Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toll-like receptor 4 signaling promotes the immunosuppressive cytokine production of human cervical cancer.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the expression of TLR-4 (toll-like receptor) on human cervical cancer and find the biological function of the TLR-4 signal system. METHODS The immunohistochemistry method was performed to study the protein expression and distribution of TLR-4. The viability of HeLa cells was determined by cell viability assay. Cell proliferation was detected by FCM, ELISA and Western blot were used to observe the gene and protein expression of IL-6 and TGF-beta1 in Hela cell lines. RESULTS TLR-4 was over-expressed in cervix cancer, and its activation by LPS promotes proliferation and anti-apoptosis in Hela cells in vitro. Moreover the cell line proliferation increased in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The production of IL-6 and TGF-beta1 were promoted through the activation of the NF-kappaB signaling pathway.
Economic analysis of contract farming for small-scale tobacco producers in Songea district, Ruvuma region.

This study analyses the performance of small-scale-tobacco producers under contract farming system and farmer characteristics that influences tobacco production in Songea district. The Specific objectives were: (i) To examine the cost and return of tobacco small-scale farmers under contract farming scheme in the study area; (ii) To assess the influence of contract farming characteristics on tobacco production; (iii) To examine the resource use efficiency in contract farming; (iv) To estimate yield and price uncertainties in production and marketing by the small-scale tobacco contracts farmers. A multi-stage random sampling technique was employed in selecting a representative sample of tobacco farmers where by 65 (DFC), 27 (Burley), and 20 (VFC) tobacco contract farmers were interviewed. Results revealed that through practicing contract farming respondents reduced cost of production (7%), improved quality of their harvest (31%) and increased income (37%). The study shows there is no significant difference in production cost, yields and returns for Burley, DFC and VFC tobacco farmers (P>0.05). Also shows that factors of production, experience, education and contract price had a significant influence on farmers tobacco production (P>0.05), further more tobacco farmers were significantly employing their resource efficiently under contract farming (P<0.05). Although there were enough evidences to conclude that tobacco farmers experienced uncertainties during production and marketing of their tobacco (P>0.05). The study recommends establishing a comprehensive-open contract farming arrangements and improving managerial skills to cooperatives leaders with enhancement of farmer’s knowledge about contractual practices so as to enrich small scale farmer’s welfares in Tanzania. ii
Is There a Relationship between Diet and Nutrition Status in Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis Patients?

Early work in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients established nutrition recommendations of 1.2 g protein and 35 cal daily per kilogram body weight (1). However, studies measuring dietary intake have shown that many patients fail to achieve these recommendations (2). More recent studies have demonstrated that some CAPD patients maintain good nutrition status (assessed using the same criteria as in the present study) with much lower intakes—around 0.8 g protein daily per kilogram body weight (3). It is widely accepted that many CAPD patients are malnourished (4). This acceptance is due to the belief that low serum albumin (SA) concentrations reflect poor nutrition status. However, no direct correlation between SA and nutrition status has been established (5). Also, in CAPD, a number of other factors—such as protein loss in dialysate, the effect of chronic or repeated infections, and suboptimal clearance of uremic toxins—may contribute to low SA (6). It is possible only to state that low SA in CAPD patients is generally associated with poor nutrition and is a marker for poor outcomes in terms of morbidity and mortality. Malnutrition in CAPD is recognized as a multi-factorial problem (7). One aspect that may be important, and that has not been widely studied, is the provision of protein-sparing calories. A supply of additional calories from fat and carbohydrate would (or should) ensure that ingested protein is not used as an energy source. The present study aimed to establish the extent to which the diets of CAPD patients in our unit fall below the recommended levels, and to observe, without using SA as a marker, if any patient maintained good nutrition status despite a poor intake. We also aimed to assess whether SA concentrations reflected either dietary intake or anthropometric estimates of nutrition status. Serum leptin concentrations have previously been shown to be elevated in renal failure. Leptin is postulated to contribute to anorexia (8,9). We also aimed to assess any possible contribution of leptin to nutrition status in our patients. Well-nourished CAPD patients are likely to achieve good outcomes on dialysis. Once given suitable initial dietary advice, they may not need frequent dietetic follow-up. Identifying patients with a good intake would allow dietitians to target patients more likely to benefit from input and advice, thus making optimal use of dietetic resources.
A comparison of methods to determine bilateral asymmetries in vertical leg stiffness

ABSTRACT Whilst the measurement and quantification of vertical leg stiffness (Kvert) asymmetry is of important practical relevance to athletic performance, literature investigating bilateral asymmetry in Kvert is limited. Moreover, how the type of task used to assess Kvert may affect the expression of asymmetry has not been properly determined. Twelve healthy males performed three types of performance tasks on a dual force plate system to determine Kvert asymmetries; the tasks were (a) bilateral hopping, (b) bilateral drop jumping and (c) unilateral drop jumping. Across all the three methods, Kvert was significantly different between compliant and stiff limbs (P < 0.001) with a significant interaction effect between limb and method (P = 0.005). Differences in Kvert between compliant and stiff limbs were −5.3% (P < 0.001), −21.8% (P = 0.007) and −15.1% (P < 0.001) for the bilateral hopping, bilateral drop jumping and unilateral drop jumping methods, respectively. All the three methods were able to detect significant differences between compliant and stiff limbs, and could be used as a diagnostic tool to assess Kvert asymmetry. Drop jumping tasks detected larger Kvert asymmetries than hopping, suggesting that asymmetries may be expressed to a greater extent in acyclic, maximal performance tasks.
Mental disorders and access to medical care in the United States.

OBJECTIVE The authors examined the barriers to receipt of medical services among people reporting mental disorders in a representative sample of U.S. adults. METHOD The sample was drawn from adults who responded to the 1994 National Health Interview Survey (N=77,183). The authors studied the association between report of a mental disorder and 1) access to health insurance and a primary provider, and 2) actual receipt of medical care. Multivariate techniques were used to model problems with access as a function of mental disorders, controlling for demographic, insurance, and health variables. RESULTS While people who reported mental disorders showed no difference from those without mental disorders in likelihood of being uninsured or of having a primary care provider, they were twice as likely to report having been denied insurance because of a preexisting condition or having stayed in their job for fear of losing their health benefits. Among respondents with insurance, those who reported mental illness were no less likely to have a primary care provider but were about two times more likely to report having delayed seeking needed medical care because of cost or having been unable to obtain needed medical care. CONCLUSIONS People who reported mental disorders experienced significant barriers to receipt of medical care. Efforts to measure and improve access to health care for this population may need to go beyond simply providing insurance benefits or access to general medical providers.
Child Care and Its Impact on Young Children (0-2)

Introduction Although few contemporary experts in child development view the first two years of life as a “critical” period during which the path of future development is determined, this stage of development is still regarded by many as being a “sensitive” period, during which trajectories are first established. Because developmental trajectories can be selfsustaining (if not impossible to alter), experiences that shape early development have important ramifications for both science and social policy. In particular, early rearing experiences are thought by many to play an important role in shaping early developmental trajectories, including non-maternal child-care experiences.
Clinical and laboratory characteristics of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis.

OBJECTIVE To characterize the clinical and laboratory features observed in patients with human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) and evaluate the utility of the diagnostic tools used to confirm the diagnosis. DESIGN Retrospective case study of 41 patients with laboratory-diagnosed HGE. SETTING A total of 228 patients from Minnesota and Wisconsin were evaluated between June 1990 and May 1995. METHODS Cases were presumptively identified by a history of an influenzalike illness acquired in an area known to be endemic for ticks. Diagnostic laboratory testing included microscopic examination of Wright-stained peripheral blood smears for presence of neutrophilic morulae, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of acute-phase blood samples for the Ehrlichia phagocytophila/Ehrlichia equi group DNA, and evaluation of serological responses by indirect immunofluorescent antibody assay (IFA), using E equi as antigen. RESULTS All patients presented with a temperature of at least 37.6 degrees C, and most had headache, myalgias, chills, and varying combinations of leukopenia, anemia, and thrombocytopenia. Eighty percent of the patients tested demonstrated morulae in the cytoplasm of peripheral blood neutrophils. Only 16 of 37 patients tested by PCR were positive for HGE, whereas serum IFA assays of acute or convalescent blood samples detected antibodies against E equi in 38 of 40 patients tested. Two patients died, and the calculated case fatality rate was 4.9%. CONCLUSIONS Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis is being increasingly recognized in Wisconsin and Minnesota. A more severe illness is associated with increased age, anemia, increased percentage of neutrophils and decreased percentage of lymphocytes in peripheral blood, and presence of morulae in neutrophils. The differential diagnosis for patients who develop an influenzalike illness following a tick bite should include HGE. Microscopic examination of the acute-phase blood smear to detect neutrophilic morulae is currently the quickest and most practical screening method for diagnosing HGE in the upper Midwest.
Particle Swarm and Neural Network Approach for Fault Clearing of Multilevel Inverters

This study presents a machine learning technique fo r fault diagnostics in induction motor drives. A no rmal model and an extensive range of faulted models for the inverter-motor combination were developed and implemented using a generic commercial simulation tool to generate voltages and current signals at a b road range of operating points selected by a Particle Swarm Op timization (PSO) based machine learning algorithm. A structured Particle Swarm (PS)-neural network syste m has been designed, developed and trained to detec t and isolate the most common types of faults: single swi tch open circuit faults, post-short circuits, short circuits and the unknown faults. Extensive simulation experiments were conducted to test the system with added noise an d the results show that the structured neural network sys tem which was trained by using the proposed machine learning approach gives high accuracy in detecting whether a faulty condition has occurred, thus isolating and pin-pointing to the type of faulty conditions occurring in power electronics inverter based electrical drives. Fina lly, the authors show that the proposed structured PS-neural network system has the capability of real-time detection o f any of the faulty conditions mentioned above within 20 millise conds or less.
The Future of the World Food System

On entering the twenty-first century, the world agricultural and food system is undergoing remarkable change. For agribusiness to engage successfully in this emerging system, an understanding of the drivers of this change is essential. Agricultural production and processing are resource-intensive. Hence, societal desires for enhanced environmental quality, often through government regulations, constitute a key driver of change. A second key driver is the industrialization of agriculture as farming shifts from a rural lifestyle to an agribusiness sector with a supply chain mentality. Third, firms that can effectively ‘link’ the food chain and add value will benefit economically. Historically, farmers produced bulk commodities, but increasingly the market is demanding differentiated, specific-attribute products. Biotechnology is accelerating this trend. Also, agriculture is becoming increasingly knowledgeintensive with the evolution of site-specific and information-based decision systems. Ultimately, consumer food demand and global markets will determine the demand for products from livestock and crop production systems.
Accounting for Post-Crisis Macroeconomic Developments in Russia: A Large Bayesian Vector Autoregression Model Approach

ABSTRACT We apply an econometric approach developed specifically to address the “curse of dimensionality” in Russian data and estimate a Bayesian vector autoregression model comprising sixteen major macroeconomic indicators. We conduct several types of exercises to validate our model: impulse response analysis, recursive forecasting and counterfactual simulations. We also show that real sector developments in Russia in 2010–13 could be accurately forecasted if conditioned on oil price and EU GDP (but not if conditioned on oil price alone). Real growth rates were notably lower than projected in 2014, presumably due to increased economic uncertainty.
Techies, the Tea Party, and the Race to the Top: The Rise of the New Upper-Middle Class and Tensions in the Rightist Politics of Federal Education Reform

Abstract The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and their associated high-stakes testing are key parts of the federal Race to the Top (RTTT) initiative. There has been considerable resistance to both CCSS and related testing, particularly from conservative actors. This resistance suggests that CCSS has caused substantial tension within the conservative alliance that originally coalesced around No Child Left Behind (NCLB). This article examines the fracturing of the NCLB alliance in response to RTTT and CCSS.
“Chordoid” meningeal tumors in young individuals with peritumoral lymphoplasmacellular infiltrates causing systemic manifestations of the castleman syndrome. A report of seven cases

Seven young patients ranging in age from 8 to 19 years had surgically removed meningeal neoplasms with a peculiar myxoid‐chordoid pattern. The tumors were surrounded by massive polyclonal lympho‐plasmacellular infiltrates with follicles and germinal centers. The patients preoperatively manifested iron‐resistant hypochromic microcytic anemia, and one of them had dysgammaglobulinemia and stunted growth. After the masses were removed, the blood picture of the patients normalized, and the adolescent with retarded somatic development resumed normal growth, but two patients developed local recurrence with identical histology and again became anemic. It appears that the peritumoral lymphoplasmacellular infiltrates, which in these instances may be regarded as reactive rather than primary cell proliferations, nevertheless brought about the type of systemic manifestations known as the Castleman syndrome, characteristically seen in patients with angiofollicular lymphoid hyperplasia (hamartoma) of soft tissues, or Castleman's tumor. In one of our patients the inflammatory infiltrate extended far into the surroundings of the meningioma, resulting in the erroneous initial diagnosis of “encephalitis” from a needle biopsy of the brain near the tumor.
Survival of patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia: comparisons of estimates from clinical trial settings and population-based cancer registries.

INTRODUCTION The survival of patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) has improved during the past decades. However, there have been discrepancies between results reported from clinical trials and population-based studies. We aimed to elucidate the extent of these discrepancies. METHODS We examined the 5-year survival rate of patients in clinical trials of CML treatment and compared these results with the survival of patients in the general population using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, correcting for differences in the age structure of the patient populations. RESULTS Twenty-nine trials were identified for data extraction. The survival rate calculated from SEER data was lower than the survival rate in clinical trials in the corresponding period, with differences of 2.1%-50.7%. Age-adapted survival was similar for four trials, but differences up to 35.8% were seen in most. Limitations of the study include the lack of information on chemotherapy in the SEER database and possible heterogeneity of cases. DISCUSSION The survival rate in clinical trials of CML treatment is higher than the survival rate of all patients with CML. We speculate that the difference may be a result of access to better medications, selection of healthier patients for trials, and the time necessary for adoption of new treatments. This finding underscores the need for population-based studies to give a more realistic idea of survival for patients with a given malignancy in the general population.
Novel levodopa formulations in the treatment of Parkinson's disease

Levodopa is the gold standard in Parkinson's disease (PD) treatment but its use is associated with motor complications. Levodopa pharmacokinetics, a short half-life, erratic gastric emptying and duodenal absorption, are key factors in their pathogenesis. As the disease progresses, frequency of levodopa administrations is increased leading to a complex treatment schedule and poor patient compliance. The development of long acting formulations ensuring continuous delivery is therefore crucial to improve daily motor control. Available controlled release levodopa formulations produce more sustained plasma levels but also show lower bioavailability and slower time to peak, resulting in poor clinical outcome especially in advanced patients. IPX066 is a newly developed experimental formulation with a more favorable plasma profile than immediate-release levodopa, resulting in improved motor control and reduced dose frequency, which may increase adherence. Novel delivery systems such as inhaled levodopa or transdermal levodopa micropumps are also currently being investigated for efficacy with promising future perspectives.
Prospective associations of age at complementary feeding and exclusive breastfeeding duration with body mass index at 5–6 years within different risk groups

Children with overweight or obesity are at risk for developing obesity in adulthood. Certain maternal characteristics, such as ethnicity, education, body mass index (BMI) or neighbourhood, are determinants for childhood overweight risk. There are large variations in how mothers differing in these characteristics feed their infants. Therefore, associations of age at complementary feeding, exclusive breast feeding duration with childhood overweight may differ in these groups. Understanding these associations would be essential to develop overweight prevention strategies.
The Natural History of Sensitizations to Food and Aeroallergens in Atopic Dermatitis: A 4‐Year Follow‐Up

Abstract: The natural history of atopic dermatitis (AD) is variable. Generally the dermatitis disappears during the first years of life, but it is often followed by the appearance of allergic respiratory diseases (ARDs). Our aim was to establish the risk factors for developing an ARD in children with AD. We followed up for 4 years 78 children (51 boys, 27 girls) with mild (26%), moderate (48%), and severe (26%) AD (clinical score proposed by Rajka and Langeland). In all the patients IgE serum levels were checked and skin prick tests (SPTs) were performed at the first examination. The SPTs were repeated in 68 children at the end of the study. The children with severe AD had significantly higher IgE serum levels than those with mild or moderate AD. SPTs at the first observation were positive in 47% of cases, mostly in patients with severe AD, with a prevalence of food allergens, particularly in younger patients. At the second observation, SPTs were positive in 65% of cases, including 100% of children with severe AD. Inhalants were the most common allergens. An ARD appeared in 38% of all patients: in 75% of those with severe AD and in 54% of those with a positive first SPT. Allergic screening should be carried out at an early age, especially in severe AD, since SPT positivity to food allergens, associated with severe clinical AD symptoms and a high IgE serum level, identifies those children ages 0–3 years at high risk of development of ARD.
Stress, Perceived Social Support, Coping Capability and Depression: A Study of Local and Foreign Students in the Malaysian Context

— The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of perceived social support and stress on the coping capability and level of depression of foreign and local students in Malaysia. Using convenience sampling, 200 students from three universities in Selangor, Malaysia participated in the study. The results of this study revealed that there was a significant relationship between perceived social support and coping capability. It is also found that there is a negative relationship between coping capability and depression. Further, stress and depression are positively related whereas stress and coping capability are negatively related. Lastly, there is no significant difference for the stress level and coping capability amongst local and foreign students.
MSU/FSG Study of the Impact of WFP Local and Regional Food Aid Procurement on Markets, Households, and Food Value Chains

This study examines the impact of the World Food Program’s (WFP) Local and Regional Procurement of food aid (LRP) on households and markets. It focuses on four countries and commodities where WFP LRP has had a meaningful share of the market: maize in Uganda and Mozambique, beans in Ethiopia, and High Energy Protein Supplements (HEPS) in Ethiopia and Malawi. The study investigates three specific impacts of LRP: (1) its effect on the level and variability of local market prices, (2) the impacts of resulting price and production changes on the economic welfare of local rural and urban households, and (3) the effect of LRP purchases and related training and inspection activities on the investment decisions and trading practices of traders and processors in the food system, and hence on the development of the food supply chain.