Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and Incidence Studies of Mood Disorders: A Systematic Review of the Literature

This is the second in a series of papers that present systematic reviews of the prevalence and incidence of psychiatric disorders drawn from studies published in English literature in the years 1980 to 2000. The series discusses the implications of these epidemiologic findings to mental health policy and practice. Objective: To present the results of a systematic review of literature published between January 1, 1980, and December 31, 2000, that reports findings on the prevalence and incidence of mood disorders in both general population and primary care settings. Method: We conducted a literature search of epidemiologic studies of mood disorders, using Medline and HealthSTAR databases and canvassing English-language publications. Eligible publications were restricted to studies that examined subjects aged at least 15 years and over. We used a set of predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify relevant studies. We extracted and analyzed prevalence and incidence data for heterogeneity. Results: Of general population studies, a total of 18 prevalence and 5 incidence studies met eligibility criteria. We found heterogeneity across 1-year and lifetime prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD), dysthymic disorder, and bipolar I disorder. The corresponding pooled rates for 1-year prevalence were 4.1 per 100, 2.0 per 100, and 0.72 per 100, respectively. For lifetime prevalence, the corresponding pooled rates were 6.7 per 100, 3.6 per 100, and 0.8 per 100, respectively. Significant variation was observed among 1-year incidence rates of MDD, with a corresponding pooled rate of 2.9 per 100. Conclusions: The prevalence of mood disorders reported in high-quality studies is generally lower than rates commonly reported in the general psychiatric literature. When controlled for common methodological confounds, variation in prevalence rates persists across studies and deserves continued study. Methodological variation among studies that have examined the prevalence of depression in primary health care services is so large that comparative analyses cannot be achieved.
Prevalence of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders in Schoolchildren in Ecuador

ABSTRACT The prevalence of functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) in children in Ecuador is unknown. We describe a survey study in 2 schools in Quito, Ecuador, using a Spanish translation of the Questionnaire on Pediatric Gastrointestinal Symptoms-Rome III Version (QPGS-RIII). A total of 417 children (51% boys) with a mean age of 12.0 years were included. FGIDs were present in 95 children (22.8%) and occurred in 25% of girls and in 20.7% of boys (P = 0.296). Functional defecation disorders were found in 12.0% of children, 9.4% had an abdominal pain-related FGID and 3.8% was diagnosed with a vomiting or aerophagia FGID.
The RNA-binding Protein HuR Regulates the Expression of Cyclooxygenase-2*

The cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) gene encodes the inducible prostaglandin synthase enzyme implicated in inflammation, cell growth, and tumorigenesis. Regulation of the COX-2 gene expression at the post-transcriptional level is poorly understood. For example, protein factors that regulate the post-transcriptional mRNA metabolism of COX-2 have not been fully characterized. In this study, we demonstrate that the RNA-binding protein HuR binds to COX-2 mRNA and regulates its expression. We show that there are three binding sites for HuR in the 3′-untranslated region of human COX-2. These sites are located at the following positions in the COX-2 3′-untranslated region: 39–84 nucleotides (nt), 1155–1187 nt, and 1244–1256 nt (hereinafter referred to as Sites I, II and III, respectively). Although all three sites are present in the 4.6-kb COX-2 mRNA, only site I is present in the shorter 2.8-kb isoform. HuR in MDA-MB-231 cell extracts associated with COX-2 mRNA at the identified sites. Further, HuR location in the cytoplasm was induced by serum withdrawal, a stimulus known to induce COX-2 mRNA. Down-regulation of HuR by two independent methods, namely RNA interference as well as antisense RNA expression, significantly attenuated serum withdrawal-induced increase in COX-2 mRNA (both the 4.6- and 2.8-kb isoforms) and protein levels. These data suggest that HuR binding to COX-2 is critical for its post-transcriptional mRNA stabilization.
North Korea's First 2006 Nuclear Test: Balancing against Threat?

Supervisory Committee Dr. Guoguang Wu, (Department of Political Science) Supervisor Dr. Claire Cutler, (Department of Political Science) Departmental Member This thesis investigates the events leading up to and following the first North Korean nuclear test, which took place in 2006, in order to examine first, whether the test helped the North Korean regime survive, and second, how this unilateral action acted as a balance to the United States’ policy of oppression. The thesis will also attempt to shed some light on the validity of the Western International Relations (IR) theories by ascertaining the balance of threat and applying the notion of “two-level games” to the nuclear conundrum. Through the lens of these IR theories, the research described in the thesis addresses three smaller questions: (1) how did the nuclear test stabilize Pyongyang’s integrity as a balance to the threat of a potential American military attack? ; (2) how was the test used as a bargaining mechanism to urge the Bush administration to shift away from its hostile stance and towards a policy of engagement? ; and (3) how did the test influence the security environment of the Northeast Asian region? Finally, the thesis considers various reasons why the nuclear deadlock in which we currently find ourselves will not be resolved in the foreseeable future, and it suggests that resolution of the nuclear stalemate can only occur once comprehensive deal-making incentives between Washington and Pyongyang are adopted.
Histological grading of oral epithelial dysplasia: revisited

Treatment of oral precancer is largely based on histological grading of epithelial dysplasia, despite the fact that this estimation is subjective and therefore carries a low reproducibility. The grade of epithelial dysplasia may not be proportional to the risk of malignant potential and clinical characteristics may complement therapeutic decisions. Molecular genetic changes found in oral epithelial dysplasia remain unclear and at present lack clinical significance. Genomic and proliferation markers are likely to be associated with histopathological parameters, but their relationship with the grading of dysplasia remains uncertain. They are potential biomarker candidates but their utility in prognosis of oral precancer deserves further study. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Inhibition of ribosomal RNA maturation in Novikoff hepatoma cells by toyocamycin, tubercidin, and 6-thioguanosine.

The purine nucleoside analogs, toyocamycin, tubercidin, and 6-thioguanosine, all inhibit ribosomal RNA maturation in cultured Novikoff hepatoma cells. While processing of the 45 S RNA to the 38 S RNA continues, formation of the mature 28 S RNA and the mature 18 S RNA is markedly inhibited by the addition of any of the analogs. Labeling of the 32 S RNA intermediate precursor is inhibited to a lesser degree. The pattern of inhibition observed is similar to that previously reported for other base and nucleoside analogs (5-fluoroorotic acid, 5-fluorouridine, 5-azacytidine, and 8-azaguanine), suggesting that inhibition of ribosomal RNA maturation may be a phenomenon common to those base analogs incorporated into RNA. 6-Thioguanosine not only affects the incorporation of 3H-labeled uridine into RNA, but it also decreases the size of the acid-soluble uridine pool. Thus the monitoring of RNA synthesis in the presence of the analog with uridine as the labeled precursor must be interpreted in the light of changes in the precursor pool size. Tubercidin and 6-thioguanosine have demonstrated clinical value in cancer chemotherapy. The mechanism of action of these and other chemotherapeutically useful analogs has not as yet been definitively elucidated. The finding that purine and pyrimidine analogs can inhibit ribosomal RNA maturation is discussed as a possible mode for their cancerostatic activity.
Using A Gimbal To Calibrate Inertial Sensors

A novel technique for calibrating the orientation, position, scaling and offset of each of the sensors in an inertial measurement unit (IMU) is presented. An IMU consisting of 3 accelerometers and 3 rate gyros is created using off-the-shelf sensors. A gimbal is designed consisting of three concentric rings, with rotary encoders measuring the rotation between rings. The IMU is fixed to the inner ring of the gimbal and rotated in space. By sweeping appropriate orientations of the IMU at appropriate rates, filtered sensor values can be mapped to "true" angular velocities and linear accelerations computed from the gimbal rotations. The sensor parameters are estimated using Minimum Mean Squared Estimation (MMSE), and a Kalman filter is implemented to estimate the IMU's attitude (roll and pitch angles) from the raw sensor values. The calibrated sensors are found to track the pitch angle with a RMS error of 1.74 degrees, and the roll angle with a RMS error of 3.14 degrees. The novel outcome of this research is that it defines a technique for calibrating IMUs with component sensors that need not be orthogonal in placement. - inertial measurement units, calibration, gimbal
Histological Changes in the Duodenal Mucosa in Coeliac Disease

From the examination of biopsy material Sakula and Shiner (1957), Rubin, Brandborg, Phelps and Taylor (1960a) have demonstrated histological changes in the duodenal mucosa of patients with coeliac disease or wheat gluten intolerance and shown that these changes are identical with those demonstrated by themselves and others in adult patients with idiopathic steatorrhoea. The changes recorded by all observers in both conditions are very similar but vary in severity in individual patients. However, the interpretation of the nature of these changes and whether they are primary anatomical ones or secondary to the effect of ingested food substances has not been clearly demonstrated and is still a matter for conjecture. Shiner and Doniach (1960) in their most recent publication state that the histology suggests defective formation of villous epithelial cells and describe the picture as villous atrophy of varying grades. They suggest that the changes are primary and irreversible and the harmful effect of wheat gluten is superimposed on this primary atrophy. Rubin, Brandborg, Phelps, Taylor, Murray, Steimler, Howry and Volwiler (1960b) also suggest that the lesion is an irreversible one and that it may persist throughout life; they agree, however, that their evidence for this is incomplete, as in two patients the lesion appeared to improve with treatment. The present study demonstrates the histological changes in the duodenal mucosa in biopsy material from a group of newly diagnosed young coeliac patients and the complete or partial disappearance of these changes during the first year of treatment in patients of this group from whom subsequent biopsies have already been obtained.
The pedagogy of e-learning platforms: Prospects for science teaching

Given the importance of e-learning to the process of teaching and learning contemporary, precisely, in higher education, and distance learning opportunities offered by the use of these platforms, we undertook in this article an empirical-descriptive research to know the extent of this problematic, guided by a literature review how the scientific method. Here, we present concepts, historical perspectives, methodologies, functionalities and capabilities of learning platforms, and case study of Pral Platform. We develop our research in the Web from January to July 2014.
Veno‐occlusive disease of the liver after high‐dose mitomycin C therapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation

Twenty‐nine patients with refractory malignancies underwent intensive therapy with mitomycin C (60, 75, or 90 mg/m2 IV) and autologous bone marrow transplantation. Six patients developed the clinical syndrome of hepatic veno‐occlusive disease (VOD) characterized by progressive abnormalities in liver function, abdominal pain, and ascites 15–70 days after mitomycin C therapy. Postmortem material was available in 16 patients, including four patients who had the clinical syndrome. VOD of the central and sublobular hepatic veins was noted in these four patients. VOD was discovered incidentally at autopsy in one of 12 patients without antemortem clinical evidence of disease. Two patients with abnormalities of liver function but without ascites or right upper quadrant pain had no evidence of VOD at autospy. Although not statistically significant, there was a greater incidence of VOD with increasing doses of mitomycin C. When bone marrow toxicity of mitomycin C was overcome by autologous bone marrow transplantation, the development of VOD appeared to be the limiting factor in dose escalation.
Assessing equitable health financing for universal health coverage: a case study of South Africa

ABSTRACT This article argues that an assessment of progressivity over time can provide an indication of progress towards a ‘more’ progressive or a ‘less’ regressive health financing system and can be useful to policymakers. It introduces a framework to characterize ‘shifts’ in progressivity in health financing between two time periods using the popularly known Kakwani index of progressivity and other associated indices. It also decomposes the ‘shifts’ in progressivity into the relative contributions of the changes in income distribution and the changes in the distribution of health payments. Further, it proposes graphics that statistically analyses how the ‘shifts’ in progressivity vary along the distribution of income. A pro-poor (pro-rich) shift implies that the health financing mechanism is becoming more (less) progressive or less (more) regressive between two time periods. A proportional shift means that progressivity is constant between the two periods. This framework is applied to nationally representative household data from South Africa. It emerged that such characterization is a very useful tool for policy in assessing progress towards equitable health financing.
Production of Interleukin‐4, Interferon (IFN)‐γ and IFN‐α in Human Immunodeficiency Virus‐1 Infection: An Imbalance of Type 1 and Type 2 Cytokines may Reduce the Synthesis of IFN‐α

Interferon‐α (IFN‐α) is an important molecule in the antiviral response, but cells from HIV‐1‐infected individuals show a reduced ability to secrete IFN‐α. We investigated an association between an imbalance of type 1/type 2 cytokines and the production of IFN‐α in HIV‐1 infection. We used whole blood culture to study the cytokine production profile, interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) and interleukin‐4 (IL‐4), in response to HIV‐1 antigens and to study the Sendai Virus and HSV‐1‐induced‐production of IFN‐α in seven HIV‐1‐infected patients. An impaired synthesis of IFN‐α was obtained in patients with a predominant IL‐4 production (IL‐4 > IFN‐γ), and we found a positive correlation between the ex vivo production of IFN‐α and the IFN‐γ/IL‐4 ratio but not with the HIV RNA copy number in plasma. We investigated the role of T‐cell‐derived cytokines in the in vitro production of IFN‐α by PBMC from eight healthy donors, activated with Sendai Virus or HSV‐1. Whereas type 2 cytokines (IL‐4, IL‐13) inhibited virus‐induced IFN‐α synthesis, on the contrary, type 1 cytokines (IL‐2, IFN‐γ) enhanced it. A disarray in the T‐cell‐derived cytokine response may play a role in the defect of IFN‐α production in HIV‐1‐infected individuals. Further investigations are needed to explore this hypothesis.
The effect of baseline CD4 cell count and HIV-1 viral load on the efficacy and safety of nevirapine or efavirenz-based first-line HAART

Backgound:A substantial number of patients start their first-line antiretroviral therapy at an advanced stage of an HIV-1 infection. Potential differences between specific drug regimens in antiviral efficacy and safety in these patients are of major importance. Methods:A post-hoc analysis within the randomized controlled 2NN trial comparing efficacy between regimes containing nevirapine (NVP), efavirenz (EFV), or both, in addition to stavudine and lamivudine. Primary outcome: risk of virologic failure in different strata of baseline CD4 T-lymphocyte counts and plasma HIV-1 RNA concentrations (pVL). Virologic failure: never reaching a pVL < 400 copies/ml, or a rebound to two consecutive values > 400 copies/ml. Results:The risk of virologic failure was increased at very low CD4 counts (< 25 × 106 cells/l) compared to CD4 counts > 200 × 106 cells/l [hazard ratio (HR), 1.28; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.93–1.77]. The same was seen for a pVL ≥ 100 000 copies/ml compared to a lower pVL (HR, 1.20; CI, 0.96–1.50). There were no statistically significant differences between NVP and EFV in risk of virologic failure within any of the CD4 or pVL strata, although EFV performed slightly better in the low CD4 stratum. The incidence of rash in the NVP group was significantly higher in female patients with higher CD4 cell counts, while adverse events in the EFV group were not associated with CD4 cell count. Conclusions:Initial antiretroviral therapy including NVP or EFV is effective in patients with an advanced HIV-1 infection. A high baseline CD4 cell count is associated with the occurrence of rash in female patients using NVP.
Valuation of the components of purchased goodwill

This paper examines whether investors distinguish among identifiable components of goodwill for valuation purposes, in the year of acquisition. Similar to Barth, Beaver, and Landsman's [1992] analysis of the value relevance of the components of pension expenses under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 87, we use contemporaneous stock price and returns regressions to examine investors' valuation of the components of goodwill and their amortizations. Although current accounting practice does not require firms to disclose components of goodwillAccounting Principles Board Opinion No. 16: Accountingfor Business Combinations [1970] requires firms to record only the total excess of the purchase price over the fair value of identifiable assets and to amortize this asset over a period not to exceed 40 years-market participants can readily calculate goodwill components from publicly available data. As detailed in section 2, we decompose the difference between the acquisition price and the preacquisition book value of the target firm's assets into four components: (1) the write-up of the target firm's assets to fair market value (WRITEUP), calculated as the difference between
Focus on protein kinase A and protein kinase C, critical components of signal transduction system, in mood disorders and suicide.

Depression is among the most prevalent forms of mental disorders, affecting 10–15% of the US population, with high rates of comorbidity and frequent suicidal behaviour. Tragically, about 30000 lives are lost each year by suicide (Minino and Smith, 2001). Despite significant progress in research, the pathophysiology of depression and suicide is poorly understood. A number of studies suggest that abnormalities in signalling mechanisms may be crucial to various psychiatric disorders, including depression and suicide (Dwivedi et al., 2002, 2003; Jope et al., 1998; Pacheco et al., 1996; Pandey et al., 2002a). Particular attention has been paid to examining protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation and the activation and repression of transcription factors, which are key processes in signalling mechanisms, and ultimately in modulating the expression of genes involved in various neuronal functions. Two important protein phosphorylating enzymes, protein kinase A (PKA) and protein kinase C (PKC), are components of the adenylyl cyclase-cyclic AMP (AC-cAMP) and the phosphoinositide (PI) signalling systems respectively. Activation of PKC by diacylglycerol is associated with the translocation of the enzyme from the cytoplasm to the membrane and then causes phosphorylation of important proteins and transcription factors such as cAMP response element-binding (CREB) protein, which regulates the expression of genes containing CRE consensus in their promoters. As is the case with PKC, the activation of PKA by cAMP also phosphorylates a diverse number of target proteins in both cytoplasm and the nuclear compartment. One such target in the nucleus is CREB.
Forest structure and tree species distribution in relation to topography-mediated heterogeneity of soil nitrogen and light at the forest floor

We investigated the patterns of soil nitrogen (N) and forest floor light availability, forest structure and tree species distribution along a topographic gradient on a 200-m mountain slope in a cool-temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest in Japan. Rates of soil N mineralization and nitrification decreased from lower to upper slope positions, revealing that N availability decreased up the slope. Maximum tree height and above-ground biomass were greater on the lower than the upper parts of the slope. Canopy openness, an index of light availability at the forest floor, increased up the slope. Tree species could be placed into three groups according to their distribution patterns on the slope. ‘Ridge’ and ‘valley’ species were distributed on the upper and lower parts of the slope, respectively, whereas ‘uniform’ species were distributed over the entire slope. Topography-mediated resource gradients of soil N and light may be important determinants of species distribution patterns and forest regeneration, and the results of this study imply that the determinants of the regeneration process differ between the lower and upper parts of a slope. The former may be relatively light limited and the latter may be soil N limited. Valley species may have a greater ability to compete for light, whereas ridge species have a greater ability to compete for soil N. The broad distribution of uniform species probably reflects an ability to effectively compete for both light and soil N.
Sensing skin acceleration for slip and texture perception

The authors present a scheme for sensing small accelerations of the outer skin covering the fingers of a manipulator. The sensor is constructed with a thin rubber skin covering a soft inner layer of foam rubber. This decouples the skin from the manipulator structure, isolating it from structural vibrations and facilitating the tracking of object surfaces. An accelerometer attached to the inner surface of the skin measures the large local accelerations produced when areas of the skin catch and snap back as the sensor moves against a surface. The authors present experimental confirmation of the ability to detect the onset of slip, and discuss the sensor response to various surface texture parameters. <<ETX>>