Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HLA-Cw6 and HLA-DRB1*07 together are associated with less severe joint disease in psoriatic arthritis

Background: Human leucocyte antigen (HLA) genes predict disease severity in psoriasis (HLA-Cw6) and rheumatoid arthritis (shared epitope (SE)), but the situation is unclear for psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Aim: To determine the association of the HLA-Cw6 and HLA-DRB1 gene with disease severity in a large UK cohort with PsA. Methods: Genotyping of the HLA-Cw and HLA-DRB1 loci was undertaken in DNA samples from patients with PsA (n = 480). Stratification and regression analysis were used within the PsA cases to determine whether HLA-Cw6, HLA-DRB1 or the presence of the SE alleles predicted disease severity as measured by the Health Assessment Questionnaire score, the total number of damaged or involved joints adjusted for disease duration and disease-modifying antirheumatic treatments. Results:HLA-Cw6 was found to be in linkage disequilibrium with HLA-DRB1*07 (r2 = 0.46). Patients with PsA who carried both HLA-Cw6 and HLA-DRB1*07 had fewer damaged or involved joints (41% fewer damaged (95% CI 23% to 55%, p = 0.02) and 31% fewer involved joints (95% CI 16% to 44%, p<0.001)) compared with those who carried neither HLA-Cw6 nor HLA-DRB1*07 alleles. Those who carried either HLA-Cw6 or HLA-DRB1*07 alleles alone had no evidence of a reduction in joint involvement. The SE, HLA-DRB1*03 and HLA-DRB1*04 alleles did not predict severity using these outcome measures. Conclusion: Patients with PsA carrying both HLA-Cw6 and HLA-DRB1*07 alleles have a less severe course of arthritis. This suggests that a protective locus lies on a haplotype marked by these alleles. No association was detected with disease severity and SE status.
Comparing a High-Dose Dipyridamole SPECT Imaging Protocol with Dobutamine and Exercise Stress Testing Protocols

Objective. To determine the safety, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of high-dose dipyridamole compared with treadmill and dobutamine stress imaging protocols. Background. Nuclear imaging studies using standard dose dipyridamole provide similar results to those obtained when treadmill stress is used. Recently dobutamine tomography and planar imaging with high-dose dipyridamole have been shown to improve nuclear imaging results. Methods. One hundred fifty-nine patients were imaged with thallium, teboroxime, or sestamibi per standard single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) protocols. Pharmacologic stress was performed in 85 people with the remainder under going exercise testing by Bruce protocol. In this study, 0.852 mg dipyridamole was used per kilogram body weight and was infused over a four-minute period. Results from nuclear imaging were compared with those from coronary arteriograms. Results. The sensitivity and specificity of high-dose dipyridamole was 100% and 88.9%, respectively, which is statistically greater (P < 0.005) than that achieved when patients were stressed by treadmill. Side effects with the higher dose of dipyridamole were easily reversed with aminophylline. The sensitivity and specificity of intravenous dobutamine was 100%, but it was used in a limited number of subjects. When patients were stressed by Bruce protocol the sensitivity was 92.5% and specificity was 42.8%. The differences were not attributable to inadequate exercise duration. Conclusions. High-dose dipyridamole is safe and easily reversed with intravenous aminophylline. The sensitivity and specificity of dipyridamole and dobutamine stress testing were statistically more accurate than results obtained with treadmill protocols when SPECT is used to image the heart. High-dose dipyridamole resulted in greater changes in heart rate and blood pressure response than seen with standard-dose dipyridamole. Associated side effects can be easily reversed with the administration of intravenous aminophylline without significant complications. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of single photon emission computed tomography using high-dose dipyridamole are 100%, 88.9%, and 97.9%, respectively, for the overall presence or absence of disease when compared with coronary arteriography. This is significantly (P < 0.005) greater than that obtained by treadmill nuclear imaging protocols, independent of imaging agent.
The Microstructure of Oviduct in Laying Turkey Hen as Observed by Light and Scanning Electron Microscopies

3 Abstract: In the sexually active bird the oviduct is a tortuous tube extending from the single ovary to the cloaca and occupying a large part of the abdominal cavity. Distinctive structural variation at different levels allows its subdivision into five principle parts as infundibulum, magnum, isthmus, shell gland and vagina. The morphologic characteristics of the oviduct in 8 mature laying turkey was studied by light and scanning electron microscopies. Result revealed that the mucosal membrane of the oviduct possesses the complex luminal folds covered by ciliated columnar epithelium with secretory cells. The infindibulum presented a cranial opening with thin and long fimbriae. The luminal side showed distinct longitudinal primary and secondary folds. In the magnum, the folds were thicker and filled with tubular glands. Its luminal side had longitudinal broad folds. The isthmus is short and had fewer folds. The isthmal folds were less voluminous than in the magnum. A bag shaped uterus showed thin folds. In the luminal side primary folds with discrete secondary folds were seen. The vagina had long transverse luminal folds with no gland and thick muscular tunic. In conclusion the oviduct in laying turkey has morphological similarities with the other species of birds' expect in some few points.
Portfolio selection models: a review and new directions

Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) is based upon the classical Markowitz model which uses variance as a risk measure. A generalisation of this approach leads to mean-risk models, in which a return distribution is characterised by the expected value of return (desired to be large) and a ”risk” value (desired to be kept small). Portfolio choice is made by solving an optimisation problem, in which the portfolio risk is minimised and a desired level of expected return is specified as a constraint. The need to penalise different undesirable aspects of the return distribution led to the proposal of alternative risk measures, notably those penalising only the downside part (adverse) and not the upside (potential). The downside risk considerations constitute the basis of the Post Modern Portfolio Theory (PMPT). Examples of such risk measures are lower partial moments, Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR). We revisit these risk measures and the resulting mean-risk models. We discuss alternative models for portfolio selection, their choice criteria and the evolution of MPT to PMPT which incorporates: utility maximisation and stochastic dominance.
Probabilistic and Fuzzy Arithmetic Approaches for the Treatment of Uncertainties in the Installation of Torpedo Piles

The “torpedo” pile is a foundation system that has been recently considered to anchor mooring lines and risers of floating production systems for offshore oil exploitation. The pile is installed in a free fall operation from a vessel. However, the soil parameters involved in the penetration model of the torpedo pile contain uncertainties that can affect the precision of analysis methods to evaluate its final penetration depth. Therefore, this paper deals with methodologies for the assessment of the sensitivity of the response to the variation of the uncertain parameters and mainly to incorporate into the analysis method techniques for the formal treatment of the uncertainties. Probabilistic and “possibilistic” approaches are considered, involving, respectively, the Monte Carlo method (MC) and concepts of fuzzy arithmetic (FA). The results and performance of both approaches are compared, stressing the ability of the latter approach to efficiently deal with the uncertainties of the model, with outstanding computational efficiency, and therefore, to comprise an effective design tool.
Serum Progesterone Levels as an Aid in the Diagnosis of Ectopic Pregnancy

&NA; Progesterone levels in 29 women with ectopic pregnancies and 20 women with early intrauterine pregnancies were evaluated using a new direct radioimmunoassay that offers results within four hours. Patients with normal intrauterine pregnancies had serum progesterone levels greater than 20 ng/mL (mean = 30.9 ng/mL) while all patients with ectopic pregnancies had progesterone levels less than 15 ng/mL (mean = 5.7 ng/mL). The incorporation of the progesterone assay into the workup of a patient with suspected ectopic pregnancy can be a useful clinical adjunct to the conventional methods of evaluation. (Obstet Gynecol 68:390, 1986)
Automatically determining phishing campaigns using the USCAP methodology

Phishing fraudsters attempt to create an environment which looks and feels like a legitimate institution, while at the same time attempting to bypass filters and suspicions of their targets. This is a difficult compromise for the phishers and presents a weakness in the process of conducting this fraud. In this research, a methodology is presented that looks at the differences that occur between phishing websites from an authorship analysis perspective and is able to determine different phishing campaigns undertaken by phishing groups. The methodology is named USCAP, for Unsupervised SCAP, which builds on the SCAP methodology from supervised authorship and extends it for unsupervised learning problems. The phishing website source code is examined to generate a model that gives the size and scope of each of the recognized phishing campaigns. The USCAP methodology introduces the first time that phishing websites have been clustered by campaign in an automatic and reliable way, compared to previous methods which relied on costly expert analysis of phishing websites. Evaluation of these clusters indicates that each cluster is strongly consistent with a high stability and reliability when analyzed using new information about the attacks, such as the dates that the attack occurred on. The clusters found are indicative of different phishing campaigns, presenting a step towards an automated phishing authorship analysis methodology.
What is the fate of scientific abstracts? The publication rates of abstracts presented at the 7th National Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Objective: Oral and poster presentations held at national and international congresses are recognized as valuable tools for sharing current scientific data and experience among physicians. However, a large proportion of these works fail to be published in scientific journals. We have designed a study to identify the publication rate of presentations held at the 7th National Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2009. Materials and Methods: A systematic search of databases was performed using author names and key words from the abstract title to locate publications in peer-reviewed journals corresponding to the presentations held at the 7th National Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Information regarding mode of presentation, topic, type of affiliation, name and impact factor of the scientific journal, change in author names and time elapsed between presentation and publication were recorded and analyzed statistically. Results: Of 243 abstracts that were presented at the congress, 45 papers (18.5%) were published in international peer-reviewed journals, whereas 39 (16%) were published in national journals. The mean time to publication was 17±2 months for international and 11±4 months for national journals (p=0.102). The international publication rate of oral presentations was significantly higher than that of poster presentations (50% vs. 16.2%; p<0.03). The manuscripts were published in a total of 21 journals, with four journals accounting for 49% of the publications. The comparison of the publication rates of the universities with other institutions has yielded no significant difference. Conclusion: Alltough a significant proportion of the abstracts presented in the 7th National Gynecology and Obstetrics Congress have been succesfully converted to publication overall, only a limited percentage of all abstracts have been published in international peer-reviewed journals. The relatively higher conversion to international publication rate of the oral presentations show that they are of higher interest and clinical relevance.
Management of rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder in patients with Parkinson's disease

Among all of the devastating effects that Parkinson’s disease (PD) has on an individual, sleep dysfunction is one that can have a profound effect on the entire family of the patient. The most potentially destructive of these sleep syndromes being that of Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD). This disorder not only causes sleep impairment to the patient, but can occasionally result in life-threatening injury to the individual or their bed partner. While this condition is manageable with medication, the current treatment of choice is a long-acting benzodiazepine, clonazepam. This drug, while effective in treating RBD, comes with a significant burden of side effects. Patients with neurodegenerative disorders, like PD, are at even higher risk of suffering the negative impacts of this treatment. One potential alternative treatment that has been considered is a supplement of exogenous melatonin, a hormone that plays a role in maintaining one’s circadian rhythm. Several small case studies have shown potential efficacy of this treatment, and with very few side effects. However, this efficacy has not yet been proven by randomized clinical trial. This proposed study will perform a double-blind randomized clinical trial of melatonin vs. placebo in a population of PD patients with RBD. Subjects will be analyzed
Possible deposit of soil dust from the 1930's U.S. dust bowl identified in Greenland ice

We have identified a dust storm deposit in the GISP2 ice core that most likely originated from the Great Plains region of the United States during the 1930's ‘Dust Bowl’ era. These results indicate that the Central U.S. can be a significant source of dust to the Greenland ice sheet, especially when the source area is affected by intense drought conditions.
Most of the patients with suburethral sling failure have tapes located outside the high-pressure zone of the urethra.

OBJECTIVES The high-pressure zone of the urethra (HPZ), which is crucial for the continence mechanism, extends between the point of the maximum urethral closure pressure and the urethral knee, and has been calculated to lie between 53% and 72% of the functional urethral length. According to recent studies the best results of suburethral slings are achieved when tapes are positioned under this zone. The aim of the study was to determine the location of tapes relative to the urethral length in patients seeking help due to recurrent stress urinary incontinence (SUI) following sling procedures. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study group comprised 61 patients suffering from recurrent SUI following suburethral slings performed from 6 months to 5 years earlier Forty-nine (80.3%) women were initially treated with a transobturator sling and 12 (19.7%) with a retropubic procedure. Twenty patients had the original sling performed at our department whereas, the other 41 in other institutions. The position of the tapes was determined at the sagittal plane by 3-D transvaginal ultrasound using a linear transducer The length of the urethra was measured from the bladder neck to the external urethral meatus following the urethral lumen, taking into account its curve. The position of the tapes relative to the percentage of the urethral length was calculated assuming the bladder neck as the proximal end of the urethra. The reference point was set at the midpoint on the tape. RESULTS Only 13 (21.3%) patients had tapes positioned at 50%-75% of the urethral length. In 45 (73.8%) of women examined the tapes were found under proximal half of the urethra and in 3 (4.9%) distally to the 75% of the urethral length. CONCLUSIONS In most patients in whom slings procedures proved unsuccessful the tapes are located under the proximal half of the urethra, that is outside the HPZ The position of a.tape outside the HPZ may be considered as a cause of suburethral sling failure.
G 1 phase-dependent nucleolar accumulation of human histone H 1 x

Background information: H1 histones are a protein family comprising several subtypes. Although specific functions of the individual subtypes could not be determined so far, differential roles are indicated by varied nuclear distributions as well as differential expression patterns of the H1 subtypes. Although the group of replicationdependent H1 subtypes is synthesized during S phase, the replacement H1 subtype, H1◦, is also expressed in a replication-independent manner in non-proliferating cells. Recently we showed, by protein biochemical analysis, that the ubiquitously expressed subtype H1x is enriched in the micrococcal nuclease-resistant part of chromatin and that, although it shares common features with H1◦, its expression is differentially regulated, since, in contrast to H1◦, growth arrest or induction of differentiation did not induce an accumulation of H1x.
Stroop-Like Interference in the Real Animal Size Test and the Pictorial Animal Size Test in 5- to 12-Year-Old Children and Young Adults

This study examined prepotent response inhibition among 653 5- to 12-year-old children and young adults divided into five age groups: forty-six 5- to 6-year-olds, one hundred fifty-eight 7- to 8-year-olds, one hundred ninety-six 9- to 10-year-olds, one hundred eighty-three 11- to 12-year-olds, and 70 young adults (19- to 22-year-olds). Two paper-and-pencil versions of Stroop-like tasks were administered: the Real Animal Size Test and the Pictorial Animal Size Test. In these tests, participants are presented with pictures of animals (large animals such as an elephant, a giraffe, and a whale vs. small animals such as a frog, a bird, and a squirrel) printed as either big or small images that are mismatched with the animal's real size. Participants are required to decide the size of the animals (big vs. small) based on either the size in real life or the size of the picture. The results indicated the following: (a) The Pictorial Animal Size Test elicited robust interference, whereas the Real Animal Size Test elicited no interference; (b) prepotent response inhibition develops markedly in childhood and between children and young adults; and (c) error correction increased rapidly after age 8. The mechanism of interference and the influence of metacognition on prepotent response inhibition are discussed.
Ciprofloxacin therapy for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections or colonizations

Thirty patients were treated for colonization or for skin and soft tissue infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Three treatment regimens were evaluated, each progressively more aggressive. Our regimen was 750 mg of ciprofloxacin twice daily for 5 days, the second regimen was 750 mg of ciprofloxacin twice daily for 10 to 14 days, and the final regimen was 750 mg of ciprofloxacin twice daily plus 300 mg of rifampin twice daily for 21 days. It appears that ciprofloxacin alone produced an initial eradication rate in at least one site in 50% of the patients, regardless of whether the treatment was for 5 or up to 14 days. All of the patients with eradication became recolonized within 1 week posttherapy. When rifampin was combined with ciprofloxacin, the eradication rate was 100% when the isolates were susceptible to both agents, and these patients remained free of methicillin-resistant S. aureus at 1-week and 1-month follow-ups.
Altered glutathione anti-oxidant metabolism during tumor progression in human renal-cell carcinoma.

It has been proposed that oxidative stress develops in tumors, with important consequences for growth and progression. To investigate this hypothesis, we measured low m.w. thiols, disulfides, protein-mixed disulfides and a pool of major anti-oxidant enzymes in renal-cortex as well as renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) specimens at stages I-II and III. Our data showed (i) a significant increase in the levels of total intracellular glutathione at both tumor stages (levels were 2.6-2.8 fold higher than those in the normal renal cortex), (ii) a marked lowering of the GSH/GSSG ratio in stage I-II accompanied by a significant decrease of many GSH-dependent enzymes (i.e., GPX, GST, GGT, GR) and (iii) unchanged GSH/GSSG ratio and GSH-dependent enzyme activity in stage III with respect to normal renal cortex. These results indicate that relevant variations exist in the glutathione antioxidant system in the different stages of RCC and support the hypothesis that oxidative stress plays an important role in RCC growth and progression.
High school rugby players’ understanding of concussion and return to play guidelines

Objective: To document high school players’ understanding and attitudes towards concussion return to play guidelines. Methods: A questionnaire based survey was performed of national high school rugby players as to their knowledge of existing concussion return to play guidelines. Results: A total of 600 male players were surveyed, and 477 responded (response rate 80%). Half (237/477) were aware of concussion guidelines, and 60% (288/477) identified the mandated stand down period that is part of the regulations governing rugby football. Players obtained their information primarily from: teachers/coaches (239 responses), medical personnel (200), and other players (116). Of those players who suspected that they had been concussed (296/477, 62%), only 66 returned to play after medical clearance. Conclusions and implications: This sample of high school players showed a limited knowledge of the concussion guidelines covering their sport, and even when concussed did not follow recommended protocols. This indicates the need for an increased focus on player education.
Risk factors for diabetes mellitus among adult residents of a rural District in Southern Nigeria: Implications for prevention and control

Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus is a non-communicable disease that affects people worldwide and poses major public health and socioeconomic challenges. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional community based survey carried out in Abua, a rural district located in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria among 462 adults recruited through multi-stage sampling. Data was collected using the structured WHO STEPS instrument for Chronic Disease Risk Factor Surveillance. The questionnaire included questions that assessed socio-demographic characteristics, diabetic risk factors, anthropometric measures, and biochemical parameters. Fasting blood glucose and blood pressure was measured using the WHO recommendations. Results: Equal number of males and females aged between 18 and 82 years were recruited. Mean age of 40.4614. 36 years and median age of 38.5 years. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 37 (8.0%), of which 28 (6.1%) were previously diagnosed while 9 (1.9%) were newly diagnosed. Alcohol intake (AOR = 10.69; 95% CI = 2.60-43.87; P = 0.001) physical activity (AOR = 4.78; 95% CI = 1.16-19.65; P = 0.03), diastolic blood pressure (AOR= 32.67; 95% CI = 3.68-289.65; P = 0.002), age and family history of DM showed significant independent association (OR 1.09, 95% CI: 0.000, P < 0.001, OR 0.072, 95% CI: 0.014–0.380, P = 0.007) with diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: Study findings underscore the need for diabetes prevention and control activities that address the four major risk factors identified by WHO. These interventions will positively impact prevalence of diabetes and other NCDs. Intervention strategies should not only target urban populations but also focus on education and health promotion among rural populations in a bid to forestall rising prevalence of diabetes.