Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antiapoptotic effects of dietary antioxidants towards N‐nitrosopiperidine and N‐nitrosodibutylamine‐induced apoptosis in HL‐60 and HepG2 cells

The aim of this work was to determine the effect of vitamin C, diallyl disulfide (DADS) and dipropyl disulfide (DPDS) towards N‐nitrosopiperidine (NPIP) and N‐nitrosodibutylamine (NDBA)‐induced apoptosis in human leukemia (HL‐60) and hepatoma (HepG2) cell lines using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated dUTP nick end labeling assay. None of the vitamin C (5–50 µm), DADS and DPDS (1–5 µm) concentrations selected induced a significant percentage of apoptosis. In simultaneous treatments, vitamin C, DADS and DPDS reduced the apoptosis induced by NPIP and NDBA in HL‐60 and HepG2 cells (around 70% of reduction). We also investigated its scavenging activities towards reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by NPIP and NDBA using 2',7'‐dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate in both cell lines. ROS production induced by both N‐nitrosamine was reduced to control levels by vitamin C (5–50 µm) in a dose‐dependent manner. However, DADS (5 µm) increased ROS levels induced by NPIP and NDBA in HL‐60 (40 and 20% increase, respectively) and HepG2 cells (18% increase), whereas DPDS was more efficient scavenger of ROS at the lowest concentration (1 µm) in both HL‐60 (52 and 25% reduction, respectively) and HepG2 cells (24% reduction). The data demonstrated that the scavenging ability of vitamin C and DPDS could contribute to inhibition of the NPIP‐ and NDBA‐induced apoptosis. However, more than one mechanism, such as inhibition of phase I and/or induction of phase II enzymes, could be implicated in the protective effect of dietary antioxidants towards NPIP‐ and NDBA‐induced apoptosis in HL‐60 and HepG2 cells. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Trends in cohabitation and implications for children s family contexts in the United States

This paper documents increasing cohabitation in the United States, and the implications of this trend for the family lives of children. The stability of marriage-like relationships (including marriage and cohabitation) has decreased despite a constant divorce rate. Children increasingly live in cohabiting families either as a result of being born to cohabiting parents or of their mother s entry into a cohabiting union. The proportion of births to unmarried women born into cohabiting families increased from 29 to 39 per cent in the period 1980-84 to 1990-94, accounting for almost all of the increase in unmarried childbearing. As a consequence, about two-fifths of all children spend some time in a cohabiting family, and the greater instability of families begun by cohabitation means that children are also more likely to experience family disruption. Estimates from multi-state life tables indicate the extent to which the family lives of children are spent increasingly in cohabiting families and decreasingly in married families.
Percutaneous absorption and exposure assessment of pesticides

Dermal exposure to a diverse range of chemicals may result from various uses. In order to assess exposure and estimate potential risks, accurate quantitative data on absorption are required. Various factors will influence the final results and interpretations of studies designed to assess the ability of compounds to penetrate the skin. This overview will discuss skin penetration by pesticides, emphasizing key parameters to be considered from the perspective of exposure assessment. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Does Development Affect the Error-Related Negativity of Impaired and Skilled Readers?: An ERP Study

Previous findings of reduced error-related and correct-related negativities (ERN/CRN) and semantic N400 responses associated with reading errors among impaired adult readers led to the current study on age effects on these components. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 43 adolescents and 46 adults, including skilled readers and persons with a history of reading disability, on a lexical decision task. Adolescents exhibited smaller ERN amplitudes and larger N400 amplitudes during reading errors, presumably due to the late maturation of the prefrontal cortex. The ERN amplitude difference between impaired and skilled readers was smaller in adolescents than adults, and adolescents exhibited a smaller N400 difference between correct and erroneous responses than adults. ERN amplitude increased with age in impaired readers. It is postulated that the still developing mental lexicon among adolescents results in greater semantic effort and reduced ERN differences.
Effects of individual and a mixture of pharmaceuticals and personal‐care products on cytotoxicity, EROD activity and ROS production in a rainbow trout gonadal cell line (RTG‐2)

The presence of pharmaceuticals and personal‐care products (PPCPs) in aquatic environments is of concern. Although measured concentrations of individual substances are low, little consideration has been given to the likely chronic nature of the exposures or to the potential for mixture effects. The purpose of the present study was to use the RTG‐2 rainbow trout cell line to analyse sub‐lethal and cytotoxic effects of PPCPs present in a wastewater‐treatment‐plant (WWTP) effluents and their mixtures. Interactions with cytochrome P450 1A enzyme, oxidative stress, cellular senescence and cell viability were assessed using 7‐ethoxyresorufin‐o‐deethylase (EROD), reactive oxygen species (ROS), ß‐galactosidase (ß‐gal) and neutral red (NR) uptake assays, respectively. Not all of the compounds that were tested exhibited significant effects. The lowest‐observed‐effect concentrations and half maximal effective concentrations (EC50) were within the range 0.15 to 784.47 µg l–1. Clear dose–response curves were found for cells exposed to different mixtures of PPCPs. The lowest‐observed‐effect concentrations and concentrations causing EC50 were within the range 0.05 to 54.61 µg l–1. Four out the seven tested mixtures induced EROD activity. ROS production was detected in two mixtures. The ß‐gal inhibition response was observed in six out the seven tested mixtures and occurred at a higher concentration than was observed for EROD induction activity or ROS generation. The present study clearly shows that the stress response through which cells mount a homeostatic response to toxicants can be potentially used for an initial, rapid and cost‐effective assessment of the complex mixtures of PPCP that present in WWTP effluents are difficult and expensive to analyse chemically. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Potentially estrogenic polychlorinated biphenyls congeners serum levels and its relation with lung cancer

Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world. The main cause of lung cancer is cigarette smoke; however, other important genetic and environmental risk factors play a significant role in the development of lung cancer. Among these factors, occupational and accidental exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has been associated with an increased risk in lung cancer, suggesting that PCBs could be potent carcinogens. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between PCB exposure levels, CYP1A1 polymorphisms and the risk of lung cancer. This study enrolled newly diagnosed lung cancer patients. Environmental and occupational information related to the patients studied was collected. Blood samples were taken for the measurement of serum levels of 20 PCB congeners and for CYP1A1 polymorphism analysis. The serum levels of two PCB congeners with potential estrogenic activity were higher in lung cancer patients. The risk of lung cancer was found to correlate with age, gender, smoking history and with agricultural workers, as well as with congener 18. No differences were found in the frequency of CYP1A1 polymorphisms. Furthermore, we did not find a correlation between CYP1A1 polymorphisms and PCB serum levels. The high levels of PCB with estrogenic activity found in our cases, could promote lung cancer inducing cell proliferation in non‐neoplastic and neoplastic lung cells via ERβ; inducing the formation of DNA adducts, producing oxidative stress with the subsequent DNA damage and increasing the endogenous catechol levels by catechol‐O‐methyl transferase (COMT) inhibition. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Rule Learning in Autism: The Role of Reward Type and Social Context

Learning abstract rules is central to social and cognitive development. Across two experiments, we used Delayed Non-Matching to Sample tasks to characterize the longitudinal development and nature of rule-learning impairments in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Results showed that children with ASD consistently experienced more difficulty learning an abstract rule from a discrete physical reward than children with DD. Rule learning was facilitated by the provision of more concrete reinforcement, suggesting an underlying difficulty in forming conceptual connections. Learning abstract rules about social stimuli remained challenging through late childhood, indicating the importance of testing executive functions in both social and non-social contexts.
Child Maltreatment and Autonomic Nervous System Reactivity: Identifying Dysregulated Stress Reactivity Patterns by Using the Biopsychosocial Model of Challenge and Threat

Objective Disruptions in stress response system development have been posited as mechanisms linking child maltreatment (CM) to psychopathology. Existing theories predict elevated sympathetic nervous system reactivity after CM, but evidence for this is inconsistent. We present a novel framework for conceptualizing stress reactivity after CM that uses the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat. We predicted that in the context of a social-evaluative stressor, maltreated adolescents would exhibit a threat pattern of reactivity, involving sympathetic nervous system activation paired with elevated vascular resistance and blunted cardiac output (CO) reactivity. Methods A sample of 168 adolescents (mean age =14.9 years) participated. Recruitment targeted maltreated adolescents; 38.2% were maltreated. Electrocardiogram, impedance cardiography, and blood pressure were acquired at rest and during an evaluated social stressor (Trier Social Stress Test). Pre-ejection period (PEP), CO, and total peripheral resistance reactivity were computed during task preparation, speech delivery, and verbal mental arithmetic. Internalizing and externalizing symptoms were assessed. Results Maltreatment was unrelated to PEP reactivity during preparation or speech, but maltreated adolescents had reduced PEP reactivity during math. Maltreatment exposure (F(1,145) = 3.8–9.4, p = . 053–<. 001) and severity (&bgr; = −0.10–0.12, p = .030–.007) were associated with significantly reduced CO reactivity during all components of the stress task and marginally associated with elevated total peripheral resistance reactivity (F(1,145) = 3.8–9.4; p = . 053–<. 001 [&bgr; = 0.07–0.11] and p = . 11–. 009, respectively). Threat reactivity was positively associated with externalizing symptoms. Conclusions CM is associated with a dysregulated pattern of physiological reactivity consistent with theoretical conceptualizations of threat but not previously examined in relation to maltreatment, suggesting a more nuanced pattern of stress reactivity than predicted by current theoretical models.
Posttraumatic Stress, Heart Rate Variability, and the Mediating Role of Behavioral Health Risks

Objective Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been linked to reduced heart rate variability (HRV), which is in turn a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and death. Although hyperarousal and anxiety are thought to underlie this association, behavioral health risks, including smoking, alcohol dependence, obesity, and sleep disturbance, represent potential mechanisms linking PTSD and HRV. Methods To test this hypothesis, short-term laboratory-based and 24-hour ambulatory measures of HRV were collected from 227 young adults (18–39 years), 107 of whom were diagnosed as having PTSD. Latent variable modeling was used to assess the relationship of PTSD symptoms with HRV along with potential behavioral health mediators. Results PTSD symptoms were associated with reduced HRV (&bgr; = −0.21, p = .002). However, this association was reduced in models that adjusted for cigarette consumption and history of alcohol dependence and was rendered nonsignificant in a model adjusting for sleep disturbance. Independent mediation effects were deemed significant via bootstrapping analysis. Together, the three behavioral health factors (cigarette consumption, history of alcohol dependence, and sleep disturbance) accounted for 94% of the shared variance between PTSD symptoms and HRV. Abdominal obesity was not a significant mediator. Conclusions These results indicate that behavioral factors—specifically smoking, alcohol overuse, and sleep disturbance—mediate the association between PTSD and HRV-based indices of autonomic nervous system dysregulation. Benefits from psychiatric and psychological interventions in PTSD may therefore be enhanced by including modification of health behaviors.
Evaluation of the GADD45α‐GFP GreenScreen HC assay for rapid and reliable in vitro early genotoxicity screening

Twenty‐two of Galderma's proprietary compounds were tested in the GADD45α‐GFP ‘GreenScreen HC’ assay (GS), the SOS‐ChromoTest and the Mini‐Ames to evaluate GSs performance for early genotoxicity screening purposes. Forty more characterized compounds were also tested, including antibiotics: metronidazole, clindamycin, tetracycline, lymecycline and neomycin; and catecholamines: resorcinol mequinol, hydroquinone, one aneugen carbendazim, one corticoid dexamethasone, one peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor rosiglitazone, one pesticide carbaryl and two further proprietary molecules with in vitro genotoxicity data. With proprietary molecules, this study concluded that the GS renders the SOS‐ChromoTest obsolete for in vitro screening. The GS confirmed all results of the Mini‐Ames test (100% concordance). Compared with the micronucleus test, the GS showed a concordance of 82%. With known compounds, the GS ranked the potency of positive results for catecholamines in accordance with other genotoxicity tests and showed very reproducible results. It confirmed positive results for carbendazim, for tetracycline antibiotics and for carbaryl. The GS produced negative results for metronidazole, a nitroreduction‐specific bacterial mutagen, for dexamethasone (a non‐genotoxic apoptosis inducer), for rosiglitazone (a GADD45γ promoter inducer) and for clindamycin and neomycin (inhibitors of macromolecular synthesis in bacteria). As such, the GS appears to be a reproducible, robust, specific and sensitive test for genotoxicity screening. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Association Between Depressive Disorder and Cardiac Autonomic Control in Adults 60 Years and Older

Background Altered cardiac autonomic control has often been reported in depressed persons and might play an important role in the increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). A negative association between cardiac autonomic control and depression might become specifically clinically relevant in persons 60 years or older as CVD risk increases with age. Methods This study included data of 321 persons with a depressive disorder and 115 controls participating in the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older Persons (mean age = 70.3 years, 65.7% female). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), heart rate (HR), and preejection period (PEP) were measured and compared between depressed persons and controls. In addition, the role of antidepressants and clinical characteristics (e.g., age of depression onset and comorbid anxiety) was examined. Results Compared with controls, depressed persons had lower RSA (mean [standard error of the mean] = 23.5 [1.2] milliseconds versus 18.6 [0.7] milliseconds, p = .001, d = 0.373) and marginally higher HR (73.1 [1.1] beats/min versus 75.6 [0.6] beats/min, p = .065, d = 0.212), but comparable PEP (113.9 [2.1] milliseconds versus 112.0 [1.2] milliseconds, p = .45, d = 0.087), fully adjusted. Antidepressants strongly attenuated the associations between depression and HR and RSA. Antidepressant-naïve depressed persons had similar HR and RSA to controls, whereas users of antidepressants showed significantly lower RSA. In addition, tricyclic antidepressant users had higher HR (p < .001, d = 0.768) and shorter PEP (p = .014, d = 0.395) than did controls. Conclusions Depression was not associated with cardiac autonomic control, but antidepressants were in this sample. All antidepressants were associated with low cardiac parasympathetic control and specifically tricyclic antidepressants with high cardiac sympathetic control.
Functional Alterations in Order Short-Term Memory Networks in Adults With Dyslexia

Dyslexia is characterized not only by reading impairment but also by short-term memory (STM) deficits, and this particularly for the retention of serial order information. Here, we explored the functional neural correlates associated with serial order STM performance of adults with dyslexia for verbal and visual STM tasks. Relative to a group of age-matched controls, the dyslexic group showed abnormal activation in a network associated with order STM encompassing the right intraparietal and superior frontal sulcus, and this for both verbal and visual order STM conditions. This study highlights long-lasting alterations in non-language neural substrates and processes in dyslexia.
Analysis of diabetic vitreopathy with dynamic light scattering spectroscopy--problems and solutions related to photon correlation.

PURPOSE To explore the molecular alterations of the vitreous by dynamic light scattering (DLS) spectroscopy (quasi-elastic light scattering spectroscopy, photon-correlation spectroscopy) in normals and in patients afflicted with various degrees of non-proliferative and with proliferative diabetic retinopathy. METHODS Dynamic light scattering spectroscopy was employed to analyze the vitreous of normals and of patients with diabetes non-invasively to estimate both the sizes and diffusion coefficients of mobile macromolecules and/or microparticles. RESULTS Abnormal molecular behaviour of vitreous molecules was observed in patients with diabetes afflicted with various degrees of diabetic vitreo-retinopathy. In the non-proliferative (background) retinopathy, both the diameters of the microparticles increase and the diffusion constants decrease significantly and progressively as the diabetic disease progresses. In the proliferative phase, a significant trend in the direction of smaller particles and greater diffusion constants is evident. These behaviours could also be interpreted as an increase in the viscosity of the intermolecular substance in the first case and as a decrease in the second. CONCLUSIONS The vitreous in normals and even more so in diabetics with diabetic vitreo-retinopathy is optically a highly non-isotropic, multidispersive structure, making an optical analysis difficult. Advanced, but available models and technology, however, permits a major step forward in the optical analysis of the normal and the diseased vitreous.
Cardiovascular and Cortisol Reactions to Acute Psychological Stress Under Conditions of High Versus Low Social Evaluative Threat: Associations With the Type D Personality Construct

Objectives Social evaluative threat is an important factor in the cardiovascular response to mental stress. This study examined whether Type D personality, characterized by social inhibition and negative affectivity, is associated with an adverse cardiovascular response to a non-social and social evaluative threat. Methods A total of 2300 students were screened for Type D personality, and 130 were selected for a nonsocial stress exposure condition (31 Type D, 30 non–Type D: 52% female) or a condition high in social evaluative threat (35 Type D, 34 non–Type D: 55% female). Systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR), and salivary cortisol were measured. Results Social evaluative threat resulted in higher cardiovascular responses than the nonsocial challenge (SBP, p = .001, &eegr;2 = 0.092;DBP, p = .006, &eegr;2 = 0.058;HR, p = .006, &eegr;2 = 0.059). The greatest cardiovascular stress reactions were exhibited by Type D participants in the high social evaluation condition; reflected in significant group by condition interactions for SBP (F(1,126) = 7.29, p = . 008, &eegr;2 = 0.055), DBP (F(1,126) = 5.23, p = . 024, &eegr;2 = 0.040), and HR (F(1,126) = 5.04, p = . 027, &eegr;2 = 0.038) reactivity. Only Type Ds in the social condition mounted a positive cortisol response (F(1,33) = 5.07, p = . 031, &eegr;2 = 0.133). Conclusions Type D individuals show different stress reactions depending on the social evaluative nature of the stress exposure. These findings suggest that dysregulation of the stress response in social situations potentially increases cardiovascular disease risk.
Ventral Striatum Connectivity During Reward Anticipation in Adolescent Smokers

ABSTRACT Substance misusers, including adolescent smokers, often have reduced reward system activity during processing of non-drug rewards. Using a psychophysiological interaction approach, we examined functional connectivity with the ventral striatum during reward anticipation in a large (N = 206) sample of adolescent smokers. Increased smoking frequency was associated with (1) increased connectivity with regions involved in saliency and valuation, including the orbitofrontal cortex and (2) reduced connectivity between the ventral striatum and regions associated with inhibition and risk aversion, including the right inferior frontal gyrus. These results demonstrate that functional connectivity during reward processing is relevant to adolescent addiction.