Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of 7 V 4-Behenoy 1-1-ÃŸ-D-ArabinofuranosyIcytosine on Blast Progenitors of Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia 1

To determine the antileukemic effect of . V4-beheno\l-l-/>'-i>-;iral>iii<ifuranosylcytosine (BH-AC), a synthetic masked compound of 1-/S-Darabinofuranosylcytosine, the pharmacokinetics and suppressive effect on leukemic blast progenitors of BH-AC were studied. When BH-AC was added to the suspension culture of leukemic cells, BH-AC gradually decreased in concentration in the culture media and was rapidly taken into the cellular fraction. The conversion from BH-AC to l-/? -r>-arabinofuranosylcytosine was noted in both the culture media and the cellular fraction. The concentration of l-/8-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine converted from BH-AC in the culture medium gradually increased during 7 days of culture, although the rate of conversion was variable among the samples. BH-AC suppressed primary and secondary blast colony formation in a dose responsive manner. BH-AC also suppressed the recovery of clonogenic cells in suspension culture. The suppression by BH-AC was more prominent in secondary blast colony formation and the recovery of clonogenic cells in suspension culture than in primary blast colony formation. Secondary blast colony formation and the recovery of clono genic cells in suspension are considered to reflect the self-renewal of blast progenitors, while primary blast colony formation is considered to reflect the terminal divisions of blast progenitors. The results obtained in the present study suggest that BH-AC is more effective to suppress the self-renewal of blast progenitors than the terminal divisions. The findings offer a theoretical basis in the utility of BH-AC in the therapy of acute myeloblastic leukemia.
Macroeconomics Determinants of Exchange Rate Pass-Through: New Evidence from the Asia-Pacific Region

ABSTRACT Some recent studies observe an increasing degree of exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) to domestic prices, which has raised questions about the nature of the incompleteness and decline in pass-through. This article reexamines the degree of ERPT to the import, producer, and consumer price indices in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Korea in the Asia-Pacific region using up-to-date data, with several important findings. First, we reveal that ERPT to domestic prices follows the distribution chain, in that exchange rate movements alter import prices in the first stage and then producer and consumer prices in the second stage. Second, we offer valid evidence of an increase in ERPT to import prices after the global financial crisis in Japan, Korea, and New Zealand and of a relatively stable ERPT in Australia. Third, the changes in ERPT elasticities are most affected by macroeconomic determinants such as inflation volatility, interest rates, and trade openness, but this varies considerably across the surveyed countries and the three price indices. All our findings make a significant contribution to the empirical literature on ERPT and have policy implications.
Clinical Management: Metastatic Disease

Abstract Most patients with pancreatic cancer either present with or eventually develop metastatic disease during the course of their illness. For such individuals, systemic therapy, namely, cytotoxic therapy, represents the mainstay of treatment and is administered with noncurative intent. Of the various chemotherapy options now available for treating metastatic pancreatic cancer, 2 combination regimens, FOLFIRINOX (infusional 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin) and the doublet of gemcitabine and albumin-bound paclitaxel, have emerged as frontline standards of care, based on phase III studies demonstrating a significant survival benefit compared with single-agent gemcitabine. More patients are also now able to be sequenced through 2 or more lines of treatment, with newer regimens such as nanoliposomal irinotecan plus infusional 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin receiving US Food and Drug Administration approval specifically for use in this second-line setting. Selection of therapies remains primarily guided by clinical considerations, particularly performance status, as well as age, comorbid medical conditions, and organ and bone marrow function. In contrast, molecular predictors of efficacy and toxicity have not yet been validated in this disease context. Areas of novel therapeutic development include targeting the stromal microenvironment, exploring combinations of immunotherapeutic agents, and identifying molecular subsets of metastatic pancreatic cancer that may uniquely susceptible to specific strategies, such as hampering DNA damage repair.
Factors Associated with Influenza Vaccination of Hospitalized Elderly Patients in Spain

Vaccination of the elderly is an important factor in limiting the impact of influenza in the community. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors associated with influenza vaccination coverage in hospitalized patients aged ≥65 years hospitalized due to causes unrelated to influenza in Spain. We carried out a cross-sectional study. Bivariate analysis was performed comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated patients, taking in to account sociodemographic variables and medical risk conditions. Multivariate analysis was performed using multilevel regression models. We included 1038 patients: 602 (58%) had received the influenza vaccine in the 2013–14 season. Three or more general practitioner visits (OR = 1.61; 95% CI 1.19–2.18); influenza vaccination in any of the 3 previous seasons (OR = 13.57; 95% CI 9.45–19.48); and 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination (OR = 1.97; 95% CI 1.38–2.80) were associated with receiving the influenza vaccine. Vaccination coverage of hospitalized elderly people is low in Spain and some predisposing characteristics influence vaccination coverage. Healthcare workers should take these characteristics into account and be encouraged to proactively propose influenza vaccination to all patients aged ≥65 years.
Breast conservation therapy. Severe breast fibrosis after radiation therapy in patients with collagen vascular disease

Two patients with collagen vascular disease (rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma) had extremely poor cosmetic results after breast radiation therapy (RT). The patient with rheumatoid arthritis received 5251 cGy at 210 cGy per day, followed by a 1600 cGy iridium‐192 implant boost. Between 8 and 11 months post‐RT she had severe breast fibrosis, retraction, and pain that required a mastectomy for relief. The patient with scleroderma received 5040 cGy at 180 cGy per day without a boost. Between 1 and 4 months post‐RT the systemic symptoms of scleroderma progressed and the breast became hard and retracted. Both rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma are chronic systemic diseases characterized by severe inflammation and an autoimmune component. The presence of scleroderma at or before treatment should be considered a contraindication to breast RT, whereas the presence of active rheumatoid arthritis should be considered a relative contraindication. An autoimmune mechanism will be presented to explain both the fibrosis and the systemic progression of collagen vascular disease that was observed.
Determinants for the course of acute sinusitis in adult general practice patients

BACKGROUND Although the prognosis of acute sinusitis is important, little is known about it and the factors predicting its course in a general practice population. OBJECTIVE To determine the course of acute sinusitis and factors predicting it in adults in general practice. METHODS The prognostic value of demographic and clinical factors and the patient's emotional state, for example anxious or depressed, were determined prospectively by means of multivariate analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS Resolution of facial pain, resumption of daily activities, and the patient's reported improvement. Factors with a significant predictive value were used to classify the patients into three different groups: quick, moderate, and slow recovery. RESULTS The median time from enrolment to recovery was six (range percentile 25–75: 4–10) days in a population of 177 patients. Factors predictive of a prolonged clinical course were: female sex (hazard ratio (HR) 0.60; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.42 to 0.83), history longer than 14 days before inclusion (HR 0.62; 95% CI 0.41 to 0.94), headache, cold, or cough as a reason for the encounter (HR 0.65; 95% CI 0.44 to 0.96), and absence of cervical adenopathy (HR 0.71; 95% CI 0.51 to 0.96). Antibiotic treatment did not influence the course of disease. The median time to recovery was three days for patients with a quick, five days for those with a moderate, and seven days for those with a slow recovery. CONCLUSION In general practice acute sinusitis is mostly a self limiting disease. A limited number of characteristics are predictive of a (slightly) prolonged clinical course of acute sinusitis in general practice.
Use of mobile phones by male and female Greek students

Mobile technology is a continuously growing domain, and research activities regarding its use are quite intensive. A questionnaire regarding the use of mobile devices was developed and distributed to 416 students in a Greek University. There were completed 384 questionnaires. The results revealed that students use their mobiles mostly for phone calls and Short Message Service (SMS). They also tend to use their mobiles to take photos and activate the reminder. However, they do not deal with many of the devices' operations. They use their mobiles to communicate (telephone, SMS and e-mail) mostly with their boy/girlfriend, then with their friends. They use their mobiles mostly at home, then at the university. Also, they consider health issues as the main reason to limit the use of their mobiles. Finally, there was not a statistically significant relationship between genders and their preferences.
GENOTYPE-BY-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION AND THE FITNESS OF PLANT HYBRIDS IN THE WILD

Abstract Natural hybrid zones between related species illustrate processes that contribute to genetic differentiation and species formation. A common viewpoint is that hybrids are essentially unfit, but they exist in a stable tension zone where selection against them is balanced by gene flow between the parent species. An alternative idea is that selection depends on the environment, for example, by favoring opposite traits in the two parental habitats or favoring hybrids within a bounded region. To determine whether selection of hybrids is environment dependent, we crossed plants of naturally hybridizing Ipomopsis aggregata and I. tenuituba in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and reciprocally planted the seed offspring into a suite of natural environments across the hybrid zone. All types of crosses produced similar numbers and weights of seeds. However, survival of the offspring after 5 years differed markedly among cross types. On average, the F1 hybrids had survival and growth rates as high as the average for their parents. But hybrid survival depended strongly on the direction of a cross, that is, on which species served as the maternal parent. This fitness difference between reciprocal hybrids appeared only in the parental environments, suggesting cytonuclear gene interactions that are environment specific. These results indicate that complex genotype-by-environment interactions can contribute to the evolutionary outcome of hybridization. Corresponding Editor: S. Tonsor
Prevalence and Characteristics of Pulmonary Hypertension Associated with COPD - A Pilot Study in Patients Referred to a Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program Clinic.

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common complication of chronic obstructive pulmo-nary disease (COPD); its prevalence is currently unknown. The objectives of the study were: (a) to provide data on the prevalence of PH among the COPD patients referred to a pulmonary rehabilitation program; (b) to evaluate possible correlations of PH with the severity of COPD, the presence of hypoxemia and polycythemia. MATERIAL AND METHODS We retrospectively studied 31 consecutive patients with the diagnosis of COPD hospitalised in our clinic in which echocardiography was performed. Spirometry, peripheral oxygen saturation, haematocrit, echocardiography data, history of exacerbations and cardiac comorbidities were obtained from patients records. PH was defined as systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (sPAP) greater than 35 mmHg or by the presence of right ventricle (RV) abnormalities. OUTCOMES The prevalence of PH was 38.7%. Resting hypoxemia was significantly more frequent in the PH group than in the non PH patients (p=0.019). Other differences were not statistically significant (severity of bronchial obstruction and polycythemia, cardiac comorbidities). The impact of PH on RV was found in only 5 patients with RV enlargement; no patient had RV hypertrophy or RV systolic dysfunction. Suspected "out of proportion" PH (sPAP greater than 50 mmHg) was encountered in 2 out of 12 patients with PH. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of PH in patients with COPD was 38.7%. Resting hypoxemia was significantly more frequent in PH patients. As PH has an important role in the prognosis of COPD patients, it should be evaluated in as many COPD patients as possible.
Profit Persistence and Stock Returns: Does the Market Care?

We examine the relation between stock returns and profit persistence. Profit persistence is an indicator of competitive pressure or managerial ability. This, in turn, can impact firm risk and cash flow and thus stock returns. Using data on US firms, we consider panel regression at both sector and market levels. Using proxy variables for cash flow, risk and managerial ability and three different measures of profit, we establish that persistence typically increases in firm size, market concentration, cash flow, managerial ability and output growth, and decreases with risk. A positive relation between stock returns and lagged persistence supports the view that higher prices arise from higher cash flow, lower risk and greater managerial ability. These results have implications for asset price modelling, with our firm-level results differing from market-level results regarding the cash flow and risk premium drivers. Also, for competition policy where results show higher profit persistence is associated with good management and lower risk.
Estimation of cardiovascular risk: a comparison between the Framingham and the SCORE model in people under 60 years of age

Background The Framingham Heart Study risk model has been used in the majority of cardiovascular risk management guidelines. Recently, a new model based on the SCORE system has been proposed. We compared both risk models with regard to their ability to predict cardiovascular mortality in the Netherlands. Design Cohort study. Methods In a Dutch cohort study of 39 719 persons, three properties of the risk models were investigated: discriminating ability (ranking persons in order of risks, expressed in area under the curve); calibrating ability (prediction of events compared with actual events expressed in goodness of fit); and the number of persons assigned to treatment according to the guideline. Results The discriminative ability of both models was similar: the area under the curve of Framingham was 0.86 and of SCORE 0.85. Calibration of both functions was inadequate. The goodness of fit of the SCORE model was 35 and of the Framingham model 64, whereas a goodness of fit less than 20 is considered acceptable. Using the Dutch guideline treatment threshold of 10% mortality risk, the SCORE risk function assigned 0.4% of the population to drug treatment where the Framingham function assigned 0.7%. Conclusion The findings of this study show that both the SCORE and the Framingham model function have a good discriminative ability but are insufficient in predicting absolute risks. SCORE assigned fewer participants to treatment than Framingham. If a new risk model is implemented in treatment guidelines, comparison with the model in use and evaluation of calibrating features is needed.
Viral clearance is associated with improved insulin resistance in genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C but not genotype 2/3

Objectives Genotype-specific associations between hepatitis C virus (HCV) and insulin resistance (IR) have been described, but a causal relationship remains unclear. This study investigated the association between a sustained virological response (SVR) and IR after chronic HCV therapy. Methods 2255 treatment-naive patients with chronic HCV genotype 1 or 2/3 were enrolled in two phase 3 trials of albinterferon alpha-2b versus pegylated interferon alpha-2a for 48 or 24 weeks, respectively. IR was measured before treatment and 12 weeks after treatment using homeostasis model assessment (HOMA)-IR. Results Paired HOMA-IR measurements were available in 1038 non-diabetic patients (497 with genotype 1; 541 with genotype 2/3). At baseline the prevalence of HOMA-IR >3 was greater in patients with genotype 1 than 2/3 (33% vs 27%; p=0.048). There was a significant reduction in the prevalence of IR in patients with genotype 1 achieving SVR (δ 10%; p<0.001), but not in genotype 1 non-responders or those with genotype 2/3. Multivariate analysis indicated that SVR was associated with a significant reduction in mean HOMA-IR in patients with genotype 1 (p=0.004), but not in those with genotype 2/3, which was independent of body mass index, alanine transaminase, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase and lipid level changes. Conclusions SVR is associated with a reduction in HOMA-IR in patients with HCV genotype 1 but not in those with genotype 2/3. Genotype 1 may have a direct effect on the development of IR, independent of host metabolic factors, and may be partially reversed by viral eradication.
TRADITIONAL OCCUPATIONS AND NUTRITIONAL ADAPTATION AMONG CENTRAL INDIAN CASTE POPULATIONS

Summary The socioeconomic milieu has benefits and drawbacks for determining level of nutrition. The Indian population provides an excellent example of nutrition-driven adaptation. The present paper deals with the relationship between BMI (body mass index) and traditional occupation and process of adaptation among adult males of Central India. Anthropometric data collected by the Anthropological Survey of India on stature, sitting height and weight of 6663 adult males belonging to 22 castes were used for computation of BMI and Cormic index. The caste groups earning their living as labourers are found to be shortest (157·4±6·5 cm), and the caste group practising priesthood are tallest (168·6±6·6 cm). The prevalence of chronic energy deficiency is found to be highest (72%) among castes earning their living as daily wage labourers. The ANOVA on Cormic index and BMI suggests that people within the same occupational group are more homogeneous than those from different occupational groups. The t test also supports the homogeneity of the same occupational group.
Differential effects of resistance and endurance exercise in the fed state on signalling molecule phosphorylation and protein synthesis in human muscle

Resistance (RE) and endurance (EE) exercise stimulate mixed skeletal muscle protein synthesis. The phenotypes induced by RE (myofibrillar protein accretion) and EE (mitochondrial expansion) training must result from differential stimulation of myofibrillar and mitochondrial protein synthesis. We measured the synthetic rates of myofibrillar and mitochondrial proteins and the activation of signalling proteins (Akt–mTOR–p70S6K) at rest and after an acute bout of RE or EE in the untrained state and after 10 weeks of RE or EE training in young healthy men. While untrained, RE stimulated both myofibrillar and mitochondrial protein synthesis, 67% and 69% (P < 0.02), respectively. After training, only myofibrillar protein synthesis increased with RE (36%, P= 0.05). EE stimulated mitochondrial protein synthesis in both the untrained, 154%, and trained, 105% (both P < 0.05), but not myofibrillar protein synthesis. Acute RE and EE increased the phosphorylation of proteins in the Akt–mTOR–p70S6K pathway with comparatively minor differences between two exercise stimuli. Phosphorylation of Akt–mTOR–p70S6K proteins was increased after 10 weeks of RE training but not by EE training. Chronic RE or EE training modifies the protein synthetic response of functional protein fractions, with a shift toward exercise phenotype‐specific responses, without an obvious explanatory change in the phosphorylation of regulatory signalling pathway proteins.
Research on Self-Efficacy of Distance Learning and its Influence to Learners' Attainments

Up to date, some studies have explored learners’ characteristics in Distance Learning (DL) and found that certain characteristics lend to a better distance learner. The present study investigated learners’ self-efficacy beliefs of DL, attainments in DL, and the relations to learners’ characteristics. In the results, the students displayed relatively positive DL self-efficacy, which was closely related to their intrinsic motivation and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) skills. The students perceived to have attained much in most of the spheres of learning objectives. DL self-efficacy, SRL skills, and computing skills were proved to be the important predictors of learners’ overall attainments in DL. Significant gender differences were observed on both DL self-efficacy and DL attainmen. All the factors need to be taken into account to design supportive, adaptive, and effective DL systems.
Effects of Cigarette Smoking on Psychopathology Scores in Patients With Schizophrenia: An Experimental Study

Cigarette smoking and/or nicotine administration have been shown to transiently ameliorate several psychophysiological deficits in patients with schizophrenia such as indicators of deficient sensory gating and attention, but acute effects of smoking on positive and negative symptoms in schizophrenia have not been evaluated in experimental paradigms. The current study assessed whether smoking of cigarettes, after 6–12 h abstinence, transiently alters the expression of negative and/or positive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia who have a history of regular smoking. In a double-blind, placebo controlled study patients with schizophrenia participated in two sessions in which they smoked either cigarettes moderately high in nicotine content or denicotinized cigarettes. They were interviewed pre-and postsmoking to obtain ratings of PANSS and SANS scales, and had blood pressure and pulse serially recorded before and after smoking. Pulse rate and blood pressure were slightly higher after smoking in the high nicotine cigarette session. Negative symptom scores on both scales were significantly lower after cigarette smoking compared to same-day predrug baseline, but there were no differences in active versus denicotinized cigarette drug effects. These results suggest that acute smoking of cigarettes reduces negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia in this experimental paradigm. Future work needs to identify the mechanism responsible for this behavioral effect.