Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional Analysis of Arabidopsis Ethylene-Responsive Element Binding Protein Conferring Resistance to Bax and Abiotic Stress-Induced Plant Cell Death1

Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) ethylene-responsive element binding protein (AtEBP) gene was isolated as a suppressor of Bax-induced cell death by functional screening in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). To further examine the cell death suppressive action of AtEBP in plant cells, we established transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants overexpressing AtEBP as well as transgenic tobacco plants ectopically expressing mouse Bax protein under a dexamethasone-inducible promoter. We prepared the crosses of the selective lines of each transgenic plant, which were evaluated in terms of cell death suppression activity. Results indicate that AtEBP suppressed Bax-induced cell death in tobacco plants, an action also associated with a lowered level of ion leakage. Furthermore, tobacco Bright Yellow-2 cells overexpressing AtEBP conferred resistance to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and heat treatments. AtEBP protein localized in the nucleus and functioned as an in vivo transcription activator as confirmed in transient assays and experiments using stable transgenic system. Up-regulation of defense genes was observed in transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing AtEBP. Based on the analysis of mRNA accumulation in ethylene-related mutants, the position of AtEBP in signaling pathway is presented.
Recognition memory and verbal fluency differentiate probable Alzheimer disease from subcortical ischemic vascular dementia.

BACKGROUND Alzheimer disease (AD) and vascular dementia are among the most frequently occurring causes of dementia in the world, and their accurate differentiation is important because different pharmaceutical strategies may modify the course of each disease. OBJECTIVE To determine which of 10 neuropsychological test scores can accurately differentiate patients with probable AD from those with subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD) for use in evidence-based clinical practice. DESIGN Patients with suspected dementia were referred to the study by family physicians, geriatricians, and neurologists. All participants received a thorough assessment according to standard diagnostic guidelines. Diagnoses of probable AD (n = 31) and probable SIVD (n = 31) were made according to consensus criteria. The diagnosticians were blind to the results of the 10 neuropsychological test scores. RESULTS There were no significant differences between the groups in age or Mini-Mental State Examination scores. Logistic regression analyses identified 2 neuropsychological tests that best distinguished the groups (sensitivity = 81%; specificity = 84%; positive likelihood ratio = 5.1). These were the recognition memory subtest of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test. The AD group performed better on the oral association test, whereas the SIVD group did better on the recognition memory test. CONCLUSION Patients with probable AD and probable SIVD can be distinguished with a high degree of accuracy using these 2 neuropsychological tests.
Sudden Death of a Young Adult Associated with Bacillus cereus Food Poisoning

ABSTRACT A lethal intoxication case, which occurred in Brussels, Belgium, is described. A 20-year-old man died following the ingestion of pasta contaminated with Bacillus cereus. Emetic strains of B. cereus were isolated, and high levels of cereulide (14.8 μg/g) were found in the spaghetti meal.
A Randomized Clinical Trial on Treatment of Chronic Constipation by Traditional Persian Medicine Recommendations Compared to Allopathic Medicine: A Pilot Study

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and side effects of lactulose plus traditional Persian medicine with only lactulose on the functional chronic constipation. Methods: Participants included 20 patients (10 in each group) aged 18–80 years, with major inclusion criteria of ROME III. They were assigned into two parallel therapeutic groups, including the intervention group (lactulose plus traditional Persian medicine [TPM] advices) and control group (only lactulose) through a block randomization. Weekly follow-up was done for 1 month for both groups. Results: After the intervention, the frequency of bowel habit increased significantly in patients of both groups (P = 0.001), and the frequency of hard stool defecation, sensation of painful defecation, sensation of incomplete evacuation, sensation of anorectal obstruction, and manual maneuver for evacuation were decreased significantly in patients of both groups (P < 0.001 for all comparisons and 0.025 for manual maneuver). However, the only significant difference between the two groups was more reduction in the sensation of painful defecation in the lactulose group versus lactulose plus TPM advices (P = 0.014). Conclusions: Based on the pilot study, no significant difference was shown between TPM with lactulose and lactulose only in the management of chronic functional constipation. However, the easy recommendations of TPM can be useful in improving chronic constipation.
Commentary: Below-the-Ankle Angioplasty: To Stent or Not to Stent

Advances in imaging and endovascular instruments and amassed experience from endovascular specialists worldwide support application of percutaneous angioplasty as a first-line treatment option for recanalization of infrapopliteal artery occlusive disease in the setting of critical limb ischemia (CLI). Traditional dogma states that the primary goal of infrapopliteal revascularization is the restoration of at least one straight line of pulsatile blood flow to the foot in order to achieve adequate reperfusion and hemodynamic recovery of the distal ischemic tissue. However, obstructive lesions may be located in the distal tibial arteries at the malleolus level, possibly extending below the ankle and involving the dorsalis pedis and plantar arteries, which is often the case in diabetic patients. In these cases, distal bypass is technically challenging or even impossible, largely due to lack of an appropriate healthy vascular segment for distal anastomosis. To date, published data regarding angioplasty and/or stenting of the below-the-ankle arteries are scarce and limited to a handful of single-center series. Percutaneous recanalization of the arteries below the level of the ankle joint, i.e., the dorsalis pedis and the plantar arteries along with the pedal and plantar arches, respectively, is generally justified in the context of treating an intraprocedural complication such as distal thromboembolism or dissection. Alternatively, below-the-ankle angioplasty may be performed as an adjunct to infrapopliteal angioplasty to improve outflow. Given the knowledge that superficial femoral artery patency outcomes are negatively affected by compromised and/or poor tibial runoff, it is imperative that infrapopliteal and distal outflow lesions are always treated accordingly. A number of studies have shown that improved runoff was associated with better patency rates of the proximal treated lesions. In an analogous way, it is plausible to propose endovascular treatment of diseased inframalleolar arteries in order to maximize hemodynamic improvement down to the digital arteries and improve the prognosis for better proximal vessel patency. In the present issue of the JEVT, Kawarada et al. present a retrospective report of stentsupported below-the-ankle angioplasty in 40 CLI limbs. Clinical outcomes were satisfactory, with failed recanalization in only 3 cases. The amputation-free survival rates were 80%, 70%, and 63% at 6, 12, and 24 months, respectively, and limb salvage rates were 95%, 91%, and 82% at the same time points. Reports of a variety of challenging techniques on how to treat the below-the-ankle arteries have emerged and are gradually being adopted by peripheral interventionists worldwide. In brief, use of long, low-profile balloons measuring 2.0 to 2.5 mm in diameter and up to 15 cm long is essential to minimize local barotrauma and avoid abrupt vessel occlusion. The exciting loop technique has been introduced for treatment of tandem distal lesions, and there is the more demanding subintimal approach for treatment of chronic total occlusions to establish continu-
Ending preventable child deaths from pneumonia and diarrhoea by 2025. Development of the integrated Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea

Despite the existence of low-cost and effective interventions for childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea, these conditions remain two of the leading killers of young children. Based on feedback from health professionals in countries with high child mortality, in 2009, WHO and Unicef began conceptualising an integrated approach for pneumonia and diarrhoea control. As part of this initiative, WHO and Unicef, with support from other partners, conducted a series of five workshops to facilitate the inclusion of coordinated actions for pneumonia and diarrhoea into the national health plans of 36 countries with high child mortality. This paper presents the findings from workshop and postworkshop follow-up activities and discusses the contribution of these findings to the development of the integrated Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea, which outlines the necessary actions for elimination of preventable child deaths from pneumonia and diarrhoea by 2025. Though this goal is ambitious, it is attainable through concerted efforts. By applying the lessons learned thus far and continuing to build upon them, and by leveraging existing political will and momentum for child survival, national governments and their supporting partners can ensure that preventable child deaths from pneumonia and diarrhoea are eventually eliminated.
Combined Effect of Bistability and Mechanical Impact on the Performance of a Nonlinear Electromagnetic Vibration Energy Harvester

This paper presents the design, modeling, fabrication, and characterization of a nonlinear bistable electromagnetic vibrational energy harvesting device. A folded cantilever structure based on low Young's modulus FR4 material reduces the operating frequency, while keeping the device footprint relatively small. The bistability is introduced into the system by a pair of repulsively oriented NdFeB permanent magnets. A second nonlinear mechanism, i.e., mechanical impact between the oscillator and the base, is also taken into account. Analytical expressions are derived to obtain the restoring force and potential energy for such a system. The model was further numerically simulated and validated with experimental results of the fabricated device. The device generated maximum power of 19.3 μW at 1.5-g acceleration across an optimum resistive load of 1 kΩ, which was further improved by almost 70% with an optimized prototype. Both the numerical simulation and experimental results show broadening of the operational frequency range of the nonlinear bistable device by up to 4.35 Hz at 0.6-g acceleration with respect to the linear counterpart. At higher input vibration, the harvester oscillates with large amplitude and collides with the base, which abruptly changes the system dynamics. At an acceleration of 1.5 g, this impact induced change in dynamics increases the peak power frequency and widens the bandwidth even further up to 8 Hz (22% of the peak power frequency). Thus, the effects of both bistability and mechanical impact are incorporated into a single device to obtain a fairly wideband operation.
The electrothermal macromodel of the monolithic voltage regulator LT1073 for SPICE

In this paper the problem of modelling selfheating influence on the characteristics of monolithic switch-mode power supplies is considered. The LT1073 integrated circuit (IC) has been chosen for detailed investigations. Its new ElectroThermal Macromodel (ETM) joining the Electrical Model (EM) along with the thermally dependent parameters and the Lumped Thermal Model (LTM) generating the junction (inner) temperature of LT1073 is proposed. The correctness and usefulness of the new model has been revealed by means of comparison of measurements and simulations of BOOST converter including LT1073 device.
DNA Methyltransferase 1 Drives Transcriptional Down‐Modulation of β Catenin Antagonist Chibby1 Associated With the BCR‐ABL1 Gene of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

The decrease of Chibby1 (CBY1) contributes to β catenin constitutive activation associated with the presence of the BCR‐ABL1 fusion gene of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). This is mediated by transcriptional events and driven by DNA hyper‐methylation at promoter‐associated CpG islands of the CBY1‐encoding gene C22orf2. Moreover, CBY1 transcriptional induction proceeding from promoter de‐methylation is a component of BCR‐ABL1+ cell response to Imatinib (IM). Our study showed that DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) has a central role in the hyper‐methylation at the C22orf2 promoter. Further investigation in leukemic hematopoietic progenitors from IM‐responsive and IM‐resistant CML patients at diagnosis failed to demonstrate any correlation between DNMT1‐driven hyper‐methylation of the C22orf2 promoter and response to IM. Notably, the response to IM was neither predicted by DNMT1‐driven hyper‐methylation of BCL2‐like11 at diagnosis. In conclusion, the hypermethylation of C22orf2 and BCL2‐like11 promoters proceeding from DNMT1 is a crucial component of their reduced expression, but it is not directly involved in CML resistance to IM. It might rather contribute to the disease evolution towards a drug‐resistant phenotype in more advanced phases or blast crisis. J. Cell. Biochem. 116: 589–597, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Global Research-and-Development Network and Its Effect on Innovation

The authors examine the impact of a firm's innovation by analyzing its position in a global research-and-development network and its orientation toward using scientific knowledge (science intensity). Drawing on organizational learning and network theory research, they focus on the moderating role of a firm's network position in the relationship between the firm's science intensity and the impact of its innovation. Data derived from the global pharmaceutical industry indicate that a firm's science intensity enhances the impact of its innovation by facilitating effective search. This relationship is reinforced when the firm has network resources derived from an efficient network position. These results support the idea that the impact of innovation is strengthened when internal research capability and external network resources are combined. This study, which is conducted in a global industry network context, also enables the authors to examine the role of international gatekeepers in bridging ties across U.S., Japanese, and European geographic boundaries.
Role of antenatal care in reducing incidence of eclampsia in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India

Background: Eclampsia is characterized by sudden onset of generalized tonic-clonic convulsions or coma in pregnancy or postpartum. It is a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in developing countries. This study was conducted to determine the incidence of eclampsia and role of antenatal care in reducing the incidence.Methods: This was a prospective study (July 2015-June 2016) conducted in labour room of department of obstetrics and Gynecology, BRD Medical college, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. A total no. of 141 women presenting with eclampsia were included in the study. Risk factors like antenatal care and sociodemographic status were studied for their role in increased incidence of eclampsia.Results: There were 141 eclampsia cases out of 3536 deliveries, during the study period. The incidence of eclampsia was found to be 4%. Out of 141 eclampsia cases 35.5% did not receive any antenatal care. 56.7% received substandard care in less than 4 antenatal visits. Out of those who received antenatal care (91/141), 67% received irregular, substandard care in primary health centre of their locality. Majority of eclampsia cases were between 16-25 years of age (85.1%) and were primigravida (62.4%). Majority of eclampsia cases were uneducated (89.4%), of lower socioeconomic status (71.4%) and belonged to rural area (67.4%). Conclusions: High incidence of eclampsia in B.R. D. Medical College reflects the status of eclampsia in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. To prevent eclampsia our health care centres should be strengthened by well trained medical officers, other health care workers and adequate antenatal care facilities.
Levels of macrophage migration inhibitory factor and glucocorticoids in chronic wound patients and their potential interactions with impaired wound endothelial progenitor cell migration

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a structurally and functionally unique pleiotropic mediator in inflammation and immune processes, was identified decades ago. There is now strong evidence that MIF promotes revascularization and is involved in wound healing processes. However, its exact role in wound healing is still a matter of debate. A cohort of 33 patients was recruited, including 14 patients with acute and 19 patients with chronic wounds. Both serum and wound fluid samples were collected from each patient, and MIF and cortisol concentrations were determined. To functionally underscore MIF's potential role in wound revascularization, a chemotaxis assay was adapted to test whether and to what extent serum samples and wound fluids of each group promote the chemotactic migration of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). MIF serum levels were significantly higher in chronic wound patients than in acute wound patients. Wound exudates of chronic wounds, however, contained a significantly lower concentration of MIF. In chronic wound patients, EPC migration might be delayed, as suggested by in vitro chemotaxis experiments. Despite the overall descriptive nature of this study, we conclude that MIF is correlated with occurrence of chronic wound. The increased MIF levels in the serum of chronic wound patients might be due to MIF's systemic effect of its proinflammatory activities, while its locally decreased levels in chronic wound exudates might be responsible for impaired recruitment of EPCs. Additional prospective data and detailed in vivo models are needed for a more comprehensive understanding of the role of MIF in chronic wound healing.
Labor Market Regulations: What Do We Know About Their Impacts in Developing Countries?

Labor market regulation is a high-profile, and often contentious, area of public policy. Although these regulations have been studied most extensively in developed countries, there is a growing body of literature on their effects in developing countries. This paper reviews that literature and focuses on the impacts of two important types of labor market regulation, minimum wages and employment protection legislation (EPL), on employment, earnings, and productivity. Strong and opposing views exist regarding the costs and benefits of these regulations, but the results of this review suggest that their impacts are generally smaller than the heat of the debates would suggest. Efficiency effects are found sometimes, but not always, and the effects can be in either direction and are usually modest. The distributional impacts of both minimum wage and employment protection legislation are clearer, with two effects predominating: an equalizing effect among covered workers, but with groups such as youth, women, and the less skilled disproportionately outside the coverage and its benefits. Although the overall conclusion is one of modest effects in most cases, the policy implication is not that these regulations do not matter. On the one hand, both minimum wages and EPL can affect distributional objectives. On the other hand, these regulations can generate undesirable economic or social impacts if they are established or operate in ways that exacerbate the labor market imperfections that they were designed to address.
First Evaluation of GenoType MTBDRplus 2.0 Performed Directly on Respiratory Specimens in Central America

ABSTRACT The turnaround times for conventional methods used to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum samples and to obtain drug susceptibility information are long in many developing countries, including Panama, leading to delays in appropriate treatment initiation and continued transmission in the community. We evaluated the performance of a molecular line probe assay, the Genotype MTBDRplus version 2.0 assay, in detecting M. tuberculosis complex directly in respiratory specimens from smear-positive tuberculosis cases from four different regions in Panama, as well as the most frequent mutations in genes conferring resistance to isoniazid (katG and inhA) and rifampin (rpoB). Our results were confirmed with the nitrate reductase assay and genomic sequencing. M. tuberculosis complex was detected by the Genotype MTBDRplus 2.0 assay with 100% sensitivity and specificity. The sensitivity and specificity for rifampin resistance were 100% and 100%, respectively, and those for isoniazid resistance were 90.7% and 100%. Isoniazid monoresistance was detected in 5.2% of new cases. Genotype MTBDRplus 2.0 is highly accurate in detecting M. tuberculosis complex in respiratory specimens and is able to discriminate isoniazid-monoresistant cases from multidrug-resistant cases within 2 days.
Toxicity of fullerene (C60) to sediment‐dwelling invertebrate Chironomus riparius larvae

An environmentally realistic method to test fullerene (C60) toxicity to the benthic organism Chironomus riparius was created by allowing suspended fullerenes to settle down, making a layer on top of the sediment. To test the hypothesis that higher food concentrations will reduce toxic responses, two food concentrations were tested (0.5 and 0.8% Urtica sp.) in sediment containing fullerene masses of 0.36 to 0.55 mg/cm2 using a 10‐d chronic test. In the 0.5% food level treatments, there were significant differences in all growth‐related endpoints compared with controls. Fewer effects were observed for the higher food treatment. Fullerene agglomerates were observed by electron microscopy in the gut, but no absorption into the gut epithelial cells was detected. In the organisms exposed to fullerenes, microvilli were damaged and were significantly shorter. The potential toxicity of fullerene to C. riparius appears to be caused by morphological changes, inhibiting larval growth. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2012; 31: 2108–2116. © 2012 SETAC