Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms as a risk factor for obesity in Saudi men

Background The prevalence of obesity and vitamin D deficiency in Saudi Arabia has increased recently. Decreased physical activity might play a role in obesity. Previous studies showed an association between low vitamin D level and its receptor polymorphism with obesity development. Objective To determine association of low vitamin D level and its receptor polymorphism with obesity in Saudi men. Methods This case control study was carried out from March 2016 through March 2017. Three hundred Saudi male students (from applied medical sciences in Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia) were classified according to BMI into lean, overweight and obese groups. For each individual, blood glucose, cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, insulin and 25-(OH) vitamin D were measured. In addition, Apal, BsmI and TaqI genotypes were performed for each individual from March 2016 through March 2017, through computer-based search of the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science (Thomson ReutersTM). The references of the original literature and the related articles were also searched, for potential complementary studies. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 16, using Spearman’s rho and ANOVA tests. Results There was significant negative association between 25-(OH) vitamin D level and obesity (p<0.01). Genotyping study showed that both bb of BsmI and tt of TaqI genotypes were higher in the obese group compared with lean group (p<0.05). Moreover, bb genotype has higher BMI and HOMA-IR than both BB and Bb; and tt genotype also has higher BMI and HOMA-IR than TT and Tt genotypes (p<0.05). Conclusion Low vitamin D level and VDR BsmI and Taq1 genotypes may be a risk factor of obesity.
Schizophrenia: A review, with emphasis on the neurodevelopmental hypothesis

The neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia has gained increasing acceptance. This hypothesis assumes a disruption in the normal development of the brain, secondary to genetic factors, environmental factors, or, most likely, a combination of both. After a brief review of the various aetiologic models since the first description of the disease, we review relevant aspects of normal brain development and then focus on the pathologic findings supporting the neurodevelopmetal hypothesis. Although this hypothesis of schizophrenia appears to be valid in some cases, it is important to keep in mind that there are many cases of schizophrenia in which one finds no documented brain abnormality. It therefore seems wrong to speak of schizophrenia in general as a neurodevelopmental disorder. It appears that there is a group of patients with schizophrenia who fit into a neurodevelopmental model. There is a need to further investigate whether these patients can be identified clinically and what this may imply with regard to treatment and prognosis.
Desempenho no teste MABC: uma revisão sistemática sobre questões de género

O Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) parece ser um dos instrumentos mais usados para a avaliacao da coordenacao motora em criancas, permitindo a identificacao de transtornos de coordenacao do desenvolvimento. Foram encontradas diferencas no desempenho motor entre generos com a utilizacao de diversos instrumentos. O nosso estudo teve como objetivo rever sistematicamente as diferencas no desempenho motor entre generos em estudos onde apenas foi usado o MABC. Cinco bases de dados foram sistematicamente investigadas e apenas so foram incluidos estudos se o teste MABC fosse um objetivo central e o genero um fator ponderado. Cinco autores de forma independente avaliaram a elegibilidade dos estudos. Uma revisao sistematica em bases de dados e listas de referencias eletronicas identificou dezanove estudos revistos que atendem aos criterios de inclusao. Os resultados revelaram que as diferencas de genero no desempenho foram consistentes em todos os estudos, uma vez que os meninos tiveram mais sucesso e facilidade nas atividades envolvendo habilidades motoras grossas, e as meninas realizaram melhores atividades envolvendo habilidades motorasfinas. As diferencas de equilibrio nao foram conclusivas uma vez que os resultados desse parâmetro foram mistos. As publicacoes futuras beneficiarao de evidencias sobre a forma das distribuicoes de genero no limite critico e inferior do desempenho motor.
China’s National Comprehensive Management Pilot Project for Mental Health

The National Continuing Management and Intervention Programme for Psychoses, also known as the 686 Programme, was launched in China in 2004, marking a shift to a hospital-and-community collaborative model of care for patients with psychoses. An updated programme, the National Comprehensive Management Pilot Project for Mental Health, was launched in 2015 with the cooperation of six government ministries and bodies, including the China Disabled Persons Federation. Mechanisms for multi-sector cooperation in mental health services are being put in place in China.
Statin therapy in chronic heart failure: frog prince or bare frog?

zyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the mevalonate pathway for cholesterol synthesis. Importantly, the inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase subsequently reduces farnesyl pyrophosphate and geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate, which are crucial for downstream subcellular signal molecules by prenylation of the guanosine triphosphate-binding proteins Rho, Ras, and Rac1,2 (Figure 1). As is well established, the Rho signal pathway is involved in the activation of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, Ras proteins are responsible for cell proliferation and hypertrophy, and Rac proteins are involved in the production of reactive oxygen species. Therefore, it is presumed that inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase by statins may reduce the ominous signal pathways mediated by nowledge acquired in the past few decades indicates that the process of chronic heart failure (CHF) consists not only of inadequate responses to mechanical load but also of pathological signaling, including activation of cellular proliferation/hypertrophy, inflammation, oxidative stress, and endogenous nitric oxide synthase deprivation. Beneficial effects of β-blockers and renin-angiotensin system inhibitors in CHF have been largely attributed to their suppressive effects on these signal pathways.
Comparison of 'anatomically designed' and 'point-by-point' catheter ablations for human atrial fibrillation in terms of procedure timing and costs in German hospitals.

AIMS The purpose of the FAST-PVI study was to compare 'traditional' ablation tools based on 'point-by-point' technology with the new 'anatomically designed' technologies in terms of procedure times and related costs for the treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. METHODS AND RESULTS Four hundred and fifty-two consecutive ablation procedures (222 'anatomically designed', 136 Arctic Front® and 86 PVAC®) and 230 'point-by-point' ablations (100 CARTO XP and 130 NavX navigation systems) performed by nine university centres across Germany from 2006 to 2010 were evaluated retrospectively. Staffing and resources times for each procedure were documented together with patient morbidities, complications, and pulmonary veins isolations. On the basis of DRG data from 2006 to 2010, human resources use and equipment maintenance costs were assigned to ablation procedure and calendar year. All procedural times were significantly higher in 'point-by-point' technologies compared with 'anatomically designed' ablations [average lab occupancy time 185.30 vs. 280.28 min; physician time 152.21 vs. 238.04 min; support time 183.43 vs. 278.34 min and fluoroscopy time 29.11 vs. 40.72 min; P < 0.001 (95% confidence interval, CI)]. For each ablation procedure human resource use per operating minute resulted in lower costs for 'anatomically designed' ablations [€744.24 per patient; P < 0.001 (95% CI)]. Savings due to reduced duration in 'anatomically designed' technologies accrued to 20% lower human resource costs. Sensitivity analyses did not lead to any significant variations on the outcomes parameter cost per minute. CONCLUSION FAST-PVI showed reductions in ablation procedural time may lead to increased hospital capacity and non-device-related cost-savings, while maintaining quality.
Chapter 2 Coronavirus Genome Replication

Viruses belonging to the family Coronaviridae are unique among RNA viruses because of the unusually large size of their genome, which is of messengeror positiveor plus-sense. It is ∼30,000 bases or 2–3 times larger than the genomes of most other RNA viruses. Coronaviruses belong to the order Nidovirales, the other three families being the Arteriviridae, Toroviridae and Roniviridae. (For a review of classification and evolutionary relatedness of Nidovirales see Gorbalenya et al. 2006.) This grouping is based on the arrangement and relatedness of open reading frames within their genomes and on the presence in infected cells of multiple subgenomic mRNAs that form a 3′-co-terminal, nested set with the genome. Among the Nidovirales, coronaviruses (and toroviruses) are unique in their possession of a helical nucleocapsid, which is unusual for plus-stranded but not minus-stranded RNA viruses; plus-stranded RNA-containing plant viruses in the Closteroviridae and in the Tobamovirus genus also possess helical capsids. Coronaviruses are very successful and have infected many species of animals, including bats, birds (poultry) and mammals, such as humans and livestock. Coronavirus species are classified into three groups, which were based originally on cross-reacting antibodies and more recently on nucleotide sequence relatedness (Gonzalez et al. 2003). There have been several reviews of coronaviruses published recently and the reader is referred to them for more extensive references (Enjuanes et al. 2006; Masters 2006; Pasternak et al. 2006; Sawicki and Sawicki 2005; Sawicki et al. 2007; Ziebuhr 2005). The genome of coronaviruses is depicted in Fig. 2.1. Its length varies from ∼27.5 to ∼31 kb among the various species of coronaviruses. The 5′-end is capped although the exact structure of the capped 5′-end has not been determined. The 3′-end is polyadenylated and the genome, as well as subgenomic mRNAs, can be isolated by oligo (dT) chromatography. At the 5′-end there is an untranslated region (5′-UTR) of ∼200–500 nucleotides (nts) before the initiation codon for the open reading frame (ORF) that is translated from the genome (ORF1).
Axonal Spheroids in the Cochlear Nucleus of Normal Beagle Dogs

In the course of drug evaluation studies, sporadic axonal spheroids were identified in the cochlear nucleus of 8–15-month-old Beagle dogs. These structures were identified by Bielschowski histochemical and anti-neurofilament immunohistochemical stains and by ultrastructural examination. No cellular reaction or significant neuropil alterations were associated with the presence of the spheroids. Their presence was unrelated to treatment and were considered to be an incidental background finding.
Digestion of protein in the intestines of adult ruminants

Interest in the digestive tract of ruminant animals has usually centred on the forestomach. This is natural enough, for the forestomach is the characteristic digestive organ of ruminants and about two-thirds of the digestible organic matter of the diet is fermented there (Harris & Phillipson, 1962; Bruce, Goodall, Kay, Phillipson & Vowles, 1966). Protein is extensively transformed in the rumen but amino acids are not absorbed from this site in any quantity. Unfortunately we know little about intestinal digestion of protein in ruminants. An uneasy awareness of our neglect of the ruminant’s intestines was often assuaged by supposing they differed little from those of better-known mammals, a guess which through repetition became elevated to the status of a reasonable assumption. I t is now becoming clear that this guess was in many ways misleading; the capacity of the rumen and the metabolic activities of its micro-organisms affect the flow and composition of digesta passing to the intestines to an extent that makes intestinal digestion in ruminants a distinctive process. For example: ( I ) Food is retained in the rumen for some hours and only flows to the lower gut slowly. ( 2 ) Microbial activity in the rumen transforms the diversity of protein in the diet to a more uniform product passing to the abomasum; it also removes most of the digestible carbohydrate from the food so that normally very little sugar is absorbed from the intestine. (3) The flow of digesta from the abomasum is enormous, almost continuous and fairly constant in consistency and composition ; pancreatic secretion is equally continuous. (4) Abomasal secretion of acid is continuous and the intestinal contents remain acid throughout the upper part of the small intestine. ( 5 ) Large amounts of water and salts are secreted into the gut, especially by the salivary glands, and these must be efficiently reabsorbed, mostly in the small and large intestines. The ruminant’s intestines thus do not have to deal with the rather sudden inflows of food and water that pass to the duodenum in monogastric animals. Presumably intestinal digestion benefits in efficiency and economy from being a ‘continuous’ rather than a ‘batch’ process, though this concept has still to be placed on a factual footing.
A THz signal source with integrated antenna for non-destructive testing in 28nm bulk CMOS

This work presents two fully integrated above-fmax signal sources (570GHz and 600GHz) with on-chip antenna, implemented in a 28nm bulk CMOS technology. A VCO generates a signal at the fundamental frequency, which drives a non-linear amplifier to generate the wanted third harmonic above. The above-fmax third harmonic signal is coupled directly to a folded dipole antenna (570GHz, -34.3dBm EIRP) or to a collinear dipole antenna through a transformer (600GHz, -43dBm EIRP). Both sources provide a wide tuning range and 3dB output power bandwidth while maintaining a compact layout footprint. These are the highest reported fully integrated signal sources in bulk CMOS with on-chip antennas and used as transmitters in a THz imaging setup for non-destructive quality control.
Role of outcome conflict in dual-task interference.

The traditional explanation for dual-task interference is that tasks compete for scarce processing resources. Another possible explanation is that the outcome of the processing required for one task conflicts with the processing required for the other task (e.g., cross talk). To explore the contribution of outcome conflict to task interference, we manipulated the relatedness of the tasks. In Experiment 1, subjects searched concurrently for names of boys in one channel and names of cities in another channel. Responses were significantly delayed when a nontarget on one channel belonged to, or was even just related to, the category designated as the target for the other channel. No comparable effects were found when the tasks were performed in isolation. Thus, the difficulty of the individual tasks is not the only determinant of how much they will interfere when combined, and there must be substantial interactions between processes carrying out the two tasks. In Experiment 2 subjects searched one channel for specific target letters and another channel for specific target digits. The nontargets in a channel were either from the same alphanumeric category as the targets for that channel or from the opposite category (i.e., the category of the targets for the other channel). It was found that although between-category search was more efficient than within-category search in single tasks, it was less efficient in dual tasks. Thus, there appear to be significant task interactions due to the confusability emerging when the nontargets of one task belong to the same category as the targets of the concurrent task. In addition, the congruence of target presence or absence on the two channels was found to have a sizeable effect. We suggest four potential sources of outcome conflict that may contribute to dual-task interference, and we conjecture that a great deal of the residual interference might result from other sorts of outcome conflict.
Regionale sturing: inspelen op maatschappelijke uitdagingen

Nieuwe vormen van regionale sturing hebben de belofte in zich om beter dan gemeentelijke of landelijke vorming van sturing in te spelen op maatschappelijke uitdagingen. In dit essay wordt vanuit meerdere disciplinaire perspectieven de vraag beantwoord of en hoe regionale sturing kan bijdragen aan het oplossen van publieke problemen. We bespreken in het bijzonder hoe dit via experimenten wordt gerealiseerd en wat de rol van de institutionele context is. De centrale probleemstelling luidt: hoe kan regionale sturing, in de context van gevestigde (formele en informele) instituties, bijdragen aan het oplossen van publieke problemen?
A safe exit algorithm for continuous nearest neighbor monitoring in road networks

Query processing in road networks has been studied extensively in recent years. However, the processing of moving queries in road networks has received little attention. In this paper, we introduce a new algorithm called the Safe Exit Algorithm SEA, which can efficiently compute the safe exit points of a moving nearest neighbor NN query on road networks. The safe region of a query is an area where the query result remains unchanged, provided that the query remains inside the safe region At each safe exit point, the safe region of a query and its non-safe region meet so that a set of safe exit points represents the border of the safe region. Before reaching a safe exit point, the client query object does not have to request the server to re-evaluate the query This significantly reduces the server processing costs and the communication costs between the server and moving clients. Extensive experimental results show that SEA outperforms a conventional algorithm by up to two orders of magnitude in terms of communication costs and computation costs
Meta-analysis of relationships between environmental factors and aboveground biomass in the alpine grassland on the Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan Plateau, known as the "world's third pole" for its extremely harsh and fragile ecological environment, has attracted great attention because of its sensitivity to global changes. Alpine grassland on the Tibetan Plateau has an important function in the global carbon cycle. Many studies have examined the effects of various environmental factors on biomass distribution. In this study, the relationships between the habitat parameters and the aboveground biomass (AGB) abundance on the Tibetan Plateau were examined through a meta-analysis of 110 field sites across the widely distributed alpine steppe and meadow. The obtained data were then analysed using the classification and regression tree model and the generalized additive model. The results showed that the AGB abundance in alpine steppe was positively correlated with six environmental factors, namely, soil organic carbon density of the top soil layer from 0 cm to 30 cm (SOC30 cm), longitude, mean annual precipitation (MAP), latitude, clay, and soil moisture. For the alpine meadow, five main factors were detected, namely, altitude, soil moisture, nitrogen, MAP, and mean annual temperature. The increased AGB abundance in the alpine steppe was associated with the increased SOC30 cm, MAP, and latitude, and the increased longitude resulted in decreased AGB abundance. For the alpine meadow, altitude and soil moisture showed strongly negative effects on AGB abundance, and soil nitrogen content was positively related to the AGB distribution across all examined sites. Our results suggest the combined effects of meteorological, topographic, and soil factors on the spatial patterns of AGB on the Tibetan Plateau.
tonB-independent ferrichrome-mediated iron transport in Escherichia coli spheroplasts

Although a functional tonB gene product was required for ferrichrome-mediated iron transport in whole cells of Escherichia coli K-12, such transport did not require the tonB+ function in spheroplasts. We suggest that in spheroplasts ferrichrome has direct access to the cytoplasmic membrane and that this is reflected in tonB-independent accumulation of ferrichrome iron. Therefore, the tonB gene product does not function in the translocation of ferrichrome iron across the inner membrane.
Impaired motor memory for a pursuit rotor task following Stage 2 sleep loss in college students

SUMMARY It has recently been reported that selective REM sleep deprivation (REMD) in college students results in memory impairment of the application of a set of rules in a logic task, but not recall of a paired associate task. The present experiments were designed to examine the effects of Total Sleep Deprivation (TSD) and (REMD) following acquisition of a pure motor task, the pursuit rotor. In Experiment 1, subjects (N= 90) were exposed to TSD for one of several nights following training. Results showed that TSD on the same night as training resulted in poorer performance on retest one week later. In Experiment 2, subjects (N= 42) were exposed to various kinds of sleep deprivation on the night of task acquisition. One group was subjected to REMD. Other groups included a non‐REM awakening control group (NREMA), a TSD group, a normally rested Control group and a group allowed the first 4h of sleep in the night before being subjected to TSD (LH‐TSD) for the rest of the night. Results showed the REMD and Control groups to have excellent memory for this task while the TSD and LH ‐ TSD subjects had significantly poorer memory for the task. The NREMA group showed a slight, but not significant deficit. It was concluded that Stage 2 sleep, rather than REM sleep was the important stage of sleep for efficient memory processing of the pursuit rotor task.
Arginase I induction in macrophages, triggered by Th2‐type cytokines, supports the growth of intracellular Leishmania parasites

Leishmania spp. are intracellular protozoan parasites that invade and replicate within macrophages. In a previous report, we have demonstrated that the growth of intracellular amastigotes could be controlled by inhibition of arginase. This enzyme, induced in host cells by Th2 cytokines, synthesizes L‐ornithine which can be used by parasites to generate polyamines and proliferate. In this study, we have designed experiments to better analyse the dependence of parasite proliferation on arginase induction in infected macrophages. Treatment of Leishmania major‐infected BALB/c macrophages with interleukin (IL)‐4, IL‐10 or transforming growth factor‐β, which are all inducers of arginase I in murine macrophages, led to a proportional increase in the number of intracellular amastigotes. Moreover, parasite proliferation and arginase activity levels in macrophages from the susceptible BALB/c mice were significantly higher than those from infected C57BL/6 cells when treated with identical doses of these cytokines, indicating that a strong correlation exist between the permissibility of host cells to L. major infection and the induction of arginase I in macrophages. Specific inhibition of arginase by Nω‐hydroxy‐nor‐L‐arginine (nor‐LOHA) reverted growth, while L‐ornithine and putrescine promoted parasite proliferation, indicating that the parasite cell division depends critically on the level of L‐ornithine available in the host. Therefore, arginase induction in the context of a Th2 predominant response might be a contributor to susceptibility in leishmaniasis.