Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Genetic changes, epstein–barr virus infection, or both: A clinical and molecular study of 36 patients

Background. The pathogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma has been under intense investigation, especially of its peculiar predominance in southern China. The authors previously reported consistent loss of genetic material on the short arm of chromosome 3 in a few nasopharyngeal carcinoma cases. In this study, the authors examined the genetic changes as well as the presence of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) genome on 36 nasopharyngeal carcinoma primary biopsy specimens of the undifferentiated type and the correlation of the findings to patients' clinical status.
Stroke: The Increasing Complexity of Carer Needs

&NA; In Australia, more than 346,000 individuals who experience a stroke return to living in their homes with varying degrees of disability. They rely on emotional and physical support from informal carers, typically family members. Informal carers have an indispensable role in patient care poststroke, and the ability of carers to manage this role effectively is crucial for stroke survivors to be able to return home. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of the caring role on carers of stroke survivors, particularly the services provided and the levels of depression and well‐being experienced. The study used a longitudinal design incorporating survey methods. Stroke survivors were assessed for functional ability, quality of life, and depression using three assessment tools: the Stroke Impact Scale, World Health Organization Quality of Life‐BREF scale, and Zung Self‐Rating Depression Scale. A total of 26 people were surveyed: 13 stroke survivors and their 13 carers. Carer knowledge of stroke support services was also explored. Information was collected by using survey methods and structured interviews at 3 weeks and at 3 months postdischarge. The main finding was that depression scores for carers and stroke survivors were below Australian norms at both assessment time points. The major concern identified by carers was poor follow‐up procedures for initiating rehabilitation in the home. This study highlighted that a lack of appropriate discharge planning, in conjunction with early discharge of stroke survivors, can have an impact on the rehabilitation process and place increased and unrealistic demands on carers.
Thrombotic microangiopathy-like disorder after living-donor liver transplantation: a single-center experience in Japan.

AIM To investigate thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) in liver transplantion, because TMA is an infrequent but life-threatening complication in the transplantation field. METHODS A total of 206 patients who underwent living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) were evaluated, and the TMA-like disorder (TMALD) occurred in seven recipients. RESULTS These TMALD recipients showed poor outcomes in comparison with other 199 recipients. Although two TMALD recipients successfully recovered, the other five recipients finally died despite intensive treatments including repeated plasma exchange (PE) and re-transplantation. Histopathological analysis of liver biopsies after LDLT revealed obvious differences according to the outcomes. Qualitative analysis of antibodies against a disintegrin-like domain and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin type 1 motifs (ADAMTS-13) were negative in all patients. The fragmentation of red cells, the microhemorrhagic macules and the platelet counts were early markers for the suspicion of TMALD after LDLT. Although the absolute values of von Willebrand factor (vWF) and ADAMTS-13 did not necessarily reflect TMALD, the vWF/ADAMTS-13 ratio had a clear diagnostic value in all cases. The establishment of adequate treatments for TMALD, such as PE for ADAMTS-13 replenishment or treatments against inhibitory antibodies, must be decided according to each case. CONCLUSION The optimal induction of adequate therapies based on early recognition of TMALD by the reliable markers may confer a large advantage for TMALD after LDLT.
Candida albicans biotypes in human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected patients with oral candidiasis before and after antifungal therapy

A prospective 19-month study of 26 human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected patients with episodes of erythematous or pseudomembranous oral candidiasis was done to evaluate the significance of Candida albicans biotypes in patients treated with antifungal therapy. Changes in the biotype of C. albicans were frequently noted in recurrent oral candidiasis. However, no correlation was found between the various biotypes and the clinical features of oral candidiasis, the clinical stage of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection, or the number of CD4+ lymphocytes. On the contrary, a significant correlation appeared among clinical lesion features, CD4+ cell numbers, and time of clinical disappearance of the oral lesions. Changes in the biotype of C. albicans were observed at the end of the antifungal therapy in 17 of 26 patients who had a second appearance of oral candidiasis as well as in 10 of 14 subjects who experienced a third reappearance of oral candidiasis.
Analysis and optimization of pilot-channel-assisted BPSK for DS-CDMA systems

Pilot-channel-assisted binary phase-shift keying (PCA-BPSK) in direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) systems is investigated. The loss due to imperfect channel estimation is calculated, and the pilot-to-data channel power ratio is optimized analytically. The results show the effects of the various parameters and provide a suitable tool for system design.
The long-term course of severe anorexia nervosa in adolescents: survival analysis of recovery, relapse, and outcome predictors over 10-15 years in a prospective study.

OBJECTIVE To assess the long-term course of recovery and relapse and predictors of outcome in anorexia nervosa. METHOD A naturalistic, longitudinal prospective design was used to assess recovery and relapse in patients ascertained through a university-based specialty treatment program. Patients were assessed semiannually for 5 years and annually thereafter over 10-15 years from the time of their index admission. Recovery was defined in terms of varying levels of symptom remission maintained for no fewer than 8 consecutive weeks. RESULTS Nearly 30% of patients had relapses following hospital discharge, prior to clinical recovery. However, most patients were weight recovered and menstruating regularly by the end of follow-up, with nearly 76% of the cohort meeting criteria for full recovery. Relapse after recovery was relatively uncommon. Of note, time to recovery was protracted, ranging from 57-79 months depending on definition of recovery. Among restrictors at intake, nearly 30% developed binge eating, occurring within 5 years of intake. A variety of predictors of chronic outcome and binge eating were identified. There were no deaths in the cohort. CONCLUSION The course of anorexia nervosa is protracted. Predictors of outcome are surprisingly few, but those identified are in keeping with previous accounts. The intensive treatment received by these patients may account for the lower levels of morbidity and mortality when considered in relation to other reports in the follow-up literature.
Bioresorbable scaffolds for treatment of coronary bifurcation lesions: Critical appraisal and future perspectives

Bioresorbable vascular scaffolds have been recently introduced as a novel paradigm for coronary artery disease treatment allowing temporary vessel support and drug delivery without indefinite coronary caging, potentially reducing the long‐term limitation of metallic stents. The scientific community has rapidly embraced this concept and bioresorbable devices have been introduced in clinical practice. However, despite the fact that bifurcation lesions represent a large and challenging subset in the field of interventional cardiology, this subgroup of lesions have been avoided in the initial experience with bioresorbable scaffolds and clear recommendations on methodological approaches are lacking. In the present report, we describe the various techniques for bifurcation treatment with bioresorbable scaffolds and the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of this technology in different scenarios, with a glimpse to challenging subsets and possible complications. Therefore, we aim to provide experience based insights and practical guidance for bioresorbable scaffold implantation in bifurcation lesions. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A case of recurrent impetigo herpetiformis treated with systemic corticosteroids and narrowband UVB

Impetigo herpetiformis is a rare pustular eruption with usual onset during the third trimester of pregnancy. The disease tends to remit after delivery, but may recur in subsequent pregnancies. Here we present a recurrent case of impetigo herpetiformis with earlier onset and poor response to corticosteroids in the subsequent pregnancy. She had widespread, erythematosquamous patches with tiny superficial pustules in the third trimester of her first pregnancy. Histopathological and clinical findings were consistent with impetigo herpetiformis. She was treated with systemic prednisolone and had a healthy baby without any complication. Three years later, the patient presented with impetigo herpetiformis again in the second trimester of her second pregnancy. After six weeks of oral prednisolone treatment, the lesions improved, but there were still new pustule formations and narrowband ultraviolet B treatment was added. Skin eruption cleared and she had a healthy baby in the 38th week of her second pregnancy. The corticosteroid dose was tapered gradually and stopped after delivery. Early diagnosis and treatment is crucial in impetigo herpetiformis because of the risk of maternal and fetal complications. When prednisolone is not enough to control the eruption alone, narrowband UVB can safely be added to the treatment.
Processing emotion information from both the face and body: An eye-movement study

This study examined the perception of emotional expressions, focusing on the face and the body. Photographs of four actors expressing happiness, sadness, anger, and fear were presented in congruent (e.g., happy face with happy body) and incongruent (e.g., happy face with fearful body) combinations. Participants selected an emotional label using a four-option categorisation task. Reaction times and accuracy for the categorisation judgement, and eye movements were the dependent variables. Two regions of interest were examined: face and body. Results showed better accuracy and faster reaction times for congruent images compared to incongruent images. Eye movements showed an interaction in which there were more fixations and longer dwell times to the face and fewer fixations and shorter dwell times to the body with incongruent images. Thus, conflicting information produced a marked effect on information processing in which participants focused to a greater extent on the face compared to the body.
Memory reactivation during rapid eye movement sleep promotes its generalization and integration in cortical stores.

STUDY OBJECTIVES Memory reactivation appears to be a fundamental process in memory consolidation. In this study we tested the influence of memory reactivation during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep on memory performance and brain responses at retrieval in healthy human participants. PARTICIPANTS Fifty-six healthy subjects (28 women and 28 men, age [mean ± standard deviation]: 21.6 ± 2.2 y) participated in this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. METHODS AND RESULTS Auditory cues were associated with pictures of faces during their encoding. These memory cues delivered during REM sleep enhanced subsequent accurate recollections but also false recognitions. These results suggest that reactivated memories interacted with semantically related representations, and induced new creative associations, which subsequently reduced the distinction between new and previously encoded exemplars. Cues had no effect if presented during stage 2 sleep, or if they were not associated with faces during encoding. Functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that following exposure to conditioned cues during REM sleep, responses to faces during retrieval were enhanced both in a visual area and in a cortical region of multisensory (auditory-visual) convergence. CONCLUSIONS These results show that reactivating memories during REM sleep enhances cortical responses during retrieval, suggesting the integration of recent memories within cortical circuits, favoring the generalization and schematization of the information.
Short-term evaluation of captopril in patients with chronic left sided valvular regurgitations.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical effects and the changes in cardiac performance of high- and low-dose captopril compared to placebo in patients with chronic symptomatic aortic regurgitation (AR), and/or mitral regurgitation (MR). PATIENTS AND METHODS We randomized patients into three groups, placebo (Group 1), incremental daily doses of 50 mg (Group 2), and 100 mg captopril (Group 3). We compared exercise capacity before and after four-week of treatment. RESULTS Treatment was well tolerated with no serious side effects including blood chemistry. There were no significant effects of treatment on left ventricular dimensions nor calculated left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) between groups (LVEF change -0.6%, -2.6%, 2.4%, in group 1, 2 and 3 respectively; p > 0.05). No difference of exercise duration between treatment and placebo arms (change by 13%, 12.8%, 16.4%, respectively; p > 0.05). However, there were trends in the number of the patients who improved in left ventricular performance (absolute LVEF change > 5% unit = 15%, 16%, and 42% respectively; p > 0.05) and exercise performance (exercise time improvement > 75 sec = 50%, 47%, and 68% respectively; p > 0.05) in high dose captopril treatment group. CONCLUSION There was no significant improvement of left ventricular performance and exercise capacity after four-weeks' treatment of low and high dose captopril. Further study with a larger sample size, and longer follow-up period may be required.
Induction of interleukin 2 receptor gene expression by p40x encoded by human T‐cell leukemia virus type 1.

Human T‐cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV‐1) is an etiologic agent of adult T‐cell leukemia (ATL). A viral product, p40x, encoded by the pX sequence of HTLV‐1 is a trans‐acting transcriptional activator of the long terminal repeat (LTR) and has been suspected of involvement in leukemogenesis, activating the cellular genes. The cellular interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) and its receptor (IL‐2R), the latter of which is expressed on ATL leukemic cells, were shown to be transiently induced by transfection of plasmid pMTPX expressing pX in two T‐cell lines, Jurkat and HSB‐2, but not in other human T‐ or B‐cell lines. The cell type specificity of IL‐2R induction by pX expression was the same as that by phytohaemagglutinin/phorbol ester activation, indicating the requirement for some specific cellular factors or a certain state of cellular differentiation. Induction of IL‐2 and IL‐2R at mRNA level was also demonstrated in transfected cells. Transfections with mutants of pMTPX in which the open reading frames for p40x, p27x‐III and p21x‐III were inactivated indicated that p40x alone was sufficient for induction of the IL‐2R in inducible cells. This induction of the IL‐2R by p40x of HTLV‐1 may contribute to preferential proliferation of HTLV‐1 infected cells at an early stage of ATL development and eventually increase the number of putative target cells for malignant transformation.
Straying From the Righteous Path and From Ourselves

The present research addresses the relationship between morally valenced behavior and perceptions of self-knowledge, an outcome that has received little attention in moral psychology. We propose that morally valenced behavior is related to subjective perceptions of self-knowledge, such that people experience lower levels of self-knowledge when they are reminded of their immoral behaviors. We tested this proposition in four studies (N = 1,177). Study 1 used daily-diary methods and indicates that daily perceptions of self-knowledge covary with daily levels of morally valenced behavior. The final three studies made use of experimental methods and demonstrate that thinking about immoral behaviors attenuates current perceptions of self-knowledge. The predicted relationships and effects generally persist when controlling for self-esteem. Based on our findings, we argue that perceived self-knowledge may play a functional role in moral self-concept maintenance and moral regulatory processes.
Chemoprevention using dutasteride: the REDUCE trial

Purpose of review This article will review the design and rationale of the dutasteride prostate cancer chemoprevention trial known as the REDUCE trial (Reduction by Dutasteride of Prostate Cancer Events) in the context of the recently completed Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial. Recent findings The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial used the 5α-reductase inhibitor finasteride to prevent prostate cancer in a prospective randomized trial. The trial demonstrated a nearly 25% reduction in the prevalence of prostate cancer compared with placebo. Finasteride is a type 2-specific 5α-reductase inhibitor, whereas dutasteride is an inhibitor of both type 1 and type 2 5α-reductase. Recent evidence suggests that there may be increased expression of the type 1 5α-reductase in prostate cancer versus benign prostate tissue making dutasteride an attractive agent to study. Summary Proof of principle has been demonstrated by the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial that a chemoprevention strategy using a hormonal agent such as a 5α-reductase inhibitor can be effective. The REDUCE trial will use the dual 5α-reductase inhibitor dutasteride in a group of men identified at increased risk of developing prostate cancer to determine if this will be an effective chemoprevention strategy.
Nucleic Acid Chaperone Activity Associated with the Arginine-Rich Domain of Human Hepatitis B Virus Core Protein

ABSTRACT Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA replication occurs within the HBV icosahedral core particles. HBV core protein (HBc) contains an arginine-rich domain (ARD) at its carboxyl terminus. This ARD domain of HBc 149-183 is known to be important for viral replication but not known to have a structure. Recently, nucleocapsid proteins of several viruses have been shown to contain nucleic acid chaperone activity, which can facilitate structural rearrangement of viral genome. Major features of nucleic acid chaperones include highly basic amino acid residues and flexible protein structure. To test the nucleic acid chaperone hypothesis for HBc ARD, we first used the disassembled full-length HBc from Escherichia coli to analyze the nucleic acid annealing and strand displacement activities. To exclude the potential contamination of chaperones from E. coli, we designed synthetic HBc ARD peptides with different lengths and serine phosphorylations. We demonstrated that HBc ARD peptide can behave like a bona fide nucleic acid chaperone and that the chaperone activity depends on basic residues of the ARD domain. The loss of chaperone activity by arginine-to-alanine substitutions in the ARD can be rescued by restoring basic residues in the ARD. Furthermore, the chaperone activity is subject to regulation by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation at the HBc ARD. Interestingly, the HBc ARD can enhance in vitro cleavage activity of RNA substrate by a hammerhead ribozyme. We discuss here the potential significance of the HBc ARD chaperone activity in the context of viral DNA replication, in particular, at the steps of primer translocations and circularization of linear replicative intermediates. IMPORTANCE Hepatitis B virus is a major human pathogen. At present, no effective treatment can completely eradicate the virus from patients with chronic hepatitis B. We report here a novel chaperone activity associated with the viral core protein. Our discovery could lead to a new drug design for more effective treatment against hepatitis B virus in the future.
Demand for redistribution, support for the welfare state, and party identification in Austria

This paper describes subjective wage inequality and the demand for redistribution in Austria using individuals’ estimates of occupational wages from the International Social Survey Program. Although these estimates differ widely across individuals, the data clearly show that most individuals would like to decrease wage inequality, relative to the level of inequality which they perceive to exist. The empirical analysis also shows that the demand for redistribution is strongly associated not only with variables describing self-interested motives for redistribution, but also with perceptions of and social norms with respect to inequality. Further, the demand for redistribution is a strong predictor for whether an individual is supportive of redistribution by the state. On the other hand, however, I find almost no evidence for an empirical association between the demand for redistribution and individuals’ party identification.
ASSESSMENT OF DIASTOLIC DYSFUNCTION, ARTERIAL STIFFNESS, AND CAROTID INTIMA-MEDIA THICKNESS IN PATIENTS WITH ACROMEGALY.

OBJECTIVE Early diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, the most frequent cause of morbidity and mortality in acromegaly, may be an efficient approach to extending the lifespan of affected patients. Therefore, it is crucial to determine any cardiovascular diseases in the subclinical period. The study objectives were to determine markers of subclinical atherosclerosis and asses heart structure and function. METHODS This was a cross-sectional, single-center study of 53 patients with acromegaly and 22 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals. Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), pulse-wave velocity (PWV), and echocardiographic data were compared between these groups. RESULTS CIMT and PWV were higher in the acromegaly group than in the healthy group (P = .008 and P = .002, respectively). Echocardiography showed that left ventricular diastolic dysfunction was present in 11.3% of patients. Left ventricular mass index and left atrial volume index were higher in the patients (P = .016 and P<.001, respectively). No differences in the CIMT, PWV, or echocardiographic measurements were identified between the patients with biochemically controlled and uncontrolled acromegaly and the control group. CONCLUSION Our results showed that subclinical atherosclerosis (i.e., CIMT and PWV markers) and heart structure and function were worse in patients with acromegaly than in healthy individuals. Because there were no differences in these parameters between patients with controlled and uncontrolled acromegaly, our results suggest that the structural and functional changes do not reverse with biochemical control. ABBREVIATIONS AA = active acromegaly BSA = body surface area CA = biochemically controlled acromegaly CH = concentric hypertrophy CIMT = carotid intima-media thickness DBP = diastolic blood pressure DM = diabetes mellitus ECHO = echocardiography EDV = enddiastolic volume EF = ejection fraction ESV = endsystolic volume GH = growth hormone HC = healthy control HL = hyperlipidemia HT = hypertension IGF-1 = insulin-like growth factor 1 LA = left atrial LAV = left atrial volume LAVI = left atrial volume index LV = left ventricular LVDD = left ventricular diastolic dysfunction LVEF = left ventricular ejection fraction LVH = left ventricular hypertrophy LVMI = left ventricular mass index PWV = pulse-wave velocity RWT = relative wall thickness.