Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prolactin induces phosphorylation of Tyr694 of Stat5 (MGF), a prerequisite for DNA binding and induction of transcription.

Mammary gland factor (MGF) is a transcription factor discovered initially in the mammary epithelial cells of lactating animals. It confers the lactogenic hormone response to the milk protein genes. We reported recently the isolation of the cDNA encoding MGF. MGF is a novel member of the cytokine‐regulated transcription factor gene family. Members of this gene family mediate interferon alpha/beta and interferon gamma induction of gene transcription, as well as the response to epidermal growth factor and interleukin‐6, and have been named signal transducers and activators of transcription (Stat). The name Stat5 has been assigned to MGF. We studied the mechanisms involved in the prolactin activation of Stat5 in COS cells co‐transfected with cDNA encoding Stat5 and the prolactin receptor. Prolactin treatment of the transfected cells caused activation of Stat5 within 5‐10 min. This activation does not require ongoing protein synthesis. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors prevent Stat5 activation in transfected COS cells. Treatment of recombinant Stat5 with a tyrosine‐specific protein phosphatase in vitro abolishes its DNA binding activity. Prolactin stimulation of transfected cells induces Stat5 phosphorylation on tyrosine. Phosphorylation of in vitro transcribed and translated Stat5 with the Jak2 tyrosine kinase, but not with fyn, lyn or lck, confers DNA binding activity. The prolactin response of the beta‐casein milk protein gene promoter can be observed in COS cells transfected with cDNA vectors encoding Stat5 and the long form of the prolactin receptor. The short form of the prolactin receptor is unable to promote Stat5 phosphorylation and confer transcriptional induction in COS cells. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Paranasal sinus surgery through a frontonasal flap in sedated, standing horses.

OBJECTIVE To report experience with paranasal sinus surgery through a frontonasal flap in sedated, standing horses. STUDY DESIGN Treatment of 10 horses with naturally occurring paranasal sinus disease through a frontonasal bone flap created with the horses standing. ANIMALS Ten adult horses. METHODS After restraint and sedation, local anesthetic was injected subcutaneously along the proposed incision line over the conchofrontal sinus and was instilled into the sinuses through a small hole created in the frontal bone. A 3-sided, rectangular, cutaneous incision that extended through the periosteum was created over the frontal and nasal bones. The incision was extended into the conchofrontal sinus using a bone saw, and the base of the flap, on the midline of the face, was fractured. The sinuses were explored, and the horse was treated for the disease encountered. The flap was repositioned; subcutaneous tissue and skin were sutured separately. RESULTS The horses had few signs of discomfort during creation of the bone flap and during disease treatment. Diseases encountered included inspissated exudate in the ventral conchal sinus (five horses), feed and exudate throughout the sinuses (one horse), occlusion of the nasomaxillary aperature (one horse), polyp (one horse), osteoma (one horse), and progressive ethmoidal hematoma (one horse). CONCLUSION In selected cases, surgery of the paranasal sinuses can be performed safely on sedated and standing horses through a frontonasal bone flap. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Performing surgery through a frontonasal bone flap with the horse standing and sedated, rather than anesthetized, eliminates risks and expense of general anesthesia.
Communication with family members of patients dying in the intensive care unit

In intensive care units the patient is usually unconscious and/or incompetent so that the relationship shifts to the family. Interactions between caregivers and families usually follow one of three models. In the first model, a family representative receives information from the caregivers but does not participate in decisions or physical care. In the second model, the ICU caregivers attempt to provide care consistent with the patient's wishes and values as described by the family. In the third model, the family members communicate their own wishes, provide physical care to the patient, and participate in medical decision-making. After a description of the studies that measured the quality of information provided to ICU families and by discussing the extent to which respecting the principle of patient autonomy is feasible in the ICU, we will review the literature on studies that identified specific needs of families of dying patients and specific challenges faced by intensivists as they seek to inform the families of dying patients. The need for family-centered care and for a better communication within the patient-family-caregiver trio is also highlighted.
Maternal Weight Gain Rate in the Second Trimester Are Associated with Birth Weight and Length of Gestation

Background: Low total weight gain during pregnancy has been widely accepted as a valid risk factor for small-for-gestational-age infants and pre-term births. However, it is not obvious in which trimester the weight gain rate most affects birth weight and length of gestation. Method: Using logistic regression analysis and Pearson’s correlation coefficient test, data from 472 women who had vaginally delivered an infant at term without any complications were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Pre-pregnancy underweight and low total maternal weight gain were significant independent predictors of small-for-gestational-age infants and shortened gestations. Pre-pregnancy weight was significantly related to the birth weight and length of gestation (r = 0.18, p < 0.0001; r = 0.10, p = 0.04, respectively), and total weight gain was also significantly related to those (r = 0.17, p = 0.0003; r = 0.11, p = 0.03, respectively). Significant correlations between maternal weight gain rate in the second trimester and the birth weight and length of gestation were found (r = 0.32, p = 0.005; r = 0.40, p = 0.0003, respectively), while such correlations were not found in the first or third trimester. Conclusion: The most sensitive period of maternal weight gain for the birth weight and length of gestation was the second trimester.
Radiographic display of carious lesions and cavitation in approximal surfaces: Advantages and drawbacks of conventional and advanced modalities

Abstract Background. Treatment strategies have changed with efforts on arresting carious lesions suspected to have an intact surface sparing operative treatment for cavitated lesions. Radiography is still the most recommended adjunct method in the diagnosis of clinically inaccessible approximal surfaces. Bitewing radiography. The major drawback of bitewing radiography for caries diagnosis is that the clinical state of the surface cannot be determined; i.e. if cavitation has developed or the demineralized surface is still intact. Based on studies of the relationship between radiographic lesion depth and clinical cavitation in approximal surfaces, a threshold for operative treatment decision has been suggested when a lesion is observed radiographically more than one-third into dentine. However, the results from previous studies are contradictory and the majority of studies are ∼25 years old. In addition, there are few longitudinal observational studies on the behaviour of dentinal carious lesions, particularly in adults. Cone beam computed tomography. Cone beam CT is an advanced 3-dimensional radiographic modality, which seems much more accurate than intra-oral modalities for displaying cavitation in approximal surfaces. Nonetheless, there are several drawbacks with CBCT, such as radiation dose, costs and imaging artefacts. Therefore, CBCT cannot be advocated at current as a primary radiographic examination with the aim of diagnosing cavitated carious lesions. Conclusions. Bitewing radiography is, thus, still state-of-the-art as an adjunct in diagnosing carious lesions in clinically inaccessible approximal surfaces. The risk for cavitation is related to lesion depth, but new studies are needed in both child and adult populations to validate current thresholds for the operative treatment decision based on the radiographic lesion depth.
Brain Cortical Activation during Guitar-Induced Hand Dystonia Studied by Functional MRI

Focal hand dystonia in musicians is a strongly task-related movement disorder. Typically, symptoms become apparent only when players execute specific overpracticed skilled exercises on their instrument. We therefore examined five guitarists with functional MRI during dystonic symptom provocation by means of an adapted guitar inside the magnet. The activation patterns obtained in comparable nondystonic guitarists and in the study patients when performing normal-hand exercise served as references. A 1.5-T system equipped with echo-speed gradients and single-shot echoplanar imaging software was used. Data acquisition was centered on the cortical motor system encompassed in eight contiguous slices. Dystonic musicians compared with both control situations showed a significantly larger activation of the contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex that contrasted with a conspicuous bilateral underactivation of premotor areas. Our results coincide with studies of other dystonia types in that they show an abnormal recruitment of cortical areas involved in the control of voluntary movement. However, they do suggest that the primary sensorimotor cortex, rather than being underactive in idiopathic dystonic patients, may be overactive when tested during full expression of the task-induced movement disorder.
Lansoprazole and carbonic anhydrase IX inhibitors sinergize against human melanoma cells

Abstract Context: Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) reduce tumor acidity and therefore resistance of tumors to drugs. Carbonic Anhydrase IX (CA IX) inhibitors have proven to be effective against tumors, while tumor acidity might impair their full effectiveness. Objective: To analyze the effect of PPI/CA IX inhibitors combined treatment against human melanoma cells. Methods: The combination of Lansoprazole (LAN) and CA IX inhibitors (FC9-399A and S4) has been investigated in terms of cell proliferation inhibition and cell death in human melanoma cells. Results: The combination of these inhibitors was more effective than the single treatments in both inhibiting cell proliferation and in inducing cell death in human melanoma cells. Discussion: These results represent the first successful attempt in combining two different proton exchanger inhibitors. Conclusion: This is the first evidence on the effectiveness of a new approach against tumors based on the combination of PPI and CA IX inhibitors, thus providing an alternative strategy against tumors.
High-Torque-Density High-Efficiency Flux-Switching PM Machine for Aerospace Applications

Recently, flux-switching permanent magnet (FSPM) machines have been increasingly investigated due to its torque density and fault tolerance. Because of this, they are attractive for aerospace applications where weight, installation spaces, and safety play a critical role. Recent research has investigated a variation of the conventional FSPM machine called the C-core FSPM machine, which offers 40% greater electromagnetic torque, while using half of the magnet mass. This paper proposes a new topology called Halbach-FSPM capable of achieving an electromagnetic torque 20% higher than the C-core FSPM machine, while maintaining machine volume and phase current constant and using no more magnet material than a conventional FSPM machine. First, a physical explanation of the advantages are developed for use in all FSPM machines using Halbach arrays. An analysis and comparison of torque, power and efficiency are made. Further, magnet losses and segmentation applicable to all FSPM topologies are discussed, plus an analysis on magnet usage is given.
The Politics of Checkbook Federalism

This article adopts the perspective of second-generation fiscal-federalism theory to provide an empirical assessment of Canada’s intergovernmental fiscal arrangements. In the context of the literature on the political economy of intergovernmental grant programs, it examines the influence of political considerations on the evolution of the Canadian fiscal arrangements under the Constitution Act of 1982. Fixed-effect regression results exploiting data from the 1982 to 2012 period show a statistically significant relationship between changes in both federal and provincial electoral variables and changes in a province’s total federal transfer revenues. Changes to social transfers appear to be more reactive to changes in the political environment than do changes in equalization transfers.
Suppression of ventilation artifacts for gastrointestinal slow wave recordings

Gastrointestinal extracellular slow wave recordings are providing critical information about normal motility and pathophysiology of the gut. Processing the signals is an important adjunct to acquire clinically and physiologically meaningful analysis. In stomach and intestine in vivo slow wave recordings, ventilation (or respiratory) artifacts can be prominent, which hinders identification and analysis of slow wave profiles. Here, we introduce an algorithm to suppress these artifacts without distorting the slow wave morphology. The algorithm generates a cycle averaged ventilation signal by shifting the raw signal by its ventilation period. The cycle averaged ventilation signal is then subtracted from the slow wave recording. The algorithm was validated using signal to noise ratio (SNR) and Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) on synthetic signals and SNR with experimental recordings. With synthetic data, SNR and PCC, improved by 7.29±1.14 dB and 0.23±0.15. With experimental data SNR improved by 2.66±0.60 dB. This method improves the slow wave signal content revealing a more accurate estimate of the slow wave morphology. The application of this method will lead to improved analysis of slow wave recordings to understand gut function.
Chinese Researchers in the Journal of Travel Research (2011–2016): A Content Analysis

ABSTRACT This research aims to identify the recent research trends of Chinese scholarship in tourism. In this study, a systematic review of articles from the Journal of Travel Research from 2011 to 2016 is conducted. A content analysis is also conducted on the five major aspects of the articles, namely, the publication trend, important scholars and their collaboration, knowledge base of the studies, most influential research and, most importantly, the major research themes. The findings affirm a growing trend of Chinese scholarship in tourism, an imbalanced distribution of Chinese scholars and their cooperation with each other, top tier journals as the knowledge base, eTourism’s prominence in influential studies, and five major research areas. Finally, implications for future studies are presented.
Changes in Cross‐Sectional Area of Psoas Major Muscle in Unilateral Sciatica Caused by Disc Herniation

Study Design. A clinical prospective cohort study of 15 healthy volunteers and 25 patients with unilateral sciatica from single‐level disc herniation. Objectives. To detect any changes in the cross‐sectional area of the psoas major muscle in patients with single‐level (lateral to mediolateral) disc herniation causing unilateral sciatica. Summary of Background Data. The exact role of the psoas major muscle in the origin of low back pain and sciatica has not been clarified. Methods. Fifteen healthy volunteers and 25 patients with unilateral sciatica from single‐level disc herniation were subjected to magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine. The cross‐section area of the psoas major muscle on either side was recorded, and differences were noted. In patients, the cross‐section area of either side was compared with and duration of sciatica was related to changes in the cross‐section area. Results. Insignificant variation in the cross‐section area of the psoas major was observed in volunteers. In the patient group, significant reduction in the cross‐section area of the psoas major was observed at the level and the site of the disc herniation. A significant correlation between cross‐section area of the psoas major and ipsilateral continuous sciatica was found. There was no relation between the reduction of the cross‐section area and the amount of disc herniation. Conclusion. The cross‐section area of the psoas major is ipsilaterally decreased in unilateral lumbar disc herniation. The reduction in cross‐section area is positively correlated with the duration of continuous sciatica.
A synchronous wrapper for high-speed heterogeneous systems on FPGAs

Taking advantage of synchronous and asynchronous paradigms, a new style of design, called Globally Synchronous Locally Asynchronous (GSLA), has achieved very interesting results. In this paper, we propose a synchronous wrapper that allows the communication of “synchronous to asynchronous to synchronous” modules. Internally, the proposed interface comprises an asynchronous module. The GSLA design style is interesting for Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platforms because it facilitates the design of Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC). Through two case studies, the “differential equation solver” and the “FIR Filter”, we show that the proposed synchronous wrapper presents a reduction of up to 27% in the processing time and an increase of up to 747% in the global clock rate when compared with the synchronous design.
CHARMM‐GUI Membrane Builder toward realistic biological membrane simulations

CHARMM‐GUI Membrane Builder, http://www.charmm‐gui.org/input/membrane, is a web‐based user interface designed to interactively build all‐atom protein/membrane or membrane‐only systems for molecular dynamics simulations through an automated optimized process. In this work, we describe the new features and major improvements in Membrane Builder that allow users to robustly build realistic biological membrane systems, including (1) addition of new lipid types, such as phosphoinositides, cardiolipin (CL), sphingolipids, bacterial lipids, and ergosterol, yielding more than 180 lipid types, (2) enhanced building procedure for lipid packing around protein, (3) reliable algorithm to detect lipid tail penetration to ring structures and protein surface, (4) distance‐based algorithm for faster initial ion displacement, (5) CHARMM inputs for P21 image transformation, and (6) NAMD equilibration and production inputs. The robustness of these new features is illustrated by building and simulating a membrane model of the polar and septal regions of E. coli membrane, which contains five lipid types: CL lipids with two types of acyl chains and phosphatidylethanolamine lipids with three types of acyl chains. It is our hope that CHARMM‐GUI Membrane Builder becomes a useful tool for simulation studies to better understand the structure and dynamics of proteins and lipids in realistic biological membrane environments. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Gender Diversity in Corporate Firms: A Literature Review

Gender diversity in the corporate firms, both at the board level and at the employee level, is getting greater attention from regulators and decision makers at corporate level. Many studies have examined different aspects associated with this phenomenon and the results are also positive. In this paper, we reviewed the current state of research on gender diversity covering both theoretical aspects and empirical results. Our scope of study is to understand the implications of these studies on firm owners, managers and the policy makers while making decisions and help them with an update and provide a direction in making gender related decisions. This paper examines the different theories that explain the difference between men and women and reviews the empirical work done with respect to women top executives with respect to company performance, firm value and corporate decisions.
Search+: A resource efficient Peer-to-Peer service discovery mechanism

A recent feasibility study suggests that a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) will be central within the NATO Network Enabled Capabilities information infrastructure. An important element of a SOA is the service discovery process, but existing solutions are not sufficient in military networks. We suggest to use a robust Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network as a complement. Unfortunately, available P2P search algorithms have high bandwidth requirements which cannot be supported by low-bandwidth links in tactical networks. This paper describes a new search algorithm named Search+ which is designed for tactical networks with limited bandwidth resources. The evaluation of Search+ presented in this paper shows that it outperforms existing search algorithms in terms of bandwidth consumption while achieving comparable search success rates.
Dysphagia in Patients With Dementia: Alzheimer Versus Vascular

Patients with dementia develop dysphagia some time during the clinical course of their disease. The aim of this study was to compare the swallowing functions of the 2 most common types of dementia: Alzheimer disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD). Videofluoroscopic swallowing studies of the 2 patient groups were analyzed according to various oral, pharyngeal, and laryngeal variables of swallowing. The results indicate that there are some different patterns of swallowing disorders. The AD patients were significantly more impaired in “oral transit delay over 5 seconds” with liquids (χ2=7.065, df=1, P=0.008), whereas the VaD patients showed more deficits in “bolus formation and mastication” of semisolid food (χ2=4.64, df=1, P=0.039), “hyolaryngeal excursion” (χ2=4.102, df=1, P=0.043), “epiglottic inversion” (χ2=4.612, df=1, P=0.032), and “silent aspiration” (χ2=6.258, df=1, P=0.011). These results could indicate that the swallowing disorders of the AD group may result from sensory impairment in relation to dysfunctions in the temporoparietal areas, whereas the swallowing disorders of VaD group may primarily be caused by motor impairments due to disruptions in the corticobulbar tract. This study is noteworthy because it is one of the first attempts to differentiate between the swallowing symptoms of AD and VaD patients. A further study that includes patients with more severe degree of dementia (eg, patients over clinical dementia rating 3) might delineate additional discriminating swallowing patterns between the 2 dementia groups. In addition, a follow-up study exploring various kinematic characteristics of dysphagia would address physiologic issues of swallowing disorders as related to one of the most important clinical variables, laryngeal aspiration in the 2 dementia groups.