Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms Within Non-HLA Regions Are Associated With Engraftment Effectiveness for Patients With Unrelated Cord Blood Transplantation

Clinically, stem cells with matched human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) must be selected for allogeneic transplantation to avoid graft rejection. However, adverse reactions still occur after cord blood transplantation (CBT). It was inferred that the HLA system is not the only regulatory factor that may influence CBT outcomes. Therefore, we plan to investigate whether the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in non-HLA genes are associated with the effectiveness of CBT. In this study, the samples of 65 donors from CBT cases were collected for testing. DNA sequencing was focused on the SNPs of non-HLA genes, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA4), CD28, tumor necrosis factor ligand superfamily 4 (TNFSF4), and programmed cell death protein 1 (PDCD1), which were selected in regard to the literatures published in 2017 and 2018, which indicated that they were related to stem cell transplantation. Then, in combination with the detailed follow-up transplantation tracking database, these SNPs were analyzed with the risk of mortality, relapse, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). We found that there were 2 SNPs of CTLA4, 1 SNP of TNFSF4, and 2 SNPs of PDCD1 associated with the effectiveness of unrelated CBT. These statistically significant SNPs and haplotypes would be used in clinical to choose the best donor for the patient receiving CBT. Moreover, the polygenic risk scores (PRSs) with these SNPs could be used to predict the risk of CBT adverse reactions with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.7692. Furthermore, these SNPs were associated with several immune-related diseases or cancer susceptibility, which implied that SNPs play an important role in immune regulation.
Oral Therapies for Multiple Sclerosis in Recent Years

The injectable immunomodulators interferon and glatiramer acetate have dominated the multiple sclerosis (MS) market for the past two decades. Recently, new oral drugs have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of MS. In this review, we discuss four new oral therapies for MS: fingolimod, laquinimod, BG-12, and teriflunomide, including their mechanisms of action, clinical trial efficacy, and safety profile, as well as the implications for clinical practice. Four New Oral Agents
Analytic functions of optical choppers for Gaussian laser beams

The paper presents a report on our current work on obtaining the analytic functions of the laser impulses generated by optical choppers with disks in their classical configuration - with windows that have linear margins. With regard to our previous researches, focused on choppers working with top-hat (i.e., with constant intensity) laser beams, in the present work Gaussian laser beam distributions of the light beams to be chopped have been considered, for the most common case, of a light bundle of a sufficient small diameter in the plane of the disk; this type of section can therefore be completely obscured and uncovered by the chopper wings and windows, respectively. The functions of the transmitted light flux of the device are approached. This allows for the designing calculus of choppers for different applications, taking into account their specific requirements. A comparison between analytical results obtained in this work and results from our previous numerical modeling is pointed out.
Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada: Research, Policy and Practice: Volume 36, Number 4, April 2016

Introduction: Social media use has been increasing in public health and health promotion because it can remove geographic and physical access barriers. However, these interventions also have the potential to increase health inequities for people who do not have access to or do not use social media. In this paper, we aim to assess the effects of interactive social media interventions on health outcomes, behaviour change and health equity. Methods: We conducted a rapid response overview of systematic reviews. We used a sensitive search strategy to identify systematic reviews and included those that focussed on interventions allowing two-way interaction such as discussion forums, social networks (e.g. Facebook and Twitter), blogging, applications linked to online communities and media sharing. Results: Eleven systematic reviewsmet our inclusion criteria. Most interventions addressed by the reviews included online discussion boards or similar strategies, either as stand-alone interventions or in combination with other interventions. Seven reviews reported mixed effects on health outcomes and healthy behaviours. We did not find disaggregated analyses across characteristics associated with disadvantage, such as lower socioeconomic status or age. However, some targeted studies reported that social media interventions were effective in specific populations in terms of age, socioeconomic status, ethnicities and place of residence. Four reviews reported qualitative benefits such as satisfaction, finding information and improved social support. Conclusion: Social media interventions were effective in certain populations at risk for disadvantage (youth, older adults, low socioeconomic status, rural), which indicates that these interventions may be effective for promoting health equity. However, confirmation of effectiveness would require further study. Several reviews raised the issue of acceptability of social media interventions. Only four studies reported on the level of intervention use and all of these reported low use. More research on established social media platforms with existing social networks is needed, particularly in populations at risk for disadvantage, to assess effects on health outcomes and health equity.
Promoting Physical Activity and Exercise

Ma Physical inactivity is one of the leading modifiable risk factors for global mortality, with an estimated 20% to 30% increased risk of death compared with those who are physically active. The “behavior” of physical activity (PA) is multifactorial, including social, environmental, psychological, and genetic factors. Abundant scientific evidence has demonstrated that physically active people of all age groups and ethnicities have higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, health, and wellness, and a lower risk for developing several chronic medical illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, compared with those who are physically inactive. Although more intense and longer durations of PA correlate directly with improved outcomes, even small amounts of PA provide protective health benefits. In this state-of-the-art review, the authors focus on “healthy PA” with the emphasis on the pathophysiological effects of physical inactivity and PA on the cardiovascular system, mechanistic/triggering factors, the role of preventive actions through personal, education/environment, and societal/authoritative factors, as well as factors to provide guidance for caregivers of health promotion regarding PA. Sustainable and comprehensive programs to increase PA among all individuals need to be developed and implemented at local, regional, national, and international levels to effect positive changes and improve global health, especially the reduction of cardiovascular disease. (J Am Coll Cardiol 2018;72:1622–39) © 2018 Published by Elsevier on behalf of the American College of Cardiology Foundation.
Competence Predicts Increases in Proactive Aggression

It has been proposed that aggressive behavior may result from unrealistically positive self-evaluations that are disputed by others (Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, 1996). The present three studies tested this proposition concurrently and longitudinally for the domain of self-perceived social competence (SPSC) in 3–6th grade children on two continents. Each study tested whether aggressive behavior is related to general overestimation of SPSC compared to competence as perceived by peers, or to disputed overestimation, that is, overestimation disputed through rejection by peers. Specificity of relations with reactively or proactively aggressive behavior patterns was assessed and the predictive value of overestimation to the development of these types of aggressive behavior was investigated. Concurrently, disputed overestimation explained more variance in aggressive behavior than general overestimation, and was uniquely related to proactive aggression. Longitudinally, disputed overestimation also uniquely predicted changes in proactive, not reactive aggression.
Using Neural Networks and Feature Selection Algorithms in the Identiﬁcation of Protein Signatures for the Prediction of Alzheimer’s Disease

—Alzheimer’s Disease is now considered the most common type of dementia in the population. Although, it is a degenerative and irreversible disease, if diagnosed early, medications may be administered to slow the progression of symptoms and provide a better quality of life for the patient. Ray et al., and G`omez and Moscato conducted studies with classiﬁers contained in the software Weka using a database with values of 120 blood proteins, and they noticed that they could classify the patient may or may not be diagnosed with AD with an accuracy rate of 93% and 65%, respectively. Thus, this study aims to use neural networks such as Multi-layer Perceptron, Extreme-learning Machine and Reservoir Computing to perform early diagnosis of a patient with or without AD. This article also envisions to utilize the Random Forest Algorithm to select proteins from the original set and, therefore, create a new protein signature. Through experiments it can be concluded that the best performance was obtained with the Multi-layer Perceptron and the new signatures created achieved better results than those available in the literature.
AENDO June 39/6

Ghigo, E. , G. Aimaretti, M. Maccario, G. Fanciulli, E. Arvat, F. Minuto, G. Giordano, G. Delitala, and F. Camanni. Dose-response study of GH effects on circulating IGF-I and IGFBP-3 levels in healthy young men and women. Am. J. Physiol. 276 (Endocrinol. Metab. 39): E1009–E1013, 1999. —The aim of our study was to define the dose-response effect of a short-term treatment with different recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) doses (1.25, 2.5, 5.0, 10.0, and 20.0 μg·kg21 ·day21 for 4 days) on insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein (IGFBP)-3 levels in 21 normal young adults of both sexes. The dose of 1.25 μg/kg rhGH did not modify IGF-I levels. The dose of 2.5 μg/kg rhGH significantly increased IGF-I levels in men (P , 0.05) but not in women, whereas the higher doses increased IGF-I levels in both sexes (P , 0.002). IGFBP-3 levels were not modified by 1.25 or 2.5 μg/kg rhGH in either sex. On the other hand, 5.0 μg/kg increased IGFBP-3 levels in men (P , 0.05) but not in women, whereas the higher doses increased IGFBP-3 levels similarly in both sexes (P , 0.02). In conclusion, our results demonstrate that IGF-I and IGFBP-3 responses to rhGH are dose and sex dependent. However, IGFBP-3 is less sensitive than IGF-I to rhGH stimulation.
Dietary patterns and glycated hemoglobin in Japanese men and women

Akiko Nanri, MSC; Tetsuya Mizoue, MD, PHD; Daigo Yoshida, MSC; Ryota Takahashi, MD; and Ryoichi Takayanagi, MD, PHD Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University; Department of Epidemiology and International Health, Research Institute, International Medical Center of Japan; Infectious Disease Surveillance Center, National Institute of Infectious Disease; Department of Medicine and Bioregulatory Science, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University.
DIAMOND GENESIS REVEALED BY X-RAY TOMOGRAPHY OF DIAMONDIFEROUS ECLOGITES

Significant advances in our understanding of mantle processes have resulted from the petrological studies of diamonds and their mineral inclusions (DIs). However, the physics and chemistry of the growth of diamonds and their relationships to their host eclogites and its mineralogy are not well understood. High-resolution Computed X-ray tomography (HRCXT) of diamondiferous eclogite xenoliths can be used to study the inter-relationship of their constituent minerals in 3dimensional space. Importantly, it is a non-destructive technique that maps and locates the diamonds and other minerals within xenoliths, thereby enabling one to investigate the nature of diamond formation in its original setting. As part of a comprehensive study of diamondiferous xenoliths, we have conducted HRCXT studies of several eclogites from the diamond mines in Yakutia, Siberia. This 3-D mapping was followed by extensive chemical and isotopic investigations of the host eclogite, DIs, and the diamonds themselves, some results of which have been presented elsewhere (Anand et al., this volume).
Molecular Cloning and Functional Characterization of Three Distinct N-Methyltransferases Involved in the Caffeine Biosynthetic Pathway in Coffee Plants

Caffeine is synthesized from xanthosine through N-methylation and ribose removal steps. In the present study, three types of cDNAs encoding N-methyltransferases were isolated from immature fruits of coffee (Coffea arabica) plants, and designated as CaXMT1, CaMXMT2, and CaDXMT1, respectively. The bacterially expressed encoded proteins were characterized for their catalytic properties. CaXMT1 catalyzed formation of 7-methylxanthosine from xanthosine with a Km value of 78 mm, CaMXMT2 catalyzed formation of 3,7-dimethylxanthine (theobromine) from 7-methylxanthine with a Km of 251 mm, and CaDXMT1 catalyzed formation of 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine (caffeine) from 3,7-dimethylxanthine with a Km of 1,222 mm. The crude extract of Escherichia coli was found to catalyze removal of the ribose moiety from 7-methylxanthosine, leading to the production of 7-methylxanthine. As a consequence, when all three recombinant proteins and E. coli extract were combined, xanthosine was successfully converted into caffeine in vitro. Transcripts for CaDXMT1 were predominantly found to accumulate in immature fruits, whereas those for CaXMT1 and CaMXMT2 were more broadly detected in sites encompassing the leaves, floral buds, and immature fruits. These results suggest that the presently identified three N-methyltransferases participate in caffeine biosynthesis in coffee plants and substantiate the proposed caffeine biosynthetic pathway: xanthosine3 7-methylxanthosine 3 7-methylxanthine 3 theobromine 3 caffeine.
The tacit knowledge dimension for knowledge management in higher education organizations / Mizan Hitam, Sabariah Mahat and Rajasegaran K.

Knowledge is the icon of the new economy. It is now touted as the most likely source of competitive advantage. Therefore, knowledge management (KM) is seen as an innovation with the potential to affect the whole of an organizations business. Being in the knowledge business, higher education organizations (HEOs) are not an exception to this imperative more so when there is a long history of HEOs successfully adopting management philosophies from the business world. However, KM in HEOs has not caught the attention of mainstream KM researchers and this qualitative study was an attempt to fulfill this research niche. The purpose ofthis paper is to explore the nature of knowledge to be incorporated in the knowledge base of HEOs, A major mode of data collection in this study was through face-to face interviews. Twenty lecturers were interviewed. The results demonstrate that the nature of explicit knowledge in HEOs relates to the organization, the people in authority, the various offices, bursary, library, faculties, staff portal, student portal, and other relevant information. Tacit knowledge is concerned with issues and mailers relating to students, lecturers' beliefs towards teaching, interacting with members in the organization and managing organizational constraints.
AI and Personalization

This paper reviews the recent developments at the intersection of personalization and AI in marketing and related fields. We provide a formal definition of personalized policy and review the methodological approaches available for personalization. We discuss scalability, generalizability, and counterfactual validity issues and briefly touch upon advanced methods for online/interactive/dynamic settings. We then summarize the three evaluation approaches for static policies – the Direct method, the Inverse Propensity Score estimator, and the Doubly Robust method. Next, we present a summary of the evaluation approaches for special cases such as continuous actions and dynamic settings. We then summarize the findings on the returns to personalization across various domains, including content recommendation, advertising, and promotions. Next, we discuss the work on the intersection between personalization and welfare. We focus on four of these welfare notions that have been studied in the literature: (1) search costs, (2) privacy, (3) fairness, and (4) polarization. We conclude with a discussion of the remaining challenges and some directions for future research.
Analysis of Phenol, Reducing Sugar, and Chlorophyll of Dendrobium sp. plantlet after induction of fusaric acid In Vitro

Orchids are ornamental plants with varied and beautiful flower colors and are much favored by the public. Orchid plants have a higher economic value when compared to other ornamental plants, both as cut flowers and potted flowers. In the process of growth, orchid plants are disturbed, namely Fusarium wilt disease caused by Genus Fusarium which can produce a toxin compound, namely fusaric acid which is widely used in in vitro selection of plants. Plant resistance can be formed through the induction of fusaric acid compounds. Induced resistance is an alternative way to obtain disease-resistant plants because plants are able to create natural resistance mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to determine the concentration of tolerant fusaric acid to select Dendrobium orchid plantlets with optimal growth and specific expression characters of Dendrobium orchid plantlets based on phenol content, reducing sugar content, and total chlorophyll content, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b. The results of this study indicated that there was an increase in total phenol content, reducing sugar content, and total chlorophyll content, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b along with the addition of fusaric acid concentration.
Paricalcitol Attenuates Metabolic Syndrome-Associated Heart Failure through Enhanced Mitochondrial Fusion

Objectives Transition from cardiac hypertrophy to failure involves adverse metabolic reprogramming involving mitochondrial dysfunction. We have earlier shown that vitamin D deficiency induces heart failure, at least in part, through insulin resistance. However, whether activation of vitamin D receptor (VDR) can attenuate heart failure and underlying metabolic phenotype requires investigation. Thus, we aimed to assess the cardioprotective potential of paricalcitol, a vitamin D receptor-activator, against cardiac hypertrophy and failure in high-fat high-fructose-fed rats. Methods Male Sprague Dawley rats were fed control (Con) or high-fat high-fructose (HFHFrD) diet for 20 weeks. After 12 weeks, rats from HFHFrD group were divided into the following: HFHFrD, HFHFrD+P (paricalcitol i.p. 0.08 μg/kg/day) and HFHFrD+E (enalapril maleate i.p. 10 mg/kg/day). Intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test, blood pressure measurement, and 2D echocardiography were performed. Cardiac fibrosis was assessed by Masson's trichrome staining of paraffin-embedded heart sections. Mitochondrial DNA and proteins, and citrate synthase activity were measured in rat hearts. VDR was silenced in H9c2 cardiomyoblasts, and immunoblotting was performed. Results Paricalcitol improved glucose tolerance, serum lipid profile, and blood pressure in high-fat high-fructose-fed rats. Paricalcitol reduced cardiac wall thickness and increased ejection fraction in high-fat high-fructose-fed rats but had no effect on perivascular fibrosis. PGC1-α was upregulated in the HFHFrD+P group compared to the HFHFrD group, but there was no significant difference in mitochondrial content. Citrate synthase activity was significantly higher in the HFHFrD+P group compared to the HFHFrD group. Rat hearts of the HFHFrD+P group had significantly higher expression of mitofusins. H9c2 cells with VDR knockdown showed significantly lower expression of Mfn2. Improvement in the HFHFrD+P group was comparable with that in the HFHFrD+E group. Conclusions Paricalcitol reverses cardiac dysfunction in rats with metabolic syndrome by enhancing mitochondrial fusion. We demonstrate repurposing potential of the drug currently used in end-stage kidney disease.
Esophageal Pancreatic Acinar Heterotopia: Premalignant or Benign

Dysphagia, which refers to difficulty swallowing, can be caused by benign pathologies of the esophagus such as gastroesophageal reflux disease which is the most common cause. There are also malignant pathologies such as esophageal carcinoma which should be excluded during the initial clinical evaluation of a patient. Esophageal pancreatic acinar heterotopia (EPAH) is an exceedingly rare finding and an uncommon differential for dysphagia. A search of the literature yielded few previously reported cases. In general, the reported prevalence of pancreatic acinar heterotopia ranges from 16% to 24% in asymptomatic patients and 3% in patients with a known history of Barrett’s esophagitis. It has been found in patients ranging from as young as 1 day old to an incidental autopsy finding. Here, we present a brief literature review and a case of a 57-year-old man with severe dysphagia who was discovered to have EPAH in the gastroesophageal junction, associated with active inflammation and focal metaplasia.
Single Lung Transplant Remains a Viable Option for Patients With Severe Secondary Pulmonary Hypertension

Background. Although double lung transplant is recommended in patients with severe secondary pulmonary hypertension (SPH), our institutional experiences suggest a role for single lung transplant in these patients. Here, we review our experience prioritizing single lung transplant in patients with SPH to minimize their surgical burden. Methods. We conducted a retrospective review of our lung transplant database to identify patients with SPH who underwent single lung transplant. Patients were stratified as either mild SPH (mean pulmonary artery pressure 25–40 mm Hg) or severe SPH (mean pulmonary artery pressure >40 mm Hg). Singe lung recipients without PH transplanted over the same time were also examined. Results. Between January 2017 and December 2019, 318 patients underwent single lung transplantation; 217 had mild SPH (68%), and 59 had severe SPH (18.5%). Forty-two patients without PH underwent single lung transplant. When the groups were compared, significantly higher pulmonary vascular resistance was noted in the severe SPH group, and obesity was noted in both the mild and severe SPH groups. Although the severe SPH group required more intraoperative cardiopulmonary support (37.3% versus 10.3% versus 4.7%, P < 0.05), there were no significant differences in most major postoperative parameters, including the duration of postoperative mechanical ventilation or the incidence of severe primary graft dysfunction. Survival 1 y posttransplant was not significantly different among the groups (93.2% versus 89.4% versus 92.9%, P = 0.58). Conclusions. Our experience supports the option of single lung transplantation with appropriate intraoperative mechanical circulatory support in patients with SPH. This strategy is worth pursuing, especially with ongoing donor lung shortages.