Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of lower body positive pressure on the exercise capacity of individuals with spinal cord injury.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect lower body positive pressure (LBPP) has on the cardiovascular/exercise capacities of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) during both arm crank exercise (ACE) and wheelchair exercise performed on a treadmill (WCTM). Ten male adults (age = 31.1 +/- 10 yr) with SCI and five male nondisabled (ND) adults (31.2 +/- 10 yr) participated in this study. The ND subjects performed ACE only. For subjects with SCI, significantly higher (P < 0.025) peak VO2 (1042 +/- 212 vs 839 +/- 218 ml.min-1), peak VE (46 +/- 17 vs 35 +/- 9 l.min-1), and work rate (50 +/- 15 vs 40 +/- 13 W) were seen during ACE with LBPP. No significant differences for peak VO2, VE, or work rate were seen for the ND subjects with LBPP during ACE. In addition, significantly higher peak VO2 (960 +/- 322 vs 828 +/- 312 ml.min-1) was recorded with LBPP for the subjects with SCI during WCTM. Cardiac output (Q, l.min-1; CO2 rebreathing method) was measured at 50% peak VO2 for both ND subjects and subjects with SCI during ACE. Subjects with SCI demonstrated significantly higher SV (94 +/- 20 vs 84 +/- 20 ml) with LBPP. No differences were observed in SV at 50% peak VO2 during ACE for the ND subjects with LBPP. The results of this study suggest that for individuals with SCI, LBPP augments exercise capacity by preventing the redistribution of blood to the lower extremities.
Localization and Differential Expression of Activation-Induced Cytidine Deaminase in the Amphibian Xenopus upon Antigen Stimulation and during Early Development1

As in mammals, B cell maturation in the amphibian Xenopus involves somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination to diversify the B cell receptor repertoire in response to Ag stimulation. Unlike mammals, however, the resulting increase in Ab affinity is poor in Xenopus, which is possibly related to the absence of germinal centers and a suboptimal selection mechanism of SHM. In mammals, both SHM and class switch recombination are mediated by the activation-induced cytidine deaminase enzyme and under Ag-dependent regulation. Given its evolutionary conservation in jawed vertebrates, we used activation-induced cytidine deaminase as a marker to monitor and localize B cell maturation in Xenopus upon immune responses and during early development. In adult, Xenopus laevis AID (XlAID) was detected mainly in the spleen, where cells expressing XlAID were preferentially distributed in follicular B cell zones, although some XlAID+ cells were also found in the red pulp. XlAID was markedly up-regulated in the spleen with different kinetics upon bacterial stimulation and viral infection. However, during secondary anti-viral response XlAID was also noticeably expressed by PBLs, suggesting that XlAID remains active in a subset of circulating B cells. During ontogeny, XlAID expression was detected as early as 5 days postfertilization in liver before the first fully differentiated B cells appear. Concomitant with appearance of mature B cells XlAID was up-regulated upon bacterial stimulation or viral infection at later larval stages. This study highlights the conserved involvement of XlAID during Ag-dependent B cell responses in Xenopus but also suggests another role in B cell differentiation earlier in ontogeny.
Optimizing the detection of biliary dysplasia in primary sclerosing cholangitis before liver transplantation

Abstract Background: Patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) have increased risk of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). We evaluated pre-transplant work-up in PSC patients, to search for the most effective strategy for the detection of biliary dysplasia or early CCA. Methods: Two hundred and twenty five consecutive PSC patients undergoing liver transplantation (LTx) in Sweden between 1999 and 2013 were studied. Patients with CCA or dysplasia in the explanted liver were compared with those with benign histopathology. Measures of test performance were calculated for patients having brush cytology on one endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography (ERCP) occasion, for those having repeated examinations with or without cholangioscopy, and for fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Survival after LTx was analyzed. Results: Brush cytology on a single ERCP occasion had moderate sensitivity (57%) and high specificity (94%) for the detection of CCA/high grade dysplasia (HGD) in the explanted liver. The corresponding sensitivity and specificity for FISH were 84% and 90%, respectively. Utilizing repeated ERCP and brush cytology to confirm the initial finding improved sensitivity to 82%. Using single operator cholangioscopy (SOC) for targeted examination at the second ERCP improved sensitivity (100%) and specificity (97%) significantly. Mortality rate in patients with incidentally discovered CCA (n = 16) in the explanted liver was significantly higher than in patients with HGD or benign histopathology (HR 16.0; 95% CI, 5.6–45.4; p < .001). Conclusions: Repeated brush cytology especially when combined with targeted examination under SOC guidance is superior to single brush examinations. This strategy improves the detection of malignancy in PSC and is of importance for selection of patients for LTx.
A genetically informative developmental study of the relationship between conduct disorder and peer deviance in males

Background Conduct disorder (CD) and peer deviance (PD) both powerfully predict future externalizing behaviors. Although levels of CD and PD are strongly correlated, the causal relationship between them has remained controversial and has not been examined by a genetically informative study. Method Levels of CD and PD were assessed in 746 adult male–male twin pairs at personal interview for ages 8–11, 12–14 and 15–17 years using a life history calendar. Model fitting was performed using the Mx program. Results The best-fit model indicated an active developmental relationship between CD and PD including forward transmission of both traits over time and strong causal relationships between CD and PD within time periods. The best-fit model indicated that the causal relationship for genetic risk factors was from CD to PD and was constant over time. For common environmental factors, the causal pathways ran from PD to CD and were stronger in earlier than later age periods. Conclusion A genetically informative model revealed causal pathways difficult to elucidate by other methods. Genes influence risk for CD, which, through social selection, impacts on the deviance of peers. Shared environment, through family and community processes, encourages or discourages adolescent deviant behavior, which, via social influence, alters risk for CD. Social influence is more important than social selection in childhood, but by late adolescence social selection becomes predominant. These findings have implications for prevention efforts for CD and associated externalizing disorders.
Cardiovascular risk factor burden has a stronger association with self-rated poor health in adults in the US than in Sweden, especially for the lower educated

Background: There is an ongoing debate about the importance of biomedical and sociodemographic risk factors in the prediction of self-rated health. Objectives: To compare the association of sociodemographic and cardiovascular risk factors and self-rated health in Sweden and the US. Design: Data from two population-based cross-sectional health surveys, one in Sweden and one in the US. Subjects: The surveys included questionnaire and measured data from 5,461 adults in Sweden and 7,643 in the US. Participants were between 35 and 65 years of age. Results: The odds ratios for poor self-rated health for the included cardiovascular risk factors were greater in the US. Low education was significantly more prevalent among those with self-rated poor health in the US, but not in Sweden. Using Swedes with high education as reference group (OR=1), adults in the US with low education and 2+ risk factors had a greater than threefold risk (OR=6.3) of self-rated poor health compared with Swedish low-educated adults with the same risk factor burden (OR=1.9). The better-educated US adults with 2+ risk factors were significantly more likely to report poor health (OR=3.4) compared with their Swedish counterparts (OR=2.4). Conclusions: The interaction between risk factors, education, and self-rated health suggests a frightening picture, especially for the US. Public health interventions for reducing cardiovascular risk factors need to include both population and individual measures. Taking people's overall evaluation of their health into account when assessing total health risk is important.
Nuclear and chloroplast microsatellite analysis of Abies sachalinensis regeneration on fallen logs in a subboreal forest in Hokkaido, Japan

Fallen logs are the main regeneration sites for Abies sachalinensis (Sachalin fir) in subboreal forests in Japan. We surveyed the spatial genetic structure of different demographic stages in a 4.29‐ha natural population of A. sachalinensis. Genetic structure was significant at short distances throughout all stages in this wind‐dispersed conifer. To evaluate the effects of fallen‐log‐dependent recruitment on demography and spatial genetic structure, we conducted parentage analysis of offspring with highly polymorphic nuclear simple sequence repeat and chloroplast simple sequence repeat markers, and developed a new hierarchical Bayesian model to estimate the effects of mother trees and fallen logs on seed dispersal and offspring recruitment. Combined application of nuclear and chloroplast simple sequence repeat markers allowed us to unambiguously identify mother trees of most offspring (> 90%). Female reproductive success was extremely skewed; a few adults produced most of the offspring on fallen logs. Limited distance of effective dispersal and recruitment was seen in the parentage analysis and modelling estimation. These recruitment characters of A. sachalinensis, with a fallen‐log‐dependent recruitment process, may result in significant genetic structure in early demographic stages.
Nuclear export of cyclin B1 and its possible role in the DNA damage‐induced G2 checkpoint

M‐phase‐promoting factor (MPF), a complex of cdc2 and a B‐type cyclin, is a key regulator of the G2/M cell cycle transition. Cyclin B1 accumulates in the cytoplasm through S and G2 phases and translocates to the nucleus during prophase. We show here that cytoplasmic localization of cyclin B1 during interphase is directed by its nuclear export signal (NES)‐dependent transport mechanism. Treatment of HeLa cells with leptomycin B (LMB), a specific inhibitor of the NES‐dependent transport, resulted in nuclear accumulation of cyclin B1 in G2 phase. Disruption of an NES which has been identified in cyclin B1 here abolished the nuclear export of this protein, and consequently the NES‐disrupted cyclin B1 when expressed in cells accumulated in the nucleus. Moreover, we show that expression of the NES‐disrupted cyclin B1 or LMB treatment of the cells is able to override the DNA damage‐induced G2 checkpoint when combined with caffeine treatment. These results suggest a role of nuclear exclusion of cyclin B1 in the DNA damage‐induced G2 checkpoint.
Equivalent electrical source analysis of pain-related somatosensory evoked potentials elicited by a CO2 laser.

The purpose of this study was to localize possible neural sources of pain-related cortical evoked potentials. A brain electrical source analysis was performed on late somatosensory evoked potential data (500-ms window was analyzed) elicited by short heat pulses produced by a CO2 laser. These stimuli activate pain and temperature pathways. The first, fairly small, negative response can be recorded on the scalp about 160 ms from the stimulus (N1 component). The major negativity on the scalp has its peak about 240 ms from the stimulus and is followed by a positivity (N2 and P2 components). A four-dipole model was developed using data following left-hand stimulation. Spatiotemporal source analysis suggested that the N1 component could be generated by contralateral activity in both primary and secondary somatosensory cortices and that N2 could be generated by bilateral activity mainly in secondary somatosensory cortices. A deep dipole in the midline was active during the time range of the negative potentials and seemed to be mostly responsible for the P2 component. This dipole was located too frontally to be thalamic, but it corresponded well to the location of the anterior cingulate gyrus. The model also yielded good fits for right-hand and left-foot stimulation data and, in addition, another set of left-hand data obtained with different electrode spacing in a different group of subjects (residual variances from 2.8% to 3.3%). The model explaining data sets from different body part stimulations varied very little, except with respect to the location of the dipole representing the activity of the primary somatosensory area. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Epidemiology of occupational hand injury in Hong Kong.

OBJECTIVES To study the epidemiology of occupational hand injuries and associated social and industrial factors. DESIGN. For this retrospective case series of patients with occupational hand injuries, case records were retrieved to gather data. In addition, all the subjects were interviewed by a single interviewer using a predesigned questionnaire. SETTING Division of Hand Surgery, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS A total of 250 patients with occupational hand injuries were treated during the period from 1999 to 2001. This period was chosen to obtain 10 years of follow-up data to assess return to work and any secondary injuries. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Personal particulars (gender, age, marital status, education level, length of stay in Hong Kong, type of employment, wage system, personal habits, family size, number of breadwinners, income), type of industry and mode of injury, causes of injury according to the worker, work conditions, type of injury, and treatment given. RESULTS Two groups of workers in our study had more occupational hand injuries, namely those with less than 1 year of experience on a new job and immigrants from China. Factors associated with a large proportion of occupational hand injuries were male gender with personal risk factors (smoking and regular consumption of alcohol, long working hours), and in the case of machine operators, inadequate training and use of safety devices. CONCLUSION Occupational hand injuries lead to loss of working hours and compensation. For prevention, the workplace should be made into a safer and work-friendly environment. Workers should also have sufficient training.
Predictable convergence in hemoglobin function has unpredictable molecular underpinnings

Expect the unexpected In convergent evolution, similar environmental conditions produce similar sets of adaptations. Does similar convergence exist in the molecular underpinnings of such morphological changes? Natarajan et al. looked across more than 50 species of birds that have adapted to different elevations to identify patterns of similarity in hemoglobin-oxygen binding affinity (see the Perspective by Bridgham). Increases in hemoglobin-oxygen binding affinity occurred in alpine species, but the molecular changes underlying the hemoglobin changes were variable. Thus, even in cases where adaptive phenotypic change is predictable, the molecular pathways to these changes may not be. Science, this issue p. 336; see also p. 289 Improvements in hemoglobin-oxygen affinity are convergent across taxa, but the genetic pathways are different. To investigate the predictability of genetic adaptation, we examined the molecular basis of convergence in hemoglobin function in comparisons involving 56 avian taxa that have contrasting altitudinal range limits. Convergent increases in hemoglobin-oxygen affinity were pervasive among high-altitude taxa, but few such changes were attributable to parallel amino acid substitutions at key residues. Thus, predictable changes in biochemical phenotype do not have a predictable molecular basis. Experiments involving resurrected ancestral proteins revealed that historical substitutions have context-dependent effects, indicating that possible adaptive solutions are contingent on prior history. Mutations that produce an adaptive change in one species may represent precluded possibilities in other species because of differences in genetic background.
Determinants of exercise in children.

BACKGROUND The recognition that children are surprisingly inactive and that lifetime health beliefs and behavior patterns are formed in childhood has emphasized the need to examine the acquisition of exercise behavior in children. Although research has shown social learning theory variables to be relevant to the study of exercise determinants in an adult population, there has been little study done with child populations. The purpose of the present study was to explore the factors that may influence a child's level of physical activity. METHODS Two hundred forty-two 5th- and 6th-grade children and their mothers were interviewed. It was hypothesized that several social learning variables would exert a particularly strong influence on level of physical activity of children. RESULTS Regression analysis results indicated that salient predictor variables for boys included enjoyment of physical activity, friend and family support for physical activity, mother's perceived barriers to exercise, and mother's perceived family support for exercise. For girls, the salient predictor variables included enjoyment of physical activity, number of exercise-related items at home, mother's perceived family support for physical activity, mother's perceived barriers to exercise, and direct parental modeling of physical activity. CONCLUSIONS It appears that social learning variables may be important correlates of physical activity in children.
ARDL – Analysis of the Relationship among Exports, FDI, Current Account Deficit and Economic Growth in Pakistan

T his paper empirically examines the relationship among exports, foreign direct investment, current account deficit and economic growth in Pakistan during the period 1975-2016.We adopted the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to co-integration together with ECM techniques to trace the long-run as well as the short-run relationships. The results demonstrate the existence of a positive and significant relationship among exports, foreign direct investment and economic growth both in the long-run and short-run in Pakistan. While, results depict that current account deficit is negatively and significantly correlated to economic growth in the long-run and short-run. Furthermore, the Granger causality test reports the unidirectional causality running from exports to economic growth.
Flexible and adaptive socio-emotional problem solving in adult development and aging.

PURPOSE Despite decline in basic cognitive mechanisms, aging adults may also possess abilities that allow them to function quite effectively, particularly when cognition is examined in a socio-emotional context. In this article, I highlight the importance of the functional dynamics or the ability to effectively adapt to the demands and opportunities that individuals are confronted with on an everyday basis. METHODS This overview takes into consideration how life experiences, social interactions, beliefs, and emotions influence motivational goals for processing information in daily life. I present an integrative representation of my empirical work and theorizing on the impact of socio-emotional contextual factors in older adulthood by identifying developmental mechanisms and contexts that determine when older adults' everyday problem solving and emotion regulation is optimal or adaptive and when it is not. RESULTS Older adults display flexibility in problem solving and emotion regulation strategy use as well as a decrease in the amount of resources necessary to maintain or regain emotional well-being, while performing well at other tasks. CONCLUSIONS We suggest that growing older has the adaptive potential to effectively solve problems, regulate emotions, and reduce the cognitive costs of emotion regulation, further corroborating findings of a positive and flexible developmental trajectory for emotional control with increasing age.
Intergenerational transmission of somatization behaviour: a study of chronic somatizers and their children

Background. Exposure to an ill parent in childhood may be a risk factor for adult somatization. This study examines the hypothesis that somatizing adults are more likely to have been exposed to illness as a child and that in turn, their children are more likely to report ill health and to have more contact with medical services than children of other mothers. Method. A cross-sectional comparative investigation of three groups of mothers and their children of 4–8 years of age: (i) 48 mothers suffering from chronic somatization; (ii) 51 mothers with chronic ‘organic’ illness; and (iii) 52 healthy mothers was carried out. Results. Somatizing mothers were more likely than other women to report exposure to childhood neglect and to physical illness in a parent (OR 2·9; 95% CI 1·4–6·1). The children of these somatizing mothers were more likely to have health problems than were the children of organically ill or healthy women and had more consultations with family doctors (average annual rates: somatizers 4·9 (S.D. 3·8), organic 3·0 (S.D. 3·5) and healthy 2·8 (S.D. 2·6)). Multivariate modelling of consultation rates among children found significant main effects for maternal somatization, maternal childhood adversity, the child's tendency to worry about health and a two-way interaction of maternal childhood adversity and her somatization status. Conclusions. The hypotheses are broadly supported. However, it is important to emphasize the extent to which these findings are based on maternal reports.
CEA as a prognostic index in colorectal cancer.

INTRODUCTION The carcinoembryonic antigen, CEA, is the tumor marker most used in colorectal patients, principally during follow up after radical surgery. High serum CEA level before surgery is often associated with worse prognosis, in some studies. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen levels (CEA) and the frequency of recurrence. MATERIAL AND METHODS Eighty-three patients with colorectal cancer at Dukes stages A, B or C were evaluated retrospectively. The patients follow up was at least two years or to death. CEA was determined in serum by enzyme immunoassay (Sorin Biomedica), normal value 0.5ng/ml. RESULTS Disease recurrence was observed in 32 patients (38.5%), 13 Dukes B and 19 Dukes C. Seventy five per cent of the patients with CEA higher than 10ng/ml relapsed and 80% of the patients without recurrence had normal CEA. Disease recurrence in patients with preoperative elevated CEA occurred during the first year of follow up in 56% of the patients. CONCLUSION Although the tumor stage is today the most valuable prognostic variable in colorectal cancer, the preoperative CEA value can provide some additional information in the prognosis of the patient.