Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Citation distribution profile in Brazilian journals of general medicine

ABSTRACT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Impact factors are currently the bibliometric index most used for evaluating scientific journals. However, the way in which they are used, for instance concerning the study or journal types analyzed, can markedly interfere with estimate reliability. This study aimed to analyze the citation distribution pattern in three Brazilian journals of general medicine. DESIGN AND SETTING: This was a descriptive study based on numbers of citations of scientific studies published by three Brazilian journals of general medicine. METHODS: The journals analyzed were São Paulo Medical Journal, Clinics and Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira. This survey used data available from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) platform, from which the total number of papers published in each journal in 2007-2008 and the number of citations of these papers in 2009 were obtained. From these data, the citation distribution was derived and journal impact factors (average number of citations) were estimated. These factors were then compared with those directly available from the ISI Journal of Citation Reports (JCR). RESULTS: Respectively, 134, 203 and 192 papers were published by these journals during the period analyzed. The observed citation distributions were highly skewed, such that many papers had few citations and a small percentage had many citations. It was not possible to identify any specific pattern for the most cited papers or to exactly reproduce the JCR impact factors. CONCLUSION: Use of measures like “impact factors”, which characterize citations through averages, does not adequately represent the citation distribution in the journals analyzed.
Cyclin-Specific Control of Ribosomal DNA Segregation

ABSTRACT Following chromosome duplication in S phase of the cell cycle, the sister chromatids are linked by cohesin. At the onset of anaphase, separase cleaves cohesin and thereby initiates sister chromatid separation. Separase activation results from the destruction of its inhibitor, securin, which is triggered by a ubiquitin ligase called the anaphase-promoting complex (APC). Here, we show in budding yeast that securin destruction and, thus, separase activation are not sufficient for the efficient segregation of the repetitive ribosomal DNA (rDNA). We find that rDNA segregation also requires the APC-mediated destruction of the S-phase cyclin Clb5, an activator of the protein kinase Cdk1. Mutations that prevent Clb5 destruction are lethal and cause defects in rDNA segregation and DNA synthesis. These defects are distinct from the mitotic-exit defects caused by stabilization of the mitotic cyclin Clb2, emphasizing the importance of cyclin specificity in the regulation of late-mitotic events. Efficient rDNA segregation, both in mitosis and meiosis, also requires APC-dependent destruction of Dbf4, an activator of the protein kinase Cdc7. We speculate that the dephosphorylation of Clb5-specific Cdk1 substrates and Dbf4-Cdc7 substrates drives the resolution of rDNA in early anaphase. The coincident destruction of securin, Clb5, and Dbf4 coordinates bulk chromosome segregation with segregation of rDNA.
Interferon regulatory factor 1 induces the expression of the interferon‐stimulated genes

The interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF‐1) is a positive transcriptional regulatory protein which acts in the interferon signal transduction pathway to activate the transcription of the type I interferon genes by binding to the PRDI response element. The aim of this study was to explore the role of IRF‐1 in regulating the expression of other interferon‐stimulated genes in the interferon signal transduction pathway. A transient transfection assay was used to show that IRF‐1 induced the expression of interferon‐stimulated genes. The induction was a direct result of IRF‐1 binding to the promoters of the interferon‐stimulated response element (ISRE). The levels of endogenous mRNA of two interferon‐stimulated genes, 6‐16 and 9‐27, were increased in cells containing increased levels of IRF‐1. In addition, IRF‐1 activates the expression of IRF‐2, a negative regulator of the type I interferon genes themselves. Two sequences were found in the IRF‐2 promoter which were the binding sites for IRF‐1. Mutations in the oligonucleotide sequences of these sites could abolish the binding of the IRF‐1. These data suggested that IRF‐1 not only plays an important role in the induction of type I interferon genes, but also in the activation of interferon‐stimulated genes.
Time course of recovery of adrenal function in children treated for leukemia.

OBJECTIVE Many protocols for treating children with early B-cell lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia use 28 consecutive days of high-dose glucocorticoids during induction therapy. We prospectively studied the effects of this therapy on adrenal function. STUDY DESIGN Ten children with early B-cell lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia were evaluated by cosyntropin (corticotropin (1-24)) stimulation testing before initiation of dexamethasone therapy and every 4 weeks thereafter until adrenal function returned to normal. RESULTS All 10 patients had normal adrenal function before dexamethasone treatment and insufficient adrenal responses 24 hours after completing therapy. Each child felt ill for 2 to 4 weeks after completing therapy. Although 7 patients recovered normal adrenal function after 4 weeks, 3 patients did not have normal adrenal function until 8 weeks after discontinuing therapy. Statistically significant differences in both basal and corticotropin-stimulated cortisol levels were noted when comparing tests performed at baseline, 24 hours after completing therapy, and 4 weeks after completing therapy. CONCLUSION High-dose dexamethasone therapy, a standard treatment for early B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, can cause adrenal insufficiency lasting more than 4 weeks after cessation of treatment. This problem might be avoided by tapering doses of glucocorticoids and providing supplemental glucocorticoids during periods of increased stress.
[Venous insufficiency in the lower limbs].

BACKGROUND Venous insufficiency is a common condition that presents with various symptoms and is often treated inadequately. The purpose of the article is to provide an overview of the prevalence, recommended investigations and indications for treatment of venous insufficiency. MATERIAL AND METHOD The literature reviewed was identified through a non-systematic search in PubMed based on the authors' experience in research, investigations and treatment of this patient group. RESULTS Venous insufficiency is a common condition with a prevalence of about 30 %. Some patients will develop distal dystrophic skin changes (prevalence <or= 3 %) and a few will experience venous leg ulcers (prevalence < 1 %). Dystrophic skin changes and venous leg ulcers can be caused by an isolated superficial venous insufficiency, accessible for varicose vein surgery. INTERPRETATION Further evaluations (e.g. colour duplex scanning and direct measurement of venous pressure or plethysmography) are recommended for all patients with skin changes, recurrent varices, previous deep venous thrombosis or other circumstances rendering it difficult to conclude from clinical investigations. Indications for superficial venous surgery are mainly based on symptoms. Prophylactic surgery on superficial veins is considered only in cases with dystrophic skin changes or ulcers. Compression therapy represents the best prophylactic measure to reduce varicose vein progression.
IMPACTO DO FINANCIAMENTO HABITACIONAL SOBRE O MERCADO DE TRABALHO NA CONSTRUÇÃO CIVIL

Em 2001, o governo brasileiro, preocupado com problemas de deficit habitacional, criou o Programa de Arrendamento Habitacional (PAR). Como prerrogativa principal, acreditamos que o programa, alem de reduzir o deficit habitacional, tambem influencia no mercado de trabalho no setor da construcao civil. Para checar tal hipotese, utilizamos como estrategia empirica, um desenho de Regressao Descontinua, alem de aplicar varios testes de robustez em nosso modelo, o que nos garante resultados mais precisos. Assim, verificamos que o PAR, consegue aumentar os postos de trabalho e os salarios dos atores inseridos no mercado de trabalho da construcao civil.
From Sunningdale to Good Friday: Power Entrenchment and Paramilitary Inclusion

The central question that guides my research is: how do civil wars end? In answering the question, I focus on the case of Northern Ireland to emphasize the importance of history in political outcomes. My argument isolates variables that determined the outcomes of the Sunningdale and Good Friday Agreements. The first variable, power entrenchment, derived from legal, economic, political, and social arrangements that dated to the Cromwellian settlement. These arrangements permitted the loyalists/unionists of Northern Ireland to wield hegemonic power over the Irish Catholic community for over three centuries. The entrenched power of the unionists, present during the implementation of the Sunningdale Agreement, enabled the unionists to bring down the power-sharing executive. In 1985, the British government signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA) with the Irish Republic. The AIA transformed the historical power relationships in the conflict. Without their historical support from the British government, the unionists faced the reality of their political destiny being determined without them. In contrast to Sunningdale, the development and implementation of the Good Friday agreement did not meet with a Unionist revolt. The second variable – paramilitary inclusion in the Good Friday peace process – ensured a durable settlement to the civil war in Northern Ireland.
The Burdens in Prosthetic Dentistry Questionnaire (BiPD-Q): development and validation of a patient-based measure for process-related quality of care in prosthetic dentistry.

PURPOSE To develop and validate an instrument for the assessment of patient-based measures of process-related quality of care in prosthodontic patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this nonrandomized study, the new Burdens in Prosthetic Dentistry Questionnaire (BiPD-Q) was developed in two steps using a total of 128 prosthodontic patients in a mixed-method approach, combining quantitative-qualitative methodologies. First, the item pool for the instrument was created using semistructured interviews and a group of experts in prosthodontics. This resulted in a preliminary version of the questionnaire. Second, an assessment of redundancy, completion rates, face validity, difficulty, and distribution of the core set of the items was performed. The final version of the BiPD-Q had psychometric core properties (reliability and validity) evaluated. RESULTS The BiPD-Q consisted of 25 items. Reliability was satisfactory (Cronbach's alpha = .87). The mean score of all items of the BiPD-Q was significantly correlated with mean perceived burdens during treatment as rated by the clinician (r = 0.26; P < .01) and with overall satisfaction with the treatment procedures as rated by patients (r = .31; P < .01), indicating sufficient convergent validity. CONCLUSION A reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of patient-based process-related quality of care in prosthodontics has been developed. The BiPD-Q allows comparisons of different dental procedures within a treatment course and of different treatment providers. The use of this type of questionnaire appears to be a valuable tool for dental health care research. The outcomes of research using the BiPD-Q may result in a more pleasant treatment experience for future patients.
Numerical analysis of electrophoretic protein patterns of methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus

A total of 50 strains of Staphylococcus aureus, including 41 methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains, were characterized by one-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of whole-cell proteins. The protein patterns contained 40-50 discrete bands and were highly reproducible. Partial patterns were used as the basis of a computer-assisted numerical analysis. The MRSA strains clustered into four phenons at the 83% similarity level; and further division of phenon 1, at the 86% similarity level, resulted in a total of six clusters. All of the MRSA isolates from an MRSA epidemic in the United Kingdom were found to cluster in phenon 1 together with 9 of the 12 MRSA isolates from eastern Australia and 3 other MRSA isolates from the United Kingdom. The remaining three eastern Australian isolates clustered separately in phenon 2. Phenon 3 appeared to be exclusive to strains that were both susceptible and resistant to methicillin and that reacted with group V phages, and phenon 4 comprised 11 isolates, all of which were other MRSA isolates from the United Kingdom. We conclude that computer-assisted numerical analysis by high-resolution sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of whole-cell proteins provides additional criteria for the study of the epidemiology and the evolution of MRSA.
Interferon Regulatory Factor 4 Is Activated through c-Src-Mediated Tyrosine Phosphorylation in Virus-Transformed Cells

ABSTRACT The importance of the oncogenic transcription factor interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) in hematological malignancies has been increasingly recognized. We have previously identified the B cell integration cluster (BIC), the gene encoding miR-155, as the first microRNA (miRNA)-encoding gene transcriptionally targeted by IRF4 in virus-transformed cancer cells. Activation of IRFs is prerequisite for their functions. However, how IRF4 is activated in cancer is an open question. Our phosphoproteome profiling has identified several tyrosine phosphorylation sites on IRF4 in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed cells. Further, we show here that c-Src dramatically stimulates IRF4 phosphorylation and activity and that Y61 and Y124 are two key sites responding to c-Src-mediated activation. Consistently, c-Src is constitutively expressed and active in EBV-transformed cells. However, c-Src is unlikely to be a direct kinase for IRF4. Furthermore, we have a polyclonal antibody specific to phospho-IRF4(Y121/124) developed in rabbit. We have further shown that inhibition of c-Src activity reduces p-IRF4(Y121/124) and significantly represses transcription of the IRF4 target BIC in EBV-transformed cells. Our results therefore, for the first time, demonstrate that IRF4 is phosphorylated and activated through a c-Src-mediated pathway in virus-transformed cells. These findings will improve our understanding of IRF4 in neoplasia and will provide profound insights into the interaction of oncogenic viruses with IRF4 in the development of hematological malignancies.
Analytic solution for N-electrode actuated piezoelectric disk with application to piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers

In this work, the deflection equation of a piezoelectrically-driven micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) is analytically determined using a Green's function approach. With the Green's function solution technique, the deflection of a circular plate with an arbitrary circular/ring electrode geometry is explicitly solved for axisymmetric vibration modes. For a PMUT with one center electrode covering ≈60% of the plate radius, the Green's function solution compares well with existing piece-wise and energy-based solutions with errors of less than 1%. The Green¿s function solution is also simpler than them requiring no numerical integration, and applies to any number of axisymmetric electrode geometries. Experimentally measured static deflection data collected from a fabricated piezoelectric micro ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) is further used to validate the Green's function model analysis. The center deflection and deflection profile data agree well with the Green's function solution over a range of applied bias voltages (5 to 21 V) with the average error between the experimental and Green's function data less than 9%.
Testing of CpG-Optimized Protein and DNA Vaccines against the Hepatitis B Virus in Chimpanzees for Immunogenicity and Protection from Challenge

Despite the existence for some time of effective prophylactic vaccines, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains an important global concern. Improvements on existing vaccines could be beneficial, especially in situations where it is desirable or necessary to induce protective immunity more rapidly or with fewer doses. We have compared, in chimpanzees, a current HBV vaccine that contains recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen HBsAg) adsorbed to alum, with two novel vaccine strategies that have proven superior to the current vaccine in mice. The first approach was the use of oligodeoxynucleotides containing CpG motifs (CpG ODN) as an adjuvant to Engerix-B®, a commercial HBV vaccine. The addition of CpG ODN to Engerix-B greatly improved the kinetics and magnitude of the humoral response, suggesting that CpG ODN might allow induction of protective immunity in humans more quickly and with fewer vaccine doses. All animals receiving either control or CpG-containing subunit vaccines at 0 and 4 weeks attained titers of HBsAg-specific antibody (anti-HBs) considered protective (≧10 mIU/ml) and were indeed protected from challenge at 8 weeks with 103.5 50% chimp infectious doses (CID50) of intravenous HBV. The second approach was a DNA vaccine with a plasmid vector optimized for content of immunostimulatory CpG motifs. Despite the fact that earlier studies had shown four doses of a similar DNA vaccine (except not optimized for CpG content) to induce strong humoral responses in 1 of 2 chimpanzees, in this study two doses of DNA vaccine (at 0 and 4 weeks) did not generate any detectable anti-HBs in either of 2 chimpanzees, although it did protect 1 that rapidly developed anti-HBs during the incubation period, suggesting priming of an antibody response. The poor results may be due to an inadequate number of doses or amount of plasmid DNA in these larger animals, but nevertheless point to the need to improve delivery methods for DNA vaccines for use in larger animals such as primates.
Mycophenolate mofetil and Sirolimus as second or further line treatment in children with chronic refractory Primitive or Secondary Autoimmune Cytopenias: a single centre experience

The management of refractory autoimmune cytopenias in childhood is challenging due to the lack of established evidence on escalating treatments. The long‐term efficacy of immunosuppressive drugs was evaluated in children with refractory autoimmune cytopenias referred to the Haematology Unit of the Gaslini Children's Hospital between 2001 and 2014. Patients were grouped into three categories: autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS), ALPS‐related syndrome (at least one absolute/primary additional criterion for ALPS) and primary autoimmune cytopenia (PAC, cytopenia with no other immunological symptoms/signs). Fifty‐eight children (aged 1–16 years) entered the study: 12 were categorized with ALPS, 24 were ALPS‐related and 22 had PAC. Five didn't receive treatment. Fifty‐three were initially treated with steroids/intravenous immunoglobulin. Fourteen responded, whereas 39 did not. Of these 39 patients, 34 (87%) received mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) as second/further‐line treatment and 22 (65%) responded. Within these 34 subjects, ALPS patients responded better (11/11, 100%) than the two other groups pooled together (11/23, 48%; P = 0·002). Sirolimus was given as second/further‐line treatment to 16 children, and 12 (75%) responded, including 8 who previously failed MMF therapy. Median follow‐up was 3·46 years. MMF and Sirolimus were well‐tolerated and enabled partial/complete and sustained remission in most children. These drugs may be successfully and safely used in children with refractory autoimmune cytopenias with or without ALPS/ALPS‐related disorders and may represent a valid second/further line option.
Deep Brain Stimulation and the Role of the Neuropsychologist

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) now plays an important role in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, tremor, and dystonia. DBS may also have a role in the treatment of other disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tourette's syndrome, and depression. The neuropsychologist plays a crucial role in patient selection, follow-up, and management of intra-operative and post-operative effects (Pillon, 2002; Saint-Cyr & Trepanier, 2000). There is now emerging evidence that DBS can induce mood, cognitive, and behavioral changes. These changes can have dramatic effects on patient outcome. There have been methodological problems with many of the studies of DBS on mood, cognition, and behavior. The neuropsychologist needs to be aware of these issues when following up patients, and constructing future studies. Additionally, this article will review all aspects of the DBS procedure that can result in mood, cognitive, and behavioral effects and what role(s) the neuropsychologist should play in screening and follow-up.
Does franchising reduce geographically diversified restaurant firms’ risk?

PurposeThis study aims to examine how geographic diversification affects firms’ risk by introducing the franchising strategy as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachThe panel regression analysis was conducted with a sample of US restaurant firms. Specifically, a two-way random (or fixed) effects model clustered by firm was used to test hypotheses.FindingsFindings show that geographic diversification does not significantly affect restaurant firms’ risk. However, franchising aggravates the negative effect of geographic diversification on restaurant firms’ risk, which contradicts the traditional theories of franchising.Research limitations/implicationsThe results are expected to contribute to the diversification literature in the hospitality management by providing in-depth evidence for the effects of geographic diversification strategies on firms’ risk. Specifically, the study provides relevant theories for explaining the effect of geographic diversification in the restaurant context by examining franchising, a prominent strategy in the restaurant industry.Practical implicationsThe results encourage restaurant firms to improve their managerial capability to react to changes in a geographically wider scope of markets and develop franchising contracts specifically to prevent misbehavior and moral hazard on the part of franchisees.Originality/valueConsidering the lack of research on the effect of geographic diversification on restaurant firms’ risk, this study examines not only the link between geographic diversification and firms’ risk but also a contingent factor, franchising.