Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhancement by iron of hepatic neoplasia in rats caused by hexachlorobenzene.

Female F344 rats received an i.p. injection of iron-dextran (600 mg Fe/kg) and then after 1 week were fed a diet containing 0.02% hexachlorobenzene (HCB) for up to 65 weeks. All rats (8/8) which received HCB after iron overload developed multiple hepatic nodules whereas only 3/8 rats administered HCB alone had nodules (average of one per positive liver). These hyperplastic regions were depleted of iron and were often positive for gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and glutathione S-transferase P (GST-P). Telangiectasis and peliosis were prominent features in the lesions. Short-term experiments (5-15 weeks of iron/HCB treatments) showed that GGT and GST-P were induced early in the neoplastic process but not in discrete focal areas. Iron alone also caused some induction of these enzymes. Some cells with induced GST-P in either short or long term experiments also stained positively for this enzyme in the nucleus. Studies of cytochrome P450 mediated activities showed that at 5 and 15 weeks HCB had induced EROD (an estimate of CYP1A1), PROD (CYP2B1 activity) and BROD activities (CYP2B1 but also other isoenzymes). Under the influence of iron overload EROD was significantly depressed from HCB alone, but not the others or cytochrome P450 reductase. Cytosolic glutathione S-transferase activities were also induced by HCB, but, unlike microsomal EROD, preloading with iron enhanced the effects. In contrast, although cytosolic diaphorase activity was induced by HCB, this response was depressed in combination with iron. Glutathione peroxidase (with H2O2 as substrate) was depressed by both iron and HCB. Clearly, iron overload potentiates the neoplastic process induced by HCB in rats, with both enhancing and depressing effects on various enzyme activities induced by this chemical.
The N‐end rule pathway of protein degradation

The N‐end rule relates the in vivo half‐life of a protein to the identity of its N‐terminal residue. Similar but distinct versions of the N‐end rule operate in all organisms examined, from mammals to fungi and bacteria. In eukaryotes, the N‐end rule pathway is a part of the ubiquitin system. Ubiquitin is a 76‐residue protein whose covalent conjugation to other proteins plays a role in many biological processes, including cell growth and differentiation. I discuss the current understanding of the N‐end rule pathway.
Panic and Agoraphobia in a Virtual World

Virtual reality (VR) offers a great new perspective on what it can offer an individual. These new approaches can give an individual the immersion and cognitive guidance that they need to help overcome his or her disorder. VR differs from the traditional displays in computer graphics as these various displays are integrated to give the user a sense of presence or immersion in the virtual world. To more effectively treat panic and agoraphobic patients using VR, it is necessary to determine the physiological responses of nonphobics when placed in the virtual panic and agoraphobia environments. This study exposed nonphobic participants to virtual panic and agoraphobia worlds with a program entitled "Virtual Medicine. " Individuals without a diagnosis of panic and agoraphobia, as confirmed by intake and self-report questionnaires, were exposed to four different VR environments (elevator, supermarket, town square, and beach). During these VR experiences, physiology was measured by noninvasive sensors (peripheral skin temperature, heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration, and skin conductance). These measurements were compared to baseline physiology, which was recorded for five min prior to the VR exposure. These levels of physiological arousal will be useful in comparing against the phobic responses during virtual exposure. It will be useful to explore differences between immersion, physiological responses, and self-report responses in nonphobics versus phobics.
Readiness for legally literate medical practice? Student perceptions of their undergraduate medico-legal education

Medical councils increasingly require graduates to understand law and to practise medicine mindful of the legal rules. In the UK a revised curriculum for medical law and ethics has been published. However, coverage of law in medical education remains variable and doubts exist about how far students acquire legal knowledge and skills in its implementation. This survey of students in two UK medical schools measured their law learning and their confidence in using this knowledge. Concept maps and a self-audit questionnaire were used to capture students' understanding and perceptions of this knowledge domain and self-assessments of their legal knowledge and skills. A large sample was achieved across first, second and final year students. Students agree that a sound understanding of law is essential to being a good doctor. Their perceptions of law are generally positive but the interface between the legal rules and codes of medical ethics creates difficulty. In some areas students offer relatively confident self-assessments of their legal knowledge and skills for practising law. However, levels of confidence in other areas of their law learning raise doubts about the degree to which they can advocate for and protect their patients. Conclusions are drawn about the effectiveness of students' law learning and recommendations made for further research.
Pancreatic steatosis in humans: cause or marker of lipotoxicity?

Purpose of reviewType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is characterized by impaired insulin secretion. Chronically increased levels of plasma nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) and triglyceride-rich lipoproteins impair beta-cell function, a process referred to as lipotoxicity. Furthermore, when NEFA supply exceeds metabolic capacity, lipids accumulate in nonadipose tissues, such as pancreatic islets, inducing organ dysfunction. The purpose of this review is to describe the mechanisms underlying lipotoxicity in vitro, to discuss the evidence for lipotoxicity in vivo and to address whether pancreatic lipid accumulation interferes with insulin secretion in humans. Recent findingsAlthough numerous in-vitro studies have shown that chronically elevated NEFA levels induce beta-cell dysfunction and apoptosis, studies in humans are less conclusive. It has been acknowledged that concurrent hyperglycaemia amplifies the adverse effects of elevated plasma NEFA levels on beta-cell function; therefore glucolipotoxicity should be the preferred term. Lipid accumulation in pancreatic islets impaired beta-cell secretory capacity in leptin-deficient rodents. In humans, recent studies employing noninvasive magnetic resonance-technology and computed tomography-technology, lipid accumulation in the pancreas was increased in individuals with impaired glucose metabolism and T2DM. However, there was no clear association with beta-cell dysfunction. SummaryTo date, it is difficult to provide evidence that intraislet lipid accumulation truly exists in humans and that it is indeed causal to beta-cell dysfunction. Additional research is warranted to further detail the nature and role of pancreatic lipid content in humans, its consequence for the postulated processes pertinent to glucolipotoxicity and its contribution to the progressive nature of beta-cell dysfunction in prediabetes.
Molecular fingerprinting of Mycobacterium tuberculosis on a Caribbean island with IS6110 and DRr probes

Because of a substantial increase in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and HIV-linked tuberculosis in the Caribbean, a molecular fingerprinting study of clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated at the Pasteur Institute of Guadeloupe from 1994 to 1995 was undertaken with the insertion sequence IS6110 and the direct repeat DRr probes. We present the results for 72 isolates from 51 patients. A major cluster (cluster A) representing isolates from 12 patients (24%) was detected upon PvuII-IS6110 fingerprinting, which revealed a pattern of four bands among these isolates. Homogeneity was retained when the isolates were further analyzed with the DRr probe or further characterized by AluI and SmaI-DRr restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. The isolates of cluster A, from 10 men and 2 women, was present in people of all ages and of different ethnic and geographical backgrounds, and infection with these isolates was independent of the HIV status of the patients (except for 2 HIV-positive patients from the same ward from whom the tubercle bacilli were isolated at the same time). The percentage of reactivation versus active transmission events could not be precisely determined in this study. These results are discussed on the basis of the genetic advantage of predominant clusters and/or specific characteristics of the settings from which a similar cluster of isolates with four bands has so far been reported, which include South Africa, French Polynesia, and Guadeloupe.
Differences in B cell growth phenotype reflect novel patterns of Epstein‐Barr virus latent gene expression in Burkitt's lymphoma cells.

Recently established Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV)‐positive Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) cell lines, carrying chromosomal translocations indicative of their malignant origin, have been monitored for their degree of in vitro progression towards a more ‘lymphoblastoid’ cell surface phenotype and growth pattern, and for their expression of three EBV latent gene products which are constitutively present in all virus‐transformed normal lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs). BL cell lines which stably retained the original tumour biopsy phenotype on serial passage were all positive for the nuclear antigen EBNA 1 but did not express detectable amounts of two other ‘transforming’ proteins, EBNA 2 and the latent membrane protein (LMP). This novel pattern of EBV gene expression was also observed on direct analysis of BL biopsy tissue. All three viral proteins became detectable, however, in BL cell lines which had progressed towards a more LCL‐like phenotype in vitro. This work establishes a link between B cell phenotype and the accompanying pattern of EBV latent gene expression, and identifies a novel type of EBV:cell interaction which may be unique to BL cells.
Central limit theorems and suppression of anomalous diffusion for systems with symmetry

We give general conditions for the central limit theorem and weak convergence to Brownian motion (the weak invariance principle/functional central limit theorem) to hold for observables of compact group extensions of nonuniformly expanding maps. In particular, our results include situations where the central limit theorem would fail, and anomalous behaviour would prevail, if the compact group were not present. This has important consequences for systems with noncompact Euclidean symmetry and provides the rigorous proof for a conjecture made in our paper: a Huygens principle for diffusion and anomalous diffusion in spatially extended systems. Gottwald and Melbourne (2013 Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110 8411–6).
Treatment of neutrino oscillations in a thermal environment.

We consider the mixing of neutrinos being scattered randomly by a background medium. We point out that quantum damping effects will tend to inhibit neutrino oscillations and provide some implications for the early Universe. If the off-diagonal terms in the neutrino mass matrix are small compared to an ''effective collision rate'' then oscillations will be blocked.
Differential expression of ISG20 in chronic hepatitis B patients and relation to interferon‐alpha therapy response

The 20 kDa exonuclease encoded by the interferon‐stimulated gene, ISG20, can inhibit the replication of hepatitis B virus (HBV), and may represent a clinically useful prognostic marker for response to interferon‐alpha (IFN‐α) antiviral therapy. The present study was designed to investigate the differential expression patterns of ISG20 in liver biopsy samples from treatment‐naive patients with chronic hepatitis B and non‐HBV infected controls and to determine the relation between the differential expression and IFN‐α treatment outcome (responders vs. non‐responders). HBV infection status was determined by measuring levels of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) by chemoluminescence immunoassay and of HBV DNA by real‐time quantitative (q)PCR. ISG20 protein and mRNA expressions were assessed by immunohistochemistry and qPCR, respectively. Chronic hepatitis B responders showed significantly higher levels of ISG20 protein and mRNA expressions than either the chronic hepatitis B non‐responders or the controls. Moreover, increased expression of ISG20 in both the nucleus and cytoplasm was correlated with positive response to IFN‐α treatment. Thus, active transcription and translation of ISG20 may represent a marker to identify chronic hepatitis B patients likely to respond to IFN‐α therapy. Prognostic clinical strategies based upon this marker may include genomic screening methods and immunohistochemical staining of liver biopsies. J. Med. Virol. 85:1506–1512, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Information system artefact or information system application: that is the question

Lee et al. ( ) suggest the concept of information system (IS) artefact as an alternative to information technology (IT) artefact, defining the former as a system of an IT artefact, an information artefact and a social artefact. This paper assesses this suggestion, contrasting it with the concepts of IT artefact and IS application as introduced in the prior IS literature. After this conceptual analysis, the paper discusses the relationships between an IS artefact and design and between an IS artefact and design science. The analysis concludes that an IS artefact is problematic as a unit of design because of the great differences in the designability of its constituent parts. Instead, the paper maintains that an IS application is more appropriate as a unit of design, but an IS artefact may be fruitful as an analytical concept to be used in behavioural science research on the interplay of IT artefact, information artefact and social artefact, or – especially if including IS application design – in action research‐oriented design science research. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Immunological and hematological characterizations of the wasting pig syndrome.

After weaning, pigs may develop a wasting syndrome characterized by slow growth, decreased disease resistance, and increased mortality. This study was conducted to determine whether differences in immune indices exist between wasting and normal pigs of a common age. Treatments were normal controls (N), wasting pigs (WP), and WP treated with the neuroleptic drug amperozide (WPA). Blood samples were taken on the day of treatment (d 0) and 7 and 21 d after treatment. Cortisol concentrations and hematological values were measured, and functional immune assays were conducted on all samples. Body weight was lower (P < .05) for wasting pigs at the start of the study. Wasting pigs and WPA also had fewer (P < .05) white blood cells, lymphocytes, and monocytes than normal pigs. The neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio, an index of stress, was greater for WP and WPA (.79, .92, and .59 +/- .07 for WP, WPA, and N, respectively; P = .008). Functional in vitro immune assays did not differ between groups. Differences in numbers of lymphocytes and monocytes in wasting pigs may result from chronic stress and contribute to the decreased disease resistance and increased mortality seen in these pigs.
Verb Retrieval and Sentence Production in Aphasia

This paper presents a subject with a selective verb retrieval deficit. Nouns were produced more successfully than verbs in spontaneous speech, picture naming and when naming to definition. The word class effect was not observed in comprehension tasks, reading aloud or writing. This indicated that it was due to a specific problem in accessing verbs' phonological representations from semantics. The second part of the paper explores the implications of the verb deficit for sentence production. Analyses of narrative speech revealed a typically agrammatic profile, with minimal verb argument structure and few function words and inflections. Two investigations suggested that the sentence deficit was at least partly contingent upon the verb deficit. In the first, the subject was asked to produce a sentence with the aid of a provided noun or verb. The noun cues were not effective in eliciting sentences, whereas verb cues were. The second investigation explored the effects of therapy aiming to improve verb retrieval. This therapy resulted in better verb retrieval and improved sentence production with those verbs. These findings suggest that an inability to access verbs' phonological representations can severely impair sentence formulation. Implications for models of sentence production are considered.
Medical management of gastric cancer: a 2017 update

Gastric cancer remains a considerable health burden throughout the world. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) analysis has recently unveiled 4 genotypes of gastric cancer with data not ready to change treatment strategy yet. A multimodality approach to therapy is the cornerstone of screening, diagnosing, staging, treating and supporting patients with gastric cancer. The evidence‐based approach to localized gastric cancer (>cT1b) is to use an either preoperative or postoperative strategy to maximize the benefit of surgery. The focus of future research is to optimize chemotherapy regimens, determine the role of radiation therapy and investigate the effect of treatment timing. In metastatic gastric cancer, biologic therapies have been introduced targeting markers shown to be prognostic. The results of ongoing randomized controlled phase 3 trials using targeted and immunotherapy agents, either in combination or alone, have the potential to alter the current treatment landscape of advanced gastric cancer.
Caenocholax fenyesi (Strepsiptera: Myrmecolacidae) Parasitic in Camponotus planatus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Mexico: Is This the Original Host?

Abstract The male of Caenocholax fenyesi Pierce (Strepsiptera) is widespread in South America, but no host records are known as the specimens examined were free-living males that came into traps. In southern USA C. fenyesi was found to parasitize the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis wagneri Santschi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). We found a nest of the carpenter ant, Camponotus planatus Roger, in Veracruz, Mexico to be parasitized by C. fenyesi. This is the first record of a host of C. fenyesi from the Neotropics. At the same location Pierce (1909) found the type species of C. fenyesi, but there were no host records. As our findings were from the same location, we speculate whether C. planatus is the endemic host of C. fenyesi. If so, did C. fenyesi arrive in southern USA parasitic on C. planatus, and move to an exotic host, S. wagneri in an alien enviroment? We also synonomize Myrmecolax ogloblini Luna de Carvalho and Caenocholax brasiliensis Oliveira & Kogan from Brazil with C. fenyesi, based on the unique structure of the aedeagus of the latter.
Proposed Semi-supervised Template Update Method and Evaluation Metrics

Semi-supervised template update systems allow to automatically take into account the intra-class variability of the biometric data over time. Such systems can be inefficient by including too many impostor’s samples or skipping too many genuine’s samples. In the first case, the biometric reference drifts from the real biometric data and attracts more often impostors. In the second case, the biometric reference does not evolve quickly enough and also progressively drifts from the real biometric data. We propose a hybrid system using several biometric sub-references in order to increase performance of self-update systems by reducing the previously cited errors. The proposition is validated for a keystrokedynamics authentication system (this modality suffers of high variability over time) on two consequent datasets from the state of the art.
Angiotensin II profile and mRNA encoding RAS proteins during bovine follicular wave

Angiotensin II (AngII) has a role in ovarian follicle development, ovulation, and oocyte meiotic resumption. The objective of the present study was to characterise the AngII profile and the mRNA encoding RAS proteins in a bovine follicular wave. Cows were ovariectomised when the size between the largest (F1) and the second largest follicle (F2) was not statistically different (day 2), slightly different (day 3), or markedly different (day 4). AngII was measured in the follicular fluid and the mRNA abundance of genes encoding angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), (pro)renin receptor, and renin-binding protein (RnBP) was evaluated in the follicular cells from F1 and F2. The AngII levels increased at the expected time of the follicular deviation in F1 but did not change in F2. However, the expression of the genes encoding ACE, (pro)renin receptor, and RnBP was not regulated in F1 but was upregulated during or after the follicular deviation in F2. Moreover, RnBP gene expression increased when the F1 was treated with the oestrogen receptor-antagonist in vivo. In conclusion, the AngII concentration increased in the follicular fluid of the dominant follicle during and after deviation and further supports our finding that RAS is present in the ovary regulating follicular dominance.
Empowering children with special educational needs to speak up: experiences of inclusive physical education

Purpose. The inclusion of children with special educational needs (SEN) has risen up the political agenda since the return of the Labour Government in 1997. This has seen increasing numbers of children with SEN being educated within mainstream schools. Method. This study examines the perspectives of children with SEN attending both mainstream and special schools in relation to their experiences of physical education (PE). Results. Findings demonstrate that children with SEN in both mainstream and special schools enjoy PE, although issues were raised in mainstream schools regarding bullying and the appropriateness of activities in PE lessons. The findings show how children offered suggestions about how to improve PE and make it more beneficial. The findings identify how children are empowered through consultation, and are aware of their needs and abilities. Conclusion. As such it is evident that schools and those supporting inclusive physical activity for children with SEN must use consultation as a tool for empowering pupils as a means of providing them with choices while gaining a rich insight into their lived experiences of PE.
Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome due to a mutation in the follicle-stimulating hormone receptor.

The overproduction of endogenous chorionic gonadotropin during pregnancy has been associated with spontaneous ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Yet the syndrome has been observed in women with normal levels of chorionic gonadotropin. This Brief Report defines a mutation in the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) receptor that is associated with recurrent, spontaneous ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. In this instance, the mutant receptor responded both to chorionic gonadotropin and to thyrotropin.