Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bone Mineral Response to a 7‐Month Randomized Controlled, School‐Based Jumping Intervention in 121 Prepubertal Boys: Associations With Ethnicity and Body Mass Index

We examined the effects of a 7‐month jumping intervention (10 minutes, 3 times per week) on bone mineral gain in prepubertal Asian and white boys (10.3 ± 0.6 years, 36.0 ± 9.2 kg) at 14 schools randomized to control (n = 60) and intervention (n = 61) groups. Intervention and control groups had similar mean baseline and change in height, weight, lean mass and fat mass, baseline areal bone mineral density (aBMD; g/cm2), bone mineral content (BMC; g; dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry [DXA], QDR 4500W), and similar average physical activity and calcium intakes. Over 7 months, the intervention group gained more total body (TB) BMC (1.6%, p < 0.01) and proximal femur (PF) aBMD (1%, p < 0.05) than the control group after adjusting for age, baseline weight, change in height, and loaded physical activity. We also investigated the 41 Asian and 50 white boys (10.2 ± 0.6 years and 31.9 ± 4.4 kg) who were below the 75th percentile (19.4 kg/m2) of the cohort mean for baseline body mass index (BMI). Boys in the intervention group gained significantly more TB and lumbar spine (LS) BMC, PF aBMD, and trochanteric (TR) aBMD (+ ∼2%) than boys in the control group (adjusted for baseline weight, final Tanner stage, change in height, and loaded physical activity). Bone changes were similar between Asians and whites. Finally, we compared the boys in the control group (n = 16) and the boys in the intervention group (n = 14) whose baseline BMI fell in the highest quartile (10.5 ± 0.6 years and 49.1 ± 8.2 kg). Seven‐month bone changes (adjusted as aforementioned) were similar in the control and intervention groups. In summary, jumping exercise augmented bone mineral accrual at several regions equally in prepubertal Asian and white boys of average or low BMI, and intervention effects on bone mineral were undetectable in high BMI prepubertal boys.
Glaucoma in the younger age groups.

The etiology of the primary glaucomas is still very largely a matter of speculation in spite of the large volume of research work which has been done over the last hundred years. It is true that we now have a better understanding of the mechanics of the disease and are able to distinguish the two broad groups of closed angle glaucoma and simple glaucoma, but the underlying pathology of simple glaucoma is still unproved. It is usually assumed that simple glaucoma is a degenerative condition akin to such diseases as arteriosclerosis of the vascular system, and the usual age of onset would support such a view. It is possible, however, that other factors may be present in some cases and an investigation of persons developing the disease in the younger age groups—i.e., before the age of 50—might indicate some of these other factors and show that all cases of simple
Improving Error Reporting in Ambulatory Pediatrics with a Team Approach

Objective: We aimed to determine the effectiveness of team-based reporting, systems analysis, and redesign to address medical errors in pediatric ambulatory care. Methods: Voluntary, anonymous, nonpunitive reporting, paired with a team-based system analysis and change implementation, was established in an outpatient pediatric department of an urban teaching hospital. Results: In the first year, 80 errors were reported, compared with only 5 errors reported during the prior year via a traditional incident reporting system. Reports originated from physicians (45 percent), nurses (41 percent), other staff (9 percent), and parents/patients (5 percent). Errors were classified as involving office administration (34 percent), medications and other treatment (24 percent), laboratory and diagnostic testing (19 percent), and communications (18 percent). To date, 65 percent of reports have resulted in completed interventions, and other changes are in progress. Conclusion: In an academic pediatric ambulatory practice, voluntary, nonpunitive reporting with team-based systems analysis and rapid redesign improved error reporting and resulted in changes to promote safety.
Testing the Cointegrating Relationship between Health Care Expenditure and Economic Growth in Nigeria

This paper examined the relationship between health care expenditure and economic growth in Nigeria for the period 1970-2009. We employed the multivariate cointegration technique proposed by Johansen and found the existence of at least one cointegrating vector describing a long run relationship among economic growth, foreign aids, health expenditure, total saving and population. This is further confirmed by the Hassen Parameter instability test. The cointegrating equation however shows some deviations in terms of the signs of the coefficients of foreign aids and health expenditure which partly may be attributed to some diversification of foreign aids to other uses or that the allocation to health services is grossly inadequate. It is therefore suggested that an appreciable proportion of the national budget be allocated to the health care services to have a more robust health care programmes capable of fostering economic growth in Nigeria.
Understanding the emotional expression of verbal interjections: a functional MRI study

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the distribution of hemodynamic brain responses bound to the perceptual processing of interjections, that is ‘exclamations inserted into an utterance without grammatical connection to it’, was determined (vs. a silent baseline condition). These utterances convey information about a speaker's affective/emotional state by their ‘tone’ (emotional prosody) and/or their lexical content. Both communicative aspects of interjections elicited significant bilateral blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal changes within superior temporal cortex. In addition, affective-prosodic cues yielded hemodynamic activation of the posterior insula as well as cortical/subcortical structures engaged in the control of innate emotional behavior. These observations corroborate the suggestion that interjections might trace back to proto-speech vocalizations of an early stage of language evolution.
Efficient transcriptional silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae requires a heterochromatin histone acetylation pattern

Heterochromatin in metazoans induces transcriptional silencing, as exemplified by position effect variegation in Drosophila melanogaster and X-chromosome inactivation in mammals. Heterochromatic DNA is packaged in nucleosomes that are distinct in their acetylation pattern from those present in euchromatin, although the role these differences play in the structure of heterochromatin or in the effects of heterochromatin on transcriptional activity is unclear. Here we report that, as observed in the facultative heterochromatin of the inactive X chromosome in female mammalian cells, histones H3 and H4 in chromatin spanning the transcriptionally silenced mating-type cassettes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are hypoacetylated relative to histones H3 and H4 of transcriptionally active regions of the genome. By immunoprecipitation of chromatin fragments with antibodies specific for H4 acetylated at particular lysine residues, we found that only three of the four lysine residues in the amino-terminal domain of histone H4 spanning the silent cassettes are hypoacetylated. Lysine 12 shows significant acetylation levels. This is identical to the pattern of histone H4 acetylation observed in centric heterochromatin of D. melanogaster. These two observations provide additional evidence that the silent cassettes are encompassed in the yeast equivalent of metazoan heterochromatin. Further, mutational analysis of the amino-terminal domain of histone H4 in S. cerevisiae demonstrated that this observed pattern of histone H4 acetylation is required for transcriptional silencing. This result, in conjunction with prior mutational analyses of yeast histones H3 and H4, indicates that the particular pattern of nucleosome acetylation found in heterochromatin is required for its effects on transcription and is not simply a side effect of heterochromatin formation.
Cryptococcal lung disease

Purpose of review Cryptococcosis is an important opportunistic fungal infection, especially in the immunocompromised patient. Meningitis is the most common manifestation of cryptococcosis; however, cryptococcal lung disease is probably underdiagnosed, and knowledge of epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment is necessary. Recent findings Cryptococcal lung disease ranges from asymptomatic colonization or infection to severe pneumonia with respiratory failure. Clinical presentation of pulmonary cryptococcosis is highly variable and often is related to the immune status of the patient. There have been many important clinical trials outlining treatment of cryptococcal meningitis in patients with AIDS, but there is a lack of treatment data available for patients with cryptococcal lung disease. Treatment recommendations for cryptococcal lung disease are made on the basis of host immune status and severity of clinical illness. For less severe disease, fluconazole therapy is recommended. In immunocompromised patients, or those with severe disease, induction therapy with an amphotericin B preparation and flucytosine, followed by fluconazole as consolidation and maintenance therapy, is recommended. Summary Cryptococcal lung disease is an important and probably underdiagnosed infection. Knowledge of the epidemiology, diagnostic methodologies, and treatment is needed to ensure good patient outcomes.
Expression of mammalian spermatozoal nucleoproteins

A dramatic remodeling of sperm chromatin occurs during mammalian spermiogenesis. Nuclear elongation and chromatin condensation are concomitant with modifications in the basic protein complement associated with DNA. A number of biochemical events accompany the displacement of histones and the appearance of protamines in elongating spermatids. The mRNAs of transition proteins and protamines are transcribed and stored in the cytoplasm of spermatids until days later when they are translated. The intrinsic regulation of the expression of the transition protein and protamine genes occurs at three levels: transcription, translation, and posttranslation. The aim of this review is to cover most of the morphological, biochemical, and functional events which concern nuclear protein transitions during spermiogenesis and which are thereby involved in the nuclear status of ejaculated sperm cells. Microsc. Res. Tech. 61:56–75, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Using Synthetic Controls to Evaluate the Effect of Unique Interventions: The Case of Say Yes to Education

Background: “Place-based” scholarships seek to improve student outcomes in urban school districts and promote urban revitalization in economically challenged cities. Say Yes to Education is a unique district-wide school reform effort adopted in Syracuse, NY, in 2008. It includes full-tuition scholarships for public and private universities, coupled with extensive wraparound support services in schools. Objectives: This study uses synthetic control methods to evaluate the effect of Say Yes on district enrollment and graduation rates. It also introduces the synthetic control method and provides guidance for its use in evaluating single-site interventions. Method: Combining school district-level data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Common Core of Data and New York State School Report Cards, this article uses synthetic control methods to construct a synthetic comparison district to estimate counterfactual enrollment and graduation trends for Syracuse. Results: We find that Say Yes to Education was associated with enrollment increases in the Syracuse City School District, a district that had previously experienced decades of sustained enrollment declines. We do not find consistent evidence of changes in graduation rates following adoption of the program. Conclusions: Graduation rate analyses demonstrate that estimates of treatment effects can be sensitive to choices that the researcher has to make in applying synthetic control methods, particularly when pretreatment outcome measures appear to have considerable amounts of noise.
In Bloom: Gender Differences in Preferences Among Adolescents

We look at gender differences among adolescents in Sweden in preferences for altruism, risk and competition. We find that girls are more altruistic and less risk taking than boys. No gender differences are found comparing competitive performance with non-competitive performance in either a verbal or a mathematical task. Boys and girls are also equally likely to self-select into competition in the verbal task, but boys are significantly more likely to choose to compete in math. However, this gender gap diminishes and becomes non-significant when we control for performance beliefs relative to others, indicating that some of the gender gap in our sample is not due to preferences for competition per se.
Distinct Genetic and Immunological Features in Patients With Onset of IDDM Before and After Age 40

OBJECTIVE Young age at onset is a relevant parameter associated with a rapid progression of IDDM. Our major aim was to define differences between IDDM patients with age at diagnosis > 40 years and adult IDDM with onset at a younger age. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The correlation between islet-related antibodies (islet cell antibodies [ICAs] and antibodies [Abs] to GAD and the tyrosine phosphatase IA2), T-cell responses to GAD peptides and HLA class II isotypes was investigated in 23 IDDM patients 12–38 years of age at onset (group 1), 24 patients with IDDM > 40 years of age at onset (group 2), and 12 healthy control subjects. ICAs were measured by indirect immunofluorescence, and GAD-Ab and IA2-Ab were measured by immunoprecipitation tests. T-cell responses against GAD peptides, which had been identified as typical for IDDM, were tested by 5-day proliferation assays. HLA class II alleles were typed by polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS ICAs and GAD-Abs were more prevalent in IDDM patients than in control subjects (P < 0.001), but only IDDM group 1 had IA2-Abs (P < 0.001 compared with IDDM group 2 and control subjects). Moreover, antibody combinations differed between IDDM patients of groups 1 and 2. T-cell responses to GAD peptides were seen in 67% of IDDM group 1 and in 71% of IDDM group 2 (P < 0.02 compared with control subjects). IDDM patients of group 1 were more frequently DR4+/DQ8+ and less frequently DR2+/DQ0602+ compared with IDDM patients of group 2 (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Our data provide strong evidence for humoral and cellular autoimmunity in adult IDDM patients with onset both before and after 40 years of age. However, late-onset differs from young-onset IDDM with respect to Ab profiles, especially a lack of IA2-Ab, and HLA class II types. These findings have consequences for the diagnostic strategy for identifying slow-onset IDDM in individuals after 40 years of age.
Institutional effects on the intention to adopt e-learning for business studies

The present study investigates the factors that influence the adoption of e-learning among adult postgraduate university students in Hong Kong. In particular, the study addresses the question of whether institutional factors affect students' decision to adopt e-learning in their studies. A composite model of four constructs (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived convenience and institutional effects) is proposed and tested in this quantitative survey of 125 part-time MBA students. The study finds that institutional effects and perceived convenience were the most important factors in a decision to adopt e-learning. The factors perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use did not have a significant relationship with the intention to adopt e-learning. The paper illustrates the theoretical and practical issues of social effects in the adoption of e-learning.
Regulation of interplay between autophagy and apoptosis in the diabetic heart

Diabetes induces cardiomyocyte apoptosis and suppresses cardiac autophagy, indicating that the interplay between autophagy and apoptotic cell death pathways is important in the pathogenesis of diabetic cardiomyopathy. The potential mechanism, however, remains unknown. We recently reported that diabetes depresses AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity, inhibits MAPK8/JNK1-BCL2 signaling, and promotes the interaction between BECN1 and BCL2. Concomitantly, diabetes induces cardiomyocyte apoptosis and suppresses cardiac autophagy. Activation of AMPK directly phosphorylates MAPK8, which mediates BCL2 phosphorylation and subsequent BECN1-BCL2 dissociation, leading to restoration of cardiac autophagy, protection against cardiac apoptosis, and ultimately improvement in cardiac structure and function. We conclude that dissociation of BCL2 from BECN1 through activation of MAPK8-BCL2 signaling may be an important mechanism by which AMPK activation restores autophagy, protects against cardiac apoptosis, and prevents diabetic cardiomyopathy.
Exploring the relationship between active bacterioplankton and phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean

Bacterioplankton are a heterogenous community composed of cells with different phys- iological states. The consideration of the active fraction of bacterioplankton as a potential factor affecting the strength of the relationship between bacteria and phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean was evaluated in waters around the Antarctic Peninsula. We estimated active bacterioplankton from uptake of 3 H-Leucine (bacterial production (BP)) and using vital stains to estimate their proportion within the total bacterioplankton community, based on their relative nucleic acid content (high (HNA) vs. low (LNA)), and by nucleic acid double staining (NADS), based on their membrane perme- ability. Then we performed a comparative analysis between total and active bacterioplankton and chlorophyll a (chl a) in this area. Staining with NADS suggested that 61% of all bacteria were viable, a higher proportion of the total bacterial community than previously reported for the Southern Ocean. HNA bacteria comprised 45% of all bacteria, indicating that 16% of bacteria may be viable but with LNA. BP was more strongly related to abundance of LNA cells than NADS-viable or HNA bacteria. The relationship between chl a and bacterial abundance (BA) did not increase when consid- ering the abundance of HNA or NADS-viable cells alone, showing that viability/activity of stains did not enhance the linkage between BA and phytoplankton biomass in the Southern Ocean. In contrast, the relationship between chl a and BP was stronger than those reported in the literature, suggesting that, in this region, BP is closely dependent on phytoplankton.
Spontaneous ocular surface inflammation and goblet cell disappearance in I kappa B zeta gene-disrupted mice.

PURPOSE The ocular surface epithelium is part of the mucosal defense system. Because transcription factor NF-kappa B in mucosal epithelial cells plays a central role in regulating the genes that govern the onset of mucosal inflammatory responses, we examined the role of a regulator of NF-kappa B, I kappa B zeta, in murine ocular surface inflammation. METHODS The eyes of I kappa B zeta(-/-) mice were analyzed biomicroscopically and histologically. I kappa B zeta expression in normal mouse cornea and conjunctiva was examined by RT-PCR. The results were compared with those obtained in other tissues by real-time PCR. I kappa B zeta mRNA on the ocular surface and in other mucosal tissues was localized by in situ hybridization. RESULTS I kappa B zeta(-/-) mice manifested chronic inflammation, specifically in the ocular surface, but not in other tissues. In normal mice, I kappa B zeta was expressed in a variety of mucosal tissues. The I kappa B zeta transcript was predominantly distributed in the epithelia of these tissues. As inflammatory symptoms progressed on the ocular surface of I kappa B zeta(-/-) mice, inflammatory cells, mainly CD45R/B220(+) and CD4(+) cells, intensely infiltrated the submucosa of the conjunctival epithelia. This infiltration was accompanied by an almost complete loss of goblet cells in the conjunctival epithelia. CONCLUSIONS The authors postulate that I kappa B zeta in the ocular surface epithelia negatively regulates the pathologic progression of ocular surface inflammation.
Brain-Motion Interaction Analysis Through the Study of Brainwaves

The goal of this research was to determine the brainwave patterns that characterize the movements of a hand. Measurements of the brainwaves of five students were taken using an electroencephalography sensor placed in the frontal lobe; data were collected while participants made a series of repetitive hand movements. The results proved the existence of a characteristic pattern of alpha, beta and gamma waves related to motion. Likewise, it was observed that the correlation between these waves is inversely proportional to the complexity of the movement performed, and directly proportional to the unfamiliarity towards the same and the levels of attention. Considering that, it can be concluded that the motor activity influences the detectable brain activity.
Codon usage in regulatory genes in Escherichia coli does not reflect selection for 'rare' codons.

It has often been suggested that differential usage of codons recognized by rare tRNA species, i.e. "rare codons", represents an evolutionary strategy to modulate gene expression. In particular, regulatory genes are reported to have an extraordinarily high frequency of rare codons. From E. coli we have compiled codon usage data for highly expressed genes, moderately/lowly expressed genes, and regulatory genes. We have identified a clear and general trend in codon usage bias, from the very high bias seen in very highly expressed genes and attributed to selection, to a rather low bias in other genes which seems to be more influenced by mutation than by selection. There is no clear tendency for an increased frequency of rare codons in the regulatory genes, compared to a large group of other moderately/lowly expressed genes with low codon bias. From this, as well as a consideration of evolutionary rates of regulatory genes, and of experimental data on translation rates, we conclude that the pattern of synonymous codon usage in regulatory genes reflects primarily the relaxation of natural selection.
Treatment of Rupture of the Achilles Tendon with Fibrin Sealant

Background: The optimal management strategy for acute Achilles tendon ruptures is controversial. These injuries historically were treated by nonoperative methods (cast immobilization, bandaging); however, operative repair of the ruptured tendon has become popular. Methods: Thirty-two patients who had rupture of the Achilles tendon were treated operatively with use of fibrin sealant, and clinical and functional performance measures were assessed after a mean followup of at least 6 months between November, 1998, and July, 2003. All of the patients were male. Average age was 38.18 (30 to 45) years. All of the patients were followed for at least 18 months after surgery. Average followup time was 22.4 (18 to 56) months. We evaluated all patients according to the scoring system of Thermann et al.Results: Our results were excellent in 24 patients and good in eight patients. One patient had rerupture 3 weeks after surgery. Conclusion: Fibrin sealants are biologically compatible, hemostatic agents derived from human plasma that can be used instead of suture or suture support. We think that the treatment of rupture of the Achilles tendon with fibrin sealant is a useful treatment, and there is less risk of complications, such as deep infection, than in other operative procedures. We had no wound closure problems, the incision size was small, and the operating time was short. However, it must be remembered that the risk of disease transfer by fibrin sealant application is still present.