Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship of internalized racism to abdominal obesity and blood pressure in Afro-Caribbean women.

Racism is associated with increased psychosocial stress and blood pressure in blacks. However, little is known of the relationship of racism to other features of insulin resistance syndrome. This study examined the relationship of internalized racism to abdominal obesity and elevated blood pressure in a population of black Caribbean women aged 20-55 years. One hundred thirty-three randomly selected women from the island of Barbados comprised the study sample. Data collected included anthropometric and blood pressure measurements, and information about internalized racism, anxiety, and depression. The stress measures including anxiety, depression, and internalized racism were significantly correlated with waist circumference (r = .25, r = .21, and r = .25). After adjusting for age, education, anxiety, and depression, internalized racism remained significantly correlated with waist circumference. The odds ratio associated with development of abdominal obesity among those with high internalized racism (OR = 2.4 [95% CI, 1.1,5.3]) was significant (P < .05) after adjusting for age, education, and body mass index. Blood pressure was not independently related to internalized racism. Studies comparing black-white differences in diseases for which abdominal obesity is a risk factor (eg, diabetes and cardiovascular disease) should take into account the potential role of internalized racism in defining the differences between ethnic groups.
Local adaptation of timing of reproduction: females are in the driver's seat

1. Breeding at the right time of the year is crucial for many temperate zone organisms, as any mismatch with their optimal breeding period leads to a reduction in fitness. The roles of the breeding partners in these adaptive decisions have, however, only rarely been studied. 2. In blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) that breed in heterogenous Mediterranean habitats, nearby populations show up to 1-month differences in breeding time. This difference is adaptive as the optimal time for breeding varies by the same amount due to habitat characteristics. But which sex is determining this large difference in timing? 3. We show here that the seasonal development of female reproductive activity (yolk precursor production) closely matches the local optimal breeding time in these two highly contrasted landscapes, while previous studies have demonstrated that male gonadal development does not. In accordance with this, quantitative genetic analyses reveal that timing for breeding is determined by the female only, with no evidence for an additive genetic male effect on laying date. 4. Our results strongly suggest that the adaptive inter-population difference in the laying periods has been driven by females. The central role of females in the determination of breeding period needs to be included when studying how micro-evolutionary processes are affected by global climate change.
Nursing recruitment: relationship between perceived employer image and nursing employees' recommendations.

AIM This paper is a report of a study to examine the relationship between nursing employees' perceptions of instrumental and symbolic dimensions of employer image on the one hand and their intentions to recommend their organization as an employer and their willingness to testify in their organization's recruitment materials on the other. BACKGROUND Previous research suggests that word-of-mouth recommendations by current nursing employees can enhance healthcare organizations' attractiveness as an employer for potential applicants. However, it is not known what motivates employees to provide positive word-of-mouth comments and to endorse their employer in recruitment testimonials. METHOD The instrumental-symbolic framework was applied to identify relevant dimensions of perceived employer image that might relate to employee recommendations. A questionnaire was administered in 2006 to 106 nurses and nursing aides from four non-profit nursing homes in Belgium. The response rate was 55%. RESULTS Overall, nursing employees were more willing to recommend their nursing home to others than to testify in recruitment materials. Both instrumental and symbolic employer image dimensions predicted nursing employees' recommendation intentions. Conversely, willingness to testify was only predicted by symbolic image dimensions. Specifically, the more the nursing employees perceived that their nursing home offers task diversity, offers the possibility to help people and is prestigious, the more they intended to recommend their organization to others. The more they perceived their nursing home as competent, the higher were their recommendation intentions and their willingness to testify in recruitment communication. CONCLUSION To increase nursing employees' willingness to recommend their employer to potential applicants, organizations should enhance their perceived employer image.
Interstellar solid CO: polar and nonpolar interstellar ices.

We present moderate-resolution (lambda/delta lambda approximately 1200) observations of the solid CO band in a sample of protostars. The spectra reveal two independent solid CO components along most lines of sight. One produces a narrow (delta nu approximately 5 cm-1) band generally centered at about 2140 cm-1 and the other a broader (delta nu approximately 10 cm-1) one at about 2136 cm-1. Both the peak position and width of the narrow, and generally strongest, component vary from object to object. The relative strengths of the two components vary considerably in this sample. Laboratory studies of the shape and peak position of the solid CO banD in astrophysically relevant mixtures show that the narrow CO band occurs in mixtures dominated by non-polar molecules (e.g., CO itself, CO2, O2, N2), while the broad feature is due to more polar mixtures, such as H2O ice. Calculations show that for mixtures dominated by CO (CO concentration > 0.3), the peak position and shape of the CO fundamental are strongly influenced by "surface modes," while for lower concentrations the laboratory measured absorption spectra provide very accurate representations of the small particle extinction spectrum. The observed variations in peak position and width of the interstellar 2140 cm-1 component can be attributed to variations in composition and/or physical characteristics of the grains (i.e., shape). These observations show that many lines of sight contain (at least) two independent grain mantle components: a polar mixture (H2O-rich) responsible for the 3.08 and 6.0 micrometers ice bands and a nonpolar one dominating the solid CO spectrum. These two independent grain mantle components may reflect chemical variations during accretion. Around luminous protostars, differences in volatility of the nonpolar and H2O-rich ices also may play an important role in determining their relative abundances.
Risk of arterial thromboembolic events with sunitinib and sorafenib: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials.

PURPOSE Sunitinib and sorafenib are oral vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) used in a vast range of cancers. Arterial thromboembolic events (ATE) have been described with these agents, although the overall risk remains unclear. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the incidence and the relative risk (RR) associated with the use of sunitinib and sorafenib. PATIENTS AND METHODS PubMed databases were searched for articles published from January 1966 to July 2009, and abstracts presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) meetings held between 2004 and 2009 were searched for relevant clinical trials. Eligible studies included phase II and III trials and expanded access programs. Statistical analyses were conducted to calculate the summary incidence, RRs, and 95% CIs, using random-effects or fixed-effects models based on the heterogeneity of included studies. RESULTS A total of 10,255 patients were selected for this meta-analysis. The incidence for ATE was 1.4% (95% CI, 1.2% to 1.6%). The RR of ATEs associated with sorafenib and sunitinib was 3.03 (95% CI, 1.25 to 7.37; P = .015) compared with control patients. The analysis was also stratified for the underlying malignancy (renal cell cancer v non-renal cell cancer) and TKI (sunitinib v sorafenib), but no significant differences in incidence or RR were observed. CONCLUSION Treatment with VEGFR TKIs sunitinib and sorafenib is associated with a significant increase in the risk of ATEs.
An outbreak of abortion in a dairy herd following inoculation with an intramuscular infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus vaccine.

Live virus vaccines administered intramuscularly have been widely used for the control and prevention of the various clinical entities caused by infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) virus in North America (3). It is known that these vaccines may cause abortion (6), therefore all licensed products include a warning that they should not be administered to pregnant animals. The incidence of abortion following vaccination has been reported as varying from zero to 25% with less than 10% occurring in most cases (7). This paper records clinical and laboratory findings in a herd of Holstein cattle in Eastern Ontario in which 30 pregnant animals were inoculated with a commercial intramuscular IBR vaccine, with the subsequent loss of 23 pregnancies.
Failure to confirm association of vac A gene mosaicism with duodenal ulcer disease.

BACKGROUND Mosaicism of the Helicobacter pylori vac A gene comprises two families of allelic variations of the signal sequence region (s1, s2) and of the mid-region (m1, m2). Initial studies suggested that peptic ulcer disease correlated with the s1 subtype of vac A. We compared the prevalence of various vac A genotypes of H. pylori isolates obtained from duodenal ulcer (DU) patients and subjects with simple gastritis. Those isolates with s1 type were further examined to determine whether the specific vac A s1 (s1a versus s1b) genotype enabled prediction of gastroduodenal disease. METHODS H. pylori isolates were obtained from 38 patients with endoscopically documented DU and 39 individuals with asymptomatic H. pylori gastritis from Houston, Texas. The vac A genotype of each isolate was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of genomic DNA for specific regions of the vac A gene. Those isolates with s1 vac A subtype were further examined to determine whether they had s1a or s1b mosaicism. RESULTS There was no difference in frequency of the s1 genotype of isolates obtained from patients with duodenal ulcer or asymptomatic H. pylori gastritis in this sample (84% versus 79%, respectively; P = 0.77). The s1/m1 vac A genotype was detected in isolates from 16 duodenal ulcer patients versus 15 with H. pylori gastritis (P = 0.82). Detailed analysis of the s1 region failed to show a correlation of either s1a or s1b with duodenal ulcer. Both s1a and s1b genotypes were detected in 24 strains, and both m1 and m2 mid-gene PCR amplicons were seen in 16 strains. CONCLUSIONS We were unable to use H. pylori vac A genotyping to predict type of gastroduodenal disease in our patient sample. This failure to confirm an association of vac A genotype and duodenal ulcer disease differs from samples from other regions. This most likely represents an example of differences in H. pylori strains infecting host populations in different geographic regions. This study confirms the importance of establishing statistical associations with isolates from widely separate geographic regions before concluding that disease-related associations exist.
High-Field MRI and Mercury Release from Dental Amalgam Fillings

Mercury is among the most toxic nonradioactive elements which may cause toxicity even at low doses. Some studies showed release of mercury from dental amalgam fillings in individuals who used mobile phone. This study was conducted to assess the effect of high-field MRI on mercury release from dental amalgam filling. We studied two groups of students with identical tooth decays requiring a similar pattern of restorative dentistry. They were exposed to a magnetic flux density of 1.5 T produced by a MRI machine. 16 otherwise healthy students with identical dental decay participated in this study. They underwent similar restorative dentistry procedures and randomly divided into two groups of MRI-exposed and control arms. Urinary concentrations of mercury in the control subjects were measured before (hour 0) and 48 and 72 hrs after amalgam restoration, using cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry. Urinary concentrations of mercury in exposed individuals were determined before (hour 0), and 24, 48, 72 and 96 hrs after amalgam restoration. Unlike control subjects, they underwent conventional brain MRI (15 min, 99 slices), 24 hrs after amalgam restoration. The mean±SD urinary mercury levels in MRI-exposed individuals increased linearly from a baseline value of 20.70±17.96 to 24.83±22.91 µg/L 72 hrs after MRI. In the control group, the concentration decreased linearly from 20.70±19.77 to 16.14±20.05 µg/L. The difference between urinary mercury in the exposed and control group, 72 hrs after MRI (96 h after restoration),was significant (p=0.046). These findings provide further support for the noxious effect of MRI (exposure to strong magnetic field)and release of mercury from dental amalgam fillings.
Transcription Factor ADS-4 Regulates Adaptive Responses and Resistance to Antifungal Azole Stress

ABSTRACT Azoles are commonly used as antifungal drugs or pesticides to control fungal infections in medicine and agriculture. Fungi adapt to azole stress by rapidly activating the transcription of a number of genes, and transcriptional increases in some azole-responsive genes can elevate azole resistance. The regulatory mechanisms that control transcriptional responses to azole stress in filamentous fungi are not well understood. This study identified a bZIP transcription factor, ADS-4 (antifungal drug sensitive-4), as a new regulator of adaptive responses and resistance to antifungal azoles. Transcription of ads-4 in Neurospora crassa cells increased when they were subjected to ketoconazole treatment, whereas the deletion of ads-4 resulted in hypersensitivity to ketoconazole and fluconazole. In contrast, the overexpression of ads-4 increased resistance to fluconazole and ketoconazole in N. crassa. Transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis, followed by quantitative reverse transcription (qRT)-PCR confirmation, showed that ADS-4 positively regulated the transcriptional responses of at least six genes to ketoconazole stress in N. crassa. The gene products of four ADS-4-regulated genes are known contributors to azole resistance, including the major efflux pump CDR4 (Pdr5p ortholog), an ABC multidrug transporter (NcAbcB), sterol C-22 desaturase (ERG5), and a lipid transporter (NcRTA2) that is involved in calcineurin-mediated azole resistance. Deletion of the ads-4-homologous gene Afads-4 in Aspergillus fumigatus caused hypersensitivity to itraconazole and ketoconazole, which suggested that ADS-4 is a functionally conserved regulator of adaptive responses to azoles. This study provides important information on a new azole resistance factor that could be targeted by a new range of antifungal pesticides and drugs.
Alternative Sigma Factors and Their Roles in Bacterial Virulence

SUMMARY Sigma factors provide promoter recognition specificity to RNA polymerase holoenzyme, contribute to DNA strand separation, and then dissociate from the core enzyme following transcription initiation. As the regulon of a single sigma factor can be composed of hundreds of genes, sigma factors can provide effective mechanisms for simultaneously regulating expression of large numbers of prokaryotic genes. One newly emerging field is identification of the specific roles of alternative sigma factors in regulating expression of virulence genes and virulence-associated genes in bacterial pathogens. Virulence genes encode proteins whose functions are essential for the bacterium to effectively establish an infection in a host organism. In contrast, virulence-associated genes can contribute to bacterial survival in the environment and therefore may enhance the capacity of the bacterium to spread to new individuals or to survive passage through a host organism. As alternative sigma factors have been shown to regulate expression of both virulence and virulence-associated genes, these proteins can contribute both directly and indirectly to bacterial virulence. Sigma factors are classified into two structurally unrelated families, the σ70 and the σ54 families. The σ70 family includes primary sigma factors (e.g., Bacillus subtilis σA) as well as related alternative sigma factors; σ54 forms a distinct subfamily of sigma factors referred to as σN in almost all species for which these proteins have been characterized to date. We present several examples of alternative sigma factors that have been shown to contribute to virulence in at least one organism. For each sigma factor, when applicable, examples are drawn from multiple species.
Bacterium Induces Cryptic Meroterpenoid Pathway in the Pathogenic Fungus Aspergillus fumigatus

Stimulating encounter: The intimate, physical interaction between the soil-derived bacterium Streptomyces rapamycinicus and the human pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus led to the activation of an otherwise silent polyketide synthase (PKS) gene cluster coding for an unusual prenylated polyphenol (fumicycline A). The meroterpenoid pathway is regulated by a pathway-specific activator gene as well as by epigenetic factors.
Antibiotic resistance of pathogenic for fish isolates of Aeromonas spp.

OROZOVA, P., V. CHIKOVA and H. NAJDENSKI, 2010. Antibiotic resistance of pathogenic for fish isolates of Aeromonas spp. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 16: 376-386 This study has determined and compared the antibiotic resistance towards various groups of antibiotics of 25 isolates from Aeromonas spp. with different origin. The strains have been isolated from drinking water and fish samples in Bulgaria, as well as from intensively bred trout fish in France, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Scotland and England. The hemolytic activity of the isolates as regards sheep erythrocytes has been investigated in parallel. The Index of Resistance MAR has been calculated for each separate isolate. A wide antibiotic resistance of all clinic isolates has been determined. 60% of water isolates and 90% of clinical isolates possess a hemolytic activity. The presence in the environment of strains of Aeromonas spp. resistant to a wide group of antibiotics is a potential risk for the fishery farms. On the other hand, the results obtained give us grounds to accept the motile representatives of Aeromonas spp. as potential enteropathogens not only in our geographical region but also in Europe, as a whole.
Influence of Valproic Acid on the Gonadotropin‐Releasing Hormone Test in Puberty

ABSTRACT. Twelve epileptic adolescents on valproate (VPA) treatment were studied by means of clinical observation and gonadotropin‐releasing hormone stimulation (GnRH) tests. Five patients were investigated before and during VPA treatment. Before treatment the basal and peak levels of gonadotropins were appropriate for age; during treatment both levels were depressed and the areas under the curves were significantly decreased. The long‐term effect of VPA was studied in an additional seven patients. The basal levels of gonadotropins were as low and their response to GnRH as poor as in the second test of the first five patients–i.e., during VPA treatment. No recovery was noted in two patients after dose reduction or in a further two patients 10 months after the discontinuation of VPA treatment. In all the patients, however, the usual clinical signs of pubertal development and maturity were unaffected by VPA treatment. The significance of the results for sexual development and fertility is therefore uncertain.
Simulation of intrafollicular conditions prevents GVBD in bovine oocytes: A better alternative to affect their developmental capacity after two‐step culture

To increase the developmental competence of bovine oocytes isolated from small, medium, and large follicles (2–3, 3–4, and 4–6 mm in diameter, respectively), we tried to modify the conditions for their in vitro culture. The first step involved conditions maintaining at least for 48 hr a reversible inhibition of the germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and the second step stimulated the resumption of meiosis and completion of nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation during the subsequent 20–22 hr of culture. The effectiveness of this model depended mainly on the medium composition (reduced NaHCO3, substitution of serum with serum albumin, addition of antioxidants (curcumin), increased viscosity by agar, the reduction of oxygen concentration (within 6%–8%), the reduction of the proportion between the number of cumulus‐oocyte complexes (COCs), and the reduction of the amount of a medium (within 6–7 μl per COC) to amplify the GVBD‐inhibitory effect of oocyte surrounding granulosa cells. The COCs were incubated in clumps of 6–7 COCs. The effectiveness and reversibility of GVBD inhibition depended also on the duration of COCs isolation. The full reversibility of the GV block was controlled morphologically and also by measuring histone H1 and MAP kinase activities. The two‐step versus one‐step (24 hr) maturation technique was evaluated by the percentage of total and hatched blastocysts at day 9. When compared with one‐step maturation, the two‐step culture showed a slightly increased proportion of total and hatched blastocysts developed from growing follicles, mainly from the smallest category (13.9% vs. 7.1% and 9.2% vs. 3.3% for total blastocysts and hatched, respectively). However, the two‐step culture of oocytes from large regressing follicles substantially reduced the blastocyst yield (9.7% vs. 39.1% and 4.9% vs. 26.7% for total blastocysts and hatched, respectively). The transfer of ten blastocysts (developed after two‐step culture) to ten recipients resulted in seven pregnancies. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 71: 197–208, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Current attachment representations of incarcerated offenders varying in degree of psychopathy

The present study sought to examine the current mental representations of early attachment relationships in 24 psychopathic criminal offenders, incarcerated in a forensic psychiatric hospital or a medium-security prison. The participants had been assessed on Hare's Psychopathy Checklist, Revised: Screening Version (PCL-R, sv, 1997) and scored either high or low. They were interviewed with the Main and Goldwyn Adult Attachment Interview (1998) and completed the EMBU, a Swedish self-report questionnaire tapping memories of the parent's rearing techniques. The results pointed to an extensive over-representation of individuals who were dismissing of attachment and attachment-related experiences (close to three times as many as in the normal population), no secure individuals, and with the remainder being either unclassifiable or unresolved with regard to severe early abuse/trauma. In addition, an examination of the EMBU data revealed an association between a higher psychopathy score and a family constellation of a rejecting father and an emotionally very warm (idealized) mother. The discussion will focus on the unique discourse of the dismissing individuals and on clinical implications.