Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone in Diabetes

Growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) is produced by the hypothalamus and stimulates growth hormone synthesis and release in the anterior pituitary gland. In addition, GHRH is an important regulator of cellular functions in many cells and organs. Expression of GHRH G-Protein Coupled Receptor (GHRHR) has been demonstrated in different peripheral tissues and cell types, including pancreatic islets. Among the peripheral activities, recent studies demonstrate a novel ability of GHRH analogs to increase and preserve insulin secretion by beta-cells in isolated pancreatic islets, which makes them potentially useful for diabetes treatment. This review considers the role of GHRHR in the beta-cell and addresses the unique engineered GHRH agonists and antagonists for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. We discuss the similarity of signaling pathways activated by GHRHR in pituitary somatotrophs and in pancreatic beta-cells and possible ways as to how the GHRHR pathway can interact with glucose and other secretagogues to stimulate insulin secretion. We also consider the hypothesis that novel GHRHR agonists can improve glucose metabolism in Type 2 diabetes by preserving the function and survival of pancreatic beta-cells. Wound healing and cardioprotective action with new GHRH agonists suggest that they may prove useful in ameliorating certain diabetic complications. These findings highlight the future potential therapeutic effectiveness of modulators of GHRHR activity for the development of new therapeutic approaches in diabetes and its complications.
Stretching the IR Theoretical Spectrum on Irish Neutrality: A Critical Social Constructivist Framework

In a 2006 International Political Science Review article, entitled “Choosing to Go It Alone: Irish Neutrality in Theoretical and Comparative Perspective,” Neal G. Jesse argues that Irish neutrality is best understood through a neoliberal rather than a neorealist international relations theory framework. This article posits an alternative “critical social constructivist” framework for understanding Irish neutrality. The first part of the article considers the differences between neoliberalism and social constructivism and argues why critical social constructivism's emphasis on beliefs, identity, and the agency of the public in foreign policy are key factors explaining Irish neutrality today. Using public opinion data, the second part of the article tests whether national identity, independence, ethnocentrism, attitudes to Northern Ireland, and efficacy are factors driving public support for Irish neutrality. The results show that public attitudes to Irish neutrality are structured along the dimensions of independence and identity, indicating empirical support for a critical social constructivist framework of understanding of Irish neutrality.
The "Conscious" Dorsal Stream: Embodied Simulation and its Role in Space and Action Conscious Awareness

The aim of the present article is three-fold. First, it aims to show that perception requires action. This is most evident for some types of visual percept (e.g. space perception and action perception). Second, it aims to show that the distinction of the cortical visual processing into two streams is insufficient and leads to possible misunderstandings on the true nature of perceptual processes. Third, it aims to show that the dorsal stream is not only responsible for the unconscious control of action, but also for the conscious awareness of space and action.
Modeling Single-Trial ERP Reveals Modulation of Bottom-Up Face Visual Processing by Top-Down Task Constraints (in Some Subjects)

We studied how task constraints modulate the relationship between single-trial event-related potentials (ERPs) and image noise. Thirteen subjects performed two interleaved tasks: on different blocks, they saw the same stimuli, but they discriminated either between two faces or between two colors. Stimuli were two pictures of red or green faces that contained from 10 to 80% of phase noise, with 10% increments. Behavioral accuracy followed a noise dependent sigmoid in the identity task but was high and independent of noise level in the color task. EEG data recorded concurrently were analyzed using a single-trial ANCOVA: we assessed how changes in task constraints modulated ERP noise sensitivity while regressing out the main ERP differences due to identity, color, and task. Single-trial ERP sensitivity to image phase noise started at about 95–110 ms post-stimulus onset. Group analyses showed a significant reduction in noise sensitivity in the color task compared to the identity task from about 140 ms to 300 ms post-stimulus onset. However, statistical analyses in every subject revealed different results: significant task modulation occurred in 8/13 subjects, one showing an increase and seven showing a decrease in noise sensitivity in the color task. Onsets and durations of effects also differed between group and single-trial analyses: at any time point only a maximum of four subjects (31%) showed results consistent with group analyses. We provide detailed results for all 13 subjects, including a shift function analysis that revealed asymmetric task modulations of single-trial ERP distributions. We conclude that, during face processing, bottom-up sensitivity to phase noise can be modulated by top-down task constraints, in a broad window around the P2, at least in some subjects.
Collective Agency for Service Volunteers

Policy makers promote volunteering in part because it is a powerful mechanism for expanding local community services. Volunteers, however, are subject to processes and power dynamics within organizations, which limit their collective agency. This article reports key findings of a study of rural ambulance volunteers’ agency. The study demonstrated that collective identity is part of the ensemble of power that allows volunteers’ interests to be marginalized within organizations. Findings highlighted barriers for volunteers who were unhappy with the organizational support they received. A critical realist analysis revealed that rural location and community discourses underpinned the volunteers’ lack of collective agency.
Analysis, reconstruction and manipulation using arterial snakes

Man-made objects often consist of detailed and interleaving structures, which are created using cane, coils, metal wires, rods, etc. The delicate structures, although manufactured using simple procedures, are challenging to scan and reconstruct. We observe that such structures are inherently 1D, and hence are naturally represented using an arrangement of generating curves. We refer to the resultant surfaces as arterial surfaces. In this paper we approach for analyzing, reconstructing, and manipulating such arterial surfaces. The core of the algorithm is a novel deformable model, called arterial snake, that simultaneously captures the topology and geometry of the arterial objects. The recovered snakes produce a natural decomposition of the raw scans, with the decomposed parts often capturing meaningful object sections. We demonstrate the robustness of our algorithm on a variety of arterial objects corrupted with noise, outliers, and with large parts missing. We present a range of applications including reconstruction, topology repairing, and manipulation of arterial surfaces by directly controlling the underlying curve network and the associated sectional profiles, which are otherwise challenging to perform.
Clinicopathological significance and a potential drugtarget of RARβ in non-small-cell lung carcinoma: a meta-analysis and a systematic review

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in men worldwide. Aberrant RARβ promoter methylation has been frequently investigated in non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), the most common form of lung cancer. The aim of present study was to carry out a meta-analysis and a systematic review to evaluate clinicopathological significance of RARβ promoter hypermethylation in NSCLC. A systematic literature search was carried out. The data were extracted and assessed by two reviewers independently. The Cochrane software Review Manager 5.2 was used to conduct the review. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% corresponding confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. A total of 18 relevant articles were available for meta-analysis which included 1,871 participants. The frequency of RARβ hypermethylation was significantly increased in NSCLC than in nonmalignant lung tissue, and the pooled OR was 5.69 (P<0.00001). RARβ hypermethylation was significantly more frequently observed in adenocarcinoma (AC) than in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and the pooled OR was 1.47 (P=0.005). Hypermethylation of RARβ gene in NSCLC was 2.46 times higher in smoking than in nonsmoking individuals, and the pooled OR was 2.46 (P=0.0002). RARβ hypermethylation rate was not significantly correlated with stage of the disease and sex. RARβ gene methylation status was not associated with prognosis of patients with NSCLC. In conclusion, RARβ promoter hypermethylation significantly increased in NSCLC than in non-neoplastic lung tissue and is predominant in AC, suggesting that RARβ methylation contributes to the development of NSCLC, especially AC. RARβ gene is a potential novel target for development of personalized therapy in patients with NSCLC, and is promising in restoration of retinoic acid-target gene induction via demethylation of RARβ1′ promoter.
Advances in Brief Radiosensitization of Human Tumor Cells with Levamisole1

Levamisole in combination with radiation and chemotherapeutic agents is being studied in clinical trials. The mechanism of interaction of levamisole with these modalities is unknown. In order to determine if there is direct interaction between radiation and levamisole, a series of colony-formation assays was performed with the use of two human tumor cell lines. Cells were exposed to 0-10 Gy of radiation, with or without the addition of 0-1000 /UMlevamisole. Exposure to levamisole alone had no effect on cell survival; however, the combination of continuous expo sure to levamisole at concentrations approaching 1000 Â¿IMand radiation revealed a potentiation of radiation-induced cell killing.
Choosing Friends as Activity Partners: The Role of Self-Monitoring

Two investigations examined the involvement of self-monitori ng processes in friendship. The first investigation focused on the differential considerations that are involved when high self-monitoring individuals and low self-monitoring individuals choose friends as partners for leisure-time activities. High self-monitoring individuals, more so than low self-monitoring individuals, chose friends as activity partners on the basis of their friends' particular skills in the activity domain. Low self-monitoring individuals, more so than high self-monitoring individuals, chose friends as activity partners on the basis of general feelings of liking for their friends. The second investigation examined the internal structures of the preferred social worlds of high self-monitoring individuals and low self-monitoring individuals. High self-monitoring individuals preferred relatively partitioned and compartmentalized social worlds in which they would engage in particular activities only with specific partners. Low self-monitoring individuals preferred relatively homogeneous and undifferentiated social worlds in which they would spend time with friends who were globally similar to them. The implications of these findings for understanding the processes by which individuals high and low in self-monitoring facilitate the enactment of their characteristic behavioral orientations, as well as for understanding the nature of friendship itself, are discussed. Investigations of self-monitoring processes have identified two orientations that individuals can and do adopt as they enact their behavioral choices in social contexts. Some individuals typically strive to appear to be the type of person called for by each situation in which they find themselves. These individuals are particularly sensitive and responsive to social and interpersonal cues to situational appropriateness. Their social behavior displays pronounced situation-to-situation specificity. At the same time, correspondence between their behavior and underlying attitudes often is minimal. These individuals are known as
A Novel Approach to Detect Parent‐of‐Origin Effects from Pedigree Data with Application to Beckwith‐Wiedemann Syndrome

The parent‐of‐origin phenomenon in humans is now well recognized, and the deregulation of imprinted genes has been implicated in a number of human diseases. Recently, several linkage analysis methods have been developed to allow for parent‐of‐origin effects in the analysis of pedigree data. However, in general, one does not know a priori if disease‐causing loci are imprinted or not. Linkage methods that allow for imprinting can lose power if there is no imprinting. Conversely, linkage methods that do not allow for imprinting will lose power if there is imprinting, because of penetrance values not being correctly specified. Therefore, it is important to know whether imprinting is a possible mode of disease inheritance before performing linkage analyses. In this paper we describe a simple covariate‐coding scheme to test for the presence of parent‐of‐origin effects, and provide a formula for calculating parent‐specific penetrance values prior to any linkage analysis. In simulation studies our coding scheme successfully detected parent‐of‐origin effects and, when pedigrees were ascertained sequentially or through a single proband, inclusion of this covariate more accurately estimated penetrance values than when such a covariate was not included. The use of accurate penetrance values in a linkage analysis that allows for imprinting can provide higher power when the disease locus is imprinted. Finally, we applied our approach to 27 pedigrees affected with Beckwith‐Wiedemann syndrome (BWS), an overgrowth syndrome, and found that a maternally expressed parent‐of‐origin model based on the likelihood ratio test was the most parsimonious, suggesting a role for paternally imprinted genes in BWS.
A Multimedia Situational Test With a Constructed-Response Format Its Relationship With Personality, Cognitive Ability, Job Experience, and Academic Performance

Advances in computer technology have created opportunities for the development of a multimedia situational test in which responses are filmed with a webcam. This paper examined the relationship of a so-called webcam test with personality, cognitive ability, job experience, and academic performance. Data were collected among 153 psychology students. In line with our expectations, scores on the webcam test, intended to measure interpersonally oriented leadership, were related to extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and job experience. Furthermore, the webcam tests significantly predicted students' learning activities during group meetings over and above a cognitive ability test and a personality questionnaire. Overall, this study demonstrates that webcam tests can be a valid complement to traditional predictors in selection contexts.
Exciton condensation in coupled quantum wells

Bound electron–hole pairs—excitons—are Bose particles with small mass. Exciton Bose–Einstein condensation is expected to occur at a few degrees Kelvin—a temperature many orders of magnitude higher than for atoms. Experimentally, an exciton temperature well below 1 K is achieved in coupled quantum well (CQW) semiconductor nanostructures. In this contribution, we review briefly experiments that signal exciton condensation in CQWs: a strong enhancement of the indirect exciton mobility consistent with the onset of exciton superfluidity, a strong enhancement of the radiative decay rate of the indirect excitons consistent with exciton condensate superradiance, strong fluctuations of the indirect exciton emission consistent with critical fluctuations near the phase transition, and a strong enhancement of the exciton scattering rate with increasing concentration of the indirect excitons revealing bosonic stimulation of exciton scattering. Novel experiments with exciton condensation in potential traps, pattern formation in exciton system and macroscopically ordered exciton state will also be reviewed briefly. q 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PACS: 71.35. 2 y; 73.20. Dx; 78.55
Preference Elicitation and Generalized Additive Utility

Any automated decision support software must tailor its actions or recommendations to the preferences of different users. Thus it requires some representation of user preferences as well as a means of eliciting or otherwise learning the preferences of the specific user on whose behalf it is acting. While additive preference models offer a compact representation of multiattribute utility functions, and ease of elicitation, they are often overly restrictive. The more flexible generalized additive independence (GAI) model maintains much of the intuitive nature of additive models, but comes at the cost of much more complex elicitation. In this article, we summarize the key contributions of our earlier paper (UAI 2005): (a) the first elaboration of the semantic foundations of GAI models that allows one to engage in preference elicitation using local queries over small subsets of attributes rather than global queries over full outcomes; and (b) specific procedures for Bayesian preference elicitation of the parameters of a GAI model using such local queries.
Near‐nerve needle sensory conduction study of the medial calcaneal nerve: New method and report of four cases of medial calcaneal neuropathy

There has been one previously published antidromic method for studying medial calcaneal nerve (MCN) conduction. However, the origin of the compound nerve action potentials (CNAPs) with this technique is uncertain because of the antidromic nature of stimulation. We report a new orthodromic method for MCN conduction study using the near‐nerve needle technique. In 35 normal controls, maximum nerve conduction velocity (NCV) and negative‐peak NCV of MCN were 42.4 ± 3.9 m/s and 33.6 ± 3.0 m/s, respectively. The amplitude of the CNAP was 4.1 ± 2.2 μV. We also report four cases of medial calcaneal neuropathy, three of which were confirmed by this technique. We conclude that the present technique is capable of recording the sensory nerve action potentials of MCN in isolation and confirming the diagnosis of medial calcaneal neuropathy electrophysiologically. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Muscle Nerve 26: 654–658, 2002
Significance of Aspergillus species isolated from respiratory secretions in the diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis

To determine the significance of Aspergillus species isolated from sputum or other respiratory secretions with respect to the diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, the clinical records and radiographs of all patients whose respiratory secretion cultures yielded an Aspergillus species between 1972 and 1978 were reviewed. All known predispositions to invasive aspergillosis, e.g., presence of cancer or granulocytopenia, and therapy with corticosteroids, antibiotics, and cytotoxic drugs, were significantly associated with proven or probable invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Most notable were patients with acute leukemia and granulocytopenia. Prolonged duration of hospitalization between initial isolation (greater than 2 weeks) and multiple isolates (greater than three isolates) were also significantly associated with a high frequency of proven or probable disease. Isolation of A. niger was only rarely associated with proven or probable disease (one of eight patients). The isolation of A. fumigatus and A. flavus from respiratory secretions does not usually represent laboratory contamination and must be interpreted in the light of known predispositions to aspergillosis. In some situations, e.g., granulocytopenic patients with acute leukemia, even a single isolation carries a high likelihood of invasive aspergillosis.
Cell block samples from endobronchial ultrasound transbronchial needle aspiration provide sufficient material for ancillary testing in lung cancer-a quaternary referral centre experience.

BACKGROUND Rapid on site examination (ROSE) is encouraged at endobronchial ultrasound transbronchial needles aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) to improve diagnostic yield. Due to new therapeutic options in lung cancer, it is not sufficient to merely distinguish between non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) and small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) distinction is now standard practice, as well as additional molecular testing where clinically indicated. We investigated the diagnostic yield of on-site smears vs. cell block and the provision of cellular material for ancillary testing at our centre. METHODS A retrospective audit of all EBUS-TBNA procedures performed until July 2012 was undertaken. Diagnostic yield on smears versus cell block was recorded. Cell blocks were reviewed by an experienced pathologist to determine diagnostic accuracy and whether IHC and molecular testing were possible. RESULTS In total, 234 procedures were recorded with 101 (43.2%) malignant cases, 107 (45.7%) benign cases and an initial 26/234 (11.1%) insufficient for diagnosis of which 11/234 (4.7%) were false negatives for malignancy after further follow up. The average number of passes was 4.5. For malignancies, smear diagnosis was possible in 95% (96/101) of cases and cell block diagnosis in 93.5% (87/93) of cases. There was sufficient material for IHC in 97.7% (85/87) of malignant cases. In 79.3% (69/87) of NSCLCs molecular testing for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation analysis was theoretically possible on samples obtained. CONCLUSIONS Cell blocks are not inferior to smears for diagnostic accuracy and provide sufficient samples for histology. However, ROSE assists the physician on how best to manage samples for ancillary testing.
Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Pregnancy: We Have the Technology but Not All the Answers

Huge progress has been made in the management of pregnant women with type 1 diabetes. With increasing recognition of the importance of good glycemic control (before and during pregnancy) and improvements in obstetric and neonatal care, the vast majority of women with diabetes can expect to deliver a healthy live-born infant. However, the problem of macrosomia, present in the era after insulin was first introduced (1), persists, as highlighted in recent reports from Scandinavia (2,3). Near-optimal glucose control, defined as HbA1c ≤7.0% (53 mmol/mol) in the nonpregnant state, does not prevent neonatal morbidity (macrosomia, preterm delivery, neonatal hypoglycemia) (4). The U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) now recommends more stringent glucose control targets, with an HbA1c <6.1% (43 mmol/mol) throughout pregnancy (5). However, the dilemma of how best to balance the daily risk of maternal hypoglycemia with the longer-term risks of the effect of hyperglycemia to the fetus remains. In this issue of Diabetes Care , Secher at al. (6) report on their results from a randomized controlled trial of intermittent real-time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in pregnant women with diabetes. They included 154 pregnant women (123 with type 1 diabetes, 31 with type 2 diabetes) randomized to either real-time CGM or routine capillary glucose monitoring. Women in both groups were advised to perform at least seven finger-stick tests daily (before and after meals and before bed). The …