Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE DISTRIBUTION OF GLYCINE, GABA, GLUTAMATE AND ASPARTATE IN RABBIT SPINAL CORD, CEREBELLUM AND HIPPOCAMPUS

The distribution of glycine, GABA, glutamate and aspartate was measured among about 60 subdivisions of rabbit spinal cord, and among the discrete layers of cerebellum, hippocampus and area dentata. A more detailed mapping for GABA was made within the tip of the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Spinal ventral horn and dorsal root ganglion cell bodies were analyzed for the amino acids and for total lipid. The distribution of lipid and lipid‐free dry weight per unit volume was also determined in spinal cord. Calculated on the basis of tissue water, glycine in the cord is highest in lateral and ventral white matter immediately adjacent to the ventral grey. The distribution of GABA is almost the inverse of that of glycine with highest level in the tip of dorsal horn. It is most highly concentrated in the central 75% of Rexed layers III and IV. Aspartate in the tip of ventral horn is 4‐fold higher than in the tip of the dorsal horn and 3 times the average concentration in brain. Glutamate was much more evenly distributed and is relatively low in concentration with slightly higher levels in dorsal than in ventral grey matter. Large cell bodies in both ventral horn and dorsal root ganglion contained high levels of glycine. As reported by others, GABA was found to be high in cerebellar grey layers, area dentata, and regio inferior of hippocampus. Glycine was moderately high in cerebellar layers but moderate to low in hippocampus and area dentata.
Regional Labour Market Adjustment: Are Positive and Negative Shocks Different?

This paper analyses regional labour market adjustment in the Finnish provinces during 1971-96. It investigates the interrelations of employment, unemployment and labour force participation to examine how a change in labour demand is adjusted to. The study questions the usual assumption that positive and negative shocks evoke similar adjustment processes. Instead, we test for the possibility that the effects of positive and negative shocks are asymmetric. The analysis reveals that there is little asymmetry in the adjustment to regiondspecific labour demand shocks, but adjustment to total (regiondspecific plus common component) shocks displays more asymmetry. The regiondspecific component of a labour demand shock has shortdlived effects on unemployment and participation, and its effect on employment is very small but permanent [persistent? ]. Initially, most of the fall in employment is absorbed by the unemployment and participation rate, but after a few years migration plays a larger role in the adjustment process. Copyright Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2002.
Thioredoxin-interacting Protein Promotes Islet Amyloid Polypeptide Expression through miR-124a and FoxA2*

Background: Islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) plays an important role in beta-cell biology, but its regulation is not fully understood. Results: Thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) induces IAPP by inhibiting miR-124a and promoting FoxA2-mediated transcription. Conclusion: The critical beta-cell signaling pathways of TXNIP and IAPP are linked. Significance: Identification of this novel TXNIP/miR-124a/FoxA2/IAPP signaling pathway provides new insight into an important aspect of transcriptional regulation and beta-cell biology. Thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) is up-regulated by glucose and diabetes and plays a critical role in glucotoxicity, inflammation, and beta-cell apoptosis, whereas we have found that TXNIP deficiency protects against diabetes. Interestingly, human islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) is also induced by glucose, aggregates into insoluble amyloid fibrils found in islets of most individuals with type 2 diabetes and promotes inflammation and beta-cell cytotoxicity. However, so far no connection between TXNIP and IAPP signaling had been reported. Using TXNIP gain and loss of function experiments, INS-1 beta-cells and beta-cell-specific Txnip knock-out mice, we now found that TXNIP regulates IAPP expression. Promoter analyses and chromatin-immunoprecipitation assays further demonstrated that TXNIP increases IAPP expression at the transcriptional level, and we discovered that TXNIP-induced FoxA2 (forkhead box A2) transcription factor expression was conferring this effect by promoting FoxA2 enrichment at the proximal FoxA2 site in the IAPP promoter. Moreover, we found that TXNIP down-regulates miR-124a expression, a microRNA known to directly target FoxA2. Indeed, miR-124a overexpression led to decreased FoxA2 expression and IAPP promoter occupancy and to a significant reduction in IAPP mRNA and protein expression and also effectively inhibited TXNIP-induced IAPP expression. Thus, our studies have identified a novel TXNIP/miR-124a/FoxA2/IAPP signaling cascade linking the critical beta-cell signaling pathways of TXNIP and IAPP and thereby provide new mechanistic insight into an important aspect of transcriptional regulation and beta-cell biology.
Differential Opiate Receptor Phosphorylation and Desensitization Induced by Agonists and Phorbol Esters (*)

μ opiate receptors, the principal sites for opiate analgesia and reward, can display compensatory responses to opiate agonist drug administration. Agonist-induced K channel responses mediated by these receptors desensitize when examined in Xenopus oocyte expression systems. Mechanisms underlying such processes could include phosphorylation events similar to those reported to desensitize other G-protein-linked receptors. We used C-terminally directed anti-μ receptor antibodies to immunoprecipitate a phosphoprotein with size appropriate for the μ receptor from stably expressing Chinese hamster ovary cells. Phosphorylation of this μ opiate receptor protein was enhanced approximately 5-fold by treatment with the μ agonist morphine. The time course and dose-response relationships between μ receptor phosphorylation and agonist-induced desensitization display interesting parallels. Phosphorylation of μ opiate receptor protein is also enhanced 5-fold by treatment with the protein kinase C activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. The protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine blocked the effect of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate on μ receptor phosphorylation. However, staurosporine failed to block morphine-induced phosphorylation. These observations suggest that several biochemical pathways can lead to μ receptor phosphorylation events that may include mechanisms involved in μ receptor desensitization.
Correlation of water activity and other environmental conditions with repeated detection of Salmonella contamination on poultry farms.

Three flocks on 13 different broiler farms were monitored for Salmonella over three consecutive growout periods using the drag swab (DS) technique. One house was consistently negative for Salmonella contamination (7.7%); four houses were consistently positive (30.8%); and eight houses (61.5%) alternated between either a DS Salmonella-negative or -positive status. Simultaneously, numerous environmental parameters of the litter surface were measured, including water activity (Aw), ammonia, temperature, pH, moisture content (MC), ash content, and volatile solids. Analysis of these data as a corollary to either Salmonella-negative or -positive DS results revealed significant correlation coefficients for some of the parameters, especially Aw. The results suggest that there should be further exploration of remedial intervention based on control of some of the physical features of litter (e.g., controlling litter Aw and possibly MC and pH levels) in poultry houses.
Chloroplast Biogenesis 65 : Enzymic Conversion of Protoporphyrin IX to Mg-Protoporphyrin IX in a Subplastidic Membrane Fraction of Cucumber Etiochloroplasts.

The preparation from Percoll-purified cucumber (Cucumis sativus)etiochloroplasts of a subplastidic membrane fraction that is capable of high rates of Mg insertion into protoporphyrin IX is described. The plastid stroma was inactive when used either alone or in combination with the membrane fraction. Successful preparation of the subplastidic membrane fraction required that Mg-protoporphyrin chelatase was first stabilized by its substrate. This was achieved by lysing Percoll-purified plastids in a fortified hypotonic medium containing protoporphyrin IX prior to ultracentrifugation and separation of the stroma from the plastid membranes. Protoporphyrin IX became membrane bound. Other additives needed for enzyme activity fell into two groups: (a) those needed for enzyme stabilization during membrane preparation and (b) those involved in the primary mechanism of Mg insertion into protoporphyrin IX. Ethylenediaminetetraacetate belonged to the first group, magnesium belonged to the second group, and ATP belonged to both groups.
Effect of telephone reminder/recall on adolescent immunization and preventive visits: results from a randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE To measure the effect of telephone-based reminder/recall on immunization and well-child care (WCC) visit rates among adolescents in urban practices. DESIGN Randomized clinical trial of telephone-based reminder/recall over 18 months. SETTING Four urban primary care practices. PARTICIPANTS Adolescents aged 11 to 14 years.Intervention Adolescents within practices were randomized to study (n = 1496) or control groups (n = 1510). The study group was sent audiotaped telephone reminders about a scheduled or needed immunization or WCC visit. Households were called weekly if there was no response; telephone numbers were updated weekly. Controls received standard care. RESULTS Baseline demographics and immunization and WCC visit rates were similar for study and control groups. The intervention was largely ineffective in improving immunization or WCC visit rates. Although at the end of the study, the study group had slightly higher hepatitis B coverage (3 vaccinations) (62% vs 57.8%; P = .02), WCC visits were the same (53% and 54%), and impact on other vaccinations was minimal. The effect of reminder/recall was equivalent across demographic subgroups (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, insurance). The major factor limiting intervention effectiveness was inaccurate telephone numbers. Seventy-one percent of study subjects with single telephone numbers throughout the study had a WCC visit vs 25% of study subjects with multiple/changed telephone numbers and 54% of controls (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS An intensive telephone reminder and recall system was only minimally successful in improving immunization and WCC visit rates among urban adolescents. Lack of success was largely owing to changed or inaccurate telephone numbers.
Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Nutrition

The term “mycorrhiza” was coined by A. B. Frank, a scientist in Germany, more than 100 years ago. It literally means fungus-root, and describes the mutualistic association existing between a group of soil fungi and higher plants. The association is based on the plant component providing carbohydrates and other essential organic compounds to the fungi. In return, the fungal component, which colonizes both the root and the adjacent soil, helps the plant take up nutrients by extending the reach of its root system. Although mycorrhizal associations were discovered over 100 years ago, their role in plant productivity did not receive the attention it should until the past 30 years. Today, hundreds of scientists all over the world are engaged in the study of mycorrhizal associations, and any discussion of plant productivity that does not include mycorrhizal associations can hardly be considered complete.
Management of Hemophilic Arthropathy of the Ankle.

BACKGROUND Hemophilic arthropathy (HA) of the ankle is prevalent in people with hemophilia (PWH). It is frequently severe and incapacitating, due to recurrent bleeding into the ankle articulation during infancy. Around 50% of hemophilic patients suffer from ankle pain and radiological signs of HA. OBJECTIVE To review current treatment of HA of the ankle in PWH. METHOD A literature review of hemophilic ankle arthropathy in PWH was performed utilizing MEDLINE (PubMed) and the Cochrane Library. RESULTS Primary hematologic prophylaxis could keep away from the development of ankle HA if the level of the patient's deficient factor is prevented from dropping below 1% of normal. Recurrent articular bleeding can be prevented by the intravenous infusion of clotting factor concentrates (prophylaxis). Major articular bleeds and chronic hemophilic synovitis should be managed fiercely to prevent ankle HA. In the circumstance of advancing articular involvement, some noninvasive and invasive procedures can procure symptomatic mitigation and ameliorate the patient's function and quality of life. CONCLUSION The ideal treatment for the hemophilic ankle when hematologic prophylaxis fails includes physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthoses, radiosynovectomy, arthroscopic ankle debridement (in the initial stages of cartilage degeneration), and ankle distraction, ankle fusion or total ankle replacement (in advanced stages of cartilage degeneration).
A decision support engine for video surveillance systems

Design and implementation of an automated or a semi-automated surveillance system is an active research area. Safety concerns of individuals have accelerated the research for identifying alarming human activities in public spaces like streets, shopping malls, airports, and others. But reliance on human operator for real-time actions can be inappropriate and expensive. On the other hand, demonstrating pragmatic scene of a surveillanced area with the help of a synthetic world can be effective that can guard operator's limitation. In this paper, we design a Decision Support Engine (DSE) coupled with a synthetic space to facilitate surveillance activities of operators. For this purpose, the detailed sensory data are processed and alarms are detected, classified and ranked according to the threat severity that follows some well-defined rules of the system. At the end, the identified alarming cases are marked and presented with the help of a synthetic environment in an elegant way so that the operators can take the right action in a specific security circumstance.
The Membrane-Proximal Region of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Glycoprotein G Ectodomain Is Critical for Fusion and Virus Infectivity

ABSTRACT The glycoprotein (G) of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is responsible for binding of virus to cells and for mediating virus entry following endocytosis by inducing fusion of the viral envelope with the endosomal membrane. The fusion peptide of G is internal (residues 116 to 137) and exhibits characteristics similar to those of other internal fusion peptides, but recent studies have implicated the region adjacent to the transmembrane domain as also being important for G-mediated membrane fusion. Sequence alignment of the membrane-proximal region of G from several different vesiculoviruses revealed that this domain is highly conserved, suggesting that it is important for G function. Mutational analysis was used to show that this region is not essential for G protein oligomerization, transport to the cell surface, or incorporation into virus particles but that it is essential for acid-induced membrane fusion activity and for virus infectivity. Deletion of the 13 membrane-proximal amino acids (N449 to W461) dramatically reduced cell-cell fusion activity and reduced virus infectivity approximately 100-fold, but mutation of conserved aromatic residues (W457, F458, and W461) either singly or together had only modest effects on cell-cell fusion activity; recombinant virus encoding these mutants replicated as efficiently as wild-type (WT) VSV. Insertion of heterologous sequences in the juxtamembrane region completely abolished membrane fusion activity and virus infectivity, as did deletion of residues F440 to N449. The insertion mutants showed some changes in pH-dependent conformational changes and in virus binding, which could partially explain the defects in membrane fusion activity, but all the other mutants were similar to WT G with respect to conformational changes and virus binding. These data support the hypothesis that the membrane-proximal domain contributes to G-mediated membrane fusion activity, yet the conserved aromatic residues are not essential for membrane fusion or virus infectivity.
Effects of mRg2, a Mixture of Ginsenosides Containing 60% Rg2, on the Ultraviolet B–Induced DNA Repair Synthesis and Apoptosis in NIH3T3 Cells

Ginseng has been used worldwidely as a traditional medicine of Asian countries for treatment of various diseases including cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of ginseng saponin mRg2, a mixture of ginsenosides containing 60% Rg2, on the repair and apoptosis of ultraviolet B (UVB)-exposed NIH3T3 cells. When cells were exposed to UVB and then incubated with normal growth medium for 48 h, cell viability, as determined by trypan blue exclusion assay decreased to about 25%. However, when mRg2 was included in the postincubation medium, the UVB-induced loss of cell viability was significantly reduced as compared with that postincubated in normal growth medium. 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining showed that postincubation of the UVB-exposed cells in medium containing mRg2 significantly reduced the apoptotic nuclear fragmentation. Interestingly, when cells were preincubated with mRg2 for 24 h and then exposed to various doses of UV, the amount of repair synthesis significantly increased as compared with those in cells exposed to UVB alone. Western blot analysis indicated that the mRg2 postincubation after UVB exposure potentiated the level of p53 and p21. The level of Triton nonextractable proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) also remained elevated by mRg2 postincubation. All these results suggest that mRg2 protects cells against UVB-induced genotoxicity by increasing DNA repair and decreasing apoptosis, in possible association with the modulation of protein levels involved in cell cycle arrest or progression.
Utilidad del índice proteinuria/creatinuria comparada con Proteinuria de 24 horas para diagnóstico de preeclampsia, Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso, 2014

Introduccion: La proteinuria de 24 horas esta sometida a errores en su recoleccion y provoca retraso en el diagnostico de preeclampsia. La propuesta fue validar el indice proteinuria/creatinina (Indice P/C) de orina al azar y correlacionar con el patron de oro para disponer de una prueba rapida, con estimacion fiable de proteinuria significativa. Materiales y Metodos: Se determino sensibilidad, especificidad, Likelihood ratio (LR) positivo y negativo. Se empleo test de normalidad Kolmogorov-Smirnov y posteriormente transformacion de datos a base logaritmica 10 por la presencia de outliers y distribucion no normal. Para la correlacion se calculo coeficiente de Spearman como prueba no parametrica y coeficiente de Pearson en distribucion con normalidad. Resultados: Participaron 150 gestantes de 26 anos, nuliparas (67,3%) con embarazos mayores a 34 semanas de gestacion (81,3%), tension arterial promedio 151/98 mmHg, el 3,3% presento convulsiones y un 9,3% reporto antecedente de preeclampsia. Se valido el indice P/C, con una sensibilidad del 98% y especificidad del 83%. LR positivo de 5,85, y LR de negativo de 0,03. La correlacion entre el indice proteinuria/creatinina y proteinuria de 24 horas fue positiva lineal de fuerza moderada (r Spearman = 0,69 [p = 0,000] y r Pearson=0,74 [p = 0,000]). CONCLUSION: El indice P/C tiene una correlacion moderada con el patron de oro y una capacidad predictiva que permite descartar preeclampsia. El indice P/C es una herramienta de diagnostico temprano, rapido y oportuno en las gestantes con preeclampsia
Comparative Study of Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Lesional and Non‐Lesional Skin of Atopic Dermatitis Patients

The skin of patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) is often colonized by Staphylococcus aureus, and superantigenic exotoxins produced by the organism are thought to be an important precipitating factor of AD. However, there are few reports comparing the characteristics of S. aureus isolated from the lesional and non‐lesional skin of identical AD patients. In this study, therefore, we examined whether the presence of superantigen‐producing S. aureus correlates with the formation of eczematous lesion of AD patients. The detection rate of S. aureus on the lesional skin of AD patients was higher than on the non‐lesional skin of AD patients. Furthermore, the bacterial cell count of S. aureus on the lesional skin of AD patients was also significantly higher than that of the non‐lesional skin of AD patients. However, there was no significant difference between the detection rate of superantigenic exotoxin‐producing S. aureus on the lesional and non‐lesional skin of AD patients. These results suggest that the number of S. aureus present is more important in the formation of eczematous lesion of AD patients than the presence of superantigenic exotoxin‐producing S. aureus strains per se.
Change in the extent of colonoscopic and histological involvement in ulcerative colitis over time

ObjectiveColonoscopy has replaced barium enema as the method for determining the extent of disease in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Normally, the extent of disease is determined by direct visualization of the mucosa, but biopsies are also used with increasing frequency. Very little is known about the extent to which these two ways of assessing the extent of disease are correlated and whether the correlation differs over time. The aim of this study was to determine the changes in extent of disease assessed by direct visualization and by histological examination of the mucosa at the time of diagnosis and after 1 yr of follow-up in a cohort of incident cases of UC patients.MethodsAll new cases of UC in a defined population were identified during a 4-yr period (496 patients). Of these, 384 patients (78%) were available for follow-up and were subjected to a second colonoscopy with representative biopsies taken from both normal and affected mucosa.ResultsAfter 1 yr there were macroscopical signs of progression in 14%; 22% showed regression, and 30% had a normal colonoscopy. The histological changes from diagnosis until follow-up showed progression in 20%, 24% showed regression, and 24% had normal histological findings. Histological examination showed more extensive disease than did direct visualization in 4% of patients at diagnosis and in 28% at follow-up, whereas direct visualization showed more extensive disease than did histological examination in 18% of patients at diagnosis and 12% at follow-up. The best correlation at both diagnosis and follow-up was seen in pancolitis (99% and 88%, respectively). ConclusionsWith regard to the extent of colonic involvement in the UC patients, we found less agreement between endoscopic and histological evaluation at the follow-up examination than at the start of the study. This could indicate that biopsies represent a better indicator than endoscopical examination for long term prognosis. Further studies are needed to confirm this finding.