Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non‐Helicobacter pylori and non‐NSAID peptic ulcer disease in the Japanese population

Background Helicobacter pylori and non‐steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are recognized as the major causes of peptic ulcer disease. The status of H. pylori infection in the background population may influence the incidence of H. pylori‐negative peptic ulcer disease. Objective To examine the incidence of H. pylori‐negative peptic ulcer disease without intake of NSAIDs in Japan. Patients A total of 398 patients who had no eradication therapy for H. pylori prior to this study, including 246 patients with gastric ulcer (GU) and 152 patients with duodenal ulcer (DU), were enrolled. Methods H. pylori status was assessed by rapid urease tests, histological examinations (haematoxylin & eosin stain, Giemsa stain and/or immunostaining) and serum IgG antibody. Two biopsy specimens were taken from the antrum within 3 cm of the pyloric and two from the middle corpus of the stomach, along the greater curvature. Patients were asked a series of questions regarding risk factors, including the use of NSAIDs. The presence of gastritis, gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia was examined according to the updated Sydney system. Results Of the 246 patients with GU, 12 patients (4.9%) were considered to be H. pylori‐negative. Of the 152 patients with DU, two patients (1.3%) were considered to be H. pylori‐negative. Hence, a total of 14 patients were found to be H. pylori‐negative. Nine of them were taking NSAIDs. Consequently, the frequency of H. pylori‐negative ulcer without intake of NSAIDs was 1.3%. There was no significant difference in the frequencies of H. pylori‐negative patients between the GU and DU groups. Conclusion The incidence of H. pylori‐negative peptic ulcer disease without intake of NSAIDs was very low in the Japanese population. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol 12:635‐640
Anti-mycotoxigenic properties of “Fino” using the modified zinc-yeast

ABSTRACT A traditionally prepared Saccharomyces yeast helps to improve nutritive food qualities and health impacts. Zinc-Yeast was formulated with the aim to enhance bakery products, extend shelf-life, improve safety, and diet-support by an essential mineral (Zn). A strain NRC112 was pre-treated to evaluate Zn-support optimum conditions. The best uptake was recorded at 1623 µg/g using zinc- sulphate. For safety-production increment; Zn-yeast effect on toxigenic fungi and aflatoxins was estimated on liquid media and diffusion tests. Fino was designed for comparing the differences between Zn-yeast and the control. In comparing the result of the paste and bread; Zn-yeast was more effective in aflatoxins reduction than the control. Organoleptic and chemical properties of Fino was also investigated to explore if Zn-yeast application distinct compared to the control. The Fino manufacturing by Zn-yeast was not significantly different from control. The sensory evaluation results were so close in the two types. Zn-yeast confers Fino fungal resisting properties and long shelf-life.
Targeting syndecans: a promising strategy for the treatment of cancer

Introduction: Syndecans are cell surface adhesion receptors that play important functional roles. Their deregulation has been linked to several pathologies, and their aberrant regulation via diverse mechanisms is critically involved in the pathogenesis of various cancers. Similar to other receptors, syndecan functions are altered by ligand binding, overexpression, and extracellular domain shedding. These regulatory mechanisms may suggest new strategies for specifically controlling cancer cells. Areas covered: In this review, we describe the biological functions of syndecans in cancer, discuss their potential therapeutic relevance, and examine the current syndecan-targeting therapeutic options. Expert opinion: Since syndecans have diverse, specific, and novel regulatory functions in various cancers, therapeutic control of syndecan function has become an attractive approach for potential anticancer strategies. Syndecan and its associated proteins may also be strong candidate markers for the diagnosis and management of cancer, potentially opening a new era in cancer treatment.
Behavioral encephalization in the bullhead embryo and its neuroanatomical correlates

Three physiological phases can be recognized in the encephali‐zation of motor control in the developing bullhead. These are in succession 1. the spinal phase, 2. the hindbrain phase and 3. the optic‐midbrain phase. During the spinal phase motility is limited to lateral flexions of the trunk and tail by the contractions of the somitic muscle. The flexions become amplified as additional somites participate in this activity. There is no evidence of any encephalic control. Random undulatory swimming characterizes the hindbrain phase. It emerges with the maturation of the Mauthner cell and its labyrinthine afferents. In the optic‐midbrain phase there is a superposition of a visual control on swimming, a control which comes on with the differentiation of the rods and cones of the eye and their projection by way of the optic tectum and the tecto‐bulbar tracts to the Mauthner cells. The response in this phase is directed, a negative phototaxis for a major share of this phase. However, toward the end of this phase the photomechanical properties of the retina come into play providing an adaptive mechanism in which the response, negative or positive, is determined by the photomechanical state of the retina. Thus the retina, an exteroceptor, serves as an analyzer. The photic response in the advanced embryos can be predicted if the adaptive state of the photomechanical apparatus is known.
Does transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) alleviate the pain experienced during bone marrow sampling in addition to standard techniques? A randomised, double-blinded, controlled trial

Aims Bone marrow aspiration and trephine (BMAT) biopsies remain important tests in haematology. However, the procedures can be moderately to severely painful despite standard methods of pain relief. To test the efficacy of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) in alleviating the pain from BMAT in addition to standard analgesia using a numerical pain rating scale (NRS). Methods 70 patients requiring BMAT were randomised (1:1) in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. –35 patients received TENS impulses at a strong but comfortable amplitude (intervention group) and 35 patients received TENS impulses just above the sensory threshold (control group) (median pulse amplitude 20 and 7 mA, respectively). Patients and operators were blinded to group allocation. Pain assessments were made using a numerical pain scale completed after the procedure. Results No significant difference in NRS pain recalled after the procedure was detected (median pain score 5.7 (95% CI 4.8 to 6.6) in control vs 5.6 (95% CI 4.8 to 6.4) in the intervention group). However, 100% of patients who had previous experience of BMAT and >94% of participants overall felt they benefited from using TENS and would recommend it to others for this procedure. There were no side effects from the TENS device, and it was well tolerated. Conclusions TENS is a safe, non-invasive adjunct to analgesia for reducing pain during bone marrow biopsy and provides a subjective benefit to most users; however, no objective difference in pain scores was detected when using TENS in this randomised controlled study. Clinical registration number NCT02005354.
The role of women in travel services in British Columbia

According to a CTHRC online article, in less than twenty years “the potential labour shortage in tourism could reach a staggering 348,000 full-year jobs” (Canadian Tourism Human Resources Council, 2008a, ¶ 1). Women represent the majority of this labour force, and yet the issue of attracting, training, and retaining women as workers with unique needs has not been discussed either provincially or nationally. Despite the preponderance of women working in this part of the tourism industry, no study has sought to understand ways to increase, or enhance, the participation of women in travel services. This study attempts to fill a knowledge gap in this area by quantitatively and qualitatively examining the role of women travel services in British Columbia. As a result of a survey with over 250 working British Columbian female travel services professionals, and 26 leaders of both genders in the provincial industry, several key themes were identified and recommendations made relating to achieving a vision of British Columbia’s travel services is a progressive, inclusive, and flexible career choice. These include having women play an active and strategic role in their travel services careers, providing increased compensation and compensory measures (such as flex time and child care), creating opportunities for women to transition to positions of influence, and implementing provincial programs relating to mentorship. Role of Women in Travel Services in B.C. v Table of
Dynamic interference management for OFDM-based joint macro-femto cellular networks

Femtocells underlay in macro-cellular network is becoming more popular in order to use spatial frequency reuse gain, extend the coverage and capacity. But interference mitigation is the main challenge for the system designer. Instead of using centralized coordination among base stations to mitigate or reduce interference caused by femtocells to macrocells, this paper investigates the dynamic distributed interference management in femtocells underlay in a macrocell network. The distributed adaptive fractional frequency reuse (FFR) with power control is considered in the proposed approach. Simulation results show that the proposed interference management technique effectively reduces the downlink interference and increases the capacity and improves the outage probability of the macro-cellular network.
Angiopoietin‐mediated endothelial P‐selectin translocation: cell signaling mechanisms

Recently identified, angiopoietin‐1 (Ang1) and ‐2 (Ang2) bind to the tyrosine kinase receptor Tie2 and contribute to orchestrate blood vessel formation during angiogenesis. Ang1 mediates vessel maturation and integrity by favoring the recruitment of pericytes and smooth muscle cells. Ang2, initially identified as a Tie2 antagonist, may under certain circumstances, induce Tie2 phosphorylation and biological activities. As inflammation exists in a mutually dependent association with angiogenesis, we sought to determine if Ang1 and/or Ang2 could modulate proinflammatory activities, namely P‐selectin translocation, in bovine aortic endothelial cells (EC) and dissect the mechanisms implicated. P‐selectin, an adhesion molecule found in the Weibel‐Palade bodies of EC, is translocated rapidly to the cell surface upon EC activation during inflammatory processes. Herein, we report that Ang1 and Ang2 (1 nM) are capable of mediating a rapid Tie2 phosphorylation as well as a rapid and transient endothelial P‐selectin translocation maximal within 7.5 min (125% and 100% increase, respectively, over control values). In addition, we demonstrate for the first time that angiopoietin‐mediated endothelial P‐selectin translocation is calcium‐dependent and regulated through phospholipase C‐γ activation.
Decentralised Control of Complex Systems

Many modern computing systems have to operate in environments that are highly interconnected, highly unpredictable, are in a constant state of flux, in which there is no centralized point of control, and in which the constituent components are owned by a variety of stakeholders that each have their own aims and objectives. Relevant exemplars include the Web, Grid Computing, Peer-to-Peer systems, Pervasive Computing and many eCommerce applications. Now, I believe that all of these systems operate under the same conceptual model: (i) entities offer a variety of services in some form of institutional setting; (ii) other entities connect to these services (covering issues such as service discovery, service composition and service procurement); and (iii) entities enact services in a flexible and context sensitive manner. Moreover, I believe agent-based computing is an appropriate model computational for such systems (Jennings, 2000; Jennings 2001). In particular, autonomous agents are a natural way of viewing flexible service providers and consumers and the interactions between these autonomous components are naturally modeled as some form of economic trading process that, if successful, results in a service contract (or service level agreement) between the agents involved.
Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Docking of Dihydropyrazole Sulfonamide Containing 2‐hydroxyphenyl Moiety: A Series of Novel MMP‐2 Inhibitors

In this study, we synthesized a series of dihydropyrazole sulfonamide derivatives containing 2‐hydroxyphenyl moiety as antitumor agents to target the matrix metalloproteinase‐2 (MMP‐2). All of the synthesized compounds were examined by bioactivity assays, in which compound 4c turned out as a potential antagonist of MMP‐2 along with potent anticancer activity against four tumor cell lines. Structure–activity relationship analysis was also performed to examine how structural changes impacted the bioactivity. Suggested to be caused by the induction of apoptosis, the antitumor mechanism of 4c was further confirmed by PI combining with annexin V‐FITC staining assay using flow cytometry analysis. These new findings along with molecular docking observations suggested that compound 4c could be developed as a potential anticancer agent.
Synthesis of novel natural product-like diaryl acetylenes as hypoxia inducible factor-1 inhibitors and antiproliferative agents

The selaginellin derivatives are a type of novel natural pigments with an unusual alkynyl phenol skeleton from the genus Selaginella. Some of these natural compounds were previously reported to show important bioactivities, including anticancer activity, cardiovascular protection and phosphodiesterase-4 inhibition. We designed and synthesized fifteen biphenyl-containing diaryl acetylene derivatives mimicking the skeleton of natural alkynyl phenols. In MTT assay in cancer cells, compounds 1c, 2d, 2g, 2h, 2i and 2j exhibited potent antiproliferative activity. The evaluation of Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1 (HIF-1) pathway inhibitory activity in dual luciferase assay demonstrated that most tested compounds exhibited moderate to good activities. Compounds 1a, 2f and 2h displayed high HIF-1 inhibitory activities and relatively low cytotoxicity, demonstrating great potential as HIF-1 inhibitors. These results afford a new strategy for the discovery of new HIF-1 inhibitors and anti-proliferative agents from natural or synthetic diaryl acetylene derivatives.
May student examiners be reasonable substitute examiners for faculty in an undergraduate OSCE on medical emergencies?

Abstract Objectives: To compare the effect of student examiners (SE) to that of faculty examiners (FE) on examinee performance in an OSCE as well as on post-assessment evaluation in the area of emergency medicine management. Methods: An OSCE test-format (seven stations: Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Basic Life Support (BLS), Trauma-Management (TM), Pediatric-Emergencies (PE), Acute-Coronary-Syndrome (ACS), Airway-Management (AM), and Obstetrical-Emergencies (OE)) was administered to 207 medical students in their third year of training after they had received didactics in emergency medicine management. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two simultaneously run tracks: either with SE (n = 110) or with FE (n = 98). Students were asked to rate each OSCE station and to provide their overall OSCE perception by means of a standardized questionnaire. The independent samples t-test was used and effect sizes were calculated (Cohens d). Results: Students achieved significantly higher scores for the OSCE stations “TM”, “AM”, and “OE” as well as “overall OSCE score” in the SE track, whereas the station score for “PE” was significantly higher for students in the FE track. Mostly small effect sizes were reported. In the post-assessment evaluation portion of the study, students gave significant higher ratings for the ACS station and “overall OSCE evaluation” in the FE track; also with small effect sizes. Conclusion: It seems quite admissible and justified to encourage medical students to officiate as examiners in undergraduate emergency medicine OSCE formative testing, but not necessarily in summative assessment evaluations.
Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors in triple oral therapy regimens in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract Objective: There is no clear consensus regarding treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) that is inadequately controlled using dual combination therapy. Recommended agents for triple combination therapy should have complementary mechanisms of action with minimal risk of added side effects such as weight gain and hypoglycemia. We discuss considerations in selecting triple oral therapy regimens in patients with T2DM, and review clinical trial data regarding triple oral therapy using dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors. Methods: A search of the PubMed database was conducted to identify clinical trials of triple oral therapy incorporating a DPP-4 inhibitor (November 2013 to January 2015), using the following search terms: ‘type 2 diabetes’ AND ‘alogliptin OR linagliptin OR saxagliptin OR sitagliptin OR vildagliptin’ AND ‘metformin’. Trials had to include adult patients with T2DM who received triple oral therapy with a DPP-4 inhibitor for ≥18 weeks. The bibliographies of retrieved articles were also searched to identify any other relevant trials. Results: A total of 17 clinical trials evaluating metformin and a DPP-4 inhibitor combined with a sulfonylurea (SU), thiazolidinedione (TZD), or sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor were identified and included in this review. Consistently, the addition of a DPP-4 inhibitor to metformin and SU, TZD, or SGLT2 inhibitor therapy improved glycemic measures, and these combinations were generally well tolerated. An increased incidence of hypoglycemia was reported for combinations that included an SU. Conclusions: Triple oral therapy that includes a DPP-4 inhibitor is a valid option for patients with T2DM not adequately controlled with dual combination therapy, and offers an alternative to insulin therapy. Triple oral therapy with a DPP-4 inhibitor, metformin, and a TZD or SGLT2 inhibitor should be considered when avoidance of hypoglycemia is a primary goal.
Renal Cell Carcinoma: The Fastest Evolving Tumor

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has been considered one of the most difficult tumors to treat for about 20 years. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy have almost no efficacy in this tumor, and cytokines (interleukin [IL]-2 [Proleukin] and interferon) have remained the only available treatment for about 20 years, with a small proportion of patients benefiting from these treatments.
A Polarization Splitter and Rotator Based on a Partially Etched Grating-Assisted Coupler

A fabrication-tolerant mid-infrared silicon polarization splitter and rotator (PSR) based on a partially etched grating-assisted coupler is proposed. The design of the partially etched structure allows to use different cladding layers, such as SiO2, to make the device compatible with the metal back-end of line process. Moreover, by using the grating-assisted coupler, the device is no longer limited by the precise requirement of the coupling length and strength as those in its counterparts based on directional couplers. The simulation results show that the PSR can work over a wide spectral range of 50 nm around the mid-infrared wavelength of 2.5 μm with the typical transverse electric (TE) to transverse magnetic (TM) polarization conversion efficiency of 96.83%, the conversion loss of -0.97 dB, and the polarization crosstalk of -21.48 dB. The TM-to-TM through insertion loss is around -0.76 dB. The effects of the fabrication errors are analyzed. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the device has a good fabrication tolerance larger than 45 nm.
Mammalian Erv46 localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum–Golgi intermediate compartment and to cis-Golgi cisternae

Yeast endoplasmic reticulum (ER) vesicle protein Erv46p is a novel membrane protein involved in transport through the early secretory pathway. Investigation of mammalian Erv46 (mErv46) reveals that it is broadly expressed in tissues and protein-secreting cells. By immunofluorescence microscopy, mErv46 displays a crescent-shaped perinuclear staining pattern that is characteristic of the Golgi complex. Quantitative immunoelectron microscopy indicates that mErv46 is restricted to the cis face of the Golgi apparatus and to vesicular tubular structures between the transitional ER and cis-Golgi. Minor amounts of mErv46 reside in ER membranes and later Golgi cisternae. On Brefeldin A treatment, mErv46 redistributes to punctate structures that costain for ERGIC53. Depletion of mErv46 protein by RNA interference caused no apparent structural changes in the intermediate compartment or Golgi complex. These findings place mErv46 in a group of itinerant proteins that cycle between the ER and Golgi compartments such as ERGIC53 and the p24 proteins.
Characterization of a major protein with a molecular weight of 160,000 associated with the viral capsid of Epstein-Barr virus

A monoclonal antibody designated V3 was produced against a late protein associated with the Epstein-Barr virus-induced viral capsid antigen complex. The antibody reacted with discrete patches in the nuclei of infected cells as well as with virus particles, as shown by immunofluorescence and ultrastructural immunoperoxidase staining. The molecular weight of the protein precipitated by this monoclonal antibody was ca. 160,000. All anti-viral capsid antigen antibody-positive sera tested in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay reacted with this purified protein. The synthesis of the antigen was inhibited by phosphonoacetic acid but was not affected by tunicamycin, indicating that this was a late nonglycosylated viral protein. No differences were noted between the protein isolated from the P3HR-1 and B-95-8 cell lines as determined by immunoprecipitation and peptide mapping. By isoelectric focusing, this protein had a pI on the basic side ranging from 7.5 to 9.0.
Dosage compensation in Drosophila.

Dosage compensation in Drosophila increases the transcription of genes on the single X chromosome in males to equal that of both X chromosomes in females. Site-specific histone acetylation by the malespecific lethal (MSL) complex is thought to play a fundamental role in the increased transcriptional output of the male X. Nucleation and sequence-independent spreading of the complex to active genes serves as a model for understanding the targeting and function of epigenetic chromatin-modifying complexes. Interestingly, two noncoding RNAs are key for MSL assembly and spreading to active genes along the length of the X chromosome.