Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lentivirus-mediated MDA7/IL24 expression inhibits the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells

MDA7/IL24 is a member of the IL-10 gene family that functions as a cytokine. Notably, supra-physiological endogenous MDA7 levels have been indicated to suppress tumor growth and induce apoptosis in different cancer types. In the present study, MDA7 roles were investigated during the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and the molecular mechanisms underlying this process. A lentiviral vector expressing MDA7/IL24 (LV-MDA7/IL24) was constructed and used to infect HCC SMMC-7721 cells. The expression levels of MDA7/IL24 in these cells were determined using RT-qPCR and western blot analysis. The effects of LV-MDA7/IL24 on cell proliferation were analyzed using MTT and colony formation assays. Furthermore, the influence of LV-MDA7/IL24 on cell apoptosis and cell cycle distribution were detected using flow cytometry. The underlying molecular mechanisms were investigated using microarray and western blot analysis. The expression of MDA7/IL24 was confirmed to be significantly increased in the cells infected with LV-MDA7/IL24 compared with that the negative-control infected group. Lentivirus-mediated MDA7/IL24 expression was found to inhibit HCC cell proliferation and colony formation, and it also induced cell arrest and apoptosis. Microarray analysis and western blotting results indicated that multiple cancer-associated pathways and oncogenes are regulated by MDA7/IL24, including cell cycle regulatory and apoptosis activation pathway. In conclusion, it was determined that MDA7/IL24 inhibits the proliferation and reduces the tumorigenicity of HCC cells by regulating cell cycle progression and inducing apoptosis, indicating that it may be used as a potential prognostic and therapeutic target in HCC.
A typology of female sex work in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile

Abstract In Chile, sex work takes place covertly in a variety of venues and locations. Formative research using time-location sampling methods is important in order to understand the nature of this diversity. This study used qualitative methods to develop a typology of female sex work in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile, using semi-structured interviews, focus groups and ethnographic fieldwork during visits to sex work venues. The study identified seven types of venue, which reflect the context and regulatory framework of the country and the structural vulnerabilities that affect female sex workers in Chile. These venues and locations include: cafés con piernas (coffee with legs); nightclubs, topless bars and cabarets; brothels; hotels; street and highway soliciting; massage parlours; and private residences. Formative research methods were helpful in identifying and characterising the venues and locations in which sex work occurred. Barriers to accessing and mapping specific locations were also identified. Recommendations for addressing these barriers include working with non-governmental organisations to map venues and initiate contact with the populations of interest. A comprehensive typology of sex work in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile, is an essential element for future time-location sampling and bio-behavioural research in the context of second-generation surveillance for HIV and sexually transmitted infections in Chile.
Proteomic profiling of the mitochondrial ribosome identifies Atp25 as a composite mitochondrial precursor protein

Atp25 is a complex mitochondrial precursor that is cleaved three times by the matrix processing peptidase, resulting in two mature proteins. One of these, the ribosome-silencing factor Rsf, binds mitochondrial ribosomes. Cytosolic expression of Rsf alone (in yeast) is toxic and is prevented by the unconventional processing of Atp25.
Plasma fatty acid composition is associated with the metabolic syndrome and low-grade inflammation in overweight adolescents.

BACKGROUND Together with adiposity, plasma fatty acid (FA) composition can modulate the development of the metabolic syndrome (MS). OBJECTIVE Our aim was to investigate the relations of FA composition in plasma phospholipids and cholesterol esters (CEs) with weight status, MS, and inflammation in adolescents. DESIGN Plasma FA composition was measured by gas-liquid chromatography in 120 (60 normal-weight and 60 overweight) 12-y-old adolescents. We also measured the presence of MS, insulin resistance with the homeostasis model assessment, and interleukin 6 and C-reactive protein concentrations in the adolescents. RESULTS MS was present in 25% of the overweight adolescents but in none of the normal-weight adolescents. Compared with overweight adolescents, normal-weight adolescents had lower saturated FAs (SFAs) in both phospholipids (P < 0.001) and CEs (P < 0.01) and higher docosahexaenoic acid in phospholipids (P < 0.001). In overweight subjects, FA composition was associated with MS features independent of body fat. The odds ratios of MS for a 0.1 increase in the ratio of polyunsaturated FAs (PUFA) to SFAs (PUFA:SFA) were 0.91 in phospholipids (P = 0.03) and 0.90 in CEs (P = 0.06). In phospholipids, PUFA:SFA and linoleic acid were associated positively with HDL cholesterol (P < 0.01 for both). PUFA:SFA in phospholipids and CEs were associated inversely with interleukin 6 (P < 0.05 for both). Eicosapentaenoic acid in phospholipids (P = 0.06) and CEs (P < 0.05) and linolenic acid in CEs (P < 0.05) were inversely related to C-reactive protein. These relations remained significant after adjustment for the waist-to-hip ratio. No significant relation between FA composition and the homeostasis model assessment was observed. CONCLUSIONS Plasma FA composition is associated with weight status in healthy adolescents. High intake of long-chain PUFAs, especially n-3 PUFAs, may protect obese subjects against MS and low-grade inflammation as early as adolescence.
Inflammation is associated with increased energy expenditure in patients with chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND Inflammation, a clinical condition observed in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), may be related to increased resting energy expenditure (REE). OBJECTIVES The main objective was to investigate the relation between inflammation and REE in patients with CKD who are not undergoing dialysis. We also aimed to analyze whether a decrease in C-reactive protein (CRP) would result in a reduction in REE. DESIGN This study enrolled 132 patients with CKD who were not undergoing dialysis, who had creatinine clearance from 5 to 65 mL.min(-1). 1.73 m(-2), and who were 53.6 +/- 16 y old; 82 (62.1%) were men. Twenty-nine patients had clinical signs of infection. REE was measured by using indirect calorimetry, and inflammation was evaluated by using high-sensitivity CRP measurement. Patients were divided according to tertiles of CRP with the following intertertile ranges: first tertile, CRP < or = 0.14 mg/dL (n = 43); second tertile, CRP 0.15-0.59 mg/dL (n = 46); and third tertile, CRP > or = 0.60 mg/dL (n = 43). REE was measured before and after treatment in 10 patients who had inflammation or infection. RESULTS After adjustment for age, sex, and lean body mass, the REE of the third (1395 kcal/d; P = 0.02) and second (1355 kcal/d; P = 0.04) tertiles was significantly higher than that of the first tertile (1286 kcal/d). In the multiple linear regression analysis (n = 132), the independent determinants of REE were lean body mass, CRP, and age (R2 = 0.55). After treatment of infection in a subgroup of 10 patients, it was observed that a significant reduction in CRP concentration was accompanied by a significant reduction of 174 +/- 165 kcal that accounted for 13% of the initial REE. CONCLUSION This study showed that inflammation is associated with increased REE in patients with CKD.
The practice of reporting adverse events in a teaching hospital.

OBJECTIVE Understanding the practice of reporting adverse events by health professionals. METHOD A qualitative case study carried out in a teaching hospital with participants of the Patient Safety Center and the nursing team. The collection took place from May to December 2015, and was conducted through interviews, observation and documentary research to treat the data using Content Analysis. RESULTS 31 professionals participated in the study. Three categories were elaborated: The practice of reporting adverse events; Barriers in the effective practice of notifications; The importance of reporting adverse events. CONCLUSION Notification was permeated by gaps in knowledge, fear of punishment and informal communication, generating underreporting. It is necessary to improve the interaction between leaders and professionals, with an emphasis on communication and educational practice.
Low-fat, high-carbohydrate and high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets decrease primary bile acid synthesis in humans.

BACKGROUND Dietary fat content influences bile salt metabolism, but quantitative data from controlled studies in humans are scarce. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to establish the effect of dietary fat content on the metabolism of primary bile salts. DESIGN The effects of eucaloric extremely low-fat (0%), intermediate-fat (41%; control diet), and extremely high-fat (83%) diets on kinetic values of cholate and chenodeoxycholate metabolism were determined after 11 d by using stable isotope dilution in 6 healthy men. All diets contained identical amounts of cholesterol. RESULTS The total primary bile salt pool size was not significantly affected by dietary fat content, although the chenodeoxycholate pool was significantly higher during the low-fat diet. Fractional turnover rates of both primary bile salts were 30-50% lower during the low- and high-fat diets than during the control diet. Total hepatic bile salt synthesis was approximately 30% lower during both the high- and low-fat diets, but synthesis rates of the 2 primary bile salts were differentially affected. The molar ratio of cholate to total bile salt synthesis increased from 0.50 +/- 0.05 ( +/- SD) to 0.59 +/- 0.05 and 0.66 +/- 0.04 with increasing fat intake, whereas the molar ratio of chenodeoxycholate to total bile salt synthesis decreased from 0.50 +/- 0.05 to 0.41 +/- 0.05 and 0.34 +/- 0.04. The relative concentration of deoxycholate in plasma increased during the low-fat period, which indicated increased absorption from the colon. CONCLUSIONS Both low- and high-fat diets reduce the synthesis and turnover rates of primary bile salts in humans, although probably through different mechanisms, and consequently they affect the removal of cholesterol from the body.
Effect of chronic glucagon administration on the metabolism of triacylglycerol-rich lipoproteins in rats fed a high sucrose diet.

Male adult Wistar rats were fed a semipurified diet rich in sucrose (53 g/100 g diet). The effects of chronic glucagon administration (20 micrograms.day-1.rat-1, for 21 d) were studied on plasma lipid levels, triacylglycerol secretion rates and fractional catabolic rates determined by the intravenous fat tolerance test. Triacylglycerol secretion rates of plasma, chylomicron and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) were measured by using the Triton WR 1339 method. In both fasting and postprandial states, the different rates were not significantly modified by glucagon treatment. However, in the treated animals, significantly decreased triacylglycerol concentrations were observed in plasma and VLDL during fasting (-41 and -46%, respectively) and also in chylomicrons in the postprandial state (-37%) relative to control animals. These data could be accounted for by an increased removal rate of triacylglycerol-rich lipoprotein. The estimated values of fractional rate constants (Triton WR 1339 experiment) were increased for VLDL (+62%) in the fasting state and for chylomicrons (+104%) in the postprandial state. Similarly, the fractional catabolic rate determined with the intravenous fat tolerance test (Intralipid, Kabivitrum, Sweden) was increased 49% by glucagon treatment, suggesting an effect of glucagon on the catabolism of triacylglycerol-rich lipoproteins. Glucagon treatment did not modify the composition of VLDL obtained 60 min after Triton WR 1339 injection, except that in the fasting state apo B100 proportions and concentrations increased, suggesting a specific effect on the hepatic secretion of apo B100 VLDL.
Distributed Architecture of Oracle Database In-memory

Over the last few years, the information technology industry has witnessed revolutions in multiple dimensions. Increasing ubiquitous sources of data have posed two connected challenges to data management solutions -- processing unprecedented volumes of data, and providing ad-hoc real-time analysis in mainstream production data stores without compromising regular transactional workload performance. In parallel, computer hardware systems are scaling out elastically, scaling up in the number of processors and cores, and increasing main memory capacity extensively. The data processing challenges combined with the rapid advancement of hardware systems has necessitated the evolution of a new breed of main-memory databases optimized for mixed OLTAP environments and designed to scale. The Oracle RDBMS In-memory Option (DBIM) is an industry-first distributed dual format architecture that allows a database object to be stored in columnar format in main memory highly optimized to break performance barriers in analytic query workloads, simultaneously maintaining transactional consistency with the corresponding OLTP optimized row-major format persisted in storage and accessed through database buffer cache. In this paper, we present the distributed, highly-available, and fault-tolerant architecture of the Oracle DBIM that enables the RDBMS to transparently scale out in a database cluster, both in terms of memory capacity and query processing throughput. We believe that the architecture is unique among all mainstream in-memory databases. It allows complete application-transparent, extremely scalable and automated distribution of Oracle RDBMS objects in-memory across a cluster, as well as across multiple NUMA nodes within a single server. It seamlessly provides distribution awareness to the Oracle SQL execution framework through affinitized fault-tolerant parallel execution within and across servers without explicit optimizer plan changes or query rewrites.
Preparation of Core‐Sheath Composite Nanofibers by Emulsion Electrospinning

Uniform core-sheath nanofibers are prepared by electrospinning a water-in-oil emulsion in which the aqueous phase consists of a poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) solution in water and the oily phase is a chloroform solution of an amphiphilic poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(L-lactic acid) (PEGPLA) diblock copolymer. The obtained fibers are composed of a PEO core and a PEG-PLA sheath with a sharp boundary in between. By adjusting the emulsion composition and the emulsification parameters, the overall fiber size and the relative diameters of the core and the sheath can be changed. A mechanism is proposed to explain the process of transformation from the emulsion to the core-sheath fibers, i.e., the stretching and evaporation induced de-emulsification. In principle, this process can be applied to other systems to prepare core-sheath fibers in place of concentric electrospinning and it is especially suitable for fabricating composite nanofibers that contain water-soluble drugs.
Sources of unsafe primary care for older adults: a mixed-methods analysis of patient safety incident reports

Background older adults are frequent users of primary healthcare services, but are at increased risk of healthcare-related harm in this setting. Objectives to describe the factors associated with actual or potential harm to patients aged 65 years and older, treated in primary care, to identify action to produce safer care. Design and Setting a cross-sectional mixed-methods analysis of a national (England and Wales) database of patient safety incident reports from 2005 to 2013. Subjects 1,591 primary care patient safety incident reports regarding patients aged 65 years and older. Methods we developed a classification system for the analysis of patient safety incident reports to describe: the incident and preceding chain of incidents; other contributory factors; and patient harm outcome. We combined findings from exploratory descriptive and thematic analyses to identify key sources of unsafe care. Results the main sources of unsafe care in our weighted sample were due to: medication-related incidents e.g. prescribing, dispensing and administering (n = 486, 31%; 15% serious patient harm); communication-related incidents e.g. incomplete or non-transfer of information across care boundaries (n = 390, 25%; 12% serious patient harm); and clinical decision-making incidents which led to the most serious patient harm outcomes (n = 203, 13%; 41% serious patient harm). Conclusion priority areas for further research to determine the burden and preventability of unsafe primary care for older adults, include: the timely electronic tools for prescribing, dispensing and administering medication in the community; electronic transfer of information between healthcare settings; and, better clinical decision-making support and guidance.
The Effect of Different High-Intensity Periodization Models on Endurance Adaptations.

PURPOSE This study aimed to compare the effects of three different high-intensity training (HIT) models, balanced for total load but differing in training plan progression, on endurance adaptations. METHODS Sixty-three cyclists (peak oxygen uptake (V˙O2peak) 61.3 ± 5.8 mL·kg·min) were randomized to three training groups and instructed to follow a 12-wk training program consisting of 24 interval sessions, a high volume of low-intensity training, and laboratory testing. The increasing HIT group (n = 23) performed interval training as 4 × 16 min in weeks 1-4, 4 × 8 min in weeks 5-8, and 4 × 4 min in weeks 9-12. The decreasing HIT group (n = 20) performed interval sessions in the opposite mesocycle order as the increasing HIT group, and the mixed HIT group (n = 20) performed the interval prescriptions in a mixed distribution in all mesocycles. Interval sessions were prescribed as maximal session efforts and executed at mean values 4.7, 9.2, and 12.7 mmol·L blood lactate in 4 × 16-, 4 × 8-, and 4 × 4-min sessions, respectively (P < 0.001). Pre- and postintervention, cyclists were tested for mean power during a 40-min all-out trial, peak power output during incremental testing to exhaustion, V˙O2peak, and power at 4 mmol·L lactate. RESULTS All groups improved 5%-10% in mean power during a 40-min all-out trial, peak power output, and V˙O2peak postintervention (P < 0.05), but no adaptation differences emerged among the three training groups (P > 0.05). Further, an individual response analysis indicated similar likelihood of large, moderate, or nonresponses, respectively, in response to each training group (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that organizing different interval sessions in a specific periodized mesocycle order or in a mixed distribution during a 12-wk training period has little or no effect on training adaptation when the overall training load is the same.
Pedunculopontine glutamatergic neurons control spike patterning in substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons

Burst spiking in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) dopaminergic neurons is a key signaling event in the circuitry controlling goal-directed behavior. It is widely believed that this spiking mode depends upon an interaction between synaptic activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) and intrinsic oscillatory mechanisms. However, the role of specific neural networks in burst generation has not been defined. To begin filling this gap, SNc glutamatergic synapses arising from pedunculopotine nucleus (PPN) neurons were characterized using optical and electrophysiological approaches. These synapses were localized exclusively on the soma and proximal dendrites, placing them in a good location to influence spike generation. Indeed, optogenetic stimulation of PPN axons reliably evoked spiking in SNc dopaminergic neurons. Moreover, burst stimulation of PPN axons was faithfully followed, even in the presence of NMDAR antagonists. Thus, PPN-evoked burst spiking of SNc dopaminergic neurons in vivo may not only be extrinsically triggered, but extrinsically patterned as well.
Effect of changes in fruit and vegetable intake on plasma antioxidant defenses in humans.

Dear Sir: In a recent issue of the Journal, Dragsted et al (1) investigated whether fruit and vegetable intake affects biomarkers of oxidative stress or antioxidant defenses. They conducted a well-designed, 25-d, randomized, partly blinded intervention trial. Some of their conclusions related to an apparent lack of effect on markers of total antioxidant capacity [TAC; namely, the ferric-reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) and Trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC)], most of the enzymatic antioxidant defenses (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase, and glutathione S-transferase), and lipid oxidation (isoprostanes and malondialde-hyde) in the fruit and vegetable (fruveg) group compared with the placebo group. TAC measurement, representing the cumulative action of all electron-donating antioxidants present in body fluids, is increasingly being used to monitor redox status in vivo in intervention, bioavail-ability, and epidemiologic studies (2, 3). However, different studies have indicated that there may be a physiologic modulation of the redox status of body fluids (4, 5), and results from the SU.VI. MAX intervention trial indicate the importance of baseline plasma concentrations on the effectiveness of antioxidant supplementation (6). Therefore, dietary effects on the redox status of healthy subjects may be small and difficult to discern, especially if nonoptimized assay conditions are used. We suggest that the lack of significant variation in plasma antioxidant defenses observed by Dragsted et al may be a consequence of these factors. First, the dietary change failed to modify the redox status of the healthy subjects during the experimental period (see Table 6 in reference 1) and, second, the plasma TAC data could have been adversely affected by suboptimal measurement conditions. The data of Dragsted et al clearly show that none of the measured redox markers were affected by the withdrawal of fruit and vegetables from the control diet. A decrease in plasma antioxidant concentrations was observed only with vitamin C and carotenoids, which in humans are modest contributors to plasma TAC (7, 8). We speculate that this indicates that 25 d was not an adequate time period to impair plasma TAC in healthy subjects. Because of the ability to cope with light dietary stress, plasma antioxidant defenses may need 25 d or specific and stronger dietary stresses, such as a high-fat diet, to be challenged significantly. We believe that the lack of change in plasma TAC concentrations in the placebo and fruveg groups could have been due to a physiologic regulatory mechanism that in the short term buffers against significant …