Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chromosome 11q13 and atopic asthma

Asthma is a complex syndrome in which bronchial inflammation and smooth muscle hyperactivity lead to labile airflow obstruction. The commonest form of asthma is that due to atopy, which is an immune disorder where production of IgE to inhaled antigens leads to bronchial mucosal inflammation. The ultimate origins of asthma are interactive environmental and genetic factors. The genetics is acknowledged to be heterogeneous, and one chromosomal region of interest and controversy has been 11q13. To clarify the nature of the chromosome 11q13 effect in atopy and asthma, we conducted a genetic association study in subjects with marked atopic asthma and matched controls, which incorporated the study of 13 genetic variants over a distance of 10–12 cM and which took account of detailed immune and clinical phenotyping. Association with high IgE levels was limited to the interval flanked by D11S1335 and CD20 in a 0.8‐Mb interval and was greatest for variants of FcɛRIβ and HTm4; these variants also associated with asthma (recurrent wheeze with labile airflow obstruction and need for regular inhaler treatment). At the more telomeric marker, D11S480, variants associated with asthma, but not with high IgE levels. The data might support the possibility of multiple loci relevant to atopic asthma on chromosome 11q13.
Cathepsin G, and Not the Asparagine-Specific Endoprotease, Controls the Processing of Myelin Basic Protein in Lysosomes from Human B Lymphocytes1

The asparagine-specific endoprotease (AEP) controls lysosomal processing of the potential autoantigen myelin basic protein (MBP) by human B lymphoblastoid cells, a feature implicated in the immunopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. In this study, we demonstrate that freshly isolated human B lymphocytes lack significant AEP activity and that cleavage by AEP is dispensable for proteolytic processing of MBP in this type of cell. Instead, cathepsin (Cat) G, a serine protease that is not endogenously synthesized by B lymphocytes, is internalized from the plasma membrane and present in lysosomes from human B cells where it represents a major functional constituent of the proteolytic machinery. CatG initialized and dominated the destruction of intact MBP by B cell-derived lysosomal extracts, degrading the immunodominant MBP epitope and eliminating both its binding to MHC class II and a MBP-specific T cell response. Degradation of intact MBP by CatG was not restricted to a lysosomal environment, but was also performed by soluble CatG. Thus, the abundant protease CatG might participate in eliminating the immunodominant determinant of MBP. Internalization of exogenous CatG represents a novel mechanism of professional APC to acquire functionally dominant proteolytic activity that complements the panel of endogenous lysosomal enzymes.
Promotion and Prevention in Consumer Decision Making: State of the Art and Theoretical Propositions

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss how regulatory focus theory, a theory of motivation and self-regulation, can be drawn upon to explain a variety of consumer decision making phenomena. We briefly review the major tenets of the theory, which proposes a fundamental distinction between two modes of self-regulation called promotion and prevention. Drawing on existing empirical evidence and new conceptual analyses, we then develop a series of theoretical propositions about the effects of promotion and prevention on consumer decision making. These propositions are organized along the traditional stages of the decision making process postulated by standard consumer behavior theory (i.e., problem recognition, information search, consideration set formation, etc.). Some of these propositions have already received empirical support, but most await formal empirical testing in consumer research. This propositional inventory can thus be viewed as a research agenda for studying the role of regulatory focus in consumer decision making.
High dose sequential chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with relapsed/refractory lymphoma

Although high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) has become the standard approach for patients with relapsed/refractory Hodgkin's disease (HD) or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), more than 50% of patients will experience relapse following ASCT. High-dose sequential chemotherapy (HDSC) can intensify the conventional salvage treatment and improve the outcome of ASCT by maximal debulking of the tumor load with the use of non-cross resistant drugs, each at their maximal tolerated doses. We conducted a phase II study in 40 patients with relapsed/refractory HD (n = 18) and NHL (n = 22) using HDSC followed by ASCT. Only patients sensitive to salvage chemotherapy were eligible for the protocol, consisting of three phases. Phase I consisted of cyclophosphamide (4.5 g/m2) followed by G-CSF and peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collection. Phase II consisted of etoposide (2 g/m2). The transplant phase consisted of mitoxantrone (60 mg/m2) and melphalan (180 mg/m2) followed by PBSC infusion. Eleven out of nineteen patients with B-cell lymphoma received rituximab. Prior to HDSC, 45% of the patients were in complete remission (CR) and 55% were in partial remission (PR). After completion of all phases of the protocol, 35 out of 39 evaluable patients achieved CR (90%) and this was durable in 30 (75%) patients with a projected progression-free survival (PFS) rate at 4 years of 71.7%. Treatment-related mortality rate at day +100 was 2.5% (n = 1). At a median follow-up of 32 months (range, 3 – 61), nine patients relapsed/progressed and eleven patients died. The estimated 4-year PFS and overall survival (OS) were 72.2% and 47.6% in HD patients and 70.3% and 69.4% in NHL patients, respectively. Factors predicting OS were response to conventional salvage therapy and stage prior to salvage therapy. When compared to patients achieving PR, patients who attained CR prior to HDSC had a significantly higher probability of 4-year OS (78.4% vs 31.3%, p = 0.02). Three prognostic subgroups were defined according to the score determined by stage prior to initiation of salvage chemotherapy, remission duration prior to salvage (refractory/early relapse vs. late relapse) and response to salvage. Prognostic score was found to predict OS, PFS and event free survival (EFS). In conclusion, HDSC followed by ASCT is an effective salvage therapy with acceptable toxicity, allowing further consolidation of response attained by conventional salvage therapy.
Increased vitamin D supplementation recommended during summer season in the gulf region: a counterintuitive seasonal effect in vitamin D levels in adult, overweight and obese Middle Eastern residents

Purpose Seasonal variations in circulating vitamin D levels provide vital information as to the most appropriate time to either start or increase vitamin D supplementation to maintain optimal vitamin D levels. In this follow‐up study, we determined seasonal differences in serum 25(OH)‐vitamin D (25(OH)D) levels, as well as parallel changes in metabolic parameters, in a cohort of adult, overweight and obese Saudis.
Splenda® improves tolerance of oral potassium citrate supplementation for prevention of stone formation: results of a randomized double-blind trial.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Oral citrate supplements have been shown to decrease kidney stone recurrence rates in both laboratory and clinical studies. The taste of the citrate supplements, however, is poor, and long-term compliance is low. Our objective was to determine if Splenda(®) added to potassium citrate (KCit) improves palatability without changing 24-hour urine parameters. PATIENTS AND METHODS 12 subjects were randomly assigned to receive either KCit alone for 3 days or KCit + Splenda in a double-blind trial. The 24-hour urine collections were performed before and after 3 days of therapy. After 1 week, the two groups switched treatments. After each treatment, a visual analog taste scale was completed to gauge the taste and palatability. The 24-hour urine parameters of kidney stone risk factors were compared between groups. The primary end points were to determine whether Splenda improved palatability of citrate supplementation and whether it altered 24-hour urine parameters. RESULTS Taste was judged to be 2.5 ± 0.9 points better in the Splenda + KCit compared with KCit alone (P=0.02). The 24-hour Cit, K, and pH were significantly higher in the KCit and KCit + Splenda groups compared with baseline, but not significantly different from each other. CONCLUSION Splenda significantly improves the palatability of KCit therapy and does not alter the beneficial effects of KCit on 24-hour urine Cit, K, or pH. The addition of Splenda altered the average taste score from one that might prohibit compliance to one that would not.
‘One Minute Preceptor’ a teaching-learning model for oral radiographic interpretation skill -

Radiographic interpretation skill is the most essential skill for a dental undergraduate to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Dental Surgery and also to be a competent private dental practitioner. Despite the various teaching techniques, radiographic interpretation is quite a challenging task. One minute preceptor (OMP) model is widely used for active teaching in busy clinical setting, the same was applied for teaching radiographic interpretation. Objectives: 1) To train the III BDS students to arrive at radiographic diagnosis of periapical diseases using OMP model, 2) To assess and compare the performances of the students after OMP training using structured checklist. Methodology: The study involved 64 third year BDS students posted in the department of Oral medicine and radiology. After obtaining an informed consent the students were randomly divided into intervention group and comparison group with 32 students in each group. A discussion on radiographic interpretation of periapical diseases was conducted at the department and was followed by a pretest on the same day for both groups. The pretest comprised of written radiographic interpretation of periapical diseases displayed on the computer screen, which were evaluated using a 10 item checklist. Intervention group underwent training through One minute preceptor (OMP) method for radiographic interpretation wherein they were guided by the preceptor using five microskills of OMP followed by post test for both the groups. Results: The pre and post test scores of comparison and intervention groups were analyzed using unpaired‘t’ test. The post test scores between the two groups were significantly different with difference score of 9.63 and a p value of 0.00001, revealing the positive impact of OMP training. Conclusion: By using ‘One minute preceptor’ model, the students radiographic interpretation skill advanced from being unorganized and inconsistent to systematic and consistent with clinical diagnosis.
A P22 Scaffold Protein Mutation Increases the Robustness of Head Assembly in the Presence of Excess Portal Protein

ABSTRACT Bacteriophage with linear, double-stranded DNA genomes package DNA into preassembled protein shells called procapsids. Located at one vertex in the procapsid is a portal complex composed of a ring of 12 subunits of portal protein. The portal complex serves as a docking site for the DNA packaging enzymes, a conduit for the passage of DNA, and a binding site for the phage tail. An excess of the P22 portal protein alters the assembly pathway of the procapsid, giving rise to defective procapsid-like particles and aberrant heads. In the present study, we report the isolation of escape mutant phage that are able to replicate more efficiently than wild-type phage in the presence of excess portal protein. The escape mutations all mapped to the same phage genome segment spanning the portal, scaffold, coat, and open reading frame 69 genes. The mutations present in five of the escape mutants were determined by DNA sequencing. Interestingly, each mutant contained the same mutation in the scaffold gene, which changes the glycine at position 287 to glutamate. This mutation alone conferred an escape phenotype, and the heads assembled by phage harboring only this mutation had reduced levels of portal protein and exhibited increased head assembly fidelity in the presence of excess portal protein. Because this mutation resides in a region of scaffold protein necessary for coat protein binding, these findings suggest that the P22 scaffold protein may define the portal vertices in an indirect manner, possibly by regulating the fidelity of coat protein polymerization.
Do the IPDE and the MCMI-II assess the same personality disorders in patients with eating disorders?

El presente estudio ex post facto persigue conocer la prevalencia de los trastornos de personalidad (TP) en los trastornos de la conducta alimentaria (TCA) y determinar la concordancia entre el IPDE y el MCMI-II a la hora de medir TP en pacientes con un TCA. Se compararon los perfiles de personalidad en 84 pacientes con un TCA utilizando como instrumentos de medida el International Personality Disorders Examination (IPDE) y el Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-II). Para los analisis estadisticos se recurrio al estadistico Kappa, asi como a las medidas de sensibilidad, especificidad, valor predictivo positivo y valor predictivo negativo. El 54,8% de la muestra total cumplia criterios para al menos un TP en el IPDE, mientras que el 77,4% lo hacia en el MCMI-II. La concordancia entre ambos instrumentos fue marginal. El MCMI-II tiende a sobrediagnosticar TP especificos, por lo que no es un buen instrumento de evaluacion para realizar diagnosticos de TP. Estos resultados constituyen un desafio para la evaluacion clinica y se comentan, por ello, las implicaciones para futuros trabajos de investigacion.
The systematic place of morals in markets.

In their Research Article “Morals and markets” (10 May, p. [707][1]), A. Falk and N. Szech gave participants a choice between saving the life of a mouse and receiving money. The value of the mouse's life was higher when participants sold it directly to the experimenter than when they bargained
Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Chinese Herbal Medicine on COPD: A Systematic Review

Background: Airway inflammation and inflammatory mediators play an imperative role in the pathogenesis of COPD. Currently, understanding of the anti-inflammatory effect of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) on COPD is limited, and CHM’s mechanism of actions is unclear. This systematic review (SR) evaluates anti-inflammatory effects of CHM on the concentration of various inflammatory mediators, such as Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-8 (IL-8), in the sputum and serum of COPD patients. Methods: The studies chosen for this SR were obtained from Chinese and English databases. The study selection criteria were based on randomized, controlled trials of stable COPD patients on adjunct oral CHM; and the changes in concentration of inflammatory mediators post-treatment were analyzed via meta-analysis. Results: 2,268 patients in 29 studies were evaluated. 2 studies were assessed to be of low-risk in all domains. The results showed significant reduction in the serum level of IL-8 (mean: -1.27 and 95% confidence interval (CI) [-1.86, -0.68]) and TNF-α (Mean: -0.72 and 95% CI [-1.01, -0.43]) in patients treated with CHM plus bronchodilators, compared to bronchodilators alone. Conclusion: This SR explains CHM’s mechanism of action, and demonstrates CHM’s anti-inflammatory effects on patients with stable COPD.
Palladium‐induced Th2 cytokine responses reflect skin test reactivity

Recently, a crucial role of Th2 responses in nickel allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) was demonstrated. As palladium allergy is an issue of growing interest, the diagnostic potential of Th2 parameters for palladium sensitization was investigated. Palladium (Na2[PdCl4])‐induced lymphocyte proliferation (LPT), Th1 and Th2 cytokine production were correlated with skin test (ST) reactivity in 16 positive and 21 negative controls. Furthermore, the diagnostic potential of these assays was evaluated using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis. For comparison, same experiments were carried out for nickel (NiSO4). Correlation coefficients between palladium ST reactivity and IFN‐γ, LPT, IL‐5, and IL‐13 were 0.34, 0.51, 0.69, and 0.78, and overall test accuracies were 68%, 81%, 89%, and 95%, respectively. Both palladium‐ and nickel‐mediated Th2 responses tightly correlate with ST reactivity, supporting recent findings on the crucial role of Th2 involvement in ACD. Therefore, these assays may have great potential as diagnostic tools for future in vitro sensitization testing.
A preliminary study to investigate the empowerment factors of survivors who have experienced brain damage in rehabilitation

Background : This study was an extension of previous studies on the empowering of families caring for a relative who had experienced brain damage. The demand to adopt a similar empowerment concept in the direct rehabilitation of people with brain damage was proposed. Objective : The development of a theory-driven instrument, in the form of a person-administered empowerment questionnaire, so as to establish the empowerment factors of people with brain damage during their rehabilitation process. Research design : A kind of methodological study was used to develop, validate and evaluate research tools. This study concentrated on the development of a questionnaire that accurately measures empowerment in people with brain damage. Methods and procedure : This questionnaire derived items from both the existing literature on brain damage rehabilitation and related studies on people coping with brain damage. Open-ended questions were also included to investigate how patients may be encouraged to achieve successful rehabilitation (such as degree of acceptance, learning of adaptive skills and community re-entry). A structural empowerment model has been constructed by both content validity analysis and construct validity through an explorative factor analysis of 112 people with brain damage. Main outcome and results : A 42-item questionnaire has been developed, constructing four interpretable factors: Support (13 items), Skill (14 items), Aspiration (nine items), and Knowledge (six items), which accounted for 49.99% of the total variance. Analyses of open-ended questions showed that they generally lack external resources and support in the coping process. They did not have sufficient information to face their problems in a variety of areas, although they were quite aware of their importance. They could rely only on personal assets and families, and less on friends, work-mates, and external social resources. Conclusion : It is suggested that the results of this initial empowerment framework can either guide ways to improve the case management of patients with brain damage (in terms of structure, methods, and evaluation mechanisms) or assist in the research and design (R&D) of rehabilitation programmes with better efficacy and effectiveness. Further research using Rasch Analysis is suggested to establish item difficulties, and using the findings as an outcome measure in rehabilitation is recommended.
Estimating Gender Differences in Access to Jobs: Females Trapped at the Bottom of the Ladder

In this paper, we propose a job assignment model allowing for a gender difference in access to jobs. Males and females compete for the same job positions. They are primarily interested in the best-paid jobs. A structural relationship of the model can be used to empirically recover the probability ratio of females and males getting a given job position. As this ratio is allowed to vary with the rank of jobs in the wage distribution of positions, barriers in females' access to high-paid jobs can be detected and quantified. We estimate the gender relative probability of getting any given job position for full-time executives aged 40-45 in the private sector. This is done using an exhaustive French administrative dataset on wage bills. Our results show that the access to any job position is lower for females than for males. Also, females' access decreases with the rank of job positions in the wage distribution, which is consistent with females being faced with more barriers to high-paid jobs than to low-paid jobs. At the bottom of the wage distribution, the probability of females getting a job is 12% lower than the probability of males. The difference in probability is far larger at the top of the wage distribution and climbs to 50%.
Revision of the New World abariform genera Neotalus n. gen. and Abaris Dejean (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Pterostichini (Auctorum))

New World ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in the abariform genus-group are classified into three genera, Pseudabarys Chaudoir, Neotalus new genus and Abaris Dejean. Species of the clade Neotalus + Abaris are revised. Based on the cladistic analysis of adult characteristics, a preferred hypothesis groups species of Abaris into clades that are designated as two subgenera and four speciesgroups: Abaris sensu stricto containing three clades designated as species-groups; A. striolata, A. aenea, and A. picipes-groups and subgenus Abaridius Chaudoir (type species Abaris tachypoides) comprised of the A. tacky poides-gvonp and two species placed sedis mutabilis within the subgenus. Seventeen new species are described in the genus Abaris: A. napoensis, A. bicolor, A. nitida, A. nigra, from Ecuador; A. franiai, A. inflata, A. convexa, A. inaequaloides, A. wardi, from Bolivia; A. impunctata, A. nobilis, from Brazil; A. metallica from Venezuela; A. retiaria, from Colombia and Venezuela; A. erwini from Peru and Bolivia; A. opaca, from Peru, Bolivia and Brazil; A. mina, from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay; and A. aquilonaria from Central America and Mexico. Abaris darlingtoni Straneo and A. aenea Dejean are synonymized, the latter is the senior, and hence valid name of the species. The genus Neotalus is described to include N. portai (Straneo); the species was originally included in Bothynoproctus Tschitscherine. Descriptions, distributional information, illustrations of morphological structures, and a key to Neotalus and Abaris species are provided. Distributional patterns show differences between the A. picipes-group species and their sister clade the A. aenea-group, with the former being more eurytopic and generally adapted to drier habitats. Biogeographical analysis of biotic zones, using items of error as the optimality criterion, relative to the phylogenetic hypothesis for Neotalus + Abaris, suggests South American diversification and restriction until at least the Pliocene. Abaris species have probably moved into Central America and Mexico four to five times since the development of the land connection with South America in the Pliocene. This contrasts against the biogeographical pattern for Coptodera Dejean species (Lebiini), which appear to have basaily diverged among the northern areas of Mexico versus South America.
Spionidae ( Annelida : Polychaeta ) from the

Five species of polychaetes (Spionidae) were found associated to Thalassia testudinum meadows in Parque Nacional Morrocoy, Venezuela. We included a guide for their identification and present range extensions for the Venezuelan coasts and Southern Caribbean Sea. The species are: Dipolydora socialis, Prionospio (Minuspio) cirrifera, P. (Prionospio) fallax, P. (P.) steenstrupi, and Spio pettiboneae.