Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toenails as a Biomarker of Inorganic Arsenic Intake From Drinking Water and Foods

Toenails were used recently in epidemiological and environmental health studies as a means of assessing exposure to arsenic from drinking water. While positive correlations between toenail and drinking-water arsenic concentrations were reported in the literature, a significant percentage of the variation in toenail arsenic concentration remains unexplained by drinking-water concentration alone. Here, the influence of water consumption at home and work, food intake, and drinking-water concentration on toenail arsenic concentration was investigated using data from a case-control study being conducted in 11 counties of Michigan. The results from 440 controls are presented. Log-transformed drinking-water arsenic concentration at home was a significant predictor (p < .05) of toenail arsenic concentration (R 2 = .32). When arsenic intake from consumption of tap water and beverages made from tap water (μg/L arsenic × L/d = μg/d) was used as a predictor variable, the correlation was markedly increased for individuals with >1 μg/L arsenic (R 2 = .48). Increased intake of seafood and intake of arsenic from water at work were independently and significantly associated with increased toenail arsenic concentration. However, when added to intake at home, work drinking-water exposure and food intake had little influence on the overall correlation. These results suggest that arsenic exposure from drinking-water consumption is an important determinant of toenail arsenic concentration, and therefore should be considered when validating and applying toenails as a biomarker of arsenic exposure.
Every penny counts: comprehensive income value relevance from valuation, informational and forecasting perspectives

The present dissertation is organized in three studies and aims to investigate the value relevance of Comprehensive Income (CI) and Other Comprehensive Income (OCI) and OCI components from valuation, informational and forecasting perspectives compared to P&L (Profit or Loss) after the mandatory adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by Brazilian listed companies. Since FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board, the issuing body of the United States accounting standards) and the IASB (International Accounting Standards Board, the issuing body of IFRS) required the presentation of both P&L and OCI in the Financial Statements, based on the clean surplus theory, this topic drew attention of academics and practioners around the world. Clean surplus supporters argue that the financial statements prepared in accordance with this paradigm provide more useful information to stakeholders than its alternative (dirty surplus approach). The value relevance research of accounting data aims to examine the correlation between accounting information and the information used by investors to make economic decisions. The information can be considered relevant when it influences the decision making of users of financial statements by helping them predict future cash flows and/or confirm previous assumptions. Therefore, based on clean surplus and value relevance theories, the studies provides empirical evidence of clean surplus income measure (CI) value relevance compared to dirty surplus income measure (P&L) by examining the relative and incremental association of P&L, CI, OCI and OCI components with (i) share prices and (ii) share returns. Additionally, the forecasting ability of P&L, CI, OCI and OCI components to predict future OCF (Operating Cash Flows) and future P&L is empirically examined. The present study adopts existing well-established research models on value relevance and forecasting ability of P&L, CI, OCI and OCI components and develops additional statistical models based on those theories and concepts. This dissertation analyzes handcollected data for a sample of Brazilian companies listed on BMF&BOVESPA and comprises the period from 2010 to 2015. The results indicate that P&L is more value relevant than CI, even though CI provide value relevant information. However, the CI coefficient is lower than P&L coefficient. Although OCI does not provide incremental value relevant information, OCI components add incremental value relevant information compared to standalone P&L, especially adjustments in fair value of available-for-sale financial instruments, gains and losses from translating the financial statements of a foreign operation and adjustments in fair value of cash flow hedging instruments. The present dissertation provided additional insight to the ongoing discussion on value relevance of P&L, CI, OCI and OCI components in the research community, as well as on the standard setter level and contributed to fill, even partially, the lack of research on the issue in the Brazil.
Gastric antral motility in functional dyspepsia. Effect of mental stress and cisapride.

BACKGROUND Disordered gastric antral motor activity may be induced by mental stress. The effect of cisapride on these abnormalities has previously not been investigated. METHODS Ten healthy subjects and 19 patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) and erosive prepyloric changes participated in the study. Antral motility was recorded with real-time ultrasonography after ingestion of 500 ml meat soup during i) a 4-min rest period, ii) 2.5 min of mental stress, and iii) a 4-min recovery period. Patients and controls were studied after 3 days of treatment with 10 mg cisapride three times daily and placebo in a double-blind crossover design. RESULTS Mean postprandial amplitude of antral contractions was lower in patients than controls (p < 0.001). Antral amplitude was reduced by mental stress in healthy persons (p < 0.001) but not in patients. Both fasting and postprandial antral areas were larger in FD patients than controls (p < 0.001 and p = 0.02, respectively). Cisapride reduced the fasting (p < 0.001) and the postprandial (p = 0.05) antral area in the FD group but not in controls. The soup meal produced dyspeptic symptoms in 90% of the patients and in only 10% of the controls (p < 0.001). Cisapride had no significant effect on symptoms or antral contractions. CONCLUSIONS Mental stress induced antral hypomotility in healthy subjects but not in patients with FD who had reduced motility at base line. Cisapride reduced the enlarged fasting and postprandial antral areas in the patients but had no effect on amplitudes of antral contractions or symptoms.
The Second Coming

Over the course of the last two decades, drug treatment programming has become increasingly privatized in the U.S. correctional system. Drug treatment and related rehabilitative and reentry services are a multibillion dollar (USD) a year industry. In this article, I trace the origin of this transformation to an unlikely source: women’s prisons during the War on Drugs. Correctional facilities for women provided a useful testing ground for new models of carceral drug treatment at a time when rehabilitation was otherwise rejected by policy makers as too “soft” a response to crime and drug use. Gendered assumptions about punishment, rehabilitation, and addiction coupled with racial hierarchies governing punishment policies paved the way for private vendors to develop, market, and ultimately expand carceral drug treatment to a broad array of correctional venues and populations. To make this case, I analyze ethnographic data collected from one such private vendor and demonstrate how they utilized assumptions about gender and race to upend more traditional models of prison profiteering and pioneered the means through which rehabilitation could operate in service of profit.
Single-fraction stereotactic body radiotherapy for spinal metastases from renal cell carcinoma.

OBJECT Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has emerged as an important treatment option for spinal metastases from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) as a means to overcome RCC's inherent radioresistance. The authors reviewed the outcomes of SBRT for the treatment of RCC metastases to the spine at their institution, and they identified factors associated with treatment failure. METHODS Fifty-seven patients (88 treatment sites) with RCC metastases to the spine received single-fraction SBRT. Pain relief was based on the Brief Pain Inventory and was adjusted for narcotic use according to the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group protocol 0631. Toxicity was scored according to Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.0. Radiographic failure was defined as infield or adjacent (within 1 vertebral body [VB]) failure on follow-up MRI. Multivariate analyses were performed to correlate outcomes with the following variables: epidural, paraspinal, single-level, or multilevel disease (2-5 sites); neural foramen involvement; and VB fracture prior to SBRT. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards modeling were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS The median follow-up and survival periods were 5.4 months (range 0.3-38 months) and 8.3 months (range 1.5-38 months), respectively. The median time to radiographic failure and unadjusted pain progression were 26.5 and 26.0 months, respectively. The median time to pain relief (from date of simulation) and duration of pain relief (from date of treatment) were 0.9 months (range 0.1-4.4 months) and 5.4 months (range 0.1-37.4 months), respectively. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that multilevel disease (hazard ratio [HR] 3.5, p = 0.02) and neural foramen involvement (HR 3.4, p = 0.02) were correlated with radiographic failure; multilevel disease (HR 2.3, p = 0.056) and VB fracture (HR 2.4, p = 0.046) were correlated with unadjusted pain progression. One patient experienced Grade 3 nausea and vomiting; no other Grade 3 or 4 toxicities were observed. Twelve treatment sites (14%) were complicated by subsequent vertebral fractures. CONCLUSIONS Stereotactic body radiotherapy for RCC metastases to the spine offers fast and durable pain relief with minimal toxicity. Stereotactic body radiotherapy seems optimal for patients who have solitary or few spinal metastases. Patients with neural foramen involvement are at an increased risk for failure.
Who sets the agenda on student engagement

The rise in UK university fees has prompted significant investment in the student experience, with increased emphasis on an agenda that promotes student engagement and partnership. Government papers, both white and green, have set out a policymaking agenda and have led to a reorganisation of the UK higher education funding structures, with the dissolution of long-standing funding bodies into the Office for Students. This enshrines chapter B6 of the QAA UK quality code for higher education with regard to student engagement and would appear to be a positive move forward. However, the Office for Students has limited student representation and this raises the question: ‘Who sets this agenda and who are the stakeholders? ’ This opinion piece seeks both to highlight the necessity for a joint agenda-setting approach and to engage the community in developing a joint agenda on student engagement and partnership.
Vigorous hepatitis C virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses induced by protein immunization in the presence of Montanide ISA720 plus synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides containing immunostimulatory cytosine-guanine dinucleotide motifs.

BACKGROUND A prophylactic vaccine for hepatitis C virus (HCV) requires generation of strong humoral as well as CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell responses. METHODS The immunomodulatory effects of the combination of 2 adjuvants, synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides containing immunostimulatory cytosine-guanine dinucleotide motifs emulsified with Montanide ISA720 (M-ISA720/CpG), were investigated using the murine model. RESULTS Administration of recombinant HCV (rHCV) nonstructural (NS) 3 and NS5B proteins plus M-ISA720/CpG (hereafter, "M-ISA720/CpG/rHCV protein") induced high anti-NS3 and anti-NS5B immunoglobulin (Ig) G titers, with the IgG2a isotype being predominant. NS3- and NS5B-specific interferon (IFN)- gamma - and interleukin-2-producing CD4(+) T cell responses, as assessed by enzyme-linked immunospot assay, were significantly more vigorous in mice immunized with M-ISA720/CpG/rHCV protein than in control mice immunized without adjuvant. NS3- and NS5B-specific IFN- gamma -producing CD8(+) T cell percentages, as measured by direct ex vivo intracellular cytokine staining assay, were, respectively, a mean+/-SD of 0.14% +/- 0.04% and 0.15% +/- 0.05% in mice immunized with M-ISA720/CpG/rHCV protein. Furthermore, boosting with recombinant NS3 expression plasmid DNA after priming with M-ISA720/CpG-adjuvanted rNS3 strikingly enhanced both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell responses. CONCLUSION Immunization with M-ISA720/CpG/rHCV protein is capable of inducing potent humoral as well as HCV-specific T helper type 1-biased CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell responses. A DNA boost after a protein prime--a reversal of the conventional approach--may provide an alternative path to the development of an effective HCV vaccine.
Piperacillin/Tazobactam Plus Ceftazidime Versus Sulbactam/Ampicillin Plus Aztreonam as Empirical Therapy for Fever in Severely Neutropenic Pediatric Patients

Background The efficacy and safety of piperacillin/tazobactam plus ceftazidime (PIPC/TAZ+CAZ) versus sulbactam/ampicillin plus aztreonam (SBT/ABPC+AZT) as empirical therapy for febrile neutropenia were assessed in children with hematologic disease and solid tumor. Procedure A prospective randomized study was performed to evaluate the clinical response of 70 febrile episodes in the PIPC/TAZ+CAZ arm and 64 evaluable febrile episodes in the SBT/ABPC+AZT arm of the study. Clinical efficacy was evaluated at 120 hours, with treatment outcome criteria defined as follows. Success was defined as disappearance of fever, clinical improvement, eradication of the infecting organism, and maintenance of a response for at least 7 days after discontinuation of treatment. Results An infection was documented microbiologically in 14 episodes (20%) in the PIPC/TAZ+CAZ arm and in 8 episodes (13%) in the SBT/ABPC+AZT arm. The success rate was 57.1% in the PIPC/TAZ+CAZ arm and 62.5% in the SBT/ABPC+AZT arm (P>0.05). No major adverse effects were observed in the study. Conclusions PIPC/TAZ+CAZ and SBT/ABPC+AZT are effective and safe for initial empirical treatment of febrile episodes in neutropenic pediatric patients. The clinical efficacy of SBT/ABPC+AZT is equivalent or superior to that of PIPC/TAZ+CAZ, the effect of which is already proven against febrile neutropenia. Therefore, SBT/ABPC+AZT may be a treatment of choice for febrile neutropenia in pediatric cancer patients.
Remittances, Dutch Disease, and Manufacturing Growth in Developing Economies

Remittances have grown tremendously in magnitude and economic importance in the past four decades, providing economies with additional disposable incomes and even serving as buffers against economic downturns. It is thus but fitting to ask how remittances have impacted on growth, particularly on manufacturing growth. This note presents a simple model linking remittances and manufacturing growth via a &#8216;Dutch Disease&#8217; channel. Using Blundell and Bond's (1998) system general method of moments on a panel dataset of 56 developing economies from 1992 to 2016, we verify that remittances adversely affect manufacturing growth in economies that experience high real appreciation rates. This result is robust to alternate specifications, such as the inclusion of financial development indicators, the expansion of the sample to include high&#8208;income economies, and the use of different sample periods.
Nuclear and nucleoid localization are independently conserved functions in bacteriophage terminal proteins

Bacteriophage terminal proteins (TPs) prime DNA replication and become covalently linked to the DNA 5′‐ends. In addition, they are DNA‐binding proteins that direct early organization of phage DNA replication at the bacterial nucleoid and, unexpectedly, contain nuclear localization signals (NLSs), which localize them to the nucleus when expressed in mammalian cells. In spite of the lack of sequence homology among the phage TPs, these three properties share some common features, suggesting a possible evolutionary common origin of TPs. We show here that NLSs of three different phage TPs, Φ29, PRD1 and Cp‐1, are mapped within the protein region required for nucleoid targeting in bacteria, in agreement with a previously proposed common origin of DNA‐binding domains and NLSs. Furthermore, previously reported point mutants of Φ29 TP with no nuclear localization still can target the bacterial nucleoid, and Cp‐1 TP contains two independent NLSs, only one of them required for nucleoid localization. Altogether, our results show that nucleoid and nucleus localization sequence requirements partially overlap, but they can be uncoupled, suggesting that conservation of both features could have a common origin but, at the same time, they have been independently conserved during evolution.
Cell cycle arrest of a Caulobacter crescentus secA mutant

Cell differentiation is an inherent component of the Caulobacter crescentus cell cycle. The transition of a swarmer cell, with a single polar flagellum, into a sessile stalked cell includes several morphogenetic events. These include the release of the flagellum and pili, the proteolysis of chemotaxis proteins, the biogenesis of the polar stalk, and the initiation of DNA replication. We have isolated a group of temperature-sensitive mutants that are unable to complete this process at the restrictive temperature. We show here that one of these strains has a mutation in a homolog of the Escherichia coli secA gene, whose product is involved in protein translocation at the cell membrane. This C. crescentus secA mutant has allowed the identification of morphogenetic events in the swarmer-to-stalked cell transition that require SecA-dependent protein translocation. Upon shift to the nonpermissive temperature, the mutant secA swarmer cell is able to release the polar flagellum, degrade chemoreceptors, and initiate DNA replication, but it is unable to form a stalk, complete DNA replication, or carry out cell division. At the nonpermissive temperature, the cell cycle blocks prior to the de novo synthesis of flagella and chemotaxis proteins that normally occurs in the predivisional cell. Although interactions between the chromosome and the cytoplasmic membrane are believed to be a functional component of the temporal regulation of DNA replication, the ability of this secA mutant to initiate replication at the nonpermissive temperature suggests that SecA-dependent events are not involved in this process. However, both cell division and stalk formation, which is analogous to a polar division event, require SecA function.
Conserved Methylation Patterns of Human Papillomavirus Type 16 DNA in Asymptomatic Infection and Cervical Neoplasia

ABSTRACT DNA methylation contributes to the chromatin conformation that represses transcription of human papillomavirus type16 (HPV-16), which is prevalent in the etiology of cervical carcinoma. In an effort to clarify the role of this phenomenon in the regulation and carcinogenicity of HPV-16, 115 clinical samples were studied to establish the methylation patterns of the 19 CpG dinucleotides within the long control region and part of the L1 gene by bisulfite modification, PCR amplification, DNA cloning, and sequencing. We observed major heterogeneities between clones from different samples as well as between clones from individual samples. The methylation frequency of CpGs was measured at 14.5%. In addition, 0.21 and 0.23%, respectively, of the CpA and CpT sites, indicators of de novo methylation, were methylated. Methylation frequencies exceeded 30% in the CpGs overlapping with the L1 gene and were about 10% for most other positions. A CpG site located in the linker between two nucleosomes positioned over the enhancer and promoter of HPV-16 had minimal methylation. This region forms part of the HPV replication origin and is close to binding sites of master-regulators of transcription during epithelial differentiation. Methylation of most sites was highest in carcinomas, possibly due to tandem repetition and chromosomal integration of HPV-16 DNA. Methylation was lowest in dysplasia, likely reflecting the transcriptional activity in these infections. Our data document the efficient targeting of HPV genomes by the epithelial methylation machinery, possibly as a cellular defense mechanism, and suggest involvement of methylation in HPV oncogene expression and the early-late switch.
Fast DS-SS Acquisition Implementation for High Sensitivity Receivers

Pseudorandom codes are used in direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) receivers to synchronize the received signals with locally generated replica. A coarse synchronization called acquisition is followed by a finer synchronization, tracking. Both of these procedures bring received and replica signals to a small timing offset and find the residual frequency modulation which is left after carrier wipe-off. The acquisition stage is computationally challenging procedure for the receivers operating in weak signal conditions as the signal search space increases due to long integrations needed for high sensitivity. For example, these conditions can be observed indoors for satellite ranging and communication portable receivers. We present new very fast technique for acquiring signals indoors in conditions that require a significant number of computations. In our approach, many arithmetic operations are shared and external aid can be used to reduce the search space. Significant gains in arithmetic complexity are achieved
Effect of maternal iodine supplementation on thyroid function and birth outcome in goiter endemic areas

Abstract Objective: The study was undertaken to examine the clinical and endocrine parameters of thyroid in a total of 460 pregnant women belonging to non-goiter areas (group 1; n = 156) and endemic areas without (group 2; n = 154) and with iodine supplementation (group 3; n = 150), and their respective newborns. Methods: Women of group 3 with visible goiter were administered two capsules of iodized oil orally each containing 200 mg of iodine, from weeks 6--8 of pregnancy. Blood samples were obtained from all groups during each trimester, at parturition (umbilical cord blood) and after delivery. Serum triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels were measured by specific enzyme immunoassays. Results: In group 2, serum T4 concentrations were low while T3 and TSH levels were high which showed hypothyroidism in the women of endemic areas. Goiter size decreased in most of the subjects who received a single dose of iodized oil and resulted in increase in serum concentrations of thyroid hormones; whereas, TSH levels decreased. Iodine supplementation also resulted in raised T4 and low TSH levels in the cord blood of neonates. During the course of study, two abortions, three still births and one cretin were reported in group 2; none was reported in group 3; and one still birth was reported in group 1. Conclusions: The oral administration of a single dose of iodized oil is capable of correcting iodine deficiency both clinically and endocrinologically in mothers and neonates. Iodine supplementation has the potential to positively impact the birth weight of newborns.