Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plasma Leptin in Infants: Relations to Birth Weight and Weight Loss

Background. The hormone leptin, produced in the adipose tissue, is involved in the regulation of body weight. The release of the hormone is increased in obese adults and decreased after fasting in human adults. This study investigated whether the plasma leptin level was related to the infant's birth weight and whether the level was reduced in connection with the physiological weight loss during the neonatal period. Methods. We measured the plasma leptin level in cord blood from infants who were large for gestational age (LGA) (n = 15), small for gestational age (SGA) (n = 16), and appropriate for gestational age (AGA) (n = 38). AGA infants (n = 120), who were exclusively breastfed, were also studied during their first 4 postnatal days in a cross-sectional method. One blood sample was collected before breastfeeding from each infant. Plasma leptin concentrations were determined by radioimmunoassay. Results. The median (range) concentration of leptin from cord blood was increased in LGA infants and decreased in SGA infants compared with the level in AGA infants. There was a positive correlation between the log of the plasma leptin level in cord blood and both the infant's birth weight (r = 0.76; n = 69) and the body mass index (r = 0.63; n = 69). The normal 3% to 6% weight reduction that occurs during the first 4 postnatal days was associated with a 26% decrease in the plasma leptin level in healthy breastfed infants. Conclusions. The plasma leptin level is highly correlated to the size of adipose tissue mass and decreases in connection with the initial physiological weight loss in newborn infants. These data provide evidence that leptin is highly related to the nutritional status already during the fetal and neonatal periods.
Insulin-stimulated Interaction with 14-3-3 Promotes Cytoplasmic Localization of Lipin-1 in Adipocytes*

Lipin-1 is a bifunctional protein involved in lipid metabolism and adipogenesis. Lipin-1 plays a role in the biosynthesis of triacylglycerol through its phosphatidate phosphatase activity and also acts as a transcriptional co-activator of genes involved in oxidative metabolism. Lipin-1 resides in the cytoplasm and translocates to the endoplasmic reticulum membrane to catalyze the phosphatidate phosphatase reaction. It also possesses a nuclear localization signal, which is required for its translocation to the nucleus and may therefore be important for lipin-1 co-activator function. Thus, subcellular localization may be an important factor in the regulation of this protein. Here, we show that the nuclear localization signal alone is not sufficient for lipin-1 nuclear localization, and identify lipin-1 interaction with 14-3-3 as a determinant of its subcellular localization. We demonstrate that lipin-1 interacts with 14-3-3 proteins and that overexpression of 14-3-3 promotes the cytoplasmic localization of lipin-1 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. The effect of 14-3-3 is mediated through a serine-rich domain in lipin-1. Functional mapping of the 14-3-3-interacting region within the serine-rich domain indicates redundancy and cooperativity among several sites, including five phosphorylated serine and threonine residues. Insulin stimulation of 3T3-L1 adipocytes results in increased lipin-1 phosphorylation, enhanced interaction with 14-3-3, and predominantly cytoplasmic localization. In summary, our studies suggest that insulin may modulate the cellular function of lipin-1 by regulating its subcellular localization through interactions with 14-3-3 proteins.
The influence of prostate volume on the ratio of free to total prostate specific antigen in serum of patients with prostate carcinoma and benign prostate hyperplasia

Determining the ratio of free to total prostate specific antigen (f‐PSA to t‐PSA, calculated as the percentage of f‐PSA [f‐PSA%]) in serum allows for a clearer distinction between patients with prostate carcinoma (PCa) and patients with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) than determining the level of t‐PSA alone. To find influencing factors on f‐PSA%, the authors investigated prostate volume, TNM classification, and tumor stage.
Caries prediction model in pre-school children in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the significance of variables such as oral hygiene, dietary habits, socio-economic status and medical history of a child in assessing the level of caries risk and to generate a caries prediction model for pre-school Saudi children. DESIGN Cross-sectional study of pre-school children. SETTING Clinics and schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. SAMPLE AND METHODS A sample of 446 Saudi pre-school children, 199 males and 247 females, with a mean age of 4.13 years, were selected at random from clinics and schools. Selection was limited to subjects who either had no caries (dmft = 0) or who had high caries experience (dmft > 8). Each child was examined for caries experience and oral hygiene status. Their mothers were interviewed through a standardized questionnaire for information about oral hygiene habits of the children, diet history, childhood illness and socio-economic status. RESULTS There was a highly significant difference between the two groups in: debris index (P < 0.0001), aged child started tooth brushing, (P < 0.0001), age breastfeeding was stopped (P < 0.005), nocturnal bottle feeding with milk formula (P < 0.001), use of sweetened milk (P < 0.0001), frequency of use of soft drinks (P < 0.0005), frequency of consumption of sweets (P < 0.0001), and age at first dental visit (P < 0.0001). A caries prediction model developed through stepwise multivariate Logistic Regression (LR) analyses showed debris index, use of sweetened milk in bottle, frequency of consumption of soft drinks, frequency of intake of sweets and child's age at the first dental visit to be significant. Predictive probability of the model was 86.31% with a sensitivity of 90.1% and a specificity of 80.6%. CONCLUSIONS Risk factors for dental caries have been identified and a caries prediction model has been developed for Saudi pre-school children. The prediction model, if verified, may provide with guidance in identifying high caries risk Saudi preschool children as targets for preventive programmes.
Contested firm governance, institutions and the undertaking of corporate restructuring practices in Germany

This article investigates the undertaking of corporate restructuring practices (employee downsizing and wage moderation) in Germany from 2008 to 2015. The article presents a political perspective that draws on the insights of the power resources approach and of institutional analyses. The theoretical framework highlights how institutional arrangements structure power relations within companies by empowering, in an asymmetrical manner, different categories of firm stakeholders (employees, managers and shareholders) as well as shaping how they relate to each other in an interactive manner. The article’s empirical findings point to the importance of extensive, but contingent, corporate restructuring in Germany. Companies are more likely to implement ‘defensive’ corporate restructuring practices under conditions of high leverage/debt than when confronted by shareholder value driven investors, thereby reflecting the presence of overlapping interests between employees and managers.
Leveraging large scale Web data for image retrieval and user credibility estimation. (Recherche d'images et estimation automatique de la crédibilité des utilisateurs à partir de données du Web à large échelle)

While research in visual and multimedia recognition and retrieval has significantly benefited from manually labeled datasets, the availability of such resources remains a serious issue. Manual annotation is still a cumbersome task, especially when it is conducted on large datasets. A promising way to circumvent the lack of annotated data is to use images shared on multimedia social networks, such as Flickr. One of the main drawbacks of user-contributed collections is that a part of images annotations is not directly related to the visual content, rendering them less useful for image mining. The work presented in this Thesis is placed at the crossroads between the use of Web data in image mining and source credibility in image sharing platforms. It aims at bringing novel findings to both domains and furnishing a promising link between two separate fields of research. The theoretical frameworks and experimental results we detail can benefit both i) researchers coming from the multimedia mining community, by introducing efficient semantic image representations built from freely available image resources and ii) researchers interested in Web data quality and source credibility, by proposing a study of credibility in the multimedia domain and testing practical applications of user credibility estimates. We propose a scalable image classification framework that exploits binary linear classifiers. To implement this framework, we compare two data sources: a large manually annotated image dataset (i.e. ImageNet) and Flickr groups. For the second, we details methods that reduce the noise inherent to a Web collection. In an extended experimental section, we show that the proposed semantic features not only improve the retrieval performance on three well known image collections, when compared to state of the art image descriptors, but also offer a significant improvement of retrieval time. We then define the concept of user tagging credibility and apply it to Flickr users. We propose 66 features that can serve as estimators for user credibility. We introduce both context and content based features extracted from various Flickr data. We evaluate the proposed features both on a publicly available dataset and new dataset, which we introduce in this Thesis. Finally, we showcase the use of credibility estimates in two application scenarios: embedding them in an image diversification pipeline and using them as features in machine learning models for expertise classification and expert retrieval tasks. This work contributes to a better understanding and modeling of social intelligence for information processing tasks. We focused on image retrieval and multimedia credibility estimation but the methods proposed here are also relevant for other applications, such as image annotation and Web data quality control.
Sickness certification practices of physicians: a review of the literature.

BACKGROUND In most Western countries the responsibilities of physicians include assessing work ability and issuing certificates for sickness absence and disability pension. These tasks often have a substantial impact on the lives of patients and constitute a financial burden on employers, insurance companies, and communities. AIM The aim was to review scientific studies on sickness certification practices of physicians published in English, Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish. METHOD Analyses were carried out of studies searched for through literature databases, reference lists, and personal contacts. RESULTS Twenty-six publications fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Most of these were published in the last decade. The studies focused on physicians, and occasionally on physicians and patients, but never on interaction between them. Data had generally been collected using questionnaires, some including case vignettes. There was a large variation in how long different physicians sickness-certified similar patients. Three comprehensive categories of studies were identified dealing with the following: (1). how physicians certify sickness; (2). factors that might affect the certification process; (i.e. elements related to the patient, to the physician, or to restrictions in insurance legislation); and (3). studies concerning attitudes. No studies were found that took into account the work conditions of the hospital or health-care organization in which the physician works. CONCLUSIONS The research problems were seldom medical in nature but were instead carried out within the realm of behavioural science and should preferably be conducted using theories from behavioural, social, and public health scientific theories. Furthermore, factors such as gender, ethnicity, and power should be taken into consideration in studies on this complex phenomenon.
Power Allocation and Outage Probability Analysis of AF Relaying Systems With Multiple Antennas at Terminal Nodes

In this paper, the performance of a nonregenerative relaying network of multiple-antenna terminal nodes is analyzed with respect to the power allocation issue. Assuming that complete channel state information (CSI) of all links is known at the destination terminal, an optimal power allocation (OPA) approach is investigated subject to constant total power with the objective of maximizing the instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the destination. Generally, by this OPA approach, the total available power in the system is appropriated to source and relay nodes proportional to channel properties with the aim of coordinating the source–relay and relay–destination hop quality. Closed-form expressions for the outage probability are analytically derived, considering both conventional and maximized SNRs. It is shown that OPA outperforms the conventional uniform power allocation, although the achieved improvement is more significant if the number of destination antennas is less than the number of source antennas. Moreover, the results indicate that the effect of OPA on the performance improvement is significant if the relay node is close to the source terminal. Moreover, it is seen that the minimum number of the source and destination antennas is a determinant parameter in the evaluation of the outage probability. Hence, it is demonstrated that for an efficient system design, the number of source antennas should be as close as possible to that of the destination antennas. In addition, the relay selection scheme is considered to further improve the performance of the system. Finally, simulation results are presented, which confirms the validity of the analysis.
Alterations of cortical pyramidal neurons in mice lacking high-affinity nicotinic receptors

The neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are allosteric membrane proteins involved in multiple cognitive processes, including attention, learning, and memory. The most abundant form of heterooligomeric nAChRs in the brain contains the β2- and α4- subunits and binds nicotinic agonists with high affinity. In the present study, we investigated in the mouse the consequences of the deletion of one of the nAChR components: the β2-subunit (β2−/−) on the microanatomy of cortical pyramidal cells. Using an intracellular injection method, complete basal dendritic arbors of 650 layer III pyramidal neurons were sampled from seven cortical fields, including primary sensory, motor, and associational areas, in both β2−/− and WT animals. We observed that the pyramidal cell phenotype shows significant quantitative differences among different cortical areas in mutant and WT mice. In WT mice, the density of dendritic spines was rather similar in all cortical fields, except in the prelimbic/infralimbic cortex, where it was significantly higher. In the absence of the β2-subunit, the most significant reduction in the density of spines took place in this high-order associational field. Our data suggest that the β2-subunit is involved in the dendritic morphogenesis of pyramidal neurons and, in particular, in the circuits that contribute to the high-order functional connectivity of the cerebral cortex.
An open trial of octreotide long-acting release in the management of short bowel syndrome

OBJECTIVES:The aim of this study was to assess the effects of the long-acting release (LAR) depot octreotide preparation Sandostatin LAR Depot on stool water and electrolyte losses, fecal fat excretion, and GI transit in patients with short bowel syndrome.METHODS:We performed a 15-wk, prospective, open-label study of intramuscular (i.m.) Sandostatin LAR Depot, 20 mg, at 0, 3, 7, and 11 wk. Balance studies were performed before and at the end of the 15-wk study. Baseline and posttreatment measurements of body weight, stool fat, sodium and potassium, and gastric and small bowel transit of a radiolabeled egg meal were compared by paired analysis.RESULTS:We studied eight patients with short bowel syndrome (five women and three men; mean age 52 yr, range 37–72 yr) who had been TPN dependent for a mean of 11.8 yr (range 1.5–22 yr). The underlying diagnoses were Crohn's disease (n = 6), intestinal ischemia (n = 1), and resection for carcinoid tumor (n = 1). Treatment with Sandostatin LAR Depot significantly increased small bowel transit time (p = 0.03). Changes in body weight, urine volume, stool weight, fecal fat excretion, stool sodium and potassium excretion, or gastric emptying rate were highly variable, and no overall significance was observed.CONCLUSIONS:Sandostatin LAR Depot for 15 wk significantly prolonged small bowel transit time. Body weight and stool parameters in response to Sandostatin LAR Depot treatment needs to be assessed further in multicenter studies assessing dose, frequency of administration, and a larger sample size.
Breastfeeding trends in New Zealand from 1997-2002 and implications for policy implementation

This thesis is about breastfeeding trends, examined in the light of national and local breastfeeding policy implementation. It compares the rates of breastfeeding to governmental breastfeeding targets as specified by the Ministry of Health and analyses barriers to implementation at the local level. Breastfeeding is an important public health activity as it positively impacts on the health of babies and mothers. It also has economic and environmental benefits. Many factors influence breastfeeding and these are discussed within this thesis. Using Poisson regression this study analyses the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society breastfeeding data to examine New Zealand breastfeeding trends between 1997 and 2002, compares these to the government targets, and examines the relationship between ethnicity and socio-economic status on breastfeeding. Policies impact breastfeeding rates. This study also examines a small area of policy implementation by examining breastfeeding policy in hospitals, how it is related to the Ministry of Health's Breastfeeding Action Plan, how the plan is being implemented and any issues that pose barriers to implementation. Finally this study suggests more realistic of what government breastfeeding targets should be, and emphasises how important it is to introduce strategies to improve rates for Maori and more deprived communities. It also gives recommendations, of how to improve the implementation of one breastfeeding policy the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative.
Incidental pituitary lesions in 1,000 unselected autopsy specimens.

PURPOSE To elucidate the frequency of false-positive results in imaging diagnoses of a functioning pituitary microadenoma, the authors studied various kinds of incidental lesions greater than 2 mm in diameter from a larger series of pituitary glands. MATERIALS AND METHODS One thousand pituitary glands were studied in a nonselected autopsy series. Most causes of death were acute diseases or accidents. Each gland was fixed in 10% formalin and was then cut horizontally into three or four pieces, which were prepared for usual light microscopy. RESULTS Of 178 glands found to have incidental lesions, 61 (34%) lesions were larger than 2 mm. Included were adenomas and hyperplasias (n = 20), Rathke cysts (n = 37), infarctions (n = 2), and hemorrhages (n = 2). Seventeen (74%) of 23 laterally localized lesions were adenomas, and 33 (87%) of 38 medially situated lesions were Rathke cleft cysts. These lesions were found in 5.8%-8.3% of subjects in every generation aged 30 years or older. CONCLUSION Incidental lesions should be considered a cause of false-positive findings (6.1%) when an imaging diagnosis is made of a functioning pituitary microadenoma.
Genetic association between schizophrenia and the DISC1 gene in the Scottish population

Several lines of evidence support the involvement of the disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene in schizophrenia susceptibility, including its original identification in a schizophrenia family with a chromosome translocation, several genetic association studies, and functional characterization of the gene product. In the present study, we have genotyped multiple SNP and microsatellite markers in a large Scottish case‐control sample. We identified two SNPs and one microsatellite that show significant association with schizophrenia. The strongest association is with a haplotype of SNPs rs751229 and rs3738401, located at the 5′ end of the gene; the C‐A haplotype of these SNPs is associated with a relative risk of schizophrenia of 5 in our population. We also observe association with a microsatellite in intron 7, but no association with markers toward the 3′ end of the gene. The results are in broad agreement with those of other genetic studies, but there are differences in terms of the precise patterns of association. This analysis further strengthens the candidacy of DISC1 as a risk factor for schizophrenia in the general population, and suggests that more intensive searching for causative variants is justified. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Leadership, Innovation Outputs, and Business Performance: A Mixed Methods Study of Senior Managers in the Attractions Industry

ABSTRACT This mixed-methods study responds to the need for empirical studies of innovation in the experience industry context. A multisource approach was used to gather data from 189 attractions across the United States. The relationships between strategic leadership practices and various innovation output dimensions were examined at the organization level. Qualitative data in the form of innovation output examples complemented the quantitative results. Findings provide a snapshot of innovation in the attractions industry and reveal some of the “tensions” of leading innovation in organizations whose main economic offering is an experience. A list of context-specific leadership practices and innovation activities provide a starting point for self-assessment and integration of experience-economy concepts at the business unit level.
Investigation of auxiliary poles optimal design on reduction of end effect detent force for PMLSM with typical slot-pole combinations

Permanent magnet linear synchronous motor (PMLSM) has been widely used in various kinds of industrial applications due to its outstanding servo performance. However, the detent force is one of the major problems of PMLSM which brings about force ripple and mechanical vibration. The end effect detent force is the inherent defect of linear motors because of the length difference between primary and secondary. For the past few years, several end effect detent force optimization techniques for PMLSM have been proposed [1-2]. As one of the optimization techniques, the auxiliary poles method has good effect on the reduction of the end effect detent force. However, only a certain slot-pole combination of PMLSM is researched by numerical results and the applicability of this method for other slot-pole combinations is not summarized.