Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An epidemiologic survey of twins in a large, prospectively studied population.

Most epidemiologic studies of twins exclude pairs with no liveborn members, thus underestimating to a varying degree the incidence rate of twinning. The mortality rate of twins is more severely underestimated because abortions or fetuses below a a certain weight, even when known, are not considered among twin deaths. Both of these shortcomings are minimized in the present survey of twin births which occurred in the Collaborative Study of Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation, and Other Neurological and Sensory Disorders of Infancy and Childhood. This is a cooperative effort on the part of 14 institutions throughout the United States and the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health to observe and study events which affect the parents before and during pregnancy and to relate them to the outcome of pregnancy. To this end, approximately 60,000 pregnant women are being followed from the first months of their pregnancy, through labor and delivery, and up to the seventh year of the Study child's life. The Study population is about 45% white, 47% Negro, 7% Puerto Rican, and the rest a variety of other ethnic groups. The collection of information, medical examinations, and laboratory tests are done in uniform fashion and according to preestablished protocol. The prospective nature of the Study makes possible the recording of observations with high accuracy and the avoidance of biases inherent in other types of investigations. These advantages should also be reflected in the collection and evaluation of the twin data. BIRTH INCIDENCE AND ZYGOSITY
Clinical significance of p53 functional loss in squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx

We examined the frequency of p53 mutations in 38 oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), using both a yeast functional assay and a conventional immunohistochemical staining method (IHC) to detect p53 mutations.We also explored the clinical importance of p53 mutations in oropharyngeal SCC. An accumulation of p53 protein was detected in 17 of the 38 (45%) tumors by IHC, whereas the yeast‐based assay detected 6 additional p53 mutations, for a total of 23 tumors (61%) with p53 mutations. The cDNA sequencing analysis revealed that the 6 mutations undetected by IHC consisted of 3 frameshift, 1 nonsense and 2 missense mutations. Thus, the yeast functional assay was more sensitive than conventional IHC for detecting p53 mutations. Subsequently, the relationship between p53 mutations and the clinico‐pathological parameters in oropharyngeal SCC was evaluated using the results of the functional assay. Mutation of p53 was not associated with the patient age, sex, tumor stage or degree of tumor cell differentiation. Interestingly, heavy drinking had a significant positive correlation with the p53 mutation, but heavy smoking did not, suggesting that prolonged exposure to alcohol is more related to p53 mutation in oropharyngeal SCC than to tobacco consumption. Radiation sensitivity was examined by comparing tumor size on magnetic resonance images before and after completion of therapy with 45 Gy radiation, in the 18 cases of T2 oropharyngeal SCC that were initially treated by radiotherapy. The results showed that tumors with wild‐type p53 decreased in size significantly compared to those with mutant p53. In 33 patients treated with curative intent, the overall survival after the completion of therapy was better in patients with a wild‐type p53 tumor than in patients with a mutant p53 tumor. We conclude that p53 mutation is associated with radiation resistance and a decreased probability of survival in oropharyngeal SCC. Int. J. Cancer (Pred. Oncol.) 89:187–193, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Appetitive hormones, but not isoflavone tablets, influence overall and central adiposity in healthy postmenopausal women

Objective: One of the multiple health benefits of soy protein or its isoflavones may be their purported favorable effect on body composition. We examined the effect of isoflavones extracted from soy protein on overall and regional body composition, taking into account appetitive hormones as potential mediators, as well as the direct effect on appetitive hormones. Methods: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter trial included 229 healthy postmenopausal women (age, 45.8-65 y; body mass index, 24.9 ± 3.0 kg/m2) who consumed placebo or soy isoflavone (80 or 120 mg/d) tablets for 12 months. We used intent-to-treat analysis to examine changes in body composition (whole-body lean mass, whole-body fat mass, androidal fat mass, and androidal-to-gynoidal fat mass ratio) and appetitive hormones (insulin, leptin, ghrelin, and adiponectin) in response to treatment. Results: Repeated-measures analysis of variance indicated that soy isoflavone treatment did not exert a significant effect on body composition measures (P value from 0.36 to 0.79) or appetitive hormone concentrations; the inclusion of covariates in statistical models did not alter these results. Independently of treatment, leptin and ghrelin related inversely to each body composition measure (P values from 0.044 to ≤0.0001). Adiponectin related inversely to all fat measures (P values from 0.0004 to <0.0001). Time since last menstrual period related directly to all fat measures (P values from 0.06 to 0.0055). Dietary fat contributed to whole-body (P = 0.028) and androidal (P = 0.017) fat mass. Conclusions: Our findings do not support a favorable effect of soy isoflavone tablets on body composition in healthy postmenopausal women.
Enhancing learning experience of e-learners in laboratory courses using pair programming

Laboratory courses constitute one of the core competencies that graduates from information systems discipline are expected to possess. Laboratory courses in e-learning are just a curricular formality without bothering about the part played by such learning experiences. Lot of practice is required for e-learners for acquiring a good learning experience, for which motivation is an essential factor. Research has suggested that the lack of a formalised structure for laboratory courses may be one of the factors responsible for learners’ negative impressions of e-learning and also for the high failure rate in elearning. Ability to work in teams has been considered one of the most important learning outcomes of the laboratory courses. This study highlights the importance of laboratory courses in e-learning and investigates whether the use of pair programming in laboratory courses would enhance the learning experience of e-learners. The final objective is to provide new learning experience to motivate e-learners and present laboratory courses as an easy and attractive challenge using pair programming. Experiments were conducted in data structures, problem solving and C programming courses. Results indicate that the learning experience of both the learners and teachers were improved in laboratory course and also showed an improvement in failure rate.
Design of multipath routing scheme with load balancing in MPLS-network

In the paper the mathematical model of multipath routing with load balancing in the MPLS network is proposed. This model describes the processes of routing and distribution links resource. This model takes into account the characters of links (duplex, half-duplex or simplex links) and prevents the effect of packets looping. And criterion of load balancing in proposed model is quality service parameters.
Aryl hydrocarbon (Ah) nonresponsiveness in estrogen receptor-negative MDA-MB-231 cells is associated with expression of a variant arnt protein.

Several studies have reported a correlation between expression of the estrogen receptor (ER) and aryl hydrocarbon (Ah) responsiveness in human breast cancer cell lines. MDA-MB-231 cells are ER-negative and Ah-nonresponsive; however, initial studies showed that 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin induced CYP1A1 mRNA levels (5.8-fold) and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity (2.6-fold) in high passage (Hp, >50 passages) cells transiently transfected with an Ah-responsive plasmid. In contrast, no induction responses were observed in low passage (Lp, <20 passages) cells. The Ah responsiveness of Hp compared to Lp MDA-MB-231 cells was associated with a >2-fold increased expression of the Ah receptor in Hp cells. Further analysis revealed that the apparent molecular weight of the Ah receptor mRNA transcript and immunoreactive protein were comparable in Lp MDA-MB-231 and Ah-responsive human HepG2 cells. In contrast, RT-PCR analysis of the Ah receptor nuclear translocator (Arnt) protein showed that HepG2 cells expressed the expected 2.6-kb transcript, whereas a 1.3-kb transcript was the major product in MDA-MB-231 cells. Western blot analysis confirmed that HepG2 cells primarily expressed a 97-kDa wild-type form of Arnt, whereas a dominant 36-kDa variant was expressed in MDA-MB-231 cells. Complete sequence analysis of the variant form of Arnt revealed a major deletion of the C-terminal region of the protein (aa 330 to 789). Like HepG2 cells, the wild-type 2.6-kb transcript was detected in ER-positive (Ah-responsive) MCF-7 cells, whereas the low-molecular-weight variant Arnt was dominant in ER-negative MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-435, and Adriamycin-resistant MCF-7 cells. These results suggest that expression of this protein may be useful as a prognostic factor in breast cancer.
Single‐ and Multiscale Remote Sensing Techniques, Multifractals, and MODIS‐Derived Vegetation and Soil Moisture

Scaling processes are increasingly understood to be the result of nonlinear dynamic mechanisms repeating scale after scale from large to small scales leading to nonclassical resolution dependencies. This means that the statistical properties systematically vary in strong, power‐law ways with the resolution. When present in geophysical and remotely sensed fields, it implies that when classical (single‐scale) remote sensing algorithms are used to determine surrogates of various geophysical fields, they can at most be correct at the unique (and subjective) calibration resolution. Scaling analysis and modeling techniques were applied to MODIS TERRA Bands 1 through 7 and to the standard derived vegetation and soil moisture indices in order to quantitatively characterize the wide range of scaling of these fields. The scaling exponents we found are not so large; however, they act across wide scale ranges and imply large effects. For example, for the statistics near the mean, the MODIS (500‐m) resolution would be biased by a factor of ∼1.52 when compared with similar results from an “ideal” sensor at 1‐mm resolution. Applying the standard index algorithms on lower and lower resolution satellite data, we obtained indices with significantly different statistical properties than if the same algorithm was used at the finest resolution and then degraded to an intermediate value (a difference of a factor ∼1.54). This shows that the algorithms can, at best, be accurate at the unique calibration scale and this points to the need to develop resolution‐independent algorithms based on the scaling exponents.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection of B cell clonality in Sjögren's syndrome patients: a diagnostic tool of clonal expansion

Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by clonal B cell attack of the exocrine glands and dysregulated expression of B cell‐activating factor (BAFF). Based upon the current data of increased rates of lymphoid malignancy, as non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is associated with SS, we propose the detection of clonal rearrangements of immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) gene in those patients as a predictor of malignant clonal expansion. To test our proposal, we examined the IgH clonal rearrangements in SS patients (60) and healthy control subjects (42) having chronic non‐specific sialadenitis, to determine the presence of clonal B cells in minor labial salivary glands (MSG) of SS patients. Clonal B cell expansion was assessed by two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays: (i) semi‐nested PCR, against sequences encoding framework regions FR3, FR2 and FR1c of the variable chain IgH gene in B cells present in the MSG infiltrate; and (ii) the PCR–enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique, against the major and minor breakpoint regions of the Bcl‐2 oncogene coupled with a variable segment of the IgH to assess the Bcl‐2/JH translocation. When FR3, FR2 and FR1c primers were employed, we detected B cell monoclonality in 87% of the SS patients and 19% of the control subjects. The association between inflammation severity of the MSG pattern and the presence of B cell clonality was found to be statistically significant (P < 0·01). We concluded that the presence of B cell clonality in MSG can be used as a index of an altered microenvironment favouring the development of lymphoma in SS patients.
Enuresis, sleep and desmopressin treatment

Aim: To detect effects of desmopressin on sleep in enuretic children and to look for polysomnographical differences between responders and non‐responders to desmopressin treatment. Methods: Twenty‐one children with primary nocturnal enuresis were examined polysomnographically before treatment. All but one of the children then received treatment with desmopressin in standard dosage, and the response was documented. Seven of the children underwent a second polysomnographic registration while on treatment. Results: The time interval (±1 SD) between sleep onset and the enuretic episode was 92 ± 67 min without medication and 372 ± 157 min when desmopressin was given (p= 0.003). Standard polysomnographic variables were not affected by the drug. Ten children were desmopressin responders and 10 were non‐responders. The total sleep time was 455 ± 56 min in the former and 408 ± 31 min in the latter group (p= 0.04). The responders spent 27.4 ± 5.5% of their total sleep time in rapid eye movement sleep, compared with 18.2 ± 6.5% in the non‐responder group (p= 0.004).
The Paradox of Civilization: Pre-Institutional Sources of Security and Prosperity

The rise of civilizations involved the dual emergence of economies that could produce surplus (“prosperity”) and states that could protect surplus (“security”). But the joint achievement of security and prosperity had to escape a paradox: prosperity attracts predation, and higher insecurity discourages the investments that create prosperity. We study the trade-offs facing a proto-state on its path to civilization through a formal model informed by the anthropological and historical literatures on the origin of civilizations. We emphasize pre-institutional forces, such as physical aspects of the geographical environment, that shape productive and defense capabilities. The solution of the civilizational paradox relies on high defense capabilities, natural or manmade. We show that higher initial productivity and investments that yield prosperity exacerbate conflict when defense capability is fixed, but may allow for security and prosperity when defense capability is endogenous. Some economic shocks and military innovations deliver security and prosperity while others force societies back into a trap of conflict and stagnation. We illustrate the model by analyzing the rise of civilization in Sumeria and Egypt, the first two historical cases, and the civilizational collapse at the end of the Bronze Age.
Alterations of cellular organelles in human liver-derived hepatoma G2 cells induced by adriamycin

Adriamycin (ADM) is a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the mechanisms involved in ADM-induced cell death and the molecular basis of ADM resistance are still unclear. To observe the early events that occurred in hepatoma cells in response to ADM, we investigated the alterations of morphology and subcellular distributions of cellular organelles in human liver-derived hepatoma G2 (HepG2) cells after ADM treatment. HepG2 cells were exposed to different doses of ADM for up to 60 h. Cytotoxicity occurred 24 h after 0.05 μg/ml ADM application, and remaining living cells showed irregular shapes but continued to multiply. Some cellular organelles altered their subcellular distribution or morphology after ADM treatment, including mitochondria, autophagic vacuoles, and Golgi apparatus. Immunoblotting with anti-LC3 antibody showed the upregulation of LC3-II protein, confirming that ADM leads to the induction of autophagy in HepG2 cells. Our findings suggest that among most of the cellular organelles, mitochondria and autophagic vacuoles were involved in the early ADM response, and may contribute to ADM-induced HepG2 cell death.
Adaptação de questionario de avaliaçao da qualidade de vida e percepçao relativa a doença, aplicado a individuos portadores de catarata senil

A catarata constitui problema de saude publica. Devido a perda visual que acarreta, pode impedir a realizacao de atividades cotidianas, influindo assim na qualidade de vida. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a aplicabilidade de questionario para avaliacao da qualidade de vida de individuos portadores de catarata e testar a sua responsividade e confiabilidade. Foram entrevistados 40 pacientes portadores de catarata com indicacao cirurgica. Utilizou-se questionario especifico adaptado, sendo a mesma entrevista realizada duas vezes, com intervalo de uma hora. Todas as questoes tiveram mais de 80% de resposta sem que o entrevistador precisasse repetir a pergunta. A analise da consistencia mostrou que apenas um paciente respondeu de forma discrepante quatro questoes. O questionario adaptado pode ser aplicado em grupo populacional de baixa escolaridade, representando instrumento valido para avaliacao da qualidade de vida de pacientes com catarata Abstract
Dietary Supplementation With High Doses of Regular Vitamin D3 Safely Reduces Diabetes Incidence in NOD Mice When Given Early and Long Term

High doses of the active form of vitamin D3, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3], prevent diabetes in the NOD mouse but also elicit unwanted calcemic side effects. Because immune cells themselves can convert vitamin D3 into 1,25(OH)2D3 locally, we hypothesized that dietary vitamin D3 can also prevent disease. Thus, we evaluated whether dietary administration of high doses of regular vitamin D3 (800 IU/day) during different periods of life (pregnancy and lactation, early life [3–14 weeks of age], or lifelong [3–35 weeks of age]) safely prevents diabetes in NOD mice. We found that only lifelong treatment raised serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 from 173 nmol/L in controls to 290 nmol/L, without inducing signs of calcemic or bone toxicity, and significantly reduced diabetes development in both male and female NOD mice. This diabetes protection by vitamin D3 correlated with preserved pancreatic insulin content and improved insulitis scores. Moreover, vitamin D3 treatment decreased interferon-γ–positive CD8+ T cells and increased CD4+(CD25+)FoxP3+ T cells in pancreatic draining lymph nodes. In conclusion, this study shows for the first time that high doses of regular dietary vitamin D3 can safely prevent diabetes in NOD mice when administered lifelong, although caution is warranted with regards to administering equivalently high doses in humans.
Tres problemas para el comparatismo

In the middle of last century traditional comparative literature received severe questions that led in the last decades to a profound review of its principles and matters still in motion today. A brief summary of this process will serve as an introduction to pose the problems that the undertaking of three objects of renewed relevance from that discipline shows: the histories of literature, the study of literary or cultural supranational phenomena and the ancient topic ut pictura poesis.
The impact of complexity in MIMO channel models

In recent years there have been a proliferation of channel models suggested for MIMO systems. In this paper we take a look at the impact of model complexity on channel behaviour and on performance measures of systems operating in these channels. In particular we investigate whether large increases in channel complexity are justified or if simple models will lead to similar results and conclusions. We take the simplest channel model, which gives both spatial and temporal correlation, and compare it to a complex industrial model developed by the 3GPP. We compare the two models in terms of the spatial and temporal correlation of the channel. In addition, we look at the temporal correlation level crossing rate and average fade duration of the link capacity in these channels. This gives us an opportunity to assess the impact of channel differences on a performance measure of interest.
Fatty acid profile, somatic cell count and microbiological quality of total machine milk and hand stripped milk of Chios ewes

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of milk fraction on composition, fatty acid profile, somatic cell count and microbiological quality of the milk of Chios ewes sheep breed. Totally forty eight animals were included in the study (16 of the first, 16 of the second and 16 of the third and subsequent lactations, respectively). The animals were fed with 1.06 kg/ewe/day a concentrate mixture and 0.9 kg/ewe/day alfalfa hay. Ewes were milked twice a day for 10 weeks in a milking parlor of “Casse” type 1x24 with 12 milking units and a low milk line and air pipeline. All the variables measured were compared by ANOVA using SPSS. The results of the experiment showed that fat percentage in hand stripped milk was higher than in total machine milk, while protein and lactose were found in the same levels. Despite the higher fat concentration in the hand stripped milk the fatty acid profile in two fractions was found to be similar. Only eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acid concentrations were found in higher levels in hand stripped milk. Somatic cell count was lower in total machine milk, while microbiological quality was found to be better in hand stripped milk. Lactation stage influenced significantly all measured variables.