Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pancreatic diseases in children.

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Productivity Insurance: The Role of Unemployment Benefits in a Multi-Sector Model

We construct a multi-sector search and matching model where the unemployed receives idiosyncratic productivity shocks that make working in certain sectors more productive than in the others. Agents must decide which sector to search in and face moving costs when leaving their current sector for another. In this environment, unemployment is associated with an additional risk: low future wages if mobility costs preclude search in the appropriate sector. This introduces a new role for unemployment benefits – productivity insurance while unemployed. For plausible parameterizations unemployment benefits increase per-worker productivity. In addition, the welfare-maximizing benefit level decreases as moving costs increase.
Betweenness centrality as an indicator of the interdisciplinarity of scientific journals

In addition to science citation indicators of journals like impact and immediacy, social network analysis provides a set of centrality measures like degree, betweenness, and closeness centrality. These measures are first analyzed for the entire set of 7,379 journals included in the Journal Citation Reports of the Science Citation Index and the Social Sciences Citation Index 2004 (Thomson ISI, Philadelphia, PA), and then also in relation to local citation environments that can be considered as proxies of specialties and disciplines. Betweenness centrality is shown to be an indicator of the interdisciplinarity of journals, but only in local citation environments and after normalization; otherwise, the influence of degree centrality (size) overshadows the betweenness-centrality measure. The indicator is applied to a variety of citation environments, including policy-relevant ones like biotechnology and nanotechnology. The values of the indicator remain sensitive to the delineations of the set because of the indicator's local character. Maps showing interdisciplinarity of journals in terms of betweenness centrality can be drawn using information about journal citation environments, which is available online.
Mutations affecting pseudoknot control of the replication of B group plasmids

The translational initiation region of the mRNA for the replication initiation protein (RepA) of pMU720 is predicted to be sequestered in an inhibitory secondary structure designated stem-loop III. Activation of repA translation requires both the disruption of stem-loop III by ribosomes involved in the translation and termination of the leader peptide RepB and the formation of a pseudoknot, a tertiary RNA structure. Disruption of stem-loop III by site-directed mutagenesis was found to be insufficient to allow high repA expression in the absence of pseudoknot formation, indicating that the pseudoknot acts as an enhancer of repA translation. Furthermore, extending the length of the leader peptide RepB and changing the distance between the pseudoknot and repA Shine-Dalgarno sequence were found to have major effects on the translation of repA.
Sources and levels of selenium on breast meat quality of broilers

Qualitative characteristics of breast meat of broilers fed diets supplemented with different concentrations (0; 0.3 and 0.5mg kg-1) of selenium in the form of selenomethionine and sodium selenite were analyzed. A total of 1050 one-day-old male Cobb broiler chicks were arranged factorially at random to five treatments (two concentrations x two sources + control diet without addition of selenium) with 7 replications of thirty birds each and received an isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets in all phases according to their ages (1-21, 22-35, and 36-42 days). At 42 days of age, TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) after storage at 4oC for one, seven and 15 days and also after 30 days under freezing temperatures (-15°C), color (CIELab), water holding capacity, cooking loss, shear force, pH and selenium concentration were determined in slaughtered birds breast meat. Results indicated that the use of selenomethionine provides less lightness and lower oxidation in chicken breast meat stored up to 15 days at 4°C. There was a positive effect of dietary different sources and levels of selenium on breast meat quality of broilers. It was observed a linear effect of dietary selenium levels on the amount of selenium deposited in the muscle, and the organic source (selenomethionine) is more effective than inorganic one (sodium selenite) for broiler meat conservation.
Does state-level context matter for individuals' knowledge about abortion, legality and health? Challenging the ‘red states v. blue states’ hypothesis

Recently, the hypothesis that state-level political context influences individuals' cultural values – the ‘red states v. blue states’ hypothesis – has been invoked to explain the hyper-polarisation of politics in the USA. To test this hypothesis, we examined individuals' knowledge about abortion in relation to the political context of their current state of residence. Drawing from an internet-survey of 586 reproductive-age individuals in the USA, we assessed two types of abortion knowledge: health-related and legality. We found that state-level conservatism does not modify the existing relationships between individual predictors and each of the two types of abortion knowledge. Hence, our findings do not support the ‘red states’ versus ‘blue states’ hypothesis. Additionally, we find that knowledge about abortion's health effects in the USA is low: 7% of our sample thought abortion before 12 weeks gestation was illegal.
MsGC‐II, a receptor guanylyl cyclase isolated from the CNS of Manduca sexta that is inhibited by calcium

We describe the cloning of a receptor guanylyl cyclase, MsGC‐II, from the CNS of the insect Manduca sexta. Sequence comparisons with other receptor guanylyl cyclases show that MsGC‐II is most similar to a predicted guanylyl cyclase in the Drosophila genome and to vertebrate retinal guanylyl cyclases. When expressed in COS‐7 cells, MsGC‐II exhibited a low level of basal activity that was nearly abolished in the presence of 10 µm calcium. Incubation with either a mammalian guanylyl cyclase‐activating protein or Drosophila frequenin resulted in only mild stimulation of activity, whereas incubation of COS‐7 cells expressing MsGC‐II with a variety of Manduca tissue extracts failed to stimulate enzyme activity above basal levels. Analysis of the tissue distribution of MsGC‐II revealed that it is nervous system specific. In the adult, MsGC‐II is present in neurons in the optic lobes, antennal lobes and cellular cortex, but it is most highly expressed in subsets of intrinsic mushroom body neurons. Thus, MsGC‐II appears to be a neural‐specific receptor guanylyl cyclase whose activity may be regulated either directly or indirectly by calcium.
Efficacy of olopatadine hydrochloride 0.1%, emedastine difumarate 0.05%, and loteprednol etabonate 0.5% for Chinese children with seasonal allergic conjunctivitis: a randomized vehicle‐controlled study

Allergic conjunctivitis (AC) is a disease of various agents that affects the physical and mental health of children. Although the most effective therapy has not been found so far, it is essential to explore the considerable therapeutic method. We compared the clinical efficacy of olopatadine, emedastine, loteprednol etabonate (LE), and vehicle for treating seasonal allergic conjunctivitis (SAC) in Chinese children.
Video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy versus stereotactic radiotherapy for stage I lung cancer.

With great interest we read the study of Hamaji et al. (1) entitled “Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic lobectomy Versus Stereotactic Radiotherapy for Stage I Lung Cancer” which was recently published in Annals of Thoracic Surgery . With a mean follow-up of 48 months, the authors show that lobectomy performed by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) offers better results than stereotactic radiotherapy (SBRT) in the treatment of patients with pathologically proved non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in early stages.
A videotaped intervention to enhance child control and reduce anxiety of the pain of dental injections.

AIM While the psychological literature shows that perceptions of uncontrollability contribute to anxiety and other pathologies, interventions that enhance perceived control have been shown to reduce anxiety. This study attempted to assess a brief videotape to enhance child perceived control in a dental setting. METHODS 101 children aged 7-9 years completed warm-up procedures and viewed either: a) the experimental intervention, a 2 minutes video of a dentist explaining what an injection will feel like and proposing hand raising as a signal mechanism; or b) the control condition, a 2 minutes video of Disneyland. Fear of dental injections was assessed on a 10 cm visual analogue scale before and after the intervention. RESULTS In the experimental group there was a significant fear reduction from pre- to post-intervention, while this was not the case in the control group. Children with higher pre-existing levels of fear benefited more from the intervention than children with lower levels of fear. CONCLUSION The results of this pilot study suggest that intervention packages that impact child control have promise in lowering anxiety.
Evaluation of an ELISA for detection of antibodies to Babesia bigemina in cattle and it's application in an epidemiological survey in Brazil

Um ensaio de imunoadsorcao enzimatica (ELISA) baseado em antigeno bruto foi avaliado na deteccao de anticorpos contra Babesia bigemina. A sensibilidade e a especificidade do teste foram de 98,0% e 99,0%, respectivamente. Concordando com a alta especificidade do teste, nao foram verificadas reacoes cruzadas com soros de bezerros inoculados tres vezes com 107 merozoitos de Babesia bovis. Com relacao a comparacao do ELISA com a imunofluorescencia indireta (IFAT) na deteccao de anticorpos contra B. bigemina em bezerros experimentalmente infectados com cinco isolados brasileiros geograficamente distintos deste hemoparasito, o IFAT foi capaz de detectar anticorpos um dia antes do ELISA na maioria dos soros dos animais. Houve uma boa concordância entre os resultados encontrados no ELISA e no IFAT com soros de bovinos de regiao de estabilidade enzootica (k=0.61). No entanto, nao houve concordância entre os testes sorologicos com soros de animais de area de instabilidade enzootica (k=0.33). O ELISA foi empregado em um inquerito epidemiologico com 1.367 soros de quatro municipios do Pantanal de Mato Grosso do Sul e caracterizou esta regiao como uma area de estabilidade enzootica, uma vez que as prevalencias variaram de 87,7 a 98,9%. Dessa forma, este ELISA, que apresentou alta sensibilidade, especificidade e desempenho similar ao IFAT, pode ser utilizado no diagnostico sorologico de B. bigemina.
Long-term impacts of invasive grasses and subsequent fire in seasonally dry Hawaiian woodlands.

Invasive nonnative grasses have altered the composition of seasonally dry shrublands and woodlands throughout the world. In many areas they coexist with native woody species until fire occurs, after which they become dominant. Yet it is not clear how long their impacts persist in the absence of further fire. We evaluated the long-term impacts of grass invasions and subsequent fire in seasonally dry submontane habitats on Hawai'i, USA. We recensused transects in invaded unburned woodland and woodland that had burned in exotic grass-fueled fires in 1970 and 1987 and had last been censused in 1991. In the unburned woodlands, we found that the dominant understory grass invader, Schizachyrium condensatum, had declined by 40%, while native understory species were abundant and largely unchanged from measurements 17 years ago. In burned woodland, exotic grass cover also declined, but overall values remained high and recruitment of native species was poor. Sites that had converted to exotic grassland after a 1970 fire remained dominated by exotic grasses with no increase in native cover despite 37 years without fire. Grass-dominated sites that had burned twice also showed limited recovery despite 20 years of fire suppression. We found limited evidence for "invasional meltdown": Exotic richness remained low across burned sites, and the dominant species in 1991, Melinis minutiflora, is still dominant today. Twice-burned sites are, however, being invaded by the nitrogen-fixing tree Morella faya, an introduced species with the potential to greatly alter the successional trajectory on young volcanic soils. In summary, despite decades of fire suppression, native species show little recovery in burned Hawaiian woodlands. Thus, burned sites appear to be beyond a threshold for "natural recovery" (e.g., passive restoration).
Transient immunomodulation by intravenous methylprednisolone treatment of multiple sclerosis

The extent and duration of immunomodulation induced by high-dose corticosteroid treatment of clinical relapse of multiple sclerosis was investigated. Ten patients treated with a 5 day course of intravenous methylprednisolone (IVMP) (500 mg daily) were studied. Circulating lymphocyte subpopulations and mitogen-induced interleukin 2 (IL-2) and γ-interferon (γ-IFN) production were determined immediately before initiation of therapy (day 1), during therapy (24 h after first dose, day 2) and at 24 h and 1 week post therapy (days 6 and 12 respectively). T-cell subpopulation (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD4CD45RA, CD4CD4SRO) levels fell within 24 h of initiation of therapy, rebounded above pretreatment levels at day 6 and normalised I week post therapy. Despite a reduction in total T-cell numbers during treatment, the γδT-cell subpopulation was not significantly altered. HLA-DR expression on B cells and monocytes declined transiently on day 2 to approximately 50% of pretherapy levels. IL-2 and γ-IFN production were reduced during therapy but returned to baseline levels by 24 h post therapy. The effects of IVMP on lymphocyte distribution and function appear to be short-lived and, therefore, may not be responsible for the rapid improvement associated with this form of treatment.
Throughput and fairness improvement in 802.11b multi-rate WLANs

The 802.11 standard supports multiple data transmission rates. To achieve a high performance under varying conditions, wireless stations need to adapt their transmission rate dynamically. Typically, stations with 802.11b products would reduce their bit rate from 11 Mbps to 5.5, 2, or 1 Mbps if they are far away from an access point (AP) and subject to significant signal fading and interference. This leads to considerable rate diversity, particularly when the network is congested. Under such conditions, aggregate throughput of WLANs will be degraded drastically (M. Heusse et al., 2003) because the basic CSMA/CA channel access method would guarantee an equal long term CAP (channel access probability) to all hosts. The main contribution of this paper is the proposal of an algorithm that can be implemented at both the AP and the wireless stations (WSs) with the purpose of guaranteeing fairness and improving the aggregate throughput of 802.11b multi-rate WLANs, We use COT (channel occupancy time) as fairness index instead of the CAP to analyze the fairness of WLANs. With our algorithm, the AP and wireless stations in the WLAN can achieve COT-based fairness by adjusting their packet length, sending the multiple back-to-back packets at one time, or giving up an opportunity to access the channel. Through exclusive simulations, we show that our algorithm leads to significant improvements in aggregate throughput and provides COT-fairness under multi-rate condition
Left Atrial Size Is a Potent Predictor of Mortality in Mitral Regurgitation Due to Flail Leaflets: Results From a Large International Multicenter Study

Background— Left atrium (LA) enlargement is common in organic mitral regurgitation (MR) and is an emerging prognostic indicator. However, outcome implications of LA enlargement have not been analyzed in the context of routine clinical practice and in a multicenter study. Methods and Results— The Mitral Regurgitation International DAtabase (MIDA) registry enrolls patients with organic MR due to flail leaflets, diagnosed in routine clinical practice, in 5 US and European centers. We investigated the relation between LA diameter and mortality under medical treatment and after mitral surgery in 788 patients in sinus rhythm (64±12 years; median LA, 48 [43 to 52] mm). LA diameter was independently associated with survival after diagnosis (hazard ratio, 1.08 [1.04 to 1.12] per 1 mm increment). Compared with patients with LA <55 mm, those with LA ≥55 mm had lower 8-year overall survival (P<0.001). LA ≥55 mm independently predicted overall mortality (hazard ratio, 3.67 [1.95 to 6.88]) and cardiac mortality (hazard ratio, 3.74 [1.72 to 8.13]) under medical treatment. The association of LA ≥55 mm and mortality was consistent in subgroups. Similar excess mortality associated with LA ≥55 mm was observed in asymptomatic and symptomatic patients (P for interaction, 0.77). In patients who underwent mitral surgery, LA ≥55 mm had no impact on postoperative outcome (P>0.20). Mitral surgery was associated with greater survival benefit in patients with LA ≥55 mm compared with LA <55 mm (P for interaction, 0.008). Conclusions— In MR caused by flail leaflets, LA diameter ≥55 mm is associated with increased mortality under medical treatment, independent of the presence of symptoms or left ventricular dysfunction.
Effects of diphenyl-phenylenediamine on gentamicin-induced lipid peroxidation and toxicity in rat renal cortex.

The hypothesis that lipid peroxidation is linked causally to the pathogenesis of aminoglycoside nephrotoxicity was tested by determining whether administration of the antioxidant, diphenyl-phenylenediamine (DPPD) would inhibit lipid peroxidation and ameliorate gentamicin-induced proximal tubular cell injury. Rats were injected with saline, gentamicin or gentamicin plus DPPD for 4 days and were sacrificed 48 hr later. Gentamicin increased malondialdehyde in renal cortex from a control level of 0.65 +/- 0.04 to 1.01 +/- 0.03 nmol/mg of protein, P less than . 01; it was reduced to 0.20 +/- 0.03 by DPPD, P less than . 01 compared to control. Arachidonic acid comprised 27.6 +/- 0.5% of the fatty acid in renal cortical phospholipid of control rats. Gentamicin lowered arachidonic acid to 16.7 +/- 0.9%, P less than . 01, and promoted a shift toward saturated fatty acids. DPPD reversed these changes. Gentamicin depressed catalase activity from a control value of 0.211 k/min to 0.154 +/- 0.008 k/min, P less than . 01. DPPD depressed catalase further to 0.095 +/- 0.066 k/min, P less than . 01. Total glutathione and reduced glutathione were depressed whereas the fraction of total glutathione in the oxidized state was augmented by gentamicin. These changes were prevented by DPPD. The renal cortical phospholipidosis induced by gentamicin was not altered by DPPD. The increased urinary excretions of alanine aminopeptidase and N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase induced by gentamicin were augmented further by DPPD. In DPPD rats serum creatinine (0.45 +/- 0.04 mg/dl) was higher (P less than .01) than that of gentamicin rats (0.35 +/- 0.01 mg/dl), which was higher (P less than .01) than that of control rats (0.26 +/- 0.01 gm/dl). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Purification of turkey gonadotropins.

Turkey pituitaries, like mammalian pituitaries, were found to contain two gonadotropic factors. Highly purified LH was prepared and partially characterized. A potent turkey FSH was also prepared. Both gonadotropins were found to be similar to mammalian, turtle, and frog gonadotropins in terms of chromatographic behavior and the presence of carbohydrate. The turkey LH was found to be similar to ovine LH in amino acid composition but to contain significantly less carbohydrate than ovine LH. The sedimentation behavior of the turkey LH in neutral and acidic solutions suggested that this material is composed of subunits. Turkey gonadotropins appear to be more potent when assayed in non-mammalian systems than when tested in standard mammalian bioassays for LH and FSH. Study of the comparative endocrinology of pituitary gonadotropins requires the availability of purified hormones to obtain direct evidence on the number of gonadotropins and the nature of their physiological actions within each species, as well as the evolution of the gonadotropin molecule and the specilicities of hormone actions between species. There is considerable information on mammalian gonadotropins, but at present, information on purified non-mammalian gonadotropins is very limited. Reports have appeared on the purification of gonadotropins
A method of determining the dose of digoxin for heart failure in the modern era.

BACKGROUND The therapeutic range for digoxin in heart failure has recently changed to become lower and narrower, and the new range is associated with improved mortality. However, dosing methods have not been modified to reflect this change. In this study, we sought to develop a new method to determine the initial dose of digoxin in patients with heart failure. METHODS Over a 6-month period, medical records were screened and reviewed for hospitalized adult patients who had a steady state digoxin concentration. A multiple linear regression was estimated relating digoxin concentration, digoxin dose, creatinine clearance, and ideal body weight to generate an equation relating the dose of digoxin with these variables and a specific target digoxin concentration of 0.7 ng/mL (0.9 nmol/L). This new method was then compared with 2 existing methods. RESULTS Included in the study were 54 patients (mean [SD] age, 68 [15] years, with a mean (SD) creatinine clearance of 50 (25) mL/min (0.8 [0.4] mL/s) and mean (SD) ideal body weight of 62 (11) kg. Our proposed method and the Jusko and Koup method were more accurate than the Jelliffe method in predicting digoxin concentration. Root mean square errors were as follows: for the Jelliffe method (using ideal body weight), 0.810; for the Koup and Jusko method (with heart failure), 0.401; our proposed method, 0.375. The proposed method was then used to create a dosing nomogram. CONCLUSIONS Because the new therapeutic window of digoxin is associated with improved outcomes, more intensive dosage refinement should be considered. To this end, we offer new dosing recommendations and a nomogram for determining the initial dose of digoxin in patients with heart failure.