Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Review Article and Clinical Experiences: A NOVEL OAD WITH BROADSPEACTRUM THERAPEUTIC VALUE FOR PTS WITH T2DM The Roles of Galvus® for Pts with T2DM, MODY,TxDM, Pre-DM, and T1DM

Incretins, or gut hormones (glucagon-like peptide-1 = GLP-1, and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide = GIP), exert several beneficial effects in glycemic control, collectively called the “incretin effect”. It is refers to the amplification of the insulin response to glucose, when delivered orally as opposed to intravenously (Perley et al. 1967). Studies in experimental animals have demonstrated that GLP-1 and GIP are needed for the maintenance of normal glucose tolerance (Scrocchi et al. 1996; Miyawaki et al. 1999). GIP is released into the circulation after ingestion of a meal; fat and carbohydrates seem to be predominant stimulators, whereas protein seems to be less important. The GLP-1, on the other hand, is released into circulation minutes after meal ingestion; fat, carbohydrates, and protein seem all to be powerful stimulators of GLP-1 secretion. Both GIP and GLP-1 are rapidly inactivated after their release. The inactivation is caused by a truncation of the peptides by removal of the N-terminal dipeptide end; such a process is executed by the enzyme DPP-4. Inhibition of DPP-4 by gliptin class (vildagliptin, sitagliptin, saxagliptin) substantially prolongs this half-life and increases the proportion of active GLP-1 in the total GLp-1 pool. In patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), secretion of GLP-1 is lower than normal and increasing GLP-1 decreases blood glucose, which suggest that this hormone may contribute to the pathogenesis of T2DM. The major therapeutic drawback to using native GLP-1 is its very short half life of less than 2 (two) minutes following exogenous administration, due to in part to the protease DPP-4 (Deacon et al. 1995). There are 2 (two) approaches to enhance endogenous GLP-1 action in vivo Incretin Mimetic (GLP-1 Analogues and Exenatide = Exendin-4) and DPP-4 inhibitors (Vildagliptin, Sitagliptin, Saxagliptin) which may increase the incretin hormones (GLP-1 and GIP) by inhibiting the enzyme responsible for their degradation (Deacon et al. 1995). On the basis of the data on efficacy, safety, and tolerability of vildagliptin either in monotherapy or in combination, in patients failing monotherapy on other T2DM treatments, it can be concluded that vildagliptin 50 mg once daily and twice daily, and 100 mg once daily show 1. promising regimen that can be used as a novel strategy for the treatment of T2DM; 2. therapeutic value if in combination with metformin, glitazone, and other commonly used OADs; 3. beneficial effects in diabetic insulin-treated patients with inadequate glycemic control.
Ethno veterinary practices for poultry and cattle in Zimbabwe: A case study of Takavarasha village

Ethno veterinary practices are increasingly becoming important in theprimary health care of livestock the world over. This is so especially for smallholderfarmers in developing countries where conventional veterinary drugs areexpensive, inaccessible and unaffordable. In this study, the traditionalpractices used in the control of livestock diseases in Chivi district ofMasvingo province in Zimbabwe were investigated. A semi-structured questionnaire wasadministered to 60 farmers sampled through a two stage process. Thequestionnaire sought information on common cattle and poultry ailments as wellas the respective ethno veterinary practices used to control them. Informationon methods used to prepare the medicines and the form in which it is administeredwas also collected. Eighty two percent of the farmers regarded ethno veterinarymedicines as very useful in the provision of primary healthcare for theanimals. A wide array of traditional remedies and their preparation methodswere documented. There was also evidence of a complementary link betweenconventional and traditional animal health practice. This shows that farmershave alternative ways of ensuring the safety of livestock which can be usedtogether with conventional methods to ensure livestock health.
Assessment of the Reinforcing Properties of Orally Administered MDMA ('Ecstasy') in Rats

The so-called “party drug” 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, or ecstasy) may share many of the addictive properties common to other CNS stimulants. In humans MDMA is primarily consumed orally in one more pills per session. However, animal research has mostly focused on examining the effects of MDMA as a function of other routes of administration. Route of administration can have profound effects on the subjective and reinforcing properties of drugs of abuse. This thesis assessed the locomotor-activating and reinforcing properties of MDMA when delivered orally. MDMA-induced hyperlocomotion was used to examine magnitude of response and onset of action as a function of ip, sc and oral administration. Significant route-dependant effects were found with ip producing higher locomotor activity than sc and oral respectively. Onset of action was slower for subcutaneous administration compared with both ip and oral administration. The reinforcing properties of MDMA were examined by use of the self-administration procedure. Oral MDMA self-administration was firstly examined using simple schedules of reinforcement as a function of two different vehicle substrates, water (under water deprivation) and saccharin. Oral MDMA maintained responding and reliable dose-response curves were obtained under both water and saccharin vehicle conditions. However, both saccharin and water vehicle conditions also acted as strong reinforcers in these studies. Further studies utilising a behavioural economic approach were conducted in order to delineate the reinforcing effects of MDMA from that of its parent vehicle. In addition, demand-curve analysis using both the Linear-Elasticity model (Hursh et al., 1988, 1989) and the Exponential Model of Demand (Hursh & Silberberg, 2008) were compared in order to evaluate each model and assess the relative reinforcing efficacy of oral MDMA. Demand curves for the oral self-administration of MDMA revealed that responding for MDMA was more elastic (lower Pmax) than responding for saccharin-alone indicating that saccharin functioned as stronger reinforcer than did MDMA+saccharin. The results of these studies provide evidence for the positive-reinforcing effects of MDMA when it is delivered via the oral route of administration, however, the relative reinforcing efficacy of orally delivered MDMA appears to be low.
Antibiotic Prescribing Profile in The Management of Oral Diseases Among Dentists in Istanbul

Objectives: To determine the rational drug use and the pattern of antibiotic prescription for dental management and the information given to their patients about the use of these drugs by dentists in Istanbul. Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to 250 dentists working in Istanbul. The questionnaires consist of open-ended questions about therapeutic and prophylactic antibiotic use in dentistry and were given by hand to dentists. The questionnaires were analyzed and the responses to each question expressed as absolute frequencies. The cases and the antibiotics prescribed by dentists for each case were determined by the descriptive statistics method; “frequency”. Results: Responses to questionnaire were received from 130 (52%) dentists. Primarily prescribed antibiotic for therapy was the combination of amoxicillin and clavulanic acid and for prophylaxis was amoxicillin. Although more than 80% of the dentists reported they gave information to their patients about the use of antibiotics, the content of the information was limited. Patients mainly informed to obey the dose and dose intervals of the prescribed drugs by dentists. Conclusions: The results of the present study demonstrated that dentists most commonly prescribe the combination of amoxicillin and clavulanic acid for the therapy of periodontal, endodontic and surgical procedures. The results also showed that dentists informed their patients inadequately about antibiotic use. In the light of these data; inessential antibiotic use, insufficient informing of the patients about drug use and irrational use of drugs indicate that the renovation of graduate and postgraduate educations are required.
Defects in dosage compensation impact global gene regulation in the mouse trophoblast

Xist RNA, which is responsible for X inactivation, is a key epigenetic player in the embryogenesis of female mammals. Of the several repeats conserved in Xist RNA, the A-repeat has been shown to be essential for its silencing function in differentiating embryonic stem cells. Here, we introduced a new Xist allele into mouse that produces mutated Xist RNA lacking the A-repeat (XistCAGΔ5′). XistCAGΔ5′ RNA expressed in the embryo coated the X chromosome but failed to silence it. Although imprinted X inactivation was substantially compromised upon paternal transmission, allele-specific RNA-seq in the trophoblast revealed that XistCAGΔ5′ RNA still retained some silencing ability. Furthermore, the failure of imprinted X inactivation had more significant impacts than expected on genome-wide gene expression. It is likely that dosage compensation is required not only for equalizing X-linked gene expression between the sexes but also for proper global gene regulation in differentiated female somatic cells. Highlighted article: The genome-wide impact of Xist RNA lacking the A-repeat suggests a significant role for Xist in gene regulation beyond imprinted X inactivation.
Acetylcholinesterase plays a non-neuronal, non-esterase role in organogenesis

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is crucial for degrading acetylcholine at cholinergic synapses. In vitro studies suggest that, in addition to its role in nervous system signaling, AChE can also modulate non-neuronal cell properties, although it remains controversial whether AChE functions in this capacity in vivo. Here, we show that AChE plays an essential non-classical role in vertebrate gut morphogenesis. Exposure of Xenopus embryos to AChE-inhibiting chemicals results in severe defects in intestinal development. Tissue-targeted loss-of-function assays (via microinjection of antisense morpholino or CRISPR-Cas9) confirm that AChE is specifically required in the gut endoderm tissue, a non-neuronal cell population, where it mediates adhesion to fibronectin and regulates cell rearrangement events that drive gut lengthening and digestive epithelial morphogenesis. Notably, the classical esterase activity of AChE is dispensable for this activity. As AChE is deeply conserved, widely expressed outside of the nervous system, and the target of many environmental chemicals, these results have wide-reaching implications for development and toxicology. Highlighted article: A non-classical function of acetylcholinesterase in the polarization, rearrangement and adhesion of endoderm cells during Xenopus gut morphogenesis is identified.
Facial aesthetics in adolescents

Aesthetic improvement is the most important subjective reason to seek orthodontic treatment. Different methodologies have been advocated, but still there is an urgent need for a scoring system that is simple, and applicable in the orthodontic practice. A new measuring system to judge facial aesthetics in young Caucasians was developed using sets of three photographs of an individual as a stimulus. Scores were performed on a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) with separate sets of reference photographs for girls and boys. Panel judgements using this system were reproducible and valid. The composition of such a panel has a great impact on the scores of the aesthetics of adolescent faces. Particularly, professional background, age, gender, and geographical region of panel members play an important role. It was shown that a panel of seven randomly selected laymen and/or orthodontists was sufficient to obtain reliable results. For the evaluation of changes in facial aesthetics after orthodontic treatment on a 5-point scale, the panel should consist of at least 9 randomly selected orthodontists, 14 randomly selected laymen, or if a mixed panel is used, the panel should consist of at least 13 panel members. From the objective parameters used in orthodontics, the Aesthetic Component of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (AC/IOTN) appeared to be the most important indicator for facial aesthetics. A newly defined parameter, the 'horizontal sum', was found to be a reliable variable for the anterior-posterior characteristics of a patient. Golden proportions in the face and other 'ideal' proportions and angles are often supposed to be related to facial aesthetics. However, only few golden proportions and 'ideal' proportions and angles showed such a relation. It can be concluded that a more holistic approach to determine facial aesthetics is more promising.
Health of Children 3 to 17 Years of Age With Down Syndrome in the 1997–2005 National Health Interview Survey

OBJECTIVE. This study provides population-based estimates of recent medical conditions, concurrent developmental disorders, and health impact and utilization indicators for US children with and without Down syndrome. METHODS. The sample included children 3 to 17 years of age in the 1997–2005 National Health Interview Survey Child Sample Core and specifically included 146 children with Down syndrome, 604 children with mental retardation but without Down syndrome, and 95 454 children without either condition reported. Developmental and medical conditions, health status, and service use were reported by parents or other knowledgeable caregivers. RESULTS. After adjustment for demographic factors, children with Down syndrome had higher odds, compared with children without mental retardation, of recent food/digestive allergy, frequent diarrhea/colitis, ≥3 ear infections in the previous year, very recent head/chest cold, and developmental disabilities other than mental retardation. They had increased odds that approached significance for recent seizures, very recent stomach/intestinal illness, and asthma. They had substantially higher rates (threefold or higher, compared with children without mental retardation) for nearly all health impact and health and special education service use measures. Of note, >25% of children with Down syndrome needed help with personal care, regularly took prescription medications, had recently seen a medical specialist, and received physical therapy or related therapy. The comparison group with mental retardation without Down syndrome represented many children with multiple serious disabilities who also had high rates of medical conditions and high levels of health impact and service use. CONCLUSION. These findings provide empirical, population-based data to inform guidelines for frequent monitoring and support for children with Down syndrome.
Non-Compliance After First Episode of Manic or Mixed Mood State: A 17-Months Follow-up

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the non-compliance rate in patients with Bipolar I disorder (BID). Methods: The patients admitted to Iran Psychiatric Hospital who were diagnosed as a case of the first episode mania of bipolar I disorder (DSM-IV-TR) by 2 psychiatrists followed by one of them in a longitudinal, prospective and naturalistic study. In the follow-up early non-compliance/irregular drugs use, drug discontinuation and good compliance (GC) in the patients were registered in addition to the recurrences of mood episodes. The term poor compliance (PC) was used for early non-compliance/irregular drugs use and drug discontinuation. Results: The patients were 11 males and 11 females aged 19.6 to 59 (28.4±10.4). The study lasted 32.5 months and the subjects were followed between 8 to 24 months (17±5.3). Poor compliance (PC) was observed in 8 subjects (38.1%) with male to female ratio of 1.7. Six subjects in PC group (75%) and 3 subjects (23.1%) in GC group had a recurrence of mood episode. Eight subjects with poor compliance included 3 with non- compliance/irregular use and 5 with drug discontinuation. Conclusion: The poor compliance rate in BID cases admitted to this center is close to the previous studies. Repetition of the study with a larger sample size and in multi-center setting is proposed.
The splicing co-factor Barricade/Tat-SF1 is required for cell cycle and lineage progression in Drosophila neural stem cells

Stem cells need to balance self-renewal and differentiation for correct tissue development and homeostasis. Defects in this balance can lead to developmental defects or tumor formation. In recent years, mRNA splicing has emerged as an important mechanism regulating cell fate decisions. Here we address the role of the evolutionarily conserved splicing co-factor Barricade (Barc)/Tat-SF1/CUS2 in Drosophila neural stem cell (neuroblast) lineage formation. We show that Barc is required for the generation of neurons during Drosophila brain development by ensuring correct neural progenitor proliferation and differentiation. Barc associates with components of the U2 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP) complex, and its depletion causes alternative splicing in the form of intron retention in a subset of genes. Using bioinformatics analysis and a cell culture-based splicing assay, we found that Barc-dependent introns share three major traits: they are short, GC rich and have weak 3′ splice sites. Our results show that Barc, together with the U2 snRNP complex, plays an important role in regulating neural stem cell lineage progression during brain development and facilitates correct splicing of a subset of introns. Summary: Barricade associates with the U2 snRNP complex, prevents intron retention, and is required for neural progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation in the Drosophila larval brain.
H2A.Z promotes the transcription of MIR156A and MIR156C in Arabidopsis by facilitating the deposition of H3K4me3

ABSTRACT Vegetative phase change in Arabidopsis thaliana is mediated by a decrease in the level of MIR156A and MIR156C, resulting in an increase in the expression of their targets, SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE (SPL) genes. Changes in chromatin structure are required for the downregulation of MIR156A and MIR156C, but whether chromatin structure contributes to their initial elevated expression is unknown. We found that mutations in components of the SWR1 complex (ARP6, SEF) and in genes encoding H2A.Z (HTA9 and HTA11) reduce the expression of MIR156A and MIR156C, and accelerate vegetative phase change, indicating that H2A.Z promotes juvenile vegetative identity. However, arp6 and sef did not accelerate the temporal decline in miR156, and the downregulation of MIR156A and MIR156C was not accompanied by significant change in the level of H2A.Z at these loci. We conclude that H2A.Z contributes to the high expression of MIR156A/MIR156C early in shoot development, but does not regulate the timing of vegetative phase change. Our results also suggest that H2A.Z promotes the expression of MIR156A/MIR156C by facilitating the deposition of H3K4me3, rather than by decreasing nucleosome occupancy. Summary: SWR1-C component mutations demonstrate that H2A.Z promotes the expression of MIR156A and MIR156C in Arabidopsis early in shoot development, but is not responsible for the temporal expression pattern of these genes.
Cg: a system for programming graphics hardware in a C-like language

The latest real-time graphics architectures include programmable floating-point vertex and fragment processors, with support for data-dependent control flow in the vertex processor. We present a programming language and a supporting system that are designed for programming these stream processors. The language follows the philosophy of C, in that it is a hardware-oriented, general-purpose language, rather than an application-specific shading language. The language includes a variety of facilities designed to support the key architectural features of programmable graphics processors, and is designed to support multiple generations of graphics architectures with different levels of functionality. The system supports both of the major 3D graphics APIs: OpenGL and Direct3D. This paper identifies many of the choices that we faced as we designed the system, and explains why we made the decisions that we did.
Algorithm 864: General and robot-packable variants of the three-dimensional bin packing problem

We consider the problem of orthogonally packing a given set of rectangular-shaped boxes into the minimum number of three-dimensional rectangular bins. The problem is NP-hard in the strong sense and extremely difficult to solve in practice. We characterize relevant subclasses of packing and present an algorithm which is able to solve moderately large instances to optimality. Extensive computational experiments compare the algorithm for the three-dimensional bin packing when solving general orthogonal packings and when restricted to robot packings.
Assessing the Safety and Health Standards in Diagnostic Radiology Centers in Hamadan Province

Providing safety and health criteria is a very important part of the management of all diagnostic radiography centers. The prime aim of this study was to assess the safety and health standards of diagnostic radiology centers in Hamadan Province. This descriptive study that was performed in 22 imaging institutes, 21 hospitals, 1 faculty and 8healthcare centers (governmental and non-governmental) in Hamadan Province, Iran were selected. All of the X-ray radiography units (including the CT. Scan, panorex, mammography, simple radiography and portable X-Ray units) were evaluated in terms of physical status, radiation protection principals, health criteria and current condition according to the national performed standards of Ministry of Health and Atomic Energy Organization checklists. The findings showed that 106 x-ray units activated in 52 medical imaging centers in this city covering about 1.9 million people. Among 106 x-ray units, 49 were located in hospital wards and 57 were located in the other institutes in 9 townships. 36% of darkrooms, 68% of radiation rooms and 66% of control rooms were suitable in terms of physical status. 57% of health criteria factors had standard condition. Regarding to radiation protection term, the situation was unfavorable in comparison with physical status and health criteria, especially in the application of portable X-ray devices in the various wards of the hospitals. Radiology wards in Hamadan Province had obvious problems in the radiation protection principals; they need better management and maintenance to achieve the standards conditions in terms of safety and health.