Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance of Nutritionally Optimised Millet Porridges as Complementary Food for Children from Low Socio-Economic Status Households in Bujenje County, Western Uganda

Lack of proper complimentary foods continues to be a problem in many parts of the world, especially among low socio-economic status households. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of optimised millet porridges on the nutritional status of moderately malnourished children. The study was a closed cohort study involving 93 moderately wasted children aged 7-36 months and their mothers/caretakers. Thirty two children recruited from Ntooma village centre were fed on traditional millet porridge as the control while 30 from Karongo and 31 from Kiryamyongo village centres were fed on millet porridges optimised with 7% moringa leaf powder and 17% pumpkin flesh powder respectively. Optimised millet porridges were fermented using lactic acid fermentation starter cultures. Anthropometric measurements, dietary assessments and morbidity patterns of children in the study were monitored for 4 months. One way ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) and Chi-square tests were used to analyse the effect of porridges on the nutritional status of children. In all cases a p value of < 0.05 was regarded as significant. All children fed on optimised millet porridges recovered from wasting by the 6th week and being underweight by the 12th week, compared to 26 and 25 percent of children that were still wasted and underweight respectively among those fed on traditional millet porridges. Children fed on traditional millet porridge had their Height for Age (HAZ) scores deteriorate while those on optimised millet porridges had their HAZ scores improved. Diarrhoea incidences were significantly high among children fed on traditional millet porridge (P = 0.006). Fermented moringa and fermented pumpkin millet porridges can therefore be adopted as better options for complementary feeding among low socio-economic status households of Western Uganda.
Efficacy and Safety of Capecitabine and Oxaliplatin (CapOX) as an Adjuvant Therapy in Japanese for Stage II/III Colon Cancer in a Group at High Risk of Recurrence in Retrospective Study

A number of large-scale clinical trials have demonstrated that using a combination of oxaliplatin and fluoropyrimidines as an adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II/III colon cancer improved the prognosis. However, there has only been experience in Japanese patients with using CapOX therapy, in which capecitabine and oxaliplatin are used in combination. Therefore, our objective was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CapOX in Japanese patients as an adjuvant chemotherapy for colon cancer in a single institute retrospective study. The efficacy and safety of CapOX as an adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with stage III colon cancer and stage II patients who had a signature for high risk of recurrence were evaluated in patients who had undergone surgery at our institution between December 1, 2009 and March 31, 2013. Forty-one patients received CapOX therapy during the study period: 23 men and 18 women with median age of 68.0 years (35–79 years). Performance status was 0 for 33 patients, and PS 1 for eight patients. The clinical stages were stage II in 14 patients, stage IIIA in 15 patients, and stage IIIB in 12 patients. The median number of CapOX cycles was eight (two to eight courses). The treatment completion rate was 82.9%. Five-year DFS rates were 63.8%. Five-year OS rates were 71.0%. In terms of adverse events, the serious adverse events of grade 3 or higher seen among all patients were neutropenia in four patients, thrombocytopenia in one patient, and peripheral sensory neuropathy in seven patients. However, hand–foot syndrome, which is characteristic of capecitabine, was not observed. Efficacy and tolerability of CapOX in Japanese patients as an adjuvant chemotherapy after colon cancer surgery was demonstrated.
Approaches to research in the education and learning of adults

With distinctively different traditions of and influences to the academic study of the education and learning of adults in the field over the years, generalizations in narrations of approaches to research or change across Europe are bound to be reductive and flawed. The direction of approaches to research and scholarly activity in Europe have emerged in distinctive ways in different geographical locations. Events and trajectories could perhaps best be traced and characterized for the field through a focus on local histories; pursing the question of the intellectual resources emerging and drawn on at different times and places. Questions for Â‘the fieldÂ’ are then perhaps those over the approaches to research and scholarship that emerge to dominate in differing locations; approaches marginalized in this, the local histories and contestations and struggles for recognition entailed, the limitations and productivities in relation to specific purposes, agendas and concerns and the affordances that emerge with new local developments. This also raises questions about the ability of any Â‘fieldÂ’ to inquire into its direction or engage critically in this. In this issue we have wanted to create space for those in the field to highlight their own trajectories and agendas in research and scholarship and scholarly reflections and deliberation with regard to these sorts of questions. In this Editorial we will introduce five articles that draw on theory and traditions from distinct locations. (DIPF/Orig.)
Acute Toxicity and Behavioural Responses of Labeo rohita (Hamilton) to a Biopesticide "NEEM-ON"

The objective of this study was to determine the toxicity of the neem biopesticide azadirachtin (NEEM-ON, Brand name) on the freshwater fish ‘Labeo rohita’. Fishes were exposed to various concentrations of botanical insecticide azadirachtin for 96 h and the percent mortality was recorded. The 96h LC50 value determined by Finney’s Probit Analysis Method was found to be 42.66 ppm. Behavioural patterns were observed critically during the whole experiment. The test fish exhibited erratic swimming, increased surfacing, decreased rate of opercular movement, reduced agility and inability to maintain normal posture and balance with increasing exposure time.
Ethnobotanical research of medicinal plants in Mihalgazi (Eskişehir, Turkey)

Abstract Context: Human beings have long utilized plants for medicinal purposes. Investigation of these plants has led to the discovery of several modern drugs. Objective: This paper documents and evaluates traditional knowledge on medicinal plants used by the local people of Mihalgazi district of Eskişehir, Turkey. Materials and methods: Six villages of the study area were visited between February 2014 and April 2015 to collect the data. One hundred and eighty-nine informants were interviewed by the survey method and face to face semi-structured interviews. Taxonomic identification, the most commonly used plant parts, preparation and administration methods were evaluated. Ethnomedicinal data were analyzed quantitatively with relative importance (RI) and the informant consensus factor (FIC). Results: This paper reported a total of 52 medicinal plants (37 wild, 15 cultivated) belonging to 34 families. Some uses of 22 plants were not found in the literature and are reported for the first time in this study. Furthermore, one of the plants, Calamagrostis arundinacea (L.) Roth (Poaceae), was reported for the first time as being used within the scope of traditional therapies. Discussion and conclusion: This study recorded traditional knowledge on medicinal plants used in Mihalgazi, Turkey. This paper provides a basis for further investigations to discover efficient pharmaceuticals.
Amino acid dependent control of DNA synthesis in bacteria and vegetative phage.

the effect is due to a constant small turnover of proteins. In the presence of chloramphenicol the degradation would be unimpaired, but since the rebuilding of proteins is stopped, the amino acid pool would be replenished. For this idea experimental evidence is given; indeed they showed that in bacteria which had been starved for the required amino acid, the RNA synthesis initiated by chloramphenicol recovers later than in that case where both an amino acid and chloramphenicol were used. However, in the latter case, a similar but shorter lag was also observed. They showed also that small concentrations of chloramphenicol are not effective to initiate the recovery in absence of the amino acid. In our experiments with vegetative phage DNA, we found no such lag, although the infective cells had been starved for 10-15 min. (We have also observed similar stringency and lack of a lag in phage infected bacteria starved for only 5 min.)
CARBOHYDRATE AND ENERGY METABOLISM IN PERINATAL RAT BRAIN: RELATION TO SURVIVAL IN ANOXIA

The ability of rats of different ages to survive exposure to anoxia was correlated with rates of high energy phosphate consumption (metabolic rates) of the fore‐brain. Fetal rats at term, delivered by hysterotomy following maternal decapitation, survived in nitrogen at 37°C twice as long as 1‐day‐old neo‐nates, 5 times longer than 7‐day‐old rats, and 45 times longer than adults. During ischemia induced by decapitation, the cerebral concentrations of the labile energy reserves (ATP, ADP, P‐creatine, glucose and glycogen) and of lactate were determined in fetuses, 1‐ and 7‐day post‐natal animals. From the changes, the cerebral energy use rates were calculated to be 1·57 mmol/kg/min in fetuses, 1·33 mmol/kg/min in 1‐day‐olds and 2·58 mmol/kg/min in 7‐day‐olds. Maximal rates of lactate accumulation during ischemia, as a measure of glycolytic capacity, were comparable in fetuses and neonates, but were about twice as great in 7‐day‐old rats. It is concluded that in post‐natal animals survival in anoxia and cerebral energy consumption are inversely, and nearly quantitatively, related. However, the reduced cerebral energy requirement cannot entirely account for the greater anoxic resistance of fetuses.
Austerity, Psychology, and the Intelligibility of Nonsense

This paper explores difficulties that resolute readers of the early Wittgenstein face, arising out of what I call the ‘sheer lack’ interpretation of their ‘austere’ conception of nonsense, and the intelligibility of philosophical confusion—there being a sense in which we rightly talk of a ‘grasp’ of philosophical nonsense and indeed of its ‘logic’. Such readers depict philosophical and ‘plain’ nonsense as distinct psychological kinds; but I argue that the ‘intelligibility’ of philosophical confusion remains invisible to the kind of psychology that the ‘sheer lack’ interpretation would make available to Wittgenstein. These concerns relate to well-established worries concerning whether the Tractatus’s ‘ladder’ can be climbed by thinking through arguments—or indeed by thinking full stop—if it is austerely nonsensical. Though I argue that these worries can be met, doing so requires another interpretation of ‘austerity’, which I call the ‘equivocation’ interpretation, and reveals the difference between resolute and non-resolute readings to be less clear cut than has been thought. Key here is the failure of some hard-and-fast distinctions that inform the literature—distinctions shaped by intuitions about mind, meaning, inference, logic, and nonsense—to serve us well.
Pre-breakdown in thin SiO2 films

The on-off fluctuations of the tunnel current in 5.6 nm SiO/sub 2/ films before dielectric breakdown are analyzed in detail. For this purpose, a low noise measurement system has been realized which allows detection of pre-breakdown phenomena and interruption of the stress before catastrophic failure occurs. A spectral analysis of these fluctuations is presented along with preliminary results of the experiments made possible, for the first time, by the new measurement system.
Cognitive behavior therapy augmentation of pharmacotherapy in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: the Pediatric OCD Treatment Study II (POTS II) randomized controlled trial.

CONTEXT The extant literature on the treatment of pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) indicates that partial response to serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) is the norm and that augmentation with short-term OCD-specific cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) may provide additional benefit. OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of augmenting SRIs with CBT or a brief form of CBT, instructions in CBT delivered in the context of medication management. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A 12-week randomized controlled trial conducted at 3 academic medical centers between 2004 and 2009, involving 124 pediatric outpatients between the ages of 7 and 17 years with OCD as a primary diagnosis and a Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale score of 16 or higher despite an adequate SRI trial. INTERVENTIONS Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatment strategies that included 7 sessions over 12 weeks: 42 in the medication management only, 42 in the medication management plus instructions in CBT, and 42 in the medication management plus CBT; the last included 14 concurrent CBT sessions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Whether patients responded positively to treatment by improving their baseline obsessive-compulsive scale score by 30% or more and demonstrating a change in their continuous scores over 12 weeks. RESULTS The medication management plus CBT strategy was superior to the other 2 strategies on all outcome measures. In the primary intention-to-treat analysis, 68.6% (95% CI, 53.9%-83.3%) in the plus CBT group were considered responders, which was significantly better than the 34.0% (95% CI, 18.0%-50.0%) in the plus instructions in CBT group, and 30.0% (95% CI, 14.9%-45.1%) in the medication management only group. The results were similar in pairwise comparisons with the plus CBT strategy being superior to the other 2 strategies (P < .01 for both). The plus instructions in CBT strategy was not statistically superior to medication management only (P = .72). The number needed-to-treat analysis with the plus CBT vs medication management only in order to see 1 additional patient at week 12, on average, was estimated as 3; for the plus CBT vs the plus instructions in CBT strategy, the number needed to treat was also estimated as 3; for the plus instructions in CBT vs medication management only the number needed to treat was estimated as 25. CONCLUSIONS Among patients aged 7 to 17 years with OCD and partial response to SRI use, the addition of CBT to medication management compared with medication management alone resulted in a significantly greater response rate, whereas augmentation of medication management with the addition of instructions in CBT did not. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00074815.
What’s in Your File Folder? Part 2: Epistemology, Logic, and “The Objective”

The author discusses how Rand’s largely underdeveloped concept of the “dual-aspect objective,” first introduced in the 1960s, is vital for understanding how knowledge is grounded in reality. He defines it, then applies it to perception and introspection, and to concepts, propositions, and syllogisms. The author also defines content of awareness, carefully distinguishing it from both object and form of awareness, and applies those distinctions throughout. In addition, he discusses how truth is both dual-aspect and contextual, and he extends his discussion in Part 1 of Rand’s “unit-perspective,” showing how units, too, have a dual-aspect, even on the level of syllogisms.
The GPR17 receptor in NG2 expressing cells: Focus on in vivocell maturation and participation in acute trauma and chronic damage

NG2‐expressing cells comprise a population of cycling precursors that can exit the cell cycle and differentiate into mature oligodendrocytes. As a whole, they display heterogeneous properties and behaviors that remain unresolved at the molecular level, although partly interpretable as distinct maturation stages. To address this issue, we analyzed the expression of the GPR17 receptor, recently shown to decorate NG2‐expressing cells and to operate as an early sensor of brain damage, in immature and adult oligodendrocyte progenitors in the intact brain and after injury. In both the early postnatal and adult cerebral cortex, distinct GPR17 protein localizations and expression levels define different stages of oligodendroglial maturation, ranging from the precursor phase to the premyelinating phenotype. As soon as cells exit mitosis, a fraction of NG2‐expressing cells displays accumulation of GPR17 protein in the Golgi apparatus. GPR17 expression is subsequently upregulated and distributed to processes of cells that stop dividing, progressively lose NG2 positivity and assume premyelinating features. Absence of colabeling with mature markers or myelin proteins indicates that GPR17 is downregulated when cells complete their final maturation. BrdU‐based fate‐mapping demonstrated that a significant fraction of newly generated oligodendrocyte progenitors transiently upregulates GPR17 during maturation. Importantly, we also found that GPR17 does not participate to the early reaction of NG2‐expressing cells to damage, while it is induced at postacute stages after injury. These findings identify GPR17 as a marker for progenitor progression within the oligodendroglial lineage and highlight its participation to postacute reactivity of NG2 cells in different injury paradigms. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Association of Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism with Myocardial Infarction in Greek Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Summary Studies in several populations have indicated that genetic variation at the apolipoprotein E (apoE) structural locus influences the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction (MI). This study aimed at investigating whether apoE polymorphism has an allelic and/or genotypic impact on the risk of MI in Greek patients with CAD. We compared apoE gene polymorphism in a group of patients with angiographically confirmed CAD but not MI [CAD/MI (–)-group, n = 143] and a group of age and sex-matched CAD patients who had experienced a non-fatal MI [CAD/MI (+)-group, n = 124]. The patients were also compared with a group of healthy younger individuals (n = 240) with no family history of CAD. The apoE genotype distribution differed significantly between the two groups of CAD patients (p = 0.02). The ϵ2 allele was 5.3-fold less frequent in the CAD/MI (+)-group compared with the CAD/MI (-)-group (1.2% vs. 6.3%, p = 0.01). The frequency of the ϵ2 allele in healthy subjects was 8.1%, which is 6.8-fold higher than in CAD/MI (+)-patients (p = 0.001) and twice as high compared with all CAD patients (p = 0.02). No differences in ϵ4 allele frequencies were observed between CAD/MI (+)- and CAD/MI (–)-patients (10.9% vs. 9.8%), or between patients with CAD and healthy subjects (10.3% vs. 10.2%). In summary, the ϵ4 allele was not found to be associated with an increased risk for CAD or MI. In contrast, a negative association of the ϵ2 allele with MI was observed among Greek patients with CAD.
Fibrinolytic Proteins and Progression of Coronary Artery Disease in Relation to Gemfibrozil Therapy

Summary Impaired fibrinolytic function, mainly due to increased plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) activity, is common in patients with manifest coronary artery disease (CAD) and a predictor of recurrent cardiovascular events. We investigated the relationships of plasma tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) and PAI-1 antigen levels, plasma PAI-1 activity and PAI 4/5-guanosine (4G/5G) genotype to CAD progression in 203 middle-aged men participating in the Lopid Coronary Angiography Trial (LOCAT). A higher tPA antigen concentration, whether baseline or on-trial, was associated with a more severe global angiographic response (p < 0.05), an association mainly accounted for by progression of diffuse lesions in graft-affected segments (change in per-patient means of average diameters of segments haemodynamically related to bypass grafts). Plasma PAI-1 activity and mass concentration and 4G/5G PAI-1 genotype were unrelated to angiographic outcome measurements. tPA and PAI-1 antigen increased significantly in the gemfibrozil group (+11.3% and + 16.4%, respectively, p < 0.001), whereas there was no treatment effect on PAI-1 activity (median change 0.0%). It is concluded that fibrinolytic function does not substantially influence progression of CAD as assessed by angiography in middle-aged men. Furthermore, pronounced long-term lowering of serum triglycerides by gemfibrozil treatment does not significantly affect the plasma PAI-1 activity level but increases the plasma tPA and PAI-1 antigen concentrations.
Characterization of Iodothyronine Outer Ring and Inner Ring Deiodinase Activities in the Blue Tilapia, Oreochromis Aureus.

The presence of iodothyronine deiodinases was investigated in the different tissues of blue tilapia (Oreochromis aureus), and their biochemical properties were compared with those of mammalian deiodinases. High-Km rT3 outer ring deiodination (ORD) was observed in tilapia kidney, low-Km T4 ORD in liver, and low-Km T3 inner ring deiodination (IRD) in brain and gill. The rT3 ORD activity in tilapia kidney has a very similar substrate specificity as rat liver type I iodothyronine deiodinase but is much less sensitive to inhibition by propylthiouracil, iodoacetic acid, and aurothioglucose. Tilapia liver T4 ORD activity and tilapia brain and gill T3 IRD activities show very similar substrate specificities as well as similar inhibitor sensitivities as rat type II and type III iodothyronine deiodinase, respectively. The optimal pH of the tilapian enzymes is 6–7, and the optimal incubation temperature is approximately 37 C. All tilapia deiodinases are stimulated by dithiothreitol, but the optimal DTT concentration.
Suicide for Survival - Death of Infected Erythrocytes as a Host Mechanism to Survive Malaria

The pathogen of malaria, Plasmodium, enters erythrocytes and thus escapes recognition by the immune system. The pathogen induces oxidative stress to the host erythrocyte, which triggers eryptosis, the suicidal death of erythrocytes. Eryptosis is characterized by cell shrinkage, membrane blebbing and cell membrane phospholipid scrambling with phosphatidylserine exposure at the cell surface. Phosphatidylserine-exposing erythrocytes are identified by macrophages which engulf and degrade the eryptotic cells. To the extent that infected erythrocytes undergo eryptosis prior to exit of Plasmodiaand subsequent infection of other erythrocytes, the premature eryptosis may protect against malaria. Accordingly, any therapeutical intervention accelerating suicidal death of infected erythrocytes has the potential to foster elimination of infected erythrocytes, delay the development of parasitemia and favorably influence the course of malaria. Eryptosis is stimulated by a wide variety of triggers including osmotic shock, oxidative stress, energy depletion and a wide variety of xenobiotics. Diseases associated with accelerated eryptosis include sepsis, haemolytic uremic syndrome, malaria, sickle-cell anemia, beta-thalassemia, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD)-deficiency, phosphate depletion, iron deficiency and Wilson’s disease. Among the known stimulators of eryptosis, paclitaxel, chlorpromazine, cyclosporine, curcumin, PGE2 and lead have indeed been shown to favourably influence the course of malaria. Moreover, sickle-cell trait, beta-thalassemia trait, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD)-deficiency and iron deficiency confer some protection against a severe course of malaria. Importantly, counteracting Plasmodia by inducing eryptosis is not expected to generate resistance of the pathogen, as the proteins involved in suicidal death of the host cell are not encoded by the pathogen and thus cannot be modified by mutations of its genes.