Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plasma adiponectin and resistin levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: relation to body mass index and insulin resistance

To compare the serum levels of adiponectin and resistin between patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and healthy control subjects matched for age and body mass index (BMI), and to assess possible correlations of adiponectin and resistin to the hormonal and metabolic parameters of the syndrome. Materials and methods: Fifty five patients with PCOS diagnosis composed of 25 obese, 13 overweight, 17 normal weight subjects, and 49 healthy women matched for age and BMI were included in this study. Hormone and lipid profile, adiponectin, and resistin were measured in all cases. Results: Serum adiponectin levels were similar in the lean PCOS patients and the healthy control group. In obese patients and the control groups, serum adiponectin levels were significantly lower than those in the lean control group. Serum adiponectin levels were similar in the obese PCOS and the obese control groups. Serum resistin levels were similar in both patient and control groups. There was a correlation between serum adiponectin levels and fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, triglyceride, and HDL-C in the PCOS group. A significant correlation in the positive direction was observed among serum resistin levels and BMI in the patient group. Conclusion: Our study showed that serum adiponectin levels were lower in obese women with PCOS than in the normal weight control group. There was a negative correlation between serum adiponectin levels with insulin resistance. We suggest that resistin is not associated with PCOS pathogenesis but it may be an adipocytokine that is affected by BMI.
Health services utilization in adult acquired major upper-limb amputees: a population-based survey.

OBJECTIVE To increase knowledge of health services utilization and related factors in adult acquired major upper-limb amputees. DESIGN Population-based cross-sectional study conducted in Norway. SUBJECTS Two hundred and twenty four adult acquired major upper-limb amputees (57.4% response rate). Mean age was 53.7 years, 83.5% were men and mean post-amputation time was 24.0 years. METHODS Data were collected by postal questionnaires. Amputation-related health services utilization, perceived benefit and unmet needs were reported and associations between these factors and background factors were estimated by multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS Reported health services utilization was relatively low. The reported benefit of utilized services was generally high. For several non-utilized services, considerable unmet needs for utilization were reported. Several background factors were significantly associated with different aspects of the services examined. A considerable discrepancy between reported pain and utilization of specified pain treatments was noted. CONCLUSION The findings of this study suggest that several health services available to acquired major upper-limb amputees should be strengthened. Establishing routines to ensure access to optimal, individualized rehabilitation may prevent disability. We recommend additional, longitudinal studies to further assess the need for mental health care and pain treatment in acquired major upper-limb amputees.
The Cultured Chimpanzee: Reflections on Cultural Primatology

1. Introduction 2. Definition 3. Disciplines 4. Creatures other than primates 5. Primates 6. Chimpanzee ethnography 7. Chimpanzee material culture 8. Chimpanzee society 9. Lessons from cultural primatology 10. Does cultural primatology have a future?
The Effect of Graphics on Environmental Health Risk Beliefs, Emotions, Behavioral Intentions, and Recall

Lay people have difficulty understanding the meaning of environmental health risk information. Visual images can use features that leverage visual perception capabilities and semiotic conventions to promote meaningful comprehension. Such evidence‐based features were employed to develop two images of a color‐coded visual scale to convey drinking water test results. The effect of these images and a typical alphanumeric (AN) lab report were explored in a repeated measures randomized trial among 261 undergraduates. Outcome measures included risk beliefs, emotions, personal safety threshold, mitigation intentions, the durability of beliefs and intentions over time, and test result recall. The plain image conveyed the strongest risk message overall, likely due to increased visual salience. The more detailed graded image conveyed a stronger message than the AN format only for females. Images only prompted meaningful risk reduction intentions among participants with optimistically biased safety threshold beliefs. Fuzzy trace theory supported some findings as follow. Images appeared to promote the consolidation of beliefs over time from an initial meaning of safety to an integrated meaning of safety and health risk; emotion potentially shaped this process. Although the AN report fostered more accurate recall, images were related to more appropriate beliefs and intentions at both time points. Findings hinted at the potential for images to prompt appropriate beliefs independent of accurate factual knowledge. Overall, results indicate that images facilitated meaningful comprehension of environmental health risk information and suggest foci for further research.
GR and ER Coactivation Alters the Expression of Differentiation Genes and Associates with Improved ER+ Breast Cancer Outcome

In estrogen receptor (ER)–negative breast cancer, high tumor glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression has been associated with a relatively poor outcome. In contrast, using a meta-analysis of several genomic datasets, here we find that tumor GR mRNA expression is associated with improved ER+ relapse-free survival (RFS; independently of progesterone receptor expression). To understand the mechanism by which GR expression is associated with a better ER+ breast cancer outcome, the global effect of GR-mediated transcriptional activation in ER+ breast cancer cells was studied. Analysis of GR chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing in ER+/GR+ MCF-7 cells revealed that upon coactivation of GR and ER, GR chromatin association became enriched at proximal promoter regions. Furthermore, following ER activation, increased GR chromatin association was observed at ER, FOXO, and AP1 response elements. In addition, ER associated with GR response elements, suggesting that ER and GR interact in a complex. Coactivation of GR and ER resulted in increased expression (relative to ER activation alone) of transcripts that encode proteins promoting cellular differentiation (e.g., KDM4B, VDR) and inhibiting the Wnt signaling pathway (IGFBP4). Finally, expression of these individual prodifferentiation genes was associated with significantly improved RFS in ER+ breast cancer patients. Together, these data suggest that the coexpression and subsequent activity of tumor cell GR and ER contribute to the less aggressive natural history of early-stage breast cancer by coordinating the altered expression of genes favoring differentiation. Implications: The interaction between ER and GR activity highlights the importance of context-dependent nuclear receptor function in cancer. Mol Cancer Res; 14(8); 707–19. ©2016 AACR.
Early Prepubertal Ontogeny of Pulsatile Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH) Secretion: I. Inhibitory Autofeedback Control through Prolyl Endopeptidase Degradation of GnRH1.

GnRH[1–5], a subproduct resulting from degradation of GnRH by prolyl endopeptidase (PEP) and endopeptidase 24.15 (EP24.15) was known to account for an inhibitory autofeedback of GnRH secretion through an effect at the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. This study aimed at determining the possible role of such a mechanism in the early developmental changes in frequency of pulsatile GnRH secretion. Using retrochiasmatic explants from fetal male rats (day 20–21 of gestation), no GnRH pulses could be observed in vitro, whereas pulses occurred at a mean interval of 86 min from the day of birth onwards. This interval decreased steadily until day 25 (39 min), during the period preceding the onset of puberty. Based on GnRH[1–10] or GnRH[1–9] degradation and GnRH[1–5] generation after incubation with hypothalamic extracts, EP24.15 activity did not change with age, whereas PEP activity was maximal at days 5–10 and decreased subsequently until day 50. These changes were consistent with the ontogenetic variations.
Helicobacter canis isolated from a dog liver with multifocal necrotizing hepatitis

On the basis of biochemical, phenotypic, and 16S rRNA analysis, a novel gram-negative bacterium, isolated from normal and diarrheic dogs as well as humans with gastroenteritis, has been recently named Helicobacter canis. A 2-month-old female crossbred puppy was submitted to necropsy with a history of weakness and vomiting for several hours prior to death. The liver had multiple and slightly irregular yellowish foci up to 1.5 cm in diameter. Histologically, the liver parenchyma contained randomly distributed, occasionally coalescing hepatocellular necrosis, often accompanied by large numbers of mononuclear cells and neutrophils. Sections of liver stained by the Warthin-Starry silver impregnation technique revealed spiral- to curve-shaped bacteria predominantly located in bile canaliculi and occasionally in bile ducts. Aerobic culture of liver was negative, whereas small colonies were noted on Campylobacter selective media after 5 days of microaerobic incubation. The bacteria were gram negative and oxidase positive but catalase, urease, and indoxyl acetate negative; nitrate was not reduced to nitrite, and the organism did not hydrolyze hippurate. The bacteria were also resistant to 1.5% bile. Electron microscopy revealed spiral-shaped bacteria with bipolar sheathed flagella. By 16S rRNA analysis, the organism was determined to be H. canis. This is the first observation of H. canis in active hepatitis in a dog and correlates with recent findings of Helicobacter hepaticus- and Helicobacter bilis-related hepatic disease in mice. Further studies are clearly warranted to ascertain whether H. canis-associated hepatitis is more widespread in canines as well as a cause of previously classified idiopathic liver disease in humans.
Dynamics and Spatial Distribution of β-Lactamase Expression in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms

ABSTRACT The development of resistance to β-lactam antibiotics is a problem in the treatment of chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis. The main resistance mechanism is high-level expression of the chromosomally encoded AmpC β-lactamase of P. aeruginosa cells growing in biofilms. Several genes have been shown to influence the level of ampC expression, but little is known about the regulation of ampC expression in P. aeruginosa biofilms. To study the expression of ampC in P. aeruginosa biofilms, we constructed a reporter that consisted of the fusion of the ampC promoter to gfp(ASV) encoding an unstable version of the green fluorescent protein. In vitro biofilms of P. aeruginosa were exposed to the β-lactam antibiotics imipenem and ceftazidime. Sub-MICs of imipenem significantly induced the monitor system of the biofilm bacteria in the peripheries of the microcolonies, but the centers of the microcolonies remained uninduced. However, the centers of the microcolonies were physiologically active, as shown by experiments with another monitor construction consisting of an arabinose-inducible promoter fused to gfp(ASV). The whole biofilm was induced in the presence of increased imipenem concentrations. Ceftazidime induced the monitor system of the biofilm bacteria as well, but only bacteria in the peripheries of the microcolonies were induced in the presence of even very high concentrations. The experiments illustrate for the first time the dynamic and spatial distributions of β-lactamase induction in P. aeruginosa cells growing in biofilms. Thus, our experiments show that P. aeruginosa cells growing in biofilms constitute a heterogeneous population unit which may create different antibiotic-selective environments for the bacteria in the biofilm.
Two models of multiple sclerosis: Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) and theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) infection. A pathological and immunological comparison

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) infection and experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) are considered among the best models of human multiple sclerosis (MS). In both models, clinical disease is characterized by paralysis, while pathological changes consist of inflammatory demyelination. In both models there is a genetic influence on susceptibility/resistance to the development of disease. This has been thoroughly studied in TMEV infection, and it has been found to depend on both major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and non‐MHC genes. At least four genes have been so far identified. Because of this genetic influence, some strains of mice are more susceptible to both clinical and pathological changes than others, and susceptibility appears to best correlate with the ability of a certain murine strain to develop a delayed‐type hypersensitivity (DTH) response to viral antigens. We have also observed that even among mice which are equally susceptible clinically, striking differences may be seen under pathological examination. These consist of different gradients of severity of inflammation, particularly in regards to the macrophage component. There is an inverse relationship between the number of macrophages, and their length of stay in the CNS, and the ability of mice to remyelinate their lesions. The most severe lesions are in SJL/J mice, and remyelination in this strain is extremely poor. The least severe lesions in terms of macrophage invasion are in strains such as NZW and RIIIS/J, and these are able to remyelinate lesions very successfully. Murine chronic relapsing EAE (CR‐EAE) shows pathological changes in many ways similar to those in TMEV‐infected SJL/J mice, although less severe in terms of degrees of macrophage infiltration and tissue destruction. Mice with CR‐EAE have a correspondingly limited ability to remyelinate their lesions. In both models the pathology appears to be mediated through a DTH response. However, while in EAE the DTH response is clearly against neuroantigens, the response in TMEV infection is against the virus itself. The end result in both models would be that of myelin destruction through a lymphotoxincytokine‐mediated mechanism. The importance of the DTH response in both models is well illustrated by the effects of tolerance induction in EAE and TMEV infection to neuroantigens and virus, respectively. These are important models of human MS, since the current hypothesis is that a viral infection early in life, on the appropriate genetic background, may trigger a secondary misdirected immune response which could be directed either against myelin antigens and/or possible persistent virus(es). © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Human Parvovirus B19 Infection in Blood Donors

Using an immunodiffusion assay, we tested all of the blood units donated at the Fukuoka Red Cross Blood Center from June 1991 to July 1994 for B19 antigen. Over this 3‐year trial period, we detected 16 viremic cases out of approximately 560,000 blood donors. Interestingly, most of the viremic donors (15 out of 16) were detected between February 1992 and January 1993, which coincided with a local erythemia infectiosum epidemic in the Fukuoka area (December 1991 to August 1992). In particular, we detected 4 cases of viremia in March 1992, which was the peak of the erythema infectiosum epidemic. The incidence of B19 viremia in this peak period was approximately 1/4,000. The viremic donors ranged in age from 17 to 45 years, and most (11/16) were between 31 and 39 years old. By ELISA, using virus particles purified from viremic donor plasma as antigen, we analyzed the prevalence of B19‐specific antibody among blood donors. The antibody‐positive rate was approximately 40% in donors 16–30 years old, gradually increased in middle age, and reached a peak of 92% in donors more than 61 years old.
Rate and power adaptation for physical-layer network coding with M-QAM modulation

Physical-layer network coding (PNC) is an effective strategy for increasing the throughput of wireless networks. In the current literatures, PNC without rate and power adaptation is mainly focused. Realizing that the transmission efficiency can be improved through rate and power adaptation in wireless networks, this paper focuses on developing a rate and power adaptation scheme for PNC. Through formulating how the data rate and transmission power affect the bit error rate (BER) of involved links in PNC, we observe that with a given data rate, the transmission power has to satisfy some constraints. Using these power constraints, we obtain a candidate set of optimal transmission power. By traversing the candidate set and the data rates supported by nodes, a rate and power adaptation scheme is developed. To test its performance, we apply the proposed scheme into an existing PNC-supported MAC protocol. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can improve the throughput and delay performance in various scenarios.
Truth Is at Hand

The accuracy of information obtained in forensic interviews is critically important to credibility in the legal system. Research has shown that the way interviewers frame questions influences the accuracy of witnesses’ reports. A separate body of research has shown that speakers gesture spontaneously when they talk and that these gestures can convey information not found anywhere in the speakers’ words. In our study, which joins these two literatures, we interviewed children about an event that they had witnessed. Our results demonstrate that (a) interviewers’ gestures serve as a source of information (and, at times, misinformation) that can lead witnesses to report incorrect details, and (b) the gestures witnesses spontaneously produce during interviews convey substantive information that is often not conveyed anywhere in their speech, and thus would not appear in written transcripts of the proceedings. These findings underscore the need to attend to, and document, gestures produced in investigative interviews, particularly interviews conducted with children.
Dual-probe 24-hour ambulatory pH monitoring for diagnosis of laryngopharyngeal reflux

Background: Patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease may suffer from a variety of symptoms from the upper aerodigestive tract. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of dual-probe 24-hr pH monitoring in the diagnosis of reflux-related otolaryngological disorders. Methods: Twenty-two patients with symptoms such as chronic cough, globus pharyngeus, heartburn,dysphonia and burning sensation of the tongue underwent a complete ear, nose and throat examination, 24-hr dual-probe pH monitoring, and oesophago-gastro-duodenoscopy. Results: pH monitoring revealed gastroesophageal (distal) reflux in all patients and pharyngeal (proximal) reflux in 21 patients. Treatment consisted of a proton pump inhibitor (esomeprazole). Within 4 weeks 68 per cent of patients had no laryngopharyngeal symptoms; within 8 weeks 95 per cent of patients were symptom-free. Conclusions: Patients with atypical reflux symptoms such as hoarseness, globus sensation or throat-clearing responded well to anti-reflux treatment.
The tyrosine kinase inhibitor AG126 restores receptor signaling and blocks release functions in activated microglia (brain macrophages) by preventing a chronic rise in the intracellular calcium level

We recently reported that lasting activation of mouse microglial cells with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) chronically elevated the basal intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i). This correlated to an attenuated calcium signaling of complement (C5a) and purinergic (UTP) receptors as well as to the capacity for effective production of cytokines–chemokines. Here, we demonstrate that these adjustments in the [Ca2+]i regulation require a critical protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) function – even in varying stimulation scenarios. Changes in basal [Ca2+]i and calcium signaling are not restricted to Gram‐negative bacterial confrontation. Pneumococcal cell wall (PCW) modelling Gram‐positive infection causes virtually the same effects. Moreover, decreases in calcium signaling efficacy are neither associated with altered receptor expression, nor mediated by autocrine loops. Administration of microglial release products, transfer of conditioned supernatant or presence of a radical scavenger during LPS or PCW treatments have no consequence. However, both the elevation in basal [Ca2+]i as well as the suppression of C5a‐ and UTP‐evoked calcium signals are selectively and dose‐dependently reversed by tyrphostin AG126, a PTK inhibitor that, moreover, blocks inducible nitric oxide and cytokine–chemokine release. The findings suggest that the AG126‐sensitive PTK critically controls both sensory and executive features of the microglial activation process via sustained up‐regulation of basal [Ca2+]i.
Pressure-induced structural transformations in Si nanocrystals: Surface and shape effects.

The kinetics of solid-solid phase transitions are explored using pressure-induced structural transformations in Si nanocrystals. In agreement with the predictions of homogeneous deformation theories, large elevations in phase transition pressure are observed in nanocrystals as compared to bulk Si, and high pressure x-ray diffraction peak widths indicate an overall change in nanocrystal shape upon transformation. In addition, unlike the BC8 phase recovered in bulk Si, amorphous Si nanoclusters are obtained upon release of pressure, providing an example of kinetic size control over solid phases. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society. }
Private vs . Public Strategies in a Voluntary Contributions Mechanism November 10 , 2010

Can more information on others’ strategies increase voluntary contributions to public goods? This paper addresses this question in a public goods experiment where subjects submit partially-binding strategies for what they will contribute in the next period depending on what others contribute in the current period. In one treatment, these strategies are kept private, while in another they are publicly displayed to the other group members. Results show that when strategies are elicited but kept private, people contribute significantly more in early periods, but contributions decline over time. When strategies are made public, contributions start low but increase over time as subjects learn to strategically contribute when others are reciprocal. This study has policy implications for a wide range of public issues, ranging from climate change mitigation, to fisheries management, to local recycling efforts. Sean D’Evelyn* University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa E-mail: sdevelyn@hawaii.edu *The author thanks Katerina Sherstyuk, John Lynham, Gary Charness, Timothy Cason, Anthony Kwasnica, Lata Gangadharan, Andreas Leibbrandt, and the members of his dissertation committee for their helpful comments and suggestions. All mistakes are the sole responsibility of the author. The University of Hawai‘i College of Arts and Sciences Student Research Award is gratefully acknowledged for funding the experiment.