Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A review of echocardiograms in hypertensive patients greater than 60 years in a community based family medicine program

ABSTRACT Background: Heart disease as a result of Hypertension is known to occur. Anatomical and functional changes of the heart can easily be detected by echocardiography, which is a safe and readily available study. Objectives: The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of common echocardiographic changes in chronic hypertensive patients and to compare these changes in male and female populations. Design/methods: The study was a community-based cross-sectional study, on 227 hypertensive patients, 60 years and older, seen in St. Joseph’s Family Medicine at Clifton, with integrated clinical and echocardiographic data. Results: Study population consisted of 227 hypertensive patients, over the age of 60 years who had echocardiography done. Overall 92.5% of the echocardiograms had abnormal findings including but not limited to TR, Diastolic dysfunction, MR, and LVH. There was significant difference between the rate of MR in male and female population. Conclusion: A variety of echocardiographic abnormalities can be found in hypertensive patients. Drug selection in hypertension should be driven by the underlying cardiac pathology. Certain drugs have more effectiveness for diastolic dysfunction, LVH, systolic dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension and are superior choices when these conditions are present. Echocardiogram is a non-invasive and easily available tool in order to help us to select the best treatment strategy to optimize hypertensive control in the challenging group of elderly patients. The results of our study should influence us to liberally use echocardiography in these patients to guide treatment decision and drug selection. Abbreviations: LVH: left ventricular hypertrophy; MR: mitral valve regurgitation; TR: tricuspidvalve regurgitation; LVD: left ventricular dilation; LVEF: left ventricular ejection fraction
Evaluating the Benefits of Cloud Computing in Small and Medium Enterprises within Gauteng in South Africa

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the benefits of cloud computing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) within Gauteng in South Africa. A survey was used as a data collection method for this research. The results of this study reveal that cloud computing characteristics may have positive impacts on SMEs’ performances. The results suggest that Information Quality and System Quality characteristics of cloud computing may improve Cloud Computing success by increasing User Satisfaction. The research makes a significance contribution to our knowledge on cloud computing to SMEs.
Effects of early adverse experiences on behavioural lateralisation in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

In the past 15 to 20 years, evidence of population-level handedness in non-human primates has emerged from a plethora of studies, although considerable inconsistency is also apparent. The study reported here examined two factors that may contribute to the expression of hand preference: early rearing history and sex differences. Handedness was assessed in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) using a task that measures coordinated bimanual actions and is referred to as the TUBE task. Nursery-reared monkeys demonstrated greater left-hand bias in the TUBE task when compared to their mother-reared counterparts. Females showed greater right-hand preference and stronger bias on the TUBE task compared to males. These results provide evidence that early rearing experiences significantly influence the development of lateralisation in nonhuman primates.
Enzymatic amplification of exogenous and endogenous retroviral sequences from DNA of patients with tropical spastic paraparesis.

Using oligonucleotide primers that hybridize to conserved sequences in the reverse transcriptase (RT) gene, we have amplified by the polymerase chain reaction three sequence variants of HTLV‐I from the genomic DNA of five patients with tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP), and a fourth sequence variant from a healthy carrier of HTLV‐I. These results unequivocally identify the retrovirus associated with TSP as HTLV‐I and suggest that no sequence variant is uniquely responsible for the condition. The same primers served to amplify two novel single‐copy endogenous retroviral RT sequences related to the exogenous mammalian leukaemia viruses: and three KpnI (LINE1) family DNA repeats. This strategy, combining the sensitivity of PCR with cross‐reactive primers, may be useful in the search for known or novel retroviruses in other diseases of possible retroviral aetiology.
Mental health of regular and reserve military veterans

The psychiatric problems of combat returnees are a topical and important issue given the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the media prominence afforded to post-traumatic stress disorder, the most common disorders in the UK armed forces post-deployment are depression, alcohol misuse and anxiety disorders. Although the majority of service personnel do well after leaving military life, a minority who leave with psychiatric problems appear to be at risk of social exclusion and ongoing ill health. Reserve veterans are at greater risk as they do not have access to the usual support networks of the regular military. Steps to improve the knowledge and expertise of primary care services about veterans’ mental health issues and increasing the availability of treatment options are important and are underway.
Sexual functioning in women with chronic pelvic pain: the role of anxiety and depression.

INTRODUCTION Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) in women is a long lasting and often disabling condition. It seems reasonable to expect that as a result of the pain, extreme fatigue and/or emotional problems, women with CPP may report a variety of sexual problems. AIM The present study investigated differences in the report of sexual problems in women with CPP compared with healthy controls, and whether the association of CPP with sexual problems was moderated or mediated by somatic and psychological factors as manifested in women suffering from CPP. METHOD One hundred fifty-four women with CPP and 58 age-matched controls completed self-report measures for sexual functioning, pain, physical impairment, anxiety, depression, and sexual and physical abuse. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Golombok Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction. RESULTS Women with CPP reported higher levels of vaginistic complaints, sexual avoidance, nonsensuality and sexual dissatisfaction than healthy controls. Sexual problems were associated with anxiety, depression, and sexual abuse history but not with somatic factors as pain and physical impairment. Anxiety as well as depression, irrespective of the report of sexual abuse experiences, mediated the effect of CPP on sexual problems. Sexual abuse was a general predictor of sexual problems in both women with CPP and controls. CONCLUSIONS Anxiety and depression constitute important factors in the evaluation of sexual problems in women with CPP.
Quantitative Subtyping of Hepatitis B Virus Reveals Complex Dynamics of Ymdd Motif Mutants Development during Long-Term Lamivudine Therapy

Background/aims Treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with lamivudine (3TC) is limited by development of drug-resistant mutants at the YMDD motif. We aimed to validate the use of mass spectrometry to detect YMDD mutants and quantify viral subpopulations. Methods A total of 21 Chinese patients with severe acute exacerbation of CHB treated with 3TC were studied. Serial serum samples were tested for wild-type and YMDD mutants using matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. INNO-LiPA assay was performed for comparison. Results At a median follow-up of 192 weeks, 11 patients developed YMDD mutants (six had YIDD, four had YVDD and one had YV/IDD). Mass spectrometry was concordant with INNO-LiPA in all but one patient, in which INNO-LiPA detected coexistence of YIDD and YVDD but mass spectrometry and direct sequencing detected YVDD only. Mass spectrometry was able to reliably detect a minor hepatitis B virus (HBV) subtype at 5% or above. By serial quantitative measurement, several patterns of viral dynamics were observed. In some cases, YMDD mutants dominated the whole viral population. In other cases, the proportion of YMDD mutants fluctuated with time. When more than one mutant was present (that is, YIDD and YVDD), the different mutants might dominate during different time periods. Conclusions Mass spectrometry is an accurate and cheap method for the detection of YMDD mutants, even in the presence of overwhelming wild-type HBV. We observed some intriguing mutant viral dynamics during 3TC treatment. Further studies are needed to clarify whether they have any clinical significance.
Quantitative Analysis of Anatase-Rutile Mixtures with an X-Ray Diffractometer

ITAXIUM DIOXIDE may be incorpoT rated into a plastics molding compound to adjust the dielectric constant to a desired value. Either anatase or rutile may be used; these allotropic forms differ in dielectric behavior. Xeither is available commercially in a pure state; a preparation consisting largely of one form is apt to contain, in addition to other impurities, an admixture of the other. In order to permit proper formulation of filled resins, therefore, it is desirable to establish a method for determining the relative amounts of anatase and rutile in mixtures. The application of photometry to this problem has been discussed (2,6). This paper develops a method using the more precise technique of diffractometry.
Cell-Based and Biochemical Structure-Activity Analyses of Analogs of the Microtubule Stabilizer Dictyostatin

Compounds that bind to microtubules (MTs) and alter their dynamics are highly sought as a result of the clinical success of paclitaxel and docetaxel. The naturally occurring compound (-)-dictyostatin binds to MTs, causes cell cycle arrest in G2/M at nanomolar concentrations, and retains antiproliferative activity in paclitaxel-resistant cell lines, making dictyostatin an attractive candidate for development as an antineoplastic agent. In this study, we examined a series of dictyostatin analogs to probe biological and biochemical structure-activity relationships. We used a high-content multiparameter fluorescence-based cellular assay for MT morphology, chromatin condensation, mitotic arrest, and cellular toxicity to identify regions of dictyostatin that were essential for biological activity. Four analogs (6-epi-dictyostatin, 7-epi-dictyostatin, 16-normethyldictyostatin, and 15Z,16-normethyldictyostatin) retained low nanomolar activity in the cell-based assay and were chosen for analyses with isolated tubulin. All four compounds were potent inducers of MT assembly. Equilibrium binding constant (Ki) determinations using [14C]epothilone B, which has a 3-fold higher affinity for the taxoid binding site than paclitaxel, indicated that 6-epi-dictyostatin and 7-epi-dictyostatin displaced [14C]epothilone B with Ki values of 480 and 930 nM, respectively. 16-Normethyldictyostatin and 15Z,16-normethyldictyostatin had reduced affinity (Ki values of 4.55 and 4.47 μM, respectively), consistent with previous reports showing that C16-normethyldictyostatin loses potency in paclitaxel-resistant cell lines that have a Phe270-to-Val mutation in the taxoid binding site of β-tubulin. Finally, we developed a set of quantitative structure-activity relationship equations correlating structures with antiproliferative activity. The equations accurately predicted biological activity and will help in the design of future analogs.
Nitric oxide modulates but does not impair myogenic vasoconstriction of the afferent arteriole in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Studies in the isolated perfused hydronephrotic kidney.

Renal autoregulation curves are reset toward higher renal arterial pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) compared with those in Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). We previously demonstrated that myogenic afferent arteriolar constriction is shifted to higher renal arterial pressure. To investigate whether nitric oxide participates in the regulation of myogenic tone, we examined the effect of nitro-L-arginine on myogenic afferent arteriolar constriction in kidneys from SHR and WKY, using the isolated perfused hydronephrotic kidney. Elevating pressures from 40 to 80 mm Hg caused increases in afferent arteriolar diameter in WKY (from 18.2 +/- 0.4 to 19.0 +/- 0.3 micron) and SHR (from 17.3 +/- 0.6 to 18.4 +/- 0.6 micron). Further pressure elevation elicited constriction at 100 mm Hg in WKY (17.9 +/- 0.3 micron), but significant constriction was observed at 120 mm Hg in SHR (17.3 +/- 0.6 micron), indicating a resetting in myogenic responses to higher pressures. In WKY, after treatment with 10 mumol/L nitro-L-arginine, afferent arterioles exhibited pressure-dependent constriction, with a threshold pressure for constriction at 80 mm Hg. The addition of 100 mumol/L nitro-L-arginine had no further effect on myogenic responsiveness in WKY. In contrast, in SHR, nitro-L-arginine dose-dependently shifted the myogenic responses toward lower renal arterial pressure, with threshold pressures for constriction observed at 100 mm Hg (10 mumol/L) and 80 mm Hg (100 mumol/L). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Lung cancer case-control study of beryllium workers.

BACKGROUND Cohort mortality studies have found elevated lung cancer mortality among beryllium-exposed workers, but none evaluated the association between beryllium exposure level and lung cancer risk. A nested case-control study of lung cancer within a beryllium processing plant was conducted to investigate the relationship between level of beryllium exposure and lung cancer. METHODS Lung cancer cases were identified by mortality follow-up through 1992 of a cohort of male workers at a beryllium alloy production plant. Each of 142 lung cancer cases was age-race-matched to five controls. Calendar-time-specific beryllium exposure estimates were made for every job in the plant and were used to estimate workers' cumulative, average, and maximum exposures. The potential confounding effects of smoking were also evaluated. RESULTS Lung cancer cases had shorter tenures and lower lifetime cumulative beryllium exposures than controls, but higher average and maximum exposures. However, after applying a 10- and 20-year lag, exposure metrics were higher for cases. Odds ratios in analyses lagged 20 years were significantly elevated for those with higher exposure compared to the lowest exposure category. Significant positive trends were seen with the log of the exposure metrics. Smoking did not appear to confound exposure-response analyses. CONCLUSION Increased lung cancer among workers with higher lagged beryllium exposures and lack of evidence for confounding by cigarette smoking, provide further evidence that beryllium is a human lung carcinogen. Published 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Nitration of H2B histone elicits an immune response in experimental animals

Abstract Histone H2B is an autoantigen that appears in circulation due to altered apoptosis/or insufficient clearance and is likely to be involved in the induction and progression of autoimmune diseases since modified-H2B is immunogenic. Our studies demonstrate that tyrosines of H2B histone spontaneously converts to free and nitrotyrosine bound protein in vivo. Commercially available H2B histone was modified with peroxynitrite in vitro. Modified H2B was found to be more immunogenic than native form in experimental animals. Furthermore, the sera of rabbits were analyzed for the native and modified forms of the H2B histone. The binding specificity of autoantibodies was characterized by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and band shift assay. The free 3-nitrotyrosine in systemic lupus erythematosus sera was quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography. Peroxynitrite-modified H2B induced high titre antibodies as compared to native form which were directly proportional to the nitrotyrosine content. Furthermore, the induced antibodies showed specificity towards the immunogen and cross-reacted with tyrosine-nitrated proteins. ELISA showed preferential binding of induced anti-peroxynitrite modified H2B antibodies to modified H2B as compared to native H2B. The present study shows that peroxynitrite modification of self-antigen(s) generates neoepitopes capable of inducing modified-H2B autoantibodies in experimental animals.
Effect of Fenbendazole on Turkey Semen Quality

SUMMARY Fenbendazole (FBZ) is an anthelmintic recently approved to treat and control nematode infections in growing turkeys. When administered to growing turkeys there are no detrimental side effects. However, when we used FBZ to treat nematodes in mature breeder toms, we observed a decrease in semen quality and a subsequent precipitous decline in fertility to less than 20% within 6 wk of administration. An experiment was designed to determine the impact of FBZ administration on aspects of spermatogenesis and semen quality. We discovered that although sperm viability and concentration was not significantly affected by FBZ, this drug significantly reduced sperm mobility. However, normal mobility resumed within 6 wk after FBZ administration. Fenbendazole binds to tubulin and interferes with microtubule assembly. Based on testes histology and the immunocytochemical localization of tubulin in spermatids and mature sperm, FBZ had no affect on any aspect of spermatogenesis. We suggest that FBZ may be affecting sperm mobility by some molecular alteration of the sperm tail axoneme or midpiece, both of which are tubulincontaining structures. If a breeding flock of toms become infected with nematode parasites, a flock manager has the following options: do not treat the toms, find an alternative to FBZ, treat the toms with FBZ and increase the sperm number and frequency of artificial inseminations, or treat the toms with FBZ and secure semen from an uninfected tom flock.
HEEP (Hybrid Energy Efficiency Protocol) based on chain clustering

Wireless Sensor Networks have emerged as a new information-gathering system based on the collaborative efforts of large number of tiny sensors with limited resource. Energy constraints distinguish sensors networks from other wireless communication networks. Energy efficiency and network lifetime have been the focus of many research works on sensor networks, such as energy aware routing. This paper suggests a new routing protocol called HEEP which combines two algorithms: LEACH and PEGASIS. HEEP advise a new network self-organisation approach, that join clusters-based and the chain-based approaches. This new approach is called chains clustering approach. Organising the network nodes in chains clusters avoids the bad energy dissipation in LEACH protocol and reduces the routing delay generated by PEGASIS protocol. The experimental results show that HEEP outperforms LEACH and LEACH-C with more 110% of network lifetime, and reduces the routing delay introduced in PEGASIS by 50%.
Anti-aversive effects of the atypical antipsychotic, aripiprazole, in animal models of anxiety

Aripiprazole is a unique antipsychotic that seems to act as a partial agonist at dopamine D2-receptors, contrasting with other drugs in this class, which are silent antagonists. Aripiprazole may also bind to serotonin receptors. Both neurotransmitters may play major roles in aversion-, anxiety- and panic-related behaviours. Thus, the present work tested the hypothesis that this antipsychotic could also have anti-aversive properties. Male Wistar rats received injections of aripiprazole (0.1–10 mg/kg) and were tested in the open field, in the elevated plus and T mazes (EPM and ETM, respectively) and in a contextual fear conditioning paradigm. Aripiprazole (1 mg/kg) increased the percentage of entries onto the open arms of the EPM and attenuated escape responses in the ETM. In the latter model, the dose of 0.1 mg/kg also decreased the latency to leave the enclosed arm, suggesting anxiolytic- and panicolytic-like properties. This dose also decreased the time spent in freezing in a contextual fear conditioning. No significant motor effects were observed at these doses. The present data support the hypothesis that aripiprazole could inhibit anxiety-related responses. Acting as a partial agonist at dopamine receptors, this drug could effectively treat schizophrenia and, in contrast with most antipsychotic drugs, alleviate aversive states.
Confusion Network Based Recurrent Neural Network Language Modeling for Chinese OCR Error Detection

This paper presents a new framework for OCR error detection, which uses a conditional random field model to combine rich features from multiple sources, including confusion networks (c-nets), lexical local context and recurrent neural network language model (RNNLM). We propose a novel, efficient method for computing character-level c-net based RNNLM scores by using dynamic programming and c-net partial unfolding. Our experiments show that our error detection model has consistent observable improvements over a high baseline employed by our current OCR demo system, as measured by average precision and detection error trade-off curve on two test sets of Chinese image documents. Both linguistic and recognition features contribute to the high performance, with the former especially informative. In addition, we show that the new feature we proposed, the c-net RNNLM feature, plays a remarkable beneficial role in improving error detection rate. These results suggest that applications on top of image text recognition can benefit substantially from a hybrid strategy that combines techniques from optical character recognition and natural language processing.
Developmental and adult expression patterns of the G‐protein‐coupled receptor GPR88 in the rat: Establishment of a dual nuclear–cytoplasmic localization

GPR88 is a neuronal cerebral orphan G‐protein‐coupled receptor (GPCR) that has been linked to various psychiatric disorders. However, no extensive description of its localization has been provided so far. Here, we investigate the spatiotemporal expression of the GPR88 in prenatal and postnatal rat tissues by using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. GPR88 protein was initially detected at embryonic day 16 (E16) in the striatal primordium. From E16–E20 to adulthood, the highest expression levels of both protein and mRNA were observed in striatum, olfactory tubercle, nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and neocortex, whereas in spinal cord, pons, and medulla GPR88 expression remains discrete. We observed an intracellular redistribution of GPR88 during cortical lamination. In the cortical plate of the developing cortex, GPR88 presents a classical GPCR plasma membrane/cytoplasmic localization that shifts, on the day of birth, to nuclei of neurons progressively settling in layers V to II. This intranuclear localization remains throughout adulthood and was also detected in monkey and human cortex as well as in the amygdala and hypothalamus of rats. Apart from the central nervous system, GPR88 was transiently expressed at high levels in peripheral tissues, including adrenal cortex (E16–E21) and cochlear ganglia (E19–P3), and also at moderate levels in retina (E18–E19) and spleen (E21–P7). The description of the GPR88 anatomical expression pattern may provide precious functional insights into this novel receptor. Furthermore, the GRP88 nuclear localization suggests nonclassical GPCR modes of action of the protein that could be relevant for cortical development and psychiatric disorders. J. Comp. Neurol. 524:2776–2802, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.