Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transient increases in neuropeptide Y‐like immunoreactivity in dentate hilar neurons following fimbria/fornix transection

Neurons containing neuropeptide Y (NPY) are numerous in those hippocampal regions that receive septal and monoaminergic afferents. To assess the role of these afferents in the expression of NPY in hippocampal neurons, the number and distribution of perikarya with NPY‐like immunoreactivity (NPY‐LI) was examined quantitatively in the dentate gyrus of adult male rats following unilateral transection of the right fimbria/fornix. In unlesioned rats, immunoperoxidase labeling for the antibody to NPY was detected mostly in fibers and only a few perikarya in the dentate gyrus. Following fornix transections, the number of detectable NPY‐containing neurons in the hilus of the dentate gyrus ipsilateral to the lesion increased at 3 days post‐lesion (dpl), peaked at 6 and 9 dpl, then returned to basal levels at 14 dpl and 1 and 6 months post‐lesion. This elevation followed a rostral to caudal gradient. No apparent changes were found in the distribution of NPY‐labeled neurons at any post‐lesion interval studied. Moreover, no significant changes at any of the post‐lesion times were found in the number or distribution of neurons with NPY‐LI in the hilus of sham lesioned (i.e., ablations of the cortex and anterior hippocampal formation sparing the fornix) rats. The observed increases in the number of hippocampal neurons containing detectable NPY suggests that the cellular levels of this peptide are dependent on pathways travelling through the fornix. The rapid and transient increases in NPY are not due exclusively to changes in cholinergic pathways but may involve changes in other pathways within the fornix or even indirect neurotrophic effects. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effects of probiotic supplementation in different nutrient density diets on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood profiles, fecal microflora and noxious gas emission in weaning pig.

BACKGROUND Probiotics can serve as alternatives to antibiotics to increase the performance of weaning pigs, and the intake of probiotics is affected by dietary nutrient density. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of a probiotic complex in different nutrient density diets on growth performance, digestibility, blood profiles, fecal microflora and noxious gas emission in weaning pigs. RESULTS From day 22 to day 42, both high-nutrient-density and probiotic complex supplementation diets increased (P < 0.05) the average daily gain. On day 42, the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter, nitrogen and gross energy (GE), blood urea nitrogen concentration and NH3 and H2 S emissions were increased (P < 0.05) in pigs fed high-nutrient-density diets. Pigs fed probiotic complex supplementation diets had higher (P < 0.05) ATTD of GE than pigs fed non-supplemented diets. Fecal Lactobacillus counts were increased whereas Escherichia coli counts and NH3 and H2 S emissions were decreased (P < 0.05) in pigs fed probiotic complex supplementation diets. Interactive effects on average daily feed intake (ADFI) were observed from day 22 to day 42 and overall, where probiotic complex improved ADFI more dramatically in low-nutrient-density diets. CONCLUSION The beneficial effects of probiotic complex (Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus subtilis and Clostridium butyricum) supplementation on ADFI is more dramatic with low-nutrient-density diets. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.
Macroesthetic elements of smile design.

BACKGROUND Clinicians' expanding use of cosmetic restorative procedures has generated greater interest in the determination of esthetic guidelines and standards. The overall esthetic impact of a smile can be divided into four specific areas: gingival esthetics, facial esthetics, microesthetics and macroesthetics. In this article, the authors focus on the principles of macroesthetics, which represents the relationships and ratios of relating multiple teeth to each other, to soft tissue and to facial characteristics. CASE DESCRIPTION The authors categorize macroesthetic criteria based on two reference points: the facial midline and the amount and position of tooth reveal. The facial midline is a critical reference position for determining multiple design criteria. The amount and position of tooth reveal in various views and lip configurations also provide valuable guidelines in determining esthetic tooth positions and relationships. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Esthetics is an inherently subjective discipline. By understanding and applying simple esthetic rules, tools and strategies, dentists have a basis for evaluating natural dentitions and the results of cosmetic restorative procedures. Macroesthetic components of teeth and their relationship to each other can be influenced to produce more natural and esthetically pleasing restorative care.
Psychotropic medication nonadherence among United States Latinos: a comprehensive literature review.

OBJECTIVE Psychotropic medication nonadherence is a major public health problem, but few studies have focused on Latinos. The authors systematically reviewed the literature on rates of and factors influencing antipsychotic, antidepressant, and mood stabilizer nonadherence among U.S. Latinos. METHODS MEDLINE and PsycINFO were searched by using the keywords adherence, compliance, Latino, Hispanic, psychotropic, and related terms; bibliographies from relevant reviews and studies were also searched. Twenty-one studies met inclusion criteria: published since 1980 in English or Spanish and measured psychotropic medication nonadherence rates among U.S. Latino adults. Information was extracted about study design and objective, location, population, medication type, participant demographic characteristics, adherence measures, adherence rates, and factors related to adherence. RESULTS In the 17 studies that included Latinos and other minority groups, mean nonadherence rates were 41%, 31%, and 43%, respectively, among Latinos, Euro-Americans, and African Americans, with an overall effect size of . 64 between Latinos and Euro-Americans. In the four studies that included only Latinos, the mean nonadherence rate was 44%. Ten of 16 studies found that Latinos had significantly lower adherence rates than Euro-Americans. Risk factors for nonadherence included being a monolingual Spanish speaker, lacking health insurance, experiencing access barriers to high-quality care, and having lower socioeconomic status. Protective factors included family support and psychotherapy. CONCLUSIONS Rates of nonadherence to psychotropic medications were found to be higher for Latinos than for Euro-Americans. Further investigation is needed to understand the potentially modifiable individual and society-level mechanisms of this discrepancy. Clinical and research interventions to improve adherence should be culturally appropriate and incorporate identified factors.
Nonadherent cultures of human monocytes kill Mycobacterium smegmatis, but adherent cultures do not

Human peripheral blood monocytes are permissive for the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but the fate of nonpathogenic Mycobacterium smegmatis in these cells is not known. Since M. smegmatis may be used as a host with which to express and screen for M. tuberculosis genes needed for survival in monocytes, we determined whether human peripheral blood monocytes could restrict the growth of Mycobacterium smegmatis. Adherent human peripheral blood monocytes were permissive for the growth of M. smegmatis, as measured by ex vivo [3H]uracil uptake. However, human peripheral blood monocytes which were cultured nonadherently in Teflon wells were able to restrict the growth of M. smegmatis while remaining permissive for the growth of M. tuberculosis H37Ra. The loss of viability of M. smegmatis in nonadherent cells was correlated with an increase in nonspacious phagocytic vacuoles. The killing of M. smegmatis was not blocked by NG-monomethyl-L-arginine, suggesting that it was not due to the production of reactive nitrogen intermediates. Incubation of the monocytes for 1 to 7 days before infection had no effect on the fate of M. smegmatis, suggesting that adherence versus nonadherence, and not differentiation, was the key determinant for the difference in functional ability. Nonadherent human peripheral blood monocytes may be a more appropriate model than adherent cells for the study of factors employed by bacterial to survive within monocytes and for selection screening of bacterial genes needed for intracellular survival.
Women, Loneliness, and Incident Coronary Heart Disease

Objective: To examine associations between loneliness and risk of incident coronary heart disease (CHD) over a 19-year follow-up period in a community sample of men and women. Loneliness, the perceived discrepancy between actual and desired social relationships, has been linked to several adverse health outcomes. However, no previous research has prospectively examined the association between loneliness and incident CHD in a community sample of men and women. Methods: Hypotheses were examined using data from the First National Health and Nutrition Survey and its follow-up studies (n = 3003). Loneliness, assessed by one item from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies of Depression scale, and covariates were derived from baseline interviews. Incident CHD was derived from hospital records/death certificates over 19 years of follow-up. Hypotheses were evaluated, using Cox proportional hazards models. Results: Among women, high loneliness was associated with increased risk of incident CHD (high: hazard ratio = 1.76, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.17–2.63; medium: hazard ratio = 0.98, 95% Confidence Interval = 0.64–1.49; reference: low), controlling for age, race, education, income, marital status, hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, physical activity, smoking, alcohol use, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and body mass index. Findings persisted additionally controlling for depressive symptoms. No significant associations were observed among men. Conclusions: Loneliness was prospectively associated with increased risk of incident CHD, controlling for multiple confounding factors. Loneliness among women may merit clinical attention, not only due to its impact on quality of life but also its potential implications for cardiovascular health. CHD = coronary heart disease; SBP = systolic blood pressure; NHANES I = First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; CESD = Center for Epidemiologic Studies of Depression; BMI = body mass index; ICD-9 = International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision.
Language, Religion and National Identity in Europe and the Middle East: A historical study

This book discusses the historical record of the idea that language is associated with national identity, demonstrating that different applications of this idea have consistently produced certain types of results. Nationalist movements aimed at ‘unification’, based upon languages which vary greatly at the spoken level, e.g. German, Italian, Pan-Turkish and Arabic, have been associated with aggression, fascism and genocide, while those based upon relatively homogeneous spoken languages, e.g. Czech, Norwegian and Ukrainian, have resulted in national liberation and international stability. It is also shown that religion can be more important to national identity than language, but only for religious groups which were understood in premodern times to be national rather than universal or doctrinal, e.g. Jews, Armenians, Maronites, Serbs, Dutch and English; this is demonstrated with discussions of the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the civil war in Lebanon and the breakup of Yugoslavia, the United Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
ABCA4 midigenes reveal the full splice spectrum of all reported noncanonical splice site variants in Stargardt disease

Stargardt disease is caused by variants in the ABCA4 gene, a significant part of which are noncanonical splice site (NCSS) variants. In case a gene of interest is not expressed in available somatic cells, small genomic fragments carrying potential disease-associated variants are tested for splice abnormalities using in vitro splice assays. We recently discovered that when using small minigenes lacking the proper genomic context, in vitro results do not correlate with splice defects observed in patient cells. We therefore devised a novel strategy in which a bacterial artificial chromosome was employed to generate midigenes, splice vectors of varying lengths (up to 11.7 kb) covering almost the entire ABCA4 gene. These midigenes were used to analyze the effect of all 44 reported and three novel NCSS variants on ABCA4 pre-mRNA splicing. Intriguingly, multi-exon skipping events were observed, as well as exon elongation and intron retention. The analysis of all reported NCSS variants in ABCA4 allowed us to reveal the nature of aberrant splicing events and to classify the severity of these mutations based on the residual fraction of wild-type mRNA. Our strategy to generate large overlapping splice vectors carrying multiple exons, creating a toolbox for robust and high-throughput analysis of splice variants, can be applied to all human genes.
L.A. stories: aggression in preschoolers' spontaneous narratives after the riots of 1992.

64 inner-city preschoolers' spontaneous story narratives that were examined directly after the Los Angeles riots of 1992 were compared with narratives told by a matched comparison group of 128 children living in other U.S. cities who had no direct exposure to the riots. Narratives were coded for length, complexity, overall thematic content, character behavior in the stories, number of aggressive words, and story outcome. Children were given language and pre-academic skill assessments, their classroom behavior was observed and teachers rated children's social competence. Results indicated that there were significant group differences in the story narratives. Children who were directly exposed to the riots told more narratives with aggressive thematic content, aggressive words, unfriendly figures who engaged in physical aggression, and mastery of situations with aggression than did the comparison group of children who had no direct exposure to the riots. The findings suggest that children's narratives reflected their exposure to the violence and their expression of that experience.
Correlates of Health-Related Quality of Life Among Korean Immigrant Elders

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a key clinical outcome, particularly for individuals with chronic conditions such as hypertension (HTN). While no previous research has examined contributors to HRQOL among Asian Americans in the United States, this study was conducted to identify correlates of HRQOL in hypertensive Korean immigrant elders (≥ 60 years of age) to address the gap. A total of 440 Korean elders with HTN participated in the study. The hierarchical regression model for HRQOL explained 32.8% of the variance. Female gender (β = .109, p = .036), a greater number of comorbid conditions (β = .183, p = .000), lower social support (β = −.240, p = .000), and greater depressive symptoms (β = .402, p = .000) were associated with poorer HRQOL. Depression was the most potent correlate of HRQOL among elderly Korean Americans (KA) with HTN. Future intervention should consider managing depression as an essential component of comprehensive HTN care for this minority population.
International consensus on a proposed score system for muscle biopsy evaluation in patients with juvenile dermatomyositis: a tool for potential use in clinical trials.

OBJECTIVE To devise and test a system with which to evaluate abnormalities on muscle biopsy samples obtained from children diagnosed with juvenile dermatomyositis (DM). METHODS We established an International Consensus Group on Juvenile DM Biopsy and carried out 2 phases of consensus process and scoring workshops. Biopsy sections (n = 33) were stained by standard methods. The scoring tool was based on 4 domains of change: inflammatory, vascular, muscle fiber, and connective tissue. Using a Latin square design, biopsy samples were scored by 11 experts for items in each domain, and for a global abnormality measure using a 10-cm visual analog score (VAS 0-10). The tool's reliability was assessed using an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and scorer agreement (alpha) by determining variation in scorers' ratings. RESULTS There was good agreement in many items of the tool, and several items refined between the meetings improved in reliability and/or agreement. The inflammatory and muscle fiber domains had the highest reliability and agreement. The overall VAS score for abnormality had high agreement and reliability, reaching an ICC of 0.863 at the second consensus meeting. CONCLUSION We propose a provisional scoring system to measure abnormalities on muscle biopsy samples obtained from children with juvenile DM. This system needs to be validated, and then could be used in prospective studies to test which features of muscle pathology are prognostic of disease course or outcome. We suggest that the process we used could be a template for developing similar systems in other forms of myositis.
Clinical responses and lymphoid infiltrates in metastatic melanoma following treatment with intralesional GM-CSF

Past studies in animal models with gene-transfected tumour cells have suggested that GM-CSF may have a role in immunotherapy of tumours as a result of the effects it has on antigen-presenting cells. The present (phase I) studies were carried out to examine whether intralesional injections of GM-CSF induce regression of subcutaneous metastases in patients with melanoma and influence lymphoid infiltrates in and around the metastases. Thirteen patients had 15-50 mg doses of GM-CSF injected into two subcutaneous metastases. In each case one metastasis received only five injections before excision whereas the other received weekly injections up to 6 months. Partial regression of injected and/or non-injected metastases was seen in three patients. The metastases from the responding patients that were treated with intralesional GM-CSF had marked increases and high absolute numbers of T cell infiltrates into the tumour, particularly of the CD4 T cell subset. There was an increase in IL-2R expression on the T cells and an increase in the number of Langerhans' cells infiltrating the tumours. The best predictors of clinical responses therefore appeared to be high relative increases and high absolute numbers of CD4 + T cells and Langerhans' cells within the treated tumour. These results provide support for further exploration of the role of GM-CSF in immunotherapy of human melanoma.
Spatio‐temporal Upwelling Trends along the Canary Upwelling System (1967–2006)

Spatio‐temporal trends in upwelling patterns were studied along the Canary Upwelling System for the period 1967–2006. The northwestern coast of African from lat 20°N to 32°N is observed to be under a permanent upwelling regime characterized by coastal sea surface temperatures (SST) colder than the oceanic ones at the same latitude. The temperature difference is termed the temperature upwelling index (UISST). This regime is consistent with the wind‐derived Ekman transport (UIW), which is observed near the coast and is directed offshore. This index shows the existence of upwelling‐favorable conditions all year but has an annual cycle characterized by more upwelling‐favorable conditions from April to September, with a maximum in July, and less upwelling‐favorable conditions from October to March, with a minimum in December to January. Although both indices can be used to characterize the phenomenon, only UIW values were used to quantify upwelling change during the four decades under review because this index is less sensitive to external factors compared to UISST. A strong decrease in upwelling intensity has been observed in all seasons. In particular, the summer (winter) decrease is on the order of 45% (20%) of the mean amplitude of the upwelling cycle.
Modeling the Interaction Between Propagating Cardiac Waves and Monophasic and Biphasic Field Stimuli:

Field‐Induced Excitatory Responses Across Propagating Waves. Introduction: Biphasic (BP) defibrillation waveforms have been shown to be significantly more efficacious than equivalent monophasic (MP) waveforms. However, when defibrillation falls, it tends to do so first in distal regions of the heart where induced field gradient magnitudes are lowest. We tested the hypothesis that the improved efficacy of BP waveforms results from their enhanced ability to prevent the initiation of new postshock activation fronts behind preexisting; wavetails, rather than from any significantly improved ability to terminate preexisting wavefronts.
Effects of Concurrent Strength and Endurance Training on Genes Related to Myostatin Signaling Pathway and Muscle Fiber Responses

Abstract De Souza, EO, Tricoli, V, Aoki, MS, Roschel, H, Brum PC, Bacurau, AVN, Silva-Batista, C, Wilson, JM, Neves, M Jr, Soares, AG, Ugrinowitsch, C. Effects of concurrent strength and endurance training on genes related to myostatin signaling pathway and muscle fiber responses. J Strength Cond Res 28(11): 3220–3228, 2014—Concurrent training (CT) seems to impair training-induced muscle hypertrophy. This study compared the effects of CT, strength training (ST) and interval training (IT) on the muscle fiber cross-sectional area (CSA) response, and on the expression of selected genes involved in the myostatin (MSTN) signaling mRNA levels. Thirty-seven physically active men were randomly divided into 4 groups: CT (n = 11), ST (n = 11), IT (n = 8), and control group (C) (n = 7) and underwent an 8-week training period. Vastus lateralis biopsy muscle samples were obtained at baseline and 48 hours after the last training session. Muscle fiber CSA, selected genes expression, and maximum dynamic ST (1 repetition maximum) were evaluated before and after training. Type IIa and type I muscle fiber CSA increased from pre- to posttest only in the ST group (17.08 and 17.9%, respectively). The SMAD-7 gene expression significantly increased at the posttest in the ST (53.9%) and CT groups (39.3%). The MSTN and its regulatory genes ActIIb, FLST-3, FOXO-3a, and GASP-1 mRNA levels remained unchanged across time and groups. One repetition maximum increased from pre- to posttest in both the ST and CT groups (ST = 18.5%; CT = 17.6%). Our findings are suggestive that MSTN and their regulatory genes at transcript level cannot differentiate muscle fiber CSA responses between CT and ST regimens in humans.
Sample size for measuring grammaticality in preschool children from picture-elicited language samples.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a shorter language sample elicited with fewer pictures (i.e., 7) would yield a percent grammatical utterances (PGU) score similar to that computed from a longer language sample elicited with 15 pictures for 3-year-old children. METHOD Language samples were elicited by asking forty 3-year-old children with varying language skills to talk about pictures in response to prompts. PGU scores were computed for each of two 7-picture sets and for the full set of 15 pictures. RESULTS PGU scores for the two 7-picture sets did not differ significantly from, and were highly correlated with, PGU scores for the full set and with each other. Agreement for making pass-fail decisions between each 7-picture set and the full set and between the two 7-picture sets ranged from 80% to 100%. CONCLUSION The current study suggests that the PGU measure is robust enough that it can be computed on the basis of 7, at least in 3-year-old children whose language samples were elicited using similar procedures.