Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influencing factors for lower extremity varicose veins in female nurses in East China

Objective: This research was aimed to find the influencing factors and preventive methods of lower extremity varicose veins in female nurse’s population working in 3A grade hospitals in east china. Methods: A questionnaire survey was carried out in 1198 nurses randomly selected from three 3A grade hospitals through multiple stages sampling in east china. Descriptive statistically analysis was performed to describe the current situation of lower extremity varicose veins in nurses. Univariate and multivariate logistic analysis were used to explore the main risk factors of lower extremity varicose veins in female nurses. Results: Logistic regression analysis showed that age (OR=1.317, 95%CI: 1.196-1.450), standing time (OR=1.712, 95%CI: -2.423 1.209) and family medical history (OR=2.706, 95%CI: 1.444-5.073) were main risk factors. Elastic stockings (OR= 0.052, 95%CI: 0.025-0.107), legs-raising (OR=0.201, 95%CI: 0.095-0.425) and physical exercise (OR=0.141, 95%CI: 0.072-0.274) were main protective factors. What’s more, age (r=0.47, P < 0.01) and working years (r=0.51, P<0.01) were linearly related to lower extremity varicose veins in nurses population respectively. Conclusion: Age, standing time and family medical history are risk factors of varicose veins among female nurses in east china hospitals. Protective factors include stretch socks, legs-raising, physical exercise, no cross-legged sitting, legs massage, eating few high-fat foods, wearing flat shoes and knowing the risk factors of varicose veins.
Essential amino acids are primarily responsible for the amino acid stimulation of muscle protein anabolism in healthy elderly adults.

BACKGROUND Nutritional supplementation may be used to treat muscle loss with aging (sarcopenia). However, if physical activity does not increase, the elderly tend to compensate for the increased energy delivered by the supplements with reduced food intake, which results in a calorie substitution rather than supplementation. Thus, an effective supplement should stimulate muscle anabolism more efficiently than food or common protein supplements. We have shown that balanced amino acids stimulate muscle protein anabolism in the elderly, but it is unknown whether all amino acids are necessary to achieve this effect. OBJECTIVE We assessed whether nonessential amino acids are required in a nutritional supplement to stimulate muscle protein anabolism in the elderly. DESIGN We compared the response of muscle protein metabolism to either 18 g essential amino acids (EAA group: n = 6, age 69 +/- 2 y; +/- SD) or 40 g balanced amino acids (18 g essential amino acids + 22 g nonessential amino acids, BAA group; n = 8, age 71 +/- 2 y) given orally in small boluses every 10 min for 3 h to healthy elderly volunteers. Muscle protein metabolism was measured in the basal state and during amino acid administration via L-[ring-(2)H(5)]phenylalanine infusion, femoral arterial and venous catheterization, and muscle biopsies. RESULTS Phenylalanine net balance (in nmol x min(-1). 100 mL leg volume(-1)) increased from the basal state (P < 0.01), with no differences between groups (BAA: from -16 +/- 5 to 16 +/- 4; EAA: from -18 +/- 5 to 14 +/- 13) because of an increase (P < 0.01) in muscle protein synthesis and no change in breakdown. CONCLUSION Essential amino acids are primarily responsible for the amino acid-induced stimulation of muscle protein anabolism in the elderly.
Increased forest carbon storage with increased atmospheric CO2 despite nitrogen limitation: a game‐theoretic allocation model for trees in competition for nitrogen and light

Changes in resource availability often cause competitively driven changes in tree allocation to foliage, wood, and fine roots, either via plastic changes within individuals or through turnover of individuals with differing strategies. Here, we investigate how optimally competitive tree allocation should change in response to elevated atmospheric CO2 along a gradient of nitrogen and light availability, together with how those changes should affect carbon storage in living biomass. We present a physiologically‐based forest model that includes the primary functions of wood and nitrogen. From a tree's perspective, wood is an offensive and defensive weapon used against neighbors in competition for light. From a biogeochemical perspective, wood is the primary living reservoir of stored carbon. Nitrogen constitutes a tree's photosynthetic machinery and the support systems for that machinery, and its limited availability thus reduces a tree's ability to fix carbon. This model has been previously successful in predicting allocation to foliage, wood, and fine roots along natural productivity gradients. Using game theory, we solve the model for competitively optimal foliage, wood, and fine root allocation strategies for trees in competition for nitrogen and light as a function of CO2 and nitrogen mineralization rate. Instead of down‐regulating under nitrogen limitation, carbon storage under elevated CO2 relative to carbon storage at ambient CO2 is approximately independent of the nitrogen mineralization rate. This surprising prediction is a consequence of both increased competition for nitrogen driving increased fine root biomass and increased competition for light driving increased allocation to wood under elevated CO2.
Caffeinated coffee consumption impairs blood glucose homeostasis in response to high and low glycemic index meals in healthy men.

BACKGROUND The ingestion of caffeine (5 mg/kg body weight) and a 75-g oral glucose load has been shown to elicit an acute insulin-insensitive environment in healthy and obese individuals and in those with type 2 diabetes. OBJECTIVE In this study we investigated whether a similar impairment in blood glucose management exists when coffee and foods typical of a Western diet were used in a similar protocol. DESIGN Ten healthy men underwent 4 trials in a randomized order. They ingested caffeinated (5 mg/kg) coffee (CC) or the same volume of decaffeinated coffee (DC) followed 1 h later by either a high or low glycemic index (GI) cereal (providing 75 g of carbohydrate) mixed meal tolerance test. RESULTS CC with the high GI meal resulted in 147%, 29%, and 40% greater areas under the curve for glucose (P < 0.001), insulin (NS), and C-peptide (P < 0.001), respectively, compared with the values for DC. Similarly, with the low GI treatment, CC elicited 216%, 44%, and 36% greater areas under the curve for glucose (P < 0.001), insulin (P < 0.01), and C-peptide (P < 0.01), respectively. Insulin sensitivity was significantly reduced (40%) with the high GI treatment after CC was ingested compared with DC; with the low GI treatment, CC ingestion resulted in a 29% decrease in insulin sensitivity, although this difference was not significant. CONCLUSION The ingestion of CC with either a high or low GI meal significantly impairs acute blood glucose management and insulin sensitivity compared with ingestion of DC. Future investigations are warranted to determine whether CC is a risk factor for insulin resistance.
Identification of four Indian ascidians based on COI gene sequences

Abstract DNA barcoding involving the sequencing of a short mitochondrial DNA segment, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, is a specialized technique for the identification of species even at the early embryonic and larval stages, which is quite difficult in morphology-based taxonomy. Ascidians are sessile invertebrate chordates possessing numerous biochemical as well as pharmacological activities. In this study, a total of 36 ascidian samples belonging to the family Didemnidae were sequenced for a 650 bp region of the mitochondrial COI gene. All the species were represented by multiple specimens. The barcode sequences showed no stop-codons and indels in the alignments. The aligned sequences were submitted in Barcode submission tool, NCBI, and the accession numbers were obtained. The minimum intraspecific distance was found to be 0.00% and the maximum was 2.23%. Mean Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) distances within-species, genus, and family were 0.88, 5.98, and 20.03%, respectively. The mean interspecific distance is more than the mean intraspecific divergence, which indicates efficiency of DNA barcoding for identification of ascidians.
Type 2 immunity is protective in metabolic disease but exacerbates NAFLD collaboratively with TGF-β

Development of NASH fibrosis is accompanied by accumulation of hepatic eosinophils and driven by TGF-β and profibrotic type 2 inflammation. Opposing cytokines in obesity and fibrosis Polarized cytokine networks can drive immunopathogenesis forward. Obesity that leads to liver fibrosis involves type 1 cytokines, so Hart et al. expected obese mice prone to type 1 cytokine responses to experience more pronounced fibrosis. Instead, they saw that these mice were resistant to steatohepatitis. Fibrotic livers from mice and human biopsies showed type 2 inflammation and recruitment of eosinophils, unlike the inflammation observed in the adipose tissue during obesity. These findings reveal that cytokine activity that is beneficial for the homeostasis of one tissue can be detrimental to another. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the most common progressive liver disease in developed countries and is the second leading indication for liver transplantation due to the extensive fibrosis it causes. NAFLD progression is thought to be tied to chronic low-level type 1 inflammation originating in the adipose tissue during obesity; however, the specific immunological mechanisms regulating the progression of NAFLD-associated fibrosis in the liver are unclear. To investigate the immunopathogenesis of NAFLD more completely, we investigated adipose dysfunction, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and fibrosis in mice that develop polarized type 1 or type 2 immune responses. Unexpectedly, obese interleukin-10 (IL-10)/IL-4–deficient mice (type 1–polarized) were highly resistant to NASH. This protection was associated with an increased hepatic interferon-γ (IFN-γ) signature. Conversely, IFN-γ–deficient mice progressed rapidly to NASH with evidence of fibrosis dependent on transforming growth factor–β (TGF-β) and IL-13 signaling. Unlike increasing type 1 inflammation and the marked loss of eosinophils seen in expanding adipose tissue, progression of NASH was associated with increasing eosinophilic type 2 liver inflammation in mice and human patient biopsies. Finally, simultaneous inhibition of TGF-β and IL-13 signaling attenuated the fibrotic machinery more completely than TGF-β alone in NAFLD-associated fibrosis. Thus, although type 2 immunity maintains healthy metabolic signaling in adipose tissues, it exacerbates the progression of NAFLD collaboratively with TGF-β in the liver.
Glycine-Binding Site Stimulants of NMDA Receptors Alleviate Extrapyramidal Motor Disorders by Activating the Nigrostriatal Dopaminergic Pathway

Dysfunction of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor has been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Although agonists for the glycine-binding sites of NMDA receptors have potential as new medication for schizophrenia, their modulation of antipsychotic-induced extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) has not yet been clarified. We herein evaluated the effects of glycine-binding site stimulants of NMDA receptors on antipsychotic-induced EPS in mice and rats. d-cycloserine (DCS) and d-serine significantly improved haloperidol (HAL)-induced bradykinesia in mice, whereas glycine showed no effects. Sodium benzoate, a d-amino acid oxidase inhibitor, also attenuated HAL-induced bradykinesia. Improvements in HAL-induced bradykinesia by DCS were antagonized by the NMDA antagonist dizocilpine or nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-NG-Nitro-l-arginine methyl ester. In addition, DCS significantly reduced HAL-induced Fos expression in the dorsolateral striatum without affecting that in the nucleus accumbens. Furthermore, a microinjection of DCS into the substantia nigra pars compacta significantly inhibited HAL-induced EPS concomitant with elevations in dopamine release in the striatum. The present results demonstrated for the first time that stimulating the glycine-binding sites of NMDA receptors alleviates antipsychotic-induced EPS by activating the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway, suggesting that glycine-binding site stimulants are beneficial not only for efficacy, but also for side-effect management.
Fatigue of continuous cast AA5754 Al alloy sheet

Abstract The continuous casting technology is a cost effective way to produce aluminium alloy sheet. As a result, aluminium alloys produced by this technology have great potentials to substitute steel in autobody panel applications. In the present work, fatigue tests were carried out on hot band (in as received and heat treated conditions) of a continuous cast AA 5754 aluminium alloy (4 mm thick) in directions of 0, 45 and 90° relative to the rolling direction. S–N curves of the alloy were measured in these directions. The alloy was produced using a twin belt continuous caster. The heat treatment on the alloy was conducted using both a batch anneal furnace at a slow heating rate (0·01°C s−1) and an induction heater at a fast heating rate (116°C s−1). The effects of heating/cooling rates during heat treatment on the fatigue anisotropy were studied in the alloy. It was found that induction heat treatment at 465°C greatly improved the tensile isotropy and reduced the fatigue anisotropy in this alloy.
Role of casual contacts in the recent transmission of tuberculosis in settings with high disease burden.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. It is expected that combining multiple molecular methods will further help in focusing contact investigations. We performed a population-based molecular epidemiological study in six sites in China between 1 June 2009 and 31 December 2010. A genotyping method combining 7-loci MIRU-VNTR and IS6110-based RFLP was employed to determine predictors of recent transmission. A second interview was performed with the clustered patients to identify potential epidemiological links. The molecular clustering analysis revealed that 187 isolates (15.3%) were clustered by sharing identical VNTR-IS6110 combined patterns, with an estimated recent transmission index being 8.9%. None of these patients reported having contacts with other members within the same cluster. Nineteen of 121 reported having a history of contact with a TB case within 2 years before the current TB diagnosis. Additionally, geographical correlation was established for 19 cases in nine clusters, while only one possible epidemiological link was established in secondary interview. The results underscore the role of casual contact or reactivation of latent TB as a driving factor maintaining the current endemicity in rural China, with high disease burdens of tuberculosis.
Glucose Levels and Risk of Frailty.

BACKGROUND The association between glucose levels and incident frailty in older persons remains unclear. We examined the extent to which higher glucose levels in older adults with and without diabetes are related to risk of frailty. METHODS The data are from the Adult Changes in Thought study. We identified 1,848 individuals aged 65+ without dementia for whom glucose levels from laboratory measurements of glucose and glycated hemoglobin were available. Physical frailty using modified Fried's criteria was determined from biennial assessments. Frailty hazard was modeled as a function of time-varying measures of diabetes and average glucose levels using Cox regression. RESULTS A total of 578 incident frailty cases (94 with diabetes, 484 without) occurred during a median follow-up of 4.8 years. The adjusted hazard ratio for frailty comparing those with and without diabetes was 1.52 (95% confidence interval = 1.19-1.94). In participants without diabetes, modeling suggested elevated frailty risk with greater average glucose levels (p = .019); for example, a glucose level of 110mg/dL compared with 100mg/dL yielded a hazard ratio of 1.32 (95% confidence interval = 1.09-1.59). In participants with diabetes, glucose levels less than 160mg/dL and greater than 180mg/dL were related to increased risk of frailty (p = .001). CONCLUSION Higher glucose levels may be a risk factor for frailty in older adults without diabetes. The apparent U-shape association between glucose levels and frailty in people with diabetes is consistent with the literature on glycemia and mortality and deserves further examination.
Assessing the effects of subject motion on T2 relaxation under spin tagging (TRUST) cerebral oxygenation measurements using volume navigators

Subject motion may cause errors in estimates of blood T2 when using the T2‐relaxation under spin tagging (TRUST) technique on noncompliant subjects like neonates. By incorporating 3D volume navigators (vNavs) into the TRUST pulse sequence, independent measurements of motion during scanning permit evaluation of these errors.
Glacial Lake Wright, a high-level Antarctic lake during the LGM and early Holocene

We report evidence of a large proglacial lake (Glacial Lake Wright) that existed in Wright Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica at the last glacial maximum (LGM) and in the early Holocene. At its highstands, Glacial Lake Wright would have stretched 50 km and covered c. 210 km2. Chronology for lake-level changes comes from 30 AMS radiocarbon dates of lacustrine algae preserved in deltas, shorelines, and glaciolacustrine deposits that extend up to 480 m above present-day lakes. Emerging evidence suggests that Glacial Lake Wright was only one of a series of large lakes to occupy the McMurdo Dry Valleys and the valleys fronting the Royal Society Range at the LGM. Although the cause of such high lake levels is not well understood, it is believed to relate to cool, dry conditions which produced fewer clouds, less snowfall, and greater amounts of absorbed radiation, leading to increased meltwater production.
BIRD: binary interpretation using runtime disassembly

The majority of security vulnerabilities published in the literature is due to software bugs. Many researchers have developed program transformation and analysis techniques to automatically detect or eliminate such vulnerabilities. So far, most of them cannot be applied to commercially distributed applications on the Windows/x86 platform, because it is almost impossible to disassemble a binary file with 100% accuracy and coverage on that platform. This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a binary analysis and instrumentation infrastructure for the Windows/x86 platform called BIRD (binary interpretation using runtime disassembly), which provides two services to developers of security-enhancing program transformation tools: converting binary code into assembly language instructions for further analysis, and inserting instrumentation code at specific places of a given binary without affecting its execution semantics. Instead of requiring a high-fidelity instruction set architectural emulator, BIRD combines static disassembly with an on-demand dynamic disassembly approach to guarantee that each instruction in a binary file is analyzed or transformed before it is executed. It takes 12 student months to develop the first BIRD prototype, which can successfully work for all applications in Microsoft office suite as well as Internet explorer and IIS Web server, including all DLLs that they use. Moreover, the additional throughput penalty of the BIRD prototype on production server applications such as Apache, IIS, and BIND is uniformly below 4%.
Are Double-Layer Stents Better than Plastic Stents and Self-Expandable MetalStents in Palliating Malignant Biliary Obstruction? Meta-Analysis andSystematic Review

Background: Double layer stents (DLS) were designed to overcome the limitations of plastic stents (PS) and self-expandable metal stents (SEMS) in palliating inoperable malignant biliary obstructions (MBO). Aims: Primary outcomes are stent patency period, occlusion rates and adverse events. Methods: Study Selection Criteria: Studies using DLS, SEMS and PS for palliation of patients with inoperable MBO. Data collection and extraction: Articles were searched in Pubmed and Ovid. Statistical method: Pooled proportions were calculated using both fixed and random effects model. Results: Initial search identified 374 reference articles, of which 41 were selected and reviewed. Five studies (N=460) for DLS, SEMS and PS which met the inclusion criteria were included in this analysis. Pooled analysis by fixed effects showed DLS patency to be 118.9 days (95% CI=110.4 to 127.4) compared to 77.4 days (95% CI=70.2 to 84.6) in PS and 170.7 days (95% CI=154.4 to 187.0) in SEMS. Stent occlusion rates in DLS, PS and SEMS group were 8.1% (95% CI=7.1 to 9.0), 37.5% (95% CI=33.8 to 41.1) and 19.9% (95% CI=18.1 to 21.7) respectively. Conclusions: In palliating inoperable MBO patients, DLS seem to be superior to PS. SEMS tend to have higher occlusion rates compared to DLS.
Genome-wide assessment of differential roles for p300 and CBP in transcription regulation

Despite high levels of homology, transcription coactivators p300 and CREB binding protein (CBP) are both indispensable during embryogenesis. They are largely known to regulate the same genes. To identify genes preferentially regulated by p300 or CBP, we performed an extensive genome-wide survey using the ChIP-seq on cell-cycle synchronized cells. We found that 57% of the tags were within genes or proximal promoters, with an overall preference for binding to transcription start and end sites. The heterogeneous binding patterns possibly reflect the divergent roles of CBP and p300 in transcriptional regulation. Most of the 16 103 genes were bound by both CBP and p300. However, after stimulation 89 and 1944 genes were preferentially bound by CBP or p300, respectively. Target genes were found to be primarily involved in the regulation of metabolic and developmental processes, and transcription, with CBP showing a stronger preference than p300 for genes active in negative regulation of transcription. Analysis of transcription factor binding sites suggest that CBP and p300 have many partners in common, but AP-1 and Serum Response Factor (SRF) appear to be more prominent in CBP-specific sequences, whereas AP-2 and SP1 are enriched in p300-specific targets. Taken together, our findings further elucidate the distinct roles of coactivators p300 and CBP in transcriptional regulation.
Dietary guidelines for Americans.

A s Yankee baseball legend, Yogi Berra, once remarked: It is like déjà vu all over againVthe release of the seventh Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). Since the guidelines were first issued by the US Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture back in 1980, Americans have (1) gotten slightly healthier, except for children, (2) gotten significantly bigger (especially children), and (3) gotten very, very confused about what they should be eating. Is there something missing in official government dietary advice, and if so, where did we go wrong?