Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Delineation of biological and molecular mechanisms underlying the diverse anticancer activities of mycophenolic acid.

BACKGROUND Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), the prodrug of mycophenolic acid (MPA) which has been widely used for the prevention of acute graft rejection, is a potent inhibitor of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) that is up-regulated in many tumors and potentially a target for cancer therapy. MPA is known to inhibit cancer cell proliferation and induces apoptosis; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. METHODS We first demonstrated MPA's antiproliferative and proapoptotic activities using in vitro studies of 13 cancer cell lines and a xenograft model. Key proteins involved in cell cycle, proliferation and apoptosis were analyzed by Western blotting. RESULTS In vitro treatment of thirteen cancer cell lines indicated that five cell lines (AGS, NCI-N87, HCT-8, A2780 and BxPC-3) are highly sensitive to MPA (IC50 < 0.5 μg/ml), four cell lines (Hs746T, PANC-1, HepG2 and MCF-7) are very resistant to MPA (IC50 > 20 μg/ml) and the four other cell lines (KATO III, SNU-1, K562 and HeLa) have intermediate sensitivity. The anticancer activity of MPA was confirmed in vivo using xenograft model with gastric AGS cell line. Further in vitro analyses using AGS cells indicated that MPA can potently induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis as well as inhibition of cell proliferation. Targeted proteomic analyses indicate that many critical changes responsible for MPA's activities occur at the protein expression and phosphorylation levels. MPA-induced cell cycle arrest is achieved through reduction of many cell cycle regulators such as CDK4, BUB1, BOP1, Aurora A and FOXM1. We also demonstrate that MPA can inhibit the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and can induce caspase-dependent apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that MPA has beneficial activities for anticancer therapy through diverse molecular pathways and biological processes.
The Ankle-Brachial Index is Associated With Cardiovascular Complications After Noncardiac Surgery

Carmo et al in their article ‘‘The Ankle-Brachial Index is Associated With Cardiovascular Complications After Noncardiac Surgery? ’’ investigated the association between the anklebrachial index (ABI) and cardiovascular (CV) complications after noncardiac surgery. Those with abnormal ABI had increased CV complications. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a common cause of hospitalization and mortality worldwide. Therefore, clinicians have searched for predictors of CVD. Arterial stiffness (AS) is a noninvasive method to assess subclinical atherosclerosis, and it is also associated with coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, stroke, and peripheral arterial disease. Pulse wave analysis (PWA) includes pulse wave velocity (PWV), augmentation index, and central aortic pressure. Other studies have reported abnormal PWA in patients with CVD, renal failure, and chronic inflammatory disease. Measurement of PWA is considered relatively simple, reproducible, and cost effective for CV risk estimation. The European Network for Non-invasive Investigation of Large Artery consensus for the assessment of AS considered PWV as the gold standard for the measurement of AS. Carmo et al used the ABI for CV risk estimation. Increased PWV and a low ABI are accepted as a marker of CVD and increased total CV risk. In this context, it would have been useful if authors had also measured PWV to assess AS. The authors reported that isolated troponin elevation was observed in 24.2% of the patients, and CV complication event rate was 6.4%. They suggest that physicians should perform troponin analysis after surgery in all patients. However, we could not determine whether there was any significant difference for troponin analysis between the 2 groups studied. More information could provide clearer information regarding the role of troponin in relation to CV complications after noncardiac surgery.
Jumping to delusions? Paranoia, probabilistic reasoning, and need for closure

Introduction. The present study was designed to replicate and extend the findings of Bentall and Swarbrick (2003). It was hypothesised that patients with a history of persecutory delusions would display higher need for closure and a more extreme jumping to conclusions bias than healthy control participants. Methods. Twenty-two patients with a history of persecutory delusions and nineteen healthy control participants were administered a probabilistic reasoning task, along with self-report measures of depression and need for closure. Results. The clinical group scored higher on need for closure than the controls, but showed no greater tendency to jump to conclusions. No relationship was found between need for closure and a jumping to conclusions bias. Conclusions. The results confirm an association between persecutory delusions and need for closure, yet suggest that persecutory delusions in an outpatient sample can be seen in the absence of a jumping to conclusions bias.
A working reality: evaluating enhanced intersectoral links in supported employment for people with psychiatric disabilities.

BACKGROUND/AIM Supported employment (SE) programmes have been found to improve the rates of competitive employment for people with severe mental illness. Evidence has suggested that the most effective SE model is one in which the employment specialist is co-located with mental health services. However, this may not always be achievable. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the enhanced intersectoral links approach to SE. METHODS A total of 43 people with a mental illness participated in the programme in which formal links were created between a community mental health team and three employment services. The outcomes of the programme were evaluated over 24 months. RESULTS Of all participants, 77% achieved a competitive employment outcome, with 60.6% remaining in employment at the end of the evaluation period. The average duration of employment was 44.8 weeks. For those who were unable to maintain a job, the average period of employment was 14.2 weeks. The study found that participants with less severe symptoms at baseline were more likely to obtain employment and those who had worked in the year preceding entry into the programme were employed for a higher proportion of time. The factors related to job loss were the short-term nature of the position, cognitive difficulties and social skills. CONCLUSIONS The study found that the enhanced intersectoral links approach was effective in achieving outcomes consistent with international studies of SE programmes and may offer a viable alternative to the co-location of employment specialists with community mental health teams.
Methacrylate-Based Copolymers for Polymer Optical Fibers

Waveguides made of poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) play a major role in the homogeneous distribution of display backlights as a matrix for solid-state dye lasers and polymer optical fibers (POFs). PMMA is favored because of its transparency in the visible spectrum, low price, and well-controlled processability. Nevertheless, technical drawbacks, such as its limited temperature stability, call for new materials. In this work, the copolymerization technique is used to modify the properties of the corresponding homopolymers. The analytical investigation of fourteen copolymers made of methyl-methacrylate (MMA) or ethyl-methacrylate (EMA) as the basis monomer is summarized. Their polymerization behaviors are examined by NMR spectroscopy with subsequent copolymerization parameter evaluation according to Fineman-Ross and Kelen-Tüdös. Therefore, some r-parameter sets are shown to be capable of copolymerizations with very high conversions. The first applications as high-temperature resistant (HT) materials for HT-POFs are presented. Copolymers containing isobornyl-methacrylate (IBMA) as the comonomer are well-suited for this demanding application.
Racial Group Differences in Help-Seeking Behaviors

The authors evaluated variations in help-seeking behaviors among Blacks and Whites and the role of cognitive-affective variables as mediators of these variations. Participants were 70 Black and 66 White community college students who completed the SCL-90-R (L. R. Derogatis, 1977, 1994), the Revised Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (T. Bekhuis et al., 1995), the Symptom Interpretation Questionnaire (J. M. Robbins & L. J. Kirmayer, 1991), and a measure of help-seeking behaviors and demographic information. Relative to White college students, Black college students significantly less frequently used psychological or social services and significantly more frequently used religious services. The authors accounted for group differences in religious help-seeking behaviors by beliefs in the power of God and by normalizing symptom attributions. The cognitive-affective variables that were studied did not account for differences in psychological help-seeking behaviors. The authors inferred that to better meet the needs of Black college students, collaboration between mental health services and religious services would likely be beneficial.
On Tracking Dynamic Objects with Long Range Passive UHF RFID Using a Mobile Robot

Service robots have shown an impressive potential in providing assistance and guidance in various environments, such as supermarkets, shopping malls, homes, airports, and libraries. Due to the low cost and contactless way of communication, radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology provides a solution to overcome the difficulties (e.g., occlusions) that the traditional line-of-sight sensors (e.g., cameras and laser range finders) face. In this paper, we address the applications of using passive ultrahigh frequency (UHF) RFID as a sensing technology for mobile robots to track dynamic objects. More precisely, we combine a two-stage dynamic motion model with the dual particle filter to capture the dynamic motion of the object and to quickly recover from failures in tracking. The state estimation from the particle filter is used in combination with the VFH+ (Vector Field Histogram) to guide the robot towards the target. This is then integrated into a framework, which allows the robot to search for both static and dynamic tags, follow them, and maintain the distance between them. We finally tested our approach on a SCITOS G5 service robot through various experiments.
Detection of the Number of Signals with Fewer Sensors than Sources

SUMMARY In this paper, a method is introduced that can detect the number of incident signals (NIS) even there are fewer antennas than NIS. Previous works on NIS detection methods assumed that the number of antennas always exceeded NIS. In the DOA estimation field, the DOA estimation is possible, even if NIS exceeds the number of antennas, by extending the degrees of freedom of array (DOFA) using a modified array configuration, such as a nested array (NA). The information of NIS is required in advance to accurately estimate DOA, however, it has not been investigated deeply when NIS is larger than the number of antennas. In this paper, a NIS detection method based on the DOFA extending process using NA is proposed. One of the important issues in NIS detection is the detection metric. As one of the simple metrics, the ratio of adjacent eigenvalues (RAE) has been used. However, the direct application of RAE may not achieve adequate NIS detection performance. Therefore, we propose a metric based on the modified ratio of adjacent eigenvalues (MRAE) avoids the issue of RAE. Numerical results show that the metric based on MRAE can achieve proper NIS detection performance even if NIS is larger than the number of antennas.
Global Drug Safety Insights From Taiwan.

The investments made by the government of Taiwan to create the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database continue to realize global population health benefits. The database has been used to conduct numerous studies of drug safety and efficacy, diagnostic test utility, disease progression, and risk factor prognosis, generating important clinical and public health insights thathave implicationsnotonly for thepeopleofTaiwan but also for people around theworld.1 The article by Lee et al2 on fluoroquinolone safety in this issueof JAMA InternalMedicine adds to this knowledge. Fluoroquinolones are among the most widely used antibiotics in theworld becauseof broadgram-positive andgramnegative coverage, excellent oral bioavailablity, and, thus far, manageable resistance patterns. More than 20 million individuals receivedanoutpatientprescription in theUnitedStates in 2011 alone, nearly 4 million in the hospital setting.3 However, despite being generally well tolerated, rare serious adverseeffectshavebeenreported,andthere isaclass-levelblack boxUSdrug labelwarningof an increased riskof tendinitis and tendon rupture, possibly secondary to the fluoroquinolones’ effectoncollagen,andofmuscleweaknessexacerbation inpersons with myasthenia gravis. Using case-control methods to analyze the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, Lee et al2 examine a related, and serious though rare, collagen-based drug safetyconcern:aorticaneurysmanddissection, findinganearly 3-fold increased riskof aortic aneurysmanddissectionamong fluoroquinolone users. Risk for this serious yet rare adverse event should be considered in any benefit-risk calculation for fluoroquinolone use, and further research into the impact of these important antibiotics effect on collagen is needed.However, physicians andotherhealth careprofessionals shouldbe aware of this potential risk so that they can act swiftly to address aortic aneurysms and dissections when they do occur.
Cycle ergometer exercise to counteract muscle atrophy during unilateral lower limb suspension.

INTRODUCTION Atrophy of the leg muscles is a serious consequence of disuse and occurs with prolonged exposure to microgravity. We investigated whether intense interval training on a cycle ergometer would prevent muscle changes during unilateral lower limb suspension (ULLS). METHODS This study involved 11 healthy men who were divided into 2 groups, one with training on a cycle ergometer (TRN, N=6) and the other a control group (CON, N=5). TRN performed intense interval training (up to 90% of maximum heart rate) on alternate days during 20 d of unloading. Maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of the quadriceps femoris and volume of the thigh muscle were measured before and after unloading. Muscle functional magnetic resonance imaging (mfMRI), which reflects the contractile activity of the activating muscle, were acquired during submaximal dynamic knee extension exercises. RESULTS The MVC was significantly decreased in TRN (-11.1%) and CON (-18.7%). The total volume of the thigh muscles was maintained in TRN (-0.2%); however, a significant decrease was found in CON (-6.9%). The mfMRI signal increase for submaximal exercise did not change for TRN; however, it significantly increased for CON. CONCLUSIONS Although the power of this study was limited, these results suggest that training on a cycle ergometer counteracts some of the effects of unloading and merits further study as a potential countermeasure for muscle changes in microgravity.
RHD*weak partial 4.0 is associated with an altered RHCE*ce(48C, 105T, 733G, 744C, 1025T) allele in the Tunisian population

D is the most immunogenic blood group antigen. About 1% of whites carry an altered RHD allele leading to quantitative or qualitative changes in the antigen D expression. T201R and F223V encoded by 602C>G and 667T>G are specific amino acid substitutions of the weak D type 4 cluster of African origin, comprising the alleles RHD*09.01, RHD*09.02, RHD*09.03, RHD*09.04 and RHD*09.05. The purpose of this study was to estimate the presence of these RHD genotypes in the Tunisian population.
Expected Utility Theory—Is It Normative or Simply "Practical"?

Clearly, expected utility (EU) theory is the dominant theory for the analysis of decision making under risk, whether in medicine, finance, economics, insurance, or other fields. Why is that so? A tempting explanation is to attribute its success to the alleged normative appeal of the axioms. This is a possible explanation, but I personally believe in another: When one has to analyze a choice problem under risk, one first &dquo;shops&dquo; among all possible models that are available to proceed to the analysis. If one makes this search, it is quickly obvious that the EU model is the one whose
Inhibition of Estradiol Receptor/Src Association and Cell Growth by an Estradiol Receptor α Tyrosine-Phosphorylated Peptide

This report offers direct evidence that association of the estradiol receptor (ER) with Src triggered by steroid agonists or growth factors controls breast and prostate cancer cell growth. This association is abolished in whole cells and in vitro by a six-amino-acid peptide that mimics the sequence around the phosphotyrosine residue in position 537 of the human ERα. The phosphorylated peptide, at nanomolar concentrations, is taken up by MCF-7 and LNCaP cells derived from human mammary and prostate cancers, respectively. In addition, to block the ER/Src interaction, the phosphopeptide inhibits Src/Erk pathway, cyclin D1 expression, and DNA synthesis induced by estradiol or androgen or triggered by epidermal growth factor. In contrast, no inhibition of the Src-mediated epidermal growth factor action on DNA synthesis is detectable in human mammary cancer cells that do not express ER (MDA-MB231), indicating that the peptide specifically targets the ER-associated Src. Remarkably, the peptide, in contrast with classic steroid antagonists, does not interfere in ER- or androgen receptor–dependent transcriptional activity. Nevertheless, it markedly inhibits the growth of MCF-7 cell xenografts induced in immunodepressed and estradiol-treated mice. The present report suggests that inhibition of association of steroid receptors with Src or other signaling effectors may have therapeutic applications for patients with ER-positive tumors. (Mol Cancer Res 2007;5(11):1213–21)
Spiritual well-being and moral distress among Iranian nurses

Background: Moral distress is increasingly recognized as a problem affecting healthcare professionals, especially nurses. If not addressed, it may create job dissatisfaction, withdrawal from the moral dimensions of patient care, or even encourage one to leave the profession. Spiritual well-being is a concept which is considered when dealing with problems and stress relating to a variety of issues. Objective: This research aimed to examine the relationship between spiritual well-being and moral distress among a sample of Iranian nurses and also to study the determinant factors of moral distress and spiritual well-being in nurses. Research design: A cross-sectional, correlational design was employed to collect data from 193 nurses using the Spiritual Well-Being Scale and the Moral Distress Scale-Revised. Ethical considerations: This study was approved by the Regional Committee of Medical Research Ethics. The ethical principles of voluntary participation, anonymity, and confidentiality were considered. Findings: Mean scores of spiritual well-being and moral distress were 94.73 ± 15.89 and 109.56 ± 58.70, respectively. There was no significant correlation between spiritual well-being and moral distress (r = −.053, p = .462). Marital status and job satisfaction were found to be independent predictors of spiritual well-being. However, gender and educational levels were found to be independent predictors for moral distress. Age, working in rotation shifts, and a tendency to leave the current job also became significant after adjusting other factors for moral distress. Discussion and conclusion: This study could not support the relationship between spiritual well-being and moral distress. However, the results showed that moral distress is related to many elements including individual ideals and differences as well as organizational factors. Informing nurses about moral distress and its consequences, establishing periodic consultations, and making some organizational arrangement may play an important role in the identification and management of moral distress and spiritual well-being.
Reemployment and Substitution Effects from Increased Activation: Evidence from Times of Crisis

Although activation services such as monitoring, training, or job subsidies have been shown to increase exits from unemployment, there is little comprehensive evidence about the effects of activation during recessions. Here we evaluate a large activation programme introduced in Portugal in 2012, a time of very high unemployment. This programme required specific unemployment benefit recipients to meet jobcentre caseworkers and then participate in active labour market policies. Our analysis draws on rich longitudinal data, the programme's focus on those unemployed for at least six months, and fuzzy regression discontinuity methods. We find that, despite the weak labour market, the programme is very successful as it doubles the monthly reemployment probability. The results are robust to a number of checks, including a falsification exercise based on pre-programme data and an analysis of non-employment and income effects. Moreover, in a novel IV approach using information on all unemployed, we find no evidence of substitution effects such as decreased transitions to employment amongst non-eligible individuals. JEL codes: J64, J68, J22
Characterization of CMOS Metamaterial Transmission Line by Compact Fractional-Order Equivalent Circuit Model

In this paper, a compact fractional-order equivalent circuit model is developed to characterize three types of metamaterial transmission lines (T-lines): 1) composite right-/left-handed transmission line T-line; 2) split ring resonator T-line; and 3) complimentary split ring resonator T-line, all designed in 65-nm CMOS process at millimeter-wave frequency region. With the consideration of frequency-dependent dispersion loss and nonquasistatic effect, the proposed fractional-order equivalent circuit model can compactly characterize the measured results with good agreement up to 325 GHz.
The Bristol Online Obesity Screening Tool: experience of using a screening tool for assessing obese children in primary care

The incidence of childhood obesity is rising in the United Kingdom and this has far-reaching and serious consequences both for the physical and psychological well-being of the child, as well as significant financial implications for the health service. General practitioners (GPs) play a central role in identifying and assessing such children and directing them to the best services. While most cases of obesity are simply due to an imbalance in calorie intake and expenditure, children do need to be formally assessed to ensure that red flags are not missed, which might signify an important underlying aetiology, co-morbidity or complication. To date, there have not been tools available to guide a GP through this assessment. In this paper, we present and explain the thinking behind a tool, which was developed for use by GPs from Bristolas part of a trial to assess the transferability of a childhood obesity clinic into primary care. We look at the evidence base behind the guidelines and then assess the appropriateness and safety of the 152 referrals made using this tool. We believe that this screening tool would enable over 85% of obese children to seek their initial weight management in primary care. Additional evaluation is needed in different regions to ensure effectiveness, sensitivity and specificity of this new tool.