Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cataract as Early Ocular Complication in Children and Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Cataract is a rare manifestation of ocular complication at an early phase of T1DM in the pediatric population. The pathophysiological mechanism of early diabetic cataract has not been fully understood; however, there are many theories about the possible etiology including osmotic damage, polyol pathway, and oxidative stress. The prevalence of early diabetic cataract in the population varies between 0.7 and 3.4% of children and adolescents with T1DM. The occurrence of diabetic cataract in most pediatric patients is the first sign of T1DM or occurs within 6 months of diagnosis of T1DM. Today, there are many experimental therapies for the treatment of diabetic cataract, but cataract surgery continues to be a gold standard in the treatment of diabetic cataract. Since the cataract is the leading cause of visual impairment in patients with T1DM, diabetic cataract requires an initial screening as well as continuous surveillance as a measure of prevention and this should be included in the guidelines of pediatric diabetes societies.
A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) on menopausal symptoms: A high placebo response

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of oral fennel on menopausal symptoms. Material and Methods: This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted on 50 postmenopausal women in Mashhad (Iran). Patients were randomly divided into two groups of fennel (n=25) and placebo (n=25). Measurements were performed at baseline and after three months using the Menopause-Specific Quality of Life questionnaire. Results: Both placebo and treatment groups revealed significant improvements in the hot flush score (p<0.001 for fennel and p<0.01 for placebo), night sweats (p=0.007 for fennel and p<0.01 for placebo), sweating (p=0.002 for fennel and p<0.01 for placebo), symptoms of anxiety (p=0.05 for fennel and p=0.001 for placebo), feeling depressed (p<0.01 for fennel and p=0.006 for placebo), and impatience with other people (p<0.01 for fennel and p=0.003 for placebo). There were no significant differences in any menopausal symptoms between the fennel and placebo groups, except for coughing and sneezing when urinating (p=0.03). Conclusion: The failure to indicate a significant effect may have been caused by a high placebo response. It is suggested that future trials should include a placebo run-in phase or design a sequential, parallel study with larger sample sizes to mitigate the placebo effect.
Autophagy Disruptions Associated With Altered Optineurin Expression in Extranigral Regions in a Rotenone Model of Parkinson's Disease

The motor features of Parkinson's disease (PD) primarily result from a lesion to the nigrostriatal dopamine system. Numerous non-motor symptoms occur in PD, many of which are postulated to stem from pathology outside of the nigrostriatal dopamine system. Perturbations to protein trafficking, disruption of mitochondrial integrity, and impaired autophagy have repeatedly been implicated in dopaminergic neuron cell death. Previously, we demonstrated that multiple markers of autophagy are disrupted in a rotenone model of PD, with alterations occurring prior to an overt lesion to the nigrostriatal dopamine system. Whether these events occur in extra-nigral nuclei in PD and when relative to a lesion in the nigrostriatal dopamine system are generally unknown. The primary goal of these studies was to determine whether autophagy disruptions, in non-dopaminergic neuronal populations occur in an environmental model of PD utilizing a mitochondrial toxin. Here, we utilized the rat rotenone PD model, with sampling time-points before and after an overt lesion to the nigrostriatal dopamine system. In analyzing autophagy changes, we focused on optineurin (OPTN) and the autophagy marker, LC3. OPTN is an autophagy cargo adapter protein genetically linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and glaucoma. In the present study, we observed OPTN enrichment in all PD-relevant brain regions examined. Further, alterations in OPTN and LC3 expression and colocalized puncta suggest specific impairments to autophagy that will inform future mechanistic studies. Thus, our data suggest that autophagy disruptions may be critical to PD pathogenesis in non-dopaminergic neurons and the onset of non-motor symptoms.
microRNA-23a promotes cell growth and metastasis in gastric cancer via targeting SPRY2-mediated ERK signaling

microRNAs (miRs) serve important roles in various human cancer types. Recently, miR-23a has been indicated as an oncogene in gastric cancer, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis was used to explore the effects of miR-23a in gastric cancer. Additionally, cell proliferation, migration and invasion were examined using an MTT assay, wound healing assay and Transwell assay, respectively. Furthermore, a luciferase reporter gene assay was used to confirm the target association. It was determined that miR-23a was significantly upregulated in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines compared with adjacent tissues, and a normal gastric epithelial cell line. Furthermore, its upregulation was significantly associated with cancer progression and poor prognosis of patients. Knockdown of miR-23a caused a notable reduction in the proliferation, migration and invasion of gastric cancer AGS cells. Sprouty homolog 2 (SPRY2) was then predicted to be target gene of miR-23a. A luciferase reporter gene assay data demonstrated that miR-23a has the ability to directly bind to the 3′-untranslational region of SPRY2 mRNA. Further investigation demonstrated that SPRY2 was significantly downregulated in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines, and the protein expression of SPRY2 was negatively regulated by miR-23a in AGS cells. Furthermore, knockdown of SPRY2 reduced the suppressive effects of miR-23a inhibition in AGS cell proliferation, migration and invasion. In addition, the activity of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling was also inhibited by the miR-23a/SPRY2 knockdown in AGS cells. The present study indicated that miR-23a serves a promoting role in gastric cancer via targeting SPRY2 and downstream ERK signaling.
Plasma rich in growth factors eye drops to treat secondary ocular surface disorders in patients with glaucoma

Purpose To evaluate the efficacy and safety of plasma rich in growth factors (PRGF) eye drops in patients with glaucoma with secondary ocular surface disorders (OSDs) due to surgeries and topical hypotensive drugs use. Materials and methods A retrospective case-series study design was used including six patients (eight eyes) diagnosed with glaucoma who received surgical (nonpenetrating deep sclerectomy and/or trabeculectomy) and medical treatments (hypotensive eye drops) to control intraocular pressure (IOP) and who developed secondary OSDs, unresponsive to conventional treatments. Patients were treated with PRGF eye drops (four times a day). Outcome measures were ocular surface disease index (OSDI), best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA, in logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution), visual analog scale (VAS), frequency and severity of symptoms, and IOP. The safety of the treatment was also evaluated. Results Six patients (seven eyes with open-angle glaucoma and one eye with uveitic glaucoma) treated with PRGF eye drops were evaluated. Mean age was 71 years (SD=7.2, range 58–79 years). Five were female and one was male. The mean treatment time was 21.8 weeks (SD=9.0, range 12–36 weeks). The mean time to reach closure of the corneal ulcer was 14.5 (SD=5.5) weeks. A statistical significant reduction in OSDI scale (50.6%), VAS frequency (53.1%), VAS severity (42.0%), and a 41.8% improvement in BCVA were observed (p<0.05). IOP also decreased by 16.6% (p=0.010). Only one of the six patients reported itching in both eyes as an adverse event (AE); however, the patient continued with the PRGF eye drops until the end of therapy; the remaining patients did not report any AEs during the follow-up period. Conclusions In patients with glaucoma and secondary OSDs refractive to conventional treatments, the treatment with PRGF eye drops could be considered a possible therapeutic option, because it demonstrates an improvement in the signs and symptoms of the ocular surface, as well as a better control of the IOP. This is an initial research work that can open doors for future research to confirm these findings.
Public Management Policy Change: a Comparative Study of Civil Service Reform in Mexico and Guatemala

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Composite materials for advanced flexible link robotic manipulators: an investigation

ABSTRACT In this article, a collection of literature relevant to dynamic model and simulation analyses of flexible robotic manipulators have been considered for the years 2006–2015. The dynamics of robotic link subjected to mechanical flexibility was considered in this prime work. The literature categorised on the basis of the number of links used, methodology inculcated and simulation techniques were implemented. Research papers are thoroughly studied and dynamic analysis of flexible manipulators was presented. In the simulation work, the method and number of links used for the manipulator are analysed. The existing lists of survey for three spells were found out and the introspective correlations of this work were also included. The percentage-wise categorised research papers relevant to this work were computed and tabulated for statistical purpose. The methods and statistical analyses guide the researchers who are currently working in the area of a lightweight manipulator with different composites, nano-materials and shape memory alloys and they give a new idea to work for a control systems approach.
Clinicopathological significance of G9A expression in colorectal carcinoma

G9A, the primary histone methyltransferase (HMTase) for histone H3 lysine 9, is upregulated in numerous types of cancer and is critical for tumor cell proliferation. The present study aimed to investigate the G9A expression level in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) to evaluate the clinical significance of G9A in CRC. First, the present study detected the expression of G9A protein in 100 pairs of CRC specimens by immunohistochemistry staining and analyzed the correlations between G9A expression and pathological tumor features. It was found that G9A expression was increased markedly in CRC tumor specimens and the high expression was associated with tumor distant metastasis. Oncomine database analysis demonstrated an elevated expression level of G9A in various types of CRC. In total, 6 public available data sets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) were used and Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was conducted. The results of the bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that high G9A expression was associated with American Joint Committee on Cancer staging, tumor differentiation, tumor relapse of CRC, and may serve a role in CRC cell proliferation. These findings suggested that G9A was overexpressed in CRC and involved in the tumorigenesis and distant metastasis of CRC. The expression level may also serve as a potential indicator for tumor recurrence in CRC. The present findings aided in the understanding of the crucial role of G9A in tumorigenesis and also offered novel ideas for CRC therapy.
Workplace Mentoring in the Legal Profession

The purpose of this article is to direct the attention of economists to the phenomenon of workplace mentoring. There are indications that the incidence of mentor-protege relationships in certain occupations and industries is as high as 75 percent or more. This fact notwithstanding, the economics literature generally (and labor economics literature specifically) is virtually silent with respect to mentoring. By way of introducing the subject matter to the profession, we focus attention on mentoring in the legal profession. We are able to provide lower-bound estimates of the incidence of mentoring among lawyers. We then propose and discuss two explanations of the practice. In brief, mentoring (generally) may serve to: (1) enhance the efficiency of job matching, and (2) reduce employee turnover and enhance worker investment in firm-specific human capital by bonding workers and firms more closely together. At this early stage, we are able to report some evidence in support of function (2). In a survey of top business executives, Roche [22] found that 63.5 percent of the 1,250 respondents had a mentor, defined as "a person who took a personal interest in your career and who guided or sponsored you. " Nearly as many of these executives (61.6 percent) had served in a mentoring capacity themselves. America and Anderson [1] found that 53 percent of 1,050 female corporate officers surveyed reported having had a mentor/protege relationship. The evidence suggests that mentor-protege relationships are a common labor market phenomenon, at least in certain occupational classifications. Roche found that initial attachment to a mentor generally occurs during the first five years of an individual's career. However, since respondents who reported having such a relationship averaged 2 mentors, he noted considerable attachment to mentors during the proteges' 6th-10th years of career. Most respondents reported that their mentors exerted a substantial influence on their career. Those executives who had a mentor averaged 47.3 years in age and $118,900 in salary, whereas executives who did not have a mentor averaged 49.2 years in age and $114,200 in salary. Finally, Roche noted that 50 percent of executives who had a mentor reported being
Design and Validation of Diffusion MRI Models of White Matter

Diffusion MRI is arguably the method of choice for characterizing white matter microstructure in vivo. Over the typical duration of diffusion encoding, the displacement of water molecules is conveniently on a length scale similar to that of the underlying cellular structures. Moreover, water molecules in white matter are largely compartmentalized which enables biologically-inspired compartmental diffusion models to characterize and quantify the true biological microstructure. A plethora of white matter models have been proposed. However, overparameterization and mathematical fitting complications encourage the introduction of simplifying assumptions that vary between different approaches. These choices impact the quantitative estimation of model parameters with potential detriments to their biological accuracy and promised specificity. First, we review biophysical white matter models in use and recapitulate their underlying assumptions and realms of applicability. Second, we present up-to-date efforts to validate parameters estimated from biophysical models. Simulations and dedicated phantoms are useful in assessing the performance of models when the ground truth is known. However, the biggest challenge remains the validation of the "biological accuracy" of estimated parameters. Complementary techniques such as microscopy of fixed tissue specimens have facilitated direct comparisons of estimates of white matter fiber orientation and densities. However, validation of compartmental diffusivities remains challenging, and complementary MRI-based techniques such as alternative diffusion encodings, compartment-specific contrast agents and metabolites have been used to validate diffusion models. Finally, white matter injury and disease pose additional challenges to modeling, which are also discussed. This review aims to provide an overview of the current state of models and their validation and to stimulate further research in the field to solve the remaining open questions and converge towards consensus.
What Made Large US Banks Susceptible to a Systemic Crisis?

This study investigates what features of large US banks could have made them susceptible to a systemic crisis. Employing both market and accounting data we isolate four factors. The first is the long-term trend in rates of return (on equity or assets) which was negative for about a decade leading up to the crisis. The second is the increasing size of very large banks relative to the overall macro-economy. This trend was observed over a twenty year sample period. The third factor is rising correlations of bank returns – also a long term trend – which has been reported in other studies. Fourth, and finally, is the existence of Too Big to Fail (TBTF) banks. Our probability-of -default measures suggest that, had TBTF banks not existed, there might not have been a banking crisis.
Microstructure Evolution and the Resulted Influence on Localized Corrosion in Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloy during Non-Isothermal Ageing

A non-isothermal ageing process was proposed for an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy aiming to accommodate the slow heating/cooling procedure during the ageing of large components. The evolution of microstructure and microchemistry was analyzed by using transmission electron microscopy, high-angle annular dark field imaging, and energy dispersive spectrometry. The age-hardening of the alloy was examined to evaluate the strengthening behavior during the non-isothermal process. The corrosion behavior was investigated via observing the specimens immersed in EXCO solution (solution for Exfoliation Corrosion Susceptibility test in 2xxx and 7xxx series aluminum alloys, referring ASTM G34-01). Secondary precipitation was observed during the cooling stage, leading to increased precipitate number density. The distribution of grain boundary precipitates transits from discontinuous to continuous at the cooling stage, due to the secondary precipitation’s linking-up effect. The solutes’ enrichment on grain boundary precipitates and the depletion in precipitate-free zones develops during the heating procedure, but remains invariable during the cooling procedure. The corrosion in NIA (Non-isothermal Ageing) treated specimens initiates from pitting and then transits to intergranular corrosion and exfoliation corrosion. The transition from pitting to intergranular corrosion is very slow for specimens heated to 190 °C, but accelerates slightly as the cooling procedure proceeds. The transition to exfoliation corrosion is observed to be quite slow in all specimens in non-isothermal aged to over-aged condition, suggesting a corrosion resistance comparable to that of RRA condition.
Prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. in Ready-to-Eat Foods in Kefalonia, Greece

The presence of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. was examined in ready-to eat meals, salads, desserts and ice cream in food establishments on the island of Kefalonia, Greece. Samples were collected or delivered from restaurants, canteens, cafes or ice cream parlors. Testing of the presence/absence of the pathogens was performed in 25 g samples of each product. Of the 1329 samples, 191 (14.4%) were positive for L. monocytogenes and 14 (1.05%) were positive for Salmonella spp. The elevated prevalence of L. monocytogenes, especially during the summer months, indicates high risk to consumers of ready-to-eat foods and shows the need for functioning regulatory actions.
Platelets Drive Inflammation and Target Gray Matter and the Retina in Autoimmune-Mediated Encephalomyelitis

Despite growing evidence for platelets as active players in infection and immunity, it remains unresolved whether platelets contribute to, or are key elements in the development of neuroinflammation. Using the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of multiple sclerosis, we identified platelet accumulation in the circulation by 7-day postinduction (dpi), ahead of clinical onset which occurs at 13-14 dpi. By inducing platelet depletion between 7 and 16 dpi, we demonstrate an association between platelet accumulation in the spinal cord and disease development. Additionally, we provide evidence for platelet infiltration in the white and gray matter parenchyma, but with different outcomes. Thus, while in white matter platelets are clearly associated with lesions, in gray matter large-scale platelet infiltration and expression of the platelet-specific molecule PF4 are detectable prior to T cell entry. In the retina, platelet accumulation also precedes clinical onset and is associated with significant increase in retinal thickness in experimental relative to control animals. Platelet accumulation increases over the disease course in this tissue, but without subsequent T cell infiltration. These findings provide definitive confirmation that platelet accumulation is key to EAE pathophysiology. Furthermore, they suggest an undescribed and, most importantly, therapeutically targetable mechanism of neuronal damage.
Implicit Sex Guilt Predicts Sexual Behaviors: Evidence for the Validity of the Sex-Guilt Implicit Association Test

Abstract Self-report measures of sexuality may be influenced by people's conscious concerns about confidentiality and social desirability. Alternatively, non-conscious measures (e.g., implicit association tests; [IATs]) are designed to minimize these validity concerns. We constructed an IAT measure of sex guilt using 154 male and female university students. The sex-guilt IAT demonstrated convergent validity as it correlated with various sexual behaviors and incremental validity as it improved the prediction of several sexual behaviors beyond that provided by the Brief Mosher Sex Guilt Scale. We conclude that a non conscious measure of sex guilt may complement the use of self-reports in studying sexual behaviors.
Life table of Tetranychus urticae (Koch) (Acari: Tetranycidae) on different Turkish eggplant cultivars under controlled conditions

The life table parameters of Tetranychus urticae were evaluated on 7 eggplant cultivars namely, Anamur, Aydin Siyahi, Balikesir 76, Kemer, Pala 49, Topan 374, Yalova Topan, in controlled laboratory conditions in day ight for 16 hours 27 +/- 1 °C temperature, 65% relative humidity. Assays were conducted on eggplant leaflets in Petri dishes. There was a significant difference in the durations of egg and juvenile development of T. urticae. However the survival rates of T. urticae were not significantly different on the tested eggplant cultivars. The values of the natural rate of increase, rm, (0.218-0.269), net reproduction rate, R0, (26.74-45.51) and the mean generation time, T, (13.31-15.45) significantly differed among eggplant cultivars. Notably, the shortest development duration as indicated by the lowest rm and R0 values were observed on Pala 49 followed by Anamur and Balikesir 76 cultivars.
An updated survey on rainbow connections of graphs - a dynamic survey

The concept of rainbow connection was introduced by Chartrand, Johns, McKeon and Zhang in 2008. Nowadays it has become a new and active subject in graph theory. There is a book on this topic by Li and Sun in 2012, and a survey paper by Li, Shi and Sun in 2013. More and more researchers are working in this field, and many new papers have been published in journals. In this survey we attempt to bring together most of the new results and papers that deal with this topic. We begin with an introduction, and then try to organize the work into the following categories, rainbow connection coloring of edge-version, rainbow connection coloring of vertex-version, rainbow k-connectivity, rainbow index, rainbow connection coloring of total-version, rainbow connection on digraphs, rainbow connection on hypergraphs. This survey also contains some conjectures, open problems and questions for further study.