Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among Urban Mothers With Newborns in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Preliminary Study

Objectives: Traumatic stress symptoms from multiple causes are endemic among impoverished women who are also at high risk for delivering infants requiring neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) care, but whether this event itself constitutes a distinct traumatic stress trigger is unknown. Previous research does suggest having an infant in the NICU generates traumatic stress among white middle-class mothers, stress that can impact their infant’s behavior and development. This study evaluated the prevalence of acute posttraumatic stress symptoms among low-income mothers of infants admitted to the NICU compared with similar mothers with infants in the well baby nursery (WBN). Methods: A total of 59 NICU and 60 WBN mothers were recruited from the Boston Medical Center. Within the first week after birth, all participants were assessed for postpartum acute posttraumatic stress and depression symptoms and asked about lifetime traumatic events before the birth of their baby. The acute posttraumatic stress symptoms were analyzed as a continuous variable and whether they reached the categorical severity criteria for acute stress disorder. Results: NICU mothers show increased symptoms of acute posttraumatic stress and depression. Twenty-three percent of NICU and 3% of WBN reached severity criteria for acute stress disorder. When controlling for relevant covariates, having a newborn in the NICU had a significant association with the number of mothers’ acute posttraumatic stress symptoms not fully explained by their symptoms of depression or prior lifetime history of traumatic events. Conclusions: Addressing acute posttraumatic stress symptoms may enhance interventions to help urban families of NICU infants.
Inhibition of Suppressive T Cell Factor 1 (TCF-1) Isoforms in Naive CD4+ T Cells Is Mediated by IL-4/STAT6 Signaling*

The Wnt pathway transcription factor T cell factor 1 (TCF-1) plays essential roles in the control of several developmental processes, including T cell development in the thymus. Although previously regarded as being required only during early T cell development, recent studies demonstrate an important role for TCF-1 in T helper 2 (Th2) cell polarization. TCF-1 was shown to activate expression of the Th2 transcription factor GATA-binding protein 3 (GATA3) and thus to promote the development of IL-4-producing Th2 cells independent of STAT6 signaling. In this study, we show that TCF-1 is down-regulated in human naive CD4+ T cells cultured under Th2-polarizing conditions. The down-regulation is largely due to the polarizing cytokine IL-4 because IL-4 alone is sufficient to substantially inhibit TCF-1 expression. The IL-4-induced suppression of TCF-1 is mediated by STAT6, as shown by electrophoretic mobility shift assays, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and STAT6 knockdown experiments. Moreover, we found that IL-4/STAT6 predominantly inhibits the shorter, dominant-negative TCF-1 isoforms, which were reported to inhibit IL-4 transcription. Thus, this study provides a model for an IL-4/STAT6-dependent fine tuning mechanism of TCF-1-driven T helper cell polarization.
Fly-TILL: Reverse genetics using a living point mutation resource

Mutagenesis with ethylmethanesulfonate (EMS) has been the standard for traditional genetic screens, and in recent years has been applied to reverse genetics. However, reverse-genetic strategies require maintaining a viable germline library so that mutations that are discovered can subsequently be recovered. In applying our TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes) method to establish a Drosophila reverse-genetic service (Fly-TILL), we chose to screen the Zuker lines, a large collection of EMS-mutagenized second- and third-chromosome balanced lines that had been established for forward-genetic screening. For the past four years, our Fly-TILL service has screened this collection to provide ~150 allelic series of point mutations for the fly community. Our analysis of >2000 point mutations and indels has provided a glimpse into the population dynamics of this valuable genetic resource. We found evidence for selection and differential recovery of mutations, depending on distance from balancer breakpoints. Although this process led to variable mutational densities, we have nevertheless been able to deliver valuable mutations in genes selected by Fly-TILL users. We anticipate that our findings will help guide the future implementation of point-mutation resources for the Drosophila community.
Prevalence and incidence of cardiovascular disease in 1160 older men and 2464 older women in a long-term health care facility.

BACKGROUND We report the prevalence and incidence of cardiovascular disease in older men and women in a long-term health care facility. METHODS The prevalence of hypertension, chronic atrial fibrillation, pacemaker rhythm, coronary artery disease (CAD), thromboembolic stroke, and symptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and the incidence of new coronary events, thromboembolic stroke, and congestive heart failure (CHF) were investigated in 1160 men, mean age 80 +/- 8 years, and in 2464 women, mean age 81 +/- 8 years, in a long-term health care facility. Mean follow-up was 46 +/- 30 months. RESULTS The prevalences of hypertension, pacemaker rhythm, CAD, and thromboembolic stroke were similar in men and women. The prevalence of atrial fibrillation was higher in men (16%) than in women (13%; p =.019). The prevalence of PAD was higher in men (32%) than in women (26%; p =.0001). At the 46-month follow-up, the incidences of new coronary events, thromboembolic stroke, and CHF were similar in men and women. CONCLUSIONS Older men and women in a long-term health care facility have a high prevalence and incidence of cardiovascular disease. The prevalences of hypertension, pacemaker rhythm, CAD, and thromboembolic stroke and the incidences of new coronary events, thromboembolic stroke, and CHF were similar in men and women. However, the prevalences of atrial fibrillation and of PAD were higher in men than in women.
Reproducibility of skin prick testing with allergen extracts from different manufacturers

Allergen extracts for skin prick testing (SPT) are available from several manufacturers. Although these solutions are specified according to well‐defined internal company standards, there is no generally accepted overall standardization. To assess the comparability of skin prick test solutions of various manufacturers, we compared extracts of nine different allergens from four companies by SPT in 29 children sensitive to one or more of the allergens, in a double blind fashion. RAST (Pharmacia) and EAST (Kallestad) were determined in simultaneous blood samples. Allergen extracts were also examined by rocket immunoelectrophoresis for their content of major allergens. Skin reactions, assessed by mean diameter of wheals, to identical allegen extracts varied significantly between the four vendors (P<0.05‐0.001). Correlation between RAST and EAST was good for all allergens except birch pollen and mugwort. Content of the major allergen in corresponding extracts varied significantly between the different companies (<1%‐2000%). These data underline the need for international reference extracts as intracompany standardization of test solutions alone is not enough to yield general reproducibility of skin prick test results.
The Variation Characteristic of Sulfides and VOSc in a Source Water Reservoir and Its Control Using a Water-Lifting Aerator

Sulfides and volatile organic sulfur compounds (VOSc) in water are not only malodorous but also toxic to humans and aquatic organisms. They cause serious deterioration in the ecological environment and pollute drinking water sources. In the present study, a source water reservoir—Zhoucun Reservoir in East China—was selected as the study site. Through a combination of field monitoring and in situ release experiments of sulfides, the characteristics of seasonal variation and distribution of sulfides and VOSc in the reservoir were studied, and the cause of the sulfide pollution was explained. The results show that sulfide pollution was quite severe in August and September 2014 in the Zhoucun Reservoir, with up to 1.59 mg·L−1 of sulfides in the lower layer water. The main source of sulfides is endogenous pollution. VOSc concentration correlates very well with that of sulfides during the summer, with a peak VOSc concentration of 44.37 μg·L−1. An installed water-lifting aeration system was shown to directly oxygenate the lower layer water, as well as mix water from the lower and the upper layers. Finally, the principle and results of controlling sulfides and VOSc in reservoirs using water-lifting aerators are clarified. Information about sulfides and VOSc fluctuation and control gained in this study may be applicable to similar reservoirs, and useful in practical water quality improvement and pollution prevention.
Effects of indomethacin, cytokines, and cyclosporin A on tumor growth and the subsequent development of cancer cachexia.

C57BL/6J mice bearing a low or undifferentiated rapidly growing tumor were treated daily with either i.p. injections of the recombinant cytokines interleukin(IL)-1 alpha, IL-1 beta (21 ng/g), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (21 ng/g) or s.c. injections of cyclosporin A (60 micrograms/g) or indomethacin (1 micrograms/g). In some experiments, indomethacin was administered in the drinking water corresponding to the amount of s.c. injections. Survival and the time course of tumor growth and food and water intake were measured. The nutritional state (body composition) of the animals was registered at spontaneous death in the course of tumor disease. Indomethacin prolonged survival from 14 +/- 1 to 22 +/- 1 days in tumor-bearing mice when administered either in the drinking water or as s.c. injections. This effect, which was due to tumor growth inhibition, was equally effective irrespective of whether indomethacin was instituted on Day 1, 5, 7, or 9 following tumor implantation. Indomethacin did not inhibit tumor cell growth in vitro. Indomethacin-treated tumor-bearing mice were also less anorectic than untreated tumor-bearing mice, and their nutritional state, particularly lean body mass, was significantly improved by indomethacin at doses (1 micrograms/g) that did not influence the food intake or body composition in non-tumor-bearing mice. At spontaneous death, indomethacin-treated tumor-bearing mice had a significantly larger tumor burden when accounting for their degree of malnutrition as compared with untreated tumor bearers. Indomethacin did not decrease the elevation in hepatic concentrations of RNA seen in response to tumor progression. Adherent peritoneal macrophages from tumor-bearing mice had a lower prostaglandin E2 synthesis compared with macrophages from non-tumor-bearing controls in the basal state (1100 +/- 150 pg/10(6) cells versus 3700 +/- 922 pg/10(6) cells). Lipopolysaccharide stimulated macrophages from tumor-bearing mice to produce significantly more prostaglandin E2 in vitro compared with control macrophages (39,500 +/- 4208 pg/10(6) cells versus 12,500 +/- 4330 pg/10(6) cells). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
How does managed care manage care? Evidence from public insurance

In the United States, the fraction of individuals with public insurance is growing and the policies and markets that serve them are changing. Over two-thirds of Medicaid recipients are now enrolled in managed care organizations (MCOs), but little is known about how these plans operate. To study this market, I use data from New York Medicaid where managed care recipients are randomly assigned to plans. In chapter one, I estimate how physician and hospital networks impact health care use and spending. In chapter two, I study how production and selection vary across the managed care plans participating in New York Medicaid. Finally, in the third chapter, I turn to the Medicare program and examine how health care use and spending change at age 65 as adults switch from private to public coverage. Taken together, my dissertation chapters provide new perspective on how differences within public programs and between public and private programs, impact consumers.
An in‐house‐anti‐hepatitis A virus (HAV)‐specific immunoglobulin M capture enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay: Evaluation and application to an HAV outbreak

An anti‐hepatitis A virus (HAV)‐specific immunoglobulin M capture enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (anti‐HAV IgM ELISA) kit was re‐designed for laboratory use and compared with a commercial anti‐HAV IgM detection system using 58 serum samples collected from patients, vaccines, and healthy individuals. Because concordance between the two systems was high (r = 0.93, P < 0.05), 19 sets of serum and fecal samples obtained from individuals exposed to an HAV outbreak were also examined. Serum levels of anti‐HAV IgM were determined using the in‐house ELISA kit and the HAV genome in fecal samples was detected using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Among the 19 sets of sample, 14 were positive for both anti‐HAV IgM and the HAV genome. All of those whose serum samples were anti‐HAV IgM negative were also negative for the HAV genome in fecal samples. The results of the in‐house IgM ELISA were consistent with those of the HAV genome detected by PCR and with the commercial IgM ELISA. The in‐house anti‐HAV IgM ELISA kit was therefore proven suitable for laboratory use and applicable to epidemiological studies of HAV infection. J. Med. Virol. 81:1513–1516, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Identification and Characterization of Novel Human Endogenous Retrovirus Families by Phylogenetic Screening of the Human Genome Mapping Project Database

ABSTRACT Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) were first identified almost 20 years ago, and since then numerous families have been described. It has, however, been difficult to obtain a good estimate of both the total number of independently derived families and their relationship to each other as well as to other members of the familyRetroviridae. In this study, I used sequence data derived from over 150 novel HERVs, obtained from the Human Genome Mapping Project database, and a variety of recently identified nonhuman retroviruses to classify the HERVs into 22 independently acquired families. Of these, 17 families were loosely assigned to the class I HERVs, 3 to the class II HERVs and 2 to the class III HERVs. Many of these families have been identified previously, but six are described here for the first time and another four, for which only partial sequence information was previously available, were further characterized. Members of each of the 10 families are defective, and calculation of their integration dates suggested that most of them are likely to have been present within the human lineage since it diverged from the Old World monkeys more than 25 million years ago.
INTERPHOTORECEPTOR RETINOID‐BINDING PROTEIN AND α‐TOCOPHEROL PRESERVE THE ISOMERIC AND OXIDATION STATE OF RETINOL

Retinol decomposes rapidly into a number of products, including its aldehyde form, retinal, when introduced into buffer in phospholipid vesicles or ethanol. Interphotoreceptor retinoid‐binding protein at low concentrations is found to protect retinol from isomerization and oxidation. The addition of α‐tocopherol to either liposomes or an ethanolic‐buffer solution also prevents decomposition. Neither of these agents interferes with the successful regeneration of pigment with 9‐cis retinal in rod outer segment preparations or the restoration of sensitivity by retinoids in isolated rod photoreceptors.
A study of aneuploidy and DNA fragmentation in spermatozoa of three men with sex chromosome mosaicism including a 45,X cell line

Abstract Meiotic segregation of mosaic males with a 45,X cell line has been little examined. In this study, we evaluated the risk of aneuploid gametes using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and DNA fragmentation in ejaculated spermatozoa of three men with sex chromosome mosaicism including a 45,X cell line. Triple- and dual-color FISH were performed. Sperm DNA fragmentation was detected using the TUNEL assay. A significantly increased frequency of XY disomic spermatozoa was observed for patients (P)1 and P2. A significant increase in diploidy and autosomal aneuploidy was found in P2 and P3, respectively. The rate of DNA fragmentation was not different from that observed in a control group. Data from the literature are scarce (only 3 cases reported), making comparison of the present data difficult, especially as the frequencies of the cell lines comprising the mosaicism differed between patients. Furthermore, the proportion of the different cell lines can differ from one tissue to another in the same patient. Whether the relative levels of the several cell lines present in the mosaicism can influence the rate of aneuploid spermatozoa remains unknown.
Eplerenone , a Selective Aldosterone Blocker , in Patients with Left Ventricular Dysfunction after Myocardial Infarction

From the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (B.P.); STICARES, Cardiovascular Research Foundation, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (W.R.); the Centre d’Investigation Clinique de Nancy, Nancy, France (F.Z.); the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (J.N.); the Fundación Rusculleda, Cordoba, Argentina (F.M.); and Pharmacia, Skokie, Ill. (B.R., R.B., S.H., J.K., M.G.). Address reprint requests to Dr. Pitt at the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Michigan Medical Center, 3910 Taubman, 1500 E. Medical Center Dr., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0366, or at bpitt@ umich.edu. *Members of the Eplerenone Post–Acute Myocardial Infarction Heart Failure Efficacy and Survival Study (EPHESUS) Group are listed in the Appendix. N Engl J Med 2003;348:1309-21. Copyright © 2003 Massachusetts Medical Society. background Aldosterone blockade reduces mortality and morbidity among patients with severe heart failure. We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating the effect of eplerenone, a selective aldosterone blocker, on morbidity and mortality among patients with acute myocardial infarction complicated by left ventricular dysfunction and heart failure.
Dimensionality reduction by soft-margin support vector machine

Dimensionality reduction is one of the key issues of machine learning and data mining, especially for high-dimensional data set. In the literature, there are various dimensionality reduction methods, such as PCA, LDA, and KLDA, and the difference between them mainly lies in the optimization objective. In this paper, we propose a new dimensionality reduction method, whose optimization objective is to maximize the margin between different classes, after projecting the original features into some specific lower-dimensional subspace. The specific subspace is constructed with the help of soft margin support vector machines. Our experiments based on several real-world datasets show that this method improves the performance on classification, and it not only can reduce redundant information in features but also is robust to noise.
Safe models for risky decisions

In everyday life, we often have to decide between options that differ in their immediate and long-term consequences. Would you, for example, opt for a delicious piece of cake or rather eat a healthy apple? To investigate how people make risky decisions, this thesis focuses on the Iowa gambling task (IGT) and scrutinizes assumptions about the performance of healthy participants on the IGT. This thesis also challenges the trustworthiness of conclusions typically obtained from fitting reinforcement-learning models to IGT data. I argue that the risk of drawing premature conclusions from behavioral analyses and computational modeling can be minimized if researchers follow a number of crucial steps. These steps concern behavioral data analyses, model selection, model fitting, and assessment of absolute model fit. In particular, I advocate Bayesian techniques involving Bayesian repeated measures ANOVA for behavioral data analyses, the Bayes factor for model selection, the Bayesian hierarchical framework for model fitting, and posterior predictives to assess the absolute account of the models for the data at hand. Discussing a large variety of models and methods to compare the models, this dissertation illustrates that research efforts about risky decision making greatly advanced during the last years. On the other hand, this dissertation also illustrates the major challenges by pointing to problems with respect to behavioral analyses and cognitive modeling. Pursuing these suggestions will hopefully yield more reliable measures of risky decision making and a better understanding of the underlying psychological processes.
Joint maximum likelihood decoding with limited number of receive antennas in overloaded MIMO-OFDM system

This paper presents a joint decoding scheme for block coded signals in an overloaded multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)-OFDM system. In a normal MIMO-OFDM system, the number of the transmit antenna is the same as that of the received antenna. In the conventional MIMO system, symbol detection is carried out over the signals received by multiple antenna elements and is separated from decoding. However, in order to increase the throughput of the system, a more number of antenna elements is required, which leads to larger power consumption owing to additional radio frequency (RF) units. Instead of splitting detection and decoding, in this paper, a joint maximum likelihood (ML) decoding scheme in an overloaded MIMO-OFDM system is presented. Based on ideal interleaving, independence among coded symbols spread over subcarriers is assumed. As an example of the proposed system, bit error rate performance of Hamming coded and spatially multiplexed signals with the joint ML decoding on a Rayleigh fading channel is investigated. Furthermore, a complexity reduction scheme of the joint ML decoding is also evaluated through computer simulation and bit error performance with the proposed complexity reduction scheme is presented.
Population Dynamics of an Insect Herbivore over 32 Years are Driven by Precipitation and Host-Plant Effects: Testing Model Predictions

ABSTRACT The interaction between the arroyo willow, Salix lasiolepis Bentham, and its specialist herbivore, the arroyo willow stem-galling sawfly, Euura lasiolepis Smith (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), was studied for 32 yr in Flagstaff, AZ, emphasizing a mechanistic understanding of insect population dynamics. Long-term weather records were evaluated to provide a climatic context for this study. Previously, predictive models of sawfly dynamics were developed from estimates of sawfly gall density made between 1981 and 2002; one model each for drier and wetter sites. Predictor variables in these models included winter precipitation and the Palmer Drought Severity Index, which impact the willow growth, with strong bottom-up effects on sawflies.We now evaluate original model predictions of sawfly population dynamics using new data (from 2003–2012). Additionally, willow resources were evaluated in 1986 and in 2012, using as criteria clone area, shoot density, and shoot length. The dry site model accounted for 40% of gall population density variation between 2003 and 2012 (69% over the 32 yr), providing strong support for the bottom-up, mechanistic hypothesis that water supply to willow hosts impacts sawfly populations. The current drying trend stressed willow clones: in drier sites, willow resources declined and gall density decreased by 98%. The wet site model accounted for 23% of variation in gall population density between 2003 and 2012 (48% over 30 yr), consistent with less water limitation. Nonetheless, gall populations were reduced by 72%.