Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Haplotype Analysis of MDR1 and Risk for Cervical Cancer in Northeastern Thailand

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between genotype and haplotype of MDR1 (C1236T, G2677T/A and C3435T) and the risk for cervical cancer in Northeastern Thai women. Methods: An age-matched case-control study involving squamous cell cervical cancer (SCCA) patients (n=204) and healthy controls (n=204) was enrolled for MDR1 genotyping by real-time PCR method. Results: The genotype distribution of MDR1 in both patients and controls was not significantly different (p>0.05). The haplotype analysis showed that T-T-T was the most common haplotype in this population. Significantly increased risk of cervical cancer was observed in carriers of T-T-C and C-G-T haplotypes with ORs of 1.86 (95%CI=1.02-3.39, p=0.0416) and 2.00 (95%CI=1.18-3.40, p=0.0140), respectively. Analysis of 2677-3435 haplotype showed increased risk for cervical cancer in G-T (OR=1.55; 95% CI=1.12-2.13, p=0.0432) and T-C (OR=1.91; 95%CI=1.05-3.47, p=0.0325). Conclusion: The results provide evidence that haplotype of MDR1 may be an important risk factor for cervical cancer development in Northeastern Thai women.
Optimization of Hypertension Management: The Role of Angiotensin Receptor Blocker-Calcium Channel Blocker Combinations

The 2007 European Society of Hypertension-European Society of Cardiology guidelines on hypertension management placed increased emphasis on the need for obtaining satisfactory blood pressure (BP) control in all patients with high BP, and in particular in those with a higher cardiovascular risk. According to these guidelines, the majority of patients will require the use of combination antihypertensive treatment to achieve their BP goals. This review highlights the factors that should be considered when choosing a combination therapy, including efficacy, tolerability, metabolic effects, and additional organoprotective benefits. Several possible combinations are proposed by the European Society of Hypertension-European Society of Cardiology guidelines. Among them, the combination of angiotensin receptor antagonists with calcium channel blockers has been shown to provide well-tolerated antihypertensive efficacy, which is greater than that of monotherapy with either agent, and lacks adverse metabolic effects. The development of fixed-dose angiotensin receptor blocker-calcium channel blocker therapy offers additional benefits in terms of adherence to treatment.
Redundant and Antagonistic Functions of Galectin-1, -3, and -8 in the Elicitation of T Cell Responses

Galectins, a family of mammalian lectins, have emerged as key regulators of the immune response. We previously demonstrated that galectin (Gal)-8, from the tandem-repeat subgroup, exerts two well-defined effects on mouse naive peripheral CD4 T cells: Ag-specific costimulation and Ag-independent proliferation. These stimulatory signals on naive T cells have not been described for any other Gal. Therefore, we investigated whether Gal-1 and Gal-3, two prominent members of the Gal family, share the stimulatory effects exerted by Gal-8 on naive T cells. We found that Gal-1 costimulated Ag-specific T cell responses similarly to Gal-8, as evaluated in the DO11.10 TCROVA-transgenic mouse model, by acting simultaneously on APCs and target CD4 T cells. In contrast, Gal-3 failed to costimulate Ag-specific T cell responses; moreover, it antagonized both Gal-1 and Gal-8 signals. We observed that both Gal-1 and Gal-3 were unable to induce Ag-independent proliferation; however, when two Gal-1 molecules were covalently fused, the resulting chimeric protein efficiently promoted proliferation. This finding indicates that Gal-1 might eventually induce proliferation and, moreover, stresses the requirement of a tandem-repeat structure. Remarkably, a single dose of recombinant Gal-1 or Gal-8 administered together with a suboptimal Ag dose to DO11.10 mice strengthened weak responses in vivo. Taken together, these findings argue for the participation of Gals in the initiation of the immune response and allow the postulation of these lectins as enhancers of borderline Ag responses, thus representing potential adjuvants for vaccine formulations.
An Integrated Method for Urban Main-Road Centerline Extraction From Optical Remotely Sensed Imagery

Road information has a fundamental role in modern society. Road extraction from optical satellite images is an economic and efficient way to obtain and update a transportation database. This paper presents an integrated method to extract urban main-road centerlines from satellite optical images. The proposed method has four main steps. First, general adaptive neighborhood is introduced to implement spectral-spatial classification to segment the images into two categories: road and nonroad groups. Second, road groups and homogeneous property, measured by local Geary's C, are fused to improve road-group accuracy. Third, road shape features are used to extract reliable road segments. Finally, local linear kernel smoothing regression is performed to extract smooth road centerlines. Road networks are then generated using tensor voting. The proposed method is tested and subsequently validated using a large set of multispectral high-resolution images. A comparison with several existing methods shows that the proposed method is more suitable for urban main-road centerline extraction.
Disease Knowledge in Patients Attending a Diabetic Foot Clinic

Background: Foot-specific patient education is an essential element of a health system diabetic foot program. Foot-specific patient education must be individualized, because of cognitive deficits in individuals with long-standing diabetes. Methods: Two hundred and two consecutive patients attending diabetic foot specialty clinics were asked to provide demographics and complete a 10-question multiple-choice questionnaire. All attended the clinics because of their high-risk status for the development of diabetic foot infection or ulcers. All received ongoing foot-specific patient education. Results: In spite of this ongoing patient education program, only approximately 80% were able to respond appropriately to simple questions related to the care of their “at-risk” feet. Conclusion: This simple quality initiative reinforces the notion that patients with diabetes who are at risk for the development of diabetic foot ulcers should receive ongoing foot-specific patient education. This information needs to be constantly reinforced, as retention drops with time.
Humoral Response Profiling Reveals Pathways to Prostate Cancer Progression*S

There is considerable evidence for an association between prostate cancer development and inflammation, which results in autoantibody generation against tumor proteins. This immune system-driven amplification of the autoantibody response to intracellular antigens can serve as a sensitive tool to detect low abundance serum proteomic tumor markers for prostate cancer as well as provide insight into biological processes perturbed during cancer development. Here we examine serum humoral responses in a cohort of 34 patients with either benign prostatic hyperplasia or clinically localized prostate cancer (PCa). The experimental strategy couples multidimensional liquid-phase protein fractionation of localized and metastatic prostate cancer tissue lysates to protein microarrays and subsequent mass spectrometry. A supervised learning analysis of the humoral response arrays generated a parsimonious predictor having 78% sensitivity and 75% specificity in distinguishing PCa from benign prostatic hyperplasia in a cohort of American males with elevated prostate-specific antigen. Enrichment analysis of the PCa-specific humoral signature revealed large scale immune reprogramming mediated by STAT transcription factors and the generation of autoantibodies to enzymes involved in nitrogen metabolism. Meta-analysis of independent prostate cancer gene expression data validated the presence of STAT-induced immunomodulation. Concomitant validation of elevated levels of the nitrogen metabolism pathway was obtained by direct measurement of metabolic levels of glutamate and aspartate in prostate cancer tissues. Thus, in addition to functioning as markers in prostate cancer detection, humoral response profiles can serve as powerful tools revealing pathway dysregulation that might otherwise be suppressed by the complexity of the cancer proteome.
Calculation of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Considering Secondary Energy Deployment Among Provinces in China

Scientific and rational calculation of carbon dioxide emissions provides the base is for setting energy saving and emission reduction targets.The existing IPCC's method to calculate carbon dioxide emissions only considered primary energy fuels,but did not consider the secondary energy deployment,which did not reflect the true situation of carbon dioxide emissions and Chinese situation.This study provided a new method to calculate carbon dioxide emissions considering secondary energy deployment,and according to this method,carbon dioxide emissions of every province were estimated based on the statistic data in 2009.The results showed that carbon dioxide emissions in traditional energy production provinces,such as Inner Mongolia and Shanxi,decreased,and those in eastern coastal provinces increased after considering the secondary energy deployment.But the CO2 emission intensity in the central and western provinces were significantly higher than those in the eastern coastal provinces.Low energy efficiency,backward energy processing technology and equipment existed in the central and western provinces,which resulted in high intensity of carbon dioxide emissions.Recommendation was made to the central government to enhance investment in energy processing industry in the western provinces to improve energy processing technology,processing equipment to increase energy efficiency and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.The secondary energy-transferred-inprovinces should provide compensation funds to secondary energy-transferred-out-provinces,and this part of the compensation funds should be used to upgrade energy industry for traditional energy production provinces in order to achieve emissions-reduction targets successfully.
Evaluation of a German version of the Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI) in acute and chronic stroke patients

The English Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI) has been proposed as a simple, valid and reliable measure in stroke rehabilitation. A German version was established and validated in two centres. In centre A 46 acute (median: 3.0 days after onset) and in centre B 151 chronic (median: 88.0 days after onset) stroke patients participated. Interrater reliability of the German RMI was tested in 12 subjects in the acute stage of stroke and was found to be statistically significant (r = 0.98, P < 0.0001). In centre A, a statistically significant correlation was found between the German RMI and the 10‐m walk time at baseline (r = 0.73, P < 0.0001) and after three weeks (r = 0.92, P < 0.0001). In centre B, the German RMI correlated significantly with the motor part of the Functional Independence Measure (motor‐FIM) on admission (r = 0.78, P < 0.0001) and after three weeks (r = 0.79, P < 0.0001), respectively. The change of the RMI correlated significantly with the change in 10‐m walk time in acute patients (r = 0.87, P < 0.0001) and with the change in motor‐FIM in chronic patients (r = 0.54, P < 0.0001). A moderate ceiling‐effect was detected in the chronic study population. The German RMI appears to be a reliable, valid and responsive measure for mobility disability in acute and chronic stroke patients.
DNA-based and alphavirus-vectored immunisation with prM and E proteins elicits long-lived and protective immunity against the flavivirus, Murray Valley encephalitis virus.

The immunogenicity and protective efficacy of DNA-based vaccination with plasmids encoding the membrane proteins prM and E of the flavivirus Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVE) were investigated. Gene gun-mediated intradermal delivery of DNA encoding the prM and E proteins elicited long-lived, virus-neutralising antibody responses in three inbred strains of mice and provided protection from challenge with a high titer inoculum of MVE. Intramuscular DNA vaccination by needle injection also induced MVE-specific antibodies that conferred resistance to challenge with live virus but failed to reduce virus infectivity in vitro. The two routes of DNA-based vaccination with prM and E encoding plasmids resulted in humoral immunty with distinct IgG subtypes. MVE-specific IgG1 antibodies were always prevalent after intradermal DNA vaccination via a gene gun but not detected when mice were immunised with DNA by the intramuscular route or infected with live virus. We also tested a Semliki Forest virus replicon as vector for a flavivirus prM and E protein-based subunit vaccine. Single-cycle infections in mice vaccinated with packaged recombinant replicon particles elicited durable, MVE-specific, and virus-neutralising antibody responses.
Pretreatment Neurophysiologic Function and ECT Response in Depression

Objectives: Recent brain imaging studies have provided evidence that brain function assessed prior to treatment of depression may be associated with eventual treatment response. The present study tested the hypothesis that brain activity in midline apical quantitative EEG (QEEG) electrodes would be associated with therapeutic response to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Methods: Ten treatment-refractory patients with unipolar or bipolar depression received a Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Ham-D) at baseline, during, and following ECT treatment. Resting, eyes-closed, 35-lead QEEG recordings were done 1 day before the initial ECT treatment. Data were analyzed using QEEG power and cordance. Results: The mean of the theta-band pretreatment cordance from the central brain region was strongly associated with percentage decrease in Ham-D score over the course of treatment (r = 0.80, P = 0.005). QEEG cordance from other brain regions and power from all brain regions did not show an association with clinical improvement. Conclusions: Depressed subjects with higher pretreatment central cordance appear to be more likely to experience therapeutic benefits of ECT. The location of central electrodes over the cingulate cortex may indicate that pretreatment cingulate activity is associated with response to ECT.
Strategic deployment of balancing energy in the German electricity market

Svetlozar T. Rachev Chair-Professor, Chair of Statistics, Econometrics and Mathematical Finance, School of Economics and Business Engineering, University of Karlsruhe and KIT, and Department of Statistics and Applied Probability, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Chief-Scientist, FinAnalytica INC Kollegium am Schloss, Bau II, 20.12, R210, Postfach 6980, D-76128, Karlsruhe, Germany E-mail: rachev@statistik.uni-karlsruhe.de
The Car Sharing Economy: Interaction of Business Model Choice and Product Line Design

Several auto manufacturers have recently introduced car sharing programs. Although the structure of most programs is the same, there is no clear dominant strategy regarding the type of vehicles OEMs should provide through car sharing. In this paper, we consider an OEM who contemplates car sharing and designs its product line by accounting for the trade-off between driving performance and fuel efficiency under CAFE standards. Customers have different valuations of driving performance and decide whether to buy, join car sharing, or rely on their outside option. We find that the OEM increases the fuel efficiency of the vehicles it provides through car sharing. This higher efficiency enables the OEM to charge a higher selling price to the higher end of the market, increasing its profit from selling. This is especially beneficial to higher-end OEMs who face greater cannibalization and can explain why Daimler and BMW have been particularly active in introducing car sharing. Offering car sharing is not always environmentally beneficial. Even when it is, we find that doing so may reduce the OEM's CAFE level. In such cases, incentive multipliers should be granted for each shared car. Finally, if anticipating aggressive CAFE standards, OEMs may introduce car sharing to better absorb the increase in the production cost.
Neuroleptics and the neuroleptic‐induced deficit syndrome

The first central pharmacodynamic action of chlorpromazine to be described was sedation without narcosis. The antipsychotic action and extrapyramidal symptoms were observed later. Sedation can be separated into nonspecific sedation (drowsiness, somnolence) and specific sedation (psychomotor inhibition and psychic indifference). Both types are parts of the clinical profiles of classical neuroleptics. The sedative properties of neuroleptics may contribute to the overall efficacy in the treatment of psychotic patients, depending on the clinical situation. In most patients, however, sedation is only needed for a short period, or not at all. The drug induced sedation may adversely affect the patients' well‐being and functional capabilities. The term neuroleptic‐induced deficit syndrome (NIDS) has been coined to focus attention on the adverse mental effects of neuroleptics. NIDS still needs to be properly defined and to be differentiated from the deficit syndrome of schizophrenia and postpsychotic depression. Assessment methods are needed to establish the incidence and prevalence of NIDS, to evaluate the importance of NIDS in the overall treatment outcome in psychoses and to facilitate development of better antipsychotic agents.
Matrix-Based Activity Pattern Classification as a Novel Method for the Characterization of Enzyme Inhibitors Derived from High-Throughput Screening

One of the central questions in the characterization of enzyme inhibitors is determining the mode of inhibition (MOI). Classically, this is done with a number of low-throughput methods in which inhibition models are fitted to the data. The ability to rapidly characterize the MOI for inhibitors arising from high-throughput screening in which hundreds to thousands of primary inhibitors may need to be characterized would greatly help in lead selection efforts. Here we describe a novel method for determining the MOI of a compound without the need for curve fitting of the enzyme inhibition data. We provide experimental data to demonstrate the utility of this new high-throughput MOI classification method based on nonparametric analysis of the activity derived from a small matrix of substrate and inhibitor concentrations (e.g., from a 4S × 4I matrix). Lists of inhibitors from four different enzyme assays are studied, and the results are compared with the previously described IC50-shift method for MOI classification. The MOI results from this method are in good agreement with the known MOI and compare favorably with those from the IC50-shift method. In addition, we discuss some advantages and limitations of the method and provide recommendations for utilization of this MOI classification method.
Impact of a genetically engineered bacterium with enhanced alkaline phosphatase activity on marine phytoplankton communities

An indigenous marine Achromobacter sp. was isolated from coastal Georgia seawater and modified in the laboratory by introduction of a plasmid with a phoA hybrid gene that directed constitutive overproduction of alkaline phosphatase. The effects of this "indigenous" genetically engineered microorganism (GEM) on phosphorus cycling were determined in seawater microcosms following the addition of a model dissolved organic phosphorus compound, glycerol 3-phosphate, at a concentration of 1 or 10 (mu)M. Within 48 h, a 2- to 10-fold increase in the concentration of inorganic phosphate occurred in microcosms containing the GEM (added at an initial density equivalent to 8% of the total bacterial population) relative to controls containing only natural microbial populations, natural populations with the unmodified Achromobacter sp. , or natural populations with the Achromobacter sp. containing the plasmid but not the phoA gene. Secondary effects of the GEM on the phytoplankton community were observed after several days, evident as sustained increases in phytoplankton biomass (up to 14-fold) over that in controls. Even in the absence of added glycerol 3-phosphate, a numerically stable GEM population (averaging 3 to 5% of culturable bacteria) was established within 2 to 3 weeks of introduction into seawater. Moreover, alkaline phosphatase activity in microcosms with the GEM was substantially higher than that in controls for up to 25 days, and microcosms containing the GEM maintained the potential for net phosphate accumulation above control levels for longer than 1 month.
The Interregional Impact of Infrastructure Capital

Increasingly, economists and state and local policymakers see a broader link between declining regional competitiveness and the deterioration of highways, bridges, water and sewer systems, and other public infrastructure. Supporters of active industrialization policies point out that one way a region can regain its competitive edge is to upgrade its infrastructure. The Clinton Administration, citing the lack of infrastructure investment as a cause of sluggish national economic growth, advocates massive spending hikes to repair existing public capital and to invest in new public capital. The groups supporting this approach rely on recent empirical evidence showing that public infrastructure investment generally makes a significant contribution to productivity and output [2; 4; 5; 12; 16; 18]. Existing studies, however, report disparate results about the size of the effect of public capital on economic growth. Aschauer [2], using aggregate time-series data, estimated output elasticities with respect to public capital ranging from 0.39 to 0.56. Munnell [18] updated Aschauer's study and reported an elasticity of 0.33 for labor productivity with respect to public capital. The magnitude of the estimated elasticities and the associated marginal product of public capital in these two pioneer studies are generally accepted as extraordinarily large. The debate on their size is extremely lively. Two fundamental issues dominate the debate. First, Aaron [1] draws attention to the implausible nature of the earlier results by comparing the marginal productivities of public and private capital implied by these studies. He finds that the implied marginal productivity of public capital is five times greater than that of private capital. Second, McGuire [14] and Eisner [6] contend that the empirical evidence from the aggregate time-series data is not compelling. McGuire argues that the established statistical relationship may not imply a causal connection between infrastructure and economic performance. Eisner also questions the causal link by suggesting that one cannot
Improving the effectiveness of market-oriented organisation: Empirical evidence from an emerging economy

In the context of an emerging market economy, this study examines the mediating role of marketing capabilities on the market orientation (MO)–performance relationship. Specifically, the authors investigate the roles of product innovativeness, customer relationship management (CRM) capability, research and development (R&D) integration and brand management capabilities in the institutionalisation of a MO culture and the implementation of MO behaviours. With data collected from 150 organisations, the authors find that MO behaviour fully mediates the effects of MO culture on product innovativeness and CRM capability, which in turn enhance firm performance. In addition, leadership quality facilitates the effect of MO culture on MO behaviour, and the effects of product innovativeness and CRM capability on firm performance are greater in the presence of R&D–marketing integration and brand management capabilities, respectively.