Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Bacopa monnieri improve memory performance in older persons? Results of a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Bacopa monnieri Linn. for improvement of memory performance in healthy older persons. STUDY DESIGN This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS The trial took place in Lismore, NSW, Australia between February and July 2005. Ninety-eight (98) healthy participants over 55 years of age were recruited from the general population. INTERVENTIONS Participants were randomized to receive an extract of Bacopa monnieri called BacoMind(TM) (Natural Remedies Pvt. Ltd.), 300 mg/day, or an identical placebo. Following screening, neuropsychologic and subjective memory assessments were performed at baseline and at 12 weeks. OUTCOME MEASURES Audioverbal and visual memory performance were measured by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (CFT), and the Reitan Trail Making Test (TMT). Subjective memory performance was measured by the Memory Complaint Questionnaire (MAC-Q). RESULTS One hundred and thirty-six (136) subjects volunteered; 103 met entry criteria, 98 commenced, and 81 completed the trial. Bacopa significantly improved verbal learning, memory acquisition, and delayed recall as measured by the AVLT: trial a4 (p = 0.000), trial a5 (p = 0.016); trial a6 (p = 0.000); trial a7 (delayed recall) (p = 0.001); total learning (p = 0.011); and retroactive interference (p = 0.048). CFT, MAC-Q, and TMT scores improved but group differences were not significant. Bacopa versus placebo caused gastrointestinal tract (GIT) side-effects. CONCLUSIONS Bacopa significantly improved memory acquisition and retention in healthy older Australians. This concurs with previous findings and traditional use. Bacopa caused GIT side-effects of increased stool frequency, abdominal cramps, and nausea.
FSH modulates the expression of inhibin‐alpha and the secretion of inhibins via orphan nuclear receptor NUR77 in ovarian granulosa cells

It has been previously reported that follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH) regulates the expression of inhibin‐alpha in human granulosa cells, but the precise molecular pathway remains unknown. In the present study, we investigated the role of the orphan nuclear receptor, NUR77, in both the transcriptional regulation of the inhibin α‐subunit gene and the secretion of inhibins. Our results showed that in a human granulosa cell tumor‐derived cell line (KGN) and in human granulosa‐lutein cells (hGL), FSH induced the expression of NUR77 and inhibin‐alpha, although inhibin‐alpha expression did not increased following FSH treatment if NUR77 was knocked down. Furthermore, simply overexpressing or reducing NUR77 levels affected inhibin‐alpha expression, while NUR77 overexpression improved the secretion of inhibin A and B from human granulosa cells. In addition, chromatin immunoprecipitation–PCR, avidin–biotin‐conjugated DNA precipitation, and luciferase reporter assays confirmed that NUR77 directly regulated the transcription of the inhibin‐alpha gene through the specific NGFI‐B response element located within its promoter. In the ovarian granulosa cells of the Nur77 knockout mice, the mRNA levels of inhibin‐alpha were decreased relative to wild‐type mice. These data indicate a role of NUR77 in the regulation of inhibin‐alpha in ovarian granulosa cells. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 80: 734–743, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Colocalization of hyperpolarization‐activated, cyclic nucleotide‐gated channel subunits in rat retinal ganglion cells

The current‐passing pore of mammalian hyperpolarization‐activated, cyclic nucleotide‐gated (HCN) channels is formed by subunit isoforms denoted HCN1–4. In various brain areas, antibodies directed against multiple isoforms bind to single neurons, and the current (Ih) passed during hyperpolarizations differs from that of heterologously expressed homomeric channels. By contrast, retinal rod, cone, and bipolar cells appear to use homomeric HCN channels. Here, we assess the generality of this pattern by examining HCN1 and HCN4 immunoreactivity in rat retinal ganglion cells, measuring Ih in dissociated cells, and testing whether HCN1 and HCN4 proteins coimmunoprecipitate. Nearly half of the ganglion cells in whole‐mounted retinae bound antibodies against both isoforms. Consistent with colocalization and physical association, 8‐bromo‐cAMP shifted the voltage sensitivity of Ih less than that of HCN4 channels and more than that of HCN1 channels, and HCN1 coimmunoprecipitated with HCN4 from membrane fraction proteins. Finally, the immunopositive somata ranged in diameter from the smallest to the largest in rat retina, the dendrites of immunopositive cells arborized at various levels of the inner plexiform layer and over fields of different diameters, and Ih activated with similar kinetics and proportions of fast and slow components in small, medium, and large somata. These results show that different HCN subunits colocalize in single retinal ganglion cells, identify a subunit that can reconcile native Ih properties with the previously reported presence of HCN4 in these cells, and indicate that Ih is biophysically similar in morphologically diverse retinal ganglion cells and differs from Ih in rods, cones, and bipolar cells. J. Comp. Neurol. 519:2546–2573, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An integrated approach to worksite tobacco use prevention and oral cancer screening among factory workers in Mumbai, India.

BACKGROUND Tobacco control and cessation interventions are among the most cost effective medical interventions but health systems in low resource countries lack the infrastructure to promote prevention and cessation among tobacco users. Workplace settings have the potential to provide opportunities and access for tobacco prevention interventions. METHODS This is a single group study evaluating tobacco use prevention and cessation through a structured three stage intervention program for tobacco users comprising education on harmful effects of tobacco, oral cancer screening and behavior therapy for tobacco cessation at the worksite. RESULTS All the 739 workers who were invited participated in tobacco awareness program and were screened for oral pre cancer lesions. 291 (39.4%) workers were found to be users of tobacco in some form. Education, gender and alcohol use (p<0.0001) were some of the factors associated with tobacco user status. The prevalence of clinical oral precancer lesions among tobacco users was 21.6%. Alcohol consumption (p<0.001), the type of tobacco consumed (p<0.018), personal medical history of chronic diseases (p<0.007) and combined use of alcohol and tobacco (p<0.001) were some factors found to be associated with presence of oral pre cancer lesions. CONCLUSION An integrated approach for worksite based tobacco use prevention with oral cancer screening program showed good acceptance and participation and was effective in addressing the problem of tobacco consumption among the factory workers.
"I Saw the Light" (1): Hank Williams Sr, Acute Kidney Injury, and Cardiopulmonary Arrest.

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Physical fitness and volume of leisure time physical activity relate with low stress and high mental resources in young men.

AIM There is limited evidence available regarding the relationship between physical fitness, especially muscular fitness, and the mental well-being among young healthy men. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of measured cardiovascular and muscle fitness and self reported leisure time physical activity (LTPA) on outcomes of stress and mental resources in Finnish young men. METHODS In a cross-sectional study, 831 men (mean age 25 y) underwent cardiovascular and muscle fitness test and completed LTPA and Occupational Stress Questionnaires (OSQ). For analysis, the subjects were divided to LTPA, CVF and MFI tertiles. RESULTS The group with low LTPA reported 6% and 13% more stress (ANCOVA using age, body mass index, smoking and alcohol use as covariates, P<0.05 in both) and 6% and 12% (P<0.05 in both) less mental resources than the moderate and high LTPA groups, respectively. The group having low cardiovascular fitness experienced 8% and 9% (P<0.001 in both) more stress and 7% and 7% (P<0.05 in both) less mental resources than moderate and high cardiovascular fitness groups. The low muscle fitness index (MFI) group reported 7% (P<0.01) less mental resources than those with moderate MFI and 8% (P<0.001) more stress and 8% (P<0.001) less mental resources than those with high MFI. CONCLUSION Both good aerobic and muscular fitness together with high LTPA are associated with low stress and high mental resources.
Transcranial Doppler sonography and magnetic resonance angiography in the assessment of collateral hemispheric flow in patients with carotid artery disease.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The aim of this investigation was to compare the respective efficacy of transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) for the assessment of intracranial hemodynamics in patients with extracranial occlusion or severe stenosis of the internal carotid artery (ICA). METHODS Twenty-five patients with unilateral ICA occlusion (n = 20) or tight stenosis (n = 5) demonstrated by duplex scanning or angiography were studied with both TCD and MRA. Three-dimensional time-of-flight MRA was used for the evaluation of extracranial-intracranial ICAs. Collateralization through the circle of Willis was investigated by means of selective two-dimensional MRA with presaturation of the carotid siphon, ophthalmic artery, or basilar artery. TCD was performed according to published standards: Anterior, middle, and posterior cerebral arteries were insonated through the temporal window, and carotid siphon and ophthalmic artery were assessed through a transorbital approach. Collateralization through the anterior circle of Willis was assumed if anterior cerebral artery flow was reversed, through the external carotid artery if ophthalmic artery flow was reversed, and through the basilar artery if the ratio of ipsilateral to contralateral posterior cerebral artery velocity was greater than 50%. TCD and MRA were performed by different investigators unaware of the results obtained with the other technique. RESULTS In every case time-of-flight MRA demonstrated the ICA occlusion or stenosis. There was an excellent correlation (kappa = 0.64) between TCD and MRA in assessing the hemodynamic contribution of the anterior part of the circle of Willis, whereas MRA was unable to detect the anastomotic pathway of the ophthalmic artery (kappa = 0.32). The contribution of the posterior communicating artery was difficult to assess with both techniques, but in three cases only MRA showed unequivocal evidence of collateralization. In three cases of middle cerebral artery stenosis TCD was superior to MRA in demonstrating the patency of the vessel. CONCLUSIONS TCD and MRA should be considered complementary techniques. Combining the findings of both examinations may help to better understand the changes in intracranial hemodynamics produced by extracranial carotid occlusion. The contribution of the ophthalmic pathway, although important for the intraorbital structures, is probably of limited functional significance to the hemispheric blood supply.
Tissue renin-angiotensin systems. Their role in cardiovascular disease.

BACKGROUND The identification of the components of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in various extrarenal tissues suggested the existence of local renin-angiotensin systems with organ-specific functions that may act independently from the plasma RAS. These findings have led to the hypothesis of paracrine-autocrine functions of the RAS, which implies that locally generated angiotensin II mediates effects within one tissue or within one cell. Whereas the circulating endocrine RAS appears to be responsible for acute effects, the tissue RAS seems to participate in more chronic processes such as secondary structural changes and therefore may contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension as well as other cardiovascular disorders such as cardiac hypertrophy, coronary artery disease, and atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS The use of molecular biological techniques has demonstrated that all components of the RAS-renin, angiotensinogen, converting enzyme, and angiotensin receptors-are expressed in several tissues that participate in the regulation of cardiovascular homeostasis. CONCLUSIONS The therapeutic importance of inhibitors of the RAS, such as converting enzyme inhibitors, is based on their cardioprotective as well as antiproliferative effects and points to a direct involvement of the RAS in the development and preservation of primary hypertension, a pathological condition in which normal or even low plasma renin activity is a common finding. Reversal of cardiovascular structural changes and enhancement of renal sodium excretion by converting enzyme inhibitors are important long-term antihypertensive actions possibly mediated by inhibition of the tissue RAS.
Protecting medical data in cloud storage using fault-tolerance mechanism

Given the fact that cloud computing offers cost-efficient storage systems, medical organizations are more interested in using this alternative solution to safeguard their patients' data. Equally interestingly, users are charged based typically on the amount of occupied storage space. Basically, this concept is meant to cut costs and improve the quality of healthcare services. Consequently, implementing cloud storage would help clients to manage their data efficiently. Besides, it allows users to outsource the storage process by using virtual storage systems instead of local ones. Despite its significant impact in healthcare domain, adopting this paradigm to save medical data on remote servers poses serious challenges, especially security risks. Currently, various cryptographic techniques have been used to ensure data confidentiality and to avoid data disclosure. Globally, this model uses traditional cryptosystems such as AES, RSA to address security issues in cloud storage. As far as we know, there are only a few works in literature that deal with availability and data recovery in cloud computing. In general, the classical approach which is based on backup or replication is not suitable for cloud environment due to the highly dynamic nature of this model. The intent of this work is to enhance the reliability of cloud storage in order to meet security requirements. In this study, we propose a novel method based on Shamir's Secret Share Scheme and multi-cloud concept to avoid data loss and unauthorized access. More precisely, this technique seeks to divide consumers' data into several portions using Shamir's Secret Share to prevent privacy disclosure. Based on these considerations, we store these created portions in different nodes to minimize security risks, particularly internal attacks. To sum up, this method is designed to ensure fault-tolerance, which is the main subject of this study. In fact, we need just certain shares to reconstruct the secret data rather than using all parts. The experimental results are in accordance with the theoretical assumptions behind this model, and hence, confirm that the proposed framework provides necessary measures for preventing data loss in cloud storage.
Dexmedetomidine Infusion for Maintenance of Anesthesia in Patients Undergoing Abdominal Hysterectomy

The usefulness of intravenous dexmedetomidine infusion for maintenance of anesthesia was studied in patients anesthetized with thiopental, fentanyl, nitrous oxide, and oxygen. Isoflurane was added as needed. The study was conducted in two parts, the first of which was an open dose-response study that comprised 14 women undergoing abdominal hysterectomy. After a suitable infusion regimen of dexmedetomidine was determined according to hemodynamic criteria, 20 patients were included in a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial (10 receiving dexmedetomidine, 10 saline solution). Dexmedetomidine was administered as a two-step infusion to rapidly achieve a steady-state plasma concentration. The infusion was started with an initial dose given over 10 min before the induction of anesthesia; at induction the maintenance rate was begun and continued until closure of the abdominal fascia. The infusion regimens of dexmedetomidine tested in the dose-response study ranged from 120 ng-kg−1.min−1 followed by 6 ng-kg−1.min−1, to 270 + 13.5 ng-kg−1.min−1. In the second part of the study, an initial infusion of 170 ng-kg−1.min−1 was chosen, followed by 10 ng-kg−1.min−1 for maintenance. Anesthesia was induced with thiopental (4.0 mg/kg) and maintained with isoflurane in 70% nitrous oxide and oxygen. Isoflurane was administered according to predetermined hemodynamic criteria. Dexmedetomidine infusion did not completely abolish the need for isoflurane but diminished its requirement by >90% (P = 0.02). The heart rate response to endotracheal intubation was significantly blunted.
A unique wheat disease resistance-like gene governs effector-triggered susceptibility to necrotrophic pathogens

Plant disease resistance is often conferred by genes with nucleotide binding site (NBS) and leucine-rich repeat (LRR) or serine/threonine protein kinase (S/TPK) domains. Much less is known about mechanisms of susceptibility, particularly to necrotrophic fungal pathogens. The pathogens that cause the diseases tan spot and Stagonospora nodorum blotch on wheat produce effectors (host-selective toxins) that induce susceptibility in wheat lines harboring corresponding toxin sensitivity genes. The effector ToxA is produced by both pathogens, and sensitivity to ToxA is governed by the Tsn1 gene on wheat chromosome arm 5BL. Here, we report the cloning of Tsn1, which was found to have disease resistance gene-like features, including S/TPK and NBS-LRR domains. Mutagenesis revealed that all three domains are required for ToxA sensitivity, and hence disease susceptibility. Tsn1 is unique to ToxA-sensitive genotypes, and insensitive genotypes are null. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis indicated that Tsn1 arose in the B-genome diploid progenitor of polyploid wheat through a gene-fusion event that gave rise to its unique structure. Although Tsn1 is necessary to mediate ToxA recognition, yeast two-hybrid experiments suggested that the Tsn1 protein does not interact directly with ToxA. Tsn1 transcription is tightly regulated by the circadian clock and light, providing further evidence that Tsn1-ToxA interactions are associated with photosynthesis pathways. This work suggests that these necrotrophic pathogens may thrive by subverting the resistance mechanisms acquired by plants to combat other pathogens.
Localization algorithms based on hop counting for Wireless Nano-Sensor networks

Wireless Nano-Sensor networks (WNSN) consist of nanosensors equipped with nanotransceivers and nanoantennas to operate in Terahertz frequency band (0.1-10THz). Due to the peculiarities of this communication channel (such as, very short range of transmission (under lm), high interference, high path loss) and limited capabilities of nano-nodes (such as, computing, sensing, memory, energy), the existing ranging techniques designed for traditional wireless sensor networks are not longer used in the WNSNs. In this paper, two ranging algorithms based on hop-counting methods are developed to estimate the location of every nanosensor within certain area and distance between nodes in the networks. The first technique uses flooding mechanism to forward the packets to all nodes in the networks and count number of hops between two measured nodes. To overcome the problems of high overhead, duplication packets, and waste of consumption energy, the second algorithm based on clusters is developed. In this way, all sensornodes are grouped into different clusters. Cluster heads will communicate together and count the number of hops. The performance of the algorithms are analyzed in terms of estimated distance, delay by taking also account the energy constrains of nanosensors. The simulation results show that, by being aware of the limitations of nanosensors, the proposed protocols are able to support WNSNs with very high density in ranging and localizing.