Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rubella vaccines: past, present and future

The association between rubella in pregnancy and congenital anomalies was first reported 50 years ago, by N. McAlister Gregg, an Australian ophthalmologist [1]. During the next 20 years his findings were confirmed by others (reviewed in [2]). However, the first reports of the isolation of rubella virus in cell cultures and development of tests for neutralizing antibodies were not published until 1962 [3, 4]. Subsequent studies conducted in the UK and North America during a pandemic of rubella in 1963–4, were therefore able to make a more accurate estimate of the risks of maternal rubella at different stages of pregnancy. It was estimated that about 30000 rubella-damaged babies were born in the USA alone in 1963–4 [5]. This emphasized the importance of developing a vaccine to prevent infection in pregnancy and thereby, the birth of babies with rubella-induced congenital defects.
Clinical evaluation of renal function.

Current clinical practice requires that the physician understand and evaluate renal function. Traditionally, the functions of the kidney have been considered as being either glomerular or tubular; modern concepts of renal physiology would require the inclusion of endocrine and metabolic functions as well. The intent of this discussion is to review current methods of evaluating renal tubular and glomerular function.
Expansion of class-J power amplifiers into inverse mode operation

In this paper, inverse mode operation of class-J amplifier is introduced. Performances such as dc power dissipation, ac output power, and drain efficiency of the inverse mode class-J are compared with the ones of regular class-J operation. Because of the reduced overshoot in the drain current, the minimum drain voltage in inverse class-J mode can be lowered, so that the output power and drain efficiency are improved. The analysis shows that better efficiency is achieved as the minimum drain voltage is lowered below the knee voltage. For the verification, class-J and inverse class-J power amplifiers at 900 MHz are implemented. The experimental results show that the efficiency of the inverse class-J amplifier is 66.2% whereas the conventional class-J operation shows 61.2%. This work is expected to be useful for the design of efficient power amplifiers with reasonable linearity.
Growth factors and tendon healing

Recent attention has focused on the biological pathways by which tendons heal leading to the identification of some growth factors (GFs) with involvement in this process. No studies have been published on the time course of the various GFs during tendon healing process in vivo, in humans. We review what is known about these GFs and their role in tendon healing.
Continuous EEG Monitoring in the Intensive Care Unit: An Overview

Due to technological advances, it is now feasible to record continuous digital EEG (CEEG), with or without video, in critically ill patients and review recordings remotely. Nonconvulsive seizures (NCSzs) are more common than previously recognized and are associated with worse outcome. The majority of seizures in ICU patients are nonconvulsive and will be missed without CEEG. Factors associated with an increased risk for NCSzs include coma, prior clinical seizures, CNS infection, brain tumor, recent neurosurgery, and periodic epileptiform discharges. In addition to detecting seizures, CEEG is also useful for characterizing paroxysmal spells such as posturing or autonomic changes, detecting ischemia, assessing level of sedation, following long-term EEG trends, and prognosticating. Most NCSzs will be detected in the first 24 hours of CEEG in noncomatose patients, but longer recording periods may be required in comatose patients or in those with periodic epileptiform discharges. EEG patterns in encephalopathic or comatose patients are often equivocal. How aggressively to treat NCSzs and equivocal EEG patterns in these patients is unclear and requires further research. Real-time detection of ischemia at a reversible stage is technologically feasible with CEEG and should be developed into a practical form for prevention of in-hospital infarction in the near future.
Effects of a classroom-based weight-control intervention on cardiovascular disease in elementary-school obese children.

BACKGROUND Childhood obesity has become a growing public health issue in Taiwan. Obese children have risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In this prospective study, we investigated the effect of a twelve-week heart health education and physical activity program on body weight and risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. METHODS Subjects were 120 obese fifth graders (65 boys and 55 girls, aged 10-13 years (mean 10.6 yrs), body mass index (BMI) at the 95th percentile or more) and were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n=60) or control group (n=60). The intervention group received a twelve-week heart health education and physical activity program, while the control group did not. In both groups, a series of examinations were done at baseline and post-test, including height, weight, BMI, body fat, blood pressure (BP), physical fitness (800-meter running test), heart health knowledge, and serum biochemistry. Differences for baseline and post-test data were compared between both groups. RESULTS Mean changes in the intervention group versus control group were significant for weight (P = 0.024), BMI (P = 0.047), percentage body fat (P = 0.008), physical fitness (800-meter running test) (P = 0.025), heart health knowledge (P = 0.006), total cholesterol (P = 0.027), triglycerides (P = 0.018), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (P = 0.009), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (P = 0.041), sugar (P = 0.035), insulin (P = 0.007), and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (P = 0.028). At post-test, weight, BMI, body fat, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-C, sugar, insulin and HOMA-IR had decreased, but HDL-C had increased in the intervention group. CONCLUSIONS A classroom-based weight-control intervention provides educational programs to promote cardiovascular health in children. This intervention is simple, practical, and beneficial for elementary school children.
Early human embryo metabolism

Non‐invasive microanalytical methods have been devised to study the energy metabolism of single human preimplantation embryos. Psyruvate, which is added routinely to all media used to culture human embryos, is consumed throughout the preimplantation period, with glucose assuming an increasing role at embryo compaction and blastocyst formation. All of the glucose consumed may be accounted for by the appearance of lactate in the incubation medium. The enzyme hexokinase my be involved in regulating this aerobic glycolysis. There is cosiderable indirect evidence for the utilisation of endogenous as opposed to exogenous energy substrates, the most likely candidate being protein. Information on early human embryo metabolismis likely to find application in a number of areas: these include the improvement of techniques for assisted human conception, notably in the selection of embryos for transfer following In Vitro Fertilisation; the diagnosis of gentic defects at the preimplantation stage; increased undersding of the causes of implantation failure and miscarriage, and the development of novel post‐coital contraceptives.
Dimenhydrinate in Pregnancy.

Letters are welcomed and will be published as space permits. Like other material submitted for publication, they should be typewritten double spaced should be of reasonable length, and will be subject to the usual editing The accuracy of statements of fact contained in thesc letters is the responsibility of the correspondent Views expressed in Letters to the Journal are those of the writers concerned and are NOT to be interpreted as the opinions of The Canadian Medical Association or of the editors.
A Sliding Surface-Regulated Current-Mode Pulse-Width Modulation Controller for a Digital Signal Processor-Based Single Ended Primary Inductor Converter-Type Power Factor Correction Rectifier

To efficiently supply wide-range DC voltage from a pulse-width modulation (PWM) rectifier, this paper presents a single-phase, full-wave, diode-bridge, single-ended primary-inductor converter-type (SEPIC-type) power-factor-correction (PFC) rectifier in continuous conduction mode with a sliding surface-regulated current-mode PWM controller. According to the switched-mode operation of the rectifier, a fourth-order switch model of the SEPIC is derived. From the fourth-order model, a simplified state-averaged model which approximately describes the dynamic behaviors of both the output voltage and inductor current is proposed. Then, from the simplified state-averaged model, the sliding surface-regulated current-mode PWM controller for the SEPIC-type PFC rectifier is proposed. The sliding surface-regulated current-mode PWM controller comprises a sliding-mode voltage controller in outer loop for robust control of the output DC-voltage and a sliding-mode current controller in inner loop for phase-synchronized control of the inductor current. For experimental studies, implementation of the proposed control algorithm in a DSP controller and a laboratory prototype of the SEPIC-type rectifier with the DSP-based PWM controller were carried out. Experimental results from the DSP controller-applied SEPIC-type rectifier are illustrated to confirm the validity of the proposed controller for practical applications.
Simultaneous Protection Against Allograft Rejection and Graft-Versus-Host Disease After Total Lymphoid Irradiation: Role of Natural Killer T Cells

Background. The use of combined organ and bone marrow transplantation has been studied extensively in rodent models to induce immune tolerance to organ grafts. However, bone marrow transplants with mature donor T cells can induce graft-versus-host disease even in human leukocyte antigen–matched humans. We determined whether total lymphoid irradiation can simultaneously protect against graft-versus-host disease while facilitating tolerance. Methods. To more closely model clinical studies, we added mature donor T cells to bone marrow grafts combined with heart grafts, and compared murine graft and host survival after conditioning with nonmyeloablative total body or total lymphoid irradiation and depletive anti-T-cell antibodies. Results. Conditioning with total lymphoid irradiation protected hosts against both graft-versus-host disease and organ graft rejection. Although nonmyeloblative total body irradiation prevented organ graft rejection, all hosts succumbed to lethal graft-versus host disease. Induction of tolerance with total lymphoid irradiation and anti-T-cell antibodies was dependent on the presence of regulatory host natural killer T cells, and expression of CD1d on donor marrow but not heart graft cells. Conclusion. Conditioning with total lymphoid irradiation and anti-T-cell antibodies prevented host-versus-donor and donor-versus-host alloimmune responses. Tolerance required host natural killer T-cell recognition of CD1d on donor marrow cells.
Genetic variants in the UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 gene predict the risk of severe neutropenia of irinotecan.

PURPOSE Severe toxicity is commonly observed in cancer patients receiving irinotecan. UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 (UGT1A1) catalyzes the glucuronidation of the active metabolite SN-38. This study prospectively evaluated the association between the prevalence of severe toxicity and UGT1A1 genetic variation. PATIENTS AND METHODS Sixty-six cancer patients with advanced disease refractory to other treatments received irinotecan 350 mg/m(2) every 3 weeks. Toxicity and pharmacokinetic data were measured during cycle 1. UGT1A1 variants (-3279G>T, -3156G>A, promoter TA indel, 211G>A, 686C>A) were genotyped. RESULTS The prevalence of grade 4 neutropenia was 9.5%. Grade 4 neutropenia was much more common in patients with the TA indel 7/7 genotype (3 of 6 patients; 50%) compared with 6/7 (3 of 24 patients; 12.5%) and 6/6 (0 of 29 patients; 0%) (P =.001). The TA indel genotype was significantly associated with the absolute neutrophil count nadir (7/7 < 6/7 < 6/6, P =.02). The relative risk of grade 4 neutropenia was 9.3 (95% CI, 2.4 to 36.4) for the 7/7 patients versus the rest of the patients. Pretreatment total bilirubin levels (mean +/- standard deviation) were significantly higher in patients with grade 4 neutropenia (0.83 +/- 0.08 mg/dL) compared to those without grade 4 neutropenia (0.47 +/- 0.03 mg/dL; P <.001). The -3156G>A variant seemed to distinguish different phenotypes of total bilirubin within the TA indel genotypes. The -3156 genotype and the SN-38 area under the concentration versus time curve were significant predictors of ln(absolute neutrophil count nadir; r(2) = 0.51). CONCLUSION UGT1A1 genotype and total bilirubin levels are strongly associated with severe neutropenia, and could be used to identify cancer patients predisposed to the severe toxicity of irinotecan. The hypothesis that the -3156G>A variant is a better predictor of UGT1A1 status than the previously reported TA indel requires further testing.
Occupational Pesticide Exposures and Cancer Risk: A Review

A review of the epidemiological literature linking pesticides to cancers in occupational studies worldwide was conducted, with particular focus on those articles published after the release of IARC Monograph 53 (1991): Occupational Exposures in Insecticide Applications and Some Pesticides. Important new data are now available. Chemicals in every major functional class of pesticides including insecticides, herbicide, fungicides, and fumigants have been observed to have significant associations with an array of cancer sites. Moreover, associations were observed with specific chemicals in many chemical classes of pesticides such as chlorinated, organophosphate, and carbamate insecticides and phenoxy acid and triazine herbicides. However, not every chemical in these classes was found to be carcinogenic in humans. Twenty-one pesticides identified subsequent to the last IARC review showed significant exposure-response associations in studies of specific cancers while controlling for major potential confounders. This list is not an exhaustive review and many of these observations need to be evaluated in other epidemiological studies and in conjunction with data from toxicology and cancer biology. Nonetheless, it is reasonable and timely for the scientific community to provide a multidisciplinary expert review and evaluation of these pesticides and their potential to produce cancer in occupational settings.
Theoretical and Research Advances In Understanding the Causes of Juvenile Offending NancyG

Harris, K. ,Florey,F. ,Tabor,J., Bearman,P.5. , Jones, J., & Udry, J. R. (2003). The national longitudinal study of adolescenthealth: Researchdesign [Electronic version]. Retrieved July 10, 2006, from www.cpc. unc.edu/projects/addhealth/ design Johnston, L. , O'Malley,P.,Bachman,J., & Schulenberg, J. (2006). Monitoringthe future: National survey results on drug use, 1975-2005: Vol.I. Secondary school students2005.Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse. Messner, S. F. , Raffalovich, L. E. , & McMillan, R. (2001). Economic deprivation and changes in homicide arrest rates for white and black youth, 19671998: A national level time-series analysis. Criminology,16, 21-44. Moffitt, T. E. (2004). Adolescence-limited and life-course persistent offending: A complementary pair of developmental theories. In T. P. Thornberry (Ed.), Developmental theoriesof crime and delinquency(pp. 11-54). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. Newman, K.S. ,Fox,c. , Harding, D. ,Mehta, J., & Roth,W. (2004). Rampage:The socialrootsof schoolshootings.New York: Basic Books. Reiman, J. (2004). The rich get richer and the poor get prison. Boston: Pearson. Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (2004). A life-course theory of cumulative disadvantage and the stability of delinquency. In T.P.Thornberry (Ed.),Developmentaltheoriesof crime and delinquency(pp.133-161). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (2005). Developmental criminology and its discontents: Trajectories of crime from childhood to old age. The Annals of the AmericanAcademyof Political and SocialSciencesSeries,602, 12-45. Snyder, H. N. , & Sickmund, M. (2006). Juvenile offendersand victims: 2006 national report. Washington, DC: National Center for Juvenile Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Thornberry, T. P. (Ed.). (2004). Developmental theoriesof crime and delinquency. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. Thornberry, T. P., & Krohn, M. (Eds.). (2003). Taking stock of delinquency: An overview of findings from contemporary longitudinal studies. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum. U.S.Departmentof Health and Human Services. (2001). Youthviolence:A report of thesurgeongeneral.Washington, DC: Author. Zimring, F. E. (1998). Americanyouth violence. New York: Oxford University Press. Theoretical and Research Advances In Understanding the Causes of Juvenile Offending
Are Species’ Range Limits Simply Niche Limits Writ Large? A Review of Transplant Experiments beyond the Range

Many species’ range limits (RL) occur across continuous environmental gradients without obvious barriers imposing them. Such RL are expected to reflect niche limits (NL) and thus to occur where populations cease to be self-sustaining. Transplant experiments comparing fitness within and beyond species’ ranges can test this hypothesis, but interpretive power depends strongly on experimental design. We first identify often overlooked aspects of transplant design that are critical to establishing the causes of RL, especially incorporating transplant sites at, and source populations from, the range edge. We then conduct a meta-analysis of published beyond-range transplant experiments ( tests). Most tests (75%) found that performance declined beyond the range, with the strongest declines detected when the measure of performance was lifetime fitness (83%), suggesting that RL commonly involve niche constraints (declining habitat quality). However, only 46% supported range limits occurring at NL; 26% (mostly geographic RL) fell short of NL with self-sustaining transplants beyond the range, and 23% (all elevational RL) exceeded NL with range-edge populations acting as demographic sinks. These data suggest an important but divergent role for dispersal, which may commonly constrain geographic distributions while extending elevational limits. Meta-analysis results also supported the importance of biotic interactions at RL, particularly the long-held assertion of their role in causing low-elevation and equatorial limits.
Correction: Correlation between National Influenza Surveillance Data and Google Trends in South Korea

In the third sentence of the second paragraph of the Methods, Korean characters were inadvertently changed to questions marks during the typesetting process. The publisher apologizes for the error. The correct sentence is: "Using the survey results, the definition of ILI and meetings of the authors, we picked 12 queries: new influenza (신종인플루엔자 in Korean), influenza (인플루엔자), new flu (신종플루), flu (플루), swine flu (돼지독감), bird flu (조류독감), H1N1 (H1N1), bad cold (독감), Tamiflu (타미플루), fever (열), cough (기침), and sore throat (인후통). "
Disulfide-mediated Oligomerization of Peripherin/Rds and Rom-1 in Photoreceptor Disk Membranes

Peripherin/Rds is a tetraspanning membrane protein that has been implicated in photoreceptor outer segment morphogenesis and inherited retinal degenerative diseases. Together with the structurally related protein, Rom-1, it forms a complex along the rims of rod and cone disc membranes. We have compared the oligomeric structure of these proteins from nonreduced and dithiothreitol reduced membranes by velocity sedimentation, SDS-gel electrophoresis, immunoaffinity chromatography, and chemical cross-linking. Under reducing conditions peripherin/Rds and Rom-1 existed as homomeric and heteromeric core complexes devoid of intermolecular disulfide bonds. Under nonreducing conditions core complexes associated through intermolecular disulfide bonds to form oligomers. One intermediate-size oligomer contained monomers and disulfide-linked dimers of peripherin/Rds and Rom-1, while larger oligomers consisted only of disulfide-linked peripherin/Rds dimers when analyzed on nonreducing SDS gels. Consistent with this result, disc membranes contained twice as much peripherin/Rds as Rom-1. Peripherin/Rds individually expressed in COS-1 cells also formed disulfide-linked oligomers bridged through Cys-150 residues, whereas Rom-1 showed little tendency to form oligomers. These results indicate that peripherin/Rds and Rom-1 associate noncovalently to form multisubunit core complexes. Peripherin/Rds containing core complexes interact through specific intermolecular disulfide bonds to form oligomers which may play a crucial role in photoreceptor disc morphogenesis and retinal degenerative diseases.
Case-mix adjustment: making bad apples look good.

To the Editor. —Dr Salem-Schatz and colleagues have done admirable work investigating the influence of case-mix adjustment on physician profiles. 1 Readers should be aware, however, that case-mix adjustment may make bad apples look good. It is important to step back and consider the rationale for adjusting physician profiles in general. Adjustment is a mechanism to control for factors that confound the relationship between physician and practice style. Ideally, the intent is to remove the effect of exogenous factors (ie, those in which the physician has no influence). Age and sex adjustment serves as the classic example. On the other hand, it is important not to adjust away endogenous factors (ie, those that the physician can influence). For example, it would be silly to adjust physician profiles for physician income. In the private sector, at least, one would be adjusting for a factor that is strongly related to what one
Melatonin inhibits paraquat‐induced cell death in bovine preimplantation embryos

Preimplantation embryos are sensitive to oxidative stress‐induced damage that can be caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) originating from normal embryonic metabolism and/or the external surroundings. Paraquat (PQ), a commonly used pesticide and potent ROS generator, can induce embryotoxicity. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of melatonin on PQ‐induced damage during embryonic development in bovine preimplantation embryos. PQ treatment significantly reduced the ability of bovine embryos to develop to the blastocyst stage, and the addition of melatonin markedly reversed the developmental failure caused by PQ (20.9% versus 14.3%). Apoptotic assay showed that melatonin pretreatment did not change the total cell number in blastocysts, but the incidence of apoptotic nuclei and the release of cytochrome c were significantly decreased. Using real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis, we found that melatonin pre‐incubation significantly altered the expression levels of genes associated with redox signaling, particularly by attenuating the transcript level of Txnip and reinforcing the expression of Trx. Furthermore, melatonin pretreatment significantly reduced the expression of the pro‐apoptotic caspase‐3 and Bax, while the expression of the anti‐apoptotic Bcl‐2 and XIAP was unaffected. Western blot analysis showed that melatonin protected bovine embryos from PQ‐induced damage in a p38‐dependent manner, but extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK) and c‐JUN N‐terminal kinase (JNK) did not appear to be involved. Together, these results identify an underlying mechanism by which melatonin enhances the developmental potential of bovine preimplantation embryos under oxidative stress conditions.