Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distribution of branchial anomalies in a paediatric Asian population.

INTRODUCTION The objective of the present study was to review the distribution and incidence of branchial anomalies in an Asian paediatric population and highlight the challenges involved in the diagnosis of branchial anomalies. METHODS This was a retrospective chart review of all paediatric patients who underwent surgery for branchial anomalies in a tertiary paediatric hospital from August 2007 to November 2012. The clinical notes were correlated with preoperative radiological investigations, intraoperative findings and histology results. Branchial anomalies were classified based on the results of the review. RESULTS A total of 28 children underwent surgery for 30 branchial anomalies during the review period. Two children had bilateral branchial anomalies requiring excision. Of the 30 branchial anomalies, 7 (23.3%) were first branchial anomalies, 5 (16.7%) were second branchial anomalies, 3 (10.0%) were third branchial anomalies, and 4 (13.3%) were fourth branchial anomalies (one of the four patients with fourth branchial anomalies had bilateral branchial anomalies). In addition, seven children had 8 (26.7%) branchial anomalies that were thought to originate from the pyriform sinus; however, we were unable to determine if these anomalies were from the third or fourth branchial arches. There was inadequate information on the remaining 3 (10.0%) branchial anomalies for classification. CONCLUSION The incidence of second branchial anomalies appears to be lower in our Asian paediatric population, while that of third and fourth branchial anomalies was higher. Knowledge of embryology and the related anatomy of the branchial apparatus is crucial in the identification of the type of branchial anomaly.
Factors related to environmental barriers experienced by persons with and without disabilities in diverse African settings

This paper explores differences in experienced environmental barriers between individuals with and without disabilities and the impact of additional factors on experienced environmental barriers. Data was collected in 2011–2012 by means of a two-stage cluster sampling and comprised 400–500 households in different sites in South Africa, Sudan Malawi and Namibia. Data were collected through self-report survey questionnaires. In addition to descriptive statistics and simple statistical tests a structural equation model was developed and tested. The combined file comprised 9,307 participants. The Craig Hospital Inventory of Environmental Factors was used to assess the level of environmental barriers. Transportation, the natural environment and access to health care services created the biggest barriers. An exploratory factor analysis yielded support for a one component solution for environmental barriers. A scale was constructed by adding the items together and dividing by number of items, yielding a range from one to five with five representing the highest level of environmental barriers and one the lowest. An overall mean value of 1.51 was found. Persons with disabilities scored 1.66 and persons without disabilities 1.36 (F = 466.89, p < .001). Bivariate regression analyses revealed environmental barriers to be higher among rural respondents, increasing with age and severity of disability, and lower for those with a higher level of education and with better physical and mental health. Gender had an impact only among persons without disabilities, where women report more barriers than men. Structural equation model analysis showed that socioeconomic status was significantly and negatively associated with environmental barriers. Activity limitation is significantly associated with environmental barriers when controlling for a number of other individual characteristics. Reducing barriers for the general population would go some way to reduce the impact of these for persons with activity limitations, but additional and specific adaptations will be required to ensure an inclusive society.
Transforming signals resulting from sustained activation of the PDGFβ receptor in mortal human fibroblasts

The platelet-derived growth factor β receptor (PDGFβR) plays an important role in proliferation and motility of fibroblasts. We have been investigating the effects of sustained PDGFβR activation in mortal human diploid fibroblasts (HDFs), which are typically difficult to transform. We have previously shown that the bovine papillomavirus E5 protein, through its ability to crosslink and constitutively activate the PDGFβR, induces morphological transformation, enhanced growth and loss of contact inhibition (focus formation) in HDFs. Here, we characterized two E5 mutants as being severely defective for focus formation but still competent for enhanced growth, suggesting that proliferation is insufficient for loss of contact inhibition. These E5 mutants were then used in a comparative study to distinguish the PDGFβR signaling intermediates required for the enhanced growth phenotype from those required for focus formation. Our data suggested that a PI 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT-cyclin D3 pathway, a Grb2-Gab1-SHP2 complex and JNK played a role in the enhanced growth phenotype. However, a SHP2-p66Shc-p190BRhoGAP complex and ROCK were implicated exclusively in focus formation. We speculate that a SHP2-p66Shc-p190BRhoGAP signaling complex recruited to the activated PDGFβR promotes a distinct Rho-dependent process required for focus formation but not growth of HDFs.
neurogenins,a Novel Family ofatonal-Related bHLH Transcription Factors, Are Putative Mammalian Neuronal Determination Genes That Reveal Progenitor Cell Heterogeneity in the Developing CNS and PNS

We recently identified neurogenin (ngn), a neuroD-related bHLH gene, whose Xenopus homolog functions as a neuronal determination factor and upstream activator of XneuroD (Ma et al. Cell 87: 43-52, 1996). Here we identify two additional ngn's, ngn2 and ngn3, which together define a novel subfamily of atonal-related mouse genes. Comparative analysis of ngn expression indicates that these three genes define distinct progenitor populations in the developing CNS and PNS, exhibiting nonoverlapping expression in some areas and partial overlap in others. The expression of the ngn's spatially overlaps and often temporally precedes that of neuroD, suggesting that (as in Xenopus) the ngn's and neuroD function in a cascade. Thus, as in myogenesis, different bHLH determination factors may activate a common bHLH differentiation factor in different sublineages. The ngn's therefore represent both a family of putative mammalian neuronal determination genes and useful markers of the origins of neuronal diversity.
Modification of the fatty acid composition of dietary oils and fats on incorporation into chylomicrons and chylomicron remnants

Possible changes in the fatty acid composition of dietary fats and oils which might occur during digestion, absorption and formation of chylomicrons and chylomicron remnants were investigated. Chylomicrons were collected from the thoracic duct of rats tube-fed with olive, maize, palm or fish oil or butter fat, and their fatty acid composition was determined and compared with that of their parent lipids. In turn, these lipoproteins were converted to chylomicron remnants infunctionally hepatectomized rats and their composition re-determined. The predominant fatty acids in each of the oils and fats also predominated in their respective chylomicrons, but their proportions were reduced during the processes leading to their formation. Endogenous contributions of linoleic, eicosapentaenoic, and docosahexaenoic acids were particularly noted when these fatty acids were not well-represented in the original oils and fats, suggesting that they may be obligatory constituents in the formation of chylomicrons. The conversion of chylomicrons to remnants further attenuated the extremes in fatty acid composition of the dietary oils and fats. These results indicate that following an acute intake of oil or fat, the resulting chylomicrons and chylomicron remnants presented to the tissues contain a more balanced distribution of saturated, mono-and polyunsaturated fatty acids than the oils and fats from which they were derived.
Necessary role for intracellular Ca2+ transients in initiating the apical‐basolateral thinning of enveloping layer cells during the early blastula period of zebrafish development

During the early blastula period of zebrafish embryos, the outermost blastomeres begin to undergo a significant thinning in the apical/basolateral dimension to form the first distinct cellular domain of the embryo, the enveloping layer (EVL). During this shape transformation, only the EVL‐precursor cells generate a coincidental series of highly restricted Ca2+ transients. To investigate the role of these localized Ca2+ transients in this shape‐change process, embryos were treated with a Ca2+ chelator (5,5′‐difluoro BAPTA AM; DFB), or the Ca2+ ionophore (A23187), to downregulate and upregulate the transients, respectively, while the shape‐change of the forming EVL cells was measured. DFB was shown to significantly slow, and A23187 to significantly facilitate the shape change of the forming EVL cells. In addition, to investigate the possible involvement of the phosphoinositide and Wnt/Ca2+ signaling pathways in the Ca2+ transient generation and/or shape‐change processes, embryos were treated with antagonists (thapsigargin, 2‐APB and U73122) or an agonist (Wnt‐5A) of these pathways. Wnt‐5A upregulated the EVL‐restricted Ca2+ transients and facilitated the change in shape of the EVL cells, while 2‐APB downregulated the Ca2+ transients and significantly slowed the cell shape‐change process. Furthermore, thapsigargin and U73122 also both inhibited the EVL cell shape‐change. We hypothesize, therefore, that the highly localized and coincidental Ca2+ transients play a necessary role in initiating the shape‐change of the EVL cells.
Utility of the Early Delay and Disabilities Code Set for Exploring the Linkage Between ICF-CY and Assessment Reports for Children With Developmental Delay

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) offers a universal language of codes to document childhood functioning. The ICF-CY Code Set for Infants with Early Delay and Disabilities (EDD Code Set) has been developed to facilitate the practical application of the ICF for children. The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of the EDD Code Set by exploring the linkage between ICF and children's assessment reports. We reviewed 30 Comprehensive Assessment Reports (CAR) for children with developmental delay (DD), aged 9–34 months in a joint evaluation center. Meaningful concepts in compulsory and supplementary sections of the CAR were identified and linked to the EDD Code Set. Linkage was measured by (a) number of linked codes and (b) average of code-only and code-with-qualifier percentages. Content in the CAR was linked to 72 of the 82 EDD codes with more codes linked from the supplementary (71) than the compulsory section (58). The largest proportion of linked codes was activities and participation (85%). The EDD Code Set can be used to examine the ICF linkage of pediatric assessment reports and guide future development or revision of pediatric documentation and participation-based intervention.
Moral Development of Undergraduate Business Students: Online vs. Residential Programs

Research related to moral reasoning and development has been increasing over the past decade as a result of the business-related scandals of the early 2000’s. Education has been shown to have a strong correlation to the moral development of individuals. Additionally, the rise in online learning has brought a new dynamic to the cognitive moral development of future business leaders. The problem addressed in this study is how an online program impacts the moral reasoning development of undergraduate business students. This study issued the DIT survey to senior-level undergraduate students declared as business majors from a face-to-face and online format at a single university in order to obtain the moral reasoning scores of the respondents. A multiple regression analysis was used to determine the impact that mode of delivery has on the cognitive moral development of the undergraduate business students. Consideration was given to students that are taking courses in both formats. Additionally, potentially confounding variables were collected and accounted for as controls.
3D ECG‐ and respiratory‐gated non‐contrast‐enhanced (CE) perfusion MRI for postoperative lung function prediction in non‐small‐cell lung cancer patients: A comparison with thin‐section quantitative computed tomography, dynamic CE‐perfusion MRI, and perfusion scan

To compare predictive capabilities of non‐contrast‐enhanced (CE)‐ and dynamic CE‐perfusion MRIs, thin‐section multidetector computed tomography (CT) (MDCT), and perfusion scan for postoperative lung function in non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.
Mycobacterial r32-kDa antigen-specific T-cell responses correlate with successful treatment and a heightened anti-microbial response in human leprosy patients.

BACKGROUND Immunological characterization of mycobacterial peptides may help not only in the preparation of a vaccine for leprosy but also in developing in vitro T-cell assays that could perhaps be used as an in vitro correlate for treatment outcome. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the use of Mycobacterium bovis recombinant 32-kDa protein (r32-kDa) antigen-stimulated T-cell assay as a surrogate marker for treatment outcome and monitor vitamin D receptor (VDR)-mediated anti-microbial responses during multidrug therapy (MDT) in leprosy. METHODS Newly diagnosed tuberculoid and lepromatous leprosy patients were enrolled and followed up during their course of MDT at 6 and 12 months. IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-17 and IL-23 levels in culture supernatants and expression of VDR, TLR2, LL37 and DEFB in r32-kDa-stimulated PBMCs were measured. Controls comprised household contacts (HHCs) and healthy endemic subjects (HCs). RESULTS Significant differences were observed in the levels of IFN-γ, IL-17, IL-23, VDR and anti-microbial peptides LL37 and DEFB after treatment and when compared with that of HHCs and HCs, respectively. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that responses to r32-kDa antigen reflect an improved immunological and anti-microbial response in leprosy patients during therapy, thereby indicating its potential use as an immune correlate in the treatment of leprosy patients.
Low-Complexity Video Quality Assessment Using Temporal Quality Variations

Objective video quality assessment (VQA) is the use of computational models to evaluate the video quality in line with the perception of the human visual system (HVS). It is challenging due to the underlying complexity, and the relatively limited understanding of the HVS and its intricate mechanisms. There are three important issues that arise in objective VQA in comparison with image quality assessment: 1) the temporal factors apart from the spatial ones also need to be considered, 2) the contribution of each factor (spatial and temporal) and their interaction to the overall video quality need to be determined, and 3) the computational complexity of the resultant method. In this paper, we seek to tackle the first issue by utilizing the worst case pooling strategy and the variations of spatial quality along the temporal axis with proper analysis and justification. The second issue is addressed by the use of machine learning; we believe this to be more convincing since the relationship between the factors and the overall quality is derived via training with substantial ground truth (i.e., subjective scores). Experiments conducted using publicly available video databases show the effectiveness of the proposed full-reference (FR) algorithm in comparison to the relevant existing VQA schemes. Focus has also been placed on demonstrating the robustness of the proposed method to new and untrained data. To that end, cross-database tests have been carried out to provide a proper perspective of the performance of proposed scheme as compared to other VQA methods. The third issue regarding the computational costs also plays a key role in determining the feasibility of a VQA scheme for practical deployment given the large amount of data that needs to be processed/analyzed in real time. A limitation of many existing VQA algorithms is their higher computational complexity. In contrast, the proposed scheme is more efficient due to its low complexity without jeopardizing the prediction accuracy.
Reducing the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis in neonates with hypoplastic left heart syndrome with the introduction of an enteral feed protocol*

Objective: Neonates with hypoplastic left heart syndrome are prone to gastrointestinal complications, including necrotizing enterocolitis, during initiation or advancement of enteral feeds. A feeding protocol was developed to standardize practice across a multidisciplinary team. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a standardized feeding protocol on the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis and overall postoperative gastrointestinal morbidity. Design: Retrospective case–control study. Setting: Cardiothoracic intensive care unit of a tertiary care children’s hospital. Patients: Ninety-eight neonates with hypoplastic left heart syndrome admitted to the cardiothoracic intensive care unit after first-stage palliation. Intervention: A retrospective chart review was performed. Two groups were analyzed: the preprotocol group (n = 52) was examined from January 2000 through December 31, 2001, and the postprotocol group (n = 46) from February 2002 through December 31, 2003. Measurements and Main Results: The incidence of suspected or diagnosed necrotizing enterocolitis as defined by the modified Bell staging criteria was recorded. Data were also collected regarding postoperative day of enteral feed initiation, postoperative day full feeds attained, and postoperative hospital length of stay. Necrotizing enterocolitis was detected in 14 preprotocol (27%) and three postprotocol (6.5%) patients (p < .01). Enteral feeds were initiated later in the postprotocol group (7.5 vs. 5.5 days, p < .001), and number of days to full feeds was also later in the postprotocol group (7 vs. 4 days, p = .02). Hospital length of stay tended to be shorter in the postprotocol group (21.5 vs. 28 days, p = .25). Conclusion: Measures directed at reducing the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis may reduce morbidity in neonates with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and reduce cost by decreasing hospital length of stay. A standardized feeding protocol instituted to address these problems likely contributed to reducing the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis in this high-risk population.
SRD5A2 V89L polymorphism and prostate cancer risk: A meta‐analysis

Increasing studies investigating the association between steroid 5‐alpha reductase type II gene polymorphism at codon 89 (SRD5A2 V89L) and susceptibility to prostate cancer (PCa) confer inconsistent results. To precisely estimate the relationship with more statistical power, a meta‐analysis was performed.
From wealth to well-being : spending money on others promotes happiness

While previous research has examined the effect of income on happiness, we suggest that how people spend their money may be as important for their well-being as how much they earn. Specifically, we hypothesized that spending money on others may have a more positive impact on well-being than spending money on oneself. We found converging evidence for this hypothesis in a nationally representative survey (Study 1), a longitudinal study of windfall spending (Study 2), and an experimental study in which participants were randomly assigned to spend money on themselves or others (Study 3). We also found that people believe that spending on themselves, as opposed to others, will make them happier (Study 4) and that happier people were more likely to spend on others and experience higher happiness as result (Study 5). These results demonstrate that spending money on others may facilitate the translation of wealth into well-being.
Seasonal Variations and Resilience of Bacterial Communities in a Sewage Polluted Urban River

The Zenne River in Brussels (Belgium) and effluents of the two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of Brussels were chosen to assess the impact of disturbance on bacterial community composition (BCC) of an urban river. Organic matters, nutrients load and oxygen concentration fluctuated highly along the river and over time because of WWTPs discharge. Tag pyrosequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes revealed the significant effect of seasonality on the richness, the bacterial diversity (Shannon index) and BCC. The major grouping: -winter/fall samples versus spring/summer samples- could be associated with fluctuations of in situ bacterial activities (dissolved and particulate organic carbon biodegradation associated with oxygen consumption and N transformation). BCC of the samples collected upstream from the WWTPs discharge were significantly different from BCC of downstream samples and WWTPs effluents, while no significant difference was found between BCC of WWTPs effluents and the downstream samples as revealed by ANOSIM. Analysis per season showed that allochthonous bacteria brought by WWTPs effluents triggered the changes in community composition, eventually followed by rapid post-disturbance return to the original composition as observed in April (resilience), whereas community composition remained altered after the perturbation by WWTPs effluents in the other seasons.
Regulation of the Expression of Intracellular β-Carbonic Anhydrase in Response to CO2 and Light in the Marine Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum1

Cells of the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum Bohlin (UTEX 642) grown in 5% CO2 were transferred to air-level CO2 in the light or dark and allowed to acclimate to air. No accumulation of the transcript of the P. tricornutum β-carbonic anhydrase 1 (ptca1) was detected in 5% CO2-grown cells, but ptca1 mRNA accumulated and reached a peak after 6 h acclimation to air but decreased over the next 18 h. A similar accumulation time course was observed in cells air-acclimated in the dark, except that levels of mRNA were <50% those in the light. These results suggest that air-level [CO2] is required to trigger the transcription of ptca1 and that light affects the extent of acclimation. During acclimation to air for 120 h in the light, levels of ptca1 mRNA exhibited a periodic oscillation with a cycle of about 24 h, which, however, was not reflected in protein accumulation levels. A 5′-upstream region from the transcription-start site toward −1,292 bp of ptca1 was cloned by inverse polymerase chain reaction, and 5′-truncations were carried out on this fragment. The truncated promoter regions were fused with the β-glucuronidase gene (uidA) and introduced into P. tricornutum. The promoter fragments, truncated at positions −1,292, −824, −484, −225, and −70 bp, conferred on transformants clear CO2-responsive β-glucuronidase expressions. In contrast, the CO2-responsive regulation was severely impaired or completely abolished by truncations, respectively, at position −50 or −30 bp. These results indicate that critical cis-elements required for CO2-responsive transcription of ptca1 may be located between −70 and −30 bp relative to the transcription start site.