Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fluoxetine vs. placebo for the treatment of recurrent vasovagal syncope with anxiety sensitivity

Aims The optimal medical therapy of patients with vasovagal syncope (VVS) remains controversial. Fluoxetine is effective against anxiety and panic disorders, while its use has shown promising results for VVS. Anxiety sensitivity is a personality trait observed in a considerable proportion of patients with VVS, associated with predisposition to anxiety and panic disorders. Our aim was to examine whether fluoxetine exerts beneficial effects regarding VVS prevention in the subset of patients with anxiety sensitivity. Methods and results We assessed 106 patients with typical history of recurrent VVS, without other comorbidities, and a diagnostic, positive head-up tilt test. A psychiatric examination ruled out clinical psychiatric disease. Their psychological, stress-related profile was assessed by the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) questionnaire, a 16-item questionnaire, assessing fear of anxiety-related sensations, previously studied in VVS. Patients scoring positive for ASI (n = 60, 57% of the population) were randomized in a 2:1 fashion to receive either 10–40 mg fluoxetine daily (n = 40) or placebo (n = 20), and were followed-up for 1 year. A significant difference was observed between patients receiving fluoxetine and those with placebo, regarding the distribution of syncope-free time during the study (P < 0.05). A significant difference was also observed between the two groups regarding presyncopal events and the total number of patients who experienced syncope or presyncope during follow-up. Conclusion Sensitivity to anxiety is a common personality trait in recurrent VVS. Fluoxetine is superior to placebo against syncope in these patients. This drug may be a first-line pharmacological treatment for this difficult-to-treat group.
Loss of Smad3-Mediated Negative Regulation of Runx2 Activity Leads to an Alteration in Cell Fate Determination

ABSTRACT Runx2 is required for osteoblast differentiation but is expressed in certain nonosteoblastic cells without activating the differentiation process, suggesting that its activity is suppressed through a lineage-specific mechanism. Here we report that primary mouse dermal fibroblasts lacking Smad3 can acquire an osteoblast-like phenotype, including activation of Runx2 activity, expression of osteoblast-specific genes, and calcium deposition. We further show that negative regulation of Runx2 activity by Smad3 in dermal fibroblasts is likely mediated by controlling the expression of Msx2, an antagonist of Runx2 in this cellular context. These data support the presence of a novel mechanism for controlling cell fate determination of mesenchymal lineages by preventing differentiation toward the osteoblastic lineage via negative regulation of Runx2 activity.
Effects of antidepressant drug treatment and psychotherapy on striatal and thalamic dopamine D2/3 receptors in major depressive disorder studied with [11C]raclopride PET

Antidepressant drug treatment and psychotherapy are both effective in treating major depression, but there are no published studies comparing the effects of these two treatments on the dopaminergic neurotransmitter system in major depression. We conducted a randomized comparative study on the effects of fluoxetine medication and short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy on striatal and thalamic dopamine D2/3 receptors in patients with major depression. Duration of the treatment was 4 months, and dopamine D2/3 receptor binding was quantified before and after treatment as the binding potential (BPND) using [11C]raclopride and 3D positron emission tomography. Both treatments were clinically effective in treating major depression, as shown by substantial decreases in symptom ratings. Yet, there were no effects on D2/3 receptor availability in the ventral striatum or other subdivisions of the striatum. Fluoxetine but not psychotherapy increased [11C]raclopride BPND in lateral thalamus (+7.74%, p = 0.002) but this increase was not correlated with clinical improvement. In conclusion, this preliminary study does not support the involvement of ventral dopaminergic neurotransmission in the antidepressant effects of fluoxetine or psychodynamic psychotherapy. The effects of fluoxetine on thalamic dopamine systems need to be further explored.
Troubles somatiques et catastrophes de symbolisation

Pascal Roman, Problemas somáticos y catástrofes de simbolización. A partir de un anclaje en un cuerpo teônco (P. Marty, A. Green, P. C. Racamier, R. Roussillon), permitiendo situar la problemática psicosomática, en la articulación entre cuerpo y psiquis, como testimoniando de un defecto de elaboración de los procedimientos de simbolización, propongo despejar algunos puntos de referenda en clínica proyectiva. En este contexte los protocolos de Rorschach de niños presentando problemas de tipo psicosomático, han permitido poner en evidencia diferentes indicios en el registre de la deconstrucción de los sistemas representatives : se pone en evidencia, de esta manera, una configuración en el seno de esta prueba, de las "catástrofes de la simbolización" propias a la psicodinámica de la problemática psicosomática. Palabras-clave : Psicosomática, Prueba de Rorschach, Simbolización, Yo-piel.
SUMMARY Demonstration of insulin-responsive trafficking of GLUT 4 and vpTR in fibroblasts

An important component of whole body glucose homeostasis is the increased glucose uptake by adipose and muscle cells in response to insulin stimulation. These cells increase glucose uptake in large part by changing the distribution of GLUT4, a glucose transporter isoform. In adipocytes, for example, GLUT4 redistributes from less than 10% on the cell surface to about 50% on the cell surface in response to insulin (Cushman and Wardzala, 1980; Suzuki and Kono, 1980). In both the basal and insulin-stimulated states, GLUT4 continually cycles between the cell surface and intracellular compartments that have not been well characterized. GLUT4 is retained intracellularly in the basal state because the rate of recycling (or exocytosis) to the cell surface is slow compared to the internalization rate. Insulin stimulates translocation primarily by increasing the recycling rate (Jhun et al., 1992; Satoh et al., 1993; Yang and Holman, 1993). The molecular mechanisms that determine the slow recycling rate in the basal state and the insulin-stimulated increase are not understood. GLUT4 is thought to traffic through the general endosomal system, from which it is targeted to a specialized, insulin-regulated retention compartment (reviewed in Czech, 1995; Rea and James, 1997). Although a number of membrane proteins, such as the transferrin receptor (TR), colocalize to some degree with GLUT4, only the insulin-responsive aminopeptidase (IRAP) translocates to a similar extent in response to insulin. IRAP, which was cloned as a protein enriched in GLUT4-containing vesicles (Kandror and Pilch, 1994; Keller et al., 1995), has been shown to have similar trafficking characteristics to GLUT4 (Garza and Birnbaum, 2000; Keller et al., 1995; Malide et al., 1997b; Martin et al., 1997; Ross et al., 1998; Ross t al., 1996; Sumitani et al., 1997). As GLUT4 is almost exclusively expressed in adipose and muscle cells, studies of insulin-regulated trafficking have generally focused on these cell types. IRAP, however, is 4065 Journal of Cell Science 113, 4065-4076 (2000) Printed in Great Britain © The Company of Biologists Limited 2000 JCS1716
Aging and Reproduction in Social Insects – A Mini-Review

Perennial social insects are characterized by the extraordinarily long lifespan of their reproductive females, which may be tens or hundreds of times larger than that of non-social insects of similar body size and also greatly surpasses that of conspecific non-reproductives. Evolutionary theories of aging explain this phenomenon from the low extrinsic mortality queens experience once they have successfully established their colony. The aim of our review is to summarize recent findings on the ultimate and proximate causes of increased queen longevity in social insects, in particular ants and honey bees. While progress is being made in elucidating the interrelations between the vitellogenin, juvenile hormone, fecundity, and senescence, we feel that the explanation for the comparatively short lifespan of queens in multi-queen societies is as yet not satisfactory and needs further attention, both concerning its proximate and ultimate basis.
Metabolism of deoxyribonucleotides. Purification and properties of deoxyguanosine monophosphokinase of calf thymus.

An enzyme which catalyzes transphosphorylation between ATP and dGMP was purified about 1000-fold from calf thymus. ATP and dATP were the only phosphate donors and GMP and dGMP were the only phosphate acceptors in the reaction catalyzed by the purified preparation which was free from nucleoside diphosphokinase activity. Evidence suggesting that dGMP and GMP kinase activities are associated with a single enzyme protein is presented. These two kinase activities were remarkably activated by monovalent alkali metal ions, especially by the potassium ion. Several other properties of the purified enzyme are also described.
HUMORAL IMMUNITY IN PATIENTS WITH TINEA VERSICOLOR

Thirty patients with tinea versicolor (TV) and 30 age/sex‐matched healthy individuals were used to evaluate the anti‐Pityrosporum orbiculare antibodies (anti‐PO) using indirect immunofluorescence. Both serum IgG and IgM type anti‐P. orbiculare existed in both patients and controls. The antibody titers were significantly higher in patients, especially in those with erythematous lesions. Further analysis was performed and discussed in 120 controls at various ages. This investigation supports again that P. orbiculare, either as a pathogen or as a saprophyte, has enough antigenicity to produce specific humoral response in humans. The anti‐P. orbiculare antibodies may perhaps help explain the nonexistence of dermal invasion of this organism in the immunity‐intact host.
The Information-Seeking Problem in Human-Technology Interaction

In the history of information-seeking, the intention of a query and the posed query have some level of distance between them. Because human query-responders are innately connected to times and trends and have the ability to understand natural language and human intention, they have often been the idealistic sources of knowledge-direction. As the quantity of depth of knowledge of humanity grows, technological systems have sought to utilize natural language, both spoken and written, as a format of accepted queries. Modern works seek to improve such systems utilizing distance-metrics of literal queries to understood questions with maps to knowledge-bases. However, these methods do not often take into account the value of information in terms of query interpretation for mapping and as such may have identifiable limitations compared with human responders. In this paper, a model for information value is proposed and existing works in speech and query recognition are discussed relative to their considerations of information value.
Guided Bone Regeneration of an Atrophic Mandible with a Heterologous Bone Block

The aim of this work was to test the effectiveness of using enzymatically deantigenated equine bone block as a scaffold for guided bone regeneration (GBR) during a horizontal augmentation of the lower jaw. A partially edentulous atrophic mandible was augmented using an equine-derived block with an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene membrane. After 8.5 months, two bone core samples were collected at the augmentation site, and implants were placed. A definitive prosthesis delivered 6 months after implant placement provided excellent functional and aesthetic rehabilitation throughout the follow-up period. Histological and histomorphometrical analysis of the biopsies showed newly formed bone to be present and the residual biomaterial was still undergoing remodeling. Comparison of cone beam computed tomography scans taken before augmentation and 26 months later showed maintenance of ridge width and possible corticalization of the vestibular augmented ridge side. The equine-derived bone block placed in accordance with GBR principles provided a successful clinical, radiographic, and histological outcome.
Boswellia serrata gum resin aqueous extract upregulatesBDNF but not CREB expression in adult male rat hippocampus.

BACKGROUND/AIM Boswellia from the family Burseraceae has been proposed for prevention of amnesia; however, the molecular mechanism by which it affects memory is not clear. To reveal the potential molecular mechanism, the effects of boswellia on the expression of two memory related genes, CREB and BDNF, were investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-one male rats were randomly divided into 3 groups (n = 7): the control group received distilled water and the treatment groups received two doses of aqueous extract of Boswellia serrata gum resin (boswellia) (50 and 100 mg/kg) every day for 4 weeks. The animals were tested by the Morris water maze (MWM) and their hippocampus was isolated. Expression of CREB and BDNF genes was analyzed by Q-RT-PCR. RESULTS The MWM test showed improvement in spatial learning and memory in both treatment groups. Gene expression analysis revealed a significant increase in BDNF but not CREB expression in rats treated with both 50 and 100 mg/kg doses in comparison with the control group. CONCLUSION Although boswellia exerts its effects on memory formation at least partly by affecting the expression of BDNF, the results imply that boswellia probably affects memory via another BDNF-related pathway than the BDNF-CREB-BDNF cycle.
Structure of the gene encoding chitinase D of Bacillus circulans WL-12 and possible homology of the enzyme to other prokaryotic chitinases and class III plant chitinases

The gene (chiD) encoding the precursor of chitinase D was found to be located immediately upstream of the chiA gene, encoding chitinase A1, which is a key enzyme in the chitinase system of Bacillus circulans WL-12. Sequencing analysis revealed that the deduced polypeptide encoded by the chiD gene was 488 amino acids long and the distance between the coding regions of the chiA and chiD genes was 103 bp. Remarkable similarity was observed between the N-terminal one-third of chitinase D and the C-terminal one-third of chitinase A1. The N-terminal 47-amino-acid segment (named ND) of chitinase D showed a 61.7% amino acid match with the C-terminal segment (CA) of chitinase A1. The following 95-amino-acid segment (R-D) of chitinase D showed 62.8 and 60.6% amino acid matches, respectively, to the previously reported type III-like repeating units R-1 and R-2 in chitinase A1, which were shown to be homologous to the fibronectin type III sequence. A 73-amino-acid segment (residues 247 to 319) located in the putative activity domain of chitinase D was found to show considerable sequence similarity not only to other bacterial chitinases and class III higher-plant chitinases but also to Streptomyces plicatus endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase H and the Kluyveromyces lactis killer toxin alpha subunit. The evolutionary and functional meanings of these similarities are discussed.
Towards the measurement of Arabic Weblogs credibility automatically

Due to the large amount of information available on the web that is not necessarily true or believable, credibility of web information is becoming an increasingly important area to understand. Recently, most research has been available to develop automatic measures for web information credibility in languages such as Japanese, Germen and English websites. Unfortunately, there is no research for the credibility of Arabic web content. In this paper we will propose a system to measure information credibility of Arabic web content automatically. The focus will be on Weblogs; since they are considered a significant part of the rapid growth of Arabic content on the web.
Parasympathetic failure does not contribute to ocular dryness in primary Sjögren's syndrome

OBJECTIVE To investigate the sympathetic and parasympathetic cardiovascular function in primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and to investigate the possible relation with ocular dryness. METHODS 41 (40 women) patients with primary SS, mean age 50 years (range 20–80) with a mean disease duration of eight years (range 1–30), were studied. In each patient direct arterial blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and respiration were measured continuously for two hours. The function of the autonomic circulatory regulation was evaluated by measuring the heart rate response to deep breathing (6 cycles/min) and by means of the Valsalva manoeuvre and the responses of BP, HR and plasma noradrenaline (norepinephrine) concentrations to a 10 minute 60 degree head up tilt test. Pupillography was done to evaluate ocular autonomic function. RESULTS The HR-Valsalva ratio was abnormal in 24% of the patients, and the HR variability during forced respiration was abnormal in 56% of the patients. The HR responses to both the Valsalva manoeuvre and deep breathing, as indicators of parasympathetic function, were abnormally low in 6 of 41 (15%) patients. In only two patients the decrease in systolic BP in response to the head up tilt test, as indicator of sympathetic function, was more than 20 mm Hg. However, increment of plasma noradrenaline concentration during head up tilt test and the overshoot of BP in phase IV of the Valsalva manoeuvre, as indicators of sympathetic function, were normal in both patients. Thus, no evidence for sympathetic dysfunction was found, whereas evidence for parasympathetic failure occurred sometimes. Autonomic pupillary function in patients with primary SS and healthy controls, as well as the Schirmer test in patients with or without evidence for parasympathetic dysfunction as based on the results of the Valsalva and deep breathing tests, were not significantly different. CONCLUSION Parasympathetic, but not sympathetic dysfunction seems to occur in a subgroup of primary SS. Results show that this does not necessarily contribute to the typical ocular dryness in this condition.
Determination of velocity of tubar transport with dynamic hysterosalpingoscintigraphy

Summary Transport of 99mTc labelled albumin macroaggregates (MAA) can be used as a substitute for assessing transport of spermatozoa within the female genital tract. As yet, the velocity of tubar MAA transport has not been systematically studied in a large group. Dynamic hysterosalpingoscintigraphy (HSS) was performed after intrauterine instillation of 10–20 MBq 99mTc‐MAA in 88 pre‐ovulatory women suffering from infertility. They had to have anatomical patency of both tubes and at least one enlarged follicle. The direction and the latency of transport were evaluated. Forty‐four per cent of patients exhibited MAA transport only to the dominant follicle, 31% to both ovaries and 16% to the contralateral ovary. In 9% no transport was visible. Fifty per cent of all patients studied exhibited MAA transport to the dominant follicle within 30 s, 75% within 20 min. Transport velocity in women having bilateral or ipsilateral transport did not differ significantly. There was no significant correlation between the size of the follicle and transport velocity. We conclude that in the majority of cases MAA transport occurs within 30 s after instillation. The variation in transport time between 30 s and 20 min suggests that dynamic scintigraphy is, in principle, better suited to a refined analysis of tubar function than static HSS.
Improved quantification of left ventricular mass based on endocardial and epicardial surface detection with real time three dimensional echocardiography

Objective: To develop a technique for volumetric analysis of real time three dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) data aimed at quantifying left ventricular (LV) mass and to validate the technique against magnetic resonance (MR) assumed as the reference standard. Design: RT3DE, which has recently become widely available, provides dynamic pyramidal data structures that encompass the entire heart and allows four dimensional assessment of cardiac anatomy and function. However, analysis techniques for the quantification of LV mass from RT3DE data are fundamentally two dimensional, rely on geometric modelling, and do not fully exploit the volumetric information contained in RT3DE datasets. Twenty one patients underwent two dimensional echocardiography (2DE), RT3DE, and cardiac MR. LV mass was measured from 2DE and MR images by conventional techniques. RT3DE data were analysed to semiautomatically detect endocardial and epicardial LV surfaces by the level set approach. From the detected surfaces, LV mass was computed directly in the three dimensional space as voxel counts. Results: RT3DE measurement was feasible in 19 of 21 patients and resulted in higher correlation with MR (r = 0.96) than did 2DE (r = 0.79). RT3DE measurements also had a significantly smaller bias (−2.1 g) and tighter limits of agreement (2SD = ±23 g) with MR than did the 2DE values (bias (2SD) −34.9 (50) g). Additionally, interobserver variability of RT3DE (12.5%) was significantly lower than that of 2DE (24.1%). Conclusions: Direct three dimensional model independent LV mass measurement from RT3DE images is feasible in the clinical setting and provides fast and accurate assessment of LV mass, superior to the two dimensional analysis techniques.
Cytochrome b5 and NADH cytochrome b5 reductase: genotype–phenotype correlations for hydroxylamine reduction

Objectives NADH cytochrome b5 reductase (b5R) and cytochrome b5 (b5) catalyze the reduction of sulfamethoxazole hydroxylamine (SMX-HA), which can contribute to sulfonamide hypersensitivity, to the parent drug sulfamethoxazole. Variability in hydroxylamine reduction could thus play a role in adverse drug reactions. The aim of this study was to characterize variability in SMX-HA reduction in 111 human livers, and investigate its association with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in b5 and b5R cDNA. Methods Liver microsomes were assayed for SMX-HA reduction activity, and b5 and b5R expression was semiquantified by immunoblotting. The coding regions of the b5 (CYB5A) and b5R (CYB5R3) genes were resequenced. Results Hepatic SMX-HA reduction displayed a 19-fold range of individual variability (0.06–1.11 nmol/min/mg protein), and a 17-fold range in efficiency (Vmax/Km) among outliers. SMX-HA reduction was positively correlated with b5 and b5R protein content (P<0.0001, r=0.42; P=0.01, r=0.23, respectively), and expression of both proteins correlated with one another (P<0.0001; r=0.74). A novel cSNP in CYB5A (S5A) was associated with very low activity and protein expression. Two novel CYB5R3 SNPs, R59H and R297H, displayed atypical SMX-HA reduction kinetics and decreased SMX-HA reduction efficiency. Conclusion These studies indicate that although novel cSNPs in CYB5A and CYB5R3 are associated with significantly altered protein expression and/or hydroxylamine reduction activities, these low-frequency cSNPs seem to only minimally impact overall observed phenotypic variability. Work is underway to characterize polymorphisms in other regions of these genes to further account for individual variability in hydroxylamine reduction.