Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neuroendocrine and Reproductive Consequences of Overexpression of Growth Hormone in Transgenic Mice

Abstract Availability of recombinant growth hormone (GH) and development of long-acting formulations of this material will undoubtedly lead to widespread use of GH in animal industry and in medicine. GH can act, directly or indirectly, on multiple targets, but its influence on the reproductive system and on the hormonal control of reproduction is poorly understood. Overexpression of GH genes in transgenic animals provides a unique opportunity to study the effects of long-term GH excess. Transgenic mice overexpressing bovine, ovine, or rat GH (hormones with actions closely resembling, if not identical to, those of endogenous [mouse] GH), exhibit enhancement of growth, increased adult body size, and reduced life-span as well as a number of endocrine and reproductive abnormalities. Ectopic overexpression of bovine GH (bGH) driven by metallothionein or phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase promoters is associated with altered activity of hypothalamic neurons which produce somatostatin, loss of adenohypophyseal GH releasing hormone (GHRH) receptors, and suppression of endogenous (mouse) GH release. Elevation of plasma levels of GH (primarily bGH) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) in these transgenic mice leads to increases in the number of hepatic GH and prolactin (PRL) receptors, in the serum levels of GH-binding protein (GHBP), in the percent of GHBP complexed with GH, and in the circulating insulin levels. In addition, plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and corticosterone levels are elevated. Plasma levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), as well as its synthesis and release, are not consistently affected, but follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels are suppressed, apparently due to pre-and post-transiational effects. Pituitary lactotrophs exhibit characteristics of chronic enhancement of secretory activity, and plasma PRL levels are elevated. Prolactin responses to mating or to pharmacological blockade of dopamine synthesis are abnormal. Reproductive life span and efficiency are reduced in both sexes, with the severity and frequency of reproductive deficits being related to plasma bGH levels. Most transgenic females expressing high levels of bGH are sterile due to luteal failure. Overexpression of human GH which, in the mouse, interacts with both GH and PRL receptors leads to additional endocrine and reproductive abnormalities including stimulation of LHβ mRNA levels and LH secretion, loss of responsiveness to testosterone feedback, overstimulation of mammary glands, enhanced mammary tumorigenesis, and hypertrophy of accessory reproductive glands in males. Results of these studies indicate that GH can exert a variety of direct and indirect actions at the hypothalamic, pituitary, gonadal, and reproductive tract levels, and that the consequences of prolonged exposure to supraphysiological levels of GH cannot always be predicted from the known or the presumed physiological actions of this hormone.
Primary Sarcoma of the Mediastinum: A Report of 16 Cases Referred to the British Columbia Cancer Agency

Background: Sarcoma arising in the mediastinum is a rare entity. This study evaluates treatment and survival in a cohort of patients with primary mediastinal sarcoma. Methods: Between 1990 and 2006, 16 patients were referred to the British Columbia Cancer Agency with histologically confirmed sarcoma of mediastinal origin. Outcomes examined were disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Results: There were nine male and seven female patients. The median age at diagnosis was 56 years (range 21–70 years). Thirteen (81%) patients had localized disease, and three (19%) patients had distant metastasis at diagnosis. Surgical resection was performed in 8 of 13 patients with localized disease. At a median follow-up of 18 months, 12 patients have died of disease, three were alive with disease, and one was alive with no evidence of disease. In the entire cohort, median DFS was 12 months (range 0–107 months), and median OS was 18 months (range 1–193 months). Patients who underwent surgery experienced improved DFS (p = 0.054) and OS (p = 0.034). Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0 to 1 was associated with improved DFS (p = 0.038) and OS (p = 0.007). The histologic subtype with the longest survival was well-differentiated liposarcoma. Age, gender, tumor location, T and N stage, tumor size, location, and grade were not associated with significant survival differences. Conclusion: Surgical resection was associated with more favorable survival in patients with mediastinal sarcoma. However, the high rates of progression and mortality underscore the need for more effective adjuvant treatments.
Virtual worlds and games for rehabilitation and research

Expensive and bulky setups, and center-out whole-arm reaching paradigms have been used extensively in motor control research to explore the neural control of movement in humans and primates. They have led to a number of robust findings about the effect of modified task dynamics onto movement kinematics and motor skill acquisition. A number of controversial findings are related to the role of peripheral reflexes and the effect of practice on motor learning, adaptation, and consolidation A related issue is whether the brain actually uses strategies similar to engineering optimal control. Finally, aspects that typically do not get much attention are the roles of subject motivation and the functional relevance of the task to daily activity. Here we introduce a suite of virtual environments for motor skill acquisition, running on ubiquitous highly affordable and portable PC hardware. We explore case studies in both a research and a rehabilitation context, and suggest that our observations are compatible with theory by N.A. Bernstein according to which the brain may perform feasibility search. Unlike a robotic system, the brain tries to achieve solutions to the behavioral tasks that satisfy imposed constraints, even if not yet optimal. When more than one solution is identified, the brain retains the better one for future use. In comparison, a robotic system would search (depth- or width-first) throughout the whole parameter space. This difference is not unlike the one between a grand-master and a chess playing program. Based on a rich variety of acquired behavioral data, we demonstrate clearly that the virtual environments we introduced here have a very large potential to: 1) Reproduce individually targeted elements of motor behavior, which are functionally relevant in everyday life; 2) Drive incremental re-acquisition of increasingly complex and adapted motor programs; 3) Achieve the latter goal by selectively augmenting or suppressing particular strategies depending on their compatibility with residual and readapted patient capacity at a particular point of the rehabilitation process.
Measurement and Correlates of Physicians’ Lifelong Learning

Purpose To examine the psychometric properties and correlates of an instrument to measure physicians’ orientation toward lifelong learning with attention to differences between full-time and academic clinicians. Method The authors mailed a survey in 2006 to a national sample of 5,349 alumni of Jefferson Medical College who graduated between 1975 and 2000; 3,195 (60%) responded. The respondents were classified as full-time clinicians (n = 1,127) and academic clinicians (n = 1,612). The other 456 respondents were involved in administration or research. The revised Jefferson Scale of Physician Lifelong Learning (JeffSPLL) was included in the survey. Factor analysis, regression analysis, and analysis of variance were used to examine the construct- and criterion-related validities of the scale. Results Factor analysis of the JeffSPLL items resulted in three factors designated as “learning beliefs and motivation,” “attention to learning opportunities,” and “skills in seeking information,” which supported its construct validity. Alpha reliability coefficients were 0.85 and 0.86, and test-retest reliability coefficients were 0.72 and 0.77 for full-time clinicians and academic clinicians, respectively. For full-time clinicians and academic clinicians, scores on the JeffSPLL were significantly (P < .01) correlated with measures of learning motivation, professional accomplishments, career satisfaction, and commitment to lifelong learning, which supported the criterion-related validity of the scale. Conclusions The findings indicate that the JeffSPLL is a psychometrically sound instrument that measures physicians’ orientation toward lifelong learning among full-time clinicians and academic clinicians. The instrument can be used to monitor educational programs, assess educational outcomes, and examine group differences.
Peripheral regions of natural hammerhead ribozymes greatly increase their self‐cleavage activity

Natural hammerhead ribozymes are mostly found in some viroid and viroid‐like RNAs and catalyze their cis cleavage during replication. Hammerheads have been manipulated to act in trans and assumed to have a similar catalytic behavior in this artificial context. However, we show here that two natural cis‐acting hammerheads self‐cleave much faster than trans‐acting derivatives and other reported artificial hammerheads. Moreover, modifications of the peripheral loops 1 and 2 of one of these natural hammerheads induced a >100‐fold reduction of the self‐cleavage constant, whereas engineering a trans‐acting artificial hammerhead into a cis derivative by introducing a loop 1 had no effect. These data show that regions external to the central conserved core of natural hammerheads play a role in catalysis, and suggest the existence of tertiary interactions between these peripheral regions. The interactions, determined by the sequence and size of loops 1 and 2 and most likely of helices I and II, must result from natural selection and should be studied in order to better understand the hammerhead requirements in vivo.
Efficient Algorithms for the Inclusion of the Preisach Hysteresis Model in Nonlinear Finite-Element Methods

This paper deals with key problems that have been commonly encountered in the implementation of the Preisach model into finite-element (FE) programs. Such problems include the inverse problem imposed by certain FE formulations, the abundance use of experimental data needed for identification, and the complex hysteretic nonlinearity inherited in electromagnetic problems. The aim is to alleviate these problems using new efficient algorithms to facilitate the inclusion of the Preisach model in FE equations. The inversion of the model is evaded by systematically creating an inverted Everett function identified from a few parameters usually provided by the makers of electrical steel. The Everett function and its derivatives are ensured to be smooth and continuous by using cubic spline interpolation, which is important for producing stable iterative solutions in the FE computations. Thorough investigations and FE simulations supported by experiments show that the proposed algorithms are capable of successfully accomplishing good accuracy, fast computation, and numerical convergence.
Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills, Executive Function and Learning Potential in Preadolescents with High/Low Family Risk

Abstract Situations generated by high family risk have a negative effect on personal development, especially during preadolescence. Growing up in the presence of risk factors can lead to negative consequences on mental health or on school performance. The objective of this study focuses on individual factors related to this phenomenon during preadolescence. Specifically, we seek to establish whether level of family risk (high vs. low risk) is related to interpersonal problem-solving skills, executive function and learning potential in a sample of preadolescents controlling age, sex, total IQ, verbal comprehension ability and the classroom influences. The participants were 40 children, 23 boys and 17 girls between the ages of 7 and 12, twenty of which had a record on file with the Social and Childhood Protection Services of Information deleted to maintain the integrity of the review process, and therefore, a high family risk situation. The other 20 participants had a low family risk situation. Results show that the preadolescents from high family risk performed worse on interpersonal solving-problem skills and executive function (p < .05, b from –119,201.81 to 132,199.43, confidence interval from –162,589.78/–75,813.8 to 84,403.05/179,995.8). Nevertheless, they showed the same ability to learn as the participants from low family risk. These results highlight the negative effects of high family risk situation in preadolescents and give value of taking into account protective factors such as learning potential when assessing preadolescents from high family risk.
Insights of nurses about assault in hospital-based emergency departments.

PURPOSE To explore contributing factors, consequences, and solutions to the assault of nurses working in U.S. hospital emergency departments. This preliminary study targeted emergency nurses whose risk for assault was significantly greater than many other workers. Exploring nurses' opinions about factors they believe contribute to assault provides important information for designing acceptable preventive measures. DESIGN In this descriptive study, an ecological, occupational-health framework was used which integrates personal, organizational, and societal influences. The six components of the framework were personal factors, workplace factors, environmental factors, assault injuries, solutions, and effects of workplace violence. METHOD Four focus groups were used comprised of 22 RNs employed in emergency departments in one large metropolitan area in the United States. Half the nurses had been physically assaulted at work. FINDINGS Fourteen themes emerged: nurse attitude, vulnerability, security, administrative issues, assault reporting, safety training, beyond control, societal changes, types of patients, geographic location, pervasiveness of anger, previous assault experiences, effects and possible solutions. Personal, workplace, and environmental factors all contribute to assault. Verbal and physical assaults are common and affect nurses' personal and professional lives. CONCLUSIONS Assault-related injuries are preventable. Only physical injuries are treated; all employees who have been verbally or physically assaulted should be referred for post-incident debriefing. Hospital managers should implement violence-prevention programs. The ecological, occupational health framework is useful for identifying factors that contribute to assault.
Schwinger terms in Weyl-invariant and diffeomorphism-invariant 2D scalar field theory

We compute the Schwinger terms in the energy-momentum tensor commutator algebra from the anomalies present in Weyl-invariant and diffeomorphism-invariant effective actions for two dimensional massless scalar fields in a gravitational background. We find that the Schwinger terms are not sensitive to the regularization procedure and that they are independent of the background metric.
Inclusive Leadership and Employee Involvement in Creative Tasks in the Workplace: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety

This study examines how inclusive leadership (manifested by openness, accessibility, and availability of a leader) fosters employee creativity in the workplace. Using a sample of 150 employees, we investigated the relationship between inclusive leadership (measured at Time 1), psychological safety, and employee involvement in creative work tasks (measured at Time 2). The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicate that inclusive leadership is positively related to psychological safety, which, in turn, engenders employee involvement in creative work.
Methods for the exclusion of circoviruses and gammaherpesviruses from pigs

Abstract: The use of porcine tissues is being developed as a means to alleviate the shortage of allogeneic tissues and organs available for transplantation. To reduce the possibility of a microorganism of pigs being inadvertently transferred to the recipient of the xenograft, recommendations have been published on the microbiological specifications for organ source pigs. The porcine circoviruses (PCV1 and PCV2) and porcine lymphotropic herpesviruses (PLHV1 and PLHV2) are two infectious agents of pigs which are considered to be of significance for the microbiological safety of xenotransplantation. To ensure the exclusion of these microorganisms from animals destined for use under clinical conditions, reliable breeding methodologies are required. We investigated the efficiency of established derivation procedures for the removal of PCV and PLHV. In comparison with conventionally reared pigs, caesarian and barrier derived animals showed a markedly reduced prevalence of PCVs and PLHVs. Our results indicate that the derivation of animals free of both of these microorganisms is achievable and will enhance the microbiological safety of xenotransplantation.
Walking or Talking?: Behavioral and Neurophysiological Correlates of Action Verb Processing

Brain activity elicited by visually presented words was investigated using behavioral measures and current source densities calculated from high-resolution EEG recordings. Verbs referring to actions usually performed with different body parts were compared. Behavioral data indicated faster processing of verbs referring to actions performed with the face muscles and articulators (face-related words) compared to verbs referring to movements involving the lower half of the body (leg-related words). Significant topographical differences in brain activity elicited by verb types were found starting approximately 250 ms after word onset. Differences were seen at recording sites located over the motor strip and adjacent frontal cortex. At the vertex, close to the cortical representation of the leg, leg-related verbs (for example, to walk) produced strongest in-going currents, whereas for face-related verbs (for example, to talk) the most in-going activity was seen at more lateral electrodes placed over the left Sylvian fissure, close to the representation of the articulators. Thus, action words caused differential activation along the motor strip, with strongest in-going activity occurring close to the cortical representation of the body parts primarily used for carrying out the actions the verbs refer to. Topographically specific physiological signs of word processing started earlier for face-related words and lasted longer for verbs referring to leg movements. We conclude that verb types can differ in their processing speed and can elicit neurophysiological activity with different cortical topographies. These behavioral and physiological differences can be related to cognitive processes, in particular to lexical semantic access. Our results are consistent with associative theories postulating that words are organized in the brain as distributed cell assemblies whose cortical distributions reflect the words' meanings.
EDI System Integration: A Definition and Literature Survey

Abstract This paper defines electronic data interchange (EDI) in terms of its derivation from the wider group of strategic, interorganizational information systems. It discusses the topic from two viewpoints: the nature and derivation of EDI systems and the issues involved in integrating EDI systems into existing organizations, at both the technical and structural levels. The paper approaches the problem with an introduction to the concept of strategic information systems and then discusses the particular importance of interorganizational information systems (IOS). The literature pertaining to EDI is introduced, together with a discussion of EDI's historical development and the benefits it offers to implementing organizations. As an interorganizational information system, EDI is differentiated on the basis of its essentially cooperative role and EDI system integration issues are divided into the technical and organizational.
Determinants of circulating soluble transferrin receptor level in chronic haemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to identify the factors determining the circulating soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) concentrations in haemodialysis (HD) patients on maintenance recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo) treatment. METHODS In a prospective cross-sectional study, 91 chronic HD patients and 18 anaemic controls with normal renal function were recruited. For each subject, blood samples were measured for complete blood count, reticulocyte count, percentage of hypochromic red cells (% HRC), serum ferritin, serum iron, transferrin saturation (TS), serum erythropoietin (sEpo), C-reactive protein (CRP), and sTfR. HD patients received constant rHuEpo doses and basal sEpo was measured > or = 86 h after the last injection. The age, gender, dialysis vintage, and the above-mentioned parameters were used as independent variables and logarithmic sTfR (log(10)sTfR) as a dependent variable in the forward stepwise multiple regression model. RESULTS HD patients were similar to controls regarding haematocrit, serum ferritin, TS, and % HRC, but had significantly lower sTfR, sEpo, and reticulocyte index. Univariate analyses showed that the sTfR level strongly correlated with sEpo (r=0.60, P<0.001) and % HRC (r=0.60, P<0.001), and significantly with serum ferritin (r=-0.29, P<0.01), TS (r=-0.27, P<0.05), and dose of rHuEpo administered (r=0.27, P<0.05) in HD patients. sTfR also had a positive correlation with haematocrit (r=0.26, P<0.05), red blood cell (RBC) count (r=0.23, P<0.05), and reticulocyte count (r=0.24, P<0.05), but not with CRP (r=0.16, P>0.05). Multivariate regression analysis disclosed that sEpo, HRC, and serum ferritin were the independent predictors of sTfR level. Overall, the model explained 58.8% of the variability in sTfR (R(2)=0.588, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Circulating sTfR is a good index of marrow erythropoietic activity in HD patients during rHuEpo treatment. Its level is also independently up-regulated by functional iron deficiency in the process of enhanced erythropoiesis. Our study showed that sTfR levels quantitatively reflect the integrated effects of iron availability, iron reserves, and erythropoietic stimulation.