Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Myocardial Adaptations to Recreational Marathon Training Among Middle-Aged Men

Background—Myocardial adaptations to exercise have been well documented among competitive athletes. To what degree cardiac remodeling occurs among recreational exercisers is unknown. We sought to evaluate the effect of recreational marathon training on myocardial structure and function comprehensively. Methods and Results—Male runners (n=45; age, 48±7 years; 64% with ≥1 cardiovascular risk factor) participated in a structured marathon-training program. Echocardiography, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, and laboratory evaluation were performed pre and post training to quantify changes in myocardial structure and function, cardiorespiratory fitness, and traditional cardiac risk parameters. Completion of an 18-week running program (25±9 miles/wk) led to increased cardiorespiratory fitness (peak oxygen consumption, 44.6±5.2 versus 46.3±5.4 mL/kg per minute; P<0.001). In this setting, there was a significant structural cardiac remodeling characterized by dilation of the left ventricle (end-diastolic volume, 156±26 versus 172±28 mL, P<0.001), right ventricle (end-diastolic area=27.0±4.8 versus 28.6±4.3 cm2; P=0.02), and left atrium (end-diastolic volume, 65±19 versus 72±19; P=0.02). Functional adaptations included increases in both early (E′=12.4±2.5 versus 13.2±2.0 cm/s; P=0.007) and late (A′=11.5±1.9 versus 12.2±2.1 cm/s; P=0.02) left ventricular diastolic velocities. Myocardial remodeling was accompanied by beneficial changes in cardiovascular risk factors, including body mass index (27.0±2.7 versus 26.7±2.6 kg/m2; P<0.001), total cholesterol (199±33 versus 192±29 mg/dL; P=0.01), low-density lipoprotein (120±29 versus 114±26 mg/dL; P=0.01), and triglycerides (100±52 versus 85±36 mg/dL; P=0.02). Conclusions—Among middle-aged men, recreational marathon training is associated with biventricular dilation, enhanced left ventricular diastolic function, and favorable changes in nonmyocardial determinants of cardiovascular risk. Recreational marathon training may, therefore, serve as an effective strategy for decreasing incident cardiovascular disease.
Clinical Evaluation of a Low Cost, In-House Developed Real-Time RT-PCR Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) Quantitation Assay for HIV-1 Infected Patients

Objectives HIV-1 viral quantitation is essential for treatment monitoring. An in-house assay would decrease financial barriers to access. Materials and Methods A real-time competitive RT-PCR in house assay (Sing-IH) was developed in Singapore. Using HXB2 as reference, the assay's primers and probes were designed to generate a 183-bp product that overlaps a portion of the LTR region and gag region. A competitive internal control (IC) was included in each assay to monitor false negative results due to inhibition or human error. Clinical evaluation was performed on 249 HIV-1 positive patient samples in comparison with the commercially available Generic HIV Viral Load assay. Correlation and agreement of results were assessed for plasma HIV-1 quantification with both assays. Results The assay has a lower limit of detection equivalent to 126 copies/mL of HIV-1 RNA and a linear range of detection from 100–1000000 copies/mL. Comparative analysis with reference to the Generic assay demonstrated good agreement between both assays with a mean difference of 0.22 log10 copies/mL and 98.8% of values within 1 log10 copies/mL range. Furthermore, the Sing-IH assay can quantify HIV-1 group M subtypes A–H and group N isolates adequately, making it highly suitable for our region, where subtype B and CRF01_AE predominate. Conclusions With a significantly lower running cost compared to commercially available assays, the broadly sensitive Sing-IH assay could help to overcome the cost barriers and serve as a useful addition to the currently limited HIV viral load assay options for resource-limited settings.
The Impact of Emotion-Related Autonomic Nervous System Responsiveness on Pain Sensitivity in Female Patients With Fibromyalgia

Objective Patients with fibromyalgia have shown hyporeactive autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses to physical stressors, augmented pain to ANS changes, and heightened negative emotions, which can increase pain. This study examined ANS reactivity to negative emotions and its association with pain in fibromyalgia and control participants. Methods Sixty-two women with fibromyalgia and 59 women in a control group recalled neutral, and anger- and sadness-eliciting experiences while ANS activity was monitored. Clinical and experimental pain were assessed in response to each emotion. Results Compared with neutral recall, heart rate (p = .050), mean arterial pressure (p < .001), and high-frequency heart rate variability (p = .012) increased in response to sadness, whereas heart rate decreased (p = .002) and mean arterial pressure increased (p < .001) in response to anger; however, ANS responses did not differ between patients and control participants (all p > .29). Among patients only, decreased preejection period (anger-pain threshold: r = 0.31, p = .018) and total peripheral resistance in response to negative emotions (anger-pain tolerance: r = 0.35, p = .025; sadness-pain threshold: r = 0.51, p < .001; sadness-pain tolerance: r = 0.61, p < .001) correlated with more pain. Conclusions These data suggest that the ANS is not hyporesponsive to elicited emotions in fibromyalgia; however, patients with a larger pain response showed an ANS response pattern reflecting heightened &bgr;-adrenergic and reduced &agr;-adrenergic reactivity. Future research should test whether a specific ANS response pattern to emotions is a consequence of increased pain or whether it amplifies pain.
Multiple sclerosis and environmental factors: the role of vitamin D, parasites, and Epstein–Barr virus infection

Pathogenic mechanisms underlying multiple sclerosis development have yet to be clearly identified, but considerable evidence indicates that autoimmunity plays an important role in the etiology of the disease. It is generally accepted that autoimmune diseases like MS arise from complex interactions between genetic susceptibility and environmental factors. Although environmental factors unequivocally influencing MS development have yet to be established, accumulating evidence singles out several candidates, including sunlight–UV exposure or vitamin D deficiency, viral infections, hygiene, and cigarette smoking. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with different autoimmune diseases. Several investigations indicate 125 (OH)2 vitamin D plays a critical role in shaping T‐cell response and inducing T cells with immunosuppressive properties. Likewise, helminth infections represent another potential environmental factor exerting immunomodulatory properties. Both epidemiological and experimental data provide evidence to support autoimmune down‐regulation secondary to parasite infections in patients with MS, through regulatory T‐ and B‐cell action, with effects extending beyond simple response to an infectious agent. Finally, different epidemiological studies have demonstrated that Epstein–Barr virus infection confers added risk of developing MS. Proposed mechanisms responsible for this association include activation and expansion of self‐reactive T and B cells, lower threshold for self‐tolerance breakdown, and enhanced autoreactive B‐cell survival, all to be discussed in this review. Understanding environmental factors influencing propensity to MS will lead to new and more effective approaches to prevent and treat the disease.
Brief Report: Gonorrhea and Chlamydia Testing Increasing but Still Lagging in HIV Clinics in the United States

Abstract:Screening persons living with HIV for gonorrhea and chlamydia has been recommended since 2003. We compared annual gonorrhea/chlamydia testing to syphilis and lipid testing among 19,368 adults (41% men who have sex with men, 30% heterosexual men, and 29% women) engaged in HIV care. In 2004, 22%, 62%, and 70% of all patients were tested for gonorrhea/chlamydia, syphilis, and lipid levels, respectively. Despite increasing steadily [odds ratio per year (95% confidence interval): 1.14 (1.13 to 1.15)], gonorrhea/chlamydia testing in 2010 remained lower than syphilis and lipid testing (39%, 77%, 76%, respectively). Interventions to improve gonorrhea/chlamydia screening are needed. A more targeted screening approach may be warranted.
Choosing the right crowd: expert finding in social networks

Expert selection is an important aspect of many Web applications, e.g., when they aim at matching contents, tasks or advertisement based on user profiles, possibly retrieved from social networks. This paper focuses on selecting experts within the population of social networks, according to the information about the social activities of their users. We consider the following problem: given an expertise need (expressed for instance as a natural language query) and a set of social network members, who are the most knowledgeable people for addressing that need? We considers social networks both as a source of expertise information and as a route to reach expert users, and define models and methods for evaluating people's expertise by considering their profiles and by tracing their activities in social networks. For matching queries to social resources, we use both text analysis and semantic annotation. An extensive set of experiments shows that the analysis of social activities, social relationships, and socially shared contents helps improving the effectiveness of an expert finding system.
A simple approach to the elasto-plastic coupling analyses of circular tunnels in confining pressure-dependent strain-softening rock masses

Abstract The conventional strain-softening behaviors which assume the strength parameters as the functions of the plastic strain have been studied using various methods. However, rock-like materials have also been found to manifest pressure-dependent behavior for both elastic and plastic rock masses. The realization of the radial stress was found to be continuous, and gradually increased from supporting stress to in situ stress for the circular openings under hydrostatic pressure. The radial stress was spaced as numbers of sections, and each annulus was considered as an ideal plastic rock mass. The close-formed analytical solutions of each annulus can be easily obtained. Therefore, using the displacement continuum and stress boundary conditions, the dimensionless radius corresponding to the spaced radius could be derived. The radial stress and plastic shear strain at the inner radius of the outer adjacent annulus were employed to describe the material property evolution law. Then, the radii could be recursively obtained. Finally, for the conventional strain-softening rock masses, the pressure-dependent elastic rock and elasto-plastic coupling strain-softening rock masses were employed to validate the proposed approach. In this study, having completed the above steps, it was concluded that the results were in accordance with the numerical methods.
Defining Growth Hormone Status in Adults with Hypopituitarism

The identification of adults with severe growth hormone (GH) deficiency (GHD) is not straightforward. The insulin tolerance test remains the gold standard diagnostic test, although other stimuli such as GH-releasing hormone-arginine are gaining acceptance. Insulin-like growth factor-I has a poor diagnostic sensitivity in adult-onset GHD, but is more useful in the subgroup of adults with childhood-onset GHD. Therapeutic developments include increasing recognition of the need to continue GH therapy beyond final height in young adults with severe GHD on retesting. Consensus guidelines have provided a useful algorithm to identify individuals requiring retesting and the number of tests needed. The concept of partial GHD, recognized by paediatric endocrinologists for many years, is being examined in adults with hypothalamic-pituitary disease. Preliminary evidence suggests that this entity is associated with metabolic and anthropometric abnormalities intermediate between those in severe GHD and in healthy controls. It remains to be seen whether this subgroup will derive benefit from GH therapy. To date, therapeutic benefits of GH have been demonstrated only in adults with severe GHD. It is, therefore, imperative that these individuals are unequivocally identified; the diagnosis becomes more uncertain in the presence of obesity, increasing age, and in the absence of additional pituitary hormone deficits.
Sick but yet at work. An empirical study of sickness presenteeism

STUDY OBJECTIVE The study is an empirical investigation of sickness presenteeism in relation to occupation, irreplaceability, ill health, sickness absenteeism, personal income, and slimmed down organisation. DESIGN Cross sectional design. SETTING Swedish workforce. PARTICIPANTS The study group comprised a stratified subsample of 3801 employed persons working at the time of the survey, interviewed by telephone in conjunction with Statistics Sweden's labour market surveys of August and September 1997. The response rate was 87 per cent. MAIN RESULTS A third of the persons in the total material reported that they had gone to work two or more times during the preceding year despite the feeling that, in the light of their perceived state of health, they should have taken sick leave. The highest presenteeism is largely to be found in the care and welfare and education sectors (nursing and midwifery professionals, registered nurses, nursing home aides, compulsory school teachers and preschool/primary educationalists. All these groups work in sectors that have faced personnel cutbacks during the 1990s). The risk ratio (odds ratio (OR)) for sickness presenteeism in the group that has to re-do work remaining after a period of absence through sickness is 2.29 (95% CI 1.79, 2.93). High proportions of persons with upper back/neck pain and fatigue/slightly depressed are among those with high presenteeism (p< 0.001). Occupational groups with high sickness presenteeism show high sickness absenteeism (ρ = 0.38; p<.01) and the hypothesis on level of pay and sickness presenteeism is also supported (ρ = −0.22; p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS Members of occupational groups whose everyday tasks are to provide care or welfare services, or teach or instruct, have a substantially increased risk of being at work when sick. The link between difficulties in replacement or finding a stand in and sickness presenteeism is confirmed by study results. The categories with high sickness presenteeism experience symptoms more often than those without presenteeism. The most common combination is low monthly income, high sickness absenteeism and high sickness presenteeism.
Cell Population Tracking and Lineage Construction Using Multiple-Model Dynamics Filters and Spatiotemporal Optimization

Automated visual-tracking of cell populations in vitro using phase contrast time-lapse microscopy is vital for quantitative, systematic and high-throughput measurements of cell behaviors. These measurements include the spatiotemporal quantification of migration, mitosis, apoptosis, and cell lineage. This paper presents an automated cell tracking system that can simultaneously track and analyze thousands of cells. The system performs tracking by cycling through frame-by-frame track compilation and spatiotemporal track linking, combining the power of two tracking paradigms. We applied the system to a range of cell populations including adult stem cells. The system achieved tracking accuracies in the range of 85.9%– 92.5%, outperforming previous work by up to 9%. The proposed tracking methodology is valuable for tissue engineering, stem cell research, drug discovery and development, and related areas.
Recent decline in prostate cancer incidence in the United States, by age, stage, and Gleason score

Prostate cancer incidence is sensitive to screening practices, however the impact of recent screening recommendations from the United States Preventative Services Task Force on prostate cancer incidence by age, stage, race, and Gleason score is unknown. This study described the timing and magnitude of changes in prostate cancer incidence trends in the United States by month of diagnosis, and evaluated trends by age, Gleason score, and stage at diagnosis. We analyzed prostate cancer incidence trends using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program data for men diagnosed with invasive prostate cancer from 2007 through 2012. JoinPoint analysis was used to detect changes in the rate of annual percent change (APC) in prostate cancer incidence for all diagnoses and by age, Gleason score, race, and stage. Prostate cancer incidence declined at an estimated −19.6% APC beginning May 2011. This decline was observed in all age groups. Low‐grade tumors (Gleason score ≤6) showed a steeper decline (−29.1% APC) than high‐grade tumors (Gleason score 8–10: −10.8% APC). Only stage I/II and stage III tumors saw declines (−24.2% and −16.7% APC, respectively). A sharp decline in prostate cancer incidence began before release of the United States Preventative Services Task Force October 2011 draft and May 2012 final screening recommendation. The greatest change occurred with incidence of low‐grade tumors, although there is concern that some high‐grade tumors may now go undetected.
Subacute Zinc Administration and L-NAME Caused an Increase of NO, Zinc, Lipoperoxidation, and Caspase-3 during a Cerebral Hypoxia-Ischemia Process in the Rat

Zinc or L-NAME administration has been shown to be protector agents, decreasing oxidative stress and cell death. However, the treatment with zinc and L-NAME by intraperitoneal injection has not been studied. The aim of our work was to study the effect of zinc and L-NAME administration on nitrosative stress and cell death. Male Wistar rats were treated with ZnCl2 (2.5 mg/kg each 24 h, for 4 days) and N-ω-nitro-L-arginine-methyl ester (L-NAME, 10 mg/kg) on the day 5 (1 hour before a common carotid-artery occlusion (CCAO)). The temporoparietal cortex and hippocampus were dissected, and zinc, nitrites, and lipoperoxidation were assayed at different times. Cell death was assayed by histopathology using hematoxylin-eosin staining and caspase-3 active by immunostaining. The subacute administration of zinc before CCAO decreases the levels of zinc, nitrites, lipoperoxidation, and cell death in the late phase of the ischemia. L-NAME administration in the rats treated with zinc showed an increase of zinc levels in the early phase and increase of zinc, nitrites, and lipoperoxidation levels, cell death by necrosis, and the apoptosis in the late phase. These results suggest that the use of these two therapeutic strategies increased the injury caused by the CCAO, unlike the alone administration of zinc.
The influence of persistent individual differences and age at maturity on effective population size

Ratios of effective populations size, Ne, to census population size, N, are used as a measure of genetic drift in populations. Several life-history parameters have been shown to affect these ratios, including mating system and age at sexual maturation. Using a stochastic matrix model, we examine how different levels of persistent individual differences in mating success among males may affect Ne/N, and how this relates to generation time. Individual differences of this type are shown to cause a lower Ne/N ratio than would be expected when mating is independent among seasons. Examining the way in which age at maturity affects Ne/N, we find that both the direction and magnitude of the effect depends on the survival rate of juveniles in the population. In particular, when maturation is delayed, lowered juvenile survival causes higher levels of genetic drift. In addition, predicted shifts in Ne/N with changing age at maturity are shown to be dependent on which of the commonly used definitions of census population size, N, is employed. Our results demonstrate that patterns of mating success, as well as juvenile survival probabilities, have substantial effects on rates of genetic drift.
Too Much Pay-Performance Sensitivity?

Abstract We examine the relation between pay-performance sensitivity (PPS), the convexity of managerial compensation (Vega), and future stock risk and returns for a large sample of firms between 1992 and 2004. Higher PPS and Vega are both associated with lower future stock returns. Part of this negative relation can be explained by risk-averse managers decreasing equity risk in response to increases in PPS and Vega. However, even after correcting for lower future risk, future stock returns are negatively associated with the magnitude of option sensitivity. This finding is consistent with previous studies that link high option compensation to manager-owner agency problems.
Comparison of Two Methods for Estimating Absolute Risk of Prostate Cancer Based on Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Family History

Disease risk–associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) identified from genome-wide association studies have the potential to be used for disease risk prediction. An important feature of these risk-associated SNPs is their weak individual effect but stronger cumulative effect on disease risk. Several approaches are commonly used to model the combined effect in risk prediction, but their performance is unclear. We compared two methods to model the combined effect of 14 prostate cancer risk–associated SNPs and family history for the estimation of absolute risk for prostate cancer in a population-based case-control study in Sweden (2,899 cases and 1,722 controls). Method 1 weighs each risk allele equally using a simple method of counting the number of risk alleles, whereas method 2 weighs each risk SNP differently based on its odds ratio. We found considerable differences between the two methods. Absolute risk estimates from method 1 were generally higher than those of method 2, especially among men at higher risk. The difference in the overall discriminative performance, measured by area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic, was small between method 1 (0.614) and method 2 (0.618), P = 0.20. However, the performance of these two methods in identifying high-risk individuals (2- or 3-fold higher than average risk), measured by positive predictive values, was higher for method 2 than for method 1. These results suggest that method 2 is superior to method 1 in estimating absolute risk if the purpose of risk prediction is to identify high-risk individuals. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 19(4); 1083–8. ©2010 AACR.