Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Minamata disease: methylmercury poisoning in Japan caused by environmental pollution.

Minamata disease (M. d.) is methylmercury (MeHg) poisoning that occurred in humans who ingested fish and shellfish contaminated by MeHg discharged in waste water from a chemical plant (Chisso Co. Ltd.). It was in May 1956, that M. d. was first officially "discovered" in Minamata City, south-west region of Japan's Kyushu Island. The marine products in Minamata Bay displayed high levels of Hg contamination (5.61 to 35.7 ppm). The Hg content in hair of patients, their family and inhabitants of the Shiranui Sea coastline were also detected at high levels of Hg (max. 705 ppm). Typical symptoms of M. d. are as follows: sensory disturbances (glove and stocking type), ataxia, dysarthria, constriction of the visual field, auditory disturbances and tremor were also seen. Further, the fetus was poisoned by MeHg when their mothers ingested contaminated marine life (named congenital M. d.). The symptom of patients were serious, and extensive lesions of the brain were observed. While the number of grave cases with acute M. d. in the initial stage was decreasing, the numbers of chronic M. d. patients who manifested symptoms gradually over an extended period of time was on the increase. For the past 36 years, of the 2252 patients who have been officially recognized as having M. d. , 1043 have died. This paper also discusses the recent remaining problems.
Hepatitis C virus infection in cameroon: A cohort‐effect

A hepatitis C virus (HCV) serological study conducted in 2003 on 1,434 individuals in Yaounde and other HCV seroepidemiological studies on 2,066 sera sampled between 1993 and 1997 in four geographically distinct rural areas (Ntem, Mekas, Yokadouma, and Nditam) in Cameroon, are described. Two patterns of HCV seroprevalence were observed. The first pattern, represented by Nditam and Yokadouma populations, showed low HCV seroprevalence rates (2.9% and 3.3%, respectively) increasing moderately with age (9.0% and 16.7% after age 50). The second pattern showed high seroprevalence rates (6.9% for Yaounde, 14.4% and 16.7% for Ntem and Mekas, respectively). These rates increased dramatically with age (32.8%–49.5% after age 50). The age‐specific anti‐HCV prevalence curve of the 1993 Mekas survey paralleled those of the 1997 Ntem and 2003 Yaounde surveys. Using the year of birth as the x‐axis, the three curves closely matched each other. This clearly indicates a cohort effect for which the seroprevalence trends are clearly related with the year of birth, rather than the age. The highest prevalence was observed among people born around 1940. J. Med. Virol. 76:208–214, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An overview of biological aspects of Schiff base metal complexes

Schiff bases, having azomethine (RHC=N-R’) group and their metal complexes are widely used for industrial purposes and also reveal a wide range of biological applications. This review describes the most promising biological activities of Schiff bases and their metal complexes of cerium. A general idea for synthetic methodologies used for the synthesis of Schiff bases and their metal complexes is also discussed.
Prevalence, identification and distribution of various species of enterococci isolated from clinical specimens with special reference to urinary tract infection in catheterized patients.

Various clinical specimens were processed to find the prevalence rate of enterococci and to identify the species of clinical isolates of enterococci. Screening of various clinical specimens revealed that enterococci were prevalent in 22.19% of the total specimens, with Foley's catheters and burn wounds to be the major site of isolation. High rate of colonization was noted as opposed to infection. Conventional test scheme proposed by Facklam and Collins were successfully used to speciate enterococcal strains. Seven species of enterococci were identified in the study from a set of 202 cultures, with E.faecalis (49.50%) and E. faecium (35.64%) predominating. E. avium (9.40%), E. hirae (2.47%), E. raffinosus (1.98%) and one isolate each of E.gallinarum and E. casseliflavus were the other members of Enterococcus species identified. Urinary tract infection (UTI) by enterococci due to catherisation was found in 8.92% of the patients and is probably the result of high rate of colonization of Foley's catheters and use of broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Arterial stiffness and osteoporosis in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

RATIONALE Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events and osteoporosis. Increased arterial stiffness is an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease. OBJECTIVES We tested the hypothesis that patients with COPD would have increased arterial stiffness, which would be associated with osteoporosis and systemic inflammation. METHODS We studied 75 clinically stable patients with a range of severity of airway obstruction and 42 healthy smoker or ex-smoker control subjects, free of cardiovascular disease. All subjects underwent spirometry, measurement of aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and blood sampling for inflammatory mediators. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Mean (SD) aortic PWV was greater in patients, 11.4 (2.7) m/s, than in control subjects, 8.95 (1.7) m/s, p < 0.0001. Inflammatory mediators and augmentation index were also greater in patients. Patients with osteoporosis at the hip had a greater aortic PWV, 13.1 (1.8) m/s, than those without, 11.2 (2.7) m/s, p < 0.05. In patients, aortic PWV was related to age (r = 0.63, p < 0.0001) and log(10) IL-6 (r = 0.31, p < 0.01), and inversely to FEV(1) (r = -0.34, p < 0.01). The strongest predictors of aortic PWV in all subjects were age (p < 0.0001), percent predicted FEV(1) (p < 0.05), mean arterial pressure (p < 0.05), and log(10) IL-6 (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Increased arterial stiffness was related to the severity of airflow obstruction and may be a factor in the excess risk for cardiovascular disease in COPD. The increased aortic PWV in patients with osteoporosis and the association with systemic inflammation suggest that age-related bone and vascular changes occur prematurely in COPD.
Relations of Inhibition and Emotion-Related Parenting to Young Children's Prosocial and Vicariously Induced Distress Behavior.

Children's prosocial behavior and personal distress are likely affected by children's temperament as well as parenting quality. In this study, we examined bidirectional relations from age 30 to 42 months between children's (N = 218) prosocial or self-focused (presumably distressed) reactions to a relative stranger's distress and both supportive emotion-related maternal reactions to children's emotions and children's shyness/inhibition. When controlling for 30-month prosocial behavior and personal distress behavior, maternal supportive (emotion-focused and problem-focused) reactions were positively related to prosocial behavior and marginally negatively related to children's personal distress behaviors and shyness/inhibition at 42 months. Thirty-month personal distress behavior predicted greater shyness/inhibition at 42 months, and 30-month shyness/inhibition was negatively related to prosocial behavior at 30 months.
No Jamming Condition for Force Planning in Fixture Inserting

This paper focuses on an issue, the jamming condition of rigid bodies under Coulomb's friction law, involved in inserting a workpiece into the fixture system, where we assume point contacts between surfaces of bodies. The results of the paper gives a sufficient and necessary condition for the jamming criteria, which do not rely on the linearization of the friction cone and treats the two dimensional problem and three dimensional problem in a unified way
Use of a computerized closed-loop sodium nitroprusside titration system for antihypertensive treatment after open heart surgery.

This study evaluates the clinical applicability of administering sodium nitroprusside by a closed-loop titration system compared with a manually adjusted system. The mean arterial pressure (MAP) was registered every 10 and 30 sec during the first 150 min after open heart surgery in 20 patients (group 1: computer regulation) and in ten patients (group 2: manual regulation). The results (16,343 and 2,912 data points in groups 1 and 2, respectively), were then analyzed in four time frames and five pressure ranges to indicate clinical efficacy. Sixty percent of the measured MAP in both groups was within the desired +/- 10% during the first 10 min. Thereafter until the end of observation, the MAP was maintained within +/- 10% of the desired set-point 90% of the time in group 1 vs. 60% of the time in group 2. One percent and 11% of data points were +/- 20% from the set-point in groups 1 and 2, respectively (p less than .05, chi-square test). The computer-assisted therapy provided better control of MAP, was safe to use, and helped to reduce nursing demands.
Innovative Insights into Corporate Social Responsibility Dynamics

Corporate social responsibility and corporate performance perspectives have been focal area of interest for the researchers; and as such; it has been well explored in the literature in the recent decade (Saeidi et al., 2014). Owing to the contradictory results reported by the earlier literature; Ansong and Agyemang (2017) concluded that the reason for the conflicting results is the ignorance of some relevent mediating variables. Blasi et al. (2018) stated that the association of CSR and corporate performance is still unconcluded. As a first attempt Bitar and Belnemlih (2016) captured any possible association between CSR and investment efficiency. Moreover, CSR and Financial distress have been explored in isolation. So, there is a need to explore the relationship of CSR with Financial Distress and Financial Performance by taking into consideration the mediating role of Information Asymmetry, Agency Cost and Investment Inefficiency.
Dependence of specific metabolism of benzo(a)pyrene on the inducer of hydroxylase activity.

Summary Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with polycyclic hydrocarbons, phenobarbital (PB), or barbital and the induced hydroxylase enzymes in liver and lung were studied in terms of the specific metabolites of benzo ( a ) pyrene (BP) that were produced in an in vitro incubation system. The metabolite profile produced by phenobarbital- or barbital-induced enzymes differed from that found with the hydrocarbon-induced liver enzymes in that only the production of 4,5-dihydro-4,5-dihydroxy-BP and 3-hydroxy-BP was increased over the control level, while the production of all identified metabolites was increased when the hydrocarbons were used as inducers. An exception was benzo ( e ) pyrene, which was essentially inactive as an inducer for either liver or lung enzymes. PB and barbital did not increase enzyme activity in the lung, but BP, 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC), and 1,2-benzanthracene did. When the induced liver enzymes were tested for their ability to activate BP to a bacterial mutagen, it was found that the PB-induced enzymes were much more active than the 3-MC-induced enzymes when low levels (less than 1 mg/ml) of enzyme protein were present in the incubation mixtures. At higher levels of enzyme protein, the 3-MC-induced enzymes were more active. Addition of an epoxide hydrase inhibitor, 1,2-epoxy-3,3,3-trichloropropane, to the test mixtures with PB-induced enzymes greatly increased the mutagenic activity but only slightly increased the activity obtained with the 3-MC-induced enzymes. The conclusions were: ( a ) PB and polycyclic hydrocarbons induce enzymes in rat liver with different specificities toward BP; ( b ) the induced enzymes activated BP to a form that was mutagenic for bacteria; ( c ) inhibition of the epoxide hydrase induced by PB allowed the accumulation of a form of BP that was mutagenic for bacteria, probably the 4,5-epoxide.
Nurse management of patients with minor illnesses in general practice: multicentre, randomised controlled trial

Abstract Objective: To assess the acceptability and safety of a minor illness service led by practice nurses in general practice. Design: Multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Setting: 5 general practices in south east London and Kent representing semi-rural, suburban, and urban settings. Participants: 1815 patients requesting and offered same day appointments by receptionists. Intervention: Patients were assigned to treatment by either a specially trained nurse or a general practitioner. Patients seen by a nurse were referred to a general practitioner when appropriate. Main outcome measures: The general satisfaction of the patients as measured by the consultation satisfaction questionnaire. Other outcome measures included the length of the consultation, number of prescriptions written, rates of referral to general practitioners, patient's reported health status, patient's anticipated behaviour in seeking health care in future, and number of patients who returned to the surgery, visits to accident and emergency, and out of hours calls to doctors. Results: Patients were very satisfied with both nurses and doctors, but they were significantly more satisfied with their consultations with nurses (mean (SD) score of satisfaction 78.6(16.0) of 100 points for nurses v 76.4 (17.8) for doctors; 95% confidence interval for difference between means −4.07 to −0.38). Consultations with nurses took about 10 minutes compared with about 8 minutes for consultations with doctors. Nurses and doctors wrote prescriptions for a similar proportion of patients (nurses 481/736 (65.4%) v doctors 518/816 (63.5%)). 577/790 (73%) patients seen by nurses were managed without any input from doctors. Conclusion: Practice nurses seem to offer an effective service for patients with minor illnesses who request same day appointments.
MRI of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease

The key MRI findings in five cases of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) are illustrated with four ‘definite’ and one ‘probable’ according to World Health Organization criteria. Close attention to fluid‐attenuation inversion recovery and diffusion‐weighted imaging sequences are important for diagnosis, noting especially restricted diffusion in cortical and deep grey matter. Our study and those of others show predominant cortical, caudate and thalamic involvement. This pattern is highly sensitive and specific for the diagnosis. Fluid‐attenuation inversion recovery and diffusion‐weighted imaging signal abnormality becomes progressively more extensive and bilateral as disease progresses, but may become less pronounced in end‐stage disease because of atrophy.
Reliability, Validity and Minimal Detectable Change of a New Multi-Change of Directionagility Test for Soccer Players

This study examined the test-retest reliability, validity and external responsiveness of a new multi-change of direction agility test (NMAT) designed for soccer players. Forty-four Tunisian soccer players were recruited and were divided into two groups according to their playing levels (International, n = 21 and National, n = 23). Following familiarization, athletes performed squat jump (SJ), countermovement jump (CMJ), running speed test (5 m and 20 m), 15-m agility run (Agility-15 m), 15-m ball dribbling (Ball-15 m), and NMAT and ball dribbling NMAT (Ball-NMAT) in 2 sessions, 48 h apart. The intraclass correlation coef? cient and SEM values were . 96 (CI 95%: .94 - .98) and . 05 seconds for NMAT and . 97 (CI 95%: .94 - .98) and . 09 seconds for Ball-NMAT, respectively. The smallest worthwhile changes were greater than their SEM for both NMAT and Ball-NMAT. The MDC95 values were . 15 seconds and . 25 seconds for NMAT and Ball-NMAT, respectively. Both NMAT and Ball-NMAT were respectively correlated with Agility-15 m (r = .78; p .7 (.85; CI 95%: .71 - .94 and .91; CI 95%: .78 - .97 for NMAT and Ball-NMAT, respectively). These results indicated that NMAT provides excellent absolute and relative reliabilities. The NMAT can distinguish soccer athletes of different competitive levels. Thus, the NMAT may be suitable for field assessment of specific agility of soccer players.
Synthetic β-(1→6)-Linked N-Acetylated and Nonacetylated Oligoglucosamines Used To Produce Conjugate Vaccines for Bacterial Pathogens

ABSTRACT Vaccines for pathogens usually target strain-specific surface antigens or toxins, and rarely is there broad antigenic specificity extending across multiple species. Protective antibodies for bacteria are usually specific for surface or capsular antigens. β-(1→6)-Poly-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (PNAG) is a surface polysaccharide produced by many pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Yersinia pestis, Bordetella pertussis, Acinetobacter baumannii, and others. Protective antibodies to PNAG are elicited when a deacetylated glycoform (deacetylated PNAG [dPNAG]; <30% acetate) is used in conjugate vaccines, whereas highly acetylated PNAG does not induce such antibodies. Chemical derivation of dPNAG from native PNAG is imprecise, so we synthesized both β-(1→6)-d-glucosamine (GlcNH2) and β-(1→6)-d-N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) oligosaccharides with linkers on the reducing termini that could be activated to produce sulfhydryl groups for conjugation to bromoacetyl groups introduced onto carrier proteins. Synthetic 5-mer GlcNH2 (5GlcNH2) or 9GlcNH2 conjugated to tetanus toxoid (TT) elicited mouse antibodies that mediated opsonic killing of multiple S. aureus strains, while the antibodies that were produced in response to 5GlcNAc- or 9GlcNAc-TT did not mediate opsonic killing. Rabbit antibodies to 9GlcNH2-TT bound to PNAG and dPNAG antigens, mediated killing of S. aureus and E. coli, and protected against S. aureus skin abscesses and lethal E. coli peritonitis. Chemical synthesis of a series of oligoglucosamine ligands with defined differences in N acetylation allowed us to identify a conjugate vaccine formulation that generated protective immune responses to two of the most challenging bacterial pathogens. This vaccine could potentially be used to engender protective immunity to the broad range of pathogens that produce surface PNAG.
Adenylate Cyclase Mutations Rescue the degP Temperature-Sensitive Phenotype and Induce the Sigma E and Cpx Extracytoplasmic Stress Regulons in Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT Inactivation of the gene encoding the periplasmic protease DegP confers a high-temperature-sensitive phenotype in Escherichia coli. We have previously demonstrated that a degP mutant of E. coli strain CBM (W3110 pldA1) is not temperature sensitive and showed that this was most likely due to constitutive activation of the sigma E and Cpx extracytoplasmic stress regulons in the parent strain. In this study, further characterization of this strain revealed a previously unknown cryptic mutation that rescued the degP temperature-sensitive phenotype by inducing the extracytoplasmic stress regulons. We identified the cryptic mutation as an 11-bp deletion of nucleotides 1884 to 1894 of the adenylate cyclase-encoding cyaA gene (cyaAΔ11). The mechanism in which cyaAΔ11 induces the sigma E and Cpx regulons involves decreased activity of the mutant adenylate cyclase. Addition of exogenous cyclic AMP (cAMP) to the growth medium of a cyaAΔ11 mutant strain that contains a Cpx- and sigma E-inducible degP-lacZ reporter fusion decreased β-galactosidase expression to levels observed in a cyaA+ strain. We also found that a cyaA null mutant displayed even higher levels of extracytoplasmic stress regulon activation compared to a cyaAΔ11 mutant. Thus, we conclude that the lowered concentration of cAMP in cyaA mutants induces both sigma E and Cpx extracytoplasmic stress regulons and thereby rescues the degP temperature-sensitive phenotype.
Effectiveness of occupational goal intervention for clients with schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE The effectiveness of Occupational Goal Intervention (OGI) in clients with schizophrenia was compared with that of the Frontal Executive Program and a control group. METHOD We used a quasi-experimental design with 18 adult participants ages 20-38 who were randomly assigned to three groups. Testing was performed before treatment, after treatment, and at 6-mo follow-up (Time 2). Instruments assessed executive functions (EFs) and activity and participation. Participants received 18 treatment sessions over a period of 6-8 wk. RESULTS We found no significant differences among the groups on pretest-posttest change; however, we did find significant differences within groups before and after intervention and moderate to high effect sizes. The OGI group showed relative improvement on all measures of EF and activity and participation. Most participants' achievements were maintained at Time 2. CONCLUSIONS Results provide initial support for the OGI's effectiveness for clients with schizophrenia. Further studies are needed to verify these initial findings.
Evidence that replication initiates at only some of the potential origins in each oligomeric form of bovine papillomavirus type 1 DNA

In a subclone of ID13 mouse fibroblasts latently infected with bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV-1) DNA, the viral genome occurred as a mixture of extrachromosomal circular monomers and oligomers. Multiple copies were also associated with the host cell genome, predominantly at a single site in a head-to-tail tandem array. We examined the replicative intermediates of extrachromosomal forms of BPV-1 DNA by using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The results obtained indicate that initiation of DNA replication occurred near the center of the EcoRI-BamHI 5.6-kilobase fragment. In some molecules, however, this fragment was replicated from one end to the other by means of a single fork initiated elsewhere. Termination also occurred within this fragment. The EcoRI-BamHI 2.3-kilobase fragment replicated as a DNA molecule containing a termination site for DNA replication and also by means of a single fork traversing the fragment from one end to the other. Thus, replication forks proceeded through these fragments in different manners, apparently depending on whether they were part of a monomer, a dimer, a trimer, or higher oligomers. These observations lead to the conclusion that initiation of DNA replication in BPV-1 DNA takes place at or close to plasmid maintenance sequence 1. From this point, replication proceeds bidirectionally and termination occurs approximately 180 degrees opposite the origin. The results obtained are consistent with one or more replication origins being quiescent in BPV-1 DNA oligomers.
In vitro P-Glycoprotein-Mediated Transport of (R)-, (S)-, (R,S)-Methadone, LAAM and Their Main Metabolites

Methadone and L-α-acetylmethadol (LAAM) are used as treatment for opiate addiction. Using a cellular model, we aimed to determine if methadone, LAAM and their main metabolites are substrates of the human P-glycoprotein transporter (P-gp), which is encoded by the ABCB1 gene, and whether methadone transport exhibits stereoselectivity. Pig kidney epithelial cells (control) and human ABCB1-transfected cells were incubated with methadone, LAAM and their metabolites, and their intra- and extracellular concentrations were measured. The intra- to extracellular ratios of methadone, LAAM and their metabolites were all decreased in ABCB1-transfected cells compared to controls (p < 0.05), thus indicating that they are substrates of P-gp. A weak stereoselectivity in methadone transport was observed towards the (S)-enantiomer. P-gp may therefore affect the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of methadone and LAAM.