Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improved glucose tolerance after effective lipid‐lowering therapy with bezafibrate in a patient with lipoatrophic diabetes mellitus: a putative role for Randle’s cycle in its pathogenesis?

This report describes a patient with lipoatrophic diabetes mellitus (LDM), which is a rare clinical syndrome characterized by lipoatrophy and severe insulin resistance. Although a genetic abnormality is suspected in the development of LDM, no functional mutations in key domains of the insulin receptor gene were detected. Therapy was directed primarily at decreasing the availability of non‐esterified fatty acids (NEFA), and thereby improving glucose tolerance (Randle’s cycle), by the administration of a lipid‐lowering drug, bezafibrate. Serial changes in fasting levels of the hormones of glucose homeostasis and lipids were measured, as well as glucose and insulin responses to a 75‐g oral glucose challenge at onset and following 3 and 6 months of fibrate therapy. Progressive reductions in the patient’s levels of triglycerides and NEFA were paralleled by an improvement in β‐cell function, a decrease in insulin resistance, and the attainment of normal glucose homeostasis. We conclude that the pathogenesis of LDM may be related primarily to abnormal regulation of lipid, rather than glucose, metabolism.
NITROUS OXIDE EMISSIONS FROM DAIRY FARMLETS , AS AFFECTED BY USE OF A NITRIFICATION INHIBITOR AND A WINTER RESTRICTED GRAZING STRATEGY

Experimental farmlets at DairyNZ’s Prototype Farm near Hamilton were used to determine potential reductions in nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from use of a nitrification inhibitor and a restricted grazing regime. A control farmlet was managed under a conventional rotational grazing regime, while a “tight nitrogen” farmlet was managed under a similar grazing regime to that on the control farmlet, except during winter and early spring when cows grazed for about 6 hours per day on pasture with the remaining 18 hours spent in an animal shelter (e.g., a stand-off or restricted grazing regime). A nitrification inhibitor (dicyandiamide, DCD) was applied onto the “tight nitrogen” farmlet on 2-3 occasions immediately after grazing through winter and early spring. A soil chamber technique was used to measure N2O emissions from each farmlet during three contrasting periods of each year for three years. In addition, the New Zealand IPCC inventory methodology was used to calculate total greenhouse gas emissions. During winter/early spring in 2007, 2008 and 2009, N2O emission rates were lower (P<0.05) in the “tight nitrogen” farmlet than in the control farmlet. The use of a restricted grazing regime and a nitrification inhibitor reduced N2O emissions from the farmlet by 43-55%, 6479% and 45-60% during the winter/early spring seasons, respectively. During late spring/summer and autumn periods, N2O emission rates were generally similar between the two farmlets. The difference in the annual N2O emission rates between the control and the “tight nitrogen” farmlets was not significant in the first year. However, in the second and third years the annual N2O emission rate from the “tight nitrogen” farmlet was found to be between 39% and 50% lower than from the control. For the three study years, the average annual N2O emission rate from the “tight nitrogen” farmlet was 20% lower than from the control. Total annual emissions for the sum of the three major greenhouse gases, N2O, CH4 and CO2, were 11,524 and 10,871 kg CO2-equivalent per hectare from the control and “tight N” farms, respectively. The total greenhouse gas emissions from the tight nitrogen dairy system were 6% lower than those from the control.
100% OXYGEN INHALATION PROTECTS AGAINST ZYMOSAN-INDUCED STERILE SEPSIS IN MICE: THE ROLES OF INFLAMMATORY CYTOKINES AND ANTIOXIDANT ENZYMES

Sepsis is a leading cause of death in patients with critical illness. However, there is no effective therapy available. Recent studies have suggested that ventilation with 100% oxygen (Oxy) can improve the survival rate and organ function in several shock models. However, a lot of work is necessary to be done before its clinical application, and its detailed mechanism remains to be clarified. In the present study, we showed that 100% Oxy inhalation for 2 or 3 h starting at 4 and 12 h after zymosan (ZY) injection, respectively, prevented the abnormal changes of serum biochemical parameters, tissue oxygenation, and organ histopathology, and improved the 14-day survival rate from 10% to 60% to 80% in mice. However, 100% Oxy inhalation for 1 or 4 h starting at the same time points has little preventive effects. We also showed that twice 100% Oxy inhalation for 2 or 3 h attenuated the increase of inflammatory cytokines and precluded the downregulation of antioxidant enzymatic activities. We further showed that the therapeutic time window of Oxy treatment against sterile sepsis was less than 12 h after ZY injection. We conclude that 100% Oxy inhalation for 2 or 3 h starting 4 and 12 h after ZY injection, respectively, protects against ZY-induced sterile sepsis via regulating inflammatory cytokines and antioxidant system in mice. The present results may provide a potential cue for developing more effective therapeutic strategies for patients with sepsis.ABBREVIATIONS-ALT-alanine aminotransferase; AST-aspartate aminotransferase; BUN-blood urea nitrogen; CAT-catalase; cTnI-cardiac troponin I; Cr-creatinine; GSH-Px; glutathione peroxidase; HBO-hyperbaric oxygen; HMGB1-high-mobility group box 1; MODS-multiple-organ dysfunction syndrome; Oxy-oxygen; SOD-superoxide dismutase; ZY-zymosan
Suburban Poverty: Barriers to Services and Injury Prevention among Marginalized Women who Use Methamphetamine

Objective: This paper aims to identify the needed healthcare and social services barriers for women living in suburban communities who are using or have used methamphetamine. Drug users are vulnerable to injury, violence and transmission of infectious diseases, and having access to healthcare has been shown to positively influence prevention and intervention among this population. Yet little is known regarding the social context of suburban drug users, their risks behaviors, and their access to healthcare. Methods: The data collection involved participant observation in the field, face-to-face interviews and focus groups. Audio-recorded in-depth life histories, drug use histories, and resource needs were collected from 31 suburban women who were former or current users of methamphetamine. The majority was drawn from marginalized communities and highly vulnerable to risk for injury and violence. We provided these women with healthcare and social service information and conducted follow-up interviews to identify barriers to these services. Results: Barriers included (1) restrictions imposed by the services and (2) limitations inherent in the women’s social, economic, or legal situations. We found that the barriers increased the women’s risk for further injury, violence and transmission of infectious diseases. Women who could not access needed healthcare and social resources typically used street drugs that were accessible and affordable to self-medicate their untreated emotional and physical pain. Conclusion: Our findings add to the literature on how healthcare and social services are related to injury prevention. Social service providers in the suburbs were often indifferent to the needs of drug-using women. For these women, health services were accessed primarily at emergency departments (ED). To break the cycle of continued drug use, violence and injury, we suggest that ED staff be trained to perform substance abuse assessments and provide immediate referral to detoxification and treatment facilities. Policy change is needed for EDs to provide the care and linkages to treatment that can prevent future injuries and the spread of infectious diseases.
Genetic basis of macrolide resistance in Mycobacterium avium isolated from patients with disseminated disease

Clarithromycin (CLM) and azithromycin (AZM) are important agents in the treatment of disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex disease; however, monotherapy with these macrolides often leads to clinically significant resistance. The underlying resistance mechanism was investigated by comparing 23S rRNA gene sequences in the domain V region of 10 CLM-susceptible strains included in this study. The only differences in the domain V sequences associated with CLM resistance were at position 2274 of the complete M. avium 23S rRNA gene (GenBank accession no. X74494). All the CLM-susceptible strains had an A residue at this site, whereas seven of the eight CLM-resistant strains had either a C, G, or T. Four of these seven CLM-resistant strains emerged during monotherapy with CLM and two emerged during AZM monotherapy, showing that resistance selected by either macrolide was associated with mutation of the 23S rRNA gene. Thermodynamic analysis of secondary rRNA structure suggests that the observed mutations cause an alteration in free energy associated with rRNA folding, which may result in a localized conformation change in assembled ribosomes. Such a shift may be important in the resistance of ribosomes to the effects of macrolides. This study therefore establishes a link between mutations within the 23S rRNA gene and clinically significant macrolide resistance in M. avium and also identifies a possible molecular mechanism of resistance at the level of the ribosome.
Empirical studies on a tangible user interface for technology-based assessment: Insights and emerging challenges

The assessment of higher order thinking skills should measure knowledge and procedure as well as attitudes and dispositions. It can be considered as multidimensional regarding the cognitive processes involved in solving, for instance, a complex problem. This paper reports on two empirical studies in which a so called tangible user interface (TUI) was used for the assessment. A simple matching item, suitable for measuring recall of factual knowledge, as well as a simulation item with the potential to assess higher order thinking skills are presented. The existing knowledge about using such systems for assessment is limited. We therefore focused on evaluation of the usability, specifically the user experience (UX) and interviewed experts in order to derive a list of tensions and also advantages. A first study showed that the available constructs for evaluating usability and UX need to be adapted to reflect the collaborative problem solving setting. The second study revealed that the majority of participants rated the system positively from the usability and UX perspective. Some tensions mentioned by the experts were related to the first phase of getting used to the system: When should the system start to assess the observed solving strategies? How could the system identify single atomic contributions (i.e. single experiments with the simulation parameters)? How could we include activities outside the interactive surface of the table? The table supports the user to ‘recognise the perspective of others’, an important sub-skill of collaborative problem solving ‐ how can the table track these activities? Based on the outcomes of the studies we identified eight topics. We discuss the related tensions for each and the advantages between the new technology and technology-based assessment which will impact the future development of using TUI for assessment as well as the design of assessment models and methods.
Seeking Ways to Inform the Uninformed: Improving the Informed Consent Process in Online Social Science Research

Participants often do not read consent forms in social science research. This is not surprising, especially for online studies, given they do not typically offer greater risk than what is encountered in daily life. However, if no one is reading, are participants really informed? This study used previous research to craft experimentally manipulated consent forms utilizing different visual presentations (e.g., greater use of line spacing, bullets, bolding, diagrams). Participants (n = 547) were randomly exposed to one of seven form variations. Results found no significant differences between forms in reading or comprehension. Open-ended questions asked participants why they do not read consent forms and what would influence them to read the forms. Participants most frequently stated forms need to be shorter, and important information needs to be highlighted. We suggest improvements to informed consent forms, including removing much of the information that is constant across forms, and only including unique aspects of studies.
Efficient and effective cage generation by region decomposition

Cage‐based deformation has become a popular method for shape deformation in computer graphics and animation. To edit a shape first requires a cage to be built to envelop the target model which is a tedious work by manual approaches. In this paper, we develop an automatic method to generate the cage for a model using voxelization based decomposition. We first voxelize the input model, and then use the seed filling algorithm to group the inner voxels. By dilating the inner voxel groups, we decompose the model into broad regions and narrow regions. Then we construct partial cages using different strategies and unite them to get a cage. Experiment results demonstrate that our method is effective, efficient as well as robust to model transformation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cholesterol effects on nicotinic acetylcholine receptor

This short overview addresses the effects of cholesterol (Chol) on the stability, supramolecular organization, and function of the murine muscle‐type nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR). The biophysical properties of Chol–AChR interaction are discussed first, as they constitute, in our view, the very source of the modulation exerted by Chol on receptor structure and function. In the absence of innervation, AChRs occur in the form of aggregates that remain stable at the cell‐surface membrane of mammalian model cells over a period of hours. Acute Chol depletion drastically reduces (∼50%) the number of receptor aggregates by accelerating the rate of endocytosis in a receptor‐expressing clonal cell line. Chol depletion also results in ion channel gain‐of‐function of the remaining cell‐surface AChRs, whereas Chol enrichment has the opposite effect. Wide‐field and confocal microscopy show AChR clusters as diffraction‐limited puncta of ∼200 nm diameter. Stimulated emission depletion fluorescence microscopy resolves these puncta into nanoclusters with an average diameter of ∼55 nm. Exploiting the enhanced resolution, the effect of acute Chol depletion is shown to alter the short‐ and long‐range organization of AChR nanoclusters. In the short range, the 50% AChRs remaining at the cell surface form larger nanoclusters. On larger scales (0.5–3.5 μm) Ripley’s K‐test on stimulated emission depletion images reveal changes in nanocluster distribution, attributable to the Chol‐related abolition of cytoskeletal physical barriers normally preventing the lateral diffusion of AChR nanoclusters. We discuss these observations in the light of the so‐called ‘raft’ hypothesis and surmise that Chol content at the plasmalemma homeostatically modulates cell‐surface organization and stability of receptor nanodomains and fine tunes receptor channel function to temporarily compensate for acute AChR loss from the cell surface.
The exploration on global village language: Harmony

Human beings have entered the era of Digitalization which makes the world turn into a global village. Internet has crossed the boundaries of time and space but different written languages across the world have proven to be a significant obstacle to the globalization progress. The development of social networks is gradually steeping over this barrier in which computers have become our hands and pens. This paper proposes a new global village language that can be used in different countries and culture. The proposed language here consists of traditional symbols and other elements from social networks that we named as „Harmony‟. Harmony construction is a meaningful practice, which is inherited from Chinese traditional culture and innovation of social symbols language. It is a constantly evolving language initiated by netizen. Harmony is an open language which has the ability of selflearning. Everyone can understand and extend Harmony. CCS Concepts • Human-centered computing → Open source software.
Loss of Elongation Factor P Disrupts Bacterial Outer Membrane Integrity

ABSTRACT Elongation factor P (EF-P) is posttranslationally modified at a conserved lysyl residue by the coordinated action of two enzymes, PoxA and YjeK. We have previously established the importance of this modification in Salmonella stress resistance. Here we report that, like poxA and yjeK mutants, Salmonella strains lacking EF-P display increased susceptibility to hypoosmotic conditions, antibiotics, and detergents and enhanced resistance to the compound S-nitrosoglutathione. The susceptibility phenotypes are largely explained by the enhanced membrane permeability of the efp mutant, which exhibits increased uptake of the hydrophobic dye 1-N-phenylnaphthylamine (NPN). Analysis of the membrane proteomes of wild-type and efp mutant Salmonella strains reveals few changes, including the prominent overexpression of a single porin, KdgM, in the efp mutant outer membrane. Removal of KdgM in the efp mutant background ameliorates the detergent, antibiotic, and osmosensitivity phenotypes and restores wild-type permeability to NPN. Our data support a role for EF-P in the translational regulation of a limited number of proteins that, when perturbed, renders the cell susceptible to stress by the adventitious overexpression of an outer membrane porin.
Delirium: Definition, Epidemiology, and Diagnosis

Summary: This article serves to (1) review the relationship of the terms “delirium” and “encephalopathy,” (2) describe delirium as defined in current diagnostic systems, (3) summarize the epidemiology and theories of pathogenesis, (4) review clinical diagnostic approaches, and (5) highlight the history using EEG in the study of delirium in the psychiatric literature. Delirium is an important medical syndrome with significant implications; there is continued need for better physiologic measures of the underlying brain dysfunction.
Molecular characterization of glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in Chinese infants with or without severe neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia

Summary. To characterize mutations in the glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) gene in Chinese infants, we studied 213 G6PD‐deficient infants without blood exchange transfusion (BET) therapy, and 34 patients who required BET therapy for their severe hyperbilirubinaemia after birth. Nine different point mutations were characterized in all infants. Of these mutations, the G to T substitution at cDNA nucleotide (nt) 1376, which accounts for the mutations in 131 (53.0%) neonates, followed by G to A substitution at nt 1388 in 18 (10.5%) infants, A to G substitution at nt 493 in 17 (6.9%) infants, A to G substitution at nt 95 in 10 (4.1%) infants, C to T substitution at nt 1024 in six (2.4%) infants, and G to T substitution at nt 392 in three (1.2%) infants, G to A substitution at nt 487 in two (0.8%) infants, C to T substitution at nt 1360 in two (0.8%) infants and C to T substitution at nt 592 in two (0.8%) infants. Mutations in 48 (19.5%) G6PD‐deficient infants were not characterized. Most (64.7%) mutations in the G6PD‐deficient infants who required BET therapy after birth result from a G to T substitution at nt 1376. The enzyme activity of G6PD deficient infants who required BET therapy is significantly lower than for those who did not, even in a group with the same variant (as in 1376 mutation). Severe neonatal jaundice requiring BET therapy can take place with the majority of variants encountered in this area.
A NEW APPROACH: BAYESIAN SELECTION TO FIND MEDIAN CELL (VALUE) IN MULTINOMIAL POPULATION

Median finding is an essential problem in statistics, it is provides a more robust notion of average than the mean. The measure location median was suggested to find the middle among collection multinomial ordered values. Bayesian procedure to select the median population is presented . prior distribution and linear loss function to find the Bayes risk are used. When the number of observation is odd.
Exploiting Contextual Information in Image Retrieval Tasks

In Content-based Image Retrieval (CBIR) systems, accurately ranking images is of great relevance, since users are interested in the returned images placed at the first positions, which usually are the most relevant ones. In general, CBIR systems consider only pairwise image analysis, that is, compute similarity measures considering only pairs of images, ignoring the rich information encoded in the relations among several images. On the other hand, the user perception usually considers the query specification and responses in a given context. We propose five re-ranking and rank aggregation algorithms aiming at exploit contextual information for improving the effectiveness of CBIR systems. Re-ranking algorithms exploit contextual information, encoded in the relationships among collection images, while rank aggregation approaches have been used to combine results produced by different image descriptors. We also propose approaches for combining the re-ranking and rank aggregation methods and for efficient re-ranking computation on GPUs. Keywords-content-based image retrieval; contextual information; re-ranking; rank aggregation; multimodal retrieval; parallel computing;
Hematological and biochemical laboratory reference intervals for Zimbabwean adolescents.

BACKGROUND Reference intervals are used as an aid in the interpretation of laboratory results. Most developing countries do not have reference intervals specific to adolescents. This study was aimed at establishing hematological and biochemical reference intervals for adolescents aged ≥ 12 years to < 18 years. METHODS A community based, cross sectional study was conducted using the multistage sampling technique. Participants were enrolled from the UZ-UCSF research study catchment areas of Harare, Chitungwiza, and Mutoko. Samples were transported for analysis at the UZ-UCSF Central Laboratory under recommended conditions. The data analysis presented in this paper is for 302 adolescents aged ≥ 12 to < 18. Non-parametric statistical methods were used to estimate the 95% reference limits for the hematological and biochemical parameters, with the lower limit defined as the 2.5 percentile and the upper limit defined as the 97.5 percentile of the distribution. RESULTS A total of 302 adolescents were included. Results show significant differences between males and females in hematological parameters except platelets, eosinophils, basophils, and red cell distribution width. The biochemical parameters which showed significant differences between males and females were phosphate, ALP, ALT, AST, GGT, and lipase. CONCLUSIONS Hematological indices and liver function tests differ significantly by gender and this should be considered when defining normal intervals.