Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lifelong cancer incidence in 47,697 patients treated for childhood cancer in the Nordic countries.

BACKGROUND The pattern of cancer in long-term survivors from childhood cancer has not been investigated comprehensively. METHODS We obtained a cohort of 47,697 children and adolescents aged 0-19 years with cancer as defined by the country-wide cancer registries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden during 1943-2005. Cohort members were followed through age 79 years for subsequent primary cancers notified to the registries, and the age-specific risk pattern of the survivors was compared with that of the national populations using country and sex standardized incidence ratios (SIRs). We used a multiplicative Poisson regression model to estimate relative risk of cancer for attained age, with adjustment for calendar period and age at diagnosis of primary cancer. We also calculated excess absolute risk (EAR) attributable to status as childhood cancer survivor and determined the cumulative incidence of second primary cancer as a function of attained age for three subcohorts defined by period of treatment for childhood cancer. RESULTS A total of 1180 asynchronous second primary cancers were observed in 1088 persons, yielding an overall SIR of 3.3 (95% confidence interval = 3.1 to 3.5). The relative risk was statistically significantly increased in all age groups, even for cohort members approaching 70 years of age. The EAR for second primary cancer among survivors increased gradually from one additional case per 1000 person-years of observation in early life to six additional cases per 1000 person-years in the age group 60-69 years. For children treated in the prechemotherapy era (1943-1959), the cumulative risk for a second primary cancer reached 18%, 34%, and 48% at ages 60, 70, and 80 years, respectively. The age-specific incidence rates were highest for cohort members treated in the era of intensive, multiple-agent chemotherapy (1975-2005). CONCLUSION Survivors of childhood cancer have a persistent excess risk for a second primary cancer throughout their lives, accompanied by continuous changes in the risk of cancers at specific sites.
Evaluation of Feline Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells Loaded with Internally Inactivated Virus as a Vaccine against Feline Immunodeficiency Virus

ABSTRACT Dendritic cells are the only antigen-presenting cells that can present exogenous antigens to both helper and cytolytic T cells and prime Th1-type or Th2-type cellular immune responses. Given their unique immune functions, dendritic cells are considered attractive “live adjuvants” for vaccination and immunotherapy against cancer and infectious diseases. The present study was carried out to assess whether the reinjection of autologous monocyte-derived dendritic cells loaded with an aldithriol-2-inactivated primary isolate of feline immune deficiency virus (FIV) was able to elicit protective immune responses against the homologous virus in naive cats. Vaccine efficacy was assessed by monitoring immune responses and, finally, by challenge with the homologous virus of vaccinated, mock-vaccinated, and healthy cats. The outcome of challenge was followed by measuring cellular and antibody responses and viral and proviral loads and quantitating FIV by isolation and a count of CD4+/CD8+ T cells in blood. Vaccinated animals exhibited clearly evident FIV-specific peripheral blood mononuclear cell proliferation and antibody titers in response to immunization; however, they became infected with the challenge virus at rates comparable to those of control animals.
Arthroscopic Resection of the Distal Aspect of the Clavicle with Concomitant Subacromial Decompression

Background: Arthroscopic subacromial decompression and arthroscopic resection of the acromioclavicular joint as separate procedures have been well documented. However, there is little information on the success rate of resection with concomitant decompression. In this study, we retrospectively evaluated the results of a consecutive group of patients who underwent arthroscopic resection of the acromioclavicular joint with concomitant subacromial decompression. Methods: We evaluated the surgical results in thirty-one consecutive patients (thirty-two shoulders) with acromioclavicular pathology with concomitant subacromial impingement. The mean age of the patients at the time of surgery was thirty-six years (range, eighteen to sixty-seven years). Twenty-five patients, including four professional athletes, were actively involved in sports activities. The mean duration of follow-up was four years and ten months (range, three to eight years). The follow-up examination included clinical evaluation, chart review, radiographic analysis, and isokinetic testing of both upper extremities. Results: Of the twenty-five patients who participated in sports, twenty-two (including the four professional athletes) returned to their previous level of sports activity. Twenty-six patients had no pain, three reported mild pain on strenuous repetitive overhead activity, two (both weight-lifters) had occasional pain in the acromioclavicular joint and the lateral aspect of the shoulder with bench-pressing, and two (both baseball players) had mild pain in the posterior aspect of the shoulder with throwing. All of the patients were satisfied with the results. In the absence of a complete rotator cuff tear, isokinetic strength-testing of both upper extremities failed to demonstrate any weakness of the involved shoulder. The mean functional score for individual activities was 2.7 points (range, 2.1 to 3.0 points) preoperatively and 3.9 points (range, 3.6 to 4.0 points) postoperatively (p = 0.0001). No patient had superior migration of the clavicle. The amount of distal clavicular resection averaged 9 mm (range, 7 to 15 mm). One patient had heterotopic ossification at the resection site, with mild pain on direct palpation of the acromioclavicular joint and on strenuous overhead activity. Five patients had calcification at the anterior deltoid insertion into the acromion that was asymptomatic, with no impingement on overhead activity and no pain on direct palpation. Conclusions: We found excellent results with arthroscopic resection of the acromioclavicular joint and concomitant subacromial decompression. When this procedure is performed on properly selected patients, the results are similar to those of an open approach.
The effects of diabetes with hyperlipidemia on P450 expression in APA hamster livers

The effect of chronic hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia induced by streptozotocin (SZ) on the expression of P450 in the liver of APA hamsters was studied in this experiment. No effect on the total activity of P450 was seen in SZ‐induced diabetic hamsters throughout the experimental period. At 1 and 6 months after SZ‐injection, the levels of CYP1A, 2C6, and 3A of SZ‐injected hamsters were much lower than those of age‐matched control hamsters. CYP2B expression tended to decrease and CYP2E1 and 4A expression tended to increase in SZ‐injected hamsters, although the results were not significant. At 3 months after SZ‐injection, however, no significant difference between SZ‐injected and normal hamsters was seen in these P450 isozymes. On the other hand, CYP2C11 expression was slightly depressed in SZ1M and SZ6M, and almost equivalent to control hamsters in SZ3M. Immunohistochemistry by the use of each isozyme antibody revealed that SZ‐induced diabetes affected the localization of CYP2C6, 3A, and 4A in the hepatic acinus. The expression of CYP2C6 and 3A was depressed mainly in the periportal region of the acinus, and CYP4A expression was induced mainly in the perivenous region by SZ‐induced diabetes. On the other hand, the expression pattern of CYP1A, 2B, 2C11, and 2E1 were not affected. These results demonstrate that the effects of SZ‐induced diabetes on hepatic P450 differ for each isozyme in APA hamsters and also differ from those of other experimental diabetic animals, including golden hamsters. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biochem Mol Toxicol 16:174–181, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/jbt.10036
Hyperlipidemia in School Children with Family Histories of Premature Coronary Heart Disease

ABSTRACT. Children starting their schooling were given a questionnaire asking about the occurrence of premature (before 50 years of age in men, 55 years in women) coronary heart disease (CHD) in first degree relatives. 1920 of 2069 questionnaires were answered, 140 of the 7‐year‐old children were reported to have a first degree relative with premature CHD. 84 of these 140 families agreed to participate in our study. In 79 of the 84 families both the child and the parent at ‘high risk’ were tested. In the initial test 19 of 84 children had total cholesterol (TC) levels above the 95th percentile (>5.35 mmol/l). In the repeat test 12 of the 19 TC tests remained abnormal and all 12 also had LDL‐cholesterol (LDL‐C) levels above the 95th percentile (>3.40 mmol/l). None had abnormal HDL‐cbolesterol or triglyceride levels. Among the high risk parents, 12 of 79 had abnormal initial blood lipid tests. In the repeat test 10 parents had both TC and LDL‐C levels above the 95th percentile. In five families both the child and the parent had abnormal TC and LDL‐C levels. In conclusion, a considerable proportion of children and parents with family histories of premature CHD have TC and LDL‐C concentrations above the 95th percentile (in the present study, about 40 individuals in 140 high‐risk families, if the parent and child considered at high risk all had agreed to participate). Prevention of heart disease should begin in childhood when patterns of life‐style are developed. Identification by obtained family histories as in the current study may be a method of choice.
Adaptive Viterbi decoding of reed-muller codes

For years Viterbi algorithm is considered one of the most efficient decoding algorithm for decoding trellis based Reed-Muller codes. As a result of the nature of the trellis structure of block codes, the number of eliminated branches is far less than that eliminated in convolutional codes. This paper adopts the use of an adaptive Viterbi algorithm to Reed-Muller codes such that branch elimination can take place not only at merging states but also at any trellis level. The used adaptive algorithm not only preserves the error performance, but also can achieve significant complexity reduction for both hard decision decoding and soft decision decoding.
Alterations in the steroid biosynthetic pathways in the human prefrontal cortex in mood disorders: A post‐mortem study

Altered levels of steroids have been reported in the brain, cerebral spinal fluid and plasma of patients with mood disorders. Neuroimaging studies have reported both functional and structural alterations in mood disorders, for instance in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). In order to determine whether the endogenous production of steroids is altered in the ACC and DLPFC of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar disorder (BPD), quantitative real‐time PCR was performed to detect mRNA expression level of key enzymes in the steroid biosynthetic pathways. In MDD, a significant decrease in mRNA level of cytochrome P450 17A1 (CYP17A1, synthesizing C19 ketosteroids) in the ACC and a significant increase in mRNA levels of hydroxysteroid sulfotransferase 2A1 [SULT2A1, catalyzing the sulfate conjugation of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)] were observed in the DLPFC, suggesting alterations in DHEA and its sulfate metabolite DHEAS levels. Decreased intensity and distribution of CYP17A1 immunohistochemical staining was found in the ACC of MDD patients. Interestingly, there was a significant positive correlation between the mRNA levels of CYP17A1 and tyrosine‐related kinase B (TrkB) full length isoform. In a unique post‐mortem human brain slice culture paradigm, BDNF mRNA expression was found to be significantly increased following incubation with DHEA. Together, these data indicate a close relationship between DHEA and BDNF‐TrkB pathways in depression. Furthermore, in the DLPFC, higher mRNA levels of 11β‐hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase‐1 (HSD11B1, reducing cortisone to the active hormone cortisol) and steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (STAR, facilitating the shuttle of cholesterol through the intermembrane space) were found in the MDD patients and BPD patients, respectively. In conclusion, this study suggests the presence of a disturbance in the endogenous synthesis of DHEA and DHEAS in mood disorders, which has a close relationship with BDNF‐TrkB signaling.
Parenteral nutrition compromises neurodevelopment of preterm pigs.

BACKGROUND Despite advances in nutritional support and intensive care, preterm infants are at higher risk of compromised neurodevelopment. OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the contribution of total parenteral nutrition (PN) to compromised neurodevelopment after preterm birth. METHODS Preterm pigs were provided PN or enteral nutrition (EN) for 10 d. Neurodevelopment was assessed by observations of motor activity and evaluation of sensory/motor reflexes, brain weight, MRI, and cerebellar histology. RESULTS Despite similar gains in body weight, PN pigs had smaller brains (32 ± 0.4 vs. 35 ± 0.6 g; P = 0.0002) including the cerebellum, as well as reduced motor activity (P = 0.005), which corresponded to underdeveloped myelination (P = 0.004) measured by diffusion tensor imaging. PN resulted in lower serum triglycerides (17 ± 5.9 vs. 27 ± 3.1 mg/dL; P = 0.05), total cholesterol (31 ± 9.6 vs. 85 ± 8.1 mg/dL; P = 0.04), VLDL cholesterol (3.7 ± 1.2 vs. 5.7 ± 0.7 mg/dL; P = 0.04), and HDL cholesterol (16 ± 4.6 vs. 57 ± 7.3 mg/dL; P = 0.03) and nonsignificantly lower LDL cholesterol (10.7 ± 4.4 vs. 22.7 ± 2.9 mg/dL; P = 0.09). CONCLUSIONS The compromised neurodevelopment caused by total PN is a novel finding, was independent of confounding variables (disease, inconsistent gestational ages, diverse genetics, extrauterine growth retardation, and inconsistent neonatal intensive care unit protocols), and highlights a need to improve current PN solutions. The preterm pig is a translational animal model for improving nutrition support to enhance neurodevelopment of preterm infants requiring PN.
Sequence-specific endoribonuclease activity of the Tetrahymena ribozyme: enhanced cleavage of certain oligonucleotide substrates that form mismatched ribozyme-substrate complexes.

A shortened form of the self-splicing intervening sequence RNA of Tetrahymena acts as a sequence-specific endoribonuclease. Specificity of cleavage is determined by Watson-Crick base pairing between the active site of the RNA enzyme (ribozyme) and its RNA substrate [Zaug, A. J., Been, M. D. , & Cech, T. R. (1986) Nature (London) 324, 429-433]. Surprisingly, single-base changes in the substrate RNA 3 nucleotides preceding the cleavage site, giving a mismatched substrate-ribozyme complex, enhance the rate of cleavage. Mismatched substrates show up to a 100-fold increase in kcat and, in some cases, in kcat/Km. A mismatch introduced by changing a nucleotide in the active site of the ribozyme has a similar effect. Addition of 2.5 M urea or 3.8 M formamide or decreasing the divalent metal ion concentration from 10 to 2 mM reverses the substrate specificity, allowing the ribozyme to discriminate against the mismatched substrate. The effect of urea is to decrease kcat and kcat/Km for cleavage of the mismatched substrate; Km is not significantly affected at 0-2.5 M urea. Thus, progressive destabilization of ribozyme-substrate pairing by mismatches or by addition of a denaturant such as urea first increases the rate of cleavage to an optimum value and then decreases the rate.
Spheroform: Therapeutic Spheroid‐Forming Nanotextured Surfaces Inspired by Desert Beetle Physosterna cribripes

An approach is presented to create arrays of quasi-spherical microdroplets by surfaces called "spheroform" inspired by micro-/nanostructures found in the back of the Namib desert beetle. Spheroform is fabricated by microarray formation of catecholamine polymers on the superhydrophobic background. Spheroform is able to precisely control spheroid sizes of therapeutic islet cells and mesenchymal stem cells. The therapeutic spheroids exhibit improved biochemical activities.
The Effect of Caffeine on Maximal Oxygen Uptake and Vertical Jump Performance in Male Basketball Players

Abstract Tucker, MA, Hargreaves, JM, Clarke, JC, Dale, DL, and Blackwell, GJ. The effect of caffeine on maximal oxygen uptake and vertical jump performance in male basketball players. J Strength Cond Res 27(2): 382–387, 2013. This study investigated whether performance enhancement from caffeine described by other researchers transfers to male basketball players. The effects of caffeine ingestion were studied in a maximal-effort test on a treadmill that was followed by a vertical-jump test. Five elite-level male basketball players completed a graded treadmill test that measured maximal oxygen uptake, blood lactate profiles, respiratory exchange ratio, and rating of perceived exertion at each 3-minute stage. After a 15-minute warm-down, the subjects performed 10 vertical rebound jumps. Each subject completed the test twice—once with a 3 mg·kg−1 of body weight dose of caffeine and once with a placebo, with the dosage administered 60 minutes before commencement of exercise. The test was thus administered according to a double-blind protocol. No substantial trends were found between caffeine and control trials, regardless of trial order. The study showed that the specified dosage had negligible effects on the players' power and endurance performance and had no efficacy as an ergogenic aid for male basketball players.
Evaluating the Effects of Convolutional Neural Network Committees

Many high performing deep learning models for image classification put their base models in a committee as a final step to gain competitive edge. In this paper we focus on that aspect, analyzing how committee size and makeup of models trained with different preprocessing methods impact final performance. Working with two datasets, representing both rigid and non- rigid object classification in German Traffic Sign Recognition Benchmark (GTSRB) and CIFAR- 10, and two preprocessing methods in addition to original images, we report performance improvements and compare them. Our experiments cover committees trained on just one dataset variation as well as hybrid ones, unreliability of small committees of low error models and performance metrics specific to the way committees are built. We point out some guidelines to predict committee behavior and good approaches to analyze their impact and limitations.
FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION OF HUMAN MONOCARBOXYLATE TRANSPORTER 6 (SLC16A5)

Human monocarboxylate transporter 6 (MCT6) has recently been isolated, and its tissue distribution has been established at the mRNA level, but its functional properties remain unknown. The aim of this study is to investigate the transport properties of MCT6. When expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes, MCT6 transported [3H]bumetanide in a pH- and membrane potential-sensitive but not proton gradient-dependent manner, with the Kt value of 84 μM. Furthermore, MCT6 transported various drugs such as probenecid and nateglinide. Neither [14C]l-lactic acid nor [3H]l-tryptophan, typical substrates of other MCT isoforms, was transported by MCT6. Four loop diuretics, i.e., furosemide, piretanide, azosemide, and torasemide, thiazides, probenecid, glibenclamide, and nateglinide inhibited the MCT6-mediated uptake of [3H]bumetanide. In contrast, short-chain carboxylic acids, such as l-lactic acid and succinic acid did not inhibit the MCT6-mediated uptake of bumetanide. These results suggest that the substrate specificity of MCT6 is distinct from those of other MCTs. Bumetanide would be a good tool for investigating the functional properties of MCT6. It is probable that MCT6 is involved in the disposition of various drugs, including bumetanide.
Notes on measurement theory for causal-formative indicators: A reply to Hardin.

The current article is a rejoinder to "A Call for Theory to Support the Use of Causal-Formative Indicators: A Commentary on Bollen and Diamantopoulos. " Our article comments on the 6 research questions raised by Hardin (2017) in his constructive commentary on our original article (i.e., "In Defense of Causal-Formative Indicators: A Minority Report"). (PsycINFO Database Record
Knowledge discovery interestingness measures based on unexpectedness

Knowledge discovery methods often discover a large number of patterns. Although this can be considered of interest, it certainly presents considerable challenges too. Indeed, this set of patterns often contains lots of uninteresting patterns that risk overwhelming the data miner. In addition, a single interesting pattern can be discovered in a multitude of tiny variations that for all practical purposes are redundant. These issues are referred to as the pattern explosion problem. They lie at the basis of much recent research attempting to quantify interestingness and redundancy between patterns, with the purpose of filtering down a large pattern set to an interesting and compact subset. Many diverse approaches to interestingness and corresponding interestingness measures (IMs) have been proposed in the literature. Some of them, named objective IMs, define interestingness only based on objective criteria of the pattern and data at hand. Subjective IMs additionally depend on the user's prior knowledge about the dataset. Formalizing unexpectedness is probably the most common approach for defining subjective IMs, where a pattern is deemed unexpected if it contradicts the user's expectations about the dataset. Such subjective IMs based on unexpectedness form the focus of this paper. We categorize measures based on unexpectedness into two major subgroups, namely, syntactical and probabilistic approaches. Based on this distinction, we survey different methods for assessing the unexpectedness of patterns with a special focus on frequent itemsets, tiles, association rules, and classification rules. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Introducing Dunaliella LIP promoter containing light‐inducible motifs improves transgenic expression in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Promoter of the light‐inducible protein gene (LIP) of Dunaliella was recently isolated in our laboratory. The aim of this work is to find the light‐inducible motif in the Dunaliella LIP promoter and verify its regulatory motif with a Gaussia luciferase reporter gene transformed in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. 400 bp upstream to the translational start site of the Dunaliella LIP gene was gradually truncated and analyzed for the luciferase expression. Furthermore, this promoter comprising duplicated or triplicated light‐responsive motifs was tested for its augmentation of light response. Two putative light‐responsive motifs, GT‐1 binding motif and sequences over‐represented in light‐repressed promoters (SORLIP) located in the 200 bp LIP promoter fragment were analyzed for their light responsibility. It is turned out that SORLIP was responsible for the light‐inducible activity. With the copy number of SORLIP up to three showed stronger high light response compared with the native LIP promoter fragment. Therefore, we found a light‐responsive DNA motif operating in Chlamydomonas and confirm a synthetic promoter including this motif displayed light inducibility in heterologously transformed green algae for the first time. This light‐inducible expression system will be applied to various area of algal research including algal biotechnology.