LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Leucine and Calcium Regulate Fat Metabolism and Energy Partitioning in Murine Adipocytes and Muscle Cells

Dietary calcium modulation of adiposity is mediated, in part, by suppression of calcitriol, while the additional effect of dairy products is mediated by additional components; these include the high concentration of leucine, a key factor in the regulation of muscle protein turnover. We investigated the effect of leucine, calcitriol and calcium on energy metabolism in murine adipocytes and muscle cells and on energy partitioning between adipocytes and skeletal muscle. Leucine induced a marked increase in fatty acid oxidation in C2C12 muscle cells (P < 0.001) and decreased FAS expression by 66% (P < 0.001) in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Calcitriol decreased muscle cell fatty acid oxidation by 37% (P < 0.001) and increased adipocyte FAS gene expression by threefold (P < 0.05); these effects were partially reversed by either leucine or calcium channel antagonism with nifedipine. Co-culture of muscle cells with adipocytes or incubation with 48-h adipocyte conditioned medium decreased muscle fatty acid oxidation by 62% (P < 0.001), but treating adipocytes with leucine and/or nifedipine attenuated this effect. Leucine, nifedipine and calcitriol also modulated adiponectin production and thereby exerted additional indirect effects on fatty acid oxidation in C2C12 myotubes. Adiponectin increased IL-15 and IL-6 release by myotubes and partially reversed the inhibitory effects of calcitriol. Comparable effects of leucine, calcitriol and adiponectin were found in myotubes treated with conditioned medium derived from adipocytes or co-cultured with adipocytes. These data suggest that leucine and nifedipine promote energy partitioning from adipocytes to muscle cells, resulting in decreased energy storage in adipocytes and increasing fatty acid utilization in muscle.
Longitudinal changes in asthma control with omalizumab: 2-year interim data from the EXCELS Study.

BACKGROUND
Asthma guidelines emphasize the importance of achieving and maintaining asthma control; however, many patients with moderate to severe asthma fail to achieve adequate control.


OBJECTIVE
This 2-year interim analysis evaluated the longitudinal effects of omalizumab on asthma control in patients treated in real-world clinical practice settings.


METHODS
EXCELS is an ongoing observational cohort study of approximately 5000 omalizumab-treated and 2500 non-omalizumab-treated patients aged ≥12 years with moderate to severe asthma. Asthma control was measured using the Asthma Control Test (ACT) every 6 months.


RESULTS
Subgroups of the omalizumab cohort included those who initiated omalizumab at baseline (new starts, n = 549) and those treated with omalizumab >7 days before baseline (established users, n = 4421). For reference, data are also presented for patients who were not receiving omalizumab prior to or at the time of enrolment (non-omalizumab, n = 2867). Over half of the new starts (54%) achieved improvement in ACT consistent with the minimally important difference (MID, defined as ≥3-point improvement) by Month 6 and this proportion increased throughout the follow-up period, reaching 62% at Month 24. Similar results were observed in patients stratified by moderate and severe asthma. Established users of omalizumab maintained asthma control throughout the observation period.


CONCLUSION
Over a 2-year period, patients initiating omalizumab therapy experienced clinically relevant improvements in asthma control, which were maintained during 2 years of longitudinal follow-up. Established users of omalizumab maintained asthma control over the 2-year period with a small improvement similar to that seen in non-omalizumab users.
Differences in perceptions of communication quality between a Twitterbot and human agent for information seeking and learning

Twitter’s design allows the implementation of automated programs that can submit tweets, interact with others, and generate content based on algorithms. Scholars and end-users alike refer to these programs to as “Twitterbots.” This two-part study explores the differences in perceptions of communication quality between a human agent and a Twitterbot in the areas of cognitive elaboration, information seeking, and learning outcomes. In accordance with the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) framework (Reeves & Nass, 1996), results suggest that participants learned the same from either a Twitterbot or a human agent. Results are discussed in light of CASA, as well as implications and directions for future studies. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Gender gaps across the earnings distribution for full-time employees in Britain: Allowing for sample selection

This paper investigates gender differences across the log wage distributions of British employees working full-time in 2005. The raw gender wage gap shows a tendency to increase across the distribution with a glass ceiling effect indicated. A strong relationship between high skilled, white-collar occupations and carrying out managerial duties with the glass ceiling effect is indicated in the data. After allowing for positive selection into full-time employment by British women, a substantially larger gender earning gaps is found: the selection corrected gender wage gap is close to twice the raw gap across most of the earnings distribution. This selection corrected gap is found to be predominantly related to women receiving lower rewards for their characteristics than men. Indeed, the results suggest the gender earnings gap would all but disappear across the earnings distribution if women working full-time received the same returns to their characteristics as men working full-time in Britain do.
Epidemiological African day for evaluation of patients at risk of venous thrombosis in acute hospital care settings

INTRODUCTION
This study aimed to identify patients at risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE) among all patients hospitalised, and to determine the proportion of at-risk hospital patients who received effective types of VTE prophylaxis in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).


METHODS
A multinational, observational, cross-sectional survey was carried out on 1 583 at-risk patients throughout five SSA countries.


RESULTS
The prevalence of VTE risk was 50.4% overall, 62.3% in medical and 43.8% in surgical patients. The proportion of at-risk patients receiving prophylaxis was 51.5% overall, 36.2% in medical and 64% in surgical patients. Low-molecular weight heparin was the most frequently used prophylactic method in 40.2% overall, 23.1% in medical and 49.9% in surgical patients.


DISCUSSION
This study showed a high prevalence of VTE risk among hospitalised patients and that less than half of all at-risk patients received an American College of Clinical Pharmacy-recommended method of prophylaxis.


CONCLUSION
Recommended VTE prophylaxis is underused in SSA.
A Data Exfiltration and Remote Exploitation Attack on Consumer 3D Printers

With the increased popularity of 3D printers in homes, and industry sectors, such as biomedical and manufacturing, the potential for cybersecurity risks must be carefully considered. Risks may arise from factors such as printer manufacturers not having the requisite levels of security awareness, and not fully understanding the need for security measures to protect intellectual property, and other sensitive data that are stored, accessed, and transmitted from such devices. This paper examines the security features of two different models of MakerBot Industries' consumer-oriented 3D printers and proposes an attack technique that is able to, not only, exfiltrate sensitive data, but also allow for remote manipulation of these devices. The attack steps are discretely modeled using a threat model to enable formal representation of the attack. Specifically, we found that the printers stored the previously printed and currently printing objects on an unauthenticated web server. We also ascertain that the transport layer security implementation on these devices was flawed, which severely affected the security of these devices and allowed for remote exploitation. Countermeasures to the attack that are implementable by both the manufacturer and the user of the printer are presented.
You Better Eat to Survive! Exploring Edible Interactions in a Virtual Reality Game

"You Better Eat to Survive!" is a two-player virtual reality game that involves eating real food to survive and ultimately escape from a virtual island. Eating is sensed through capturing chewing sounds via a low-cost microphone solution. Unlike most VR games that stimulate mostly our visual and auditory senses, "You Better Eat to Survive!" makes a novel contribution by integrating the gustatory sense not just as an additional game input, but as an integral element to the game experience: we use the fact that with head-mounted displays, players cannot see what they are eating and have to entrust a second player outside the VR experience to provide them with sufficient food and feeding him/her. With "You Better Eat to Survive!", we aim to demonstrate that eating can be an intriguing interaction technique to enrich virtual reality experiences while offering complementary benefits of social interactions around food.
‘Cycle Thieves, We Are Watching You’: Impact of a Simple Signage Intervention against Bicycle Theft

BACKGROUND
Bicycle theft is a serious problem in many countries, and there is a lack of evidence concerning effective prevention strategies. Displaying images of 'watching eyes' has been shown to make people behave in more socially desirable ways in a number of settings, but it is not yet clear if this effect can be exploited for purposes of crime prevention. We report the results of a simple intervention on a university campus where signs featuring watching eyes and a related verbal message were displayed above bicycle racks.


METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
We installed durable signs at three locations which had experienced high levels of bicycle theft, and used the rest of the university campus as a control location. Reported thefts were monitored for 12 months before and after the intervention. Bicycle thefts decreased by 62% at the experimental locations, but increased by 65% in the control locations, suggesting that the signs were effective, but displaced offending to locations with no signs. The Odds Ratio for the effect of the intervention was 4.28 (95% confidence interval 2.04-8.98), a large effect compared to other place-based crime prevention interventions.


CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE
The effectiveness of this extremely cheap and simple intervention suggests that there can be considerable crime-reduction benefits to engaging the psychology of surveillance, even in the absence of surveillance itself. Simple interventions for high-crime locations based on this principle should be considered as an adjunct to other measures, although a possible negative consequence is displacement of offending.
Wire Bonding to Advanced Copper-Low-K Integrated Circuits, the Metal/Dielectric Stacks, and Materials Considerations

There are three areas to consider when designing/implementing wire bonding to advanced ULSI damascene–copper chips having copper metallization and low dielectric-constant polymers embedded beneath them (Cu/LoK). These are: 1) the copper-pad top-surface oxidation inhibitor coatingmetal/organic/inorganic. (Current work involves evaluating the metal and inorganic options); 2) the low dielectric constant materials available; 3) under-pad metal/polymer stacks and support structures necessary for bondability and reliability. There are also various polymer/metallurgical interactions, resulting in long term packaged-device reliability problems, that can occur as the result of the wire bonding process over low modulus, LoK materials with barriers. These include cracked diffusion barriers, copper diffusion into the LoK polymers, cracking/spalling/crazing of the LoK materials, and bond pad indentation (“cupping”). Low-K polymer materials, with high expansion coefficients and low thermal conductivities, can also increase the stress and further extend any existing damage to barriers. Many of the above problems have previously been encountered when bonding to pads over polymers (MCM-D, polymer buildup-layers on PCBs, PBGAs, flex circuits, etc.), and they share some of the same solutions. Well designed LoK and the underpad structures should have no negative effect on bonding parameters and be invisible to the bonding process.
Payment card fraud detection using neural network committee and clustering

The task of payment card fraud detection using account information is considered. We apply to two approaches for organization of neural networks interaction: neural network committee and clustering approach. Finally, these two methods are compared.
Power System Load Shedding : Key Issues and New Perspectives

Optimal load shedding (LS) design as an emergency plan is one of the main control challenges posed by emerging new uncertainties and numerous distributed generators including renewable energy sources in a modern power system. This paper presents an overview of the key issues and new challenges on optimal LS synthesis concerning the integration of wind turbine units into the power systems. Following a brief survey on the existing LS methods, the impact of power fluctuation produced by wind powers on system frequency and voltage performance is presented. The most LS schemas proposed so far used voltage or frequency parameter via under-frequency or under-voltage LS schemes. Here, the necessity of considering both voltage and frequency indices to achieve a more effective and comprehensive LS strategy is emphasized. Then it is clarified that this problem will be more dominated in the presence of wind turbines. Keywords— Load shedding, emergency control, voltage, frequency, wind turbine.
The H2 robotic exoskeleton for gait rehabilitation after stroke: early findings from a clinical study

Stroke significantly affects thousands of individuals annually, leading to considerable physical impairment and functional disability. Gait is one of the most important activities of daily living affected in stroke survivors. Recent technological developments in powered robotics exoskeletons can create powerful adjunctive tools for rehabilitation and potentially accelerate functional recovery. Here, we present the development and evaluation of a novel lower limb robotic exoskeleton, namely H2 (Technaid S.L., Spain), for gait rehabilitation in stroke survivors. H2 has six actuated joints and is designed to allow intensive overground gait training. An assistive gait control algorithm was developed to create a force field along a desired trajectory, only applying torque when patients deviate from the prescribed movement pattern. The device was evaluated in 3 hemiparetic stroke patients across 4 weeks of training per individual (approximately 12 sessions). The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Houston. The main objective of this initial pre-clinical study was to evaluate the safety and usability of the exoskeleton. A Likert scale was used to measure patient’s perception about the easy of use of the device. Three stroke patients completed the study. The training was well tolerated and no adverse events occurred. Early findings demonstrate that H2 appears to be safe and easy to use in the participants of this study. The overground training environment employed as a means to enhance active patient engagement proved to be challenging and exciting for patients. These results are promising and encourage future rehabilitation training with a larger cohort of patients. The developed exoskeleton enables longitudinal overground training of walking in hemiparetic patients after stroke. The system is robust and safe when applied to assist a stroke patient performing an overground walking task. Such device opens the opportunity to study means to optimize a rehabilitation treatment that can be customized for individuals. Trial registration: This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov ( https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02114450 ).
Comorbidity of auditory processing, language, and reading disorders.

PURPOSE
The authors assessed comorbidity of auditory processing disorder (APD), language impairment (LI), and reading disorder (RD) in school-age children.


METHOD
Children (N = 68) with suspected APD and nonverbal IQ standard scores of 80 or more were assessed using auditory, language, reading, attention, and memory measures. Auditory processing tests included the Frequency Pattern Test (FPT; F. E. Musiek, 1994; D. Noffsinger, R. H. Wilson, & F. E. Musiek, 1994); the Dichotic Digit Test Version 2 (DDT; F. E. Musiek, 1983); the Random Gap Detection Test (R. W. Keith, 2000); the 500-Hz tone Masking Level Difference (V. Aithal, A. Yonovitz, & S. Aithal, 2006); and a monaural low-redundancy speech test (compressed and reverberant words; A. Boothroyd & S. Nittrouer, 1988). The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, Fourth Edition (E. Semel, E. Wiig, & W. Secord, 2003) was used to assess language abilities (including auditory memory). Reading accuracy and fluency and phonological awareness abilities were assessed using the Wheldall Assessment of Reading Passages (A. Madelaine & K. Wheldall, 2002) and the Queensland University Inventory of Literacy (B. Dodd, A. Holm, M. Orelemans, & M. McCormick, 1996). Attention was measured using the Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test (J. A. Sandford & A. Turner, 1995).


RESULTS
Of the children, 72% had APD on the basis of these test results. Most of these children (25%) had difficulty with the FPT bilaterally. A further 22% had difficulty with the FPT bilaterally and had right ear deficits for the DDT. About half of the children (47%) had problems in all 3 areas (APD, LI, and RD); these children had the poorest FPT scores. More had APD-RD, or APD-LI, than APD, RD, or LI alone. There were modest correlations between FPT scores and attention and memory, and between DDT scores and memory.


CONCLUSIONS
LI and RD commonly co-occur with APD. Attention and memory are linked to performance on some auditory processing tasks but only explain a small amount of the variance in scores. Comprehensive assessment across a range of areas is required to characterize the difficulties experienced by children with APD.
Social interaction facilitated by a minimally-designed robot: Findings from longitudinal therapeutic practices for autistic children

This paper reports our longitudinal observation of unconstrained child-robot interaction at a daycare center for autistic children. We used a simple robot, Keepon, that is only capable of expressing its attention (directing its gaze) and emotions (pleasure and excitement). While controlled by a remote experimenter, Keepon interacted with the children with its simple appearance and actions. With a sense of curiosity and security, the children spontaneously approached Keepon and engaged in dyadic interaction with it, which then extended to triadic interactions where they exchanged with adult caregivers pleasure and surprise found in Keepon. The three-year-long observation suggests that autistic children possess the motivation to share mental states with others, which is contrary to the commonly held position that the motivation is impaired in autism. Autistic children, however, have difficulty rather in sifting out socially meaningful information (e.g., attention and emotions) from flooding perceptual information. Keepon, with its minimal expressiveness, directly conveyed socially meaningful information to the children, which activated their intact motivation to share interests and feelings with others. We conclude that social filtering is one of the prerequisites for interpersonal communication and that robots like Keepon can facilitate social filtering and its development in autistic children.
Polymeric nanoparticle-encapsulated curcumin ("nanocurcumin"): a novel strategy for human cancer therapy

BACKGROUND
Curcumin, a yellow polyphenol extracted from the rhizome of turmeric (Curcuma longa), has potent anti-cancer properties as demonstrated in a plethora of human cancer cell line and animal carcinogenesis models. Nevertheless, widespread clinical application of this relatively efficacious agent in cancer and other diseases has been limited due to poor aqueous solubility, and consequently, minimal systemic bioavailability. Nanoparticle-based drug delivery approaches have the potential for rendering hydrophobic agents like curcumin dispersible in aqueous media, thus circumventing the pitfalls of poor solubility.


RESULTS
We have synthesized polymeric nanoparticle encapsulated formulation of curcumin - nanocurcumin - utilizing the micellar aggregates of cross-linked and random copolymers of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAM), with N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (VP) and poly(ethyleneglycol)monoacrylate (PEG-A). Physico-chemical characterization of the polymeric nanoparticles by dynamic laser light scattering and transmission electron microscopy confirms a narrow size distribution in the 50 nm range. Nanocurcumin, unlike free curcumin, is readily dispersed in aqueous media. Nanocurcumin demonstrates comparable in vitro therapeutic efficacy to free curcumin against a panel of human pancreatic cancer cell lines, as assessed by cell viability and clonogenicity assays in soft agar. Further, nanocurcumin's mechanisms of action on pancreatic cancer cells mirror that of free curcumin, including induction of cellular apoptosis, blockade of nuclear factor kappa B (NFkappaB) activation, and downregulation of steady state levels of multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, and TNFalpha).


CONCLUSION
Nanocurcumin provides an opportunity to expand the clinical repertoire of this efficacious agent by enabling ready aqueous dispersion. Future studies utilizing nanocurcumin are warranted in pre-clinical in vivo models of cancer and other diseases that might benefit from the effects of curcumin.
Behaviour does not fully explain the high risk of chronic liver disease in less educated men in Hungary.

BACKGROUND
Hungary has among the highest mortality rates from chronic liver disease (CLD) and cirrhosis in Europe. Usually, conventional behavioural factors are hypothesized as the cause of the high risk of CLD.


METHODS
A case-control study was performed with 287 cases and 892 controls to study the relationship between socio-economic and behavioural factors and the risk of CLD. Liver disease was verified by physical examination and blood tests. Blood samples were collected for detecting hepatitis B, C and E virus infection. Information on exposure factors was recorded by the participating physicians and by self-administered questionnaire. Simple regression analysis was used to study the relationship between CLD/cirrhosis and potential risk factors as alcohol intake (amount and source), problem drinking, cigarette smoking, physical activity, viral hepatitis infections, socio-economic factors (education, financial and marital status). Multiple regression analysis was used to identify whether the effect of socio-economic factors is fully mediated by health behaviour (smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity).


RESULTS
The univariate analysis showed that heavy alcohol consumption, problem drinking, former and heavy cigarette smoking, single, separated or divorced marital status, bad or very bad perceived financial status and lower education significantly increased the risk of CLD/cirrhosis. The effect of marital status and of education did not change after adjustment for behavioural factors, but the effect of perceived financial status disappeared.


CONCLUSIONS
The effect of low socio-economic status on the risk of CLD/cirrhosis is only partially explained by conventional behavioural risk factors in Hungary.