Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Health care costs associated with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in women.

BACKGROUND Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent disorder that has been associated with elevated rates of medically unexplained physical symptoms, significant functional impairment, and high health care use. However, little is known about actual health care costs associated with PTSD. METHODS We administered the PTSD Checklist (PCL) to 1225 female members of a metropolitan health maintenance organization and validated the instrument using a structured PTSD interview in a subset of 268 women. Participants were classified into 3 groups by PCL score: low (<30), moderate (30-44), and high (> or =45). By using the cost accounting system of the health maintenance organization, we examined differences between the groups with respect to total and component health care costs, controlling for chronic medical illness and other forms of psychological distress. RESULTS The total unadjusted mean +/- SD annual health care costs were 3060 US dollars +/- 6381 US dollars (median, 1283 US dollars) for the high PCL score group, 1779 US dollars +/- 3008 US dollars (median, 829 US dollars) for the moderate PCL score group, and 1646 US dollars +/- 5156 US dollars (median, 609 US dollars) for the low PCL score group. After adjusting for depression, chronic medical disease, and demographic factors, women with high PCL scores had a significantly greater odds of having nonzero health care costs compared with women with low PCL scores (odds ratio, 13.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.70-101.19). Compared with women in the low PCL score group, those in the moderate PCL score group had, on average, a 38% increase in adjusted total annual median costs, and those in the high PCL score group had a 104% increase. CONCLUSIONS Women with PTSD symptoms in this study had significantly higher total and component health care costs, even after controlling for depression, chronic medical illness, and demographic differences. These findings are similar to those found in studies of costs related to major depression and suggest that instituting health services interventions to improve recognition and treatment of PTSD in primary and specialty care clinics may be a cost-effective approach for lowering the prevalence of this disorder.
Urokinase is a negative modulator of Egf‐dependent proliferation and motility in the two breast cancer cell lines MCF‐7 and MDA‐MB‐231

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is involved in the regulation of various cellular processes and dysregulation of its signalling plays a critical role in the etiology of a variety of malignancies like breast cancer. At the same time, elevated levels of urokinase (uPA), its receptor uPAR, and other components of the plasminogen activation system are found to be correlated with a poor prognosis in breast cancer. Interestingly, EGFR appears to participate in transducing the signal generated upon binding of uPA to uPAR. However, whether uPA signalling would thereby interfere with ligand‐driven EGFR signalling was not described before. Therefore, it was the aim of the present study to investigate the combined effects of uPA and EGF in the low invasive and high invasive breast adenocarcinoma cell lines MCF‐7 and MDA‐MB‐231, respectively. Simultaneous exposure of cells to both signals negatively affected ERK1/2 and AKT activation whereas positive effects on p38 and Src kinase phosphorylation were noted in both cell lines. Furthermore, uPA attenuated the mitogenic effect of EGF on cellular proliferation, invasion and motility in both MCF‐7 and MDA‐MB‐231 cells. Experiments with the uPA amino terminal fragment (ATF) revealed that the negative effects of uPA were independent from its protease activity. Together, these data suggest that enhanced levels of uPA in breast cancer modulate the mitogenic effects of EGF and thus, this knowledge may help to better understand breast cancer pathogenesis as well as to develop new therapeutic options. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Kin3 protein, a NIMA-related kinase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is involved in DNA adduct damage response

Kin3 is a nonessential serine/threonine protein kinase of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae with unknown cellular role. It is an ortholog of the Aspergillus nidulans protein kinase NIMA (Never-In Mitosis, gene A), which is involved in the regulation of G2/M phase progression, DNA damage response and mitosis. The aim of this study was to determine whether Kin3 is required for proper checkpoint activation and DNA repair. Here we show that KIN3 gene deficient cells present sensitivity and fail to arrest properly at G2/M-phase checkpoint in response to the DNA damage inducing agents MMS, cisplatin, doxorubicin and nitrogen mustard, suggesting that Kin3 can be involved in DNA strand breaks recognition or signaling. In addition, there is an increase in KIN3 gene expression in response to the mutagenic treatment, which was confirmed by the increase of Kin3 protein. We also showed that co-treatment with caffeine induces a slight increase in the susceptibility to genotoxic agents in kin3 cells and abolishes KIN3 gene expression in wild-type strain, suggesting that Kin3p can play a role in Tel1/Mec1-dependent pathway activation induced after genotoxic stress. These data provide the first evidence of the involvement of S. cerevisiae Kin3 in the DNA damage response.
Modulation of hypoglycemia‐induced increases in plasma epinephrine by estrogen in the female rat

Clinical studies have demonstrated that estrogen replacement therapy suppresses stress‐induced increases in plasma catecholamines. The present study determined whether normal circulating levels of estrogen can modulate hypoglycemia‐induced increases in plasma epinephrine (EPI). In anesthetized female rats, insulin‐induced hypoglycemia (0.25 U/kg) increased plasma EPI concentration to a significantly greater extent in 14‐day ovariectomized (OVEX) rats compared to that in sham‐operated controls. In 17β‐estradiol (E2)‐replaced OVEX rats, the hypoglycemia‐induced rise in plasma EPI was reduced significantly when compared to that in vehicle‐replaced OVEX rats. OVEX and E2 replacement had no effect on tyrosine hydroxylase or phenylethanolamine N‐methyltransferase mRNA levels in the adrenal medulla. In isolated adrenal medullary chromaffin cells, agonist‐induced increases in intracellular Ca2+ were unaffected by 48‐hr exposure to 10 nM E2. In contrast, acute (3‐min) exposure to micromolar concentrations of E2 dose‐dependently and reversibly inhibited agonist‐induced Ca2+ transients. In addition, in OVEX rats, a constant infusion of E2 significantly reduced the insulin‐induced increase in plasma EPI concentration compared to that in vehicle‐infused controls. These data demonstrate that physiologic levels of circulating E2 can modulate hypoglycemia‐induced increases in plasma EPI. This effect seems independent of steroid influence on adrenal medullary secretion or biosynthesis. In contrast, acute exposure to high levels of E2 can also suppress hypoglycemia‐induced increases in plasma epinephrine, due at least in part to inhibition of stimulus‐secretion coupling. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Evolutionary Design of IG_gHSOFPNN with the aid of Information Granulation

We introduce a new architecture of Information granulation based genetically optimized hybrid self-organizing fuzzy polynomial neural networks (IG_gHSOFPNN) that is based on a genetically optimized multi-layer perceptron and develop their comprehensive design methodology involving mechanisms of genetic optimization, especially information granulation and genetic algorithms. The architecture of the resulting IG_gHSOFPNN results from a synergistic usage of the hybrid system generated by combining fuzzy polynomial neurons (FPNs)-based self-organizing fuzzy polynomial neural networks(SOFPNN) with polynomial neurons (PNs)-based self-organizing polynomial neural networks (SOPNN). The augmented IG_gHSOFPNN results in a structurally optimized structure and comes with a higher level of flexibility in comparison to the one we encounter in the conventional HSOFPNN. The GA-based design procedure being applied at each layer of IG_gHSOFPNN leads to the selection of preferred nodes (FPNs or PNs) available within the HSOFPNN. In the sequel, two general optimization mechanisms are explored. First, the structural optimization is realized via GAs whereas the ensuing detailed parametric optimization is carried out in the setting of a standard least square method-based learning. The obtained results demonstrate superiority of the proposed networks over the existing fuzzy and neural models.
Cytosolic free calcium oscillates in single bovine adrenal glomerulosa cells in response to angiotensin II stimulation.

The characteristics of the change in cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) in response to agonist stimulation were studied in individual cells of the bovine adrenal zona glomerulosa. Following digestion and dispersion, the cells were loaded with the fluorescent Ca2+ indicator fura-2. The cells adhered to Concanavalin A-coated coverslips and were studied using dual excitation wavelength microfluorimetry. In this procedure individual cells under constant perfusion are visualized by microscopy and excited with light alternating rapidly between 340 and 380 nm. The ratio of fluorescence (F) emitted from the cell (F340/F380) correlates directly with [Ca2+]i. Continuous stimulation with angiotensin II (AII; 10 nmol/l) resulted in a brisk transient rise in [Ca2+]i within 8 s of application of the stimulus. In 50% of cells studied, this initial peak was followed by a series of oscillations in [Ca2+]i lasting up to 13 min, with an average period of 33.0 +/- 5.9 (S.E.M.) seconds. [Ca2+]i did not return to prestimulation levels and, subsequent to the oscillatory phase, the [Ca2+]i remained increased for several minutes. Upon removal of extracellular Ca2+ the oscillations ceased almost immediately although [Ca2+]i remained increased. However, in Ca2+-free medium, a single peak of [Ca2+]i still occurred in response to AII. Cells remained refractory to restimulation over a 15-min period. In contrast, stimulation with K+ (8 mmol/l) rapidly increased [Ca2+]i to a level similar to that induced by AII but without inducing oscillations. Moreover, the effect lasted only while K+ was present and was highly reproducible over multiple stimulations during a 15-min period. These results corroborate, at the single cell level, the known action of AII of causing release of intracellular Ca2+, but reveal a more complex mechanism of action on Ca2+ influx than previously recognized, possibly invoking a role for a putative second messenger-operated membrane Ca2+ channel.
Fashion, fads and the popularity of choices: micro-foundations for non-equilibrium consumer theory

Knowledge acquisition by consumers is a key process in the diffusion of innovations. However, in standard theories of the representative agent, agents do not learn and innovations are adopted instantaneously. Here, we show that in a discrete choice model where utility-maximising agents with heterogenous preferences learn about products through peers, their stock of knowledge on products becomes heterogenous, fads and fashions arise, and transitivity in aggregate preferences is lost. Non-equilibrium path-dependent dynamics emerge, the representative agent exhibits behavioural rules different than individual agents, and aggregate utility cannot be optimised. Instead, an evolutionary theory of product innovation and diffusion emerges.
Cardiovascular Disease : How it Became a Problem , Risk Factors , and the Role of Public Policy

What many people don’t know is that unlike diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease (cVD) is not an inevitable part of human life. in fact, cVD is associated with many preventable and treatable risk factors, such as high cholesterol, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, physical activity, and obesity. Within this list, the primary underlying risk factor is elevated cholesterol, although what we consider normal cholesterol is high compared to the levels that human beings used to have, and this normal level is high enough for cVD to develop. in that setting, the other factors are important accelerators of cVD.
Influence of screw holes and gamma sterilization on properties of phosphate glass fiber-reinforced composite bone plates

Polymers prepared from polylactic acid (PLA) have found a multitude of uses as medical devices. For a material that degrades, the main advantage is that an implant would not necessitate a second surgical event for removal. In this study, fibers produced from a quaternary phosphate-based glass (PBG) in the system 50P2O5-40CaO-5Na2O-5Fe2O3 were used to reinforce PLA polymer. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of screw holes in a range of PBG-reinforced PLA composites with varying fiber layup and volume fraction. The flexural properties obtained showed that the strength and modulus values increased with increasing fiber volume fraction; from 96 MPa to 320 MPa for strength and between 4 GPa and 24 GPa for modulus. Furthermore, utilizing a larger number of thinner unidirectional (UD) fiber prepreg layers provided a significant increase in mechanical properties, which was attributed to enhanced wet out and thus better fiber dispersion during production. The effect of gamma sterilization via flexural tests showed no statistically significant difference between the sterilized and nonsterilized samples, with the exception of the modulus values for samples with screw holes. Degradation profiles revealed that samples with screw holes degraded faster than those without screw holes due to an increased surface area for the plates with screw holes in PBS up to 30 days. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis revealed fiber pullout before and after degradation. Compared with various fiber impregnation samples, with 25% volume fraction, 8 thinner unidirectional prepreg stacked samples had the shortest fiber pull-out lengths in comparison to the other samples investigated.
Is combination chemotherapy superior to single‐agent chemotherapy in second‐line treatment?

Treatment of relapsed ovarian carcinoma is still a matter of controversy. One important question to be solved is the potential superiority of combination chemotherapy over single-agent chemotherapy. This is a field in which a nonconclusive small number of randomized clinical trials have been conducted, and therefore, definitive conclusions are lacking. Patients with recurrent platinum-resistant disease are better treated with sequential single agent, because of higher toxicity without clear benefit usually associated with combination chemotherapy. In patients with platinum-sensitive disease, we can choose between three options: single-agent carboplatin, single-agent new drug or platinum combination-based therapy. In this paper, we will review these options and recently closed or ongoing randomized clinical trials in this setting.
Good glycemic control remains crucial in prevention of late diabetic complications – the Linköping Diabetes Complications Study

Background: Several intervention studies have convincingly demonstrated the importance of good glycemic control to avoid long‐term diabetic complications, but the importance of other risk factors remains controversial. We previously reported a markedly reduced incidence of severe retinopathy and nephropathy during the past decades in an unselected population of type 1 diabetes mellitus diagnosed in childhood. The aim of the present study was to analyze possible risk factors, which could explain the improved prognosis.
Correction for artifacts induced by B0 and B1 field inhomogeneities in pH‐sensitive chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging

Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging provides an indirect detection mechanism that allows quantification of certain labile groups unobservable using conventional MRI. Recently, amide proton transfer (APT) imaging, a variant form of CEST imaging, has been shown capable of detecting lactic acidosis during acute ischemia, providing information complementary to that of perfusion and diffusion MRI. However, CEST contrast is usually small, and therefore, it is important to optimize experimental conditions for reliable and quantitative CEST imaging. In particular, CEST imaging is sensitive to B0 and B1 field, while on the other hand; field inhomogeneities persist despite recent advances in magnet technologies, especially for in vivo imaging at high fields. Consequently, correction algorithms that can compensate for field inhomogeneity‐induced measurement errors in CEST imaging might be very useful. In this study, the dependence of CEST contrast on field distribution was solved and a correction algorithm was developed to compensate for field inhomogeneity‐induced CEST imaging artifacts. In addition, the proposed algorithm was verified with both numerical simulation and experimental measurements, and showed nearly complete correction of CEST imaging measurement errors caused by moderate field inhomogeneity. Magn Reson Med, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Tree-Structured Boosting: Connections Between Gradient Boosted Stumps and Full Decision Trees

Additive models, such as produced by gradient boosting, and full interaction models, such as classification and regression trees (CART), are widely used algorithms that have been investigated largely in isolation. We show that these models exist along a spectrum, revealing never-before-known connections between these two approaches. This paper introduces a novel technique called tree-structured boosting for creating a single decision tree, and shows that this method can produce models equivalent to CART or gradient boosted stumps at the extremes by varying a single parameter. Although tree-structured boosting is designed primarily to provide both the model interpretability and predictive performance needed for high-stake applications like medicine, it also can produce decision trees represented by hybrid models between CART and boosted stumps that can outperform either of these approaches.
Feridex labeling of mesenchymal stem cells inhibits chondrogenesis but not adipogenesis or osteogenesis

Magnetic resonance (MR) tracking of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO)‐labeled cells is a relatively new technique to non‐invasively determine the biodistribution and migration of transplanted stem cells. A number of studies have recently reported encouraging results in the use of bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for repair of a variety of tissues. For MR tracking of SPIO‐labeled MSCs, it is important to determine the effect that the magnetic labeling procedure may have on the differentiation capacity of labeled MSCs. Human MSCs were labeled with poly‐L‐lysine (PLL)‐coated Feridex, with Feridex being an FDA‐approved SPIO formulation in an off‐label application, and assayed for cellular differentiation using five different assays. As compared with unlabeled controls, labeled MSCs exhibited an unaltered viability, proliferated similarly, and underwent normal adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation. However, there was a marked inhibition of chondrogenesis. The blocking of chondrogenic activity was mediated by the Feridex, rather than by the transfection agent (PLL). This is the first report showing Feridex blocking of cellular differentiation down a specific pathway (while not affecting viability and proliferation), and caution should thus be exercised when using Feridex‐labeled MSCs for chondrogenic MR tracking studies. On the other hand, no detrimental effects of Feridex‐labeling are anticipated for MR‐guided osteogenic or adipogenic transplantation studies. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Phylogeographic structure of Hippophae tibetana (Elaeagnaceae) highlights the highest microrefugia and the rapid uplift of the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau

The uplift of the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau (QTP) dramatically changed the topography and climate of Asia and affected the biodiversity of the plateau and its adjacent areas. However, the effects of the uplift on the dispersal, differentiation and adaptation of plants remain a puzzle when the date and processes of the uplift cannot be determined with certainty and the impacts of the Quaternary glaciations on plants on the QTP are unknown. To clarify the relationships among plants on the QTP with the plateau uplift and the Quaternary glaciations, the cpDNA trnT‐trnF regions of 891 individuals from 37 populations of Hippophae tibetana, endemic to the QTP, were sequenced in the present study. A total of 50 haplotypes were found and a strong phylogeographic structure was revealed (NST = 0.854, GST = 0.611, NST > GST, P < 0.01). The results show that three main lineages of the present populations of H. tibetana occupy the western, the middle, and the eastern geographical range, respectively, and their divergence time dates back to 3.15 Ma before present. Of 50 haplotypes, 33 (66%) are private haplotypes, which are restricted to single populations. These private haplotypes are scattered throughout the present geographical range of H. tibetana and originated from multiple differentiations in many lineages during more than 1.0 Ma period, strongly suggesting that multiple microrefugia of H. tibetana existed throughout the present geographical range during the last glacial maximum (LGM) and even earlier glaciations. Additionally, the average elevation of present populations is over 4500 m in the west and the equilibrium‐line of glaciers in the LGM was 500–300 m lower than present in the major interior part of the plateau suggesting that at most sites in the west, LGM microrefugia of H. tibetana may have been above 4000 m above sea level, the highest of all known refugia. Moreover, the divergence times among and within the three lineages and their distinct distributions as well as dispersal barriers support the theory of the recent and rapid uplift of the QTP. The rapid uplift of the plateau within the last 3.4 Ma and the associated environmental changes may have affected the dispersal and differentiation of H . tibetana and shaped its phylogeographic structure.
Regulation of coronavirus mRNA transcription

Coronaviruses synthesize a nested set of six to eight subgenomic (sg) mRNAs in infected cells. These mRNAs are produced in different, but constant, molar ratios. It is unclear which factors control the different levels of sg mRNAs. To determine whether the intergenic sequence (IS) involved in sg mRNA synthesis could affect the transcription efficiencies of other ISs and in this way regulate transcription levels, we inserted multiple ISs at different positions into a mouse hepatitis virus defective interfering RNA. Quantitation of the sg RNAs produced by identical ISs in different sequence contexts led to the following conclusions: (i) transcription efficiency depends on the location of the IS in the defective interfering virus genome, (ii) downstream ISs have a negative effect on transcription levels from upstream ISs, and (iii) upstream ISs have little or no effect on downstream ISs. The observation that a downstream IS downregulates the amounts of sg RNA produced by an upstream IS explains why the smaller sg RNAs are, in general, produced in larger quantities than the larger sg RNAs. Our data are consistent with coronavirus transcription models in which ISs attenuate transcription. In these models, larger sg RNAs are synthesized in smaller amounts because they encounter more attenuating ISs during their synthesis.