Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mediation by nitric oxide of TRH‐, but not metoclopramidestimulated TSH secretion in humans

&NA; In order to establish whether nitric oxide (NO) participates in the regulation of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) secretion in humans, seven normal men were treated with a placebo (normal saline) or the NO synthase inhibitor l‐NAME, given at doses (40 &mgr;g kg‐1 injected plus 50 &mgr;g kg‐1 infused i.v.) previously found to be unable to change blood pressure. Experiments were carried out either in basal conditions or during stimulation of TSH secretion with an i.v. injection of 200 &mgr;g thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) or 10 mg of the dopaminergic antagonist metoclopramide (MCP). Administration of l‐NAME did not change the basal secretion of TSH or the TSH response to MCP, but significantly reduced the TSH increase induced by TRH. These data fail to provide evidence of NO involvement in regulation of basal TSH secretion. NO also appears to be without effects on the dopaminergic control of TSH secretion. In contrast, the inhibitory effect of l‐NAME on TRH‐induced TSH secretion suggests the mediation by NO of the TSH‐releasing action of TRH.
Building ICU artifact detection models with more data in less time

As many as 86% of intensive care unit (ICU) alarms are false. Multiple signal integration of temporal monitor data by decision tree induction may improve artifact detection. We explore the effect of data granularity on model-building by comparing models made from 1-second versus 1-minute data. Models developed from 1-minute data remained effective when tested on 1-second data. Model development using 1-minute data means that more hours of ICU monitoring (including more artifacts) can be processed in less time. Compression of temporal data by arithmetic mean, therefore, can be an effective method for decreasing knowledge discovery processing time without compromising learning.
Low-Complexity Sphere Decoding Detector for Generalized Spatial Modulation Systems

This letter presents a sphere decoding strategy for generalized spatial modulation (GSM) systems. The proposed modifications reduce the exhaustive tree search for lattice points and exploits the structure of GSM, restraining the tree branches to those that result in valid antenna combinations. As a result, every found lattice point results in valid GSM transmitted symbols. The numerical results exhibit significant complexity reduction.
Les étudiants de la faculté de médecine dentaire au Maroc sont-ils motivés?

Contexte : La motivation est une composante importante de l’apprentissage et de la performance. Il est important de la quantifier et de mesurer son evolution dans un parcours de formation long. Peu d’etudes ont ete realisees dans le domaine de la medecine dentaire. But : Mesurer et comparer le degre de motivation des etudiants de la faculte de medecine dentaire au debut et en fin de formation. Methodes : Etude transversale realisee en 2011 a la faculte de medecine dentaire de Casablanca. Un questionnaire anonyme, comportant les variables sociodemographiques et une echelle pour mesurer le degre de motivation (SMMS), a ete distribue a l’ensemble des etudiants de premiere et cinquieme annees. Le calcul des scores etait realise par la somme des reponses aux items. Le score minimum est de 15 correspondants a l’absence de motivation et le score maximum est de 75 correspondants a une grande motivation. Resultats : Au total, 105 et 85 etudiants en 1ere et 5eme annee respectivement avaient participe a l’etude. La fiabilite interne de l’echelle etait bonne (α = 0,75). Les etudiants etaient moderement motives avec un score SMMS de 48,1 avec IC95 (46,9–49,3). Les etudiants de premiere annee etaient significativement plus motives que ceux de la cinquieme annee (moyenne du score SMMS de 51,2 (ET = 7,3) versus 44,1 (ET = 7,81), p < 10-4). Apres stratification sur l’annee d’etude, les etudiantes de sexe feminin etaient plus motivees que les garcons en premiere annee. Conclusion : Le degre de motivation des etudiants en fin de formation etait plus faible que celui des etudiants en premiere annee, d’ou la necessite de renforcer la motivation de ces etudiants.
Osmotic adjustment, symplast volume, and nonstomatally mediated water stress inhibition of photosynthesis in wheat.

At low water potential (psi(w)), dehydration reduces the symplast volume of leaf tissue. The effect of this reduction on photosynthetic capacity was investigated. The influence of osmotic adjustment on this relationship was also examined. To examine these relationships, comparative studies were undertaken on two wheat cultivars, one that osmotically adjusts in response to water deficits (;Condor'), and one that lacks this capacity (;Capelle Desprez'). During a 9-day stress cycle, when water was withheld from plants grown in a growth chamber, the relative water content of leaves declined by 30% in both cultivars. Leaf osmotic potential (psi(s)) declined to a greater degree in Condor plants. Measuring psi(s) at full turgor indicated that osmotic adjustment occurred in stressed Condor, but not in Capelle plants. Two methods were used to examine the degree of symplast (i.e. protoplast) volume reduction in tissue rapidly equilibrated to increasingly low psi(w). Both techniques gave similar results. With well-watered plants, symplast volume reduction from the maximum (found at high psi(w) for each cultivar) was the same for Condor and Capelle. After a stress cycle, volume was maintained to a greater degree at low psi(w) in Condor leaf tissue than in Capelle. Nonstomatally controlled photosynthesis was inhibited to the same degree at low psi(w) in leaf tissue prepared from well-watered Condor and Capelle plants. However, photosynthetic capacity was maintained to a greater degree at low psi(w) in tissue prepared from stressed Condor plants than in tissue from stressed Capelle plants. Net CO(2) uptake in attached leaves was monitored using an infrared gas analyzer. These studies indicated that in water stressed plants, photosynthesis was 106.5% higher in Condor than Capelle at ambient [CO(2)] and 21.8% higher at elevated external [CO(2)]. The results presented in this report were interpreted as consistent with the hypothesis that there is a causal association between protoplast (and presumably chloroplast) volume reduction at low psi(w) and low psi(w) inhibition of photosynthesis. Also, the data indicate that osmotic adjustment allows for maintenance of relatively greater volume at low psi(w), thus reducing low psi(w) inhibition of chloroplast photosynthetic potential.
Altered Skin Integrity in Children Admitted to a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

As part of a quality improvement study, the incidence and severity of altered skin integrity in a tertiary pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) were investigated in an attempt to identify contributing risk factors. Demographic, severity of illness, and practice variables were collected on 271 of 357 admissions during an 18-week period. Data were analyzed from the date of PICU admission until a change in skin integrity occurred or until PICU discharge. Altered skin integrity occurred in 26 percent of admissions; 7 percent of the cases had skin breakdown. By multivariate analysis, only the Pediatric Risk of Mortality Score and white race were associated with altered skin integrity.
Palladin expression is a conserved characteristic of the desmoplastic tumor microenvironment and contributes to altered gene expression

The stroma surrounding solid tumors contributes in complex ways to tumor progression. Cancer‐associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the predominant cell type in the tumor stroma. Previous studies have shown that the actin‐binding protein palladin is highly expressed in the stroma of pancreas tumors, but the interpretation of these results is complicated by the fact that palladin exists as multiple isoforms. In the current study, the expression and localization of palladin isoform 4 was examined in normal specimens and adenocarcinomas of human pancreas, lung, colon, and stomach samples. Immunohistochemistry with isoform‐selective antibodies revealed that expression of palladin isoform 4 was higher in adenocarcinomas versus normal tissues, and highest in CAFs. Immunohistochemistry staining revealed that palladin was present in both the cytoplasm and the nucleus of CAFs, and this was confirmed using immunofluorescence staining and subcellular fractionation of a pancreatic CAF cell line. To investigate the functional significance of nuclear palladin, RNA Seq analysis of palladin knockdown CAFs versus control CAFs was performed, and the results showed that palladin regulates the expression of genes involved in the biosynthesis and assembly of collagen, and organization of the extracellular matrix. These results suggested that palladin isoform 4 may play a conserved role in establishing the phenotype of CAFs in multiple tumor types. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Plann: A command-line application for annotating plastome sequences1

Premise of the study: Plann automates the process of annotating a plastome sequence in GenBank format for either downstream processing or for GenBank submission by annotating a new plastome based on a similar, well-annotated plastome. Methods and Results: Plann is a Perl script to be executed on the command line. Plann compares a new plastome sequence to the features annotated in a reference plastome and then shifts the intervals of any matching features to the locations in the new plastome. Plann's output can be used in the National Center for Biotechnology Information's tbl2asn to create a Sequin file for GenBank submission. Conclusions: Unlike Web-based annotation packages, Plann is a locally executable script that will accurately annotate a plastome sequence to a locally specified reference plastome. Because it executes from the command line, it is ready to use in other software pipelines and can be easily rerun as a draft plastome is improved.
Probenecid inhibition of the renal excretion of dyphylline in chicken, rat and man

The effect of probenecid on the renal excretion of dyphylline was studied in chicken, rat and man. Dyphylline was found to be actively excreted when measured by the Sperber preparation in hens, the isolated perfused kidney of the rat and clearance studies in man. In each study probenecid significantly decreased dyphylline excretion demonstrating that dyphylline occupied the renal organic anion transport system. This same drug interaction, at the level of the renal excretory system, in these three species occurred at comparable concentrations of dyphylline and probenecid.
Key to Syagrus identification using leaflet margin anatomy: Supplement to “A revision of Syagrus (Arecaceae)”

Abstract Presented here is an alternative method of identification for species of the Neotropical palm genus Syagrus. It makes use of anatomical characters found in the leaflet margins and can be used for identification when few other vegetative or reproductive morphological characters are available. This anatomical study demonstrates the vast diversity found in a single palm genus and may also help to gain understanding of some possible relationships within the genus.
The hypnozoite and malarial relapse.

As described above, perhaps the most compelling arguments against the cyclic schizogony (Shortt-Garnham) hypothesis of malarial relapse have been (1) its inability to explain the disparate relapse patterns of P. vivax strains as they occur in nature, and (2) the dearth of concrete evidence for its support. The hypnozoite theory, in contrast, both provides an explanation for the variety of observed relapse patterns, and has direct morphologic and time-related, quantitative evidence for its support. Moreover, it provides a potential, unifying framework for the development of relapsing malaria from the time of introduction of sporozoites onward, taking as controlling factors, both the survival of the parasite and ecological interactions within its natural environment. It also suggests the possibility of an improved taxonomic classification, one based on whether or not the hypnozoite stage exists in a given species. Finally, Figure 6 presents a composite of relapse data pertinent to a number of strain groups of P. vivax, in comparison with a generalized, nonrelapsing species, schematically depicted within the framework of the hypnozoite theory. Thus, no hypnozoites are shown to result from sporozoites of the nonrelapsing species at one extreme, whereas no sporozoites undergoing immediate schizogony (i.e. without dormancy) are found at the other, the "lost" P. vivax strain of Nicolaiev. In between, varying proportions of sporozoites are depicted as producing hypnozoites, which exhibit varying periods of dormancy, ranging from less than 1 month (within the wide complement of the "tropical" strains) to approximately 21 months or more for the "northern" strains, before activation to schizogony and resultant relapse at the observed intervals. Although the actual proportions of each sporozoite/hypnozoite type within the strains depicted are unknown, a single, successful sporozoite can yield a parasitemic relapse--their distribution among the major strain groupings appears reasonably distinct, and, to some extent, defines each grouping. The sequences of sporozoite to pre-erythrocytic schizont, to merozoite release, to erythrocyte, as seen in nonrelapsing malarias and early primary parasitemias, versus sporozoite to hypnozoite, to pre-erythrocytic schizont, to erythrocyte, as seen in relapses, are easily inferred from this summary of observed relapses. It is difficult to see how these observed phenomena can be satisfactorily explained by a cyclic schizogony mechanism. It must be emphasized, nevertheless, that additional work with other relapsing and nonrelapsing species is necessary in order to establish the concept fully, and to determine the molecular mechanisms for dormancy and activation of hypnozoites. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Emerging roles of PtdIns(4,5)P2 – beyond the plasma membrane

ABSTRACT Phosphoinositides are a collection of lipid messengers that regulate most subcellular processes. Amongst the seven phosphoinositide species, the roles for phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate [PtdIns(4,5)P2] at the plasma membrane, such as in endocytosis, exocytosis, actin polymerization and focal adhesion assembly, have been extensively studied. Recent studies have argued for the existence of PtdIns(4,5)P2 at multiple intracellular compartments, including the nucleus, endosomes, lysosomes, autolysosomes, autophagic precursor membranes, ER, mitochondria and the Golgi complex. Although the generation, regulation and functions of PtdIns(4,5)P2 are less well-defined in most other intracellular compartments, accumulating evidence demonstrates crucial roles for PtdIns(4,5)P2 in endolysosomal trafficking, endosomal recycling, as well as autophagosomal pathways, which are the focus of this Commentary. We summarize and discuss how phosphatidylinositol phosphate kinases, PtdIns(4,5)P2 and PtdIns(4,5)P2-effectors regulate these intracellular protein and membrane trafficking events. Summary: In this Commentary, we review current evidence supporting intracellular PtdIns(4,5)P2 signaling, with a focus on PtdIns(4,5)P2 regulation of endolysosomal trafficking and protein recycling, as well as autophagic membrane trafficking.
Synergistic Effects on Crystalline Cellulose Degradation between Cellulosomal Cellulases from Clostridium cellulovorans

ABSTRACT Clostridium cellulovorans produces a multienzyme cellulose-degrading complex called the cellulosome. In this study, we determined the synergistic effects on crystalline cellulose degradation by three different recombinant cellulosomes containing either endoglucanase EngE, endoglucanase EngH, or exoglucanase ExgS bound to mini-CbpA, a part of scaffolding protein CbpA. EngE, EngH, and ExgS are classified into the glycosyl hydrolase families 5, 9, and 48, respectively. The assembly of ExgS and EngH with mini-CbpA increased the activity against insoluble cellulose 1.5- to 3-fold, although no effects on activity against soluble cellulose were observed. These results indicated that mini-CbpA could help cellulase components degrade insoluble cellulose but not soluble cellulose. The mixture of the cellulosomes containing ExgS and EngH showed higher activity and synergy degrees than the other cellulosome mixtures, indicating the synergistic effect between EngH and ExgS was the most dominant effect among the three mixtures for crystalline cellulose degradation. Reactions were also performed by adding different cellulosomes in a sequential manner. When ExgS was used for the initial reaction followed by EngE and EngH, almost no synergistic effect was observed. On the other hand, when EngE or EngH was used for the first reaction followed by ExgS, synergistic effects were observed. These results indicated that the initial reactions by EngH and/or EngE promoted cellulose degradation by ExgS.
The Timing of Neuronal Development in Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis

The granule cell layer (GCL) of the adult dentate gyrus (DG) is a heterogeneous structure formed by neurons of different ages because a significant proportion of neurons continues to be generated throughout life. The subgranular zone of the DG contains neural progenitor cells (NPCs) that divide, differentiate, and migrate to produce functional dentate granule cells (DGCs) that become incorporated into the existing hippocampal circuitry. New available tools to identify adult-born neurons in live and fixed brain sections have allowed the transition from NPC to functional neuron to be characterized in great detail. Maturation of the neuronal phenotype includes changes in membrane excitability and morphology as well as the establishment of appropriate connectivity within the existing circuits, a process that lasts several weeks. The events leading to neuronal maturation share many of the features of the developing brain, and electrical activity is emerging as a key modulator of neuronal development in the adult DG. The underlying mechanisms are now beginning to be understood.
Prevalence of substance use by pharmacists and other health professionals.

OBJECTIVES To assess substance use, misuse, and abuse rates across a representative sample of dentists, nurses, pharmacists, and physicians; compare these rates to available general population data; and determine whether pharmacists report disproportionate unauthorized or illicit substance use. DESIGN Cross-sectional, descriptive self-report survey. SETTING A small northeastern state. PARTICIPANTS Stratified random sample of dentists, nurses, pharmacists, and physicians. INTERVENTIONS Mailed 7-page survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Demographic characteristics; lifetime, past-year, and month prevalence of substance use; frequency of use; drug-related dysfunctions; drug misuse; and abuse potential. RESULTS Six contacts with participants in the summer 2002 resulted in a 68.7% response rate. More than one half (58.7%) of pharmacists reported using a nonprescribed drug at least once in their lifetime. Though total illicit drug use rates by pharmacists were not noticeably different from those of other health professional (HP) groups, a greater proportion of pharmacists reported lifetime use of minor opiates, anxiolytics, and stimulants. Past-year prevalence of drug use was highest among pharmacists (12.8%). Except for anxiolytics, past-year prevalence of use of most other medications by pharmacists was slightly greater than prevalence of use rates reported by physicians and more prevalent than use rates reported in the general population. As with the other HP groups, pharmacists reported low levels of substance-associated dysfunctions and potential abuse. CONCLUSION The findings suggest that lifetime nonprescribed drug use by pharmacists does not appear to be disproportionate when compared with other groups of HPs. Specific drug use rates varied across HP groups, possibly suggesting medication access facilitates drug-associated experiences by HPs. Consequently, unauthorized or illicit substance use by HPs, including pharmacists, suggests the need for more intensive educational programs on practitioner impairment.
Regulation of Androgen Receptor-Mediated Transcription by RPB5 Binding Protein URI/RMP

ABSTRACT Androgen receptor (AR)-mediated transcription is modulated by interaction with coregulatory proteins. We demonstrate that the unconventional prefoldin RPB5 interactor (URI) is a new regulator of AR transcription and is critical for antagonist (bicalutamide) action. URI is phosphorylated upon androgen treatment, suggesting communication between the URI and AR signaling pathways. Whereas depletion of URI enhances AR-mediated gene transcription, overexpression of URI suppresses AR transcriptional activation and anchorage-independent prostate cancer cell growth. Repression of AR-mediated transcription is achieved, in part, by URI binding and regulation of androgen receptor trapped clone 27 (Art-27), a previously characterized AR corepressor. Consistent with this idea, genome-wide expression profiling in prostate cancer cells upon depletion of URI or Art-27 reveals substantially overlapping patterns of gene expression. Further, depletion of URI increases the expression of the AR target gene NKX-3.1, decreases the recruitment of Art-27, and increases AR occupancy at the NKX-3.1 promoter. While Art-27 can bind AR directly, URI is bound to chromatin prior to hormone-dependent recruitment of AR, suggesting a role for URI in modulating AR recruitment to target genes.
Focal epithelial hyperplasia (Heck's disease): report of case.

A case of focal epithelial hyperplasia in a black woman is reported. What is believed to be the first case of focal epithelial hyperplasia in a black is reported. The painless lesions appear on the lips, cheeks, tongue, and palate, and the condition is viewed as a benign change of unknown origin.
Referrals and notifications by optometrists within the UK: 1988 survey

In a survey of nearly 75000 eye examinations, 6% of patients were referred to a medical doctor and the doctor was notified in a further 2% of cases. The level of referral was 2% higher than in 1986; 70% of referrals were the result of reminders or periodic attendances, and 80% of those referred were over 40 years of age. The general pattern of referral was broadly in agreement with a survey conducted in 1986 but indicates that some categories of eye conditions are being referred at a higher rate.