Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RESEARCH OUTPUTS / RÉSULTATS DE RECHERCHE Dépôt Institutionnel Portail Recherche carboxypeptidase activity in the and its correlation with body weight and adipose tissue in lean

Background Prolyl carboxypeptidase (PRCP) is involved in the regulation of body weight, likely by hydro-lysing alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone and apelin in the hypothalamus and in the periphery. A link between PRCP protein concentrations in plasma and metabolic disorders has been reported. In this study, we investigated the distribution of circulating PRCP activity and assessed its relation with body weight and adipose tissue in obese patients and patients who significantly lost weight. PRCP activity was measured using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography in different isolated blood fractions and primary human cells to investigate the distribution of circulating PRCP. PRCP activity was measured in serum of individuals (n = 75) categorized based on their body mass index (BMI < 25.0; 25.0–29.9; 30.0–39.9; � 40.0 kg/ m 2 ) and the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. Differences in serum PRCP activity were determined before and six months after weight loss, either by diet (n = 45) or by bariatric surgery (n = 24). Potential correlations between serum PRCP activity and several metabolic and biochemical parameters were assessed. Additionally, plasma PRCP concentrations were quantified using a sensitive ELISA in the bariatric surgery group. White blood cells and plasma contributed the most to circulating PRCP activity. Serum PRCP activity in lean subjects was 0.83 ± 0.04 U/L and increased significantly with a rising BMI (p < 0.001) and decreased upon weight loss (diet, p < 0.05; bariatric surgery, p < 0.001). The serum PRCP activity alteration reflected body weight changes and was found to be pos-itively correlated with several metabolic parameters, including: total, abdominal and visceral adipose tissue. Plasma PRCP concentration was found to be significantly correlated to serum PRCP activity (0.865; p < 0.001). Additionally, a significant decrease (p < 0.001) in plasma PRCP protein concentration (mean ± SD) before (18.2 ± 3.7 ng/mL) and 6 months after bariatric surgery (15.7 ± 2.7 ng/mL) was found. Our novel findings demonstrate that white blood cells and plasma contributed the most to circulating PRCP activity. Additionally, we have shown that there were significant correlations between serum PRCP activity and various metabolic parameters, and that plasma PRCP concentration was significantly correlated to serum PRCP activity. These novel findings on PRCP activity in serum support further investigation of its in vivo role and involve-ment in several metabolic diseases.
Unplanned pregnancies and contraceptive use among HIV- positive women in care

Among 230,360 women with diagnosed HIV in the United States (U.S.), ~ 8,500 give birth annually, and unplanned pregnancies (as with HIV-negative women) are prevalent. However, unplanned pregnancies and contraceptive use among HIV-positive women have been understudied. To examine unplanned pregnancies and contraceptive use among HIV-positive women, we used 2013–2014 data from the Medical Monitoring Project (MMP), an HIV surveillance system that produces national estimates for HIV-positive adults in care in the U.S. (Pregnancy outcome dates were from years 1986–2015 for this cohort of women who were interviewed during 2013–2014; median year of reported pregnancy outcome was year 2003). Women in HIV care and diagnosed with HIV before age 45 (reproductive age) were included. We calculated adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) of unplanned pregnancies with 95% confidence intervals (CI). For women who were aged 18–44 years at time of interview, we computed weighted prevalences of contraceptive use (previous 12 months) by method, including permanent (i.e., sterilization), short-acting (i.e., pills, depo-progesterone acetate (DMPA)), long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) (i.e., implants), and barriers (i.e., condoms). Six hundred seventy-one women met criteria for the unplanned pregnancy analysis; median age at HIV diagnosis = 24.6 years, and 78.1% (CI:74.5–81.7) reported ≥ 1 unplanned pregnancy. Women reporting unplanned pregnancies were more likely to be non-Hispanic white (aPR = 1.20; CI 1.05–1.38) or non-Hispanic black (aPR = 1.14; CI 1.01–1.28) than Hispanic, to be above the poverty level (aPR = 1.09; CI 1.01–1.18), and to have not received care from an OB/GYN in the year before interview (aPR = 1.13; CI 1.04–1.22). Among 1,142 total pregnancies, 795 (69.6%) were live births; 70 (7.8%) were born HIV-positive; 42 (60%) of those born HIV-positive were unplanned pregnancies. For the contraceptives analysis (n = 957 women who were aged 18–44 at time of interview), 90.5% reported using at least one contraceptive, including 59.7% reporting barrier methods, 29.9% reporting permanent sterilization, and 22.8% reporting short-term methods in the previous year. LARC was used by only 5.3% of women. Women who reported use of LARC or DMPA were more likely to be aged 18–29 years (aPR = 3.08; CI 1.61–5.89) or 30–39 years (aPR = 2.86; CI 1.76–4.63) compared with women aged 40–44 years. Unplanned pregnancies were prevalent and LARC use was low; prevention efforts should strengthen pregnancy planning and contraceptive awareness for HIV-positive women during clinical visits.
Reliability of Wearable Inertial Measurement Units to Measure Physical Activity in Team Handball.

PURPOSE To assess the reliability and sensitivity of commercially available inertial measurement units to measure physical activity in team handball. METHOD Twenty-two handball players were instrumented with 2 inertial measurement units (OptimEye S5; Catapult Sports, Melbourne, Australia) taped together. They participated in either a laboratory assessment (n = 10) consisting of 7 team handball-specific tasks or field assessment (n = 12) conducted in 12 training sessions. Variables, including PlayerLoad™ and inertial movement analysis (IMA) magnitude and counts, were extracted from the manufacturers' software. IMA counts were divided into intensity bands of low (1.5-2.5 m·s-1), medium (2.5-3.5 m·s-1), high (>3.5 m·s-1), medium/high (>2.5 m·s-1), and total (>1.5 m·s-1). Reliability between devices and sensitivity was established using coefficient of variation (CV) and smallest worthwhile difference (SWD). RESULTS Laboratory assessment: IMA magnitude showed a good reliability (CV = 3.1%) in well-controlled tasks. CV increased (4.4-6.7%) in more-complex tasks. Field assessment: Total IMA counts (CV = 1.8% and SWD = 2.5%), PlayerLoad (CV = 0.9% and SWD = 2.1%), and their associated variables (CV = 0.4-1.7%) showed a good reliability, well below the SWD. However, the CV of IMA increased when categorized into intensity bands (2.9-5.6%). CONCLUSION The reliability of IMA counts was good when data were displayed as total, high, or medium/high counts. A good reliability for PlayerLoad and associated variables was evident. The CV of the previously mentioned variables was well below the SWD, suggesting that OptimEye's inertial measurement unit and its software are sensitive for use in team handball.
Examining Predictors of Callous Unemotional Traits Trajectories Across Adolescence Among High-Risk Males

Among high-risk youth, those with high levels of callous unemotional (CU) traits show more severe and chronic forms of antisocial behavior. Although ecological models have linked factors across multiple domains of risk to broader antisocial behavior development, fewer studies have adopted this approach in relation to understanding the unique development of CU traits. Further, a paucity of evidence exists from studies that have examined predictors of trajectories of CU traits. In the current study using data from the Pathways to Desistance data set, we examined prospective risk factors for CU traits trajectories modeled from ages 14 to 24. The sample included male adolescents who had interacted with the justice system (N = 1,170). CU traits were assessed using the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory. Risk factors were assessed at baseline via youth self-report across multiple domains of risk (individual, parenting, and broader contextual risk). Our results demonstrated higher risk factor scores across individual characteristics (higher anxiety and more substance use), parenting (higher harshness, and lower monitoring and knowledge), and broader contextual risk (more violence exposure) for youth with a “high” and stable CU traits trajectory. Adolescents with stable “high” CU traits likely need interventions capable of addressing and changing multiple aspects of their ecology across individual-, parent-, family-, and community-level targets.
Pricing Asian call option with average strike using a non-uniform grid

Abstract The problem of pricing Asian call option with average strike on a non-uniform grid is examined. The backward partial differential equation (PDE) along with the final and boundary conditions for an Asian call option with average strike is presented. A Crank Nicolson Implicit Method based scheme on a non-uniform grid for both spatial and temporal direction is derived, making use of a transformation to generate the non-uniform grid. The scheme is implemented to obtain the price of the Asian option for various values of drift and volatility. The results show a close match with the values obtained using Monte Carlo simulation and numerical PDE methods on uniform grid. The values obtained using the non-uniform grid (as compared to uniform grid) were closer to the values from Monte-Carlo simulation for smaller volatilities, thereby indicating that non-uniform grid could lead to more accurate results in case of smaller volatilities.
Progestin Intrauterine Device in an Adolescent With Grade 2 Endometrial Cancer

BACKGROUND: The treatment of endometrial cancer in young women who desire future fertility poses several challenges. Oral progestin and progestin-releasing intrauterine devices (IUDs) have been shown to result in regression of endometrial hyperplasia and grade 1 endometrioid endometrial carcinoma. However, limited data are available on the use of these methods in women with grade 2 disease. CASE: An 18-year-old nulliparous woman was diagnosed with a grade 2 endometrial adenocarcinoma. She desired future fertility and therefore underwent placement of a levonorgestrel-releasing IUD. The patient subsequently underwent endometrial sampling every 3 months and remained disease-free 13 months after initial IUD placement. CONCLUSION: A progestin-releasing IUD may be a valid treatment option for grade 2 endometrial cancer in young women who desire to retain fertility.
Comparative Advantage, Institutions and 'Behind the Border' Obstacles

Institutions are source of comparative advantage or disadvantage in international trade. Socio-economic and political constraints also matter for creating comparative advantage and affect the trade pattern of a country. These diverse ‘beyond the border’ and ‘behind the border’ constraints are often not fully captured in the literature on international trade and institutions. The existence of such institutional, socio-economic, and political constraints to Pakistani exports is empirically investigated in this paper through a cross-sectional analysis employing a trade Stochastic Frontier Gravity Model. Aggregate data for 2006-08 and 2009-11 show lower exports in the latter period. This is attributed to demand-suppressing effects emanating from the 2008 global financial crisis and supply-suppressing effects emanating from energy shortfalls and input constraints, due to floods, in Pakistan. The model estimation then demonstrates that behind the border constraints in Pakistan are statistically significant in explaining total exports during 2009-11. The estimation is also presented for four single-digit SIC categories of products for this period. Behind the border constraints are evident for SIC 0 (agriculture, forestry and fish products) and SIC 2 (manufactured products) that combined account for approximately 80 percent of Pakistan’s exports. The estimation results by country further demonstrate that behind the border constraints affect the pattern of trade through the non-realization of bilateral trade potential. In the post-financial crisis era, Pakistan needs to further develop its institutional capacity to promote competitive exports given the explicit and implicit beyond the border trade barriers it faces and work to remove political obstacles to regional trade.
Six Decades of International Business Research: Where Next?

This article portrays the evolution of international business (IB) literature. We review the main issues and theoretical assumptions that have dominated research in the IB field during the last sixty years. Moreover, on the basis of the essential paradigms developed, we analyse what issues are of interest and may represent a potentially fruitful arena in which to develop future scholarly research.
Production of Adult Human Synovial Fluid-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Stirred-Suspension Culture

The chondrogenic potential of synovial fluid-derived mesenchymal stem cells (SF-MSCs) supports their use in cartilage regeneration strategies. However, their paucity in synovial fluid necessitates their proliferation in culture to generate clinically relevant quantities. Here it was determined that 125 mL stirred suspension bioreactors utilizing Cytodex-3 microcarrier beads represent a viable platform for the proliferation of these cells. During the inoculation phase, a bead loading of 2 g/L, an inoculation ratio of 4.5 cells/bead, and continuous agitation at 40 rpm in a medium with 5% serum resulted in high cell attachment efficiencies and a subsequent overall cell fold expansion of 5.7 over 8 days. During the subsequent growth phase, periodic addition of new microcarriers and fresh medium increased culture longevity, resulting in a 21.3 cell fold increase over 18 days in the same vessel without compromising the defining characteristics of the cells. Compared to static tissue culture flasks, a bioreactor-based bioprocess requires fewer handling steps, is more readily scalable, and for the same cell production level, has a lower operating cost as it uses approximately half the medium. Therefore, stirred suspension bioreactors incorporating microcarrier technology represent a viable and more efficient platform than tissue culture flasks for the generation of SF-MSCs in culture.
Bivariate representation and conjugacy class zeta functions associated to unipotent group schemes, I: Arithmetic properties

This is the first of two papers in which we introduce and study two bivariate zeta functions associated to unipotent group schemes over rings of integers of number fields. One of these zeta functions encodes the numbers of isomorphism classes of irreducible complex representations of finite dimensions of congruence quotients of the associated group and the other one encodes the numbers of conjugacy classes of each size of such quotients. In this paper, we show that these zeta functions satisfy Euler factorizations and almost all of their Euler factors are rational and satisfy functional equations. Moreover, we show that such bivariate zeta functions specialize to (univariate) class number zeta functions. In case of nilpotency class 2, bivariate representation zeta functions also specialize to (univariate) twist representation zeta functions.
Preferential poultry meat consumption and cooking patterns in Bijapur district of Karnataka.

A survey based study was carried out to ascertain the consumption and cooking patterns of chicken meat in Bijapur district of Karnataka (India). The sample size of 150 comprised of 120 males and 30 female respondents with varied education and income levels. The study revealed that 72% respondents liked to purchase broiler meat, while only 25.33% preferred meat of indigenous poultry breed (desi bird). During the study, 52% respondents consumed chicken meat twice in week while 44% consumed weekly. The study revealed that 52% respondents purchased 1-2 kg, while 38% purchased 0.5-1 kg of chicken meat. In the study area, 59.33% liked to cook and consume chicken curry, while 29.33% preferred chicken fry. The study depicted that 63.33% respondents liked whole chicken, while 24.67% showed their interest for breast meat. During the outbreak of diseases like bird flu, 52.66% respondents felt no hesitation in meat consumption. In the study area, 72% respondents enhanced their consumption in winter season, while 20% in rainy season. When enquired, 62.66% respondents consumed meat normally in summer season. In case of increased prices, only 28% had positive response and 47.34% showed negative response to this aspect. The study revealed that 49.33% respondents preferred first to eat chicken meat, while 30% expressed choice for mutton. It can be concluded that respondents preferred broiler meat as curry or fry, twice a week alike over beef, mutton and fish with no considerable effect of disease outbreak and summer season, though, increased prices affected the consumption of meat.
The Exosomal/Total α-Synuclein Ratio in Plasma Is Associated With Glucocerebrosidase Activity and Correlates With Measures of Disease Severity in PD Patients

Intensive research efforts in the field of Parkinson’s disease (PD) are focusing on identifying reliable biomarkers which possibly help physicians in predicting disease onset, diagnosis, and progression as well as evaluating the response to disease-modifying treatments. Given that abnormal alpha-synuclein (α-syn) accumulation is a primary component of PD pathology, this protein has attracted considerable interest as a potential biomarker for PD. Alpha-synuclein can be detected in several body fluids, including plasma, where it can be found as free form or in association with exosomes, small membranous vesicles secreted by virtually all cell types. Together with α-syn accumulation, lysosomal dysfunctions seem to play a central role in the pathogenesis of PD, given the crucial role of lysosomes in the α-syn degradation. In particular, heterozygous mutations in the GBA1 gene encoding lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GCase) are currently considered as the most important risk factor for PD. Different studies have found that GCase deficiency leads to accumulation of α-syn; whereas at the same time, increased α-syn may inhibit GCase function, thus inducing a bidirectional pathogenic loop. In this study, we investigated whether changes in plasma total and exosome-associated α-syn could correlate with disease status and clinical parameters in PD and their relationship with GCase activity. We studied 39 PD patients (mean age: 65.2 ± 8.9; men: 25), without GBA1 mutations, and 33 age-matched controls (mean age: 61.9 ± 6.2; men: 15). Our results showed that exosomes from PD patients contain a greater amount of α-syn compared to healthy subjects (25.2 vs. 12.3 pg/mL, p < 0.001) whereas no differences were found in plasma total α-syn levels (15.7 vs. 14.8 ng/mL, p = 0.53). Moreover, we highlighted a significant increase of plasma exosomal α-syn/total α-syn ratio in PD patients (1.69 vs. 0.89, p < 0.001), which negatively correlates with disease severity (p = 0.014). Intriguingly, a significant inverse correlation between GCase activity and this ratio in PD subjects was found (p = 0.006). Additional and large-scale studies comparing GCase activity and pathological protein levels will be clearly needed to corroborate these data and determine whether the association between key players in the lysosomal system and α-syn can be used as diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers for PD.
The Contribution of the Education System Quality to Improve the Nation’s Competitiveness of Indonesia

The quality of education and the competitiveness of college graduates in Indonesia is still far behind, both at the international level, even at the level of ASEAN. In the other side, the issue of demographic bonus in Indonesia become an important factor in the development of human resources. The Indonesian population increased continuously about 1.49% per year. The impact of the quality of education is the nation’s competitiveness. Before analyzing its aspects, the data about the nation’s competitiveness can be used as a reference. Although not entirely represent competitiveness, this data can function as an indicator of progress. Good human resources will be the driving factor for a variety of activities a state and a nation can make, including the economy. In the development of competitiveness, a country is positioned in its change of factor-driven to innovation-driven. The important problems arousing in education are: the quality of school management, quality of research and training, the quality of the education system, and also the higher education participation rate is still low. These four main things that need to be improved in education before it can move to other sectors. The main problem on education in Indonesia is in the low focus on the development of mentality or character. While the analysis of competitiveness problems Indonesia is known that the root problem in competitiveness is the high level of corruption in the country. This is a problem of mentality.
Clinical and radiological outcomes of proactive Gamma Knife surgery for asymptomatic meningiomas compared with the natural course without intervention.

OBJECTIVEThis study aimed to verify the effect of proactive Gamma Knife surgery (GKS) in the treatment of asymptomatic meningioma compared with the natural course without any therapeutic intervention.METHODSFrom January 2006 to May 2017, 354 patients newly diagnosed with asymptomatic meningioma were reviewed and categorized into GKS (n = 153) and observation (n = 201) groups. Clinical and radiological progression rates were examined, and changes in volume were analyzed.RESULTSClinical progression (i.e., clinician-judged progression), combining symptomatic progression (n = 43) and clinician-judged increase in size using images routinely acquired (n = 34), occurred in 4 patients (2.6%) and 73 patients (36.3%) in the GKS and observation groups, respectively (p < 0.001). The clinical progression-free survival (PFS) rates in the GKS and observation groups were 98.7% and 64.6%, respectively, at 5 years (p < 0.001), and 92.9% and 42.7%, respectively, at 10 years (p < 0.001). The radiological tumor control rate was 94.1% in the GKS group, and radiological progression was noted in 141 patients (70.1%) in the observation group. The radiological PFS rates in the GKS and observation groups were 94.4% and 38.5%, respectively, at 5 years (p < 0.001), and 88.5% and 7.9%, respectively, at 10 years (p < 0.001). Young age, absence of calcification, peritumoral edema, and high T2 signal intensity were correlated with clinical progression in the observation group. Volumetric analysis showed that untreated tumors gradually increased in size. However, GKS-treated tumors shrank gradually, although transient volume expansion was observed in the first 6 months. Adverse events developed in 26 of the 195 GKS-treated patients (13.3%), including 1 (0.5%) major event requiring microsurgery due to severe edema after GKS. Peritumoral edema was related to the development of adverse events (p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONSAsymptomatic meningioma is a benign disease; however, nearly two-thirds of patients experience tumor growth and one-third of untreated patients eventually require neurosurgical interventions during watchful waiting. GKS can control tumors clinically and radiologically with high probability. Although the risk of transient adverse events exists, proactive GKS may be a reasonable treatment option when there are no comorbidities limiting life expectancy.