Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of myristic acid versus palmitic acid on serum lipid and lipoprotein levels in healthy women and men.

The cholesterol-raising effect of dietary saturated fatty acids is largely accounted for by lauric, myristic, and palmitic acids. Dairy fat is a major source of myristic acid, and palm oil is especially rich in palmitic acid. Myristic acid is suspected of being much more cholesterolemic than palmitic acid, but direct comparisons have been lacking. We therefore fed 36 women and 23 men three diets that differed from each other in palmitic, oleic, and myristic acid content by about 10% of total energy. We used palm oil, high-oleic acid sunflower oil, and a specially produced high-myristic acid fat to achieve these differences. Each diet was consumed for 3 weeks in random order. Mean serum cholesterol was 4.53 mmol/L on the high-oleic acid diet, 4.96 mmol/L on the palmitic acid diet, and 5.19 mmol/L on the myristic acid diet (P < .0001 for all comparisons). Myristic acid raised low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol by 0.11 mmol/L, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol by 0.12 mmol/L, and apolipoprotein (apo) A-I by 7.2 mg/dL relative to palmitic acid; increases relative to oleic acid were 0.50 mmol/L for LDL cholesterol, 0.15 mmol/L for HDL cholesterol, 6.0 mg/dL for apoB, and 8.9 mg/dL for apoA-I (P < .01 for all comparisons). The HDL cholesterol and apoA-I levels on the palmitic and oleic acid diets were the same. None of the responses differed significantly between woman and men. Myristic acid and palmitic acid both caused high LDL cholesterol and apoB levels and low HDL to LDL ratios. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Tea Consumption and Risk of Bladder Cancer: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis

Background and Objective: Controversial results of the association between tea (black tea, green tea, mate, and oolong tea) consumption and risk of bladder cancer were reported among epidemiological studies. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis of observational studies to investigate the association. Methods: We searched the PubMed and Embase for studies of tea consumption and bladder cancer that were published in any language up to March, 2016. Cohort or case-control studies were included in the meta-analysis. All statistical analyses were performed in Stata 12.0 software. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the relationship between tea consumption and risk of bladder cancer. Results: Totally, 25 case-control studies (15 643 cases and 30 795 controls) and seven prospective cohort studies (1807 cases and 443 076 participants) were included. The meta-analysis showed that tea consumption was not significantly associated with bladder cancer risk (OR = 0.96, 95% CI 0.86–1.06) (in a comparison of highest vs. lowest category). No non-linearity association was observed between tea consumption and bladder cancer risk (P = 0.51 for non-linearity). Specific analysis for black tea, green tea, and mate yielded similar results. The dose-response analysis showed the summary OR for an increment of 1 cup/day of tea consumption was 1.01 (95% CI 0.97–1.05). Conclusion: Results based on current meta-analysis indicated that no significant association was observed between tea consumption and risk of bladder cancer.
Internet-based randomised controlled trialof the effect of loving-kindness meditationon wellbeing and helping behaviour

This thesis presents the development and testing of an online lovingkindness meditation (LKM) intervention. Previous studies were systematically reviewed, showing complex but encouraging evidence that LKM can enhance the wellbeing of individuals and communities by promoting pleasant emotions and empathic attitudes. However, previous randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are small and have methodological limitations. An online RCT was conducted, which recruited 809 adult volunteers to test whether an LKM intervention offered to the general population improves wellbeing through pleasant emotions, psychological resources, empathy and altruism. LKM was compared to a light physical exercise course (LE). Participants followed prepiloted videobased instruction, wrote about their experiences in online diaries and interactive fora, and completed questionnaires and an objective measure of helping behaviour. The data were analysed using a mixed methods approach. Both courses led to greater wellbeing. LKM participants were significantly less anxious and more likely to donate money to charity than LE participants. Differences in other outcomes were not significant. Attrition was high but generally unrelated to the interventions’ content. The pathways to wellbeing differed. LKM was an emotionally intense experience, generating deep reflections and an increased connectedness with self and others. LE led to increases in relaxation and physical wellbeing which generated a sense of achievement. Some participants had early difficulties with LKM, in which personal factors played an important role. The study provides suggestive evidence that both LKM and LE enhance pleasant emotions, psychological resources and wellbeing, and that LKM specifically stimulates empathy and altruism. The LKM training platform used in this study is available for immediate largescale implementation as an inexpensive public health intervention. However, future research is needed to confirm present findings and devise LKM interventions that reduce the negative impact of initial training. Completion rates might be improved by nesting online RCTs within cohort studies.
Developing PeerLink to engage out-of-care HIV+ substance users: Training peers to deliver a peer-led motivational intervention with fidelity

Substance use among HIV+ individuals can be a barrier to HIV care, resulting in poor health outcomes. Motivational interviewing (MI) is an effective intervention to reduce substance abuse and increase HIV-related health. Healthcare workers from various backgrounds can be effectively trained in delivering MI interventions; however, there has been limited evidence that peers can effectively deliver MI interventions with fidelity. Peers have traditionally worked in HIV care settings and represent a valid context for a peer-delivered intervention focused on motivational issues. We trained four peers in MI. In this paper, we describe the intervention, explain the MI training methods, and investigate whether peers can be trained in MI with fidelity. The MI training included didactic instruction, group workshops, and individual feedback sessions. Two of four peers achieved MI treatment fidelity as measured by the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity Code Version 3.0. Overall, peers had difficulty using open-ended questions and querying pros and cons, skills thought necessary to elicit change talk. They also tended to give too much direct advice where reflections would have been appropriate. A challenge was training peers to change familiar ways of communicating. Nonetheless, they did well at assessing and highlighting motivation to change. The total training hours (40 h) was long compared with other published MI studies. However, the intervention included several components with two targeted change behaviors. It is likely that peers can be trained in MI with fidelity in less time given a more streamlined intervention. When working with peers who have life stressors similar to the target group, it is important to be flexible in the training.
Chromatin Affinity Purification and Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Defining the Interactome of Histone Modification Patterns*

DNA and histone modifications direct the functional state of chromatin and thereby the readout of the genome. Candidate approaches and histone peptide affinity purification experiments have identified several proteins that bind to chromatin marks. However, the complement of factors that is recruited by individual and combinations of DNA and histone modifications has not yet been defined. Here, we present a strategy based on recombinant, uniformly modified chromatin templates used in affinity purification experiments in conjunction with SILAC-based quantitative mass spectrometry for this purpose. On the prototypic H3K4me3 and H3K9me3 histone modification marks we compare our method with a histone N-terminal peptide affinity purification approach. Our analysis shows that only some factors associate with both, chromatin and peptide matrices but that a surprisingly large number of proteins differ in their association with these templates. Global analysis of the proteins identified implies specific domains mediating recruitment to the chromatin marks. Our proof-of-principle studies show that chromatin templates with defined modification patterns can be used to decipher how the histone code is read and translated.
Analysis of Marketing Logic of China's Online Travel Agency through a Configurative Lens

Passing through ten more years of development, online travel agencies (OTAs) have grown up and attracted a big share of individual and business travelers, while travel websites have become the intuitive and effective information facility. However, with the fast scale expansion of domestic users and online suppliers, OTAs now have to face the fierce homogenized and price-oriented competition, which lead to the fiercer market competition and decreasing advantage of cost saving and low price, while the competitiveness related to service customization, personalization and value co-creation needs a marketing logic shift. In this paper, after introducing the goods-dominant logic (GDL) and the service-dominant logic (SDL), we present a configurative framework to demonstrate the implementation of different marketing logics, explain the fitness of SDL to OTA, and then analyze its limited but inspiring implementation with a case study of Ctrip.
Acute hyperinsulinemia is followed by increased serum concentrations of fibroblast growth factor 23 in type 2 diabetes patients

Abstract Background. Phosphate homeostasis is connected to glucose metabolism and is influenced by insulin, but the role of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) is unknown in this relation. Therefore, the levels of FGF23 and phosphate were investigated during a euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp in healthy and type 2 diabetic individuals. Methods. The study population consisted of ten type 2 diabetic patients, ten weight-matched glucose-tolerant obese subjects, and ten healthy lean subjects. All subjects underwent a 4-h euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp using physiological hyperinsulinemia (40 mU/min per m2) to determine glucose disposal rates. Blood samples for measurement of serum FGF23 and insulin, plasma phosphate and glucose, and HbA1c were drawn before and after insulin infusion. Results. The three groups did not differ in baseline levels of serum FGF23. Insulin infusion increased serum FGF23 in the diabetic group (p = 0.009), but not in the other groups. The increase in serum FGF23 correlated strongly with increase in insulin levels in the diabetic group (r = 0.83; p = 0.003). In the overall group insulin infusion suppressed plasma phosphate concentrations (p = 0.006), but with no differences between the groups. Conclusions. Physiological hyperinsulinemia is under euglycemic conditions followed by a significant increase in serum FGF23 concentrations in diabetic individuals, which correlated with change in insulin level. The interplay between insulin effects and FGF23 may be important for the understanding of phosphate metabolism in relation to type 2 diabetes and its vascular complications.
Enhanced glypican-3 expression differentiates the majority of hepatocellular carcinomas from benign hepatic disorders

BACKGROUND/AIMS Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumour worldwide, and its differential diagnosis from benign lesions of the liver is often difficult yet of great clinical importance. In the present study, we analysed whether glypican-3 is useful in differentiating between benign and malignant liver diseases and whether it influences the growth behaviour of HCC. METHODS Northern blot analysis and in situ hybridisation. RESULTS Northern blot analysis indicated that expression of glypican-3 mRNA was either low or absent in normal liver, in focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH), and in liver cirrhosis. In contrast, expression of glypican-3 mRNA was markedly increased in 20 of 30 and moderately increased in five of 30 HCC samples. The average increase in glypican-3 mRNA expression in HCC was significant compared with expression in normal liver (21.7-fold increase, p<0.01). In comparison with FNH or liver cirrhosis, glypican-3 mRNA expression in HCC was increased 7.2- (p<0.05) and 10.8-fold (p<0.01), respectively. In addition, pushing HCCs exhibited significantly higher glypican-3 mRNA expression than invading tumours (p<0.05). In situ hybridisation analysis demonstrated weak expression of glypican-3 mRNA in normal hepatocytes and bile ductular cells, and weak to occasionally moderate signals in hepatocytes forming nodules of liver cirrhosis and in regenerated hepatic nodules of FNH. In contrast, glypican-3 in situ hybridisation signals were intense in hepatic cancer cells with even higher levels in pushing HCCs than in invading HCCs. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that glypican-3, in many cases, has the potential to differentiate between benign and malignant liver diseases.
Bottleneck Concepts in Psychology: Exploratory First Steps

The authors take an initial step in identifying potential bottleneck concepts in psychology, that is, concepts that are deceptively difficult, perhaps due to student overconfidence. In order to first identify bottleneck concepts, faculty (n = 65) rated the difficulty of 91 psychological concepts from across the discipline. Students (n = 35) rated both the difficulty of terms and their confidence in their own knowledge of 107 terms typically found in introductory psychology research methods and learning chapters. Additional research into psychology's bottleneck concepts may help instructors to focus more on the content that students struggle with, especially the content in which students overconfidence.
DIESEL EXHAUST AFFECTS THE ABNORMAL DELIVERY IN PREGNANT MICE AND THE GROWTH OF THEIR YOUNG

To clarify the toxic effects of diesel exhaust (DE) on delivery in mice and on growth of young, C57Bl-strain females were exposed to 0.3, 1.0, or 3.0 mg diesel exhaust particles (DEP)/m 3 or filtered clean air (control) for 4 mo (12 h/day, 7 days/wk). After exposure, some females from each group were examined by necropsy, and the remainders were mated with unexposed males. Estrous females for necropsy who had been exposed to 1.0 mg DEP/m 3 had significantly lower uterine weights than the control estrous females. In the mated females, 9.1, 10.0, or 25.0% (0.3, 1.0, or 3.0 mg DEP/m 3) of the pregnancies resulted in abnormal deliveries (abortion and unable delivery), but this was not significant. The rate of good nest construction by delivered females exposed to 3.0 mg DEP/m 3 was significantly lower. Young were weighed at 11, 14, and 21 days, and weekly from wk 4 to 9 after birth. Body weights of male young of dams exposed to 1.0 or 3.0 mg DEP/m 3 were significantly lower at 6 and 8 wk of age. Body weights of female young of dams exposed to 1.0 or 3.0 mg DEP/m 3 were also significantly lower at 6, 8, and 9 wk. Vaginal orifices of young female mice whose dams were exposed to 0.3 and 1.0 mg DEP/m 3 opened significantly earlier. The young were killed at 30 or 70 days during deep anesthesia, and their body weights, organ weights, and body lengths were measured. Anogenital distance (AGD) of 30-day-old males whose dams were exposed to 0.3 mg DEP/m 3 was significantly shorter than that of the controls. Weights of thymus and ovary in 30-day-old females whose dams were exposed to 3.0 mg DEP/m 3 were significantly lower. In 70-day-old males of dams exposed to 3.0 mg DEP/m 3, body weights were significantly lower and AGD was significantly shorter. Weights of adrenals, testes, and seminal vesicles in 70-day-old males with dams exposed to 1.0 mg DEP/m 3 were significantly lower. In 70-day-old females with dams exposed to DE, body weights in the 3.0-mg DEP/m 3 group were significantly lower, and weights of adrenals, liver, and thymus in the 1.0-mg DEP/m 3 group were significantly lower. Thymus weights in 70-day-old females with dams exposed to 0.3 mg DEP/m 3 were significantly lower. Crown-rump length (CR) in 70-day-old females with dams exposed to 1.0 or 3.0 mg DEP/m 3 was significantly shorter. These results show that toxic substances in DE might cause abnormal delivery in mice, and that exposed females affected the growth and sexual maturation of their young.
Risk factors and outcome among a large patient cohort with community-acquired acute hepatitis C in Italy.

BACKGROUND The epidemiology of acute hepatitis C has changed during the past decade in Western countries. Acute HCV infection has a high rate of chronicity, but it is unclear when patients with acute infection should be treated. METHODS To evaluate current sources of hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission in Italy and to assess the rate of and factors associated with chronic infection, we enrolled 214 consecutive patients with newly acquired hepatitis C during 1999-2004. The patients were from 12 health care centers throughout the country, and they were followed up for a mean (+/- SD) period of 14+/-15.8 months. Biochemical liver tests were performed, and HCV RNA levels were monitored. RESULTS A total of 146 patients (68%) had symptomatic disease. The most common risk factors for acquiring hepatitis C that were reported were intravenous drug use and medical procedures. The proportion of subjects with spontaneous resolution of infection was 36%. The average timespan from disease onset to HCV RNA clearance was 71 days (range, 27-173 days). In fact, 58 (80%) of 73 patients with self-limiting hepatitis experienced HCV RNA clearance within 3 months of disease onset. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that none of the variables considered (including asymptomatic disease) were associated with increased risk of developing chronic hepatitis C. CONCLUSIONS These findings underscore the importance of medical procedures as risk factors in the current spread of HCV infection in Italy. Because nearly all patients with acute, self-limiting hepatitis C--both symptomatic and asymptomatic--have spontaneous viral clearance within 3 months of disease onset, it seems reasonable to start treatment after this time period ends to avoid costly and useless treatment.
European Management Selection Methods: A Comparison of Five Countries

There is some disagreement in the recent literature on how similar or different are the methods used to select employees in different European countries. The confusion comes about in part because different samples and questions have been used in different countries to investigate this issue, making comparison between countries very difficult. This study investigates managerial selection methods in three members of the European Community, Belgium, Germany and Italy, using the same questionnaire and sample characteristics previously used in Britain and France. This allows a direct comparison between the five countries. The samples comprised 250 companies randomly drawn from the top 1,000 in each country. Questionnaires sent to the companies asked a range of questions concerning the frequency of use of selection methods and attitudes towards their use. Results show major differences in frequency of use of different methods. Some of these differences are: British and German companies tend to use assessment centres much more often than other countries, while Germany and Italy are relatively infrequent users of psychological tests. Companies in the Flemish (Dutch speaking) part of Belgium are the most likely to use biodata, while their French speaking compatriots are similar to the French in their liking for graphology. Both Belgium and France make much less use of references than do Britain, Germany and Italy. Results suggest that harmonization of selection practice in Europe is a long way off. Habit, tradition and culture determine the choice of selection method much more than do the relative predictive validities of the techniques.
Role of Substance P Neuropeptide in Inflammation, Wound Healing, and Tissue Homeostasis

Substance P (SP) is an undecapeptide present in the CNS and the peripheral nervous system. SP released from the peripheral nerves exerts its biological and immunological activity via high-affinity neurokinin 1 receptor (NK1R). SP is also produced by immune cells and acts as an autocrine or paracrine fashion to regulate the function of immune cells. In addition to its proinflammatory role, SP and its metabolites in combination with insulin-like growth factor-1 are shown to promote the corneal epithelial wound healing. Recently, we showed an altered ocular surface homeostasis in unmanipulated NK1R−/− mice, suggesting the role of SP-NK1R signaling in ocular surface homeostasis under steady-state. This review summarizes the immunobiology of SP and its effect on immune cells and immunity to microbial infection. In addition, the effect of SP in inflammation, wound healing, and corneal epithelial homeostasis in the eye is discussed.
What's In an Endorsement? An Analysis of Web-Based Marketing in the 2004 Presidential Campaign

This study examines the role of endorsements in the 2004 presidential campaign by analyzing the Web sites of candidates and endorsing organizations. Because the Web sites are controlled by the respective organizations, examining their content provides objective information about the use of endorsements by candidates and endorsing organizations. The study finds that endorsements in the 2004 presidential election had very different roles and prominence for the Democratic and Republican nominees: there were very few publicized endorsements of President Bush. Analysis of the postings by 75 organizations, 71 of which supported Senator Kerry, shows that these organizations allocated more space to their endorsements than did the candidates. The candidates' Web sites tended to publicize the endorsements of larger organizations and more generous donors. Union endorsements tended to be posted by both the candidates and the organizations, but issue group endorsements were more often found only on the endorsing organizations' sites. Similarly, endorsements by organizations focused on the economy/jobs tended to be posted on both candidate and endorsing organization sites, whereas endorsements by organizations focused on social issues tended to appear only on endorsing organization Web sites. The Kerry Web site's emphasis of endorsements from organizations concerned with homeland and national security was not reciprocated on the Web sites of the organizations themselves.