Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Happiness research for public policy and administration

Purpose The purpose of this viewpoint is to introduce happiness research for public policy and administration scholars and practitioners. It focuses on what can be useful for the discipline, provides relevant examples and presents the most recent findings and directions for future research. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a combination of literature review, argumentation and illustrations. Findings Over the past few decades, there has been a tremendous growth in happiness research, and over the past few years, this research has started addressing policy issues such as housing, transportation and inequality. Strikingly, public policy and administration discipline has failed to notice these developments. Happiness research has great potential, and it can be used in many theoretical and practical ways to advance the common good. Originality/value Happiness is extremely important and useful for public policy and administration and yet largely overlooked in the discipline. Existing literature reviews are not written with the discipline in mind, and this viewpoint is aimed at filling this gap.
The pros and cons of sex steroid priming in growth hormone stimulation testing

Abstract Diagnosing growth hormone deficiency (GHD) remains a challenge, and the role of sex steroid priming in the diagnosis of GHD continues to be debated. This review examines existing data on sex steroid priming during GHD diagnosis. Primary literature was reviewed in the area of sex steroid priming and growth hormone stimulation tests. Studies supporting sex steroid priming suggest improved diagnostic efficiency with reduced false diagnosis of GHD in peripubertal children. Those that do not support sex steroid priming note the potential for underdiagnosis of GHD and the lack of standardization in sex steroid priming procedures. To date, there is no consensus on the use of sex steroid priming prior to performing growth hormone stimulation tests in the evaluation of GHD. A more targeted approach to using sex steroid priming may be reasonable; however, the decision of whether or not to use sex steroid priming should remain with the individual clinician.
Contraceptive use at the time of unintended pregnancy: Findings from the Contraceptive Use, Pregnancy Intention and Decisions study.

BACKGROUND Unintended pregnancy disproportionately affects young Australian women. However, contraceptive behaviours associated with unintended pregnancy are unclear. OBJECTIVE The objective of this article was to examine contraceptive use before unintended conception. METHODS Data from 3795 women (aged 18-23 years) who completed the baseline Contraceptive Use, Pregnancy Intention and Decisions (CUPID) study were analysed. RESULTS The study found that 21.1% of participants reported ever being pregnant, of whom 84.6% indicated 'accidental' pregnancy. Most (73.4%) of these participants reported using contraception at the first unintended pregnancy, with the combined oral contraceptive pill being the most frequently used form (39.1%). Participants who reported unintended pregnancy were older (21.2 years of age ± 1.7) than those who had never been pregnant (20.5 years of age ± 1.7). They were also more likely to be in cohabitating relationships (34.7% versus 26.0%) or engaged/married (20.1% versus 8.4%). DISCUSSION Most participants in this study considered their pregnancy to be accidental. The high rate of contraceptive use before becoming pregnant indicates the need to examine better ways to enhance the efficacy of contraceptive use among young Australian women.
Tunicamycin Treatment Reduces Intracellular Glutathione Levels: Effect on the Metastatic Potential of the Rhabdomyosarcoma Cell Line S4MH

Highly metastatic cells are known to overexpress certain Asn-linked oligosaccharides in the plasmatic membrane. Another phenotypic characteristic of malignant cells consists in the expression of high levels of intracellular glutathione (GSH). The aim of the present work was to demonstrate that the inhibition of N-glycosylation induces changes in intracellular GSH levels, and in turn participates in the inhibition of the metastatic potential of tumor cells by tunicamycin treatment. Firstly, we demonstrated that in comparison to the poorly metastatic cell line F21, the highly metastatic cells S4MH express a higher number of Asn-linked β1–6 branched oligosaccharides and sialic acid (SA) and/or chitobiose oligosaccharides in glycoproteins involved in the regulation of the adhesion efficiency of tumor cells on endothelial cells and extracellular matrix. Our results showed that the decrease in S4MH cell adhesion efficiency on endothelial cells and extracellular matrix after the inhibition of N-glycan processing by tunicamycin treatment was caused by: (1) inhibition of the expression of N-glycan structures recognized by endothelial endogenous lectins, including β1–6 branched oligosaccharides and SA and/or chitobiose oligosaccharides, and (2) redistribution of cell surface glycoproteins with β1–6 branched oligosaccharides and/or SA and/or chitobiose oligosaccharides in their structures, caused by the depletion of intracellular GSH levels. The latter condition prevents the organization of these glycoproteins in the plasmatic membrane of S4MH cells necessary for anchoring to the substratum.
Trastuzumab-associated cardiac adverse effects in the herceptin adjuvant trial.

PURPOSE The purpose of this analysis was to investigate trastuzumab-associated cardiac adverse effects in breast cancer patients after completion of (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS The Herceptin Adjuvant (HERA) trial is a three-group, multicenter, open-label randomized trial that compared 1 or 2 years of trastuzumab given once every 3 weeks with observation in patients with HER-2-positive breast cancer. Only patients who after completion of (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy had normal left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF > or = 55%) were eligible. A repeat LVEF assessment was performed in case of cardiac dysfunction. RESULTS Data were available for 1,693 patients randomly assigned to 1 year trastuzumab and 1,693 patients randomly assigned to observation. The incidence of trastuzumab discontinuation due to cardiac disorders was low (4.3%). The incidence of cardiac end points was higher in the trastuzumab group compared with observation (severe congestive heart failure [CHF], 0.60% v 0.00%; symptomatic CHF, 2.15% v 0.12%; confirmed significant LVEF drops, 3.04% v 0.53%). Most patients with cardiac dysfunction recovered in fewer than 6 months. Patients with trastuzumab-associated cardiac dysfunction were treated with higher cumulative doses of doxorubicin (287 mg/m(2) v 257 mg/m(2)) or epirubicin (480 mg/m(2) v 422 mg/m(2)) and had a lower screening LVEF and a higher body mass index. CONCLUSION Given the clear benefit in disease-free survival, the low incidence of cardiac adverse events, and the suggestion that cardiac dysfunction might be reversible, adjuvant trastuzumab should be considered for treatment of breast cancer patients who fulfill the HERA trial eligibility criteria.
Changing Patterns of Women’s Turnout in Indian Elections

This article traces the changing patterns of women’s turnout in state assembly and Lok Sabha elections in India. The primary objective of the article is to understand why more women are turning out to vote. The article discusses the self-empowerment hypothesis, increased female literacy and deeper penetration of media as possible factors behind this recent upsurge. It also studies how greater interest in politics and relatively higher participation in campaign activities by women in recent elections are possibly related to the increased turnout. The analysis presented in the article is based on a combination of both aggregate data and survey data. The article uses empirical evidence from the National Election Studies conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies for the 2004, 2009 and the 2014 General Elections and the Census of India 2001 and 2011.
Body fluid compartments in hypertension.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES There is a correlation between the fluid and ionic homeostasis and blood pressure but it is not known if these body fluid changes represent the cause or rather the effect of the blood pressure rise. We have estimated the compartmental distribution of body fluids by means of the Bioimpedance Spectroscopy (BIS) analysis in a hypertensive cohort compared to control subjects. MATERIAL AND METHODS We have enrolled 28 hypertensive patients (14 females, 14 males, mean age 47 +/- 5) and a sex- and age-matched control group of 37 healthy subjects (17 females and 20 males, mean age 45 +/- 8). They underwent anthropometric measurements, then extracellular (ECW) and intracellular water (ICW) were assessed using BIS. RESULTS Both mean weight and BMI of hypertensive patients resulted significantly higher than of the control group (p < 0.05). We found higher ICW values in hypertensive compared to normotensive subjects. This difference was proportional to the difference of mean blood pressure values, reaching significance only as regards the stage II hypertensive subgroup (p < 0.03). DISCUSSION Our data confirm that the blood pressure increases are associated to TBW, and caused mainly by ICW increases. The BIS, a simple, reliable, non invasive and cost effective methodical approach, estimating the distribution of body fluids, offers new possibility of the management of the hypertensive disease, to establish a more appropriate antihypertensive treatment. Moreover, the BIS, estimating the volume restoration of the different body compartments, may be helpful in evaluating the effectiveness of the pharmacological treatment.
Global Cities and Liability of Foreignness

In this paper, we combine the concepts of location, liability of foreignness (LoF), and their relation to factors that drive multinational enterprises (MNEs) towards, or away from, global cities. We argue that three interrelated characteristics of global cities - cosmopolitanism, availability of advanced producer services, and interconnectedness - help MNEs to overcome the liability of foreignness. We operationalise liability of foreignness as institutional distance and analyse its influence on the worldwide location of a large sample of subsidiaries of Nordic and Japanese MNEs. Our results indicate that MNEs have a stronger propensity to locate in global cities than in metropolitan or peripheral areas, and that these locational choices are affected by institutional distance and industrial characteristics. The results provide empirical support for our argument that locating in a global city can reduce the liability of foreignness suffered by MNEs, and that global cities play a central role in the process of globalisation.
Small‐nerve junctional potentials. The distribution of small motor nerves to frog skeletal muscle, and the membrane characteristics of the fibres they innervate *

The ventral roots in the frog contain two distinct groups of motor nerve fibres, which subserve two different functions in their innervation of skeletal muscles. Repeated stimulation of nerve fibres of small diameter, about 5 u, causes slow, graded muscular contractions which are accompanied by non-propagated muscle potentials of small amplitude and relatively long duration (Tasaki & Mizutani, 1944; Tasaki & Tsukagoshi, 1944). The larger nerve fibres, in the region of 12 p diameter, set up the familiar motor unit twitches accompanied by fast propagated muscle action potentials. Kuffler & Gerard (1947) demonstrated that when one or a few small-diameter motor nerve fibres were isolated by dissection and stimulated, the resulting muscle potentials were confined to the regions of the neuromuscular junctions; they were accordingly named 'Small-nerve junctional potentials' (s.j.p.'s). The mechanical effects of stimulation of the small motor nerves were studied in detail by Kuffler, Laporte & Ransmeier (1947) who found that quite large tensions could be developed in numerous muscles widely distributed over the body. Differences in the organization of the reflex responses of small and large-diameter motor fibres were also demonstrated. It was concluded that the small motor nerves are part of a specialized neuromuscular system with a specific 'holding' or 'tonic' function in the maintenance of the frog's posture. In the latter two studies it could not be decided whether the two groups of nerves went to different types of fibres within the muscle or whether both innervated the same single muscle fibres. The possibility existed that a single muscle fibre could give two different types of response, according to the type
Ischemic Postconditioning-Regulated miR-499 Protects the Rat Heart Against Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury by Inhibiting Apoptosis through PDCD4

Background: Here, we determined miR-499 involvement in the protective effect of ischemic postconditioning (IPC) against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury and identified the underlying mechanisms. Methods: To investigate the cardioprotective effect of IPC-induced miR-499, rats were divided into the following five groups: sham, I/R, IPC, IPC + scramble, and IPC + antagomiR-499. Hemodynamic indexes were measured by carotid-artery intubation to assess left ventricular function . Ischemia and infarction areas of rat hearts were determined by Evans blue and triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining, and cardiomyocyte apoptosis was detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end-labeling assay. Results: IPC attenuated I/R-induced infarct size of the left ventricle (45.28 ± 5.40% vs. 23.56 ± 6.20%, P < 0.05), myocardial apoptosis, and decreased creatine kinase (1867.31 ± 242.41% vs. 990.21 ± 172.39%, P < 0.05), lactate dehydrogenase (2257.50 ± 305.11% vs. 1289.11 ± 347.28%, P < 0.05), and malondialdehyde levels (7.18 ± 1.63% vs. 4.85 ± 1.52%, P < 0.05). Additionally, left ventricular systolic pressure, +dp/dtmax, and -dp/dtmax were elevated, and left ventricular end diastolic pressure was significantly reduced in the IPC group. Furthermore, IPC-mediated cardiac protection against I/R injury was inhibited in vivo and in vitro by knockdown of cardiac miR-499, suggesting that miR-499 may participate in the protective function of IPC against I/R injury through targeting programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4). Conclusion: Our data revealed that IPC-regulated miR-499 plays an important role in IPC-mediated cardiac protection against I/R injury by targeting PDCD4.
Effects of In Utero and Early Life PM2.5 Exposure on Disease Risk Among Infants and Young Children

Author(s): Girguis, Mariam Samir | Advisor(s): Vieira, Veronica | Abstract: Particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (PM2.5), a surrogate estimate of traffic-related air pollution, is widespread and a risk to public health. In-utero exposures to PM2.5 may increase risk of birth defects, the leading cause of infant death during the first year of life in the United States, while early life exposures may increase risk of morbidities, such as bronchiolitis, the leading cause of infant hospitalizations, or otitis media (OM), the most common childhood infection. Infants may be more susceptible to negative PM2.5 effects because they are more likely to be active, breathe more air per pound of body mass, and are still developing. The effects of in utero and early life PM2.5 exposure on the risk of birth defects and infant bronchiolitis and OM are assessed among all births from 2001-2009 using the Pregnancy Early Life Longitudinal Data System (PELL), a Massachusetts birth cohort that has been linked to all subsequent records of clinical encounter. PM2.5 exposure models were based on data from satellite remote sensing, which provide extensive spatial coverage throughout Massachusetts. Findings suggest in utero PM2.5 exposure during specific critical windows of exposure may be associated with risk of specific cardiac defects. Acute early life PM2.5 exposure was associated with risk of infant bronchiolitis and OM clinical encounters, especially among preterm infants. Investigations of chronic PM2.5 exposure indicate null associations with infant bronchiolitis and OM clinical encounters, even after rigorous control for confounding.
The role of heterologous receptors in McpB‐mediated signalling in Bacillus subtilis chemotaxis

Asparagine chemotaxis in Bacillus subtilis appears to involve two partially redundant adaptation mechanisms: a receptor methylation‐independent process that operates at low attractant concentrations and a receptor methylation‐dependent process that is required for optimal responses to high concentrations. In order to elucidate these processes, chemotactic responses were assessed for strains expressing methylation‐defective mutations in the asparagine receptor, McpB, in which all 10 putative receptors (10del), five receptors (5del) or only the native copy of mcpB were deleted. This was done in both the presence and the absence of the methylesterase CheB. We found that: (i) only responses to high concentrations of asparagine were impaired; (ii) the presence of all heterologous receptors fully compensated for this defect, whereas responses progressively worsened as more receptors were taken away; (iii) methyl‐group turnover occurred on heterologous receptors after the addition of asparagine, and these methylation changes were required for the restoration of normal swimming behaviour; (iv) in the absence of the methyleste‐rase, the presence of heterologous receptors in some cases caused impaired chemotaxis; and (v) either a certain threshold number of receptors must be present to promote basal CheA activity, or one or more of the receptors missing in the 10del background (but present in the 5del background) is required for establishing basal CheA activity. Taken together, these findings suggest that many or all chemoreceptors work as an ensemble that constitutes a robust chemotaxis system. We propose that the ability of non‐McpB receptors to compensate for the methylation‐defective McpB mutations involves lateral transmission of the adapted conformational change across the ensemble.
DIAGNOSTIC AND MOLECULAR EVALUATION OF THREE IRIDOVIRUS-ASSOCIATED SALAMANDER MORTALITY EVENTS

In 1998 viruses were isolated from tiger salamander larvae (Ambystoma tigrinum diaboli and A. tigrinum melanostictum) involved in North Dakota and Utah (USA) mortality events and spotted salamander (A. maculatum) larvae in a third event in Maine (USA). Although sympatric caudates and anurans were present at all three sites only ambystomid larvae appeared to be affected. Mortality at the North Dakota site was in the thousands while at the Utah and Maine sites mortality was in the hundreds. Sick larvae were lethargic and slow moving. They swam in circles with obvious buoyancy problems and were unable to remain upright. On the ventral surface, near the gills and hind limbs, red spots or swollen areas were noted. Necropsy findings included: hemorrhages and ulceration of the skin, subcutaneous and intramuscular edema, swollen and pale livers with multifocal hemorrhage, and distended fluid-filled intestines with areas of hemorrhage. Light microscopy revealed intracytoplasmic inclusions, suggestive of a viral infection, in a variety of organs. Electron microscopy of ultra thin sections of the same tissues revealed iridovirus-like particles within the inclusions. These viruses were isolated from a variety of organs, indicating a systemic infection. Representative viral isolates from the three mortality events were characterized using molecular assays. Characterization confirmed that the viral isolates were iridoviruses and that the two tiger salamander isolates were similar and could be distinguished from the spotted salamander isolate. The spotted salamander isolate was similar to frog virus 3, the type species of the genus Ranavirus, while the tiger salamander isolates were not. These data indicate that different species of salamanders can become infected and die in association with different iridoviruses. Challenge assays are required to determine the fish and amphibian host range of these isolates and to assess the susceptibility of tiger and spotted salamanders to heterologous virus isolates.
Association of gastric and Waldeyer's ring lymphoma: a molecular study

The coexistence of Waldeyer's ring and gastrointestinal non‐Hodgkin's lymphomas at presentation is well known. Moreover, localized gastrointestinal relapses following successful treatment of lymphomas of Waldeyer's ring and thyroid lymphomas occurring after a prolonged disease‐free interval have also been described. We report two cases of concomitant lymphoma in Waldeyer's ring and stomach. On the basis of the molecular analysis of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangements, two different patterns of concomitant involvement by a lymphoma in Waldeyer's ring and in the gastrointestinal region seem to exist. One is represented by the preferential dissemination of the lymphoma from one site to the other, the second by the apparently independent growth of clonally unrelated lymphomas at each site. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Reduction rate of body mass index predicts prognosis for survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A multicenter study in Japan

Malnutrition in the early stage has been reported as an independent predictor of survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We analyzed retrospectively the effect of variation of body mass index (BMI) on survival in ALS patients. In total, 77 consecutive ALS patients were enrolled from nine hospitals in Japan. Reduction rate of BMI was calculated from BMI before the disease onset and at the time of the first visit to each hospital. We analyzed the correlation between BMI reduction rate and total disease duration. Results showed that the median BMI reduction rate was 2.5 per year (interquartile range 1.3–3.8). The BMI reduction rate was significantly correlated with survival length (p <0.0001). There was also a significant difference in survival between ALS patients with a BMI reduction rate ≥ and < 2.5 (Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and the log-rank test, p < 0.0001; hazard ratio by the Cox model, 2.9816). In conclusion, faster reduction of BMI at the initial stage before the first visit to hospital predicts shorter survival length also in Japanese ALS patients.
Fluoxetine Attenuates Adrenocortical but Not Subjective Responses to Cocaine Cues

Preclinical data suggest a link between stress reactivity and cocaine self‐administration by rodents. Serotonin appears to modulate the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axis. We studied the effects of chronic treatment with the serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine 40 mg/day on subjective and hormonal responses to cocaine cues in 22 subjects participating in a controlled clinical trial for cocaine dependence. Fluoxetine antagonized the cue‐induced increase in cortisol but increased subjects' ratings of the likelihood of cocaine use in response to cocaine cues. Cortisol response to cocaine cues was not related to subjective craving. Activation of the HPA axis by cocaine cues does not appear to be a necessary mediator of cue‐induced craving.