Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[The impact of plasma homocysteine level on development of retinopathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus].

OBJECTIVE An increased plasma homocysteine level is an important risk factor for vascular disease in the general population. However, the role of hyperhomocysteinemia in the development of type 2 diabetic retinopathy (DR) is still unknown. Therefore, our aim was to determine the relationship between the fasting plasma homocysteine (Hcy) levels and the presence of diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS The study group consisted of 55 cases of type 2 diabetic patients (DM); 19 healthy persons served as control (CON, 12 men and 7 women). The DM group were subdivided into a group without diabetic complications (NDC, 39 cases, 17 men and 22 women) and a group with DR (16 cases, 8 men and 8 women). The renal function and the ratio of albumin/creatinine (Alb/Cr) were within normal range in all the subjects. The presence and the grade of retinopathy were determined by an ophthalmologist. Plasma total Hcy (tHcy) was measured by automated high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with reverse phase separation and fluorescence detection. RESULTS Plasma tHcy levels were significantly different among DR, NDC and CON groups (F = 2.405, P = 0.031). Plasma total Hcy was significantly higher in DR group [(14.7 +/- 5.28) micromol/L] than in NDC [(11.3 +/- 4.94) micromol/L] and CON group [(9.65 +/- 2.66) micromol/L]. There was no difference between NDC group and CON group. In DR group, plasma tHcy was significantly higher in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) group than that in background diabetic retinopathy (BDR) group (t = 2.405, P = 0.031). Hyperhomocysteinemia was defined as tHcy level > 14.97 micromol/L and was seen in 4 patients in PDR group, the rate being significantly higher than that in BDR group. CONCLUSION It is suggested that hyperhomocysteinemia may be a risk factor for the development and progression of type 2 diabetic retinopathy.
Authorised property appraisers’ perceptions of commercial property valuation

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the thought patterns of authorized property appraisers (APAs) when valuing commercial properties, and draw conclusions about their collective thinking in terms of content, complexity, and homogeneity. Design/methodology/approach - – A standard set of value-adding factors and bipolar constructs was included in a grid form used for data collection. The repertory grid technique and principal component analysis were used to map and analyze the thought patterns of nearly half of the APAs in Sweden. Findings - – Analysis of the mean grid for all respondents revealed three dimensions in the aggregated APA thought pattern: property object – property market focus, abstract – specific information, and expert – superficial assessments. The aggregated thought pattern was found to be moderately complex, and the APAs demonstrated relatively strong homogeneity in their thought patterns. Practical implications - – Based on the moderate complexity and relatively strong homogeneity in respondent thought patterns, this study discusses the upcoming establishment of a profession. Originality/value - – To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study using the repertory grid technique to map and analyze APA thought patterns at an aggregated level.
Evaluation of normal age-related changes in anisotropy during infancy and childhood as shown by diffusion tensor imaging.

OBJECTIVE The first purpose of this study was to compare the degree of anisotropy in compact white matter and noncompact white matter in each of three pediatric age groups using diffusion tensor imaging. We hypothesized that anisotropy would be higher in compact white matter than in noncompact white matter in each age group. The second purpose of our study was to compare the increase in anisotropy over time in compact versus noncompact white matter during early childhood. We hypothesized that increases in anisotropy would be higher in noncompact white matter. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively analyzed anisotropy maps derived from diffusion tensor imaging studies performed in 66 pediatric patients (age range, 4 days-71 months; mean age, 18.6 months) who underwent clinical MR imaging and were found to have no abnormalities on conventional MR images. Anisotropy was measured in three compact white matter structures (corpus callosum, internal capsule, cerebral peduncle) and two regions of noncompact white matter (corona radiata and peripheral white matter). Patients were assigned to one of the three following groups on the basis of age: group 1, younger than 12 months (n = 40); group 2, 12-35 months (n = 11); and group 3, 36-71 months (n = 15). First, we compared anisotropy values of noncompact white matter with those of compact white matter for each age group. Second, we compared the increase over time in anisotropy of noncompact white matter regions with that seen in compact white matter structures. RESULTS Among all three age groups, anisotropy measurements in compact white matter structures were higher than those in noncompact white matter (p < 0.01). The mean anisotropy values in noncompact white matter for groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively, were 0.349, 0.480, and 0.531. The mean anisotropy values in compact white matter for groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively, were 0.494, 0.646, and 0.697. When age groups were compared, a statistically significant increase in anisotropy was seen in both compact white matter and noncompact white matter (p < 0.01). However, the increase in anisotropy was significantly greater in non-compact white matter regions than in compact white matter structures when comparing group 1 with group 3 (p < 0.01) as well as group 1 with group 2 (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION Although anisotropy measurements were higher in compact than non-compact white matter in all three age groups, the increase in anisotropy was greater in non-compact white matter across each of the three groups. These data suggest that although myelination is initially greater in compact white matter, the change in myelination may be greater in noncompact white matter during the first few years after infancy.
Stimulatory Effects of Calcium on Respiration and NAD(P)H Synthesis in Intact Rat Heart Mitochondria Utilizing Physiological Substrates Cannot Explain Respiratory Control in Vivo*

Mitochondrial TCA cycle dehydrogenase enzymes have been shown to be stimulated by Ca2+ under various substrate and ADP incubation conditions in an attempt to determine and understand the role of Ca2+ in maintaining energy homeostasis in working hearts. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that, at physiological temperature and 1 mm extramitochondrial free magnesium, Ca2+ can stimulate the overall mitochondrial NAD(P)H generation flux in rat heart mitochondria utilizing pyruvate and malate as substrates at both subsaturating and saturating concentrations. In both cases, we found that, in the physiological regime of mitochondrial oxygen consumption observed in the intact animal and in the physiological range of cytosolic Ca2+ concentration averaged per beat, Ca2+ had no observable stimulatory effect. A modest apparent stimulatory effect (22–27%) was observable at supraphysiological maximal ADP-stimulated respiration at 2.5 mm initial phosphate. The stimulatory effects observed over the physiological Ca2+ range are not sufficient to make a significant contribution to the control of oxidative phosphorylation in the heart in vivo.
International Transmissions of Monetary Shocks

This paper re-examines international transmissions of monetary policy shocks from advanced economies to emerging market economies. It combines three novel features. First, it separates co-movement in monetary policies due to common shocks from spillovers of monetary policies from advanced to peripheral economies. Second, it uses surprises in growth and inflation and the Taylor rule to gauge desired changes in a country’s interest rate if it focuses only on growth and inflation goals. Third, it proposes a specification that can work with the quantitative easing episodes when no changes in US interest rate are observed. We find that a flexible exchange rate regime per se does not deliver monetary policy autonomy (in contrast to the conclusions of Obstfeld (2015) and several others). Instead, some form of capital control appears necessary. Interestingly, a combination of capital controls and a flexible exchange rate may provide the most buffer for developing countries against foreign monetary policy shocks.
Lipoprotein profile, diet and body composition in athletes practicing mixed an anaerobic activities.

OBJECTIVE To compare lipoprotein profile, body composition and diet in a sample of athletes practicing mixed and anaerobic sports activities, and in a group of sedentary controls. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Cross selectional study. PARTICIPANTS Twenty professional soccer players (mixed trained), twenty body builders (anaerobic trained) and twenty sedentary subjects, all males and matched for age were studied. RESULTS No significant differences in total serum cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-C, LDL-C, apolipoprotein A-I, A-II, B, C-II, C-III, and E levels were found when the three groups were compared. Bioelectrical impendance analysis disclosed significantly lower body fat percentages in both groups of athletes, and increased fat free mass only in body builders. Daily calorie intake was higher, and alcohol intake was lower in the athletes, compared with controls. Body builders had lower carbohydrate, and higher protein and cholesterol intakes, while soccer players had a lower polyunsaturated to saturated fat ratio. None of the apolipoproteins examined was correlated with any body composition of diet parameters. No correlations between lipid parameters and anthropometric or dietary variables were found by multivariate analysis when the subjects were considered as a whole. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that in healthy lean normolipemic males, the lipoprotein profile is not modified by mixed or anaerobic sport activities and the respective modifications in body composition and diet.
Clean Surplus Residual Income and Earnings Based Valuation Models

Motivated by the fact that residual income based models of the link between the value of equity capital and the outputs of accrual accounting recently appearing in the literature have been based on particular assumed classes of residual income time series process, this paper presents a general residual income based expression for the value of equity capital which allows for clean surplus residual income to be generated by any class of ARIMA time series process. It shows that other models appearing in the literature are re-arrangements of special cases of this general expression. Further, motivated by the possibility that unscaled residual income data might plausibly exhibit explosive characteristics which would make it inappropriate to attempt to fit ARIMA models, a general expression for the value of equity is presented in terms of residual income scaled by book value. Re-arrangements of a number of simple special cases of this expression are explored. It is shown that, depending upon the time series properties of the scaled residual income measure, various combinations of the mean Accounting Rate of Return, the current level of Accounting Rate of Return, the current first difference of Accounting Rate of Return and a lagged Market to Book term can appear in accounting based models of the value of equity.
Changes in human whole blood 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and platelet 5-HT uptake during treatment with paroxetine, a selective 5-HT uptake inhibitor

The effects of the specific 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) reuptake inhibitor parox etine on whole blood 5-HT and the uptake of 3H-5-HT by platelets was determined in 17 patients with resistant depression. The biochemical parameters were measured before paroxetine treatment, during treatment and after withdrawal of treatment. Two of the 17 subjects failed to complete the trial; of the remaining subjects 12 showed a marked decrease in whole blood 5-HT and 3H-5-HT uptake into platelets. The remaining three patients showed a variable response both in terms of whole blood 5-HT and platelet uptake during paroxetine treatment. At the end of treatment blood 5-HT tended to return towards normal although this was delayed. There was no significant correlation between the change in blood 5-HT and Hamilton score during paroxetine treatment. The results confirm that inhibition of 5-HT uptake mech anisms are associated with decreased whole blood 5-HT but that changes in whole blood 5- HT do not necessarily reflect the clinical efficacy of 5-HT uptake blocking drugs in the treatment of depression.
Genetic determination of the prognosis in survivors of acute coronary syndromes. Study design and rationale for a multicenter study

Laboratory for Atherosclerosis Research, *Clinic of Cardiology, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, **General Teaching Hospital, Second Department of Internal Medicine and Charles University Medical Faculty 1, ***CardioVascular Center, Department of Cardiology, Motol University Hospital, ****Department of Cardiology, Na Homolce Hospital, *****Cardiocenter, Department of Cardiology, Královské Vinohrady University Hospital and Third Medical Faculty, Prague, Czech Republic
Multiple Cognitive Deficits in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Objective: To determine if more widespread cognitive deficits are present in a narrowly defined group of patients with the amnestic form of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: From a larger sample of patients clinically diagnosed as meeting the criteria of Petersen et al. for amnestic MCI, we selected 22 subjects who had Clinical Dementia Rating scores of zero on all domains besides memory and orientation. These MCI subjects with presumably isolated memory impairments were compared to 35 age-matched normal controls and 33 very mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients on a battery of neuropsychological tests. Result: In addition to the expected deficits in episodic memory, the amnestic MCI group performed less well than the controls but better than the AD group on design fluency, category fluency, a set shifting task and the Stroop interference condition. Over half the amnestic MCI group (vs. none of the normal controls) scored at least 1 standard deviation below control means on 4 or more of the nonmemory cognitive tasks. Conclusions: Isolated memory impairment may be fairly uncommon in clinically diagnosed amnestic MCI patients, even when the criteria for amnestic MCI are fairly narrow. Additional cognitive impairments are likely to include fluency and executive functioning. These more diffuse deficits argue for comprehensive cognitive assessments, even when the patient and family are reporting only memory decline, and are consistent with the increase in attention paid to the heterogeneity of MCI.
Causal implication by rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulation of alpha frequency in feature‐based local vs. global attention

Although oscillatory activity in the alpha band was traditionally associated with lack of alertness, more recent work has linked it to specific cognitive functions, including visual attention. The emerging method of rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) allows causal interventional tests for the online impact on performance of TMS administered in short bursts at a particular frequency. TMS bursts at 10 Hz have recently been shown to have an impact on spatial visual attention, but any role in featural attention remains unclear. Here we used rhythmic TMS at 10 Hz to assess the impact on attending to global or local components of a hierarchical Navon‐like stimulus ( D. Navon (1977) Forest before trees: The precedence of global features in visual perception. Cognit. Psychol. , 9, 353), in a paradigm recently used with TMS at other frequencies (V. Romei, J. Driver, P.G. Schyns & G. Thut. (2011) Rhythmic TMS over parietal cortex links distinct brain frequencies to global versus local visual processing. Curr. Biol., 2, 334–337). In separate groups, left or right posterior parietal sites were stimulated at 10 Hz just before presentation of the hierarchical stimulus. Participants had to identify either the local or global component in separate blocks. Right parietal 10 Hz stimulation (vs. sham) significantly impaired global processing without affecting local processing, while left parietal 10 Hz stimulation vs. sham impaired local processing with a minor trend to enhance global processing. These 10 Hz outcomes differed significantly from stimulation at other frequencies (i.e. 5 or 20 Hz) over the same site in other recent work with the same paradigm. These dissociations confirm differential roles of the two hemispheres in local vs. global processing, and reveal a frequency‐specific role for stimulation in the alpha band for regulating feature‐based visual attention.
Repeated dose (28-day) administration of silver nanoparticles of varied size and coating does not significantly alter the indigenous murine gut microbiome

Abstract Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been used as antimicrobials in a number of applications, including topical wound dressings and coatings for consumer products and biomedical devices. Ingestion is a relevant route of exposure for AgNPs, whether occurring unintentionally via Ag dissolution from consumer products, or intentionally from dietary supplements. AgNP have also been proposed as substitutes for antibiotics in animal feeds. While oral antibiotics are known to have significant effects on gut bacteria, the antimicrobial effects of ingested AgNPs on the indigenous microbiome or on gut pathogens are unknown. In addition, AgNP size and coating have been postulated as significantly influential towards their biochemical properties and the influence of these properties on antimicrobial efficacy is unknown. We evaluated murine gut microbial communities using culture-independent sequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragments following 28 days of repeated oral dosing of well-characterized AgNPs of two different sizes (20 and 110 nm) and coatings (PVP and Citrate). Irrespective of size or coating, oral administration of AgNPs at 10 mg/kg body weight/day did not alter the membership, structure or diversity of the murine gut microbiome. Thus, in contrast to effects of broad-spectrum antibiotics, repeat dosing of AgNP, at doses equivalent to 2000 times the oral reference dose and 100–400 times the effective in vitro anti-microbial concentration, does not affect the indigenous murine gut microbiome.
CGS 21680, an Agonist of the Adenosine (A2A) Receptor, Reduces Progression of Murine Type II Collagen-induced Arthritis

Objective. The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of an adenosine A2A receptor agonist, 2-[p-(2-carboxyethyl)phenylethylamino]-50 ethylcarboxamidoadenosine (CGS 21680), on modulation of the inflammatory response in mice subjected to collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). Methods. CIA was induced by intradermal injection of 100 μl of emulsion containing 100 μg of bovine type II collagen (CII) and complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) at the base of the tail. On Day 21, a second injection of CII in CFA was administered. Immunized mice developed erosive hind paw arthritis. Macroscopic clinical evidence of CIA first appeared as periarticular erythema and edema in the hind paws. The incidence of CIA was 100% by Day 27 in the CII challenged mice and the severity of CIA progressed over a 35-day period, with radiographic evaluation revealing focal resorption of bone. The histopathology of CIA included erosion of cartilage at the joint margins. Results. Treatment of mice with CGS 21680 starting at the onset of arthritis (Day 25) ameliorated the clinical signs at Days 26–35 and improved histological status in the joint and paw. The degree of oxidative and nitrosative damage was significantly reduced in CGS 21680-treated mice as indicated by elevated levels of malondialdehyde, formation of nitrotyrosine, and activation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. Plasma levels of proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor, interleukin 1ß (IL-1ß) and IL-6 were also reduced by CGS 21680. Treatment with CGS 21680 also decreased the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. Conclusion. We demonstrate that CGS 21680 exerts an antiinflammatory effect during chronic inflammation and ameliorates the tissue damage associated with CIA.
Testing Two Global Models to Prevent Violence against Women and Children: Methods and Baseline Data Analysis of a Seven-Year Prospective Study

Worldwide, two models of care are offered most often to abused women—safe shelter and justice services. No evidence exists on the differential effectiveness of the models. To provide evidence for best practice and policy, 300 abused women, 150 first-time users of a shelter and 150 first time-applicants for a protection order, participated in a seven-year study. Safety, abuse, and the emotional and physical functioning of the women and their children were measured. The procedural logistics, sampling process, metrics, and baseline descriptors for these 300 women and 300 children is presented along with implications for practice and policy.
Evidence That Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide Is a Potent Regulator of Fetal Rat Testicular Steroidogenesis1

Abstract Testicular steroidogenesis in the fetal rat is activated before the onset of pituitary gonadotropin secretion. We studied here whether the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) could regulate this early Leydig cell activity. Effects of the two PACAP forms, 27 and 38, were studied on cAMP and testosterone production of dispersed Leydig cells of embryonic Day (E) 18.5. Furthermore, PACAP and PACAP type I receptor mRNA expression were measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and testicular PACAP concentations by RIA. The two peptides were highly potent stimulators of fetal testes. Doses as low as 10−18 mol/L of PACAP-27 and 10−17–10−16 mol/L of PACAP-38 significantly stimulated cAMP and testosterone production, with magnitude comparable to that evoked by hCG. These effects were specific for fetal Leydig cells, because PACAP-responsive control cells, including murine Sertoli and granulosa cell lines, only responded to concentrations ≥10−12 mol/L. By RT-PCR, PACAP and its type I receptor mRNAs were expressed in fetal testis as early as E15.5. By Northern hybridization, PACAP mRNA was first detectable on Day 30 postpartum and increased thereafter. Both forms of PACAP peptides were clearly detectable in E17.5 testes, with decreasing levels thereafter. In conclusion, the steroidogenesis of fetal rat Leydig cells responds to very low concentrations of PACAP, which may be an important physiological regulator of this activity before the onset of pituitary LH secretion.