Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of selenium supplementation for cancer prevention in patients with carcinoma of the skin. A randomized controlled trial. Nutritional Prevention of Cancer Study Group.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether a nutritional supplement of selenium will decrease the incidence of cancer. DESIGN A multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled cancer prevention trial. SETTING Seven dermatology clinics in the eastern United States. PATIENTS A total of 1312 patients (mean age, 63 years; range, 18-80 years) with a history of basal cell or squamous cell carcinomas of the skin were randomized from 1983 through 1991. Patients were treated for a mean (SD) of 4.5 (2.8) years and had a total follow-up of 6.4 (2.0) years. INTERVENTIONS Oral administration of 200 microg of selenium per day or placebo. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary end points for the trial were the incidences of basal and squamous cell carcinomas of the skin. The secondary end points, established in 1990, were all-cause mortality and total cancer mortality, total cancer incidence, and the incidences of lung, prostate, and colorectal cancers. RESULTS After a total follow-up of 8271 person-years, selenium treatment did not significantly affect the incidence of basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer. There were 377 new cases of basal cell skin cancer among patients in the selenium group and 350 cases among the control group (relative risk [RR], 1.10; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.95-1.28), and 218 new squamous cell skin cancers in the selenium group and 190 cases among the controls (RR, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.93-1.39). Analysis of secondary end points revealed that, compared with controls, patients treated with selenium had a nonsignificant reduction in all-cause mortality (108 deaths in the selenium group and 129 deaths in the control group [RR; 0.83; 95% CI, 0.63-1.08]) and significant reductions in total cancer mortality (29 deaths in the selenium treatment group and 57 deaths in controls [RR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.31-0.80]), total cancer incidence (77 cancers in the selenium group and 119 in controls [RR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.47-0.85]), and incidences of lung, colorectal, and prostate cancers. Primarily because of the apparent reductions in total cancer mortality and total cancer incidence in the selenium group, the blinded phase of the trial was stopped early. No cases of selenium toxicity occurred. CONCLUSIONS Selenium treatment did not protect against development of basal or squamous cell carcinomas of the skin. However, results from secondary end-point analyses support the hypothesis that supplemental selenium may reduce the incidence of, and mortality from, carcinomas of several sites. These effects of selenium require confirmation in an independent trial of appropriate design before new public health recommendations regarding selenium supplementation can be made
Peripheral neurostimulation breaks the shuffling steps patterns in Parkinsonian gait: a double blind randomized longitudinal study with automated mechanical peripheral stimulation.

BACKGROUND The shuffling steps pattern is a typical feature of gait in patients affected by Parkinson's disease (PD), which progressively reduces their quality of life, being related to the risk of falls in this population. Recently, Automated Mechanical Peripheral Stimulation (AMPS) was presented as an integrative rehabilitative treatment based on peripheral stimulation able to improve the gait spatiotemporal parameters in PD patients. AIM The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of AMPS on shuffling steps pattern by analyzing the kinematic and spatio-temporal gait parameters. DESIGN Double blind randomized longitudinal study. SETTING Outpatients. POPULATION PD patients. METHODS In this double blind randomized longitudinal study, 14 patients with PD were treated with effective-AMPS (AMPS group), while 14 PD patients were treated with placebo-AMPS (SHAM group); 32 healthy subjects were deemed the control group (CG). A dedicated medical device (Gondola™ Medical Technologies, Stabio, Switzerland) was used to deliver both stimulations. Each treatment session lasted about 15 minutes, including preparation (approx. 10 to 13 minutes) and stimulation (approx. 2 minutes). All PD patients were given six AMPS/SHAM treatments sessions, twice a week, delivered during the off-levodopa phase, having withdrawn from dopaminergic medication overnight. We evaluated spatio-temporal and kinematic variables of gait with quantitative 3D-gait analysis as follows: before and after the first intervention (acute phase), then after the sixth session (long term phase). RESULTS We detected differences in all gait variables immediately after the first session of AMPS treatment and again after the sixth stimulation session. CONCLUSIONS AMPS treatment changes the shuffling steps pattern that is typical of PD subjects, increasing the ROM of hip, knee and ankle joints during the gait cycle. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT This data presents further evidence that a rehabilitative approach based on the AMPS treatment can induce improvements in the gait pattern of patients affected by PD.
Three-dimensional humanoid motion planning using COM feasible region and its application to ladder climbing tasks

Motion planning of humanoid's full-body trajectory requires satisfying various constraints such as balance, contact, joint limitation, kinematics, and collision. To obtain trajectory efficiently, related research has integrated coarse motion planning to fine full-body trajectory generation. In a three-dimensional motion, coarse motion planning considering at swing phase in addition to support phase is important because constraints at swing phase drastically change from support phase. In this paper, we propose a humanoid motion planner satisfying various constraints based on key pose generation by exploiting center-of-mass (COM) feasible region (CFR): (a) We show a method to project approximately balance constraints of statics and dynamics into CFR. (b) We propose a key pose generation capable of considering swing and support phase to satisfy asymptotically CFR constraint while satisfying kinematics constraints. (c) We show a method to interpolate obtained key pose and to obtain full-body trajectory. We validate our proposed method through experiments, in which the robot performs locomotion tasks especially related to ladder climbing under the stringent constraints.
Pathogenesis of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 in mice after various routes of inoculation

The pathogenesis of herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2 was compared after inoculation of mice by different routes. Intravaginal inoculation of HSV-1 and HSV-2 produced a local infection, with virus recovery from the vagina through 5 days. Virus was recovered from the spinal cords 4 to 5 days after inoculation but not from liver, kidney, lung, spleen, or blood. Intravenous or intraperitoneal inoculation of HSV-2 produced a focal necrotic hepatitis similar to that described previously (S. C. Mogenson, B. Teisner, and H.K. Andersen, 1974). The viral etiology of the liver lesions was confirmed by virus isolation (through 4 days) and electron microscopy. No evidence of infection of the kidney, lung, blood, or spleen was observed, although virus was isolated from spinal cord homogenates 7 days after inoculation. HSV-1 inoculation by the intraperitoneal or intravenous route resulted in virus isolation from the kidney during the 7-day harvest period, without producing overt pathological changes. Virus was isolated from spinal cord homogenates 2 to 3 days after HSV-1 inoculation but not from homogenates prepared from spleen, lung, or blood. Increases in serum transaminase activity were observed after systemic (intravenous) inoculation of HSV-2 but not after HSV-1 inoculation.
Cell class-specific regulation of neocortical dendrite and spine growth by AMPA receptor splice and editing variants

Glutamatergic transmission converging on calcium signaling plays a key role in dendritic differentiation. In early development, AMPA receptor (AMPAR) transcripts are extensively spliced and edited to generate subunits that differ in their biophysical properties. Whether these subunits have specific roles in the context of structural differentiation is unclear. We have investigated the role of nine GluA variants and revealed a correlation between the expression of flip variants and the period of major dendritic growth. In interneurons, only GluA1(Q)-flip increased dendritic length and branching. In pyramidal cells, GluA2(Q)-flop, GluA2(Q)-flip, GluA3(Q)-flip and calcium-impermeable GluA2(R)-flip promoted dendritic growth, suggesting that flip variants with slower desensitization kinetics are more important than receptors with elevated calcium permeability. Imaging revealed significantly higher calcium signals in pyramidal cells transfected with GluA2(R)-flip as compared with GluA2(R)-flop, suggesting a contribution of voltage-activated calcium channels. Indeed, dendritic growth induced by GluA2(R)-flip in pyramidal cells was prevented by blocking NMDA receptors (NMDARs) or voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs), suggesting that they act downstream of AMPARs. Intriguingly, the action of GluA1(Q)-flip in interneurons was also dependent on NMDARs and VGCCs. Cell class-specific effects were not observed for spine formation, as GluA2(Q)-flip and GluA2(Q)-flop increased spine density in pyramidal cells as well as in interneurons. The results suggest that AMPAR variants expressed early in development are important determinants for activity-dependent dendritic growth in a cell type-specific and cell compartment-specific manner.
Design of novel lead molecules against RhoG protein as cancer target – a computational study

Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by uncontrolled cell growth. Every year more than 2 million people are affected by the disease. Rho family proteins are actively involved in cytoskeleton regulation. Over-expression of Rho family proteins show oncogenic activity and promote cancer progression. In the present work RhoG protein is considered as novel target of cancer. It is a member of Rho family and Rac subfamily protein, which plays pivotal role in regulation of microtubule formation, cell migration and contributes in cancer progression. In order to understand the binding interaction between RhoG protein and the DH domain of Ephexin-4 protein, the 3D structure of RhoG was evaluated and Molecular Dynamic Simulations was performed to stabilize the structure. The 3D structure of RhoG protein was validated and active site identified using standard computational protocols. Protein–protein docking of RhoG with Ephexin-4 was done to understand binding interactions and the active site structure. Virtual screening was carried out with ligand databases against the active site of RhoG protein. The efficiency of virtual screening is analysed with enrichment factor and area under curve values. The binding free energy of docked complexes was calculated using prime MM-GBSA module. The SASA, FOSA, FISA, PISA and PSA values of ligands were carried out. New ligands with high docking score, glide energy and acceptable ADME properties were prioritized as potential inhibitors of RhoG protein.
Expression and Cellular Distribution of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor‐C System in Cortical Tubers of the Tuberous Sclerosis Complex

Cortical tubers are malformations of cortical development in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), and highly associated with pediatric intractable epilepsy. Recent evidence has shown that signaling mediated through vascular endothelial growth factor‐C (VEGF‐C) and its receptors, VEGFR‐2 and VEGFR‐3, has direct effects on both neurons and glial cells. To understand the potential role of VEGF‐C system in the pathogenesis of cortical tubers, we investigated the expression patterns of VEGF‐C signaling in cortical tubers compared with age‐matched normal control cortex (CTX). We found that VEGF‐C, VEGFR‐2 and VEGFR‐3 were clearly upregulated in tubers at both the mRNA and protein levels, compared with CTX. The in situ hybridization and immunostaining results demonstrated that VEGF‐C, VEGFR‐2 and VEGFR‐3 were highly expressed in dysplastic neurons (DNs), giant cells (GCs) and reactive astrocytes within tubers. Most DNs/GCs expressing VEGF‐C and its receptors co‐labeled with neuronal rather than astrocytic markers, suggesting a neuronal lineage. In addition, protein levels of Akt‐1, p‐Bad and ERK1/2, the important downstream factors of the VEGF‐C pathway, were significantly increased in cortical tubers, indicating involvement of VEGF‐C–dependent prosurvival signaling in cortical tubers. Taken together, our results suggest a putative role for the VEGF‐C signaling pathway in the pathogenesis of cortical tubers.
Resistance exercises for health promotion in coronary patients: evidence of benefits and risks.

Aim This review aims to search and evaluate evidence related to benefits and risks of resistance exercises for patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), post myocardial infarction (MI) and its surgical treatment or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Method An integrative literature review was carried out. The guiding question of this review was: What evidence is available regarding benefits and risks of muscle resistance training for patients with CAD, post-MI or CABG? Studies from January 1997 to August 2007 were included, taken from the following electronic databases: Medline, PEDro, Cochrane Controlled Trials Database and CINAHL. Results After the selection process, 11 articles were included in the review. Five articles presented just the resistance exercises, and six combined the resistance exercises with aerobic exercise. The benefits of intervention found in the articles were the improvement of peripheral muscular strength, increase of physical capacity, improvement of emotional state and quality of life. No risks were reported in the articles related to the application of the resistance exercise. Conclusions The resistance exercises can be used as a safe and effective strategy in health promotion programmes for coronary patients, making social, physical and psychological rehabilitation easier for those people.
Histological and immunohistochemical effects of Curcuma longa on activation of rat hepatic stellate cells after cadmium induced hepatotoxicity

The liver is a target for toxic chemicals such as cadmium (Cd). When the liver is damaged, hepatic stellate cells (HSC) are activated and transformed into myofibroblast-like cells, which are responsible for liver fibrosis. Curcuma longa has been reported to exert a hepato-protective effect under various pathological conditions. We investigated the effects of C. longa administration on HSC activation in response to Cd induced hepatotoxicity. Forty adult male albino rats were divided into: group 1 (control), group 2 (Cd treated), group 3 (C. longa treated) and group 4 (Cd and C. longa treated). After 6 weeks, liver specimens were prepared for light and electron microscopy examination of histological changes and immunohistochemical localization of alpha smooth muscle actin (αSMA) as a specific marker for activated HSC. Activated HSC with a positive αSMA immune reaction were not detected in groups 1 and 3. Large numbers of activated HSC with αSMA immune reactions were observed in group 2 in addition to Cd induced hepatotoxic changes including excess collagen deposition in thickened portal triads, interlobular septa with hepatic lobulation, inflammatory cell infiltration, a significant increase in Kupffer cells and degenerated hepatocytes. In group 4, we observed a significant decrease in HSC that expressed αSMA with amelioration of the hepatotoxic changes. C. longa administration decreased HSC activation and ameliorated hepatotoxic changes caused by Cd in adult rats.
The prognostic significance of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway activation in human gliomas.

PURPOSE The objectives of this study were to examine activation patterns of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway in gliomas and to examine the prognostic significance of PI3K pathway activation using snap-frozen clinical specimens. MATERIALS AND METHODS Levels of expression of PI3K pathway members were assessed in 92 prospectively collected gliomas through quantitative Western analysis using total and phospho-specific antibodies for PI3K, Akt, and p70(s6k). Both expression and expression levels of these PI3K pathway members were correlated with histology, markers of apoptosis (cleaved caspase 3), and with clinical outcome (eg, overall survival). RESULTS It was determined that activation of all three PI3K pathway members were significantly more frequent in glioblastoma multiforme than in non-glioblastoma multiforme tumors. Levels of phospho-PI3K, phospho-Akt, and phospho-p70(s6k) were all found to be inversely associated with cleaved caspase 3 levels, suggesting PI3K pathway activation is associated with reduced levels of apoptosis. Perhaps most importantly, activation of PI3K pathway members was found to be significantly associated with reduced survival times when all glioma cases were considered in aggregate. When glioblastoma cases were considered separately, the prognostic value of PI3K activation remained significant, suggesting that PI3K activation may directly be associated with radiation resistance, given that this was the only adjuvant therapy administered to this subset of patients. CONCLUSION Activation of the PI3K pathway is significantly associated with increasing tumor grade, decreased levels of apoptosis, and with adverse clinical outcome in human gliomas. Molecular pathways regulating PI3K activation would appear to be promising targets in the clinical management of glioma patients.
Liver Toxicity of Antiretroviral Drugs

Abstract Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) associated with antiretroviral treatment has represented an important side effect since the beginning of the HAART era. The lack of standard definition and specific markers makes assessment of DILI very challenging. Several clinical syndromes of DILI have been described over the years; the pathogenic mechanisms are not fully understood. Better knowledge of DILI, identification of high-risk patients using pharmacogenetics, and the availability of antiretroviral agents with improved safety profile have all contributed to decrease the incidence of DILI and to ameliorate its effects. Nevertheless, with an aging human immunodeficiency virus- (HIV-) infected population and increased survival, DILI will probably continue to represent a relevant entity in e HIV therapeutic management.
Validation of a screening battery to predict driving fitness in people with Parkinson's disease

We previously developed a short clinical battery, consisting of contrast sensitivity, Clinical Dementia Rating, the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale‐motor section (UPDRS III), and disease duration, which correctly classified 90% of drivers with Parkinson's Disease (PD). The aim of this study was to validate that screening battery in a different sample of PD drivers.
ANTECEDENTES DO AMOR A MARCA E SEUS IMPACTOS NAS INTENÇÕES COMPORTAMENTAIS DE CONSUMIDORES: UM ESTUDO EMPÍRICO NO SETOR AUTOMOTIVO

O desenvolvimento de pesquisas que exploram as relacoes dos consumidores com as marcas, bem como o valor das marcas para o consumidor (brand equity) tem crescido de forma expressiva, devido a importância destes temas para o desempenho das organizacoes em mercados competitivos. Fournier (1997) propos de forma relevante, a existencia de relacionamentos dos consumidores com as marcas, descrevendo e buscando empiricamente verificar a existencia de uma tipologia que inclui tipos tais como: “casamento de conveniencia”, “amizade”, “troca transacional” e “relacao abusiva”, entre outros. Dezenas de estudos posteriores buscaram mensurar a qualidade do relacionamento entre consumidores e marcas, usando o quadro referencial proposto pela autora. Neste sentido, o Amor a Marca e um construto recente na literatura, que atua como mediador no relacionamento de consumidores com marcas, e que tem apresentado constatacoes empiricas preliminares de seu impacto nas intencoes comportamentais e atitudes de consumidores. Suas evidencias podem ser observadas em Sternberg (1988, 1996), Shimp e Madden (1988), Hendrick e Hendrick (1992), Carrol e Ahuvia (2006), Fournier (1988) e Santana e Sobrinho (2008). Porem os estudos empiricos que envolvam a mensuracao e identificacao de antecedentes e consequencias do Amor a Marca sao escassos e recentes, no Brasil e no exterior, se aproximando de cerca de uma dezena. Com o objetivo de identificar estes antecedentes, desenvolver e validar uma escala de amor a marca no contexto brasileiro, bem como validar um modelo que identifique seus impactos, visando gerar uma base conceitual e evidencias que contribuam para as organizacoes, foi realizada esta pesquisa. Neste sentido, foi realizada uma survey, com cerca de 200 consumidores de automoveis da cidade de Belo Horizonte. Apos validacao das mensuracoes, o modelo foi testado atraves de equacoes estruturais. Os resultados permitiram validar uma escala de Amor a Marcas e identificar antecedentes tais como a influencia pessoal e propaganda. Foi tambem verificado um impacto significativo do amor a marca no boca a boca positivo (explicando cerca de 77% das variacoes deste) e na intencao de compra de consumidores. Com o objetivo de explorar mais o tema, um modelo alternativo foi proposto e testado. As principais contribuicoes deste trabalho referem-se ao desenvolvimento e validacao de escala reduzida de amor a marca no contexto brasileiro, bem como a identificacao de um modelo nomologico estrutural de antecedentes do amor a marca, que contribui para o desenvolvimento do conhecimento neste importante campo de estudo. Sob aspectos gerenciais, o estudo demonstra o quanto aqueles que amam marcas fazem mais boca a boca positivo, bem como o fato de que os receptores deste boca a boca tendem a comprar mais e amarem mais estas marcas, indicando a importância da gestao de acoes estrategicas que aumentem sua amplitude e frequencia.