Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic Conditions and Health Problems in Rheumatic Diseases: Comparisons with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Noninflammatory Rheumatic Disorders, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, and Fibromyalgia

Objectives. To describe and compare the prevalence of lifetime and current self-reported comorbidity and associated quality of life in 4 rheumatic diseases, and to investigate comorbid conditions in light of the overlap between the index condition and comorbid conditions (CC), and in the context of symptom-type diagnoses. Methods. We studied comorbidity in 11,704 patients with fibromyalgia (FM), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and noninflammatory rheumatic disorders (NIRD). Patients completed semiannual self-reports relating to 22 present and past illnesses and completed the EuroQol (EQ-5D) utility index. Results. CC were most common in FM, followed by SLE. FM comorbidity was dominated by depression, mental illness, and symptom-type comorbidity (e.g., gastrointestinal and genitourinary disorders). In SLE, there were substantial increases in hypertension, depression, cataract, fractures, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular, neurologic, lung, gall bladder and endocrine disorders compared with RA. Any current CC reduced the EQ-5D utility by 0.08 to 0.16 units. The lowest EQ-5D score was noted for current psychiatric illness (0.55) and current depression (0.60). Conclusion. Four patterns of comorbidity emerged: that associated with aging; that associated with aging but enhanced by the index condition, as in SLE and cardiovascular disease; comorbidity that is part of the symptoms complex of the index condition; and CC that represent lifetime traits or manifestations of the underlying illness. Depression was the most strongly associated correlate of EQ-5D quality of life, and current depression was present in about 15% of patients with RA or NIRD and 34% to 39% of those with SLE and FM.
Interventions for promoting the initiation of breastfeeding

BACKGROUND: Despite the widely documented health advantages of breastfeeding over formula feeding, initiation rates remain relatively low in many high-income countries, particularly among women in lower income groups. OBJECTIVE : To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions which aim to encourage women to breastfeed in terms of changes in the number of women who start to breastfeed. METHODS : Search methods: We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (July 2007), handsearched the Journal of Human Lactation, Health Promotion International and Health Education Quarterly from inception to 15 August 2007, and scanned reference lists of all articles obtained. Selection criteria: Randomized controlled trials, with or without blinding, of any breastfeeding promotion intervention in any population group except women and infants with a specific health problem. Data collection and analysis: One review author independently extracted data and assessed trial quality, checked by a second author. We contacted investigators to obtain missing information. MAIN RESULTS: Main results: Eleven trials were included. Statistical analyses were conducted on data from eight trials (1553 women). Five studies (582 women) on low incomes in the USA with typically low breastfeeding rates showed breastfeeding education had a significant effect on increasing initiation rates compared to standard care (risk ratio (RR) 1.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15 to 2.15, P = 0.005). Subgroup analyses showed that one-to-one, needs-based, informal repeat education sessions and generic, formal antenatal education sessions are effective in terms of an increase in breastfeeding rates among women on low incomes regardless of ethnicity and feeding intention. Needs-based, informal peer support in the antenatal and postnatal periods was also shown to be effective in one study conducted among Latina women who were considering breastfeeding in the USA (RR 4.02, 95% CI 2.63 to 6.14, P < 0.00001). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: This review showed that health education and peer support interventions can result in some improvements in the number of women beginning to breastfeed. Findings from these studies suggest that larger increases are likely to result from needs-based, informal repeat education sessions than more generic, formal antenatal sessions. These findings are based only on studies conducted in the USA, among women on low incomes with varied ethnicity and feeding intention, and this raises some questions regarding generalisability to other settings.
Dicembre 1922: Piero Sraffa e Benito Mussolini

In December 1922 Piero Sraffa related to John Maynard Keynes (and many years later to several Italian economists) that as a result of the publication of the article on Italian banking that the latter had asked him to write for the "Reconstruction in Europe" supplement to the "Manchester Guardian Commercial", his father had received two telegrams from the Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini warning him that he was to demand his son to answer for the article and see to it that he published a retraction. But the real nature of those telegrams had long been somewhat shrouded in mystery because no document proving their existence had been found among Mussolini's papers preserved in Rome at the "Archivio Centrale dello Stato", nor had the original copies of the telegrams been found in Cambridge among the papers of Piero Sraffa. However, documents which may clarify this episode have been found in Rome in the "Archivio Storico Diplomatico" of the "Ministero degli Affari Esteri". On the grounds of this evidence this paper reconsiders the content of Piero Sraffa's December 1922 article, what might have prompted Mussolini's reaction, what kept him from carring out his threats, and some other events in which Piero Sraffa was involved shortly after this episode which he himself considered to be intimately connected with Mussolini's initiative.
Activation of phospholipase A2 is associated with generation of placental lipid signals and fetal obesity.

CONTEXT Obesity and diabetes during pregnancy are associated with increased insulin resistance and higher neonatal adiposity. In turn, insulin resistance triggers inflammatory pathways with accumulation of placental cytokines. OBJECTIVE To determine placental signals that translate into development of excess adipose tissue, we investigated the role of phospholipases A2 (PLA2) as targets of inflammatory mediators. SETTING The study was conducted at Case Western Reserve University, Department of Reproductive Biology. SUBJECTS Volunteers gave informed written consent in accordance with the Institutional Review Board guidelines. Placenta and cord blood samples were obtained at the time of elective cesarean section in 15 term pregnancies. INTERVENTION Neonatal anthropometric measurements were performed within 48 h of delivery. Placentas were grouped based on neonatal percentage body fat as obese (body fat > or = 16%) and lean control (body fat < or = 8%). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcomes were placenta PLA2 expression and fatty acid concentration. RESULTS Expression of PLA2G2A and PLA2G5, the main placenta phospholipases, was greater (P < 0.05) in placenta of obese compared with control neonates and was associated with increased 20:3 and 20:5 omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. TNF-alpha and leptin content was increased 3-fold in placenta of obese neonates. TNF-alpha and leptin both induced a time-dependent activation of PLA2G2 and PLA2G5 in placental cells. CONCLUSION Accumulation of omega-3 fatty acids through secretory PLA2 activation is associated with high neonatal adiposity. We propose that the generation of placental lipid mediators through TNF-alpha and leptin stimulation represents a key mechanism to favor excess fetal fat accretion.
Molecular genetics of bipolar disorder

Background A robust body of evidence from family, twin and adoption studies demonstrates the importance of genes in the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder. Recent advances in molecular genetics have made it possible to identify these susceptibility genes. Aims To present an overview for clinical psychiatrists. Method Review of current molecular genetics approaches and emerging findings. Results Occasional families may exist in which a single gene plays a major role in determining susceptibility, but the majority of bipolar disorder involves more complex genetic mechanisms such as the interaction of multiple genes and environmental factors. Molecular genetic positional and candidate gene approaches are being used for the genetic dissection of bipolar disorder. No gene has yet been identified but promising findings are emerging. Regions of interest include chromosomes 4p16, 12q23–q24, 16p13, 21q22, and Xq24–q26. Candidate gene association studies are in progress but no robust positive findings have yet emerged. Conclusion It is almost certain that over the next few years the identification of bipolar susceptiblity genes will have a major impact on our understanding of disease pathophysiology. This is likely to lead to major improvements and treatment in patient care, but will also raise important ethical issues.
Human cerebrovascular response to oxygen and carbon dioxide as determined by internal carotid artery duplex scanning.

Alterations in arterial oxygen and carbon dioxide influence cerebrovascular resistance and therefore cerebral blood flow (CBF), but the magnitude of these CBF responses have not been well defined in normal humans. Duplex scanning (B-mode imaging and pulsed Doppler shift analysis) was used to measure internal carotid blood flow (ICBF) as an indicator of CBF in 20 normal subjects during alterations of arterial O2 and CO2. End-tidal PCO2 (PETCO2) was measured by mass spectrometry, arterial oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry, and unilateral (right) ICBF by duplex scanning. A variety of gas mixtures were administered to achieve hypoxemia (FIO2 = 0.075-0.10) and hypercapnia (FICO2 = 0.05) or the subject was asked to hyperventilate to PETCO2 = 16-24 mm Hg. The ICBF was determined five times in each of six conditions: (1) normoxia/normocapnia; (2) normoxia/hypercapnia; (3) normoxia/hypocapnia; (4) hypoxia/normocapnia; (5) hypoxia/hypercapnia; and (6) hypoxia/hypocapnia. During normoxia and normocapnia, the mean ICBF was 330 +/- 19 (SEM) mL/min. Specific CO2 reactivity was 7.4 +/- 0.7 mL/min/mmHg, which is equivalent to 2.3% +/- 0.1% of normocapnic blood flow per mm Hg change in CO2. During normocapnia, ICBF increased by 2.9 +/- 0.9 mL/min for each percentage decrease in oxygen saturation. Using an ANOVA with repeated measures to fit the responses, the following statistically significant relationship was found: ICBF (mL/min) = 333 + 6.3. (PETCO2 - 40) + 2.7 DSO2 +/- 81 where DSO2 is arterial desaturation (100 - arterial saturation). An additional "between subject" variation had a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 82 mL/min. There was no statistically significant evidence of an interaction between O2 and CO2 response. Our data suggest that hypoxia and carbon dioxide changes will alter CBF simultaneously and additively. Duplex scanning of the internal carotid artery, which can be performed at the bedside, is sufficiently sensitive to detect changes in ICBF and internal carotid artery oxygen delivery.
Development of depth encoding small animal PET detectors using dual‐ended readout of pixelated scintillator arrays with SiPMs

PURPOSE The performance of current small animal PET scanners is mainly limited by the detector performance and depth encoding detectors are required to develop PET scanner to simultaneously achieve high spatial resolution and high sensitivity. Among all depth encoding PET detector approaches, dual-ended readout detector has the advantage to achieve the highest depth of interaction (DOI) resolution and spatial resolution. Silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) is believed to be the photodetector of the future for PET detector due to its excellent properties as compared to the traditional photodetectors such as photomultiplier tube (PMT) and avalanche photodiode (APD). The purpose of this work is to develop high resolution depth encoding small animal PET detector using dual-ended readout of finely pixelated scintillator arrays with SiPMs. METHODS Four lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO) arrays with 11 × 11 crystals and 11.6 × 11.6 × 20 mm3 outside dimension were made using ESR, Toray and BaSO4 reflectors. The LYSO arrays were read out with Hamamatsu 4 × 4 SiPM arrays from both ends. The SiPM array has a pixel size of 3 × 3 mm2 , 0.2 mm gap in between the pixels and a total active area of 12.6 × 12.6 mm2 . The flood histograms, DOI resolution, energy resolution and timing resolution of the four detector modules were measured and compared. RESULTS All crystals can be clearly resolved from the measured flood histograms of all four arrays. The BaSO4 arrays provide the best and the ESR array provides the worst flood histograms. The DOI resolution obtained from the DOI profiles of the individual crystals of the four array is from 2.1 to 2.35 mm for events with E > 350 keV. The DOI ratio variation among crystals is bigger for the BaSO4 arrays as compared to both the ESR and Toray arrays. The BaSO4 arrays provide worse detector based DOI resolution. The photopeak amplitude of the Toray array had the maximum change with depth, it provides the worst energy resolution of 21.3%. The photopeak amplitude of the BaSO4 array with 80 μm reflector almost doesn't change with depth, it provides the best energy resolution of 12.9%. A maximum timing shift of 1.37 ns to 1.61 ns among the corner and the center crystals in the four arrays was obtained due to the use of resistor network readout. A crystal based timing resolution of 0.68 ns to 0.83 ns and a detector based timing resolution of 1.26 ns to 1.45 ns were obtained for the four detector modules. CONCLUSIONS Four high resolution depth encoding small animal PET detectors were developed using dual-ended readout of pixelated scintillator arrays with SiPMs. The performance results show that those detectors can be used to build a small animal PET scanner to simultaneously achieve uniform high spatial resolution and high sensitivity.
Characteristics of fish glial cells in culture: Possible implications as to their lineage

Regeneration of injured central nervous system axons is largely dependent on the response of the associated nonneuronal glial cells to injury. Glial cells of the mammalian central nervous system, unlike those of fish, are apparently not conducive to axonal regeneration. While the lineage of rat glial cells is well characterized and its role in the support or inhibition of regenerative growth is beginning to be understood, little is known about fish glial cells. Accordingly, glial cells in cultures of adult goldfish brain and of newly hatched goldfish larvae were studied in an attempt to establish their lineage. The cells were identified by means of indirect immunofluorescence, using antibodies against fish astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. The cell count in the cultures increased from a small number of cells at 24 h after plating to a large number of both astrocytes and oligodendrocytes after 1 week in culture. Both of these cell types had originated from proliferating cells, as shown by their uptake of tritiated thymidine and by the inhibition of cell proliferation by 5‐fluoro‐2′‐deoxyuridine. Both astrocytes, i.e., glial fibrillary acidic protein‐positive cells, and oligodendrocytes, i.e., 6D2‐positive cells, were positively labeled also by A2B5 antibodies, which are known to label progenitors of type‐2 astrocytes and oligodendrocytes in the rat optic nerve. The results suggest that A2B5 positive progenitor cells in the goldfish central nervous system, as in the rat optic nerve, might be a common progenitor of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Modelled bioaccumulation of chemical warfare agents within the Baltic Sea food web

After World War II, some 13 000 t of active chemical warfare agents (CWAs) were destroyed by dumping them into the Bornholm Deep. Recently, due to munition shell and container corrosion, potential CWA leakages are considered as a viable risk to marine organisms. Here, an Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE5.1) - software is used to study the bioaccumulation of a persistent CWA-like contaminant within the Baltic Sea food web with four different scenarios that describe differential water-column mixing and biomass changes in temporal and spatial resolution. In Bornholm, such bioaccumulation is of a particular concern, as the dumpsite coincides with fertile fishing grounds and is one of the main breeding areas for Baltic cod. According to our model, cod accumulated the contaminant most of all fish species studied. However, the magnitude of bioaccumulation, in all species, was very much affected by whether the CWA-contaminant was homogenously mixed within the whole water-column, or existed only in the near-bottom layer. In the latter scenario, the only pelagic groups accumulating the contaminant were fish. The dispersal of the contaminant, also, varied according to the mixing and was more widespread when the contaminant had access to surface water layers and was advected by surface water currents. The effects were more local when the contaminant was restricted to near-bottom water.
An evaluation of phase I clinical trial designs in the continuous dose–response setting

Both traditional phase I designs and the increasingly popular continual reassessment method (CRM) designs select an estimate of maximum tolerable dose (MTD) from among a set of prespecified dose levels. Although CRM designs use an implied dose–response model to select the next dose level, in general it is neither assumed nor necessary that this model be tied to the actual dose of a drug. In contrast, in our two‐stage design the fitting of a dose–response model after data have been collected is a necessary feature of the design, and the MTD is not constrained to be one of the prespecified dose levels. We conducted a simulation study to evaluate the performance of the two‐stage design, two likelihood‐based CRM designs, and two traditional designs in estimating the MTD in situations where one assumes that an explicit dose–response model exists. Under a wide variety of dose–response settings, we examined the bias and precision of estimates, and the fraction of estimates that were extremely high or low. We also studied the effect of adding a model fitting step at the end of a traditional design or a CRM design. The best performance was achieved using the two‐stage and CRM designs. Although the CRM designs generally had smaller bias, the two‐stage design yielded equal or somewhat smaller precision in some cases. The addition of a model‐fitting step slightly improved the precision of the CRM estimates and decreased the percentage of extreme estimates. Allowing interpolation between doses for updating during CRM did not improve overall performance. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Implicaciones del proyecto genoma en la práctica clínica

En 1866, el monje aleman Gregor Mendel publico sus resultados de los experimentos que dieron inicio a los estudios de la genetica. En 1919, se publica el primer estudio sobre los grupos sanguineos, un estudio critico que demuestra como la raza humana puede responder a patrones geneticos con un gen simple y sus variantes (alelos) (1), aun cuando, solo hasta 1993, se determino que estos alelos eran tres y no dos como se penso originalmente (2). Watson y Crick describieron en 1953 la estructura de doble helice de la secuencia de bases de nucleotidos, que constituyen la base del ADN (3) . Desde 1990, el proyecto del genoma humano ha estado trabajando para realizar el mapa completo del genoma. Este mapa consiste en aproximadamente 3 millardos de pares de bases que codifican los 80 a 100.000 genes localizados en 23 cromosomas (4). El 26 de junio del 2000, una conferencia de prensa anuncio que el 90 % del codigo genetico humano habia sido descifrado. El 12 de Febrero del 2001 se anuncia que los seres humanos son similares en un 99.8 % de su carga genetica siendo diferenciados solamente por el 0.2 % restante. El termino de "enfermedad genetica" tendra un nuevo contexto totalmente diferente al de un extrano sindrome de caracteristicas devastadoras. La revolucion genetica es una realidad por lo menos en lo que se refiere al conocimiento de base. Sus consecuencias en la medicina son tremendamente prometedoras, sin embargo, deben tomarse con mucha precaucion, porque el sueno de un mundo libre de enfermedades aun esta lejano. Para el clinico es importante irse adentrando poco a poco en este nuevo mundo, por lo cual esta revision no pretende ser otra cosa que un resumen sobre el estado actual del conocimiento del genoma humano y algunas de sus potenciales implicaciones.
Seasonality in Adult Asthma Admissions, Air Pollutant Levels, and Climate: A Population-based Study

Objective and Background. Most studies of asthma seasonal variations have not examined associations of environmental risk factors and climatic changes associated with seasonality in asthma hospitalizations. This study used population-based data to examine seasonality in asthma admissions and the associated seasonality in levels of air pollutants and climatic factors during a 4-year period in Taiwan. Methods. A total of 126,671 asthma hospitalizations in Taiwan during 1998–2001 operationalized as monthly admissions per 100,000 population and monthly mean levels of criterion air pollutants and meteorological factors were subjected to Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average to test for seasonality and association between asthma admission rates and the pollutant and climatic factor levels. Owing to significant differences in seasonality between pediatric and adult age groups, this study was limited to 99,591 adult asthma cases to examine the seasonality issue as related to the criterion air pollutants and climatic factors using Spearman rank correlations. Results. Seasonal trends showed a hospitalization peak in January through March and a sharp decline beginning in April to a trough in June for both sexes. Seasonal variations in adult asthma admissions were significantly positively correlated with levels of PM10, SO2, CO, NO2, and atmospheric pressure and negatively correlated with temperature and hours of sunshine. Conclusions. Adult asthma hospitalization propensity is highest in spring and is significantly correlated with air pollution and climate. Air quality control programs and early public warning systems on pollution and atmospheric factors are needed to enable predisposed individuals and their physicians to preempt attacks through primary and secondary preventive measures.