Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Leaky Mutation in DWARF4 Reveals an Antagonistic Role of Brassinosteroid in the Inhibition of Root Growth by Jasmonate in Arabidopsis1[C]

The F-box protein CORONATINE INSENSITIVE1 (COI1) plays a central role in jasmonate (JA) signaling and is required for all JA responses in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). To dissect JA signal transduction, we isolated the partially suppressing coi1 (psc1) mutant, which partially suppressed coi1 insensitivity to JA inhibition of root growth. The psc1 mutant partially restored JA sensitivity in coi1-2 background and displayed JA hypersensitivity in wild-type COI1 background. Genetic mapping, sequence analysis, and complementation tests revealed that psc1 is a leaky mutation of DWARF4 (DWF4) that encodes a key enzyme in brassinosteroid (BR) biosynthesis. Physiological analysis showed that an application of exogenous BR eliminated the partial restoration of JA sensitivity by psc1 in coi1-2 background and the JA hypersensitivity of psc1 in wild-type COI1 background. Exogenous BR also attenuated JA inhibition of root growth in the wild type. In addition, the expression of DWF4 was inhibited by JA, and this inhibition was dependent on COI1. These results indicate that (1) BR is involved in JA signaling and negatively regulates JA inhibition of root growth, and (2) the DWF4 is down-regulated by JA and is located downstream of COI1 in the JA-signaling pathway.
Endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage of pancreatic fluid collections with indeterminate adherence using temporary covered metal stents

Transenteric drainage of a pancreatic fluid collection (PFC) with poor adherence to the bowel wall risks leakage and perforation. Elimination of tract dilation and the use of a fully covered self-expanding metal stent (FCSEMS) may improve safety. We evaluated endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided drainage of PFCs using a one-step access device followed by placement of a FCSEMS. Eighteen patients (12 males; median age 50) with PFCs (median size 135 mm) meeting the criteria for indeterminate adherence were enrolled. After 7 – 10 days, the FCSEMSs were removed and exchanged for double-pigtail stents. When indicated, tract dilation and endoscopy-guided cyst debridement was performed. FCSEMS placement was technically successful in all patients without complications. Median procedure time was 37.5 minutes. Cystgastrostomy dilation resulted in dehiscence in one patient and was treated with repeat FCSEMS placement. Cyst resolution was achieved in 78 % of patients. FCSEMS placement without tract dilation enables safe initial drainage of PFCs with indeterminate adherence.
CHOTTO1, a Putative Double APETALA2 Repeat Transcription Factor, Is Involved in Abscisic Acid-Mediated Repression of Gibberellin Biosynthesis during Seed Germination in Arabidopsis1[W][OA]

The phytohormones abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellins (GAs) are the primary signals that regulate seed dormancy and germination. In this study, we investigated the role of a double APETALA2 repeat transcription factor, CHOTTO1 (CHO1), in seed dormancy, germination, and phytohormone metabolism of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Wild-type seeds were dormant when freshly harvested seeds were sown, and these seeds were released from dormancy after a particular period of dry storage (after-ripening). The cho1 mutant seeds germinated easily even in a shorter period of storage than wild-type seeds. The cho1 mutants showed reduced responsiveness to ABA, whereas transgenic plants constitutively expressing CHO1 (p35S∷CHO1) showed an opposite phenotype. Notably, after-ripening reduced the ABA responsiveness of the wild type, cho1 mutants, and p35S∷CHO1 lines. Hormone profiling demonstrated that after-ripening treatment decreased the levels of ABA and salicylic acid and increased GA4, jasmonic acid, and isopentenyl adenine when wild-type seeds were imbibed. Expression analysis showed that the transcript levels of genes for ABA and GA metabolism were altered in the wild type by after-ripening. Hormone profiling and expression analyses indicate that cho1 seeds, with a short period of storage, resembled fully after-ripened wild-type seeds. Genetic analysis showed that the cho1 mutation partially restored delayed seed germination and reduced GA biosynthesis activity in the ABA-overaccumulating cyp707a2-1 mutant background but did not restore seed germination in the GA-deficient ga1-3 mutant background. These results indicate that CHO1 acts downstream of ABA to repress GA biosynthesis during seed germination.
Reasons for participation in optional pharmacokinetic studies in children with cancer: A Children's Oncology Group phase 1 consortium study

Pharmacokinetic (PK) studies provide critical information about the disposition of anticancer drugs in children. In the Children's Oncology Group (COG) Phase 1 Consortium, pharmacokinetic studies are usually optional. We surveyed the attitudes towards PK studies among subjects in phase 1 trials at COG institutions.
A WD40 Repeat Protein from Medicago truncatula Is Necessary for Tissue-Specific Anthocyanin and Proanthocyanidin Biosynthesis But Not for Trichome Development1[W][OA]

WD40 repeat proteins regulate biosynthesis of anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins (PAs), and mucilage in the seed and the development of trichomes and root hairs. We have cloned and characterized a WD40 repeat protein gene from Medicago truncatula (MtWD40-1) via a retrotransposon-tagging approach. Deficiency of MtWD40-1 expression blocks accumulation of mucilage and a range of phenolic compounds, including PAs, epicatechin, other flavonoids, and benzoic acids, in the seed, reduces epicatechin levels without corresponding effects on other flavonoids in flowers, reduces isoflavone levels in roots, but does not impair trichome or root hair development. MtWD40-1 is expressed constitutively, with highest expression in the seed coat, where its transcript profile temporally parallels those of PA biosynthetic genes. Transcript profile analysis revealed that many genes of flavonoid biosynthesis were down-regulated in a tissue-specific manner in M. truncatula lines harboring retrotransposon insertions in the MtWD40-1 gene. MtWD40-1 complemented the anthocyanin, PA, and trichome phenotypes of the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) transparent testa glabrous1 mutant. We discuss the function of MtWD40-1 in natural product formation in M. truncatula and the potential use of the gene for engineering PAs in the forage legume alfalfa (Medicago sativa).
Frequency distribution of hemoglobin variants among Yorubas in Ibadan, south western Nigeria: A pilot study

Background: Inherited disorders of hemoglobin are the most common gene disorders worldwide. The objective of this study is to determine the frequency distribution of hemoglobin variants among the Yorubas residing in Ibadan. Materials and Methods: Five hundred and thirty one subjects comprising 184 males and 347 females, of age 1-70 years, were enrolled in the study. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethical Committee of the University College Hospital and a duly signed informed consent was obtained from each subject. Two milliliters of venous blood was aseptically collected from each participant for the determination of hemoglobin genotype, using the standard hematology method. Results: Hemoglobin HbAA recorded the highest frequency distribution (65.3%). This was followed by hemoglobin variant HbAS (24.1%), abnormal hemoglobin variant HbSS (5.5%), HbAC (4%), and HbSC (1.1%), (P > 0.05). The female subjects revealed higher frequency distributions of AA, AS, SS, and SC, while the male demonstrated higher frequencies in AC and SC only. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the Yoruba indigenes residing in Ibadan have a high frequency distribution of HbAA and a future reduction in the HbSS disease in the populace is possible.
A psychosocial cancer phone center staffed by professional psychologists as an integral part of the standard process of care: Its utility during the course of illness

Abstract Objective: Major cancer centers cannot ignore psychosocial patient needs that have a significant impact on the process of adjustment to cancer and on compliance to treatments. We introduced a new service, the Gigi Ghirotti Psychosocial Cancer Phone Center (GGPCPC), staffed by professional psychologists, for use by our patients and their relatives. This article investigates its feasibility as a support delivery vehicle for patients in their follow-up phase, and also investigates patients' sense of abandonment related to their care setting. Method: A close collaboration was set up between GGPCPC psychologists and European Institute of Oncology (IEO) psychologists. Education and awareness sessions regarding the importance of such a source of psychological support were conducted by IEO psychologists with nurses, secretaries, and receptionists. IEO psychologists input monthly data, recorded on specific paper-tabs by GGPCPC psychologists for each call received by the phone center between March 2007 and March 2009, into a SPSS database. Results: Four hundred and thirty individuals contacted the center mainly to receive psychological support during their treatment phase, when they visited IEO for treatment sessions. Multiple indicators suggest that this telephone support program was feasible and provided support to a broad range of cancer patients. Patients seemed to prefer it to face-to-face psychological support during their treatment-phase. Significance of results: The GGPCPC was demonstrated to be an efficacious support and information delivery vehicle for patients and relatives during the illness course.
Invisible carers: young people in Zimbabwe's home-based healthcare

Summary Women and young people are disproportionately burdened by the restructur ing of healthcare services. Home-based healthcare provision by children in Zimbabwe is investigated through qualitative interviews with young carers and key informants. The study suggests that young people (especially girls) become carers according to varied personal and household factors in the context of the AIDS pandemic, macro-economic decline and ESAP-weakened formal health services.
VirtualPlant: A Software Platform to Support Systems Biology Research1[W][OA]

Data generation is no longer the limiting factor in advancing biological research. In addition, data integration, analysis, and interpretation have become key bottlenecks and challenges that biologists conducting genomic research face daily. To enable biologists to derive testable hypotheses from the increasing amount of genomic data, we have developed the VirtualPlant software platform. VirtualPlant enables scientists to visualize, integrate, and analyze genomic data from a systems biology perspective. VirtualPlant integrates genome-wide data concerning the known and predicted relationships among genes, proteins, and molecules, as well as genome-scale experimental measurements. VirtualPlant also provides visualization techniques that render multivariate information in visual formats that facilitate the extraction of biological concepts. Importantly, VirtualPlant helps biologists who are not trained in computer science to mine lists of genes, microarray experiments, and gene networks to address questions in plant biology, such as: What are the molecular mechanisms by which internal or external perturbations affect processes controlling growth and development? We illustrate the use of VirtualPlant with three case studies, ranging from querying a gene of interest to the identification of gene networks and regulatory hubs that control seed development. Whereas the VirtualPlant software was developed to mine Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genomic data, its data structures, algorithms, and visualization tools are designed in a species-independent way. VirtualPlant is freely available at www.virtualplant. org.
Quantification of near‐attomole gibberellins in floral organs dissected from a single Arabidopsis thaliana flower

There remains a methodological bottleneck in the quantification of ultra-trace plant hormones in very tiny plant organs at fresh weights below a milligram. The challenge becomes even more serious in the determination of endogenous gibberellins (GAs), which are a class of compounds that are difficult to separate and detect. Herein, a quantification method using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was developed, combined with a derivatization technique in which GAs react with N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N'-ethylcarbodiimide in ethanol. The method was validated as capable of determining GAs in floral organs (about 80-250 μg) - pistil, stamens, petals, sepals and receptacle - which were dissected from only one flower of Arabidopsis thaliana. Substantially different abundance patterns of GAs were measured from the floral organs at floral stages 13, 14 and 15 along the non-13-hydroxylation pathway and the early 13-hydroxylation pathway in plants. This allows sub-flower-level insights into how GAs affect floral development. The method exhibited excellent limit of detection and limit of quantification down to 5.41 and 18.0 attomole, respectively, and offered a fairly wide linear range from 0.01 to 25 femtomole with linear coefficients above 0.9961. The precision of the method was evaluated with relative standard deviations below 10.6% for intra-day and 11.4% for inter-day assays, and recoveries ranged from 64.0% to 107%.
Pancreatic actinomycosis presenting as pancreatic mass and diagnosed with endoscopic ultrasound fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA)

We present the case of a 66-year-old man with a 4-month history of abdominal pain poorly responsive to opiate analgesics and with occasional fever. Prior to attending our unit, he had undergone basic studies and computed tomography (CT) at an-other hospital. The contrast-enhanced pancreatic protocol CT demonstrated a solid mass (16×18mm) at the upper end of the body of the pancreas. The patient was referred to our endoscopy unit
Disruption of ptLPD1 or ptLPD2, Genes That Encode Isoforms of the Plastidial Lipoamide Dehydrogenase, Confers Arsenate Hypersensitivity in Arabidopsis1[W][OA]

Arsenic is a ubiquitous environmental poison that inhibits root elongation and seed germination to a variable extent depending on the plant species. To understand the molecular mechanisms of arsenic resistance, a genetic screen was developed to isolate arsenate overly sensitive (aos) mutants from an activation-tagged Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) population. Three aos mutants were isolated, and the phenotype of each was demonstrated to be due to an identical disruption of plastidial LIPOAMIDE DEHYDROGENASE1 (ptLPD1), a gene that encodes one of the two E3 isoforms found in the plastidial pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. In the presence of arsenate, ptlpd1-1 plants exhibited reduced root and shoot growth and enhanced anthocyanin accumulation compared with wild-type plants. The ptlpd1-1 plants accumulated the same amount of arsenic as wild-type plants, indicating that the aos phenotype was not due to increased arsenate in the tissues but to an increase in the innate sensitivity to the poison. Interestingly, a ptlpd1-4 knockdown allele produced a partial aos phenotype. Two loss-of-function alleles of ptLPD2 in Arabidopsis also caused elevated arsenate sensitivity, but the sensitivity was less pronounced than for the ptlpd1 mutants. Moreover, both the ptlpd1 and ptlpd2 mutants were more sensitive to arsenite than wild-type plants, and the LPD activity in isolated chloroplasts from wild-type plants was sensitive to arsenite but not arsenate. These findings show that the ptLPD isoforms are critical in vivo determinants of arsenite-mediated arsenic sensitivity in Arabidopsis and possible strategic targets for increasing arsenic tolerance.
Pharmacogenomic approaches to therapies in rheumatic diseases

Pharmacogenomics, the study of genetic variations in drug‐metabolizing enzymes and their translation to drug effects, is a rapidly evolving field. At the present time, clinicians choose drugs for patients with rheumatologic diseases based on data from population studies and at times, empirically. The application of pharmacogenomics to drugs used in the treatment of rheumatic diseases, particularly the new expensive agents, holds great promise for optimizing their use in clinical practice. In this article, we highlight some of the published literature on the pharmacogenetics of the common disease‐modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and the emerging data on the new biologic therapies. As evident from the contents of this review, this is an exciting field which is progressing productively and rapidly. Pharmacogenomic approaches are clearly the basis of the “individualized” therapies of the future. Drug Dev. Res. 62:161–171, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Response of infantile hepatic hemangioma to propranolol resistant to high‐dose methylprednisolone and interferon‐α therapy

To the Editor: Infantile hepatic hemangioma (IHH) is a liver tumor commonly seen in infants under 6 months. Most of them are asymptomatic, being found incidentally during abdominal imaging. Spontaneous regression after 18–24 months is commonly observed. IHH may also be complicated by cardiac failure, hepatic dysfunction, tumor rupture, and abdominal compartment syndrome. In these cases, the mortality rate is high, despite a variety of comprehensive treatments [1,2]. A 7-month-old male, receiving prednisolone and interferonfor 3 months as treatment for an IHH, was sent to our clinic for further treatment considerations. During admission he had excessive abdominal distension causing respiratory distress because of a large liver. There were two cutaneous hemangiomas and six café au lait spots larger than 1.5 cm in diameter. Laboratory tests showed no abnormality. On MRI, multiple nodular lesions comprising all of the liver were seen suggesting infantile hemangioendothelioma (Fig. 1A). Tru-cut biopsy was performed and the histopathology confirmed the diagnosis. According to current diagnostic standards it was diagnosed as diffuse IHH [2]. As the disease was resistant to the previous therapy, we started vincristine. After 2 weeks, the abdominal distension and respiratory distress had increased. A second course of high-dose methylprednisolone was given and the vincristine dose was increased from 0.04 to 0.065 mg/kg/week. Treatment with prednisolone and vincristine was continued for 10 weeks and the abdominal circumference decreased from 53 to 50 cm. Abdominal MRI showed an increased in size of the largest lesion (45–55 mm), but the number and size of
Arabinogalactan-Proteins: Key Regulators at the Cell Surface?1

Arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs) are undoubtedly one of the most complex families of macromolecules found in plants, perhaps matched only by the polyphenolics (lignins/cutins/suberins) and pectins. Their complexity arises from the incredible diversity of the glycans decorating the protein backbone,
Determinants of adolescent fertility in Ethiopia

Background: Worldwide, adolescents suffer from a disproportionate share of reproductive health problem. Throughout the world, over 14 million adolescents aged 15-19 years give birth annually. The purpose of this study was to assess the level and identify proximate and other determinants of adolescent fertility in Ethiopia. Methods: Raw data collected from all part of the country using stratified cluster sampling method by the Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey 2005 (EDHS-2005) was used. After the data for adolescents aged from 15 to 19 years were extracted from the large data set, Multivariate logistic regression model was applied to identify sociodemographic and economic determinants whereas Bongaarts model was used to determine proximate determinants fertility. Results: Of the 3,266 adolescent women, 443 (13.6%) had given birth at least once prior to the survey and 133 (4.1%) were pregnant. Of the 443 adolescents who had at least given birth, the majority (72.7%) had one child while about a quarter (23.2%) had 2 live births and the rest 1.0% gave four live births with a mean number of child ever born of 1.33±0.6. The major factors associated with adolescent fertility were age, educational status, place of residence, employment, marriage, contraceptive use and postpartum infecundability. The odds for increased adolescent fertility was significantly higher in early adolescents (AOR=7.6; 95% CI=6.0 to 9.9), had lower education (AOR=6.7; 95%CI=4.1 to10.9), among rural teens (AOR=3.6; 95%CI=1.9 to 6.9) and currently not working (AOR=1.7; 95%CI= 1.3 to 2.2) than their counterparts. The observed fertility rate of 0.52 children per woman obtained from Bongaarts model of fertility indicated about 1.98 births per woman were averted due to non-marriage, delayed marriage, contraceptive use and postpartum infecundability. Conclusion: Since adolescent fertility is felt to be a problem, concerted efforts are needed to empower adolescents to fight early marriage, promote education and encourage the utilization of family planning targeting the rural teenagers. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2010;24(1):30-38]
Abscisic Acid Deficiency Causes Changes in Cuticle Permeability and Pectin Composition That Influence Tomato Resistance to Botrytis cinerea1[C][W][OA]

A mutant of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) with reduced abscisic acid (ABA) production (sitiens) exhibits increased resistance to the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea. This resistance is correlated with a rapid and strong hydrogen peroxide-driven cell wall fortification response in epidermis cells that is absent in tomato with normal ABA production. Moreover, basal expression of defense genes is higher in the mutant compared with the wild-type tomato. Given the importance of this fast response in sitiens resistance, we investigated cell wall and cuticle properties of the mutant at the chemical, histological, and ultrastructural levels. We demonstrate that ABA deficiency in the mutant leads to increased cuticle permeability, which is positively correlated with disease resistance. Furthermore, perturbation of ABA levels affects pectin composition. sitiens plants have a relatively higher degree of pectin methylesterification and release different oligosaccharides upon inoculation with B. cinerea. These results show that endogenous plant ABA levels affect the composition of the tomato cuticle and cell wall and demonstrate the importance of cuticle and cell wall chemistry in shaping the outcome of this plant-fungus interaction.