Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of electrogenic anion secretion in normal and cystic fibrosis gallbladder mucosa

Fluid and ion transport across biliary epithelium contributes to bile flow. Alterations of this function may explain hepatobiliary complications in cystic fibrosis (CF). We investigated electrogenic anion transport across intact non‐CF and CF human gallbladder mucosa in Ussing‐type chambers. In non‐CF tissues, baseline transmural potential difference (PD), short‐circuit current (Isc), and resistance (R) were −2.2 ± 0.3 mV (lumen negative), 40.7 ± 7.8 μA/cm2, and 66.5 ± 9.6 Ω · cm2, respectively (n = 14). The addition of forskolin (10−5 mol/L) to the apical and basolateral baths and that of adenosine 5′‐triphosphate (ATP) (10−4 mol/L) to the apical bath induced significant increases in Isc by 8.0 ± 1.4 and 10.3 ± 1.8 μA/cm2, respectively. Depletion of bathing solutions in Cl− and HCO3 − significantly reduced baseline Isc and the forskolin‐ and ATP‐induced increases in Isc. Anion secretion was stimulated by extracellular ATP via P2Y2 purinoceptors, as indicated by the effects of different nucleotides on Isc and on 36Cl efflux in cultured gallbladder epithelial cells. This effect was mediated by cytosolic calcium increase and Ca2+/calmodulin‐dependent protein kinase II, as ascertained by using inhibitors. In CF preparations, basal PD and Isc were lower than in non‐CF, and the response to forskolin was abolished, whereas the response to ATP was enhanced (P < .05 for all). We conclude that electrogenic anion secretion occurs in human gallbladder mucosa under basal state and is stimulated by an adenosine 3′,5′‐cyclic monophosphate (cAMP)‐dependent pathway mediated by cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), and by exogenous ATP via a CFTR‐independent pathway that is up‐regulated in CF and involves P2Y2 purinoceptors and a calcium‐dependent pathway.
APPLICABILITY EVALUATION OF Cupressus lusitanica FOR PULP PRODUCTION

This paper aimed to study Cupressus lusitanica wood tracheids biometrics along radial direction and chemical analysis in order to encourage the use of new forest species for pulp production in southern Brazil. Axial tracheids anatomical analysis was held in 3 positions, in the pith-periphery direction. Total length, total diameter and lumen diameter were analyzed, and wall thickness, flexibility coefficient, wall fraction, felting index and Runkel’s ratio were calculated based on these variables. Chemical analysis determined total extractives, sodium hydroxide attack degree, ash, lignin and holocellulose content. For anatomical variables, a statistically significant increase in the pith-periphery direction was observed for total length (L = 5,85mm), for total diameter (D = 47,18 μm), lumen diameter (d = 32,92μm) and wall thickness (e = 14,26μm) was observed stabilization from intermediate section. The species was characterized as with high rigidity tracheids (WF = 61,73%), although being considered “good” for wood pulp production (RI = 0,93). The chemical composition showed high lignin content (L = 36,21%) and low holocellulose content (H = 59,19%). Cupressus lusitanica wood showed appropriate anatomical characteristics to be part of the pulp industry raw material supply. However, chemical properties may compromise the species use due to high lignin content.
Induction of a barrier membrane to facilitate reconstruction of massive segmental diaphyseal bone defects: an ovine model.

OBJECTIVES To report an ovine model that can be used to evaluate the efficacy of bone substitutes for repair of segmental diaphyseal bone defects. STUDY DESIGN Experimental study. ANIMALS Eleven 2-year-old Pré-Alpes Sheep. METHODS Mid-diaphyseal metatarsal bone defects (25 mm long) were stabilized by a dynamic compression plate over a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) cement spacer, and by external coaptation. The PMMA spacer was removed at 6 weeks by incising the encapsulating membrane. The defect remained unfilled (Group 1; n=5) or was filled with morselized autologous corticocancellous graft (Group 2; n=6), the membrane sutured closed, and external coaptation applied for 6 months, when healing was evaluated. RESULTS Radiographic, computed tomographic, and histologic examinations at 6 months after the 2nd surgery revealed non-union in ungrafted defects whereas grafted defects showed bone healing. The induced membrane had blood vessels, CBFA1+ cells, and very few macrophages entrapped in a collagenous tissue positive for type I collagen. CONCLUSION This ovine metatarsal defect model resulted in a critical-size defect (non-union) that healed when grafted. The PMMA-induced membrane constrained the graft, was well vascularized, and may have osteogenic properties. CLINICAL RELEVANCE This model may be useful to evaluate new strategies in bone tissue engineering because the PMMA-induced membrane may help confine bone morphogenetic proteins, skeletal stem cells, or other agents to the defect cavity where they could be useful to enhance bone formation.
Strong Convergence Theorem by a Hybrid Method for Nonexpansive Mappings and Lipschitz-Continuous Monotone Mappings

In this paper we introduce an iterative process for finding a common element of the set of fixed points of a nonexpansive mapping and the set of solutions of the variational inequality problem for a monotone, Lipschitz-continuous mapping. The iterative process is based on two well-known methods: hybrid and extragradient. We obtain a strong convergence theorem for three sequences generated by this process. Based on this result, we also construct an iterative process for finding a common fixed point of two mappings, such that one of these mappings is nonexpansive and the other is taken from the more general class of Lipschitz pseudocontractive mappings.
Down's syndrome and anaesthesia

Down's syndrome is a common congenital abnormality associated with characteristic morphological features, impaired intellectual development and disorders of many organ systems with a broad spectrum of severity. Many of these, including defects in cosmetic appearance, are amenable to surgical correction. The risks of anaesthesia are increased in these children. In this article the anaesthetic implications of the syndrome are reviewed and the principles of perioperative management discussed.
Poor recall, misunderstandings and embarrassment: interpreting discrepancies in young men's reported heterosexual behaviour.

It is not easy to collect valid and reliable data on sexual behavior, and despite the development of more sophisticated survey instruments since the 1980s, largely in response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, many problems persist. Since the advent of AIDS, there is a greater need to obtain accurate data on sexual behavior. Findings are presented from a comparison of data collected in a questionnaire survey with those collected through in-depth interviews. 58 young men from Glasgow were interviewed twice at a year's interval, first as part of a general health and lifestyle survey and then in an in-depth interview focusing upon sex. Considerable discrepancies were observed between the 2 studies in reported sexual behavior and knowledge. Poor concordance was observed between the 2 studies on age and contraception at first intercourse and upon the number of sex partners at age 18 years. Moreover, there was almost no consistency between the 2 studies regarding participants' understanding of the notion of safer sex. The most likely explanations for the discrepancies between the studies are poor recall, inadequate understanding of the question, and differing presentational concerns, especially related to embarrassment. Poor recall and embarrassment are particularly possible explanations because they can account for discrepancies in both directions. While the evidence suggests that the in-depth interview data may have greater validity than the survey data, the analysis nonetheless identifies ways of improving survey methods on sex.
The automorphism group of a graph product with no SIL

We study the automorphisms of graph products of cyclic groups, a class of groups that includes all right-angled Coxeter and right-angled Artin groups. We show that the group of automorphisms generated by partial conjugations is itself a graph product of cyclic groups providing its defining graph does not contain any separating intersection of links (SIL). In the case that all the cyclic groups are finite, this implies that the automorphism group is virtually CAT(0); it has a finite index subgroup which acts geometrically on a right-angled building.
Temporal Trends in and Factors Associated With Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy Among US Men With Breast Cancer.

Previous studies have reported marked increases in the rates of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) among US women who received a diagnosis of unilateral invasive breast-cancer, and this increase is particularly evident among younger women. 1 Rates of CPM among women vary depending on the population studied, although national statistics show that the percentage of women with unilateral invasive breast cancer undergoing a CPM increased from approximately 2.2% in 1998 to 11% in 2011. 1 This increase has occurred despite the lack of evidence for a survival benefit from bilateral surgery, in addition to the complications and associated costs described in Los tumbo et al. 2 Factors that are thought to contribute to the increase in the rate of CPM include increased testing for BRCA1/2 mutations, magnetic resonance imaging, and reconstruction surgery for symmetry, among others. 3 However, whether the CPM rate is also increasing among US men is unknown. 2 Herein, we used a nationwide population-based cancer database, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, 4 to examine the temporal trends in and the factors associated with CPM among men who received a diagnosis of unilateral invasive breast cancer. Methods | After excluding patients who did not undergo surgery (n = 231) or whose type of surgery (n = 85), race/ ethnicity (n = 72), insurance (n = 640), tumor grade (n = 328),
Influence of a Self-Etching Primer on Compound Nerve Action Potentials

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of self-etching primers on nerve conductance. A self-etching primer (One Up Bond F) which combines etching and bonding in one step, and a fifth-generation bonding agent (Prime&Bond NT) were tested. Isolated rat sciatic nerves were placed between two platinum electrodes in a bath containing Tyrode solution. The bonding agents were brought into contact with the nerves and the evoked compound action potentials (CAP) were recorded before and after contact with the materials. One Up Bond F caused total inhibition of the CAP within an average time of 7 min. All CAPs in this group were blocked irreversibly. As with Prime&Bond NT, the reduction in CAP was 45.9% after an application time of 15 min, after which readings were terminated. Recovery of the CAP in this group were maintained after rinsing with fresh tyrode solution. One Up Bond F elicited faster blocking of nerve conductance under the conditions of this model. In the context of dentin desensitization with bonding agents, the self-etching primer may be more effective, clinically.
Factors Affecting Use of Insecticide Treated Nets by Children Under Five Years of Age in Kenya

Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and mostly affects pregnant women and children under five years of age. It is among the leading cause of deaths in under five years of age with an approximate of 20 percent of all deaths in Kenya. The World Health Organization recommends the use of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs) and Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) for prevention of malaria infection. Although several studies have analysed the accessibility, availability, ownership and utilization of ITNs by children less than five years of age, information on intra-household factors that influence utilization of ITNs by children less than five years of age is very limited. This study investigated the factors that influence use of ITNs and LLINs by children under five years across the country using the random utility model because of the nature of the outcomes which are discrete in nature. The regression results showed that age of household head, household size, gender of child and the head of the household, presence of fever, treatment of net since acquisition significantly affected use of ITNs. The study concludes that these factors hinder use of ITNs by children under five years and therefore presence of an ITN in a household may not guarantee utilisation. The study recommends that efforts be made to increase awareness on the importance of ensuring children under five years sleep under an ITN if reduction in morbidity and mortality in this age group is to be realised.
Approaches towards Individualized Immune Intervention

Long-term immunosuppression causes a significantly increased risk for the development of malignancies in transplanted patients. A link between immunosuppression and incidence of cancer is well documented and involves the effect of immunosuppression on antitumor surveillance and antiviral adaptive immune responses. Using a recently described pharmacodynamic assay, a strong correlation between the incidence of malignancies and the individual degree of immunosuppression after cyclosporin A treatment in patients with kidney transplants was observed. The availability of a quantitative and quick laboratory test for the assessment of the individual functional activity of immunocompetent cells crucial for transplant rejection, defense against viral infection and tumor surveillance, along with the ability to adjust doses of immunosuppressive agents such that patients are largely protected against malignant disease and/or viral infection while maintaining a stable allograft function, represents an enormous breakthrough in transplantation medicine and advances our attempts to individualize treatment in transplanted patients.
Weight Change in Depressed Nursing Home Patients on Mirtazapine

To the Editor: Depression is a frequent diagnosis in nursing home patients, with a prevalence of between 20% and 40%. 1 Weight loss, with or without diagnosable depression, is also a common problem. 2 Mirtazapine (Remeron) is among the interventions clinicians use to address weight loss, because it has been reported to be associated with weight gain in approximately 10% of patients. 3 Nevertheless, limited data on weight change have been reported in older long-term care patients with depression. The purpose of this study was to examine weight change associated with the use of mirtazapine in depressed patients in the nursing home setting, using patients treated with sertraline as a comparator group. Data were derived from a retrospective chart review. Fifty subjects (25 on mirtazapine and 25 on sertraline) were treated for 4 months for major depression or dementia with depression. The sample consisted of eight men and 42 women, aged 59 to 98 with an average age of 83.6; 99% were white. Ten patients had a diagnosis of major depression (20%) and 40 (80%) patients had a diagnosis of dementia with depression. There were no differences in the mirtazapine and sertraline samples in terms of distributions of sex, age, or medical or psychiatric diagnoses. Patients on mirtazapine were on an average dose of 15 mg/day, with a range of 7.5 mg to 45 mg/day. Patients on sertraline were on an average dose of 61 mg/day, with a range of 25 mg/day to 100 mg/day. Weight changes were measured at the start of and after 4 months of treatment (see Table 1). It appears that older depressed patients with or without dementia treated with mirtazapine or sertraline are equally likely to gain weight over a 4-month period. Mirtazapine may not have a specific weight-gaining advantage in this population; the clinical observations of weight gain may be a nonspecific result of improvement in depression. It may be that weight gain in long-term care residents is prevented by limited access to food, and limited access to food might prevent differential effects of medications on weight from emerging. One of the limits in interpreting the results of these data involves the reliability of weight determinations in long-term care facilities. In the future, it would be of interest to undertake a study of potential differential effects of mirtazapine versus other antidepressants in nursing home patients with weight loss and poor appetite who do not have diagnosable depression.
“Normal” alanine aminotransferase and Christopher Boorse

The team of Liu et al. generated endoderm-derived human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from primary hepatocytes. However, they generated human iPS cells by using viral transgenes. Clinical applications of human iPS cells require avoiding viral transgenes. On the other hand, the reprogramming of human cells with only small molecules has yet to be reported. Therefore, we tried to reprogram human liver progenitor cells with only two small molecules. First, octamer3/4-positive human liver progenitor cells were treated with 20O-methyl-microRNA-145 as microRNA-145 inhibitor (100 nmol/L for 96 hours; after that, 50 nmol/L for 72 hours) and transforming growth factor-beta ligand (100 pM for 48 hours) in human embryonic stem (hES) cell medium. As a result, we could generate human iPS cells from human liver progenitor cells only by use of small molecules. The human iPS cells were similar to hES cells in morphology, proliferation, surface antigens, gene expression, and epigenetic status of pluripotent cell-specific genes. Furthermore, these cells could differentiate into cell types of the three germ layers in vitro and in teratomas. Therefore, we designated the human iPS cells as chemicals-human induced pluripotent stem (ChiPS) cells. On the other hand, although Liu et al. did not show the risk evaluation of malignant transformations for the human iPS cells lines that they generated, we performed the risk evaluation. It was reported that cancer risk for patients with Down syndrome was less than healthy individuals, and the microvessel density (MVD) within severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice in which human iPS cells derived from patients with Down syndrome were transplanted was also less than the MVD in SCID mice in which human iPS cells derived from healthy people were transplanted. Therefore, according to the method of Baek et al., by using MVD within SCID mice in which ChiPS cell lines as human iPS cell lines were transplanted, we performed the risk evaluation of malignant transformations for the cell lines. As a result, the MVD in our study was equal to the case of patients with Down syndrome. Furthermore, we tried to differentiate human normal hepatocytes from ChiPS cells as human iPS cells, according to the method of Liu et al. As a result, we could generate mature hepatocytes 21 days after the initiation of differentiation (Fig. 1). Moreover, according to the method of Liu et al., although we evaluated cytochrome P450 (CYP450) metabolism in ChiPS cell–derived mature hepatocytes, the CYP3A4 and CYP1A2 activity appeared to be the same as in the case of the ihH10 cell line that Liu et al. generated. In conclusion, human iPS cells that Liu et al. or we generated would be useful for the study of liver disease pathogenesis. However, our ChiPS cells would have an advantage in clinical applications of human iPS cells.
Clinical Outcomes of Estrogen Negative-Progesterone Positive Invasive Breast Cancer, Retrospective Study

: Background: Breast cancer is comprised of a heterogeneous subtypes. The decisions of treatment depend on the tumor expression of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER 2). These biomarkers have prognostic and predictive significances. Material and methods: 100 patients from 2008 to 2012 were identified and analyzed. Patients were classified into three hormonal receptors subtypes: ER-/PR+, ER+/PR±, and ER-/PR-. Analysis of the clinicopathological features, treatment, recurrence, survival rate and prognostic factor were compared. Results: The subtype ER-/PR+ was seen frequently in young age with large size tumor and lymph node metastasis, higher stage and histologic grade when compared with the other two subtypes. Analysis of the frequency of recurrence revealed that local recurrence, distant metastasis and number of deaths did not differ statistically and hence no difference in disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The 5 years DFS was 37.5% , 20.3% and 21.7% in ER-/PR+ , ER+/PR± and ER-/PR- groups respectively. Conclusion & Recommendation: The breast cancer subtypes according to the ER and PR are biologically and clinically different groups. Assessment of PR is recommended as it can provide important prognostic information and prediction of response to adjuvant HT in ER- tumors.
Nonproductive kappa immunoglobulin genes: recombinational abnormalities and other lesions affecting transcription, RNA processing, turnover, and translation

Six nonproductive kappa immunoglobulin genes (kappa- alleles) were cloned and sequenced. The structural abnormalities discerned from sequence analysis were correlated with functional lesions at the level of transcription, RNA processing, turnover, and translation. Four kappa- alleles, three containing V kappa genes and one not, are transcribed at normal or even greater than normal rates, the defects in these genes being expressed at various posttranscriptional levels. The other two kappa- alleles, both of which lacked V genes, exhibited greatly depressed yet clearly detectable transcriptional activity. These results are consistent with a hierarchical relationship between enhancer and promoter elements in which the enhancer establishes transcriptional competence at the kappa locus and the promoter (or pseudopromoter) determines the relative level of transcriptional activity. One of the structural abnormalities discovered in this study, a large deletion which removes the entire J kappa region, also provides new insight into the mechanism of VJ and VDJ recombination.
Regression model for appraisal of real estate using recurrent neural network and boosting tree

Automated valuation model (AVM) is a mathematical program to estimate the market value of real estates based on the analysis of locations, neighborhood characteristics, and relevant property characteristics. The most common AVMs em-ployed by the appraisal industry are based on multiple regression analysis. Other analytic tools such as statistical learning and fuzzy algorithms have become more popular because of the increasing capability of collecting a high volume of data and the advancement of machine learning. The new analytic model thus becomes possible to build a more sophisticated model to exploit the information embedded in the collected data. In this work, we proposed a boosting tree model facilitated with a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) to forecast the average price of an area. The experimental results indicate that our model outperforms the existing models adopted in the appraisal industry.