Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early menopause predicts angina after myocardial infarction

Objective: Population studies have shown that age at menopause (AAM) predicts coronary heart disease. It is unknown, however, whether early menopause predicts post-myocardial infarction (MI) angina. We examined whether younger AAM increases risk of post-MI angina. Methods: In a prospective multicenter MI registry, 493 postmenopausal women were enrolled (mean ± SD age, 65.4 ± 11.3 y, and mean ± SD AAM, 45.2 ± 7.8 y). We categorized AAM into 40 years or younger, 41 to 49 years, and 50 years or older. In the multivariable analysis, we examined whether AAM predicted 1-year post-MI angina and severity of angina after adjusting for angina before MI, demographics, comorbidities, MI severity, and quality of care (QOC). Results: Women with early AAM (≤40 y; n = 132, 26.8%) were younger and more often smokers but were as likely to have comorbidities as were women with an AAM of 50 years or older. Although there were no differences in pre-MI angina, MI severity, obstructive coronary disease, and QOC based on AAM, the rate of 1-year angina was higher in women with an AAM of 40 years or younger (32.4%) than in women with an AAM of 50 years or older (12.2%). In the multivariable analysis, women with an AAM of 40 years or younger had more than twice the risk of angina (relative risk, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.38-3.17) and a higher severity of angina (odds ratio, 2.65; 95% CI, 1.34-5.22 for a higher severity level) compared with women with an AAM of 50 years or older. Conclusions: Women with early menopause are at higher risk of angina after MI, independent of comorbidities, severity of MI, and QOC. The use of a simple question regarding AAM may help in the identification of women who need closer follow-up, careful evaluation, and intervention to improve their symptoms and quality of life after MI.
The beneficial effects of exercise on BMD are lost after cessation: a 5‐year follow‐up in older post‐menopausal women

This study investigates whether the positive effects on bone mineral density (BMD, g/cm2) and neuromuscular function following a combined weight‐bearing program are sustained in older women, a longer period after cessation of training. Thirty‐four women (18 exercisers and 16 controls) aged 73–88 years, who completed a 12‐month randomized‐controlled trial, were invited to a 5‐year follow‐up assessment of BMD and neuromuscular function. Both groups sustained significant losses in BMD of the femoral neck, trochanter, and Ward's triangle during the follow‐up period. Significant losses were also seen in all neuromuscular function tests. The inter‐group change was, however, significant only for maximal walking speed where the exercise group had a significantly greater loss. In conclusion, this study suggests that gains in bone density and neuromuscular functions achieved by training are lost after cessation of training. Continuous high‐intensity weight‐loading physical activity is probably necessary to preserve bone density and neuromuscular function in older women.
Species Differences Drive Nonneutral Structure in Pleistocene Coral Communities

Although ecological assemblages frequently depart from neutral model predictions, these discrepancies have not been unambiguously attributed to neutral theory’s core assumption: that community structure is primarily the result of chance variation in birth, death, speciation, and dispersal, rather than the manifestation of demographic differences among species. Using coral communities in Barbados from four time periods during the Pleistocene, we demonstrate that the neutral theory cannot explain coral community similarity distributions, species’ regional abundance distributions, or their local occupancy. Furthermore, discrepancies between the neutral theory and the observed communities can be attributed to violation of the core assumption of species equivalence. In particular, species’ variable growth rates are driving departures from neutral predictions. Our results reinforce an understanding of reef coral community assembly that invokes trade-offs in species’ demographic strategies. The results further suggest that conservation management actions will fail if they are based on the neutral assumption that different coral species are equally able to create live coral cover in the shallow-water reef environment. These findings highlight the importance of developing biodiversity theory that can parsimoniously incorporate species differences in coral reef communities, rather than further elaborating neutral theory.
Purification of rubella virus particles.

Summary A procedure for the purification of rubella virus from infected suspensions of BHK 21 cells resulted in preparations containing 1 to 3 × 1010 p.f. u. /ml. In sucrose gradient centrifugation the area of maximal infectivity (buoyant density of 1.175 g./ml.) coincided with peaks in haemagglutinating activity, and in E 260. It also coincided with presence of virus-like particles, and a sharp band visible by naked eye. Specific activities of the order 30 × 106 p.f. u. /µg. protein, 106 HAU/µg. protein, and 5 to 10 × 105 p.f. u. /HAU were achieved. Glutaraldehyde-fixed negatively stained rubella virus preparations showed round particles with rough surfaces measuring 50 to 73 nm. (average 61 nm.) in diameter. Unfixed viruses had a greater size variation, 55 to 89 nm. (average 74 nm.) in diameter, apparently due to deformability and fragility of the particles. Spontaneous and deoxycholate-induced breakdown of the particles showed rupture of the envelope but revealed no characteristic inner structure.
Pilot study of factors associated with exacerbations in chronic bronchitis

The factors associated with exacerbations of chronic bronchitis were investigated in a pilot study of 23 male patients over a period of 29 months. There were 63 exacerbations—56 were fully investigated and in seven only serological studies were possible. Evidence of the presence of an infective agent was sought in the early stages of the exacerbations and during relative quiescence. Significantly more potential pathogens, both bacterial (pneumococci and Haemophilus influenzae) and viral and mycoplasmal, were found during exacerbations than in quiescent periods. It was not possible to demonstrate that atmospheric pollution or low temperature influenced exacerbations, but the data are insufficient to exclude a small effect. It is emphasized that the value of future work on these lines would be increased if agreement could be reached on the definition of an exacerbation.
Robust discrimination of glioblastomas from metastatic brain tumors on the basis of single‐voxel 1H MRS

This article investigates methods for the accurate and robust differentiation of metastases from glioblastomas on the basis of single‐voxel 1H MRS information. Single‐voxel 1H MR spectra from a total of 109 patients (78 glioblastomas and 31 metastases) from the multicenter, international INTERPRET database, plus a test set of 40 patients (30 glioblastomas and 10 metastases) from three different centers in the Barcelona (Spain) metropolitan area, were analyzed using a robust method for feature (spectral frequency) selection coupled with a linear‐in‐the‐parameters single‐layer perceptron classifier. For the test set, a parsimonious selection of five frequencies yielded an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.86, and an area under the convex hull of the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.91. Moreover, these accurate results for the discrimination between glioblastomas and metastases were obtained using a small number of frequencies that are amenable to metabolic interpretation, which should ease their use as diagnostic markers. Importantly, the prediction can be expressed as a simple formula based on a linear combination of these frequencies. As a result, new cases could be straightforwardly predicted by integrating this formula into a computer‐based medical decision support system. This work also shows that the combination of spectra acquired at different TEs (short TE, 20–32 ms; long TE, 135–144 ms) is key to the successful discrimination between glioblastomas and metastases from single‐voxel 1H MRS. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Functional‐anatomical Implications of the Nucleus Accumbens Core and Shell Subterritories

The nucleus accumbens, a major part of the ventral striatum, comprises numerous subterritories and compartments, of which the core and shell appear to be dominant. Shell exhibits greater chemical neuroanatomical diversity than core and is rather directly connected to it by a robust, feed‐forward, striatopallido‐thalamocortico‐striatal pathway. Shell and extended amygdala share afferents, but the two are distinguished by their outputs, strongly toward cortex for shell and descendent toward brain stem effector sites for extended amygdala. Shell responds independently to stimulation by excitatory amino acids and dopamine, which are more mutually permissive in the core. Accordingly, the shell responds to a broad variety of physiological and pharmacological stimuli, including psychomotor and opioid drugs. Whereas locomotion and oro‐facial movements are elicitable from the shell, lesions and blockade of EAA transmission in the core reduce locomotion. It is hypothesized that core‐shell has a feed‐forward functional organization.
The $K$-Means-Type Algorithms Versus Imbalanced Data Distributions

K-means is a partitional clustering technique that is well-known and widely used for its low computational cost. The representative algorithms include the hard k-means and the fuzzy k -means. However, the performance of these algorithms tends to be affected by skewed data distributions, i.e., imbalanced data. They often produce clusters of relatively uniform sizes, even if input data have varied cluster sizes, which is called the “uniform effect. ” In this paper, we analyze the causes of this effect and illustrate that it probably occurs more in the fuzzy k-means clustering process than the hard k-means clustering process. As the fuzzy index m increases, the “uniform effect” becomes evident. To prevent the effect of the “uniform effect,” we propose a multicenter clustering algorithm in which multicenters are used to represent each cluster, instead of one single center. The proposed algorithm consists of the three subalgorithms: the fast global fuzzy k -means, Best M-Plot, and grouping multicenter algorithms. They will be, respectively, used to address the three important problems: 1) How are the reliable cluster centers from a dataset obtained? 2) How are the number of clusters which these obtained cluster centers represent determined? 3) How is it judged as to which cluster centers represent the same clusters? The experimental studies on both synthetic and real datasets illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed clustering algorithm in clustering balanced and imbalanced data.
PTEN protein expression in postmenopausal steroid receptor positive early breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant tamoxifen.

PURPOSE Since one of possible causes of resistance to antiestrogen therapy in steroid receptor positive (SR+) breast cancer (BC) patients is an alteration of PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10) signaling pathways, the aim of this study was to determine the PTEN protein expression in postmenopausal patients with steroid SR+ BC treated with adjuvant tamoxifen, to investigate the association of PTEN protein expression with tumor histology, size and grade, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) statuses and disease outcome. METHODS This was a retrospective analysis of 78 postmenopausal stage I/II SR(+)BC patients treated with adjuvant tamoxifen. PTEN protein expression and ER, PR and HER2 status were determined using immunohistochemistry. RESULTS The distribution of PTEN protein expression according to tumor histology was as follows: PTEN+ status in 27/43 (62.8%) patients with ductal and in 26/35 (74.3%) patients with lobular carcinomas; and PTEN(-) status in 16/43 (37.2%) patients with ductal and in 9/35 (25.7%) patients with lobular carcinomas. Disease relapse was observed in 38/78 patients: 14/53 (26.4%) of PTEN(+) BC subgroup and 24/25 (96%) of PTEN(-) subgroup (x(2), p=0.018). There were no significant associations between PTEN protein expression and tumor histology, size and grade, and ER, PR and HER2 expression. Patients with PTEN(-) had significantly shorter disease-free interval (DFI) and overall survival (OS) (for both, log rank test, p <0.01) compared to PTEN(+) BC patients. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that PTEN protein expression might be of prognostic significance in postmenopausal SR(+) BC patients treated with adjuvant tamoxifen.
Recovery From Skeletal Fluorosis (an Enigmatic, American Case)

A 52‐year‐old man presented with severe neck immobility and radiographic osteosclerosis. Elevated fluoride levels in serum, urine, and iliac crest bone revealed skeletal fluorosis. Nearly a decade of detailed follow‐up documented considerable correction of the disorder after removal of the putative source of fluoride (toothpaste).
Cytotoxic and antitumor effects of Tribulus terrestris L fruit methanolic extract

Tribulus terrestris L. (Family: Zygophyllaceae) has been used extensively for various human ailments by different traditional systems of medicine including Ayurveda. Recently, the anti-proliferative effect of this plant against breast cancer cells was reported. In the present study, the cytotoxic and antitumour effects of the methanolic extract of T. terrestris fruits were analysed. On in vitro cytotoxicity analysis, the extract showed 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) at 380 and 420 µg/ml, for Dalton’s Lymphoma Ascites (DLA) and Ehrlich’s Ascites Carcinoma (EAC) cells, respectively. The ascites tumor induced by EAC cells was found to be decreased considerably by the oral administration of the extract and the life span of the tumour bearing mice was enhanced to 31 and 45% by 100 and 250 mg/kg b. wt. extract, respectively.
The incidence and haemodynamic significance of gas emboli during operative hysteroscopy: a prospective echocardiographic study.

AIMS Operative hysteroscopy is associated with complications including the development of gas embolism. The aim of this study was to utilize continuous echocardiographic imaging during operative hysteroscopy to assess the extent and the haemodynamic effects of gas embolism in these patients. METHODS AND RESULTS Women undergoing operative hysteroscopy under general anaesthesia without a history of cardiac disease were eligible. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) was performed continuously in all study participants with assessment of the extent and frequency of gas embolism, right ventricular function and pulmonary hypertension. Twenty-three women (mean age: 48.0 +/- 9.4 years) participated in the study. All subjects had evidence of bubble embolism in the right atrium (RA) and 20 of 23 (85%) had evidence of continuous flow of bubbles. In the 17 patients with adequate assessment, estimated pulmonary artery systolic pressure was 19.1 +/- 3.7 mmHg prior to the procedure and 23.3 +/- 3.4 following the procedure, a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). There were no significant changes between the two groups in right ventricular end-diastolic area, end-systolic area, or fractional area change. CONCLUSION Our study demonstrates a high frequency of continuous gas embolism during hysteroscopy, which is associated with a small but statistically significant increase in pulmonary artery systolic pressure without affecting right ventricular function.
Glycogen synthase kinase-3/Shaggy mediates ethanol-induced excitotoxic cell death of Drosophila olfactory neurons

It has long been known that heavy alcohol consumption leads to neuropathology and neuronal death. While the response of neurons to an ethanol insult is strongly influenced by genetic background, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we show that even a single intoxicating exposure to ethanol causes non-cell-autonomous apoptotic death specifically of Drosophila olfactory neurons, which is accompanied by a loss of a behavioral response to the smell of ethanol and a blackening of the third antennal segment. The Drosophila homolog of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3)β, Shaggy, is required for ethanol-induced apoptosis. Consistent with this requirement, the GSK-3β inhibitor lithium protects against the neurotoxic effects of ethanol, indicating the possibility for pharmacological intervention in cases of alcohol-induced neurodegeneration. Ethanol-induced death of olfactory neurons requires both their neural activity and functional NMDA receptors. This system will allow the investigation of the genetic and molecular basis of ethanol-induced apoptosis in general and provide an understanding of the molecular role of GSK-3β in programmed cell death.
Moisture source of precipitation in Western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

Moisture sources for snow falling in Dronning Maud Land (DML), Antarctica, are calculated for 1998 using three dimensional 5-days backward air parcel trajectories. The drilling site of the European Project on Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) in DML is chosen as the main arrival point (75.0°S, 0.01°E). A distinction is made between trajectories with and without snowfall at arrival. Of the snowfall trajectories, 40–80% are located in the Atlantic Ocean within four days before arrival. Evaporation along these trajectories is largest three to four days before arrival. The air parcels are then located between 40° and 60°S in the Atlantic Ocean where surface temperatures range between 0° and 20°C. A case study for May 1998 shows that when snow falls exceptionally high temperatures and wind speeds prevail in the atmospheric boundary layer. The position of the trajectories in the boundary layer suggests a source region for this event between 40° and 50°S and 20° and 60°W in the Atlantic Ocean, where sea surface temperatures vary between 5° and 15°C.
Impact of a Nurse Short Message Service Intervention for Patients With Diabetes

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a nurse short message service by cellular phone and the Internet on glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and adherence to diabetes control recommendations. The patients with diabetes were asked to input their blood glucose levels every day by cellular phone or the Internet. Optimal recommendations were sent weekly to each patient by short message service. After 12 weeks, the patients had a mean decrease of 1.1% in HbA1c level and an increase in diabetic medication taking, 30 minutes of physical exercise, and foot care adherence.
INVESTMENT IN COCOA PRODUCTION IN NIGERIA: A COST AND RETURN ANALYSIS OF THREE COCOA PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN THE CROSS RIVER STATE COCOA BELT

The study examined costs and returns in cocoa production in Cross River State in the context of three identified management systems of cocoa production in the area, namely owner-managed, lease-managed and sharecrop managed systems, using a hundred and fifty randomly selected cocoa farmers. Results show that cocoa production is a profitable business irrespective of management system, since all of them had positive net present values (NPV) at 10% discount rate. The NPV for lease-managed farms is highest. The benefit-cost ratio (BCR) at 10% discount rate was greater than one for the three management systems, which indicates that the returns from cocoa production are high. Ownermanaged farms had the highest BCR followed by lease-managed farms in that order. Lease-managed farms were more viable compared with other management systems in terms of their high NPVs. The study surmises that given the high benefits relative to costs involved in cocoa production irrespective of management system, investments in cocoa production can be increased tremendously by providing expanded access to cheap and flexible credit and land, which have presented as limiting factors in cocoa production based on the descriptive statistical analysis in the study.
Acute changes in extracellular volume fraction in skeletal muscle monitored by 23Na NMR spectroscopy

In this article, we induced acute changes in extracellular volume fraction in skeletal muscle tissue and compared the sensitivity of a standard 1H T2 imaging method with different 23Na‐NMR spectroscopy parameters within acquisition times compatible with clinical investigations. First, we analyzed the effect of a short ischemia on the sodium distribution in the skeletal muscle. Then, the lower leg of 21 healthy volunteers was scanned under different vascular filling conditions (vascular draining, filling, and normal condition) expected to modify exclusively the extracellular volume. The first experiment showed no change in the total sodium content during a 15 min ischemia, but the intracellular weighted 23Na signal slowly decreased. For the second part, significant variations of total sodium content, sodium distribution, and T1 and T2∗ of 23Na signal were observed between different vascular filling conditions. The measured sodium distribution correlates significantly with sodium T1 and with the short and long T2∗ fractions. In contrast, significant changes in the proton T2w signal were observed only in three muscles. Altogether, the mean T2w signal intensity of all muscles as well as their mean T2 did not vary significantly with the extracellular volume changes. In conclusion, at the expense of giving up spatial resolution, the proposed 23Na spectroscopic method proved to be more sensitive than standard 1H T2 approach to monitor acute extracellular compartment changes within muscle tissue.
Genetic Evaluation and Application of Posterior Cranial Fossa Traits as Endophenotypes for Chiari Type I Malformation

Chiari Type I Malformation (CMI) is characterized by herniation of the cerebellar tonsils through the base of the skull. Although cerebellar tonsillar herniation (CTH) is hypothesized to result from an underdeveloped posterior cranial fossa (PF), patients are frequently diagnosed by the extent of CTH without cranial morphometric assessment. We recently completed the largest CMI whole genome qualitative linkage screen to date. Despite an initial lack of statistical evidence, stratified analyses using clinical criteria to reduce heterogeneity resulted in a striking increase in evidence for linkage. The present study focused on the use of cranial base morphometrics to further dissect this heterogeneity and increase power to identify disease genes. We characterized the genetic contribution for a series of PF traits and evaluated the use of heritable, disease‐relevant PF traits in ordered subset analysis (OSA). Consistent with a genetic hypothesis for CMI, much of the PF morphology was found to be heritable and multiple genomic regions were strongly implicated from OSA, including regions on Chromosomes 1 (LOD = 3.07, p = 3 × 10−3) and 22 (LOD = 3.45, p = 6 × 10−5) containing several candidates warranting further investigation. This study underscores the genetic heterogeneity of CMI and the utility of PF traits in CMI genetic studies.