Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dietary fatty acids modulate associations between genetic variants and circulating fatty acids in plasma and erythrocyte membranes: Meta-analysis of nine studies in the CHARGE consortium.

SCOPE Tissue concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids may reduce cardiovascular disease risk, and genetic variants are associated with circulating fatty acids concentrations. Whether dietary fatty acids interact with genetic variants to modify circulating omega-3 fatty acids is unclear. We evaluated interactions between genetic variants and fatty acid intakes for circulating alpha-linoleic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and docosapentaenoic acid. METHODS AND RESULTS We conducted meta-analyses (N = 11 668) evaluating interactions between dietary fatty acids and genetic variants (rs174538 and rs174548 in FADS1 (fatty acid desaturase 1), rs7435 in AGPAT3 (1-acyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphate), rs4985167 in PDXDC1 (pyridoxal-dependent decarboxylase domain-containing 1), rs780094 in GCKR (glucokinase regulatory protein), and rs3734398 in ELOVL2 (fatty acid elongase 2)). Stratification by measurement compartment (plasma versus erthyrocyte) revealed compartment-specific interactions between FADS1 rs174538 and rs174548 and dietary alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid for docosahexaenoic acid and docosapentaenoic acid. CONCLUSION Our findings reinforce earlier reports that genetically based differences in circulating fatty acids may be partially due to differences in the conversion of fatty acid precursors. Further, fatty acids measurement compartment may modify gene-diet relationships, and considering compartment may improve the detection of gene-fatty acids interactions for circulating fatty acid outcomes.
The influence of social norms on the dynamics of vaccinating behaviour for paediatric infectious diseases

Mathematical models that couple disease dynamics and vaccinating behaviour often assume that the incentive to vaccinate disappears if disease prevalence is zero. Hence, they predict that vaccine refusal should be the rule, and elimination should be difficult or impossible. In reality, countries with non-mandatory vaccination policies have usually been able to maintain elimination or very low incidence of paediatric infectious diseases for long periods of time. Here, we show that including injunctive social norms can reconcile such behaviour-incidence models to observations. Adding social norms to a coupled behaviour-incidence model enables the model to better explain pertussis vaccine uptake and disease dynamics in the UK from 1967 to 2010, in both the vaccine-scare years and the years of high vaccine coverage. The model also illustrates how a vaccine scare can perpetuate suboptimal vaccine coverage long after perceived risk has returned to baseline, pre-vaccine-scare levels. However, at other model parameter values, social norms can perpetuate depressed vaccine coverage during a vaccine scare well beyond the time when the population's baseline vaccine risk perception returns to pre-scare levels. Social norms can strongly suppress vaccine uptake despite frequent outbreaks, as observed in some small communities. Significant portions of the parameter space also exhibit bistability, meaning long-term outcomes depend on the initial conditions. Depending on the context, social norms can either support or hinder immunization goals.
Improving mining of medical data by outliers prediction

In the paper a new outlier prediction method is presented that should improve the classification performance when mining the medical data. The method introduces the class confusion score metric that is based on the classification results of a set of classifiers, induced by an evolutionary decision tree induction algorithm. The classification improvement should be achieved by removing the identified outliers from a training set. Our proposition is that a classifier trained by a filtered dataset captures a better, more general knowledge model and should therefore perform better also on unseen cases. The proposed method is applied on the two cardio-vascular datasets and the obtained results are discussed.
[Agreement between observations on the functional capacity of home care elderly patients].

OBJECTIVE To assess the agreement between measures of caregiver's perception and health provider's direct observation of performance in daily living activities among home care elderly patients. METHODS Performance observations were carried out among 40 elderly patients and their respective caregivers were interviewed. During home visits, data on caregiver's perception were collected by an independent observer using the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) instrument. Health providers evaluated elderly patients on their functional capacity in six dimensions: self-care, sphincter control, mobility, walking, communication and social cognitive skills. RESULTS Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) showed an excellent agreement in all dimensions and the highest total FIM score was 0.95. Only the dimensions self-care and mobility showed a bias error between measures (signal test: p<0.001). Bias errors were not found when Bland-Altman graphic was applied. CONCLUSIONS The agreement between health provider's and caregiver's measures demonstrated a good interaction between program team and caregivers, which is of great importance on evaluating and treating elderly patients. The results also suggest that when a valid and reliable instrument such as FIM is used, there is a high reproducibility of measures, even for different types of evaluations.
The Relationship between Teacher Absenteeism and Fourth-Grade Student Mathematical Achievement.

Within public schools throughout the United States, an emphasis has been placed on improving education for all students. In turn, this has resulted in legislators and policymakers placing an emphasis on assessing student learning and holding the education community accountable. In this study, the researcher examined one variable in the accountability effort: teacher absenteeism. The major purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher absenteeism and fourth-grade student mathematical achievement. Data for this study were generated from nine school districts located in northern Louisiana. Data consisted of attendance records of fourth-grade teachers and student performance on the mathematics portion of the fourth-grade Louisiana Education Assessment Program (LEAP). It was hypothesized that teacher absences would negatively impact student performance on the mathematics portion of the LEAP. Hypotheses were tested and analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and two multiple regressions. Teachers were classified into four groups based on absenteeism rates of less than five days, five to ten days, eleven to fourteen days, and fifteen or more days per school year. The results of the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) found no statistically significant relationship between teacher absenteeism groups and student mathematical performance on the LEAP. In the two multiple regressions, neither the demographic
Murine Coronavirus Mouse Hepatitis Virus Is Recognized by MDA5 and Induces Type I Interferon in Brain Macrophages/Microglia

ABSTRACT The coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) induces a minimal type I interferon (IFN) response in several cell types in vitro despite the fact that the type I IFN response is important in protecting the mouse from infection in vivo. When infected with MHV, mice deficient in IFN-associated receptor expression (IFNAR−/−) became moribund by 48 h postinfection. MHV also replicated to higher titers and exhibited a more broad tissue tropism in these mice, which lack a type I IFN response. Interestingly, MHV induced IFN-β in the brains and livers, two main targets of MHV replication, of infected wild-type mice. MHV infection of primary cell cultures indicates that hepatocytes are not responsible for the IFN-β production in the liver during MHV infection. Furthermore, macrophages and microglia, but not neurons or astrocytes, are responsible for IFN-β production in the brain. To determine the pathway by which MHV is recognized in macrophages, IFN-β mRNA expression was quantified following MHV infection of a panel of primary bone marrow-derived macrophages generated from mice lacking different pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). Interestingly, MDA5, a PRR thought to recognize primarily picornaviruses, was required for recognition of MHV. Thus, MHV induces type I IFN in macrophages and microglia in the brains of infected animals and is recognized by an MDA5-dependent pathway in macrophages. These findings suggest that secretion of IFN-β by macrophages and microglia plays a role in protecting the host from MHV infection of the central nervous system.
Choice of Prognostic Estimators in Joint Models by Estimating Differences of Expected Conditional Kullback–Leibler Risks

Summary Prognostic estimators for a clinical event may use repeated measurements of markers in addition to fixed covariates. These measurements can be linked to the clinical event by joint models that involve latent features. When the objective is to choose between different prognosis estimators based on joint models, the conventional Akaike information criterion is not well adapted and decision should be based on predictive accuracy. We define an adapted risk function called expected prognostic cross‐entropy. We define another risk function for the case of right‐censored observations, the expected prognostic observed cross‐entropy (EPOCE). These risks can be estimated by leave‐one‐out cross‐validation, for which we give approximate formulas and asymptotic distributions. The approximated cross‐validated estimator CVPOL a of EPOCE is studied in simulation and applied to the comparison of several joint latent class models for prognosis of recurrence of prostate cancer using prostate‐specific antigen measurements.
Role of membrane immunoglobulin (Ig) crosslinking in membrane Ig- mediated, major histocompatibility-restricted T cell-B cell cooperation

Resting murine B lymphocytes can present rabbit anti-Ig to T cell lines specific for normal rabbit globulin. The T cell-B cell interaction is major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted, and leads to activation, proliferation, and differentiation of the resting B cell into an antibody-secreting cell. Efficient antigen presentation and B cell activation depends upon binding of rabbit globulin to (membrane) mIg. To investigate the role of mIg in this polyclonal model for a T cell-dependent primary antibody response, we determined whether crosslinking of mIg is required either for efficient antigen presentation, as measured by helper T cell activation, or for the B cell response to T cell help, since all the direct effects of anti-Ig on B cells require crosslinking of mIg. We found that monovalent Fab' fragments of anti-IgM or anti-IgD work as efficiently as their divalent counterparts. Therefore, a signal transduced through the antigen receptor seems not to be required when T cell help is provided by an MHC-restricted T helper cell recognizing antigen on the B cell surface. Moreover, rabbit globulin bound to class I MHC molecules in the form of anti-H-2K also results in efficient antigen presentation and T cell- dependent B cell activation. However, mIg still appears to be specialized for antigen presentation, since anti-Ig is presented about three- to fivefold more efficiently than anti-H-2K.
Determinants of extracellular matrix remodelling are differentially expressed in paediatric and adult dilated cardiomyopathy

The left ventricular phenotype of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) can appear similar in paediatric and adult patients. However, the aetiology of paediatric DCM is usually idiopathic, and often leads an aggressive clinical course. A structural underpinning of DCM is extracellular matrix changes, which are determined by a balance between matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs). This study tested the hypothesis that different MMP/TIMP profiles occur in paediatric and adult DCM patients.
Clathrin-mediated Endocytosis of the β-Adrenergic Receptor Is Regulated by Phosphorylation/Dephosphorylation of β-Arrestin1*

β-Arrestins serve a dual regulatory role in the life cycle of G protein-coupled receptors such as the β2-adrenergic receptor. First, they mediate rapid desensitization by binding to G protein-coupled receptor kinase-phosphorylated receptors. Second, they target the receptors for internalization into endosomal vesicles, wherein receptor dephosphorylation and resensitization occur. Here we report that phosphorylation of a carboxyl-terminal serine (Ser-412) in β-arrestin1 regulates its endocytotic but not its desensitization function. Cytoplasmic β-arrestin1 is constitutively phosphorylated and is recruited to the plasma membrane by agonist stimulation of the receptors. At the plasma membrane, β-arrestin1 is rapidly dephosphorylated, a process that is required for its clathrin binding and receptor endocytosis but not for its receptor binding and desensitization. Once internalized, β-arrestin1 is rephosphorylated. Thus, as with the classical endocytic adaptor protein complex AP2, β-arrestin1 functions as a clathrin adaptor in receptor endocytosis which is regulated by dephosphorylation at the plasma membrane.
The influence of breed on the susceptibility of sheep and goats to a single experimental infection with Haemonchus contortus

Four breeds of sheep and three breeds of goats, maintained on both high and low planes of nutrition were given a single infection of 350 Haemonchus contortus larvae per kg. Although animals on a low protein diet had much higher faecal egg counts than those on the high protein diet the pattern of relative susceptibility was similar in both cases. It would appear that the nutritional status of the host influences its resistance to H contortus infection. Of the breeds studied the indigenous Red Masai was the most resistant breed of sheep while the exotic Saanen was more resistant than the the two indigenous breeds of goats.
Gut microbiota and nuclear receptors in bile acid and lipid metabolism

Background & Aim: Glucocorticoids, produced by the adrenal gland under control of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, exert their metabolic actions largely via activation of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Synthetic glucocorticoids are widely used as anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs but their application is hampered by adverse metabolic effects. Recently, it has been shown that GR may regulate several genes involved in murine bile acid (BA) and cholesterol metabolism, yet the physiological relevance hereof is controversial. The aim of this study is to provide a mechanistic basis for effects of prednisolone on BA and cholesterol homeostasis in mice. Methods: Male BALB/c mice were treated with prednisolone (12.5 mg/kg/day) for 7 days by subcutaneous implantation of slow-release pellets, followed by extensive metabolic profiling. Results: Sustained prednisolone treatment induced the expression of the apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (Asbt) in the ileum, which stimulated BA absorption. This resulted in elevated plasma BA levels and enhanced biliary BA secretion. Concomitantly, both biliary cholesterol and phospholipid secretion rates were increased. Enhanced BA reabsorption suppressed hepatic BA synthesis, as evident from hepatic gene expression, reduced plasma C4 levels and reduced fecal BA loss. Plasma HDL cholesterol levels were elevated in prednisolone-treated mice, this likely contributed to the stimulated flux of cholesterol from intraperitoneally injected macrophage foam cells into feces. Conclusions: Sustained prednisolone treatment increases enterohepatic recycling of BA, leading to elevated plasma BA levels and reduced BA synthesis in the absence of cholestasis. Under these conditions, prednisolone promotes macrophage-derived reverse cholesterol transport.
Cognitive abnormalities in posttraumatic stress disorder

Purpose of review The current review aims to describe and evaluate research on cognitive difficulties associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) published between January 2007 and June 2008. Recent findings The reviewed studies provide additional evidence that negative appraisals and decrements on verbal and autobiographical memory tasks are exhibited by individuals with PTSD relative to controls and may represent preexisting risk factors for PTSD rather than a result or concomitant of PTSD symptoms. In addition, the reviewed findings provide further evidence for source monitoring difficulties and attentional biases toward trauma-relevant information in PTSD. Recent research also provides evidence that, although memories of traumatic events differ in PTSD relative to other types of memories and memories of depressed individuals, they are likely on the same continuum as nontraumatic memories rather than qualitatively different. Summary Individuals with PTSD experience cognitive alterations ranging from impairments in overall memory functioning to difficulties specific to trauma-related cues. These cognitive difficulties appear to be importantly related to the development and/or maintenance of the disorder. At this point, it is unclear whether common mechanisms may account for these diverse cognitive difficulties and whether cognitive impairments are attributable to comorbid depression.
Ubiquitin-lysozyme conjugates. Identification and characterization of an ATP-dependent protease from rabbit reticulocyte lysates.

Ubiquitin-lysozyme conjugates have been used as substrates to identify an ATP-dependent protease from rabbit reticulocyte lysates. The enzyme, which has been partially purified by DEAE chromatography and glycerol gradient centrifugation, has an apparent molecular weight greater than 600,000 based on sedimentation and gel filtration. Whereas it degrades conjugated lysozyme molecules in the presence of ATP, the protease does not degrade free lysozyme molecules even upon addition of ubiquitin, lysozyme-ubiquitin conjugates, and ATP. Degradation of lysozyme conjugates is independent of added ubiquitin and occurs in fractions incapable of ubiquitin conjugation. Proteolysis is maximal at pH 7.8, inhibited by hemin, N-ethylmaleimide, or aurintricarboxylic acid, and proceeds with an apparent Arrhenius activation energy in the range of 27 +/- 5 kcal/mol. These properties are similar to those observed for the degradation of lysozyme conjugates in lysates indicating that the partially purified protease catalyzes the "second" ATP-utilizing reaction identified previously (Hough, R., and Rechsteiner, M. (1984) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 81, 90-94; Hershko, A. , Leshinsky, E. , Ganoth, D. , and Heller, H. (1984) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 81, 1619-1623; Tanaka, K. , Waxman, L. , and Goldberg, A. L. (1983) J. Cell Biol. 96, 1580-1585).
Current account sustainability in Middle East and Africa (MEA) countries: Evidence from panel data

ABSTRACT:Countries in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) have diverse economic structures. Some countries are oil exporters, some are oil importers and some countries are very poor, dependent on agriculture. Since current account is an important indicator of an economy’s health, it is of interest to examine if current account balances in MEA region are sustainable. However, empirical research paid scant attention to this issue. No study has been conducted before to examine this issue. The present paper makes an attempt to fill this research gap by employing panel data model over the period from 1995 to 2014 to examine current account sustainability in MEA countries. We follow intertemporal budget constraint approach and examine long-run relationship between export and import plus interest on net foreign debt. As we work with panel data, we pay special attention to cross-section dependence. We use annual data collected from World Development Indicators. All data (exports, imports and interest on long-term external borrowing) are in current US dollar and expressed as percentage of GDP. Interest payment on long-term external borrowing (also in current US dollar) is used as a proxy for interest on net foreign debt. Panel unit root test to cross-section dependence indicate variables are first-difference stationary. We next use panel cointegration and bootstrap critical values under null hypothesis to accommodate cross-section dependence. Panel cointegration result suggests that current account is sustainable. However, panel cointegrating regression estimation indicates that the value of sustainability coefficient is less than 1 (one), which implies that current account is weakly sustainable. As current account is weakly sustainable, it is desirable to make policy intervention at macro level to ensure strong sustainability. This may be achieved by accelerating ongoing trade reforms in MEA countries to boost export earnings and hence ensure the sustainability of external debt in the long run.
Local variability in metazoan parasites of the pelagic fish species, Engraulis ringens: implications for fish stock assessment using parasites as biological tags

Abstract Parasites have been used successfully as biological tags in population studies, mainly in marine fishes, but also in marine mammals, crustaceans and molluscs. Almost all published information dealing with parasites as biological tags evaluates differences between localities. However, local variability in the component community has not been assessed. In this work, we examined whether local variation of the metazoan parasite fauna of Engraulis ringens, extracted from five independent samples from two nearby localities in northern Chile, can be a factor causing bias in stock identification. Our results show that local variability, as estimated by a single sample, may suffice to represent component community variability with no need for replicated data.
Enhanced AMPA receptor activity increases operant alcohol self‐administration and cue‐induced reinstatement

Long‐term alcohol exposure produces neuroadaptations that contribute to the progression of alcohol abuse disorders. Chronic alcohol consumption results in strengthened excitatory neurotransmission and increased α‐amino‐3‐hydroxyl‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazole‐propionate receptors (AMPA) receptor signaling in animal models. However, the mechanistic role of enhanced AMPA receptor activity in alcohol‐reinforcement and alcohol‐seeking behavior remains unclear. This study examined the role of enhanced AMPA receptor function using the selective positive allosteric modulator, aniracetam, in modulating operant alcohol self‐administration and cue‐induced reinstatement. Male alcohol‐preferring (P‐) rats, trained to self‐administer alcohol (15%, v/v) versus water were pre‐treated with aniracetam to assess effects on maintenance of alcohol self‐administration. To determine reinforcer specificity, P‐rats were trained to self‐administer sucrose (0.8%, w/v) versus water, and effects of aniracetam were tested. The role of aniracetam in modulating relapse of alcohol‐seeking was assessed using a response contingent cue‐induced reinstatement procedure in P‐rats trained to self‐administer 15% alcohol. Aniracetam pre‐treatment significantly increased alcohol‐reinforced responses relative to vehicle treatment. This increase was not attributed to aniracetam‐induced hyperactivity as aniracetam pre‐treatment did not alter locomotor activity. AMPA receptor involvement was confirmed because 6,7‐dinitroquinoxaline‐2,3‐dione (AMPA receptor antagonist) blocked the aniracetam‐induced increase in alcohol self‐administration. Aniracetam did not alter sucrose‐reinforced responses in sucrose‐trained P‐rats, suggesting that enhanced AMPA receptor activity is selective in modulating the reinforcing function of alcohol. Finally, aniracetam pre‐treatment potentiated cue‐induced reinstatement of alcohol‐seeking behavior versus vehicle‐treated P‐rats. These data suggest that enhanced glutamate activity at AMPA receptors may be key in facilitating alcohol consumption and seeking behavior, which could ultimately contribute to the development of alcohol abuse disorders.