Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oxygen Kinetics and Heart Rate Response during Early Recovery from Exercise in Patients with Heart Failure

Background. The purpose of this study was to assess the post-exercise O2 uptake and heart rate response in patients with heart failure (HF) in comparison to healthy individuals. Methods and Results. Exercise testing of all subjects was conducted according to the RITE-protocol. The study subjects were classified according to their peak oxygen uptake (peak VO2) in four groups: healthy individuals with a peak VO2 >22 mL/kg/min (group 1, n: 50), and patients with HF and a peak VO2 of 18–22 mL/kg/min, (group 2, n: 48), 14–18 mL/kg/min (group 3, n: 57), and <14 mL/kg/min (group 4, n: 31). Both peak VO2 and HR declined more slowly in the patients with HF than in the normal subjects. Recovery of VO2 and HR followed monoexponential kinetics in the early post-recovery phase. This enabled the determination of a time constant for both HR and VO2 (TC VO2 and TC HR). From group 1 to 4 there was a prolongation of the time constant for VO2 and HR: TC VO2 (group 1: 110 ± 34, group 2: 197 ± 43, group 3: 238 ± 80, and group 4: 278 ± 50 sec), and TC HR (group 1: 148 ± 82, group 2: 290 ± 65, group 3: 320 ± 58, and group 4: 376 ± 55 sec). Conclusion. The rate of decline of VO2 and HR in the early post-exercise phase is inversely related to the peak VO2. The time constant for oxygen uptake (TC VO2) and heart rate (TC HR) might prove a useful parameter for more precise monitoring and grading of HF.
Kinematics and control of multifingered hands with rolling contact

The kinematics of rolling contact for two surfaces of arbitrary shape rolling of each other is derived. Applying these kinematic equations to two planar multifingered hands manipulating some object of arbitrary shape, a scheme is presented for the control of these hands which is a generalization of the computed torque method of control of robot manipulators. In implementing the control, it is required that all applied forces lie within the friction cone of the object so that sliding does not occur. The theory is illustrated with graphic simulations of the control law applied to the system dynamics for two examples. <<ETX>>
Association of vitamin D metabolite levels with relapse rate and disability in multiple sclerosis

Background Multiple Sclerosis is associated with low serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D). We investigated the association between serum levels of 25(OH)D and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D), the biologically active metabolite, and clinical MS severity as expressed by EDSS-score and relapse rate. Study-design Cross-sectional study. Patients and Methods Serum samples from 267 MS patients were collected for 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)2D measurement. Clinical MS parameters at the date of serum sampling were determined. Results: Both metabolite levels were significantly lower in the progressive forms compared to the relapsing remitting (RR)MS phenotype. In RRMS patients (disease course ≤ 5 years), high 25(OH)D levels were associated with a high chance of remaining relapse-free. Low 25(OH)D levels were associated with high EDSS-scores. 1,25(OH)2D was not directly associated with relapse rate or EDSS-score, and was dependent of age and 25(OH)D level. Conclusion Serum levels of 25(OH)D were associated with both relapse rate and disability in MS patients. These results are suggestive for a disease modulating effect of the serum concentrations of 25(OH)D on MS. The low circulating 1,25(OH)2D levels in progressive MS are due to older age and lower 25(OH)D levels. The potential consequences for vitamin D supplementation in MS will be discussed.
Cancer Cell-Derived Clusterin Modulates the Phosphatidylinositol 3′-Kinase-Akt Pathway through Attenuation of Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 during Serum Deprivation

ABSTRACT Cancer cells in their respective microenvironments must endure various growth-constraining stresses. Under these conditions, the cancer cell-derived factors are thought to modulate the signaling pathways between cell growth and dormancy. Here, we describe a cancer cell-derived regulatory system that modulates the phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase (PI3K)-Akt pathway under serum deprivation stress. Through the use of biochemical purification, we reveal that cancer cell-secreted insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and clusterin, an extracellular stress protein, constitute this regulatory system. We show that secreted clusterin associates with IGF-1 and inhibits its binding to the IGF-1 receptor and hence negatively regulates the PI3K-Akt pathway during serum deprivation. This inhibitory function of clusterin appears to prefer IGF-1, as it fails to exert any effects on epidermal growth factor signaling. We demonstrate furthermore that the constitutive activation of oncogenic signaling downstream of IGF-1 confers insensitivity to the inhibitory effects of clusterin. Thus, the interplay between cancer cell-derived clusterin and IGF-1 may dictate the outcome of cell growth and dormancy during tumorigenic progression.
Functional Diversification of the Four MARCKS Family Members in Zebrafish Neural Development

Myristoylated alanin-rich C-kinase substrate (MARCKS) and MARCKS-like 1, each encoded by a different gene, comprise a very small family of actin-modulating proteins with essential roles in mammalian neural development. We show here that four genes (two marcks and two marcksl1) are present in teleosts including zebrafish, while ancient actinopterigians, sarcopterigian fishes, and chondrichtyans only have two. No marcks genes were found in agnaths or invertebrates. All four zebrafish genes are expressed during development, and we show here how their early knockdown causes defects in neural development, with some phenotypical differences. Knockdown of marcksa generated embryos with smaller brain and eyes, while marcksb caused different morphogenetic defects, such as larger hindbrain ventricle and folded retina. marcksl1a and marcksl1b morpholinos also caused smaller eyes and brain, although marcksl1a alone generated larger brain ventricles. At 24 hpf, marcksb caused a wider angle of the hindbrain walls, while marcksl1a showed a "T-shaped" neural tube and alterations in neuroepithelium organization. The double knockdown surprisingly produced new features, which included an increased neuroepithelial disorganization and partial neural tube duplications evident at 48 hpf, suggesting defects in convergent extension. This disorganization was also evident in the retina, although retinal ganglion cells were still able to differentiate. marcksl1b morphants presented a unique retinal phenotype characterized by the occurrence of sporadic ectopic neuronal differentiation. Although only marcksl1a morphant had a clear "ciliary phenotype," all presented significantly shorter cilia. Altogether, our data show that all marcks genes have functions in zebrafish neural development, with some differences that suggest the onset of protein diversification.
The BiP Cochaperone ERdj4 Is Required for B Cell Development and Function

ERdj4 is a BiP cochaperone regulated by the unfolded protein response to facilitate degradation of unfolded and/or misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum. As the unfolded protein response plays a critical role in B cell maturation and antibody production, ERdj4 gene trap mice were generated to determine if this chaperone was required for B cell homeostasis. Homozygosity for the trapped allele resulted in hypomorphic expression of ERdj4 in bone marrow cells and abnormal development of hematopoietic lineages in the bone marrow. The number of myeloid cells was increased, while the number of erythroid and B lymphoid cells was reduced in ERdj4 gene trap mice compared to controls. An intrinsic B cell defect was identified that decreased survival of B cell precursors including large and small pre-B, and immature B cells. Consistent with impaired B lymphopoiesis, the number of mature follicular B cells was reduced in both the bone marrow and spleen of ERdj4 gene trap mice. Paradoxically, unchallenged ERdj4 gene trap mice showed non-specific hypergammaglobulinemia and gene trap B cells exhibited increased proliferation, survival and isotype switching in response to LPS stimulation. Although ERdj4 gene trap mice responded normally to T cell-independent antigen, they failed to mount a specific antibody response to T cell-dependent antigen in vivo. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that the chaperone activity of ERdj4 is required for survival of B cell progenitors and normal antibody production.
Refinement of the IPEC Competency Self-Assessment survey: Results from a multi-institutional study

ABSTRACT Effective interprofessional practice requires interprofessional education that facilitates learners’ achievement of competency in the interprofessional domains. Unfortunately, educators currently have a limited number of tools to identify the level of competency of their learners. Previous investigations by some of the authors described the initial characteristics of a tool based on the Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice. Building on this work, this study describes a multi-institutional, three-part study refining this tool. The series of studies further established the validity, reliability, and usability of the assessment tool. Based on the data derived from this study, we created a shorter, more easily utilised version of the tool that retains previous psychometric strengths. This article describes a tool that consists of two domains, one linked to interprofessional interaction and one linked to interprofessional values. It is believed that this assessment tool may help educators define competence in interprofessional practice and guide assessment of both programmes and learners.
Running head : VISUAL AND EYE GAZE PROCESSING IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that is associated with misinterpretation of social signals. This study investigated how individuals with schizophrenia perceive social information differently from mentally healthy individuals in two experiments. In Experiment 1, 28 individual with schizophrenia and 24 healthy controls viewed a series of photos, each varying in emotion, head orientation, and gaze direction. The task was to judge whether the person in the photo was looking at them or not. It was hypothesized that individuals with schizophrenia would be more likely to perceive actors in the photos as looking at them at a higher rate than controls due to their tendency in perceiving self-referential signals. Individuals with schizophrenia were also expected to demonstrate more uncertainty in judgment due to their decreased categorical gaze perception. Both hypotheses were supported by the results. To investigate whether gaze perception dysfunction, if present, occurs at higher-level information processing (e.g. interpretation stage) or may be adequately explained by lower-level visual perception deficits. Same individuals completed the Contour Integration Task and Motion Coherence Task in Experiment 2 to measure their visual functioning in high-level integration and lower-level gain control, respectively. Basic visual perception was hypothesized to be impaired in schizophrenia, as exhibited by previous literature. Results only supported deficits in integration, but not in gain control. This study demonstrated that impaired visual integration significantly explained the abnormalities in categorical gaze perception and lower social-emotional functioning in schizophrenia.
A functional association in Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon between the extent of primary branching and the number of flowers formed per inflorescence

The number of primary branches (those branches that arise directly from the rachis) and the total number of flowers were counted for inflorescences of Vitis vinifera L. cultivar Cabernet Sauvignon over a range of climates and a number of seasons as part of a yield prediction study. Regression analysis indicated that the number of primary branches per inflorescence exerted a strong control over the total number of flowers per inflorescence, with highly significant (P < 0.01) relationships explaining between 51 and 80% of the variation in flowers per inflorescence. Because the extent of primary branching is largely determined prior to grapevine buds entering dormancy, this strong functional association between branching and flower numbers, suggests that season-to-season differences in potential inflorescence size will be greatly affected by conditions during that phase of primordial differentiation in the previous growing season. A general tendency for the number of flowers per inflorescence to be positively related to other measures of vine fertility, supports this view. Lower orders of branching (secondary and tertiary) down to formation of individual flowers at budburst, also have the potential to influence eventual inflorescence size. As to the timing of such influences, we noted that increased severity of winter pruning significantly increased both flowers per inflorescence (by 9%) and the number of primary branches per inflorescence (by 21%). Such responses provide strong support for our contention that although the extent of primary branching is largely determined prior to grapevine buds entering dormancy, differentiation of new primary branches in Cabernet Sauvignon inflorescences continues to occur after the onset of dormancy.
Fresnel analysis of wave propagation in nonlinear electrodynamics

We study wave propagation in local nonlinear electrodynamical models. Particular attention is paid to the derivation and the analysis of the Fresnel equation for the wave covectors. For the class of local nonlinear Lagrangian nondispersive models, we demonstrate how the originally quartic Fresnel equation factorizes, yielding the generic birefringence effect. We show that the closure of the effective constitutive (or jump) tensor is necessary and sufficient for the absence of birefringence, i.e., for the existence of a unique light cone structure. As another application of the Fresnel approach, we analyze the light propagation in a moving isotropic nonlinear medium. The corresponding effective constitutive tensor contains nontrivial skewon and axion pieces. For nonmagnetic matter, we find that birefringence is induced by the nonlinearity, and derive the corresponding optical metrics.
Effective doses from panoramic radiography and CBCT (cone beam CT) using dose area product (DAP) in dentistry.

OBJECTIVES We compared the effective dose from panoramic radiography with that from cone beam CT (CBCT) using dose area product under adult and child exposure conditions. METHODS The effective doses of the cephalo, panorama, implant and dental modes of Alphard 3030 (Asahi Roentgen Ind., Co. Ltd, Kyoto, Japan) CBCT and the Jaw, Wide, Facial and temporomandibular joint modes of Rayscan Symphony (RAY Co., Ltd, Hwaseong, Republic of Korea) CBCT were compared with those of CRANEX(®) 3+ CEPH (Soredex Orion Corporation, Helsinki, Finland) panoramic radiography equipment under adult and child exposure conditions. Each effective dose was calculated using a conversion formula from dose area product meter measured values (VacuTec Messtechnik GmbH, Dresden, Germany). The conversion formulae used were suggested by Helmrot and Alm Carlsson and Batista et al, and they were applied with the tube voltage taken into consideration. RESULTS The maximum effective doses from the Alphard 3030 and Rayscan Symphony were 67 and 21 times greater than that from panoramic radiography, respectively. The ratios of the effective dose under the child setting to that under the adult condition were 0.60-0.62 and 0.84-0.95, and the maximum differences in effective doses between the adult and child exposure settings were equivalent to 27 and 4 times greater than a panoramic examination in the Alphard 3030 and Rayscan Symphony, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The effective CBCT doses were higher than those of panoramic radiography. The differences in effective doses between the adult and child CBCT settings were dependent on equipment type and exposure parameters. Therefore, adequate mode selection and control of exposure as well as further research are necessary to minimize the effective dose to patients, especially for radiosensitive children.
Emerging roles for protein histidine phosphorylation in cellular signal transduction: lessons from the islet β-cell

• Introduction • Protein histidine phosphorylation in prokaryotes and eukaryotes • Identification and characterization of histidine kinases in the pancreatic β‐cell ‐ Stability characteristics of phosphoamino acids ‐ Nucleoside diphosphate kinases ‐ Biochemical characterization of the NDPK in β‐cell subcellular fractions ‐ Characterization of the mitochondrial isoform of NDPK ‐ A membrane‐associated histidine kinase phosphorylates the Gβ‐subunit of trimeric G‐proteins ‐ A novel histone H4‐phosphorylating histidine kinase in islets β‐cells • Regulation of protein histidine phosphorylation in islet β‐cells ‐ Inhibitors of protein histidine phosphorylation ‐ Activators of protein histidine phosphorylation ‐ Activation of histidine kinases by biologically active lipids ‐ Activation of histidine kinases by mastoparan analogues • Functional consequences of protein histidine phosphorylation ‐ Compartmentalized generation of GTP ‐ Regulation of islet endogenous G‐proteins ‐ Regulation of small G‐protein function by histidine phosphorylation ‐ Regulation of trimeric G‐protein function by histidine phosphorylation ‐ Regulation of the mitochondrial function via protein histidine phosphorylation ‐ Regulation of ion channels ‐ Regulation of isoprenoid metabolism • Protein histidine phosphatases • • Potential defects in histidine phosphorylation in • islets derived from the Goto‐Kakizaki rat, a model for type 2 diabetes • Conclusions and future research
Design for diagnostics and prognostics: A physical-functional approach

This paper describes an end-to-end Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) development process with a strong emphasis on the COTS software tools employed for the implementation of this process. A mix of physical simulation and functional failure analysis was chosen as a route for early assessment of degradation in complex systems as capturing system failure modes and their symptoms facilitates the assessment of health management solutions for a complex asset. The method chosen for the IVHM development is closely correlated to the generic engineering cycle. The concepts employed by this method are further demonstrated on a laboratory fuel system test rig, but they can also be applied to both new and legacy hi-tech high-value systems. Another objective of the study is to identify the relations between the different types of knowledge supporting the health management development process when using together physical and functional models. The conclusion of this lead is that functional modeling and physical simulation should not be done in isolation. The functional model requires permanent feedback from a physical system simulator in order to be able to build a functional model that will accurately represent the real system. This paper will therefore also describe the steps required to correctly develop a functional model that will reflect the physical knowledge inherently known about a given system.
Analysis of Polymorphism rs1042522 in TP53 Gene in the Mothers of Twins and of Singletons: A Population-Based Study in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Although the birth of twins has always attracted attention, there are no known genetic or environmental factors that can determine the birth of monozygotic (MZ) twins. And even for dizygotic (DZ) twins, genetic influences are not completely understood. A previous study from our group has shown that the C allele of polymorphism rs1042522 in the TP53 gene was more frequent in the mothers of twins than in the mothers of singletons in a small village in South Brazil. In order to clarify whether this was an isolated factor, we performed a population-based, observational case-control study. Samples were selected from a state-funded program of paternity investigation. Samples were considered cases when two of the children had the same date of birth, whereas controls were those samples in which at least two children were born in different dates. The first subsequent sample fulfilling control criteria was included after each case. From 2007 to 2013, 32,661 records were searched and 283 (0.9%) twins were found (119 MZ and 164 DZ). Genotypic and allele frequencies were not different between mothers of twins or mothers of singletons. However, mothers of MZ twins showed a higher frequency of GG genotype and lower frequency of the C allele when compared to mothers of DZ twins. Also, the proportion of MZ twins (42%) was higher than usually reported (30%). Finally, the proportion of twins found in this study seems to be more realistic, as this sample was allegedly not from users of assisted reproduction techniques.
Comparison of nucleic acid contents of streptomycin-resistant and-dependent and chloramphenicol-resistant strain induced from E. coli.

During the growing process of bacteria, the increase and decrease in the amounts of nucleic acids, especially that of RNA is observed and the increase is conspicuous at the beginning of the incubation. This fact has been proved already chemically and histochemically by Malm gren et al.1) Fish et al.2) Boivin,3) Belozersky4) and other investigators. In previous publication,5) the author reported the nucleic acid con tents of S. abortus-equi at the various culture stages and ascertained that RNA contents increased at the early stage of incubation, whereas DNA amounts are maintained almost constantly throughout all the culture stages. From the above facts and Caspersson's theories that the metabolism of RNA is accompanied by protein synthesis, it can be inferred that in the early stage of incubation the synthesis of the bacterial protein may progress rapidly. As mentioned above, the metabolism of nucleic acids and the synthesis of protein are indispensable for the growth of bacteria. On the other hand, antibiotics, which are thought to act bacteriostatically and bactericidally against some species of bacteria, are regarded to have a close relationship with the metabolism of nucleic acids, as indicated by Goldstein.6) Among the antibiotics the author used streptomycin and chloramphenicol which show antibacterial activities mainly against Gram negative organisms, and isolated both the resistant and dependent strains from sensitive one of E. coli by the exposure to these antibiotics ; after which the observations were made on the mutual relationship between these strains and the parent strain concerning the nucleic acid contents
Mental and Physical Health and Intimate Partner Violence against Women: A Review of the Literature

Associations between intimate partner violence (IPV) and poor physical and mental health of women have been demonstrated in the international and national literature across numerous studies. This paper presents a review of the literature on this topic. The 75 papers included in this review cover both original research studies and those which undertook secondary analyses of primary data sources. The reviewed research papers published from 2006 to 2012 include quantitative and qualitative studies from Western and developing countries. The results show that while there is variation in prevalence of IPV across various cultural settings, IPV was associated with a range of mental health issues including depression, PTSD, anxiety, self-harm, and sleep disorders. In most studies, these effects were observed using validated measurement tools. IPV was also found to be associated with poor physical health including poor functional health, somatic disorders, chronic disorders and chronic pain, gynaecological problems, and increased risk of STIs. An increased risk of HIV was reported to be associated with a history of sexual abuse and violence. The implications of the study findings in relation to methodological issues, clinical significance, and future research direction are discussed.