Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of milk thistle seed against aflatoxin B1 in broiler model

Background: Consumption of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) contaminated products can pose a risk of development of various diseases in human and animals due to radical production. The scope of this work is to evaluate the efficacy of milk thistle seed (MTS), as a radical scavenger, on serum biochemistry, lipid profile and liver enzymes against AFB1 in broiler chickens contaminated with AFB1. Materials and Methods: The effect of nine experimental treatments (3 × 3 factorial design) was assessed using 216 one-d-old Ross 308 male broiler chicks in a randomized complete design with four replicates of six birds for each dietary treatments: Control (T1), 250 ppb AFB1 (T2), 500 ppb AFB1 (T3), 0.5% MTS (T4), 0.5% MTS Plus 250 ppb AFB1 (T5), 0.5% MTS Plus 500 ppb AFB1 (T6), 1.0% MTS (T7), 1.0% MTS Plus 250 ppb AFB1 (T8), and 1.0% MTS Plus 500 ppb AFB1 (T9). The individual and combined effects of dietary AFB1 and MTS on serum biochemistry factors (Glucose, Calcium, Phosphorus, Iron, Creatinine, and Uric acid), lipid profile (Triglyceride, Cholesterol, Low density lipoprotein (LDL), and High density lipoprotein (HDL)) and liver enzymes aspartate amino-transferase and alanine amino-transaminase (ALT) in broilers were evaluated at 21 days of age. Also, statistical packages Macros-1.002 (2010) were used to perform the above analysis on computer. Results: Consumption of 500 ppb AFB1 in to the diet significantly decreased HDL (58.13 ± 2.65), Calcium (7.11 ± 0.13), and Glucose (197.1 ± 7.42) compared to the control group (85.12 ± 1.95, 9.45 ± 0.17 and 223.1 ± 6.61, respectively), (P < 0.05). In contrast, it significantly increased creatinine (2.25 ± 0.011) and AST (244.51 ± 4.91). Using MTS together with AFB1 significantly reduced the effect of AFB1 on the above parameters. Conclusion: MTS can provide protection against the negative effects of AFB1 on broiler chicks.
Chimeric Proteins Suggest That the Catalytic and/or C-Terminal Domains Give CesA1 and CesA3 Access to Their Specific Sites in the Cellulose Synthase of Primary Walls1

CesA1 and CesA3 are thought to occupy noninterchangeable sites in the cellulose synthase making primary wall cellulose in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana L. Heynh). With domain swaps and deletions, we show that sites C terminal to transmembrane domain 2 give CesAs access to their individual sites and, from dominance and recessive behavior, deduce that certain CesA alleles exclude others from accessing each site. Constructs that swapped or deleted N-terminal domains were stably transformed into the wild type and into the temperature-sensitive mutants rsw1 (Ala-549Val in CesA1) and rsw5 (Pro-1056Ser in CesA3). Dominant-positive behavior was assayed as root elongation at the restrictive temperature and dominant-negative effects were observed at the permissive temperature. A protein with the catalytic and C-terminal domains of CesA1 and the N-terminal domain of CesA3 promoted growth only in rsw1 consistent with it accessing the CesA1 site even though it contained the CesA3 N-terminal domain. A protein having the CesA3 catalytic and C-terminal domains linked to the CesA1 N-terminal domain dramatically affected growth, but only in the CesA3 mutant. This is consistent with the operation of the same access rule taking this chimeric protein to the CesA3 site. In this case, however, the transgene behaved as a genotype-specific dominant negative, causing a 60% death rate in rsw5, but giving no visible phenotype in wild type or rsw1. We therefore hypothesize that possession of CesA3WT protects Columbia and rsw1 from the lethal effects of this chimeric protein, whereas the mutant protein (CesA3rsw5) does not.
Investigating the Effect of Socio-Cognitive Salience and Speaker-Based Factors in Morpho-Syntactic Life-Span Change

This article explores changes across the life-span of the individual speaker. Three morpho-syntactic variables that operate at different levels of socio-cognitive salience—quotation, stative possession, and future temporal reference—are traced across longitudinal trend and panel data. The analysis of a panel corpus that spans forty-two years reveals that linguistic malleability is contingent on the variables’ embedding in speakers’ cognitive-evaluative structures but also on a range of speaker-based factors, such as the speakers’ socio-economic trajectory, personality profile, as well as their type and intensity of contact with children and younger speakers. The study thus supports research that has shown that the adaptive behavior across the life-span results in complex outcomes that cannot be characterized by wholesale convergence or divergence.
Understanding Intergenerational Cultural Transmission Through the Role of Perceived Norms

Intergenerational cultural transmission refers to the transmission of cultural ideas (e.g., values, beliefs, knowledge, practices) from one generation to the next generation. Among all available cultural ideas, which ones do parents select for transmission? As the recent normative approaches in cultural psychology highlight, cultural members do not just passively act out their internalized characteristics; they also strategically use their understanding of the culture’s norms to guide their actions. This essay elaborates the implications of these approaches for understanding intergenerational cultural transmission. The perceived norms perspective is introduced. This perspective premises that when selecting cultural ideas for transmission, parents consider not only their own orientations but also their perceptions of what is normatively important in the culture. It further states that parents’ reference to perceived norms is directed by the goals they hold. This essay discusses the contributions of this perspective to the study of intergenerational cultural transmission and identifies some directions for future research.
Re: Design and endpoints of clinical trials in hepatocellular carcinoma.

the phase 2 study ( 3 ). Thus, despite the urgent need for effective systemic treatments in clinical practice, robust demonstration of effi cacy of sorafenib in ChildPugh B patients is still lacking; indeed, some evidence suggests caution in the use of the drug in patients with impaired liver function ( 4 ). Clinical trials could be stratifi ed by Child-Pugh class, rather than postponing studies in patients with poorer liver function. Several measures could allow this “frontline” strategy: 1) proper pharmacokinetic evaluation in early trials; 2) separate cohorts in phase 1 trials to identify differential dose-limiting toxic effects; 3) careful safety assessment and early stopping rules; and 4) proper hypotheses in phase 3 trials that take into account the different prognosis of Child-Pugh categories. As for phase 2 trials with new agents, the expert panel recommended randomized phase 2 trials as proposed in 1994 by Simon et al. ( 5 ). However, that publication actually described the selection design, which does not allow a formal comparison among treatment arms and should be used without a control arm ( 6 ). More recently, randomized phase 2 trials with a control arm and “relaxed” statistical criteria have been proposed ( 7 ), although they would imply a quite large sample size if the 10% statistical signifi cance level suggested by Llovet et al. were to be adopted.
What and When Second-Language Learners Revise When Responding to Timed Writing Tasks on the Computer: The Roles of Task Type, Second Language Proficiency, and Keyboarding Skills.

This study contributes to the literature on second language (L2) learners' revision behavior by describing what, when, and how often L2 learners revise their texts when responding to timed writing tasks on the computer and by examining the effects of task type, L2 proficiency, and keyboarding skills on what and when L2 learners revise. Each of 54 participants with 2 levels of L2 proficiency (low vs. high) and 2 levels of keyboarding skills (low vs. high) responded to timed independent and integrated writing tasks on the computer. A keystroke logging program recorded each participant's writing activities. Keystroke data were coded in terms of participants' revision behavior (e.g., orientation, linguistic domain, and temporal location of revisions) and then compared across tasks and learner groups. The findings suggest that the participants tended to revise form more often than content and that L2 proficiency and, to a lesser extent, task type, but not keyboarding skills, affected participants' revision behaviors during the timed writing tasks. Overall, the participants made more precontextual (that is, at the point of inscription) revisions than contextual revisions (that is, revisions of already written text), made considerably more typography and language revisions than content revisions, revised more frequently at the phrase and word level than at higher levels, and tended to make precontextual revisions more frequently in the first two thirds of the writing process and contextual revisions most frequently in the last third of the writing session. The findings and their implications for practice and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Chimeric constructs endow the human CFTR Cl− channel with the gating behavior of murine CFTR

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a Cl− channel gated by ATP-driven nucleotide-binding domain (NBD) dimerization. Here we exploit species differences between human and murine CFTR to investigate CFTR channel gating. Using homologous recombination, we constructed human-murine CFTR (hmCFTR) chimeras with sequences from NBD1, NBD2, or the regulatory domain (RD) of human CFTR replaced by the equivalent regions of murine CFTR. The gating behavior of hmRD and human CFTR were indistinguishable, whereas hmNBD1 and hmNBD2 had subtle effects on channel gating, prolonging both burst duration and interburst interval. By contrast, hmNBD1+2, containing both NBDs of murine CFTR, reproduced the gating behavior of the subconductance state of murine CFTR, which has dramatically prolonged channel openings. The CFTR potentiator pyrophosphate (PPi) enhanced human, hmRD, and hmNBD1 CFTR Cl− currents, but not those of hmNBD2, hmNBD1+2, and murine CFTR. By analyzing the rate-equilibrium free-energy relationships of chimeric channels, we obtained snapshots of the conformation of the NBDs during ATP-driven dimerization. Our data demonstrate that the conformation of NBD1 changes before that of NBD2 during channel opening. This finding suggests that NBD dimerization does not proceed by a symmetric tweezer-like motion, but instead in an asymmetric fashion led by NBD1. We conclude that the NBDs of murine CFTR determine the unique gating behavior of its subconductance state, whereas NBD2 controls channel potentiation by PPi.
Different Pain, Different Brain: Thalamic Anatomy in Neuropathic and Non-Neuropathic Chronic Pain Syndromes

Trigeminal neuropathic pain (TNP) and temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are thought to have fundamentally different etiologies. It has been proposed that TNP arises through damage to, or pressure on, somatosensory afferents in the trigeminal nerve, whereas TMD results primarily from peripheral nociceptor activation. Because some reports suggest that neuropathic pain is associated with changes in brain anatomy, it is possible that TNP is maintained by changes in higher brain structures, whereas TMD is not. The aim of this investigation is to determine whether changes in regional brain anatomy and biochemistry occur in both conditions. Twenty-one TNP subjects, 20 TMD subjects, and 36 healthy controls were recruited. Voxel-based morphometry of T1-weighted anatomical images revealed no significant regional gray matter volume change in TMD patients. In contrast, gray matter volume of TNP patients was reduced in the primary somatosensory cortex, anterior insula, putamen, nucleus accumbens, and the thalamus, whereas gray matter volume was increased in the posterior insula. The thalamic volume decrease was only seen in the TNP patients classified as having trigeminal neuropathy but not those with trigeminal neuralgia. Furthermore, in trigeminal neuropathy patients, magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed a significant reduction in the N-acetylaspartate/creatine ratio, a biochemical marker of neural viability, in the region of thalamic volume loss. The data suggest that the pathogenesis underlying neuropathic and non-neuropathic pain conditions are fundamentally different and that neuropathic pain conditions that result from peripheral injuries may be generated and/or maintained by structural changes in regions such as the thalamus.
Procrastination determination for periodic real-time tasks in leakage-aware dynamic voltage scaling systems.

Many computing systems have adopted the dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) technique to reduce energy consumption by slowing down operation speed. However, The longer a job executes, the more energy in leakage current the processor consumes for the job. To reduce the power/energy consumption from the leakage current, a processor can enter the dormant mode. Existing research results for leakage-aware DVS scheduling perform procrastination of real-time jobs greedily so that the idle time can be aggregated as long as possible to turn off the processor. This paper proposes algorithms for the procrastination determination of periodic real-time tasks in uniprocessor systems. Instead of greedy procrastination, the procrastination procedures are applied only when the evaluated energy consumption is less than not procrastination. Evaluation results show that our proposed algorithms could derive energy-efficient solutions and outperform existing algorithms. Keywords: Energy-aware systems. Scheduling, Leakage-aware scheduling. Dynamic voltage scaling. Job procrastination.
Protection Motivation Theory: Understanding Determinants to Backing Up Personal Data

This study uses Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) as a theoretical framework to empirically test why people back up data on their personal computers. The theory was tested using 112 surveys collected using both paper and online data sources. The findings show that computer self-efficacy and response efficacy both positively affect the backing up of data, while perceived security vulnerability and perceived security threat both negatively affect the backing up of data. The results and implications of these findings suggest further research is necessary to fully understand the relationship between security threats and protective behaviors.
Early Discharge After Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: The Added Value of N‐Terminal Pro–Brain Natriuretic Peptide to the Zwolle Risk Score

Background The Zwolle Risk Score (ZRS) identifies ST‐elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) eligible for early discharge. We aimed to investigate whether baseline N‐terminal pro–brain natriuretic peptide (NT‐proBNP) is also able to identify these patients and could improve future risk strategies. Methods and Results PPCI patients included in the Ongoing Tirofiban in Myocardial Infarction Evaluation (On‐TIME) II study were candidates (N=861). We analyzed whether ZRS and baseline NT‐proBNP predicted 30‐day mortality and assessed the occurrence of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) and major bleeding. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to assess discriminative accuracy for ZRS, NT‐pro‐BNP, and their combination. After multiple imputation, 845 patients were included. Both ZRS >3 (hazard ratio [HR]=9.42; P<0.001) and log NT‐pro‐BNP (HR=2.61; P<0.001) values were associated with 30‐day mortality. On multivariate analysis, both the ZRS (HR=1.41; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.27 to 1.56; P<0.001) and log NT‐proBNP (HR=2.09; 95% CI=1.59 to 2.74; P<0.001) independently predicted death at 30 days. The area under the curve for 30‐day mortality for combined ZRS/NT‐proBNP was 0.94 (95% CI=0.90 to 0.99), with optimal predictive values of a ZRS ≥2 and a NT‐proBNP value of ≥200 pg/mL. Using these cut‐off values, 64% of the study population could be identified as very low risk with zero mortality at 30 days follow‐up and low occurrence of MACEs and major bleeding between 48 hours and 10 days (1.3% and 0.6%, respectively). Conclusion Baseline NT‐proBNP identifies a large group of low‐risk patients who may be eligible for early (48‐ to 72‐hour) discharge, whereas optimal predictive accuracy is reached by the combination of both baseline NT‐proBNP and ZRS.
Urine arsenic and prevalent albuminuria: evidence from a population-based study.

BACKGROUND Long-term arsenic exposure is a major global health problem. However, few epidemiologic studies have evaluated the association of arsenic with kidney measures. Our objective was to evaluate the cross-sectional association between inorganic arsenic exposure and albuminuria in American Indian adults from rural areas of Arizona, Oklahoma, and North and South Dakota. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional. SETTING & PARTIPANTS: Strong Heart Study locations in Arizona, Oklahoma, and North and South Dakota. 3,821 American Indian men and women aged 45-74 years with urine arsenic and albumin measurements. PREDICTOR Urine arsenic. OUTCOMES Urine albumin-creatinine ratio and albuminuria status. MEASUREMENTS Arsenic exposure was estimated by measuring total urine arsenic and urine arsenic species using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) and high-performance liquid chromatography-ICPMS, respectively. Urine albumin was measured by automated nephelometric immunochemistry. RESULTS The prevalence of albuminuria (albumin-creatinine ratio ≥30 mg/g) was 30%. Median value for the sum of inorganic and methylated arsenic species was 9.7 (IQR, 5.8-15.6) μg per gram of creatinine. Multivariable-adjusted prevalence ratios of albuminuria (albumin-creatinine ratio ≥30 mg/g) comparing the 3 highest to lowest quartiles of the sum of inorganic and methylated arsenic species were 1.16 (95% CI, 1.00-1.34), 1.24 (95% CI, 1.07-1.43), and 1.55 (95% CI, 1.35-1.78), respectively (P for trend <0.001). The association between urine arsenic and albuminuria was observed across all participant subgroups evaluated and was evident for both micro- and macroalbuminuria. LIMITATIONS The cross-sectional design cannot rule out reverse causation. CONCLUSIONS Increasing urine arsenic concentrations were cross-sectionally associated with increased albuminuria in a rural US population with a high burden of diabetes and obesity. Prospective epidemiologic and mechanistic evidence is needed to understand the role of arsenic as a kidney disease risk factor.
Transport Inhibition of Digoxin Using Several Common P-gp Expressing Cell Lines Is Not Necessarily Reporting Only on Inhibitor Binding to P-gp

We have reported that the P-gp substrate digoxin required basolateral and apical uptake transport in excess of that allowed by digoxin passive permeability (as measured in the presence of GF120918) to achieve the observed efflux kinetics across MDCK-MDR1-NKI (The Netherlands Cancer Institute) confluent cell monolayers. That is, GF120918 inhibitable uptake transport was kinetically required. Therefore, IC50 measurements using digoxin as a probe substrate in this cell line could be due to inhibition of P-gp, of digoxin uptake transport, or both. This kinetic analysis is now extended to include three additional cell lines: MDCK-MDR1-NIH (National Institute of Health), Caco-2 and CPT-B2 (Caco-2 cells with BCRP knockdown). These cells similarly exhibit GF120918 inhibitable uptake transport of digoxin. We demonstrate that inhibition of digoxin transport across these cell lines by GF120918, cyclosporine, ketoconazole and verapamil is greater than can be explained by inhibition of P-gp alone. We examined three hypotheses for this non-P-gp inhibition. The inhibitors can: (1) bind to a basolateral digoxin uptake transporter, thereby inhibiting digoxin's cellular uptake; (2) partition into the basolateral membrane and directly reduce membrane permeability; (3) aggregate with digoxin in the donor chamber, thereby reducing the free concentration of digoxin, with concomitant reduction in digoxin uptake. Data and simulations show that hypothesis 1 was found to be uniformly acceptable. Hypothesis 2 was found to be uniformly unlikely. Hypothesis 3 was unlikely for GF120918 and cyclosporine, but further studies are needed to completely adjudicate whether hetero-dimerization contributes to the non-P-gp inhibition for ketoconazole and verapamil. We also find that P-gp substrates with relatively low passive permeability such as digoxin, loperamide and vinblastine kinetically require basolateral uptake transport over that allowed by +GF120918 passive permeability, while highly permeable P-gp substrates such as amprenavir, quinidine, ketoconazole and verapamil do not, regardless of whether they actually use the basolateral transporter.
Distributive and Procedural Justice for Self and Others

Tendencies to believe in justice are multidimensional, and some justice beliefs enhance personal well-being. These features suggest a considerable but largely overlooked potential for similarities and differences in the structure, endorsement, and wellness-promoting functions of justice beliefs across cultures. In the current research, we evaluate a recently available four-factor conceptualization of justice beliefs in samples of university students from the United States, Canada, India, and China (total N = 922). Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the proposed four-factor model was structurally invariant, suggesting that individuals from all four cultures could be characterized according to their beliefs about distributive and procedural justice for both self and others. Cross-cultural comparisons revealed no mean differences in beliefs about distributive justice for self, whereas beliefs about procedural justice for self were higher in Canada and China than in the United States or India. In parallel, beliefs about distributive and procedural justice for others were higher in Eastern than in Western cultures. In all four cultures, a belief in distributive justice for self was associated with greater life satisfaction, whereas a belief in procedural justice for self was additionally associated in Canada and China only. No associations between beliefs about justice for others and life satisfaction were observed in any culture. The current research provides initial support for the cross-cultural viability of a four-factor approach to measuring dispositional tendencies to believe in justice. We discuss implications and opportunities for the continued study of justice in cross-cultural research.
Deploying an Ecological Model to Stem the Rising Tide of Firearm Suicide in Older Age

ABSTRACT A central objective of the Surgeon General’s National Strategy for Suicide Prevention is to focus on older adults. We review individual risk-factors for suicide in late life and then introduce an ecological model to expand conceptualization of elder suicide. We first look at the role of firearms, providing evidence that firearm availability increases the means of elder suicide and gun access policies can contribute to reducing risk. Next, we focus on primary care providers, documenting how older adults often come into contact with these professionals before ending their lives and how these providers could take a more active role in mediating individual-level risk factors. We then turn our attention to the intersection between gun access and primary care and consider how advancing standards of care concerning gun access and suicide risk might be an effective policy alternative for blocking the pathway to suicide among older adults.