Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Glomerular and Tubular Renal Functions After Long‐Term Medication of Sulphasalazine, Olsalazine, and Mesalazine in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis

Summary: To date there are only few reports evaluating the potential nephrotoxic reactions of the new 5‐aminosalicylic acid (5‐ASA) preparations in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). The aim of this study was to screen the tubular and glomerular functions in patients with UC in maintenance treatment with either 5‐ASA azo‐compounds (sulphasalazine and olsalazine) or mesalazine. Patients with UC in clinical remission treated with either sulphasalazine, olsalazine, or mesalazine for more than 1 year were included in an open, single‐blind retrospective Norwegian multicenter study. Serum and urine creatinine, serum and urine &bgr;2‐microglobulin, urine N‐acetyl‐&bgr;‐glucoseamidase (NAG), urine alkaline phosphatase, urine microalbumin, urine alanine amino peptidase, and urine &bgr;2‐microglobulin were measured. Fifty‐two females and 75 males (n = 127), ages 20‐69, were evaluated. Thirty‐six patients were treated with sulphasalazine (mean treatment time 10.1 ± 6.6 years [mean ± SD]), 32 patients were treated with olsalazine (2.3 ± 1.4 years), and 59 patients with mesalazine (3.2 ± 2.0 years). At inclusion, there were no significant differences in the serum or urine values between the groups. In 17 patients (1 patient [3%] in the sulphasalazine group, 4 patients [13%] in the olsalazine group, and 12 patients [20%] in the mesalazine group), at least one abnormal serum and/or urine value was detected. After 10 years of treatment, only one abnormal value was found among the 19 patients in the sulphasalazine group. The abnormal values observed in the other groups indicated minor glomerular or tubular renal damage. In conclusion, long term sulphasalazine treatment appears to be safe and free of nephrotoxic side effects, whereas minor glomerular and tubular impairment are observed in a few patients treated with olsalazine and mesalazine.
Maternal Stressful Life Events and Risks of Birth Defects

Background: Several previous studies suggest that maternal stress may be associated with increased risk of certain birth defects. This study examined the association of maternal stressful life events with risks of several birth defects. Methods: The data are from a recent, population-based case-control study. Telephone interviews were conducted with 1355 eligible case mothers and 700 control mothers. Maternal stress was measured by responses to 18 yes/no questions about life events that occurred from 2 months before through 2 months after conception. Results: An increase in the stressful life events index (ie, number of “yes” responses to the 18 life-events questions) was associated with increased risk of cleft palate, cleft lip with or without cleft palate, d-transposition of the great arteries, and tetralogy of Fallot, after adjustment for maternal race-ethnicity, education, obesity, age, smoking, drinking, intake of folic acid-containing supplements, neighborhood crime, and food insecurity. For example, the odds ratio for a 3-unit change in the stress index was 1.45 (95% confidence interval = 1.03–2.06) for cleft palate. Increased stress was associated with an increased risk of spina bifida and anencephaly particularly among women who did not take folic acid supplements. A 3-unit change in stress was associated with a 2.35-fold increased risk of anencephaly among women who did not take supplements (CI =1.47–3.77) and a 1.42-fold increased risk among women who did (CI = 0.89–2.25). Conclusion: The adverse health effects of stress may include increased risks of certain birth defects.
Human unilateral lower limb suspension as a model for spaceflight effects on skeletal muscle.

To the Editor: Widrick et al. ([18][1]) have published data from a 12-day unilateral lower limb suspension (ULLS) study conducted in 1994 using the methods originally published by Berg et al. in 1991 ([3][2]). Analyses included the morphology and contractile behavior of skinned skeletal muscle
Indirect effect of social support for drinking on drinking outcomes: the role of motivation.

OBJECTIVE This study tested an integrated relapse model drawing hypotheses from both interpersonal and intra-individual relapse models. It was hypothesized that the relationships between alcohol-specific social support (support for drinking and support for not drinking) and drinking outcomes would be partially mediated by motivation. METHOD Participants were 158 women with alcohol use disorders participating in two linked randomized controlled trials. One trial compared standard individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for alcohol use disorders with female-specific CBT for alcohol use disorders; the other compared alcohol behavioral couple therapy with blended individual CBT and alcohol behavioral couple therapy. Measures included the Important People Interview to measure social-support variables, the Timeline Followback to measure drinking variables, and the Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale to measure motivation. RESULTS Results of structural equation modeling suggested a mediational role of motivation in the relationship between support for drinking and drinking frequency. Individuals with more network support for drinking at baseline had less motivation for abstinence at the end of treatment, which predicted drinking frequency over the 6 months after treatment. The indirect effect of baseline support for drinking on 6-month follow-up drinking frequency was statistically significant. A similar, although only marginally significant, pattern was found for the relationship between support for not drinking and drinking frequency. Individuals with more social network for not drinking at baseline had more motivation at the end of treatment at the trend level, which in turn predicted 6-month follow-up drinking frequency. The indirect effect of baseline support for not drinking on 6-month follow-up drinking frequency trended toward significance. CONCLUSIONS This study offers preliminary evidence that motivation is one mechanism by which abstinence-specific social support affects treatment outcome.
Culture and Innovation: Evidence from the European Union and Neighbouring Countries

This exploratory study investigates the effect of different cultural dimensions on different innovation indicators covering as many EU countries and neighbouring countries as possible. The measures of cultural dimensions were composed on the basis of the EVS/WVS data with the help of confirmatory factor analysis. Correlation, regression, graphical and cluster analyses were used. It was confirmed that innovation processes are strongly reliant on culture: power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity turned out to be negatively and individualism positively related to innovation performance. The final innovation performance may develop on the basis of the combined effect of the four cultural dimensions that may or may not balance each other in a particular country. Hence, the Culture Index was calculated on the basis of the four cultural dimensions and it appeared to explain the differences in innovation performance between different countries quite well.
Nutritional status among postmenopausal osteoporotic women in North West of Iran.

BACKGROUND Osteoporosis is a multifactorial disease and one of the most important modifiable factors in the development and maintenance of bone mass is nutrition. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine the nutritional status among osteoporotic postmenopausal women in north west of Iran and compare intake of several nutrients important in terms of bone health with the standard values (DRIs). DESIGN Bone mineral density of the left proximal femur, the lumbar spine and total hip were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Ninety-seven postmenopausal osteoporotic women were studied. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to determine food habits and 24-h recall was used to estimate average energy and nutrient intakes. RESULTS The mean t-score for bone mineral density (BMD) of LS, FN and total hip were -3.15 +/- 0.73, -1.93 +/- 0.86 and -1.92 +/- 0.88, respectively. The percentages of participants receiving adequate intake of calcium, vitamin D and vitamin K were 7.2%, 3.1% and 42.3%, respectively. The mean phosphate to calcium ratio was 1.6 +/- 0.87. BMD of femoral neck and total hip was correlated inversely with the amount of energy obtained from fat and positively with energy intake. Among micronutrients studied, calcium was positively correlated with BMD of total hip. CONCLUSION Most of the postmenopausal osteoporotic women in north west of Iran have a considerable deficiency in terms of energy and some micronutrients such as calcium, vitamin D and magnesium, which can be deleterious for bone health.
Does Financial Sector Development Enhance the Relationship between FDI and Economic Growth? A Comparative Study of East African Countries

This study examines the causal relationship between FDI and GDP growth in a number of East African countries, focusing on the impact of financial sector development on this relationship. There are strong theoretical reasons to believe that a developed financial sector will enhance the impact of FDI on growth, but empirical evidence remains scant. This study looks first at the short term causal relationship between FDI and GDP growth, using a robust methodology that avoids issues associated with Granger causality testing. This testing indicates little evidence of a relationship. Johansen cointegration testing yields little evidence of a long run relationship when a VECM containing just FDI and GDP growth is estimated, however once variables proxying financial sector development and an interaction variable between FDI and financial sector development are included, we find that although FDI and GDP growth may not be cointegrated directly, there is a relationship running through their interaction with the financial sector, and that FDI only appears to have a positive impact on GDP growth in cases where the financial sector is more developed. This finding is in line with the findings of previous researchers, and has important policy implications.
Isolation and Characterization of Clostridium butyricum DSM 5431 Mutants with Increased Resistance to 1,3-Propanediol and Altered Production of Acids

Clostridium butyricum mutants were isolated from the parent strain DSM 5431 after mutagenesis with N-methyl-N(prm1)-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine and two selection procedures: osmotic pressure and the proton suicide method. Isolated mutants were more resistant to glycerol and to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD) than was the wild type, and they produced more biomass. In batch culture on 62 g of glycerol per liter, the wild type produced more acetic acid than butyrate, with an acetate/butyrate ratio of 5.0, whereas the mutants produced almost the same quantities of both acids or more butyrate than acetate with acetate/butyrate ratios from 0.6 to 1.1. The total acid formation was higher in the wild-type strain. Results of analysis of key metabolic enzymatic activities were in accordance with the pattern of fermentation product formation: either the butyrate kinase activity increased or the acetate kinase activity decreased in cell extracts of the mutants. A decreased level of the hydrogenase and NADH-ferredoxin activities concomitant with an increase in ferredoxin-NAD(sup+) reductase activities supports the conclusion that the maximum percentage of NADH available and used for the formation of 1,3-PD was higher for the mutants (97 to 100%) than for the wild type (70%). In fed-batch culture, at the end of the fermentation (72 h for the wild-type strain and 80 to 85 h for the mutants), 44% more glycerol was consumed and 50% more 1,3-PD was produced by the mutants than by the wild-type strain.
Multidonor bone marrow transplantation improves donor engraftment and increases the graft versus tumor effect while decreasing graft‐versus‐host disease

In partially matched donor transplantation, mandatory T‐cell depletion (TCD) increases the risks of rejection/graft failure, relapse, and post‐transplant infections. A multi‐donor approach was offered to resolve some of these drawbacks. This hypothesis was previously tested in a TCD fully mismatched murine model. However, the effect of multi‐donor transplantation (MDT) on graft‐versus‐host disease (GVHD) and graft versus tumor (GVT) effect were never tested. To assess the safety and efficacy of MDT, we used it in non‐TCD transplantation and murine breast carcinoma model. We found that when transplanting non‐TCD MDT composed by C57Bl/6 and C3H cells into BALB/c, a consistent trichimerism is established, dominated by C57Bl/6 cells. Following MDT the study animals experienced reduced GVHD compare with those transplanted from C57Bl/6 alone, while the GVT effect was superior. We conclude that MDT may serve as a technique that suppresses GVHD while maintaining the GVT effect.
Distribution of brainstem projections from spinal lamina I neurons in the cat and the monkey

The distribution of terminal projections in the brainstem from lamina I neurons in the spinal dorsal horn was investigated with the anterograde tracer Phaseolus vulgaris–leucoagglutinin in the cat and the cynomolgus monkey. Iontophoretic injections made with physiological guidance were restricted to lamina I or to laminae I–III in the cervical (C6–8) or lumbar (L6–7) enlargement. The distribution of terminal labeling was essentially identical in the cat and the monkey, although consistently of greater intensity in the monkey. Terminations were observed in the solitary nucleus, the dorsomedial medullary reticular formation, the entire rostrocaudal extent of the ventrolateral medulla, the locus coeruleus, the subcoerulear region and the Kölliker–Fuse nucleus, the lateral and medial portions of the parabrachial nucleus, the cuneiform nucleus, the ventrolateral and lateral portions of the periaqueductal gray, and the intercollicular nucleus. Lamina I terminations were generally bilateral in the medulla but more dense contralaterally in the pons and mesencephalon. The density and laterality of labeling in the medulla varied between cases independently from that in the pons and mesencephalon, suggesting that the lamina I projections to these regions may originate from different subsets of neurons. A clear topographic organization was observed only in the lateral column of the periaqueductal gray, where lumbar lamina I terminations were found caudal to cervical terminations.
Common ABCA1 variants, HDL levels, and cellular cholesterol efflux in subjects with familial low HDLs⃞ Published, JLR Papers in Press, March 19, 2007.

HDL promotes cholesterol efflux from peripheral cells via ABCA1 in the first step of reverse cholesterol transport (RCT). We investigated whether the early steps of RCT were disturbed in subjects with familial low HDL and an increased risk for early atherosclerosis. Cholesterol efflux from monocyte-derived macrophages to lipid-free apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I; %) was measured in 22 patients with familial low HDL without Tangier disease mutations and in 21 healthy controls. In addition, we defined the different alleles of ABCA1 using single-nucleotide polymorphism haplotypes and measured ABCA1 and ABCG1 mRNA transcript levels in cholesterol-loaded macrophages. Similar ABCA1-mediated cholesterol efflux levels were observed for macrophages derived from control subjects and from low-HDL subjects. However, when efflux of cholesterol was estimated as cholesterol efflux to apoA-I (%)/relative ABCA1 mRNA expression level, cholesterol removal was significantly (P = 0.001) lower in the low-HDL group. Cholesterol-loaded macrophages from low-HDL subjects showed significantly increased levels of ABCA1 mRNA but not of ABCG1 mRNA and were more often carriers of the rare ABCA1 alleles L158 and R219K. These results suggest that defective ABCA1 function in cholesterol-loaded macrophages is one potential contributor to the impaired RCT process and the increased coronary heart disease risk in subjects with familial low HDL.
The Food Standards Agency's antioxidants in food programme--a summary.

BACKGROUND In 2001, the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) was contracted to evaluate projects from the Antioxidants in Food research programme, now funded by the Food Standards Agency and previously the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The programme aimed at testing the 'antioxidant hypothesis'. METHODS The evaluation was conducted with support and guidance from a Steering Group of experts. The final report sets out BNF's recommendations for the future of the Antioxidants in Food research programme. RESULTS It was recommended that future research should consider a wider scope of potential mechanisms of action of substances within foods; more emphasis should be placed on studying bioavailability of a range of plant derived substances, and the impact of genotype, age and disease should be investigated. CONCLUSIONS The research programme has been important as it has focused attention on disease prevention rather than on treatment, and has helped progress identification of biomarkers. From human observational and intervention studies there is evidence of an association between a diet rich in plant foods (particularly fruit and vegetables) and health benefits. However, as there is no evidence that any particular nutrient or class of bioactive substances makes a special contribution, currently the most prudent public health advice is to increase vegetable and fruit consumption.
Physician utilization disparities between the uninsured and insured. Comparisons of the chronically ill, acutely ill, and well nonelderly populations.

BACKGROUND This study examines the associations between lack of health insurance coverage and physician utilization for the chronically ill, acutely ill, and well nonelderly populations in the United States. METHODS Cross-sectional data from the 1989 National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, were analyzed for the nonelderly population using a correlational, two-group design (N = 102,055). Analytic models, using multiple logistic regression, were tested to predict the odds and likelihood of physician utilization for the uninsured and insured in the three subpopulations (ie, chronically ill, acutely ill, and well), controlling for health status, number of conditions, and geographic, sociodemographic, and economic factors. Disparities in utilization were then calculated between the uninsured and insured for each subpopulation. RESULTS The nonelderly uninsured were consistently less likely than the insured to have received any health care within 12 months. Moreover, there were differential effects of being uninsured on utilization depending on whether an individual was chronically ill, acutely ill, or well. Whereas chronically ill and well uninsured persons were half as likely to have seen a physician as their insured counterparts (odds ratio, 0.50), acutely ill uninsured persons were almost two thirds as likely to receive physician care (odds ratio, 0.62). Thus, the disparity in physician utilization between the uninsured and insured was larger for the chronically ill and well than for the acutely ill; uninsured acutely ill were less likely to go without care. Of the three populations, those in the well population had average disparities with the largest magnitude (40%), compared with disparities of the chronically ill (20%) and acutely ill (10%). CONCLUSIONS These disparities represent large inequities in utilization of care by the uninsured, particularly for the chronically ill and well. Whether these disparities result from lower access or individual choice cannot be determined from this study. When viewed in light of other studies examining the impact of utilization on health status, these results provide support for the development of comprehensive health insurance packages with universal coverage and better inclusion of chronic and preventive care models in benefit packages.
Effect of lidocaine and NMDA injections into the medial pontobulbar reticular formation on mastication evoked by cortical stimulation in anaesthetized rabbits

Neurons of the dorsal nucleus reticularis pontis caudalis (nPontc) fire rhythmically during fictive mastication, while neurons of the ventral half tend to fire tonically ( Westberg et al., 2001 ). This paper describes the changes in the pattern of rhythmical mastication elicited by stimulation of the sensorimotor cortex during inhibition or excitation of neurons in this nucleus and adjacent parts of nucleus reticularis gigantocellularis (Rgc) in the anaesthetized rabbit. Masticatory movements and electromyographic (EMG) activity of the masseter and digastric muscles produced by cortical stimulation were recorded before, during and after injections of a local anaesthetic (lidocaine) or excitatory amino acid N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) into nPontc and Rgc through a microsyringe with attached microelectrode to record neuronal activity. Lidocaine inhibited local neurons and modified the motor program, and the effects varied with the site of injection. Most injections into the ventral half of nPontc increased cycle duration, digastric burst duration and burst area. The action of lidocaine in dorsal nPontc was more variable, although burst duration and area were often decreased. The effects on the muscle activity were always bilateral. Lidocaine block of the rostromedial part of Rgc had no effect on movements or on EMGs. Injections of NMDA excited local neurons and when injected into ventral nPontc, it completely blocked mastication. Dorsal injections either had no effect or increased cycle frequency, while decreasing burst duration and area. No increases in EMG burst duration or area were observed with NMDA. Our findings suggest that neurons of ventral nPontc tonically inhibit other parts of the central pattern generator during mastication, while dorsal neurons have mixed effects. We incorporated these findings into a new model of the masticatory central pattern generator.