Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of xylitol use and bitewing radiographs among school-aged children in a low-caries level population

Aija-Maaria Hietala-Lenkkeri Evaluation of xylitol use and bitewing radiographs among school-aged children in a low-caries level population University of Turku, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Community Dentistry Finnish Doctoral Program in Oral Sciences – FINDOS, Turku, Finland Annales Universitatis Turkuensis, Series D, Medica-Odontologica, Turku, Finland, 2016 The objective of the present work was to study, in a low-caries level population, the additional caries-preventive effect of xylitol/maltitol and erythritol/maltitol lozenges delivered at school, in comparison with the comprehensive routine prevention provided by the public dental health care. Also the literature on xylitol, considering the caries level of the population, as well as the in vitro mechanisms of action of xylitol and erythritol were evaluated. Further, the additional value of bitewing radiographic examination in the detection of caries was studied. In a four-year, cluster-randomized, double-blinded clinical trial, 579 informed and consenting 10-year-olds were randomly assigned to receive xylitol or erythritol lozenges (one or two years) in addition to the comprehensive prevention, or to a control group receiving only comprehensive prevention. In the cross-sectional study, 363 pairs of radiographs obtained from these subjects at 14 years of age were analyzed. The use of the lozenges did not result in caries reduction. A strong relationship between baseline caries level and the caries increment was observed. The conducted systematic review revealed that caries-preventive effect of xylitol was well shown in highcaries level populations. Both xylitol and erythritol decreased the adherence of polysaccharide-producing oral streptococci. Approximately half of the subjects benefited from the radiographic examination. In a population with low caries occurrence the size of the caries-preventive effect of a polyol and the method required for reliable caries detection according to the contemporary caries management criteria seem to differ from those observed in a population with a high caries level. The observations on erythritol call for additional welldesigned randomized clinical trials studying the properties of erythritol in varying levels of caries occurrence. It can be recommended that in public dental health care the preventive methods used in addition to the comprehensive routine caries prevention should be targeted at children with clinical signs of dental caries or fillings.
MyD88-Dependent Pathway in T Cells Directly Modulates the Expansion of Colitogenic CD4+ T Cells in Chronic Colitis1

TLRs that mediate the recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns are widely expressed on/in cells of the innate immune system. However, recent findings demonstrate that certain TLRs are also expressed in conventional TCRαβ+ T cells that are critically involved in the acquired immune system, suggesting that TLR ligands can directly modulate T cell function in addition to various innate immune cells. In this study, we report that in a murine model of chronic colitis induced in RAG-2−/− mice by adoptive transfer of CD4+CD45RBhigh T cells, both CD4+CD45RBhigh donor cells and the expanding colitogenic lamina propria CD4+CD44high memory cells expresses a wide variety of TLRs along with MyD88, a key adaptor molecule required for signal transduction through TLRs. Although RAG-2−/− mice transferred with MyD88−/−CD4+CD45RBhigh cells developed colitis, the severity was reduced with the delayed kinetics of clinical course, and the expansion of colitogenic CD4+ T cells was significantly impaired as compared with control mice transferred with MyD88+/+CD4+CD45RBhigh cells. When RAG-2−/− mice were transferred with the same number of MyD88+/+ (Ly5.1+) and MyD88−/− (Ly5.2+) CD4+CD45RBhigh cells, MyD88−/−CD4+ T cells showed significantly lower proliferative responses assessed by in vivo CFSE division assay, and also lower expression of antiapoptotic Bcl-2/Bcl-xL molecules and less production of IFN-γ and IL-17, compared with the paired MyD88+/+CD4+ T cells. Collectively, the MyD88-dependent pathway that controls TLR signaling in T cells may directly promote the proliferation and survival of colitogenic CD4+ T cells to sustain chronic colitis.
Searching for an effective measure of R&D performance

Notes that measurement of R&D performance has always posed great problems due to the nature of R&D activity and the difficulties in identifying a tangible output. Also that performance measurement systems have often been built on input variables or on qualitative evaluation of the output. Attempts to identify quantitative measures of R&D performance and to single out those related to activities under complete and partial control of R&D managers. Takes as a starting‐point the concept of economic value creation as a firm’s normative objective and the analysis of the contribution of R&D to it. Builds on this a performance measurement system that leads to identify proxy measures of both R&D effectiveness and efficiency.
Genetic Architecture of Phenomic-Enabled Canopy Coverage in Glycine max

Digital imagery can help to quantify seasonal changes in desirable crop phenotypes that can be treated as quantitative traits. Because limitations in precise and functional phenotyping restrain genetic improvement in the postgenomic era, imagery-based phenomics could become the next breakthrough to accelerate genetic gains in field crops. Whereas many phenomic studies focus on exploratory analysis of spectral data without obvious interpretative value, we used field images to directly measure soybean canopy development from phenological stage V2 to R5. Over 3 years, we collected imagery using ground and aerial platforms of a large and diverse nested association panel comprising 5555 lines. Genome-wide association analysis of canopy coverage across sampling dates detected a large quantitative trait locus (QTL) on soybean (Glycine max, L. Merr.) chromosome 19. This QTL provided an increase in yield of 47.3 kg ha−1. Variance component analysis indicated that a parameter, described as average canopy coverage, is a highly heritable trait (h2 = 0.77) with a promising genetic correlation with grain yield (0.87), enabling indirect selection of yield via canopy development parameters. Our findings indicate that fast canopy coverage is an early season trait that is inexpensive to measure and has great potential for application in breeding programs focused on yield improvement. We recommend using the average canopy coverage in multiple trait schemes, especially for the early stages of the breeding pipeline (including progeny rows and preliminary yield trials), in which the large number of field plots makes collection of grain yield data challenging.
Anthracyclines cause endothelial injury in pediatric cancer patients: a pilot study.

PURPOSE The vascular endothelium plays a central role in the regulation of arterial vasomotor tone, releasing nitric oxide for vasodilation. Endothelial-dependent vasodilation can be assessed in vivo, using high resolution ultrasound to measure changes in diameter of the brachial artery. Animal studies have demonstrated that anthracyclines can damage the endothelium and impair the vasodilatory response of arteries; however, there are no comparable data in humans. This is a pilot study assessing endothelial toxicity from anthracyclines in pediatric cancer patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS Fourteen control patients and 14 cancer patients (4 to 21 years) were studied. Cancer patients had completed chemotherapy containing no less than 300 mg/m2 of anthracyclines 2 to 60 months before study. Brachial artery diameters were measured at rest and 1 minute after blood pressure cuff occlusion. Brachial artery reactivity (BAR) was calculated as percent change between baseline and after cuff deflation measurements. Results were compared using unpaired, two-tailed t-test. RESULTS Baseline characteristics, including age, percentage of females, blood pressure, and resting vessel diameters were similar between the two groups. BAR in the controls averaged 6.7% with a standard deviation (SD) of 3.3%, while BAR in patients receiving anthracyclines averaged 3.8% with an SD of 3.4%, demonstrating a significant decrease (P < .05) in vasomotor reactivity in the treated group. CONCLUSION These results suggest that anthracyclines cause impaired endothelial function, an important and newly recognized toxicity. Since endothelial dysfunction is an early event in atherogenesis, there may be important clinical implications from these findings. Further study is required to confirm these preliminary results in a larger cohort.
Integrations between Visual Basic and MATLAB

We can usually meet some complicated mathematics operations in scientific research and designing soft, though there are few functions in Visual Basic application. This paper introduces using COM Builder and DDE-two design methods of integration of Visual Basic and engineering calculate software MATLAB by examples. The excellence of the integration is proved by data statistic and FFT. Development foreground is mentioned subsequently.
Histocompatibility Complex and Virus Infection Latency and Activation

Recently, considerable interest has focused on the interrelationship between the major histocompatibility complex, virus infections and resultant disease. With the knowledge that specific immune response to a wide variety of antigens are under genetic control and are linked to the species major histocompatibility locus in the mouse, the guinea pig, the rat, and man (Benacerraf & McDevitt 1972), investigations have centered on the association between histocompatibility type and susceptibility to virus-induced disease (McDevitt et al. 1974). Other evidence has been presented that mice have a major histocompatibility restriction for thymus-derived (T) cell-mediated killing of cells infected with certain viruses (Zinkernagel & Doherty 1974a). Sensitized T cells harvested from primed mice must be both vims specific and H-2 compatible with target cells infected with one of several viruses for lysis to occur. Furthermore, this H-2 restriction is at the D or K end but not in the Ia portion of the histocompatibihty complex (Blanden et al. 1975, Zinkernagel 1976). Genetic control over immune responses and the histocompatibility restriction needed in T-cell killing have been the subject of recent reviews (Benacerraf & McDevitt 1972, Doherty & Zinkernagel 1974, McDevitt et al. 1974) and will not be discussed further here. Instead the authors will direct their attention to two related points. First, they wiU describe the relationship between infecting virus and the major histocompatibility complex. Since the histo-
Field-Effect Control of Electroosmotic Pumping Using Porous Silicon–Silicon Nitride Membranes

Field-effect control of electroosmotic (EO) flow, which has been demonstrated on single microchannels, provides a novel method to modulate the zeta potential and, therefore, the EO flow through a porous membrane. To realize field-effect control of EO pumping with a membrane, a SiNx-coated porous silicon membrane was designed and fabricated. The heavily doped silicon core was used as a conducting electrode to apply the transverse gate potential, which modulates the zeta potential of the channel walls and, thereby, the EO flow rate with constant externally applied electric fields along the channels. We observed significant electrolytic-rectification effect, i.e., for gate voltage (Vg) < 0, a substantial current leakage through the SiNx was observed, whereas negligible leakage current was detected for Vg > 0. Significant EO flow control, nearly 70% reduction in flow velocity, was observed for positive gate bias, while only 15 % flow-velocity enhancement was observed for negative gate bias of similar magnitude. This first demonstration of field-effect control on porous membranes opens the door for making high-flow rate EO pumps with porous membranes of low zeta potential materials.
Distribution of carbon‐14 labeled C60 ([14C]C60) in the pregnant and in the lactating dam and the effect of C60 exposure on the biochemical profile of urine

This study was conducted to determine the distribution of [14C]C60 in the pregnant rat and fetuses, and in the lactating rat and offspring. Pregnant rats were dosed on gestation day (gd) 15 and lactating rats were dosed on postnatal day (pnd) 8 via tail vein injection with a suspension of ∼0.3 mg [14C]C60 kg−1 body weight prepared in polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), or with PVP alone. Tissues were collected at 24 and 48 h after dosing. The largest portion of the administered dose was detected in the liver (∼43%, pregnant dam; ∼35%, lactating dam) and lung (∼25%, lactating dam). Radioactivity (∼6%) was distributed to the reproductive tract, placenta and fetuses of the pregnant dam. Lactating rats had radioactivity distributed to the milk (3140 dpm g−1 tissue, 24 h; 1620 dpm g−1 tissue, 48 h), and to the pups' GI tract (2.8%, 24 h; 4.4% 48 h) and liver (<1%). Blood radioactivity was significant at 24 h (14–19%) and at 48 h (7%) after dosing; largely accounted for in the plasma fraction. Less that 4% of the dose was recovered in the maternal spleen, heart, brain, urine or feces. Metabolomics analysis of urine indicated that dams exposed to [14C]C60 had decreased metabolites derived from the Krebs cycle and increased metabolites derived from the urea cycle or glycolysis, as well as alterations in the levels of some sulfur‐containing amino acids and purine/pyrimidine metabolites. This study demonstrated that [14C]C60 crosses the placenta and is transmitted to offspring via the dam's milk and subsequently systemically absorbed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Incorporation of pazopanib in maintenance therapy of ovarian cancer.

PURPOSE Pazopanib is an oral, multikinase inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) -1/-2/-3, platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) -α/-β, and c-Kit. Preclinical and clinical studies support VEGFR and PDGFR as targets for advanced ovarian cancer treatment. This study evaluated the role of pazopanib maintenance therapy in patients with ovarian cancer whose disease did not progress during first-line chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS Nine hundred forty patients with histologically confirmed cancer of the ovary, fallopian tube, or peritoneum, International Federation Gynecology Obstetrics (FIGO) stages II-IV, no evidence of progression after primary therapy consisting of surgery and at least five cycles of platinum-taxane chemotherapy were randomized 1:1 to receive pazopanib 800 mg once per day or placebo for up to 24 months. The primary end point was progression-free survival by RECIST 1.0 assessed by the investigators. RESULTS Maintenance pazopanib prolonged progression-free survival compared with placebo (hazard ratio [HR], 0.77; 95% CI, 0.64 to 0.91; P = .0021; median, 17.9 v 12.3 months, respectively). Interim survival analysis based on events in 35.6% of the population did not show any significant difference. Grade 3 or 4 adverse events of hypertension (30.8%), neutropenia (9.9%), liver-related toxicity (9.4%), diarrhea (8.2%), fatigue (2.7%), thrombocytopenia (2.5%), and palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (1.9%) were significantly higher in the pazopanib arm. Treatment discontinuation related to adverse events was higher among patients treated with pazopanib (33.3%) compared with placebo (5.6%). CONCLUSION Pazopanib maintenance therapy provided a median improvement of 5.6 months (HR, 0.77) in progression-free survival in patients with advanced ovarian cancer who have not progressed after first-line chemotherapy. Overall survival data to this point did not suggest any benefit. Additional analysis should help to identify subgroups of patients in whom improved efficacy may balance toxicity (NCT00866697).
Long-Term Contracts and the Effectiveness of Demand and Supply Policies

IN RECENT YEARS, the economy has been characterized by simultaneous labor-market slack, accelerating inflation, and a progression of real shocks. In response to these events, nontraditional aggregate control measures have been introduced that seek to affect the supply side of the economy. These policies include controls on wages and prices, general and targeted employment credits and wage subsidies, and tax-based incomes policies. This paper compares the effectiveness of monetary policy and one type of supply-management policy in controlling fluctuations in output and the price level. The supply-side program, which is a variant of the employment tax credit, acts directly on the firm's cost of labor and, thereby, on aggregate supply. Monetary policy, on the other hand, directly affects aggregate demand and only indirectly affects the firm's cost of labor through its impact on the price level. Since these programs have different transmission mechanisms, a principal question of the analysis concerns whether they exhibit differences in their ability to respond to demand versus supply shocks. An additional question addressed by the analysis concerns the interaction between the length of wage contracts and the policy parameters. The framework consists of log-linear representations of aggregate demand and supply functions that are subject to random disturbances. Fluctuations in output occur as a consequence of both the random disturbances and the underlying wage rigidity caused by long-term contracts. The presence of long-term contracts is
Fiber degeneration after lateral hypothalamic lesions in the rat

Fiber degeneration in the rat following lesions of the lateral hypothalamic area was studied by the method of Nauta and Gygax ('54). Ascending degeneration in the medial forebrain bundle enters the preoptic area and the medial and fimbrial nuclei of the septum. Less dense degeneration is found in the lateral septal nucleus and a few fibers bypass the septum and reach the cingulate cortex. Descending degeneration in the medial forebrain bundle enters the ventral tegmental area of Tsai giving off a few fibers to the mammillary bodies on the way. In the midbrain fibers turn dorsomedially to enter the raphe nuclei and the central gray and dorsolaterally to enter the nucleus mesencephalicus profundus pars lateralis. A small group of fibers leaves the anterior part of the lateral hypothalamus in a dorsomedial direction and passes through the inferior thalamic peduncle and stria medullaris to enter the lateral habenular nucleus. Another bundle leaves the posterior part of lateral hypothalamus in a dorsomedial direction and passes through the posterior midline thalamus to enter the central gray. No degeneration was found in the ventromedial hypothalamus in rats with lateral hypothalamic lesions. Our ability to stain fine degenerating fibers in this region was demonstrated in rats with medial hypothalamic lesions.
Discovery of Defense- and Neuropeptides in Social Ants by Genome-Mining

Natural peptides of great number and diversity occur in all organisms, but analyzing their peptidome is often difficult. With natural product drug discovery in mind, we devised a genome-mining approach to identify defense- and neuropeptides in the genomes of social ants from Atta cephalotes (leaf-cutter ant), Camponotus floridanus (carpenter ant) and Harpegnathos saltator (basal genus). Numerous peptide-encoding genes of defense peptides, in particular defensins, and neuropeptides or regulatory peptide hormones, such as allatostatins and tachykinins, were identified and analyzed. Most interestingly we annotated genes that encode oxytocin/vasopressin-related peptides (inotocins) and their putative receptors. This is the first piece of evidence for the existence of this nonapeptide hormone system in ants (Formicidae) and supports recent findings in Tribolium castaneum (red flour beetle) and Nasonia vitripennis (parasitoid wasp), and therefore its confinement to some basal holometabolous insects. By contrast, the absence of the inotocin hormone system in Apis mellifera (honeybee), another closely-related member of the eusocial Hymenoptera clade, establishes the basis for future studies on the molecular evolution and physiological function of oxytocin/vasopressin-related peptides (vasotocin nonapeptide family) and their receptors in social insects. Particularly the identification of ant inotocin and defensin peptide sequences will provide a basis for future pharmacological characterization in the quest for potent and selective lead compounds of therapeutic value.
A mixed-source model for speech compression and synthesis

This paper presents an excitation source model for speech compression and synthesis, which allows for a degree of voicing by mixing voiced (pulse) and unvoiced (noise) excitations in a frequency-selective manner. The mix is achieved by dividing the speech spectrum into two regions, with the pulse source exciting the low-frequency region and the noise source exciting the high-frequency region. A parameter F c determines the degree of voicing by specifying the cut-off frequency between the voiced and unvoiced regions. For speech compression applications, F c can be extracted automatically from the speech spectrum and transmitted. Experiments using the new model indicate its power in synthesizing natural sounding voiced fricatives, and in largely eliminating the "buzzy" quality of vocoded speech. A functional definition of buzziness and naturalness is given in terms of the model.
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATION Anemia in pregnancy in rural Tanzania: associations with micronutrients status and infections

Objective: We studied the association between anemia in pregnancy and characteristics related to nutrition and infections. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Four antenatal clinics in rural northern Tanzania. Subjects=methods: A total of 2547 women were screened for hemoglobin (Hb) and malaria plasmodia in capillary blood and for infections in urine. According to their Hb, they were assigned to one of five groups and selected accordingly, Hb< 70 g=l (n1⁄410), Hb1⁄470 – 89 g=l (n1⁄461), Hb1⁄490 – 109 g=l (n1⁄4 86), Hb1⁄4110 – 149 g=l (n1⁄4 105) and Hb 150 g=l (n1⁄450). The 312 selected subjects had venous blood drawn, were interviewed, and their arm circumference was measured. The sera were analyzed for ferritin, iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), cobalamin, folate, vitamin A, C-reactive protein (CRP), and lactate dehydrogenase (LD). Transferrin saturation (TFsat) was calculated. Urine was examined by dipsticks for nitrite. Main outcome measures: Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratio (OR and AOR) of anemia with Hb<90 g=l. Results: Anemia (Hb<90 g=l) was associated with iron deficiency (low s-ferritin; AOR 3.4). The association with vitamin deficiencies were significant in unadjusted analysis (low s-folate; OR 3.1, low s-vitamin A; OR 2.6). Anemia was also associated with markers of infections (elevated s-CRP; AOR 3.5, urine nitrite positive; AOR 2.4) and hemolysis (elevated s-LD; AOR 10.1). A malaria positive blood slide was associated with anemia in unadjusted analysis (OR 2.7). An arm circumference less than 25 cm was associated with anemia (AOR 4.0). The associations with less severe anemia (Hb 90 – 109 g=l) were similar, but weaker. Conclusions: Anemia in pregnancy was associated with markers of infections and nutritional deficiencies. This should be taken into account in the management of anemia at antenatal clinics. Sponsorship: The study was supported by the Norwegian Research Council (NFR) and the Centre for International Health, University of Bergen. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2002) 56, 192 – 199. DOI: 10.1038=sj=ejcn=1601300