Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-lasting alterations to DNA methylation and ncRNAs could underlie the effects of fetal alcohol exposure in mice

SUMMARY Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are characterized by life-long changes in gene expression, neurodevelopment and behavior. What mechanisms initiate and maintain these changes are not known, but current research suggests a role for alcohol-induced epigenetic changes. In this study we assessed alterations to adult mouse brain tissue by assaying DNA cytosine methylation and small noncoding RNA (ncRNA) expression, specifically the microRNA (miRNA) and small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) subtypes. We found long-lasting alterations in DNA methylation as a result of fetal alcohol exposure, specifically in the imprinted regions of the genome harboring ncRNAs and sequences interacting with regulatory proteins. A large number of major nodes from the identified networks, such as Pten signaling, contained transcriptional repressor CTCF-binding sites in their promoters, illustrating the functional consequences of alcohol-induced changes to DNA methylation. Next, we assessed ncRNA expression using two independent array platforms and quantitative PCR. The results identified 34 genes that are targeted by the deregulated miRNAs. Of these, four (Pten, Nmnat1, Slitrk2 and Otx2) were viewed as being crucial in the context of FASDs given their roles in the brain. Furthermore, ∼20% of the altered ncRNAs mapped to three imprinted regions (Snrpn-Ube3a, Dlk1-Dio3 and Sfmbt2) that showed differential methylation and have been previously implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders. The findings of this study help to expand on the mechanisms behind the long-lasting changes in the brain transcriptome of FASD individuals. The observed changes could contribute to the initiation and maintenance of the long-lasting effect of alcohol.
Assessing the Impact of Political Scandals on Attitudes toward Democracy: Evidence from Canada's Sponsorship Scandal

Abstract Satisfaction with the workings of democracy seems to have declined in Canada, as it has in other established democracies. Political scandals are one frequently invoked explanation for that shift. But there is substantial scholarly disagreement about whether political scandals undermine democratic satisfaction. This paper uses evidence from a conveniently timed round of the CES (Canadian Election Study) from 2004, as well as the CES panel from 2004 and 2006, to explore this relationship more definitively than is usually possible. The results indicate that the scandal eroded satisfaction with the way democracy works but did not undermine support for democracy more generally. Résumé La satisfaction envers le fonctionnement de la démocratie semble avoir diminué au Canada similairement à ce qu'on observe dans d'autres démocraties établies. Les scandales politiques sont souvent une explication invoquée pour justifier cette situation. Mais il existe un désaccord scientifique substantiel quant à savoir si les scandales politiques sont la cause directe d'une baisse de la satisfaction démocratique. Ce document utilise des questions de l'ÉÉC (Étude électorale canadienne), posées à un moment opportun en 2004, ainsi que la section panel de l'ÉÉC de 2004 à 2006, afin d'explorer directement la relation entre satisfaction démocratique et scandales. Les résultats indiquent que le scandale a effectivement érodé la satisfaction envers le fonctionnement de la démocratie, mais n'a pas semblé affecter le soutien pour les principes démocratiques de base.
Secular trends in risk behaviour of Cape Town grade 8 students.

OBJECTIVE To compare prevalence rates of selected risk behaviours and age of first intercourse of grade 8 students in Cape Town between 1997 and 2004. DESIGN Cross-sectional surveys in 1997 and 2004. Survival analysis was used to estimate the cumulative incidence of first intercourse. The log-rank statistic was used to compare the survival distributions. When comparing data from the two studies we used a logistic regression model with the factors year, race and age group to test the difference in reported risk behaviours between 1997 and 2004 within each gender. SETTING Public high schools in Cape Town. SUBJECTS Multistage cluster samples of 1 437 and 6 266 grade 8 students in 1997 and 2004 respectively. OUTCOME MEASURES Ever having had sexual intercourse; for those that had, whether any method was used to prevent pregnancy or disease at last intercourse, and (if so) what was used; use of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana; violence-related behaviours; and suicidal behaviour. RESULTS There was a significant delay in first intercourse in 2004 compared with 1997. For males, levels of condom use were lower in 2004 than in 1997, while for females levels of injectable contraceptive use were lower. There were significant increases in past month use of cigarettes for males and marijuana for both genders. Rates of perpetration of violence behaviour remained stable or decreased from 1997 to 2004, while the rate of suicidal behaviour for males increased. CONCLUSIONS School-based interventions that address sexual risk behaviours should be expanded to include other risk behaviours.
Familiarity Speeds Up Visual Short-term Memory Consolidation: Electrophysiological Evidence from Contralateral Delay Activities

To test how preexisting long-term memory influences visual STM, this study takes advantage of individual differences in participants' prior familiarity with Pokémon characters and uses an ERP component, the contralateral delay activity (CDA), to assess whether observers' prior stimulus familiarity affects STM consolidation and storage capacity. In two change detection experiments, consolidation speed, as indexed by CDA fractional area latency and/or early-window (500–800 msec) amplitude, was significantly associated with individual differences in Pokémon familiarity. In contrast, the number of remembered Pokémon stimuli, as indexed by Cowan's K and late-window (1500–2000 msec) CDA amplitude, was significantly associated with individual differences in Pokémon familiarity when STM consolidation was incomplete because of a short presentation of Pokémon stimuli (500 msec, Experiment 2), but not when STM consolidation was allowed to complete given sufficient encoding time (1000 msec, Experiment 1). Similar findings were obtained in between-group analyses when participants were separated into high-familiarity and low-familiarity groups based on their Pokémon familiarity ratings. Together, these results suggest that stimulus familiarity, as a proxy for the strength of preexisting long-term memory, primarily speeds up STM consolidation, which may subsequently lead to an increase in the number of remembered stimuli if consolidation is incomplete. These findings thus highlight the importance of research assessing how effects on representations (e.g., STM capacity) are in general related to (or even caused by) effects on processes (e.g., STM consolidation) in cognition.
Vitamin K‐dependent coagulation factors and fibrinogen levels in FFP remain stable upon repeated freezing and thawing

BACKGROUND: FFP is considered adequate for transfusion up to 24 hours after thawing and is currently used most often to replace deficient clotting factors, such as in warfarin overdose. We set to examine the levels of vitamin K‐dependent factors (i.e., prothrombin, FVII, F IX, FX), as well as fibrinogen, upon twice freezing and thawing of FFP. If factor levels in refrozen FFP remain within normal limits, this component can possibly be transfused, thus avoiding wastage of precious blood components.
Anterior Segment Imaging for Iris Melanocytic Tumors

Purpose To determine the role of anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) and other anterior segment imaging techniques (Pentacam, slit-lamp optical coherence tomography [SL-OCT]) for analysis of iris melanocytic tumors and to compare results with clinical features and ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM). Methods Between 2006 and 2009, 61 patients with melanocytic iris tumors were examined using different anterior segment imaging techniques: Pentacam, SL-OCT, AS-OCT, and UBM (50 MHz). Pentacam was performed in 17 patients, SL-OCT in 12, AS-OCT in 46, and UBM in 49. Results The Pentacam images identified the tumor in 3 of 17 patients (18%), SL-OCT in 8 of 12 (67%), and AS-OCT in 44 of 46 (96%). Anterior segment optical coherence tomography results were compared with UBM in 42 patients: in 86% the results were comparable, although AS-OCT visualized a ciliary body extension of iris tumors only in 1 out of 3 cases analyzed. Conclusions Iris melanocytic tumors were located by AS-OCT in 96% of cases and results were comparable to UBM imaging, while both SL-OCT and Pentacam are less reliable for detecting and measuring anterior segment lesions. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography gives precise anterior eye segment diameters, which are useful for the brachytherapy dosage calculation module developed at the Leiden University Medical Center. Therefore, AS-OCT is a reliable, convenient, and noncontact method for detecting and measuring pure iris tumors, but UBM is superior in detecting a ciliary body extension of these tumors.
Effects of piperine on the lipid composition and enzymes of the pyruvate‐malate cycle in the testis of the rat in vivo

Effects of piperine at two oral doses (5 and 10 mg/kg body weight for 30 days) on the lipid composition and some lipogenic enzymes of the rat testis were studied. Piperine treatment depleted the total lipid content which was mainly due to the diminution of the total phospholipid concentration. All the classes of phospholipids were decreased markedly following high dose piperine treatment. In contrast, a marked increase in total cholesterol and cholesterol ester was evident with a concomitant fall in free cholesterol. A similar trend was found for the total glyceride glycerol and its fractions. Total glyceride glycerol and triacyl glycerol showed a significant increase at the expense of diacyl glcyerol in rats treated with the high dose of pipeline. Lipogenic enzymes, malate dehydrogenase (MDH), malic enzyme (ME) and isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH) were inhibited by the high dose and only MDH and ME activities were inhibited by the low dose treatment.
Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids: Biochemical, Nutritional and Epigenetic Properties

Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have effects on diverse physiological processes impacting normal health and chronic diseases, such as the regulation of plasma lipid levels, cardiovascular and immune function, insulin action and neuronal development and visual function. Ingestion of PUFA will lead to their distribution to virtually every cell in the body with effects on membrane composition and function, eicosanoid synthesis, cellular signaling and regulation of gene expression. Cell specific lipid metabolism, as well as the expression of fatty acid-regulated transcription factors, likely play an important role in determining how cells respond to changes in PUFA composition. This review will focus on recent advances on the essentiality of these molecules and on their interplay in cell physiology, leading to new perspective in different therapeutic fields.
The Multiple Correspondence Analysis Method and Brain Functional Connectivity: Its Application to the Study of the Non-linear Relationships of Motor Cortex and Basal Ganglia

The complexity of basal ganglia (BG) interactions is often condensed into simple models mainly based on animal data and that present BG in closed-loop cortico-subcortical circuits of excitatory/inhibitory pathways which analyze the incoming cortical data and return the processed information to the cortex. This study was aimed at identifying functional relationships in the BG motor-loop of 24 healthy-subjects who provided written, informed consent and whose BOLD-activity was recorded by MRI methods. The analysis of the functional interaction between these centers by correlation techniques and multiple linear regression showed non-linear relationships which cannot be suitably addressed with these methods. The multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), an unsupervised multivariable procedure which can identify non-linear interactions, was used to study the functional connectivity of BG when subjects were at rest. Linear methods showed different functional interactions expected according to current BG models. MCA showed additional functional interactions which were not evident when using lineal methods. Seven functional configurations of BG were identified with MCA, two involving the primary motor and somatosensory cortex, one involving the deepest BG (external-internal globus pallidum, subthalamic nucleus and substantia nigral), one with the input-output BG centers (putamen and motor thalamus), two linking the input-output centers with other BG (external pallidum and subthalamic nucleus), and one linking the external pallidum and the substantia nigral. The results provide evidence that the non-linear MCA and linear methods are complementary and should be best used in conjunction to more fully understand the nature of functional connectivity of brain centers.
Identification of a Sibutramine-metabolite in Patient Urine After Intake of a “Pure Herbal” Chinese Slimming Product

A sibutramine-metabolite was identified in a urine sample of a 16-year-old girl by a toxicological screening procedure (gas chromatography mass spectrometry). The patient was brought to hospital because her parents had noticed a conspicuous change in her mood. The girl admitted that she had taken three tablets of amitriptyline during the last four days. In addition, the girl’s mother found a package labelled as ‘‘LiDa Dai Dai Hua Jiao Nang,’’ a weight loss product of Chinese origin. The preparation is offered as a ‘‘pure herbal’’ concentrate, but contains sibutramine in high dosage. It is sold illegally in Germany and many other countries via the internet. Sibutramine, a drug for the pharmacological treatment of obesity, is known to be associated with severe adverse effects.
Notes on the vegetation of amazonia III. The terminology of amazonian forest types subject to inundation

The types of Amazonian forests subject to inundation can be organized into seven categories which are herewith named and described. This classification is intended to set in order the confusion of terminology used in the past. The types are: (1)seasonal várzea—forest flooded by regular annual cycles of white-water rivers; (2)seasonal igapó—forest flooded by regular annual cycles of black- and clear-water rivers; (3) mangrove—forests flooded twice daily by salt-water tides; (4)tidal várzea—forest flooded twice daily by fresh water backed up from tides; (5)floodplain forest—on low lying ground flooded by irregular rainfall, generally in upper reaches of rivers; (6)permanent white- water swamp forest; (7)permanent igapó—black-water forest. The first five types are periodically inundated and the last two are permanently waterlogged. This terminology is closer to that used by lim nologists by restricting the use ofigapó to forest inundated by black and clear water.
Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Patients Report Increased Pain at Five Years Compared With Two Years After Surgical Treatment

Study Design. A multicenter study of changes in Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) outcome measures after surgical treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Objective. To evaluate changes in patient determined outcome measures between 2 and 5 years after AIS surgery. Summary of Background Data. Current surgical procedures have been shown to improve subjective measures in patients with AIS. At 2-year follow-up, AIS patients reported significant improvement in all 4 preoperative domains of the SRS questionnaire. In addition, the major Cobb angle was shown to be negatively correlated with preoperative scores in the pain, general self-image, and general function domains. Five-year SRS scores have not been evaluated previously. Methods. A multicenter, prospectively generated database was used to obtain perioperative, radiographic, and SRS-24 outcomes data. The inclusion criteria were: a diagnosis of AIS, surgical treatment (anterior, posterior, or combined), a comprehensive set of radiographic measures, and completed preoperative, 2-year, and 5-year SRS questionnaires. Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare changes in patient responses for each of the 7 outcome domains. Univariate analysis of variance was used to compare the change in pain score at 5 years to the level of the lowest instrumented vertebrae and surgical approach. A correlation analysis was used to determine the association between changes in any of the radiographic variables and changes in SRS scores. The data were checked for normality and equal variances, and the level of significance was set at P < 0.01. Results. Forty-nine patients (42 women, 7 men; 14.2 ± 2.1 year old; 5.4 ± 0.6 years follow-up) met the inclusion criteria for this study. Thirty-seven of 49 (76%) of these patients underwent an open or thoracoscopic anterior procedure. SRS-24 scores improved significantly in 3 of the 4 preoperative domains at the 2-year visit. At 5 years postop, a statistically significant decrease in the pain score (4.2 ± 0.6 to 3.9 ± 0.9, P = 0.003) and a trend toward worsening scores in 4 other domains was observed; however, Patient Satisfaction scores remained unchanged. Lowest instrumented vertebrae and surgical approach could not be correlated to changes in the pain score. In addition, no correlation was found between changes in any of the 21 radiographic measures evaluated and changes in SRS scores. Conclusion. There was a statistically significant increase in reported pain from 2 to 5 years after surgical treatment; however, the etiology of worsening pain scores could not be elucidated. Given continued patient satisfaction, the clinical relevance of this small reduction remains unknown. Nevertheless, this observation deserves further evaluation and must be considered in relation to the natural history of this disease.
Electrophilic tuning of the chemoprotective natural product sulforaphane

Sulforaphane [1-isothiocyanato-4-(methylsulfinyl)butane], a naturally occurring isothiocyanate derived from cruciferous vegetables, is a highly potent inducer of phase 2 cytoprotective enzymes and can protect against electrophiles including carcinogens, oxidative stress, and inflammation. The mechanism of action of sulforaphane is believed to involve modifications of critical cysteine residues of Keap1, which lead to stabilization of Nrf2 to activate the antioxidant response element of phase 2 enzymes. However, the dithiocarbamate functional group formed by a reversible reaction between isothiocyanate of sulforaphane and sulfhydryl nucleophiles of Keap1 is kinetically labile, and such modification in intact cells has not yet been demonstrated. Here we designed sulforaphane analogs with replacement of the reactive isothiocyanate by the more gentle electrophilic sulfoxythiocarbamate group that also selectively targets cysteine residues in proteins but forms stable thiocarbamate adducts. Twenty-four sulfoxythiocarbamate analogs were synthesized that retain the structural features important for high potency in sulforaphane analogs: the sulfoxide or keto group and its appropriate distance to electrophilic functional group. Evaluation in various cell lines including hepatoma cells, retinal pigment epithelial cells, and keratinocytes as well as in mouse skin shows that these analogs maintain high potency and efficacy for phase 2 enzyme induction as well as the inhibitory effect on lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide formation like sulforaphane. We further show in living cells that a sulfoxythiocarbamate analog can label Keap1 on several key cysteine residues as well as other cellular proteins offering new insights into the mechanism of chemoprotection.
The relationship between population ageing and the economic growth in Asia

Asia has witnessed robust economic growth since the 1960s. Today, emerging markets in Asia have managed to maintain rapid growth even when the world’s main economies suffer from debt and banking crises. However, declining total fertility rate (TFR), increasing life expectancy, continuous change of birth and death patterns, and increasing share of old age population in the age distribution in Asia exert significant pressure on its economies. This paper analyses the relationship between population ageing and economic growth using 7 countries in Asia between 1970 and 2014. The analysis is based on the bound testing approach of co-integration advanced by Pesaran et al (2001). We find a significant negative long run relationship between the old age dependency ratio and economic growth in especially in India and a significant positive long run relationship between youth dependency ratio with economic growth in Japan. This implies that a phase of accelerated ageing to be expected and requires suitable remedial p.
The welfare impact of overseas migration on Philippine households: Analysis using panel data

This study uses a panel of some 8,000 households common to the 2007 and 2008 Annual Poverty Indicators Surveys to examine the economic impact of overseas migration on Philippine households. It finds overseas migration to be an important driving factor for household social mobility in the Philippines. Using panel regression analysis, the study shows households that are able to send members overseas experience a windfall in income transfers, but they also incur losses in domestic wages. This moves them up the income ladder, supports their increased consumption – including spending for education, medical care, real property and equipment, food, clothing and recreation – reduces their poverty, and allows them to increase inter-household transfers.