Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pain in Parkinson ’ s disease

Pain is a common symptom in Parkinson’s disease (PD) which has been recognized since the first descriptions of the disorder (Parkinson, 1817; Charcot, 1877; Gowers, 1888). James Parkinson himself described abnormal “rheumatic pain” sensations in the upper extremities of his patients (Parkinson, 1817). Open nonpopulation-based studies estimated that pain occurs in approximately 40 to 75% of patients with PD (Goetz et al., 1986; Ford, 1998; Lev and Melamed, 2000; Sage, 2004). In some patients pain becomes severe enough to overshadow the motor symptoms of the disorder. Therefore, pain in PD is of practical concern to clinicians, because it requires treatment and may create problems in diagnosis, in particular when antedating the diagnosis of parkinsonism (Sigwald and Solignac, 1960). Though Schrag et al. (2000) found no difference in the incidence of pain between PD patients and controls, it is one important reason for reduced quality of life, probably because of the increase in disability due to the combination of PD with pain. Several animal studies have demonstrated the involvement of the basal ganglia and dopamine as a transmitter in pain and nociceptive pathways (Chudler and Dong, 1995). There is also evidence for alterations in central pain processing in PD patients. However, the pain dominating a patient’s complaints is usually associated with parkinsonian motor symptoms (Quinn et al., 1986). This chapter describes the physiological and pathophysiological basis of pain processing in PD, the clinical features of pain related and unrelated to motor symptoms and provides strategies to treat painful symptoms in PD.
Genetic Influences Affecting Alcohol Use Among Asians

Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) is one of the two enzymes primarily involved in alcohol metabolism. Several variants exist of the gene that produces ALDH. One of these gene variants, which generates a nonfunctional enzyme, is present in Asians but not in Caucasians and African-Americans. People with two copies of the defective gene respond to alcohol consumption with intense flushing and other unpleasant reactions, such as nausea. Consequently, these people consume very little alcohol and are at a much lower risk for alcoholism than people with functional ALDH genes. People with one copy of the defective gene also flush after ingesting alcohol and are at relatively lower risk for alcoholism than people with fully functional genes. In addition, these people have more intense, but not necessarily less pleasant, reactions to alcohol as assessed by both physiological and psychological measures. People with the defective gene variant also respond to alcohol consumption with characteristic changes in brain activity.
Utilization of State-Wide Hospital Separations Data and the Injury Impairment Scale to Assess the Incidence of Spinal Cord Injury Arising from Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes

The objectives of this study were to determine whether routine state-wide hospitalization data can be used for population level surveillance of the incidence of spinal cord injury (SCI) from motor vehicle traffic crashes (MVTCs) and to verify the coverage of the Australian Spinal Cord Injury Register. A method was developed to identify new injury incidents from routine South Australian hospitalization data. Mapping software was then used to derive the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and Injury Impairment Scale (IIS) codes for each incident case of spinal injury using the principal diagnosis code on the hospital data file. IIS code values in the range from 3 to 6 were considered to be comparable with the SCI coding criteria utilized by the Australian Spinal Cord Injury Register (ASCIR) which were based on the criteria of the American Spinal Injury Association. The number of estimated new incident cases of SCI based on the IIS coding of hospitalization data was compared with the actual number reported from the ASCIR. The case numbers were highly comparable overall and also by time and age group suggesting that the coverage of the ASCIR was very high. The results of the study support use of the IIS for estimating incident case numbers of MVTC-related SCI from routine state-wide hospitalization data. If routine hospital separations data elsewhere were suitable for the purpose and the IIS also proves to be applicable to non-MVTC-related SCI, the incidence of SCI could be monitored in state and national populations using the IIS and this could provide an alternative data source where registers of SCI do not exist. In addition, the IIS provides a means to assess coverage where registers do exist.
Systematic Analysis of the Associations between Adverse Drug Reactions and Pathways

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are responsible for drug candidate failure during clinical trials. It is crucial to investigate biological pathways contributing to ADRs. Here, we applied a large-scale analysis to identify overrepresented ADR-pathway combinations through merging clinical phenotypic data, biological pathway data, and drug-target relations. Evaluation was performed by scientific literature review and defining a pathway-based ADR-ADR similarity measure. The results showed that our method is efficient for finding the associations between ADRs and pathways. To more systematically understand the mechanisms of ADRs, we constructed an ADR-pathway network and an ADR-ADR network. Through network analysis on biology and pharmacology, it was found that frequent ADRs were associated with more pathways than infrequent and rare ADRs. Moreover, environmental information processing pathways contributed most to the observed ADRs. Integrating the system organ class of ADRs, we found that most classes tended to interact with other classes instead of themselves. ADR classes were distributed promiscuously in all the ADR cliques. These results reflected that drug perturbation to a certain pathway can cause changes in multiple organs, rather than in one specific organ. Our work not only provides a global view of the associations between ADRs and pathways, but also is helpful to understand the mechanisms of ADRs.
Effectiveness of Three Intensities of Smoking Cessation Treatment in Primary Care

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of three smoking cessation programs of varying intensity applied in a primary care setting. Participants were 89 individuals randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: brief counseling plus information pamphlet, self-help program with telephone follow-up, and intensive behavioral treatment. At the 12-mo. follow-up, intensive behavioral treatment (42.8% abstinence) was more effective than the self-help program (27.5%), which was in turn more effective than counseling (12.9%). Continued abstinence was also higher in the intensive treatment group (37.9%) than in the self-help (17.2%) and the counseling groups (9.7%), although these differences only reached statistical significance in the first and third of these groups. Treatment adherence was higher in the intensive behavioral group (82.8% of participants atended all the sessions) than in the self-help group (61.8% completed the program). The results appear to confirm a dose-response effect in the treatment of smokers and indicate satisfactory acceptability of intensive behavioral programs applied in primary care.
B-VITAMIN NUTRITION IN DAIRY COWS

The B-vitamins include thiamin (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), the B6 complex (pyridoxal, pyridoxamine, pyridoxine), biotin (B8 or Vitamin H), folic acid (B9), and B12. Each of the B-vitamins plays a key role as either an enzymatic cofactor or metabolic constituent in many facets of intermediary metabolism. For example, about half of the propionate that reaches the ruminant liver is converted to glucose by a series of enzymatic reactions (Brockman, 1993); biotin, B12, niacin, pantothenic acid, and riboflavin all play essential roles in these reactions. These B-vitamins, along with the others, also play other key roles in the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
The Transcription Factor GATA4 Is Activated by Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase 1- and 2-Mediated Phosphorylation of Serine 105 in Cardiomyocytes

ABSTRACT The zinc finger-containing transcription factor GATA4 has been implicated as a critical regulator of multiple cardiac-expressed genes as well as a regulator of inducible gene expression in response to hypertrophic stimulation. Here we demonstrate that GATA4 is itself regulated by the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling cascade through direct phosphorylation. Site-directed mutagenesis and phospho-specific GATA4 antiserum revealed serine 105 as the primary site involved in agonist-induced phosphorylation of GATA4. Infection of cultured cardiomyocytes with an activated MEK1-expressing adenovirus induced robust phosphorylation of serine 105 in GATA4, while a dominant-negative MEK1-expressing adenovirus blocked agonist-induced phosphorylation of serine 105, implicating extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) as a GATA4 kinase. Indeed, bacterially purified ERK2 protein directly phosphorylated purified GATA4 at serine 105 in vitro. Phosphorylation of serine 105 enhanced the transcriptional potency of GATA4, which was sensitive to U0126 (MEK1 inhibitor) but not SB202190 (p38 inhibitor). Phosphorylation of serine 105 also modestly enhanced the DNA binding activity of bacterially purified GATA4. Finally, induction of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy with an activated MEK1-expressing adenovirus was blocked with a dominant-negative GATA4-engrailed-expressing adenovirus. These results suggest a molecular pathway whereby MEK1-ERK1/2 signaling regulates cardiomyocyte hypertrophic growth through the transcription factor GATA4 by direct phosphorylation of serine 105, which enhances DNA binding and transcriptional activation.
The Ballistocardiographic Findings in a Case of Coarctation of the Aorta With a Bicuspid Aortic Valve and Aortic Insufficiency

E. ~~T. , a 23 year old white male, was admitted to Montefiore Hospital on May ’7, 19~2 for surgery for coarctation of the aorta. Dyspnea and easy fatigability had been present since early childhood. For two years prior to admission occasional palpitations and episodes of transient substernal pain and headache had been present. At the age of 12 years hypertension was noted and at that time angiocardiography revealed coarctation of the aorta at the junction of the aortic arch and its descending portion. The patient was a well developed, well nourished young man. The left border of the heart was in the 6th left intercostal space, just beyond the mid-clavicular line. The aortic second sound was loud and snapping and louder than the pulmonic second sound. Over the aortic area there was a loud, harsh systolic murmur and a loud diastolic blowing murmur was heard maximally in the 3rd interspace to the left of the sternum. The blood pressure was 190/86 in the right arm and 174/84 in the left arm and was unobtainable in the lower extremities. The
Environmental filtering explains variation in plant diversity along resource gradients

How plant species diversity is shaped Factors controlling plant species diversity have been teased apart in an ancient dune ecosystem in western Australia. Laliberté et al. surveyed plants in the ancient dune, where variation in soil properties is associated with changes in plant diversity. Local plant diversity was mostly determined by environmental filtering from the regional species pool. This process is driven by acidification during long-term soil formation. The findings challenge the prevailing view that resource competition controls local plant diversity. Science, this issue p. 1602 A >2-million-year soil chronosequence reveals how the environment can regulate species plant diversity. The mechanisms that shape plant diversity along resource gradients remain unresolved because competing theories have been evaluated in isolation. By testing multiple theories simultaneously across a >2-million-year dune chronosequence in an Australian biodiversity hotspot, we show that variation in plant diversity is not explained by local resource heterogeneity, resource partitioning, nutrient stoichiometry, or soil fertility along this strong resource gradient. Rather, our results suggest that diversity is determined by environmental filtering from the regional flora, driven by soil acidification during long-term pedogenesis. This finding challenges the prevailing view that resource competition controls local plant diversity along resource gradients, and instead reflects processes shaping species pools over evolutionary time scales.
Sonographic assessment of the normal limits of the spleen in healthy school children in South-East Nigeria.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE Ultrasonogrphy is a good modality for the detection of splenomegaly even when it is not clinically palpable. The objective of this study was to establish the normal values of splenic length in healthy school children in South-East, Nigeria and to correlate them with body indices. MATERIALS AND METHODS This is a cross-sectional prospective study of 1315 children (633 boys and 682 girls) between the ages of 5 and 17 years. The splenic length was measured between the most superiomedial and the most inferiolateral margins, at the level of the hilum. Only the spleens that had normal shape and echotexture were measured. The mean splenic length and the 5 th and 95 th percentiles were determined for each age. The length was correlated with the sex, age, weight (WT), height, body mass index (BMI) and body surface area (BSA) of the subjects. A regression model for prediction of spleen dimension from age and body habitus was computed. RESULTS There was a significant correlation between splenic length and age, P < 0.001. Males had statistically significant longer spleen length than females. The splenic length correlated best with BSA, followed by body WT and least with BMI. CONCLUSIONS This study noted racial variation between the established Nigerian values and results from other countries of the world. For the first time, a baseline value for splenic size for the Nigerian Children of various ages has been established with a regression model for predicting the splenic sizes.
Insulinotropic action of β-l-glucose pentaacetate.

The metabolism of β-l-glucose pentaacetate and its interference with the catabolism ofl-[U-14C]glutamine, [U-14C]palmitate,d-[U-14C]glucose, andd-[5-3H]glucose were examined in rat pancreatic islets. Likewise, attention was paid to the effects of this ester on the biosynthesis of islet peptides, the release of insulin from incubated or perifused islets, the functional behavior of individual B cells examined in a reverse hemolytic plaque assay of insulin secretion, adenylate cyclase activity in a membrane-enriched islet subcellular fraction, cAMP production by intact islets, tritiated inositol phosphate production by islets preincubated with myo-[2-3H]inositol, islet cell intracellular pH, 86Rb and 45Ca efflux from prelabeled perifused islets, and electrical activity in single isolated B cells. The results of these experiments were interpreted to indicate that the insulinotropic action of β-l-glucose pentaacetate is not attributable to any nutritional value of the ester but, instead, appears to result from a direct effect of the ester itself on a yet unidentified receptor system, resulting in a decrease in K+ conductance, plasma membrane depolarization, and induction of electrical activity.
Support of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis multiplication by human monocytes or macrophages: inhibition by activated phagocytes.

The interaction of human monocytes or monocyte-derived macrophages and yeast-form Paracoccidioides brasiliensis was studied in vitro. Yeast cells were readily ingested by adherent monocytes or macrophages. Multiplication of P. brasiliensis, measured by growth as colony forming units (cfu) on a supplemented medium with good plating efficiency, was greater in monocyte co-cultures compared to the number of cfu obtained from complete tissue-culture medium (CTCM). Multiplication increased with time in macrophage co-cultures, e.g., from two-six-fold in 24 h to nine-fold in 72 h. Microscopic observations indicated that ingested yeast cells multiplied inside macrophages. When monocytes were treated with supernate cytokines (CK) from concanavalin-A-stimulated mononuclear cells, then co-cultured with P. brasiliensis, multiplication was significantly inhibited compared with control monocyte co-cultures. Treatment of macrophages--derived from monocytes by culture in vitro for 3 days--for a further 3 days with CK resulted in maximal inhibition of multiplication over the subsequent 72 h. Similarly, when monocyte-derived macrophages (after culture for 7 days) were treated for 3 days with recombinant human gamma-interferon (IFN; 300 U/ml) or CK they restricted multiplication of P. brasiliensis by 65% and 95%, respectively, compared with control macrophages. Antibody to IFN abrogated the effect of IFN or CK treatment. These findings show that ingested P. brasiliensis can multiply in human monocytes or macrophages and that this multiplication can be restricted by activated monocytes or macrophages.
Culture, Expansion, and Differentiation of Murine Megakaryocytes

Megakaryocytes (MKs) are the source of circulating platelets and are readily recognized by their large size and distinctive morphology. Their poor representation in hematopoietic tissues often requires considerable ex vivo expansion to generate cells for biochemical and cell biological studies. These experimental protocols describe the assessment of megakaryocytic potential within hematopoietic precursor cells in the bone marrow by colony‐forming assays and expansion and enrichment of MKs from cultured fetal liver or spleen or bone marrow cells. Although these MKs are not synchronized in their maturation, they can be enriched over an albumin step‐gradient and one‐third to one‐half of recovered cells will typically elaborate proplatelets, the immediate precursors of blood platelets. Both protocols require recombinant thrombopoietin (TPO) as a growth factor. Support Protocols describe methods for preparing fetal liver cells, identifying mature rodent MKs by staining for acetylcholinesterase activity, and staining (May‐Grünwald‐Giemsa) mixed populations on cytocentrifuged blood cell preparations.
The Role of Ethnicity and Context: Intimate Femicide Rates Among Social Groups in Israeli Society

The study examined differences in the characteristics of intimate femicide among various groups in Israeli society between 1995 and 2007. The findings show that Israeli-born Jews and Arabs were underrepresented among intimate femicide offenders. By contrast, the proportion of Ethiopian immigrants was 21 times higher than their proportion in the total population, and immigrants from the former USSR were overrepresented by 142.1%. Ethiopian immigrants differed significantly from the other groups with regard to femicide followed by suicide: Among Ethiopian immigrants, the percentage of femicide followed by suicide was almost twice as high as the percentage found among the other groups. In addition, immigrants from the former USSR differed significantly from the other groups with regard to femicide under the influence of alcohol.
Corneal indentation pulse and intraocular pressure in pregnancy.

A moderate decrease in intraocular pressure was demonstrated during both the second part of pregnancy and the first two months after delivery. Dynamic tonometry performed in 55 pregnant women revealed increased corneal indentation pulse (CIP) amplitudes in the first part of pregnancy. From the 20th week on, however, a steady decrease occurred until the CIP amplitudes at term measured about one third of the normal nonpregnant value. The CIP amplitudes were still below the normal average half a year after delivery. Also, the form of the CIP amplitudes changed in pregnancy, as revealed by marked decreases in the relative crest time. This change of the pulse curve form was observed during the entire pregnancy and was so characteristic that dynamic tonometry might be introduced as a diagnostic test for pregnancy.
Third trimester ultrasound for the prediction of the large for gestational age fetus in low‐risk population and evaluation of contingency strategies

Evaluation of the effectiveness of third trimester fetal biometry and Doppler studies in predicting the birth of a large for gestational age neonate (LGA ≥ 95th centile). Assessment of the value of integrated models (combining maternal characteristics, first trimester parameters, third trimester fetal biometry) and the usefulness of contingency strategies.
Effects of a single bout of exercise on resting heart rate variability.

PURPOSE Chronic exercise training has been shown to have a positive influence on cardiac autonomic function as assessed by measures of heart rate variability (HRV). Recent evidence indicates that several benefits associated with exercise training (e.g., improved insulin action, reduced blood pressure, improved blood lipid profile) may be realized transiently after a single bout of exercise. As many of these effects of recent exercise are linked to cardiovascular control systems, the purpose of this investigation was to test the hypothesis that a single bout of exercise would result in favorable changes in cardiac autonomic function as assessed by frequency-domain measures of HRV. METHODS Subjects were 11 healthy male volunteers ages 18-35 yr. Resting HRV measures were obtained during 5 min of paced breathing before and 1, 3, 6, and 22 h after a 60-min bout of cycling exercise at approximately 65% of peak oxygen uptake. Identical measures were obtained in a nonexercise condition based on a randomized crossover design. RESULTS Exercise resulted in increased high-frequency HRV, decreased low-frequency HRV, and consequently a decrease in the ratio of low-frequency to high-frequency HRV compared with the nonexercise condition. Additionally, a time-domain measure of HRV (pNN50) was markedly higher in the exercise condition as compared to nonexercise. CONCLUSION The changes in cardiac autonomic function observed are similar to those seen in investigations of long-term training. These changes indicate a shift in autonomic function toward increased parasympathetic nervous system activity and decreased sympathetic nervous system activity, suggesting a more stable autonomic environment for the heart. These results may provide further evidence of the cardioprotective effects of a single bout of submaximal exercise.