Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of crp mutations on adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate metabolism in Salmonella typhimurium

Wild-type Salmonella typhimurium could not grow with exogenous cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (AMP) as the sole source of phosphate, but mutants capable of cyclic AMP utilization could be isolated provided the parental strain contained a functional cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase.All cyclic AMP-utilizing mutants had the growth and fermentation properties of cyclic AMP receptor protein (crp) mutants, and some lacked cyclic AMP binding activity in vitro. The genetic defect in each such mutant was due to a single point mutation, which was co-transducible with cysG. crp mutants isolated by alternative procedures also exhibited the capacity to utilize cyclic AMP. crp mutants synthesized cyclic AMP at increased rates and contained enhanced cellular cyclic AMP levels relative to the parental strains, regardless of whether or not cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase was active. Moreover, adenylate cyclase activity in vivo was less sensitive to regulation by glucose, possibly because the enzyme II complexes of the phosphotransferase system, responsible for glucose transport and phosphorylation, could not be induced to maximal levels. This possibility was strengthened by the observation that enzyme II activity (measured both in vitro by sugar phosphorylation and in vivo by sugar transport and chemotaxis) was inducible in the parental strain but not in crp mutants. The results suggest that the cyclic AMP receptor protein regulates cyclic AMP metabolism as well as catabolic enzyme synthesis.
SHAMANISM: PHENOMENOLOGY OF A SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE

The study of the Shamanistic State of Consciousness (SSC) is the focus of much current psychological interest. Harner (1980, 1988a)defines the SSC as a mental condition distinct from the Ordinary State of Consciousness (OSC) which is exclusively focused on external events and experiences. The SSC is synonymous with visualizing or imaging; it is akin to the "lucid" or "waking-dream," a dream in which a person knows that the apparently real world in which he finds himself is actually a dream. It is simultaneous conscious awareness of dream-ego and reality-ego (Watkins, 1976). The sse is not pathological nor involves a dissociative amnesia. In fact, the person can, to a large extent, exercise conscious control over dream events and dream duration, and the SSC is potentially highly psychotherapeutic (Achterberg, 1985;Noll, 1983,1985; Peters & Price-Williams, 1980; Tart, 1919; Walsh, 1989a, 1990). In addition to this, shamanism is the first spiritual discipline or path leading to immediate knowledge of the sacred (gnosis). As such, it is the root from which other spiritual disciplines have issued. This is why, as will be demonstrated, there are numerous parallels between shamanism and other spiritual disciplines utilizing trance states.
Mouse mammary tumor virus chromatin in human breast cancer cells is constitutively hypersensitive and exhibits steroid hormone-independent loading of transcription factors in vivo

We have stably introduced a reporter gene under the control of the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) long terminal repeat (LTR) into human T47D breast cancer cells to study the action of the progesterone receptor (PR) on transcription from a chromatin template. Unexpectedly, the chromatin organization of the MMTV LTR in these human breast cancer cells differed markedly from what we have observed previously. The region adjacent to the transcription start site (-221 to -75) was found to be constitutively hypersensitive to restriction enzyme cleavage in the absence of hormone. This region is normally encompassed within the second nucleosome of a phased array of six nucleosomes that is assembled when the MMTV LTR is stably maintained in mouse cells. Characteristically, in these rodent cells, the identical DNA sequences show increased restriction enzyme cleavage only in the presence of glucocorticoid. The increased access of restriction enzymes observed in the human PR+ cells was not observed in adjacent nucleosomes and was unaffected by treatment with the progesterone antagonist RU486. In addition, exonuclease III-dependent stops corresponding to the binding sites for nuclear factor 1 and the PR were observed before and after hormone treatment. These results indicate that MMTV chromatin replicated in these cells is organized into a constitutively open architecture and that this open chromatin state is accompanied by hormone-independent loading of a transcription factor complex that is normally excluded from uninduced chromatin.
Bayesian sample size determination in non‐sequential clinical trials: Statistical aspects and some regulatory considerations

The most common Bayesian methods for sample size determination (SSD) are reviewed in the non‐sequential context of a confirmatory phase III trial in drug development. After recalling the regulatory viewpoint on SSD, we discuss the relevance of the various priors applied to the planning of clinical trials. We then investigate whether these Bayesian methods could compete with the usual frequentist approach to SSD and be considered as acceptable from a regulatory viewpoint. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The mental health and psychosocial effects of organized violence: A qualitative study in northern Haiti

Historically, organized violence has been a chronic pervasive problem in Haiti. We set out to elicit Haitians’ views on its effects to guide the development of interventions. In March 2006 we studied a population in the slum area of Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second largest city, and the nearby towns of Milot and Limbe. A convenience sample of adults was asked to free list all current problems affecting victims of organized violence. Two major categories emerged: psychological problems and financial problems. The psychological problems of “feeling startled and loss of self control,” “sadness/grief,” “continuing to suffer from reliving/reexperiencing past events,” “problems in the head/mental problems,” “deep suffering in the heart,” and “thinking too much” emerged as themes from key-informant interviews. These may correspond to constructs of depression, dysthymia, and anxiety disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder in psychiatric nosology. The development of effective interventions can therefore consider those known to be effective for these problems in other settings. However in selecting interventions, considerations must also include local acceptability, perceived causes of problems, and their social effects.
10-year review of endolymphatic sac surgery for intractable meniere disease.

OBJECTIVE To review our 10-year experience of endolymphatic sac surgery (ESS) for intractable Meniere disease (MD). DESIGN Retrospective chart review and survey. SETTING Tertiary care centre. METHODS Patients presenting for ESS from 1998 to 2007 were reviewed using the 1995 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) guidelines. A quality of life (QOL) questionnaire was mailed out using the Dillman method. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES (1) 1995 AAO-HNS hearing stage, vertigo class, and functional level; (2) complications and secondary treatments; (3) a 40-question, disease-specific, validated QOL questionnaire (Meniere's Disease Outcome Questionnaire). RESULTS Thirty patients (33 ears) had ESS (63.6% male, mean age 49 years, mean follow-up 30.6 months). Vertigo control was 35.5% class A, 29.0% class B, 6.5% class C, 0% class D, 3.2% class E, and 25.8% class F. If class A and B are considered successful, then 64.5% were successful. Hearing stage improved in 14.8%, remained the same in 51.9%, and worsened in 33.3%. Average preoperative functional level was 4.3 and postoperative level was 3.5 (p = .0016). Secondary treatment after ESS was performed in 26%. Three patients (10.0%) had profound sensorineural hearing loss. Twenty-five questionnaire responses (75.8%) were received. There was a significant increase in QOL scores (p = .000001), and 80% had an improvement in QOL scores. CONCLUSIONS ESS is a surgical option for MD that offers relief from vertigo in selected patients, but patients need to be cautioned about the risk of hearing loss and the requirement for subsequent destructive treatment in a significant proportion of cases.
Good-Turing Frequency Estimation Without Tears

Linguists and speech researchers who use statistical methods often need to estimate the frequency of some type of item in a population containing items of various types. A common approach is to divide the number of cases observed in a sample by the size of the sample; sometimes small positive quantities are added to divisor and dividend in order to avoid zero estimates for types missing from the sample. These approaches are obvious and simple, but they lack principled justification, and yield estimates that can be wildly inaccurate. I.J. Good and Alan Turing developed a family of theoretically well-founded techniques appropriate to this domain. Some versions of the Good–Turing approach are very demanding computationally, but we define a version, the Simple Good–Turing estimator, which is straightforward to use. Tested on a variety of natural-language-related data sets, the Simple Good–Turing estimator performs well, absolutely and relative both to the approaches just discussed and to other, more sophisticated techniques.
A RISK ASSESSMENT STUDY OF CHILDREN PRIVACY OF THE MOBILE APPs

While privacy issues in children’s mobile applications are becoming increasingly sophisticated, the permissions in these applications are undergoing development without proper security implementation. Mobile applications with excessive privacy features can cause serious data leakages and other similar privacy issues, which can exert detrimental repercussions on children’s security. In this paper, we have conducted a risk assessment for this security matter, where we identified the risk, applied the controls, determined the residual risk, and established a set of recommendations. Keywords— Children, Mobile Applications, Permissions, Privacy, Risk Assessment
Insight: demographic differences and associations with one-year outcome in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.

BACKGROUND Insight is increasingly seen as an important variable for study in psychotic illness, particularly in relation to treatment adherence. This study aims to quantify the association of insight with outcome, sociodemographic variables and diagnosis in a large stable patient sample. METHOD Data are from a one-year, open-label, international, multicenter trial (n=670) of long-acting risperidone in adult symptomatically stable patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Psychopathology and insight were quantified using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Patients were assessed at four time points over the year of the study. RESULTS 31.2% of the sample showed clinically significant deficits in insight at baseline. There were no differences based on sex, but significant differences in age and diagnosis, with oldest patients and schizophrenia patients (cf., schizoaffective disorder) showing more deficits. Baseline insight impairment was correlated with change in PANSS score at one year (r=-0.243, p<0.001). Recursive partitioning showed that, of those whose symptoms improved, those whose insight also improved were more likely to complete the trial. CONCLUSIONS Insight is important above and beyond the effects of symptoms for predicting continuation in drug trials. This may have implications for the design and analysis of such trials, as well as suggesting the importance of targeting insight in treatment to increase likelihood of adherence to treatment. There also appear to be small but significant differences in insight based on age and diagnosis within the schizophrenia spectrum.
A Summary of the Scientific Literature on the Effects of Fire on the Concentration of Nutrients in Surface Waters

Abstract : This paper provides a detailed review of the chemical changes that occur in soil during a fire, the pathways by which nutrients are transferred from soil to surface-water bodies following a fire, and the temporal and spatial effects of fires on the concentration of nutrients in surface-water bodies during and following a fire that have been reported in the scientific literature. Thirty-nine papers from the scientific literature that represent studies that (1) were done in a variety of environments (savannas, grasslands, temperate forests, alpine forests, and so forth); (2) had a range of sampling frequency and duration, such as during and immediately following a fire (from the start of fire to 1 year later), short-term sampling (from end of fire to 3 years later), and long term-sampling (sampling for greater than 3 years following a fire); and (3) incorporated watersheds with various burn intensities, severities, and histories were reviewed and summarized. The review of the scientific literature has revealed that measurable effects of fires on streamwater quality are most likely to occur if the fire was severe enough to burn large amounts of organic matter, if windy conditions were present during the fire, if heavy rain occurred following the fire, and if the fire occurred in a watershed with steep slopes and soils with little cation-exchange capacity. Measurable effects of fires on lake- and reservoir water quality are most likely to occur if, in addition to the factors listed for streams, the lake or reservoir is oligotrophic or mesotrophic and the residence time of water in the lake or reservoir is short relative to the length of time elevated concentrations of nutrients occur in runoff. Knowledge of whether a lake or reservoir is nitrogen or phosphorus limited is important because eutrophication of nitrogen-limited lakes may occur following a fire due to increasing nitrogen:phosphorus ratios.
The R 18 polyarginine peptide is more effective than the TAT-NR 2 B 9 c ( NA-1 ) peptide when administered 60 minutes after permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion in the rat

1School of Health Sciences, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, WA 6160, Australia 2Western Australian Neuroscience Research Institute, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia 3Department of Neurosurgery, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, QEII Medical Centre, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia 4Centre for Neuromuscular and Neurological Disorders, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia
Induction of global stress response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells lacking telomerase.

Cellular senescence is a major intermediate step from healthy cells toward tumor cells. By using microarrays that simultaneously examine the transcription levels of 6,200 Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes, we show that 45 gene transcript levels are increased and 11 are decreased after exposure to telomere shortening and cellular senescence in a telomerase-deficient mutant. About half of the genes that showed increased expression were found induced under stress, consistent with the notion that critical short telomeres cause stress to cells. Surprisingly, the expression level of telomere recombination genes was not altered suggesting that even though recombination is a means to rescue critically short telomeres, its machinery was not controlled by telomere shortening. The expression of telomere-proximal genes was also analyzed. The possibility of induction of a program to cope with cellular senescence and active telomere-telomere recombination is discussed.
Randomized placebo-controlled trial of metformin for adolescents with polycystic ovary syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether metformin or placebo could, in conjunction with healthy lifestyle counseling, decrease serum testosterone levels and related aberrations in adolescents with hyperandrogenism, hyperinsulinemia, and polycystic ovarian syndrome. DESIGN Randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. SETTING Pediatric university teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS Twenty-two adolescents aged 13 to 18 years with hyperinsulinemia and polycystic ovarian syndrome. INTERVENTION Participants were randomly assigned to take a 12-week course of either metformin or placebo. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Pretreatment and posttreatment oral glucose tolerance tests, fasting lipid profiles, and clinical measurements. RESULTS There was a significant decline in mean serum testosterone concentration with metformin (-38.3 ng/dL) compared with placebo (-0.86 ng/dL) (95% confidence interval, -infinity to -0.29 for the mean difference between groups). At completion, the relative risk of menses was 2.50 times higher in the metformin group compared with the placebo (95% confidence interval, 1.12 to 5.58). Measures of insulin sensitivity, including insulin area under the curve and HOMA (homeostasis model assessment), demonstrated improvement only with metformin, but these did not reach statistical significance. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels increased by 6.98 mg/dL with metformin vs a decrease of -2.33 mg/dL with placebo (95% confidence interval, 0.78 to 18.23 for the mean difference between groups). There were no significant changes in body mass index, hirsutism, triglyceride levels, or total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. CONCLUSION Metformin significantly lowered total testosterone concentrations, increased the likelihood of menses, and improved high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels without affecting measures of insulin sensitivity or body weight.
Lipid Profile and Antioxidant Enzymes in Normal and Stressed Rat Fed with Palm Olein

Problem statement: The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of Red Palm Olein (RPO) and Palm Olein (PO) on lipid profile and antioxidant enzyme in normal and stressed rat. Approach: Thirty six Sprague Dawley male rats which were randomly divided into six groups of 6 rats per group (tree normal groups and three stressed groups) were treated with 15% of RPO and PO for four weeks. Results: The results at 4 weeks of treatment showed a decline in Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C) level at RPO and PO for normal and stressed groups compared to the control group. The High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C) level increased in RPO and PO of the normal and stressed groups. There was significant decreased (p? 0.05) in the TC in RPO normal group for 4 weeks of treatment compared to the control group while the TC in PO was within the normal range and increased in stressed group. After 4 weeks of treatment the study indicated that there was no significant (p? 0.05) effect on antioxidant enzyme (superoxide dismutase) in stressed rat liver but there was a significant decreased (p? 0.05) on catalase in stressed rat liver. Conclusion: These results could be due to the high content of vitamin E (tocopherols and tocotrienols) and ? -carotene in red palm olein.
Preoperative screening for potential T&A bleeding.

Two hundred and six patients prior to tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (T&A) were screened utilizing the partial thromboplastin test (PTT). No bleeding abnormalities were detected in our series. However, the PTT has been shown to be a valuable presurgical screening test for bleeding because it is the most precise and reproducible single test which will detect 90% or more of the latent or unsuspected potential bleeders. The test must be carefully done but is easily performed, is commercially available, and can accurately be done in the smallest laboratory. Since unsuspected bleeders who previously would not have been detected with a bleeding and coagulation time can now be discovered by the PTT and because they are not rare, routine preoperative screening is advocated.
Photovoice as a Community-Based Participatory Research Method among Women Living with HIV/AIDS: Ethical Opportunities and Challenges

Photovoice is a method in which participants use photography to identify, express, and disseminate their experiences. We conducted photovoice projects with women living with HIV/AIDS (N=21) to explore opportunities and challenges associated with the method. Photovoice provided a means to achieve two key principles of ethical public health practice: It gives participants opportunities to define their health priorities, and facilitates participant empowerment. Ethical challenges that were encountered related to exposing, through photographs, one's identity as living with HIV/AIDS, illicit activities, and other people. We discuss lessons learned for future practice to maximize the ethical opportunities and manage the challenges associated with using photovoice as an HIV-related CBPR strategy.
Filtering method for obtaining stock indices by shark species from species-combined logbook data in tuna longline fisheries

A method of filtering logbook data to obtain estimates of catch per unit effort (CPUE) for sharks has been proposed which simultaneously addresses the issues of under-reporting and the lack of species-specific catch records in historical data. Logbook catch data from vessels with high shark reporting rates are used to represent catch rates for the abundant blue shark Prionace glauca and low reporting vessels data are used for the main commercially valuable species, the shortfin mako Isurus oxyrinchus. Logbook reporting rate filter (RRF) levels are evaluated through analytical and model-based comparisons to species-specific logbook records available since 1994 and shipboard observer data. At the high reporting rates, the ≥80% filter avoids large numbers of false zeros and provides the best fit to observer data for blue shark. At the low reporting rates, the <40% filter best matches the observer data for makos, but this filter level includes large numbers of false zeros and sharks of other species. The ≤20% filter produces a dataset that is better targeted to mako catches but considerably under-estimates CPUE relative to observer records. For these reasons, other means of estimating mako catch rates are suggested for further research.
Hematological and clinicochemical values for free-ranging pronghorn fawns.

From 1973 to 1975, inclusive, blood from 253 free-ranging pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) neonates in southeastern Alberta was obtained for hematological and clinicochemical determinations. Mean erythrocyte, hematocrit, hemoglobin, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate values were 9.68 × 106/mm3, 39.7%, 14.6 g/dL, and 21.5 mm/24 h, respectively. Mean leukocyte number in fawns was 3.97 × 103/mm3 of which 62.9% were neutrophils. The high erythrocyte, hematocrit, and hemoglobin values may be a significant adaptive characteristic of pronghorn fawns. Mean clinicochemical values for pronghorn neonates included the following: calcium 12.4 mg/dL, magnesium 2.2 mg/dL, phosphorus 10.0 mg/dL, sodium 145.2 mequiv. /L, potassium 6.23 mequiv. /L, cholesterol 67.4 mg/dL, glucose 203.5 mg/dL, and creatinine 2.37 mg/dL. With respect to serum enzymes, mean values for glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (EC 2.6.1.1), glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (EC 2.6.1.2). creatine phosphokinase (EC 2.7.3.2), and alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.