Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nuclear Apoptosis Contributes to Sarcopenia

Apoptosis results in DNA fragmentation and, subsequently, destruction of cells containing a single nucleus. Our hypothesis is that multinucleated cells such as muscle fibers can experience apoptotic-induced loss of single nuclei (nuclear apoptosis) without destruction of the entire fiber. The loss of nuclei likely contributes to atrophy and sarcopenia. Furthermore, increased chronic activity attenuates apoptotic signaling, which may reduce sarcopenia.
A comparison of visual-perceptual and visual-motor skills between Palestinian and Israeli children.

PURPOSE This pioneer study examines the visual-motor and visual-perceptual performance of Israeli and Palestinian children, and makes comparisons among these respective populations according to age, place of residence, and parental education. In addition, the study evaluates the validity of standardized assessment tools for use with Palestinian children, with the view of establishing a sound assessment battery for this underserved population. METHODS Participants included 101 Israeli and 125 Palestinian children from kindergarten, first grade, and second grade who underwent visual-motor and visual-perceptual tests. RESULTS Significant differences were found between the two cultural groups in all assessments. Results also refer to grade, place of residence, and parents' education variables. CONCLUSIONS Although culture influences children's performance, children from different societies should be screened and, when necessary, evaluated and treated in order to enable their optimal functioning at school. The validity of the assessment tools used, expressed in the ability to differentiate between Israeli and Palestinian children, should be further studied in order to suggest that these assessments may be considered as part of an evaluation battery for determining the school readiness and ability to advance in grade level among Palestinian children.
Effect of CPAP on New Endothelial Dysfunction Marker, Endocan, in People With Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with increased cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality. Endocan is a surrogate endothelial dysfunction marker that may be associated with CV risk factors. In this study, we tested whether serum endocan is a biomarker for OSA. Serum endocan levels were measured at baseline in 40 patients with OSA and 40 healthy controls and after 3 months of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment in the patients with OSA. All participants were evaluated by full polysomnography. Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) were measured in all participants. Endocan levels were significantly higher in patients with OSA than in healthy controls. After adjusting confounders, endocan was a good predictor of OSA. Endocan levels correlated with OSA severity (measured by the apnea–hypopnea index [AHI]). After 3 months of CPAP treatment, endocan levels significantly decreased. Endocan levels were significantly and independently correlated with cIMT and FMD after multiple adjustments. The cIMT and FMD also had significant and independent correlation with AHI. Endocan might be a useful marker for the predisposition of patients with OSA to premature vascular disease.
Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase II Study of Ruxolitinib or Placebo in Combination With Capecitabine in Patients With Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer for Whom Therapy With Gemcitabine Has Failed.

PURPOSE Patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma have a poor prognosis and limited second-line treatment options. Evidence suggests a role for the Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription pathway in the pathogenesis and clinical course of pancreatic cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS In this double-blind, phase II study, patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who had experienced treatment failure with gemcitabine were randomly assigned 1:1 to the JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor ruxolitinib (15 mg twice daily) plus capecitabine (1,000 mg/m(2) twice daily) or placebo plus capecitabine. The primary end point was overall survival (OS); secondary end points included progression-free survival, clinical benefit response, objective response rate, and safety. Prespecified subgroup analyses evaluated treatment heterogeneity and efficacy in patients with evidence of inflammation. RESULTS In the intent-to-treat population (ruxolitinib, n = 64; placebo, n = 63), the hazard ratio was 0.79 (95% CI, 0.53 to 1.18; P = .25) for OS and was 0.75 (95% CI, 0.52 to 1.10; P = .14) for progression-free survival. In a prespecified subgroup analysis of patients with inflammation, defined by serum C-reactive protein levels greater than the study population median (ie, 13 mg/L), OS was significantly greater with ruxolitinib than with placebo (hazard ratio, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.85; P = .011). Prolonged survival in this subgroup was supported by post hoc analyses of OS that categorized patients by the modified Glasgow Prognostic Score, a systemic inflammation-based prognostic system. Grade 3 or greater adverse events were observed with similar frequency in the ruxolitinib (74.6%) and placebo (81.7%) groups. Grade 3 or greater anemia was more frequent with ruxolitinib (15.3%; placebo, 1.7%). CONCLUSION Ruxolitinib plus capecitabine was generally well tolerated and may improve survival in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and evidence of systemic inflammation.
Effect of cervical traction with a tenaculum on the uterocervical angle

Summary. The effect of cervical traction on the uterocervical angle was measured radiographically in 24 women undergoing diagnostic curettage. A radio‐opaque guidewire was inserted through the cervical canal into the uterine cavity and a lateral pelvic X‐ray taken before and after traction. The traction force was measured with a spring‐balance attached to the tenaculum. Cervical traction in a caudal direction (force 2 N) reduced the median uterocervical angle, from 75° to 10° (P= 0.001). Moderate cervical traction straightens the uterus and the routine use of a tenaculum theoretically makes insertion of an intrauterine device safer and the passage of an embryo transfer catheter less traumatic.
Risk Factors for Posttrauma Reactions in Police Officers: A Longitudinal Study

This prospective, longitudinal study investigated risk factors in the development of psychological ill health and posttraumatic stress symptoms in a sample of 223 junior police officers. Participants were assessed using a self-report methodology during training and again 12 months later on a range of personality, trauma exposure, and symptom measures. Risk factors for general psychological ill health at phase 2 of the research were found to comprise mostly stable, preexisting characteristics such as personality style, gender, and trait dissociation. Conversely, specific traumatic stress symptoms were more heavily influenced by experiences in the intervening 12 months, such as severity of incident exposure and peritraumatic dissociation. The implications for differential intervention are discussed.
Antinociceptive activity of Gynandropsis gynandra leaves

Gynandropsis gynandra (Capparidaceae) leaves are traditionally used in the treatment of pain. In order to evaluate the scientific validity of this, leaves were extracted successively to produce various extracts. These extracts were screened for antinociceptive activity using the hot plate test and acetic acid-induced writhing test in mice at a dose of 100 mg kg−1, intraperitoneally. Ethanol and aqueous extracts were found most active in both the tests. The action was blocked by naloxone (1 mg kg−1, s.c.) in the hot plate test, which suggests involvement of opioid receptors in the action. Flavonoids and tannins were observed in the active extracts, so we can say that they may responsible for the antinociceptive activity.
Altitudinal distribution, diversity and endemicity of Carabidae (Coleoptera) in the páramos of Ecuadorian Andes

Abstract Species richness and diversity of Carabidae (Coleoptera), as well as rates of endemicity, are studied along altitudinal transects in the páramo of Ecuadorian Andes, from 3500 to 5000 m. Whereas a global tendency to reduction of species richness is evident from 4200 m upwards, two zones of high diversity and high proportion of endemic species occur at 3800–4000 m and at 4200–4400 m. Species turnover between grass páramo and superpáramo is significantly higher in drier mountains, especially in the Western Cordillera, than in humid mountains of the Eastern Cordillera. The altitudinal range of Carabid species tends globally to decrease along the vertical gradient, but with important local variations due to microenvironmental factors, especially humidity rate. When compared with recent phytogeographical studies, these results tend to support the idea that the majority of tussockgrass páramo is a secondary anthropogenic ecosystem. On the contrary, it is argued that the xeric landscape of the Chimborazo “arenal” is primordial, based on the presence of a stenotopic and possibly relict species, Pelmatellus andium Bates 1891.
Doppler echocardiographic evaluation of prosthetic valve function

Owing to its versatile, non-invasive, radiation-free, and low cost nature, Doppler echocardiography is undoubtedly the method of choice to evaluate prosthetic valve function. This evaluation follows the same principles used for the evaluation of native valves, with some important specifics and caveats described in this article. A complete echocardiography includes two dimensional imaging of the prosthetic valve, evaluation of valve leaflet/occluder morphology and mobility, measurement of the transprosthetic gradients and valve effective orifice area (EOA), estimation of the degree of regurgitation, evaluation of left ventricular size and systolic function, and calculation of systolic pulmonary arterial pressure.1 Ideally, a baseline postoperative transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) study should be performed 3–12 weeks after surgery, when the chest wound has healed, ventricular function has improved, and anaemia with its associated hyperdynamic state has resolved.1 w1 w2 However, if the patient is being transferred and/or may not return, it may be best to perform the study before hospital discharge, although image quality and reliability of measurements are often suboptimal. Annual echocardiography is recommended in patients with bioprosthetic valves after the first 5 years, whereas in patients with mechanical valves, routine annual echocardiography is not indicated in the absence of a change in clinical status.1 w1 w2 The appearance of a new murmur or symptom in a patient with a prosthetic valve should prompt an urgent TTE study and, if indicated, transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE). However, the initial suspicion of prosthetic valve stenosis may be the incidental finding of abnormally …
Word Embeddings based on Fixed-Size Ordinally Forgetting Encoding

In this paper, we propose to learn word embeddings based on the recent fixed-size ordinally forgetting encoding (FOFE) method, which can almost uniquely encode any variable-length sequence into a fixed-size representation. We use FOFE to fully encode the left and right context of each word in a corpus to construct a novel word-context matrix, which is further weighted and factorized using truncated SVD to generate low-dimension word embedding vectors. We evaluate this alternate method in encoding word-context statistics and show the new FOFE method has a notable effect on the resulting word embeddings. Experimental results on several popular word similarity tasks have demonstrated that the proposed method outperforms other SVD models that use canonical count based techniques to generate word context matrices.
Normal Age-Related Alterations on Chest Radiography

To ascertain serial changes on chest radiography attributable to aging, 16 parameters and 4 pulmonary parenchymal manifestations were assessed at 2 intervals; namely, 18.5 and 10 years after initial radiography in healthy men (n = 51) and women (n = 149) (age range 41–82 years). The transverse cardiac diameter, cardiothoracic ratio, and aortic arch transverse diameter increased significantly in both sexes from the initial to the final examinations. Although several other factors changed significantly, these changes were relatively small and the individual variations large. Initially, 13% and finally, 27% of the subjects exhibited at least one of the selected pulmonary manifestations.
Specific antibody responses to the variable surface glycoproteins of Trypanosoma congolense in infected cattle

Summary Sera from cattle infected with three Trypanosoma congolense clones (ILNat 2.1, ILNat 3.1 and ILRAD 588) derived from different stocks were analysed for the presence of specific antibodies against the surface glycoproteins (VSGs) of the infecting trypanosomes using the solid and liquid‐phase radioimmunoassays and the neutralization of infectivity test. High levels of IgM, IgGi and IgG2 antibodies against the VSGs of the infecting variable antigen types (VATs) as well as other VATs that arose during the course of infection were detected. In addition, 11 out of 12 infected animals showed recurrent peaks of antibody activity against the infecting trypanosomes. The recurrent peaks of antibody activity against the VSGs of the infecting organisms would suggest either a reappearance of trypanosomes of the infecting types or emergence of organisms that bear similar surface determinants. In contrast to the studies on murine trypanosomiasis, there was little or no antibody activity against 2, 4, 6‐trinitrophenylated bovine serum albumin (TNP‐BSA) in sera from these cattle.
Breast disease. A clinical study with special reference to diagnostic procedures.

A consecutive series of 1.310 women with breast complaints and a control group of 241 healthy women were examined by clinical examination and mammography. The majority of the palpable and non-palpable lesions were preoperatively classified on a four-point scale according to the degree of suspicion of malignancy. A similar classification was performed after mammography as well as after aspiration biopsy. Some aspects of the case-histories including a positive family history of breast carcinoma, marital status and breast feeding were studied in women with breast complaints and compared to the findings in a control group of women. Previous breast disease, mode of detection, delay and breast symptoms were also studied.
Pigeons’ Use of Landmarks for Spatial Search in a Laboratory Arena and in Digitized Images of the Arena

Abstract Pigeons were trained in a touch-screen task and in an open-field task to search for a hidden goal using an array of landmarks to guide their search behavior. The touch-screen task presented digitized images of the open field landmarks and environment. Upon completion of training in each task, tests involving the alteration, shifting, or removal of landmarks were conducted to determine which landmark(s) and stimulus feature(s) controlled search behavior. In both tasks, proximity to the goal was an important determinant of landmark control. The overall patterns of landmark control showed both similarities and differences in the two tasks. No evidence was obtained that learning about the arrangement of landmarks and goal transferred across the two tasks.
Modulation of Yeast Alkaline Cation Tolerance by Ypi1 Requires Calcineurin

Ypi1 was discovered as an essential protein able to act as a regulatory subunit of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae type 1 protein phosphatase Glc7 and play a key role in mitosis. We show here that partial depletion of Ypi1 causes lithium sensitivity and that high levels of this protein confer a lithium-tolerant phenotype to yeast cells. Remarkably, this phenotype was independent of the role of Ypi1 as a Glc7 regulatory subunit. Lithium tolerance in cells overexpressing Ypi1 was caused by a combination of increased efflux of lithium, mediated by augmented expression of the alkaline cation ATPase ENA1, and decreased lithium influx through the Trk1,2 high-affinity potassium transporters. Deletion of CNB1, encoding the regulatory subunit of the calcineurin phosphatase, blocked Ypi1-induced expression of ENA1, normalized Li+ fluxes, and abolished the Li+ hypertolerant phenotype of Ypi1-overexpressing cells. These results point to a complex role of Ypi1 on the regulation of cation homeostasis, largely mediated by the calcineurin phosphatase.
Frequency and heritability of WT1 mutations in nonsyndromic Wilms' tumor patients: a UK Children's Cancer Study Group Study.

PURPOSE Constitutional WT1 mutations in patients with Wilms' tumor (WT) have specifically been associated with genitourinary abnormalities, such as cryptorchidism and hypospadias. We sought to ascertain the frequency and heritability of constitutional WT1 mutations in nonsyndromic WT patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS Constitutional DNA from 282 patients treated at seven United Kingdom Children's Cancer Study Group centers was screened for WT1 mutations using heteroduplex analysis. Bidirectional sequencing was used to confirm the mutation and to analyze the corresponding parental DNA samples. RESULTS Five different constitutional WT1 mutations were identified in six children. Mutations in four patients were confirmed to be de novo, and all five mutations are predicted to produce truncated protein. The WT1 mutation group had a young median age at diagnosis of 13.8 months, compared with 34.9 months in the group in whom no WT1 mutations were found; four were female and two were male; and all tumors were of favorable histology. The three tumors with known histologic subtype were stromal-predominant. Contrary to expectation, four of six mutations occurred in children with unilateral tumors without any associated genitourinary abnormality. CONCLUSION Constitutional WT1 mutations occur with a low frequency (2.1%; 95% CI, 0.8% to 4.6%) in nonsyndromic WT patients. Most mutations occurred in children with unilateral WT without associated genitourinary abnormalities, creating difficulties in identifying individuals with germline mutations on phenotype alone. Two factors that may indicate that an individual is carrying a germline WT1 mutation are an early age of onset and stromal-predominant histology of the WT.
An optimized low loss feed network of a compact Vivaldi antenna array for high quality radar imaging system

A low cost 8×1 antipodal Vivaldi subarray with low dispersion and almost constant gain has been developed for high quality imaging applications. The array antenna is fed by a low-loss SIW feed network with elegant use of vias to minimize insertion loss over 8–12 GHz band. The feed network is an 8-way divider fed by a novel wideband GCPW transition, and directly connected to the antipodal Vivaldi elements. The SIW feed is comprised of various T and Y junctions where the vias' numbers, locations and shapes are optimized to achieve less than 1 dB insertion loss, ±4° and ±0.9 dB phase and amplitude imbalances, respectively. Measured results of the subarray performance are consistent with our simulation; it has 9–13 dB gain, −14 dB SLL, and better than 20 dB front-to-back ratio and occupies 10cm×6cm. Images obtained using the developed array demonstrated significant improvement compared to previously developed feeds with microstrip or unoptimized SIW splitters.
Circulating viral and thyroid antibodies in subacute thyroiditis.

ABSTRACT Seventy-one patients with proven subacute (nonsuppurative) thyroiditis have had determinations of antibody to a variety of viruses during the course of their illnesses. While 58 of these showed some circulating viral antibody, in 26 the antibodies did not change in titer through 4-fold dilutions during the course of illness and thus were not considered “significant. ” In 32, the antibodies showed “significant” (at least 4-fold) changes in titer during their illnesses, suggesting recent viral infection. The period of rising titers was usually missed since these patients were not generally seen early in their illnesses, and these changes in titers were usually in the direction of declining titers. The virus antibodies included those to influenza, Coxsackie, adenoviruses, ECHO, and mumps viruses. Coxsackie virus antibodies have most commonly correlated with the course of the illness. However, it is possible that these viral antibodies represent only anamnestic responses to the inflammatory thyroid le.
Tipicidad, calidad de vida y mejora de los resultados en empleo con apoyo

From Introduction] Fruto de una amplia revision de la investigacion previa realizada en este campo, nos familiarizamos con los trabajos de David Mank que suscitaron en nosotros un gran interes por la innovadora aplicacion del concepto de Tipicidad al estudio del empleo con apoyo. De la revision mencionada, y en la linea de otras investigaciones desarrolladas en el INICO, profundizamos en trabajos de Robert Schalock y asumimos la importancia de utilizar el concepto de Calidad de Vida como referencia dentro del empleo con apoyo. De esta manera, nos planteamos analizar la relacion del concepto de Tipicidad con la Calidad de Vida y los resultados que los trabajadores obtienen de sus empleos, y como estos elementos se ven influenciados por variables ya sea de la persona o del ambiente de trabajo, o del entrenamiento que se proporcione al trabajador con discapacidad o a sus companeros de trabajo.
Electrical conductivity of olivine, wadsleyite, and ringwoodite under upper-mantle conditions

Geophysical models show that electrical conductivity in Earth's mantle rises about two orders of magnitude through the transition zone in the depth range 410 to 660 kilometers. Impedance measurements obtained on Mg1.8Fe0. 2SiO4 olivine, wadsleyite, and ringwoodite at up to 20 gigapascals and 1400 degreesC show that the electrical conductivities of wadsleyite and ringwoodite are similar and are almost two orders of magnitude higher than that of olivine. A conductivity-depth profile to 660 kilometers, based on these laboratory data, shows a conductivity increase of almost two orders of magnitude across the 410-kilometer discontinuity; such a profile favors a two-layer model for the upper mantle. Activation enthalpies of 1.2 to 1.7 electron volts permit appreciable lateral variations of conductivity with lateral temperature variations.