Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ROC curves in evaluation of serum fibrosis indices for hepatic fibrosis.

AIM Use Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to find out the relationship between serum level of hyaluronic acid (HA), type III procollagen (PCIII), N-terminal procollagen III peptide (PIIINP), laminin (LN), type IV collagen (C-IV) and hepatic fibrosis, as well as to determine their value in clinical practice. METHODS 114 serum samples from chronic hepatitis patients were assayed for fibrosis indices including HA, PCIII, PIIINP, LN and IV-C with radioimmunoassay (RIA). Liver biopsy was also performed in all these patients and the biopsy material was examined histopathologically. RESULTS ROC curves analysis showed that area under the curve (AUC) of PIIINP, HA, PCIII, C-IV and LN was 0.800, 0.728, 0.727, 0.583 and 0.463, respectively. The analysis also showed that PIIINP (r=0.452), HA (r=0.497) and PCIII (r=0.404) have greater diagnosis performances than C-IV(r=0.238) and LN (r=0.128) according to fibrosis staging. The sensitivity of HA plus PIIINP was 55.1 %, it was the most sensitive combination. Combined three or more than three indices that based on HA, the specificity was 100 %. Using combination assays can improve the specificity, but its sensitivity was not high. Serum fibrosis indices increased as the grade of inflammation aggravated. But only PIIINP and PCIII had significant difference between G1 and G2 (PIIINP: 13.16+/-8.07 vs 8.32+/-5.09; PCIII: 164.22+/-65.69 vs 138.23+/-77.63). The coefficient correlation of the results of inflammation grade and fibrosis staging to HA was 0.525 and 0.553 respectively, that to PCIII, 0.446 and 0.412, that to LN, 0.234 and 0.194, and that to IV-C, 0.363 and 0.351, respectively. CONCLUSION Serum fibrosis indices can indicate tendency of hepatic fibrosis, but it cannot replace liver biopsy. However, as diagnostic markers, more efficient serum fibrosis indices for the diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis need to be explored.
Life Satisfaction in Three Countries

Studies addressing factors of Life Satisfaction have focused on how individuals in particular societies experience their lives as worthwhile, enjoyable, and fulfilling and indicated a range of individual and cultural factors shape individual perceptions of Life Satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to compare the Life Satisfaction of adults from the United States, Turkey, and Germany. Participants included 163 (84 women and 79 men) from the USA, 172 (70 women, 88 men) from Germany, and 174 (79 women and 95 men) from Turkey. Significant mean differences by country were found on Life Satisfaction. Post hoc Tukey HSD tests indicated that U.S. participants reported higher Life Satisfaction than German or Turkish groups. Country differences were also found on Health Satisfaction, a predictor of Life Satisfaction. Stepwise multiple regressions involving the Turkish sample and a subsample of the American participants indicated some consistency in other factors predicting Life Satisfaction ratings; in particular, being “Too Busy” was negatively related to Life Satisfaction for both U.S. and Turkish participants. These findings support previous research indicating several factors such as health and national economic well-being influence Life Satisfaction.
Impact of comorbidity on medication use in elderly patients with cardiovascular diseases: the OCTOCARDIO study

Background: Recommended medications are under-prescribed in elderly patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), coronary artery disease (CAD), and congestive heart failure (CHF). The relationship between under-prescribing and comorbidity is unclear. Design: Single-day observational study. Methods: Analysis of medications taken by patients aged 80 years or over at the time of their admission to cardiology units of 32 French hospitals. Comorbidity was measured using the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI). Results: The study included 510 patients (57% men, mean age 85 years). History of AF, CHF, and CAD was present in 213 (42%), 199 (39%), and 187 (37%) patients, respectively. CCI was 0 in 110 (22%), 1–2 in 215 (42%), and ≥3 in 185 (36%) patients. Vitamin K antagonists (VKA) were prescribed to 105 (49%) and aspirin to 86 (40%) patients with AF. CCI did not influence VKA prescription but influenced aspirin use, with lower prescription rates in patients with CCI 1–2 than CCI 0 or CCI ≥3 (p = 0.02). In CHF, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and β-blockers were prescribed to 80 (40%) and 96 (48%) patients, respectively. Rates of prescription of ACEI, β-blockers, statins, and aspirin in patients with CAD were 43%, 56%, 56%, and 66%, respectively. CCI level did not influence any medication use in CHF and CAD. Conclusion: Even in the absence of comorbidity, elderly patients with major cardiovascular diseases are denied from indicated medical treatments probably because of their age alone. Implementing measures to enhance awareness of treatment benefits and promote appropriate prescribing is necessary.
Morphine Induces CD4+ T Cell IL-4 Expression through an Adenylyl Cyclase Mechanism Independent of the Protein Kinase A Pathway1

Impaired host defense mechanisms after major operative procedures and trauma are recognized as important factors in the development of infectious complication. Trauma is associated with impaired cellular immunity and CD4+ T cell Th2 differentiation. We have previously implicated morphine treatment as a possible mechanism for Th2 differentiation after injury. In this investigation we first establish that morphine treatment in vivo results in Th2 differentiation and that this effect is mediated through a naltrexone-sensitive opioid receptor. We investigated the intracellular mechanism by which morphine controls CD4+ T cell differentiation and demonstrate that morphine treatment in vitro 1) increases anti CD3/CD28 Ab-induced CD4+ T cell IL-4 protein synthesis, IL-4 mRNA, and GATA-3 mRNA accumulation through a pertussis toxin-sensitive receptor; 2) results in a dose-dependent increase in anti-CD3/CD28 Ab-induced CD4+ T cell cytoplasmic cAMP concentration; and 3) increases the forskolin-stimulated cytoplasmic cAMP level through a pertussis toxin-sensitive receptor. We also demonstrate that chronic morphine treatment increases anti-CD3/CD28 Ab-induced IL-4 promoter activity and IL-4 immunoprotein expression through a p38 MAPK-dependent, but protein kinase A- and Erk1/Erk2-independent, mechanism.
Mitochondrial Dysfunction in the Elderly: Possible Role in Insulin Resistance

Insulin resistance is a major factor in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes in the elderly. To investigate how insulin resistance arises, we studied healthy, lean, elderly and young participants matched for lean body mass and fat mass. Elderly study participants were markedly insulin-resistant as compared with young controls, and this resistance was attributable to reduced insulin-stimulated muscle glucose metabolism. These changes were associated with increased fat accumulation in muscle and liver tissue assessed by 1Hnuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and with a ∼40% reduction in mitochondrial oxidative and phosphorylation activity, as assessed by in vivo 13C/31P NMR spectroscopy. These data support the hypothesis that an age-associated decline in mitochondrial function contributes to insulin resistance in the elderly.
Efficient very large scale integration power/ground network sizing based on equivalent circuit modeling

We present an efficient method of minimizing the area of power/ground (P/G) networks in integrated circuit layouts subject to reliability constraints. Instead of directly sizing the original P/G network extracted from a circuit layout, as done previously, the new method first constructs a reduced but electrically equivalent P/G network. Then the sequence of linear programming method is applied to optimize the reduced network. The solution of the original network is then backsolved from the optimized reduced network. The new method exploits the regularities in the P/G networks to reduce the complexities of P/G networks. Experimental results show that the sizes of reduced networks are typically significantly smaller than that of the original networks. The resulting algorithm is fast enough that P/G networks with more than one million branches can be sized in a few minutes on modern Sun workstations.
Effects of Electroacupuncture on Stress-Related Symptoms in Medical Students: A Randomised Placebo-Controlled Study

Objective To assess the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on relieving stress-related symptoms—sleep disorders, anxiety, depression and burnout—in medical students. Methods Eighty-two students were randomised into an EA treatment group (n=30), a sham TENS group (n=18) and an untreated control group (n=34). EA was applied at a continuous frequency of 2 Hz to the limbs, face, ears and scalp for 20 min once a week, over 6–8 weeks. Sham transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) was performed on similar sites for the same number of times in each session and for the same length of time. Outcome measurements included a comparison of the indices obtained by different self-applied questionnaires before and after treatment. The surveys used were the Mini-Sleep Questionnaire (MSQ), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories (BDI and BAI) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory—Student Survey (MBI-SS), in addition to the Quality of Life Questionnaire—abbreviated version (WHOQOL-bref). Results EA significantly improved scores on the MSQ, PSQI, BDI and the cynicism and academic efficacy (AE) dimensions of the MBI-SS in relation to the control. Sleep quality (MSQ) improved from 36.9 (SD 7.6) to 25.0 (5.7) with EA, 37.6 (6.0) to 32.1 (6.9) with sham TENS, and 36.5 (5.9) to 33.6 (6.7) in the controls (p=0.0000). Compared with the sham TENS group, EA significantly reduced scores on the PSQI. Score improvements in the sham TENS group in relation to control group were significant in the MSQ, BDI and AE. In the EA group, the number of students with better scores after intervention was significantly higher for the MSQ, PSQI, ESS and BAI. This only occurred for the MSQ in the sham TENS group and for the MSQ and ESS in the control group. Conclusions EA significantly reduced stress-related mental symptoms. The improvement obtained by sham TENS compared with the control group confirmed the presence of a placebo effect resulting from the treatment ritual.
2D–3D Magnetic equivalent circuit of the flux focusing permanent magnets synchronous machine

This paper presents a 2D and 3D Magnetic Equivalent Circuit (MEC) of the flux focusing permanent magnet synchronous machine. The proposed model is based on reluctance mesh of the structure in order to have a high precision model and to take into account all leakage flux. The saturation effects and rotor motion are taking into account in the proposed model. The extension from 2D to 3D is detailed. The obtained results of 2D and 3D models are compared to finites elements model and validated by experimental measurements.
Differential antihypertensive effects of clonidine in different models of experimental hypertension in rats

While investigating the blood pressure lowering activity of different antihypertensive agents, it was found that the extent of hypotensive effect of clonidine was dissimilar in different models of experimental hypertension (Dohadwalla et a1 1978). Furthermore, it has been reported that small initial doses of clonidine lowered blood pressure. As the dose was increased, the blood pressure became refractory to the action of drug (Conolly et al 1972). These findings prompted us to investigate the possible factors responsible for the differential hypotensive activity of clonidine in male spontaneously hypertensive (SH), renal hypertensive (RH) and deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) hypertensive rats. S H rats were direct descendants of the original strain developed by Okamoto & Aoki (1963). For renal hypertension, rats were made hypertensive by clamping the left renal artery with silver clip (aperture 0.2 mm), leaving contralateral kidney intact (Goldblatt et a1 1934). Mineralocorticoid hypertension was induced by implantation of 4 pellets (25 mg each) of DOCA, subcutaneously after removing the left kidney and substituting 1.0 % sodium chloride solution for drinking water (Peterfalvi & Jequier 1960). Systolic blood pressures were determined in conscious rats by the tail-cuff method using a piezo-electric detector. Animals with systolic blood pressure of 160 mm Hg and above were considered hypertensive. Clonidine was administered daily for 5 days. Clonidine (0.1 mg kg-I, orally) caused a marked fall in systolic blood pressure in SH rats, less of a fall i n R H rats and least in DOCA rats. Even though there was no significant difference in the extent of hypotensive activity in all three models of hypertension on day one, the subsequent fall in blood pressure in SH rats was significantly greater (P <0401) than that seen in R H and DOCA rats (Fig. 1). This differential hypotensive activity seen in RH and DOCA rats may be attributed to the hyperreactivity of blood vessels to peripheral a-receptor agonistic activity of clonidine. This view is further supported by the recent observations that high doses of clonidine exhibited resistance to its own hypotensive activity, because of it increasing peripheral vasoconstriction (Wing et al 1977). In view of these findings, we have investigated the action of clonidine on the peripheral vascular bed by perfusing the vascularlyisolated, but neurologically intact, mesenteric artery preparation in hypertensive rats. Animals were anaesthetized with a combination of Days
Cognate Effects in Sentence Context Depend on Word Class, L2 Proficiency, and Task

Noun translation equivalents that share orthographic and semantic features, called “cognates”, are generally recognized faster than translation equivalents without such overlap. This cognate effect, which has also been obtained when cognates and noncognates were embedded in a sentence context, emerges from the coactivation of representations in two languages. The present study examined whether cognate facilitation in sentences is subject to effects of word class, reading proficiency in a second language (L2), and task demands. We measured eye movements (Experiment 1) and self-paced reading times (Experiment 2) for Dutch–English bilinguals reading L2 sentences that contained either a noun or a verb cognate. Results showed that cognate effects were smaller for verbs than for nouns. Furthermore, cognate facilitation was reduced for readers with a higher proficiency in L2 as expressed by self-ratings or reading speed in L2. Additionally, the results of the eye-movement study and the self-paced reading study indicated that the likelihood of observing cognate facilitation effects also depends on task demands. The obtained pattern of results helps to identify some of the boundaries of the cognate effect.
Efficacy of glycolic acid peels in the treatment of melasma.

BACKGROUND Melasma is an acquired hypermelanosis that is often recalcitrant to treatment with hypopigmenting agents. OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy of 4% hydroquinone cream vs 4% hydroquinone cream combined with glycolic acid peels as treatment for melasma. METHODS Twenty-one Hispanic women with bilateral epidermal and mixed melasma were enrolled in a split-faced prospective trial lasting 8 weeks. Patients underwent 20% to 30% glycolic acid peels every 2 weeks to one side of the face only in addition to twice-daily full-face application of 4% hydroquinone cream and sun protective factor 25 UV-B sunscreen each morning. Pigmentation was measured objectively using a mexameter and the Melasma Area and Severity Index and subjectively using a linear analog scale and physician and patient global evaluation. RESULTS Hydroquinone treatment alone and treatment with the combination of hydroquinone and glycolic acid had a significant effect in reducing skin pigmentation compared with baseline (P<.001). However, no significant difference was found using combination therapy compared with hydroquinone alone (P =.75). CONCLUSIONS Use of 4% hydroquinone and a daily sunscreen is effective in the treatment of melasma; however, the addition of 4 glycolic acid peels did not enhance the hypopigmenting effect of hydroquinone treatment alone.
CONTINUOUS LABELLING STUDIES ON MOUSE SKIN AND INTESTINE

Data are presented for changes in absolute radioactivity levels and labelling indices (LI) in three tissues: jejunum, colon and dorsal skin in the mouse during conditions of repeated (every 3 hr for 168 hr) 3H‐TdR (5 μCi) injections. The lengths of S and the cell cycle were estimated. The crypt and mucosal transit times were evaluated. There is a slowly cycling subpopulation in the crypt which may be the goblet cell precursors or a crypt stem cell population. The skin LI data cannot be fitted by a single straight line and the procedure of continuously handling or injecting the animals appears to result in a disturbance of the steady state. The liquid scintillation data for all samples showed some consistent and surprisingly large fluctuations and a clear deviation from linear uptake with increasing time.
Real Time Prediction of Drive by Download Attacks on Twitter

The popularity of Twitter for information discovery, coupled with the automatic shortening of URLs to save space, given the 140 character limit, provides cyber criminals with an opportunity to obfuscate the URL of a malicious Web page within a tweet. Once the URL is obfuscated the cyber criminal can lure a user to click on it with enticing text and images before carrying out a cyber attack using a malicious Web server. This is known as a drive-by- download. In a drive-by-download a user's computer system is infected while interacting with the malicious endpoint, often without them being made aware, the attack has taken place. An attacker can gain control of the system by exploiting unpatched system vulnerabilities and this form of attack currently represents one of the most common methods employed. In this paper, we build a machine learning model using machine activity data and tweet meta data to move beyond post-execution classification of such URLs as malicious, to predict a URL will be malicious with 99.2% F-measure (using 10-fold cross validation) and 83.98% (using an unseen test set) at 1 second into the interaction with the URL. Thus providing a basis from which to kill the connection to the server before an attack has completed and proactively blocking and preventing an attack, rather than reacting and repairing at a later date.
FIP 200 is required for the cell-autonomous maintenance of fetal hematopoietic stem cells

1Division of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI; 2Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences, University of Michigan School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, MI; and 3Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, 4Life Sciences Institute, Center for Stem Cell Biology, and 5Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
P-type ATPases Mediate Sodium and Potassium Effluxes inSchwanniomyces occidentalis*

Two genes isolated from Schwanniomyces occidentalis, ENA1 and ENA2, encode P-type ATPases highly homologous to the Na-ATPases ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae and complement the Na+sensitivity of an S. cerevisiae mutant strain lacking its own Na-ATPases. The expression of both ENA1 andENA2 was highly dependent on a high external pH, but whereas a high pH was sufficient for the expression ofENA2, the expression of ENA1 required a high pH and the presence of Na+. Disruption of ENA1rendered the cells less tolerant to Na+ than the wild-type strain and decreased their capacity for Na+ extrusion. Disruption of ENA2 did not affect Na+tolerance, but decreased both the growth at high pH and K+efflux. We discuss these results and propose that fungal Na-ATPases should be considered alkali cation ATPases. By sequence comparison, we found that fungal Na-ATPases form a homogeneous group that can be distinguished from other cation-pumping P-type ATPases, except from the cta3 Ca-ATPase of Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
Information consultancy and brokerage in Botswana

Limited empirical research on information consultancy and brokerage is documented and almost nothing originates from authors in the developing countries despite the upsurge of reasons for involvement in the services provided in the region. However, in considering investment in consultancy and brokerage services in a unique and unknown consumer environment such as Africa, it would be fool-hardy to ignore the complexities posed by the coexistence of an information-conscious population on the one hand and a semi-literate population on the other. This study investigates the need for information consultancy and brokerage services in Botswana for the advice, creation and development of information consultancy and brokerage services in the country. The study was conducted in Botswana and data was collected in Gaborone, which has 34.3% of the urban population, including 10% of the national population, and is also the capital city and seat for government and private agencies in the country. Data was collected by means of questionnaires and interviews with the public and private sectors as well as information consultants and brokers. The analysis of data and the subsequent results revealed that, while Botswana has information consultants and brokers, there is a need for their services in management mainly but also in information technology, information systems and informal training. Unexplored and less-exploited markets exist in both the private and public sector. So far, access to information used by clients is mainly through private contacts (70.6%), office files (69.6%), mass media (60.3%) and information consultancy and brokerage (34%). The study recommends that coordination, marketing, promotion and publicity of information consultancy and brokerage activities are essential. The areas identified for consultancy services need to be developed and exploited, clients’ awareness of the usefulness of information management be created and the consultants and brokers be readily available when needed. The study provides a basis for market analysis that can benefit training institutions in librarianship and information management in capacity building.
The Logic of Representing Dependencies by Directed Graphs

Data-dependencies of the type "x can tell us more about y given that we already know z" can be represented in various formalisms: Probabilistic Dependencies, Embedded-Multi-Valued Dependencies, Undirected Graphs and Directed-Acyclic Graphs (DAGs). This paper provides an axiomatic basis, called a semigraphoid, which captures the structure common to all four types of dependencies and explores the expressive power of DAGs in representing various types of data dependencies. It is shown that DAGs can represent a richer set of dependencies than undirected graphs, that DAGs completely represent the closure of their specification bases, and that they offer an effective computational device for testing membership in that closure as well as inferring new dependencies from given inputs. These properties might explain the prevailing use of DAGs in causal reasoning and semantic nets.