Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigation of the relationship between insulin resistance and neuropeptide Y levels in polycystic ovary syndrome

Amac: Calismanin amaci, polikistik over sendromu (PKOS) patogenezinde onemli yeri olan noropeptid Y (NPY) ve insulin direnci arasindaki iliskinin arastirilmasidir. Gerecler ve Yontemler: Bu calisma Mayis 2012 ve Mayis 2013 tarihleri arasinda yapilmistir. Calismaya dogurganlik cagindaki 45 PKOS hastasi ve 44 saglikli kontrol grubu dahil edilmistir. PKOS grubuna erken folikuler fazda insulin, aclik kan sekeri, folikul stimule edici hormon (FSH), luteize edici hormon (LH), prolaktin, testesteron, dehidroepiandrosteron sulfat (DHEA-S), tiroid stimule edici hormon (TSH), kortizol, ostrodiol ve NPY duzeyleri bakilirken, kontrol grubuna insulin, aclik kan sekeri, prolaktin, DHEA-S, TSH, kortizol, 17-OH progesteron duzeyleri incelendi. Homeostatik model insulin direnci degerlendirme (HOMA-IR) testi skorlari hesaplandi ve antropometrik olcumler kaydedildi. Pelvik ultrasonografi yapildi. Bulgular: Insulin direncini gosteren aclik kan insulin duzeyi ve HOMA-IR skoru, obez PKOS grubunda normal kilolu PKOS ve kontrol grubuna gore yuksek bulundu. NPY duzeyleri obezyuksek kilolu PKOS grubunda normal kilolu PKOS ve kontrol grubuna gore yuksek bulundu ancak istatistiksel olarak anlamli degildi (P>0,05). NPY duzeyleri insulin rezistansi olan ve olmayan hastalar arasinda degisiklik gostermedi. Sonuc: Insulin rezistansi ve NPY duzeyleri arasinda korelasyon saptanmadi ancak NPY duzeyleri, kilolu PCOS hastalarinda yuksekti.
Regulation of CFTR Endocytosis by the Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide: Role of PKCε

The Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP) is an agonist of the CFTR chloride channel in the human airways. In the genetic disease Cystic Fibrosis, where CFTR is defective or absent from the apical membrane of epithelial cells, VIP innervations are lost. Our group has demonstrated that VIP increases CFTR membrane stability through PKCe. However, the mechanism remained to be determined. Here we found that VIP stimulation increases the interaction of NHERF1 and P-ERMs with CFTR through PKCe phosphorylation. Moreover a reduction of the interaction between intracellular CFTR and the Golgi associated protein, CAL was observed following VIP stimulation. Silencing either ERMs or NHERF1 with siRNA prevented the VIP ability to increase CFTR surface expression and function, confirming that NHERF1 and P-ERMs are necessary for VIP regulation of the sustained activity of membrane CFTR. This study shows the cellular mechanism by which prolonged VIP stimulation of airway epithelial cells regulates CFTR-dependent secretions.
Pyrolysis of Palm Kernel Shell to Chemicals by Using Bayah Natural Zeolites

Palm kernel shell (PKS) is one of the biomass with high potential that can be converted into chemicals. In this study, palm kernel shell (PKS) was converted by pyrolysis method to produce condensed liquid products, gas, and solid. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of catalyst activation time on yields and characteristics of PKS waste pyrolysis products. The pyrolysis process was carried out at a temperature of 500 o C. Based on the results obtained with the addition of catalysts at 7 hr of activation can reduce the yield of solid products by 1.5% wt and 9.01% wt of liquid and increase the yield of gas products by 10.51% wt. On the characteristics of solid product there is a decrease in volatile matter by 55.04% wt and an increase fixed carbon by 40.27% wt. The gas characteristics, the H 2 and CO gas decreases by 5.43% v/v and 1.36% v/v and the increase in CH 4 and CO 2 gas by 1.07% v/v and 5.72% v/v. Characteristics of the liquid obtained an increase in the amount of acetic acid by 11.75% v/v and decrease phenol compounds by 13.08% v/v. The result liquid product can be applied as a chemical.
University of São Paulo “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture Selectivity of insecticides with two active ingredients on the parasitoid Trichogramma pretiosum (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

Selectivity of insecticides with two active ingredients on the parasitoid Trichogramma pretiosum (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) The integrated use of chemical and biological control is possible based on the Selectivity tests, as proposed by the IOBC/WPRS. However, it is also important to evaluate further than the lethal effect, as proposed by this organization, assessing other parameters that can alter the efficacy of a natural enemy in the field. Based on this necessity and the importance of the parasitoid wasp Trichogramma pretiosum on biological control programs worldwide, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of ready-mix insecticides on different life stages of the parasitoid, following the IOBC/WPRS recommendations, and also considering the sublethal effects. Therefore, the following tests were performed on two generations of the parasitoid: (i) effects of insecticides on pupae immersed in insecticide solution (ii) effects of insecticides on pupa sprayed with insecticide solution (iii) effect sof insecticdes on adults in contact with dried-residues on Ephestia kuehniella eggs (iv) effects of insecticdes on adults in contact with dried-residues on soyben leaves (v) effects of insecticide on flight capacity when pupae and adults were exposed to the dried-residue (vi) duration of insecticdes’ harmful activity. All the insecticides tested affected somehow at least one of the parameters evaluated in all the tests, showing how important it is to carefully use readymix insecticides on IPM programs. Regarding the duration of the harmful activity, six out of the seven insecticides tested were classified as short-lived, and only cyproconazole + thiamethoxam was classified as slightly persistent.
Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene doped with iron through high energy mechanical alloying

Doping polymers with metallic materials can improve significantly its use. Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene is known for its high resistance to abrasion and impact, and also for its friction coefficient, which is significantly lower than that of commercial steel and most polymeric materials. Therefore, this material presents high industrial demand despite its processing difficulty due to its high viscosity. One kind of polymer processing which has been widely used recently is the high energy mechanical alloying. This method provokes significant changes in the material, such as crystalline structure transformation, amorphization, formation of metastable phases, and nanostructuring, among others. In order to investigate the influence of iron dopant in structural characteristics of polymeric matrix, ultra high molecular weight polyethylene were doped with low concentrations (between 0.1at% and 1at%) of iron using this method, high energy mechanical alloying. The samples composition was characterized by X Ray Diffraction, Mossbauer spectroscopy. A theoretical molecular modeling was carried out and to simulate the iron presence in polymeric cell, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. Therefore, there is evidence that part of the iron promotes a crossed bond between the polymeric chains. Palavras-chave: Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE); High energy mechanical alloying; Mossbauer Spectroscopy; structural properties.
1 Detecting beta-amyloid aggregation from the time-resolved emission spectra

Aggregation of beta-amyloids is one of key processes responsible for the development of Alzheimer’s desease. Early molecular-level detection of beta-amyloid oligomers may help in early diagnosis and in the development of new intervention therapies. Our previous studies on changes in beta-amyloid’s single tyrosine intrinsic fluorescence response during aggregation demonstrated a four-exponential fluorescence intensity decay, and that the ratio of the preexponential factors indicated the extent of aggregation in the early stages of the process before the beta-sheets are formed. Here we present a complementary approach based on time-resolved emission spectra (TRES) of amyloid’s tyrosine excited at 279 nm and fluorescent in the window 240-450 nm. TRES has been used to demonstrate sturctural changes occuring on the nanosecond time scale after excitation which has significant advantages over using steady-state spectra. We demonstrate this by resolving the fluorescent species and revealing that beta-amyloid’s monomers show very fast dielectric relaxation and its oligomers display a substantial spectral shift due to dielectric relaxation, which gradually decreases when oligomers become larger
SPECIATIONAL HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN GRASS FINCHES (POEPHILA) INFERRED FROM THIRTY GENE TREES *

Abstract Multilocus genealogical approaches are still uncommon in phylogeography and historical demography, fields which have been dominated by microsatellite markers and mitochondrial DNA, particularly for vertebrates. Using 30 newly developed anonymous nuclear loci, we estimated population divergence times and ancestral population sizes of three closely related species of Australian grass finches (Poephila) distributed across two barriers in northern Australia. We verified that substitution rates were generally constant both among lineages and among loci, and that intralocus recombination was uncommon in our dataset, thereby satisfying two assumptions of our multilocus analysis. The reconstructed gene trees exhibited all three possible tree topologies and displayed considerable variation in coalescent times, yet this information provided the raw data for maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimation of population divergence times and ancestral population sizes. Estimates of these parameters were in close agreement with each other regardless of statistical approach and our Bayesian estimates were robust to prior assumptions. Our results suggest that black‐throated finches (Poephila cincta) diverged from long‐tailed finches (P. acuticauda and P. hecki) across the Carpentarian Barrier in northeastern Australia around 0.6 million years ago (mya), and that P. acuticauda diverged from P. hecki across the Kimberley Plateau‐Arnhem Land Barrier in northwestern Australia approximately 0.3 mya. Bayesian 95% credibility intervals around these estimates strongly support Pleistocene timing for both speciation events, despite the fact that many gene divergences across the Carpentarian region clearly predated the Pleistocene. Estimates of ancestral effective population sizes for the basal ancestor and long‐tailed finch ancestor were large (about 521,000 and about 384,000, respectively). Although the errors around the population size parameter estimates are considerable, they are the first for birds taking into account multiple sources of variance.
The Prediction of Skin Permeability by Using Physicochemical Data

A database on physicochemical properties and skin permeation compiled by Health Canada was analysed by using linear regression analysis. The correlation between permeability coefficient (Kp) and the octanol–water partition coefficient (Kow) has been improved by grouping the compounds according to their respective molar volumes. Linear regression analysis of the individual groups has demonstrated a positive correlation for the majority of the groups, with the compounds in the lowest molar volume range (≤ 75Å3) having the best correlation (r2 = 0.86), and the compounds in the highest molar volume range (≥ 30lÅ3) being the least well-correlated (r2 = 0.55). Due to the diversity of the chemicals used in this analysis, and the statistically significant correlations obtained, this model could permit the prediction of skin permeation of a wide variety of chemical compounds. Although of a simplistic nature, and not yet experimentally validated, this quantitative structure-activity relationship may be useful for predicting human skin permeability coefficients for compounds that fall within the constraints of this data set.
INVARIANT MANIFOLDS FOR PIECEWISE SMOOTH VECTOR FIELDS IN R

In this paper some perturbations of a three dimensional piecewise linear vector field are considered. The existence of invariant manifolds filled by periodic orbits is obtained after suitable small perturbations of the original system. Those manifolds essentially emerge from a continuum of cylinders of R which does exist for the piecewise linear vector after a rotation of some planar algebraic polynomial curves. The main tool used in order to obtain the results is the averaging theory for piecewise smooth vector fields.
Evaluation of unmarked deletion mutants as improved Brucella vaccine strains in the mouse and goat models

Evaluation of Unmarked Deletion Mutants as Improved Brucella Vaccine Strains in the Mouse and Goat Models. (August 2005) Melissa Marie Kahl, B.S., University of Connecticut Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Thomas A. Ficht Historical data suggests that prolonged survival of Brucella vaccine organisms in the target host enhances immune protection. Recent research has focused upon the development of rough vaccine strains to avoid interference with standard diagnostic tests. Rough organisms are rapidly cleared from the host, however. In an effort to develop improved vaccine strains, we have screened signature tagged mutagenesis banks to identify mutants with varying survival characteristics. We hypothesize that in order for a vaccine to be efficacious, it must survive in the host. In order to test this, we constructed marked and unmarked deletion mutants of B. abortus and B. melitensis in genes previously demonstrated by transposon mutagenesis to attenuate in vivo and in vitro virulence. Survival and efficacy of these novel deletion mutants were then evaluated in the mouse model. The asp24 mutants, which persist for extended periods in vivo, appear superior as a vaccine candidate compared to approved vaccine strains S19 and Rev1 in the mouse model against either homologous or heterologous challenges. Once enhanced protection against infection was demonstrated in the mouse, components of immune function that appeared to be most important were identified to correlate the immune response with the observed protection. We demonstrated that the most
Characterization of ash made from oil palm empty fruit bunches (oefb).

This study elucidated the chemical composition of ash made from oil palm empty fruit bunches (OEFB). Results of chemical analyses on the sample revealed that it contains metals such as Chromium, Zinc, Calcium, Potassium, Sodium, and Magnesium with the following concentrations: 0.088mg/kg, 0.38mg/kg, 146.15mg/kg, 139.35mg/kg, 0.63mg/kg and 1.68mg/kg respectively. It also showed that anions such as Phosphate, Nitrate, Sulphate and Chloride were constituents of the sample. Chloride had the highest concentration of 2280mg/kg while Phosphate had the least concentration of 47.5mg/kg. Physicochemical parameters such as Total Organic Carbon (TOC), Total Organic Matter, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Salinity and Conductivity were also analyzed and the result shows that TOC content of the sample was 100mg/kg, TOM content was 172.4mg/kg, TDS was 2371mg/kg, Salinity was 2500mg/kg while Conductivity of was 4735μScm−1. pH of the sample was 10.9, which shows that the sample is alkaline. The results justify the use of this sample as organic manure and suggest that the sample may be useful in conditions where reduction reactions are paramount. It also suggests that with the good concentrations of nitrate, phosphate and potassium presents in the sample, it may be used in enhancing the hydrocarbon degrading potentials of hydrocarbon degraders since the mentioned parameters are applied in bioremediation.
PROMISING EFFECT OF DAPAGLIFLOZIN ON OVARIECTOMIZED RAT MODEL OF OSTEOPOROSIS

Corresponding Author: Nancy Mohamed Aly El-Sekily, Anatomy and Embryology, Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt. +0201222359100 E-Mail: nancyelsekily@yahoo.com Introduction: Osteoporosis makes bones become frail thus fragile, that a fall or even gentle burdens prompting a crack. Several studies had documented that osteoporosis incidence is increased much more in diabetic patient. Dapagliflozin, is used in Type 2 diabetes management, as a selective inhibitor of sodium/glucose cotransporter2 (SGLT2). Few study tackled the impact of dapagliflozin on bone metabolism. In this study we aim to determine the impact of dapagliflozin on a rat model of osteoporosis. Materials and methods: Thirty adult female Wistar albino rats were used in this experiment. They were equally divided into three groups. Group I sham-operated control, group II ovariectomized (OVX), and group III ovariectomized (OVX) treated with dapagliflozin (DAPA) 10 mg/kg/day orally for 8 weeks. After 8weeks, plasma levels of calcium (Ca+2), phosphorous (P), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Tartrate-Resistant Acid Phosphatase 5b (TRAP 5b), tumor necrosis factor(TNF), serum osteocalcin level, serum osteoprotegerin level, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs) were analysed. The distal end of femur bones were excised for histological and morphometric studies. Results: In the current study, the biochemical results of ovariectomized (OVX) rat group showed increase in serum level of phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, Tartrate-Resistant Acid Phosphatase 5b (TRAP 5b), osteocalcin, advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs) and tumor necrosis factor(TNF). While the serum level of calcium, osteoprotegrin and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) was decreased. The biochemical results of (OVX) group treated with DAPA showed a significant change in serum level of calcium, alkaline phosphatase, TRAP 5b, osteocalcin, osteoprotegrin and AMPK. While the serum level of phosphorus, AGEs and TNFshowed non significant change in the same group. In the present study, the (OVX) rat group showed features of osteoporosis at the epiphyseal plate of femur. These features were focal areas of disrupted arrangement of the layers of chondrocytes, some areas of the matrix appeared pale, the bone trabeculae were thinner than normal, multiple resorption cavities and some areas of hypocellularity. After oral administration of dapagliflozin to the OVX rats for eight weeks, the osteoporotic findings in femur by H&E showed improvement. The chondrocytes appeared almost normally organized and the bone trabeculae were of normal thickness. By morphometric assessment, the thickness of bone trabeculae of OVX treated with DAPA group (69.9±15.6) increased in comparaison to the OVX group (61.0± 18.2). Conclusion: Dapaglaflozin has an antiosteoporotic effect in ovariectomy induced osteoporosis in rat.
A single application of Milsana® followed by Bion® assists in the control of powdery mildew in cucumber and helps overcome yield losses

Summary The efficacy of candidate activators of systemic acquired resistance (SAR), Bion® (Syngenta, Basel, Switzerland), Rezist® (Stoller Enterprises, Houston, Texas, USA), and Milsana® (P. J. Margo Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, India), was evaluated for the control of powdery mildew (Podosphaera xanthii) on cucumber and zucchini. Each candidate activator significantly reduced the incidence of disease on both crops in a glasshouse, where spore inoculum was applied to treated leaves. Both Bion® and Rezist® induced increased chitinase activity in plants, confirming their action as activators of SAR. However, Milsana® did not have this effect, suggesting that its mode of action was as a direct inhibitor of infection by spores. In the field, two or three applications of Bion®, at 14-day intervals, gave consistently better results in protecting cucumber plants from powdery mildew. Several applications of Milsana® alone were less effective than a single application of Bion® alone. However, several applications of Bion® adversely affected plant growth, resulting in lower yields. The application of Milsana® before or after Bion® provided effective control of powdery mildew and minimised the adverse effects of Bion® on yield. Application of all three candidate activators alone, on field-grown zucchini did not control powdery mildew, although a systemic increase in chitinase activity occurred in response to Bion® or Rezist®. A greater understanding of the mode of action of Milsana®, and of the interaction between disease load and the timing of activator application(s) may improve the control of powdery mildew.
Pulmonary metastasectomy in colorectal carcinoma

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. It is estimated that 50% of all patients with CRC develop metastases, most commonly in the liver and the lung. Lung metastases are seen in approximately 10–15% of all patients with CRC. A large number of these patients with metastatic CRC can only receive palliative treatment due to invasion of other organs and disseminated disease. However, a subset of these patients present with potentially resectable metastases. Pulmonary metastasectomy is considered to be a potentially curative treatment for selected patients with resectable metastatic CRC. Current data suggest that patients that undergo pulmonary metastasectomy have 5-year survival rates of approximately 40%. However, the majority of data published regarding lung metastasectomy is based on small, retrospective case series. Due to this lack of prospective data, it is still unclear which subset of patients will benefit most from curative-intent surgery. Furthermore, there is also controversy regarding which prognostic and genetic factors are related to survival outcomes and whether there is a difference between open and thoracoscopic approaches in terms of overall and disease-free survival. In this review, we aim to summarize the latest data on prognostic factors and survival outcomes after pulmonary metastasectomy in patients with metastatic CRC.
Letters to the Editor

Editor’s Note: Due to an unfortunate publishing error, the published article by Arroyo et al., ‘‘Ictal Laughter Associated with hormonal measurements showed that episodic dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis was associated with seizures in the child. Paroxysmal Hypothalamopituitq ~ Dysfunction” (EpiZepsiu 1997;38: 114-7) did not include the authors’ revisions. The important changes were confined mainly to REFERENCES
Effects of exogenous nitric oxide on physiological characteristics of peanut under iron-deficient stress

Nitric oxide(NO) plays an important role in crop growth and development.A hydroponic experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of sodium nitroprusside(SNP),a NO donor,on seedling growth,root activity,chlorophyll,photosynthetic characteristics,active oxygen metabolism and mineral element contents in peanut(Arachis hypogaea Linn.) plants and the change of pH in the culture medium.There were three treatments,0,10 and 100 μmol/L Fe(Ⅲ)-EDTA.The results show that the plant growth,root activity,net photosynthetic rate(Pn),transpiration rate(Tr),stomatal conductance(Gs) and active oxygen metabolism are significantly increased under the application of 250 μmol/L SNP,while the intercellular CO2 concentration(Ci),the contents of MDA and phosphorus(P) are decreased.The effects are more significant under the Fe(Ⅲ)-EDTA concentration of 0 and 10 μmol/L than those of 100 μmol/L.Compared with the treatments of 0,10 and 100 μmol/L Fe(Ⅲ)-EDTA,the contents of active Fe of leaves at 20 days' cultivation are significantly increased by 130.7%,136.4% and 56.1% under the treatments of SNP+0,10 and 100 μmol/L Fe(Ⅲ)-EDTA.At the same time the total iron content of the plants,the percentage of shoot's total iron absorption to that of the pants are also significantly increased.These indicate that the NO donor can increase the transportation of iron and the efficiency of utilization of iron and then alleviate the damage of Fe stress.The exogenous NO can increase the chlorophyll contents,carotenoid content and the ratio of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b.Under Fe(Ⅲ)-EDTA concentration of 0 and 10 μmol/L,the application of SNP obviously lowers the pH of nutrient medium,and the pH is the lowest at 14 h.