Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Complex Relationship between Antipsychotic-Induced Weight Gain and Therapeutic Benefits: A Systematic Review and Implications for Treatment

Background: Antipsychotic-induced weight gain (AIWG) and other adverse metabolic effects represent serious side effects faced by many patients with psychosis that can lead to numerous comorbidities and which reduce the lifespan. While the pathophysiology of AIWG remains poorly understood, numerous studies have reported a positive association between AIWG and the therapeutic benefit of antipsychotic medications. Objectives: To review the literature to (1) determine if AIWG is consistently associated with therapeutic benefit and (2) investigate which variables may mediate such an association. Data Sources: MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Cochrane Database and PsycINFO databases were searched for articles containing all the following exploded MESH terms: schizophrenia [AND] antipsychotic agents/neuroleptics [AND] (weight gain [OR] lipids [OR] insulin [OR] leptin) [AND] treatment outcome. Results were limited to full-text, English journal articles. Results: Our literature search uncovered 31 independent studies which investigated an AIWG-therapeutic benefit association with a total of 6063 enrolled individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or another serious mental illness receiving antipsychotic medications. Twenty-two studies found a positive association while, 10 studies found no association and one study reported a negative association. Study variables including medication compliance, sex, ethnicity, or prior antipsychotic exposure did not appear to consistently affect the AIWG-therapeutic benefit relationship. In contrast, there was some evidence that controlling for baseline BMI/psychopathology, duration of treatment and specific agent studied [i.e., olanzapine (OLZ) or clozapine (CLZ)] strengthened the relationship between AIWG and therapeutic benefit. Limitations: There were limitations of the reviewed studies in that many had small sample sizes, and/or were retrospective. The heterogeneity of the studies also made comparisons difficult and publication bias was not controlled for. Conclusions: An AIWG-therapeutic benefit association may exist and is most likely to be observed in OLZ and CLZ-treated patients. The clinical meaningfulness of this association remains unclear and weight gain and other metabolic comorbidities should be identified and treated to the same targets as the general population. Further research should continue to explore the links between therapeutic benefit and metabolic health with emphasis on both pre-clinical work and well-designed prospective clinical trials examining metabolic parameters associated, but also occurring independently to AIWG.
Empirical evidence on disclosure and risk-taking of banks in Ghana

Purpose - This paper aims to empirically examine the relationship between disclosure and risk-taking of banks in Ghana. The study also aims to gain an insight into the general risk-taking behaviour of banks in Ghana for the period 2007-2011. Design/methodology/approach - The study used panel regression model and relate risk-taking to disclosure, controlling for bank size, profitability, liquidity and treasury bill rate. Disclosure scores from a disclosure index are used as a measure of disclosure, likewise Z-score as a measure of total risk. Also, the ratio of provisions for loan losses to gross loans by each bank for each year was used to examine the general risk-taking behaviour of Ghanaian banks. Findings - The study revealed that the election year and the immediate subsequent year are characterized by an increase in non-performing loans. Greater disclosure is associated with more risk-taking and vice versa. This implies that market discipline is not effective in Ghana. Treasury bill rate, profitability and liquidity were found to be economically meaningful and statistically significant in influencing risk-taking of banks in Ghana. Originality/value - As there are relatively few studies conducted in this area, specifically among banks in Ghana, this study will broaden the scope of the literature on disclosure and risk-taking by providing empirical evidence.
RNAi-mediated knockdown of Xist can rescue the impaired postimplantation development of cloned mouse embryos

Cloning mammals by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is highly inefficient. Most SCNT-generated embryos die after implantation because of unidentified, complex epigenetic errors in the process of postimplantation embryonic development. Here we identify the most upstream level of dysfunction leading to impaired development of clones by using RNAi against Xist, a gene responsible for X chromosome inactivation (XCI). A prior injection of Xist-specific siRNA into reconstructed oocytes efficiently corrected SCNT-specific aberrant Xist expression at the morula stage, but failed to do so thereafter at the blastocyst stage. However, we found that shortly after implantation, this aberrant XCI status in cloned embryos had been corrected autonomously in both embryonic and extraembryonic tissues, probably through a newly established XCI control for postimplantation embryos. Embryo transfer experiments revealed that siRNA-treated embryos showed 10 times higher survival than controls as early as embryonic day 5.5 and this high survival persisted until term, resulting in a remarkable improvement in cloning efficiency (12% vs. 1% in controls). Importantly, unlike control clones, these Xist-siRNA clones at birth showed only a limited dysregulation of their gene expression, indicating that correction of Xist expression in preimplantation embryos had a long-term effect on their postnatal normality. Thus, contrary to the general assumption, our results suggest that the fate of cloned embryos is determined almost exclusively before implantation by their XCI status. Furthermore, our strategy provides a promising breakthrough for mammalian SCNT cloning, because RNAi treatment of oocytes is readily applicable to most mammal species.
Fibrinogen and Fibrin Protect Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 from Proteolytic Degradation

Summary We have recently reported that fibrinogen and fibrin bind to fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) and potentiate its ability to stimulate proliferation of endothelial cells. In the present report, we have investigated the potential of fibrinogen and fibrin to protect FGF-2 from proteolytic degradation. FGF-2 was incubated with trypsin or chymotrypsin in the presence or absence of fibrinogen or fibrin and proteolysis of FGF-2 was assessed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blotting. In the absence of fibrinogen there was progressive tryptic degradation of FGF-2, but in the presence of fibrinogen, FGF-2 was completely protected from trypsin with no evidence of degradation. The degree of protection was maximum at a molar ratio of FGF-2 to fibrinogen 1:2. Fibrinogen afforded similar protection from degradation by chymotrypsin. Polymerized fibrin provided partial protection of FGF-2 from tryptic degradation, with intact FGF-2 present for up to 360 min. Fibrin provided nearly complete protection from chymotrypsin. These observations indicate that binding of FGF-2 to fibrinogen or fibrin provides protection from proteolytic degradation, and this may modulate its cell proliferative activity.
Advance Publication by J-STAGE Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases Evaluation of Diagnostic Assay for Rickettsioses Using Duplex Real-Time PCR in Multiple Laboratories in Japan

SUMMARY: (TD) (JSF) are known as representative rickettsioses in Japan, and caused by infection with Orientia and Rickettsia japonica , respectively. For molecular-based diagnosis, conventional PCRs which independently amplify respective rickettsial DNAs are usually used, but it’s time-consuming. Here, we describe a new duplex real-time PCR assay for simultaneous detection of O. tsutsugamushi and spotted fever group rickettsiae, and evaluated under several PCR conditions in 6 public health laboratories. The detection limit of the assay was estimated 10 2 copies and the sensitivity was almost same as that of 3 conventional PCRs. Total of 317 febrile patients were selected as clinically suspected or confirmed cases for rickettsioses. The detection efficiency of this assay for O. tsutsugamushi from specimens of blood or skin (eschar) seems to be almost same as that of conventional nested PCR even in different laboratory tests, while the efficiency for SFG rickettsiae tends to be higher than that of 2 traditional double PCRs. Our duplex real-time PCR is a powerful tool for rapid diagnosis of rickettsioses, especially at the acute stage of infection.
Ranking countries by infant mortality rates.

IN recent years, considerable interest at the national level has revolved around the question: 'Where does the United States stand in relation to other countries of the world with regard to infant mortality? Interest in the subject has been expressed by the executive and legislative branches of Federal Government; by major components of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; by the press and individual citizens. A typical statement is the following, which appeared in a national magazine (1):
Loss of the Sense of Self-Ownership for Perceptions of Objects in a Case of Right Inferior Temporal, Parieto-Occipital and Precentral Hypometabolism

Philosophers define the ‘minimal self’ as the immediate awareness of being the agent and owner of one’s actions and perceptions. Here, we describe a patient with a selective loss of one part of this ‘minimal self’, namely the immediate sense of self-ownership for perceptions of objects. In contrast, his sense of self-ownership for body perceptions and for self-agency during actions remained intact. 18-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography revealed predominantly right inferior temporal hypometabolism in comparison with healthy controls (parahippocampal and fusiform gyri). In addition, dysfunction of the right parieto-occipital junction and precentral cortex were detected. Taken together, we demonstrate selective changes in the quality of the sense of self-ownership for perceptions of objects but not actions and an intact sense of self-agency, which points to anatomically separable systems underpinning different aspects of the ‘minimal self’. The associated hypometabolism in inferior temporal, parieto-occipital and motor regions, but not in medial prefrontal areas most consistently associated with self-referential processing, are most parsimoniously explained when self-consciousness is not assumed to be an anatomically localized cognitive function, but instead is conceived as emerging from integration across anatomically distributed networks of regions with different functional specializations, not all of which need to be special for the ‘self’.
The Effect of Innovative Activity in Firm Performance and Development: Analysing Data from Eurozone

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of Innovative Activity on firm performance and growth. Active Research and Development is considered to be directly related with development, prosperity and growth, in micro and macro level and a key factor in hindering economic recession. Design/methodology/approach – We analyse economic data from listed firms of selected eurozone country-members in order to associate Research and Development with performance indicators in firm and country level. For that purpose, several firm data were collected from WorldScope data base and macroeconomic data from Worldbank database. The period examined is between 2002 and 2012, with a special focus on current financial crisis (after 2007). The empirical process includes, descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. Findings – Findings indicate the crucial effect of innovative process in economic performance and development in firm and country level. The latter highlights the urgent need for public support in order to spur innovative activity and high-tech exports, especially in countries that were heavily affected by recession. Research limitations/implications – Some research limitations are the large number of missing cases in WordScope database, as many firms after the beginning of current crisis exit stock market. Furthermore, the other part of the economy, the Small and Medium Enterprises does not exist in the analysis, as listed firms are mainly large and mature companies. Originality/value – The results tend to highlight the need for common policy measures in eurozone, in regard to such issues, instead of imposing horizontal budgetary constraints in specific countries (like Southern Europe), hindering the vicious recessionary circle.
Perforin and Fas/FasL Cytolytic Pathways at the Maternal–Fetal Interface

The immunogenetic enigma of maternal acceptance of the fetal semiallograft has been termed an immunological paradox. The first trimester decidua is heavily infiltrated with CD56brightCD16− uterine natural killer (uNK) cells which must be prepared to respond to potential pathogen challenges and still be able to control immune responses that allow the development of the fetus. The significant presence of cytolytic mediators, perforin and Fas/Fas ligand (FasL), at the maternal–fetal interface raises a question of their role(s) in the immunological interrelations between maternal tissues and trophoblast cells. As uNK cells in vitro lyse target cell lines (K562, P815 and P815Fas) using these effector molecules, it seems that, although immunocompetent, their cytotoxicity is not directed against trophoblast during normal pregnancy. Therefore, it is generally believed that the hormonal and Th1/Th2 cytokine balance plays an important role in the tolerance and maintenance of pregnancy. This paper gives an overview of the recent findings on the complex immunological events that occur at the maternal–fetal interface.
Expression of CD11a and CD45R Isoforms Defines Distinct Subsets of CD8+ TCRαβ and TCRγδ CTL in vivo

Intraperitoneal immunization of rats with a syngeneic lymphoma and allogeneic leukocytes induced enrichment of antigen-selective TCR alpha beta+ and TCR gamma delta+ CTL. The peritoneal cavity seems to be a suitable site for enrichment of antigen-selective CTL, since the induced effector cells executed strong cytotoxicity without any requirement for in vitro reactivation. Tumor-selective CTL expressed high cell surface levels of CD45RC, allogeneic CTL expressed a variable level of CD45RC, while SAg-reactive CTL had low CD45RC expression. CTL with tumor and allogeneic selectivity as well as SAg-induced CTL all expressed the LFA-1high phenotype, suggesting that upregulation of LFA-1 is a hallmark for in vivo activated CTL. RT-PCR analyses showed that all CD8+TCR alpha beta+ CTL lost expression of CD45R exon 4 mRNA, which is compatible with the view that effector/memory T cells are CD45RA-. In contrast, TCR gamma delta+ CTL retained the CD45RA phenotype but showed a down-regulation of CD45R exon 8 mRNA. Since isoforms of the CD45 tyrosine phosphatase have been reported to differentially affect T-cell activation, the unique CD45R splice pattern observed in TCR alpha beta+ and TCR gamma delta+ CTL implies that CD45R may influence the TCR signal transduction distinctly in various effector CTL subsets.
Fibromyalgia Criteria and Severity Scales for Clinical and Epidemiological Studies: A Modification of the ACR Preliminary Diagnostic Criteria for Fibromyalgia

Objective. To develop a fibromyalgia (FM) survey questionnaire for epidemiologic and clinical studies using a modification of the 2010 American College of Rheumatology Preliminary Diagnostic Criteria for Fibromyalgia (ACR 2010). We also created a new FM symptom scale to further characterize FM severity. Methods. The ACR 2010 consists of 2 scales, the Widespread Pain Index (WPI) and the Symptom Severity (SS) scale. We modified these ACR 2010 criteria by eliminating the physician’s estimate of the extent of somatic symptoms and substituting the sum of 3 specific self-reported symptoms. We also created a 0–31 FM Symptom scale (FS) by adding the WPI to the modified SS scale. We administered the questionnaire to 729 patients previously diagnosed with FM, 845 with osteoarthritis (OA) or with other noninflammatory rheumatic conditions, 439 with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and 5210 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Results. The modified ACR 2010 criteria were satisfied by 60% with a prior diagnosis of FM, 21.1% with RA, 16.8% with OA, and 36.7% with SLE. The criteria properly identified diagnostic groups based on FM severity variables. An FS score ≥ 13 best separated criteria+ and criteria− patients, classifying 93.0% correctly, with a sensitivity of 96.6% and a specificity of 91.8% in the study population. Conclusion. A modification to the ACR 2010 criteria will allow their use in epidemiologic and clinical studies without the requirement for an examiner. The criteria are simple to use and administer, but they are not to be used for self-diagnosis. The FS may have wide utility beyond the bounds of FM, including substitution for widespread pain in epidemiological studies.
Can Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors Protect against Symptomatic Radiation Pneumonitis?

Abstract Wang, L. W. , Fu, X-L. , Clough, R. , Sibley, G. , Fan, M. , Bentel, G. C. , Marks, L. B. and Anscher, M. S. Can Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors Protect against Symptomatic Radiation Pneumonitis? This study was designed to determine whether patients taking angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors while receiving radiation therapy for lung cancer are protected from developing symptomatic radiation pneumonitis. The records of 213 eligible patients receiving thoracic irradiation for lung cancer with curative intent at Duke University Medical Center from 1994–1997 were reviewed. Of the 213 patients, 26 (12.2%) were on ACE inhibitors (usually for the management of hypertension) during radiotherapy (group 1); the remaining 187 patients (group 2) were not. Patients were irradiated, with fields shaped to protect normal tissues, with total doses of 50–80 Gy. After treatment, patients were generally followed every 3 months for 2 years, then every 6 months thereafter. Symptomatic radiation pneumonitis was scored according to modified National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria (i.e., radiographic changes alone were not sufficient for the diagnosis of pneumonitis). There was no difference in the incidence of pneumonitis between the two groups (P = 0.75). Fifteen percent of the patients on ACE inhibitors (group 1) developed symptomatic radiation-induced lung injury compared to 12% of the patients not receiving these drugs (group 2). Although patients in group 1 tended to develop pneumonitis slightly sooner than did patients in group 2, this difference also was not significant (P = 0.8). Within the dose range prescribed for treating hypertension, ACE inhibitors do not appear to either decrease the incidence or delay the onset of symptomatic radiation pneumonitis among lung cancer patients receiving thoracic irradiation.
Leaving the practice: effects of primary care physician departure on patient care.

BACKGROUND Recent changes in the organization of health care services, coupled with rising rates of primary care physician (PCP) turnover, pose threats to the maintenance of a continuous patient-physician relationship. Little is known, however, about how PCP departure may affect patients' quality of health care. METHODS Participants were adult patients whose PCPs left a large, multispecialty group practice from July 1, 1994, to June 30, 1996 (n = 3931), and adult patients of a set of matched PCPs who remained in the practice at least 2 years beyond the index PCPs departure dates (n = 8009). We compared the following measures of quality of care: adherence to recommended screening guidelines, adequacy of blood pressure and glycemic control in patients with hypertension and/or diabetes mellitus, and use of urgent care and emergency department services. RESULTS Among the women who received a mammogram in the 2-year baseline period, a higher proportion of those whose PCP departed did not continue to receive mammograms, although the difference did not reach statistical significance (8.4% vs 5.1%; P =.08). For patients who had screening Papanicolaou smears or fecal occult blood testing during the baseline period, there was no significant difference between study and control groups in the likelihood that patients discontinued screening during the follow-up period (10.9% vs 10.7%; P =.93 and 28.8% vs 25.3%; P =.93, respectively). Similarly, diabetic patients of departed PCPs did not have higher risk of worsening glycemic control (31.7% vs 28.9%; P =.46); and hypertensive patients of departed PCPs actually had lower risks of worsening blood pressure control (16.5% vs 22.5%; P =.02). There was no difference in use of urgent care or emergency department services between patient groups. CONCLUSIONS In this multispecialty group practice, patients of departed PCPs experienced little or no decrease in quality of care measures for routine screening, management of chronic disease, and use of urgent care and emergency department services.
Solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence is strongly correlated with terrestrial photosynthesis for a wide variety of biomes: First global analysis based on OCO‐2 and flux tower observations

Solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) has been increasingly used as a proxy for terrestrial gross primary productivity (GPP). Previous work mainly evaluated the relationship between satellite‐observed SIF and gridded GPP products both based on coarse spatial resolutions. Finer resolution SIF (1.3 km × 2.25 km) measured from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory‐2 (OCO‐2) provides the first opportunity to examine the SIF–GPP relationship at the ecosystem scale using flux tower GPP data. However, it remains unclear how strong the relationship is for each biome and whether a robust, universal relationship exists across a variety of biomes. Here we conducted the first global analysis of the relationship between OCO‐2 SIF and tower GPP for a total of 64 flux sites across the globe encompassing eight major biomes. OCO‐2 SIF showed strong correlations with tower GPP at both midday and daily timescales, with the strongest relationship observed for daily SIF at the 757 nm (R2 = 0.72, p < 0.0001). Strong linear relationships between SIF and GPP were consistently found for all biomes (R2 = 0.57–0.79, p < 0.0001) except evergreen broadleaf forests (R2 = 0.16, p < 0.05) at the daily timescale. A higher slope was found for C4 grasslands and croplands than for C3 ecosystems. The generally consistent slope of the relationship among biomes suggests a nearly universal rather than biome‐specific SIF–GPP relationship, and this finding is an important distinction and simplification compared to previous results. SIF was mainly driven by absorbed photosynthetically active radiation and was also influenced by environmental stresses (temperature and water stresses) that determine photosynthetic light use efficiency. OCO‐2 SIF generally had a better performance for predicting GPP than satellite‐derived vegetation indices and a light use efficiency model. The universal SIF–GPP relationship can potentially lead to more accurate GPP estimates regionally or globally. Our findings revealed the remarkable ability of finer resolution SIF observations from OCO‐2 and other new or future missions (e.g., TROPOMI, FLEX) for estimating terrestrial photosynthesis across a wide variety of biomes and identified their potential and limitations for ecosystem functioning and carbon cycle studies.