Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effectiveness of the Tupiq Program for Inuit Sex Offenders

This study examines the effectiveness of the Tupiq program, a culturally specific program for Inuit sex offenders that incorporates cognitive behavioural methods with traditional Inuit knowledge and culture led by Inuit healers and facilitators. Outcomes of 61 offenders who participated in the Tupiq program and were released were compared with outcomes of a cohort of 114 released Inuit sex offenders incarcerated during the same time period who had taken alternative sex offender treatment programs, or had not attended any sex offender program. On release, Tupiq participants had significantly lower rates of general reoffending and violent reoffending than those in the combined comparison group. The hazard of reoffending for the comparison group was almost twice that of the Tupiq group. Although the sexual reoffending rate for the Tupiq participants was less than half of that of the comparison group, the difference between the two groups was not significant because of reduced statistical power. Survival analysis controlling for covariates confirmed significantly lower rates of general reoffending for the Tupiq group. Further analyses comparing the outcomes of the subgroup of offenders in the comparison group who participated in alternative sex offender treatment programs with those who participated in Tupiq indicated that Tupiq participants had significantly lower rates of both general and sexual reoffending. These positive results for this culturally specific program suggest that similarly designed interventions have a probability of contributing to the reduction of sexual offending within Inuit communities and, potentially, other jurisdictions that work with cultural minority sex offender groups from relatively isolated communities.
Acute myelofibrosis terminating in acute lymphoblastic leukemia: Case report and review of the literature

Acute myelofibrosis (AMF), as defined by an acute panmyelopathy associated with marked megakaryocytic hyperplasia and marrow fibrosis, appears to be a stem cell disorder. Even though it is most difficult to distinguish from various myeloproliferative and myelodysplastic disorders as well as acute myelogenous leukemia, it has rarely been reported to terminate as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Only five cases have been reported in the literature; two from the pediatric literature and only three from the adult literature. Of the three adult cases, two were defined by light microscopy alone. Among the cases with follow‐up (3/5), all died within 2 weeks to 2 months of diagnosis. We report an additional case in an adult; the ALL was defined by morphology, flow cytometric immunophenotyping, and cytogenetic analysis. The interval from diagnosis of AMF to ALL was 3 months. Our patient was treated with standard therapy for ALL, was in complete remission at last follow‐up (3 months off maintenance therapy), and represents the only reported case who attained a complete remission. There are too few cases to determine the prognostic significance of termination of AMF in an acute leukemia of lymphoid origin vs. myeloid origin. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effect of trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene on methane oxidation and community structure of methanotrophic consortium

The methane oxidation rate and community structure of a methanotrophic consortium were analyzed to determine the effects of trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) on methane oxidation. The maximum methane oxidation rate (Vmax ) of the consortium was 326.8 μmol·g-dry biomass−1·h−1, and it had a half-saturation constant (Km ) of 143.8 μM. The addition of TCE or PCE resulted in decreased methane oxidation rates, which were decreased from 101.73 to 5.47–24.64 μmol·g-dry biomass−1·h−1 with an increase in the TCE-to-methane ratio, and to 61.95–67.43 μmol·g-dry biomass−1·h−1 with an increase in the PCE-to-methane ratio. TCE and PCE were non-competitive inhibitors for methane oxidation, and their inhibition constants (Ki ) were 33.4 and 132.0 μM, respectively. When the methanotrophic community was analyzed based on pmoA using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), the pmoA gene copy numbers were shown to decrease from 7.3 ± 0.7 × 108 to 2.1–5.0 × 107 pmoA gene copy number · g-dry biomass−1 with an increase in the TCE-to-methane ratio and to 2.5–7.0 × 107 pmoA gene copy number · g-dry biomass−1 with an increase in the PCE-to-methane ratio. Community analysis by microarray demonstrated that Methylocystis (type II methanotrophs) were the most abundant in the methanotrophic community composition in the presence of TCE. These results suggest that toxic effects caused by TCE and PCE change not only methane oxidation rates but also the community structure of the methanotrophic consortium.
Synaptic distribution of the NR1, NR2A and NR2B subunits of the N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate receptor in the rat lumbar spinal cord revealed with an antigen‐unmasking technique

Glutamate is the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the spinal cord and acts on several types of receptor, including N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) receptors, which play an important role in synaptic plasticity and chronic pain. Three families of NMDA receptor subunit have been identified: NR1, NR2 (A–D) and NR3 (A and B). NMDA receptors are heteromeric channels that contain NR1 with at least one NR2 subunit. There is extensive evidence that NMDA receptors are present in spinal cord but little is known about their synaptic distribution. We have used an antigen‐unmasking method involving pepsin treatment to reveal NR1, NR2A and NR2B subunits and have compared their distribution with that of the α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazole propionic acid receptor GluR2 subunit, which is thought to be present at most glutamatergic synapses throughout the spinal cord. After pepsin treatment, punctate labelling was seen with antibodies against each of these subunits. Although NR1 puncta were present throughout the grey matter, NR2A was concentrated in laminae III–IV and NR2B in laminae I–II. The majority of puncta labelled with each NMDA receptor antibody were GluR2‐immunoreactive, which suggests that they were present at synapses, and this was confirmed with electron microscopy for the NR1 and NR2A antibodies. However, many GluR2‐immunoreactive puncta did not show NMDA receptor immunoreactivity. In laminae I–II, most NR2B puncta were also NR1‐immunoreactive and a similar arrangement was found for NR2A/NR1 in laminae III–IV. These results suggest that many, but not all, glutamatergic synapses in the spinal cord possess NMDA receptors and that subunit composition varies in different regions.
Miniaturization of Whole Live Cell-Based GPCR Assays Using Microdispensing and Detection Systems

Cell-based β-lactamase reporter gene assays designed to measure the functional responses of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) were miniaturized to less than 2 μL total assay volume in a 3456-well microplate. Studies were done to evaluate both receptor agonists and antagonists. The pharmacology of agonists and antagonists for target GPCRs originally developed in a 96-well format was recapitulated in a 3456-well microplate format without compromising data quality or EC50/IC50 precision. These assays were employed in high-throughput screening campaigns, allowing the testing of more than 150,000 compounds in 8 h. The instrumentation used and practical aspects of the assay development are discussed.
Novel Noncontact Dry Electrode With Adaptive Mechanical Design for Measuring EEG in a Hairy Site

Electroencephalography (EEG) can provide important and useful information in clinical diagnosis. The conventional EEG electrode with conductive gel (wet electrode) is most frequently used for measuring EEG. However, the wet electrode encounters the issue of dehydration for long-term measurement. Recently, different types of dry electrodes were proposed to overcome the above issue, but measuring EEG in a hairy site is still a challenge for these electrodes. In this paper, a novel noncontact dry electrode with adaptive mechanical design is proposed to measure EEG in a hairy site without conductive gel. The proposed noncontact dry electrode can measure EEG across the hair layer to reduce the influence of hair. By the adaptive mechanical design, the influence of motion artifact can also be effectively improved. From the experimental results, the proposed noncontact dry electrode can provide a good performance of measuring EEG in a hairy site and a good ability to avoid the influence of motion artifact.
Post-stroke training of a pick and place activity in a virtual environment

Picking up and moving small objects is one of the impaired functions stroke survivors most desire to recover. Indeed, this action is involved in many activities of daily living and is often difficult for stroke patients who have problems in (i) grasping the object, (ii) lifting the hand, and (iii) producing a straight trajectory. We have developed a ldquopick & placerdquo exercise using motivational feedback to promote recovery of these functions. This exercise consists of moving an object within a virtual environment where different parameters can be modified to increase the level of difficulty, e.g. a virtual obstacle can be placed in the middle of the workspace which forces the subject to lift the hand in order to reach a target position. The virtual environment is rendered by a Delta workstation that can accurately measure positions and generate forces. To evaluate the training with the ldquopick & placerdquo exercise, three post-stroke subjects practiced twice a week during eight weeks with the setup. The results show a significant decrease in time required to perform the task for the three subjects, while the movements become straighter with training.
Obesity and symptoms of depression among adults in selected countries of the Middle East: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

Although obesity has been widely recognized for its consequences on physical health, its psychological burden in the adult populations in the Middle East remains unclear. This meta‐analysis synthesized data from observational studies to investigate the association between obesity and depression among adult populations in Middle Eastern countries. Five bibliographical electronic databases were searched for studies published up to April 2014. Pooled meta‐analytic estimates were derived using the random‐effect models. Three case‐control studies and five cross‐sectional studies were identified. Meta‐analysis showed significant positive associations between obesity and depression across study designs, with an overall effect of odds ratio 1.27 (95% confidence interval 1.11–1.44). The association between obesity and depression was more marked in women than men although that difference was not statistically significant. Other subgroup analysis showed that none of the potential factors including the assessment for obesity or depression, confounder control and study quality had a modification effect on the studied association. Meta‐analysis of eight observational studies from five countries in the Middle East suggests an evidence of a positive association between obesity and depression among adult populations, which appeared to be more marked among women. Future research should examine the causal pathways between obesity and depression.
Linking intraspecific trait variation to community abundance dynamics improves ecological predictability by revealing a growth–defence trade‐off

Intraspecific trait change, including altered behaviour or morphology, can drive temporal variation in interspecific interactions and population dynamics. In turn, variation in species’ interactions and densities can alter the strength and direction of trait change. The resulting feedback between species’ traits and abundance permits a wide range of community dynamics that would not be expected from ecological theories purely based on species abundances. Despite the theoretical importance of these interrelated processes, unambiguous experimental evidence of how intraspecific trait variation modifies species interactions and population dynamics and how this feeds back to influence trait variation is currently required. We investigate the role of trait-mediated demography in determining community dynamics and examine how ecological interactions influence trait change. We concurrently monitored the dynamics of community abundances and individual traits in an experimental microbial predator–prey–resource system. Using this data, we parameterised a trait-dependent community model to identify key ecologically relevant traits and to link trait dynamics with those of species abundances. Our results provide clear evidence of a feedback between trait change, demographic rates and species dynamics. The inclusion of trait–abundance feedbacks into our population model improved the predictability of ecological dynamics from r2 of 34% to 57% and confirmed theoretical expectations of density-dependent population growth and species interactions in the system. Additionally, our model revealed that the feedbacks were underpinned by a trade-off between population growth and anti-predatory defence. High predator abundance was linked to a reduction in prey body size. This prey size decrease was associated with a reduction in its rate of consumption by predators and a decrease in its resource consumption. Modelling trait–abundance feedbacks allowed us to pinpoint the underlying life history trade-off which links trait and abundance dynamics. These results show that accounting for trait–abundance feedbacks has the potential to improve understanding and predictability of ecological dynamics. A plain language summary is available for this article.
A constitutive role for GPI anchors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae : cell wall targeting

GPI anchors are widely represented among organisms and have several cellular functions. It has been proposed that in yeast there are two groups of GPI proteins: plasma membrane‐resident proteins, such as Gas1p or Yap3p, and cell wall‐targeted proteins, such as Tir1p or α‐agglutinin. A model has been proposed for the plasma membrane retention of proteins from the first group because of a dibasic motif located just upstream of the GPI‐anchoring signal. The results we report here are not in agreement with such a model as we show that constructs containing the C‐terminal parts of Gas1p and Yap3p are also targeted to the cell wall. We also detect the genuine Gas1p after cell wall treatment with Quantazyme or Glucanex glycanases. In addition, we show that the GPI‐anchoring signal from the human placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) is not compatible with the yeast machinery unless the human transamidase hGpi8p is co‐expressed. In this condition, this human signal is able to target a protein to the cell wall. Moreover, TIR1 proved to be a multicopy suppressor of Δgas1 mutation. The present findings suggest a constitutive role for GPI anchors in yeast: the cell wall targeting of proteins.
An efficient quasi-maximum likelihood decoder for PSK signals

Since exact maximum likelihood (ML) detection is computationally intractable in general, approximate ML approaches are needed to reduce the computation time while maintaining low bit error rate (BER). In this work, we develop an efficient approximate ML decoder for constant modulus signals based on a simple nonlinear programming relaxation. Unlike the existing sphere decoder whose expected complexity is cubic in problem size and whose performance deteriorates with increasing problem size and noise level, our proposed new decoder enjoys a worst case quadratic complexity and scales gracefully with problem dimension and noise level. Our initial testing and analysis suggests that this new decoder is capable of delivering ML like BER performance for PSK signals while requiring substantially lower computational complexity. In this sense, our new decoder is similar to the sphere decoder which is an effective method for QAM signals.
Cotransfection of second and third intracellular loop fragments inhibit angiotensin AT1a receptor activation of phospholipase C in HEK-293 cells.

Peptides from the intracellular regions of G protein-coupled receptors are useful probes of receptor-G protein coupling mechanisms. As a first step toward the genetic delivery of such "G protein inhibitors," we describe inhibition of angiotensin II (AII) receptor responses by expressed fragments of the second and third intracellular loops of the AT1a receptor (AT1a/i2 and AT1a/i3). Transient transfection of human embryonic kidney 293 cells with DNA encoding the rat AT1a receptor resulted in AII-dependent increases of inositol phosphates (maximum 4.5-fold). Cotransfection of AT1a/i2 and AT1a/i3 fragments raised the EC50 for AII stimulation of phospholipase C activity 5-fold (from 0.18 nM to 0.99 nM, n = 12, P < .001) and 3-fold (from 0.38 nM to 1.2 nM, n = 8, P < .002), respectively. The combined effect of AT1a/i2 and AT1a/3 was additive, and transfection of an alpha-1b adrenergic receptor third intracellular loop (alpha1b/i3) fragments also increased the EC50 for AII. Neither AT1a/i1 nor C-terminus (AT1a/Ct) constructs had significant effects on angiotensin responses. These data confirm a role for the second and third intracellular loops in angiotensin receptor responses and show the potential of this approach to blocking multiple phospholipase C-linked receptors.
Flicker Masking of Spatial-Frequency-Dependent Visible Persistence and Specific Reading Disability

The effect of 6 Hz uniform-field flicker masking of visible persistence at a range of spatial frequencies was investigated in 12-year-old children with specific reading disabilities and a control group of average readers. This reduced differences in visible persistence between the two groups. The results suggest that children with specific reading disabilities experience a deficit in their transient system.
Activity-independent and subunit-specific recruitment of functional AMPA receptors at neurexin/neuroligin contacts

A combination of cell culture and animal studies has recently shown that adhesion between neurexins and neuroligins played important roles in synapse initiation, maturation, and function. Binding of neurexin-1β to neuroligin-1 triggers the postsynaptic clustering of the scaffold postsynaptic density protein 95, but the composition and timing of accumulation of glutamate receptors at those nascent contacts remain unclear. Using glutamate iontophoresis and patch-clamp recordings, we identified functional AMPA receptors (AMPARs) and NMDA receptors at postsynaptic density protein 95 clusters induced by neurexin-1β coated microspheres on primary hippocampal neurons. The recruitment of AMPARs occurred as early as 2 h after initial contact, and was not blocked by TTX/2-amino-5-phosphovaleric acid (APV) treatment. The differential recruitment of recombinant subunits GluR1 and GluR2, as well as the absence of rectification in voltage/current curves, further indicate that neurexin/neuroligin contacts primarily recruit GluR2-containing AMPARs. Finally, by using glutamate un-caging and calcium imaging, we show that AMPARs participate in calcium entry at neurexin-1β induced post-synapses, most likely through the activation of voltage-gated calcium channels. Such rapid and activity-independent accumulation of functional AMPARs at neurexin-1β-induced postsynapses points to a new role of AMPARs in synaptogenesis.
Esophageal variceal bleeding in hospitalized patients with cirrhosis.

Esophageal variceal bleeding (EVB) is a frequent complication in cirrhotic patients resulting in considerable mortality and morbidity. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence, impact, and trends of EVB in hospitalized cirrhotic patients on a nationwide level in the United States. We interrogated data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2002 to 2012. Utilizing International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes, we analyzed hospital discharges for cirrhosis and related EVB in adult patients. EVB in cirrhotic patients was independently associated with overall worse outcomes with respect to in-hospital mortality (10% vs 5%; P < 0.01) and hospital charges (median $41,000 vs $26,000; P < 0.01). In the period from 2002 to 2012, the number of cirrhosis-related hospitalizations increased from 337,956 to 570,220 (P < 0.01). Concurrently, the incidence of EVB in hospitalized cirrhotic patients declined from 8.60% to 5.78%, with an overall decreased trend (P < 0.01). The decline in the rate of EVB in hospitalized cirrhotic patients from 2002 to 2012 likely reflects the effectiveness of primary and secondary prophylaxis.
Endosomal NADPH-oxidase is critical for induction of the tissue factor gene in monocytes and endothelial cells

Summary Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) have been shown to induce tissue factor (TF) expression in monocytes and endothelial cells. However, the underlying signal transduction has been more or less elusive in the past. We have recently shown that aPL enter the lysosomal route in monocytes and dendritic cells, and subsequently activate endosomal NADPH-oxidase (NOX). The generation of superoxide which is dismutated to hydrogen peroxide upregulates the intracellular toll like receptors (TLR) 7 and 8, and leads to robust production of inflammatory cytokines. Here we show that induction of TF by aPL follows the same signaling pathway. Inhibition of endosomal NOX by the anion channel blocker niflumic acid or capture of superoxide by the radical scavenger N-acetylcysteine blocks TF induction by aPL. Furthermore, monocytes from mice deficient in NOX2 do not increase TF surface expression in response to aPL, while cells from mice deficient in glutathione peroxidase- 1 (GPx-1) show an increased response. Unexpectedly, also induction of TF by tumour necrosis factor (TNF)⍺ and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was strongly dependent on the activation of endosomal NOX. While TNF⍺ apparently depends almost fully on endosomal NOX, signalling of LPS is only partially dependent on this pathway. These data provide further insight into the well-known role of reactive oxygen species in the induction of TF expression and suggest that endosomal signalling may represent a central coordinating point in this process.
A Mycoplasma genetic element resembling prokaryotic insertion sequences

Nucleotide sequence analysis of two Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae‐derived copies of a repetitive genetic element revealed structural similarities to typical prokaryotic insertion sequences. This is the first such sequence identified in the class Mollicutes. The element spans approximately 1550bp, with 28bp inverted terminal repeats. Two open reading frames occur within the sequence, one potentially encoding a protein with a size‐variant alpha‐helical domain containing heptameric leucine periodicity. Hybridization data with several strains from each of two mycoplasma species showed that the repetitive sequence is variably distributed within the M. hyopneumoniae and Mycoplasma hyorhinis chromosomes and indicated that in some cases the repeated sequence is contained within a larger genetic element which may be the result of phage or plasmid Insertion.