Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Drugs in muscular dystrophy of the chicken: Corticosterone ‐21‐acetate

In a previous series of 22‐day evaluations of 31 compounds, only corticosterone‐21‐acetate (C‐21‐A) increased righting ability of genetically dystrophic chickens to a greater extent than the standard of comparison, methysergide maleate. In the present study, C‐21‐A was subjected to longer‐term trials of up to 48 days, and additional signs of the myopathy were examined. The highest doses of C‐21‐A increased righting ability for the duration of the trials, decreased the typically elevated plasma levels of creatine kinase (CK) activity by more than 80%, and improved morphology of the dystrophic pectoralis major muscle at the light microscopic level. The major adverse effect of C‐21‐A, reduction of body weight, was consistently observed at the relatively high doses needed to increase righting ability. That alone, however, could not account for increased righting ability, and plasma CK activity was decreased even at doses that did not reduce body weight. The results show that C‐21‐A is the most effective compound yet tested in this system and, perhaps more significantly, provides the first evidence that it is possible to identify compounds that improve muscle morphology in a hereditary myopathy using a short‐term, step‐wise system.
Intravenous cyclosporine versus intravenous corticosteroids as single therapy for severe attacks of ulcerative colitis.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Cyclosporine has been effective in patients with steroid-refractory attacks of ulcerative colitis (UC). We investigated the effects of intravenous (IV) cyclosporine as single IV therapy (without glucocorticosteroids) for severe UC and compared these with the response to glucocorticosteroids. METHODS Patients with a severe attack of UC were randomized to treatment with IV cyclosporine, 4 mg x kg(-1) x day(-1), or with methylprednisolone, 40 mg/day, in a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. After 8 days, patients who had a response received the same medication orally in combination with azathioprine. Patients were followed up clinically, endoscopically, and by scintigraphy. Renal function was assessed using urinary inulin clearances. Endpoints were clinical improvement, discharge from the hospital, and remission up to 12 months after intravenous therapy. RESULTS Thirty patients were included. After 8 days, 8 of 15 patients (53%) who received methylprednisolone had a response to therapy vs. 9 of 14 (64%) receiving cyclosporine. In nonresponders, 3 of 7 methylprednisolone patients and 1 of 3 cyclosporine patients improved when both treatments were combined. No serious drug-related toxicity was observed with either treatment. At 12 months, 7 of 9 patients (78%) initially controlled with cyclosporine maintained their remission vs. 3 of 8 (37%) initially treated with methylprednisolone. No clinically significant decrease of renal function was observed. CONCLUSIONS Cyclosporine monotherapy is an effective and safe alternative to glucocorticosteroids in patients with severe attacks of UC.
- 2007 Emerging Positive Organizational Behavior

Although the value of positivity has been assumed over the years, only recently has it become a major focus area for theory building, research, and application in psychology and now organizational behavior. This review article examines, in turn, selected representative positive traits (Big Five personality, core self-evaluations, and character strengths and virtues), positive state-like psychological resource capacities (efficacy, hope, optimism, resiliency, and psychological capital), positive organizations (drawn from positive organization scholarship), and positive behaviors (organizational citizenship and courageous principled action). This review concludes with recommendations for future research and effective application.
Role of DetR in defence is critical for virulence of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae.

Like other bacteria, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), the causal agent of bacterial leaf blight disease in rice, possesses intracellular signalling systems, known as two-component regulatory systems (TCSs), which regulate pathogenesis and biological processes. Completion of the genome sequences of three Xoo strains has facilitated the functional study of genes, including those of TCSs, but the biological functions of most Xoo TCSs have not yet been uncovered. To identify TCSs involved in Xoo pathogenesis, we generated knockout strains lacking response regulators (RRs, a cytoplasmic signalling component of the TCS) and examined the virulence of the RR knockout strains. This study presents a knockout strain (detR(-) ) lacking the PXO_04659 gene which shows dramatically reduced virulence relative to the wild-type. Our studies to elucidate detR function in Xoo pathogenesis revealed a reduction in extracellular polysaccharide (EPS), intolerance to reactive oxygen species (ROS) and deregulation of iron homeostasis in the detR(-) strain. Moreover, gene expression of regulatory factors, including other RRs and transcription factors (TFs), was altered in the absence of DetR protein, as determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and/or real-time quantitative RT-PCR analyses. All evidence leads to the conclusion that DetR is essential for Xoo virulence through the regulation of the Xoo defence system including EPS synthesis, ROS detoxification and iron homeostasis, solely or cooperatively with other regulatory factors.
Psychological risk factors in pregnant inmates. A challenge for nursing.

PURPOSE To explore pregnant prisoners' experiences with childhood violence and substance abuse, their parenting attitudes, and their psychological health. DESIGN This study used a prospective design to describe incarcerated pregnant women's experiences with childhood violence, substance abuse, parenting attitudes, and psychological health and the relationships among these factors. METHODS Sixty-three pregnant prisoners in their third trimester were interviewed. Owing to the low literacy of this population, all questions were read to participants to maximize comprehension and reliability. RESULTS Over 60% of respondents reported experiencing family violence during childhood or adolescence. Almost one-half of the women reported using drugs and alcohol during the past year and in their current pregnancy. Substance-abusing respondents were twice as likely to have been victims of physical abuse. All of the women who had been sexually abused during childhood were substance abusers; women who did not use drugs had no such history. Many women in the study had parenting and child rearing attitudes indicative of risk for poor parenting and abuse. More than 70% of the women reported depressive symptoms above the level considered indicative of clinical depression. Women reported low levels of social support; further, 50% of the women had lost an important relationship within the last year and 80% were not in a relationship with a partner at the time of their interview. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS The essential components of caring for pregnant prisoners should include extensive screening for substance abuse as well as history of past and current violence. Pregnant prisoners, with their many risk factors, are a group that could benefit from programs that address substance abuse and violence to decrease mental distress.
Ubiquitin E3 Ligase CRL4CDT2/DCAF2 as a Potential Chemotherapeutic Target for Ovarian Surface Epithelial Cancer*

Background: Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases are the largest family of E3 ligases, but their roles in ovarian cancers remain uninvestigated. Results: Inhibition of CRL4 activity induced ovarian cancer death. Conclusion: CRL4CDT2 repression and CDT1 accumulation contributed to the genotoxic effects of MLN4924 in ovarian cancer cells. Significance: Indicating CRL4CDT2 is an effective drug target in ovarian cancers. Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases (CRLs) are the largest family of E3 ligases and require cullin neddylation for their activation. The NEDD8-activating enzyme inhibitor MLN4924 reportedly blocked cullin neddylation and inactivated CRLs, which resulted in apoptosis induction and tumor suppression. However, CRL roles in ovarian cancer cell survival and the ovarian tumor repressing effects of MLN4924 are unknown. We show here that CRL4 components are highly expressed in human epithelial ovarian cancer tissues. MLN4924-induced DNA damage, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. In addition, MLN4924 sensitized ovarian cancer cells to other chemotherapeutic drug treatments. Depletion of CRL4 components Roc1/2, Cul4a, and DDB1 had inhibitory effects on ovarian cancer cells similar to MLN4924 treatment, which suggested that CRL4 inhibition contributed to the chemotherapeutic effect of MLN4924 in ovarian cancers. We also investigated for key CRL4 substrate adaptors required for ovarian cancer cells. Depleting Vprbp/Dcaf1 did not significantly affect ovarian cancer cell growth, even though it was expressed by ovarian cancer tissues. However, depleting Cdt2/Dcaf2 mimicked the pharmacological effects of MLN4924 and caused the accumulation of its substrate, CDT1, both in vitro and in vivo. MLN4924-induced DNA damage and apoptosis were partially rescued by Cdt1 depletion, suggesting that CRL4CDT2 repression and CDT1 accumulation were key biochemical events contributing to the genotoxic effects of MLN4924 in ovarian cancer cells. Taken together, these results indicate that CRL4CDT2 is a potential drug target in ovarian cancers and that MLN4924 may be an effective anticancer agent for targeted ovarian cancer therapy.
Different Recognition of DNA Modified by Antitumor Cisplatin and Its Clinically Ineffective trans Isomer by Tumor Suppressor Protein p53*

The p53 gene encodes a nuclear phosphoprotein that is biologically activated in response to genotoxic stresses including treatment with anticancer platinum drugs. The DNA binding activity of p53 protein is crucial for its tumor suppressor function. DNA interactions of active wild-type human p53 protein with DNA fragments and oligodeoxyribonucleotide duplexes modified by antitumor cisplatin and its clinically ineffective trans isomer (transplatin) were investigated by using a gel mobility shift assay. It was found that DNA adducts of cisplatin reduced binding affinity of the consensus DNA sequence to p53, whereas transplatin adducts did not. This result was interpreted to mean that the precise steric fit required for the formation and stability of the tetrameric complex of p53 with the consensus sequence cannot be attained, as a consequence of severe conformational perturbations induced in DNA by cisplatin adducts. The results also demonstrate an increase of the binding affinity of p53 to DNA lacking the consensus sequence and modified by cisplatin but not by transplatin. In addition, only major 1,2-GG intrastrand cross-links of cisplatin are responsible for this enhanced binding affinity of p53. The data base on structures of various DNA adducts of cisplatin and transplatin reveals distinctive structural features of 1,2-intrastrand cross-links of cisplatin, suggesting a unique role for this adduct in the binding of p53 to DNA lacking the consensus sequence. The results support the hypothesis that the mechanism of antitumor activity of cisplatin may also be associated with its efficiency to affect the binding affinity of platinated DNA to active p53 protein.
Correlation between Karnofsky Performance Status Scale and Short-Form Health Survey in patients on maintenance hemodialysis.

BACKGROUND Assessment of quality of life is vital inmonitoring response to various treatment measures. Various instruments, which include both generic and disease-specific instruments, are used in the assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL). In this study, we compare two commonly used generic instruments. OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to compare two generic instruments, the Karnofsky Performance Status Scale and the SF-36 Health Survey in hemodialysis (HD) patients. The study also aims to find out the association (if any) between HRQOL scores using these two scales and various clinical and biochemical parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty-two maintenance HD patients were recruited after informed consents were obtained. Detailed sociodemographic data was obtained. They were assessed during their regular HD sessions. Serum chemistry (which included serum urea, creatinine, Na+, K+, HCO3-, Ca2+, Po4(2-)), albumin, globulin, total protein and hemoglobin (g/dl) were assessed in all the patients. Adequacy of HD was assessed using second-generation Daugirdais formula. HRQOL was assessed using the Karnofsky and SSF-36 instruments and the scores collated and compared. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 10. RESULTS Fifty-five patients completed the study (27 males and 28 females, mean age 40.76 +/- 11.05 years and age range of 20-65 years). There was a significant positive correlation between Karnofsky scores and all eight SF-36 domains, but only physical functioning, social functioning and role limitation due to emotional problems maintained the significance on multiple regression analysis. The serum creatinine and hemoglobin postively correlated with physical function, bodily pain, social functioning and Karnofsky scores. Age of the patients correlated negatively with two SF-36 dimensions (physical functioning and role limitation due to physical fitness) and Karnofsky scores. CONCLUSION This study revealed a good correlation between Karnofsky performance status scale and the short-form (SF36) health survey in this Egyptian population. Age, serum creatinine and hemoglobin significantly influence quality of life in this HD patient population.
Analysis on Correlation Between Cogging Torque and Torque Ripple by Considering Magnetic Saturation

The correlation effect between cogging torque and torque ripple of an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor is analyzed in this paper by considering magnetic saturation in the core. Cogging torque is generated because of the reluctance variation between rotor magnets and stator teeth which are independent of any current. By contrast, torque ripple is generated because of the reaction field and by inputting currents such as cogging torque. However, the motor, having high cogging torque, does not always generate high torque ripple because of the magnetic saturation effect in the core. Therefore, extracting cogging torque component from torque ripple at rated torque generation should be conducted by considering magnetic saturation effect. The technique used to extract cogging torque from torque ripple is proposed by analyzing relative permeability in the core via finite element method.
Preschoolers’ Motor and Verbal Self-Control Strategies During a Resistance-to-Temptation Task

ABSTRACT Although prior research has shown that young children exhibit enhanced self-control when they use verbal strategies provided through adult instructions, little work has examined the role of children's spontaneous verbalizations or motor behavior as strategies for enhancing self-control. The present study examined the usefulness of spontaneous verbal and motor strategies for 39 3- and 4-year-old children's ability to exercise self-control during a resistance-to-temptation task. After a 2-min play period, participants were asked by an experimenter not to touch an attractive train set while he was out of the room. Children were videotaped during the 3-min waiting period and videos were coded for frequency and duration of touches, motor movements, and verbalizations. Results indicated that self-control was improved by using both motor and verbal strategies. Children who were unable to resist touching the forbidden toy used limited motor or verbal strategies. These findings add to the growing literature demonstrating the positive role of verbalizations on cognitive control and draw attention to motor behaviors as additional strategies used by young children to exercise self-control.
Formulation and optimization of cubic polynomial joint trajectories for mechanical manipulators

Because of physical constraints, the optimum control of industrial robots is a difficult problem. An alternative approach is to divide the problem into two parts: optimum path planning for off-line processing followed by on-line path tracking. The path tracking can be achieved by adopting the existing approach. The path planning is done at the joint level. Cubic spline functions are used for constructing joint trajectories for mechanical manipulators. The motion of the manipulator is specified by a sequence of Cartesian knots, i.e. positions and orientations of the hand. For a 6-joint manipulator, these Cartesian knots are transformed into six sets of joint values, with each set corresponding to a joint. Piece-wise cubic polynomials are used to fit the sequence of joint values for each of the six joints. The problem is proved to be uniquely solvable. Furthermore, an algorithm is developed to schedule the time periods between each pair of adjacent knots such that the total traveling time is minimized subject to the physical constraints on joint velocities, accelerations, and jerks. FORTRAN programs have been written to implement (1) the procedure for constructing the cubic polynomial joint trajectories and (2) the algorithm for minimizing the traveling time. Results are given as an illustration.
Glucose homoeostasis in rats exposed to acute intermittent hypoxia

Chronic exposure to intermittent hypoxia commonly induces the activation of sympathetic tonus and the disruption of glucose homoeostasis. However, the effects of exposure to acute intermittent hypoxia (AIH) on glucose homoeostasis are not yet fully elucidated. Herein, we evaluated parameters related to glucose metabolism in rats exposed to AIH.
Impact of Cloud Computing Announcements on Firm Valuation

With increasing demand for Cloud Computing services, a growing number of firms are citing business agility and cost savings as motivators for adopting Cloud Computing services. Extant literature does not provide any empirical evidence of value of announcements made regarding the Cloud Computing environment. This paper examines impact of Cloud Computing announcements on firm valuation, using event study methodology. This study explores the market impact of adoption of Cloud Computing on the cloud vendors/providers and customers/adopters. The impact on firm value of the competitors, of the companies adopting Cloud Computing services, is also analyzed. The study shows that there is a significant impact of those announcements on the firm value of the companies. However, it shows a contrasting impact on the customers, vendors and their respective competitors, when analyzed separately.
The performance of selected semi-empirical and DFT methods in studying C60 fullerene derivatives

The capability of reproducing the open circuit voltages (Voc) of 15 representative C60 fullerene derivatives was tested using the selected quantum mechanical methods (B3LYP, PM6, and PM7) together with the two one-electron basis sets. Certain theoretical treatments (e.g. PM6) were found to be satisfactory for preliminary estimates of the open circuit voltages (Voc), whereas the use of the B3LYP/6-31G(d) approach has been proven to assure highly accurate results. We also examined the structural similarity of 19 fullerene derivatives by employing principle component analysis (PCA). In order to express the structural features of the studied compounds we used molecular descriptors calculated with semi-empirical (PM6 and PM7) and density functional (B3LYP/6-31G(d)) methods separately. In performing PCA, we noticed that semi-empirical methods (i.e. PM6 and PM7) seem satisfactory for molecules, in which one can distinguish the aromatic and the aliphatic parts in the cyclopropane ring of PCBM (phenyl-C61-buteric acid methyl ester) and they significantly overestimate the energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital (EHOMO). The use of the B3LYP functional, however, is recommended for studying methanofullerenes, which closely resemble the structure of PCBM, and for their modifications.
Response of Colloidal Quantum Dot Infrared Photodetectors to Modulated Optical Signals

In this paper, transfer function of a colloidal quantum dot infrared photodetector (CQDIP) is derived considering the system rate equations, to study the modulation response of a CQDIP. The presented transfer function models the system reaction to different modulation frequencies of input optical signals. Theoretical results obtained from our model are in excellent agreement with reported experimental data by Clifford et al., Konstantatos and Sargent, and Miri et al. Therefore, the validity of the model is proven for these reasons. Our analysis shows that this system provides a bandpass frequency response, converting optical signals to electrical signals with frequencies lying within its working region, and displaying transparent behavior beyond its working frequency region. This model helps photodetector designers selecting proper materials to fabricate suitable devices working in the desired frequency region with an eye toward the carrier lifetime in different intersubband energy levels.
The Pathological Changes in the Bone Marrow in Agranulocytosis.

One of the problems that confronts the hematologist of today is the question of the identity of agranulocytosis as a disease entity. The specificity of the condition has by some been vigorously denied, by others emphatically asserted, and by others again regarded as irrelevant or unimportant. Evidence on this question may be garnered from both dinical and pathological view-points. This paper concerns itself with the latter. In the medical literature of the pathology of agranulocytosis one finds almost complete chaos. This situation would appear to arise in part from an uncritical choice of cases studied, and in part from lackof appreciation of such variations in cellular composition as normally occur from one bone to another, even in the strictly normal individual. Thus Aubertin and Levy Imake no attempt to separate agranulocytosis pure and simple from pancytopenia, aplastic anemia and allied diseases, or from those leukopenic states obviously secondary to known toxic agents. Dodd and Wilkinson 2 describe the marrow of an ii year old congenital syphilitic negro who died subsequent to arsphenamine therapy. Dameshek and Ingall 3 report 9 cases with pathological considerations drawn from 2. One had a progressive and eventually extreme anemia, the red blood cell count falling within a month from 4,0oo,ooo per cmm. to 8so,ooo per cmm. The