Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tyrosine Phosphatase-like Protein (IA-2) and Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase (GAD65) Autoantibodies: A Study of Chinese Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Type 1 diabetes in most Asian populations may not have a salient autoimmune basis when assessed with single determinations of the major markers, islet cell antibodies (ICAs) and glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GAD65ab). With the inclusion of antibodies to tyrosine phosphatase-like protein IA-2 (IA-2ab) as an additional major marker, we re-examined autoimmune diabetes in a group of Chinese patients. We studied 272 subjects at various stages of disease with blood samples procured for biochemical analysis. ICAs were measured by immunofluorescence, GAD65ab and IA-2ab by radioimmunoassay. Sixty-seven patients fulfilled clinical diagnosis of type 1 diabetes and the remaining 205 patients were type 2. Prevalence of single autoantibody type in recent-onset type 1 diabetes (<1 year duration; n =47 ) showed 10.6% with ICAs, 44.7% GAD65ab and 36.2% IA-2ab. GAD65ab account for more than two-thirds of the markers found in type 1 diabetes. Combined analysis further showed that 51.1% had at least one antibody type, 31.9% with two or more antibodies and 8.5% with all three antibodies. Islet autoimmunity presence in childhood-onset type 1 diabetes improved with the addition of IA-2ab, though less impact was seen in the adult-onset. Similarly, combined analysis for type 2 patients with recent diabetes showed a modest increase to 13% with islet autoimmunity compared to 8% when assessed by GAD65ab alone. Combining IA-2ab and GAD65ab assays results detected slightly more immune-mediated diabetes, compared to using a single GAD65ab determination. Non-autoimmune causes need to be considered in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes in Chinese, particularly in adults.
Enhanced Xenobiotic-Induced Hepatotoxicity and Kupffer Cell Activation by Restraint-Induced Stress

We tested the hypothesis that environmental stress is a predisposing factor for liver injury by examining the effect of acute restraint on liver injury provoked by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and allyl alcohol. Mice were immobilized using Plexiglas restraint cages, producing a form of psychogenic stress, whereas other animals were allowed to roam free. Serum alanine aminotransferase levels were elevated significantly in restrained animals after administration of varying doses of CCl4 or allyl alcohol that did not produce liver injury in unrestrained animals. This enhanced liver injury after CCl4 was seen in both male and female mice. The duration of acute restraint was found to be important because a period of 2.5 h of restraint enhanced hepatotoxicity, whereas shorter periods of restraint did not significantly increase liver injury. Serum corticosterone concentrations increased, whereas hepatic glutathione content decreased during and after acute restraint. In addition, delay in administration of CCl4 until 5 h after completion of restraint also produced an elevated level of liver injury compared with that seen in free roaming animals. Immunohistochemical examination of the livers showed significantly enhanced Kupffer cell activation in restrained mice compared with that of free roaming mice. These observations suggest that induction of psychogenic stress may increase the susceptibility to liver injury observed with classic hepatotoxicants and may represent an important predisposing factor to liver injury after xenobiotic exposure. The underlying mechanism seems to be increased macrophage activation in the liver, which may subsequently sensitize hepatocytes to xenobiotics and thus enhance hepatotoxicity.
Does Incubation Temperature Fluctuation Influence Hatchling Phenotypes in Reptiles? A Test Using Parthenogenetic Geckos

Many lineages of parthenogenetic organisms have persisted through significant environmental change despite the constraints imposed by their fixed genotype and limited evolutionary potential. The ability of parthenogens to occur sympatrically with sexual relatives may in part be due to phenotypic plasticity in their responses to their environment, especially with respect to incubation temperature—a maternally selected trait. Here we measured the incubation temperatures selected by two lineages of triploid parthenogenic geckos in the Heteronotia binoei complex by allowing them to deposit clutches along a thermal gradient. The average nest temperature selected was 28.4°C, with no significant differences between parthenogenic races or individual clones. To investigate the effect of nest‐temperature variability on physiological and morphological traits, we incubated eggs from different races at one of four incubation regimes (32° ± 0°, ±3°, ±5°, or ±9°C). Embryos incubated at constant 32°C developed faster than embryos reared under increasing extremes of diel temperature fluctuation (±3°, ±5°C), and incubation at 32° ± 9°C was unsuccessful. Incubation regime had no effect on the body size, preferred substrate temperature, or mass‐specific V̇o2 of hatchlings. However, parthenogenic race had a significant effect on egg mass, tail length, snout‐to‐vent length, total length, and V̇o2. We conclude that developmental traits are strongly influenced by clonal genotypes in this parthenogenic complex but are well buffered against fluctuations in incubation temperature.
Complete Nucleotide Sequence of the Rhesus Lymphocryptovirus: Genetic Validation for an Epstein-Barr Virus Animal Model

ABSTRACT We sequenced the rhesus lymphocryptovirus (LCV) genome in order to determine its genetic similarity to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The rhesus LCV encodes a repertoire identical to that of EBV, with 80 open reading frames, including cellular interleukin-10, bcl-2, and colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor homologues and an equivalent set of viral glycoproteins. The highly conserved rhesus LCV gene repertoire provides a unique animal model for the study of EBV pathogenesis.
Accelerating PDE constrained optimization by the reducedbasis method: application to batch chromatography

In this work, we show that the reduced basis method accelerates a partial differential equation constrained optimization problem, where a nonlinear discretized system with a large number of degrees of freedom must be repeatedly solved during optimization. Such an optimization problem arises, for example, from batch chromatography. To reduce the computational burden of repeatedly solving the large‐scale system under parameter variations, a parametric reduced‐order model with a small number of equations is derived by using the reduced basis method. As a result, the small reduced‐order model, rather than the full system, is solved at each step of the optimization process. An adaptive technique for selecting the snapshots is proposed, so that the complexity and runtime for generating the reduced basis are largely reduced. An output‐oriented error bound is derived in the vector space whereby the construction of the reduced model is managed automatically. An early‐stop criterion is proposed to circumvent the stagnation of the error and to make the construction of the reduced model more efficient. Numerical examples show that the adaptive technique is very efficient in reducing the offline time. The optimization based on the reduced model is successful in terms of the accuracy and the runtime for acquiring the optimal solution. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
BRAF analysis before surgery for papillary thyroid carcinoma: correlation with clinicopathological features and prognosis in a single-institution prospective experience

Abstract Background: Risk stratification in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) currently relies on postoperative parameters. Testing for BRAF mutations preoperatively may serve as a novel tool for identifying PTC patients at risk of persistence/recurrence after surgery. Methods: The study involved 185 consecutive patients with a histological diagnosis of PTC and BRAF analysis performed on thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB). We assessed BRAF status in FNAB specimens obtained before thyroidectomy for PTC, and examined its association with the clinicopathological characteristics identified postoperatively, and with outcome after a mean 55±15 months of follow-up. Results: One hundred and fifteen of 185 (62%) PTCs carried a BRAF mutation. Univariate analysis showed that BRAF status correlated with the histological variant of PTC, cancer size, and stage at diagnosis, but not with gender, age, multifocality, or lymph node involvement. BRAF-mutated cases had a higher prevalence of persistent/recurrent disease by the end of the follow-up (11% vs. 8%), but this difference was not statistically significant. The Kaplan-Meier curve shows that among the patients with persistent/recurrent disease, BRAF-mutated patients needed a second treatment earlier than patients with BRAF wild-type, although the difference did not completely reach the statistical significance. Conclusions: Our study confirmed that preoperatively-identified BRAF mutation are associated with certain pathological features of PTC that correlate with prognosis. We speculate that it has a role in identifying PTCs that would generally be considered low-risk but that may reveal an aggressive behavior during their follow-up.
2-V 0.8-/spl mu/M CMOS monolithic RF filter for GSM receivers

A 2-V monolithic CMOS second-order RF filter for GSM receiver front-ends is presented. A negative transconductance cell is used to compensate the loss of on-chip inductors for the purpose of Q-tuning. By using a Miller capacitor, center-frequency tuning can be achieved to compensate for process variation. A prototype was fabricated by 0.8 /spl mu/m N-well single-poly-triple-metal CMOS technology and occupies an area of 868.2/spl times/748.4 /spl mu/m/sup 2/. The Q value can vary from 3.4 to 629 and center frequency (f/sub c/) can vary from 687 to 830 MHz. For Q of 30 and f/sub c/ of 829.6 MHz, the filter achieves a power gain of 2.0 dB, a noise figure of 24.5 dB, 1-dB compression point of -34 dBm, input referred third-order intercept point of -22 dBm, image rejection of 24.2 dB, and power dissipation of 45.8 mW.
An Evaluation of Tracking Error on World Indices ETFs Traded in India

The Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are relatively new products in the Indian capital market, gaining popularity among investors in India. ETF has opened investment opportunities for retail as well as institutional investors. The investors have the option to expose their portfolio to overseas stock market and sector-specific market instruments through ETF and this opportunity comes with several benefits like lower cost, real-time investment and easy accessibility as compared to other instruments in the market. The ETF on the index of foreign country is one of the latest instruments in the Indian market. But such ETFs suffer from Tracking Error, whereby there is a difference between the mean return on ETFs and mean return on its underlying asset. The proposed study is an attempt to quantify this error using the methodology prescribed by the NSE and then evaluating its impact on the investments.
Still Persistent Global Problem of Scientists' Image.

Per-service teachers’ views of science and scientists have been widely studied. The purpose of this study is to identify whether there is problem of image of scientists and determine where they receive about scientist image. Three hundred thirty five (105 from Turkey, 162 from Europe, 68 from US) elementary pre-service teachers participated in this study. This study showed that pre-service teachers perceived about stereotypic scientist indicators which are “Caucasians”, have “facial hair”, and
Disease transmission and passenger behaviors during a high morbidity Norovirus outbreak on a cruise ship, January 2009.

BACKGROUND Norovirus continues to pose a significant burden on cruise ships, causing an average of 27 confirmed outbreaks annually over the past 5 years. In January 2009, the report of a suspected norovirus outbreak among passengers on a cruise ship prompted an investigation. METHODS A retrospective cohort study among passengers was conducted on board the ship. Questionnaires about health care-seeking behaviors, hygiene practices, and possible norovirus exposures were placed in every cabin. Stool samples from several ill passengers were tested for norovirus by quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and confirmed by sequence analysis. RESULTS Of 1842 passengers, 1532 (83.2%) returned questionnaires, and 236 (15.4% of participants) met the case definition. Of these, 95 (40%) did not report to the infirmary. Case passengers were significantly more likely to have an ill cabin mate (relative risk [RR] = 3.0; P < .01) and to have witnessed vomiting during boarding (RR = 2.8; P = .01). Over 90% of all passengers reported increased hand hygiene practices following the outbreak; 38% of ill passengers and 11% of well passengers decreased participation in public activities. Of 14 samples tested, 12 were positive for norovirus by RT-qPCR; 5 of these were confirmed by sequence analysis and typed as GII.4 Minerva. CONCLUSIONS Person-to-person transmission, including an incident of public vomiting during boarding, likely contributed to this high morbidity outbreak. Infirmary surveillance detected only 60% of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) cases involved in this outbreak. Adjustments to outbreak reporting thresholds may be needed to account for incomplete voluntary AGE reporting and to more rapidly implement control measures.
Ex-situ conservation and morpho-biochemical analysis of exotic cultivars of banana

Impact of various (growth/storage) media (SM1 to SM8) on biochemical and morphological traits of three cultivars of banana has been observed in this current study (Pisange, Brazillian and William). Study was carried out using two different temperature treatments i.e. 26°C and 18°C in order to develop an effective protocol for a short term ex situ conservation. Research experiments were carried out at National Agricultural Research Center (NARC), Islamabad, Pakistan during 2015. Maximum variations were observed for all of the morphological traits at a varied temperature and media concentrations. At 26°C, enhanced growth (plant height) and increased number of shoots had been observed in all cultivars, while the rate of increased number of roots was non-significant at both temperatures. After conserving the cultivars for short term of 5 months, biochemical analysis was performed. The biochemical analysis revealed the significant variations at both of the temperatures as well as on media. Brazilian cultivar (cultivar 2) substantially accumulated higher concentration of soluble sugar and proline both of provided temperatures as compared to other genotypes Cultivar 3 showed a significant increase in total chlorophyll content and chlorophyll a, b (William). The overall maximum proline and contents of chlorophyll were recorded in the cultures that were incubated at 26°C and 18°C respectively. So, 18°C temperature in combination with media SM2 and SM3 is better recommendation for short-term conservation of banana cultivars ex situ while 26°C is the best recommended temperature for maximum growth.
MANAGEMENT OF VAGINAL CANCER

Expert Panel on Radiation Oncology–Gynecology: Larissa J. Lee, MD; Anuja Jhingran, MD; Elizabeth Kidd, MD; David K. Gaffney, MD, PhD; Higinia Rosa Cardenes, MD, PhD; Mohamed A. Elshaikh, MD; Beth Erickson, MD; Nina A. Mayr, MD; David Moore, MD; Ajmel A. Puthawala, MD; Gautam G. Rao, MD; William Small Jr, MD; Mahesh A. Varia, MD; Andrew O. Wahl, MD; Aaron H. Wolfson, MD; Catheryn M. Yashar, MD; William Yuh, MD.
Verbal Recall and Recognition Following Traumatic Brain Injury: A [O-15]-Water Positron Emission Tomography Study

Although several studies exist which have examined static functional neuroimaging following traumatic brain injury (TBI), controlled cognitive activation studies of episodic memory in this population have not been published. The present investigation studied verbal recall using [O-15]-water positron emission tomography (PET) in 5 individuals who sustained severe TBI (M GCS=6.8; M years post-injury=3.18), and 4 non-injured control participants. Statistical image analysis demonstrated changes in frontoparietal regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in both groups, but there were interesting differences between groups and across conditions. Frontal lobe rCBF changes in TBI patients were reduced during free recall but enhanced during recognition, when compared to controls. Changes in cerebellar rCBF were observed in the control group during free recall, but not in the TBI sample. In both groups, bifrontal rCBF increases were noted on recognition tasks. The present findings provide evidence of alterations in specific substrates involved in verbal recall following brain injury.
Long-term Persistent Organic Pollutants Exposure Induced Telomere Dysfunction and Senescence-Associated Secretary Phenotype

Abstract Environmentally persistent organic pollutant (POP) is the general term for refractory organic compounds that show long-range atmospheric transport, environmental persistence, and bioaccumulation. It has been reported that the accumulation of POPs could lead to cellular DNA damage and adverse effects of on metabolic health. To better understand the mechanism of the health risks associated with POPs, we conducted an evidence-based cohort investigation (n = 5,955) at the Jinghai e-waste disposal center in China from 2009 to 2016, where people endure serious POP exposure. And high levels of aging-related diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and reproductive disorders were identified associated with the POP exposure. In the subsequent molecular level study, an increased telomere dysfunction including telomere multiple telomere signals, telomere signal-free ends, telomere shortening and activation of alternative lengthening of telomeres were observed, which might result from the hypomethylated DNA modification induced telomeric repeat-containing RNA overexpression. Moreover, dysfunctional telomere-leaded senescence-associated secretory phenotype was confirmed, as the proinflammatory cytokines and immunosenescence hallmarks including interleukin-6, P16INK4a, and P14ARF were stimulated. Thus, we proposed that the dysfunctional telomere and elevated systemic chronic inflammation contribute to the aging-associated diseases, which were highly developed among the POP exposure individuals.
Prognostic factors in laryngeal carcinoma: the role of apoptosis, p53, proliferation (Ki‐67) and angiogenesis

Even though the roles of different known or suggested prognostic factors in laryngeal cancer have been studied in detail, clinical stage at time of diagnosis and anatomic subsite of the tumour remain the only practical predictors of clinical outcome and offer the only guidelines in the planning of treatment. In this study, the relative roles of known demographic and clinical prognostic factors, in addition to four histopathological factors, were evaluated in a sample of 100 laryngeal carcinoma patients with multivariate analysis using the Cox regression model. In addition to advanced stage (stage III‐IV) (relative hazard of death (HR) 8.9, p=0.01) and supraglottic disease (HR 5.6, p=0.02), high apoptotic index (HR 11.1, p=0.05) was significantly associated with poor survival. Cell proliferation, p53 and angiogenesis did not significantly affect the prognosis. In the future, high degree of apoptosis could be used to identify patients with poor prognosis in laryngeal cancer.
Association between thyroid dysfunction and total cholesterol level in an older biracial population: the health, aging and body composition study.

BACKGROUND Thyroid dysfunction increases with age. Less is known about the prevalence of thyroid disease in older black adults and whether an association between thyroid function and serum cholesterol level exists, as in older white adults. METHODS A cross-sectional study of 2799 well functioning white and black participants, aged 70 to 79 years, were recruited for a population-based study. Participants underwent thyrotropin, free thyroxine, and total cholesterol testing; a medical history; and physical measurements. RESULTS Among the entire cohort, 94% were euthyroid based on biochemical testing results. Approximately 10% were taking thyroid hormones. Subclinical hypothyroidism was the most prevalent disorder (3.1% of all participants not taking thyroid hormones), but black men and women had lower rates of this condition than white men and women. After excluding those taking thyroid or lipid medication and adjusting for potential confounders, an elevated thyrotropin level (>5.5 mIU/mL) was associated with a 9 mg/dL (0.23 mmol/L) higher cholesterol level, and a suppressed thyrotropin level (<0.35 mIU/mL) was associated with a 19 mg/dL (0.49 mmol/L) lower cholesterol level. CONCLUSION Healthy community-dwelling older black adults have a lower prevalence of thyroid dysfunction compared with older white adults, but the association between increased thyrotropin and increased cholesterol levels is similar in both races.
The DTED. Curriculum / Syllabus of the State Tamilnadu In Inidia And Performance of Student Teachers

In developing country like India curriculum revision is a continuous process and particularly in teacher education, curriculum is revised periodically. Recently NCTE has designed and approved National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE) 2009 with a wide scope for restructuring Teacher Education in India and establishing linkage between Elementary Teacher Education and Higher Education. This NCFTE (2009) document has gained a singular important as it has been released by Honorable Minister for HRD, GOI, on 10 th March 2010. The apex body for Elementary Teacher Education in Tamil Nadu namely Directorate of Teacher Education Research and Training (DTERT), presently State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has developed Elementary Teacher Education Curriculum and Syllabus to address the needs of the present elementary school teaching learning process based on National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (2005). An attempt is made to study the performance of DTEd students based on the revised curriculum & syllabus followed in the State, Tamil Nadu, India.
African Swine Fever Virus Inhibits Induction of the Stress-Induced Proapoptotic Transcription Factor CHOP / GADD 153

Stress signaling from mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) leads to the induction of the proapoptotic transcription factor CHOP/GADD153. Many viruses use the ER as a site of replication and/or envelopment, and this activity can lead to the activation of ER stress and apoptosis. African swine fever virus (ASFV) is assembled on the cytoplasmic face of the ER and ultimately enveloped by ER membrane cisternae. The virus also recruits mitochondria to sites of viral replication and induces the mitochondrial stress protein hsp60. Here we studied the effects of ASFV on the induction of CHOP/GADD153 in infected cells. Interestingly, unlike other ER-tropic viruses, ASFV did not activate CHOP and was able to inhibit the induction of CHOP/GADD153 by a number of exogenous stimuli.