Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of tobacco use on cataract development

Aim: To study the influence of tobacco use on cataract formation in a rural South Indian population. Methods: 3924 subjects from the Chennai Glaucoma Study conducted in rural south India underwent a comprehensive eye examination, including Lens Opacities Classification System II grading. Information on tobacco use, type of tobacco (smoking and smokeless), duration and quantity of use was collected. Results: 1705 (male:female (M:F) 1106:599) people used tobacco and were significantly older (mean (standard deviation (SD)) age 55.80 (10.64) years) than non-users (52.23 (10.51); p<0.001). 731 (M:F 730:1) people smoked, 900 (M:F 302:598) used smokeless tobacco, and 74 (M:F, 74:0) used tobacco in both forms. The unadjusted and adjusted (age and sex) odds ratio (OR) for a positive history of tobacco use and cataract was 1.72 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.51 to 1.96) and 1.39 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.68), respectively. The unadjusted OR for smokers and smokeless tobacco users was 1.04 (95% CI 0.88 to 1.23) and 2.74 (95% CI 2.31 to 3.26), respectively. The adjusted OR was 1.19 (95% CI 0.89 to 1.59) and 1.54 (95% CI 1.22 to 1.95), respectively. No significant association was noted between smoking and any particular type of cataract. Smokeless tobacco use was found to be significantly associated with nuclear cataract even after adjusting for age and sex (OR 1.67, p = 0.067, 95% CI 1.16 to 2.39). Conclusion: Tobacco use was significantly associated with cataract. Smoking was not found to be significantly associated with cataract formation; however, smokeless tobacco use was more strongly associated with cataract.
Effects of application in spring of urea fertiliser on aspects of reproductive performance of pasture-fed dairy cows

Abstract AIMS: To assess if raising concentrations of crude protein (CP) in pasture in spring by the frequent application of urea fertiliser would affect ovarian follicular dynamics, luteal function, onset of oestrus and reproductive performance of dairy cows under farming conditions in New Zealand. METHODS: Spring-calved dairy cows were grazed for 101 days in paddocks that were either not fertilised (Control; n=20) during the course of the study, or were fertilised with 40–50 kg nitrogen (N)/ha every 4–6 weeks (High-N; n=20). Similar generous pasture allowances were offered to both groups. Concentrations of CP in pasture, urea in serum and progesterone in milk were measured. Ovarian follicular and luteal dynamics were determined using ultrasonography. Oestrous behaviour and the number, time and outcome of inseminations were also recorded. RESULTS: Mean concentrations of CP in pasture and urea in serum was higher in the High-N than the Control group (25.2 vs21.6 and 8.3 vs 5.4 mmol/L for CP and urea, respectively; p<0.001). Intervals between calving and first oestrus, first insemination and conception, the time of first emergence of a dominant follicle, milk progesterone concentration, and the diameter of the corpus luteum (CL) in the first luteal phase did not differ significantly between groups. The interval from calving to first ovulation tended (p=0.10) to be lower and the diameter of the dominant follicle of the oestrous cycle at which cows conceived was greater (p=0.02) in Control than High-N cows. CONCLUSIONS: The use of large amounts of urea fertiliser during spring and the consequent increases in concentrations of CP in pasture and urea in serum did not negatively affect any of the parameters of reproductive performance of pasture-fed dairy cows that were assessed in this study.
Suppressing resonance in transformer winding under very fast transient overvoltage

This paper presents a new method for suppressing internal resonance in power transformers connected to gas insulated substation (GIS) due to very fast transient overvoltage (VFTO) in the GIS. Internal resonance within the transformer windings will take place if one of VFTO frequencies matches with the power transformer natural frequency. In this context, the parameters affecting internal transformer resonance are investigated through the simulation of 400kV GIS connected to a 250MVA, three phase transformer and a new suppressing method for internal transformer resonances is proposed. In contrary with existing resonance suppressing approaches that call for modifications in the GIS structure, the proposed method in this paper can be employed with any existing GIS without any change in its structure.
The lifetime risk of adult-onset rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory autoimmune rheumatic diseases.

OBJECTIVE Understanding of the personal risks for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other rheumatic diseases remains poor, despite advances in knowledge with regard to their pathogenesis, therapeutics, and clinical impact, in part because the personal lifetime risk of developing these diseases is unknown. This study was undertaken to estimate the lifetime risk of RA, as well as other inflammatory autoimmune rheumatic diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, psoriatic arthritis, polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), giant cell arteritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and Sjögren's syndrome, and to provide an overall estimate of the risk of developing inflammatory autoimmune rheumatic disease over a lifetime. METHODS Using the incidence rates obtained from our population-based studies of rheumatic diseases among residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, and mortality rates from life tables for the general population, we estimated the sex-specific lifetime risk of rheumatic disease. RESULTS The lifetime risk of RA developing in US adults was 3.6% for women and 1.7% for men, and the lifetime risk of rheumatoid factor-positive RA was 2.4% for women and 1.1% for men. The second most common inflammatory autoimmune rheumatic disease was PMR, with a lifetime risk of 2.4% for women and 1.7% for men. The overall lifetime risk of inflammatory autoimmune rheumatic disease was 8.4% for women and 5.1% for men. CONCLUSION One in 12 women and 1 in 20 men will develop an inflammatory autoimmune rheumatic disease during their lifetime. These results can serve as useful guides in counseling patients regarding their lifetime risk of these conditions and have important implications regarding disease awareness campaigns.
The usefulness of Quality of Life Childhood Epilepsy (QOLCE) questionnaire in evaluating the quality of life of children with epilepsy.

PURPOSE Evaluation of quality of life has become a frequently used method in treatment effects supervision. Quality of Life Childhood Epilepsy (QOLCE) questionnaire, which is completed by patients' parents, has been prepared for children with epilepsy. It enables to determine the quality of life in children aged 4-18 years. The aim of the study was to show the usefulness of QOLCE questionnaire in evaluating the quality of life of children with epilepsy. MATERIALS AND METHODS 160 epileptic children, aged 8-18 years and their parents were examined in the Chair and Department of Developmental Neurology, K. Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences in Poznań. QOLCE questionnaire was completed by parents and "Young people and epilepsy" questionnaire was designed for children. RESULTS Reliability index of the complete questionnaire in own research and in the original amounted to 0.93 Cronbach alpha coefficient. Epileptic, drug-resistant children constituted 28% of the examined group. Parents of children with controlled seizures evaluated children's functioning in analyzed areas of quality of life higher. CONCLUSIONS 1. QOLCE questionnaire is a suitable tool to evaluate the quality of children's and adolescents' life. 2. The most significant differences in functioning of epileptic, drug-resistant patients and those with controlled seizures were observed in areas of cognitive processes and social activity.
Genetic evidence for a high diversity and wide distribution of endemic strains of the pathogenic chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in wild Asian amphibians

Population declines and extinctions of amphibians have been attributed to the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), especially one globally emerging recombinant lineage (‘Bd‐GPL’). We used PCR assays that target the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) of Bd to determine the prevalence and genetic diversity of Bd in South Korea, where Bd is widely distributed but is not known to cause morbidity or mortality in wild populations. We isolated Korean Bd strains from native amphibians with low infection loads and compared them to known worldwide Bd strains using 19 polymorphic SNP and microsatellite loci. Bd prevalence ranged between 12.5 and 48.0%, in 11 of 17 native Korean species, and 24.7% in the introduced bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus. Based on ITS sequence variation, 47 of the 50 identified Korean haplotypes formed a group closely associated with a native Brazilian Bd lineage, separated from the Bd‐GPL lineage. However, multilocus genotyping of three Korean Bd isolates revealed strong divergence from both Bd‐GPL and the native Brazilian Bd lineages. Thus, the ITS region resolves genotypes that diverge from Bd‐GPL but otherwise generates ambiguous phylogenies. Our results point to the presence of highly diversified endemic strains of Bd across Asian amphibian species. The rarity of Bd‐GPL‐associated haplotypes suggests that either this lineage was introduced into Korea only recently or Bd‐GPL has been outcompeted by native Bd strains. Our results highlight the need to consider possible complex interactions among native Bd lineages, Bd‐GPL and their associated amphibian hosts when assessing the spread and impact of Bd‐GPL on worldwide amphibian populations.
Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic thermotectonic evolution along a transect from the north China craton through the Qinling orogen into the Yangtze craton, central China

Cretaceous and Cenozoic reactivation of the Triassic Qinling‐Dabie orogen between the north China and Yangtze cratons resulted from the combined effects of Pacific subduction–back‐arc extension in east China and collisions in west China. We report new apatite fission track and apatite and zircon (U‐Th)/He data from east Qinling along a >400‐km‐long N‐S transect from Huashan through the Qinling orogen to Huangling. The ages show a general pattern of younging northward. Three major cooling phases are defined by modeling the multiple thermochronologic data sets. The first phase occurred locally in the North and South Qinling during the late Triassic to early Jurassic, following heating associated with the Triassic Yangtze subduction and exhumation of the Wudang metamorphic core complex on the cratonal edge. A second phase represents regional exhumation between 100 and 60 Ma, coeval with rifting marked by the Late Cretaceous–Eocene (K2–E) red bed deposition in eastern China and possibly indicating a link with Pacific subduction–back‐arc extension in eastern China; however, it may also have been superimposed by eastward tectonic escape resulting from the Lhasa–West Burma–Qiangtang‐Indochina collision. The third cooling phase was initiated at ∼45 Ma exclusively in the north Qinling and in the footwall of the graben‐bounding normal fault of the Weihe graben in the Lesser Qinling. We suggest the third phase was related to reactivation of the Qinling fault system as a result of eastward tectonic escape imposed by the India‐Asia collision at ∼50 Ma.
Acylcarnitines as markers of exercise‐associated fuel partitioning, xenometabolism, and potential signals to muscle afferent neurons

What is the central question of this study? Does improved metabolic health and insulin sensitivity following a weight‐loss and fitness intervention in sedentary, obese women alter exercise‐associated fuel metabolism and incomplete mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation (FAO), as tracked by blood acylcarnitine patterns? What is the main finding and its importance? Despite improved fitness and blood sugar control, indices of incomplete mitochondrial FAO increased in a similar manner in response to a fixed load acute exercise bout; this indicates that intramitochondrial muscle FAO is inherently inefficient and is tethered directly to ATP turnover.
How quickly do brains catch up with bodies? A comparative method for detecting evolutionary lag

A trait may be at odds with theoretical expectation because it is still in the process of responding to a recent selective force. Such a situation can be termed evolutionary lag. Although many cases of evolutionary lag have been suggested, almost all of the arguments have focused on trait fitness. An alternative approach is to examine the prediction that trait expression is a function of the time over which the trait could evolve. Here we present a phylogenetic comparative method for utilizing this ‘time’ approach and we apply the method to a long–standing lag hypothesis: evolutionary changes in brain size lag behind evolutionary changes in body size. We tested the prediction in primates that brain mass contrast residuals, calculated from a regression of pairwise brain mass contrasts on positive pairwise body mass contrasts, are correlated with the time since the paired species diverged. Contrary to the brain size lag hypothesis, time since divergence was not significantly correlated with brain mass contrast residuals. We found the same result when we accounted for socioecology, used alternative body mass estimates and used male rather than female values. These tests do not support the brain size lag hypothesis. Therefore, body mass need not be viewed as a suspect variable in comparative neuroanatomical studies and relative brain size should not be used to infer recent evolutionary changes in body size.
Differential expression of basement membrane type IV collagen α2 and α6 chains as a prognostic factor in patients with extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma

The destruction of the basement membrane (BM) is the first step in cancer invasion and metastasis. Type IV collagen is a major component of the BM, and is composed of six genetically distinct α(IV) chains; α1(IV) to α6(IV). The loss of α5(IV) and α6(IV) chains from the epithelial BM at the early stage of cancer invasion has been reported in several types of cancers. However, the expression of α5(IV) and α6(IV) chains in extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma (EBDC) remains unclear.
Comparison of the specificity and extent of in vitro methylation by guanylate residue-specific transfer RNA methylases isolated from ascites hepatoma, 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene-induced hepatoma, and normal rat liver.

Summary The extent and sites of in vitro methylation of guanylate residue-specific tRNA methylases isolated from ascites hepatoma, 3′-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene-induced hepatoma, and normal rat liver were compared by the use of purified individual Escherichia coli tRNA9s as methyl acceptors. The levels of activity of the two methylases, i.e. , methylases II and III, were 2- to 4-fold higher in the extract from ascites hepatoma and from 3′-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene-induced hepatoma than in that from normal rat liver. It was shown that the lower level of methylase activity detected in normal rat liver was not due to the increased amount of methylase inhibitor or RNase. The sites of in vitro methylation of E. coli tRNA fMet and tRNA Val 1 by the tumor methylases were the same as those for normal liver; namely, G 27 of tRNA fMet and G 10 of tRNA Val 1 were methylated to provide 2-methylguanosine by methylases II and III, respectively, from tumor cells, as in the case of the methylases from normal liver. These results indicate that specificity of the tRNA methylases, in terms of recognition of location of guanylate residues in tRNA molecules, was not altered in cancerous cells.
Prevention of cardiovascular risk factor elevations in healthy premenopausal women.

BACKGROUND A number of factors contribute to increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) among postmenopausal women, including atherogenic changes in serum cholesterol profiles, weight gain, and decreases in physical activity during the menopause. To date, no study has attempted to prevent elevations in primary CHD risk factors as women experience menopause. METHODS A sample of 535 healthy premenopausal women, ages 44-50, were recruited for an ongoing 5-year randomized prevention trial testing whether increases in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and body weight can be prevented during the menopause with a dietary and behavioral intervention. The aim was to reduce total dietary and saturated fat and cholesterol, prevent weight gain, and increase physical activity levels. Changes in CHD risk factors after the first 6 months of treatment were analyzed comparing 253 intervention and 267 assessment-only control participants. RESULTS The intervention group showed significant reductions in total cholesterol (-0.34 mmol/liter), LDL-C (-0.28 mmol/liter), triglycerides (-0.04 mmol/liter), weight (-4.8 kg), waist-hip ratio (-0.008), systolic blood pressure (-3.5 mm Hg), diastolic blood pressure (-2.2 mm Hg), serum glucose levels (-0.06 mmol/liter), and HDL-C (-0.06 mmol/liter) and significant increases in physical activity (+383 kcal). No significant changes were observed in the control group. CONCLUSION Six-month results suggested that participants were receptive to the preventive approach to CHD risk reduction and were successful in making initial positive lifestyle changes. Follow-up data will evaluate long-term adherence to the intervention and the interaction between adherence and physiological changes during menopause.
Modeling the impact of the decline in distant stage disease on prostate carcinoma mortality rates

The incidence of distant stage prostate carcinoma was relatively flat until 1991 and then started declining rapidly. This decline probably was caused by the shift to earlier stage disease associated with the rapid dissemination of prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening. Prostate carcinoma mortality rates started falling at approximately the same time. In this article, the authors model the potential impact of this stage shift on prostate carcinoma mortality rates given various assumptions concerning the survival of patients with screen‐detected local‐regional disease.
Identifying the high-risk dialysis patient: what are the benefits?

during erythropoietin therapy [6]. These results have not been confirmed by another controlled study [7]. Favourable effects with electrical needle stimulation, ketotifen, which is a mast-cell stabilizer, and topical capsaicin, which would deplete the pruritogenic substance P in peripheral sensory neurons have been reported. These trials have been conducted on very small numbers of patients and need to be confirmed by further studies. Waiting for more intensive investigations on this orphan symptom we suggest the following approach. First the pruritic patient should be evaluated by a dermatologist to rule out any cause of itching other than uraemia. Then the adequacy of dialysis should be carefully checked. It is a common experience that pruritus is more frequent in underdialysed patients and may improve by increasing the efficacy of dialysis. The calcium—phosphorus product should be kept as low as a possible to avoid microprecipitations that can irritate the skin. Adequate measures should be taken to treat severe hyperparathyroidism. In well-dialysed patients without specific skin disease or severe hyperparathyroidism, we suggest starting with UVB phototherapy. Nicergoline (30 mg q. day per os) may be offered to the few non-responders. Electrical needle stimulation, ketotifen (l-2mg b.day) or topical capsaicin can be Nephrol Dial Transplant 1995: Editorial Comments
Human lymphatic vessel contractile activity is inhibited in vitro but not in vivo by the calcium channel blocker nifedipine

We studied the effects of antihypertensive calcium channel blockers on CaV1.2, the predominantly expressed L‐type calcium channel in the largest human lymphatic vessel, the thoracic duct. Human lymphatic collecting vessels, both large and small, are highly‐sensitive in vitro to calcium channel blockers; exposure to these drugs inhibits endogenous lymphatic contractile activity and action potentials and diminishes noradrenaline‐induced phasic contractions. In vivo administration of calcium channel blocker nifedipine to healthy volunteers did not reduce lymphatic contractile activity despite all subjects achieving nifedipine plasma concentrations comparable with those observed to affect contractile function in vitro. These results indicate that calcium channel blocker‐related oedema is unlikely to be exacerbated by an off‐target effect of the drugs diminishing lymphatic pumping and fluid removal.
Degeneration speed of corticospinal tract in patients with cerebral infarct.

OBJECTIVES Diffusion tensor image tractography (DTT) could be useful for exploring the state of the corticospinal tract (CST) at the level of the subcortical white matter. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the speed of degeneration of the CST in patients with cerebral infarct, using DTT. DESIGN Two patients with middle cerebral artery territory infarct were recruited for this study. DTT was performed 5 times with an interval of 7 days, starting at 2 days after onset, using a 1.5-T system with a synergy-L Sensitivity Encoding head coil. The termination criteria used were fractional anisotrophy < 0.3, 0.2, 0.1, respectively, and an angle change > 45 degrees . RESULTS Detection of CST degeneration began at the 9 day DTT in both patients. The most rapid CST degeneration was noted for 7 days at 16 days from onset. We did not detect any tract in the affected hemisphere of both patients at the 23-day DTT. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrated that CST degeneration begins before 9 days from onset and progresses rapidly in patients with middle cerebral artery territory infarct. It seems that the CST degeneration began earlier than expected.
The Consequences of Perpetrating Psychological Aggression in Dating Relationships

Psychological aggression is the most prevalent form of aggression in dating relationships, with women perpetrating as much, if not more, psychological aggression than men. Researchers have advocated for an examination of the consequences that follow psychological aggression for the perpetrator, in hopes that this will lead to innovative intervention programs aimed at ameliorating dating violence. The current study investigated the self-reported consequences of having perpetrated psychological aggression against a dating partner among female college students in a current dating relationship (N = 115). Participants endorsed numerous consequences as having followed their perpetration of psychological aggression, including both punishing and potentially reinforcing consequences. Furthermore, findings indicated that for some perpetrators, psychological aggression may function as a method of emotion regulation. Implications of these findings for future research and intervention are discussed.