syedzayyan/paper_mill_benchmark huggingface dataset:
Vitamin A deficiency indicating as low expression of LRAT may be a novel biomarker of primary hypertension.

S vitamin a (va) deficiency triggers many diseases and is a worldwide nutrition problem.The retinol acyltransferase (lrat) is an indicator of va storage function, and the relationship between lrat and blood pressure level and the regulation mechanism will be elucidated.Methods 160 children aged 6-12 years were included, and the serum va and, the transcription levels of lrat and rars, were measured.Spontaneously hypertensive rats (shrs) and wky rats were treated with va deficiency (vad) or normal (van) fodder for 20 weeks.Lrat, retinoic acid, renin angiotensin system (ras) biomarkers, and the structure and function of the heart for shrs were measured.Results the serum retinol and serum retinol/bmi levels were lower in children in the low lrat group (lrat<p50) compared with the high lrat group (lrat≥p50)(0.82 μmol/l vs.0.94 μmol/l, 0.04 vs.0.05, all p< .01).Moreover, sbp, dbp, and ang ii were lower in the low lrat group (all p< .01).Compared with van-treated shrs, lrat, retinoic acid receptor alpha (rarα), ace2, and ang (1-7) protein expression levels were decreased, while ace and at1r expression levels were increased in vad shrs.Notably, heart weight (hw), left ventricle weight, the hw-to-body weight ratio and the left ventricle weight-to-body weight ratio were significantly increased in vad shrs compared with those in van shrs (p < .01).Cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and ventricular fibrosis were significantly increased in vad shrs compared with those in van shrs (both p < .01).Conclusions lrat may be an important biomarker of vitamin a deficiency in target organs and may regulate bp by affecting ras biomarkers.

Journal: Clinical and experimental hypertension (New York, N.Y. : 1993) (2021)
Publication types: Journal Article
Enhanced susceptibility to stress and seizures in GAD65 deficient mice.

Reduced gamma-aminobutyric acid (gaba) inhibition has been implicated in both anxiety and epilepsy.Gad65-/- (nod/lt j) mice have significantly decreased basal gaba levels in the brain and a lowered threshold for seizure generation.One fifth of gad65 -/- mice experienced stress-induced seizures upon exposure to an open field at 4 weeks of age.In each successive week until 8 weeks of age, the latency to seizures decreased with prior seizure experience.100% of gad65-/- mice exhibited stress-induced seizures by the end of 8 weeks.Gad65-/- mice also exhibited marked impairment in open field exploratory behavior and deficits in spatial learning acquisition on a barnes maze.Anxiety-like behavior in an open field was observed prior to seizure onset and was predictive of subsequent seizures.Immunohistochemical characterization of interneuron subtypes in gad65-/- mice showed a selective decrease in gaba and neuropeptide y (npy) levels and no change in calbindin (clb) or calretinin (clr) immunoreactivity in the hippocampus.Stem cells from the medial ganglionic eminence (mge) were injected into the hippocampal hilus to restore gabaergic interneurons.One week after transplantation, mge-transplanted mice demonstrated significant seizure resistance compared to sham surgical controls.The percent area of gfp+ mge graft in the hippocampus correlated significantly with the increase in seizure latency.Our data indicate that impaired gabaergic neurotransmission can cause anxiety-like behavior and stress-induced seizures that can be rescued by mge stem cell transplantation.

Journal: PloS one (2018)
Publication types: Journal Article;Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Effects of potassium fulvic acid and potassium humate on microbial biodiversity in bulk soil and rhizosphere soil of Panax ginseng.

Potassium fulvic acid (bsfa) and potassium humate (khm), as organic fertilizers, can improve soil structure, increase soil nutrient levels and prevent plant diseases.However, knowledge is limited regarding how bsfa and khm influence soil microbial communities and the interrelationships between community members associated with panax ginseng.Soil p h and nutrient content increased significantly as a result of the addition of bsfa and khm.The p h, nh4+-n, no3--n, ap and ak increased by 1.72 %-5.55 %, 70.09 %-108.39 %, 35.38 %-216.20 %, 1.21 %-14.19 % and 3.40 %-5.94 %, respectively, in the bsfa and khm treatments.The soil nutrient increase may be related to micrococcaceae and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (amf).The structure of the microbial community also changed radically from that of the control group, and chloroflexi (2.69 %-3.15 %), actinobacteria (4.33 %-7.53 %) and acidobacteria (9.44 %-11.62 %) were the dominant microorganisms at the phylum level in bacteria.In contrast, the dominant fungi at the phylum level were ascomycota (77.39 %-78.08 %), glomeromycota (0.36 %-2.68), olpidiomycota (0.02 %-3.78 %) and basidiomycota (0.80 %-1.17 %).Fusarium oxysporum and ascomycota were biomarkers for bsfa and khm, which may be related to pathogenic bacteria.Network analysis revealed that the association among members of the soil microbial community was more positive than negative following application of khm, and more positive (62.5 %) than negative (37.5 %) correlations were observed between bacteria, whereas the fungal community exhibited more positive (97.3 %) than negative (2.7 %) correlations.Picrust predicted the microbial function of adding khm and bsfa to the soil, and these pathways mainly belong to the degradation and metabolism of organic matter, saprophytic organisms and plant pathogens.In summary, our study demonstrated that the addition of bsfa and khm increased the nutrients in the ginseng soil and reshaped the microbial function in soils, providing a theoretical foundation for soil improvement and biological control of ginseng diseases.However, due to the limitations of greenhouse cultivation, additional long-term experiments on farmland with different climate changes are recommended.

Journal: Microbiological research (2022)
Publication types: Journal Article
Dexamethasone exposure in normal-weight and obese hospitalized COVID-19 patients: An observational exploratory trial.

During the latest pandemic, the recovery study showed the benefits of dexamethasone (dex) use in covid-19 patients.Obesity has been proven to be an independent risk factor for severe forms of infection, but little information is available in the literature regarding dex dose adjustment according to body weight.We conducted a prospective, observational, exploratory study at geneva university hospitals to assess the impact of weight on dex pharmacokinetics (pk) in normal-weight versus obese covid-19 hospitalized patients.Two groups of patients were enrolled: normal-weight and obese (body mass index [bmi] 18.5-25 and >30 kg/m2, respectively).All patients received the standard of care therapy of 6 mg dex orally.Blood samples were collected, and dex concentrations were measured.The mean dex auc0-8and cmaxwere lower in the obese compared to the normal-weight group (572.02 ± 258.96 vs.926.92 ± 552.12 ng h/ml and 138.67 ± 68.03 vs.203.44 ± 126.30 ng/ml, respectively).A decrease in dex auc0-8of 4% per additional bmi unit was observed, defining a significant relationship between weight and dex auc0-8(p = 0.004, 95% ci 2-7%).In women, irrespective of the bmi, dex auc0-8increased by 214% in comparison to men (p < 0.001, 95% ci 154-298%).Similarly, the mean cmaxincreased by 205% in women (p < 0.001, 95% ci 141-297%).Conversely, no significant difference between the obese and normal-weight groups was observed for exploratory treatment outcomes, such as the length of hospitalization.Bmi, weight, and gender significantly affected dex auc.We conclude that dose adjustment would be needed if the aim is to achieve the same exposures in normal-weight and obese patients.

Journal: Clinical and translational science (2022)
Publication types: Journal Article;Observational Study
Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma.

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (pcnsl) is an extranodal non-hodgkin lymphoma limited to the brain, spinal cord, leptomeninges, and eyes.The majority of patients are immunocompetent, with a median age of 65 years at diagnosis.Historically, whole-brain radiation therapy (wbrt) was the first and sole treatment for pcnsl.Today, due to the recognized neurotoxicity of wbrt, this modality is usually avoided in the treatment.Most chemotherapy regimens are based on high-dose methotrexate plus the anti-cd20 monoclonal antibody rituximab, leading to high response rates, but 5-year survival is still poor at approximately 30% compared with other extranodal lymphomas.New treatment strategies including high-dose chemotherapy/autologous stem cell transplantation, targeted therapies focusing on, for example, genetic alterations in b cells or mammalian target of rapamycin signaling, and immunotherapy with inhibitors of the programmed cell death 1 receptor are only a few options to improve the armamentarium against pcnsl.

Journal: Seminars in neurology (2018)
Publication types: Journal Article;Review
Cauterization tonsillectomy as compared to traditional tonsillectomy technique.

Tonsillectomy is one of the most frequently applied and oldest surgical procedures in otorhinolaryngology.Various surgical techniques are used to perform this operation including traditional and cauterization techniques.Objectives to assess morbidity and efficacy and compare objectively the techniques in tonsillectomy, i.e., traditional technique and cauterization technique.This study compares the traditional and cauterization tonsillectomy techniques in view of their advantages and complications.Methods this is a retrospective study and comparative study, conducted during the period from january 2017 to march 2018 from the patients attending to alnamas general hospital, aseer region, saudi arabia.The questionnaire was designed to compare the traditional and cauterization tonsillectomy.Fifty patients underwent traditional technique and fifty patients underwent cauterization method.The data analyzed using spss v.16.0 (spss inc; chicago, il, usa).Results a total of 100 patients, 62 males and 38 females, aged 8 to 16 years were included in the study.A total of 100 patients were enrolled in the study.Traditional and cauterization tonsillectomy were performed.50 (27 male and 23 female) patients, whose ages ranged from 9 to 16 years old underwent the traditional tonsillectomy, 50 (35 male and 15 female) patients whose ages ranged from 8 to 16 years underwent cauterization.The two groups were similar for demographic parameters.The difference between mean operative times of the two methods was statistically significant.Postoperative bleeding is significantly higher in the traditional technique compared to cauterization method.Postoperative pain is significantly less in cauterization method.Only a few patients experienced fever, bleeding, and other complications related to anesthesia.The bleeding severity is significantly lower in the cauterization technique.Postoperative pain was less in cauterization technique on day 1 and day 5.Postoperative pain was from mild to severe.Conclusion this study revealed significantly less postoperative complications in traditional tonsillectomy in comparison with the cauterization method.Healing time was significantly faster in cauterization technique than in traditional method.

Journal: Journal of family medicine and primary care (2020)
Publication types: Journal Article
Risk factors and clinical outcomes of pediatric liver transplant recipients with post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease in a multi-ethnic Asian cohort.

We aimed to evaluate clinical characteristics, risk factors, and disease outcomes for liver transplant recipients (ltr) with post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (ptld) at our center.Methods retrospective review of data of all pediatric ltr (1991-2015) was conducted.Results the overall incidence of ptld was 16.4% (18/110), the majority (13/18) were early lesions, while 3/18 were polymorphic/monomorphic ptld.The risk factors significant on univariate analysis were as follows: mean age (years) at transplant (1.66 vs 4.76, p = .006); age <2 years at transplant (odds ratio [or] 3.53 [95% confidence interval [ci]: 1.16-10.73], p = .026); cytomegalovirus (cmv) primary infection (or 11.39 [95% ci: 3.44-37.7], p < .001); recipient cmv seronegativity (or 7.50 [95% ci: 2.02-27.78], p = .003); presence of cmv end-organ disease (or 4.00 [95% ci: 1.22-13.16], p = .022); chinese ethnicity; and higher mean duration of intravenous ganciclovir prophylaxis.In multivariate analysis, cmv primary infection (or 5.22 [95% ci: 1.25-21.87], p = .024), cmv seronegativity (or 5.91 [95% ci: 1.13-30.90, p = .035]), and having acute cellular rejections (acr) prior to ptld (or 5.53 [95% ci: 1.43-21.48, p = .013]) were significant risk factors for ptld, with the latter two factors having a synergistic effect in increasing ptld risk in a stratified analysis.The final multivariate model in predicting the risk of ptld, utilizing cmv primary infection, recipient cmv seronegativity, and acr before ptld as predictive variables, was statistically significant (likelihood ratio chi square statistic = 25.18, p < .0001 with df = 3).Conclusions we report a unique clinicopathologic and risk factor profile in our cohort-early lesion ptld accounts for the majority and the incidence of monomorphic ptld remains low.In addition, we show a synergism between cmv naivety and acr on ptld risk, a higher prevalence of gastrointestinal manifestations, and a lack of significant association with epstein-barr virus seronegativity.

Journal: Transplant infectious disease : an official journal of the Transplantation Society (2018)
Publication types: Journal Article
Grass Carp Mex3A Promotes Ubiquitination and Degradation of RIG-I to Inhibit Innate Immune Response.

As one of the mex3 family members, mex3a is crucial in cell proliferation, migration, and apoptosis in mammals.In this study, a novel gene homologous to mammalian mex3a (named ci mex3a, mw368974) was cloned and identified in grass carp, which is 1,521 bp in length encoding a putative polypeptide of 506 amino acids.In cik cells,ci mex3ais upregulated after stimulation with lps, z-dna, and especially with intracellular poly(i:c).Ci mex3a overexpression reduces the expressions of ifn1,isg15, and pro-inflammatory factors il8and tnfα; likewise, mex3a inhibits irf3 phosphorylation upon treatment with poly(i:c).A screening test to identify potential targets suggested that ci mex3a interacts with rig-i exclusively.Co-localization analysis showed that mex3a and rig-i are simultaneously located in the endoplasmic reticulum, while they rarely appear in the endosome, mitochondria, or lysosome after exposure to poly(i:c).However, rig-i is mainly located in the early endosome and then transferred to the late endosome following stimulation with poly(i:c).Moreover, we investigated the molecular mechanism underlying ci mex3a-mediated suppression of rig-i ubiquitination.The results demonstrated that mex3a truncation mutant (deletion in the ring domain) can still interact physically with rig-i, but fail to degrade it, suggesting that mex3a also acts as a ring-type e3 ubiquitin ligase.Taken together, this study showed that grass carp mex3a can interact with rig-i in the endoplasmic reticulum following poly(i:c) stimulation, and then mex3a facilitates the ubiquitination and degradation of rig-i to inhibit irf3-mediated innate antiviral immune response.

Journal: Frontiers in immunology (2022)
Publication types: Journal Article;Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Adult-onset Krabbe disease presenting with progressive myoclonic epilepsy and asymmetric occipital lesions: A case report.

Krabbe disease (kd), also known as globoid cell leukodystrophy, is a rare autosomal recessive condition caused by mutations in the galactocerebrosidase (galc) gene.Kd is more common in infants and young children than in adults.We reported the case of an adult-onset kd presenting with progressive myoclonic epilepsy (pme) and cortical lesions mimicking mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (melas) syndrome.The whole-exome sequencing (wes) identified a pathogenic homozygous missense mutation of the galcgene.Parents of the patient were heterozygous for the mutation.The clinical, electrophysiological, and radiological data of the patient were retrospectively analyzed.The patient was a 24-year-old woman presenting with generalized seizures, progressive cognitive decline, psychiatric symptoms, gait ataxia, and action-induced myoclonus.The brain magnetic resonance imaging (mri) revealed a right occipital cortical ribbon sign without any other damage.This single case expands the clinical phenotypes of adult-onset kd.

Journal: Frontiers in neurology (2022)
Publication types: Case Reports;Journal Article
Social visual attentional engagement and memory in Phelan-McDermid syndrome and autism spectrum disorder: a pilot eye tracking study.

The current study used eye tracking to investigate attention and recognition memory in phelan-mc dermid syndrome (pms), a rare genetic disorder characterized by intellectual disability, motor delays, and a high likelihood of comorbid autism spectrum disorder (asd).Social deficits represent a core feature of asd, including decreased propensity to orient to or show preference for social stimuli.Methods we used a visual paired-comparison task with both social and non-social images, assessing looking behavior to a novel image versus a previously viewed familiar image to characterize social attention and recognition memory in pms (n = 22), idiopathic asd (i asd, n = 38), and typically developing (td) controls (n = 26).The idiopathic asd cohort was divided into subgroups with intellectual disabilities (id; developmental quotient 70) and the pms group into those with and without a co-morbid asd diagnosis.Results on measures of attention, the pms group with a comorbid asd diagnosis spent less time viewing the social images compared to non-social images; the rate of looking back and forth between images was lowest in the i asd with id group.Furthermore, while all groups demonstrated intact recognition memory when novel non-social stimuli were initially presented (pre-switch), participants with pms showed no preference during the post-switch memory presentation.In i asd, the group without id, but not the group with id, showed a novelty preference for social stimuli.Across indices, individuals with pms and asd performed more similarly to pms without asd and less similarly to the i asd group.Conclusion these findings demonstrate further evidence of differences in attention and memory for social stimuli in asd and provide contrasts between i asd and pms.

Journal: Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders (2021)
Publication types: Journal Article;Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural;Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Obesity and Male Reproduction: Do Sirtuins Play a Role?

Obesity is a major current public health problem of global significance.A progressive sperm quality decline, and a decline in male fertility, have been reported in recent decades.Several studies have reported a strict relationship between obesity and male reproductive dysfunction.Among the many mechanisms by which obesity impairs male gonadal function, sirtuins (sirts) have an emerging role.Sirts are highly conserved nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (nad+)-dependent deacetylases that play a role in gene regulation, metabolism, aging, and cancer.Sirts regulate the energy balance, the lipid balance, glucose metabolism, and adipogenesis, but current evidence also indicates a role for sirts in male reproduction.However, the majority of the studies have been conducted in animal models and very few have been conducted with humans.This review shows that sirts play an important role among the molecular mechanisms by which obesity interferes with male fertility.This highlights the need to deepen this relationship.It will be of particular interest to evaluate whether synthetic and/or natural compounds capable of modifying the activity of sirts may also be useful for the treatment of obesity and its effects on gonadal function.Although few studies have explored the role of sirt activators in obesity-induced male infertility, some molecules, such as resveratrol, appear to be effective in modulating sirt activity, as well as counteracting the negative effects of obesity on male fertility.The search for strategies to improve male reproductive function in overweight/obese patients is a challenge and understanding the role of sirts and their activators may open new interesting scenarios in the coming years.

Journal: International journal of molecular sciences (2022)
Publication types: Journal Article;Review
Delta-Aminolevulinic Acid Dehydratase, Low Blood Lead Levels, Social Factors, and Intellectual Function in an Afro-Brazilian Children Community.

Delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (alad) enzyme catalyzes the second phase of the heme biosynthesis and is involved in lead toxicokinetics.This research aimed to evaluate its influence on the relationship between blood lead (pb b) levels and intellectual performance in afro-brazilian children.Pb b, hemoglobin concentration, alad activity, and polymorphism were determined in whole blood.Anthropometric, socioeconomic, and family environment stimuli data were collected with appropriate instruments.The non-verbal intelligence of children and their mothers or guardians was assessed using the correspondent raven's progressive matrix versions.The medians (range) of pb b levels and alad activity were 1.0 μg/d l (0.1-21.3) and, 71 u/l (31-113), respectively.Alad g177c was distributed as follows: 97.9% for alad1/1 and 2.1% for alad1/2 genotypes.The mean of raven raw score was 19.3 (± 5.6) points and there were no differences according to sex or environmental pb exposure.No statistically significant association was observed between pb b level and children's iq.However, alad activity presented an inverse significant association with pb b levels, children's percentile iq, and children's iq/age ratio, suggesting a neuroprotective role of alad1 genotype in those with low pb b level.

Journal: Biological trace element research (2022)
Publication types: Journal Article
Parameterization of a Brazilian scenario in the USEPA Pesticide in Water Calculator tool to estimate the environmental exposure of pesticide in surface waters.

The current pesticide registration process in brazil is mainly hazard-based and does not consider exposure and therefore risk.However, the scenario prompted changes and discussions about risk assessments by brazilian environmental regulatory agencies.The us environmental protection agency's (epa) pesticide in water calculator (pwc) model is used as a regulatory tool for aquatic exposure assessment in canada and the usa for exposure evaluation of agrochemical products; nevertheless, the available scenarios only consider north american local conditions.This work aims to demonstrate a parametrization of the pwc model for a brazilian scenario, considering the active ingredient glyphosate and sugarcane agronomic practices.The estimated environmental concentrations (eecs) obtained were compared with two standard epa scenarios.Essential parameter data to build a specific local scenario were collected from the literature and official brazilian databases.The eecs (1-in-10 years) of glyphosate according to the conditions established were 1.427 μg l-1(1st day), 0.382 μg l-1(21st day), and 0.2027 μg l-1(60th day).These values can be used as exposure elements in acute and chronic risk assessments considering the agricultural practices used in the developed scenario.A 4.45-fold and 1.28-fold difference was found comparing the 1-day (1-in-10 years) average concentration of the brazilian scenario with two epa standard scenarios.Such a difference may affect the outcome of risk assessments, affecting regulatory decisions.This demonstrates the importance of generating more realistic scenarios for brazil, yielding surface water eecs that consider local conditions.Integr environ assess manag 2022;18:1387-1398.© 2021 setac.

Journal: Integrated environmental assessment and management (2022)
Publication types: Journal Article