Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ameliorating Effects of Curcumin and Propolis against the Reproductive Toxicity of Gentamicin in Adult Male Guinea Pigs: Quantitative Analysis and Morphological Study

Infertility is a growing worldwide problem and about half of the causes could be traced in male partner. Aim of the work: the present work aimed to study propolis and curcumin for their potential ameliorative effects on reproductive toxicity induced by gentamicin in guinea pigs from morphological and quantitative aspects. Materials and methods: 36 guinea pigs were used for this study and divided into 6 groups. The first 3 groups were control (normal control, curcumin administered, and propolis administered), the 4th group was the experimental and administered gentamicin at a dose of 5 mg/kg body wt for 10 days, and in the 5th and 6th groups, gentamicin was co-administered with propolis and curcumin at the doses of 50 mg, and 10 mg/kg body wt respectively. The animals were sacrificed and the testes were dissected out from which specimens were obtained. The specimens were processed for light microscopic examinations and quantitative analysis. Blood samples were obtained for assessment of plasma testosterone level. Results: Structurally, in gentamicin treated animals, the seminiferous tubules showed sloughing of the germinal epithelium into lumen where sperms were few. The basement membrane appeared thick, irregular and degenerated. Wide interstitial spaces with few Leydig cells were observed. From the quantitative aspect, the percent of volume density and absolute volume of seminiferous tubules were significantly reduced. Also, the diameter, total length, and total surface area of seminiferous tubules were significantly reduced. The numbers of Sertoli cells, round spermatids and daily sperm production per testis and per gram of testicular tissue were significantly decreased in gentamicin treated guinea pigs. As regard to endocrine part of the testis, the percent of volume density of Leydig cell nuclei, the total number of Leydig cells, and plasma testosterone level were significantly decreased in gentamicin treated guinea pigs. With co-administration of propolis and curcumin, the structure of seminiferous tubules improved and their lumens were full of bundles of sperms. Also, all the parameters of seminiferous tubules and total numbers of Sertoli cells, round spermatids, daily sperm production and Leydig cells were ameliorated significantly as compared to gentamicin treated animals. Also, the testosterone level was improved. Conclusion: It can be concluded that, the gentamicin even at therapeutic dose can have adverse impacts on male reproduction. Administration of propolis or curcumin can ameliorate these effects. So, the patients while treated by gentamicin should be advised to use one of them.
Cervical cancer in women with comprehensive health care access: attributable factors in the screening process.

BACKGROUND Invasive cervical cancer is highly preventable, yet it continues to occur, even among women who have access to cancer screening and treatment services. To reduce cervical cancer among such women, reasons for its occurrence must be better understood. We examined factors associated with the diagnosis of cervical cancer among women enrolled in health plans. METHODS We identified all cases of invasive cervical cancer (n = 833) diagnosed from January 1, 1995, through December 31, 2000, among women who were long-term members of seven prepaid comprehensive health plans and reviewed each woman's medical records for the 3 years prior to her cancer diagnosis. Women were classified into one of three categories based on Pap test histories 4-36 months before diagnosis: failure to screen with a Pap test, failure in detection by a Pap test, or failure in follow-up of an abnormal test result. RESULTS The majority of cases (n = 464; 56%) were in women who had no Pap tests during the period 4-36 months prior to diagnosis. Of the remaining cases, 263 (32%) were attributed to Pap test detection failure and 106 (13%) to follow-up failure. Being older (odds ratio [OR] = 6.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.89 to 10.79) or living in an area of higher poverty (OR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.11 to 2.67) or having a lower education level (OR= 1.52; 95% CI = 1.07 to 2.16) was associated with the likelihood of being assigned to the failure to screen category versus either of the other two categories. A total of 375 (81%) of the 464 patients who had not had Pap screening had had at least one outpatient visit 4-36 months prior to cancer diagnosis. The cancer diagnostic process was triggered by a routine screening examination in 44% of patients, whereas 53% of the patients presented with symptoms consistent with cervical cancer; the remaining 3% were identified fortuitously during the course of receiving noncervical care. CONCLUSIONS To reduce the incidence of invasive cervical cancer among women with access to screening and treatment, Pap screening adherence should be increased. In addition, strategies to improve the accuracy of Pap screening could afford earlier detection of cervical cancer.
Impact of aerobic training on fitness and quality of life in multiple sclerosis

Fifty‐four multiple sclerosis (MS) patients were randomly assigned to exercise (EX) or nonexercise (NEX) groups. Before and after 15 weeks of aerobic training, aspects of fitness including maximal aerobic capacity (Vo2max), isometric strength, body composition, and blood lipids were measured. Daily activities, mood, fatigue, and disease status were measured by the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), and neurological examination. Training consisted of 3 × 40‐minute sessions per week of combined arm and leg ergometry. Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores were unchanged, except for improved bowel and bladder function in the EX group. Compared with baseline, the EX group demonstrated significant increases in Vo2max, upper and lower extremity strength, and significant decreases in skinfolds, triglyceride, and very‐low‐density lipoprotein (VLDL). For the EX group, POMS depression and anger scores were significantly reduced at weeks 5 and 10, and fatigue was reduced at week 10. The EX group improved significantly on all components of the physical dimension of the SIP and showed significant improvements for social interaction, emotional behavior, home management, total SIP score, and recreation and past times. No changes were observed for EX or NEX groups on the FSS. Exercise training resulted in improved fitness and had a positive impact on factors related to quality of life.
Intra-operative dosimetry of trans-rectal ultrasound guided 125I prostate implants using C-arm fluoroscopic images

Permanent implantation of radioactive seeds is a viable and effective therapeutic option widely used today for early-stage prostate cancer. The implant technique has improved considerably during the recent years due to the use of image guidance; however, real-time dose distributions would allow potential cold spots to be assessed and additional seeds added. In this study, we investigate the use of a conventional C-arm fluoroscopy unit for image acquisition and evaluation of dose distribution immediately after the implant. The phantom study indicates that it is possible to obtain seed positions within ±2 mm. A pilot study carried out with three patients indicated that it is possible to obtain seed positions and calculate the dose distribution with C-arm fluoroscopy and about 95% of the seeds were reconstructed within ±2 mm. The results could be further improved with better digital imaging.
Carnivore‐Livestock Conflicts: Effects of Subsidized Predator Control and Economic Correlates on the Sheep Industry

Abstract: Despite the importance of carnivores in terrestrial ecosystems, many nations have implemented well‐coordinated, state‐funded initiatives to remove predators, largely because of conflicts with humans over livestock. Although these control efforts have been successful in terms of the number of carnivores removed, their effects on the viability of the industries they seek to protect are less understood. I assessed the efficacy of long‐term efforts by the U.S. government to improve the viability of the sheep industry by reducing predation losses. I used regression analysis and hierarchical partitioning of a 60‐year data set to explore associations among changes in sheep numbers and factors such as predator control effort, market prices, and production costs. In addition, I compared trends in the sheep industry in the western United States, where predator control is subsidized and coyotes (Canis latrans) are abundant, with trends in eastern states that lack federally subsidized predator control and that were (1) colonized by coyotes before 1950 or (2) colonized by coyotes between 1950 and 1990. Although control efforts were positively correlated with fluctuations in sheep numbers, production costs and market prices explained most of the model variation, with a combined independent contribution of 77%. Trends in sheep numbers in eastern and western states were highly correlated (r ≥0.942) independent of the period during which they were colonized by coyotes, indicating either that control has been ineffective at reducing predation losses or that factors other than predation account for the declines in both regions. These results suggest that government‐subsidized predator control has failed to prevent the decline in the sheep industry and alternative support mechanisms need to be developed if the goal is to increase sheep production and not simply to kill carnivores.
A weighted message-passing algorithm to estimate volume-related properties of random polytopes

In this letter, we introduce a novel message-passing algorithm for a class of problems which can be mathematically understood as estimating volume-related properties of random polytopes. Unlike the usual approach consisting in approximating the real-valued cavity marginal distributions by a few parameters, we propose a weighted message-passing algorithm to deal with the entire function. Various alternatives of how to implement our approach are discussed and numerical results for random polytopes are compared with results using the Hit-and-Run algorithm.
Discrete Proteolysis of Focal Contact and Adherens Junction Components in Porphyromonas gingivalis-Infected Oral Keratinocytes: a Strategy for Cell Adhesion and Migration Disabling

ABSTRACT Adhesive interactions of cells are critical to tissue integrity. We show that infection with Porphyromonas gingivalis, a major pathogen in the periodontal disease periodontitis, interferes with both cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion in the oral keratinocyte cell line HOK-16. Thus, infected cells showed reduced adhesion to extracellular matrix, changes in morphology from spread to rounded, and impaired motility on purified matrices in Transwell migration assays and scratch assays. Western blot analysis of P. gingivalis-challenged HOK-16 cells revealed proteolysis of focal contact components (e.g., focal adhesion kinase), adherens junction proteins (e.g., catenins), and adhesion signaling molecules (e.g., the tyrosine kinase SRC). Proteolysis was selective, since important components of adherens junctions (E-cadherin) or signaling molecules (extracellular signal-regulated kinases ERK1/2) were not degraded. The virulence factors gingipains, cysteine proteinases expressed by P. gingivalis, are likely responsible for this proteolytic attack, since they directly digested specific proteins in pull-down experiments, and their proteolytic activity was blocked by the cysteine proteinase inhibitor N-α-p-tosyl-l-lysine chloromethyl ketone and also by a caspase inhibitor. Proteolysis was strain dependent, such that ATCC 33277 and 381 had high proteolytic potential, whereas W50 showed almost no proteolytic activity. These findings may help explain the formation of gingival pockets between cementum and periodontal epithelium, a hallmark of periodontitis. Furthermore, they illustrate a new pathogenetic paradigm of infection whereby bacteria may disrupt the integrity of epithelia.
The regulatory roles of NADPH oxidase, intra- and extra-cellular HSP70 in pancreatic islet function, dysfunction and diabetes.

The 70 kDa heat-shock protein (HSP70) family is important for a dynamic range of cellular processes that include protection against cell stress, modulation of cell signalling, gene expression, protein synthesis, protein folding and inflammation. Within this family, the inducible 72 kDa and the cognate 73 kDa forms are found at the highest level. HSP70 has dual functions depending on location. For example, intracellular HSP70 (iHSP70) is anti-inflammatory whereas extracellular HSP70 (eHSP70) has a pro-inflammatory function, resulting in local and systemic inflammation. We have recently identified a divergence in the levels of eHSP70 and iHSP70 in subjects with diabetes compared with healthy subjects and also reported that eHSP70 was correlated with insulin resistance and pancreatic β-cell dysfunction/death. In the present review, we describe possible mechanisms by which HSP70 participates in cell function/dysfunction, including the activation of NADPH oxidase isoforms leading to oxidative stress, focusing on the possible role of HSPs and signalling in pancreatic islet α- and β-cell physiological function in health and Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Protection against Murine Leukemia Virus-InducedSpongiform Myeloencephalopathy in Mice Overexpressing Bcl-2 butNot in Mice Deficient for Interleukin-6, Inducible NitricOxide Synthetase, ICE, Fas, Fas Ligand, or TNF-R1Genes

ABSTRACT Some murine leukemia viruses (MuLVs), among them Cas-Br-E and ts-1 MuLVs, are neurovirulent, inducing spongiform myeloencephalopathy and hind limb paralysis in susceptible mice. It has been shown that the env gene of these viruses harbors the determinant of neurovirulence. It appears that neuronal loss occurs by an indirect mechanism, since the target motor neurons have not been found to be infected. However, the pathogenesis of the disease remains unclear. Several lymphokines, cytokines, and other cellular effectors have been found to be aberrantly expressed in the brains of infected mice, but whether these are required for the development of the neurodegenerative lesions is not known. In an effort to identify the specific effectors which are indeed required for the initiation and/or development of spongiform myeloencephalopathy, we inoculated gene-deficient (knockout [KO]) mice with ts-1 MuLV. We show here that interleukin-6 (IL-6), inducible nitric oxide synthetase (iNOS), ICE, Fas, Fas ligand (FasL), and TNF-R1 KO mice still develop signs of disease. However, transgenic mice overexpressing Bcl-2 in neurons (NSE/Bcl-2) were largely protected from hind limb paralysis and had less-severe spongiform lesions. These results indicate that motor neuron death occurs in this disease at least in part by a Bcl-2-inhibitable pathway not requiring the ICE, iNOS, Fas/FasL, TNF-R1, and IL-6 gene products.
A study on protein sequence alignment quality

One of the most central methods in bioinformatics is the alignment of two protein or DNA sequences. However, so far large‐scale benchmarks examining the quality of these alignments are scarce. On the other hand, recently several large‐scale studies of the capacity of different methods to identify related sequences has led to new insights about the performance of fold recognition methods. To increase our understanding about fold recognition methods, we present a large‐scale benchmark of alignment quality. We compare alignments from several different alignment methods, including sequence alignments, hidden Markov models, PSI‐BLAST, CLUSTALW, and threading methods. For most methods, the alignment quality increases significantly at about 20% sequence identity. The difference in alignment quality between different methods is quite small, and the main difference can be seen at the exact positioning of the sharp rise in alignment quality, that is, around 15–20% sequence identity. The alignments are improved by using structural information. In general, the best alignments are obtained by methods that use predicted secondary structure information and sequence profiles obtained from PSI‐BLAST. One interesting observation is that for different pairs many different methods create the best alignments. This finding implies that if a method that could select the best alignment method for each pair existed, a significant improvement of the alignment quality could be gained. Proteins 2002;46:330–339. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Pharmacological Preconditioning Protects Lung Injury Induced by Intestinal Ischemia/Reperfusion in Rat

Intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) is a critical and triggering event in the development of distal organ dysfunction, frequently involving the lungs. Respiratory failure is a common cause of death and complications after intestinal I/R. Stress protein heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) confers the protection against a variety of oxidant-induced cell and tissue injuries. The aim of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that the induced HO-1 expression by pharmacological preconditioning with anticancer drug doxorubicin (Dox) could protect the lung injury induced by intestinal I/R. Intravenous administration of Dox induced HO-1 expression in the lungs and high levels of the expression were sustained at least to 48 h after the injection. Therefore, as pharmacological preconditioning, a low dose of Dox was injected intravenously into rats at 48 h before the start of intestinal ischemia. Rats underwent intestinal I/R by superior mesenteric artery occlusion for 120 min followed by 120 min of reperfusion. Preconditioning with Dox significantly ameliorated the lung injury induced by the intestinal I/R. Administration of a specific inhibitor of HO activity reduced the efficacy of the preconditioning. Our results suggest that this improvement may be mediated at least in part by the HO-1 induction. These findings may offer interesting perspectives for patient management in intestinal surgical operation and intestine transplantation.
Can arterial spin labeling detect white matter perfusion signal?

Since the invention of arterial spin labeling (ASL) it has been acknowledged that ASL does not allow reliable detection of a white matter (WM) perfusion signal. However, recent developments such as pseudo‐continuous labeling and background suppression have improved the quality. The goal of this research was to study the ability of these newer ASL sequences to detect WM perfusion signal. Background suppressed pseudo‐continuous ASL was implemented at 3T with multislice 2D readout after 1525 ms. In five volunteers it was shown that 10 min scanning resulted in significant perfusion signal in 70% of WM voxels. Increasing the labeling and delay time did not lead to a higher percentage. In 27 normal volunteers it was found that 35 averages are necessary to detect significant WM signal, but 150 averages are needed to detect signal in the deep WM. Finally, it was shown in a patient with a cerebral arteriovenous malformation that pseudo‐continuous ASL enabled the depiction of hypointense WM perfusion signal, although dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI showed that this region was merely showing delayed arrival of contrast agent than hypoperfusion. It can be concluded that, except within the deep WM, ASL is sensitive enough to detect WM perfusion signal and perfusion deficits. Magn Reson Med, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Roles for netrin signaling outside of axon guidance: A view from the worm

The Netrin family of extracellular ligands and their receptors were the first identified signaling pathway regulating axon guidance. Subsequent work across model systems has begun to reveal the interactions that take place downstream of Netrin reception to facilitate growth cone migration. Though intensely studied, many aspects of this signaling system remain unclear. Even less understood are the growing number of contexts in which Netrin signaling influences cells beyond axon guidance and even outside the nervous system. Genetic and cell‐biological studies in C. elegans have played an instrumental role in identifying critical functions for Netrin ligands in setting up specialized and potentially adhesive membrane‐associated domains within a broad range of cell types. Here we review recent literature implicating Netrin or its receptors in morphogenetic processes outside of growth cone regulation with a special focus on studies in C. elegans that suggest cell biological mechanisms for Netrin signaling. Developmental Dynamics 239:1296–1305, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Role of selection and gene flow in population differentiation at the edge vs. interior of the species range differing in climatic conditions

Evaluating the relative importance of neutral and adaptive processes as determinants of population differentiation across environments is a central theme of evolutionary biology. We applied the QST–FST comparison flanked by a direct test for local adaptation to infer the role of climate‐driven selection and gene flow in population differentiation of an annual grass Avena sterilis in two distinct parts of the species range, edge and interior, which represent two globally different climates, desert and Mediterranean. In a multiyear reciprocal transplant experiment, the plants of desert and Mediterranean origin demonstrated home advantage, and population differentiation in several phenotypic traits related to reproduction exceeded neutral predictions, as determined by comparisons of QST values with theoretical FST distributions. Thus, variation in these traits likely resulted from local adaptation to desert and Mediterranean environments. The two separate common garden experiments conducted with different experimental design revealed that two population comparisons, in contrast to multi‐population comparisons, are likely to detect population differences in virtually every trait, but many of these differences reflect effects of local rather than regional environment. We detected a general reduction in neutral (SSR) genetic variation but not in adaptive quantitative trait variation in peripheral desert as compared with Mediterranean core populations. On the other hand, the molecular data indicated intensive gene flow from the Mediterranean core towards desert periphery. Although species range position in our study (edge vs. interior) was confounded with climate (desert vs. Mediterranean), the results suggest that the gene flow from the species core does not have negative consequences for either performance of the peripheral plants or their adaptive potential.
A Practical Method for Muscles Extraction and Automatic Segmentation of Leg Magnetic Resonance Images

A method is introduced for leg muscles extraction and segmentation of MR images. For leg segmentation, an integrated algorithm is proposed for practical application. And the BPV (Block Pixel Variation) method is involved to adjust the inhomogeneity in the brightness distribution. Then the bones region is removed according to contours defined by the simplified deformable models. In addition, the spatial enclosing relationship between the tissue regions is abstracted as a feature for segmentation. Finally, the various noises remained in the ROI of the images are eliminated based on the specific models instead of filtering. The validity and accuracy are tested based on the MR images of legs, and the volumes of muscles are calculated accurately.