Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Donepezil on Cortical Activation in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial Using Functional MR Imaging

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cholinesterase-inhibitor therapy is approved for treatment of Alzheimer disease; however, application in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is still under active investigation. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of such therapy on the neural substrates underlying memory processing in subjects with MCI by using functional MR imaging (fMRI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirteen subjects with MCI (mean age, 68 ± 6.9 years) enrolled in a multicenter double-blind placebo-controlled trial testing the clinical efficacy of the cholinesterase-inhibitor, donepezil, were studied with fMRI at baseline and following 12 or 24 weeks of therapy (single-site pilot study). The cognitive paradigm was delayed-response visual memory for novel faces. Within-group 1-sample t tests were performed on the donepezil and placebo groups at baseline and at follow-up. A repeated-measures analysis of variance design was used to look for a Treatment Group × Time interaction showing a significant donepezil- but not placebo-related change in blood oxygen level–dependent response during the course of the study. RESULTS: At baseline, both groups showed multiple areas of activation, including the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, fusiform gyrus, and anterior cingulate cortex. On follow-up, the placebo group demonstrated a decreased extent of dorsolateral prefrontal activation, whereas the donepezil group demonstrated an increased extent of activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Interaction demonstrated significant donepezil- but not placebo-related change in the left inferior frontal gyrus. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the limitations inherent to a pilot study of a small sample, our results point to specific cortical substrates underlying the actions of donepezil, which can be tested in future studies.
Clinical significance, pathogenesis, and management of postprandial hyperglycemia.

It is well established that strict glycemic control (hemoglobin A1c <7.0%) can prevent the microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus. Recent studies indicate that elevated plasma glucose concentrations are an independent and clinically significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease in nondiabetic and diabetic individuals. Thus, isolated postprandial hyperglycemia (2-hour postprandial glucose level >140 mg/dL [>7.8 mmol/L]) in the face of normal fasting plasma glucose (<110 mg/dL [<6.1 mmol/L]) and normal hemoglobin A1c (<6.1%) values is associated with a 2-fold increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease. These observations imply that more strict glycemic control is required to prevent macrovascular disease than microvascular disease. This review summarizes epidemiologic and experimental studies linking postprandial hyperglycemia to cardiovascular disease and therapeutic approaches available and in development to treat this disorder.
Cutting Edge: Characterization of Allorestricted and Peptide-Selective Alloreactive T Cells Using HLA-Tetramer Selection1

The vast majority of alloreactive T cells recognize foreign MHC molecules in a peptide-dependent manner. A subpopulation of these peptide-dependent alloreactive T cells is peptide-specific and contains T cells that are of interest for tumor immunotherapy. Allorestricted T cells (i.e., peptide-specific and alloreactive) specific for tumor-associated Ags can be raised in vitro. However, it is technically difficult to distinguish between peptide-specific and peptide-nonspecific alloreactive T cells by functional assays in vitro. Here we show for the first time that allorestricted T cells specifically bind HLA-peptide tetrameric complexes, as nominal Ag-specific T cells would do. In consequence, fluorescent HLA-peptide tetrameric complexes can be used for sorting and cloning of allorestricted CTLs specific for a peptide of interest. We also show by the mean of HLA-peptide tetramers the existence of peptide-selective alloreactive T cells that recognize a conformation on the foreign-MHC brought about by some but not all peptides bound.
WISE DETECTIONS OF KNOWN QSOs AT REDSHIFTS GREATER THAN SIX

We present WISE All-Sky mid-infrared (IR) survey detections of 55% (17/31) of the known QSOs at z > 6 from a range of surveys: the SDSS, the CFHT-LS, FIRST, Spitzer, and UKIDSS. The WISE catalog thus provides a substantial increase in the quantity of IR data available for these sources: 17 are detected in the WISE W1 (3.4 μm) band, 16 in W2 (4.6 μm), 3 in W3 (12 μm), and 0 in W4 (22 μm). This is particularly important with Spitzer in its warm-mission phase and no faint follow-up capability at wavelengths longward of 5 μm until the launch of James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). WISE thus provides a useful tool for understanding QSOs found in forthcoming large-area optical/IR sky surveys using PanSTARRS, SkyMapper, VISTA, DES, and LSST. The rest-UV properties of the WISE-detected and the WISE-non-detected samples differ: the detections have brighter i/z-band magnitudes and redder rest-UV colors. This suggests that a more aggressive hunt for very high redshift QSOs by combining WISE W1 and W2 data with red, observed optical colors could be effective at least for a subset of dusty candidate QSOs. Stacking the WISE images of the WISE-non-detected QSOs indicates that they are, on average, significantly fainter than the WISE-detected examples, and are thus not narrowly missing detection in the WISE catalog. The WISE catalog detection of three of our sample in the W3 band indicates that their mid-IR flux can be detected individually, although there is no stacked W3 detection of sources detected in W1 but not W3. Stacking analyses of WISE data for large active galactic nucleus samples will be a useful tool, and high-redshift QSOs of all types will be easy targets for JWST.
Numerical Modeling of Novel Co-Reactant Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence Systems for Analytical Applications

This thesis focuses on the numerical modeling of co-reactant electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) systems that have been recently proposed for analytical applications. Co-reactant ECL is light emission triggered by an electrochemical reaction of a luminophore with a co-reactant. Many researchers are trying to expand its application in the analytical field with carrying out various experiments. However, recent reports on the co-reactant ECL have revealed several phenomena that are not yet fully understood from theoretical viewpoint. Better understanding of the reaction mechanism for ECL generation is necessary for further improvement of the co-reactant ECL. In this context, three kinds of recently-proposed co-reactant ECL systems were numerically modeled in this study to analyze the reaction mechanism. The numerical modeling in this study mainly deals with dynamic ECL behavior while the potential of a working electrode changes with time. The modeling of this kind of dynamic ECL behavior provides us more information than that of static ECL behavior because very precise analysis can be carried out by the consideration of dynamic changes in the modeling parameters. In conclusion, the numerical modeling in this study contributed to the better understanding of the reaction mechanism for ECL generation, which can support further improvement of co-reactant ECL systems. Analysis for the reaction mechanism from theoretical viewpoint should be adequately considered in future experimental studies.
Identification and characterization of Toxoplasma SIP, a conserved apicomplexan cytoskeleton protein involved in maintaining the shape, motility and virulence of the parasite

Apicomplexa possess a complex pellicle that is composed of a plasma membrane and a closely apposed inner membrane complex (IMC) that serves as a support for the actin‐myosin motor required for motility and host cell invasion. The IMC consists of longitudinal plates of flattened vesicles, fused together and lined on the cytoplasmic side by a subpellicular network of intermediate filament‐like proteins. The spatial organization of the IMC has been well described by electron microscopy, but its composition and molecular organization is largely unknown. Here, we identify a novel protein of the IMC cytoskeletal network in Toxoplasma gondii, called TgSIP, and conserved among apicomplexan parasites. To finely pinpoint the localization of TgSIP, we used structured illumination super‐resolution microscopy and revealed that it likely decorates the transverse sutures of the plates and the basal end of the IMC. This suggests that TgSIP might contribute to the organization or physical connection among the different components of the IMC. We generated a T.gondii SIP deletion mutant and showed that parasites lacking TgSIP are significantly shorter than wild‐type parasites and show defects in gliding motility, invasion and reduced infectivity in mice.
Impact of Corporate Governance on Disclosure Quality: Empirical Evidence from Listed Banks in Malaysia

The Asian financial crisis in 1997 has awakened the regulators and corporates on the importance of corporate governance. In any country’s economy, banking sector plays an important role for the better economy. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to examine the relationship between corporate governance and disclosure quality of listed banks on Bursa Malaysia. Corporate governance variables tested in this study are the board leadership structure, board composition, board size, director ownership, institutional ownership and block ownership. The researchers developed the disclosure index and it will be checked against the information disclosed in the annual reports. Then, in calculating the weighted disclosure score, the views of accountants and financial analysts are also considered through survey questionnaire. The results reveal that better disclosure quality of the annual reports in banking sector can be achieved by having separate board leadership structure, higher proportion of independent non-executive directors, higher board size, lower ownership by the directors, institutional and block shareholders.
The Effect of the Enron-Andersen Affair on Audit Pricing

This study examines whether and how the Enron-Andersen affair affected audit fees by investigating the sample before (years 2000 and 2001) and after (years 2002 and 2003) the occurrence of this prominent event in the U.S. audit market. The results show that, on average, audit fees have not only increased but that the fee premiums of the remaining Big 4 audit firms are also higher post-Enron. The fee-cutting phenomenon in an initial engagement is still applicable for former Andersen clients, who had to switch to a new auditor in the year 2002. However, among the clients of Big 4 auditors, the degree of fee-cutting is statistically greater for former Andersen's clients as compared to those for non-former Andersen's clients, ceteris paribus. The changed structure of audit pricing is not just a one shot reaction by the audit industry after the first year of the affair, but has lasted to the second year. Finally, post-Enron, I find evidence of higher fees for Big 4 industry specialists relative to non-specialist auditors, but this result only applies when the client is a small company.
What Makes for Effective Microenterprise Training

Only a few studies so far have focused on the relationship between effective training and technical assistance, and client success at starting, stabilizing, or expanding a business. The Aspen Institute's Microenterprise Fund for Innovation, Effectiveness, Learning, and Dissemination (FIELD) project selected five U.S. microenterprise organizations to increase the industry's understanding of what makes for effective training and technical assistance. What follows is a summary of key findings in two categories: those that address the relationship between the characteristics of clients and their business success, and those that address the relationship of business skills training and client success.
Implications of Trade Liberalisation on Indian Dairy Sector: An Empirical Analysis

Dairy industry witnessed radical changes in the last decade of the 20th century as a consequence of the economic reforms initiated by the Government of India in 1991. Beginning with the delicensing and deregulation, the dairy industry entered a new phase with India’s signing of Uruguay Round Agreement (URA) of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). As the international trade restrictions and regulations are gradually melting away in the wake of GATT negotiations, which culminated in the formation of World Trade Organisation (WTO), the traditional dairy sector which had been under high levels of government interventions and regulations hitherto, has now moved to a situation where there are commonly acceptable trade barriers, export subsidy restraints and minimum market access provisions that are sure to put the industry on new gears. Moreover, the combined effects of both the macroeconomic reforms and WTO commitments may well reconstruct the environment in which the Indian dairy industry will operate. In the international dairy market, though the immediate impact of Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) which promotes liberalisation in global trade is less certain, the dairy industry is showing initial symptoms of structural changes in the trade patterns, in the form of redistribution of market share among the major players. Under liberalised and globalised conditions, analysis of global competitiveness is a must for any economic enterprise engaged in the production of tradable commodity. Despite impressive growth of exports of dairy products their export performance was limited by their lack of competitiveness. In view of all these projections and potential changes, as the country move towards a more and more liberalised economy, opinions on whether the impact of trade liberalisation are beneficial or adverse to the Indian dairy industry are sharply divided. At a time when we are facing series of negotiations at the WTO level, we need to put forward our concerns and argue for the interests of the nation, which can be best done by conducting a series of empirical studies on every sector of the economy. The present study analyses the dairy trade
Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of New Innovative TMF–AMF Contacts for High-Current Vacuum Arc Interruption

This paper consists of investigating the vacuum arc behavior during the high-current interruption process with a new innovative coaxial double-contact system. The structure of the so-called TMF-AMF double-contact offers the advanatage of low total resistance for nominal current conduction as in standard transverse magnetic field (TMF) contacts and similar vacuum arc control as in axial magnetic field (AMF) contacts. For an optimized contact's geometry, finite element method B-field simulations were performed to evaluate the effect of geometric parameters on the axial B-field strength and distribution and mechanical simulations to evaluate the closing forces distribution. The arc dynamics for two distinct cases, where the arc ignition takes place between the inner contacts, and between the outer contacts, are investigated experimentally. The arc appearance extracted from the high-speed movie is correlated with the arc voltage to explain the mechanisms of arc commutation to fully diffuse mode. It has been shown that the commutation to fully diffuse arc takes place in all cases but with a shorter commutation time with the second case. The benefit of using the present TMF–AMF contact system for high-current interruption while keeping the total nominal resistance as low as possible is demonstrated.
Activity of botulinum toxin type A in cranial dura: implications for treatment of migraine and other headaches

Although botulinum toxin type A (BoNT/A) is approved for chronic migraine treatment, its mechanism of action is still unknown. Dural neurogenic inflammation (DNI) commonly used to investigate migraine pathophysiology can be evoked by trigeminal pain. Here, we investigated the reactivity of cranial dura to trigeminal pain and the mechanism of BoNT/A action on DNI.
METAL REDUCTION REACTIONS OF THE MELANINS: HISTOCHEMICAL STUDIES

In general the melanins are argentaffin and, except in hair cortex, reduce ferric ferricyanide. Cutaneous and ocular melanins reduce acid silver nitrate, more promptly in guinea pigs than in man and rhesus monkeys. This reduction is slower than that of ammoniacal silver nitrate. It may be accelerated so as to occur in one or two minutes by prior reduction of the melanins by sodium hydrosulfite. Neuromelanin reduces acid silver nitrate very slowly (2-3 days) and prior hydrosulfite reduction does not induce rapid reductivity for acid silver. Acetylation has no influence on the reductivity of melanin for acid or ammoniacal silver or ferric ferricyanide. But, if applied to cutaneous and ocular melanins after reduction with hydrosulfite, it then greatly impairs the reduction of acid silver nitrate, but not of ammoniacal silver. Acetylation similarly influences the reductivity of catechol toward the acid and ammoniacal silver solutions. Oxidation has two general effects on the melanins, an irreversible bleaching by the more drastic oxidants, and a reversible abolition or impairment of their reducing capacity toward acid and ammoniacal silver solutions and ferric ferri cyanide. The oxidants vary in their effect on the silver and ferric ferricyanide reactions, so that some are more effective against the argentaffin reactions, others against the ferric ferricyanide reaction. Likewise the cutaneous, ocular and nerve cell melanins show differences in loss of reductivity with the various oxidants. Tumor melanins seem somewhat less reactive to silver than adjacent normal tissue melanins. Ocular tumor melanin resembles chorioidal melanin more than the epithelial melanins of the retina, ciliary and iris. The argentaffin reaction of cutaneous and ocular melanin is probably assignable to the presence of quinhydrone groupings which may be reversibly oxidized to quinones and reduced to diphenols. This type of grouping does not appear to be present in neuromelanin. Neuromelanin, from this and from the other recorded differences, appears to be a distinct substance, perhaps not even closely related chemically to the other melanins.
Nuclear matrix localization of high mobility group protein I(Y) in a transgenic mouse model for prostate cancer

Nuclear shape and the underlying nuclear structure, the nuclear matrix in cancer cells. Since the NM composition is considered to maintain nuclear shape and architecture, nuclear matrix proteins (NMPs) may be involved in transformation. Our laboratory has recently characterized a subset of NMPs that are associated with prostate cancer development in the transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate (TRAMP) model. One of the identified NMPs, E3E, has a similar molecular weight (22 kDa) with a protein known as HMGI(Y). HMGI(Y) belongs to a group of non‐histone and chromatin‐associated proteins, high‐mobility‐group (HMG) proteins, and it has been shown to associate with the NM. HMGI(Y) has been reported to be elevated in different types of cancer including prostate cancer. In this study, we examined the expression of HMGI(Y) protein in the NMP composition of the TRAMP model during the progression from normal to neoplasia. The expression of HMGI(Y) in the NMP extracts of three prostatic epithelial cell lines derived from a 32‐week TRAMP mouse: TRAMP‐C1, TRAMP‐C2, and TRAMP‐C3 was also examined. Using both one‐dimensional and high‐resolution two‐dimensional immunoblot analyses, we found that: (i) HMGI(Y) is a nuclear matrix protein expressed as two protein bands with MW of 22–24 kDa and (ii) HMGI(Y) expression is correlated with neoplastic and malignant properties in late stage TRAMP prostate tumors. Overall, these findings support the evidence that HMGI(Y) can be utilized as a marker and prognostic tool for prostate cancer. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Functional disability in paediatric patients with recurrent abdominal pain.

BACKGROUND Recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) is common in childhood, affecting approximately 12% of children and adolescents. Children with RAP tend to experience impairments in functioning, such as increased school absences, anxiety and depression. METHODS The current study investigated the potential influences on the relation between functional disability and RAP in 100 school-aged children. A series of hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to test two models: main effects and moderation of the relation between abdominal pain symptoms, child anxiety, child depression, maternal emotional distress, maternal encouragement of child illness behaviour and functional disability. RESULTS The results indicated support for abdominal pain symptoms and child depression in predicting functional disability. The results also indicated that child anxiety and child depression each moderated the relation between pain symptoms and functional disability. CONCLUSIONS Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of potential influences on the development of functional disability in youth.
AKT Induces Transcriptional Activity of PU.1 through Phosphorylation-mediated Modifications within Its Transactivation Domain*

Signal transduction by the antigen receptor complexes is critical for developmental progression of B-lymphocytes, which are defined by assembly and sequential expression of immunoglobulin genes, which in turn are regulated by the enhancer elements. Although proximal antigen-receptor signal transduction pathways are well defined, the precise nuclear factors targeted by these signals remained unknown. Previous studies have demonstrated that tissue-restricted transcription factors including PU.1 and PU. 1 interaction partner (PIP) function synergistically with c-Fos plus c-Jun to stimulate the κE3′-enhancer in 3T3 cells. In this study, we demonstrate that the functional synergy between these factors is enhanced in response to mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase, in 3T3 cells, where the enhancer is inactive. However in S194 plasmacytoma cells, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase was able to stimulate the activity of PU.1 but unable to induce the κE3′-enhancer activity. We have found that Ras-phosphoinositide 3-kinase-dependent externally regulated kinase, AKT, induces κE3′-enhancer activity in both pre-B and plasmacytoma cells. AKT stimulation of the κE3′-enhancer is primarily due to PU.1 induction and is independent of PU.1 interaction with PIP. Activation of AKT had no effect on the expression levels of PU.1 or its protein-protein interaction with PIP. Using a series of deletion constructs, we have determined that the PU.1 acid-rich (amino acids 33–74) transactivation domain is necessary for AKT-mediated induction. Substitution analyses within this region indicate that phosphorylation of Ser41 is necessary to respond to AKT. Consistent with these studies, ligation of antigen receptors in A20 B cells mimics AKT activation of PU.1. Taken together, these results provide evidence that PU.1 is induced by AKT signal in a phosphoinositide 3-kinase-dependent manner, leading to inducible or constitutive activation of its target genes.