Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tlg2p, a Yeast Syntaxin Homolog That Resides on the Golgi and Endocytic Structures*

Intracellular membrane fusion events in eukaryotic cells are thought to be mediated by protein-protein interactions between soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) complex proteins. We have identified and analyzed a new yeast syntaxin homolog, Tlg2p. Tlg2p is unique among known syntaxin family proteins in possessing a sizeable hydrophilic domain of 63 amino acids that is C-terminal to the membrane spanning region and nonessential for Tlg2p function. Tlg2p resides on the endosome and late Golgi by co-localization with an endocytic intermediate and co-fractionation with markers for both endosomes and late Golgi. Cells depleted for Tlg2p missort a portion of carboxypeptidase Y and are defective in endocytosis. In addition, we report that Tlg2p forms a SEC18-dependent SNARE complex with Snc2p, a vesicle SNARE known to function in Golgi to plasma membrane trafficking. Based on these findings we propose that Tlg2p is a t-SNARE that functions in transport from the endosome to the late Golgi and on the endocytic pathway.
Salience, Myopia, and Complex Dynamic Incentives: Evidence from Medicare Part D

The standard Medicare Part D drug insurance contract is nonlinear—with reduced subsidies in a coverage gap—resulting in a dynamic purchase problem. We consider enrollees who arrived near the gap early in the year and show that they should expect to enter the gap with high probability, implying that, under a benchmark model with neoclassical preferences, the gap should impact them very little. We find that these enrollees have flat spending in a period before the doughnut hole and a large spending drop in the gap, providing evidence against the benchmark model. We structurally estimate behavioral dynamic drug purchase models and find that a price salience model where enrollees do not incorporate future prices into their decision making at all fits the data best. For a nationally representative sample, full price salience would decrease enrollee spending by 31%. Entirely eliminating the gap would increase insurer spending 27%, compared to 7% for generic-drug-only gap coverage.
Peripheral blood vs. bone marrow for molecular monitoring of BCR‐ABL1 levels in chronic myelogenous leukemia, a retrospective analysis in allogeneic bone marrow recipients

Molecular monitoring of the BCR‐ABL1 transcript in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) using quantitative real‐time PCR (RQ‐PCR) can be performed using either bone marrow (BM) or peripheral blood (PB). However, a recent report by Stock et al. [International Journal of Oncology 28 (2006) 1099] questioned the reliability of PB samples for BCR‐ABL1 detection as performed by RQ‐PCR. We report a study on 114 CML patients who received allogeneic stem cell transplantation (ASCT), and who were monitored by RQ‐PCR using paired samples of BM and PB: the total number of determinations was 428, with a median follow‐up after transplant of 8 years. BCR‐ABL1 transcript was undetectable or <0.1%, in 106 (49.57%) and 62 (29%) paired determinations, respectively. BCR‐ABL1 was >0.1% in 36 (16.8%) paired determinations and was discordant in 10 (4.7%). Agreement between PB and BM results was quantified by the kappa test (k = 0.85; 95% CI 0.76–0.94). This study shows that BCR‐ABL1 RQ‐PCR monitoring of CML patients after ASCT with PB is concordant with BM in 95.3% of cases, and thus may be used to monitor the disease. This may be relevant when discussing both quality of life issues and the need for post‐transplant monitoring with the patient.
Rapamycin: clinical results and future opportunities.

Sirolimus (rapamycin; RAPA) is a macrocyclic lactone with a novel mechanism of immunosuppressive action (1). During the past 7 years, the drug has undergone clinical trials progressing from Phase I safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic investigation to Phase II dose-finding studies and limited-sized, multicenter evaluations of drug combination regimens. The completion of Phase III large randomized national and international trials led to approval of the drug to achieve augmented acute rejection prophylaxis in combination with cyclosporine (CsA) and steroids by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States in September 1999. In November 2000, the drug was approved by the European Agency as an alternate to calcineurin antagonists for long-term maintenance therapy. This overview seeks to familiarize the reader with the clinical information that provided the bases for drug approval and with the single-center reports that document alternate approaches to optimize the outcomes of treatment with this immunosuppressive agent.
Biological, life course, and cross-cultural studies all point toward the value of dimensional and developmental ratings in the classification of psychosis.

The diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) are based on the premise that it is a discrete illness entity, in particular, distinct from the affective psychoses. This assumption has persisted for more than a century, even though patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia show a wide diversity of symptoms and outcomes, and no biological or psychological feature has been found to be pathognomonic of the disorder. However, there has been sustained, and indeed growing, criticism of the concept. For example, writing about the diagnosis of schizophrenia more than a decade ago,2 one of Britain's most sophisticated nosological experts, Ian Brockington, enjoined "It is important to loosen the grip which the concept of 'schizophrenia' has on the minds of psychiatrists. Schizophrenia is an idea whose very essence is equivocal, a nosological category without natural boundaries, a barren hypothesis. Such a blurred concept is 'not a valid object of scientific enquiry'. "3 Should Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition(DSM-V), persist with the neo-Kraepelinian concept of schizophrenia with all its defects, or should it deconstruct psychosis into its component dimensions? In this article, we will address the question by considering 2 main themes, firstly, the role of culture and ethnicity in the diagnosis of psychosis, and secondly, a life course approach to understanding psychosis. We will then discuss whether more progress would be achieved in DSM-V by abandoning the familiar categorical system and instead moving to a dimensional system which rates both developmental impairment and symptom factor scores. However, we will begin by briefly reviewing the recent history of the classification of the psychoses.
New stability results of neutral-type neural networks with continuously distributed delays and impulses

This paper studies the globally asymptotic stability of neutral-type impulsive neural networks with discrete and bounded continuously distributed delays. By using the Lyapunov functional method, quadratic convex combination approach, a novel Gu's Lemma, Jensen integral inequality and linear convex combination technique, several novel sufficient conditions are derived to ensure the globally asymptotic stability of the equilibrium point of the networks. The proposed results, which do not require the differentiability and monotonicity of the activation functions, can be easily checked via Matlab software. Finally, two numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of our theoretical results.
The effect of aging on skeletal muscle capillarization in a murine model.

Capillarization of skeletal muscle has been reported to be both maintained and reduced with advancing age. This conflict may represent methodological differences between biopsy studies. We have examined capillarization throughout two muscles, soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL), from a well-established colony of aging mice, and related this to fiber number (C/F ratio) and type. Labeling of muscle capillaries was performed with the biotinylated Griffonia (Bandeiraea) simplicifolia lectin (GSL 1) using immunochemistry. The results showed a significant increase in the C/F ratio in the aged mice when compared with the younger (6-month mice soleus = 1.296, 95% CI 1.226-1.366 vs 28-month mice soleus = 1.530, 95% CI 1.488-1.572, p <.001; 6-month mice EDL = 0.881, 95% CI 0.751-1.011 vs 28-month mice EDL = 1.124, 95% CI 1.028-1.220, p = .017). These differences could not be accounted for by changes in fiber type but may reflect loss of fibers. Alternatively, there may be increased angiogenic drive or a failure of downregulation of angiogenesis.
Evidence-Based Medicine: The Evaluation and Treatment of Pressure Injuries

Learning Objective: After studying this article, the participant should be able to: 1. Discuss the approach to and rationale for pressure injury management, including specific techniques for prevention and preoperative evaluation. 2. Develop a management algorithm for these wounds that includes operative and nonoperative modalities. 3. Understand how to identify and manage the complications of surgical intervention for pressure injuries, including recurrence. Summary: Pressure injuries are a common problem associated with great morbidity and cost, often presenting as complex challenges for plastic surgeons. Although the cause of these wounds is largely prolonged pressure, the true pathogenesis involves many other factors, including friction, shear, moisture, nutrition, and infection. This article outlines a systematic approach to evaluating and staging pressure injuries, and provides strategies for treatment and prevention. Critical to surgical intervention is thorough débridement, including any involved or causative bony tissues, and postoperative management to prevent wound dehiscence and recurrence.
[Extracorporeal shock wave therapy in patients with lateral epicondylitis].

OBJECTIVES We investigated the effect of extracorporeal shock wave therapy in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis. METHODS The study included 13 elbows of 12 patients (8 women, 4 men; mean age 40 years) who did not benefit from conservative therapy for lateral epicondylitis and refused surgical therapy. Under fluoroscopic guidance, extracorporeal shock wave therapy of 1200 pulses at 15-20 kV was administered at a mean of three sessions (range 3 to 7 sessions) with two-day intervals. No immobilization was applied after sessions. The patients were questioned about pain during rest and during dorsiflexion of the wrist against resistance before and after three and 12 months of treatment. The results were evaluated using the Roles and Maudsley pain scores. At the end of 12 months, the patients were asked to lift weight with the shoulder in flexion and the wrist in extension to measure grip strengths in comparison with the unaffected side. RESULTS The mean pain score which was 3.4 before treatment decreased to 2 after treatment. The mean grip strength of the affected extremities was 82.1% of the normal side. At final follow-ups, nine patients (10 elbows) (75%) stated that the treatment was beneficial; all these patients achieved at least 85% of grip strength of the normal side. Two patients (16.7%) reported no benefit from therapy and had a poor pain score. The result was fair in one patient (8.3%) who expressed dissatisfaction and had partial relief after the procedure. This patient achieved 60% of grip strength of the unaffected side. CONCLUSION Extracorporeal shock wave therapy is an alternative method for patients who do not benefit from conservative treatment and refuse surgical treatment.
A comparison of duodenal osmolality and energy content as controlling factors of gastric emptying in the calf.

1. The relative importance of energy content and osmolality of the duodenal chyme in the feed‐back control of gastric emptying was investigated in the milk‐fed calf fitted with gastric (abomasal) and duodenal re‐entrant cannulae. 2. Duodenal infusion of isosmolal solutions, containing glucose, fructose or galactose, with a range of combustible energy content (0‐‐1.46 MJ/l.) resulted in the same high rate of emptying of test meals from the stomach (abomasum). Abomasal emptying was, therefore, not affected by the energy content of the duodenal infusate. 3. Gastric secretion of acid and pepsinogen, and the volume of gastric secretions produced were also unaffected by the energy content of isosomolal duodenal infusates. 4. The results of the study show that the combustible energy content of the intestinal chyme is not a direct determinant of gastric function and that total osmolality of the lumenal contents is the only parameter influencing duodenal receptors under the conditions of our experiments.
Multiple Hormone Responses to Stimulation with dl-Fenfluramine in Patients with Major Depression before and after Antidepressive Treatment

The authors investigated 31 drug-free inpatients with major depression using dl-fenfluramine (dl-FEN) as a serotonin probe (fenfluramine stimulation test, FFT). The FFT was performed in the same individuals (intraindividual comparison) with and without application of dl-FEN and before and after antidepressive treatment. Blood samples were analyzed for prolactin, cortisol, thyrotropin (TSH), growth hormone (HGH), dl-FEN and its major metabolite dl-norfenfluramine. There was no difference in the conditions before and after treatment as regards peak plasma levels of dl-FEN. Compared with saline, significant (P less than 0.01) increases were detected for dl-FEN-stimulated cortisol and prolactin values. A significantly (P less than 0.01) lower increase in dl-FEN-stimulated prolactin values was found after treatment compared with the situation before treatment, a finding which was dependent on the type of medication which the patients were receiving at the time when the test procedure took place. Baseline and dl-FEN-stimulated cortisol values were significantly (P less than 0.001) lower and TSH values were significantly (P less than 0.01) higher in the condition after compared with the one before treatment. Patients' mean peak delta prolactin responses to dl-FEN before treatment were significantly (P less than 0.05) correlated with those of patients after subchronic treatment with fluvoxamine. Hormonal responses were neither associated with the severity of the illness nor with a specific psychopathological profile.
A Novel Method to Predict Highly Expressed Genes Based on Radius Clustering and Relative Synonymous Codon Usage

Recombinant proteins play an important role in many aspects of life and have generated a huge income, notably in the industrial enzyme business. A gene is introduced into a vector and expressed in a host organism-for example, E. coli-to obtain a high productivity of target protein. However, transferred genes from particular organisms are not usually compatible with the host's expression system because of various reasons, for example, codon usage bias, GC content, repetitive sequences, and secondary structure. The solution is developing programs to optimize for designing a nucleotide sequence whose origin is from peptide sequences using properties of highly expressed genes (HEGs) of the host organism. Existing data of HEGs determined by practical and computer-based methods do not satisfy for qualifying and quantifying. Therefore, the demand for developing a new HEG prediction method is critical. We proposed a new method for predicting HEGs and criteria to evaluate gene optimization. Codon usage bias was weighted by amplifying the difference between HEGs and non-highly expressed genes (non-HEGs). The number of predicted HEGs is 5% of the genome. In comparison with Puigbò's method, the result is twice as good as Puigbò's one, in kernel ratio and kernel sensitivity. Concerning transcription/translation factor proteins (TF), the proposed method gives low TF sensitivity, while Puigbò's method gives moderate one. In summary, the results indicated that the proposed method can be a good optional applying method to predict optimized genes for particular organisms, and we generated an HEG database for further researches in gene design.
Long-term survival following diabetic vitrectomy.

AIM To update long-term survival data on patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy undergoing vitrectomy and to identify associated risk factors. METHODS Retrospective clinical record review at a single New Zealand tertiary referral centre. A total of 182 eyes that underwent a vitrectomy for a diabetic vitreous haemorrhage and/or tractional retinal detachment between March 2000 and December 2010 were included. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox-regression analyses were performed for survival rates and associated risk factors. RESULTS The mean age of patients was 55 years (range 22 to 85) at time of surgery. The three-year survival rate following diabetic vitrectomy was 83.5%, and the five-year survival rate (N=154) was 70.1%. Increasing age, dialysis and high serum creatinine were associated with poorer survival on multivariate Cox regression analyses (hazard ratio of 1.035, 4.216 and 1.930 respectively with p-values of 0.018, <0.001 and 0.046). CONCLUSION Survival rates after diabetic vitrectomy remain relatively poor but comparable to earlier New Zealand and international reports. However, there remain significant differences between ethnic groups within New Zealand that need to be addressed in addition to renal disease, which appears to be a major risk factor for poor survival. Overall, the contemporary survival outcomes observed in this study may influence decision making by patients and clinicians as well as encourage a review of current healthcare resource allocation in diabetes care.
Exome Sequencing and High-Density Microarray Testing in Monozygotic Twin Pairs Discordant for Features of VACTERL Association

Exome sequencing offers an efficient and affordable method to interrogate genetic factors involved in human disease. Performing exome sequencing of monozygotic twins discordant for VACTERL (Vertebral anomalies, Anal atresia, Cardiac malformations, Tracheo-Esophageal fistula, Renal anomalies, and Limb abnormalities) association-type congenital malformations was hypothesized to potentially reveal discordant variants that could demonstrate disease cause(s). After demonstrating monozygosity, we applied high-density microarrays and exome sequencing to 2 twin pairs in which 1 twin had features of VACTERL association while the other was phenotypically normal (demonstrated through comprehensive clinical and radiological evaluation). No obvious discordant genotypic results were found that would explain phenotypic discordance. We conclude that VACTERL association is a complex disease, and while performing microarray analysis and exome sequencing on phenotypically discordant monozygotic twins may hypothetically reveal genetic causes of disorders, challenges remain in applying these methods in this circumstance.
Assessment of the Provisions of Guidance and Counseling Services in Secondary Schools of East Harerge Zone and Hareri Region , Ethiopia

The aim of the study was to assess the provision and perceived importance of guidance and counseling. The study used survey design and 336 participants participated in the study. Chi-square, independent sample t-test, Kruskal-Wallis test and percentages were used as data analysis techniques. The result indicated that the school community had poor awareness about the presence of G&C services at their schools. Male students’ utilization of the services was significantly higher than their female counter parts. Fear of asking help was the reason for underutilization of the G&C services by female students. The schools guidance and counseling programs did not have written plans, specific roles and responsibilities and private counseling rooms. There was loose coordination among principals, teachers, and guidance and counseling programs. Recommendations on ways of improving G&C services were forwarded.
The diversity study of AES on FPGA application

In the applications of AES, the long-term robustness/reliability during the period of operation should be taken into serious considerations. From such considerations, one may initiate the requirements of the design for diversity against break through from outside. In system design, the use of reconfigurable FPGA can provide higher level of flexibility. In this paper, the proposed system uses different generators, various transforms, modules and algorithms to enhance the randomization of the ciphertext. It is also a challenge to improve the system flexibility and to get a more secure design in the AES system. Several reconfigurable modules are developed on our integrated test-bench.
Rainfall-Induced Changes in Actual Surface Backscattering Cross Sections and Effects on Rain-Rate Estimates by Spaceborne Precipitation Radar

Abstract In this study, the authors used Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission precipitation radar (TRMM PR) data to investigate changes in the actual (attenuation corrected) surface backscattering cross section (σ0e) due to changes in surface conditions induced by rainfall, the effects of changes in σ0e on the path integrated attenuation (PIA) estimates by surface reference techniques (SRTs), and the effects on rain-rate estimates by the TRMM PR standard rain-rate retrieval algorithm. Over land, σ0e is statistically higher under rainfall than under no rainfall conditions (soil moisture effect) unless the land surface is densely covered by vegetation. Over ocean, the dependence of σ0e on the incident angle differs under rainfall and no-rainfall conditions (wind speed effect). The alongtrack spatial reference (ATSR) method, one of the SRTs used in the standard algorithm, partially considers these effects, while the temporal reference (TR) method, another SRT, never involves these effects; its PIA estimates t.