Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Progenitor cell populations in the periodontal ligament of mice

Stem cells in a variety of renewal tissues exhibit a slow rate of cell proliferation (Potten et al., 1979). The periodontal ligament of mouse molars was examined for the presence of slowly cycling progenitor cells to provide evidence for the existence of stem cells in this tissue. A pulse injection of 3H‐thymidine was administered and mice were sacrificed between 1 hour and 14 days after injection. Analysis of radioautographs using percentage of labeled cells and grain counts demonstrated that a population of label‐retaining cells within 10 μm of blood vessels traversed the cell cycle more slowly than proliferating cells located greater than 10 μm from blood vessels. These data suggest that there is a slowly dividing population of progenitor cells in paravascular sites in mouse molar periodontal ligament which may be stem cells.
Glucose-Dependent Modulation of Insulin Secretion and Intracellular Calcium Ions by GKA50, a Glucokinase Activator

Because glucokinase is a metabolic sensor involved in the regulated release of insulin, we have investigated the acute actions of novel glucokinase activator compound 50 (GKA50) on islet function. Insulin secretion was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and microfluorimetry with fura-2 was used to examine intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis ([Ca2+]i) in isolated mouse, rat, and human islets of Langerhans and in the MIN6 insulin-secreting mouse cell line. In rodent islets and MIN6 cells, 1 μmol/l GKA50 was found to stimulate insulin secretion and raise [Ca2+]i in the presence of glucose (2–10 mmol/l). Similar effects on insulin release were also seen in isolated human islets. GKA50 (1 μmol/l) caused a leftward shift in the glucose-concentration response profiles, and the half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) values for glucose were shifted by 3 mmol/l in rat islets and ∼10 mmol/l in MIN6 cells. There was no significant effect of GKA50 on the maximal rates of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. In the absence of glucose, GKA50 failed to elevate [Ca2+]i (1 μmol/l GKA50) or to stimulate insulin release (30 nmol/l–10 μmol/l GKA50). At 5 mmol/l glucose, the EC50 for GKA50 in MIN6 cells was ∼0.3 μmol/l. Inhibition of glucokinase with mannoheptulose or 5-thioglucose selectively inhibited the action of GKA50 on insulin release but not the effects of tolbutamide. Similarly, 3-methoxyglucose prevented GKA50-induced rises in [Ca2+]i but not the actions of tolbutamide. Finally, the ATP-sensitive K+ channel agonist diazoxide (200 μmol/l) inhibited GKA50-induced insulin release and its elevation of [Ca2+]i. We show that GKA50 is a glucose-like activator of β-cell metabolism in rodent and human islets and a Ca2+-dependent modulator of insulin secretion.
Bullying Among Lower Secondary School Students in Pattani Province, Southern Thailand

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of physical bullying and to identify a suitable statistical model accounting for risk factors affecting physical bullying among lower secondary school students in Pattani province, southern Thailand. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 244 students aged 12 to 19 years by questionnaire. All participants were interviewed in December 2006 in a neutral location outside the schools. Questions on physical bullying referred to behaviour during both the preceding six months and during the previous month. Pearson’s chi-squared test was used to assess the associations between the outcome and various determinants. Logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for physical bullying. The overall prevalence of physical bullying was found to be 18.5% (95% CI: 13.6-23.4). Gender was not significantly associated with bullying others. The outcome was associated to a statistically significant degree with age group, ethnicity, school type and parental violence. Specifically, the results from this study indicated that students who had experience of parental violence were more likely to be bullies at school.
Functional anatomy of lymph nodes. II. Peripheral lymph‐borne mononuclear cells

In the rabbit a number of large mononuclear cells with ruffled surface membranes travel from the skin and superficial tissues of the leg, via the lymphatics, to the popliteal lymph node: they constitute 40‐50% of the total cell population in the afferent lymph. About 10% of these cells are actively phagocytic when tested in vitro and about 3% are found to contain Langerhans granules.
Does PGD for aneuploidy screening change the selection of embryos derived from testicular sperm extraction in obstructive and non-obstructive azoospermic men?

BACKGROUND An increased incidence of aneuploid embryos has been recently described from azoospermic men. The aim of this study was to assess if embryo selection on day 5, based on morphological criteria, would be different from the selection based on PGD for aneuploidy screening (AS) in couples undergoing ICSI for male azoospermia. METHODS Sixty-two cycles of testicular sperm extraction (TESE)-ICSI with PGD-AS were included in the analysis. Two embryologists, blinded to the PGD-AS results, retrospectively reviewed the available embryology data from day 5 embryos and selected one, two or three embryos to be transferred. These results were compared with the selected embryos based on PGD-AS. RESULTS A total of 39 cycles from non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) and 23 cycles from obstructive azoospermia (OA) were retrospectively analysed. If single embryo transfer (SET) had been performed, in 64.8% of the NOA cycles and 54.5% of the OA cycles, no difference in embryo choice would have occurred compared to PGD-AS and in 10.8 and 36.6% of the cycles, respectively, an aneuploid embryo would have been chosen. If double ET (DET) had been performed, in 72.9% of the NOA cycles and 86.5% of the OA cycles, no difference in embryo choice would have occurred compared to PGD-AS and in 2.7 and 4.5% of the cycles, respectively, an aneuploid embryo would have been chosen. If triple ET (TET) had been performed, the outcome would have been the same as for DET. DISCUSSION Our results suggest that under the terms of an SET policy, the performance of PGD-AS in azoospermia would result in a higher chance of success, as the possibility of selecting a euploid embryo is enhanced.
Taste-masked quinine sulphate pellets: bio-availability in adults and steady-state plasma concentrations in children with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria

Abstract Background: Quinine sulphate (QS), like most other antimalarials, is in tablet form designed for adults. In children, treatment is based on breaking the tablets to adapt the dose to the child's bodyweight. However, poor breakability owing to the tablet design or the absence of a score line can lead to inaccurate dosage. Furthermore, QS is very bitter which reduces its acceptability to children. QS taste-masked pellets have been developed which offer more flexibility in adapting dosage to a child's weight. Aims: To evaluate the oral bio-availability of QS taste-masked pellets in healthy adult volunteers and to determine steady-state plasma concentrations in children aged <5 years with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Methods: Healthy adult volunteers at Kigali University Hospital received a single dose of 600 mg QS as tastemasked pellets or as commercially available tablets. A total of 56 children <5 years with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria were recruited among patients attending Butare University Hospital and nearby health centres and treated with QS taste-masked pellets, 10–12.5 mg/kg every 8 h for 7 days. Quinine steady-state plasma concentrations were assessed on the 4th day of treatment. Results: Following administration of taste-masked pellets to healthy adult volunteers, peak plasma concentration (Cmax) and area-under-the-curve (AUC) (Cmax 4.7 μg.ml−1, AUC0–24 63.5 μg.h.ml−1) were significantly higher (p<0.05) than for tablets (Cmax 3.7 μg.ml−1, AUC0–24 52.4 μg.h.ml−1), but still within the limits reported for quinine. The steady-state concentrations in children were in the therapeutic range for quinine. All the children recovered and completed the 14-day follow-up. Conclusion: QS taste-masked pellets offered the possibility to easily adjust the dose to the bodyweight of the child and can be used as an alternative to dividing tablets.
INDICATIONS OF THE NEUTRON EFFECT CONTRIBUTION IN THE SOLID CANCER DATA OF THE A-BOMB SURVIVORS

Risk estimates for radiation-induced cancer are primarily based on the follow-up of the Japanese A-bomb survivors. Their exposures were due to gamma rays and neutrons, and, currently—with the assumed low RBE = 10 of neutrons and reference to the colon dose—the late radiation effects are almost fully attributed to the gamma rays. Solid cancer risk estimates for different organ sites are assessed here, and an inconspicuous but statistically highly significant trend of larger values is found for the organs closer to the body surface; i.e., the organs with less body shielding and, therefore, with larger neutron dose-fractions. Underestimation of the RBE of neutrons can explain this apparent correlation. The trend of ERR/Gy vs. depth ceases to be statistically significant for RBE values close to 100. The suggestion of high RBE values and the corresponding reduction of gamma-ray risk estimates is found to be in line with log-likelihood computations in terms of AMFIT, which provide for the solid cancer mortality of the A-bomb survivors the minimum deviance for RBE = 100 with a 95% confidence lower limit of 25. The present assessment had to use the data made publicly available by RERF. In this form they contain city-, sex-, age-, and dose-categories, but—instead of a separate neutron-dose category—only the mean neutron dose for each data cell. The tentative conclusions that are here obtained should, therefore, be examined by a more definitive analysis, either in terms of grouped data with a separate classification of neutron doses or, ideally, in terms of person by person calculations to be performed at RERF with individually estimated neutron doses.
Aberrant polyadenylation by a vesicular stomatitis virus mutant is due to an altered L protein

TsG16(I) is a temperature-sensitive mutant of vesicular stomatitis virus, Indiana serotype. Our stocks of this mutant overproduce polyadenylic acid in an in vitro transcription system. The overproduction of polyadenylic acid occurs at all temperatures tested (27, 31, 35, and 39 degrees C) and is apparently not due to an alternation in the N protein-RNA template. To characterize the altered moiety in tsG16(I) responsible for this phenotype, virions were fractionated and the polyadenylation phenotype in homologous and heterologous reconstitution assays was determined. The aberrant polyadenylation phenotype correlated with the presence of ts L protein but not ts NS or ts M protein fractions. Results of experiments in which solubilized tsG16(I) and wild-type virion components were mixed indicated that the altered moiety behaved as if present in stoichiometric amounts relative to active L protein. The effects of raising the temperature from 31 to 39 degrees C in such mixes were as would be predicted upon the assumption that the polyadenylation phenotype was associated with a thermosensitive transcriptase component [the L protein of tsG16(I) is known to be thermosensitive]. We conclude that the data strongly support the hypothesis that L is the altered protein responsible for the aberrant polyadenylation phenotype of tsG16(I).
Structural and functional characterization of the 5 9 region of subgenomic RNA 5 of cucumber mosaic virus

Received 4 February 2008 Accepted 8 March 2008 The uncapped and ORF-less subgenomic RNA5 is produced in subgroup II strains of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), but not in subgroup I strains. Its initiation nucleotide (nt 1903) is in a 21 nt conserved sequence (Box1) that is absent in CMV subgroup I. Putative non-coding RNA structural elements surrounding Box1 in the plus and minus strand were identified in silico and by in vitro RNase probing. Four main stem–loop structures (SLM, SLL, SLK and SLJ) were identified between nt 1887 and 1999 of isolate R-CMV (subgroup II), with notable differences within SLM and SLL between the two strands. Mutation of a stem–loop within SLM, even when the predicted wild-type structure was maintained, showed significant reduction in RNA5 levels in planta. Three mutants containing 3–4 nt substitutions between positions ”39 and +49 showed significantly reduced levels of RNA5, while another similar mutant at positions 80–83 had RNA5 levels comparable to wild-type. Deletion of Box1 resulted in similar levels of RNA3 and 4 as wild-type, while eliminating RNA5. Insertion of Box1 into a subgroup I isolate was not sufficient to produce RNA5. However, in a mutant with an additional 21 nt of R-CMV 39 of Box1 (positions ”1 to +41), low levels of RNA5 were detected. Taken together, these results have identified regions of the viral genome responsible for RNA5 production and in addition provide strong evidence for the existence of newly identified conserved structural elements in the 59 part of the 39 untranslated region.
Clinical metabolic data for type 2 diabetic and obese patients and sedentary control subjects

Gaster, M. , J. Franch, P. Staehr, H. Beck-Nielsen, T. Smith, and H. D. Schrøder. Induction of GLUT-1 protein in adult human skeletal muscle fibers. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 279: E1191–E1195, 2000. —Prompted by our recent observations that GLUT-1 is expressed in fetal muscles, but not in adult muscle fibers, we decided to investigate whether GLUT-1 expression could be reactivated. We studied different stimuli concerning their ability to induce GLUT-1 expression in mature human skeletal muscle fibers. Metabolic stress (obesity, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus), contractile activity (training), and conditions of deand reinnervation (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) could not induce GLUT-1 expression in human muscle fibers. However, regenerating muscle fibers in polymyositis expressed GLUT-1. In contrast to GLUT-1, GLUT-4 was expressed in all investigated muscle fibers. Although the significance of GLUT-1 in adult human muscle fibers appears limited, GLUT-1 may be of importance for the glucose supplies in immature and regenerating muscle.
Modeling Age and Nest‐Specific Survival Using a Hierarchical Bayesian Approach

Summary: Recent studies have shown that grassland birds are declining more rapidly than any other group of terrestrial birds. Current methods of estimating avian age‐specific nest survival rates require knowing the ages of nests, assuming homogeneous nests in terms of nest survival rates, or treating the hazard function as a piecewise step function. In this article, we propose a Bayesian hierarchical model with nest‐specific covariates to estimate age‐specific daily survival probabilities without the above requirements. The model provides a smooth estimate of the nest survival curve and identifies the factors that are related to the nest survival. The model can handle irregular visiting schedules and it has the least restrictive assumptions compared to existing methods. Without assuming proportional hazards, we use a multinomial semiparametric logit model to specify a direct relation between age‐specific nest failure probability and nest‐specific covariates. An intrinsic autoregressive prior is employed for the nest age effect. This nonparametric prior provides a more flexible alternative to the parametric assumptions. The Bayesian computation is efficient because the full conditional posterior distributions either have closed forms or are log concave. We use the method to analyze a Missouri dickcissel dataset and find that (1) nest survival is not homogeneous during the nesting period, and it reaches its lowest at the transition from incubation to nestling; and (2) nest survival is related to grass cover and vegetation height in the study area.
[Sequence tagged sites of AZFc microdeletion in Chinese Han population].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the patterns of azoospermia factor C (AZFc) microdeletion in the Chinese Han population and optimize the selection of the required sequence tagged sites (STSs) of AZF microdeletion in multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). METHODS Nine STSs (sY84, sY86, sY127, sY134, sY152, sY145, sY255, sY254 and sY157) were detected by multiplex polymerase reaction for Y chromosome microdeletion in 164 Chinese Han patients with severe oligozoospermia or non-obstructive azoospermia, and another 105 with normal sperm concentration were included as controls. Meanwhile 180 cases of AZFc microdeletion (absence of sY255 and sY254) from multiple reproductive medical centers were analyzed for sY145, sY152 and sY157. RESULTS Fourteen (8.5%) of the 164 patients with severe oligozoospermia or non-obstructive azoospermia showed AZFc microdeletion (absence of sY255 and sY254). All the 194 patients with the absence of sY255 and sY254 displayed the presence of sY145 and sY152, only 2 of them with sY157 present. Deletion of sY1206 and DAZ3/DAZ4 copies was confirmed in 1 case of severe oligozoospermia with sY157 absent only. CONCLUSION Deletion of sY255 and sY254 as well as sY157 is the most common pattern of AZFc microdeletion in the Chinese Han population. sY145 and sY152 can be omitted in AZFc screening. Absence of sY157 alone may be a new type of partial AZFc microdeletion in the Chinese Han population, and the clinical significance of unique sY157 absent needs to be further explored.
Novel LOVD databases for hereditary breast cancer and colorectal cancer genes in the Chinese population

The Human Variome Project (HVP) is an international consortium of clinicians, geneticists, and researchers from over 30 countries, aiming to facilitate the establishment and maintenance of standards, systems, and infrastructure for the worldwide collection and sharing of all genetic variations effecting human disease. The HVP‐China Node will build new and supplement existing databases of genetic diseases. As the first effort, we have created a novel variant database of BRCA1 and BRCA2, mismatch repair genes (MMR), and APC genes for breast cancer, Lynch syndrome, and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), respectively, in the Chinese population using the Leiden Open Variation Database (LOVD) format. We searched PubMed and some Chinese search engines to collect all the variants of these genes in the Chinese population that have already been detected and reported. There are some differences in the gene variants between the Chinese population and that of other ethnicities. The database is available online at http://www.genomed. org/LOVD/. Our database will appear to users who survey other LOVD databases (e.g., by Google search, or by NCBI GeneTests search). Remote submissions are accepted, and the information is updated monthly. 32:1335–1340, 2011. ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Functional limitations due to fatigue among independently ambulant stroke survivors in Osun, South-Western Nigeria.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Functional limitations in stroke survivors are sometimes associated with fatigue. This study assessed the functional limitations due to fatigue in community-dwelling stroke survivors undergoing physiotherapy. The differences in functional limitations due to fatigue were determined between sexes, stroke types, sides of affectation, age categories and levels of disability. Relationships between functional limitation due to fatigue and these variables were also determined. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study involving 63 stroke survivors (35 male survivors and 28 female survivors) with ages ranging from 45 to 79 years (mean = 53.68 ± 10.95 years). Functional limitation due to fatigue was assessed with the modified fatigue impact scale (MFIS). Modified Rankin scale was used to categorize the disability of the participants. Data were analysed using descriptive (mean, standard deviation, percentage and frequency) and inferential (Mann-Whitney U-test and Spearman correlation analysis) statistics. Significance was set at 0.05 α level. RESULTS/FINDINGS The mean MFIS score was 31.74 ± 12.39. Many participants (58.7%) had moderate functional limitations due to fatigue. The result of Mann-Whitney U-test showed significant difference in functional limitation due to fatigue between participants with slight disability and those with moderate disability (p = 0.000), with participants with moderate disability having higher MFIS scores (more functional limitations). There was also a significant correlation between functional limitation due to fatigue and level of disability (ρ = 0.625, p = 0.000). DISCUSSION Functional limitation due to fatigue occurs frequently in stroke survivors and is related to level of disability. Functional limitations due to fatigue should be assessed frequently in all stroke survivors with varying degrees of disability and the outcome should be considered during rehabilitation and retraining of physical function.
Unambiguous Phosphosite Localization using Electron-Transfer/Higher-Energy Collision Dissociation (EThcD)

We recently introduced a novel scheme combining electron-transfer and higher-energy collision dissociation (termed EThcD), for improved peptide ion fragmentation and identification. We reasoned that phosphosite localization, one of the major hurdles in high-throughput phosphoproteomics, could also highly benefit from the generation of such EThcD spectra. Here, we systematically assessed the impact on phosphosite localization utilizing EThcD in comparison to methods employing either ETD or HCD, respectively, using a defined synthetic phosphopeptide mixture and also using a larger data set of Ti4+-IMAC enriched phosphopeptides from a tryptic human cell line digest. In combination with a modified version of phosphoRS, we observed that in the majority of cases EThcD generated richer and more confidently identified spectra, resulting in superior phosphosite localization scores. Our data demonstrates the distinctive potential of EThcD for PTM localization, also beyond protein phosphorylation.
Constraints on the gamma-ray emission from the cluster-scale AGN outburst in the Hydra A galaxy cluster

Context. In some galaxy clusters, powerful active galactic nuclei (AGN) have blown bubbles with cluster scale extent into the ambient medium. The main pressure support of these bubbles is not known to date, but cosmic rays are a viable possibility. For such a scenario copious gamma-ray emission is expected as a tracer of cosmic rays from these systems. Aims. Hydra A, the closest galaxy cluster hosting a cluster scale AGN outburst, located at a redshift of 0.0538, is investigated for being a gammaray emitter with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) array and the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT). Methods. Data obtained in 20.2 h of dedicated H.E. S.S. observations and 38 months of Fermi-LAT data, gathered by its usual all-sky scanning mode, have been analyzed to search for a gamma-ray signal. Results. No signal has been found in either data set. Upper limits on the gamma-ray flux are derived and are compared to models. These are the first limits on gamma-ray emission ever presented for galaxy clusters hosting cluster scale AGN outbursts. Conclusions. The non-detection of Hydra A in gamma-rays has important implications on the particle populations and physical conditions inside the bubbles in this system. For the case of bubbles mainly supported by hadronic cosmic rays, the most favorable scenario, which involves full mixing between cosmic rays and embedding medium, can be excluded. However, hadronic cosmic rays still remain a viable pressure support agent to sustain the bubbles against the thermal pressure of the ambient medium. The largest population of highly-energetic electrons, which are relevant for inverse-Compton gamma-ray production is found in the youngest inner lobes of Hydra A. The limit on the inverse-Compton gamma-ray flux excludes a magnetic field below half of the equipartition value of 16 μG in the inner lobes.