Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic variation in the tryptophan hydroxylase 2 gene moderates depressive symptom trajectories and remission over 8 weeks of escitalopram treatment

The serotonin system plays an important role in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD) and genetic variations in serotonin-related genes affect the efficacy of antidepressants. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between genotypic variation in six candidate serotonergic genes (ADCY9, HTR1B, GNB3, HTR2A, TPH2, SLC6A4) and depressive and anxiety symptom severity trajectories as well as remission following escitalopram treatment. A total of 166 Chinese patients with MDD were treated with escitalopram (open-label) for 8 weeks. TPH2 rs4570625 GG carriers were more likely to achieve depressive and anxiety symptom remission compared with T-allele carriers. At the trend level (Pcorrected=0.05), depressive symptom severity trajectories were moderated by TPH2 rs4570625. Patients with the GT or the GG genotype showed more favorable depressive symptom severity trajectories compared with TT genotype carriers. Polymorphisms in ADCY9, HTR1B, and HTR2A were nominally associated with symptom remission, but did not withstand correction for multiple comparisons. The HTTLPR polymorphism was not included in our final analysis because of a high percentage of missing data. These results suggested that genotypic variation in TPH2 may moderate the therapeutic response to esciatlopram among Chinese patients with MDD.
Characterization of the nuclear matrix proteins in a transgenic mouse model for prostate cancer

The nuclear matrix (NM) contains a number of proteins that have been found to be associated with transformation. We have previously identified changes in the NM associated with prostate cancer. In this study, we examine the molecular changes that are associated with prostate cancer development in transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate (TRAMP) model by studying the differences in the NM proteins (NMPs). We collected prostates from the TRAMP males at six critical time points: 6 weeks (puberty), 11 and 19 weeks (development of mild hyperplasia), 25 weeks (development of severe hyperplasia), 31 and 37 weeks (development of neoplasia). The nuclear matrices from the prostates collected at these time points were then isolated and the NMPs were characterized by high‐resolution two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis. We found three NMPs (E1A, E1B, and E1C) that were present in the 6‐week‐old prostate and two NMPs (E2A and E2B) that were present in the 11‐week‐old prostate. These NMPs were absent in the 31‐ and 37‐week‐old prostate. We also found five NMPs (E3A–E3E) that were present in the 31‐week‐old prostate, but absent in the earlier time points. In addition, three NMPs (Le1, Le2, Le3) were present at higher expression in the 6‐, 11‐, 19‐, and 25‐weeks old TRAMP prostates, but they were expressed lower during the development of neoplasia at 31‐ and 37‐weeks old. Identification of these NMPs permits the development of novel markers that can characterize various stages of prostate cancer development as well as potentially therapeutic targets. J. Cell. Biochem. 86: 203–212, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Diabetes among Inuit migrants in Denmark

Abstract Objectives. The study aimed to estimate the prevalence of diabetes and impaired glucose intolerance (IGT) among Inuit migrants living in Denmark, and to compare with findings from Greenland. Further, we analyzed determinants for diabetes and impaired glucose metabolism. Study Design. Cross-sectional, population—based epidemiological study. Methods. This cross-sectional study included randomly selected Inuit migrants in Denmark aged 34 years and above. Diabetes and IGT were diagnosed using the oral glucose tolerance test. Body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference were measured, and blood samples were taken from each subject. Socio-demographic characteristics were investigated using a questionnaire. For comparison, data from the Greenland Population Study were used (n = 917). Results. Of 506 eligible subjects, 256 (51%) participated. Twenty-six subjects had diabetes (10.2%) and twenty-eight had IGT (10.9%). Of those with diabetes, 64% had not been previously diagnosed. The prevalences of diabetes and IGT were not significantly different from those among Inuit in Greenland. Significant predictors of diabetes and impaired glucose metabolism (IGM) were found to be age, waist circumference and physical inactivity. The association between waist circumference and diabetes was significantly stronger among Inuit migrants in Denmark than among Inuit in Greenland. Conclusions. The prevalence of diabetes is high among the Inuit migrants in Denmark. However, unlike that reported in most studies, the prevalence was not significantly higher in the migrant population compared with the population of origin. (Int J Circumpolar Health 2005; 64(4):354–364)
Detection of Snake Fungal Disease Due to Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola in Virginia, USA

Abstract Snake fungal disease (SFD) is an emerging disease of wildlife believed to be caused by Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola. Although geographic and host ranges have yet to be determined, this disease is characterized by crusty scales, superficial pustules, and subcutaneous nodules, with subsequent morbidity and mortality in some snake species. To confirm the presence of SFD and O. ophiodiicola in snakes of eastern Virginia, US, we clinically examined 30 free-ranging snakes on public lands from April to October 2014. Skin biopsy samples were collected from nine snakes that had gross lesions suggestive of SFD; seven of these biopsies were suitable for histologic interpretation, and eight were suitable for culture and PCR detection of O. ophiodiicola. Seven snakes had histologic features consistent with SFD and eight were positive for O. ophiodiicola by PCR or fungal culture.
An Energy Aware Unified Ant Colony System for Dynamic Virtual Machine Placement in Cloud Computing

Energy efficiency is a significant topic in cloud computing. Dynamic consolidation of virtual machines (VMs) with live migration is an important method to reduce energy consumption. However, frequent VM live migration may cause a downtime of service. Therefore, the energy save and VM migration are two conflict objectives. In order to efficiently solve the dynamic VM consolidation, the dynamic VM placement (DVMP) problem is formed as a multiobjective problem in this paper. The goal of DVMP is to find a placement solution that uses the fewest servers to host the VMs, including two typical dynamic conditions of the assignment of new coming VMs and the re-allocation of existing VMs. Therefore, we propose a unified algorithm based on an ant colony system (ACS), termed the unified ACS (UACS), that works on both conditions. The UACS firstly uses sufficient servers to host the VMs and then gradually reduces the number of servers. With each especial number of servers, the UACS tries to find feasible solutions with the fewest VM migrations. Herein, a dynamic pheromone deposition method and a special heuristic information strategy are also designed to reduce the number of VM migrations. Therefore, the feasible solutions under different numbers of servers cover the Pareto front of the multiobjective space. Experiments with large-scale random workloads and real workload traces are conducted to evaluate the performance of the UACS. Compared with traditional heuristic, probabilistic, and other ACS based algorithms, the proposed UACS presents competitive performance in terms of energy consumption, the number of VM migrations, and maintaining quality of services (QoS) requirements.
Hospital downsizing and workforce reduction strategies: some inner workings

Downsizing, manpower reductions, re-engineering, and resizing are used extensively in the United States to reduce cost and to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of various functions and processes. Published studies report that these managerial strategies result in a minimal impact on access to services, quality of care, and the ability to reduce costs. But, these approaches certainly alienate employees. These findings are usually explained by the significant difficulties experienced in eliminating nursing and other similar direct patient care-oriented positions and in terminating white-collar employees. Possibly an equally plausible reason why hospitals and physician practices react so poorly to these management strategies is their cost structure-high fixed (85%) and low variable (15%)-and that simply generating greater volume does not necessarily achieve economies of scale. More workable alternatives for health executives to effectuate cost reductions consist of simplifying prepayment, decreasing the overall availability and centralizing tertiary services at academic health centres, and closing superfluous hospitals and other health facilities. America's pluralistic values and these proposals having serious political repercussions for health executives and elected officials often present serious barriers in their implementation.
A CMOS vision chip with SIMD processing element array for 1 ms image processing

Conventional image processing systems use a video signal as a transmission signal between an image sensor and image processor. The video rate, however, is not fast enough for some applications such as visual feedback for robot control, automobiles, gesture recognition for human interfaces, high speed visual inspection, microscope image processing, and so on. For such applications, the video signal, which is a time-multiplexed signal of pixel data using scanning circuits, is a bottleneck of conventional image processing systems. The key to the realization of high speed and flexible image processing beyond the video signal rate is to remove the bottleneck of data transfer and implement general purpose functionality. In other words, a fully parallel architecture with generality of processing should be adopted instead of scanning circuits. This CMOS vision chip has massively parallel processing elements integrated with photodetectors. These chips have a SIMD massively parallel processing architecture with each processing element (PE) connected to a photodetector (PD) without scanning circuits.
Neural Word Segmentation with Rich Pretraining

Neural word segmentation research has benefited from large-scale raw texts by leveraging them for pretraining character and word embeddings. On the other hand, statistical segmentation research has exploited richer sources of external information, such as punctuation, automatic segmentation and POS. We investigate the effectiveness of a range of external training sources for neural word segmentation by building a modular segmentation model, pretraining the most important submodule using rich external sources. Results show that such pretraining significantly improves the model, leading to accuracies competitive to the best methods on six benchmarks.
Smoking cessation behavior in older adults by race and gender: the role of health problems and psychological distress.

INTRODUCTION Initial research on older smokers suggests that a subgroup of smokers with higher levels of psychological distress and health problems may be more likely to quit smoking than older smokers with fewer such problems. The present study, based on prospective data from a biracial sample of older adults (N = 4,162), examined characteristics of older adult smokers by race and gender. METHODS The present study uses both cross-sectional and prospective data to examine the association between smoking behavior, smoking cessation, health functioning, and psychological distress in a biracial sample of community-dwelling older adults. RESULTS We found baseline psychological distress to be associated with poor health functioning. Consistent with hypotheses, baseline (Time 1) psychological distress predicted smoking cessation 3 years later (Time 2). Moreover, the change in health problems between Time 1 and Time 2 fully mediated the association between Time 1 distress and smoking cessation. DISCUSSION Smoking cessation behavior of older adults is best explained by higher levels of distress and health problems regardless of race or gender. These findings may have important treatment implications regarding smoking cessation programs among older adults. Older adult smokers with higher levels of psychological distress and health problems may be more motivated to quit smoking than those with fewer such problems. These difficulties should be targeted within the context of the smoking cessation protocol. Also, we identified a subgroup of older smokers who are reporting fairly good health and lower levels of distress and who are less likely to quit smoking. Motivational methods may need to be developed to engage this group in smoking cessation treatment.
Apoptosis-related biomarkers sFAS, MIF, ICAM-1 and PAI-1 in serum of breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND Neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves surgical options and prognosis in patients with operable breast cancer. Predictive biomarkers are needed to choose the most effective therapy and to avoid unnecessary toxicity. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed the courses of apoptosis-related serum biomarkers macrophage migration-inhibitory factor (MIF), soluble cell death receptor sFAS, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (sICAM), plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) as well as the oncological biomarkers carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) in prospectively collected sera of 51 patients with locally confined breast cancer undergoing preoperative chemotherapy. As controls 31 healthy women, 13 patients with benign breast disease and 28 patients with metastasized breast cancer were included. RESULTS sFAS, MIF, CEA and CA15-3 showed significantly higher serum concentrations in patients with metastasized breast cancer than in healthy and benign controls. Additionally, sFAS and MIF discriminated between locally confined breast cancer and healthy controls with an area under the curve (AUC) in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of 73.4% and 70.7%. After neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 38 patients achieved complete (N=9) or partial (N=29) remission, while 13 patients had no change of disease. Pretherapeutic levels of MIF were considerably higher in non-responsive patients (p=0.082). In addition, post-therapeutic sICAM and CA15-3 levels were higher in patients without complete remission. CONCLUSION Apoptosis-related biomarkers are valuable markers in breast cancer patients and show potential for early estimation of the efficiency of neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Induction of osteoclast-associated receptor, a key osteoclast costimulation molecule, in rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE Osteoclast-associated receptor (OSCAR) is a newly identified osteoclast-specific receptor and is of key importance in the process of osteoclast costimulation. This study was undertaken to define the role of costimulation in osteoclast differentiation during inflammatory arthritis. METHODS OSCAR expression was assessed in the synovium and peripheral blood monocytes of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and associations with disease activity were assessed. Serum levels of OSCAR were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In vitro osteoclast assays were performed to characterize the role of OSCAR in human osteoclastogenesis. Cytokine regulation of OSCAR was investigated by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS OSCAR was expressed by osteoclasts at the erosion front and by mononuclear cells around synovial microvessels. Flow cytometry revealed enhanced expression of OSCAR in peripheral blood monocytes of RA patients as compared with healthy controls. OSCAR expression was correlated with disease activity and acute-phase reactant concentrations. Serum levels of soluble OSCAR were lower in RA patients than in healthy controls. Monocytes with high OSCAR expression exhibited an enhanced potential to differentiate into osteoclasts. Tumor necrosis factor alpha was identified as the main inducer of OSCAR expression in monocytes. CONCLUSION These data suggest that the osteoclast costimulation pathway is activated in RA. OSCAR is induced in monocytes of RA patients, facilitating their differentiation into osteoclasts and bone resorption.
A review of physical and mental health in homeless persons.

OBJECTIVE To review the physical and mental status in homeless people. DATA SOURCES A MEDLINE database search covering 5 decades was supplemented by tracing back through references from existing review work. Over 200 articles were extracted, and 106 were selected for review. MAIN FINDINGS Homeless persons suffer frequently from physical health problems like tuberculosis, asthma, bronchitis, HIV infection, and as a consequence, they run an increased risk for premature mortality. The prevalence of mental disorders among homeless individuals varies from 80-95% in the USA, Australia, Canada, Norway, and Germany to 25-33% in Ireland and Spain. The most prominent mental disorders among the homeless, which vary from country to country, are depression, affective disorders, substance abuse, psychotic disorders, schizophrenia, and personality disorders. CONCLUSION Homelessness is a major public health problem that should have our special interest.
Molecular Characterization of Four Pharmacologically Distinct a-Aminobutyric Acid Transporters in Mouse Brain *

Two novel y-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporters, GAT3 and GAT4, were cloned from the mouse neonatal brain cDNA library and expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Sequence analysis indicated they were members of the Na+-dependent neurotransmitter transporter family. The GABA uptake activities were measured in cRNA injected Xenopus oocytes. The K,,, for GABA uptake by GAT3 was 18 MM and by GAT4 was 0.8 PM. GAT3 also transports &alanine and taurine with K , of 28 and 540 MM, respectively. Similarly, GAT4 transports ,&alanine with K , of 99 PM and taurine with a K , of 1.4 mM. The newly cloned GABA transporters were compared with two previously cloned GABA transporters, GATl and GATB, in terms of molecular and pharmacological properties. While GATl and GAT4 gene expression were neural specific, GAT2 and GAT3 mRNAs were detected in other tissues such as liver and kidney, in which GAT3 mRNA was especially abundant. The expression of GAT3 mRNA in mouse brain is developmentally regulated, and its mRNA is abundant in neonatal brain but not in adult brain. High affinity GABA transporters GATl and GAT4 were more sensitive to inhibition by nipecotic acid. Low affinity GABA transporters GAT2 and GAT3 were inhibited most effectively by betaine and 0-alanine, respectively. The differential tissue distribution and distinct pharmacological properties of those four GABA transporters suggest functional specialization in the mechanisms of GABA transmission termination.
The Structure of Ferrihydrite, a Nanocrystalline Material

Despite the ubiquity of ferrihydrite in natural sediments and its importance as an industrial sorbent, the nanocrystallinity of this iron oxyhydroxide has hampered accurate structure determination by traditional methods that rely on long-range order. We uncovered the atomic arrangement by real-space modeling of the pair distribution function (PDF) derived from direct Fourier transformation of the total x-ray scattering. The PDF for ferrihydrite synthesized with the use of different routes is consistent with a single phase (hexagonal space group P63mc; a = ∼5.95 angstroms, c = ∼9.06 angstroms). In its ideal form, this structure contains 20% tetrahedrally and 80% octahedrally coordinated iron and has a basic structural motif closely related to the Baker-Figgis δ-Keggin cluster. Real-space fitting indicates structural relaxation with decreasing particle size and also suggests that second-order effects such as internal strain, stacking faults, and particle shape contribute to the PDFs.
Impairment-oriented training or Bobath therapy for severe arm paresis after stroke: a single-blind, multicentre randomized controlled trial

Objective: To study the effects of augmented exercise therapy time for arm rehabilitation as either Bobath therapy or the impairment-oriented training (Arm BASIS training) in stroke patients with arm severe paresis. Design: Single blind, multicentre randomized control trial. Setting: Three inpatient neurorehabilitation centres. Subjects: Sixty-two anterior circulation ischaemic stroke patients. Interventions: Random assignment to three group: (A) no augmented exercise therapy time, (B) augmented exercise therapy time as Bobath therapy and (C) augmented exercise therapy time as Arm BASIS training. Main measures: Main outcome measure: Fugl-Meyer arm motor score. Secondary measure: Action Research Arm Test (ARA). Ancillary measures: Fugl-Meyer arm sensation and joint motion/pain scores and the Ashworth Scale (elbow flexors). Results: An overall effect of augmented exercise therapy time on Fugl-Meyer scores after four weeks was not corroborated (mean and 95% confidence interval (CI) of change scores: no augmented exercise therapy time (n = 20) 8.8, 5.2–12.3; augmented exercise therapy time (n = 40) 9.9, 6.8-13.9; p = 0.2657). The group who received the augmented exercise therapy time as Arm BASIS training (n = 20) had, however, higher gains than the group receiving the augmented exercise therapy time as Bobath therapy (n = 20) (mean and 95% CI of change scores: Bobath 7.2, 2.6-11.8; BASIS 12.6, 8.4 - 16.8; p = 0.0432). Passive joint motion/pain deteriorated less in the group who received BASIS training (mean and 95% CI of change scores: Bobath -3.2, -5.2 to -1.1; BASIS 0.1, -1.8-2.0; p = 0.0090). ARA, Fugl-Meyer arm sensation, and Ashworth Scale scores were not differentially affected. Conclusions: The augmented exercise therapy time as Arm BASIS training enhanced selective motor control. Type of training was more relevant for recovery of motor control than therapeutic time spent.
Retinol improves in vitro oocyte nuclear maturation under heat stress in heifers

Summary Heat stress (HS) is especially harmful for bovine ovarian follicle development and oocyte competence. Furthermore, HS causes premature aging in oocytes due to high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), involved in the harmful effects over the oocyte maturation and the steroidogenic activity of follicular cells. In this study, the presumptive protective effects of antioxidant agents on heat-stressed oocytes were evaluated. Heifer oocytes were matured for 22 h under control (38°C) and HS conditions (41.5°C at 18–21 h of maturation). For each oocyte, nuclear stage and cortical granule (CG) distribution were evaluated. Steroidogenic activity of cumulus cells was also recorded. The antioxidant agents used in the study were: retinol (1.43 μg/ml), retinyl (0.28 μg/ml) and oleic acid (0.05 mg/ml). Based on a chi-squared test (P < 0.05), HS affected negatively the metaphase II (MII) progression and produced a premature CG exocytosis. Retinol improved the oocyte MII progression. However, retinyl and oleic acid, at the concentrations used in this study, could not counteract adverse effects of HS. A decrease in progesterone and increase in estradiol availability were observed when retinyl and oleic acid were supplemented to the maturation medium, respectively. In conclusion, retinol proved to be valuable in heat-stressed oocytes protecting nuclear maturation.