Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of nitric oxide‐cyclic guanosine monophosphate signaling during metamorphosis of the nudibranch Phestilla sibogae Bergh (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia)

SUMMARY The gas nitric oxide (NO), and in some cases its downstream second messenger, cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) function in different taxa to regulate the timing of life‐history transitions. Increased taxonomic sampling is required to foster conclusions about the evolution and function of NO/cGMP signaling during life‐history transitions. We report on the function and localization of NO and cGMP signaling during metamorphosis of the nudibranch Phestilla sibogae. Pharmacological manipulation of NO or cGMP production in larvae modulated responses to a natural settlement cue from the coral Porites compressa in a manner that suggest inhibitory function for NO/cGMP signaling. However, these treatments were not sufficient to induce metamorphosis in the absence of cue, a result unique to this animal. We show that induction of metamorphosis in response to the settlement cue is associated with a reduction in NO production. We documented the expression of putative NO synthase (NOS) and the production of cGMP during larval development and observed no larval cells in which NOS and cGMP were both detected. The production of cGMP in a bilaterally symmetrical group of cells fated to occupy the distal tip of rhinophores is correlated with competence to respond to the coral settlement cue. These results suggest that endogenous NO and cGMP are involved in modulating responses of P. sibogae to a natural settlement cue. We discuss these results with respect to habitat selection and larval ecology.
Vibrant Soundbridge Surgery in Patients With Severe External Otitis: Complications of a Transcanal Approach

Objective: To evaluate the transcanal surgical implantation of the semi-implantable Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) device in patients with severe external otitis. Study Design: Retrospective analysis. Methods: Long-term postoperative complications and postoperative hearing thresholds were evaluated in 13 adults with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (average of between 40 and 55 dB HL) and therapy-resistant external otitis after implantation of the VSB by a transcanal surgical method. Results: Postoperative audiometry findings were comparable with those reported after the transmastoidal posterior tympanotomy approach. In 2 patients, the chorda tympani was intentionally sacrificed to maximize the size of the facial recess. Seven postoperative complications occurred in 6 patients (46%) during a mean follow-up period of 51 months: extrusion of the conducting wire into the ear canal (n = 5), collapse of the cartilaginous part of the ear canal (n = 1), and tympanic membrane perforation (n = 1). In the revision operations that added additional layers of fascia for the patients with wire extrusions, repeated extrusion occurred in 3 of 4 cases. Conclusion: The transcanal approach for the implantation of the VSB has led to postoperative complications different from those reported after the transmastoidal posterior tympanotomy approach. External otitis should be considered as a contraindication for VSB surgery by the transcanal approach.
Concomitant responses of upper airway stabilizing muscles to transcranial magnetic stimulation in normal men

Upper airway stabilizing muscles play a crucial role in the maintenance of upper airway patency. Transcranial magnetic stimulation allows the investigation of the corticomotor activation process for respiratory muscles. This technique has also been used to evaluate the genioglossus corticomotor response. The aims of this study were to characterize the response of different upper airway stabilizing muscles to focal cortical stimulation of the genioglossus. Alae nasi, genioglossus, levator palatini, palatoglossus and diaphragm motor‐evoked potential responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation were recorded during expiration, tidal inspiration and deep inspiration in nine normal awake subjects. A concomitant response of the four studied upper airway muscles was observed in the majority of cortical stimuli. The response of these muscles was independent of the diaphragmatic one that was only occasionally observed. Significant positive relationships were found between alae nasi, levator palatini and palatoglossus motor‐evoked potential latencies and amplitudes and the corresponding values of the genioglossus. We conclude that transcranial magnetic stimulation applied in the genioglossus area induces a concomitant motor response of upper airway stabilizing muscles with consistent changes in their motor responses during inspiratory manoeuvres.
Reactive oxygen species contribute to the presynaptic action of extracellular ATP at the frog neuromuscular junction

During normal cell metabolism the production of intracellular ATP is associated with the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which appear to be important signalling molecules. Both ATP and ROS can be released extracellularly by skeletal muscle during intense activity. Using voltage clamp recording combined with imaging and biochemical assay of ROS, we tested the hypothesis that at the neuromuscular junction extracellular ATP generates ROS to inhibit transmitter release from motor nerve endings. We found that ATP produced the presynaptic inhibitory action on multiquantal end‐plate currents. The inhibitory action of ATP (but not that of adenosine) was significantly reduced by several antioxidants or extracellular catalase, which breaks down H2O2. Consistent with these data, the depressant effect of ATP was dramatically potentiated by the pro‐oxidant Fe2+. Exogenous H2O2 reproduced the depressant effects of ATP and showed similar sensitivity to anti‐ and pro‐oxidants. While NO also inhibited synaptic transmission, inhibitors of the NO‐producing cascade did not prevent the depressant action of ATP. The ferrous oxidation in xylenol orange assay showed the increase of ROS production by ATP and 2‐MeSADP but not by adenosine. Suramin, a non‐selective antagonist of P2 receptors, and pertussis toxin prevented the action of ATP on ROS production. Likewise, imaging with the ROS‐sensitive dye carboxy‐2′,7′‐dichlorodihydrofluorescein revealed increased production of ROS in the muscle treated with ATP or ADP while UTP or adenosine had no effect. Thus, generation of ROS contributed to the ATP‐mediated negative feedback mechanism controlling quantal secretion of ACh from the motor nerve endings.
Autosomal recessive diseases among the Athabaskans of the Southwestern United States: Recent advances and implications for the future

Genetic and linguistic data suggest that the Na‐Dene, of which the Athabaskans are the largest group, are part of a later immigration into the Americas than the first Amerind immigration. Whether a second and third immigration can be separated seems unlikely but continued cross‐Bering Strait exchanges may have masked what was a greater separation in the past. The movement of tribes into Siberia appears to have involved a genetic bottleneck leading to at least one disease allele shared by Eskimo/Aleuts and Navajos and a second possibly shared by the Navajo and a Siberian population, but not the same Siberian population that share deep linguistic affinities with the Navajo. A second bottleneck appears to have occurred with the migration of Athabaskans from Northwest North America to the Southwestern United States along the Rocky Mountains. This bottleneck is reflected in several rare recessive diseases shared by the Navajo and Apache. Finally, the Navajo were captured and imprisoned under conditions which led to severe population loss. This, and the “hiding away” of a small number of Navajos in what is now the Western portion of the reservation, led to a Navajo‐specific bottleneck(s) resulting in an increased frequency of several rare recessive diseases among the Navajo. Prejudice against human genetic research is high among the Southwestern Athabaskans but attempts to bridge the gap are now occurring. The involvement of Navajo scientists in this process is especially encouraging. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The effects of a web-based intervention on the physical outcomes associated with diabetes among adults age 60 and older: a randomized trial.

BACKGROUND The emergence of the World Wide Web in the last decade has made it feasible for the Internet to be a vehicle for chronic disease management. METHODS A randomized controlled trial (n = 62) testing the effects of a 6-month web-based intervention plus usual care, compared with usual care alone, among adults 60 years of age and older with diabetes. The outcomes were hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), blood pressure, weight, cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels. RESULTS A multivariate analysis of covariance controlling for all baseline outcome variables, age, gender, and number of years with diabetes showed significant (P = 0.001) reductions in HbA1c, weight, and cholesterol level and significant improvement in HDL levels in the intervention versus the control group. CONCLUSIONS Findings show a web-based intervention was effective in improving HbA1c, weight, cholesterol, and HDL levels at a 6-month follow-up. Future research is needed to investigate the long-term effectiveness of web-based interventions.
Genetic networks controlling the development of midbrain dopaminergic neurons

Recent data have substantially advanced our understanding of midbrain dopaminergic neuron development. Firstly, a Wnt1‐regulated genetic network, including Otx2 and Nkx2‐2, and a Shh‐controlled genetic cascade, including Lmx1a, Msx1 and Nkx6‐1, have been unravelled, acting in parallel or sequentially to establish a territory competent for midbrain dopaminergic precursor production at relatively early stages of neural development. Secondly, the same factors (Wnt1 and Lmx1a/Msx1) appear to regulate midbrain dopaminergic and/or neuronal fate specification in the postmitotic progeny of these precursors by controlling the expression of midbrain dopaminergic‐specific and/or general proneural factors at later stages of neural development. For the first time, early inductive events have thus been linked to later differentiation processes in midbrain dopaminergic neuron development. Given the pivotal importance of this neuronal population for normal function of the human brain and its involvement in severe neurological and psychiatric disorders such as Parkinson's Disease, these advances open new prospects for potential stem cell‐based therapies. We will summarize these new findings in the overall context of midbrain dopaminergic neuron development in this review.
On exploring ambivalent expression in Weibo

In the epoch of the Internet, tremendous developments of online social media provide abundant user data, which could vividly reflect users' activities, thoughts, and emotions. As a result, the online data from social media become a popular resource for the research of human being. Among these studies, the emotion research is one of the most important factors for us to understand and predict users' behaviors. However, the sentiment analysis for Chinese short text from social media is non-trivial, due to the instinctive characteristics of Chinese short text. Along this line, this paper focuses on the emotion expression in the Chinese twitter-like social media, Weibo, and proposes an innovative and reliable method to identify the positive, negative and even ambivalent emotion in Chinese tweets. The results on the emotion expression of Chinese Weibo reveal that ambivalent expression is more common in Weibo than in twitter. The sharp contrast is cause the Chinese Culture, which advocates the golden mean and encourages dialectic analysis. As Chinese Weibo users show stronger inclination of passive mood, there is more demand to release their negative emotion. The emotion shift detected in ambivalent tweets and especially the shift from negative to positive mood indicates that the ambivalent tweet is a kind of cognitive reappraisal strategy. Chinese users build new cognitions and different opinions to balance their positive and negative emotion, and finally reach the emotion middle course through the ambivalent tweets. The topic preference analysis also suggests that users who try to regulate their negative emotion and keep balanced mood are more interested in delightful topics like sports or entertainment, and avoid those sensitive topics like economy and politics. All these results help us understand the emotion state and behavior of Weibo users, especially from the perspective of dialectic moderate view.
Emotional Exhaustion in Offshore Call Centers: A Comparative Study

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to draw on a cognitive-affective personality system to test if the personality–emotional exhaustion–turnover intentions/perceived service quality relationships are valid among agents working in offshoring call centers. This is achieved by comparing these relationships between two groups' agents: (a) agents interacting with customers having the same national culture in a developed country (ACSC); and (b) agents in a developing country interacting with customers having a different national culture (ACDC). Data were collected from three call centers in Morocco, representing the ACDC group, and a call center in Canada which represented the ACSC group. Data was analyzed using two steps: (a) a paired-samples t-test; and (b) a path analysis using a bootstrap based on the Monte Carlo method. The findings reveal invariant measure of all our concepts, and significant differences between the two groups (ACDC and ACSC) with respect to some personality–emotional exhaustion–turnover intentions/perceived service quality relationships.
Urinary concentrations of bisphenol A in relation to biomarkers of sensitivity and effect and endocrine‐related health effects

The impact of endocrine‐disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on human health is not yet clear because of difficulties in ascertaining their biological effects. In the present study, we evaluated exposure to the EDC, bisphenol A (BPA), in 172 Koreans in relation to biomarkers of susceptibility and effect. The subjects completed questionnaires, which documented occupation, education, lifestyle factors, potential sources of BPA‐exposure, and the occurrence of self‐diagnosed endocrine disorders. None of the subjects were occupationallay exposed to BPA; however, urinary levels of conjugated BPA, determined by HPLC/FD, ranged from 0.03–62.4 μg/l (median, 7.86). The frequencies of potential susceptibility biomarkers, the UGT1A6‐Arg184Ser and the SULT1A1‐Arg213His polymorphisms, were not associated with urinary BPA levels, either as single genes or in combination. Indirect effects of BPA exposure on the susceptibility to mutagens were evaluated by comparing urinary BPA concentrations with MNNG‐induced sister‐chromatid exchange (SCE) in lymphocytes cultured from the subjects. BPA exposure showed marginal or significant associations with theSCEs induced by the low doses of MNNG (0–0.4 mM). However, there was no overall association between urinary BPA levels and MNNG‐induced frequency at doses ranging from 0.2–0.6 mM. Finally, we did not detect an association between urinary BPA concentration and endocrine‐related disorders. Even though we were unable to find a strong association between BPA exposure and a biological response, possibly because of the limited number of subjects, we observed that most of the subjects were exposed to BPA. Therefore, continuous biological monitoring of BPA is a prudent measure to prevent possible BPA‐related health risks. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. , 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Volatility Discovery: Can the CDS Market Beat the Equity Options Market?

Abstract In this study, we derive a CDS implied equity volatility index from highly liquid one-year contracts in the Eurozone, and for the inclusive period 2008–2014. We analyze the relationship between this volatility index and the VSTOXX 12 M within a fractionally cointegrated vector autoregressive (FCVAR) model. Our results confirm a stationary long-run equilibrium relationship between the two volatility indices in which the CDS implied index plays the leading role.
Loss Reserve Error in the Brazilian Insurance Market: empirical evidence of the response to economic and tax regulations

Purpose – This study aims to investigate whether insurance companies operating in the property and casualty lines manage their loss reserves in order to avoid further regulatory scrutiny and/or to reduce income tax values. Design/methodology/approach – This research is empirical-analytical and employs econometric modeling of specific discretionary accruals applied to a sample of 50 insurers operating in the Brazilian market analyzed during the period from 2008 to 2013. Findings – We found evidence of managerial discretion in loss reserves with the purpose of managing income tax for the period and also to give the impression of better solvency to both the insurance authority and the market, thus avoiding further regulatory intervention and favoring asymmetry. Moreover, the best performing companies tend to overestimate their loss reserves by reducing their profits to levels that do not alert the regulatory authority. This can be related to the practice of income smoothing. Originality/value – It is the first study in the Brazilian insurance market that utilizes the loss reserve errors in a specific accruals model to jointly study their impacts and three motivations for managers’ opportunistic behavior in relation to claims provisions.
Mechanism of Copper Surface Toxicity in Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci following Wet or Dry Surface Contact

ABSTRACT Contaminated touch surfaces have been implicated in the spread of hospital-acquired infections, and the use of biocidal surfaces could help to reduce this cross-contamination. In a previous study we reported the death of aqueous inocula of pathogenic Enterococcus faecalis or Enterococcus faecium isolates, simulating fomite surface contamination, in 1 h on copper alloys, compared to survival for months on stainless steel. In our current study we observed an even faster kill of over a 6-log reduction of viable enterococci in less than 10 min on copper alloys with a “dry” inoculum equivalent to touch contamination. We investigated the effect of copper(I) and copper(II) chelation and the quenching of reactive oxygen species on cell viability assessed by culture and their effects on genomic DNA, membrane potential, and respiration in situ on metal surfaces. We propose that copper surface toxicity for enterococci involves the direct or indirect action of released copper ionic species and the generation of superoxide, resulting in arrested respiration and DNA breakdown as the first stages of cell death. The generation of hydroxyl radicals by the Fenton reaction does not appear to be the dominant instrument of DNA damage. The bacterial membrane potential is unaffected in the early stages of wet and dry surface contact, suggesting that the membrane is not compromised until after cell death. These results also highlight the importance of correct surface cleaning protocols to perpetuate copper ion release and prevent the chelation of ions by contaminants, which could reduce the efficacy of the surface.
Acute and chronic job stressors among ambulance personnel: predictors of health symptoms

Objectives: To predict symptomatology (post-traumatic distress, fatigue, and burnout) due to acute and chronic work related stressors among ambulance personnel. Methods: Data were gathered from 123 ambulance workers in The Netherlands in a longitudinal design. At two measurements they completed standardised questionnaires to assess health symptoms, such as the Impact of Event Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the Checklist Individual Strength. Acute stressors were assessed with specific questions, and chronic work related stressors were measured with the Questionnaire on the Experience and Assessment of Work. Results: Most of the ambulance workers had been confronted with acute stressors in their work. They also reported more chronic work related stressors than a reference group. Of the participants, more than a tenth suffered from a clinical level of post-traumatic distress, a tenth reported a fatigue level that put them at high risk for sick leave and work disability and nearly a tenth of the personnel suffered from burnout. Best predictors of symptomatology at time 2 were lack of social support at work and poor communication, such as not being informed about important decisions within the organisation. Conclusions: Ambulance personnel are at risk to develop health symptoms due to work related stressors. Although, acute stressors are related to health symptoms, such as fatigue, burnout, and post-traumatic symptoms, it was not found to predict health symptoms in the long term. Main risk factors have to do with social aspects of the work environment, in particular lack of support from the supervisor as well as colleagues and poor communication. When implementing workplace interventions these social aspects need to be taken into account.
Racial and ethnic disparities in the survival of adolescents and young adults with acute myeloid leukemia: a retrospective study using the US National Cancer Data Base

Abstract Few studies have examined the effect of race on survival of adolescents and young adults (AYA) with acute myeloid leukemia. We studied patients in the US National Cancer Data Base aged 15–39 years diagnosed with AML from 2001 to 2011 (excluding acute promyelocytic leukemia). We examined overall survival (OS) according to race and determined OS trends over three time-periods: 2001–2004, 2005–2008, and 2009–2011. We identified 8684 patients, with a median follow-up of 62.8 months. Multivariable analysis showed that Blacks had a significantly worse (HR 1.21; 95%CI: 1.11–1.32) and Hispanics a significantly better OS (HR 0.90; 95%CI: 0.82–0.99) than Whites. OS improved over time among Whites only, with 1-year survival rates of 69, 72 and 74 months over the three time periods, respectively (p < .01). We found significant racial disparities in OS of AYA with AML. Further studies should examine clinician and patient care delivery factors that contribute to these disparities.
Unfolding the Spatial and Temporal Neural Processing of Making Dishonest Choices

To understand the neural processing that underpins dishonest behavior in an economic exchange game task, this study employed both functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related potential (ERP) methodologies to examine the neural conditions of 25 participants while they were making either dishonest or honest choices. It was discovered that dishonest choices, contrary to honest choices, elicited stronger fMRI activations in bilateral striatum and anterior insula. It also induced fluctuations in ERP amplitudes within two time windows, which are 270–30 milliseconds before and 110–290 milliseconds after the response, respectively. Importantly, when making either dishonest or honest choices, human and computer counterparts were associated with distinct fMRI activations in the left insula and different ERP amplitudes at medial and right central sites from 80 milliseconds before to 250 milliseconds after the response. These results support the hypothesis that there would be distinct neural processing during making dishonest decisions, especially when the subject considers the interests of the counterpart. Furthermore, the fMRI and ERP findings, together with ERP source reconstruction, clearly delineate the temporal sequence of the neural processes of a dishonest decision: the striatum is activated before response, then the left insula is involved around the time of response, and finally the thalamus is activated after response.