Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Paraganglioma after maternal transmission of a succinate dehydrogenase gene mutation.

CONTEXT Inactivating mutations of SDHD, which is mapped to 11q23 and encodes the cybS subunit of succinate dehydrogenase, predispose to hereditary paraganglioma (PGL) and/or pheochromocytoma. So far no disease was shown to occur in case of maternal transmission of a SDHD mutation, suggesting the existence of genomic imprinting. A hypothetic model, involving the loss of the maternal copy of a tumor suppressor gene mapped to 11p15 in the tumoral tissue, has been proposed to explain this mode of inheritance. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to investigate the possibility of maternal transmission of SDHD-linked PGL. DESIGN A three-generation family carrying the SDHD W43X mutation was studied at the clinical, pathological, and genetical levels. RESULTS The germline's mutation was probably inherited from the grandfather. In the second generation, three carriers (two females and one male), who had the same at risk 11q13-q23 haplotype, developed multiple cervical PGLs. In the third generation, one boy received the mutation from his mother and developed a glomus tympanicum PGL at 11 yr. He shared only the 11q23 haplotype with the other affected members of the family. Methylation analysis of the differentially methylated region upstream of the maternally expressed H19 gene, mapped to 11p15, showed that the seventh CTCF binding site is hypermethylated in the germline of the affected boy suggesting a gain of imprinting. CONCLUSION Our data show that maternal transmission of a SDHD-linked PGL, even if a rare event, can occur. Therefore, we propose that children who inherited a pathogenic mutation from their mother should be considered as at risk of PGL.
Analisis Kelayakan Investasi Penambahan Truk Pada Distributor Semen Dengan Metode AHP dan TOPSIS

The cement distributor has a cement warehouse in Pasuruan. Cement warehouse always ready to be shipped to a regular customer. Current demand from customers remains unfulfilled because the number of corporate modes of transportation is not proportional to the number of cement demand. Thus, the company plans to add the truck with two alternatives of buying new trucks or renting Hino Ranger FG 235 JJ. To determine the best alternative, an assessment of the criteria for the addition of trucks is required. In this study AHP is used to determine the level of importance among the criteria, assess the criteria of discounts, shipping security, corporate attributes listed in vehicles, cost, age, administration, maintenance, risk of damage, availability. The result of the criteria weighting is used as the input for the selection of the best alternative in the TOPSIS method. The results obtained from the calculation of TOPSIS for alternative purchase of a new truck and renting that have value of 0.599 and 0.401.
Effects of anticoagulant strategies on activation of inflammation and coagulation

Acute inflammatory events, such as those that occur in sepsis, lead to dysregulation of the coagulation cascade. The hemostatic imbalance in sepsis, characterized by the excessive activation of procoagulant pathways and the impairment of anticoagulant activity, leads to disseminated intravascular coagulation and results in microvascular thrombosis, tissue hypoperfusion and, ultimately, multiple organ failure and death. Furthermore, natural anti-inflammatory mechanisms of the endogenous anticoagulants are diminished by the impaired coagulation. Supportive strategies aiming at inhibiting activation of coagulation and inflammation by treatment with exogenous anticoagulants have been found to be beneficial in experimental and initial clinical studies. This review summarizes the available experimental and clinical data regarding the interaction between coagulation and inflammation, focusing on the two anticoagulants which are in clinical use, antithrombin and activated protein C. Identification of the different biological mechanisms of the two endogenous anticoagulants might help to determine target patient populations as well as to develop new anticoagulant analogs that differ in there respective effects in coagulation and inflammation.
Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a prognostic marker in infective endocarditis: in-hospital and long-term clinical results.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an independent predictor of poor prognosis in different clinical conditions such as infectious and cardiovascular diseases. It was hypothesized that a patient's admission NLR would be predictive of an adverse clinical outcome in cases of infective endocarditis (IE). METHODS A total of 171 patients with IE was enrolled retrospectively, and allocated to two tertiles based on admission NLR values. The high-NLR group (n = 76) was defined as having an NLR value in the third tertile (> 5.46), and the low-NLR group (n = 95) as having a value in the lower two tertiles (≤ 5.46). RESULTS Patients in the high-NLR group had a significantly higher incidence of in-hospital mortality than the low-NLR group (39.4% versus 18.9%, p = 0.003). A high NLR was found to be an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality (odds ratio 2.53, 95% confidence interval 1.19-5.3; p = 0.01). The mean follow up was 25.5 months, and long-term follow up mortality was similar in both groups (12.9% versus 19.5%; p = 0.33). CONCLUSION A high NLR at admission is associated with increased in-hospital mortality in patients with IE. During the long-term follow up, NLR showed no predictive indication of mortality.
Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in the Public Sector: The Case of the National Social Security Authority in Zimbabwe

The study sought to assess the satisfaction of pensioners with the National Social Security Authority’s (NSSA) service in Harare. The study adopted the quantitative research design. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire from a sample of 169 randomly selected participants. Out of these 162 participants fully completed and returned the questionnaire, representing a response rate of 96%. Five constructs of the SERVQUAL model, namely; tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy, provided the conceptual framework for the study. The data were captured and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 22. Frequency analysis was conducted. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between the various dimensions of service quality and customer satisfaction. The questionnaire had a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of 0.906. The results of the study indicated that the overall satisfaction rate with service among NSSA pensioners was 62%. The major reason for dissatisfaction with service among pensioners was the slow processing of pension claims by NSSA. Tangibles, reliability and empathy had the strongest influence on customer satisfaction of R.66, followed by assurance and responsiveness with R.58 and R.48, respectively. The article argues that as regards service quality NSSA was doing well on tangibles, assurance and empathy, but was not doing quite well on reliability and responsiveness.
Enzymes producing 4-thiouridine in Escherichia coli tRNA: approximate chromosomal locations of the genes and enzyme activities in a 4-thiouridine-deficient mutant

A previously described mutant of Escherichia coli which lacks 4-thiouridine in its tRNA was here shown to be deficient in factor A, one of the two proteins responsible for this thiolation of uridine. Addition of exogenous factor A restored the thiolating ability of extracts prepared from the mutant. The activities of the two thiolation proteins were governed by genes at two widely separated positions on the chromosome, as determined with F-prime merodiploids. The site governing factor A activity lay roughly in the region of the recently reported position of nuv, a gene controlling the production of 4-thiouridine in tRNA.
The Mediating Role of Consumer Engagement with the Brand Community and Its Effect on Corporate Reputation

ABSTRACT The literature on media management addresses social media as a means for brands to build relationships, share experiences, communicate interactively, and collectively with consumers, and compete for the attention and engagement of their audiences to maximize performance. In this paper, we check the impact of brand involvement and perceived homophily on consumer engagement with brand communities in social media and the effect of the latter on corporate reputation. We find that community engagement has a strong, positive association with corporate reputation and fully mediates the relationship between brand involvement and perceived homophily with corporate reputation. As reputation positively influences sales and profitability, our results provide important managerial implications for online media professionals, brand managers and marketers, agents who develop communication and content strategies for social media brand communities with the aim of enhancing corporate performance.
Malformations of Hypothalamic Nuclei in Hyperinsulinemic Offspring of Rats with Gestational Diabetes

Insulin is a potent modulator of central nervous development and is suggested to influence the differentiation and maturation of hypothalamic structures involved in the regulation of body weight and metabolism. Hyperinsulinemic offspring of mothers with impaired glucose tolerance during pregnancy (gestational diabetes, GD) have an increased risk to develop overweight and diabetes mellitus during life, while the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms are still unknown. To investigate the effects of perinatal hyperinsulinism on the organization of hypothalamic regulators of body weight and metabolism, GD was induced in rats by application of streptozotocin on the day of conception (25 mg/kg, i.p.). On the 21st day of life, offspring of GD rats were overweight (p < 0.05) and hyperinsulinemic (p < 0.01). Using computer-assisted morphometric measurements, significantly decreased mean areas of neuronal nuclei and neuronal cytoplasm within the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN; p < 0.01) and the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN; p < 0.05) were observed in GD offspring. Analysis of topographically distinct parts revealed that these alterations particularly occurred in the parvocellular part of the PVN, as well as in the anterior, central, and dorsomedial part of the VMN. No morphometric alterations were found within the lateral hypothalamic area and the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus. In the arcuate hypothalamic nucleus, the mean area of neuronal cytoplasm was decreased (p < 0.05), while the number of neurons expressing tyrosine hydroxylase was clearly elevated (p < 0.002). For astrocytes, a tendency towards an increased glia/neuron ratio was observed in the periventricular hypothalamic area. These observations suggest disturbed differentiation and organization of distinct hypothalamic nuclei and subnuclei, respectively, in hyperinsulinemic offspring of GD rats, possibly leading to dysfunctions of hypothalamic regulators of body weight and metabolism which might contribute to the lifelong increased risk to develop overweight and diabetogenic disturbances.
Foreign Aid and Macroeconomic Performance in Pakistan: Exploring the Role of Local Financial Sector Development.

It is widely recognized that foreign aid may not be used effectively in recipient countries due to a problem of absorptive capacity. This study assesses the role of such capacity in the effective use of foreign aid in Pakistan. To accomplish this, we incorporate domestic financial sector development in our model. The empirical analysis estimates growth equations using time series data of Pakistan over the period 1972-2011. We construct the index of financial sector development using principal component analysis. The ARDL bound testing approach of co-integration was used for empirical analysis. The empirical evidence substantiates the fact that foreign aid is more effective and consequently enhances both long and short run growth process only in the presence of local financial sector development. For instance, our result revealed that absorptive capacity (i.e. interactive term of local financial sector development and foreign aid) is positive and statistically significant. The findings support the claim that ‘local financial sector development plays an important role in the effectiveness of foreign aid’. In addition, the results indicate that foreign aid makes a positive and statistically significant impact on economic growth after allowing nonlinearity between the variables; this, in turn, indicates a diminishing return to foreign aid in case of the Pakistan. Our control variables i.e., physical capital and human capital bear their expected positive signs and are also statistically significant. This indicates that physical capital and human capital also play an important role in the log-run economic growth process of Pakistan.
Changes in gene expression of CXCR4, CCR7 and BCL2 after treatment of breast cancer cells with saponin extract from Tribulus terrestris.

UNLABELLED Saponins are natural substances produced by a large number of plants, one of which is Tribulus terrestris L. (TT). They have been reported to possess an antitumor activity exerted by regulating various signaling pathways in the cell. Although the mechanisms of action of saponin extracts from various plants have been widely studied, limited data are available about TT. The present study aimed to analyze the impact of saponin extract from TT on cell processes in breast carcinoma cell lines. The variations in expression of a group of 32 selected genes were examined by real-time PCR after saponin treatment of MCF7 and MCF10A cell lines. Only three genes - CXCR4, CCR7 and BCL2, showed changes in their mRNA levels after the application of the herb extract. While CXCR4 expression was reduced in both cell lines, CCR7 and BCL2 levels decreased only in tumorigenic MCF7 cells, implying cell-specificity of the saponin action. Our results suggested that TT extract containing saponins was likely to affect the processes of apoptosis and metastasizing of cancer cells. Further in vivo studies will show its applicability as an anticancer therapeutic agent. KEYWORDS saponins, Tribulus terrestris, breast cancer, CXCR4, CCR7, BCL2.
Novel roles of reactive oxygen species in the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia

It has become apparent that regulation of ROS is important in cell signaling and homeostasis. Accumulation of ROS triggers oxidative stress in various cell types and contributes to the development, progression, and persistence of cancer. Recent research has demonstrated that redox dysregulation caused by ROS promotes proliferation, differentiation, genomic, and epigenetic alterations; immune evasion; and survival in leukemic cells. ROS act as signaling molecules to regulate redox‐sensitive transcriptional factors, enzymes, oncogenes, and other downstream effectors. Thus, a thorough understanding the role of ROS as key mediators in leukemogenesis is likely to provide opportunities for improved pharmacological intervention. In this review, we summarize the recent findings that support a role for ROS in the pathogenesis of AML and outline innovative approaches in the implementation of redox therapies for myeloid malignancies.
Patterns of cortical activity in schizophrenia

Synopsis Eighty-three patients with schizophrenia and 47 healthy controls received positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-2-deoxyglucose uptake while they were executing the Continuous Performance Test (CPT). The entire cortex was divided into 16 regions of interest in each hemisphere, four in each lobe of the brain, and data from corresponding right and left hemispheric regions were averaged. Data from the schizophrenic patients were subjected to a factor analysis, which revealed five factors that explained 80% of the common variance. According to their content, the factors were identified and labelled ‘parietal cortex and motor strip’, ‘associative areas’, ‘temporal cortex’, ‘hypofrontality’ (which included midfrontal and occipital areas) and ‘frontal cortex’. Hemispheric asymmetry was only confirmed for the temporal cortex. Factor weights obtained in the schizophrenic group were applied to the metabolic data of the healthy controls and factor scales computed. Schizophrenics were significantly more hypofrontal than the controls, with higher values on the ‘parietal cortex and motor strip’ factor and a trend towards higher values in the temporal cortex. A canonical discriminant analysis confirmed that the ‘hypofrontality’ and ‘parietal cortex and motor strip’ factors accurately separated the schizophrenic group from the healthy controls. Hemispheric asymmetry was only confirmed for the temporal lobe. Significantly higher factor scores for the left temporal lobe in schizophrenics than in normals were obtained when calculated for the right and left hemisphere separately. Taken together, our results confirm the importance of hypofrontality as a pattern of cortical metabolic rate and point to the potential importance of parietal and motor strip function in schizophrenia.
Süt Sığırcılığında Mevsimin Sürdürebilirliğe Etkisinin İncelenmesi

Purpose of this study was to analyze effect of season on the sustainability of dairy cattle production. In the study energy input/output analysis which is one of the criteria for sustainability is conducted. Study was conducted at a commercial dairy farm, in Burdur Tefenni, which specialized only in dairying and had 175 heads lactating cow during a production year which covered December 15, 2010 through December 15, 2011. At the first visit to the farm a file that recorded milk production for each cow and number of lactating cows was formed and these records were recorded for every day. Since the purpose of the study was to compare sustainability of dairy cattle production in terms of season, seasons were classified as Winter (December to February), Spring (March to May), Summer (June to August) and Autumn (September to November). Cultural energy used for feed for cows was calculated by multiplying each ingredient with corresponding values of ingredients from literature. Transportation energy was also included in the analysis. Total cultural energy expended was similar for winter and spring, and it was higher from that of summer and autumn (P< 0.05). Cultural energy expended for feed constituted more than half of the total cultural energy and was higher for winter and spring (P< 0.05). Cultural energy expended per kg milk and energy efficiency for protein were different for each season and were lowest for summer followed by winter, spring and autumn (P< 0.05). Energy use efficiency differed for each season and was best for summer followed by winter, spring and autumn (P< 0.05). As a result, cultural energy use efficiency differed among seasons and in terms of sustainability this should be considered.
Sex differences in human brain morphometry and metabolism: an in vivo quantitative magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography study on the effect of aging.

BACKGROUND There are significant age and sex effects in cognitive ability and brain disease. However, sex differences in aging of human brain areas associated with nonreproductive behavior have not been extensively studied. We hypothesized that there would be significant sex differences in aging of brain areas that subserve speech, visuospatial, and memory function. METHODS We investigated sex differences in the effect of aging on human brain morphometry by means of volumetric magnetic resonance imaging and on regional cerebral metabolism for glucose by positron emission tomography. In the magnetic resonance imaging study, we examined 69 healthy right-handed subjects (34 women and 35 men), divided into young (age range, 20 to 35 years) and old (60 to 85 years) groups. In the positron emission tomography study, we investigated 120 healthy right-handed subjects (65 women and 55 men) aged 21 to 91 years. RESULTS In the magnetic resonance imaging study, age-related volume loss was significantly greater in men than women in whole brain and frontal and temporal lobes, whereas it was greater in women than men in hippocampus and parietal lobes. In the positron emission tomography study, significant sex differences existed in the effect of age on regional brain metabolism, and asymmetry of metabolism, in the temporal and parietal lobes, Broca's area, thalamus, and hippocampus. CONCLUSIONS We found significant sex differences in aging of brain areas that are essential to higher cognitive functioning. Thus, our findings may explain some of the age-sex differences in human cognition and response to brain injury and disease.
Pharmacokinetics of Cisplatin Administered by Continuous Hyperthermic Peritoneal Perfusion (CHPP) to Patients with Peritoneal Carcinomatosis

The pharmacokinetics of cisplatin administered by continuous hyperthermic peritoneal perfusion (CHPP) was characterized in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis. Cisplatin was added into the perfusate with escalating doses from 100 mg/m2 to 400 mg/m2. The hyperthermic perfusion was maintained for 90 minutes with a flow rate of 1.5 L/min and a target peritoneal temperature of 42.5°C after a tumor debulking procedure. Samples of both the perfusate and blood were obtained during the perfusion and 30 minutes after the perfusion. Cisplatin plasma and perfusate concentrations were determined by flameless atomic absorption spectrometry with a lower limit of detection of 2 ng/ml and a coefficient of variation (CV) < 10%. Fifty‐six patients were enrolled in the study. The mean (± SD) percentage of cisplatin present in the perfusate at the completion of perfusion was 27.8% ± 20% of the total dose. The maxi mum cisplatin concentrations in the perfusate were 10 times higher than those in plasma. The area under the concentration‐time curve (AUC) of the perfusate was 13 times higher than the AUC of plasma. A two‐compartment model with an additional peritoneal cavity compartment fits to the data best based on the Akaike information criterion. However, the interpatient variability was considerably high (CV < 100%). In conclusion, cisplatin administered by hyperthermic peritoneal perfusion resulted in a pharmacological advantage by obtaining higher and direct drug exposure to the tumor in the peritoneal cavity while limiting systemic absorption and toxicity. Using a complex two‐compartment model, the authors were able to characterize the pharmacokinetics of cisplatin given intraperitoneally via this technique.
Alterations in the Content and Composition of Glycosaminoglycans in Human Laryngeal Carcinoma

Glycosaminoglycans in normal and cancerous human laryngeal cartilage were isolated and characterized by means of enzyme susceptibility and high performance liquid chromatography. The known mammalian glycosaminoglycans were identified in all samples but their content and composition varied between normal and malignant samples. Chondroitin/ dermatan sulphate was the major glycosaminoglycan in all cases, but its relative proportion was decreased in malignant samples. Its sulphation pattern showed that in normal samples it was sulphated mainly at the C6 position of galactosamine, whereas in malignant samples it was sulphated mainly at C4. Dermatan sulphate, expressed as a result of the different digestion of samples with chondroitinases, was present in very small amounts in normal samples (2.7% of total sulphated glycosaminoglycans) but increased in proportion up to 27.7% in malignant samples. The content of oversulphated chondroitin/dermatan was increased twofold in malignant samples. The content of heparan sulphate was increased almost fivefold in malignant samples as compared to normal ones. The content of hyaluronan was increased in malignant samples 3.5-fold, amounting to up to 11.4% of total glycosaminoglycans. These dramatic changes in the content and composition of glycosaminoglycans seemed to be characteristic of the tumour and independent of its status.