Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of a 6‐Month Nurse‐Led Self‐Management Program on Comprehensive Pulmonary Rehabilitation for Patients with COPD Receiving Home Oxygen Therapy

Purpose: This study was to examine the effectiveness of a nurse‐led 6‐month comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation program for stage IV chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients receiving home oxygen therapy. Design: A controlled clinical study was performed. Methods: Face‐to‐face and telephone interviews were conducted with the intervention group, whereas conventional education was given to the control group. Findings: Fifteen participants were analyzed in each group. There were no improvements in physiological outcomes; however, the severity of dyspnea, social activity, and walking distance significantly improved in the intervention group, and consequently quality of life was improved. Three patients in the intervention group received treatment for cold‐like‐symptoms but did not require hospitalization. However, five patients in the control group received treatment for cold‐like‐symptoms and two required hospitalization. Conclusions: The findings demonstrate that our program contributes to patients' learning of self‐management skills and significantly improves dyspnea, social activity level, walking distance, and overall quality of life.
The Critical Role of G-20 in Dealing with the 2008 Global Financial Crisis

Strategi G-20 dalam mengatasi krisis keuangan telah dinyatakan pada kesepakatan KTT G-20 2008-2009 dengan adanya tiga pertemuan selama periode tersebut berlangsung (Washington, London dan Pittsburgh). Bersama dengan beberapa lembaga termasuk IMF, WB, FSB, OECD dan MDB, G-20 mampu menangani krisis tersebut baik di tingkat nasional maupun internasional. Pada saat yang bersamaan G-20 pun mampu mempertahankan koordinasi berdasarkan lima prinsip yang disepakati dalam KTT 2008 di Washington. Tulisan ini berfokus pada kontribusi G-20 sebagai alat koordinasi sekaligus aktor langsung dalam manajemen krisis, serta menyoroti peran negara-negara anggotanya. Deskripsi masalah ini akan dibagi menjadi empat bagian. Pertama, pandangan singkat tentang tujuan pembentukan G-20 dan penyebab krisis sebagai latar belakang tulisan ini; Kedua, kontribusi G-20 untuk penyelesaian krisis keuangan global; Ketiga, deskripsi hasil dari tiga kesepakatan G-20 (komunike) pada tahun 2008-2009 sebagai dasar dari strategi penanganan krisis keuangan global untuk G-20 dan lembaga internasional terkait; dan Keempat merupakan bagian analisis strategi G-20 yang kemudian menghasilkan prinsip-prinsip dasar manajemen krisis pada masalah yang diajukan dalam penelitian ini. The G-20 strategy in overcoming the financial crisis has been declared on the agreement of 2008-2009 G-20 Summit with three meetings over that period (Washington, London and Pittsburgh). In handling the crisis, the G-20 was in collaboration with several institutions including the IMF, WB, FSB, OECD and MDB. G-20 was able to make good efforts both nationally and internationally while maintaining coordination based on five principles agreed in 2008 Summit in Washington. This paper focuses on the contribution of the G-20, both as a coordinating tool, as a direct actor on crisis management, as well as the role of member countries. The description of these issues will be divided into four sections, First, a brief look at the purpose of the G-20's establishment and the causes of the crisis as the background of this paper; Second, the G-20's contribution to the settlement of the global financial crisis; Third, a description of three outcomes of the G-20 (communiques) agreement in 2008-2009 as the foundation of the global financial crisis handling strategy for both G-20 and related international institutions; and Fourth, the analytical part of the G-20 strategy which then produced the basic principles of crisis management on the problems in this study.
Recovery progression and symptom resolution in sport-related mild traumatic brain injury

ABSTRACT Objective: To characterize the recovery progression of a group of athletes who participated in a concussion management program based on (1) group analysis and (2) individual analysis. Setting: Concussion management clinic. Participants: Thirty athletes (22 males, 8 females; baseline age = 16.23 ± 2.40 years) who had undergone four assessments: one baseline and three post-injury assessments at 3, 8, 15 days post-injury. Design: Retrospective clinical. Main Measures: Four neurocognitive scores of the Immediate Post-concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) including verbal memory, visual memory, speed of processing and reaction time and also a total symptom score. Results: Group-analysis showed a clear decline in verbal memory (F(3, 87) = 7.36, p < 0.000) and an increase in self-reported symptoms (χ2(3, N = 30) = 48.703, p < 0.000), 3 days post-injury. By day 8, athletes had returned to their baseline levels for verbal memory and were not experiencing symptoms. When athletes’ scores were examined individually, at 3 days post-injury, 60% of the athletes showed deficits on two or more of the ImPACT variables. This rate dropped to 23% at 8 days post-injury and remained the same (23%) 15 days post-injury. Conclusions: In concussion recovery, variability is the rule, rather than the exception, with regard to both impaired neurocognitive functions and recovery duration.
The Development of Sexual Aggression through the Life Span

Abstract: There is a strong belief in the field that sexual aggression persists unabated into old age. If libido is one of the important determinants of sexual aggression, as has been theorized, and if libido decreases with aging, then it follows that sexual aggression should show similar aging effects. The present study examines the effects of age on sexual arousal and sexual recidivism in sex offenders. In the first study, 1431 sex offenders' erectile responses were measured using volumetric phallometry during presentations of visual and auditory depictions of prepubescent, pubescent, and adult males and females. The maximum degree of arousal was plotted over the age of the offender at the time of the test. Age was a powerful determinant of sexual arousal and a line‐of‐best‐fit indicated that arousal decreased as a reciprocal of the age‐at‐test. In the second study, 468 sex offenders released into the community were followed for an average period of over five years. The effects of age‐at‐release were examined using Kaplan‐Meier survival curves plotted for subjects in different age‐at‐release cohorts. Results indicated that offenders released at an older age were less likely to recommit sexual offenses and that sexual recidivism decreased as a linear function of age‐at‐release. Age‐related decreases were confirmed while controlling for other risk factors using Cox regression analysis. The implications of reductions in sexual aggression with age are discussed in relation to our understanding of the etiology of sexual aggression and our use of actuarial risk assessments.
Modulation of bone metabolism by two chemically distinct lipopolysaccharide fractions from Bacteroides gingivalis

Two separate species of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Bacteroides gingivalis 381 have been isolated. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis demonstrated not only the heterogeneity of each species, but also that they represented high- and low-molecular-weight LPS entities. Although both contained the same carbohydrate and fatty acid components, the proportions of these differed between the LPS species. The direct effects of these two species in modulation of bone resorption and bone collagen and noncollagen protein synthesis have been examined. In a bone resorption assay, these two species stimulated 45Ca release from prelabeled fetal rat bones in a concentration range of 0.5 to 3.0 micrograms/ml. The two LPS species also elicited a 30 to 40% reduction in collagen protein formation at 10 micrograms/ml. Responses of the same order of magnitude were observed with LPS from Salmonella minnesota at 10 micrograms/ml. The higher-molecular-weight LPS species also significantly inhibited noncollagen protein formation. This is the first report that LPS from B. gingivalis 381, a suspected periodontal pathogen, inhibits bone collagen formation and, in conjunction with the bone resorption potency, further implicates LPS in alveolar bone loss associated with periodontal disease.
Detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing signals in an infected ischemic wound: An experimental study in rats

Quorum sensing is a cell‐to‐cell communication that occurs via autoinducers, regulating a number of bacterial virulence factors including the opportunistic wound pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which uses the N‐(3‐oxododecanoyl)‐homoserine lactone as one of the two main autoinducers; however, little is known about its role in chronic wound infection. This study was designed to quantify this autoinducer from P. aeruginosa‐infected wounds with the aim of examining the possible use of autoinducers as an indicator of chronic wound infection. Pressure‐induced ischemic wounds were infected with P. aeruginosa (N=12) or uninfected as a control (N=12). The autoinducer was quantified by bioassay method employing Escherichia coli DH5α (pJN105L, pSC11) or Agrobacterium tumefaciens NTL4 (pZLR4) reporter, which expresses β‐galactosidase when exposed to P. aeruginosa quorum sensing signals. The average concentration of autoinducer was 0.33 pmol/g at day 3 and 0.49 pmol/g at day 7 in the infected wounds, as detected from tissue samples. A linear correlation between autoinducer concentration and bacterial counts was observed. No autoinducer was detected in tissue samples from the uninfected control group. Our findings indicate that the quantification of autoinducers is possible and quorum sensing system could play a role in in vivo wound infection models, and also suggest possible clinical implications of autoinducer signal quantification in diagnosis of chronic wound infection.
QTL mapping of freezing tolerance: links to fitness and adaptive trade‐offs

Local adaptation, defined as higher fitness of local vs. nonlocal genotypes, is commonly identified in reciprocal transplant experiments. Reciprocally adapted populations display fitness trade‐offs across environments, but little is known about the traits and genes underlying fitness trade‐offs in reciprocally adapted populations. We investigated the genetic basis and adaptive significance of freezing tolerance using locally adapted populations of Arabidopsis thaliana from Italy and Sweden. Previous reciprocal transplant studies of these populations indicated that subfreezing temperature is a major selective agent in Sweden. We used quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping to identify the contribution of freezing tolerance to previously demonstrated local adaptation and genetic trade‐offs. First, we compared the genomic locations of freezing tolerance QTL to those for previously published QTL for survival in Sweden, and overall fitness in the field. Then, we estimated the contributions to survival and fitness across both field sites of genotypes at locally adaptive freezing tolerance QTL. In growth chamber studies, we found seven QTL for freezing tolerance, and the Swedish genotype increased freezing tolerance for five of these QTL. Three of these colocalized with locally adaptive survival QTL in Sweden and with trade‐off QTL for overall fitness. Two freezing tolerance QTL contribute to genetic trade‐offs across environments for both survival and overall fitness. A major regulator of freezing tolerance, CBF2, is implicated as a candidate gene for one of the trade‐off freezing tolerance QTL. Our study provides some of the first evidence of a trait and gene that mediate a fitness trade‐off in nature.
Cancer mortality among New Mexico's Hispanics, American Indians, and non-Hispanic Whites, 1958-1987.

BACKGROUND Racial and ethnic differences in cancer incidence and mortality are well documented. New Mexico's ethnically and racially diverse population provides an opportunity to further examine ethnic and racial differences in cancer occurrence. PURPOSE To address differences in cancer mortality among the state's Hispanics, American Indians, and non-Hispanic Whites, we examined mortality data collected from 1958 through 1987. METHODS Sex and age-specific and age-adjusted cancer mortality rates were calculated for all sites and specific sites for American Indians, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic Whites. From 1958 through 1987, deaths due to malignant neoplasms were coded according to the International Classification of Diseases. The categories of malignant neoplasms investigated were chosen, in part, to minimize bias due to changes in disease classification. Ethnicity was assigned by the Bureau of Vital Statistics on the basis of information on death certificates. Denominators were derived from the censuses of 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990. Age-standardized mortality rates were calculated for 5-year periods (1958-1962, 1963-1967, 1968-1972, 1973-1977, 1978-1982, and 1983-1987), with the 1970 U.S. population as the standard. We also examined age-specific rates by time period. RESULTS Within each of New Mexico's ethnic groups, overall cancer mortality increased over the 30-year time span, and the cancer mortality rates were greater for males than for females. For most major cancer sites, mortality rates for New Mexico's non-Hispanic Whites were comparable with data for U.S. Whites. American Indians had the lowest rates for most sites, whereas cancer mortality rates for most sites among Hispanics were intermediate between the two other groups. However, Hispanics and American Indians had higher mortality rates for cancers of the gallbladder, cervix, and stomach compared with non-Hispanic Whites throughout most of the study period. Several other cancer sites showed major mortality rate differences among these racial and ethnic groups, including cancers of the colon, rectum, breast, bladder, lung, ovary, and uterus. We also observed strong temporal trends of increasing or decreasing mortality rates for several cancer sites. CONCLUSIONS Race and ethnicity have been strong determinants of cancer mortality in New Mexico. Within the span of one generation, cancer mortality has changed substantially for some cancer sites in each of the population groups studied. IMPLICATIONS These mortality data underscore the need for appropriately designed etiologic studies of cancer in diverse racial and ethnic groups. Such etiologic studies could provide new insights concerning risk factors for cancer and useful data for developing race- and ethnic-specific cancer control strategies.
The Value of Information in an Online Consumer Electronics Market

Consumers who bought electronics products at the lowest prices on Shopper.com during 2000 and 2001 saved an average of 16% off the average listed price. The value of the information provided by a service such as Shopper.com depends on the size of the market, which is consistent with a variety of theories. When two firms list prices, consumers save 11% by purchasing at the lowest price rather than at the average price. These savings jump to 20% when more than 30 firms list prices. However, the potential savings accrue only to consumers on the “right” side of the digital divide.
Hospice utilization by male and female cancer patients in an end-of-life transition program.

OBJECTIVE to determine if there were sex differences in patients' use of hospice services in a regional cancer center in Texas from 1998 to 2000. METHODS A quality-of-life program for patients with cancer that included an end-of-life component was initiated in 1998 at a regional cancer center. The records of 1057 female and 986 male cancer patients who died from 1998 to 2000 were reviewed. Data on demographics, use of hospice care, length of stay, and location at time of referral were collected and analyzed. RESULTS Hospice utilization increased in women (47% v 64%; p<.001) and men (53% v 66%; p<.001) who died of cancer from 1998 to 2000. Length of stay (LOS) in hospice did not change for women, but decreased significantly for men over that time (31 days v 14 days, p<.001). The number of men with stays of 14 days or less increased significantly (30% v 53%, p<.001). Subjects whose LOS were less than 14 days were more likely to be hospital inpatients at time of referral. CONCLUSIONS The institution of a targeted end-of-life program was associated with increased utilization of hospice services in women with cancer at this regional cancer center. Length of stay in hospice was longer for women than men, and more men had very short (less than 14 day) stays. Hospice referrals from outpatient settings were associated with longer LOS.
4‐Aminopyridine causes a voltage‐dependent block of the transient outward K+ current in rat melanotrophs.

1. Whole‐cell voltage‐clamp recordings were made from acutely dissociated melanotrophs obtained from adult rats. 2. In the presence of external Na+ and Ca2+ channel blockers and 20 mM‐tetraethylammonium (TEA) depolarizations to ‐40 mV or more evoked a fast‐activating fast‐inactivating outward K+ current (IK(f)). Double‐pulse experiments showed that steady‐state half‐inactivation occurred near ‐37 mV; half‐maximal activation of IK(f) occurred at ‐15 mV. Recovery from inactivation in most cells fitted a single exponential with a time constant of 40‐50 ms. 3. When applied either internally or externally, 1‐2.5 mM‐4‐aminopyridine (4‐AP) substantially reduced IK(f) but the degree of block was affected by the intensity, duration and frequency of depolarizing commands. 4. Analysis of the steady‐state voltage dependence of the block by 4‐AP showed that half‐maximal blocking occurred at approximately ‐31 mV. This implied that 4‐AP binds to the resting state of the IK(f) channel. 5. Studies of the time dependence for the blocking or unblocking of IK(f) showed that both processes were exponential with mean time constants of 1942 ms (at ‐70 mV) and 726 ms (at 20 mV), respectively. Recovery from inactivation was apparently unaffected by 4‐AP. 6. A four‐state sequential model in which 4‐AP reversibly binds to the resting state of the channel replicates the frequency dependence of the 4‐AP blockade.
NK Cell Killer Ig-like Receptor Repertoire Acquisition and Maturation Are Strongly Modulated by HLA Class I Molecules

The interaction between clonally distributed inhibitory receptors and their activating counterparts on NK cells and HLA class I molecules defines NK cell functions, but the role of HLA class I ligands in the acquisition of their receptors during NK development is still unclear. Although some studies demonstrated that HLA-C affects the expression of killer Ig-like receptors (KIR), other studies showed that NK cells acquire their KIR repertoire in a stochastic manner. Only when infected with human CMV is an expansion of self-specific KIR+ NKG2C+ NK cells detected. To gain more insight into this question, we compared the coexpression of different KIR molecules, NKG2A, CD8, and CD57, on NK cells in healthy donors and seven patients with deficient HLA class I expression due to mutations in one of the TAP genes. Our results show a correlation between the presence/absence of HLA class I molecules and the coexpression of their receptors. In an HLA class I low-expression context, an increase in KIR molecules’ coexpression is detected on the NKG2A+ CD8+ subset. In functional assays, hyporesponsiveness was observed for TAP-deficient NK cells derived from four patients. In contrast, NK cells from patient five were functional, whereas CD107a+ and IFN-γ+ CD56dim NK cells presented a different pattern of HLA class I receptors compared with healthy donors. Taken together, our results provide strong evidence for the role of HLA class I molecules in NK cell maturation and KIR repertoire acquisition.
Analysis of the interaction of influenza virus polymerase complex with human cell factors

The influenza virus polymerase is formed by the PB1, PB2 and PA subunits and is required for virus transcription and replication in the nucleus of infected cells. Here we present the characterisation of the complexes formed intracellularly by the influenza polymerase in human cells. The virus polymerase was expressed by cotransfection of the polymerase subunits cDNAs, one of which fused to the tandem‐affinity purification (TAP) tag. The intracellular complexes were purified by the TAP approach, which involves IgG‐Sepharose and calmodulin‐agarose chromatography, under very mild conditions. The purified complexes contained the heterotrimeric polymerase and a series of associated proteins that were not apparent in purifications of untagged polymerase used as a control. Several influenza polymerase‐associated proteins were identified by MALDI‐MS and their presence in purified polymerase‐containing complexes were verified by Western blot. Their relevance for influenza infection was established by colocalisation with virus ribonucleoproteins in human infected cells. Most of the associated human factors were nuclear proteins involved in cellular RNA synthesis, modification and nucleo‐cytoplasmic export, but some were cytosolic proteins involved in translation and transport. The interactions recognised in this proteomic approach suggest that the influenza polymerase might be involved in steps of the infection cycle other than RNA replication and transcription.
Novel mutations in dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase deficiency in two cousins with borderline‐normal PDH complex activity

We have diagnosed dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (DLD) deficiency in two male second cousins, who presented with markedly different clinical phenotypes. Patient 1 had a recurrent encephalopathy, and patient 2 had microcephaly and lactic acidosis. Their presentation is unusual, in that the DLD subunit deficiency had little effect on pyruvate dehydrogenase complex activity, but caused a severe reduction in the activities of other enzymes that utilize this subunit. We have identified two mutations in the DLD gene in each patient. The second cousins have one novel mutation in common resulting in a substitution of isoleucine for threonine (I47T), which has not been previously reported in the literature. Patient 1 has a second mutation that has been reported to be common in the Ashkenazi Jewish population, G229C. Patient 2 has a second mutation, E375K, which has also been previously reported in the literature. Enzyme kinetic measurements on patient fibroblasts show that under certain conditions, one heteroallelic mutation may have a higher Km. This may account for the differing clinical phenotypes. These findings have important repercussions for other patients with similar clinical phenotypes, as DLD activity is not normally measured in cases with normal PDHc activity. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.