Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lipoprotein Glycation and Its Metabolic Consequences

In people with diabetes, glycation of apolipoproteins correlates with other indices of recent glycemic control, including HbA1. For several reasons, increased glycation of apolipoproteins may play a role in the accelerated development of atherosclerosis in diabetic patients. Recognition of glycated LDL by the classical LDL receptor is impaired, whereas its uptake by human monocyte-macrophages is enhanced. These alterations may contribute to hyperlipidemia and accelerated foam-cell formation, respectively. Glycation of LDL also enhances its capacity to stimulate platelet aggregation. The uptake of VLDL from diabetic patients by human monocytemacrophages is enhanced. This enhancement may be due, at least in part, to increased glycation of its lipoproteins. Glycation of HDL impairs its recognition by cells and reduces its effectiveness in reverse cholesterol transport. Glycation of apolipoproteins may also generate free radicals, increasing oxidative damage to the apolipoproteins themselves, the lipids in the particle core, and any neighboring macromolecules. This effect may be most significant in extravasated lipoproteins. In these, increased glycation promotes covalent binding to vascular structural proteins, and oxidative reactions may cause direct damage to the vessel wall. Glycoxidation, or browning, of sequestered lipoproteins may further enhance their atherogenicity. Finally, glycated or glycoxidized lipoproteins may be immunogenic, and lipoprotein-immune complexes are potent stimulators of foam-cell formation.
The Devil Is in the Details: Incomplete Reporting in Preclinical Animal Research

Incomplete reporting of study methods and results has become a focal point for failures in the reproducibility and translation of findings from preclinical research. Here we demonstrate that incomplete reporting of preclinical research is not limited to a few elements of research design, but rather is a broader problem that extends to the reporting of the methods and results. We evaluated 47 preclinical research studies from a systematic review of acute lung injury that use mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as a treatment. We operationalized the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) reporting guidelines for pre-clinical studies into 109 discrete reporting sub-items and extracted 5,123 data elements. Overall, studies reported less than half (47%) of all sub-items (median 51 items; range 37–64). Across all studies, the Methods Section reported less than half (45%) and the Results Section reported less than a third (29%). There was no association between journal impact factor and completeness of reporting, which suggests that incomplete reporting of preclinical research occurs across all journals regardless of their perceived prestige. Incomplete reporting of methods and results will impede attempts to replicate research findings and maximize the value of preclinical studies.
Assessing the dependency between the magnitudes of earthquakes and the magnitudes of their aftershocks

Current assumptions on the level of inter‐dependency between the magnitudes of earthquakes and the magnitudes of their aftershocks vary significantly, ranging from assumed independence for models like epidemic type aftershock‐sequence (ETAS) to assumed positive correlation, at least for the events leading up to the largest earthquakes, for models like accelerated moment release. Recently, a method was developed by Marsan and Lengline for model independent stochastic de‐clustering (MISD) of a multidimensional Hawkes self‐exciting process, or as is the case here, earthquake activity. After expanding the algorithm to allow for a spatially dependent background rate (henceforth SDMISD), repeated application of SDMISD to a global earthquake catalog allows for estimates with confidence bounds for the average magnitude of an aftershock conditioned upon the magnitude(s) of the earthquake(s) that caused the aftershock. 15 years of data on M 5.3 earthquakes from the global Centroid Moment Tensor earthquake catalog indicate that the magnitudes of aftershocks are dependent on the magnitudes of the earthquakes that cause them, and indeed, larger than average earthquakes are more likely to trigger larger than average aftershocks. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
When disaster strikes...the critical incident stress debriefing process.

Major disasters over the past five years have brought attention to the fact that rescue workers themselves can become psychological casualties from the overwhelming carnage and suffeng they witness. The Critical Incident Stress Debriefing is a simple, but effective tool to help the emergency worker cope with what he has seen, and continue a productive career with minimal long-term effects
Being ‘underpowered’ does not make a study unethical

In writing about ethical issues in statistical analysis, Gelfond et al. [1] comment briefly on issues of study design and unfortunately seem to support the widespread misconception that being ‘underpowered’ makes a study unethical. They write that ‘Underpowered studies are not likely to yield results with practical translational value; they put subjects at unnecessary risk and waste resources. ’ The implication is that being underpowered will cause a study to have too little projected scientific, clinical, or practical value to justify the risks and burdens that participants are asked to accept. This seems plausible when presented in vague, qualitative terms, but it does not hold up when examined in detail [2]. At the planning stage, the projected value of a study has diminishing marginal returns as a function of sample size. The projected total burden on participants, however, is proportional to sample size, implying that the ratio of study value to participant burden can only worsen as sample size increases. Thus, an ‘underpowered’ study can have enough projected value to justify the number of participants put at risk, even if an otherwise identical study that is ‘adequately’ powered would not. Diminishing marginal returns holds not only in the decision-theoretic framework underlying statistical hypothesis testing but also for a wide array of measures of projected study value that have been proposed for sample size planning [3]. This also has implications for the other concern of Gelfond et al. that underpowered studies will waste resources. Diminishing marginal returns imply that ignoring costs when planning sample size, as is routine with conventional power calculations, can lead to very poor cost efficiency, and supposedly ‘underpowered’ studies can be much more cost efficient [3]. Earlier published objections to this misconception noted that studies with lower than conventional power cannot be considered completely worthless, because some information is better than none and they can contribute to meta-analyses [4]. Indeed, the idea that a study must be definitive by itself in order to have any value seems unrealistic and would condemn most studies. An additional objection is that the key concept of ‘underpowered’ is ill defined. Many writers, including Gelfond et al., do not commit to a specific requirement, which might seem arbitrary and be hard to defend. Others have specifically endorsed the 80% power requirement but cited only ‘tradition’ as supporting it [5]. Additional ambiguity arises from the fact that, for any sample size, one can find assumptions that produce 80% power. Iteratively adjusting assumptions until a desired sample size appears ‘adequate’, a process that has been termed ‘sample size samba’, will appear to meet the supposed standard, but it actually does nothing to make the study itself any more ethical [6]. We believe that there should be strong support for any standards that would brand research as unethical. The idea that having low power necessarily makes a study unethical has no such support.
Alternative Assumptions for the Identification of Direct and Indirect Effects

The assessment of mediation is important for testing the mechanisms that explain an observed relationship between exposure and disease. Several types of direct and indirect effects have been defined, broadly characterized as either controlled or natural. The identification of these effects requires a stricter set of assumptions than those necessary for the identification of the total effect of exposure on disease. The particular assumptions that are required differ depending on the type of effect. We use an approach based on response types to derive new assumptions for the identification of direct and indirect effects, both controlled and natural. These assumptions are stated in terms of response types and potential outcomes, and are compared with those already in the literature. This approach yields an alternative, and sometimes less stringent, set of assumptions for the identification of direct and indirect effects than those previously proposed.
Late Signals from CD27 Prevent Fas-Dependent Apoptosis of Primary CD8+ T Cells1

The role of costimulation has previously been confined to the very early stages of the CD8+ T cell response. In this study, we demonstrate the requirement for CD27 costimulation during the later phase, but not programming of the primary CD8+ T cell response to influenza virus and reveal a novel mechanism of action for CD27 costimulation. CD27 signals, during the later phase of the primary CD8+ T cell response, prevent apoptosis of Ag-specific CD8+ T cells. Blocking CD27L (CD70) on days 6 and 8 after infection reduces the number of NP(366–374)-specific CD8+ T cells, increases their sensitivity to CD95/Fas-mediated apoptosis, and up-regulates FasL on CD4+ T cells. This reduction of NP(366–374)-specific CD8+ T cells requires the presence of CD4+ T cells and Fas signaling. Lack of CD27 signals also decreases the quality of memory CD8+ T cell responses. Memory CD8+ T cells, which express surface CD27 similar to naive cells, however, do not require CD27 costimulation during a secondary response. Thus, CD27 acts indirectly to regulate primary Ag-specific CD8+ T cell responses by preventing apoptosis of CD8+ T cells during the later phase of the primary response and is required for optimal quality of memory cells, but is not required during normally primed secondary CD8+ T cell responses.
One-Step Seeding of Neural Stem Cells with Vitronectin-Supplemented Medium for High-Throughput Screening Assays

Human neuronal cells differentiated from induced pluripotent cells have emerged as a new model system for the study of disease pathophysiology and evaluation of drug efficacy. Differentiated neuronal cells are more similar in genetics and biological content to human brain cells than other animal disease models. However, culture of neuronal cells in assay plates requires a labor-intensive procedure of plate precoating, hampering its applications in high-throughput screening (HTS). We developed a simplified method with one-step seeding of neural stem cells in assay plates by supplementing the medium with a recombinant human vitronectin (VTN), thus avoiding plate precoating. Robust results were obtained from cell viability, calcium response, and neurite outgrowth assays using this new method. Our data demonstrate that this approach greatly simplifies high-throughput assays using neuronal cells differentiated from human stem cells for translational research.
Neural networks: an engineering perspective

The development and application of neural networks are presented from an engineering perspective. It is stated that neural computing is a collection of mathematical techniques that have been gaining growing acceptance as plug-compatible replacements for statistical and other data-modeling techniques. Two of these techniques, function approximation and clustering, are discussed. The forces shaping the future of neural networking systems, including plug compatibility, hybrid systems-neural computing concepts integrated with expert systems, fuzzy logic, and genetic algorithms-and application specification systems, are reviewed. <<ETX>>
IMPAIRED DOPAMINERGIC CONTROL OF THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE SECRETION IN CHRONIC RENAL FAILURE

After administration of intravenous metoclopramide, a dopaminergic receptor blocking agent, no rise in thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) could be found in patients with chronic renal failure, in contrast to non‐uraemic controls. Basal TSH values were normal in the uraemic patients but the TSH response to thyrotrophin‐releasing hormone (TRH) was significantly reduced. These results suggest that a discrete abnormality in the hypothalamo—pituitary axis exists in uraemia which may in part be due to interference with central dopaminergic control by a uraemic toxin.
The influence of training design on training transferperformance among support staff of higher educationinstitution in Malaysia

Higher education institutions had conducted numerous studies to explore human resource management and professional development of staff personnel, however it neglects to investigate or adopt human resource development practices to their most important resource within their institutions that is their support staff. This paper is analyzed from the perspective of the low training transfer activities among the supporting staff of public higher learning institution in Malaysia. The question that underlies the entirety of the successful training transfer is the determinants of training inputs that will motivate the training to be transferred. From the results of this paper, training design, its content validity and transfer designs explain 65 percent of the training transfer. The paper confirms the robustness of the third evaluation level of Kirkpatrick’s model.
Chromosome microdissection in leukemia: A powerful tool for the analysis of complex chromosomal rearrangements

In many human cancers the presence of marker chromosomes or unbalanced translocations prevents complete karyotypic analysis. Chromosome microdissection has become an increasingly important method for assessing chromosome rearrangements. However, most studies using chromosome microdissection have been carried out on established cancer cell lines that provide an unlimited supply of abnormal metaphase cells. We have routinely performed microdissection of as few as three marker chromosome copies from short‐term cultures of acute myeloid leukemias, followed by in vitro DNA amplification and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to normal metaphase spreads. Using this type of “reverse chromosome painting,” we were able to characterize precisely the chromosomal constitution of each marker chromosome in the samples, confirming the diagnostic usefulness of microdissection in cancer cytogenetics. In addition, in one leukemia with atypical cytological features, microdissection enabled us to detect a novel retinoic acid receptor α gene rearrangement. Genes Chromosom Cancer 15:26–33 (1996). © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Usual diet in Bubis, a rural immigrant population of African origin in Madrid.

OBJECTIVE To assess the usual diet of an immigrant Bubis population living in Madrid, the main ethnic group from the Island of Bioco, Equatorial Guinea, and explore how different it is from the predominant diet in West Africa and from the adult population of Madrid. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. We randomly selected a sample of 213 Bubis aged 18-84 years, 83 men and 130 women, who were born in Bioco, emigrated and now live in the Madrid area. Participants were interviewed about their usual diet with the use of a food frequency questionnaire. Height and weight were also measured during interviews and prevalence of obesity was estimated as a body mass index (kg m(-2)). SETTING The urban area of Madrid in 2001. RESULTS The diet of the Bubis living in the metropolitan area of Madrid resembles more the urban diet observed among Spanish people than the traditional rural diet observed among people of West Africa. The percentage of calories from fat, protein and carbohydrates was 33.9, 18.3 and 47.7%, respectively. The Bubi diet presented a much higher protein intake and much lower fat intake than the usual diet in Cameroon. The usual Bubi diet also contained more protein and less fat and alcohol than the predominant diet of adult population living in the Madrid area. Women presented higher prevalence of obesity (23.2%) than men (11.0%), and even higher than that observed among Spanish women. CONCLUSIONS The first immigrant generation of Bubis in Madrid showed food and nutrient intakes closer to the prevalent diet in Madrid than to the diet of their native land. The impact of this westernization of the diet of this and other immigrant populations in Spain needs to be monitored in the future.
Gestion publique : qu’est-ce qui a changé depuis 25 ans ?

Le paysage institutionnel francais a subi depuis 25 ans, et surtout ces dernieres annees, de profondes inflexions dans trois domaines. Le premier est le passage progressif d’un Etat unitaire a une forme hybride mi-decentralisee mi-deconcentree, qui temoigne de la permanence d’une exception francaise au sein de l’Europe. A cote d’un Etat central qui entend controler la plus grande part des fonds publics, une kyrielle de lieux de pouvoirs locaux s’echinent a tirer le maximum de la manne financiere en provenance de Paris. Le second changement porte sur les regles de gestion avec comme fait majeur l’instauration de la Lolf. Mais les transformations les moins visibles, il faut les chercher dans le quotidien de l’action publique dont les methodes ont ete progressivement bousculees par l’introduction de multiples outils de gestion associee a la recherche de la performance publique. A quels rythmes ces reformes ont-elles progresse ? Quelle est la portee des changements institues ? Quels en sont les freins vers une gestion publique efficace au service des citoyens ? L’article brosse de ce large tableau un bilan contraste…
Ultra-wideband systems with orthogonal coded differential TR receiver

This paper presents coded differential TR (cDTR) receiver that transmits extra bit by mapping information in K different orthogonal codes. The performance of the coded DTR is analyzed and compared with the conventional DTR. Throughout the analysis, the performance of receivers in terms of bit error probability (BEP), data rate and receiver complexity are assessed. The results show that coded DTR is able to outperform conventional DTR receiver in terms of data rate maintaining the same BEP. Additionally, the receiver hardware complexity issue is discussed
CAUSAS DE LOS PROCESOS TERRITORIALES DE FRAGMENTACIÓN DE HÁBITATS

La fragmentacion y reduccion de habitats es una de las principales causas de la crisis global de biodiversidad. Se realiza una revision bibliografica acerca de las principales tipologias de transformacion del territorio que dan origen a los procesos de fragmentacion de habitats. Se destaca la importancia de identificar dichas causas para la incorporacion de criterios preventivos y correctivos en la planificacion integral y sectorial del territorio.
Impacts du changement climatique sur les insectes ravageurs des forêts méditerranéennes

Il est probable que le changement climatique affectera les ecosystemes forestiers directement mais aussi, et peut-etre surtout, indirectement a travers des modifications de l'intensite, de la frequence et de l'etendue des degâts causes par les insectes phytophages. Ceux-ci jouent en effet un role majeur dans le fonctionnement de ces ecosystemes. De nombreux processus biologiques impliques dans la croissance individuelle et la dynamique des populations de ces organismes sont fortement lies au climat. Les modifications du climat predites dans les regions mediterraneennes pourront, par consequent, avoir des impacts importants sur le developpement et la distribution des insectes. L'augmentation des temperatures pourra avoir des effets directs sur le developpement, le voltinisme, la phenologie et la dispersion. Ainsi, dans les endroits ou ces organismes sont en dessous de leur optimum climatique, une augmentation de la temperature se traduira par une acceleration de la croissance, une augmentation de l'activite et du mouvement, un accroissement du taux de reproduction, une diminution de la mortalite liee au climat et dans certains cas une augmentation du nombre de generations par an. Le changement climatique pourra aussi avoir des effets indirects a travers des modifications des relations trophiques, qu'il s'agisse des relations plante-insecte ou hote-parasite. A l'echelle des ecosystemes forestiers les modifications des parametres individuels et populationnels de l'entomofaune pourront se traduire par la migration des aires de distribution, l'extinction locale d'especes d'insectes ou de leurs hotes, l'apparition de nouvelles interactions trophiques et, plus globalement, des modifications possibles de la biodiversite et de la resilience de ces ecosystemes. Les observations recentes tendent a montrer que les populations d'insectes forestiers mediterraneens commencent deja a repondre aux changements climatiques. Cependant les predictions d'evolution de ces populations sont encore difficiles a etablir. Un certain nombre de domaines de recherche prioritaires peuvent etre identifies pour mieux apprehender les effets futurs du changement climatique sur ces insectes.
Hypersensitivity to Paracetamol in Asian Children with Early Onset of Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Allergy

Background: The published incidence of paracetamol cross-reactivity in adults and adolescents with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) reactions is low and all data on such reactions in young children is sparse. The study aim was to characterize the clinical presentation and cross-reactivity with paracetamol in patients with a reported onset of NSAID hypersensitivity before 6 years of age. Methods: A retrospective case review was done of patients with cross-reactive hypersensitivity reactions to antipyretic/analgesic medications from the pediatric allergy clinic of the Kendang Kerbau Hospital, Singapore. Included patients reported the onset of such reactions before 6 years of age. Hypersensitivity was established through a detailed history of recurrent reactions to NSAIDs or an oral provocation test. Results: Eighteen patients fulfilled the diagnostic criteria within the study period. Eighty-three percent had cross-reactive reactions with paracetamol. When compared to the group of children with later onset of NSAID hypersensitivity, children with onset before 6 years of age had a significantly increased likelihood of reacting to paracetamol (odds ratio 9.6, 95% confidence interval 1.6–58.0, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Paracetamol seems to be a major eliciting drug in this group of children.