Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rheumatoid Arthritis in a North American Native Population: Longitudinal Followup and Comparison with a White Population

Objective. To describe differences in phenotype and outcomes in North American Native (NAN) patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) followed prospectively and compared to white patients with RA. Methods. Patients from a single academic center were followed over 20 years using a custom database. Data included diagnoses, year of disease onset, ethnicity, modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (mHAQ) score, patient and physician global scores, tender and swollen joint counts, treatment, serology, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Records of all white (n = 1315) and NAN (n = 481) patients with RA were abstracted. Cumulative treatment data and clinical measures were compared. Results. Disease duration was longer in white patients compared to NAN patients (16 ± 11 vs 14 ± 10 years, respectively; p = 0.03). Onset age was 34 years for NAN patients and 43 years for white patients (p < 0.001). NAN patients were more frequently positive for rheumatoid factor (89% vs 74%; p < 0.001) and antinuclear antibody (57% vs 21%; p < 0.001). Although mean tender joint counts and swollen joint counts were similar, NAN patients had higher Lansbury scores (weighted joint count; 66.5 vs 49.7; p < 0.001), mHAQ scores (1.1 vs 0.9; p = 0.001), and ESR (31 vs 25 mm/h; p < 0.012). NAN patients had more frequent knee (53% vs 34%; p < 0.001) and elbow (62% vs 48%; p = 0.007) involvement. Compared to white patients, NAN patients took a higher lifetime number of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (3.2 ± 1.9 vs 2.2 ± 1.7; p < 0.001), had more combination therapy (38% vs 29%; p = 0.002), and had more frequent prednisone use (55% vs 39%; p < 0.001). Conclusion. Compared to white patients, NAN patients with RA develop disease earlier, are more frequently seropositive, have greater large joint involvement, and greater disease burden, although treatment is more aggressive. These differences are present early and persist throughout the disease course.
The Lactococcus lactis sex‐factor aggregation gene cluA

A gene, cluA, was cloned from the chromosomally located sex factor of Lactococcus lactis MG1363. Sequence analysis revealed significant homology with previously described aggregation proteins in Enterococcus and Streptococcus species. The possibility that cluA was an equivalent protein involved in cell aggregation between donor and recipient bacteria during lactococcal conjugation was confirmed by its expression under the control of a heterologous promoter in L. lactis. Analysis of the homology between the CluA protein and the related proteins of Enterococcus and Streptococcus allowed a common structure for these proteins to be postulated. This consisted of five domains. Functionally conserved domains I and V act respectively as a secretary leader and C‐terminal membrane anchor. Domains II and IV are conserved at the amino acid level and probably have common structural roles whereas domain III is variable and may control binding specificity.
MMP2 and MMP9 in immature endothelial cells following surgical injury of rat cerebral cortex--a preliminary study.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent endopeptidases capable of extracellular matrix remodeling. They have been implicated in various physiological and pathological phenomena involving neurovascular unit elements (neurons, astrocytes and capillary vessels). Surgical injury of the fronto-temporal region of rat cerebral cortex induces massive neurodegeneration and cell death accompanied by astrogliosis. In the area adjacent to the damage, the induction of angiogenesis is observed, in which process immature endothelial cells are important players. The aim of this study was to examine the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 in cortical blood vessels following the surgical injury of cerebral cortex in the rat. Our data demonstrated absence of immature endothelial cells and lack of or only weak MMP2 and MMP9 immunoreactivities in some cortical capillaries in intact rats. Following the surgery, we found high MMPs' immunoreactivities in walls of the vessels located in the cortex adjacent to the lesion site, and particularly in the immature endothelial cells. These results show for the first time the presence of MMPs in the immature (progenitor? ) endothelial cells following surgical brain injury.
Minimisation du risque empirique avec des fonctions de perte nonmodulaires

Cette these aborde le probleme de l’apprentissage avec des fonctions de perte nonmodulaires. Pour les problemes de prediction, ou plusieurs sorties sont predites simultanement, l’affichage du resultat comme un ensemble commun de prediction est essentiel afin de mieux incorporer les circonstances du monde reel. Dans la minimisation du risque empirique, nous visons a reduire au minimum une somme empirique sur les pertes encourues sur l’echantillon fini avec une certaine perte fonction qui penalise sur la prevision compte tenu de la realite du terrain. Dans cette these, nous proposons des methodes analytiques et algorithmiquement efficaces pour traiter les fonctions de perte non-modulaires. L’exactitude et l’evolutivite sont validees par des resultats empiriques. D’abord, nous avons introduit une methode pour les fonctions de perte supermodulaires, qui est base sur la methode d’orientation alternee des multiplicateurs, qui ne depend que de deux problemes individuels pour la fonction de perte et pour l’inference. Deuxiemement, nous proposons une nouvelle fonction de substitution pour les fonctions de perte submodulaires, la Lovasz hinge, qui conduit a une complexite en O(p log p) avec O(p) oracle pour la fonction de perte pour calculer un gradient ou methode de coupe. Enfin, nous introduisons un operateur de fonction de substitution convexe pour des fonctions de perte nonmodulaire, qui fournit pour la premiere fois une solution facile pour les pertes qui ne sont ni supermodular ni submodular. Cet operateur est base sur une decomposition canonique submodulairesupermodulaire.
Increased p50/p50 NF-κB Activation in Human Papillomavirus Type 6- or Type 11-Induced Laryngeal Papilloma Tissue

ABSTRACT We have observed elevated NF-κB DNA-binding activity in nuclear extracts from human papillomavirus type 6- and 11-infected laryngeal papilloma tissues. The predominant DNA-binding species is the p50/p50 homodimer. The elevated NF-κB activity could be correlated with a reduced level of cytoplasmic IκBβ and could be associated with the overexpression of p21 CIP1/WAF1 in papilloma cells. Increased NF-κB activity and cytoplasmic accumulation of p21 CIP1/WAF1 might counteract death-promoting effects elicited by overexpressed PTEN and reduced activation of Akt and STAT3 previously noted in these tissues.
Autopsy Samples of Alzheimer's Cortex Show Increased Peroxidation In Vitro

Abstract: The formation of thiobarbituric acid‐reactive products was measured as an index of peroxidation by oxygen free radicals in homogenates of frontal cortex and cerebellum from brains taken at autopsy and verified histologically as being Alzheimer's (n = 6) or normal (n = 6). Compared with controls, basal peroxidation is significantly higher in Alzheimer's cortex, and this difference is also evident in the presence of exogenous iron. Peroxidation in cerebellum and levels of total glutathione, RNA, and DNA in cortex and cerebellum do not differ significantly between Alzheimer's brain and controls. Iron‐induced peroxidation in cortex is reduced by the lazaroid U‐74500A, with calculated IC50 values that are significantly higher in Alzheimer's samples (10 μM) than in controls (2.5 μM). These observations suggest that cerebral cortex from Alzheimer's patients differs from controls with respect to in vitro peroxidation.
Change in daily life behaviors and depression: Within-person and between-person associations.

OBJECTIVE This study examined associations between daily physical, sedentary, social, and leisure behaviors and depressive symptoms (a) at a macrolevel, over the course of an Experience Sampling (ESM) self-monitoring intervention, and (b) at a microlevel, by examining daily within-person associations. Second, we examined the effects of the ESM self-monitoring intervention on these daily life behaviors. METHODS Individuals with a diagnosis of depression (N = 102) receiving pharmacological treatment were randomized to 1 of 2 six-week ESM intervention conditions or a control condition. Physical, sedentary, social, and leisure behaviors as well as depressive symptoms were assessed prospectively in every-day life at baseline, postintervention, and during the ESM interventions. RESULTS Change in physical activity and talking from baseline to postintervention was associated with change in depressive symptoms from baseline to postintervention. Within-person daily fluctuations in talking, physical activity, doing nothing/resting, and being alone predicted end-of-day depressive symptoms over and above depressive symptoms at the previous day. The ESM interventions contributed to change in talking, doing nothing/resting, and being alone over time in comparison with the control group. The analyses revealed individual differences in the amount of behavioral change over time and in the within-subject associations between daily behaviors and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that physical, sedentary, and social behaviors have affective implications for daily mental health of individuals with depression. Self-monitoring using ESM may be a useful add-on tool to achieve behavioral change and to gain personalized insight in behaviors that improve daily depressive symptoms.
Is a low skinfold thickness an indicator of osteoporosis?

OBJECTIVE The association between thin skin and osteoporosis has been known for some years. We wished to assess a simple measure of skinfold thickness (SFT) as a screening test for osteoporosis and to study the effect of chronological and menopausal age on SFT in a group of osteoporotic women and normal controls.
Change on the horizontal and vertical meridians of the cornea after cataract surgery.

PURPOSE To compare the course and magnitude of change on the horizontal and vertical meridians of the cornea after 5 different incisions for cataract: extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE), 6 mm superior scleral tunnel (6Sup), 3 mm superior scleral tunnel (3Sup), 3 mm temporal scleral tunnel (3Temp), and 3 mm temporal corneal incision (3Cor). METHODS Retrospective chart review of 665 cases of preoperative regular astigmatism. The preoperative keratometry (K) reading was subtracted from the postoperative K reading to determine mean net change on each meridian at 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 1.5 months, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months and 12 months and at 6 month intervals thereafter. After the superior incisions, the temporal changes on each meridian are well described by an analytic model with an initial and final plateau. The changes after the temporal incisions are described by a linear equation. RESULTS After each superior incision, the steepness and length of the transition from the initial to final plateau for each meridian depend on incision length. Considering the uncertainty of measuring K, the corneal meridians stabilized 4.5 months after ECCE, 1.2 months after 6Sup, and 0.3 months after 3Sup. No significant change was detected on the horizontal and vertical meridians after 3Temp and 3Cor. CONCLUSION The magnitude and the duration of changes on the horizontal and vertical meridians of the cornea after cataract surgery depend on both incision length and location. Small temporal incisions induce less change than superior incisions.
Effect of schizophrenia on frontotemporal activity during word encoding and recognition: a PET cerebral blood flow study.

OBJECTIVE Neuropsychological studies have shown that deficits in verbal episodic memory in schizophrenia occur primarily during encoding and retrieval stages of information processing. The current study used positron emission tomography to examine the effect of schizophrenia on change in cerebral blood flow (CBF) during these memory stages. METHOD CBF was measured in 23 healthy comparison subjects and 23 patients with schizophrenia during four conditions: resting baseline, motor baseline, word encoding, and word recognition. The motor baseline was used as a reference that was subtracted from encoding and recognition conditions by using statistical parametric mapping. RESULTS Patients' performance was similar to that of healthy comparison subjects. During word encoding, patients showed reduced activation of left prefrontal and superior temporal regions. Reduced left prefrontal activation in patients was also seen during word recognition, and additional differences were found in the left anterior cingulate, left mesial temporal lobe, and right thalamus. Although patients' performance was similar to that of healthy comparison subjects, left inferior prefrontal activation was associated with better performance only in the comparison subjects. CONCLUSIONS Left frontotemporal activation during episodic encoding and retrieval, which is associated with better recognition in healthy people, is disrupted in schizophrenia despite relatively intact recognition performance and right prefrontal function. This may reflect impaired strategic use of semantic information to organize encoding and facilitate retrieval.
Do Clawbacks Have Claws? The Value Implications of Mandatory Clawback Provisions

Performance-based compensation can give managers an incentive to misreport financial information. This incentive can be mitigated by requiring the recoupment of erroneously awarded performance-based compensation from executives, which is known as a clawback provision. We study the value implications of having a clawback provision by examining the stock market’s reaction to the SEC’s announcement of proposed Rule 10D-1 that mandates clawback provisions. We find that relative to firms that had voluntarily adopted a clawback provision prior to the SEC’s announcement, firms that did not have a clawback provision experienced positive abnormal returns, suggesting that clawback provisions are value-enhancing. Furthermore, the announcement had the greatest positive impact on firms without a clawback with more powerful managers. Our findings suggest that clawbacks create a valuable disincentive to misreport information, but that despite this, powerful managers may resist their adoption, which is why regulation mandating clawbacks may be necessary.  We are grateful to Renee Adams, Jon Kalodimos, Ron Masulis, Terry Shevlin, Mitch Towner and seminar participants at the University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Miami (Accounting), University of New South Wales, University of Oklahoma, University of Technology Sydney, and University of Texas at Dallas for helpful comments, and to Javier Castelo and Charles Favreau for research assistance. 1 Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma, Phone: (608) 770-7753; E-mail: tbakke@ou.edu 2 Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma, Phone: (405) 325-1135; E-mail: hamed@ou.edu 3 Eller College of Management, University of Arizona, Phone: (520) 621-0736; E-mail: avirani@email.arizona. edu
Supplementation with L-arginine does not influence arterial blood pressure in healthy people: a randomized, double blind, trial.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES It cannot be excluded that supplementation with L-arginine, by improving function of endothelium and hypotensive effect, can be advantegeous in prevention of cardiovascular diseases in healthy people. However, reports about hypotensive effect of L-arginine in healthy people are unclear. Moreover, no research including ambulatory blood pressure measurement (ABPM) has been conducted so far. Therefore, the aim of our study was to show if 4-week supplementation of healthy people with L-arginine influences blood pressure measured with ABPM. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was carried out on 19 healthy people randomized to 6 g/24-hour, 12 g/24-hours of L-arginine or placebo. ABPM was carried out 4 times: before randomization, after 2 and 4 weeks of supplementation and 2 weeks after finishing supplementation. RESULTS It was found that 4 weeks of supplementation of healthy people with L-arginine (6 or 12 g/24-hour) led to nonsignificant decrease of systolic and diastolic blood pressure; the decrease was greater during night. CONCLUSION These findings showed that supplementation with L-arginine is not necessarily advantageous in healthy people.
Repercusión del intraparámetro pausas silenciosas en la fluidez: influencia en las expectativas y en la evaluación de la calidad en interpretación simultánea

Esta tesis se enmarca claramente en una tradicion investigadora en Interpretacion, el tema de la calidad en interpretacion, una linea de investigacion cada vez mas solida. Se situa en la linea de investigacion iniciada por Collados (1998), prestandole atencion a una serie de parametros relacionados con la CNV. La metodologia se centra en una evaluacion concreta de una IS y se interesa por diferenciar entre expectativa y evaluacion, por lo que se puede entender como una profundizacion en la determinacion de criterios pertinentes para la evaluacion de la calidad en IS, y como un paso adelante en la ampliacion del campo de analisis. El trabajo se estructura en tres partes. En primer lugar una revision teorica de la investigacion en interpretacion, pero tambien en otras disciplinas como son la lignuistica, la psicolinguistica, la psicologia, la sociologia y la ensenanza de lenguas. En segundo lugar el analisis del intraparametro pausas silenciosas y en tercer lugar la investigacion empirica que se centra desde la via experimental en el estudio vertical de dicho intraparametro. El trabajo se completa con una bibliografia exhaustiva sobre el tema, incluyendo referencias en aleman, frances, ingles y espanol, lo que garantiza la amplitud de miras y el alcance del presente trabajo de investigacion.
Enhanced expression of cyclooxygenase (COX)‐2 in human skin epidermal cancer cells: Evidence for growth suppression by inhibiting COX‐2 expression

Cyclooxygenase (COX)‐2 is one of the rate‐limiting enzymes in the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins and other eicosanoids. Recent studies have shown enhanced expression of COX‐2 in cancer cells of several tissues. We investigated the expression of COX‐2 and prostaglandin (PG) E 2 production in two human skin epidermal cancer cell lines: cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, HSC‐5, and eccrine carcinoma, EcCa. Both COX‐2 expression and PGE 2 production were significantly enhanced in cancer cell lines compared with the non‐tumorigenic human keratinocyte cell line, HaCaT. In order to determine the role of COX‐2 in the proliferation of HSC‐5 and EcCa, the growth of untreated cells and cells transfected with COX‐2 antisense oligonucleotide was compared using the MTT assay. Transfection with the antisense oligonucleotide suppressed COX‐2 protein expression and significantly inhibited cell growth. The effect of a selective inhibitor of COX‐2, NS398, was compared with the effect of the antisense oligonucleotide in order to see whether COX‐2 expression and prostaglandins have selective effects on cell growth. COX‐2 expression was unchanged by NS398 treatment, whereas NS398 inhibited cell growth to a certain extent. The degree of growth inhibition was greater with the antisense oligonucleotide than with NS398. Our findings indicate that COX‐2 protein expression is enhanced in skin epidermal cancer cells and that COX‐2 plays a pivotal role in regulating cell growth. Furthermore, inhibition of COX‐2 expression had a more significant effect on growth suppression than inhibition of COX‐2 catalytic activity, suggesting the existence of two different signal pathways via COX‐2 in regulating cell growth. Int. J. Cancer 86:667–671, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Predicting outcomes of professional DotA 2 matches

We create a model to predict the outcomes of professional DotA 2 (Defense of the Ancients 2) matches in this project. DotA 2 is an esport where 2 teams of 5 human players each play against each other. By looking at the teams playing as well as each player’s in-game characters and historical performance, we should be able to predict the outcomes of matches better than chance. The result is that our best model’s performance is on par with humanlevel performance of this prediction task.
Influence of Human Saliva on the Development of Artificial Erosions

It was hypothesized that saliva from patients with erosion exhibits lower protective efficacy compared to saliva from patients without erosion, based on in vitro enamel softening studies. A total of 645 enamel specimens were distributed among seven experimental groups. Saliva was gathered from each of 10 volunteers without clinical signs of dental erosion and from 10 patients exhibiting severe erosive defects. Aliquots of 50 ml of saliva from each patient were mixed with sour drops or citric acid, respectively. Pooled saliva, sour drops and citric acid mixed with water served as controls. The enamel specimens were soaked in the respective mixture for 5 min and were subsequently incubated in pure saliva for 2 min. This cycle was repeated three times, then the specimens were kept in 100 ml of saliva for 8 h. Surface microhardness was evaluated at the beginning of the experiment and after each cycle. During the experiments, microhardness decreased significantly in all groups except for the pure saliva group. For sour drops and citric acid mixed with saliva from patients without erosion, the final microhardness was higher compared to the mixture of the two erosive compounds with saliva from patients with erosion. The storage of saliva for 8 h resulted in a certain amount of rehardening, with the highest level of rehardening being observed in the group that was least demineralized (sour drops plus saliva from patients without erosion). It is concluded that salivary components play a crucial role in the development of dental erosion.
The mycotoxin ochratoxin A alters intestinal barrier and absorption functions but has no effect on chloride secretion.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin that contaminates cereals and animal feed and causes nephropathy to a variety of animal species. OTA is also known as a potent immunotoxic, teratogenic, and carcinogenic mycotoxin. In addition, OTA ingestion induces intestinal injuries, including inflammation and diarrhea. With the aim to study the cellular mechanisms associated with the intestinal toxicity of OTA, two human epithelial intestinal cell lines (HT-29-D4 and Caco-2-14 cells), widely used as in vitro models for the intestinal epithelium, were incubated with OTA. The main effects of the mycotoxin were an inhibition of cellular growth and a dramatic decrease of transepithelial resistance in both cell lines. Since transepithelial resistance reflects the organization of tight junctions over the cell monolayer, these data may suggest that OTA could potentiate its own absorption through paracellular pathways. OTA induced a 60% decrease of sodium-dependent glucose absorption but increased the absorption of fructose and L-serine in HT-29-D4 cells. Moreover, the mycotoxin did not inhibit the cAMP-dependent chloride secretion through the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator channel. The inhibitory effect of OTA on active glucose transport was partially antagonized by L-phenylalanine, but not by alpha-tocopherol, suggesting that the toxicity of OTA could result from an inhibition of protein synthesis, rather than an induction of lipid peroxidation. In particular, OTA affected the protein content of plasma membrane microdomains, which are known to regulate tight junction assembly and intestinal transport activity. Taken together, these data showed that OTA alters both barrier and absorption functions of the intestinal epithelium.