Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Postpartum management for gestational diabetes mellitus: Policy and practice implications

PurposeThe pathogenesis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and insulin resistance, risk factors, links to diabetes following the pregnancy, and clinical practice recommendations for this population are reviewed. Economic implications and future research needs are included. Data sourcesReview of original studies and meta-analyses from Medline, PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Library Online, and other scientific and public health literature; personal clinical experience with the population and dissertation research with women who experience GDM. ConclusionsGDM is a common condition experienced during pregnancy that is associated with long-term maternal risks for the development of type 2 diabetes following the index pregnancy. For the woman with GDM, the trajectory of diabetes development can often be prevented or postponed with comprehensive education and lifestyle changes, but there is evidence to suggest that preventive efforts directed at this population can be improved. Because the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and glucose intolerance as well as the costs of treatment of these disorders are escalating in the United States, attention should be focused on this vulnerable population. ImplicationsNurse practitioners need to be cognizant of the risks for diabetes and should follow clinical practice recommendations for routine screening and implementing preventive strategies for women who experience GDM. Office reminder systems such as standardized documentation flow sheets and electronic medical records may assist with provider adherence to practice recommendations. Strict postpartum screening and management may help reduce risks for developing diabetes in this vulnerable population.
Toolkit to support the social care role in integrated health and social care teams

The toolkit was developed from the findings of an Evaluation of the Social Care Role in Integrated Teams in Nottinghamshire. The evaluation found that placing social care workers in integrated teams was cost effective and made a valuable contribution to integrated working but only if certain conditions were in place. Evidence from the evaluation has been used to create a toolkit to help promote the conditions that enable successful integrated working. The toolkit has been designed to support managers, integrated teams and social care workers to deliver the social care role effectively in an integrated setting. If you are intending to use the toolkit could you please provide information about how you will use the toolkit, or give any feedback you have regarding the toolkit, using the online questionnaire accessible from the Official URL link.
Site-specific targeting of enterovirus capsid by functionalized monodisperse gold nanoclusters

Significance Development of precise protocols for accurate site-specific conjugation of monodisperse inorganic nanoparticles to large biomolecules and bionanoparticles is one of the challenges in contemporary bionanoscience and nanomedicine, providing new tools for bioimaging and tracking in biological systems. Here we report a success in labeling enteroviruses by atomically precise thiol-stabilized gold clusters with 1.5-nm metal cores that bind, via a covalent link, to cysteines that are close to the viral surface. It is shown that the infectivity of the viruses is not compromised by this labeling procedure. These advances allow for future investigations of the structure−function relations of enteroviruses and enterovirus-related virus-like particles, including their entry mechanisms into cells and uncoating in cellular endosomes. Development of precise protocols for accurate site-specific conjugation of monodisperse inorganic nanoparticles to biological material is one of the challenges in contemporary bionanoscience and nanomedicine. We report here a successful site-specific covalent conjugation of functionalized atomically monodisperse gold clusters with 1.5-nm metal cores to viral surfaces. Water-soluble Au102(para-mercaptobenzoic acid)44 clusters, functionalized by maleimide linkers to target cysteines of viral capsid proteins, were synthesized and conjugated to enteroviruses echovirus 1 and coxsackievirus B3. Quantitative analysis of transmission electron microscopy images and the known virus structures showed high affinity and mutual ordering of the bound gold clusters on the viral surface and a clear correlation between the clusters and the targeted cysteine sites close to the viral surface. Infectivity of the viruses was not compromised by loading of several tens of gold clusters per virus. These advances allow for future investigations of the structure−function relations of enteroviruses and enterovirus-related virus-like particles, including their entry mechanisms into cells and uncoating in cellular endosomes.
Postnatal Weight and Height Growth Modeling and Prediction of Body Mass Index as a Function of Time for the Study of Growth Determinants

Weight, height and body mass index (BMI) growth trajectories have been associated with several chronic diseases in later life. Our aim was to describe a method to model individual weight and height growth curves during infancy and to show how it can be used to study their determinants and relationships with later health outcomes as well as to predict BMI trajectories. In the EDEN mother-child cohort, we collected 17 measurements of weight and 16 of length/height per child between birth and 3 years of age in 1,900 infants from their health care booklet and during the study clinical examinations at 1 and 3 years; 1,436 (76%) had at least 1 measurement between 2 and 3 years. We fitted individual weight and height growth trajectories using the Jenss nonlinear model including random effects using the ‘SAEMIX' package (R software). We studied whether individual growth model parameters were associated with gender in one- and two-step approaches. We indirectly calculated BMI increase against time from both weight and height growth models combined and compared the fit with a direct multilevel spline model. By modeling observed growth data, we homogenized the data in terms of number and age of measurements and were able to calculate other specific parameters as growth velocities.
Count of benign melanocytic nevi as a major indicator of risk for nonfamilial nodular and superficial spreading melanoma

A study of 207 consecutive white patients older than 18 years of age with nonfamilial nodular and superficial spreading melanoma and 295 controls was conducted in southeast France. Controls were recruited in a public health center. They were matched for sex and age to the overall population older than 18 years of age according to the last census. Melanocytic nevi were counted over the entire body, and data on sun exposure and skin type were collected. A multiple logistic model was used to determine the variables best predicting the risk of melanoma. in order of entry into the model, these variables were number of nevi from 5 to less than 10 mm (N5/10), outdoor leisure per year, frequency of sunburn in the last years, depth of suntan, number of nevi less than 5 min in diameter (N1/5), age, social level, and hair color. Nevi counts were shown to be indispensable to the construction of a good predictive model for nonfamilial melanoma. After adjustment, estimated relative risks for nonfamilial melanoma rose with increasing number of N1/5, N5/10, and clinically atypical nevi (CAN) on the whole body. Compared with baseline groups the presence of more than 120 N1/5 was associated with a RR of 19.6, the presence of at least five N5/10 with a RR of 10, and the presence of more than one CAN with a RR of 2.77. The number of nevi on the buttocks seemed to be a strong risk factor of melanoma and may provide a simple technique for mass screening. The association between CAN and nonfamilial melanoma could be explained largely by the association between this tumor and the number of large nevi (± 5 mm). It is suggested that when using number of nevi as risk markers, their size might be more important than the other features of clinical atypia. Phenotypic traits and sun exposure, on the one hand, and number of nevi, on the other, seem to be independent risk factors. On the basis of nevus count alone, high‐risk subgroups can be identified, which represent only a small part of the overall population older than 18 years of age and from which a large proportion nonfamilial melanoma would theoretically derive.
Brokers and Competitive Advantage

The broker profits by intermediating between two (or more) parties. Using a biform game, we examine whether such a position can confer a competitive advantage, as well as whether any such advantage could persist if actors formed relations strategically. Our analysis reveals that, if one considers exogenous the relations between actors, brokers can enjoy an advantage but only if (1) they do not face substitutes either for the connections they offer or the value they can create, (2) they intermediate more than two parties, and (3) interdependence does not lock them into a particular pattern of exchange. If, on the other hand, one allows actors to form relations on the basis of their expectations of the future value of those relations, then profitable positions of intermediation only arise under strict assumptions of unilateral action. We discuss the implications of our analysis for firm strategy and empirical research.
Hereditary Hemochromatosis of a Young Girl: Detection of Early Iron Deposition in Liver Cell Lysosomes Using Transmission Electron Microscopy and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy

A 14-year-old girl demonstrated increased iron concentration and transferrin saturation, suggesting iron overload of unknown origin. Liver biopsy showed no fibrosis or hepatocytic atrophia. Nevertheless, Prussian blue reaction for histochemical detection of iron demonstrated very weak positive granules in a few hepatocytes on the periphery of hepatic lobules in close connection to bile capillaries. This very early stage of hemochromatosis was confirmed by TEM and EELS for iron accumulation inside hepatocytic lysosomes and residual bodies. Such siderosomes were scarce in number and iron content, compared to a case of manifested hemochromatosis and liver cirrhosis (Jonas L, Fulda G, Salemeh T, et al. Ultrastruct Pathol. 2001; 25: 111-118.). Liver iron concentration as measured by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) yielded 2.005 mg/g tissue dry weight, which was considered not significantly increased. In the absence of known causes for secondary iron overload, the early diagnosis was evidenced by genotyping, revealed homozygosity for the HFE gene C282Y mutation, demonstrating the presence of hereditary hemochromatosis.
Measuring Service Quality and its Effect on Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty: The Case of Vietjet Air.

In a highly competitive environment of the airline industry, the achievement of possessing customers’ satisfaction and loyalty can assure the sustainable competitive advantages as well as profit of any airline company. The new appearances of new budget airlines increase the substitution force of the industry, that requires any company to further develop its service quality in order to gain new customers, together with to keep the old ones. Vietjet Air, Vietnamese only private budget airline, which has only been in action since 2011, has become the leading low-cost carrier in Vietnam. Vietjet is also evaluated to surpass state-owned Vietnam Airlines this year as the country’s biggest domestic carrier by The Capa Centre for Aviation (CAPA). The main purpose of this study is to measure Vietjet Air’s service quality and to provide a better understanding of customer satisfaction and loyalty towards airline service quality in order to help Vietjet Air’s managers in developing better future strategies to satisfy customers and enhance their loyalty. This research was used quantitative research design and target respondents was selected by utilizing convenience sampling. A total of 250 questionnaires were self-administered to air travelers having experienced with Vietjet Air in the past 12 months at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi and 238 questionnaires were returned. Finally, the result of this study shows that all the proposed hypotheses was resulted in statistically significant.
Adult weight management: Translating research and guidelines into practice

Purpose: To provide a practical approach to managing overweight and obese adult patients based on data from research and recommendations from established guidelines. Data sources: Comprehensive review articles and original research articles identified through Medline and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL). Conclusions: There is a great deal of research being conducted on new ways to treat obesity; however, despite all this new information, many primary care providers continue to report that they do not address weight or weight control strategies with their patients. Reasons include too little time, not enough training, lack of financial incentive, and failure to believe that patients can be successful. Implications for practice: Weight management essentially comes down to one key concept: negative energy balance (fewer calories in and/or more calories out). Patients can be taught how to achieve a negative energy balance by using a food/exercise diary to track their daily caloric goal to achieve a 1‐2 pound weight loss per week. Nurse practitioners (NPs) can implement safe and effective weight management plans for their patients by teaching them how to self‐monitor, eat healthy, and exercise. This method is similar to what NPs commonly use for patients with diabetes mellitus.
Identifying high risk individuals for targeted lung cancer screening: Independent validation of the PLCOm2012 risk prediction tool

Lung cancer screening with computerised tomography holds promise, but optimising the balance of benefits and harms via selection of a high risk population is critical. PLCOm2012 is a logistic regression model based on U.S. data, incorporating sociodemographic and health factors, which predicts 6‐year lung cancer risk among ever‐smokers, and thus may better predict those who might benefit from screening than criteria based solely on age and smoking history. We aimed to validate the performance of PLCOm2012 in predicting lung cancer outcomes in a cohort of Australian smokers. Predicted risk of lung cancer was calculated using PLCOm2012 applied to baseline data from 95,882 ever‐smokers aged ≥45 years in the 45 and Up Study (2006–2009). Predictions were compared to lung cancer outcomes captured to June 2014 via linkage to population‐wide health databases; a total of 1,035 subsequent lung cancer diagnoses were identified. PLCOm2012 had good discrimination (area under the receiver‐operating‐characteristic‐curve; AUC 0.80, 95%CI 0.78–0.81) and excellent calibration (mean and 90th percentiles of absolute risk difference between observed and predicted outcomes: 0.006 and 0.016, respectively). Sensitivity (69.4%, 95%CI, 65.6–73.0%) of the PLCOm2012 criteria in the 55–74 year age group for predicting lung cancers was greater than that using criteria based on ≥30 pack‐years smoking and ≤15 years quit (57.3%, 53.3‐61.3%; p < 0.0001), but specificity was lower (72.0%, 71.7–72.4% versus 75.2%, 74.8–75.6%, respectively; p < 0.0001). Targeting high risk people for lung cancer screening using PLCOm2012 might improve the balance of benefits versus harms, and cost‐effectiveness of lung cancer screening.
Separating heart sound from lung sound using Non-Local Means filter

Primary aim of this work is to develop methodology for extracting useful information from the phonocardiographic signal for a computerized cardiac auscultation system and the intelligent stethoscope. The paper presents a technique based on a Non-Local Means method (NLM). When synthetic data is combined with the heart sound signal, it is found that NLM can separate the heart sound without degrading the main characteristic features of heart sound at wide diapason of signal-to-noise ratio (SNRin). The results of application of NLM to real auscultation signal are also promising.
Blunted IgE-Mediated Activation of Mast Cells in Mice Lacking the Ca2+-Activated K+ Channel KCa3.11

Mast cell stimulation by Ag is followed by the opening of Ca2+-activated K+ channels, which participate in the orchestration of mast cell degranulation. The present study has been performed to explore the involvement of the Ca2+-activated K+ channel KCa3.1 in mast cell function. To this end mast cells have been isolated and cultured from the bone marrow (bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs)) of KCa3.1 knockout mice (KCa3.1−/−) and their wild-type littermates (KCa3.1+/+). Mast cell number as well as in vitro BMMC growth and CD117, CD34, and FcεRI expression were similar in both genotypes, but regulatory cell volume decrease was impaired in KCa3.1−/− BMMCs. Treatment of the cells with Ag, endothelin-1, or the Ca2+ ionophore ionomycin was followed by stimulation of Ca2+-activated K+ channels and cell membrane hyperpolarization in KCa3.1+/+, but not in KCa3.1−/− BMMCs. Upon Ag stimulation, Ca2+ entry but not Ca2+ release from intracellular stores was markedly impaired in KCa3.1−/− BMMCs. Similarly, Ca2+ entry upon endothelin-1 stimulation was significantly reduced in KCa3.1−/− cells. Ag-induced release of β-hexosaminidase, an indicator of mast cell degranulation, was significantly smaller in KCa3.1−/− BMMCs compared with KCa3.1+/+ BMMCs. Moreover, histamine release upon stimulation of BMMCs with endothelin-1 was reduced in KCa3.1−/− cells. The in vivo Ag-induced decline in body temperature revealed that IgE-dependent anaphylaxis was again significantly (by ∼50%) blunted in KCa3.1−/− mice. In conclusion, KCa3.1 is required for Ca2+-activated K+ channel activity and Ca2+-dependent processes such as endothelin-1- or Ag-induced degranulation of mast cells, and may thus play a critical role in anaphylactic reactions.
Understanding cytokine and growth factor receptor activation mechanisms

Our understanding of the detailed mechanism of action of cytokine and growth factor receptors – and particularly our quantitative understanding of the link between structure, mechanism and function – lags significantly behind our knowledge of comparable functional protein classes such as enzymes, G protein-coupled receptors, and ion channels. In particular, it remains controversial whether such receptors are activated by a mechanism of ligand-induced oligomerization, versus a mechanism in which the ligand binds to a pre-associated receptor dimer or oligomer that becomes activated through subsequent conformational rearrangement. A major limitation to progress has been the relative paucity of methods for performing quantitative mechanistic experiments on unmodified receptors expressed at endogenous levels on live cells. In this article, we review the current state of knowledge on the activation mechanisms of cytokine and growth factor receptors, critically evaluate the evidence for and against the different proposed mechanisms, and highlight other key questions that remain unanswered. New approaches and techniques have led to rapid recent progress in this area, and the field is poised for major advances in the coming years which promise to revolutionize our understanding of this large and biologically and medically important class of receptors.
The SH3, HOOK and guanylate kinase‐like domains of hDLG are important for its cytoplasmic localization

Background: hDLG, the human homologue of the Drosophila tumour suppressor dlg, functions as a scaffolding protein that facilitates the transmission of diverse downstream signals. hDLG possesses multiple protein‐binding domains, including three PDZ domains, an SH3 domain, a HOOK domain and a guanylate kinase‐like (GK) domain.
Large‐scale control of the lower stratosphere on variability of tropical cyclone intensity

Recent studies of tropical cyclones (TC) have suggested intricate impacts of the lower stratosphere layer (LSL) on TC development at the high‐intensity limit. This study examines the potential realization of the impacts of the LSL interannual variability on TC intensity. By minimizing the effects of sea surface temperature and outflow temperature based on the potential intensity framework, partial correlation analyses show a negative correlation between the power dissipation index (PDI) for intense TCs and the tropopause height in the northwestern Pacific basin but a weaker relationship in the north Atlantic basin. Similar analyses for the LSL stratification also reveal signals of negative correlations between the LSL stratification and PDI in both basins, corroborating recent modeling studies about the impacts of the LSL on TC development. Due to the complexity of the relationships and data limitations, however, all correlations are statistically insignificant, thus rendering the impacts of LSL on TC intensity inconclusive at present.
Recombinogenic Flap Ligation Pathway for Intrinsic Repair of Topoisomerase IB-Induced Double-Strand Breaks

ABSTRACT Topoisomerase IB catalyzes recombinogenic DNA strand transfer reactions in vitro and in vivo. Here we characterize a new pathway of topoisomerase-mediated DNA ligation in vitro (flap ligation) in which vaccinia virus topoisomerase bound to a blunt-end DNA joins the covalently held strand to a 5′ resected end of a duplex DNA containing a 3′ tail. The joining reaction occurs with high efficiency when the sequence of the 3′ tail is complementary to that of the scissile strand immediately 5′ of the cleavage site. A 6-nucleotide segment of complementarity suffices for efficient flap ligation. Invasion of the flap into the duplex apparently occurs while topoisomerase remains bound to DNA, thereby implying a conformational flexibility of the topoisomerase clamp around the DNA target site. The 3′ flap acceptor DNA mimics a processed end in the double-strand-break-repair recombination pathway. Our findings suggest that topoisomerase-induced breaks may be rectified by flap ligation, with ensuing genomic deletions or translocations.
Green Premium in the Primary and Secondary U.S. Municipal Bond Markets

Green municipal bonds are a growing segment of the US municipal bond market. As they face increasing demand, there have been questions about the performance of green muni bonds relative to their conventional counterparts. In this paper, we perform yield curve analysis on a selection of green-labelled muni bonds that were issued at the same time as conventional muni bonds by the same issuers. We further refine this down to a pair-wise analysis to check the yield differential between pairs of bonds that are identical except for the green label. We find that there is a growing trend towards green premium in both the primary and secondary markets in both the series trend analysis and in the pair-wise analysis.
Adaptive Receive Antenna Selection for Orthogonal Space-Time Block Codes with Imperfect Channel Estimation

For coherent detection, decoding Orthogonal Space-Time Block Codes (OSTBC) requires full channel state information at the receiver, which basically is obtained by channel estimation. However, in practical systems, channel estimation errors are inevitable and may degrade the system performance more as the number of antennas increases. This letter shows that, using fewer receive antennas can enhance the performance of OSTBC systems in presence of channel estimation errors. Furthermore, a novel adaptive receive antenna selection scheme, which adaptively adjusts the number of receive antennas, is proposed. Performance evaluation and numerical examples show that the proposed scheme improves the performance obviously.