Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The regulation of AMP-activated protein kinase by H(2)O(2).

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a heterotrimeric serine/threonine kinase, is activated by conditions leading to an increase of the intracellular AMP:ATP ratio. However, how AMPK is regulated under the oxidative stress is completely unknown. In the present study, we examined effects of the oxidative agent H(2)O(2) on AMPK. AMPK was transiently and concentration-dependently activated by H(2)O(2) in NIH-3T3 cells. This activation was tightly associated with an increased AMP:ATP ratio, an electrophoretic mobility shift of AMPK alpha1 catalytic subunit, and an increased phosphorylation level of AMPK alpha1 threonine 172, which is a major in vitro phosphorylation site by the upstream AMPK kinase. All of these events were significantly blocked by the pretreatment of 0.5% dimethyl sulfoxide, a potent hydroxyl radical scavenger, indicating that AMPK cascades are highly sensitive to the oxidative stress. Interestingly, a specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor, genistein, further stimulated the H(2)O(2)-induced AMPK activity by 70% without altering the AMP:ATP. Taken together, our results suggest that AMP:ATP ratio is the major parameter to which AMPK responds under the oxidative stress, but AMPK may be regulated in part by a tyrosine kinase-dependent pathway, which is independent of the cellular adenosine nucleotides level.
Trauma patients with multiple extremity injuries: resource utilization and long-term outcome in relation to injury severity scores.

BACKGROUND Trauma patients with multiple extremity injuries (MEI) make heavy demands on hospital resources and face long-term difficulties in rehabilitation, yet the literature contains little about their treatment as a distinct group. METHODS In this study, a cohort of 54 patients with MEI, all treated at a Level I trauma center, was compared with a trauma control (TC) group that had major injuries not focused at the extremities (but excluding patients with neurologic sequelae of head or spinal cord injuries). Demographic features, primary measures reflecting utilization of hospital resources, return-to-employment and productivity data, and health-related quality of life scores (Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey [SF-36]) were compared. RESULTS Although mean Injury Severity Scores (ISS) for the MEI and TC groups were almost identical (16.2 and 17.4, respectively), the patients with MEI had a mean hospital stay almost twice as long (25 vs. 13 days) and had double the resource intensity weight compared with the TC group. After discharge, the trend of the MEI group was to greater long-term disability, based on SF-36 scores, and lower "return to productivity" figures. The ISS did not predict the greater demands on resources made by the MEI group relative to our TC group. Main injury severity scores for the extremities were more predictive than the ISS for length of hospital stay and the SF-36 concepts at the 2-year follow-up evaluation. CONCLUSION The study emphasizes the need for injury scoring systems that better predict the needs of patients with MEI and that will serve as a basis for equitable funding of trauma centers.
Analysts ’ Forecasts and Asset Pricing : A Survey SP Kothari

This survey reviews the literature on sell-side analysts’ forecasts and its implications for asset pricing. We review the literature on the supply and demand forces shaping analysts’ forecasting decisions as well as the implications of the information they produce for both the cash flow and the discount rate components of security returns. Analysts’ forecasts bring prices in line with the expectations they embody, consistent with the notion that analysts’ forecast contain information about future cash flows. However, analysts’ forecasts exhibit predictable biases and the market appears to underreact to the information in forecasts and not fully filter the biases in the forecasts. Analyst forecasts are also helpful in estimating expected returns on securities, but evidence on the relation between analysts’ forecasts and expected returns is still scarce. We conclude by identifying unanswered questions and offering suggestions for future research.
Simone Maddanu, Musulmans européens en mouvement. Pratiques et expériences quotidiennes chez les jeunes musulmans italiens

Simone Maddanu est docteur en sociologie de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences sociales (EHESS) et actuellement chercheur post-doctorant a l’Universite de Cagliari (Italie) et rattache au Centre d’analyse et d’intervention sociologiques (EHESS/CNRS). Cet ouvrage reprend les resultats de sa these, « La deuxieme generation de musulmans en Italie : nouvelles pratiques quotidiennes chez les jeunes de l’Association GMI », menee sous la direction de Nicole Gole. L’auteur propose une reflexion su.
Effect of Vocal Disguise on Estimations of Speakers' Heights and Weights

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of speakers' attempts to disguise their voices on listeners' accuracy in judgments of height and weight. A total of six sentences were recorded by 26 speakers, 13 females and 13 males, under five conditions: in a normal manner (control condition) and in a manner in which they attempted to sound much taller and much shorter, as well as much heavier and much lighter than they actually were. Five master tapes were constructed, a control tape and four disguise tapes. Each tape contained a total of 156 sentences arranged in random order. A total of 40 judges, 20 in the height-estimation experiment and 20 in the weight-estimation experiment, participated in three sessions, one for each of the three master tapes (one control and two disguise tapes) in each experiment. They were asked to judge the height and weight of the speaker of each sentence and, using a seven-point confidence rating scale, to indicate the over-all confidence in their judgments at the end of each session. Although a majority of speakers yielded height and weight estimates consistent with the intended disguise conditions, the differences in listeners' estimates among all conditions were relatively small. Moreover, differences between speakers' actual heights and weights and listeners' height and weight estimates in the normal (control) condition were also relatively small. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Does fetal exposure to SSRIs or maternal depression impact infant growth?

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to compare the growth of infants born to women with antenatal major depressive disorder, either untreated or treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants, and infants born to a nondepressed, nonmedicated comparison group across the first year of life. METHOD In this prospective observational study, pregnant women were evaluated at weeks 20, 30, and 36 of gestation, and mother and infant pairs were assessed at 2, 12, 26, and 52 weeks postpartum. Three nonoverlapping groups of women were defined according to their pregnancy exposures: 1) no SSRI and no depression (N=97), 2) SSRI (N=46), and 3) major depression without SSRI (N=31). Maternal demographic and clinical characteristics and newborn outcomes were compared across exposure groups. Infant weight, length, and head circumference were measured by a physician or physician's assistant who was blind to depression and SSRI exposure status at each postpartum time point. RESULTS Both adjusted and unadjusted analyses revealed neither antenatal major depression nor SSRI exposure was significantly associated with infant weight, length, or head circumference relative to nonexposure to either. In addition, the interaction of group and prepregnancy body mass index was also evaluated, and no significant synergistic effect was identified. Similarly, no differential effect of group over time was observed for weight, length, or head circumference. CONCLUSIONS In utero exposure to major depression or SSRI antidepressants did not affect infant growth with respect to weight, length, or head circumference from birth through 12 months of age.
Open Defecation Free (ODF) Program As an Urgent Public Service in Semarang City, Central Java

Semarang is the capital city of Central Java, located in the heart of Java island. However, the number of households practising Open Defecation (OD) is still quite high. This fact is astonishing since Semarang is an urban metropolitan area. Therefore, the municipal government of Semarang set a target of abolishing OD in 2018. This article is focused on awareness of the local dwellers in Jomblang Village, Candisari District, on their OD behavior. Data for this study were collected by library research, observation, and in-depth interviews. The result shows that Open Defecation Free (ODF) is part of Community Based Total Sanitation Program, a segment of important public health service must be provided by the government, but not yet well committed. The local people of Jomblang are not fully aware of the importance of ODF. Successful ODF programme needs active participation of the local dwellers in addition to the responsibility of the government as the public service provider, especially in health service, which is one of the most important service it must provide besides education service. and right page margins and justified.
Cell cycle regulation of CDK2 activity by phosphorylation of Thr160 and Tyr15.

We have examined the role of phosphorylation in the regulation of human cyclin‐dependent kinase‐2 (CDK2), a protein closely related to the cell cycle regulatory kinase CDC2. We find that CDK2 from HeLa cells contains three major tryptic phosphopeptides. Analysis of site‐directed mutant proteins, expressed by transient transfection of COS cells, demonstrates that the two major phosphorylation sites are Tyr15 (Y15) and Thr160 (T160). Additional phosphorylation probably occurs on Thr14 (T14). Replacement of T160 with alanine abolishes the kinase activity of CDK2, indicating that phosphorylation at this site (as in CDC2) is required for kinase activity. Mutation of Y15 and T14 stimulates kinase activity, demonstrating that phosphorylation at these sites (as in CDC2) is inhibitory. Similarly, CDK2 is activated in vitro by dephosphorylation of Y15 and T14 by the phosphatase CDC25. Analysis of HeLa cells synchronized at various cell cycle stages indicates that CDK2 phosphorylation on T160 increases during S phase and G2, when CDK2 is most active. Phosphorylation on the inhibitory sites T14 and Y15 is also maximal during S phase and G2. Thus, the activity of a subpopulation of CDK2 molecules is inhibited at a time in the cell cycle when overall CDK2 activity is increased.
Predictors of noncompliance in patients with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND Around 50% of patients with schizophrenia do not fully comply with treatment, and noncompliance is linked to relapse, rehospitalization, poor outcome, and high economic costs. The health belief model views noncompliance as a decision made by the patient, arrived at after weighing the perceived risks and benefits of treatment. DATA SOURCES A MEDLINE search for the years 1980-2002 using combinations of the keywords schizophrenia, compliance, adherence, antipsychotics, tolerability, and side effects was used to identify articles investigating the factors influencing compliance in schizophrenia. RESULTS Many factors influence compliance, including those that affect patients' beliefs about their illness and the benefits of treatment (e.g., insight into illness, belief that medication can ameliorate symptoms), perceived costs of treatment (e.g., medication side effects), and barriers to treatment (e.g., ease of access to treatment, degree of family or social support). Medication side effects that are distressing to patients and linked to noncompliance include extrapyramidal side effects, neuroleptic dysphoria, akathisia, sexual dysfunction, and weight gain. Compliance can be improved by cognitive-behavioral therapies, such as compliance therapy, and other psychosocial interventions associated with improved social functioning and a lower risk of rehospitalization. Treatment adherence may also be improved by use of atypical antipsychotics with few perceived side effects. CONCLUSION By considering the factors leading to noncompliance and adopting a comprehensive strategy for improving compliance, encompassing psychosocial intervention and optimum choice of medication, the management of schizophrenia could be greatly improved.
Predicting the outcome of psychotherapy. findings of the Penn Psychotherapy Project.

Our study of predictability of outcomes of psychotherapy used predictions of two kinds: (1) direct predictions by patients, therapists, and clinical observers; and (2) predictive measures derived from the same sources. Seventy-three nonpsychotic patients were treated in psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy (mean, 44 sessions). Two thirds of the therapists were residents in psychiatry; one third were more experienced. The two main composite outcome measures, measured at termination, were Raw Gain (residualized) and Rated Benefits, which intercorrelated at . 76. Most patients improved and showed a considerable range of benefits. The clinical observers' direct predictions of Rated Benefits were highest (.27, P less than 905). The success of the predictive measures were generally insignificant, and the best of them were in the . 2 to . 3 range meaning that only 5% to 10% of the outcome variance was predicted. The Prognostic Index Interview variables did the best (eg, emotional freedom composite, .30; a crossvalidation for 30 patients was .39 (P less than .05). Neither the therapist measures nor the early psychotherapy session measures predicted significantly. Reanalysis of the similar Chicago Counseling Center study, in our terms, showed a similar low level of prediction success, eg, adequacy of functioning, marital status match, and length of treatment predicted significantly in both studies.
Gramineae pollen as trigger factors of atopic eczema: evaluation of diagnostic measures using the atopy patch test

After contact with grass pollen, seasonal exacerbations of eczematous skin lesions have been described in a subgroup of patients with atopic eczema (AE). Epicutaneous patch testing with aeroallergens (atopy patch test, APT) has been used to investigate these patients. We performed comparative APT in 79 patients with AE and 20 control subjects (14 non‐atopic volunteers and six patients with grass pollen allergic rhinoconjunctivitis). Subjects were tested with grass pollen allergen extract in petrolatum and with unprocessed native dry pollen of Dactylis glomerata. Results after 48 h were compared with the patient's history, corresponding skin prick test and specific IgE. Fifteen of the 79 AE patients showed clear‐cut eczematous reactions to unprocessed D. glomerata pollen; 14 of these had an elevated serum IgE to D. glomerata and 13 had a positive skin prick test. Twenty patients had a positive APT reaction to grass pollen allergen extract, including 12 of the D. glomerata reactive subjects (P < 0.001). Positive patch test reactions to D. glomerata were seen in 66.7% of cases with and 10.5% of patients without a predictive history of exacerbations during the pollen season. For the standardized extract, these percentages were 75% vs. 16.4% (P < 0.001). No side‐effects were observed. Control subjects showed no positive reactions. We conclude that grass pollen preparations may be used to investigate trigger factors for eczematous skin lesions in a subgroup of patients with AE.
Quality of life may be affected more by disease parameters and response to therapy than by haemoglobin changes

Abstract: Earlier studies showing a negative impact of anaemia on quality of life (QOL) lack adequate adjustment for confounding factors such as disease stage and tumour response. We examined the impact of haemoglobin concentration on QOL scores of 745 multiple myeloma patients followed from diagnosis, adjusting for objective disease parameters. Data from two Nordic studies with the EORTC QLQ‐C30 questionnaire were analysed using linear regression analysis. Haemoglobin was independently related only to fatigue at baseline (P = 0.001) and at 12 months (P = 0.010). In multivariate analysis, extent of skeletal disease was at least as strong a predictor for fatigue at diagnosis as haemoglobin and was also related to other important QOL scores such as physical functioning, role functioning, global QOL and pain (P < 0.001). At 12 months’ follow‐up, response to therapy was related to physical functioning (P < 0.001) and pain (P = 0.001). In conclusion, haemoglobin and extent of skeletal disease were both predictors for fatigue in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, but extent of skeletal disease was also associated with other important QOL scores. During follow‐up, response to therapy emerged as an important predictor variable. When examining the effect of haemoglobin on QOL, it is essential to adjust for disease parameters and response to therapy in order not to overestimate the impact of haemoglobin on QOL. Our findings imply that uncontrolled studies on the effect of erythropoietin (EPO) in cancer patients may be making exaggerated claims for the effect of EPO on QOL.
Hypomethylation of retrotransposable elements correlates with genomic instability in non‐small cell lung cancer

LINE‐1 and Alu elements are non‐LTR retrotransposons, constituting together over 30% of the human genome and they are frequently hypomethylated in human tumors. A relationship between global hypomethylation and genomic instability has been shown, however, there is little evidence to suggest active role for hypomethylation‐mediated reactivation of retroelements in human cancer. In our study, we examined by Pyrosequencing the methylation levels of LINE‐1 and Alu sequences in 48 primary nonsmall cell carcinomas and their paired adjacent tissues. We demonstrate a significant reduction of the methylation levels of both elements (p = 7.7 × 10−14 and 9.6 × 10−7, respectively). The methylation indices of the 2 elements correlated (p = 0.006), suggesting a possible common mechanism for their methylation maintenance. Genomic instability was measured utilizing 11 fluorescent microsatellite markers located on lung cancer hot‐spot regions such as 3p, 5q 9p, 13q and 17p. Hypomethylation of both transposable elements was associated with increased genomic instability (LINE, p = 7.1 × 10−5; Alu, p = 0.008). The reduction of the methylation index of LINE‐1 and Alu following treatment of 3 lung cell lines with 5‐aza‐2′‐deoxycitidine, consistently resulted in increased expression of both elements. Our study demonstrates the strong link between hypomethylation of transposable elements with genomic instability in non‐small cell lung cancer and provides early evidence for a potential active role of these elements in lung neoplasia. As demethylating agents are now entering lung cancer trials, it is imperative to gain a greater insight into the potential reactivation of silent retrotransposons in order to advance for the clinical utilization of epigenetics in cancer therapy. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Incorporating caries prevention into the well-child visit in a family medicine residency.

BACKGROUND The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that topical fluoride application may prevent early childhood caries in high-risk populations. Yet, there are few published descriptions of caries prevention curricula for primary care residents. METHODS In 2003, the New Hampshire-Dartmouth Family Practice Residency hired a dentist and a hygienist to develop and implement a didactic and practical oral health curriculum. RESULTS Over 2 years, faculty and residents competent with oral health screening and fluoride varnish application rose from 0% to 69% to 100%. In the same period, the percentage of well-child visits (ages 6 months to 3 years) with documented oral health screening and fluoride varnish application rose from 0% to 80% to 91%. CONCLUSIONS Our successful model of teaching early childhood caries prevention services within the well-child visit could be replicated by other residency programs. Programs may need start-up funding for initial training by dental professionals.
Pharmacology of rising oral doses of 5-hydroxytryptophan with carbidopa

5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) is a direct 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) precursor used to assess central serotonergic function. Its use has been limited by a narrow window between neuroendocrine changes and side effects, and variable kinetics related to inconsistent administration modes. By combining 5-HTP with carbidopa (CBD), increased bioavailability for brain penetration and decreased peripheral side effects would be expected, due to reduced peripheral decarboxylation of 5-HTP to 5-HT. A doubleblind, placebo-controlled, single rising dose, four-way crossover trial with placebo randomisation was performed in 15 healthy male volunteers to investigate the neuroendocrine dose–response relationship at various 5-HTP levels; the tolerability and subjective effects of oral 5-HTP at 100, 200 and 300mg combined with CBD and the pharmacokinetic properties of the 5-HTP/CBD-challenge. Dose-dependent increases in average cortisol concentrations were observed. Mean response (area-under-the-curve) over the first 4 hours (SD): 172.0 nmol/L (22.3) for placebo, 258.3nmol/L (72.6) for 100mg, 328.47nmol/L (84.6) for 200mg and 387.3nmol/L (82.4) for 300mg 5-HTP. Similar dose-dependent increases for prolactin were seen while adreno-corticotrophic hormone response was more variable. 5-HTP kinetics were adequately described using a one-compartment model with first-order absorption and a lag time (mean oral clearance 28 L/h interindividual coefficient of variation 31%). Nausea and vomiting occurred dose-dependently as most frequent side effects, resulting in dose-related dropout of 6.6% at 100mg and 45.5% at 300mg 5-HTP. Orally administered 5-HTP combined with CBD is an effective serotonergic challenge test, exhibiting dose-related plasma concentrations and neuroendocrine responsiveness. Frequent occurrence of nausea and vomiting limits the applicability of this challenge at 5-HTP doses above 100mg