caprimulgiformes. Using a range of qualitative descriptions and quantitative measurements of cerebellar morphology we compared caprimulgiform birds with hummingbirds and swifts (Apodiformes) and owls (Strigiformes), two groups that are putative sister taxa to the Caprimulgiformes. Our results demonstrate that the owlet-nightjars (Aegothelidae), nightjars (Caprimulgidae) and potoos (Nyctibiidae) are more similar to apodiforms than they are to other taxa. All of these species have a reduced anterior lobe characterized by particularly small folia II and III and a relatively large posterior lobe. The frogmouths (Podargidae) possess a markedly different cerebellum that is more similar to that of owls than any of the caprimulgiform or apodiform birds. The monotypic oilbird (Steatornis caripensis, Steatornithidae) possesses a cerebellum with some nightjar-like features and some owl-like features, but overall it too resembles an owl more than a nightjar. This cerebellar diversity within the order Caprimulgiformes has significant implications for understanding the evolutionary relationships within the order, how the avian cerebellum has evolved and whether interspecific differences in cerebellar morphology reflect behavior.
Paratesticular rhabdomyosarcoma in adult patients: 16-year experience at Institut Gustave-Roussy.

BACKGROUND Children with paratesticular rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) have both a good prognosis and a high survival rate. The clinical behaviour and outcome of the disease in adults is not well described. PATIENTS AND METHODS We reviewed retrospectively our experience with paratesticular RMS in patients older than 16 years during a 16-year period (1975-1991). RESULTS Thirteen adult patients with paratesticular RMS are reported. Median age was 21 years (range 16 to 31). Presentation characteristics were scrotal mass in 11 cases, lumbar pain and weight loss in 5 cases, hypercalcemia in 3 cases and thrombocytopenia in 3 cases. There were 5 patients with stage IV, 2 with stage IIB and 6 with stage IA (IRS classification). The 5 stage IV patients are reported in detail, with initial bone marrow infiltration encountered in 4 of them. Objective response to chemotherapy was achieved in all 6 patients with measurable disease (2 CR + 4 PR). Two of 7 patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy relapsed at 7 and 11 months. After a median follow-up of 90 months, 8 patients (5 stage IV, 3 stage IA) died from disease progression. CONCLUSION Metastatic disease with bone marrow involvement at presentation and aggressive behaviour seem to be more relevant in adult paratesticular RMS patients compared with children.
The effect of maternal triglycerides and free fatty acids on placental lipoprotein lipase in cultured primary trophoblast cells and in a case of maternal LPL deficiency

ABSTRACT Maternal hypertriglyceridemia is a normal condition in late gestation and is an adaptation to ensure an adequate nutrient supply to the fetus. Placental lipoprotein lipase (LPL) is involved in the initial step in transplacental fatty acid transport as it hydrolyzes maternal triglycerides(TG) to release free fatty acids (FFA). We investigated LPL activity, protein (Western blot) and mRNA expression (real time RT PCR) in the placenta of a LPL deficient mother with marked hypertriglyceridemia. The LPL activity was fourfold lower, LPL protein expression 50% lower and mRNA expression threefold higher than that of normal healthy placentas at term (n=4-7). In order to further investigate the role of maternal lipids in placental LPL regulation, we isolated placental cytotrophoblasts from term placentas and studied LPL activity, protein and mRNA expression after incubation in Intralipid (as a source of TG), oleic, linoleic and a combination of oleic, linoleic and arachidonic acid as well as insulin. Intralipid (40 and 400 mg/dl) decreased LPL activity by 30% (n=10-14; p<0.05) and 400 µM linoleic and a combination of linoleic-oleic-arachidonic acid (n=10) decreased LPL activity by 37 and 34 %, respectively. No major changes were observed in LPL protein or mRNA expression. We found no effect of insulin on LPL activity or protein expression in the cultured trophoblasts. To conclude, the activity of placental LPL is reduced by high levels of maternal TG and/or FFAs. This regulatory mechanism may serve to counteract an excessive delivery of FFA to the fetus in conditions where maternal TG levels are markedly increased.Keywords: fetus, placenta, fatty acids transfer, lipoprotein lipase
A Combination of Glycerol and Manganese Promotes Biofilm Formation in Bacillus subtilis via Histidine Kinase KinD Signaling

ABSTRACT The spore-forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis forms matrix-enclosed biofilms in response to environmental cues that to date remain poorly defined. Biofilm formation depends on the synthesis of an extracellular matrix, which is indirectly regulated by the transcriptional regulator Spo0A. The activity of Spo0A depends on its phosphorylation state. The level of phosphorylated Spo0A (Spo0A∼P) is controlled by a network of kinases and phosphatases, which respond to environmental and physiological signals. In spite of significant progress in understanding biofilm development, the fundamental question of how cells sense the environmental cues that trigger biofilm formation has largely remained unaddressed. Here, we report that biofilm formation of B. subtilis in LB medium is triggered by a combination of glycerol and manganese (GM). Moreover, LB medium with GM significantly stimulates biofilm-associated sporulation and production of an undefined brown pigment. We further show that transcription of the major operons responsible for matrix production and biofilm formation is dramatically enhanced in response to GM. We also establish that KinD is a principal histidine kinase responsible for sensing the presence of GM exclusively by its extracellular CACHE domain. Finally, we show that GM has a similar biofilm-promoting effect in two related Bacillus species, B. licheniformis and B. cereus, indicating that the biofilm-promoting effect of GM is conserved in Bacillus species.
Differential Regulation of Counterregulatory Hormone Secretion and Symptoms During Hypoglycemia in IDDM: Effect of glycemic control

OBJECTIVE To determine 1) if there was a differential effect of glycemic control on individual counterregulatory hormone responses to hypoglycemia in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), 2) whether these modifications affect hypoglycemic symptom perception, and 3) if there was a level of glycemic control below which counterregulatory and symptomatic responses to hypoglycemia become consistently altered. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We performed hypoglycemic clamp studies on 38 patients with IDDM and 38 healthy control subjects. Glucose was lowered from 5.0 to 2.2 mmol/1 over 3 h in decrements of 0.6 mmol/1 each 30 min. Epinephrine, cortisol, growth hormone (GH), glucagon, and symptom score were measured at each glucose plateau. RESULTS In IDDM patients, HbA1 levels were positively correlated with incremental epinephrine (r = 0.58, P < 0.001) and cortisol (r = 0.52, P < 0.01) responses, but inversely correlated with GH responses (r = –0.31, P < 0.05). The increase in symptom score correlated with the epinephrine response in the IDDM patients (r = 0.57, P < 0.001), but not in the healthy control subjects (r = –0.02, NS). In IDDM patients with HbA1 ≤7.8% (n = 7), the epinephrine, cortisol, and symptomatic responses to hypoglycemia were blunted, but GH secretion was preserved. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that 1) there is differential regulation of counterregulatory hormone secretion that is dependent on the level of glycemic control, 2) epinephrine is an important determinant of symptom perception in IDDM patients, but not in healthy control subjects, and 3) multiple defects in counterregulatory hormone secretion and symptom perception are consistently observed in patients with HbA1 levels ≤7.8%.
Victimization of youth with type-1 diabetes by teachers: relations with adherence and metabolic control

This study examined rates of teacher victimization and relationships between teacher victimization, adherence and metabolic control in 167 young people with type-1 diabetes. Questions that assessed diabetes-related victimization from teachers were administered to young people with type-1 diabetes. Metabolic control was measured with HbA1c values and diabetes self-management was assessed using the parent version of the Diabetes Self-Management Profile (DSMP). The results indicated that teacher victimization was associated significantly and negatively with the DSMP Diet Subscale (p = .03), DSMP Insulin Adherence Subscale (p = .00) and overall adherence (p = .01) for younger children (aged 8—11 years), but not for older youth (12—17 years). The implications and recommendations for practitioners are discussed.
The active recipient: participatory journalism through the lens of the Dewey-Lippmann debate

News outlets are providing more opportunities than ever before for the public to contribute to professionally edited publications. Online news websites routinely provide tools to facilitate user participation in the news, from enabling citizens to submit story ideas to posting comments on stories. This study on participatory journalism draws on the perspectives of writer Walter Lippmann and philosopher John Dewey on the role of the media and its relationship to the public to frame how professional journalists view participatory journalism. Based on semi-structured interviews with journalists at about two dozen newspaper websites, as well as a consideration of the sites themselves, we suggest that news professionals view the user as an active recipient of the news. Journalists have tended to adopt a Deweyan approach towards participatory tools and mechanisms, within carefully delineated rules. As active recipients, users are framed as idea generators and observers of newsworthy events at the start of the journalistic process, and then in an interpretive role as commentators who reflect upon professionally produced material.