Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
G Protein‐Coupled Estrogen Receptor (GPER) Agonist Dual Binding Mode Analyses Toward Understanding of Its Activation Mechanism: A Comparative Homology Modeling Approach

G protein‐coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) has been shown to be important in several disease states such as estrogen sensitive cancers. While several selective ligands have been identified for the receptor, little is known about how they interact with GPER and how their structures influence their activity. Specifically, within one series of ligands, whose structure varied only at one position, the replacement of a hydrogen atom with an acetyl group changed a potent antagonist into a potent agonist. In this study, two GPER homology models were constructed based on the X‐ray crystal structures of both the active and inactive β2‐adrenergic receptors (β2AR) in an effort to characterize the differences of binding modes between agonists and antagonists to the receptor, and to understand their activity in relation to their structures. The knowledge attained in this study is expected to provide valuable information on GPER ligands structure activity relationship to benefit future rational design of potent agonists and antagonists of the receptor for potential therapeutic applications.
The Humicola grisea Cel12A enzyme structure at 1.2 Å resolution and the impact of its free cysteine residues on thermal stability

As part of a program to discover improved glycoside hydrolase family 12 (GH 12) endoglucanases, we have extended our previous work on the structural and biochemical diversity of GH 12 homologs to include the most stable fungal GH 12 found, Humicola grisea Cel12A. The H. grisea enzyme was much more stable to irreversible thermal denaturation than the Trichoderma reesei enzyme. It had an apparent denaturation midpoint (Tm) of 68.7°C, 14.3°C higher than the T. reesei enzyme. There are an additional three cysteines found in the H. grisea Cel12A enzyme. To determine their importance for thermal stability, we constructed three H. grisea Cel12A single mutants in which these cysteines were exchanged with the corresponding residues in the T. reesei enzyme. We also introduced these cysteine residues into the T. reesei enzyme. The thermal stability of these variants was determined. Substitutions at any of the three positions affected stability, with the largest effect seen in H. grisea C206P, which has a Tm 9.1°C lower than that of the wild type. The T. reesei cysteine variant that gave the largest increase in stability, with a Tm 3.9°C higher than wild type, was the P201C mutation, the converse of the destabilizing C206P mutation in H. grisea. To help rationalize the results, we have determined the crystal structure of the H. grisea enzyme and of the most stable T. reesei cysteine variant, P201C. The three cysteines in H. grisea Cel12A play an important role in the thermal stability of this protein, although they are not involved in a disulfide bond.
Understanding the Barriers to the Utilization of Primary Health Care in a Low-Income Setting: Implications for Health Policy and Planning

The essence of primary health care is the provision of essential health services and commodities to individuals and communities using available, acceptable and sustainable resources. However, there has been a growing lack of confidence by the populace as evidenced by poor utilization of the services. This study sought to identify the predominant barriers affecting the utilization of primary health care services in Batsari Local Government in Katsina State, Nigeria. A cluster of 630 households was surveyed in the catchment of the 21 health primary health facilities. A catchment been defined as a household located within 5 km of a primary health center. Using a three digit randomly generated numbers a household was selected. Once selected the start house and twenty-nine contiguous houses were visited. a total of 630 households were surveyed. In all households, questions were asked on the predominant health problems, as well as the major determinants of access and utilization of primary health care services . The results were computed and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software SPSS. Version 17.0. The findings from all the respondents (n=630) showed that majority of the people preferred to seek care from the patent medicine stores (53.63%) as against only 7.6% who utilized the primary health care services. The commonest reasons why respondents do not utilize these services were lack of essential drugs, high cost of services as well as inadequate infrastructure in primary healthcare facilities. The study has highlighted some of the multiple factors affecting the utilization of primary healthcare services. It is expected that these findings will guide policy makers in improving healthcare delivery particularly where the need is greatest - at the grassroots - in line with the national health policy and national health strategic development plan.
Morphology and dendritic domains of neurons in the lateral parabrachial nucleus of the rat

The present study provides a description of the dendritic morphology and the dendritic domains of neurons in the lateral parabrachial nucleus (PB) of the rat. The cells were intracellularly stained in vitro with Lucifer yellow. A subpopulation of these cells was characterized beforehand as neurons projecting to the amygdaloid complex by retrograde transport with rhodamine beads.
Pattern, challenges and correlates of condom use among Nigerians living with HIV infection.

OBJECTIVE To determine the pattern, challenges and correlates of condom use among Nigerians living with HIV Infection. METHODS A cross sectional questionnaire study among HIV positive adults attending an HIV treatment centre in Lagos, Nigeria. Data entry and analysis were done with Epi-info version 3.5. 1. RESULTS The mean age of respondents was 35 (SD=7.7; range: 17-58 years) and mean age at sexual debut was 20 years old (range: 7-37 years). Majority were women (66.6%), had at least secondary school education(91.1%), married (68.2%)), on ART (50.7%) and knew their partners HIV status(60.9%). The rate of condom use at last sex act was 65.9%, but only 48.8% used condom consistently. Factors associated with condom use were male gender (OR=2.43, CI=1.35-4.33, P=0.002), less than secondary school education (OR=3.12, CI=1.04-9.28, P=0.05) and Not knowing partner's HIV status (OR=1.90, CI=1.04-3.80, P=0.04). Refusal to use condom (28.4%) were as a result of pregnancy intention, undesirability of condom in marriage and decreased sexual pleasure. CONCLUSION There is low consistent condom use rate of 48.8% among this cohort despite their exposure to behavioural change messages. A review of the present counselling strategy and combination prevention is therefore advocated.
Peptic ulcer in infancy and childhood with a review of the literature

The occurrence of peptic ulcer in infancy was described ox-er a hundred years ago by Cruveilhier (1829-35) in his Anatomie Pathologique du Corps Humain . He records the presence of multiple gastric ulcers in three infants at the respective ages of one, two, and four weeks. The lesions are clearly illustrated by drawings. Since then reports on peptic ulcers in children have appeared in ever-increasing numbers in the literature (chiefly continental and American), Theile (1919a) having collected 248 cases under the age of sixteen, while Bird, Limper and Mayer (quoted Ladd and Gross, 1941) review 243 cases up to the age of fifteen. In this country, however, according to Paterson, only three British cases were published prior to 1922. In view of this dearth a series of such cases is here reported in order to draw attention to the condition. since the first essential for the diagnosis of peptic ulceration in childhood is recognition of the fact that it actually does occur, even in the neonatal period. Theile, who saw it from the first day of life onwards, considers that it almost always arises after birth, and this is confirmed by Ballantyne (1902) in his ' Textbook of Antenatal Pathology'. Some authors, however, believe that the lesion may be present at birth. According to Ladd and Gross it has been described in stillborn infants. It is well known that acute peptic ulcers can develop very quickly, having been seen as early as nineteen hours after a severe burn (Hurst and Stewart, 1929).
Long-term outcomes following alemtuzumab induction in lung transplantation.

OBJECTIVES Alemtuzumab is a commonly used induction agent for solid-organ transplantation. Its use in lung transplantation with reduced immunosuppressive regimens, however, has yet to be well characterized. METHODS From November 2006 to March 2008, 20 consecutive lung transplantation patients received alemtuzumab induction with a reduced maintenance immunosuppression regimen. Twenty consecutive case-controls who underwent transplantation between 2005 and 2006 were treated with a standard immunosuppression regimen without induction. Outcome variables were patient survival, acute rejection, infection, and bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome. RESULTS Mean follow-up time was 1400 days in the alemtuzumab group and 1210 days in the control group. Double lung transplantation was performed in 21 patients (12 in the alemtuzumab group and 9 in the control group). There was no difference in survival between the alemtuzumab (n = 10) and control (n = 10) groups. There was also not a significant difference in time-adjusted death based on Kaplan-Meier analysis. The mean number of any grade of rejection event per patient was not significantly different (alemtuzumab 2.3 ± 2.7 vs. control 3.2 ± 2.35; P = .22). There was a trend toward the reduced incidence of infection requiring intravenous antibiotics per patient (alemtuzumab 2.4 vs. control 3.8; P = .08). The incidence of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome was similar in both groups (alemtuzumab 55% vs. control 70%; P = .25). CONCLUSIONS Alemtuzumab induction with reduced immunosuppression offers a comparable 5-year survival and rejection rate compared to standard-dose immunosuppression regimen.
The evaluative space grid: A single-item measure of positivity and negativity

The authors introduce the evaluative space grid (ESG), a two-dimensional grid that provides a single-item measure of positivity and negativity. In Study 1, ESG ratings of gamble outcomes were highly correlated with those obtained from conventional, less-efficient, unipolar measures, thus providing evidence for the grid's convergent validity. In Study 2, participants rated their moment-by-moment evaluative reactions to gamble outcomes with the grid every 100 ms; results replicated earlier findings that some outcomes elicit only positivity or negativity whereas others simultaneously elicit positivity and negativity. In Studies 3 and 4, the difference between the grid's positive and negative ratings of several types of stimuli and bipolar valence ratings were highly correlated, thus demonstrating the grid's generalisability and predictive validity. Study 4 also showed that ESG ratings predicted facial electromyographic activity, particularly in tasks involving strongly affective stimuli. Taken together, results indicate that the grid provides efficient, valid indices of positivity and negativity.
Immunohistochemical Analysis of Estrogen Receptors in Human Gallbladder

Estrogen receptors (ER) in human gallbladders were examined immunohistochemically using a specific monoclonal antibody against human ER. ER immunoreactivity was positive in 6 (19.4%) of 31cases of cholelithiasis, 6 (33.3%) of 18 cases of epithelial polyp, 14 (53.8%) of 26 cases of adenoma, and 26 (22.8%) of 114 cases of adeno‐carcinoma. ER immunoreactivity was located at the nucleus of the epithelium of both non neoplastic and neo‐plastic tissues, although the number of ER‐immunoreactive cells was small. There was no sex difference in the incidence of ER immunoreactivity. No significant difference in survival rates could be demonstrated between ER‐positive and ER‐negative carcinomas. Epithelial polyps, adenomas and carcinomas were divided into metaplastic type and non‐metaplastic type based on the presence or absence of metaplastic changes for comparison of the incidence of ER immunoreactivity. The incidence of ER immunoreactivity in the metaplastic type was significantly higher than that in the non‐metaplastic type. We conclude that ER are present in the gallbladder mucosa in various disease states and suggest that the presence of ER is related to metaplasia of the gallbladder mucosa. Acta Pathol Jpn40: 14–21, 1990.
Hierarchical Narrative Collage For Digital Photo Album

Collage can provide a summary form on the collection of photos in an album. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach to constructing photo collage in the hierarchical narrative manner. As opposed to previous methods focusing on spatial coherence in the collage layout, our narrative collage arranges the photos according to the basic narrative elements from literary writings, i.e., character, setting and plot. Face, time and place attributes are exploited to embody those narrative elements in the collage. Then, photos are organized into the hierarchical structure for the multi‐level details in the events recorded by the album. Such hierarchical narrative collage can present a visual overview in the chronological order on what happened in the album. Experimental results show that our approach offers a better summarization to browse on the photo album content than previous ones.
Multilayer and monolayer cell cultures in a cytotoxicity assay of root canal sealers.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the response of a multilayer compared with a monolayer cell culture using six root canal sealers. Both monolayer and multilayer of MU-mu-1 (Mahidol University mouse cell line 1) were cultured in separate 96-well plates. Following incubation at 37 degrees C in 5% CO2 for 4 h in the presence of each sealer, cells were stained with 0.4% Sulphorhodamine-B, viable dye staining and the absorbance at 540 nm determined and calculated as cell viability. There was no statistical difference in the percentage viability for each sealer in both the multilayer and the monolayer cell culture (P > 0.01). Apexit and AH-26 were less toxic (P < 0.01) than MU (Mahidol University) sealer, ROCANAL 3, ROCANAL 2, and Endomethasone which demonstrated the same toxicity (P > 0.01).
A Case of Infantile Febrile Psoriasiform Dermatitis

Abstract: An infant suffered from psoriasiform dermatitis complicated by severe constitutional symptoms. During his 12 months of hospitalization, the symptoms exacerbated periodically despite numerous therapeutic trials. Histologie findings revealed lichenoid psoriasiform dermatitis with striking eosinophilic necrosis of epidermal cells and satellite cell necrosis. Immunohisfochemically, CD1 + Langerhans cells had almost disappeared, and CD8+ cytotoxic‐suppressor T cells were predominant over CD4+ helper‐inducer T cells in the epidermis. These findings in the skin biopsy specimens suggested some similarity to graft‐versus‐host disease but no known cause of that disorder was proved. Finally, methotrexate was effective. The patient became afebrile, and his skin lesions Improved, leaving almost no scarring. This patient seems to have had specific clinical features that do not correspond with any of the known dermatitites. Clinical, histoiogic, and laboratory findings did not uncover any etiologic factors.
Measurement of the scrapie agent using an incubation time interval assay

The titer of the scrapie agent was determined by measurements of time intervals from inoculation to onset of illness and from inoculation to death. Both intervals were found to be inversely proportional to the size of the dose injected intracerebrally into random‐bred weanling Syrian hamsters. The logarithms of the time intervals minus a time factor were linear functions of the logarithm of the inoculum size. The time factors were determined by regression analysis in order to maximize these linear relationships. An equation relating the titer of the inoculum to the dilution of the sample and the length of the time intervals was developed. This equation facilitates the use of a computerized data base. Validation of these relationships was provided by comparing samples for which the agent was measured both by end‐point titration and by time interval assay. Agreement between the two methods was generally within ±0.5 log10 median infective dose units. No differences between the molecular properties of the agents from hamster and murine sources were observed using primarily the incubation time interval method with the former and end‐point titration with the latter. The advantages of this new approach based on time interval measurements are considerable with respect to time and resources.
Temporal abstraction in reinforcement learning

Decision making usually involves choosing among different courses of action over a broad range of time scales. For instance, a person planning a trip to a distant location makes high-level decisions regarding what means of transportation to use, but also chooses low-level actions, such as the movements for getting into a car. The problem of picking an appropriate time scale for reasoning and learning has been explored in artificial intelligence, control theory and robotics. In this dissertation we develop a framework that allows novel solutions to this problem, in the context of Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) and reinforcement learning. In this dissertation, we present a general framework for prediction, control and learning at multiple temporal scales. In this framework, temporally extended actions are represented by a way of behaving (a policy) together with a termination condition. An action represented in this way is called an option. Options can be easily incorporated in MDPs, allowing an agent to use existing controllers, heuristics for picking actions, or learned courses of action. The effects of behaving according to an option can be predicted using multi-time models, learned by interacting with the environment. In this dissertation we develop multi-time models, and we illustrate the way in which they can be used to produce plans of behavior very quickly, using classical dynamic programming or reinforcement learning techniques. The most interesting feature of our framework is that it allows an agent to work simultaneously with high-level and low-level temporal representations. The interplay of these levels can be exploited in order to learn and plan more efficiently and more accurately. We develop new algorithms that take advantage of this structure to improve the quality of plans, and to learn in parallel about the effects of many different options.
Inhomogeneous Hypergraph Clustering with Applications

Hypergraph partitioning is an important problem in machine learning, computer vision and network analytics. A widely used method for hypergraph partitioning relies on minimizing a normalized sum of the costs of partitioning hyperedges across clusters. Algorithmic solutions based on this approach assume that different partitions of a hyperedge incur the same cost. However, this assumption fails to leverage the fact that different subsets of vertices within the same hyperedge may have different structural importance. We hence propose a new hypergraph clustering technique, termed inhomogeneous hypergraph partitioning, which assigns different costs to different hyperedge cuts. We prove that inhomogeneous partitioning produces a quadratic approximation to the optimal solution if the inhomogeneous costs satisfy submodularity constraints. Moreover, we demonstrate that inhomogenous partitioning offers significant performance improvements in applications such as structure learning of rankings, subspace segmentation and motif clustering.
Excitatory Amino Acid Neurotransmitters in the Corticostriate Pathway: Studies Using Intracerebral Microdialysis In Vivo

Abstract The concentration of extracellular excitatory amino acids in the striatum of conscious, unrestrained rats was measured using intracerebral microdialysis, during chemical stimulation of the striatum in intact and hemidecorticate animals. Chemical stimulation of the striatum with tityustoxin (0.1 μM) evoked a rise in dialysate concentration of glutamate (to 383% of basal) and aspartate (to 156% of basal), accompanied by a drop in glutamine (to 55% of basal). These changes showed significant attenuation after treatment with L‐proline (1 mM) or 2‐chloroadenosine (15 μM). Unilateral degeneration of the corticostriate pathway, produced by frontal hemidecortication, caused a reduction in both basal and stimulated levels of glutamate in the lesioned side, whereas no effect was observed in the intact side. Similarly, basal and stimulated levels of glutamine were unchanged in the intact side, but were increased in the lesioned side. These results provide in vivo evidence for glutamate and possibly aspartate being neurotransmitters in the corticostriate pathway. In addition they lend support to previous studies in vitro, which implicated glutamine as the principal precursor for neurotransmitter glutamate.
New Indications for Computer-Assisted Surgery: Tumor Resection in the Pelvis

The resection of recurrent malignant pelvic tumors was supported by a commercially available navigation system in three patients. Preoperatively three-dimensional images from the pelvis were obtained by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging to identify the tumor extension. During surgery navigated tools oriented the surgeon to excise the tumor with adequate virtual margins. Navigation was helpful for tumor identification in one patient with a recurrent presacral mesenchymal chondrosarcoma. In the other two patients the tumor resection in the bone was done with three-dimensional observation of the osteotomies in the sacrum. In all three patients the histopathologic analysis confirmed that the neoplasms were excised accurately within their margins. We think that computer-assisted surgery is a potential method to increase the accuracy of tumor resections.
Comparison of two different techniques used for the maintenance of peri-implant soft tissue health: a pilot randomized clinical trial

Abstract Objectives: The aim of this pilot study was to compare the effectiveness of two different methods of debridement on maintaining and improving peri-implant soft tissue health over a period of 12 months. Materials and methods: Twenty adult patients (25 implants) were enrolled in a randomized, single-blinded, parallel group clinical trial. All implants included showed no signs of pathologic bone loss. Patients were scheduled to be reviewed every 3 months over a 12 months period. Nine patients (15 implants) were randomly allocated to a test group and treated with a low abrasive air polishing powder (Air-Flow® Perio, EMS) (AFP) and another nine (10 implants) to a control group and treated with titanium curettes (TC). Peri-implant crevicular fluid samples were analyzed to quantitatively measure the concentration of six interleukins (IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β, TNF, IL-10 and IL-12). A multilevel analysis was used to test the comparison between the two treatments. The same analysis was used to study the relationship between clinical parameters and cytokines while controlling for confounding factors. Results: There was no significant difference in bleeding on probing (BOP) between the two treatment methods (p = .35). Both debridement techniques resulted in a similar reduction of BOP (40.04% and 39.93%). IL-6 was the only cytokine of the six investigated that demonstrated a correlation with a clinical parameter (BOP) (p = .05). Conclusions: Both treatment methods were proven to be effective in reducing peri-implant inflammation and preventing further disease progression. Some cytokines may act as markers for peri-implant disease as the present study showed a significant relationship between IL-6 and BOP.