Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vacuolating Cytotoxin of Helicobacter pylori Induces Apoptosis in the Human Gastric Epithelial Cell Line AGS

ABSTRACT Helicobacter pylori induces cell death by apoptosis. However, the apoptosis-inducing factor is still unknown. The virulence factor vacuolating cytotoxin A (VacA) is a potential candidate, and thus its role in apoptosis induction was investigated in the human gastric epithelial cell line AGS. The supernatant from thevacA wild-type strain P12 was able to induce apoptotic cell death, whereas the supernatant from its isogenic mutant strain P14 could not. That VacA was indeed the apoptosis-inducing factor was demonstrated further by substantial reduction of apoptosis upon treatment of AGS cells with a supernatant specifically depleted of native VacA. Furthermore, a recombinant VacA produced inEscherichia coli was also able to induce apoptosis in AGS cells but failed to induce cellular vacuolation. These findings demonstrate that the vacuolating cytototoxin of H. pyloriis a bacterial factor capable of inducing apoptosis in gastric epithelial cells.
Framing Men’s Experience in the Procreative Realm

Informed by a critical men’s studies perspective, as well as symbolic interactionist and life course themes, we explore how men’s relationship to the procreative realm is currently conceptualized in academic scholarship and public policy debates. We articulate opportunities to advance our conceptual understanding of men’s experiences with pregnancy and family planning by framing the procreative period as a multilayered, dynamic process. We also delineate a broader agenda for critical research on men’s participation in reproductive planning. In particular, we advocate that future research be guided by four strategies: comparative designs, diverse methodologies, prospective and retrospective longitudinal studies, and approaches that capture the multiple, interrelated layers of social life that affect men’s thoughts, feelings, and practices in the procreative realm.
Comparative Study Between Single Organic Acid Effect and Synergistic Organic Acid Effect on Broiler Performance

This study was conducted to compare the effects of single and synergistic organic acids (formic and propionic acids) on broiler performance. Three hundred one day-old mixed sexes broiler (Arbor-Acres) were divided into five groups of 60 birds each and randomly assigned to five treatment diets. A control group is considered where no added acids. Group 2 and group 3 are formed with 0.1 % formic acid and 0.2% propionic acid respectively. The forth group is formed with 0.3% organic acids (formic and propionic acids). Group 5 is formed by the addition of 0.3% biotronic acid. The results indicated that group 2, 3, 4 and 5 showed significantly higher (p<0.05) in average live weight, average daily gain, average daily feed consumption and mortality rate compared with the control group. Nevertheless at the same time treatment 4 showed significant decrease in the feed conversion ratio compared with other treatments.
Impact of body-mass index on the outcome of adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Background Obesity increases the risk of treatment-related complications and reduces survival in children with acute myeloid leukemia. Little is known about the impact of obesity on the outcome of adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Design and Methods We compared the baseline characteristics and effect on treatment and survival in 1,974 previously untreated adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia undergoing treatment, according to international classification of body-mass index. Results The median body-mass index was 26.7 (15.5–61) and 63% of patients were overweight/obese. After adjustment for other confounders, such as age, gender, performance status, karyotype, white blood cell, platelet and peripheral blast counts, obese patients had better complete remission rates (P=0.0046), lower rates of resistant disease (P=0.038) but similar rates of survival and severe adverse events. Conclusions In the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia in adults, obesity was associated with increased response rates and no apparent increase in toxicity. Obesity should not, therefore, be a criterion for excluding patients from aggressive therapy.
Descriptions and Challenges Across the Lifespan Psychiatric Epidemiology : Descriptions and Challenges Across the Lifespan

According to Kessler et als. ’ review, mental disorders are among the most prevalent of chronic “diseases” with a life-time prevalence that approaches 50 percent of the population and with 12-month prevalence rates in the 15-25 percent range. Actually, the extent of mental disorders is unclear. Social desirability factors, nay saying, or even lying may bias psychometric attempts to gather accurate epidemiological data. Unfortunately, many people who seek treatment for a mental disorder describe a course of treatment that even minimally satisfies current, existing treatment guidelines. This, added to the fact that new information regarding mental disorders is constantly being revealed, increases the need for clinical practitioners to keep abreast of psychiatric epidemiology. This course provides an update on information concerning mental disorders among children, adults, and older persons.
The Apparent Relation between Plasma 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Insulin Resistance is Largely Attributable to Central Adiposity in Overweight and Obese Adults.

BACKGROUND Research indicates that plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] is associated with insulin resistance, but whether regional adiposity confounds this association is unclear. OBJECTIVE This study assessed the potential influence of adiposity and its anatomical distribution on the relation between plasma 25(OH)D and insulin resistance. METHODS A secondary analysis of data from middle-aged overweight and obese healthy adults [n = 336: 213 women and 123 men; mean ± SD (range); age: 48 ± 8 y (35-65 y); body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2): 30.3 ± 2.7 (26-35)] from West Lafayette, Indiana (40.4 °N), were used for this cross-sectional analysis. Multiple linear regression analyses that controlled for multiple covariates were used as the primary statistical model. RESULTS Of all participants, 8.6% and 20.5% displayed moderate [20.1-37.5 nmol/L plasma 25(OH)D] to mild (37.6-49.9 nmol/L) vitamin D insufficiency, respectively. A regression analysis controlling for age, sex, race, plasma parathyroid hormone concentration, season of year, and supplement use showed that 25(OH)D was negatively associated with fasting insulin (P = 0.021). Additional regression analyses showed that total and central adiposity but not peripheral adiposity predicted low plasma 25(OH)D [total fat mass index (FMI): P = 0.018; android FMI: P = 0.052; gynoid FMI: P = 0.15; appendicular FMI: P = 0.07) and insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance: total and android FMI, P <0.0001; gynoid FMI, P = 0.94; appendicular FMI, P = 0.86). The associations of total and central adiposity with insulin resistance remained significant after adjusting for plasma 25(OH)D. However, adjusting for central adiposity but not other anatomical measures of fat distribution eliminated the association between plasma 25(OH)D and insulin resistance. CONCLUSION Central adiposity drives the association between plasma 25(OH)D and insulin resistance in overweight and obese adults. The trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00812409.
The Absence of Remotely Triggered Seismicity in Japan from 1997 to 2002

Remote dynamic triggering occurred in the western United States and Greece following the following the Denali, Hector Mine, Landers, and Izmit main- shocks in seismically active, largely geothermal areas that experienced shaking from the mainshock typically exceeding 0.2 cm/sec. Because triggered earthquakes are small (often below Mw, 2), investigations of whether remote triggering is a generally occurring phenomena must be concentrated in well-instrumented locations. As a seismically active, geothermal, well-instrumented location, Japan constitutes an ideal location for such study. We systematically examine whether remote dynamic trig- gering occurs following mainshocks in Japan producing amplitudes in the study region above 0.2 cm/sec at distances greater than two estimated fault lengths, from 1998 to 2004. We use both catalog data and filtered waveforms to search for seis- micity increases. One significant regional increase follows a Mw 7.6 mainshock in March 2000, largely due to a volcanic swarm that began the day before and increased in intensity in the following days. Two localized increases in cataloged seismicity occur in Kyushu, which is the only area in the study region with onshore tectonic extension. Two factors possibly inhibit regional triggering in Japan: (1) compres- sional tectonics, and (2) the frequent occurrence of large mainshocks. The ambient seismicity in Japan combined with the lack of observable widespread triggering ren- ders rate-state friction and stress corrosion to be improbable triggering mechanisms. Fracture unclogging as a triggering mechanism is consistent with the observations.
Renal pathology patterns in type II diabetes mellitus: relationship with retinopathy. The Collaborative Study Group.

BACKGROUND The glomerular and retinal vessels are both affected in patients with type I and type II diabetes mellitus. However, the prevalence of the nodular form of diabetic glomerular sclerosis (Kimmelstiel Wilson lesion) and other forms of glomerular pathology including diffuse mesangial sclerosis and their clinical correlates in type II diabetes are less well known. In addition, although recent studies have suggested that non-diabetic glomerular disease was a common cause of proteinuria in type II diabetes, the prevalence of other diseases is unknown. The literature on this subject is clouded by clinical bias regarding patients with diabetes who undergo renal biopsy. METHODS Glomerular and retinal pathology and clinical correlates were studied in 36 patients enrolled in a prospective clinical trial of patients with type II diabetes mellitus, proteinuria, renal insufficiency, and hypertension. RESULTS Seventeen biopsies had diabetic glomerular sclerosis with Kimmelstiel Wilson nodules; 15 biopsies had glomerular changes characteristic of the diabetic state including enlarged glomeruli and an increase in mesangial matrix without Kimmelstiel Wilson nodules (mesangial sclerosis lesion); and two had other primary glomerular diseases (IgA and membranous nephropathy). Patients with Kimmelstiel-Wilson nodules had elevated serum creatinines compared to patients with mesangial sclerosis lesions, but there were no other significant differences. Patients with Kimmelstiel Wilson nodules had more severe overall retinopathy than those with mesangial sclerosis lesions (P = 0.0043): six of seven with proliferative retinopathy had Kimmelstiel Wilson nodules, and seven of the eight patients without retinopathy had mesangial sclerosis lesions. CONCLUSIONS The two discrete patterns of glomerular pathology and the correlation between diabetic retinopathy and the Kimmelstiel-Wilson lesion but not the mesangial sclerosis lesion suggest that the Kimmelstiel Wilson and mesangial sclerosis lesions of diabetic glomerulosclerosis are caused by different pathogenetic mechanisms. In this study, diabetic glomerulosclerosis was responsible for the clinical renal abnormalities in 94%, of patients with type II diabetes mellitus.
Hydration status after exercise affect resting metabolic rate and heart rate variability.

INTRODUCTION Heart rate variability and resting metabolic rate are commonly to assess athlete's physiological status and energy requirements. Exercise-induced dehydration can reach up to 5% of body mass per hour. Consequently, dehydration may have a profound physiological effect on human's homeostasis. OBJECTIVES To compare the effects of dehydration and rehydration after exercise on heart rate variability and resting metabolic rate in college athletes. METHODS 14 college athletes were divided into a dehydration group (n=7) and a rehydration group (n=7), both submitted to basal (T1) heart rate variability and resting metabolic rate measurements. After basal measurements both groups were actively dehydrated (-3.4 ± 0.4% of body mass for both groups). Afterwards, dehydration group rested, while rehydration group receive a fluid intake (during a 3 h period) equivalent to 150% of body mass loss achieved during active dehydration. Four hours after active dehydration heart rate variability and resting metabolic rate were re-assessed (T2). RESULTS At T2 both rehydration group (+13%) and dehydration group (+30%) achieve a significant (p<0.05) increase in resting metabolic rate, however, only dehydration group . showed a significant reduction in heart rate variability. More so, the change in resting metabolic rate was significantly higher in dehydration group compared to rehydration group. DISCUSSION Hydric homeostasis after exercise affects resting metabolic rate and heart rate variability, highlighting the necessity to control hydration state before resting metabolic rate and heart rate variability assessment.
A Novel Activation Mechanism of Caspase-activated DNase fromDrosophila melanogaster*

Caspase-activated DNase (CAD) is an enzyme that cleaves chromosomal DNA in apoptotic cells. Here, we identified a DNase in Drosophila Schneider cells that can be activated by caspase 3, and purified it as a complex of two subunits (p32 and p20). Using primers based on the amino acid sequence of the purified proteins, a cDNA coding for Drosophila CAD (dCAD) was cloned. The polypeptide encoded by the cDNA contained 450 amino acids with a calculated M r of 52,057, and showed significant homology with human and mouse CAD (22% identity). Mammalian CADs carry a nuclear localization signal at the C terminus. In contrast, dCAD lacked the corresponding sequence, and the purified dCAD did not cause DNA fragmentation in nuclei in a cell-free system. When dCAD was co-expressed in COS cells with Drosophilainhibitor of CAD (dICAD), a 52-kDa dCAD was produced as a heterotetrameric complex with dICAD. When the complex was treated with human caspase 3 or Drosophila caspase (drICE), the dICAD was cleaved, and released from dCAD. In addition, dCAD was also cleaved by these caspases, and behaved as a (p32)2(p20)2 complex in gel filtration. When aDrosophila neuronal cell line was induced to apoptosis by treatment with a kinase inhibitor, both dCAD and dICAD were cleaved. These results indicated that unlike mammalian CAD,Drosophila CAD must be cleaved by caspases to be activated.
Ventilation of wards and nosocomial outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome among healthcare workers.

OBJECTIVE To identify valid measures for preventing outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) among protected healthcare workers in isolation units. METHODS Architectural factors, admitted SARS cases and infection of healthcare workers in different isolation wards between January 30 and March 30, 2003 were analyzed. RESULTS Four types of isolation wards were analyzed, including the ward where the thirty-first bed was located on the twelfth floor, the laminar flow ward in the Intensive Care Unit where the tenth bed was located on the fifteenth floor, the ward where the twenty-seventh bed was located on the thirteenth floor of the Lingnan Building, and thirty wards on the fourteenth to eighteenth floors of the Zhongshan Building. The ratios (m(2)/m(3)) of the area of the ventilation windows to the volume of the rooms were 0, 0, 1:95 and 1:40, respectively. Numbers of SARS cases in the wards mentioned above were 1, 1, 1 and 96, respectively. Total times of hospitalization were 43, 168, 110 and 1272 hours, respectively. The infection rates of the healthcare workers in the areas mentioned above were 73.2%, 32.1%, 27.5% and 1.7%, respectively. The difference in the infection rates was of statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS Isolating SARS cases in wards with good ventilation could reduce the viral load of the ward and might be the key to preventing outbreaks of SARS among healthcare workers along with strict personal protection measures in isolation units.
Power Quality Disturbance Classification Using the S-Transform and Probabilistic Neural Network

This paper presents a transient power quality (PQ) disturbance classification approach based on a generalized S-transform and probabilistic neural network (PNN). Specifically, the width factor used in the generalized S-transform is feature oriented. Depending on the specific feature to be extracted from the S-transform amplitude matrix, a favorable value is determined for the width factor, with which the S-transform is performed and the corresponding feature is extracted. Four features obtained this way are used as the inputs of a PNN trained for performing the classification of 8 disturbance signals and one normal sinusoidal signal. The key work of this research includes studying the influence of the width factor on the S-transform results, investigating the impacts of the width factor on the distribution behavior of features selected for disturbance classification, determining the favorable value for the width factor by evaluating the classification accuracy of PNN. Simulation results tell that the proposed approach significantly enhances the separation of the disturbance signals, improves the accuracy and generalization ability of the PNN, and exhibits the robustness of the PNN against noises. The proposed algorithm also shows good performance in comparison with other reported studies.
Impacts of parent-implemented early-literacy intervention for Spanish-speaking children with language impairment.

BACKGROUND Children with language impairment (LI) often have lags in development of print knowledge, an important early-literacy skill. This study explores impacts of a print-focused intervention for Spanish-speaking children with LI in Southeastern Mexico. AIMS Aims were twofold. First, we sought to describe the print knowledge (print-concept knowledge, alphabet knowledge) of Spanish-speaking children with LI. Second, we determined the extent to which print-referencing intervention delivered by children's parents could improve print knowledge. METHODS & PROCEDURES Using a pre-test-post-test delayed treatment research design, 13 parent-child dyads were assigned to an intervention (n = 8) versus control (n = 5) condition. Children were drawn from a speech-language clinic and all were receiving services for LI. Caregivers in the intervention group implemented an 8-week home-reading programme following a systematic scope and sequence for improving children's print knowledge. OUTCOMES & RESULTS Children showed individual differences in their print knowledge based on three baseline measures examining print-concept knowledge, alphabet knowledge and letter-sound knowledge. Those whose caregivers implemented the 8-week programme showed statistically and practically significant gains on two of the three measures over the intervention period. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS The results presented here may stimulate future research on the print knowledge of Spanish-speaking children with LI. Sources of individual differences are important to determine. Caregivers may use the intervention presented here as a potential avenue for improving children's print knowledge.
Describing depression: congruence between patient experiences and clinical assessments.

OBJECTIVES Efforts to describe depression have relied on top-down methods in which theory and clinical experience define depression but may not reflect the individuals' experiences with depression. We assessed the degree of overlap between academic descriptions of depression and patient-reported symptoms as conceptualized in the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System(®) (PROMIS(®)). By extension, this work assesses the degree of overlap between current clinical descriptions of depression and patient-reported symptoms. DESIGN In this content analysis study, four focus groups were conducted across two sites to elicit symptoms and the experience of depression from depressed and medically ill patients. METHODS Depressed and medically ill patients were asked to describe symptoms that characterize depression. Data were transcribed and then coded using an a priori list of 43 facets of depression derived from extant depression measures. RESULTS Participants described 93% of the symptoms from the a priori list, supporting the validity of current depression measures. Interpersonal difficulties were underscored as was anger. In general, results from the focus groups did not require the generation of new items for depression and supported the content validity of the PROMIS hierarchical framework and item pool created originally. CONCLUSIONS This work supports the validity of current depression assessment, but suggests further investigation of interpersonal functioning and anger may add to the depth and breadth of depression assessment.
Metabolic response to weight loss.

36% of the conference participants were women. On the basis of birth origin, only 0.9% of the participants present were born in developing countries. Edmonton, Canada, and Brussels, Belgium, vied for the most northerly latitude of representation in the conference, whereas the southern limit was defined by Tucson, AZ, and San Antonio, TX. The percentage of the world’s population represented by the combined populations of Belgium, Germany, Canada, and the United States, the nations represented by the participants, is < 7%. So, the chair’s claim edged into hyperbole. Several hypotheses about this lack of geographic representation occurred to me. Is San Diego really that much further from Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, or Mexico City than it is from Brussels or Stuttgart? Perhaps there is no interest in or experience with functional foods outside of the Western world, although the International Life Sciences Institute sponsored and published results from a functional food seminar held in Southeast Asia (2). Perhaps there is not the same degree of research expertise and contribution from developing and tropical countries that there is from the northern temperate zone. If this is the explanation, it constitutes a serious wake-up call for those of us working in Latin America, Asia, and Africa to invest research resources to earn our place on the platform of upcoming meetings on this growing topic. We represent, after all, the majority of the world’s potential consumers of functional foods. The topic (and such products) impinges on our health, given that commercial globalization has already brought outlets for socalled physiologically active food components to Guatemala and many other countries of Latin America. So even if researchers into this topic are yet to be found in the academic institutions of developing countries, at least the roster of the discussants could have gone beyond Arizona, Texas, and 3 sites within the Washington, DC, Beltway. A few other observations are worthy of mention. Despite its title, relatively little evidence or experience was shared on aging save for the associations of vitamin E and immune function (3) and some passing references to Alzheimer disease (4). When reading the supplement, one should focus on the words of John Fernstrom, eg, “I am concerned at this moment more about safety than efficacy,” because he alone cried out to orient the priorities to the logical axis in any paradigm for interventions for human health amid a wilderness of enthusiastic advocates. The lessons I derived from receiving my Ross Research Conference proceedings as an AJCN supplement were profound but not all of them were of an academic nature.