Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association Between Antenatal Corticosteroid Administration-to-Birth Interval and Outcomes of Preterm Neonates

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between antenatal corticosteroid administration-to-birth interval and outcomes. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, data on singleton neonates born between 24 0/7 and 33 6/7 weeks of gestation and admitted to tertiary neonatal units in Canada during 2010–2012 were obtained from the Canadian Neonatal Network. Neonatal outcomes were compared among four groups based on the interval between antenatal corticosteroid administration and birth: no antenatal corticosteroids, partial antenatal corticosteroids (less than 24 hours before birth), antenatal corticosteroids 1–7 days before birth, and antenatal corticosteroids greater than 7 days before birth. Composite outcome was defined as any of neonatal mortality, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, grade 3–4 intraventricular hemorrhage, periventricular leukomalacia, or stage 3 or higher retinopathy. RESULTS: Of 6,870 eligible neonates, 1,378 (20%) received no antenatal corticosteroids; 1,473 (21%) received partial antenatal corticosteroids; 2,721 (40%) received antenatal corticosteroids 1–7 days before birth; and 1,298 (19%) received antenatal corticosteroids greater than 7 days before birth. The odds of the composite adverse outcome were significantly higher in all groups compared with neonates who received antenatal corticosteroids 1–7 days before birth (no antenatal corticosteroids: adjusted odds ratio [OR] 2.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.69–2.65; partial antenatal corticosteroids: adjusted OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.22–1.80; and antenatal corticosteroids at greater than 7 days: adjusted OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.20–1.77). Similar findings were observed with respect to neonatal mortality (no antenatal corticosteroids: adjusted OR 2.56, 95% CI 1.83–3.59; partial antenatal corticosteroids: adjusted OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.16–2.18; and antenatal corticosteroids at greater than 7 days: adjusted OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.00–1.97). CONCLUSION: Antenatal corticosteroids had maximum benefit when given between 1 and 7 days before birth. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II
SOX4 Allows Facultative β-Cell Proliferation Through Repression of Cdkn1a

The high-mobility group box transcription factor SOX4 is the most highly expressed SOX family protein in pancreatic islets, and mutations in Sox4 are associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. We used an inducible β-cell knockout mouse model to test the hypothesis that Sox4 is essential for the maintenance of β-cell number during the development of type 2 diabetes. Knockout of Sox4 at 6 weeks of age resulted in time-dependent worsening of glucose tolerance, impairment of insulin secretion, and diabetes by 30 weeks of age. Immunostaining revealed a decrease in β-cell mass in knockout mice that was caused by a 39% reduction in β-cell proliferation. Gene expression studies revealed that induction of the cell cycle inhibitor Cdkn1a was responsible for the decreased proliferation in the knockout animals. Altogether, this study demonstrates that SOX4 is necessary for adult β-cell replication through direct regulation of the β-cell cycle.
Downregulation of NDR1 contributes to metastasis of prostate cancer cells via activating epithelial‐mesenchymal transition

The 5‐year survival rate decreases rapidly once the prostate cancer has invaded distant organs, although patients with localized prostate cancer have a good prognosis. In recent years, increasing numbers of reports showed that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) may play an important role in tumor metastasis and they have stronger potential of invasion and migration compared with their parental cells. In our previous investigation, we isolated CTCs from prostate cancer cell lines PC3. In this study, we found a novel antimetastasis gene NDR1 by analyzing different gene expression between CTCs and PC3. Lower NDR1 gene and protein expression were found in both prostate cancer cell lines and clinical specimens. Besides, NDR1 function acting as metastasis inhibitor was discovered both in vitro and in vivo. Further, we also discovered that several epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT)‐related genes were upregulated when decreased NDR1 in PC3 cell lines. Therefore, our results revealed a role of NDR1 in the suppression of prostate cancer cell metastasis and provided a potential mechanism of action, thus offering new therapeutic strategies against prostate cancer metastasis.
Quantifying the burden of opioid medication errors in adult oncology and palliative care settings: A systematic review

Background: Opioids are the primary pharmacological treatment for cancer pain and, in the palliative care setting, are routinely used to manage symptoms at the end of life. Opioids are one of the most frequently reported drug classes in medication errors causing patient harm. Despite their widespread use, little is known about the incidence and impact of opioid medication errors in oncology and palliative care settings. Aim: To determine the incidence, types and impact of reported opioid medication errors in adult oncology and palliative care patient settings. Design: A systematic review. Data sources: Five electronic databases and the grey literature were searched from 1980 to August 2014. Empirical studies published in English, reporting data on opioid medication error incidence, types or patient impact, within adult oncology and/or palliative care services, were included. Popay’s narrative synthesis approach was used to analyse data. Results: Five empirical studies were included in this review. Opioid error incidence rate was difficult to ascertain as each study focussed on a single narrow area of error. The predominant error type related to deviation from opioid prescribing guidelines, such as incorrect dosing intervals. None of the included studies reported the degree of patient harm resulting from opioid errors. Conclusion: This review has highlighted the paucity of the literature examining opioid error incidence, types and patient impact in adult oncology and palliative care settings. Defining, identifying and quantifying error reporting practices for these populations should be an essential component of future oncology and palliative care quality and safety initiatives.
To speciate, or not to speciate? Resource heterogeneity, the subjectivity of similarity, and the macroevolutionary consequences of niche‐width shifts in plant‐feeding insects

Coevolutionary studies on plants and plant‐feeding insects have significantly improved our understanding of the role of niche shifts in the generation of new species. Evolving plant lineages essentially constitute moving islands and archipelagoes in resource space, and host shifts by insects are usually preceded by colonizations of novel resources. Critical to hypotheses concerning ecological speciation is what happens immediately before and after colonization attempts: if an available plant is too similar to the current host(s), it simply will be incorporated into the existing diet, but if it is too different, it will not be colonized in the first place. It thus seems that the probability of speciation is maximized when alternative hosts are at an ‘intermediate’ distance in resource space. In this review, I wish to highlight the possibility that resource similarity and, thus, the definition of ‘intermediate’, are subjective concepts that depend on the herbivore lineage's tolerance to dietary variation. This subjectivity of similarity means that changes in tolerance can either decrease or increase speciation probabilities depending on the distribution of plants in resource space: insect lineages with narrow tolerances are likely to speciate by ‘island‐hopping’ on young, species‐rich plant groups, whereas more generalized lineages could speciate by shifting among resource archipelagoes formed by higher plant taxa. Repeated and convergent origins of traits known to broaden or to restrict host‐plant use in multiple different insect groups provide opportunities for studying how tolerance and resource heterogeneity may interact to determine speciation rates.
THE RESPONSE TO DIFFERING SELECTION ON PLANT PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS: EVIDENCE FOR LOCAL ADAPTATION

Understanding adaptive evolution to differing environments requires studies of genetic variances, of natural selection, and of the genetic differentiation between populations. Plant physiological traits such as leaf size and water‐use efficiency (the ratio of carbon gained per water lost) have been suggested by physiological plant ecologists to be important in local adaptation to environments differing in water availability. In this study, I raised families of Cakile edentula var lacustris derived from a wet‐site population and a dry‐site population in a common greenhouse environment to determine the degree of genetic differentiation between the two populations and the genetic architecture of the traits. The dry‐site population had significantly smaller leaf size and significantly greater water‐use efficiency than the wet‐site population. I used a retrospective selection analysis to compare long‐term selection inferred from these results to measures of phenotypic selection from a field experiment. Both direct measures in the field and the retrospective selection gradients were consistent with the hypothesis that greater water‐use efficiency and smaller leaves were adaptive in drier environments. Though the correlation between population means for water‐use efficiency and leaf size was negative, the genetic correlation within populations between water‐use efficiency and leaf size was positive and thus would be expected to constrain the evolutionary response to selection.
Hemostasis biomarkers and incident cognitive impairment: the REGARDS study

Essentials Cognitive disorders are increasing and vascular risk factors play a role in this. We performed a nested case control study of hemostasis biomarkers and cognitive impairment (CI). Higher baseline fibrinogen, factor VIII and D‐dimer were related to incident CI over 3.5 years. Adjusted for other risk factors, 2+ abnormal markers (but not single ones) led to higher risk.
Low-Complexity Detection Scheme for Generalized Spatial Modulation

Abstract—Generalized spatial modulation was recently proposed, in which only part of the transmit antennas are activated to send the same complex symbol. Compared to Spatial Modulation (SM), it can offer spatial diversity. Moreover, it is no longer limited to the number of the transmit antennas. In this letter, a low complexity detection scheme is presented, which can achieve a near Maximum-Likelihood (ML) performance and reduce the complexity compared to ML. In the proposed algorithm, the antenna index is ordered first based on the Hermitian angle between the received vector y and the
Asynchronous exposure to global warming: freshwater resources and terrestrial ecosystems

This modelling study demonstrates at what level of global mean temperature rise (ΔTg) regions will be exposed to significant decreases of freshwater availability and changes to terrestrial ecosystems. Projections are based on a new, consistent set of 152 climate scenarios (eight ΔTg trajectories reaching 1.5–5 ° C above pre-industrial levels by 2100, each scaled with spatial patterns from 19 general circulation models). The results suggest that already at a ΔTg of 2 ° C and mainly in the subtropics, higher water scarcity would occur in >50% out of the 19 climate scenarios. Substantial biogeochemical and vegetation structural changes would also occur at 2 ° C, but mainly in subpolar and semiarid ecosystems. Other regions would be affected at higher ΔTg levels, with lower intensity or with lower confidence. In total, mean global warming levels of 2 ° C, 3.5 ° C and 5 ° C are simulated to expose an additional 8%, 11% and 13% of the world population to new or aggravated water scarcity, respectively, with >50% confidence (while ∼1.3 billion people already live in water-scarce regions). Concurrently, substantial habitat transformations would occur in biogeographic regions that contain 1% (in zones affected at 2 ° C), 10% (3.5 ° C) and 74% (5 ° C) of present endemism-weighted vascular plant species, respectively. The results suggest nonlinear growth of impacts along with ΔTg and highlight regional disparities in impact magnitudes and critical ΔTg levels.
Solutions to probabilistic analysis of voltage stability in power systems with wind farms using advanced unscented transformation

This paper presents a method based on unscented transformation (UT) technique to solve probabilistic analysis of voltage stability in power system including large-scale wind farms, and the randomness of the wind farms' output power and the load increase direction are considered. UT technique is applied to transform the probabilistic analysis problem into some deterministic voltage analysis problems, and these deterministic problems are solved with interior point method. In order to improve the accuracy, a modified UT with proportion and higher order information is proposed. The numerical results of the modified IEEE 118 and 300-bus systems prove that, the proposed method is easy to be implemented and convenient to deal with the dependencies among the input random variables. Compared with Monte Carlo (MC) method, the calculation error of the proposed method does not exceed 1.5%, and efficiency can be improved several dozen times.
Ischemic preconditioning in the intact rat heart is mediated by delta1- but not mu- or kappa-opioid receptors.

BACKGROUND Our laboratory has previously shown that delta-opioid receptors are involved in the cardioprotective effect of ischemic preconditioning in the rat heart. However, this class of receptors consists of two subtypes, delta1, and delta2, and mu- or kappa-opioid receptors may also exist in the heart. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that ischemic preconditioning is mediated through stimulation of one or both delta-opioid receptor subtypes. METHODS AND RESULTS Anesthetized, open chest, male Wistar rats were assigned to 1 of 14 groups. All animals were subjected to 30 minutes of occlusion and 2 hours of reperfusion. Ischemic preconditioning was elicited by three 5-minute occlusion periods interspersed with 5 minutes of reperfusion. Two doses of 7-benzylidenenaltrexone (BNTX; 1 and 3 mg/kg i.v.), a selective delta1-opioid receptor antagonist, or naltriben (NTB; 1 and 3 mg/kg i.v.), a selective delta2-opioid receptor antagonist, were given before ischemic preconditioning. To test for a role of mu-opioid receptors, rats were pretreated with beta-funaltrexamine (beta-FNA; 15 mg/kg s.c), an irreversible mu-opioid receptor antagonist, 24 hours before ischemic preconditioning or given the mu-opioid receptor agonist D-Ala,2N-Me-Phe,4glycerol5-enkephalin (DAMGO) as three 5-minute infusions (1, 10, and 100 microg/kg per infusion i.v., respectively) interspersed with 5-minute drug-free periods before the prolonged ischemic and reperfusion periods (lowDAMGO, medDAMGO, and hiDAMGO, respectively). The involvement of kappa-opioid receptors was tested by administering one of two doses of nor-binaltorphimine (nor-BNI; 1 and 5 mg/kg i.v.) before ischemic preconditioning. Infarct size (IS) as a percent of the area at risk (AAR) was measured by triphenyltetrazolium stain. Ischemic preconditioning markedly reduced IS/AAR (14+/-4%, P<.05) compared with control (55+/-4%). NTB, beta-FNA, and nor-BNI were unable to block the cardioprotective effect of ischemic preconditioning. In addition, DAMGO had no effect on IS/AAR. However, the high dose of BNTX (3 mg/kg i.v.) significantly attenuated the cardioprotective effect of ischemic preconditioning (39+/-5%; P<.05 versus control and ischemic preconditioning). CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that delta1-opioid receptors play an important role in the cardioprotective effect of ischemic preconditioning in the rat heart.
Efficacy of a multiple diode laser system for body contouring

Low‐level laser therapy (LLLT) has been shown to induce cellular reactions in nonphotosynthetic cells however skepticism remains regarding efficacy at the clinical level. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of LLLT independent of liposuction. Additionally, a weight loss supplement (Curva™, Santa Barbra Medical Innovations, Santa Barbra, CA) was evaluated. This clinical trial evaluates the effectiveness of the Erchonia EML Laser (Zerona™ System, Santa Barbra Medical Innovations) for non‐invasive fat reduction and body contouring in a split‐body clinical evaluation.
Domestic and international leverage effects of major Asian stock markets based on stochastic volatility models

Abstract This paper investigates daily stock market volatility in major Asian stock indices utilizing stochastic volatility models. The empirical results reveal interesting phenomenon: first, volatility of every index has a significant persistency and an asymmetric domestic leverage effect; namely, the responses of volatility to its own positive return shocks are different from the responses to negative return shocks. Second, there is a significant international leverage effect between some Asian stock indices and the NASDAQ index; that is, negative return shocks of the NASDAQ index have a significant influence on increasing volatilities of these Asian indices.
Neuroanatomical localisation and clinical correlates of white matter lesions in the elderly

Background: White matter lesions (WML) in elderly people co-occur with hypertension, depression, and cognitive impairment. Little is known about the density and distribution of WML in normal elderly people, whether they occur randomly in the aging brain or tend to cluster in certain areas, or whether patterns of WML aggregation are linked to clinical symptoms. Objectives: To describe patterns of WML distribution in a large representative population of elderly people using non-inferential cluster analysis; and to determine the extent to which such patterns are associated with clinical symptomatology. Method: A population sample of 1077 elderly people was recruited. Multiple analysis of correspondence followed by automatic classification methods was used to explore overall patterns of WML distribution. Correspondence was then sought between these patterns and a range of cerebrovascular, psychiatric, and neurological symptoms. Results: Three distinct patterns of spatial localisation within the brain were observed, corresponding to distinct clusters of clinical symptoms. In particular WML aggregation in temporal and occipital areas was associated with greater age, hypertension, late onset depressive disorder, poor global cognitive function, and overall WML frequency. Conclusions: WML localisation is not random in the aging brain, and their distribution is associated with age and the presence of clinical symptoms. Age differences suggest there may be patterns of progression across time; however, this requires confirmation from longitudinal imaging studies.
Monoaminergic control of vasopressin and VIP expression in the mouse suprachiasmatic nucleus

We studied the effects of serotonin and noradrenaline on the expression of arginine‐vasopressin (AVP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). We used transgenic Tg8 mice knockout for the MAO‐A (monoamine oxidase A) gene, which are characterized by increased amounts of serotonin and noradrenaline in brain compared to wild‐type mice (C3H). The MAO‐A deficiency caused an increase in AVP and VIP expression (determined by immunohistochemistry, enzyme immunoassay, and in situ hybridization) compared to C3H mice. The number of peptidergic neurons was also increased. Inhibiting serotonin or noradrenaline synthesis in Tg8 mice by the administration of parachlorophenylalanine or α‐methylparatyrosine, respectively, the amounts of AVP, VIP and their mRNAs were decreased, but not the number of peptidergic neurons. This study indicates that serotonin and noradrenaline stimulate AVP and VIP expression, and could participate in the differentiation of the neurochemical phenotype in the mouse SCN. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Financial constraints and foreign market entries or exits: firm-level evidence from France

In contrast to a large strand of the literature that focuses on multi-product firms, this paper examines multi-destinations firms and the effects of financial constraints on newly served and newly exited destinations. Intuitively, financial constraints have a negative impact on firm expansion in new destinations by limiting firm ability to finance entry costs. The effect on exit from existing destinations is ambiguous. Due to financial constraints, a firm may face difficulties financing the recurrent costs of maintaining her market presence. But if financial constraints also affect entry, the firm may have strong incentives to stay in a given destination since it may not be able to fund the fixed entry costs associated to the reallocation of her portfolio of destinations. We develop a simple theoretical model which includes these two effects. We use a unique longitudinal dataset on French firms that contains information on export destinations of individual firms and allows to construct various firm-level measures of financial constraints to test these predictions. The empirical results suggest that financial constraints hamper a firms’s ability to cover fixed entry costs as well as recurrent costs associated with maintaining the presence in a foreign market, thereby reducing the probability of entering into a new foreign markets and increasing the probability of exiting from an existing foreign market.
Counteractive roles of protein phosphatase 2C (PP2C) and a MAP kinase kinase homolog in the osmoregulation of fission yeast.

With the goal of discovering the cellular functions of type 2C protein phosphatases, we have cloned and analyzed two ptc (phosphatase two C) genes, ptc2+ and ptc3+, from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Together with the previously identified ptc1+ gene, the enzymes encoded by these genes account for approximately 90% of the measurable PP2C activity in fission yeast cells. No obvious growth defects result from individual disruptions of ptc genes, but a delta ptc1 delta ptc3 double mutant displays aberrant cell morphology and temperature‐sensitive cell lysis that is further accentuated in a delta ptc1 delta ptc2 delta ptc3 triple mutant. These phenotypes are almost completely suppressed by the presence of osmotic stabilizers, strongly indicating that PP2C has an important role in osmoregulation. Genetic suppression of delta ptc1 delta ptc3 lethality identified two loci, mutations of which render cells hypersensitive to high‐osmolarity media. One locus is identical to wis1+, encoding a MAP kinase kinase (MEK) homolog. The Wis1 sequence is most closely related to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae MEK encoded by PBS2, which is required for osmoregulation. These data indicate that divergent yeasts have functionally conserved MAP kinase pathways, which are required to increase intracellular osmotic concentrations in response to osmotic stress. Moreover, our observations implicate PP2C enzymes as also having an important role in signal transduction processes involved in osmoregulation, probably acting to negatively regulate the osmosensing signal that is transmitted through Wis1 MAP kinase kinase.
Nucleotide sequence of a human cytomegalovirus DNA fragment encoding a 67-kilodalton phosphorylated viral protein

Previously, we demonstrated that a DNA fragment from the L-unique region at 0.37 to 0.39 map units of human cytomegalovirus DNA codes for a 67-kilodalton phosphorylated tegument protein. (Davis et al., J. Virol. 52:129-135, 1984). We have determined the nucleotide sequence of this DNA, transcription initiation and termination, and putative promoter region. We also compared the properties of the protein product predicted from the DNA sequence with the properties of the protein isolated by immunoabsorbent column chromatography. This viral structural protein may have important functions, such as protein kinase activity, DNA binding, and possible transcriptional activation of immediate-early genes.