Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relation between intima-media thickness and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES: Controversy exists regarding the relationship between atherosclerosis and osteoporosis. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between intima-media thickness (IMT) of the common carotid artery (CCA), presence of calcified atherosclerotic plaques and bone mineral density (BMD) evaluated by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), in postmenopausal women. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study at Second Internal Medicine Clinic, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. METHODS: We studied the IMT (left and right CCA and mean IMT) and T-score (lumbar spine L2-L4, femoral neck and total hip) in 100 postmenopausal women (mean age 64.5 years). The presence of calcified atherosclerotic plaque and osteoporotic vertebral fractures was also noted. RESULTS: IMT in the left and right CCA and mean IMT were significantly associated with T-score measured for the lumbar spine L2-L4, femoral neck and total hip, with lower T-score, in the osteoporotic group than in the normal and osteopenic groups (P < 0.05). IMT had a significantly negative correlation with the lumbar spine T-score and femoral neck T-score; and mean IMT with lowest T-score. Mean IMT (P < 0.001), high blood pressure (P = 0.005) and osteoporotic vertebral fractures (P = 0.048) showed statistical significance regarding the likelihood of developing atherosclerotic plaque. CONCLUSIONS: In women referred for routine osteoporosis screening, the relationship between CCA, atherosclerosis and osteoporosis can be demonstrated using either cortical or trabecular BMD. Vertebral fractures may be considered to be a likelihood factor for atherosclerotic plaque development.
Ectopic pregnancy - two years review from BPKIHS, Nepal.

UNLABELLED Ectopic pregnancy remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in early pregnancy. The incidence has increased worldwide with an increase in pelvic infections and improvements in the diagnostic techniques. The objective of this study was to analyse the various aspects of ectopic pregnancy with a view to suggest interventions which would decrease the incidence. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study was carried out in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, B.P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan (Nepal). Data were analysed retrospectively using the case sheets and operative notes from the past two years (April 02-April 04). The gynaecological admissions and records of the total births within the period of study were also used in the analysis. RESULT The incidence of ectopic pregnancy during this study period was 0.93 of total births and 2.92% of the total gynaecological admissions. The peak age of incidence was in the range of 26-30 years. Majority of patients were in the lower socioeconomic group. Pelvic inflammatory disease and induced abortions were the major risk factors. Their contribution was 61.3% and 38.6% respectively. 70.6% of patients did not use any contraception. 16% used depo provera. Abdominal pain (69.3%), vaginal bleeding (45.3%) and syncopal attacks (21.3%) were the most frequent presenting complaints. 58.6% had amenorrhea of 6-10 weeks. Only 1.3% presented with amenorrhea of greater than 10 weeks. Ampulla (62.6%) followed by isthmus (21.3) were the commonest sites of ectopic implantation. Ovarian and abdominal pregnancies contributed to only 1.3% each. There was no significant difference between the side of the tube involved.82.6% had come with ruptured ectopic but only 12% were in shock. Majority of patients underwent salpingectomy (69.3%) followed by salpingo-oophorectomy (17.3%). Only 2.6% received methotrexate. 70.6% required blood transfusion. CONCLUSION Majority of patients attending BPKIHS for ectopic pregnancy were between 26-30 years and had history of PID & induced abortions. Surgery (salpingectomy/salpingo-oophorectomy) was the main stay of treatment.
Discordant clinical presentations of preeclampsia and intrauterine fetal growth restriction with similar pro- and anti-angiogenic profiles

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the plasma levels of angiogenic factors in preeclampsia (PE) and intrauterine fetal growth restriction (IUGR) and their potential as biomarkers to distinguish normal from pathologic pregnancies. Methods: Case control study included singleton pregnancies in four categories: (i) normal (n = 29), (ii) PE (n = 15), (iii) PE and IUGR (n = 16) and (iv) IUGR (n = 24). The classification of IUGR included umbilical artery Doppler resistance. Maternal plasma placental growth factor (PlGF), soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1), soluble kinase domain receptor (sKDR) and soluble endoglin (sEng) as well as fetal umbilical artery sFlt-1 levels were determined. Each individual marker and their ratios were assessed for their potential to distinguish normal pregnancy from pregnancies affected by PE and/or IUGR. Results: We found (i) elevated plasma sFlt-1, sEng and reduced PlGF, sKDR in PE and IUGR; (ii) similar angiogenic profiles in PE and IUGR and (iii) sEng and sFlt-1*sEng/PlGF performed best as biomarkers in identifying pathologic pregnancies. Conclusions: PE and IUGR have similar angiogenic profiles, suggesting that angiogenic marker profiles lack specificity in identifying PE and that other factors are required for the development of PE instead of IUGR. sEng should be included in a biomarker profile for predicting PE or IUGR.
Understanding Collective Decision Making

One of the main challenges facing contemporary society is to understand how people can make decisions together. Understanding Collective Decision Making builds on evolutionary theories and presents an analytical tool to analyse and visualise collective decision making. By combining theoretical research with real world case studies, the authors provide a coherent and conclusive solution to the often fragmented and dispersed literature on the subject.
Teichoic Acid Is an Essential Polymer in Bacillus subtilis That Is Functionally Distinct from Teichuronic Acid

ABSTRACT Wall teichoic acids are anionic, phosphate-rich polymers linked to the peptidoglycan of gram-positive bacteria. In Bacillus subtilis, the predominant wall teichoic acid types are poly(glycerol phosphate) in strain 168 and poly(ribitol phosphate) in strain W23, and they are synthesized by the tag and tar gene products, respectively. Growing evidence suggests that wall teichoic acids are essential in B. subtilis; however, it is widely believed that teichoic acids are dispensable under phosphate-limiting conditions. In the work reported here, we carefully studied the dispensability of teichoic acid under phosphate-limiting conditions by constructing three new mutants. These strains, having precise deletions in tagB, tagF, and tarD, were dependent on xylose-inducible complementation from a distal locus (amyE) for growth. The tarD deletion interrupted poly(ribitol phosphate) synthesis in B. subtilis and represents a unique deletion of a tar gene. When teichoic acid biosynthetic proteins were depleted, the mutants showed a coccoid morphology and cell wall thickening. The new wall teichoic acid biogenesis mutants generated in this work and a previously reported tagD mutant were not viable under phosphate-limiting conditions in the absence of complementation. Cell wall analysis of B. subtilis grown under phosphate-limited conditions showed that teichoic acid contributed approximately one-third of the wall anionic content. These data suggest that wall teichoic acid has an essential function in B. subtilis that cannot be replaced by teichuronic acid.
Puzzling Plans and Budgets: Making Sense of California's Second Year Local Control and Accountability Plans.

On July 1, 2013, Gov. Jerry Brown signed California’s landmark Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) into law. In addition to providing districts with greater control over how to spend funds, LCFF marked a tremendous opportunity for educational equity. The new funding law gave districts additional resources, called supplemental and concentration grants, to provide more services for English learners, foster youth, and low-income students.
Spectrum of mutations in gastrointestinal stromal tumor patients – a population‐based study from Slovakia

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal neoplasms of gastrointestinal tract and are characterized by presence of mutations in tyrosine kinases cKIT (KIT) and PDGFRα (PDGFRA). Mutations identified are highly heterogeneous, but some mutations are associated with specific clinical features of the tumor. Samples from 278 GIST patients collected during the period 2004–2011 were screened for mutations in exons 9, 11, 13, and 17 of KIT and 12, 14 and 18 of PDGFRA. Results of mutation screening were summarized and tested for possible association with clinical parameters of tumors. Mutations were identified in 83.81% of patients. Most frequent mutations were found in KIT exon 11 reaching frequency of 62.95%. Other exons contributed to the mutation pool with frequencies 8.27%, 7.55%, 2.52%, 1.44%, 1.08%, and 0.00%, in decreasing order KIT exon 9, PDGRFA exons 18 and 12, KIT exon 13, PDGFRA exon 14, and KIT exon 17. General linear model analysis showed no effect of any individual analyzed mutation on the phenotypic variables, but we confirmed association between mutations KIT exon 9 p. 503‐504_dup2, and PDGFRA exon 18 p. D842V and intestinal and gastric localization of tumors.
Emotions in the software development process

This paper presents the results of a survey on the experience of emotions in the work of software developers. Quantitative analysis revealed information about emotions affecting programmers, their frequency and impact on their performance. The concept of emotional risk to productivity was also presented. It allows to choose the emotional states, which should be avoided. Furthermore, all collected data were analyzed with information about the experience of developers. In addition to most hazardous emotions, those with the most positive impact on productivity were selected.
Effect of oil droplet size on the oxidative stability of spray-dried flaxseed oil powders

The effect of the size of oil droplets on the oxidative stability of flaxseed oil in spray-dried powders was investigated. Maltodextrin with a dextrose equivalent of 25 was used as a wall material, and sodium caseinate and transglutaminase-polymerized sodium caseinate were used as emulsifiers. The oxidative stability of flaxseed oil encapsulated in the spray-dried powders was evaluated using lipid oxidation and conductometric determination tests at 105 °C. The powders containing larger oil droplets exhibited higher surface oil content after spray drying, and higher peroxide value and conductivity after storage at 105 °C. Removal of the surface oil from the powders by washing with hexane significantly decreased the conductivity. The results indicated that the surface oil of the spray-dried flaxseed oil powders affected the oxidation stability. Graphical abstract Oil droplet size affected significantly the oxidation stability of flaxseed oil in spray-dried powder.
Consonant production accuracy in young cochlear implant recipients: developmental sound classes and word position effects.

PURPOSE To compare young cochlear implant (CI) recipients' consonant production accuracy with that of age- and gender-matched peers who were typically developing (TD). In addition to examining initial consonants, the authors compiled new data regarding the accuracy of final consonants and the order of consonant acquisition. METHODS Eleven young CI recipients with 24 months of CI experience and 11 age- and gender-matched TD peers produced target words in short sentences. Consonant production accuracy was examined for total scores, initial and final word positions, and three developmental sound classes: Early, Middle, and Late. RESULTS Initial consonants were produced with relatively greater accuracy than were final consonants by the TD and CI groups. Whereas initial consonants appeared to be acquired in a typical order, descriptive data suggest that this might not be the case for final consonants. CONCLUSIONS Although still delayed compared to age-matched peers, young CI recipients showed substantial progress in consonant acquisition. Their accuracy levels after 2 years of CI experience support the notion that implantation at a young age has added value for phonological development.
Nocardia aobensis Sp. Nov., Isolated from Patients in Japan

Five clinical isolates, strains IFM 0137, 0372T, 0496, 0556, and 0952, were provisionally assigned to the genus Nocardia based on morphological criteria. Nearly complete 16S rDNA sequences were determined for these strains. These data showed that they are most similar to that of Nocardia africana, Nocardia cerradoensis and Nocardia veterana. However, DNA‐DNA relatedness data showed that the five strains were of a single species and were distinguishable from N. africana, N. cerradoensis and N. veterana. Therefore, these strains represent a new species within the genus Nocardia. The designation of these five strains is Nocardia aobensis sp. nov. The type strain is IFM 0372T (=NBRC 100429T=JCM 12352T=DSM 44805T).
Response to steroids in de novo autoimmune hepatitis after liver transplantation

Graft dysfunction associated with autoimmune phenomena has been recently described in liver transplant recipients without previous autoimmune disease. However, the natural history, diagnostic criteria, and definitive therapeutic approach of de novo autoimmune hepatitis (de novo AIH) are poorly understood. We report 12 cases of de novo AIH 27.9 ± 24.5 months after liver transplantation: the outcome of 7 patients treated with steroids is compared with a group of 5 nontreated patients. Nontreated patients lost the graft after 5.8 ± 2.6 months from de novo AIH onset. All treated patients were alive after 48.4 ± 14 (29‐65) months from de novo AIH onset, and none of them lost the graft. However, 5 patients relapsed in relation to steroid tapering. All patients presented an atypical antiliver/kidney cytosolic autoantibody, associated to classical autoantibodies in 10 cases. Histological study showed several degrees of lobular necrosis and inflammatory infiltrate. HLA antigen frequencies and matching were compared with 2 control groups (16 orthotopic liver transplantation [LTX] patients without de novo AIH and 929 healthy blood donors); de novo AIH patients showed a higher prevalence of HLA‐DR3 (54.5% vs. 25.9%, P = .04) than healthy controls, which was not observed in LTX patients without de novo AIH. In conclusion, this new disease should be included in the differential diagnosis of unexplained graft dysfunction. In addition, treatment with steroids results in a dramatically improved outcome. However, maintenance therapy is usually required.
Atomically detailed folding simulation of the B domain of staphylococcal protein A from random structures

The conformational space of the 10–55 fragment of the B-domain of staphylococcal protein A has been investigated by using the electrostatically driven Monte Carlo (EDMC) method. The ECEPP/3 (empirical conformational energy program for peptides) force-field plus two different continuum solvation models, namely SRFOPT (Solvent Radii Fixed with atomic solvation parameters OPTimized) and OONS (Ooi, Oobatake, Némethy, and Scheraga solvation model), were used to describe the conformational energy of the chain. After an exhaustive search, starting from two different random conformations, three of four runs led to native-like conformations. Boltzmann-averaged root-mean-square deviations (RMSD) for all of the backbone heavy atoms with respect to the native structure of 3.35 Å and 4.54 Å were obtained with SRFOPT and OONS, respectively. These results show that the protein-folding problem can be solved at the atomic detail level by an ab initio procedure, starting from random conformations, with no knowledge except the amino acid sequence. To our knowledge, the results reported here correspond to the largest protein ever folded from a random conformation by an initial-value formulation with a full atomic potential, without resort to knowledge-based information.
Biopsychosocial model.

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Use of a gp120 Binding Assay To Dissect the Requirements and Kinetics of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Fusion Events

ABSTRACT Binding of the extracellular subunit of human immunodeficiency type 1 (HIV-1) envelope (Env) glycoprotein (gp120) to CD4 triggers the induction or exposure of a highly conserved coreceptor binding site in gp120 that helps mediate membrane fusion. Characterizing the structural features involved in gp120-coreceptor binding and the conditions under which binding occurs is important for understanding the fusion process, the evolution of pathogenic strains in vivo, the identification of novel anti-HIV compounds, and the development of HIV vaccines that utilize triggered structures of Env. Here we use the kinetics of interaction between CCR5 and gp120 to understand temporal and structural changes that occur during viral fusion. Using saturation binding and homologous competition analysis, we estimated theKd of interaction between CCR5 and gp120 from the macrophage tropic HIV-1 strain JRFL to be 4 nM. Unlike Env-mediated fusion, gp120 binding to CCR5 did not require divalent cations or elevated temperatures. Binding was not significantly affected by the pH of binding, G-protein coupling of CCR5, or partial gp120 deglycosylation. Oligomeric, uncleaved JRFL gp140 failed to bind CCR5 despite its ability to bind CD4 and monoclonal antibody 17b, suggesting that the uncleaved ectodomain of gp41 interferes with full exposure of the chemokine receptor binding site. Exposure of the chemokine receptor binding site on gp120 could be induced rapidly by CD4, but exposure of this site was lost upon CD4 dissociation from gp120, indicating that the conformational changes in gp120 induced by CD4 binding are fully reversible. The functional gp120-soluble CD4 complex was remarkably stable over time and temperature ranges, offering the possibility that complexes in which the highly conserved coreceptor binding site in gp120 is exposed can be used for vaccine development.
Associations of CYP1A1, GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms with lung cancer susceptibility in a Northern Indian population.

BACKGROUND Susceptibility to lung cancer has been shown to be modulated by inheritance of polymorphic genes encoding cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) and glutathione S transferases (GSTM1 and GSTT1), which are involved in the bioactivation and detoxification of environmental toxins. This might be a factor in the variation in lung cancer incidence with ethnicity. MATERIALS AND METHODS We conducted a case-control study of 218 northern Indian lung cancer patients along with 238 healthy controls, to assess any association between CYP1A1, GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms, either separately or in combination, with the likelihood of development of Lung cancer in our population. RESULTS We observed a significant difference in the GSTT1 null deletion frequency in this population when compared with other populations (OR=1.87, 95%CI: 1.25-2.80-0.73, P=0.002). However, GSTM1 null genotype was found associated with lung cancer in the non-smoking subgroup. (P=0.170). CONCLUSIONS Our study showed the GSTT1 null polymorphism to be associated with smoking-induced lung cancer and the GSTM1 null polymorphism to have a link with non-smoking related lung cancer.
'Inadequate' dietary habits and mastication in elderly men.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to re-evaluate data about oral status, mastication and nutrition in elderly men in Malmö, Sweden, recorded in 1985-1987, to assess associations between inadequate dietary habits, oral conditions and masticatory function. MATERIALS AND METHODS Four hundred and eighty-one men, aged 67-68, participated in a comprehensive health examination, including tooth and denture status and masticatory tests. A separate study of dietary habits and nutritional status was made. Ninety-five men had inadequate dietary habits. The databases of dental/denture status, mastication, nutritional status and social network factors were re-evaluated for assessment of associations. RESULTS No significant differences between those with adequate or inadequate nutrition were found with regard to the number of teeth, occlusal contacts or removable dentures. Also self-assessed chewing did not show any differences. CONCLUSION Inadequate dietary habits were independent of teeth and denture status. Some correlations to social network conditions could be identified. Overweight, obesity, low physical activity and high alcohol intake were more common among those with inadequate nutritional intake.
Gestational diabetes, birth weight, sex ratio, and cesarian section.

Knights et al. (1) reported on the sexes of the offspring of 216 women with gestational diabetes (GDM) and 216 control subjects without GDM, all of whom underwent cesarian section. The sex ratio (proportion male) for the control offspring was significantly higher than that for the offspring of the GDM women. The birth weights and gestational ages of the offspring from the two groups of women showed no appreciable differences, even when offspring sex was controlled. These authors claimed that their data do not support the suggestion that the …
Serious games as new educational tools: how effective are they? A meta-analysis of recent studies

Computer-assisted learning is known to be an effective tool for improving learning in both adults and children. Recent years have seen the emergence of the so-called ‘serious games (SGs)’ that are flooding the educational games market. In this paper, the term ‘serious games’ is used to refer to video games (VGs) intended to serve a useful purpose. The objective was to review the results of experimental studies designed to examine the effectiveness of VGs and SGs on players' learning and engagement. After pointing out the varied nature of the obtained results and the impossibility of reaching any reliable conclusion concerning the effectiveness of VGs and SGs in learning, we stress the limitations of the existing literature and make a number of suggestions for future studies.