Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biomarkers of vascular calcification and mortality in patients with ESRD.

BACKGROUND Vascular calcification is common among patients undergoing dialysis and is associated with mortality. Factors such as osteoprotegerin (OPG), osteopontin (OPN), bone morphogenic protein-7 (BMP-7), and fetuin-A are involved in vascular calcification. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS OPG, OPN, BMP-7, and fetuin-A were measured in blood samples from 602 incident dialysis patients recruited from United States dialysis centers between 1995 and 1998 as part of the Choices for Healthy Outcomes In Caring for ESRD Study. Their association with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for demographic characteristics, comorbidity, serum phosphate, and calcium. An interaction with diabetes was tested because of its known association with vascular calcification. Predictive accuracy of selected biomarkers was explored by C-statistics in nested models with training and validation subcohorts. RESULTS Higher OPG and lower fetuin-A levels were associated with higher mortality over up to 13 years of follow-up (median, 3.4 years). The adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for highest versus lowest tertile were 1.49 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.08 to 2.06) for OPG and 0.69 (95% CI, 0.52 to 0.92) for fetuin-A. In stratified models, the highest tertile of OPG was associated with higher mortality among patients without diabetes (HR, 2.42; 95% CI, 1.35 to 4.34), but not patients with diabetes (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 0.82 to 1.93; P for interaction=0.001). In terms of cardiovascular mortality, higher fetuin-A was associated with lower risk (HR, 0.85 per 0.1 g/L: 95% CI, 0.75 to 0.96). In patients without diabetes, higher OPG was associated with greater risk (HR for highest versus lowest tertile, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.06 to 7.99), but not in patients with diabetes or overall. OPN and BMP-7 were not independently associated with outcomes overall. The addition of OPG and fetuin-A did not significantly improve predictive accuracy of mortality. CONCLUSIONS OPG and fetuin-A may be risk factors for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients undergoing dialysis, but do not improve risk prediction.
University of Groningen Discomfort and factual recollection in intensive care unit patients

Introduction A stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), although potentially life-saving, may cause considerable discomfort to patients. However, retrospective assessment of discomfort is difficult because recollection of stressful events may be impaired by sedation and severe illness during the ICU stay. This study addresses the following questions. What is the incidence of discomfort reported by patients recently discharged from an ICU? What were the sources of discomfort reported? What was the degree of factual recollection during patients' stay in the ICU? Finally, was discomfort reported more often in patients with good factual recollection? Methods All ICU patients older than 18 years who had needed prolonged (>24 hour) admission with tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation were consecutively included. Within three days after discharge from the ICU, a structured, in-person interview was conducted with each individual patient. All patients were asked to complete a questionnaire consisting of 14 questions specifically concerning the environment of the ICU they had stayed in. Furthermore, they were asked whether they remembered any discomfort during their stay; if they did then they were asked to specify which sources of discomfort they could recall. A reference group of surgical ward patients, matched by sex and age to the ICU group, was studied to validate the questionnaire. Results A total of 125 patients discharged from the ICU were included in this study. Data for 123 ICU patients and 48 surgical ward patients were analyzed. The prevalence of recollection of any type of discomfort in the ICU patients was 54% (n = 66). These 66 patients were asked to identify the sources of discomfort, and presence of an endotracheal tube, hallucinations and medical activities were identified as such sources. The median (min–max) score for factual recollection in the ICU patients was 15 (0–28). The median (min–max) score for factual recollection in the reference group was 25 (19–28). Analysis revealed that discomfort was positively related to factual recollection (odds ratio 1.1; P < 0.001), especially discomfort caused by the presence of an endotracheal tube, medical activities and noise. Hallucinations were reported more often with increasing age. Pain as a source of discomfort was predominantly reported by younger patients. Conclusion Among postdischarge ICU patients, 54% recalled discomfort. However, memory was often impaired: the median factual recollection score of ICU patients was significantly lower than that of matched control patients. The presence of an endotracheal tube, hallucinations and medical activities were most frequently reported as sources of discomfort. Patients with a higher factual recollection score were at greater risk for remembering the stressful presence of an endotracheal tube, medical activities and noise. Younger patients were more likely to report pain as a source of discomfort.
The Promotion of Self-Determination: A Survey of General and Special Educators

The Promotion of Self-Determination: A Survey of General and Special Educators by Melanie P. Allen Utah State University, 2015 Learning self-determination skills is critical for all students to ensure they advocate for themselves and participate in a seamless transition from the secondary school setting to college and career. This quantitative study surveyed 224 general education, 37 mild/moderate special education, 10 severe special education, 28 alternative high general educators, 5 alternative high special educators, 3 transition special educators’ mild/moderate, and 8 special education severe teachers in a suburban school district in the western US. A rating scale and open-ended questions were used to assess the degree to which teachers provide students with instruction and require students to demonstrate self-determination/self-advocacy skills. A rating scale was used to determine the extent to which teachers use essential program characteristics. Teachers selected (a) strategies, (b) measurements of progress, and (c) curricula they used to teach self-determination. Findings demonstrated that teacher’s valued and taught self-determination/self-advocacy skills within their curriculum. However, teachers used their own teacher-developed strategies and curricula rather than evidence-based strategies. The author discusses using essential program characteristics, multidisciplinary teams, and systematic procedures to address areas to strengthen within departments and across curriculum.
The lipids of mouse brown fat.

The lipids of the interscapular brown fat of the white mouse have been examined by means of silicic acid column chromatography and quantitative paper chromatography. The fatty acid composition of the glycerides and phosphatides was determined by gas chromatography. Comparative studies of mouse brown and white fat are presented.The fatty acid composition of the glycerides of the two tissues was similar at all ages examined. In both tissues, the average chain length of the glyceride fatty acids increased with age. The glycerides of brown fat at all ages contained less palmitoleic acid and more stearic acid than the corresponding white fat.The adult brown fat contained more polyglycerophosphatide and less sphingomyelin than white fat. The fatty acid composition of the lecithins of the two tissues was very similar. The similarity of brown fat and liver phosphatides is discussed.
Nutrient Composition and Sensory Evaluation of Ripe Banana Slices and Bread Prepared from Ripe Banana and Wheat Composite Flours

There is a need to search for alternate uses for ripe banana to help reduce its post-harvest losses as well as increase its utilization in food product development. Despite its rich content of vitamins and minerals, ripe banana continues to remain one of the highly perishable foods with a short shelf life of about 4-7 days. The objective of this work was to evaluate the qualities of ripe banana slices and bread substituted with ripe banana flour. Two varieties of ripe banana (Gros Michel and Medium Cavendish) were sliced, pre-treated with 2% citric acid for 2 minutes and dried at 60°C for 72 hours using an oven dryer to obtain dry banana slices. Part of the oven-dried ripe banana slices were milled using a hammer mill and sieved through a 250 microns mesh sieve to obtain flour. The ripe banana flour were incorporated into bread at different formulations of 0, 10, 20 and 30% with wheat flour and studied. Sensory properties such as colour, aroma, mouthfeel and overall acceptability of the oven-dried ripe banana slices and the bread substituted with flour from the two banana varieties were determined. Proximate analysis was carried out on the oven-dried ripe banana slices as well as on the control and the two most preferred bread samples. Mineral analysis was also carried out on the oven-dried ripe banana slices. Results from the study revealed that, apart from colour, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between the other sensory attributes of the oven-dried ripe banana. The 30% banana flour composited bread was the most preferred among the substitutions. Mineral analysis showed that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) between the two oven-dried banana samples. Proximate analysis of the slices from Medium Cavendish and Gros Michel showed that, moisture contents were (17.20 and 20.10%), ash (3.00 and 3.30%), fat (1.0 and 0.5%), protein (3.5 and 4.8%), fibre (0.9%), carbohydrate (74.40 and 70.30%) and energy content (320.70 and 305.10 kcal/100g) respectively. Apart from fat and fibre, there were significant differences (p<0.05) in the other components of the proximate composition of the sliced banana. With regards to the bread samples, there were significant differences (p<0.05) in the fat, crude fibre, ash, moisture and energy contents. The 30% bread substitution was significantly higher (p<0.05) in terms of ash, fat, crude fibre, moisture and energy than the control. In conclusion, bread formulated from ripe banana and wheat flour had a higher nutritional value when compared with bread from all-purpose flour.
The Central Cell Plays a Critical Role in Pollen Tube Guidance in Arabidopsis[W]

The sperm cell of flowering plants cannot migrate unaided and must be transported by the pollen tube cell of the male gametophyte to achieve successful fertilization. Long-distance pollen tube guidance is controlled by the seven-celled female gametophyte, the embryo sac. Previous reports showed that the synergid cell of the embryo sac is essential for pollen tube guidance. Here, we report the identification of a central cell guidance (ccg) mutant, which is defective in micropylar pollen tube guidance. CCG encodes a nuclear protein with an N-terminal conserved zinc β-ribbon domain that is functionally interchangeable with that of TFIIB in yeast. This suggests that CCG might act as a transcription regulator for pollen tube guidance. CCG is expressed in the central cell of the female gametophyte. Expression of CCG in the central cell alone is sufficient to restore the normal pollen tube guidance phenotype, demonstrating that the central cell plays a critical role in pollen tube guidance.
Pediatric Hodgkin's disease: treatment in the late 1990s.

BACKGROUND For two decades now combined chemo-radiotherapy has been preferred in most of the studies on childhood Hodgkin's disease (HD), because combined modality is the precondition for (1) reducing the radiation dose, (2) reducing the radiation fields, (3) shortening chemotherapy, (4) omitting splenectomy and laparotomy, and thus, for optimizing the benefit/risk ratio between cure rates and late effects. Recently, the rationale for this approach was strengthened by worrisome data about the increasing incidence of secondary breast cancer in women treated for HD in childhood, adolescence or adult age < 30 years. Nearly all breast cancers were localized in the former radiation field, and the relative risk was much higher after doses > 40 Gy than after lower doses. These findings suggest that pediatric therapy approaches abandoning radiotherapy alone with its high doses and large fields should be extended to adolescents treated outside of pediatric studies and to adults younger than 30. The risk of chemotherapy-related secondary leukemias can be limited to < 1% by omitting mechlorethamine and restricting the cumulative doses of other drugs with leukemogenic potential, as demonstrated by the experience with ABVD and the recently published data of the German-Austrian pediatric group. PATIENTS AND METHODS The updated results of the German-Austrian multicenter study HD-90 are presented in this paper (578 patients < 18 years, follow-up: median 4 years, maximum 7 years). Patients were allocated to three treatment groups (TG) according to disease stage. In all three TG, induction procarbazine, prednisone, adriamycin) for girls and two cycles of OEPA (etoposide instead of procarbazine) for boys. Patients of TG 2 and 3 additionally received two or four cycles of COPP (C, cyclophosphamide), respectively. CT was followed by radiotherapy to the involved sites (reduced fields if possible) of 25, 25 and 20 Gy in the 3 TG, respectively. PRELIMINARY RESULTS For the total group of 578 pats, overall survival (OS) at 5 years is 98% and event-free survival (EFS) 91%. In TG 1, EFS for girls (2 OPPA) is 96%, and for boys (OEPA), 94%, in TG 2 and 3 (combined), 92% and 86%, respectively. Secondary leukemias were not observed so far, thirty-one male patients of TG 1 who were tested endocrinologically showed normal FSH levels. CONCLUSIONS The especially high efficacy of OPPA and OPPA/COPP could be confirmed in study HD-90 with reduced radiation doses and fields. OEPA and OEPA/COPP CT also produced very favorable results, not significantly different from those with OPPA and OPPA/COPP. It may be anticipated that the ratio between cure rates and risks of late effects of study HD-90 will compare favorably to approaches of other groups. It would be useful for the future continued optimization of HD therapy to attain a rough consensus at an international level about principles which should be considered for pediatric approaches. Some proposals have been made for treatment of early stages.
Adaptive autophagy in Alexander disease-affected astrocytes

The ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagy-lysosomal pathways are the two main routes of protein and organelle clearance in eukaryotic cells. The proteasome system is responsible for unfolded, short-lived proteins, which precludes the clearance of oligomeric and aggregated proteins, whereas macroautophagy, a process generally referred to as autophagy, mediates mainly the bulk degradation of long-lived cytoplasmic proteins, large protein complexes or organelles.1 Recently, the autophagy-lysosomal pathway has been implicated in neurodegenerative disorders as an important pathway for the clearance of abnormally accumulated intracellular proteins, such as huntingtin, tau, and mutant and modified α-synuclein.1-6 Our recent study illustrated the induction of adaptive autophagy in response to mutant glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) accumulation in astrocytes, in the brains of patients with Alexander disease (AxD), and in mutant GFAP knock-in mouse brains.7 This autophagic response is negatively regulated by mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). The activation of p38 MAPK by GFAP accumulation is responsible for mTOR inactivation and the induction of autophagy. We also found that the accumulation of GFAP impairs proteasome activity.8 In this commentary we discuss the potential compensatory relationship between an impaired proteasome and activated autophagy, and propose that the MLK-MAPK (mixed lineage kinase–mitogen-activated protein kinase) cascade is a regulator of this crosstalk. Addendum to: Tang G, Yue Z, Talloczy, Z, Hagemann T, Cho W, Sulzer D, Messing A, Goldman JE. Alexander disease-mutant GFAP accumulation stimulates autophagy through p38 MAPK and mTOR signaling pathways. Hum Mol Genetics 2008; In press.
Mutation K448E in the external loop 5 of rat GABA transporter rGAT1 induces pH sensitivity and alters substrate interactions

1 The effect of the mutation K448E in the rat GABA transporter rGAT1 was studied using heterologous expression in Xenopus oocytes and voltage clamp. 2 At neutral pH, the transport‐associated current vs. voltage (I–V) relationship of the mutated transporter was different from wild‐type, and the pre‐steady‐state currents were shifted towards more positive potentials. The mutated transporter showed an increased apparent affinity for Na+ (e.g. 62 vs. 152 mm at −60 mV), while the opposite was true for GABA (e.g. 20 vs. 13 μm at −60 mV). 3 In both isoforms changes in [Na+]o shifted the voltage dependence of the pre‐steady‐state and of the transport‐associated currents by similar amounts. 4 In the K448E form, the moved charge and the relaxation time constant were shifted by increasing pH towards positive potentials. The transport‐associated current of the mutated transporter was strongly reduced by alkalinization, while acidification slightly decreased and distorted the shape of the I–V curve. Accordingly, uptake of [3H]GABA was strongly reduced in K448E at pH 9.0. The GABA apparent affinity of the mutated transporter was reduced by alkalinization, while acidification had the opposite result. 5 These observations suggest that protonation of negatively charged residues may regulate the Na+ concentration in the proximity of the transporter. Calculation of the unidirectional rate constants for charge movement shows that, in the K448E form, the inward rate constant is increased at alkaline pH, while the outward rate constant does not change, in agreement with an effect due to mass action law. 6 A possible explanation for the complex effect of pH on the transport‐associated current may be found by combining changes in local [Na+]o with a direct action of pH on GABA concentration or affinity. Our results support the idea that the extracellular loop 5 may participate to form a vestibule to which sodium ions must have access before proceeding to the steps involving charge movement.
Female entrepreneurship and the role of customer knowledge development, innovation outcome expectations and culture on intentions to start informal business ventures

Informal businesses comprise a large proportion of overall new ventures pursued by entrepreneurs and are often favoured by female entrepreneurs due to their flexible nature and financial potential. The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of female entrepreneurs who are intending to start an informal business by focusing on the role of knowledge and innovation. Drawing from prior research on female entrepreneurship and the informal economy, this paper develops a number of research propositions. The paper proposes that innovation outcome expectation, customer knowledge development, risk averseness, polychronism and collectivism impact on the intention of female entrepreneurs to start informal businesses. These research propositions highlight important gender issues in entrepreneurship that need to be understood by policymakers and government authorities when looking into business development activity. The paper also provides important practical implications that can be used to inform entrepreneurs and suggest avenues for future research.
Prevalence and degree of thyroid pathology in hyperthyroid cats increases with disease duration: a cross-sectional analysis of 2096 cats referred for radioiodine therapy

Objectives Hyperthyroidism is common in cats, but there are no reports that evaluate its severity or underlying thyroid tumor disease based on disease duration (ie, time from original diagnosis). The objective of this study was to compare serum thyroxine (T4) concentrations and thyroid scintigraphic characteristics of cats referred for radioiodine treatment based on disease duration. Methods This was a cross-sectional study of 2096 cats with hyperthyroidism. Cats were divided into five groups based on time from diagnosis: ⩽1 year (n = 1773); >1–2 years (n = 169); >2–3 years (n = 88); >3–4 years (n = 35); and >4–6.1 years (n = 31). Methimazole, administered to 996 (47.5%) cats, was stopped at least 1 week prior to examination to allow for serum T4 testing. Each thyroid scintiscan was evaluated for pattern (unilateral, bilateral, multifocal), location (cervical, thoracic inlet, chest) and size (small, medium, large, huge) of the thyroid tumor, as well as features suggesting malignancy. Results Median serum T4 concentration increased with increasing disease duration from 100 nmol/l (⩽1 year) to 315 nmol/l (>4–6.1 years) (P <0.001). Prevalence of unilateral thyroid disease decreased, whereas multifocal disease (three or more tumor nodules) increased (P <0.001) with increasing disease duration. Median tumor volume in the five groups increased from 1.6 cm3 (⩽1 year) to 6.4 cm3 (>4–6.1 years). Prevalence of large (4–8 cm3) and huge (>8 cm3) thyroid tumors increased from 5.1% (⩽1 year) to 88.6% (>4–6.1 years), while the prevalence of intrathoracic tumor tissue increased from 3.4% (⩽1 year) to 32.3% (>4–6.1 years). Prevalence of suspected thyroid carcinoma (characterized by severe hyperthyroidism; huge, intrathoracic, multifocal tumors; refractory to methimazole treatment) increased with increasing disease duration from 0.4% (⩽1 year) to 19.3% (>4–6.1 years). Conclusions and relevance Our results indicate that the prevalence of severe hyperthyroidism, large thyroid tumors, multifocal disease, intrathoracic thyroid masses and suspected malignant disease all increase with disease duration in cats referred for radioiodine therapy.
MDGAs interact selectively with neuroligin-2 but not other neuroligins to regulate inhibitory synapse development

The MAM domain-containing GPI anchor proteins MDGA1 and MDGA2 are Ig superfamily adhesion molecules composed of six IG domains, a fibronectin III domain, a MAM domain, and a GPI anchor. MDGAs contribute to the radial migration and positioning of a subset of cortical neurons during early neural development. However, MDGAs continue to be expressed in postnatal brain, and their functions during postnatal neural development remain unknown. Here, we demonstrate that MDGAs specifically and with a nanomolar affinity bind to neuroligin-2, a cell-adhesion molecule of inhibitory synapses, but do not bind detectably to neuroligin-1 or neuroligin-3. We observed no cell adhesion between cells expressing neuroligin-2 and MDGA1, suggesting a cis interaction. Importantly, RNAi-mediated knockdown of MDGAs increased the abundance of inhibitory but not excitatory synapses in a neuroligin-2–dependent manner. Conversely, overexpression of MDGA1 decreased the numbers of functional inhibitory synapses. Likewise, coexpression of both MDGA1 and neuroligin-2 reduced the synaptogenic capacity of neuroligin-2 in an artificial synapse-formation assay by abolishing the ability of neuroligin-2 to form an adhesion complex with neurexins. Taken together, our data suggest that MDGAs inhibit the activity of neuroligin-2 in controlling the function of inhibitory synapses and that MDGAs do so by binding to neuroligin-2.