Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
G‐A variant in miR‐200c binding site of EFNA1 alters susceptibility to gastric cancer

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) post‐transcriptionally modulate gene expression by binding to complementary sites at 3′‐untranslated regions (3′UTRs) of their target messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Genetic variations in miRNA binding sites may alter individual susceptibilities to many cancers. However, whether miRNA binding site single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) interfere with gastric cancer (GC) susceptibility has not been reported. In this case–control study including 525 GC patients and 501 controls, we selected three miRNA binding site SNPs located in 3′UTRs of genes involved in GC to investigated their associations with GC susceptibility. We identified that rs12904 in ephrin‐A1 (EFNA1) gene was significantly associated with risk of GC, with the OR for carrying AG or GG genotype being 0.65 (P = 0.002, OR 0.65; 95% CI, 0.50–0.85) compared with AA genotype. Specifically, we found that rs12904 is in strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) with rs4072037, a susceptibility variant reported by previous genome‐wide association study (GWAS). No significant associations were observed for the other two SNPs (rs699517 in TYMS and rs1042542 in BIRC5). Furthermore, luciferase assays indicated EFNA1 as the target of hsa‐miR‐200c and rs12904 G > A change resulted in altered regulation of luciferase expression. In addition, rs12904 AA genotype was associated with increased expression of EFNA1 mRNA compared with AG or GG genotype in the cancer tissues from 48 patients. Taken together, these findings indicate that the miR‐200c binding site SNP (rs12904 G > A) in the 3′UTR of EFNA1 can modulate EFNA1 expression and is associated with GC susceptibility. Larger replication studies are needed to confirm our findings. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Mechanism of insulin resistance in a rat model of kidney disease and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes

Chronic kidney disease is associated with homeostatic imbalances such as insulin resistance. However, the underlying mechanisms leading to these imbalances and whether they promote the development of type 2 diabetes is unknown. The effect of chronic kidney disease on insulin resistance was studied on two different rat strains. First, in a 5/6th nephrectomised Sprague-Dawley rat model of chronic kidney disease, we observed a correlation between the severity of chronic kidney disease and hyperglycemia as evaluated by serum fructosamine levels (p<0.0001). Further, glucose tolerance tests indicated an increase of 25% in glycemia in chronic kidney disease rats (p<0.0001) as compared to controls whereas insulin levels remained unchanged. We also observed modulation of glucose transporters expression in several tissues such as the liver (decrease of ≈40%, p≤0.01) and muscles (decrease of ≈29%, p≤0.05). Despite a significant reduction of ≈37% in insulin-dependent glucose uptake in the muscles of chronic kidney disease rats (p<0.0001), the development of type 2 diabetes was never observed. Second, in a rat model of metabolic syndrome (Zucker Leprfa/fa), chronic kidney disease caused a 50% increased fasting hyperglycemia (p<0.0001) and an exacerbated glycemic response (p<0.0001) during glucose challenge. Similar modulations of glucose transporters expression and glucose uptake were observed in the two models. However, 30% (p<0.05) of chronic kidney disease Zucker rats developed characteristics of type 2 diabetes. Thus, our results suggest that downregulation of GLUT4 in skeletal muscle may be associated with insulin resistance in chronic kidney disease and could lead to type 2 diabetes in predisposed animals.
Stationary‐phase regulation of the Saccharomyces cerevisiaeSOD2 gene is dependent on additive effects of HAP2/3/4/5‐ and STRE‐binding elements

SOD2, encoding manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), is essential for stationary‐phase survival of yeast cells. In addition, stationary‐phase cells are more resistant to oxidative stress than exponential‐phase cells. The use of a SOD2::lacZ fusion construct in this study shows that transcription of SOD2 increases 6.5‐fold as cells enter stationary phase in rich, glucose medium. The increase in SOD2 expression appears to be due to two phenomena — the switch to a non‐fermentable carbon source and nutrient limitation. Analysis of SOD2 transcription in mutant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains showed that the gene was negatively regulated by intracellular cAMP levels which decrease as cells enter stationary phase. Mutation of ‘stress‐responsive’ (STRE) elements in the SOD2 promoter which respond to cAMP levels resulted in the loss of cAMP‐dependent expression but only partially reduced the increase in expression as cells entered stationary phase. A putative Yap1p‐binding site was found to be inactive and mutation of YAP1 had no effect on the STRE‐mediated expression. To fully eliminate the stationary‐phase response, it was necessary to mutate a HAP2/3/4/5 complex binding site in addition to the STRE elements. It is postulated that the effects of the STRE sites and the HAP2/3/4/5 complex binding site are additive.
Treatment of Burn Alopecia with Tissue Expanders in Children

During the past 18 months, 60 tissue expanders were utilized in the reconstruction of 42 children with burn alopecia of the scalp not amenable to a single excision and primary closure at the Shriners Burns Institute in Galveston, Texas. The children were grouped according to the degree of alopecia. All patients with defects of 15 percent or less of the total hair-bearing scalp were able to obtain complete closure of their defects with two operations, i.e., one to place the expander and the second to remove the expander and advance the flaps. Some patients with defects up to 40 percent were closed with serial expansion. Patients with even larger defects had a significant reduction in the percentage of alopecia and benefited from re-creation of anterior hairlines. We have encountered a postoperative complication rate of 10 percent. When compared to previous methods of treating burn alopecia, tissue expansion allows a more rapid closure, fewer operations and coincident anesthetics, and decreased total length of hospitalization.
Use of SEER-Medicare Data for Measuring Cancer Surgery

Background. The accuracy and completeness of the SEER-Medicare data for measuring cancer-related therapy have not been extensively evaluated. Objectives. To investigate the best method for measuring cancer-related surgery among patients in the SEER-Medicare database. Subjects. A total of 149,970 incident cases of breast, colorectal, endometrial, lung, pancreatic, and prostate cancer diagnosed between 1991 and 1993. Measures. The most invasive surgical procedure identified through Medicare’s inpatient, physician, and hospital outpatient claims was compared with corresponding data from the SEER files. Results. Agreement between the SEER and Medicare files was generally highest for resection and radical surgery (eg, &kgr; 0.70–0.90). While there was less agreement regarding no surgical therapy and biopsy individually, the concordance of the two sources in excluding cancer-directed surgery was high. Compared with inpatient data alone, using the combined inpatient, physician, and outpatient data increased concordance between SEER and Medicare for less invasive procedures. Conclusions. The agreement of SEER and Medicare data appears to be good for major surgical procedures and for excluding persons who did not undergo cancer-directed surgery. Both the SEER and the Medicare data captured a small number of surgeries not reported in the other file. Therefore, where possible, using both data sources will enhance identification of surgeries. Because the analysis was performed with linked data, the accuracy of surgical claims in Medicare data alone cannot be assessed.
Air quality and the visitor experience in parks and protected areas

Abstract Air pollution is one of the greatest environmental health risks facing people worldwide. The transboundary nature of air pollution may place park and protected area (PPA) resources, as well as visitors, at risk of exposure to the same harmful pollutants that plague urban populations. Despite our knowledge of the various impacts of air pollution on endemic species, ecosystem functions, and human health, there exists a gap in our understanding of the affective, behavioral, and cognitive role of air pollution in the visitor experience in PPAs. We reduced this deficit by conducting a scoping review of existing empirical social science literature focused on the social and psychological effects of degraded air quality in and around PPAs. Using a systematic scoping process, we assessed peer-reviewed, empirical social science articles (n = 458), for evidence of human dimensions of air quality scholarship in International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) protected area sites. Results suggest a relative dearth of peer-reviewed social science scholarship explicitly focused on the visitor experience of air quality in PPAs worldwide. Descriptive analyses illustrate a consolidation of scholarship in specific publications, as well as geographic concentration of scholarship in North American protected areas and IUCN Category II (National Parks). Subsequent inductive analyses yielded five emergent themes—ecosystem services, visitor impacts, transit, measurement of behavior, and variable importance—evident in human dimensions of air quality literature, as well as variety of implications for future human dimensions of air quality scholarship and PPA management.
Characteristics and outcome of septic arthritis in children.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE To assess the etiologic agents, presentation, laboratory findings, treatment, clinical outcome and prognostic factors of pyogenic arthritis in pediatric patients. METHODS We reviewed the medical records of patients under 18 years of age with a diagnosis of septic arthritis from January 1971 to July 2004. Information collected included clinical characteristics, laboratory data, response to therapy and outcome. An unsatisfactory clinical outcome was defined as the development of sequelae including ambulatory disability, limb-length discrepancy, chronic osteomyelitis, and abnormalities of bone growth. RESULTS A total of 60 children who met the criteria for diagnosis of septic arthritis were included. The etiologic agent was identified in 71.7% of the patients. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common etiologic agent in all age groups (59.0%). The erythrocyte sedimentation rate was higher than 20 mm/h in 89% of patients and soft tissue swelling was the most common radiographic finding (16.7%). Lower extremity involvement was found in 90.8% of patients and the knee joint was most commonly involved. The clinical outcome was unsatisfactory in 28.3% of patients. The duration of symptoms before the initiation of treatment was significantly longer in patients with sequelae (4.2 vs 13.1 days, p<0.01), and the neutrophil percentage in peripheral blood was also significantly higher in this group (81.5% vs 65.7%, p=0.027). CONCLUSIONS Delayed treatment and increased neutrophil ratio in peripheral blood were significantly associated with an increased risk of sequelae.
Radiographic assessment of secondary autogenous alveolar bone grafting in cleft lip and palate patients.

OBJECTIVE To assess if a 4-point, radiographically based scale could be used between operators to reliably assess the success of secondary alveolar bone grafting. DESIGN The study was retrospective with the clinicians blind to patient identity. Radiographs were examined twice by two clinicians with 1 week between assessments. SETTING The research was carried out in a hospital-based orthodontic/oral and maxillofacial unit. PATIENTS All patients who had secondary alveolar bone grafting in this unit between February 1992 and March 1995 were included in this study. There were 38 patients with a total of 48 grafted sites. INTERVENTIONS The bone graft site was radiographed following orthodontic expansion prior to grafting. The radiograph was repeated postoperatively at a mean of 4 months after surgery. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The degree of bony fill in the cleft area was assessed using a 4-point scale: Grade 1 > 75% bony fill; Grade 2 50-75% bony fill; Grade 3 < 50% bony fill; Grade 4 no complete bony bridge. RESULTS Overall, 50% of grafts achieved grade 1, 23% were grade 2, 22% grade 3, and 5% grade 4. Levels of intra- and inter-observer agreement were highly variable (.33 to .72 kappa statistic). CONCLUSIONS The 4-point scale described could be used to assess the success of autogenous secondary alveolar bone grafting. It showed moderate to substantial intra-observer agreement, and fair-to-moderate inter-observer agreement.
Mucinoprotein is a universal constituent of stable intercellular bridges in Drosophila melanogaster germ line and somatic cells

Intercellular bridges formed by incomplete cytokinesis may be important in a variety of processes, including synchronization of mitotic and meiotic divisions in animal cells. Using specific antibodies against a mucin‐type glycoprotein (Kramerov et al. 1996 FEBS Lett. 378:213–218) from Drosophila melanogaster cultured embryonic cells, we showed that this glycoprotein is located in all cytoplasmic bridges found in various germline and somatic tissues. In the ovary, immunostaining of ring canals connecting germ cells can be detected in the very early stages at the germarium region 1 where first gonial divisions take place, and the immunostaining appears to persist through late stages when transport of cytoplasm from nurse cells to a growing oocyte occurs. Each ring canal is made up of an outer and an inner rim. Mucin glycoprotein appears to be one of the first proteins localized to the outer rim, which is a derivative of the arrested cleavage furrow. The known ring canal proteins, phosphotyrosine‐containing protein(s), F‐actin, hts‐ and kelch proteins, are localized to the inner rim at a later developmental time. Similarly, mucin glycoprotein is recruited early to ring canals connecting mitotic primary spermatocytes in both larval and adult testes. Mucin glycoprotein was found to be present in intercellular bridges (small ring canals) in somatic cells, including follicular epithelium in ovary and imaginal disc cells. Intercellular bridges were observed for the first time in a subset of cells in the larval brain. Thus, mucin glycoprotein is the only protein hitherto found in all known types of stable intercellular bridges and may be an important constituent of a backbone needed for assembly and preservation of this particular type of cell‐cell contact. Dev Dyn 1999;216:349–360. ©1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
[Frequency and epidemiology of primary epiploic appendagitis on CT in adults with abdominal pain].

PURPOSE Advances in medical imaging have improved the presurgical diagnosis of isolated epiploic appendagitis. The authors assess its relative frequency and define its main epidemiological criteria. PATIENTS AND METHODS Study of an adult population presenting with abdominal pain and evaluated by CT over a 3 year period. Evaluation for the presence of an isolated fat density paracolic mass with hyperdense periphery. A review of the literature was performed as well. RESULTS The frequency of epiploic appendagitis is estimated at 1.3% and its incidence at 8.8 cases/million/year. The typical patient profile is a young to middle aged male presenting with left flank and lower quadrant pain. Obesity, GI symptoms, fever, and leukocytosis are characteristically absent while elevation of the CRP is typical. CT shows the lesion along the anterolateral margin of the descending or sigmoid colon. Spontaneous resolution usually occurs within 8 days. CONCLUSION Our results confirm epidemiological data from the literature. Knowledge of the imaging features of epiploic appendagitis will ensure conservative patients management and avoid unnecessary surgery.
A Kalman Filtering Approach to Joint MIMO Channel Tracking and Symbol Decoding for Orthogonal Space-Time Block Codes

In this paper, we study the problem of MIMO channel tracking for communication systems that use orthogonal space-time block codes as the underlying space-time coding scheme. For such systems, we develop a two-step channel tracking algorithm. As the first step, our proposed method uses Kalman filtering to obtain an initial channel estimate, for each block, based on the channel estimate obtained for the previous block. In the second step, we use an iterative decision-directed method to refine the initial channel estimate obtained in the first step. We show that due to specific structure of OSTBC, both steps can be significantly simplified. Simulation results show that, for a training repetition period of 10 blocks, this algorithm can have a performance within 1 dB, in terms of SNR, from the coherent ML receiver which has the perfect knowledge of the channel
Dielectric properties of native and decoated spores of Bacillus megaterium

A general model for use in interpreting dielectric data obtained with bacterial endospores is developed and applied to past results for Bacillus cereus spores and new results for Bacillus megaterium spores. The latter were also subjected to a decoating treatment to yield dormant cells with damaged outer membranes that could be germinated with lysozyme. For both spore types, core ions appeared to be completely immobilized, and decoating of B. megaterium spores did not affect this extreme state of electrostasis in the core. The cortex of B. megaterium appeared to contain a high level of mobile ions, in the cortex of B. cereus. The outer membrane-coat complex of B. megaterium acted dielectrically as an insulating layer around the cortex, so that native dormant spores showed a Maxwell-Wagner dispersion over the frequency range from about 1 to 20 MHz. The decoating treatment resulted in a shift in the dispersion to frequencies below the range of observation. Increases in cell conductivity in response to increases in environmental ionic strength indicated that the coats. of B. megaterium could be penetrated by environmental ions and that they had an inherent fixed charge concentration of about 10 to 20 milliequivalents per liter. In contrast, the dispersion for B. cereus spores was very sensitive to changes in environmental ion concentration, and it appeared that some 40% of the spore volume could be penetrated by environmental ions and that these ions traversed a dielectrically effective layer, either the exosporium or the outer membrane. It appears that dormancy is associated with extreme electrostasis of core ions but not necessarily of ions in enveloping structures and that the coat-outer membrane complex is dielectrically effective but not required for maintenance of extreme electrostasis in the core.
MAXIMUM‐LIKELIHOOD APPROACHES APPLIED TO QUANTITATIVE GENETICS OF NATURAL POPULATIONS

Growing interest in adaptive evolution in natural populations has spurred efforts to infer genetic components of variance and covariance of quantitative characters. Here, I review difficulties inherent in the usual least‐squares methods of estimation. A useful alternative approach is that of maximum likelihood (ML). Its particular advantage over least squares is that estimation and testing procedures are well defined, regardless of the design of the data. A modified version of ML, REML, eliminates the bias of ML estimates of variance components. Expressions for the expected bias and variance of estimates obtained from balanced, fully hierarchical designs are presented for ML and REML. Analyses of data simulated from balanced, hierarchical designs reveal differences in the properties of ML, REML, and F‐ratio tests of significance. A second simulation study compares properties of REML estimates obtained from a balanced, fully hierarchical design (within‐generation analysis) with those from a sampling design including phenotypic data on parents and multiple progeny. It also illustrates the effects of imposing nonnegativity constraints on the estimates. Finally, it reveals that predictions of the behavior of significance tests based on asymptotic theory are not accurate when sample size is small and that constraining the estimates seriously affects properties of the tests. Because of their great flexibility, likelihood methods can serve as a useful tool for estimation of quantitative‐genetic parameters in natural populations. Difficulties involved in hypothesis testing remain to be solved.
A low noise 13 GHz power efficient 16/17 prescaler with rail to rail output amplitude

A state of the art 16/17 prescaler using current mode logic (CML) D-Flip Flops, CMOS inverters, and transmission gates for the . 18mu TSMC process with a 1.8 V supply voltage is presented. The prescaler consists of a 4/5 synchronous core and a feedback loop which modulates the 4/5 core to produce a division ratio of 16/17. Instead of employing power hungry CML, the feedback circuit takes advantage of low power NOR and AND gates realized in transmission gate logic (TGL) to reduce the power consumption. To the best of our knowledge, this technique has never been used in a high frequency prescaler before. Additionally, this work will serve as a comprehensive description of the numerous considerations of prescaler design including explanation of gate-level design and transistor level optimization. Furthermore, digital circuit output is efficiently buffered with CMOS inverters for rail- to-rail operation, maximizing slew rate which minimizes phase noise. The simulated phase noise is -150 dBc/Hz @ 1 MHz and the input bandwidth is 2 GHz (11 GHz and 13 GHz). The power consumption of the entire prescaler is 18.5 mW. All of the above results were obtained from post-layout simulations. Circuit layout has been completed and sent for fabrication.
Factors associated with frequent psychiatric admissions in a general hospital in Spain

Objectives: To identify demographic or clinical factors associated with frequent admissions in a sample of patients admitted to an acute psychiatric hospitalization unit, controlling for potentially confounding factors. Methods: Socio-demographic variables, diagnosis, and the legal status, date and length of admission were collected for 1,722 consecutively admitted psychiatric patients during a period of up to eight years (1998–2005). Frequently admitted patients were defined as undergoing one or more admissions per year on average. Results: After controlling for potential confounding factors, logistic regression showed that being a frequently admitted patient was significantly associated with diagnoses of schizoaffective disorder, personality disorder or schizophrenia; an involuntary commitment at first admission; and younger age. Conclusions: Factors associated with frequently admitted patients should be identified in order to establish more effective strategies for preventing relapse.
A Bounded Model of the Communication Delay for System Integrity Protection Schemes

This paper investigates the latency of system integrity protection schemes (SIPSs) and proposes a bounded model of the communication delay. To be specific, SIPSs can be divided into wide-area protection and substation-area protection. For the former, the data buffering of phasor data concentrators and the automatic protection switching of synchronous optical network/synchronous digital hierarchy are utilized to limit the latency of regional and backbone networks, respectively; then, the communication delay is modeled as bounded, instead of average or stochastic in the literature. For the latter, the network calculus theory is used to restrict the latency in switched Ethernet networks, and the communication delay is modeled as bounded. In practice, SIPSs need to preprogram the time delay of protective relays and expect the communication delay as predictable or predetermined. Hence, the proposed bounded model is more realistic than the average or stochastic model. Further, the bounded model suggests the network dynamics and worst-case performances. It can be a useful tool in the relay setting as well as in the planning, design, and assessment of SIPS networks.