Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electromagnetic information transfer through aqueous system

ABSTRACT Several beneficial effects of the electromagnetic information transfer through aqueous system (EMITTAS) procedure have previously been reported in vitro. The clinical potential of this procedure has also started to be evaluated. Information flow in biological systems can be investigated through chemical and molecular approaches or by a biophysical approach focused on endogenous electrodynamic activities. Electromagnetic signals are endogenously generated at different levels of the biological organization and, likely, play an active role in synchronizing internal cell function or local/systemic adaptive response. Consequently, each adaptive response can be described by its specific electromagnetic pattern and, therefore, correlates with a unique and specific electromagnetic signature. A biophysical procedure synchronously integrating the EMITTAS procedure has already been applied for the treatment of articular pain, low-back pain, neck pain and mobility, fluctuating asymmetry, early-stage chronic kidney disease, refractory gynecological infections, minor anxiety and depression disorders. This clinical strategy involves a single treatment, since the EMITTAS procedure allows the patient to continue his/her own personal treatment at home by means of self-administration of the recorded aqueous system. A significant and long-lasting improvement has been reported, showing a potential beneficial use of this biophysical procedure in the management of common illnesses in an efficient, effective and personalized way. Data from recent studies suggest that aqueous systems may play a key role in providing the basis for recording, storing, transferring and retrieving clinically effective quanta of biological information. These features likely enable to trigger local and systemic self-regulation and self-regeneration potential of the organism.
Vitamin C deficiency attenuates liver fibrosis by way of up‐regulated peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor‐gamma expression in senescence marker protein 30 knockout mice

Senescence marker protein 30 (SMP30), an important aging marker molecule that is highly expressed in the liver, has been known to protect hepatocytes from apoptosis by the synthesis of vitamin C. To explore the function of SMP30 in liver fibrosis, the effect of SMP30 deficiency on liver fibrosis was investigated in SMP30 knockout (KO) mice. Moreover, the in vivo results were further confirmed by way of hepatic stellate cell (HSC) isolation. We demonstrated that carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)‐induced liver fibrosis and the nuclear translocation of p‐Smad2/3, the immediate downstream of transforming growth factor beta (TGF‐β), were significantly inhibited in the liver of SMP30 KO mice compared with wildtype (WT) mice. We also confirmed that both WT and SMP30 KO HSCs did not express SMP30. Finally, we further confirmed that up‐regulation of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor‐gamma (PPAR‐γ) caused by a lack of vitamin C was the pivotal factor in the mechanisms for attenuated liver fibrosis of SMP30 KO mice, and feeding with vitamin C restored CCl4‐induced liver fibrosis in SMP30 KO mice. Conclusion: Vitamin C deficiency by SMP30 depletion attenuated liver fibrosis by way of up‐regulated PPAR‐γ expression in SMP30 KO mice. Our results provide, for the first time, the possible mechanisms underlying inhibition of HSC activation associated with vitamin C and PPAR‐γ up‐regulation in liver fibrosis of SMP30 KO mice. (HEPATOLOGY 2010.)
Developmental Trajectories of Proactive and Reactive Aggression from Fifth to Ninth Grade

This study examined the developmental trajectories of proactive and reactive aggression from 5th to 9th grade in a sample of 126 children (66% male) screened to be in the top 31% on a measure of aggression. Prospective relations between proactive and reactive aggression and delinquency were also examined. Findings suggested that levels of both proactive and reactive aggression peaked in the 6th grade and declined thereafter. Delinquency was stable from 5th to 9th grade. Neither change in proactive nor reactive aggression were associated with overall levels of delinquency from 5th to 9th grade. However, 1-year cross-lagged paths indicated that proactive aggression predicted increases in delinquency, not vice versa.
Assessment of the Quality of Nursing Care From Perspectives of Nurses Who Experienced Hospitalization as Patients

Nurses as patients or caregivers evaluated their care differently than nonnurses. A qualitative design with content analysis was used to provide an assessment of the quality of nursing care by examining nurses' perceptions as recipients of care. The 231 participants were registered nurses recruited from 8 hospitals in Amman, Jordan. Participants evaluated the quality of nursing care as either high (29.5%) or low (70.5%). Four improvement themes emerged: improving competency, serve with caring, professionalism, and administrative factors.
Motor performance impairment in students with learning disability: Influence of gender and body build

The Bruininks‐Oseretsky test battery has been applied to a sample of 33 boys and 10 girls with learning disabilities. The age of the students (mean ± SD) was 9.4 ±1.1 years. The female students were heavier (p ≤ 0.001) and a little taller (p ≤ 0.05) than a representative Canadian sample of comparable age. Relative to the norm for a North American population, the motor performance score for balance (p ≤ 0.001), bilateral coordination (p ≤ 0.001), upper limb coordination (p ≤ 0.001), visual motor control (p ≤ 0.001), upper limb speed and dexterity (p ≤ 0.001), and response speed (p ≤ 0.001) were all significantly reduced. There was also a trend toward a reduction in strength (p ≤ 0.025) and a corresponding deficit in gross motor (p ≤ 0.005), fine motor (p ≤ 0.001), and battery (p ≤ 0.001) composite score. A significant gender difference (favoring males) for strength (p ≤ 0.001) and response speed (p ≤ 0.001) was shown, together with a related trend in gross motor composite (p ≤ 0.025), fine motor composite .
Meta-Analysis of Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention for Children With Autism

A systematic literature search for studies reporting effects of Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention identified 34 studies, 9 of which were controlled designs having either a comparison or a control group. We completed a meta-analysis yielding a standardized mean difference effect size for two available outcome measures: change in full-scale intelligence and/or adaptive behavior composite. Effect sizes were computed using Hedges's g. The average effect size was 1.10 for change in full-scale intelligence (95% confidence interval = .87, 1.34) and . 66 (95% confidence interval = .41, .90) for change in adaptive behavior composite. These effect sizes are generally considered to be large and moderate, respectively. Our results support the clinical implication that at present, and in the absence of other interventions with established efficacy, Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention should be an intervention of choice for children with autism.
Inhibitory role of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma in hepatocarcinogenesis in mice and in vitro

Although peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) agonist have been shown to inhibit hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development, the role of PPARγ in hepatocarcinogenesis remains unclear. We investigated the therapeutic efficacy of PPARγ against HCC. PPARγ‐deficient (PPARγ+/−) and wild‐type (PPARγ+/+) littermates were used in a diethylnitrosamine (DEN)‐induced HCC model and treated with PPARγ agonist (rosiglitazone) or the vehicle alone for 8 months. The effects of PPARγ on HCC cell growth and apoptosis were examined using PPARγ‐expressing adenovirus (Ad‐PPARγ). PPARγ+/− mice were more susceptible to DEN‐induced HCC than PPARγ+/+ mice (94% versus 62%, P < 0.05), and rosiglitazone significantly reduced the incidence of HCC in PPARγ+/+ mice (vehicle 62% versus treatment 24%, P < 0.01), but not in PPARγ+/− mice, indicating that PPARγ suppresses hepatocellular carcinogenesis. A pronounced expression of PPARγ was observed in a HCC cell line (Hep3B) infected with Ad‐PPARγ. Such induction markedly suppressed HCC cell viability (P < 0.01). Further, Hep3B infection with Ad‐PPARγ revealed a decreased proportion of cells in S‐phase (12.92% versus 11.58%, P < 0.05), with arrest at G2/M phase (38.2% versus 55.68%, P < 0.001), and there was concomitant phosphorylation of the key G2/M phase inhibitors cdc25C and cdc2. PPARγ overexpression increased cell apoptosis (21.47% versus 35.02%, P < 0.01), mediated by both extrinsic (Fas and tumor necrosis factor‐α) and intrinsic (caspase‐9, caspase‐3, caspase‐7, and poly[ADP‐ribose] polymerase) pathways. Moreover, PPARγ directly induced a putative tumor suppressor gene, growth differentiation factor‐15. Conclusion: Loss of one PPARγ allele is sufficient to enhance susceptibility to HCC. PPARγ suppresses tumor cell growth through reducing cell proliferation and inducing G2/M phase arrest, apoptosis, and up‐regulating growth differentiation factor‐15. Thus, PPARγ acts as a tumor‐suppressor gene in the liver. HEPATOLOGY 2010
Cognitive Measures of Adolescent Depression: Unique or Unitary Constructs?

The factor structure of several self-report questionnaires assessing depression-relevant cognitions frequently employed in clinical research was examined in a sample of 390 adolescents (M age = 14.54; 216 girls; 74% Caucasian) with current major depressive disorder enrolled in the Treatment of Adolescents with Depression Study. A four-factor solution resulted, accounting for 65% of the total variance. The factors were labeled (a) Cognitive Distortions and Maladaptive Beliefs, (b) Cognitive Avoidance, (c) Positive Outlook, and (d) Solution-Focused Thinking. Internal consistencies for the factor-based composite scores were . 83, . 85, . 84, and . 82, respectively. Girls endorsed more negative cognitions than boys on three of the four factors. Maladaptive cognitions were positively related to severity of depression and predicted treatment response. Taken together, findings indicated that there are four distinct domains of cognitions that are present among adolescents with depression that are tapped by several widely used self-report measures of cognitions.
Rumination as a Vulnerability Factor to Depression in Adolescents in Mainland China: Lifetime History of Clinically Significant Depressive Episodes

The current study tested the vulnerability and sex differences hypotheses of the response styles theory of depression (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991). Participants included 494 tenth-grade students (M = 15.25 years, SD = 0.47) recruited from two secondary schools in Beijing, China. Participants completed self-report measures assessing rumination and neuroticism as well as a semistructured clinical interview assessing current and past clinically significant depressive episodes. Higher levels of rumination were associated with a greater likelihood of exhibiting both a current depressive episode and a past history of depressive episodes even after controlling for neuroticism. Higher levels of rumination were also associated with greater severity and duration of current depressive episodes and greater severity of past depressive episodes even after controlling for neuroticism. Contrary to the sex differences hypothesis of the response styles theory, girls and boys did not differ in levels of rumination.
Multidisciplinary team developed and implemented protocols to assist mechanical ventilation weaning: a systematic review of literature.

AIM The aim of this review was to determine if ventilation-weaning protocols developed and implemented by multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) reduced the duration of mechanical ventilation in adult intensive care patients compared to usual care. METHOD A systematic review was conducted to review published research studies from January 1999 to June 2009 to identify and analyse the best available evidence on MDT-based weaning protocols in adult intensive care patients. All relevant studies based on electronic searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Registry and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were included. Where possible data were pooled and a meta-analysis performed. A narrative synthesis of data was conducted to provide a critical appraisal of nonrandomised controlled trials included in the review. RESULTS Three pre- and postinterventional studies were identified for inclusion in this review. Results show equivocal support for weaning protocols developed and implemented by MDTs for reducing duration of mechanical ventilation. CONCLUSION Communication and organizational processes must be addressed for multidisciplinary protocols to be effective. Due to methodological limitations of included studies, large randomised controlled trials are required to provide high-level evidence of the effects of MDT-based protocols on duration of mechanical ventilation.
Hepatitis C virus genotype 2/3 patients who can receive an abbreviated course of peginterferon/ribavirin: The important role of initial ribavirin doses

We read with great interest the article by Petta et al. The compound 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25[OH]D3) was reported as an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease (by a decreased expression of profibrotic markers, and an increased expression of antifibrotic markers) despite the fact that its real pathological pathway is still not clear. Incubation of the multipotent mesenchymal cell with 25(OH)D3 also resulted in antiproliferative and antiapoptotic processes. Therefore, the lower levels of 25(OH)D3 in liver with greater fibrosis is understandable. Lower cholesterol and lower 25(OH)D3 levels, along with greater steatosis, were found to be risk factors affecting sustained virological response (SVR) as seen in recent studies. The stage of fibrosis was found to be a risk factor for SVR not only in hepatitis C virus (HCV) alone, but also in patients coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus and HCV, in contrast to the results of the current article. Moreover, age, sex, and body mass index were also described as predictors for SVR in patients infected with HCV, in contrast to the current study. These challenging results could be related in the methodologic differences between the present study and recent studies, or mistakes could have happened during the sampling and/or analyzing periods. For example, SVR was reached in the half the male patients, whereas it was reached in just one-third of the females, results which are also different from the recent data. The patients in the study may also be infected with an unknown subgroup of HCV, which could explain these patients’ characteristics.
Strengthening Effective Parenting Practices Over the Long Term: Effects of a Preventive Intervention for Parentally Bereaved Families

This study tested the effect of the Family Bereavement Program (FBP), a preventive intervention for bereaved families, on effective parenting (e.g., caregiver warmth, consistent discipline) 6 years after program completion. Families (n = 101; 69% female caregivers; 77% Caucasian, 11% Hispanic) with children between ages 8 and 16 who had experienced the death of one parent were randomized to the FBP (n = 54) or a literature control condition (n = 47). Multiple regression analyses conducted within a multilevel framework indicated that the FBP had a significant positive impact on a multirater, multimeasure assessment of parenting at 6-year follow-up, controlling for pretest levels of parenting and child mental health problems. Mediation analyses showed that short-term program effects on parenting, including caregiver warmth and effective discipline, significantly mediated the impact of the FBP on effective parenting 6 years later. These findings indicate that a relatively cost-effective brief intervention for families who experienced a major stressor resulted in sustained effects on caregiver warmth and consistent discipline 6 years following the program.
Fatty liver and fibrosis in glycine N‐methyltransferase knockout mice is prevented by nicotinamide

Deletion of glycine N‐methyltransferase (GNMT), the main gene involved in liver S‐adenosylmethionine (SAM) catabolism, leads to the hepatic accumulation of this molecule and the development of fatty liver and fibrosis in mice. To demonstrate that the excess of hepatic SAM is the main agent contributing to liver disease in GNMT knockout (KO) mice, we treated 1.5‐month‐old GNMT‐KO mice for 6 weeks with nicotinamide (NAM), a substrate of the enzyme NAM N‐methyltransferase. NAM administration markedly reduced hepatic SAM content, prevented DNA hypermethylation, and normalized the expression of critical genes involved in fatty acid metabolism, oxidative stress, inflammation, cell proliferation, and apoptosis. More importantly, NAM treatment prevented the development of fatty liver and fibrosis in GNMT‐KO mice. Because GNMT expression is down‐regulated in patients with cirrhosis, and because some subjects with GNMT mutations have spontaneous liver disease, the clinical implications of the present findings are obvious, at least with respect to these latter individuals. Because NAM has been used for many years to treat a broad spectrum of diseases (including pellagra and diabetes) without significant side effects, it should be considered in subjects with GNMT mutations. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that the anomalous accumulation of SAM in GNMT‐KO mice can be corrected by NAM treatment leading to the normalization of the expression of many genes involved in fatty acid metabolism, oxidative stress, inflammation, cell proliferation, and apoptosis, as well as reversion of the appearance of the pathologic phenotype. (HEPATOLOGY 2010)
Precursors and Correlates of Anxiety Trajectories From Late Childhood to Late Adolescence

The present research employed a prospective, multi-informant design to examine precursors and correlates of differing anxiety profiles from late childhood to late adolescence. The sample consisted of 626 boys and 667 girls who are participants in the Australian Temperament Project, a large, longitudinal, community-based study that has followed young people's psychosocial adjustment from infancy to adulthood. The present research analyzes data collected from the first 12 waves of data, from 4–8 months to 17 years. Parents, primary school teachers, maternal and child health nurses, and from the age of 11 onward, the young people themselves have provided survey data. Trajectory analyses revealed three distinct patterns of self-reported anxiety from late childhood to late adolescence, comprising low, moderate, and high (increasing) trajectories, which differed somewhat between boys and girls. A range of parent- and teacher-reported factors was found to be associated with these trajectories, including temperament style, behavior problems, social skills, parenting, negative family events, and peer relationships. Compared with male trajectories, female trajectories were associated with a greater variety of psychosocial variables (including parenting and externalizing problems), which may partially account for the higher prevalence of anxiety in adolescent girls compared with boys. Findings shed light on gender-specific pathways to anxiety and the need for comprehensive, integrative approaches to intervention and prevention programs.
Clinical importance of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody positivity during propylthiouracil treatment

Background: Propylthiouracil (PTU) is the mainstay of antithyroid drug therapy. Previous studies reported antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)‐positive vasculitis in patients treated for Graves’ disease. ANCA has been associated with either PTU or to the disease itself. However, this issue has not been investigated in toxic multinodular goitre (TMNG). The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of ANCA positivity in both TMNG and Graves’ disease patients treated with PTU, and to investigate the clinical importance of this issue.
β‐Adrenergic potentiation of E–C coupling increases force in rat skeletal muscle

We examined the mechanism(s) which allow terbutaline, a β2‐adrenergic agonist, to increase isometric force in bundles of normal and denervated rat soleus fibers. Terbutaline (10 μmol/L) potentiated tetanic contractions during exposure to 1 mmol/L ouabain, 10 μmol/L nifedipine, or 0.5 mmol/L iodoacetate. Terbutafine induced equivalent increases in submaximal potassium (K+) contracture and tetanic force: these effects were mimicked by 2 mmol/L dibutyrl‐cyclic AMP. Therefore, terbutaline increased force by a cyclic AMP‐dependent mechanism other than enhancement of sodium‐pump activity, dihydropyridine sensitive Ca2+ currents, glycolysis, or action potentials. Pretreatment with 1 mmol/L caffeine induced submaximal potentiation of peak tetanic force but prevented further potentiation by terbutaline. This suggested that terbutaline did not influence the myofilaments, but acted on the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) to increase the myoplasmic Ca2+ concentration and hence force production. We speculate that force is potentiated following β‐adrenoceptor activation by a cyclic AMP‐dependent phosphorylation of Ca2+ release channels to facilitate SR calcium release during tetanic stimulation. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Pathways to Adolescent Internalizing: Early Attachment Insecurity as a Lasting Source of Vulnerability

Despite theoretical links between attachment quality in early childhood and subsequent internalizing symptoms, there is limited empirical evidence supporting direct effects. In this article, we test whether early attachment insecurity indirectly contributes to adolescent internalizing by increasing the likelihood of certain pathways leading to elevated symptoms (i.e., moderated mediation). Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping were used to test for moderated mediation using longitudinal data from 910 adolescents participating in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care (M age = 15.1; 50% female, 23% racial/ethnic minority). Among dyads with a history of an insecure attachment in early childhood, mothers’ negative emotions during the transition to adolescence significantly predicted less availability during parent–adolescent interactions, which in turn increased adolescents’ preoccupation with parental relationships. The same process was not evident in youth with a history of secure attachments. However, the extent to which preoccupation with parental relationships was associated with increases in internalizing symptoms depended on both attachment history and gender. Results highlight one pathway by which early attachment history may indirectly contribute to increased internalizing symptoms for girls during the transition to adolescence.